Trouble Maker
1969 · LHI LHI-20 · Los Angeles, California
- Artist
- Lee Hazlewood
- Title
- Trouble Maker
- Release
- Trouble Maker / Greyhound Bus Depot
- Year
- 1969
- Label
- LHI # LHI-20
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Songwriter
- B. Belland, D. Summerville
- Genre
- Country · Country
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Trouble Maker (Hazlewood, Lee) Country. Anti-protest, anti-hippie. Covered by Willie Nelson and Chris Morgan - Troublemaker / Street of Dirt Man who rejects establishment, and stirs up the young. He never tried to join the army while others wage the war. "I could tell the moment that I saw Him He was nothing but the trouble making kind His hair was much too long and His motley group of friends Had nothing but rebellion on their minds He's rejected the establishment completely I know for sure He's never held a job He just goes from town to town, stirring up the young folks 'Til they're nothing but a disrespectful mob I know for sure He's never joined the army And served His country like we all have done He'd rather wear His sandals and His flowers While others wage the war that must be won They arrested Him last week and found Him guilty And sentenced Him to die but that's no great loss Friday they will take Him to a place called Calvary And hang that troublemaker to a cross"
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs
Trouble Maker (Hazlewood, Lee) Country. Anti-protest, anti-hippie. Covered by Willie Nelson and Chris Morgan - Troublemaker / Street of Dirt Man who rejects establishment, and stirs up the young. He never tried to join the army while others wage the war. At end of song, seems to "depict Jesus as a rebellious hippie crucified for nonconformity" - so is this actually a protest song?? (1) Review in Pop Matter: "The centerpiece of The Troublemaker, both temporally and thematically, is its title track. The song describes many people’s saviour, whose “Hair was too long / And whose motley group of friends / Had nothing but trouble on their minds.” This never-named nomad “Goes from town to town / Stirring up the young folks / ‘Til they’re nothing but a disrespectful mob”; the narrator knows “For sure he’s never joined the army / And served his country like we all have done,” preferring instead to “wear his sandals and his flowers”. And how is this troublemaker repaid? He’s banished from Nashville to Austin; I mean, from Jerusalem to Calvary. Here, the symbolism could hardly be more straightforward". "I could tell the moment that I saw him / He was nothing but the trouble making kind / His…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Born 9 July 1929, Mannford, Oklahoma, USA. Died 4 August 2007, Henderson, Nevada, USA