Saturday Night Live Hits Perfect Note With Aldean Cold Opening

Jason Aldean captured just the right tone during his
cold opening appearance on Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live very often seems to know how to strike the right tone when the news gets tough.

SNL did it again last night.

Last week, we had the massacre in Las Vegas.  Jason Aldean was on stage at the country music festival in Las Vegas when the gunman opened fire, killing 58 people. Aldean wasn't physically hurt, but certainly shaken.  

There was the prerequisite snarky comments on gun control during the Weekend Update segment, but the cold opening of SNL last night got it just right.

Saturday, Aldean did the cold opening for Saturday Night Live, honoring the massacre victims and nodding to Tom Petty, the rock great who died last week.

He then performed Petty's defiant classic, "I Won't Back Down."

Perfect.

Watch:

Stevie Nicks, Jimmy Fallon Drag My Heart Around In A Good Way

One of my extreme favorite songs ever is the 1981 duet by Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."  

Jimmy Fallon, dressed as Tom Petty, joins
Stevie Nicks in re-creating the "Stop Draggin' My
Heart Around" video. 

It's ominious and dark and dramatic and cynical, with it's minor chords and full throttle, echoing tone.  Every time it comes on the radio when I'm driving around, I blast the sound as high as it will go and sing along.

I like the complicated relationship the lyrics describe, a relationship that's not exactly love, but tired, world weary duty:

"People running 'round loose in the world
Ain't got nothin' better to do
Than make a meal of some bright eyed kid
You need someone looking after you."

The original music video for the awesome song is no great shakes. Just Petty and his band, the Heartbreakers, and Nicks in the studio singing.  But it's such a great song the video is fine.

This week, Jimmy Fallon, who often does this sort of thing, re-created that video by dressing up as Tom Petty and joining the real Stevie Nicks for another round of "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"

And I do like the original video and version of the song better than Fallon/Nicks, this is still a treat.

Below, the first video you'll see is that Fallon/Nicks re-creation, followed by the original video. Whatever you think of this all, you know I'll be singing the song in my head all day.

Watch: