MR. BOJANGLES - A DOZEN MORE COVERS

Last time around, you had ten, including the two definitive versions...Jerry Jeff Walker's country take, and the sophisticated cover by Bobby Cole that arrived on the charts at the same time. Now? Another dozen!
Who covered this janglin' story? Chet Atkins, Frankie Laine, David Bromberg, Hunt & Turner, John Holt, Lambert & Nuttycombe, Lulu, Nancy Wilson, Johnny Paycheck, Sammi Smith, Tom T. Hall...who am I leaving out...oh yeah, Harry.
Bromberg's live track deserves special note, since he gives the background to Walker's story (how Jerry actually did meet a guy in jail who danced for drinks and tips, etc. etc.).
There's plenty more out there. The song was also covered by Dennis Brown, Tom McKinney, Al Cherny, Gene Pistilli, Jud Strunk, Three Faces West, Jack Hennig, Ronnie Aldrich, Jim Rowe, Lana Cantrell, The Fortunes, Brenda Byers, Rod McKuen, Edwyn Collins, Steve Hall, Magna Carta, The Bentones and on and on.
At this point, what else is there to say about the song? Well, after all this time, maybe you'll notice Jerry Jeff's unusual use of repetition ("he jumped so high, he jumped so high" "he talked of life, he talked of life" "his dog up and died, he up and died"...) and his penchant for internal rhyme ("I knew a MAN BoJANgles" "Spoke with TEARS of 15 YEARS" "Most of the TIME I spend BEHIND" etc.)

12 More BOJANGLES
In case you missed the first batch:
MR. BOJANGLES The Original TEN

Serge Gainsbourg Covers! For Women, Serge Suits 'Em

Some of the most beautiful women couldn't get enough of Serge. Monsieur Gainsbourg was the French Bob Dylan or more accurately Leonard Cohen...an indifferent-looking Jewish guy who just happened to be fascinating, hypnotic, outrageous, and with challenging music and a strange sense of humor, able to get most any woman he wanted.

Here's a tribute collection of Gainsbourg songs performed by a fine array of female vocalists: Isabelle Adjani, Lulu, Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin, Petula Clark, Catherine Deneuve, France Gall, Juliette Greco, Francois Hardy, Zizi Jeanmarie, Regine, and many more.

SERGE SUITS 'EM

I'M FEELING PRETTY ILL TODAY! Andy Bown

It's taken a while to get to Andy Bown, but hopefully this two-part entry does him justice. He opened his "Gone to My Head" album (guitar work by Peter Frampton) with a line that could well be the Illfolks anthem for those who get the urge to play odd music:
"Oh, woe, I'm feeling pretty ill today..."
Your first download (more in part two) features that album's two opening tracks, which happily tred the Ray Davies boards of being a pawn in the music industry game. It opens with a skull-grinning ode to road-induced infirmity, and segues into a combo of preen and self-pity as the rock star revels in his own ego and excess:
"On behalf of the management, please accept this list of expenses: stick-a soles, toilet rolls, taxi fares and small boys." Just keep on workin' 'cause it's gonna come off your royalty..."
Small boys??
One of Bown's traits is a willingness to embarrass himself, singing in the first person ala Randy Newman, and hopefully not having people believe every word refers to himself.
"Wiggle your hips and pout your lips. They'll go berserk you said. Oooh, didn't you forget something? Well it's gone right to my head!"
Yes, it's a celebration of disaster, a glam rocker's hand-wringing, toe-tapping salute to his own decadence and oblivion, not far removed from the Ray Davies school of omnisexual tributes to drink, kink, and sad yet sarcastic songs of the open road.
In part two, we go into more detail (and offer a hefty Rapidshare download of samples) that explore all the strange sides of the abundantly bizarre Mr. Bown.
Feeling Pretty Ill 'Cause it's Gone to My Head

ANDY BOWN : NO ORDINARY LUNY

"Luny" is NOT a typo. It's in the lyric sheet that way. An ordinary maniac of the Spike Milligan or Porky Pig variety would spell it 'Looney" but not our Mr. Bown, the well known typing error. (Yes, it's "Bown" not "Brown" and no, it's not "Alan Bown" it's "Andy Bown.")
"No ordinary Luny" is a phrase on his song "Nobody's Fool," only one of many that address madness of one kind or another. Another is a sprightly C&W tune with the refrain, "Crazy girl, she shot the man she loved."

How about "I've Got God on The Phone" in which a descent into a strait jacket begins by having a "blind black boy" in the back of his car, and how his "white shoes got gravy stains." Another tune, "Etcetera," upbraids a girl for a similar indiscretion: "I heard about the way you got picked up the other day, a spade in a pink Chevrolet. Was he rich and lonely?" "On "P.S. Get Lost" he declares "the sheets, they don't tell lies," as he not only witnesses the mess left by his girlfriend with another man, but tells the world of his embarrassing humiliation. On "Nobody's Fool," Andy dishes about a tart, "She tell me stories I believe every word she said. She mess up my boy friend, she mess up my boyfriend's head." Is he singing as a woman, as a gay guy, as a tranny...do we want to know?

If you know Bown's name at all, it's probably in connection with saner rock music. He was leader of the pop-glam band The Herd in the late 60's (till the attention focused on cutie lead guitarist Peter Frampton), and since 1982, has played bass and written songs for the journeyman rock group Status Quo (and never was there a name more fitting).

But solo (two albums on Mercury, two on Capitol) Bown explored unique territory on his own. His songs back in the 70's were often perverse and morose, with giddy ups and hoarse-drawn downs. The manic-depressive aspects of Andy Bown's solo career include ballads even more grim, sulky and morbid than his contemporaries, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Jimmy Campbell and Matthew Fisher. Some songs are as cringeworthy in their honesty as Harry Chapin's, with confessions of failure in love and life. "Eventually," one of his most poetic and shoegazingly heroic numbers has him in breathy (or is it last-breathy) mode, facing up to the fact that "eventually, my eyes are gonna close," and never open again.

On his last Capitol solo album (not released in America) he dared to expose a bruising, impotent scene as the husband who has lost his wife to another man and foolishly calls up the man expecting some kind of apology. His rival is not sympathetic, leaving Bown "so angry, I was cold," his world a "savage crazy blur." Not exactly the most masculine reaction, huh? Yet Bown's artistry allows for such a moving confession. He's left mumbling "money, pens and women can be lost the way they're found."

Happily, Bown's albums aren't completely sad, they skip into light fandangos, with songs that at least have catchy, if not frenzied melodies to go with the strange lyrics. The mockingly bawdy single "New York Satyricon Zany" makes fun of some trendy, wacky free spirit who seems alarmingly like Bown himself in camp-mode. Camp-mode also serves on the aforementioned upbeat beat up "I Got God on The Phone," where our hero cheerfully notes "bone orchards bloom" all around, and admits thoughts of suicide dance in his head, especially after kinky interracial gay sex.

Your RS download can't possibly contain all the grand tracks on Bown's albums, but don't despair, the world of dollar bins and desperate recession-starved eBay sellers can supply you with the all the vinyl, and cheap.

This "Best of solo Bown" has no tracks from his second album, "Sweet William," at least not the American version (apparently a British pressing had "New York Satyricon Zany" and other tracks released as singles). Many good album tracks on the other three were sacrificed for the sake of obscure singles that are much harder to find. Perhaps a future post will feature his late first wife Carolyn (aka Caroline Attard) who led "Storyteller," a band that released two albums (1970, 1971) produced by Andy along with Peter Frampton. There's nothing here from the easily found "The Herd" or "Status Quo." Bown wrote all the songs and produced Judas Jump's album "Scorch" but he left the lead vocals to Adrian Williams. Little of the Herd, Quo or Jump material written or sung by Bown is anywhere near the heights or depths of his solo work.

Here's some annotation, as you submit yourself to Bowndage:

1. And If My Love/P.S. Get Lost. Andy segues from a brief glimpse toward the cemetery to an embarrassingly masochistic tale of getting a "Dear John" letter from a heartless bitch.
2. Eventually. A meditation on a "beautiful viper" draws Andy into a grim but strangely comforting reality: "Eventually my eyes are gonna close...my words turn to bone...the streets have forgotten my footstep...life's a joke..."
3. If It's All the Same to You/Please Remember Me. A sweet and sour ballad of letting go leads to a progressively more anxious plea: "Please be good to me and to my memory...bless and pray for me. I'm in my agony..."
4. Nobody's Fool. She's "no ordinary "luny." Andy is both a first rate bassist and Hammond organ player. This one has a thundering bass line plus prowling keyboard accents.
5. I've Got God On the Phone. Check the opening discordant splash of bitch-slapped chords and then pay attention to the delerious dada of the mad, death-obsessed lyrics. "Bone orchards bloom..."
6. Another Shipwreck. The kick-off to Bown's last solo album, heroic and doomed. This is a guy who'd get rescued from the Titanic only to be booked onto the Lusitania.
7. Good Advice. "It's just a spiral from contentment to despair." A sadly touching tune. At least the album's cover had the visual joke of Andy contemplating the "good advice" of getting his head shaved by a skinhead barber.
8-10. Singles: Feeling Better, Help Me and One Forward Two Back. Play them in reverse order, too.
11. New York Satyricon Zany: A jagged Jagger'd put-down of someone who probably looked like Holly Woodlawn impersonating Bianca.
12-13. Tarot/Lulli Rides Again. A-side "Tarot" was a successful TV theme song.
14. Supersonic. The theme echoed the intent of the TV show where Roy Wood or Jackie DeShannon lip-synched their latest chart topper.

BOWN for Glory via rapidshare
BOWN for Glory via Box

REMEMBER THE ALAMO march 6

A few days ago, March 6th, as they've done since 1836, very few people remembered the Alamo.
So why break the illfolks tradition of posting on a 9, 19 or 29, just so a straggling few might actually remember the Alamo on the right date? To use a well known Native American expression: Feh.
In case you don't remember, for thirteen painful days, Feb. 23 to March 6, less than 200 Texans held off about 2000 Mexicans (the number is 5,000 in the "Ballad of the Alamo").
This brings to mind a joke.
A stewardess comes rushing down the aisle of a small plane, announcing, "We're losing altitude. Three people will have to jump from the plane in order to steady it! Who will make this sacrifice?"
A British citizen stood up and proclaimed, "There will always be an England," and jumped. A Frenchman cried out, "Vive La France," and jumped. A burly Texan stood up and shouted "Remember the Alamo!" And he pushed a Mexican out of the plane.
Students...
A key fort in the territory war between "Texians" (citizens of what is now Texas) and Mexicans was San Antonio's Alamo. Two men later to be legends (with TV shows about them, the ultimate honor) helped defend it; James Bowie who was among the first to request reinforcements, and Davy Crockett, who with a few volunteers was among the very few to heed the call. Colonel Travis was in command. As the massive Mexican army began to wear down the Americans, legend has it that Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword, offering any man the chance to step over it and escape certain death.
Death came for the surviving Alamo fighters on Sunday, March 6th, when the Mexicans surrounded all four walls of the Alamo and poured in, allowing no surrender. Bowie, who had taken ill many days earlier was slaughtered on what became his death bed.
"Remember the Alamo" became a rallying cry, and the rest is indeed history, for the Mexicans would never again come pouring over the borders into the United States. Right?
Well, let's not be too down on immigrants. Immigrant Dimitri Tiomkin wrote some of the most authentic Western music in the history of movies, including "High Noon" and his theme for John Wayne's "The Alamo." His song "The Ballad of the Alamo" became a semi-hit, with Marty Robbins' version edging a cover by Bud and Travis.
The original tune is sort of a lame hoedown, telling the story in an almost Disney-jolly kind of way (Crockett was already a Disney hero and hit song subject).
The Robbins version clocks at 3:44, and tries to tell the complete story, with a bugle playing "Taps" toward the end.
Bud & Travis shoot it down to 2:48, stepping up the tempo and cutting away some of the flabbier lines of story-telling.
The Alamo to remember is from Bud and Travis a duo that once came to nosebleed blows because they disliked each other so much. But could they harmonize? Why, like the Kingston Trio with one guy missing. They sure could.
This version packs cinematic punch, pulsing and poetic, with fierce guitar-slapping percussion (ironic...that's a Mexican guitar trick, not an American one) and the periodic blood-spills of swirling violins. It doesn't let up enough for the music's punchline (the melody line from "Taps" as we mourn the men "asleep in the arms of the Lord") but that's a minor flaw in an otherwise brilliant piece of folk-rock glory. And this take is in stereo!
In mono, you also get a very, very rare alternate take. It's got an identical music track, but a slightly different vocal from Bud and Travis. They aren't quite as focused on this take, not always in synch either. But in the interest of collector-obscurity and morbid curiosity, you can now own it.
You also get two versions of "Remember the Alamo" (Cash and Leatherwood) which concentrates on the Travis "line in the sand" legend.
"Ballad of the Alamo" is represented by Marty Robbins, Bud & Travis, Terry Gilkyson and an instrumental version by the Ned Nash Orchestra. Plus there's the lyrical "coda" from the original soundtrack, a summing up featuring a chorus and the orchestra led by Dimitri Tiomkin.

ALAMO

Update November 2011: Several individual songs have been re-upped individually:

Bud & Travis stereo
Bud & Travis rare alternate take mono
Frankie Avalon "Ballad of the Alamo."

Download or listen on line. No pop-ups, porn ads or use of sleazy companies that pay a percentage to bloggers for their "hard work." The hard work was done not by upping files, but by the original writers and performers.

Dance to the Saxy Beverly Hillbillies Theme Song

Journeyman musician Bill Ramal is known to "cult" and "outsider" fans mainly for his work with Dickie Goodman ("Flying Saucer Part One"). As "Jeckyl and Hyde," Bill and Dickie recorded the novelty singles "My Baby Loves Monster Movies" and "Frankenstein meets the Beatles." Ramal also played sax and/or arranged music for Del Shannon as well as Johnny and the Hurricanes.

Ramal also worked as a conductor or arranger on a few oddball albums through the 60's, like "Screamin' Saxes" (MGM, 1962) and "Saxophone Circus" (Avco, 1969) which had versions of "Lion Sleeps Tonight," "The Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" and "The Theme from The Name of the Game" TV show. He led his own groups, "Bill Ramal and his Teen Swingers," "Blll Ramal and his Combo" and "Bill Ramal and his Twist Band." Solo he recorded "Don't Count Your Dreams" "Rock Lomond" "Hard Times" among others and as "Big Bill Ramal" he offered "Wing Ding."

In 1963, for 20th Century Fox Records, he created "Young America Dances to TV's Greatest Themes," a wholesome party record where such favorite themes as "Ben Casey," "The Defenders," "Gunsmoke," "Perry Mason" "The Fugitive" and "Bonanza" were hepped up so the little ones could twist their hips or mash their potatoes. Your sample is a re-working of "The Beverly Hillbillies" theme, with busy drums, an appropriate Duane Eddy-type twangy guitar, and riffin' Ramal coming in on roarin' sax to tear up the joint.
Makes you wish Del Shannon dropped by to sing the lyrics.
BILL RAMAL the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES DANCE THEME

20 "Love Is Blue" Covers - Happy POPP Birthday

40 years ago, Paul Mauriat's "Love is Blue" was a huge hit...the only time a French musician had a #1 on the Billboard chart.
The pop tune was composed by Andre Popp, born on this day February 19, in 1924.
The lyrics were of course originally in French, and as "L'amour est bleu," Greek singer Vicky Leandros represented Luxembourg and premiered it at the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest...and lost. The winning song that year was "Puppet On a String," the entry from Great Britain.
Popp's previous hit was an instrumental, "The Portuguese Washerwomen." He also had success with an ambitious classical novelty suite for kiddies, "The Adventures of Piccolo, Saxie and Co.," which was recorded by Victor Borge among others.
Sans les lyrics, Mauriat had the biggest success of his career with the puffy Popp ditty. By the time Otis Redding's "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" shoved Mauriat off #1, the song was being translated into multiple languages and Al Martino grazed the Top 100 with it. No version with lyrics ever came close to Mauriat's numbers, but many versions turned up as album tracks for the era's pop singers, and it was a favorite number to belabor on 60's variety shows.
The song is probably best as an instrumental, since a vocalist needs great emotive skill to make the aborted journey through primary colors sound pithy: "Blue, blue, my world is blue...red, red, my eyes are red..."
Smurf's up! You've got 20 Blue meanies in your download, including Vicky Leandros' French and English versions, Sylvie Vartan, Al Martino, Marty Robbins, The Sandpipers, separate versions by Andy Williams and Claudine Longet, twangy stuff from The Ventures and Santo & Johnny, a moog turn from the Electronic Concept Orchestra, plus much more, more or less.
20 LOVE IS BLUE COVERS

