Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays Mountain Time Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
Ham & Eggs by Skip Manning
Look a There by Mojo Watson
I Don't Want No Bald Headed Woman Telling Me What To Do by Nathaniel Mayer
Rattlesnake, Baby, Rattlesnake by Joe Johnson
Novade Nada by Chuck E. Weiss
Smokey Places by Diplomats of Solid Sound
Down in Mississippi by Bobby Rush
All She Wants to Do Is Rock by Wynonie Harris
The Monkey by Emanual Laskey
Done Done the Slop by Ervin Rucker
Where is the Love by Eldridge Holmes
Memories by Swamp Dogg with John Prine
Howl by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Mama Was Right by Howard Tate
Come Go My Bail, Louise by The Five Keys
Six-Fingered Man by Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
The Pygmy Grind Part 1 by Sonny Dublin
Sweet Hunk O’ Trash by Dr. John with Shemekia Copeland
Pocket Change by St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Midnight Rider by Charlie Whitehead
I Need a Woman (‘cause I’m a Man) by The Mighty Hannibal
Skip a Rope by Joe Tex
Love Bones by Johnnie Taylor
Cougar on the Prowl by Jesi Taylor
Jon E. Edwards is in Love by Jon E. Edward
Sweet Soul Music by Jerry Lawson
Crazy About You Baby by Rufus Thomas
Swing Swing Swing by Keely Smith
Do You Call That a Buddy by Martin, Bogan & The Armstrongs
One of the strangest old folk songs I've ever heard deals with a bird that wobbles (or maybe warbles) as it flies but rarely makes a noise until Independence Day. The song also warns gamblers of an evil card in the deck, the sinister Jack of Diamonds. And the narrator is building a cabin on a mountain, "So I can see Willie as he goes on by."
Who the heck is Willie?
I'm talking of course of "The Cuckoo," an old folk song that goes back at least to the late 1700s or early 1800s, when it first started appearing in British broadsides.
British folk song collector -- and singer -- A.L. Loyd explained some of the folklore surrounding "The Cuckoo":
Spring cannot start till the cuckoo sings. Perhaps that is why the cuckoo is a magical a bird. Turn your money when you hear him first and you'll have money in your pocket until he comes again. Whatever you're doing when you hear him, you'll do most often throughout the year. Especially if you're in bed. No bird is more oracular. It can prophesy how long a man will live and a girl remain a maid. There is no better omen for love than the song of the cuckoo, the beloved bird of folklore. On the other hand, he is the sly creature who gave us the word ‘cuckold’. The flattering invocation to the cuckoo in this widespread song is perhaps in the nature of a magical safeguard for the worried lover.
But most versions of "The Cuckoo" I'm familiar with, even the older ones, seem thoroughly Americanized. In older British versions, the narrator sang of building a castle. In American versions, the castle becomes a log cabin. And in the American versions, why does the bird hardly ever cuckoo until the fourth day of July?
In writing about the song in his book Invisible Empire, Greil Marcus quoted Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who in 1872 said, "We Americans are all cuckoos. We make our homes in the nests of other birds.”
In the book, Marcus goes on to say that
The cuckoo -- the true parasitic cuckoo, which despite Holmes' choice of it for national bird is not found in the United States -- lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. It is a kind of scavenger in reverse: violating the natural order of things, it is by its own nature an outsider, a creature who cannot belong. Depositing its orphans, leaving its progeny to be raised by others, to grow up as imposters in another’s house, as America filled itself up with slaves, indentured servants, convicts, hustlers, adventurers, the ambitious and the greedy, the fleeing and the hated, who took or were given new, imposters’ names -- the cuckoo becomes the other and sees all other creatures as other. ... As a creature alienated from its own nature, the cuckoo serves as the specter of the alienation of each from all.
Here are just a handful of my favorite takes on "The Cuckoo" by folk, country, blues and rock 'n' roll artists.
The first known recording of the song was by a singer named Kelly Harrell, who gave us "The Cuckoo, She's a Fine Bird" in 1926.
Three years later, Clarence Ashley recorded it as "The Cuckoo Bird." Harry Smith included it in his 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952, which introduced ithe kooky cuckoo to a new generation of American musicians. The below video is Ashley in his older years.
Texas songster Townes Van Zandt sang of a dark and spooky cuckoo. In other words, he makes it sound like a Townes Van Zandt song.
Taj Mahal added a little funk to the cuckoo's nest.
The Tarbox Ramblers did a cool folk-rock version at the turn of this century
Otis Taylor, also in 2000, released a version of "Cuckoo" on his album When Negroes Walked the Earth. Some labeled Taylor's music as "trance blues." Call it what you want, I just call it intense.
