One of my favourite discoveries of the last 12 months: Guy Clark. Even though we lost him last year, there's much more where this came from...
See the wings unfolding that weren't there just before
On a ray of sunshine she dances out the door
Out into the morning light where the sky is all ablaze
This looks like the first of better days
Of
course, this being a George Jones song, you can pretty much guarantee
the better days are in the rear view mirror, disappearing into a blip at
a hundred miles an hour.
I don't hold John Lydon in the same esteem that many of my blogging buddies do. Nothing against him, but I was a bit too young to appreciate punk at the time and by the time I did get to know him, he'd become something of a figure of fun. That said, I like that side of him, the buttery part which seems completely unashamed to make a tit of himself in the service of popular music, and Home is a great example of that. The only song in this list not to feature a "Better Day" in the title: but that phrase is all over the chorus. Plus, you get to see Sideshow Bob trash a house in the video, and that's always worth the price of admission.
One of the best things about writing this blog is when I trip over songs in my record collection that I'd forgotten all about. This is from 1999, and I might not have heard it for 18 years. Brings back some fun memories of my time in radio though...
One foot in the hole One foot gettin' deeper crank it to eleven Blow another speaker And I ain't got, I ain't got much to lose
Cuz I've seen better days Been the star of many plays I've seen better days And the bottom drops out
Ocean Colour Scene were the first band I ever saw live.
(Yes, as with buying records, I was a VERY later starter when it came to
live gigs!) They had a very retro sound which worked perfectly in the
Britpop era but obviously couldn't last. Massively uplifting guitars and
choruses: we could use some of that right now.
The thing about that retro sound is: that's what a lot of present day indie bands are missing, in my humble opinion. I picked up the debut album by The Blossoms the other day and there are some decent indie pop songs on there but they're so glossily produced, there's just no edge to them. It's like they've been created using CGI rather than real actors... like (SPOILER) in that new Star Wars flick everyone is raving about but me. And don't even start me on The 1975! As I get older, I realise I prefer new records that sound old... which I guess is the end of days for me ever being a hipster. Not that I ever was. At least we still have Jack White doing stuff the old way...
One from the charity shop pile. The Jayhawks are a band I've been meaning to check out for awhile. This is from their 2001 album Smile, which I'm guessing is the one on which they filed off most of their folky, Americana edges and made a play for the mainstream. As a result, it's a bit bland in places, but there are some outstanding pop songs here too. Better Days (after a few listens) has a very powerful hook and some great harmonies. Further investigation required.
Back in the early 90s, Bruce lost his mojo a little. I think it was that classic thing of being a bit too happy. Having gone through a turbulent divorce (resulting in the classic Tunnel of Love), he'd found the woman he needed, Patti Scialfa, and they settled down to make a life together. The world seemed bright and so he pottered about in the studio making two records about how happy he was, then released them both on the same day. This was an odd thing a couple of big name artists did in the 90s. Guns 'n' Roses did it too, although - controversially - I think Use Your Illusion Volumes 1 & 2 were far better records than Bruce's Lucky Town and Human Touch. The weird thing is, Bruce has spent his whole career choosing only the very best songs to make up classic albums, then leaving hundreds of still-great tracks to gather dust (or eventually be reissued in collections like Tracks and The Promise). The one time he did a Prince and released virtually everything he'd recorded that week, he really should have used the same restraint. There are enough strong tracks on Lucky Town and Human Touch to make one classic album... not two.
Still, it's good to see him so happy. The video makes that abundantly clear. Watch it, and maybe some of that early 90s optimism will rub off on you too.
1. Billy Bragg - Tomorrow's Gonna Be A Better Day
Come on Billy, make us all feel better...
To the misanthropic misbegotten merchants of gloom Who look into their crystal balls and prophesied our doom: “Let the death knell chime, its the end of time” Let the cynics put their blinkers on and toast our decline. Don't become demoralized by scurrilous complaint, Its a sure sign that the old world is terminally quaint. And tomorrow’s gonna be a better day, No matter what the siren voices say Tomorrow’s gonna be a better day, We’re going to make it that way.
Too obvious to be Number One, so I decided to start off with it. A wonderful conceit to this song, the idea of parents spelling out words they don't want their children to hear because they'll upset them too much. Of course, Billy Connolly savaged the idea with his parody. Bastard! Tammy's original just about survives... but you must also remember that this is a woman who promised to Stand By her Man. What happened there?
No wonder Roger Miller ended up as a King of the Road if his ex-wife treated him like this in divorce court.
She's accusin' me of hangin' out
With girls of ill repute
Adultery, abandonment
Even alcohol abuse
I just heard my mother shout
Your honor throw the book
And even my attorney
Just gave me a dirty look...
The first time I heard this song, I was convinced there was a happy ending twist coming, but no: from the moment his wife takes the stand in court, Roger is screwed.
Why, even Johnny Carson got a better deal than mine.
A long drive across the US brings out the worst in a bickering couple and when she suggests they - maybe - get separate rooms at the motel they stop at, he takes the opportunity to lay down a few home truths.The wife ends up regretting opening up this particular can of worms...
The license said You had to stick around Until I was dead But if
you’re tired of looking at my face I guess I already am.
Brad Paisley enlists the help of Eric Idle for the intro to this witty country song about a man who dies while paying charades only to be brought back to life five minutes later by a defib machine. At this point he decides it's time to say goodbye to his "miserable wife"...
He called his lawyer, He called his priest, And told them they'd restarted his heart. How his wedding vows were Technically "'Til death do us part..."
