Elvis Covers Part 1 : All Shook Up

Suzi Quatro : All Shook Up

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In 1973 Suzi Quatro was one of America's most successful exports to the UK. Her debut album is full of heavy glam beats and thick as molasses guitar chords but its biggest attraction is the wailing voice of the young woman in a leather cat suit. Quatro arrived at her concerts on the back of a motorcycle, played the bass, sang about sex and eventually made the unforgettable announcement that she wasn't wearing any underwear under that catsuit.
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Among the cuts on the debut album is the single "Can The Can", which went #1 in the UK, Japan and Australia, a UK#3 single called "48 Crash" and "All Shook Up" , the Elvis Presley tune that topped the charts for eight weeks in 1957. The album made less than a dent in the US but, impressed by her version of "All Shook Up",  Elvis himself invited Quatro to Graceland. She declined.

Elvis Covers Part I: Blue Suede Shoes

Carl Perkins: Blue Suede Shoes

[purchase (CD only; individual tracks available on iTunes)]

Here's a cover of a cover: Carl Perkins redoing "Blue Suede Shoes," which was an Elvis Presley cover of an original...by Carl Perkins.

"Blue Suede Shoes" was the opening track on Elvis's 1956 RCA debut record, which, despite its reputation as the record that launched commercial rock and roll, is actually mostly a collection of cover songs. Legend has it that Elvis never intended to release "Blue Suede Shoes" as a single. But, things don't always turn out the way they're planned.

As Carl Perkins could attest. Sun Record founder Sam Phillips was convinced Perkins was going to be as big as Elvis. Though Perkins wasn't as photogenic (he was already balding at age 23), he could sing the same type of blues-infused rockabilly as Presley, and could write and play lead guitar too.

"Blue Suede Shoes" is Perkins masterwork. Inspired by a conversation with his buddy Johnny Cash about the fancy footwear U.S. soldiers in Germany wore when they went into town, "Blue Suede Shoes" was released as a single by Sun on the first day of 1956. With Elvis sold to RCA, Sun was in need of a big hit and Perkins provided it. The song soared to the top of the country charts, and became a pop and R&B hit too, ultimately selling a million records.

In March 1956, with his career in rapid ascent, Perkins was summoned to New York to appear on the influential Ed Sullivan and Perry Como TV shows. En route, the fellow driving Perkins and his brother Jay (who was in Perkins' band) to New York fell asleep at the wheel. The brothers were seriously injured. (Jay eventually died from his injuries.) Carl spent months convalescing. Legend has it that a reluctant Elvis allowed "Blue Suede Shoes" to be released as a single to help out Perkins financially. Elvis's take did not fare as well as Perkins original, reaching only number 20 on the charts. But, due to Perkins's prolonged absence and Evlis's performance of the song on TV and in the movie GI Blues, "Blue Suede Shoes" became an Elvis song.

By the time Perkins was back on his feet, his career momentum was lost. Despite accolades from Elvis and the Beatles, Perkins never came close to matching the success of "Blue Suede Shoes." Perhaps in an attempt to reclaim his best-known song, Perkins re-recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" dozens of times. This take is produced by Dave Edmunds from the soundtrack to Porky's Revenge -- perhaps the greatest soundtrack to a rotten movie ever.

Elvis Covers Part I: (You’re the) Devil in Disguise

Freddy Fender: (You’re the) Devil in Disguise

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Freddy Fender: No Seas Cruel (Don’t Be Cruel)

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Do any of you speak Spanish? I studied the language in high school, but I must’ve goofed off a little too much in that class. If you do speak it well, check out the 24 songs sung in Spanish on Freddy Fender’s album “Canciones de Mi Barrio.” Fender was born Baldemar Huerta in San Benito, Tx. on June 4, 1937. In 1959, he took “Freddy Fender” as his rockabilly stage name. “Fender” came from the brand of his electric guitar, and “Freddy” just sounded good for a first name.

