Seventy

Bob Dylan is seventy today. Here's seventy versions of songs that he's written. I was hard pressed to narrow it down to seventy, so that's saying something and I think it's enough. These are the songs that folks will still be interpreting in another seventy years.

Happy Birthday Bob.

*************

Download:

"Please Mrs. Henry" mp3
by Peter Laughner, 1972.
unreleased radio session

"Million Dollar Bash" mp3
by the Fairport Convention, 1969.
available on Unhalfbricking

"Baby Blue" mp3
by the Chocolate Watchband, 1968.
available on Inner Mystique/One Step Beyond

"Like A Rolling Stone" mp3
by the Soup Greens, 1965.
available on Pebbles, Vol. 1

"She Belongs To Me" mp3
by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, 1966.
available on Volume 1





"I'll Keep It with Mine"mp3
by Betty Serveert, 1996.
available on I Shot Andy Warhol

"Stepchild"mp3
by Solomon Burke, 2002.
available on Don't Give Up on Me

"Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" mp3
by Jimi Hendrix, 1967.
available on BBC Sessions

"Positively 4th Street" mp3
by Lucinda Williams, 1991.
available on In Their Own Words Volume 1

"I Threw It All Away" mp3
by Yo La Tengo, 1987.
available on President Yo La Tengo / New Wave Hot Dogs





"Spanish Harlem Incident" mp3
by the Byrds, 1965.
available on Mr Tambourine Man

"Down Along The Cove" mp3
by Johnny Jenkins, 1970.
available on Ton-Ton Macoute

"If Not For You" mp3
by George Harrison, 1970.
acoustic demo

"I Believe In You" mp3
by Cat Power, 2008.
available on Jukebox





"Maggie's Farm" mp3
by Solomon Burke, 1965.
available on Platinum Collection

"It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry" mp3
by Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper & Stephen Stills, 1968.
available on Super Session

"Can't Leave Her Behind" mp3
by Stephen Malkmus & Lee Ranaldo, 2007.
available on I'm Not There

"Gates Of Eden" mp3
by Marc Carroll, 2003.
available on All Wrongs Reversed

"Up To Me" mp3
by Roger McGuinn, 1976
available on Cardiff Rose





"Mama, You Been On My Mind" mp3
by the Beatles, 1969.
unreleased outtake

"Man Gave Names To All The Animals" mp3
by Townes Van Zandt, 1994.
available on Roadsongs

"Love Minus Zero – No Limit" mp3
by Buck Owens & His Buckaroos, 1971.
available on Bridge Over Troubled Water

"You Ain't Going Nowhere" mp3
by the Byrds, 1968.
available on Sweetheart of the Rodeo

"On A Night Like This" mp3
by Los Lobos, 2003.
available on Masked & Anonymous

"Going, Going, Gone" mp3
by Son Volt, 2000.
available on A Retrospective 1995-2000 EP

"I Was Young When I Left Home" mp3
by Antony with Bryce Dessner, 2009.
available on Dark Was the Night

"Billy" mp3
by Gillian Welch, 2006.
available on Music From The Revelator

"Buckets of Rain" mp3
by Vic Chesnutt, 2003.
available on Crossing Jordan

"Dark Eyes" mp3
by Dirty Projectors, 2010.
Like A Version Radio Session





"Knockin' On Heavens Door" mp3
by Television, 1977.
available on The Blow Up

"Every Grain Of Sand" mp3
by Emmylou Harris, 1995.
unreleased demo

"Girl Of The North Country" mp3
by Howard Tate, 1972.
available on Howard Tate

"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" mp3
by Esther Phillips, 1969.
available on Best of Esther Phillips (1962-70)

"I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" mp3
by Bobby Darin, 1972.
available on Aces Back to Back

"One Too Many Mornings" mp3
by Jerry Jeff Walker, 1977.
available on A Man Must Carry On

"Tomorrow Is A Long Time" mp3
by Nick Drake, 1968.
available on Family Tree

"Don't Think Twice It's Alright" mp3
by Waylon Jennings, 1964.
available on Phase One: The Early Years 1958-1964

