Photo: Washington DC, January 28, 1922 (from Shorpy)
I've wanted to post this since I heard it on Guy Garvey's radio show a few weeks ago but thought I'd wait until I'd seen some more snow. Well, we had a minor flurry last week so here it is.
The song was originally a hit for Jim Reeves in 1964. Camera Obscura also released a great cover before Christmas last year. What makes this version so good is that tragic tales (often involving animals) are The Handsome Family's stock in trade making Brett Sparks the ideal person to sing about lame ponies, numb toes and an ever-present danger of death.
Along with Joan Baez, the Blind Boys of Alabama and others, Bob Dylan performed at the White House last in a special concert called A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement. I can imagine President Bartlet getting very excited about the event in an episode ofThe West Wing.
Bob sang just one song, The Times They Are A-Changin'. He played acoustic guitar backed by piano and bass. What's most remarkable is that he'd evidently practised before his audience with Obama. I've seen him mangle this song live a number of times and he's never hit as many of the right notes as this. It's the sort of performance Dylan fans pray he'll pull out of the bag when they see him torture their old favourites in concert.
Readers in America will be able to watch the whole concert on PBS on Friday evening and there's a 'special' about it on Thursday.
My favourite anecdote is when Dylan returned to play two acoustic songs after pissing off the folk faithful with the Butterfield Blues Band. He asked the audience, "Has anyone have an E harmonica? Anyone? An E harmonica?" As Boyd writes, "Only at Newport would this request be followed by a shower of half a dozen harmonicas on to the stage". You can hear them all thud in this clip:
Boyd also explains his theory behind the rumour that Pete Seeger was so incensed by Dylan's electric performance that he threatened to cut the speaker cables with an axe. It turns out that on the bill the day before Dylan's gig were the Texas Worksong Prison Group, a bunch of lifers on day release who performed one song chopping down a huge tree stump. As they rhythmically attacked the felled tree a mic cable came loose. A worried Seeger signalled to Boyd to secure the wire. "Seeger, axes, cables..." he writes, "somehow, in the way of legends, things got muddled up."
These then are the songs that caused all the fuss...
Listening to these tracks more than 40 years after the event it's hard to comprehend why they had such an impact. The version of Like a Rolling Stone that Dylan and The Band unleashed in the UK the following year has much more power. Yet Boyd puts forward a good argument that this was rock's Year Zero.
Some loved it, some hated it, most were amazed, astonished and energized by it. It was something we take for granted now, but utterly novel then: non-linear lyrics, an attitude of total contempt fot expectation and established values, accompanied by screaming blues guitar and a powerful rhythm section, played at ear-splitting volume by young kids. The Beatles were still singing love songs in 1965 while the Stones played a brand of blues-rooted pop. This was different. This was the Birth of Rock.
If Joe Boyd is correct then this was arguably the most important gig in music history. What do you reckon?
I saw the acclaimed French prison flick A Prophet yesterday. As the end credits rolled my ears pricked up to the lovely steel guitar on Jimmie Dale Gilmore's terrific version of Mack the Knife.
When I started my State Songs series at the start of 2009 I anticipated that "We'll be in Wyoming by Christmas!" How optimistic.
For one reason or another it's been more than four months since the last one, Maryland, so next December now looks like a more realistic end to the trip. I will endeavour to pick up the pace in the coming weeks though.
Massachusetts takes its name from the Massachusett tribe of Native Americans, who lived in the Great Blue Hill region, south of Boston. The Indian term supposedly means "at or about the Great Hill".
The Chocolate Chip Cookie was designated the official cookie of the Commonwealth on July 9, 1997. A third grade class from Somerset proposed the bill to honor the cookie invented in 1930 at the Toll House Restaurant in Whitman.
The Garter Snake became the official reptile of the Commonwealth on January 3, 2007.
One of the best things about this State Songs series is receiving emails and comments offering suggestions for future posts. Last January a chap called Jeff Boudreau got in touch to tell me about this song. It originally appeared on Arlo Guthrie's 1976 album Amigo and in 1981 Massachusetts adopted it as its official State Folk Song. Buy Amigo:Amazon
In small doses I am a sucker for this sort of 50s schmaltz. Patti is probably most famous for the track that's routinely trotted out as indicative of how bland music was before rock'n'roll - How Much Is That A Doggie In The Window? What fewer people might know is that, born Clara Ann Flower, Patti is a real Okie from Muskogee. Buy The Best of Patti Page:Amazon | 7digital
I discovered Hallelujah the Hills last year via Largehearted Boy. "A blizzard, a mallard, a stillborn Chinese baby speaking backwards" is a great opening line and the track reminds me of 90s indie, a la Neutral Milk Hotel et al which is never a bad thing. Buy Collective Psychosis:Amazon | 7digital
I never need an excuse to post some Jonathan Richman and he's in fine form in this guided tour of the town he's most associated with. Modern Lovers fans who tend to stick to the 70s material are missing out if they lack a copy of 1992's return to form I, Jonathan. Buy I, Jonathan:Amazon
As usual, let me know what you think of the selections, which of your favourites I've missed and what songs I should include in the future. Next time we'll be in Michigan.
Jarvis Cocker, BBC 6 Music's latest celebrity signing to its DJ roster, made an impressive debut on Sunday afternoon. Better still he introduced me to two great tracks I'd never previously heard.
Tim Rose's Snowed In was the perfect opener at the end of a week when "weather chaos" has blighted the nation. Until I clicked through to the BBC's Tim Rose artist page from the tracklist on the 6 Music site I knew nothing about the man. I can now tell you that Rose's version of Hey Joe inspired Jimi Hendrix and that Snowed In was released in 2003, a year after the singer's death. Make yourself a hot chocolate, throw another log on the fire and enjoy.
My second discovery was Elvis Presley's version of Bob Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time. I can't believe this track has passed me by. Elvis recorded it in Nashville in April 1966 when, according to Peter Guralnick, "Odetta Sings Dylan was never far from the turntable". My Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (p.660) tells me that in a June 1969 interview with Rolling Stone Bob was asked if there were any versions of his songs he liked. He replied, "Yeah, Elvis Presley. I Liked Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley recorded a song of mine. That's the one recording I treasure the most... it's called Tomorrow is a Long Time." Michael Gray notes that at the time it was assumed Bob was joking. You be the judge.
The track originally appeared as a bonus on the soundtrack LP to Spinout, one of Elvis' many execrable movies. I found it on a wonderful album, also called Tomorrow Is A Long Time, that compiles the cream of the King's mid-60s sessions. There's excellent further reading about the record at The All Music Guide.
Back to the Jarvis Cocker Show: as well a some choice musical selections, the Sheffield stringbean also turned in a discursive interview with film director John Hillcoat and read Richard Brautigan'sWhat Are You Going To Do With 390 Photographs of Christmas Trees? Musicians reading aloud from their favourite books and music free from the station's playlist? It was like the vintage years of Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley's old nighttime show on Radio 1!
Of course, Jarvis isn't the only musician spinning discs on 6 Music. Here's that rock star DJ line-up in full: Marc Riley (The Fall), Guy Garvey (Elbow), Lauren Laverne (Kenickie), Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin' Criminals), Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Tom Robinson (Tom Robinson Band) and of course... Bob Dylan (The Travelling Wilburys).
I hope Jarvis sticks around on 6 Music for a while. I really loved the programme; a genuine breath of fresh air. If you've heard his show (you can listen online anytime you like) do leave a comment and tell me what you think.
On Boxing Day I received this text from my friend Dave Varley: "Sad news about Vic Chesnutt". This was the first I'd heard that, at 45, one of my favourite singer-songwriters had died in his hometown of Athens, Georgia.
I knew that Vic had constantly battled depression and suicidal tendencies so wasn't shocked to learn he'd taken his own life. My memories of seeing him play and loving his records still made the news incredibly sad. The tragedy seemed more poignant because that same day my friends John and Anne had arrived back in Athens after spending a week with us in the UK and we'd been talking about Vic just days before.
My first Vic Chesnutt gig was at the Garage, Highbury Corner around the time of his wonderful 1996 LP About to Choke. At the time I was getting into the likes of Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty and Vic's raw, witty, angry songs often seemed drawn from the same well of Southern Gothic.
Since then I saw a number of his concerts. At least one was shambolic but two remain among the most memorable I've ever witnessed. In 1998 at The Electric Ballroom in Camden Vic played on the same bill as Calexico and Lambchop. The way I remember it, after Calexico's opening set Kurt Wagner led the dozen or so strong Lambchop through tracks from their new album What Another Man Spills. Vic then joined them to play from the album he'd just recorded with Lambchop, The Salesman and Bernadette. After that we were treated to mesmerising solo renditions of favourites from Vic's earlier records. What made that night so special was the evident joy of the collaborators and experiencing that rare, magical and infectious feeling of mutual goodwill between audience and performers.
Three years later I again experienced something similar when I saw Vic as part of Howe Gelb's tremendous all-star line-up at the Beyond Nashville festival at the Barbican. Reunited with Kurt Wagner as well as sharing a stage with PJ Harvey, John Parish, Evan Dando, Calexico and Mark Linkous Vic excitedly exclaimed, "I'm bustin' my buttons over here!" I was certainly as excited sitting in the audience.
Vic Chesnutt's lyrics have always been personal but listening to Flirted With You All My Life from this year's At The Cut, a song Vic described as his "break-up song" with suicide is now heartbreaking. Here it is as well as a few favourites that might make you smile. One of music's true one-offs, he'll be missed.
Erstwhile Throwing Muse Kristin Hersh, one of Vic's closest friends, has set up a webpage to raise money for his family who are now lumbered with huge medical bills. You can donate here.
MP3s are posted for a limited time with the aim of encouraging visitors to discover music they've never heard. If you like what you hear please buy more from the artist and go to their gigs. I always post links to purchase next to an MP3 link. If you represent an artist or a label and would prefer that I remove a link to an MP3, please email me at carnivalsaloon @ gmail.com and I will immediately delete the file.
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