The Good Mule - December 14, 2012

Couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Rod Matheson who has embarked on a film-blog project called  Everyday Music - 1000 Musicians, 1000 Songs, 1000 Days. Rod was going to be in Victoria filming musical acts for his blog and thanks to Nick Lyons acting as a matchmaker, I was fortunate to be one of the people included.  I got together with Rachelle Reath and Marek Tyler and we laid down this version of The Good Mule.  This song falls squarely into the group of songs I have written which I have labelled Middle Age Laments, or alternatively, Mope Pop.  A year and a half ago we recorded a really nice version of it with the superfun/superimpractical 7-piece band The Euphorians and I am happy with the way it has translated into the 3-piece.  Thanks Rod, Nick, Rachelle, and Marek.

click here to hear: THE GOOD MULE - THE EUPHORIANS

The Good Mule

The crazy adventure

was less adventure, more ordeal

was less crazy than it was senseless

mundane and uneventful

I could scratch a grain of truth

from the hard scrabble of the day

it's my nature to perservere

I'm a good mule

And suddenly

I was one degree fatter

suddenly

I was one degree sadder

suddenly

I was closer to the dirt

suddenly

I was travelling beneath the earth

and suddenly

I was flying in the sky

where the birds in heaven could hear my sad cries

The road to ordinary

is one paved with pavement

no medals are awarded

for getting out of bed

and nobody clapped

when I flapped my tongue

And suddenly

I was silent and slobbery

a victim

of incremental robbery

suddenly 

my tongue fell out on the ground

and suddenly there was no more sound

Booze Party - December 4, 2012

Actually recorded this a week and a half ago, but haven't got around to putting it up.  Booze Party was a song I first heard through my friend and obsessive music and film collector Gary Field.  It was on a compilation of obscure rockabilly and rhythm'n'blues called Sin Alley and was performed by a combo called Three Jokers and An Ace.  I vowed to learn the song and learn it I did, performing a trashy take on it for a couple of years during my solo accordion period, before recording a pretty fucked up version of it with Mansmell for the album Hurtin' Dance Party.  It was a staple of our live set for many years, half the fun being the chaotic and discordant free noise and screaming at the end of the song.  I don't have a link to it at the moment, but I'll see what I can do....in the meantime, how about a little listen to Three Jokers and An Ace?

 

So after doing a crazed, balls-out version of Booze Party for years, I started to have this hankering to do what in my mind I started to call "The Legion Mix"....you know, a take on this psycho-billy song that you could slip into the middle of your cover band's set when you're playing at the church fundraiser or whatever.  So here's me with Booze Party 2012, The Legion Mix. There's some wicked mic distortion in the middle of the song, but this was the best take.

Crazed Ballz Out Version

click here: BOOZE PARTY - MANSMELL

And here's a totally different kind of Booze Party