Performed on Sessions At West 54th show. Recorded October 1998. Concert included songs with the Del McCoury band. Artist info..... www.steveearle.com/ www.delmccouryband.com/
This is a song he wrote for Dead Man Walking, after seeing the rough cut of a scene where a guard is talking to Sr. Helen Prejean. He was writing to his friend Jonathan Nobles at the time, but the song he wrote for Nobles after witnessing his execution is called Over Yonder. Both are powerful songs!
Its a song folks. Supposed to make you think from a different perspective than perhaps the one you normally would. Mr Earle is quite vocal about respecting the rights and opinions of greaving family members while he protests the right of the State, any state, to kill anyone. SE is a survivor and a genius song writer who is the closest thing we have to a 'tell it like it is' balladeer.
My politics are polar opposite to Steve's. But I love this song as it is FAIR. I got it when the movie came out and I bought the soundtrack (dead man walking). Your post is spot on. I have listened to Woody Guthrie, Kristopherson, Prine, Dylan, Springsteen, etc my entire life. I love SMART music. I do not have to agree with the politics of the singer/writer nor necessarily the message if any in the song to enjoy something well communicated. Splendid post. Spot on.
Such an amazing song. 17 years on and it's lost none of its impact. Earle has always struck me as someone who has some personal demons to live with, but that's what makes the best poets/artists/song writers out there. The struggle that comes with this life brings insight and Earle has that in spades.
I met Steve in 1987 at Mack's cafe with Ken Moore during bar rush. He talked to me for a half hour and signed my napkin. I still have it.To Ed keep a rocking Steve Earle!
The genius of Steve Earle leaves you with a torn heart for the condemned man as well as those who must carry out the task at hand. It should be noted that Mr. Earle is also very much against the taking of pleasure by members of the public who choose to attend an execution. SE is the master of the balladeers and will always have my unwavering admiration.
That is great to hear Foul...I was the same way about 5 years ago. I "grew up on" Steve Earle to a degree, but I still didnt know more than 4 songs or so. Ellis Unit One was the song that got me to dig deeper and now my favorites by him are all songs that I hadnt heard when I was growing up. Ben McCulloch Dixieland Tom Ames Prayer Over Yonder Billy Austin Christmas in Washington John Walker's Blues These are all great songs that I think anyone who enjoys this song would also enjoy by Steve.
I have not had someone close to me killed, but I do know people, including a close friend, who have lost family to murder and yet still oppose the death penalty. In their experience revenge doesn't bring healing. I also have met people in prison who have genuinely changed. Some haven't, but my faith says redemption is never impossible.
Eu praticamente tenho verdadeira.paixão por música. Principalmente as mais antigas. Pois com elas carrego meu Passado. Não só eu.mais todas as gerações dos anos 70 80 e 90. Adoro vcs e indico como referência de tudo de bom...
Please release the entire " Sessions at W54th "performance as an album. Blew my hair back when I first saw it , & I still consider it one of the best live performances I've ever seen .
@danocable Not sure what you mean by your comment, but Steve is explicit in interviews that this is about the conscience of a prison guard on Texas's death row (Ellis Unit One) and what the death penalty does to all of us. Steve is strongly against the death penalty, and has written essays about it, in addition to songs.
Ellis I Unit housed the men's Death Row in Texas between 1965 and 1999. It was moved to the Polunsky Unit after an escape attempt by size men in November, 1998.
The song, like the film (Dead Man Walking), is supposed to make you think: there are no easy answers - redemption and forgiveness; the rights of the aggrieved and their families (survivors).
You are thinking of Jonathan's Song, which is about Steve's friend Jonathan Nobles. Ellis Unit 1 was written before Noble's execution for the Dead Man Walkin sound track. He decided to write a song from the perspective of theorrection officer after watching a scene from the movie.
I just have to add some more to what has already been said. Steve Earle walks the walk; he don't drink, he is an anti-death penalty advocate who has an unabashed history of working in the most extreme prison, Ellis Unit One, and he writes about this eloquently. We could not ask for better witness testimony. So please listen t o him here and elsewhere.
