The Headcoats

Louis Riel

scum stats: limited to 500 copies

I was initially digging through my Headcoats singles looking to see if "Pocahontas Was Her Name" was ever put on 7-inch. Damn they put out a lot of 45s! I wonder if there's any other 90's band who did more? Maybe someone like Boris the Sprinkler? Some other pop punk stuff? Please feel free to tell me in the comments.

Anyway, I've been hot on the "Pocahontas" track for a while because it's a smart, subdued tune, in a great time signature, factually telling the story of the song's namesake.

But no, it was never on 7-inch. Yet I was reminded of this OTHER Headcoats single, a straight rip-off of "Louie Louie" that ALSO factually tells the story of the titular character.

I've always had an affinity for songs told with a historical bent. To hear my dad tell it to me at the age of six, I thought there really was a man in history who shot Liberty Valance. I think it took twenty years for me to realize it was fictional. Maybe it all stems back to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"? Say what you want, throw shade all day, but that song is still the shit. Hearing that at age 8 just blew my little mind. I LOVED history so much, but you know, encyclopedias available to you in school, what they actually teach, is like 1/1000th of it all. So to have this seemingly mainstream conduit providing awareness of ALL this history I had never heard of, damn. Respect due to the Piano Man.

To wit, the few songs that I've personally written and released owe more lyrically to "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Pocahontas Was Her Name" than anything done by the Stooges, MC5, Gories or White Stripes. Funny...but true.

(Totally unnecessary side note: when "Fire" came out, my brother (almost three years my senior) took on the task of transcribing the lyrics. He was only nine years old. Scribbled on his lined notebook paper was, in hindsight, like 65% correct lyrics. But the ones he got wrong...oh man, they are so hilarious now, I think about this ALL THE TIME. "Children of Thalidomide" was "children of the little mind" to his ears. "Bernie Goetz" was "burning jets" in his mind. "Hypodermics on the shore" sounded like "hypernetics on the show" which he later described as thinking "they were some sort of group that made a scene on a 'Donahue'-type show." Oh what I wouldn't give to mis-hear things with the ear of a nine-year-old again.

I got this specific copy of the single from Nils Bernstein, one-time Nirvana publicist and Sub Pop staffer, approximately 20 years ago. At the time I feel like this single was the hardest to find record by the Headcoats, I maybe paid $30 for it? But with Discogs, I'm curious if any of there are really any "more rare" than the others.

But anyway, briefly, Louis Riel was a Canadian political leader of the Metis people (French-Indian ancestry) and spiritual founder of the province of Manitoba, who led not one but TWO revolts against the Canadian government and was ultimately hanged for treason.

His wikipedia page is fascinating, linked below, and I was surprised to learn that he is considered the most written about person in all of Canadian history. Take THAT Tim Horton.

With the spirit of protest in the air, I guess this single is just speaking to me at the moment. I can find myself pondering on end "What will the current events of today look like to people 50 years from now?"

I wonder what Louis Riel would think of the current state of the world?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel#Execution