THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, Oct. 20, 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
Til the Well Runs Dry by Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones
Big Time Annie's Square by Merle Haggard
How Cold Hearted Can You Get by Hank Thompson
Mama's Fried Potatoes by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Okie's in the Pokie by Jimmy Patton
5 Minutes to Live by Joecephus & The George Jones Massacre
I Swear to God by Tyler Childers
Vandalism Spree by Hellbound Glory
Gamblin' Barroom Blues by Steve  Forbert
Cadillacin' by Paul Burch

Back Side of Dallas by Jeannie C. Riley
Shandy by Kris Kristofferson
The Taker by Ryan Bingham
Good Luck by Margo Price
Bellville County Line by Beth Lee & The Breakups
Sing a Worried Song by Legendary Shack Shakers
Such is the World We Live In by Chris Hillman
DYGKD by The Ghost Wolves

Bonaparte's Retreat by Pee Wee King
Bonaparte's Retreat by John Hartford
Flowers on the Wall by The Statler Brothers
You Broke My Heart by Steve Earle
Prayer by Ray Wylie Hubbard
You've Been a Good Old Wagon by David Bromberg
Aunt Peg's New Old Man by Robbie Fulks
Blues for Pilgrum by The Imperial Rooster
In the Boxcar by Joe West
You're Not My Same Sweet Baby by Chuck Prophet
Old Devil Time by Pete Seeger
Papa by Cynthia Becker
Nothing in This World for Me by Howard Armstrong
Happy Hour by Ted Hawkins
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


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THROWBACK THURSDAY: While the Fiddles Played "Bonaparte's Retreat."

Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow by Adolph Northen

It was on this day in 1812 that Napoleon Bonaparte, decided to retreat from Russia. In June of that year, he'd invaded with an army of 500,000 soldiers.  But things didn't go well.

As History.com tells it:

During the opening months of the invasion, Napoleon was forced to contend with a bitter Russian army in perpetual retreat. Refusing to engage Napoleon’s superior army in a full-scale confrontation, the Russians under General Mikhail Kutuzov burned everything behind them as they retreated deeper and deeper into Russia. On September 7, the indecisive Battle of Borodino was fought, in which both sides suffered terrible losses. On September 14, Napoleon arrived in Moscow intending to find supplies but instead found almost the entire population evacuated, and the Russian army retreated again. Early the next morning, fires broke across the city set by Russian patriots, and the Grande Grande Armée’s winter quarters were destroyed. After waiting a month for a surrender that never came, Napoleon, faced with the onset of the Russian winter, was forced to order his starving army out of Moscow.

If that doesn't that sound like the basis for a good country song, I don't know what does.

Fastforward to 1937: Songcatcher Supreme Alan Lomax, traveling through Kentucky, recorded a fiddler named William Hamilton Stepp playing an old tune called "Bonaparte's Retreat." It sounded like this:



But before the tune made it into country music, it first had an impact on classical music. Aaron Copland used the melody for the main theme of his song "Hoe-Down" from his 1942 ballet Rodeo. Thus William Hamilton Stepp became rich and didn't have to work another day in his life.

Just kidding. Copland didn't give Stepp one bit of credit or a penny for the song.

Nice guy ...



In 1950, country star Pee Wee King added words to the melody. Nothing about burning Russian cities or starving soldiers. It was about a girl he met in a town way down in Dixie ....



Later in 1950, pop singer Kay Starr did a snazzy, jazzy version




But my favorite version has always been by that by Glen Campbell, who turned it into a big country hit in the mis '70s. Here's a clip from a few years later on a TV show with Barbara Mandrell. She plays a mean steel guitar, but Campbell plays a meaner bagpipe.



I have to mention here that The Chieftains in 1976 released an album called Chieftains 6: Bonaparte's Retreat, the centerpiece of which is a 14-minute song called, you guessed it, "Bonaparte's Retreat," which actually is a medley of various tunes, seemingly unrelated to the song I've spotlighted here. 

Note from 2025: This wasn't on YouTube when I first posted it. but it is now. Enjoy!

So why didn't Napoleon XIV do a version of "Bonaparte's Retreat"?

