Thursday, January 28, 2016
THROWBACK THURSDAY: You're the Dirty Hack That Shot Your Woman Down
Stuart couldn't resist and responded with some other verses from the song. I followed suit as did he, until we'd practically recited the entire song -- albeit not in the correct order. The other reporters in the room, most of which are much younger than Stuart and me, probably just wrote us off as deranged old fools babbling in some secret codger code -- strange talk of "hop joints," smoking pills, and "dirty hacks" who shoot their women down,
But who cares? It's a great old song. Here's how Johnny sung it:
But -- as longtime Throwback Thursday readers probably figured -- Cash wasn't the first to do this song.
"Cocaine Blues" was written in the late 1940s by a western-sing singer named T.J. "Red" Arnall, who recorded it with his band W. A. Nichol's Western Aces. This version is fairly similar to the one Cash would do 20 years later -- but without Johnny's crazy edge (and without referring to the victim in the song as a "bad bitch.")
But the song even pre-dates Red Arnall. And the murdered woman has a name: Little Sadie.
Yes, "Cocaine Blues" basically is a drug-fired rewrite of the old murder ballad "Little Sadie." You can hear that in Doc Watson's version.
And there is another murder ballad that shares a lot of elements with "Little Sadie' and "Cocaine Blues" called "Bad Lee Brown" (not to be confused with "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.")
Here's a version from more than 85 years ago by John Dilleshaw, who was in a band called Seven Foot Dilly and His Dill Pickles. (Thanks to Murder Ballad Monday for pointing me to this song.)
In the early '40s Woody Guthrie recorded "Bad Lee Brown" and it sounded a lot more like what would become "Cocaine Blues" -- even though there was no mention of the white powder.
So come on, you gotta listen unto me, lay off that whiskey, and let that cocaine be.
For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
WACKY WEDNESDAY: Eat a Hot Dog!
Goofy, I know. But sometimes when I'm craving a good old American frankfurter, deep in my skull I hear Van McCoy's music and Big Norm's voice telling me what to do.
And sometimes I think of some of the great American songs about hot dogs posted below. Except some of these might not actually be about food, per se.
Let's kick it off with a rockabilly classic by one Corky Jones, which was a pseudonym for the one and only Buck Owens. (Back in the '50s, Buck tried to conceal his identity as not to offend his country fans. But by the end of the 80s he re-recorded this song under his own name and made it a title song of one of hi last studio albums.)
In the mid 1920s, Butterbeans & Susie always had hot dogs on their menu.
Bessie Smith had a similar idea a few years later.
Then there was Hasil Adkins
And this song by The Detroit Cobras practically could be the theme song for the American Wiener Institute.
Monday, January 25, 2016
The First Big Enchilada Podcast of 2016
(Background Music: Black Cat Strut by WaveSauce)
Way Down in the Hole by Compulsive Gamblers
Parchment Farm by Dead Moon
Prove Me Wrong by Thee Fine Lines
Drug Mugger by Ty Segal
Everything Went Black by The Phantom Scars
Burning Tread Baby by Left Wing Fascists
(Background Music: Song of The Nairobi Trio (Solfeggio) by The Fortune Tellers
I Wish You Would by Tom Jones
Get Outa My Way by The Laughing Dogs
So Long Sanity by The Orange Iguanas
Insecticide by Downliners Sect
Sztos (Stroke) by Kazik & Kwartet ProForma
Nowheria by Bungalow Bums
Saved by The Woggles
(Background Music: Tarzan's Monkey by The Apes)
A Glimpse of Another Time by Wild Billy Chyldish & CTMF
Little No More by The Hentchmen
Gotta Stop by Badass Mother Fuzzers
John Dillinger Blues by The Fugates
I Kiss You Dead by The Monsters
Blood River by King Mud
Play it below
Sunday, January 24, 2016
TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST
Sunday, January 24, 2016
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's the playlist
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Burning Tread Baby by Left Wing Fascists
War Dancers by King Mud
Gotta Stop by Badass Mother Fuzzers
Across the River by Dead Cat Stimpy
Do The Clam by The Cramps
Make You Say Wow by Bob Log III
Sweet Poison Caladina by YVY
Rat's Revenge Part 1 by The Rats
Hot Fingers by Little Freddie King
Booty City by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Shout Bama Lama by Benjamin Booker
Hey Sailor by Detroit Cobras
Chatterbox by New York Dolls
Little Blonde Girl by Any Dirty Party
Give Me Love by The Gories
Backstreet Girl by Social Distortion
New Day Risin' by Husker Du
Black Beard by The Universals
A Little Mixed Up by Koko Taylor
Nervous by Willie Dixon & Memphis Slim
