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 Blog Faltered - To The Ghosts - June 13, 2012

The blog faltered.  I failed to adhere to the construct. There was no song last week.  It was a busy week, but the real problem was my wife was away and all order, routine, and structure crumbled.  Subsisting on all meat pizzas, salt & pepper squid, and salisbury steaks; unclothed, unshaved, guzzling red wine by the box, subscribed to the 24 hour Charlie Sheen channel, marathon phone sex with a Moldavian heiress, filth, squalor, freestyle farting.  I meant to do the blog one night, but instead drank a bottle of wine and played sad songs for 3 hours.  There were two rehearsals during the week for the show we had with Cloudsplitter and  I recorded this song at the end of one of them....I had the potential to do the blog last week but never did!

Our friend Clifford Doerksen died an untimely and tragic death in December 2010 and flying home from the memorial service in February 2011 I composed this song, in its entirety, in my head.  When I got home I typed it up and promptly forgot about it for 6 months, until I stumbled on it again and started working on it.  Realizing the melodies I was coming up with referenced The Carpenters' Top Of The World, I checked out those chord progressions and messed around with them. I believe this is the kind of secret songwriting shit I'm not supposed to reveal.

Amongst many other things, Clifford was a brilliant, hilarious, and ruthless writer and reviewer. Here's an article remembering him that also contains many links to his writing:  

click here: CLIFFORD

And here it is, To The Ghosts, to Clifford....

with Rachelle Reath - violin and backup vox,
Emily Goodenough - viola
Marek Tyler - drums 

To The Ghosts

His heart lay panting on the floor

his mind just walked out the back door

into the winter's night

to fight the good fight

if he could still distinguish wrong from right

Did someone step on a crack and break his back

did someone say give up, turn back

The stolen years

will not be restored by our tears

and our memories will fade from grey to black

Whether we say yay or nay

the night is followed by the day

To the departed and their ghosts

we raise one too many toasts

then stumble numbly on our way

Skeleton - May 23, 2012

Though I wrote this song about a year ago,  it still feels a little fresh and new, maybe because I haven't performed it live a zillion times. This version of it is recorded with Rachelle Reath on violin, Emily Goodenough on cello, and Marek Tyler on the drums. We have been rehearsing for our first show in this configuration June 9 at The Fort St. Cafe with Vancouver band Cloudsplitter.  Emily just learned the song tonight, so kudos to Emily I say.  Anyone got a name for this sweet combo? Bring it on - let the blog comments rain down.

Here we are playing the song

Skeleton - David P. Smith

The skeleton in my closet he knows how to party

down by the river amongst the debris

There we discuss alien conspiracies

trailer park lesbians, UFC

How it feels to see your reflection in a glass of whiskey

Whiskey rivers swum like public pool lengths

dreamlessly sinking in quicksand beds

Unresolved nights became resolute dawns

the angry sparrows twittered as the sun grew strong

Days begun orange, then turned to blue

with periods of brown forecast for the afternoon

Fat robins feast on freshly turned worms

starlings flit and swoop like sci-fi insect swarms

A little brown bird lies still on the street

near the passenger door to the left of my feet

Maybe, maybe, maybe he's asleep

The skeleton in my closet likes to go out on the town

likes to paint it red, he really likes to get down

Sometimes he gets so down I find him crawling around

And I say

if you piss in the carburetor, the car will stall

if you piss on the temple floor, the walls will fall

you can piss your pants, buddy it's your call

You can do what you want, I'll pick you up when you fall

The digital satellite unit casts a hideous shadow on our house

while I recline on the sofa in the costume of a louse

While on the TV, weeping women flee

the good doctor eats a live chimpanzee

and the air is alive with fleas' disease

The skeleton in my closet pulls me aside

he says 

brother got a minute, I need to confide

you see, my dreams all cower like scared cats in the rain

and I don't mind feeling numb, it means I don't feel pain

but it scares me being numb, in case I don't feel again

It was a sad good-bye to the jugglers and clowns

went working for the man in a jackhammer town

Now I have a daughter and I have a wife

and this is the foundation on which I build my life

The skeleton in my closet says he's feeling tired

says it's hard to care, says he feels uninspired

And I say

put your pants on one leg at a time

open the curtains and let the sun shine

every minute in the world a hundred ten people are dying

Sing a song, stop crying

Sing a song, stop crying

you