David Olney: Love‘s Been Linked to the Blues
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Before this place goes completely to the birds, I thought I would offer one more post on our old theme. David Olney got a quick medical degree, so that he could conduct a special study for the FDA. The report of his results come in a gently swinging ballad that says it in a way the lay listener can completely understand.
Todd Snider: Statistician's Blues
Goddamn right, it's a beautiful day.
Spin Doctors: Jimmy Olsen's Blues
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Think you've got problems? Imagine trying to compete with Superman.
Poor Jimmy Olsen's got no chance, and he knows it - even if he could get Lois away from the Man of Steel, he'd still have Clark Kent between himself and the object of his affection. Even his analyst says it's hopeless. Yet a man can dream, can't he?
It's a masterful conceit, and Spin Doctors spin the tale out pretty well for a bunch of scrawny pre-hipster guys in pajamas. Quite possibly the best thing about Pocket Full Of Kryptonite, even if other songs got all the press and MTV airplay.
MERRY: Bara to Katasumi no Blues
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Were you thinking that songs that end in "Blues" would give you a respite from my incessant J-Rock postings?
Think again.
No, no, I do this 'cuz I love ya.
Not only does this song have the required title, it's a bona fide boogie-woogie blues tune complete with a walking base line. If it weren't for the Japanese lyrics, you could imagine Brian Setzer rocking this. Okay, I can imagine it.
Taj Mahal: Fishin‘ Blues
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Fishin’ Blues is proof that blues can be good time music. Taj Mahal’s career is further proof of this. Mahal has always been interested in showing that there is more to blues music than wallowing in self pity. As he says, "You can listen to my music from front to back, and you don't ever hear me moaning and crying about how bad you done treated me.” So it’s only fitting that Fishin’ Blues has become one of Taj Mahal’s signature tunes.
Blind Lemon Jefferson: Matchbox Blues
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Robert Johnson: Stop Breaking Down Blues
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Henry Thomas: Bull Doze Blues
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Tom Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster: Rising Sun Blues
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Robert Johnson: Crossroads Blues
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Blind Willie McTell: Statesboro Blues
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We haven't had a quiz lately, have we? Put on your thinking caps, my little Starmakers, and match the original Delta blues song (circa 1920-1930) with the British/U.S. group (circa 1960-1970) that made real money off it covered it. (And Canned Heat not only recorded the song, they also managed to wrangle the copyright to it as well, shame on them).
1. Matchbox Blues (1927)
2. Stop Breaking Down Blues (1937)
3. Bull Doze Blues (1928)
4. Rising Sun Blues (1933)
5. Crossroad Blues (1936)
6. Statesboro Blues (1928)
A. The Animals (1964)
B. Canned Heat (1968)
C. The Beatles (1964)
D. The Rolling Stones (1972)
E. The Allman Brothers (1971)
F. Cream (1968)
highlight for answers: 1=C, 2=D, 3=B, 4=A, 5=F, 6=E
Miles Davis: All Blues
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Corey Christiansen, Jimmy Bruno, Vic Juris: All Blues
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Miles Davis' tune All Blues is a jazz arrangement of a 12-bar blues. It first appeared on his 1959 Kind of Blue, which is on about a zillion Top Ten Jazz Albums Like Ever lists. The reasons for this are twofold: the tune itself is a intricate, lengthy improvisation based solely on chord scales, giving the musicians great freedom, and the players themselves were terrific artists at the top of their game. Let's see. Miles Davis, of course, on trumpet. Bill Evans on piano. Two stellar sax players: Cannonball Adderley on alto and the incomparable John Coltrane on tenor. Paul Chambers on base and Jimmy Cobb on drums. If I were to pick one single jazz song to play for curious alien visitors, this would be the one.
You know which musicians reaaally love to cover this? Guitarists! I'm looking at my not-all-that-extensive collection and even then, I've got covers by Larry Carlton, Pat Martino, George Benson, Stanley Jordan, Kenny Burrell, and Jim Hall. But the one I've chosen to share is by three - count 'em – three guitarists. I like this version because it's got that bluesy slide guitar intro that echoes the 12-bar blues origin of the song. Corey Christiansen is a professor of music at both Utah State and Indiana Universities, and he drops in to my town to play every so often. He's truly gifted and a nice guy to boot.
Tom Waits: Tom Traubert‘s Blues
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In the mid 1970s, I hated strings. They were all over the place, sugar-coating songs that didn’t need it and would have been better off without it. I didn’t forgive some of my favorite artists for doing this, notably Jackson Browne on his album The Pretender. But there were two artists whose string arrangements were as lush ad romantic as anyone’s, but who I did forgive. Randy Newman really orchestrated his songs, and showed how creative string arrangements could be. And then there was Tom Waits, and especially Tom Traubert’s Blues.
