Steve Earl-Taliban Song?

Chris Schlotzhauer · Post by **Chris Schlotzhauer** » 23 Jul 2002 12:50 pm

Deleted[This message was edited by Chris Schlotzhauer on 23 July 2002 at 01:51 PM.]

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 23 Jul 2002 1:16 pm

I don't like it or the author/performer, but I'd be very upset if it was banned.

I don't want anyone telling me what I can listen to.

Remember when England banned Sir Paul's song, "Give Ireland Back to the Irish"?

I still don't understand how a "free" society can do that.

Larry Miller · Post by **Larry Miller** » 23 Jul 2002 2:39 pm

Hey guys, let's write a song...I'll start it

John Walker Lihnd, You are a traitor

I wish a big alligator, would chomp you half in two

You are responsible for the death of Johnny "Mike" Spann

You didn't reveal the plan

At the prison even though you knew

I think some steel would sound nice right here[[This message was edited by Larry Miller on 23 July 2002 at 03:41 PM.]

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 23 Jul 2002 3:37 pm

I think you are missing the point here, it's a song from a view point, it's not endorsing a way of life at all.

As always the Forum remains a fairly irony free zone, (Hoffnar and Bovine excepted) that durn ol' Steve Earle, how dare he write something that might actually challenge the average thought process.

Greg Simmons · Post by **Greg Simmons** » 23 Jul 2002 4:23 pm

and wasn't "Okie from Muskogee" really written with satire in mind...?

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Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
shobud.cjb.net

Larry Miller · Post by **Larry Miller** » 23 Jul 2002 4:30 pm

I've almost got the second verse done, but I need something that rhymes with eat sh!t and die!

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 23 Jul 2002 5:51 pm

Well, I heard the song today. If it sells big...well, let's just say my faith in humanity will dwindle...considerably. I'm talking just about the song, and not the political aspects.

Steve may be a great singer and writer, but this song exhibits no such talents. This song's "sensationalism" is the only thing it's got going for it. I'm an amateur at both singing and writing, but I'd really be ashamed if that song was the best I could do.

My God...his singing on this makes Bob Dylan sound like Caruso.[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 26 July 2002 at 04:39 PM.]

Earl Erb · Post by **Earl Erb** » 23 Jul 2002 6:17 pm

Larry, your killin' me.

Derek Duplessie · Post by **Derek Duplessie** » 23 Jul 2002 10:35 pm

I cant think of one decent artist that I can actually agree with when it comes to politics. As far as his other music goes...it's excellent!! It's refreshing to hear someone who doesn't wear a big DORKY black cowboy hat and wranglers that are 5 sizes too small!!!!! Instead of singing about honky tonks,pick-up trucks,and hound dogs,he sings about deeper things. At his
website he says, "Fundamentalism, as practiced by the Taliban is the enemy of real thought and religion too." He blames john's,"Bohemian" parents and MTV. Steve is one of the few musicians who still writes his own music. A nice guy too!!
-Derek

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 24 Jul 2002 3:13 pm

I hear they're currently mastering a Bruce Springstein album do out in the fall.

He wrote a song on it that tells the story of a Suicide Bomber in the first person.

That's dark, but not unusual for Bruce. I think it was his 80's album Nebraska that had songs in the first person about killers.

kyle reid · Post by **kyle reid** » 24 Jul 2002 4:58 pm

Black cowboy hats are far from DORKY, & usually are backed up by great steel, now whats dorky, is some flat singin? dork, that stunk up the Opry a while back! & I dont think its just MY opinion!

ebb · Post by **ebb** » 24 Jul 2002 5:20 pm

real life is not black and white. that's why there are artists and politicians

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 24 Jul 2002 7:22 pm

"I cut off her head and kicked it against the wall"..Ralph Stanley

"...on top of the first Mrs Jones.." Porter Wagoner

"..you think I'm psycho don't you mama, I just killed..." don't remember the singer

"...just to watch him die..." Johnny Cash

We do have some history here...

Andy Greatrix · Post by **Andy Greatrix** » 24 Jul 2002 7:42 pm

The banks of the Ohio!

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 24 Jul 2002 11:59 pm

"You think I'm psycho don't you mama" where he kills his ex, his brother, the dog,the girl next door, and his mother,was writin by Leon Paine(the same guy that wrote songs for Hank Williams). Elvis Costello did a version of it.
Another great murder song is "Poor Ellen Smith" it was a true story and was writin by the guy the murdered her. It was in some small town in Carolina back in the 1800s. They banned the singing of it for years and fined anyone cought playing it, now it's a bluegrass standard.[This message was edited by Alvin Blaine on 25 July 2002 at 01:01 AM.]

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 25 Jul 2002 12:17 am

And then there's Kinky Friedman's "Ballad of Charles Whitman" about the University Of Texas tower snipper.The story I herd was one night Kinky did the song at a gig and some lady comes up to the stage crying and says her son was one of the kids killed and she couldn't believe someone was so incencitive to do a song like that, so Kinky counted it off and did it again just for her.

Lem Smith · Post by **Lem Smith** » 25 Jul 2002 12:50 am

"..you think I'm psycho don't you mama, I just killed..." don't remember the singer

Jack Kittel had probably the biggest version of this, although I think it would be considered more of a cult classic, as they say.

L.

Jason Stillwell · Post by **Jason Stillwell** » 25 Jul 2002 5:24 am

Another brutal murder song--"Knoxville Girl" by the Wilburn(??) Brothers.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 25 Jul 2002 5:40 am

Another brutal murder song--"Knoxville Girl" by the Wilburn(??) Brothers.

The first recording of "Knoxville Girl" was by "The Blue Sky Boys" Bill and Earl Bolick.
Both that song and "Banks of The Ohio" trace back to 17th century English folk songs.

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 25 Jul 2002 6:09 am

"Pretty Polly" is another oldtime standard, sorta Bluegrass, done in the first person, about murdering your girlfriend.

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 25 Jul 2002 6:17 am

Don't forget Paycheck's "Pardon me, I've got someone to kill." But it still makes me squirm to hear about such a horrific loss of life. I guess Steve Earle and I will have to agree to disagree on this song.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 25 Jul 2002 7:07 am

That's a great part of music is that it's always been a way to document tragedy.

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 25 Jul 2002 11:54 am

What about David Alan Coe's "Suicide"?