Caravan - Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington

SONG Caravan

WRITTEN BY Juan Tizol; arrangement by Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington

PERFORMED BY The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Chet Atkins and Les Paul

APPEARS ON "Caravan" single by the Ellington Orchestra (1937); Chester & Lester, Chet Atkins and Les Paul (1976)

There's not much detail to report on this song, other than the fact that it's one of the classics of the Big Band era. Of course, anyone who knows me knows I practically worship the ground Ellington walked on, and consider him on of the quintessential American composers and performers. "Caravan" may have been written by Juan Tizol, but it was Duke Ellington's arrangement for the orchestra that makes the song what it is.

Juan Tizol, a trombonist who had played with Ellington since 1929, was born in Puerto Rico in 1900. Aside from forming Ellington's first signature powerhouse trombone section with Tricky Sam Nanton, Tizol often copied parts for the orchestra and contributed the occasional composition. His most famous contributions were "Caravan" and "Perdido", both classics of the Big Band repertoire. In fact, Tizol's compositions are often credited with creating an interest in Latin stylings in jazz which eventually became Latin Jazz.

Irving Mills wrote lyrics to this song, but almost no one used them. For the bulk of its career this song has always been performed as an instrumental. So we'll break the Just A Song tradition of posting the lyrics this time.

This first video is a promotional film of Duke and the orchestra playing "Caravan" in 1952. That's Tizol playing the trombone.

I decided to include this cover version by Chet Atkins and Les Paul from their 1976 recording Chester & Lester because (a) I'm a huge fan of both guitarists and an even huger fan of their two collaboration albums, Chester & Lester (1976) and Guitar Monsters (1978). I first heard their version of "Caravan" on Eric in the Evening, the signature jazz show on WGBH in Boston, pretty much the paramount public radio station in the US. Once I heard the song I needed to find the album, and I've been in love ever since. These are the two classiest guitarists in guitar history, and their cover of a tune by the elegant and sophisticated Duke was a match made in heaven . Enjoy!

I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton & Whitney Houston

SONG I Will Always Love You

WRITTEN BY Dolly Parton

PERFORMED BY Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston

APPEARS ON Dolly Parton: Jolene (1974); Whitney Houston: The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album (1992)

This will probably come as a surprise to many people who know me, but I love Dolly Parton; she's always been one of the better songwriters in Nashville, her songs are usually about the common people in the hills and how they survive, and she has, like Iris DeMent, one of those old-soul, sound-of-the-hills voices that sends shivers up my spine. And "I Will Always Love You" is my second favorite song of hers, right after "Coat of Many Colors". She richly deserves the title of the Queen of Country Music.

This song, written in 1973, is about her professional break-up with Country legend Porter Wagoner, who discovered her and served as her mentor in the tough music world of Nashville. She was an integral part of Wagoner's show and assumed the status of partner in the enterprise, but it was time for her to move off on her own. It was a bittersweet parting; it was a sad time for both Dolly and Porter, but both agreed it was time for her to pursue a solo career. The lyrics express the nature of the parting, but couched in the words of a star-crossed love song. Not that Parton and Wagoner were lovers; Dolly was and still is happily married to Carl Thomas Dean. But the relationship was close and the parting was a sad one

Lyrics:

If I should stay
Well I would only be in your way
And so I'll go, and yet I know
That I'll think of you each step of my way

And I will always love you
I will always love you

Bittersweet memories
That's all I have and all I'm taking with me
Good-bye, oh please don't cry
Cause we both know that I'm not what you need

But I will always love you
I will always love you

And I hope life will treat you kind
And I hope that you have all
That you ever dreamed of
Oh I do wish you joy and I wish you happiness
But above all of this, I wish you love
I love you, I will always love you

I, I will always, always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you

The best way to listen to Dolly sing this is live; I don't know when this video was made, but judging by her appearance here I'd say sometime in the mid to late '90s.

In 1992 Whitney Houston co-starred with Kevin Costner in the movie The Bodyguard, about a former Secret Service guard turned private bodyguard assigned to guard a superstar singer from a stalker. The movie didn't really amount to much, but Houston's singing "I Will Always Love You" broke records and sold 12 million copies worldwide, at a time when her career had reached a low point and she needed a boost. Originally she was slated to sing Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", but the song was already being used in Fried Green Tomatoes, so Costner suggested Dolly Parton's song as an alternative. The rest is history.

I'm more partial to Dolly Parton's version than Whitney Houston's, but then I like Tim Hardin's version of his song "Reason to Believe" over Rod Stewart's; I just have this personal quirk of liking the original over the cover in most cases. That said, Whitney Houston's version is still fantastic. The suits at Arista Records didn't like the a capella intro, but both Houston and Costner insisted that it stay, and they were right; it adds an extra sense of drama to the song, fitting with the movie.

In the aftermath of Houston's hiuge hit with the song, rumors started circulating that there was a feud between Parton and Houston over the latter's success with the former's song. Both ladies went on record denying the rumors, and Parton has claimed that Whitney Houston made her rich with that success, so she has no complaints.

In any event, here's the official video of Whitney Houston's version of the song, complete with scenes from the movie. Enjoy!

"Life on Mars?" - David Bowie

SONG: "Life on Mars?"

WRITTEN BY: David Bowie

PERFORMED BY: David Bowie

APPEARS ON: Hunky Dory (RCA, 1971)

Music exists in a limbo, in which the importance of language and images is either subjugated, or obliterated by the power of conspiring melodies to move the human heart. One needs no prior training in the craft of “music appreciation”, nor expertise in the field of music theory to feel what is great in a song. Film occupies a divergent and parallel space in the world of art. In film, image is primary, while sound functions as a secondary means of expression. But the synthesis of these two disparate mediums has become an art form unto itself.

Since A Hard Day's Night (United Artists, 1964), The Graduate (Embassy, 1967) and Easy Rider (Columbia, 1969), popular music, and movies have enjoyed a fruitful symbiotic relationship in which both mediums transform, inform, enhance and clarify the meaning of the other. For me, a scene from Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Touchstone, 2004), featuring David Bowie's anthemic "Life on Mars?", embodies that elusive alchemical quality. Film and song wed express the underlying despair threatening to overwhelm them both. The image is indelible - it makes the picture and reinvents the song.

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LIFE ON MARS?

-David Bowie

It's a godawful small affair

to the girl with the mousy hair,

But her mummy is yelling, "No!",

and her daddy has told her to go,

But her Friend is nowhere to be seen,

Now she walks through her sunken dream

to the seat with the clearest view

and she's hooked to the silver screen,

But the film is a saddening bore,

for she's lived it ten times, or more,

She could spit in the eyes of fools

as they ask her to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dancehall,

Oh, man! Look at those cavemen go,

It's the freakiest show,

Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy,

Oh, man! Wonder if he'll ever know

he's in the bestselling show?

Is there life on Mars?

It's on America's tortured brow,

Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow,

Now the workers have struck for fame,

'cause Lennon's on sale again,

See the mice in their million hordes,

from Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads,

Rule Britannia is out of bounds

to my mother, my dog and clowns,

But the film is a saddening bore,

'Cause I wrote it ten times, or more

It's about to be writ again

as I ask you to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dancehall,

Oh, man! Look at those cavemen go,

It's the freakiest show,

Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy,

Oh, man! Wonder if he'll ever know

he's in the bestselling show?

Is there life on Mars?

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Crazy - Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline

SONG - Crazy

WRITTEN BY - Willie Nelson

PERFORMED BY - Patsy Cline

APPEARS ON - Patsy Cline Showcase (1961)

I'm a huge Willie Nelson fan, and "Crazy" has always been one of my favorite Willie tunes. Not so much because Willie wrote it (although I think there's no arguing the fact that only he could have written this song), but because it was made immortal by the late, great Patsy Cline. Plenty of other people, including Willie, have recorded it - Linda Ronstadt, Julio Iglesias, Kenny Rogers, Dottie West, the Waifs, and LeAnn Rimes to name a few - but it's famous and beloved because Patsy Cline sang it.

The song is quirky; the lyrics describe the singer's state of bemusement at the singer's own helpless love for the object of his affection. And Willie Nelson's original arrangement was fast and somewhat jerky. The story goes that when it was first presented to Patsy Cline she hated it. But her producer, Owen Bradley, loved it, and to make it more palatable to Cline he arranged it as a much slower ballad. Despite Nelson's original arrangement, the complex melody was perfectly suited to Cline's vocal talents and style, and slowing it down brought that out. The public agreed; the song spent 21 weeks on the country music charts, it became Patsy's signature song, and it turned Willie Nelson from an unknown to one of the most prolific and sought-after songwriters in Nashville.

Lyrics

I'm crazy
Crazy for feeling so lonely
I'm crazy
Crazy for feeling so blue

I know
You'd love me as long as you wanted
Then someday
Leave me for somebody new

(bridge)

Worry
Why do I let myself worry
Wond'ring
What in the world did I do

Crazy
For thinking that my love could hold you
I'm crazy for crying
I'm crazy for trying
I'm crazy for loving you

Here's Patsy Cline's immortal version of the song:

Another fairly famous version is the one by LeAnn Rimes. I'm not particularly a Rimes fan, but her rendition of "Crazy" is pretty powerful. In a way it's her homage to Patsy Cline, who Rimes considers one of her major influences. This version is certainly respectful of Cline's classic interpretation while still letting Rimes show off some pretty impressive vocal chops.

And last is one of my favorite performances of "Crazy" - Diana Krall, Elvis Costello, and Willie Nelson live on stage. Krall's sultry voice certainly does things for this song, as does her usual outstanding piano playing. And it's no secret that Elvis Costello is a huge fan of American country music (he did a whole CD of George Jones songs, among other things); based on his performance here, I'd love to hear him do his own cover of the tune. This version is lots of fun!

"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" - The Band

SONG: "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"

WRITTEN BY: Robbie Robertson

PERFORMED BY: The Band

APPEARS ON: The Band (1969)

In a making-of documentary concerning the Band's self-titled album, Robbie Robertson recalls a visit with Levon Helm's parents in Arkansas:

"I was at Levon's house and I was there with his mom, and dad. At one point in the conversation his dad said - just kiddingly, but there was some sincerity in it at the same time - and he said to me, 'Well, you know, Robbie, one of these days the South is gonna rise again.' "

He seems at once pleased and troubled by the recollection. The same feeling I have every time I listen to "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".

Is it an ode to a vanished way of life? And if so, which way is that? The way of the bunkhouse and the lash?

Is it a plea for understanding of those still suffering, at least in their imaginations, from scars left by the War of Northern Aggression?

It is easy to jump to either conclusion. But it is more reasonable to assume that what Robertson wrote is but a well-crafted character study. He evokes a time and place with entirely human longings that are relatable if a bit uncomfortable. It's a great little piece of Realism. A holding-up of the mirror in which one sees the good and the bad, the beautiful and the grotesque. It makes the listener yearn for a simpler time and glad to live in a more civilized age. Through songs like "Dixie", each and every Band listener is invited to share the experience of American heritage, even or especially the unflattering parts.

And like all great songs, it has an irresistible melody.

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THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN

-Robbie Robertson

Virgil Caine is the name

and I served on the Danville train,

'Til Stoneman's cavalry came

and tore up the tracks again,

In the winter of '65

we were hungry, just barely alive,

By May the tenth, Richmond had fell,

It's a time, I remember oh so well,

The night they drove old Dixie down,

And the bells were ringin',

The night they drove old Dixie down,

And the people were singin', they went,

La, la-la, la-la, la-la,

La-la, la, la-la, la, la-la, la,

Back with my wife in Tennessee

when one day she called to me,

"Virgil quick come see,

"There goes Robert E. Lee"

