His voice was flat and thin for much of the 21-song, 80-minute set, giving out a few times, and when he aimed to hit an exuberant high note, like on "It's a Beautiful Life" and "Through the Years," his voice crashed and burned, exploding into a sour squawk....ADDED: I pushed my soul into the deep dark hole of this blog's archive to retrospectively add the Kenny Rogers tag. I don't particularly follow the doings of Kenny Rogers, but:
But I did appreciate Rogers reciting the bizarre second verse a cappella, sounding like William Shatner performing spoken-word poetry, to emphasize how "screwed up" people were in the '60s.
November 19, 2007: "Althouse on Mancow": "I'm going to be on... talking about — of all things — plastic surgery.... Well, I was on for a little over a minute, much of which had Mancow naming celebrities I hadn't looked at recently. Kenny Rogers? What does he look like now? I have no idea...."
April 4, 2006: An episode of "American Idol": "Country week, and worse, the guest star is Kenny Rogers (who is bizarrely unrecognizable). We see the 'kids' acting like they're having a fine old time singing 'The Gambler.' You've got to know when this is bullshit."
April 5, 2006: The follow-on episode of "American Idol": "Kenny Rogers sings a song. I TiVo ahead."
August 21, 2004: "a very touching appearance by Brian Wilson on The Larry King Show last night":
He says that he doesn't listen to the old Beach Boys records.
B. WILSON: No, we don't wallow in the mire over the Beach Boys. I used to listen to Andy Williams and Kenny Rogers and stuff like that. Perry Como and Nat King Cole, of course, that was our song, "When I Fall in Love" was our song. "When I fall in love, it will be forever" -- you know, that song....
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Only one "must see" performer at State Fair...the one and only Bobby Friss.
The song always sounded to me like something the "squares" would have created to try and mimic the "druggie kid bands" of that era. Sort of like when you saw "hippies" portrayed on mainstream shows like "Family Affair" or "Odd Couple"--it had more of a "we silent majority types figure the hippies look like this" vibe rather than the real thing.
Of course this all pre-dates me so I'll just gear myself up for telling tomorrow's teenagers what the "slacker grungy" '90s were really like, in middle of getting them off my lawn.
He rhymes "in" with "in."
The Dark Hole of the Soul is a great name for a band. Who would have guessed Kenny Rogers named them.
I almost forgot how funny the "Kenny Rodgers Roasters" episode of Seinfeld was.
"Its killing me, I can't eat, I can't sleep, all I can see is that giant red sun in the shape of a chicken... I don't think that Kenny Rogers has any idea what's going on down there... Jerry, my Rods and Cones are all screwed up!"
I once had sex with a woman in her late twenties who had Botoxed her forehead. Her forehead was fine as it was -- smooth, no wrinkles -- but High Fashion had inevitably directed her to this procedure, unnecessary as it was.
High Fashion had also directed her to her black high heels, but that was fine with me because I like when a woman wears high heels in bed during certain situations and contexts. Otherwise naked is one of those contexts.
Her Botox look was unnerving: we would have conversations, and her expressions never changed. Concern? Smooth unmoving forehead. Delight? Smooth unmoving forehead. Surprise? Sadness? Smooth unmoving forehead. Occasionally a nod for emphasis sign-posted what she was feeling.
Anyway, after she sucked my cock I would ejaculate on her face and she wouldn't even flinch: unmoving forehead, smooth except for the semen.
So that was her.
I am Laslo.
The song always sounded to me like something the "squares" would have created to try and mimic the "druggie kid bands" of that era.
That was it, exactly - old farts co-opting the druggie kid bands. Though I think it was the best thing Rogers did. The Gambler and all the later stuff was even phonier, only more in the faux-cowboy vein.
Voice flat and thin.
That's the condition his condition is in.
When the song was on the radio, I did not think it was an anti-drug song. I just thought it was a drug song.
The First Edition had a smoking female singer, a Latina who apparently couldn't much get along with anyone else in the band. I forget her name; I'm hoping she's a wise Latina now.
"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" is and always was an anti-drug song. It was perceived as square because it was square and it was intended to be square.
That said, I assume those squares did take drugs and may have thought such an obviously anti-drug drug song would work as a cover.
"When the song was on the radio, I did not think it was an anti-drug song. I just thought it was a drug song."
Were you a child at the time? Were you a drug user or someone who knew drug users?
Kenny Rogers is nearly as ersatz as the band America
Blogger Carol said...
The song always sounded to me like something the "squares" would have created to try and mimic the "druggie kid bands" of that era.
That was it, exactly - old farts co-opting the druggie kid bands. Though I think it was the best thing Rogers did. The Gambler and all the later stuff was even phonier, only more in the faux-cowboy vein.
But the song was written by Mickey Newbury, then just 27 years old and sometimes called "the first hippie-cowboy." He was one of the first "Nashville rebels," challenging the country music establishment, together with such compatriots as Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Townes Van Zandt. So, really not at all a
"square" nor an "old fart." Though the song was indeed a warning against the use of LSD.
"Were you a child at the time? Were you a drug user or someone who knew drug users?"
I had just started high school in 1968, so I believe I was in 9th or 10th grade when the song was out.
I had not yet dabbled in the phamaceutical arts and sciences, but knew a lot of my classmates had. My time came later.
I had never paid any attention to Kenny Rogers or to the song until it was used in The Big Lebowski for the scene where the Dude is drugged by Ben Gazzara, then it became somewhat interesting in the way that I find every weird and neglected cultural artifact to be interesting when retrieved by the Coen Bros.
Even in his prime I don't think Kenny Rogers is who you'd listen to for great musicology.
Adam Carolla & Norm MacDonald discuss Kenny Rogers' "Coward of the County" part 1
part 2
I have a difficult philosophical question. Who is it harder to care less about: Miley Cyrus or Kenny Rogers? The pre Socratics used to speculate that if a donkey were equally hungry and equally thirsty and was placed equidistant between a bucket of water and a bushel of hay, then said donkey would die of indecision. If you were on a boat with one life saver and both Miley Cyrus and Kenny Rogers fell overboard, who would you throw the lifesaver to. Or would you just sit there and admire how beautiful a sunset at sea looks? I note in passing that Miley Cyrus has attracted twice the comments of Kenny Rogers. That bodes well for her career.
"I note in passing that Miley Cyrus has attracted twice the comments of Kenny Rogers. That bodes well for her career."
I think it is the relative quality of their beards.
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