I heard from Bruce Brackney just minutes ago. Utah Phillips passed away last night in his sleep. May the songs of this incredible troubadour never be forgotten. He's bequeathed to us a treasure that must not be squandered. -Jay Peterson, Sedgwick, Maine
Just setting the record straight. Utah learned this story from Art Thieme. After an all night story swap, they wanted the story to end all stories. Art told this one. At the end, no one said a word. They just packed up and went home. Damn,I miss hearing these booming voices. Strong hearts. Good men.
I was there at Strawberry for this performance, one of his last. I have a photo of my best friend getting his autograph; they both passed away the following year. Precious memories.
I think the two perfect western songs I have ever heard are Utah Phillips "The Goodnight Loving Trail" and John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery." Both songs are about getting old and not being able to do the things you loved when you were young. Who says western music is simple and unsophisticated. "No one can change it and no ones to blame." These lyrics are pure poetry.
I never met Utah Phillips but just his recordings with Ani DiFranco, which I listened to over and over and over, taught me a lot in my junior high years about activism. His songs and stories still give me so much comfort. Rest in peace, buddy.
dunchaknow, I would have written what you wrote almost word for word. Fine post here. Here I am some 8 years later agreeing with a stranger who speaks my words. Peace and health to you.
I met Utah the first time at the Worlds Fair in Spokane WA in 1974. I saw him almost everyday for six months, striking up a friendship of sorts. After the fair he settled in Spokane for a number of years. Our friendship continued and we crossed paths about town, ie. performances, my house once and his a couple of times. He became a source of knowledge and support for those years. We shared a railroad past. 34 years. He is sorely missed, every day of my life.
One his favorite stories, one my favorite songs. NO one like him. Should have been compulsory for evry American to see him. I was lucky enough to do once and it will remain a sweet memory. I think of all he meant to so many people. I hold his courage to "buck" against anything that made cents - but not sense- was among his strongest attributes. Amazing wit! thanks for the post, thank God for U.Bruce Phillips. willy
If reincarnation exists what do you suppose Utah Philips will come back as? Nothing, because he isn't really dead. His energy is alive and his spirit lives on just like Joe Hill. As long as there are people who are suffering under the yolk of some state or boss, Utah Philips lives on. Thanks for the stories Utah!
Thank you Utah For so many brilliant performances,indeed,a true American troubadour/story teller/veteran/hobo/activist/organizer/muckraker/humorist The last show of his I saw was in Santa Cruz with his long time friend Rosalie Sorells. Were will we find another story teller like Utah Philips.R.I.P. I'll bet he and Woodie Guthrie are having some interesting conversations,along with Mark Twain and Will Rodgers.
At the same show and I was invited to do a photo shoot before of him and glad I did, I took four rolls of film, septia and all, and I am fortunate I did and I put them to use, as they are in a documentary on his life now, " Tales From The Long Memory.
we opened up for utah when he came to our town in the eighties. he attracted quite a wonderful crowd and memorable experiences. your name calling arguments are amusing
I miss him terribly, he always could say something about a situation that would help you understand a deeper level and comfort you. I'm a Loving, this is my song. Solidarity my sisters and brothers!
One of my hobo heroes. Utah Phillips. The other being hobo-singer Goebel Reeves who wrote Hobo's Lullaby. What a wonderful legacy of songs and stories they left us. RIP gentlemen.
"Is that the moon I see, Over there in the west? Or just the headlight's beam, C&O Express, I know she's gone, Whatever I say, Still it won't be long, 'Till I make up my mind, And go away." --U. Utah Phillips Adios, old friend. We will miss the likes of you.
I met Utah at the Strawberry Festival in 1995. I asked if he was going to perform Moose Turd Pie. He said "I don't do that one anymore". I got his autograph on my program and went on my way back to camp.
The funniest story I ever heard him tell was also about a camp cook. This time it was about a reluctant cook in a lumber camp in Canada. The punch lines were, "My God! This is Moose Turd Pie. Good though." Funnier than an egg-sitting horse. Anyone else heard it?
"one job I had was working for the REA, the Rural Electrification Administration, in western states on Indian lands. I was the first man to wire a head for a reservation."
Folk and Blues music is the First form of true American music ever! is all I have to say. So Thankyou Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson and everybody else who was/is part of it .The list goes on for miles. You can say what you want about other areas of culture but when it comes to music America did it better than ANYONE (not now of course). Any genre of music is some how branched to an american style. Fuck lables, we did it better and with more honesty even if you do consider music dead
as an activist musician, utah phillips was a personal hero of mine...had the honor to perform with him at concerts, festivals and actions such as the anniversary of the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki in livermore california where the bombs are made...he sat on our bus and shared stories...he was a sweet man and an important voice, i never missed a chance to see him if he was around..especially love his work with ani...
