In promoting the upcoming reissue of the classic 1971 album Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones have been releasing some alternate versions of some of the songs off the album. One of my favorite Rolling Stones songs has always been “Dead Flowers,” so I was excited to hear how the Stones had played with the sound before releasing the album.
The alternate version of “Dead Flowers” is below. Slate writes that this alternate take is “bluesier” than the country-tinged original, with Mick Jagger giving a “looser” delivery and Ian Stewart’s piano muted compared to the original. Check out this alternate take and see what you think..
.The reissue of Sticky Fingers comes out June 9. The Sticky Fingers 2-CD release will include a CD with alternate and live versions of songs from the album.
Which version of “Dead Flowers” do you like best? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The Nebraska unicameral legislature in 2015 voted to abolish the death penalty, following a number of states that have come to realize that capital punishment is ineffective and a waste of resources. Although Governor Pete Ricketts vetoed the action, the legislature overrode his veto, making Nebraska the eighteenth state (in addition to the District of Columbia) that does not sentence human beings to death. According to a recent book on the history of the death penalty, states that have stopped sentencing people to death in recent years also include Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Maryland.
One of the great songs about the death penalty is Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska,” which Springsteen based on Terrence Malick’s movie Badlands. And that movie was loosely based on the real-life case involving Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate.
The song, in the voice of the condemned, offers no straightforward judgement on the death penalty. Springsteen would address the topic again years later in his song “Dead Man Walking.”
But by taking the voice of the condemned man in “Nebraska,” Springsteen challenges the listener to find some humanity in the narrator. By the time the singer/condemned tries to explain why he did the horrific things he did, all he can come up with is “I guess there is just a meanness in this world.” Taken on its face, one might find little sympathy for the killer. But the way Springsteen sings the words, you believe that the condemned is not a personification of evil. Instead, he comes across as someone unable to understand the world because he has been on the other end of that meanness his whole life too.
Thus, it is not surprising that in the real world, Bruce Springsteen is opposed to capital punishment. Below, following an introduction about how the album Nebraska focuses on the downtrodden, Springsteen performs the song “Nebraska” on a 12-string guitar with harmonica from a benefit show in Los Angeles in November 1990.
The real Starkweather grew up with a birth defect and a speech impediment, and he was a slow learner. Nebraska executed Charles Starkweather in the electric chair, just like in Springsteen’s song. Starkweather died on June 25, 1959 at the age of 20.
The young teenaged girl who went with him on the murder spree did not die in his lap. She was eventually paroled in 1976 and lives in Michigan, which is the first state in the United States to abolish capital punishment.
Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard have teamed up to release the new album Django And Jimmie (2015). The two men, who created country gold with the similarly named 1983 album Pancho & Lefty, feature a range of styles on their new album, incorporating some humor along the way with songs like “It’s All Going to Pot” and “Missing Ol’ Johnny Cash.”
Check out this video about the making of “Missing Ol’ Johnny Cash,” a song that also features help from Bobby Bare.
Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard’s Django and Jimmie hits stores on June 2, and for a short time you can give it a streaming listen on NPR First Listen. The title song from the album celebrates guitarist Django Reinhardt and country music legend Jimmie Rodgers.
I’m a sucker for a good concept album, with albums like Willie Nelson’s Red-Headed Stranger (1975) and Marty Stuart’s The Pilgrim (1999) ranking among my favorite albums of all time. Now, I can add to that list with one of the best albums of 2015, Tom Russell‘s The Rose of Roscrae: A Ballad of the West.
My friend Sid introduced me to Tom Russell’s music many years ago, and while I have been a fan, his new album really blew me away. Spanning 2 CDs, the ambitious project tells the story of the character of Johnny Dutton, tracing his life from his teenage years in Ireland in the 1880s — when he is chased by the father of his love the Rose of Roscrae — through his travels through the American West, where he becomes an outlaw known as “Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce,” and through other parts of the world.
Like Nelson’s Red-Headed Stranger and Stuart’s The Pilgrim, Russell’s Rose of Roscrae features a broken-hearted man through troubled times as he seeks redemption, but the album also gives us the point of view of the central woman too. The title song is a haunting ballad that appears in various forms through the saga.
Russell weaves together an interesting story, including fictional and real-life characters. Although the main character appears to be fictional (even though there was a real-life Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce who inspired a character in a Kevin Costner movie), the story interweaves with real characters, as in the case of Johnny’s redemption through an encounter with Joseph Dutton leading him to a real American Saint, Father Damien.
The story is told with original songs interwoven with other songs you will already know, including contributions from other artists as well as older recordings. Thus, the album features the voices of Joe Ely, Dave Olney, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Gretchen Peters, Eliza Gilkyson, Jimmy LaFave, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Lead Belly, Johnny Cash, and even the actual voice of Walt Whitman. The second CD gives us more of Rose’s view of events through the beautiful voice of Maura O’Connell.
Of course, despite the story and the guests, the album would not work if the music did not rise to the occasion, and it certainly does, covering a broad range of styles — including country, Irish, Mexican, and cowboy songs. As in the case of many other concept albums, certain musical themes are repeated throughout the set, so they need to be strong songs that bear repeated listening. Songs like “The Rose of Roscrae,” “She Talks to God,” and “Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce” carry their weight and hold up well beside classic ballads like “Red River Valley.” Another one of my favorites is “Midnight Wine.”
I first listened to the album on a long car drive, which may be the best way to take in the expanse of the story from beginning to end. I bought it through an Amazon download the day before the trip, but there is a booklet with more about the story that comes with the CD (and unfortunately, unlike other CD’s, there was no digital version of the booklet with the digital purchase).
In a fair and just world, Tom Russell’s The Rose of Roscrae would be played on radio stations, have high sales, and win Grammy and other music awards. For now, those of us lucky enough to discover the album will just have to thank Russell, who, freed from the pop music culture, could aim for something higher. As AllMusic notes, “This is his masterpiece.” Below is a video where Russell discusses the creation of the concept and the making of The Rose of Roscrae.
What do you think of “The Rose of Roscrae”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The tenth track on The Beatles’ White Album (1968), “Martha My Dear,” was a tribute by Paul McCartney to someone he loved: “That you and me were meant to be for each other / Silly girl.” But it was not about a girlfriend. It was about his Old English sheepdog.
Martha was McCartney’s first pet, and if you are shocked to learn that “Martha My Dear” is about a dog, you are not alone. John Lennon was surprised when he saw how much McCartney loved the dog.
After discovering how much he could love an animal, McCartney went on to have other Old English sheepdogs and to become a famous vegetarian. Martha, however, likely holds a special place as his first and as the inspiration for a song.
And Martha has her own Facebook page that is dedicated to her too.
What is your favorite song about an animal? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In promoting the upcoming reissue of the classic 1971 album Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones have been releasing some alternate versions of some of the songs off the album. One of my favorite Rolling Stones songs has always been “Dead Flowers,” so I was excited to hear how the Stones had played with the sound before releasing the album.
The Nebraska unicameral legislature in 2015 voted to abolish the death penalty, following a number of states that have come to realize that capital punishment is ineffective and a waste of resources. Although Governor Pete Ricketts vetoed the action, the legislature overrode his veto, making Nebraska the eighteenth state (in addition to the District of Columbia) that does not sentence human beings to death. According to 
states that have stopped sentencing people to death in recent years also include Connecticut, 
hits stores on June 2, and for a short time you can give it a streaming listen on 
.
(1968), “Martha My Dear,” was a tribute by Paul McCartney to someone he loved: “That you and me were meant to be for each other / Silly girl.” But it was not about a girlfriend. It was about his 