Jug Band Music - Lucinda Williams

Jug Band Music - Lucinda Williams

2:27

Ramblin' On My Mind, 1979

Written by Will Shade, c. 1927-1930?

I thought that this song, from Williams' debut album, might be a cover of the sublime Lovin' Spoonful song of the same name, but it's not.  It is, however, a cover.  I could not find any solid information about the original, but it seems clear that it was performed by the Memphis Jug Band, a band that performed from the late 1920s to the 1950s.  Like the Spoonful song, it's a celebration of the music itself, a tribute to the communal, homemade joy of jug-band sound.  "Well, I went to my man, put my hand on his knee / Said, 'If you can't play the jug, you can't play with me.'"  Williams' voice here is younger, rounder, and less weathered than the drawl we'd come to know later; her strummed 12-string and the easy shuffle of the arrangement make it feel like a front-porch party recorded in one take, an affectionate nod to a vanished era that suits her perfectly.

Juke Joint Johnny - Lattie Moore

Juke Joint Johnny - Lattie Moore
2:04
single, 1952
Written by Lattie Moore

This song is an early rockabilly, leaning heavily on the honky honk hillbilly side — it's a lot more Lefty Frizzell than Eddie Cochran.  It's where Hank Williams and Jerry Lee Lewis meet, all bending guitar lines and metronome percussion.  In the song, the narrator boasts about dancing and playing and juking and scoring (with the ladies).  Despite the title, Moore doesn't say "juke joint" except in the chorus; he says "juke box" throughout.  "Cause I'm a juke box Johnny, yeah now watch me go / Well I'm a juke box Johnny and baby you're steppin' too slow."

Johnny Todd - Bob Dylan & the Band

Johnny Todd - Bob Dylan & the Band

2:05

The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete, 2014 (recorded 1967)

traditional

This is a 19th century morality tale about a sailor who goes off to sea only to find that his love has married another fast-talking sailor who promises her "golden blankets" and a wedding ring.  "All you men who go a-sailing / For to fight the foreign foe / Don't leave your love like Johnny / Marry her before you go."  Over a drunken carnival piano line, Dylan sings it with a wink, playing the story straight but not exactly with reverence. 

Jack Rabbit - Elton John

Jack Rabbit - Elton John

1:53

single, 1973

Written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin

This song, a brisk country rocker, was released as the B-side to "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting."  The song apostrophizes the titular rabbit, who is racing around enjoying himself, while danger looms at every corner.  "Go jack-rabbit running through the woods / You had a good night and you feel real loose / Gunfire breaking up the peaceful night / Jack-rabbit lying in the cold daylight."  The tone is deceptively light, but carpe diem and memento mori, everybody; Taupin’s rustic imagery and Elton’s galloping piano make it feel like a fable in which carefree sport turns to tragedy.  Et in Arcadio ego and all that. 

A Jackknife To a Swan - Mighty Mighty Bosstones

A Jackknife To a Swan - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
2:48
A Jackknife To a Swan, 2002
Written by Dicky Barrett, Tim Burton, Joe Gittleman

More rock than ska at this point in their career, the Bosstones here serve up a grim tale of urban violence, in which a woman is burned to death and a man, fleeing some predatory group of men, apparently runs into the path of a train.  The title evokes two types of diving, but the story makes the image more literal and visceral, as a harmless life is brutalized.  Apparently the events in the song are based on a real life incident in Boston, which (if true) makes me wonder why Barrett doesn't sound angrier.

San Francisco Bay Blues - Richie Havens

San Francisco Bay Blues - Richie Havens

2:30

Mixed Bag, 1966

Written by Jesse Fuller, 1954

It is my opinion that nobody, save Bob Dylan perhaps, takes on a song like Richie Havens.  His takes on "Ol' 55" and "Here Comes the Sun," among others, ought to be up there with the definitive takes.  This song I know from the live version Eric Clapton released on his Unplugged album.  This version, from Havens' debut album, is (in comparison to Clapton's sprightly take) a low, slow lament, better fitting the song: "She said goodbye, and she made me cry / I want to lay down and die."

Six More Miles (To the Graveyard) - Hank Williams

Six More Miles (To the Graveyard) - Hank Williams
2:47
single, 1948
Written by Hank Williams

The narrator of this cowboy lament is on his way to meet the train that carries his dead love.  "Oh I hear that train a comin' / Bringin' my darling back home / Six more miles to the graveyard / Never on this earth no more to roam."  There's a pure honky-tonk sound here, the guitars slapping like percussion and Williams lingering over the syllables like a yodeler — and yet it also perfectly captures an eerie, hushed feeling of gloom.  Somehow Williams could do it all.

Suzie Chapstick - Green Day

Suzie Chapstick - Green Day

3:16

Saviors, 2024

Written by Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool

As the lads in Green Day age, their sharp edges grow softer.  This song could be from Weezer or Fountains of Wayne, or even a late 1960s love song (without the Instagram mention).  It's a brooding, gentle pop number, bemoaning a lost love.  "Will you dedicate a song to me? / Do you want me to just go away / I just want to be your nobody / Is there any chance that I can stay?"  It's a perfectly pleasant pop-rock song, but for those of us who discovered Green Day through Kerplunk in the early 1990s, it's hard not to wonder what those snotty, angsty lads would think of this glossy sweetness. 

Sweet Wanomi - Bill Withers

Sweet Wanomi - Bill Withers

2:32

Just As I Am, 1971

Written by Bill Withers

This is a gentle folk-soul ballad of devotion that paints a picture of domestic happiness in an unhurried baritone ("In a room with soft satin pillows / Cracklin' fireplace keeps us warm").  There's none of the grandiose praise or feverish infatuation found in so many soul or rock love songs, just a depiction of serene, quotidian moments between two people enjoying each other's presence.  "In a soft light, her eyes are gleaming / Pretty little hand covers up her mouth when she yawns."  It's hard to believe that this mature, restrained song came from a young man on his debut album, just as it's hard to believe that later he would walk away from it all when he had so much talent.

Still Standing - Michael Franti & Spearhead

Still Standing - Michael Franti & Spearhead

3:46

Soulrocker, 2016

Written by Michael Franti

Ever since Franti settled into his post-political message of peace, love, and good vibes through proud, individualistic strength (a transformation that was certainly earned, not calculated), he hasn't deviated much.  It's easy to dismiss, perhaps, his insistence on remaining optimistic amid struggle and suffering, but his sincerity can't be doubted.  Much of his material is hard-hitting and passionate, but here Franti seems a bit tired.  The production is flat, the vocals are desultory, and there's nothing of the agitpop fury of the Disposable Heroes days.  I don't think it's a bad song, but it's just a little too comfortable, and I expected more.