Tag: Tim McGraw

Please Remember the Original of “Please Remember Me”

Rodney Crowell Essential

Danielle Bradbery, the season four winner of NBC’s The Voice, recently did a nice cover of the song “Please Remember Me.” The young singer, who is not yet seventeen and who represents the team of Blake Shelton, has an excellent voice and a lot of potential.

So, it was great to see this fantastic country song get some recent attention.  And the teenager Bradbery shows a powerhouse voice that will probably be around awhile.

Bradbery’s performance was not the only recent singing competition performance of the song. You may have heard the song on American Idol after season ten winner Scotty McCreery recorded it for use as an exit song for the eleventh season of American Idol.

Yes, the title fits those leaving American Idol, but such use of the song sort of misses the heartfelt meaning of the rest of the song. As explained below, there is more to the song than a farewell. You might hear that depth in this performance by the young and talented McCreery when he made a return visit to American Idol, but only if you ignore the hijinks on the video screen behind him.

What is “Please Remember Me” About?

“Please Remember Me” is a classic heartache song.  The singer is leaving someone behind but wishing them well by reassuring them that they will find someone better. But the song is also a plea, asking the former love to remember the singer. “Please Remember Me,” like Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” (made even more famous by Whitney Houston), imagines the person left behind going on with life.

But unlike “I Will Always Love You,” in most of “Please Remember Me” the singer is not imagining how the singer will remember the lost love.  Yet, there is a little of that when the singer notes, “Part of you will live in me.” Instead, most of “Please Remember Me” is asking the lost love to remember the singer.

And there is something sadder when the singer predicts that the (younger?) lover will “find better love.” The singer asks to be remembered “[w]hen I can’t hurt you anymore.”

Tim McGraw’s “Please Remember Me”

Most people probably know the song from Tim McGraw‘s version. McGraw does a decent job. And I have previously noted that McGraw does have some talent for choosing good songs.

Rodney Crowell’s “Please Remember Me”

For me, though, the best version of “Please Remember Me” is by one of the songwriters, Rodney Crowell, who wrote the song with Will Jennings. Crowell has written some of the best country songs since the 1970s.  And he is held in high esteem by country traditionalists, even as he has never had the mainstream popularity of singers like Tim McGraw.

According to Wikipedia, “Please Remember Me” only went to #69 on Billboard’s country charts for Crowell in 1995. Meanwhile, it went to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles & Tracks for McGraw when he released his version in 1999.

I have previously discussed how another Crowell heartache song “Til I Gain Control Again” is one of the all-time greats.  And “Please Remember Me” is another song that captures a true human emotion that too rarely appears in popular songs.

At the time he co-wrote the song, Crowell was already 45 years old (and co-writer Will Jennings was in his 50’s).  The lyrics, sung by an older singer, show an understanding of why the love will not work while also showing a world-weariness: “Just like the waves down by the shore / We’re gonna keep on coming back for more.”

When “Please Remember Me” is sung by a young singer, there is a touch of hopefulness and optimism about two lovers remembering each other. One might find that even Tim McGraw, who was in his early 30’s when he recorded the song, gives the song a different meaning than Crowell’s version. Still, McGraw seems to recognize Crowell’s context for the song by the rare action of removing his hat to make himself look older in the video.

But it is easier to imagine the weary older Crowell making the bittersweet plea with all of its subtext. So, if you enjoyed Danielle Bradbery’s cover or Tim McGraw’s cover, make sure you check out the Rodney Crowell original, which also features Patty Loveless providing harmony vocals for Crowell.

What is your favorite version of “Please Remember Me”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Listen My Children and You Shall Hear Inaccuracies About Paul Revere

    On June 2, 2011, while traveling on a tour of U.S. historical sites, Sarah Palin sparked interest in Paul Revere because of her claim that the famous rider warned “the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms. . . by ringing those bells.” I suppose how one feels about her statement about Paul Revere — who actually rode to alert the Americans about the approaching British and who did not use bells — may depend on pre-existing feelings about the speaker. So, we will leave the debate about her statement and her continued claims t

    hat she was correct to the political commentators and others, including those attempting to rewrite Revere’s Wikipedia entry. But the interest in the historical event is a good side effect of her statement.

