{"id":16848,"date":"2020-08-31T21:33:03","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T04:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=16848"},"modified":"2020-08-31T21:33:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T04:33:03","slug":"unchained-melody-telling-the-brutal-truth-about-take-it-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16848\/unchained-melody-telling-the-brutal-truth-about-take-it-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Unchained Melody: Telling the brutal truth about \u201cTake\u00a0It\u00a0Down.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It has been claimed that John Hiatt wrote this song about cancelling the Confederate flag \u2013 but that&#8217;s plainly bullshit. This is a brutal divorce song, excruciatingly simple.<\/p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yOBxDfgDZjI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<p>It&#8217;s amazing, anyway. I play it on the guitar, sometimes for hours, late at night. The lyrics work, and that&#8217;s why the song works so well, but the music works \u2013 brutally \u2013 just by itself.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a sweeter take from Patty Griffin:<\/p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ujfv0WajDgo?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<p>And this is my favorite cover, from The Wailin\u2019 Jennys:<\/p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WBfG7HbzTjk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<p>We&#8217;ve always talked about music here, but I don&#8217;t intend for every Unchained Melody to be a tussle with a lying poet. But it&#8217;s amazing that anyone could miss the ugly divorce being dissected here.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Take It Down,<\/strong> by John Hiatt<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Take everything that we have<br \/>\nTake it and burn it to the ground<br \/>\nSome things were never meant to last<\/p>\n<p>Take it down, down, down<br \/>\nTake it down<br \/>\nTake it down, down, down<br \/>\nTake it down<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m still married to it all<br \/>\nThat ain&#8217;t no place to hang around<br \/>\nMy love is 50 feet tall<\/p>\n<p>Take it down, down, down<br \/>\nTake it down<br \/>\nTake it down, down, down<br \/>\nTake it down<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve grown accustomed to the way<br \/>\nYou hurled us into space<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll never make that trip<br \/>\nTears all rusted on my face<br \/>\nAnd I&#8217;m just an empty place<br \/>\nWhere your love used to fit<\/p>\n<p>South Carolina where are you?<br \/>\nWe were once lost and now we&#8217;re found<br \/>\nThe war is over, the battle&#8217;s through<\/p>\n<p>Take it down, down, down<br \/>\nTake it down<br \/>\nTake it down, down, down<br \/>\nTake it down<\/p>\n<p>Take it down, down, down<br \/>\nTake it down<br \/>\nTake it down, down, down<br \/>\nTake it down<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been claimed that John Hiatt wrote this song about cancelling the Confederate flag \u2013 but that&#8217;s plainly bullshit. This is a brutal divorce song, excruciatingly simple. It&#8217;s amazing, anyway. I play it on the guitar, sometimes for hours, late at night. The lyrics work, and that&#8217;s why the song works so well, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","7":"category-group-therapy","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12150,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12150\/unchained-melody-seven-nights-in-eire-by-reckless-kelly\/","url_meta":{"origin":16848,"position":0},"title":"Unchained melody: Seven nights in Eire by Reckless Kelly","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The video is not just visually bereft, it's also riven with misspellings. But the song is great fun, most appropriate for a Friday evening. Here is a Pandora radio station built from the Reckless Kelly style of alt.country -- rock 'n' roll instrumentation with rich saw-tooth voices lamenting intricately-detailed tragedies.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Casual Friday&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16029,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16029\/unchained-melodies-darling-be-home-soon\/","url_meta":{"origin":16848,"position":1},"title":"Unchained melodies: Darling, be home soon.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is our tenth wedding anniversary. Cathleen and I have been a couple since January, 1998, but we got legally, lawfully married on Independence Day in 2002. Our \"our songs\" are No Myth and Thunder Road, but there are some \"my songs\" that I think of often to remind myself\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Egoism in Action&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11557,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11557\/unchained-melody-redux-two-songs\/","url_meta":{"origin":16848,"position":2},"title":"Unchained Melody Redux: Two Songs","author":"Chris Johnson","date":"March 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Proving that happiness is not what happens to you...heard this (famous song): \"Got no money in my pockets...had a job and I lost it...but it won't get to me...\" \"...I'm alive and I'm free...who wouldn't wanna be me.\" I'm not much for country\/twangy stuff.\u00a0 I've heard this song a million\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Flourishing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12152,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12152\/unchained-melody-round-about-midnight-by-thelonious-monk-as-performed-by-miles-davis-and-john-coltrane\/","url_meta":{"origin":16848,"position":3},"title":"Unchained melody: Round about midnight by Thelonious Monk as performed by Miles Davis and John Coltrane","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A virtuoso performance of what is perhaps the sexiest song ever written: Here is a Monk-based bebop Pandora radio station. Play it with someone you love.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Casual Friday&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16964,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16964\/unchained-melody-falling-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":16848,"position":4},"title":"Unchained Melody: \u201cFalling\u00a0Down\u201d","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"You might think Leonard Cohen is my secret vice, but it's actually Tom Waits. I don't like it that I like this song. It's not about 9\/11 \u2013 nor the decay of Western Civilization. Not at all.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Casual Friday&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/y9YQsfh03No\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15919,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15919\/unchained-melody-anthem-by-leonard-cohen\/","url_meta":{"origin":16848,"position":5},"title":"Unchained melody: &#8220;Anthem&#8221; by Leonard Cohen","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, I made a video discussing some of the ideas in Man Alive!. At one point, I mention Leonard Cohen's line, \"They're gonna hear from me,\" so I thought I would salute the song it comes from, Anthem.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Casual Friday&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16850,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16848\/revisions\/16850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}