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"
Well, since we recently got a new dog, I though I'd bring up my favorite dog related music/musician.
The new dog
No, not Elvis and his cover of Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog", no not Rufus Thomas and "Walkin' the Dog", no, not Snoop Dogg, nor George Clinton's "Atomic Dog", not Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog" not even The Beatles "Hey Bulldog" or "Martha my Dear".
Who I want to talk about is the guy who said, "When I die, they'll
say, 'he couldn't play shit, but he sure made it sound good!' "
Of course that means the late, great, polydactyl slide guitar player, Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor.
Hound Dog with Dog
Hound Dog's Polydactyl Hand
What's that you say, you're not familiar with Hound Dog Taylor? Well, get with the program man!
Do you like blues? No I don't mean "blooze", that overproduced "Blueshammer" crap, I mean raw blues, blues played on a cheap guitar through a cheap amp using a slide sawed off of a kitchen chair leg. Don't have a bass player? Don't need one, the second guitar can play the bass parts. Drummer, sure, drumkit, well only the most basic three piece set. The sound... well great gosh 'a mighty, can you say pure unadulterated blues played with undeniable joy and rocking harder than many rock bands. All produced by three men; Hound Dog, Brewer Phillips, and Ted Harvey, playing on minimal equipment... which just shows you that it's not what you play, but how you play it.
Complicated, well not really, original, well that depends on how you look at it, the music not so much, but Hound Dog was a complete original. Hound Dog's influences were, well...Elmore James, but he took that music and played it with passion and joy, not perfection, and when you listen to it, you can't help but get a smile on your face.
Hound Dog died in 1975, and only released two albums during his life, but his music still holds up today. J.B. Hutto who played a similar Elmore James style of music "inherited" Hound Dog's band The Houserockers, Hutto's nephew Lil' Ed (and the Blues Imperials) plays in a similar style. George Thorogood, who drove Hound Dog to gigs on some east coast tours, was directly influenced by Hound Dog (check out this interview), and The Black Keys also cite him as an influence. Not to mention that Alligator records was formed for the sole purpose of recording Hound Dog.
I could keep writing the stories about Hound Dog, that he cut off the sixth finger of his right hand one drunk night, that he would wake up his bandmates with the command, "wake up and argue" that he shot Brewer Phillips during an argument... but I wasn't there, so check out some of those stories here and here, from Bruce Iglauer who was.
One of the good things about recorded music is that you can go back and hear things that were recorded before you were born, or that you can discover music that you missed the first time around. I listen to a lot of music that's before my time. Everything from Bach or Beethoven, to Django Reinhardt, to Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens, to Charley Patton, to Glenn Miller, to Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, or even The Beatles. Okay, I was 4 when the Beatles broke up, but that puts it in the "missed the first time around" category.
If you were to ask me what types of music I listen to, Country wouldn't be the first thing out of my mouth, but there is a lot of country music I like. Most of it falls into two categories, "early country", and what I call "fringe country." Early country for me is Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and the like. Fringe country would be people like Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, and the like. Not to mention people like Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. As you can probably guess, I'm not a fan of current country music, but there is a band that I've been listening to lately that I missed when they were in their recording heyday in the late 1990s- early 2000s. BR5-49. I remember reading about them when they first came out in the late 1990s, but at the time I was on a big ska and reggae kick, so a revivalist country band didn't hold much interest for me. Recently though,for some reason, I was reading an article about Bettie Page, and the article stated that there were a number of songs written about her, and that her favorite was by BR5-49. So of course I looked it up, and was instantly hooked.
Bettie Bettie
I then started to explore their back catalog and found out that I had missed a great band. They were as I stated earlier, a "revivalist" country band in that they favored a more traditional sound - honky-tonk with elements of western swing, as opposed to more modern, singer-songwriter, rock influenced country, which in the 1990s would have been ...Garth Brooks.
I must of heard some of their stuff, because when I heard Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts), I could have sworn I had heard the line "traded in her Doc's for kicker boots" before.
Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)
Not only could they write catchy tunes, but they played classic country and western,covering songs by Bob Wills, Ray Price, Moon Mullican, Webb Pierce, Buck Owens, Billy Joe Shaver, and Gram Parsons. So let's hear some music.