    Revere’s Famous Ride
    Paul Revere Picture Book
    Revere made his famous ride near Boston on the evening of April 18, 1775.  The British were on the move to seize military stores in Concord. According to the excellent one-volume history of the U.S., A History of the United States by Alan Nevins and Henry Steele Commager:

    “Patriots were on the watch and a lantern in the tower of North Church flashed word to Paul Revere beyond the Charles River, who galloped off to arouse the countryside. The embattled farmers gathered at dawn with their muskets . . . There was a brief skirmish, eight Americans fell dead, and the Revolution was under way. Sam Adams was not far away, and as he heard the rattle of the guns, he exclaimed: ‘What a glorious morning is this!'”

    To give Palin some credit, she did recall correctly that the ride was prompted by the British plan to seize weapons. I suspect some of her critics did not recall that part of the story themselves. Further, she is not the first to make historically inaccurate statements about the ride.

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Version

    In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” he exaggerated Revere’s role by ignoring the other riders. And Longfellow’s poem inaccurately claimed that Revere made it all the way to Concord.  In fact, British soldiers captured him and took away his horse.

    But Longfellow’s goal was to tell a tale about a national hero, not to teach history. Hence we have the term, “poetic license.” Still, the famous opening lines of the poem make it easy for one to remember the correct date of the ride:
    Paul Revere and the Raiders
    Listen, my children, and you shall hear
    Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
    On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five;
    Hardly a man is now alive
    Who remembers that famous day and year.

    Paul Revere and the Raiders

    There is another famous “Paul Revere.” He was in Paul Revere and the Raiders, the band that had several hits in the 1960s and 1970s. Paul Revere the rider started out as a silversmith.  And the Raiders’ musician Paul Revere started out as a barber in Boise, Idaho. “Paul Revere” was his real name, although Revere was his middle name and his full name was Paul Revere Dick.

    The band’s biggest hit was “Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian),” which was written by songwriter John D. Loudermilk. Mark Lindsay, the lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders, was part Native American and wanted to record the song even though it was released a few years earlier by Don Fardon.

    During the summer of 1971, aided by Revere’s promotion of the song with a cross-country motorcycle ride, the Raiders version of “Indian Reservation” became the most popular tune in the U.S. and the biggest hit Columbia Records had ever released.

    “Indian Reservation” also became the most popular song in my childhood home that summer, as my older sister purchased the 45 record and played it repeatedly. Some Native Americans used the Paul Revere and the Raiders version in their struggle for civil rights.

    In addition to the version by Paul Revere and the Raiders, the song would later be covered by UK band 999 and be sampled in a Tim McGraw song.

    The Cherokee

    Like Longfellow’s poem about Paul Revere, the song by Paul Revere and the Raiders was based on historical events. In the early 1800s, Cherokee Indians lived around Georgia.  But as new pioneers came to the land with its fertile soil, conflicts soon arose. Although the tribes had built houses and settled in the area, the incoming white settlers desired more land.

    In 1838, the Federal government ordered that the Cherokee be resettled in the western United States. The Cherokee were sent from Georgia and other states along with other Native Americans, including Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles.

    Many of the Cherokee died as they made the long trip.  They traveled largely on foot and by wagon, facing exposure, hunger, and illness. Because of the sorrow and death caused by the removal, the forced march to what is now Oklahoma became known as the Trail of Tears.

    As Paul Revere and the Raiders sang, “Cherokee people, Cherokee tribe/ So proud to live, so proud to die.” In upcoming political campaigns, all of our politicians would do well to remember these parts of American history — and perhaps visit those historical sites too — in addition to taking pride in the the glorious stories like the one about Paul Revere’s ride.

