Grateful Dead – "U. S. Blues" (1971)

Red and white, blue suede shoes

I'm Uncle Sam, how do you do?

[NOTE: The late Ronald Reagan used to tell a joke about a very optimistic young boy who was given a big pile of horsesh*t for Christmas.  After receiving his gift, the child smiled, grabbed a shovel, and began digging.  When his father expressed his surprise that the boy wasn't disappointed with the present, the youngster replied, "Dad, with so much horsesh*t, there has to be a pony in here someplace!"  Today's featured recording – the 10th and last member of the 2025 class of inductees into the 2 OR 3 LINES "GOLDEN DECADE" ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME – is one of the rare ponies to be found in the very large pile of horsesh*t produced by the Grateful Dead.  Here's a slightly edited version of my original July 5, 2012 post about "U. S. Blues."] 

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When I was a senior in college, I remember my girlfriend asking me why we had never been "into" the Grateful Dead.  (We were at a party at the time, and the host was playing a Grateful Dead song, and we probably somewhat impaired – which is almost a necessary condition to being into the Dead.)  She was almost as big a music fan as I was, but I don't think either of us owned a single one of their albums.

Chick magnet Jerry Garcia (circa 1974)

I did buy a Jerry Garcia solo album (Garcia) when I was in college on the strength of a couple of tracks I had heard on the radio, but I'm not sure I was even aware that Jerry Garcia was in the Grateful Dead.  (Hey, we didn't have the internet back then.)

I still have never listened to an entire Grateful Dead album straight through, and I'm not conversant with very much of their prolific recorded oeuvre.  But that won't stop me from expressing authoritative-sounding opinions about their body of work.

My impression was then (and remains today) that the Grateful Dead produced a few really good songs, but that life is too short to listen to much of their music.

I would say the same thing about Bruce Springsteen and Elton John – and Paul McCartney and John Lennon as solo artists.  Each of them produced a little gold but a lot more dross.  I don't think any of them has produced a CD's worth of worthwhile music.

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Along with "Bertha," "Truckin'," "Casey Jones," and a few others, "U. S. Blues" is a Grateful Dead keeper.  The song (which was the first track on the group's seventh studio album, From the Mars Hotel) is peppier than the usual Grateful Dead dirge -- the honky-tonk piano makes all the difference -- and the lyrics are clever and funny and not too political.  

The song's lyrics really remind me of rap lyrics – it's more about the way the words sound and fit together than their meaning:

Gimme five

I'm still alive

Ain't no luck

I learned to duck

The singer seems to be some kind of hustler, but he's a charming, lovable hustler – think Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man – and he's very, very cool under pressure:

Check my pulse

It don't change

Stays seventy-two

Come shine or rain

Saying "shine or rain" instead of the more familiar "rain or shine" to make the line rhyme is a very hip-hop thing to do – the rhyme is paramount, and inverting the usual word order gets your audience's attention.  (It's certainly true to say that the Grateful Dead's pulse "don't change" – it may get up to 72 in this song, but it's usually much lower than that.  Much of the time, it's barely perceptible.)

Wave the flag

Pop the bag

Rock the boat

Skin the goat

Now we're really rolling – that verse is 100% sound and . . . not fury, exactly . . . but it sure signifies nothing.  (Which is OK with me.)

I'm Uncle Sam

That's who I am

I hear a hint of Popeye's "I yam what I yam, and that's what I yam" in that line.

Shake the hand

That shook the hand

Of P. T. Barnum

And Charlie Chan

P. T. Barnum began his career as a showman in 1835, when he bought and put on display a slave who claimed to be 161 years old (and George Washington's nurse to boot).  He went on to exhibit General Tom Thumb (a midget who was less than three feet tall) and Chang and Eng, the original Siamese (conjoined) twins, and organized "The Greatest Show on Earth."

P. T. Barnum with Tom Thumb

Given Barnum's history as a mountebank and his utter contempt for the common man – his famous catchphrase was "There's a sucker born every minute" – it's no surprise that he went into politics, becoming mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and then entering the Connecticut legislature.  

I'll drink your health

Share your wealth

Run your life

Steal your wife

Of course he'll drink your health – especially if you're picking up the tab – because there's no better way to make a sucker out of you than by getting you drunk.

And of course he'll share your wealth – Uncle Sam shares your wealth every time you get a paycheck, but especially on April 15.

(Don't worry if he steals your wife.  If she's anything like most of the wives I know, he'll probably insist on giving her back to you very soon.)

