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

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

The Lonely Astronaut - March 25, 2012

Yes, Nanaimo is a hard, hard woman, but that's not going to stop me from heading to The Hub City next weekend to play a show at Crace Mountain.  This is a big show, the end of an era, as Superprince Adam and Superprincess Lyndsay move along to new frontiers.  Aaaaaargh!  Also on the bill, Black Valley Gospel with their infernal devil music, and I've got a sweet little combo together for the show featuring Rachelle Reath on violin and vox and Marek Tyler on the drums. 

At the end of our rehearsal on Saturday, we did a one take recording of our song The Lonely Astronaut.  In the great tradition of songs like Rocket Man and Space Oddity, the song uses outer space as a metaphor for loneliness and alienation, while making direct lyrical references to Hank Williams (hey music fans, spot the reference and win a surprise gift!) and The Five Man Electrical Band.  Below are links to our performance of the song, as well as to a larger orchestral version by The Euphorians, recorded live off the floor in   my basement by boy genius Mike Hall.

Here's our take from the rehearsal

click here: THE LONELY ASTRONAUT - THE EUPHORIANS

The Lonely Astronaut
The astronaut stands on the shores of an alien sea
believes he can hear the children laughing now with glee
But in the realm of irrational perception
he was once crowned national champion
while the commotion caused by his emotions
made him renowned in his hometown

When he left home he became well-known
for sporting a massive biblical beard
'til that fateful night he was trussed and sheared
by a drunken balladeer

It was then that he decided to travel to the stars
leave behind this world of buildings
pocketbooks and cars

In a world where the sky is green and the trees are blue
and there's no one for a trillion miles but you
it's wise to doublecheck your supplies
and remember
it takes gravity to cry

What a waste, what a waste
when your tears float into space
instead of falling
instead of falling down your face
what a waste, what a waste

Now Nature abhors a crybaby
as much as she abhors a vacuum
so astronauts you must not succumb
to the commotion of your emotions

I'm a stranger here on this place called Earth
and I was sent down here to discover my worth
I'm a stranger here on this place called Earth
and I was sent down here to discover my worth


The astronaut stands on the shores of an alien sea
believes he can hear the children laughing now with glee



and what the hell, here's Bowie doing Space Oddity

Bouncy Castles - February 12, 2012

Bouncy Castles - February 12, 2012

I wrote this song a few years ago, I don't exactly where it came from.  There was a bunch of fragments floating around in a tepid, gelatinous sea, some crazed molecular shit went down and this song crawled out.  It started out with just me on piano. When it was brand new I was playing it on a tour with Vancouver band The Co-Pilots and their guitar player Chad dubbed it an anarchist hymn.

Someone else called it my Bohemian Rhapsody - I don't know about that, but pretty high praise to a guy who was obsessed with Queen in his adolescence and whose first rock show was Freddie and crew (with Thin Lizzy opening!)  Whatever.  It evolved into an epic with full band orchestration - follow this link to hear it as performed by The Euphorians, recorded live off the floor in my basement by Mike Hall

click here: BOUNCY CASTLES - THE EUPHORIANS

and then I recently arranged it for solo accordion.  Here's a link to a performance of the song:

Bouncy Castles

I made a profession out of earnest confession 

I was thinking to myself "I got it made"

as I spiraled down and out of a flesh-coloured parkade

on my way to the land of bouncy castles

where life's rich pageant exceeds television

on my way to the land of red wine by the box

where I throw away the locks

throw away the keys

always do exactly as I please

throw away the locks

throw away the keys

always do exactly as I please

I can't stand it

sleeping on the ground on the coldest planet in the universe

and what's worse

this planet don't even qualify to be a planet

damn it

I can't stand it

Well have you heard the news if you did you probably got the blues

just turn on your TV and you'll see

when the clouds devour the sky all the birds and butterflies will die

what will happen

is they'll drown

tattered wings and broken bodies fall to the ground

where they carpet the asphalt where spoked light standards sprout

where the crack whores roam on high heeled bones

thrust their jaws to heaven and mo-o-o-an

They took a taser, a medical laser, and an antiquated phaser

hooked the electrodes to my knees a peck on the cheek and a little squeeze

and they blasted my ass due south

upon arrival they hosed the vomit out of my mouth

Then they tucked me in a bed where every ridiculous thing I ever said

when I was three sheets to the wind

was played on a tape over and over again

when I could no longer hack it they buttoned up my special jacket

then they put me on a jet ski commandeered by Dostoyevsky

he said "Son we're on a mission up the river to discover the heart - 

of the human condition

And I have it on sound authority that when we get there,

we'll find some pretty good fishin"

And we can throw away the locks

throw away the keys

always do exactly as we please

throw away the locks

throw away the keys

always do exactly as we please