For this Wacky Wednesday, here's a tribute to my favorite waterfowl, the
Duck.
According to Wikipedia (which is always right about everything):
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae
family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided
among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a
monophyletic group (the group of all descendants of a single common
ancestral species) but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not
considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, mostly smaller than the
swans and geese, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water. Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds
with similar forms, such as loons or divers, grebes, gallinules, and
coots.
So, sorry all you loons, divers, grebes, gallinules, and coots. This ain't for
you. These songs are for the ducks.
Let's start with the ultimate cartoon duck piano showdown from
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
This next one by the beautiful Carolina Cotton, makes me wish I was a damn
duck!
Eddie "The Chief" Clearwater walks the duck
Nobody has really done musical justice to the duck as much as this disco classic
from Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots
OK, the next one is stretching it. It's not really about a duck. It's not
really really about oysters either. It's an old traditional American square
dance mutated before your very ears by the late great Malcom McLaren. It's from
his masterpiece album
Duck Rock.
And if I were a duck, I'd love this song.
Finally, just for weirdness' sake, here's a strange little band called Purple
Duck I found while messing around on
the Free Music Archive (The original video I had here disappeared, but here's another one)
You can keep your sensitive troubadours singing sweet pastoral melodies and hey nonny nonny. I like my folk songs full of senseless murder, greed, lust, betrayal and insanity.
One of my favorite Steeleye Span songs is "Edwin," which comes from their album Now We Are Six.
Not only is it a delightfully gruesome tale of young lovers vs. truly evil parents (Spoiler Alert: The truly evil parents win!) It also has a great guitar lick that I shamelessly appropriated for my own song, "Child of the Falling Star."
Basically, it's the story of young Edwin, a sailor who went off to earn some gold, returning seven years later to his true love, Emma, whose family apparently runs some inn, basically a Bed-and-Breakfast of Doom. Edwin gets a room there, but that night as he sleeps, Emma's "cruel parents" sneak in his room, chop off his head, take his gold and dump his body in the sea to send him floating back to the Lowlands Low.
Here's the song.
Besides the music and the basic story of the song, Steeleye's "Edwin" has some lines that are simply unforgettable, starting with the very first one, "Come all ye wild young people and listen to my song ..."
Then there's "Young Edwin he sat drinking till time to go to bed/ He little thought a sword that night would part his body and head ..."
And then the not-so happy ending: "And Emma broken-hearted was to Bedlam forced to go / Her shrieks were for young Edwin that plowed the lowlands low. "
But Steeleye, it turns out left out a few verses, including a key one, in which Emma tells Edwin to go stay at dad's inn for the night -- and not to tell him his true identity. She planned on meeting him there in the morning What could possibly go wrong?
A version of "Edwin" appears as "Edwin in the Lowlands Low" in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, edited by Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L.Lloyd in 1959.
"This was an extremely widespread song in England, Scotland, Ireland and even more so in North America, where dozens of versions have been collected," the songs notes say. "... The song was also printed by everybody who was anybody in the broadside trade, but, on present evidence, only from the 1820s onwards. The plot would seem a natural for the melodrama stage or the cheap nineteenth century `shocker' novel ..."
That must be why I like it so much.
I hadn't listened to "Edwin" in a few years. But a few nights ago, listening to an iTunes mix of old Lomax field-recordings, the song "Diver Boy" by a lady named Ollie Gilbert from Timbo, Arkansas popped up.
Appearing on the collection Southern Journey Vol. 1: Voices from the American South, this was recorded in 1959. Young Emma is in this one, though the unfortunate "diver boy" is named Henry. Emma's brother, however, is named "Edward." It's the brother who helps his murderous dad here, while in Steeleye's songs it's Emma's parents.
Here's Ollie's version:
Natalie Merchant recorded a very similar version of "Diver Boy" on her 2003 album of (mostly) old folk songs The House Carpenter's Daughter.
So in the Steeleye Span song, Emma ends up shrieking in the insane asylum, while in the version done by Ollie Gilbert and Natalie Merchant, Emma merely scolds her dad and brother. ("Oh father, you're a robber ...")
Neither tells what happens to the creepy dad and whoever helped him murder Emma's beau.
But the Mainly Norfolk website documents a 1979 recording by a singer named Peter Bellamy, in which an angry "Young Emily" threatens the old man, “Oh father, cruel father, you will die a public show .." This line is found in other versions of the song. But Bellamy includes this final verse, which I've yet to see elsewhere:
Now Young Emily's cruel father could not day or night find rest, For the dreadful deed that he had done he therefore did confess. He was tried and he was sentenced and he died a public show For the murder of Young Edmund so dear who ploughed the lowlands low. Justice at last!