Before you dismiss Robert 'Kool' Bell (aka Muhammad Bayyan), consider this:
Long before their 70s / 80s heyday (in which they sold over 70 million records), the band originally got together as The Jazziacs in 1964, led by 13 year old Robert and his 12 year old brother Ronald. They lived in the same New York apartment building as their godfather... Thelonius Monk... and often hung out with Miles Davis at their local boxing gym.
Jones Vs. Jones only made #39 in the US charts in 1981, but it broke the UK Top 20, and I reckon we're about ready to treat this band with the same respect we give the Temptations and the Four Tops. Heartbreak rarely sounded so soulful...
'Cause I received a notice
They called me on the phone
To come and sign the papers
Of Jones vs. Jones
Gone are the days of me and you...
Supposedly about Paul Simon's break-up with Carrie Fisher, they being the "one and one-half wandering Jews" referenced in the opening line (Princess Leia is half-Jewish) who return to their natural coasts (he's from New York, she's from LA) to "step out occasionally and speculate who had been damaged the most".
Possibly the loudest song Elbow have ever recorded - when that fuzzy guitar kicks in, it'll shatter your windows. As always though, it's Guy Garvey's lyrics that set this apart from the majority of contemporary British guitar bands: laced with Northern wit and grimy Mancunian poetry.
I've been working on a cocktail called "Grounds For Divorce",
Polishing a compass that I hold in my sleep,
Doubt comes in on sticks, but then he kicks like a horse,
There's a Chinese cigarette case and the rest you can keep
And the rest you can keep
If you ever fancy getting a divorce without waiting for your other half to agree to sign the papers, then pop over to Haiti where one person can divorce another, no strings attached.
That's the genesis of this song about Babs and Clean Willie. After a particular nasty row (there's shouting and biting involved), Babs heads down to Haiti for a quickie (divorce, that is) but ends up meeting a guy in a bar and having a different kind of quickie instead. Returning home to Willie, she tries to make things work... until the baby is born, and he certainly doesn't look like her husband's kid.
Becker & Fagen (the 80s cop show that never happened) mix a little reggae in with their laid back jazz-rock on this one. Forty years old, but it stands the test of time... unlike Babs & Clean Willie's marriage.
Tunnel of Love (one of about 7 contenders for my favourite Bruce album... depending on what day of the week it is) is well acknowledged to be Bruce's divorce album, reacting to the break-up of his short-lived marriage to model Julianne Phillips. It's an album full of self-doubt, and no more so than on this, the first single...
Now look at me baby Struggling to do everything right And then it all falls apart And out goes the light...
After the world-conquering bombast of Born In The USA, many people wanted a repeat of those Glory Days. Born contained darkness, but kept it hidden (so well hidden, on the title track, that it remains one of the most misunderstood songs in the history of pop), whereas Tunnel of Love worked its metaphorical title to the full: the darkness that love can lead us into. It wasn't the stadium-chomping successor we'd expected, instead it was a much more mature and confident record than we deserved: confirming Bruce as an artist with something to say, and perhaps one who wasn't entirely comfortable being the biggest rock star in the world. Tunnel sold 6 million copies, compared to the 18 million Born hauled... and I can't help but think that's exactly the way he wanted it.
We stood at the altar
The gypsy swore our future was right
But come the wee wee hours
Well maybe baby the gypsy lied
So when you look at me
You better look hard and look twice
Is that me baby
Or just a brilliant disguise?
I saw Bruce play live again on Friday night in Coventry. Probably the fourth time I've seen him now (it's getting hard to remember such trivia) but once again I was astounded by the show he put on. I've seen a lot of live music in my day (though not that much these days), a lot of big bands, big names, megastars. But I've never seen anyone put on a show like Bruce. 3 1/2 hours of solid, wall-to-wall action: the instant one song ends, it's 1-2-3-4, and here comes the next. 3 1/2 hours that were over in a flash. He came on at 6.40 and by 8.30, I was thinking, 'most bands would still be in the dressing room now, waiting for the underpaid support act to finish'. And there was still a good 90 minutes to go: longer than a lot of big names bother these days. If you're not down with Bruce, that's fine, I'm not here to persuade you otherwise. But when it comes to putting on a show, there's no one like him as far as I can tell. (I never saw Prince live, one of my great musical regrets... y'know, I thought there'd still be time... but from what I hear, he's maybe the only one who came close.)
Anyway, Bruce didn't play anything from Tunnel Of Love on Friday night. It probably wouldn't have fit the rock 'n' roll extravangza that 'The River' tour had promised. He didn't play anything from Nebraska or Tom Joad either. I didn't miss them - not with so much else going on - but I'd have loved to have heard them anyway. 3 1/2 hours... and he barely scratched the surface of what I'd have liked to hear him play...
1. Lloyd Cole - Half of Everything
Is there a better (bitter?) divorce song written from the wife's perspective than Tammy's...? I'd have to argue for this, an epic even by Lloyd Cole's standards.
I've seen Lloyd play live more than any other artist (maybe because he tours a lot and doesn't charge much for tickets... but again, I've lost count), so I've heard him explain more than once how the title of this song is about a couple dividing up their things after nasty break-up. But the song goes much deeper than that, and the wronged woman stays strong...
Tell her that she done me, that she done me good Tell her that she done me, like a lady should I never ever seen her and I hope I never do I might have to show her just what love can do...
Which one makes you wish you'd signed a better pre-nuptial agreement?
