Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DX--Bob Dylan: Sweetheart Like You

At least this one's less than a week late....

This week's tune was a pleasant surprise--Dylan had just released three straight religious albums (none of them particularly interesting or good) after his "conversion" to Christianity, and I expected very little from this week's featured album.  It opened my eyes in many ways--no, it wasn't Blood on the Tracks (how many albums are?), but it was at least a little bit of a return to form, and this week's tune would eventually become one my favorites of his.  I suppose it illustrates that one is never too old to be surprised by rock and roll....

This will mark the fifth time I've written about Bob Dylan (one, two, three, and four), which doesn't include my post on the Traveling Wilburys (here).  Needless to say, I have nothing more to pontificate about when it comes to Robert Zimmerman.

"Sweetheart Like You" was the second single from Dylan's rather rebelliously named 1983 album, Infidels.  The single would reach #55 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the LP would peak at #20 on the Billboard 200.

(Two) Fun Facts:  The video made for "Sweetheart Like You" was the first of Dylan's long career.  And, in something of an oddity, Dylan has never performed the song live--which is really saying something (to steal a phrase) considering he tours almost nonstop.

Produced by Mark Knopfler (it's a small world--featured on last week's post, coincidence, not planned), "Sweetheart Like You" does have something of a Dire Straits feel to it, but the moment Dylan starts singing you know it's all his.  Arguably one of Dylan's better vocals, it's understated but at times piercing (could be an effect of the lyrics).  The guitar (both the solo and its backing play) in the song is to die for--I learned, as I was doing my half-assed research, that Knopfler did not perform the guitar solo (I assumed he had, and further assumed that the woman playing in the video was just a stand in for him) but rather Mick Taylor (of Rolling Stones and acclaimed session player fame) who performed it. Sheer brilliance.  There is quite a bit of difference opinion on what the song is about (Central America, Christian Church, music business friend of Dylan's) but I'm going to go Occam's razor on it and just say it's about a beautiful woman who's fallen on hard times.  No matter--it was a nice comeback for Dylan and is musically, lyrically, and vocally an absolute triumph.  

Lyric Sheet:  "You know you could make a name for yourself/You can hear them tires squeal/You can be known as the most beautiful woman/Whoever crawled across cut glass to make a deal..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDLXIX--Bob Dylan and the Band: Apple Suckling Tree

 The top three non-familial influences on my musical tastes would be (in no particular order): 1) WLS-89 AM radio in Chicago, for instilling the love of pop music in me, 2) The rockumentary (which all three of my regular readers will know I've mentioned a time or two or a hundred) The Last Waltz which not only introduced me to the Band (and several other artists), but opened up the world of Americana music to me, and 3) Rolling Stone's tenth anniversary issue, in which numerous critics cited the best songs/albums released during the magazine's first ten years, and which I spend a considerable chunk of my college years trying to track down most (all?) of said songs/albums for my burgeoning collection--one of which just happens to be this week's tune.  Seemed like a good way to end 2023....

I've written about Bob Dylan three times on Friday Night Jukebox (one, two, three) and the Band once (only once? yikes, I've got some work to do) in Vol. CLXXXVI, and as I've noted a time or two or a hundred before in these bios, there really isn't much I can add to the volumes that have been written about either by folks much more talented and knowledgeable than I.  I would, however, like to note a little about the album from which this week's song comes.  While The Basement Tapes were released in 1975 (a couple of years before my musical interests in either of the two), it was actually recorded in 1967 and between then and its release had developed a reputation of almost mythical proportions (numerous bootleg copies of songs were made, and Dylan at the time was thought to be the most bootlegged artist in history).  While the luster has worn off somewhat (Rolling Stone only had it at #291 on its 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums), it's still considered to be a career changer for Dylan, the start of the Americana movement, and the father of alt-country.  Not a bad resume.

"Apple Suckling Tree" was the fourth song on side two (yes, I own the LP) of The Basement Tapes.  It was not released as a single (no song was), and the album would reach #7 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  Dylan and the Band only took two takes of the song--the second one was the version that ended up on the album. It is absolutely stunning to me that they could record a song this brilliant in two takes.

