Sunday, March 17, 2024

#909. Lineage of Song: “House of the Rising Sun”

The Animals
 
Woody Guthrie 

Bob Dylan

“House of the Rising Sun” is another song you can read about on Wikipedia, its incredible origins. Like a lot of people I first heard it as a song recorded by the Animals, and I thought it was a song by the Animals for the longest time, until very recently, when I learned not only Bob Dylan had recorded it on his debut album a mere three years earlier than the Animals version, but Woody Guthrie before Dylan…and apparently it was a well-traveled folk song for…probably…centuries before that. Like true folk songs it becomes impossible to learn the actual origins, only the places here and there where it surfaces, like little signposts. 

So in effect it’s one of the purest folk songs we currently enjoy. The Animals version is iconic in its own right, a defining moment in the band’s relatively short history, in the history of the era it came from (the Sixties), rock music itself, and apparently folk (most people tend to associate Dylan as straddling the line, but history flattens everything). It’s one of my favorite songs, anyway, caused me to track down an Animals hits compilation for my collection a decade ago once I realized how important the song was to me.

And as someone who likes collecting songs to try and learn to sing, it’s always nice to think of this as a part of a long tradition. Because that’s what music is really all about.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

#908. Lineage of Song “Wagon Wheel”


 Darius Rucker, 2012
Bob Dylan sketch, 1973

Old Crow Medicine Show, 2003

The story of “Wagon Wheel” is pretty well detailed (have a look at Wikipedia), but I want to write about it as an authentic version of how a song enters the popular consciousness, not just as a pop song that does well on the charts but permeates in folk fashion, so that it feels like it was always there, and always will be.

Dylan gets the initial credit, but even he’s riffing on earlier material. Bob Dylan is recognized by discerning music fans as one of the defining artists of the past hundred years, with his own belief that he was just trying to live up to earlier acts like Woody Guthrie, whom more recent generations know only through Dylan’s admiration (pop music can be fickle). Dylan’s voice, heavily criticized in recent years in its current state, has actually been a source of contention throughout his career, which is okay since his songwriting has always been his calling card and he’s been covered heavily through the years, so it’s not surprising that even an abandoned sketch ends up with a meaningful legacy.

Old Crow Medicine Show picked the sketch back up some thirty years later, completing it in its current state, around the same time Darius Rucker was trying to start up a solo career. When he first tackled the idea of being a country act, nobody took him seriously (possibly because he seemed to be lampooning the idea himself in commercials), but then started recording anyway. By his own admission he stumbled on “Wagon Wheel” almost by accident, initially unsure the material fit him. 

It ended up becoming a career-defining song, the kind country bars play so much people get sick of hearing it. 

To get to that point is improbable. Rucker first made his name as lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish, the band credited with ruining rock music in the ‘90s, the antithesis of the grunge sound that was supposed to be the next evolution of the format but ended up dying with Kurt Cobain instead. Hootie for about a year was inescapable, and then was turned into a punchline and an afterthought. Rucker’s reinvention as a country star was a solid second act, but “Wagon Wheel” returned him to levels of success he’d previously enjoyed with Hootie, and, arguably, beyond. 

If Rucker is remembered in a hundred years it’ll be for “Wagon Wheel.” It’s very likely the song will outlive him. That’s the way these things go. It’s also done it with Dylan, with the blues artists who toyed with it previously, even with Old Crow Medicine Show.

Far too often today we tend to grow precious with our current interests, believing that if they no longer exist in the exact form we know them they’re instantly and forever ruined. But history adapts everything it remembers. That’s the whole point. If it endures it’s changed at some point, with the times, waiting for some new source of inspiration. The lineage of “Wagon Wheel” is a vivid example of that.

Sunday, March 03, 2024

#907. Ghosts’ Thor

 

CBS’s version of the BBC’s Ghosts has been one of my favorite shows in recent years, with the third season recently debuting.

The thing I love about the show so much is its rich cast of characters, which draws on American eras the way its predecessor did with British, which among others has a caveman in its collection, whereas we’ve got Thor, a Viking.

And gosh I love that crazy bastard.

Thor is still hilariously bloodthirsty even after a thousand years haunting the grounds of Woodstone Manor would eventually inhabit. But he’s so congenial about it! 

It probably wouldn’t be fun to experience an actual Viking raid, but Thor depicts a version of the character of these Vikings that make them seem almost…normal. None of the other ghosts, much less Sam (the woman who can see them, although her husband Jay can’t, but has gotten surprisingly cool with the whole affair), really bat an eye at it, because, again, he’s as companionable as anyone.

Anyway, it’s my favorite new show in years, even if it’s technically a version of another show. It’s easy to separate the two when the casts are so different. I’ve seen some of the BBC version, and it’s enjoyable, too. But gosh I love the American version.

Saturday, February 24, 2024

#906. Disturbed, “Sound of Silence”

 


In 2015, Disturbed released its sixth album, Immortalized.  If you look at the summary of critical reception over at Wikipedia, you'd think there wasn't much to talk about.  Based on the flood of praise for the band's cover of "The Sound of Silence" I discovered years after the fact, I would certainly question such conclusions.

Once the video for the cover was released later that year, things began to change, and it was even nominated for a Grammy in 2017 as Best Rock Performance (losing to David Bowie's sentimental favorite, "Blackstar," with other nominees including Twenty One Pilots' "Heathens," featured as one of the few original songs in Suicide Squad).

These days I discover music most easily on YouTube, which is how it went with this song, which has since remained, in the years that've followed, one of my most frequent views on the site.  It's a powerful vocal performance (suggestions always include testimonies to such), a  heavy and yet elegant reinterpretation of the classic Simon & Garfunkel harmonies, plus a spare but equally effective accompaniment.  I get that Disturbed is not known for this kind of music, so the band's fans, and anyone else following their activities, probably never expected it in a million years (although maybe they did? I have no idea), but if a classic song gets a new version that's this good?  You don't quibble with its provenience.  And it should be hailed widely both for its own time and as part of the continuum of the rock genre.  Which is of course impossible in the current "rock is dead" era that must be continuously affirmed by never, ever admitting anything good can possibly still happen.

In a perfect world radio (which still exists) would have this in regular rotation.  Not just stations catering to Disturbed's regular fanbase, but to the broader set, where it really belongs.  

A classic is a classic.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

#905. Tracy Chatman’s “Fast Car”

 


On February 4th Tracy Chapman reminded the world that she exists, taking the Grammys stage with Luke Combs in support of his recent cover of her 1988 song “Fast Car.”

It caused something of a sensation.

With the exception of another hit somewhat belatedly in 1995 (“Give Me One Reason”), it seemed all too easy for the pop world to leave Chapman behind. Until the Grammys viral moment I didn’t even know the name of the song was “Fast Car.” 

It was just a song I knew, and knew that I loved. It’s kind of symptomatic of the modern pop song. The station I check in with these days advertises itself as playing the best of the “80s, 90s, and today,” literally lumping three decades into that last signifier. I mean, the only reason the ‘90s are listed at all is because four decades would probably be too much. I mean, we’re here in 2024. Time to knuckle up and name the ‘00s, the ‘10s (even if a century ago we didn’t until the “Roaring ‘20s,” even if that’s a poor excuse at best). Call them the Oughts, the Tens, or Twenty-Tens if you must. I mean, what the heck are we gonna call these decades when they are the relevant nostalgia period?

The ‘90s are a whole decade that still define pop music, but for all the wrong reasons. “Boy bands” are now Korean, but they still contain no actual instruments. Rock music was so ruthlessly dismissed it effectively killed it as a mainstream phenomenon (and even today, the acts that do manage to make it are mocked or ignored when discussing what happened to the genre). 

The ‘80s were hair bands and Michael Jackson, the splintering of rock into pop and various kinds of heavier sounds that increasingly had no place in the mainstream. And you had Chapman, who in the ‘60s would’ve been accepted as the prodigy she was. What a pure voice, such perfectly spare composition, the stuff they built that decade around. 

And she vanished without a trace for twenty years, and took back the stage with effortless grace. 

I guess that’s its own commentary. Wait long enough and I guess things will be rectified. If you’re lucky you might even be able to enjoy it personally.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

#904. Perfect Darius Rucker vocals

A collection of videos (and some songs I couldn’t find videos for) of perfect Darius Rucker vocals, not to be confused with a greatest hits or singles or in other words comprehensive listing…

“Let Her Cry,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Cracked Rear View (1994) One of the iconic hits from Hootie’s debut album, a ballad of heartbreak.


