Joni Mitchell: Song to a Seagull
[purchase]
It’s hard to imagine, after all these years, how bizarre Joni Mitchell’s debut must have sounded at that time. Ostensibly a new folk singer, Mitchell played folk music from an alternate universe. Early fans tore their hair out trying to play her guitar parts, not realizing that Mitchell used her own tunings. Her vocal lines used interval jumps that had never been heard on the folk circuit before. And the production on Song to a Seagull, the album, emphasized this sense of alienness.
The song is about the freedom Mitchell sought vs the restrictions she felt. The seagull is free of any expectations from humanity. As Mitchell sings, “no dreams can possess you, no voices can blame you.” By contrast, the human world is represented by the city, which Mitchell calls, “an island of noise in a cobblestone sea”. These may be the words of a not-much-more-than-teenager from the sixties, but the poetry still works.
Paul Desmond: Song to a Seagull
[purchase]
Mitchell’s music has always made sense to jazz artists, and the sentiment of Song to a Seagull could easily describe the freedom that some artists find in jazz. So it only makes sense that jazz artist Paul Desmond would be drawn to the song. Desmond was the sax player for Dave Brubeck for many years. This track shows that his recordings under his own name were just as fine.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Songs Called Songs: Song to a Seagull
Songs called songs : Song For Ireland
Dick Gaughan : Song for Ireland
[purchase]
As Dick Gaughan (see his bio here) says on his site :
"Song for Ireland" was written by Phil and June Colclough and it is not an Irish song, it is an English song about Ireland. Spot the difference. I do know what I'm talking about as I was the first person ever to record it ( Handful of Earth, 1981 ) and Phil and June are/were friends of mine (June is now deceased) and they're English.
And to make things easier, Dick Gaughan is Scottish (but his paternal grandparents were irish), so it's easy for him to sing this song from a stranger/neighbor point of view.
Beautiful song.
Songs Called Songs: September Song
Willie Nelson: September Song
[purchase]
September Song was has words by Maxwell Anderson. Anderson was a famous playwright and novelist who won a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1933. Ha also was well known and highly regarded for his screenplays. The music is by Kurt Weill, who was best known for this song and the music for The Threepenny Opera. The song comes from a Broadway musical from 1938, Knickerbocker Holiday.
Anderson was a pacifist and anarchist who used Knickerbocker Holiday to criticize FDR as being a “fascist”. Nowadays, we think of President Roosevelt as the epitome of liberalism, but at the time he was criticized from the left as well as the right. Knickerbcker Holiday ran on Broadway for less than a year, and has been all but forgotten since.
But September Song has become a standard. The song is not at all political. Kurt Weill would later marry singer Lotte Lenye, and September Song would become her signature tune. There are any number of jazz versions, with and without vocals. Frank Sinatra recorded it. Even Lou Reed did a version. But Willie Nelson’s take on it is my favorite. It comes from Stardust, Nelson’s album of standards. If Nelson ever wants to do more of this, I’d like to know about it.
Songs Called Songs: The Motorcycle Song
Arlo Guthrie: Motorcycle (Significance of the Pickle) Song
[purchase]
This one is fairly self-explanatory.
I don't want a pickle, I just wanna ride on my...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Songs Called Songs: Swimming Song
Loudon Wainwright III: Swimming Song
[purchase]
Loudon Wainwright III -- father of Rufus and Martha by ex-wife Kate McGarrigle, and of Lucy Wainwright Roche by Suzzy Roche, who we featured below -- has made a career of wryly humorous, folky songs which hide deeply personal insight below seemingly mundane lyrics.
The oft-covered Swimming Song, which first appeared on Attempted Moustache in 1973, is a perfect early example. Though the lyrics are nominally nothing more than a list of where and how Wainwright spent the summer swimming, the subtext of phrasing and tone tells a familiar backstory of a narrator with a brash and unapologetic awareness of his self-destructive ego and show-off personality. The banal and obvious title is a masterstroke: it calls our attention to the transparency of the song's surface, encouraging us to dive in deeper.
Songs Called Songs: Hammond Song
The Roches: Hammond Song
[purchase]
The Roches’ second album was Nerds; in it, they tried to stretch out, and explore their rock side. If that had been the first thing I heard from them, I might have left the matter there. Nerds has a few good moments, but not enough to stay with them.
