1000 SONGS - DAY 222 SONG #253

Day 222 - Total Electric Guitar Soundwall Frenzy

If there has ever been a band on the face of God's grey earth that has understood what the electric guitar and the Marshall amplifiers have been made for, it is the Band of Susans, some kind of disciples of Glenn Branca or so, to be named among other heroes of the NY alternative rock-noise scene of the late 80ies and early 90ies with Sonic Youth and Live Skull, both of whom have already been featured on this here blog. Here is Hope against Hope, play it as loud as you can, with your headphones on and let it take you away:

As bonus tracks I include two  Rolling Stones covers by the Band of Susans, an instrumental version of Paint it Black and their already mentioned cover of "Child of the Moon" (originally the b-side of "Jumping Jack Flash"), original version by the Stones and mentioning of BoS to be found here. What great renderings of these songs!

1000 SONGS - DAY 221 SONG #252

Day 221: A Song by a Singer of Igbo/German Origin

There is not much to say about that one. It is a song sung by Nneka. Nneka stems from Anambra state, located in the Igboland part of Nigeria, but was raised in the city of Warri in Delta State (whose main inhabitants are Urhobo) in the Niger delta. She has studied Anthropolgy at the University of Hamburg and I do like this here version of her song Suffri, with an interesting rhythmic structure based on a reggae beat and lots of soul and I like the kind of English she uses; it is the so-called band version, which has also different lyrics in the beginning, but the lyrics featured here refer to the "original version";

Una dey talk of ur elections, Nigerians, Nigerians,
We dey talk of the redemption, naija, naija
We dey talk of resolutions, oya
Tell me where the solution because nothing dey change
We just dey yan, we just dey spray, we just dey rake,
All these lies so


Suffri, suffri with my soul, jeh jeh jeh jeh
Suffri, suffri with my soul, Oga you dey hear me oh say
Suffri, suffri with my soul jeh jeh jeh jeh
Don't you tamper with my soul, eh eh


Na only d rich man still dey gain oh
All d moni where I dey go oh
Still u see, na only poor man dey suffer
Brother, your wish is my order, oh
But nothing dey change, we just dey yan
We just dey spray, we just dey rake, all these lies

Suffri, suffri with my soul, jeh jeh jeh jeh
Suffri, suffri with my soul, Oga you dey hear me oh say
Suffri, suffri with my soul jeh jeh jeh jeh
Don't you tamper with my soul, eh eh


Suffri, suffri with my soul oh
Suffri, suffri with my soul oh… jeh jeh jeh
Suffri, suffri with my soul, jeh jeh jeh jeh
Suffri, suffri with my soul, Oga you dey hear me oh say
Suffri, suffri with my soul jeh jeh jeh jeh
Don't you tamper with my soul, eh eh


Oga fulfill my wishes to travel to distant places
But allow my soul not to perish for me to be dressed in laces
As life goes on, I remember all the things I have achieved
Sunset, thunder and the storms show that we have truly, really been deceived
Na truth wen dem dey talk say na wetin you sow,
Na I you go reap, still na soso lie, na I we dey spread, spray, dey open eye to see deceit,
To see us rise we must rejuvenate
Na bottem we dey teh teh
Na bottom we dey teh teh
Na bottom we dey teh teh for too long, down for too long
Jeh o jeh jeh jeh o

