1000 SONGS - DAY 94: SONG # 124

Day 94: Some sad songs, more or less

If it wasn't for Nick Cave, this here post would have been a tribute to Glitterhouse Records. There is a version of "Loom of the Land" by the Walkabouts on their beautiful album "Satisfied Mind". If I have understood it rightly, in Europe their records were distributed by Glitterhosue, who did some of the European imprints of Sub Pop. The original version is to be found on Henry's Dream by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds:

Here are the Walkabouts with their country version: Other bands featured on Glittterhouse records are, f.e., the Norwegian Band Midnight Choir (remember them?) and Woven Hand (remember David Eugene Edwards?) I will start with the Mercy of Maria by Midnight Choir and go on with Woven Hand's Version of "Ain't No Sunshine":

1000 SONGS - DAY 93: SONG # 123

Day 93: A song that makes me happy

So here we have a song that is pure ecstasy; it makes me move, it makes me dance, it makes me jump, it makes me bang my head, it makes me yell, it makes me scream, it makes me shake everything I've got. It has a simple message: LIVE until the day you die!!! It is by Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3. Steve Wynn, of old Dream Syndicate days (remember Kendra Smith?), is one of my musical heroes. Nuff said, enjoy, dance and be happy:

1000 SONGS - DAY 92: SONG # 122

Day 92: A song that takes you into the heart of darkness

To me, the Swans have always been a rather dark band, among all those dark bands that sprang up around the mid-eighties, commonly labelled as "post-punk". One of the side-projects of Michael Gira and Jarboe La Salle Devereaux was a line-up called "Skin", with Norman Westberg on the guitar and Harry Crosby on bass. Under that name they recorded three albums in 1987: "Blood, Women, Roses", "Shame, Humility, Revenge", and "Girl Come Out". There exist also some compilations, like "World of Skin" (1998). I always found, that "Blood on Your Hands" from "Blood, Women, Roses" was a very impressive tune in all its simplicity and it stuck to my memory until today.

There's blood on your hands, baby Baby, there's blood on your hands Mama's gonna get even with you Mama's gonna get you back When all the blood's washed over you Mama will never forget Mama loves you too much, baby Mama loves you too much to cry Mama loves her darling boy She'll hold you close in her arms Mama's gonna wash his sweet body Mama loves you too much to cry Mama loves you too much, baby Mama loves you too much to cry

Religious, and especially, Christian themes, have very often been at the centre of the Swans' songs, f.e. in "Children of God", from the album of the same name:

Finally, as a bonus track, I add one of their versions of the one song that probably is the best song in all the world, so that I will post the original version of it as #1000 of this collection, Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", the version with the vocals done by Jarboe:

1000 SONGS - DAY 91: SONG # 121

DAY 91: My favourite Song about Kraftwerk

Originally, I wanted to make a post about my favourite Kraftwerk song and add Blaine L. Reininger's (of Tuxedomoon fame) song "Rolf an Florain go Hawaian" as a comment. But when searching for infos on Blaine Leslie Reininger on the internet, I found, that there was no Wikipedia article on Mr. Reininger. Of course, there seems to have been one, but it has been deleted: information on Wikipedia has it that:
"This page has been deleted. The deletion and move log for the page are provided below for reference. 22:51, 22 August 2010 Vianello (talk | contribs) deleted "Blaine L. Reininger" ‎ (Speedy deleted per CSD A7, was an article about a band, singer, musician, or musical ensemble that didn't assert the importance or significance of the subject. using TW)"
Who the fucking hell is this (more horrible words) Vianello??? The best guess would be that it is Reininger himself joking. All other possibilities are horrible: there are articles on "musicians" on Wikipedia that do not even know how to tune their instrument.

So here is the song by Mr. Reininger from his 1987 album Byzantium (Les Disques du Crépuscule) and the information about him as it can be found on his own YouTube channel (blaineleslie):

Blaine L. Reininger is an American composer born in 1953 in Pueblo, Colorado. Having studied violin from age 9 guitar from age 11 and music theory and composition through high school and into college, he left Colorado in 1976 for San Francisco. There, in 1977, as a consequence of his studies in electronic music at San Francisco City College, he started the legendary American cult band Tuxedomoon together with classmate Steven Brown.
In 1981, Reininger and the group left America to practice their art in Europe. Over the course of the next 26 years, many artistic collaborations took place and many cd's were recorded. These collaborations, while mostly musical in nature, often moved into other fields such as dance, theatre, and film.Reininger continues to live and work in Europe, having lived in Athens, Greece since 1998.

