Are there any songs out there about MY favorite super hero?
OK, this Wacky Wednesday was inspired by a recent discussion on the Dr. Demento Show Facebook page. Someone asked for songs about super heroes and the response was colossal.
Some of the ones you'll see below were posted in that thread. Others are just old favorites of mine (because I'm a pretty super guy). Some were both.
Let's start with the old San Francisco hippie band Mother Earth and this song by member Powell St. John that talks about lots of superfolk. It's called "Marvel Group."
Lots of artist have covered Neal Hefti's theme from a very popular TV show in the '60s. But none did it better than Iggy.
Sun Ra must have been a big Batman fan. Not only did he do an entire album of instrumental songs inspired by the caped crusader with members of the Blues Project (under the name "The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale") he did this song with James Jacson on vocals:
In the '90s, The Ramones made the Spiderman theme their own. Joey was very sympathetic to Peter Parker, having once himself been bitten by a radioactive cockroach.
There have been many songs about, or at least inspired by Superman, not even counting that detestable one by the Crash Test Dummies.) But this one, which introduced the world to Laurie Amderson, is my surreal favorite.
Sweet Jayne celebrates the biggest female super-being
"Wait a second, I'm Iron Man. How come you always get to be Iron Man?"
And here's another TV show theme, which I first heard on one of those floppy vinyl discs when I joined The Merry Marvel Marching Society as a youngster.
Sunday, April 28, 2019 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
Shake a Tail Feather by Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
Have Love Will Travel by The Sonics
Route 1 Box 144 by Johnny Cash
Breathless by Jerry Lee Lewis
Blood by REQ'D
Good Things by Sleater-Kinney
Girl from '62 by Thee Headcoats
Unable to See the Good by The Buff Medways
Scepter by Sleeve Cannon
Travelin' Mood by Wee Willie Wayne
She's Wild by The Vagoos
Let Me Out by Mark Sultan
The Rocky Road to Dublin by The Tossers
Fish Heads by Barnes & Barnes
Break the Spell by Gogol Bordello
Bold Marauder by Drywall
Hypothetical Life by Grey City Passengers
Mexican Garage by Archie & The Bunkers
Almost Enough by Jason Ringenberg
The Dumb Song by Dale Watson
Last Train to Sanesville by Martha Fields
Never Did No Wanderin' by The Folksmen
New Dream by Lonesome Shack
Walking the Floor by Johnny Dowd
I Have a Mother (Don't Need Another) by The Polkaholics
I Come to Praise His Name by Leo "Bud" Welch
I Can't Control Myself by The Troggs
The Christian Thing by Jono Manson, Terry Allen & Eliza Gilkyson
Andromeda by The Mekons
The Olde Trip to Jerusalem by Chivalrous Amoekons
Carry Me by The Yawpers
I Pity the Poor Immigrant by Richie Havens
Jenny of Oldstones by Florence & The Machine CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican April 26, 2018
Let me riff on the old Wolf Brand Chili ad from decades ago: Neighbor, how long has it been since you read a big steaming Terrell’s Tune-up column entirely devoted to country music?
Well, that’s too long! So here is a look at three fine hillbilly albums I’ve been listening to lately.
* Call Me Lucky by Dale Watson. If there’s a better, more authentic, harder working and more
prolific purveyor of old fashioned honky-tonk music than Watson, I sure haven’t heard of him or her. He’s a little guy with a big white pompadour and a powerful baritone, similar to that of Waylon Jennings, though sometimes reminiscent of Johnny Cash.
He’s got humor and soul, an amazing (and amazingly consistent) band and a work ethic that would put most of us to shame. I’ve seen him play the Continental Club in Austin on both Christmas and Thanksgiving nights and once saw him at the Broken Spoke in the Texas capital play three hours without taking a break.
And the records keep coming. By my count, this is his sixth album since 2015. Among his recent discography there’s a duet with Ray Benson, a covers album, a live album and one featuring of re-recordings of his old songs.
In the past year or so, Watson bought a second home, so he now splits his residency between Austin and Memphis. And yes, you can hear echoes of both Sun rockabilly and Stax soul in Lucky (though not as much as his 2011 offering The Sun Sessions, which was recorded at the studio where Elvis, Jerry Lee, Johnny Cash and Cash made their magic.)
A few songs, including “Tupelo, Mississippi & a ’57 Fairlane,” “Inside View” and “Who Needs This Band” feature a horn section. Willie Nelson’s harmonica man Mickey Rafael, sort-of a one-man horn section himself, graces some songs here, including “Johnny and June,” on which Watson trades lines of love with his real-life girlfriend Celine Lee.
In two songs here, Watson jokingly questions his own intelligence. “I know that I’m not smarter than nearly anyone / I’m just lucky,” he sings in the title track. And backed by a classic Johnny Cash chunka-chunka beat in “The Dumb Song” Watson pokes fun at his own dumb habits like drinking, smoking and eating “that Southern fried chicken.”
But don’t be fooled. Dale is far from dumb. And if you’re smart you’ll give this album a listen.
* Stand Tall by Jason Ringenberg. With Jason & The Scorchers, the band that made him famous (well, kinda famous) Ringenberg is the guy who brought cow-punk to Nashville. No question he’s a rocker, but he’s got country in his heart. That was obvious even back in the days when he was sporting a Mohawk along with a red sparkly C&W jacket. And it’s even more obvious on this, his latest solo album.
Starting off with the spaghetti-western style instrumental title song, this album is populated with hard-edged honky-tonkers like “Many Happy Hangovers to You,” an emotional cover of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Hobo Bill’s Last Ride,” a sweet acoustic, fiddle-colored ode to nature, “Here in the Sequoias” and a country-waltz version of Bob Dylan’s “Farewell Angelina.”
There are songs praising The Ramones – based on the time The Scorchers backed them on a 1982 Texas tour – environmentalist pioneer John Muir and John the Baptist, (who Ringenberg says “was a real humdinger.”)
This is not nearly as political his last proper solo record, 2004’s Empire Builders, (I’m not counting his children’s records he’s released under the name of “Farmer Jason) there’s a fife-and-drums Civil War ballad, “I’m Walking Home,” which is anti-war as well as anti-slavery and pretty radical all around. “Well I hated slavery and all that support it / But I hate the Union for what it’s become,” the Confederate deserter sings.
* Dancing Shadows by Martha Fields. For the past several years, the West Virginia-born Fields has
made the very best country music coming out of France. Maybe even the whole European Union. And I believe this album, released late last year, is the expatriate hillbilly’s best –at least so far. Her band may be French, but they sound like true Americans to me.
Some of the songs here deal with being a foreigner, such as the lonesome “Paris to Austin” (that contains the line “I’ll pretend the Eifel Tower is a big oil well”) and the bluesy “Exile,” in which Fields sings, “I’m a stranger in my homeland / So afraid for my homeland / And I hurt for what I’ve left behind …”
There are a couple of nostalgic tunes for her past homes, the bluegrass-touched “West Virginia in My Bones,” and the slow aching, acoustic “Oklahoma on My Mind.” However I like up-tempo, country-rockers like “Last Train to Sanesville” (I missed that train years ago!), the dobro-driven “Demona,” and the bluegrass stomp “Maxine.”
But the one I keep going back to is the truthfully titled romp called “Hillbilly Bop.” My favorite verse is where she sings, “Well brother’s got the moonshine, Daddy’s got molasses / Get off your hillbilly asses / You gotta hillbilly bop …”
Here are some videos
First a live version of the title song of Dale's latest.
Jason scorches The Ramones
Martha shows how the Hillbilly Bop is done
And yes, tracks from all three of these albums, plus a lot more, can be heard on a recent episode of The Big Enchilada. In fact, I named the episode after a certain Martha Fields song. Listen and/or download HEREor just listen below:
Leiber & Stoller with The Coasters and others. Jerry's at the piano on the left (the one without the goatee.)
Jerry Leiber, who with partner Mike Stoller constituted half of what I believe to be the greatest songwriting team of the rock 'n' roll era, would have been 86 today.
The New York Times talked about Leiber & Stoller in Jerry's obit after he died in 2011:
The team of Leiber and Stoller was formed in 1950, when Mr. Leiber was still a student at Fairfax High in Los Angeles and Mr. Stoller, a fellow rhythm-and-blues fanatic, was a freshman at Los Angeles City College. With Mr. Leiber contributing catchy, street-savvy lyrics and Mr. Stoller, a pianist, composing infectious, bluesy tunes, they set about writing songs with black singers and groups in mind. In 1952, they wrote “Hound Dog” for the blues singer Big Mama Thornton. The song became an enormous hit for Elvis Presley in 1956 and made Leiber and Stoller the hottest songwriting team in rock ’n’ roll. They later wrote “Jailhouse Rock,”“Loving You,”“Don’t,” “Treat Me Nice,” “King Creole” and other songs for Presley, despite their loathing for his interpretation of “Hound Dog.” In the late 1950s, having relocated to New York and taken their place among the constellation of talents associated with the Brill Building, they emerged as perhaps the most potent songwriting team in the genre.
