Laughter: Trumpet Clip

Paul Westerberg: Trumpet Clip
[purchase]

This was the second song that jumped into my head when I heard the theme. The Joni Mitchell song was the obvious choice, but once this song got in, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head for more than a week. Even after reading this article about getting rid of earworms.

Paul Westerberg is a great songwriter, and his style has matured from his early days with The Replacements, but there is definitely a Westerberg sound, which is not to say that all of his songs sound the same, just that he has a distinctive style. “Trumpet Clip” is one of his minor gems, with an infectiously, even insidiously, catchy tune. And I am of the opinion that most songs are improved by a horn section. But the lyrics are completely ridiculous.

When I discussed Joni’s “Big Yellow Taxi” last week, I pretended that I understood the recording process that resulted in her giggle. Here, I want to believe that Westerberg wrote the tune, and just sort of made up nonsense lyrics, which he decided to keep. About 50 seconds in, after he sings, “pin the tail on Demi Moore,” he can’t hold it together, and kind of chuckles, as he continues, singing the classic lyric, “ring around the donkey core.”

To me, a good song is something you feel in your gut, and great lyrics aren’t necessary, but they can be a bonus. I mean, how many of us think that a song containing the line: “If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, It's just a spring clean for the May queen” is one of the greatest accomplishments of human civilization? And on the other hand, there is, say, pretty much every Richard Thompson song.

But in “Trumpet Clip,” it is that moment where the artifice is stripped away, and it is clear that Westerberg realizes the absurdity of what he is saying, that gives this song extra charm. Now, listen to it and let me know if you can get it out of your head. And if so, how.

Laughter : She Doesn't Laugh At My Jokes

Jonathan Richman:  She Doesn't Laugh At My Jokes

[Purchase]

Jonathan Richman's first marriage was nearing that seven year itch stage when he celebrated domestic life in a series of songs on 1991's amusing, often hilarious Having a Party. It's probably not fair to read too much into Richman's lyrics ("I wake up hilarious / how come she's so serious?"), but couples who can't laugh together are usually in trouble.



The album also contains "When I Say Wife":

"When I Say Wife/It's because I can't find another word/for the way we are
/but 'Wife' sounds like your mortgage/it sounds like the family car"

Funny? Yes.

But as Jonathan told Julia Sweeney in a 1993 article for Spin Magazine he's often misunderstood:
   
     "Partly because, even when something's serious, I think it's funny so people think I'm putting them on even though I really mean it."

Jonathan and Gail divorced in 1996. The ageless 61 year old singer has been happily remarried since 2003.

Laughter: Big Yellow Taxi

Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi
[purchase]

I’m guessing that if you think of Joni Mitchell, you don’t usually think of fun and laughing. Her music, as a whole, is pretty serious, confessional and introspective, even somber. And yet, there she is, at the end of “Big Yellow Taxi,” a fun song, but still with a serious message about environmental issues and personal loss, giggling infectiously after showing off her remarkable vocal range. I have to believe that it wasn’t planned, but that after going way up high, then dropping down low during this take, she amused herself and laughed. I like to think that she heard the tape and realized that the giggle, even if it was an imperfection, was natural and genuine, and that she decided to release it in that form. The song stands out, even on the incredible album that it is from—Ladies of the Canyon has a number of truly classic Joni songs, including that other laugh riot, “The Circle Game.”

When we were dating, my wife was surprised that I liked Joni Mitchell. But it is impossible to deny her talents as a singer, songwriter and connoisseur of music. My tastes, as any reader of my posts to this blog can attest, are pretty broad, but as my wife and I were getting to know each other, she recognized that I liked music that was little harder than she did. Luckily, however, there was significant overlap, enough that we generally were able to make it work. No, she doesn’t love all of the punk, or alt-country or prog rock that I enjoy, but we have found a big area of common ground. And in a family where listening to music is of the utmost importance, it has been critical to our sanity and our relationship. (We are approaching our 25th anniversary, so I guess it has been working out pretty well.)

I’m one of those guys who loves to skip around on the radio looking for a better song, and that makes my wife crazy. We have a rule that you can’t change the station if someone says not to, and that has also kept the peace during car rides. But now that we have satellite radio in one of our cars, I have a problem. There is a station on Sirius XM called “The Bridge,” which bills itself as “the softer side of rock. Stress-free music from Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison and Elton John. Nothing too hard, just great mellow rock.” My wife loves this station—it hits, as she says, her “sweet spot.” And I’m OK with some Jackson Browne, I love Bonnie Raitt and Van Morrison, and can tolerate the occasional Elton John song. But once we land on The Bridge, it is almost impossible for me to convince my wife to let me try another station. I call it the Roach Motel of satellite radio--you can get in, but you can’t ever get out. Worse, every time we turn on the station, it seems like they are playing The Little River Band, and I want to poke something sharp into my ears to make it stop. (On long car rides, we now listen to my iPod, with a curated playlist of songs that I think she will like, although I do sneak in some stuff outside her comfort zone because, well, that’s the way I am.)

I can take mellow rock, but only in moderation—I need something harder and harsher to mix it up. But I have to say, classic Joni is almost always welcome. As is a good laugh.

Laughter: It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry

 

Shaun Murphy/Little Feat: It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry

[purchase the 1965 Dylan version]

Forgive my repetitious returns to the same musicians: last week it was Dylan, and more than once before, I have brought you Little Feat. Indulge me, if you will, to hear my reasons (besides the fact that I just happen to like their sounds).

While I deeply respect Dylan, there’s not many of his vocals that hit the spot for me (Nashville Skyline and Slow Train Coming may have come closest to my preferences).  Highway 61 Revisted, the 1965 album this song appeared on, is not one of my preferences in terms of Dylan vocals. However, as noted last week in “The Bard”, for me, it is his lyrics . There isn’t much to laugh about in the lyrics here – quite the opposite. The Laugh of the week is clearly limited to the title. Overall the words strike me as being rather bleak. Yet, there are people who find clear sexual reference:

If I die on top of the hill

And if I don’t make it

You know my baby will

is a supposed reference to “petit mort”? For my part, rather than search for meaning, it is the juxtaposition of words and images they convey: “Ride a mail train/Can’t by a thrill”.

The song structure is basic blues, and many of the version you’ll hear veer to the lugubrious: slow and true to the train - both of the title and of the blues themselves. However, and the reason I link first to the version I have chosen is because of the way Ms Shaun Murphy does her thing. For about 15 years, she did vocals with Little Feat before she moved on to her own band. (Do check the last of the videos at this link) Also see this link to download the full set of songs from this London concert in 2004. On her website, I am delighted to see that Bonnie Raitt has good words for her: they've got very similar musical energies. Finally, here are links to other versions/other musicians doing the song

Garcia Birthday Band: It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes aTrain to Cry

String Cheese Incident: It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes aTrain to Cry

(All mp3s here courtesy of the Internet Archive ... for more)