Whistle Bait by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Golden Shower of Hits by The Circle Jerks
I See the Light by Reverend Beat Man
The Masks by Death
Call the Police by The Oblivions
Last Time I Saw Cole by Deadbolt
Hungover by Kady Bow
Love to Love by Miriam
Bowlegged Woman, Knock-Kneed Man Part 1 by Bobby Rush
C'mon Billy by PJ Harvey
The Elements: Fire (Mrs. O'Leary's Cow) by The Beach Boys
Life in Vain by Daniel Johnston
Curtain Falls by Bobby Darrin
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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Friday, January 22, 2016
THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST
Friday, January 22, 2016
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Pelican Bay by Peter Case
Church on a Saturday Night by Artie Hill & The Long Gone Daddies
Cry Baby Cry by Banditos
Looking at the World Through a Windshield by Bill Kirchen
A-11 by Johnny Paycheck
Evenin' Breeze by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Then I'll Be Movin' On by Mother Earth
A Passing Policeman by The Brothers Johnson
The Rubber Room by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
Psycho by Jack Kittel
Committed to Parkview by Porter Wagoner
Nervous Breakdown by Whiskeytown
I'm Sorry by The Beaumonts
Knock Off Your Naggin' by Stonewall Jackson
Good BBQ by The Riptones
Precious Time by Broomdust Caravan
When I Was a Cowboy by Odetta
Katy Kay by Robbie Fulks
The Outcast by Tom Russell with Dave Van Ronk
Hello Stranger by Carolina Chocolate Drops
Two Sweethearts by The Carter Family
The Winding Stream by Roseanne Cash
I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Mother Maybelle Carter
Peace in the Valley by Orion
Samson by Greg Brown
Run 'em Off by Brennen Leigh
Needle and Thread by Eilen Jewell
Lost Highway by Sabah Habas Mustapha
Train of Life by Merle Haggard
Same God by Calamity Cubes
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: Orion Unmasked!
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
January 22, 2015
The life of Jimmy Ellis of Orrville, Alabama, is one of the greatest oddball rock ’n’ roll stories of all time. You probably aren’t familiar with the name of Jimmy Ellis. How about his stage name — Orion? Not familiar with that either? Well, no matter. If you like true-life bizarre tales from the sleazy side of rock, you’ll enjoy the documentary Orion: The Man Who Would Be King.
Ellis was born in 1945. He had an amazing gift — a singing voice nearly indistinguishable from that of Elvis Presley. But, as the movie by Jeanie Finlay explains, when Ellis moved to Los Angeles in the early ’70s to pursue a musical career, what he first saw as a blessing turned out to be a curse. No label of any size wanted to sign him precisely because he sounded so much like Elvis.
At one point, after Presley died, Ellis released a single called “I’m Not Trying to Be Like Elvis” — but nobody was convinced. It was after this that things started getting strange.
A novelist named Gail Brewer-Giorgio had written a book about a Presleyesque singer called Orion who had faked his own death to escape the pressures of fame. She was looking for someone to sing Orion’s parts for a never-made movie version of her book. She met Ellis through a mutual friend.
Shelby Singleton got wind of the project and of the amazing singer Ellis. Singleton, a wheeling-dealing huckster on par with Col. Tom Parker himself, had purchased Sun Records — the company that launched Elvis’ career — from Sam Phillips.
You want an album cover with good taste or one that tastes good? |
Then Brewer-Giorgio’s Orion came to life. Under Singleton’s direction, Ellis donned gaudy jumpsuits and colorful Lone Ranger-style masks and went on the road. His first album had a cartoon of Orion ascending from a casket, but that tasteful idea went out the window after retailers objected.
The album cover lifted text from the Orion novel (the documentary reveals that Brewer-Giorgio never got paid for it). Many gullible Elvis fans actually believed that Orion was the King in disguise. And the Singleton-era incarnation of Sun Records, of course, did nothing to discourage the strange belief.
At first Ellis basked in the dedication of his fans, which, according to the film, included a number of attractive females eager to offer themselves to the masked man.
But as the record and concert ticket sales declined, he grew tired of the masquerade. In 1983, he tore off his mask, which proved to be a deal-breaker for Singleton. Sun Records dumped him, and Ellis’ career took a nose-dive. After trying a number of different names and personas, Ellis eventually went back to the mask. But the latter-day Orion failed to capture the old fire.
