Bobby Bare – Lullabys, Legends and Lies
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Posted On September 1, 2007
Score one for corporate record labels. With this stellar reissue, the massive Sony BMG conglomerate has brought one of country music’s overlooked masterpieces back into circulation, supplied us with well-written liner notes from Rich Kienzle, and added a second disc full of weird, jagged gems from the pen of the great Shel Silverstein.
Released in 1973, Lullabys, Legends And Lies kick-started the much-vaunted “Outlaw Movement”. Bare took command of the album’s production, while Waylon Jennings sat in the studio audience, sang along, cheered, and mulled the benefits of artistic freedom.
Bare selected prime pickers including Bobby Thompson, Chip Young, Henry Strzelecki, Lloyd Green and Hal Rugg. He gathered fourteen Silverstein story-songs and sang them with a deep, knowing voice that held every bit of plot and humor and wisdom up for display. Silverstein was a hot commodity back then, having penned “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash and “One’s On The Way” for Loretta Lynn, and Bare figured that fourteen Silverstein songs would produce at least a hit or two.
For his efforts, Bare wound up with his only #1 single, the crazed “Marie Laveau”, and a Grammy-nominated duet with his son Bobby Jr., who was 5 at the time. But beyond the fame and airplay stuff, Silverstein and Bare gave us a master class on how to write and sing story-songs. “The Winner” is a riot of detail and guffaws. “Sure Hit Songwriters Pen” is sad and funny at once, kind of like the Bottle Rockets’ “$1,000 Car”.
The eight-minute epic “Rosalie’s Good Eats Cafe” may stand as Silverstein’s greatest achievement. A collection of hope-starved scufflers sit on stools and in booths, playing out their own wounded scenarios, and Silverstein’s words nearly sing themselves: “She stares at her coffee and looks toward the ceiling, but Lord, it’s a strange place to pray/At two in the morning, on Saturday night, at Rosalie’s Good Eats Cafe.”
The bonus disc includes sixteen more Silverstein songs performed by Bare. These are notable for their brilliance (“This Guitar Is For Sale” and “Rough On The Living” stand with Kristofferson’s “To Beat The Devil” as life-changing songs about lives spent singing songs) and for the anything-goes spirit that is now long gone from Music Row.
Three decades ago, you could say, “She’s ready for animals, women or men/She’s doing Quaaludes again,” on a major label country album. Today…not so much. Dang those corporate record labels.
Score one for corporate record labels. With this stellar reissue, the massive Sony BMG conglomerate has brought one of country music’s overlooked masterpieces back into circulation, supplied us with well-written liner notes from Rich Kienzle, and added a second disc full of weird, jagged gems from the pen of the great Shel Silverstein.
Released in 1973, Lullabys, Legends And Lies kick-started the much-vaunted “Outlaw Movement”. Bare took command of the album’s production, while Waylon Jennings sat in the studio audience, sang along, cheered, and mulled the benefits of artistic freedom.
Bare selected prime pickers including Bobby Thompson, Chip Young, Henry Strzelecki, Lloyd Green and Hal Rugg. He gathered fourteen Silverstein story-songs and sang them with a deep, knowing voice that held every bit of plot and humor and wisdom up for display. Silverstein was a hot commodity back then, having penned “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash and “One’s On The Way” for Loretta Lynn, and Bare figured that fourteen Silverstein songs would produce at least a hit or two.
For his efforts, Bare wound up with his only #1 single, the crazed “Marie Laveau”, and a Grammy-nominated duet with his son Bobby Jr., who was 5 at the time. But beyond the fame and airplay stuff, Silverstein and Bare gave us a master class on how to write and sing story-songs. “The Winner” is a riot of detail and guffaws. “Sure Hit Songwriters Pen” is sad and funny at once, kind of like the Bottle Rockets’ “$1,000 Car”.
The eight-minute epic “Rosalie’s Good Eats Cafe” may stand as Silverstein’s greatest achievement. A collection of hope-starved scufflers sit on stools and in booths, playing out their own wounded scenarios, and Silverstein’s words nearly sing themselves: “She stares at her coffee and looks toward the ceiling, but Lord, it’s a strange place to pray/At two in the morning, on Saturday night, at Rosalie’s Good Eats Cafe.”
The bonus disc includes sixteen more Silverstein songs performed by Bare. These are notable for their brilliance (“This Guitar Is For Sale” and “Rough On The Living” stand with Kristofferson’s “To Beat The Devil” as life-changing songs about lives spent singing songs) and for the anything-goes spirit that is now long gone from Music Row.
Three decades ago, you could say, “She’s ready for animals, women or men/She’s doing Quaaludes again,” on a major label country album. Today…not so much. Dang those corporate record labels.
