"And even if he was a lazy man - and The Dude was most certainly that - quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County... which would place him highest in the runnin' for laziest worldwide."
The quote is from The Big Lebowski, and it's talking about The Dude, Jeff Lebowski, as played by Jeff Bridges...but it could just as easily be talking about Slacker King and potentially sole remaining Lemonhead, Evan Dando.
The last time Evan got out of bed and recorded some new songs was 2006. Yeah, there have been a couple of covers albums since then, but covers, man... they don't take a lot of effort, do they?
Still, it's always good to see him up and about, with a new song Fear of Living, co-written with his friend Dan Lardner who died in 2023. Apparently Evan plays all the instruments on this track, so he must be knackered. Didn't expend too much effort on the video then...
A couple of weeks back, I went to see the 25th Anniversary re-release of The Big Lebowski with Ben. (Yes, Ben is still around. He just doesn't say anything remotely amusing that's worth posting here anymore.) It's my favourite movie and I laughed the whole way through even though I know the script off by heart by now.
Those of you who know the film will be familiar with the fact that while The Dude loves Creedence and Bob, he isn't the biggest fan of The Eagles. An aversion to the Henley/Frey/Walsh et al. Eagles is quite common among the cool kids, and I always wonder if it's down to the fact that at one point they were "the biggest band in the world". Well, Their Greatest Hits retains the title of the best-selling album of the 20th Century in the US, so that's always a good reason to vote against them, isn't it? I myself have a great fondness for the band... but I did wonder what other options were out there. As usual, the answer surprised me...
THE EAGLES #1
We start, as we so often do, with doo wop. From 1954, here are Washington's Eagles with the original version of a song that would later be recorded by both Elvis and The Troggs.
THE EAGLES #2
Hard to put a date on these guys, but it's sometime in the 50s. All I can find out about them is that their lead singer (on this track at least) was called Flash Griner. He should have been a star.
THE EAGLES #3
Our next Eagles formed in Bristol in 1958, led by Terry Clarke who built his own guitar (but not, like Bryan May, out of an old fireplace). They were most well known for recording poppier versions of TV theme tunes, but did occasional sing as well...
THE EAGLES #4
Our next soar of Eagles (as collective nouns go, soar is not the best) emerged from Belgium in 1962, and somehow stayed together until 1978... when they changed their name to Cara. This 1974 "hit" is the only thing I can find from them online... and to be honest, it's enough.
THE EAGLES #5
Also recording as Buzz & Bucky, this lot came from Nashville in 1965... though they don't sound particularly country. Not a bad tune though...
THE EAGLES #6
Fast forward to 1966 when our next Eagles arrived from Jamaica, led by "The Black Lion of Judah", delivering some righteous ska all the way through to the late 70s.
THE EAGLES #7
1968. Japanese garage rock with The Chipmunks on backing vocal...
THE EAGLES #8
When I started this post, I had no idea that The Eagles everyone knows (whether you like them or not) would be the 8th band to use that name... and actually, there were a couple more bands who have not yet been immortalised on youtube, so they might not have even been in the first ten bands to call themselves The Eagles. I couldn't find any more recent, post-Eagles Eagles... but I guess there's an obvious reason for that. Once you've conquered the world, you can afford really good lawyers. (There were, however, a number of bands to reference The Eagles in their own name, such as The Eagles of Death Metal, Department of Eagles, The Illegal Eagles and (specially for The Dude), The Fucking Eagles. That's called legacy...
Here's Sam's favourite Eagles song...
Eight Eagles to choose from, but which ones are your birds of prey... and which ones just make you want to pray?
There were many perks to that old radio job. Beyond all the free CDs and guest-list tickets to see some of my favourite artists at that time... and others who would become my favourite artists in the future... beyond all that, perhaps the biggest perk came when I managed to convince one of the local cinemas to give me a critic's pass.
This glorious piece of plastic entitled me to go see ANY film of my choice, any time, FREE. And even better than that, it got me invited to preview screenings of the latest new releases BEFORE THEY EVEN CAME OUT.
I've always been a huge film fan, so this pass was just as valuable to me as all the free CDs and gigs. And it was on one of these late night critics' previews that I came to see what instantly became my all-time favourite movie.
The showing was around 11.30 on a Wednesday night, but back then I still worked the late show a few times a week so staying up till 2am was the norm. I remember the excitement of going to the cinema as all the regular patrons were going home. I have a picture in my head of the dark night outside and the brightness in the lobby, the empty lobby: no brighter than it would be if I were going to see a film at 9 with everyone else, but somehow more special. They were cleaning up and shutting down, but we were just arriving. The special ones. The chosen few, from radio, TV, the press. It's nice to feel important every now and then, to get something nobody else gets. It was for me back then, anyway. It meant a lot.
And this is where I met my hero... or, to put it another way...
"Sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? Sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here - the Dude from Los Angeles. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude. The Dude, from Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man - and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in all of Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide. Sometimes there's a man, sometimes, there's a man. Well, I lost my train of thought here. But... aw, hell. I've done introduced it enough."
My favourite movie is The Big Lebowski. It contains the following hilarious scene (one of many: the whole film is a blast from start to finish) in which The Dude (Jeff Bridges) and Walter (John Goodman) question a teenager who they believe has broken into The Dude's car and stolen a bag of money. Their evidence for this is largely based on the flashy car parked outside said teenager's house...
(There is bad language in this clip: BUT THAT'S THE POINT!)
When shown on TV, this sequence has been edited to cut the bad language down, substituting some ridiculous nonsense for the original swearwords...
I'm guessing Phoebe Bridgers must be a Lebowski fan also, since she's named her excellent debut album after the nonsense above. It's called A Stranger In The Alps.
Bridgers has a gorgeous voice that reminds me of Sinead O'Connor crossed with Aimee Mann. And like both those artists, she's not afraid to paint her songs with gallons of neurosis as in the track below, one of many listen again & again moments from A Stranger In The Alps. Her songwriting is reminiscent of both E and John Grant, and apparently she's mates with Ryan Adams also... well, you get the picture. Enjoy the cynical, world-weary loveliness...
And so we reach the end of My Top Ten Kennies. The final post was set in stone from the start. Indeed, it was Kenny Rogers who inspired this feature in the first place, and with a little suggestion from Brian, we were off. The only question remaining was which Kenny Rogers song was mighty enough to bring Kenny Wednesdays to a close?
Perhaps the most obvious choice would be Ruby, the tragic story of a disabled Korean war veteran whose wife is stepping out on him, something he'd put a stop to... if only he could reach his gun. Based on a true story (although the soldier was a WWII vet who did end up killing his wife), Mel Tillis's song was originally recorded by Johnny Darrell, but it was Kenny who made it famous. HOWEVER, I already gave that one a pretty good showing in My Top Ten Ruby Songs.
My all time favourite Kenny Rogers song is his debut hit from 1968, the anti-LSD, counterculture classic Just Dropped In (To Check What Condition My Condition Was In), as memorably featured in my favourite movie, The Big Lebowski. But I featured that just a couple of weeks back on My Top Ten April Fool's Day Songs.
The Gambler was in contention for a while... I even have a soft spot for the Bee Gees-written Islands In The Stream (with Dolly), although Rob Brydon did his best to steal that from me. In the end though, there was only one choice...
10. Kenny Rogers - Coward of the County
As a kid, I always felt I was, to paraphrase Michael Jackson in one of his many matey chats with Sir Thumbs Aloft, "a lover, not a fighter". There were times when I was bullied, or beaten up, or just picked on by the bigger, harder kids... and in those times, Coward of the County was a great inspiration to me. I know that may sound like the corniest thing I've ever written here, but I honestly believed "you don't have to fight to be a man". Of course, the whole message of CotC is that sometimes you do have to fight... and I always told myself that if anyone ever hurt someone I loved in the way the Gatlin Brothers hurt Becky, then I'd step up like Tommy did and wipe the floor with them.
In reality, of course, I'd probably just have had my head kicked in. Or worse. So it's probably a good job it never happened.
And so Kenny Wednesdays are no more. But don't despair. I've been promising that I knew exactly what would replace this series once we reached ten, and so now it can be revealed...
It's time to get Randy!
Come back next week for the first instalment of Randy Tuesdays. Let's drop the big one... and see what happens.
10. Kenny Rogers & The First Edition - Trying Just As Hard
The earlier the better when it comes to Kenny Rogers. Though he made some great records when he went solo too, it's the nine years with The First Edition I find most appealing. It was here that he recorded Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town; Reuben James; and The Dude's psychedelic stoner anthem, Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).
I was lucky enough to come across a collection of First Edition era Kenny in the charity shop a few months back and beyond the obvious glories, there were a number of hidden gems I'd never heard before. Here's one I've been enjoying a lot, where country rock meets gospel. Keeping that positive vibe going into February...
Like, for example, if you want to say "that bit at the end of the Olympics opening ceremony where they wheeled him on to sing 'Hey Jude' for the four millionth time was like that bit at the end of a wedding where the embarrassing grandad gets up to sing tuneless karaoke"...
No, really, it's a free country. We're all entitled to our opinions. I won't be offended.
I like the episode of How I Met Your Mother with the Moby lookalike. I'm mad at the episode of How I Met Your Mother that stole a joke I'd written for Too Much Sex & Violence #6 and forced me to rewrite the bugger.
Memorably used in the best episode of Moonlighting ever (and therefore one of the best episodes of Any TV Show Ever), the unforgettable Blonde On Blonde.
