Johns: Johnny Paycheck

Johnny Paycheck: Georgia In A Jug

[purchase]

There two kinds of people in this world: Those who like Johnny Paycheck and those who don't. I'm solidly in the "like" camp. And I really really like this one.

Last year at my other blog I tried to figure out the "perfect" country song. I wasn't looking for the best country song, just the one that best defined the genre (as I understand it). Off the top of my head I came up with a few characteristics that would fit the bill:

(1) Clever lyrics (a pun, a joke, or a play on words, preferably in the title of the song);

(2) A storyline based, at least in part, on regret (good for fostering tears in beers);

(3) A stalwart, but flawed, protagonist;

(4) A peddle steel guitar;

(5) Alcohol (thanks to David Allan Coe and a host of others); and

(6) Reverence for the land, especially the South.

Listening to Johnny Paycheck play "Georgia In A Jug" I realized he did a great job hitting a full 6 out of 6 on my list! (The peddle steel guitar appears in the "Honolulu" portion of the song.)

So maybe this is the "country song" they will send into outer space to show the Martians what the Nashville scene was all about? Anyway, I find it to be particularly funny. Hope you like it.

Johns: John Fred

John Fred & His Playboy Band: Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)

[purchase]

For as long as I can remember I've loved this trippy sixties pop hit from John Fred.

Of course, for the first few years I thought he was saying "Judy In The Sky." The lyrics make about as much sense either way:

Judy in disguise, well that's what you are
Lemonade pies with a brand new car
Cantalope eyes come to me tonight
Judy in disguise, with glasses

Love the sixties.

Johns: John Hiatt

John Hiatt: Real Fine Love

[purchase]

There isn't a whole lot I can say about John Hiatt that I haven't already said over at my own site. I wrote a concert review after seeing Hiatt play this summer, and another post after it was announced he will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting this year from the Americana Music Association. You can find both posts here.

Johns: John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker: Goin To Louisiana

[purchase]


Greatest Bluesman ever? Hard to say, but you sure can make a case for Star Maker Machine favorite, John Lee Hooker. I have a gut feeling that somewhere in that great Blues gig in the sky, John Lee's foot is still tappin' out time steadier than a Swiss watch.

Johns: Dr. John

Dr. John: I Walk On Gilded Splinters

[purchase]


Join Dr. John while he walks on guilded splinters with the King of the Zulu - if you dare!

Roll outta my coffin
Drink poison in my chalice
Pride begins to fade
And y'all feel my malice

Here's a great page with info on Gris-Gris, the landmark album I Walk On Gilded Splinters comes from: Dr. John's Gris-Gris

Johns: John Lennon

John Lennon: Watching The Wheels

[purchase]

Wouldn't it be great if everybody got some second chance? Wouldn't it have been amazing if John Lennon had gotten some second chance?

If he hadn't been murdered by that schmuck?

If Our Man John had been allowed to live out his life, making things we all might have enjoyed? Ug...

I wends my brain thinking about that possibility. That optimitic eventuality...

Unfortunately, we don't get to live in a world where that is a reality...

Work: W.O.R.K.

Bow Wow Wow: W.O.R.K. (N.O. Nah No No My Daddy Don't) Extended Version

[purchase]


Besides the Sex Pistols, if Malcolm McLaren ever stole brought anything to Pop music, it was the Burundi Beat. One of his bands, Bow Wow Wow, used it to excellent result in W.O.R.K. (N.O. Nah No No My Daddy Don't). The group was fronted by 14-year-old Annabella Lwin, who was discovered working in a launderette by a friend of McLaren's. In W.O.R.K., Annabella sings about demolition of the work ethic, how technology leads to autonomy - back in 1981, that seemed a bit silly. For those that work from their laptops on flex-time, not so much now.

Here's a rare video of W.O.R.K. uploaded by old school music blogger Lil Mike:

WORK: BUBBA ROSE, 1961

Bob Frank and John Murry - Bubba Rose, 1961

[purchase]

Well. What better way for me to end my participation in the work week that with the finality of death? In this song Bubba does the thing we've all wanted to do at one time or another...he shoots his boss.

What makes this song different than most (and the album for that matter) is that Bubba Rose was (is?) a real person and in 1961 he really did shoot his boss. Neither Bob nor John knew Bubba or his family. They just wrote the song based on a newspaper clipping. That's the case for all the tracks on their 2007 effort, World Without End. Yup, instead of the traditional murder ballad thing that's been done, redone, remixed, and undone many times before them, they took a different route. They decided to start researching stories about real murders and write about them as they happened, sans the morality and rationalization commonly present in such songs.

