Category: Music

Derby Faces Some “Kentucky Rain”

kentucky derby book At Churchill Downs this morning, heavy rain led organizers to cancel morning training for today’s 138th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race. Handicappers and others wondered how the muddy track and possible additional rain may affect the horses in the race. But the skies cleared and sun came through by the time of the race, which was won by I’ll Have Another, who with 14-1 odds overcame the favorite Bodemeister.

When I think of “Kentucky Rain,” one song comes to mind. “Kentucky Rain” was written by country star Eddie Rabbitt and Dick Heard, but made famous by Elvis Presley. While there are a ton of Elvis performances on YouTube, they do not appear to include any live footage of Elvis singing this hit. But here is a good video that someone put together with images from the King’s career.

According to Ernst Jorgensen’s Elvis Presley: A Life in Music – The Complete Recording Sessions (p. 275), Elvis first recorded “Kentucky Rain” during RCA sessions on February 19, 1969 at American Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis started the song around 7:30 p.m. in the evening, and the musicians found the song challenging as they worked to add a little edge and a little brightness to the sound. They worked on the song for three hours, took a short break, and returned to the song for several more hours at 11:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. The hard work paid off, and afterward everyone involved believed the song about a man searching for his lost love could be a potential single.

Additions that helped make the song a classic was the backing vocals and piano playing of a future star named Ronnie Milsap. During the recording session, Elvis turned to the young musician and asked, “Hey Milsap, can I get a little bit of thunder over there on the piano?” So, Milsap supplied the thunder for the song in a technique he would later use on his own 1980 rain song, “Smoky Mountain Rain.”

Jorgensen’s book says “Kentucky Rain” was released in February 1970 (but Wikipedia claims the song was released January 29, 1970). The song went to number sixteen on the pop charts. For Elvis, the song was his fiftieth gold record. For Ronnie Milsap, it was the beginning of a great career. Similarly, for songwriter Eddie Rabbitt, it signaled to his parents that maybe he would amount to something. For me, who was a young kid at the time, it is one of the new Elvis releases I remember hearing on the radio. I still love hearing it today.

[Thanks to @jonniebwalker for pointing out that Milsap played piano as well as sang on “Kentucky Rain.”]

What do you think of “Kentucky Rain”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Unanswered Questions: Four Dead in Ohio

    neil young ohio kent state On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of demonstrators at Kent State University.  The shots killed Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder.

    Nine other students were wounded, and those who were shot included students on their way to class. The exact events of that date are still in dispute, with some of those involved still seeking answers.

    Events Leading to the Kent State Shootings

    The anti-war demonstrations began days earlier after President Nixon announced on television on April 30 that U.S. forces had invaded Cambodia. Pres. Nixon presented the invasion as a defensive response meant to help end the Vietnam War. But students and demonstrators believed the announcement revealed the war was escalating and expanding.

    Watch Pres. Nixon’s address in the video below.

    The day after Nixon’s address, on May 1 students began demonstrating at Kent State University. After some confrontations between local police and demonstrators, Ohio Governor James Rhodes called out the National Guard.

    On May 4, members of the Guard used tear gas to disperse protesters. And while the protesters were in retreat, suddenly over the course of 13 seconds, 67 bullets were fired, resulting in the deaths and injuries.

    Questions About the Shootings

    A big question remaining is whether or not someone gave an order to fire on the demonstrators. At a 2012 news conference, seven of the people who were wounded that day announced a campaign to convince officials to hold hearings on the question. They claimed that analysis of audio recordings shed new light on the question, apparently revealing that there was an order to fire.

    The group sought public support for the government inquiries.  They said they did not seek individual prosecutions. Instead, they sought answers.   Those questions and answers are still relevant today, as addressed in an excellent essay by Jesse Kornbluth at Huffington Post.

    But subsequently in 2012, the FBI concluded the new tapes were inconclusive.  The Department of Justice decided not to re-open the case. [2015 Update] Having failed to get the review they wanted in the U.S., the Kent State Truth Tribunal subsequently requested a review by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

    Neil Young’s “Ohio”

    In 1970, the Kent State shootings became national news, affecting everyone who read about it, including a young songwriter. After seeing photos in Life magazine, Neil Young wrote the song “Ohio.”

    Then, Young’s group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded the song only 11 days after the tragedy and then quickly released it as a single. Young later noted that David Crosby broke down and cried after the recording.

    The video below for “Ohio” was put together by a talented YouTuber. Check it out.

    “Ohio,” which first appeared on an album as a live song on Four Way Street (1971), stirred up some controversy for its criticism of Pres. Nixon.  But the song went on to become a classic. It has been covered by a number of artists, including the Isley Brothers on Givin’ It Back (1971).

