Suzanne Vega: 99.9 F Degrees
[purchase]
Speaking of elevated temperatures, I have been waiting for Susan’s post, before I put this one up. In due time, Suzanne Vega and Mitchell Froom would divorce. But this one is about the first bloom of love. I wonder how Froom felt producing and playing on a song about himself. I guess that’s the chance you take when music is your life.
Rita Coolidge: Fever
[purchase]
Fall 1972 - my first college boyfriend. I bought the album, The Lady's Not For Sale... which included this amazing version of Peggy Lee's Fever... as well as Dylan and Cohen covers - we wore it out together. He left me for somebody else - I kept the record. I met another guy a few months later... same first name, same birthday - he fell in love with me, and the record too...
We got married - officially together 33 years, another two before that. I just found out the album will finally be released on CD April 6, 2010 - life is good...
Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns: Tu-Ber-Cu-Lucas and the Sinus Blues
[purchase]
Here's a fine slice of 1959 New Orleans R&B from the man who also gave us the "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu". Though not as well known as some of his contemporaries, Smith is one of the greats, having played piano for more famous pianists Fats Domino and Little Richard, among others.
David Lindley: Tu-Ber-Cu-Lucas and the Sinus Blues
[purchase]
Another musician not as well known as the stars he's played for, David Lindley can basically play anything with strings. After the demise of his wonderfully eclectic world-music-influenced psychedelic group Kaleidoscope, Lindley spent most of the '70s backing up the likes of Crosby & Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, and Jackson Browne. His version of "Tu-Ber-Cu-Lucas and the Sinus Blues" comes from his first (and perhaps best) solo album, El Rayo-X, from 1981. My only real complaint with this track is it ends far too soon.
Dan Bern: Cure For AIDS
[purchase]
Highly political folk rocker Dan Bern presents a typically bitter-yet-hilarious condemnation of the sexually uptight fear society through portrayal of an alternate universe of orgies and acceptance that follows the invention of a simple little pill that cures AIDS.
The song, first published in 1998, still rings true; it may not be front page news any longer, but AIDS remains a gigantic killer, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where it has a significant impact on economic growth, keeping entire countries from being able to garner the resources and attention they need to join the 21st century. But the sense of sexual urgency Bern pretends would follow such a solution seems improbable and dated, pointing to just how deeply our own culture has internalized AIDS and its subsequent social effects as perfectly normative.
Madness: Cardiac Arrest
Purchase
This song is an exercise in dissonance. The danceable beat and nutty ska stylings contrast sharply with lyrics about a man dying of sudden cardiac arrest on his way to work one morning.
This song is also a warning to everyone with a stressful job. I taught introductory psychology for years at a local college and I will never forget the section on the body's reaction to stress. If we were more rational creatures we would be unphased by sharks and serial killers, which none of us are even remotely likely to be harmed by, but Wes Craven would make horror movies about persistent stress and salty snacks.
Jackson Browne: Ready or Not
[purchase]
Wikipedia states:
A medical condition is a broad term that includes all diseases and disorders, but can include [injuries] and normal health situations, such as pregnancy, that might affect a person's health, benefit from medical assistance, or have implications for medical treatments.
This definition does not even begin to take into account *emotional* health and other implications... such as new appliances... and outgrown clothing - fortunately, Jackson Browne has that covered (pun semi-intended... :-)
I've been a fan of JB's since his eponymous debut album in 1972 (still referred to by some as Saturate Before Using)... but this classic tune is from For Everyman, his sophomore recording released the following year - my husband and I met in college about this time, and the album played an integral role in the soundtrack of our courtship...
In a tracklist of mostly mellow, heartfelt and in-depth songs, the comic relief of Ready or Not was welcome - I've always loved the juxtaposition of the opening lines vs. the second verse, as her jeans become the metaphor for the relationship...
Someone's going to have to explain it to me
I'm not sure what it means
My baby's feeling funny in the morning
She's having trouble getting into her jeans...
I met her in a crowded barroom
One of those typical Hollywood scenes
I was doing my very best Bogart
But I was having trouble getting into her jeans
I also adore the way Browne sings the line "she's gonna be a mother", his voice laden with affection and pride (I've read that the tune is autobiographical) - after all of the hemming-and-hawing about being prepared, it appears a family is a sweet fait accompli...
She says she's ready for some meaning
After all of her running around
Well bless my soul, she's got a rock-and-roll bandman
Thinking 'bout settling down
Nirvana: Aneurysm
[purchase]
The older Kurt Cobain got the more obsessed he seemed to become with the human anatomy, bodily functions and medical procedures, and references to all three were rife in his lyrics and artwork.