    What do you think about Paul Revere, the Raiders, the song, or the media coverage of Sarah Palin’s statement? Leave a comment.

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    Who is Ryan Adams?

    Ryan Adams HeartbreakerThis week on American Idol, Chimesfreedom was impressed that a contestant covered a Ryan Adams song, “Come Pick Me Up.” The contestant, Paul McDonald, however recognized that some of America may not know the artist so he clarified that it was “Ryan” Adams and not “Bryan” Adams, so they should not expect “Summer of ’69.” His clarification did not help one of the judges, as Jennifer Lopez mentioned she had never heard of Ryan Adams.

    McDonald has an interesting voice and style, and he has potential to do well on the show. He seems to have a decent taste in music, including his choice to cover Ryan Adams, and I hope that his choice to wear a Nudie Suit on one show indicates we may have a Gram Parsons cover in the future. But his cheery performance of “Come Pick Me Up” sort of sucked out the anger from the original version of the kiss-off song, even accepting that some of the words had to be edited out for the show (with “screw all my friends” becoming “use all my friends”). If you have never heard the excellent original version of “Come Pick Me Up” by Ryan Adams, check it out.

    Ryan Adams started out performing with the alt-country band Whiskeytown, which released three outstanding albums between 1995 and 2001. After leaving the band, he has had a successful career, beginning with one of my favorite albums, Heartbreaker, which features “Come Pick Me Up.” He has several excellent albums, and his music style ranges across a wide spectrum. His forthcoming album, the limited-edition EP Class Mythology, will be released April 16. Chimesfreedom likely will revisit some of his other songs in the future, but for now enjoy his version of “Come Pick Me Up.”

    If you are curious, here is this week’s American Idol version of “Come Pick Me Up.”

    McDonald’s version of a Ryan Adams song was not the first time someone on American Idol sang a Ryan Adams song. At that time, they credited the song, “When the Stars Go Blue,” to Tim McGraw, who had recorded a cover of that song.

    What did you think of the cover of the Ryan Adams song? Leave a comment.

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    Life Lessons – From a Pulitzer-Prize Winner, a Country Star, and an American Idol

    Calendar January 2011 for Tim McGraw Live Like You Were Dying Chimesfreedom wishes you a happy and healthy new year with this post about a Pulitzer-Prize winning book interpreted indirectly through song, leaving you with a question to ask yourself every day throughout the new year.

    Although Tim McGraw is not one of my favorite singers, there are times when popular artists record a song that is undeniably clever and catchy.  Popular songs are popular for a reason.  And I cannot help liking his song, “Live Like You Were Dying,” and the way it also relates to one of my favorite books.

    “Live Like You Were Dying” exceeds anything else McGraw has recorded.  Part of the reason may be the somewhat unusual message in the song.  Although traditional country music has a history of delving into deep adult themes, often modern country music ends up as superficial as most pop music.  “Live Like You Were Dying,” though, summarizes one of the lessons from Ernest Becker‘s Pulitzer-prize winning book, Denial of Death.

    Ernest Becker & Our Mortality

    Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death Becker’s book touches on several themes, but a principal theme may be summarized (in a somewhat oversimplified way for a short blog post):  (1) human beings are intelligent; (2) because we are intelligent, we are faced with the knowledge that we are rotting pieces of animal flesh that will someday die; (3) this knowledge of our mortality is overwhelming, so we push the knowledge to our subconscious; (4) to help us deal with our knowledge of mortality, we latch onto various cultural devices that help us suppress our fear of death — such as activities that subconsciously make us feel immortal, like rooting for sports teams, shopping, exuberant patriotism, writing a blog, raising children, etc.

    There are both upsides and downsides to our subconscious quest for immortality.  It may drive us to do things that benefit others, but it also may make us subconsciously hostile to others who have belief systems different from us.  If you believe something different than I do, you threaten the subconscious protections I have created as a shield against my mortality.  In the last few decades, “Terror Management Theory” psychologists have done significant research regarding how these theories affect our real world interactions.

    Ernest Becker’s books, in particular Denial of Death and Escape from Evil, explain the theories in more detail.  But his work is based on philosophers, psychologists, scientists, etc. going back more than a century.

    What does all this have to do with a pop song by a country superstar?  Although there is an aspect of Becker’s work that initially sounds depressing, there is an uplifting side, and that is portrayed rather well in the song.  One of Becker’s points is that if you are consciously aware of reality — including one’s mortality and the ways we may try to suppress it — then it may help you embrace life and more accurately assess value to the things in our life.

    Live Like You Were Dying

    “Live Like You Were Dying” begins with a friend in his early 40’s telling the narrator about getting bad news from the doctor relating to his x-rays (otherwise the song is vague about the exact nature of the disease).  The narrator “asked him when it sank in,/That this might really be the real end?/ How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news? /Man whatcha do?”

    The friend, instead of responding about being angry or depressed, tells the narrator in the chorus of the song:

    An’ he said: “I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
    “I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
    “And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
    “And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying.”
    An’ he said: “Some day, I hope you get the chance,
    “To live like you were dyin’.”

    The friend then explains how he became a better husband, a better friend, and a better son.  The chorus repeats with the friend restating the wish about hoping that the narrator gets the chance “To live like you were dyin’,” explaining in the bridge, as the music builds:

    Like tomorrow was a gift,
    And you got eternity,
    To think about what you’d do with it.
    An’ what did you do with it?
    An’ what can I do with it?
    An’ what would I do with it?

    Although the song was written by songwriter Tim Nichols and not by Tim McGraw, the video reflects McGraw’s connection to the song.  In the final chorus, starting at around the 3:00 mark, you see a Phillies pitcher throwing a strikeout to Willie Wilson of the Royals to win the 1980 World Series.  The image is not there because McGraw is a Phillies fan or because he hates the Royals; that’s his dad Tug McGraw on the mound.

    Tug fathered Tim as the result of an affair and they did not have a relationship until Tim was a teenager.  But the two became close later in life.  Tug McGraw passed away from a brain tumor in early 2004, and Tim McGraw recorded “Live Like You Were Dying” later in the year in memory of his father.

    In the song, because the friend is talking to the narrator, the singer is singing the questions to us.  So, you are asked, if you knew that each day was precious and you were dying, what would you do?  The question is relevant to all of us.

    As Ernest Becker explained, we each only have a limited number of days to live.  More than 56 billion people in the world died between Jan 1, 2010 and Jan. 1, 2011, with most enjoying last New Year’s Day not knowing it was their last. Many of us will not be here a year from today.

    Our time here is short, and each day we are closer to death, giving us the opportunity to live like we are dying — instead of just dying. This new year, each month, and each day, including today, is a gift.

    What can you do with it?

    What are you going to do with it?

    Live Like We’re Dying

    Bonus American Idol Copy of Idea and Song Title: In 2009, American Idol winner Kris Allen recorded a song with a very similar title and similar theme to Tim McGraw’s song.  Allen’s song, entitled “Live Like We’re Dying,” repeats the theme of McGraw’s “Live Like You’re Dying” with a riff that may be more catchy to those turned off by men wearing cowboy hats when they sing.

    We only got 86 400 seconds in a day to
    Turn it all around or to throw it all away
    We gotta tell ’em that we love ’em while we got the chance to say
    Gotta live like we’re dying

    The song, written by four writers, is more generic than the McGraw song.  It tries to send a similar message without the personal story of the country song.

    Oa recent road trip, I heard the song late at night driving through New Jersey, and the catchy tune did get stuck in my head.  But the meaning behind the song is not as emotionally powerful as in the personal story of the country song. Give it a listen.

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