.cousin reginald catches the thanksgiving turkey painted by norman rockwell.

.thanksgiving day, nov. 28, 1986 read by william s. burroughs directed by gus van sant.

.rayman raving rabbids bunnies very useful scientific facts : bunnies can’t cook turkey spot.

.the thanksgiving visitor written and narrated by truman capote starring geraldine page and michaeal kearney.adapted for sell-a-vision by eleanor perry with capote.directed by frank perry.

.joaquin phoenix thanksgiving peta ad reminds us holidays can be murder on turkeys.

.johnny cash sings thanksgiving prayer on dr. quinn, medicine woman.

.a charlie brown thanksgiving.though it’s the great pumpkin, charlie brown is my favourite.

.that idaho-born sweat potato sarah palin.may your wretched body return to the dirt quite soon.

.thanksgiving trailer directed by eli roth.

.jibjab presents thanksgiving cranberry slaughter.

.christina ricci as wednesday addams telling it like it is.burroughs would be proud.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, music nerds!

I was all set to post about what I want for Christmas, but that will have to wait. I mean, what was I thinking? I hate the way Christmas takes over the stores and the radio stations the minute Halloween is over, and here I was about to jump the gun myself — gah!

Don’t get me wrong — there’s plenty of holiday music that I love (and some I hate, but that’s another story for another day, too). But Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday; I love to cook, I love to eat, and I love Autumn, so how could it get any better?

I know it can be a stressful time, though, and some of you may feel that this is the soundtrack of your life right now!

But what about bona fide music for Thanksgiving? Click Mr. Readmore for a pumpkin-pie-spiced playlist!

The first things that springs to mind for me are a couple of hymns. I grew up singing the Welsh folk tune, “The Ash Grove,” with the words, “Let All Things Now Living.”

Here’s a nice version of the tune played on the harp:

Another good Thanksgiving tune is “Nun danket alle Gott,” (Now Thank We All Our God. Here’s a nice little organ arrangement of it that I should learn to play (LOL! )

But I know that not everyone is the church music geek that I am, so I decided to cast my google net a bit wider.

In this video, Ray Davies gives a nice commentary introducing his song, ” Thanksgiving Day.” (Note to self: check out The Kinks Choral Collection. A music nerd’s work is never done! )

Here’s a nice one from Mary Chapin Carpenter — caution: it might even make you verklempt, if you’re so inclined!

Here’s something out of left field (at least relative to where I’m standing!): I either didn’t know, or had forgotten, that the late, great Johnny Cash did a little acting here and there. Here’s a video of him singing a song for Thanksgiving in an episode of “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman:”

And last but not least: I’m always a sucker for the music Vince Guaraldi wrote for the old Charlie Brown TV specials. Here’s a piano solo version of music he wrote for “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving:”

Have a wonderful day tomorrow, everyone!

Idag firas det Thanksgiving Day. Och vem kan väl göra det vackrare än The Man In Black?

En som inte lyckades nåt vidare var Sarah Palin när hon, som guvernörstraditionen i USA bjuder, skulle rädda en kalkon från att hamna på middagsbordet. Kolla killen i bakgrunden!

Dagens livetips blir naturligtvis Bernie Marsden på Munkkällaren. Här är ett klipp med den gamle Whitesnake-gitarristen:

Wednesday is Friday this week, so Jacobpedia will likely be quiet for the next few days.  If I run across anything particularly compelling, I might have a post up over the weekend, but the regular, erratic posting schedule will resume on Monday.  Until then, there’s plenty to read about below:

• The Street News Service has an exclusive interview with Bob Dylan about his Christmas album.  At one point, Dylan explains, “These songs are part of my life, just like folk songs.”  I have been surprised that some critics are so bewildered by Dylan’s choice to record a Christmas album.  Anyone who has paid attention over the past fifteen years or so already understood his motivation.  It’s good to hear it from the man himself.  And, once again, do yourself a favor and watch this video.
• Violence broke out in Madrid on the weekend Spanish fascists commemorate the death of Francisco Franco.  The article also reveals the Spanish government’s continued efforts to shape memory of the Spanish Civil War as it banned the annual vigil held at Franco’s grave on the anniversary of his death.
• Johnny Cash is the subject of a new graphic novel biography, Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness.
• John Jurgensen assesses Tom Petty’s place in the pantheon of rock ‘n’ roll.  Despite all of his success, Petty has always seemed to be on the rung below legends like Dylan and Springsteen.  Jurgensen’s article explains why.
• The Edge of the American West offers an explanation for why James McPherson finally said something negative about a fellow historian in his review of John Keegan’s The American Civil War: A Military History.
• The new issue of The Believer includes forensic artist Barbara Anderson’s renderings of eight criminals from literature.  The Boston Globe posted images of Anderson’s drawings of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov and Cormac McCarthy’s Judge Holden.  For the rest, you’ll have to go to your favorite bookstore.
• In response to the nominees for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award, Mark Athitakis presents his own awards for bad writing.
• And, who hasn’t wanted “Neil Young” to cover the theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

Hip hop blog YNotMyDream has just put out Beneath The Surface, a mixtape featuring a few artists that appear on this blog regularly and new ones you may have not heard of. This is also YNotMyDream’s first mixtape released through the site. Beneath The Surface is a great compilation to play around the house or while you’re in a car.

Tracklist x Download Link after the jump

1. Drekidd – Black Out (Prod. Johnny Cash)
2. BK Cyph – Drawin’ The Line Freestyle
3. QuEST & Donny Goines – Let The Rain Fall (Remix) (Prod. Numonics)
4. PHZ-Sicks – Yerrdig! (Prod. Black Milk)
5. The Kid Daytona – Black Superhero (Prod. 6th Sense)
6. El Prez – Flo Jackson (Prod. Vision)
7. Thr33zy Mcfly – Gone In 60 Seconds
8. D.Julien – Ventilation (Prod. Buzz)
9. Mike Dreams Feat. Christina Fisher – We Going Worldwide
10. Volition – Check The Style (Prod. Thelonious)
11. K. Sparks Feat. The MAD Poet – Smooth Thoughts
12. Love Jones a.k.a. Mike Schpitz – Same Song (Prod. Lord Quest)
13. Brown Bag Allstars – Brooklyn Queens Expressway (Prod. Marink)
14. Cymarshall Law – Officer Ricky Freestyle
15. West Restless Feat. Skipp Whitman, & Lo Tec – The Race
16. Anton Genius – Not An Amateur
17. J. Lately – Supposed To Be (Prod. Jansport J)
18. Add-2 Feat. Franco De Leon – How Can I
19. The ILLZ – Faded
20. XV – Written In The Stars (Prod. Charlie Hilton)

Download: Beneath The Surface

Thanksgiving Eve  (Wed., Nov. 25, 2009)

5:00 – 7:00 pm – Ollie O’Shea Solo!Green Mill

4802 N. Broadway/ Chicago/773-878-5552

Ollie O’Shea is well educated in the field of American country music. He has been playing guitar and singing most of his life and has worked with some of the best country musicians Nashville  has to offer.