Listen to Bellany's stark acoustic verssion version here:
Read more about "Edwin," "Diver Boy" or whatever you want to call it at the excellent Murder Ballad Monday blog (on the website for the venerated Sing Out!, one of the greatest folk music publications) and at Mainly Norfolk, a "comprehensive overview of recorded traditional and contemporary English folk music".
And what the heck. Here's a bonus throwback to an ancient time.
Sunday, Feb. 22, 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 below
Openng Theme: Let It Out, Let it All Hang Out by The Hombres
My Ding Dong Daddy Don't Daddy No More by Joe "King" Carrasco
Jailbait by The Flamin' Groovies
Spin That Girl by LoveStruck
Soviet by The Grannies
Miedzynarodówka (The Internationale) by Zuch Kazik
Why? by Johnny Dowd
Racehorse by Wild Flag
A New Wave by Sleater-Kinney
96 Tears (en Espanol) by Question Mark & The Mysterians
Celluloid Heroes by The Kinks
New Age by The Velvet Underground
Beloved Movie Star by Stan Ridgway
Tomorrow by The Fluid
I Fought the Law by The Clash
Knock Three Times by The A-Bones
Train Crash by The Molting Vultures
Come Back Bird by Manby's Head
Night of Broken Glass by Jay Reatard
Final Stretch by The Oblivians with Quintron
No Sudden Moves by Dengue Fever
Sado County Auto Show by The Cramps
Ain't it Strange by Patti Smith
Sisters of the Moon by Camper Van Beethoven
You Are What You Is by Frank Zappa
Don't You Just Know It by The Sonics
I Started a Joke by The Dirtbombs
Wishlist by Pearl Jam
Irene by Pere Ubu
Say We'll Meet Again by Lindsay Buckingham
Closing Theme: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Feb. 20, 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 a great bunch of dames, Frances Carroll & The Coquettes.
I stumbled across a shorter version of this 1940 Warner Brothers music short -- just the segment featuring "our charming little drummer" Viola Smith -- a couple of weeks ago when some fellow rock 'n' roll freak posted it on Facebook.
The film was directed by Roy Mack, who was responsible for a lot of music shorts in that era. Sadly, only Carroll and Smith and tapdancer Eunice Healey are identified in the Internet Movie Database. But another Coquette was Smith's sister Mildred Bartash, who played clarinet and sax,
From 1938 to 1941 Viola flourished in a highly acclaimed all female band that she and her sister Mildred organized, called The Coquettes. The Coquettes were so successful, and she as their drummer so popular, that Viola and her drum set graced the cover of Billboard Magazine on 24 February 1940.
So just sit back and enjoy some hot swing from this remarkable band.
And here's an interview with Viola Smith from a couple of years ago. She's still alive and 102 years old.
Those familiar with the music of Stan Ridgway know that despite this singer's natural talent, the real secret of his success is a talent scout and big wheel by the name of Jackie "Teak" Lazar.
Not only is Jackie the brains behind Ridgway's career, at least since Ridgway's departure from Wall of Voodoo, he's also had roles in Ridgway videos and, yes even at least one guest vocal on a Ridgway album.
Back in 2002, Jackie appeared on a hidden track on Ridgway's album Holiday in Dirt. It was a sensitive rendering of Charlie Rich's greatest hit, "Behind Closed Doors." Some purists argued that the track should remain hidden, but I beg to differ.
In fact I bet you'll agree that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors with Jackie.
Spotify users can hear it below:
About three years after the release of Holiday in Dirt, Ridgway released a wonder video collection of songs from that album. "Behind Closed Doors" was there, but I think another actor portrayed Jackie. (Sorry, I can't find any Youtubes of that video. (The DVD seems to be out of print, but you can buy it at Amazon at a decent price.)
But even before "Behind Closed Doors," Jackie appeared in The Drywall Incident, a music and video project involving Ridgway's band Drywall. (I can't find the video by Carlos Grasso anywhere online, but the music is wonderful and you can buy it HERE)
And Jackie starred in Ridgway's 1995 video of "Big Dumb Town."
Jimmy on the cover of Hicks' Where's the Money?
Some say that Jackie is a distant cousin of Jimmy the Talking Dummy, who used to be part of the road crew for Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks.
Though Jackie "Teak" Lazar recordings are rare, you can still find him singing some American classics on MP3s ((that I think originally were posted on Ridgway's website many years ago.) Three of them -- "Always on My Mind,""A Very Good Year" and "The Wayward Wind" are HERE.
Just don't believe the hideous lies and slander in the very last line in small print at the bottom of the page.
Hoppin' Horny Toads! This Big Enchilada episode is bringing you some fine hillbilly sounds old and new -- honky-tonk, rockabilly, bluegrass, roadhouse boogie, cowboy songs and barroom weepers -- by a dangerous array of artists old and new.
(Background Music: Mississippi Muddle by Hank Penny & His Radio Cowboys)
Harper Valley PTA by Syd Straw & The Skeletons
I Dig Dangling Participles by The Harper Valley PTA
Borrow Me Some Money by Augie Meyers
I'm Goin' Huntin' Tonight by Martha Lynn
Cowboy Song by Slackeye Slim
Drivin' Nails in My Coffin by Larry Wellborn
Don't Thrill Me No More by J.D. Wilkes & The Dirt Daubers
Friday, Feb. 13, 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
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Feb. 13, 2015 Johnny Dowd writes his songs like a sniper aims his gun. Sometimes his songs are like a captured serial killer’s confession. They’re full of regret, shame, venom, horrifying humor, and uncomfortable truths.
Dowd’s new album, That’s Your Wife on the Back of My Horse, has a title based on one of the most cocky, swaggering lines in the history of the blues, from Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s “Gangster of Love”: “The Sheriff says, ‘Is you Guitar Watson?’ in a very deep voice/I say, ‘Yes sir, brother Sheriff, and that’s your wife on the back of my horse.’ ”
This time out, Dowd played virtually all the instruments himself — exceptions are vocal contributions from Anna Coogan, who sounds so much like Dowd’s old bandmate Kim Sherwood-Caso it’s spooky; a guitar solo on “Words Are Birds” from Mike Cook; and a brief appearance by Dowd’s regular band on the end of “Teardrops.”
Dowd himself has compared the record to his first one, Wrong Side of Memphis. That late-1990s album is also mostly just Dowd on a variety of instruments. But it is more acoustic and rootsy, based in country and blues. On this new one, the music behind the lyrics is crazier than ever: low-tech electronica; rasty, distorted guitar licks; insane beats from an ancient drum machine over Dowd’s growling drawl and Coogan’s angelic melodies. It’s “New Year’s Eve in the nuthouse,” as Archie Bunker would say.
The album kicks off with the title song, Dowd reciting the lyrics that serve as a taunting invocation: “That’s your wife on the back of my horse/That’s my hand in your pocket/Around my neck is your mother’s locket/Your sisters will dance at my wake/Your brother will blow out the candles on my birthday cake/That’s your wife on the back of my horse.”
This is followed by a funky, boastful rap, “White Dolemite,” a salute to the heroic persona of “party” record artist and blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore. “I live the life men dream about/Stand up, people, give me a shout,” Dowd declares, as Coogan responds, “Hot pants! He needs a spanking.”
J. Dowd
Photo by Kat Dalton
On “The Devil Don’t Bother Me,” Dowd sounds like a death-row inmate contemplating theology while awaiting injection. “An angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other/Jesus, He’s my savior, but the devil is my brother.”
And that's just one of Dowd’s characters who seem like a coiled snake about to strike. On “Nasty Mouth,” Dowd’s narrator spews harsh judgment about a woman, who, I would guess, rejected him. “I’m just trying to forget the words that came out of your nasty mouth,” he spits over ambient blips and bleeps and a dangerous fuzz guitar.
Another favorite here include “Female Jesus,” which has a bluesy, swampy groove and is about a rural Okie prostitute who, Dowd says, “satisfied my body/She purified my brain/Then she called the undertaker and put my casket on a train.” Easily the album’s most melodic track, The song “Why?” sounds like a ’60s soul ballad left in the forest to be eaten by wolves, while the upbeat “Sunglasses” could have been a summertime pop hit … on the planet Neptune. (“Boys who wear sunglasses get laid,” Coogan informs us.)
At the end of the last song, “Teardrops,” a slow, dreamy (well, nightmarish) dirge about the fall of a powerful man (“In a world of little men, I walked like a giant/If I’d have been a lawyer, God would’ve been my client”), Dowd thanks his audience and an announcer says, “The ultrascary troubadour has left the building. With your wife. On the back of his horse.”
Left the building? Well, maybe. But I bet he actually just went to the dark alley behind the building.
Where he’s waiting ...
Also recommended
* Giving My Bones to the Western Lands by Slackeye Slim. Joe Frankland is another singer-songwriter who likes to explore the shadows, though his music is rooted in the country, folk, and spaghetti-western realms. Under the name Slackeye Slim, Frankland’s songs frequently are cast in an Old West setting, though his themes of sin, redemption, loneliness, desperation, and freedom are universal.
