I will readily admit that Diane Ladd means more to me as the mother of Laura Dern than as an actress in her own right. Probably that’s down to my age – Laura, who’s just a few years older than me, appeared in some of the most important films of my youth, particularly the David Lynch triple bill of Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart and Inland Empire.
Diane appeared alongside her daughter in two of those movies, and elsewhere, most memorably playing Laura / Lula’s crazy, lipstick-smeared mother, Marietta Fortune, in Wild At Heart.
Sadly, Diane’s name doesn’t appear in any songs I could find, so I went looking for songs relating to some of her most famous roles. Of course, there’s Chinatown, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (!), but the one I settled on was a little-remembered Burt Reynold vehicle from 1973.
Why that one, you ask?
Well, because it gives me the excuse to play three excellent versions of the same song. Firstly, the original, written and recorded by one J.P. Richardson, aka The Big Bopper, back in 1958.
A few months later, the legendary George Jones took the tune to Number One on the US country charts. Sadly, The Big Bopper never got to appreciate its success as he died in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens... just 6 days before George Jones’s version was released.
Fast-forward thirty odd years to 1990 when Mark E. Smith decided to release his own unique interpretation… initial copies came with a free miniature bottle of “White Lightning" Tequila.
I know this will be a controversial statement, but I reckon some of the best tracks The Fall ever recorded were cover versions…
Anyway, this seemed like as good a tune as any to play in tribute to Diane Ladd. This whole world's wild at heart
and weird on top.
"but I reckon some of the best tracks The Fall ever recorded were cover versions…" You're wrong there
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