"It Ain't Me Babe" mp3
by Johnny Cash & June Carter, 1967.
available on Carryin' On With Johnny Cash & June Carter





"Love Is Just a Four Letter Word" mp3
by Joan Baez, 1968.
available on Vanguard Sessions: Baez Sings Dylan

"Only a Hobo" mp3
by Hazel Dickens, 1985.
available on It's Hard to Tell the Singer From the Song

"Blowin' In The Wind" mp3
by O.V. Wright, 1970.
available on How Many Roads: Black America Sings Bob Dylan

"Fur Slippers" mp3
by B.B. King, 1999.
available on Shake Rattle & Roll

"Percy's Song" mp3
by the Fairport Convention, 1969.
available on Unhalfbricking

"Ballad Of Hollis Brown" mp3
by Tony Joe White, 1968.
available on Swamp Music: the Complete Monument Recordings





"Changing Of The Guards" mp3
by Patti Smith, 2007.
available on Twelve

"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" mp3
by Bryan Ferry, 1973.
available on These Foolish Things

"Tell Me Mama" mp3
by Robyn Hitchcock, 2002.
available on Robyn Sings

"She's Your Lover Now" mp3
by Luxuria w/ Howard Devoto, 1988.
b-side of Redneck single.
out of print

"If You Gotta Go, Go Now" mp3
by Mae West, 1966.
available on Way Out West
out of print

"Baby, I'm In The Mood For You" mp3
by Dion, 1965.
available on Bronx Blues: The Columbia Recordings (1962 - 1965)

"Rita May" mp3
by Jerry Lee Lewis, 1979.
available on Jerry Lee Lewis Box Set

"Wallflower" mp3
by Buddy and Julie Miller,
available on Buddy & Julie Miller

"Halls Of Justice/Positively 4th Street/Like A Rolling Stone" mp3
by Terry Melcher, 1974.
available on Terry Melcher

"When I Paint My Masterpiece" mp3
by the Band, 1971.
available on Cahoots

"Goin' To Acapulco" mp3
by Jim James & Calexico, 2007.
available on I'm Not There

"Nothing Was Delivered" mp3
by the Byrds, 1968.
available on Sweetheart of the Rodeo

"Too Much of Nothing" mp3
by Albert Lee, 1969.
available on Thats All Right Mama





"Wanted Man" mp3
by Johnny Cash, 1969.
available on Essential Johnny Cash

"Seven Days" mp3
by Ron Wood, 1979.
available on Gimme Some Neck

"George Jackson" mp3
by JP Robinson, 1972.
available on Sanctified Soul

"Winterlude" mp3
by Joe Ely, 2005.
available on To: Kate a Benefit for Kate's Sake





"This Wheel's On Fire" mp3
by the Band, 1968.
available on Music From Big Pink

"Tears Of Rage" mp3
by Gene Clark, 1971.
available on Gene Clark (aka White Light)

"Most Of The Time" mp3
by Sophie Zelmani, 2003.
available on Masked & Anonymous

"Emotionally Yours" mp3
by the O'Jays, 2006.
available on Beautiful Ballads

"Paths of Victory" mp3
by Cat Power 2000.
available on The Covers Record

"City Of Gold" mp3
by the Dixie Hummingbirds, 2003.
available on Masked & Anonymous

"Just Like A Woman" mp3
by Nina Simone, 1971.
available on To Be Free- The Nina Simone Story

"Farewell Angelina" mp3
by Jeff Buckley, 1992
from WFMU's The Music Faucet
(courtesy: Nicholas Hill)

"I Shall Be Released" mp3
by the Flying Burrito Brothers, 1970.
available on Farther Along: Best Of The Flying Burrito Brothers

Shopping List

flour
toilet tissue (pink)
broccli 2 frozen
potatoes small onions (few)
a loaf of bread (Colonial)
manayaise (Miracle Whip)
lettuce
1 chicken (cut up)
2 pds thick sliced (Hunlas) bacon

and One Mint Julep




Download:

