Carnival Saloon

Little Richard's Tutti Frutti

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:00:00 +0000

A benefit of being married to someone who works for the publisher Continuum is occasionally getting my hands on books from the firm's excellent music list. While stuck at home a few weeks ago with an irritatingly persistent bout of tonsillitis I quickly got through David Kirby's new book Little Richard: The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll.

It's an enjoyable, discursive book that not only takes in its subject's life and work but inevitably touches on issues of race, sexuality and the American South.

In the book's introduction Kirby bemoans the total lack of Little Richard CDs in the Honolulu and Tallahassee branches of Borders and that there are only five in the Virgin Megastaore in Times Square (where he's appalled to find 29 discs by alphabetical neighbours Little Feat). I decided to repeat the experiment in Central London and am happy to report that Little Richard is well represented in the Oxford Street HMV, though Little Feat still easily outnumber him.

I think rock'n'rollers of a certain vintage do have more fans in the UK than at home (last Saturday Chuck Berry was scheduled to play the same venue that I saw Wilco in May). Still, while it's surprising that Kirby couldn't find any Little Richard in Borders his book inadvertently explains why.

As the book points out, Little Richard's star as a recording artist shone brightest when he was on the Speciality label in the mid-50s. In 1957 he quit show business for bible college and flip-flopped between the two since then. I suspect the reason Kirby's book offers no appendix of records you might purchase (should you find a shop that stocks them) is not an oversight but once you've got the Speciality Sessions box set and Greatest Hits Recorded Live, both of which Kirby mentions more than once, then there's little reason to buy much else. Saying that, Little Richard novices may want to follow my example and get themselves the single-disc Speciality compilation The Georgia Peach.

The book riffs around its main theme that the culture at large and writers such as Peter Guralnick, Nick Cohn and his hero Greil Marcus have unfairly ignored Richard's importance. More specifically that Richard's 1955 hit Tutti Frutti "changed the world" and is a "seminal text in American culture, as much as Uncle Tom's Cabin, Song of Myself and the great documents of the Civil Rights era".

MP3: Little Richard - Tutti Frutti

Buy Little Richard - The Georgia Peach: 7digital | Amazon

Kirby puts forward a convincing, if hyperbolic, case for Tutti Frutti's Rosetta Stone of rock'n'roll status. The book's also great at explaining the song's origins. How's this for lyrics: "Tutti Frutti, good booty/If it don’t fit, don’t force it/You can grease it, make it easy."

I don't know whether Richard's sobriquet as the "architect of rock'n'roll" was self-appointed or conferred on him but it sounds about right. Chuck Berry had more hits, wrote his own songs and developed an influential guitar style; Jerry Lee Lewis laid down the template for rock'n'roll behaviour; Elvis brought it all to the masses. But all three of those individuals cite the gentlemen born Ricard Penniman as a formative influence. Perhaps Little Richard did design the foundations.

Related Links
Buy Little Richard: The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll at Amazon
David Kirby - author's own website
Little Richard - detailed fan site

Moriarty @ The Union Chapel

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:47:00 +0000

Wednesday 10 November 2009

Photo: Tim Ferguson

I always do my best to see support acts, even when, in the case of Islington's Union Chapel, there's a great pub nearby for some pre-show pints. This habit was rewarded on Wednesday when I saw Moriarty open for Andrew Bird.

I'd never heard of the Franco-American collective before but apparently they are "big in France" and the Guardian tipped them as their New Band of the Day over a year ago.

Any line-up that features double bass, dobro, glockenspiel and a battery of harmonicas is likely to be fine by me but my impression was that Moriarty's combination of quirky lyrics and dive bar cabaret stage presence won over many other new fans on Wednesday night.

The band has a vintage folk-blues vibe and singer Rosemary Standley, who wouldn't look out of place on the cover of a 40s pulp novel, has a voice that reminds me of Tarnation's Paula Frazer with a touch of the Neko Case.

On Wednesday they mixed originals with covers including Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence. Predictably I was taken by their version of Tom Waits' Chocolate Jesus, which if I manage to get a copy, I'll share here in the future.

This track, an unlikely addition to the War on Terror canon, is from the album Gee Whiz But This Is A Lonesome Town.

MP3: Moriarty - Private Lily

Buy: Gee Whiz But This is a Lonesome Town

Buy the album and if they are playing in a town near you get yourself a ticket.

Related Links
Moriarty - MySpace
Moriarty - official site
Photos of Moriarty @ Union Chapel - more great shots by Tim Ferguson

Passenger Side (The Movie)

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:30:00 +0000

Any film that shares its title with a Wilco song is likely to grab my attention so it's unsurprising that my eyes were drawn towards Passenger Side when I saw it the London Film Festival programme. That it also promised a soundtrack featuring the Silver Jews, Smog and Dinosaur Jr only eased my decision to buy tickets.

It's great little low-key movie about two brothers in Los Angeles. You'll get a flavour of the film from the trailer below, and best of all, a glimpse of one of the funniest cameos I've ever seen - Greg Dulli playing a porno director.

Still, I suspect that what Carnival Saloon regulars will like most is the soundtrack. Here are some of my favourite songs from the film.

MP3: Silver Jews - Punks in the Beerlights

Buy: Tanglewood Numbers

MP3: Smog - Hit The Ground Running

Buy: Knock Knock

MP3: Camper Van Beethoven - Good Guys and Bad Guys

Buy: Camper Van Beethoven

MP3: Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene

Buy: Bug

MP3: Evan Dando - Hard Drive

Buy: Baby I'm Bored

MP3: Wilco - Passenger Side

Buy:A.M.

Related Links
Passenger Side - official site with director interview

So, farewell then, The Broken Family Band

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:35:00 +0000

On Wednesday I saw the Broken Family Band's last ever London gig. One of my favourite bands, they're splitting up after eight years and seven records. According to their website, "We can't pin it on musical differences, we've just decided to quit while we're ahead" but you've got to figure it's frustrating when you think you're one of the best bands in the country and keep putting out records that rarely get airplay.

Joanne introduced to me to the BFB's first full-length album Cold Water Songs before we started going out and they are probably the only band I've followed from near inception to their demise. What initially drew me to them was their combination of twang and funny, very English lyrics and although they became less countryfied in recent years the snarky observational wit remained.

In the pub prior to this week's farewell at the Garage, Highbury Corner I tried to recall where else I'd seen them. The 12 Bar Club (support from Milk Kan), multiple Come Down and Meet The Folks appearances at the Fiddler's Elbow and Golden Lion (once upstaged by a very young Kitty, Daisy & Lewis), LSE student union (attendance apx 20, someone still yelled 'Robots'), the 100 Club, Koko, the Cambridge Folk Festival (hilarious duet with Emily Barker for them, altercation with some crusties for me), The Luminaire, Tricycle Theatre (all acoustic, nothing plugged in), The Water Rats...

They've always been a brilliant live act, enlivened by singer Steven Adams' dry wit and sarcastic/rude audience baiting. Wednesday was no different in this regard; a bloke called out "Devil in Disguise". Adams' retort went something along the lines of, "The song's called Devil in the Details you cunt. You motherfucker. It's because of people like you that we are splitting up." From most people that level of abuse would be unbearable; at a Broken Family Band gig I find it strangely endearing.

To mark them riding out into the sunset here's a track from each of their records plus one from their 2003 session for John Peel. If you are new to these you've really missed a wonderful band. Losers.

