Wiktionary
n. 1 (context idiomatic English) A most worthy person. 2 (context idiomatic English) A decent, dependable, unpretentious person.
Wikipedia
Salt of the Earth is a 1954 American drama film written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics.
This drama film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist social and political point of view. Its plot centers on a long and difficult strike, based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company in Grant County, New Mexico. In the film, the company is identified as "Delaware Zinc," and the setting is "Zinctown, New Mexico." The film shows how the miners, the company, and the police react during the strike. In neorealist style, the producers and director used actual miners and their families as actors in the film.
Salt of the Earth may refer to:
- An English phrase referring to someone who is ordinary and unsophisticated but decent
- A metaphor that occurs in the Sermon on the Mount, part of a discourse on salt and light
- Matthew 5:13, the Bible verse in which this phrase appears
- Salt of the Earth, a 1954 film
- "Salt of the Earth" (song), a track on The Rolling Stones' 1968 album, Beggars Banquet
- Salt of the Earth (The Soul Searchers album), a 1974 album
- Salt of the Earth: Palestinian Christians in the Northern West Bank, a 2004 documentary series
- Salt of the Earth (Ricky Skaggs & The Whites album), a 2007 album
- Salt of the Earth (EP), a 2008 EP by Texas in July
- The Salt of the Earth (2014 film), a documentary
Salt of the Earth is the debut EP by American metalcore band Texas in July. It was released on October 7, 2008 through CI Records as a digital-download only. On 15 June 2010, however, nearly two years after its initial release, it was re-made and re-released in Compact Disc (physical) format.
Salt of the Earth is an album by Ricky Skaggs and The Whites, released through Skaggs Family Records on September 25, 2007. In 2008, the album won both a Grammy Award and a Dove Award for Best Southern/Country/Bluegrass album and Bluegrass Album of the Year respectively.
Salt Of The Earth is the second album by the Washington, D.C. group The Soul Searchers.
"Salt of the Earth" is a song from the 1968 Rolling Stones album Beggars Banquet.
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the song is notable for its opening lead vocal by Richards, who sings the first verse. This was the second officially released Rolling Stones track to feature Richards on separate lead vocal. (The first was " Something Happened to Me Yesterday" from Between the Buttons.) The lyrics (written primarily by Jagger) salute the common workers of the world:
Notable within the lyrics is the salute to the salt of the earth but no action to change or improve the circumstances of working people is implied or suggested. In a twice-repeated stanza, the singer professes a distance from his subject that seemingly belies the sentiment of the verses:
The Salt of the Earth uses a quote that refers to a passage in the Bible where Jesus is trying to encourage people to give the best of themselves (« You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned ? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men » - Matthew 5:13)
It is also an expression of doubt on the basis of the status of "star", and about elitism more generally ... The evocation of "a swirling mass of gray and black and white" seems to call into question the binary Manichaeism, which seems unreal when you look closely at the particular experiences of individuals.
"Salt of the Earth" heavily features the acoustic work of Richards, typical of most songs from Beggars Banquet. Richards also performs the slide guitar throughout the song as Brian Jones, notable for his slide on previous songs in the past, was absent from these sessions. While some songs from Beggars Banquet were recorded by Jagger and Richards with only a tape recorder in between them, "Salt of the Earth" was recorded at London's Olympic Sound Studios in May 1968.
Featuring on the song are the Los Angeles Watts Street Gospel Choir and a piano performance by Nicky Hopkins. These additions, and their prominence near the end of the song, are thought to have had an influence on their next album Let It Bleed's closing song, " You Can't Always Get What You Want".
"Salt of the Earth" has a unique live history. It has only been played once to an instrumental playback and live five times.
- The first filmed rendition was for the taping of the 1968 television special The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (not released until 1996). However, this version features Keith Richards and Mick Jagger singing live while sitting with the audience as the backing track that appeared on Beggars Banquet is played.
- It was then revived 21 years later for three performances in Atlantic City during the 1989-1990 Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour, where the Stones were joined onstage by Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin of Guns N' Roses . Axl and Izzy were given their choice of songs, and when they chose this, the Stones had forgotten it, and had to listen to it to remember.
- Jagger and Richards performed it as a duet for the 2001 " The Concert for New York City", commemorating the fallen of September 11, 2001, although they changed the lyrics to make its message more positive (most notably "Let's drink to the good and the evil" was changed to "Let's drink to the good not the evil").
- Its only other performance was in London, Twickenham Rugby Ground, on September 20, 2003 during the Licks Tour.