We're all confused

What's to lose?

Wave that flag

Wave it wide and high

I hope none of you find it offensive that this song portrays Uncle Sam as a bit of a con man.   As the saying goes, patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

That certainly doesn't mean all patriots are scoundrels, of course.  But it does mean that scoundrels often exploit patriotism – or religion, or economics, or science – so they can pull the wool over your eyes.  When all else fails, wave that flag!

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The Grateful Dead has to have been one of the most overrated live bands in history.  

Click here to see a 1978 performance of "U. S. Blues" at Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University.  It was included on a live Dead album – an official one, not a bootleg – so the group must have thought that performance was a particularly good one.  Plus it appears to be the closing song of that show, so you would think the boys would have pulled out all the stops.

Despite all that, this is a pretty ho-hum rendition of the song.  Jerry Garcia keeps forgetting to sing into the microphone, and the band reduces the volume when they get to the chorus instead of belting it out – just the opposite of what they should have done.  (The verses are sung by Garcia, but the the backup singers join in for the chorus – usually, more voices equal more volume, but not here.)  

I'm not the first person to come to this conclusion: the popularity of the Grateful Dead as a live band can only be explained by the fact that about 90% of their typical audience was as high as a kite.  (Have you heard the old joke about the Dead?  What does a Deadhead say when the drugs wear off?  "This music sucks!")

Click here to listen to "U. S. Blues."  (The animated part of this video was produced by the U. S. Information Agency around the time of the Bicentennial, and it's very trippy – it will remind you a little of Yellow Submarine, but patriotic.)

Click here to buy "U. S. Blues" from Amazon.

Alice Cooper – "Under My Wheels" (1972)

I’m driving in my car now

I got you under my wheels

[NOTE: The tenth and final recording that’s being inducted into the 2025 class of the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME is “Under My Wheels,” which was released in 1971 on Alice Cooper’s fourth studio album, Killer.  “Under My Wheels” is a staple of Cooper’s live shows, including the one I saw at Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas on April 29, 1973.  What follows is my May 19, 2023 post featuring “Under My Wheels” – which was actually the second time “Under My Wheels” was featured on 2 or 3 lines.  Click here to read the first 2 or 3 lines post to feature “Under My Wheels.”] 

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It’s certainly possible than I will succumb to cancer or a heart attack some day.  But I’m thinking that I’m probably going to die while riding my bicycle.

I do a lot of bike riding.  I try to stay off the streets – who wants to ride on a busy street with cars zooming past you like you don’t even exist? 

But even if you’re riding on a dedicated bike path, you’re probably going to have to cross a street sooner or later – which means you’re going to have encounters with cars.

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Bicycles generally have the right of way when crossing an intersection – especially when there is a zebra crossing or a sign directing automobile drivers to yield to bike riders.  But you can’t always trust drivers.

Good luck, bicycle guy!

Almost exactly a year ago, I was using a zebra crossing – that is, a crosswalk marked with broad white stripes – to cross a street.  The car entering the intersection from my left slowed down, and I assumed he was going to stop and yield the right of way, as he was required to do.  But the bast*rd never saw me – he looked to the left, but never to the right . . . which is where I was.  Just as I started to enter the crosswalk from and pass in front of his car, he hit the gas, and ran right into me.

Fortunately for me, he wasn’t going very fast.  So while he knocked me off my bike, he didn’t injure me.  He didn’t even damage my bike – I hopped back on it and continued on my merry way . . . after screaming obscenities at the very apologetic driver for five minutes or so.

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According to the federal government, about 1000 cyclists die annually as a result of being hit by cars.  Another 130,000 are injured.

Did you know that male bicyclists are six times more likely to die in a collision with an automobile than female bike riders?

I’m guessing I’m about sixty times more likely to die than the typical female rider.

That’s because I expect drivers to be careful and follow the rules – meaning yielding the right of way to me.

So when I approach a zebra crossing with a sign telling drivers to stop for bikers, I assume that any oncoming drivers will stop for me.

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That’s a big mistake.  A fair number of drivers are so clueless that they are completely unaware they are approaching a zebra crossing – meaning that if I don’t yield to them, they will run me down.

It will probably come as no surprise to you when I tell you that a bike rider usually comes out of a collision with an automobile in much worse shape than the driver of the car.

This white bicycle marks the spot
where a cyclist was killed while riding
on a bike trail that I ride on regularly

So the only smart thing for me to do when I’m about to cross a street is to stop dead in my tracks and make damn sure that any car that’s in the vicinity stops and allows me to cross safely. 

