(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River

(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River

Infobox Single
Name = (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River


Artist = TISM
from Album = Machiavelli and the Four Seasons
B-side = Abcess Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
Dicktatorship
Released = December 6, 1995
Format = CD Single
Recorded = Platinum Studios
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 7:12
Label = Shock/genre b.goode
Writer = TISM
Producer = Lawrence Maddy
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single = "Let's Form a Company"
(1990)
This single = "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River"
(1995)
Next single = "Greg! The Stop Sign!!"
(1995)
Misc = Extra album cover
Upper caption = "Original Artwork"


Lower caption =

"(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River" was the first single to be released off "Machiavelli and the Four Seasons" (1995) by Australian alternative rock band TISM.

The title never appears in the song, and due to this, it is commonly (though incorrectly) referred to as "I'm On The Drug That Killed River Phoenix". The title references the play "Show Boat" and the famous song "Ol' Man River", indicating that River Phoenix will never be an "ol' man" because he died at age 23 of a drug overdose.

It is arguably TISM's most popular track, or at least, most well known, as it reached #9 in Triple J's 1995 Hottest 100, one number ahead of "Greg! The Stop Sign!!". In 2002, the band performed the song on John Safran's Music Jamboree.

ong

The song opens with the refrain "I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix" and, as the song continues, talking about a wide variety of celebrities who died due to some sort of excess. As the song progresses, it becomes clear that the singer is not about actually doing these things themselves, but their own addiction is vicariously following celebrities and their excesses and premature deaths. As with a number of TISM songs, it is a comment on the fairly vapid state of popular culture.

Example verse:

"I drank the slab that Bon Scott drunk;" "Injected some of Hendrix' junk;" "I booked a seat on Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane;" "Mama Cass's sandwich? I ate the same!"

Controversy

Not unique for TISM, controversy surrounded the release of this track. The main lyric "I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix" enraged a number of people, even reportedly reaching friends of the late actor, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, whom TISM subsequently invited to a fist-fight.

The single was issued with two covers. Prior to the "pills" version was the infamous "tombstone" cover - depicting Phoenix' tombstone - which was withdrawn.

Track list

# "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River"
# "Abcess Makes The Heart Grow Fonder"
# "Dicktatorship"

ee also

* TISM
* Machiavelli and the Four Seasons

External links

* [http://www.geniac.net/tism/river.txt (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River lyrics]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ol' Man River — For other uses, see Old Man River (disambiguation). Ol Man River Music by Jerome Kern Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Written 1927 Recorded by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, others Performed by Paul Robeson, Jules Bledsoe, others Ol Man River… …   Wikipedia

  • River Phoenix — Infobox actor imagesize = 200px caption = Phoenix at the 61st Academy Awards; Governor s House, March 29, 1989 birthname = River Jude Bottom birthdate = birth date|1970|8|23| birthplace = Metolius, Oregon, USA deathdate = death date and… …   Wikipedia

  • Never Bet the Devil Your Head — Author Edgar Allan Poe Country United States Language …   Wikipedia

  • Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant: The Final Victory —   …   Wikipedia

  • Never Ending Tour 2007 — Dylan performing on tour in 2007 Tour by Bob Dylan Start date March 27, 2007 …   Wikipedia

  • Never Ending Tour 2006 — Dylan performing on tour in 2006 Tour by Bob Dylan Start date April 1, 2006 …   Wikipedia

  • Man v. Food Nation — Country of origin United States Broadcast Original channel Travel Channel Original run June 1, 2011 …   Wikipedia

  • Never Before — Single by Deep Purple from the album Machine Head B side When a Blind Man Cries …   Wikipedia

  • Never Ending Tour 2004 — Tour by Bob Dylan Start date February 28, 2004 End date November 27, 2004 Legs 5 Shows 90 in North America 21 in Europe 111 …   Wikipedia

  • River Without Buoys — Directed by Wu Tianming Produced by Luo Xueying Written by Ye Weilin Starring Li Wei Tao Yuling Hu Ro …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”