ANNIVERSARY GO DEEPER : CHRISTMAS

Blimey, fab historical bio below, enjoyed that. Me, too, I 'm a newbie of not even 12 months standing, tho' my anniversary must be coming up soon. I remember well what first attracted my attention, nearly three and a half  years ago, and why. I had been tasked with researching a Christmas playlist, and, rather than the usual Now That's What I call Xmas fare from all the usual usual, or even just good old Phil Spector, I took the job way too seriously, spending hours and days, scouring the interweb, scooting from blog to blog, hoovering up tracks. Of course, the fact that you could, in those innocent days, download directly, was a distinct bonus, even if you had to delete responsibly after a research and review single listen. (Yeah, right) Christmas 2010 was a riot, tho' my family and guests were exhausted after 6 full days of continuous listening.(Did you know quite how many versions of Daddy, Please Don't Get Drunk This Christmas there are?). This was my first foray to this site, although I then had to plough back through as far as I could muster my strength for, whether Xmas or not, being ecumenically scruple free. (Took bloody ages, to say nothing of the blogs of the associated and kin, listed alongside, some of which continue, many of which don't. Somehow I feel some advertorial coming on coming on for Boy Howdy, nominally still in our band of sixsongs merry pranksters, tho' increasingly quiet, a dude who has introduced me to more music than perhaps anyone I can think of. Thanks, BH. Will we be seeing you at this party?)

So, 22/12/2010, Vince Guaraldi Trio. What more can I tell you? Precious little in fact. I don't even believe I
DLed, but the other song is accessible here. (With baited breath I found the original page and tried to DL from there, but the wretched mediafire blurb about why, blah, blah, blah came up on trying.) Is it a good song? I suppose it depends on your mindset. Rock and roll, it ain't, in lyric or melody, but I have increasingly become a sucker for Mrs Costello and her ilk, exemplary female crooning, with a sympatico piano. Humbug, say you? Fie on you. Christmas ain't Christmas unless it got cheese, preferably a good stilton. Even at the end of March.

Buy it!

I'm supposed to be digging deeper into the artist or the song, and, to be fair, I'm struggling. Anyone can look up wiki and I have little to add to their versions of the truth. So I'm instead going to return to my earlier mention of the drunken daddy. This song was written by a Bill Danoff and a Taffy Nivert , no, me neither, and seems to have first appeared on a John Denver 1975 xmas album, Farewell, Andromeda, and was also the 3rd of 3 singles therefrom, reaching 69 in both the popular music and the country chart. Here's his version, which fails to cut any mustard for me, being an entirely straight (faced) rendition. Better by far, IMHO, is this one, performed by Colin Meloy and his estimable Decemberists. At face value it is every bit as straitlaced, yet somehow has me imagining tongues firmly in cheeks, albeit with reverence. This band, from Portland, have been slowly cranking up a fanbase over 14 or so years, pulling the wool between diverse folky-country powerpop and ballads, with Mr Meloys marmite voice holding it together, often ably abetted by female guest voices, including Laura Veirs, Petra Haden and Sara Watkins, amongst others, not forgetting Gillian Welch. The setting is often staunchly traditional, with string and bellows evident as much as electricity.
I'm uncertain if they have featured before, but, maybe in 8 years time, when someone retrospectivises this day.

Buy it (Denver)

Buy it (Decemberists)

Until then, SMM, many happy returns. And thanks for having me!

Live: The Eagle and the Hawk

John Denver: The Eagle and the Hawk

[purchase]

I imagine this week will be full of concert stories, some of which we've already heard. I wanted to be sure to post a live John Denver song before the week ended as an excuse to write about one of my favorite concert moments.

I saw John Denver in Park City, Utah (pictured above) in about 1989 at the outdoor amphitheater there. If you have never been to Park City, it is a phenomenally scenic environment, and the amphitheater is an ideal setting for live music of all kinds.

This particular concert was in the middle of the summer, when the sun sets sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 PM. We were all sitting on blankets on the hillside for the show.

At one point as the shadows were getting darker John Denver was right in the middle of a song, just him and his guitar up on stage, when he abruptly stopped playing, pointed behind the crowd and said, "Look at the sun".

Silently, thousands of heads immediately and simultaneously turned around to see the sun as it dropped below the mountains, streaks of red reflecting off of the wisps of clouds in the summer sky. I remember smiling and even laughing briefly at this impromptu shared experience. Within 10-15 seconds, Denver started to play again and the concert went on.

That's why I love live music.

I've always thought John Denver was an underrated artist. I think he made some career choices (The Muppets, that movie "Oh God!") that undermined his street cred. But up until about 1975 he could write a song with the best of them.

This is The Eagle and the Hawk, live.

Christmastime: Christmas For Cowboys

John Denver: Christmas for Cowboys

[purchase]

We started our week with John Hartford on the silent river at Christmas Eve; we end it with John Denver on the lonesome prairie, that clear, high tenor ringing out his preference for the sky and the range, the saddle and the reins on Christmas Day.

The songs both come from and celebrate the opposite ends of the country, one with water and wheel, one with snow-covered plains; Hartford's Christmas is warm and damp with the deep South, while Denver's is cold, windy, and snow-covered. But stick 'em together, and there's something eminently paired about these two songs, something deeply akin about their songwriters.

Guess I've got a soft spot in my heart for songs - and men - that reject the trappings of crass overplayed commercial existence, to celebrate instead the beauty of a workingman's communion with nature, where the the work is sacred, the fire is sustenance, the wide-open horizon is the endless promise of another year, and the starlit sky is a Christmas tree lit from the heavens.

