I saw NRBQ in Oyster Bay on Long Island and they opened their show with this song. And then they played it again, directly after. And then they played it a third time. My friends and I were pissing our pants laughing.
Had a good friend who was REALLY into these guys in the 80s. I was into the Dead and kind of baffled by these guys. He finally dragged me to a show at a small club in Philly and I realized I was overanalyzing it and letting my music snobbery get the best of me. There is nothing to GET, just a great pop band with many influences that loves to have a great time and can swing / groove with the best!
l grew up in MA. Everybody [meaning folks with divergent musical tastes] loved NRBQ, the New Rhythm & Blues Quartet. They were a musician's band. l have a friend who saw them repeatedly. They were always too drunk to play, and he still adored them! l saw them twicet. The Channel in Boston and a Greenville club years later. Terry is one of the most supernatural pianists l've ever seen. 'Nuff said
So typical of NRBQ and so damn funny! I love when the camera pans to the crowd. Some are taking it seriously and trying to get into it. Others are visibly bored or getting antsy. Most are drunk though and don't seem to care. And the radio jock at the end trying to stretch... and then the band comes back and starts that dredge all over again - HILARIOUS!
Love these guys. As a musician and former FM radio DJ, at a station that did many live radio simulcasts like this one…this is SO fkin hilarious. I could only hope it had happened at our station, so I could have seen our PD/engineer losing his mind over this stunt! Hahaha
The punkiest thing I've ever seen is Tila Tequila's performance at The Gathering of the Juggalos. They throw bottles and crap at her. She strips off her top and continues to perform. Disclaimer: I hate her and her music, but damn if I wasn't impressed by the punkish nature of that performance.
They did an encore - the same dam song. (Ha Ha Ha) In droll monotone with laughing and still faux protests of stuff flying at the band. Audience participation in the jest. Cast me as the ignorant one who clapped. (I digress...) Such a great band.
Al Anderson told me they once played a really bad version of this while opening for Bonnie Raitt. The audience went berserk and started throwing coins at them, which the band picked up because they were broke. Then Bonnie invited them to come out at the beginning of her set, and they played it again with Bonnie joining in.
The older vacuum tube amplifiers still sound better than the ones that are manufactured today. It's hard to tell because the video footage is grainy, but in this clip it looks as if they're using Fender tube amplifiers, presumably models that were manufactured either in the late 1970's or in the early 1980's.
@@ArkansasPilgrim - for one, all death is tragic. Life has endless suffering and difficulty. Reference every philosopher and religion since the beginning of time. Read Jordan Peterson. Funerals in some cultures are happy affairs with lots of dancing and singing. Why is that? Are they mocking death? You can eventually answer that question yourself. And when you do you may understand what NRBQ is doing. Come to terms with your own eventual demise. All living things die. Laugh or cry, both are responses. It's an individual thing. Maybe NRBQ is mocking gordon lightfoot's way of recounting the event, not the event itself. So many possibilities. Brainstorm a few with your friends and loved ones. Observe what happens to them and you.
@@tomjeff1743 You didn't of any explanation of "the joke" at all. I get joking about death, but I don't get this. People made jokes about starving people in Ethiopia back in the 70s. They made jokes about the Challenger explosion. They disgusted me. I get joking about death and tragedy to deal with it, but that's not carte blanche. They have the freedom to do this. They have the freedom to do things that are in bad taste. I have the freedom to comment on it.
@@ArkansasPilgrim I'm not sure that anyone who wasn't alive during the original song's heyday can get NRBQ's joke. I find this version hilarious even if I feel sad about the tragic itself.
Never in a million years did I think that I'd ever hear a version of this song that I'd actually enjoy listening to. It is because Gordon Lightfoot's original version (1976) is SO repetitive and so monotonous that NRBQ's cover is so brilliant !!
and this is their up-tempo version ... you ought see it when they sit on the floor and do it at half this tempo!... btw, the singer, Terry Adams, has perfect pitch and is NOT stoned, this is a BIG PUT ON...but not to insult the story/song as you think...there are other comedy reasons as to why for this routine
I've seen a lot of bands LIVE from the 60's & 70's. Allman Brother's Band, YES, Led Zeppelin, Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, Black Sabbath, Cream, Moody Blues, J. Giels Band, and so many more. Really good musicians. They all had something this group hasn't got; and that's talent. From the comments, I guess, this is supposed to be a funny performance. It isn't. It's just a sad, and long, performance. The song just isn't comedy material.
@Chuck Kistler Okay, Chuck. I'm over me. It's just, I was at work when the Detroit Maritime Cathedral rang those bells, once each, for the souls who were killed on the Edmund Fitzgerald. That? I can't get over that.