Finlay tells the story through interviews with Ellis’ friends, family (including Ellis’ son), side musicians, and others. Brewer-Giorgio gets a lot of time. She spent much of her career writing nonfiction books, pushing the idea that Presley, like her fictional Orion, faked his own death. If Finlay mentions this in the film, I must have missed it when I blinked.
Orion with Kiss |
Best of all, there is generous live footage of Ellis/Orion performances. And there is a still photo of Orion with members of KISS. Apparently they performed on the same bill in Europe in the early ’80s.
Orion was a man haunted by hucksters. And unfortunately, Finlay engages in a little hucksterism of her own. Near the end of the film, she implies there might be a genetic reason Ellis sounded so much like Presley. Ellis was adopted, you see, and the only name for his father on his birth certificate was “Vernon,” just like … just like ... But mostly, Finlay brings real dignity to the life of a man who previously has been dismissed as merely a weird musical joke.
Orion: The Man Who Would Be King opens at the Jean Cocteau Cinema (418 Montezuma Ave., 505-466-5528) on Friday, Jan. 22.
Also recommended
There’s another cool music documentary opening in Santa Fe this week — The Winding Stream, directed by Beth Harrington. This one is the story of the Carter Family, that venerated clan from Virginia often credited as the originators of what has come to be known as country music.
The bulk of the film focuses on the original group: A.P. Carter, his wife, Sara, and his sister-in-law Maybelle. No, the Carters didn’t invent country music, but they were the first hillbilly vocal group to achieve widespread popularity. And A.P.’s determination to collect and record the songs of the mountains helped ensure the endurance of this music.
Making a case for the importance of the Carter Family is not a major undertaking. Just on the strength of their most famous songs — “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” “Keep on the Sunny Side,” “Wildwood Flower,” and others — their reputation would be set in stone.
Harrington’s real task was making them seem human. Sara, the main singer of the original group, had a voice that seemed resigned and weary. Unlike the songs of their chief contemporary, Jimmie Rodgers, the Carters’ tunes rarely, if ever, show any humor. Photos of Sara and A.P. always remind me of Grant Wood’s American Gothic. (Maybelle Carter, who kept performing with her daughters for decades, including a stint with her son-in-law, Johnny Cash, never had a problem seeming warm and human.)
Through interviews with various Carter descendants, Harrington brings warmth and depth to those stony icons, A.P. and Sara Carter. And that helps you appreciate the classic songs even more.
And the doc is full of wonderful music including archival footage plus more contemporary versions of Carter songs by the likes of George Jones, John Prine, Roseanne Cash, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Grey DeLisle & Murray Hammond and others.
Clutch Cargo |
One quibble: There is little footage of the original Carters performing. Harrington tried to bring some of the songs to life by animating still photos. Unfortunately this process looks like some modern-day Clutch Cargo cartoon, more bizarre than illuminating.
The Winding Stream opens at The Screen (Santa Fe University of Art & Design, 1600 St. Michael’s Drive, 505-473-6494) on Friday, Jan. 22.
Enjoy some videos:
Here is the official trailer for the Orion movie
Here is Jimmy Ellis' best-known pre-Orion hit
Here is the trailer for The Winding Stream
This duet featuring Anita Carter and Hank Williams is in the movie
Thursday, January 21, 2016
THROWBACK THURSDAY: Where or When
Rodgers & Hart |
The lush harmonies, the greasy sax, the mysterious, almost mystical lyrics of deja vu ("The clothes you're wearing are the clothes you wore / The smile you are smiling you were smiling then, /But I can't remember where or when...")
How could anyone resist? It might be the ultimate late 50s/early 60s makeout song.
Here is Dion and the boys. Try to disregard the screaming teenage girls.
When I first heard it, there was something about "Where or When" that told me this was older than rock 'n' old.
But actually the song is not much more than 20 years older than Dion's version. It was written by that great American songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for a 1937 Broadway production called Babes in Arms.
That's a musical that included other Rodgers & Hart classic like "The Lady is a Tramp" and "My Funny Valentine."
Actors Ray Heatherton and Mitzi Green sang "Where or When." Here's a recording by Heatherton.
In 1939, Babes in Arms was turned into a Busby Berkely musical starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. (The script was radically rewritten and most the Rodgers & Hart score was tossed -- though "Where and When" survived. Here is a scene where it was sung by Douglas McPhail, Betty Jaynes and Garland -- with some musical criticism by Rooney.
Miss Peggy Lee did a cool, sultry version in 1941. Like the Heatherton version, the vocals don't start until about half way through.)
