Friday Five: Tattoos
It seems like more people than ever are sporting tattoos; here are a few of my favorite country songs about ‘em (it must be said that an honorable mention goes to the opening lines of Lucinda Williams’ “Right in Time”). Are any of you sporting country music-themed ink? Show us your tats!
5. “Tattoo” – Missy Raines & The New Hip
Raines covered this Laurie Lewis song on 2009′s Inside Out. It’s a sultry, jazzgrass tune about wearing someone’s name “like a merit badge of love.”
4. “Tattoo of a Smudge” – Cherryholmes
According to bluegrass blogger Second Cousin Curly, this fierce, Grammy-nominated tune is based on the Sharpie smudges left on musicians’ hands after signing autographs at the merch table.
3. “Crimson Dragon Tattoo” – Ray Wylie Hubbard
This is one eerie tune, as the dude with the dragon tattoo hears said dragon whisper his name and “burn on [his] arm like the truth.” It’s like that X-Files episode where Jodie Foster is the voice of that pinup tattoo, only better.
Check out a killer version from Hayes Carll.
2. “Love Scar” – Paul Thorn
Paul Thorn is the greatest artist you’re not listening to. Check out this song (from last year’s Pimps and Preachers) about a woman who gets inked, has a one-night stand with the guy who inspired the tattoo, and is soon left alone with her new “love scar.”
1. “Coal Tattoo” – Kathy Mattea
West Virginian Billy Edd Wheeler wrote this song that has been covered by acts like The Kingston Trio, Hazel Dickens, and Mattea on her masterful record Coal. The “strange tattoo” on the miner’s head wasn’t a deliberate inking; rather, it’s a blue mark left by some falling coal that almost killed him.
Tagged In This Article
Cherryholmes // Friday Five // Kathy Mattea // Missy Raines // Paul Thorn // Playlist // Ray Wylie Hubbard
Current Discussion
- Luckyoldsun: Amazing One, " “Given credit as the ‘artist” by who? " Um, by the movie studio, by the critics, by the Academy. It's ...
- Jon: Well, that's just gibberish. When Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald sang on the silver screen, they were the artists ...
- Barry Mazor: Thanks for straightening me out LuckyOlSunbody. "Given credit as the 'artist" by who? Take it up with the Screen Actors ...
- Luckyoldsun: Barry: As far as the comparison to movies: The person who's given credit as the "artist" of a movie is the director--not ...
- Jon: I've got to say, I think "Lots More Blues, Rags, and Hollers" was a better record.
- Janice Brooks: As for new releases, I love the new Don Rigsby and Mike Scott. Will also dig up a cut of ...
- Barry Mazor: Look, one sort of music reporting/reviewing I like to do best is reporting on live performance, the interaction with the ...
- nm: That's probably why I generally don't watch music on a screen in my home, except for films of live shows. ...
- Jon: If you are watching music on a screen in your home, you're not going out to a show, are you? ...
- nm: I don't think the problem with lip-synching (for me as a member of the audience at a live event) is ...
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April 8, 2011 at 9:31 am
Sammy Kershaw’s “Your Tattoo” comes to mind as well.
April 8, 2011 at 9:51 am
Eagle over Angel by The Brother’s Phelps is really good.
April 8, 2011 at 10:28 am
I’m partial to Eleven Hundred Springs’ “Long Haired Tattooed Hippie Freaks.” (Amazon)
April 8, 2011 at 11:41 am
I always liked Tony Lane’s “Tattoos and Scars”
April 8, 2011 at 12:31 pm
What about Texas Tattoo by the Gibson/Miller Band?
April 8, 2011 at 6:51 pm
I’d like someone in Texas to do a mash-up of “Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother” and the 1100 Springs song Brody mentioned above! That way the proud redneck mother’s son could be kickin’ the asses of those “Long Haired Tattooed Hippie Freaks” while raisin’ hell! (lol)
I’ve never particularly cared for tattoos or those folks who have them as they tend to be overwhelmingly Obamavoter types. Most of us conservatives consider tattoos to be roughly the human body equivalent of graffiti no matter how artistic they may be. That being said I wholeheartedly agree with Stormy about the Brothers Phelps song “Eagle Over Angel” due to the truly palpable emotional impact of that song. I can’t begin to imagine how many tears have fallen into beer mugs at biker bars all over the country when that song played on the jukebox…
April 9, 2011 at 1:24 am
What no “Tattoo’s On This Town?”
April 9, 2011 at 7:10 am
I love “Coal Tattoo” but the version by its writer, Billy Edd Wheeler, is easily the best version of the song
April 9, 2011 at 5:11 pm
I know lots of people don’t like Jason Aldean’s music, but how did “Tattoos On This Town” get left off the list?