Jesse James in music
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Jesse James became a hero in folklore even before he died in 1882. A significant manifestation of this development was the emergence of a wide body of music that celebrates or simply alludes to Jesse James.
The most famous song about Jesse James is the popular American folk song "Jesse James" recorded by many artists. It contains the lyric "But that dirty little coward / That shot Mr. Howard / Has laid poor Jesse in his grave."[1] The lyrics of the song include a claim of authorship by Billy Gashade. Recordings of this song include one by Bruce Springsteen on his 2006 album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.
Among the many other appearances of Jesse James in music:
- Cher had a hit with her song "Just Like Jesse James".
- Snap! in its huge hit "The power" sings "I'm the lyrical Jesse James".
- Prefab Sprout's 1990 album, Jordan: The Comeback featured a song called "Jesse James Symphony", which segued into another named "Jesse James Bolero". (These songs are bracketed by a corresponding pair about Elvis Presley, to whom Jesse is implicitly compared.)
- On his self-titled, second album, Warren Zevon wrote and recorded a song called "Frank and Jesse James", and the song "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", which contains the lyric "I met a girl in West Hollywood, but I ain't namin' names/She really worked me over good/She was just like Jesse James."
- The Legend of Jesse James is a concept album documenting his life. It features Levon Helm, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels and Emmylou Harris, and Albert Lee among others. Written by Paul Kennerley, it was originally released in 1979.
- Bob Dylan, in his song "Outlaw Blues" from his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home, defends his decision to "go electric" with the line "Ain't gonna hang no picture, ain't gonna hang no picture frame/Well, I might look like Robert Ford, but I feel just like a Jesse James."
- The Hal Bynum/Dave Kirby song (made popular by Cash and Waylon Jennings) "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" declares "I ain't cut out to be no Jesse James."
- John Lee Hooker wrote a song titled "I'm Bad like Jesse James".
- Elton John had a minor hit in 1976 with the single "I Feel Like a Bullet (in the Gun of Robert Ford)."
- Scarface released a song titled "Jesse James" on his seminal 1994 album The Diary
- The Cannonballs produced a song about the history of Jesses James called "Outlaw Jesse James" [2]
- Irish folk-punk band The Pogues have a track (a version of the above mentioned traditional song) named "Jesse James", about him on their album Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.
- Synthpop band The Magnetic Fields mentions Jesse in the first verse of "Two Characters in Search of a Country Song," from their 1994 album The Charm of the Highway Strip ("You were Jesse James, I was William Tell/ You were Daniel Webster, I was the Devil Himself").
- In the 1970s there was a musical group named "The James Gang," featuring Joe Walsh (who later joined the Eagles).
- The Sugarhill Gang reference Jesse James in their song, "Apache" with the lyrics "My tribe went down in the Hall of Fame/'Cause I'm the one who shot Jesse James".
- A little known Jerry Reed song called "The Legend", found on the Smokey and the Bandit soundtrack, opens with the lyric "You heard about the Legend of Jesse James and John Henry just to mention some names/But there's a truck drivin' legend in the south today/a man called Bandit from Atlanta GA."
- Everlast, in their 1998 song "Ends," from the album Whitey Ford Sings the Blues, contains the lyrics "And all of a sudden he's like Jesse James, trying to stick up kids for their watches and chains."
- Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris, in the song "Belle Starr" from their 2006 album All the Roadrunning, have the line "I can be your Belle Starr and you can be my Jesse James" in the chorus.
- Clubland recorded a ska tune entitled "Jesse James", in which Jesse is referred to as "the rudest rude boy..."
- The Irish folk singer Christy Moore wrote a song called "Jesus Christ and Jesse James" about the two of them visiting Belfast, Northern Ireland, together during the Troubles.
- Johnny "Guitar" Watson wrote a song called Gangster of Love.
- Terry Allen's song "New Delhi Freight Train" begins "Some people think that I must be crazy / But my real name is just Jesse James", and is narrated by the outlaw. Originally recorded on Allen's 1979 album Lubbock (On Everything), the song has been covered by Rick Nelson, and by Little Feat.
- GWAR mentions Jesse James in their song "Bad Bad Men".