This original version of Aneurysm appeared on the Smells Like Teen Spirit single in 1991 and on the tour EP Hormoaning a year later, as well as on the With The Lights Out box set in 2004. While certainly good, this version somewhat lacks the intensity of this one:
Nirvana: Aneurysm (BBC Session)
[purchase]
A shorter, faster take recorded for the BBC's The Evening Session and was included on the Incesticide rarities compilation in 1992.
In 1996, two years after Cobain's death, the live album From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah came out and a version of Aneurysm (recorded in California on December 28th 1991) was released as a single.
Nirvana: Aneurysm (live in Del Mar, CA)
[purchase]
And just so we can hear the evolution of the song, here's an earlier live version of it, which features slighty different lyrics. A bootleg recording from the Off Ramp in Seattle on November 25th 1990.
Nirvana: Aneurysm (live in Seattle, WA)
Eels: Dead of Winter
[purchase]
Though the mix of music drifts from folk to fluid indiepop to a kind of gritty, sparse No Depression balladry, death haunts Mark Oliver "Eels" Everett's 1998 album Electro-Shock Blues. The record is simply stunning, a complex yet ultimately hopeful response to a difficult season of loss - in the year before its release, Mark experienced his sister's suicide, his mother's cancer diagnosis, and the deaths of several friends - and if and when I ever lose someone that close, friends should be forewarned that record is on schedule to become my mantra of grief and reconciliation.
Fragile and slightly out of tune, the first-person narrative of being on the outside looking in at his mother's slow degeneration here is heartbreaking, especially in the way it superimposes the stark description of radiation treatment with the befogged mundania of the still world which Everett inhabits as his mother's illness progresses. Its album counterpart, the soft and beautiful Climbing To The Moon, offers a sense of closure and distance for what would come to pass, and like the rest of the album, it comes highly recommended, too - as does tiny self-reflective b-side After the Operation, which I first posted here in our Shorties theme almost exactly a year ago.
Johnny Socko: If I Didn't Have a Goiter
[Purchase]
I felt I had to post this as a transition song from "If" into "Medical Conditions", it's just too perfect, and really, how many songs out there are there that will fit both?
A fun-loving novelty 90's ska song (by a band who did many such kooky songs) about all the things he'd do if you didn't have that annoying goiter. And yes, I went with the album art instead of a picture of the malady. You're welcome.
Jackson Browne/Jewel: If I Only Had a Brain
Roger Daltrey: If I Only Had a Heart
Nathan Lane/Jewel/Jackson Browne/Roger Daltrey: If I Only Had the Nerve
Nathan Lane and Full Company: If I Were King of the Forest
[purchase] - also available in VHS here...
Poor Darius - one of our dear fellow Star Makers has been out of commission for the last few weeks, suffering from computer problems, which it appears will take a while to resolve. He sent me an e-mail yesterday (in response to my previous note of concern for him), a bit of which I reprint here:
-----Original Message-----
From: Darius
To: ozwoman321
Sent: Wed, Feb 24, 2010 11:37 pm
Subject: If Darius could post...
Meanwhile, I noticed this week's theme. Do you remember that version I sent you a while back of If I Only Had a Brain?
Jason & The Scorchers: If the Money Talks
Townes Van Zandt: If I Needed You
[purchase]
My husband and I saw Crazy Heart the other night - the storyline was fairly lame and forgettable... but Jeff Bridges does indeed deserve the Oscar for Best Picture... and the exquisite tapestry of songs woven throughout keeps the mood and the focus on the music... and the life of the musician. I know lots of people like that... driving from town to town in a not-so-dependable vehicle, not quite sure whether the next venue will be a bar or a listening room... and whether the audience will be a handful or a sell-out - it's easy to pendulum from lucky to lonely in the space of 50 miles...
As the hot air balloon scene begins, I heard the first few notes of the tune and elbowed my husband, "that's Townes Van Zandt's If I Needed You"... and felt the delight of validation as the lyrics kicked in to prove me right - later, Bad Blake, strumming his guitar, says, "That's the way it is with good songs: you think you've heard them before."
Dar Williams: If I Wrote You
[purchase]
I had never heard of Townes until I saw Dar Williams live for the first time in mid-January 1998 - he had died the previous January, she spoke briefly of him during the concert... and "If I Wrote You is dedicated to the memory of Townes Van Zandt", as she writes in her End of the Summer liner notes. I have been a fan ever since - he's the king of heartache and my words will never do him justice... but I highly recommend the documentary Be Here to Love Me for an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at this talented but tortured songwriter...
From a wonderful, but undated, online interview:
Splendid: To me, both "End of Summer" and "If I Wrote You" seemed to be pivotal points in your songwriting, and that your third album marked a point where you were branching out a lot.
Dar Williams: I think you're right about those two songs, absolutely. Especially on "If I Wrote You". I mean, Joan Baez picked that one up immediately.
Splendid: By the way, I'm a big Townes Van Zandt fan, so I was thrilled when I read it was dedicated to him in the liner notes. But where does he play into the song?
Dar Williams: It's not a song about Townes. My manager was a huge fan, and I did start writing it in Austin, and I was writing it in the South, and it had that kind of vibe. And I think I said to my manager, "The way you described Townes... both personally and professionally, it seems like his songs were like his letters to his us, his postcards to us." It seems like, when you were in his company, it was very hard to relate to him, and so it's almost like you needed him to send these missives, and in that way, it did remind me a lot of him in the song. To my mind, the song's about two people with a substance abuse thing going on. And one of them takes off into a different direction. And writes this song basically saying, "I didn't get straight to mock you or tell you what to do with your life. You know, I'm much happier now, but I'd love it for you to feel that you're special, and I need to be honest about the fact that I'm in a much better place than I was, but I don't want to put you down for being where you're at. I never did." And so that's the kind of song you'd want to sing to Townes, 'cause, you know, he did have a big drinking problem. So maybe the thing you'd want to say to Townes is, "I wish you could understand how great you are, and maybe put down the booze," but, then, I'm not on this planet to judge you. And that's why I would never bring it up.
Belle & Sebastian: If You're Feeling Sinister
[purchase]
Perhaps it's redundant to post this Belle & Sebastian song here, as every hipster reading this blog surely has this album in their collection already. But as I looked through the long list of "If" songs in my own archives, this one stuck out as one of my favorites.
"If You're Feeling Sinister" (and the album it gives its name too) was my introduction to their world back in 1996, and it was pretty much love at first song. Back then, they took their musical cues from the likes of Nick Drake, Simon & Garfunkel, the Smiths, and the acoustic side of the Kinks. It's a very comfortable spot. Listening to this song fourteen years later, the opening sounds of playing children instantly puts me in a nostalgic mood.
It's been quite a while since I've listened to the album, but while writing this, I'm compelled to go back and listen to the whole thing. As I peek out my window at the gently falling snow, something about the album still feels so right. For me, it's still a perfect album, with songwriting, singing, arrangements, performance, and album cover all coming together to produce something much greater than the sum of its parts.
I've collected nearly everything the band has done since then, and while I have a dozen favorite songs scattered through their discography, they've never again captured the sustained magic that produced this classic. But right now that hardly matters. The first strains of album closer "Judy and the Dream of Horses" are wafting out of my speakers, and I'm in musical bliss.
Roky Erickson: If You Have Ghosts
[purchase]
John Wesley Harding and The Good Liars: If You Have Ghosts
[purchase]
So many sweet songs come to mind for this week's theme; a search of "if" reveals that my library is filled with pensive love songs of what might still come to pass, and mournful ballads of what could have been, if only things had been different. But somehow, in the end, it's the angry, bitter ones that stick with me. Possibilities unrealized, promises unfulfilled: there's nothing better to rail against the uncompromising darkness of a world that breaks its vows than song.
Roky Erickson's If You Have Ghosts is a bit of a cryptic psych-rocker - the lyrics dabble in a twilight world, and there's not much narrative there. But the license that ghosts grant is clearly stated in the first lines: If you have ghosts, says Erickson, then you have everything; you can say anything you want, and you can do anything you want.
Erickson seems uneasy with this conclusion - he doesn't want his fangs to grow too long - and it's not hard to see why. It's a dark, dangerous justification for bad behavior, this theory of having loved and lost as a needful thing for full human consciousness. But the very existence of the song suggest that whether it is true that to be haunted is to be real, we've all got demons, and they deserve to rock. And for the duration, at least, it all makes a kind of dark, disturbing sense. Especially if we note here that Erickson, who was a member of the strange psychedelic garagerock band 13th Floor Elevators in the sixties, is well known for ending up in a psych ward for undiagnosed schizophrenia not long after leaving the band to begin his solo career. Ghosts, indeed. Though I cannot find the original Erickson's original is as wild as you might expect; thanks to fellow Star Maker contributor Ramone666 for passing it along. But it's the song, not the performance, that truly matters here. And happily, John Wesley Harding and Co. pay tribute to these complexities with aplomb on the generally excellent 1990 Roky Erickson tribute compilation Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye.
Wild Colonials: If
[Purchase]
Wild Colonials are a Los Angeles-based group of musicians fronted by Scottish vocalist Angela McClusky, who now is a solo artist. Her vocals are incredible with her signature husky quality, and as powerful as her voice is, she can warble out a ballad and make it sound just as interesting. As if her vocals weren't great enough, the band also includes a fantastic violinist who whales so hard on that instrument that when I saw them play in concert he had lost so many strings by the time they were done I was wondering how the thing was still sounding as good as it was.
The song "If" was featured on their 1996 album "This Can't Be Life". The statement that she is saying beginning with that one little word is "If you don't love me, someone will", in other words, your loss, not hers, she's moving on.
The Lemonheads: If I Could Talk I'd Tell You
[purchase]
With its jangly guitars, summery organs, a frickin' whistling solo, and lyrics which I refuse to believe have any meaning, If I Could Talk I'd Tell You is the second happiest song is the world. It has that kind of unashamed euphoria that inspires you to jump around like a moron and kiss everyone unfortunate enough to be within kissing range. Yet it never feels corny, it's just two minutes and fifty seconds of pure joy.
In case you're wondering: The happiest song in the world is of course Petula Clark's My Love.
There's always more on the list of possibilities than we have time to post. And I generally avoid the end-of-theme omnibus approach if I can. But since there's a few songs on my playlist which fit both incoming and outgoing themes, it seemed generally beneficial to tout who I could while I had the chance. 
Jann Arden: If It Be Your Will
[purchase]
First, one Canadian singer-songwriter covering another - convenient, as Susan posted the Webb Sisters' version of this just last month, and you've surely heard the Leonard Cohen original. "Pop vocalist" Jann Arden can get syrupy, but I think the slow ballad americana she adopts on otherwise mediocre popstar Cohen tribute Tower of Song makes for a surprisingly effective twist of sentiment in comparison to the other versions we've heard. 
The Spinney Brothers: If I Were Your Brother
[purchase]
Second, a bluegrass band I saw just last weekend, whose titular core members are still going strong after being together since infancy. Yes, they have bluegrass in Canada. And the Spinney Brothers are among the best the north has to offer. 
Bruce Cockburn: If I Had A Rocket Launcher
[unpurchaseable; original here]
Third, a solo acoustic version of Bruce Cockburn's pro-Contra anthem, recorded in 1990 for an in-studio radio thing. I wrote about the song way back in May 2008, as part of our 1984 theme, so I won't bother going over the lyrical anger again, but the song bears repeating, and not just because the links on the original post are long gone. 
Barenaked Ladies: If I Had $1,000,000
[purchase]
And finally, the silliest Barenaked Ladies anthem around - the debut album original version, because I'm a purist, though the live version on Rock Spectacle is worth owning, too. Complete with Canadian references to something called Kraft Dinner, which us States-ians know as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
Rheostatics: Legal Age Life at Variety Store
[purchase]
This song comes from the Whale Music album, which I've expressed my love for already. This is perhaps the most catchy number on the album. I dare you to listen to it and not sing along!
Rheostatics: Saskatchewan
[purchase]
A sailor paralyzed by battle can only think of his Saskatchewan home as his ship splits apart around him. Is this a post-mortem message or the reminiscings of a convelescing survivor? The song doesn't say.
Originally released on their 1991 album Melville, this version is from their cleverly titled double live album, Double Live from 1997.
Rheostatics/Bourbon Tabernacle Choir: Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
[purchase]
There have been several Neil Young tributes released over the years. In 1994, Sony Music Canada released a two-CD set of covers by Canadian artists called Borrowed Tunes. One of my favorite tracks on the set is this collaboration between Rheoststics and the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. It's fresh, unique, and it rocks.
Rheostatics: O Canada
[commercially unavailable]
On October 26, 1992, Rheostatics sang the Canadian National Anthem before a hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens. I can't think of a more Canadian way of ending my last post of the week.
This track comes from a mammoth 197-song labor of love called Static Journey, posted in nine parts at the blog Northern Wish a few years ago. Full of unreleased live tracks, radio broadcasts, demo, and more, it is a Rheostatics fan's dream come true.
