I had a different post to run today, but as I came to post it, I saw the news about Kris Kristofferson taking his Last Ride.
Time was, I'd have tried to cobble together a decent eulogy, but the words aren't coming too easy these days, so here are some of his finest moments...
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
And there's nothin' short a' dyin'
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleepin' city sidewalk
And Sunday mornin' comin' down
I was a sailor
I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide
I sailed a schooner around the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
After featuring The Highwaymen on this week's Saturday Snapshots, it seems only fair to give their contemporary female counterparts a mention. The Highwomen are Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires - successful country stars in their own right, except they often struggle to get airplay on country music stations in the states because of famously sexist playlisting policies. (A lot's been written about that, so google it to your heart's content.)
For their eponymous title track and mission statement, they roped in original Highwaymen songwriter/creator, who worked with Carlile and Shires, to rewrite his famous tune from a female perspective...
Even better though is the closing track, Wheels of Laredo, which reminds me very much of one of my favourite Warren Zevon songs, Desperados Under The Eaves...
I have a secret to tell
From my electrical well
It's a simple message and I'm leaving out the whistles and bells
So the room must listen to me
Filibuster vigilantly
Here are the answers to this week's Q-U-I-Z...
10. How far to Ipanema? It's I, not you.
Astrud Gilberto sang about The Girl from Ipanema, Replace the U in Astrud with an I.
Ten songs that might make you want to call an insurance company and sue your employer...
(By the way, if you do the online marketing for an insurance company and you're thinking about leaving a link in my comments... please don't. I'll only delete it. See if you can insure yourselves against that.)
Been a while since I featured a country-heavy Top Ten here, but nobody loves a good workplace accident like your average country singer...
When Daddy's a long distance lorry driver, you wait every night for his call. But what happens when it's the police making that call...?
Well it's Wednesday evening, momma's waitin' by the phone It rings but it's not his voice Seems the highway patrol has found a jack-knifed rig In a snow bank in Illinois But the driver was missin' and the search had been abandoned For the weather had everything stalled And they had checked all the houses and the local motels When they had some more news they'd call And she told them when they found him to tell him that she loved him And she hung up the phone singin'... Roll on highway, roll on along Roll on daddy till you get back home...
Extra points if anyone can find any other songs which actually contain the phrase "workplace accident"...
As the moon rose in the window Rufus began his tale About an oil rig near the gulf coast Puttin' man against metal In a classic work-place accident He told how the drill commenced to shakin' The platform started to rock The chain began breaking They were straight out of luck And then the sky kinda lite up Just like a lightnin' bolt had struck
What happens when God doesn't get his birthday cards on time...
I got yer package; it was all a mess Lightning strikes the postman in his chest I hope that you remember the things you had to say It's just a supernatural delay
I could probably do a Top Ten Train Crash Songs... there's certainly plenty of runaway locomotives in my collection. Pity the unlucky engine driver...
And then a telegram come from Washington station,
This is how it read:
"Oh that brave engineer that run ol 97,
"Is lyin in old Danville dead."
'Cos he was going down a grade making 90 miles an hour,
The whistle broke into a scream.
He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle,
Scalded to death by the steam.
Warning lights are flashing down at Quality Control Somebody threw a spanner and they threw him in the hole There's rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down There's a meeting in the boardroom they're trying to trace the smell There's leaking in the washroom there's a sneak in personnel Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze Goodness me, could this be Industrial Disease?
Here's Johnny again... along with Kris, Waylon and Willie. Both the sailor and the dam-builder meet potentially litigious ends here... I'm not sure the highwayman or the star ship captain have much of a case.
Following on from My Top Tens Songs About 1972, we slip back three years before I was born to the days when man first walked on the moon and The Beatles were still a thing (but not for much longer). The year PJ Harvey, Cate Blanchett, Edward Norton, Dave Grohl, Javier Bardem, Graham Coxon, Matthew McConaughey, Nicky Wire & James Dean Bradfield, Ice Cube, Christian Slater, Elliott Smith, Justine Frischmann, Jack Black, Cerys Matthews, Michael Sheen, Keith Flint, J-Lo, Jay-Z and Badly Drawn Boy were born.
The year of Woodstock, Nixon and (according to the book cover above), nudity. Yep, no one had ever taken their clothes off until 1969. Reason enough to celebrate with nine songs that mention that year... and one complete shoe-horn.
From the album that brought us Je t'aime... moi non plus. More kitschy sleaze from the master.
Bad Seed Mick Harvey translated this (along with many more Gainsbourg compositions) into English on his 90s albums Intoxicated Man and Pink Elephant. They're nice enough versions, but the lyrics only work in French.
Seriously scary (don't even watch the video) which closed the second Sonic Youth album: sounds like Jim Morrison's worst nightmare set to wax. Amid all that horror, Kim Gordon's bass stands proud.
Johnny Cash recalls the good old days - y'know, when pop songs were actually about stuff. Willie, Waylon and Kris help jog his memory.
Hey babe, do you remember, Back in nineteen sixty-nine? We gathered round the room. You sang yours and I sang mine. We took turns with the guitar, In the front and center seat. Shel and Kris and Dylan, And a couple off the street. Joni Mitchell cried on, "Both Sides Now." We sang songs that made a difference. And we can again somehow.
OK, so I know this one isn't about 1969 at all, just the 'last number called' feature on American phones, but I couldn't resist shoehorning it in because it features some of Stipey's most bonkers lyrical ramblings about a mate who burns down a warehouse then calls Michael for an alibi.
I know all about the warehouse fire I know squirrels didn't chew the wires 3 people have my number The other 2 were with me I don't like to tell-tell but I'm not your patsy This time you have gone too far with me
The shortest - and oddest - song from Viva Hate. With nods to both Judy Garland and German novelist Hans Fallada, Moz affectionately recalls a TV star of the late 60s who has slipped into obscurity. Various theories abound on who the Little Man in question was... Alan Bennett seems to think it was Jimmy Clitheroe.
I picked up a copy of Nanci's 1988 album Storms in a charity shop a few weeks back and it's a beautiful record. She looks really young on the cover, so I was surprised to read that it was her 8th album and she already had over ten years in the business when it was released. Apparently it was seen at the time as her "pop" album... "pop" meant something very different back then.
Drive-In Movies & Dashboard Lights is my favourite track - the tale of a small-town girl who gets by on looks alone... and learns a hard lesson a few years later...
Where is she now? The backseat queen of fraternity Where is she now? She's heavy on thigh And light on integrity Someone should have told her When beauty's all you offer How soon the world discovers That your beauty's gone It's gone
Unlike our Number One artist this week (who only pretended to be), Nanci actually was 16 in 1969. Which might explain why she sets a number of her songs in that year, including So Long Ago and her Viet Nam elegy Traveling Through This Part Of You.
The opening track on Iggy's debut racket doesn't sound like anything else released in 1969... maybe that's why he was so bored?
1. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
I sometimes think I should have called this blog 'Irk The Purists' ('Irk The Musos' might be more on-point, but that wouldn't reference Half Man Half Biscuit). Bryan Adams at Number One? Bryan Adams ahead of Iggy Pop? Are you saying Bryan Adams is more rock 'n' roll than Iggy, Rol? Are you? Are you? 'Cos them's fighting words.
Clearly, I'm not saying anything of the sort, but this song - his finest hour, by far - will always take some beating. (Plus, his mum's from Huddersfield like me.)
Just listen to those opening chords and tell me your heart doesn't beat a little faster. And when he buys that first guitar at the five 'n' dime, tell me you're not instantly transported back to the (nostalgia-tinged) summers of your youth. Iffypedia Mathematicians will quickly be able to establish that Bryan was only 10 years old in '69 though: perhaps a little too young for a job at the drive in and some of the other stuff he gets up to in this song. Turns out - shock horror! - the title isn't actually a reference to the year at all... it's something to do with sex-type-stuff. (You see, that's what Iggy was missing*!)
Somehow, I have managed to live the last 32 years without ever seeing the video to this song. It's cheesy as a Quattro Formaggi, but it still brought a grin to my face.
Apparently One Direction covered this. No, I'm not going to listen to that. I have SOME standards!
Which one makes you remember the best days of your life?