Here. You get Bubba Rose. In 1961, he killed his boss.

Work: The Life Cycle of a Coal Mining Town

One could conceivably create a musical about coal miners and the towns they lived in, using existing music.

In Act One, the coal company finds coal, and creates a new town where none existed before. Two songs eloquently describe the conditions in which the miners live and work. Autopsy IV has already done an amazing job of presenting these here and here
.

In Act Two, the miners form a union to try to improve their lot. There is a strike and this song is used during a strike montage sequence.

Sting: We Work the Black Seam

[purchase]

(Sting wrote We Work the Black Seam as an expression of solidarity with striking coal miners in England.)

During the strike, a few of the miners become desperate, and return to work before the strike is over, becoming strike breakers, or “scabs”. This song is used to convey the conflict between them and the miners who remain on strike.

Steeleye Span: Blackleg Miner

[purchase]

(After Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span is the best known of the British folk-rock bands. Over the years, many musicians have been official or unofficial members of both bands..)

In Act Three, the mine becomes played out. The coal company closes the mine, leaving behind a town with no further reason for being, and leaving the former miners and their families to fend for themselves. Sadly this actually happened far too often. This song closes the show.

Michelle Shocked: The L&N Don‘t Stop Here Anymore

[purchase]

(Michelle Shocked created the concept of “folk-punk” to describe her music. I believe that this is her first appearance on Star Maker Machine. I hope it won’t be her last. For another excellent version of this tune, seek out the one by Norman Blake.)

Work: More About John Henry

Tom T. Hall: More About John Henry

[purchase]

You've already heard about John Henry this week, thanks to Darius' great post.

Well, here's some more information about Mr. Henry from one of my all-time favorite songwriters.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Work: Keep On Working

Pete Townshend: Keep On Working

[purchase]

Unfortunately this song about the constant demands of work is too often the story of my life. Fortunately it's a nice little tune from an underrated album.

This Rhino Podcast has a great feature about Pete's Empty Glass, as well as a few other interesting items. Check it out!

Work: Weird Al

Weird Al Yankovic: Dog Eat Dog

[purchase]

Weird Al Yankovic: Callin' In Sick

[purchase]

Yeah. That's right. Weird Al.

Just for fun, here are two tracks from an artist I absolutely idolized as a kid. I still buy his new albums for a bit of nostalgic indulgence. You want to judge me? That's fine. I'm posting them anyway.

Of course, Al is known mostly for his parodies of hit songs, but he also writes original tunes too. Here are two of Al's originals that deal with the plight of the working man.

The first, "Dog Eat Dog," comes from the 1986 release Polka Party. In it, Al channels David Byrne in a Talking Heads style rant against corporate America.

"Callin' In Sick" is from 1997's Bad Hair Day and pays tribute to a time honored tradition in the work place... calling in sick to play hooky from work. Al details all of the strange and slightly gross things he plans to do with his day off.

WORK: THE MINER'S LAMENT

Charlie Parr- Miner's Lament

[purchase]

I thought I'd follow my post of Sixteen Ton's with another about the plight of the miner. Making my posts this week sort of a mini-theme inside of a theme.

Duluth, Minnesota's, Charlie Parr plays a self-taught version of the Piedmont Blues that sounds like it’s hopped right off an Al Lomax field recording and into your living room. He has six albums to his name including 2004's King Earl which features this particular song.

Work: Cardboard Boxes

Rebekah: Cardboard Boxes

[purchase]


A lot of songs about work are about the struggle of the everyday working man. The laborer, the rat race, there's plenty of songs about those, but what about that more modern struggle of just getting that job in the first place? This song is about that struggle which is why I find it so unique. The struggle is not only in getting hired, but also in simply finding the motivation to get out of bed every morning and try again. All that, and it's also catchy and fun as well.

Rebekah Jordan released this one rock album back in 1997, back when female singer-songwriters were still being played on the radio. She had a single on the radio called "Sin So Well" that I enjoyed so I got her album. Since then that album "Remember to Breathe" has been relegated to the bargain bins, but I must say it's not because it lacked quality. I still love it, and this song in particular always stuck out to me because it was both lamenting and fun at the same time.

Gotta get a life
Gotta get it soon
'Cause rent is due
And cardboard boxes ain't cool.