"One Mint Julep" mp3
by Ray Charles, 1961.
arranged by Quincy Jones
available on Genius + Soul = Jazz

*********

Ray Charles photo by Joe Adams

A Century of Big Joe

Big Joe Turner lookin’ east and west
From the dark room of his mind
He made it to Kansas City
Twelfth Street and Vine

-Bob Dylan "High Water (for Charley Patton)"


Big Joe Turner was born one-hundred years ago today. I could listen to him all day long. In fact, I may just do that. It's my birthday too. Bob Dylan is gonna be seventy next week. That's pretty old to be dragging your ass and a rock' n roll band all over the world every year. I tip my hat to him, and he tips his hat to Big Joe at least twice on 2001's Love & Theft. First, by name check (cited above) and second, by melody on "Summer Days." Songwriter, Doc Pomus said his life was changed when as a fifteen year old kid he first heard Joe Turner's record, "Piney Brown Blues," a recording that merged Jazz and Blues into an intersection of what would become R & B and eventually Rock 'n Roll. Pomus modeled his early singing style after Turner's deep wide shout, and later wrote songs for him including "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" which you can hear below. The other side of that record, "Corrine, Corrina," was a blues standard and recorded by dozens artists. It was written by Bo Chatmon, fiddler for the Mississippi Sheiks, (whose music Dylan is well acquainted with). However, I'd venture to say that it was most likely this version that Bob Dylan first heard as a teenager.

"Get it Daddy, get it!"

Download:



"Boogie Woogie Country Girl" mp3
by Joe Turner, 1956.
available on Very Best of Big Joe Turner



"Corrine, Corrina" mp3
by Joe Turner, 1956.
available on Very Best of Big Joe Turner

******

"Boogie Woogie Country Girl" mp3
by Bob Dylan, 1995.
available on Till the Night Is Gone: Tribute to Doc Pomus
out of print

"Corrina, Corrina" mp3
by Bob Dylan, 1962.
available on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Outakes
out of print

30/40 Days

Ernest Tubb is gonna call up the gypsy woman, and she's sending out a worldwide hoodoo. Those are Chuck Berry's words of course, and it's a gift to us to hear Tubb sing them on his 1955 version of "Thirty Days" released two months after Chuck put out his second single for Chess. They both raced up the R&B and Country charts respectively, and established Chuck Berry as a first rate crossover artist/songwriter. Berry's guitar solo is chunky and rhythmic, soaring over and leading the rhythm section. Tubb calls out to his soloists: Billy Byrd, "Half-Moon" Bradley, and Tommy Jackson of the Texas Troubadours, making it sound like his own. It was, after all, Berry's version of Bob Wills' "Ida Red" (a western swing number) that finally caught Leonard Chess's ear (on the insistence of Chess star Muddy Waters) from his homemade audition tape earlier that year. It evolved into "Maybellene," his first single.

Ronnie Hawkins recorded a blistering rockabilly version as "Forty Days." Maybe he was a more patient man giving his woman an extra ten days to come back home. Or perhaps, it's a biblical reference to Noah's Ark, after living with the torrential rains and flooding back home in Arkansas, where he and his band, including teenage drummer Levon Helm, had fled for the brighter pastures of the Toronto music scene.

Chuck Berry's liaison to Chess, Muddy Waters, recorded a single (different song) "Forty Days & Forty Nights" around this time with future murderer Pat Hare on guitar. Waters, also using the biblical reference, is "like a ship out on the sea" waiting for forty days and nights, and it's "raining all the time." His lover hasn't returned and most likely won't.




"Thirty Days" mp3
by Ernest Tubb, 1955.
available on Thirty Days - Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight



"Forty Days" mp3
by Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks, 1958.
available on Roulette Years



"Forty Days & Forty Nights" mp3
by Muddy Waters, 1956.
available on The Chess Box: Muddy Waters

*************



"Thirty Days" mp3
by Chuck Berry, 1955.
available on Johnny B Goode: His Complete 50's Chess Recordings

Johnny B Goode: His Complete 50's Chess Recordings

*************



available on King of Western Swing

Record Store Day

Attention people.

In case you don't know it, today is Record Store Day. What does this mean? It means you should get out and support your local record store and buy something more tangible and sexy than an mp3. Be it a CD, LP, 45 or whatever. There's a plentiful bounty of special limited edition stuff for purchase this year and you can only buy it in the stores.

I made the rounds here in Brooklyn this morning and bought a pile of cool stuff including 45s by the Velvet Underground, The Yardbirds, Steve Earle, Justin Townes Earle, The Rolling Stones, and a set of two 78rpm discs of Beach Boys tracks from the soon to finally be released Smile record. Omnivore Recordings have issued their first two releases today, a Buck Owens 45 and a limited edition pressing of Big Star's 3rd. It's a release of the 'test pressing' version of the LP, and Within the 2000 records, there are five actual test pressings from 1975 randomly placed in the run like Wonka tickets. See if you can find one. There's a new release by the dB's who are playing live today in Atlanta for RSD, and there are live performances at record stores all over.

Full details HERE.



You can't hide behind an mp3.

Ronnie Lane

Today would have been Ronnie Lane's sixty-fifth birthday.
He was the heart of the Faces, leader of a traveling circus, a court jester and an April Fool.

Download:

"April Fool" mp3
by Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane, 1977.
available on Rough Mix

"Flags And Banners" mp3
by The Faces, 1973.
available on Ooh La La

"Sweet Virginia" mp3
by Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, 1974,
from You Never Can Tell: The BBC Sessions
out of print

"Ooh La La" mp3
by Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, 1973,
from You Never Can Tell: The BBC Sessions
out of print

"You Never Can Tell" mp3
from You Never Can Tell: The BBC Sessions
out of print

What's That Song?

Alex Chilton died a year ago today. Among his many attributes (singer, songwriter, band leader, and troublemaker) he was an interpreter and connoisseur of songs - all kinds of songs. I'd like to think that Alex had a big record collection but he probably did not. It would have only weighed him down. He was more likely a kind of musical sponge absorbing everything and spewing it out artfully in his own way. Today, in remembrance, we'll listen to a few of those songs as performed by the original artists, songs that he brought into his repertoire and made his own. Some are well known and some are not. A few of these songs, I'm fairly certain, I may have never heard had he not decided to record them. Thanks Alex.



Download:



"Make A Little Love" mp3
by Lowell Fulsom, 1967.
available on The Tramp Years
by Alex Chilton on High Priest



"Thank You John" mp3
by Willie Tee, 1965.
available on Teasin You
by Alex Chilton on Feudalist Tarts



"With A Girl Like You" mp3
by The Troggs, 1967.
available on The Singles A's & B's
by Alex Chilton on 19 Years: A Collection of Alex Chilton



"Girl After Girl" mp3
by Troy Shondell, 1961.
available on This Time: The Best Of Troy Shondell
by Alex Chilton on Like Flies on Sherbert



"Nobody's Fool" mp3
by Dan Penn, 1973.
available on Nobody's Fool
recorded by Alex Chilton on High Priest



"I've Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)" mp3
by Eddie Floyd, 1968.
available on Rare Stamps
by Alex Chilton on Loose Shoes and Tight Pussy

top photo: Alex Chilton, Bowery, 1977. by Godlis

**********************

Also:

Chris Stamey has assembled an all-star ensemble that have now twice performed Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers LP in its entirety in NC. The next performance of Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers will be on Saturday, March 26, at Mason Hall in NYC, Aided and abetted by an all-star cast of performers including Tift Merritt, Matthew Sweet, M. Ward, Norman Blake (Teenage Fan Club), Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) and others to be announced shortly to join the core group complete with the rhythm section of Jody Stephens (Big Star), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Will Rigby (dB's), Charles Cleaver, and Mitch Easter(Let's Active) and the expanded Lost in the Trees Orchestra with full strings, brass, winds, orchestral percussion and basketball. You will not want to miss this...

Tickets are available by following this link: Tickets Mason Hall, NYC, March 26

More information on this amazing project here: bigstarthird.com
All proceeds for this show benefit the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, and El System's Corona Youth Project in Queens.

Two-Sider Tuesday: The Stewart Brothers

Today is Sly Stone's 68th birthday. I sincerely hope he's having a good one. Things have been somewhat rocky for Sly for nearly 40 years now, and while he is truly one of the greats, attempts to get himself together and make a comeback have unfortunately been elusive. I was first hipped to this record-- the first single by the Stewart Brothers--by my pal Phast Phreddie. Young Sly is at the helm and begins the a-side with an introduction:

The name of this tune is...uh, "The Rat."
and uh, we are the Stewart Brothers and
Sylvester Stewart, that's myself, I wrote it.

It's a doo-wop record with some fine guitar playing by brother Freddie. I'm not sure who the rest of the personnel are on this session.

Dig it... and Happy Birthday Sly.


Download:



"The Rat" mp3
by the Stewart Brothers, 1959.
Ensign 45-4032
out of print



"Ra Ra Roo" mp3
by the Stewart Brothers, 1959.
Ensign 45-4032
out of print

Two-Sider (Fat) Tuesday

Today, we begin a new and maybe regular feature here at the Boogie Woogie Flu to be known as Two-Sider Tuesday, featuring two sides of a single platter. In honor of Fat Tuesday, and our house band here in Fluville, I present to you a classic New Orleans two-sider, Ace #571 by Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns.

***********

Download:



"Tu-Ber-Cu-Lucas and the Sinus Blues" mp3
by Huey Smith, 1959.
available on This Is Huey Piano Smith



"Dearest Darling (You're the One)" mp3
by Huey Smith, 1959.
available on Ace is Wild


***********

painting: King Zulu, 1986. by Jean-Michel Basquiat

Psychic Payne

by Will Rigby

Leon Payne's song "Psycho" is legendary, and rightly so.

Payne was a blind country singer and songwriter who has the distinction of having two of his songs recorded by Hank Williams: "Lost Highway" (listen to Leon's version here) and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me." Other well-known songs he wrote are "I Love You Because," which Elvis Presley recorded at his first session for Sun Records in 1954, and "Things Have Gone To Pieces," originally a hit for George Jones.

On a day off in Nashville in 1999 I poked around Elder's Book Store on Elliston Place. Elder's must be one of the premier sources of books on the Civil War, but when I asked Mr. Elder where his books on music were, he said he had just gotten some in that he didn't know quite what they were. In retrospect I find this a bit surprising, because he is a prominent used book dealer in Music City, and these books are uniquely Music Row products.



The books are/were songbooks printed (rather inexpensively) by music publishers to give/loan to artists, producers, and studios in Nashville for the purpose of learning the songs in order to record them. They measure 12" wide by 9" high, typically with two pages of sheet music reduced to fit side by side on one page (although there are exceptions). Some of the songs are written out by hand and photocopied.

The purpose of these books has been supplanted by CDs, MP3s, etc., so I presume they are obsolete artifacts that are no longer made. Which makes me wonder why Mr. Elder hadn't seen them before. I suspect that he has seen more of them by now, and wouldn't be surprised if there is a collector's market for them. He also had books of the Louvin Brothers, Don Gibson, and Don Everly (I bought all these), and others.



(click on image to enlarge)


Of course, "Psycho" sheet music is the most unusual find. We present it here as an artifact and a public service. Note the restriction at the bottom of the first page: "The use of the lyrics to this song with any other music is expressly prohibited". There are a couple of lyric differences from the recorded versions: "my hands near his throat" is printed but generally sung "around his throat"; and most significantly, the usual recorded ending "Mama, why don't you wake up?" is NOT in the sheet music.



(click on image to enlarge)

Payne supposedly told his publisher, Fred Rose, not to allow "Psycho" to be recorded until after he died. The first recording, by Eddie Noack, came out in 1968, but Payne did not die until 1969, so perhaps the tale is apocryphal. I recall reading a review of the 45 around 1971 (by Greg Shaw, I think), so perhaps the record came out later than the citations I can find.

There is not a lot of information on this unusual song to be found on the Web. Perhaps, someone will at least make a Wikipedia page for it, and while they're at it, one for Eddie Noack, too.


Eddie Noack


Download:



"Psycho" mp3
by Eddie Noack, 1968.
froim K-ARK 45-843
out of print

"Psycho" mp3
by Jack Kittel, 1975.
available on Psycho (Jack Forever)

"Psycho" mp3
by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 1981.
available on Almost Blue.

"Psycho" mp3
by Teddy Thompson, 1998.
available on Psycho

...and from reader, Tex. I don't know how this one slipped by us,
it is by far the scariest version:

"Psycho" mp3
by Andre Williams and the Sadies, 1999.
available on Red Dirt

*************

Written and Performed by Leon Payne...



"Empty Dreams" mp3
by Leon Payne, 1951.
available on I Love You Because



"Poke Salad Green" mp3
by Leon Payne, 1952.
available on I Love You Because



"Two by Four" mp3
by Leon Payne, 1956.
available on A Living Legend Of Country Music

"Close To You" mp3
by Leon Payne, 1963.
available on A Living Legend Of Country Music

*************

written by Leon Payne...





"Lost Highway" mp3
by Hank Williams, 1949.
available on Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits

"They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" mp3
by Doug Sahm, 2000.
available on Return of Wayne Douglas

"I Love You Because (Take 3)" mp3
by Elvis Presley, 1954.
available on The Complete Sun Sessions

"Things Have Gone To Pieces" mp3
by George Jones, 1971.
available on Sings the Great Songs of Leon Payne

"Take Me (Take 1 with string overdub)" mp3
by George Jones, 1965.
available on Walk Through This World With Me - The Complete Musicor Recordings, 1965-1971 (Part 1)

"Blue Side of Lonesome" mp3
by John Prine and Mac Wiseman, 2007.
available on Standard Songs for Average People

New Scenery, New Noise

"An artist is an artist only because of his exquisite sense of beauty, a sense which shows him intoxicating pleasures, but which at the same time implies and contains an equally exquisite sense of all deformities and all disproportion."
Charles Baudelaire on Edgar Allan Poe, 1856.
from The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays

"Well, could you play a car crash with an electric guitar?"
Patti Smith to Lenny Kaye, 1971. from Just Kids

Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye performed together for the first time on February 10, 1971 at The Poetry Project at the St. Marks Church in New York City. It was also the first time an electric guitar had ever been played at the church, and Lenny uses it to demonstrate the auditory car crash sounds in "Ballad of a Bad Boy," one of four selections from this rarely heard performance, and would serve as the the first of many collaborations between these two. Later becoming the Patti Smith Group, they helped to forge a new alliance between rock n roll, art and poetry in New York's punk scene of the mid 1970s. The historic venues in New York where they originally played before touring the world are now all gone except for The Poetry Project which tonight will host their return in celebration of the 40th anniversary of that first performance.

So, if you're in New York City, you might wanna check it out.

*******

Download:

"Mack The Knife" mp3
by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye, 1971.
available on February 10, 1971

"Dedication" mp3
by Patti Smith, 1971.
available on February 10, 1971

"Oath" mp3
by Patti Smith, 1971.
available on February 10, 1971

"Ballad of A Bad Boy" mp3
by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye, 1971.
available on February 10, 1971

*******



"Hey Joe (Version)" mp3
by Patti Smith, 1974.
on Mer 601-45
out of print



"Piss Factory" mp3
by Patti Smith, 1974.
available on Land (1975-2002)

*******
"Radio Free Ethiopia" mp3
Patti Smith, 1976.
WNEW New York Hungerthon Radio Broadcast

*******

top photo: Patti Smith in Subway, 1971. by Gerard Malanga.