Danny O'Keefe By Amanda on March 22, 2008 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
I first came across the name Danny O'Keefe not so long ago when I was grabbed by the Chris Smither song, "So Long, Harry Truman." Googled, saw he wrote it, googled him, saw he also wrote "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues." Thought, hmmmmm and made a mental note. (I blogged this at The Old Place.) And then I saw his name on the Blue Mountains Music Festival line-up after I'd already bought the ticket, so it was a pure bonus. He was performing at the fest with Kristina Olsen and Sandgroper Peter Grayling. I saw two and a half of their shows and enjoyed them without discovering another song which lingers like those two. Two is more than most have to their name, though. He also has an amusing story about how he came to be co-writer with Dylan on "Well, Well, Well." Bob supplied some grunting and a bit of strumming and Danny supplied .... the words. Ha.
The original version of Good Time Charlie's ... I noticed he was singing "this time I believe they're going to stay" as the second line rather than the thing about LA which is in every other version I've heard. It's in the Waylon Jennings version from 1973 but I can't locate the earlier covers to trace the change.
I bailed him up at the rissole one night and requested Harry Truman but he couldn't do that night but would the next day, but I only saw half that show and didn't hear it. Lucky I had the Smither on my iPod.
14 So Long, Harry Truman.mp3
By Anne
on March 24, 2008 9:02 PM
I had the good fortune to see Danny O'Keefe perform in a private house concert recently. On the night he sang something like 30 songs including "So Long Harry Truman"
Guess I got lucky.
My review of the concert is on Nu Country at Danny O'Keefe Review
By Amanda
on March 24, 2008 9:09 PM
Thanks, Anne! Great review.
At the end of that last gig Kristina thanked the ABC which made me wonder if it was going to be broadcast at some point. So maybe I'll get to hear my request after all.