1000 SONGS - DAY 220 SONG #251

My favourite song by one of my favourite white rappers

Back in my childhood, there was this notorious question - can white man play the blues? I think that Janis Joplin gave the ultimative answer to that question: white women can sing the blues. As KRS1 has once put it, black people have created every muscial style in the USA in the 20th century or so. Obviously, he is not right in every respect with that statement, but one can observe that from blues to jazz to rhythm and blues to soul to funk to hiphop a load of musical styles created by African Americans has been taken over by whities sooner or later. I am sorry for using stereotypical expressions like "black" and "white" here, I know what they are, but the discourse I am writing about has had these categories at its very center. Be that as it may, the guy who called himself "MC 900 Ft Jesus" during his short career as a rapper, has reportedly chosen this name because he saw televangelist Oral Roberts on TV pretending to have had a vison of a 900 feet high Jesus or so. I own one of the three albums recorded by MC 900 Ft Jesus, the second one, and I still remember how the track "The City Sleeps" struck me when I first heard it. It is about a serial arsonist, and tells its story from within that man's mind. 20 years later, I still think that it is among the best tracks in the history of rap music. A sample from the song has been used by U2 on their Zooropa album....The video on this u-tube post is taken from the 2002 remake or so (for television use) of the 1976 Brian de Palma movie "Carrie" (Brian de Palma had nothing to do with that remake).

1000 SONGS - DAY 219 SONG #250

Day 219: My favourite piece of Art-Rock 

Art-Rock is a genre that stems from the 70ies, it is somewhat connected to "Progressive Rock" and its proponents are mostly Brits. Some persons use the terms "Art Rock" and "Progressive Rock" interchangeably. Among famous "Art-Rock"-bands we find Procol Harum, Yes, Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull and the likes. The English Wikipedia entry on Art Rock lists a lot of bands that are neither listed in the English nor in the German Wikipedia entry on "Art Rock Bands". There seems to be much confusion about what belongs to Art Rock or not (f.e. Roxy Music - are they really Art Rock in the same sense as Yes?). For me, the main criteria for belonging to the Art-Rock genre are, that the compositions are influenced by classical music (as it is the case with Procol Harum or Pink Floyd) to the degree that they use melodies and harmonies taken from compositions by composers like Bach, Wagner or Mussorgsky (Jethro Tull, Procol Harum a.o.) and that these compositions are rather suites (so that Colosseum's Valentyne Suite would be something like Proto-Art-Rock) than songs, arrangements using orchestral instruments and voices normally not the standard in a rock band (f.e. strings and woodwinds, real or emulated ones by the use of a synthesizer). The latter two criteria certainly hold for "Terrapin Station",  a "suite" to be found on the b-side of the album of the same name  by the Grateful Dead, an American band normally not regarded as belonging to Art Rock. Maybe it is my favourite piece of music written and performed by Garcia and friends. 

The parts of it are:

"Lady With a Fan" (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter)
"Terrapin Station" (Garcia, Hunter)
"Terrapin" (Garcia, Hunter)
"Terrapin Transit" (Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann)
"At a Siding" (Hart, Hunter)
"Terrapin Flyer" (Hart, Kreutzmann)
"Refrain" (Garcia, Hunter)

Here is the full studio version, followed by a (sequence from a) later live version (from the time when Brent Mydland was in charge of  the keyboards) - I do appreciate it even more than the studio version and especially like the way that Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia communicate on that one:

1000 SONGS - DAY 218 SONG #249

Day 218: Some versions of a song that combines a political message w/h the dancefloor

Inner City Blues (Make me wanna holler) is a song (co-) written and first recorded by Marvin Gaye. As there is a link to the Wikipedia-entry on this song to be found here, I do not need to explain it. It is simply great. Here are three versions (there are so many others I could have chosen, I apologise). The original by Marvin Gaye, maybe unmatched by any other recording of the song;  the cover  by Working Week, a neo-club-jazz-dance-combo from the early 80ies or so, and the one without words by the KING OF FUNK himself, Maceo Parker. You can dance to it, at least to the instrumental version by Maceo (which is really great'n'funky).

Rockets, moon shots 

Spend it on the have nots 

Money, we make it 

Fore we see it you take it 

Oh, make you wanna holler 

The way they do my life

Make me wanna holler

The way they do my life 

This ain't livin', this ain't livin'

Inflation no chance

To increase finance

Bills pile up sky high

Send that boy off to die 

Make me wanna holler 

The way they do my life 

Make me wanna holler

The way they do my life

Hang ups, let downs

Bad breaks, set backs

Natural fact is

I can't pay my taxes

Oh, make me wanna holler

And throw up both my hands

Yea, it make me wanna holler

And throw up both my hands

Crime is increasing

Trigger happy policing

Panic is spreading

God knows where we're heading

Oh, make me wanna holler

They don't understand Mother, mother

Everybody thinks we're wrong

Who are they to judge us Simply cause we wear our hair long

1000 SONGS - DAY 217 Song #248

Day 217 - My favourite Kraftwerk Cover

No, it is not the cover of "Radioactivity", but the cover version done by a man called Snakefinger of maybe the most popular song written by Ralf and Florian, The Model. Philip Charles Lithman aka Snakefinger has been a member of the Residents (so there is a chance that I have seen him live one time, since I attended a gig by the Residents sometime in the 80ies in Sofiensäle, Vienna). He is strongly connected to Austria: he died in Linz on July 1, 1987. Unfortunately, Linz is not Varanasi, by no means. So maybe Mr. Snakefinger will return as a resident of this here earth, in whatsoever a disguise. Until then, we are happy to have his version of the Kraftwerk classic:

And here is the original. Enjoy (at least when taking a look at the audience):

1000 SONGS - DAY 216 Song #247

Day 216: Some songs by one of the best musicians ever

Nina Simone certainly has been a person equipped with musicianship of a very special kind. She has aspired (and certainly had the talent) to become a concert-pianist in the classical style, but due to the colour of her skin could not pursue this career. So she became a master in the jazz and soul genres, bringing in, aside to her magnificent voice and phrasing, tremendous technique on the piano. There is the story about her, that, as a young girl, when she was giving her first public concert, her parents were asked to leave the seats in the first row to have some people of white skin placed there. She refused to start to play until her parents were relocated in the first row. She is said to have stuck to that attitude during all of her life. There have been three songs in her versions on the 1000 Songs Challenge up to today. Here are five more pieces of music rendered in her incredibly musical style. The first one, a hit by the Animals and later on a disco-hit by Santa Esmeralda, has originally (in 1964) been recorded (although not written) by her. The second one is her version of "Feeling Good" from her 1965 album "I put a spell on you": the third one is "Wild is the Wind" (from her album of the same title), later recorded by David Bowie on his album "Station to Station". Mr. Jones is said to be an admirer of Miss Waymon's vocal style. Then, we have a cover-version of The Ballad of Hollis Brown, written by Rob Zimmerman, and finally, a stunning rendering of a gospel, Sinnerman, as used in the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair:

1000 SONGS - DAY 215 SONG # 246

Day 215: A Song featured in  my favourite Coen Brothers' movie

In this here blog, there has already been a post about "I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in", a song featured (among other songs I do like) in the soundtrack of "The Big Lebowsky". The film about the dude, great as it may be, is not my favourite  Coen Brothers' movie, a fate it shares with "O Brother Where Art Thou", great as it may be - so do not expect "Man of Constant Sorrow" here. My favourite Coen Brothers' movie is the first I came to know, by accident, on the TV. I turned on the TV and there it was and I immediately realised: this is a great movie. Miller's Crossing tells a tale I could easily find myself, my life, my situation in. It is loosely based on some topics to be found in the novels written by Dashiell Hammett,  and no movie ever has recreated the atmosphere of The Glass Key (or the atmosphere of Hammett's novels - needless to say that the 1941 cinema version  of the "Maltese Falcon" by John Huston is also among my favourite movies) like this masterpiece by the Coen Brothers. Maybe it is the one among their movies that sticks closest to traditional narrative genre filmmaking. The shoot-out (not really one, since one side is an individual only) in which Leo O'Bannon takes over against the gunmen who have set his house on fire, features the wonderful version of Danny Boy done by Frank Patterson. The song is held to be an Irish traditional and it is an important anthem for Irish people, mostly for those living abroad. Nevertheless, the lyrics (of which several versions exist) have originally been written by an Englishman, even though they are set to an Irish tune, Londonderry Air. But doubts  have even been raised about the Irish origin of the tune (for that discussion, click here). Be that as it may, the song has been covered by many singers, too much to name. You will find 3 versions here: the full version by Frank Patterson (that was used in the movie) and a touching a cappella rendering done by Sinead O'Connor (although  generally I do not like Joan Baez that much, her version of that song is agreeable, but Sinead's is better). Last, not least, JC himself is featured. If you do not shed a tear at least when listening to Sinead's version, you're no good!

