Song Of The Week -- 004 - Rocky Raccoon
Dec 27, 2017 21:15:43 GMT -5
John S. Damm, winstonoboogie, and 1 more like this
Post by RockoRoll on Dec 27, 2017 21:15:43 GMT -5
Rocky Raccoon
Released: 22 November 1968
Recorded: 15 August 1968
Genre: Rock
Length: 3:32
Label: Apple Records
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer(s): George Martin
Video Clip
"Rocky Raccoon" is from the double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, who was inspired while playing guitar for John Lennon and Donovan Leitch in India (where the Beatles had gone on a retreat). Some claim that the song is a parody of a Bob Dylan ballad, much in the same way "Back in the U.S.S.R." is a parody of The Beach Boys.
The song, titled from the character's name, was originally "Rocky Sassoon," but McCartney changed it to Rocky Raccoon because he thought "it sounded more like a cowboy."
The song is about a man (Rocky) who tries to shoot the man who stole his lover, but is mortally wounded by the rival instead. The Old West-style honky-tonk piano was played by producer George Martin.
PAUL 1968: "I was sitting on the roof in India with a guitar-- John and I were sitting 'round playing guitar, and we were with Donovan. And we were just sitting around enjoying ourselves, and I started playing the chords of 'Rocky Raccoon,' you know, just messing around. And, oh, originally it was Rocky Sassoon, and we just started making up the words, you know, the three of us-- and started just to write them down. They came very quickly. And eventually I changed it from Sassoon to Raccoon, because it sounded more like a cowboy. So there it is. These kind of things-- you can't really talk about how they come 'cuz they just come into your head, you know. They really do. And it's like John writing his books. There's no... I don't know how he does it, and he doesn't know how he does it, but he just writes. I think people who actually do create and write... you tend to think, 'Oh, how did he do that,' but it actually does flow... just flows from into their head, into their hand, and they write it down, you know. And that's what happened with this. I don't know anything about the Appalachian mountains or cowboys and indians or anything. But I just made it up, you know. And the doctor came in stinking of gin and proceeded to lie on the table. So, there you are."
PAUL circa-1994: "I like talking-blues so I started off like that, then I did my tongue-in-cheek parody of a western and threw in some amusing lines. The bit I liked about it was him (Rocky) finding Gideon's Bible and thinking, 'Some guy called Gideon must have left it for the next guy.' I like the idea of Gideon being a character. You get the meaning, and at the same time get in a poke at it. All in good fun."
Cover versions
James Blunt, Jack Johnson and Phish have recorded cover versions of this song.
Cultural references
This song was sampled on DJ Danger Mouse's popular Grey Album, coupled with the a cappella of "Justify My Thug."
In the early to mid-1990s, John Porcellino's King-Cat comic book series featured stories about Racky Raccoon, an anthropomorphic, slacker character who worked a series of dead-end jobs, drank too much and listened to punk rock.
On their album Hot Dogma, Australian band TISM feature a song called "While My Catarrh Gently Weeps". However the lyrics tell a story of a country-boy named Rocky Raccoon who is to feature on a Beatles album, only to be removed in the final cut.
This song was referenced in "Fur and Loathing in Las Vegas", where a furry by the name of "Rocky the Raccoon" dies of mysterious causes.
In RV, Bob Monroe calls the raccoon that inflitrates the RV "Rocky".
In 1976 Marvel Comics premiered a space-faring raccoon character named Rocket Raccoon.
In Rocky V, When told by Rocky Jr. that he looks a little like a raccoon, Rocky replies "What like Rocky Raccoon?"
Released: 22 November 1968
Recorded: 15 August 1968
Genre: Rock
Length: 3:32
Label: Apple Records
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer(s): George Martin
Video Clip
"Rocky Raccoon" is from the double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, who was inspired while playing guitar for John Lennon and Donovan Leitch in India (where the Beatles had gone on a retreat). Some claim that the song is a parody of a Bob Dylan ballad, much in the same way "Back in the U.S.S.R." is a parody of The Beach Boys.
The song, titled from the character's name, was originally "Rocky Sassoon," but McCartney changed it to Rocky Raccoon because he thought "it sounded more like a cowboy."
The song is about a man (Rocky) who tries to shoot the man who stole his lover, but is mortally wounded by the rival instead. The Old West-style honky-tonk piano was played by producer George Martin.
PAUL 1968: "I was sitting on the roof in India with a guitar-- John and I were sitting 'round playing guitar, and we were with Donovan. And we were just sitting around enjoying ourselves, and I started playing the chords of 'Rocky Raccoon,' you know, just messing around. And, oh, originally it was Rocky Sassoon, and we just started making up the words, you know, the three of us-- and started just to write them down. They came very quickly. And eventually I changed it from Sassoon to Raccoon, because it sounded more like a cowboy. So there it is. These kind of things-- you can't really talk about how they come 'cuz they just come into your head, you know. They really do. And it's like John writing his books. There's no... I don't know how he does it, and he doesn't know how he does it, but he just writes. I think people who actually do create and write... you tend to think, 'Oh, how did he do that,' but it actually does flow... just flows from into their head, into their hand, and they write it down, you know. And that's what happened with this. I don't know anything about the Appalachian mountains or cowboys and indians or anything. But I just made it up, you know. And the doctor came in stinking of gin and proceeded to lie on the table. So, there you are."
PAUL circa-1994: "I like talking-blues so I started off like that, then I did my tongue-in-cheek parody of a western and threw in some amusing lines. The bit I liked about it was him (Rocky) finding Gideon's Bible and thinking, 'Some guy called Gideon must have left it for the next guy.' I like the idea of Gideon being a character. You get the meaning, and at the same time get in a poke at it. All in good fun."
Cover versions
James Blunt, Jack Johnson and Phish have recorded cover versions of this song.
Cultural references
This song was sampled on DJ Danger Mouse's popular Grey Album, coupled with the a cappella of "Justify My Thug."
In the early to mid-1990s, John Porcellino's King-Cat comic book series featured stories about Racky Raccoon, an anthropomorphic, slacker character who worked a series of dead-end jobs, drank too much and listened to punk rock.
On their album Hot Dogma, Australian band TISM feature a song called "While My Catarrh Gently Weeps". However the lyrics tell a story of a country-boy named Rocky Raccoon who is to feature on a Beatles album, only to be removed in the final cut.
This song was referenced in "Fur and Loathing in Las Vegas", where a furry by the name of "Rocky the Raccoon" dies of mysterious causes.
In RV, Bob Monroe calls the raccoon that inflitrates the RV "Rocky".
In 1976 Marvel Comics premiered a space-faring raccoon character named Rocket Raccoon.
In Rocky V, When told by Rocky Jr. that he looks a little like a raccoon, Rocky replies "What like Rocky Raccoon?"
