For our readers who are country music fans, Chimesfreedom notes that Ferlin Husky passed away Thursday at a Nashville-area hospital from congestive heart failure. He was 85. You may know some of his famous songs, “Gone”, “A Dear John letter,” and “Country Music is Here to Stay.” Depending on your age, you may remember some of his television and movie appearances.
But you may not know this information about him, which is from Husky’s website: “Born near Flat River, Missouri, in a town so small it was prone to be mistaken for a fly-speck by map makers, he left home for a hitch in the Merchant Marines and D-Day found him under forty-eight hours of continuous battle-fire during the invasion of Cherbourg. He was later awarded a citation as ‘Volunteer Gunner’ as a result of his action during the battle.”
I did not know that he was there at D-Day. Most of what I know about him is from his recording of this song, “Wings of a Dove,” which is a country music classic.
Here’s to you Ferlin. May you be flying on the wings of a snow-white dove.
What is your favorite Ferlin Husky song? Leave a comment.
Tonight, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will induct the class of 2011: Darlene Love, Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Tom Waits, Leon Russell and record executives Jac Holzman and Art Rupe. Darlene Love was the voice for several great hits for Phil Spector that were labeled under the groups the Crystals, the Blossoms, and Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans. For her performance at the induction, she said she plans to perform “He’s a Rebel,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” and “(Today I Met) the Boy I’m Gonna Marry.”
I hope she performs a Christmas song. Her song, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is one of the greatest songs of all time. David Letterman has featured her performing the song on his show every December since 1986 (with one year showing a repeat performance). She has had a great career, with a possible new album and a movie of her life on the way. But I never tire of hearing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” even if it is March.
Bonus Inductee Video: Tom Waits singing “Hold On.”
Who is your favorite among this year’s inductees? What song do you want to hear them perform? Leave a comment.
This 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.
Today, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill passed by the state legislature abolishing the death penalty in the state. He also commuted the death sentences of the fifteen Illinois inmates on death row to life in prison. The law takes effect July 1 and will make Illinois the sixteenth state without the death penalty. Illinois also joins other states that have abolished the death penalty in the last several years, including New Mexico and New Jersey. Connecticut, Maryland, and Montana currently are considering abolishing the death penalty.
Gov. Quinn explained: “”Since our experience has shown that there is no way to design a perfect death penalty system, free from the numerous flaws that can lead to wrongful convictions or discriminatory treatment, I have concluded that the proper course of action is to abolish it. . . . With our broken system, we cannot ensure justice is achieved in every case.”
Gov. Quinn showed courage in signing the bill, as it is usually easier for politicians to maintain the status quo. Too often politicians use death penalty support as a political issue to play on people’s natural emotions to want murderers killed like in the movies. But in thinking about the death penalty as a criminal justice issue, Gov. Quinn recognized that the death penalty causes too many problems that a logical society should not tolerate. Plus, because maintaining the death penalty is more costly than life in prison, Gov. Quinn reasoned that “the enormous sums expended by the state in maintaining a death penalty system would be better spent on preventing crime and assisting victims’ families in overcoming pain and grief.” More needs to be done to prevent crime and help those victims harmed by crime, and the death penalty is merely a distraction from the real issues.
Chimesfreedom previously discussed two of Steve Earle’s death penalty songs, so now is a good time to discuss another one. “Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)” is from his outstanding album, Transcendental Blues. While “Ellis Unit One” is in the voice of a prison guard, “Over Yonder” is like “Billy Austin,” in the voice of a death row inmate. Unlike “Billy Austin,” though, “Over Yonder” is about a real person, and it shows in the song.
Steve Earle catalogs many of the problems with the death penalty in his earlier “Billy Austin,” such as the racial and economic discrimination inherent in the punishment. But in “Over Yonder,” perhaps because he was writing about a real person, Earle tries to convey what a human being would feel like preparing to be executed.
Give my radio to Johnson Thibodeaux can have my fan Send my Bible home to Mama Call her every now and then.
