Swampland - J Shogren Shanghai'd

Swampland - J Shogren Shanghai'd

3:47

Why So Blue, Bird?, 2016

Written by J Shogren Shanghai'd

J Shogren Shanghai'd, quondam merely J Shogren, is the brainchild of Jason Shogren, who is actually a Nobel Prize-winning economist in another life.  This genre-mixing Americana song, a fusion of rock, blues, and old timey folk, is inspired by Shogren's grandfather going off to WWI.  The narrator of the song gets married to his sweetheart the day before he must go: "Elizabeth, today we wed and tomorrow we must part / Mr. Wilson’s vindicated war needs a swampland Bonaparte."  It's a haunting, note-bending, powerful hymn of a song, closing on a universal sentiment: "Love can be so kind / To an unremarkable life / Like mine."

Saddle Up the Palomino - Neil Young

Saddle Up the Palomino - Neil Young

3:01

American Stars 'N Bars, 1977

Written by Neil Young, Tim Drummond, and Bobby Charles

This country-tinged rocker is another of Young's apparent goofs.  It centers around a guy lusting after various women, notably other men's wives, but the lyrics are impressionistic and tossed-off: "I want to lick the platter, the gravy doesn't matter / It's a cold bowl of chili when love lets you down / But it's the neighbor's wife I'm after."  At the time of the recording, Young had split up with his first wife, and was about to marry Pegi Morton in one of the rock world's apparent storybook marriages, until he would divorce her 36 years later and take up with Darryl Hannah.  Linda Ronstadt and Nicholette Larsen (with whom Young also reportedly got romantic) provide backing vocals.

Soul City - Southern Culture on the Skids

Soul City - Southern Culture on the Skids

2:36

Dirt Track Date, 1995

Written by Rick Miller

This is country surf rock with a twang and a "if we think it’s fun we'll do it" attitude.  These guys are the musical grandsons of Jimmy Buffett, raised on punk and country. They blend solid musicianship with knowing winks and goofiness, the vocals half-shouted with plenty of distortion, as if through a bullhorn.  It's funky, catchy, and funny, and evokes a delightedly, defiantly proletarian party vibe.  "It don’t matter if your pants are shiny / If your dick is big or your dick is tiny.” Come on, who wouldn’t love that?  Well, some people, but this isn't for them.

Clobbered - Eels

Clobbered - Eels

3:22

Cookie Happened, 2026

Written by Mark Oliver Everett

Although I adored their debut and the next couple of albums, I stopped paying attention to Eels around 2001's Souljacker.  This song sounds like a return to their earlier glum, deadpan energy, although the jangly, '60s-inspired pop arrangement is considerably sunnier than the lyrics.  Everett's raspy half-spoken delivery describes a renaissance of sorts.  The narrator here has suffered a setback; ten years of hard times have gone by.  But the chorus indicates a renewed sense of purpose: "Make way, I'm on a tear / Got clobbered and laid bare / There's nothing left to lose / I'm coming through."  He's been knocked flat, but apparently he's decided that's as good a place as any to start again.  I'm cheered to find that Eels are still doing something worth listening to after a (gasp) quarter century.

True Blue - Frankie Miller

True Blue - Frankie Miller

2:20

single, 1959

Written by Frankie Miller

This twangy country tune is written from the point of view of a guy looking for a good time.  He hits the honky-tonks, loves to dance and drink and love the ladies, and he has no intention of marrying.  "'Cause I was born in a cave, I was raised in a den / My chief occupation′s taking women from the men / I'm a true blue papa, gonna have a ball tonight."  I love the sly line "I want to love 'em all, kind of spread me around."  Miller's nasal vocal and the bass and guitar combo give this song a little bounce.  Leon Chappel recorded a song called "True Blue Papa" around 1950, but I don't know that song, and can't say if Miller's song is a response, a rip-off, or just a coincidence.  

Election Year Rag - Steve Goodman

Election Year Rag - Steve Goodman

2:02

single, 1979

Written by Steve Goodman

This song was commissioned by NPR.  It's a bouncy folk number that brings to mind the social observation of Loudon Wainwright, although the lyric here is fairly toothless, relying mostly on the those-wacky-politicians-whatcha-gonna do variety of commentary: "If you feel like you need a score card / Well, you really don't have to fuss / You know the winner's always somebody else / And the loser is always us."  From the perspective of 46 years later, it seems quaint, like DJ 3000 in the Simpsons.  "Those clowns in Congress did it again.  What a bunch of clowns!"

Rum and Coca-Cola - The Andrews Sisters

Rum and Coca-Cola - The Andrews Sisters

3:11

single, 1944
Crredited to Jeri Sullivan, Paul Baron and Morey Asterdam; written by Lionel Belasco and Lord Invader

The writing credit here has gotten nearly as much attention as the song itself. The melody was published by Venezuelan calypso composer Lionel Belasco, based on an earlier song titled "L'Année Passée".  The lyrics were written by Lord Invader, a Trinidadian musician born Rupert Grant.  Morey Amsterdam heard it when visiting the island, and thought he would claim it as his own, stripping away much of its social commentary in the process.  The original version blames American GIs for debauching the locals and breaking up families.  The writing credit was hardly the only controversy the song courted. Amsterdam's lyric did include some fairly racy passages for the time, written in the faux-pidgin placed in the mouths of the very white Andrews sisters: "From Chacachacare to Mono's Isle / Native girls all dance and smile / Help soldier celebrate his leave."  The Andrews recorded it in ten minutes, and had a big hit, despite the lyrics and the mention of both alcohol and a well-known brand, which made the song unsuitable for airplay on some radio stations.

Radar Gun - The Bottle Rockets

Radar Gun - The Bottle Rockets

3:16

The Brooklyn Side, 1994

Written by Brian Henneman

This roots rocker, built around a steady, pounding beat and a repeated, primitive guitar riff, is written from the point of view of a small-town police officer eager to hand out tickets.  The opening salvo of the lyrics tells us right off that the lines are delivered with irony, if not contempt: "Straight from twelfth grade into junior college / Buddy, buddy, buddy, I passed my exam / They're making me a law enforcement person / Got me a gun and a badge, I'm a man."  The town's sheriff and mayor are delighted that the "new pulse gun" is going to pay for things like stoplights, especially if the town is a speed trap ("50 down to 30, man oh man").  Fun fact: Rush Limbaugh used the riff on his execrable radio show, demonstrating once again that irony is lost on the conservative.  Was he aware that a Rockets song on the this same album, "Welfare Music," described him as an "angry fat man on the radio"?  Probably not.

Ghost Town - The Specials

Ghost Town - The Specials

3:39

single, 1981

Written by Jeffrey Dammers

Beginning with rising organ crescendos, followed by a middle Eastern sounding melody punctuated by horns, with a spooky Boris Pickett-like vocal, this ska song uses sound effects and ghost imagery to evoke the devastation of economic downturn and urban violence.  "All the clubs have been closed down / This place, is coming like a ghost town / Bands won't play no more / Too much fighting on the dance floor."  The last song recorded by the band's original lineup, it reflects not only the bitterness at recession and urban decay but also the internal conflicts that were tearing the group apart.

Can You Hear Me Now - Public Enemy

Can You Hear Me Now - Public Enemy

3:58
How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???, 2007

Written by Chuck D, Redman, and Gary G-Wiz

Through the early Oughts, PE continued to rock harder, to remain uncompromising and critical of their peers' submission to the Man's commercial-industrial complex, and to keep on preaching. They were still making music that didn't sound particularly interested in keeping up with the times, yet the beats didn't get dated and Chuck's voice never lost its power.  Sorry, but I feel I must quote in toto this peak street poetry-cum-statement of purpose: "Damn if I be some slave again / Got no fake-ass friends and no Timbs or rims / Sure 'nuff, got no designer names / And I never played no video games / I ain't got no diamond rings / No bling, and no minks and no two earrings / And no pimp glasses mugs or cups and things / Or whatever the hell they all be carryin'."  It's a rejection of conspicuous consumption, peer pressure, and pretty much everything that passes for success in the world they're railing against. Twenty years later, the sentiment hasn't exactly lost its relevance.