Song No.6 – Lhasa
written and performed by Cole Stacey and Joseph O’Keefe
‘It’s too bad
It’s too bad
Because the freedom fall
I don’t have the way with all
But I never should have said that.’
One from the leftfield for my next song. I have only owned this
song for 4 days but I keep playing it and it deserves to be heard by many more
people.
Cole Stacey and Joseph O’Keefe supported Show Of Hands at the
concert in St. Ives on Saturday night. They are a duo from Devon
who are both very good musicians. Cole has a great voice and it seems that
Joseph can play any instrument. I bought
the CD ‘For Hire’ at the concert and I have been playing it ever since.
I
chose the opening track Lhasa
as this is currently my favourite track. Lhasa
is a direct homage to Lhasa de Sela, who inspired much of the percussion,
including sounds produced by a chimney piece and a water bottle. Lhasa, was an American-born singer-songwriter
who was raised in Mexico and
the United States, and
divided her adult life between Canada
and France.
Unfortunately she died of cancer on New Year’s Day 2010 aged 37.
I am now trying to find out as much as I can about this duo and
try and get to see them live again soon. The album is available on iTunes as is
a earlier EP. Check it out. They finished the concert with a great version of ‘Wagon
Wheel’ a song originally part written by Bob Dylan but finished by ‘Old Crow Medicine
Show’. They also played a Gillian Welch
song so that gives you an indication of their musical influences.
Can’t find an in concert version of this song but you can
hear it via this You Tube film which has the song playing over some nice
photos. Enjoy
Cast
Cole Stacey –
Vocals, Congas
Joseph O’Keefe –
acoustic guitar, violin, double bass & piano
Song No.5 – Cousin
Jack written by Steve Knightley and performed by Show Of Hands
Where there's a mine or a hole in the ground
That's what I'm heading for that's where I'm bound
So look for me under the lode and inside the vain,
Where the copper the clay the arsenic and tin
Run in your blood and under your skin
I'll leave the county behind I'm not coming back
Oh follow me down cousin Jack.
Five songs in and I get to the first Show Of Hands song. I have 313
of their songs on iTunes, some are duplicated across best of and live albums
but this still represents the largest number of any artist. Show Of Hands are
my favourite band and choosing a first track is difficult.
However the choice was made for me as I am going to St. Ives in Cornwall tomorrow to see them
twice at the St.Ives festival. On Friday night I am seeing a special Patrons
set where Steve Knightley and Phil Beer from the band are presenting an
informal, illustrated concert revealing how the West Country and Cornwall in
particular has influenced their music and careers.
This is a one off event and I am really looking forward to this.
On the Saturday night they are joined by third band member Miranda Sykes for a
full Show of Hands concert. The song ‘Cousin Jack’ is about Cornwall and tin mining and always provides a
good sing a-long at the concerts.
I first saw them at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2007 and I
have now seen them 18 times from venues as big as The Albert Hall to as small
as a Church in Marlborough.
They are fantastic musicians and I never tire of seeing them live. Steve
Knightley is one of the best English songwriters we have and hopefully if you
do not know of his songs you will go and out and find out more and come across
songs such as AIG, Country Life and Roots.
It is difficult for me to say how much I love Show Of Hands and
I know that I probably listen to more of their songs over and over again than
any other band. I know that many more of their songs will be included in this
blog. You should start with ‘Cousin Jack’
and them move on, you will not be disappointed. I think everybody needs to
listen to Show Of Hands and see them in concert. They are advocates of copying
their music to pass on to others to encourage you to buy albums and go to concerts.
If you would like a sample CD please let me know.
I have detailed the cast for both the original album version and
the re-recorded version for the best of album. You will see that the vocal
group Fishermen’s Friends are on that version. Show Of Hands championed them
even before they signed a major record deal. I saw them join Show Of Hands and
sing this at the Show Of Hands regular summers concert in Abbotsbury
sub-tropical gardens in July 2009. Sadly Trevor Grills one of the singing group
and tour manager Paul McMullen were killed in a tragic accident at a theatre in
Guildford earlier this year. Cousin Jack is on
the new Fishermen’s Friends album released in August.
