Yesterday, the Illinois Legislature passed a bill to abolish the death penalty in that state. In order for the bill to become law, the governor must sign it. The bill now sits on Governor Pat Quinn’s desk, and he has said that he does not yet know what he will do.
Illinois has been a leader in the death penalty debate in recent years, so it will be interesting to see if the governor has the courage to accept the role in abolishing the death penalty. After several Illinois death row inmates were found to be innocent in the 1990s, then-Gov. George Ryan ordered a commission to review the criminal justice system and he ultimately commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois’s death row. The results from the commission, and studies by other states inspired by Illinois, in effect, found that there are so many flaws in the criminal justice system, that we can never be sure that we will not execute an innocent person.
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia do not have the death penalty, and there has been a strong worldwide trend for decades to get rid of the death penalty. Yet, when we hear about a violent crime, like the recent tragic shootings in Arizona, our first reaction is to reach for the lethal injection needle. That quest for revenge is normal and human, but it is also normal and human to act out of rational thought instead of anger. And rational thought and experience tell us that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison, ineffective, racist, inaccurate, and discriminates against the poor.
Steve Earle touches on several of these themes in his excellent song, “Billy Austin.” The stark tale is narrated by a death row inmate who is part Native American. He does not claim to be innocent, and he describes committing a murder during a filling station robbery. The song then addresses the trial, referencing the poor representation often given to those charged with capital crimes. Earle seems to be telling us that the death penalty is not given based on the worst crimes, it is given based on what happens in a courtroom.
But my trial was over quickly And then the long hard wait began Court appointed lawyer Couldn’t look me in the eye He just stood up and closed his briefcase When they sentenced me to die
The narrator then describes the wait on death row, touching on the racism in the system.
I ain’t about to tell you That I don’t deserve to die But there’s twenty-seven men here Mostly black, brown and poor Most of em are guilty Who are you to say for sure?
And the song ends with another question. Could you take that long walk with me Knowing hell is waitin’ there Could you pull that switch yourself sir With a sure and steady hand Could you still tell yourself That you’re better than I am.
And those are the questions that face Gov. Quinn. If he does not sign the bill, he will be the one pulling the switch on everyone executed in Illinois from this day forward. And that is a heavy responsibility to bear. Because the death penalty ultimately is not about the person being killed, it is about who we are.
Bonus Governors’ Dilemmas in Other States: In the past week, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen granted clemency to men on death row. Meanwhile, also in the last week, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter granted a posthumous pardon to Joe Arridy, who was executed in 1936, because evidence now shows Arridy was innocent.
On January 8 in 1935, the king of rock and roll was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. The child was born to Gladys Love Presley and named after the middle name of his father, Vernon Elvis Presley.
Thirty-five minutes before Elvis Presley was born, an identical twin brother named Jesse Garon Presley was delivered, stillborn. The deliveries took place in a small two-room house that Vernon had built in preparation for the anticipated births.
Ten years later, Elvis gave his first public performance, standing on a chair at a fair to reach the microphone and dressed as a cowboy. He sang, “Old Shep.”
In those pre-YouTube days, he made his first recording eight years later when he was eighteen. He went to Sun Records in Memphis to pay to record a couple of songs, with the first recorded sounds of that voice singing, “My Happiness.”
There are varying stories about whether he simply wanted to record a song for his mother or whether he thought the recording might lead to his discovery. Either way, you can hear the start of something there.
Although Bob Dylan originally left “Red River Shore” off of the album “Time Out of Mind,” he eventually released several versions of the song on his “Bootleg” series, to the delight of fans and critics.
When I purchasedTell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (2008), the Bob Dylan CD that features unreleased songs from the time period of his more recent albums, the song “Red River Shore” stood out immediately as I played the CD in my car. I kept playing the song over and over again, barely getting to anything else on the CD. It is another example of a great song that Dylan originally decided to leave off an album he was making.
At least, like other gems left off Dylan albums, “Red River Shore” eventually got released. And after this post was originally written, Dylan released additional versions of the song in 2023 on The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996–1997). The music is great, as are the beautiful lyrics of loss.
Now I’m wearing the cloak of misery And I’ve tasted jilted love And the frozen smile upon my face Fits me like a glove But I can’t escape from the memory Of the one that I’ll always adore All those nights when I lay in the arms Of the girl from the Red River shore
Meaning of the Song
Many listeners have speculated on the meaning behind “Red River Shore.” On its face, of course, the narrator sings about woman he once knew. But the lyrics are tied up with the narrator’s feelings of loss and memory, such that a listener may speculate whether the singer’s story is reliable.
The song is rich and open to interpretation. Some writers have wondered if the girl from the Red River shore is the same person who was featured in Dylan’s “Shelter from the Storm,” such as in this piece on Gardener is Gone.
Further, some have speculated that the narrator of the song is a voice from the grave. There are several references in the lyrics that support this theory: The singer notes, “Sometimes I think nobody ever saw me here at all.” And the following verse may indicate the events remembered happened a very long time ago (which may be literal or may just be that the memories seem so long ago):
Well I’m a stranger here in a strange land, But I know this is where I belong; I ramble and gamble for the one I love, And the hills will give me a song; Though nothing looks familiar to me, I know I’ve stayed here before, Once a thousand nights ago, With the girl from the Red River shore.
The above quote about being a “stranger here in a strange land” echoes a line from the Bible in Exodus 2:22, where Moses says, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.” So it might not be surprising that some listeners such as Songs for the Journey have found religious overtones in the song. One has even argued that the entire song is about Dylan’s relationship with Christ.
At first, I was interested that there might be a hidden meaning in the song. Of course, Dylan is Dylan and one may never know his intent, but on further listening I do not the main theme of the song is religious.
The song is what it appears to be: a song about loss and memory. And while the final verse does have a reference to Jesus, it’s a statement that in today’s modern world, we unfortunately cannot count on God to undo what is lost. “He knew how to bring ’em on back to life/ Well, I don’t know what kind of language he used/ Or if they do that kind of thing anymore; /Sometimes I think nobody ever saw me here at all/ ‘Cept the girl from the Red River shore.”
Inspiration for the Song?
Bod Dylan may have been inspired to write the song by a folk song of the same name. One version appears in The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection, a collection of songs recorded by a traveling salesman. The “Red River Shore” there is about a woman waiting for a brave soldier, but the woman’s father puts together an army to prevent the soldier from reaching his daughter.
The song, which appears to be in the folk tradition of a tragic love affair, takes a turn in the last verse. There, the singer, who had spied the young damsel and the brave soldier, leaves the listener with a warning:
Love, love is the great fortune, For all of mankind; The woman controlled, They’re always confined; They’re controlled by their parents, Until they are wise; Then slaves for their husbands, The rest of their lives.
On July 5, 1960, Lulu Davis of Fayetteville, Arkansas made a recording of the folk song, available at this link.
The Kingston Trio recorded a version of this “Red River Shore” with slightly different lyrics. The Kingston Trio version is in the voice of the brave soldier. In this version, the brave soldier dies at the hand of the father’s army before reaching his true love (whereas in the Max Hunter collection version, it appears the soldier survives the attack of the father’s men).
I grabbed my six-shooter, spun round and around, Till six men were wounded and seven were down; I can’t fight an army of twenty and four, When I’m bound for my true love on the Red River shore.
At the foot of yon mountain where the big river flows, There’s a fond creation and a soft wind that blows, There lives a fair maiden, she’s the one I adore. But never will marry on the Red River shore.
Like Dylan’s “Red River Shore,” the earlier folk song is about a lost love, though at least in the Kingston Trio version, with the loss clearly centered around the death of the soldier.
Another more well-known folk song with a similar title about lost love, of course, is “Red River Valley.” At least the title of the lament might have been on Dylan’s mind while crafting his song (with “Shore” echoing the “r” in the the previous two words, while “Valley” echoes the “v” in “River”). In “Red River Valley,” the singer asks the lover leaving him to remember the Red River Valley and their love.
But except for the names of these songs and the themes of loss, Dylan’s “Red River Shore” ultimately is very different from those other Red River songs.
Versions of Dylan’s “Red River Shore”
As noted above, Dylan eventually released several versions of “Red River Shore” on his “Bootleg” series of albums, even if it was originally left off Time Out of Mind. Reportedly, the reason for the initial omission resulted from some tension between Dylan and producer Daniel Lanois on how to approach the song.