Half the band you named had more talent but the other half didn't. NRBQ was making fun of Gordon Lightfoot's overly errnest yet inaccurate song. I will point out that your list was bands that were largely without humor.
I saw NRBQ in Oyster Bay on Long Island and they opened their show with this song. And then they played it again, directly after. And then they played it a third time. My friends and I were pissing our pants laughing.
I wish there was video of this.
That’s hysterical
Just the best. I could watch this forever
Had a good friend who was REALLY into these guys in the 80s. I was into the Dead and kind of baffled by these guys. He finally dragged me to a show at a small club in Philly and I realized I was overanalyzing it and letting my music snobbery get the best of me. There is nothing to GET, just a great pop band with many influences that loves to have a great time and can swing / groove with the best!
l grew up in MA. Everybody [meaning folks with divergent musical tastes] loved NRBQ, the New Rhythm & Blues Quartet. They were a musician's band. l have a friend who saw them repeatedly. They were always too drunk to play, and he still adored them! l saw them twicet. The Channel in Boston and a Greenville club years later. Terry is one of the most supernatural pianists l've ever seen. 'Nuff said
These guys were infinitely better than the dead and weren’t a bunch of CIA operatives
So typical of NRBQ and so damn funny! I love when the camera pans to the crowd. Some are taking it seriously and trying to get into it. Others are visibly bored or getting antsy. Most are drunk though and don't seem to care. And the radio jock at the end trying to stretch... and then the band comes back and starts that dredge all over again - HILARIOUS!
A beautiful rendition!
God Bless NRBQ 🎶😊
Oh, Jesus, what a hilarious abortion of a heartfelt song. Gotta love Terry Adams!
It had to be a request, right?
Love these guys. As a musician and former FM radio DJ, at a station that did many live radio simulcasts like this one…this is SO fkin hilarious. I could only hope it had happened at our station, so I could have seen our PD/engineer losing his mind over this stunt! Hahaha
This song really puts the bone in trombone....
I understand that it's a joke and all that, but is it wrong that I like their version?
No
Yes. Everything about this is wrong. And brilliant.
I still would love to see the rest of what happened after it cut off.
... and this is their up-tempo version !! hahahahah!!
It's like the Blues Brothers in the country bar!
This is as punk as anything the Sex Pistols ever did.
Fuck yeah
The punkiest thing I've ever seen is Tila Tequila's performance at The Gathering of the Juggalos. They throw bottles and crap at her. She strips off her top and continues to perform. Disclaimer: I hate her and her music, but damn if I wasn't impressed by the punkish nature of that performance.
Except these guys can play circles around those posers
Kinda makes me think of when I saw Killdozer do "American Pie" niiiiiiiiiiice and sloooooooowwww, aaaaaall the verses.
we can all sing something
...... but these got more great albums and songs that we all have shoes LOVE NRBQ
Andy Kaufman has nothing on NRBQ.
Just might be the funniest damn thing I've ever seen. God Bless NRBQ.
You are correct!!!!!!
I love Lightfoot with a passion, but this is easily one of the greatest performances ever......
.......and Don Pardo.
RIP Gord....
Wow, he's hitting all the notes. Good job, Terry! Well done.
This may be the greatest clip never seen
Best live R&R band ever..never hear another like em.
Gordon Lightfoot, RIP....
Came here to say the same.
You can see Terry Adams very visibly struggling to hold back laughter ...
I was there, the audience throwing stuff was part of the shtick.
Were the throwing it because of the song or his rendition of it?
Harry Case
, In a word, "yes."
hahahaha
If so, what happened after this video ends? Did they finish it?
They did an encore - the same dam song. (Ha Ha Ha) In droll monotone with laughing and still faux protests of stuff flying at the band. Audience participation in the jest.
Cast me as the ignorant one who clapped. (I digress...) Such a great band.
hilarious!!! :--)
at 5:55 you can see Donn quick pick up his trombone, LOL
When you see the faces of the crew at the end it's really chilling. What a horrific experience to go through.
God bless Tommy Ardolino and the rest of 'em.
Terry as Capt. Beefheart!
NRBQ! NRBQ! NRBQ!
Al Anderson told me they once played a really bad version of this while opening for Bonnie Raitt. The audience went berserk and started throwing coins at them, which the band picked up because they were broke. Then Bonnie invited them to come out at the beginning of her set, and they played it again with Bonnie joining in.
Fucking amazing!!!
doing their wrestling "heel" turn here :)
What weird is that there a thousands of solo guitar players who get requests for this song and play it. Usually some drunk thinks it awesome.
