Post by trashcanman on Jan 29, 2015 20:50:06 GMT 2
I know I had something really awesome for this week, but I'll be damned if I can remember what the hell it was so I guess I'm going to drop another classic country tune I was saving for next week this week instead. Another week, another pair of country legends.
Willie Nelson is one of the most unique and recognizable voices of his generation or any other and CenCal's own Merle Haggard is a definitive singer/songwriter/instrumentalist and arguably the most influential country artist ever. It's as good a pairing as you can find. And hey, they're both still alive, whereas compatriots like Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings have long since passed on, so they've got that going for them.
The song I'm going with is Pancho and Lefty, which was a cover, but a damn good one. It's an understated outlaw tale with a delicate melody that stands in direct contrast to the "hit you over the head" approach modern country uses in its attempts at storytelling. Nelson opens up the first two verses describing Pancho as a brazen ruffian who met his end in the desert and Lefty as a man on the run who its implied sold his previously-mentioned partner out to the law, presumably leading to his death. Haggard chimes in with a final verse suggesting a sympathetic outlook for both men.
You don't really get songs like this anymore, at least in country. There's a poetry and an atmosphere to it that's just brilliant.
Willie Nelson is one of the most unique and recognizable voices of his generation or any other and CenCal's own Merle Haggard is a definitive singer/songwriter/instrumentalist and arguably the most influential country artist ever. It's as good a pairing as you can find. And hey, they're both still alive, whereas compatriots like Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings have long since passed on, so they've got that going for them.
The song I'm going with is Pancho and Lefty, which was a cover, but a damn good one. It's an understated outlaw tale with a delicate melody that stands in direct contrast to the "hit you over the head" approach modern country uses in its attempts at storytelling. Nelson opens up the first two verses describing Pancho as a brazen ruffian who met his end in the desert and Lefty as a man on the run who its implied sold his previously-mentioned partner out to the law, presumably leading to his death. Haggard chimes in with a final verse suggesting a sympathetic outlook for both men.
You don't really get songs like this anymore, at least in country. There's a poetry and an atmosphere to it that's just brilliant.
