Friday, June 12, 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
Long Gone Anyway by The Banditos
Dusty Bibles and Silver Spoons by The Bloodhounds
Don't You Rock Me Daddy-o by Van Morrison, Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber
Old Joe Clark by The Dustbowl Revival
She's My Neighbor by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
I Want it So Bad by The Gourds
Life of a Poor Boy by Stonewall Jackson
Monterey by Paul Burch
No Longer a Sweetheart of Mine by Southern Culture on the Skids
Ronnie and Neil by Drive-by Truckers
Old Cracked Looking Glass by Tony Gilkyson
Long Black Veil by Mike Ness
Down in the Bayou by The Watzloves
18 Wheeler Fever by Scott H. Biram
A Girl Don't Have To Drink To Have Fun by The Stumbleweeds
Twenty Cigarettes by Ray Phillips
Blood Bank Blues Al Duvall
Save My Tears by Palomino Shakedown
Where's the Devil When You Need Him? by Legendary Shack Shakers
Change My Name by The Beaumonts
Memphis by Carl Newman
Goin' Down Rockin' by Whitey Morgan & The 78s
Pool Cue by Two Tons of Steel
Whiskey Drinkin' Women by Cornell Hurd
When Sinatra Played Juarez by Tom Russell
Shortnin' Bread by Guy Davis
Chocolate Jesus by Raw Death
Send Me Poppa's Fiddle by Louie Setzer
On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain Possessed by Paul James
Dink's Song by Dave Van Ronk
Take it Down by John Hiatt CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Did a happy, snappy American standard start out as a song about
malnutrition among rural African Americans?
I'm talking about "Shortnin' Bread," that favorite of Mammy's little baby, about
a tasty treat with strange medicinal power that can heal the sick and the half
dead. This tune has been sung and recorded by some of the country's best known
musicians, black and white, representing a number of styles and genres.
In her blog
Pancocojams, dedicated to "the music, dances, and customs of African Americans and of
other people of Black descent throughout the world," Azizi Powell writes.
Although "Shortnin Bread" is now considered a light hearted children's folk
song, its beginning verses reflect the fact that Black Americans often
lacked adequate food. In contemporary versions of this song, the first verse is given as "two
little boys/laying in bed/one was sick/and the other almost dead". The
reason why the boys were in those conditions was because they were suffering
from malnutrition because of the inadequate food rations that enslaved
families were given. In this song, the doctor was called to examine the children. His
prescription was that the children be given some food. However, in
actuality, enslaved Black people rarely saw any doctors. Also, shortnin
bread and coffee were rare treats for enslaved Black people.
James Whitcomb Riley
Even so, throughout the song's history, "Shortnin' Bread" has been played as a happy
good-time tune -- often as a children's song. That's a frequent thread in blues,
hillbilly music and other types of songs sung by poor people in this country --
finding humor and ultimately hope in terrible situations.
Some argue that "Shortnin' Bread" is a true folk song, coming from slaves on
southern plantations or their immediate descendants. But some say it could have
come from the minstrel shows, in which white performers parodied blacks. (Check
out this discussion over at
Mudcat.org)
Apparently the first known written version of the song was a poem, published in
1900, by
James Whitcomb Riley, written in black dialect.
The chorus goes:
Fotch dat dough fum the kitchin-shed— Rake de coals out hot an' red— Putt on de oven an' putt on de led,— Mammy's gwineter cook som short'nin' bread
Nowhere in the poem is anything about those two little children lyin' in bed, or
the doctor who prescribes shortnin' bread for them. While Riley took credit for
the poem, it's possible that he based the various (seemingly unrelated) verses
on songs or stories he heard from folk sources (i.e. plantation workers and the
descendants of slaves).
Powell points out that several folklorists, beginning in the 1920s, documented
versions of "Shortnin' Bread" -- who do have the familiar elements of the ailing
children and the doctor.
In 1924 country singer Henry Whitter recorded a harmonica-led instrumental
medley of "Hop Out Ladies & Shortenin' Bread." Gid Tanner & His Skillet
Lickers recorded it -- including lyrics -- a couple of years later. Both J.E.
Mainer, a proto-bluegrass artist, and Sonny Terry did versions in which the
Jew's harp was prominent.