And then, if that solo performer does play it...the guy who'd requested it is off chatting and not paying him any attention.
I love this band so much! This is perfect.
The older vacuum tube amplifiers still sound better than the ones that are manufactured today. It's hard to tell because the video footage is grainy, but in this clip it looks as if they're using Fender tube amplifiers, presumably models that were manufactured either in the late 1970's or in the early 1980's.
Some just don’t get the joke
I'm one of them. What's so funny about tragic death?
@@ArkansasPilgrim - for one, all death is tragic. Life has endless suffering and difficulty. Reference every philosopher and religion since the beginning of time. Read Jordan Peterson. Funerals in some cultures are happy affairs with lots of dancing and singing. Why is that? Are they mocking death? You can eventually answer that question yourself. And when you do you may understand what NRBQ is doing. Come to terms with your own eventual demise. All living things die. Laugh or cry, both are responses. It's an individual thing. Maybe NRBQ is mocking gordon lightfoot's way of recounting the event, not the event itself. So many possibilities. Brainstorm a few with your friends and loved ones. Observe what happens to them and you.
@@tomjeff1743 You didn't of any explanation of "the joke" at all. I get joking about death, but I don't get this. People made jokes about starving people in Ethiopia back in the 70s. They made jokes about the Challenger explosion. They disgusted me. I get joking about death and tragedy to deal with it, but that's not carte blanche. They have the freedom to do this. They have the freedom to do things that are in bad taste. I have the freedom to comment on it.
@@ArkansasPilgrim I'm not sure that anyone who wasn't alive during the original song's heyday can get NRBQ's joke. I find this version hilarious even if I feel sad about the tragic itself.
this is a song by which to lay pipe
chanty/shanty
RIP tom...
Never in a million years did I think that I'd ever hear a version of this song that I'd actually enjoy listening to. It is because Gordon Lightfoot's original version (1976) is SO repetitive and so monotonous that NRBQ's cover is so brilliant !!
Terry pretending to be asleep at 6:00 sums that up brilliantly.
It's a sad song about a tragedy, you dumb-@$$. It's not supposed to be a dance tune.
"............................rawHIIIIIIIDE !!!"
"Rawhide!"
Genius.
Hilarious
This crappy version is a mockery of a tribute to all on board.
I used to hate when they played this live because they would drag it out forever, the only fun were the people yelling and throwing shit.
This guy needs to have some respect. His isn’t a song to be mad fun of. Why he’s laughing while singing a song about men dying I’ll never know
Oh shut up, jerk.
Lighten up, Francis.
Yeah, lighten up Francis
How dare that audience throw stuff at NRBQ. Scumbags!!!
Just typical drunken behavior. I once saw inebriates throw beer cans at RY Cooder.
So much better than anything that Gordon 'wife beater' Lightfoot could ever even conceive of.
ur out of your mind.
@@Jesse-ye9wg For sure. Pure shit.
This guy is tone deaf and stoned ;-( Major disrespect to the story / song....
He's also a genius.
and this is their up-tempo version ... you ought see it when they sit on the floor and do it at half this tempo!... btw, the singer, Terry Adams, has perfect pitch and is NOT stoned, this is a BIG PUT ON...but not to insult the story/song as you think...there are other comedy reasons as to why for this routine
That's Terry Friggin' Adams. "Major disrespect" to one of rock's greatest. (By the way, he's doing that deliberately - there is a back story to this.)
David Ayers it's intentional. Terry Adams is super talented.
Well it's possible he was stoned.
I've seen a lot of bands LIVE from the 60's & 70's. Allman Brother's Band, YES, Led Zeppelin, Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, Black Sabbath, Cream, Moody Blues, J. Giels Band, and so many more. Really good musicians. They all had something this group hasn't got; and that's talent. From the comments, I guess, this is supposed to be a funny performance. It isn't. It's just a sad, and long, performance. The song just isn't comedy material.
@Chuck Kistler Okay, Chuck. I'm over me. It's just, I was at work when the Detroit Maritime Cathedral rang those bells, once each, for the souls who were killed on the Edmund Fitzgerald. That? I can't get over that.
It’s like, imagine if the guy who wrote Cumberland Blues ever heard the Grateful Dead sing it. Sacrilege.
You just don't get it....
Half the band you named had more talent but the other half didn't. NRBQ was making fun of Gordon Lightfoot's overly errnest yet inaccurate song. I will point out that your list was bands that were largely without humor.
"They all had something this group hasn't got; and that's talent. " - One of the most ignorant comments ever.