MOG - runobodyii's Posts

Brand New Love

runobodyii — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:40:31 GMT

Earthman says he could listen to more of Serena Ryder so I thought I'd oblige. And wouldn't you know it, I do have a cold, but my love is far away.

I love how Ryder's voice seems at once familiar with hints of various female vocals and yet it's all its own.

Darling...

runobodyii — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:32:50 GMT

This is the song that made me absolutely gaga over Serena Ryder. It may have also been in Ms. Ryder's favor that I have been v. busy of late falling in love. Anyhow, enjoy.

Maybe You're Just a Daydream

runobodyii — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:17:50 GMT

Serena Ryder was the focus of a RatetheMusic survey I took yesterday. All of the songs I heard were great, some of them amazing, and I immediately downloaded everything I could find: an EP from itunes and an album from emusic. Still all the songs I heard on the survey are not present and accounted for, so there must be more to come.

Serena Ryder (born 8 December 1983^[1] at Toronto, Ontario^[2]) is a Canadian singer/songwriter and guitarist who grew up in Millbrook, Ontario, Canada. Her best-known albums include Unlikely Emergency and If Your Memory Serves You Well.

Ranging musically between folk, roots, country, and adult contemporary, Ryder possesses a three-octave range. She attended the Integrated Arts Program at Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Peterborough, and took music lessons from Terry Finn at [Finn's House of Music][1] and performed solo as well as with many of Peterborough's bands as a teenager including Christian band Thousand Foot Krutch and Jive recording artist Three Days Grace who are both also from the Peterborough area. -Wiki

I'm Alright Now

runobodyii — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:33:18 GMT

So maybe I lost my sense of direction
But I'm alright now
Every man needs a little affection
So I'm alright now
Give me strength, give me something to believe in
And I'm alright now
Sing along when your heart's finished bleeding
Yeah, I'm alright now

Introspective and Melancholy Music: An Historical Approach

runobodyii — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:50:32 GMT

From my Ithaca sojourn (early 20s) until that fateful Nebraska day I gave up music, this was the introspective and melancholy album and this was the song.

keep a pencil and a book
I say this is how a life can look
Russian roulette, French-kissed cigarette
And the silence like an anvil
The things that you learn,
but now all that burns
Is a candle
And the fog melts over the night,
and it softens the edges
I begin to write in the dead of the night

A bead of sweat runs down my arm
And I drink it from my skin
It is the most real thing that I feel
It is communion
Bless the meek
Heal the sick
Protect the weak
In the dead of the night

None of Us Ever Loses Anyone Anyhow Any Place Any Time Ever

runobodyii — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:41:22 GMT

For Jackson Browne tells us so and he knows everything if anyone does. And cantankerousness aside, it's a gorgeous song.

Why won't the video embed? O dear damn MOG!

Postcards from Itunes Hell 3

runobodyii — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:46:49 GMT

The maniacal playlist began with this song, so I have heard a lot of it over the past hundred years. Still I must say, all of the itunes hell songs have stood up very well under extraordinary testing.

Posts (and Postcards) Still Seem Best in Threes

runobodyii — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:01:27 GMT

so here's a charming little essay on brevity by Josh Woodward. The writing, I think, is brilliant.

Greetings from Itunes Hell

runobodyii — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:49:44 GMT

Actually as often happens the postcard sender has beaten the postcard home. A matter of boxes, like checked baggage, becoming unchecked and for days my listening experience a rootless disheveled mess. This track by unsigned artist Josh Woodward was among the chosen few I could hear.

This Dizzy Life of Mine

runobodyii — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:21:56 GMT

I have been playing this album every day since I downloaded it a couple weeks ago, sometimes a few times each day. This song is my favorite of the many great songs on the album.

ether net blues

runobodyii — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:30:49 GMT

clueless and crew less so this is me the things I buy the things I own but why stress? this trend’s unbuck able being’s corporate friends are capital the im mediate’s gone for good

c’mon idiot chile don’t cry life’s a bubble a globe of snow an enterprise zone and so much safer now (select emoticon for smile) for latch-key kids and ghosts

who needs the world? who needs the soul? old hat bowler fedora you’d only look silly the butt of some pimp’s joke so bite the bullet choke on doubt if you must but spout no goose girl manifestos cuz no one loves a hater chile (select emoticon for smile) anesthetize press play

But I'm Not So Sure

runobodyii — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:11:05 GMT

This one's called "Saved," but you get the feeling it's a recurring dance, as another song title styles it, "between raising Hell and amazing grace." I think I'm for it!

Actually...

runobodyii — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:02:14 GMT

this is a pretty good album with this track being THE big hit single.

While I'm Wastin my Life Today...

runobodyii — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:26:18 GMT

might as well expand the little MOG-i-sphere and give a shout out to the peeps. Hey peeps!

I'm Sticking to the Union

runobodyii — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:22:54 GMT

I have always wanted to strike anyways.

Tori Sparks - "Most Alone"

runobodyii — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:31:19 GMT

I sit in the dark Feel the shape the air takes The promises a heart makes That a soul can’t keep

I reach for the flame Bringing warmth or pain I don’t know But the world is open to me

I’m on My knees And I crawl when I cannot walk I sing when I cannot talk

In you I learned the finer things Like how to hold on In you I find what I need When I am

Most alone

Yes I’m alone But not in pain I can’t afford to wonder I can’t afford to wait

‘Cause where the blood runs Where the sun comes up red and warm Like my beating heart exposed Is where the truth lies, that’s where I know

Chorus

I fall from the sky I piece myself together It’s only been cruel weather And strangers’ backs

I feel that I Am broken and I can’t relax So I swallow the daylight And let it shine through the cracks

Chorus

My Paste Sampler Picks

runobodyii — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:55:15 GMT

These are tracks from the latest Paste sampler that stood out for me. Robby Hecht on MySpace.

Ain't No Reason to Hang My Head

runobodyii — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:22:54 GMT

I could wake up in the morning dead.

What more does anyone need to know. Love this song. There's a certain sweetness about The Band.

Smitten Again

runobodyii — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:56:20 GMT

I watched Martin Scorsese's film The Last Waltz last night and fell in love with him and with The Band all over again. The 4 CD box set of music from the film is on the way. In the meantime I'm listening to The Band, the one with the bonus tracks and thought I'd post this gorgeous gorgeous song.

If you find me in a gloom, or catch me in a dream Inside my lonely room, there is no in between Whispering pines, rising of the tide If only one star shines That's just enough to get inside I will wait until it all goes 'round With you in sight, the lost are found Foghorn through the night, calling out to sea Protect my only light, 'cause she once belonged to me Let the waves rush in, let the seagulls cry For if I live again, these hopes will never die I can feel you standing there But I dont see you anywhere

Standing by the well, wishing for the rains Reaching to the clouds, for nothing else remains Drifting in a daze, when evening will be done Try looking through a haze At an empty house, in the cold, cold sun I will wait until it all goes round With you in sight, the lost are found

Even Dozen Jug Band

runobodyii — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:17:06 GMT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Even Dozen Jug Band was founded in 1963 by Stefan Grossman (solo country blues and ragtime guitarist) and Peter Siegel (old-timey guitarist and producer) in New York. Other members were David Grisman (noted bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist), Steve Katz (later with Blood, Sweat and Tears and Blues Project), Maria Muldaur (then Maria d'Amato), Joshua Rifkin (arranger of Scott Joplin Ragtimes), and John Sebastian (later with the Lovin' Spoonful and now a solo artist).

Another cool song on the album is "On the Road Again."

Pleased to Meet You, Stefan Grossman

runobodyii — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:22:30 GMT

I think this guy is pretty amazing.

Wiki: Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American guitarist. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was a member of Even Dozen Jug Band in the 1960s. He was a student of Reverend Gary Davis and is well known as an author and publisher of guitar tuition books and videos. Grossman co-founded Kicking Mule Records in 1972. Scores of professional fingerstyle acoustic guitarists got their start on this label.

But Rhapsody will no yield up the track I want, but it is well worth your while to check out "I'm So Glad" on Those Pleasant Days: Anthology. While you're there also check out "Roll and Tumble Blues." Cause the Rhapsody apparatus is shotting (strategic typo) crap.