Crazy Arms
Baby Are You Gettin Tired of Me
Even if it's Wrong
Cherokee Boogie
Me 'n' Opie (Down by the Duck Pond)
The band members changed over the years, and they appear to have gone their seperate ways. Chuck Mead and Gary Bennett have released solo albums, Don Herron is playing with Bob Dylan. In 2012, the original lineup played a few shows, so I'm hoping they do a tour or record some more music.
There's been a lot of discussion on the Blues Forums about a photo showing a supposodly young Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines. For example, a discussion at Weenie Campbell, one at Woody Mann's Guitar Seminars, and one at Michael Messer's Forum. Now I like Robert Johnson's music, and I understand his importance in the "Blues Pantheon", but I can't get all excited about a picture that may or may not be Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines. (Personally I don't think it is) Not to mention all of the discussion about whether or not the recordings were sped up,why RJ faced the wall while recording, or any of the other legends that have grown up around him since his death in 1938 at the age of 27. For me it's all about the music, and that's what's important. Sure Robert was only a marginal figure in the blues when he was alive, and only had one minor regional hit with "Terraplane Blues", but his influence on rock musicians since the 1960s is undeniable.
Groups that have covered his songs include, Elmore James, (Dust My Broom), The Rolling Stones, (Love in Vain), Led Zeppelin, (Traveling Riverside Blues), Cream, (Crossroads Blues), George Thorogood, (Kind Hearted Woman Blues), David Bromberg, (Come on in my Kitchen), and of course everyone and his brother covering Sweet Home Chicago.
Now everyone likes a mystery, so I understand why there is so much interest in RJ, but what I never understood is, "Why not more respect for Johnny Shines?" Here's a guy who traveled with RJ, could play Johnson's songs as good as - if not better, had a more powerful voice, and played into the 1990s. When musicians like RJ die young, under mysterious circumstances, an iconic persona develops around them, while a musician who lives into his 70s, and hasn't sold his soul to the devil, just becomes an old man who has outlived his time, and I feel that's wrong. So let's give some respect to Johnny Shines, sit back and enjoy the man and his music.
The aforementioned "Sweet Home Chicago", You can't tell me this isn't as good as RJ.
"You Got to Pay the Cost" - Just listen to that vocal intro!!! Great Stuff!
"Ramblin' " on electric
"Ramblin' " on acoustic. Actually a variation on "Walking Blues"
"They Call me the Little Wolf" - Johnny Shines and Robert Jr. Lockwood. Both contemporaries of RJ
Johnny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards and Walter Horton
"Hey Ba Ba Re Bop" (oiginally written and performed by Lionel Hampton)
More songs about buildings and food thrift and pawn stores
It's funny how the mind works, well at least how mine works. I was trying to remember a song with thrift stores in the lyrics, or about thrift stores, and something in the back of my mind kept saying, "What about The Dead Milkmen? Didn't they have one about thrift stores?" And I kept telling myself, "No, that was about South Street, it mentions Zipperheads, but not thrift stores."
But then my brain said, "No, I vaguely remember a line about a thrift store in one of their songs. I know it's been a long time since we've listened to them, but go back and take a look."
Well, whatta ya know, my brain was right, from "Quality of Death"
"The man who spoke at graduation
said "life doesn't come with a manual"
but one week later I found one
in that Thrift Store on Second and Samuel"
So there's another one that mentions thrift stores. I'm sure my brain will keep trying to think of others.
But my brain didn't stop there. It said, "You know, there's another one, it's not about thrift stores, but it's about people selling stuff on the street. You know sort of like in Ronnie Lane's Debris." I said, 'What are you talking about?'
It said, "You know, the one about the guy buying back his thing from some street vendor."
"Thing, what thing?" I said.
"You know, his thing!" my brain said.
"Oh", I said, that song. "Yeah, that sort of relates. I'll post that one."
So here it is, it sort of ties in with Thrift Stores and Pawn Shops, well not really, but it is about a guy buying back his penis from a guy selling stuff from a blanket on a street in New York. ( Funny how my brain wouldn't come right out and say penis)
Without further ado, King Missile with "Detachable Penis"
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.
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.