The song became a Rat Pack favorite. Sinatra sang it and so did Sammy. But I dig this swingin' version by Dino on his mid '60 TV show.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
WACKY WEDNESDAY: Songs from the Rubber Room
"Insane Asylum" is a classic blues duet of Willie Dixon and Koko Taylor.
Behold a live performance of my very favorite Alice cooper song: "The Ballad of Dwight Fry."
Here's a song my crony Gregg Turner originally performed with The Angry Samoans, This is a more recent version of "I Lost My Mind."
Turner's actually the one who turned me on this next song more than 20 years ago. He said he first heard it done by Elvis Costello. But it was written by country giant Leon Payne, best known for writing "Lost Highway" for Hank Williams. This version is by country singer Eddie Noack.
But the major country classic of craziness is Porter Wagoner's somewhat autobiographical "The Rubber Room."
On his final studio album, 2007's Wagonmaster, Porter revisited his "rubber room" days with this moving song, "Committed to Parkview," which was written by Johnny Cash.
My favorite madhouse music in the realm of hip hop is The Geto Boys' "My Mind's Playing Tricks on Me."
Bo Diddley is CRAZY!
Finally some of you longtime readers probably expected me to include Napoleon XIV's mid '60s smash "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha" in a blog post about loony-bin songs.
But that's just too predictable. Instead, let's flip out and play the flip-side of that hit record, one I've never hear played on the radio. It's called "Aaaaah-aah Yawa em Ekat ot Gnimoc Re'yeht," which is "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha" played backward. Caution: You might hear the voice of Satan in this early example of backward masking.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST
Sunday, January 17, 2016
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's the playlist
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Monkey Song by The Big Bopper
Parchment Farm by Dead Moon
The Lover's Curse by The A-Bombs
Which End is Up by Miriam
Ice Queen by JJ & The Real Jerks
Arthur's Hooked by King Mud
Nerja' sawa (نرجع سوا ) by Mazhot
Don't Tease Me by Question Mark & The Mysterians
Smack My Bitch Up by Richard Cheese
I Wish You Would by David Bowie
Starman by Dewy Cox
Blackstar by David Bowie
Beaujolais by Javier Escovedo
Call the Police by The Oblivians
Hello Mabel by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
A Long Journey by Leo Welch
I Got a Razor by Memphis Slim & Willie Dixon
Worn My Body for So Long by T-Model Ford & Gravel Road
Compared to What by Les McCann & Eddie Harris
You Can't Judge a Book by It's Cover by Bo Diddley
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat by Bob Dylan
One Kind Favor by Canned Heat
The Eternal Question by The Grandmothers
Oh No / The Orange County Lumber Truck by The Mothers of Invention
I'm Your Man by Nick Cave
This One's from the Heart by Tom Waits & Crystal Gayle
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page
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Friday, January 15, 2016
THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST
Friday, January 15, 2016
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Bear Creek Blues by John Prine
Cool Rockin' Loretta by Joe Ely
Wanted Man/DIYBYOB by The Waco Brothers
Bloody Mary Morning by Willie Nelson
Get It On Down the Line by Danny Barnes
Move It by T. Tex Edwards
Everything it Takes by Loretta Lynn with Elvis Costello
Honky Tonk Merry Go Round by The Stumbleweeds
Family Man by Robbie Fulks
Roll Truck Roll by Terry Allen
Hot Dog Baby by Hasil Adkins
Honky Tonkin' by The The
Cheap Motel by Southern Culture on the Skids
Number One with a Bullet by Freakwater
Let's Do Wrong Tonight by Simon Stokes
Whiskey Drinkin' Women by Cornell Hurd
Jason Fleming by Roger Miller
Sister Kate by Oh Lazarus
Payday by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Ruby Are You Mad by The Osborne Brothers
Wine Wine Wine by Dale Watson
High As You Can Be by Asylum Street Spankers
Put Something in the Pot, Boy by The Five Strings
Demon Rum by Legendary Shack Shakers
Indoor Fireworks by Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit
That's the Way Love Goes by Merle Haggard
Lord, I’m In Your Care by Grey DeLisle & Murry Hammond
Wreck on the Highway by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Roy Acuff
Star Motel Blues by Kell Robertson
Jimmy Brown the Newsboy by Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
Ebony Eyes by Orion
Tell Me Why by Elvis Presley
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
WACKY WEDNESDAY: Albums Named for Unappetizing Food
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Sunday, May 15, 2022 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM Em...