Waits has always been the troubadour of the unfortunate. His characters have been brought low before we meet them, and now they seem to live on discarded cigarette butts and cheap whiskey. Most people walk through a city, and there are these people, begging for what ever they can get, and most people ignore them as best they can. Tom Waits has the gift of seeing them, and seeing fellow human beings with hopes and dreams. And Waits has the further gift of being able to bring these people to life, and making us care about them. The strings here help carry those dreams to the stars, while Waits’ gravelly voice and evocative lyrics remind us of whose dreams these are. This is a delicate combination, and it makes this song almost impossible to cover properly.
Tom Traubert’s Blues incorporates the traditional Australian song Waltzing Matilde for two reasons that have nothing to do with the meaning of the original song. First, as rendered here, Waltzing Matilde sounds like something a person might sing in a drunken stupor. And second, Waits is remembering meeting Danish singer Mathilde Bondo. They apparently had a night on the town together, winding up very drunk in his hotel room. Bondo later acknowledged this meeting in an interview.
John Renbourn: White House Blues
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It's the anniversary of President William McKinley's death, so forgive me if I cannot help but post a favorite version of White House Blues which I had kickin' round the ol' hard drive. The tune has been covered plenty, with classic versions by Charlie Poole and others on the list of greats, but I've always liked Pentangle founder and acoustic stringmaster John Renbourn's take, with it's slightly jarring harmony vocals rising like a ghost to haunt the otherwise gentle folk performance from Faro Annie, the British guitar wizard's 1971 LP of mostly traditional folk tunes.
For comparison's sake, fellow folkblogger Matt of A Truer Sound has three more great versions from Bill Monroe, Muleskinner, and Scott H Biram, plus a much more cohesive look at both the history of the song and the unfortunate events surrounding McKinley's assassination.
Michael Fracasso: Red Dog Blues
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Coming up with something to post this week has been a difficult task. Not for the lack of songs but the past few days we've been experiencing our own personal blues. One of our dogs, Sam, is fighting for his life battling kidney failure. We hope he pulls through, but as of this writing it's touch and go. Back during Four-Legged Friends week, this song was on my short list.
T-Bone Walker: Stormy Monday Blues
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I love blues music, so I’m very happy about this week’s theme. Yes, I know that song titles in other genres can end in “blues”, and I have at least one of those in mind. But to me, the only way to get started is with this classic.
T-Bone Walker is credited with having been the first blues artist to play an electric guitar, which he started doing in 1935. This version of Stormy Monday Blues starts with a great dialog between the electric guitar and the piano, and later the horns really make the whole thing complete. This electric guitar/ piano dialog would later show up in the work of Chuck Berry among others. The overall sound of this song was a clear influence on B B King. So T-Bone Walker created the vocabulary of electric blues, and those who followed after refined it. Stormy Monday Blues, a classic for a reason, is a fine example of why Walker’s music was such an inspiration.
Incidentally, Stormy Monday Blues became a signature song for Walker, and he recorded it at least several times. The version I have chosen comes from a collection of blues by various artists, and that is what I have linked to in the purchase link above. If anyone knows where this version can be found on an album of just T-Bone Walker’s music, please share that information in the comments.
Holy Modal Rounders: Hesitation Blues
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Growing up in midwestern America, I listened to a lot of music that everyone else was listening to as well. There was AM radio where I absorbed my share of the rock and roll culture. There was the tiny cache of my parents' vinyl albums (Mom's taste ran to Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, and Mr. Acker Bilk; my dad liked Boots Randolph). There were my sister's Beatles albums.
It took leaving home and going to college before I heard anything like this kind of music.
I first heard the Holy Modal Rounders through a boyfriend who loved blues of all sorts. Their songs were nothing like the music I knew. The lead singers both have voices that undoubtedly caused their tearful mothers to beg them not to aim for clearly hopeless musical careers. The guitar and fiddle sound straight from a West Virginia holler, not New York City where it actually originates. And the lyrics? What is this "psychedelic" of which they sing (remember, this was way back in 1964)?
Luckily, my love affair with distinctive music like this has lasted much longer than the one with that boyfriend.
Rita Coolidge: Late For School Blues
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This week's transitional post is a slightly silly kiddie blues number from "The Delta Lady", aka multiple Grammy winning vocalist Rita Coolidge, who can make pretty much anything sound funky.
Worth noting: for most of us, the blues isn't a genre, it's a state of mind. After all, my kids get it all the time, and they sure as heck can't tell the Piedmont from the Delta.