Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXXX--The Raconteurs: Steady, As She Goes

While there have been quite a few songs since the turn of the century that I've quite enjoyed, I'd be hard pressed to remember one that I enjoyed more than I've enjoyed this week's tune.

And to those who say it sounds like a White Stripes tune (not surprisingly, as Jack White sings lead vocals and plays lead guitar), I counter with...ain't nothin' wrong with that.

The seeds of the Raconteurs were formed in Nashville in 2005 when old friends Jack White and Brendan Benson got together and wrote "Steady, As She Goes."  Later that year they were joined by Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of Detroit band The Greenhornes (not familiar) in the Motor City and between their full-time gigs managed to record an album's worth of tunes.  They followed with a tour (including being an opening act for Nobel Prize laureate, Bob Dylan), and another album in 2008.  They have reunited here and there since, and in 2014 got together and started on another album but it remains uncompleted and it's uncertain whether they will return as a foursome.  Nonetheless, all four continue to make and play music successfully for a living and one supposes it's hard to complain much about that.

Released on their Broken Boy Soldiers LP in 2006, "Steady, As She Goes" would go on to be a minor hit here in the states (#54--with a bullet!--on The Billboard Hot 100), but do considerably better in Canada (#3) and the UK (#4), probably because they're so much cooler than we are.  Both the album and the single would earn the Raconteurs Grammy nominations, and the song ended up on numerous year end best of compilations for 2006.

Starting with an ominous drum count, "Steady, As She Goes" moves into a funky ass bass line which sounds very much borrowed from Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" (what the hell--if you're going to borrow, might as well be from a good one), before running headlong into some bitchin' guitar work from Jack White, a staccato scratch of the strings that plays well with the bass.  The chorus moves into power chord heaven with some great backing vocals from Brendan Benson (I don't know a lot of Benson's solo work, but from what I've heard, despite the comparisons to the White Stripes, Benson's influence can definitely be heard in the chorus--for those not in the know, Benson's "What" is well worth a listen).  You may notice I've stayed away from the song's lyrics--that's partly intentional as the song seems to me to be the chiding of an acquaintance who may have married more for stability than love and I'm pretty sure there have been people married for worse reasons, but what the hell do I know.  Anyway, it all adds up to a power pop dream of a song, with guitar, bass, and drums becoming so much more than the sum of their parts, and a catchy as all hell chorus that'll (thankfully) stay with you for days.

Lyric Sheet:  "But no matter what you do, you'll always feel as though you tripped and fell/So steady as she goes...."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

The revolution will be live

And perhaps sooner than they think...

The anger is palpable.

And one has to wonder how much more of it working class folks will take before the shit hits the fan.  To wit (and this is just the tip of the iceberg):

• The Trumpcare bill was released today, and here's a surprise:  Turns out that virtually all of us are going to pay more for healthcare (yes, even us lucky folks who have employer provided healthcare), have much higher deductibles, and it will result in millions of Americans either losing or being priced out of their healthcare...all so we can give tax breaks to the super rich.
• The Trump family is basically using the Presidency to immensely enrich itself further, and is showing no signs that it's willing to so much as lift a finger to help all those poor saps who voted for the rich white guy in hopes that he'd keep their families from starving.  Turns out there's a lot more than just one sucker born every minute.
• In a speech in Iowa this week, Trump said he doesn't want poor people making economic decisions.  Of fucking course he doesn't--if they learned how much the fat orange bastard was fucking them, they'd put his balls in a vise and keep turning the handle until his testes were as flat as their paychecks.
• And how about filling the swamp with rich people who gave millions to his campaign who are using their positions not to help the American people, but to make themselves and their families even wealthier.  Betsy DeVos?  Solely in it to make more money for her family.  Rex Tillerson?  Ditto.  Scott Pruitt?  Ditto--well that and blowing the fossil fuel industry which he seems to enjoy tremendously.  And what's even more pathetic?  For all the talk about running the country like a business, can you imagine a corporation in America who would put so many completely unqualified people in positions of authority?  I mean seriously--it would be like Bank of America taking someone who's a regional head of HR and making that person their CFO.  Even Corporate America isn't that fucking stupid.