This one is just fun--not really sure what the lyrics mean (or what they are), but in the end it's just five guys jamming, and having a hell of a time doing it.  The first standout is Garth Hudson's organ--as a Band fan I'm used to hearing Hudson's excellence on the keyboards, but I think this one is just a good old-fashioned boogie-woogie, and it rocks.  Second is guitar virtuoso Robbie Robertson...on drums.  Just a beat maniac.  And lastly is Dylan's vocals which capture perfectly the song's raucousness.  In the end, it's just a kick ass rock and roller--man, if you can't swing to "Apple Suckling Tree" you're probably dead.

[A note on the lyrics--as I listened to the song, it was brutally obvious that the lyrics listed on every web site did not match the lyrics Dylan was singing.  Or even very close.  So I actually went to Dylan's web site and sure enough he lists the same lyrics as every other lyrics site.  You got me...which is why I'm just going with the chorus, because it's the only thing that sounds like what he's singing.]

Lyric Sheet:  "Under that apple suckling tree, oh yeah/ Underneath that apple suckling tree, oh yeah/Underneath that tree/There's just gonna be you and me/Underneath that apple suckling tree, oh yeah..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXLIV--The Charlatans: Impossible

Another week, another tune I was introduced to by my darling daughter.  She's made me some killer mix CDs through the years--and several of her picks have added to the luster that shines forth from Friday Night Jukebox....

The Charlatans formed in West Midlands, England in 1988, and while having virtually no success in the U.S. (none of their singles have hit the Billboard Hot 100, and only two of their albums have reached the Billboard 200, with their debut LP peaking the highest at #73), they have had a mammoth career in their native U.K.  They released their debut album in 1980 and it was an immediate success, hitting #1 on the U.K. Albums Chart.  The Charlatans have put together a nice string of hit singles and albums, while expanding and experimenting with their sound, over the past thirty-five years, and not surprisingly have mixed in numerous tours.  For their career, they have released thirteen studio albums (nine of which have hit the top ten in the U.K., with three #1's), three live albums, and six compilations.  The band has also released 48 singles, four of which peaked in the top ten on the U.K. Singles Chart.  The band is still touring; sadly, original members Rob Collins (auto accident, 1995) and Jon Brookes (cancer, 2013) are no longer with them.  The Charlatans haven't released a new studio album since 2017.

Fun Fact:  Due to there already being a band called The Charlatans in the U.S., for a number of years the English version had to dub themselves The Charlatans U.K. here in the States.

"Impossible" was the third single from their 1999 album the rather selfishly entitled Us and Us Only.  The single hit #15 on the U.K. Singles Chart, while the album reached #2 on the U.K. Albums Chart.

Opening with some thickly strummed and stark acoustic guitar, "Impossible" lets you know right off the bat that it's not going to be just another single.  A little later a jaunty piano joins in, followed closely by some driving drums and the song becomes catch-catch-catchy as all hell.  The lyrics chronicle a dying (if not dead) relationship, and while they're definitely a cut above the usual pop music fare, they're also a bit on the bitter side--not quite a "fuck you" but not far from it either.  As I listened to it while doing my weekly half-assed research, it struck me that the song--both musically and vocally--was reminiscent of mid to late sixties Bob Dylan, only to discover that, sure enough the band had been fans of, and the album was influenced by, Dylan (among others).  When my daughter first sent it to me, it was a song I wanted to hear again and again--and some twenty odd years later I still turn the volume up just a little bit more when I hear it, and it won't be long before I'm back for yet another listen....

Lyric Sheet: "You can't kill an idea cause it's raining/Keep it in the family, keep it in the kids/You know, they're all handing out free tickets/This big old boat is-a-startin' to sink..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXXXV--Bob Dylan: Like a Rolling Stone

Somewhere in the mid-seventies, I was told to clean the garage (which seemed like torture but was actually just straightening a few things and sweeping the floor), and as I had recently discovered that chores went by much quicker when listening to music, I had the radio tuned to WFBQ in Indianapolis (thankfully it wasn't raining--early FM signals were weak unless you lived nearby and just a few clouds could make reception a warbled miasma) as I swept away. At some point this week's song blasted through our small radio and I was instantly smitten.  I had really just begun to check out album-oriented rock, having previously been a burgeoning devotee of top 40 pop. It led me to seek out Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits and Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II...and a love affair was born.  

