We have another new song from Bob Dylan’s upcoming Tempest CD. In this humorous official video, provided through The Guardian, the song starts off with a jaunty beat and humorous air so that it looks like it will be a romantic comedy like (500) Days of Summer (2009). But soon, we discover it is a stalker story that eventually delves a little into Reservoir Dogs (1992) territory. I like it, but I have not seen such an insane Bob Dylan video since “Must Be Santa.” Like that song, the action in the video has nothing really to do with the words. Check it out.
Can’t you hear that Duquesne whistle blowin’? Blowin’ through another no-good town; The lights of my native land are glowin’; I wonder if they’ll know me next time ‘round; I wonder if that old oak tree’s still standin’; That old oak tree, the one we used to climb; Listen to that Duquesne whistle blowin’; Blowin’ like she’s blowin’ right on time.
Tempest will be released September 11. A number of special “Tempest pop-up stores” in Los Angeles, New York, and London will have the CD a day early, along with other Bob Dylan merchandise.
Jack Black played a member of a Neil Diamond tribute band called “Diamonds in the Rough” in the movie Saving Silverman (2001). It is one of those mindless comedies that can be fun to watch on a rainy Saturday if you do not expect too much. At the end of the movie, Neil Diamond made a guest appearance. Recently, Jack Black returned the favor and joined Diamond on stage in Los Angeles on August 23. Reportedly, Black was enthusiastically enjoying the show from his seat before he took the stage. In the video below, the two engage in a little banter before ripping into the Neil Diamond classic, “Sweet Caroline.”
The inspiration for “Sweet Caroline” was Caroline Kennedy. When Neil Diamond was a struggling songwriter, he saw a magazine photo of President John F. Kennedy’s daughter wearing her riding outfit next to her pony. Diamond sat down in his Memphis, Tennessee motel room and wrote “Sweet Caroline” in an hour. Diamond recently concluded that the 1969 number one song was “probably is the biggest, most important song of my career.” The song has only become bigger, as it became a staple at sporting events, including Red Sox games.
But “Sweet Caroline” will no longer be played at Penn State games. This Monday, a few days after the Jack Black and Neil Diamond duet on the song, Penn State announced they were removing “Sweet Caroline” from the playlist at Beaver Stadium. Officials explained they decided to remove it because so many other sports stadiums already play it. But The New York Daily News reported another possible explanation: In light of the recent child abuse scandal at the school, maybe officials did not want fans singing along to the lines, “Hands/ Touching Hands/ Reaching out /Touching me, touching you.”
Whatever Penn State’s reason, Neil Diamond will survive and so will the song. If you would like a little bonus Jack Black and Neil Diamond, here is Diamond singing “Holly Holy” over the end credits of Saving Silverman with a little help from the movie’s cast. Maybe Penn State should consider playing this song at games.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=dbu1EU9f-d4 What do you think of the Jack Black and Neil Diamond duet? Leave your two cents in the comments.
One time on the streets of New Orleans I saw a street performer who had a dog who would retrieve donations from audience members. A person would hold out a bill while the performer played guitar and sang, and the dog took the cash in his mouth and dropped it in the guitar case.
Initially, we were attracted to the dog’s skills. But after awhile, I noticed that the talented street performer was only playing John Prine songs. I was impressed with his taste in music and willingness to play songs that most tourists may not recognize. I guess having a talented dog gives one a little artistic freedom.
“Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)”
One of my favorite John Prine songs is “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow).” It is a beautiful song about anger, frustration, and accepting what we cannot change. The song, which first appeared on Prine’s Bruised Orange (1978) album, provides a valuable lesson in its chorus.
For a heart stained in anger grows weak and grows bitter; You become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there, Wrapped up in a trap of your very own chain of sorrow.
The True Story Behind “Bruised Orange”
A tragic true story inspired the opening tale in “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow).”
Like a long ago Sunday when I walked through the alley, On a cold winter’s morning to a church house, Just to shovel some snow.
I heard sirens on the train track howl naked gettin’ nuder, An altar boy’s been hit by a local commuter, Just from walking with his back turned To the train that was coming so slow.