MP3: When We're Dry (feat. Mary Epworth) (2002)

Lots of recurring BFB themes here: booze, sadness, minor league self-loathing, awkward relationships.
Buy: The King Will Build a Disco

MP3: (I Don't Have the Time To) Mess Around (2003)

Worth hearing if only for the delightful lines, "There's a dog sleeping in my bed/If I tickle his balls/He Gives me sweet head".
Buy: Cold Water Songs

MP3: You Were A Nightmare (Peel Session)

Peel has a few technical problems before playing the track. Bear with him. The original is also on Cold Water Songs.
Buy: Cold Water Songs

MP3: The King Of Carrot Flowers Parts Two & Three (2004)

A cover of the Neutral Milk Hotel classic. See also my Rock'n'Roll Jesus post for another track from the record.
Buy: Jesus Songs

MP3: John Belushi (2005)

To my mind this one of the band's best songs.As you'll hear, it's not really about John Belushi.
Buy: Welcome Home, Loser

MP3: Alone In The Make-Out Room (feat. Piney Gir) (2006)

More bitterness expertly and humorously deployed.
Buy: Balls

MP3: Dancing On the 4th Floor (2007)

This is definitely not a country song. At Wednesday's gig guitarist Jay Williams asked the assembled who wished the band had stayed country. A lot of hands went up. Then Jay extended his middle finger in their direction.
Buy: Hello Love

MP3: Cinema vs. House (2009)

An eternal dilemma: "We could go to the cinema/But that's two hours without speaking/Or we could go walking the streets/Where there are kids who might try to fuck us up".
Buy: Please and Thank You

Buy Broken Family Band records at Amazon

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Bob Slayers

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:08:00 +0000

Amusing Reactions to Dylan's Christmas in the Heart

Having duly bought my copy of Christmas in the Heart on Monday I gave it one spin and now won't be listening to it again until December. I suspect Bob had an enjoyable afternoon recording the album and in a weird way I found it quite charming. Then again Dylan's whims and eccentricities are one of the reasons I love him so.

Here's a taster if you've not yet heard the record critics are calling "a challenging listen".

Rolling Stone's favourable review likened the album to "a Woodstock snowfall with the defiance of 1970's Self Portrait". This is the same magazine in which Greil Marcus began his assessment of Self Portrait with the killer opening, "What is this shit?" Not only have Rolling Stone broken ranks with much of the press by being kind towards Bob's fund-raising Christmas efforts but they are also valiantly trying a rehabilitate a 40-year-old Dylan album that was once deemed the "third worst rock and roll record of all time".*

BBC News go crazy for Dylan whether he's advertising lingerie or visiting the childhood home of an old friend so it's no surprise that the Today Programme got David Hepworth to opine about Christmas in the Heart on Wednesday morning.

The clip is brilliant for combining Bob's renditions of carols with more harmonious versions sung by King's College Choir. This, according to John Humphrys, led his producer to quip that Dylan "sounded like a drunk who had burst into King's College Chapel on Christmas Day".

I read in a Facebook comment that one review claimed Dylan "makes I'll Be Home For Christmas sound like a threat". An equally unimpressed commenter on the Word Magazine website wrote amusingly that "When he sings 'Do you hear what I hear?' I'm assuming he's asking the question in all innocence without having had the benefit at any time of a studio playback during the recording of the song".

But perhaps my favourite dismissal of the record is this one-star review on Amazon. Over to you Mr Bradley C Chambers: "This is horrendous. Bob sounds increasingly effeminate these days. Indeed one can almost imagine him singing these dirges wearing women's clothing and lipstick. I think perhaps he's trying to tell us something..."

Thankfully commuter rag Metro took a different slant with their coverage and printed a list of songs that "didn't make the CD". Some that made me chuckle: Sleigh Lady Sleigh, Stocking On Heaven's Door, I Want Yule, The Lonesome Death of Christmas Carol and Sleigh Train Coming.

If you've heard the album or come across any other good reactions to it please leave a comment below.

Buy Christmas in the Heart at Amazon

*In their book The Worst Rock and Roll Records of All Time Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell place Metal Machine Music and Having Fun With Elvis On Stage as the only albums worse than Self Portrait. "The breakup of the Beatles shortly before this album's release," they wrote, "signaled the end of the 60s; Self Portrait suggested the end of Bob Dylan."

Related Links
Christmas in the Heart - Bob's official site has more on the money being raised for Crisis and Feeding America
Expecting Rain - the best Dylan news source

Tom Waits Film Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:55:00 +0000

It's a great week to be a Tom Waits fan. On Monday we got a free preview of the Glitter & Doom live album and this Friday sees the release of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus which stars Tom as the Devil.

Waits has said he doesn't consider himself an actor, "I like doing it, but there's a difference between being an actor and doing some acting". That said he's appeared in more than two dozen films though it's also fair to say he's never strayed far from the eccentric persona he's created for himself.

One of my favourite Tom Waits cameos is in Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer's Candy Mountain. Sadly no one's put any clips on YouTube but if you want to see our hero dressed in a remarkable pair of check trousers practicing golf shots do track down a copy.

Here are a few choice clips from the Waits 'acting' oeuvre that I did find on a quick trawl. Please post others you know of in the comments.

Down By Law (1986)
Jim Jarmusch is the director most associated with Waits and Down By Law is easily his meatiest role. There are quite a few songs from Rain Dogs on the soundtrack too. Waits can be heard as another DJ in Mystery Train too.

Coffee & Cigarettes (2003)
More Jarmusch. This sequence was filmed in 1993 but I had to wait a decade before I finally saw it. The most remarkable thing about the clip is that Iggy Pop is wearing a shirt.

The Fisher King (1991)
Tom plays to type as a homeless Vietnam veteran in Terry Gilliam's wonderful New York fable.

Short Cuts (1993)
One of my favourite Robert Altman films and probably Tom's best acting performance.

Cold Feet (1989)
An oddball but enjoyable comedy written by Tom McGuane (Rancho Deluxe, The Missouri Breaks). Tom plays a a hit man called Kenny in his most over-the-top acting performance. There's an even better clip of Waits in Cold Feet at iMDB.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Did I just write that Cold Feet was Waits' most over-the-top performance? Whoops. It's this one, playing the Bedlam bug eater Renfield for his old pal Francis Ford Coppola.

Mystery Men (1999)
Barney Hoskyns' excellent Waits biog Lowside of the Road claims that Tim Burton actually made this deadbeat superhero comedy and that credited director 'Kinka Usher' is a psuedonym. As far as I know Usher is actually a well-regarded ads director. Anyway, in the film Tom plays Dr Heller, the genius who makes the hapless heroes' non-lethal weapons (the blame thrower is my favourite). This clip is an outtake (you'll have to go to YouTube to watch).

What are your favourite Tom Waits films? Have you seen Doctor Parnassus? Do leave a comment below.

Related Posts
Tom Waits 2.0 - Tom's new website and free MP3s

Buy Tom Waits Movies at Amazon

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Tom Waits 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:13:00 +0000

Yesterday saw the relaunch of tomwaits.com. The main draw is the availability of eight tracks from his forthcoming live album Glitter & Doom to download for free. After one listen my favourite is the spoken-word Circus, originally from Real Gone.

MP3: Tom Waits - Circus (live)

Buy Glitter & Doom at Amazon

The rest of the site is well worth exploring too and shows a fairly enlightened view when it comes to sharing copyrighted material. The songs section lists every lyric and you can listen to about 50 tracks in full spanning all of Waits' career.

I was surprised to see the majority of the increasingly rare Big Time concert movie clipped up in the video section but then realised that as well as 'official' videos like the Glitter & Doom trailer (below) the site is also pulling in stuff from YouTube that's clearly been ripped by fans.

The photos section is also generous. A wonderful selection of stills, like the one at the top of this post, by the likes of Anton Corbijn, can all be downloaded as large .jpegs. Of note to MP3 bloggers is the listing of Hype Machine in the site's links section alongside the two preeminent fansites The Eyeball Kid and The Tom Waits Library.

Finally, if you just want to while away your lunch hour the Wit & Wisdom section is an amusing compendium of such Waitsaian bon mots as "a gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't".

With any luck I'll have another Tom Waits post here later in the week.

Related Posts
Tom Waits in Paris - my eyewitness account of the Glitter & Doom tour
Bob Dylan 2.0 - I got excited by the relaunch of Bob's site last year too

Related Links
Tom Waits - official site

Buy Tom Waits Goodies at Amazon

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

The Strange Sounds of Peter Wyngarde

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:21:00 +0000

Peter Wyngarde is best known as sexy 60s sleuth Jason King but his more intriguing contribution to popular culture is the brilliantly titled 1970 album When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head, re-released last month by RPM. My colleague Pete alerted me to this most bizarre record after Marc Riley played a track on his excellent 6 Music show.

The album couldn't be more removed from a typical TV spin-off. RCA gave the actor carte blanche to produce whatever he liked and the results are best described as "extreme lounge". Wyngarde was at the height of his fame and other labels courted him in an attempt to cash-in on Jason King's popularity. As he explains in the re-release's sleevenotes:

"EMI phoned me up and asked if I'd record an LP. I said, 'Of what?' They said. 'We've got a lot of Frank Sinatra songs you could sing'. They were wanting to sell Jason King, not me at all. First and foremost I can't sing... I said I'd like to do my own thing. They said, 'What about some Frankie Laine songs?' 'Are you raving mad?' I replied. 'Why should I be allowed to fuck them up?'"

