Music Archives - Page 197 of 238

RIP Chris Ethridge of the Flying Burrito Brothers

gilded palace of sin flying burrito brothers chris ethridge — Chris Ethridge is standing on the left.

Chris Ethridge, bassist and founding member of the Flying Burrito Brothers passed away earlier this week in Mississippi. Ethridge was a long-time collaborator with Gram Parsons, also playing with Parsons in the International Submarine Band and co-writing some of Parson’s solo songs. While with the Flying Burrito Brothers, Ethridge played on Gilded Palace of Sin (1969), an album Rolling Stone magazine lists as one of the top 200 albums of all time. He also co-wrote “Hot Burrito #1 (I’m Your Toy),” a song we previously discussed on Chimesfreedom. In this performance of “Christine’s Tune (Devil in Disguise),” you may see Ethridge playing bass in the background (with a black beard wearing a Nudie suit).

Ethridge also played as a session musician later in his career, playing with such artists as Ry Cooder, Randy Newman, Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, and Jackson Browne. He also toured with Willie Nelson for eight years. Ethridge learned he had pancreatic cancer in September. He was 65. RIP.

What is your favorite Flying Burrito Brother song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Great Song, Bad Name: Hot Burrito #1

The Flying Burrito Brothers Song That Includes a Tribute to Bobby Kennedy

Song of the Day: “Boulder to Birmingham”

Best Gospel Songs by Pop Stars (Part 5): Cash & Byrds

Sturgill Simpson: “You Don’t Miss Your Water”

No Sinner’s Cover of Gram Parson’s “She”

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Connecticut’s Hangman and Johnny Cash’s Last Song

With Governor Dannel Malloy’s signature in April 2012, Connecticut became the fifth state in five years to abolish the death penalty. Connecticut makes seventeen states that do not have capital punishment, along with the District of Columbia, as more states are realizing that the death penalty is expensive, unfair, arbitrary, unnecessary, and risks executing the innocent.

Similarly, recently the man who wrote California’s death penalty law and the man who led the drive for that state to adopt capital punishment have changed their position and said that life without parole is a better option than the death penalty. For various reasons, the civilizing trend around the country is leading to more states abolishing the death penalty.

Capital punishment is still used as a political issue, though. Even as Connecticut abolished the death penalty for future cases, it did not overturn the death sentences of the few people currently on death row in the state.

Johnny Cash’s Last Song: “Hangman”

Speaking of executioners, in this video, Marty Stuart tells about his final meeting with Johnny Cash. Stuart recalls how Cash helped him write the song, “Hangman.”

Stuart was inspired to start writing the song after visiting Folsom Prison and seeing where Cash had performed for the inmates. While working on the song, he told Cash about the song, and Cash gave Stuart some help.

As Stuart explains before he performs the song in the video below, it was probably the last song Cash helped write. Four days after they worked on “Hangman,” Cash passed away on September 12, 2003.

“Hangman” later appeared on Stuart’s album, Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions (2010).

The song begins with the singer talking about killing another man: “I’ve lost count at thirty, and I’ve grown too numb to grieve.” After he tells how alcohol and dope helps him get by, the chorus comes in to reveal the twist. The song is not about a serial killer but the hangman.

Hangman, Hangman,
That’s my stock and trade.
Hangman, Hangman,
Sending bad men to their grave.
But who killed who? I ask myself,
Time and time again.
God have mercy on the soul,
Of this Hangman.

In the video, Stuart tells how Johnny Cash helped him with the chorus and the poetic line, “But who killed who? I ask myself.” The line, and the song evoke the concerns of the Connecticut legislature.

Both the legislature and Gov. Malloy realized that the death penalty is not about what we do to convicted murderers. Capital punishment is about what it does to us when our government kills people already in prison for the rest of their lives. Connecticut is saving the hangman, not the prisoners.

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

The End of Maryland’s Death Penalty and “Green, Green Grass of Home”

Oregon’s Death Penalty: 25 Minutes to Go

“Nebraska” and the Death Penalty

Dylan’s “Julius & Ethel”

The Journey of “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me” From the Scaffold to the Screen

The Killing of “Two Good Men”

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Marty Stuart’s “Nashville, Vol. 1: Tear the Woodpile Down”

Sugar Hill Records has made available a stream of Marty Stuart’s upcoming album, Nashville, Vol. 1: Tear the Woodpile Down. In the new album, Stuart and his band the Fabulous Superlatives present songs with a traditional country sound, with most of the songs written by Stuart. If the sound of the album is not enough to show its country roots, the last two songs bring the point home. Lorrie Carter Bennett of The Carter Family sings on “A Song of Sadness,” and Hank Williams III joins Stuart on Hank Williams Sr.’s “Picture from Life’s Other Side.”

