Crystal Chandeliers – Charlie Pride

-

 

Crystal Chandeliers – Charlie Pride

I was very sad to hear of the loss of another Country legend yesterday, Charlie Pride. He made a big impact in Country for being one of the first Black artists to be able to go main stream and join the Grand Ole Opry. He had some big crossover hits and reading all the tributes to him proved he was a big influence amongst his peers and a host of future stars.

This wasn't his biggest hit, but it's the song I associate him with, I love this song. He's soft delivery and the instrumentation are really sweet and comforting. The lyric is very clever, a complete social comment on how people can get to thinking they are better than they are, trying to fit in to high society but soon enough they realising it isn't all it's cracked up to be. The reference to the Crystal Chandeliers is a great way to say how money doesn't but you happiness, love is more important.

I've mentioned my 2015 visit to Nashville in a number of posts, I was lucky enough to see Charlie perform at the Ryman Auditorium when he was on the bill of Marty Stuart's Late Night Jam the evening before the CMA Fest. He sang this song which I was made up about and a selection of his other hits. My dad used to have a cassette of all his favourite country songs that he played in his car, I can remember this song always catching my ear, well before I knew anything of Charlie's struggles to get famous. Charlie was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

R.I.P. Charlie Pride

Favoutite lyric : So you traded me for the gaiety of the well to do / And you turned away from the love I offered you


 

Location: Rayleigh, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wherever You Will Go – The Calling

-
Image
    Wherever You Will Go – The Calling  No idea where this one came from, total American power ballad, it's well chessey but I love it. I'm a sucker for sentimental songs like this, all about always being with the one you love. But it's not really a happy song, apparently it was written about a husband who had lost his wife of over 50 years. The songwriter, Aaron Kamin , was at his grandmother's best friends funeral and the idea for the song came to him. How the husband who was left behind would have followed his beloved if only he could have. Can he now exist without her? The words almost say that they would come back to haunt you if that was possible, love that strong can't be broken. The need to be together is so strong. But like all good songs, you can take it's message in so many different ways. Also most listeners don't delve to deep into the meanings of songs, they just catch onto the suggested obvious tone of the chorus. The general understanding of
Read more

I Am, I Feel – Alisha's Attic

-
Image
  I Am, I Feel – Alisha's Attic I remember this one from 1996, it came back to my mind yesterday as I was on a songwriting course co-hosted by Shelly McErlaine (born Poole), one half of Alisha's Attic . The group was a duo made up of Sheely and her sister Karen Poole , who happen to come from close to where I grew up in East Essex, UK. They have a famous father, Brian Poole who had a band called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, they had major success in the 1960s. Shelly is married to Ally McErlaine , from the band Texas , they now have an country band together called Red Sky July along with Charity Hair. Shelly is now a songwriter/producer/talent scout and is an amazing person to listen to about how to craft a song. It seems she has worked with so many huge names, but the biggest thing that came across was her absolute love of music. The song itself is a sorry tale of how a man is taking a girl he's with totally for granted. The lyrics are a very clever reply to how he
Read more

Running Bear – Johnny Preston

-
Image
    Running Bear – Johnny Preston I love this song. It's another one from my childhood, it sounds like a kids song, lots of chanting and takes a bit of imagination to get what's going on. It's actually a love song about two Indian's from different warring tribes, they're not allowed to be together.  This is a proper story song, loads of words, total tongue twister. Songs like this were big in the 50's, it's not an obvious setting to write a song about, I guess Westerns were very popular around the time and Cowboys and Indians were a real hit with the public. All sounding very exotic to us over here in the U.K. anything that shouted American was fantasy. Even as a kid listening to this song as a 45 single on a record player 30 years later, it really caught my ear. It was like listening to a bedtime story in three minutes. Running Bear is a cool Indian name, it gives such a strong image of a powerful fast huge guy and Little White Dove gives the impression of
Read more