October 1, 2010

shel silverstein’s dark side

I hadn’t realized Shel Silverstein was for grown-ups too.

As a recording artist, Silverstein brought a raspy vocal style (not unlike Tom Waits’s satanic older cousin) that came from his teenage years as a Comiskey Park hot dog vendor. And his firsthand knowledge of various scenes (Greenwich Village Beats, the Chicago folk music world, Nashville’s Music Row) led to a varying array of song styles and production values. By the late 1960s, this songwriting acumen helped Silverstein move into rock circles, thanks in large part to the New Jersey-based Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show.

posted by in music, poetry, self-help, sex, sexuality | * | 9 comments 

comments

  1. Teresa R. on October 1st, 2010 at 9:34 am

    I recently found out that in 1998 a group called Old Dogs released a CD of songs written by Shel. Check out the blurb from Amazon:

    The Old Dogs are Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, and Jerry Reed, four old-school country & western legends now rejected by a youth-obsessed Nashville. Refusing a rocking chair, these good old boys have fought back and made music for the mature, twang-lovin’ audience they know is still huge. To wit, the 11 steel-guitar-driven cuts here, all from wacky songwriting legend Shel Silverstein, are aimed at the senior set. The 10 punch-line novelties (“I ain’t too old to cut the mustard, I’m just too tired to spread it around”) are joined by the bittersweet, and even wise, closing ballad “Time.”

  2. Deron Bauman on October 1st, 2010 at 9:37 am

    she never lets me go.

  3. Sheila Ryan on October 1st, 2010 at 10:33 am

    This 2007 interview with Shel’s nephew Mitch Myers might interest you if you get onto a Shel Silverstein kick.

  4. There’s Just Something About That Cowbell | clusterflock on October 1st, 2010 at 10:56 am

    [...] response to Michael’s Silverstein post, I mentioned Shel Silverstein’s nephew Mitch Myers — and then I got to wondering how [...]

  5. Michael Smith on October 1st, 2010 at 11:01 am

    Why didn’t I know he wrote “A Boy Named Sue”?

  6. Sheila Ryan on October 1st, 2010 at 11:04 am

    Because I never told you.

  7. Teresa R. on October 1st, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    I could only skim the Mitch Myers interview for now, but I liked that he described Shel this way, “He was a pretty heavy duty cat.”

    I feel that if people can describe you as a “heavy duty cat” and a “wacky songwriting legend” then you’ve done a good job of living.

  8. Sheila Ryan on October 1st, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    You said it. Lately I got think about how people might eulogize me, and the phrase that came to mind was, “She was a piece of work.”

  9. juju pongo on October 1st, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    ‘nother song about lovin’ oneself up…
    (guerilla posting whilst on the j – o -b and hopin’ the linky bit is as advertised)
    http://www.last.fm/music/Jackson+Browne/_/Rosie

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