Circuses and Carnivals: Five From The Midway

Dan Zanes: Wonderwheel

[purchase]

I went to a weekend fair
met someone while I was there
we put flowers in our hair
and rode the wonderwheel...

It sure sounds like a carnival, thanks to a rollicking accordion, a bouncy beat, and a subtle surfer's acoustic groove. And that's the point, for sure: after all, Dan Zanes is a master of the seemingly-casual kidsong, when in actuality, every note and tone is designed to add to the perfect festive mood, the inner child called to exquisitely.


Richard & Linda Thompson: The Wall of Death

[purchase]

Roller coaster as metaphor for the nauseating thrill-ride risk of the love affair? Yes, please. REM covers this one, but the Richard Thompson original is better by far, a perfect take from his mid-eighties solo work with ties to both true-blue rock and roll and his early folk rock sound with Fairport Convention.



David Wilcox: Top of the Roller Coaster

[purchase]

A bit more specific, softspoken southern folkie David Wilcox - a master of the sustained metaphor - looks at the roller coaster's moment of anticipation as a model of the inner heartjump turning thirty can bring. Love the way the bouncy tonality and sweet harmonies bring midlife crisis alive. So much joy.



Norah Jones: Carnival Town

[purchase]

A broad title belied in the first few lines - this is actually a song mostly about carnival rides and their motion as a reflection of life-movement, with each of the first two verses taking on a different ride (the third verse covers clowns). Loneliness on the downswing makes this a perfect lullaby.


Mary Gauthier: Merry Go Round

[purchase]

Gauthier holds off on her titular metaphor until the chorus, setting the stage with the violent and stark images of an early life of drug and family abuses that fit cleanly among the rest of the songs on powerful third album Filth & Fire. The carousel "horse" here is heroin; the turning of the wheel a path of addiction and recurrence - and so we come full circle, as it were, from the cheerfulness of Dan Zanes, proving the versatility of midway as macrocosm, reflecting the vastness of the inner world.

Cool Kidsongs: Just a Few More Edition

Here are four songs that fit our theme. Other than that, the only thing they have in common is that I couldn’t choose between them for my last post this week.

Zak Morgan: When Bullfrogs Croak

[purchase]

One key element of great kid’s music is a sense of humor. Zak Morgan delivers that here. Don’t miss the kicker in the last verse.

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman: Jenny Jenkins

[purchase]

Our theme this week is called Cool Kidsongs, but it could just as easily have been Not For Kids Only. When Jerry Garcia and David Grisman chose to make an album of music for kids and the adults who would have to listen with them, that is the title they used.

Jerry Garcia was, of course, the leader of the Grateful Dead. He had known David Grisman from San Francisco, before either musician made a name for themselves. The two had even recorded together in the one-shot bluegrass project, Old and in the Way. Grisman and Garcia had continued to get together and jam whenever their schedules allowed. Most of these jam sessions were committed to tape, and many have been released since Garcia’s death.

Here, their take on the traditional Jenny Jenkins shows the easy comraderie of old friends. The comfortable feeling and low key approach fairly represent the quality of the album as a whole.

Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer: Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?

[purchase]

One of the dangers of making kid’s music is overdoing the sweetness, and producing something cloying. Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, both together and individually, avoid that trap. Their music shows that it is possible to be sweet without overdoing it.

Dan Zanes (with Rosanne Cash): Fooba Wooba John

[purchase]

Dan Zanes used to be in a band called the Del-Fuegos. When they broke up, Zanes’ career took a surprising turn: he became a kid’s music artist. All of his albums that I am aware of include guests who you wouldn’t expect to be doing kid’s music at all. Rosanne Cash’s guest spot here is a fine example. In recent years, many “adult” artists have taken a turn at producing kid’s music albums. Dan Zanes may well have provided the inspiration to do so.

Bodies of Water: Loch Lomond

Cordelia's Dad: Loch Lomond

[purchase]

Dan Zanes w/ Natalie Merchant: Loch Lomond

[purchase]

O you’ll tak’ the high road and I’ll tak’ the low road
And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye
For me and my true love will ne-er meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond

Two of my favorite versions of this traditional, familiar Scottish tune of life, death, and scenery, first published in 1841 as The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond.

First, a rock/punk/jam genre-hybrid take from the self-titled debut of local boys Cordelia's Dad, who would later turn towards both shape note singing and an acoustic form of No Depression-era Americana, but got their start reframing american folk songs in a rock and roll mold.

And second, a much more mellow, meandering take from kidrock band leader and ex-Del Fuegos guitarist Dan Zanes, here joining forces with easily-identifiable guest vocalist Natalie Merchant.

Internationally schooled linguists will note, of course, that a Loch can be either a lake or a sea inlet. In this case, Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Great Britain, whose varied shoreline and numerous islands have made it a popular vacation destination for centuries.