It’s been four years since his previous album, El Santo Grial: La Pistola Piadosa, which I compared to Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger. Since then, he’s moved from Montana to a ranch near Mesa, Colorado. He says he recorded this album in “dilapidated buildings” as well as on his front porch, “as hundreds of cattle grazed quietly just a few yards away.”
The body count on Giving My Bones isn’t nearly as high as it was on El Santo Grial, even though the second song, “Don Houston,” is about a guy who, for no apparent reason, shoots a stranger in the face. “Every time he pulled the trigger, it was the most beautiful thing you ever saw,” the narrator explains. “It was an art. His brush was a bullet, his paint was blood, his canvas was the earth, the rocks, the trees, and the dirt.”
Don Houston and El Santo Grial’s antihero, Drake Savage, would have a lot to talk about. Assuming they didn’t kill each other first.
But not every song on the new Slackeye album deals with crazy violence. One recurring theme here is psychological healing.
Take the sadly beautiful “I’m Going Home.” (I’ll be extremely surprised if anyone comes up with a prettier song than this one this year — or in the next decade.) Accompanied only by a banjo, a harmonica, and his stomping foot, Slackeye’s foghorn voice is perfectly suited to this tale of a lonesome journey to the nadir of his life. Riffing on lines from the old song “Hesitation Blues,” he sings, “Whiskey was the river and me, I was the duck/I lived down at the bottom and I could not get up/At first I thought I’d found it, a place where I belonged/But I had no home.”
Then, on “Cowboy Song” — a herky-jerky waltz that, with a few Balkan embellishments, could almost be a Beirut song — riding the range is the prescription that rebuilds a broken soul: “A man alone in the wilderness/That’s where his soul is born/As long as he’s singing his cowboy song.”
Keep singing, Slackeye.
You can listen to and/or name your own buying price for Giving My Bones to the Western Lands at www.slackeyeslim.bandcamp.com. But even though you can snag it for free, pay him something. Don’t be a jerk! It's Video time! Here's the title song from Johnny Dowd's new album
And here's a song called "Cadillac Hearse" from that album And here are a couple of my favorite new Slackeye Slim songs And here's a latter-day version of "Gangster of Love" by Johnny "Guitar" Watson
Warning: This Throwback Thursday post might give you sudden cravings for Cinnabon
Readers who watched the opening scene of the premier episode of Better Call Saul will know what I'm talking about.
It's a black-and-white scene featuring a mustachioed Saul Goodman working at a Cinnabon shop at some Omaha mall, apparently hiding out from his recent life of sleazy lawyering and drug money laundering in Albuquerque, as depicted in Breaking Bad.
But in the background there's this song playing, taking on sinister undertones almost certainly not intended when it was recorded. And it sounds just like this:
"Address Unknown" was a 1939 hit for a popular African-American vocal group called The Ink Spots. According to the All Music Guide:
The Ink Spots played a large role in pioneering the black vocal group-harmony genre, helping to pave the way for the doo wop explosion of the '50s. The quavering high tenor of Bill Kenny presaged hundreds of street-corner leads to come, and the sweet harmonies of Charlie Fuqua, Deek Watson, and bass Hoppy Jones (who died in 1944) backed him flawlessly.
All Music notes that "Countless groups masquerading as The Ink Spots have thrived across the nation since the '50s."
I can vouch for that. Back in the early '80s I was assigned to interview the lead singer of "The Ink Spots" who were playing in Santa Fe. I talked with some old guy in his hotel room at La Fonda. I forgot his name, but it wasn't Bill, Charlie, Deek or Hoppy.
Part of the problem was due to the original members themselves. Both Charlie and Deek started rival Ink Spots groups in the early '50s.
Be that as it may, The (real) Ink Spots made some sweet sounds during their glory years of the late '30s through the mid '40s.
And speaking of songs on recent television shows, The Ink Spots covered this Vera Lynn hit, which graced the end of The Colbert Report in December. The group recorded the song at least three times between 1941 and 1944.
Next Monday is Presidents Day. Because I don't do "Wacky Monday" on this blog, we'll just have to celebrate a little early.
Until recently I thought Presidents Day was in honor of George Washington and Abe Lincoln, both of whom were born in February.
But that's not true according to the Snopes website -- which apparently took time off from debunking 9-11 conspiracies and knocking down rumors that a little known section of Obamacare involves selling the kidneys of little white girls to Kenyan organ smugglers.