Submitted by Anne of Curiously Tasty Music

Work: Earn Enough for Us

XTC: Earn Enough for Us

[purchase]

All week we’ve been hearing about how work can be such a grind. So what keeps people going in dead-end jobs? Earn Enough for Us is one man’s answer.

Work: John Henry

In the 1880s, large numbers of newly freed slaves were hired to help build the railroads. In this period, the legend of John Henry was born.

One of the most important jobs at that time was cutting blasting holes into the sides of mountains; explosives were than placed in these holes to make tunnels. These blasting holes were originally cut by hand by men like John Henry, who wielded large hammers to accomplish the task. In time, technological advances brought the steam drill, and threatened these men’s jobs. The legend and the song tell of how John Henry had a contest against a steam drill to prove that he could perform as well as the machine that sought to replace him. The specifics of the contest are long outdated, but the theme of man versus technology is universal, and still very much with us today.

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee: John Henry

[purchase]

Maybe that is why their are so many versions of the song. Here I am featuring the first version of John Henry I ever heard, by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Their music springs from blues, but swells to encompass spirituals. It could be argued that their performance of John Henry is a secular spiritual.

When planning this post, I asked Boyhowdy to collaborate with me on it, by contributing cover versions and additional commentary. As some of you may be aware, his new job has him too busy this week to do so. But he did send me a truckload of versions to use as I saw fit. Here are a few of my favorites.

Woody Guthrie: John Henry

[purchase]

In Woody Guthrie’s hands, John Henry becomes a heroic tale of the working man. Guthrie has the listener believing that this is a Depression-era tale, when it is actually much older.

John Renbourn: John Henry

[purchase]


John Renbourn is a British folk artist and founding member of Pentangle. He reminds us that the British had their own railroad boom. Remember that Thomas the Tank Engine was originally British.

The Mammals: John Henry

[purchase]

The Mammals prove that John Henry works very well as a bluegrass number.

Work: Charlie Dunn

Jerry Jeff Walker: Charlie Dunn

[purchase]

This would have been a great song for the Footwear theme, but I hadn’t stumbled upon SMM at that time. It fits equally well as tribute to an under-appreciated worker.

These days, people don’t think twice about their footwear. They just go to the nearest shoe store and get a new pair. But, especially for day labor-ers, good boots are the most important thing they put on each day. Here, Jerry Jeff pays homage to the lost art of the boot-maker. Charlie Dunn is portrayed as a humble, little man with a gift for making custom boots.

“Charlie’s been makin’ boots over there,
he says about 50 some-odd years.
Once you wear a pair of his hand-made boots,
you know, you’ll never wear a store-bought pair.
Charlie can tell what’s wrong with your feet,
just by feelin’ em with his hands.
He can take a look at the boots you wear,
and know a whole lot about the man.”

Here’s to the modern-day cobbler, the man behind every American Worker.

WORK: SIXTEEN TONS

Johnny Cash - Sixteen Tons

[purchase]

No work themed week would be complete without this song.

Sixteen Tons was originally written and recorded by Merle Travis in 1946 but it was Tennessee Ernie Ford's cover in 1955 that put the song on the Billboard charts.

Sixteen Tons laments the miseries of coal mining and the debt bondage system where workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with unexchangeable credit vouchers for goods at the company store making it impossible for workers to accumulate any cash savings.

Work: The Old Figurehead Carver

Gordon Bok: The Old Figurehead Carver

[purchase]

When I was in high school, I had a good friend who introduced me to many wonderful folk artists. His knowledge was much deeper than mine ever became, so I heard of but never heard Gordon Bok. That didn’t change until I discovered Kat’s wonderful blog, [Keep the Coffee Coming] . So, with this post, I would like to thank Kat for turning me on to so much wonderful folk music.

“The Old Figurehead Carver” is a change of pace, compared to the other songs posted as I write this: here is a man who loves his work and feels fulfilled by it. Incidentally, Gordon Bok knows what he is talking about in this song: Bok is not only a folk musician, but also a wood carver.

Note: if you are concerned about bit rates, be aware that Kat posts all of her songs at 32 kps. I still recommend you make Coffee a regular stop, even if you get the songs elsewhere. If you don’t know what bit rates are, please disregard this note.

Work: Welcome To The Working Week

Elvis Costello: Welcome To The Working Week

[purchase]

If you are going to make rock and roll your career, then you need come strong with your first album. Make a good impression and all.

How did Elvis Costello start his rock and roll career?

With this clever and memorable first line from the first song on his first LP:

“Now that your picture’s in the paper being rhythmically admired
and you can have anyone that you have ever desired,
all you gotta tell me now is why why why why…”

“Rhythmically admired.” Heh. What a way with words Elvis has.

Can you think of another artist or band whose first line on their first album was so good?

WORK: THE WORK SONG

Willard Grant Conspiracy - The Work Song

[purchase]

There is only one good thing about work. Leaving. Be it for the day or the weekend.

Willard Grant Conspiracy is vocalist Robert Fisher and a rotating cast of some 30 members depending upon who's available at the time.

The Work Song comes from their 2004 effort, There But for The Grace Of God.

Work: In Tall Buildings

John Hartford: In Tall Buildings

[purchase]

I hate work. They say it's harder to be in charge of a business, but I know I won't be happy with my career until I'm my own boss, with my own terms. And I'm not meaning to live a life like John's, few have a career so fantastic. I just want the hell out of this office.

Considering how every workday I trudge through the subway crowd (like so), wearing clothes and tucked in shirts that make me feel ill, sit in front of the screen, and feel half of my life slip away... this song really resonates.

Gillian has a nice version too.

Work: Millworker

James Taylor: Millworker (1979)

[purchase]

James Taylor: Millworker (live, 1994)

[out-of-print, from 2 Meter Sessies, Vol. 5]

Written for the score of the musical Working, which was in turn based on the Studs Terkel novel of the same name, James Taylor's Millworker found its way to his 1979 album Flag, which I discovered long ago buried among the rest of Taylor's catalog in my father's record collection. Neither the play nor the album were terribly well received, but I've always liked this song, and ol' JT clearly does, too, or he wouldn't keep recording it, trying to find just the right balance between the resignation and the desperation of the narrator, a widowed blue-collar millworker and mother from my home state of Massachusetts.

The second version above is from a long out-of-print collection from the 2 Meter Sessies series, which feature amazing live performances of various artists originally performed for Dutch TV and radio. Like much of Taylor's work in the mid nineties, it is mellow and pensive, even moreso than the original, which was a slow standout on an album otherwise dominated by the kind of easy listening poprock (Up On The Roof, a cheesy cover of Day Tripper) that keeps most folks from taking him seriously today.

I'd say more, but I start a new union job tomorrow morning, and I really need to get some sleep.

Work: Joe Hill

Joan Baez: Joe Hill

[purchase]

I can think of no better way to observe Labor Day than to recall its original meaning. The first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City in 1882. It became a national holiday in 1894. The holiday celebrated the working man and the labor movement.

Today, labor unions are regarded by many with suspicion or even outright disdain. It is all too easy to forget that the early days of the labor movement brought about worker’s rights that we now take for granted: the minimum wage, overtime rules, and required paid breaks are only the tip of the iceberg. And the men and women of the early unions were heroes who risked their lives for the rights we all enjoy now.

One such hero was Joe Hill. Hill was an organizer with the International Workers of the World (IWW) or Wobblies. He was also a songwriter, rallying pro-labor protesters with his music. In 1914, Hill was framed for the murders of John and Arling Robinson. Although some accounts say Hill was guilty, the more evidence you examine, the shakier the case against him becomes. In 1915, Hill was executed by a firing squad.

On his death, Joe Hill became a martyr. He became a symbol of the (often violent) struggle for workers rights. In 1969, Hill was still a hero to labor organizers and those sympathetic to them. The song “Joe Hill”, originally written in 1936, was still well known. When Joan Baez performed “Joe Hill” at Woodstock, it quickly became one of her signature songs.

Work: Workin' Man Blues

Merle Haggard: Workin' Man Blues

[purchase]

Merle Haggard was always a champion of the common man... the working man. He captured the life of the working man perfectly here on "Workin' Man Blues."

The working man takes pride in his craft. And while he may dream of having some time off or skipping out on his responsibilities all together, he goes right back to work with the crew on Monday morning. He may work til he drops... but he'll keep right on going until he can't go anymore.

Work: Working In The Coal Mine

Lee Dorsey: Working In The Coal Mine

[purchase]


Working In A Coal Mine brought together two Kings of the New Orleans music community - its greatest composer, Allen Toussaint and R&B singer/songwriter/musician, Lee Dorsey. It's hard to hear the words "coal mine" and not think of this song. Listening to Lee plaintively ask "how long can this go on?" causes me to start thinking of my nice comfy bed.

