Long Time... Gone?

One of the coolest clips I've seen on YouTube in ages is this odd but amazing pairing of Tom Jones with Crosby Stills Nash & Young, doing a version of "Long Time Gone" that (for me at least) completely crushes the original recording into the shag carpet. The Pontypridde Powerpack lends it some serious sack, belting out the lyrics without any feigned hipness or condescension -- he completely gets what he's singing about, and Crosby Stills and Nash all seem either pleasantly surprised or (in Stills' case) totally inspired by the way ToJo is nailing the sucker. Neil Young, on the other hand, seems to be wishing for a quick and painless death, while drummer Dallas Taylor pretty much seems to be thinking, "Wow - heroin's great!"
    Unfortunately, while this performance is obviously from the This Is Tom Jones TV show, and it was mentioned in advance reviews of the This Is Tom Jones, Vol. 1 DVD, it's actually nowhere to be found on the copy of the DVD that I own. Did the infamously litigious Young request it be pulled off at the last minute? Any of you Tom Jones fans out there know anything about this?

Comments

[Michael Ansaldo]

Don't know why it didn't make the final cut of the DVD, but I do know two other things about this performance:

1)According to the official CSNY bio, Crosby couldn't bring himself to sing the tune as he was still devastated by Christine Hinton's death a month earlier, so TJ took the lead.

2) This performance was broadcast on Oct. 16, 1969, two days before I was born!

[Dan E]

Cool info to know n both counts, Michael. I know if I'd heard this cut while in the womb, I'd wanna get out of there ASAP to see what the hell was goin' on!

[Rabbi Adam]

Awesome clip. I'm now willing to forgive David Crosby for kicking me out of his hotel room.

Rabbi A

[stu]

I just hope this clip stays on YouTube. It has a habit of disappearing.