THROWBACK THURSDAY: Fare Thee Well, Old Hickory

No, the new $20 bill will NOT be a Bozo Buck

It looks like Andy Jackson is moving to the back of the buck.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced Wednesday a redesign of the nation's $5, $10 and $20 bills. On the $20, President Andrew Jackson is being moved to the backside of the bill while Harriet Tubman will replace him on the front.

For those who don't their history, Tubman was born a slave in 1822. But she escaped to her freedom and went on to become an abolitionist, a spy for the Union during the Civil War and a major player in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to non-slave states.

Most the folks I talked to Wednesday were glad to see Jackson go.  After all, he was a slaveholder and dedicated advocate of removing Indians from their homelands in the southeastern U.S. The Trail of Tears? That was his. He signed the Indian Removal Act which forced many Southern tribes to Indian Territory (now known as Oklahoma.)

And I agree, Tubman's a better choice. But still, somewhere inside me I hear the voice of Johnny Horton and feel some bittersweet nostalgia for Old Hickoy.

Here's what I'm talking about:

I've known this song since I was a little kid. But I didn't realize until recently that it's a descendant of a song, written in 1821 by one Samuel Woodworth.

It's called "The Hunters of Kentucky," though it's also known as "The Battle of New Orleans" "Jackson and Kentucky" and "Half Horse or Half Alligator." Jackson himself used the song as his campaign theme both times he ran for president (1824 and 1828.)

Here's a version by a singer named Tom Roush.



While searching for Andrew Jackson songs last night (somehow I thought there would be more) I found a group from Arizona called the Andrew Jackson Jihad. They're pretty cool, but they're demoting Andrew Jackson too. A couple of months ago they shortened their name to simply AJJ. "Interesting historical figure as he was, he was an odious person and our fascination with him has grown stale," the band said.

Old Hickory can't get a break these days.

WACKY WEDNESDAY: It's 4-20 Again!

Yes, it's that that time of the year again ...

And here's some music for a little holiday joy.

I just saw The Super Suckers play this song live Tuesday Monday night at Meow Wolf.




Some Arkansas depravity from Rockin' Guys. (The original version is HERE)



I remember this Steppenwolf song from high school.



The late John Hartford sings about bonding with his grandmother



Espanola's own Imperial Rooster, responsible citizens that they are, encourages the youth not to toke and drive



If this ain't enough for ya, check out last year's Throwback Thursday 4-20 post.

Have a safe and happy 4-20

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, April 17, 2016
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

All I Want is More by Kathy Freeman with Auto Pilot Club

Cheap Thrills by Ruben & The Jets

Bee Line by The Ugly Beats

She's Got Fangs by The Electric Mess

Like Food, It Feeds by Coachwhips

Primitive Man by The Monsters

CC Rider by The Gibson Brothers and Workdog

One Night of Sin by Simon Stokes

Murder in My Heart for the Judge by Moby Grape

 

FUF / Trudie Trudie by The Gears

Tribe Cannibal by Horror Deluxe

Yona's Blues by The Come N' Go

Death of Beewak by Angry Samoans

New Kind of a Kick by The Cramps

Nerja' sawa (نرجع سوا ) by Mazhott

Almost Black by James Chance

8th Grade (Pre-teen Cretins) by The Conjugal Visits

 

Tie My Hands to the Floor by Sulphur City

Got Blood in My Rhythm by The Blues Against Youth

Sugar Farm by Lonesome Shack

Bad Habits by The Outta Sorts

Egypt Berry by The Night Beats

Left of the Dial by The Replacements

One More Try by Barrence Whitfiled & The Savages

 

Nantucket Girls Song by The Tossers

Breakup From Hell by The Barbarellatones

Centerfold by Beach Balls

Ballroom by Vulgargrad

I'll Take Care of You by Gil Scott-Heron

Yesterday is Gone by Rattlin' Bone

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Record Store Day Grooviness in Santa Fe

Just a quick note to let New Mexico folks know that there is  Record Store Day events in Santa Fe The Guy In The Groove (inside A Sound Look) today at 502 Cerillos Road (at Manhattan Ave.) and -- at least according to the Record Day site -- at The Good Stuff Cafe, 401 W. San Francisco St.