The number of books and articles written about Bob Dylan is just south of the number of stars in the sky, and an amateur bozo like me isn't going to add much in a paragraph (note that I've featured a song and an album here on Friday Night Jukebox).  For posterity, though, I will admit the older I've gotten the more I admire Dylan the artist and the less I admire the Dylan the man (a greedy bullshit artist pretty much sums it up).  I also find his winning the Nobel Prize for Literature to be delusional--to think his sucking his fans dry with dozens of releases of shitty outtakes ranks with artists who spent careers creating actual art for pennies is ludicrous.  Rant over!

"Like a Rolling Stone" was the first single released from his groundbreaking 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited.  The song would go on to be the highest charting single of Dylan's career, hitting #2 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  The album reached #3 on the Billboard 200. [Side note:  If you've never heard the album, make the time.  It's easily one of the top ten albums ever made and well worth the listen.]

Fun Fact:  There is much debate as to whether Dylan is raging against a specific person or at himself in the song. For what it's worth (probably not much), since very, very early in my listening experience I have thought his anger was directed at himself--even more so since I learned during my weekly half-assed research that when he wrote the polemic that would become "Like a Rolling Stone" he was tired of both his life and the direction his music was going.

People have literally written dissertations about "Like a Rolling Stone" and as noted above, a putz like me isn't going to have any earth-shattering discoveries about such a visionary work. Suffice is to say it's a stunning song that changed rock and roll forever.

Lyric Sheet:  "You used to be so amused/At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used/Go to him now, he calls ya, ya can't refuse/When ya ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose/You're invisible now, ya got no secrets to conceal..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDIX--The Low Anthem: Hey All You Hippies!

I spent the better part of an hour this week trying to figure out which of my two oldest children first recommended this week's featured tune--checked old e-mails and comments on old posts to no avail.  I thought it might have been on a CD one of them burned for me but couldn't find that either.  Suffice it to say that regardless of whether it was my daughter or my oldest son they're two very cool souls....

I wrote a post about The Low Anthem in 2016 for their song "The Ballad of the Broken Bones."  In the years since, they have released two albums and in 2019 had an international tour.  While mass commercial success has still eluded them, they're still performing and I'm sure it beats the hell out of selling stocks or insurance.

"Hey All You Hippies!" is a song on their 2011 LP Smart Flesh.  The song was never released as a single, and the album did not chart.

Fun Fact:  The just mentioned album was recorded in a former pasta sauce factory in their hometown of Providence, Rhode Island.  The recordings are sometimes (and somewhat jokingly) referred to as the "Pasta Sauce Sessions."

There must be something about The Low Anthem's songs that leave me befuddled, because as I reread my post about "The Ballad of the Broken Bones" I saw that I wrote in my song recap that I had no idea what the song was about...and I can say the same thing about this week's tune.  I like to think it's a subtle nod to hippies and a slap in the face to Ronald Reagan, but in this day and age one never knows.  I do like their rollicking performance (which for some reason, to me, somewhat echoes Bob Dylan's 1966 song "Rainy Day Women #13 and 35"), as well as the song's spirited vocals.  In the end, I suppose, sometimes a good song is just a good song--and "Hey All You Hippies!" (love the exclamation point) is a rowdy good tune.

Lyric Sheet:  "Please don't rush me/I'm over the moon/I ain't yet fit to come down/A rose is a rose/A balloon a ballon/You've got to go right now..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Traitor

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCLXXII--Stealers Wheel: Stuck in the Middle with You

 My introduction to this week's tune came with me searching for it (actually several years after it was a hit) on all of my Bob Dylan albums, as well as the ones I didn't own at the local record shop (remember Google was just a distant dream in the seventies), only to eventually learn that it wasn't Dylan after all but a couple of blokes in a band from Scotland....

Stealers Wheel were formed in 1972 by teenage friends Gerry Rafferty (who went on to some solo success) and Joe Egan.  By the time their first album had been released, Rafferty had already left the band (while Rafferty was a talented musician, he was never comfortable with the fame that came from being such), but when the album became a modest hit and their first single a huge hit, he was persuaded to rejoin the band.  They would go on to release two more albums but had disbanded for good in 1975 before their third album was even released.  For their all too short career, Stealers Wheel released three studio albums, three compilation albums (oh, the power and glory of having a hit record), and five singles.  The members of the band not including Rafferty and Egan reformed in 2008, but the ills that plagued them the first time around were still present, and the reunited band did not even last the year.

