Like the rest of us, comedian Tim Heidecker (of the comedy team Tim and Eric) is intrigued by the news that Bob Dylan’s upcoming album contains a 14-minute song about the Titanic. Unlike the rest of us, though, Heidecker decided to do something about it and give us his rendering of what Dylan’s new song might sound like in all its 14-plus-minute glory. Check out Heidecker’s “Titanic,” combining a Dylan imitation with some history and near the end, a dash of James Cameron’s movie about the ship.
Heidecker’s “Titanic” is available for download on his website. You will have to wait until September 11 for the release of Bob Dylan’s Titanic song on his new album, Tempest.
How close do you think Heidecker got to Dylan’s upcoming song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
For some reason, I do not remember Tom Petty’s song “Kings Highway” from when he and the Heartbreakers released it in 1991 on Into the Great Wide Open. I did not buy the album at the time, but I do remember hearing other songs from the album, like “Learning to Fly.” Maybe I was out of the loop that year, or maybe it was not played that much on the radio. I only fell in love with “Kings Highway” when a live version was included as a free download when I bought tickets to the Petty Mojotour. Allmusic.com calls the song a “minor gem,” but for me it was like finding a piece of hidden gold in Petty’s back catalog.
Like John Mellencamp, Tom Petty is one of those artists who has been making music that I like for decades, but he sort of comes and goes in and out of my life. There are some artists where I buy every CD they make, but for most artists, it depends on the time and what I think of the latest music. I have never heard a Tom Petty album that I do not like, and I own several of his albums. But I have never felt compelled to own everything he has done, and because of that, I suppose, I have missed some great songs like “Kings Highway.”
I have tried to figure out geographically which Kings Highway appears in the song. There appears to be highways with that name all around the world, and there is even a Facebook page devoted to all of them. Is he referring to the ancient King’s Highway from Egypt to Syria? There is a King’s Highway in Jordan, which reminded one blogger of the Petty song. Maybe he is referring to the 1927 British film, King’s Highway.
Or, more likely is it one of the King’s Highways in the U.S., like the one from Charleston to Boston, or the one in New York state, or the one following the Mississippi River in the South, or one in Pennsylvania or Texas, or one of two in Virginia. Or, most likely, considering he lived in California at the time, it may be the 600-mile El Camino Real in California, which is also called the “King’s Highway.” Perhaps the California connection is why on a recent tour he and the Heartbreakers opened their 2010 Oakland performance with “Kings Highway” (but he’s also used it as an opener elsewhere, like Colorado).
Maybe the apostrophe is a clue. His song is “Kings Highway,” without an apostrophe, while some of the highway names are “King’s Highway.” Several do not have the apostrophe, but the California road does. So, I am back to being puzzled about finding the real Kings Highway. Maybe there is an interview somewhere where he reveals the location.
The song, however, may be less about an actual highway than about a state of mind. In the song, the singer dreams of heading out on the highway with his lover “when the time gets right.” In that sense, it is a classic open road song, like Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” where the highway provides a hope of escape, freedom, and a new life. While Springsteen’s songs in this vein often have a dark undertone, Petty’s “Kings Highway” has a happier tone that focuses on the new life more than the escape part of the open road.
Still, “Kings Highway” is not an entirely uplifting song. The singer fears being alone, and doesn’t “wanna end up someone that I don’t even know.” And, unlike other songs of escape, there is no actual escape to the open road of the song, as it ends with the singer still waiting for the day “Good fortune comes our way / And we ride down the Kings Highway.” I suspect the characters in the song are still waiting. Perhaps, like me, they are still looking for the location of Kings Highway.
May good fortune come your way and you find your own Kings Highway. Where do you find Kings Highway? Leave your two cents in the comments.
If you have always wanted to attend the Newport Folk Festival, you can at least watch a number of the acts live this year on your computer, thanks to National Public Radio. The festival starts Friday, July 27 and goes through the weekend with acts that include Wilco, Patty Griffin, Jackson Browne, Iron & Wine, and My Morning Jacket. Check out the NPR website for a full list of the acts and information about how you can watch the performances live. Below is a video about the festival.
What is your favorite memory of the Newport Folk Festival? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In this video, guitarist Alex Chadwick gives us “A Brief History of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” taking twelve minutes to go through 100 classic guitar riffs. He begins with a memorable riff from “Mr. Sandman” by Chet Atkins, goes through bands like the Beatles and Aerosmith, finishing with “Cruel” by St. Vincent. The name of the song shows up on the screen when he plays each riff, but if you want a list of all the riffs, check out Open Culture. The music store Chicago Music Exchange sponsors the video. Check it out.
What is your favorite guitar riff of all time? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Country music legend Kitty Wells passed away July 16, 2012 at the age of 92. Among other accomplishments, she will be remembered because in 1952 her record of “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” became the first country music #1 song by a woman soloist. It is a great country song too.
Although Wells may be best remembered for that groundbreaking hit, she had many other popular recordings, including a version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” and she was known as the “Queen of Country.” She was generally listed as the top female country singer for more than a decade during 1952 through 1968 before being dethroned by Tammy Wynette, who was followed by other female country singers. Wells’s website notes a number of honors, including that she was inducted into the Country Music Association Hall of Fame in 1976.
Although it is hard to imagine now, but “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” was controversial when released. The song was an answer song to Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side of Life,” where the singer said he didn’t know that God made honky tonk angels and bemoaned the lover that left him to go back to the wild side of life.
In Wells’s response with “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” written by J.D. “Jay” Miller, Wells put the blame back on the men. At the time, some of the male-dominated radio stations would not play the song and she was not allowed to perform it at the Grand Ole Opry. But the song struck a chord with enough people to become a bigger hit than Thompson’s song.
Both Thompson’s and Wells’s songs used the same tune, which appeared in the earlier songs of The Carter Family’s 1929 “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes” and Roy Acuff’s 1936 classic record of Rev. Guy Smith’s “The Great Speckled Bird.” Kitty Wells herself later recorded “The Great Speckled Bird,” where you can hear the similarity to “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.”
Wells was born Ellen Muriel Deason in Nashville, Tennessee on August 30, 1919. She changed her name to Kitty Wells in 1943 based on a suggestion of her husband, Johnny Wright, who was also a country music performer. The name came from a folk ballad recorded by the Pickard Family, entitled “Sweet Kitty Wells.” Here is the song that provided her name, recorded by Billy Grammer.
Peace to Sweet Kitty Wells and honky tonk angels everywhere. What is your favorite Kitty Wells song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Like the rest of us, comedian Tim Heidecker (of the comedy team Tim and Eric) is intrigued by the news that Bob Dylan’s upcoming album contains a 14-minute song about the Titanic. Unlike the rest of us, though, Heidecker decided to do something about it and give us his rendering of what Dylan’s new song might sound like in all its 14-plus-minute glory. Check out Heidecker’s “Titanic,” combining a Dylan imitation with some history and near the end, a dash of James Cameron’s movie about the ship.
. I did not buy the album at the time, but I do remember hearing other songs from the album, like “Learning to Fly.” Maybe I was out of the loop that year, or maybe it was not played that much on the radio. I only fell in love with “Kings Highway” when a live version was included as a free download when I bought tickets to the Petty 
tour. 
