Amidst the spread of coronavirus in the U.S., with Americans huddled indoors, Bob Dylan has sent us a message — or at least a little entertainment. The release is a nearly 17-minute epic “Murder Most Foul.”
The song “Murder Most Foul,” full of pop culture references, centers around the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Although originally recorded for his 2012 album Tempest, Dylan is releasing the song now as a standalone track. The timing seems intentional, releasing the song about a troubled country during our current troubled times.
Dylan offers little explanation for the timing, only announcing on his website: “Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty across the years. This is an unreleased song we recorded awhile back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you.”
The Guardian notes that the main point of the song is the dense and intriguing lyrics, adding that the “JFK assassination looms large in Dylan’s history.” It is a fascinating song, and the rest of us will be listening and thinking about it throughout our current crisis and beyond.
Check out “Murder Most Foul” below.
What do you think of Bob Dylan’s “Murder Most Foul” Leave your two cents in the comments.
Kenny Rogers passed away last night in Georgia at the age of 81. Rogers song like “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Most tributes will begin with references to songs that we heard many times on pop-country radio through the years like “The Gambler,” “Lucille,” “Don’t Fall in Love With a Dreamer” and “Islands in the Stream.” Yet, I often forget that early in his career he recorded “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In” with The First Edition when he was more of a hippy than a silver-bearded pop singer.
You may recall the Kenny Rogers song from a dream sequence in the movie The Big Lebowski in 1998, but it first became a hit in 1967. “Just Dropped In” was written by one of Kenny Rogers’s former high school friends — Mickey Newbury, who also composed “An American Trilogy,” discussed in a previous post.
“Just Dropped In” sounds unlike “Coward of the County” and the other pop songs Rogers recorded later in his career. Even his voice sounds different. And the lyrics deviate from the literalness of most of his hits:
I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in;
I watched myself crawlin’ out as I was a-crawlin’ in;
I got up so tight I couldn’t unwind;
I saw so much I broke my mind;
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.
According to some sources, “Just Dropped In” was written as a warning about using LSD. But such drug rumors surround many songs from the era.
A 2000 Billboard article “The Story So Far,” however, quotes Rogers explaining that Newbury did not intend the song to be taken completely seriously. “Mickey wrote a quasi-psychedelic song with elements of humor,” he explained. “It’s a tradition in country music to have your tongue in cheek, and that’s the case here.” (“The Story So Far,” at K-2)
One additional piece of trivia: the late great Glen Campbell played the guitar on the original recording.
Check out this psycedelic video from The Smother Brothers Hour. Kenny Rogers was always cool. RIP.
What is your favorite Kenny Rogers song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
As the U.S. and the world face a load of uncertainty surrounding the spread of the coronavirus, we are told to limit our contacts with others. But at least we still have some things to comfort us, like the warm sound of Louis Armstrong.
The pasta section of a local grocery store
Last week, we had someone try to break into our apartment around 3 a.m. I was already up feeding our baby when I heard a pounding noise in the hallway that kept continuing. So I went to the door and listened, until the person started kicking at our door.
I yelled at the guy through the door, where I soon realized he was drunk and did not live in our building. But he continued to kick our door and others until the police arrived.
Anyway, it turned out that the guy had gone out and gotten extremely drunk in response to some of the news about the coronavirus (reacting to being worried because of what turned out to be inaccurate statements by our president). And he ended up in our neighborhood, where he kicked in two doors of our apartment building.
The point being that while businesses and local leaders are trying to tackle the physical health aspects of the coronavirus and to some extent worrying about the economic impact, this thing is also taking its toll on our mental health. So it is important that each of us take care of each other and ourselves the best we can.
There are ways we can help our neighbors, like making sure elderly neighbors have precious toilet paper until the run on toilet paper and panic buying subsides. We can also give to local food banks that will be needed to help people financially impacted by the closings. One source to find your local food bank is the Feeding America website.
Another way to help ourselves is to take a break from the news, as reporters constantly barrage us with the inevitable growing number of cases. Remember that all of the closures and actions are not designed to stop the spread, which largely be done once we have a vaccine, which will come. But these closures are meant to slow things down so our system can handle the coronavirus until health care officials have a better handle on it.
When you step away from the news, put on an old comforting movie. Or play some music you like. In times like these, we need music that can comfort us.
Louis Armstrong saw a lot of changes and lived through some troubled times in America. But his trumpet and voice broke through the pain and helped us find that joy still exists.
Nowhere is that joy found more clearly than in his performances of “Rockin’ Chair.” Below, Armstrong and Jack Teagarden (vocal and trombone) perform “Rockin’ Chair” in 1957 in New York City with Peanuts Hucko (clarinet), Marty Napoleon (piano), Arvell Shaw (bass), and Cozy Cole (drums). Give it a listen and let your worries subside for a few minutes.
Hoagy Carmichael wrote “Rockin’ Chair” and it was first recorded in February, 1929. Armstrong and Carmichael recorded it in December of that year. Of course, between those dates, the stock market had crashed, and the song gave joy to many as they faced the Great Depression.
My dear old aunt Harriet, in Heaven she be, Send me sweet chariot, for the end of the trouble I see; Old rocking chair gets it, judgement day is here; Chained to my rocking chair.
A year after the above performance, Teagarden and Armstrong performed “Rockin’ Chair” again at The Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. Check it out.
Lazer Lloyd is releasing a new single “The Simple Life.” The laid-back acoustic song is a breath of fresh air in our complicated world.
In the song, Lloyd sings about trying “to embrace the miracles of creation” over the distractions of mass commercialism (“keep me away from all the screens and telephones”). Like the title, the lyrics present a simple message, but a worthwhile message in these crazy days.
On singer-songwriter Lazer Lloyd’s website, he writes that he wants us to “ask ourselves what are really the important things in life. Because we are going to be inundated with so many things the world is going to convince us we need.” And he explains that the song asks us to “go back to keeping it simple which is family and friends, building our spirituality, physical health, our mental health and being balanced. Enjoying life, being in the moment and not getting carried away with the material world.”
We occasionally hear a similar message in other great songs. For example, the Shakers (and American composer Aaron Copeland) used “Simple Gifts” about the gift to be simple. In the 1970s, Dion beautifully sang about finding a “Sanctuary” in difficult times. More recently, Passenger warned us we needed to get away from our computers to “Scare Away the Dark.”
What the songs have in common is that the truth of the message is wrapped in memorable music too. And here, in addition to the important message, what makes “The Simple Life” work is Lloyd’s deep voice and the acoustic arrangement of a catchy tune.
All together Lloyd’s song is a “simple” but delightful contribution (and reminder) as we wonder through these modern times. Take a deep breath and let the song and Lloyd’s refrain wash over your troubles.
Lazer Lloyd, who has been described as “Israel’s hassidic blues rocker [who] reaches for the American heartland,” is releasing the single and official video for “The Simple Life” on March 6, 2020. The song will appear on Lloyd’s upcoming album, Tomorrow Never Comes. We will post the official video after it is released, but for a preview of the song, here is Lloyd performing the song.
A new documentary about the life of Guy Clark is being released. Without Getting Killed or Caught recounts the music and life of the legendary Texas singer-songwriter.
Guy Clark is one of my favorite artists, so it is great to see his work getting more attention. One of my favorite all-time songs, Clark’s “L.A. Freeway,” provides the line that is the title of the upcoming film.
The documentary started out and was partially funded as a Kickstarter project. The film features commentary from many of those influenced by Clark, like Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell.
The movie is adapted from Clark’s wife’s writings in The Diaries of Susanna Clark, including the complicated relationship shared by her, Clark, and Townes Van Zandt. In the documentary, actress Sissy Spacek voices Susanna’s narration.