Fun Fact:  The name Stealers Wheel is a play on words of a sort.  The band hails from Sheffield, at one time a city noted for its steelmaking (especially for cutlery) plants, and a steelers wheel is an abrasive tool used for polishing steel.

"Stuck in the Middle with You" was released in 1973 from their debut album, the ingeniously named Stealers Wheel.  The single would reach #6 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, #8 on the U.K. Singles Chart, and #2 in Canada (so many cool kids in the Great White North!).  The album peaked at #50 on the Billboard 200, and I have no idea what it did in the U.K. or Canada because the Wikipedia entry did a shit job of telling me. So there.

"Stuck in the Middle with You" deals with Rafferty's aforementioned aversion to fame and its trappings, as it describes his discomfort (the lyrics make me think alcohol and/or drugs may have been involved as well) at being at a record label function and the attendant bullshit that comes with it.  The band has said it was going for a paranoid Dylanesque sound...and as I noted above, they most certainly nailed it, especially with Rafferty's vocals.  The song features a nice acoustic guitar opening, followed by a funky bass line leading up to the vocals, and spread throughout is a slithering electric guitar that mimics the nausea Rafferty very likely felt.  The band makes liberal use of an emaycee fave, handclaps, and as I listened throughout this past week, I was surprised by how big of a role the rhythm section--bass, drums, handclaps--played in making this tune a lot funkier than one would expect from a Scottish folk band.  You probably had to be there, but this is another fine example of all the excellent pop tunes the 1970's offered to those of us who were lucky enough to live and listen through that wonderful decade.

[Props to me for getting this far without the obligatory mention that "Stuck in the Middle with You" was the song Michael Madsen--Mr. Blonde--danced to in the cop torture scene in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.]

Lyric Sheet:  "Trying to make some sense of it all/But I can see it makes no sense at all/Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?/Well, I don't think I can take anymore..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Racist

Peace,

emaycee

Their stupidity knows no bounds

Spongebob--smarter than Laura Ingraham

 After having their fee-fees hurt because the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, had the audacity to say that yes, our service men and women should be taught about Critical Race Theory and that White Rage is a threat to our country's future, Fox News bonehead opinion personality Laura Ingraham said that because of Milley's thoughtful response, the military should be defunded.

Please take a moment to appreciate the abject stupidity that went into making such a suggestion....

Anyone who thinks for one fucking minute that giving these nitwits the keys to our country again is not going to result in the end of America as any kind of sustainable nation is absolutely fucking kidding themselves.  They have taken ignorance to unheard of heights.  They are beyond hope at this point.

To steal a line from Bob Dylan, it's a wonder these idiots still know how to breathe.

You Have a Choice:  Pass a Voting Rights Bill, or Welcome Fascism to America

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLXI--Traveling Wilburys: End of the Line

At one point in time I had thought that if I ever decide to bring Friday Night Jukebox to a close this week's tune would be perfect for its ending...but considering that I have songs to cover the next three years and seem to come up with a year to a year and a half's worth of songs each year to continue FNJ, its demise seems pretty remote....

The Traveling Wilburys formed in 1988 when George Harrison (Nelson Wilbury) asked Jeff Lynne (Otis) and Roy Orbison (Lefty) to help him with a B-side for his next single.  As Bob Dylan's (Lucky) house was nearby and had a recording studio, they asked if he'd let them use it.  Tom Petty (Charlie T., Jr.) came on when Harrison stopped by his house to pick up a guitar he'd left there.  They deemed the B-side single they recorded ("Handle with Care") too good for a B-side...and decided to join forces.  Their first album was a surprise hit, won a Grammy, and led to a second--and final--LP.  Sadly, Roy Orbison passed away shortly after the first album was released, George Harrison passed away in 2001, and Tom Petty in 2017.  The band discussed touring but it never came to be.  The super group is credited with revitalizing the careers of Dylan, Petty, and Roy Orbison (the revitalization, especially Dylan, played a large part in their only releasing two albums, as solo careers took precedence), and also with giving rock and roll a shot in the arm as it defied what were then the most commercially successful genres of pop music.  If nothing else, they were a hell of a lot of fun....