Now I don't mind choppin' wood

and I don't care if the money's no good,

You take what you need and you leave the rest,

but they should never, have taken the very best,

The night they drove old Dixie down,

And the bells were ringin',

The night they drove old Dixie down,

And the people were singin', they went,

La, la-la, la-la, la-la,

La-la, la, la-la, la, la-la, la,

Like my father before me

I will work the land,

Like my brother above me

who took a rebel stand,

He was just eighteen, proud and brave,

but a Yankee laid him in his grave,

I swear by the mud below my feet,

you can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat,

The night they drove old Dixie down,

And the bells were ringin',

The night they drove old Dixie down,

And the people were singin', they went,

La, la-la, la-la, la-la,

La-la, la, la-la, la, la-la, la,

The night they drove old Dixie down,

And the bells were ringin',

The night they drove old Dixie down,

And the people were singin', they went,

La, la-la, la-la, la-la,

La-la, la, la-la, la, la-la, la.

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Maze - Golden Time of Day

SONG: Golden Time of Day

WRITTEN BY: Frankie Beverly

PERFORMED BY: Maze

APPEARS ON: “Golden Time of Day” (1978)

Every now and then in the evening I like to go stand outside when the sky is clear and the humidity isn’t so bad to watch the sun go down. The evening is the transition between all of the pressures of the day you just had and the preparation for the next day ahead. It’s where you take a few minutes to reflect. I’m always over thinking everything anyway so I really don’t need any inspiration but there are a few moments where looking up at the sunlight sends me drifting. If it’s a really good day in New Orleans I might drive to the lakefront or the river to sit around and watch the water. I like going sit on the lake to smoke a cigar and think. In the evening the sun is setting on the west and it gets that bright orange look and makes the water shine.

The neighborhood and the rough environment of the city isn’t that far away but for some reason being in that spot helps you escape for a few minutes. Even if the day doesn’t allow itself for a trip to the water a few minutes of sitting on your porch or your front steps will do the trick. We’re looking for that space that says everything is going to be okay. The bills are going to get paid. The family is going to be alright. I’m going to be happy.

After the Saints game today I drove to the store and Golden Time of Day by Maze came on the radio. The song was recorded in 1978 and appears on the album of the same name. I have introduced this blog to Maze featuring Frankie Beverly before. I hate to go back to one of their songs so soon but I’m from New Orleans and they are a big part of my community’s personality. A lot of their songs are like song tracks to our lives. They recorded a live album here in 1980 and their popularity has been based down from one generation to the next. When the song came on I wanted to keep on riding for awhile, enjoy the fresh air and see what was going on around the city. The lyrics of the song are a perfect description of how you feel during moments like that. I just wanted to give the song some love with a blog post. I and my friend were supposed to be working a blog project that would list our life soundtracks. We haven’t done it yet but I am sure we will. This song may be on mind for all the days I tried to get away form it all even if it was just for a few minutes.

Lyrics:

There's a time of the day when the sun is going down

That's the golden time of day

It's a time that the sun turns a gold all around

That's the golden time of day

At the end of the day when the wind is soft and warm

Don't it make the flowers sway

When the sun settles down and it takes a lovley form

That's the golden time of day

People let me tell you

There's a time in your life when you find who you are

That's the golden time of day

In you mind you will find your a bright shining star

Ooh that's the golden time of day

When you feel deep inside all the love your lookin for

Don't it make you feel ok

Like the time of the day when the sun is going down

That's the golden time of day

That's the golden time of day

That's the golden time of day

Shining can't you see it shining ooh ooh ooh ooh

Shining can't you see it shining ooh ooh ooh ooh

"All Apologies" - Nirvana

SONG: "All Apologies"

WRITTEN BY: Kurt Cobain

PERFORMED BY: Nirvana

APPEARS ON: In Utero (1993); MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)

I have often thought that Seattle, the city I grew up in and around, lacks real artistic identity. If every township and metropolis has soul then surely it is the duty of resident creative types to identify and expose what it is that makes a city hum. And certainly every world-class town must have at least one great artistic statement made in its honor. Yet Seattle boasts not a single classic film, nor one indisputably great novel. Sure, the houseboat from Sleepless in Seattle still drums up a few tourists every season, but is the tired remake of a movie that wasn’t that great to begin with something we want to be known for?

As far as the music scene goes, our northwestern-most corner of the Great Northwest has produced a couple of giants over the years. Bing Crosby hailed from Tacoma, Seattle’s southern cousin. And James Marshall Hendrix spent his formative years in Seattle’s offbeat Central District. But great as these native sons were their art was never particularly representative of Washingtonian roots. Hendrix belonged as much to London as to any part of his native country and at the height of Crosby’s fame Seattle was little more than a slimy backwater.

All in all, Washington State has only ever produced one artist whose body of work owes as much to the location of his birth as to his obvious brilliance. Kurt Donald Cobain, born in Aberdeen, WA in 1967, was the greatest of a musicians’ enclave who stubbornly refused to abandon Seattle in favor of traditional entertainment hubs like Los Angeles or New York City. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden and their be-flanneled cohorts became synonymous with the Grunge movement, which, in spite of the genre’s near-extinction, remains an integral element of Seattle’s public image. Cobain and Nirvana, rounded out by Krist Novoselic (bass) and Dave Grohl (drums), rose to the top of the ranks in 1991 with Nevermind. Buoyed by the runaway success of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and subsequent singles Nirvana launched into sold-out world tours and met with near-universal critical acclaim. And 1993’s In Utero solidified the group’s claim to the rock crown. Nirvana’s potential was limitless. Then of course it all came to a sudden end in 1994. Cobain died at the age of 27 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Nirvana’s place in musical history is assured, though some, the jaded and inattentive, say it was the fatal blast of Cobain’s shotgun that secured his enduring fame. Indeed, it is fashionable these days to say, “Nirvana wasn’t so great.” or “Cobain was overrated.” and it is especially trendy here in their hometown. Every Seattleite teenager goes through a period of open indifference to the group’s music. But in the end most come around and admit what they have known all along in their hearts – that Nirvana is one of the all time greats.

No. It is not the tragedy of Cobain’s demise, nor the faded hype of grunge music that keeps Nirvana fresh in our collective memories. It is the quality of the songs. Like his hero, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain was an angry young man with things to say and his love of the Fab Four is evident in the ingenious pop-craft of his work. Cobain took cues from Lennon’s darkly humorous kaleidoscope visions and his lyrics are cut from the same matter-of-fact confessional cloth. It is a style that lent itself well to the confusion and apathy of Generation X and its successors. Cobain himself came from a broken and abusive home – an evermore common situation in the Love Generation’s wake. His work spoke directly to the young disillusioned, to those left derelict by the deflated ideals of free love and the crass plundering of Reaganomics. His was a fresh voice rallying against postmodern severity and crying out for understanding, for genuine affection.

“All Apologies” stands as Kurt Cobain’s seminal work. The words, full of hurt and disappointment, speak for themselves. But, if I may lead this little piece full circle, I have one thing to say about them. Since I began college, and for first time met people en masse from outside my home state, I have been telling my friend’s that this song is the artistic statement of Seattle made in just under four minutes. I stand by that statement. One need only hear this song to feel what it is like living under the broad gray skies and to suffer their depressive fallout. Its author, who now belongs to the world and to history, is Seattle’s one great poet. Our bard. The embodiment of our ever-living spirit.

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ALL APOLOGIES

-Kurt Cobain

What else should I be?

All apologies

What else could I say?

Everyone is gay

What else could I write?

I don’t have the right

What else should I be?

All apologies

In the sun,

In the sun I feel as one

In the sun,

In the sun

Married!

Buried!

I wish I was like you,

Easily amused

Find my nest of salt

Everything’s my fault

I’ll take all the blame

Aqua sea foam shame

Sunburn, freezer burn

Choking on the ashes of her enemy

In the sun,

In the sun I feel as one

In the sun,

In the sun

Married!

Married!

Married!

Burried!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

All in all is all we are

All in all is all we are

All in all is all we are

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The epitaph of a genius:

The original: