Earlier this year, John Moreland released High on Tulsa Heat. The album is Moreland’s third full-length solo record, but if you have never heard Moreland, you are bound to be drawn into the opening track on the album, “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars.” The guy is the real deal.
Moreland was born in Texas and lived in Kentucky for awhile, but he has been living in Tulsa, Oklahoma since he was ten-years-old, the same age he started writing songs. And while his earlier music included work in punk, rock, and hardcore bands, his most recent work features acoustic guitars and a gravely country voice that places him among the outstanding performers in the Texas singer-songwriter tradition.
Perhaps you will recognize Moreland’s voice because several of his songs have appeared on the Sons of Anarchy TV series. Either way, though, you are in for a treat when you hear this performance of “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars” at the TuneIn House at SXSW 2015.
Bruce Springsteen explained that the lick for “Badlands” was taken from “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by the Animals.
During a 2012 talk at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference, Bruce Springsteen explained that he found the lick for “Badlands,” which appeared on Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978), in “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by the Animals. Then he exclaimed, “Listen up youngsters, this is how successful theft is accomplished!”
The video of the entire speech is no longer on YouTube, but there are segments available, including the video below, which is set to start where he begins talking about the Animals.
In the rest of the speech, Springsteen explained the role that music has played in his life, including Elvis, Roy Orbison, and the Beatles. He discussed The Animals, complete with an acoustic rendition of “We Got to Get Out of This Place,” concluding, “that’s every song I’ve every written.”
I found the story about the “Badlands” riff interesting because I had not made the connection. But one may hear it now that he pointed it out. Here are the Animals performing “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” on The Ed Sullivan Show. The lick appears at several points, including the beginning and the end of the song.
Here is Springsteen performing “Badlands” at the Pinkpop festival in 2009.
Can you hear it? He did not mention the lyrics, but one might wonder whether “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” also inspired the “understood” line in the “Badlands” chorus: “We’ll keep pushing ’til it’s understood / And these Badlands start treating us good.”
After the speech, Springsteen performed at SXSW and was joined onstage by Eric Burdon, the lead singer of the Animals (Chicago Tribune review here). So apparently there are no hard feelings about the larceny — or Springsteen’s comments earlier in the speech about how Burdon’s ugliness made him realize he could be a rock star too.
What do you think? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Earlier this year, John Moreland released High on Tulsa Heat
