• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

đŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockin’ đŸŽ”

T R E 4 5 O N

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Let’s finish the job.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Bark louder, little dog.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

This blog will pay for itself.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Music / Leon Russell RIP

Leon Russell RIP

by DougJ|  November 13, 201610:50 am| 30 Comments

This post is in: Music, Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

Dead at 74. I always loved the “Tulsa sound”, the songs “Masquerade” and “Superstar”, and that crazy Joe Cocker tour he masterminded.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Morning Reads
Next Post: Writers Chatting: Prologue »

Reader Interactions

30Comments

  1. 1.

    bk

    November 13, 2016 at 10:52 am

    From being the driving force behind Mad Dogs and Englishmen to Delanie and Bonnie and Friends to “Delta Lady” to writing songs for Gary Lewis and the Playboys, he did it all. Seriously talented and seriously classy.

  2. 2.

    J R in WV

    November 13, 2016 at 11:00 am

    An underground masterwork on two legs. Always a huge fan of his piano work. I believe the only time I saw him performing live was with Joe Cocker, in 1968 or 69, I forget, it was a long time ago.

    The number of albums he made better, or made great, is probably unknown forever.

  3. 3.

    Miss Bianca

    November 13, 2016 at 11:07 am

    I’d say that the end of 2016 coldn’t come fast enough, save for a gnawing conviction that 2017 might prove even worse. Great musicians fleeing the planet in packs right now…are we witnessing the Rapture?

  4. 4.

    Emma

    November 13, 2016 at 11:08 am

    @Miss Bianca: I am beginning to suspect the same thing.

  5. 5.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    November 13, 2016 at 11:14 am

    What a terrible year for us all.

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2016 at 11:23 am

    Oh no! I woke up, went to Balloon Juice, and this is the first news of the day that I see. I had been thinking about him yesterday. In his early session musician days, he looked straight laced and square. But I think that in his wild man country musician later days, he was part of an interracial family, the essence of what America should be about.

    I loved his music. The jazz singer Carmen McCrae performed a singularly beautiful version of A Song For You on her album, The Great American Songbook.

    With all that is happening, with all the losses, I am really feeling like a stranger in a strange land.

    Sing it, Leon.

    RIP

  7. 7.

    danielx

    November 13, 2016 at 11:30 am

    Another reason for this appalling year to come to an end, as if any such were needed.

  8. 8.

    CarolDuhart2

    November 13, 2016 at 11:32 am

    Leon Russell’s Very Haunting This Masquerade

    RIP Leon. Your’e dancing on the Tightrope and don’t need to fear falling now.

  9. 9.

    raven

    November 13, 2016 at 11:35 am

    I remember leaning on his piano and shooting the breeze between song when he and the Mad Dogs and Englishmen played at Huff Gym.

    Honky Tonk Woman.

    Claudia Lennear and Kathy McDonald on backup vocals.

  10. 10.

    WereBear

    November 13, 2016 at 11:39 am

    So much useful for the upcoming holidays, from the awesome Captain Awkward:

    How to be the party pooper at the bigot party.

  11. 11.

    trollhattan

    November 13, 2016 at 11:46 am

    I hate this year.

    His first couple albums have a special place in my heart and he basically stole the show at George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh.

    Farewell friend.

  12. 12.

    Keith P.

    November 13, 2016 at 11:49 am

    I always loved the “Tulsa sound”, the songs “Masquerade” and “Superstar”, and that crazy Joe Cocker tour he masterminded.

    Imagine when we lose Joe Cocker!

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    November 13, 2016 at 11:53 am

    @Keith P.:
    Maybe you’re snarking and I missed it, but Joe Cocker passed away two years ago.

  14. 14.

    Keith P.

    November 13, 2016 at 11:59 am

    @Amir Khalid: I was…he’s been my Generalissimo Franco ever since some FPer here reposted his death a year or so after he died.

  15. 15.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 13, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    Oh man.

    I hitchhiked to Winterland when I was only 16 to see my favorite singer-songwriter Van Morrison, who was opening for this singer I’d never heard of, and will never forget being blown away by that Joe Cocker band, seeing Leon on stage with that grey top hat…..

    I can’t help feeling like certain people are reacting to events by saying screw it, I’m outta here, like Oscar Wilde when he said “Either that wallpaper goes or I do”

  16. 16.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    November 13, 2016 at 12:07 pm

    Fuck You 2016.
    Let’s work to make 2017 better.

  17. 17.

    lollipopguild

    November 13, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    @Keith P.: Is Franco still dead?

  18. 18.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 13, 2016 at 12:12 pm

    Donny sings Leon.

  19. 19.

    gogol's wife

    November 13, 2016 at 12:19 pm

    I’m sorry, RIP Leon Russell. But there’s nothing magical about 2016. The musicians that the people on this blog tend to like flourished at about the same time and are roughly the same age, so the fact that a number of them have died this year is pure coincidence.

    I think we have other more pressing reasons to curse 2016.

  20. 20.

    vtr

    November 13, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    I liked most everything he did, but I especially liked his Motel Shot album work with Delaney and Bonnie Bramlet, et al.

  21. 21.

    Mothra

    November 13, 2016 at 12:35 pm

    For Gods sake. I know this is happening because I’m old – of course the musicians of my youth are passing. But it’s all so close together.

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    November 13, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    @gogol’s wife:
    Was just going to say, it’s a generational thing. Had this discussion with a friend from HS that a positive attitude is all you need for a great long life. My response is that not every one rides off into the sunset at 95 or 100, looking and acting 20 yrs younger. Many people are living longer, due to better medical, but of course not everyone gets, or got most of their lives, better medical. People that are 65 to 90ish right now grew up as kids with few or no vaccines and some of those diseases have long term repercussions. I had complications from measles and it’s caused me problems my entire life. I have relatives that passed away well before they were 65-75, I have HS friends who have passed away and probably so do you. (and there are a lot of us in the same generation) It’s what nature does.

  23. 23.

    Emerald

    November 13, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    It’s becoming eerie.

    So sad to see you go Leon. You gave us great stuff. We will keep it, and thank you!

  24. 24.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    @gogol’s wife: In some ways. I agree with you. For example, the idea that tragedy comes in threes is absolute nonsense.

    However, Prince and Leon Russell are not from the same generation, and it is a fair question as to whether so many influential artists have died in a single year.

  25. 25.

    gogol's wife

    November 13, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    @Ruckus:

    I’ve never been particularly aware of or a fan of Leonard Cohen, but I’m in the middle of a great article about him by David Remnick in the New Yorker, so I was very sad to hear of his death. But the article makes it clear that he has always lived with an awareness of death that has informed his art. I was in tears reading the article even before the news of his death arrived. Now I think I’ll have to listen to his music. All I know is the Judy Collins Suzanne and Hallelujah.

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    @gogol’s wife: Check out The Partisan, which another poster recently linked to on YouTube.

  27. 27.

    Mayur

    November 13, 2016 at 3:55 pm

    DougJ: I’ve just been thinking of this all day:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0xOZCSgWJY

    @gogol’s wife: It’s a pretty wide spread of musicians this particular year both as to age and to genre, and ones of towering achievement. Phife Dawg was only four years older than I am, Leonard Cohen a more actuarily predictable 82, and a lot of the in-betweens victims of cancer, which has a weird and spotty hit rate. The calendar itself is an arbitrary construct but it’s one we relate to. And 2016 is the worst year for musician deaths since… well, any time ever in my life, and I’ve lived long enough that plenty of country, pop, jazz, blues, and classical musicians have had time to get old and pop off.

  28. 28.

    Zinsky

    November 13, 2016 at 6:22 pm

    Just heard of his passing – too bad. I saw Leon Russell with Johnny Winter in Chicago, call it 1976. Un-fuckin-believable! Both were at the pinnacle of their powers on their respective instruments, and I remember being awe-struck at their virtuosity. Leon was the bandleader for the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, which someone mentioned up thread and which remains one of the greatest tours of all time. I still pop that CD in my player occasionally on long trips. Russell was a musical genius and far underappreciated! RIP Leon…

  29. 29.

    mvr

    November 14, 2016 at 1:03 am

    @vtr: Motel Shot is special.

  30. 30.

    jc

    November 14, 2016 at 1:15 am

    I’m 62 years old, and in my first year of college, 1972, one of my favorite albums was Carny. Leon was one of the greats.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch on Drama Queens (May 31, 2023 @ 4:36am)
  • David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch on Drama Queens (May 31, 2023 @ 4:22am)
  • JWR on Drama Queens (May 31, 2023 @ 4:21am)
  • grandmaBear on Deal or no deal? (May 31, 2023 @ 4:20am)
  • Aussie Sheila on Drama Queens (May 31, 2023 @ 4:13am)

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Seattle Meetup on Sat 5/13 at 5pm!

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!