Song A Week 2016 - Look In Yer Heart

I didn't do a song last week and man, the outcry!  Wow.  The reason was that last week's song was destined to be a remix of a Grampa Big Balls recording titled Tip Of A Red Hot Penis that I made some years ago   Remixing?  A breeze. All fine and dandy.  Then I started making the video for the sound piece, comprised of thousands of stills, each displayed anywhere from .11 of a second to .22 of a second.   The collection of images alone has been a time consuming process and when I finally got to making the video, it took me 8 hours to make one minute and forty seconds of video....for a six minute noise piece.

So it has become apparent that that particular piece will be an ongoing work and I figured I'd better get back on the horse.  Before the horse keeled over and drowned in a ditch.  I've been singing this number from the past and decided to give it a whirl......a reboot of an old Dogbreath Brothers song, Look In Yer Heart.

Funny how a song changes through the lens of twenty years.  Here it is.  

And yah, that's Jerome presiding over the recording.

  

Look In Yer Heart

words and music by David P. Smith

Don't go lookin for yourself in a bottle

you'll just crash and burn

you won't find yourself in a reefer

when will you ever learn

You ain't funny when you're wasted

you don't talk too smart

Next time you go lookin for yourself

try lookin in yer heart

I'll throw you down

to the ground

kick you in the back

kick you 'til you hork and hack

and cough up your soul so black

You see yourself in the TV

but it ain't really you

Don't go lookin in some magazine

to tell you what to do

You don't need no gurus

them fellas don't talk so smart

Next time you go lookin for yourself

try lookin in your heart

I'll pick you up by the collar

and give your head a slap

don't give me no backtalk

I'm tired of your crap

You can check out the Dogbreath Brothers version here:     Look In Yer Heart  

Song A week 2016 - New Blues #2 - Funeral Blues - Live with The Ape Shit Army - February 26, 2016

The last two weekends have been spent doing gigs with my current band, The Ape Shit Army.   It's been nourishing and stimulating to practice and play regularly with this group of musicians:  Dan Weisenberger on guitar, Jody Johnson on upright bass, and Rad Juli on drums.  Sometimes entertainment juggernaut Hank Pine joins us for some apocalyptic cello licks, as he does on this recording. We are supplemented vocally at times by Jeanne Tolmie, Ana Bon Bon, and Betty-Ann Lampman.  This shit is fun.

The skeleton of this song was born and documented on Song A Week 2012. I wrote it as an "introductory song" for a songwriting workshop I was attending as a lead up to Arts Wells.  At that time it was New Blues #3....somewhere along the road of rehearsing and recording it became #2 and #3 became #2.  Likely, you don't care about these trivial details.  But dammit that's the meaningless crap I obsess about.  

Since it debuted here as a little baby song in a shitty disposable diaper, it's grown some balls.
This version was recorded live at Solstice Cafe in Victoria, BC,  Friday night on my zoom mic. Tonight I messed around with random video clips I've accumulated on my phone and Frankensteined together a "video" to provide visual stimulus.

 

Funeral Blues

Words and music by David P. Smith

I emote with icons

stumbling down the passage of time

with two thin dimes on my feet

silver dollars in my sockets

draped in a cool white sheet

I could see the storm a-rising

as I rolled on round the bend

I was thinking about the funerals

I've been planning to attend

in my cum-stained pants

my curly hair shirt

in my wagon of woe

dragging a world of hurt

with a sack of blood

a bottle of dirt

Lightning struck the cruise ship

it shattered like a pomegranate

and I clung to two hearts that keep me anchored on this planet

Chorus

Sightless and speechless

a maggot wriggles in the muck

contemplates the vagaries of old Lady Luck

Is a bum hand better

than no hand at all?

It it best to grovel in shit

or to climb up and risk the fall

Sun pierced through the clouds

a heavenly sword of wrath

and I said to the maggot

Yo maggot do the math

Chorus

I could see the storm a-rising

as I rolled on round the bend

I was thinking about my funeral

and who might attend

the haters

the lovers

my sisters

and brothers

Stars rained from the sky

tiny daggers in the night

and I said to myself hey Davey boy

it's fight or flight

it's fight or flight

it's fight or flight

Chorus

Song A Week 2016 - The Drunken Fool - February 22, 2016

Here's a little hillbilly number I wrote some time back that doesn't see the light of day too much.