For some reason, I find it very hard to do that.

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“Under My Wheels” was the first single released from Alice Cooper’s 1971 album, Killer.  It peaked at #59 on the Billboard “Hot 100.”

(Only #59?  Really?  WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?)

Click here to listen to “Under My Wheels.”

Click here to buy the record from Amazon.

James Gang – "Walk Away" (1971)

You just turn your pretty head

And walk away

[NOTE: Whatever happened to power trios?  Groups like the James Gang, Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Grand Funk Railroad were all over FM radio in the sixties and seventies.  As a keyboard player, I love records with prominent organ or piano parts – but I have to admit that you don’t really need anything more than one guitar, a bass, and drums to create great rock music.  “Walk Away” isn’t the first power-trio record to earn a space in the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME, and it won’t be the last.  Here’s a slightly edited version of my February 8, 2018 post featuring that record.]

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I recently stumbled upon an online trivia website that asked this question: “What band was Paul McCartney in before Wings?”

I’ve got a similar question for you.  What band was Joe Walsh in before the Eagles?

The James Gang

That question isn’t quite as stupid as the McCartney question, but it’s in the ballpark.

I’m not talking about Barnstorm, which was the group Walsh played in immediately before replacing Bernie Leadon in the Eagles.  (I wonder if Walsh ever thought to himself, “I’ve made a boatload of money since I joined the Eagles, but their music  sucks!” when he performed with them.)

I’m talking about the James Gang, one of the great power trios of all time, and a favorite of mine when I was in college.

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Just before their second album was released, the James Gang (who hailed from Cleveland) opened for the Who in Pittsburgh.  Pete Townsend invited the band to join the Who on their upcoming European tour largely because he was so impressed by Walsh’s playing.  

“”I was flattered beyond belief,” Walsh later said, “because I didn’t think I was that good.”

Walsh was more than good, boys and girls.  Just listen to “Walk Away,” the first track from the James Gang’s third album (which was titled Thirds) if you don’t believe me.  (That album credited Walsh with guitar, lead vocals, and “train wreck” on the song – presumably “train wreck” is what the band came up with to describe Walsh’s multi-tracked guitar playing at the end of “Walk Away.”)

Click here to  “Walk Away.”

Click here to buy "Walk Away" from Amazon.

Bloodrock –"D.O.A." (1970)

I try to move my arm and there's no feeling

And when I look I see there's nothing there

[NOTE: If I ever decide to do a 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” TEENAGE DEATH RECORDS HALL OF FAME, you’d best believe “D.O.A.” will be in the initial class of inductees.  Until then, it will have to settle for being a member of the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME.  Here’s an edited version of my original October 11, 2010 post about “D.O.A.” – which would also be a candidate for the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE DIMINISHED FIFTH/AUGMENTED FOURTH HALL OF FAME (if there was such a thing).]

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Bloodrock's first LP was titled Bloodrock. 

"D.O.A." appeared on Bloodrock's second album – which was titled Bloodrock 2.  

 Care to guess what the group's third album was called?  

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If it wasn't for "D.O.A.," I doubt that more than a few people other than the band members' immediate families would remember anything about them. 

One of those people is George Starostin.  George remembers Bloodrock – he remembers a lot about Bloodrock.  Here's a link to his detailed and generally very positive reviews of all six Bloodrock albums.  Based on those comments, I may have to give some other Bloodrock songs a chance.  

Starostin compares Bloodrock to Grand Funk Railroad – we'll be featuring some of GFR's fine work in the not-to-distant future – but thinks Bloodrock comes out on top.  Terry Knight managed Grand Funk and produced albums for both groups.  

Here's the cover for a subsequent Bloodrock album.  Very interesting, non?

Thanks to "D.O.A." -–which Wikipedia refers to in a real understatement as "somewhat morbid" – Bloodrock 2 made it to #21 on the Billboard pop album chart.  The shortened version that was released as a single made it to #36, which ain't bad considering that it was banned by a number of radio stations.  

The story told in this song will be familiar to most or many (if not all) of my several loyal fans.  The narrator regains consciousness after an airplane crash and realizes that he is bleeding and (worse) missing an arm and (worse still) lying next to his dead girlfriend.

Shortly thereafter, an EMT bends down to whisper in his ear, and the news isn't good: "He says there's no hope for me."  And he's right.

