The Ballad Of Rod Steiger

Album: Pandora's PlayHouse (2021)
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Songfacts®:

  • Rod Steiger was a popular actor in the 1950s and 1960s, winner of the Best Actor Oscar for his work in the film In The Heat Of The Night. In this song, Sananda Maitreya pays tribute to Steiger, using one of his sayings as a refrain:

    You play stupid games
    You win stupid prizes
  • "The Ballad Of Rod Steiger" is one of 28 tracks on Maitreya's album Pandora's PlayHouse. In a track by track for Songfacts, he explained: "We shared mutual friends in our business. Then I got a chance to meet him and get to know his generosity of spirit, as well as the legendary stories he shared with me about his time during and beyond the 'Golden Era' of Hollywood. We both lived in Malibu and used the same gas station, jeweler and favorite restaurant. Many of the words in the song came directly from the great maestro's mouth as related to me by himself and others. He was one of a kind and a total original."

    Steiger died in 2002 at 77.

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