Hell Week: Uncle Tupelo Edition

While researching this post, I realized there are numerous references to hell in the Uncle Tupelo catalog. Off the top of my head you have "Your heaven looks just like my hell" (Cold Shoulder), "It's a long way to heaven, it's a short way to hell" (Sauget Wind), and "Just as well to write this postcard from hell" (Postcard), a line which spawned an internet music group I've been a part of for several years now. However, those tunes weren't really about this week's subject, which is alternatively hell, Satan (in his many guises), and sin. You know ... the good stuff. For that, we turn to a pair of covers.

Uncle Tupelo - Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down [album version] [purchase]

Uncle Tupelo - Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down [live version]

"Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" was originally recorded in the 1930s and can be found on Tupelo's March 16-20, 1992 album, which at the time was an acoustic country-folk left turn in their post-punk discography. It also got the alt.country mythwagon gassed up for good. Produced by Peter Buck, the album is a true sleeper in the Tweedy/Farrar database, yielding a number of great performances, and a collection of songs (about half covers, half originals) that has almost universally stood the test of time. Listen to March for a solid weekend and you're likely to be hooked for good. For a great write-up on the origin of "Satan" ... as well as the other cover songs officially released by Uncle Tupelo ... please visit The Gumbo Pages, the unofficial Uncle Tupelo archives and essential reading for longtime Tupelo fans and newbies alike.. As a bonus, I've included a live version of the song, which actually comes from their final show, on May 1, 1994, in St. Louis. Where the recorded version is driven by Tweedy's acoustic guitar, the live version is propelled by Max Johnston on fiddle and Ken Coomer on drums.

Uncle Tupelo - Sin City [purchase]

This old town is filled with sin,
It'll swallow you in
If you've got some money to burn.
So take it home right away,
You've got three years to pay
But Satan is waiting his turn.

This old earthquake's gonna leave me in the poor house.
It seems like this whole town's insane.
On the thirty-first floor a gold plated door
Won't keep out the Lord's burning rain.

"Sin City" was a Gram Parsons-Chris Hillman co-write that originally appears on the Flying Burrito Brothers' debut LP ... wait for it ... wait for it ... Gilded Palace Of Sin. I fully expect at least one, if not two songs, from Gilded to be posted by week's end, so consider this Farrar/Tweedy version a teaser. This was actually the B-side to Uncle Tupelo's first single, "I Got Drunk" (1990). While they were probably closer in spirit and sound to Husker Du and The Minutemen, this track was a window on what was to come.