Musician and producer Jim Dickinson, who was eventually brought on to play over a ten-day period on the Time Out of Mind sessions, later explained that when he heard “Red River Shore,” he recognized it as a great song. But Dylan seemed frustrated with the attempts to get a final cut, telling Dickinson, “Well, we’ve done everything on that one except call the symphony orchestra.”
Whichever Dylan version you choose, though, they all are lovely.
Covers of “Red River Shore”
For whatever reason Dylan did not put “Red River Shore” on Time Out of Mind (unsatisfied with the takes, the belief that did not fit thematically on the album, etc.), once the outtakes were released, critics and fans recognized “Red River Shore” as one of Dylan’s late-career classics.
Although covers rarely match the original, I am intrigued by the number of people who have the guts to play a song and post it on YouTube. There are some nice covers of this song on YouTube. [2024 Update: Some of the ones mentioned below are no longer on YouTube.]
For example, there’s a good one by a German band called CCC Inc. A video of Henry Lim looks very professional, and it has nice instrumentation. Lim is the technical services assistant for the UCLA Music Library, and he has a busy extracurricular life. He has covered other artists like Radiohead with his string quartet, and he is an artist with Legos.
There are some good versions in the “dude with a guitar” category, such as a nice one by Kevin Magoon, who also adds a little electronic drum. C22romero does a nice job on the song too, but maybe he should turn down the reverb a little. I wish Chris Pap would focus the camera, but he does a nice quiet version of the song.
Perhaps because of the viewpoint of the lyrics, almost all of the covers are by men. But Linda Kosut performs the song in California.
After this post was initially published, singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave covered “Red River Shore” on his album, Depending on the Distance (2012). LaFave, who in addition to writing his own songs was a wonderful interpreter of several Dylan songs, is one of the rare established acts to tackle the epic length of “Red River Shore.” But he does an outstanding interpretation. Below is the excellent version from that album.
In another video after this post’s original publication, an artist named Kape does a nice version too. I cannot find much about him from the Internet, but he appears to be from Sweden.
Finally, one of my favorite covers is this version of “Red River Shore” by “lornisply.” The video features a guy playing an electric piano in his home. He has a good voice and seems to connect to the song.
And there is something about the simple weariness of the performance of the melancholy song that makes it believable, like he is thinking of someone he knew from long ago.
I know nobody matches the Bob Dylan version, but which cover version do you like best? Leave a comment.
Chimesfreedom wishes you a happy and healthy new year with this post about a Pulitzer-Prize winning book interpreted indirectly through song, leaving you with a question to ask yourself every day throughout the new year.
Although Tim McGraw is not one of my favorite singers, there are times when popular artists record a song that is undeniably clever and catchy. Popular songs are popular for a reason. And I cannot help liking his song, “Live Like You Were Dying,” and the way it also relates to one of my favorite books.
“Live Like You Were Dying” exceeds anything else McGraw has recorded. Part of the reason may be the somewhat unusual message in the song. Although traditional country music has a history of delving into deep adult themes, often modern country music ends up as superficial as most pop music. “Live Like You Were Dying,” though, summarizes one of the lessons from Ernest Becker‘s Pulitzer-prize winning book, Denial of Death.
Ernest Becker & Our Mortality
Becker’s book touches on several themes, but a principal theme may be summarized (in a somewhat oversimplified way for a short blog post): (1) human beings are intelligent; (2) because we are intelligent, we are faced with the knowledge that we are rotting pieces of animal flesh that will someday die; (3) this knowledge of our mortality is overwhelming, so we push the knowledge to our subconscious; (4) to help us deal with our knowledge of mortality, we latch onto various cultural devices that help us suppress our fear of death — such as activities that subconsciously make us feel immortal, like rooting for sports teams, shopping, exuberant patriotism, writing a blog, raising children, etc.
There are both upsides and downsides to our subconscious quest for immortality. It may drive us to do things that benefit others, but it also may make us subconsciously hostile to others who have belief systems different from us. If you believe something different than I do, you threaten the subconscious protections I have created as a shield against my mortality. In the last few decades, “Terror Management Theory” psychologists have done significant research regarding how these theories affect our real world interactions.
Ernest Becker’s books, in particular Denial of Death and Escape from Evil, explain the theories in more detail. But his work is based on philosophers, psychologists, scientists, etc. going back more than a century.