On Stuart’s website, you may also get a free download of “Tear The Woodpile Down” (“Taxpayer dollar ain’t worth a dime / Government’s got us in a bind”) by providing your email address.

Check it out.

What do you think of Marty Stuart’s new album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Sam Williams: “Can’t Fool Your Own Blood” (Song of the Day)

Connie Smith: “Once a Day” (Song of the Day)

Hank Williams Live Show from July 1952 (Audio)

Marty Stuart’s Celebration of “The Pilgrim” Through A Wall-to-Wall Odyssey

D.L. Menard: “The Back Door”

Marty Stuart Takes Us “Way Out West”

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Levon Helm RIP

Breaking news is that Levon Helm, the singer and drummer of The Band as well as a solo artist, just passed away, surrounded by family in friends. Heaven just got a great singer and drummer. Check out a recent interview with Helm, and check out this video of “The Weight” with John Hiatt. RIP man.

Also here is Helm’s haunting vocals on “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” from Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz.

On his Facebook page yesterday, The Band’s Robbie Robertson wrote of going to visit Helm one last time, concluding, “Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I’ve ever known and very much like an older brother to me. I am so grateful I got to see him one last time and will miss him and love him forever.” So will we all.

You Can’t Raise a Caine Back Up

Cover Songs: Wilco, Mavis Staples, and Nick Lowe cover “The Weight”

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’s Last Waltz

“Make Ourselves Better”: Interview with Levon Helm

Dylan’s Inspiration: “Drifting Too Far From the Shore”

The Unsatisfying Ending of Scorsese’s “Silence” That Is Still Perfect

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

American Revolution Begins: Don’t You Know It’s Gonna Be All Right?

At around 5 a.m. on April 19, 1775, approximately 700 British troops marched toward Lexington, Massachusetts. Their plan was to seize weapons and Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

As the soldiers approached Lexington, they encountered 77 minutemen with arms. During the encounter, “the shot heard ’round the world” was fired by an unidentified musket, and the Patriots were routed. Eight Colonists died from the battle. Ten more were wounded, with one British solder injured.

But that as not the end of the fight. Due to warnings by Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes, the British encountered more Patriots on their journey through Lexington and Concord. The result was 300 British casualties by the time they returned to Boston. The American Revolution had begun, and the world would never be the same.

The Beatles’ “Revolution”

Another revolution with both American and British connections is the song, “Revolution,” written by John Lennon and performed by the Beatles. The song was a reaction to political protests occurring in early 1968.

The Beatles released the rock version of the song that you usually hear as a B-side to “Hey Jude” on August 26, 1968. That version, which Rolling Stone ranks as the thirteenth greatest Beatles song, appears at the end of this post.

The Beatles recorded another slower version of the song first. They called this slower version “Revolution 1.” That version appeared on the 1968 double album The Beatles (aka “The White Album“). The band recorded “Revolution 1” before “Revolution,” remaking the song for the single release. Below is the original slow “Revolution 1.”

The White Album also included the experimental “Revolution 9.” The Beatles created this song out of parts of what was originally in “Revolution 1.”

Although the rock “Revolution” did not have quite the same impact as the American Revolution, it did cause some controversy. Many focused on the line, “But when you talk about destruction / Don’t you know that you can count me out.” Some on the far left saw the “out” as a betrayal. And those on the other end questioned the ambiguity of the “Revolution 1” version which stated the line as “count me out . . . in.”

Most agree though that “Revolution” preached a different kind of revolution than the violent American Revolution. The song was still causing controversy in 1987. That year, many Beatles fans hated to see the music they loved being commercialized when “Revolution become the first Beatles song licensed for a commercial (for Nike).

But the legacy of the song is that it will come up anytime someone talks about a revolution. It is the first song you think of when you think about revolutionary changes.

The opening scream of “Revolution” is the revolution heard round the world.

BONUS TRIVIA: The live television performance above appears to be from The Smothers Brothers Show in 1968. Although you see Paul McCartney doing the scream at the beginning of the performance above, on the record Lennon’s voice does the scream. McCartney does the scream in the live video because Lennon could not do the scream and be ready to sing the first line. Finally, do you know how many times does the word “revolution” appear in “Revolution”? Answer will appear in the comments.

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