Musically, the song relies heavily–- almost exclusively – on two-note, diminished-fifth arpeggios (e.g., G flat, C, G flat, C).  This musical interval, which was given the name diabolus in musica ("the devil in music") some 300 years ago, is used as musical shorthand for "scary" or "evil" or "watch out, there's a guy with an ax hiding behind that door and the sh*t's about to hit the fan."  

The song also features ambulance sirens.  Bloodrock didn't believe in being subtle.

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What's your favorite teen death song?  Here's a website devoted to such songs, of which there are hundreds.  (Whoever devoted so much of his or her spare time to the creation of this website needs to get a life.  Don't you agree?)

I think the classic teen death song is J. Frank Wilson's awful "Last Kiss," which was a huge hit single in 1964.  (Pearl Jam covered this song about 10 years ago.  What where they thinking?)

Click here for a Spanish version of "Last Kiss."

When the driver in that song came to after their crash, he was lying on the ground next to his girlfriend.  He was able to hold her close and "kissed her our last kiss" before she went on ahead, where she will wait for him to join her for eternity.

There's none of that sentimental crap in "D.O.A."  The girlfriend is that song is already dead meat when the guy wakes up.  No last kiss for them, and nothing about a reunion in heaven some day.  (The world sure changed a lot between 1964 and 1971, didn't it?)

According to Bloodrock's lead guitarist, the song was inspired by the crash of one of two Martin 4-0-4 aircraft that was taking the Wichita State University football team to Logan, Utah, to pay Utah State on October 2, 1970.  Thirty-one of the 40 passengers on that plane died as a result of the crash:

The National Transportation Safety Board determined that egregious and numerous pilot errors were the cause of the crash.  Here's an excerpt from the NTSB report:

The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the intentional operation of the aircraft over a mountain valley route at an altitude from which the aircraft could neither climb over the obstructing terrain ahead, nor execute a successful course reversal.  Significant factors were the overloaded condition of the aircraft, the virtual absence of flight planning for the chosen route of flight from Denver to Logan, a lack of understanding on the part of the crew of the performance capabilities and limitations of the aircraft, and the lack of operational management to monitor and appropriately control the actions of the flightcrew.

Wikipedia doesn't buy the Bloodrock's guitarist's story.  It says that review copies of the Bloodrock 2 album were delivered to Billboard magazine the week of October 18.  Given that the Wichita State football team crash had occurred on October 2, it seems unlikely that the song could have been written and recorded in time for the LP to be pressed and delivered by that date.

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Click here to listen to the album version of "D.O.A."  

Click here to listen to watch a video of a performance of "D.O.A." by Morticia, a Minneapolis goth band.  

Click here for a video of Morticia doing a song called "Voyeur."  That video was shot at a notorious adult cinema/peepshow joint in downtown Minneapolis.

(While scouring YouTube for more Morticia videos, I came across a whole bunch of videos devoted to piercings.  It's really yucky stuff, so be careful what you click on!)

Click here to buy the single version of "D.O.A." from Amazon.  (I can't find an MP3 for the album version.)

Fleetwood Mac – "Jewel Eyed Judy" (1970)

I just wondered if

Your eyes still shine

As they did when you were mine

[NOTE: What appears below is my October 22, 2010 post about today's featured record, which I've chosen for induction into the 2 OR 3 LINES "GOLDEN DECADE" ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME.  I wonder whatever happened to good ol' Norm, the rather hapless freshman who introduced my to "Jewel Eyed Judy" and the Kiln House album.  But since I can't remember his last name, I'll probably never know.]   

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I own Fleetwood Mac's Kiln House album now, but I first became familiar with it when I was a sophomore in college.  A freshman named Norm who lived just a few rooms away from me used to play it a lot.

The Kiln House album cover

Norm and his roommate were major marijuana consumers.  At night, the smoke in their room was so thick room that you could barely see the other people in the room.  (I think Norm went to south Texas during spring break that year with another freshman to harvest peyote buds – people were serious about drugs in those days.) 

I have a vivid memory of returning Norm's copy of this record on my way to lunch one day in  December.  I knocked on the door and Norm eventually answered in a T-shirt and tighty whiteys.  (Real men don't wear boxers!)

It was obvious I had gotten him out of bed.  It was about noon, but it wasn't all that uncommon for students to sleep late in those days, so I wasn't too surprised.

Norm was a bit nonplussed to learn that it was already lunchtime – and not because he was afraid of missing a meal.  You see, it was finals week, and Norm had slept through his 900a final exam.  This may have been his very first college final exam – not a promising start for a student who purported to be planning to medical school.  

I'll never forget Norm (who looked a little like Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli) asking me very calmly in his soft Texas drawl what I thought he should do about the situation.  I advised him to contact his professor as soon as possible, explain that he had overslept, and see if something could be worked out.  He thanked me politely, and I handed him his copy of Kiln House and proceeded to the dining hall for my midday repast.  

Norm made it through his freshman year, I think, but I don't know what happened to him after that – I moved off campus at the end of that year and don't remember seeing him again.  

I kind of doubt that he ever achieved his dream of becoming a doctor, but who knows?  Stranger things have happened.  I mean, this guy became president of the United States -- and she almost did as well:

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There was a lot of high-falutin' "progressive" rock music around when I was in college – for example, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Pictures at an Exhibition album, an album based on Russian classical composer Modest Mussorgsky's 1874 piano suite.  (British conductor Henry Wood recorded his orchestration of Mussorgsky's suite in 1920, but prohibited public performance of his work after Maurice Ravel published his orchestration because Wood considered Ravel's work vastly superior to his own.  Can you imagine someone doing that today?)

But Kiln House was a back-to-basics kind of album.  The words that comes to mind when I think of it are unaffected and naive – the songs have an innocence and a simplicity that was not like anything I listened to in those days.  

About the half the songs on the album – including "Jewel-Eyed Judy" – were written by the late Danny Kirwan, who had been an 18-year-old wunderkind when he joined the band a couple of years earlier.  Most of the other songs on the album were written by Jeremy Spencer, who disappeared while the band was in Los Angeles touring in support of Kiln House.  Spencer joined a religious cult called the "Children of God," now known as "The Family International," and is still a member.

Danny Kirwan

"Jewel-Eyed Judy" has a very simple structure.  After a 12-bar instrumental introduction, there are two verses, the chorus, two more verses, the chorus again, and a brief instrumental "outtro."  It's typical of Fleetwood mac songs of this era – especially Kirwan's compositions.  There aren't a lot of words, the music isn't very complicated, and the performance isn't at all showy.

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The lyrics of the song are relatively straightforward.  As the song begins, it's nighttime – or "moonshine time" as he puts it – the singer is having thoughts of a girl he once loved – thoughts that are "spinning 'round/as thoughts do."  He asks if the girl's "eyes still shine/as they did when you were mine."

The second verse uses similar imagery: the singer wonders "would your eyes/still sparkle then/if we were/once again?"  

Once again what?  That's not explicitly stated, but we can fill in the blank pretty easily – if they were once again a couple, once again together.  He doesn't need to say that in so many words – the fact that the rest of the thought is unspoken makes it more poignant.

The instrumental accompaniment for these two verses is quiet at first, but gradually becomes louder.  Then we get to the chorus, which Kirwan belts out at full volume:

Jewel-eyed Judy please come home!

Jewel-eyed Judy don't leave me alone!

Jewel-eyed Judy please come home!

Jewel-eyed Judy don't leave me alone!

Each line of the chorus is exactly the same musically, built around a figure of six forceful guitar chords (A, B, D, A, B, E).  The singer's mood has changed from the wistfulness of the verses to outright desperation.

In the final verse, it's no longer Judy's sparkling, jewel-like eyes shining in the moonlight.  Rather, it's the singer's eyes that are shining – but not from joy:  "So am I/sitting here/moonlight glistens/on my tears."

The loud, anguished chorus is repeated once more, followed by an instrumental passage that quickly fades out.  And that's all she wrote – or, in this case, all he (Danny Kirwan) wrote.  

When you break it down like that, it all seems so easy to write a song, doesn't it?

Click here to listen to "Jewel Eyed Judy."

Click here to buy "Jewel Eyed Judy" from Amazon.

Led Zeppelin – "What Is and What Should Never Be" (1969)

And if you say to me tomorrow

“Oh, what fun it all would be”

Then what's to stop us, pretty baby?

The line that follows the lyrics quoted above – “But what is and what should never be” – also provides the title of today’s featured song, which is about Robert Plant’s relationship with his ex-wife’s younger sister, Shirley Wilson.  

That relationship began before Plant married Shirley’s sister Maureen.  Several years after Plant divorced Maureen, he had a child with Shirley.  (That child is legally a first cousin to Maureen's children with Plant, but is genetically their half-brother.)

