1000 SONGS - DAY 295 SONG # 326

Day 295: Two Songs for Hermann

My dear friend Hermann keeps on sending me 3 or more CDs per month, which he has done for decades (he started with compact cassettes back in the 80ies). From time to time, more often than not, these CDs feature wonderful songs or wonderful versions of songs. I use to listen to Hermann's compilations (he actually has two or three series running) when cleaning the house or painting the walls or the windows and the like. Mostly, they are great for that purpose. Sometimes I have to stop what I am doing and just listen and do a replay or something like that. This has been the case right now (cth) with Giant Sand's rendering of El Paso and Out on the Weekend. No need to introduce Howe Gelb or the songs. Simply beautiful: 

1000 SONGS - DAY 294 SONG # 325

Day 325: The First Song by Kevin Coyne I Came to Know

Kevin Coyne (1944-2004) was a great artist and a strange guy. He made some great records, he was very sensitive and he had some trouble with the booze. Just like me, minus the artistry, the records and the sensitivity. At least, I am strange, too. The very first song written and performed by him I came to know was "Marlene". It is so wonderful a song that I do not want to say anything about it for fear of destroying the marvellous mood it creates. And I do not feature some of the later versions to be found on UTUBE because I can't stand to look at old Kevin, marked and scarred by life and simply raddled. I once owned the single version of the song (flip side: Sea of love, there were two singles w/h different flip sides), and the first album I did own by Kevin was "Matching Head and Feet", featuring a guy called Andy Summers (of whom you might have heard) on the guitar. There is the nice story that my friend Samir Köck gave my copy of that album (which I had left with him) to Kevin, who did not have one any more, or so. Nevertheless, later on, I bought another copy of that fine album. Furthermore, Nikki Sudden (1956-2006), another one of my Brit-Non-Pop heroes, and another one who has already passed away, is featured with a version of that song about a girl called Marlene on a tribute album to Kevin, released after Sudden's death, at least you can get a glimpse of it here

Cheers for Kevin!

1000 SONGS - DAY 293 SONG # 324

DAY 293: The Very Best of Classic Pre-Hard Rock

Led Zeppelin are sometimes labelled as Hard Rock and sometimes as forerunners of the genre. Be that as it may, they are rightly listed on the blues-influenced side of the bands with an impact on later hard-rock bands. John Bonham, influential rock-drummer, died on Sept. 25, 1980, 32 years of age, because of drinking too much vodka (40 shots or so), as has been reported. Within only a few days this will be 33 years ago. "Stairway to Heaven", from Led Zeppelin IV, has been eagerly discussed for its alleged reverse-masking: it is said to  contain satanic messages if heard backwards. I do not understand who the fucking hell should have any interest to listen to this song rendered backwards - the forward version really is beautiful - starting with a kind of english folk tune and gradually growing into a rock tune that makes you jump like wild... Anyway, here is a link on a discussion of that reverse masking-thing (interestingly, the passage under suspicion is the one where the drums come in). Jimmy Page may be an adept of good (or bad) old Aleister Crowley, self-declared Anti-Christ, but as Christianity is still a major religion in this here world and Crowley is dead, wtf? Nietzsche, another self-declared Anti-Christ, surely had the better arguments against Christianity, and no reverse masking needed (try to read Nietzsche's Antichrist backwards...). There is also a version of Stairway to Heaven by the Maestro himself, as rendered on his 1988 tour, the great FZ, featured after the LZ version. I think that this is one of the greatest rock songs ever (until now) recorded. And, although I think that Zappa was one of the best musicians that ever lived (in a line with Mozart and Strawinsky), I like the Zeppelin version more (that does not mean that I would not be aware of all the great musicianship in Zappa's arrangement and the way his band realises it).

1000 LIEDER - TAG 292 Lied # 323

Tag 292: Ein Lied von einem Poeten

Sven Regener ist ein Poet; er kann in so einfachen Sätzen soviel sagen. Mehr muss man dazu auch nicht sagen. Passend zur Jahreszeit: Über Nacht von Element of Crime.

1000 LIEDER - TAG 291 LIED # 322

Tag 291: ein Lied von einem Deutschen

Tobias Gruben hat als Kleiner mit Christoph Schlingensief in der Band "Die 4 Kaiserlein" gespielt, danach in einer sog. Gruft-Rock Band gesungen. Später hat er die Band "Die Erde" gegründet. Da lernte ich ihn kennen und ich kaufte mir die 12" Single Version von "Leben den Lebenden" (passables Wortspiel, übrigens. Das Lied gefällt mir immer noch, jetzt wo Tobias Gruben, in Athen geboren, in Starnberg aufgewachsen und auch mal in Hamburg wohnhaft, schon lange tot ist. Er starb am 02.12.1996 an einer Überdosis Heroin. Auch Christoph Schlingensief lebt nicht mehr, ihn raffte der Krebs dahin. Es gibt kein geregeltes Leben.

Hier: Die Erde, Leben den Lebenden



Und Hier: Die 4 Kaiserlein, Karat:

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: