Thanks and Appreciation: Thanks For the Boogie Ride

Erin McKeown: Thanks For the Boogie Ride

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My first response to this week’s theme was to realize that I had used three of my best choices for a post on my own blog, Oliver di Place. My next thought was that there are many songs of the “thank you for your love” variety. At that point, a procession of truly terrible pop songs began to play in my head. It seems that love is an overwrought emotional state that is always slow, has far too many strings, features truly ghastly oversinging, and all to mask a set of uninspired lyrics that need every production trick in the book to disguise their banality. So I resolved to seek out songs of thankfulness for things other than love.

But it has been bothering me. My experience of love has been nothing like this. It came on in a rush, accelerating every thing around me. It was not padded, but pure, and overwhelming but not complicated. Thinking about this, I remembered Thanks For the Boogie Ride. Erin McKeown nails exactly what I was feeling.

Gene Krupa Big Band with Anita O‘Day: Thanks For the Boogie Ride

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Just to check, I wanted a look at the lyrics. It turns out that they are not easy to find. I did, but not before I learned that the song was a cover. Here is the original version. It turns out that there is some interesting history here. In the big band era, most bands had a featured singer. Usually female, she would not even be on stage for the fast numbers, while the crowds jitterbugged away. She would come out only to sing the slow numbers. Anita O’Day was the first to change that. O’Day sang the fast numbers as well, and therefore became a full-fledged member of the band. Thanks For the Boogie Ride, from 1941, is a fine example of this “new sound”.

Shorties: The Taste of You

Erin McKeown: The Taste of You

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Erin McKeown is one of those wonderful artists who does not precisely fit into any genre. The case could be made for folk, tin pan alley, even jazz, but none of these labels does her justice.

The tracks I have chosen highlight McKeown’s jazzier side, but this is only one of the flavors her music comes in. I would encourage all to explore further.

Bonus track:

Erin McKeown: Honeysuckle Rose

The purchase link above applies only to the song The Taste of You. As far as I know, this version of Honeysuckle Rose is only available from Erin McKeown’s Daytrotter session.

Honeysuckle Rose is a cover of the classic Fats Waller tune.

Fifty States: Rhode Island

Erin McKeown: Rhode Island Is Famous For You

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Blossom Dearie: Rhode Island Is Famous For You

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The basic premise of this playfully silly song, originally written for a patriotic 1948 Broadway musical review starring Carl Reiner, among others, is that while other states are famous for major industrial output, Rhode island is famous for you.

By implication, then, Rhode Island doesn't make much. But you rock, so thanks for suggesting it, folks.

There were, in fact, two different artists mentioned as sources for this one; since I had 'em, I decided to come in with both covers. Personally, I prefer post-folkie Erin McKeown's retro swingfolk to Ms. Dearie's sixties showtune singing, but only by a very slim margin.

Bonus track: Of several other much more recent songs which are actually about Rhode Island, I much prefer young Sonic Youth compatriot Jennifer O'Connor's hopeful ode to the great state as a setting for a fulfilled and partnered future. The lyrics are actually quite beautiful under all that awesome New England fuzzrock.

Jennifer O'Connor: Exeter, Rhode Island

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