With Hurricane Gustav bearing down towards New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, let's send good thoughts to the folks living in the danger zone. I couldn't imagine what it would be like having yet another disaster hit the area in just three years time.

Work: I Can't Wait To Get Off Work

Tom Waits: I Can't Wait To Get Off Work - Story

Tom Waits: I Can't Wait To Get Off Work

[purchase]


Back in 1999, Tom Waits recorded an episode of VH1 Storytellers at LA's Burbank Airport, of all places. In "I Can't Wait To Get Off Work", Tom sings about being a cabbie, stock clerk, soda fountain jock jerk and a manic mechanic on cars. The first sound file is the story behind the song - enjoy!

Work: Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad

The Clash: Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad

[purchase]

No one said anything about honest work when this theme was introduced, did they?

Work: Work To Do

The Isley Brothers: Work To Do

[purchase]


Work To Do to finds the Isley Brothers in a transitional stage. In the 60s, they were a standard issue R&B band, complete with "doo wap" choruses. But during the 70s, while adding a younger crop of Isley instrumentalists, they became more socially conscience, with songs like Fight The Power and The Pride.

Oh I'm out here trying to make it, baby can't you see
It takes a lot of money to make it, let's talk truthfully
So keep your love light burning and a little food hot in my plate
You might as well get used to me coming home a little late

Work: Workin' For The Man

Roy Orbison: Workin' For The Man

[purchase]

Hey now you better listen to me everyone of you
We've got a lotta lotta lotta lotta work to do
Forget about your women and that water can
Today were working for the man.

I hate the man.

Work: 9 To 5

Dolly Parton: 9 To 5

[purchase]

I thought I would get this one out of the way! It was bound to come up, as we all feel like this sometimes, right?

School Days: Baggy Trousers

Madness: Baggy Trousers

[purchase]

Many many apologies for my long absences between posts lately - hands up, I am sh*t! I have quite a bit going on in the 'real world' and my mind just hasn't been on it...in fact, I have posted here more recently than at my own blog, if you can believe that.

Yadda yadda yadda...but anyway, I just couldn't let this week's theme pass without featuring the song above which, for me, is the epitome of a school song.

It was first released in 1980 and was written by band member Suggs (Graham McPherson to his mum) about his school days in Hastings (although the school used in the video was actually in Kentish Town, London). It showcases Madness' great sense of humour and is typical of their infectious ska rhythms. The album that I have taken this from is The Business (purchase link above), which is a stonking 3 disc retrospective of 69 (yes really) songs and the odd interview snippet...such as at the end of the song we have here.

School Days: School Is In

Josie Cotton: School Is In

[purchase]

Time for a little power-pop/new-wave (did I miss any hyphenated descriptions?) up in this Machine.

If you ever saw the film Valley Girl, and you remember the band that was playing during the big prom scene, then you've heard this number: It's on the soundtrack. It's also on Josie Cotton's 1984 release From The Hip... a search-it-down-and-enjoy-the-hell-out-of-it album. Seriously.

Here's a video tease (@ 45 seconds. Sorry, it's the best I could find:

School Days: Science Fair

Trout Fishing in America: Science Fair

[purchase]

Back here I suggested that we have a week of kid’s songs. Here’s another sample of what that might sound like.

Trout Fishing in America is a duo from Arkansas who have recorded on their own label for about as long as Ani Difranco has. That they are not as well known has everything to do with the fact that their best material is for kids. As you can see, they have a great deal of fun with difference in their heights, (6’9” vs 5’5”). “Science Fair” is about the awesome projects you wish you could have presented when you were a kid. It also appeals to the parents who try to recapture the feeling by helping their kids with their projects.

School Days: Good Morning Little School Girl

Muddy Waters: Good Morning Little School Girl

[purchase]

Sometimes, a musician becomes known for not only his own artistry, but also the quality of the musicians he draws into his orbit; these musicians get their start or reach the height of their craft while working in his band. For British blues-rock in the 1960s, that musician was John Mayall. In Jazz, over an amazing span of years, it was Miles Davis. And you can not discuss the Chicago blues scene of the 1950s without discussing Muddy Waters.

