When Bill Hicks Died

Album: Cuckoo Hill (2006)
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Songfacts®:

  • Although like Elton John and Tony Hatch, Charlie Dore was born in Pinner, she spent no little time in the States, so it is not too surprising that she would write a tribute song to a once little known American comedian.

    Cult figure Bill Hicks died of cancer in February 1994, but by the time Dore recorded this song, his reputation had grown exponentially, a point she makes. It remains to be seen if this posthumous stature is deserved, certainly his brand of humor was not for everyone, although unlike Lenny Bruce (who died in 1966) his close-to-the-wire routines did not result in legal persecution, something that says more about the changing face of the establishment than it does about what makes Americans laugh.

    This C&W type track ends with a sample of the man himself. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

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