Song No.4 – Thunder
Road written and performed by Bruce Springsteen
The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
What can I say about Bruce Springsteen and what can I say about Thunder Road. Both
are top of any list on anything in my life I have ever accounted, not just
music.They are both works of art that
should be enjoyed by all. If you have never spent time with this song then
please do so now. As Nick Hornby says in his book 31 Songs
‘ I can remember listening
to this song and loving it in 1975; I can remember listening to this song and
loving it almost as much quite recently’.
I first heard it a little later than 1975 as I was a little bit
late getting into Bruce Springsteen and I thank Malcolm who we shared a house
with in the late 70s/early 80s who introduced to me to his music. I have now
seen him live 3 times and I hope to see him many more times if he continues to
tour. His last album ‘Wrecking Ball’ was my album of 2012.
Thunder Road underwent considerable evolution as it was written, with an
early version titled "Wings for Wheels" first performed in February 1975.
Other early versions also mention a girl named "Angelina" or
"Christina" rather than the studio version's "Mary." It was the opening track on Born to Run and also opened his Live 1975-1985
album with a slower solo version.
Nick Hornby also states that he thinks he has heard this song more than any
other song and not just by a small amount. He reckons he has heard Thunder Road
1,500 times over 25 years and the second song would only have just clocked up
500 plays. I think I am with him on this. Any Bruce Springsteen playlist I create
always opens with Thunder Road.
It seems that many people feel a special affinity to this song. In 2008,
years before ideas for his film ‘Cemetery Junction’ were put down in writing,
Stephen Merchant mentioned his ambitions for the song on his self-titled BBC
Radio Show:
"The more you listen to it the
more you realize just how extraordinarily it is put together, and how it
builds, and how it's just so cinematic. And that final line when he declares
'It's a town full of losers and we're pulling out of here to win', oh, goodness
me! I've always wanted to make a movie of that song (...) I don't mean
literally, I just mean a film that can invoke the spirit of that song."
The film ‘Cemetery Junction’ which I actually quite like came out in 2010
and both Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais stated the script for Cemetery Junction was loosely based
upon the lyrics of "Thunder
Road".
The cast list is the E –Street band of the time and four of them are still
playing with Bruce. The much missed Clarence Clemons has been replaced by his
nephew Jake. Some of these names will I am sure appear again as they have
played on many of my favourite songs.
Underneath The Stars written
and performed by Kate Rusby
Underneath the stars I'll meet you
Underneath the stars I'll greet you
There beneath the stars I'll leave you
Before you go of your own free will
Go gently
My first female artist and my first folk song. Underneath The
Stars is a special song to me as it was Kate performing this song on the BBC
highlights of the 2005 Cambridge Folk Festival that started me off on the road
to discovering her? I immediately went and bought the album of the same name
and also her new album’ The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly’ which had just come out. I
loved her music and I loved Kate. She has a voice of an angel and along with ‘Alison
Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith and Heidi Talbot will be the angels
singing to me in heaven…
I have seen Kate many times in concert and have all her albums.
This song remains special and I love hearing it in concert particularly if she
has her’ brass boys’ accompanying her. My wife always says that I have a stupid
smiley grin on my face every time I see Kate and I am sure she is right. I met
her at the 2007 Cambridge Folk Festival and I think this photo proves the
point.
I read a very good book a couple of years ago, ‘Bringing it all
home’ by Ian Clayton.It has been
described as ‘One of the best books about popular music ever written’ but it is
more than that. It has a slight political edge and also describes growing up in
a Yorkshire mining town. Be warned it has a
very sad and tragic ending. I recommend you seeking this out and reading it. My
local Oxfam Books and Music shop currently has a copy on its shelves. Anyway in this book Ian describes meeting Kate
Rusby and I quote.
‘On the night Kate Rusby
played I made a bit of a closet of myself by heckling her to play the Iris
DeMent song ‘My Town’ halfway through her set when she had planned to do it as an
encore.
I wanted to meet Kate
Rusby after that and hoped that she wouldn’t remember it was me spoiling the ambience
at The Wardrobe. I got my chance when I was commissioned to present a series
called ‘My Yorkshire’ which explored contemporary Yorkshire
through its musicians, artists and sundry other characters. Most of the filming
was done at Kate’s mam’s house. We sat on the settee and by way of interview just
talked about Kate’s love of folk music and where she was from. I asked her if she’d
got a guitar and would she play me something. She said ‘Do you still want me to
play that Iris DeMent song and then she giggled.
Two years after I had rudely shouted
out from the audience at Leeds I sat on Kate Rusby’s
mam’s settee and got my own private concert. ‘My Town’ is a lovely song about where
you grow up and the things you recall about what shapes you. Kate sang it four times
for different camera angles, each time I stared wide-eyed at her like a kid who’d
just rubbed the sleep out of his eyes on a Christmas morning.’
The last sentence is how I feel when I see or listen to Kate
I have three versions of this song. The original from the album
of the same name. The new version recorded for her latest album 20 which
celebrates her 20 years in the business where she gets to re-do 20 of her favourite
songs and a live version on of that 2005 Cambridge Folk Festival appearance on
the ‘Cool as folk’ compilation album which has 36 live performances from
different artists at Cambridge over the years.
I find the dedication in the ‘Underneath the Stars’ album cover
to be very poignant. It says’ Especially
to John. May we lay underneath the stars for many years to come’. This
dedication is to John McCusker her husband, producer and band member at the
time. Sadly they are now divorced but Kate is now happily married to Damien O’Kane
another musician who now plays in her band and on the new album. John McCusker is married to Heidi Talbot
another of my singing angels. It all works out happily in the end.
New York,
New York
written and performed by Ryan Adams
Well, I shuffled through the city on the 4th of July I had a firecracker waiting to blow. Breakin' like a rocket who makin' its way to the cities of Mexico. Lived in an apartment out on Avenue-A. I had a tar-hut on the corner of 10th. Had myself a lover who was finer than gold. But I've broken up and busted up since And love don't play any games with me anymore like she did before
The world won't wait, so I better shake
That thing right out there through the door
Hell, I still love you, New York
I was always going to have a Ryan Adams song for my second
blog but the song changed late last night when I realised that today is the 11th
September. 12 years on from the 9/11 terror attacks. In remembrance to the
victims of those attacks I changed the song to ‘New York, New York’.
‘New York,
New York’ was the first single
from the Gold album which came out in late September 2001. The video was filmed
4 days before the attacks and features prominently the skyline of New York including the
twin towers. The video is dedicated at the end to the victims of the attacks
and those that tried to save them. Profits from the video were donated to a
September 11 charity.
Ryan Adams is one of my all time favourite artists and Gold in
my opinion is his best album and would still get in my top five best albums
ever. I have the extended addition with an extra disk.
Ryan intended for the album to be a double album but his
record label, Lost Highway
condensed the album into a single disc. According to Ryan:
"the label took the last
five songs, made it a bonus disc and put it on the first hundred and fifty
thousand copies. F**king my fans over and making them pay extra for a record I
wanted to be a double album. They counted that as one record’
This bonus disc is known as Side Four; the disc's
title reflects the fact that the bonus material makes up the fourth side of the
double LP edition of the album.
‘New York,
New York’ was featured in my
favourite ever piece of music writing. Music (The Revelator) was the last page
Screen Door article in the November/December 2001 edition of No Depression the
much missed US
music magazine. Written by 'Silas House' it talks about the 9/11 attacks and how
music can be your balm.Below is the
line talking about ‘New York,
New York?’
‘I listened to
everything. I found myself tapping my foot along to Ryan Adams singing “New York New York”.
One line in there filled me up with that stubborn American pride again: “Hell,
I still love you New York.’
