"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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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

---

The epitaph of a genius:

The original:

The Temptations : Ball Of Confusion

SONG Ball of Confusion


WRITTEN BY Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong


PERFORMED BY The Temptations

APPEARS ON Released as a single in 1970 and appears on Greatest Hits Volume 2 (1970)

"Segregation, determination, demonstration, Integration, aggravation, Humiliation, obligation to our nation
Ball of Confusion That's what the world is today"

It’s been awhile since I have done a post for this site. I want to thank K for not kicking me off and I promise to do better in the future.

America is a pretty confusing place right now. It’s 2010 and we have all kinds of issues. The worst part about it is that the real issues seem to be taking a back seat to all the emotional things that district everybody. We are having racial debates and discussions about religious freedom. Saturday a pastor is supposed to burn a holy book from another religion and we just so happen to have thousands of troops in countries that practice the religion in question. There are talk show hosts telling Americans that they are losing their freedom more and more every day although I haven’t seen anyone doing anything differently than they were before. They shout mean things about the president at the top of their lungs. He doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge it all that much but he adjusts his policies to validate the stuff that they say.

Meanwhile, the economy is a mess and no one appears to have any idea what they are doing or wants to pay the price for doing what’s necessary. Nowadays I find myself watching the news with a puzzled look on my face. I keep trying to figure out if what I am seeing is just a product of growing pains from a nation that elected a man of color as its leader for the first time. I’m sure that’s some of it but we elected him so we should be more advanced to the point where it wouldn’t be okay to let that keep the entire country’s progress in limbo. Everyone has a take on it but I don’t think anyone really knows for sure.

Ball of Confusion was released in 1970 by the Temptations for the Gordy- Motown label. It was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. It was released as a single and appeared on the Temptations Greatest Hits Volume 2. That shows you how music has changed that in 1970 the Temptations were on their second volume of greatest hits already. This song was from the Dennis Edwards era of the group after David Ruffin left. This was the period when they were touching on social issues. This era was proof you could be conscious and make good music that sells. I think a lot of that is missing in today’s rhythm and blues music as well as the audience. Besides the fact that I love the group, I think 80% of the lyrics to this song symbolize what we are going through 40 years after it was written. There’s a line in the song that says “Politicians think taxes will solve everything”. You couldn’t get more than a handful of politicians to admit that this year. I am not sure if we should look at this song as being so well written that it has been able to stand the test of time or we should be more depressed that we live in an environment today that still makes this song so relevant. We might have a long way to go but at least we have good music to listen to while we sort everything out. I added an a capella clip just to show that real singers don’t need studio tricks to sound good.

Lyrics

People movin' out
People movin' in
Why, because of the color of their skin
Run, run, run, but you sho' can't hide
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
Vote for me, and I'll set you free
Rap on brother, rap on
Well, the only person talkin'
'Bout love thy brother is the preacher
And it seems,
Nobody is interested in learnin'
But the teacher
Segregation, determination, demonstration,
Integration, aggravation,
Humiliation, obligation to our nation
Ball of Confusion
That's what the world is today

The sale of pills are at an all time high
Young folks walk around with
Their heads in the sky
Cities aflame in the summer time
And, the beat goes on

Air pollution, revolution, gun control,
Sound of soul
Shootin' rockets to the moon
Kids growin' up too soon
Politicians say more taxes will
Solve everything
And the band played on
So round 'n' round 'n' round we go
Where the world's headed, nobody knows
Just a Ball of Confusion
Oh yea, that's what the world is today

Fear in the air, tension everywhere
Unemployment rising fast,
The Beatles' new record's a gas
And the only safe place to live is
On an indian reservation
And the band played on
Eve of destruction, tax deduction
City inspectors, bill collectors
Mod clothes in demand,
Population out of hand
Suicide, too many bills, hippies movin'
To the hills
People all over the world, are shoutin'
End the war
And the band played on

"Million Dollar Bash" - Bob Dylan and The Band

SONG: "Million Dollar Bash"

WRITTEN BY: Bob Dylan

PERFORMED BY: Bob Dylan and the Band

APPEARS ON: "The Basement Tapes" (1975)

In 1966, 25 year-old Bob Dylan crashed his red and silver Triumph Tiger 100 motorcycle outside of Woodstock, New York. His injuries were miraculously benign, but there was a marked change in the young singer-songwriter from that point forward. “When I had that motorcycle accident,” he recalls, “I woke up and caught my senses. I realized that I was just working for these leeches and I didn’t want to do that. Plus, I had a family and I just wanted to see my kids.” Dylan entered a period of seclusion that lasted for nearly seven years. During that time he continued to write and record some of his very best work. The material that formed “The Basement Tapes” came from this period.

“Million Dollar Bash” was first recorded in 1967 in the basement of a house in West Saugerties, New York. The house was, of course, the famous “Big Pink,” then occupied by Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson. As Robertson explains, “The Basement Tapes” started out as Dylan and The Band “just killing time”, but soon flourished into a creative outpouring of new material and inspired covers. The album was cobbled from these friendly jam sessions and officially released to the public on June 26, 1975. On “The Basement Tapes” Dylan sounds more playful and joyous then perhaps on any entry of his catalogue. It is an historical irony that this double LP ode to life’s simple pleasures came out just five months after his bleak divorce drama, “Blood on the Tracks”.

“Million Dollar Bash” stood out to me the very first time I heard “The Basement Tapes”. It seems like the spiritual summation of the entire affable affair. Dylan’s lyrics are as light-hearted as the tune is lovely. He sings as though he feels free for the first time in ages to revel in absurdity and humor just for the fun of it, as is only fitting for a song about the biggest party imaginable. But I see another side to the song that explains its curious and elusive poignancy. Over the course of two minutes and thirty-three seconds Dylan refers to no fewer than seven characters and two or three vaguely defined groups. He makes it clear that this isn’t just a big party it’s the biggest party to which “everybody from right now” is going. Near as I can tell, “Million Dollar Bash” is a little ditty about dying and heading off for a big party in the sky. It’s a song about resigning one’s self to fate, but enjoying the ride as you go and that’s what makes it so uplifting.

I suppose my theory is tenuous at best, but as such it reflects the key to Dylan’s staying power and that is his music’s tolerance for reinterpretation. Like many of his finest works, “Million Dollar Bash” stands as a blank slate for the listener’s imagination. The raw ingredients of a deeper meaning are temptingly displayed daring you to make something of them.

---

MILLION DOLLAR BASH

-Bob Dylan

Well, that big dumb blonde

with her wheel in the gorge

and turtle that friend of theirs

with his checks all forged,

and his cheeks in a chunk

with his cheese in the cash

they're all gonna be there

at that million dollar bash

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

It's that million dollar bash

Everybody from right now

to over there and back

the louder they come

the bigger they crack

come on now, sweet cream

don't forget to flash

we're all gonna meet

at that million dollar bash

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

It's that million dollar bash

Well, I took my counselor

out to the barn

Silly Nelly was there

she told him a yarn

then along came jones

emptied the trash

Everybody went down

to that million dollar bash

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

It's that million dollar bash

Well, I'm hitting it too hard

my stones won't take

I get up in the morning

but it's too early to wake

first it's hello, goodbye

then push and then crash

and we're all gonna make it

at that million dollar bash

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

It's that million dollar bash

Well, I looked at my watch

I looked at my wrist

I punched myself

in the face with my fist

I took my potatoes

down to be mashed

then I made it over

to that million dollar bash

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee,

It's that million dollar bash.

c. 1967

---

I could only find three covers of "Million Dollar Bash" on youtube and none of them satisfied, so I recorded my own version. In the original's absence, here is the best I can offer.

