Justin:
> Yes, indeed. There were giants in those days.
>I noticed that no one here has mentioned the death of Warren Zevon. Are
>there any fans of his here?
Bad times, two brilliant song writers/performers in 1 week.
I never got a chance to see JC in person and only came to appreciate his work in the last 10 years. I'm glad I did, seeing the depth of the humanity in his lyrics gives me a more substantial reason to loathe Shania and the rest of the table dancers (Steve Earle's words) that pass for talent in country these days. Keep in mind he wrote 'Man in Black' in 1971, when the war Vietnam was still 'winnable'.
I think the loss of June was too much for him, I'm surprised he lasted this long. If you get a chance check out the video for his version of the NIN song 'Hurt', it is a remarkable piece of work IMHO.
Last, a favorite image of mine is an ad from Variety (I think) in the late 1960's that had a picture of JC giving the camera the finger and the headline under the picture reading something to the effect 'Johnny Cash would like to thank the country music industry for all its support'. Looking at that picture, those lyrics and those times and comparing it with potty mouthed brats like Eminem posing flipping the bird.....'tis to weep.
And Zevon, I started listening to him in high school when the line from 'Aint that Pretty at All'; 'cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all' seemed to sum up adolesence in the late 1970's. And saw him a couple of time, last time was last August at our Folk (!) Festival, and saw him do two sets; one sharing a small stage with Nick Lowe and others doing acoustic versions of their material, and later on larger stage, just him with a guitar or piano and a fiddler/guitarist. He was diagnosed with CA a few weeks later, and you knew he was not going to go quietly. But he did go well, The Wind is a remarkable self composed eulogy and tombstone.
As noted, a sometimes twisted approach to things and like good HST writing, you don't know if you should be laughing or appalled. Or both.
PC