"End of the Line" was the second single released from the Wilburys' appropriately named debut album, The Traveling Wilburys, Vol 1 (have to admit the "Vol. 1" was a nice touch, separating them from every other group with an eponymous album).  The single would reach #63 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album roared up to #3 on the albums chart.

Fun (if somewhat sad) Fact:  Roy Orbison had passed away by the time the Traveling Wilburys made the video (seen below) for "End of the Line," so Orbison is memorialized by showing a rocking chair with a guitar on it next to his picture every time Orbison's vocals are present in the song.

The Traveling Wilburys pretty much had me at the jangly guitar (adroitly played by Harrison) at the beginning of the song--that the rest of the song is a gem is just icing on the cake.  Much like the Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey" (which I wrote about in Jukebox No. 23, "End of the Line" is a paean to getting older and relishing in it.  While I was still a young man when the single debuted, I've come to appreciate its sentiments more and more as I get older.  Surprisingly enough, getting older is "all right" as the band tells us, and you do tend to appreciate the day to day treasures just a bit more.  The song features Tom Petty's vocals through the stanzas, and each of the band members (except Dylan) takes a turn leading the chorus vocals.  The music is top tapping good, there's a knowing humor to both the lyrics and the vocals, and the band's chiming "...at the end of the line, end of the line..." as the end of each sentence Petty sings makes one of those special moments that all great songs have.  As I've noted here a time or two, one of the surest ways for me to know how amazing a song is is how much I sing it after I've done my half-assed research for the week--suffice it to say this one's been driving my wife and youngest son nuts all week--having to listen to me sing it again and again and again....

Lyric Sheet:  "Well it's all right, even if you're old and gray/Well it's all right, you still got something to say..."


Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXCII--Josh Ritter: Love Is Making Its Way Back Home

Another week, another artist favorite brought to you (and me) by my daughter...

The career of Josh Ritter could honestly be one big Fun Fact.  Ritter began his love affair with music in Idaho after hearing Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash's version of "Girl from the North Country" (and it's one hell of a song to have as an inspiration).  He bought his first guitar at K-mart, originally went to college to study neuroscience (I'd be willing to bet the number of pop stars who started out as neuroscience majors can probably be counted on one finger), changed and created his major of "American History through Narrative Folk Music" (which seriously sounds like a fantastic major), self-released his first album at the age of 21 while still in college, continued working on his craft at open mic nights, became somewhat of a sensation in Ireland (a #2 album on the Irish charts--so many cool kids in Ireland), and eventually was able to ply his trade as a full time job.  Over the last twenty years, Ritter has released nine studio albums, five live albums (he's developed a solid reputation for his live performances), seven EP's, and twenty singles.  While Ritter has only had a modicum of commercial success, his list of fans include Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, and Cameron Crowe, and he's managed, as have numerous FNJ faves befiore him, to carve out a fine career doing what he loves.

Released on his EP Bringing in the Darlings (which I believe is the first here on FNJ to not have a Wikipedia entry) in 2012, "Love Is Making Its Way Back Home" was not released as a single, and thus once again we have no shout outs for Billboard magazine.  The EP, however, did chart, scaling as high as #122 (most assuredly with a bullet!), and reaching #5 on the Folk Chart, which probably explains why an old fart folkie like me found it so entertaining.

I have no doubt that Josh Ritter has written better songs ("Girl in the War" comes immediately to mind), but for someone like me whose musical education began with the pop, drop, and roll of Top 40 radio, it's not surprising in the least that I would become so easily attached to this song--the first time I heard it I knew it was going to be a song I loved for the rest of my life.  But the thing I didn't realize until I began listening to it in preparation for this post was what a subtle masterpiece it was.  Ritter takes a subject most of us are familiar with (the ups and downs of love in a long term relationship, and how, in the good ones, love does eventually make its way back), and manages to turn it into a song where you almost don't notice the message because the music is so goddamned catchy.  Ritter's vocals are smooth and soothing (he reminds me at times of one of my first musical heroes, James Taylor--and here my daughter and her husband stick their fingers down their throats and make gagging noises), and the melody is what I suppose every pop song made in the afterworld sounds like.   And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the "ooh-oohs" that make up the background vocals from virtually beginning to end, and how Ritter can sing "keep on, keep on" over and over again and it never turns stale.  Just a marvelous little ditty, and one that reminds me every time I hear it that devoting so much of my life to pop music has been worth every second of it.