But I got on board with their self-titled debut. This is a mostly acoustic album. Producer Robert Fripp adds what he calls “fripperies” to some tracks, but the focus is on the songwriting and the Roche sisters’ wonderful vocal harmonies. Hammond Song is a perfect example. The song depicts a free-spirited woman who is going to Hammond to be with her boyfriend, despite the serious misgivings of her family. This is a standard set-up for numerous pop songs. But Hammond Song is unusual, because it presents the point of view of the disapproving family. The vocal harmonies feature chords that barely resolve, beautifully reflecting the emotional tension of the situation.
Songs Called Songs: The Pina Colada Song
Rupert Holmes: The Pina Colada Song
[purchase]
It must have been a ton of fun to be an adult during the 1970s when this kind of stuff was happening. Not saying the tunes were always great, but the yacht rock lifestyle had its moments. I mean, who doesn't like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Songs Called Songs: Radio Song
Songs Called Songs: The Anyway Song
Lullaby Baxter Trio: The Anyway Song
[Purchase]
Sometimes instead of finding great new music, it finds you instead. When I had a radio show back in college, they had a bin where once a year the DJs could take a CD to keep from the promotional items we had received because there simply wasn't room to store/listen to them all. I got there late and one of the few things left was a CD by an artist I hadn't heard the music of, but whose album I had seen a few reviews for and whose album art (see above) I thought was adorable, so I grabbed it. Turns out, the album was wonderful and I loved every second of it. It's a strange whimsical mix of sometimes country, sometimes jazz-infused folk that teetered on children's music at times. Since then I've included this track (a lovely piano ballad), my favorite from it, on a number of mixes and gotten other people to fall in love as well. It is out of print as far as I know, but available at insanely cheap prices now, as well as digitally.
Before hearing the song I loved the name of it. I've always been a fan of the word "anyway", as my late grandmother was a pro at using it to politely change the course of a conversation she wasn't sure she wanted to go any further. I went through a stage where I used the word more often than I should have as well. It's a great catch-all, and I think the word, not like the song and the album, is wildly underrated.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Songs Called Songs: Ohio River Boat Song
Songs called songs : The Anchor Song
Björk: The Anchor Song
[purchase]
Björk is unique. To me she's the perfect incarnation of the Artist, unpredictable, with a genius that takes her and the listener to strange and virgin musical landscapes, just like the ones on her native Iceland. And her voice...
With time I realized that all the artists I love have a voice, and that vocals is to me the best instrument ever. Here she just sings with the backing of three Coltrane-like saxophones, and takes us into one of her weird fairy tales.
If I was Odysseus and she was a mermaid, never would I have made it to Ithaca..
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Songs called songs: Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
Fleet Foxes: Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
[purchase]
This blog tends to focus on well established bands and artists that have stood the test of time. We have an informal, but pretty well adhered to, rule around here that we stay away from the hot new bands that are burning up the blogosphere. I hope my colleagues will forgive me if I make an exception for the favorite sons of the music blog universe, Fleet Foxes.
I have told my wife a few times that Fleet Foxes have actually changed my life. I know that sounds absurdly hyperbolic, but it's actually true. I remember when I was younger I used to buy a new album by a beloved band and play it over and over and over again. I would memorize every note and every word. It would go with me everywhere I went, sometimes for months. These albums became intertwined with certain eras of my life in ways that are still powerfully evocative today. However, the advent of the digital age changed all of that. I started acquiring a lot more music, and I started paying a lot less attention to it. There were still great albums coming out, but even the best of them were competing in such a rich field that they were never able to dominate my mental space the way certain music did when I was in high school and college.
Then along came Fleet Foxes. This album has reminded me what it's like to truly love an album. I know every note, every word. I have played it a few times a week for a year now. It is powerfully intertwined into this era of my life.
Maybe they aren't your taste, and maybe they're too modern for this blog, but when I saw a chance to post a song from a band that I truly love, I couldn't resist.
Check it!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Basslines: The Chain
Fleetwood Mac: The Chain
[purchase]
When I told my wife about this week's theme, she told me that I had to post Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" from the classic 1977 album Rumours. Of course, she's the Fleetwood expert... not me. This is her take on the track.