And who can resist one more coversong, for Christmas' sake?

Jars of Clay: Christmas For Cowboys

[purchase]

Beatles Covers: Mother Nature's Son

John Denver Mother Nature's Son

[purchase]

Mother Nature's Son has been covered by at least six other artists that I'm aware of, but I always imagine John Denver hearing it for the first time and thinking, "Dang! I should have written that song!"

Paul wrote Mother Nature's Son in response to a particular lecture by the Maharisi Yogi while The Beatles were in India. Lennon wrote the unreleased Child Of Nature following the same lecture (you may recognize the melody, which he reused on the Imagine album).

This has always been one of my favorite songs, and in spite of all of the covers, I think McCartney's version is the best version by far.

Peace On Earth: The Christmas Wish

John Denver & The Muppets: The Christmas Wish

[Purchase]

Merry Christmas, Star Makers and readers!

This album, John Denver & The Muppets: A Christmas Together, is what it takes for it to feel like Christmas for me. It has been part of our family tradition for years and has always been a favorite. I mentioned it before on a post about John Denver, but there's something about him that seems to go well with Christmas...and the Muppets, well, who doesn't love the Muppets? This album is beautiful and a Christmas classic for my generation I would say. It has all the fun you'd expect from The Muppets, but also all the serene beauty of a calm holiday by the fire.

This song, though sung by Kermit and the gang and not John, is a song of peace and love and sounds very much like something John would sing. I love the words because it encourages us to remember that Christmas is about sharing and putting away differences to allow for the fellowship of mankind whether you're a Christian or not. Admittedly, I've always found one of the great things about the Muppets to be the friendship of so many odd creatures. Where else would it seem almost normal for a bear to be a harmless, yet pitifully poor, comedian, a frog to date a pig, and a dog to be an amazing pianist? They may not fit in within normal society, but they have each other. The fact that they joke around but also can be melancholy too and will go out of their way for each other really is the spirit of friendship and of the holidays. So today, their Christmas Wish is also mine. I hope you are having a joyous holiday!

Christmas is a time to come together
A time to put all differences aside.
And I reach out my hand
To the family of man
To share the joy I feel at Christmastime.

Johns: John Denver

John Denver: Sunshine On My Shoulders

[purchase]


Some consider him one of of the greatest folk singers we've ever had and others find him incredibly hokey (there were a whole series of jokes about him, not even to mention the Monty Python stuff). But as someone whose family spent many a holiday with his "John Denver & The Muppets: A Christmas Together" album, he will always be okay in my book. And what's wrong with that wanting to buy the world a Coke feeling, anyway?


Submitted by Anne of Curiously Tasty Music

Fifty States: Colorado

The Flying Burrito Brothers: Colorado

[purchase]

I spent a month camping in Colorado once. It was amazing. Let me tell you something: being 24 years old, fishing for your breakfast, and playing the guitar under the stars at night is about as good as life gets. This song was written by Rick Roberts after Graham Parsons left the band. I don't really think it's a great song, but it's pretty OK.  However, thinking of that month I spent in those mountains makes me sympathize with Roberts' lyric as he longs to return to the state:

Hey Colorado is it too late to change my mind?

Also, during a younger and more innocent stage of my life I loved John Denver, so I'm including him here too. I can't listen to him anymore for some reason, maybe because life is too serious now or maybe because I'm too "cool", but there's a certain wide-eyed optimism to his music that has its appeal. Say what you will about the Muppets and the glasses, but this guy loved the outdoors and he loved Colorado.

John Denver: I guess he'd rather be in Colorado

Little Black Book: Darcy Farrow

John Denver: Darcy Farrow

[purchase]

Darcy Farrow is a straight-up folk song first recorded in 1965 by Ian & Sylvia, and since recorded by dozens of country and folk musicians, including John Denver, Nanci Griffith, and Jimmy Dale Gilmore. The song was written by Steve Gillette and Tom Campbell. The John Denver version is the only one I own, so that's what you get. If anyone has the original, please pass it my way and I'll include it in the post.

This is a traditional, travis picked, folk tune that tells the tragic story of Darcy Farrow, who was the most beautiful flower that bloomed o'er the range. Local boy, Vandamere, pledged his love to her, but before they could wed, Darcy died in an accident. Soon after, Vandamere put a bullet through his brain.

According to Gillette, the song was inspired by a non-fatal accident that his sister, Darcy, had when she was 12. Tom Campbell wrote the words, with the real Darcy's experience acting as little more than a launching point.

Music is always a personal experience, in the end, and for me I have at least two reasons to love this song, besides the fact that it sounds great:

1 - It's relatively easy to play on the guitar, but sounds hard to play. This kind of thing is gold when it comes to impressing the uninitiated.
2 - I have spent a lot of time in and around the Carson Valley, Virginia City, and Truckee so the scenery is easy for me to imagine.

... Enjoy

History: Watergate Blues, H20 Gate Blues

Tom T. Hall: Watergate Blues [purchase]

Not a lot to say about this one. The song pretty much tells the story. Here's a Wikipedia article if you need more info.

Oh, and here's a short bonus tune (thanks to Robert from Reno):

John Denver: The Ballad Of Spiro Agnew [purchase]

**UPDATE!**: Thanks to Snuh & LD, here is another great history tune about Watergate (deadicated to Spearhead X, a.k.a. Spiro Agnew):

Gil Scott-Heron: H2O Gate Blues [purchase]