Shirley Wilson and Robert Plant

Plant’s situation is somewhat reminiscent of the one described in the Lovin’ Spoonful song, “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?,” which contains these lyrics:

Sometimes you really dig a girl the moment you kiss her

And then you get distracted by her older sister

Unlike the singer of that song, Plant apparently never “finally decide[d]” – he never really “[said] yes to one and let the other one ride.”

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In 2019, Billboard magazine observed the 50th anniversary of the U.S. release of Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut album by ranking all 94 of the band’s songs according to their digital sales.  

Billboard only counted revenue from consumer downloads and on-demand streams of a song – their ranking excluded revenues from the music played on terrestrial or satellite radio stations because that music was chosen by station programmers, not listeners.

Billboard also excluded album sales (because you can’t tell which songs caused the purchaser to buy the album) and sales of physical singles (because not all songs are available as physical singles).

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It comes as no surprise that the song that topped the Billboard list was “Stairway to Heaven” – perhaps my least favorite Led Zeppelin song ever – which generated $2,903,223.42 from downloads and streams.

If we limit ourselves to songs released on the eight studio albums released by Led Zeppelin prior to John Bonham’s death and the breakup of the group, the worst-selling Led Zeppelin song was “Candy Store Rock,” which generated only $10,465.65 in digital revenues – roughly one-third of one percent as much money as “Stairway to Heaven” brought in.

The four Led Zeppelin songs that have previously been inducted into the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME are all from the first – and best – Led Zeppelin album.  

Those songs – “Good Times, Bad Times,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Communication Breakdown,” and “How Many More Times” – came in at #14, #15, #29, and #44 respectively on the Billboard list.  

“What Is and What Should Never Be,” which was released in 1969 on Led Zeppelin II, comes in at #21.

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“Hard panning” is the term used when a stereo recording is mixed so that the sound of a voice or instrument is sent entirely to the left or right channel. 

The most distinctive thing about “What Is and What Should Never Be” is the hard panning of Jimmy Page’s guitar playing during the last minute of the track.  His two-chord riffs go back and forth between the left and right channels.

Some audio purists sneer at audio trickeration like the hard panning on this recording, but I loved the dramatic effect it created – especially when I listened to “What Is and What Should Never Be” with headphones.

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Click here to listen to “What Is and What Should Never Be.”  

Click here to buy “What Is and What Should Never Be” from Amazon.

The Flying Burrito Brothers – "Hot Burrito #2" (1969)

You loved me, and you sold my clothes

I love you, but that's the way that it goes

[NOTE: I’m pretty sure that “Flying Burrito #2” is the only record in the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME to feature a steel guitar – not to mention the only one recorded by a group of musicians who regularly wore Nudie suits.  Here’s a slightly edited version of my May 1, 2012 post featuring “Hot Burrito #2”.]

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Great music may be immortal, but great musicians are not.

Gram Parsons' vocals on the Flying Burrito Brothers' groundbreaking debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin, sound as wonderful today as they did when the record was released in 1969.  But Parsons died of a drug and alcohol overdose in 1973, when he was just 26 years old.  (Click here to read more about Parsons' death and its bizarre aftermath.)

Gram Parsons in his Nudie suit

"Sneaky" Pete Kleinow, the Burritos' unorthodox steel-guitar virtuoso – he sometimes utilized a fuzzbox, or played through a rotating Leslie speaker designed for use with a Hammond organ – died from Alzheimer's disease in 2007, when he was 72.

Last week, another of the original Flying Burrito Brothers passed away.  Chris Etheridge, who played bass and piano on Gilded Palace of Sin and co-wrote "Hot Burrito #2" with Parsons, died on April 23 after being hospitalized in Meridian, Mississippi – the same town he was born in.  He was 65. 

Chris Etheridge (1947-2012)

Etheridge left the Burritos after Gilded Palace of Sin, which was by far their best album.  He hooked up again with Gram Parsons after Parsons left the band, and later recorded with Judy Collins, Johnny Winter, Randy Newman, Linda Ronstadt, and Leon Russell.  He toured with Willie Nelson for many years, and played bass on the recording of "Whiskey River," one of Nelson's best records.  

"Hot Burrito #2" – which Allmusic described as having "the passion and fire of a great soul record" – is one of my favorite Flying Burrito Brothers' songs.  Although it's hard to say exactly what is going on between the couple in the song, it doesn't sound good.  

But that's the way that it goes.

Click here to listen to "Hot Burrito #2."

Click here to buy "Hot Burrito #2" from Amazon.