DAVE'S DIARY - 30 DECEMBER 2006 - DENNIS LINDE OBITUARY
GOODBYE DENNIS - LINDE RIP AT 63
BORN
DENNIS LINDE - ABILENE TEXAS MARCH 18, 1943
DIED NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - DECEMBER 22, 2006
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When
prolific singer-songwriter Dennis Linde died on December 22 he didn't
quite emulate his song Christmas Eve Can Kill You. But he didn't suffer the same fate as the abusive cheating husband in Goodbye Earl who was wrapped in a tarp after being fed poisonous black-eyed peas. Instead Linde, 63, died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville. And the singer, with 257 published songs on the BMI Publishing site, had not slowed down. His huge selling Dixie Chicks hit Goodbye Earl was featured in the trio's 2006 movie Shut Up And Listen and another Linde song Kick It was in new movie Barnyard - The Original Party Animals. |
The reclusive
writer, who cut five solo albums in the seventies, was best known for
Burning Love - a 1972 #2 hit for Elvis Presley who also cut other
Linde songs.
It was just two years after Roger Miller released his Tom Green County
Fair and Roy Drusky cut Long, Long Texas Road.
Linde, admitted to Nashville Writers Hall Of Fame in 2001 and BMI Writer
of The Year in 1994, wrote hits for artists diverse as superstar Garth
Brooks, Eddy Raven, Joe Diffie, Sammy Kershaw, Sawyer Brown, Shenandoah
and Texans Don Williams and Mark Chesnutt. Tom Jones, Donny Osmond, the
Fifth Dimension, Randy Travis, Brenda Lee, Arthur Alexander, Teresa Brewer,
Blue Oyster Cult, Robert Palmer, New Grass Revival, Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama,
Brother Phelps, Bobby Bare, Gary Morris and Jo-El Sonnier also cut his
songs.
He was also renowned for filling his deep catalogue with songs starting
with all letters of the alphabet.
DIXIE CHICKS MADE A KILLING WITH EARL
"Well the weeks went by and spring turned to summer/ and summer faded into fall/ and it turns out he was a missing person/ who nobody missed at all." Goodbye Earl - Dennis Linde.
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Linde
earned healthy royalties in Australia from recorded and live versions
of his hits - especially on Dixie Chicks tours. The Linde song, unlike the victim, developed legs after his death and was reprised in concert, on DVD and the Dixie Chicks movie. Dennis said in 2000 that he considered the song "a little story with lots of attitude. No message. I thought I was writing a black comedy, like Arsenic & Old Lace or The Trouble With Harry." Linde had high profile supporters. |
"He could write lyrics as good as (Kris) Kristofferson, (Bob) Dylan or (Jerry) Leiber and (Mike) Stoller," said music industry veteran Al Cooley who pitched Linde's songs to artists for a decade beginning in 1976.
"He
could write country, blues, pop and rock and roll. He could write it all.
"Not everybody gets Dennis' stuff, but the people who do consider
it some of the
most wonderful music made in Nashville."
Linde is survived by his wife, Pam - daughter of the late publisher Bob
Beckham - daughters Lisa Marsden and Katie Brown and son Will Linde.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete, but the family is planning a New
Orleans-style music celebration after January 1.
FROM ABELINE TO SAN ANGELO
Linde, born
in Abilene, Texas, and raised in San Angelo, Texas, Miami and St. Louis,
became hooked on music after his grandmother gave him a $14 guitar.
He learned basic chords and hooked up with St. Louis bands that performed
cover songs - especially R&B hits.
Linde joined Bob Kuban and the In-Men, a group that enjoyed a 1966 pop
hit, The Cheater.
He started playing guitar at 15.
During the late sixties he played in the St. Louis band the Starlighters,
driving a dry-cleaning delivery truck by day.
Ironically, he turned to writing because he lost his driving licence.
"I started writing songs because I lost my driver's license,"
he recalled in an interview.
Because of a day job with a cleaning service and a night gig with the
band, Linde was always in such a hurry that he racked up a string of speeding
tickets.
"I lost my driver's license for six months," Linde explained.
