One: One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer (and One More)

Amos Milburn: One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer

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There’s been a lot of sweetness and light around here lately. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I’ve posted some of it myself. But sometimes it feels good to get down and dirty. And that often implies having a drink in there somewhere.

One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer is a classic drinking song. Most people know the George Thorogood version, but, to me, Amos Milburn’s version rings truer. Is this the original version?

That turns out to be an interesting question. One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer was written by Rudy Toombs, who was not a performer himself. Toombs wrote the song for Amos Milburn, but, before Milburn had a chance to record it, John Lee Hooker came out with a version of his own. As a result, many people think that Hooker wrote the song. For my money, this is the original, or should have been.

Milburn puts over the story of a man who has been unlucky in love, and wants drown his sorrows with alcohol. This was one of a series of drinking songs that Amos Milburn recorded and took up the R & B charts in the 1950s. It is interesting to note that Milburn wasn’t much of a drinker himself.

The Clovers: One Mint Julep

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When I decided to post One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer, I couldn’t resist pairing it with One Mint Julep. Here is a morality tale of a man who had one too many. Imagine my surprise, in researching this post, when I learned that One Mint Julep was also written by Rudy Toombs.

One: Number One Blind

Veruca Salt: Number One Blind

[Purchase]

This song is from Veruca Salt's popular 1994 album "American Thighs". The song was only a minor success in comparison to their hit "Seether" from the same album, but I think this song is just as good. I love the concept of the song. Had we not known that Levolor was a popular brand of blinds and drapes, we might suspect that this was a love song or a song about addiction or something else, but the fact that they sing the song to Levolor we know that they're quite literally singing to their window blinds. I imagine the depression of youth or a break-up or both, the desire to just stay in bed all day. She can't believe it's morning. Has she been blind? Is it time for a change? She's been kept in the dark...was it her own doing or was it her blinds? It takes something that otherwise could be quite depressing and gives it a spin so instead we're smiling at the same time.

The original Veruca Salt broke up in 1998 after only two full length albums together. Since then one of the founders, Louise Post, has kept the band going, if by name only, and is still touring with all new band members and making albums. The other founder, Nina Gordon has also continued to make music as a solo artist.

One: One Hundred Names

The Nields: One Hundred Names

[purchase]

The first time I heard this song by The Nields (who were a five-piece folk-rock band in a previous incarnation but are now a sister duo), I thought it was about a romantic relationship... and my interpretation worked quite well for months... until someone else told me they thought it was about god (lower case used deliberately) - now I can't hear it any other way...

I am not religious (I was raised Catholic and have been "recovering" from that the remainder of my life) but I do consider myself a spiritual person - I find beauty and joy and faith in the mundane... and I believe miracles happen every day, if one is aware...

In researching the backstory of the title of this song, I came across the following quote - ah, now it all makes sense!

“God has one hundred names: man knows only ninety-nine of them, but the camel knows the hundredth. That is why the camel always goes round with his nose in the air and a superior look on his face.”

P.S. The stunning piano accompaniment is by none other than the amazing Susan Werner, with whom some of you are familiar...

P.P.S. The "you're my favorite cowboy song" lyric always reminds me of Dave Carter...

One: We Are The One

Avengers: We Are The One

[purchase]

"We will build a better tomorrow,
the youth of today will be the tool
American children built for survival,
fate is our destiny and we shall rule..."

How about that for a manifest? Led by spiky-haired singer Penelope Houston, San Francisco quartet the Avengers recorded this optimistic anthem for the legendary Dangerhouse label back in ´77. It´s my fave out of an excellent first crop of early US westcoast punk singles, beating the Screamers, Crime, Nuns, Weirdos, X and the Germs by a narrow margin.

"We are not Jesus Christ
We are not fascist pigs
We are not capitalist industrialists
We are not communists
We are the one..."

One: Am I The Only One?

Barenaked Ladies: Am I The Only One?

[purchase]

Long before the ironic suburban white-boy hipster's hip-hop of top chart hit One Week, and certainly WAY before BNL were big enough to merit their own cruise, but still hot on the heels of their Canadian award-winning debut Gordon, Barenaked Ladies released this tiny, tender song in the midst of an otherwise critically ignored sophomore slump album called Maybe You Should Drive, which topped out at an incredibly lame #175 on the US sales charts.

Folks who know the indie geekrockers from their poppy post-millennial radioplay will find this to be an entirely different group, focused on sparse harmony and string section production, but to be fair, this isn't really representative of anything but the vast spectrum of poential the boys had in their early years. The album overall is decent, if wildly diverse and peppered with a few totally cheesy duds, showing an indiepop band searching for a way to take it to the next level, and not really finding a definitive sound; I don't listen to it all the way through these days, but fifteen years later, I still turn to this song when I need a good soul-searching.

One: One of Us

Abba: One of Us

[Purchase]

You've been lucky enough not to find out before now that I really like Abba. They aren't even from my generation, but I found my parents records and fell in love. It's hard not to feel good and sing along with their infectious pop music if you can get over the cheese factor. But more often than not, their music is ridiculed as disco nonsense, when in fact they were talented singers and even more talented musicians and songwriters. Luckily, I think enough time has gone by that a lot of their work is getting a second glance and a number of contemporary artists have even covered their songs and allowed the songwriting to shine through without what some may consider a very dated sound.

"One of Us" was a single from their last album together, 1981's "The Visitors". Overall, it was one of their strongest albums and took on a much more somber tone than many of the more pop/dance-friendly albums of their past. Of course, the band that was once composed of two pairs of lovers and spouses was now composed of two divorced couples growing more and more disgruntled with making music and working together. Despite it all, they managed to make an outstanding album, and this is one of the best songs from it.

One: The One I Love

Rosie Thomas (w. Sufjan Stevens): The One I Love

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So I saw the new theme, and I corralled all of my “One” songs, and I put this one on the back burner. But then I remembered that is sort of a duet, and my brain said “transition!” So, here it is.

Rosie Thomas delivers a beautiful reading of the old REM song. Is it truly a duet? Well, Sufjan Stevens sings background harmonies, his and her voice intertwining beautifully on the chorus. But she clearly sings lead throughout. So, I will ask for opinions on this one.

Thomas has chosen to cover The One I Love in a spare arrangement which tends to focus the listener’s attention on the lyrics. Michael Stipe’s lyrics are often enigmatic, but this is one of the most direct songs he has written, so this treatment really works.

Duets: Two Of Us

The Beatles: Two Of Us

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Two Of Us is from The Beatles' 1970 release, Let It Be, whose recording was documented by film director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, all while the band was going through the throes of break-up.

The movie can be painful to watch at times - the palpable tension of the tired and worn out group comes through loud and clear on the screen, but it does set up a nice moment where Paul McCartney and John Lennon share a duet on Two Of Us. McCartney had wrote it for his wife, Linda, but when he sang it with Lennon, it took on new meaning as an endearing gesture of affection from Paul to John, with lines like,"You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead." The Phil Spector-produced version starts with Lennon shouting, "'I Dig a Pygmy', by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids... Phase One, in which Doris gets her oats" - the "deaf aids" was the nickname given to The Beatles' Vox amplifiers.

Now, because we here at Star Maker Machine love you readers so much, I've also included the demo version - enjoy!


The Beatles: Two Of Us - Demo

Duets: The Eleventh Hour Edition

First of all, let me say that I adore this week's theme, as I've always been a harmony voyeur - there's just something about two voices saying so much more than one could, lyrically and sonically. To that end, I fear I am running out of time, as I was out of town for the beginning of the week and too busy to post - hope you all won't mind if I do a bit of a clean sweep here to share some of my other favorites...

Jules Shear and Susan Cowsill: Restaurant Scene

[purchase]

Jules Shear is best known as the author of Cyndi Lauper's "All Through The Night" and the Bangles "If She Knew What She Wants", but I'm particularly enamored with his recording, Between Us, definitely in my Top Ten - his gift for lyric writing is beyond description ("some people are changed by great romances but it's the wounds that make us who we are" and "so try to make it like the dream you had, the peaceable kingdom where no one's betrayed" and so many brilliant turns of phrase too numerous to name) and this CD is composed entirely of duets with such notables as Carole King, Ron Sexsmith, Paula Cole, Freedy Johnston and others. My understanding is that it was written after his break-up with Aimee Mann and each song is more tragic than the next - her side of the story can be heard on I'm with Stupid Now (guess perspective is everything)...

