Great read, many thanks.

I suspect the Replacements song "Johnny's Gonna Die" (written about Thunders) was a sort of take-off on "Keith Don't Go".

Although i like this song, i wouldn´t like to be the subject of an so called "ode"(orig. subtitle: "ode to the glimmer twin" );and i wouldn´t like to be the subject of an advisor, who tries to save his narcisstic idol:
Would be stranger to me, if Keith Richards had done that...
After all, it´s an loveletter too and it should be read as an introduction in the odd love-affaire between a star and his fan.

Moreover: If he had listened to this advice, he´d probably never seen the eighties.
What has really happened in Toronto those days? I always thought, that someone
(Mick?) saved his life, by lettin´ him put in jail...and let him get out with a very
less, soft judgement: "Those, whom the gods love, grow young."
(Love you live 1976)

Greets
2bears

"There needs no ghost to come from grave
to tell us this..."
W. Shakespeare



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-03-05 13:45 by 2bears.

Quote
The Worst.
Actually Keith hated that song. I've heard that song is the reason Nils Lofgren was not allowed to join Stones for the Black and Blue auditions.

He didn't join The Stones because Mick insisted there was no stage room for a trampoline!

Quote
The Worst.
Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Worst. Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Actually Keith hated that song. I've heard that
> > song is the reason Nils Lofgren was not allowed
> to
> > join Stones for the Black and Blue auditions.
>
>
> a bit unlikely as it didnt come out for two years
> afterwards!!
>
> I think the song is more inspired by Keith's
> Toronto bust than anything else.

That's odd! But I guess you are right. I just remember the so called stones "expert" Bård Ose from Norway told that story on a national radio broadcast.

If I remember it correctly, he also mentiones it in his book.

[www.reverbnation.com]

Nils was a great showman and can play guitar as well as anyone. I think most of his fans were people who had seen him live. His club appearances were packed with his enthusiastic cult following. And he put on great shows. His first couple solo albums and the Grin were great. His songs were usually sentimental odes about unrequited love etc. (he also had a tribute to Ali called No Mercy, about Larry Holmes thrashing an over the hill Ali, that is similar in tone to Keith Don't Go, and was a minor hit) He was a contrast of a tough little guy who wore his heart on his sleeve. Once he failed to hit it big he continued to tour. Without being able to afford a band he used drum machines etc. and did acoustic gigs. The shows were good but a clear fall from someone who seemed on the brink of stardom and never made it. He had a lot of similarities to Bruce in their early career but Nils just did not have a broad enough appeal to have anywhere near the success. I am sure that signing on with the E Street band has set him for life which makes me happy for him.

"White Lies" is a cool song by Grin.

Gonna see Nils with Bruce in April.

>> I think the song is more inspired by Keith's Toronto bust than anything else. <<

the "to Toronto" is a late addition to the song - he wrote/recorded it well before that
and "revived" it after Keith's Toronto bust.
he may be a good player and all that but this song has always turned my stomach.

a mid-70s performance of this song on Old Grey Whistle Test was included on a recent homemade compilation at dimeadozen. I don't mind the studio cut--and I like his playing with Neil Young, anyway--but wow, was this version indulgent. Several minutes of solos in between verses as he ran around playing different instruments. And he already had a band with him! I don't know if it was the "prog" repuation of OGWT that led to this atrocity, or a desperate attempt to show how Talented he was, but it was embarrassing.

He cowrote some songs with Lou Reed in the late 70s--I guess he did the music and Reed did the words. They split them up on different albums, Reed's excellent The Bells and Lofgren's "Nils," which also has "Shine Silently," a song recall liking but after seeing the above wankfest would have to hear again before recommending.

actually I saw him play it as part of the first All-Starr Band with Ringo. I think he restrained himself to using one guitar.