As a fan of both Barack Obama and the Man of Steel I was delighted by last week's revelation that the presidential hopeful is actually Superman.
The speech in New York, which also referenced Mad magazine icon Alfred E Neuman, was obviously a well planned attempt to appeal to any comic geeks still unsure who to vote for. It's an aspect of the campaign that's received little press coverage but Obama has been building his geek credentials for some time.
The photo of Obama posing in front of the Superman statue in Metropolis, Illinois was taken two years ago. Fans of Superman and Barack Obama can show their allegiance to both by buying these badges. There were also lots of rumours before this year's Comic-Con in San Diego that Obama would make an appearance. He didn't but celebrated comics artist Alex Ross unveiled this print that referenced his own Superman artwork.
However, my favourite Obama geek story of the campaign is not Superman related. Apparently when Barack spotted Leornard 'Spock' Nimoy at an event he greeted him with the Vulcan salute. Now that's nerdy.
It's one of rock'n'roll's most worn-out cliches that the Devil has the best tunes. But as this selection highlights, Jesus has his fair share of great songs too.
There's something slightly menacing about this song, the second track on Neutral Milk Hotel's masterpiece In The Aeroplane Over Sea. In fact, I've found that singing the opening aloud after a few pale ales does indeed scare people.
I remember seeing the BFB some years ago and singer Steve Adams saying that their next record would be all covers of their favourite songs about Christ. As it turned out Jesus Songs only had one cover, Neutral Milk Hotel's King of Carrot Flowers Parts Two & Three. The other songs aren't all about the Lord either though this one is.
Jesus is never far away in Jim White's world. If you've never seen his wondrous film Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus, stop reading and purchase or rent the DVD immediately. You will not be disappointed. I'm sure I've read that the Jesus in this song is actually a real person in White's old hometown of Pensacola, Florida.
The most obvious example of Woody Guthrie's combination of Christianity and socialism. See also Christ For President on Mermaid Avenue, Billy Bragg & Wilco's superb album of previously unrecorded Guthrie songs.
Like Jim White, there are no shortage of Jesus references in Tom Waits' songs. It was a toss up between this and Jesus Gonna Be Here, but I opted for Chocolate Jesus to share the humorous preamble. This version is from VH1's Storytellers in 1999. Note: Wikipedia has a fascinating article about Abba-Zabas (see also Captain Beefheart).
Every band pays tribute to their favourite artists with cover versions but only a few take hero worship to the level of writing new songs about their idols.
These are songs by artists I like about folks they like, plus tracks by the people that inspired them. Tomorrow I'll post some more, all with a Woody Guthrie/Bob Dylan connection.
Roadrunner is one of the greatest songs ever written in my opinion and Alan Tyler evidently thinks so too. I love the way The Rockingbirds' track pays tribute to Jonathan Richman lyrically and musically.
I must admit I'd never heard of Dory Previn before buying Camera Obscura's great album Let's Get Out Of This Country. The song's not really about the American songwriter but does contain the lyric, "How I adore you Dory Previn/ I turned you up to 11 for the band’s ears to bleed". The Dory Previn song I've posted is actually another tribute - to Janis Joplin.
Rodney Crowell's tribute to Johnny Cash would be a good song even without the guest vocal from the Man in Black. Asking Cash to sing was a risky move. The track was recorded in 2001, nine years after Crowell was divorced from Johnny Cash's daughter Roseanne, although from what I've read JC seemed to be more annoyed that his ex son-in-law had changed his melody. The version of I Walk the Line is the original Sun single.
Enjoy the songs, let me know what you think, and please suggest any others. Tomorrow there'll be more including Dan Bern, Tom Russell and Bob Dylan.
Last time I posted Webb Pierce's 1950s country standard There Stands The Glass. One of the Sam's alerted me that Birkenhead's finest recorded a version of the song for an Andy Kershaw session a few years ago. You can hear that whole set at the HMHB website.
Ryan Adams is a frustrating bugger. One minute he can write wonderful songs like this, the next he's in full thrall of his pal Phil Lesh and indulging in horrible Grateful Dead influenced noodling.
Suggested by the anonymous Bartleby fan (reveal yourself!), this is a vomit-strewn piece of Glaswegian miserabalism. Choice lyric, "How'm I supposed to walk you home/ When you're at least 50 feet ahead/ 'Cause you've walked off in a huff/ And I'm that pissed I can't remember what it was I said."
There are no shortage of Tom Waits tunes on this blog but that's no reason not to share another one. Martin suggested this classic from Small Change, but to keep things interesting, this is an inebriated live version from a radio appearance on New York's WNEW in December 1976.
Before my friend Amy swore off booze forever she went on a road trip around Scotland that involved a lot of Uncle Tupelo on the car stereo. With her boyfriend Ed at the wheel, Amy played a game that involved swigging from bottle of whiskey whenever Jeff Tweedy or Jay Farrar mentioned an alcoholic drink. No wonder she went teetotal.
I recently lent a friend the brilliant Rough Trade Shops Country compilation which includes this hilarious cover of Snoop Dogg's paean to booze and bitches. If a Snoop Dogg song can sound country then maybe his own recent foray into C&W wasn't so unexpected.
There you have it. Dust down your favourite glass and enjoy the songs. And, as usual, please let me know what you think and suggest any more. ¡Salud!
