From Zevon’s self-titled album from 1976, comes one of his saddest and grimmest ballads, this time about a heroin addict at the end of his rope. This has been covered by everyone, from Linda Rondstadt to G.G. Allin. If you get the 2-CD deluxe edition of this album, the original demos and alternate takes of this song are even better.
Cash’s beautiful cover of one of Leonard Cohen’s best and most famous songs. I like this even better than Cohen’s original, mainly because that voice of Cash’s sounds like he really lived these lyrics. This is a live version that’s not too different than the studio version he recorded with Rick Rubin in 1994 for “American Recordings.”
An absolutely lovely cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes” by Alejandro Escovedo, former member of the punk group The Nuns and the alternative country band Rank and File. From the 2009 album “Bourbonitis Blues”. I don’t know who the female singer is who sings duet on this, but her voice is absolutely angelic. If someone knows who this is, please let me know … gotta give credit where credit is due.
Ugh! Having a very crappy-mediocre day so far. But it can’t be that crappy-mediocre knowing that this song not only exists, but that this was a Top 10 hit back in 1989. Things like that give me hope … or at the very least, make me piss my pants laughing … even nearly 25 years later.
A very funny jab at the pompous earnestness of pop culture in the late 1980s. Plus you can dance to it.
Drug freakout scenes are one of my favorite cliches in movies. My all-time favorite drug freakout scene (with the exception of Helen Hunt trying to fly in the 1982 CBS TV-movie “Desperate Lives”) is this scene from Oliver Stone’s “The Doors.” With the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs” and “Heroin” playing in the background, Val Kilmer’s Jim Morrison takes a walk on the wild side with all kinds of Andy Warhol characters from Tom Baker (played by Michael Madsen), Warhol (played by Crispin Glover), Nico (played by Christina Fulton), and some unnamed Warhol assistant (played by Oscar winning 70s singer/songwriter Paul Williams). Seeing this on home video doesn’t compare to seeing this film on a huge screen with booming stereo sound back in the day. The wobbly, boat-in-a-tsunami camera movements are much more intense and caused me to have a major headache when I saw this in a theater.
An outstanding, snarling, but still soulful hard rock cover of the Ann Peebles’ 1973 R&B classic. This live version is even better than the studio version included on Parker’s 1977 album “Stick to Me.” If there’s ever an artist that needs rediscovering, it’s Parker. Parker is like an angrier, more sarcastic Bruce Springsteen and like the Boss, had an outstanding band behind him (The Rumour) that always delivered.
The premise for this classic song came from Pete Townshend winning a 7-figure settlement in the late 1970s, which made him feel horrible, because he devoted a lot of time and energy to an endeavor that only resulted in a check. He drowned his sorrows in booze and ran into Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols at a local pub. He ranted at them, saying that the Who were finished, that the Pistols needed to take over and “finish the job” … whatever that meant. He then dramatically ripped up his check and stomped on it several times. Jones and Cook looked perplexed and expressed their sorrow about a possible break-up of the Who, to which Townshend snarled “I’m disappointed in you!” and staggered off into the night. He passed out in a shop doorway and was awakened by a patrol man who told Townshend, “As a special treat, if you can get up and walk away, you can sleep in your own bed tonight.” Townshend made it home, passed out, and the next morning wrote “Who Are You?”
The version in this video is different than the version most people know. There’s some nice footage of the band, including Keith Moon who would soon pass away, goofing around and having a great time in the studio.
“Wall of Death” is the closing song of Richard and Linda Thompson’s bleak album from 1982, “Shoot out the Lights.” For those who don’t know (and I didn’t know until recently), a “wall of death” is (according to Wikipedia) actually “a carnival attraction featuring a silo- or barrel-shaped wooden cylinder, ranging from 20 to 36 feet in diameter, inside of which motorcyclists, or the drivers of miniature automobiles, travel along the vertical wall and perform stunts, held in place by centrifugal force.”
I always thought “Wall of Death” was a metaphor for suicide or something equally dark. And for all I know, it could be. However, now that I know what a real “wall of death” is, I think the song has a different meaning in the context of the album (which many take as a song cycle about the Thompsons’ impending divorce). Since the Thompsons were still together when the album was completed (they didn’t divorce until the album was released), I now see the song in a more positive light. I think the song could be an affirmation of the importance to keep things going in an otherwise strong relationship, even though the going can be tough and scary at times. The song could also be an affirmation of how many people still seem to look for love, even though it can be a scary ride, because, as the lyrics say, “it’s the nearest to being free.” Again, given the context of what was going on with the Thompsons at the time, I could be completely wrong. But I’m also happy to believe there’s possibly a more positive meaning to a great song I always thought was unbearably bleak.
The accompanying video shows some classic stills from real “walls of death” over the years.
Here’s the late 1970s punk equivalent of the “east coast v west coast” gangsta rap battles of the 1990s … only with significantly fewer dead bodies. Punks always caused more harm to themselves than to others.
In this corner is the Sex Pistols’ “New York,” which sneeringly spits on the New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders’ follow-up band, The Heartbreakers for being drug-addled hippie tarts.
In the opposite corner is Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers performing “London Boys,” which chastises the Sex Pistols for little boys under the thumb of their manager Malcolm McLaren.
As to who won … well, it’s hard to say. Thunders may have won the battle, because when he recorded “London Boys” for his album “So Alone,” the Pistols’ guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook played on the song (a nice way to bury the hatchet). However, the Sex Pistols are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Dolls currently aren’t, so the Pistols may have won the war. Except that the Pistols protested their inclusion, so maybe that means they lost. Who knows? Who cares? Both songs are funny and immensely cool and I love both.
The version of “London Boys” included here is an earlier version that was an outtake from the Heartbreaker’s “L.A.M.F.” album from 1977. I like the version on Thunders’ “So Alone” album, but I prefer this earlier version.
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