THROWBACK THURSDAY: Great American Dog Songs

As I wrote yesterday, I'm dealing with the loss of my dear old mutt, my friend and security dog, Rocco Rococo. On Wacky Wednesday I posted some great old  novelty tunes about man's best friend (plus a pretty cool houserocker by Hound Dog Taylor). Today I'm posting some classic American songs about dogs.

In 1853, Stephen Foster revealed himself to be a major dog lover with his sentimental song "Old Dog Tray."

Old dog Tray's ever faithful,
Grief cannot drive him away,
He's gentle, he is kind;
I'll never, never find
A better friend than old dog Tray.

My favorite version is by Peter Stampfel, singing here with The Bottle Caps.



Here's one that would have been appropriate for Wacky Wednesday as well as Throwback Thursday, "Quit Kickin' My Dig Around" by Gid Tanner & The Skillet Lickers.



Another old favorite is "Old Blue," which has been recorded by many folks. (The Byrds did a great cover on their album Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde. But here's an older recording by Memphis bluesman Furry Lewis.



Hank Williams knew what it was like to be in the doghouse. Here's "Move it On Over."



Even sadder than "Old Dog Tray" is "Old Shep." Hands down, the greatest version of this tearjerker is Elvis Presley's 1956 cover, I posted that on my Facebook page the day Rocco died. But the original was by Red Foley. "I cried so I scarcely could see ..."

Rocco Ralph Rococo, 2002-2017

WACKY WEDNESDAY: A Dogged Pursuit

My beloved 15-year-old fuzzy-faced mutt Rocco Rococo left this earthly plain this week, so I'm dealing with some real pain here.

So this Wacky Wednesday is for Rocco. It's a set of  wacky tunes about man's best friend. I think my best friend would wag his tail for these.

Let's start out with Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs ode to a cartoon canine lawman, Deputy Dawg.



"Marie Provost" is Nick Lowe's sardonic ode to Marie Prevost (he calls her "Provost") the one-time movie star who died in January, 1937, She died of malnutrition, basically drinking herself to death at the age of 38. According to Hollywood legend -- perpetrated by a chapter in Kenneth Anger's scurrilous Hollywood Babylon -- she was eaten by her own pet dachshund, Maxie. That gruesome tale is widely disputed, though it inspired Lowe's song.



Hey Hey it's The Monkees singing this dumb doggy ditty from their first album



Rockabilly Ronnie Self offers this shoulda-been-a classic tune that's not only a bitchen rocker, but also an pioneering experiment in radical grammar: "Ain't I'm a Dog."



Finally, here's Rocco's favorite house rocker, Hound Dog Taylor playing a tribute to Howlin' Wolf

Rocco Rococo in happier days. Photo by Helen Sobien

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 11, 2017
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
Hound Dog by '68 Comeback
One Arabian Night by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Bo Diddley is Crazy by Bo Diddley
Mr. Investigator by Ex-Cult
Lay Down by Left Lane Crusier
Two Thumbs Up by Rattanson
Let's Get Funky by Hound Dog Taylor

All the Good's Gone by The Ghost Wolves
Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby by The Beatles
Hittin' on Nothing by The Detroit Cobras
Hooch Party by MFC Chicken
The Whip by The Creeps
Devil Time by Satan & The Deciples
The Gasser by The Fleshtones
Bums by Dean Ween Group
I Wanna Be Your Dog by The Stooges
I'm Hurting by The Dustaphonics
The Cook Who Couldn't Cook by Bingo Gazingo

Questions I Can't Answer by The A-Bones
I'd Kill For Her by The Black Angels
Get Out of My Face by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Goin' Underground by The Molting Vultures
Baby I'm Your Dog by Stomping Nick & His Blues Grenade
Baron of Love Part II by Ross Johnson & Alex Chilton
Cathy's Clone by The Tubes
Children of Production by Parliament
I Don't Like the Blues No How by John Schooley
Deputy Dog by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs

The Cell by The Mekons
Witness by Benjamin Booker
Run Through the Jungle by Gun Club
Jungle by J.C. Brooks
Death's Head Tattoo by Mark Lanegan
Toy Automatic by Afghan Whigs
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 9, 2017
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
Look at That Moon by Carl Mann
Hello, I'm a Truck by Red Simpson
It's Not Enough by The Waco Brothers
That's What She Said Last Night by Billy Joe Shaver
Buckskin Stallion by Jimmie Dale Gilmore & Mudhoney
Trouble, Trouble by Shinyribs
Eight Weeks in a Barroom by Marti Brom
Pickin' Off Peanuts by Seven Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles

That's How it Goes by Meat Puppets
Up to No Good Livin' by Chris Stapleton
On the Road Again by Nas
I'm Walking Slow by Miss Leslie
Ain't No Sure Thing by Bobby Bare
Precious Memories by The Blasters
11 Months and 29 Days by Dave Alvin
You Can Be My Baby Now by The Backsliders
Something I Said by Ray Condo & The Hardrock Goners

Salty Songs of the Sea
Haul Away Joe by The Scallywags
Blow the Man Down by The Jolly Rogers
Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest by Salt Sea Pirates
Good Ship Venus by Loudon Wainwright III

Keep on Truckin' by Hot Tuna
East Side Boys by Martin  Zeller
Down in Sinaloa by Panama Red
The Only Man Wilder Than Me by Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson
If the River Was Whiskey by Charlie Poole

Bring Me The Meat by L.A. Rivercatz
Americadio by Slim Cessna's Auto Club
Misery Without Company by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Just in Time by Valerie June
I'm Going Home by Slackeye Slim
Cold Hard Truth by George Jones
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Happy World Oceans Day

Ahoy!

Today, June 8, is World Ocean Day.

So to honor the world's oceans, here are a bunch of sea shanties, pirate songs and other salty songs of the sea.

Let's start with one that Popeye used to like, "Blow the Man Down" as performed by the Robert Shaw Chorale



Here is a classic shantie called "Haul Away Joe," done a Capella by a contemporary Irish group called The Eskies. I'm not sure why the lead singer shouts "Timmy!" at the end of each version, I don't think it has anything to do with Southpark. (The Clancy Brothers do it too.)



Here's an archetypal pirate song, "Fifteen  Men on a Dead Man's Chest" as performed by  The Roger Wagner Chorale. This song originally came from Robert Lewis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island in 1883, Stevenson only wrote the chorus:

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

But in 1891, Kentucky journalist Young Ewing Allison expanded the snippet into a full-blown poem and published it in the Louisville Courier-Journal (where he was the editor.) Allison called his work "The Derelict," Here's a version by a band called The Jolly Rogers -- live in Muskogee, Oklahoma


"Barnacle Bill the Sailor" was considered pretty ribald and randy when Frank Luther recorded it in 1928. Of course, I learned far filthier lyrics to in as a teenager at Methodist Youth camp.



Speaking of filthy, here's "Good Ship Venus," as performed by Oscar Brand. (And even he cleaned it up a little.)



Finally here's my favorite sailor song, Jacques Brel's  "Port of Amsterdam," as sung by Dave Van Ronk. When I was in Amsterdam a few years ago I searched for a restaurant that served fish heads and tails but couldn't find any.

 


For another great old sea-faring song, check out my Throwback Thursday post on "Hanging Johnny" from a few onths ago,