I've felt for a long time that eventually income inequality and the continued lowering of the standard of living for the poor, the working class, and the middle class would result in some serious ugliness toward the wealthy, but I never thought I'd live long enough to see it.

Not so sure anymore that I won't be here to enjoy it.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

The demoralization of the story

Cloudy with a chance of meatheads...

Though some nice obituaries (one here, another here, and also here) have been written trying to mitigate the disaster that was Jon Ossoff's loss to Karen Handel in GA-06, it's really hard to see much good coming out of it.  Whether you're a glass half-full (Ossoff outperformed the last Dem in this race by 19+ points) or half-empty (underperformed Hillary Clinton by 3+ points) person a loss is a loss is a loss.  Even worse, this was probably the best chance we had of all the special elections thus far and the race really wasn't even that close.

And that's not even noting that Donald Trump has historical disapproval ratings, which didn't seem to hurt Handel one bit.

It all comes down to God, gays, and guns and republicans are just better at rallying their troops around those talking points.  Realistically, I see very little chance that Dems will take back the House in 2018--with the exception of 2012, we've lost the close races in virtually every competitive race since 2010 and it's not usually even as close as the closing polls show (we might also want to work on the accuracy of our polling).

I see very little chance that Trumpcare won't pass now (and Lord I hope I'm wrong).  We really needed this one to put a little fear in vulnerable republicans and that isn't happening after another stinging defeat for the Democrats.  They're going to push hard to enact the rest of their agenda (more for rich people, more for rich people, and more for rich people) so that short attention span voters will have forgotten how much republicans have fucked them over by the 2018 mid-terms.

Still, as I noted after the election of Donald Trump, we have to keep fighting.  Eventually the worm will turn, and when it does, let's hope Democrats have finally learned to go for the jugular.

'Cause God knows republicans sure have.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Tales from the soulless

We're living in soulless times...

Just when you thought you couldn't feel any more disgust for republicans, along comes Paul Ryan to tell us that we should forgive Donald Trump for his obstruction of justice and sheer incompetence because he's new at this whole being the President gig, and doesn't understand the protocol.

Imagine for just one second that Nancy Pelosi had tried to pass off this bullshit in the first five months that Barack Obama was President.  Can you imagine the republican backlash?  Or that the press would have given her a free pass for pronouncing such idiocy?

It's truly hard to overstate the complete and total contempt for Americans, and by extension, for America itself, that Paul Ryan has in his heart.  As long as his wealthy benefactors are taken care of, the man just doesn't care about us or our country.

Here's hoping that we all live long enough to see him reap the just rewards of his Faustian bargain.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Just keep looking for that black cat

There is no there, there

Not content with decrying the end of civilization as we know it because Democrats are vowing to pass a $15 minimum wage should they win control of the House again in 2018, conservative pinheads America Rising are preparing to spend upwards of $10 million dollars to defeat Elizabeth Warren in her 2018 re-election campaign for the U.S. Senate, as well as hampering her chances at winning the Presidency in 2020.

My word, what an excellent campaign tactic!

First off, Elizabeth Warren is a very popular Senator in a very blue state--the odds of her losing in 2018 are slim and none.  And even if they manage to cut a point or two off her victory margin, it's still going to be a colossal ass kicking for the republican candidate.  And no one will give a shit, regardless.  Second, near as I can tell, Sen. Warren has not shown any more interest in running for President in 2020 than she did in 2016.

So if republicans want to flush $10 million dollars down the toilet for a losing and pointless proposition, by all means, please do so.  And while they're at it, here's hoping they drop $10 million on FDR, Harry Truman, JFK, and LBJ--and any other Democratic boogieman who won't be running to obliterate Donald Trump in 2020.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXXIX--Herman's Hermits: The End of the World

Contrary to what you might be thinking, this week's tune is not a commentary on the effects of the Trump Presidency....

Though it was originally released in 1963 (more on that later), I didn't come to know "The End of the World" until John Mellencamp released a cover version (to show you the popularity of the song, there are literally hundreds of cover versions--I'm sure that somewhere a group of monks recorded it as a Gregorian chant) on his Trouble No More LP in 2003 (I spent months listening to the song again and again).  Fast forward many, many moons and I was at work one night listening to a sampling of Sixties Folk on Pandora and lo and behold, the song came on and it was decidedly not John Mellencamp singing, so I rushed to the office computer and found it was Herman's Hermits, which started a months long lovefest with Herman's Hermits and their greatest hits (a great sampling of sixties pop).

