For The Birds: Rubber Duckie

Ernie: Rubber Duckie

[purchase]

Kelly Hogan: Rubber Duckie

[purchase]

Larry Paulette: Rubber Duckie

[scavenge out-of-print '77 album]

Love Pigs: Rubber Duckie

[download out-of-print sesame street punk covers compilation]

The Buffalo Chips: Rubber Duckie

[purchase other in-print CDs from SUNY Buffalo's only all-male a capella group]

As a long-time cover collector, I tend to have a handful of different versions of pretty much any beloved song lurking in my collection. In the LP world, these coversongs were often hard to keep track of without some sort of overly obsessive catalog system, but the highly manageable universe of iTunes and digital music feeds my obsession, making it easier both to store and collect single tracks, and to find those tracks easily.

The fruits of such a media shift: I have not one but five versions of Rubber Duckie to offer up for this week's theme, and each one is decidedly different. Ernie's original is a classic, of course. But sweet-voiced alt-country crooner Kelly Hogan's piano-driven lounge take is delightful in its sultry innocence, all the more noticeable next to openly gay seventies artist Larry Paulette's funky, slippery, sexually charged take. And the contrast between the thrash punk of Love Pigs and the barbershop a capella arrangement from male group The Buffalo Chips should go without saying.

This isn't my whole collection, of course. There's also an oddly pedophilic-sounding Little Richard cover out there, plus a marching band cover from a prison band, and a disco take with Robin Gibb and the Muppets that sounds exactly like you'd think it does, among others. But I just couldn't bring myself to share those alongside the "good" ones today - perhaps we'll take on a "questionable cover songs" theme for April Fools Day this year, and I'll dig 'em up then instead.

Thanks to long-time cover blog Fong Songs for introducing me to two of these covers, by the way. Host Jamie Fong closed down the shop just this month, but he went out with a bang, and his final series - a top 101 covers countdown - remains up for the nonce.

Leftovers: The Refrigerator Clean-Out Continues...

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday – I love the non-commercial/no-agenda-ness of the intangible season that Hallmark has yet to find a way to hold us hostage with guilt and greeting cards. Grace abounds, as we are surrounded by ones we love who love us in return – in this spirit, despite economic woes, we count our blessings and realize we have much for which to be thankful.

I remain grateful to all the Starmakers for widening the circle, making me feel welcome and introducing me to so many wonderful artists and songs in my short time here – I also relish the opportunity to present a few more of my favorites before this week’s Tupperware is tossed (burp!).

Work: Papa Was a Rodeo

There used to be a very awesome image of a guy on a horse at a rodeo here. It has since been removed by request of the photographer. Click on this huge block of text to find it, and order a copy of it, from Lisa Cawte-Baker.

Kelly Hogan & the Pine Valley Cosmonauts: Papa Was a Rodeo

[purchase]

In my Jody Grind post a few days ago, I mentioned Kelly Hogan and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts… and thought to myself, “hmmm, if there’s ever a Career Theme, I have the perfect song” – going back through the archives once again, I discovered there had indeed been a Work Week!

I enjoy all 11 tracks on this CD, but I could listen to Papa Was a Rodeo (written by Magnetic Fields, I have since found out) eleven times in a row on repeat play and never tire of the way the narrator’s defense-mechanism bravada… segues to finding someone with similar circumstances… gives way to happily ever after… “tooooo”…

Civics Lessons: Buzzer

Dar Williams: Buzzer

[purchase]

No one here realizes what restraint it’s taken on my part not to submit a Dar Williams song each week, whose body of work (next to Joni's) is the litmus test by which I measure all others – when I first heard You’re Aging Well (which I still consider my personal anthem) over a decade ago on Joan Baez’s Ring Them Bells CD, it began the contemporary folk and acoustic music path upon which I peacefully embarked and joyfully continue. Dar has a lovely voice and better-than-average guitar skills… but it’s her lyrics that continue to captivate – from her relationship songs to her political tunes, smart layered thought-provoking turns of phrase invoke vivid images and issues of ephiphany.

Buzzer (which I would have submitted for Civics Lessons, featured the week before I came on board) is based on the Stanley Milgram experiment in the early-60’s, testing obedience to authority and individual responsibility – the robotic tempo of the song, coupled with the sensory-overloaded life of the woman who volunteered because she just needed some extra cash, helps one see “the big picture”, as the song extrapolates how just following orders can lead to questioning one’s ethics of stock purchase and clothes buying. Classic Dar – as she says on her Out There Live CD: “brilliant, brilliant”...

The Moon: The Moon and St. Christopher

Mary Chapin Carpenter: The Moon and St. Christopher

[purchase]

Danger… Warning… Caution – chick song alert!

And if you’re in touch with your inner SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy), you may also have a visceral reaction to this tune I belatedly offer up for Moon Week – it’s about regrets and what-ifs and one-may-never-knows. I’ve always thought it was a shame Mary Chapin Carpenter was pigeonholed as country during her early career – however, her last 3 or 4 CDs have garnered a larger audience, more interested in insightful songwriting than genre…

Now I have run from the arms of lovers,
I've run from the eyes of friends,
I have run from the hands of kindness,
I've run just because I can…”

My father was given his St. Christopher (patron saint of travelers) medal before he went to Korea as a Marine in the early 50’s – the priceless talisman now resides on my keychain to remind me of my dad's presence and to protect me on my journeys (emotional, spiritual and geographical)…

Leftovers (Footwear): Just Because You Wear Big Shoes

The Jody Grind: Just Because You Wear Big Shoes

[purchase]

The Jody Grind was an iconic Atlanta band in the early 90’s and I saw/heard them many times while living there – One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure was (and still is) a favorite CD, its style all over the musical map… from the jangly jazz of Death of Zorba… to the sultry torch of Blue and Far… to the powerhouse punch of Eight-Ball (and who knew the Peter Gunn theme had words?!?).

When I saw Footwear Week in the archives, this song from my past, whose country twang easily follows, without duplicating, Loretta Lynn/Tammy Wynette/Dolly Parton footprints, immediately stepped up and tapped to be included:

“He’s got more love in one finger than you have in both your hands…
Just because you wear big shoes, that don’t make you a man”

The Jody Grind’s career was tragically cut short when their drummer and bassist were killed in an automobile accident on the way back from a show in Pensacola, Florida in 1992, along with beloved Atlanta spoken word artist Deacon Lunchbox – Kelly Hogan, lead vocalist and cornerstone of the group, has since moved to Chicago and gone on to solo recognition and, more recently, an alt-country flavor with The Pine Valley Cosmonauts....

For more info: A fan-based website (last updated in 2003) can be found here... and a great post-Jody Grind interview here...