1. Steve Youn… Read Full Bio ↴There are multiple artists using the name Steve Young.
1. Steve Young (July 12, 1942 – March 17, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist, known for his song "Seven Bridges Road" (on Rock Salt & Nails & Seven Bridges Road). He was a pioneer of the country rock, Americana, and alternative country sounds, and also a vital force behind the "outlaw movement" that gave support to the careers of Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr. and more. Young was also featured in the 1975 Outlaw Country documentary Heartworn Highways. He was the subject of the song "The All Golden" by Van Dyke Parks. Young's first album, Rock Salt & Nails, on A&M, was performed on and supported by Gram Parsons, Gene Clark and other musicians from the 1969 musical community in Southern California.
Steve Young has never fit comfortably into categories. He follows his own musical and spiritual quest, weaving together Southern roots with a wide experience of life, and creating new traditions in American music.
Young was born in Georgia and grew up in Alabama, Georgia and Texas in a family which moved frequently in search of work. By the time he had completed high school in Beaumont, Texas, he was playing guitar and writing songs which incorporated influences of folk , country , gospel, and blues musicians and people like Hank Williams , Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and others. Once as a teenager he was blown away by seeing Carlos Montoya , a Flamenco Guitarist. He managed to use that too!
By his late teens, Young was back in Alabama, where he established some reputation on the local music scene. However, the wandering spirit soon took over again. He immersed himself briefly in the Greenwich Village folk scene, at a time when Bob Dylan and others were just being noticed.
Returning to Alabama, Steve found that "my New York folk-protest songs didn't fly in the South." Searching for more receptive audiences, he made short forays to California and other locations before moving to the West Coast in 1964.
In California, he worked with musicians like Van Dyke Parks and Stephen Stills, at one point holding a day job as a mailman. A major-label record deal led to a short-lived stint with a psychedelic country-folk band, Stone Country.
Settling into a solo career, Steve Young became an integral part of the movement which defined the California country-rock sound. Appearing on Steve's 1969 classic album, Rock, Salt & Nails were fellow pioneers like Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, Bernie Leadon and Gram Parsons.
Through 12 albums and countless live performances, Steve Young's music has remained fresh and aggressive, with a sense of deepening spirituality, and a consistent intellectual and artistic challenge, to himself and to his audience.
Many of the stars of the music industry have recorded Steve Young songs, and in some cases forged a career image around them. "Lonesome, Orn'ry & Mean," for example, became the signature tune for 'Outlaw' Waylon Jennings. Hank Williams Jr.'s cover of "Montgomery In The Rain" remains a classic.
Certainly the most-covered Steve Young song of all is "Seven Bridges Road," which has been recorded at various times by artists like Joan Baez, Rita Coolidge, Ian Matthews, the Eagles, Ricochet, and, most recently, Dolly Parton.
While Steve Young songs have brought commercial success to others, Young has never been close enough to the mainstream to sustain his occasional brushes with stardom . He has been unwilling to accept the loss of artistic control that the industry expects of its stars.
And while Steve has lived in country music towns like Nashville and Austin, and his songs have had a strong impact on the direction of country music, he rejects the country label for himself. Young is in many ways a cultural dynamic in himself.
Part Cherokee (from his father) by birth, steeped in Baptist fundamentalism as a child, yet attracted to a Zen spirituality, the young man from the South with a nomadic spirit went on to create a unique form of American roots music with a truly global perspective.
Steve Young has literally toured the world. He has performed in many countries of Europe, in Australia and New Zealand, in Micronesia, China and Mongolia, in Egypt and East Africa and beyond. Wherever he has gone, he has filled the dual role of ambassador for American music and student of the cultures of others.
Young's live performances express the depth and power of his vision. He draws on his own songs, on Southern folk songs from varied traditions, on collaborations and on the best of contemporary songwriters such as J.D. Loudermilk, David Olney and others.
Steve passed away on March 17, 2016 at age 73
2. 'Steve Young' is also a pseudonym of Peter Friel, ambient tape musician.
Lonesome On'ry and Mean
Steve Young Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm goin' to Shreveport and down to New Orleans
Been travlin' these highways and doin' things my way
It's been making me lonesome on'ry and mean.
God her hair was jet black and her name was Bodine
Thought she was the queen of the Basin Street Queens
She got tired of that smoky-wine dream
We got together and we cashed in our sweeps
Gave onto beggar who was mumblin' through the streets
There's no escaping from his snowy white dream
On'ry and lonesome on'ry and mean.
I'm down in this valley where the wheels turn so low
At dawn I pray to the Lord of my soul
I say do Lord do right by me you know
I'm tired of being lonesome on'ry and mean...
The opening lines of the song "Lonesome On'ry and Mean" by Steve Young establish the setting - a Greyhound bus journey to Louisiana, a place synonymous with blues music and its associated lifestyle. The singer has been living life on his own terms, traveling down highways and doing as he pleases, but this way of life has left him feeling isolated, irritable, and belligerent.
The following stanza introduces a character named Bodine, who the singer describes as the queen of the Basin Street Queens, referencing the famous red-light district in New Orleans. Despite her association with a life of luxury and debauchery, Bodine becomes disillusioned with it all and joins the singer in a charitable act of giving money to a beggar. Despite their good deeds, the singer's mood remains dark and cynical - "there's no escaping from his snowy white dream."
The song closes with the singer in a valley, contemplating his loneliness and asking for divine intervention to help him escape his current state of mind. While the lyrics describe specific characters and situations, the song's underlying message is universal - the dangers of living a hedonistic lifestyle and the toll it can take on one's emotional and spiritual well-being.
Line by Line Meaning
On a Greyhound bus Lord I'm travelin' this morning
I'm currently traveling on a Greyhound bus this morning.
I'm goin' to Shreveport and down to New Orleans
My destination is Shreveport and later, New Orleans.
Been travlin' these highways and doin' things my way
I've been traveling on these highways and doing things the way I want to do them.
It's been making me lonesome on'ry and mean.
This lifestyle has made me feel lonely, stubborn, and angry.
God her hair was jet black and her name was Bodine
I met a woman named Bodine who had beautiful black hair.
Thought she was the queen of the Basin Street Queens
She seemed to be the most important person among the women on Basin Street.
She got tired of that smoky-wine dream
Bodine was tired of living in a world of smoke and wine.
She began to feel lonesome on'ry and mean.
As a result, she started to feel lonely, stubborn, and angry like me.
We got together and we cashed in our sweeps
Bodine and I collected our winnings and decided to share them.
Gave onto beggar who was mumblin' through the streets
We decided to give some money to a beggar who was muttering while walking down the street.
There's no escaping from his snowy white dream
The beggar is unable to escape from his hallucination-like dream that feels real and is white as snow.
On'ry and lonesome on'ry and mean.
He too is having the same feelings of loneliness, stubbornness, and anger as Bodine and I.
I'm down in this valley where the wheels turn so low
I am currently in a low and depressed state of mind.
At dawn I pray to the Lord of my soul
Every morning, I pray for guidance and help from God.
I say do Lord do right by me you know
I ask God to do the right thing for me.
I'm tired of being lonesome on'ry and mean...
I am exhausted from feeling so lonely, stubborn, and angry all of the time.
Contributed by Claire W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Kim Young
The lyrics posted here are not actually correct and I don't understand why they are not. If you listen to Steve's vocal you will hear what they should be. This song is truly about getting clean and sober, according to what Steve told me!