Guy in the Groove  owner Dick Rosemont tells me there will be Record Store Day releases for sale, snacks and he will be spinning vinyl.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, April 15, 2016
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

Lost at Sea by Al Scorch

Tupelo County Jail by Webb Pierce

Jesus Car by The Yawpers

Cherry Bomb by Jimmy & The Mustangs

Love's Made a Fool of You by Bobby Fuller Four

Crazy Boogie by Merle Travis

The Cat Never Sleeps by Mama Rosin with Hipbone Slim & The Knee-Tremblers

Shotgun Boogie by Tennessee Ernie Ford

Somewhere Between You and Me by Buck Owens & Susan Raye

Sixteen Tons by Homer & Jethro

 

I'm an Old Cowhand by Asleep at the Wheel

The Shape I'm in by Levon Helm Band

Dirty Overalls by Del McCoury

Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy by Red Foley

Hoboes Are My Heros by Legendary Shack Shakers

I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am by Merle Haggard

I'm a Hobo by Danny Reevers

Happy Hicky The Hobo by The Delmore Brothers

Daddy Got Bit by a Rabid Possum by Angry Johnny & GTO

 

The Road Goes on Forever by Robert Earl Keene

The Girl at the End of the Bar by The Waco Brothers

Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven by Loretta Lynn

My Baby is a Tramp by Brennan Leigh

Living With the Animals by Mother Earth

The Gypsy by Cornell Hurd

It's All Going to Pot by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Jamey Johnson

The Girl I Sawed in Half by Paul Burch

 

Arizona Territory by Dave Insley

They'll Never Take Her Love From Me by Doug Sahm

Too Close to Heaven by Dad Horse Experience

Sometimes I Dream by Steve Young

Put Down the Gun by Peter Case with David Perales

Epitaph (Black and Blue) by Kris Kristofferson

CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Songs of the Hoboes

A week ago, putting together my Throwback Thursday tribute to the late Merle Haggard, I came across one of his finest early hit, "I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am."

Things I learned in hobo jungle / Were things they never taught me in a class room

Now Hag wasn't really a hobo. But he was born in a boxcar in Oildale, Calif., which served as his family home. And, of course, some of his best songs were those from the perspective of the downtrodden. If anyone could sing about hoboes, it was Haggard.

But he definitely wasn't the first to sing about them. Songs about the rail-riders spread across this great land throughout the early part of the 20th Century. Hoboes popped up in blues songs and hillbilly records.

Some of these tunes were full of pity for the wayward and impoverished lives of these men. Some were cautionary tales, warning others to stay away from that life.

But many romanticized the hobo, expressing envy for their freedom. And today, the classic train-hopping hobo is seen as a mythological character

Perhaps the first hobo hit was "Hallelujah. I'm a Bum," in which a tramp with attitude has witty comebacks for proper people who question the way he lives.

There were several recordings of it around 1928 including versions by Hobo Jack Turner, Vernon Dalhart, John Bennett, Arthur Fields and Harry McClintock, who is best known for his song "Big Rock Candy Mountain," another important contribution to the Hobo Hit Parade. Later, Al Jolson starred in a movie called Hallelujah. I'm a Bum.

Carl Sandburg in The American Songbag, wrote "This old song heard at the water tanks of railroads in Kansas in 1897 and from harvest hands who worked in the wheat fields of Pawnee County, was picked up later by the [International Workers of the World] who made verses of their own for it, and gave it a wide fame."

McClintock, a member of the I.W.W.,  claimed he wrote "Hallelujah. I'm a Bum" years before he recorded it. I can't say if that's true, but he's the only one I know who's claimed authorship.

Here's a McClintock version:



Louis Armstrong had his own hobo song:



A classic hillbilly hobo song, "Rambling Reckless Hobo" by Dick Burnett & Leonard Rutherford

 

Here's a rockin' tune from the year I was born: "Hobo" by J.D. Edwards



And in case you haven't heard enough, here's a whole Mulligan stew pot of Hobo songs

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Happy Cambodian New Year!!!

Happy Cambodian New Year!

That's right, the traditional three-day celebration starts Wednesday, April 13.

I don't actually know much about Khmer traditions. But I'm a huge fan of Cambodian rock 'n' roll from the 1960s and '70s. I've written several times about how the evil Khmer Rouge basically wiped out that music. Follow that link if you need to catch up on that history. Or better yet, watch the documentary Don't Think I've Forgotten.

But today is Cambodian New Year -- not to mention Wacky Wednesday -- so let's not dwell on the horrors of the past.

Let's welcome the New Year angel and honor the Khmer people with some crazy rock 'n' roll.

Let;s start out with Sinn Sisamouth's version of "House of the Rising Sun." I don't know how I missed this when I featured this song on Throwback Thursday a few months ago,



Here's "Shave Your Beard" by Ros Sereysothea, a song I first heard done by Dengue Fever. (Not sure who this lovely lip syncher is.)

 

Here's a little psychedelia by Pan Ron


Some Cambodian surf music with Baksey Cham Krong (from the Don't Think I've Forgotten soundtrack.)

 

Finally, here's Dengue Fever, a contemporary California group with a Cambodia-born singer, Chhom Nimol,  Just like The Animals led me (and countless others) to John Lee Hooker in the '60s, Dengue Fever lured me to Cambodian rock. And I'll always love them for it, This song's called "Mr. Orange"



Happy New Year!