With hindsight RCA may have regretted their leeway. It's unlikely they expected an LP that's most memorable song is called Rape (sample lyric - "I became very suspicious when I saw he wasn't wearing any underpants"). The label deleted the album within weeks of its initial release.

You can find Rape on YouTube where the comments range from "this is seriously freaky" to "makes Eminem look like James Blunt".

This selection is lyrically tamer if no less odd and sees Wyngarde commenting on the late 20th century culture wars.

MP3: Peter Wyngarde - Hippie and the Skinhead

Buy: When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head

Related Links
Peter Wyngarde - BBC artist page

A Note To Patrons

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Chicken Songs For Colonel Sanders

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:30:00 +0000

A few weeks ago a Carnival Saloon reader from Utah called Nora Flood left a lovely comment that pointed out it's been a while since my last poultry post and suggested some chicken songs from her own collection that might be to my taste. I duly bought all eight and have since enjoyed learning more about the artists who performed them.

Since today would be the 119th birthday of Colonel Sanders, the man who did more to popularise fried chicken around the world than any other, it seems fitting to share them with you. These are the first four recommendation from Nora's list; I will post the others at a later date.

MP3: Pink Anderson - Chicken

Despite having a career that spanned five decades bluesman Pink Anderson's place in musical history is likely to be cemented for inspiring Syd Barrett to name his band after him. Syd noticed Pink's name alongside Floyd Council's on the sleeve of a Blind Boy Fuller album and thought the two went rather well together.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: Blind Pete - Banty Rooster

Charley Patton wrote Banty Rooster in 1910 at age 19. 24 years later Leadbelly discovered Arkansas fiddler player Blind Pete while working as chauffeur/talent scout for John Lomax. They recorded this track in Little Rock on 27 September 1934.
Buy: Mississippi Blues & Gospel 1934 - 1942

MP3: Richard Johnston w/ Jessie Mae Hemphill - Chicken and Gravy

This might sound like it was recorded many moons ago but Richard Johnston is a contemporary bluesman who's supported The Killers. I've not seen it but apparently the documentary about Johnston, Hill Country Troubadour, is really great.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: Louisiana Red - Chicken Licken

I can't help but warm to a song that's dedicated to a girl "who liked to eat a lot of chicken". Louisiana Red, aka Iverson Minter, first recorded for Chess Records in the 40s but if you are in Belgium over the weekend you can catch him at Blue Moon Festival of rock 'n' Roll, Blues and Boogie in Visé.
Buy: Amazon

Many thanks to Carnival Saloon correspondent Nora Flood for pointing me in the direction of these great songs. If you like them you should check out her radio show, Shootin' Creek, on Fridays 3-6 pm MST on UtahFM (archives available online). As usual do let me know what you think and suggest others in the comments below.

More Chicken Songs at Carnival Saloon
Chicken Songs For The Soul
Chicken: Anyone For Seconds?
Clucking Brilliant
Thighs, Wings, Legs & Breasts

State Songs #21: Maryland

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:30:00 +0000

This could easily have been just a tribute to Maryland's 'Charm City', Baltimore, but I've managed to find a few tracks that mention other places in the so-called 'Old Line' state. I hope you enjoy them; let me know what you think and please suggest more in the comments below.

MP3: The Jayhawks - Baltimore Sun

Followers of my State Songs series will know that The Jayhawks can always be relied on for place name songs. This is probably my top tune from their album Blue Earth.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: REM - Don't Go Back To Rockville (live)

One of my favourite REM songs. Mike Mills wrote it as a plea to his girlfriend who planned to move back to her home town in Maryland. This version is from a 1981 gig at Tyrone's in Athens, GA - three years before the more countryfied studio version surfaced on Reckoning.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Tompall Glaser & The Glaser Brothers - Streets of Baltimore

You're probably more familiar with Gram Parsons' version from his solo debut GP but this is the original. I first heard it last year thanks to Setting the Woods on Fire's brilliant Gram Parsons Originals collection.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: Gavin Friday - Baltimore Whores

This is from Hal Willner's Rogue's Gallery project. The lyrics are not for those with a sensitive disposition and were apparently edited out of most sea shanty collections.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Erica Wheeler - Maryland County Road

Erica Wheeler is a Maryland native whom I know next to nothing about. This pleasant acoustic live track is a fine addition to the Songs Mourning the Passing of Small Town America canon.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: The Avett Brothers - Girl from Annapolis

WNCW DJ Martin Anderson introduced me to the Avett Brothers when I asked for some local music recommendations during our trip to North Carolina a few years ago. This is from a live set recorded on their home turf at MerleFest in 2006.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

We stay on the East Coast with our next state - Massachusetts. If you have any favourites you think I should include, do let me know.

Neighbouring States
State Soongs #8: Delaware - Perry Como, Dolly Parton, The Duhks
State Songs #9: District of Columbia - Magnetic Fields, The Staple Singers, Leadbelly, George Clinton & Parliament

The Journey So Far
State Songs - links to every post on this musical road trip

Presley/Nixon

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:58:00 +0000

Pop stars and politicians go together like bacon and eggs but there's never been an encounter between low culture and high office more bizarre than Elvis Aaron Presley's White House rendezvous with Richard Milhous Nixon on 21 December 1970. So as August draws to a close we conclude Carnival Saloon's inaugural Elvis Month with a look at one of my favourite chapters in the Presley saga.

According to the United States National Archives the photo of Elvis shaking hands with Nixon is its most requested item, more so than the Bill of Rights or the Constitution. The National Archives website chronicles this odd meeting brilliantly and I'd encourage you take a look, pore over the photos and read the first-hand accounts and documents. But if that's too much trouble here's the condensed version.

Elvis was a man obsessed with firearms and collecting police insignia. Wherever he went he'd try to get his hands on a local law enforcement badge. As I wrote in my That's The Way It Is post there was nothing counter-cultural about Elvis by 1970. He saw himself apart from the hippies and the peace protesters who epitomised the age. The ultimate symbol of this opposition would be getting himself a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. That meant an excursion to the Nation's Capital.

Presley's uninvited trip to Washington was unusual in many ways, not least because he told no one except his Memphis Mafia pals Jerry Schilling and Sonny West. You can watch Jerry's recollection of the escapade here:

On the flight to DC Presley put pen to American Airlines paper and wrote an incredible six-pager in which he expressed admiration for the President and asked to be made a "Federal Agent at Large". As well as claiming to be familiar with "Communist brainwashing" techniques he also writes, presumably without irony, that he had done an "in-depth study of drug abuse".

The minutes of the hastily arranged meeting also make first-rate reading. "Presley immediately began showing the President his law enforcement paraphernalia including badges from police departments in California, Colorado
and Tennessee." The no doubt baffled Nixon "mentioned that he thought Presley could reach young people, and that it was important for Presley to retain his credibility." The highlight of the tête-à-tête for me is Elvis' attack on The Beatles. Although he was happy to sing their songs to the Vegas faithful he told Dick that the Fab Four "had been a real force for anti-American spirit. He said that the Beatles came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme".

Did Elvis get his prized badge? Earlier in the day John Finlator, the Bureau's Deputy Director, had given The King the brush-off telling him that badges only went to "those employees directly connected with the agency". An extremely pissed-off Presley was forced to try his luck in the Oval Office.

In his definitive biog Careless Love Peter Guralnick writes that Elvis brought up the badge subject with Nixon towards the end of the meeting. He quotes Nixon adviser Bud Krogh's account.

"The President looked a little uncertain at this request. He turned to me and said, 'Bud, can we get him a badge?' I couldn't read what the President really wanted me to say. 'Well sir,' I answered him, 'if you want to give him a badge, I think we can get him one.' ... Elvis was smiling triumphantly. 'Thank you very much, sir. This means a lot to me,'... Elvis then moved up close to the President and, in a spontaneous gesture, put his left arm around him and hugged him. President hugging was not, at least in my limited experience, a common occurrence in the Oval Office. It caught the President - and me - off guard. The President recovered from his surprise and patted Elvis on the shoulder. 'Well, I appreciate your willingness to help, Mr Presley.'"