1000 SONGS - DAY 90: SONG # 120

Day 90: Just another one of your favourite songs

The fourth round of "3o days song challenge" is finished, I have posted 120 "songs" in half a year, but practically, a load more tracks (be it that there was more than 1 song to one day, be it cover-versions or simply "bonus-tracks"). I will return to statistics when the sunny wheather makes place for more rainy days. This "fav song" came to my mind because of the burial of Otto v. Habsburg, which has been a very interesting ritual from the anthropologist' s point of view, as it featured a secondary interment of Otto's wife, a practice we find in many (f.e. some West-African) cultures (see, f. e., Henryk Zimon, Secondary Funerary Rites among the Konkomba of Northern Ghana. In: Religio. Revue pro religionistiku 2008). As I have written a scholarly essay comparing funeral rituals in various cultures and religions using the "refrain" of a song by "At the Drive-In", "Dancing on the Corpses Ashes" as its title, I could have posted that song, "Invalid Litter Department", a song about so called maquilladoras where young Mexican women work for low wages. Frequently some of them dissapear. Later, their corpses would be found. So it can be called a lemant about the mistreatment of that women and the neglect of governmental authorities to do anything against it. [My essay, with not so earnest a subject was printed in : B. Heller / F. Winter, Tod und Ritual. Interkulturelle Perspektiven zwischen Tradition und Moderne. Wien-Berlin 2007]. I decided to post a more cheerful song as one of my fav songs, and the allusion to the Habsburg-funeral is the name of the band. I think, no one ever has come as close to The Talking Head's "Stop Making Sense" movie in presenting music than Franz Ferdinand, although, at least in the introduction, they are that decisively British, in contradistinction to TH (although, one has to add, that David Byrne is of scottish descent):

another live-version, hopefully at least one of them will work in Germany:

1000 SONGS - DAY 89: SONG # 119

Day 89: A song from your childhood

I remember attending a gig by one of my fav bands, The Band of Susans, in Vienna's U4 club and after the gig I told them: "you have played Child of the Moon" and they were perplexed, telling me that they had thought that nobody would know the tune. Back in that days, the only record on which it ever had been featured, was (as the b-side of) the single "Jumping Jack Flash" from 1968. As I had been a great fan of the Stones during my primary school days, I had once owned that single, and if I remember it rightly, I had always prefered to listen to "Child of the Moon".

1000 SONGS - DAY 88: SONG # 118

Day 88: A song to take you through the darkness to the break of the day

Half past twelve and I'm watching the late show in my flat all alone How I hate to spend the evening on my own - would need somebody to take me through a thousand nights of darkness, maybe with the help of a thousand songs; for example Jonas Almquist and his late 80ies Swedish all so alternative band The Leather Nun :

I guess that their best known recording is their cover version of Abbas "Gimme Gimme Gimme":

There is also a live-version, maybe better for the stylish no future generation ambiente than for sound quality and the like, but I did not want to leave it to my dear readers (if there are any) to search for that on their own, since this is a MUST SEE (to be watched at maximum screen):

1000 SONGS - DAY 87: SONG # 117

Day 87: A song I wish I would have written

There are at least two attitudes towards the newly introduced "wish I would have written" category; money-wise (the quality of the song does not matter) or because of music. I wish I would have written Ani di Franco's song "Swing" from her third album recorded in 1999 (means, the third one from that year, not the the third one of her musical career) "To the Teeth", because it matches different musical styles in a very cool way, it is danceable and sophisticated, and it has made my day, from time to time. The song has a few thousand views on UTUBE, but compare it to those songs that have plenty of millions of views (sure, there are also some fine songs among them). And as a bonus-track "Fuel" from "Little Plastic Castle", in a live version from 2009 (I like the question: "is he just a liar with nothing to lie about?", I like the way she pours out words over words over words): And the studio recording:

1000 SONGS - DAY 86: SONG # 116

Day 86: A gig I've been to lately

Yesterday, July 12, 2012, Charles Bradley (aka "the screaming eagle of soul") and the Menahen Street Band did a fantastic gig at Rathausplatz in Vienna's Inner City. Today, my voice is rather hoarse, very close to a sore throat... Great band, great singer. This is a live version of their 2007 single "The World (is Going up in Flames):



And they did a soul-version of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold", too. There are also some videos of yesterday's gig on UTube, but they are of rather lousy sound quality.



As one comment on utube goes: THIS BAND KILLS!

1000 SONGS - DAY 85: SONG # 115

Day 85: a funny song

If there has ever been a composer able to write "funny" (parodistic, satirical) music that need not have any lyrics to tell every listener capable to understand that this is dionysian-satirical music, it is Frank Zappa. Songs  # 1-4 from Frank's 1974 (12th) album "Apostrophe"  feature rather funny lyrics. They tell a rather funny (some might say, slightly weird) story about an Eskimo blinding a fur trader by use of yellow snow (his mother had warned him of), with the latter walking across the tundra for healing in the parish of St. Alfonzo (where some pancake orgy is taking place). As the video in the original post has been taken from you tube, her es the fill album.Listen to:

1. "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" – 2:07
2. "Nanook Rubs It" – 4:38
3. "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast" – 1:50
4. "Father O'Blivion" – 2:18

1000 SONGS - DAY 84: SONG # 114

DAY 84 - A song you want to play at your funeral

A funeral should be an event that includes some dancing and joy, (in case that it has not been a tragic event that has caused the death of the deceased). As I am over 50 years now, I have had an adequate life-span. This means, that even if there will be some tragic circumstances connected to my death, nobody will have the right to complain that I have passed away (anyway, the chances that somebody does are rather limited). I will simply make room for members of the next generation. Therefore, it is totally acceptable that the following tune by the EELS will be played at my funeral:

1000 SONGS - DAY 83: SONG # 113

DAY 83: Songs to be Played at a Wedding

A duet of a male and female singer could be a nice idea for a song played at a wedding. A wedding definitely should be an event that features some dancing, and there should also be some slow music to dance to, so that couples can move across the dancefloor in close contact. The songs I have chosen in this category are songs about untrue lovers, an idea that might seem a bit odd in connection with a wedding where most people would expect to hear songs celebrating faithfulness. Nevertheless, the way that Gene Clark (1944-1991) of former Byrds-fame and Carla Olson - co-founder of the Textones together with Kathy Valentine - render the old folk tune "Fair and Tender Ladies" is simply beautiful. A dignified way to sing a duet, it is, methinks, because of the unspectacular, clear and sober way the two perform their respective voices. A nice symbol for marital life:

My daddy was a handsome gambler
He had a chain five miles long
On every link a heart did dangle
Of another maid he loved and wronged

He told to you some loving story
He'd make you think he'd leave them true
But love grows cold as love grows older
And fades away like morning dew

I'd rather be in some dark hollow
Where the sun refused to shine
Than to live here in Missouri
With your memory always on my mind

Come all ye fair and tender ladies
Take warning how you court your man
They're like a star on a summer's morning
First they appear then they're gone again

I add a beautful song written by Gene Clark. Version 1 is a live take arranged in a similiar way as on "So Rebellious a Lover", the album by Gene Clark and Carla Olson that also features the song rendered above. Version 2 is a fine cover done by the Norwegian band "Midnight Coir", named after a line from Leonard Cohens "Bird on a Wire" ("like a drunk in a midnight choir"). If you do not like that, you're no good at all :-):

Crank her over once again
Put your face into the wind
Find another road where you're never been.
Sing that 2-wheeled melody
The highway symphony
You know, she'll never understand.

Gypsy Rider sing
Your 2-wheeled symphony
You know there's nothing to explain.
She should have known by now
You're just a vagabond
You may never pass this way again.

All the writings on the wall
The paper all must fall
You're only as good as your word remains
You can take it out if you
Decide to follow through
Just take what you earn and leave what remains.

Gypsy Rider sing
Your 2-wheeled symphony
You know there's nothing to explain.
She should have known by now
You're just a vagabond
You may never pass this way again.

1000 SONGS - DAY 82: SONG # 112

Day 82: A Song you listen to when you are sad

Once again, a wonderful song by Cracker. one of my all time favourite bands. Take Me Down to the Infirmary. Once again, I advise everyone to a) buy all their records b) check out their homepage and c) attend their gigs whenever possible

Take me down
to the infirmary
lay me down
on cotton sheets
Put a damp cloth
on my forehead
lay me down
and let me sleep

I know the whiskey won't soothe my soul
and the morphine won't heal my heart
but if you take me down to the infirmary
I won't have to sleep or drink alone.

So, take me down
to the infirmary
walk a sound that is as blue as her eyes
Oh, sister Magdelene won't you fetch the
doctor's flask.
He is going to need a steady
a steady hand

I know the whiskey it won't soothe my soul
and the morphine won't heal my heart
but if you take me down to the infirmary
I won't have to sleep or drink alone.

So, take me down
to the infirmary
lay me down on cotton sheets
put a damp cloth on my forehead
lay me down let me sleep
lay me down let me sleep

And here is a live version:

1000 SONGS - DAY 81: SONG # 111

Day 81: A Song You Listen to When Your Are Happy

No comment: Manu Chao solo basta!