"How much time can you kill when you can't drive around? So, I started
writing songs."
TO NASHVILLE
Linde moved
to Nashville in 1969 and his songs made it to the ears of Bob Beckham,
then the guru of Combine Music.
Other Combine writers included the late Mickey Newbury, Kristofferson
and Brenda Lee.
Linde scored early cuts by Don Cherry, Roger Miller and Roy Drusky and
cream of the brightest talent in country and pop music.
He gave Beckham grand hits and grandchildren after marrying his daughter,
Pam.
Linde cites such diverse influences as George Gershwin, Mark Twain, J.D.
Salinger, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, John Steinbeck and
Cole Porter.
And although he respects the songwriting craft as much as any creator
in the cosmos, he doesn't take it so seriously that he can't have some
fun with it.
A perfectionist with a deep sense of music history, Dennis once vowed
to write songs that started with every letter of the alphabet.
Some letters were easy.
Others were much more difficult - U-Joints Don't Come Free, Zoot Suit
Baby and X Marks The Spot.
"He was the quintessential mystery man of Nashville because he didn't
go to all the functions," said Scott Siman, a manager who had known
Linde since the 1970s.
"It wasn't like he was seen up and down Music Row. He had his own
way of writing and conducting himself. If you ever saw Dennis Linde it
was amazing, because you didn't get that opportunity very often."
SOLO RECORDING CAREER
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After
Linde scored his first major hit in 1970 when Roy Drusky cut his
Long, Long Texas Road he signed a solo deal with Mercury's
Intrepid imprint. Trapped in the Suburbs appeared on the label's Asylum subsidiary the following year, In 1978 Linde signed to Monument to release his fourth and final solo disc, Under the Eye. |
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Another album Surface Noise - recorded in 1971 - was unreleased.
THE LATER HITS
Linde continued
his commercial success during the mid-'80s, writing hits for Kenny Rogers
Goodbye, Marie, Gary Morris The Love She Found in Me, Don
Williams Walkin' a Broken Heart and Then It's Love, Eddy
Raven I'm Gonna Get You.
Linde's later big sellers included Mark Chesnutt's hits with Bubba
Shot The Juke Box and It Sure Is Monday, Janie Baker's Love
Slave by Shenandoah, Queen Of My Double Wide Trailer by Sammy
Kershaw, John Deere Green by Joe Diffie, Callin' Baton Rouge
by Garth Brooks, Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks, and most recently
The Talkin' Song Repair Blues by Alan Jackson.
SONGS IN MOVIES
Barnyard:
The Original Party Animals (2006) - Song - Kick It
Shut Up & Sing (2006) - Song - Goodbye Earl
Lilo and Stitch (2002) - Song - Burning Love
Love, Honour & Obey (2001) - Song - Burning Love
Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) - Song - Burning Love
Late For Dinner (1991) - Song - Burning Love
Heartbreak Hotel (1988) - Song - Burnin' Love
Grease 2 (1982) - songs Reproduction and Cool Rider
ELVIS - A COLD NIGHT IN NASHVILLE
Linde also
sourced song demos for planned Elvis album A Cold Night In Nashville,
cut in January of 1977.
When Elvis's October 1976 session ended, he didn't have enough songs for
his next album Moody Blue.
In January 1977 Elvis flew to Nashville to finish his new disc at Creative
Workshop Studio.
At least six songs were positively chosen but Elvis cancelled the session
and no songs were recorded.
Instead JAT Records later released the original demos that Presley heard
and selected to record in January 1977.
This CD starts with By Day By Day - an uptempo song, written and
sung by Linde.
Dennis featured this on his own album Under the Eye.
A Cold Night In Nashville also contained the Linde song I Got A
Feeling In My Body.
Another song Yes I Do was written and sung by Alan Rush who was
in the rock band Jubal that also featured Linde and recorded for Elektra
in the early seventies.
BMI - 257 SONGS - AND MORE
Linde has
257 songs recorded on the BMI site at the time of his death.
For completists here is the official list in alphabetical order.
