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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.

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Let’s finish the job.

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Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Bark louder, little dog.

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Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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You are here: Home / Music / Leon Russell RIP

Reader Interactions

30Comments

  1. 1.

    bk

    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

    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

    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?

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    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

  9. 9.

    raven

    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.

  11. 11.

    trollhattan

    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.

    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!

  15. 15.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    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”

  19. 19.

    gogol's wife

    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

    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

    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

    @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.

  24. 24.

    Brachiator

    @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

    @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.

  27. 27.

    Mayur

    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

    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…

  30. 30.

    jc

    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.

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