Although he is honored in the name of the band, John McVie is arguably the least recognized of the members of Fleetwood Mac (that is, the five most well-known and long-lasting members). He doesn’t provide lead vocals like Lindsey, Stevie, or Christine, and he’s not an ebullient showman like his partner-in-crime Mick. What he provides, however, are solid basslines that make up the backbone of several of the band’s hits.
That’s never more apparent than with The Chain, off the mega-selling album Rumours. Besides the fact that its lyrical content represented the well-known turmoil going on in the band at the time, the most interesting aspect of this song is that it actually started out as two separate pieces. John, Mick, Lindsey, and Christine had worked out the part that begins with John’s memorable bassline (about 3:00 in), but that’s all they had – a great musical demonstration, but certainly not a complete song. Enter Stevie with a song she had written during the Buckingham Nicks days. After some resistance by Lindsey, the group decided to put the two together, with Stevie’s contribution leading off. It was a perfect fit.
So, here’s The Chain – featuring two demonstrably different musical movements, with an unforgettable bassline seamlessly tying them together.
Basslines : The Guns of Brixton
The Clash : The Guns of Brixton
[Purchase]
Speaking of reggae...
Those guys were one of the rare white bands who could play reggae and make it theirs.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Basslines: No Woman, No Cry
Bob Marley and the Wailers: No Woman, No Cry
[purchase]
I have mentioned elsewhere that the bass line is essential to the workings of funk. The other place where this is true is reggae. Rock typically has the rhythm in the drums, bass, and rhythm guitar, with the lead guitar playing a line that helps propel the song along. Reggae, on the other hand, has the rhythm in the drums and two guitars, with the bass playing the line that propels the song.
My introduction to reggae was Bob Marley’s album Natty Dread. The music on this album is a perfect example of what I mean. The song that first grabbed me off this album was No Woman, No Cry. I am not alone in this: the song routinely turns up on Bob Marley tribute albums, and is one of Marley’s most covered tunes. What surprises me is how many cover versions somehow lose the bass line. It’s just not the same song without it.
Basslines: Back in the Goodle Days
John Hartford: Back in the Goodle Days
Basslines: Gigantic
Pixies: Gigantic
[purchase]
Every time I tried to think of a bass line this week, this was the song that popped into my head. It's simple and quiet, but very effective. And it's also the second contribution of the week from Kim Deal (who was better known as "Mrs. John Murphy" when this one was recorded).
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Basslines: Rapture
Blondie: Rapture
[Purchase]
I love the bassline in Blondie's "Rapture". Since it is, at least in part, a rap song, I would be surprised had it NOT had a great beat. It was, in fact, one of the first hit songs to contain rap music back in 1981. Maybe having a popular band with a gorgeous lead singer helped rap be more palatable to the mainstream at the time. Whatever the case may be, I think this song is great. When I first heard it I hated it, I thought it was strange, but then again I was young. Now I find it completely unique, fun, and somewhat ahead of its time. Any song that can blend the funky beat, the rap music, the sultry and delicate female vocals and be by a new wave bands gets props in my book.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Basslines: Stool Pigeon
Kid Creole and the Coconuts: Stool Pigeon
[purchase]
This week, there has to be some funk. So here it sort of is. You will hear people talk about a “heavy” bass line. This is the sort of line that rumbles you out of your seat, and out onto the dance floor, even in places where there isn’t one. I challenge you to listen to this one, and try to sit still. In the dictionary next to the definition of heavy bass is a sound sample of Stool Pigeon.
Kid Creole is August Darnell, and he uses his given name when he does studio work on other artists’ projects. As Kid Creole, he builds from a disco/ funk base, adds a healthy dose of Latin jazz and pop, and then tops it off with light touches of any kind of music you might hear on the streets of New York City. The result is an often fascinating music al stew. Add lyrics that reflect Darnell’s wicked sense of humor, and I’m in. Incidentally, The Coconuts are the female backup singers.
Basslines: Cannonball
The Breeders: Cannonball
[Purchase]
As one early commenter already has hinted at, The Breeder's "Last Splash" is one of the stand-out, must-haves in any talk of recently notable use of funky basslines. The 1993 hit has become a vestige for the alternative rock of the 90s. Josephine Wiggs' awesome bassline makes the song, without it, I am not sure it would have been that memorable.
Basslines : We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place
The Animals : We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place
[purchase]
Great bass lines are sometimes quite simple. Other examples : Ray Charles' "What'd I Say", Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" or Pink Floyd's "Money".