Liner Notes:  "Dark pines the moonlit road/Winter time the crunch of snow/I wonder will your smile show/That love is making its way back home..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLVI--Dave Mason: We Just Disagree

Another week, another song from 1977...

I remember reading a Rolling Stone interview with Bob Dylan the year this week's tune came out, and at one point Dylan was asked if there were any songs he was currently hearing that he liked.  Dylan begged off somewhat, saying that he didn't listen to too much music because he didn't want his own work to be influenced by what he was hearing--but he did mention "We Just Disagree" as a song that he particularly liked (he'd also play it on his 1980 tour).  And I remember thinking, "All the great music that's coming out and that's the song he likes?"  Somewhere many years down the road I heard it anew and had one of my "Holy Shit" moments, where I realize a song is much better than I had originally thought.

Dave Mason has somewhat quietly put together a hell of a career resume.  Starting with his work with Traffic (with which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004), Mason has through the years done session work with Jimi Hendrix (played acoustic 12 string guitar on "All Along the Watchtower"), George Harrison (All Things Must Pass), the Rolling Stones (Beggars Banquet), had duets with Phoebe Snow and Michael Jackson, and also was briefly a member of Fleetwood Mac.  That's in addition to the thirteen solo albums he's released, the last of which came out in 2014.  He's still playing about a hundred shows a year, and is involved in charities that encourage kids playing music as well as foundations helping those with substance abuse problems and veterans.  Another in a long line of FNJ vets who have made the most out of a modicum of success....

Released in 1977 on his Let It Flow album, "We Just Disagree" was the only solo hit of Mason's career (as was the album, which peaked at #37 on the Billboard 200), as it reached #12 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Written by Jim Krueger who also did the backing vocals as well as playing 12 string guitar on the single, the song has, much like last week's tune by the Marshall Tucker Band, remained a staple of Classic Rock radio for forty years now.

"We Just Disagree" tells the tale of a couple meeting up some time after their breakup, with the male half registering some concern for her but also realizing they went their separate ways for a reason and that it's best to just let it all go.  In some ways, it's an adult version of the brokenhearted break up song--the protagonist acknowledges there were no good or bad guys in their break up, but rather was just the two of them and they just didn't see eye to eye.  The song opens with a delightful guitar that jangles its way into Mason's vocals, where he's quickly joined by Krueger to form some harmonies that are just this side of gospel tinged.  There's some nice oh-oh-oh's that convey a little of the pain, and it closes almost abruptly--but like a good short story, you realize its told you just enough.  It's certainly not your standard fare for a top 40 hit, but therein lies the beauty of pop music--there's always another surprise just around the corner.

Liner notes:  "There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy/There's only you and me and we just disagree..."

Enjoy:

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

The Twelve Dissents of Christmas: The Eleventh Day

Electoral College Winner Donald J. Trump

On the eleventh day of Christmas:

Barring a drastic change of heart from the American people, Donald Trump will enter office next month as the most unpopular President-elect in history.  As of this month, Trump's unfavorable rating is at 58 percent; his favorable rating is at a paltry 37%.  Which leaves him at a negative 21--ratings that are just slightly north of the favorability  rating of the guy who farted on the crowded elevator, vis a vis his fellow passengers.

 And since a solid majority of Americans are opposed to Donald Trump, it follows that a solid majority of Americans are going to be opposed to his policies as well.   Thus our mantra must be oppose everything, oppose everything, and once more with feeling, oppose everything...because it's good politics to give the American people what they want.

And we must remain vigilant in our reminders of just how despised President Oompa Loompa is--contrary to what the national media and republicans (and even some seriously misguided Democrats) would have you believe, Ronald Reagan was not that popular as President.  This is a convenient myth to try to justify the ravages of the Reagan devolution.  It's taken us a generation to repair that damage--no sense in wasting another generation on another bozo.

Out attitude toward President Oompa Loopa should be, in the words of Bob Dylan, "...You're an idiot babe/It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe...."

