Owen Temple – “Stranger in a Strange Land” (Leon Russell Cover, Live from Sons of Hermann Hall)
Posted on | January 25, 2010 | No Comments
I shot Owen Temple performing a few songs at the historic Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas, TX. The hall was built on the eastern edge of Deep Ellum in 1910. I will be posting these videos over the next month or two. Read Owen’s 5 records that inspired him here.
1. I had the chance to talk to Owen Temple a few weeks ago about 5 records that have inspired him over his career. One of the questions involves a song that he wishes he had written, and he chose Leon Russell’s “Stranger in a Strange Land”. Taken from Leon’s 1971 record Leon Russell and the Shelter People, the song finds a man questioning why the world doesn’t go his way. This stripped down version illuminated the eternal search for meaning embodied in the song.
2. Russell lists several unanswerable questions throughout the song that have been shouted at the cosmos by thousands of people:
“How many days has it been since I was born?
How many days until I die?”
He then turns inward to ask himself if he has the ability to make his lover happy, lamenting his failure to do so thus far. He then shares the title line, a choice bit of wisdom known to the infant but elusive even to the wise man. The feeling of alienation expressed in thousands of country songs (perhaps chiefly “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”) is attributed to the fact that maybe we simply don’t belong here. Russell comments on the state of affairs in the world: the money chase, the leaders taking people astray, and people’s unkindness to one another, before imploring the listener to “recognize the bells of truth when you hear them ring.”
3. Leon Russell has written, in effect, an answer to all the songs of loneliness and solitude, attempting to give a reason why man feels so alone in this world. Owen Temple’s version lacks the R&B swagger (and gospel choir) of Russell’s original, but communicates the simple, brilliant message. The fact that Russell manages to fit the words burro and ecology into the same song is just icing on the cake.
Owen Temple – Stranger in a Strange Land (Leon Russell Cover)
Five Records with… Owen Temple
Posted on | November 20, 2009 | 2 Comments
I recently spoke with Owen Temple after shooting some upcoming video with him at Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas. He released the fantastic (and underrated) Dollars and Dimes this year. Five Records is an occasional feature of artists talking about the music that inspires them. Read more of these posts here.
“Jerry Jeff chose some great songs here and introduced me to some great writers. Everything from the album cover on, I thought “This looks fun”. This record is like an anthology of Texas songwriters. Viva Terlingua is the same thing as well.”
“A masterpiece — all stories, set around Lubbock, where he is from. He reminds me that that’s what music is for me — stories about these places and the characters that inhabit these places. As far as his career, he records things that interest him, even when people say ‘you can’t do that!’. He always makes me say ‘Wow‘”.
“Like Terry Allen, they have always been experimental, and only wanting to make music that makes them say ‘wow’. They push the envelope sonically and made the record they wanted to.”
Leon Russell and the Shelter People
“A song I wish I had written — ‘Stranger in a Strange Land‘. I love the simplicity of the chorus – its a song that everyone can identify with. We’ve all felt like we were the only person on the planet feeling that way at that time. The pre-chorus, where the baby looks around and feels just as out of place as the wise man, is profound. Also, he managed to include the word burro in the song.”
“I first met him at a songswap at Cheatham Street, and I admired what he was doing. He has put out a few great EP’s, including 4 of No Kind. I love the song “Sunset”. One of my favorites.”
Owen Temple – Dollars and Dimes