I'm reading comments that Steve is one of 3 best song writers around. While I'm a huge Earle fan, some of the people out there are forgetting Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, just to name two.
Steve has grown so much as a songwriter---although when you look at some of his earlier stuff--EXIT 0 for example--he always was great---he is just so much better now--
@electraluxx I have to agree with your synopsis of this song. I had to think about the lyrics, but once I read your post, I can see what your saying. This is certainly backed up by the words. Thank you.
yeah, maybe, but you won't convince Steve Earle of that....i'm torn myself....but, regardlesss, he is an incredible singer/songwriter....my favorite from way back....
again i see this as different. mankind never asked to be born or to be here. it is our situation. realize that we are in charge of our lives, but not in charge of anything else. no human understands what is happening. what are you going to do? we feel abandoned or accidental. life is terrifying. swing low, swing low and carry me home. rough quote: "tiger gotta hunt, bird gotta fly, man gotta ask why? why? why?! tiger got to sleep, bird gotta land, man gotta tell himself he understand"
Great song.....but you miss everything he said? If you take the long ride with Steve Earle you come to undestand he is an outlaw because he loves justice before ordinary violence as retribution. The sorrow in his voice comes from knowing that people like you will never understand.
A great cover of this song is on a record full with songs at the tipping point of death,life, reason, madness and injustice: Mark Erelli and Jeffrey Foucault - Black Curses I personally think it's a great song that leaves the verdict about the death penalty just in the middle ground. To me the protagonist takes no sides and just tells it like it is. It makes you think, and that's the first step to stopping the death penalty.
was fresh out of the service It was back in '82 I raised some Cain when I come back to town I left to be all I could be Come home without a clue Now, I married Dawn and had to settle down So I hired on at the prison Guess I always knew I would Just like my dad and both my uncles done And I worked on every cell block Now, things're goin' good But then they transferred me to Ellis Unit One Swing low Swing low Swing low and carry me home Well, my daddy used to talk about them long nights at the walls And how they used to strap 'em in the chair The kids down from the college and they'd bring their beer 'n all 'N when the lights went out, a cheer rose in the air Well, folks just got too civilized Sparky's gatherin' dust 'Cause no one wants to touch a smokin' gun And since they got the injection They don't mind as much, I guess They just put 'em down at Ellis Unit One Swing low Swing low Swing low and carry me home Well, I've seen 'em fight like lions, boys I've seen 'em go like lambs And I've helped to drag 'em when they could not stand And I've heard their mamas cryin' when they heard that big door slam And I've seen the victim's family holdin' hands Last night I dreamed that I woke up with straps across my chest And something cold and black pullin' through my lungs 'N even Jesus couldn't save me though I know he did his best But he don't live on Ellis Unit One Swing low Swing low Swing low and carry me home Swing low Don't let go Swing low and carry me home
I love Steve Earle's rendition of Springsteen's Nebraska, but I can't find it on RU-vid. It is a live recording that only seems to be found on 1 of his double albums. Limewire had the song, but that site seems to be a virus waiting to happen on my computer so I ditched it years ago.
'abolished in Europe thank god'. We have just had a convicted murderer let out on release murder another person within days of release. So you go tell that persons relatives how great the 'justice' system is.
. A good Steve story.........., Steve played a solo gig, in my hometown. Well. of course, right in front of the stage, was a table full of these vacant bimbo's and yeah, they were celebrating the age of being legal. Man, were they noisy!!! Steve suffered this for about 20 minutes. Finally he asks," Pne of y'all havin' a birthday?" They all start squealing and making a spectacle, Steve looks at them and says, " That's alright darlin', I remember when i had my 1st beer too!!'
I just did 12 years in TDCJ, 5 of them at the Walls Unit in Huntsville where all executions take place and we usually got a brief synopsis of the crime before the execution took place; I'm a Calif. guy and used to be anti-death penalty, called it state sponsored murder, but some of those dudes that were killed at the Walls really had it coming. Their crimes were beyond sick, depravity at it's best; why keep some of those evil sonsofbitches alive? Really people, if you were hip to what the vast majority of those animals actually did and the victim was kin, wouldn't you want justice meted out properly? Enough said.......