Related Posts Six Pack To Go - another half dozen boozy songs
BBC Four had a great double bill of programmes this week about Hollywood's representation of the US president that I'd recommend any American Studies graduate or West Wing fan fire up the iPlayer to watch while they're still both available.
In Dinner with Portillo, the former MP chows down with the likes of Joe Klein, Peter Biskind, Republican speechwriter Lisa Schiffren, and journo Kurt Anderson (who gets enjoyably animated as the fine wine flows) to discuss "the enduring conflict between America's liberal Hollywood dream factory and its conservative heartland values" (which would have been a good dissertation subject).
Jonathan Freedland'sPresident Hollywood begins by looking at how The West Wing's writers effectively ran the current presidential campaign in 2005 when they pitted a charismatic non-white Democrat (Jimmy Smits) up against an experienced Republican maverick (Alan Alda). It then argued that JFK and Nixon have provided the archetypal templates for fictional do-gooder and malevolent presidents respectively.
I was surprised by some of the omissions from the discussion of fictional presidents though. You'd have thought, for instance, that Barack Obama's favourite on-screen Commander-in-Chief would get a look in. Despite having The Contender director Rod Lurie as a contributor there was no mention of President Jackson Evans in the programme.
Jeff Bridges doesn't quite play the Prez as if The Dude got the keys to the Oval Office but it's not far off (I even vaguely remember a bowling scene).
The most Nixon-esque president I've seen in recent years was also absent. President Charles Logan from 24 is not only a weaselly criminal in the classic Nixon mold, he even has Tricky Dicky's hangdog expression down pat.
Another 24 prez who got less mention than you'd expect was President David Palmer, which is surprising since actor Dennis Haysbert has publicly stated that he thinks his portrayal of a stately black president may have paved the way for Barack Obama in the eyes of many Americans.
There are plenty more - Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks! springs to to mind as someone I'd like to see in office - so who are your favourite Hollywood presidents? And if you've seen either of the programmes I mentioned, let me know what you think of them too.
Until last week I was unaware of the Daily Gossip section of the NME's website. It's mainly dedicated to what Amy Winehouse may or may not be up to, but at the end of each day's 'news' story there's also a mind-numbing digest of pop star sightings as reported by our glorious Red Tops.
The tabloids' endless fascination with racist thicko Jade Goody is just the most obvious proof that they have a disturbing definition of newsworthy but I was genuinely surprised to see that the following items warranted column inches.
The Ting Tings singer Katie White "hasn't cooked for months" (Daily Mirror).
Leona Lewis wore a selection of purple outfits on the set of her new video (The Sun).
Adele swigged pints of beer and wine at the Mercury Prize ceremony (Daily Star).
Alicia Keys asked for ketchup with her fries at the Marriott Courtyard, New York (Daily Mirror).
If your brain has not melted and you really want more of this nonsense, I've just noticed that the NME has another section called Tabloid Hell. Reading it might make you stupid.
I watched Martin Scorsese's phenomenal Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home again last night. One of my favourite moments near the start of the film, when Bob's recalling the music that affected him growing up, is the clip of Webb Pierce, the best-selling country star of the 1950s, singing his Number 1 hit There Stands The Glass.
I'd never heard of Pierce before seeing No Direction Home. Dressed in classic cowboy couture, he cuts an impressive figure and sings in a distinctive voice that Scorsese felt warranted subtitles. But what's most remarkable about the clip are the song's lyrics. This is the first verse: "There stands the glass/ That will ease all my pain/ That will settle my brain/ It's my first one to day". Even in the often maudlin world of country music, I'm not sure you'd get away with that today, let alone get to perform it on mainstream TV. This clip from the Grand Ole Opry is what's in No Direction Home.
In a culture where every beer bottle advises us to "drink aware" songs about boozing are less popular than they once were. By some distance. The excellent blog Barstool Mountain is solely dedicated to tipsy tunes, mainly of fine vintage, and last year compiled an impressive list of the Top 100 Drinking Songs of all time.
One of Bob Dylan's most enjoyable Theme Time Radio Hours was the episode about drinking. The best song I'd never heard of from that show was by a 50s R&B group called The Clovers. Their 1951 Number 1 hit One Mint Julep blames boozing for much more than a regrettable one-night stand: "I’m through with flirting and drinking whiskey/ I got six extra children from a-getting frisky".
Another song Bob played on his show portrays the darker side of the demon drink. Loretta Lynn is famous for her forthright lyrics and this song is pretty self-explanatory.
Townes Van Zandt was a man who liked a drink. While in hospital to detox in the 90s a doctor told his third wife Leanne, "If anyone ever tries to dry this man out again, he will die." I know alcohol had an horrendous effect on Townes and those who loved him but I still find this song incredibly funny.
People do still write songs about drinking. Carolyn Mark is a Canadian singer-songwriter I first supporting Po' Girl at the Borderline some years ago. I don't mind a Muscadet or a nice Sauvignon Blanc but I still love this song.
The Felice Brothers are a proper modern-day boozing band. Joanne and I saw them support Justin Townes Earle in Nashville on our honeymoon. They wobbled near us, hammered, during the opening act and their subsequent set was full of songs of drunken violence like this one.
Whether you're tea-total or salivating at the thought of your next lager I hope you enjoy the songs. Please leave a comment to recommend your favourite drinking tunes.
Beer Fact: Jax beer was brewed in New Orleans between 1890 and 1974. The old brewery off Jackson Square is now a touristy shopping centre but the sign on top of the building still evokes its boozy past.
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