Herman's Hermits were formed in 1964 in Manchester, England, and had a hell of a run over the next seven years.  Initially they were more popular in the states--from '64 through '67 they had eleven top ten hits in the U.S., including two number ones ("Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and "Henry the VIII, I Am") and two Grammy nominations.  By 1967 they were essentially done commercially in the States, though from '67 through '71 they managed to have more top ten hits in Britain than they'd had while they were storming the American airwaves.  In 1971 the bandmates went their separate ways, though Herman's Hermits keep touring.  Due to acrimony among the surviving members (and like that never happens), there are two separate incarnations of the band still touring, one featuring lead singer Peter Noone, and the other featuring the only other surviving member, Barry Whitwam.

Fun Fact:  "The End of the World" was originally a hit in 1963 for country music star Skeeter Davis--she took the song to #2 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard country charts, #1 on the easy listening chart, and #4 on the rhythm and blues chart, the only time in the history of the Billboard charts that an artist had a song in the top ten on all four charts.  Pretty impressive charting....

With all due respect to Ms. Davis (and John Mellencamp), though, my favorite version is by far and away the Herman's Hermits cover released on their debut album in 1964, the oh so cleverly named Herman's Hermits.  Like last week's FNJ featured tune, "The End of the World" was originally released as a B side (to "Henry the VIII, I Am") by Herman's Hermits, and never had any chart success as a single on its own merits.  The song is as simple as simple gets:  a lovely melody, forlorn vocals, and heartfelt lyrics questioning just why the world goes on despite having lost the love of one's life.  Without hyperbole, I tell you that I'm not sure a perfect pop song has ever been written, but for my taste, this one is about as close as an artist can get.  It's a wonderful look at the sorrow that is a broken heart and a pop gem if ever there was one.

Liner Notes:  "Why do the birds go on singing?/Why do the stars shine above?/Don't they know it's the end of the world?/It ended when I lost your love...."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXXVIII--Devo: Jocko Homo

It's hard to believe, as over time Saturday Night Live's weekly musical guests have generally become established acts, but back in the day when I was still a young man SNL would often feature unknown artists, or artists that you might have heard of but got zero in the way of mainstream radio play.  And while I heard artists like Rickie Lee Jones and Eddie Money (among others now long forgotten) for the first time on the show, there were none quite like this week's featured artist, Devo.  Appearing on stage in yellow jumpsuits and performing the strangest (yet oddly compelling) cover version of the Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," Devo, at the time, were not like any band I'd ever heard before.  They finished their night performing this week's tune, which in a way was ever stranger than the Stones' cover, and I rushed out the next day and bought their album.

Formed in Ohio (Kent and Akron) in 1973, Devo had some success in the late seventies and early eighties which, as numerous other bands I've featured this year have done, they managed to parlay into a career of nine albums (eight from 1978-1990, and a latecomer in 2010), and regular tours they still perform to this day.  The band was primarily made up of two sets of brothers--the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob), and the Casales (Gerald and Bob).  Alan Myers rounded out the group on drums, and they brought a certain kitsch to pop music.  Lots of synthesizers and singsong vocals were the band's trademarks, which they used to develop their biggest hit, "Whip It," which went to #14 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and to be perfectly honest, was never one of my favorite songs (though MTV loved the hell out of the video).  While their first album will always have a special place in my heart, and they had a couple of nice singles through their early years (a cover of "Working in a Coalmine" and "Through Being Cool" that I really liked), they eventually fell off my radar (novelty can only take you so far) and became just another band with a great debut album that faded into my memory.

Fun Fact:  Recommendations from David Bowie and Iggy Pop helped Devo land their first record contract with Warner Brothers.  Nothing like getting rock royalty to recommend you...