According to Snopes, the only official holiday next week is for Washington's Birthday. Technically "Presidents Day" doesn't exist. Congress never passed a law to declare it as such.
But what the heck. Why not honor, or at least lampoon, as many presidents as possible in preparation for this holiday that isn't even a holiday.
Here are a few songs to set the tone.
First a snazzy little musical history lesson from They Might Be Giants.
The next artist, known as "Mr. Beat" on Youtube, seems to have been very influenced by They Might Be Giants. Here's a song about the guy who was president when I was born.
Country Joe & The Fish give a one-fingered salute to two presidents with this one. The original version of "Superbird," which appeared on their first album Electric Music for the Mind and Bodywas only about LBJ. But sometime after Richard Nixon took office, Country Joe updated the tune.
This next tune is a "song-poem" about our disco-era president Jimmy Carter. It was written by Waskey Elwood Walls Jr. sung by song-poem titan Gene Marshall (Gene Merlino).
Friday, Feb. 6, 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
I know I usually throwback to the pre-rock 'n' roll era on Throwback Thursday, but the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper -- 56 years and two days ago -- is a big one.
I was only five years old when the single engine plane carrying the three rockers went down in a snow storm over Iowa on Feb. 3, 1959. But I was a little rock 'n' roll freak even then. I loved The Coasters and I loved Buddy Holly, especially his hit "Peggy Sue." I recall hearing it played on American Bandstand. My mom told me that one of the teenage girls dancing on the show was actually Peggy Sue.
I was only five, but I was in lust!
If my memory serves, I found out about the plane crash listening to a disc jockey talk about it on the radio before playing a Buddy song. I only remember feeling incredibly sad. I'd never thought much about death before. How could someone as cool as Buddy Holly die?
I still get sad thinking about it. At least the music lives on.
If you knew...
Here's Ritchie Valens, with a weird little cameo by Chuck Berry and Alan Freed (from the movie Go, Johnny, Go! )
And here's the Bopper, J.P. Richardson, the only one of the three who hasn't had a movie made about him.
And what the hell, this is far more recent history, but Feb. 4, 2009 is the day that Erick Lee Purkhiser, aka Lux Interior of The Cramps, died. February is just a crappy month for rock 'n' roll.
One of the many contributions of Dr. Demento is his rescuing a comic singer called Benny Bell from the dustbin of history.
Thanks to the good doctor, who frequently played "Shaving Cream," recorded in 1946, and to a lesser extent oter songs like "Everybody Loves My Fanny," Benny Bell won a whole new generation of fans.
I don't care how many times I've heard it, these lyrics always bring a chuckle:
"I have a sad story to tell you It may hurt your feelings a bit Last night when I walked into my bathroom I stepped in a big pile of ... Shhhhh . . . aving cream Be nice and clean. Shave every day and you'll always look keen."
And so forth.
For those not familiar with Bell's biggest hit, (which actually was sung not by Bell, but by a vocalist named Phil Winston aka Paul Wynn) take a listen:
Bell, born Benjamin Zamburg in 1906, (and died in 1999) was a pioneer in Jewish American comedy records.
According to his biography at the Judaica Sound Archives, (a massive collection of Jewish music) which is part of Florida Atlantic University:
Like so many others of his day who lived on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Benny Bell’s first language was Yiddish. He was drawn to the world of entertainment from an early age, already writing song lyrics and music as a teenager. The lure of show business beckoned and before long he was performing on the Vaudeville stage as Benny Bimbo. A natural comedian, Benny Bell enjoyed nothing more than making people laugh. Starting his own record company in the 1930’s, he became a pioneer in the field of Yiddish comedy phonograph recordings. He produced a series of party records using different names, e.g. Paul Wynn, and which were considered risqué at the time, but are really quite mild by today’s standards.
The Internet Archive has collected 31 old Benny Bell recordings. Most are from old scratchy 78s in the '40s, though some like "A Goose for My Girl," "Farewell Song" and "Turtle Song," as late as the '70s. Download any or all of these HERE or listen below.
When you listen to Track 4, "Dopey John," go back and read my exploration of the song "Cabbage Head" on this blog. (CLICK HERE)
And as a special bonus, here's a version of "Shaving Cream" by none other than Dave Van Rock
Sunday, Feb. 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 below
Friday, January 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
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Jan. 31, 2015
A couple of months ago, when I first got my copy of It’s All in Your Head, the latest offering by that “culture jamming” audio prankster collective known as Negativland, I realized that this work, packaged in a copy of the Bible, could offend a lot of people. (A collector’s edition of the album comes in a Koran.)