What does all this have to do with a pop song by a country superstar? Although there is an aspect of Becker’s work that initially sounds depressing, there is an uplifting side, and that is portrayed rather well in the song. One of Becker’s points is that if you are consciously aware of reality — including one’s mortality and the ways we may try to suppress it — then it may help you embrace life and more accurately assess value to the things in our life.
Live Like You Were Dying
“Live Like You Were Dying” begins with a friend in his early 40’s telling the narrator about getting bad news from the doctor relating to his x-rays (otherwise the song is vague about the exact nature of the disease). The narrator “asked him when it sank in,/That this might really be the real end?/ How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news? /Man whatcha do?”
The friend, instead of responding about being angry or depressed, tells the narrator in the chorus of the song:
An’ he said: “I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing, “I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu. “And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter, “And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying.” An’ he said: “Some day, I hope you get the chance, “To live like you were dyin’.”
The friend then explains how he became a better husband, a better friend, and a better son. The chorus repeats with the friend restating the wish about hoping that the narrator gets the chance “To live like you were dyin’,” explaining in the bridge, as the music builds:
Like tomorrow was a gift, And you got eternity, To think about what you’d do with it. An’ what did you do with it? An’ what can I do with it? An’ what would I do with it?
Although the song was written by songwriter Tim Nichols and not by Tim McGraw, the video reflects McGraw’s connection to the song. In the final chorus, starting at around the 3:00 mark, you see a Phillies pitcher throwing a strikeout to Willie Wilson of the Royals to win the 1980 World Series. The image is not there because McGraw is a Phillies fan or because he hates the Royals; that’s his dad Tug McGraw on the mound.
Tug fathered Tim as the result of an affair and they did not have a relationship until Tim was a teenager. But the two became close later in life. Tug McGraw passed away from a brain tumor in early 2004, and Tim McGraw recorded “Live Like You Were Dying” later in the year in memory of his father.
In the song, because the friend is talking to the narrator, the singer is singing the questions to us. So, you are asked, if you knew that each day was precious and you were dying, what would you do? The question is relevant to all of us.
As Ernest Becker explained, we each only have a limited number of days to live. More than 56 billion people in the world died between Jan 1, 2010 and Jan. 1, 2011, with most enjoying last New Year’s Day not knowing it was their last. Many of us will not be here a year from today.
Our time here is short, and each day we are closer to death, giving us the opportunity to live like we are dying — instead of just dying. This new year, each month, and each day, including today, is a gift.
What can you do with it?
What are you going to do with it?
Live Like We’re Dying
Bonus American Idol Copy of Idea and Song Title: In 2009, American Idol winner Kris Allen recorded a song with a very similar title and similar theme to Tim McGraw’s song. Allen’s song, entitled “Live Like We’re Dying,” repeats the theme of McGraw’s “Live Like You’re Dying” with a riff that may be more catchy to those turned off by men wearing cowboy hats when they sing.
We only got 86 400 seconds in a day to Turn it all around or to throw it all away We gotta tell ’em that we love ’em while we got the chance to say Gotta live like we’re dying
The song, written by four writers, is more generic than the McGraw song. It tries to send a similar message without the personal story of the country song.
Oa recent road trip, I heard the song late at night driving through New Jersey, and the catchy tune did get stuck in my head. But the meaning behind the song is not as emotionally powerful as in the personal story of the country song. Give it a listen.
The truce created by common soldiers during one World War I Christmas has inspired artists such as Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks.
On Christmas day in 1914, peace broke out on the battlefield among common soldiers. Several artists have interpreted the World War I Christmas Truce, including folksinger John McCutcheon (“Christmas in the Trenches“). Two of the biggest recording artists in history — Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks — have also incorporated the historical event into their work.
Although the songs about the truce ignore some of the nuances of the historical record, there is only so much one may do in a three-minute song. But many artists have used the historical event to create powerful art.
The Christmas Morning Truce
On Christmas morning in 1914 at several places along the trenches, an informal peace broke out among the troops. At some places, German troops started singing carols, and then the British joined in. Soon, some of the soldiers began showing themselves, and the enemies met in no-man’s land to exchange food and cigarettes, and in some places they played soccer.
The truce occurred spontaneously at different locations with different men. And it is estimated that more than 100,000 British, French, and German soldiers participated.
Reactions to the Informal Truce
But the World War I leaders on both sides did not appreciate the common soldiers’ truce. Many days later, after word spread about the Christmas Truce, officers ordered that soldiers who possessed gifts from the enemy would be punished. At many places along the lines, the leadership broke up groups who participated in the truce and transferred the men elsewhere along the front lines.
The following year, there would again be some informal truces, but due to pressure from the officers and due to the increasing brutality of the war, the 1915 truces were not nearly as widespread as the 1914 truces. The moment of peace had passed.
Paul McCartney’s “Pipes of Peace”
The video to Paul McCartney’s 1983 song, “Pipes of Peace” — from the album of the same name — shows a dramatization of the truce. In the video, we see English Paul and German Paul meeting on the battlefield. (Fortunately, none of the Pauls from the “Coming Up” video appear).
The lyrics of “Pipes of Peace” do not describe the Christmas Truce and are vague enough to be used either as an anti-war song or a love song. It is sort of like “Love is All You Need.”
In “Pipes of Peace,” Paul sings: “All round the world little children being born to the world/ Got to give them all we can till the war is won / Then will the work be done.”
Garth Brooks and “Belau Wood”
By contrast, in Garth Brooks’s 1997 “Bellau Wood” — from one of his last pre-retirement albums, Sevens (1997) — the lyrics directly describe the Christmas Truce. The story is a fictionalized version of the truce set at the location of a later 1918 World War I battle.
Brooks describes the peace starting with someone singing “Silent Night”: “As we lay there in our trenches / The silence broke in two/ By a German soldier singing / A song that we all knew.” But in the end, the message is similar to the message of the McCartney song:
But for just one fleeting moment The answer seemed so clear Heaven’s not beyond the clouds It’s just beyond the fear
No, heaven’s not beyond the clouds It’s for us to find it here
Brooks has talked about how emotional it is for him to sing the song, so much so that often when he is asked to perform it in concert he performs a shorter version of the song so he can get through it without tearing up. I recall an official video of the Garth Brooks song “Bellau Wood,” but it does not seem to be available on the Internet. You may hear the song with a fan video below.
The Film Joyeux Noel and a Book
Not surprisingly, others have written about the truce in books. An excellent 2005 French movie is based on the truce, Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas). Also, a nonfiction book by Stanley Weintraub called Silent Night tells the real story in more detail.
Although the movie Joyeux Noel is a fictionalized account of the truce, it does a good job of portraying the reaction to the truce, something that is often overlooked in the sweet versions of the story.
In Weintraub’s book, he described how the High Command on both sides were not happy, but “many troops had discovered through the truce that the enemy, despite the best efforts as propagandists, were not monsters. Each side had encountered men much like themselves, drawn from the same walks of life — and led, alas, by professionals who saw the world through different lenses.”
At the end of his book, the author wonders what the world would be like today had the informal truce led to an immediate end of the war that was just beginning.
Although the leaders’ reactions against the truce show the darker and realistic side of war, the fact that the truce took place at all is somewhat hopeful for our species. When France dedicated a WWI Christmas Truce memorial in 2008, German and French soldiers played a game of football (soccer) where their predecessors had played in 1914. This time, the peace endured.
Snoopy and The Red Baron
Finally, here is one more song that incorporates the WWI truce, featuring someone more famous than Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks: Snoopy.
In this holiday season and in the upcoming year, may you understand that your enemies are not so different from you. Peace to all the world and good will to men and women. Happy holidays.
[November 2014 Update: The grocery store chain Sainsbury incorporated the Christmas truce story into a commercial.] Which song do you prefer? Leave a comment.
Illinois has been a leader in the death penalty debate in recent years, so it will be interesting to see if the governor has the courage to accept the role in abolishing the death penalty. After several Illinois death row inmates were found to be innocent in the 1990s, then-Gov. George Ryan ordered a commission to review the criminal justice system and he ultimately commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois’s death row. The results from the commission, and studies by other states inspired by Illinois, in effect, found that there are so many flaws in the criminal justice system, that we can never be sure that we will not execute an innocent person.
On January 8 in 1935, the king of rock and roll was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. The child was born to Gladys Love Presley and named after the middle name of his father, Vernon Elvis Presley.
(2008), the Bob Dylan CD that features unreleased songs from the time period of his more recent albums, the song “Red River Shore” stood out immediately as I played the CD in my car. I kept playing the song over and over again, barely getting to anything else on the CD. It is another example of a great song that Dylan originally decided to leave off an album he was making.