The real subject of the song, Jonathan Nobles, corresponded with Steve Earle for ten years, and the two met and spent several days together talking in the visiting area at Ellis Unit One before Nobles was executed on October 7, 1998 in Texas. Nobles was convicted of killing two women while he was under the influence of drugs in 1986. When he first went to death row, he was a trouble-maker. But as time passed, Nobles became a Catholic and worked to turn his life around. He fasted on his last day and requested Holy Communion for his last meal.
When Earle visited Nobles, they spent a lot of time talking about issues where they shared common ground, such as love of music, their times spent behind bars, their use of drugs, and their recovery from addiction. Steve Earle later wrote an essay about their time together and witnessing Nobles being killed by lethal injection. In Earle’s essay, he concluded that because Nobles had changed so much, society could have learned about rehabilitation from Nobles, which is especially important considering the large number of people in U.S. prisons.
In the song, Earle does not condemn those who executed Nobles, he just tells the story. And he does not argue the inmate is innocent, he just reminds us that he is human.
The world’ll turn around without me The sun’ll come up in the east Shinin’ down on all of them that hate me I hope my goin’ brings ’em peace.
I am going over yonder Where no ghost can follow me There’s another place beyond here Where I’ll be free I believe.
Just as importantly, Earle reminds us that we are human. Because, as has been noted, the death penalty is more about who we are as a society than about the handful of people executed. Gov. Quinn today chose for the state of Illinois to be a little more wiser and more humane.
Bonus Illinois Death Penalty Information: The Chicago Tribune recently did a study of the state’s capital punishment system. The paper found “at least 46 inmates sent to death row in cases where prosecutors used jailhouse informants to convict or condemn the defendants. The investigation also found at least 33 death row inmates had been represented at trial by an attorney who had been disbarred or suspended; at least 35 African-American inmates on death row who had been convicted or condemned by an all-white jury; and about half of the nearly 300 capital cases had been reversed for a new trial or sentencing hearing.”
On March 8, governments around the world celebrate the anniversary of International Women’s Day. The idea for the day began when more than a million women and men marched in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland on March 19, 1911 to protest discrimination against women.
“I Am Woman”
In the early 1970s, Helen Reddy was trying to find songs to record “that reflected the positive sense of self that I felt I’d gained from the women’s movement.” But she could not find such songs.
She later explained her quest to Billboard magazine. She noted, “I realized that the song I was looking for didn’t exist, and I was going to have to write it myself.” She did.
“I Am Woman” was released in the spring of 1972. But did not go anywhere on the charts that summer. Then in the fall, the song reappeared on the charts and started climbing, becoming the anthem we know today.
In the 1975 clip below, Reddy explains how the United Nations declared it the “Year of the Woman.” And then the UN chose her song “I Am Woman” as its theme.
Helen Reddy in Recent Years
We are fortunate to have the recorded versions of the song. But unfortunately for a long time we did not have live performances of “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy to celebrate International Women’s Day. Reddy suffers from Addison’s Disease and had stopped performing.
According to Helen Reddy’s website, after retiring from performing in 2002, she practiced “as a clinical hypnotherapist and motivational speaker.” Update: In 2013, Helen Reddy returned to touring for her first performances in ten years, but subsequently again retired from performing.
In late 2015, her family reported that she was doing fine but had moved into the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills. Then, in January 2017, Reddy appeared in Los Angeles at the Women’s March and sang an a cappella version of . . . “I Am Woman.”
We are thankful she gave this great popular song to the world. (Also, you may hear the demo version of “I Am Woman” on her website.)
But you may not know this information about him, which is from Husky’s website: “Born near Flat River, Missouri, in a town so small it was prone to be mistaken for a fly-speck by map makers, he left home for a hitch in the Merchant Marines and D-Day found him under forty-eight hours of continuous battle-fire during the invasion of Cherbourg. He was later awarded a citation as ‘Volunteer Gunner’ as a result of his action during the battle.”
