This video of a live performance combines one of my favorite Foo Fighters songs with one of my favorite singers, Ryan Adams. On July 21, 2015 at the Sydney Opera House, Adams busted out an acoustic version of “Times Like These” as a tribute to Foo Fighters lead singer David Grohl, who has had some recent injuries while still being devoted to his music.
Earlier this year, Grohl announced he had broken his rib after performing at Sasquatch! Music Festival. He continued touring only to break his leg mid-set last month. Adams noted his admiration for Grohl, who even finished the concert where he broke his leg. And then Adams gave a moving acoustic rendition of “Times Like These.” Check out his cover of the song from the Foo Fighters 2002 album One by One.
What is your favorite cover of a Foo Fighters song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Chimesfreedom‘s song of the day is Jason Isbell‘s new song, “Something More Than Free,” the title track off his new album released July 17, 2015. It is a rare song that is somewhat of an ode to work: “And I don’t think on why I’m here where it hurts / I’m just lucky to have the work.”
But the song is about more. “Something More Than Free” meditates on how we give meaning to our lives (“Guess I’m doin’ what I’m on this earth to do”). While the singer is thankful for the work, he also looks for something more.
And the day will come when I’ll find a reason, And somebody proud to love a man like me; My back is numb, my hands are freezing; What I’m working for is something more than free.
So, check out the title track from Something More Than Free by the Alabama-born and former Drive-By Trucker Isbell. Here, Isbell performs an acoustic version of the song at KUTX Studio 1A.
Wayne Carson, with a little help, created a song with great versions by both Willie Nelson and Elvis Presley. But did the last-minute addition of a bridge hurt the song or make it better?
Wayne Carson, who wrote songs such as “Always on My Mind,” passed away on Monday, July 20, 2015. The 72-year-old Carson, who was born with the name Wayne Carson Head, had been suffering a number of health problems.
Carson wrote or co-wrote a number of great songs such as “The Letter,” which was a hit for The Box Tops and for Joe Cocker, and “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles),” which was a hit in 1975 for Gary Stewart. But his song “Always on My Mind,” for most people, is the first song that will come to mind.
While living in Missouri, following his idea from a phone conversation with a wife who was angry at him for being away from home, Carson originally wrote most of “Always on My Mind.” His original version of the song, though, did not have a bridge because he did not think it needed one. But while he was recording the song in Memphis in 1971, Carson’s producer Tips Smallman convinced him the song needed a bridge. Ultimately, Johnny Christopher and Mark James came along and helped Carson write the bridge.
Tell me, tell me that your sweet love hasn’t died; And give me, give me one more chance, To keep you satisfied, Keep you satisfied.
There is an argument that the lyrics of the bridge change the meaning of the song and perhaps ruins it a bit. The verses by themselves are about a singer looking back on a lost love. But the added bridge turns the song instead to the singer pleading with the lover for another chance.
I get the argument. When I listen to the song, for whatever reason I tend to focus on the verses and think of the song as more about the singer looking back, so maybe I block out the meaning of the bridge while still loving the musical transition. But either way, it remains a great song. Since the song was written, more than 300 people have recorded “Always on My Mind,” including a hit version by Willie Nelson in 1982.
Many people first heard “Always on My Mind” from Elvis Presley, who recorded the song on March 29, 1972 as his marriage to Priscilla Presley was falling apart. Presley recorded several excellent songs that capture the anguish he felt during the time, but “Always on My Mind” stands out. Even though he did not write the songs, Presley knew how to tap into his own emotions to reach the depths of a song’s lyrics.
While “Always on My Mind” dwells on a common concept of heartbreak, the lyrics strip bare every ounce of pain in the opening lines of regret. Carson recognized that sometimes the worst regret is not for things that we have done but for things that we did not do.
Maybe I didn’t treat you, Quite as good as I should have; Maybe I didn’t love you, Quite as often as I could have; Little things I should have said and done, I just never took the time. You were always on my mind.
The greatness of the song is revealed by the fact that two of our greatest interpreters of songs — Willie Nelson and Elvis Presley — both gave definitive moving renditions of “Always on My Mind.” An it all sprung from Wayne Carson, a disappointed wife, and a couple of last-minute helpers to come together to use beautiful words and music to help capture the human condition.
