Politics - Hank Penny

Politics - Hank Penny

2:57

single, 1947

Written by Phil Rickie

This is a rapid-fire talking blues with a pattern akin to "A Boy Named Sue," except with a sung chorus: "Politics oh politics / You've gotta know just how to vote."  Penny advises that for expediency's sake one should change one's vote to please the boss, an idea probably rejected by most progressive individualists.  But here's some timeless analysis too: "It ain't what you do, it's who you know / It's the same old thing wherever you go / If you've got connections then you're all right."  Then he pivots and goes into a riff about how if you have no money, your wife will leave you.  I feel like he went a bit off-script there, into something personal, or maybe just a little hilarious general misogyny.  So, not really the incisive skewering of the political landscape of 1947 America I was hoping for,

Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White

Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White

3:43

Black And White, 1969

Written by Tony Joe White

This song is about the titular girl who lives down in Louisiana, collecting polk, or poke weed in a tote sack for a meager supper for her family.  Her mama ("a wretched, spiteful, straight-razor-totin' woman") was working on a chain gang, and her dad was lazy and no-count ("he claimed he had a bad back").  The song describes a very real life of poverty; White said in an interview, "My folks raised cotton and corn. There were lotsa times when there weren't too much to eat, and I ain't ashamed to admit that we've often whipped up a mess of poke sallet."  Despite the very real poverty, the song is leavened by some dark humor "gators got her Granny — chomp chomp chomp")  The song's intro is spoken, while the verses are sung, and lively horns punctuate the choruses.  It's a starnge but groovy hybrid of humorous novelty and true-to-life, blue-eyed-soul social justice song.

Party Lights - Claudine Clark

Party Lights - Claudine Clark

2:23

Party Lights, 1962

Written by Claudine Clark

This song is sung from the point of view of a teenage girl who sees the beautiful party lights (red and blue and green) across the street, but her mother won't let her "make the scene."  Clark lists all the dance crazes of the era: they're doing the fish, the twist, the Watusi, the bop, and the mashed potato — and she's missing out.  She sees the pary goers filing in: "I see Tommy and Joe, uh-oh, and Betty and Sue / Whoa-oh, uh-oh, there goes my boyfriend too."  It's not clear whether he's with some other girl and this will cause drama; the tone of the song is simple yearning for fun, with Clark's girlish voice occasionally reaching a pleading growl over a marching-band drum line and party chatter.

Party Like You - Cadillac Three

Party Like You - Cadillac Three

3:05

Bury Me in My Boots, 2016

Written by Jeren Johnston, Jon Nite, and Jimmy Robbins

This is a fast-paced Southern country rocker, clearly influenced by the fusion stylings of the loathsome Kid Rock, a little slang taken from the hiphop community ("cut off blues like damn you know it").  The song is about a hard-drinking good old boy who finds a real hottie in a bar.  Is there a twist, or even a meet-cute resolution, like in Cory Branan's terrific "Prettiest Waitress in Memphis"?  No.  Simple minds, simple pleasures.  "Little bit of drink, little wink wink / Tell me what you think / I've been lookin' for a party like you / You get dancing, hearts get stolen / Love the way the night is goin'."  Still, the whiskey-soaked hick-rock-rap is a good time. 

Psycho - Eddie Noack

Psycho - Eddie Noack

3:36

single, 1968

Written by Leon Payne

This eerie song, with its taboo subject for the time and its spooky deadpan delivery, is a confession to the narrator's mama: "Don't you think I'm psycho, Mama? / You can pour me a cup / If you think I'm psycho, mama / Better let 'em lock me up."  The narrator relates how he killed and buried his ex and her new man, as well as a little girl in the park with a wrench.  It's the conversational tone that really gives the song its chilling effect.  At the beginning of the song, he warns that he might handle the puppy too roughly if she hands it to him, and in a later verse, casually mentions he just killed it.  Near the end, as his confession winds down, it's apparent that the mama he's talking to is also dead.  It's wild that this 60 year old, calm portrait of homicidal insanity is so much more vivid and disturbing than all the glossy, affected "shout at the devil" shock rock that would come later.

Royals Style Punk - Puddles Pity Party

Royals Style Punk - Puddles Pity Party 
3:06

single, 2020

Written by Lorde and Joel Little, 2013

It's Cover Time! 

Backed by a fairly basic rock band, Puddles tears through "Royals" in what is very much not a punk style (except maybe the exuberant drums), but certainly as an uptempo bar rocker. Puddles' mellifluous, operatic voice is of course one of the most expressive instruments in music today, but here he rushes, and doesn't give himself a chance to really belt.  He also has released versions of this song straight, and in a reggae version, but this one scratches an itch I have for faster songs, and it's a testament to how brilliant the original is that all his versions work.

Lola - The Raincoats

Lola - The Raincoats

4:04

The Raincoats, 1979

Written by Ray Davies, 1970

It's Cover Time! 

This is a faithful, yet ragged and off-kilter take with quiet, reedy vocals that packs a lot of charm.  The Raincoats bring their fierce folk-punk sensibility to the song, with female harmonies, offbeat drumming fills, and lyrics that become gender-flipped twice over by virtue of being sung by a woman.  The result is a familiar song that suddenly feels stranger, funnier, and a touch more subversive.

You Shook Me All Night Long - Big & Rich

You Shook Me All Night Long - Big & Rich

2:43

Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace, 2007

Written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Brian Johnson, 1980

It's Cover Time! 

A fully countrified cover by one of my absolute favorite guilty pleasure songs.  Almost all AC/DC songs are deliberately juvenile, winking, and over the top; here, the duo's twangy double vocals and a rollicking barroom piano give the tale of an epic one-night stand yet another layer of cornpone goofiness.  Somehow, it works; the only way to ruin the song would be by taking it seriously.

Hey Ya - Obadiah Parker

Hey Ya - Obadiah Parker

4:58

The Tip Jar Volume One, 2008

Written by André Benjamin, 2003

It's Cover Time! 

Normally, I'm not a great fan of white artists doing acoustic covers of rap; it's either a bit too much like whitewashing — Pat Boone cleaning up Little Richard's wild genius for bigoted suburbanites — or too winking and ironic: "Look how transgressive I am!  I'm a rich white person singing urban lingo!"  But Parker seems to mean every syllable of this Outkast classic.  He doesn't slow it down as a joke; he's reflecting the broken heart at the core of the song.  His impassioned vocals pull the song's buried sadness into the open, revealing the fragile emotion that was always there beneath the celebratory performance.

Brown Eyed Handsome Man - Nina Simone

Brown Eyed Handsome Man - Nina Simone

2:02

High Priestess Of Soul, 1967

Written by Chuck Berry

It's Cover Time! 

The Berry classic is turned inside-out on this endearing, catchy, jazzy version, with the big band having fun behind Simone's perky delivery.  There are even campy string flourishes after the chorus, evocative of the transition sound from the old "Batman" TV show from the 1960s.  If you're too ingrained in either the rock or jazz traditions, you might find Simone's cover a turn off, but if you're open to the blending and bending of genres, it's a blast.