Kris Kristofferson: Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down
[purchase]
This is Paul from Setting The Woods On Fire. Good luck with the new format.
Here's one of my favorite day-of-the-week songs. Most people are familiar with the Johnny Cash version, but this song was originally composed and recorded by the great songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who also wrote Me and Bobbie McGee.
Margo Guryan: Sunday Morning
[purchase]
The first theme for Star Maker Machine will be Days Of The Week.*
Please submit a favorite song of yours that includes the name of a day of the week in its title.
I've started with a favorite called "Sunday Morning" by Margo Guryan from 1968's Take A Picture. What do you think? If you like it, the whole album is pretty good. She kind of reminds me of a 1960's style Lilly Allen (but a bit more refined).
Looking forward to your submissions...
(*This theme is a tip of the hat to the old version of this blog, called Six Songs.)
OK, it's finally time to put our new concept into effect.
To submit a post to Star Maker Machine, please download and follow the instructions which are available in word or text format.
Then download the template, which is available in word or text format and fill in the "blanks" as explained in the instructions.
Once you've prepared your post, e-mail it to Star Maker Machine (as an attachment or in the body of your e-mail). The e-mail address is songs.six@gmail.com.
If you are a blogger and would like to submit posts directly, just let me know your e-mail address in the comments to this post (or send me an e-mail) and I will send you an invitation to become an author of this blog.
Remember to follow the current theme, which will be posted shortly.
Teenage Fanclub: The Concept
[purchase]
Announcing the Star Maker Machine concept:
The original idea behind this blog was to get the readers involved. Reader comments were supposed to drive the song selections and vice versa, but this proved to be unworkable. So we have a new idea that will really get the readers involved: We’re going to let you write the posts!
Maybe you don’t have your own music blog, but you’ve always wanted to tell the world about one special song? Now you can. Instead of going to all the trouble of starting your own blog, you can just post it here. Maybe you already have an mp3 blog, but you want to post a song that doesn’t fit in with your usual fare? You can post it here. Or maybe you just want to be part of a music-blogger community. This is the place.
The great part of about getting everyone involved will be the community atmosphere and the variety of viewpoints. More minds should result in more great music. The downside risk is that this blog will turn into a messy hodge-podge of randomness. To combat that, we’ve got a few simple rules designed to maintain a coherent and consistent presentation:
(1) If you aren't a regular author, the moderator will review your submission before posting. The main reason will be to avoid posting music that is not appropriate for an mp3 blog.
(2) To ensure a uniform look, all submitted posts will have to follow a set template that will be provided. You just have to fill in the blanks.
(3) The moderator will select weekly or monthly themes. Whatever song you pick to feature will have to fit the current theme.
(4) This is going to be a “vintage” music blog. We aren’t about the latest hot band. There are plenty of great places for that. We are looking for music from the 20th century that still sounds great today. So, please keep your submissions limited to songs recorded between 1900 and 1999. Any popular music genre is fine (rock, country, blues, jazz, r&b, etc.).
If you already have your own music blog, and would like to contribute an occasional song to Star Maker Machine, you can request to be made a direct “author.” This will allow you to directly post to this blog in your own name without using the submission form. Other regular contributors can also request to be made direct “authors.” Thanks!
I hope some of you decide to participate. Further details, including the submission template, will be ready sometime next week.
What do you think of this idea?
Joni Mitchell: Free Man In Paris
[purchase]
As part of the general overhaul of this relatively-new site, we are pleased to announce that the blog formerly known as "Six Songs" now has a new name:
Star Maker Machine
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song
Sugar: A Good Idea (purchase)
Exciting news! We've come up with a good idea how to make this blog better and more fun for everyone. It's a new concept that will increase reader participation and improve the content. But it's going to take awhile to figure out the details. Hopefully we will be up and running with a new format (and a new name?) next week. Please stay tuned...
Posting a new song everyday is surprisingly stressful, even with the Sunday rest. So we're off for some R&R. We may be back with a new format.
Henry Kaiser – The Fishin' Hole (mp3) (purchase).
Now it's time to go cool our toes in the dewey grass...
Uncle Tupelo: John Hardy
[purchase]
Last week we heard the Carter Family version. Closing out this week an excellent version by Uncle Tupelo from the seminal alt-country album No Depression. Leadbelly gets the writing credit on this disc, but it seems possible that this traditional number predates Leadbelly. The murderer whose story inspired the song was hung in 1894 when Leadbelly was only six years old.
Discuss...
Tom Jones: Black Betty
[purchase]
Not much to say about this one. You probably love it or hate it. But, fear not, there are eight more versions of Black Betty over at the Nine Bullets blog, including the original and a good one by Ministry. There's bound to be one you like there.
"The is T.J. deadicating a song to Lead Belly! . . . Bam-a-Lam!"
Discuss...
Big Joe Turner: Midnight Special Train
[purchase]
Big Joe Turner from Kansas City is a member of both The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Blues Hall of Fame. His style bridges the gap between Leadbelly's blues and the early rockers like Elvis Presley and Bill Haley.
A highlight is the rhyming of "Santa Fe" with "me."
Discuss...
Lonnie Donegan: Rock Island Line
[purchase]
Lonnie Donegan was the undisputed King of the British skiffle revival. According to Wikipedia (our favorite source) "Skiffle is a type of folk music with a jazz and blues influence, usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, tea chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, musical saw, comb and paper, and so forth, as well as more conventional instruments such as acoustic guitar and banjo. Skiffle and jug band music are closely related. Skiffle was particularly popular in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s."
Two important bands got their start during the British skiffle revival. The Beatles evolved from an unkown skiffle group called the Quarrymen. Britain's loudest band, Spinal Tap, started as a skiffle group called The Lovely Lads.
Discuss...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Cotton Fields
[purchase]
This one's kind of obvious. Almost went with the Beach Boys version, but I've always loved this CCR version, so that's what you get.
"When those cotton balls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton..."
Discuss...
X: Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
[purchase]
This is a Tin Pan Alley song from 1930 that Leadbelly performed on his Last Sessions album. In the liner notes to Under A Big Black Sun, X quotes Leadbelly's remarks from the Last Sessions:
"I didn't make this myself, but I'm gonna do it. 'Twas a man he had a pretty wife ... And she went and losed her mind about her husband. We'd got out & play for the insane asylum people ... & they would dance. She was there and her husband would go and sing to her. And 2 weeks after he sang this song, she come back to her senses and they got back together. That's to show how music can bring you back ... If you ain't too far gone."
-Leadbelly
Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit
[purchase]
Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Read about it.
Discuss...
The Carter Family: John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man
[purchase]
This song about a West Virginia coal miner comes from Harry Smith's legendary box set called Anthology of American Folk Music. Not only is the Anthology a treasure trove of early folk, blues, and string band music, but it served as an important influence on Bob Dylan and many artists to follow.
John Hardy was a desperate little man
He carried two guns every day
He shot down a man on the West Virginia line
You ought to seen old John Hardy getting away
Discuss...
Leadbelly: It's Tight Like That
[purchase]
Plug this thing in, add some drums, and you've got rock and roll! As the title of the album suggests, this song comes from one of Leadbelly's last sessions, which were recorded in 1948.
Some folks say that a preacher won't steal. I caught two in my corn field. It's tight like that...
Discuss...
Louis Armstrong: St. James' Infirmary
[purchase]
Louis was simply one of the greats. This one was recorded in Chicago in 1928.
Discuss...
Jimmie Rodgers: Blue Yodel No. 9
[purchase]
Here's an amazing track featuring an early pioneer of country music, Jimmie Rodgers, singing the blues with early jazz great Louis Armstrong blowing behind him.
This song was recorded in 1930. Jimmie Rodgers died three years later, in 1933. Years later, Louie Armstrong told the story of the recording session during an appearance on the Johnny Cash show.
Discuss...
Robert Johnson: 32-20 Blues
[purchase]
This week's theme is "the old days," which we have arbitrarily defined as before 1950. Was there any good music made way back then? There had to be, right? Let's find out...
First up is Robert Johnson, the bluesman who sold his soul to Satan to learn how to play. This song was recorded 72 years ago in 1936.
If I send for my baby, and she don't come,
All the doctors in Hot Springs sure can't help her none...
Discuss...
The Cowboy Junkies: To Live Is To Fly (Townes Van Zandt Cover)
[purchase]
We're playing requests now on the bandstand. This one comes from a half-Canadian anonymous commenter who chimed in on Monday's post. Thanks to all!
Six Songs isn't the only blog to love The Cowboy Junkies or Townes, but we've got them both covered in one great song.
I'll miss the system here
The bottom's low and the treble's clear
But it don't pay to think too much
On the things you leave behind...
Discuss...
(Any ideas for next week's theme?)