It is the last paragraph of the article that I think sums up my love of
music:
'In fact, all of these
songs seemed to say things they hadn’t before. They seemed to be saying all the
right things. Music can do that. It can shape itself to the situation; can speak
to the listener in their time of need. It can make you want to get up and dance
or break down crying or join along to sing for joy. And in doing all of those
things, it made me feel better. Just like in that old song “The Balm Of
Gilead”, music was the balm to heal my soul. Music did its job. What a power
that is. What an awesome power, right there in our record collections'.
I have a framed copy of that article on my desk as I type
this. If you want to read the full article click here:
I am sure I will return to this article over the coming
weeks as I will Ryan Adams. I may even tell you the story of how bad he was
when I saw him live for the only time!
Finally the cast list shows our friend ‘Ethan Johns’ again.
He produced the album as well as playing multiple instruments. Stephen Stills son Chris is on bass guitar.
Hope you read the full ‘Silas House’ article and watch the
video of the song it really is moving to think that four days later two of
those buildings had gone. I dedicate today’s blog to the memory of all those
lost in the attacks on 9/11.
Cast
Ryan Adams –
vocal, acoustic guitar
Richard Causon –
piano
Chris Stills –
bass guitar
Kamasi Washington –
saxophone
Ethan Johns –
electric guitar, Hammond B-3, congas, drums
Use the Mobile Browser link if the video link is not shown.
The idea for this music type blog came from a book I read
several years ago called 31 Songs by Nick Hornby. In 31 Songs he writes about,
funnily enough 31 songs that he loves or once loved, all of them significant to
him.
I don’t intend to stop at 31 songs. I just want to keep on going;
after all I currently have 12,780 songs on my iPod. I don’t love all of them
and some get very little airplay unless I am on shuffle. I just want to be able
to choose a song tell you all a little bit about it and hopefully provide a
link so that you can listen to it yourself. Some of these songs you may know,
others will be new to you. You may find yourself liking songs and artists you
have never heard of.
I may post a song a day for a couple of weeks or only one a
week. At this stage I don’t know. It will cross many music genres but please
give each song a chance.
Where do I start, well that was difficult? In the end I went
for a song that I think is one of the best opening songs ever and deserves to
be the first song in my ‘Never Ending Songs’ blog.
Song no. 1 - Real Fine Love – written and performed by John Hiatt
from the album ‘Stolen Moments’
Well I never went to college babe,
I did not have the luck,
Stole out of Indiana
in the back of a
Pickup truck.
With no education higher
Than the streets of my hometown
I went looking for a fire
Just to burn it all down.
I have never seen John Hiatt in concert but if I ever do I
will be really disappointed if he does not roll on stage and hit this song from
the get go. I can’t think of a better opening song.I have never been to Indiana or ridden in the back of a pick up truck
but I can feel this character wanting to get out of town and set fire to the
world.
This track comes from ‘Stolen Moment’s’ probably his best album.
I first heard this at a friend’s house. ‘Dave’
you know who you are and fell in love with it. Several John Hiatt albums later and
it still get’s played regularly and is still available for only £4.00, used from
Amazon. Produced by the great ‘Glyn Johns’
(look him up if you don’t know who he is), this track also has his son Ethan playing
drums and guitars.
Well that is the first song done and dusted. I hope you take
a listen and let me have your comments. I will wherever possible also give you
the ‘cast’ list from the song. As the songs progress I am sure you will see the
same names appear regularly.
For example from the cast below Ethan Johns will appear again
as he produced and played on several Ryan Adams albums and believe me Ryan
Adams will appear here very soon.Pat
Donaldson played with Nanci Griffith and Richard Thompson. Michael Henderson is
a ‘Dead Reckoner’ one of my favourite record labels and you will hear from him again.
Ashley Cleveland appeared with ‘Transatlantic Sessions’ recently and you will
see tracks from their many albums here as well. The whole business is incestuous
especially in the Folk and Country genres.Enjoy and see you all again soon.