Amy Rigby and Todd Snider: Til the Wheels Fall Off

[purchase]

I loved what Anne said in her Nick Cave/P.J. Harvey post ("when two artists you love do a duet together you feel like the universe is lining up") - that's exactly how I felt when Amy Rigby had Todd Snider join her on a song a few CDs back. I am a fan of both, as their sometimes cynicism belies a true faith that trouble is only temporary - this tune mines the road-trip-as-relationship metaphor ("I guess the path of least resistance wasn't on the map")...

Robert Earl Keen and Margo Timmins: Then Came Lo Mein

[purchase]

When a Texas songwriter teams up with the female lead singer of The Cowboy Junkies, anything is possible - through the use of puns ("I was steamed, I was fried") and interweaving voices, they manage to put a poignantly humorous spin on a nervous breakdown in a Chinese restaurant...

Nanci Griffith and Adam Duritz: Going Back to Georgia

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Queen of country-folk meets lead singer of angst-ridden rock band - what could have been a recipe for disaster succeeds beyond wildest expectations. This song is on my funeral tape ("I've been blinded by the sun, washed in the rain, scattered in America, I'm scatterin' again, but if you're goin' south, darlin', I guess I'm travelin' with you") - yep, Georgia's always on my mind....

Duets: Dida

Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell: Dida

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In his previous post, Darius said: "There also many fine all-female duets, but I leave that thought with my fellow Starmakers" - his "gauntlet" immediately brought to mind this amazing vocal collaboration between two Joans (Joni's birth name is Roberta Joan Anderson)...

Never has so much been done with so little - two nonsensical syllables (di-da) swirl and whirl and twirl and braid and weave and criss-cross and merge and mesh and entwine and spiral and elevate... until your (at least my!) cheekbones are aching from smiling so broadly at the sound of two diverse voices creating such intricate beauty in tandem...

From the liner notes of Diamonds and Rust:

Dida [written by Joan Baez]... was originally recorded with Joni Mitchell in June 1974 while Joan was in the studio doing a record of political nature. It held up as a valid track in Joan's mind for seven months, so when she got back to L.A. she went into the studio with Henry Lewy, the original engineer, to finish it up. Tom Scott and some of L.A.'s top horn players came in on it, and the album was complete.

Duets: Gram & Emmylou

Gram Parsons: Ooh Las Vegas
Gram Parsons: We'll Sweep Out the Ashes in the Morning

[purchase]

I know it's a rather obvious choice, but I just can't let this week go by without offering something from Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris.

I don't even think I need to say much here... just that when Gram and Emmy sing together... I think that's what music is supposed to sound like.

Duets: Henry Lee

Nick Cave & PJ Harvey: Henry Lee

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When two artists you love do a duet together you feel like the universe is lining up. Of course, in the case of the duet between Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, the pairing was even obvious to them. The two dated briefly around the time of Cave's most well-known album "Murder Ballads", just long enough for them to record this traditional ballad together in his trademark spooky style and for the relationship to (supposedly) inspire much of his next album "The Boatman's Call".

Both Harvey and Cave are artists with a penchant for dark and sinister storytelling, both seem to have a way of thoroughly creeping out the average listener. Their styles seem to mesh perfectly, apparently they agreed since they shared a rather passionate, if somewhat brief, relationship together. The video for the track is spooky yet very sexy as well, it sort of personifies their relationship as well as their public persona. Strangely, I find they even look a bit similar, making the whole thing even creepier if you ask me. It's almost as if Cave had found his female counterpart, or perhaps, they're long lost cousins.

Duets: Men’s Edition

I couldn’t help noticing that all of the songs posted this week were duets between a male and a female singer. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that, and the music has been great. But there are other possibilities. Here are two fine examples of duets between two male singers. There also many fine all-female duets, but I leave that thought with my fellow Starmakers. There’s still time!

Johnny Cash/ Willie Nelson: (Ghost) Riders in the Sky

[purchase]

VH-1 Storytellers was a series that usually featured one artist talking about the craft of songwriting, and playing examples. Musically, the results were often spectacular.

