Writer's Block: Shel Silverstein - Updated

Shel Silverstein was a modern-day renaissance man. Among his many accomplishments, he was (1) a frequent contributor to Playboy magazine during its glory days, (2) a noted author and illustrator of children's books, and (3) both a singer and an illustrious songwriter.

You know a lot of his songs, but you may not realize that Shel Silverstein wrote all of them them. His three most famous compositions are The Cover Of The Rolling Stone by Dr. Hook, A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash, and The Unicorn by just about every "Irish" band on St. Patrick's Day.

Dr. Hook – The Cover Of The Rolling Stone (buy)
Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue (buy)

Duly enshrined as a member of the Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall of Fame, Silverstein was responsible for authoring scores of excellent country songs, including these three:

Loretta Lynn - One's On The Way (buy)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Once More With Feeling (buy)
Tompall Glaser – Put Another Log on the Fire (Male Chauvinist National Anthem) (buy)

Heck, he even wrote a Gordon Lightfoot song:

Gordon Lightfoot - On Susan's Floor (buy)

Earlier this year, Water Records re-released three of Shel's albums: Hairy Jazz, Inside Folk Songs, and Boy Named Sue And His Other Country Songs. All of them are very entertaining.

Shel Silverstein - Ragged But Right (buy) (This one is credited to George Jones, but Shel gives it a good interpretation.)
Shel Silverstein - The Unicorn (buy)
Shel Silverstein - Boy Named Sue (buy)

The one thing I love best about Shel Silverstein's work is great sense of humor. For more information, check out ShelSilverstein.com

UPDATE!
Robert from Reno just sent over this great Silverstein song that tell's about the boy named Sue from the absentee father's perspective:

Shel Silverstein - The Father Of A Boy Named Sue

And thanks to Matt, we have yet another:

Shel Silverstein - A Front Row Ticket To See Old Johnny Play.

Thanks guys!

Time Changes Everything

Tompall Glaser – Time Changes Everything (buy)

Here’s Tompall Glaser’s take on one of my all-time favorite songs out of the Texas Playboy’s catalog. This one was penned by the late, great Tommy Duncan. Tompall’s band starts out playing it fairly straight, but finishes with a soulful instrumental flourish.

Enjoy!