I kid you not, this is seriously the finest rock 'n' roll on the face of the planet. (Earth.) You'll hear lots of new garage-punk, mutant blues and other madness here -- including Imperial Wax, The Jackets, The Mystery Lights, Nots, Daddy Long Legs, Left Lane Cruiser -- and immortal sounds of yesteryear like The Trashmen, Sweetie Jones and more.
And remember, The Big Enchilada is officially listed in the iTunes store. So go subscribe, if you haven't already (and gimme a good rating and review if you're so inclined.) Thanks.
On this day in 1926 in Tyler, Texas, Johnny Gimble, one of the greatest western-swing fiddlers ever to grace American music, was born. He would have been 93 today.
Happy birthday, Johnny!
Rolling Stone in its 2015 obituary had this to say about him:
He learned fiddle and mandolin and began his professional career while in his teens, playing tenor banjo in the band of Louisiana’s then-Governor Jimmie Davis. After serving two years in the Army, Gimble formed a band with his brothers before joining Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys in 1949. One of his first major successes as a session player was “I’ll Go on Alone,” the Number One debut single from Marty Robbins in early 1953. In 1955, while living with his family in Waco, Gimble hosted his own TV show, Johnny Gimble and the Homefolks, which featured a young Willie Nelson playing bass in the band. He would later tour as a member of Nelson’s band. After leaving Wills’ Texas Playboys, Gimble moved to Nashville in 1968, becoming one of the most sought-after session players in town.
The first time I ever became aware of Gimble was not on a Bob Wills or Marty Robbins record. It was on a 1969 album called Make a Joyful Noise by a renegade gaggle of hippies called Mother Earth, led by a blues belter named Tracy Nelson and a psychedelic poet named R.P. St. John. They joined up with Gimble and other country music vets including another venerated fiddler Grover C. “Shorty” Lavender and steel-guitar master Pete Drake.
It sounded like this:
Below are some videos of Johnny playing the music he loved best, Here's his own band in 1990:
Here's Johnny jamming with Chet Atkins
This is Johnny with Roy Clark on Hee Haw.
And this is what you might call quadruplet fiddles featuring Merle Haggard, Tigar Bell, Tiny Moore and Johnny.
Sunday, May 26, 2019 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Take Off Your Clothes by The Goon Mat & Lord Bernardo
Rotten to the Core by Ty Segall
It's Alright by The Mystery Lights
Half-Painted House by Nots
Evil Hoodoo by The Seeds
What I Like About Miami by Charlie Pickett
Wild Wild Women by Tav Falco
The Message by The Four Plaid Throats
Election Day in Satchidannanda by Unknown Instructors
On Broadway by Esquerita
Two Girls (One Bar) by Pere Ubu
Plant the Seed by Imperial Wax
Man as Ghost by The Yawpers
Back Door Fool by Daddy Long Legs
The Man With the Weird Beard by The Play-Rite Boys
I'm Gonna Love You Too by The Hullaballoos
Wilderness by Jon Spencer
Heart by REQ'D
Deeper Way by The Jackets
Dance Like a Monkey by New York Dolls
Harlem Shuffle by The 5678s
Lost Memories by Sloks
I Hate CDs by Legendary Stardust Cowboy
Rock 'n' Roll Polka by The Polkaholics
Give it Up by Jack Mack & The Heart Attack
Strange Night by Tony Joe White
Fishing Blues by Taj Mahal
Not a Problem by Black Lips
Starry Eyes by Roky Erickson with Lou Ann Barton
John Walker's Blues by Steve Earle CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican May 24, 2018
Here’s some recent hip, mod rock ’n’ roll the kids are going ape and blowing their tops over.
Or maybe not the kids. But I am.
* Too Much Tension! by The Mystery Lights. It’s been nearly three years since I discovered this band. For a while there I started to think the self-titled album of this wailing, psychedelia-touched, garage-fueled outfit — the first release on the influential independent soul label Daptone subsidiary, Wick Records — perhaps could be their swan song.
Fortunately, I was wrong. This new high-energy record is just as good, if not better, than the previous album. In other words, it’s a real humdinger (and I like ’em like that).
For those who haven’t seen the light of The Mystery Lights, singer Mike Brandon and guitarist Luis Alfonso Solano started playing together as teenagers in Salinas, California. These were kids who were hip enough to love the old Nuggets compilations — which consisted of first-wave garage-rock madness — as well as bands like The Velvet Underground and Suicide.
Somehow Brandon and Solano ended up in Brooklyn, where apparently they crossed paths with Daptone, which helped them win a wider — if not yet gigantic — audience.
There are many notable songs on Tension. After a 46-second spook-house intro by keyboardist Lily Rogers (titled “Synthtro”), the whole band comes in with “I’m So Tired (of Living in the City),” which seems to have sprung from the guitar riff of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges. “Wish That She’d Come Back” is informed by both Del Shannon and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. And I hear distant echoes of The Talking Heads in “Someone Else Is in Control.” Meanwhile, the slow, soulful minor-key track “Watching the News Gives Me the Blues” could be something the late Daptone star Charles Bradley might have taken a crack at.
I strongly advise: Go toward the Lights.
* Gastwerk Saboteurs by Imperial Wax(Saustex). After they buried the Lizard King, the surviving members of The Doors decided to go on as a trio without Jim Morrison. They released one pretty good album, Other Voices. While it was packed with fun (songs like “I’m Horny, I’m Stoned” and “Variety Is the Spice of Life”), it didn’t sound much like The Doors. (I’ll be nice and not mention the Morrison-less Doors’ subsequent, final and forgettable album, Full Circle.)
After Mark E. Smith — founder, frontman, and frothing prophet of The Fall — died last year, surviving members of his band also decided to go on. I should clarify that guitarist Pete Greenway, bassist Dave Spurr, and drummer Keiron Melling, while they backed Smith for The Fall’s final decade, are far from the only surviving members of that band, which first reared its ugly head in the late ’70s and reportedly has nearly 70 former members, including a couple of Smith’s ex-wives.
But unlike Morrison’s old band, these guys wisely decided not to keep the old band name. They named the group Imperial Wax, a nod to the first 2008 album on which they backed Smith, Imperial Wax Solvent. And they hired a new singer, Sam Curran, who can get manic like Smith, but otherwise doesn’t sound much like him.
I was prepared to be cynical about Gastwerk Saboteurs, the group’s first album, but I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I’m pretty sure that if someone had played me these songs without mentioning anything about The Fall, I would have liked them anyway — and not even thought about Smith. It’s just good, aggressive, guitar-driven, punk-painted rock.
Standouts here include “Turncoat,” which sounds a little like Frank Zappa’s “Trouble Every Day,” except with nastier guitars; “Plant the Seed,” which has more than a little “Radar Love” in it; and “Rammy Taxi Illuminati,” which is nearly 10 minutes long but doesn’t get old.
I somehow don’t think Imperial Wax will ever become as influential and important as the band that spawned them. But they sound like they’re having a great time trying.
*Fall in Love on Hate Streetby REQ’D (Wondertaker). This basically is a solo record by Sluggo Cawley, best known as the guitarist of the outrageous Bay Area punk band The Grannies. The two times I’ve seen that group, Sluggo was never singing. Both times his mouth was hidden by a gruesome-looking monster mask of some sort. (The Grannies are known for their colorful and hilarious costumes, wigs, granny gowns, etc.) But with his new band REQ’D (pronounced “wrecked”), we get to hear the monster behind the mask.
The music isn’t nearly as ferocious as The Grannies’. In fact, Sluggo even strums an acoustic guitar in some songs. Several tracks feature female background singers (Mrs. Sluggo — Laurian Rhodes — is one of them). And while Grannies songs are typically funny (and frequently obscene), Sluggo bares his soul on many of these tunes. “Cancer,” for instance, is about his young son who survived leukemia.
But don’t think the album doesn’t rock. His electric guitar on the opening song, “Blood,” should dispel any such notion, especially the feedback freakout at the end. Thomas Quinn’s wild sax on “Trash” reminds me of Steve Mackay’s work with The Stooges. And “Car” is funky in a swampy kind of way.
Sluggo wrote all the songs here except three covers: Nick Cave’s “The Ship Song”; “Don’t Let the Sunshine Fool Ya,” written by Texas troubadour Guy Clark; and a surprisingly good — and unironic — version of Bonnie Tyler’s cheesy ’70s hit “It’s a Heartache,” on which Sluggo shares vocals with Hilary Reed.
Here's some videos:
First, a live radio set by The Mystery Lights
Now some Imperial Wax playing "Art of Projection"
Finally, here's Sluggo and REQ'D
Sluggo with The Grannies,
Triple Crown, San Marcos, Texas 2014
It's been several years since I did a Bollywood post on Wacky Wednesday, so why the heck not.
