The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #37391   Message #523924
Posted By: GUEST,Roger in Baltimore
08-Aug-01 - 07:15 PM
Thread Name: Lyr/Chords Req: Rock Salt and Nails (Utah Phillips
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Rocksalt and Nails
I loved this song the first time I heard a recording of Utah doing it. It does sound traditional and has that wicked zing at the end. What really nails the song for me though is the tune. It has a few wonderful, unexpected chord changes in it that keep you awake and alert for the end.

I heard a radio interview with Bruce Phillips many years ago and the DJ played this song. Bruce said he no longer sings the song because it is too angry. It saddened me that a great rebel like Bruce would feel anger was unacceptable. I think it is a natural human emotion. The best description I've ever heard was that anger means we are getting too much of something we don't want or too little of something we do want. It isn't anger that is bad, it's what we do with our anger and writing a damn fine song seems to me to be a good use for our anger.

Roger in Baltimore (at the library)