In return for this kindness Presley told Nixon that he'd brought him a chrome-plated World War II Colt .45 that he'd been forced to leave with the President's Secret Service detail. In a letter written on New Year's Eve Nixon thanked Elvis for the pistol, "You were particularly kind to remember me with this impressive gift, as well as your family photographs, and I am delighted to have them for my collection of special momentos".

On returning to Graceland for Christmas Elvis dispensed presidential presents to his family and excitedly retold the tale of Mr Presley Goes To Washington. Peter Guralnick quotes Priscilla Presley, "He was like a kid; it was like nothing had ever happened [to precipitate the trip]. He talked about how he got to meet President Nixon and told him all about how he was getting drugs off the streets."

What a story! David Frost will disagree and there are some, I'm sure, who will rate Nixon's handshake with Mao Zedong as more significant but when it comes to encounters with Tricky Dicky there's no contest as to which is my favourite.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my month with the King. I hope you have too. As ever, do leave a comment below. Thank you very much.

Carnival Saloon's Elvis Month
Elvis: That's The Way It Is - triumphant 197o concert film
Song-Poem Tributes to the King - amateur songwriting oddities
The Burger & the King - interview with director James Marsh

Related Links
When Nixon Met Elvis - brilliant national Archives site with photos and documents
Dear Mr. President: The Day Elvis Met Nixon- Buy Bud Krogh's book at Amazon

Green Man Festival Round-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:44:00 +0000

I've just returned from an excellent weekend at the Green Man festival in the Brecon Beacons. There will be plenty of proper reviews elsewhere I'm sure so here's a quick list of things I particularly enjoyed over the last couple of days.

Wilco (pictured above) playing Hoodoo Voodoo, not a song I've seen them perform before.
The daughter of Beth Jeans Houghton's bass player dancing on stage to their song Hot Toast.
All-round superb quality of food. Special culinary award to the apple cupcakes.
Robyn Hitchcock singing the songs from the 60s that Joe Boyd was reading about.
Jonathan Ouin from Stornoway's Abe Lincoln/Amish beard. I later chatted to him in the queue for the campsite portaloos. Seems like a very nice chap.
Andrew Bird's revolving gramophone speaker stage prop.
British Sea Power's live score to Robert J Flaherty's 1934 film Man of Aran.
Dirty Three frontman Warren Ellis's foul-mouthed, very funny, between-song banter.
Novelist Richard Milward espousing the delights of heavy drug use and Spacemen 3.
Jarvis Cocker's angular dancing. The man is part Stephen Fry, part Frank Sidebottom.
Listening to England's Ashes win on my portable radio.
Jonny (Norman Blake and Euros Childs) entire hilarious performance.

Biggest fail: not seeing Peter Broderick. Admittedly I'd never heard of him until this weekend but loads of people told me he was a highlight.

Related Links
My Green Man Flickr set - I didn't take many photos but I did snap these
Green Man Festival - official site

The Burger and the King

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +0000

A conversation with director James Marsh

James Marsh is having quite a year. In March his wonderful film about Twin Towers tightrope walker Philippe Petit, Man on Wire, deservedly won the Oscar for best documentary. A few months later he garnered further acclaim for directing the second part of the Red Riding trilogy, Channel 4's adaptation of David Peace's Yorkshire crime epic.

As part of my Elvis Month series I wanted to talk to James about one of his earlier works, The Burger and the King. The BBC doc was made in 1995 and is a visually imaginative and often very funny adaptation of David Adler's book The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley. Sadly it's not available on DVD and contrary to what James told me I can't find it on YouTube either. Still, it's repeated occasionally on TV and I am also going to try to get a clip on the BBC website.

I hope you enjoy reading our conversation about the film as much as I did having it.

How did the film come together?
I was working at the BBC in the Arena office at the time. I had made another Arena film before The Burger and the King about the song Heartbreak Hotel so I’d been to Graceland. There are all these official souvenir gift and book shops and there were two or three Elvis cookbooks even then, that was in 1991. I remember glancing at one that one of his uncles had written. Then David Adler came up with a far more postmodern, far more curious and quite cheeky rendering of the same idea. His book came to Anthony Wall at Arena and he gave it to me and said, “You can’t make a film about this can you?” and I said, “Yes, maybe I can”.

Why did you think you could make a film from what’s essentially an annotated cookbook?
I think it was a neat way of making a film about Elvis, which is a very well-known subject and exposing a different way of understanding him. What I saw in the book was a way of telling Elvis’ life story through these food choices he made throughout his life. Hopefully the insights you get are quite sharp, and quite pointed and quite interesting even though the whole manner of the film is like a black comedy essentially.

What does knowledge of Elvis’ diet add to our understanding of the man?
What it gives you is access to his upbringing and this childhood in a very particular part of America. A psychologist would have a field day with this stuff. He grew up with a very underprivileged background in Tupelo, this small town in Mississippi, during the Depression. If you don’t have very much to eat then it’s a big deal when you grow up and can afford anything you want. With Elvis, he didn’t have a great imagination or a desire to collect Picasso paintings but did have a desire to eat the things he couldn’t when he was younger. He had no means of restraining himself, and no reason to either. In a sense that’s the simple story of his life and it ended up killing him to some extent. It’s like with Michael Jackson; it’s a time honoured story of indulgence and excess.

The food in the film is pretty extreme. Did you eat all the meals?
Everything you see in the film we actually ate. By the end a lot of the crew had put on a lot of weight, including me, and I’m really skinny. You had to really force yourself to eat it. That day we filmed the peanut butter and banana sandwich we must have made about 25 of them. We had to eat them because it would have been incredibly rude not to. I ate squirrel very early on in the shoot. It was kind of alright. They are quite bony so there’s not much meat; you need about three squirrels to have a proper meal. It’s a tangy chicken-like flavour but kind of gristly too. I think if you stew and tenderise it it’s probably better than having it fried up in a pan like we did.

Have you cooked any of the recipes since?
Certainly not. It was the one and only time I was exposed to that cooking. It’s comfort food. It’s food that’s designed to fill you up essentially. It’s true of peasant cooking all over the world in a way. It fills you up and it keeps you going. And Elvis loved it.

You mentioned your film about Heartbreak Hotel and as well as The Burger and the King you made the feature film The King with Gael Garcia Bernal which references Elvis in a different way but it's full of that Southern Gothic. What is about Presley that seems to continually interest you?
That’s a good question and I don’t really ask myself those questions. I read Albert Goldman’s book which is a scurrilous and sensationalist biography of Elvis which isn’t always accurate but is a very gripping story. What you see in Elvis is an archetypal 20th-century story. You have this innocent, pure talent that’s corrupted by the world itself. His story has become a modern myth in the best sense of the word. It just so happens that I made one, then another film, The Burger and the King, about Elvis. Calling the feature The King wasn’t my idea. I resisted it. It was my co-writer’s idea to call our lead character Elvis.
He was called Joe until the final draft of the script. My co-writer said we should call him Elvis. I said I can’t do that because I’d already been part of so much of that mythology. We got into an argument. Literally the following day I saw a piece in the New York Times about a Hispanic soldier who’d been killed in Iraq and he was called Elvis. Perfect! In a sense the use of that title and the name in the film was a little clumsy but it kind of works and I guess it carried on this obsession, if you want to call it that, with Elvis Presley. Our Elvis has been in the army and there are other interesting connotations with the character. Elvis is not a name that the white popluation of America has adopted but you find that Hispanic and black people are called Elvis which is really odd. And we decided to call this Mexican character in the film Elvis and it kind of stuck. And Gael loved it. He loved being called Elvis.

Talking about Elvis and black people reminds me of Bubba Ho-tep.
I haven’t seen it. I should see it right?

You should certainly see it.
I wrote this treatment for a drama before I made The King. It was after I made The Burger and the King. It was called the Shrouds of Elvis. The idea was this. Elvis didn't die. As the conspiracy alleged he actually manufactured his own death so he could go and have a different life somewhere. I converted that into the people around him, those who stood to profit from his death, organised his abduction and he was taken off to Kalamazoo, Michigan and locked up in a mansion. At one point the BBC were going to make this drama. I think Bubba Ho-tep may have something in common with that idea.

Yes. It’s a very bizarre but amusing film. It’s not a black Elvis in Bubba Ho-tep. It’s a black JFK!
That’s even weirder! I must check it out.

