Said Bill Murray, quoted in "Bill Murray: ‘We are afraid to die and afraid to kill’/The comedy great sits down with classical cellist Jan Vogler and talks to Kevin EG Perry about the pandemic being this generation’s ‘most challenging time’, his cure for depression and shooting a majestic concert movie at the Acropolis of Athens" (Independent).
Also:
"I remember my friend Hunter Thompson..."
Ah, the other Hunter.
"... who was another guy people perceived as sort of a dark force but who really had a wonderful sense of humour, talking about John Prine,” says Murray.... "I remember at one of the moodiest… What did he used to call it? Broodingest! …at one of the broodingest moments of our long weekend, he said: ‘Well, we’ll have to rely on John Prine for the sense of humour.’ And he put on some, and it was dark out there in the mountains, and we did listen to John Prine for a while. There was a moment where I was the most miserable of my whole life, so I thought, I’ll go see if John Prine will help me here. His song ‘Linda Goes to Mars’ comes on and I just remember going: ‘Heh’... That was it. That was all there was, but it was a change of direction. I thought: ‘Goddammit, it worked!’ I hadn’t even ‘Heh’d’ in such a while.”
Something, somewhere, somehow took my Linda by the hand/And secretly decoded our sacred wedding band/For when the moon shines down upon our happy humble home/Her inner space gets tortured by some outer space unknown....
ADDED: Speaking of "old white dudes" — that's quite a trio of old white dudes: Bill Murray, Hunter S. Thompson, and John Prine. Now, you might say once someone is dead, he's not an "old man" anymore, but in the linked post, from earlier this morning, we talk about 2 men whose names appeared in today's NYT crossword. One of names — spoiler alert — clued as "Silent film star known as the 'Man of a Thousand Faces'" — is Lon Chaney. This is Lon Chaney Sr. — not Jr. — and he died at the age of 47. Surely if a man who died young a long time ago is an "old dude," then dead men who actually died old — at 67 (Thompson) and 73 (Prine) —are "old dudes."
To be fair, Lon Chaney looked damned old in some of his photographs:
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37 comments:
The other other Hunter: Hunter Kelly
His life was short and courageous.
Glad to see that you're giving John Prine another chance.
"We didn’t have a world war or a depression, the things our ancestors had."
Bill is 71+. Born 1950. Ancestors? He thinks of his parents as ancestors? Did he forget about Viet Nam? I presume he wasn't, but he's old enough to have been drafted.
Or is he trying to identify with a younger generation, and denying his age in true Hollywood fashion? If so, pretty ironic for someone who hasn't physically aged well.
"Glad to see that you're giving John Prine another chance."
I tried to listen to that song. I read the lyrics and think it's very well written, but the voice and singing style does not appeal to me. I just have personal preferences that are at a primal level. You might think certain artists are in the same category, but I'll like some and reject others. For example, I do not like Van Morrison. I can't tell you why. If I tried, I'd say there's a harsh edge to it or that it's just not sexy. I like a gentle male voice!
Something that I ran across recently — while reading about Tiny Tim! — was the Rudy Vallee song "Deep Night." I play that a lot! And it's not in any genre I'd been following. I read that Tiny Tim was inspired by the high note so I wanted to hear that. I totally agree with Tim. Not that I can listen to Tiny Tim for long. He is emphatically not sexy.
Anyway, Rudy Vallee singing "Deep Night." I'll listen to that multiple times a day.
Murray is a very funny man. Naturally funny.
There were extended times in my life when each of those three were my favorites at what they did. Hunter Thompson occupied the writer slot for longer than Prine, the singer/songwriter, occupied his slot. Bill Murray was probably my favorite in his comedian slot for the shortest time, maybe around the time of Stripes. He was in my favorite movie one year much later, when he did Lost in Translation. There were definitely comic moments in that movie, but he was more of a straight actor in it, I think. I just loved the movie.
John Prine was a hell of a songWRITER. His voice always left me cold. One of the boys of 16th Avenue remembered in song by Lacy J. Dalton.
I read the lyrics and think it's very well written, but the voice and singing style does not appeal to me. I just have personal preferences that are at a primal level.
I get that. Based on who I like, there are a number of singers I "should" like, but don't. I can't listen to Jeff Buckley or Townes Van Zandt even though they are admired by a number of singers I admire.
I like a gentle male voice!
What about Bob?
One of my faves is hearing a duet of Bonnie Raitt and Prine on Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery”.
Great song.
Prine was a great songwriter, but not a great singer.
As it was put in Catch-22, "Dead. You don't get any older than that."
When I see people wearing masks now, I think they are nuts. I think the fucking NCAA is requiring basketball cheerleaders and those at the scorer’s table to wear masks. Watch for it.
I went to “Sweeney Todd” two weekends ago in Omaha. Masks required, but the City of Omaha stopped requiring a mask weeks prior. Same deal at St. John’s at Creighton. I refused to wear a mask. Freedom fighter!
Aha. In the seventies, I mainlined John Prine.
It would be a dull world if we all liked the same thing. My current obsession is a piece of video game music that a very talented young man rearranged into Latin jazz and mixed into a Zoom tour de force. He did the work. I'm really impressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0W7vwhtykw&ab_channel=Finetales
“The Tao of Bill Murray” (semi-biography) has some great stories of how Murray engages/inserts himself in situations. Just to participate with people. Interesting character and life. “Walkin the Dog” is a good song too, although Dave Clark Five did not cover it.
I agree with you on so much Ann but I find Vans voice wonderful, so sexy. I recently discovered and have enjoyed Prine and find his songs charming and I like a quirky male voice. I mean Bob Dylan’s the GOAT in that regard. I’m gonna go check out that Raitt/Prine duet someone above mentioned. Thanks for your wonderful blog, I’ve read daily since almost the beginning.
Baylor and NC cheerleaders wearing masks. Same for scorer’s table.
This is a perverse, sick and cruel thing by the NCAA.
I worked for someone who was close friends with Hunter when Hunter would have been about 42/43, so I spoke to him on the phone off and on. Murray played Hunter in Where the Buffalo Roam, so I went to see it. I remember my boss talking on the phone to someone about the movie. He said Murray did a good job, but one inaccuracy bugged him about the movie. He said, “Hunter doesn't shoot his guns off in the house.” (Obviously, he ultimately did that.). I remembered thinking, “the rest is real? Yikes.”
I worked for someone who was close friends with Hunter when Hunter would have been about 42/43, so I spoke to him on the phone off and on. Murray played Hunter in Where the Buffalo Roam, so I went to see it. I remember my boss talking on the phone to someone about the movie. He said Murray did a good job, but one inaccuracy bugged him about the movie. He said, “Hunter doesn't shoot his guns off in the house.” (Obviously, he ultimately did that.). I remembered thinking, “the rest is real? Yikes.”
"I like a gentle male voice!"
James Taylor?
Hey..why hasn't he been dispatched to sooth Ukraine?
Prine wrote this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toJ3ZYWRh24&list=RDtoJ3ZYWRh24&start_radio=1&ab_channel=levi1955
The rest of us are afraid to die, and afraid to kill...
..so we’re masked up and we’re injected, and so forth.
Hey? Could someone explain this statement to me, i don't follow it. Is it supposed to be like:
The rest of us are afraid to die, and afraid to kill, so we’re carrying our talismans and our voodoo charms, and so forth.
???
or is it just:
The rest of us are afraid to die, and afraid to kill, so we're doing Something, anything at all
Following the cargo cult, not the science, is comedy gold, past, present, and progressive.
"What about Bob?"
To say "I like a gentle male voice!" is not to say I only like a gentle male voice (or I like all gentle male voices).
It's hard to find words to make general statements about which singers you like. It's not going to correspond all that well to your feelings when you hear these things.
But Bob is gentle in his own way, and Bob is also exceptional. Plus he's embedded in my psyche from my formative years.
“What About Bob?” was a decent movie.
'Masks required, but the City of Omaha stopped requiring a mask weeks prior.'
Take note; wherever liberals gather (theater) or woke corporations, they will always tow the government line and do whatever is the thing that most controls the populace.
It's a feature of Marxism/socialism, not a bug.
Agree that John Prine's music is preferable to his singing. I've always liked Van Morrison, too. I was surprised to learn that his name is (George) Ivan Morrison. Ivan?
Masks? Dude, it's, like, 2022. Masks are over.
I went over to The Keg Tavern today, to pick up a keg of Obsidian Stout for my kegerator. Nobody's wearing any idiotic fucking masks. I was thinking about how nice that was, and then I imagined saying that to someone three years ago, in March, 2019;
"Wow, it's great to see people walking around without masks!"
"Masks? Where have you been? Ground Hog's Day at a Halloween Party?"
It did kind of seem like that, didn't it.
Just go back from Wyoming... Saw a Grand Total of ZERO masks anywhere in the state
“ James Taylor?”
These days he’s a big favorite of mind, though at the time I didn’t like the “singer-songwriter” trend.
I often listen to “Carolina in my Mind” and “ My Blue Heaven.”
He has such a warm, gentle voice.
Had two flights in the past week, anyone that is wearing a complete covering is doing so only for political reasons. At least half of the passengers had their nose uncovered. No one said anything to anybody.
I was a fan of Hunter Thompson until I worked at an event he covered for Rolling Stone. It was a grossly inaccurate portrayal without being particularly amusing about it. Bill Murray always seemed to me to be an interesting fellow with good script picker sense. I usually enjoy his movies and his interviews.
I haven't hear John Prine since the 70's I think.
'He has such a warm, gentle voice.'
He doesn't try to show off when he sings, which is why it works.
A kegerator! Jupiter, how old ARE you??! Haven’t seen one of those since college lol
The lead singer of Jethro Tull had a great voice. Ace always has those late night threads w/a photo click and all the best bands of the 60s/70s. I just fall down those rabbit holes!!
Big James Taylor fan here. When I need to chill ...
I have recently become a huge fan of Waylon Jennings. The more I see, the more I realize what I have missed.
That is the great thing about music. After the 60's, 70's and 80's, it was the discovery of Van Morrison. I wonder who will be next.
Side note: I saw James and Carole King in concert in 1970 at the Symposium in Chicago. Words cannot describe.
We didn’t have a world war or a depression
Just wait.
>"We just went out with our friend to walk the dog, and you're wearing a mask, everyone's wearing a mask. The dog is the only one who's completely alive!"
Isn't the solution to this obvious? Mandate masks for dogs.
“We just went out with our friend to walk the dog, and you’re wearing a mask, everyone’s wearing a mask. The dog is the only one who’s completely alive!”
Where does Murray live, that this occurs? Or is he exaggerating? Here in the liberal Twin Cities, hardly anyone bothers anymore, and we lasted longer at it than most.
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