I had believed David Allan Coe died five years ago, but apparently he just passed.
I do not know what the youths do now, but if you didn't know all the words to "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" - were you even really Texas'ing in the late 20th Century?
I don't know how much Coe and I would have agreed on in this life, maybe not much. But that song is one of the greatest ever performed.
And one night at the VFW in Bozeman, Montana, I surprised several digital library colleagues by singing all the words to this most important song. I may have had a few cocktails beforehand.
Such a huge talent. RIP.
ReplyDeleteI have a real love for Steve Goodman, who co-wrote this song with John Prine (and they both liked Coe's cover, which made them both a lot of money in the pre-Spotify era, when you could make money from songwriting).
There's a lot of YouTube of Goodman; he’s great. Alas, he was diagnosed with leukemia at age 21. He did die from it at age 36. But he wrote some wonderful songs in the meantime, like this one. May the Infinite bless Coe and Goodman both.
I happen to love this clip dearly. I'm sorry it's totally about Goodman and not Coe. But I'll pimp how great Goodman was until the day I croak: https://youtu.be/IXgpAkn7PCM?si=wXd2of1d5ZUsqpGN
And Gods bless Coe for making one Goodman/Prine song a hit. Good taste, sir!
Only as of the day I wrote this post did I realize the Steve Goodman mentioned in Coe's cover was the Steve Goodman who also wrote "Go, Cubs, Go". Never would have made that connection - but folks may well be singing "Go, Cubs, Go" in another 50 years.
DeleteThe funny thing is, 10 years ago Cubs fans were seriously talking about getting a new song. And I could see why. It’s not a bad song, it's just a quickie Goodman dashed off for the money. He’s done better.
DeleteUntil the Cubs were down to an elimination game in the World Series. After two losses at Fenway, they won Game 5. And the TV network kept broadcasting as 40,000 people sang Go Cubs Go. (At least the chorus of it.)
You could almost hear Goodman's ghost cackling, "yeah, try getting rid of my song NOW!"