On Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr.’s tombstone, the inscription
reads “The Best of the Bad”. Van Cleef played a hell of a lot of bad guys in
his 38 year acting career after refusing to have his nose fixed for his debut
role in High Noon. The producers offered him a more heroic part if he had the
operation, Lee declined and was cast largely as bad guys from then on.
Throughout the 50s he made his living getting shot in TV Western shows before
hitting the big time when Sergio Leone cast him in For A Few Dollars More and
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, leading to a long and lucrative career in
Spaghetti Westerns.
When searching for songs about Lee Van Cleef, I had to watch
out that I wasn’t confusing him with Reggae star Devon Perkins, aka Lee Van
Cleef, Le Van Cliff, Lee Vancliff, Lee V And Cliff and Cleevan Cliff, among
other variations on that theme. Last week, I said that country music was second
only to rap for name-dropping other artists, but Reggae must come second when it
comes to bigging your own name up in song. Here he is, rub-a-dub style, with
the Reggae Sunsplash…
Lee Van Cleef – Reggae Sunsplash
Onto the real Lee Van Cleef then, and we start with Finnish
indie band Vesterinen Yhtyeineen. I’ll let you google translate the lyrics
yourself…
Vesterinen Yhtyeineen - Lee Van Cleef
No lyrics at all in this one, but you do get to hear Ron
‘Bumblefoot’ Thal (who’s played with Guns n Roses & Asia among others)
strut his fret stuff…
Bumblefoot – The Legend of Lee Van Cleef
Here are some lyrical nods…
Well, I’d love to steal your heart away
But baby, I ain’t no thief
Well, I can’t be the bad guy
No, I ain’t no Lee Van Cleef
They call me the Timbuktu Man
I shoot down Lee Van Cleef
Van Cleef must have been an irresistible name drop for Wyclef…
I’m surprised he didn’t try to rhyme the names.
I creep like a thief
No doubt the man’s swift
I’m more magnificent than Lee Van Cleef
Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott – When I Get Back To Blighty
The real Clint Eastwood
The real Lee Van Cleef
Ended up in a bar in Hull
Minus all their teeth
Should you be interested in such things, that’s the same
song that ends with a repeated call that “Phil Collins must die” for his
tax-dodging days.
Don’t need to teeth to eat my beef
I’m tender-hearted, ain’t no Lee Van Cleef
It strikes me that most times Lee gets mentioned in songs, it’s for his bad guy status, so it’s nice that weirdo funk-rock band Primus have a more positive take…
There ain’t never been one quite like Clint
There’s really only one Clint
But I really did like Lee Van Cleef
I sure did like Lee Van Cleef
Whatever happened to Lee Van Cleef?
Whatever happened to Lee?
Lee Van Cleef died in 1989, aged just 64, from a heart attack and throat cancer. His gravestone reads: The Best of the Bad.
The John Hiatt track is very good. Good to see the series reverting to actors I have heard of, none of that modern nonsense
ReplyDeleteWednesday's edition features someone born in 1901, so she should be right up your street, George.
DeleteArchibald Leach?
ReplyDeleteNo. That's one I think might take a while to compile.
DeleteGreat selections there, Rol, I remain in awe of your ability to mine these deep but rich musical seams. Lee Van Cleef was arguably the standout performance in Escape From New York, too.
ReplyDeleteYes. Probably one if his last great roles.
Delete