You'll learn a lot about the song on this great Wikipedia article. The bassist is Chas Chandler (the last guy on the right on the picture), who was Jimi Hendrix's manager and who helped launch his career.
I'm posting this from my office, at lunch break. I really gotta get out of this job.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Basslines: Sex In A Pan
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Sex In A Pan
[purchase]
I've seen Bass Player magazine's only three-time Bass Player of the Year several times with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and the man deserves every Grammy. But fast isn't the only way to be funky, as aficionados of Stanley Jordan, Bootsy Collins, and their next-generation proteges well know. Founding Flecktone Victor Wooten gets full credit for letting this tune trip up to the edge of smooth without ever tipping over into tripe.
(Also, when did this theme turn into a feature on bass players, instead of basslines?)
Basslines: A Remark You Made
Weather Report: A Remark You Made
[purchase]
Usually, a bass line is part of the rhythm of a song. This is normally true in jazz, rock, bluegrass, you name it. And I will have some examples of that later this week. But here, the bass plays a melodic line. One could even argue that the bass has the main melody, with a counter melody in the saxophone. And I have always wished that someone would take the bass line here and write words for it. and record it. The first words would be, “A remark you made...”.
To make this work, Weather Report had to have Jaco Pastorius on bass. Pastorius, as you can hear, had an amazing tone; his bass sang. In addition to Weather Report, Pastorius leant his talents, in his too brief lifetime, to the Pat Metheny Group, and to Joni Mitchell during her jazz period. All these years later, he is still sorely missed.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Basslines: Oz is Ever Floating
Oysterhead: Oz Is Ever Floating
[purchase]
Primus bassist Les Claypool is renown among the Bonnaroo crowd for his earth-shattering, jazz-informed slap-and-bounce rhythms, and for good reason: where other rock and jamband bassists are content to hover in the background, Claypool plays up front and center, creating complex octave-spanning bass lines, melding heavy slap-bass style, drifting into full chords and improvisation mode as needed.
Claypool's style is so powerful and distinctive, in fact, I didn't even need to check the label to confirm his presence, along with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and Police drummer Stewart Copeland, on their highly recommended one-shot supergroup album The Grand Pecking Order. Though to be fair, Claypool's nasal tenor whine is equally unmistakable.
Basslines: The Real Me
The Who: The Real Me
[purchase]
When I think of great bass players, there are a few who come to mind. Many are jazz players, and I'll consider posting one of them later in the week, but the rock/pop player that comes to my mind most quickly is John Entwistle. His style is so unique and powerful. Entiwstle once said of The Who that they really didn't have a proper bass player, and in many ways that was a true statement. There was no one in the band who stood back and thumped notes over and over for the purpose of holding the music together. Instead, Entwistle used his instrument to create powerful melodic and harmonic structures within the songs.
The Real Me, the first (real) track from Quadrophenia, is a great example of how a bass can add just as much detail and depth to a song as a lead guitar or keyboard.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Smile: Your Smile's a Drug
Patrick Park: Your Smile's a Drug
[Purchase]
Patrick Park is a singer-songwriter who, like many, hasn't gotten a fair shake due to record label issues. His 2003 debut album "Lonliness Knows My Name" should be known by more than it is, there are many great folk-pop songs on there that college girls should be swooning over. He reminds me a bit of Rhett Miller's folkier more melancholy side.
The song's title tells us most of what we need to know. He has fallen for a girl who's smile he is addicted to. Despite knowing that pursuing a relationship with her will mean a lot of work and possible torment, he can't seem to help himself. She smiles, and he loses all sense of what's good for him.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Smile: Your Smile Stops The Hands Of Time
Roddy Frame: Your Smile Stops The Hands Of Time
[purchase]
Roddy Frame was signed by David Bowie when he was only 16 years old. Since then, he has produced a long string of hit albums in the UK and has had some limited success in the US. As much as I loved Aztec Camera when I was in high school, it is Roddy's solo work that has stood the test of time. The all acoustic album, Surf, is his best work. This song is one of a couple of slow moving, but beautiful, tracks from that album.
Smile: The Cheshire Cat Song
Gilbert Hetherwick: The Cheshire Cat Song
[purchase, by download only]
I wasn’t about to let this week go by without honoring the most famous smile in western literature. But I also didn’t know of any particular songs on the subject, and I certainly didn’t have any. So, I went hunting. And I found that there seems to be a rule that, in order to tackle this subject, you have to be someone I never heard of. Try it yourself, and see if you get the same result. Obviously, however, I did find something I like.
Gilbert Hetherwick was once a record store manager in a shop that sold classical music to the people of Louisiana. He began writing to people at the record companies, telling them how to improve their albums. Soon enough, Hetherwick had a job at one of these companies, and in due time, he rose to be the head of the classical division at Sony/ BMG. So what would someone like that do with his spare time? Why, he would write and record a psychedelic rock musical, based on Alice in Wonderland and the life of Lewis Carol. Oh yes, of course.
The Cheshire Cat Song comes from that musical, Dreams For Alice. And the song is on the soundtrack album, from 2002. The songs were written over a ten year period, and given to friends, before the whole thing was released as an album. I can find no information to indicate that the show was ever staged. The version of The Cheshire Cat Song on Dreams For Alice is marred by a production full of the worst cliches of psychedelic rock; here are corny electric guitar parts and heavy reverb on the vocals, for starters. But, in 2008, Hetherwick returned to these songs for a live album. Now The Cheshire Cat Song has a nice mostly acoustic arrangement, and the quality of the songwriting comes through much more clearly. This is the version I chose.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Smile : (You Caught Me) Smilin'
Sly & The Family Stone : (You Caught Me) Smilin'
[purchase]
Simple, melodic, fun, just like a smile ... illegal smile ? With Sly, it's likely...
PS : Can somebody explain me the meaning of this AMG review (I mean the part about the lyrics). Maybe I got it wrong, but why does the guy think the hedonistic lyrics feel so wrong ? Is it because what happened to Sly next (his addiction)? Or is it that this man thinks that being hedonistic is wrong ? Why would an artist be necessarily depressed to write great things ? And is smiling when you're hurt a forbidden thing ?
I'm just wondering...
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Smile: Bathsheba Smiles
Richard Thompson: Bathsheba Smiles
[purchase]
In the bible, Bathsheba is the beautiful woman who causes David to turn away from God. How could anyone have such a powerful allure? According to Richard Thompson, it’s her smile. His lyric describes this power in some detail. And that’s all there is to the song. But it’s enough.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Smile: When You Smile
The Dream Syndicate´s ´84 album The Days Of Wine And Roses is one of the great debuts of all time if you ask me. Right up there with the first signs of life from the Velvets, the Stooges, the Doors, the Modern Lovers and Television, to name but a few kindred souls. Just check the bittersweet, feedback-drenched (that´s their guitar wiz Karl Precoda btw) When You Smile for proof.
"When you smile, I don't know what to do
´cause I could lose everything in a minute or two
and it seems like the end of the world when you smile..."
Smile: I Can't Stop Smiling
Velocity Girl: I Can't Stop Smiling
[Purchase]
I can't stop smilingI can't say rock and roll is known for it's utter joy. It's difficult to be edgy when you can't stop smiling. All the same, Washington D.C.-based 90's rock band Velocity Girl made a fantastic pop-rock song about that feeling when you can't seem to wipe the goofy grin off your face, and did it well.
And I am not sure why I'd want to anyway.
This particular song is from their aptly-named sophomore album "Simpatico!", and is one of my favorite Velocity Girl tracks. The band broke up in 1998, but singer Sarah Shannon has since released a few solo albums.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Smile: Winsome Smile
Chris Smither: Winsome Smile
[purchase]
Acoustic bluesman Chris Smither does the blues exceptionally well, but his wry vocal mannerisms and fast fingerstyle are also surprisingly well-suited for upbeat songs such as this one. Listen carefully, though -- while the song is celebratory on the surface, there's a mature dissonance between the tune and tempo on one hand, and the lyrics on the other. Cue the last verse:
Time will wound all heels, and it ain't pretty
With any luck at all, she'll find some dope that you can pity
Your loss is measured in illusions
And your gain is all in bittersweet intelligence
And your winsome smile will lose some of its innocence...
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Cry Cry Cry: Cry Cry Cry
Johnny Cash: Cry Cry Cry
[purchase]
Cry Cry Cry: By Way of Sorrow (written by Julie Miller)
[purchase]
I batted around a few different ideas for my contribution this week, but kept coming back to the phrasing of the theme... and couldn't resist my need to tie together the two incarnations of Cry Cry Cry of which I'm aware:
~ the title of Johnny Cash's song (released in June 1955, it reached number 14 on the Billboard country charts)...