Released in 1977 on their Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! LP, "Jocko Homo" is considered Devo's anthem (and rightfully so) but was actually originally released as the B side to their first single, "Mongoloid."  The song is actually a tongue in cheek poke at those who don't believe in evolution (Devo is short for devolution), and the title comes from an anti-evolution tract, wherein it's explained as meaning "Ape-Man."  The "chorus" revolves around Mark Mothersbaugh (who would go on to have quite a bit of success writing theme songs for TV shows and doing soundtrack work for films) shouting "Are we not men?" (which was taken from a line in the movie Island of Lost Souls) and the band members responding, "We are Devo!"  While there is instrumentation in the song, it's a little off kilter yet it helps define the song along with the not so ordinary lyrics.  It's not for everyone--many folks (including my younger brother) are much more fond of their Stones' cover version than this one, but there's always been something for me about the sheer absurdity of "Jocko Homo" that made it an utter delight to hear again and again.

Lyric Sheet:  "They tell us that we lost our tails/Evolving up from little snails/I say it's all just wind in sails..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

George McFly and the Democratic Party

Punchee or puncher, you decide

In the movie Back to the Future, George McFly spends most of the movie being bullied by his nemesis Biff until he eventually has had enough and coldcocks Biff on the night of the big dance.

I note this in the aftermath of Greg Gianforte, the thug republican congressman from Montana, and his physical attack of a reporter who asked a question Gianforte didn't like.  There is absolutely nothing surprising about Gianforte's physicality--the republican party has become a party of bullies who in lieu of intelligence and grace under pressure resort to apish behavior to achieve their means.

I know that no one on the left likes to hear this--because so many are so certain we're going to Gandhi our way back into power, despite all evidence to the contrary--but Democrats and the Democratic Party should take a lesson from George McFly:  if we don't punch back, both literally and figuratively, republicans will continue to bully us and America into becoming a country that the vast majority of Americans do not want.

If we're serious about winning, we need to fight fire with fire.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

"Of all sad words of tongue or pen...

Yeah, we really fucked it up...

"...the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'"

Hillary Clinton gave a speech at Wellesley recently in which she sounded intelligent, compassionate, incisive, and downright Presidential...and I couldn't help but compare and contrast her to the idiot that got elected, who each and every day looks and sounds more and more like your frumpy, drunk, racist neighbor whose idea of fun is shooting neighborhood dogs with his BB gun.

I'd like to think Americans will learn a lesson from this, but then I remember that George W. Bush beat Al Gore after eight years of peace and more prosperity than this country had known in a generation and I sigh.

Hard to tell if Americans are self-destructive or just utterly clueless--either way, before 2020 gets here we're going to be a lot worse off than if we'd elected a second President Clinton.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Americans Sinking

They'll soon find out it ain't so free

Nancy Pelosi announced last week that if Democrats win back the house in 2018, they will pass a $15 minimum wage within the first 100 hours.  While it's great to see Democrats coming out with a simple, unified platform, the Koch Brothers/DeVos family/Corporate America response to it (via America Rising, another in a long line of self-serving groups for the wealthy elite) was drama queen heaven:


     "This is a significant moment since if confirms that the Democrat [sic] party is now in
       the hands of extreme liberals who have more in common with European Socialism than
       the free enterprise principles that have guided America for generations...."


Fucking seriously?  The only people left in America who still believe in the free enterprise system are the wealthy--because they're the only ones who are getting anything free out of it.  The rest of us are paying out the nose.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXXVII--Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks (Album)

This week is the second annual "It's My Birthday So I'm Going to Feature One of My Favorite Albums" posts...

As with last year's piece about Springsteen's Born to Run, in order to keep this from being a novel, we'll dispense with the bio--it's Bob Dylan, excuse me Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan, for Christ's sake.  There have been dozens of biographies that can expound upon his career much better than the single paragraph I usually devote to the week's featured artist.