In honor of Jerry's birthday, here are just a handful of my favorite Leiber & Stoller songs.
Let's start out with one about my town, as performed by Hank Snow
I used to perform this Lavern Baker favorite one myself back in the day
Leiber & Stoller wrote this for The Drifters. But I've always loved Neil Young's version. "Give me some of that crack!"
And this one was for the Coasters, but Sam the Sham did a good job on it
Speaking of The Coasters, nearly all the songs we remember them for were penned by Jerry & Mike. On this one, the dynamic duo were aided by the great Doc Pomus, one of the other great songwriters of that era.
Leiber & Stoller also were responsible for a lot more Elvis songs than "Hound Dog." This one, the title song from his second movie, is one of the King's most lovely ballads:
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, you had to walk into The Big Enchilada Podcast. You'll be shocked—shocked—to find that crazy rocking is going on in here! We'll always have The Big Enchilada. Here's looking at you, kid!
And remember, The Big Enchilada is officially listed in the iTunes store. So go subscribe, if you haven't already (and gimme a good rating and review if you're so inclined.) Thanks.
Sunday, April 21, 2019 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
Eggs on Plate by Iggy Pop
Are You for Real by Question Mark & The Mysterians
I'm Not Afraid of Life by The Ramones
Car by REQ'D
54/40 or Fight by Dead Moon
Let Him Try by April March
Fate of a Gambler by Laino & Broken Seeds
Bad Little Woman by The Shadows of Night
Fire in My Bones by 13th Floor Elevators
The Ballad of John & Yoko by The Beatles
In a Parallel World by CTMF
Unable to See the Good by The Buff Medways
Take It Easy, Greasy by Bobby Charles
Marijuana Hell by The Rockin' Guys
The Man from Harlem by Cab Calloway
Don't Bogart Me by The Fraternity of Man
Hickoid Heaven by The Hickoids
F*!#in' Up by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Peter Cottontail by The Bubbadinos
The Temple by Afghan Whigs
King Herod's Song by Alice Cooper
Damned for All Time by Scratch Acid
Human Question by The Yawpers
Ghost Cave Lament by The Flesh Eaters
Be Together by Eleni Mandell
All I Wanna Do by The War & Treaty
Four Gray Walls by Johnny Dowd
Whistle in the Dark by Mojo Ju Ju
After The Rain by The Mekons
Blue Distance by Peter Case CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A little more than four years ago, I did a Wacky Wednesday post of music videos by actual cults -- including music from The Children of God, Scientology, the Hare Krishnas and The Christ Family -- a group I'd encountered before in Santa Fe in the early '80s. (However, within a few months of that post, The Christ Family pulled all their videos off YouTube, apparently forever.)
Here's the sequel to that post.
Let's start with something from a 1973 album by Rev. Jimmy Jones' Peoples Temple Choir. This was four years before they drank the not-proverbial Kool-Aid,
Here's a happy little tune called "Gloomy Sunday" from Church of Satan Founder Anton LaVey
California in the '70s must have been a magical place. The Source Family, led by a Sunset Strip health-food restaurant owner called Father Yod (James E. Baker), was the subject of a fascinating 2012 documentary. This guru had his own sanctified psychedelic band called Ya Ho Wha 13. They sounded like this:
Anyone remember Synanon? This was a group founded by Charles E. Dederich in Santa Monica in the late '50s as a drug rehab clinic. But it grew into a cult that became known for violent retribution against critics.
In 1979 Mr. Dederich pleaded no contest to a charge of conspiracy to murder a Los Angeles lawyer by placing a rattlesnake in his mailbox, after the lawyer won a $300,000 suit against Synanon.
(That lawyer, Paul Morantz, was representing former Synanon members and relatives of members who said they were being held in Synanon against their will. The snake bit Morantz, who was hospitalized for six days.)
But in 1962, years before that unpleasantness with the snake, etc., jazz guitarist Joe Pass recorded an album featuring fellow musician patients at Synanon being treated for heroin addiction. Here's a track from that album, Sounds of Synanon.