But I didn’t suspect that it could literally be dangerous. However, the murders in Paris of Charlie Hebdo staff members by Islamic extremists outraged by irreverent cartoons reminded me that we live in a world in which satire can get you killed. This makes It’s All in Your Head far more relevant than it was the day I opened it.
The project is a rambling exploration of faith, God, organized religions, and how prevailing attitudes toward matters of the spirit affect us all. The first disc bites into Christianity, while the second mostly takes on Islam.
Using clips borrowed from television; radio; movies; children’s records; sermons; scientific lectures; comedy routines; the group’s trademark electronic blips, bloops, and squalls; and even a few songs you might recognize (among them the Talking Heads’ “Heaven,” Jefferson Starship’s “Miracles,” and “I’ve Gotta Be Me” by Sammy Davis Jr.), Negativland constructs an aural theme-park ride that’s funny, horrifying, educational, emotional, and mystifying — sometimes all at once.
“There is no God!” a man insanely shouts at various points throughout this two-disc extended sound collage. I’m not sure whether this sound clip is from a movie (it reminds me a little of Charlton Heston bellowing “It’s a madhouse!” in the original Planet of the Apes) or if it’s one of the Negativlads yelling. It doesn’t matter. The message is clear. However, a counterpart to that is another sound clip, frequently repeated throughout It’s All in Your Head, in which a different man solemnly says, “Let us have faith.” The voice sounds familiar. I think it might be Richard Nixon.
Anyone who has followed Negativland knows where the group stands. In 1987 the band became notorious for a hilarious track called “Christianity Is Stupid,” in which the words of the title are repeated in an out-of-context sound clip by some blustery preacher.
This album delves deeper. It could be subtitled "All Religions Are Stupid." It’s built around a radio station, It’s All in Your Head FM (“Monotheism, but in stereo”), on the Universal Media Netweb.
For most of the first disc, you hear different voices, sometimes interrupted by the imaginary radio staff, presenting religious arguments. On one side are Christian preachers, country singers, and others arguing against atheism, evolution, same-sex marriage, and so on. On the other side there are anthropologists, scientists, and other critics of religion, basically arguing that Christianity is, well, stupid.
Negativland in Portland, August 2014
The track titled “Alone With Just a Story” features the voice of a man with a British accent (is this the late Christopher Hitchens?) questioning the entire idea of faith.
“It teaches people, especially teaches children, that to believe in something without evidence is a virtue, ,,, I think children should be taught to seek evidence. … You’re taught if you start to have doubts, then you must pray to overcome those doubts. You’re taught that if somebody comes to you with plausible arguments to the contrary, then that’s probably the devil speaking.”
After this, a woman says, “This is really fun because you can make a Jello mold that looks like a brain.”
God bless Negativland!
But in addition to mocking anti-evolution preachers, Negativland also lampoons pro-evolution scientists in what is probably the funniest part of the album: a Firesign Theatre-like track called “Wildlife Tonight.” This is an original piece — not something sampled from radio or TV — in which goofy scientists shave a chimp to prove that apes are related to humans. (“Don’t worry about Cherry, folks, we have a little skirt and sweater for her.”)
The first disc tends to be lighthearted. Poking fun at preachers is a time-honored American comedy tradition, going back before Mark Twain. Even the serious parts seem like overly earnest dorm-room discussions. Negativland is on safe ground here.
But at the very end of the disc, there is a blaring tone followed by an announcement of an attack on the United States and a blast of sonic discordance.
At the outset of the next disc, the host announces that the station is under new management. Middle Eastern music and people speaking in Arabic follow. The announcer, in his generic radio voice, says, “You’re listening to It’s All in Your Head FM. We’re all Mohammads now.”
And now there are ghostly voices saying “God is perfect” and repeating the word Islam. This is followed by a series of clips of scholarly lectures on the history of Islam, terrorism, and the Crusades. In a track called “Holy War,” we hear the voice of George W. Bush announcing the bombing of Baghdad and the invasion of Iraq and hear some American berserker calling for the bombing of Mecca and other holy places. “This is a holy war,” he says.
The most chilling moment of the entire album comes in the middle of a lengthy track called “Push the Button.” Here a woman, purportedly a jihadist (her accent sounds British), explains, “I don’t target women and children in particular. … The way I see it is that the Jews weren’t merciful with my nation. I don’t have anything against Israeli children. But I know there is the possibility that an Israeli child could grow up and one day come to kill my son or my neighbor’s son. Therefore I feel he should be dead now.”
And while she is justifying these unspeakable acts, in the background you hear a group of schoolchildren singing a sweet version of the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” (from the Langley Schools Music Project, 1970s recordings of popular songs performed by kids).
The major theme of It’s All in Your Head is that blind faith in the god of whatever culture you come from, in conjunction with unblinking obedience to political leaders (a by-product of that unquestioning faith), can only lead to hatred and violence against those who believe otherwise. Not a terribly original thought, though a valid one.
The album ends with a message from the radio station, which seems to have returned to its old management. The announcer puts forth the question:
“God, natural fact or unnatural fiction? This decision is your head’s to decide. And the next step will be yours to remove your blindfold and take this All in Your Head message out of this building to all of those unable to attend this broadcast.”
With “Awesome God,” Rich Mullins’ slick 1988 contemporary gospel song swelling in the background, a listener might envision a righteous, godless army of determined rationalists marching forth with the terrible swift sword of intellect to vanquish the blind and hateful forces of religious fanaticism.
I first heard of the outlaw Sam Hall as a little kid. I heard it on a Tex
Ritter album called Blood on the Saddle, which originally was released in
1960. Next to the title song -- which is a story for another day -- "Sam Hall"
was my favorite track on the album.
There was nothing heroic about Sam Hall, at least the way Tex told it. No mythic
elements. No scent of injustice in his execution. He was just a hardcore,
unrepentant bad-ass, a self-admitted murderer ("I killed a man they said, and I
smashed in his head and I left him there for dead ...") facing the gallows with
sneer and weird little whoop. He confronts the sheriff, a preacher, a woman
named Molly, or may or may not have done him wrong and a hostile crowd that
wants to see him die.
And Sam's main message to them all: "Damn your eyes!" Or was it "Blast Your
Hide"? Or some other variation?
I didn't realize it at the time, but Tex Ritter had done a few versions of Sam
Hall, It was the first single he recorded for Decca Records in the mid 1930s.
And he sang in his first movie, Song of the Gringo in 1936. Here's a video of
that:
But "Sam Hall" is much older than that.
Richard Thompson on his 2003 album 10,000 Years of Popular Music,
introduces it, saying introduces it calling it "an 1840s" song. Says
Thompson, "And the guy who sang it would come on stage in the prison stripes and
manacles.... So feel free to boo during the song, boo and hiss ..."
And that's basically correct. The song apparently comes from an old British folk
song about a condemned criminal called "Jack Hall," A 1904 book,
Folk Songs from the Sommerset
edited by Cecil Sharp, quotes Frank Kidson, an early folksong scholar:
Jack Hall was a chimney sweeper, who was executed for burglary in 1701. He
had been sold when a child to a chimney sweeper for a guinea ... About 1845-50 a comic singer named G. W. Ross revived [`Jack Hall'] under
the name `Sam Hall,' with an added coarseness not in the original."
Ross apparently turned it into the kind of stage routine Thompson described.
Here's Thompson's version which is based on Ross' song.
Skipping ahead to the 1960s, The Dubliners, an Irish folk group recorded a
version of "Sam Hall." I their re-telling, the condemned chimney sweep isn't
just a blustery bad guy. He has taken on some aspects of Robin Hood.
I have twenty pounds in store and I’ll rob for twenty more For the rich must help the poor, so must I ...
Note that the Sam Hall in the British or Irish versions is just a robber, not a
murderer. But here in America, our Sam is a killer. Singer Josh White's lyrics
are closer in to Ritter's: "You're a bunch of muckers all, goddamn your eyes
..." Here's his version, which first appeared in 1955 on White's album
The Story Of John Henry & Ballads, Blues And Other Songs.
Meanwhile, Johnny Cash's Sam, from his 1965 album Sings the Ballads of the True West sounds like a psychotic drunk.
In their 1996 album Green Suede Shoes, the Celt-rock band Black 47 took
Sam back to the Emerald Isle. In their version, loosely based on that of The
Dubliners, Sam is a chimney sweep again, an oppressed worker who lost his temper
at a cruel boss.
I had three fine sons to feed, that's no joke, that's no joke And a wife worn out from need, that's no joke But the boss he said to me, "Get your brats out on the street For they cost too much to feed", that's no lie, that's no lie My wife died from misery, that's no lie Oh, I struck the bastard down, I don't deny, I don't deny Raised the black flag up on high for anarchy Oh, I struck the bastard down, to hell with bosses, church and crown But they hunted me to ground like a dog.
Black 47's anarchist martyr's last words are "Liberty for all mankind!"
Very noble. But somehow "Damn your eyes!" strangely is more satisfying.
Most people familiar with Norman Greenbaum know him as the "Spirit in the Sky" guy.
But years before Greenbaum was doing the psychedelic Jesus boogie, he was selling some musical snake oil under the name of Dr. West.
Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band never got to be as famous as Jim Kweskin's Jug Band, which came before them, or Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, who came after them.
But Greenbaum's band had a true novelty hit, circa 1966 with a goofy jug-band style tune called "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago."
For the uninitiated, here's how that song went:
According to an old rock 'n' roll cliche, The Velvet Underground didn't sell many records, but every one who bought one of their records started a band.
That was my story, except instead of The Velvet Underground, it was Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band. (Except I didn't actually buy their album I won my copy from WKY Radio in Oklahoma City. They had a contest for people to draw the Eggplant that Ate Chicago. I did and I was one of the winners. I was in the 8th grade.)
And just like the Eggplant thought about Chicago, it "was a treat, it was sweet, it was just like sugar.”
As I wrote when reviewing a Dr. West retrospect in No Depression magazine back in 1999:
Ramhorn City, here we come
The official punk rock party line is that punk is the most democratic of all types of music because you don’t even know how to play your instrument to be in a band. But for me, as a youngster in the late 1960s, it was jug-band music that opened the door. With a jug band, you didn’t even need to have a real instrument to join in. Antiquated household appliances like the washtub and washboard could be turned into a rhythm section, kindergarten percussion instruments were welcome, and kazoos were mandatory.
The band with my brother Jack was called The Ramhorn City Go-Go Squad & Uptight Washtub Band. We covered "Eggplant," (though to be honest, we never got the hang of the song), as well as other Dr. West tunes, including these two:
But apparently we weren't the only ones who dug "Eggplant." Here's a soul version by the great Big Maybelle.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker apparently likes The Dropkick Murphys more than the Murphs like him.
The Boston Celt -punk band took to Twitter to call Walker for using their song "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" at his political events -- most recently at the Iowa Freedom Summit over the weekend.
“@ScottWalker @GovWalker Please stop using our music in any way. We literally hate you. Love, Dropkick Murphys,”
You can read moreHERE (Thanks, Elena)
Walker should heed the story of another governor, ex-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist who appropriated a song from a rock band The Talking Heads' "Road to Nowhere," without permission. (Warning: The following video is painful to watch.)
Notice Crist didn't use "Psycho Killer" when he ran for governor of Florida last year.
I know know how these artists feel. I hated it when Lyndon Larouche used my song at the campaign rallies. (Just kidding, just kidding ...)
Sunday, January 25, 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 below
Friday, January 23, 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
I'll be the Master of Ceremonies Saturday night at a show my my pal, ex-Angry Samoan Gregg Turner,
Turner currently is pushing his Kickstarter project to raise cash to record a new album he;s calling Chartbusters! (Click that link and check out the groovy promo video where you'll see my sensituve portrayal of Sammy the Spatula.)
The show is at Phil's Space Gallery, 1410 Second Street at 7 pm Saturday Jan. 24.
It's free, but Gregg will be shamelessly begging you to donate to his Kickstarter. (For $15 you get a CD when Chartbusters! is released. Bigger pledges bring you more goodies).
So come by Saturday night. I might even join turner to sing our favorite Bono song.
Damn, I hate winter! The snow here in Santa Fe made me start fantasizing about Hawaii ...
So let's have some music from Andy Iona & His Islanders to warm us up.
Ioana was born New Year's Day, 1902. He's best known for combining traditional Hawaiian music with swing jazz. According to his bio at the University of Hawaii's Hawaiian Music Collection site:
He was considered an all around musician with the ability to play many instruments; but was noted for being an excellent steel guitarist and saxophonist. Beyond his musical talent, Andy was a superb arranger and composer, having the ability to write a quality orchestral arrangement without using an instrument. Despite the loss of his thumb in a machine shop accident at school, Andy became the first saxophone player for John Noble and the Moana Orchestra in the early 1920s. He also was a member of the Royal Hawaiian Band. Though he started out in the biz playng sax, Ioan became better know for playing Hawaiian steel guitar.
Ioana died in 1966, but his music lives on through the records he left behind -- and through Youtube and the Internet Archives.
Here is one of his better-known songs:
I'd heard "Lovely Hula Hands" (done by Bing Crosby, Don Ho, Marty Robbins, Junior Brown and many more) by "Naughty Hula Eyes" is even more intriguing:
Here's one of the tunes he recorded with Louis Armstrong
And in case you can't get enough, here is a playlist of 14 Ioana tunes from the Internet Archive. Most of these were recorded in the 1930s.
