Some Songs about Thrift and Pawn Stores

 

The other day my son asked me what a thrift shop was. So I told him, not thinking anything of it. The next day my wife said I had to see this video, because our son was talking about it. She said it would help get my mind off of our flooded basement. I have to admit, it kept going through my head as I wet-vac'ed the basement.

 So this song goes out to all my thrift store/Goodwill shopping peeps , Yo Yo, Remington, Sheila, Timmy, Grancie, Lamont, and of course the person who introduced me to thrift stores, my dad (R.I.P) .Word! (Okay enough of that)

 

 

 

It also got me started thinking about other songs about thrift stores, (couldn't think of any) which then led to me thinking of songs about pawn shops.

This was the first one to pop into my head.

 

After that, I had a line from David Bromberg's Bullfrog Blues going through my head. "Hey Mr. Pawnbroker, tell me what do those three balls mean on your wall?" Bullfrog Blues only has a passing reference to pawn shops, but it reminded me of Blind Boy Fuller's Three Ball Blues.

 

Then of course I remembered Brownie McGhee's Pawn Shop Blues.

 



And the last one I could think of was Ronnie Lane's song Debris. Which he wrote about his father. It's not really about Thrift Stores or Pawn Shops, just looking for bargains at the market stalls discarded items. It reminds me in a lot of ways about my own dad, who like Ronnies, was always "sorting through the odds and ends, looking for a bargain"

 

Here's the Faces version.

 



Anyway, that's all of the songs that came to mind...today at least. If I think of any more, I'll post them. If anyone knows of others, just leave me a comment.

****UPDATE****

 

Well, I woke up this morning and had another song going through my head that mentions pawn shops.Steve Goodman and John Prine's song "Souvenirs". It's not really about pawn shops, but has the line, " I hate graveyards and old pawn shops, for they always bring me tears. Can't forget the way they rob me of my childhood souvenirs." This song is in some ways the opposite of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop", in that instead of "looking for a come up" or bargain, in "Souvenirs", it's a song of regret, of  things and time lost; graveyards, pawn shops, broken toys, and lost loves. In this aspect it's more like Sublime's "Pawn Shop"which says "what has been sold, not strictly made of stone, just remember that it's flesh and bone." Which I take to mean that the items in pawn shops, had been imbued with the feelings and emotions of the people that had owned them (flesh and bone) and that for them, the items may have been more than an item (stone). Or as the story goes, Bradley of Sublime used to pawn his guitar to buy drugs, and that the guitar was his life. As he states in "Same in the End" - "the day that I die will be the day that I shut my mouth and put down my guitar." And we all know how that story ends.

 

So, enough of that, let's hear "Souvenirs." Original audio

 

Live with John and Steve

 

Here's John and Marty Stuart doing it in 2010. A little slower, a little lower, a little more gravitas.

 

Did I mention that I love this song?

 



The Replacements

 

Serendipity is a wonderful thing. I was searching for a documentary on The Band, when this came up in the list of videos...
Color Me Obsessed; A film about The Replacements
So of course I had to watch it.

 

It took me back to the mid 1980s. In the mid '80s, at the top of a long list of my favorite music, were three bands; R.E.M., Husker Du, and of course, The Replacements. For me, The Replacements epitomized the whole "teenage experience." They could be snot nosed brats, out of place misfits one minute, and then turn around and play the most heartfelt ballad, bring you to tears...almost... and do it all with an "I don't care what you think ... Fuck You... attitude."  This was a big influence on me both musically and personally. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know, but they definitely influenced me in not caring about what other people think and in doing your own thing. That whole, "Yeah, it's good enough" attitude.
 I was lucky enough to see The Replacements a number of times, (Unfortunately without Bob}, and each one was memorable.  Here are a few half remembered snippets... on my way to class and walking past where they were to be playing..getting to my classroom and turning around walking back and buying a ticket. Seeing Tommy come out of the bus and deciding not to say anything to him because I'd heard he was obnoxious... Paul and Slim's smoke break during the middle of "I Don't Know"...Tommy knocking over his mic stand on purpose so the roadie would come out and stand it up...only to do it again...doing a presentation on Punk Rock Music in grad school and playing "Fuck School" as an example...my theme song while in grad school being "Anywhere's Better Than Here." Seeing them open for Elvis Costello, and thinking that the 'Mats blew Costello away.

 Ticket stubs and other memorbilia (Didn't feel like getting the t-shirts out of the attic)

 

Anyway, enough of memory lane, here are some videos.

 

Bastards of Young - the classic video

 

 

Talent Show - Paul's comment at the start just about sums it up. I remember seeing this live, and thinking the same thing. Notice that the station cuts out "Feeling good from the pills we took", so listen to what they sing at the end.

 

 



 

I hate Music from 1981 - some great footage from this period

 

 



Color Me Impressed

 

 

 

 

There's a theory that I have,  I didn't come up with it, and I'm not sure where I got it, but it's that in bands, one person lives the life, and one person writes about it, an example would be the Beach Boys, Dennis lived it, Brian wrote it. Or maybe the Stones, Keith lived it, Mick wrote it. In the Replacements, I would say that Tommy and Bob lived it, and Paul wrote it. After they broke up, they individually haven't been able to acheive the success, limited as it was, that they acheived together.  Okay don't say that Tommy playing for Guns and Roses is a success...

 

One last thing, since I like when bands mess up, and since that's part of the appeal of the 'Mats,  track down a copy of "When The Shit Hits The Fans" to see what all the fuss is about.



Ronnie Lane's Guitars

Ronnie Lane's Guitars

I mentioned in the last post on Ronnie Lane at Rockpalast that I was disappointed that he wasn't playing his Zemaitis guitar. Not that I have anything against Strats or Ovations, it's just that Ronnie played some really cool guitars and basses over the years. Different time periods in his career make me think of different instruments.

 

When he played with the Small Faces, he seemed to favor hollowbody basses and played a number of different ones, but the bass that comes to mind for me is the Harmony H22. The one shown has a white pickguard, while the one Ronnie plays has a black pickguard.

 

If you watch videos of the Small Faces on Youtube, you will see Ronnie playing a number of diferent instruments. The H22 shows up in Song of a Baker and Itchycoo Park. 

He also plays what looks like a Harmony H27 in this video. (Also check out Steve Marriott's Gretsch White Falcon Double Cutaway!)

 

Harmony H27

 

 

 

When I think of the Faces it's this Zemaitis bass.

This shows up in a lot of Faces videos, Like this one.

Three Button Hand Me Down

 

This bass is currently owned by Bob Daisley who has played with Ozzy Osbourne among others.

 

 

 When I think of Ronnie Lane from the Slim Chance time period, I think of two guitars, his modified Gretsch Sho-Bro, and his Zemaitis guitar which you can see in this video.



 

This guitar is currently owned by Keith Smart

The story that I've heard about the two guitars is that the Gretsch Sho-Bro resonator and coverplate were removed to use in the Zemaitis. The cannibalized guitar then had a wooden plate attached over the hole, and Ronnie continued to use it as can be seen in the video for How Come.

The Gretsch Sho-Bro  - as it originally looked.

Faces - Richmond

Here it is with the wooden plate - How Come

And here it is currently. You can see where the plate was attached.

It is currently owned by Andy Guainiere


 As I said earlier, Ronnie played a number of different instruments over the years including Fenders, Rickenbackers, Ovations, Harmony and Zemaitis. Here are some more pictures and videos snagged from the web, the usual disclaimers apply, I don't own the rights ... and so on...


WIth different Zemaitis bass

Ronnie's Zemaitis 12 string




Also seen here
What Went Down That Night With You

Modified Sho-Bro

Zemaitis Acoustic bass similar to one of Ronne's,  owned by Bob Daisley

More of Bob's instruments here


Some Links about Ronnie and his instruments
http://www.vintageguitar.com/3607/ronnie-lane/
http://www.slim-chance.co.uk/pages/ronnielane.html

Info on Vintage Harmony guitars
http://harmony.demont.net/

Info on Zemaitis
http://www.zemaitis-guitars.com/