The Drunken Fool

words and music by David P. Smith

Outside my bedroom window

there's an old old weeping willow

while I sleep he steals my dreams

and spills them on my pillow

When I wake in the morning

with my emptied out old head

it takes me an hour or two

to figure out I ain't dead

Now my heart likes to bellow

from inside his bloody cave

I pay no attention

I know not what he craves

I just get up in the morning

watch clocks go round and round

while I walk around in circles

in this two bit tinkle town

I got no stories to tell

just episodes and incidents

an odd twist of fate an outburst

an empty coincidence

And I got no songs to sing

was never good with dirty jokes

when it comes to witty repartee

I don't have a hope

I'm irritated and quickly bored

by the monkeys and the mules

but if you ply me with your whiskey

I'll play the drunken fool

Song A Week 2016 - My Heart and My Head (Reboot) - February 14, 2016

The song a week blog I did in 2012 provided a catalyst at the time to write some new songs.  I was playing a lot of music with Rachelle Reath, but I didn't have a regular band so to speak and wasn't gigging much.  Maybe that's the reason a bunch of those songs just fell off the radar.  Or maybe they just sucked. Time will tell.  Whatever, this is one of those songs.  

Written in 2012, Rachelle and I recorded it for the blog in 2012 and we performed it maybe two or three times.  I've changed the feel, put it in a different key, and tweaked one of those lyrics.  The particular line I changed had been a thorn in the side.....one of those lines that comes quickly, is an easy rhyme, and is sort of like a punch line.....but ultimately is weak.  Now it's better.

So here it is....Happy Valentine's Day.

My Heart and My Head 

words and music by David P. Smith

My heart pumps blood

through my scrambled veins

My heart is like a machine

machines don't feel pain

My heart

my heart 

my heart

and my head

My head is a vessel of bone

it contains my brain

My brain is like a machine

machines don't feel pain

Machines don't dream

they don't hope or aspire

They just do their jobs

that's how they're wired

My head

my head

my head

and my heart

My heart is not a metaphor

for courage, strength, or love

so please do not speak of these things

you know not what you speak of

My heart is a muscle

a muscle that is strong

It is the pulse it is the engine

to my life and to my song

My heart

my heart 

my heart

oh my heart

My heart

my heart 

my heart

oh my heart

Song A Week 2016 - Picture of Me with Aaron Ellingsen and Jeanne Tolmie

One of the best things about doing this blog is using it as a catalyst to get together with friends and see what happens. Aaron Ellingsen, Jeanne Tolmie and I are frequent collaborators and it was fun and interesting to get together and have a run at this song.

Picture of Me is a song I wrote a few years back that will be released on my upcoming album New Blues.  The studio version is a pretty cool stripped down arrangement - just accordion, Marek Tyler on drums, and my daughter Chloe Lampman singing backups.  This version - which we jammed out and recorded in about an hour or so - has a Cajun folkey feel thanks to Aaron Ellingsen's fiddle arrangement. 

 Picture of Me 

Do you remember that picture of me in a wheat field with that lean brown dog

his hound dog dink was lipstick pink and a red-tail hawk flew over and gave us a wink

And the Alberta sky was as blue as the Aegean Sea

do you remember 

remember that picture of me

And the Alberta sky was as blue as the Aegean Sea

will you remember

will you remember me

And a great long soft white cloud like a feather

stretched across the sky

And it was two hours and twenty-five minutes

before I said good-bye

Do you remember 

do you remember that picture of me

will you remember 

will you remember me

Do you remember 

do you remember that picture of me

will you remember 

will you remember me

Do you remember that picture of me in the bright white light with a galloping horse

my eyes were two black holes

portals to an underworld hotel

where the menacing ceilings hover over cold cold beds

like conquering aliens from the darkness over head

and dirty curtains guard the windows where we sleep

will you remember

will you remember me

And a thick soft swollen grey cloud like the belly of a whale 

filled the sky

And it was twenty-two years twenty two days

two hours and twenty-five minutes

after I said good-bye

Do you remember 

do you remember that picture of me

will you remember 

will you remember me

Do you remember 

do you remember that picture of me

will you remember 

will you remember me

Song A Week 2016 - Seasons (Future Islands Cover) - January 30, 2016

In the fall of 2014 I became obsessed with this song by the band Future Islands and in particular with this version of the song on the David Letterman show.  Not only is the performance riveting, Letterman's reaction is worth the watch

Summer 2015 I just wanted to learn to play it myself.  With some assistance from my musically-smarter-than-me daughter Chloe, I worked up a version on the accordion and quickly became obsessed with playing it. It is a really beautiful pop song.  We're working up a version with my band The Ape Shit Army that we'll be playing at our upcoming shows in February. 

Here is a version of the song I recorded on my phone one night in December. 

 The official video for the song is little bizarre.  Cowboys, rodeos, couples on horses, pickup trucks....I almost suspect it is a deconstructive anti-video.......comments?

Seasons

Seasons change

and I tried hard just to soften you

seasons change

I grew tired of trying to change for you

And I've been waiting on you

I've been waiting on you

I've been waiting on you

I've been waiting on you

When it breaks

the summer will wake

and the winter will wash away the tears

When it breaks

the summer will warm

and the winter will crave what is gone

crave what is all gone away

People change

but some people never do

and when people change

they gain a peace but they lose one too

And I've been waiting on you

I've been waiting on you

 I've been waiting on you

I've been waiting on you

****Stardate Feb 1/2016:  finding lyrics on the Future Islands website today I see that where I sing "...wash away the tears...." the actual lyric is ".....wash away the taste...."   

And here's the gig posters for our upcoming shows in Nanaimo, Powell River, Victoria, and Vancouver.

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Song A Week 2016 - Why Don't You Do Right - January 24, 2016

Not so long ago after I left home, let's say circa 1980, I went through my parents' records and recorded to cassette anything that seemed remotely interesting.  One song I recorded - from Reader's Digest Million Dollar Memories - was Peggy Lee's version of Why Don't You Do Right with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Loved that shit.

Fast forward about 30 years, Sarah Rhude and I were talking potential collaborations and Dan Weisenberger is spinning the vinyl at a swinging post-gig loft party.  One slab of vinyl was Lil Green's dynamite original take of the song, a favourite of Sarah's.  Bingo! There's our collaboration.

Well not quite Bingo yet. Fast forward another couple of years to the here and now.  A great benefit of ye olde blog is it acts both as a catalyst and provides purpose to get together with friends and make music. Rhudey and I are chatting about playing some music together, my brain snaps into blog production mode;  Rachelle Reath and I have been talking about playing and have a long history of collaborating - in The Euphorians, as a duo, and numerous occasions the last time I was song-a-week-ing........OK, this time:  Bingo!  For real.  Rhudey, Rachelle, and me.   Here's our version of Why Don't You Do Right, recorded in Rachelle's living room.

Why Don't You Do Right is generally accepted as a reworking of the song Weed Smoker's Dream, recorded in 1936 by The Harlem Hamfats and credited to piano player Joe McCoy.  There is some dispute over that credit as there is over the writing credit of Why Don't You Do Right.  While official credit is given to McCoy for re-working the song into a classic woman's blues number, others see the song as thematically and narratively distinct and believe Lil Green penned her own version. The Lil Green recording of the song was one of Peggy Lee's favourite records.  Here she is.....Lil Green!

In a 1984 interview Peggy Lee said "I was and am a fan of Lil Green, a great old blues singer, and Lil recorded it.  I used to play that record over and over in my dressing room, which was next door to Benny.  Finally he said, ' You obviously like that song.'  I said, 'Oh, I love it.' He said 'Would you like me to have arrangement made of it?' I said 'I'd love that,' and he did."   Here's Peggy Lee live with the Benny Goodman Orchestra.  

And here's a hipper take of it recorded later....Peggy Lee with Dave Barbour and his Band

To write this blog, I referenced Wikipedia and a fascinating article about Peggy Lee written by Ivan Santiago-Mercado.  You can check that article out here The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography And Videography: Observations About The Song "Why Don't You Do Right?"  

And in closing.....Weed Smoker's Dream - Harlem Hamfats

Song A Week 2016 - #2 - New Blues # 5: Walkin' Talkin' Blues - 1/18/2016

 When I was eighteen years old my brother gave me a Muddy Waters record, Hard Again, and I was on my way to being a blues junkie. Through that decade I saw iconic figures perform -  Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins - hung out at the King Eddy in Calgary where many great players and bands passed through, and made two pilgrimages to Chicago specifically to soak up the blues.

When I started performing and then writing music, country and hillbilly were my prime influences, blues for white people I've always thought of it.  As I kept playing and writing my music became less specifically referential and began to incorporate prose writing into song form.  Songs became lyrically dense and irregular in structure.  Unblues-like.  

I have always been in awe of the power the writing in blues and country music achieves quite economically.  The ability to express deep human emotions and experiences in a few words, a simple phrase, can ultimately be the most moving and evocative.  In  2011, after a period of these dense , irregular songs - like Bouncy Castles which you can find elsewhere on this blog - I became interested in re-examining blues forms.

After a bleakly alienating Halloween party I attended in Chinatown where I had sunk to new depths of  drunken dysfunction and suffered the physical and psychic toll, I wrote New Blues #1 - Whiskey Blues, which I recorded with The Euphorians  

click here to listen to NEW BLUES #1.  

There are now eight songs in this body of work, some of which will feature on the album I hope to release this spring or early summer titled New Blues.  

I believe all the songs in the New Blues series homage the blues in musical form and spirit. From a lyrical standpoint, my propensity for surreal commentary re-asserts itself in some of the compositions.  The song featured on this blog is a talking blues, with a nod to hip hop - but didn't hip hop nod at the blues first?   The song references the traditional tale of the drifter who encounters an authority figure, as in the Jimmy Rogers' song Waitin' for the Train.

New Blues #5 - Walkin' Talkin' Blues

Well I woke up in the morning and I drank three bottles of wine
started out walking on those telephone lines
Over emerald driving ranges department stores on fire
celebrities politicians hustlers hipsters hookers liars
tracks and shacks and strip malls
baseball diamonds
smoking factories burning black trees a river running brown
just kept walking on those telephone lines right outta skeleton town

I left my head in a laundromat at the edge of town
fuckin thing was a fucking idiot always acting like a clown
left my heart in a box at the side of the road
fuckin think was disobedient wouldn't do what he was told
had to leave my liver in a jar by the river
I'd told him more than once never yell give 'er
beside the cellphone island at the shopping mall
where the queens of high school gather to make important calls
the young bucks primp and preen discuss the gravity of their balls

I had seen the field of green where broken hearts all lie
I had spent one night in the room where losers sit and cry
I'd been walkin above the road that is paved with the hair and bones
of old lovers and old friends a road I thought would never end

I walked one thousand miles decided I should stop
that's when I was accosted by a big ole cop
he said Son I'm gonna arrest you for walkin in the air
I said Officer that ain't fair I was not walkin in the air I was walkin on them telephone lines
he said boy I don't like your attitude you smell like cherry wine
I'm gonna pound your ass so fuckin hard you'll be shittin out your mouth
you're gonna wish that whore your mother never let you out

Now I was not enamoured by this turn of luck
being corn-holed by a good ole boy would suck
I was quivering in my space boots
I was leaking from my meat flute
I was spraying in my diaper
I was praying for a sniper
to make a deadly intervention
just one bullet of prevention
but there was not need to fear
there was an answer to my prayers

You see suddenly from the sky that big ole cop was hit
he exploded like a jam jar his torso totally split
he'd been struck down from the heavens by a deadly drone
launched by King Obama upon his ebony throne

I headed back to town I had to share the news
I got the walkin on the telephone line walkin talkin blues
I headed back to town I had to share the news
I got the walkin on the telephone line walkin talkin blues
I headed back to town I had to share the news
I got the walkin on the telephone line walkin talkin blues
I headed back to town I had to share the news
I got the walkin on the telephone line walkin talkin blues


________________________________________________________


New Blues #1 - Whiskey Blues

I drank so much whiskey I could not walk or speak
I drank so much whiskey I could neither walk or speak
When I woke up in the morning I said
'this is not the path I seek'

I stepped outside my door sun said 'I'm too low to shine'
Stepped outside my door sun said 'I'm too low to shine'
What's a man to do
'bout the storm clouds gathered 'round his mind

When the sun climbed up he was shining angry and bright
When the sun climbed up he was shining angry and bright
My head was on fire
and I was blinded by the light

The night fell black like a great weight from the sky
The night fell black like a great weight from the sky
I felt so all alone
but I was too empty cry

____________________________________________________

This is representative of  the kind of sound when  I saw Muddy.... Nineteen Years Old........take 5 minutes outta your life, put your fucking phone down,  roll one up or grab your lover, and check out the slo-o-o-o-ow blues

Hang on to your lover, grab a drink.....Willie Dixon, I Can't Quit You Baby

John Lee Hooker. Live, raw,  Hobo Blues.

Okay, I saw Albert King, but I'm generally not a big fan of the 10 minute guitar solo style blues.  I understand Albert was a big influence on Stevie Ray Vaughan.  But here's a nice little economical number with some tasty guitar work.  Fact is, when they fade it out - I want more!

This song may be more associated with Etta James, but my first experience of it was with Koko Taylor.  Somewhere I have an autographed pic of her I got at the King Eddy.....with the names of bars I should visit in Chicago written in black felt pen.

Albert Collins was a gifted guitar player with an absolutely unique style, attack, and sound.  His nickname was The Iceman.  John Zorn composed a thirteen minute piece for him called Two Lane Highway.  I had the good fortune of seeing him in a great room in Chicago....with Koko Taylor opening!  Sheeeee-yit.  These are for all you guitar nerds out there.  His signature tune...The Iceman

click here to watch Albert Collins, Two-Lane Highway

Song A Week 2016 - #1! - Blues In The Bottle

In 2012 I attempted to do a song a week blogpost.  I didn't quite make it, weeks were missed as the year unfolded, especially towards the end.  Still, it was ultimately fruitful in that the construct spurred me to play more music and create a body of work.  I did a fair amount of research on the cover songs I did and found out some interesting stuff, I think some of the posts were a good read, some of the songs were good performances, and most importantly it was a catalyst for collaborating with other musicians and artists who I admire and love to play with - Rachelle Reath, Marek Tyler, Emily Goodenough, Eric Gallipo, David "The Great Giffoni" Gifford, Grayson Walker, Jeanne Tolmie, Troy "Big Bubba" Cook.   It was very cool to track the hits on the blog, where they came from in the world, which posts were most popular, and I cultivated a YouTube presence which was turning out to be the legacy of the blog after it ended.  

Then the weird Google shit hit the fan.  My account was screwed around with and the videos, though they were still on YouTube, would not come up in a search. It was pretty much impossible to get them to come up, even with very specific searches.....and it still is.  This year my wife Betty-Ann has endeavoured to re-post the blogs, an attempt to fan the dying embers, an act I am grateful for.  At the same time it begs the question....why not get off your ass and do it again.   
                      

 Dum-Dum.             Dingaling.             Ding Dong. 

I'm running late!  It's goddam January 12th!  What the fuck.  Here's the first one.  When I first picked up the accordion one of my prime influences was the Holy Modal Rounders. Their irreverent, humourous, raw approach to old folk and hillbilly music gave me the license to have a go.  Here's a song I've known for years but never played until a couple of weeks ago. Blues In The Bottle.

Here's the whole Holy Modal Rounders album that I was listening to at the time on a worn out cassette....first song is Blues In The Bottle

I haven't done exhaustive research, but I believe this is the original version of the song, recorded by Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers  in 1928.  It was also recorded, and is perhaps better known, by the great Lightnin' Hopkins.  I would venture a guess that The Rounders were listening to this version.

Here's me doing the Holy Modal Rounders' Same Old Man last time I did this song a week biz.

And this is The Dogbreath Brothers channeling the Holy Modal Rounders Black-Eyed Suzy.....beer-fuelled and live to 4-track cassette yo. (Click link below the pic)

click here: BLACK-EYED SUZY - THE DOGBREATH BROTHERS

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

Night Life - Willie Nelson - November 9, 2012

When I was in my period of heavy C&W music acquisition, there was one low budget cassette compilation I bought that ended up leaving a lasting impression on me.  It is deeply buried in a box somewhere so I can't show it to you, but it had utilitarian packaging - green type on a white background, no pics - and an odd mix of songs of uneven quality and relevance.  A few of those songs turned out to be pretty important to me.  I was familiar with the song Sittin' And Thinkin' from the Elvis Costello album Almost Blue, but here I was introduced to the sublime original version by Charlie Rich, there was Jerry Lee Lewis' What Made Milwaukee Famous (Made A Loser Out Of Me), and the subject of this blog, Willie Nelson performing his song Night Life.  Beyond that, everything else must have been pretty forgettable because...well....I don`t remember it.  Man, I loved Night Life, and a few years later when I heard Ray Price`s version I was blown away by it too.

Always wanted to learn it, but being a Willie Nelson composition, this isn`t a straight ahead 3 chord country song.  It`s packed with coloured chords and interesting modulations. That means if you try and find it on the internet there's a lot of  versions, some of them sounding righter than others.  Found a version I liked, worked on it for a while, didn't seem to sit quite right, so I  turned to accordion / guitar / musical saw hero Aaron Watson for guidance.  We watched a version of Willie performing it (see below) smunched that together with what I was already doing, shook it, gave it a twist, and well.....here's my interpretation  of the classic Night Life.  Thanks Willie, Ray, and Aaron.

Night Life - Willie Nelson

When the evening sun goes down

you will find me out hanging 'round

The night life

ain't no good life

But it's my life

Many people just like me

dreaming of old used-to-be

The night life

ain't no good life

But it's my life

Listen to the blues they're playin'

Listen what the blues are sayin'

Mine is just another scene

from the world of broken dreams

The night life

ain't no good life

But it's my life

Here is a really stellar version of a young Willie Nelson perfoming Night Life  at The Opry

And here's Ray Price doing the version most people are familiar with.  This video includes the spoken intro from the original album the song came out on.

On Top Of Old Smokey - October 27, 2012

If you're like me, the On Top Of Old Smokey you grew up with was a goofy bastardized campfire song.  Maybe in the back of my mind I knew there was a real song, maybe saw it in the track listing on a Burl Ives album or something, maybe the plaintive folk melody was lodged in my consciousness like a fish hook....but what I knew was this:

On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese

I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed

It rolled off the table and onto the floor

then my poor meatball rolled out of the door

It rolled through the garden and under a bush

then my poor meatball was covered with mush

Early next summer that very same bush

was covered in meatballs, meatballs and mush

Yah I know.....pretty profound shit.  Hilarious. A real side-splitter.  A few years ago I received as a gift from my wife and daughter some previously unreleased Hank Williams radio recordings - The Mother`s Best Sessions.  More about the Mother`s Best story later.  There is a complete 15 CD box set of this material, while the release I have is 3 CD`s that distills the seventy-two 15 minute shows into an excellent overview.  There are the hits, sometimes just written or recently recorded, unexpected covers like Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain and Cherokee Boogie, a whole load of gospel with lots of harmonies from The Drifting Cowboys, and a version of On Top of Old Smokey that was a revelation to me.  I never knew what a heartbreaking lament it was - but I guess Hank did. Check it out

In the intro, Hank refers to a it being one of the "top pop tunes in the nation."  This is likely a reference to the version by The Weavers, an abysmal piece of shit I couldn't bring myself to post here even in the interests of history.

A couple of weeks ago I stayed up too late drinking beer, playing piano and singing with Jeanne Tolmie, and On Top Of Old Smokey was one of the songs we played.  It got me all fired up about the song (again) and Saturday afternoon, Rachelle Reath and Jeanne came over and we worked out a version of it....here it is.  

The lyrics we sang are Hank's version (which differs to many versions in the second verse) with a few of our own extras and twists.

On Top Of Old Smokey - Traditional

On top of Old Smokey

all covered with snow

I lost my true lover

from courtin' too slow

On top of Old Smokey

I went there to weep

for a false-hearted lover

is worse than a thief

A thief he will rob you

and take what you've saved

But a false-hearted lover

will lay you in the grave

The grave will decay you 

and turn you to dust

The price you will always pay

when you misplace your trust

They'll hug you and kiss you

and tell you more lies 

than crossties on a railroad

or stars in the sky

On top of Old Smokey

Old Smokey so high

where the birds up in heaven

can hear my sad cries

On top of Old Smokey

all covered with snow

I lost my true lover

from courtin' too slow

Mothers Best Sessions

The Mother's Best shows were broadcast live between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. on WSM out of Nashville, Tennessee and Hank was paid $100 a week for recording the shows that usually consisted of one country song, one instrumental and a gospel song to close the show. During the 15 minute show Hank and the announcer Louie Buck would pitch the flour in between Hank's songs and Hank even wrote a theme song for the show.

"I love to have that gal around
Her biscuits are so nice and brown
Her pies and cakes beat all the rest
Cause she makes them all with Mother's Best"

Back in those days if a radio show wasn't actually live, it was recorded live onto a 16 inch acetate and that's what the Mother's Best sessions are.  Hank and the Drifting Cowboys had a grueling touring schedule.  All the travel was by car and adding to the grind was the obligation of Opry regulars to return to Nashville most weekends, no matter where they were, to perform. The transcriptions gave WSM and its listeners a daily dose of the Lovesick Blues Boy, just as though he was there right in studio.  These recordings have a compelling immediacy and show off the relaxed musicianship and professionalism of a seasoned touring band and their dynamic leader.

At some point in history, WSM was purging its vaults and the Mother's Best acetates were destined to be dumped.  WSM employee and huge Hank fan Les Leverett recognized their value and saved them from oblivion.  What followed was years of legal battles between the estate of Hank Williams in the persons of Jett Williams and Hank Jr and "other parties"...yeah, I can't seem to find out on the internet exactly who.  While Leverett had given the acetates to Jett Williams (who had gone through a long legal battle to prove she was Hank's daughter)  a copy had also gone to someone else, possibly Drifting Cowboys bass player Hilious Butrum.  

Whatever the murky details are, the end result is an amazing musical document.  A relaxed Hank, joking  and talking, a band on top of its game, a group of musicians delving into their extensive catalogue.  A real piece of country music history.  After researching this blog, I'm feeling like I'm going to have to get the 15 CD set, if only to hear Hank's venereal disease PSA.  "Stars In Her Eyes" is a 14 minute soap opera than Hank sings and recites, interspersed with running remarks from woman who portrays an unfaithful wife who contracts syphilis. 

New July - New Song - October 21, 2012

A Song A Week is a song a week in name only.  I had been feeling bad/guilty about my lack of activity on the blog, but I have got over it.  I started the blog to give myself a kick in the pants, to ensure that I was engaged and active with music.  What it boils down to is I have been busy playing and practicing music - The Golden Country Band, old folks shows, working on my original material - along with getting through the busiest period of the painting season with my company, Kingfisher Painting Services.  I've had ample opportunity to record a song for the blog, but it just has seemed less pressing and important.  

What has instigated this blog post is a new song I've been working on.  It started to come together Friday night after Golden Country rehearsal and I pounded it out on the piano over the next couple of days and came up with this.....that was last weekend.  I did numerous takes of the song for the blog but I wasn't happy with the melody and dramatic and narrative arc of the song, so I kept working on it over the last week.  Here's me performing the song  in its current form

******Stardate January 13, 2016: this song has gone through numerous melody, time signature, feel, and key changes.....and it still ain't quite there.  

New July 

I laid my arms by the side of the road

they were tired said they needed a rest

I laid down my heart and laid down my head

after listening to them confess

My torso, my legs and me

drinklessly persevered

weaving, weaving

no matter which way we steered

I've decided I'm gonna start smoking

please, light me on fire

I'll burn hot and bright through the soft dark night

a funeral pyre of human desire

At dusk, bats' acrobatics

the geometry of geese in flight

these are the charms I use

to defend against the night

Summer rain inert upon abstract blocks of hospital

where three thousand lie damaged and decaying

A crouching woman howls, a man snarls and lick his balls

in paper slippers I shuffle through the halls

And I got nothing to protect me

from things that fall from the sky

but I ain't worried

I ain't worried

I heard it's gonna be a new July

And I got nothing to protect me

from things that fall from the sky

but I ain't worried

I ain't worried

I heard it's gonna be a new July

Going Away Party - What Week Is This!

Goin" Away Party

I've been busy. Here's a great song penned by Cindy Walker.  Thanks to Brad Johnson, Calvin Dick, Eric Gallipo,  and Rachelle Reath.

And here's an excellent reading by Marshall 

Chapman 

The Comeback Trail #2 - Bus Depot Blue

What!?!  Another blogpost!?!  COMEBACK TRAIL, YO.  Here's a song I recorded on my cd Hurtin' Dance Party (2002).  After the fractious demise of The Dogbreath Brothers, I played solo for a couple of years and the initial concept was that this would be a solo album.  However I excitedly invited all kinds of people to play on it, the result being some very fresh live off the floor recordings as we learned and recorded the songs on the fly.  The sessions also acted as the genesis of two distinct combos:  the heavy-hitting and unpredictable Mansmell  and the dreamy and atmoshperic Whelps. 

But I digress here...Bus Depot Blue is a simple narrative C&W song that would have been part of the Mansmell repertoire, but we never performed it live too much because it's kind of quiet and sensitive and Mansmell was anything but.  People wanted the rock, they wanted to see Calvin Dick lose his shit on a set of drums.  The studio version features the Wurlitzer Sideman, a mechanical drum machine circa 1950's.  Playing lapsteel is Tolan McNeil.  Pretty sure we did 3 takes, not sure which one we used.  I remember Tolan not being totally stoked about his part, but I think his snakey intuitive playing makes the song.  Not only did we rarely play the song back when it was current, I never play it now.  Ever.  So it was kind of strange I sat down to play and it popped out.  Here's the version I just recorded and below it is a link to the album version.

Bus Depot Blue, studio recording.

Bus Depot Blue - David P. Smith

Snot-nosed kids with Grandma, knapsacks and sweethearts
seats adjoined row on row all vinyl and chrome
Ghostly figures on the screens of coin-operated TV's
like flickering memories of a time we used to know
This big and modern bus depot is the end of the road
You're riding Greyhound to Saskatoon
you might as well be flying to the moon

And I'm sick with hurt and I'm confused
I'm sick of arguing till dawn
I'm sick with booze and missing you
and you've barely been gone
My heart is in my mouth it might fall out on the floor
and I can still see you walking out that automatic door

Yodel

A hundred mile high prairie sky towers sullen and grey
The night glides in on silent wings sucks the light out of the day
Clouds fall to the ground, rain is all around
you're headed east, I'm headed west, I guess that you know best
Travelling down this highway, my heart filled with regret
a note to myself - remember to forget

Remember to forget the joy that we had
remember to remember the crap that made me sad
there's nothing on the radio 'cept preachers and white noise
but it's better than listening to the echoes of your voice

Yodel

The Comeback Trail: She Thinks I Still Care - George Jones Cover - August 20, 2012

Followers of this blog, if such a thing exists, may have noted the absence of postings over the past few weeks.  Been sucking wind.  Blowing chunks, some might say.  You'll find no litany of excuses here....you wanna know the dreary details?  Drop me a line, give me a call, we'll go for a drink.  I'll fill your glass - and your ear.  I'm attempting a comeback.  My tailor's sewing me a bejeweled lycra jumpsuit with a padded junk pouch.  Keep watching the blog and you might get a peak of that.

In the meantime, here's a George Jones song.  George Jones is such an emotive and absolutely unique vocalist that taking on one of his standards is somewhat foolhardy.  Well call me a fool, and a hardy one at that.  I love this song and have sung it for years.  When I was first getting into C&W I bought this cassette at a drugstore in Three Hills, Alberta.

I had heard of George Jones but didn't know much about him.  There were some Hank Williams songs on the collection I knew, I think maybe a Buck Owens cover too, some other titles I recognized - so I bought it.  I was just out there making exploratory purchases to discover and learn about country.  No one I knew was into the shit.  I've got piles of George Jones now, but for quite a while this was the only George I had.

She Thinks I Still Care was written by songsmith Dickey Lee, who also wrote the oft recorded Patches as well as many other hit songs.  It has been recorded an estimated 1,000 times by different artists including Elvis Presley.  Here's my version of the song.

She Thinks I Still Care - Dickey Lee

Just because I ask a friend about her
Just because I spoke her name somewhere
Just because I rang her number by mistake today
She thinks I still care

Just because I haunt the same old places
Where the mem'ry of her lingers ev'rywhere
Just because I'm not the happy guy I used to be
She thinks I still care

But if she's happy thinkin' I still need her
Then let that silly notion bring her cheer
But how could she ever be so foolish
Oh where would she get such an idea

Just because I ask a friend about her
And just because I spoke her name somewhere
Just because I saw her then went all to pieces
She thinks I still care
She thinks I still care

Here's a couple of George Jones versions, one by Elvis.....and more.  Enjoy!

Young George:  gotta love the guy doing harmonies popping in and out of frame to sing his lines

Classic George live on the Johnny Cash show

Elvis:  this is pretty good.

Beck

Random:  George McGovern

Just one more...The Grand Tour