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXIV--Bob Dylan: It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

In 1977, Rolling Stone had a tenth anniversary issue (which means next year should mark fifty years of publication--and exactly where does the time go?) featuring their critics ten best musical moments of their first ten years, and for an eighteen-year-old lad just beginning to explore the depths of rock and roll, it was quite a revelation.  From the assorted lists I sought out "Heroin" by the Velvet Underground, Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart, and various works by The Band, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Boz Scaggs, all of whom I still listen to to this day.

And I also sought out a song by some guy named Bob Dylan--a song whose title even to my inexperienced teenage ears sounded as cool as a title could be:  "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."  And it started a lifelong love affair with the music of quite possibly America's greatest rock and roll artist.  And a long abiding respect and awe for arguably the greatest rock and roll song ever written.

There really isn't much I can say about Bob Dylan that hasn't been said or written by someone whose knowledge goes much deeper than my fanboy adoration--though I have to admit that most of it is gone as the heir to Woody Guthrie gave up a long time ago and ceded that mantle to Bruce Springsteen.  Dylan these days is busy making commercials for Victoria Secrets and IBM and recording Sinatra covers (gulp--two albums worth) and is about as culturally, socially, and politically relevant as your average blade of grass.  It wasn't always so--Dylan at one time was the voice of a generation and fans and critics alike hung on each word of every lyric of every song for a deeper understanding of the world we lived in.  It may have been overwrought--hell, it was overwrought--but rock and roll was art and art can answer anything, can't it?

Released in 1965 on his Bringing It All Back Home LP, "It's Alright, Ma" is a sparse, apocalyptic look at what America had become and was hardening into (amazingly enough, much of it is still relevant today, maybe even moreso).  Backed only by his own ominous acoustic guitar,  Dylan deftly weaves his way through fifteen verses, each spotlighting a rhyming scheme accentuating a single sound (noon, spoon, soon, balloon, etc,) in what could be called a rap (Dylan:  the original rapper), which leads into the more or less chorus:  "It's alright, Ma...." (surprisingly enough, "I'm only bleeding" is never uttered in the song).  It's a narrative of American consumerism, social disharmony, and our war machine, all of which Dylan wails against in a nasally (what else?) and wearied tirade.  "It's Alright, Ma" has been called a "grim masterpiece" and and has been said to be, unlike some of Dylan's previous politically inclined songs, without hope.  I beg to differ--while it certainly isn't a "shiny happy people: peace love dope!" message, I think the "It's alright, Ma" chorus is the hope--as you listen it's obvious that not only the music, but Dylan's vocals as well take a less somber turn .  It's a somewhat pyrrhic victory, but sometimes just surviving is more than half the battle in all things disappointing in life.

All in all, it's a masterwork by a master of American songwriting.

Fun fact:  Dylan has performed the song over 770 times in concert.  Woo-hoo!

Liner notes:  "It's alright, Ma, it's life and life only."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LII--John Prine: Christmas in Prison

Those who are unfamiliar with this week's tune and are perhaps thinking, based on the title alone, it was chosen for satirical reasons or as an indictment of the crass commercialization of Christmas, will be sorely disappointed.  No, it is my favorite Christmas song of all-time because it is one the most goddamned hopeful songs I've ever heard.

And isn't that what Christmas is all about?  Hope?

John Prine has been making music since 1971 (when he was discovered by one Kris Kristofferson), and yet I've met exactly one person in my life who was a John Prine fan.  While Prine isn't a household name, his songwriting has drawn praise from the likes of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Roger Waters (and much critical acclaim) for its compassion, ability to turn a phrase, and sense of humor.  And although he's never had an album chart higher than #55 on the Billboard 200, he did win a Grammy for Best Folk Album for The Missing Years.  All of which is to say that Prine is one of those artists, like The Kinks or The Band, who should have had a lot more popular success but nonetheless added immensely to the pop music archives.  And any way you slice it, a 45 year career in the music business isn't too darn bad.