Cash wasn't used to writing on demand, but back at the house on Tutweiler with Vivian's due date approaching, Cash labored at the kitchen table. He chugged his coffee and burned down cigarette after cigarette as if he were back at the radio intercept controls. Inspired by Memphis disc jockey Eddie Hill's trademark "we're gonna squall and ball and climb the walls", recalled Cash, he came up with Cry Cry Cry in two weeks... Cash enhanced the recording with a chucka-chucka percussive effect that he produced by threading a folded sheet of paper between the strings up around the neck frets...
~ the name of the 1999 folk supergroup (comprised of Dar Williams, Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky)...
"The name comes from "three things," Shindell says, speaking softly by phone from his "quiet house in the woods" of Valhalla, N.Y.
"It's the threeness of it all, obviously, but it's also the sound of the voice, the way a singing voice can often sound like it's crying at the simplest of times. And there's a melancholy to the whole thing, in that most of the songs on the album are pretty damned depressing."
There's also the matter of his newborn son. "The sessions were interrupted by his birth, and a few of the arrangements were inspired by him. And he was around a lot . . . crying."
As a synchronistic sidenote, I actually did witness the trio performing the Cash tune... in February 1999 at the Centro Astureano in Tampa, Florida - sigh sigh sigh...
Friday, June 26, 2009
Cry Cry Cry: Cry On Demand
Ryan Adams: Cry On Demand
[purchase]
Though it's somewhat blasphemous to say so, I'm a much bigger fan of Ryan Adams the sensitive folkpop artist than Ryan Adams the alt-country rocker. It's not that I don't understand the appeal, really -- the man can write a hook in any form, and his heavier side makes for some danm good listening. I just think there's few other artists recording today who can hit the emotional nail on the head with such heartfelt quietude. And the tangled web of confused loss and longing which frames Cry On Demand makes it one of the best pensive, brooding acoustic ballads in his catalog.
Cry, Cry, Cry: You´re Gonna Make Me Cry
Cry, Cry, Cry : Dancing With Tears In My eyes
Alvin Youngblood Hart : Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
[purchase]
I love Alvin Youngblood Hart because he's a great guitar player, singer songwriter, and of course, because like me, he's a old-time blues lover and a fan of the great Leadbelly.
"Dancing with tears in my eyes",is not a cover of the new wave hit by Ultravox, but a much more ancient Tin Pan Alley song in 3/4 time, that Alvin took from Lead who, in turn had learnt it in the thirties. It's a good song about sadness and life that must go on.
Cry Cry Cry: My Blue Tears
Dolly Parton: My Blue Tears
[purchase]
Dolly Parton.
My first impression of her had nothing to do with music. It was the enormous breasts. Parton was the one who made sure everyone knew about them. So, she was the trashy blond who had something to do with country. Then, I heard that she had opened an amusement park named after herself. And there was the movie, 9 To 5.
I actually saw it in the theater. I don’t remember why. It was a slight comedy. The songs were my first introduction to Parton’s music, and it wasn’t even country. It was bad pop.
At the time, I was in my “cool” phase. I wasn’t about to like country music. New wave was the thing. Jazz gave me an edge. So did blues. Folk was a secret only my closest friends knew about.
But, I got older, and left the peer pressure of high school behind. A girlfriend liked going to bars to dance to local country bands, and I began to realize that, yes, it was corny, but country music had something honest to say. Still, even the idea of liking Dolly Parton was embarrassing.
Cut to 2001. Now I am married to a woman who doesn’t care for most country music. The sound of country music has changed. Line dancing is big, and the classic sound of country is becoming a distant memory. And word reaches me that Dolly Parton has made a bluegrass album! A good one, even! The idea is so weird that I have to check it out. And it really is true.
The album was Little Sparrow, and the song My Blue Tears is right there in the middle of it. Here, it is a slow ballad about the sorrow of having a lover leave. The lyrics are a plea by the wounded protagonist to a bluebird whose sad song reminds her of her loss. The song has a naive simplicity to the concept, and the listener cannot help but sympathize.