Work Title BMI Work #
1. AIN T
NO DIXIE IN DIXIE 5128933
2. ALL FALL DOWN 20647
3. ALL I WANT TO DO IS BE YOUR MA 22442
4. ANGEL ON A HARLEY 3682880
5. ANOTHER GOLDEN OLDIE NIGHT FOR 46507
6. ANYTHING TO KEEP FROM GOING HO 50285
7. BAD LOVE 79756
8. BAD ONE 80163
9. BALLAD OF A BLOOD CRAZED TRAINED KILLER 83138
10. BELINDA 103127
11. BIG REVIVAL 5491220
12. BLACK AND WHITE MEMORY 120062
13. BLESS EM ALL 123622
14. BLIND LOVE 125183
15. BLIZZARD OF 53 3843747
16. BLUE GUITAR 128750
17. BONE DRY 136676
18. BOO I LOVE YOU 5340059
19. BRANDED 146492
20. BUBBA SHOT THE JUKEBOX 156719
21. BURN AWAY MY BLUES 160225
22. BURNED BY LOVE 160432
23. BURNING LOVE 160887
24. BY DAY BY DAY 164189
25. CALL ME HONEY 170644
26. CALL ME IN TAHITI 170653
27. CALL ME JOHN DOE 3686276
28. CALLIN BATON ROUGE 171666
29. CAN T KEEP IT UP 176075
30. CAN T WAIT 177461
31. CAST IRON HEART 1804034
32. CHASIN MY SHADOW DOWN HIGHWAY 4284022
33. CHRISTMAS EVE CAN KILL YOU WHE 211497
34. CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY 3837596
35. COLONEL MAGGIE 226209
36. COME ON RAIN 231728
37. COOL ME IN THE RIVER OF LOVE 243761
38. COOL RIDER 243863
39. COUNTRY STEEL MAN 251764
40. CRAWLIN 255405
41. CRYSTAL DAY 263056
42. DARK SIDE OF LOVE 278705
43. DEAR JOHN DEERE 3997733
44. DEEP IN LOUISIANA 289970
45. DENVER BUS 293678
46. DESIGNATED DRINKER 3818878
47. DEVILS DAUGHTER 298441
48. DON T LEAVE ME HERE ALL ALONE 323165
49. DON T WORRY EVERYTHING IS OUT 5129037
50. DON T YOU COME AROUND HERE 3818887
51. DOWN AND DIRTY 336157
52. DOWN IN A DITCH 2071415
53. DOWN INTO MUDDY WATER 3818895
54. DOWN THE HIGHWAY 338174
55. DOWN TO THE STATION 338616
56. DR 31 339456
57. DR ROCK N ROLL 339402
58. DRAGGIN IT OUT 339644
59. DRIVE 3690145
60. EAST ST LOUIS NIGHTS 353977
61. ELVIS MEDLEY 370730
62. EVER LOVIN WOMAN 386719
63. EVERY DAY IS FRIDAY WHEN YOU R 3816475
64. FARM 405179
65. FAT OF THE LAND 406816
66. FIND A SILVER CUP 5274095
67. FIVE GALLON TEAR 3989669
68. FOR THE HEART 433820
69. FUNKY HOE DOWN 452780
70. FUNKY STREET BAND 453104
71. GAS STATION ROSE 5182265
72. GIFT 3819333
73. GIRL WHO SAID GOODBYE 4005904
74. GIVE HER THORNS AND SHE LL FIN 473575
75. GIVE THEM PEOPLE A CHANCE 476283
76. GIVE YOUR LOVIN TO ME 476653
77. GOD MADE LOVE 483949
78. GOIN BACK HOME 486664
79. GOOD OLD TREE 496092
80. GOOD SHIP ROCK AND ROLL 496389
81. GOOD THINGS STEM FROM ROCK AND 496652
82. GOODBYE EARL 4296602
83. GOODBYE MARIE 498387
84. GUNFIGHTERS SONG 514233
85. HE LIKES TO HURT YOU 537147
86. HEAVEN BOUND I M READY 549283
87. HELL OR HIGH WATER 552915
88. HELLBILLY 553029
89. HELLO I AM YOUR HEART 553772
90. HOLD ON ELROY 1907317