Waters was originally recorded by Alan Lomax in his home of Mississippi, playing acoustic delta blues. But, like so many of his fellows, Muddy Waters came to Chicago in the post World War II migration. On arrival, he plugged in his guitar, and became a legend. Just a few of the musicians who came through his bands were: Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf. These musicians defined the sound of Chicago blues. Later, he would work with and influence Johnny Winter and Paul Butterfield, just to name two.

“Good Morning Little School Girl” is a blues classic. Originally written by Sonny Boy Williamson, there are countless cover versions. Here is another take on the tune, by Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Mississippi Fred McDowell: Good Morning Little School Girl

[purchase]

School Days: Back To School Days

Dave Edmunds: Back To School Days

[purchase]

A familiar nostalgia for the black and white worldview of younger days couched in the familiar fifties-style Rock 'n Roll nostalgia of seventies hitmaker and Welsh pub-rocker Dave Edmunds, who we heard earlier this week as lead vocalist and guitarman for Rockpile. Edmunds supposedly returned to touring just last year after a quarter century of semi-retirement. Back to school days, indeed.

School Days: School Of Rock 'N Roll

Gene Summers And His Rebels: School Of Rock 'N Roll

[purchase]


School Of Rock 'N Roll was originally recorded in 1958 by Gene Summers And His Rebels, a Rockabilly band from Dallas, Texas. Gene's performing history is pretty nondescript, but he left us with the tale of a place where the only use for books is to steady a wobbling amplifier, 'cause at this here school, all you learn to do is rock.

School Days: Homework

Otis Rush: Homework

[purchase]


Otis Rush was born on April 29, 1934 in Philadelphia, Mississippi. In 1948, he moved to Chicago, where he became friends with Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and developed a mean vibrato guitar style.

During 1956, he secured a contract with Cobra Records. His first single, I Can't Quit You Baby, reached #6 on the R&B Charts. After the label went bankrupt in 1959, Rush signed with Chess Records, where he recorded eight tracks before moving on to Duke, where his output was one solitary single, 1962's Homework, which is today's selection.

Otis suffered a stroke in 2004, which he's since recovered from, but has hampered his return to performing. Here's hoping he's soon healthy enough to bring his unique brand of electric Chicago Blues to a stage near you.

School Days: Don't Stand So Close To Me

The Police: Don't Stand So Close To Me

[purchase]

As if we needed further evidence of Sting's literary leanings, here's a Lolita story of mutual longing, a teacher deperately struggling to resist nubile temptation, a parable of the flightiness of immortal youth and the dark secrets that lurk in the grown-up mind. Not exactly a celebration of the classroom, but then, school is hell for teachers some days, too.

Though it was their earlier, punkier work which makes collectors and purists drool, this song is a textbook example of the distinctive sound that made The Police a household name. Listen for the subtle bass, the bouncy guitar thrum, the tenor's cry, and the pounding "Police Pulse", and you'll have heard each band member, straining against their already growing differences, using the tension to drive the music forward. Perfect late night beachparty music, too, if you've got sand and surf and one more weekend to party before classes begin.

School Days: High School

MC5: High School

[purchase]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Detroit's MC5 are one of those bands that a lot of music fans have classified without actually hearing more than a few songs. While many music fans surely know MC5 form the hard and heavy live version of "Kick Out The Jams," fewer have heard the band's failed attempt at commercial success that was the Back In The USA album released in 1970.

If you haven't heard it, you might be surprised by its "retro" sound. Produced by rock-critic-and-future-Springsteen-manager Jon Landau, Back In The USA is one of the few rock albums that both looks back and forward at the same time. While paying homage to the straightforward early rock of the late 1950's (including covers of both Little Richard and Chuck Berry), MC5's sound also predicts the power pop and punk styles that would later come to fruition in the 1970's (e.g., Big Star, The Ramones).

Note: This is the second song I've posted this week featuring the lyric "Sis Boom Bah."

[Read the AMG Review.]

School Days: My Old School

Steely Dan: My Old School

[purchase]

Here is a song from 1973, with horns, about school. So this is the third week in a row that this could be posted.

The number three is actually my theme for this post. You see, most people think of Steely Dan as a duo. But I would argue that, in their original run of studio albums, from Can't Buy a Thrill through Gaucho, there was a third member: producer Gary Katz. Katz would be there with Walter Becker and Donald Fagen when they entered the studio to start a new album. He would help find the musicians who would play in the sessions.