Come Away With the Bipolar Penguin! Burgess Meredith

Put new lyrics to "Greensleeves," have it semi-sung by the resonant Burgess Meredith, and what have you got? Not much. "Home in the Meadow" is from 1963, a few years before the throaty thesp became Batman's TV nemesis, "The Penguin." Trivia: Burgess ad-libbed the Penguin quack-laugh as a way to clear his throat...he was allergic to the cigarettes his kool penguin character had to smoke.
On this single, he wants a smoke-free environment:
"Away, away! Oh, come away with me. I'll build you a home in the meadow! Come, oh come..."
The song from "How the West Was Won," was a semi-hit for the movie's star, Debbie Reynolds. (No, Meredith was not in the film at all.)
Oliver Burgess Meredith (Burgess was his mother's maiden name) first attained fame in the 30's on the Broadway stage. In 1939 he co-starred with Lon Chaney Jr. in "Of Mice and Men," a film overlooked at Oscar time, thanks to blockbusters "Wizard of Oz," "Gone with the Wind" and "Stagecoach." Hell, there wasn't even an Oscar nomination for "Son of Frankenstein."
Meredith's burgeoning career stalled for World War II service (he was a captain) but on his return, he not only starred in many films, in 1949 he directed Charles Laughton in "The Man on the Eiffel Tower." The 50's? Well, combine "Red Scare" and blacklist...and it was checkmate for Meredith. But as the 50's ended and the 60's began, he appeared in a pair of memorable "Twilight Zone" episodes, rode the "Thurber Carnival" to Broadway success, and returned to films. Into the 70's he was Tony-nominated for directing a production of "Ulysses in Nighttown," and won new fame (and an Oscar nomination) as the feisty manager in a trio of "Rocky" movies. He played many high-strung teeth-gritting characters in the 80's and 90's including parts in "Grumpy Old Men" and "Grumpier Old Men."
In 1994, amid his "Grumpy" successes, he wrote an autobiography, which not only touched on his amazing, varied career, but his battle with mood swings and bipolar disorder.
Fans can find some oddball audio on Burgess Meredith, ranging from a guest narration on "The Bells Of Dublin" from The Chieftains, to a superb Lively Arts album narrating two Ray Bradbury stories...to this, his magical mystery tour to nowhere: "Come Away With Me," colorfully detailing pastoral delights to be found somewhere on Earth or in heaven.

COME AWAY WITH BURGESS MEREDITH

Singing In Tongues: 3 Pop Tunes Go Poop

Listen to..."RINGO" sung in Italian.
Try a Scandanavian take on "RAGS TO RICHES."
Spin the "Windmills of Your Mind" via a Greek translation.

Some pop songs get stale with age.
With a different language and a different singer, a tired tune can perk up!

Forlorn over Lorne Greene? The vivid spaghetti western version of "Ringo" here is sauced by Adriano Celentano. He was a huge singing star in Italy in the 60's, with over 40 albums under his belt (he wore oversize pants). He also enjoyed a long acting career in the 70's and 80's, and most viewers enjoyed it, too.

The phrase "it's all Greek to me" is akin to "something's ass backwards." Usually, it's the singer, but not in this case. The Greek translation isn't "Windmills of Your Behind." The song's sung in Greek only because wiley Vicky Leandros likes being an "International Star," and the more languages she can cover, the better. She sings the tune in English and French elsewhere on the blog...now we've backed into the Greek version. (Yes, that's a recent photo of Vicky.)

"Rags to Riches" was notably used in "Goodfellas," but let's chill the Mafia taint by taking it up north to the Netherlands, and re-naming it "Ik heb geen geld en geen juwelen." As for singer Jan Verhoeven, he's still going strong. Hij zat in diverse orkestjes en trad ook solo op bij bruiloften en partijen. Jan speelde al op zijn 10e jaar bescheiden gitaar, maar genoeg om zijn broer te begeleiden en te zingen. Toen nog zonder microfoon of geluidsinstallatie. And if you want more, why, visit janverhoeven.nl

Rags to Riches from Verhoeven
Windmills of Your Mind in GREEK
The Spaghetti Western version of "Ringo"

KURT DEMMLER DIES: Singer/Songwriter Sex Offender

Was Kurt Demmler guilty of molesting underage girls?
He was arrested and tossed in jail, to await trial.
He was found hanged in his cell, an apparent suicide. He was 65.

Demmler was one of the most prolific songwriters in the former German Democratic Republic; he supposedly wrote the lyrics to 10,000 tunes. But, to quote the old Steve Allen joke, "Can you name two?"
His two best known hits were “Come Into My Guitar Boat” and “Every Person Can Love Everyone." He wrote songs for Nina Hagen, Rote Gitarren, Karat, Babylon, Frank Schobel, and Berluc among others. Under an alias, he wrote the lyrics for the 1988 album Neue Helden (New Heroes) by The Puhdys.
Demmler also recorded many solo albums, and from the late 60's through the 90's could often be counted on to appear at a protest rally, strumming his guitar and singing a few numbers. The photo of him is from a 1989 performance.
Your download? Two songs from a 1970 protest event. "Ho Chi Minh" is a tuneful ballad, while "Schniegelscher," has a kind of Phil Ochs feel to it...fast lyrics (in German, of course) which get both applause and laughs from the audience. Kurt was part of the famous uprising and demonstration in East Berlin on the 4th of November 1989, taking the stage for songs and protest. He seemed to be on the politically correct side of many issues.
But was he always sexually correct and proper?
After about 15 years of success, with his songwriting, his solo albums, even an adaption of "The Little Prince," his song peddling took second place to his schlong pedo-ling.
In 2002 he was accused of involvements with underage girls. He was fined, but all was not fine. The cops kept their eye on Demmler and in 2008 they amassed messy evidence, going all the way back to 1995, with six girls ready to testify. Their ages were from 10 to 14...and the tally of rude incidents was over 200. Did Kurt fondle them, or masturbate in front of them ("Kurt Jergens") or worse? Demmler protested his innocence, but was locked up. It was alleged that he had lured girls to his apartment on the promise of auditioning them for an all-girl band.
Demmler did not get his day in court. Six days ago the case against Demmler ended with his death. If the six girls were truly abused by him, they have been spared having to give sexual testimony. The victims need not describe the salacious details, although on February 3rd, Demmler showed the world he was well hung. Yes, a sad ending and a bad joke about Demmler and his wayward weiner, but illfolks spares you the wurst. Let's go back to 1970 for Kurt Demmler performing meaningful music and not mischief:

HO CHI MINH
Schniegelscher

FOREIGNERS in the whore HOUSE of the RISING SUN

Why do so many people identify with whores? They love to sing "House of the Rising Sun!"
Literally hundreds of females have wailed about workin' in a New Orleans bordello, as if they ingested enough semen to get flood relief from Fema.
Even worse, hundreds of MEN have likewise belted and brayed about being bothered, bewildered and buggered by anyone who wanted 'em to bend South while getting poked up North.
Folk song hunter Alan Lomax recorded Georgia Turner singing it in 1937, as "Risin' Sun Blues," and the bawl about balling kept on rolling, with some claiming credit for the lyrics, the music, or both. Dave Van Ronk perfected the right version...and as Suze Rotolo noted in her book about Bob, was mighty peeved when young Mr. Dylan decided to stick the song on his debut Columbia album. Dave couldn't sing the tune after that, 'cause he was accused of "stealing from Bob." Dave had the last laugh. When Eric Burdon copied Bob's, and had a hit with it, Dylan had to drop it, too!
Burdon and The Animals turned the song into a real rocker, with that famous opening guitar riff (or arpeggio, if you want to get technical) by Hilton Valentine, and the scorching organ of Alan Price...not to mention Burdon singing as if his organ was scorched, too. Many earlier versions credited whoever "adapted" it as the author, but when Alan Price ended up with the credit, rather than all the band members, there was much chagrin, especially when the tune became almost as big a perennial money maker as "Whiter Shade of Pale" or "Yesterday."
In placing "House of the Rising Sun" #91 on his list of the "1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made," ex-Rolling Stone scribe Dave Marsh, noted the gay problem with bleary-eyed Eric:
"Burdon...brattish spawn of Newcastle coal miners that he was...turned the lyric around, portraying the prostitute as a male and, thus, himself as a catamite."
Marsh, and most others, reject the musicologists who say that the song is only about a prison...and that the singer didn't lay for a living, just laid one person low.
But no, if you look it up, "catamite" doesn't refer to a prison inmate, or a little insect on a feline. "House of the Rising Sun" sounds more like a bordello than a prison and that's how most singers relate to it.
But that's not why you're here. You're not here to hear the White Man Burdon. No, this blog is too ill to offer famous English versions of the song. Instead, your download is...FOREIGN LANGUAGE versions.
Russian whores. Italian whores. German whores. Spanish whores. And more.
All of them bellow through herpes-riddled lips and have to stand up to sing because of nether-holes as prolapsed as a Slinky going down a stairway.
You get Johnny Hallyday singing in French and German, plus French singer Marie Laforet singing in Japanese, and...Boris Brown, Manfred Krug, Anatoly Savenkov, Bisonti, Alazan, Bruno Lomas, Sukachev, the appropriately named T. Hors, Vadim Kosogorov, Pataky Attila, Manfred Krug, Frida Boccara and much more..."La Casa Del Sol Naciente," "Es steht ein Haus in New orleans" "Dom Voskhodjashhego Solnca," "Le Penitencier" and more!
FOREIGN HOUSES OF THE RISING SUN

For Fans of Repetition - STARDUST x 19 plus...