91. HOLDIN ON TO YOU 575995
92. HOLDIN THE LINE 576023
93. HOOK LINE AND SINKER 1937752
94. HORNED TOAD 585616
95. HUGGY HUG 5215081
96. I COULD BE SO GOOD FOR YOU 612279
97. I COULD SURE USE THE FEELING 612676
98. I DON T REALLY WANT YOU 618778
99. I DON T WANT NOBODY CEPTIN YOU 619662
100. I GET DRUNK 623858
101. I GOT A FEELIN IN MY BODY 624477
102. I GOT IT FOR YOU 624994
103. I HAD A DREAM 626704
104. I M A BAD ONE 648346
105. I M BAITIN THIS HOOK 4388208
106. I M COMIN HOME 651506
107. I M GONNA GET YOU 655502
108. I M HER FOOL 657377
109. I M HERE HE S THERE 657434
110. I M ON MY WAY TO GOOD OLE SAN 663114
111. I M ROLLIN 664140
112. I THINK ABOUT YOU 679567
113. I WONDER WHERE THEY LL SLEEP T 698068
114. ICH KANN NICHT OHNE LIEBE SEIN 699687
115. IF EVERYONE COULD ONLY LEARN T 700779
116. IF I COULD WRITE A SONG 701967
117. IF THIS GUITAR COULD TALK 5028912
118. IN A LETTER TO YOU 714810
119. IN AND OUT OF YOUR HEART 715392
120. IN TEXAS 5116902
121. IN THE MUSIC 721230
122. IT AIN T MY BUSINESS 4333908
123. IT SURE IS MONDAY 1824920
124. IT WAS ONLY LOVE 3818905
125. JANIE BAKER S LOVE SLAVE 1817277
126. JASMINE LAKE 5384527
127. JOGGIN 772624
128. JOHN DEERE GREEN 1850155
129. JUNIOR S IN LOVE 3635068
130. JUST A SONG 783449
131. JUST TO THINK 790709
132. KEEP ON JOGGIN 796343
133. KEEPER OF THE FLAME 3818911
134. KICK IT 8385489
135. KICK IT INTO GEAR 5539864
136. KITTY STARR 805894
137. LAY ME DOWN 838215
138. LIFE IS A MAGIC THING 3818912
139. LIGHT OF A JUKEBOX 3819334
140. LINDE MANOR 874024
141. LITTLE MORE COUNTRY 881717
142. LOLA S LOVE 890792
143. LONG LONG TEXAS ROAD 897375
144. LONGER YOU RE GONE 898603
145. LOOK AT ME NOW 3703947
146. LOOK WHAT HE S DONE TO MY LIFE 901284
147. LOOKIN AT RUBY 901711
148. LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN 3818913
149. LOVE HOUND 916605
150. LOVE IN A SHALLOW GRAVE 4292350
151. LOVE IS EVERYWHERE 918598
152. LOVE RUSTLER 924634
153. LOVE TAKE IT EASY ON ME 926740
154. LOVE YOU BABY TO THE BONE 929038
155. LOVIN STARTS WHERE FRIENDSHIP 932377
156. LUCKY 934886
157. MA PETITE FLEUR 4097204
158. MAKIN UP WHILE WE RE MAKIN LOV 948224
159. MAN WHO STAYED IN MONTEREY 954565
160. MARY ANN IS A PISTOL 1998410
161. MEANWHILE BACK IN ABILENE 973324
162. MIDNIGHT LOVERS 988949
163. MIRACLE IN LEE COUNTY 5216660
164. MISS DIFFICULT 5117206
165. MOLLY I AIN T GETTIN ANY YOUNG 1002036
166. MORNIN MORNIN 1011497
167. MOTH 3760417
168. MY BABY S GONE 1027494
169. MY GUITAR 1032756
170. NAME LIKE WATERMELON 1048077
171. NATURAL ATTRACTION 1050239
172. NIGHT IS FALLIN IN MY HEART 1065049
173. NO TELLIN WHERE NO TELLIN WHEN 1078950
174. NOTHIN YOU CAN DO ABOUT LOVE 1087496
