As I was sitting at my computer working on promotions for my children’s book, The Scottish Alphabet, I was listening to the Americana music station on cable TV. As usual when I listen to station 848 (Comcast) I picked up on a song that I might like to learn. This song was performed by Emmy Lou Harris, and was entitled “Sin City.”  I found three or four versions of “Sin City” on YouTube. I found the lyrics moving and intense. Here they are:

Sin City  by Gram Parson

This old town is filled with sin
It will swallow you in
If you’ve got some money to burn
Take it home right away
You’ve got three years to pay
But Satan is waiting his turn

The scientists say
It will all wash away
But we don’t believe any more
Cause we’ve got our recruits
And our green mohair suits
So please show your I.D. At the door

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

A friend came around
Tried to clean up this town
His ideas made some people mad
But he trusted his crowd
So he spoke right out loud
And they lost the best friend they had

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
On the thirty-first floor a gold plated door
Won’t keep out the Lord’s burning rain

ABOUT GRAM PARSONS

As usual, one thought led to another, and I began to do a little research on Gram Parsons. There was much about him I didn’t know. I thought I’d make a quick list. You can find much more information about Gram on the Web, but especially  here:

1. Gram was the first Country/Rock Star. Gram Parsons.com says he influenced groups like “The Byrds, The Eagles and The Rolling Stones, as well as such new 1990’s Gram inspired bands as Son Volt, The Jayhawks, The Lemonheads, Wilco and Dash Rip Rock” and the “inspiration of the Country-Rock movement which involved such bands as The Eagles, Pure Prairie League, The New Riders Of The Purple Sage and The Desert Rose Band . . .”  Gram’s own band was called, Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels. Emmy Lou Harris was closely tied to the band.

2. Songs that have a connection to Gram Parsons: “Wild Horses.”  Evidently Gram was the inspiration for this song. Gram also arranged the song, “Honky Tonk Women.”

3. The Gram Parson website says, “Gram died September 19, 1973 in Joshua Tree, California, a part of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, at the age of 26.” Evidently, the hard living desert wanderer is buried in Louisiana. The same website says this: “During the funeral ceremony for Gram’s close friend Clarence White, Gram was overheard stating that when he died, rather than being buried in the ground, he would like to be taken out to The Joshua Tree desert of southern California and burned. After Gram died in The Joshua Tree Inn, his body was taken to the Los Angeles International Airport in preparation for being flown to Louisiana for burial. Gram’s road manager Phil Kaufman and a friend, Michael Martin, got very intoxicated, borrowed a broken down hearse and drove to LAX to retrieve the body. When they arrived, they told the shipping clerk that Gram’s remains were to be sent out of another airport, flashed some bogus paperwork and falsely signed for the body. After crashing into a wall and almost being arrested, Phil, Michael and Gram drove back to The Joshua Tree Desert, stopping only to buy more beer and a container of gasoline. They took Gram’s remains into the desert, poured gasoline inside the coffin and set him ablaze. The two were arrested several days later and fined $700.00 for stealing and burning the COFFIN (it was is not against the law to steal a dead body). Gram’s partially burned remains were finally laid to rest in a modest cemetery near New Orleans, LA.

2. There is an extensive and interesting article about Parsons at Wickipedia. There is also a Gram Parsons Project site, which I like very much. It intends “to convey a rounded, in-depth portrait of this massively influential musician by tapping into the recollections of those who knew and worked with him.” You can visit that site here: