Domestic Violence & Sexual Abuse: Southern Can Is Mine

Blind Willie McTell: Southern Can Is Mine

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Sometimes, needing a break from the music, I'll turn on the police scanner for a diversion. The amount of calls to law enforcement for domestic violence is never ending.

A little research on the subject revealed that the difficulty in determining the precise numbers for domestic violence in the U.S. is that incidents often go unreported, there is no organization that collects information from local police departments about substantiated calls and reports, and there is disagreement about just exactly what should be included in the definition of domestic violence. However, there is data and estimations. One yearly estimate I read is 2 to 4 million U.S. women will be assaulted by a domestic partner. It is also estimated that physical violence will occur yearly in the United States in 4 to 6 million intimate relationships. Nearly 2 out of 3 women know their attacker. Women are 5 to 8 times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner. According to the American Medical Association, almost 100,000 days of hospitalizations, almost 30,000 emergency room visits, and almost 40,000 visits to a doctor occur yearly in the U.S. as a result of domestic violence. Staggering.

Keeping someone in a state of fear, intimidation and control are also forms of domestic violence. And that is the premise of this song by "Blind Willie" McTell (also recorded by The White Stripes in 2000). Control by intimidation with threatening violence. Even though McTell recorded this in '31, this kind of mentality is still, sadly, very much alive in the United States. Stop The Violence.

Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse: Luka

Suzanne Vega: Luka

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One thing that happens in abusive relationships is that the abuser isolates the victim. She knows that any attempt to reach out to the outside world will be met with violence. To protect herself from this, the victim tries to maintain the illusion for outsiders that nothing is wrong. Even when the evidence to the contrary is almost overwhelming. This is Luka in a nutshell.

For the art for this post, I have used an image by Ieneke Jansen, from her series The Different Colors of Domestic Violence. To see more and purchase prints, go here.

Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse: Me and a Gun

Tori Amos: Me and a Gun

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I will never forget the effect this song had on me when I bought the CD upon its 1992 release - it has the same effect on me now: the hair prickles on the back of my neck, goosebumps raise on my arms and I have a difficult time breathing...

Listening to Tori's a cappella rendering of a rape at gunpoint makes me hope I am never in that situation - the fear, shock and numbness is palpable in her whispered vocals, cracking at times, as she tries to envision the island of Barbados and soft biscuits in Carolina, anything to escape in her head what is happening to her body...

The song is based on a true story - Tori later went on to found RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), a non-profit organization operating America's only national hotline for survivors of rape and sexual assault. The RAINN hotline is toll-free and 100% confidential. RAINN has helped more than 276,300 survivors and connects with more than 830 crisis centers around the country.

Tori's Survivor Story

"I'll never talk about it at this level again but let me ask you. Why have I survived that kind of night, when other women didn't?

How am I alive to tell you this tale when he was ready to slice me up? In the song I say it was Me and a Gun but it wasn't a gun. It was a knife he had. And the idea was to take me to his friends and cut me up, and he kept telling me that, for hours. And if he hadn't needed more drugs I would have been just one more news report, where you see the parents grieving for their daughter. And I was singing hymns, as I say in the song, because he told me to. I sang to stay alive. Yet I survived that torture, which left me urinating all over myself and left me paralyzed for years. That's what that night was all about, mutilation, more than violation through sex.

I really do feel as though I was psychologically mutilated that night and that now I'm trying to put the pieces back together again. Through love, not hatred. And through my music. My strength has been to open again, to life, and my victory is the fact that, despite it all, I kept alive my vulnerability."

Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse: Run For Your Life

The Beatles: Run For Your Life

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This week's theme finds our hardy band here at Star Maker Machine turning to a serious topic in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Posts will likely run the gamut from victimizer and victim's voices to tales of acceptance, regret, looking the other way, fighting back and more.

A quick perusal of my own music library finds this to be a rich subject, which speaks volumes about how much this issue remains a serious and necessary pursuit. As evidence of how ingrained our cultural acceptance of violence has become, we kick off the week with a familiar, cheerful little ditty in which the narrator - a "wicked guy" with a "jealous mind" - makes no secret of how he will respond if he catches his girl with another man.

Donations to the cause can be made to your local YWCA or any one of these violence against women organizations. More importantly: if you think domestic violence is happening in your home or neighborhood, now is the time to speak up by calling the police, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

Title Tracks: Anyway

Amy Farris: Anyway

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The perfect combination of Spector-era girl group harmonies and echoey Neko Case production on this obscure title track come courtesy of Dave Alvin, who produced Austin-born singer-songwriter Amy Farris' debut and only album in 2004, and more recently brought the underrated fiddler and vocalist on tour as part of his new band Guilty Women. The talent, however, is all Amy.

Farris, who was also known for her work in the studio and on tour with Bruce Robison, Kelly Willis, and Dave Alvin and Exene Cervenka of 80s americana punk band X, died Tuesday of an apparent suicide at the age of 40. If there is indeed great Texas music in heaven - and I believe there is - as of this week they've got a great fiddle player in the band.

Title Tracks: Hearts & Bones

Paul Simon: Hearts and Bones

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I will forever associate this song and its album with the arc of a particular love affair, specifically the girl I dated through my last years of high school, an exotic, sensual, tiny and sweet free-spirited child of mixed-race divorce who at fourteen showed me the burning intensity of life for the first time. Our theme song was Song About the Moon, an equally gorgeous lullaby, but this title song from the album she kept on her stereo describes everything I was feeling at the time, from our "love like lightning shaking to moans" to the constant mischievous immediacy she tried, and ultimately failed, to convince me was the way I wanted to live my life, though I will always love her for it in my memory.

In many ways, Hearts and Bones is Paul Simon's most flawed album, with a few embarrassing clunkers in the mix, the whole product yawing too-wide through a set of songs about half of which stand better on their own than in the midst of the discomforting chaos that is the track-to-track listing. Yet in its own way, it is also terribly underrated, containing echoes of what came before and what was to come, as are the young loves who brought us to ourselves. I miss both girl and album every day, though I'd not trade either in a million years for what and who we have all - Simon, myself, and the girl, who is now a distant memory - moved on to become.

As a bonus, here's the sweetest cover of this song I know - equally poignant, though in a simpler, more wistful way.

Aoife O'Donovan: Hearts and Bones

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Title Tracks: Hejira

Joni Mitchell: Hejira

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Joni Mitchell: Hejira (the Travelogue version)

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I helped start up and have maintained a monthly book discussion group, with seven amazing women friends... and last month marked the beginning of our ninth year together - at our recent gathering, one of our members brought up the following quote: "When you read a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before." Clifton Fadiman.

I, of course, immediately related it to music in my life - there are some songs that, upon release, I just don't *get* and discover that, decades later, I can eventually relate. I realize that the glitch is not with them, it's with me - the wisdom has always been there, but it's taken time for me to grow into it... or to benefit from the always-been-there lesson...

Such was absolutely the case with the title track to Hejira, the album Joni released in 1976 (I had just graduated from college) - I was enamored with Confessional Singer-Songwriter Joni, and had tolerated The Hissing of Summer Lawns, thinking it was an experimental blip on her musical radar screen. Imagine my shock when she went even farther afield from the girl-and-her-guitar scenario - I tried to relate to the words... but that d*mn thrumming bass of Jaco Pastorius kept getting in the way (blasphemy, I know!). I continued to buy each of her albums as they were released... but I was not happy - where was the Joni I knew and loved?

Fast forward to 2002, when she put out Travelogue, a two-disc reworking of many of her standards, with orchestral backing - twenty-five years later, the song finally elicited the Proverbial Light Bulb Moment. I don't know if it was her deeper, aging, world-weary voice... or the swelling string section... or the fact that I was married/had children/experienced the melancholy of feeling lonely within the context of a relationship... or a combination of the three - all I *do* know is that the barrier vaporized and I finally *heard* the song with the intention in which it was written...

"You know it never has been easy
Whether you do or you do not resign
Whether you travel the breadth of extremities
Or stick to some straighter line..."

Thanks, Joni, for allowing me a second chance... and for being a wise and patient traveling companion all these many years - the musical journey continues...

Title Tracks: The Drugs I Need

Austin Lounge Lizards: The Drugs I Need

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As a regular reader of this blog I thought that if I were a contributor, this might have been my selection for the Drugs theme. We have all seen the commercials..take this to cure that, but watch out for those side effects.Trouble is, sometimes the treatment may seem worse than the illness. Take for example the wonder drug Progenitorivox (at your own risk,of course). This cure all is brought to you by the Austin Lounge Lizards. If symptoms persist, call your doctor.

Title Tracks: Essence

Lucinda Williams: Essence

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This is one of my favorite Lucinda Williams tracks, but it's also one that I can never play when I'm on the radio due to the potential for massive fines from the FCC should I do so. For that reason, I am more than glad to share it with you here.

Simply put, the song "Essence" is little more than lust given life in the form of a song. When Lucinda cries out for her "Sweet Baby," you can hear the yearning in her voice. Her desperation has overtaken her to the point that she is no longer in control. When she speaks of love as a drug, it's not a hyperbole or figure of speech. She is addicted.

It's a powerful song made even more so by Lucinda's ability to wring every ounce of emotion out of every breathy note she sings.

Title Tracks: God Shuffled His Feet

Crash Test Dummies: God Shuffled His Feet

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God created man in His own image, and set him loose in the world. After a while, He had a picnic, to see how His creation had fared, and to take questions. Beyond human emotions, He was bemused.

That is the premise of the song, God Shuffled His Feet. It leads off an album of wonderfully eccentric story telling, with a rich palette of musical colors to enhance the experience.

Title Tracks: Rose of England

Nick Lowe: Rose Of England

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The album Rose Of England by Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit may best be remembered for I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock And Roll). But the entire LP was a gem. So much so that we nearly wore it out. Among the tracks was a great cover of Moon Mullican's Seven Nights To Rock. Also, Long Walk Back, Darlin' Angel Eyes and Lucky Dog, fast became other must play favorites. And while many times the title song of an album isn't always one of the high points, for us at least, that was not the case with The Rose Of England. The Amazon link is for an import release.

Title Tracks: Dixie Chicken

Little Feat: Dixie Chicken

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Dixie Chicken, the song and the album, was my introduction to the wonderful music of Little Feat. The unique funky rhythms of New Orleans combined with the bluesy slide guitar of Lowell George to create a new kind of southern rock that has never been equaled, before or since. (I know Little Feat still exists, but with Lowell George gone, it might as well be another band entirely.) My oldest brother brought the album home and made sure I heard it. Then, he decided to learn some of the songs for a cover band he played in, and I heard the album some more. For a couple of weeks, he played Walking All Night over and over, trying to make out the lyrics, (you couldn’t check the lyric sites on line before there were even home computers). I didn’t mind the repeat listens one bit, and all these years later, I still don’t.

As for Dixie Chicken, the song, a guy in a bar tells the patrons the tale of a peculiar romance. And they all find the tale strangely familiar. If you’ve never heard it before, I won’t give any more away. Suffice it to say. here is a lyric with one of the greatest payoffs in rock and roll.

Title Tracks: Utopia Parkway

Fountains of Wayne: Utopia Parkway

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Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood often come off like the Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of powerpop, observing the world with a detached sense of humor that often only reveals itself upon closer inspection, while wearing their influences on their sleeves. But the results are more fun to listen to than Steely Dan ever were.

It's a shame that they will probably be remembered by the masses as a one-hit wonder. Their small catalog overflows with catchy numbers like this one, which I was reminded of when I passed a "Utopia Pkwy" sign on a recent drive out to Long Island.

I grew up not far from the kitschy store that gave Fountains of Wayne their name. I'll never forget the time my Mom heard them on an NPR program and immediately called me up to see if I knew that there was a band named after the store.

Of course I had.

Title Tracks: One Step Beyond

Madness: One Step Beyond

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Exuberant and joyful, jaunty and jubilant, One Step Beyond is one of only a couple of Madness songs that successfully made the leap across the pond and became an MTV hit in America. Originally written and recorded by Prince Buster (who is also the inspiration for the name Madness), One Step Beyond is, for me, a mess of nostalgic memories of warm Saturday nights laughing and dancing with friends. The unmistakable opening chant that every wannabe Nutty Boy could recite by heart in 1981 still brings a smile to my face after all these years.

Hey you! Don't watch that, watch this!

Title Tracks: Sail Away

Randy Newman: Sail Away

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As a budding teen audiophile, I spent a good portion of my adolescent summer nights camped out on the hardwood floor of my parents' living room, where a low custom-built cabinet held a lovingly catalogued sequence of sixties and seventies songwriters and old blues records, spinning disks one by one, trying to find my own musical sense and sensibility among that of my father's.

It was there that I found a well-worn, well-loved copy Randy Newman's Sail Away nestled among the Paul Simon and Chris Smither, the Joni and Loudon and Emmylou. More used than most in that sweet-smelling hardwood cabinet, its ragged-haired, glasses-sporting, close-cropped headshot cover called to me like a ghost of my father, and the music it held did too: sonically delicate and lyrically wry, with the swelling of soft horns and strings playing an anthem behind the title track like nobody's business. It would be years before I was mature enough to fully appreciate the sarcastic, caustic underbelly of these deceptively light-hearted tunes, but that the songs stuck in my head long enough to matter speaks pages about the pure emotive power of this singer-songwriter's singer-songwriter.

Over 30 years later, of course, the same title was used for a solid roots-and-bluegrass Randy Newman tribute album; here's one of my favorite mellow newgrass musicians crooning the equally gentle if slightly more rounded-out title track to that album, as befits both the week's theme and this coverblogger's bent.

Tim O'Brien: Sail Away

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Title Tracks: Lights Out

UFO: Lights Out

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Growing up, I listened to AM pop radio longer than most of my peers. So when the classic rock format first hit the New York airwaves in the mid '80s, it was actually refreshing to me. Of course, that didn't last. The format quickly ossified into endless repeats of the same 100 songs, and I moved on. At times, I've dreamed of an alternate reality where my long list of songs that should have been classic rock staples actually are. UFO's "Lights Out," the title track to their best studio album (it hit 23 on the U.S. album charts in 1977), is one of those songs.

Back in their '70s heyday, UFO straddled the line between hard rock and heavy metal. Indeed, they are often seen as the influential bridge between the two. Like many songs in both genres, it's not the lyrics that are important here, but the way the music makes an adolescent boy feel. When I discovered this song in 1986, it made me feel like cranking up the stereo to maximum volume. And it still does.

Sports: The Hockey Edition

Kathleen Edwards: Hockey Skates

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Jane Siberry: Hockey

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Although I had plenty of songs I could have chosen for this theme (lots of baseball, and even a boxer... no, not the Simon and Garfunkel one), I'm not really a sports person - of course, at the eleventh hour, I remembered a tune I'd love to cover... and then discovered BoyHowdy already had...

So... since it's been a while, I'm re-upping that one... which made me think of the other one - Jane Siberry is a favorite for a few of us on this blog, and this song (although it drops a few f-bombs) is from her Child holiday live ensemble double-CD. From the liner notes:

"The wintry scenario depicted in "Hockey", though, was all fun in its performances here: The song takes a wistful look back at the fading joys of youth, and ends with the children who are playing hockey on the frozen river being called home for dinner. One by one, Jane called home her band, each member regressing back into childhood and comically expressing their displeasure."

---

Last-minute bonus topical track from Boyhowdy himself: THESE Hanson Brothers are a faux Canadian punk band named after the boys from the film SlapShot; they make entire albums about hockey in full-blown Ramones-era style...

The Hanson Brothers: The Hockey Song

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Sports: Tournament of Hearts

The Weakerthans: Tournament of Hearts

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Why, why can't I draw right up to what I want to say?
Why can't I ever stop where I want to stay?
I slide right through the day, I'm always throwing hack weight...

It's a bit more recent than our usual fare here on Star Maker Machine, but I just can't resist this deliciously grungy, perfectly Canadian 2007 tune from the Weakerthans, who use the name of their national women's curling championship and a full set of curling metaphors to frame the first-person story of a sad sack who suffers from communication problems in his marriage, no doubt because he spends all his time at the curling rink pursuing his other passion.

For those who make neither head nor tails of the song's deeper meaning upon first listen, Wikipedia offers a pretty comprehensive curling glossary.

Sports: Cubs In Five

The Mountain Goats: Cubs In Five

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"...And the Chicago Cubs will beat every team in the league,
and the Tampa Bay Bucs will make it all the way to January,
and I will love you again...
I will love you, like I used to..."

Keep dreaming.

Sports: The Pugilist at 59

Tom Russell: The Pugilist at 59

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Tom Russell gives us a vivid character sketch of a boxer whose glory days are gone. He remembers the feeling of getting in the ring and knowing he could beat anyone. But now he has met the one opponent he can never hope to defeat: aging.

Tom Russell, on the other hand, shows no sign of slowing down. He is known primarily as a Texas singer/ songwriter, as good as any of them. But he also incorporated Irish and Norwegian folk music into his “folk opera”, The Man From God Knows Where, in which Russell explored his family history. Russell’s album Hotwalker is a combination of music and spoken word pieces, created in collaboration with poet Charles Bukowski. The two have also published a book of their correspondence. And Russell also paints. So those who wish to look further into Russell’s work have plenty to explore. And it is a journey well worth taking.

Sports : Ray Mancini vs. Duk Koo Kim edition

Warren Zevon : Boom Boom Mancini

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Sun Kil Moon : Duk Koo Kim

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On November 13, 1982, 21-year-old lightweight champion Ray Mancini met 23-year-old South Korean challenger Duk Koo Kim. The fight that ensued is now famous for its tragic outcome : in the 14th round, Mancini hit a weakened Kim with a hard right, sending him flying into the ropes. The Korean hit the canvas with his head but somewhat managed to get back on his feet, but the referee stopped the bout. Shortly after the fight, Kim fell in a coma and died from brain injuries 4 days later.
Mancini went to Kim's funeral in South Korea, and fell into a deep depression, but he went back to the ring. But the tragedy was not over : both Kim's mother and the referee who hadn't stopped the bout earlier committed suicide, and the the WBC took steps to shorten its title bouts to a maximum of 12 rounds instead of 15.

Many thanks to my friend Søren from Denmark for suggesting me the Warren Zevon song (that I didn't know). "Some have the speed and the right combinations /If you can't take the punches it don't mean a thing " is one of the smartest things I've ever heard about boxing.

That song led me into reading Mancini's bio on Wiki and discovering that Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters had also made a song but this time about Kim with his other band Sun Kil Moon. The song lasts 14 minutes, like the number of rounds that Kim held before falling.

Sports: A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request

Steve Goodman: A Dying Cub Fan‘s Last Request

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As I write this, baseball season is drawing to a close. The Cubs have not been eliminated from postseason contention yet, but it looks more and more likely. Steve Goodman would have understood. Goodman obviously loved music. His other great love was the city of Chicago in general, and the Cubs in particular. I’m sure he didn’t have to do any research to come up with the names of the players used in this song.

In 1969, Steve Goodman was diagnosed with leukemia. His musical career began the next year. The whole time he was making his wonderful music, Goodman lived with the knowledge that he was on borrowed time. He finally succumbed in 1984. Goodman was in the position to do something very few people can do: he put a last wish in a song for all to hear. After his death, Goodman’s ashes were indeed scattered over Wrigley Field. Shortly thereafter, the Cubs began a run of respectability that continues to this day. But even with Goodman watching over them, the Cubs have yet to reach the World Series. They are, after all, the Cubs.

Sports: Oh King Richard and Sunday Money

Kyle Petty: Oh King Richard

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Flashback: July 4,1984. Daytona International Speedway. Richard Petty wins his 200th race in a career spanning 35 years with 7 Winston Cup Championships in 1185 starts. It would be his final win but a memorable one. Not only did his 200th win come on the 4th of July, it was also the first time a sitting U.S. president attended a NASCAR event. This second generation racecar driver earned his title 'The King'. His son Kyle once remarked, “I had to be the only child in this country who ever called his father 'The King.' ” A lesser known fact about Kyle may be that not only is he the 3rd generation driver in the legendary Petty family, he's a pretty good singer/songwriter as well. This tribute to his dad was also recorded by Rodney Crowell on an album called Street Language, but this is Kyle Petty, the singer, with a tribute fit for a king.

Brooks and Dunn: Sunday Money

[not available for sale]

Tied with The King for 7 Winston Cup Championships, Earnhardt was also a second generation racecar driver.The Man In Black, Ironhead, Mr. Restrictor Plate or The Intimidator. The Black Number 3. Love him or hate him, Earnhardt was a fierce competitor. But off the track he was just as passionate about music. Earnhardt met Kix Brooks in the early 90's and they became good friends. According to Brooks the writing of Sunday Money was Earnhardt's idea. It was only released as a special one-off deal with a T-shirt. Out of respect, the song was not re-released. There have been a number of songs that have mentioned Dale Earnhardt including The Tiki Bar Is Open by John Hiatt, but this song was co-written by The Man himself.

Sports: England 2 Colombia 0

Kirsty MacColl: England 2 Colombia 0

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This isn’t a song about sports. Rather, the World Cup match between England and Colombia serves as a backdrop for the game being played by a man and a woman. They go on a date to a pub to root for England. She finds out that he is married. By the time England completes its decisive victory, she has learned sympathy for Colombia. This is a relationship tale as only Kirsty MacColl could tell it. She is sorely missed.

Sports: When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease

Roy Harper: When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease

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Roy Harper is best known for providing the lead vocals on Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" and for being name-checked on the Led Zeppelin track "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper". Of his own recordings, "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease" is perhaps his most well known.

The mix of acoustic guitar and brass band is not a combination you hear too often, but here it works fabulously, adding a healthy dose of atmosphere. I don't know a thing about cricket, but it hardly matters. The boozy recollections and sense of loss come clearly through.

Sports: Tessie

Dropkick Murphys: Tessie

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In 2004 DKM released Tessie. They made a prediction that year too. "We recorded this song in June 2004 and after giving it to the Red Sox told anyone that would listen that this song would guarantee a World Series victory."

The lyrics of this song give the history of how Tessie became the anthem of the Royal Rooters. During the 1903 World Series, the Royal Rooters led by Michael "Nuf Ced" McGreevy, taunted the opposing Pittsburgh Pirates. The Boston Americans were down 1-3 in the series and the Rooters knew their team needed a rally. So, the Royal Rooters began to change the lyrics to any song that they could think of. But it was Tessie that helped win the day. Interestly, the Royal Rooters stopped singing Tessie after Boston won the World Series in 1918, which began Boston's 86 year drought and the rest is history. Nuf said.

Autumn and Harvest: Harvest Festival

XTC: Harvest Festival

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Andy Partridge is second only to Ray Davies for his ability to turn the details of ordinary British life into beautiful song. In "Harvest Festival" (from the last great XTC album, Apple Venus Volume 1), the narrator takes comfort in gaze: "The longing look you gave me / That longing look / More than enough to keep me fed all year". He doesn't get the girl in the end, but somehow that's OK.

Autumn and Harvest: Lost in Autumn

The Sea and Cake: Lost in Autumn

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There's nothing particularly autumnal in the lyrics of this song; in fact, it's hard to tell if the "Autumn" of the song's title is a season, a girl, or something else entirely. But then, post-rock/post-jazz combo The Sea and Cake isn't known for their lyricism. Instead, this laid-back late-night song from the band's early, pre-electronic era conjures up the slow, languid fall of a leaf on the wind, and anticipates the stillness of bare winter to come.

Autumn and Harvest : September Gurls

Big Star : September Gurls

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I'm surprised nobody posted this song yet, thanks to the cult status of Big Star. Their music, although 30 years old, sounds so modern that the band is particularly praised now in the 2000s while it went practically unnoticed when it came out
These are the laws of rock history.
Whatever, the music of Big Star (here, of Alex Chilton, since Chris Bell had left the band)is full of power, great pop music both fierce and delicate, with that drop of venom that charecterized the post-hippie era, and which is still palpable in indie rock.

Autumn and Harvest: John Barleycorn Must Die

Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die

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Before I begin, I would like to thank my fellow Star Makers for their help gathering the songs for this post. I could never have done it without you.

I am old enough to have heard Traffic’s classic John Barleycorn Must Die when it first came out, and young enough to have been a child at the time. My oldest brother brought it home, and made sure I heard it. I made two incorrect assumptions at the time. I thought Traffic wrote the song. And I heard a fair amount of psychedelic music at the time; I assumed that the lyrics told the strange tale of a man who kept being treated in cruel and unusual ways, but I never guessed that there was any deeper meaning. I knew that I loved the sound of the song, and that was enough.

But now I am older, and I understand more. John Barleycorn Must Die is a traditional English song. There is a record of a version from the 1300s, and it is likely older than that. Over time, many variants have arisen, with changes to both the melody and the words. The song became widely known throughout the British Isles. Scottish poet Robert Burns even wrote a version.

And the story is deeper than I knew. John Barleycorn is the personification of the grain, and the song tells the story of the grain from planting to harvest and beyond. The song usually begins with Barleycorn’s first death; he is buried, and dirt is heaped upon him. This, of course, is the planting of the grain. In midsummer, he grows a “long long beard” and “becomes a man”. The song goes on to describe threshing and harvesting. Barleycorn is bailed and taken to the barn. And then the grain is parceled out. Some is taken to the miller to make flour for bread. And some is saved and brewed in a vat to make ale. And some is planted, so that the whole cycle can begin again.

It is likely that versions of John Barleycorn were sung in pre-Christian times, to accompany harvest rituals. Some of these rituals survive to this day in modified form, most famously the sacrifice of the wicker man. These rituals tell the story of the death and rebirth of the god of the grain.

The lyrics used by Traffic start with three men who came from the west. This reminds me of the three wise men who came from the East in the Nativity story. The first Christians who came to the British Isles often looked for parallels between native myths and the Story of Christ, in order to help the natives accept Christianity. So these three men from the west may be an example of this. John Barleycorn shares with the Christ Story the theme of death and rebirth.

Jethro Tull: John Barleycorn

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Jethro Tull’s version of the song is just called John Barleycorn, but it is otherwise a straightforward cover of the Traffic version, sharing the same melody and lyrics. But Jethro Tull has created an arrangement that is wholly original, and shows off the classic Jethro Tull sound. Ian Anderson’s trademark flute sound arrives midway through the song.

Tim van Eyken: Barleycorn

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Tim van Eyken has proved himself to pure traditionalists in the English folk scene. He even played with Waterson: Carthy, the ultimate traditional English folk group. But here, he gives Barleycorn, as he calls it, a folk rock treatment. He uses a different melody and slightly different lyrics than Traffic and Tull. His three men at the beginning come not from the west but from Kent.

Steeleye Span: John Barleycorn

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Steeleye Span gives us yet another variant on the song. Again, we have a different melody, and some variations in the lyrics. And Steeleye Span adds a refrain of “Fa la la la, it’s a lovely day” etc. This sounds like it may have originally belonged to another song entirely. There are numerous examples of this in English folk music.

Autumn and Harvest: Who Knows Where the Time Goes

Fairport Convention: Who Knows Where the Time Goes

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When the mornings get cooler and the leaves start changing colors, I can't help but get a little melancholy. I don't know if it's the ghost of school years past or the regrets of another summer of unfulfilled plans drawn to a close. Either way, autumn is all about contemplating the passage of time. And even though Sandy Denny keeps claiming not to notice the passing of time in her signature tune, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes," she captures that melancholy mood perfectly. The Judy Collins cover might be more well known, but I prefer the version Sandy did while she was with Fairport Convention in 1969. Somehow, knowing she died well before her time gives her version added resonance.

Autumn and Harvest: Autumn Almanac

The Kinks: Autumn Almanac

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"Tea and toasted, buttered currant buns, can't compensate for lack of sun"... probably not for most folks, but football sure helps a lot of us, especially because it's also on Sunday,Monday and sometimes Thursday!

Autumn and Harvest: September Song

Jeff Lynne: September Song

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I distinctly remember when I got my first music-playing device. It was Christmas 1979, and my parents gave me a Panasonic cassette recorder--one of those old-school, mono machines that laid flat (very similar to this one).

Before I got to that present however, I opened up a smaller one. A cassette! When I first opened it, part of the cover was obscured, and all I saw was the word "Orchestra" and what at first glance appeared to be a black-and-white photo of men in tuxedos, and my initial thought was, "Yuck! a classical recording!". I soon figured out it was indeed a rock album--Electric Light Orchestra's On the Third Day. (My parents must have noticed me listening to my older brother's ELO cassettes.) Say what you will about ELO, that album was my first love, predating (and leading directly to) my long-standing Beatles fixation.

This is all a rather long-winded way of introducing this song, which is not actually an ELO track, but a song from ELO mastermind Jeff Lynne's one-and-only solo album, Armchair Theatre, from 1990. It's not a particularly great album, but thanks to Christmas 1979, I have a soft spot for Mr. Lynne. And on this toe-tapping, slightly wonky cover of "September Song," he hits all the right nostalgic notes, while avoiding the over-sentimentality that creeps in on slower versions of the song.

Autumn and Harvest: Pastures of Plenty

Solas: Pastures of Plenty

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Woody Guthrie wrote several songs which relate to the harvest, in that they tell of the plight of migrant farm workers during the Great Depression. Pastures of Plenty is one of the best. The title is ironic; Guthrie tells of fields in California with bountiful harvests, but the workers partake of only a very small part of them.

It is not surprising that this song would resonate with Irish musicians. Ireland is, after all, a place with its own history of agricultural misfortune. And sure enough, Solas delivers an amazing high energy version of this Woody Guthrie classic. Like many folk groups in the British Isles, Solas features an ever changing lineup. The lead singer here is Karan Casey, who has since moved on to a successful career as a solo artist.

Autumn and Harvest: Fall Stories

Girlyman: Fall Stories

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September's still Summer, but the nights are like Fall.
Tell me your Fall Stories,
Every time you broke your heart...

It's an easy pun to turn the falling leaves of autumn into an image of falling from grace and love, but that doesn't mean it can't be done well. All it takes is a sense of humor, a cha-cha beat, a twangy mando-guitar combo, and a set of perfect harmonies that hook the listener in. And with that stellar package stamped all over their 2003 debut album Remember Who I Am, folk trio Girlyman set the tone for a bright future on the folk circuit.

Autumn and Harvest: Blue Harvest Blues

Mississippi John Hurt: Blue Harvest Blues

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What do you do when harvest time catches you unprepared? Not a good thing with winter just around the bend. You may become a weary traveler. Mississippi John Hurt will fill you in. From 1928, perhaps sometime in the fall, Blue Harvest Blues.

Autumn and Harvest: When Fall Comes to New England

Cheryl Wheeler: When Fall Comes to New England

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Living in South Florida, it's difficult for me to comprehend fall or New England... yet Cheryl Wheeler's descriptive lyrics and plaintive voice instantly evoke the seasonal equinox and the geographic landscape, introducing me to the snap in the air, the swirl of the leaves and the smoke in the chimneys - bring on the flannel!

Autumn and Harvest: Autumn Leaves

Cannonball Adderley: Autumn Leaves

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Not really sure if we´re allowed to post jazz here at the Star Maker Machine, but I guess I just have to take the risk. ´Cause to me, Autumn Leaves provides the perfect soundtrack to the melancholy season that will soon be upon us. Featuring Miles Davis on trumpet and Art Blakey on drums amongst others, this is somethin´ else indeed. April In Paris in reverse, it easily conjures up images of a myriad of red and gold leaves drifting by your window.

Autumn Leaves started life as a French song called Les Feuilles Mortes, first aired by Yves Montand in a ´46 Marcel Carné flick called Les Portes De La Nuit. Johnny Mercer translated it into English. He had to change the title first thing, as it was common knowledge the American public would never go for a pop song called Dead Leaves...

Poverty: Hole in the Bucket

Michael Franti and Spearhead: Hole in the Bucket

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With and without the sparse-but-funky backing soul of Spearhead, Michael Franti has staked his later career on proactive, politically sensitive songs which cry out to the listener to reconsider his or her relationship to society. Here, in their 1994 debut outing, he uses a chance encounter with a homeless street beggar to muse on the responsibility of the passerby: should we drop the quarter in the cup, and address poverty in passing, even if we have concerns about the recipient's ability to make appropriate choices about the use of that money to better themselves, instead of spending it on canned pork products and wine? Franti says yes. I agree.

Poverty : Pauvre Martin

Georges Brassens : Pauvre Martin

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Great poet and folk songwriter Georges Brassens tells the life of Poor Martin (the most common name in France), an agricultural worker, and his resignation to his life and death :

Without letting be seen on his face, neither a resentful or bitter look
He turned over other's fields
Always shoveling, always shoveling

And when death called upon him, to work his final field,
he dug his own grave, quickly, hiding himself,
(...) And then laid down without a word, not to disturb anybody.

This song is part of his second album from 1954. You can find a video with English translation here.

Poverty: This Ain't Living

G. Love and Special Sauce: This Ain't Living

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I can envision G. Love and co-writer/co-vocalist Jasper driving around Philly listening to Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" when the line "this ain't livin'" jumped out at them, and a new song was born.

Whether it's early-'70s Detroit, mid-'90s Philadelphia, or present-day Your Town, the faces change, but the stories stay the same. This ain't living.

Poverty: John Martin

Ben Weaver: John Martin

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This one paints a heck of a picture in my head.. it has a kind of sick sepia colored feel to it. But this is just a great song, a narrative ala Tom Waits. This is the experience of one John Martin, and a ragged young man with an honest face he encounters while in Detroit on business for his wife. John learns first hand how it feels to be ragged and poor. From his 2004 album, Stories Under Nails, this is John Martin by Ben Weaver.

Guest post by Bert

Poverty: Nobody Loves You When You’re Down and Out

Eric Clapton: Nobody Loves You When You‘re Down and Out

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My first thought when I saw the announcement of this week’s theme was, “I’ve got to post some blues this week.” Here’s a classic, made famous by the great Bessie Smith.

I have always thought of this song as a Depression era tune. Indeed, Bessie Smith recorded it on the cusp of the stock market crash in 1929, and it was one of her most popular numbers during the Depression. But Nobody Loves You When You’re Down and Out was written by Jimmy Cox in 1922 or -23. When you think about the words, this makes sense. Here we have a former millionaire who has fallen to the depths of poverty, but he still believes that he is one lucky break from returning to his former stature. This kind of thinking belongs to boom years, not to an era of desperation. During the Depression, a lyric that had originally seemed realistic became a last ditch attempt at hope.

When Eric Clapton chooses to be a blues musician, he is one of my favorites. Here, he eloquently conveys the emotion of the original song. And he does this in an acoustic setting, even though he is justly known for his skill on electric guitar.

Poverty: Coal Miner's Daughter

Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter

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Loretta Lynn's "Coal Miner's Daughter" paints an honest picture of the type of poverty that existed in many Appalachian coal mining communities in the early part of the 1900's.

We are all familiar with the stereotypes of Eastern Kentuckians living in places with no roads or electricity or running water. We've all heard stories of children who grow up in the mountains with no shoes, no education, and no food. These are stereotypes that, as a native of Eastern Kentucky (I was born and raised in the same small town as Loretta), I have spent a good deal of my life trying to disprove. I certainly didn't grow up that way, my parents didn't grow up that way, and I know few people who did.

Well... Loretta Lynn did. Her father worked in the coal mines in the small community of Van Lear, KY. He worked long, back breaking hours for very little pay. It was an environment that made it very difficult to provide for a for his wife and eight children. Loretta sings of drawing water from a well, selling a hog to buy shoes, and even going without shoes in the summertime. It was a life of poverty to be sure.

What I take away from this song, however, is how Loretta's family chose to view their situation. From a material standpoint, they had nothing. But from their perspective, they were rich because they had each other. As Loretta says, "We were poor, but we had love." It speaks to another stereotype of the people of Appalachia... a strong bond and connection to family. As cliched as it sounds, Loretta Lynn didn't have much growing up, but she never felt deprived due to the love of her family. That's why she's proud, and not ashamed, to be a coal miner's daughter.

Loretta talked about the song, and her life in an interview with NPR back in 2000.

Poverty: Breadline

The Wooden Soldiers: Breadline

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A couple of weeks ago, I featured a few bands from the New Brunswick, NJ music scene. Here's another one important: The Wooden Soldiers. Formed in 1984, their first album, Hippies, Punks and Rubber Men (1987) is a New Brunswick classic. The original version of the band included two distinct singer/songwriters, Greg Di Gesu and Paul Rieder. "Breadline" is one of Paul's songs. It's from a second album, Lazy Man's Load, that never got released. Paul left the band around that time, and they released one more album without him, 1991's Roses of Steel.

"Breadline" is one of the catchier songs about poverty. "I'll meet you all in the morning / On the Breadline" sounds inviting until you listen to the verses, which detail a litany of troubles facing the financially challenged.

Paul currently plays mandolin and lap steel guitar in the band Clancy's Ghost. Greg performs as Sounds of Greg D and is also a respected studio engineer with two platinum records to his credit.

Poverty: The Ballad of Larry

Jonathan Byrd: The Ballad of Larry

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I've said before that Andrew Calhoun (singer-songwriter and owner/founder of Waterbug Records) is my personal E. F. Hutton in the music world - when he tells me to pay attention to someone, I listen!

Andrew gave me the heads-up on Jonathan quite a few years back... and I've had the pleasure of presenting JByrd in my living room as well as my concert series - he has segued from traditional to singer-songwriter to world-fusion to rock to Americana... and every time I think his music can't get any better, it does...

I've long thought that each new album is a re-invention... but now realize each is actually an extension... of his wisdom, experience and heart - The Ballad of Larry is beautifully crafted and sung, an always-wrenching yet never-maudlin portrayal of the title character, who may be on the edge of poverty but is oh so rich in other ways...

Poverty: Cash On the Barrelhead

Dolly Parton: Cash on the Barrelhead

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Poverty is the knowledge that people take one look at you, and decide that it’s not safe to lend you money. That is Cash on the Barrelhead in a nutshell. I found an explanation of the term on Wiki Answers, as follows:

“... Picture a sea port and a ship is delivering barrels of salt or tar or some other item. The seller and the buyer stand facing each other with a barrel between them and strike a deal. The cash is put on the barrel, the seller takes the cash and the buyer takes the barrel after he paid for it ‘on the barrel head‘.”

The song was written by Charlie Louvin, and originally recorded by the Louvin Brothers. Dolly Parton’s is the only version I’ve heard, and it’s a good one.

Poverty: On The Wrong Side Of The Railroad Tracks

Dr. John: On The Wrong Side Of The Railroad Tracks

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Looking at it from a perspective of not having to pay income tax. On The Wrong Side Of The Railroad Tracks is from the Dr. John album of Duke Ellington covers titled Duke Elegant. In a word, I'd call this song bittersweet.

Guest Post by Bert

Poverty: Poor Man's House

Patty Griffin: Poor Man's House

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The first folk album I truly fell in love with was Patty Griffin's rough-hewn, living-room recorded 1996 debut Living with Ghosts, a gift from my father and folkmentor in troubled times. I was back in college again, newly married, desperately in need of music as an emotional outlet but too broke to afford CDs, and from the very first note, I treasured that album like nobody's business.

This song, which appears alongside the equally powerful track Forgiveness, provides an aching centerpiece of despair to a haunting album. The rise and fall of its dustbowl strum and wail, delivered on the low, shaky end of Patty's breathy, slightly twanged vocal range, speaks of growing up as a child of the exhausted and sorrowful poor in ways that - although devoid of hope in the moment - still manage to anticipate the life of inner strength which will ultimately come to those who survive it.

The exceptionally well-grounded emotion of Living With Ghosts would set the stage for a long and happily still-growing career as a songwriter's songwriter, equally adept at loss and longing, hope and hopelessness, resigned determination and anger, celebrated in Americana and folk circles for an unparalleled sensitivity to the ways in which raw, intimate music and a confessional narrative can best reach a listener's heart. But I always return to this, her first, when I am in need. Thanks, Patty, for helping me find myself in the dark hours.