The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show - The Band

The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show - The Band

2:59

Stage Fright, 1970

Written by Robbie Robertson

Like Neil Diamond's "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show," released a year earlier, this song is about a long gone slice of Americana, the traveling medicine show.  This one is a bit darker, more carnival than faith healer, and is based on a specific minstrel show from Levon Helm's youth in Arkansas, F. S. Wolcott's Original Rabbit's Foot Minstrels, which began around 1900 as "The Rabbit's Foot Company."  On the surface, the lyrics sketch colorful performers and carnival atmosphere ("There's a young faith healer / He's a woman stealer / He will cure by his command"), but the song can also be read as a commentary on show business itself: part celebration, part cautionary tale about spectacle and excess ("Come on out and catch this show / There'll be saints and sinners, you'll see losers and winners").  It starts with funky guitar, leading into Helm's countrified vocal with Danko's backing.  Garth Hudson's buzzy sax adds some vaudevillian swagger.

Who Needs To Dream - Bob Mould

Who Needs To Dream - Bob Mould

3:57

District Line, 2008

Written by Bob Mould

Aside from drums, Mould plays all the instruments on this song (and the whole album).  The song describes being in an unhealthy relationship, giving your heart, and having the door closed in your face.  "Hope the presentation will catch his eye / And it did, and then he saw the string / He grabbed it and leads you on your leash."  Over buzzy but unhurried guitar lines, Mould sings of feeling invisible and just wanting to make it through another day.  It's the quiet resignation of an elder statesman, not the bristling punk anger of Husker Du.  

We Get By - Mavis Staples

We Get By - Mavis Staples

3:35

We Get By, 2019

Written by Ben Harper

This is a duet with Ben Harper, who wrote this song (and all the songs on its album).  The lyrics are simple but forceful, a throwback to gospel-inspired protest songs of the 1960s.  The song proclaims a unity, a culture of support among friends and extended family.  The lines "Was just the other day, I heard from my old friend / She was going through changes once again" might refer to a friend down on her luck, but maybe also stand for America herself?  She's definitely going through changes, but sadly I'm not sure what ails her can be fixed by a community of the oppressed.

Weila Waila - The Dubliners

Weila Waila - The Dubliners

3:27

A Drop Of the Hard Stuff, 1967

traditional

Despite the jaunty fiddle and the bouncy tune, and the typical wry growl from the Ronnie Drew that makes you think everything is a joke, this is actually a murder ballad worthy of Nick Cave.  A woman who lives "down by the river seile" (the latter word possibly meaning "dirty" and later corrupted to "Sawyer" in some versions) has a three-month-old baby and one day puts a long pen knife knife in the wee bairn's head.  As with many death story-ballads of this type, no reason is given.  Some people just have that darkness in them.  She is hanged, after being arrested by, amusingly, "two policemen and a man."

Wild Wild Life - Talking Heads

Wild Wild Life - Talking Heads

3:39

True Stories, 1986

Written by David Byrne

This is an interesting song because of who wrote and performed it.  Musically, it's a sort of watered-down version of the Talking Heads' quirkiness.  I think with this song, Byrne set out to write a more pop-oriented, MTV-like version of the Heads' sound (and clearly succeeded).  Lyrically, it's pretty recondite and just absurdist fun; I'm not sure of it, but I have a vague memory of reading that Byrne thought lyrics to pop songs were not important and just a way to keep the listener paying attention to the music.  I mean, it starts off with "I'm wearing fur pajamas / I ride a hot potato."  You might argue that it sort of touches on satire of '80s fixation on financial excess ("So check out mister businessman / He bought some wild, wild life"), but it's pretty thin if so.

We're Gonna Make It - Mavis Staples

We're Gonna Make It - Mavis Staples

3:27

You Are Not Alone, 2010

Written by Gene Barge, Billy Davis, Raynard Miner & Carl William Smith, 1965

This is a cover, originally released by Little Milton on the album of the same name.  Here, Mavis duets with somebody, but I can't find out who.  It's a triumphant funky gospel number, proclaiming overcoming hard times through the power of togetherness and love.  "And if a job is hard to find / And we have to stand in the welfare line / I've got your love and you know you got mine."

August - Rilo Kiley

August - Rilo Kiley

3:18

Take Offs And Landings, 2001

Written by Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett

Beautiful indie-chamber pop, evoking a wistful longing of something.  Is August a month or a person?  "August, something in your eyes / Or was it that you lied? / Told me not to take it to heart."  It paints a picture of a lover who, like the month itself, is fleeting and unreliable. The song's narrator holds on to a sense of hope, trying to make something real out of the relationship, but August keeps making empty promises.  The gentle melodies match the lyrical mood.  The soft guitar work and Sennett's evocative vocals lend the song an air of nostalgic longing, underscoring the theme of a summer romance that burns bright but fades too quickly. 

Alley Cat - The Woolen Men

Alley Cat - The Woolen Men

2:29

single, 2020

Written by the Woolen Men

A groovy lo-fi indie beat that evokes the Strokes.  This band is from the Pacific Northwest and deserve more recognition.  Who knows why some bands make it big and others languish?  It's an injustice.  In this song, the narrator muses about a relationship that seems to be over.  The subject he addresses now lives with "an alley cat."  But what could have been?  "How'd you know how you wanna be? / Never know how you’re gonna see / All the worlds you leave behind."

Are You Serious - Andrew Bird

Are You Serious - Andrew Bird

3:38

Are You Serious, 2106

Written by Andrew Bird and Dan Wilson

The album was written after Bird got married and this song seems to be (if I were to hazard I guess; it's certainly not clear) about his moment of decision upon meeting the bride to be.  Bird's virtuosity, his great voice, and his erudite lyrics make him a favorite of mine.  I cannot resist a song that gets as playful with words as this one.  "I always was the one / You thought would never marry / Used to be so willfully obtuse, or is the word abstruse? / Semantics like a noose, get out your dictionaries."

Ain't That News - Tom Paxton

Ain't That News - Tom Paxton

1:34

Ain't That News, 1965

Written by Tom Paxton

A fast-tempo acoustic folk song, in the style Bob Dylan used to practice back in the day.  It's a protest song encouraging organization of works for unions and to ensure social safety services.  "And they woke up and here's what they found / Their voices made a mighty big sound / Till they didn't know the meaning of fear."  Unfortunately, collective action is a dirty word in America, and the corporate overlords have insured that the shallow thinkers of the rural heartland (salt of the Earth! people of the common clay!) equate it with socialism and socialism, with literal evil.  All this while they scrape and starve and serve.  We need more Tom Paxtons.

Ain't Got No Money - Justin Townes Earle

Ain't Got No Money - Justin Townes Earle

3:05

The Saint Of Lost Causes, 2019

Written by Justin Townes Earle

Like a hundred songs from pop, rock, country, and funk, this song is the voice of the downtrodden whose condition and attitude some cold hard cash would greatly ameliorate.  But where some songs, such as "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash," play it for laughs, and some like "Why Don't You Do Right" come off as teasing, there is a real desperation in Earle's delivery.  This is a man who is wrecked.  Over a vaguely "Come Together" type of primitive blues-rock whose swagger belies the lyrical content, he sings, "I've been taken in pieces, I've been sold off cheap / I've been spread out all over the Southeast."  He needs to get to New Orleans.  Women don't tempt him, either.  "I don't want your honey / I can make my own / Well now, you keep your sugar / Well I, I'm plenty sweet, Lord / Give me some money / Or just leave me alone."  It's hard not to think of Earle's heroin addiction when you hear this single-minded urgency.

Red Hot - Billy Lee Riley

Red Hot - Billy Lee Riley

2:33

single, 1957

Written by Billy Emerson, 1955

I thought this primitive rockabilly number was a Riley original, but it was written and recorded by Billy "The Kid" Emerson two years earlier.  It's a blazing Little Richard-style tongue-in-cheek brag, complete with a boogie piano and amusing exaggerated characterizations in the lyrics: "Well, I got a gal, six feet four / Sleeps in the kitchen with her feets out the door."  Of course, the chorus is all schoolyard braggadocio.  "My gal is red hot / Your gal ain't doodly-squat."  Well, now, that's just uncalled for, sir.  Your lady friend's positive qualities in no way attenuate the many fine qualities of my lady friend!

Hot And Cold - Marvin Rainwater

Hot And Cold - Marvin Rainwater
2:10
Marvin Rainwater Sings With a Heart – With a Beat, 1958
Written by Marvin Rainwater?

I've never heard of this early rock singer, who apparently wore Native dress on stage and claimed Cherokee ancestry.  With a nasal voice straight out of the most countrified of honky-tonks, he sings not the heartbreak ballad you expect but high-tempo rockabilly, calling out the lyrics like a square dancer caller on speed.  It's all about the rhythm and the rock and go go and don't stop.  "Rock and roll, rock and roll / I can't stand still, not to save my soul / Roll and rock, roll and rock / That kinda rhythm would stop the clock."

Hot To Go! - Chappell Roan

Hot To Go! - Chappell Roan

3:04

The Rise And Fall Of a Modern Princess, 2023

Written by Kayleigh Amstutz [Roan] and Daniel Nigro

As always, years late to the party, but with a 770 million streams, I had to hear it here and there, despite my main listening focus being in the 1970s singer songwriter vein.  I tend to ignore the new stuff, especially hip-hop and pop.  But hey — I'm not immune to catchy pop by strong young women.  I love "Anti-Hero" and "Beach Bunny."  This is an infectious dance-pop, queer cheerleader-inspired song describing a woman who's been alone and is ready for some action ("Well, I woke up alone staring at my ceiling / I try not to care but it hurts my feelings / You don't have to stare, come here, get with it / No one's touched me there in a damn hot minute").  The metaphor of serving herself up as some sort of sexual DoorDash is an amusing one.  Roan herself called the song "like 'YMCA' but gayer," which is nice, but there's nothing in the lyrics that even suggests she's coming on to a woman.

Hot Dog! - They Might Be Giants

Hot Dog! - They Might Be Giants

2:28

Disney's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, 2006

Written by by John Flansburgh and John Linnell

Is this a TMBG song for kids?  Yes, but so what?  I unironically love their ostensibly "for kids" album No!.  Is this song genuine Disney fare, referring to Daisy [Duck] playing coconut drums, and "so long for now from Mickey Mouse"?  Yes, but it's impossibly infectious.  I can't get enough the enthusiastic way John Flans sings "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog," and the bopping trombone, and the accordion.  It's all great.  "We're splittin' the scene / We're full of beans."

Hot Barbeque - Brother Jack McDuff

Hot Barbeque - Brother Jack McDuff

2:56

Hot Barbeque, 1966

Written by Jack McDuff

I've never heard of this jazz organist, who has faded from view in recent years, but he sure can put on a party.  This instrumental is funk- and R&B-laced jazz with plenty of '60s bop, daddy-o.  The group gets into the groove with a rollicking drum pattern that tastefully combines crisp snare and hits toms with McDuff's organ, over sly guitar glissandos. Sandwiched between the catchy theme are both enthusiastiuc, rough-and-ready shouts from the group ("Hot barbecue today!") as well as short, fiery solos from the organ, guitar, and sax.

Beep Beep - The Playmates

Beep Beep - The Playmates

2:31

At Play With the Playmates, 1958

Written by Carl Cicchetti and Donald Claps

The Playmates were a novelty vocal group originally called the Nitwits, which tells you how seriously to take them, I guess.  It's a story song à la Chuck Berry, though with less panache, bravado, or electric guitar.  Starting out slowly and building to a frenetic pace (with their voices and the sound effects sounding like the tape was sped up) by the end, it tells of an inadvertent race between the narrator's Cadillac and a Nash Rambler.  The Rambler keeps tailing the Caddy no matter how fast he drives; I expected the other guy to be tied to the Caddy at the end, but the punchline is sillier than that.

Butyric Acid - Consolidated

Butyric Acid - Consolidated

3:52

Business Of Punishment, 1994

Written by Adam Sherburne, Mark Pistel, and Philip Steir

A anti-"pro-life" screed.  I wish this wasn't so relevant thirty years later but it still is.  Who know the vegetarian anarcho-punk industrialists would be so prescient?  Hits like a cement mixer, with powerhouse socialist street preacher vocals.  "Marching with your cross / And your dead fetus picture."  We need matching shock and awe from the left.  The problem with so-called "pro-life" hypocrites is how little they care for the living.  "If you want to see / Women stop termination / Give her a future and a real education."  But, but old white men's rights!

Blow Wind Blow - Muddy Waters

Blow Wind Blow - Muddy Waters

3:12

single, 1953

Written by Muddy Waters

A tight showcase of classic Chicago blues at its most classic. The song takes the Delta roots Waters came from, with its straightforward, weather-worn lyrics and a loping groove, and adds electric guitar, pounding piano, and bending, gusty harmonica lines that act as an urgent, answering vocal to Waters' bellow.  The rhythm section is steady but driving, keeping everything anchored so Muddy’s voice can ride the storm. His vocal is raw but commanding, equal parts lament and resilience: "Well, don't your house look so lonesome? / When your baby packed up to leave."  By the way, this song is probably where Dylan lifted "Don't the sun look lonesome?" line in "It Takes a Train To Cry" — although it also appears in a traditional song called "Roll On, John" (not the Tempest song).

Beautiful Texas Sunshine - Doug Sahm

Beautiful Texas Sunshine - Doug Sahm

3:22

The Return Of Wayne Douglas, 2000

Written by Doug Sahm

This song comes from Sahm’s final album, released posthumously. Built on a laid-back country groove, rich with steel guitar and a relaxed rhythm, it sounds at first like pure contentment. The narrator seems settled, reveling in the comforts of home: "If you will feed the dogs / And honey bring me another beer / Come over here and sit by me / And tell me baby how you feel." It paints a picture of domestic peace, basking in the warmth of a bright Texas day.  But then comes a jarring tonal shift. Out of nowhere, Mexico calls, and the restlessness that defined Sahm's musical life takes over. His partner's tears don't sway him; he states he should have left long ago. He's "a moving man," bound to drift wherever the winds pull him. The parting words "I’ll be back by and by" carry a bittersweet resonance, a quiet but devastating goodbye.

Buck - Nina Simone

Buck - Nina Simone

1:51

Nina Simone Sings The Blues, 1967

Written by Andy Stroud

Not so much a love song as a sultry lust song.  The titular Buck is a man's man.  "Just take a look / At your great big hands / You know you can crush / Poor me in two."  Nina is frank about the physical nature of their relationship.  "I like to wash you / And kiss you when you're wet."  Goodness!  The track rides on a spare, bluesy groove of clanking rhythm section piano.  Simone leans into the vocal, clipped and sly, with an earthy mix of mischief and grit.  Her delivery is loose and swinging, playful and teasing.

Cheesecake - Louis Armstrong

Cheesecake - Louis Armstrong

2:29

Louis, 1966

Written by Louis Armstrong and Irving Fields

This novelty song has similar vibes (though nothing in the melody) to Cab Calloway's "Keep That Coffee Hot."  It's got, in addition to Armstrong's wonderful trumpet, clarinet, piano, and banjo, giving it a bouncy down-home feel.  Armstrong sings and scats with abandon; it's probable that he meant this title as a sort of winking joke, "cheesecake" being a term for risqué depictions of the female body.  Gobble gobble!

City Lights - Hall Johnson

City Lights - Hall Johnson

2:45

single, 2017

Written by Hall Johnson?

Poorly-named five-piece band (a Google search for them reveals the 20th century African-American composer to the exclusion of the modern act) from Austin claim they got their name from hypothetical Farmer Hall and Farmer Johnson, whoever they are.  Anyhoo, this melancholy indie ballad is about a lost love that the narrator can't quite let go.  "Maybe we should just come together / Maybe I should let me love you / You were my girl, at least you were / Until I broke your heart."  The vibe is mopey, and the vocals come with echo, but the tempo is bright and brisk.

Calls To Tiree - Hamish Hawk

Calls To Tiree - Hamish Hawk

3:12

Heavy Elevator, 2021

Written by Hamish Hawk.

I just love Ham, as we Hawkheads call him. (I made that name up.)  The first and only other time I featured on of his songs on this blog, I just squealed fanboyish encomiums and made references and had no content about the song itself.  Why change now?  Hawk is like Neil Hannon if he were more literate, Nick Cave if he could sing ten times better, Bing Crosby raised on orchestral pop and "King Lear."  Oh, all right. This song seems to be about a broken heart.  "Can it last? I think not / Tezcatlipoca gets himself around a lot."  I think if you were to make a word cloud of Hawk's lyrics, it would be almost utterly distinct from the average pop-rock word cloud.

Chased the Setting Sun - The Old 97's

Chased the Setting Sun - The Old 97's

2:42

American Primitive, 2024

Written by Ken Bethea, Murry Hammond, Rhett Miller, and Philip Peeples

A tale of loving and leaving with Hammond on the vocals, with his cowboy twang, and train whistle croon on the held notes, adding a much appreciated jolt of country to the Old 97's, their Americana alt-country now diluted by Miller's usual, albeit terrific, pop-rock sound.  Murry boasts, or maybe laments, his tendency to leave a woman angry and spreading lies about him ("She's howling 'bout my cruelty / For any who will hear."  But he remains unmoved: "We'll ride about and care aloud some glad and gilded song / About a red dirt river road with thrills to tag along."

Corre Riba, Corre Baxo - Abel Lima e Les Sofas

Corre Riba, Corre Baxo - Abel Lima e Les Sofas

3:08

Nos Bida, 1977

Written by Abel Lima, Americo Brito, and Nouhoun Coulibaly

This song ("Run Up, Run Down") is the kind of track that evokes dancing on the beach while holding aloft a sloshing, fruity drink.  Lima is Cape Verdean, but here he leans hard into a sound that's part Caribbean street party, part sweaty African funk jam, with just enough island seasoning to keep it unmistakably from home.  Legend has it, I read, that this fusion style was born when a crate of synthesizers washed up on a Cape Verde beach. The song's built on a swaggering, walking bass line, while the guitar slips in sunny little licks that flirt with Latin riffs. Hip-swaying bongos keep the Latin rhythm going. And then there's Lima belting, shouting, grinning through the verses, backed by a ragtag choir of voices that sound like they're all halfway through a street parade.  An irresistible party of a song.

Can't Stay Long - Scott H. Biram

Can't Stay Long - Scott H. Biram 

3:18

Fever Dreams, 2020

Written by Scott Biram?

This is an intriguing blend of roots country, rockabilly, and garage rock sensibility.  Like a Johnny Cash song reinvented by R.L. Burnside.  Biram's trucker country accent brings authentic grit to the world-weary road song.  "I'm so tired of this ol' highway / Grinding gears done left me sideways / I been drunk in a motel room / Down on the floor just crying the blues."  It's got a runaway train beat and fuzzy guitars and a toe-tapping tempo; what more do you need?

Castle Rock - Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra

Castle Rock - Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra

2:49

Castle Rock, 1955

Written by Al Sears

Hodges was in Duke Ellington's band before he became a solo artist. This jazz number features dueling saxes — Hodges' alto and Al Sears' tenor — with interplay from trombone and trumpet.  It's light and buoyant, a cool, sophisticated swing instrumental, with '50s cool slides and bends from the sax.  A toe-tapping, swaying melody with nothing flashy or forced.

Country Honk - the Rolling Stones

Country Honk - the Rolling Stones

3:07

Let It Bleed, 1969

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

Fun fact: this is the original version of "Honky Tonk Women," the much more successful single.  This one features some steel guitar work and a fiddle, and Jagger sings in an affected country twang.  Ry Cooder claimed that he showed Richards a country riff he was working on, and a few days later the Glimmer Twins came out with this song, admittedly an outlier in their usual blues-rock repertoire.  Some people believe it, most Stones fans don't.  While it's a fun singalong, the whole thing comes off to me as a bit of a joke, and I can see why the later rock version is more popular.

Chilly Winds - Odetta

Chilly Winds - Odetta

2:41

Odetta Sings Ballads And Blues [2005 bonus tracks], 1956

traditional

Starting with some beautiful guitar lines, Odetta sings this folk ballad in a powerful contralto.  I'm reminded of Dylan's "Worried blues," which lifts the line "I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow," and also of "Kingsport Town," with its references to wind and rhetorical wondering who will take care of the girl when he's gone.  Anyhoo, Odetta brings strength and majesty to what is ultimately a rather slight folk blues about leaving for a warmer clime.  In the context of the civil rights movement its lyric hints at better times that may be coming.

Colorado - Manassas

Colorado - Manassas

2:52

Manassas, 1972

Written by Stephen Stills

What about that credit?  This song (and album) is credited to Manassas, the group, on Wikipedia, and it's true Stills and Co. did release another album under that name. Spotify and probably some other people seem to consider this a Stills album, but I'd rather be correct than go with the crowd.  So, the band is Manassas, a Stephen Still side project.  This song is country-folk-bluegrass in the vein of Gram Parsons, with CSNY-style harmonies.  The narrator is a proud mountain man, living alone and loving the mountains and the wind in the pines.  He may want a woman to share his life, or he may not.  That's up to her, he reckons. "Come a woman who wants to be near / Me and my mountains, we'll be right here."