Chimesfreedom‘s song of the day is Jason Isbell‘s new song, “Something More Than Free,” the title track off his new album released July 17, 2015. It is a rare song that is somewhat of an ode to work: “And I don’t think on why I’m here where it hurts / I’m just lucky to have the work.”
But the song is about more. “Something More Than Free” meditates on how we give meaning to our lives (“Guess I’m doin’ what I’m on this earth to do”). While the singer is thankful for the work, he also looks for something more.
And the day will come when I’ll find a reason, And somebody proud to love a man like me; My back is numb, my hands are freezing; What I’m working for is something more than free.
So, check out the title track from Something More Than Free by the Alabama-born and former Drive-By Trucker Isbell. Here, Isbell performs an acoustic version of the song at KUTX Studio 1A.
Wayne Carson, who wrote songs such as “Always on My Mind,” passed away on Monday, July 20, 2015. The 72-year-old Carson, who was born with the name Wayne Carson Head, had been suffering a number of health problems.
Carson wrote or co-wrote a number of great songs such as “The Letter,” which was a hit for The Box Tops and for Joe Cocker, and “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles),” which was a hit in 1975 for Gary Stewart. But his song “Always on My Mind,” for most people, is the first song that will come to mind.
Johnny Christopher and Mark James, who helped with the bridge of the song, are listed as co-writers, but Carson started writing “Always on My Mind” and finished much of it himself. Since then, more than 300 people have recorded “Always on My Mind,” including a hit version by Willie Nelson in 1982.
Many people first heard “Always on My Mind” from Elvis Presley, who recorded the song on March 29, 1972 as his marriage to Priscilla Presley was falling apart. Presley recorded several excellent songs that capture the anguish he felt during the time, but “Always on My Mind” stands out. Even though he did not write the songs, Presley knew how to tap into his own emotions to reach the depths of a song’s lyrics.
While “Always on My Mind” dwells on a common concept of heartbreak, the lyrics strip bare every ounce of pain in the opening lines of regret. Carson recognized that sometimes the worst regret is not for things that we have done but for things that we did not do.
Maybe I didn’t treat you, Quite as good as I should have; Maybe I didn’t love you, Quite as often as I could have; Little things I should have said and done, I just never took the time. You were always on my mind.
The greatness of the song is revealed by the fact that two of our greatest interpreters of songs — Nelson and Presley — gave moving renditions of “Always on My Mind.” Today, we mourn the loss of Wayne Carson while thanking him for putting beautiful words and music together that help capture the human condition.
What is your favorite version of “Always on My Mind”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On July 19, 1799 near the town of Rosetta, Egypt, a French officer named Pierre-François Bouchard found a large black basalt stone with writing on it. The stone included three languages that said the same thing in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. Scholars thus discovered that the “Rosetta Stone” was the key to interpreting the long-dead written language of hieroglyphics. The stone would eventually become important for interpreting and understanding ancient Egyptian culture.
What Happened to the Rosetta Stone
Napoleon Bonaparte’s armies during the Egyptian campaign took control of the stone. But the British soon took it from the French when they defeated Napoleon in 1801.
The next year, the British placed the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, where it has remained through today (except for a brief period during World War I), including earlier this year when I visited the British Museum in London and took the photo above.
“And It Stoned Me”
I do not know what Pierre-François Bouchard thought when he first saw the Rosetta Stone. But because of Napoleon’s orders to look for artifacts, Bouchard knew he had found something. I do wonder if he had any idea of the impact the rock would have on the world.
If Bouchard knew how important it was, the discovery surely must have “stoned him,” an expression used by Van Morrison in “And It Stoned Me” from his Moondance (1970) album. Below, Morrison performs the song on June 18, 1980 at Montreux.
Van Morrison has explained that “And It Stoned Me” is about an experience he had as a twelve-year-old kid on a fishing trip. During the trip, an old man gave him water from a spring, with everything seeming to stand still in the moment.
In its original review of Moondance, Rolling Stone saw the water in “And It Stoned Me” as rain. The magazine recounted that the song is “a tale of boys out for a day’s freedom, standing in the rain with eyes and mouths open, heads bent back.” The review concluded, “The sensuality of this song is overpowering, communicated with a classical sort of grace.”
The magazine described the song in the same way that Bouchard might have felt upon seeing the Rosetta Stone: “you feel the exhilaration almost with a sense of astonishment.” When I visited the Rosetta Stone in London, I felt some of that astonishment too.
In honor of this date’s discovery of the Rosetta Stone, take a moment to feel a little exhilarated from both mystical experiences and for human beings’ ongoing quest for knowledge.
Photo via Chimesfreedom. Leave your two cents in the comments.
Around noon on July 16, 1981, the 38-year-old singer-songwriter Harry Chapin was driving his daughter’s 1975 blue VW Rabbit on the Long Island Expressway heading to perform a free concert that evening at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York. Apparently due to either a heart attack or to mechanical problems, Chapin suddenly put on his flashers and drastically slowed down before his car began swerving.
Chapin’s car was then hit by a tractor-trailer truck, and the Rabbit burst into flames. Chapin was rescued from the car and taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he soon died.
The doctor listed the cause of death as cardiac arrest. But we do not know if the heart attack caused the accident or vice versa. But even with that mystery, maybe we know more about the man by where he was going than how the trip ended.
On his way to give a free concert, Chapin’s death reminded us that he always loved the music, and it reminds us of how he devoted much of his time to philanthropic work, including his advocacy regarding world hunger. He gave us good music and good works, providing some inspiration for later events in the 1980s like Live Aid and Farm Aid.
Behind the Music
I miss when VH1 used to regularly feature Behind the Music episodes. One episode from the show’s first season focused on Harry Chapin. For more on Harry Chapin, check out this episode of Behind the Music from 1998.
I Wonder What Would Happen to this World
Chapin, who was born on December 7, 1942, was buried at Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington, New York. His tombstone features words from his song “I Wonder What Would Happen to this World.”
Oh if a man tried To take his time on Earth, And prove before he died What one man’s life could be worth, I wonder what would happen to this world.
In this video, Harry Chapin’s daughter Jen Chapin sings her version of the song.
On Sunday July 16, 1967, Jimi Hendrix opened for The Monkees for the final time. The opening performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was the last of three shows at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, New York, and it ended a seven-show run for Hendrix that started when he joined the ongoing tour in Jacksonville, Florida, on July 8. After Jacksonville, the pairing also performed in Miami Beach (Florida) on July 9, Charlotte (North Carolina) on July 11, and Greensboro (North Carolina) on July 12 before heading north for the final shows together in Queens on July 14, 15, and 16.
The Pairing of Jimi Hendrix With The Monkees
During the summer of 1967, Hendrix was popular in the United Kingdom, but he was still rising in the United States. He garnered attention at his performance earlier in the summer at the Monterey Pop Festival, where Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz had seen him. But Hendrix’s first album Are You Experienced (1967) was not released in the U.S. until August. So, Hendrix ended up as the opening act for The Monkees, who were in the middle of their successful 1966-1968 TV series run.
The teaming of The Monkees and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was meant to go longer then seven shows, continuing until August 20. And the members of The Monkees were fans of Hendrix and enjoyed having him on tour.
The Eventual Split
But many who came to see The Monkees were not happy to hear an opening act so different from the band they came to see. For example, some fans yelled “We Want Davy [Jones]” as Hendrix played.
One often repeated story is that after Hendrix had enough, he flipped off the audience at the Forest Hills show and then left. Hendrix told NME magazine that it was just the “wrong audience,” joking that he was being replaced with “Mickey Mouse.”
Hendrix, however, also told the magazine that he got along well with the members of The Monkees. And by most accounts the departure was amicable.
By some accounts, Hendrix’s managers knew the combination would not work and had planned the pairing as a publicity stunt all along. Either way, it was one of the most unique concert billings in rock history, and one that would never be repeated.
A little more than three years later, Hendrix passed away on September 18, 1970. Four days after Hendrix’s death, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz recorded the final Monkees song for the original band, with Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith having already quit.
Tour Promo
Below is a radio promo for the Detroit show featuring Hendrix opening for The Monkees. Note that the photos were added for the YouTube video and were not a part of the promotion.
The Detroit show took place on August 13, by which time Hendrix had left the tour. So fans who bought tickets based on this promo may have ended up disappointed. Check it out.
Note: The This Day in History website states that the final Hendrix-Monkees show was July 17, 1962, but the concert poster shown in this video verifies that the final Forest Hills date was on July 16. Also, some websites claim that Hendrix and The Monkees played together at eight shows, but a Monkees website that lists the shows between Jacksonville and Forest Hills confirms there were seven shows in that span.
Do you wish you had seen one of these concerts? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Chimesfreedom‘s song of the day is Jason Isbell‘s new song, “Something More Than Free,” the title track off his new album
Wayne Carson, who wrote songs such as “Always on My Mind,” 
On 
(1970) album. Below, Morrison performs the song on June 18, 1980 at Montreux.
On Sunday July 16, 1967, 