“Reconsider Me” by Steve Earle (Live on David Letterman)
Steve Earle originally covered this for the Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon tribute album. It has since appeared in the Showtime original series Californication (because musical director Tyler Bates is awesome!).
“Ashes To Ashes” by Steve Earle
(Words/Music: Album: Jerusalem, E-Squared 2002)
Along with Wilco, Steve Earle is possibly the artist most responsible for and recognizable in the world of alt.country. In his first post 9/11 album, he explores our realization that all things, including life and our creations, are temporary while the “pop country” stars like Toby Keith were feeding the flames of nationalism and not-so-subtly veiled bigotry.
Now, nobody lives forever
Nothin’ stands the test of time
Oh, you heard ‘em say “never say never”
But it’s always best to keep it in mind
That every tower ever built tumbles
No matter how strong, no matter how tall
Someday even great walls will crumble
And every idol ever raised falls
And someday even man’s best laid plans
Will lie twisted and covered in rust
When we’ve done all that we can but it slipped through our hands
And it’s ashes to ashes and dust to dust
Artist: Steve Earle
Track: F the CC
Album: The Revolution Starts Now
Year: 2004
Been called a traitor and a patriot
Call me anything you want to but
Just don’t forget your history
Dirty Lenny died so we could all be free
(Source: junkycosmonaut)
Reconsider Me - Reckless Kelly and Steve Earle
Cover of Warren Zevon
Two of my faves: Steve Earle and Warren Zevon.
“Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle
(Words/Music: Steve Earle, Album: Copperhead Road, MCA 1988)
Blister in the Sunday: “Watching the Wheels” by John Lennon
Metal Monday: “Fight the Good Fight” by Triumph
Blues and Jazz Tuesday: “Minnie the Moocher” by Cab Calloway
Wednesday’ Women: “Joyride” by Roxette
Re-worked Thursday: “Heroin” by Billy Idol
Feelin’-it Friday: “Ashes To Ashes” by Steve Earle
Saturday Shred: “Surrender” by U2
“Ashes to Ashes” by Steve Earle
(Words/Music: Steve Earle, Album: Jerusalem, Artemis Records 2002)
Whenever I tell people that I don’t like country music, I find myself having to explain myself in order to not insult people like Johnny Cash and Charlie Daniels. What I mean is that I don’t like “new” country, which is basically pop music in a cowboy hat. I do, however, like bands that have connected with “classic” country and, somehow, got labeled as alt.country because they are less polished, less popular, and actually have meaningful lyrics (it’s odd how those things always seem to go together). When 1001before21 discussed Steve Earle’s debut album Guitar Town on Tumblr the other day as part of her project to discuss the list put forth by music critic Robert Dimery, she mentioned that she didn’t care for it because there are “better country albums out there.” I completely agree and will add that there are better Steve Earle albums out there as well.
Although he achieved some crossover success with his song “Copperhead Road” (the reason I knew about him at all), he didn’t really come into his own until after his arrest and incarceration in 1992 on drugs and weapon charges. When he was released in 1995, his music was grittier and angrier, his wit was sharper, and he was more introspective. He began recording a variety of styles of country-ish music, each of which put him further from the mainstream of country music. He began experimenting with a wider variety of song topics including Transcendental Blues, an intensely introspective album influenced by his time in jail that sounds like it could have been produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. And where Transcendental Blues was largely influenced by Earle’s time in jail, Jerusalem finds him trying to make sense of the actions of and reactions to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. From the first notes of its intro and epitomized in “Ashes To Ashes,” it is obvious that this is not your normal country album. There is a sinister snarl and an attitude to the song that is wholly absent in country music these days, but a snarl that hearkens back to all good country music from Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” to Charlie Daniels’ “Still In Saigon.” And while it’s not pop-country, and not early Steve Earle, this is what I like country music to sound like.