1000 SONGS - DAY 214 SONG #245

Day 214: Laisse tomber les filles: Another Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg

Because it is the time of this year's European Song Contest, I came to think about Serge Gainsbourg, who won it back in 1965 with a song he wrote and that was performed by France Gall, Poupée de cire, poupée de son. As I have already posted that song in the 1000 Songs framework, I have to bring in  another one of Serge's compositions originally recorded by France Gall. Here it is: Laisse tomber les filles

Laisse tomber les filles

Laisse tomber les filles

Un jour c'est toi qu'on laissera

Laisse tomber les filles

Laisse tomber les filles

Un jour c'est toi qui pleureras

Oui j'ai pleuré mais ce jour-là

Non je ne pleurerai pas

Non je ne pleurerai pas

Je dirai c'est bien fait pour toi

Je dirai ça t'apprendra

Je dirai ça t'apprendra

Laisse tomber les filles

Laisse tomber les filles

Ça te jouera un mauvais tour

Laisse tomber les filles

Laisse tomber les filles

Tu le paieras un de ces jours

On ne joue pas impunément

Avec un cœur innocent

Avec un cœur innocent

Tu verras ce que je ressens

Avant qu'il ne soit longtemps

Avant qu'il ne soit longtemps

La chance abandonne

Celui qui ne sait

Que laisser les cœurs blessés

Tu n'auras personne

Pour te consoler

Tu ne l'auras pas volé

Laisse tomber les filles

Laisse tomber les filles

Un jour c'est toi qu'on laissera

Laisse tomber les filles

Laisse tomber les filles

Un jour c'est toi qui pleureras

Non pour te plaindre il n'y aura

Personne d'autre que toi

Personne d'autre que toi

Alors tu te rappelleras

Tout ce que je te dis là

Tout ce que je te dis là

My favourite rendering of the song is done by the Belgian Band "The Honeymoon Killers" (Les tueurs de la lune de miel), not to be confused with the NY band of the same (english) name:

The song has been featured as sung by April March in the Quentin Tarrantino movie Death Proof; April March has recorded a French and an English version, the latter called "Chick Habit". Here it is:

When searching for all of this stuff I found the following vid based on the French Version by April March and I found it very nice:

1000 SONGS - DAY 213 SONG #244

Day 213: An often covered song, cool as it might be

This is indeed a cool song, a chilling jazz tune, a standard. Written by Eric Maschwitz and Jack Strachey in the 1930ies, it must have been recorded nearly a thousand times or so since 1936. By famous singers as well as by talented combos, to say the least. I came to know it somewhere in the beginning of the second inning of my teenage years through the version done by Bryan Ferry on his first solo album that was also named after the song. Billie Holiday recorded it at least twice, once in 1936, and then in 1952; here is the earlier version Billie did of These Foolish Things:

Here ixs one of Ella Fitzgerals's rendering of the tune. What great way of phrasing:

Maybe you would not expect that the Godfather of Funk himself has recorded that very song, but it is true, there is a version by James Brown, rather to be filed under "Soulful Music", this one video being an hommage to lovely Terri Hatcher:

Among the instrumental versions, the one by the GREAT Thelonius Monk is my favourite:

But there are also more traditional renderings of it, like those done by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Here is one among them, compare Paul Desmond's phrasing to that of Ella...

Last, not least, the Bryan Ferry version that started it all for me: