Music – Page 21 – Maverick Philosopher

Saturday Night at the Oldies: ‘Strange’ Songs

In three categories: Rock, Religion, Romanticism.

Cream, Strange Brew

Doors, People are Strange

Doors, Strange Days

Mickey and Sylvia, Love is Strange, 1956

Stanley Bros., Rank Strangers. Utterly deplorable.

Eva Cassidy, Wayfaring Stranger

Johnny Cash, Wayfaring Stranger

Frank Sinatra, Strangers in the Night To be is to do (Socrates). To do is to be (Sartre). Do be do be do (Sinatra).

Barbara Lewis, Hello Stranger, 1963. 1963 was arguably the best of the '60s years for pop compositions.

Emmylou Harris, Hello Stranger. Same title, different song. This one goes out to Mary Kay F-D. Remember the Fall of 1980, Mary Kay?

Get up, rounder/Let a working girl lie down/ You are rounder/And you are all out and down.

Carter Family version from 1939.

Acker Bilk, Stranger on the Shore. A memorable '60s instrumental. More here.

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Session Players and Sidemen: Bruce Langhorne

We raise our glasses tonight in tribute to the unsung session players who added so much to our Boomer soundtrack. Back in the '60s we assiduous readers of liner notes came across the name 'Bruce Langhorne' again and again. The mood of so many of those memorable tunes by Dylan, Baez, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Richard and Mimi Farina, Carolyn Hester and others was made by his unobtrusive guitar leads and fills. With his passing at age 78 last month, Langhorne (on the far left) is unsung no more. Here are some tunes which feature Langhorne's work and some that don't.

Peter, Paul, and Mary, For Lovin' Me

Odetta, The Times They Are A'Changin'. I think Langhorne is playing on this one. Not sure.

Richard and Mimi Farina, Reno, Nevada

Joan Baez, Daddy, You've Been on My Mind. The voice of an angel, the words of a poet, and Langhorne's guitar.

Joan Baez, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. The voice of an angel, the words of a poet, and Langhorne's guitar.

Joan Baez, A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall. The voice of an angel, the words of a poet, and Langhorne's guitar. The incredible mood of this version, especially the intro, is made by Langhorne and the bass of Russ Savakus, another well-known session player from those days. I've been listening to this song since '65 and it gives me chills every time.

Carolyn Hester, I'll Fly Away. Dylan on harp, a little rough and ragged. Langhorne on guitar? Not sure.

Joan Baez and her sister, Mimi Farina, Catch the Wind. Fabulous.

Joan Baez, Boots of Spanish Leather. Nanci Griffith also does a good job with this Dylan classic.

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Weather Conditions

Earl Scruggs and Friends, Foggy Mountain Breakdown

Ella Fitzgerald, Misty. Beats the Johnny Mathis version. A standard from the Great American Songbook.

Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze. Not from the Great American Songbook. And presumably not about weather conditions.

Cream, Sunshine of Your Love

Tom Waits, Emotional Weather Report

Art Garfunkel and James Taylor, Crying in the Rain. Written by Carole King and popularized by the Everly Bros.

Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. Written by Fred Rose and performed by Roy Acuff in the '40s.

Now my hair is turned to silver
All my life I've loved in vain
I can see her star in heaven
Blue eyes cryin' in the rain.

Someday when we meet up yonder
We'll stroll hand in hand again
In a land that knows no parting
Blue eyes crying in the rain.

Allman Bros., Blue Sky

Kansas, Dust in the Wind

Eric Clapton, Let It Rain

Dave van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters, Clouds (Both Sides Now). This beautiful version by "The Mayor of MacDougal street" goes out to luthier Dave Bagwill who I know will appreciate it. Judy Collins made a hit of it. And you still doubt that the '60s was the greatest decade for American popular music? Speaking of the greatest decade, it was when the greatest writer of American popular songs, bar none, Bob Dylan, made his mark.

Joan Baez, A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall

Eva Cassidy, Over the Rainbow. Another old standard from the Great American Songbook.

Tom Waits, On a Foggy Night

Rolling Stones, She's A Rainbow

Dan Fogelberg, Rhythm of the Rain

UPDATE (4/30)

Kai Frederik Lorentzen points us to Weather in My Head by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan. Good tune!

Dave Bagwill sends us to a clip in which van Ronk talks a bit about the days of the "Great American Folk Scare" and then sings his signature number, "Green, Green, Rocky Road."

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Leaving, Good Bye, Farewell

Lynn Anderson, Red River Valley. A very satisfying version. Stevie Nicks' effort is a bit overdone. A spare Woody Guthrie version. Classic Americana. No Woody, no Ramblin' Jack Elliot, no Dylan.

Bob Dylan, Farewell.

Oscar Isaac and Marcus Mumford, Fare Thee Well. Fabulous.

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, What's So Good About Goodbye?

Paul McCartney, I'll Follow the Sun

Red Sovine, Farewell, So Long, Goodbye. Probably better known for his Phantom 309.

Ramblin' Jack Elliot, So Long, It's Been Good to Know You

Everly Bros., Bye Bye Love

Muddy Waters, Baby Please Don't Go. Mick Jagger and the boys show up.

Ray Charles, Hit the Toad Road, Jack "You can't mean that!"

Shawn Colvin, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go. Dylan tune.

Peter, Paul, and Mary, Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Holy Saturday Night at the Oldies: Render unto Caesar . . .

Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's . . .

Have you stateside readers settled accounts with the Infernal Revenue Service? If yes, order up one scotch, one bourbon, and one beer and enjoy this live version of Taxman featuring Harrison and Clapton. Stevie Ray Vaughan's blistering version.

. . . and render unto God the things that are God's.

Herewith, five definite decouplings of rock and roll from sex and drugs.

Norman Greenbaum, Spirit in the Sky

Johnny Cash, Personal Jesus. This is one powerful song.

Clapton and Winwood, Presence of the Lord. Why is Clapton such a great guitarist? Not because of his technical virtuosity, his 'chops,' but because he has something to say.

George Harrison, My Sweet Lord

George Harrison, All Things Must Pass. Harrison was the Beatle with depth. Lennon was the radical, McCartney the romantic, and Ringo the regular guy.

Good YouTuber comment: "Immortal song, even if all things must pass . . . "

Saturday Night at the Oldies: ‘Foolish’ Songs

April Fool's Weekend found me in a fool's paradise, LaLaLand. So I'm seven days late and several dollars short, but here for your auditory amusement are some tunes in celebration or bemoanment of human folly the chief instance of which is romantic love. Who has never been played for a fool by a charming member of the opposite sex?

Old age is the sovereign cure for romantic folly and I sincerely recommend it to the young and foolish. Take care to get there. Philosophers especially should want to live long so as to study life from all temporal angles.

We have it on good authority that the unexamined life is not worth living. To which I add that the examination ought to be of every age from every age.

Elvis Presley, A Fool Such as I
Ricky Nelson, Poor Little Fool. Those "carefree devil eyes" will do it every time.
Brenda Lee, Fool #1
The Shirelles, Foolish Little Girl

Ricky Nelson, Fools Rush In. "Fools rush in/Where wise men never go/But wise men never fall in love/So how are they to know?"
Sam Cooke, Fool's Paradise. Sage advice. Heed it well, my young friends. A version by Mose Allison. I heard Mose live a number of times back in the '70s, most memorably at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California. Sadly, he died last November. But he made it to 89.
Elvin Bishop, Fooled Around and Fell in Love

The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again
Kingston Trio, Some Fool Made a Soldier of Me
Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Fool

Bill Evans, Foolish Heart
Lesley Gore, She's a Fool
Paul McCartney, The Fool on the Hill
Aretha Franklin, Chain of Fools
Connie Francis, Everybody's Somebody's Fool
Grateful Dead, Ship of Fools
Ketty Lester, I'm a Fool to Want You

"The fool who persists in his folly becomes wise" (William Blake)

Saturday Night at the Oldies: An Appeal to Obstructionist Dems

Wilbert Harrison, Let's Work Together. Canned Heat cover. The original beats all covers.

Youngbloods, Get Together

Jackie De Shannon, Put a Little Love in Your Heart

Jackie De Shannon, What the World Needs Now is Love. Love trumps hate, Nancy Pelosi.

And while we've got this cutie (Jackie, not Nancy!) cued up: When you Walk in the Room. Needles and Pins. Bette Davis Eyes. Kim Carnes' 1981 version was a drastically re-arranged cover.

Chuck Berry dead at 90.

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Street Songs

Rolling Stones, Street Fighting Man

Gerry Rafferty, Baker Street. From the far-off and fabulous summer of '78.

Bob Dylan, Positively 4th Street. This isn't Dylan, but a creditable cover. Johnny Rivers' version, endorsed by Dylan in his Chronicles, vol. I.

Simon and Garfunkel, 59th Street Bridge Song

Martha and the Vandellas, Dancing in the Street

Buck Owens, Streets of Bakersfield. This one goes out to Jean H.

And now a couple from the Great American Songbook:

Dean Martin, On the Street Where You Live

Rod Stewart, On the Sunny Side of the Street

You guessed it:

James Carr, The Dark End of the Street. Eva Cassidy's effort. Ry Cooder's inimitable instrumental version.

Johnny Cash, Streets of Laredo

Bob Seger, Main Street

Patsy Cline, Lonely Street

Patsy Cline, "Today I passed you on the street . . . ."

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Ten from the Billboard Top 100 from 25 February 1967

The Seekers, Georgy Girl. Chart position: #5 The Australian group's first hit (1965) was I'll Never Find Another You.

Sonny and Cher, The Beat Goes On. Chart position: #6. Inane lyrics. "The teeny bopper is our new born king."

Spencer Davis Group, Gimme Some Lovin. Charted at #7. Captures the Dionysian drive of R & R. Check out this 1983 version!

Cannonball Adderley, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Chart position: #11

Lefte Bank, Pretty Ballerina. Chart position: #15. The year before, Walk Away Renee. How sweet the illusions and transports of romantic love that wash over the souls of the young and not-so-young.

Buffalo Springfield, For What It's Worth. Charted at #25. "Paranoia strikes deep!"

Mamas and Papas, Dedicated to the One I Love. Chart position: #57. Outstanding, but doesn't get the length of the Shirelles' original.

Simon and Garfunkel, 59th Street Bridge Song. Chart position: #69. "Slow down, you're movin' too fast!"

Beatles, Strawberry Fields Forever. Chart position: #83.

James Carr, The Dark End of the Street. Chart position: #98. Great song. Better known is Linda Ronstadt's version.

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Points of the Compass

Johnny Cash & Joni Mitchell, Girl from the North Country

Joan Baez, North Country Blues. A great cover of a great song. The only Dylan tune I am aware of written from a female point of view. This self-certified Dylanologist invites refutation.

Johnny Horton, North to Alaska

Orlons, South Street, 1963

Neil Young, Southern Man

The Band, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Baez version.

Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Southern Cross

Paul Butterfield Blues Band, East-West (full album)

Cheech and Chong, Born in East L. A.

Bob Dylan, West Texas, 1962

Marty Robbins, (West Texas Town of) El Paso, 1959

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some 1940’s Proto-Rock

Freddie Slack and Will Bradley Trio (1940), Down the Road A Piece.

If you like to boogie woogie, I know the place.
It's just an old piano and a knocked out bass.
The drummer man's a guy they call Eight Beat Mack.
And you remember Doc and old "Beat Me Daddy" Slack.

Man it's better than chicken fried in bacon grease
Come along with me, boys, it's just down the road a piece.

Ella Mae Morse (1945), The House of Blue Lights. Shows that 'square' and 'daddy-o' and 'dig' were already in use in the '40s. I had been laboring under the misapprehension that this patois first surfaced in Beat/Beatnik circles in the '50s.

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Cats

Loving Spoonful, Nashville Cats, 1966. They's playin' since they's babies.

Harry Chapin, Cat's in the Cradle. For you fathers out there. Bond with your son when he's five. Wait till he's 50 and he won't give you the time of day.

Tokens, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, 1961

Bent Fabric, Alley Cat, 1962. Bent fabric can be said to have a kink in it. Therefore,

Kinks, Phenomenal Cat

Tom Jones, What's New Pussycat? 1965. This reminds me to get my wife a pussyhat for her birthday to wear while I watch O'Reilly and the boys.

Norma Tanega, Walkin' My Cat Named 'Dog.' The queen of the one-hit wonders?

Mongo Santamaria, El Pussycat. If you remember this one, I'll buy you a pussyhat and a watermelon. While we have Mongo Santamaria cued up, here is his rather better-known Watermelon Man, muchachos.

Buck Owens, Tiger by the Tail. This one goes out to Kathy P.

Stray Cats, Stray Cat Strut

Ted Nugent, Cat Scratch Fever

Sue Thompson, Paper Tiger, 1965. This one's for Barack "Red Line" Obama.

Elton John, Honky Cat, 1972

Robert Petway, Catfish Blues, 1941. An influential song in the history of the blues.

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Musical Instruments

Billy Joel, Piano Man. A great slice of pure Americana.

Johnny Cymbal, Mr. Bass Man, 1963

Bob Dylan, Mr. Tambourine Man, 1964. Philip Larkin is supposed to have called this the greatest song ever written. Don't believe me? See here:

Like Thwaite, Hartley is insistent that Larkin loved women; nor will she go along with the idea of him as a miser. When she won a place at university as a mature student, Larkin, knowing how hard-up Hartley was, opened a book account for her, and placed a fat sum in it. She is full of stories about him: the time they went to see Louis Armstrong together in Bridlington; the time Larkin arrived at a party clutching a bottle of crème de menthe. She reminds me – so unlikely seeming, this – that he thought Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man" the best song ever written. Larkin, who once described his physique as being like that of a "pregnant salmon", hated dancing, but at departmental Christmas parties, he would be sure to ask every woman in the room to dance: cleaners, caterers, library assistants. No one was left out.

Linda Ronstadt, Different Drum

Eric Clapton, et al., While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Paul Anka, A Steel Guitar and a Glass of Wine Now when was the last time you heard this one?

Sandy Nelson, Let There Be Drums

Dave Cortez, The Happy Organ

New Year’s Eve at the Oldies: ‘Last’ Songs for the Last Night of the Year

Happy New Year, everybody.

Last Night, 1961, The Mar-Keys.

Last Date, 1960, Floyd Cramer.

Save the Last Dance for Me, 1960, The Drifters.

At Last, Etta James.

Last Thing on My Mind, Doc Watson sings the Tom Paxton tune. A very fine version.

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, Simon and Garfunkel.

Last Call, Dave van Ronk. "If I'd been drunk when I was born, I'd be ignorant of sorrow."

(Last night I had) A Wonderful Dream, The Majors. The trick is to find in the flesh one of those dream girls. Some of us got lucky.

This night in 1985 was Rick Nelson's last: the Travelin' Man died in a plane crash. Wikipedia:

Nelson dreaded flying but refused to travel by bus. In May 1985, he decided he needed a private plane and leased a luxurious, fourteen-seat, 1944 Douglas DC-3 that had once belonged to the DuPont family and later to Jerry Lee Lewis. The plane had been plagued by a history of mechanical problems.^[104] In one incident, the band was forced to push the plane off the runway after an engine blew, and in another incident, a malfunctioning magneto prevented Nelson from participating in the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois.

On December 26, 1985, Nelson and the band left for a three-stop tour of the Southern United States. Following shows in Orlando, Florida, and Guntersville, Alabama, Nelson and band members took off from Guntersville for a New Year's Eve extravaganza in Dallas, Texas.^[105] The plane crash-landed northeast of Dallas in De Kalb, Texas, less than two miles from a landing strip, at approximately 5:14 p.m. CST on December 31, 1985, hitting trees as it came to earth. Seven of the nine occupants were killed: Nelson and his companion, Helen Blair; bass guitarist Patrick Woodward, drummer Rick Intveld, keyboardist Andy Chapin, guitarist Bobby Neal, and road manager/soundman Donald Clark Russell. Pilots Ken Ferguson and Brad Rank escaped via cockpit windows, though Ferguson was severely burned.

It's Up to You.

Bonus: Last Chance Harvey.

In memory of those who died this past year: Bobby Vee, Leonard Cohen, and Leon Russell.

Last but not least: Auld Lang Syne.

Christmas Eve 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 rosso contests the harshness of the bourbon, but then the Campari joins the fight on the side of the bourbon. Or you can think of it as a Manhattan wherein the Campari substitutes for the angostura bitters. That there are people who don't like Campari shows that there is no hope for humanity. An irrational prejudice against artichokes?

Cheech and Chong, Santa Claus and His Old Lady
Canned Heat, Christmas Boogie

Leon Redbone and Dr. John, Frosty the Snowman
Beach Boys, Little St. Nick. A rarely heard alternate version.

Ronettes, Sleigh Ride
Elvis Presley, Blue Christmas. This one goes out to Barack and Michelle.

Jeff Dunham, Jingle Bombs by Achmed the Terrorist. TRIGGER WARNING! Not for the p.c.-whipped.

Porky Pig, Blue Christmas

Dylan Magon, White Christmas. Don't know this dude. Appears to be a black Italian. Good performance, except that he says'sly bells' instead of 'slay bells.'

Charles Brown, Please Come Home for Christmas

Wanda Jackson and the Continentals, Merry Christmas Baby
Chuck Berry, Run Rudolph Run

Eric Clapton, Cryin' Christmas Tears
Judy Collins, Silver Bells

Ry Cooder, Christmas in Southgate. Don't miss this one if you are a Los Angeleno.
Bob Dylan, Must Be Santa

Is this the same guy who sang Desolation Row back in '65? This is the 'stoned' version. It'll grow on you! Give it chance.

Bob Dylan, Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache. Not Christmasy, but a good tune.

Who could possibly follow Dylan's growl except

Tom Waits, Silent Night. Give it a chance.

A surprising number of Christmas songs were written by Jews.