Johnny Dowd always sticks to the strictest traditional renditions when he covers a folk song. Oh, did I say "always"? I meant "never."
But for me, the ultimate "Cuckoo" was done by Big Brother & The Holding Company, who had this chick singer named Janis Joplin. Janis and band titled it "Coo Coo." It appeared on their first album in a version that was less than two minutes. I like when they stretch out though. Here's a live video from 1968.
Hat tip to my pal and fellow KSFR jock Tom Adler, who recently sent me a link to the above Clarence Ashley video, reminding me what a wonderful song "The Cuckoo" is.
Sunday, August 9, 2020 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Cuckoo by The Monks
Straight Shooter by The Reigning Sound
I Wanna Be Sedated by The Ramones
You Make Me Die by Mudhoney
Water & Wine by X
Tell Me What You’re Thinking by Tex Offenders
I’m Tired by Billy Watkins
Kinder Murder by Elvis Costello
Ride 2U by REQ’D
Hey Now Baby by Alex Maryol
God is a Bullet by Concrete Blonde
It’s a Long Way to the Top by Dead Moon
Head Held High by Frontier Dan & The Hickoids
She Starts My Motor by The Sinister Six
Run Girl Run by The Movin’ Morfomen
Jack Pepsi by TAD
Hold Me Now by Elastica
Love Taco by Piñata Protest
Smokey Joe’s Cafe by The Robins
Memo from Turner by Mick Jagger
Bad Moon Rising by Gregg Turner
I Heard Her Call My Name by The Velvet Underground
Other Man by Coachwhips
Widow’s Delight by Dennis Most & The Instigators
Put Me Down by Jerry Lee Lewis
This Is Not Light by Movie Star Junkies
Flame Thrower by Reach Around Rodeo Clowns
Death Cult Soup ’n’ Salad by The Almighty Defenders
Today, August 5, would have been 59th birthday of stand-up comedian and singer of funny country songs, Tim Wilson.
Happy birthday, Tim!
Wilson who died in 2014, was born in Columbus, Georgia. His early dreams involved a musical career. As he told Country Standard Timein 2000:
I moved to Atlanta in 1983 to be a songwriter, but there wasn't anybody knockin' my door down to put 'em on records. Probably cuz I was writing syrupy girl songs that nobody wanted to hear. And one night I was taking this girl that I worked with home, and I passed this comedy club, and I thought 'What the hell's that?' I saw they had an open mic night on Tuesday, and I started going there, performing there and never came back.
I put the guitar up till about '89, when I started writing comedy songs with Pinkard and Bowden. We did about seven or eight of 'em together. Then, I started accumulating so many of 'em, my wife told me I ought to put it in my act. I never wanted to put a guitar in my act cuz I didn't wanna be a 'guitar act.' But people liked it. Now when I do an hour gig, it's about 40 minutes of stand up and the rest music.
Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 9 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Glorious Heroin by Frontier Dan & The Hickoids
Train #1 by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over) by Elvis Costello
Slipping’ Sideways by Drywall
Rotting by The Mal Thursday Quartet
Summertime Blues by Horror Deluxe
Summer Time by Hang on the Box
Walking Away by Double Date with Death
Summer Boyfriend by The Manxx
Tripped Out by Pierced Arrows
27 Devils by REQ’D
Cougar Town by Tex Offenders
Better Call Saul by Junior Brown
Trouble Me by Diplomats of Solid Sound
Going Back to Miami by Jack Mack & The Heart Attack
Deep Bosom Woman by Wayne
Hypno Sex Ray by The Cramps
Drug Train by The Monsters
Hellbound Train by Big Foot Chester
Wildcat Tamer by John Schooley
Tracking the Dog by Meet Your Death
Drive-In by The A-Bones
Unaccompanied by Sleeve Cannon
Creeps Me Out by The Barbarellatones
American Trash by Betty Dylan
One Hundred Million People Dead by Butthole Surfers
Buttholeville by Drive-By Truckers
96 Tears by Aretha Franklin
Psychotic Reaction by Brenton Wood
Something I Learned Today by Husker Du
Volare by Alex Chilton
What I Believe at Night by The Mekons
Birdman Kicked My Ass by Wesley Willis
Lift Every Voice and Sing by Kim Weston
Lonesome Cowboy Burt by Frank Zappa with Jimmy Carl Black
Black Horse Blues by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Bottle of Wine by The Fireballs
Hang on to Your Ego by Frank Black
Laughing Out Loud by The Dictators
Cheat by The Clash
Mean Little Woman by Little Freddie King
Rose of Jericho by Kipp Bentley
Get Lost, You Wolf! by Hylo Brown & The Timberliners