But the best way to make the case for Katz as the third member of the group is to listen. "My Old School" comes from Steely Dan's second album, Countdown to Ecstasy. In the song, you can hear an early example of the classic Steely Dan sound. The rough edges of their early work start to get smoothed down, and jazz harmonies sneak their way into the mix, in the horn charts and guitar parts. And the whole thing has a glossy pop feel to it, which is entirely misleading.

If you take Walter Becker out of the equation, as on Donald Fagen's first solo album The Nightfly, you lose some of the more sneaky jazz elements and much of the bite in the lyrics. But if you remove Gary Katz, as on Steely Dan's comeback album Two Against Nature, you lose the pop sheen and much of the musical subtlety. And, by subtraction, the case is made for Gary Katz as the third member of the classic lineup of Steely Dan.

School Days: Don't Make Me Go To School

Tammy Wynette: Don’t Make Me Go To School

[purchase]

Ms. Wynette got a lot of mileage out of divorce songs. (Remember the classic D-I-V-O-R-C-E?) Here she is with another tear-jerker about the damage divorce can do to kids—especially kids who are forced to subtract and divide at school.

“So please may I be absent, mom, like daddy is from home. I’d rather fail than face the class; they know my daddy’s gone . . .”

School Days: Harper Valley PTA

Jeannie C. Riley: Harper Valley PTA

[purchase]


In 1968, record man Shelby Singleton put singer Jeannie C. Riley together with a song by some guy named Tom T. Hall and the rest was music history - Riley became the first female singer to simultaneously hold the #1 spot on both the Country and Pop music charts. It even spawned a motion picture and television program of the same name. Sit back and enjoy the tale about the miniskirt mama who socked it to the wagging tongues of the Harper Valley Parents Teacher Association.

School Days: Olympia

Hole: Olympia

[purchase]

Though there are plenty of words in this 1994 song, they are universally adolescent, repetitive and angsty without containing much meaning. No surprise there; like lead singer and infamous skank Courtney Love, Hole is known for many wonderful loud and grungy things, but poetic depth isn't one of them. Still, near as I can figure, the premise here is that the narrator, who went to school in Olympia, Washington, found teen culture there to be universally adolescent, repetitive, and angsty without containing much meaning.

It's not a new or unique conceit by any means, but Hole's punked out garage-grunge sound strikes an especially effective pose for the age-old complaint. From its multiple false starts to its closing feedback whine to the drug-addled fuzz of second-round sound that comes back to haunt the track after you thought it was all over, the song is a wonderful example of the ways in which the musical scene in the American Northwest of the early nineties spoke to and for yet another generation of youth alienated from the norm, looking for an outlet for their rage, sure they were the only ones to ever demand rebellion.

Note: this song previously appeared in our Fifty States theme. Happily, it still rocks.

School Days: High School Confidential

Jerry Lee Lewis: High School Confidential

[purchase]


Jerry Lee lets loose with the title song of 50s flick, High School Confidential. During its release, it became public knowledge that Lewis was married to his 13-year-old second cousin. This caused Sun Records to promptly pull it while the song had risen to #21 on the Billboard charts. Rumors that the original title was Junior High School Confidential were unfounded.

School Days: What Did You Learn in School Today?

Tom Paxton is a folk singer who I’d like you all to meet. He is what is sometimes referred to as a songwriter’s songwriter. This means that you may very well have heard versions of his songs without ever knowing who wrote them. There are three distinct aspects to his craft.

Tom Paxton: What Did You Learn in School Today?

[purchase]

As a political songwriter, he makes his points with humor and irony. “What Did You Learn in School Today?” is a perfect example of this. It is also one of Paxton’s most timeless political songs; many of his political songs are topical, and have not aged well.

I do not have an example of his relationship songs that fits this week’s theme. These songs are poignant and full of emotion, and have held up very well over time. A good example would be “The Last Thing on my Mind”.

Paxton has also composed many children’s songs. The best known would have to be “The Marvelous Toy” But just for fun, I wanted to offer this little ditty, in keeping with our theme.

Tom Paxton: Barney Ate My Homework

[purchase]

School Days: Rah Rah Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah

The Beach Boys: Be True To Your School (Live)

[purchase]

The Beach Boys: Be True To Your School

[purchase]

When some loud braggart tries to put me down, and says his school is "great," I tell him right away: "Now what's the matter buddy, ain't you heard of my school? It's number one in the state."

The Beach Boys are so talented they can make a dorky song like this sound wonderful. Gotta love the Beach Boys!

