THROWBACK THURSDAY: Remembering Mississippi John Hurt

Did you hear John Hurt?

It was 49 years ago this week when the world lost a gentle Goliath of American music, Mississippi John Hurt.

Born in the 1890s to a sharecropping family in Carroll County, Miss., Hurt taught himself to play guitar. Though agriculture was the way he earned his living, he sometimes played at parties in and around his Avalon, Miss. home. Hurt recorded 12 songs for Okeh Records. They didn't sell well. Okeh went broke during the Depression Hurt went back to farming.

But in 1952, two of his songs -- "Frankie" and "Spike Driver Blues" -- appeared on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, exposing Hurt to a wider, whiter audience

And then came the wild rush of the early '60s folk boom, when roving armies of young record collectors combed the rural South searching for authentic old blues and hillbilly recording artists of yore. Hurt living near his hometown of Avalon, Miss. was found by musicologist Tom Hoskins.

Soon Mississippi John was the star of folk festivals and the big city coffee-house circuit, appearing on the same bills as "re-discovered' bluesmen like Son House and Skip James. His self-taught, syncopated finger-picking style was studied, copied and celebrated by a new generation of guitarists.

I didn't discover John Hurt until about three years after he died. In 1970, when I was a senior in high school, I decided I needed to start listening to some actual blues music.

For years I was familiar with names like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and B.B. King by way of blues-soaked rock bands like The animals, The Rolling Stones and, later Canned Heat and Cream. And several years before I'd seen Howlin' Wolf play on Shindig with the Stones at his feet. But I didn't have any actual blues records in my collection. So that Christmas I asked my mom to get me a blues album -- any blues album.

Mom was fairly hip for someone of her era. She gave me my first Bob Dylan album, Bringing it All Back Home, before I'd even heard of the guy. But she was not a blues scholar. So to make sure I got a decent blues record for Christmas, she went downtown to The Candyman (which she didn't realize was named for a Mississippi John Hurt song!) and asked a clerk for a suggestion.

Whoever it was sold her a Hurt album (that later was reissued on CD under the title of Legend) that had a bunch of his greatest tunes including "Pay Day," "Louis Collins," "Trouble I Had All My Days," "Stack-O-Lee Blue" and a wistful little song of despair called "Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me."

No, it wasn't exactly the blues. Mississippi John's music was influenced by blues, gospel, ragtime, white hillbilly records and all sorts of sounds that drifted into rural Mississippi. While it wasn't exactly what I asked for, the album and the man playing album became favorites for life.

Thanks again, Mom!

To commemorate his death (Nov. 2, 1967) and to celebrate his life, here are a couple of videos of Mississippi John Hurt singing on Pete Seeger's TV show Rainbow Quest, which originally aired on a New York UHF station.

Here's "You Got to Walk that Lonesome Valley:



Here's Hurt covering Leadbelly



And here's the song that remains my favorite to this day.



This following song is a tribute to Hurt written by Tom Paxton and recently revived by Jack White. But my favorite is the version by Dave Van Ronk, which I first heard when I saw him in Santa Fe in 1980.



And just in case you never heard him sing that "Candyman" ...

Unfortunately, not many mermaids here

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Musical Jokers

What comedians do best: Tell jokes, tell funny stories, make wisecracks, point out the absurd.

Notice what not is on that list is "sing songs."

Yet every now and then an American will decide to stretch out and make some sort of pop record. And sometimes these tunes even make the charts. Most the time these are novelty records, extensions of a funny man's comic personna.

Sometimes they're just absurd.

Here is a glance at that strange entertainment phenomenon.


Let's start with The Three Stooges. By the late 1950s, Curly Howard was dead, as was another Howard brother Schempp. Moe and Larry tried a third stooge named Joe Besser for a couple of years, but he didn't work out. Then they hooked up with a guy named Joe DeRita who bore a resemblance to Curly Howard. DeRita became known as "Curly Joe," and the final stage of the Three Stooges' lengthy career began.

By this point, with an eye on the television market, the Stooges were becoming more "kid friendly." (though as an actual kid, even then I vastly preferred the two-reel shorts from the '30s and '40s.) And in 1959, Moe Larry and Curly Joe went to the recording studio to make a children's album.

One of the songs was called "Swinging the Alphabet." It would appear on several of their 1960s records. But it wasn't a new song. The Stooges had performed it back in 1938 in a two-reeler called Violent is the Word for Curly. This is the version that lives in our hearts:



I'm not sure why Soupy Sales decided to record this dumb parody of teen-dance-craze hits in the mid '60s. The youth of America already loved him for his irreverent kiddie show, Lunch With Soupy Sales. But I have to admit I bought the damn 45 of "Do the Mouse" when I was a kid. I wish I still had it. Here's Soupy on Hullabaloo.



