Here’s yet another I can’t believe I’m just now reaching, because I’ve always liked the Alien Ant Farm version, and my appreciation for the Jackson original has also increased over the years, to the point where it’s essentially my favorite of his songs.
On a different note, I’ve mentioned before how I plan these well in advance. This one comes from a block from nearly a year ago. As I write this I seem to really be reaching the end of the Lineage, which might conclude in just under thirty weeks. But we’ll see!
Here’s another I kind of can’t believe took so long to reach. By the time O’Connor did her version, not only did it define her popular career, but it really felt as if it was her song. But the spelling kind of is a dead giveaway that its origins are pure Prince. Prince’s career is peculiar in a lot of ways. He hit big in the ‘80s. But by the time he was fighting with his record label and changing his name to a symbol…He was a living legend people talked about as being hyper talented more than his output, or success, suggested. Then he was kind of the Super Bowl act that defined what those are apparently supposed to be, nostalgia shows where the performer(s) is a legend that can still perform at their peak. He became a throwback to all those careers BluesBrothers had to fight to include.
Here’s the big thousandth post! When I started this blog back in 2002, I certainly wasn’t thinking about what I’d be doing twenty-odd years later. The blog was an extension of what I was doing online, then, being a part of a message board community and trying to expand that experience. I’d already tried a couple different approaches, and by that record it would’ve looked to any observer that Scouring Monk was destined for the same fate. But it expanded! For a time I operated a whole network of blogs, and Monk was the central hub…No one was ever as interested in all of it the way I was, but it didn’t matter.
And anyway, “Peggy Gordon” is a great way to celebrate. It’s a song I first heard from Schooner Fare growing up, and then later in the film TheProposition in much different context, and that was a touchstone moment in realizing even beloved songs can have a life far beyond what I’d first known. But that’s life, right?
I really did toss a bunch of GBS here in the countdown to the thousandth post, which is also the secret origin of my return to Scouring Monk, which I had all but abandoned, letting it lie fallow for a year, and then deciding to jumpstart it, and then realizing a regular gig could be had out of “Lineage of Song.” Not exactly the post-A to Z heyday, but that’s okay.
Anyway, “Captain Kidd” is one of those sea shanties that makes its lineage pretty clear. Sue me for enjoying the ability to find pleasure in links to the past.