Let It Be - The Beatles

SONG Let It Be

WRITTEN BY Paul McCartney

PERFORMED BY The Beatles, Carol Woods

APPEARS ON The Beatles Let It Be (1970), Across the Universe (movie, 2007)

I came across this old favorite in a new setting recently and thought I'd feature it here on Just A Song just to prove a point I've been making for years: that the songs of The Beatles are truly timeless and a gifted musician can create a brand new thing of beauty from them long after the original song hit the airwaves.

The original setting of the song takes place in the sad, bitter days of the Beatles falling apart, just after recording the White Album. McCartney says he sensed the break-up coming and was depressed by it all and having trouble sleeping. In his own words:

Then one night, somewhere between deep sleep and insomnia, I had the most comforting dream about my mother, who died when I was only 14. She had been a nurse, my mum, and very hardworking, because she wanted the best for us. We weren’t a well-off family- we didn’t have a car, we just about had a television – so both of my parents went out to work, and Mum contributed a good half to the family income. At night when she came home, she would cook, so we didn’t have a lot of time with each other. But she was just a very comforting presence in my life. And when she died, one of the difficulties I had, as the years went by, was that I couldn’t recall her face so easily. That’s how it is for everyone, I think. As each day goes by, you just can’t bring their face into your mind, you have to use photographs and reminders like that.

So in this dream twelve years later, my mother appeared, and there was her face, completely clear, particularly her eyes, and she said to me very gently, very reassuringly: “Let it be.”

It was lovely. I woke up with a great feeling. It was really like she had visited me at this very difficult point in my life and gave me this message: Be gentle, don’t fight things, just try and go with the flow and it will all work out.

So, being a musician, I went right over to the piano and started writing a song: “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me”… Mary was my mother’s name… “Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.” There will be an answer, let it be.” It didn’t take long. I wrote the main body of it in one go, and then the subsequent verses developed from there: “When all the broken-hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be.”

And the rest is history. This went on to be one of the Beatles most popular songs, and in 2004 it was ranked #20 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It's an emotional, heartfelt cry for release from pain and turmoil, and offers a comforting image of peace; no wonder it went right to the hearts of the listening public!

Lyrics

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.

Let it be, let it be, .....

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, .....

Here's a video clip from the movie Let It Be, filmed in studio of the recording of the album:

A lot of musicians have recorded versions of this song, but there's only one that made me sit up and take notice. In 2007 filmmaker/artist Julie Taymor made the movie Across the Universe, taking 30 Beatles songs to make a musical about growing up in the turbulent late 1960s. "Let It Be" was used as the setting for two deaths and funerals, of a young soldier in Vietnam and a child killed in the 1968 Detroit riots. And if it were on stage it would have stopped the show! I don't know whose idea it was to set this song as a gospel tune, with full gospel choir and soloist, but whoever it was was a genius. It could have been one or both of the music producers on the crew - Matthias Gohl and Elliot Goldenthau - but I suspect it was Julie Taymor herself; this is just the kind of daring artistic decision she would make. The vocal begins with young Timothy T. Mitchum as the young boy killed in the Detroit riots, but switches to choir and Broadway/film actress and singer Carol Woods (who won a Grammy for this) in full gospel music mode for the funerals themselves. It cuts right to the heart - I don't know anybody who saw this movie who watched this with dry eyes. It's a brilliant interpretation and should stand side by side with the original Beatles version. Which, of course, is why I've included it here. Enjoy!

Steve Earle: N. Y. C.

SONG N. Y. C.

WRITTEN BY Steve Earle

PERFORMED BY Steve Earle

APPEARS ON El Corazon (1997)

NOTE 1 The cover art is by the Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick. 2 That's  Buddy Miller playing lead guitar in the video.

"N. Y. C." stands as one Steve Earle's top rockers and most requested songs. It tells the story of a middle-aged, somewhat disillusioned man who gives a ride to Billy, a young and hopeful hitchhiker who wants to try his luck in New York City. After all, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, right?  Billy relates his adventures to a rueful, half envious listener, and summarizes his impression of all that New York has to offer in these words:

I heard the girls are pretty
There must be something happening there
It's just too big a town

The dual allure of sex and boundless opportunity being what it is, Billy shouldered his guitar, put his thumb in the wind, set out uncomplainingly through "a thousand miles of sleet and snow and rain."

The older man is skeptical, but keeps it to himself. He tried New York once, but struck out in a week. The girls, who by now represent opportunity itself, "wouldn't talk to me." Thus, Earle establishes a tension between youthful exuberance and optimism v. experience and disillusion. Look, the older man reasons to himself, at what Billy will go through just to take a shot at making it in the Big Apple. Coldness, dampness, and hunger are nothing in comparison; and very possibly disillusion is a fair price to pay for the paradoxical experience of youth.

So, the driver "slips the kid a twenty" because maybe -- just maybe -- Billy will be one who makes it, and the twenty will play apart. And no matter what, Billy is twenty dollars further down a meaningful road already filled with "a hundred stories."

LYRICS
He was standing on the highway
Somewhere way out in the sticks
Guitar across his shoulder
Like a thirty ought six
He was staring in my headlights
When I came around the bend
Climbed up on my shotgun side
And told me with a grim

I'm going to New York City
I've never really been there
Just like the way it sounds
I heard the girls are pretty
There must be something happening there
It's just too big a town

He was cold and wet and hungry
But he never did complain
Said he'd come a thousand miles
Through sleet and snow and rain
He had a hundred stories
About the places that he'd been
He'd hang around a little while
And hit the road again

I'm going to New York City
I've never really been there
Just like the way it sounds
I heard the girls are pretty
There must be something happening there
It's just too big a town

See I've been to New York City
Just like it was yesterday
Standing like a pilgrim
On the Great White Way
The girls were really pretty
But they wouldn't talk to me
I held out about a week
Went back to Tennessee

So I thought I'd better warn him
As he climbed out of my car
Grabbed his battered suitcase
And shouldered his guitar
I knew I was just jealous
If I didn't wish him well
I slipped the kid a twenty
Said "Billy give 'em hell"

I'm going to New York City
I've never really been there
Just like the way it sounds
I heard the girls are pretty
There must be something happening there
It's just too big a town

The Marshall Tucker Band: 24 Hours At A Time

SONG 24 Hours At A Time

WRITTEN BY Toy Caldwell

PERFORMED BY The Marshall Tucker Band

APPEARS ON A New Life (1974); Where We All Belong (1974); Stompin' Room Only [live] (2003); Anthology: The First Thirty Years (2005)

NOTE The lyrics are from the original studio version of "24 Hours." MTB altered them somewhat in performance.

The Marshall Tucker Band sang about men and women, not boys and girls. This conferred a sense of maturity and sexual awareness onto their college-aged fans, a sensibility that may or may not have been merited, but that was nonetheless appreciated, by a group that saw itself on the back end of coming of age. The band offered an arguably a maturing sound as well: Toy Caldwell's heroics met the needs of any dorm room air guitarist, while a subtle blend of rock, country, and jazz appealed to developing tastes in a way that, say, Lynyrd Skynyrd's testosterone drenched thunder could not. (Which isn't to say that Skynyrd was not a great band: In the southern rock pantheon, they're second only to the Allman Brothers.)

In "24 Hours at a Time," the singer drives headlong toward a relationship, as fast as legally permitted ("I've got this ride doin' 70 miles an hour").  The national speed limit was 70 mph when Toy Caldwell wrote "24 Hours," although there may be a nod to the pending change to 55 mph, which would slow his approach to the woman who is "always on my mind/24 hours at a time."

In any case, "24 Hours" attempts to balance out songs like "Gentle On Mind," in which the male singer expresses appreciation for a woman precisely she'll always be there no matter how much he strays and rambles. In "24 Hours," by contrast, the road is an inconvenience, something to disposed of as quickly as possible no matter how far the singer has come ("I've been drivin' about six hours") or how near the destination ("Texarkana's an hour ahead/And I've got to keep my wheels rollin'"). He's heading toward, he hopes, someone who loves him, and the romance of the road is a barrier.

For in the end, the singer drives toward hope ("I'm hopin' you feel the same way"), and that's the emotion most educed by the extended jam between Caldwell, Jerry Eubanks (tenor sax), and Charlie Daniels (fiddle), an improvisation that restates the journey musically and the reasons behind it. The end of the jam leads not to a reprise of the driving chorus, as one might expect, but a repetition of the singer's desire that she "feel the same way." We want that, too.

LYRICS
I've been down around Houston, Texas
Where the sun shines most of the time
I've been drivin' about six hours
Tryin' to reach that Arkansas line

But Texarkana's an hour ahead
And I've got to keep my wheels rollin'

But woman you're always on my mind
24 hours at a time
So my woman I'm hopin' you feel the same way

Woman, you know that I miss you
'Til I can't miss you no more
I've got this ride doin 70 miles an hour
She's loaded, she's down to the floor

But I've got to reach that Arkansas line
Before the sun goes down

But woman you're always on my mind
24 hours at a time
So my woman I'm hopin' you feel the same way

Woman you know I need you
I've been on the road too much
Tired of lookin' at the highway
Got to keep in touch some way

I've been down around Houston, Texas
Where the sun shines most of the time
I've been drivin' about six hours
Tryin' to reach that Arkansas line

But Texarkana's an hour ahead
And I've got to keep my wheels rollin'

But woman you're always on my mind
24 hours at a time
So my woman I'm hopin' you feel the same way

Feel the same way...
Feel the same way...
Feel the same way...



The studio version, from the album A New Life:

Dolly Parton: Jolene

SONG Jolene

WRITTEN BY Dolly Parton

PERFORMED BY Dolly Parton

APPEARS ON Jolene (1973); The Essential Dolly Parton (2005); The Ultimate Dolly Parton; many others.

NOTE 1 "Jolene" is an essential Dolly Parton song. Any anthology without it is by definition incomplete. 2 The White Stripes' epic performance of "Jolene" appears on their album Under Great White Northern Lights.

Alarmed by the attention paid by her husband to a sexy bank teller and charmed by the name of a fan, Dolly Parton combined the two and wrote a classic country ballad of sexual envy and despair. Though lyrically simple on the surface, "Jolene" evokes a swirl of competing emotions that, though addressed exclusively to the eponymous temptress, raises question after question about the nature of the singer's devotion to her husband and indeed about her own state of mind.

Parton gets down to brass tacks immediately, invoking her rival's name repeatedly before casting off any pretense of pride to beg for mercy. She commingles flattery and abject submission, lauding Jolene's many physical attributes before admitting that "I cannot compete with you" and that Jolene could "easily take my man." Parton admits that her man dreams of Jolene and not her ("He talks about you in his sleep") and then comes out and says it: "My happiness depends on you." One wonders whether Parton takes a terrible risk by being so brutally frank: Might she not be tempting Jolene to aim her erotic power at Parton's man?

In any case, Parton lets us into the soul of a troubled and lost woman whose happiness depends on Jolene, on her man -- on anyone but herself. She has so lost control of her own life that she's willing to humiliate herself before a younger woman for the sake of a man who may be preoccupied with that woman. Indeed, that's all we really know about the husband, save that for some reason Parton believes "he's the only one for me."

Indeed, in many ways, "Jolene" is as interesting for what Parton leaves unsaid as for what she reveals. She absolves her husband of any complicity in the triangle, presumably because he could not possibly resist Jolene's siren song. Is it because men are that weak? Or has he strayed before, but Parton fears that this time he won't return? Why does Parton believe that Jolene's allure will overwhelm the substance of a relationship? Possibly, the relationship has faded or become loveless and routine, but she doesn't want to leave something that has its own comforts and because she fears that, whoever she is with, there will always be another Jolene.

Although she sings that "you don't know what he means to me," she never explains what just what he does mean to her. She's inviting us to fill in the blank with out our own experience, but it may also be that she can't recognize her own jealousy and possessiveness. We don't know what she means to him, either, although he comes across as aloof and easily led astray. Why would an emotionally healthy woman need such a man in her life?

In the end, the singer emerges as a troubled person whose life has become absorbed into that of her husband's, fears losing it and him, and can do nothing but beg mercy of the force seemingly bent on destroying her. In this regard, "Jolene" serves as a cautionary tale reminding us "to thine own self be true," because when push comes to shove, you don't want to jump only to find that Jolene holds the net.

LYRICS

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

I'm begging you please don't take my man

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

Please don't take him just because you can

Your beauty is beyond compare

With flaming locks of auburn hair

With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green

Your voice is like soft summer rain,

And I cannot compete with you Jolene

He talks about you in his sleep

There's nothing I can do to keep

From crying when I hear your name, Jolene

And I can easily understand

How you could easily take my man

But you don't know what he means to me, Jolene

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

I'm begging you please don't take my man

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

Please don't take him just because you can

You could have your choice of men

But I could never love again

He's the only one for me, Jolene

I had to have this talk with you

My happiness depends on you

And whatever you decide to do, Jolene

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

I'm begging you please don't take my man

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

Please don't take him just because you can

Jolene, Jolene

The White Stripes bring post-millenial angst to Parton's lyrics; the enthusiastic crowd demonstrates the crossover appeal of Parton's lyrics and the universality of her theme:

Andrew Combs: Tennessee Time

SONG Tennessee Time


WRITTEN BY Andrew Combs


PERFORMED BY Andrew Combs


APPEARS ON Tennessee Time (2010)


Exile and longing comprise one of country music's most enduring themes. While its Biblical roots resonate with the rural Christianity that formed country's original fan base, its popularity as a theme likely stems from the origins of radio and the diaspora of rural Americans that began with the Industrial Revolution and accelerated through the Great Depression and World War II. The Dust Bowl, the military draft, and the migration to high paying urban manufacturing jobs must have created a profound sense of dislocation for the young men and families suddenly far removed from everything they knew. Songs celebrating the simple, lost joys of rural life emerged, and, dispersed across radio waves, soon formed a vital part of the country music canon.


Newcomer Andrew Combs captures this sense of longing and belonging in "Tennessee Time," a sensation amplified in the wonderful video below. The first time I heard "Tennessee Time," I immediately thought that it would  make a great front porch song. The notion wasn't original; as it turned out, Combs thought so, too (see the wonderfully sweet video  below). In "Tennessee Time" the singer has returned home from a European tour that took him from Spain to Ireland, only to discover that "there ain’t nothing better/Than the Tennessee life."


Which is fine with him: The song is all about creating epiphanies that allow him to be "stuck in the moment of Tennessee time." Thus in the first verse, he gathers southern icons like sweet tea and a rocking chair, and repairs to the porch to sing "old country songs to the passerby." It's a moment where fast songs and sad lyrics make sense in the ineffable ambience of a Tennessee porch, and where a spiritual connection occurs in the "summers near the Cumberland Gap...stuck in a moment of Tennessee time."


Combs, who sounds like a fusion of Slaid Cleaves and Gram Parsons, names Guy Clark, Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, and Hank Williams as influences. Estimable mentors all, but the trick lies in finding his own voice via the path they lay. He's off to an impressive start.


LYRICS
I bought myself a little old rocking chair
Got a cup of sweet tea, gonna sit right here
Singing old country songs to the passerby
Just stuck in the moment of Tennessee time

Spring brings green and a love so sweet
My heart tends to flutter and skip a beat
Me and my baby, we’re out of our minds
Stuck in the moment of Tennessee time

Chorus
I’ve been known to roam
I’ve been to Spain
I’ve been out in the Galway rain
I’ve come so close
To what I thought was right
But there ain’t nothing better
Than the Tennessee life

I play a little guitar in a rock n’ roll band
We sing sad songs and play as fast as we can
The drums are loud and the words don’t rhyme
But we’re keeping good rhythm to the Tennessee time

Now I spend my summers near the Cumberland Gap 
I sleep outside, with the grass at my back
Just roll cigarettes, drink whiskey from rye
Still stuck in the moment of Tennessee Time 

John Prine: Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone

SONG Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone

WRITTEN BY John Prine

PERFORMED BY John Prine

APPEARS ON Bruised Orange (1978); Live (1988); Great Days: The John Prine Anthology (1993)

By the time John Prine wrote "Sabu" in 1978, he must have feared that, regardless of the quality of his future work, his eponymous first album would define his reputation. Prine needn't have worried. Although fans still want to hear him sing "Angel From Montgomery," they go to his concerts to see him perform for a body of work that spans a distinguished 40-year career. Early on, though, Prine found parallels between his own experience and that of an Indian child movie star.

In 1937, while shooting on location in India, famed documentary film maker Robert Flaherty cast a 13-year old boy named  Sabu Dastigir (or Selar Shaik Sabu or Sabu Francis) into a film called Elephant Boy. His name shortened to Sabu, the boy went on to a modest film career highlighted by starring roles in The Thief of Baghdad (1940) and Jungle Book (1942). After becoming an American citizen in 1944, Sabu joined the Air Force and won a Distinguished Flying Cross for service as a tail gunner in the Pacific theater. After World War II, Sabu attempted to restart his film career, but met with only modest success. His last film, the Disney thriller A Tiger Walks, was released shortly after his death from a heart attack in 1963. Sabu made 22 movies between 1937 and 1964, including such forgettable titles as White Savage, Cobra Woman, Man-Eater of Kumaon, Savage Drums, and Jungle Hell.

In "Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone," John Prine reimagines the post-war days of Sabu's career as a parable of the the pitfalls of peaking too soon and hanging on too long. By dropping his Indian protagonist into St. Paul, Prine achieves a sense of dislocation that haunts the song. Faced with a dwindling audience and a disinterested producer, Sabu gamely makes his way through the midwest while a sympathetic manager hopes that the numbers on a phone will materialize into a better box office and contemplates the end of his client's career.

No matter: Sabu may be "sad, the whole tour stunk," but he "must tour or forever rest." No doubt this refers to Prine's own struggles as an up-and-coming musician and the eternal challenge of keeping an audience. Did Prine fear that his best work was already behind him, that he had a future filled with cobra women, man-eaters, and albums that weren't "really doing so hot"? Had his ambition driven him to a lonely, peripatetic life infuseed by a numbing indifference (the "wind chill factor")? Possibly. But with characteristic bravado, Prine can't resist a few wry, bitter jokes at his own expense:

the airlines lost the elephant's trunk
the roadie got the rabies and the scabies and the flu

Sometimes, the only thing to do is laugh, hope for the best, and press on.

LYRICS
The movie wasn't really doing so hot
said the new producer to the old big shot
its dying on the edge of the great Midwest
Sabu must tour or forever rest.

Hey look ma
here comes the elephant boy
bundled all up in his corduroy
headed down south towards Illinois
from the jungles of East St. Paul.

His manager sat in the office alone
staring at the numbers on the telephone
wondering how a man could send a child actor
to visit in the land of the wind chill factor.
Sabu was sad the whole tour stunk
the airlines lost the elephant's trunk
the roadie got the rabies and the scabies and the flu
they was low on morale but they was high on.

"Angel From Montgomery," Prine's most beloved song, has been covered by Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, and others: