There was a lot of love going around in last night’s tribute to John Prine called Pictire Show: Tribute to John Prine. Singers, performers, and friends appearing with stories and songs included Bonnie Raitt , Todd Snider, Sturgill Simpson, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Bill Murray, Kevin Bacon, Rita Wilson, and many others.
Throughout the tribute, Prine’s wife Fiona Prine makes several appearances to introduce artists. It is a loving tribute with great stories and music.
The full tribute is available for a limited time through Sunday, June 14. So, for now, check it out below. [Update: The full show is no longer online.]
There are two songs called “Beer Run” that are very similar. Did the George Jones and Garth Brooks version steal from Todd Snider’s “Beer Run”?
Singer-songwriter Todd Snider tells a funny story about his song “Beer Run” and how his song may or may not have been co-opted by other songwriters. A song with a similar title as Snider’s song was later recorded by Garth Brooks and George Jones.
Having heard both songs, I initially thought the George Jones and Garth Brooks song was a cover of the Todd Snider song. But it is a different song.
Todd Snider’s “Beer Run”
First, check out Todd Snider’s “Beer Run.” Snider’s song appeared on his 2001 album New Connection, and a live version of the song appears on his 2002 CD Near Truths and Hotel Rooms.
This Todd Snider version is from March 2007, with Snider performing at Front Porch House Concerts in Boulder Colorado.
The Garth Brooks and George Jones “Beer Run”
In 2001, Garth Brooks and George Jones recorded their version of the song called “Beer Run.” The Garth Brooks song appeared on Brooks’s 2001 album Scarecrow, and it was written by Kent Blazy, Kim Williams, Amanda Williams, Keith Anderson, and George Ducas.
Like Snider’s song, the Garth Brooks one uses spelling of the phrase (“B double E double are you in” [get it? r-u-n]) in the chorus.
And here is George Jones joining Garth Brooks singing “Beer Run”:
Even though George Jones is one of the greatest singers of all-time, the Todd Snider song “Beer Run” is much superior to the other version, at least in my estimation.
Todd Snider’s Response
But what does Snider think about the rip-off of his song? In the video below, after telling the funny story of the two songs, Snider shows how he can play the same game.
Thus, Snider sings “his” new song that just happens to have a similar title to “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” one of Garth Brooks’s recordings that Brooks wrote with Kent Blazy (one of the “Beer Run” songwriters). The video is from the same March 2007 Colorado performance as above.
Although at one point, both sides thought the other side stole “Beer Run,” they eventually agreed to assume they both were written independently. Snider did later have a brief encounter with Blazy about the song.
But Snider has no animosity toward Garth Brooks. The superstar treated Snider well when he planned to use one of Snider’s songs for his Chris Gaines project.
Which “Beer Run” do you prefer? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In the video below, singer-songwriter Todd Snider tells a wonderful story about hanging out with Jerry Jeff Walker, who wrote the classic “Mr. Bojangles.” And then the songwriter himself — who was born born Ronald Clyde Crosby on March 16, 1942 in Oneonta, New York — appears with Snider to sing the song.
Video of Snider and Walker
It’s great to see Snider on stage with Walker, as they are both very talented artists who do not get near the acclaim they deserve. So it makes me happy to think of the two hanging out at a bar. Check it out.
The Inspiration for “Mr. Bojangles”
In the introduction, Snider jokes about how Walker came out of jail with the song. And he is telling the truth.
Although many mistakenly believe that the song is about the dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Walker was inspired to write the song by a different man. He met the real “Mr. Bojangles” in a New Orleans jail during the Fourth of July weekend in 1965.
I met him in a cell in New Orleans; I was down and out; He looked to me to be the eyes of age, As he spoke right out; He talked of life, talked of life, He laughed, clicked his heels and stepped.
Walker was in the slammer for public intoxication when he met the homeless man who inspired the song. The man did tell Walker the sad story about the dog, and then he danced.
He Said His Name “Bojangles”
According to Wikipedia, the man did tell Walker he went by the name “Mr. Bojangles.” Apparently, he used the name to conceal his real identity from the police.
A 2000 article in the Post and Courier newspaper, though, claims that after Walker met the man in jail, Walker later added the “Bojangles” name. The article says that Walker used a common name used by street dancers in New Orleans. By contrast, Walker’s biography supports that the man in jail did use the name “Bojangles.”
Either way, the song is one of the all-time classics. Many also may have been introduced to the song by Sammy Davis Jr.’s wonderful version. But I wonder whatever happened to the man who inspired the song and whether or not he ever knew a great song was written about him?
In the video below, Jerry Jeff Walker talks to Bruce Robison about writing “Mr. Bojangles” and plays the song. Check it out.
What is your favorite Jerry Jeff Walker song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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.
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