Ollie has been recently signed as a songwriter to “Good Bit Music,” a publishing company owned by one of Nashville’s most successful songwriters, Jim Lauderdale. Ollie has played fiddle with such artists as Hank Williams III, Garry Allan, George Ducas, Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale.

Email: ollie@ollieoshea.com

Ollie center stage!

Ollie’s latest CD!

Was macht ein Musiker, wenn er im Moment überhaupt keine Idee für neue Songs hat oder einfach mal „was Neues“ probieren möchte? Eine kreative Pause einlegen? Jamsessions mit anderen Musikern machen?
Weit gefehlt.
Er covert einen anderen Song. Manchmal versucht er sich an eigenen nochmal, manchmal an denen von andern Musikern. Und leider kommt da zu 90 % nichts Gutes heraus. Manchmal aber sind Coversongs sogar richtig gut. Und hin und wieder sind sie sogar besser, als das Original. Aber leider nur in den aller seltensten Fällen.

A Perfect Circle beispielsweise hat mit der CD eMOTIVe ein ganzes Album mit Coversongs (mit Ausnahme von zwei Songs) veröffentlicht – und die sind wirklich geglückt. Besonders John Lennon’s Imagine sticht durch eine fast völlig neue Interpretation heraus.

Und nein, Hurt ist nicht von Johnny Cash. In Wirklichkeit stammt der Song aus der Feder von Trent Reznor, Mastermind von den Nine Inch Nails. Aber ehrlich gesagt ist das Original nicht halb so gut wie die Johnny Cash-Version. Hier das Original, zum Vergleichen. Würd gern mal eure Meinung dazu hören!

Auch Number of the Beast wurde schon mal gecovert. Der Iron Maiden-Klassiker wurde von Zwan total neu und sehr soft interpretiert und ist am Soundtrack zum Film Spun zu finden. Und für alle, die es nicht kennen auch hier das Original als Vergleich.

Zum Schmunzeln, aber doch einfach genial ist My Way (natürlich von Frank Sinatra) gecovert von Sid Vicious.

Eine Liste, der besten Coversongs aller Zeiten (der ich im Großen und Ganzen ziemlich zustimme) findet man hier.

Aber leider sind diese Songs nur die Ausnahme. In der Regel schauen Coversongs wie folgt aus. Ich bring nur einige Beispiele, denn ich bin mir absolut sicher, jeder von uns kennt genug dieser Negativbeispiele…

Britney Spears – I love Rock ‘N Roll

Sheryl Crow – Sweet Child ‘O Mine

Hilary Duff – My Generation

…und das sind nur einige Beispiele. Mein Fazit: FAIL!

Und nun noch das Kalendarium zum heutigen 24. November 2009:
(Kleine Notiz am Rande: In einem Monat ist Weihnachten)

Heute vor 8 Jahren verstarb der Musiker Eric Carr, der den ersten KISS-Schlagzeuger Peter Criss 1980 ersetzte.
Ja, heute ist kein glücklicher Tag für den Rock. Am 24. 11., auch vor 8 Jahren erlag Freddy Mercury in London seiner AIDS-Erkrankung.

Doch wie schon einmal an dieser Stelle erwähnt, liegen Leben und Tod knapp beieinander. Und so…
…wurde heute vor 54 Jahren Clem Burke geboren. Er spielte als Schlagzeuger unter anderem bei Blondie, den Ramones, Iggy Pop und Joan Jett.

Eure Blutsschwester.

REVIEW

ALL THE FAME OF LOFTY DEEDS

House Theatre

Written by Mark Guarino

Directed by Tommy Rapley

Through December 20^th (tickets available here)

*** (out of 4)

Let me clear the air before you read any further and let you know that I might be an anomaly when it comes to all things House Theatre.  To be honest, I’ve never really been too impressed by much of anything I’ve seen by them (which, admittedly, hasn’t been a whole lot).  Their adolescent sense of curiosity, dancey staging, and extreme energy acting doesn’t really jive with my tastes.  Maybe that makes me a soulless, fun-hating ol’ stick in the mud.  Either way, there was something about their newest production, All the Fame of Lofty Deeds, which struck a chord (get ready for some music puns) with me.  The show, detailing the rise and fall of a country music star, is darker and more mature than the House’s usual fare, and also requires a more grounded style.  Although there are some glaring narrative and stylistic issues, Lofty Deeds forces all of the House’s creative energy into something denser and deeper than anything I’ve seen there previously.

Although they usually devise their own pieces, the House chose an outside play as their season opener. Lofty Deeds, written by rock journalist Mark Guarino, is saturated with the music and art of Jon Langford.  Langford, an alt-country pioneer, is known for his twangy hillbilly music and mythic lyrics that combine classic country with a punk rock ethos.  He is also famous for painting portraits of country music legends like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.  Lofty Deeds captures Langford’s aesthetic: the story revolves around a rebellious country music star staring death in the face (in the form of a tumbleweed), the design is inspired by Langford’s art, and vibrant, live versions of Langford’s music infiltrate every scene.

The “dangers/fallacies/hypocrisies of the music business” plot doesn’t cover any new territory.  At the beginning of the play, former country music star and senior citizen Lofty Deeds (Nathan Allen) is coerced into revisiting the ghosts of his past—the death of his recording partner and brother, ruined relationships, selling out to evil music executives, the inevitable substance addictions.  Where the House really succeeds is painting this story in a charmingly imaginative way.  In this production, the “suits” appear as a Brooks Brothers-adorned five-headed hydra.  Through Tommy Rapley’s dance-like choreography, the five actors that represent corporate America become a single organism: moving, speaking, and thinking the same.  We also see Deeds slow-dance his way into love with a woman whose face is always veiled, and then we watch him neglect her for a life on the road.  All of this is narrated and driven by a talking and singing tumbleweed (Corri Feuerstein).  It seems that the weed is sometimes a grim reaper figure, sometimes an inspiration, and sometimes the cause of Lofty’s unwanted flashbacks.  Like a bunch of the show’s elements, the tumbleweed character often causes more confusion than symbolic enlightenment.

I was able to forgive many of the clunkier moments and just go with the production’s rhythmic flow.  However, there were more than a handful of times when the narrative became obscured.  For example, there is a recurring talking horse puppet that never really made sense to me.  Part of these inconsistencies was probably due to Guarino’s script being a little underdeveloped, and part of it came from Rapley’s emphasis on theatricality over clarity.

Lofty Deeds stands out among House productions for me because it was the most grounded show I’ve seen by them.  In a refreshing twist, not every moment was overplayed.  Allen does a pretty good job carrying the show, but he plays far too much to the audience.  That might be the House’s aesthetic, and it is totally fine in the more expressive moments, but it can dissipate all the tension in the dramatic scenes.  It just doesn’t work when we watch Deeds discuss his perpetual loneliness with his brother’s ghost or the singing dead plant and then he turns and delivers a couple of lines to us.  Patrick Martin, though, does a marvelous job as his dead brother, Lefty Deeds.  He is simple yet complex, remarkably charming yet says little.  If the whole production could match his style, the show could be absolutely wonderful.

–Barry Eitel

More information can be found at www.thehousetheatre.com

Może nie każdy z was zdaje sobie z tego sprawę, ale autorem tej niezwykłej piosenki jest Trent Reznor z Nine Inch Nails. Kawałek “Hurt” pochodzi z 1994 z drugiego albumu studyjnego zespołu NIN – “The Downward Spiral“. Piosenka stała się bardziej popularna i znana dopiero po nagraniu coveru tego utworu przez ś. p. Johnny’ego Casha.

Osobiście bardziej podoba mi się wersja NIN, chociaż Johnny Cash też ma swój urok.

Nine Inch Nails

Cover by Johnny Cash

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

Häromdagen släppte Norah Jones ett nytt album och den här gången går hon ifrån sin hissmysiga pianomusik och låter nästan singer-songwriter. Med god hjälp från min (gamla) hjälte Ryan Adams. Ville visst låta lite opolerad och rå, enligt intervjuer och recensioner i bland annat HD, Expressen och DN. Men hon har ju fortfarande en sammetslen röst, så det låter ju liksom inte Janis Joplin. Inte heller låter det country bara för att gamle gode Ryan Adams skrivit en låt. Men å andra sidan var det ett tag sedan Ryan själv lät country, om vi ska vara riktigt ärliga.

Vad många dock inte vet är att Norah Jones faktiskt KAN låta country, bara hon vill. Och det vill hon i bandet The Little Willies”, och hon/dom gör det bra. Låter country alltså. Men så är det också ett coverband med idel ädel nobla musiker som alla huserar i New York och till vardags spelar med artister som Martha Wainwright och Diana Krall. Förutom bostadsort har de fem medlemmarna, med Norah Jones i spetsen, även det gemensamt att de hyser en stor kärlek till country musik. Efter att ha jammat tillsammans på klubben The Living Room i New York några gånger, och ett par välgörenhetsevenemang, insåg bandet att fans uppskattade deras, i många fall synnerligen alternativa (läs upptempo) versioner av countryklassisker, att det var läge för en skiva. 2006 ger The Little Willies ut sitt självbetitlade album som innehåller smittsamt glada och frejdiga låtar/versioner som “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive” av Hank Williams, “Tennesse Stud” som bl a Johnny Cash gjort och “I Gotta Get Drunk” av Willie Nelson.

Om du tror att country är förknippat med släpig, gnällig, tempofattiga låtar i moll – think again. The Little Willies dammar av och livar upp nya och gamla klassiker på ett sätt och med ett sound som får dig att dansa på bord, stolar och fönsterbräden.

Vill du inte sövas av Norah Jones vanligtvis, förvisso behagliga men också slöa röst, höj ljudet på stereon/datorn och pumpa The Little Willies för glatta livet. För precis s känns livet när tonerna från detta spelglada band sätter tänderna i sina countryfavoriter. Tror du mig inte så lyssna på “I Gotta Get Drunk” nedan. Har du Spotify kan du för nöjes skull kan du jämföra med Willies version.

Lyssnar mer på Spotify:

The Little Willies – “The Little Willies”

Willie Nelson – “Both Sides Now”

Johnny Cash – “American Recordings” (med Tennessee Stud)

^June on far right

This post has been inspired by, the motion picture, Walk The Line – June Carter’s grace, strength, and humor are infectious.  I admire her  fiery and passionate personality.

Reese Witherspoon’s depiction of June Carter was excellent.  In fact, she won an Oscar, BAFTA, Critics Choice Award, and a Golden Globe (just to name a few!) for best performance by an actress in a leading role for Walk the Line in 2005.

source: walk the line movie trailer

June Carter Cash – Bio

Valerie June Carter was born June 23, 1929, in Maces Springs, Va., the second of the three daughters of Mother Maybelle Carter of the legendary Carter Family. Her mother taught her to play autoharp (and later guitar) and in 1939, she and sisters Anita and Helen Carter were appearing on Border Radio as members of the Carter Family.

When the original Carter Family retired in 1943, she sang and played rhythm guitar in the family group, Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, on various radio stations. From 1950 onwards, for many years, they were regulars on the Grand Ole Opry.

Although not possessing the finer vocal talents of her sisters, she did develop a flair for comedy, which she used to good effect in a character she called Aunt Polly. In 1949, she enjoyed a country and pop hit with a duet version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with comedy duo Homer & Jethro.

In 1952, June married Carl Smith, with whom she performed at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, and their daughter, Rebecca Carlene (later to record under the name Carlene Carter), was born in 1955. After their divorce in the late ’50s, Carter was managed by Colonel Tom Parker and toured with Elvis Presley, and while living in Nashville, she met and briefly married local police officer Rip Nix with whom she another daughter, Rosie.

In the early 60s, June began to work with Johnny Cash’s show, soon being joined by her mother and sisters. In 1964, her recording with Cash of “It Ain’t Me Babe” made both country and pop charts and in 1967, they had a No. 2 country hit with “Jackson.” She married Cash on March 1, 1968. From that point, her career has naturally run in conjunction with his as she continued to be a regular and expected member of his show. The following year they were voted Vocal Group of the Year and their son John Carter Cash was born in 1970.

Following a long absence from the spotlight, she returned with the 1999 album Press On, which won a Grammy for best traditional folk album. The 2003 album Wildwood Flower also won two Grammys. She died on May 15, 2003.

In 2005, a film based on her romance with Cash, Walk the Line, was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture. Reese Witherspoon, who played Carter Cash, won an Oscar for her role. That same year, Columbia Legacy issued a two-disc set, Keep on the Sunny Side: June Carter Cash — Her Life in Music.

]]> http://albumdujour.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/johnny-cash-unearthed-disc-1-whos-gonna-cry/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:12:41 +0000 albumdujour http://albumdujour.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/johnny-cash-unearthed-disc-1-whos-gonna-cry/

We last left Johnny Cash on 2 notes, in one, we have the aging legend, at the end of his life, putting out an amazing album that drew from so many sources that one hesitates to even call it “Country”, and in another, we have Cash, just over the age of 40, recording an album that would not see the light of day until people would eventually realize that Johnny Cash works best with the least amount of resources save for his voice, a beautiful black Martin guitar, and a wealth of songs that go back to the time before albums and recordings.

Well, with the help of Rick Rubin, one of the last things Johnny Cash did was plan out the release of a 5-disc album that effectively combines those two notes to strike a very pleasant chord indeed:

The point of Unearthed is simple (so we’ll be done here quickly, right?): Take the best of the outtakes to the (then) 4 American albums, put them in some cohesive order, throw in another album of hymns, and a “best of”, and a book of stuff and you’ve got it. Slap a $75 price tag on it and give the completists something to drool over.

Of course, once you actually read that book of stuff, you find out that not only is each disc in Unearthed actually plotted out like an actual album, but there is a rhyme and reason for every single track on it. Rick Rubin, Johnny Cash (whether by his own words or vicariously through the testimony of an annoying journalist), and a few others give their thoughts and reflections on what, upon first listen, just seems like someone going through a grocery list of material. For the only time that I can think of, the liner notes are actually an integral part to the entire album. See, this isn’t so much a collection of “outtakes”, not any more than the actual American Recordings albums a collection of outtakes. The only reason they were taken out is because they didn’t fit in with the cohesion of the numbered albums in quite the way Johnny would have liked (sometimes they did and were shelved anyway because they kind of got lost in the pile, that’s how many songs there are).

It would be foolish of me to try and tackle every one of the album’s 79 tracks with a writeup, especially when the words out of the mouths of giants are to be better heeded. I’m listening to the album as I write, and I really just want to kind of go over the feel of the various parts of the collection, and perhaps shed some trivial light on the actual songs. Why not, I’m here all night!

The first three discs are the “outtakes”, and are each named after a line from a song within. The first disc is titled “Who’s Gonna Cry”, which is from “The Caretaker”, and is, of course, followed by “when old John dies?” That particular song’s inclusion is an interesting sentiment and we’ll get to it in due time. The album itself is entirely taken from those first sessions that would become the first American Recordings album. As such, with an exception or two, we have just Johnny Cash and a guitar.

As I may have mentioned before, the way albums with just Johnny Cash and a guitar go, there’s something just warm and family-like about the whole thing. Like the way one would look up to an older relative, Johnny’s playing and singing isn’t the strongest thing in the world, but the ineffable presence of the Man In Black is what keeps the album moving gracefully. In this case, the album itself isn’t quite as graceful because the tracks were intentionally left as unpolished as possible. This actually further adds to the charm on some of the songs for me, but may give the album a bit of a haphazard feel to others. Either way, Cash carries it by the weight of the songs involved, and the selection is spell-binding.

First off we have a re-treatment of “Long Black Veil”, with an interesting turnaround for the lyrics. The chorus is placed differently, and the “Scaffold” line is placed second, ahead of the line that reveals that the lady who “Walks these hills in a long black veil” is the “best friend’s wife” that Cash was in the arms of instead of committing the crime spoken of in the first line. At first I figured he just forgot the order of the lines in the song, but no reference is made to that in the album’s book, so instead I think it’s just a turnaround Cash wanted to make. An admission Cash does make about this song is that it’s dark and thus he wanted to include it, since that was kind of the theme to American Recordings as he puts it, “You don’t get darker than Long Black Veil!”

Re-visiting the love theme, but leaving behind the murder for now (well he does mention death once but nevermind), we move along to “Flesh And Blood”. First appearing in 1970 as an instrumental on a soundtrack, it came out as a single in the same year and unfortunately never really saw an album release until this one (the original with lyrics can be found on The Legend boxset). The song is a reflection of Cash on the beauty of nature and how “Mother Nature’s quite a lady, but you’re the one I need”. It was written for June Carter shortly after they were married, and it’s one of those songs that will make most people go “Aww”, but I personally can’t stand the word “flesh” so it took me a while to get to liking this song.

“Just The Other Side Of Nowhere” is a Kris Kristofferson song, who is a long-time friend of Cash’s, and tends to project a more vagabond kind of image, seemingly, but I don’t know much about Kristofferson so I can’t say too much about him. The song is touching though, about a character who has been chewed up and spit out of the big city and the chorus just tells it all:

I’ve got a mind to watch the headlights shinin’
On that old white line between my heart and home
Sick of spending Sundays wishing they were Mondays
Sittin’ in the park alone
Give my best to anyone who’s left who’s ever done me
Any lovin’ way but wrong
And tell that the pride of Just The Other Side Of Nowhere’s going home

A brilliant song, right up there with the strikingly similar hit “Sunday  Morning Coming Down”, but without the “getting stoned” references.

The next song was extraordinarily hard to take for along time for me. It’s the single, stand-out number of this album that made me choose today to talk about this album, and I don’t even feel totally comfortable going into it in depth. It’s a song by Billy Joe Shaver, of whom Cash remarks is his “favorite writer”, and it’s called “If I Give My Soul”. The song is about an alcoholic musician praying to God about the wife and son he lost because of drinking and music, and ponders an interesting question regarding his Salvation:

If I give my soul
Will He clean these clothes I’m wearing?
If I give my soul
Will He put new boots on my feet?
If I bow my head
And beg God for His forgiveness
Will He breathe new life within me
And bring her back to me?

Indeed, what are the material changes in a person’s look and demeanor if they give their souls? The lines that really strike a chord with me are ones that are swapped out in the chorus like “Will He stop my hands from shaking?”, “Will my son love me again?”, and the kicker, “If I give my soul, and she knows I really mean it, if I make my peace with Jesus, will they take me back again?” The singer seems to not be looking for salvation from God as much as wanting to be accepted back into his family, and that’s a situation that flies far too close to my head for me to keep a dry eye through this song if it catches me by surprise. That’s about as much as I want to get into it, really. It’s a brilliant song either way, it makes no sense that Rick Rubin knocks it in the book for being “theatrical”, when it’s the most “real” song I’ve ever heard.

Either way, after that emotional mess, it’s time to liven things up a bit with a good old-fashioned breakup song! “Understand Your Man” is kind of an odd duck in Cash’s repetoire. Basically, it takes the tune of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, which is already one of the most covered songs of all time, and becomes a song that’s like “Don’t Think Twice” but takes away all of the implicitly sarcastic consolations and just lays it all out on the line. Interestingly, this half-original song came out on a Columbian album called I Walk The Line wherein Cash re-recorded a lot of his old Sun hits, so it’s a half-original song stuck into a stack of non-original originals. Yeah, don’t think twice about that, why don’t you? As a final note about this song, Cash would later do his own cover of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” on Orange Blossom Special not even one year later, which probably further confused fans at the time. Don’t do drugs, kids.

I know that Johnny said that there’s nothing darker than “Long Black Veil”, but I’d like to nominate “The Banks Of The Ohio” as a strong contender for the title. The song is about a man (called “Willy” in the song) who walks with his lover down along the banks of the Ohio river, and he proposes to her, and she shyly turns away and doesn’t say anything, which I guess is rejection? Anyway, he does the natural thing and sticks a knife in her chest and then drags her by her hair down to the river and drowns her. The final lines of the song are kind of a “What have I done?!” moment, but the whole thing is a murder ballad in the strictest sense of the word. The real kicker for me is that, for one, this is not the first time Cash has recorded this song, the first time was in 1963 and, for two, it was for The Carter Family because the song was written by Mother Maybelle Carter, Johnny’s future mother-in-law. I guess the irony should be that a sweet old lady like Mother Maybelle is the least likely person to have written a murder ballad like that, but then again she was instrumental in the creation of Country music, which definitely contains its fair share of murder ballads, so it actually does make a lot of sense. It’s a fun song when you get used to it.

Well, if murder isn’t your thing, how about rampant mysogyny? That’s my style, for sure! You may enjoy “Two Timin’ Woman”, which is one of the early songs that Cash wrote for Sun, though it wouldn’t be released until half a decade after he left Sun, so the song was kind of lost to the ages. Like many of the love-lost songs that Cash wrote for Sun (and there were many, believe me), this one is about a woman who is basically Satan and can’t seem to be faithful to the singer for even half an hour. This particular line has a great resolution though:

‘Cause if I ever find her, gonna chain her to the floor
And tell her “Now sit there, Honey, you ain’t leavin’ no more
I’m gonna tame ya, Mama, ’til you’re eatin’ from my hand
It’s not that I don’t love you, Honey, it’s just to make you understand”

I firmly believe only Johnny Cash and Bill Haley could get away with that one. Of course, I love it.

“The Caretaker” is a re-visit to a song Cash wrote long ago, originally for Don Law on an album they were working on together, but it wound up released on 1959’s Songs Of Our Soil (which I just realized, have I not talked about that album yet? I could have sworn I did! Weird!) The song was originally written when Cash was about 27 years old, so lines like “Who’s gonna cry when old John dies?” didn’t really resonate that well, but fit quite well with the album’s undeniable theme of death. Now, the song puts old Johnny in the role of a cemetary caretaker, and where there was once a lyrical commentary on people and their strange priorities, now there’s just Johnny, singing about his own death as the “world rushes by outside”. Still, the song isn’t as dark as all that, and a faint chuckle can be heard by Cash after finishing the song, as if the statement carries more of a comical tone than a dour one (who would have thought of Cash as much of an existentialist?)

Cash then throws out another Billy Joe Shaver cover in the form of “Old Chunk Of Coal”, which is a little more of a hymn in Shaver’s traditional style than anything. It’s just the singer’s insistence that, despite his rough edges, he’ll be a diamond someday. I quite like it, because people nowadays seem to think they need to be convinced that they’re already perfect (stupid self-esteem movement) and the truth is, we’re all chunks of coal that need a lot of work, and work is what we have to do. Well played, Cash. This song is absolutely perfect for him.

Next we get a strange one, but fitting, as it’s a prison song. “I’m Going To Memphis” is a song you might remember as kind of an ol’ Blues song (like, “Blues that predates guitars” Blues) from Ride This Train. The song is still as fun as ever, and its inclusion may not be that important, except to say that it’s a Cash original that was a hit and was good enough to be brought back for another round, as that’s kind of the way this album goes.

“Breaking Bread” is a song that Cash did for Little House On The Prairie, and has very little to say about it. I too am struggling with the words.

“Waiting For A Train” is another of those fun songs about vagrancy that was written by Jimmie Rodgers and first appeared on Cash’s working-man’s album, Blood, Sweat, And Tears. I do like the song a lot because it puts the singer in one of those adventuresome positions, where you don’t know where he came from or where he’s going, but you’re caught in that moment of him trying (and failing) to catch a free ride on a train. Of course, for Cash this was somewhat autobiographical, at least on his father’s part, so it says a little something about Cash’s character, even if it’s fiction.

“Casey’s Last Ride” is another Kristofferson song that desperately needed a re-working, because it’s a great song, but the original version that appears on Cash’s late-Columbian 1985 album Rainbow sounds like one of those terrible 80’s rock songs that would grace some kind of sunset-on-the-beach scene in some terrible 80’s movie with the wailing guitar, plastic piano, and everything else that was wrong with Cash’s sound in the 80’s. This version is just an acoustic guitar, and feels more like the ballad it should be.

“No Earthly Good” is a song I already went over in my writeup for Personal File. This version is also just Cash and a guitar, and I think the lyrics fit together better with this final re-working.

The next song is a bit of an oddity, as it tells the Biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how those three gay young men were saved from the flames of a vengeful king with help of a “Fourth Man In The Fire”. The oddity is that the song is actually a boogie, very similar in structure to something like “One Piece At A Time” or “A Boy Named Sue”, only it’s a biblical story, and it wasn’t even written by Cash, it was written by an unlikely character called Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, who sounds by his name like he’d be writing rockabilly songs about chasing women (he’s also still alive, apparently, and is 88 years old). Either way, the only real thing of note about this song is that Cash had to recite a verse from the Book of Daniel as an intro, and every time he had to do a new take in the music, he had to re-take the intro to. Why? Because apparently Rick Rubin had no idea how to cut things and splice them back together, so you can visibly hear Cash lose patience in his recitation, and even the song seems kind of like they just used the best take of several and then moved on. It kind of disrupts the peaceful mood of the album, but it’s OK, we’re almost at the end.

“Dark As A Dungeon” is the final of many attempts to record this song and “get it right”, as Cash put it. It’s actually a Merle Travis song from years ago, and Cash has put it on an album, a live album, and has messed with it in a few ways, but the version that’s on Unearthed is not only his favorite version, but mine as well. The song itself is a cautionary tale to people who are tempted to work in coal mines for a living, a temptation which, in a slightly different way, has actually been presented to me at one point, and I took his advice to heart and ran away from that. I think what Cash or Merle are getting at with this song is that you shouldn’t waste your life away seeking out material wealth, as it will turn your blood as black as the coal. I’ve seen this happen in others, and that’s why I’m here writing a blog instead of working in some terrible oil field. I can tell you, I am actually having fun here.

A rare treat follows this song, a “Book Review”, which was just something that was put on tape while the engineers were moving microphones around. Basically it’s just a conversation between Cash and Rubin about Lebanese author Khalil Gibran’s book The Prophet, which Cash was being asked to narrate for a recording. This recording never happened, but Mr. Tramp Shining himself, Richard Harris, was kind enough to do a musical version of the book in 1974, so I think the world should be content with that. It’s an interesting little bit of conversation for those who want to hear Cash having an enthusiastic conversation about literature, you really get a sense of the fact that he was an extraordinarily well-read man.

Finally, we get an alternate version of the Tom Waits song that Cash did for American Recordings, “Down There By The Train”. There are almost no discernable interests that I can remember about the two, and this late in the game, I shall not seek them out. There are a few “alternate takes” on this album with not much to say about them that wasn’t said about the original songs.

With that, the first disc of Unearthed comes to a close, and I’m getting close to that myself. In my enthusiasm to tell the story of every track, I kind of let over 3300 words slip out, so I think I should close the book on this one for today, and pick up on the second disc next week. In fact, I might as well spread this album out over the next month by talking about each disc on Monday until the end of the year (when I plan to talk about one or two more Johnny Cash albums anyway).

Still, I do want to mention that the reason I wanted to talk about this album today was because it was one of the last albums I ever listened to with my dad, back when I only had the album in .mp3 format and I got to hang out with my dad on my birthday last year. We listened to this first disc and had stories to tell about the songs, and particularly the “If I Give My Soul” song told him the same story it told me, and was very moving. On the day he died, November 23rd of last year, I bought this collection and have listened to it dozens of times since. It means a lot to me for the two times in my life it (especially this first part) has come in very handy.

We’ll pick up on the album later, until then, thanks for reading.

Listen
Shopping-Eek A Mouse
Buying a Book – Joe Tex
How Much is that Doggie in the Window – Annie Jackson, Barbara Jones, Matz Ztefrens, Joe Livoti and Rolf Harris
Lost in the Supermarket – The Clash
Billy Broke my Heart at Walgreens (I cried all the Way to Sears) – Ruby Wright
Ayres the Bakers – Boycott Coca Cola Experience
Warrior in Woolworths – X-Ray Spex
Duo – Carlos D’Allessio
Fairytale in the Supermarket – The Raincoats
Can’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles
Shopping Mall – R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders
Bargain Store – Dolly Parton
The Lonely Little Thrift Store – Jonathan Richman
Window Shopping – The Beach Bullies
La Petite Boutique – Edith Piaf
Luxury Mood – Superthriller
La Fille de Checkout – Men in Grey Suits
Ballad of a Teenage Queen – Johnny Cash
Manager in Love – Kissogram
Drugstore Woman – John Lee Hooker

“And I know you hate me and you’ve got the right
To kill me now I wouldn’t blame you if you do
But you oughta thank me before I die
For the gravel in your guts and the spit in your eye
For I’m the son of a bitch that named you Sue”

Take notice of the songwriter’s name.

It’s none other than Shel Silverstein, the late, renown children’s author and playwright. Apparently, Silverstein was quite an accomplished songwriter as well.

While I’m no “fan” of Wikipedia, there is an interesting, if not enlightening article on him there. Sorry… no link. You can look it up. That’s my form of protest.

BUT! As a service to you, kind reader, I will provide a link to ShelSilverstein.com – his his official site.

Lyric excerpt from:
“Boy Named Sue“
(legal title)
Songwriter/Composer – Shel Silverstein
Affilitation – BMI
CAE/IPI # – 28738853
Publishers – Evil Eye Music, Inc.
Affiliation – BMI
CAE/IPI # – 53070412

Phone: (212) 594-9795
Fax: (212) 594-9782
Contact:
Evil Eye Music, Inc.
c/o The Richmond Organization
266 West 37th Street
17th Floor
New York, NY 10018
DLEITNER@GOLENBOCK.COM

Remix de Laurent Wolf da música “Walk The Line” de Johnny Cash.