Bill Cosby (I know, I know) tried his hand at music in the mid '60s. He had a hit with "Little Old Man," which was based on Stevie Wonder's "Uptight." And this golden throat released an album called Silver Throat, which mostly consisted of funked up blues and soul standards. His "Mojo Workout" actually was a mutation of Muddy Waters' "I Got My Mojo Workin'." But now when you hear Cos singing, "I got my mojo workin' and I'm going to try it out on you" it sounds pretty ominous, now that we know what we know.


Rodney Dangerfield was born to rap. In 1983 he strung together a bunch of his greatest "No Respect" one-liners, made 'em rhyme and slapped on some early hip-hop beats and "Rappin' Rodney" was born. The video below, which appears to be part of some TV variety show, has cameos by Andy Kaufman and Robert Urich (who I first thought was Pete Rose until a friend set me straight).



Unlike Soupy and Rodney, comedian Eddie Murphy's mid '80s hit "Party All the Time" wasn't a novelty song. It was written by Rick James, bitch! And lately he's been recording reggae with Snoop Doggy Lion or whatever his name is. And it ain't bad. Below is that first Murphy hit.

The Stooges' musical career took a turn for the weird by the late '60s

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 1, 2015
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
KaBouri by Cankisou
Dumb All Over by Frank Zappa
Just a Little Bit by Jello Biafra & The Raunch and Soul All-Stars
Betty vs. the NYPD by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Mr. Farmer by The Seeds
Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White by The Standells
Louise by Undercover Bonobos
Headlock on My Heart by The Fleshtones
Radar by Mr. Bear & His Bearcats

Gravy on My Mashed Potatoes by Dee Dee Sharp
Doing the Watusi by Mr. X
The Wah Watusi by The Orlons
I'm a Full-Grown Man by Barrence Whitfield
Fool in Love by Marcia Ball, Angela Strehli & Lou Ann Barton
Everybody Free by Alex Mairano & The Black Tales
Down in the Valley by Otis Redding

Get Right With God by The Mighty Blytheville Aires
Jesus is on The Mainline by The Whirlwinds
Soldiers of The Cross by Reverend Lonnie Farris
Holding His Hand by Leola Brown Radio Gospel Singers
Heard it Through the True Vine by Flora Molton
Sometimes I Feel Like I'm Already Gone by Rev. Johnny L. Jones
Come by Here by Hightower Brothers
Children Are You Ready by The Violinaires
Lord, Lord, Lord by The Apollos
Ain't it a Shame by Echos of Harmony
My Troubles Are So Hard by Ethel Davenport

All These Things by Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
Heart of Stone by Joe Louis Walker
Johnny Mathis' Feet by American Music Club
Welfare Bread by King Khan & The Shrines
Their Hearts Were Full of Spring by The Beach Boys
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, October 30, 2015
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

(It's a) Monster's Holiday by Buck Owens

Cold by Legendary Shack Shakers

I Created a Monster by Glenn Barber

I Wanna Be Your Zombie by Slackeye Slim

Your Friends Think I'm the Devil by The Imperial Rooster

Smash That Radio by The Electric Rag Band

Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now by Emmett Miller

Outside a Small Circle of Friends by Phil Ochs

The Ghost and Honest Joe by Pee Wee King

 

Garden of the Dead by Pine Hill Haints

Cocaine Cowboy by Terry Allen

The Gayest Old Dude That's Out by Uncle Dave Macon

Delilah by Jon Langford & Sally Timms

Long Black Veil by Sally Timms & Edith Frost

Monsters Under Your Bed by Salty Pajamas

The Devil's Great Grandson by Roy Rogers

Pink-O Boogie by Ry Cooder

Material Girl by Petty Booka

 

Happy Hour by Sunny Sweeney

Sorry You're Sick by Ted Hawkins

Bad Dog by Danny Barnes

Green Green Grass of Home by Ted Hawkins

She's My Witch by Southern Culture on the Skids

Hell Naw by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

Lonesome Grave by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs

Ghost In The Graveyard by Prairie Ramblers

Graveyard by Trailer Bride

La Llorna by J. Michael Combs

 

Devil's Game by Stevie Tombstone

Boneyard by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies

Ghost Stories by Eric Hisaw

The Devil Had a Hold on Me by Gillian Welch

I Just Can't Let You Say Goodbye by Willie Nelson with Emmylou Harris

My Ghost by The Handsome Family

CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: Son of Beyond the Monster Mash

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
October 30, 2015

A few years ago in this column, right around this time of year, I published a list of songs I called “Beyond the ‘Monster Mash,” a list of rock ’n’ roll horror tunes for people who, after 50-some years, are sick to death (insert evil laugh) of the “Monster Mash.”

But this year I’m not going to make another list. Instead, I’m going way back to the days before rock ’n’ roll, the 1920s and ’30s, to the era of hot jazz and the smooth crooner.

