THROWBACK THURSDAY: All the Chapel Bells Were Ringing

Little Jimmy Brown, aka Jean-François Nicot.

He was baptized. He got married. He died and there was a funeral for him.

And at all three of these events CHURCH BELLS RANG!!!!!

Coincidence

I don't think so ...

Today I'm diving into a song that's haunted me since I was but a wee tot. Composed by Swiss songwriter Jean Villard Gilles, the song emerged from France under the title of "Les Trois Cloches." It soon jumped over the Atlantic, where it became famous as "The Three Bells."

The first recording, telling the life story of a small-town bboy named Jean-François Nicot, was by none other than Edith Piaff  in 1946 with a bunch of French fellers (Les Compagnons De La Chanson). Here's a live take by Edith and her compagnons in 1956:

Jean Villard Gilles is one of the few Swiss musicians I know who was never on Voodoo Rhythm Records. I don't know the date of this recording (the compilation it's on was release in 2017. Gilles died in 1982) but here's the songwriter singing his most famous tune:

"Cloches" soon rang in the U.S. with at least two translations. One -- with new French lyrics by Marc Herrand before it was translated into English by Dick Manning (who also co-wrote at least two Perry Como hit,  "Hot Diggity" and "Papa Loves Mambo") -- was called "The Angelus Was Ringing."  As shown by Frank Sinatra's 1949 version, this version didn't even mention poor Jean-François. It was about a guy reuniting with a lover at church.

But the American translation, simply called "The Three Bells," became even more popular. It was recorded by The Andrews Sisters as well as Edith Piaff herself. Jean-François Nicot was gone, but in his place, as the star of the baptism, wedding and funeral, was one Little Jimmy Brown (not to be confused with "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy.")

But it didn't become a major hit in the U.S. until it was recorded by a country group called The Browns with lead singer coincidentally named Jim Ed Brown (his biggest solo hit was the 1967 honky tonk masterpiece "Pop a Top") along with his sisters Maxine and Bonnie.

This haunting version is the first I first heard as a child and still the one I love the best:

Through the years many other singers, including Johnny Cash (with The Carter Family), Andy Williams, Roy Orbison and, more recently Alison Krauss rang those three bells. I dig this take by Ray Charles

Finally, in the sacred words of The Dead Milkmen, "You can move to Montana and listen to Santana, but you still won't be as cool as Sha Na Na!"

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

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 21, 2023
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Old Man from the Mountain by Bryan & The Haggards featuring Dr. Eugene Chadbourne

Monster by Fred Schneider

No Other Girl by The Blasters

Bundle of Joy by The Dean Ween Group

Karate Monkey by The Woggles

Stroller Pollution by Quintron & Miss Pussycat

Daytime Satan by Robert Shredford

Wildest Cat In Town by Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers

Beginning To See The Light by The Velvet Underground

White Light/White Heat by Robbie Quine 

Sleep With A Stranger by Nikki Lane

El Corrido De Johnny El Pachuco by Steve Jordan

A Bloody Life by Rev. Tom Frost

Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA by Devo

Call Of The Wighat by Bang Bang Band Girl

Violent Love by The Big Three 

Hard To Be Human Again by The Mekons 

Streets of your Town by Urban Junior

Lee Marvin by King Automatic 

Don't Let Anyone In by Steve Leon & The Accusations

Stone Walls and Steel Bars by Deano & Jo

Susie Before Sunrise by Stan Ridgway

Me and Rock Bottom by Ronny Elliott

Katarina by Vartinna

Longhair Bluegrass by Robbie Fulks

Howard Hughes Blues by John Hartford

Midnight Bus Station by Jaime Michaels

My Old Timey Baby by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks

Les Trois Cloches by Edith Piaf 

3 AM Blues by Dan Whitaker & The Shinebenders

We Went Away by Dion & The Belmonts 

Night Life by Julie London

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Happy Birthday, Mr. Mothersbaugh!

 I guess he's Devolved into an old man now, (happens to the best of us), but today Mark Mothersbaugh, the voice of Devo, turns 73 tomorrow.

Happy birthday, Spud Boy!

Mothersbaugh was born May 18, 1950 in Akron, Ohio. Attending Kent State University, he fell in with future Devos Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis.

Casale was at the May 4, 1970 where he saw two people he knew -- Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller -- right after they'd been shot by Ohio National Guardsmen. That was impetus for creating Devo -- a band based on the concept of the "devolution" of the human race -- as Casale explained in The Washington Post in 2018.

Mothersbaugh, Casale and various other Devos (including at various points Mark's brothers Bob and Jim) performed around the area for several years. In 1976, they filmed the 9-minute The Truth About De-Evolution, which won a prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. It featured two Devo songs and an appearance by Mothersbaugh's dad, Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr. as "General Boy."

Here's a clip featuring the the original version of "Joko Homo," the first Devo song that asked the age-old musical question, "Are we not men?":

The film stirred the interest of David Bowie, who along with Brian Eno, produced the first Devo album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!  

The group's second album includes this bit of madness. I wonder whether Spud Boy ever found his "real tomato":

The only time I got to see Devo was at the 1996 Lollapalooza in Chandler, Ariz. Devo was great, but many of the macho mosh-pit metal heads, didn't appreciate them. This came following an awful Arizona dust storm that caused The Ramones to cut their set short and postponed the rest of the show for a couple of hours. 

Between that and the regular July heat, anger was rising But Mothersbaugh and crew seemed to feed off the foul energy. Following Devo's set, Soundgarden came on, with singer Chris Cornell (RIP) scolding the dumbfucks who's booed such a great band.  (A not-very good-quality video of Devo's entire set is up on Youtube. Nearly gave me PTSD just watching it.)

Here's "Uncontrollable Urge" from another '96 Lollapalooza show:

Getting back to the show I saw, what really got the metalhead mob angry was when Mothersbaugh assumed his identity of Booji Boy. He ended that set with some confrontational humor, pulling what some said was bacon out of his diaper (and some assume was worse) and throwing it into the crowd. 

So to close this birthday tribute, here's Mothersbaugh as Booji Boy in a movie, Neil Young's Human Highway:

Happy birthday, Mark Mothersbaugh!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

 

Sunday, May 14, 2023
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Livin' For The Weekend by The Dirtbombs

Chantilly Lace by Jerry Lee Lewis

Crazy Mixed Up World by Nick Curran & The Nitelifes

The Crusher by The Cramps 

No Fun by Nick Shoulders

Om Baby Om  by Robbie Quine

So Tuff by Jack Mack & The Heart Attack

Valentine  by Concrete Blonde

The Gypsy by The Cornell Hurd Band 

Magic Touch by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs 

Glad You're Mine by The Mullens

So Glad You're Mine by Elvis Presley

Big Black Hole by The Oblivians 

Witch Doctor by Churchwood

Papa Legba by Pops Staples & Talking Heads

ARHOOLIE SET 

RIP CHRIS STRACHWITZ

Willie Poor Boy by Mance Lipscomb

Brown Skin Woman by Clifton Chenier 

Contrabando De El Paso by Luis Hernández y Leonardo Sifuentes

Big Mama's Bumble Bee Blues by Big Mama Thornton with the Muddy Waters Band

She Brought Life Back To The Dead by Sonny Boy Williamson   

Get Ready, I'm Gonna Move in the Room Upstairs by Rev. Louis Overstreet 

I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag by Country Joe & The Fish

Wine-O-Boogie by Don Tosti’s Pachuco Boogie Boys

Coming In On A Wing And A Prayer by Joseph Spence

(Here's an old Tune-Up about Arhoolie: CLICK HERE)

Dying Breed by Lonesome Bob

That's Life by James Chance & The Contortions

Right Next Door (Because Of Me) by Robert Cray 

God Fearing Heathen by Dan Tyminski 

If I Could Only Fly by Blaze Foley

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THROWBACK THURSDAY: In a Quaint Caravan ...

 

She was a gypsy woman ...

No, that's another song.

Today I'm talking about a tune about another gypsy woman, a lady operating out of a "quaint caravan" who "can look in the future and drive away all your fears.

"I see your bike ... it's someplace far away ... it's in the Alamo ...  in the basement!"

No, that's another fortune teller ...

This is about the best-known work of British songwriter Billy Reid, "The Gypsy."

Basically it's a song about about an old fraud preying on desperate people. (Well, that's my framng.) The narrator here goes to see The Gypsy because he or she is worried about his or her lover.

The Gypsy pounces! 

... she looked in my hand and told me

That my lover would always be true

But the mark was rightly skeptical:

And yet in my heart I knew, dear

That somebody else was kissing you ...

And yet even so, the reassuring words along, (probably  with the usual psychic mumbo jumbo), has gotten our lovelorn narrator hooked:

But I'll go there again 'cause I want to believe the Gypsy ...

There's one born every minute.

But don't get me wrong, I've loved this song ever since I heard the version by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs nearly 60 years ago. 

Here's the original 1945 recording, performed by Welsh singer (and future wife of James Bond actor Roger Moore) Dorothy Squires. She was Billy Reid's man musical partner from the 30s through the early 50s. 

Squire's version -- was titled "The Gipsy" -- has a minute-long introductory verse not included in takes by other singers. 

I sit alone and dream, dear

Dream of you night and day

Once you were here beside me

Now you are far away

I've had my fortune told me

Can I believe it's true?

Soon we shall be together

Living our life anew

Listen yourself:

 But the song didn't make much of an impact on American ears until The Ink Spots changed the "i" to a "y" and gave it their Ink Spot sheen:

Years before she saw the USA in her Chevrolet, Dinah Shore also wanted to believe The Gypsy:

Louis Armstrong took The Gypsy to New Orleans (even though this was from a concert in Chicago):

At least one doo-wop group, The Five Keys, ventured into that quaint caravan for spiritual and romantic advice:

Here's that doo-wop colored Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs version I mentioned above. This was on their second album, which I still like even more than their first album with "Wooly Bully.":

For the past 20-plus years, my favorite version of "The Gypsy" is the one by Austin honky-tonker Cornell Hurd, which was on his album A Stagecoach Named Desire. Unfortunately it's apparently not on Youtube or any other place from which I can embed. 

So instead,  I'll go out with this honky-stomp version by another Texan, Doug Sahm with the Sir Douglas, from their 1971 album The Return Of Doug Saldaña:

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