Clique aqui para baixar (Mediafire).

Clique aqui para baixar (4shared).

More fantastic illustrations by John Keely, this time of Johnny Cash. Thank you to Roz who kindly bought me the book in which they appear.

I’ve been whistling this tune for over a week. I don’t want to over-analyze the meaning, but my mom’s convinced that I’m feeling confined and need to bust out. who knows?

my, what big truck you have!

in other news, I saw a truck.

not the most exciting of news, I know, but the guys was from Alberta – which made its out-of-context-ridiculous-unnecessarynness comprehendable (note: I just invented two words).

My aunt and my grandma cook gigantic family dinners on alternating Fridays, collectively ensuring that no one in the extended family loses weight. Regardless (or because of this?),I really enjoy attending. It is nice to see the family for sure once a week, and catch-up on the goings-on. Sometimes they go overboard, such as this past friday, where we find Aunty Flo serving 3 desserts to already full guests:

Some kind of tiramasu-ish thing.

Pear pie with ice-cream

Baked Apple

I know, my life is full of difficult decisions. I give you one guess as to which of these I ended up eating.

A view from the top of the stairs, down into the gutted livingroom.

Today was good! I’ve realized that since I don’t have a job, or study at school, the days of the week mean nothing to me. So today I continued with the flooring project, ripping up carpet and foam in the living room, with the assistance of my mom and Em. It’s fun to rip old stuff out and replace it with the new…though we’ve yet to put all the new in. The room that we first did looks great ( pics in earlier posts), and I’m looking forward to the beautification, and de-allergizing of the house.

Speaking of the room we did (which is the one I sleep in). I walked in the room after a shower, only to find a great mystery on the floor. You’ll never guess. Ok, try then. See? It was a feather.

Mystery Feather!

My mind, as many minds do, immediately jumped to ridiculous conclusions. Sarious, the first thoughts I had were: “did a bird get in through the window?” (there are no birds with these feathers around here, and, the window is/was closed); “did a mouse leave a feather that it had found behind?” (because, as everyone knows, mice make nests or something using bird feathers), and, “did nutmeg kill/find a dead bird, and then leave behind a feather in my room?”

i mulled over these meager options as if there was no other explanation in the world except them. I changed, and left the room, feather in the center, still confused – only to notice one key piece of evidence on the way back in: the pillows. Yeah, unbelievable. how did I miss the most obvious explanation? Amazing, how such a light feather can weigh so heavily on a mind.

Today was exciting for more reasons! My cousin Munir ( a genius by trade), read older posts on the blog, and was really supportive of my making an interactive Whiteboard – going so far as to show me the available technology presented on a TED talk. I intend to make one soon.

Also, MIT has course materials available for free online! There must be plenty others – so \I think the plan now is to aggregate the freely-offered course ware from various places, organize it by class and field, and then see if we can start finding willing online tutors and request certification from the government! Will be great! University enters cloud computing for reals. Maybe our slogan can be “Wherever you’re going, keep your head in the cloud”. Or maybe I should just bite the bullet and enter the advertising world.

em displays the pooper-scoopers she found, along with her dedication to 'poop-hunting'.

We went out for lunch, and em found these twin scoopers in the store. She actually got so excited about getting scoopers made specifically for picking up poops. She was terribly disappointed that we didn’t outfit ourselves with new “poop-hunting” gear. I laughed on the inside, I laughed on the outside, I ate a soup and sandwich, and drank a cappuccino.

I finished my first free-lance writing project, and have moved on to finishing the course on critical and creative thought for UniED. I’m pretty new to the world of curriculum development, but designing games and activities, and really thinking about how to communicate ideas is make me excite!

So far, I only have a small database of activities, and some initial ideas for the course, but I plan to grow that into 24 hours of class time by the end of the month. Wish me luck! (or post suggestions, I am down for input).

Also, what does it mean when you’re attacked by a beast in your dreams? I’ve heard a few people now recount tales of recurring dreams of being attacked by many and varied ferocious fauna (lions, tigers, bears, etc.).

After watching the movie “walk the line” with a friend of mine, I’ve been thinking. Wow, what a bitch Johnny Cash was. God forbid, he’s a good man, by all means, he fitted perfect for the time period, but what would he be if he grew up in the world of today? He’d be just like the Norwegian singer “Sissel Kyrkjebø”.

Which is a person well famous in certain groups of people, but she’s just for particularly interested beings. 

Thus, it’s rightful to say that he does not deserve his fame. Especially after his death. He would have been labeled as emo, partially due to his depressing and dark themes in his songs, but mostly because of his “life is worthless” attitude and/or constantly black clothing.

He started playing in a band back in Memphis (since all great music comes from Memphis; Ref: Elvis), Tennessee, the man in black signed for the same label Elivs had signed for years before him. But before he could sign for Sun, the music label, he presented gospel music. Tragically enough, rumor have it that the producer: Sam Phillips told him to go home and sin, then come back with a song he could sell. But Cash refused to confirm the allegations against his old producer in the interview in 2002.

Even before this, he married Vivian Liberto in Santi Anne’s catholic church, only to file for divorce 12 years and 4 kids later, due to Mr Black’s constant alcohol and amphetamine abuse, constant touring and affairs with other women. It seems that he’s a really good guy, or is it just me? Let us backtrack, the year is 1950’s early 1960’s, where Christianity (conservatively) ruled as a general “moral code” in USA.

By the time he released his most famous songs; he was 27, married, 4 kids, and soon to be divorced. As he carried on into the 60’s he got an even worsening image, during the late 50’s his addiction started to spiral out of control into a problem that he soon could not keep hidden. Publicly notice came in 1965 where he were arrested in El Paso, Texas for trafficking narcotics, but the charges was laid of as the nature of the drugs was prescription amphetamines hidden inside his guitar.

He went on to driving his career into a halt around the 1960’s where his drug addiction was at his worst, creating a few “concept albums”, but nothing that really matter in the general opinion. The same period he parted with his Vivian Liberto, due to his worsening addiction and destructive behavior. Thus, after a highly (drug induced) Christian experience in the Nickajack Cave where Mr. Black wanted to “just lay down and die”, he came out a new man, throwing his addictions behind him and begin a new life.

In 1968, two years after divorcing his former wife, he remarried with his career long companion June Carter, co writer on the song Ring of Fire.

After following years, he began the 70’s with a world that was moving to fast for him and people began to loose interest after the song “Man in Black” aired and found it’s place with the number one badge for over 20 weeks on the top twenty in the country.

After this there’s just not been much to say about Mr Black, other than what I think; What an ass. After this brief  explanation of his career, it’s obvious that this is not what we would like to show our kids as one of the greatest people in history, is it? It’s like putting Lady Gaga’s Love Game on a “Hits for kids”.

Oh wait. We have…
(Ref; Hits for kids 22, if I remember right.)
But that’s for another post.

Point is, I don’t understand that we wanted this much moral decay in a time that stood for the Christian values that should provide a deep moral ground for the youth at the time? Since it’s pretty much the same story with both Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. Sadly.

Sincerely
Ole H. Berg

"Ode to Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire" by Elloh on Etsy

I’m not sure if I’ve pronounced my love yet here for the great Mr. Johnny Cash, but if not, I’ve been remiss. And I know I’ve pronounced my love for Etsy.

So when I saw these fantastic prints in Elloh’s shop, paying homage to some of the great icons of our popular culture, I immediately wanted, well, all of them. But a few, including this gorgeous Johnny Cash print, made it onto my Christmas list (you reading, dear husband?).

But better hurry. She’s retiring several of these prints on Etsy on December 15th, 2009!

Go on over, take a look, and tell her we sent ya!

P.S.- Spending a good part of my childhood in Nashville, I’d just like to say I loved the great Johnny Cash long before the wave of popular Walk the Line (beautiful movie with beautiful music and acting, though, by the way) came out. Just for the record!

 Jeg er veldig glad i coverversjoner som gjøres med en egen vri (må for all del ikke sammenlignes med X-Factor og annen crap). Det jeg elsker med en god cover, er at låten gjøres som om den var bandet/artisten sin egen låt. Høres det bra ut, så høres det bra ut, selv om musikkbildet er forandret. Noen gode eksempler:

Etter å ha hørt orginalen, blekner gjerne kopien noe. Selv om Cash gjorde en utrolig cover av denne låten, så er det fremdeles (bare) en cover i mine ører. Allikevel liker jeg den svært godt.

Den her låta er dedikert (ja vet det heter “dedisert”, men det høres så teit ut) til VxPretty. Det eneste som ikke stemme er delen om “rules”. Der finnes det en god del. Men jaja…. du er  nå ganske så prettyful

Gjerne får en den evige diskusjonen om orginalen eller coveren er den beste versjonen. Døh! En hovedregel er at orginalen er best, selv om det noen ganger kan være åpent. Noe jeg definitivt har lært etter en diskusjon med E-Dogg, så er det at musikk er noe som engasjerer. Smaken er som baken. Men smaken kan heves akkurat som bakdeigen,  samtidig kan også deigen krympe hvis en tramper for hardt foran ovnen. Noen ganger er det greit å være enig om at en er uenig. Vennskapet lenge leve! Selv om det var like før jeg fyrte til deg Det er godt å ha gode venner!

Det er herlig å legge merke til at et band uten skrupler stjeler riff og melodier fra andre. Et av de beste eksemplene jeg vet om er The Levellers Vs. Amorphis. De sistnevnte finnene vinner denne låta så det hyler, selv om de har lånt, stjelt og gjort vokalpartiene om med egen melodi. Moralen er at god musikk kan bli bedre…

Actually, Rick Rubin’s Resume would be a cool name for a band, assuming he didn’t sue you. Anyway, wow. He not only has produced influential debuts from the Beastie Boys to LL Cool J to Run DMC to Public Enemy, but in the process proved that rock and rap could co-exist. He’s pretty much responsible for Johnny Cash’s late-career comeback and produced the flourish of albums at the end of Cash’s life. He produced a mid-career masterpiece for Tom Petty, almost all of the Slayer albums, and I think every Chili Peppers record since and starting with the classic Blood Sugar Sex Magik. He’s done solo/acoustic records for Neil Diamond and Jakob Dylan, alt-rock stuff like Slipknot, and produced the album that contains “Baby Got Back.” Most recently he got the unfocused and feuding Metallica to stop putting out crap and make a classic-sounding Metallica album and then produced a great rootsy folksy ditty for indie favorites the Avett Brothers. That kind of variety is what makes him incredible. He’s done everything at every end of every spectrum and everywhere in between and most of it is great. Sometimes all within the same year.

He started work with U2 on their most recent album but those sessions were shelved and never heard, as the boys when back to Lanois/Eno to do No Line on the Horizon. I heard, or read… or read on the internet that someone heard… anyway, this reliable source said that Rubin is a hardass, and he won’t just take and record the first 10 songs you show up with. He’ll send you back to write more and tell you to do better. Maybe Bono and the Edge didn’t like that and they wanted Yes Men at the controls? Maybe Rubin thought U2’s new stuff sucked and told them to get lost? Who knows. Just adds to the legend.

But the real legend is in his resume. It’s one thing to say “damn, go read this guy’s Wiki page!” It’s another to then realize that there’s a separate Wikipedia page for his Album Production Credits! Check out his bio on allmusic.com and click “credits” and take a look.

My Top 10 Favorite Albums Produced by Rick Rubin:

1986: Raising Hell – Run-DMC

1987: Yo! Bum Rush the Show – Public Enemy

1988: South of Heaven – Slayer

1991: Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Peppers

1994: American Recordings – Johnny Cash

1994: Wildflowers – Tom Petty

2000: Renegades – Rage Against the Machine

2003: De-Loused in the Comatorium – The Mars Volta

2008: Death Magnetic – Metallica

2009: I and Love and You – The Avett Brothers

The Top 10 Albums Produced by Rick Rubin that didn’t make the list above:

1985: Radio – LL Cool J

1986: Licensed to Ill – Beastie Boys

1986: Reign in Blood – Slayer

1987: Electric – The Cult

1988: Danzig – Danzig

1998: Chef Aid: The South Park Album – South Park

1999: Californication – Red Hot Chili Peppers

2001: Toxicity – System of a Down

2002: American IV: The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash

2002: By the Way – Red Hot Chili Peppers