Recently, while playing in Seattle’s Key Arena on The River Tour, Bruce Springsteen brought Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder onstage. Backed by the E Street Band, Springsteen and Vedder let loose on “Bobby Jean” from Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. (1984) album.
There are few songs that sound as joyous as “Bobby Jean,” as the singer recounts a long-lost love and the peace he has found with the separation. Vedder seems to be having a blast too as he dances around the stage. Check out the March 24, 2016 performance.
One person who does not look happy onstage is Steven Van Zandt. Look at his face. Is he jealous that someone else is taking his place on the song that Springsteen supposedly wrote for him when he left the band for a period in the 1980s? I suspect he is just concentrating on the music or thinking about his recent appearance on American Idol as a mentor and wondering how Jennifer Lopez could forget his name. Or maybe he is just taking an emotional break while Springsteen, Vedder, and saxophonist Jake Clemons bring the joy on this song.
In Born to Be Blue, Ethan Hawke portrays jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker in a “re-imagining” of Baker’s mid-career struggles in the 1960s as he worked for a comeback after spending time in prison on drug charges. In the film, director Robert Budreau attempts to reveal the real Baker through a fictionalized romance with actress Jane Azuka, played by Carmen Ejogo.
It is always risky fictionalizing a biopic about a real person, although it can work in the right hands as it did for Todd Haynes’s treatment of Bob Dylan in I’m Not There (2007). From the trailer for Born to Be Blue, Budreau’s version of Baker seems more like a typical biopic with the exception that it is not completely true. But much of jazz music is about improvisation and variations, so perhaps the best way to understand Baker’s brilliance and demons is through a movie that riffs on his life.
Born to Be Blue opens in limited release starting on March 25, 2016.
In real life, Baker — who was born on December 23, 1929 — followed his brilliant success in the 1950s with struggles with heroin and other drugs throughout the rest of his life. After a difficult period in the 1960s, he began a comeback with his rediscovery fueling performances in Europe. In the early 1980s, he toured with Stan Getz and played on Elvis Costello’s album Punch the Clock (1983). On May 13, 1988, Baker was found dead on the sidewalk beneath his hotel room in Amsterdam, Netherlands, a death that was ruled an accident.
Baker’s death had previously inspired the Born to Be Blue director Budreau to speculate about how the death occurred. In 2009, he wrote and directed a short film about Baker’s death called The Deaths of Chet Baker. You may watch that short film, starring Stephen McHattie below.
Finally, if you are curious about why Budreau is so fascinated with Chet Baker, check out some of Baker’s performances and recordings, starting with this full performance live in Tokyo in 1987.
What is your favorite musical biopic? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On March 22, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Beer and Wine Revenue Act. The Eighteenth Amendment prohibiting the sale and transport of alcohol was still in effect. But the new act, signed into law less than three weeks after Roosevelt took office on March 4, amended the Volstead Act enforcing Prohibition.
The Beer and Wine Revenue Act provided for a tax on alcoholic beverages. And it also allowed states to further regulate the sale of beer and wine. After its passage, people could once again legally buy beer and wine with an alcohol content of less than 3.2% by volume.
The change in law started after Roosevelt had called for a special session of Congress five days after his election to begin the work on legalizing beer. There were a number of reasons Roosevelt made efforts to end Prohibition part of his campaign. Those reasons included an appeal to thirsty working-class Americans and also allowing sales of a product to stimulate the economy during the Depression.
There are a number of good songs about alcohol, and in particular about wine. For example, there is “Little Ole Wine Drinker Me,” made famous by Dean Martin and recorded by others such as actor Robert Mitchum. But I suspect that if you asked people to name a song about wine, the most popular reaction would be “Red Red Wine.”
Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine”
Neil Diamond wrote “Red Red Wine.” The song appeared on his 1967 album Just For You. The label, Bang Records, released the song in 1968 as a single with some small alterations, including an added choir, after Diamond had already left the label.
I probably first heard the song from my sister repeatedly playing Diamond’s 1972 amazing live album Hot August Night.
UB40’s “Red Red Wine”
Many folks probably do not know that Neil Diamond wrote “Red Red Wine.” Most probably know the more popular version of the song — the 1983 reggae hit cover version by UB40. Heck, at the time UB40 put the song on their covers album, Labour of Love, even they did not know it was by Neil Diamond.
According to Wikipedia, UB40 were only aware of a version by Tony Tribe. The did not realize that the writer credit on their album, “Diamond,” was Neil.
But UB40 were able to turn the song into something new when they found the reggae rhythm that fits the song perfectly. Reportedly, Diamond loves the UB40 cover and has even performed their version in concert.
A Song for the Heartbroken
Of course, like most great songs about alcohol, “Red Red Wine” is not really about a beverage. It is a heartbreak song. The singer and his blue blue heart uses the wine to get through his pain. Although I like the different versions of the song, it is in Diamond’s original version where you most sense the aching in the lyrics, “Don’t let me be alone.”
As for the Beer and Wine Revenue Act, it was an important step toward ending Prohibition. By the end of the year, on December 5, 1933, the Twenty-First Amendment was ratified, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment’s ban. Americans were once again free to to drink all types of alcohol. The failures of Prohibition are still cited today as states struggle with issues surrounding the legality of marijuana.
But thinking about “Red Red Wine” in the context of Prohibition, I see that perhaps the great tragedy was not that people could not celebrate and laugh with a drink. Instead, I wonder how in the world the heartbroken survived from 1920 to 1933 without being able to drink some red red wine.
What is your favorite drinking song? Leave your two cents in the comments. Prohibition photo via public domain.
In the wonderful song “Dublin Blues,” Guy Clark sings about a lost love and his own pain. The alcoholic singer sits in Dublin with the shakes wishing he were back in Austin, drinking “Mad Dog Margaritas/ And not carin’ where you are.” The singer ask for forgiveness and recounts some of the sights he has seen, but he cannot forget the object of the song or walk away from her.
“Dublin Blues”
In “Dublin Blues,” the singer lists some of his travels. And Clark notes what he has seen and heard.
I have seen the David, I’ve seen the Mona Lisa too, I have heard Doc Watson Play “Columbus Stockade Blues.”
The line about “Columbus Stockade Blues” caught my ear. Songs do sometimes refer to other songs, but it is not often you hear them compared to the Mona Lisa. Here is Guy Clark singing “Dublin Blues.”
Why Does Clark Reference “Columbus Stockade Blues”?
I was not sure I had heard Doc Watson play “Columbus Stockade Blues.” So I became curious about this song that Guy Clark compares to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the Michelangelo’s David.
“Columbus Stockade Blues” is so old that nobody knows who wrote it. An informative Grateful Dead website notes that the earliest known version is by Darby and Tarlton. On Doc Watson’s album, the song is credited to Jimmy Davis and Eva Sargent.
Jimmy Davis, the Louisiana governor famous for “You Are My Sunshine,” made “Columbus Stockade Blues” popular in the 1940s. But it is the Doc Watson version that haunted Guy Clark so much that he cited it in “Dublin Blues.”
What is interesting about Guy Clark’s tribute to “Columbus Stockade Blues” is that Watson’s song has the same theme as Guy Clark’s song that references it. Those unfamiliar with the Watson song, however, will miss the connection because the title does not give it away.
As in “Dublin Blues,” the song “Columbus Stockade Blues” begins with the singer wishing he were somewhere else, as he sits in Columbus, Georgia wishing he was “back in Tennessee.” He recounts that he thought the woman would love him forever, but he recognizes the woman loves another. Broken-hearted, he tells her to go ahead and “Leave me, little darling, I don’t mind.” But we know he does mind.
The real difference between Watson’s song and Clark’s song comes where we find out the reason for the title, “Columbus Stockade Blues.” Watson’s singer is in prison.
Last night as I lay sleeping, Oh, I dreamd that I was you in my arms; When I woke I was mistaken; Lord, I was still behind these bars.
Inspiration for “Dublin Blues” from “Handsome Molly”
“Dublin Blues” is connected to another song besides “Columbus Stockade Blues.” Singer-songwriter Tom Russell has noted that “Dublin Blues” has its origins in a song called “Handsome Molly,” written by fiddle player D.B. Grayson, who was born in 1887.
Like “Dublin Blues” and “Columbus Stockade Blues,” the song “Handsome Molly” is about heartache. It begins in a similar way to “Dublin Blues” with the singer wishing he were somewhere else. “Well, I wish I was in London,/ Or some other seaport town.” The sound of “Dublin Blues” is similar to “Handsome Molly,” although Clark slows it down to emphasize the agony of the heartbreak.
Clark possibly was inspired to use the tune from “Handsome Molly” because Watson recorded a famous version of “Handsome Molly.” Thus, Clark’s “Dublin Blues” is doubly connected to Watson, referencing a Watson song while using music from another song connected to Watson. Here is Watson playing “Handsome Molly.”
Both Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger have recorded “Handsome Molly.” Below is Dylan’s version of “Handsome Molly.”
Conclusion
Ultimately, Clark’s song “Dublin Blues” is a nice tribute to Watson, who passed away in 2012. Clark honors Watson and the traditional song by comparing “Columbus Stockade Blues” to great works of art while incorporating much of the storyline into his own song.
Clark’s singer sits in Dublin outside the penitentiary, but he remains locked in his own prison of alcoholism, sorrow, and regret. These are two great songs about lost love and the destruction that may result from a broken heart.
And they are both great works of art.
What is your favorite song that mentions another song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Peter Salomone started out with a brilliant and simple premise about movie endings. His hypothesis: “‘Walk of Life‘ by Dire Straits is the perfect song to end any movie.” Spoiler alert: This post features the endings of several classic films.
Perhaps the truth of his hypothesis is an underlying assertion about the universality of human emotion. Or maybe “Walk of Life” is just so incredibly awesome. Is it really possible to improve The Godfather (1972)? Well, just add some Dire Straits.
Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights(1931) has one of the most perfect endings of any film, where the formerly blind woman recognizes the man who had once helped her. The only way to make it better is to add “Walk of Life.”
Were you confused at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)? Well, it makes more sense if you think of the star child as Johnny coming along “singing oldies, goldies / Be, bop, a, lua, baby, what I say.”
And it works with more recent movies too, like 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
For more examples, check out the Walk of Life Project website, with its dedication and devotion, “Turning all the night time into the day.”
What film would you like to see added to the Walk of Life Project? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In Born to Be Blue, Ethan Hawke portrays jazz trumpeter and singer 
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, even they did not know it was by Neil Diamond.
