On That Note: Don't Know Much About History
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
"April 26th, 1992
There was a riot on the streets
Tell me where were you?
You were sittin' home watchin' your TV
While I was participating in some anarchy"
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Probably my all time least favorite Zombies Song
Chris White, who wrote and sings it, was a bit obsessed with WWI
A powerful song, to be sure. But not something I want to listen to in a casual setting. Amazingly enough the record company released this as a single from the album, perhaps hoping to jump on Viet Nam anti war sentiment. Not surprisingly, not a hit.
Zombies - Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)
Chris White, who wrote and sings it, was a bit obsessed with WWI
A powerful song, to be sure. But not something I want to listen to in a casual setting. Amazingly enough the record company released this as a single from the album, perhaps hoping to jump on Viet Nam anti war sentiment. Not surprisingly, not a hit.
Zombies - Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)
Art history... it's still history, right?
So two Don McLean songs for this OTN.
So two Don McLean songs for this OTN.
Agree it's odd promoters could listen to that and say "that has top 40 written all over it!" As you suggest, probably made sense at the time, anti-war aspect overalpped with the psychedelia period.
Related, when I posted Orange Crush by REM, I was going to add that purely from a musical standpoint, not one of my favorites from the band's first decade.
Speaking of songs about artists/history...
This one has an interesting story. McCartney was in Jamaica and had dinner with Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen who were shooting Papillon. When McCartney said he could write a song about virtually anything Hoffman pulled out a magazine and leafed through to find a story about Pablo Picasso's death and his dying words, "Drink to me. Drink to my health. You know I can't drink anymore." And then challenged McCartney to write a song about that...
So McCartney did.
This one has an interesting story. McCartney was in Jamaica and had dinner with Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen who were shooting Papillon. When McCartney said he could write a song about virtually anything Hoffman pulled out a magazine and leafed through to find a story about Pablo Picasso's death and his dying words, "Drink to me. Drink to my health. You know I can't drink anymore." And then challenged McCartney to write a song about that...
So McCartney did.
I was going to say pretty much anything by Johnny Horton!
Some others (I'm going entirely indie/alt rock here):
https://youtu.be/Gw_A9muYKxM?list=SRthe decemberists when the war came
MeanDean and I had a brief exchange about that a few days ago. Some references are more open to interpretation than others ("The Jester" could be Dylan or the early Beatles, for example, depending on how you interpret Jester references throughout the song). I know American Pie has been analyzed to death over the years, but still works for historic interest and it can be fun discussion.
Maybe a stretch but any excuse to post/listen to Chuck Berry's genius...
References, "Way back in history 3,000 years." and " Milo DeVenus was a beautiful lass, she had the world in the palm of her hand. She lost both her arms in a wresting match to win a brown eyed handsome man."
So the art history theme continues, LOL!
References, "Way back in history 3,000 years." and " Milo DeVenus was a beautiful lass, she had the world in the palm of her hand. She lost both her arms in a wresting match to win a brown eyed handsome man."
So the art history theme continues, LOL!
This is the version of the song with the two references rulzzz included in the OP.
Those lines were added for this version and aren't in the Sam Cooke or Herman's Hermits earlier hit versions.
About "look at the pictures and I turn the pages" and "rise and fall... nothin' at all."
Beautiful rendition...
Those lines were added for this version and aren't in the Sam Cooke or Herman's Hermits earlier hit versions.
About "look at the pictures and I turn the pages" and "rise and fall... nothin' at all."
Beautiful rendition...
). D. Boon wrote a few others songs with Vietnam connection, directly or indirectly. Of course I can't recall them at the moment.
I never knew Orange Crush was about Agent Orange. So TIL..
This references the Derek Bentley Case. It’s a specific story that Costello apparently used to make a more general observation about capital punishment.
"What's the Frequency Kenneth" would be another good history-related REM song!
