1000 SONGS - DAY 290 SONG # 321

DAY 290: Two Songs by He Said

Graham Lewis was the bassman in British Avantgarde-New-Wave-Post-Punk-band Wire. He is 60 years old by now. Among his solo projects there was one called "He Said". Although this has been sometimes in the 1980ies, it still sounds interesting and anything but out of date. Here are two songs by He Said, "Could You" and "Pump". Great stuff, anyway.

1000 SONGS - DAY 289 SONG #320

Day 289: Another Great Song by Lowell George

On Day 234, track # 520 in my statistics (cover versions and bonus tracks included), 2012-04-10, the 1000 Songs Challenge has featured "Dixie Chicken" by Little Feat, maybe my favourite Little Feat song. Probably the most widely known song by Little Feat (among those written by Lowell George) is "Willin", a "truck-driver-song", in the version included on their second album "Sailin Shoes". It has been covered by many artists, including Dwight Yoakam, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan, but also recorded in more than one version by Little Feat. The first recording of the song is featured on the first, self-titled, album, with Ry Cooder on steel guitar. Then there is a rather lenghty live rendering of the song included in Little Feat's album "Waiting for Columbus", not featured here. A colleague from the Department of English and American Studies at Vienna University has also posted a comment on that one song, you find it here: http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/FeatWilling.htm

I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow
I'm drunk and dirty don't ya know, and I'm still... willin
And I was out on the road late at night
I seen my pretty Alice in every head light, Alice, Dallas Alice

And I've been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
and you show me a sign
Then I'll be willin', to be movin'

Well I've been kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet
Had my head stoved in but I'm still on my feet and I'm still....willin'
Now I smuggled some smokes and folks from Mexico
Baked by the sun, every time I go to Mexico, and I'm still


And I been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
and then you show me a sign
Well I'll be willin', to be movin

1000 SONGS - DAY 288 SONG # 319

DAY 288: A Beautiful Song About Poor People

Brendan Croker from Leeds will turn 60 on August 15, 2013. You may know him as a part-time member of the Mekons, a member of Sally Timms' Drifting Cowgirls or of the Notting Hillbillies. He has also recorded some albums under his own name, together with The Five O' Clock Shadows. From the 1989 album Brendan Croker and The 5 O'Clock Shadows, here is "No Money at All" featuring Mark Knopfler on guitar (as anybody who has ever heard Knopfler play the guitar would have easily found out by listening to the tune). Enjoy!

When the morning rolls around
For you and me and the lonely town
Some people got no money at all

Everyday and every night
You can hear their cry
You can see their fright
Some people got no money at all

Everywhere you see their face
On the TV screen, in the market place
Some people got no money at all

There are times when we forget
There are times we all remember
But yet some people got no money at all

This song is almost done
And everything will carry on
Some people got no money at all

And when I am dead and gone
Someone else will be singing a song
And it goes
Some people got no money at all

1000 SONGS - DAY 287 SONG # 318

Day 287: Four Versions of a Song I Can Dance to

Ah - David Byrne, great man, as everybody knows. On his 1997 album "Feelings" we find "I dance on Vaseline". Some of the production of the album has been done by Morcheeba, a so called trip-hop band from Ingerland. So there is also a version of the song done together with the Godfreys and Skye Edwards on a live show. And there is a very cooool remix by Thievery Corporation, Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Her comes the album version, followed by the live version that I find to be the most danceable (the jumping-like-a-rubber-ball-version). After that, we have the cool version, and we end with David Byrne & Morcheeba live. Lyrics featured.

I'm taking back the knowledge
I'm taking back the gentleness
I'm taking back the ritual
I'm giving in to sweetness

Come preacherman, shoot me with your poisoned arrow
But I dance on vaseline
And I'm tripping out working on a revolution
You don't let the music in

I'm taking back the children
I'm taking back the ceremony
I'm taking back my offerings
And I'm taking back what you mean to me

You're dangerous, shoot me with your poisoned arrow
But I dance on vaseline
And I'm slipping out I'm working on a revolution
Don't let the music in

And war is all around us
Your gods are dead and buried underground
I was a silly putty
Your big ideas are useless to me now

My baby saw the future
She doesn't wanna live it anymore
Its lousy science-fiction
It's on your skin and seeps into your bones

Come preacherman, shoot me with your poisoned arrow
I dance on vaseline
And I'm tripping out working on a revolution
Don't let day begin

And you're dangerous, shoot me with your poisoned arrow
But I dance on vaseline
And I'm slipping out working on a revolution
Don't let the music in

It started in oklahoma
You always think it happens somewhere else
This madness is attractive
Until the day it happens to yourself

And power might seem sexy
But check her in the cool grey light of dawn
A legislative body
And all at once your lust for her is gone

And I'm tripping out working on a revolution
Don't let the day begin
We'll turn you down time to time for evolution
Don't let the music in

And I'm tripping out working on a revolution
Don't let the day begin
We'll turn you down, make a time for evolution
Don't let the day begin

1000 SONGS - DAY 286 SONG # 317

Day 286: A Song That Takes You To the Heart of Darkness

In these hot summer days, my mind goes back to rainy UK, Bristol and the nearby town of Portishead. The band named after the latter simply makes beautiful, albeit rather dark songs. From their first album "Dummy" I especially like "Wandering Star", containing parts of "Magic Mountain", in the version of Eric Burdon & WAR. Here is a live version of that song w/t lyrics:

Please could you stay awhile to share my grief
For its such a lovely day
To have to always feel this way
And the time that I will suffer less
Is when I never have to wake

Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever

... Those who have seen the needles eye, now tread
Like a husk, from which all that was, now has fled
And the masks, that the monsters wear
To feed, upon their prey

Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever

(always) doubled up inside
Take awhile to shed my grief
(always) doubled up inside
Taunted, cruel.... ...

Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever
Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved
The blackness of darkness forever


And here is the album version:

1000 SONGS - DAY 285 SONG # 316

Day 285: The Quickness

Bad Brains are/were a black punk/metal/reggae/hardcore/crossover band fronted by a guy called Human Rights: HR. Regarding musical quality, I really like their album "Quickness" from 1989, irrespective of the talk about the possible homophobic content of the song "Don't Blow no Bubbles" on that record. Here is "With the Quickness" from that album, followed by "Voyage to Infinity" and "Gene Machine" - heavy!