As I said before, I don't speak Hindi and I've never seen the movies these clips come from so I won't pretend to know what's going on in any of them.
But trust me, you won't need to know what's going on in these videos. Just sit back and enjoy the work of people having a lot more fun that you!
This one's from Meri Jung (1985) starring Anil Kapoor, Meenakshi Seshadhri, Nutan, Javed Jaffrey, Amrish Puri.Besides the wonderful dancing, it ends with a cool sax solo from a guy in a cowboy hat. So welcome friends, to the show that never ends.
These next two my friend Sean alerted me to. He described this one as "Every 80's video cliche rolled into one song."
And this one's short but twisted:
And for those who don't want to see or hear Michael Jackson anymore but still like the song "Thriller" ...
Sunday, May 19, 2019 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
What a Wonderful World by Joey Ramone
Jolie's Nightmare by Chuck E. Weiss
Black Magic by Mark Sultan
Goin' Down by The Mystery Lights
Glad Rag Ball by Daddy Long Legs
Buy a Gun Get a Free Guitar by Deadbolt Oh My Darling Clementine by Johnny Dowd
Gallows Pole by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Run to Jesus for Refuge by Charles Barnett
Dancing with Mr. D by The Rolling Stones
The Bear by Johnny "Guitar" Watson
She's a Rainbow by The Barbarellatones
Don't Leave Me Alone by The Jackets
The Art of Projection by ImperialWax
Sir William Wray by The Fall
Haunt by REQ'D
The Polka Inquisition by The Polkaholics
Dancing on My Knees by The Yawpers
Legs by PJ Harvey
I'm Hurtin; by Cedric Burnside
We Spartan Dreggs (Be Fine) by The Spartan Dreggs
Bong Song by Butthole Surfers
Smooth Commander by Left Lane Cruiser
Hey Gyp by The Orphans
Insect Collector by Shonen Knife
Spider by They Might Be Giants
Isolation by Ty Segall
Low by Nots
Biological Speculation by Funkadelic
Weimer Vending Machine / Priest by The Mekons
Tower of Song by Tom Jones
Hell Yeah by Neil Diamond CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Here's a song I first heard by the Original Blue Dog Democrat:
To this day, I can't hear the song "Oh My Darling Clementine" without thinking of ol' Huck.
The lyric of the song are credited to Percy Montrose, who wrote it and published it in 1884. The melody is similar, if not identical, to an earlier song called "Down the River Liv'd a Maiden," published in 1863, by one Henry S. Thompson.
In the liner notes of his five-volume series American Favorite Ballads (recorded 1957-1962), Pete Seeger wrote "The tune is probably much older. Sounds German to me, but I've been told it was Mexican, early 19th Century."
Who knows? But even by the late 19th Century, people were already messing with poor Clementine. Writer Shaleane Gee, in the excellent blog Murder Ballad Monday says, "In versions of the song credited to Barker Bradford circa 1885, the miners ... make it clear that she gave them a good time. ...
In some versions, the lyrics suggest Clementine was charging the miners fees for her favors, sometimes with the approval or even at the prodding of her poppa."
Sample lyrics from the Bradford version:
Her noble father was the foreman Of every valued mine, And ever miner and every ranchman Was known to Clementine.
But as Gee observes, most modern versions of the song have "scrubbed" such lyrics.
According to some sources, including Seeger's liner notes, the first recording of "Clementine" was in 1928 by a group called Floyd Thompson and His Hometowners, then six years later by Kentucky country singer Bradley Kincaid.
But I couldn't find either on YouTube or in the Internet Archives. The earliest one I did find was by a singer named John McCready was recorded by ethnomusicologist, Sidney Robertson Cowell at the Arizona Bar in Groveland, Calif. on August 2, 1939 for the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project collection.
Der Bingle did a slightly smoother version just two years later.
In 1946 the song was turned into a movie by director John Ford. It starred Henry Fonda and Linda Darnell as Clementine and a soundtrack by British composer Cyril J. Mockridge. Here's the title song:
Tom Lehrer had some fun with the song he said had "no recognizable merit whatsoever."
In the early '60s Bobby Darin turned the song into an exercise in fat-shaming. How fat was she? She broke the damned bridge, hardy har har. Then in a moment of raw compassion, Bobby sings, "Hey, I'm no swimmer, but were she slimmer / I might have saved fat Clementine"
What a card ...
Neil Young & Crazy Horse did a mighty version on their album Americana, taking Clementime to new levels of bitchenicity.
And more recently, Johnny Dowd took the song to Mars on his 2018 album Twinkle Twinkle. I think I hear more than a little bit of Huckleberry Hound in this one.
Sunday, May 12, 2019 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Wish That She'd Come Back by The Mystery Lights
Cut Me Down by The Ar-Kaics
Mornin', Noon & Night by Daddy Long Legs
Disconnected by The Electric Mess
Freedom by Ty Segall
Evil Hearted You by The Yardbirds
Boom Boom by The Barons
Hurt Me by Thee Headcoatees
21 Marzo by The Pussywarmers
Turncoat by Imperial Wax
Brillo de Facto by The Fall
Blood by REQ'D
Healing Tide by The War & Treaty
Smoke Keep Rising by Left Lane Cruiser
Only One by Lonesome Shack
Pyschonaut by ET Explore Me
Move On by The Jackets
Dirty Mother For You (Don't You Know) by Roosevelt Sykes & Henry Townsend
The Blues Come Falling Me by Johnny Shines
Can't You See by Henry Townsend (with Vernell Townsend)
I Want to Die Easy by Leo "Bud" Welch
The Old Ball Game by The Mighty Hannibal
I Have A Mother (Don't Need Another by The Polkaholics
Vault by Sleeve Cannon
That Shelf by Johnny Mafia
Harrar 1883 by The Mekons
New Blue Mercedes by Drywall
My Eyes by Tony Gilkyson
Is That You in the Blue by Dex Romweber Duo
The Comedians by Roy Orbison CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican May 10, 2018
In the few short years it’s been around, Omnivore Recordings (founded in 2010) has become a major reissue/rarities label. Its catalogue includes old, out-of-print albums (and in some cases, new compilations) by some of the true greats in rock, jazz, and country. And don’t forget the blues. In recent months, Omnivore has released several worthy records by venerated bluesmen of yore. Here are some of them — and another one not from Omnivore but worth mentioning.
*Blues Piano and Guitar (Live)by Henry Townsend and Roosevelt Sykes. One of the biggest
compliments you can give to any live album is stating, upon listening to it, “I wish I could have been there.” Despite its lackluster title, that’s definitely the case with this 2-CD team-up of Townsend, who supplies the guitar, and Sykes, a renowned blues pianist as well as singer, known as the “Louisiana Honey Dripper.”
Recorded at a February 1973 show at Washington University’s Graham Chapel in Townsend’s adopted hometown of St. Louis (where Sykes lived for most of his early years), this was a reunion show for a couple of old friends — both well into their 60s at that point. They’d first met in the 1920s. Townsend sought out the older, more famous piano man in hopes of learning how to play the instrument. In that process, Townsend taught Sykes some basic guitar. They gigged together, and by the early ’30s, had recorded together.
Armed only with his guitar and voice, Townsend kicks off the show with a song called “Sloppy Drunk Again.” He goes on this way for several songs until he calls his wife, Vernell, onto the stage for a duet on a sweet bluesy “Why We Love Each Other So.” She returns later in the show to sing a tune called “Tears Come Rollin’ Down.”
After that, Sykes comes out for a long solo set, and from this point on he basically dominates the rest of the show. The bulk of his numbers here are nice and filthy, the funniest being “Dirty Mother for You (Don’t You Know).” Here the bawdy old bluesman suggests he’s about to use a dirty word but unexpectedly makes a sharp turn toward the wickedly innocuous.
Townsend and Sykes don’t actually perform any songs together except a couple at the beginning of the second disc. I would have loved to hear more cuts featuring both. Still, I wish I could have been there that night in 1973.
*Mule (Expanded Edition) by Henry Townsend. Originally released in 1980 by the Nighthawk
label, this recording shows Townsend still in fine form. Here he plays piano as well as guitar. This version has the entire original album plus eight previously unissued songs.
On several songs, he’s joined by the great country-blues picker who also started off in the 1920s, Tennessee-born mandolin player James “Yank” Rachell. There’s something about Yank’s mandolin that just makes a song seem spookier. This is especially apparent on “Things Have Changed.” Yank makes the song sound like it’s live from a haunted juke joint.
Vernell Townsend helps her husband sing on another favorite on this album, the ragged but righteous love song “Can’t You See.” She also does a studio version of “Tears Come Rollin’ Down” on Mule, which I like even better than the live version.
* The Blues Came Falling Downby Johnny Shines. Born in 1915, Shines was a contemporary of Robert Johnson, who he met in the 1930s. The two traveled and played together for a couple of years before Johnson died in 1938. Though long dead, Johnson’s ghost was well represented on this live album, which, like the Townsend/Sykes show, was recorded in 1973 at Graham Chapel. Four songs here are Johnson’s: “Kind Hearted Woman Blues,” “I’m a Steady Rollin’ Man,” the ubiquitous “Sweet Home Chicago” (honestly, I wouldn’t shed too many tears if there were federal legislation enacted that prohibited future covers of this overdone song), and “They’re Red Hot (Hot Tamales),” which is my favorite of these covers, not only because it’s one of Johnson’s least-covered songs, but also because of Shines’ semi-comical 90-mph vocal delivery on it.
This album is almost entirely Shines accompanied by himself on guitar, though Nighthawk Records honcho Leroy Jodie Pierson plays guitar on three songs. The strongest tunes are a potential stoner anthem, “Stay High All Day Long,” and a Blind Willie Johnson spiritual, which Shines said was a favorite of his mother’s, “It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine.”
* The Angels in Heaven Done Signed My Name by Leo “Bud” Welch. No, this one didn’t come
from Omnivore. (It’s on a label called Easy Eye Sound.) And technically this isn’t a blues album, but a posthumous collection of gospel tunes from a Mississippi native known just as much, if not more, for his religious material as his blues. But who cares? This goes well with the albums reviewed above.
Welch didn’t release his first record until 2014, when he was in his 80s. His late-blossoming music career was cut short when he died in 2017 at 83. That was shortly after he recorded with Dan Auerbach, formerly of The Black Keys, now a hotshot Nashville producer. The Black Keys started out in the 1990s as a teenage duo that worshipped Fat Possum blues codgers like T-Model Ford.
As a producer, Auerbach mostly was respectful to Welch’s material, though he wasn’t afraid to juice it up to create a gospel-with-a-punch aura. It works best on rousing cuts like “I Come to Praise His Name” and “Don’t Let the Devil Ride.” However, Auerbach’s loud production basically overwhelms “Jesus on the Mainline,” making me long for Ry Cooder’s version of 40-some years ago.
Sonny was born in a dugout about seven miles east of Meadow, Texas in 1937. He was the second youngest of six children born to struggling cotton farmers during the devastating Dust Bowl era. In the Curtis family, music was a way of life. And in Meadow, it was the main source of entertainment. When he was a boy, Sonny and his family would gather with neighbors for "musical Saturday nights," where anyone who played an instrument could join in the fun. Sonny learned to play before his fingers could reach across the neck of the guitar; he just played on the four high strings. He joined his older brothers, Pete and Dean, to pick at local radio stations, jamborees, and other events. When he reached his teens, Sonny"s friends and contemporaries were fellow musicians Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, and future Crickets (J. I. Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, and Glen D. Hardin.) While he was still in high school, Dave Stone, a local promoter, frequently used him on bills that included the young Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Hank Snow, and other stars of the day.
Before Buddy Holly started The Crickets, his band was The Three Tunes, in which Sonny played lead guitar. In 1956, Sonny accompanied Holly and bassist Don Guess to Nashville for Holly's first recording sessions. (Petty Studios in Clovis, N.M. came later.) Sonny played lead guitar on several tunes including "Blue Days, Black Nights," "Midnight Shift," and the first song Sonny wrote to ever be recorded, "Rock Around With Ollie Vee."
It indeed was a rocker:
Another early Sonny original was recorded by country star Webb Pierce. This almost sounds like hillbilly doo-wop.
Sonny had joined The Crickets shortly before Buddy died, The Crickets tried to go on with Sonny as singer. During that time, Sonny wrote this little outlaw tune which later would be a major hit for The Bobby Fuller Four (and years later, The Clash).
The post-Holly Crickets' time was cut short when Sonny got drafted. While serving in the Army he wrote this song which turned out to be a huge hit for The Everly Brothers. The version below features Sonny playing with fellow Texan Nanci Griffith.
In the early days of Beatlemania, old Cricket Sonny declared he wanted to be a Beatle in this forgotten novelty tune. (The irony here is that The Beatles have always said their name was inspired by The Crickets.)
And in the early '70s Sonny wrote and sang the theme song a popular TV sitcom. (But I like Husker Du's version the best)
Sunday, May 5, 2019 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Fiesta by The Pogues
Gutterboy Blues by Mean Motor Scooter
Traces by The Mystery Lights
Hanging Tree by Bob Mould
Pictures of Lily by Hickoids
Queen of the Pill by The Jackets
Dad or Dead by Dirk Geil
Contageous by Sleeve Cannon
The Art of Projection by Imperial Wax
I've Been Duped by The Fall
Mechanic Wanted by Mekons 77
St. Stephen by Ty Segall
Sucka Punch (Get Back) by Dinola
Two Dollar Elvis by Left Lane Cruiser
When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death
The Dozens by Eddie "One String" Jones
Hokomo Ju Ju Man by Little Howlin' Wolf
Monster Surf Party by The Barbarellatones
Don't Touch by Andre Williams
Snack Crack by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire
X-Ray Glasses by The Scaners
Free Money by Patti Smith
Soy un Bruto by ET Explore Me
The Devil in the Dance Hall by Harvey McLaughlin
Devil's at Red's by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Hard Travelin' by Simon Stokes
No, I'm Iron Man by The Butthole Surfers Batman Theme by Iggy Pop
This Wonderful Day by Kyra
Conway Twitty by Johnny Dowd
The Fruit Man by Ween
Springtime in nthe Rockies by Tiny Tim & Brave Combo
Boot That Thing by Roosevelt Sykes & Henry Townsend
The Good Old World (Waltz) by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, May 5, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 8 am to 10 am Sundays Mountain Time Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org Here's the playlist :
Thank You Jesus by The Gospel Songbirds
Bold Marauder by Richard & Mimi Farina
Uncle Ned Don't Lose Your Head by Lonnie Johnson
Norah's Dove by Richie Havens
Green Green Rock Road by Oscar Isaasc
Cocaine Blues by Dave Van Ronk
Geeshie by The Mekons
Skinny Leg Blues by Geeshie Wiley
Big Zombie by Chivalrous Amoekons
I Know You Rider by Linda Smith
Me and My Friend the Cat by Loudon Wainwright III
That's the Way Love Goes by The Harmony Sisters
Louise by Ramblin' Jack Elliott & Tom Waits
Baby Please Don't Go by Eddie "One String" Jones
Take This Hmmer by Jon Langford
Cat's Eye / Prairie Dog Town by Tom Adler
Jimbo Jambo Land by Shorty Godwin
Blind Willie McTell by The Band
Dyin' Crapshooter Blues by Blind Willie McTell
Find Blind Lemon (Parts 1 & 2) by Geoff Muldaur
See That My Grave is Kept Clean by Blind Lemon Jefferson
Ode to Billy Joe by Bobby Gentry
Clothes Line Saga by Bob Dylan
Old Devil Time by Pete Seeger
I Got Mine by Frank Stokes
Minglewood Blues by Cannon's Jug Stompers
Shout You Cats by Hezekiah Jenkins
Pie in the Sky by Utah Phillips & Annie DiFranco
Tears Come Rollin' Down by Henry Townsend
Wildebeast by The Handsome Family
Are there any songs out there about MY favorite super hero?
OK, this Wacky Wednesday was inspired by a recent discussion on the Dr. Demento Show Facebook page. Someone asked for songs about super heroes and the response was colossal.
Some of the ones you'll see below were posted in that thread. Others are just old favorites of mine (because I'm a pretty super guy). Some were both.
Let's start with the old San Francisco hippie band Mother Earth and this song by member Powell St. John that talks about lots of superfolk. It's called "Marvel Group."
Lots of artist have covered Neal Hefti's theme from a very popular TV show in the '60s. But none did it better than Iggy.
Sun Ra must have been a big Batman fan. Not only did he do an entire album of instrumental songs inspired by the caped crusader with members of the Blues Project (under the name "The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale") he did this song with James Jacson on vocals:
In the '90s, The Ramones made the Spiderman theme their own. Joey was very sympathetic to Peter Parker, having once himself been bitten by a radioactive cockroach.
There have been many songs about, or at least inspired by Superman, not even counting that detestable one by the Crash Test Dummies.) But this one, which introduced the world to Laurie Amderson, is my surreal favorite.
Sweet Jayne celebrates the biggest female super-being
"Wait a second, I'm Iron Man. How come you always get to be Iron Man?"
And here's another TV show theme, which I first heard on one of those floppy vinyl discs when I joined The Merry Marvel Marching Society as a youngster.