“Ashes to Ashes” by Steve Earle
(Words/Music: Steve Earle, from Jerusalem, Artemis 2003)
Favorite Lyrics:
“And someday even man’s best laid plans
Will lie twisted and covered in rust
When we’ve done all that we can but it slipped through our hands
And it’s ashes to ashes and dust to dust”
Like most people, this song was my first contact with Steve Earle. It was a crossover hit into the classic rock genre because it filled a hole vacated by the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd. For that reason, and because of the similarity of the name, I always got this song confused with “Brickyard Road” by Johnny Van Zant. But that was in the early 90’s. When Steve Earle made his big comeback, and I discovered his Transcendental Blues CD, I re-listened to this song in the context of songs like “Steve’s Last Ramble”, “Lonelier Than This”, and “Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)” and was surprised to find a rebellious and original spirit throughout his music. Granted, rebellion in southern rock is hardly a new thing, but Steve’s rebellion seems to take on a more liberal (less redneck, if you will) tone. “Copperhead Road” tells the simple story of a man who grew up in a moon-shining family, volunteers to go off to Vietnam (but only because they “draft the white trash first around here anyway”), and comes back with “a brand new plan”: use the land the family used to use for moonshine and use it to grow drugs. Steve Earle has merely updated the traditional mountain man/moonshiner myth to include modern drugs. Listening to the beginning of the song (meant to sound like droning bagpipes) recalls the myths of the Scottish whiskey (aka Scotch) made in outlaw stills in the highlands of Scotland. No matter how far you analyze it, Steve Earle is associating himself with rebels. So why, then, did the country music world see him as non-country when this song came out? More than likely because they see making moonshine as glamorous (“Dukes of Hazzard”) but growing and dealing drugs is for long-haired hippie-types. Or Vietnam veterans? One may find it odd that the song didn’t come about because of Steve Earle’s liberal outlook on drugs, but rather he began writing it because of the effect the Vietnam War had on a friend of his. This infusion of politics gets almost lost in the nearly stereotypical country rock song, but it is what makes it stand apart from other songs in its genre and what makes Steve Earle stand apart from other country artists. His vision would become sidetracked by a little thing called prison, but he would be back “with a brand new plan” for his music which would forever alienate him from traditional country music fans.
“Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)”
Most discussions of the term alt.country usually center on, and revolve around, Wilco. However, Steve Earle has every bit as much to say in the genre as they do. Coming from a more traditional country music background, Steve Earle had always been looked at as a person of great promise (the next ______). That is, until his addiction to heroin landed him in jail. Upon his release in 1994, his music took on a more ethereal and reflective tone. Most former listeners were surprised that standard rock-type songs like “Guitar Town” were all but eliminated from the repertoire in favor of ruminations on death and divinity. One of these songs is “Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)” written in the voice of a prison inmate who was and living out his last few hours before his execution. The song fits perfectly into Earle’s catalog as he has always effectively written in the voices of distinct characters in order to get his point across. The point this time is that this person is remorseful, understands that he has caused a lot of pain, and realizes that his death can being closure to a lot of people, so he sees it as a good thing. This almost creates a sense of martyrdom and complicates the feelings of the listener. Just as Steve Earle would have wanted. Often his best songs (and others’ songs, poems, stories, movies, etc.) open discussion by creating contradictory and ambiguous points. The goal is not to make a political statement about the death penalty, but to get people to create a dialogue about it.
“Ashes to Ashes”
If “Copperhead Road” was musically (but not lyrically or philosophically) part of the country-rock genre and “Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)” showed his evolution into alt.country, then “Ashes to Ashes” shows that Steve Earle is not happy being pigeonholed in any category. After his CD Transcendental Blues, Jerusalem pushed politics even more to the forefront than ever before. The first song on the album, “Ashes to Ashes” and is a tongue-in-cheek re-telling of the story of the creation and features a dirge-like guitar and a haunting harmonica solo. In essence, it is about how delicate human existence is. As his first song on his first album after the attacks of 9/11, this song takes on an even more poignant tone. Lines like “It’s always best to keep in mind/That every tower ever built tumbles/No matter how strong, no matter how tall” evoke images of the twin towers. He also directly confronts America’s sense of arrogance that has been included among the reasons for the attack when he has man, newly created, proclaim that ” I’m the next big thing and the gift that I bring/Comes directly from God, so there ain’t no holdin’ me down”. He revisits this theme in the second song on the CD, “Amerika 6.0 (The Best That We Can Do)”, and the most controversial song of his career “John Walker’s Blues” about the captured American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh. Because he wrote and sang in Lind’s voice, many people thought he was supporting terrorism. However, Steve Earle would repeatedly explain that he was simply giving him a voice as a way of empathizing with a child who could grow up in America and come to hate it the way he did. If anything, Steve Earle ahs explored the varying levels of rebellion throughout his career, from getting stuck in an unfair war and coming home to grow and deal drugs, to trying to live outside of the rules of the rules and norms and paying the ultimate price, to outright defiance of the nation. His newest albums continue to explore how people balance their search of individuality and their duty to a government. Sometimes, like Steve Earle, the Norm is something to be continually challenged and reevaluated, so they can figure how to best offer Shelter.
“Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)” by Steve Earle
(Words/Music: Steve Earle, from Transcendental Blues, Artemis 2000)
Favorite Lines:
“The world’ll turn around without me
The sun’ll come up in the east
Shinin’ down on all of them that hate me
I hope my goin’ brings ‘em peace”
My thoughts on three Steve Earle songs tomorrow.