(Note: The college fight song featured in the guitar solo is "On Wisconsin," about a second-rate University affiliated with the Big Ten Conference...)

School Days: Wonderful World

Sam Cooke: Wonderful World [purchase]

During the time Lou (Adler) and Sam had roomed together, they'd tossed "Wonderful World" back and forth, Sam playing the few chords he knew on the guitar and messing with both lyrics and melody. Cooke fiddled with it as he did with all his material: trying it out on various people, announcing it was his latest hit, showing off to women by claiming he'd written the tune right there, for them. It took shape over a long time and a lot of partying.

"Then what happened," says Adler, "is we were in the back of Keen Records on 3rd Street, and he decided he wanted to cut some things, but we couldn't get the normal drummer that we used. We were cutting them more or less as demos, because Bumps (Blackwell) wasn't there ... We got a drummer that was 15 or 16 years old and was a nephew of one of the musicians." The session on March 2, 1959, could hardly have been more bare-bones. As Adolphus Alsbrook laid down a rhumba bass line, the teenage drummer tracked along, and Cliff White picked a pretty, high guitar line. Behind Sam, hitting the last, rhymed word in each line, is Lou Rawls; Deano Lappas (Keen's house engineer) remembers him standing about a foot and a half behind Sam, singing into the same mic.

--Excerpt from Daniel Wolff, You Send Me: The Life & Times Of Sam Cooke, pp. 220-21

School Days: School Days

Loudon Wainwright III: School Days (live, 1978)

[purchase]

Loudon Wainwright III: School Days (2008)

[purchase]

I would say all these great things about School Days, a poignant song of the crisp passions and purpose of youth which originally appeared as the very first track of Loudon Wainright III's self-titled 1970 debut. But Loudon -- who, as father of Rufus and Martha, ex-husband of folksinger Kate McGarriggle, and father of new folkblood Lucy with eerie harmony-singer Suzzy Roche, has been a unifying element (and, given the family tendency to mine their own family relations for lyrics, the subject) of a veritable dynasty of folk and fringemusic for over 35 years -- said it all himself, with the help of his agency, just a few months ago in the promotional material for Recovery, a sweet, brand-new release which features powerful new takes on some of his classic material.

Here's the money quote, on this year's most recent incarnation of School Days:

"School Days" [is] a wry slice of collegiate bravado that imbues Recovery with musings about scenarios that played out “in Delaware when I was younger” -- a notion that’s all the more intriguing when one realizes the words were written by a 23-year-old whippersnapper.

“Like most overly dramatic twentysomethings, I thought I’d burn out quickly,” [Wainwright] says of the tone expressed on that song, and several of Recovery’s other offerings. “I certainly didn’t think I’d be around any longer than Jim Morrison. But somewhere along the way, I changed my mind. I got interested in being old when I was fairly young, and wrote from that perspective. So songs about getting old had one kind of resonance for me then, and another kind now.”

It has been my experience that such a change in resonance flavors performance; I had hoped to be able to share the original, sparse album version of the song today, as well as the two versions featured above. Sadly, however, though Loudon Wainwright III the original album has recently been rereleased after years out of print, I couldn't find a pre-digitized copy anywhere. Still, the theory plays out, at least in part: though the differences between his 1978 official live recording and the 2008 version off of Recovery are primarily a matter of production choices, those willing to listen carefully will indeed find 30 years worth of wisdom flavoring the second, all remnants of earlier versions' overearnest concert braggadocio gone, the memories made more bittersweet and mellowed with age and studio setting.

Bonus: here's a look at the Wainwright dynasty through cover songs which includes another, totally different version of School Days recorded by Loudon's ex-wife, their son, and her sister a few years back. Pretty sure that's Loudon himself on background vocals, too. How odd it must have been, there in the studio, listening in the background while his exes and kids sang out his memories.

School Days: Tony

Patty Griffin: Tony

[purchase]

I know everyone is probably looking for the peppy little "rah rah" high school songs here, but I'm going to get a little heavy with Patty Griffin.

The story behind this song goes that "Tony" was a high school classmate of Griffin's who took his own life when he was in his early 20's. In hindsight, Tony is remembered as a quiet kid who kept to himself. Maybe he reached out for help, maybe he didn't. High school being what it is, everyone else was so wrapped up in their own problems that they barely noticed Tony's.

There is some strong language in this song.

School Days: Teacher Teacher

Rockpile: Teacher Teacher

[purchase]


Class, today's lesson is minimalism.