1000 SONGS - DAY 341 SONG # 372

DAY 341: A Song About Somebody Else

JJ Grey (born John Grey Higginbotham in 1967) and Mofro, in former times simply Mofro play music that is usually described as a mixture of blues, funk, soul and rock. They are from Florida and that's the way they sound. This here song could be an Amy Winehouse classic. It is called Somebody Else and has a simple message: "I don't know who I am when I am that somebody else" - I know this situation and I don't like it. Fortunately,  I do not own a pistol. Here are: the studio version, the lyrics and a live version.

Some people say that I don't play
they say I got a temper when I'm in that way
But I don't know who that person is that acts like a fool
Thats somebody else Lord I swear it ain't me
I guess I'm my on worse enemy
Cause I don't know who I am when I am - that somebody else

I grab up the keys I fly out the gate
The family is fighting I don't want to be late
Cause I'm going to tell them all about my ass like I said that I would
We're out in the yard yelling at each other
hate in my eyes sisters and brothers
I don't know who I am when I am - that somebody else

The neighbors are watching cause its getting real loud
but making my stand yo it makes me feel proud
but I know tomorrow I'll feel the shame when I cool down
Baring my fangs when I hear my niece
yell to the neighbors "Lord call the police"
Cause I don't know who I am when I am - that somebody else

I can't hear the yelling no more
my eyes glaze over as I reach for the door
I grab my pistol time to show these fools what time it is
Now I'm in jail for the rest of my life
I can't see my kids Lord I can't see my wife
Cause I don't know who I am when I am - that somebody else

1000 SONGS - DAY 340 SONG # 371

DAY 340: The Sun/Door Metaphor

The metaphor of the "backdoor" bears many a connotation in Blues language. We all know the Backdoor Man (the one slipping out the backdoor when the husband of his lover shows up), and we know that there is this one entrance to the body (not the head) women and a men have in common. The person who has uploaded this here tune to Youtube seems to have been obsessed with the backdoor-metaphor. In contradistinction to what s/he called it, this here blues is simply called "Sun is gonna shine in my door some day", "door" being no more than a metonymy (pars pro toto) for the house of the singer and as such a synekdoche (if you prefer: just another metonymy) meaning the situation, life or person of the singer. Clearly, Big Bill Broonzy uses it as  a synekdoche (or metonymy) for his life / situation. Big Bill, born Lee Conley Bradley in 1893, was a blues singer and guitarist who died either on August 14 or 15, 1958. He started as a country blues man and later changed to more urban style, returning to his roots in the last years of his life. He is credited to have written many a Blues tune. I like this one very much. Here it is, with lyrics.

Just sittin' here hungry and ain't got a dime
Now, looks like my friends would come to see me some time
Cos' it won't matter how that happen,
Woman, the sun is gonna shine in my door some day
When I was in jail, expectin' a fine,
When I went for that judge, not a friend I could find
Cos' it won't matter how that happen,
Woman, the sun is gonna shine in my door some day
Lord, I lost my father, and my brother too,
That's why you hear me singin', Lord, I'm lonesome and blue
Cos'  it won't matter how that  happen,
Woman, the is sun gonna shine in my door someday
Lordy, lordy, lordy, lord, I used to be your reg'lar,
Woman,  I got to be your dog
Cos' it won't matter how that happens,
Woman, the sun is gonna shine in my door some day
Lord, I'm in trouble, no one to pay my fine,
And, when I get out this time, maybe, I'm gonna leave this town flyin'
Cos' it won't matter how that happen,
Woman, the sun is gonna shine in my door some day
Lord, I've been droven from door to door
Now, look like my friends don't want me around no more
Cos' it won't matter how that happen,
Woman, the sun is gonna shine in my door some day
I was with my buddy through thick and thin,
Now, my buddy got away, but I got in
Cos' it won't matter how that happen,
Woman, the  sun is gonna shine in my door some day

1000 SONGS - DAY 339 Song # 370

DAY 339: A Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage is a famous piece of music written and first recorded by Herbie Hancock. It is featured on his 1965 Blue Note Records album of the same title. Musicians other than Hancock are Freddie Hubbard, George Coleman, Ron Carter and Tony Williams (what a line-up!). I have no other word to describe the wonderful atmosphere this music creates than "pure magic". Here is the original version, followed by the cover-version featured on Blood, Sweat & Tears' 1972 album "New Blood" (indeed the first version I came to know, since I bought that album back in the Seventies). There are other versions (f. e. by Brian Auger), but I like the original, and the version by BST (even without David Clayton-Thomas). They have inserted an interesting change of the atmosphere of the original. Great version, too.

1000 SONGS - DAY 338 SONG #369

DAY 338: One of my favourite tunes by Frank Zappa

I have already featured some songs by Frank Zappa, amongst them "Peaches En Regalia", maybe my favourite composition by Francis Vincent Zappa. Among the first albums of Zappa I came to know, there was Waka Jawaka. The music on this album was written and recorded in 1972 after two accidents Zappa had suffered: The burning down of the Mothers' equipment in Montreux ("Frank Zappa and the Mothers were at the best place around, but some stupid with a flare-gun burned the place to the ground") and being pushed into the orchestra pit by an audience member in London. The later accident resulted in severe injuries and Zappa had to spend some months in a wheelchair. As a teenager, I owned Waka Jawaka and I still think that it is a fine album. Here is the title track, a wonderful composition executed by wonderful musicians.