Pain In My Heart

Forty years ago today, on Dec. 10, 1967, the small plane carrying 26-year-old Otis Redding and four of six members of his road band, the Bar-Kays, crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, ending the life of one of the best rhythm and blues artists ever.

A fitting song to commemorate The Big O...

PLAY: Pain In My Heart - Otis Redding (1963)
PLAY: Pain In My Heart - The Rolling Stones (1964)
PLAY: Pain In MY Heart - The Grateful Dead (1966)
PLAY: Pain In My Heart - Helene Smith (1967)
PLAY: Pain In My Heart - Toots And The Maytals

Note: Original writing credit was "Redding" (the Stones version says Redding/Walden, Walden was Redding's manager). Otis and Stax were sued by Allen Toussaint who, as "Naomi Neville", had written Ruler Of My Heart (of which Pain was adapted) for Irma Thomas. As an out of court settlement, the credit was changed to "Naomi Neville".

In The Pines

No, Kurt Cobain did NOT write this song, though his Unplugged version is, in my opinion, the only song of his that makes any sense. His band also does a good job of playing the despair and anger that this song is about, with all of his screaming and what-not.

"In The Pines" was written sometime in the 1870's and Leadbelly made it famous when he recorded it in 1944 (and several other versions overs the next four years). Bill Monroe did the same thing for country music in 1952, though he conveniently left out all details of the "drivin' wheel" decapitation, and that whole issue of the missing body that makes the traditional version so powerful. The song is referred to by several different names - "In The Pines", "Black Girl", and "Were Did You Sleep Last Night"

PLAY: In The Pines - Leadbelly ('44)
PLAY: In The Pines - Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys ('52)
PLAY: In The Pines - The Grateful Dead ('65)
PLAY: In The Pines - The Seldom Scene ('92)
PLAY: Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Nirvana ('93)