Sonny Liston

Punch Here: Sonny Liston

 

Last night we went to see The Fighter, the gritty movie starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. It was stupendous and sure to pick up piles of awards. This post is dedicated to that movie. I wrote the song about ten years ago and recorded it for a project I called Seedy. I was going to have a Seedy release party but I never released it — a sonic masterpiece it wasn’t. I overdid certain effects and used a desktop digital audio workstation that limited the possibilities. I did get a nice take from Phil Lee on drums, he had the pretty cool idea of putting a ‘flat tire’ beat in the middle of each verse. I had been inspired by Nick Tosches’ biography, The Devil And Sonny Liston, one of my favorite books. It tells the story of the tragically bedeviled ex-con who was owned outright by the mob and was knocked out by Cassius Clay. This song will be on the next Semi-Twang CD in a new amped up version that moves it up to the heavyweight division. We kept the flat-tire beat, which works like a charm — I’m betting Phil will be sending a bill for arranging. I’m still very fond of the flawed original and offer it up here as part of my post-Christmas return to tough-guy music.

 

© 2010 John Sieger