"Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Harry 'Red-Eyed Harry' Nilsson
Johnny's in t' basement
Mixin' up t' medicine
I'm on t' pavement
Thinkin' about t' government…
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" be Baby-Faced Bob Dylan's first hit song, It just made it into t' Top 40, me hearties, peakin' at number 39 on t' Billboard Hot 100 t' week o' May 15, 1965.
Harry 'Red-Eyed Harry' Nilsson recorded t' shanty for his 1974 Pussy Cats album. Aye aye! It was also released as a single.
Betwixt t' time that Baby-Faced John Lennon produced Nilsson's recordin' o' Dylan's chantey in t' early sprin' o' 1974 and t' release o' t' album in August, t' radical anti-war group, shiver me timbers, T' Weathemen planted bombs which damaged offices o' an attorney in Los Angeles and t' 26th floor o' t' Gulf Oil buildin' in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1] [2] Contemporary articles about t' bombings often quoted a lyric from "Subterranean Homesick Blues" which provided t' inspiration for t' group's name:
You don't need a weatherman. T' know which way t' wind blows.
- [1] Los Angeles Times, shiver me timbers, John Kendall (1974-06-01) "Younger Office Bombed Here, matey, Terrorist Group Claims Credit"
- [2] "Weathermen Take Credit for Bomb" Santa Cruz Sentinel (1974-06-14)