I definitely see your point. I just personally don't want the state killing anyone in my name, especially Texas, which is fairly notorious for its assembly-line attitude to the process. Have there been people who I think deserved to die for what they did? Absolutely. I also know that a number of people have been executed in my lifetime who were entirely innocent. That in itself is enough to do away with capital punishment, in my eyes.
@@jmvlock1929 Here in Texas, we have an Express Lane.They just need to know what you want your ass put in...paper or plastic? If you did the cold blooded crime, you deserved to be hooked up.
Strangely enough, it does ! How weird ! Could be something to do with the fact that Steve uses part of the lyric from 'Swing Low' at the end of every verse...what do you reckon? Could that be it ?
@ThePunisherdesign I would add two points: 1- support for the death penalty is certainly not limited to Christian right wingers and 2 - the opposition to the death penalty in the US includes many Christians, on right and left wings. (Conservative Catholics, for instance, would hold both abortion and death penalty to be wrong, and some evangelicals agree, especially after the Karla Faye Tucker case.) I don't think this is aimed specifically at Christians.
We will have to disagree on the definition of justice... But I do know the research. Recidivism is quite low for older men who have been incarcerated for long sentences, though abolishing the death penalty doesn't necessarily imply parole. Also, statistics show that states with the death penalty have higher or at least similar rates of violent crime as those without. Same goes for countries.
@Anttikarppinen1. It isn't exactly about the Christian right wingers. It is about the prospect about murdering criminals, and certainly more instinctively the internal conflict of the executioner as stated in the song, and the movement to more conventional means of execution. The executioner dreams that it is them strapped in the chair. Earle is against the death penalty, as you may know, and wrote this for a movie "Dead Man Walking." Anyone feel free to interject their opinion.
Earle is opposed to the death penalty. He explains his position in remarks made right before this song, which are, unfortunately, missing in this video. He is opposed to the death penalty because it doesn't heal anything. He's right. He also notes that it's racist and classist. He's right about these problems, too.
This question is for Steve and/or is PR folks... My mother was good friends with Larry Robison, I'd like to know if this song was for him? I know Steve was in Huntsville for Larrys execution, so I was just wondering if this was for him. Also I believe the executions take place in ferguson now... Correct?
+Jeremy Mashaw From what I understand, Tim Robbins asked him to write a song for a film called "Dead Man Walking." However, if you get an answer to your question, I sure would like to know what it is.
Interesting fact: Under Jewish law, a judge who sentences an innocent man to death is guilty of murder. I guess they'd think twice before handing a death sentence down.
fine then, i disagree with the analysis. i think its about the fall of man. man is evil, but not purely evil. jesus cannot save us though he did his best. we rationalize our evil, we sequester our evil, we hide our evil, but we are all evil. the only thing we can ask for is forgiveness. but we dont even know whom to ask, we just feel guilty for our mistakes. we really need to forgive ourselves, and stop committing sins. easier said than done. or: that leaves only me to blame cuz mama tried.
@bvallier100 Exactly. One of the 3 best AROUND. Woody is dead. Earle, Springsteen, and Tom Russell blow Dylan right out of the water. Besides, Townes is better than all of them combined
Sorry,'coward'?, where does that come from? Also, where in the above do I mention the word CHRIST. The correct title, I believe, is Jesus, the Christ. Let's not split hairs though. I reiterate what I wrote, Jesus sacrifice for us is all that saves us, IF we accept!!
I am like Steve sings......... I think if they are going to continue executions....Bring back the barbecues...... ol smokey is still waiting.. No more going to sleep..... sit on smokey and face your maker after what you've done.......
I KNOW you completely missed the point of the song. Steve is against the death penalty and always has been. This was written for the soundtrack of "Dead Man Walking," which was an anti-death penalty film, and is about how a guard is affected by working on death row. The guard wonders, but in the end he wakes up and realizes the reality of what he does. Earle has two other songs against the death penalty: "Billy Austin" and "Over Yonder."
Raised some cain? You mean murdered some one in cold blood right? Great song but I have no sympathy for serial killers. We need more Ellis Unit Ones in America.
