Happy New Year! We wish everyone a happy new year, and especially for those who had a long year, we wish the new year brings good changes. One of my favorite songs about struggling through a year is Todd Snider‘s “Long Year,” the lead track from his excellent 2000 CD, Happy to Be Here.
“Long Year” captures someone struggling with alcohol addiction. The singer tells about attending a meeting and not knowing what to say. In the chorus, he notes “It has been a long, a long, long year” and wonders “How did I get here?” By the end of the song, though, he ends up back in a bar, thinking to himself, “Well, here we go again,” as he faces another long year.
The above video by Kathy Hatch was shot at Duggan’s Pub in Homer, Alaska on April 27, 2007. Yelp reports that the bar apparently had its own long bad year and is no longer open.
So be careful in your celebration, and have a good year.
What is your favorite song with “year” in the title? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On November 24, 1971, a man using the alias “Dan Cooper” boarded an airplane in Portland, later claiming he had a bomb and demanding money before he disappeared forever after parachuting out of the airplane.
In 2011, Newspapers reported that the F.B.I. had a “credible” lead in the mysterious case of D.B. Cooper. Once again, though, authorities remained baffled about the identity and fate of the famous hijacker.
Although I was around when Cooper disappeared, my interest in him peaked with a great song about the hijacker by Todd Snider.
The Hijacking
FBI Composite Sketch of “Cooper”
On November 24, 1971 — the afternoon before Thanksgiving — a man boarded a flight in Portland, Oregon under the alias “Dan Cooper.” The name was later misreported into legend as “D.B. Cooper.”
On the flight, Cooper handed a note to a flight attendant. In the note, he claimed he had a bomb and asked for parachutes and $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills.
At a stop at the Seattle-Tacoma airport, officials met the demands, and Cooper released the passengers. After refueling, the plane once again took off with Cooper and the crew on board. At some point during the flight, Cooper apparently opened a door. Then, he parachuted out of the plane with the cash into the night and a raging storm.
Cooper was never found, and in later years various discoveries contributed to the puzzle. For example, in 1980, a boy found some packets of the ransom money on the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington. Through the years, other findings have often raised speculations. But usually it would turn out the evidence was not connected to the hijacking.
In 2011, reports indicate that the F.B.I. identified a suspect in the case, although he is now dead. They are doing further investigation, so we will have to wait and see whether there is a real breakthrough or just another false lead like all the others.
June 2016 Update: In June 2016, the FBI closed the case on the hijacking, leaving the mystery of D.B. Cooper unsolved.
Todd Snider’s Song
The best thing about the Cooper news is that it gives me a chance to post one of my favorite Todd Snider songs, aptly named “D.B. Cooper.” Todd Snider is a singer-songwriter who tells great stories with his songs. Snider has noted that one of his greatest influences is Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and it shows in his music and presentation.
A Washington Post recent review of Snider’s latest live CD, Todd Snider Live: The Storyteller, explains that Snider may be “the most likable man in music.” The article reports that Snider is “one hell of a performer, having built up a cult following thanks to nearly 20 years of concerts that double as side-splitting storytelling sessions.”
Snider’s song “D.B. Cooper” from the CD Happy to Be Here (2000) recounts the story of D.B. Cooper fairly accurately. He does combine a bit of poetic license and childhood memory to make the tale an excellent song.
In writing the song, Snider perhaps found a small connection to D.B. Cooper, who began his strange journey at an airport in Portland, Oregon. On October 11, 1966, Snider was born in Portland.
And perhaps because the hijacking occurred in the 1970s and the song was released prior to the events of 9/11, one accepts the tradition of making the outlaw a hero a little bit more than we might have at another time. “Not far away from the City of Roses / A light shined from a house out in the rain / It was D.B. Cooper / Drinking champagne.”
You may hear the original full-band version from the album at this link.
What do you think happened to the real D.B. Cooper? What is your favorite Todd Snider song? Leave a comment.