175. O CLOCK 1095203
176. OH HELP ME 1101400
177. OKLAHOMA WIND 1105906
178. ON THE RUN 1115571
179. ONLY GOD I KNOW 1128400
180. ONLY GOD THAT I KNOW 1128412
181. ONLY LOVE CAN SAVE YOU NOW 1128876
182. OPEN UP YOUR HEART 1132305
183. OUR LOVE GOES MARCHING ON 1138541
184. OUT OF MY HEAD AND INTO THE BO 1140526
185. PEACEFUL 1160694
186. PLACE WHERE LOVE HAS BEEN 1177748
187. PREACHER JONES 1198580
188. QUEEN OF MY DOUBLE WIDE TRAILE 1839396
189. R WORD 5030395
190. REPRODUCTION 1243933
191. RIDIN HIGH 1250947
192. ROAD TO GLORY 5365633
193. ROCK A BILLY BOY 4003921
194. ROCKIN DAYS 1263366
195. RUNNIN ON MEMORIES 3826356
196. SADDLE THE WIND 3819330
197. SANTA FE TRAIN 1289129
198. SCENE OF THE CRIME 1296903
199. SEND IN THE RODEO CLOWNS 3840344
200. SHE S GONNA FEEL MY LOVE 1325201
201. SHE WAS ONE OF A KIND 5162757
202. SHE WON T LET YOU DOWN 1328841
203. SINGING TO THE SCARECROW 3827909
204. SNOW MAN S LAND 4301975
205. SO SHY 1366042
206. SOME SONGS 1372350
207. SOUTHBOUND TRAIN 1863819
208. SOUTHERN FRIED LOVE 3819331
209. SPREAD THE WORD 1397966
210. STILL LIFE IN BLUE 1411239
211. STORMY WEATHER GIRL 1415511
212. STRANGE GROOVE 1417529
213. SUNNY MORNIN 1431031
214. SWEPT AWAY 1442653
215. T J S LAST RIDE 1445435
216. TALKIN SONG REPAIR BLUES 3829450
217. TEN POUND HAMMER 3659404
218. TEXAS GIRL 3819332
219. THAT WOMAN S COMING HOME 1483939
220. THEN IT S LOVE 1485686
221. THERE GOES MY HEART AGAIN 1486546
222. THIS ONE BURGER KING TOWN 4251659
223. THREE ARMED POKER PLAYIN RIVER 1507575
224. THUNDERBIRD 5264841
225. TILL YOU OPENED MY EYES 1514233
226. TIME MACHINE 1516748
227. TOM GREEN COUNTY FAIR 1527303
228. TOO MUCH LOVE 5118091
229. TRAIN LONG GONE 5264846
230. TRAPPED IN THE SUBURBS 1540940
231. TWENTY FOUR SEVEN 3950660
232. UNDER SUSPICION 1570869
233. UNDER THE EYE 1571019
234. UNDER THE KUDZU 1841075
235. VANESSA 1581363
236. VITAMIN L 3726781
237. WALKIN A BROKEN HEART 1600390
238. WAY LOVERS MOVE 1611316
239. WE COULD FLY 1614397
240. WHAT DID IT GET ME 1631791
241. WHEN I M LOOKIN AT YOU 1644165
242. WHEN I MISS YOU 1644446
243. WHEN I SAY FOREVER 3819351
244. WHEN YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF 1651775
245. WHERE HAVE ALL THE AVERAGE PEO 1655215
246. WILD LOVE 1841470
247. WITH A LOVE LIKE OURS 1683319
248. WITH A SONG 1683363
249. X MARKS THE SPOT 1698892
250. YOU AND I KNOW BETTER 1708461
251. YOU ARE THAT WOMAN 1710083
252. YOU DON T NEED ME 1717160
253. YOU MAKE ME FEEL GOOD 1724074
254. YOU RE LIVIN IN THE PAST 4579507
255. YOU VE GOT ANOTHER THINK COMIN 1736375
256. YOUR GRANDMOTHER AND ME 1741042
257. YOUR LOVE MADE ME THIS WAY 3819362