In addition to having arguably the greatest album title ever (think of the many, many ways the word tracks can be interpreted and then add blood to it--genius), Blood on the Tracks is widely considered Dylan's best album (myself included).  It reached #1 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard 200, and was named the sixteenth best album on "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time" (I'd be hard pressed to name fifteen albums better than this one).  Dylan's son Jakob has described the album as "my parents talking" but Dylan himself has said the album is not autobiographical.  As the LP was released about the time Dylan's first marriage was ending I have my doubts, but as I don't know the man personally, I'll take his word for it (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Without further ado:

Tangled Up in Blue--A series of vignettes about failed relationships and the ones that got away--with zero sentimentality.  The characters often seem to be from long gone eras, drifting along from place to place, life to life.  There's some wonderful acoustic guitar playing driving the song from beginning to end.  Favorite line: "So now I'm goin' back again/Got to get to her somehow/All the people we used to know/They're an illusion to me now..."

Simple Twist of Fate--Boy meets Girl, has short relationship, Girl leaves Boy, Boy never forgets Girl...blame it all on a simple twist of fate.  A recurring theme--lots of catchy as all hell acoustic guitar, with ample emaycee fave harmonica parts as well.  Favorite line:  "He hears the ticking of the clocks/Walks along with a parrot that talks..."

You're a Big Girl Now--Boy meets Girl--this one is more first person and a lot more heartfelt.  It's the tale of a broken heart, and the acceptance of what the hearbreaker has become.  Favorite line:  "Love is so simple, to quote a phrase/You've known it all the time, I'm learnin' it these days..."

Idiot Wind--If this was Jakob Dylan's parents talking...you're probably glad you weren't there to witness it.  I'm not sure an angrier song about the dissolution of a relationship has ever been written--or even been close.  Surprisingly enough, it's sheer brilliance.  Meanest line ever written:  "Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth/ You're an idiot, babe/It's a wonder you still know how to breathe..."

You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go--...and he follows it up with a song that's not only one of the longest titled pop songs ever, but is about the simple and overpowering joy of love.  And therein is the enigma that has always been Bob Dylan.  This was my first favorite song on the album and the one that made me listen again and again.  Favorite line:  "I've seen love go by my door/Never been this close before/Never been so easy or so slow..."

Meet Me in the Morning--Dylan does the blues--with the classic story of "My Baby Done Left Me."  Probably the one song that's least like the others on the LP, but the narrator's pragmatic acceptance of his loss is a departure from the romanticized loss seen in some of the other songs.  Favorite line:  "Look at the sun sinkin' like a ship/Ain't that just like my heart, babe/When you kissed my lips..."

Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts--Nine minutes of imagery surrounding a rich man, his wife and mistress, his eventual murder, and his wife's execution, without really knowing  if she was guilty or not.  And it's all the fault of the Jack of Hearts. The music is kind of bouncy, in an almost honky tonk kind of way.  Not a bad song, but my least favorite on the album.

If You See Her, Say Hello--The polar opposite of "Idiot Wind"--every now and again people have relationships that fail and leave a broken heart, but still remember kindly their lost love, wishing them only happiness.  A reminder that the bittersweet exists in love, too.  Favorite line:  "Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the past/I know every scene by heart, they all went by so fast..."

Shelter from the Storm--Probably my favorite Dylan song, though I came to appreciate it much later in life than when I first heard it in my teens.  A man remembers the kindness of, and the peace he felt being with, a now lost/distanced love.  I think the song is often misinterpreted (thanks to the chorus) as being a lot more romantic than it actually is.  Lots of references to Jesus, too.  And I absolutely adore both the rhythmic acoustic guitar and subtle harmonica playing in this one.  Favorite line:  "Well I'm livin' in a foreign country but I'm bound to cross the line/Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make it mine/If I could only turn the clock back to when God and her were born..."

Buckets of Rain--Like "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" (which on the album was the last song on side one), Dylan closes side two and the album with another heartfelt paean to both the joy and misery of love.  Appropriately enough as it's the last song, this one came to be appreciated last by me, though now it's one of my favorite songs from the album.  Love the acoustic guitar in this one as well.  Favorite line:  "Life is sad/Life is a bust/All ya can do is do what you must/You do what you must do and you do it well..."

And therein lies the end of an album that warms the hearts of old fart folkies across the globe.  A masterpiece (album lyrics found here) of the nuances of relationships, both the sad and the glorious.

I wasn't able to find a Youtube video for the album, but there's a link to the album on Spotify (if you've got the time to give it a listen) below the album photo.  Enjoy:

Listen here.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee