On the inner groove of Beale Street Saturday Night, amongst the various engravings that exist on old LPs, are four words in quotations: "WORLD BOOGIE IS COMING." This was a saying of Jim Dickinson's, who died on Saturday. His contribution to American music puts him in the company of men like his mentor Sam Phillips, about whom he said: "...God created all men equal. I think God gave Sam just a little extra." The same could be said about him.
I never met Dickinson, and always just took it for granted that someday I would. I saw him play a few times in intimate surroundings here in New York: first at the Lakeside Lounge, accompanied by Eric Ambel (who wrote a fine tribute to Dickinson HERE) and again at Joe's Pub a few years later. Sometime in the late 90s, I was in Memphis, and went to meet writer Robert Gordon for lunch at a midtown deli. As we sat there eating our sandwiches, Robert looked up and out the window. "Is that Dickinson?" he said. He paused for a moment, as we watched him amble across the street and past us. "He must be coming from the bank...Dickinson takes care of a lot of things, but himself is not one of them."
Apparently, there was a lot of truth to that statement. He loved the Bar-B-Q--maybe a little too much-- and earlier this year Dickinson underwent heart surgery, and never made a full recovery.
In Gordon's book It Came From Memphis, Dickinson recalls his early education in suburban Memphis:
"Everybody learned it from the yardman." says Dickinson. "Alex Tiel taught me everything he thought was important to teach a nine-year-old white boy. How to shoot craps, how to throw a knife underhanded--the important lessons in life. When it came to something he didn't know, he brought in an expert. He wasn't a musician, but he sang as he worked, unaccompanied, and when he realized I was interested in music, he brought in a man who taught me this technique that I learned to play from."
And so Dickinson's piano lessons began.
James Luther Dickinson went on to play in numerous bands in Memphis. In 1969, when the Rolling Stones were recording in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, he went down to hang out, and ended up playing piano on "Wild Horses" --apparently Stu couldn't play minor chords on the piano--he was also present and (probably) helped with the arrangement of their version of Mississippi Fred McDowell's "You Got To Move" which was also recorded that day. In the early seventies, with a group of fellow Memphians--The Dixie Flyers-- he went to Miami, as the backing band for countless Atlantic Record sessions; played on and produced Ry Cooder's first records, and later a handful of soundtracks (including Paris, Texas); recorded his own record, the classic Dixie Fried in 1972, following it up late in life with a string of great solo LPs. As a producer, he worked with Alex Chilton as a solo artist, and helped craft the collection of songs known as Big Star's Third. Later, he produced The Replacements, Toots Hibbert, Green on Red, Chuck Prophet, Amy LaVere, and many others including his sons, The North Mississippi All-Stars. In 1997, he played keyboards on Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind, and when Dylan received a Grammy for the record, he thanked his "Brother," Jim Dickinson. His accomplishments are far and wide, and it's doubtful there will ever be anyone quite like him again. The world is a different place, and a better place for him having been a part of it.
Flags in Fluville are flying at half-mast.
Download:
Beale Street Saturday Night, 1978.
out of print
TELL ME MR. JOHNNY,
IS YOU GOT MY MONEY?
or
BOOLA BOOLA
liner notes by Stanley Booth
Both sides of this LP are presented in their entirety,
they are long continuous tracks.
Side One: mp3
Side Two: mp3
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Here are some of Dickinson's great recordings, as a frontman, multi-instrumentalist sideman, producer, arranger, and recording artist. This is really just the tip of the iceberg.
"You'll Do It All The Time" mp3
by Jim Dickinson And The New Beale Street Sheiks, 1964.
available on It Came from Memphis, Vol. 2
"Cadillac Man" mp3
by the Jesters, 1966.
available on Sun Records 50th Anniversary Collection
"Back For More" mp3
by Lawson & Four More, 1966.
available on It Came from Memphis, Vol. 2
"Uptight Tonight" mp3
by Flash And The Memphis Casuals, 1966.
available on It Came from Memphis
"Where Is The D.A.R. When You Really Need Him" mp3
by Jerry Jeff Walker, 1970.
with the Dixie Flyers
available on Bein' Free
"Your Own Backyard" mp3
by Dion, 1970
with the Dixie Flyers
available on King of the New York Streets
"Have You Seen My Baby?" mp3
by the Flamin Groovies, 1971.
available on Teenage Head
"Boomer's Story" mp3
by Ry Cooder, 1972.
available on Boomer's Story
"Casey Jones (On The Road Again)" mp3
by James Luther Dickinson, 1972.
available on Dixie Fried
"Kangaroo" mp3
by Big Star, 1975.
available on Third/Sister Lovers
"Fight At The Table" mp3
by Chris Bell, 1975.
available on I Am the Cosmos
"Rock Hard" mp3
by Alex Chilton, 1979.
available on Like Flies on Sherbert
"Red Headed Woman" mp3
by Jimmy Dickinson & The Cramps, 1984.
available on Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage Disease
"Tina, The Go-Go Queen" mp3
by Tav Falco's Panther Burns, 1985.
available on Sugar Ditch Revisited
"Tossin' N' Turnin'" mp3
by The Replacements, 1987.
available on Pleased to Meet Me
"Hard To Handle" mp3
by Toots Hibbert, 1987
available on Toots in Memphis
"Power To The People" mp3
by Mud Boy & The Neutrons, 1993.
available on They Walk Among Us
"Dirt Road Blues" mp3
by Bob Dylan, 1997.
available on Time Out of Mind
"JC's NYC Blues" mp3
by James Luther Dickinson, 2002.
available on Free Beer Tomorrow
"Somewhere Down The Road" mp3
by James Luther Dickinson, 2006.
available on Jungle Jim and the Voodoo Tiger
more on Jim Dickinson at The Hound Blog
My apologies to all our vegetarian friends. If it's any consolation, I didn't eat any of this pig, not because I don't like that sort of thing - it's more for health reasons. I'm under the care of a Chinese doctor who's got me watching what I eat. But as soon as I feel better, its gonna be a free for all. In fact, I'm helpless around Bar-B-Q, and on my last trip to Memphis with my then girlfriend I ate so much pork, I actually made myself sick. Maybe it has to do with being Jewish, but I don't think so. Most Jews love pork. We were visiting her family, and I was sampling every rib-joint in the city. I like this picture. I told Lincoln I thought it looked like a flower. His response was "What? A meat flower?"
Download:
"Cincinnati Dancing Pig" mp3
by Red Foley, 1950.
available on Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy
"I Crave My Pigmeat" mp3
by Blind Boy Fuller, 1939.
available on Truckin' My Blues Away
"Gimme A Pigfoot" mp3
by Bessie Smith, 1936.
available on Stars of the Apollo
"Pigmeat" mp3
by Ry Cooder, 1970.
available on Ry Cooder
top photograph: Ted Barron © 2008.
A few weeks ago Alex Abramovich asked me to do an occasional post for Moistworks and offered to do the same here. I was excited and a little intimidated by the prospect, since it is like The Paris Review of mp3 blogs and they are all writers. However, I've taken the challenge, and while I don't consider myself a "writer," I do work in another descriptive medium that is not unlike writing. Besides, it's about the music. So, things are changing slightly here in Fluville. Don't be surprised to see other contributors here. Mike DeCapite (who is a writer) has posted a beautiful memorial to his friend Jim Jones, and there are other contributors on deck. I'll still be the primary voice here, but it may become a less singular one. Oh, and if you are wondering what that picture is about, go to Moistworks and check out my post, "Missed Communications."
and here's a track that didn't make the playlist.
Download:
"He'll Have to Go" mp3
by Ry Cooder, 1976.
available on Chicken Skin Music
Sometimes a song will make you do foolish things.
Over the years I've driven many American roads making photographs. Partially inspired by Robert Frank's The Americans and partially by Jack Kerouac's On The Road, which I'm currently re-reading for the first time since I was a teenager in its "restored" single paragraph scroll version. Not to mention my favorite film genre- the road movie. On all of these drives, music has been central to my relationship to wherever I am - sometimes by accident and sometimes quite deliberately.
One of my favorites for California has always been the first Little Feat record, which contains two truck driving songs by the late Lowell George: "Truck Stop Girl" and "Willin,'" the latter of which inspired me last week to drive from Tehachapi to Tonopah. I know, I know.
I don't know yet if the photographs are gonna be any good, but I do believe I've exorcised from my obsessive self the need to do this again. I found some lovely scenery out there in the empty spaces between Tehachapi, CA. (quaint small western town) and Tonopah, NV. (decrepit dying one-horse casino town,) but quickly found myself hightailing it to Yosemite to cleanse my palate.
Anyway, below are a few versions of each of these numbers. Little Feat recorded "Willin'" twice in the studio on each of their first two records. The first version features Ry Cooder on guitar, and the second is anchored by Bill Payne on the piano and Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel. Also, a radio broadcast of Lowell George joined by Linda Ronstadt on harmony vocal, and Steve Earle's version with the Bluegrass Dukes. Then, It's "Truck Stop Girl" by Little Feat, Kelly Willis, and my favorite version by the Byrds, who also have a live version of "Willin''' but I've excluded it because I've always found the vocals to be a little weak.
Okay, here goes...
Download:
"Willin'" mp3
by Little Feat
from Little Feat, 1971.
"Willin'" mp3
by Little Feat
from Sailing Shoes, 1972.
"Willin'" mp3
by Lowell George with Linda Ronstadt
from WHFS-FM Radio Broadcast, 1974.
"Willin'" mp3
by Steve Earle
from SideTracks, 2002.
"Truck Stop Girl" mp3
by Little Feat
from Little Feat, 1971.
"Truck Stop Girl" mp3
by Kelly Willis
from Rig Rock Deluxe, 1996.
"Truck Stop Girl" mp3
by The Byrds
from Untitled, 1970.
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***************** BONUS *********************
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Download:
"The Heart of California (for Lowell George)" mp3
by Terry Allen and the Panhandle Mystery Band
from Smokin' The Dummy, 1980.
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