I’m not claiming that there were any Roaring ’20s Roky Ericksons or Depression-era Rob Zombies. But every once in a while some singer got the bright idea of recording a novelty song about devils, ghosts, dancing skeletons, and other topics that were spooky and/or morbid. Many of these can be found in a compilation released several Halloweens ago on Legacy Recordings: Halloween Classics: Songs That Scared the Bloomers Off Your Great-Grandma.

There are a couple of famous names on this 2007 collection that everyone should recognize: Cab Calloway (performing one of his many “Minnie the Moocher” sequels, “The Ghost of Smokey Joe”) and Rudy Vallée (who, in his best fake cockney accent, sings “With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm,” a song about Anne Boleyn).

While I can’t say I’m familiar with 1920s singer Fred Hall, I immediately recognized his contribution to this collection. “’Taint No Sin (to Take Off Your Skin)” was part of Tom Waits’ 1993 album The Black Rider. On Waits’ nightmarish version, author William S. Burroughs provided rather atonal vocals, encouraging listeners to “take off your skin and dance around in your bones.” Except for the lyrics, Hall’s version sounds like an archetypal upbeat speakeasy jazz number. I see visions of skeletons dancing the Charleston.



So most of the performers here are lesser-knowns, and the songs they sing, for the most part, are even more obscure.

The album starts off with a chipper little tune called “Hush Hush Hush (Here Comes the Boogie Man)” performed by British bandleader and BBC regular Henry Hall — who is more famous for “Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” which he recorded in 1932, the same year as “Boogie Man.” “Hush Hush Hush” begins, “Children, have you ever met the Boogie Man before/No, I’m sure you haven’t, for you’re much too good, I’m sure.” Then vocalist Val Rosing gives the kiddies practical advice on how to ward off the evil one.

Halloween Classics has another song about the same guy, “The Boogie Man” by Todd Rollins & His Orchestra. Here the title character is something of a sexual predator, threatening “bad little girls like you.” Rollins croons, “I’ll torture you and hunt you/I’ve got you where I want you/A victim of my dark and dirty plot/And at the slightest whim/I’ll tear you limb from limb.” What kind of message does that send to the children?


There are a couple of tracks by country artists of the day, and, blow me down, both singers involved sound more like Popeye than Jimmie Rodgers. One is “Minnie the Moocher at the Morgue” (yes, another Minnie song) by Smiley Burnett, who in the ’60s played train engineer Charley Pratt in Petticoat Junction. T

he other is “Ghost in the Graveyard” by The Prairie Ramblers, who later became more famous when they started backing up Patsy Montana.

A couple of my favorites on Bloomers deal with a creepy old man named Mose. Rube Bloom and His Bayou Boys recorded “Mysterious Mose” in 1930. Later that year, a different recording of the song became the basis of a Betty Boop cartoon. New Orleans trumpet man Wingy Manone does another about “Old Man Mose,” whose main offense is that he died and was discovered by a neighbor not fond of dead people.

This tune has been covered by Louis Armstrong as well as Betty Hutton. And there is also an obscene version (I’m not kidding) recorded in 1938 by Eddy Duchin’s band with singer Patricia Norman.




Just like the best metal, psychobilly, and garage songs of modern times that deal with Satan, ghosts, and monsters, the best songs that scared the bloomers off our great-grannies were humorous ways of confronting our fear of death and other unknowns. They allow you to acknowledge your impending death and the boogeymen who haunt your nightmares. You can’t beat ’em, so join ’em. Dance around in your bones.

Here are some Halloween treats and tricks on the web:

*  Santa Fe’s favorite busker sings about New Mexico’s favorite ghost: On a recent Saturday at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, J. Michael Combs agreed to sing a song about La Llorona while my faithful camera crew (actually just me and my iPhone) recorded a video of it. Check it out:





▼ Surfing spooks: Surf music and horror themes have gone together at least since the days of the 1966 teen beach flick The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.

Portland visual artist J.R. Williams, who has been responsible for a ton of free retro rock ’n’ soul underground compilations, has a new volume of his Halloween Instrumentals series on his blog, featuring bitchen rock instrumentals interspersed with radio ads for cheesy horror flicks.

Mostly there are obscure bands, but you’ll also find tracks by The Ventures, Duane Eddy, and R&B great Bill Doggett.

▼ The 2015 Big Enchilada: My latest podcast is my annual Spooktacular, which includes a couple of tracks from Songs That Scared the Bloomers Off Your Great-Grandma. You can find that HERE. (Or right below)

BIG ENCHILADA 89: Spooktacular 2015 by Steve Terrell on Mixcloud

And all eight (!) of my Halloween podcasts are at www.tinyurl.com/SpookyEnchiladas.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Still Chasing the Devil's Herd

(Art by James Clark. Used with permission.)

I'm going to indulge in a little recycling this Throwback Thursday and revive the 2009 Terrell's Tune-Up Halloween column, in which I explored a favorite song "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky." Checking the original blog version I found a whole lot of missing Youtubes, broken links ... a basic ghost town of a blog post.

So, after a few basic repairs please enjoy the tale of that Devil's herd thundering across the sky.

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 30, 2009

An impressionable 12-year-old rode to the top of an Arizona hill one afternoon with an old Cowboy friend to check a windmill. A big storm was building and they needed to lock the blades down before the wind hit. When finished, they paused to watch the clouds darken and spread across the sky. As lightning flashed, the Cowboy told the boy to watch closely and he would see the devil’s herd, their eyes red and hooves flashing, stampede ahead of phantom horsemen. The Cowboy warned the youth that if he didn’t watch himself, he would someday be up there with them, chasing steers for all eternity. 

More than 60 years ago this frightening vision, now found on the Western Music Association Web site, was etched into the consciousness of America. “Ghost Riders in the Sky” is a perfect Halloween song for the West. It’s the only cowboy song in which “yippie-yi-yay” becomes a demonic taunt. The boy who heard the tall tale from the old cowpoke would grow up to be forest ranger/songwriter Stan Jones.

“Ghost Riders” became a huge hit in 1949, a year after Jones wrote it. Pop-folkie Burl Ives was the first to record it that year. Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Peggy Lee chased the devil’s herd, too, and before the end of the year, avant jokester Spike Jones merrily mutated the saga of the demon cows and fire-snortin’ horses. But the biggest hit at that time came from pop crooner Vaughn Monroe, also in 1949.

Of course, it didn’t stop there. It’s been covered by everyone from Concrete Blonde to Dean Martin. Frankie Laine, another popster with an ear for cowboy songs (think “High Noon” and “Rawhide”) also covered “Ghost Riders.”

Artists like Bob Wills, The Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry, and Marty Robbins brought “Ghost Riders” back West. Dick Dale went surfing with it. Ronnie Dawson made it a rockabilly romp. The Southern-rock group called The Outlaws introduced it to the dazed and confused generation in 1980. Johnny Cash sang it with the Muppets. Tom Jones took it to Vegas, and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy took it to Mars.

The fact that “Ghost Riders” has a cinematic feel to it is no accident. Jones did a lot of soundtrack work for John Ford Westerns, including writing music for The Searchers (in which John Wayne spoke a catch phrase that inspired a Buddy Holly hit, “That’ll Be the Day”) and Rio Grande.

When Jones wrote “Ghost Riders,” he was working for the National Park Service in Death Valley.

According to the Western Music Association Web site, “The Park Service made Stan its representative to Hollywood film crews when they came to Death Valley. After a long, hot day of filming, cast and crew members often sat around and listened to Stan’s songs and stories. They encouraged him to get a publisher in L.A.” Shortly after, “Yippee-yi-yay, yippee-yi-yo,” was being heard across the land.

My two favorite versions of “Ghost Riders” are no longer in print. The one that raised goose bumps on me as a kid was on a 1964 LP called Welcome to the Ponderosa by Lorne Greene — yes, a tacky TV tie-in from Bonanza’s Ben Cartwright. This version has a full-blown orchestra, a chorus, and Greene’s distinct gravely voice. (Greene’s hit “Ringo” was also on this album.)

Then there’s the country-rock version from New Mexico’s own Last Mile Ramblers, from their 1974 album While They Last. The artist currently known as Junior Brown is playing guitar, and the vocals are by Spook James. This was always a highlight of the Ramblers’ shows at The Golden Inn and Bourbon & Blues. 

I’m not sure how many cowboys changed their ways because of the warning in the song. But next time you see lightning in the sky, look for those red-eyed cows and gaunt-faced cowboys.

xxxxxxx

Here's an entire herd of "Ghost Riders" videos.



Ler's start out with Marty Robbins



Vaughan Monroe

 

 Johnny Cash and his pals, The Muppets.



Spike Jones

 

Last Mile Ramblers



The Outlaws

 

Dick Dale

 

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy



And my sentimental favorite, Lorne Greene

 

For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Spooky Betty Boop

For the last Wacky Wednesday before Halloween, here's a Betty Boop at her spooky best.

Mysterious Mose, released in December 1930 was one of Betty's first appearances and it's a fright-filled doozy. She literally gets scared out of her nightshirt by strange noises in the night. Notice that in this one she still has dog ears. Betty started out as a strange Poddle/woman hybrid.

 

Betty teamed up with singer Cab Calloway for several cartoon shorts. St. James Infirmary is especially Halloween appropriate. (For more on that song, CLICK HERE)



Finally here's Betty at her own Halloween party.