Take a Whiff on Me: Take One

runobodyii — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:17:14 GMT

References to this song kept cropping up in the Lead Belly biography I'm reading, so I figured I should look it up. As indicated there, as with many songs in the South, this song figured prominently in the repertoire of both blacks and whites. The book also notes that cocaine wasn't illegal in those days (teens, twentys), but I don't think it told me when the drug became illicit and through what mechanism. The lyrics that follow are ascribed to Lead Belly's renditions of the song which they may well be, but some of them don't occur in this recording and some that do are not represented in these lyrics. But all of the versions except for the Stefan Grossman seem to have quite a few lyrics in common. Ellum = Elm.

Walked up Ellum and I come down Main Tryin' to bum a nickle, just to buy cocaine Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.

(Cho): Take a whiff on me, take a whiff on me And everybody, take a whiff on me. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.

Went to Mr. Lehman's on a lope Sign in the window said: "No more coke". Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.

(Cho):

Goin' up State Street, comin' down Main Lookin' for the woman that uses cocaine. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.

(Cho):

I'se got a nickle, you'se got a dime... You buy the coke and I'll buy the wine. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.

(Cho):

The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice Takes a brown-skinned woman, for my particular use. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.

(Cho):

Cocaine's for horses and not for men Doctors sat t'will kill you but they don't say when. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.

(Cho):

Whiff-a-ree and whiff-a-rye Gonna keep on a whiffin' boys, 'till I die. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.

Take a Whiff on Me: Take Two (with a Disclaimer)

runobodyii — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:54:45 GMT

Characteristically, Woody's version sees a proliferation of verses. These posts, by the by, in no way suggest or condone trafficking or indulging in unlawful substances. My purposes, on the contrary, are strictly educational and cultural-historical.

Take a Whiff on Me: Take Three

runobodyii — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:48:03 GMT

This may be my favorite version, though I haven't heard the Memphis Minnie or The Byrds. But it's hard to beat bluegrass.

More from The Oaks

runobodyii — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:34:29 GMT

A band of great moral imagination The Oaks. Plus they cater nicely to my aforementioned proclivities (though no couples I know of) including for accordions in certain musics where they're not necessarily expected. And, well, these guys just make a lovely din.

More Bowerbirds

runobodyii — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:01:30 GMT

The room calls to me, says were all strung out (And the beat we both stomp on the floor), While outside the leopard frogs sing sweetly. These are the hymns that today weve ignored. And all across the desert, and all up in the mountains: A wind so loud that we might never mention.

And heres to my lovers hands and feet. They are the roots that will weave through the floor. And down in the dirt, in her wandering, Find the snail to give us breath, to give us words. He asks us for our patience, he asks us for our patience, And he asks us what we have done for our souls lately.

Down by the bur oak tree, I had lost your locket in the loam, And there fell to my knees, neath the coil and the brush of the fern.

The candles light dances across the table, And will burn at the tip of my pen. And lures all the moths into the kitchen To spin tales and bend truths through the evening. And scribe for them their stories; we scribe for them their stories, While they wax and wax of their lives in the country.

Down by the bur oak tree, I had lost your locket in the loam, And there fell to my knees, neath the coil and the brush of the fern

Bowerbirds

runobodyii — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:35:52 GMT

Apparently I have a proclivity for bands made up of couples with a penchant for non-traditional instrumentation and subject matter.

About the Band: The roots of the Bowerbirds lie in the Raleigh, NC, indie rock trio Ticonderoga, who were led by singer and guitarist Phil Moore. During the recording of the trio's second album, 2005's The Heilig Levine LP, Moore took a job tracking birds for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, which involved living in a cabin in the Carolina woods, far from civilization. Moore's girlfriend, a visual artist named Beth Tacular (born Beth Salmon) joined him in the cabin to work on her painting; at night, Moore began writing songs influenced by the couple's rustic, natural surroundings. When Ticonderoga split up on tour supporting their second album, Moore and Tacular started their own band, the Bowerbirds, with Tacular teaching herself how to play the accordion and acquiring a marching band-style bass drum to keep rudimentary time. In this stripped-down incarnation, the Bowerbirds recorded a six-song EP, Danger at Sea, in 2006. Drafting producer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Paulson to flesh out the duo's sound, the Bowerbirds released their debut full-length, Hymns for a Dark Horse, on the new indie label Burly Time Records in 2007.

— Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

Lucinda Williams Covers Skip James

runobodyii — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:22:47 GMT

The Soul of a Man, directed by Wim Wenders, is the second film (and thus far my landslide favorite) in the Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues series. Wenders's feature-length film takes as its focus three blues masters: Blind Willie Johnson, who only sang spirituals but with unmistakably blues stylings, Skip James, and my fave of the three, J. B. Lenoir. Blind Willie Johnson narrates much of the film as if from outer space (one of his records was among the musical selections launched with Voyager). And the film includes performances of the three men's songs by contemporary artists. The original can be found here.

Garland Jeffreys Covers Skip James

runobodyii — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:52:58 GMT

The post that I linked to in my previous post was titled "Songs That Hurt Your Heart." Written as a song of thanksgiving for necessary medical treatments rendered and rendered with kindness and respect despite his destitution, and, one woud suspect, the color of his skin, this song never fails to hurt my heart. Not only its suggestion that the humanity he found in that hospital was the exception not the rule, but also the writer's need to insist on the coexistence of poverty and goodness: I'm a good man, but I'm a poor man, you can understand. You can check out the original on the Vanguard Visionaries album page.

Bonnie Raitt Covers Skip James

runobodyii — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:22:31 GMT

The original is posted here. Raitt follows James's open D guitar tuning.

Lonnie Johnson - "Drifting Along Blues"

runobodyii — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:53:35 GMT

Don't know much about him, but I sure like what I know. Here's an intro from wikipedia: Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson (February 8, 1899 – June 16, 1970) was an American blues and jazz singer/guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the role of jazz guitar and is recognized as the first to play single-string guitar solos. Early career Johnson was born in Orleans Parish, New Orleans, Louisiana and raised in a family of musicians. He studied violin, piano and guitar as a child, and learned to play various other instruments including the mandolin, but concentrated on the guitar throughout his professional career. "There was music all around us," he recalled, "and in my family you'd better play something, even if you just banged on a tin can."[4]

By his late teens, he played guitar and violin in his father's family band at banquets and weddings, alongside his brother James "Steady Roll" Johnson⁵. He also worked with jazz trumpeter Punch Miller in the city's Storyville district.

In 1917, Johnson joined a revue that toured England, returning home in 1919 to find that all of his family, except his brother James, had died in the 1918 influenza epidemic.

He and his brother settled in St. Louis in 1921⁶. The two brothers performed as a duo, and Lonnie also worked on riverboats, working in the orchestras of Charlie Creath and Fate Marable. In 1925 Lonnie married Mary Smith (i.e. Mary Johnson, a blues singer on her own right, who recorded from 1929 until 1936 - curiously enough never with Lonnie Johnson), with whom he had six children before their divorce in 1932.

Three Posts for a Fugitive MOG Friend (1)

runobodyii — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:06:26 GMT

Alternate title: there's a hole in my MOG, Dear Rummy, Dear Rummy; there's a hole in my MOG, Dear Rummy, a hole. Apparently, as far as I can tell, our friend, my friend, inrumford has decamped without so much as a fuck you or by your leave, an absence that is proving as compelling to me as the place the tongue worries where a tooth has been. C'est la vie, I suppose, but WTF?

Three Posts for a Fugitive MOG Friend (2)

runobodyii — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:58:18 GMT

Don't think I've ever heard this song. It's beautiful. Doubtless you'd know and love it. I am sure that the motions of the heart are never wasted. And yet I find myself thinking that I do not want to make heartspace for people who are going to vanish traceless.

Three Posts for a Fugitive MOG Friend (3)

runobodyii — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:50:44 GMT

So who am I going to count on to post songs from the new Neil Diamond disc as soon as it arrives?

