Walking Reality Television Blues. Live by Tom Jones.

[JohnnyRingo]

Penned by legendary folk singer / song writer Todd Snyder, it follows a song format originally popularized by Woody Guthrie in "Pastures Of Plenty".
The sixties featured several versions of such talking ballads including my favorite Tom Paxton song, "Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues".

All are done in a folk style while picking an acoustic guitar, but I'm more of a plugged in music lover. I love the Todd Snyder version, but of all people Tom Jones puts the wattage behind the song. Snyder thanked Jones for making the cover his first single from his 2021 album "Surrounded By Time".

The song is a stealthy protest song about how harsh reality deals a deadly blow to fame, including mention of the current administration.

And for the folk music fans, the original live recording by Todd Snyder where he mentions Tom Jones.

The lyrics are quite prolific:

Well, come gather around, and I'll sing you a song
About a crazy old world that's coming along
'Til one day some fool made the decision
To turn on the television
Of course, radio reported we'd all ignore it
Paper said we'd have no time for it
But before you knew it, you knew Milton Berle
And we all had a new escape from the world
All tuned in, before too soon
We were watching a man walk on the moon
He made it look as easy as driving a car
Video killed the radio star
I got the talking blues

Talking blues is easy to do
All you gotta do is rhyme a line or two
Rhyme a line or two and then
You don't even have to rhyme again
See? I can say anything I want to now
Well, you know, within reason

Say sitcom, catchphrase, game show nation
Television soon defied explanation
As the situation took to such a degree
That eventually we all heard about cable TV
Of course, free TV news swore we'd ignore it
But the average family could never afford it
But again they were wrong, eventually
Everybody wanted their MTV
We were all tuned in, but now the shock
Watching a kid do a thing called the "moonwalk"
Sliding backwards really was eventually too far
Reality killed that video star
I got the talking blues

So simple at first, it was hard to foresee
The impending collision with reality
But it soon seemed TV turned on itself
When "The real world" came on like it was somethin' else
Of course, actors all acted like they weren't floored
Hoping eventually that we'd all get bored
But one after the another we pretended not to act
As we hurdled ever forward towards alternative facts
Then a show called "The apprentice" came on and pretty soon
An old man with a comb-over had sold us the moon
We stayed tuned in, now here we are
Reality killed by a reality star
I got the talking blues

Hills, that is

[Wiz Imp]

1. That was amazing!

I can't believe I never heard about this song before. I've loved Todd Snider since his first album 35 years ago and he is great at writing talking blues songs. But Tom Jones version is incredible!

[JohnnyRingo]

2. I know! I was always too cool for Tom Jones.

I mean "What's New Pussy Cat"? C'mon man.

Now it's like finding out your dork older brother was smoking weed the whole time growing up.

[sestina]

3. First time hearing this, too,

and it's really great.
I'm sure that I have Todd Snyder's first album or CD, will have to revisit it.
I was too young to appreciate Tom Jones at first, but he did have some good songs and performances.