Category: Music
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Fever, Flu, Sickness, Old Age, and Death
Chill out toilet paper hoarders. Pour yourself a sizable shot of tequila and chase it with a Corona. You gotta die some time, WuFlu or no WuFlu. No day without political incorrectness. And no day without cultural appropriation, including the transpecies variety: Peggy Lee, Fever The Band, Chest Fever Johnny Rivers, Rockin' Pneumonia and the…
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The Pretender
I have only recently come to appreciate what a great song this Jackson Browne number from 1976 is. After the 'sixties faded, I gave myself an education in classical and jazz and lost touch with the rock scene. The video presents the thoughtful lyrics. The Gary U. S. Bonds cover from 1981 is also unbelievably…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Robbie Robertson and the Band
True 'sixties veterans will enjoy the Band documentary Once Were Brothers. And if you don't, then you are not a true 'sixties veteran. (This is known in the trade as the 'No True Scotsman' fallacy. I prefer to call it the No True Muslim Fallacy.) New Yorker article about the movie. The Weight. Robertson sat…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Varia
I post what I like, and I like what I post. It's a nostalgia trip, and a generational thing. There's no point in disputing taste or sensibility, or much of anything else. It's Saturday night, punch the clock, pour yourself a stiff one, stop thinking, and FEEL! Traveling Wilburys, End of Line, Extended Version Who,…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Love and Murder
We'll start with murder. David Dalton (Who Is That Man? In Search of the Real Bob Dylan, Hyperion 2012, pp. 28-29, hyperlinks added!): Most folk songs had grim, murderous content (and subtext). In Pretty Polly a man lures a young girl from her home with the promise of marriage,and then leads the pregnant girl to an already-dug…
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A Cure for Infatuation?
One of the very best is marriage. Infatuation is a form of idolatry that cannot last long in a marriage. Marriage cures it. That's an argument for marriage. There was no cure for Don Quixote's romantic fantasies because their object, the fair Dulcinea del Toboso, existed only in his imagination.* But while infatuation lasts, it…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Rock and Roll Apologetics
A curious sub-genre of meta-rock devoted to the defense of the devil's music. The Showmen, It Will Stand, 1961 Bob Seger, Old-Time Rock and Roll But does it really "soothe the soul"? Is it supposed to? For soul-soothing, I recommend the Adagio movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Adagio molto e cantabile. Rolling Stones, It's Only Rock and Roll…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Songs of Self-Satisfaction and Braggadocio
Frank Sinatra, My Way. A little too self-congratulatory, don't you think? Bob Wills, I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas. "Purty lil gurl tried to put me on the bum, had to burn her down with a Thompson gun. I'm a ding dong daddy from Dumas babe, ya ought to see me do my stuff."…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Varia
Bob Dylan, Cold Irons Bound. When your name is 'Bob Dylan' you have your pick of sidemen. A great band. "The walls of pride, they're high and they're wide. You can't see over, to the other side." Joe Brown, Sea of Heartbreak. Nothing touches Don Gibson's original effort, but this is very satisfying version. Elvis…
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“Don’t Go Out in the Dark,” Said I
"It's not dark yet," said she. "But it's getting there," I replied. She missed the allusion.
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Ambulo ergo Sum
Dionne Warwick, Walk On By Leroy Van Dyke, Walk On By. Same title, different song. Patsy Cline, Walkin' After Midnight Gus Cannon, Walk Right In, 1929. Is that a kazoo I hear? Rooftop Singers' 1962 version. Rufus Thomas, Walking the Dog, 1965 Ventures, Walk Don't Run. The boys are aging nicely. A big hit back in 1960. Everly Brothers, Walk Right Back Four…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Varia
Leo Kottke, Embryonic Journey. As good as it is I still prefer Jefferson Airplane, Embryonic Journey Punch Brothers, Rye Whisky Lonely Heartstring Band, Ramblin' Gamblin' Willy Bonnie Owens, Philadelphia Lawyer Cowboy Jack Clement, A Girl I Used to Know Bobby Bare, Lullabies, Legends, and Lies Brewer and Shipley, One Toke Over the Line The Flying Burrito Brothers, To Ramona. A beautiful cover of…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Tunes of the Season
Merry Christmas everybody. Pour yourself a drink, and enjoy. Me, I'm nursing a Boulevardier. It's a Negroni with cojones: swap out the gin for bourbon. One ounce bourbon, one ounce sweet vermouth, one ounce Campari, straight up or on the rocks, with a twist of orange. A serious libation. It'll melt a snowflake for sure. The vermouth…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Varia
Thelonious Monk, I'm Getting Sentimental Over You Wes Montgomery, 'Round Midnight Cannonball Adderley, 74 Miles Away. In 7/4 time. Ry Cooder, I Think It's Going to to Work Out Fine Jeff Beck, Sleepwalk. The old Santo and Johnny instrumental from 1959. Danny Gatton, master of the Telecaster. Phenomenally good, practically unknown.
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Days of the Week
Melina Mercouri, Never on Sunday Mamas and Papas, Monday, Monday Marianne Faithfull, Ruby Tuesday. Moodier than the Stones' original. She does a great version of Dylan's Visions of Johanna. But nothing touches the original. It moves me as much as it did back in '66. YouTuber comment: "An early morning cup of coffee, smoking a…