I don't usually remember musicians birthdays, (or anyone's really) but here's one I do...April 1st is Ronnie Lane's Birthday, (April 1, 1946 - June 4, 1997) so here's 43 minutes of Ronnie with the Faces from 1972 in celebration of his life and music.
How about some Ronnie with the Small Faces? Here's "All of Nothing"
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.
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.
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.
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
Every so often I do a search on Ronnie Lane to see if anything new has shown up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that someone posted a video I hadn't seen before, a full concert from 1980. Originally recorded for German music TV show Rockpalast.
Here's a link to the Rockpalast Archive that gives the set list and musicians. Rockpalast Archive
1980 was towards the end of Ronnie's performing career,( before MS stopped him from performing) but he seems in fine form, playing his songs, Faces songs, and old standards.It doesn't hurt that he has some great musicians backing him up including Ian Stewart (Rolling Stones), Henry McCullough (Wings, Grease Band), Bruce Rowland (Fairport Convention, Grease Band), and Charlie Hart and Chrissie Stewart who had played with Ronnie in Slim Chance. (Okay so did Bruce but...) Not to mention the Sax players, George and Raymond Carless.
I enjoyed watching this concert, any footage of Ronnie is good to see. I was a little disappointed that he was playing a Strat and Ovation instead of his Zemaitis, but like I said, any footage of Ronnie is good.
My favorites were a slightly revamped How Come, Debris, Kuschty Rye (with Henry McCullough playing Mandolin), and One for the Road. Also, as strange as it seems, I also like it when musicians mess up on stage, and Ronnie forgets the words in You Never Can Tell - priceless.
Enjoy!
Well, I guess I should explain what I’ll be writing about in this blog. I wish I could, but as it is, I’m not entirely sure what I will be writing about, other that it will be things that interest me.I do know that one of the main things that I will be writing about is music, so let’s get things started…
First off, the blog is named after a Ronnie Lane song.I came to Ronnie’s music a little late. I was aware of the Small Faces, and the Faces, and of course early Rod Stewart, but it wasn’t until the Faces box set came out that I began to see what I was missing. Then, when I began exploring Ronnie’s music, I found a musician and music that had everything I like.
I like acoustic instruments used in electric settings, and this had it all, fiddle, accordion, slide guitar, saxophone, what more could you want? But wait, then there was the emotion in the songs, not to mention the sense of fun. But I don’t want this to sound like a love letter to Ronnie Lane, check his music out for yourself.