The John Prine Shrine website quotes Prine explaining the inspiration for the opening lines of the song. One day he was driving to do his job shoveling snow at a church:
Turns out one of the altar boys on his way to the Catholic church was walking down the train tracks. God only knows where his mind was, but a local commuter train come from behind and they had to put him in bushel baskets – what was left. I saw a group of mothers standing near the accident, not knowing whose boys it was. When they finally identified the boy, the mother broke down, and the other mothers consoled her with a great sense of relief. This story is coupled with a shattered romance, juxtaposed with a loss of innocence: “My heart’s in the ice house/Come hill or come valley.” In the following video, he tells the story of the alter boy, followed by a video of him singing the song.
Why an “Orange”?
But why the “orange” in the title? The Prine Shrine website quotes from Clay Eals’ biography of Steve Goodman Facing the Music for an explanation. (p.511)
Prine explained that he used the word “orange” for the reason that “he liked the colors of autumn and Halloween, and he ate oranges ‘by the dozen’ as a child.” He added, “‘It just came up as somethin’ that’s really sweet and delicate and gettin’ bruised just by bein’ mishandled,’ he says. In short, the orange symbolized the human heart.”
We looked back at another Tom Petty song recently, so let us revisit another old Petty classic with a new lead singer. In Amsterdam recently, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder joined Petty and the Heartbreakers on stage to sing “The Waiting.” Petty focuses on his guitar playing to let Vedder sing the 1981 song. Check it out.
The performance is from 24 June 2012 at Music Hall.
Who would you like to hear sing with Tom Petty? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On August 23, 1927, Massachusetts executed Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolemeo Vanzetti. The two admitted anarchists were Italian immigrants executed for the 1921 murder of a person during an armed robbery of a shoe company paymaster.
The Trial and Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti
The fish-peddler and shoemaker had no prior criminal record when they were arrested for the murder. But they were prosecuted during a period of anti-immigrant and anti-radical sentiment, and many aspects of their trial were unfair.
The judge overseeing the proceedings saw the two men as “anarchist bastards,” but others rallied in support of the accused. At the time of their execution, protests were held at many places around the U.S.
Many still believe to this day that the two men were innocent of the crime. Also, there have been recent arguments that only Vanzetti was innocent. There is a Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Society that works to keep the case in the public eye, and there is an exhibit about the case at the courthouse in Massachusetts.
Woody Guthrie and “Two Good Men”
Many years after the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, folk-singer Woody Guthrie found some kinship in the plight of the two men. In the mid-1940s, he worked on a project of several songs about Sacco and Vanzetti to tell their story.
One of the songs in the cycle is “Two Good Men.”
Like Guthrie’s song about “Tom Joad,” which we discussed previously, “Two Good Men” is a story song. “Two Good Men” focuses on the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. Although the song is not as complete and detailed as “Tom Joad,” it contains many details.
Some of the details in the song include the names of the judge (Webster Thayer) and the people who prosecuted the two men: “I’ll tell you the prosecutors’ names,/ Katsman, Adams, Williams, Kane.”
In addition to the details of the case, in “Two God Men” Guthrie also focuses on connecting the execution to the labor movement of his day: All you people ought to be like me, And work like Sacco and Vanzetti; And every day find some ways to fight On the union side for workers’ rights.
Supposedly, Guthrie was unsatisfied with his cycle of songs about Sacco and Vanzetti. Eventually, he gave up on the project.
Fortunately Guthrie’s songs about Sacco and Vanzetti were not lost. The founder of Folkway Records Moe Asch, who had commissioned the songs, went ahead and released the unfinished product.
Guthrie was probably right that “Two Good Men” and the other songs did not live up to his best work. I prefer folksinger Charlie King’s song about Sacco and Vanzetti with a similar name, “Two Good Arms.” But Guthrie also was right that we should continue to remember and fight against injustices.
{Woody at 100 is our continuing series celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the birth of American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie on July 14, 1912. Check out our other posts on Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Centennial too. }
Can’t you hear that Duquesne whistle blowin’?
