Tom T Hall is God

Yeah I also heard it before the original. I like it, too. But I do think the original hits harder -- it's such a personal song that it's hard to match what you can hear in Hall's voice.

It's not on youtube, but the Sir Douglas Quintet version of "The Homecoming" (from their odds'n'sods set Rough Edges) is great--Sahm misses a couple lyrics but the performance really has that "arriving somewhere at 4 AM" feel fit for the song.

Really want to POLL various versions of “That’s How I Got to Memphis.”

I don't know that much of his stuff, but i'm such a sap that "Pay No Attention to Alice" is instant waterworks for me. The way he draws out certain lines like "she maaaaaaade that apple piiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee from a memory", delaying the payoff, is just incredible.

The whole song is 3:15 and it paints such a distinctive portrait of a 70s view of "normalized" alcoholism. The realization in the third verse that perhaps Alice is not the only alcoholic is crushing. And it is all done so clear-eyed and closely observed.

Great comments all through this thread---xxpost Sir Doug's version of "The Homecoming" is a bonus track on Acacia's import remaster of Mendocino (beware of the live thing also with that title). And--hate to pimp-ho for Amazon---it's also on The Complete Mercury Masters, in their Digital Store for 35 bucks and change (OOP CD is $399).

The SDQ Mercury Masters set is also on Spotify, as is Hall's Storyteller, Poet, Philosopher box from '95.

He has left us.

https://blog.siriusxm.com/siriusxm-remembers-tom-t-hall-dead-at-85/

No byline, wonder if my neighbor wrote that.

The first time I ever really clicked with Tom T. Hall, who was nowhere near on my radar at that time, was in 2004, when I heard the Drive-By Truckers cover "Mama Bake A Pie (Daddy Kill A Chicken)." What an incredible writer this guy was:

People staring at me as they wheel me
Down the ramp towards my plane
The war is over for me
I've forgotten everything except the pain
Thank you sir, and yes sir, it was worth it
For the ol' red, white and blue
And since I won't be walking
I suppose I'll save some money buying shoes
The bottle hidden underneath the blanket
Over my two battered legs
I can see the stewardess make over me
And ask, "Were you afraid?"
I'll say, "Why no? I'm Superman"
And couldn't find the phone booth quite in time
A GI gets a lot of laughs
He remembers all the funny lines

[Chorus:]
Mama bake a pie
Daddy kill a chicken
Your son is coming home
11:35, Wednesday night

[Verse 2:]
Mama will be crying and daddy's gonna say
"Son, did they treat you good?"
My uncle will be drunk and he'll say
"Boy, they doing some real great things with wood"
The letter that she wrote me said, "Goodbye"
She couldn't wait and lots of luck
The bottle underneath the blanket
Feels just like an old friend to my touch
I know she'll come and see me
But I bet she never once looks at my legs
Now, she'll talk about the weather
And the dress she wore the July 4th parade
Lord, I love her and I don't believe
This bottle's gonna get her off my mind
I see here in the paper
Where they say the war is just a waste of time

never even occurred to me that he might still be alive. rip

No mention of “Harper Valley PTA” in this thread? R.I.P.

The final verse of “I Like Beer”:

Last night I dreamed that I passed from the scene
And I went to a place so sublime
Aw, the water was clear and tasted like beer
Then they turned it all into wine

Btw, on the subject of “political songs” – this one is dense and specific to a remarkable degree.

Here you go. Bill Friskics-Warren on Tom T. https://t.co/OJbagk0WeA

— David Cantwell (@dlcantwell) August 21, 2021

Wow, he wrote “Hello Vietnam”?

Well, I know there's a lotta big preachers that know a lot more than I do,
But it could be that the good Lord likes a little pickin' too.

RIP Tom, one of my dad's favorites.

Really want to POLL various versions of “That’s How I Got to Memphis.”

Bobby Bare's is my favorite, but it's a hard song to mess up even if you try.

Agree 100%

FUCK

https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/01/05/tom-t-hall-died-suicide-medical-examiner-autopsy/9109362002/