Category: Music

Saturday Night at the Oldies: A Half Dozen Dedications

To Horace Jeffery Hodges who describes himself thusly:

I've gone from the Arkansas Ozarks through Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Israel to South Korea. I've traveled to Mexico, Belgium, Holland, East Germany, England, France, Denmark, Austria, Czechoslovakia (before it split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Russia, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Scotland. Hence: "Gypsy Scholar."

I've Been Everywhere.

To Peter Lupu, Forty Cups of Coffee and Smoke Smoke That Cigarette.

To Mike Valle, Ghost Riders in the Sky.

To Philoponus the Impecunious, Money.

To William the Nominalist, The Name Game.

To David Brightly, Heartaches by the Numbers.

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Mimi Fariña

Mimi Farina Let's not forget Joan Baez's sister, Mimi (1945-2001).  Interestingly, the girls' father is the noted physicist Albert Baez (1912-2007).  I remember a physics teacher in high school  showing us an instructional film made by one Albert Baez.  We were surprised to hear that he was Joan's father.  We hadn't heard of him, but we sure had heard of her.  This was around 1965.

Joan and Mimi sing a lovely version of Donovan's "Catch the Wind."  Speaking of Donovan, here he and Joan collaborate on another unforgettable 'sixties tune, "Colours."  Finally, Mimi, her husband Richard, and Pete Seeger in Pack Up Your Sorrows.

Saturday Night at the Oldies: Carmelita, Juanita, and the Wicked Felina

Warren Zevon, Carmelita.  Linda Ronstadt's version.  Stay clear of heroin and Pioneer chicken, both.

Flying Burrito Brothers, Juanita. Lyrics:

'No  affection' were the words that stuck on my mind
When she walked out on me for the very last time.
Oh mama sweet mama can you tell me what to say?
I don't know what I've done to be treated this way.

In a cold dirty room that's where I found myself
With a bottle of wine and some pills off the shelf.
Oh mama sweet mama can you tell me what to say?
I don't know what I've done and I'm feeling so ashamed.

Then an angel appeared she was just 17
In a dirty old gown (town?) with a conscience so clean
Oh mama sweet mama can you tell me what to say?
She's brought back the life that I once threw away.

Delightfully ambiguous:  Is Juanita the girl who walked out or the one who saved him?  Or both?

Marty Robbins, El Paso.  "Cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for/One little kiss and Felina, good-bye."

The Monterey Pop Festival, June 1967

Monterey_pop_72dsi 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. Jimihendrixmontereykl3 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: 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: 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.