What is the lightest thing in the world? A penis . . . all it takes is a thought to raise it. The thought of you, the very thought of you.
Category: Music
Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was the last major battle of the War of 1812. The battle was celebrated in song twice in 1959, by Johnny Horton and on the other side of the pond by Lonnie Donnegan. Johnny Cash has a nice understated version, and you may also enjoy the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's rousing rendition.
Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans.
The Monterey Pop Festival, June 1967
It transpired 43 summers ago, this June, the grandaddy of rock festivals, two years before Woodstock, in what is known as the Summer of Love. Your humble correspondent was on the scene. Some high school friends and I drove up from Los Angeles along Pacific Coast Highway. I can still call up olfactory memories of patchouli, sandalwood incense, not to mention the aroma of what was variously known as cannabis sativa, marijuana, reefer, tea, Miss Green, maryjane, pot, weed, grass, pacalolo (Hawaiian term), loco weed, and just plain dope. But my friends and I, students at an all-boys Catholic high school that enforced a strict dress code, were fairly straight: we partook of no orgies, smoked no dope, and slept in a motel. The wild stuff came later in our lives, when we were better able to handle it.
I have in my hand the programme book of the Festival, in mint condition. Do I hear $1,000? On the first page there is a quotation from Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice:
How sweet the moon-light sleeps upon this bank! Here we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night, become the touches of sweet harmony.
Ah yes, I remember it well, the "sweet harmony" of the whining feedback of Jimi Hendrix's Fender Stratocaster plugged into his towering Marshall amps and the "soft stillness" of the The Who smashing their instruments to pieces! Not to be outdone, Jimi lit his Strat on fire with lighter fluid. The image is burned into my memory. It shocked my working-class frugality. I used to baby my Fender Mustang and I once got mad at a girl for placing a coke can on my Fender Deluxe Reverb amp. On the last page of the programme book, a more fitting quotation: the lyrics of Dylan's The Times They Are a Changin', perhaps the numero uno '60s anthem to youth and social ferment. Were the utopian fantasies of the '60s just a load of rubbish? Mostly, but not entirely. "Lately it occurs to me, what a long strange trip it's been."
Here is a sample of the proceedings.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some Fine Guitar-Slingin’
I've never been able to find Lonnie Mack's Memphis on YouTube, but I just stumbled across this phenomenal Venture's version. They never sounded that good in the '60s. Here is what they sounded like back in the day. Perfidia is an old song written in 1939 by Alberto Dominguez. Xavier Cugat's version was the first. Julie London does a good job with it. "While the gods of love look down and laugh at what romantic fools we mortals be."
Saturday Night at the Oldies: How Many Jazz-Pop Crossover Hits?
I don't know, but Dave Brubeck's Take Five from 1959 is one. So named because in 5/4 time. Made the #5 slot on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Singles chart. So you could say that "Take Five" took five.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Sleep, Dreams, and Insomnia
Bobby Lewis, Tossin' and Turnin (1961). Santo and Johnny, Sleepwalk (1959). Joe Satriani's cover blows the original and every other cover clean out of the water. Masterful guitar work. Bobby Edwards, You're the Reason I Don't Sleep at Night. A country crossover hit from 1961. Leadbelly, Where Did You Sleep Last Night (1944). Here's hoping your Dream Lover doesn't leave you with Tears on Your Pillow.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Three More Torch Songs
A couple of weeks ago I hauled out some old torch songs from the musty mausoleum. Here are a couple more. The definition again: "A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on." (Wikipedia)
Gogi Grant, The Wayward Wind (1956). Made the #1 Billboard position. The tune has haunted me since I was six years old. Toni Fisher, The Big Hurt (1959). Made the Billboard #3 slot. The first verse hints at the origin of 'torch song':
Now it begins, now that you've gone
Needles and pins, twilight till dawn
Watching that clock till you return
Lighting that torch and watching it burn
Is this the first recording to use a phase shifter? Pretty far-out for the 'fifties. While we're on the topic of special effects, the first fuzz tone occurs as far as I know in Marty Robbins' Don't Worry About Me (1961).
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Johnny Otis
His signature number was Willie and the Hand Jive. The video begins with a late 'fifties car commercial that Los Angelenos who were around then should be able to appreciate. Those are some meaty mamas demonstrating the hand jive. Slow Hand's version. No, muchachos, neither 'hand jive' nor 'slow hand' have anything to do with masturbation.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Torch Songs
"A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on." (Wikipedia) Sarah Vaughn, Broken Hearted Melody. Timi Yuro, Hurt. Billie Holliday, The Very Thought of You. Roy Orbison, In Dreams. Peggy Lee, Oh You Crazy Moon. Ketty Lester, Love Letters. Etta James, At Last. Lenny Welch, Since I Fell For You.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Originals and Covers
Some covers are as good as if not better than the originals. Some examples, with the original first. Thanks to our old friend 'williamofockham' for uploading the Morissette number as well as for suggesting the McLachlan and Simon covers.
Beatles, Blackbird. Sarah McLachlan cover. Carly Simon cover.
Sam Cooke, Wonderful World. Simon-Garfunkel-Taylor cover.
Bob Dylan, Blowing' in the Wind. Alanis Morissette cover.
Jimmy Jones, Handy Man. James Taylor cover.
Chantays, Pipeline. Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughan cover. Blows the original clean out of the water!
Shirelles, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? This version is untouchable, though covered by many, including Carole King, its composer (with Gerry Goffin).
Chiffons, One Fine Day. Another untouchable oldie from 1963 penned by Goffin-King. Carole King does a better job with this one.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Randy Newman
I Love L. A. And his masterpiece sung by Judy Collins.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Two From Monk
In Walked Bud. Every hip stud really dug Bud soon's he hit town, takin' that note nobody wrote and puttin' it down. Epistrophy.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Johnny Cash
Personal Jesus. Hurt. The Mercy Seat. I See a Darkness. If you can relate to these powerful songs, then you can appreciate the superficiality and ignorance of the human heart of the New Atheism. Only the spiritually moribund could put up a poster like this:
Ed Feser, yesterday, hit upon a brilliant and true insight: "The New Atheist is none other than Nietzsche’s Last Man in rationalist drag."
There may or may not be a God. But "Stop worrying and enjoy life" is exactly the sort of thing Nietzsche's Last Man would say. I think Feser would agree that the poster to the left supports his insight.
Two Songs for Good Friday
Leonard Cohen, Passing Through. Leonard Cohen and Judy Collins, Suzanne.
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Two Watusi Numbers
Ray Barretto, El Watusi, 1963. I remember when it first came out, but you young whippersnappers may remember it from Carlito's Way. Don't ask me what it means. The Orlons, Wah-Watusi, 1962.