Recorded between 1959-64 for a small Texas label (Ideal), 24 of his earliest Tejano rock recordings are compiled on this album. Subtitled “The Roots of Tejano Rock,” the Arhoolie label reissued “Canciones de Mi Barrio” in 1993. It unfortunately doesn’t include his version (recorded in 1957) of “No Seas Cruel” (a Spanish version of “Don’t Be Cruel”), but that song is available on two other recent reissues on Master Classics Records.

Freddy Fender was obviously influenced greatly by Elvis, and his versions of “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise” and "No Seas Cruel" are unique. I’ve always enjoyed his strong, clear voice. Freddy Fender did a lot to connect and bring rock ‘n roll, country, pop and Tex-Mex to Hispanic audiences. And I might’ve even learned more Spanish if my high school teacher had used his music in class.

Elvis Covers Part I: Hard-Headed Woman

Wanda Jackson: Hard-Headed Woman
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 King of Rock 'n' Roll, eh?  Well, I guess we get the King we deserve.  As a society we surge purposefully toward the middle of the road, never truly comfortable with the truly sexy or dangerous, preferring instead the chintzy allure of the ersatz.  Don't get me wrong: Elvis was really something for a while, but John Lennon's estimation of his date of death, or at least the death of his relevance was pretty-well on the money.  It's telling that the first image that comes to mind when his name comes up is that of the tragic, jump-suited fat man, not the lithe, prowling young rebel who made our grandmothers come over all unnecessary.  It's more telling still that the booming trade in Elvis impersonators home in on that era - it's a lazy shorthand, of course, but one that drunk people will understand while they're committing to something regrettable with someone they barely know in a chintzy chapel somewhere in Reno tonight.

It could have been so different, of course.  Rock 'n' Roll is, in its purest form, a spicy gumbo of sex, rebellion and attitude, and as such far more primal and important than we probably deserve.  But if we did deserve it, our King may well have been a Queen.  Wanda Jackson had - hell, still has - the looks, the sass and the howl, and unlike Mr Presley, she never let the army or Colonel Tom Parker knock the attitude out of her.  Elvis cover?  No.  This is way more than that.  If the seldom-achieved point of a cover version is to surpass the original then Ms Jackson delivers where few others have managed.  She's the original, you see.    

Elvis Covers Part I: Suspicious Minds & Always on My Mind

Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter: Suspicious Minds

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Me First and the Gimme Gimmes: [Always] On My Mind

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Why didn't Elvis record more Mark James tunes? Some of the most successful songs from the latter half of the King's career came from Gray's pen -- "Suspicious Minds," "Always on My Mind," "Raised on Rock" and "Moody Blue" (the title track from the last album Elvis recorded before he died). Born Francis Zambon, James was childhood friends with singer B.J. Thomas, who scored a big hit with James's "Hooked on a Feeling." James became a staff writer for Chips Moman, who brought him to Elvis's attention during the recording of The Memphis Records, which Moman produced.

Here are covers of James's two best-known Presley tracks. Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter's take on "Suspicious Minds" sticks pretty close to Elvis's original. It was originally released in 1969, in a bid to establish Waylon and Jessi as a groovier version of Johnny and June. The song made a bigger splash when it was re-released in 1976, as part of The Outlaws compilation, which became the first country record to go platinum.

The obvious cover of "Always on My Mind" is Willie Nelson's take, which is one of the biggest records of the 1980s, and one of the few redos of an Elvis Presley song that outsold the original. After a couple of weeks of posting obvious choices, I'll go with a lesser known and more adventurous version by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. The tongue-in-cheek punk supergroup specializes in breakneck covers of ballads and pop standards. (Their version of "I Am a Rock" is brilliant.) "On My Mind" (for some reason, the word "Always" has been dropped) is from Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah, recorded at a 2004 bar mitzvah party.

Elvis Covers Part I: Viva Las Vegas

Dead Kennedys: Viva Las Vegas
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In 1980, I was a college student and disc jockey at WPRB. Punk and new wave music were still pretty new, and we got an album called Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, by a band called Dead Kennedys. Even a liberal Democrat like me found that amusing—a band willing to make fun of sainted American politicians. As a college student, what is more attractive than a band willing to thumb its nose at convention and say fuck you to the establishment? It was almost embarrassing to mention the name on the air, but in some ways it was liberating.

I loved the Dead Kennedys first because of their name. But there was much more to enjoy. The music was fast, loud and intense, but still melodic and even catchy. The vocalist had a crazy voice and called himself “Jello Biafra,” again making light of a sacred cow, the horrific famine that ravaged Biafra during its failed attempt to secede from Nigeria. Then there were the songs—“Holiday in Cambodia”. “Kill the Poor”. “Let’s Lynch the Landlord”. “Chemical Warfare”. “California Über Alles”. Clearly a band that was willing to be controversial but with their tongue firmly in their cheeks.

And as if to prove that they weren’t taking themselves all that seriously, a cover of “Viva Las Vegas”. The Grascals’ version of this song posted by Joe Ross magnifies the country aspects of the Elvis version. The DK’s version enhances and glorifies the rockabilly and rock and roll aspects of the original, but which, as Allmusic notes, was probably designed to be “ironic and campy”.

This version is not the studio version, but a great live version that I first heard on a compilation I received as part of my subscription to Mojo Magazine, but is originally from a live album called Live at the Deaf Club, recorded in 1979, but not officially released until 2004.

Elvis Covers Part I: Can't Help Falling In Love

Eels: Can't Help Falling In Love

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Nell Robinson: Can't Help Falling In Love

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It's not just that the Elvis songbook is so deeply embedded in our culture, though it is. It's that the songs he made famous echo through the canon of American music like a grace note, their strand woven into our very psyche. Great performers like E. A. Presley influence generations, their nuance and narrative lingering in us as individuals and collectively; it is because of this, in no small part, that I am a coverblogger.

Case in point: like many children of that infamous hairspray era the 80's, my introduction to this song was through the pouty pop of Canadian crooner Corey Hart, whose Top 40 hit was but a b-side footnote to the nocturnal eyewear of his biggest; later that year, I would revel in the upbeat celtic mood of Lick The Tins as they took the song to the streets in John Hughes vehicle Some Kind Of Wonderful, which premiered in my own little town.

Since then, of course, I've collected dozens upon dozens of covers of Elvis' nth most popular Greatest Hit, from the regaaepop version UB40 released in the early nineties to several sparse and stunning versions done in the last few years. Many are excellent, especially those which have taught me to recognize the strength under the syrup: as tender and brokenly self-effacing as Mark E of the Eels plays it in concert, as sweet and gentle as Nell Robinson's old-timey lullaby. Also worth digging up, for comparison's sake: Ingrid Michaelson's swoony piano cover, Howe Gelb's shattered, breathy bassgrowl, an utterly dreadful thing from Bono, and a gift for hardcore folk fans: Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger, with a story of the first time they played this song together.

Elvis Covers Part I: Viva Las Vegas

The Grascals: Viva Las Vegas

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After a couple listens to The Grascals’ debut CD back in 2005, I was convinced that the album would be among my top ten favorites for that year. Besides offering great music, I heard a cohesive and collaborative band built around six talented friends who shared common goals. At that time, you couldn’t find much better musicians with both expert bluegrass and country sensibilities than The Grascals’ Terry Eldredge (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy Mattingly (fiddle), David Talbot (banjo, vocals), Jamie Johnson (guitar, vocals), Danny Roberts (mandolin) and Terry Smith (bass). Dolly Parton invited The Grascals to open all concerts on her Hello, I'm Dolly tour in the fall of 2004, as well as to join other musicians backing up Dolly each evening.

Well, it wasn’t long before many folks were noticing the band. The Grascals won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Emerging Artist Award in 2005. Then, they went on to win the IBMA’s Entertainer of the Year Awards for both 2006 and 2007! Others agree that the entertaining group is made up of discriminating, well-rounded and resourceful performers with plenty of showmanship. You may not be that into bluegrass or country, but you’ll find The Grascals to be enjoyable. Since 2005, Mattingly and Talbot have left the band, and their replacements are every bit as good if not better -- fiddler Jeremy Abshire and banjo-player Kristin Scott Benson.

Whether playing traditional or contemporary material, The Grascals simply have good taste when it comes to arrangements and musicianship. Their eclectic material appeals to many tastes. And these high rollers aren't afraid to gamble a little or take a few risks. “Viva Las Vegas” closed their debut album and included special guest vocalist Dolly Parton and some of Bob Mater’s drumming. While I’ve never caught them live in concert, I understand that guitarist Jamie Johnson even does Elvis Presley impersonations. Like the song “Viva Las Vegas” states, I think they “shoot a seven with every shot.”

Elvis Covers Part I: Money Honey

Ry Cooder: Money Honey
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For what it's worth, I was brought up equating the subject of our postings this week (The King) with his gyrations: Elvis the Pelvis. As someone who claims Ry Cooder as a great influence, I learned this week how little I really know (one of the ongoing personal benefits I am reaping by joining SMM). I'll take comfort in the quote attributed to Socrates that "wisdom is knowing how little we know."

Money Honey was written by Jesse Stone back in '53 when he was working with/for Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Records. The song has been covered by Eddie Cochran, The Jackson 5, The Coasters and Clyde McPhatter (with the Drifters). There's a Bob Dylan version, too, apparently recorded in 1994. Lady Gaga also does a tune of the same name, but it isn't this song. And then there's this version:

Ry has covered other Elvis hits: Little Sister (on Bop Til You Drop -1979), All Shook Up (Get Rhythm -1987), and Blue Suede Shoes (The Slide Area -1982). On his 1971 second album, Into the Purple Valley, he covered Money Honey, a song Elvis did back in 1955. (It's also included on a Cooder "best of" CD called Why Don't You Try Me ..")

The Elvis version is classic late-50s: the guitar is elemental electric (kinda raw); the production is sparse, but the King is in the house with a great song. I confess I never collected Elvis, but I happen to have a copy of the Drifters' version which isn't too far off the mark of the Elvis version. I would like to think that Cooder was partially inspired by the Elvis version and certainly thank him for bringing it to life for me.

National Celebrations: Born On The 4th Of July

Tom Paxton: Born On The 4th Of July

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If the first person narrative of this song sounds familiar, it's because singer-songwriter Tom Paxton based his anti-war anthem on the same autobiography that Oliver Stone transformed into the 1989 Tom Cruise vehicle of the same name. And yet I've always thought the song is more coherent, more cohesive, than the film, in part because the pacing and plot of the life story of Vietnam vet turned activist Ron Kovic so closely parallel the structure of the political folk ballad. As such, in its era, the song made for an especially effective political litmus test: indeed, whether you see this song as patriotic, or instead interpret it as a threat to patriotism, continues to be a strong predictor of voting habits and party affiliation in modern western culture.

National Celebrations: A Man Can't Be Too Careful What He Signs These Days

Stan Freberg: A Man Can't Be Too Careful What He Signs These Days/Declaration of Independence

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Let's mark U.S. Independence Day with a skit and Broadway musical number depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. Except, Stan Freberg's United States of America Volume 1, first released in 1961, never became a Broadway musical.

Comedy records played a different role in the 1950s and 1960s than they do today. Before VCRs and DVRs, comedy albums were the only way consumers could get non-musical entertainment on demand. In the lull between Elvis and the Beatles, comedy records frequently outsold music-filled albums. The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart was the best-selling LP of 1961, and Vaughn Meader's Kennedy satire, The First Family ruled the charts a year later. These successes prompted record labels to boost their spoken-word comedy output. Comedian Stan Freberg recorded many popular novelty records for Capitol in the 1950s. He convinced the label to commit to a four-volume set "tour de farce" of American history. Freberg took a then-unheard of 13 weeks to record the first album. "Stan Freberg was a great perfectionist," recording engineer Jay Ranellucci told Billboard magazine in 1996. "If you had a pause that was a quarter-second too long, he'd know it."

The record is hilarious -- sharp and snappy dialogue, complemented by show tunes arranged by Billy May, who put together charts for Sinatra's records. Despite its many virtues, United States of America Volume 1 was not quite the success Capitol had hoped for, topping out at 34 on the charts. There were the predictable complaints from parties who didn't take kindly to satires of America's glorious history. But, the additional volumes were mostly scuttled by an ill-fated attempt to bring Freberg's work to the stage. He had a spectacular falling out with Broadway producer David Merrick. Freberg claims Merrick told him to "Take Lincoln out of the Civil War -- he doesn't work." Bad feelings and contractual obligations kept Volume 2 from seeing the light of day until 1996. Given shifting tastes and Freberg's age, it's unlikely the additional sets will be recorded.

In this take on the 4th of July story, the music starts at the 4:07 mark. Freberg plays Benjamin Franklin and is joined by Byron Kane as Thomas Jefferson and Coleen Collins as the apocryphal Sylvia Franklin. My favorite line: "Come on, all we want to do is hold a few truths to be self-evident."

National Celebrations: 4th of July

X: Fourth of July

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Two weeks in a row of me going with the obvious choice. But, sometimes the obvious choice can be a good one. Dave Alvin's "Fourth of July" is a great song. It's not necessarily about patriotism, and yet it is. Alvin's lyrics ostensibly tell the story of a deteriorating relationship. (Could his declaration "We gave up trying so long ago" refer to both his romance and his nation?) It's also a tale of working class poverty, a familiar theme in Alvin's music. The song's narrator lives "on the lost side of town" and isn't getting July 4 as a day off from work. And why are those darn kids shooting off fireworks?! Oh, yeah: "We forgot all about the Fourth of July!"

Despite the despair, the song ends on an optimistic note. "Whatever happens, I apologize," he tells his wife/lover. And he finds an appreciation for those kids -- Mexican kids, he specifies throughout the song -- celebrating their country and the American spirit.

Pretty good songwriting for a guy who started out as "merely" an ace rockabilly guitarist. Through a long career, Alvin has grown so much as a composer that he's now as much known for his songwriting as his virtuoso guitar work.

In a book about the influences of Townes Van Zandt's songwriting (I'll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt), Alvin identifies with another Texas songwriting legend: "I'd probably be more in the Guy Clark camp, because my songwriting style is more journalistic....The drama is in the stories, in life is where dreams and reality collide. We go through the day-to-day life...and that's where the collision between how we think it should be and the humdrum of survival is."

"Fourth of July" is Alvin's signature song, and he's recorded it many times. My favorite remains the first version, from his brief stint with X, on which he plays guitar, with John and Exene handling vocals.

National Celebrations: Sverige

Kent: Sverige
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 Funny thing, patriotism.  We wrap ourselves in gaudily-coloured material, beat our chests, assure ourselves that the land on which we stand is somehow superior to that on which anyone else is standing and, increasingly once more, we scowl suspiciously at the somehow other, on the off chance that it's their fault we're so miserable all the time.  There is a curious flip-side as well: the feeling that the land we so love is in some way quaint or parochial, and as such faintly risible, like a drunk, embarrassing Uncle with whom we put up on special occasions but is best disregarded at all other times.

Me, I've always been an outsider.  Of neither one place nor another, my blood a cocktail of races and creeds, I've always been slightly suspicious of blind patriotism by simple dint of having so often been confronted by the ugliness of racism and xenophobia.  By the same token, though, it sometimes takes an outsider to see the magic in a place: too many Swedes seem nowadays to fall into the latter of the two categories described above, missing the true wonder of this green, clean and caring place.  It's often telling that the people who appreciate it most seem to be those who have spent time away - after all, one never sees what one takes for granted until it's just not there anymore.

Sverige is ambiguous, to an extent.  Perhaps Joachim Berg falls into the second category, perhaps not: he's a wily enough lyricist to leave that to individual interpretation. One thing is certain, though: as the inevitable shower starts to fall on another Swedish midsummer, there is room at the table for everyone.  A schnapps glass is raised in toast:  Welcome, welcome in, whoever you are, wherever you're from. Now, that's the Sweden I love. Skål!

National Celebrations: Zimbabwe

Bob Marley: Zimbabwe

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In the country formerly known as Rhodesia, it was Zimbabwe’s Liberation War that resulted in their independence from Britain on April 18, 1980. Bob Marley was invited to the country’s independence celebration, and he sang a song he wrote in their honor called “Zimbabwe.” Marley opens with these profound lyrics:

Every man got a right to decide his own destiny,
And in this judgment there is no partiality.
So arm in arms, with arms, we’ll fight this little struggle,
‘Cause that’s the only way we can overcome our little trouble.

In the song, Marley pleads for “Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe.” Marley is now deceased, and he’d be saddened that the country is still experiencing transition and turmoil. Marley’s song was optimistic but also cautionary. Since 2000, the U.S. has condemned the Zimbabwean Government’s record on human rights and rule of law. The country needs to embrace democracy, as well as provide freedom and empowerment for all its citizens. Marley’s song still speaks relevancy for Zimbabweans today – “We’ll ‘ave to fight (we gon’ fight), fighting for our rights!” …. and it’s very simply because “every man got a right to decide his own destiny.”

National Celebrations : Slovania

Laibach : Slovania

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For their 2006 album, Volk (German for "people" but Slovenian for "wolf) , the controversial Slovenian industrial group Laibach recorded thirteen songs inspired by national or pan-national anthems including those of the United States, Russia and a surprisingly touching version of "Hey, Slavs", the anthem of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

  Laibach hasn't done anything without at least half its audience wildly misinterpreting its actions. Mostly because Laibach appreciates the monetary value of controversy. The band often dresses in military uniforms and advertises concerts with posters in styles that recall Nazi Germany. When asked to clear all of this up by denouncing totalitarianism , the band issued the statement: "We are fascists as much as Hitler was a painter".That doesn't really settle the issue and I'm guessing that's the point.

National Celebrations: Canada Day, Up Canada Way

Stompin' Tom Connors: Canada Day, Up Canada Way

[out of print]

Canada Day, or Fête du Canada en français, is the national day of Canada, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act, 1867 (today called the Constitution Act, 1867, in Canada), which united three colonies into a single country called Canada within the British Empire. The British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada were united into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec). Canada became a kingdom in its own right on that date, but the British Parliament kept limited rights of political control over the new country that were shed by stages over the years until the last vestiges were surrendered in 1982 when the Constitution Act patriated the Canadian constitution. Originally called Dominion Day (Le Jour de la Confédération), the name was changed in 1982, the year the Canada Act was passed. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as by Canadians internationally. (Note: this info was copied from Wikipedia)

Nothing celebrates Canada like it's diverse musical heritage. And no other musician exemplifies the passion for all things Canada like the legendary and beloved folk/country musician "Stompin'" Tom Connors. Charles Thomas Connors was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, and had a trying childhood, being born to a teenaged mother in 1936, and moving around to various foster families. When he was 15 he left his adopted family and spent the next 13 years hitchhiking around Canada between part-time jobs and writing songs. At his last stop in Timmins, Ontario, which may also have been his big "break," he found himself a nickel short of a beer at the city's Maple Leaf Hotel. The bartender, Gaet Lepine, agreed to give Tom a beer if he would play a few songs. These few songs turned into a 13-month contract to play at the hotel, a weekly spot on the CKGB radio station in Timmins, eight 45-RPM recordings, and the end of the beginning for Tom Connors (sources: Wikipedia and Allmusic).

Since then Connors has composed more than 300 songs and has released four dozen albums, with total sales of nearly 4 million copies. He is also a staunch advocate for Canadian musicians' rights, especially against Canadian music awards that acknowledge Canadian musicians who do most of their business in the US. In 1996 he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, the second highest civilian award, which recognizes an outstanding level of talent and service, or an exceptional contribution to Canada and humanity, on behalf of the Queen of Canada (Elizabeth II). In 2000, he was awarded an honorary doctor of law degree from the University of Toronto, and was ranked thirteenth on CBC's "The Greatest Canadian" list, the highest ranking artist on that list. He has never toured outside of Canada, and has never had a hit record on the Canadian music charts.

"Canada Day, Up Canada Way" is from his 1994 album Fiddle and Song, which is out of print (at least in the US). It can also be found on his greatest hits album Souvenirs: 25 of the Best, which is also out of print in the US. On this Canada Day, sit back and have a Moosehead and a Tim Horton's donut, ponder NHL free agency (which started today), remember that curling season is only two months away (September!), and as you are listening to Neil Young, Rush, and Celine Dion, take a minute to acknowledge Stompin' Tom and the great musical legacy he has written for our fine neighbors to the north.

National Celebrations: National Holiday

Timbuk 3: National Anthem

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So let's all sing the national anthem
Free the hostages, pay the ransom
Raise the flag, lower the taxes
Ban the bomb, bury the hatchet...

They stagger the fireworks around these rural parts; we've spent the last few nights hearing pops and crackles out the window late into the dark hours, and we'll hear more, for sure, up to the fourth. Alongside, the deeply American sounds of Bob Seeger and Bruce Springsteen and the rise-and-fall mutter and splash of above-ground pool parties and barbecues drift through the trees, as early weekend warriors anticipate the street fair and parade that will march down Main Street, each fire truck and family farm vehicle, each team and flotilla pausing for just a moment on the cusp like God's own invading army before descending into the madness for their due regard come Wednesday.

One thing you won't likely hear is the less than soothing sounds of Timbuk 3, that mid-eighties band of rabblerousers and politicos who tried to cast a critical lens on the popular only to find its subtext was too deep for the average listener. Though the typical case study is obvious - The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades may be catchy, but to use it for motivation is to totally mistake its pith for optimism - their oft-overlooked and certainly critically undersold back catalog is equally strong.

I've posted several of singer-songwriter Pat MacDonald's cynical compositions here over the last few years, aiming to make my case with persistence, if not comprehensive treatment. But in many ways, National Holiday, which opens 1989 album Edge of Allegiance, is the prototypical Timbuk 3 song: a solid electrobeat over lush acoustic guitars, sparse harmonica, and an undercurrent of tongue-in-cheek synthesizer; a high level of lyrical genericism and broad-brush archetype; so dry, you're not totally sure if it's meant to be ironic right up until the final punchline. Described aptly as both "chipper" and "facetiously optimistic" by critics, it's like a family portrait of our nation: frozen in time, falsely crisp in demeanor; so carefully groomed and spun, the better to fool ourselves in the patriotic mirror.

National Celebrations: Saturday in the Park

Chicago: Saturday in the Park
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This week’s theme gives me a chance to write a little about my wife. She loves music and has a beautiful voice. When we first met, our shared love of music was one of the things that we bonded over. One of our earliest dates, in fact, was to see Bring on the Night, the documentary about the creation of Sting’s first solo album. Of course, no two people have exactly the same musical taste. Mine tend to skew harder and gruffer than hers, which are more folky and mellow. However, there is a significant enough overlap that we can coexist. (Aside—there is a station on Sirius XM called “The Bridge” which plays soft rock and which I call the Roach Motel of radio—once we start listening, I can’t get out, because my wife pretty much loves every song they play, leaving me with no chance to change stations and hear a different genre.)

When we had been dating for a little while, I was living in Manhattan working as a lawyer at a big Wall Street firm, and my (future) wife lived in Queens and had a job in Manhattan. She often stayed at my apartment, but only because it was convenient. Really. On Election Day, I worked and she didn’t, and when I came home, I discovered that she had moved in. One might think that this showed a certain level of commitment, and I guess it did. But we always said that we knew that we were bound to stay together when we integrated our record collections. Hundreds of vinyl albums, alphabetized together, would be very difficult, if not impossible, to separate, so we were stuck with each other.

She didn’t have any Sex Pistols, or Clash, or Genesis, and I didn’t have any James Taylor or Carly Simon, but there was overlap, and we both had pretty large Chicago collections.

Chicago was one of my first favorite bands. I saw my first concert when I convinced my parents to take me to see them at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, where I also smelled marijuana for the first time. (And where, a few weeks ago, I returned to see my son graduate from college. Cue “Twilight Zone” music.) I still love early Chicago, when they played complex music, often with social or political messages, and even when they played love songs. In general, I think that a horn section makes any song better. Of course, in the late-1970’s (after original guitarist Terry Kath died), their music became increasingly schlocky and generally awful and unlistenable, to the point where most “serious” music fans wouldn’t admit their early greatness.

“Saturday in the Park,” from Chicago V is one of their most well-known songs, and one of their best. Supposedly written by Robert Lamm after a July 4 walk through Central Park where he saw the varied musicians and entertainers that were performing, it is a snapshot of the holiday activities. Not everyone uses their national celebration to make obvious, patriotic statements. Lamm’s song about the way that people, in the middle of New York (during one of the city’s worst periods), could enjoy themselves, hear Italian songs, laugh, dance and eat ice cream, is maybe a more convincing statement about the greatness of America than something that shoves the sentiment down your throat.

Trinomial Bands: Two Cow Garage

Two Cow Garage: No Shame

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Two Cow Garage is a rock band from Columbus, Ohio, that inserts elements of punk and country into their music. My friends tell me that they are one of the best live rock bands going these days, but unfortunately, I have yet to see them in the flesh. This song is off of their 2007 album III (not surprisingly, their third album), which is one of my favorite records from the last decade.

The song "No Shame" is essentially about quitting the band and getting a 9-to-5 day job.

Well now there's a guitar that's leaning on my wall,
the instrument of my ultimate downfall.
And notebooks scattered all over my floor.
Six hundred pages all filled with regret,
and hundreds of songs that I ain't finished yet,
and a job application getting harder to ignore.

I spent the last half of 2011 and the first half of 2012 unemployed, and this song became my theme song as I pondered changing careers. Fortunately, I did not have to change careers, and neither did Two Cow Garage. They are currently working on their sixth album (not entitled VI).

(Sorry this post is so short. Heat wave + no A/C = no brainpower for Aimz.)

Trinomial Bands: Eddie From Ohio

Eddie From Ohio: Twenty Thousand Hearts

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It's been over three years since we last saw Virginia folk foursome Eddie From Ohio on these pages, and a couple of years since they last headlined at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, a heady camping-and-more extravaganza on the NY/MA border where several of my fellow Starmakers are known to congregate the last weekend in July, and where, though they're known better, perhaps, for more wry, upbeat twirl-along tracks from a sweet series of albums, this quiet favorite, especially, has been known to echo off the hills beautifully, reminding us how well the band plays tender, too.

But Edheads, rejoice: I'm happy to announce that juliemikeeddie&robbie will once again be returning to the hills of Hillsdale, for their usual mainstage madness and - most especially - to host the Sunday Morning Gospel Workshop. I'll be there - and so, I suspect, will fellow FRFF/SMM regulars FiL and Susan. Feel free to stop in, folks; we're in the kid-friendly campsite with the white picket fence around it, with a full cooler to share.

Bonus video, taken live and on site at Falcon Ridge - can you believe it's been almost a decade since this set?