Me llaman el desaparecido
Cuando llega ya se ha ido
Volando vengo, volando voy
Deprisa deprisa a rumbo perdido

Cuando me buscan nunca estoy
Cuando me encuentran yo no soy
El que está enfrente porque ya
Me fui corriendo más allá

Me dicen el desaparecido
Fantasma que nunca está
Me dicen el desagradecido
Pero esa no es la verdad

Yo llevo en el cuerpo un dolor
Que no me deja respirar
Llevo en el cuerpo una condena
Que siempre me echa a caminar


Me dicen el desaparecido
Que cuando llega ya se ha ido
Volando vengo, volando voy
Deprisa deprisa a rumbo perdido

Me dicen el desaparecido
Fantasma que nunca está
Me dicen el desagradecido
Pero esa no es la verdad

Yo llevo en el cuerpo un motor
Que nunca deja de rolar
llevo en el alma un camino
Destinado a nunca llegar

Cuando me buscan nunca estoy
Cuando me encuentran yo no soy
El que esta enfrente por que ya
me fui corriendo mas alla

Me dicen el desaparecido
Cuando llega ya se ha ido
Volando vengo, volando voy
Deprisa deprisa a rumbo perdido

Perdido en el siglo...
Perdido en el siglo…
siglo XX...
rumbo al XXI…

1000 SONGS - DAY 80: SONG # 110

Day 80: The Pure Doctrine

The Gun Club was an important band of the 8oies and a proof for the fact, that not everything in the 80ies music scene was that bad (in fact there were a load of great groups, albeit not in mainstream music as a rule). Nevertheless, it is no surprise that they have not been that successful as they would have deserved. Mother Juno from 87 has been one of my favourite albums since the year of its release, not only because it features Kid Congo Powers on guitar, but also for the songwriting of GC mastermind Jeffrey Lee Pierce (*1958), who died in 1996. I am not sure whether I have seen them live one or two times (at least one time), but I remember having read an interview with Pierce, who had serious problems with alcohol abuse. He stated, that during a time he did not drink he could not stand the performances; walking out on stage and thinking: what is this all about, what do these people expect me to do? Lupita Screams is one of my all time favourite songs and it clearly belongs into the category "pure doctrine", as far as rock music is concernded. On UTube one can find a live version of good sound quality, but Jeffrey Lee seems to be a bit distracted on that performance. Here is one video with the studio version. When checking the links once more, i found all the former uploads i referred to before having been deleted from YouTube for copyright infringement. Enjoy it, as I do own the vinyl and have supported the artist during his lifetime (buying his records, attending his gigs), there is no bad conscience on my side to post that here:

From Miami, their second album (produced by Blondie's guitarist and Debbie Harry's lover Chris Stein), which features a fine cover version of J.C. Fogerty's "Run Through the Jungle" I have included Mother of Earth, great song, great singer, pure doctrine:

BONUS TRACK: the former Gun-Club member Ward Dotson's band "Pontiac Brothers" with their version of the Grateful Dead's "Brown Eyed Women" - sorry for the "video" (in case you want to read the lyrics, watch it on utube, I've posted them there):

1000 SONGS - DAY 79: SONG # 109

DAY 79: Songs from one of my favourite albums

Kendra Smith was the singer and bass player of Opal, a band she had formed together with David Roback and that she later left during a tour. She was then replaced by Hope Sandoval and Opal was renamed to Mazzy Star. Before her Opal days, she had been a member of Dream Syndicate, yet another one of my fav bands (feat. Steve Wynn). Happy Nightmare Baby was released in 1987, the year that Kendra Smith left the band. I own the vinyl version and I have listened to it quite a lot in former days. Ther are rumours, that Ms. Smith is now living in a cabin in the woods without electricity a.t.l., but at least she has a My-Space-profile. The site on fb showing her name clearly is a fan-project; there is no more information to be found than a copy of the Wikipedia-article on KS there. Updare january 2022. in 2017 Smith reappeared in public an joined the reunion of Dream Syndicate and in 2018 she added a song to the soundtrack of some movie.

Let us start with the title track, Happy Nightmare Baby:


Another one, Supernova, one of the songs on HNB that breathes in a kind of T.Rex style:

This is even more true of the opening track, Rocket Machine:


Magick Power. on the other hand, has some early Pink-Floyd organ atmosphere to it:


I have also done statistics concerning the first 100 tracks on my 1000-songs project, that add up to 75 songs (with 25 alternative or cover versions), to know more about the details, follow the link: The first 100 tracks and 75 songs (Dec. 23 - Feb. 06). There you can also read, that I have added two "Bonus Tracks" during that time. So, it is a good moment to add another one, the "Empty Box Blues" from Opal's "Early Recordings":