Poor Poor Pitiful Me lyrics are questionable

[Partridge]

I was going through some collected clutter and found an old magazine with some Ronstadt/Zevon lyrics.

This was the July 1978 issue of Country Song Roundup.

[fabtastique]

Yes I was listening to this the other day and the same thing occurred to me.

[rick]

Linda varied the lyrics unless my ears are playing tricks on me. “Vieux Carre” instead of “West Hollywood.”
What about “People try to rape me” as a lyric?

[MokyWI]

She changed the lyrics in a couple places, I can’t remember where now, but she spoke about in interviews a few times. “People try to rape me” I thought was one but what was written before to change it to THAT?

[eddiejinnj]

She took the whole Liverpool stanza out and the lyrics rearranged some. Why she would change West Hollywood to "Vieux Carre", I don't know. I tried to find a Yokohama in the West Hollywood/LA area but couldn't find it. The Vieux Carre is the French Quarters in NO. I was just trying to figure out the original lyrics. As far as the "TD" lyrics, Rick, I always felt a little weird singing them as this uptempo quote fun song would seem to trivialize/minimize the actual impact of the lyrics. eddiejinfl

[eddiejinnj]

Hey Moky, I have to check out the Stones' lyrics. Did Linda change that one or put it in a different order. I thought Rick was referring to the TD lyrics as an example of questionable lyrics in general. Did Linda completely change the Stones' lyrcis to that? Trying to hear Mick sing it in my mind. eddiejinfl

[eddiejinnj]

That's right the Stones' lyrics are "Women think I'm tasty but they're always trying to waste me." eddiejinfl

[RobGNYC]

The Stones' lyrics are "Women think I'm tasty/But they're always tryin' to waste me"



I've never read a definitive explanation of how the lyrics were rewritten for Linda. Did Mick rewrite them? Did Mick and Linda collaborate? Linda said in Playboy (April 1980) that Waddy taught her "how to sing" it but that doesn't answer the question about the lyrics change.

[eddiejinnj]

Thanks, buddy!!! eddiejinfl

[MokyWI]

Feb 22, 2023 8:02:11 GMT -5 eddiejinnj said:

Hey Moky, I have to check out the Stones' lyrics. Did Linda change that one or put it in a different order. I thought Rick was referring to the TD lyrics as an example of questionable lyrics in general. Did Linda completely change the Stones' lyrcis to that? Trying to hear Mick sing it in my mind. eddiejinfl

Oh for God’s sake I am thinking of the wrong song. Please forgive me fellow members, I am old and I am foggy.

[RobGNYC]

Where did "Country Song Roundup" get those lyrics? They don't match what either Warren or Linda sang. They don't even make sense--"I'm go away on the railroad track"?

[eddiejinnj]

Only "The Shadow" knows, lol!!!! eddiejinfl

[rick]

Feb 22, 2023 16:06:05 GMT -5 RobGNYC said:

Where did "Country Song Roundup" get those lyrics? They don't match what either Warren or Linda sang. They don't even make sense--"I'm go away on the railroad track"?

Rob: Maybe from the same source as “ ‘scuse me, while I kiss this guy,” OR “Hold me closer, Tony Danza” … 😉

[PoP80]

Here are the lyrics from Linda's version on Simple Dreams. It doesn't include anything about a boy in Liverpool.

Well, I lay my head on the railroad track
Waiting on the Double E
But the train don't run by here no more
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Oh, these boys won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Whoa, woe is me
Well, I met a man out in Hollywood
Now I ain't naming names
Well, he really worked me over good
Just like Jesse James
Yes, he really worked me over good
He was a credit to his gender
Put me through some changes, Lord
Sort of like a Waring blender
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Oh, these boys won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Whoa, woe is me
Well, I met a boy in The Vieux Carré
Down in Yokohama
He picked me up and he threw me down
He said, "Please don't hurt me mama"
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Oh, these boys won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Whoa, woe is me
Poor, poor, poor me
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Poor, poor, poor me
Poor, poor, pitiful me
Poor, poor, poor me
Poor, , poor, pitiful me

[RobGNYC]

Linda on "Poor Poor Pitiful Me":
“ 'I have a cassette tape of Jackson teaching me to sing it,' says Ronstadt, who recalls one particular verse that she excised for Simple Dreams: 'I met a girl at the Rainbow Bar, she asked me if I’d beat her. She took me back to the Hyatt House — which is the rock ‘n’ roll hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles — and then he goes, I don’t want to talk about it! Jackson was trying to talk me into singing that. I kept saying, ‘Jackson I can’t sing that verse. I’m not into S&M.’ He said, ‘Well it doesn’t say that you want, it says that she wants it.’ I said, ‘Well that wouldn’t be me’, so I didn’t include that verse.” Instead, Ronstadt chose a new location (the Vieux Carré,) and a more playful rendezvous."

Linda on "Tumbling Dice":
“ 'The Rolling Stones were staying out in Malibu for awhile,' Ronstadt recalls. 'Ronnie Wood had a place. Mick taught it to me. I felt like I could sing ‘Tumbling Dice’ because I really identified with the lyrics.' The opening lines on Ronstadt’s version — 'People try to rape me, always think I’m crazy. Make me burn the candle right down' — was a blunt comment on the more toxic and invasive byproducts of fame. She explains, 'When you’re exposed to a wide segment of the public, somebody’s trying to violate you in some way, but it was nothing like it is now with Internet trolls.' ”

www.popmatters.com/back-to-blue-bayou-an-interview-with-linda-ronstadt-2495378533.html

Linda also talked about the omitted verse of "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" in Circus (October 27, 1977):

www.ronstadt-linda.com/circus167/circus3.html