It turns out that My Blue Tears is a Parton original that has been with her for a while. She first recorded it on her album Coat of Many Colors, in a more upbeat early seventies country arrangement. There is also a beautiful duet version on Linda Ronstadt’s album Get Closer. So, maybe Parton will record the song again in the future. I’ll be keeping an ear out, to see what she does with it next.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Cry Cry Cry: Everyday I Have To Cry Some
Arthur Alexander: Everyday I Have To Cry Some
[purchase]
If you are only going to listen to one of my tearful posts this week, this should be the one.
Arthur Alexander was an extremely gifted artist but many music fans don't know his name. You should. Check out his interesting story here, here, and here.
(If you like what you hear, please consider leaving a comment so that I know a connection is being made.)
Cry Cry Cry: 1000 Oceans
Tori Amos: 1000 Oceans
[Purchase]
This Tori Amos song is from her 1999 double-disc album "To Venus and Back", which featured a disc of new songs and a disc of live songs recorded during her previous tour. "1000 Oceans" was the last song on the disc, and as is typical for many artists, and almost always the case for Tori, the album ends with a melancholy ballad.
This particular song was inspired by the passing of her father-in-law and was written to help her husband deal with the grief. She sings about how she has cried "a thousand oceans" but would cry a thousand more if it meant bringing him back. It's a touching and beautiful song, that, though sad, feels more like a sympathetic hand squeeze or a shoulder to cry on.
Cry Cry Cry: Tears Don’t Care Who Cries Them
kd lang: Tears Don‘t Care Who Cries Them
[purchase]
Patsy Cline. Brenda Lee. Loretta Lynn. Female country singers who had (or have) big voices. You think of them singing in front of a small band augmented with real strings. And, I at least think, this is what country music sounds like.
But were it not for producer Owen Bradley, country music might not sound like that at all. Bradley was the producer of all of these ladies’ biggest songs. And he was one of the chief architects of the “Nashville sound”.
By 1987, kd lang had made one album that had anything to do with country music. Absolute Torch and Twang had more to do with Texas country, including western swing. At this point, lang decided to do her next project in Nashville.
Mary Martin had been a friend of lang’s in Canada. Martin relocated to Nashville, and went to work for RCA’s country operation there. It was she who introduced lang to Owen Bradley. In Bradley, lang found a legend who was willing to take chance on a young singer. In lang, Bradley found a singer who blossomed, and proved able to more than hold her own as a classic country singer. The result was an album that sounded like it could have been made 35 years earlier. The album was Shadowland.
Most of the songs on Shadowland are covers that match up well to the originals. I have been unable to determine who may have done an earlier version of Tears Don’t Care Who Cries Them. But the song fits write in with the vintage material here.
Cry Cry Cry: You Would Cry Too If It Happened To You...
Lesley Gore: It's My Party
Lesley Gore: Judy's Turn To Cry
[purchase]
These pop hits from 1963 (sung by 16-year-old Lesley Gore and produced by 30-year-old Quincy Jones) constitute history's most famous two-part, tear-dropped, teen-pop melodrama.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Cry Cry Cry: Crying, Waiting, Hoping (and sometimes Prayin')
Buddy Holly: Crying, Waiting, Hoping [purchase]
This gem is a home recording made by Buddy Holly in 1958, shortly before his untimely death.
While not the same song, it bears some resemblance to this 1955 recording from the Singing Ranger, Hank Snow:
Hank Snow: Cryin', Prayin', Waitin', Hopin' [purchase]
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Cry Cry Cry: Cry on my Shoulder
Bonnie Raitt: Cry on My Shoulder
[purchase]
Some musical pairings seem obvious in retrospect, but make no apparent sense at the time. In 1988, executive producer Hal Willner was working on Stay Awake, his album of unusual takes on songs from Disney movies. Here were Sun Ra doing Pink Elephants on Parade, Tom Waits voicing the seven dwarves, and Sinead O’Connor on the title track. And Willner had the crazy idea of pairing Bonnie Raitt, known at the time mainly as a blues artist, with Don Was, from one of the strangest groups of the 80s, Was (Not Was). And remember that, to be one of the strangest groups of the 80s, you had to be really strange.
The song was Baby Mine, (heard here during the week of the same name), and the pairing worked amazingly well. So well, in fact, that Raitt tagged Was as her producer for her next album. This was Nick of Time, and the album proved to be Raitt’s commercial breakthrough, after almost twenty years in the music business.
Of course, Cry on My Shoulder comes from Nick of Time. The song was written by Michael Ruff. Ruff is one of those people who is regarded as a “songwriter’s songwriter”. You’ve probably heard his songs without knowing they were his. Besides Raitt, artists who have recorded his songs include Natalie Cole, India Arie, Kenny Loggins, Huey Lewis and the News, and The Doobie Brothers. Ruff doesn’t really tour, never venturing much beyond his native Hawaii. And he is primarily a Christian artist, doubly insuring his distance from the mainstream.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Cry Cry Cry: All My Tears
Julie Miller: All My Tears
[purchase]
It's no secret I'm a coverhound, and this one's been done plenty raw and emotional, both by Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris, not to mention an oddly endearing christian rock take from Jars of Clay. But though most covers take both Julie's original intonation and Buddy Miller's ringing electric atmospheric undercurrent as gospel, I prefer the sparse mountain banjo and breathy vocals of Julie Miller's own solo effort, revisited as an appalachian tune for the 2001 film Songcatcher years after the song first debuted as a countryrock duet with Emmylou on Julie's 1993 album Orphans and Angels.
Emmylou's Wrecking Ball demo recording isn't bad, either. The piano is a nice touch.
Emmylou Harris: All My Tears
[demo unreleased; final version here]
Cry Cry Cry: O Mary Don't You Weep
Bruce Springsteen: O Mary Don't You Weep
[purchase]
O Mary Don't You Weep is a pre-Civil War era spiritual that calls to mind themes of liberation from bondage and the salvation that can come from faith. The narrative covers the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the parting of the Red Sea, and the promise of the rainbow. Each verse ends with Mary, don't you weep no more. Pharaoh's armies got drowned-ed. O Mary, don't you weep.
This song has been recorded countless times, by the likes of Pete Seeger, The Caravans, Burle Ives, and Bone Thugs 'n Harmony. I've heard several versions, but I only own one which is by Bruce Springsteen from his Pete Seeger Sessions album. I like this version a lot, and the video is also cool if you ever get a chance to see it.
Cry Cry Cry : Voir un ami pleurer
Jacques Brel : Voir un ami pleurer
[purchase]
"Voir un ami pleurer" ("To See A Friend Cry"), was on Jacques Brel's swan song album that he recorded in 1977, 3 years after being diagnosed with lung cancer. He had stopped touring since 1966, hadn't recorded a real album since 1968, and was living in French Polynesia, but he came back to France to record. He passed away in 1978.
Here's an attempt at an English translation
Of course, there are the wars in Ireland /And tribes without music
Of course, all this lack of tender / And there is no more America
Of course, money has no smell/ but lack of smell gets up our nose
Of course, we walk on flowers/ But....to see a friend cry
Of course, there are our defeats/ And death at the very end
Our bodies already incline their heads/ Amazed to be still standing
Of course, there are unfaithful women / And assassinated birds
Of course, our hearts lose their wings / But....to see a friend cry
Of course, our exhausted cities / By these 50 year old children
Our impotence to help them / And our loves which have a tooth ache
Of course, time that goes too fast/ These subway trains full of drowned people
Truth avoiding us/ But....to see a friend cry.....
Of course, our mirrors are honest / Nor the courage of being jew
Nor the elegance of being negro /We think we are wicker, we're only tallow
And all these men who are our brothers/ So much so that we're no longer amazed
When out of love they lacerate us / But....to see a friend weep......
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Cry Cry Cry: The Sky Is Crying
Stevie Ray Vaughan: The Sky Is Crying
[purchase]
The guitar wail. The vocal moan. The heartstring masculinity of the core metaphor. The poignancy of the posthumous album, the best of a bluesman lost in his prime to foggy weather and a helicopter pilot's inexperience.
I maintain that The Sky Is Crying is Stevie Ray Vaughan's greatest album, bar none -- if for no other reason than that the sheer raw emotion of the songs it contains, coupled with the bittersweet hope of its very existence, has helped me get through so many periods of great sadness and loss. Its title song is just one gem among many recorded in life, and released first in death. Talk about the blues incarnate.
Cry Cry Cry: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
Al Green: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
[purchase]
This is a theme I can really work with. I love depressing music. Let's start with a great cover of one of the all-time great sad sack songs. Al Green sings Hank Williams.