But, for one episode, somebody had the idea of getting Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson together to talk about each others songs. Cash and Nelson are, of course, both country artists, but with very different styles. So this could have been a disaster. But, judging from the episode as aired, the two really hit it off, and the music showed it. (Ghost) Riders in the Sky is only one example of how wonderfully they were able to mesh musically.

Bill Morrissey and Greg Brown: Duncan and Brady

[purchase]

Bill Morrissey and Greg Brown used to run into each other on the folk circuit, (they probably still do, for that matter). Over time, they became friends, and jammed together at festivals. Soon enough, they got the idea of recording an album together. What with schedule conflicts and all that travel, it took a few years before it finally happened. Both are fine songwriters, but by the time they went into the studio together, they had decided to record a set of songs by other writers. Duncan and Brady is a traditional song that they selected.

Duets: Kate and the Ghost of Lost Love

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer: Kate and the Ghost of Lost Love

[purchase] (scroll about halfway down to When I Go CD)

I seem to be on a ghost tangent with this theme - hey, if the spectral slipper fits, right?

I first heard Kate and the Ghost of Lost Love, up close and personal, at the Albuquerque Folk Alliance in February 1999 - I deemed it then "the perfect song": a guy/girl duet, alternating verses, traded lines, stunning harmonies, aching violin solo, precise counterpoint singing...

It increased in poignancy (as if that were possible) when Dave Carter passed away in July 2002 of a heart attack - as a long-time and avid fan, I continue to "count the days in cups of wine and the candles I have burned"...

Here, in Dave's own words, is the live introduction he used to give, almost as sad as the song itself:

Long time ago, there was this boy and this girl. And stop me if you've heard this, but they fell in love. And stop me if you've heard this, but he promised her that he would stay with her forever. Well he meant it, at the time. But after all too short a time, the call of the open road proved too great for him, and he took off running, right on down it.

Still, she believed that some day he would return to her. And so every night, she would burn a candle in anticipation of his return. This went on for weeks, and months, and years, this burning of candles. It went on for almost twenty years. And just as she was coming right up on that twenty year mark, well, she was running mighty short on candles. In fact, she was down to her very last candle.

But you know that just as that last candle was flickering and sputtering and about to go out, and just as the first winter snowflakes were beginning to fall beneath the midnight sky, she thought she heard his voice at her garden gate. Or maybe it was his ghost, after all those years of being gone. Or maybe it was only the wind. But either way, they had this little conversation, which we call "Kate and the Ghost of Lost Love."

"So many candles" indeed - sigh...

Duets: Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt: Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

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Kisses Sweeter Than Wine was written by Pete Seeger for his group at the time, the Weavers; (I posted the original version on Oliver di Place a while ago, and the link is still active if you’d like to hear it.) Here, I have chosen a cover version over the original. On the Weaver’s version, Pete Seeger and Ronnie Gilbert sing alternating verses, but all four of the Weavers sing the choruses. But Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt perform the song as a true duet, again alternating on the verses, but with just their two voices on the choruses.

Like so many male/female duets, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine is a love song. But Seeger was not simply writing about that first rush of falling in love. The song starts there, but each verse goes another step onward. This is the only song I know of that traces how love grows and changes over a lifetime. .

Duets: Something Stupid

Nancy & Frank Sinatra: Something Stupid

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Nancy Sinatra´s perhaps better known for her classic duets with eccentric producer Lee Hazlewood - Summer Wine, Sand, Some Velvet Morning, Jackson - but luckily she didn´t refuse when dad came knocking. The pleasant twist a father & daughter combination brings to the made-for-lovers lyrics of Something Stupid just might have had something to do with that.

"I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me,
and if we go someplace to dance, I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me..."

The story goes that Ol´ Blue Eyes played the original of Something Stupid (written and performed by folky married couple Carson and Gaile) to Hazlewood back in ´67, asking his opinion. Hazlewood said ´I love it, and if you don´t sing it with Nancy, I will...´ So Frank answered: ´We´re gonna do it, book a studio.´ The result: two minutes and thirty eight seconds of pure pop bliss, and the only father & daughter duet to reach the number one spot in the American charts.

Robbie Williams sang Something Stupid with actress Nicole Kidman a few years back, scoring a huge hit too. Just goes to show that nothing´s sacred anymore.

Duets: I Want To Sing That Rock and Roll

Gillian Welch: I Want To Sing That Rock And Roll

[purchase]

The David Rawlings Machine: Elvis Presley Blues

[live bootleg]

Glen Phillips: Revelator

[purchase]

Co-writer, producer, and constant companion David Rawlings may be willing to let Gillian Welch have the billing, but those in the know understand that the act known as "Gillian Welch" has been a true partnership since its inception in the early nineties. As such, most Gillian Welch songs are duets by definition.

As proof, we need only note that pretty much every cover of a Gillian Welch song I have ever collected retains Rawlings' subtle, unbilled but everpresent harmonies and intertwined second guitar part as if they were inherent in the tune itself. For example, though Glen Phillips is billed solo, the duet harmony leading into the chorus on his cover of Revelator is neither a surprise nor a fluke; similarly, you'll hear the exact same harmonies on Chris Pureka's cover of Everything is Free that you will on the Welch/Rawlings original. I also note that the two perform together on occasion as The David Rawlings Machine: when they do, though their material tends towards coversong, the guitar interplay and harmonies remain static; the only difference is that Rawlings is more prone to sing the verses, as he does in the bootlegged "Gillian Welch cover" above.

Here's a typical set, with originals under each name and a cover to split the difference; for more on the partnership, check out this longer treatise on Gillian Welch I wrote back in January '08.

Duets: Father/Daughter Dialogue

Loudon Wainright III (w/ Martha Wainwright): Father/Daughter Dialogue

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One of the many beauties of duets is the ability to get two perspectives. This is often done with love songs, break-up songs in particular where there are so often two sides to the same story. But rarely do they involve both of the actual people involved singing their side of the story, and that is what makes this particular duet so powerful.

Loudon Wainwright III married folk singer Kate McGarrigle. Both being singer-songwriters, music was a big part of their life together and their family became a frequent subject. They had two children together, Rufus and Martha, both of whom are respected singer-songwriters for their own generation now. Loudon often wrote songs about his family, about Rufus and Martha, and about fatherhood in general, but he wasn't actually around that much for his children since he was away touring and doing other projects so often. He eventually left their mother for another woman, and had a daughter by her who is now also a songwriter.

Martha and Rufus have now both written songs about their father for their own albums, and they're not quite as pleasant as his songs about them. But father and daughter came together on his 1995 album for this brief track to discuss both sides of their relationship in song.

Duets: Boom Magalina Hagalina Boom

Slim Cessna's Auto Club - Boom Magalina Hagalina Boom

[purchase]

I could post a SCAC song every day of week for this theme. Slim Cessna's signature sound features the harmonies and back and forth vocal performances of Slim and Munly.

SCAC writes big songs, I don’t really know how else to describe it. They aren’t heavy, they aren’t loud, and they’re rarely disposable. They are often labeled as “gothic country” due to the intermingling of Old Testament and apocalyptic religion with bad relationships, alcohol, and murder. If nothing else, SCAC is, IMO, one of the best bands in America that hardly any one’s heard of.

Here is a bonus song. Both of these tracks are off Slim Cessna's 2008 cd, Cipher, which was named the album of the year by ninebullets.net.

Slim Cessna's Auto Club - An Introduction To The Power Of Braces [Arms]

Duets: Conversation with a Ghost

Ellis Paul: Harmony (poem)

Ellis Paul and Patty Griffin: Conversation with a Ghost

[purchase]

I know there's a longer, more detailed story behind Ellis Paul's song Conversation with a Ghost (the lyrics reflect what emerged via a Ouija board interaction with a recently-deceased friend)... but it's in his book... which I own... which is at home... where I'm not - so... I'll follow up with a comment when I return in a few days...

I do, however, have in my possession a Duets mix CD I made for myself at least five years ago - Ellis' poem perfectly describes the magic when two voices combine and elevate to a sum substantially greater than their parts... then just as perfectly illustrates that alchemy... with Patty Griffin joining him on achingly beautiful harmony on the tune from Say Something, his first (although the version I've included is on his Live CD).