If you're the type that never got up to push the needle along when it got stuck, or if you have a morbid curiosity about how different people can sing the same song...check around the blog and you'll find a lot of ridiculous posts featuring more than enough cover versions of a particular song. Like...

19 versions of STARDUST including the Dinahs Shore & Washington, Ben Webster, Cab Calloway, Brubeck, Krupa, Coleman Hawkins, Isham Jones, The Ink Spots, Louis Armstrong, Sammy Kaye and even satire (Jackie Vernon). There's country nasal and country swing (Willie and Leon), and since you probably didn't know she could sing, Elke Sommer. Also, a 1933 solo from the author, Hoagy Carmichael. STARDUST

Elsewhere (just type in a few key words in the top left corner) you'll find:
17 VERSIONS OF TOM DOOLEY, duly noted.

12 VERSIONS OF FAREWELL TO NOVA SCOTIA, for those who never know when to leave.

25 VERSIONS OF UNCHAINED MELODY including Shayne Ward, Dobby Dobson, Ann & Nancy Wilson (huh? they covered it??), Matt Monro, the late Boots Randolph, U2, Pitney, Orbison, and a host of others.

And no, that isn't a Photoshop job at the top of this entry, that's the damn nice Dahm Triplets, repetitive in their smiles, waving the red white and blue.

There's plenty of "live" links going back to the beginning...plus pithy paragraphs, cogent commentary, and peculiar pictures. So you are indubitably encouraged to peruse this jeremiad and explore all atrabilious amphigories.

It was 200 Years ago today: EDGAR A. POE

The greatest writer America ever produced, was born on January 19, 1809.
His 200th birthday will be marked by many new books and tie-ins. Look for "Poe's Children," collecting horror stores by Stephen King and other contemporary writers, and "On a Raven's Wing" with Mary Higgins Clark and others knocking out stories in Poe's style. There's also a new Poe stamp at your local post office, and this modest tribute here at the Ill Folks blog.
Edgar's poetry has been adapted to music and sung by everyone from Frankie Laine to Harry Belafonte, and his stories have been turned into opera and rock opera ("Fall of the House of Usher" especially), and even jazz pieces. Almost a rock star in his own time (poems at the time were as popular as songs), Poe often staged a one-man show, and the centerpiece was his "greatest hit," a recitation of "The Raven."
Unfortunately for Edgar, he was a wild and crazy guy, so bizarre he was buried twice (as you can see from this marker for his original resting place). He was always getting into incredibly vicious feuds every time he joined a newspaper -- not always getting along with co-workers and outraging dozens of writers (including the greats of his day) by scalding them with literary criticism.
While today he's known as a poet and horror writer, back then he was also known for being a controversial magazine editor writing notoriously opinionated reviews. He could rapturously praise a poetess he might've fancied, and venemously put down the latest work of Longfellow, sometimes adding an accusation of plagiarism. The occasional physical confrontation only added to his notoriety. His problems with alcoholism didn't help. Suffering a typical freelance writer's lifestyle, he was perpetually broke and tormented...knocking out hack non-fiction to get by (often making up facts and then declaring the result merely a "hoax"). His marriage to his 13 year-old cousin has intrigued amateur psychologists. After her tragic death, he went on to romances with a variety of women, including the strange Sarah Whitman, who liked to breathe ether from a soaked handkerchief. Poe had no idea how deeply some loved him and others hated him, and in the latter case, unfortunately left his literary legacy in the hands of evil Rev. Rufus Griswold, who set about blackening Poe's name after death. Hardly a friend at all, Griswold instantly posted a mocking obit (under an assumed name) to accentuate Poe's alcohol problems and prickly disposition.
Poe invented the mystery story, and the first detective hero in Auguste Dupin. While his horror stories might've been "pulp fiction," designed to make him some fairly easy money from lurid mags of the day, he put a literary stamp on them and turned them into enduring, fascinating classics, probing deep into the soul and psychology of mortal man. He probably felt his main gift was in the essay, and in poetry.
He was a complex, surprising man, and unlike his wan image, in his early days he was a hearty swimmer and enjoyed boxing, and despite the miseries of his life, he was also capable of wicked parody and black humor.
The last full biography of him, one that is at least equal to the pioneering tome by Arthur Quinn, is by Kenneth Silverman. It's simply titled "Edgar A. Poe." That's the byline Poe chose for his works. Orphaned at 3, he despised his adopted "father" John Allan, and it was only after his death that fussy schoolmarms began writing out "Edgar Allan Poe" to go with Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Fenimore Cooper and the rest of the triple-threat names. So "Edgar A. Poe" it is. Or, you can call him "Eddy," as his wife and mother-in-law did.
Your download is a baker's dozen of musical oddities in all styles from emo and goth to psych and folk. The musical setting for "The Bells" is the musical adapation created by the Ill Folks favorite, Phil Ochs....here, performed by Jim & Jean. The Poe load opens with a song about Eddy as performed by Lou Reed, closes with Vincent Price reading "Dreamland" and in between you'll find:
The Lake (Simon Dreams in Violet), Alone (Neither Neither World), A Dream Within a Dram (Soul Parish), A Dream within a Dream (Glass Prism), Masque of the Red Death (Ivy League Trio), The Raven (Fettdog), Ulalume (narrative backed by the Buddy Morrow Orchestra), System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether (Alan Parsons Project), Tell Tale Heart (Hydra), Cask of Amontillado and the Premature Brural (Michael Romeo), Annabel Lee (Society Islands), The Bells (Jim and Jean).

AK...Update October 2010...this link apparently died. Hopefully a new version will be up and running by Eddy's birthday, January 19th.
Re-Up: Poe, Poe, Pitiful He

I HEAR DEAD PEOPLE : THE C&W and POP Stars Dead in 2008

"Dead...didn't even know they were ill..."
It was ladies first on the illfolks blog, so having presented the musical death knells to departed singers and songwriters last week, it's time to honor the men who are now, to quote that Jody Reynolds novelty classic, sleeping the "Endless Sleep."
As this is a music blog, you can look elsewhere for tributes to all the great statesmen, politician, actors, writers and others who shuffled off their mortal coils. The roll call includes the following who contributed a lot to the world, or to the world of illfolks : Paul Newman, George Carlin, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Forry Ackerman, Bill Meléndez, Harvey Korman, Harvey Karman, Sydney Pollack, Dick Martin, Will Elder, Ted Key, William F. Buckley, Jr., Barry Morse, Werner "Frick" Groebli, John Hewer, David Groh, Roy Scheider, Paul Scofield, Claiborne Pell, Charlton Heston, Clive Barnes, Irving Brecher, Reg Varney, Herb Score, Joe Hyams, Preacher Roe, Gerard Damiano, Rudy Ray Moore, Jack Narz, Tom Tresh, Lloyd Thaxton and grouchy sitcom character actors Henry Beckman and Allan Melvin.
The following dead sports figures have fun names too good not to repeat:
Baseball's Herb Hash (97) and Bob Purkey (78), Football's Buzz Nutter (77) and Coy Bacon (66) and wrestling's Ron Slinker (62).
This segment salutes some pop and country stars who passed on. But aside from those you can sample in the download, let's take a paragraph to note some of the other casualties of the past year.
On December 27th, Delaney Bramlett died. He wrote "Let it Rain," and co-wrote "Superstar" with Leon Russell, most recently covered by Sonic Youth. His tune "Never Ending Song of Love" was a regular on the country charts, covered by dozens and dozens of C&W performers. Also unable to make it into 2009, was Derek Wadsworth (69) who wrote the spectacular theme song for "Space: 1999," and Neal Hefti (85) who wrote the theme for "Batman" and "the Odd Couple" and Earle Hagen (88) who wrote the themes for "The Andy Griffith Show" and "I Spy" among others. Using the search feature, top left, you can find the illfolks tributes previously written for both of those men.
Also departed: Danny Dill (83), who co-wrote "Long Black Veil" and had a hand in many other C&W standards, Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright (65), Mike Smith (64) who was a major member of The Dave Clark Five, Buddy Miles (60) both a drummer and a singer (that's his voice leading the California Raisins), pianist Louis Teicher (83) who issued dozens of albums with his piano partner Ferrante, Ralph Young (90) the American half of the Sandler and Young nightclub act, and upstate New York folkie favorite Artie Traum (65),
Perhaps the saddest passing was of Tarka Cordell. Tarka (40) was the son of veteran rock producer Denny Cordell. He issued one album on a small indie label two years ago, and samples of it are still on his myspace page. He was a suicide. And calling it a day, via natural causes, was Chuck Day (65) a Chicago guitarist who recorded as Bing Day and Ford Hopkins, but would anonymously turn in one of the more iconic riffs in rock history when he ad-libbed the guitar introduction to "Secret Agent Man." Aside from working with Johnny Rivers, he also played on albums for The Mamas and the Papas and later fronted his own band for gigs in California over the past decade.
In your download:
Jimmy Carl Black (Lonesome Cowboy Burt), Jody Reynolds (Endless Sleep), Willoughby Goddard (I Shall Scream...from the original Broadway production of Oliver), Dennis Yost of Classics IV (Spooky, Traces), Rod Allen leader of The Fortunes (You've Got Your Troubles I've Got Mine), Eddy Arnold (Mommy Please Stay Home With Me), Jerry Wallace (You're Singing Our Love Song), Charlie Walker (Honky Tonk Woman, Wild as a Wildcat), Jerry Reed (Smell the Flowers, When You're Hot You're Hot), Davy Graham (Goin' Down Slow, Leavin' Blues), Henri Salvador (La Muralle de Chine), Erik Darling, leader of the Rooftop Singers (Walk Right In), John Stewart (Lost Her in the Sun), Robert Hazard (Blood on My Hands).
I Hear Dead People This link won't stay dead! Re-upped in 2011 after Rapidshare dropped it.

I HEAR DEAD PEOPLE : The R&B, Soul, Ska & Rock Stars, Dead in 2008

Time and storage space constraints made it difficult to give a musical sample for every major musician who died in 2008. Omissions reflect the Illfolks taste (or lack of it), since much of what's on the blog simply comes from grabbing what's handy in the archives and shelves of Ill Central.
So without further adieu, at least a mention of some guys who aren't represented in the download below:
The last major musician to evade the Grim Reaper was Freddie Hubbard (70), the great jazz trumpet legend, who died on December 29th. A day earlier, December 28th, Vincent Ford departed. Just how much of a music legend he is, depends on whether he actually wrote Bob Marley's hit "No Woman No Cry." Most say that Ford, who ran a soup kitchen in Jamaica, was generously handed the songwriting credit by Marley so that royalties would go directly to Ford's charity enterprise.
Ray Ellis (85) was a great musician and orchestra leader, Norman Whitfield (68), the Motown songwriter behind "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Few were as great on sax as Johnny Griffin (80), and Ira Tucker (83) was the lead singer for The Dixie Hummingbirds.
Cliff Nobles (64) may have the oddest credit in Top 10 history: a hit record without being on it. Nobles was a singer, and he thought he had a hit with "Love is All Right." On the flip side was an instrumental arrangement titled "The Horse." Radio stations flipped over the B-side, and it reached #2 in the charts...with the credit going to the man (who played no instrument, only sang) and not his band.
A special mention for a non-singer who is represented below. Jerry Wexler was one of the great music producers, and his range was phenomenal. He sensed what Bob Dylan wanted for "Slow Train Coming" and booked studio time and musicians in Muscle Shoals, the flavor just right for Bob's gospel inspiration. For Big Joe Turner's "Shake Rattle and Roll" Wexler actually sang on the chorus, along with another Atlantic Records legend, Ahmet Ertegun. He brought Dusty Springfield to a comfortable urban studio in New York so she could complete her historic "Memphis" sessions, singing to all the music laid down in Tennessee. And while he didn't have to do much except let Ray Charles sing, and The Drifters drift, quite often Wexler stepped in to coach an artist...notably directing pauses in Wilson Pickett's delivery of "In the Midnight Hour." And representing his diverse work, the download features Professor Longhair's "Tipitina" (Wexler inspired that song by asking his singer to lay down a tune similar to "Tee Nah Nah") and the Dire Straits' "Lady Writer," another example of Wexler's choice of location (the Bahamas) helping him get what he wanted from his artists...in this case, a richer, bluesier sound. Wexler also produced Willie Nelson, James Booker, Aretha Franklin, Etta James and many, many more.
In your download:
Bo Diddley (Run Diddley Daddy, Mumblin' Guitar), Nappy Brown (Something Gonna Jump Out the Bushes), Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops ("I Can't Help Myself" sung in Italian, plus In These Changing Times), Isaac Hayes (Never Can Say Goodbye, Out of the Ghetto), Byron Lee (Soul Ska), Alton Ellis (All My Tears Come Rolling, If I Could Rule This World), Bill Coday (60 Minute Teaser), Jeff Healey (While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Someday, Someway), and for producer Jerry Wexler: Professor Longhair's Tipitina and Dire Straits' Lady Writer.
Hear Dead People R&B/Soul/Rock 2008 Update 2011: it died on Rapidshare, resurrected via Box.

I HEAR DEAD PEOPLE (the women of 2008) Suzan Tamim

Along with the mega-deathload of ordinary missing links, many celebrities died in 2008, and has become a custom, the illfolks blog recites that corny line, "dead...didn't even know they were ill..."
Without any further adieu, it's time to start saying goodbye.
This segment is on fallen females.
2008 saw the passing of two women who graced album covers as well as girlie mags. Model DIANE WEBBER, 76, seen in the top two album covers, was born Diane Marguerite Empey. She used the name "Marguerite Empey" when she was Playmate of the Month (twice: in May 1955 and February 1956). BETTIE PAGE, 85, was a fetish film queen in the 8mm era, an early Playboy centerfold, and with her unique hairstyle, frisky smile and perfect figure, became a pin-up icon.
The number of women who were treats for the ears, and who passed on in 2008, are listed below, along with the representative song or songs chosen for the six-foot-download. A few deserve special mention, as you might not be familiar with them. Katie Reider was only 30 when a cerebral hemorrhage ended two years of massive suffering...some of it chronicled elsewhere on this blog. Likewise, Suzan Tamim, a Lebanese singer and actress, was only 30 when she met her demise...brutally murdered in typical Arab fashion by some psycho thug hired by her ex-husband.
The last tune is not sung by a woman, but by James Darren. It's to represent Gloria Shayne Baker. A songwriter, her biggest solo success (credited as Gloria Shayne) was "Goodbye Cruel World." A co-write with her first husband Noel Regney gave the world a Christmas classic, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" She co-wrote with many others, and was part of the trio responsible for "The Men In My Little Girl's Life," a sentimental hit for Mike Douglas. Gloria generally wrote the lyrics for songs she co-wrote, but in the case of "Do You Hear What I Hear," her husband (a member of the French underground while drafted into the German army) wrote the lyrics and she wrote the music.
The voices you're going to hear...immortal.
Odetta (77, Dec. 2) Dont Think Twice It's All Right, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
Monna Bell (70, April 22) Aun Te Sigu Amando and Yo Que No Vivo Sin Ti ("You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" sung in Spanish by this Chilean superstar)
Miriam Makeba (76, Nov 10) Pata Pata
Mae Mercer (76, Oct. 29) Sweet Little Angel
Christie Allen (53, Aug 12) He's My Number One
Eartha Kitt, (81, Dec 25) I Want to Be Bad
Edie Adams (81, Oct 15) Namely You (duet with Peter Palmer)
Katie Reider (30, July 14) My Love For You
Jo Stafford (90, July 16) No Other Love and Haunted Heart
Suzan Tamim (30, July 28) Wainoh Habibbbi and Saken Albi
Yma Sumac (86, Nov 1) El Condor Pasa
Gloria Shayne (84, March 6) Goodbye Cruel World performed by James Darren

I HEAR DEAD WOMEN! 16 songs
and...
I never got around to doing a post on Suzan Tamim, and her bizarre death, but by way of tribute here's her obscure 2001 album SAKEN ALIBI:
SUZAN TAMIM full album

BOBBY DARIN: OUT OF THE VAULTS (Rarities & Demos)

Snap, snap...as cool as Bobby Darin was, some of his tracks just didn't end up etched in vinyl.
Here's a set of 25 songs that stayed in the Capitol vaults in the 60's, an era that shows him slippin' and slidin' over Al Jolson (Alabamy Bound) Anthony Newley (What Kind Of Fool Am I) Andy Williams (Moon River) and the rest of them older, squarer cats.
Of special interest, an attempted Mack the Knife sequel called Gyp the Cat!
At the time, some folks thought this guy was pretty ill: too young to be Middle of the Road, but acting too old to really appeal to the teens. But hey, the answer was that this guy didn't need to be Frank or Dino, nor Sedaka or Anka. He was the best at being Bobby Darin, and now he's legend.
The outtake tracks include: I Got Rhythm, Alabamy Bound, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Know, When My Baby Smiles at Me, Beautiful Dreamer, When You Were Sweet Sixteen, I Ain't Got Nobody, You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You, This Nearly Was Mine, The Sweetest Sounds, Standing on the Corner, Whispering, Just Bummin' Around, On the Street Where You Live, Red Roses for a Blue Lady, If I Ruled the World, Tall Hope and more.
25 Outtakes from Bobby D.

Green Green Grass of Home - over 40 Versions

Yes, if you download both parts, you will get OVER FORTY versions of "Green Green Grass of Home."

Maybe that's almost like getting a death sentence.

But...this song has transcended its sentimentality and lousy ending. It's a true classic. It's the masterpiece of veteran songwriter Curly Putman (who wrote or co-wrote over 400 tunes, and had a co-writing hand in some of the most achy-breaky songs of all time, including "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." and "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "Wino the Clown").

Cringeworthy? What's more cringeworthy than a burly country star talking about getting off a train "and there to greet me is my mama and my papa." And yet everybody from gritty Merle Haggard to burly Burl Ives to spooky Jack Palance has sung that line.
What's more of a mediocre cliche than having a girlfriend named Mary who's got "hair of gold and lips like cherries?" If she really did, God would she be repulsive. Besides, "Mary" and "Cherries" is a lousy rhyme. (So is "padre" and "daybreak," but at least it's interesting.)
And finally, let's be honest, the worst cop-out in any short story is "it was all a dream."

Yet "Green Green Grass of Home" has served as both a weepy example of C&W drama, and even a protest against capital punishment (the Joan Baez version most notably, here represented by a rare live TV version). The song was a crossover hit for Tom Jones, was overbaked into opera by Katherine Jenkins, has been sung in all kinds of improbable languages, and even parodied by Ben Colder (Sheb Wooley's drunken alter-ego).

Now why, baby, why, would you want to wade through FORTY versions?
In part one, you might want to check on the way Pitney, Laine, Rogers, Twitty, Brown, Jones and other C&W veterans choose to either sing "I was only dreaming" or, for dramatic effect, speak those lines. You might want to note which ones use a backing choir, which ones add squeamy steel guitar, and which ones either string up the tempo or hang it gently. Then there are the ad-libs..."I was only dreaming" or "I must have been dreaming."
There's also a question as to where the prisoner is confined. It's usually "four gray walls" but for Joan Baez, "cold clay walls" and for Johnny Cash, "cold gray walls." It's just plain "gray walls" for Kenny Rogers and "four walls" (no color) for Jack Palance.
Part two concentrates on the more disturbing, offbeat and ill versions of the song. There are lots of women here, from Bonnie Guitar, who shifts the song into the third person, to Margareta Pasiaru, who sings it as "Ce dor imi e sa flu acasa lar." There are Italian cover versions and Spanish cover versions (L' Erba Verde Di Casa Mia and Os Verdes Campos da Minha Terra) as well as Jan Malsjo's "En sång en gång för länge sen."

Are you only dreaming? No, this is truly your chance to download OVER FORTY versions of this classic song, and turn yourself Green, Green, Green, Green, Green, Green....
GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME Predominantly normal versions
GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME Predominantly unusual and foreign versions

A GARLAND TO BEVERLY - Not of This Earth

Beverly Garland, star of "Not Of This Earth," has swooped the planet. Her passing didn't quite get the attention it deserved.
Some stars had that one defining role that instantly got some attention. The recent death of an obscure actor named Paul Benedict got a lot of coverage because he had played a British twit on "The Jeffersons" for several seasons. So the headline was "Jeffersons Star dies." Veteran Hollywood stars like Yvonne de Carlo and Carolyn Jones were likewise identified as "Lily Munster" and "Morticia Addams," because their dozens and dozens of other film roles just marked them as good professional actresses.
And so it was, that the news of Beverly Garland's death only made it to the back obituary page in most newspapers, if at all. It wasn't headline news, but that doesn't diminish her achievements over fifty years and a great amount of film and TV appearances.
Her TV career took off in 1955 with an Emmy-nominated performance in "Medic," and she followed it with several seasons of "Decoy," the first TV show that starred a woman in an action role (she played an undercover cop).
She also had a continuing role as the perfect sitcom wife opposite Fred MacMurray on "My Three Sons," and later took "mom" roles; Stephanie Zimbalist's mother in "Remington Steele," Kate Jackson's in "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" and Teri Hatcher's in "Lois & Clark."
As for the movies, she's best remembered as a "Scream Queen," but one who more often took up the fight, rather than shrank in fright. She aimed her rifle at the creature terrorizing the planet in "It Conquered the World," and went into the swamp after 'The Alligator People,' and she was sexy as the tough nurse who was feeding blood to the stoic alien who was "Not Of This Earth."
The former Beverly Fessenden married and divorced actor Richard Garland, but found an enduring marriage in 1960 with the unlikely-named Fillmore Crank. Crank was a real estate developer, and the couple built a hotel (named after Beverly) in 1972, and while she continued her acting career, she was secure with her hotel business, her marriage, and her two children. The hotel would often hold memorabilia conventions and for a little fun and profit, she'd join in and set up a table to autograph a Twilight Zone card or an 8x10.
She had a great sense of humor, warm recollections of her co-workers, enjoyed those crazy B-movies she made, and knew the business inside and out...which means, as you can see from her varied roles, that she could be tender or tough...and remain beloved and respected.
A suite from "Not Of This Earth," in full stereo:
Main Title - The Eyes Have It - Rabid Blood - End Title

Ian Dury's obscure 4000 WEEKS HOLIDAY

Most of Ian Dury's albums are pretty easy to find...except "4000 Weeks Holiday." This is very frustrating for the many who have collected everything possible (from bootlegs to Baxter Dury and back) and fondly remember seeing Ian and his Blockheads perform live.
Suffer no more...you can quench your curiosity with the download below. And here, from page 135 of his book on Mr. Dury (half bio, half song lyrics) is author Jim Drury's quick take on this forgotten album:
"4000 Weeks Holiday, a reference to the approximate life span of the average human, was released in November 1983, months behind schedule. The reason for the delay was Ian's initial refusal to remove the song "Fuck Off Noddy," despite the threat of legal action from Enid Blyton's estate...Having removed the offending track, the album reached a paltry number 54 in the charts, leading to a disenchanted Polydor axing Ian from the label."
While the average fan of Ian Dury might not consider "Lord Upminster" (1981) or "Apples" (1989) masterpieces either, this inbetweenie, "4000 Weeks Holiday," has some very worthy tracks, with typical impudent Dury recitations and cheekiness, and the occasional bit of underhanded smut ("Really Glad You Came"). "The Man With No Face" is another bit of coal with a glint of diamond in it. Other cuts include "Take Me to the Cleaners" "Percy the Poet" "Peter the Painter" "Tell Your Daddy" and "Very Personal."
The censored track "Fuck Off Noddy" can be found with amusing visuals, via YouTube.
For various reasons, Ian's hit songwriting partner Chas Jankel couldn't or wouldn't work on the songs and his band The Blockheads either couldn't, or wouldn't participate in the recording. Ian co-wrote most of the tracks with old Kilburn mates Russell Hardy and Rod Melvin, so that scratches the itch for those who fondly remember their Kilburn and the High Roads songs, and always wondered what they could do if given another chance.
As bloggers love to say, if you like it, buy it...but considering your choice is either a scratchy original UK vinyl pressing, or a very expensive Japanese import...you might be forgiven if you feel that this mp3 version suffices.
The enduring Dury's most obscure album via Rapidshare
Durex Dury's 4000 via Box

Run for Cover versions: BOLL WEEVIL x 7

For generations, folkies & CW singers have sung about "The Boll Weevil," and the song can bug you. It can be a lesson in accepting, with humor, life's misfortunes, or it could be a sly grumble about immigration, or...literally a song about an insect. (And yep, if you click the picture, it gets bigger, and you can really see what a boll weevil looks like when it's lookin' for a home.)
In most versions of the folk tune, a farmer finds a talking boll weevil has moved in, and there ain't much he can do about it. He tosses the bug into a cake of ice, and the bug replies, "it's mighty cool and nice." The song ends with the insect chewing up a path of cotton on the man's farm.
That's The Weavers version, though. Listen to how rockabilly Eddie Cochran adapts it using a racist opening line: "The Boll Weevil am a little black bug, came from Mexico they say. Came all the way to Texas just lookin' for a place to stay."
Eddie's anecdotes end with the boll weevil heated up and still taunting the farmer. As for the "red hot sand...it's mighty hot but I'll take it like a man." And that's the end of the song. No way to get rid of the boll weevil.
Tex Ritter's C&W version also mentions "the boll weevil am a little black bug from Mexico..." and (you know how they procreate) the "whole family" is now causing a ruckus. Ritter's bug is tossed in the "red hot fire," but the bug says "Yassah, it'll be my home." Ritter's versions ends with the weevil destroying half the farmer's cotton.
The song originated with the black folk-blues singer Leadbelly, and no, his shout does not mention blacks or Mexico. It simply mentions how the insect and his whole family came "lookin' for a home" and he can adapt to ice and sand.
For those who simply want to hear a funny folk song, The Weavers, with droll Lee Hays muttering the lines, is the choice...the beast is "humanized" by being able to speak and his destructiveways lightly written off as just something that can't be cured and can only be endured. The clever weevil even wants to make a deal with a lightning bug so he can create havoc after nightfall! Brook Benton, a black pop singer popular in the 50's, does a version marred by an irritating clinky-piano, but his lyrics do not mention the color of the boll weevil, and "where they come from, nobody really knows." In Benton's version, the farmer asks "Why'd you pick my farm. The boll weevil just laughed at the farmer and said we ain't gonna do ya much farm...we're just lookin' for a home....gonna take me a home...Farmer I'd like to wish you well. And the farmer said to the boll weevil, yeah, and I wish you was in — lookin' for a home."
There are a few other songs about the boll weevil, but these all have the same melody and pretty much the same lyrics. If someone adapted the song today...who knows what that boll weevil would be getting into...
Eddie, Tex, Brook and four more, singin' about BOLL WEEV-ILLS!

DRILL YE TARRIERS & PAT WORKS ON THE RAILWAY

"If God had meant us to fly," Michael Flanders once remarked, "he would never have given us the railways."
In America, there was romance and excitement as the nation became linked via thousand of miles of track. It wasn't quite so exciting or romantic for those who were working on the railroad, all the live-long day.
To keep up their spirits, the workers sang, and often about the ironies and miseries of their lives. "For it's work all day for the sugar in your tay," was the Irish chorus on "Drill Ye Tarriers Drill." Another popular tune was "Pat Works on the Railway," which includes a typical Irish nonsense-word chorus, "Fill-a-me ory-ory-ay."
The lyrics are simple, easy to remember rhymes that could go for nine stanzas. "In Eighteen hundred and forty one, I put my cordoroy britches on. Put my cordoroy britches on, to work upon the railway..." Each year is just as bland.
"Drill Ye Tarriers" is more amusing, as the grousing lead singer takes a shot at his boss, the boss's wife, her cooking, and the cheap ways of the railroad. Hear for yourself the vivid picture of a fellow blown skyward, and his punishment.
The Weavers covered both songs, and they are joined by two extra Tarrier versions (Chad Mitchell and Cisco Houston) and two other "Pat Works on the Railway" attempts, one from The Cottars, and an oddity from Mechanicy Shanty, a European group of wild and crazy guys who sing with Russian-Polish accents and have their own nonsense syllables to replace "Fill-a-me ory-ory-ay," which sounds like: "Rilla-he-rollin-rollin-way."
The whole point of nonsense refrains was to create something catchy even illiterates or those who don't know the language can easily remember and sing. These days, it could be the entire song. But we'll save "Who Let the Dogs Out" for another day...
Various Versions of "Drill Ye Tarriers Drill" and "Pat Works On the Railway"

Living Voices: THE EVE OF DESTRUCTION

And now, gentle people, a gently-performed song about the end of civilization....not that it was ever so civilized. Religious people have always devoutly gone out to murder other people, simply for not sharing the same view of an imaginary friend. It's just that these heinous incidents are coming with a lot more frequency.
The two people in the photo were among the over 150 destroyed by religious terrorists two days ago.
It was a familiar message; Muslim maniacs or Islam assholes killing complete strangers, by way of declaring God is Great. All around the world, from London and Spain to India and America...these Middle Eastern monkeys are emigrating just to blow things up and gun people down.
The legendary Brigitte Bardot has actually been fined for speaking her mind on the subject of immigration. Her countrymen don't know the meaning of free speech, nor the threat she exposed five years ago in her book "A Scream in the Silence." Of the “Islamicization of France”, she declared: "Over the last twenty years, we have given in to a subterranean, dangerous, and uncontrolled infiltration, which not only resists adjusting to our laws and customs but which will, as the years pass, attempt to impose its own."
Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, not yet 30, came to Mumbai to be charitable and decent. They presided over Nariman House, a joyous, open, honest place where anyone was welcome to share a meal, pray or rest. They went to a foreign land to be part of a kindly outreach program. They came up against Islam-Muslim fanatics who had an outrage program...the slaughter of defenseless people. The terrorists found it very easy to storm into the rabbi's building...and neighboring hotels that housed unarmed tourists and business people.
In America in the mid-60's, a call for change was made non-violently by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and on the radio, by such men of Jewish heritage as Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. They were joined by Christians old (Pete Seeger) and new, including P.F. Sloan, who wrote "Eve of Destruction," a hit for Barry McGuire and covered by Anita Kerr's "Living Voices."
There's something unsettling about a middle-of-the-road choir handling "Eve of Destruction," but in this world gone wrong, their rendition can be interpreted in many ways. Were they harmonizing over a melody and ignoring the words? Or were these lambs all too certain that there was nothing to do but sing...and await the slaughter?
EVE OF DESTRUCTION

MORTON DOWNEY JR: NO SOLUTION TO POLLUTION

From 1987 to 1989, Morton Downey Jr. thrived as the wart-faced descendant of abrasive talk show pioneer Joe Pyne, cigarette smoke his blowhard trademark. He'd paid his dues with local talk shows on radio and TV. When he left KFBK-AM, a fellow named Rush Limbaugh replaced him.
As Downey's fame soared, David Letterman, noting Pyne's brief flash of fame, said "We see this every 10 or 12 years...I don't quite understand why everybody's falling over backwards over the guy." Soon enough, people were bored with the cries of "Zip it" and the artificial confrontations. In these pre-Springer days, there weren't enough morons to keep Mort on the air, and the indie stations running his syndicated show suffered backlash from sponsors.
In 1989, Downey knew he was flaming out, and made a desperate attempt to show he was still relevant. He emerged from a San Francisco International Airport toilet with a swastika strangely marked backwards on his face. He claimed he'd been attacked by Neo-Nazis, but it was obvious that he was lying...and only someone using a mirror could've made a backwards swastika.
Mort's show sank, as did his 1990 "Morton Downey Jr. Sings" album. A somewhat nicer Downey was on the cover, befitting a man who had self-consciously had his warts removed...in an attempt to give his critics a little less of a visual target. Always known as a "loudmouth," Morton's choice of singing style will surprise you. Showing a somewhat weak country tenor, and here, abetted by a band member to form a Dr. Hook-ish duet, Downey offers a down, quietly pessimistic view of the future. The guy was actually a singer before he grabbed fame as a shock-talk host. In the early 80's he was Sean Morton Downey, and his 1981 country single, "Green-Eyed Girl," grazed the outer reaches of the Country Top 100 chart.
Downey bounced around various local TV and radio stations, and had a lung removed during cancer surgery in 1996. He died in 2001.
But back in 1990 he was convinced the planet was dying...
"There ain't no solution to pollution anymore. We won a couple' battles but we're losing the war. We're dumpin' in our oceans, we run sewers in our lakes. We build mountains made of garbage and we bury toxic waste....take a look around you, man is snuffing out his life."
NO SOLUTION TO POLLUTION

It Kinda Makes Ya Wonder Don't It

Most any song can inspire drivel. Some songs lead a writer to do a "memory piece," describing remembered (but best forgotten) anecdotes from a nostalgic (if boring to everyone else) past. Sometimes pontificating about a lyric or giving a bio of its singer is just showin' off. So why bother? It kinda makes ya wonder, don't it?
Today's entries are all short, 'cause most times, a novelty song squeaks for itself. Now, the existential question posed by Jerry Van Dyke...nah, there could be an analysis here, a memory piece about watching "My Mother the Car" or "Coach" or a bio of his life and times but...nope. Although...it kinda makes ya wonder...
"It Kinda Makes Ya Wonder Don't It"

Ill-Ustrated Songs #17 "DIRTY MAGGIE MAY" Vipers Skiffle Group Pre-Beatles

"Dirty Maggie May...she'll never walk down Lime Street anymore..." What happened to the rest of "Maggie May" on The Beatles' "Let it Be" album? Why didn't they complete it? Maybe Lennon figured everybody knew the song so well he didn't need to go on. John and his friends knew The Vipers Skiffle Group version by heart. Download it and you will, too.
Liverpool's DIRTY MAGGIE MAY

Margie Day - Take Out Your False Teeth, Daddy!

"Take out your false teeth daddy, your mommy wants to scratch your gums! Well you're gonna feel good after I've rubbed them some. You're always complainin' about your gums. Take 'em out baby, let's have some fun!"
Margie Day, 1954.
Take Out Your False Teeth - MARGIE DAY

RUN FOR COVERS: DELILAH x 7

"She stood there laughing..." Exactly 40 years ago.
Longer, if you consider the movie version, not the Tom Jones song.
That's cold, cruel Hedy Lamarr in both photos. She played Delilah in the movie "Samson and Delilah." It's one of the few things anyone remembers about her. She also was one of the first famous actresses to do a nude scene, and she successfully sued Mel Brooks for corrupting her name into Hedley Lamarr for "Blazing Saddles" (figuring a tribute pun wasn't the same thing as...getting paid.) She also uttered a memorable observation; she said that it was easy for a woman to look sexy: "all you have to do is stand still and look stupid."

But that's not why you're here. You're here for SEVEN versions of DELILAH.
The song's about a cheatin' shady lady whose sillhouette of herself and another man caused Tom Jones to go out of his mind in 1968. "My my my Delilah! Why why why Delilah!"
Tom went all "Son of Sam" on Delilah, defying the odds that a murder ballad, in oom-pa-pa waltz time, could become a worldwide hit.
Hit-man Tom is such a powerful, unique singer, that when he bellows a tune...almost nobody dares to out-shout him.
Some of his songs are so STOOPID, they are his alone...as nobody in his right mind would cover "It's Not Unusual." As for "What's New Pussycat, Whoaaahhhh" nobody touched it except that Welshman filled with too much fermented grape juice.
No MOR-singing MOR-on could equal Tom, but some genre-singers gave "Delilah" a try. And in your download, you get the Italian version, "La Nostra Favola," via the rather light tenor Jimmy Fontana. You get another operatic version as well, plus a country take by the forgotten (well, except to Red Neckerson) Theron Gooslin. Don't you think he's psycho, mama? Just listen.
You'd expect a heavy metal version to be good, especially if it has lesbian overtones (lead singer female), or that maybe a crazy reggae artist would do a killer job but when you listen to those versions, you might not be impressed. Actually the most entertaining version beyond Tom's bathospheric bawl, is probably the live take by that overage delinquent Alex Harvey. The late Scotsman was always good at portraying slightly retarded hoodlums, and is a most believable murderer on one of the most ridiculous pop songs of all time.
With its overdone orchestrations, Tijuana brass-section, shifts from waltz-time to bolero, and fast (literal) cut from corn (didn't we hear about "silhouettes on the shade" just a few years earlier) to operatic violence, "Delilah" is a classic. And yes, there are a few other cover versions out there, but..."forgive me Delilah, I just couldn't take any more."

7 Versions of DELILAH

Amy Camus Didn't Die. Yma Sumac did.

Yma Sumac (September 13, 1922-November 1, 2008) was sort of Charo crossed with Margaret Dumont and Marni Nixon. Like Nixon, she truly did have a remarkable voice, but like Charo and Dumont, at times there was a dash of self-parody or self-delusion in there, but like any pro, you don't argue with what you're being paid to do.
She was born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo, and sang as Imma Sumack (the name loosely translated as "How Beautiful") in her native Peru. She recorded her first tracks in Peru in 1943, and came to America three years later. America was friendly to all sorts of ethnic folk acts, rhumba bands, guys banging a drum and shouting "Babalu" or women wearing fruit on their heads and flirting with Groucho Marx. Our Peruvian princess, with husband and kid, was more than willing to play the game, and changed her name to Yma Sumac. (Which led some wiseguys to reverse it, and claim she was phony Amy Camus from Brooklyn!). She signed with Capitol in 1950 and melded South American folk songs to the soundtrack-music stylings that made up a lot of that era's middle-of-the-road easy listening albums.
She found herself part of a new wave of ethnic-soundtrack stuff, which would include Les Baxter's instrumentals, way too many Hawaiian and Tiki albums, and the hit "Quiet Village" (with jungle sound effects) from Martin Denny. Just as Carmen Miranda knew how to wear bananas, Yma knew how to milk her cash-goat...turning from plain folk singer to a specialist in ultra-strange exotica. She appeared in two films, "Secret of the Incas" (1954) and "Omar Khayyam" (1957) but when jungle novelty wore off, her albums sadly found their way to the cut-out bins along with Baxter and Denny.
Yma would've easily qualified as a forgotten illfolks oddity except the same gays that found Carmen Miranda, found Yma, and they turned her into a gay cult icon. Which was fine with Yma, as long as it meant more money, concerts, and a campy comeback album called "Miracles." Another decade passed, and Sumac was further elevated by vinyl geeks. These were nerds, backpacks strapped to their thrift shop shirts, mistaking bad plaid as retro fashion, and their uncle's forgotten failed hipster albums as the ultimate in cool. As girls rarely go into record stores and don't think backpacks are a fashion accessory, Yma's new-found devotees soothed their lonely, sexless hours by staring at her formidable cover art and convincing themselves that liking her 4 octave range and actually listening to this stuff more than once every Halloween, marked them as...kewl. These guys even had their own terms ("outsider" music or "lounge") so they could grunt to themselves, "I'm not like everybody else," small solace for constant masturbation and record store haunting.
Yma, like Ed Wood Jr., deserves a bit better than to be a cult item for assholes. But by how much? A three-song tribute gives you an idea of whether you want to buy or cadge free downloads and hear more.
These three samples of Yma are from three distinct stages of her career.
MONOS (translation: MONKEYS) is typical of her early Latin novelties.
XTABAY is her famous half-sung half-vocalise exercise in jungle drama. Quite a few numbers like this are as intoxicating as a pina colada...with an extra splash of tequila (and don't forget the worm).
MEDICINE MAN comes from her foolishly titled "Miracles." This album also has her take on "El Condor Pasa" and while it's nice that she ignores Paul Simon's lyrics, her menopausal cooing sounds like a toucan on crack. Not that this is a bad thing. It's well worth hearing, but "Medicine Man" is even more bizarre, with Yma whooping it up over multi-octaves. Yes, it proved she had a wider range than the other gay fave of the day Bette Midler. To which, most any sane person would ask, "So what?"
Yma Sumac was an amusing novelty singer in her day, with some numbers giving off an air of both inspiration and perspiration, but these days her memory is mostly evoked by gays who should simply buy opera records or have the honesty to dress up in drag while listening to Carmen Miranda. Additionally, there's the lounge and exotica crowd who still can't get over the fact that Martin Denny threw some bird noises into a middle-of-the-road bit of soundtrack music...and have made a cult out of anything that came from any place that grows guavas.
At her best, Sumac might be described in the same manner James Russell Lowell wrote of his contemporary, Edgar A. Poe: "Three-fifths...genius and two-fifths sheer fudge."
The percentage may be different with Yma, but it would be a good idea, if you're going to listen, to have a fifth handy, and take a few shots before you start.
MEDICINE MAN Medicine Man
MONKEYS Monkeys
XTABAY XTABAY

W.C. FIELDS MEMORIAL ELECTRIC STRING BAND

In 1966, the Byrds and the Monkees nearly had some competition from a band named for a curmudgeon who died on Christmas Day, twenty years earlier.
But did the group's lead singer sound anything like W.C. Fields?
Well, no. He sounded more like any guy fronting a Strawberry Watch Band Love-In Groove band of the day...
The band released a single "Hippy Elevator Operator" b/w "Don't Lose the Girl" on HBR...which was the music wing of the less-than-hip Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon factory. DJ's may not have taken too seriously anyone associated with Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw, but the group did have rock creds. The main members of the group were George Caldwell and Robert Zinner (who co-wrote "Hippy Elevator Operator"). They had previously been in a Redondo Beach area band called The Bees, a band that showed some Rolling Stones influence and covered Dylan once in a while. They played fairly regularly in Southern California but only recorded a few tracks. Then came a name change. According to Caldwell, "One night I was lying on the couch watching TV and the name just came to me on a piece of flaming lemon meringue pie. I saw the words on the screen being typed on a piece of paper - "W.C. Fields today" - and so I renamed the band the next day."
The band also issued one single for Mercury the same year. They were the first to record "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone," but it was The Monkees who brought it into the Top 10...while the Fields band disappeared into the haze. They are still fondly remembered, and/or flash-backed, by fans of garage-psych, and sometimes a comedy fan will raise an eyebrow and ponder one of their 45's, and wonder if it's worth buying for $10 or $20 because the band members might be somehow doing an imitation of Uncle Bill. No, no matter how much Sheepdip you consume, you won't be able to hear anything to remotely remind you of The Great Man.
But for mid-60's spaced-out grunge, these guys deserve to be more than stepping stones to The Monkees.
4 Sides of THE W.C. FIELDS MEMORIAL ELECTRIC STRING BAND