Do you have many memories of the people you interviewed for The Burger and the King?
Quite strong ones because it was such an unusual trip we took. The two people I remember vividly are his main cook at Graceland who was this lovely black lady called Mary Jenkins. We went and saw her three or four times and every time we were given all these peanut butter and banana sandwiches. She had this really tender relationship with Elvis, like his mother almost. She was on call at Graceland every day for 12 hours waiting for his orders. It was like a restaurant he had going there. So she invited us to this house that Elvis had bought for her in gratitude for her cooking services. She was great. She did some shopping for us. In the film you see her pushing the cart around the Piggly Wiggly food store.

She was a wonderful character and very honest. She knew that he was getting big and this wasn’t the right thing to do but she wanted to make him happy. It’s the classic thing of the love between them expressed through food. He was very nice to the people around him. He wasn’t one of these awful celebrities who are rude and mean to his staff. He’s very endearing in that respect.

The other person was this guy Dan Warlick who was the medical examiner in Memphis when Elvis died. His job was basically to find out why Elvis died which involved an autopsy essentially. At one point he told me he had Elvis’ voice box in his hand. So he was holding the seed of Elvis’ genius. It was amazing; I shook that hand, warmly and calmly, grasping it in a very loving and intense way. He was the guy who got us Dr Nick. He was no longer the coroner; he had retired and was a lawyer in private practice and Dr Nick was basically one of his clients. Because he liked us and thought we were alright he brokered that meeting, which was very weird and very awkward.

Dr Nick is a very controversial character in Elvis lore of course. A lot of people obviously blame him for Elvis’ death because of the amount of drugs he prescribed. I think he eventually had his medical licence removed some time after you made The Burger and the King.
And rightly so. Dr Nick is an interesting figure. I think he’s dead now. I was led into this sort of antechamber to his office and Dr Nick was on the other side of the room. We had about five minutes to set our gear up and he gave us about 20 minutes of his time. But within that we got a lot out of him. He hadn’t spoken about this for a very long time. He was obviously feeling very guilty. He looks very furtive and very haunted in the interview in the film. But he was really open about the nature of Elvis’ health problems and the prescriptions he was giving him. He wasn’t the only person by the way who was prescribing drugs to Elvis, it’s the whole Michael Jackson story all over again, there were other doctors he had lined up around Memphis who were supplying him with medication but Dr Nick was obviously the main supplier. In a sense his alibi was that he knew someone was going to do it so he’d rather control it. For better or for worse that was his line and that’s what he did. And I think that at a certain point everyone can agree that what he was doing was incredibly irresponsible and presumably contributed to Elvis’ demise, if not his actual death. Clearly his health had suffered enormously.

The problem was this. He was taking sedatives a lot, downers, barbiturates that slowed down his metabolism and also eating an enormous amount of food. He wasn’t digesting the food properly or indeed going through the proper bodily motions you need to keep going. He died in this extraordinary way. He died on the toilet trying to have shit basically. He tried so hard he gave himself a heart attack. It’s a very symbolic end to his eating career. We also met the undertaker who had kept the pillows which he’d laid Elvis on, like relics. There are Elvis relics all over the place.

The film’s look and the association with Memphis make me think of William Eggleston. There’s even an ominous ceiling fan in the final shot. Was that a conscious influence?
I actually didn't know Eggleston’s work at that time. It was only doing Wisconsin Death Trip that really turned me on to American photography so I wasn’t really aware of Eggleston’s work then. I would say that Errol Morris and other documentary filmmakers who were using quite sophisticated stylistic devices to tell stories were probably more important at that time to the way I shot the film. I’d made a film before that called Trouble Man about Marvin Gaye and that has again these image type reconstructions which are a paradigm of what you see in The Burger and the King. What you’re seeing are not dramatic reconstructions per se; you’re getting imagery that comments on the story and visualises certain aspects in some way that we can’t get through archive or interviews or documentary shooting. So this style emerged from Trouble Man and a general awareness that the documentary form could support that visual style. It doesn’t have to be reverential and puritanical; you can actually have fun while making a documentary. Man on Wire is the ultimate expression of that. This idea that you can make a film that is a documentary but doesn’t have to be responsible or observe documentary type restrictions. You can break that open and deal in potent imagery that you feel the audience will respond to.

Finally, since this is primarily a music blog, what's your favourite Elvis song?
That's easy. It's Blue Moon from the Sun sessions. Interestingly, I never used it in any of the films I've made that relate to Elvis - though I tried to use it at the end of The King and we couldn't afford to clear it.

MP3: Elvis Presley - Blue Moon (19/08/54)

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I find the purity of the voice and the simplicity of the song overwhelming and very moving. At the end of the song there are these angelic moans that always make me shiver - they are the purest expression of longing that I know.

If you are a fan of James Marsh's other films you might want to read the rest of this interview in which I meander on to talk about Wisconsin Death Trip and Man on Wire a little more. I've uploaded it as a PDF.

Carnival Saloon's Elvis Month
Presley/Nixon - Elvis meets the President
Song-Poem Tributes to the King - amateur songwriting oddities
Elvis: That's The Way It Is - triumphant 197o concert film

Related Links
The Burger and the King (BBC)

Buy James Marsh's films at Amazon

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Song-Poem Tributes to the King

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Elvis Presley died 32 years ago today. Continuing Carnival Saloon's Elvis Month I'm marking the occasion with some truly unique tributes to the King.

Like many of my more outré recent musical discoveries it was Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour that introduced me to the song-poem phenomenon. On his Presidents Day show Bob played a remarkable track about a remarkable man called Jimmy Carter Says Yes. It's the sort of song you can't imagine anyone ever making. Which is true of most song-poems. If the concept is unfamiliar to you here's Bob's explanation from the radio show:

Have you ever seen those ads in the back of magazines that say things like "Do you have what it takes to become a songwriter?" or "Poems wanted - we'll set your poems to music". Well these are companies that are one step away from a scam. Everybody thinks they can write a poem and everybody wants to be in show business. So these companies would exploit that fact and charge between $75 to $400 to set the poems to music. Instead of being paid to make records you would pay them to make the records. A lot of people call this process song-sharking. What's interesting about it is is the songs quite often are a mixture of very sincere but unschooled lyric writing and the music is usually made by cynical studio musicians who just have it on a conveyor belt sometimes making as many as 12 songs an hour. Back in the day they'd print up just a few copies of the records (nowadays I'm guessing it would be a CD) and send it off to writer and that would be the last you'd hear from them; they'd be looking for the next group of suckers. Quite often those records end up at the Goodwill store and certain record collectors make a point of collecting these.

Phil Milstein's wonderful American Song-Poem Music Archives has more detailed background and also puts forward the case for the "unique pleasures the good ones have to offer". These include "the complex interactions at play between pro and am; cynicism and naïvete; talent stunted and craftlessness given wing".

But what's this got to do with Elvis? Well, since songs about both celebrities and the hereafter are both common song-poem topics it's not surprising that Elvis' death prompted a surge of material from America's amateur lyricists.

A few weeks ago I watched the PBS documentary Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story. In it one of the contributors says that quite a few LPs that compiled song-poem tributes to Elvis were released right after his death. I found one of them, Gone But Not Forgotten, posted on WFMU's Beware of the Blog. You can hear the whole thing there but here's a taster.

MP3: Gina Val - The Legend of Elvis Presley

MP3: Jim Ward - Elvis Was The Biggest Thing

MP3: Matt Vincent - Mansion to Mansion

Pure kitsch I know but no matter what you think of these songs' musical quality what's undeniable is that their lyrics have been evidently penned by hardcore fans. I think it's this heart-on-sleeve sincerity that's most enjoyable.

If you're now intrigued by song-poems WFMU has dozens more on their wondrous blog. There are also a couple of commercial compilations available (see Amazon links below). The documentary Off The Charts is really great; I bought my DVD for a few quid on Amazon, PBS have also made it available to watch for free on YouTube.

As always, please share your thoughts below.

Carnival Saloon's Elvis Month
Elvis: That's The Way It Is - triumphant 197o concert film
The Burger & the King - interview with director James Marsh
Presley/Nixon - Elvis meets the President

Related Links
American Song-Poem Music Archives
Off The Charts (YouTube) - watch the doc
Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story - exhaustive PBS site, tons of stuff

Buy Song-Poems on Amazon

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

A Brief Tribute to Mike Seeger

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:05:00 +0000

Earlier today I wrote a post on the BBC Music Blog about the New Lost City Ramblers' banjo ace Mike Seeger, who sadly died on Friday evening at his home in Lexington, Virginia. There's a great outtake clip from the BBC's Folk America doc there which I'd urge you to look at.

I discovered Mike Seeger via Bob Dylan. Seeger was a wonderful contributor to No Direction Home and Bob writes fondly of him in Chronicles Volume 1.

Back in January I posted a New Lost City Ramblers track on my Arkansas 'state songs' entry. Here are two more of their songs about a couple of my favourite subjects.

MP3: The New Lost City Ramblers - Crow Black Chicken

Buy: Amazon

MP3: The New Lost City Ramblers - Franklin D Roosevelt's Back Again

Buy: Amazon

I've also created a 10-track Spotify playlist of some cracking New Lost City Ramblers tunes in tribute.

One gets the impression that Mike Seeger was the sort of man about whom no one had a bad word to say. He also opened countless pairs of ears to the wonderful sound of America's past. I'm in no doubt that he will be missed by many.

Related Posts
State Songs #4: Arkansas - includes the New Lost City Rambler's track Arkansas Sheik

Related Links
BBC Music Blog: Mike Seeger RIP - my other post, with excellent video clip
Spotify Playlist: The New Lost City Ramblers

Elvis: That's The Way It Is

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:50:00 +0000

Elvis Week, Memphis' annual celebration of its favourite son, begins today. I thought I'd also dedicate August to the King so welcome to Carnival Saloon's inaugural Elvis Month.

To anyone who only associates Elvis Presley in the 70s with a hopped-up bloater bursting out of his sequinned jumpsuit I always recommend the superb concert film That's The Way It Is. For pure entertainment I challenge anyone not to enjoy it. It captures Elvis in one of his earliest Las Vegas residencies at a time when he still had a 32" waist.

The performance is fresh and energetic and Presley's voice sounds great. He's hilarious on stage too - joking with the band, messing about with his early hits and treating many of the beehived women in the audience to some very public displays of affection. The film's behind-the-scenes sequences are also a treat, my favourite being the sight of Elvis on a tandem bike.

After dozens of lousy films that made Elvis an even bigger star the Vegas years cemented his reputation not as a rock'n'roller but as America's greatest mainstream entertainer. The audience are an interesting part of That's The Way It Is. The men look like accountants, many of their wives resemble air-hostesses. This is not a crowd you can imagine at Fillmore West.

In the 50s Elvis' gyrating hips genuinely shocked middle America. There's an argument that Colonel Tom Parker orchestrated Elvis' stint in the army to guarantee middle America's acceptance of his star. He hoped 15 months military service would erase the memory of pelvic thrusts and fainting teenage girls.

That's The Way It Is was released again in 2001 as a re-edited 'special edition'. Whereas the 1970 original is inter-cut with peculiar interviews and what now looks like outmoded period detail the new version wisely keeps its focus on the concert.

Colonel Parker will be smiling from the grave. Before the film's release he sent a three-page memo to MGM head Jim Aubrey advising all interviews be "thoroughly checked [so that] it doesn't become monotonous and take away from the performance". The Colonel was equally unhappy about the depiction of Vegas as a Gomorrah of excess: "There is no reason to show an abundance of steaks in a truck... when perhaps in Dalton, Georgia, where the picture may be showing, a family saved up money to see the picture and relinquished their hamburger for that night so that they could see Elvis." (Quotes from Peter Guralnick's brilliant book Careless Love).

The DVD I have includes both versions and I'd suggest watching the 'new' one before the original. There's also a wonderful three-CD set that includes previously unreleased concert and rehearsal tracks. Here are two tracks.

MP3: Elvis Presley - Polk Salad Annie (concert)

MP3: Elvis Presley - Little Sister/Get Back (rehearsal)

Buy: 7digital | Amazon

Carnival Saloon's Elvis Month
Song-Poem Tributes to the King - amateur songwriting oddities
The Burger & the King - interview with director James Marsh
Presley/Nixon - Elvis meets the President

Purchase Presley at Amazon

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

A13, Trunk Road to the Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Photo © Nicobobinus @ flickr

For East Londoners the A13 is the great escape route. It runs out of the city through Essex towards the seaside towns of Southend and Shoeburyness.

I'm currently reading London Orbital, Iain Sinclair's account of his walk around the M25. Early in the book he writes that "the A13 shuffle through East London is like the credits sequence of the Mafia soap, The Sopranos; side-of-the-eye perspective, bridges, illegitimate business about to be overwhelmed by the big combos". The prose on the previous page is even better:

The A13 has got it all, New Jersey-going-on-Canvey Island: multiplex cinemas, retail parks, the Beckton Alp ski slope; fly-overs like fairground rides, three salmon-pink tower blocks on Castle Green, at the edge of Dagenham; the Ford water tower and the empty paddocks where ranks of motors used to sit waiting for the transporters. The A13 drains East London's wound, carrying you up into the sky; before throwing you back among boarded-up shops and squatted terraces. All urban life aspires to this condition; flux, a pastiche. A conveyor belt of discontinued industries. A peripatetic museum, horizon to horizon, available to anyone; self-curated.

Carnival Saloon regulars won't be surprised that when I read that passage my thoughts turned to Billy Bragg's Essex-man take on Route 66.

MP3: Billy Bragg - A13, Trunk Road to the Sea

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The song's great appeal to me lies in its thrall to Americana (why are there no good British road songs?) combined with its absolute Englishness. Billy's put it better. Bragg's evocative essay about his revered highway, written some years before Sinclair's book, concludes, "the A13 is still there, rolling through a Springsteenesque landscape in which riverine Essex takes the place of the New Jersey shore, a tarmacadam trail to the Promised Land".

Whenever my 'American cousin' John Barner visits he arrives with a demented to-do list of things he wants to see. No Tower of London or British Museum for this tourist. Last time we took a vaguely Sinclairian jaunt out to Barking to admire the cul-de-sac named in honour of Billy Bragg. Next time I won't be shocked if we end up taking "the A road, the okay road that's the best" and "go motorin' on the A13."

Related Posts
Doing Woody's Work - MP3s of the Mermaid Avenue demos
Billy Bragg & KT Tunstall - odd gig at HMV Oxford Street last year

Related Links
Billy Bragg - official site
Iain Sinclair - official site
A13 Flickr Group - see what Sinclair and Bragg are on about

King of the Road, Queen of the House

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:25:00 +0000

A Musical Battle of the Sexes

Roger Miller was far from being a one-hit wonder but King of the Road stands towering in popularity over the rest of his work. It topped the UK singles chart in March 1965 and dozens of artists have covered it since (you can hear REM's paralytic version on my State Songs #20: Maine post).

MP3: Roger Miller - King of the Road

Buy: 7digital | Amazon

While doing some research about King of the Road for that Maine blog post I discovered Queen of the House by Jody Miller (no relation to Roger). It's a classic answer song, also released in 65, that uses Roger Miller's tune but lyrics that describe a 60s housewife straight out of The Feminine Mystique.

MP3: Jody Miller - Queen of the House

Buy: Amazon

I'd never heard of either the song or Miller before but the biography on her website reveals that as well as enjoying a long career she "pioneered the music video format in some groundbreaking and eye-popping films for the Scopitone movie jukebox".

Scopitones were a relatively short-lived 60s fad in the United States. Take a look at the flesh on display in the camp clips below and you can understand why barflies might be tempted to put money into the "Carousel of Stars".

Related Links
Scopitone Archive - history, photos and vintage ads
Scopitones - blog with lots of video and memorabilia

State Songs #20: Maine

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:34:00 +0000

Maine, the most north-eastern of states, was the first place in America I ever 'visited'. En route to Florida as a kid we changed planes in Bangor. We had a lovely time that day; at the airport I remember buying Superman comics and a Hershey bar.

Some trivia: The moose is Maine's official animal and 'famous' residents include actress Phyllis Thaxter (Ma Kent in the first Superman film) and voice-over ace Steven Zirnkilton. You'll know his work if this means anything to you: "In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories".

Until I really started to dig around 4AD veterans The Mountain Goats were my only contenders for songs about Maine. I hope you enjoy what else I've stumbled across.