A song that starts, "It was Christmas in prison/And the food was real good/We had turkey and pistols/Carved out of wood..." has all the earmarks of a classic, and "Christmas in Prison" lives up to its intro.  Released in 1973 on Prine's Sweet Revenge album, the song is, despite its seasonal nature, a fan favorite at all of his shows.  Like many recent Jukebox featured tunes, "Christmas in Prison" is spare in setting--while there is some background instrumentation, it's primarily Prine's guitar playing and vocals, and really, the song doesn't need much more.  Prine tells the story, as he sings, of a Christmas in prison (surprisingly enough) wherein the inmate narrator expresses his longing and love for the woman whose "...Heart is as big as this whole goddamn jail."  The song never tells us whether the inmate is just serving a long stretch, or is there for the rest of his life, but it doesn't really matter because he can "...Wait awhile eternity/Old Mother Nature's got nothin' on me..."  Throughout, Prine never gets sappy or maudlin--he just sings a bittersweet tale of love and loss, filling it with as much hope as one supposes one can find when spending Christmas in prison.

No special words this week, just these lines, among my all-time favorite in song:  "The search light in the big yard/Swings round with the gun/And spotlights the snowflakes/Like the dust in the sun...."

There isn't much of a video for this, but it was the only non-live version I could find.  Nonetheless, enjoy:

Merry Christmas,
emaycee

That's the sound of the men, working on the chain gang

This, my friends, is really rich. Newt Gingrich, a man who has lived off the public trough, as well as that of corporate benefactors for most of his career, thinks we need a better work ethic. Two words, Newt: fuck you. Why is it that it's always the working man who is supposed to sacrifice? Why don't these numb nuts ever suggest that perhaps the private sector needs leaders whose sole talents are much more than just cutting jobs and begging for corporate welfare? Further, what the fuck is up with this: "'Poor people respond to money,' and will turn to illegal activities if it's not available through other means, he said, as an example of how the free enterprise can lift people." Really? I'd be willing to bet there is a shitload of poor people who do not turn to illegal activities and keep trying to raise themselves and their families through legitimate means--otherwise, approximately 20% of our population would be in prison (or else we have a hellaciously talented bunch of criminals out there) instead of the 1-2% currently residing in prisons.

Thank, God, though, for one Heaster Wheeler of the NAACP who summed Gingrich (and the Republican party as a whole) up perfectly" "Newt Gingrich is less than a joke. If he understood the needs of the urban centers of America where was he when he had the authority to do something about it as speaker of the House?" Preach it, brother! The only accomplishment that would come from Gingrich's ideas for urban centers would be for us to do all the work while the private sector buys low and sells high, i.e. the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. Next fucking idiot, please!

Tom Walsh is one of the few Free Press pundits that I can occasionally stomach (he's hardly a liberal, but he once predicted that by the year 2100 we'd have National Health Insurance a la Canada and wonder what the fuck we were thinking before we did), but this is sick. Channeling Bob Dylan as the background music for some radical right winger's pipe dream of making Michigan a right to work state? Uh...I'm pretty sure that as a musician Dylan is a member of the Musician's Union, and considering that they've helped him make a pretty penny, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be too thrilled with making union membership even harder to attain. And why the fuck is it always the union's fault (because the right to work states are in such good shape--always in the bottom five for highest poverty levels like Mississippi)? Why does the working man always have to take the hit for the idiocy of industry leaders who have guaranteed contracts and golden parachutes to counter their failing? I've got a great idea for turning around the economy--end welfare for corporate leaders and give them what the working man gets if they fail: a few months of unemployment (about $350 a week here in Michigan). I bet that'd light a fire up their asses. As it stands now, there's no incentive for not failing--they get paid whether they're successful or not.

A quick answer to a stupid question: Fuck no. It's a slippery slope when you start singling out people to question for any reason. Who's next? Catholics? Bald-headed men? The only outcome of any such law is to move America one step closer to totalitarianism.

Leave it to the political reporters (so-called) of the Free Press to key on some meaningless sniping between two lame ass candidates (Republicans Mike Cox and Rick Snyder) and just give a passing mention to Virg Bernero who "stood up loudly for unions and decried corporate abandonment of the middle class." I mean because their petty sniping over some piddly bullshit is so much more important than the working men and women of Michigan making a decent living. The editorial board of the Free Press wasn't much better: their sole response toward Bernero was to call him out for "ranting on behalf of union positions." For those not familiar, here's how the "liberal" Free Press deals with unions.

Another bullshit poll on healthcare reform: the results show 51% oppose and 43% in favor, but the poll fails to note how many of those opposed are opposed because the bill isn't liberal enough. Or how many will base their vote on it. American media fail indeed....

Peace,
emaycee