Yikes… perhaps I should have shown restraint of tongue and pen. Hey everybody… I sure appreciate your inestimable support vis a vis the last blog entry. However, one of the Constitutional rights we Americans enjoy (First Amendment I believe) is the right to speak our mind. You guys that know me know how dearly I hold our First Ten Amendments… the Bill Of Rights as it were. I did not consider Kenny’s post an ad hominem assault on me personally… merely an opinion. I have have heard this comment before so I thought I would address it here. No big deal from this old picker.
Life’s metaphors present different emotional attachments to all of us. Like one of my down home neighbors says to me… relentlessly, ‘Jorma, if we wuz all the same, what a boring world it would be!’ Amen brother… amen.
By the bye, the two ‘dope related verses’ were not Julius Daniels… I wrote those. I chose not to take any publishing credit… it’s Julius’ song with an update from Jorma. The folk process in action indeed.
More anon…
@willy, I remember reading an interview with Jorma somewhere when he was asked about the lyrics to been so long. I vaguely remember him saying that he wrote that last verse in the studio for the album, but never really liked it and thought it didn’t fit.
Maybe that is why he has never sung that verse?
“I consider us all fortunate that there was no analysis of “Whining Boy” lyrics through the years….” I second this previous comment. There was not much left to the imagination in that one, ha!
Re: 99 Year Blues – I always figured it was a blues song & if you got caught doing some of the things in the lyrics, yes, you might have the blues – the 99 Years To Life Blues. 🙂
Anybody ever listen to the words to Stack O’Lee/Stagger Lee?
Or, how about “Me And My Uncle,” covered by the Grateful Dead?
Or, how about “The Ballad Of Matty Groves,” by Fairport Convention?
Or …
LOL!: 😉
@Mike Anderson
@Barbara Jacobs
WHAT’S THAT YA SAY? As I hold the horn to my ear…
@Mike Anderson
Tinitis. Pete Townshend has that (no surprise).
Kenny, I don’t get out as much as used to when I was a young lad. I’m in Connecticut with a family and home and all that other stuff so getting to Madison, WI for a show is a fairly long commute, so knowing what he said at a show concerning a song would be a little hard for me to hear.
Mike, the movie performance was by Merle Travis. Jorma mentioned that at the Madison show.
@ Barbara Jacobs, thanks, it’s more tinitis than anything else, I was very lax in my ear protection, young and immortal syndrone. Also I don’t mean to critisize Jorma’s vocals, there are a lot of songs out that I have no idea what they’re saying, I grab bits and pieces or fragments and can most of the time piece it together, like a puzzle.
On the subject of “Re-Enlistment Blues” great rendition in the movie “From Here To Eternity” with Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster. Can’t remember who performed it on the sound track, maybe John Evans can Google it.
LOL Craig! @Craig K.
Jorma, thanks for taking time to first share your thoughts with all of us, and secondly to actual respond to the comments left. Your interaction with your audience is second to none. In my opinion, the ultimate presentation of any piece is your choice as the artist. As another of the “old timers” that has been a fan since the ’70s, I will take any song, any time, anyway you choose to do it. It’s art, not commentary (at least 99% of the time – LOL!).
Thank you for your time and efforts while serving to protect the USA.
There are implants available now that can help with your hearing.
If you are in or going to be near NYC, I can arrange for you to see a great,(and very cool guy) specialist.
@Mike Anderson
Jack and I exchanged glances during 99 Year Blues and that look alone was worth the price of admission and then some. I noticed some of the PC(perpetually confused) crowd in Madison was a bit uncomfortable with some of the lyrics in Re Enlistment Blues… and then there was they guy yelling, “Yeah Buddy…” Carry On, Jorma and sing the song anyway You want to… that’s my favorite version… Thanks for everything… Looking forward to visiting and checking out the Psylo…
It looks like maybe I need to clarify a couple things about my comment on “99 Year Blues” that started the bees buzzing here. My comment was sparked by what I heard as Jorma’s own possible reservations about some of the lines in that song. He has now replied and said he doesn’t have any reservations, and there are other reasons for him doing the things that gave me that impression. Question answered, topic over. Some commenters seem to think I was expressing my own opposition to the song, but I don’t really have much problem with it, in the right time and place. When I sing along in the car, I sing all the verses loud and clear.
Wow, now I finally know what Jorma’s singing, my hearing went during my time in an F4J Navy Fighter squadron working on the flightdeck, got lucky, missed the Tonkin Gulf tour but did two Med cruises. I can hardly hera my wife and kids (intentional?) but I could sit and watch Jorma and Jack and Barry play ALL NIGHT LONG! They sure aren’t famous for their Mariah Carey like vocals. Sit back and marvel at the show, some VERY talented musicians have performed for us and we gladly pay the price of admission.
With all due respect, we’re getting a little too politically correct in this world. Many of Jorma’s old timey numbers were probably written well before he was born, that’s probably why they’re labeled as “Traditional.”
Jorma just wrote that it’s no big deal. ( See: up on top, blog entry)
IMHO, it seems like a non-issue for JK to give his opinions and to play the tunes of an era without getting hassled for it.
Guilty as charged.
I never could snort anything up my nose.
I did try the opium-vapor snorfelling thing.
Too much trouble for a few minutes of highness.
Never liked pills.
Hate needles.
Even post-surgery for a spinal fusion, I hated the tubes being stuck in me.
I didn’t use the morphine-pump much, until I was in such agony — I gave it a press. Resultant headache was worse than the pain.
It always gave me a headache was almost worse than the pain I was attempting to relieve.
@Richard Cowles
Truth now told..You ol’e pot head you……
On the: Bill of Rights topic.
I’ve got a story, maybe Jorma has heard it before:
The late, great Bill Graham was having an argument regarding a business deal.
The guy on the other side of the deal, told Bill:
“No, you’re wrong!”
Bill insisted that he was right.
The other guy insisted that Bill was wrong.
Bill argued with him, back-and-forth for another minute and then shouted:
“I’M THE BILL OF RIGHTS!!!”.
Has anybody actually looked at the original lyric to “99 Year Blues” JK would have had all the right in the world to publishing credits and probably copy write too. The lyric is 99% different!!!!
Hey steve, i knew that, but it would be kinda difficult to email Bob Marley!
I’m with Cyndy regarding the bill of rights. Thank you!
Dear Jorma
Thanks for reading the comments, and defending that wonderful document, The Bill of Rights!
You are a thoughtful man!
Peace Out,
Cyndy
Well, while we’re on the topic of lyrics, here’s a question I’ve long wondered about. Whatever happened to the last verse of “Been So Long”? In all the years I’ve been going to shows – and that goes back a bit – I don’t think I’ve ever heard the final lines you can hear on the First Pull Up Then Pull Down recording. Anyone know when we last might have heard that verse? Jorma?
Hey johno, Bob Marley wrote I Shot The Sheriff. Clapton just made money off the song.
hey kenny – why don’t you email Eric Clapton and tell him to change his lyrics to “I kissed the sheriff”
Hence, my use of the word interpretation.
I consider us all fortunate that there was no analysis of “Whining Boy” lyrics through the years….
On another note:
Anybody see that youtube video:
“Little Kayla Jumps for the Moon”?
She’s only two but she knows she “can’t reach it.”