MP3: The Mountain Goats — Going to Maine

The Mountain Goats' 'Going To...' series of songs now totals at least 45 including such fine ditties as Going to Utrecht and Going to Some Damned English City. You can find this one on their album Ghana, a record that surprisingly does not include a song called Going to Accra.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Okkervil River - Maine Island Lovers

The only time I've seen Okkervil River was at Come Down & Meet the Folks when it was still at the Fiddler's Elbow in Kentish Town. That was probably around the time they were promoting Down the River of Golden Dreams, the album this song comes from.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Doris Day - That Jane From Maine

It's tunes like this that make my State Songs project so much fun. I'd never normally listen to Doris Day but can't deny a smile's come to my face whenever I've heard this the last few days. It's from the film It Happened to Jane (1959) - a surprise flop according to the unofficial Doris Day website.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Blue Oyster Cult - Cagey Cretins

"Well it's so lonely in the state of Maine". Until last week my Blue Oyster Cult knowledge pretty much began and ended with the always enjoyable (Don't Fear) The Reaper. This is from their third album Secret Treaties which a Melody Maker critics' poll in 1975 voted the "Top Rock Album of All Time."
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: REM - King of the Road

The classic road song includes the lyric "destination Bangor, Maine". I couldn't resist favouring REM's shambolic version (come back later in the week for the original). Peter Buck's sleevenotes to Dead Letter Office say it all: "This was recorded at the end of a long alcohol soaked day, and I can barely remember cutting it. If there was any justice in the world, Roger Miller should be able to sue for what we did to this song".
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

We're staying on the east coast for our next stop as we say hello to Maryland. Suggestions of songs to feature are always welcome.

The Journey So Far
State Songs - links to every post on this musical road trip

State Songs #19: Louisiana

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:08:00 +0000

These songs all give a flavour of one of America's greatest and most unique states but none of them are about its most famous city. I realise this might be controversial but there are so many New Orleans songs that I didn't know where to start. On the plus side it gives me some great stuff left to post next Mardi Gras.

As usual, please let me know what you think of the tunes, suggest your favourites, and, most importantly, enjoy your Abita beer and Zaps chips in moderation.

MP3: Lucinda Williams - Lake Charles

You could make a very tasty complilation of songs Lucinda has written about her home state. This is from her masterpiece Car Wheels on a Gravel Road which I presume you all already have in your collections (if you don't we have a spare copy; email me - first come, first served).
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Guy Clark - Baton Rouge

I love Guy Clark and hearing this makes me want to pack my bags, buy my own pair of alligator shoes, and follow him down to Louisiana's capital city. Once there I imagine we'd tuck into some crawfish and rice and then I'd bore him with questions about Townes Van Zandt.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: The Be Good Tanyas - Lakes of Pontchartrain

Jolie Holland's arrangement of the 19th-century ballad is one of the highlights of the Be Good Tanyas' debut Blue Horse. My colleague Sarah vows to one day play the banjo like Trish Klein does on this.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart - Girl from Louisian'

I met Steve's sister Stacey and her husband Mark Stuart when they played an outdoor gig in Reno during my brief visit to "the biggest little city in the world". I was on my own with little to do and the friendly couple were extremely gracious as I pestered them about twang and they told me about various places they'd played in the UK.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: Emmylou Harris - Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight

This was written by Harris' former bandmate Rodney Crowell and first appeared on his 1978 debut Ain't Living Long Like This. Emmylou was quick off the mark in covering it - this is from her album of the same year Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Lightnin' Hopkins - Mojo Hand

My colleague Richard recommended this when I told him Louisiana was up next on our musical road trip. I'm not too familiar with the great bluesman and probably first came across his name via the track REM titled after him on their album Document.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Waylon Jennings - Louisiana Women

Considering Waylon's stature as both a country music giant and essential piece of the rock'n'roll jigsaw (he was Buddy Holly's bassist) I am embarrassingly ignorant of most of his work. Then again, he recorded more than 50 albums, so I guess I have an excuse. This is from his 1974 LP This Time.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

Next time we leave the South for Maine, one of the most challenging stops on the trip. Be prepared for a very diverse selection of songs.

Neighbouring States
State Songs #4: Arkansas - The New Lost City Ramblers, Hayes Carll, Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russell, REM, Bruce Springsteen

The Journey So Far
State Songs - links to every post on this musical road trip

State Songs #18: Kentucky

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:20:00 +0000

My only visit to the "Bluegrass State" was on a whim. Joanne and I went to Tennessee last year on our honeymoon. Before we left Jo read about the Wigwam Village motel in Cave City, KY. The opportunity to stay in a concrete tepee built in 1937 for just $50 a night was all the incentive we needed to make the 100 mile drive north from Nashville.

The motel had seen better days and for a state famous for its whiskey it was disappointing to discover that you couldn't buy booze in the appropriately named Barren County. Still, we had a good time visiting Dinosaur World and nearby Mammoth Cave national park.

Anyway, you don't come here for holiday stories. While I've enjoyed our recent forays into the Mid-West it's good to be back in the South where proper twang is guaranteed. I hope you enjoy the selections and do leave a comment below.

MP3: Freakwater - Kentucky House

Freakwater were one of the many bands I discovered in the pages of No Depression. Their albums tended to mix originals and covers and although this sounds decades old it was written and recorded in the mid-90s.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: The Stanley Brothers — Man of Constant Sorrow

The bluegrass standard was written around 1913 but the Stanley Brothers popularised it in the 50s. Its second coming thanks to O Brother, Where Are Thou? gave Ralph Stanley a brand new audience.

I was lucky enough to see Ralph and his Clinch Mountain Boys at the Grand Ole Opry last year.
Buy: 7digital |Amazon

MP3: The Steeldrivers - East Kentucky Home

The Steeldrivers are another bluegrass band we saw at the Opry after being tipped off to their talents by the staff at the Station Inn in Nashville.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain

This track sits alongside Suspicious Minds and In the Ghetto on the 1969 album From Elvis In Memphis. Presley's later career is often derided but there's a strong case for that LP to be counted among his very best. My trusty All Music Guide to Rock goes as far as proclaiming it "one of the greatest soul albums ever cut".
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Patsy Cline - Blue Moon of Kentucky

If I'd not included the Elvis song above I'd have posted Presley's definitive rendition of the Bill Monroe classic. Patsy's version is fantastic though. It's from the album A Portrait of Patsy Cline, which Decca released in 1964, a year after her death.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: Loretta Lynn - High On a Mountain Top

Few would have predicted that after Jack White topped the album charts with the White Stripes' Elephant he'd then make an album with a 70-year-old granny. The resulting collaboration, Van Lear Rose, is an absolute gem. You'll be hearing more from Jack and Loretta when we get to Oregon.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

MP3: John Prine - Paradise

A classic from Prine's 1971 debut album that's become a country standard. It's also the perfect follow-up to Loretta, who was, of course, a coal-miner's daughter.
Buy: 7digital | Amazon

It's the Deep South next time as we venture into Louisiana.

Neighbouring States
State Songs #14: Illinois - Frank Zappa, Wilco, Tom Waits, The Handsome Family, Sufjan Stevens, Three Bits of Rhythm
State Songs #15: Indiana - The Jackson 5, Phil Ochs, The Bottle Rockets, Lyle Lovett

The Journey So Far
State Songs - links to every post on this musical road trip

An Alternative Blood on the Tracks

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Image: Woman on Bed by Bob Dylan

Critics usually claim Blood on the Tracks is about the break-up of Dylan's first marriage and Jakob Dylan has said that the album is "my parents talking". Despite those sad themes, after his classic 60s records I reckon Blood on the Tracks is the Bob Dylan album most commonly cited as a favourite. It's certainly popular with other artists who are presumably drawn to its rich imagery, great tunes and dense lyrics.

I first thought about trying to compile a covers version of Blood on the Tracks after hearing Tom Russell's interpretation of Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. Like all good cover versions it seems to reveal something new about the original song.

I hope you enjoy these. As usual let me know what you think and suggest alternatives in the comments below.

MP3: Robyn Hitchcock - Tangled Up in Blue

Robyn Hitchcock loves Bob Dylan. He even wears polka dot shirts in tribute. This is from his 2002 album Robyn Sings, disc two of which is a live recreation of the infamous "Judas" concert at Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Joan Baez - Simple Twist of Fate

I'm undecided whether Joan Baez's ongoing fascination with her ex-boyfriend is touching or tragic. She covered Simple Twist of Fate on her album Diamonds & Rust which came out only a few months after Blood on the Tracks. You'll notice her amusing impression of Bob during one of the verses, a good gag that she still performs on stage.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Lloyd Cole - You're a Big Girl Now

We know that Lloyd's into heartbreak so it's no surprise that he gravitated towards Blood on the Tracks. Lloyd Cole's Dylan covers are extensive; he's also done Most of the Time, It's All Over Now (Baby Blue) and She Belongs to Me among others. This is from his 'lost' album Etc.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

MP3: The Coal Porters - Idiot Wind

Sid Griffin is another Dylan geek. So much so that he recently wrote an acclaimed book about the Basement Tapes that I really must get around to reading. I discovered his band's version of Idiot Wind on an Uncut compilation a few years ago.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Elvis Costello - You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

This, from the bonus disc of the Kojak Variety reissue is far more jaunty than Bob's original. I don't know when it was recorded but knowing Elvis's love of the tribute album it's no doubt appeared on some or other compilation.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Freddie King - Meet Me In The Morning

Although Freddie was nicknamed the "Texas Tornado" he moved to Chicago with his family in 1950 when he was 16. This rockin' blues version of the Dylan track appears on his final album Larger Than Life (1976).
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Tom Russell - Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts

The song that inspired me to make this compilation. Tom Russell is such a wonderful storyteller himself that he really makes Dylan's epic (and confounding) tale his own. Tom's joined on the track by singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: Francesco de Gregori - If You See Her, Say Hello

I discovered this mournful, Italian version of the song on the soundtrack to Dylan's cinematic curio Masked & Anonymous but I presume it's originally from one of Francecso' earlier LPs. According to Wikipedia he also makes as organic olive oil called Le Palombe.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris - Shelter from the Storm

If the BBC ever repeat their coverage of Rodney Crowell's performance at the 2005 Cambridge Folk Festival you'll see quite a few close-ups of me going absolutely berserk during his version of Like A Rolling Stone. This is from the excellent album he was then promoting, The Outsider.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Beth Orton & M Ward - Buckets of Rain

The third duet of set; this was recorded at a 2004 gig in Sydney. If you like hearing M Ward do Dylan I'd also recommend his cover of Girl From the North Country with Jim James and Conor Oberst.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

Second Options
MP3: Jeff Tweedy - Simple Twist of Fate

As a Wilco nut I couldn't resist adding this as a 'bonus' track. It's from the I'm Not There soundtrack. In other Tweedy/Dylan news, Jeff apparently perfomed a lovely version of Forever Young at his son Spencer's bar mitzvah in May.
Buy: Amazon

MP3: Neko Case - Buckets of Rain

Another Carnival Saloon favourite that's too good to ignore. Neko's version of Hank Williams' Alone and Forsaken was a big hit here a while back so perhaps a post of some of her other covers will be forthcoming.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

Bobby Bonus
MP3 Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue (live)

It seems only fair to include Bob singing one of his own songs. This was recorded at Boston Music Hall in November 1975 on the Rolling Thunder tour. If you've not heard any of the other tracks from that legendary tour, the Bootleg Series Vol. 5 Live 1975 two-disc set is an essential listen.
Buy: Amazon | 7digital

If you'd like to download all of the tracks in a zip file you can do so here: Carnival Saloon's Alternative Blood on the Tracks

While making this compilation I discovered that someone else has recently had the same idea (they even also used one of the Drawn Blank paintings). Five of the tracks are the same and you can read all about it at The Saddest Music in the World.

Related Posts
Bob Dylan @ The Roundhouse - my review of his April gig
Twenty-First Century Hank - covers including Neko Case

Food for the Fourth

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:00:00 +0000

The greatest thing about America's 4 July celebrations is not the fireworks but the gluttony that accompanies them. So, in honour of the USA's annual pig-out here are some food related songs from Carnival Saloon regulars, plus a couple of oldies, to go with your meat feasts.

MP3: Wendy Rene - Bar-B-Q

There's no other tribute to grilled meat that compares to Wendy Rene's 1964 Stax single. In this year's Southern Music issue of the Oxford American Zeth Landry even suggests that Bar-B-Q "should be adopted as our nation's tailgating anthem". Trivia: According to the OA article Rene owned a pet monkey called Chico that used to terrorise the likes of Rufus Thomas and Stax boss Jim Stewart.
More Wendy Rene: Wikipedia | Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Tom Waits - Filipino Box Spring Hog (1993 version)

In Tom's own words: "When we lived on Union Avenue in LA, we had parties. We sawed the floorboards out of the living room, and we took the bed, the box spring, and first dug out the hole and filled it with wood, poured gasoline on it, and lit a fire. And the box spring over the top, that was the grill. We brought in a pig and cooked it right there." This is an earlier version than the one on Mule Variations. It's from the 1993 benefit record Born to Choose.
More Tom Waits: MySpace | Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Old Crow Medicine Show - Mary's Kitchen

One of the great things about many American food songs is their penchant for innuendo. When the Old Crows sing "come on into Mary's kitchen if you want your sausage ground" I don't think that they're talking about a pound of bangers.
More Old Crows: official site | Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Justin Townes Earle - Chitlin' Cooking Time in Cheatham County (live)

We saw Justin Townes Earle perform this rip-snorter with the brilliant Cory Younts at the Borderline in January. Pig intestines aren't to everyone's taste (though Joanne loves 'em) but if you do fancy eating them the Virginia Department of Health offers the following advice: Keep children out of the kitchen until the chitlins are pre-boiled and the kitchen is thoroughly cleaned.
More Justin Townes Earle: MySpace | Amazon

MP3: Charlie Singleton - Alligator Meat

I once ate alligator meat in the Florida Everglades. I found it tough and not quite as "all reet" as Charlie Singleton suggests. Singleton went to the same school as Charlie Parker in Kansas City and started recording in 1949, aged just 19.
More Charlie Singleton: All Music | Amazon

Enjoy your Independence Day - and remember Americans - if it wasn't for us Brits you'd have nothing to celebrate today. You're welcome!

Related Posts
Chicken Songs for the Soul - finger lickin' goodness
Tom Waits Covers #2: Bruce Sprinsgteen - posted a year ago today

Tom Waits Covers #5: Bette Midler

noreply@blogger.com (Nigel Smith) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Most Tom Waits fans are familiar with I Never Talk to Strangers, his bar-room duet with Bette Midler from the 1977 album Foreign Affairs. Fewer people know that the incongruous pair also enjoyed a lengthy on-off relationship in the late 70s.

MP3: Tom Waits & Bette Midler - I Never Talk To Strangers

Buy: Amazon | 7digital

This was during Waits' down-at-heal years when he called the infamous Tropicana Motel in Los Angeles his home.

According to Barney Hoskyns' new biography Lowside of the Road Waits' digs were such a tip that he didn't want his new gal seeing the place. Hoskyns quotes Midler, "Tom lives... sort of knee-deep in grunge so he was kind of reluctant to invite me over. I grew up in lots of clutter myself and delicate I ain't, so I kept after him till he finally invited me over".

Bette Midler first encountered Waits when he played a gig at the Bottom Line in New York in 1974 and was bowled over by songs from his brand new album The Heart of Saturday Night. Presumably Shiver Me Timbers was on the set list.

MP3: Tom Waits - Shiver Me Timbers

Buy: Amazon | 7digital

I'd not actually heard Midler's version until my friend Pete Marsh suggested it after my post on Sara Watkins' new Tom Waits cover. It's from Bette's third album, the brilliantly titled Songs for the New Depression (1976), which is notable also for her duet with Bob Dylan on Buckets of Rain. Pete warned that, "It may well be a bit Streisand-ish for you". I heard a live version recorded later which did sound a little Vegas lounge but this original I quite like.

MP3: Bette Midler - Shiver Me Timbers/Samedi et Venredi

Buy: Amazon | 7digital

It's dawned on me that the majority of Tom Waits covers I've posted so far have been by women. What is about songs of sailors, midgets and hard-luck cases that the ladies love so much? If you have any insights I'd like to hear them. Suggestions of other great Tom Waits covers are also most welcome.

Previous Tom Waits Covers
Solomon Burke - Diamond in Your Mind
Bruce Springsteen - Jersey Girl
Tori Amos & Heidi Talbot - Time
Sara Watkins - Pony

Other Related Posts
Songs from the Lowside of the Road - obscure tracks featured in the new biog

Related Links
Tom Waits - official site
The Eyeball Kid - essential Waits news blog
Bette Midler - official site