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

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Happy Birthday, Lee Harvey!

Lee & Marina: I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride ...

Seventy eight years ago today, in the city of New Orleans a baby boy named Lee Harvey Oswald was born. He would grow up to change America.

As a young Marine he defected to the Soviet Union. But just a few years later he returned to the U.S. with his Russian bride.

Then, on Nov. 22, 1963, from a window of the Texas School Book Depository, he shot and killed President John F. Kennedy.

Unless you believe Oswald when he says he was just a Patsy.

Whatever the real story is, Oswald inspired some wild songs -- good, bad, ugly and beyond -- through the years.

Here are some of them. Let's start with that wigged out Texas combo, The Butthole Surfers, who to this day insist that "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave."



The Skatalites recorded this instrumental named for the assassin in Jamaica in the mid '60s -- while JFK's murder was still fresh on everyone's minds.



This one, "Love Song from Lee Harvey Oswald to Jackie Kennedy" by a guy named Albert DeMuth, is dark and abstract. It was released in October 2016.

And I would quell your endless doubt 
to be the lover you call 
with my back against the world 
and my ear against your wall. 

I just stumbled across this little piece of outsider art, posted only a couple of days ago. I wonder if the FBI has already visited Mr. Tommy Daniels.



But this Homer Henderson classic, "Lee Harvey," which also has been recorded by The Asylum Street Spankers, T. Tex Edwards, The Rockin' Guys, Laura Cantrell, Lucy Falcon and others, is the greatest Oswald song of all.

If you're into this sort of thing, check out my Tune-up column from a few years ago in which I reviewed Norton Records' Songs from The Grassy Knoll and the Conspiracy a Go-Go compilation from Turn Me On Dead Man Records.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, Oct. 15, 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
Ring the Alarm by Quintron
Golden Key by The Vagoos
Don't Go Messin' by The Molting Vultures
Get Off the Road by The Man Eaters
Society of Plants by The Blind Shake
Stranger in Me Me by The Howlin' Max Messer Show
Hit the Road Jack by The Cat
Boys by The Beatles
Why is This Commercial by Negativland

Ghost of a Texas Ladies' Man by Concrete Blonde
The Black Cat by The Tombstones
Satanas es su Nombre by Los Eskeletos
Don't Shake Me Lucifer by Roky Erikson & The Aliens
Season of the Witch by Donovan
Sunshine Superman by Husker Du
Hurdy Gurdy Man by Butthole Surfers
Burn She Devil Burn by The Cramps

I'm in Love by Satan's Little Helpers
Home is Where the Hate Is by Mary's Kids
Burying the Bodies by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Caught in the Devil's Game by The Darts
This Situation by Lucy & The Rats
Pink Stillettos by The Stillettos
Start Together by Sleater-Kinney
Never Say Never by Romeo Void
Love is All Around by Joan Jett
Lusty Little Lucy by Nick Curran & The Lowlifes

James Leg by Mark "Porkchop" Holder
Oh Sinner Man by Black Diamond Heavies
Natchez Trace by Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls
You Went Away by Phil Hayes & The Trees
Red Eye Blues by Pere Ubu
The Curtain Falls by Bobby Darin
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Benefit and Life Celebration of Micah Chappell

Micah Chappell, drummer for the Santa Fe band Chango, died this morning. He'd been suffering a terminal disease.

Friends and family already had been planning a benefit show for him and his wife Chris Trusnovic-Chappell, who in addition to the emotional stress, has been under financial strain because of Micah's illness.

The above poster was created by Sam Haozous last night, obviously before Micah died. Now the show is a benefit for Chris and life celebration for Micah. It's Wednesday, Oct. 18 at The Underground (the basement of Evangelo's), 200 W. San Francisco St., in downtown Santa Fe. The show starts at 9 p.m.

Playing there will be The Imperial Rooster from Espanola and The Dildonts (who I haven't heard, though I love their name.) Also there will be a silent auction offering the works of Santa Fe artists.

In addition to Wednesday's event, there is a Go Fund Me campaign to help Chris.

Try to make this show.