“Earth Stopped Cold at Dawn,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Fairweather Johnson (1996)

Hootie’s first song that should’ve been a single but wasn’t, although I still heard it years later at a department store.

“Tootie,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Fairweather Johnson (1996)

One of Hootie’s true buried treasures (no video found of Darius singing but plenty of covers, which is testament enough.

“Michelle Post,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Musical Chairs (1998)

Hootie’s third album saw the band bust loose from expectations. This one’s pretty stripped clean, almost just Darius with backing vocals and banjo.

“Desert Mountain Showdown,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Musical Chairs (1998)

Another delight, a hoedown that became a staple of Hootie’s concerts.

“Fine Line,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Scattered Smothered and Covered (2000) 

A Radney Foster cover circa the first album but finally released officially years later.

“I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Scattered Smothered and Covered (2000)

Another great cover. Hootie started as a cover band and it always shows, as they’re excellent at interpreting material.

“Can’t Find the Time,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Me Myself & Irene soundtrack (2000)

Another cover, this time leaning deep into soul territory.

“Exodus,” solo, Back to Then (2002)

The best song from Darius’s first solo album, although he sings it better without musical accompaniment.

“When She’s Gone,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Hootie and the Blowfish (2003)

“Little Darlin’,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Hootie and the Blowfish (2003)

Hootie’s fourth album builds and expands on Musical Chairs in its best moments. “Little Darlin’” is another buried treasure. They both are.

“State Your Peace,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Looking for Lucky (2005)

I didn’t choose a lot of rockers for this list, but here’s a good one.

“A Smile,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Looking for Lucky (2005)

By the fifth album Hootie had lost all mainstream momentum. A real pity, as songs like this in an earlier era would’ve been iconic.

“Alright,” solo, Learn to Live (2008)


“This,” solo, Charleston SC 1966 (2010)

Two songs that illustrate how perfectly Darius slipped into country music.


“True Believers,” solo, True Believers (2013)

Other than the other highlight from this album, this would be one of my personal favorites for true calling cards of his country efforts.

“Wagon Wheel,” solo, True Believers (2013)

The song that made Darius as a country artist blow all the way up, and probably his musical legacy.

“Not Tonight,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Imperfect Circle (2019)


“Lonely on a Saturday Night,” Hootie & the Blowfish, Imperfect Circle (2019)

If Hootie’s comeback had landed, these songs would be recognized as classics.

“Fires Don’t Start Themselves,” solo, Carolyn’s Boy (2023)

Darius’s most recent single, and one of his best vocals, incredibly still finding new depths.

Saturday, February 03, 2024

#903. Now and then, I miss you...

 You’ve probably heard the Beatles released a new sing. Argylle kind of builds itself around it, even.


It’s pretty great.


"Now and Then" John Lennon December 2023 tribute performance. It was kind of immediately embraced by at least a visible part of the fanbase.


"Free as a Bird"

That was the first “new song,” from Anthology 1.


"Real Love"

That was the second “new song,” from Anthology 3.

“Now and Then” was one of two songs kicked around for Anthology 3, but the original recording quality just wasn’t there, and George just didn’t feel it was worth pursuing.

Part of the problem that will exist as they were finished some thirty years ago is that “Free” and “Real Love” were rough even themselves in how they found John, and the remaining Beatles didn’t play around too much with what they did.

“Now and Then,” as finally completed, is noticeably different. I’ve been obsessed with it since first hearing it. It’s obviously not a traditional Beatles song, but it sounds like a perfect coda, even tribute to John, and the end of the band, something that never happened back in the day, when the Beatles existed one day and didn’t the next, and everyone just went off to solo projects. 

Paul & Ringo put in the work. Everything about the song sounds like what the band, at its height, was doing, even the bits pulled from other songs (which Beatles songs absolutely did, even if one magazine article I read seems to have somehow forgotten).

I’ve been catching up with the Beatles for two decades, and anytime someone suggests Beatles music somehow isn’t relevant today (as the major criticism of Yesterday somehow was, despite the recent phenomenon of One Direction, and probably BTS was already a thing back in 2019, and even more ironic if it wasn’t, and of course Coldplay, the latest band to scare people who don’t want any competition to the Beatles legacy), it just baffles me. It’s endlessly rewarding.

And we just got something new. Only the Beatles. As ever.

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