Lucy Mae Blues - Frankie Lee Sims

Lucy Mae Blues - Frankie Lee Sims

2:27

single, 1953

Written by Frankie Lee Sims and Ishman Bracey

Sims was Lightnin' Hopkins' cousin, and only issued nine singles during his career.  The songwriting credit on this one goes to Sims and Ishman Bracey, who wrote the very similar "Saturday Blues" in 1928.  It's a slinky electric blues, in which the narrator has a lady for every day of the week, but "Better not let my, good gal catch you here / Ain't no tellin' what poor little Lucy Mae do."  Sims sings the lyrocs in a mush-mouth growl as his guitar does all the heavy lifting.  I like the line "She left one Christmas coming back that afternoon / Next time I see her, boy, it was the nineteenth of June."

Mother-In-Law Blues - Junior Parker

Mother-In-Law Blues - Junior Parker

2:35

single, 1956

Written by Don Robey

This is a straightforward, midtempo Mississippi blues about losing your baby.  Despite the title, the lady in question doesn't seem to be the source of the narrator's leaving; she seems to have made up her mind on her own.  "I could hear her tell her mother, 'That's one no good man!' / Well, I watched my baby leave, her mother had her by the hand."  Parker himself provides a strong harmonica break that adds to his plaintive voice in bewailing his loss.

Bad Luck Blues - Guitar Slim

Bad Luck Blues - Guitar Slim

2:54

single, 1954

Written by Guitar Slim?

Guitar Slim died at age 32 of pneumonia, which is a musical tragedy, because he could have been a legend.  He experimented with guitar distortion and when playing live, showed off such musical tricks and playing while perched on the shoulders of his assistant, with his guitar behind his back, or (as Hendrix would a decade later) plucking the strings with his teeth.  This is a slow electric Mississippi blues.  Slim bellows the lyrics with the gravitas that only those who shared his rough upbringing can muster.  Lyrically, it's standard blues phraseology: "My woman, she have quit me, baby / And all my womens have put me down / Yes, I’ve got no money in my pocket, baby / And my friends don't come around."

Stolen Blues - American Princes

Stolen Blues - American Princes

2:31

Less And Less, 2006

Written by American Princes?

This is a quiet/loud indie rocker that, in its full-throated, frantic explosion of angsty despair, reminds me of Les Savy Fav's "Yawn, Yawn, Yawn."  It's a message of disappointment and futility.  "They've been lying to you / They've been lying to you / Saying stay dumb and shut up, salt the old wounds / But that's just what they say / That namеless they."  It's a clever, hard-driven burner with twin guitars and passionate vocals.

The Rooster Song - Fats Domino

The Rooster Song - Fats Domino

2:08

This Is Fats, 1957

Written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew

Confusingly, this New Orleans romp has a chorus of "Ain't That a Shame," his big hit of a few years earlier.  Never let it be said that Fats Domino didn't stick with a good thing.  The lyrics here are strictly first draft nursery-rhyme: "There was an old lady from Houston / She had two hens and a rooster / Her rooster died, the old lady cried / My hens don't lay like they used to!"  Someone else is happy playing in his corn (?), and some other lady has some stew.  I guess.... that's also a shame?

Without a Song - Perry Como

Without a Song - Perry Como

3:17

single, 1951

Written by Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu

This song comes from a short-lived 1929 musical called Great Day, quickly forgotten except as the source of this tune.  Como's version is stately and expansive, a showcase for his smooth, unforced baritone. The arrangement swells around him, full orchestra rising and receding as he glides over it with an almost effortless control.  At the end, a male chorus sings the refrain, bringing the drama and passion to bombastic gradeur.  Lyrically, it's a declaration of music's necessity to heal and comfort, and indeed even as a life force: "That field of corn, would never see a plow / That field of corn, would be deserted now / A young one's born, but he's no good no how / Without a song!"  (That's the revised lyrics — the original said "a darkie's born," fortunately even in the era seen as inappropriate.)  It's not hard to understand why this is one of of Bob Dylan's favorite performances,  He called Como "the anti-Rat Pack" and this song "just downright incredible."

The Whiffenpoof Song - The Statler Brothers

The Whiffenpoof Song - The Statler Brothers

1:48

Flowers On the Wall, 1966

Written by anonymous author, c. 1909

This is the theme song of the Yale singing group the Whiffenpoofs, whose most famous alumnus is probably Cole Porter.  Bing Crosby has a well-regarded version of the song, but I prefer the Statlers' uptempo rendition, with its tinkling piano, handclap percussion, high harmonies, and the bass vocal coming in for counterpoint.  The song begins with a toast to "Mory's," referring to Mory's Temple Bar, and Louis, a former owner of Mory's, Louis Linder.  Then the song describes the singers themselves, how they will become part of an undying tradition.  "We will serenade our Louis / While life and voice shall last/ Then we'll pass and be forgotten with the rest."  Et in arcadia ego, except cheery.

Possum Song - Johnny Mercer

Possum Song - Johnny Mercer

2:58

single, 1947

Written by Terry Shand and By Dunham

A cursory search failed to unearth an answer as to whether this song was ever released by Mercer before appearing on a compilation in the modern era.  But no matter. This is a classic big band vocal, if the singer grew up as a Louisiana hillbilly.  It seems a possum is laughing at the narrator from its hiding place in the trees, but not being a fancy city-boy, the narrator plans his revenge: eating it.  "Possum on the loose / He's been stealing all of my chickens / Now I'll cook his goose / Possum knows he's in a jam / He'd go good with candied yam."

Song Of the Future - U2

Song Of the Future - U2

3:55

Days Of Ash, 2026

Written by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.

This song pays tribute to Sarina Esmailzadeh, a 16-year-old Iranian schoolgirl who was beaten to death in 2022 by authorities for participating in the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.  "Sarina Sarina / She's the song of the future / Playing in my mind."  The song imagines a better world, or least the start of one: "All the classroom prophets gone to ground / Schoolgirl says everyone knows / Love is a verb and not a noun / Or so it seems."  Nevertheless, Bono compares his lyrics to be "running [his] mouth off."  Definitely any kind of art protest seems like empty talking compared to the unimaginable bravery of these protestors' very real actions.  Jesus Christ, if I had a hammer...

Goodbye California - Jolie Holland

Goodbye California - Jolie Holland

3:28

Escondida, 2004

Written by Jolie Holland

Holland is unrelated to Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland, but is a founding member of the Be Good Tanyas.  This song is an old-timey Americana plaint.  Her sometimes quavering vocal reminds me a bit of Gillian Welch.  The song struts along at an easy shuffle, a spare but evocative arrangement, with guitar, maybe a mandolin, and what sounds like a singing saw.  The lyrics tell of someone burdened by all the ills of the world — "Now folks that know what's good for 'em / Are good at ignoring 'em / But I just can't put these thoughts down / I'm harrowed and abused and broken and pursued" — before veering off into a quasi-mystic picture of postmortem dissolution into the natural world, a Californian, less defiant, take on Frank Turner's "One Foot Before the Other."