Richard Shindell: Che Guevara T-Shirt
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A song of immigration and racial inequality from Richard Shindell, one of my favorite still-standing Fast Folk-era folksingers, who has a way with the words of the downtrodden and their confrontations with the trappings of so-called justice which in his best moments transcends even the crushed hopes and longing of Springsteen or Joan Baez on similar topics. Here, our titular shirt is worn by the narrator's young love, a girl for whom he has embarked upon a dangerous journey to the land of milk and honey, only to be stymied by terrorist-dream-driven border patrol assumptions about the iconic portrayal which she sports on her chest in the photograph he carries.
It's like I tell my media students: never forget the power of the iconographic to be misunderstood. What you wear speaks volumes, and though it may have a particular meaning to you, its message is hardly ever clear.
This comes from a March 1992 show at Lounge Ax in Chicago, about six weeks before original drummer, Mike Heidorn, quit the band. Capturing UT at the possible height of their powers, this gig also featured covers of "Love's Gonna Live Here Again" (Buck Owens), "Brand New Cadillac" (Clash), "Blue Eyes" (Gram Parsons/ISB), "The Concept" (they'd just finished a tour opening for Teenage Fanclub), and a medley of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Steppin' Stone." OK, so maybe sometimes good guys do wear white.
The Biscuit Boys: White Habit
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Here's a nun "chaser" for anyone who needs to cleanse the palate after the sexy clothes subtheme we seem to have evolved today. Step back a bit, and they look like a raft of penguins.
The accompanying crisp, pristine bluegrass instrumental comes courtesy of The Biscuit Boys, a short-lived band of young string wizards which broke up a year or two after after the millennium, just a little too early to take advantage of the whole next generation bluegrass revival which has been taking root over the past few years. And, as a relevant bonus, here's their great cover of John Hartford's You Don't have To Do That, which includes the lines Now why you gotta spend all that time in front of the mirror / And why you gotta spend all that time tryin' on clothes. It even has a kazoo in it, which is about as far from sexy as it gets.
The Biscuit Boys: You Don't Have To Do That
Esquivel: Mini Skirt
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Not our usual fare, I'll admit. And there's always a risk that the "space age bachelor pad music" which arranger, composer, and bandleader Juan Garcia Esquivel defined in the fifties and sixties will come across as something not far from elevator music in the modern ear. But there's a surprisingly complex texture in the better works of the artist generally known simply as Esquivel. And what better tune for a midweek stretch than this lighthearted loungepop shorty, complete with wolf whistles, bouncy piano plunking, and the ubiquitous homophonic chorus?
Ana Egge: Wedding Dress
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Songwriting challenge: tell a story without using any verbs. In Wedding Dress, Ana Egge sketches three characters, one in each verse. The chorus describes a wedding dress, which is used as a metaphor. Put it together and the listener knows exactly what happened. Amazing!
Baby, take off your coat...(real slow)
Baby, take off your shoes...(here, I'll take your shoes)
Baby, take off your dress
Yes, yes, yes
You can leave your hat on...
Go on over there and turn on the light...no, all the lights
Now come back here and stand on this chair...that's right
Raise your arms up in to the air...shake 'em
You give me a reason to live
You give me a reason to live...
Suspicious minds are talking
Trying to tear us apart
They say that my love is wrong
They don't know what love is...
I know what love is
Rosie Thomas: Pretty Dress
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I’m happy that Rosie Thomas has made a bit of a splash on the music blogosphere in recent years. She has a voice that falls somewhere between a young Joni Mitchell and Jane Siberry. (If you’ve never heard of Jane Siberry, stick around. I’ll be posting something by her as soon as an appropriate theme comes along. If you have heard of her, leave a comment.)
Getting back to Rosie Thomas, Pretty Dress is her take on the tale of The Ugly Duckling. Thomas tells the tale eloquently by keeping the lyrics simple; with repeated listenings, you come to realize just how well Thomas has told her tale, with not a word wasted
Peter Siegel: Polka Dot Bathing Suit
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Western Massachusetts local hero Peter Siegel made it as far as nationally syndicated roots radio show etown a few years ago after winning first place in our local radio station's singer-songwriter contest, but he's still firmly under the radar as far as name recognition goes. Happily, in this part of the world, a versatile stringman with a good sense of humor and a radical bent towards the same seventies ideals that still linger in the post-Hippie environs of the Pioneer Valley can make a pretty good living hopping from contra dance to small old-timey coffehouse set, with bandmates and as a solo multi-instrumentalist, as long as he keeps his day job teaching music at an elementary school.
Peter's an old, dear friend, and our kids are great playmates, but despite my bias, I genuinely believe this is one of his best songs, a poppy, summery stand-out on his 2004 release The Show -- a solid album with newgrass, folk, psychedelic, and old-timey influences which he bills as a "political Vaudeville experience". For more samples, including a great old ragtime number and a few choice cuts from his newest album, head over to Peter's MySpace.
"I never felt I really sealed that song; I never felt the carpentry was finished. That song and 'Bird on the Wire' were two songs I never successfully finished, but they were good enough to be used. Also, with the poverty of songs I have for each record, I can't afford to discard one as good as that. It's one of the better tunes I've written, but lyrically it's too mysterious, too unclear."Like many of Cohen's songs it is based on a true story.
Nanci Griffith: Dress of Laces
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The well-worn metaphor of a well-worn dress speaks to the weary heart of a girl desperate for love from an absentee father and a debauching mother; I won't give away the ending, but I will say that the moral here seems to be that laces let to wear too thin can snap -- revealing, too late, that which would have kept us from an inevitably rash and regretful end.
The song, written and originally recorded by relatively under-the-radar Texas singer-songwriter Saylor White, was given life on a national scale with the release of Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful), Nanci Griffith's second of two bestselling all-coversong tributes to her musical influences and peers. No less an authority than the oft-cited Oxford American Magazine included Griffith's gorgeous countryfolk ballad on their yearly Southern Sampler way back in 1998, and I think it bears repeating. With Lyle Lovett on harmony vocals for that perfect finishing touch.
Weezer: Pink Triangle
