Me? I’m out of town, because meeting Conrad “The Beer Pope” Seidl is something I’ve always wanted to do, but the Kentucky Derby has been known to alter Louisville’s local space-time continuum, and who am I to resist? Regular readers will recognize today’s essay as a repeat from 2023, which is purely intentional. It is true that the Derby is a celebration of local tradition, much of it pertaining to food and drink. At the same time, it is helpful to remember that traditions like these are forever evolving, and over the period of my adult life, the festivities at Churchill Downs have been subject to a steady process of “upmarketing” (gentrification?) that have largely dispensed with the down ‘n’ dirty, blue collar nature of a day in the infield at “the track” during the 1970s. Whatever one’s view of playing the ponies, I feel it is important to be cognizant of “the way we were.”
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So, what is it about this song “Dead Flowers,” anyway?
I’m glad you asked. In the strictest of senses, this song by The Rolling Stones isn’t about the Kentucky Derby. However, to me — and perhaps for you — “Dead Flowers” is the only imaginable soundtrack to the race each year, far transcending “My Old Kentucky Home,” which has not worn particularly well in modern times.
Well, when you’re sitting there in your silk upholstered chair
Talking to some rich folk that you know
Well, I hope you won’t see me in my ragged company
Well, you know I could never be alone
Take me down little Susie, take me down
I know you think you’re the Queen of the Underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flowers by the mail
Send me dead flowers to my wedding
And I won’t forget to put roses on your grave
Well, when you’re sitting back in your rose pink Cadillac
Making bets on Kentucky Derby day
I’ll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon
And another girl to take my pain away
(repeat chorus)
By extension, the most relevant and enduring observations about the Derby ever to be made in writing were recorded more than a half-century ago by a native Louisvillian, who concluded that the event hasn’t ever been exactly as it appears.
Which is to say, Hunter S. Thompson had arrived.
(Ralph) Steadman wanted to see some...Read more