Utah Phillips was a treasure - the stories and songs that spoke to dignity of workers and oppression by bosses. Seems that nothing has changed and, in fact has gotten worse. I wonder what songs and stories are being written or will be written about these present days. The only one I know is a funny take-off of "blue Collar Holler" by the late Stan Rogers, "White Collar Holler". Pretty much a goof song but with a bit of defiance against those who enslave us for wages.
Communist is also the pejorative label used by right-wingers to label anyone with even one "liberal" opinion. This is part of the ongoing branding/propaganda war being waged these Republican and other far right trollers.
@boxcarro i don't care what you learned in english class. i'm talking about self expression. the human spirit does not manifest itself in either a spondee or a dactyl.
@boxcarro though i suspect by now that you are just trolling and probably around 13 years old, i thought i might address your qualms with modern poetry. Though I can see why you think that young people are culturally idiotic, I ask you to consider this: is it the youth or the culture? The culture is certainly idiotic in some respects, but who among us isn't a product of our culture, of our environment? Also, poetry is about self expression and knows no imaginary parameters like rhyme and meter.
I'll tell u the funniest story i ever hear in my life- Flat-out full boar overhead cam cord wild wheel no old bark funniest story I ever heard in my live. Huh?
I am also of the opinion that we are all communists. We live in communities and spend most of our life in commons (public shared spaces) and we communicate. However the proper noun, "Communist" is a hot button label (or brand!) which has different meanings to different people. "Communism" is a philosophy. There are the Communist Parties, for which being a Communist requires carrying a current membership card.
There are hundreds of various Communist factions and governments around the world. Their track record of "serving the people" is certainly questionable, but before we start counting corpses, remember that Capitalism and Religion have their own piles of corpses. I think Anarchists believe in communism, however they have big problems with Communists, Capitalists, and Big Religions, because somebody's always trying to lord it over somebody else.
THE BEST OF THE REST, Britain: Beatles invented pop.Sex Pistols re-invented anarchy. Pink floyd were/are the british FOLK MUSIC , and The Rolling Stones were just a mix of The Beatles,Sex pistols and Pink Floyd ALL rolled up into one! Thats where Britain is right now. Music just sucks nowadays and the good shit is underground. ALL EXCEPT FOR a guy named Bob Dylan,he did it all. BOB DYLAN is his own Genre' he is the most dynamic musician ever. There is nowhere in music that this guy hasen't been.
i don't consider it fact as there has never been a truly communist country I have not read his early writings and yes as i don't see the relevance and I know him to be an atheist but if it is not from Marx's works i don't want to see it.
listen buddy that's your opinion but if you look at true communist societys' such as the Paris commune were massacred there has never been a truly communist country that was not invaded the idea is there i fully recommend you read "the communist manifesto" if you understand you will know what communism truly stands for not what you have been told it dose.
I heard from Bruce Brackney just minutes ago. Utah Phillips passed away last night in his sleep. May the songs of this incredible troubadour never be forgotten. He's bequeathed to us a treasure that must not be squandered. -Jay Peterson, Sedgwick, Maine
Even reading this 13 years later brough tears down my cheeks. Rest in Power
Just setting the record straight. Utah learned this story from Art Thieme. After an all night story swap, they wanted the story to end all stories. Art told this one. At the end, no one said a word. They just packed up and went home. Damn,I miss hearing these booming voices. Strong hearts. Good men.
Your missed Utah for all the wisdom and the cheer you gave us. Utah a fine and loving man.
This man is such a hero
I was there at Strawberry for this performance, one of his last. I have a photo of my best friend getting his autograph; they both passed away the following year. Precious memories.
I think the two perfect western songs I have ever heard are Utah Phillips
"The Goodnight Loving Trail" and John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery." Both songs are about getting old and not being able to do the things you loved when you were young. Who says western music is simple and unsophisticated. "No one can change it and no ones to blame." These lyrics are pure poetry.
This man can sure tell a story. Wish I would have found him long ago...but better now than never. His spirit & humor will live on & on.....Bonnie
I never met Utah Phillips but just his recordings with Ani DiFranco, which I listened to over and over and over, taught me a lot in my junior high years about activism. His songs and stories still give me so much comfort. Rest in peace, buddy.
dunchaknow, I would have written what you wrote almost word for word. Fine post here. Here I am some 8 years later agreeing with a stranger who speaks my words. Peace and health to you.
And yet we have even more reason to resist. These guys are everything.
Bruce - my sorrow at your passing is far outweighted by my delight at your having lived.
Be seeing you!
Adam
I met Utah the first time at the Worlds Fair in Spokane WA in 1974. I saw him almost everyday for six months, striking up a friendship of sorts. After the fair he settled in Spokane for a number of years. Our friendship continued and we crossed paths about town, ie. performances, my house once and his a couple of times. He became a source of knowledge and support for those years. We shared a railroad past. 34 years. He is sorely missed, every day of my life.
Rest in peace, my grandpa. Love ur songs and ur stories
Best darn story I have ever heard too, and thank you for my song, rest in peace Utah Phillips
Thank you, Utah. :0)
One his favorite stories, one my favorite songs. NO one like him. Should have been compulsory for evry American to see him. I was lucky enough to do once and it will remain a sweet memory.
I think of all he meant to so many people. I hold his courage to "buck" against anything that made cents - but not sense- was among his strongest attributes. Amazing wit!
thanks for the post,
thank God for U.Bruce Phillips.
willy
If only I had seen him perform whilst he was among us. A real regret. May he be remembered forever.
his activism will be missed... he spoke volumes..
Heres to you Utah. May you forever see starlight on the rails.
If reincarnation exists what do you suppose Utah Philips will come back as? Nothing, because he isn't really dead. His energy is alive and his spirit lives on just like Joe Hill. As long as there are people who are suffering under the yolk of some state or boss, Utah Philips lives on. Thanks for the stories Utah!
Bloody damn sure he'll come back as a dolphin
Thank you Utah For so many brilliant performances,indeed,a true American troubadour/story teller/veteran/hobo/activist/organizer/muckraker/humorist
The last show of his I saw was in Santa Cruz with his long time friend Rosalie Sorells.
Were will we find another story teller like Utah Philips.R.I.P.
I'll bet he and Woodie Guthrie are having some interesting conversations,along with Mark Twain and Will Rodgers.
At the same show and I was invited to do a photo shoot before of him and glad I did, I took four rolls of film, septia and all, and I am fortunate I did and I put them to use, as they are in a documentary on his life now, " Tales From The Long Memory.
RIP Utah. A life well lived.
i wish i had someone as smart as utah for my history teacher
I, for one, laughed like a fool when he told this story. One of my great heroes.
This man sure was a national treasure....
Thanks, Bruce. We'll miss you and your warm humor.
Brilliant.
Wonderful, honest, funny man.
I love him!
ABSOLUTELY ADORE HIM
Utah Philips you are one of my heros. RIP.
we opened up for utah when he came to our town in the eighties. he attracted quite a wonderful crowd and memorable experiences. your name calling arguments are amusing
His likes we won't see again, but his spirit be held high perhaps heard in the coyote cry on a night as you sit by a fire.
I miss him terribly, he always could say something about a situation that would help you understand a deeper level and comfort you. I'm a Loving, this is my song. Solidarity my sisters and brothers!
Thank you, that's beautiful!
One of my hobo heroes. Utah Phillips. The other being hobo-singer Goebel Reeves who wrote Hobo's Lullaby. What a wonderful legacy of songs and stories they left us. RIP gentlemen.
God rest that old boy's soul.
Wonderful! Wonderful!
I heard that story many times. I still think it's the funniest story ever told. Cheers, U.!
God bless U, Utah!
"Is that the moon I see,
Over there in the west?
Or just the headlight's beam,
C&O Express,
I know she's gone,
Whatever I say,
Still it won't be long,
'Till I make up my mind,
And go away." --U. Utah Phillips
Adios, old friend. We will miss the likes of you.
Utah Phillips passed away last night, 5/24/08 in his sleep.
Yeah my daddy died 7 days before Utah, so both my loves passed that year. They will always be linked up in my memory banks for that year of grief
Mounted it,saddle wise.
Fucking hell I love this guy
I met Utah at the Strawberry Festival in 1995. I asked if he was going to perform Moose Turd Pie. He said "I don't do that one anymore". I got his autograph on my program and went on my way back to camp.
what a wonderfull man
The funniest story I ever heard him tell was also about a camp cook. This time it was about a reluctant cook in a lumber camp in Canada. The punch lines were, "My God! This is Moose Turd Pie. Good though." Funnier than an egg-sitting horse. Anyone else heard it?
Dr Demento used to play the Moose Turd Pie story.
i want that guild guitar!
it's sad to think that Utah died less than one year after this recording... damn you reaper
"one job I had was working for the REA, the Rural Electrification Administration, in western states on Indian lands. I was the first man to wire a head for a reservation."
So happy to know Utah is back performing again indeed, alive and kicking !!!!
Nothing lasts forever
Folk and Blues music is the First form of true American music ever! is all I have to say. So Thankyou Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson and everybody else who was/is part of it .The list goes on for miles. You can say what you want about other areas of culture but when it comes to music America did it better than ANYONE (not now of course). Any genre of music is some how branched to an american style. Fuck lables, we did it better and with more honesty even if you do consider music dead
Good stuff. Most of the true roustabouts we're pretty apolitical, Utah is an exception.
R.I.P., Utah
rough and vigorous life? that's ME lol
What's the name of the song after the story?
The Goodnight Loving Trail. secondhandsongs.com/work/122171
I once had a nightmare in which I mounted a horse, the shrinks reckon I'll recover some day. and I do hope you can dig English humor.
Saddle wise. R.I.P.
Could someone please post "Moose Turd Pie"? Many thanks, ~~""
as an activist musician, utah phillips was a personal hero of mine...had the honor to perform with him at concerts, festivals and actions such as the anniversary of the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki in livermore california where the bombs are made...he sat on our bus and shared stories...he was a sweet man and an important voice, i never missed a chance to see him if he was around..especially love his work with ani...
Utah Phillips was a treasure - the stories and songs that spoke to dignity of workers and oppression by bosses. Seems that nothing has changed and, in fact has gotten worse. I wonder what songs and stories are being written or will be written about these present days. The only one I know is a funny take-off of "blue Collar Holler" by the late Stan Rogers, "White Collar Holler". Pretty much a goof song but with a bit of defiance against those who enslave us for wages.
Communist is also the pejorative label used by right-wingers to label anyone with even one "liberal" opinion. This is part of the ongoing branding/propaganda war being waged these Republican and other far right trollers.
I would have guessed turtle eggs.
#CAC1M
@Dumbiestest no holds barred. does it make sense to you now? jeeeez...i thought that i was slow...
Good tho'
I really miss Utah Phillips,I wonder what he would have to say about our recent election???
how do you ReaLLy feel, though?
@boxcarro i don't care what you learned in english class. i'm talking about self expression. the human spirit does not manifest itself in either a spondee or a dactyl.
@boxcarro though i suspect by now that you are just trolling and probably around 13 years old, i thought i might address your qualms with modern poetry. Though I can see why you think that young people are culturally idiotic, I ask you to consider this: is it the youth or the culture? The culture is certainly idiotic in some respects, but who among us isn't a product of our culture, of our environment? Also, poetry is about self expression and knows no imaginary parameters like rhyme and meter.
I listened to the story 3 times and still don’t get what’s so funny.
I'll tell u the funniest story i ever hear in my life-
Flat-out full boar overhead cam cord wild wheel no old bark funniest story I ever heard in my live.
Huh?
I am also of the opinion that we are all communists. We live in communities and spend most of our life in commons (public shared spaces) and we communicate. However the proper noun, "Communist" is a hot button label (or brand!) which has different meanings to different people. "Communism" is a philosophy. There are the Communist Parties, for which being a Communist requires carrying a current membership card.
@xXbestefarXx D'oh it's *your
so
CAC.
?? you still haven't presented any evidence and can I see Obama's quote about wealth distribution please and I am a Marxist- Leninist not a Marxist
There are hundreds of various Communist factions and governments around the world.
Their track record of "serving the people" is certainly questionable, but before we start counting corpses, remember that Capitalism and Religion have their own piles of corpses. I think Anarchists believe in communism, however they have big problems with Communists, Capitalists, and Big Religions, because somebody's always trying to lord it over somebody else.
someone please explain the joke, I suffer from being an idiot
Me too, I did not get it, but I sure loved hearing him tell it!!
and what he is a communist (well he's not but) your the sort of person that says Obama is a communist (which he also isn't) ,"so what", get used to it
THE BEST OF THE REST, Britain: Beatles invented pop.Sex Pistols re-invented anarchy. Pink floyd were/are the british FOLK MUSIC , and The Rolling Stones were just a mix of The Beatles,Sex pistols and Pink Floyd ALL rolled up into one! Thats where Britain is right now. Music just sucks nowadays and the good shit is underground. ALL EXCEPT FOR a guy named Bob Dylan,he did it all. BOB DYLAN is his own Genre' he is the most dynamic musician ever. There is nowhere in music that this guy hasen't been.
i don't consider it fact as there has never been a truly communist country I have not read his early writings and yes as i don't see the relevance and I know him to be an atheist but if it is not from Marx's works i don't want to see it.
listen buddy that's your opinion but if you look at true communist societys' such as the Paris commune were massacred there has never been a truly communist country that was not invaded the idea is there i fully recommend you read "the communist manifesto" if you understand you will know what communism truly stands for not what you have been told it dose.
anarchists are communists...? no?
I'm an anarchist. As far as I know, we're all communists lol
or at the very least anti-capitalists.
You know that never works. It's mostly about a a silly horse's ass. Maybe he oversells it. He admits this in the prelude.