A Little Lonely, A Little at Loose Ends, A Little Lying

runobodyii — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 03:47:05 GMT

the heart is a lonely hunter lying out in wait cloaked and concealed the heart is a lonely hunter the trap is laid and baited for one who heals

the heart is a broken arrow from the archer’s arm drove into the ground the heart is a broken arrow and all the arrow’s grace can’t right itself again

the heart is a lonely hunter painting its face disguising its ways the heart is a lonely hunter in a tree stand in the trees peering through the foliage

broken from the womb, we are and all creation groans and waits

Band Members: Matthew Antolick -- drums, marimba, vibraphone, percussion, electronics, some keys Ryan Costello -- vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, pianica, organs and keyboards, lyrics. Jeremy Siegel-- bass, trombone and some keys, mandolin Melissa Reyes -- vocals, accordian, bells, percussion, some keys Greg Willson -- guitars, saxophone and vocals Tim Cocking -- Wurlitzer electric piano, accordian, synths, organ, bells, trumpet, vocals Praise for Songs For Waiting: "On the band's sophomore release, Costello, drummer Matthew Antolick, and a host of new multi-instrumentalists strive to tell such hidden stories, from a minister's calling to assassinate Hitler to an Afghan boy's home-life heroism. Antolick is as illustrative and creative a percussionist as one could ask for - Art Blakey filling in for Levon Helm. Their success lies in that balance between hyper-literacy and a catholic musical sensibility that finds as much gravitas in a clap-along as a plucked guitar." - Paste Magazine

Trains and Boats and Planes

runobodyii — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:58:30 GMT

Laura Cantrell has released a nine-track EP of travel-themed covers. The title track is emusic's free daily download today. The lovely "Love Vigilantes," which I posted a month or so ago, is also included on this album. Check it out. track list 1. Trains and Boats and Planes 4:14 2. Train of Life 2:49 3. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald 6:26 4. Howard Hughes Blues 3:38 5. Love Vigilantes 4:18 6. Silver Wings 4:23 7. Roll Truck Roll 2:38 8. Big Wheel 2:31 9. Yonder Comes a Freight Train

Afterglow

runobodyii — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:32:49 GMT

Just hunting up the songs I heard at the concert. This one was spellbinding. A good ole story song.

A Little Sumthin Sumthin for Funky Friday

runobodyii — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:43:24 GMT

Don't usually show much love for organs of any kind, but this tune is kinda fetching. Not to mention the bad-acidness of the album title. I downloaded this track at All About Jazz, and my homework on Deep Pocket Theory is way overdue.

Songs for the Road

runobodyii — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:31:51 GMT

Two more from Ford's second album: the title track here and one called "Train" in the comments, both from his melty center (inside the hard candy shell).

let’s take a walk out on the broken glass, come on, come on, come on

runobodyii — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:02:51 GMT

Met this bloke a month ago on the Body of War cd; like him lots. Here's lyrics to this my favorite of his uptempo tunes. it’s a pity little price to pay to make the hard times go away but i love you as you are i say the words and then i’m not so sure exactly what we say them for and this is my concern

but everybody needs a place to start oh weightless be your heavy heart and lean your thoughts on me and aint it hard to live on smoke and dreams when spirit crushers work in teams to leave you where you are

you decimate my inhibitions i can’t be saved let’s take a walk out on the broken glass come on come on come on you decimate my inhibitions i can’t be saved so lay all your worries on my back come on come on come on come on

it’s a pity little price to pay to give a little self away and lean your thoughts on me it cannot be so hard to get along though history may prove me wrong and it wouldn’t be the first time

Steve Earle Acoustic Solo (feat. Allison Moorer)

runobodyii — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:20:25 GMT

Legend has it that once upon a time the Paramount was a movie theatre, and judging from its present-day appearance I imagine that they would have called it a movie palace - - from its ceiling to the large watercolors that line the walls the place is drop-dead gorgeous. And the acoustics ain't too shabbby either. I took in the show from Orchestra Right Row B. Allison Moorer started things off launching right into the title track of her new album Mockingbird, an especial favorite of mine, followed by "A Soft Place to Fall." When seeing live music mostly I'm watching the hands never quite able to believe that science and manual dexterity can account for such mystery and pleasure but watching for the signs nonetheless. Moorer gave us Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot," another from the new record, then moved seamlessly into "Getting Somewhere." "Both Sides Now" came in there somewhere, and just as I was beginning to get anxious about whether she'd sing "Orphan Train" she got that baby chugging down the rails, leaving me wondering at what you can do with a lone acoustic guitar. Up close and personal I was also really impressed with the power of her voice and the strength of the place it's coming from. She introduced "I'm Looking for Blue Eyes" by claiming that it was the first song she learned to sing at about age three and that she would only sing it if someone would stand her up on top of the piano. And the door being opened for tales of precocity, she couldn't help but to share more. Sweetly she thanked us for being so sweet and assured us that Steve would be out soon. But I for one didn't care, would have gladly listened to her sing all night. Giving it a lovely introduction - - sweet, earnest, heartfelt - - she closed with a beautiful and powerful rendition of "A Change Is Gonna Come." During the break the scattering of empty seats filled, and once everyone had settled in with their beers Earle took the stage. By my count, Earle sang at least eleven of the twelve songs on his new record Washington Square Serenade, and possibly he sang the twelfth and I forgot. Although I suppose it's the same skill set involved in playing guitar and singing, I was continually mesmerized by his playing guitar and harmonica at the same time. What a holy din he made. Not to mention that many of the new songs also required another guy on stage to man a turntable and beatbox. "Oxycontin Blues," played on banjo and "Galway Girl" were two standouts for me. As was the "Up in the house!" riff of some dude up in the balcony. Mid set Earle sang his silly love song for Moorer "Sparkle and Shine" after which she joined him to sing the duet they wrote together "Days Aren't Long Enough." Before they started to sing he turned to her and said "I know, not too fast," and a guy behind me said with great awe and amusement "My God, he's smitten." Moorer remained playing and singing on "Down Here Below" and doing the beautiful descant part on "City of Immigrants." After that, Earle carried on solo, sometimes backed by his beatboxer. One of my favorite moments came during this segment when (predictably enough) he lead us Pete Seeger style in a few choruses of "Steve's Hammer (for Pete)" house lights up. The encore set has dislodged my memory of the original closing song, but when he took the stage again he sang the one that begins "I was born on this mountain" in reference to our mountains. Then "Way Down in the Hole" which made me want to hit the dancefloor, followed by the lovely pair "Jerusalem" which he said he was going to sing until it came true and "Good Night Little Rock 'n' Roller" (don't know if that's the actual title) which he prefaced by talking at length about his sons and brother and the father they'd recently lost. Then for the closer he gave us "Copperhead Road." It was an awesome show and at a price a beat poet can afford.

"Wayfaring Stranger" (Arranged and Adapted by John R. Cash and John Carter Cash)

runobodyii — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:26:12 GMT

Who doesn't love this song. American III, American Recordings, and Unchained arrived recently. Nights, mornings I've lain in bed listening. American Recordings and Unchained have yet to have the hearings they deserve. After washing dishes to the accompaniment of American III, I sat in my chair and listened again. This time unfolding the oversized liner notes. Reading these casual reminiscences was a loosening. Turning to the notes for Unchained was my undoing. Veggie burgers, bottle breaking, the sweetness of being tamed, the wish when the wind yowls to be crazy again. Beauty of the words, the songs, this man. Recognition. Homecoming. Love that kept me leaning there, reading, listening, weeping there. The mystery that calls one soul to answer, open to another soul across whatever distances. There is more to say, but perhaps it would make us blush in the morning. Instead let's take the leap my brain made: Randall Jarrell "The Woman At The Washington Zoo" The saris go by me from the embassies.

Cloth from the moon. Cloth from another planet. They look back at the leopard like the leopard.

And I. . . . this print of mine, that has kept its color Alive through so many cleanings; this dull null Navy I wear to work, and wear from work, and so To my bed, so to my grave, with no Complaints, no comment: neither from my chief, The Deputy Chief Assistant, nor his chief-- Only I complain. . . . this serviceable Body that no sunlight dyes, no hand suffuses But, dome-shadowed, withering among columns, Wavy beneath fountains--small, far-off, shining In the eyes of animals, these beings trapped As I am trapped but not, themselves, the trap, Aging, but without knowledge of their age, Kept safe here, knowing not of death, for death-- Oh, bars of my own body, open, open!

The world goes by my cage and never sees me. And there come not to me, as come to these, The wild beasts, sparrows pecking the llamas' grain, Pigeons settling on the bears' bread, buzzards Tearing the meat the flies have clouded. . . . Vulture, When you come for the white rat that the foxes left, Take off the red helmet of your head, the black Wings that have shadowed me, and step to me as man: The wild brother at whose feet the white wolves fawn, To whose hand of power the great lioness Stalks, purring. . . . You know what I was, You see what I am: change me, change me!

"I'm Leavin' Now" (John R. Cash)

runobodyii — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:25:20 GMT

I sat on the porch and talked to Haggard about the road. "I play Chattanooga tonight," he said. His bus waited just outside my gate while we recorded "I'm Leavin' Now." "Tell them I said hello." I'm glad I didn't have to go. "You'll be back out there," he said, with a slight grin. "We'll see," I said. We recorded the song without a hitch. Marty Stuart played the Hank Snow style guitar, and Laura Cash on fiddle. It's always a good day for me when I can see an old friend like Haggard. Guards on the catwalk with shotguns. Clanging of steel cups for applause. The yelling at me. The men on death row, as I walked by. Sites and sounds of San Quentin, years ago. Haggard and I didn't talk about it. After nearly 40 years on the road, prison is ancient history, and an old con is an old con.

"Field of Diamonds" (John R. Cash and Jack W Routh)

runobodyii — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:01:49 GMT

Laying on our backs and looking at the stars at our house in Jamaica Jack Routh and I wrote "Field of Diamonds." The unlikely duet of June and Sheryl Crow sang along with me, and it really felt comfortable.

"The Mercy Seat" (Nick Cave and Mick Harvey)

runobodyii — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:24:51 GMT

Well here let's give up for the musicians who played on this project:

Norman Blake - Guitar Mike Campbell - Guitar June Carter Cash - Vocals on "Field of Diamonds" Laura Cash - Fiddle Sheryl Crow - Vocals on "Field of Diamonds," Accordion on "Wayfaring Stranger" and "Mary of the Wild Moor" Merle Haggard - Vocals on "I'm Leavin' Now," Guitar Will Oldham - Vocals on "I See a Darkness" Larry Perkins - Guitar Tom Petty - Vocals on "I Won't Back Down" and "Solitary Man," Organ on "I Won't Back Down" Randy Scruggs - Guitar Marty Stuart - Guitar Benmont Tench - Piano, Organ, Harmonium (tearing it up on this track!)

"I See a Darkness" (Will Oldham)

runobodyii — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 04:49:16 GMT

God I love this song. Its realness and intimacy and honesty. It seems absolutely right for Cash and sweeter still to have Oldham contribute a vocal. It's one of those songs that when I start playing it I don't really know how to stop. The lyrics that speak to me most directly: Well you know I have a love A love for everyone I know And you know I have a drive To live I won't let go But can you see its opposition Comes rising up sometimes That its dreadful and position Comes blacking in my mind

Well I hope that someday, buddy We have peace in our lives Together or apart Alone or with our wives That we can stop our whoring And pull the smiles inside And light it up forever And never go to sleep My best unbeaten brother This isn't all I see

On the question of youth and old age, I wouldn't trade my future for anyone's I know. After all my experiences of the past and present to bring the best song I know to the sessions. The future is not questionable, but for me it is a path of light. Lit by those I know, who enrich my life. The Master of Life's been good to me. He gives me good health now and helps me to continue doing what I love. He has given me strength to face past illnesses, and victory in the face of defeat. He has given me life and joy where others saw oblivion. He has given new purposes to live for. New services to render and old wounds to heal. Life and love go on. Let the music play. -Johnny Cash

"Solitary Man" (Neil Diamond)

runobodyii — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 04:11:01 GMT

I began this album as the last one, in the cabin, in the middle of a 50-acre compound surrounded by cedar trees, deer, goats, and peacocks. The window unit air conditioner doesn't work anymore. We had buffalo, and every time it came on, they rammed it with their horns. Sometimes we have to stop tape for a thunderstorm. We play back the songs and the mockingbirds sing along with it.

Lead Belly Overture

runobodyii — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:34:28 GMT

liner notes

This recording is a testament to two men, the Louisiana African-American musician and composer, Lead Belly, and a New York recording engineer and record company owner named Moses Asch. Their partnerrship created a lasting document of Lead Belly's wide repertoire. The songs Lead Belly recorded for Asch had a great influuence on the folk music revival to come in the 1950s and 1960s and have become standards that are sung in schools and around the camp fire. Whenever possible, we have carefully transferred and reissued these recordings from the original acetate masters that came to the Smithsonian with the acquisition of the Moses and Frances Asch Collection in 1987. When the acetate no longer existed, we used the best possible source we could find for the song. After decades these recordings can again be heard the way they sounded in the early 1940's, for in the original massters you can still hear the ringing of the guitar and thumping of the bass.

Lead Belly (1888-1949) was born Huddie Ledbetter in Louisiana and during the sixty years of his life became a truly amazing repository for all types of Ameriican folk and popular music. He had an amazing capacity for memorizing any song after hearing it once. Lead Belly spent a large portion of his adult life in prison until he was "discovered" on a Library of Congress recording trip by John Avery Lomax. Lomax arranged an early release for Lead Belly and took the singer to New York City. Lead Belly traveled with Lomax and his son Alan"for a number of years until they parted ways in New York City, a long way from Lead Belly's LouisianaaTexas roots. We won't go into detail on Lead Belly's .Iife, for much has been writtten before. We recommend the Charles Wolfe and Kip Lomeli biography, The Life and Legend of Leadbelly (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), as a fine account.

It was at this point that Lead Belly met someone else who wouId prove to be instrumental in his life. Moses Asch (1905-1986) was a radio engineer in New York who had started a small record company, Asch Records, to supply local hi-fi stores with recordings of Jewish perrformers and cantors. Asch was a friend of Sy Rady, a Broadway producer, who intro" duced him to Lead Belly. Lead Belly was unhappy about the way the Lomaxes preesented him to the public. They would stress his prison background, even going so far as to dress him in convict clothes on stage. Lead Belly was a proud man who wanted more than anything to be a musician and if possible a movie star. The way Lead Belly was being portrayed also irritated Asch. "To me, Lead Belly was the most formal human being that ever existted. His clothing was always the best pressed, the best. His shoes were $60 shoes in 1947! Where he might not have had much money to come home with, he had to have a cane. Lead Belly treated himself as a noble person, and when he recorded knowing that this was for people to understand what he stood for, he recorded exactly the same way" (Asch to IllY Young). Asch and Lead Belly underrstood each other and became friends.

Lead Belly's records were the first records Asch made in the folk music field and marked the beginning of a long and imporrtant career. Asch went on to document the sounds of the world in an extensive collecction of sound recordings on Asch, Disc and Folkways.

Lead Belly made some of the most important music of his career in Moe Asch's tiny studio. Asch envisioned himmself as a documenter and didn't like to interfere with the music. He thought of himself as "the pen with which these artists write" (Asch to IllY Young). Lead Belly had made a number of 78 rpm recordings for RCA Bluebird, Columbia, and Capitol, but none of them was commmercially successful. Major record compaanies didn't know what to do with him and tried to sell him as a blues musician. Lead Belly's large repertoire included children's play party songs, blues, American folk songs, prison songs, accordion pieces, cowboy songs, and the pop songs of the day. This didn't fit the preconceived notion of a Southern black man with a guitar. It was Asch who let Lead Belly record anyything he wished, and Lead Belly kept cornning back to Asch's studio when his flirtations with stardom failed.

Ragtime Texas "The Fox and the Hounds"

runobodyii — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:42:56 GMT

This is a little gem. I love the cane playing, the vocal phrasing, and the call & response between the two. Here are the lyrics as far as I can make them out. Oh Liza, I'm goin away, I'm goin away; Yes 'tis true, it ain't no use; Oh Henry what'll I do? God don't want, I don't want you, Goodbye, fare you well, Liza, Liza, Liza

[on the second verse I'm stumped: I think it starts "Look down the road," but maybe not, and I also imagine a "salty dog" and a "turkey in the barrel" and think dance calls...or trains...or...As I said: stumped.]

Well Mama, well Mama I've been gone, sixteen years I'll be home, some of these days If I live, don't get killed

[Then the incomprehensible part again - - really I tried.]

Get Your Hat, Get Your Coat, Get To Shakin On Down the Line

runobodyii — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:04:22 GMT

I am enamored of this little song. I like how the guy literally boxes himself in, then, after a burial at sea, finds his way out again, as if imagining himself as desirable whalebait and fish food suddenly boosts his self-confidence and his spirits. (Repeat each line three times except the last line which repeats only twice).

I've got the worried blues, God I'm feelin bad.

I've got no one to tell my troubles to.

You can box me up and send me to my ma.

If my ma don't want me send me to my pa.

If my pa don't want me send me to my girl.

If my girl don't want me cast me in the sea.

Those fish and the whales make a fuss all over me.

I'm gonna build me a heaven of my own.

I'm gonna give all good-time womens a home.

Get your hat, get your coat, get to shakin on down the line.

Now fare thee, my honey, fare thee.

Ragtime Texas

runobodyii — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:49:19 GMT

This song has been posted before - - you can stream it here - - but I'm in love and cannot help it. Henry 'Ragtime Texas' Thomas was an itinerant musician and inveterate hobo and as such a train freak after my own heart. Thomas was born 1874 in Upshur County, Texas, one in a family of perhaps nine children to parents who had been slaves and who were "even as free people ...still pretty well trapped in the semi-feudal world of the Texas cotton economy" (Oakley 59). Thomas was known to have hated cotton farming and upped and left home as soon as he could, "earning his living with his guitar, or supported by some woman" (59). Eventually "he drifted into the life of a hobo, up and down the line of the Texas and Pacific railroad, through East Texas, up to Oklahoma, to Kansas City, and he even got as far as Chicago for the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and to St. Louis for the World Fair of 1904"(59). In the post-slavery South freedom to blacks became uppermost freedom of movement and whether near or far many embraced the newfound right to ramble; none more than Ragtime Texas. A retired conductor who worked passenger trains out of Dallas named G. T. Hardy thought he remembered Thomas: [he] was a great big fellow that used to come aboard at Gladewater or Mineola or somewhere in there. I'd always carry him except when he was too dirty. He was a regular hobo but I'd carry him most of the time (58). As Oakley writes: In the days when Ragtime Texas was hoboing, 'that guitar was his ticket'. All he would do, if he couldn't ride for free inside the carriage, would be to jump into an empty gondola or box car, or onto the blind end of a baggage car. If all else failed he would ride underneath the cars, on the truss-rods. (58). Thomas seems to have mastered a variety of song styles from square and country dances to gospel to early blues, and he tended to be somewhat of a magpie in making his songs, snatching bits and pieces from various sources. Thomas is also of special interest to me as a player of the "quills," flutes made from cane "from a river bottom."

Becasue Three Is a Magic Number

runobodyii — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:08:23 GMT

This is another Martin Sexton song I fancy. It's more bluesy than funky, and it brings my Martin Sexton posts to that magic number three.

Old School Baby Cheddar

runobodyii — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:35:59 GMT

I had this queued for last Friday but apparently I got distracted. I really like Martin Sexton when he gets on his soulful funky groove, otherwise... It would be cool to see him do the same split personality thing John Mayer does between his solo work under his own name and the blues rock thing he does with his trio. And because two heads are better than one, Billy Preston, Live 1973

Don't Wannabe No Griot; I Want To Be a Footballer

runobodyii — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:08:03 GMT

Apparently that was once Ba Cissoko's take on things, but his father, also a kora player, being a wise man supported his son's aspirations, but suggested that he might learn a few songs on the kora anyway just for kicks seeing it was after all his birthright, and under his uncle's tutelage, Ba Cissoko came around to a musician's life after all. Following Cody B's lead this is more a fusion thang, but I defintely hear funk in the bass line.

Joseph and His Brothers: A Note on Charley Patton

runobodyii — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:25:24 GMT

Charley Patton was born near Edwards, Mississippi some time between 1881 and 1890. His birth year is uncertain as is his parentage. He was either the son of Bill Patton, his mother's husband,or Henderson Chatmon, a fiddler himself and patriarch of a clan of mostly musicians. A part-time preacher, Bill Patton taught his son religious songs, some of which Patton would later record, but the lion's share of musical patrimony probably came to Patton from the Chatmon family, Henderson and numerous brothers and/or half-brothers from the union of Henderson Chatmon and Anney Patton. According to one son, Sam Chatmon, collectively the family played "guitar, violin, tenor banjo, and mandolin, piano, saxophone, clarinet, just anything more or less borrowed, hired or picked up, they played" (51-52). The Chatmons in various configurations and under various names - - Bo Carter, Mississippi Sheiks, Mississippi Mud Steppers, The Chatman Brothers, Mississippi Blacksnakes - - were among the most often recorded acts of the 20s and 30s. "Their records were usually group sessions, employing more sophisticated chords and progressions than singers like Patton/ they would play waltzes, the black bottom and two-steps" (52). Of Patton, brother Sam recalled: I didn't like the way he sang. He was my brother, but he just had a way - - (Sings) "Saddle up my pony, hook up my black maaaaare..." I didn't like that!...Now he picks good, but he just brings that song out, like there's somebody choking to death" (53). While surmising that Patton picked up his "rougher, more earthy and emotional blues" while living with the older Chatmon, Oakley suggests that it was Patton's move to the Dockery Plantation that proved most significant in his musical development: In this fairly small area there were an astonishing number of first-rate blues singers of whom Charley Patton was only one. A process of group creation was established, with ideas and songs swapped and guitar patterns exchanged as they frequently played together in the plantation quarters, for house parties or for dances" (53). Patton died in 1934, described on his death certificate "not as a musician but as a farmer" (51). Here, by way of contrast, are Patton's brothers singing "Sitting on Top of the World."

Take Me Home to That Shining Star

runobodyii — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:10:52 GMT

Stressing that the principal theme of the country blues, if not all blues, is sexual relationships, Oakley writes: Most frequently the core of the relationship is seen as inherently unstable, transient, but with infinite scope for pleasure and exultation in success, or pain and torment in failure. this gives the blues its tension and ambiguity, dealing simultaneously with togetherness and loneliness, communion and isolation, physical joy and emotional angiush. In Patton's blues, even the sound itself has the feeling of tension, with damped down, 'dirty' toned, monotonously repeated bass figures giving a heavy emotional undertow, lightened by the sensously rising and sliding notes, driving and swinging with the joy of release (55). As I imagine it "Bird Nest Bound" begins and ends in the present moment where the speaker is propositioning a new love interest to take a ride in his car and tryst in the country. The middle verses provide backstory on the relationship from which he's on the rebound. The primary tension here seems to be between the unambiguous pleasure and comfort of nesting in the nest of the female body, so to speak and the speaker's deep ambivalence about nesting in the wider domestic and emotional connotations of the word. My useless book The Blues Line (which I am starting to find my way around, making it less useless) highlights the problem of blues transcription by giving the line "hard luck is at your front door / blues is in your room" as "ah love is at your front door / blues are in your room." Lyrics from the net: Come on, mama, go to the edge of town Come on, mama, go to the edge of town I know where there's a bird nest, built down on the ground If I was a bird, mama, if I was a bird, mama, I would find a nest in the heart of town (spoken: Lord, you know I'd build it in the heart of town) So when the town get lonesome, I'd be bird nest bound Hard luck is at your front door, blues are in your room Hard luck is at your front door, blues are in your room Callin' at your back door, "What's gonna become of you?" Sometimes I say I need you, then again I don't Sometimes I say I need you, then again I don't (spoken: You know it's the truth, baby) Sometime I think I'll quit you, then again I won't Oh, I remember one mornin' stand in my baby's door, (spoken: Sure, boy, I was standin' there) Oh, I remember one mornin' stand in my baby's door, (spoken: Boy, you know what she told me?) "Look-a here papa Charley, I don't want you no more" Take me home sweet home, baby, to that shiny star Take me home now to, that shiny star (spoken: Lord, you know I'm just stayin' there) You don't need no tellin', mama, take you in my car I'd be curious and delighted to hear people's take on that Shining Star. I can hedge a metaphor, but wonder if it's a specific reference or traditional fixed blues convention. Somewhere I saw a glossary of blues terms. But where?

Storms sweep through Ark., Okla., Texas

runobodyii — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:22:53 GMT

BENTON, Ark. - A band of hail, heavy rain and twisters pounded Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma, damaging hundreds of homes, flooding roads and leaving thousands without power. The worst wasn't over for Arkansas, which braced Thursday for another hit.

Some residents in the small north Arkansas town of Leslie were being evacuated because of flooding and the threat of mudslides. Workers were sandbagging in places to keep flood waters at bay. Roads were flooded and people were being told to stay home.

The state already is contending with three weeks of flooding and the aftermath of 10 tornadoes that struck last week.Read the full AP story here

Patton's performance is expressive, to say the least.

Where Your Native Home? Lordie

runobodyii — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:43:11 GMT

In The Devil's Music: A History of the Blues Giles Oakley suggests that the Delta blues players often identified with the figure of the boll weavil in both its destructiveness and its homelessness, imagining its migrations as a search for a home. This variation on the theme by Charley Patton certainly bears this insight out. Here Boweavil is personfied and enters into dialogue with the singer. Patton's delivery of lyrics wasn't always the clearest, so here are the lyrics. Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues by Charley Patton Sees a little boll weevil keeps movin' in the, Lordie! You can plant your cotton and you won't get a half a bale, Lordie Bo weevil, bo weevil, where's your native home? Lordie "A-Louisiana raised in Texas, Least is where I was bred and born", Lordie

Well, I saw the bo weevil, Lord, a-circle, Lord, in the air, Lordie The next time I seed him, Lord, he had his family there, Lordie Bo weevil left Texas, Lord, he bid me "fare ye well", Lordie

(spoken: Where you goin' now?) I'm goin' down the Mississippi, gonna give Louisiana hell, Lordie (spoken: How is that, boy?) Suck all the blossoms and he leave your hedges square, Lordie

The next time I seed you, you know you had your family there, Lordie Bo weevil meet his wife, "We can sit down on the hill", Lordie Bo weevil told his wife, "Let's trade this forty3 in", Lordie Bo weevil told his wife, says, "I believe I may go North", Lordie

(spoken: Hold on, I'm gonna tell all about that) "Let's leave Louisiana, we can go to Arkansas", Lordie Well, I saw the bo weevil, Lord a-circle, Lord, in the air, Lordie Next time I seed him, Lord, he had his family there, Lordie

Bo weevil told the farmer that "I 'tain't got ticket fare", Lordie Sucks all the blossom and leave your hedges square, Lordie Bo weevil, bo weevil, where your native home? Lordie "Most anywhere they raise cotton and corn", Lordie Bo weevil, bo weevil, "Outta treat me fair", Lordie The next time I did you had your family there, Lordie While admiring his guitar playing Patton's musical cohort seemed to have regarded him as somewhat of a clown and faulted his singing style and spontaneous approach to lyrics. That, however, is not so much in invidence on many of his recordings, and Patton was an important influence on Booker (Bukka) White who knew him only through his records.

MOG Bluegrass Census - We Know You're Out There

runobodyii — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:39:59 GMT

The stream is the teaser / free download from Yep Roc. It certainly cast its spell on me. IV is a sweet album. I love their songs, sometimes classic, sometimes off kilter; I will try again to scrounge the lyrics to "Chip of a Star" before I post this because it's beautiful and I think I am missing some words. No luck. The video is a performance of "Dark Clouds" from their second album, found while poking around their website. You can also watch Dave Wilson fondle Zatarain's Jambalaya mix and side meat in the grocery store.

And I am not even posting my favorite favorite songs. More Chatham County Line

Three Inspired Songs

runobodyii — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:16:14 GMT

'A' for energy and inventiveness (I know I know, but never mind). 1. DeVotchKa, "Transliterator" from A Mad and Faithful Telling 2. Colour Revolt, "Naked and Red" from Plunder, Beg, and Curse 3. Man Man, "Top Drawer" from Rabbit Habits

As I Was Saying Before the MOG Traumas

runobodyii — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:33:32 GMT

Given his reputation in Europe and his native Guinea, as well as his pedigree, the debut from kora player Ba Cissoko and his group arrives with plenty to live up to. For once, though, all the hype is more than justified. There's plenty of dance music on hand here; all of it from the Manding tradition, but given a healthy, and sometimes daring edge that makes it contemporary without being deliberately modern. Cissoko himself plays acoustic kora, and his skill is quite breathtaking. But things take a tilt into the unknown when the band's other kora player, Sekou Kouyate amplifies his instrument. While you know it's still a kora, the things he does with it turn it on its head -- it's little wonder he's been called the Jimi Hendrix of the instrument. The sound becomes totally new, exciting waterfalls of notes that are palpably thrilling. The rhythm section of bass and percussion anchor it all, and keep the groove going quite effortlessly. This is trail-blazing, purely West African music of a kind not heard in far too long, and completely irresistible. - Chris Nickson, All Music Guide And for a little more music and pictures check out the backstory.

Republic Tigers - 1/2

runobodyii — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:30:05 GMT

This is an offering from Paste Magazine Sampler #42. I found it catchy and pleasing enough to want to hear more. They are from Kansas City; they have an EP; and (I think) a full length coming this year. They sound very familiar which for me is working in their favor at least as far as first impressions go. Too early to speculate over the long haul.

Republic Tigers - 2/2

runobodyii — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:18:31 GMT

This song elicits a mixed review. Can't abide the high whiney nearly incomprehensible (is it supposed to be a?) chorus. But like the verses and the stuttered effect. Likewise a split decision for the four-song EP: the first and last I like a lot, the middle two I dunno. See what you think.

O Great MOG, May My Offering Be Acceptable to Thine Awesome Ear. Amen.

runobodyii — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:35:49 GMT

Chatham County Line IV Yep Roc Reocrds 2008. This is a North Carolina based progressive bluegrass foursome who have apparently given up on finding catchy titles for their albums. This is a merely good track off a fine album.

Sunday Under the Bloody Covers

runobodyii — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:17:24 GMT

A friend recently wrote me a glowing message about a kora-playing poet she had just heard which sent me scurrying just to hear what this (by her accounts) luminous instrument sounded like. This evening I am weighing my kora options on emusic which include Ba Cissoko's first album Sabolan which from the clips seems a bit more energetic than his second Electric Griot Land which apparently introduced him to the United States. As for the song, I honestly think I prefer the cover to the original. liner notes Hailing from a heritage of griots, Ba Cissoko is a master of both storytelling and playing the kora. The Guinean modernist excels at updating classic customs and traditions when it comes to music; his voice and message speak to what is going on now in his native land and abroad.[...]

Mea Culpa

runobodyii — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:56:57 GMT

Take these hands - teach them what to carry; Take these hands - don't make a fist.

I'm Not Worried about Anything. I'm Not Fearing Any Man

runobodyii — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:25:03 GMT

January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968 And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say that threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

You can fly away to the end of the world but where does it get you?

runobodyii — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:51:02 GMT

And we were never holding back or worried that Time would come to an end We were always hoping that, looking back You could always rely on a friend

You can live your life lonely Heavy as stone Live your life learning And working alone Say this is all you want But I don't believe that it's true

I have Lost Too Much Sleep; I'm Gonna Find It

runobodyii — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:00:21 GMT

This is late night driving, no destination, just driving around Ithaca, me and my friend Chris in his car, listening to music: Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Crowded House, and this one, the only thing I've ever stole, except he spared me the infamy of stealing by giving it as a gift when it became clear I was never going to return it. and I have it steal (wops, still), one of a few cassettes I've hung onto, Crowded House and Seal, also of that time, among them.

The Time I Was on Fire

runobodyii — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:48:27 GMT

I first heard this one on NPR, early '90s some years before my first computer. I had to write to them and wait for a reply before I could find out what the hell it was I'd heard and make it mine. Those were the days.

Making It New by Making It Strange

runobodyii — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:25:42 GMT

Conceived of and produced by singer/songwriter Shawn Amos and producer Paul Heck (No Alternative and other benefit projects under the aegis of the Red Hot Organization) and released April 1st by the Shout Factory label, In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 is a breath of fresh air in the overcrowded warehouse of cover projects. And whether you characterize U2's musical style as overheated bombast or, more charitably, as passionate intensity, for the most part, you will find none of that here. For whether cleaving closely to the original or striking out in new directions all their own after establishing initial contact with the source of the song, the twelve artists showcased here take a minimalist approach. Apart from the two tracks that stand out as neither animal, vegetable, or mineral (Waldemar Bastos track from yesterday's post is one of those), the tracks I enjoy most are the ones during which if my mind wanders a bit and I stop thinking I am listening to U2 songs covered by African musicians, I wake up in the middle of a song not knowing what it is, having completely lost track of the connecting thread. I also like that most of the songs unfold, at least in part in a language other than English. In the hands of Les Nubians "With or Without You" is transformed into an electronica/dance track, while African Underground All-Stars featuring Chosan, Optimus, & Iyeoka glom onto the chorus of "Desire," jettisoning the original lyrics and replacing them with original rhymes. All of which makes this listener very happy. Innovation! it's the stuff of which living traditions are made.

I've Got This Song on Repeat

runobodyii — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:25:24 GMT

liner notes
Displaying an ear for music from a very young age, singer/guitarist Waldemar Bastos begged his parents for music lessons at the age of eight, and his early studies led him to form his first working band, Jovial, along with is brother Lucio and some other childhood friends. Bastos became an unwitting victim of the political struggles of his native Angola when he was erroneously jailed in high school for his proximity to some dissident flyers. With the overthrow of Portugal's colonial dictatorship, the young musician sought refuge from a repressive socialist regime that labeled art and expression as threatening to its stringent ideology. He escaped the nation's turmoil by defecting to Portugal in the early '80s, moving next to West Germany, then Brazil, where he recorded his debut album, Estamos Juntos, while assimilating the musical influences of his adopted home. From Brazil, Bastos traveled to Paris and then settled in Portugal, where he resides today, continuing to make music that imbues the often harsh realities of the African continent with his own vision of beauty and poetry. Angola Independence: 11 November 1975
Capital: Luanda
Population: 12,263,500
Languages: Portuguese, Bantu, others
Main Export: crude oil
Major Issue: After nearly 25 year of continuous warfare, only 35% of girls and 39% of boys are enrolled in school. Major Success Story: In Kwanza Sul Province, Save the Children built four community schools and two health posts. The schools are safe, accessible and free, and part of the nonprofit's Rewrite the Future initiative [] seeks to have 3 million out-of-school children in conflict areas enter school by 2010. More info: www.savethechildren.org. A portion of the proceeds from this CD release will benefit the Global Fund. An organization created to finance a dramatic turnaround in the fight agains AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. These diseases kill nearly 6 million people each year. And the numbers are growing. To date, The Global Fund has committed US $10 billion in 136 countries to support aggressive interventions against all three diseases. www.theglobalfund.org/EN/.

Tieing Up Loose Ends

runobodyii — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:54:32 GMT

Strand 1: Toward the end of a post a week or so ago Madeline Burke added a nice anecdotal tidbit about Elvis and Jerry Lee and a gate and a gun, which prompted me to ask a random question about Carl Perkins who had been alluded to in a Drive-By Truckers song I had been listening to. Later I had the pleasure of reading this sweet post on Carl Perkins by Madeline Burke. Listening again today I also catch the "take that night train to Memphis" invitation. Strand 2: As Memphis is a bridge-crossing from home, I thought I'd travel further, so turned to the Indigo Girls for the "Midnight Train to Georgia" but crossed their other train as well, a revision of the traditional gospel song "This Train Is Bound for Glory." Strand 3: Well, if you want to ride the train in style, you're gonna need some Cash. So this video is from the Johnny Cash Christmas Show 1977 with Johnny, Jerry, Carl, and Roy Orbison singing "This Train Is Bound for Glory" in memory of Elvis.

And this one is Carl and Jerry not really studyin on no glory.

And this is in homage to the singular blessings of randomness.

Breathe Owl Breathe

runobodyii — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:27:42 GMT

An earthy Michigan duo with roots in indie, classical and traditional music, Breathe Owl Breathe has cultivated a musical landscape that is at once playful and reverent, silly and heartfelt, mysterious and familiar. Micah Middaugh and Andrea Moreno-Beals experiment with an array of stringed instruments (most notably the cello and guitar) and vocal harmonies to texture their original songs. They were raised by rivers and gardens and their instruments tell the tales. They traveled to cities and islands and their voices tell the tales. They are here for you, Breathe Owl Breathe. - Seth Bernard Micah Middaugh is a marathon runner, printmaker, carpenter, a wildlife; a folk archive of North Michigan’s woodlands. Micah scribbles songs, plays guitar, banjo, thimb piano, and plastic toys. Colombian-born Andrea Moreno-Beals grew up in Ann Arbor, a gifted classical cellist from the Rudolf Steiner school; part Bach, part Bossa Nova, part Bluegrass. Andrea lends an ethereal voice to her cello and banjo. Trevor Hobbes is a geologist drummer, currently residing in Lansing, Michigan. His steady beats and brushes add to the band's repertoire of violins, vibraphones, glockenspiels, and percussions. from www.breatheowlbreathe.com You can also stream three additional songs at the Breathe Owl Breathe artist Lounge.

One Kind Favor

runobodyii — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:50:14 GMT

I posted this video in a comment late Friday night, but think it's worthy of its own post. I've also added Blind Lemon Jefferson, whose song it is, as a Rhapsody track.

Sunday Under the Covers: After the Gold Rush

runobodyii — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:49:54 GMT

Well, I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming Sayin' something about a queen There were peasants singin' and drummers drumming And the archer split the tree There was a fanfare blowin' to the sun That floated on the breeze Look at mother nature on the run in the nineteen seventies Look at mother nature on the run in the nineteen seventies

I was lyin' in a burned out basement With a full moon in my eyes I was hopin' for a replacement When the sun burst through the skies There was a band playin' in my head And I felt like getting high Thinkin' about what a friend had said, I was hopin' it was a lie Thinkin' about what a friend had said, I was hopin' it was a lie

Well, I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying In the yellow haze of the sun There were children crying and colors flying All around the chosen ones All in a dream, all in a dream The loading had begun Flyin' mother nature's silver seed To a new home in the sun Flyin' mother nature's silver seed To a new home in the sun

Sunday Under the Covers: Tangled Up in Blue

runobodyii — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:31:39 GMT

I've never been bowled over by this song, neither by the original nor by the various covers I've heard in my short time on MOG, but hearing this version Friday night in the context of the others, this one won me over.

Sunday Under the Covers: Down by the River

runobodyii — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:14:56 GMT

Listening to the original in the wee hours last night I thought, damn these mothers are laying down some bad-A$$ed funk on the instrumental breaks. The Indigo Girls don't exactly break the bank on this one, but it's a pretty nice cover in any case. And I do really like those scraping violins.

Hobo's Lullaby

runobodyii — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:35:50 GMT

Oh go to sleep you weary hobo Lay back lay back and close your eyes I know you've seen a lot of worry I know you've heard a lot of lies

If you like, check out the Anais Mitchell Artist Lounge.

Stand Back, Children, It's the 309

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:40:28 GMT

This is one lonesome mournful song - - recorded with producer Rick Rubin near the end of Cash's life.

Glen Rock Black Rock Little Rock Oskaloosa

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:11:27 GMT

Two related traveling songs: Woody Guthrie's "Hard Travlin'" covered by a guy named Scott Lee on a YouTube video and Johnny Cash singing "I've Been Everywhere," exhibiting the poetry of place names and his own sense of fun.

I've Been Everywhere I was toting my pack along the long dusty Winnemucca road When along came a semi with a high canvas covered load If your goin' to Winnemucca, Mack with me you can ride And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside He asked me if I'd seen a road with so much dust and sand And I said, "Listen! I've traveled every road in this here land!"

I've been everywhere, man I've been everywhere, man Crossed the deserts bare, man I've breathed the mountain air, man Of travel I've had my share, man I've been everywhere

I've been to: Reno Chicago Fargo Minnesota Buffalo TorontoWinslow Sarasota Wichita Tulsa Ottawa Oklahoma Tampa Panama Mattawa LaPaloma Bangor Baltimore Salvador Amarillo Tocapillo Barranquilla And Padilla

I'm a Killer I've been everywhere, man I've been everywhere, man Crossed the deserts bare, man I've breathed the mountain air, man Of travel I've had my share, man I've been everywhere

I've been to: Boston Charleston Dayton Louisiana Washington Houston Kingston Texarkana Monterey Ferriday Santa Fe Tallapoosa Glen Rock Black Rock Little Rock Oskaloosa Tennessee Tinnesay Chicopee Spirit Lake Grand Lake Devil's Lake Crater Lake

For Pete's Sake I've been everywhere, man I've been everywhere, man Crossed the deserts bare, man I've breathed the mountain air, man Of travel I've had my share, man I've been everywhere

I've been to: Louisville Nashville Knoxville Ombabika Schefferville Jacksonville WatervillCosta Rica Pittsfield Springfield Bakersfield Shreveport Hackensack Cadillac Fond du Lac Davenport Idaho Jellico Argentina Diamantina Pasadena Catalina

See What I Mean I've been everywhere, man I've been everywhere, man Crossed the deserts bare, man I've breathed the mountain air, man Of travel I've had my share, man I've been everywhere

I've been to: Pittsburgh Parkersburg Gravelbourg Colorado Ellensburg Rexburg Vicksburg Eldorado Larimore Atmore Haverstraw Chatanika Chaska Nebraska Alaska Opelika Baraboo Waterloo Kalamazoo Kansas City Sioux City Cedar City Dodge City

What A Pity I've been everywhere, man I've been everywhere, man Crossed the deserts bare, man I've breathed the mountain air, man Of travel I've had my share, man I've been everywhere

I've been everywhere

Too Darn Mean to Cry

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:36:23 GMT

I've been on this song's trail for hours now. Or more precisely trying to fathom its relationship to either of the two Lightnin' Hopkins songs of the same name and what, if any, these two songs have to one another. The jury's still out. In the midst of my deliberations I did learn that I have purchased another worthless book (don't you hate that!). The book is a compendium of blues lyrics nearly five hundred pages long with no index, no alphabetizing, nothing other than (sort of) thematic arrangements. It also simply offers the lyrics without anything in the way of commentary. It just goes to show once again that the guy that wrote The Paradox of Choice is right: having lingered over all the available choices in this genre I should have made the right choice and that I didn't is my own damned fault, so choice ultimately leads to unhappiness. If, on the other hand, this had been the only book there was I'd be absolved of responsibility for my disappointment. This strikes me as a very blues concept. Needless to say, the lyrics are from the web. I hate to hear that engine blow boo hoo I hate to hear that engine blow boo hoo Everytime I hear it blowin', I feel like riden' too I'll ask the brakeman to let me ride the blind I'll ask the brakeman to let me ride the blind He said, "Man, you know this train ain't mine." That's a mean ol' fireman, cruel ol' engineer That's a mean ol' fireman, cruel ol' engineer It was a mean ol' train that took my gal away from here. I've got the freight train blues, but too darn mean to cry. I've got the freight train blues, but too darn mean to cry. I'm gonna love that gal 'till the day she dies. There's three trains ready but none ain't goin' my way I say, there are three trains ready but none ain't goin' my way But the sun's gonna shine in my back door some day. Word to the wise, in the blues you better look out when an estranged lover says he's gonna love you til the day YOU die.

Don't Mind Me, I'm Just Geeking Out

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:12:11 GMT

So in the course of this morning's research I have been fortunate to find quite a few compilations of classic railroad songs. In fact, Rounder Records alone has put out four volumes of such songs. I also found this wonderful rendition of "Train 45" by The New Lost City Ramblers as I was browsing Classic Railroad Songs from Smithsonian Folkways, the disc I'll likely buy. But for the nonce, I had to snag this track from amazon. Also highly promsing, a couple of the tracks on the Folkways record are simply of train sounds, one credited to "Rail Dynamics" which must be a record someone made. I can't say it often enough, God bless Folkways founder Moses Asch.

Sugar Land Bound

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:05:08 GMT

The train from Houston to San Antonio, approximating the route of Alternate 90, would arrive in Sugar Land at midnight, it's light shining brightly. Prisoners imagined it was their passage to freedom. -Mark D. Lacy If you're ever down in Houston Boy, you better walk right And you better not squabble And you better not fight

Bason and Brock will arrest you Payton and Boone will take you down You can bet your bottom dollar That you're Sugar Land bound

Let the Midnight Special Shine the light on me Let the Midnight Special Shine the ever-lovin' light on me

--Huddie Ledbetter (from "Midnight Special") This is the one I was looking for when I found "Alabama Bound" (below). Again Leadbelly is joined by the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet.

Alabama Bound

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:50:48 GMT

This is a nice one I just happened upon en route to someplace else. Here Leadbelly is paired with the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet.

Well, Pardon Me (Twice)

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:32:10 GMT

from Wikipedia Lead Belly's boastful spirit and penchant for the occasional skirmish sometimes led him into trouble with the law, and in January 1918 he was thrown into prison for the second time, this time after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight. He was incarcerated in Sugar Land, Texas and it is there that he got the inspiration for the song Midnight Special.[1] It is said that he was released two years into his 35-year sentence after writing a song appealing to Governor Pat Morris Neff for his freedom. Lead Belly had swayed Governor Neff by appealing to his strong religious values. That, in combination with good behavior (including entertaining by playing for the guards and fellow prisoners), was Lead Belly's ticket out of jail.

In 1930, Lead Belly was back in prison, this time in Louisiana for attempted homicide. It was there, three years later, that he was "discovered" by musicologists John and Alan Lomax, who were enchanted by his talent, passion and singularity as a performer, and recorded hundreds of his songs on portable recording equipment for the Library of Congress. The following year Lead Belly was once again pardoned, this time after a petition for his early release was taken to Louisiana Governor O.K. Allen by the Lomaxes. The petition was on the other side of a recording of one of his most popular songs, "Goodnight Irene". But records show he was released due to good behavior, and mention nothing of the song.

There are many disputed stories regarding Ledbetter's famous nickname, but he likely first acquired it while he was in prison. One claim says his fellow inmates dubbed him "Lead Belly" as a play on his last name and a testament to his physical toughness. One story tells that when one of the inmates tried to stab him in the neck (which left him with a scar) during his second prison term, he took the knife away and in turn almost killed his attacker with it. Another says he earned the name after being shot in the stomach with shotgun buckshot.[2] Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy claimed that Lead Belly's name came from the claim that he had a tendancy to lay about "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working.[3] Others claim the name comes from his ability to drink the homemade "rotgut" liquor the prisoners would make. He then used the nickname as a pseudonym when he was recording, and the name stuck ever since.

My Parents' Records

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:11:12 GMT

Truthfully I hear trains rolling through a lot of Cash's songs. The rockabilly rhythm is often a train rhythm to my ears. When I was very small mysteriously, unaccountably, my parents acquired this large-ish cache of records (LPs). Maybe they joined Columbia House Records or maybe they responded to some offer on tv (who knows). But there was this cache of records and they fascinated me, something along the lines of Christmas. I've tried to get to the bottom of this mystery with my parents, but they recall this treasure trove but vaguely, if at all. I could make guesses as to particular records, but the only artist I remember clearly was Johnny Cash, the man in black who killed a man just to watch him die. When I say small, I'm talking three or four. And this Johnny Cash baffled and intrigued me. Why would my parents invite such an outlaw man into our house? Were they secret outlaws too? Scared and fascinated I listened to that voice, those songs. And it's taken a long time for me to comprehend that Cash did not kill a man and certainly not just to watch him die. The video is Johnny Cash live at S. Quintin Prison.

Following My Own Train of Thought

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:47:57 GMT

If you had the blues in the early 1900‘s, one sure way to escape was to ”ride the blind“ — to hop a freight train not knowing where it was bound.

Anybody out there no of a good read on trains, train history, and/or hobo culture?

All Aboard One World Her Man His Girl

runobodyii — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:14:39 GMT

I'd rather live in his world Than live without him in mine.

But If You Still Cain't Git No Satisfaction from Your GP or the G-N-C...

runobodyii — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:05:35 GMT

you might want to consider a little VOODOO. Man, I'm glad I held onto these guys.

Should You Prefer to Drink Your Poison Straight...

runobodyii — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:06:47 GMT

Cody B. crawled down to the bottom of some dusty Tequila bottle yesterday and pulled out the Ohio Players' "Funky Worm" in a comment to a post of mine and Funky Mads is rumored to be languishing from a serious Vitamin F deficiency, so I called the doctor and this is what she said...

Joy! Joy! Joy!: Bettye LaVette

runobodyii — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:06:31 GMT

"Talking Old Soldiers" was the first Bettye LaVette song I heard.

Next is "Sleep to Dream / I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got." This is truly kick A$$. Can she sing!

"Joy / Let Me Down Easy - Jools - 11-11-2005"

Bettye LaVette Interview

"Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye LaVette" A damn shame it took the music biz 40 years to come round to her.

Genre Benders

runobodyii — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:13:22 GMT

from Wikipedia Johnny Dowd (born March 29, 1948 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American alternative country musician from Ithaca, New York. Typical of his style are experimental, noisy breaks in his songs and strong gothic (in the sense of dark and gloomy) elements in the lyrics as well as in the music. There is also a strong undercurrent of black humor and the absurd in his work. Although his early albums were most celebrated in the alternative country community, he has never quite fit into any particular genre. As a singer-songwriter, his music is more often compared to that of Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart. "Miracles Never Happen" (wish the sound were better)

"Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus"

Drama on Eden's Dancefloor

runobodyii — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:24:28 GMT

I know nothing about this band. One of their songs was on the Independent Music Award Winners 2008 sampler that I downloaded today (more emusic swag). I wasn't crazy about that track, but I dig this one and even find it a trifle funky.