What is your favorite version of “Always on My Mind”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On July 19, 1799 near the town of Rosetta, Egypt, a French officer named Pierre-François Bouchard found a large black basalt stone with writing on it. The stone included three languages that said the same thing in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. Scholars thus discovered that the “Rosetta Stone” was the key to interpreting the long-dead written language of hieroglyphics. The stone would eventually become important for interpreting and understanding ancient Egyptian culture.
What Happened to the Rosetta Stone
Napoleon Bonaparte’s armies during the Egyptian campaign took control of the stone. But the British soon took it from the French when they defeated Napoleon in 1801.
The next year, the British placed the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, where it has remained through today (except for a brief period during World War I), including earlier this year when I visited the British Museum in London and took the photo above.
“And It Stoned Me”
I do not know what Pierre-François Bouchard thought when he first saw the Rosetta Stone. But because of Napoleon’s orders to look for artifacts, Bouchard knew he had found something. I do wonder if he had any idea of the impact the rock would have on the world.
If Bouchard knew how important it was, the discovery surely must have “stoned him,” an expression used by Van Morrison in “And It Stoned Me” from his Moondance (1970) album. Below, Morrison performs the song on June 18, 1980 at Montreux.
Van Morrison has explained that “And It Stoned Me” is about an experience he had as a twelve-year-old kid on a fishing trip. During the trip, an old man gave him water from a spring, with everything seeming to stand still in the moment.
In its original review of Moondance, Rolling Stone saw the water in “And It Stoned Me” as rain. The magazine recounted that the song is “a tale of boys out for a day’s freedom, standing in the rain with eyes and mouths open, heads bent back.” The review concluded, “The sensuality of this song is overpowering, communicated with a classical sort of grace.”
The magazine described the song in the same way that Bouchard might have felt upon seeing the Rosetta Stone: “you feel the exhilaration almost with a sense of astonishment.” When I visited the Rosetta Stone in London, I felt some of that astonishment too.
In honor of this date’s discovery of the Rosetta Stone, take a moment to feel a little exhilarated from both mystical experiences and for human beings’ ongoing quest for knowledge.
Photo via Chimesfreedom. Leave your two cents in the comments.
Around noon on July 16, 1981, the 38-year-old singer-songwriter Harry Chapin was driving his daughter’s 1975 blue VW Rabbit on the Long Island Expressway heading to perform a free concert that evening at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York. Apparently due to either a heart attack or to mechanical problems, Chapin suddenly put on his flashers and drastically slowed down before his car began swerving.
Chapin’s car was then hit by a tractor-trailer truck, and the Rabbit burst into flames. Chapin was rescued from the car and taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he soon died.
The doctor listed the cause of death as cardiac arrest. But we do not know if the heart attack caused the accident or vice versa. But even with that mystery, maybe we know more about the man by where he was going than how the trip ended.
On his way to give a free concert, Chapin’s death reminded us that he always loved the music, and it reminds us of how he devoted much of his time to philanthropic work, including his advocacy regarding world hunger. He gave us good music and good works, providing some inspiration for later events in the 1980s like Live Aid and Farm Aid.
Behind the Music
I miss when VH1 used to regularly feature Behind the Music episodes. One episode from the show’s first season focused on Harry Chapin. For more on Harry Chapin, check out this episode of Behind the Music from 1998.
I Wonder What Would Happen to this World
Chapin, who was born on December 7, 1942, was buried at Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington, New York. His tombstone features words from his song “I Wonder What Would Happen to this World.”
Oh if a man tried To take his time on Earth, And prove before he died What one man’s life could be worth, I wonder what would happen to this world.
In this video, Harry Chapin’s daughter Jen Chapin sings her version of the song.
Chimesfreedom‘s song of the day is 
released July 17, 2015. It is a rare song that is somewhat of an ode to work: “And I don’t think on why I’m here where it hurts / I’m just lucky to have the work.”
Wayne Carson, who wrote songs such as “Always on My Mind,” 
On 
(1970) album. Below, Morrison performs the song on June 18, 1980 at Montreux.