Mississippi John Hurt didn't actually record it until the early '60s, but his
timeless style sounds like it could have been recorded decades before.
The song made it's way into the city. Paul Robeson
lent his baritone to it in 1933. Nelson Eddy sang it in the 1937 film Maytime.
And Fats Waller had a lot of fun with it in 1941. (Powell points out that Waller
sang about two "Senegambians" lyin' in bed. That's a reference to a region in
West Africa, though Waller seems to be using the word to describe African
Americans in general.)
The Andrews Sisters also sang it in the '40s.
The song found new life in the 1950s.
Dave Brubeck did a drum-heavy jazz version
called "Short'nin' Bread Gone With The Wind" in 1959. And there was a new
audience in R&B and rock 'n' roll. The song mutated into "Shortnin' Bread
Rock," which sounds heavily influenced by Big Joe Turner.
Etta James did a rocking version, as did Tony Crombie & His Rockets, who recorded it in 1956. But it's tough to match the crazy energy of The
Collins kids, who sang it on this TV appearance, introduced by country great Tex
Ritter.
Several early '60s "garage" bands recording the song in the early '60s.
Paul Chaplain & The Emeralds
recorded it in 1960. There also were fine rocking renditions by
The Bell Notes,
Johnny & The Uncalled Four. But my favorite of this style was the ferocious version by The Readymen.
Their wild arrangement appears to have inspired the cover by
The Cramps on their Stay Sickalbum.
There was a do-wop version in 1962 by a group called The Blisters.
And a tasty '60s soul version by Lee Dorsey
And in the early '90s The Residents found every ounce of weirdness in the tune
and, as they love to do, turned it into something bizarre and nearly
unrecognizable.
Last week a Facebook friend of mine posted the following on her page:
Anyone have a superloud playlist of jams for me to drown out this fucking ASSHOLE doing his homework loudly on Facetime? I'm not sure where she was where a jerk using Facetime would bother her like that. But everybody can relate to the being bugged so much by some noisy fool you just want to BLAST THEM OUT!
Now this lady is in the music biz, so lots of her music nut friends, including me, began suggesting loud and obnoxious songs The thread took on a life of its own.
So I decided to put a list together including some suggestions from the thread. And thus my latest Spotify list: Music to Drive Your Neighbors Nuts. Metal Machine Music was one of the first suggestions there. Someone else suggested some Tuvan throat singing (I chose something by Huun-huur-Tu).
Another contributor offered Shooby Taylor's weird version of "Stout-Hearted Men," I know that one from Irwin Chusid's Songs in the Key of Z Vol. 2. I couldn't resist adding another classic from that album, "Cousin Mosquito" by Liberian Congresswoman Malinda Jackson Parker.
Added some Skinny Puppy, Butthole Surfers, Zappa, Residents, a song with T. Valentine being T. Valentine, some Smile-era weirdness from The Beach Boys, a sinister little Charlie Manson tune and some supreme tackiness from David Hasselhoff that will make you want to commit unspeakable crimes.
You can use this to harass your neighbors, force ousted dictators out of their sanctuaries, torture prisoners ... lots of possibilities. Hey and since it's Spotify, chances are a couple of those obnoxious ads they run will pop up. These will fit right in.
For the record, I like my neighbors. I hope I didn't play this too loud when compiling this list.
Big show coming to Santa Fe this Sunday. And it's free.
The Santa Fe Music Alliance is presenting Make Music Santa Fe 2015 at Santa Fe Railyard Plaza, featuring a boatload -- or maybe a trainload -- of Santa Fe musicians.
On the bill are a couple of siblings -- Tony Gilkyson and Eliza Gilkyson -- who lived and played here years ago but moved on to bigger towns and bigger things. Eliza has had a successful career as a singer-songwriter, while Tony has been a guitarist for Lone Justice, X, and Chuck E. Weiss' G-d Damn Liars. He's great as a solo artist too. His solo album Goodbye Guitar was near the top of my Best of 2006 list.
The show starts at 2:30 pm Sunday and goes on until 10 p.
(Full disclosure: I recently became an advisory member of the Santa Fe Musical Alliance, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering creativity and community by supporting a sustainable and vital environment for music of all genres in Santa Fe, N.M.)