    Rolling Stone lists “Ohio” as the 365th greatest rock song of all time. The song deserves a spot in the rankings as there are few songs that were so immediate about a current event.  And there are few songs with such unanswered questions four decades after the song’s release.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Jet!: Man Flies Over Rio With a Jetpack

    jetpack over rio

    Former Swiss fighter pilot Yves Rossy used a winged jetpack to fly over Rio de Janeiro today, reaching speeds up to 186 miles per hour. All I can say, is that it is about time! When I was a kid, I was under the impression we’d all be using jetpacks to travel by now.

    Anyway, Rossy cheated a little because he had to launch from a helicopter and then use a parachute to land. But the video is still pretty cool.

    The 11-minute-and-35-second flight was not Rossy’s first. Rossy, who began working on the project in 1993, flew over the English Channel in 2008 and has also flown over the Grand Canyon. Speaking of wings and jets, it seems the most appropriate music to salute Rossy’s flight is “Jet” by Wings.

    “Jet” is from the excellent album Band on the Run (1974). What is it about? According to Wikipedia, McCartney explained in an interview that it is about a pony he once owned. Well, we have come a long way since the days of traveling by pony. Here’s to my future jetpack, “with the wind in your hair of a thousand laces / Climb on the back and we’ll / Go for a ride in the sky.”

    What do you think of the jetpack flight? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Tom Joad’s Inspiration

    grapes of wrath john steinbeck

    In 1940 after John Ford made John Steinbeck’s novel Grapes of Wrath into a popular film, Woody Guthrie was finding some fame while living with various friends in New York. In the biography Woody Guthrie: A Life, Joe Klein explained that as Victor Records worked to produce a set of Guthrie’s Dust Bowl ballads, the company asked Guthrie to write a song that would capitalize on Grapes of Wrath‘s popularity. (p. 163.)

    It was a good fit to have the balladeer who had first-hand experience with the Dust Bowl write a song about a fictional character who experienced it. In the clip below, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott discusses the film.

    Writing “Tom Joad”

    So, Guthrie went to work on his song. One night Guthrie asked his friend the young Pete Seeger where he could get a typewriter to use to compose the song related to the film. Seeger took Guthrie to the lower East Side to see an artist friend with a typewriter.

    Guthrie sat down at the machine with a half gallon of wine and began writing, periodically going to his guitar to test out what he was writing. When Seeger woke up the next morning, he found the song written on the typewriter next to an empty wine bottle and Guthrie passed out on the floor.

    The seventeen-verse song summarized Tom Joad’s story. Despite the length, the record company recorded the entire song on May 3, 1940 in its New Jersey studios.  Then, the record company had to use both sides of a record to get it to fit.

    Guthrie was usually dissatisfied with his songs.  But he was proud of this song, saying, “I think the ballad of the Joads is the best thing I’ve done so far.”

    The Music from “John Hardy”

    Guthrie took the music for “Tom Joad” from an outlaw ballad he had been playing, “John Hardy.” In the clip below, Roscoe Holcomb sings “John Hardy,” where you can hear the music behind Guthrie’s “Tom Joad.”

    Holcomb, who grew up in Daisy, Kentucky, recorded a number of traditional songs in the 1960s after John Cohen and Smithsonian Folkways discovered the authentic voice in the Appalachian Mountains.

    Guthrie’s Lyrics

    While the music of “John Hardy” helped inspire Guthrie to write “Tom Joad,” Guthrie’s lyrics captured Steinbeck’s book and Henry Fonda’s portrayal of Joad in Ford’s film. At the end of all the book, the film, and the song, Tom Joad makes an impassioned speech to his mother.  And Guthrie included that key scene in his lyrics.

    Wherever little children are hungry and cry,
    Wherever people ain’t free.
    Wherever men are fightin’ for their rights,
    That’s where I’m a-gonna be, Ma.
    That’s where I’m a-gonna be.”

    How “Tom Joad” Inspired Others

    While several sources influenced Guthrie, he of course influenced others. In particular, “Tom Joad” influenced Bruce Springsteen making an album about troubled men and women.

    Consistent with recent Springsteen comments that he found “fatalism tempered by a practical idealism” in Guthrie’s works, the title track of Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) follows Guthrie’s song in capturing Joad’s conversation with his mom.

    Now Tom said “Mom, wherever there’s a cop beatin’ a guy,
    Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries,
    Where there’s a fight against the blood and hatred in the air,
    Look for me mom I’ll be there;
    Wherever there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand,
    Or a decent job or a helpin’ hand,
    Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free,
    Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.”

    It is somewhat amazing that one conversation from Steinbeck’s book has resonated so much for other artists.  But the words are timeless.

    As long as there are economic inequalities, the words about fighting for the common people will resonate in society.  Steinbeck’s version passed on to John Ford who then connected to Woody Guthrie who then connected to Bruce Springsteen.  And the line will continue.

    Already, Springsteen has passed the Joad mantle onto Tom Morello, who performed a Guthrie song during a May Day protest, and his band Rage Against the Machine.

    We do not know who will take it next.  But as long as somebody’s strugglin’ to be free, Joad’s words will be there.

    Rage Against the Machine’s version of the Bruce Springsteen song sounds a long way from Woody Guthrie’s guitar. But I suspect that if Woody were around today and heard the song’s critique of society’s treatment of the poor, he would be on stage with them. “That’s where I’m a-gonna be.”

    {Woody at 100 is our continuing series celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie in 1912. Check out our other posts on Guthrie too. }

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    Willie Nelson & Ray Charles: Who are the “Seven Spanish Angels”?

    In 1984, Willie Nelson and Ray Charles released the duet, “Seven Spanish Angels,” a Western saga telling a tragic story of two lovers and the mysterious seven Spanish Angels.

    willie nelson half nelson seven spanish angels Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas on April 29, 1933. In 2012 a statute of Willie was unveiled in Austin, but instead of choosing his birthday, organizers chose the appropriate date of April 20 at 4:20 p.m. for the man who released an album that features a song with Snoop Dogg called, “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die.” Today we consider another one of his great collaborations, this one with Ray Charles singing “Seven Spanish Angels.”

    The songwriters wrote the song in a style reminiscent of Marty Robbins’s “El Paso.”  But since Robbins had passed away, reportedly they turned to Willie Nelson.  And, in at least one version of the story, after Nelson made a demo of “Seven Spanish Angels,” producer Billy Sherill suggested they also enlist Ray Charles in a duet. (But see video below for a slightly different version of events.)

    The duet was released as a single in November 1984 and originally appeared on Nelson’s album, Half Nelson (1985) and on Charles’s album, Friendship (1984). Although Charles had several successful country recordings including his great album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, this song was his most successful single.

    I was surprised to learn that this song was so successful for Charles, as it is not the first country recording I think of when I think of Charles. But it is an excellent one.

    In the video below, contrary to the Wikipedia story that Nelson’s producer enlisted Ray Charles after Nelson already had made a recording of the song, Nelson says here that Charles brought the song to him.  Nelson adds that “it is going to be a phonograph record pretty soon.”

    The Song’s Story and Who Are the Seven Spanish Angels?

    Like Willie Nelson’s great recording of Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho & Lefty” with Merle Haggard, “Seven Spanish Angels,” written by Troy Seals and Eddie Setser, recounts the story of an outlaw in Mexico. Instead of being about two men, though “Seven Spanish Angels” tells the story of an outlaw and his girlfriend. But the song takes a more tragic turn than the death of the outlaw.

    After the outlaw is killed in a gunfight with a posse, the woman exclaims, “Father, please forgive me; I can’t make it without my man.” Then she picked up his rifle, knowing it is empty, and points it at the men who then shoot and kill her.
    willow tree angel The Seven Spanish Angels in the song “pray for the lovers in the valley of the guns.” When the smoke cleared, “seven Spanish angels took another angel home.”

    The line about “another angel” at the end always made me wonder, does that mean the Seven Spanish Angels left the woman’s boyfriend behind? But there is another way to read the chorus because it repeats throughout the song, including after the first verse.

    He looked down into her brown eyes,And said “Say a prayer for me;”She threw her arms around him,Whispered “God will keep us free;”They could hear the riders comin’,He said “This is my last fight;If they take me back to Texas,They won’t take me back alive.”

    The outlaw does not clearly die in the first verse but it is followed by the chorus, which includes the line “And seven Spanish Angels / Took another angel home.” So the chorus at that point tells us the outlaw died and the seven Spanish Angels took him “home.”  Then, after the verse about the girlfriend dying, the chorus, which is repeated, is just referring to the angels taking her “home.”

    Such a reading is also consistent with a verse written for the song that was omitted in the Nelson-Charles version:  “Now the people in the valley swear/ That when the moon’s just right,/ They see the Texan and his woman/ Ride across the clouds at night.” That verse tells us the lovers are still together after death. But the producer of the recording, Billy Sherrill apparently opted to omit that verse as it made the song too long.

    And so, due to time constraints, we did not get to see the lovers happy again.  Although maybe it was enough to know they had gone off with the seven Spanish Angels.

    But who are the seven Spanish Angels?  Some have said they signify “not just celestial figures, but also a collective yearning for salvation and solace.” Others have focused on the number seven and used the Bible to conclude they are a “reference to the seven angels from the Book of Revelation, whom bear witness to the end times.” Still others have reasoned that since angels have no nationality, the “Spanish” in the description means the seven Spanish Angels is a “reference to the members of the posse sent in pursuit of the couple.”

    But the ambiguity of the meaning of “Seven Spanish Angels” may be intentional and there is no one definitive meaning. Reportedly, songwriter Eddie Setser came up with the title before writing the song.  Thus, it was maybe the sound of the mysterious title that first attracted them to creating the story.  And there are other ambiguities in the song, as we are left wondering why the man was being pursued to be taken back to Texas. We assume he is an outlaw, but we do not even know that for sure.

    The only certainty we end up with is that love is eternal.  And that is not a bad message for a song.

    And that is the story behind the song.  What do you think happened at the end of “Seven Spanish Angels”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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