You've Really Got A Hold On Me

The Beatles made it famous in 63, but once again, it's Smokey Robinson who wrote this song in 1962 (the Beatles actually changed the title to "You Really" and not "You've Really," but I don't know if that was intentional or just British).

All of these versions are great. I'm particularly fond of Jackie DeShannon's (or Sharon Myers if you meet her in synagogue) singing and early rock sound, but we'll definitely have more on her in a later posting.

PLAY: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
PLAY: The Zombies
PLAY: The Beatles
PLAY: Jackie DeShannon

In The Pines

No, Kurt Cobain did NOT write this song, though his Unplugged version is, in my opinion, the only song of his that makes any sense. His band also does a good job of playing the despair and anger that this song is about, with all of his screaming and what-not.

"In The Pines" was written sometime in the 1870's and Leadbelly made it famous when he recorded it in 1944 (and several other versions overs the next four years). Bill Monroe did the same thing for country music in 1952, though he conveniently left out all details of the "drivin' wheel" decapitation, and that whole issue of the missing body that makes the traditional version so powerful. The song is referred to by several different names - "In The Pines", "Black Girl", and "Were Did You Sleep Last Night"

PLAY: In The Pines - Leadbelly ('44)
PLAY: In The Pines - Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys ('52)
PLAY: In The Pines - The Grateful Dead ('65)
PLAY: In The Pines - The Seldom Scene ('92)
PLAY: Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Nirvana ('93)

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright

[A little more info about the album cover on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, and the James Dean photo , pictured above]

I had no idea how covered this song was until I actually started looking. I have about 25 to go, and I'm pretty impressed. I did just listen to dozens of other shit-ass, pretentious piano versions of this great song... but you don't want to hear them.

That's what I do for you. I am your musical Jesus. I listened to these songs so you wouldn't have to.

Take a listen to this Dylan classic. Twice, and then one more time from The Gaslight in NYC ('62).

And then these really nice tributes to Bob:

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (best arrangement... hands down)
The Small Stars (esp. lead guitar)
Johnny Cash
The Derek Trucks Band (w Susan Tedeschi)
Elvis Presley
Odetta
Ivy League ('65, folksie)
Duane Eddy ('65, country-folk instrumental)

A lot of people make it sort of a love song - slow and easygoing. But it isn't a love song. It's a statement that maybe you can say something to make yourself feel better. It's as if you were talking to yourself. - bob dylan

Sing a Simple Song

Quick post today, but a good song nonetheless.
Sing it, Sly.

PLAY: Sing a Simple Song - Sly & The Family Stone
PLAY: Sing a Simple Song - Charles Earland
PLAY: Sing a Simple Song - The Budos Band
PLAY: Sing a Simple Song - Booker T. and The M.G.s

Mary, Don't You Weep

I don't know why I like spirituals so much. I shouldn't. But the old Negro spirituals almost always sound great, and this is no exception.

Written even before the Civil War, Mary in this song isn't Jesus' girlfriend; it's Mary of Bethany who begged and begged for Jesus to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. Most of the song, though, is about the Exodus from Egypt ("Pharaoh's army got drownded...") with the obvious freedom references that made it popular during slavery and the civil rights movement as one of the many "freedom songs."

The Swan Silvertones' version is the earliest one I could find (the song was first recorded in 1915 by the Fisk Jubilee Singers), but it is by far the most popular. The band was started in 1938 by a West Virginian coal miner, but this song was recorded in 1962.

The Springsteen version is from his recent Seeger Sessions which I think is a great piece of work. I have no idea who Mike Farris is, but for a white guy, he's pretty soulful.

Enjoy.

PLAY: Mary Don't You Weep - The Swan Silvertones
PLAY: Mary Don't You Weep - Bruce Springsteen
PLAY: Mary Don't You Weep - Mike Farris

Mean Old World

Marion Walter Jacobs, or Little Walter to you, wrote this anti-Thanksgiving song. Well, it wasn't really directed at Thanksgiving per se, but while fighting traffic in the supermarket today, hating everyone and everyone hating me, I couldn't help but think of this song.

Mean Old World is dedicated today to all the people at the loose spices section this afternoon in Central Market. They're just spices, people! Your turkey will be still be ok if we share the last bit of ground ginger, ok?

PLAY: Mean Old World - Little Walter
PLAY: Mean Old World - Ike & Tina Turner
PLAY: Mean Old World - Duane Allman/Eric Clapton

Hava Nagillah, Y'all

Bob Dylan's version, titled Talkin' Hava Negillah Blues, could very well be the most creative version of this song since it was written in 1918.

Dick Dale does a typical surf version which is also excellent.

There's also a great version played on a Hammond by Trio Hans Jansen, of which I can find no information, except that they might be Dutch.

Harry Belafonte's version is a classic, unlike the early 60's Swedish band, The Spotnicks, who pose and play on stage in space suits while covering American country songs (they sound really good).

Oh, man... I almost forgot the one with Elvis. This must be the fat, pill-poppin', dying on the shitter Elvis, and his equally drunk and high band.

I'll let you decide which one is the... best?

PLAY: Talkin' Hava Nagilah Blues - Bob Dylan
PLAY: Hava Nagilah - Dick Dale and His Deltones
PLAY: Hava Nagilah - Trio Hans Jansen
PLAY: Hava Nagilah - Harry Belafonte
PLAY: Hava Nagilah - The Spotnicks
PLAY: Hava Nagilah - (Fat) Elvis Presley
PLAY: Hava Nagilah - Ben Folds (live)

The Tracks of My Tears

This is a pretty great Sunday evening kind of song. For listening, not writing about.

Wiki says:

"The Tracks of My Tears" is a 1965 hit single by The Miracles for the Tamla (Motown) label. It is considered among their best recordings, and is listed on the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. An all- time classic, this million- selling song is also a 2007 Grammy Hall Of Fame Inductee.

This song was #50 on the list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time[1]. In a 2006 poll for a Channel 5 program "Britain's Favourite Break-up Songs", "The Tracks of My Tears" was voted 16th. In early 2007, THE MIRACLES' original version of the song was inducted into the GRAMMY HALL OF FAME .

One thing I need to address before we move on with the music - I'm not a big fan of Linda Ronstadt, and this song is really no exception, but I included it because:

1. Odds are that one of the handful of people that read this blog is a closet Linda Ronstadt fan. You know who you are, we don't need to start a witch hunt.
2. One of you may even be open about your sick Linda Ronstadt fetish.
3. This recording was big for her in her career, so I'm just trying to make sure you get the history you paid for.
   

OK, we're all fully disclosed now.

The original Smokey Robinson is pretty great. His band is great, the backup singers nail it , he's about flawless himself - really close to perfect.

Aretha's version is about the same tempo - slow in the beginning, buoyant towards the end, with the horns to back it all up.

Rosetta Hightower picks it up from the beginning. I need to find more of her stuff - it's actually been re-released on CD. I like this version the best.

PLAY: The Tracks of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
PLAY: The Tracks of My Tears - Aretha Franklin
PLAY: The Tracks of My Tears - Rosetta Hightower

Don't Fence Me In

"If I have to pretend-write one more song..."
Cole P. exhaled strongly through his nostrils; his exasperation was obvious.
"Now you know why I'm a closet homosexual and love lavish pool parties!"
___________________________________________

I don't know where I first heard this song, but it definitely wasn't the original. I can't find the original (because I honestly just don't care enough to track down the first recording of this song), but I'm guessing it sounded as white and as theatrical and as gay as the one below by Joe Loss.

This song has a pretty rich history:

"Don't Fence Me In" was written by Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher in 1934. It was Porter's least favorite song and does not have his usual signature.

Originally written for an unproduced 20th Century Fox film musical, Adios Argentina, in 1934, "Don't Fence Me In" was based on text by an engineer who was also a poet, Robert (Bob) Fletcher. Cole bought the poem from Bob Fletcher for $250 and adapted it. When the song was first published, Porter was credited with sole authorship, but he had essentially re-worked the poem written earlier by Fletcher. (Fletcher, who worked with the Department of Highways in Helena, Montana, also wrote the "roadside history" plaques that were displayed along Montana's highways until the 1980s.)

There are some great adaptations of this song, but all of them still sound really awkward and hard to sing, despite its addictive and catchy nature. Are there any singers out there that could comment on this? Even sweet, soft Willie has his moments where it sounds like he's singing this for the first time.

This song is like a geeky, gawky adolescent - the exact opposite of the untamed cowboy the song is supposed to be about. Then again, there's something eerily Brokeback about the this whole song anyway:

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in, no
Pop, oh don't you fence me in

So? You like the song?

PLAY: Don't Fence Me In - Joe Loss
PLAY: Don't Fence Me In - Hein und Oss
PLAY: Don't Fence Me In - David Byrne
PLAY: Don't Fence Me In - Willie Nelson

Feelin' Alright

Dave Mason of Traffic wrote this one, and Joe Cocker totally ruined it for almost forever. But let's try to forget about him for a few minutes.

The best version by far comes from Lulu, and she kills this song from beginning to end. She sounds crazy, but the good kind of crazy. The Politicians' version is pretty good, too - it's funky and loose - but Lulu can yell.

PLAY: Feelin' Alright - Traffic
PLAY: Feelin' Alright - Lulu
PLAY: Feelin' Alright - The Politicians
PLAY: Feelin' Alright - West Coast Revival

Hang 'Em High

Originally written for the movie with the same name, starring a young(er) Clint Eastwood, Hang 'Em High was composed by Dominic Frontiere. Several other covers were recorded, including one by Hugo Montenegro that made it into the Top 40, as well as others in almost every genre - the reggae and ska crowd really liked this song in particular, and it even spawned a new genre of Western Reggae. The Jamaican dancehall king, Jackie Mittoo, did a great version that's also a big breakdancing song for some reason.

With all the covers that were recorded, it still was Booker T. and the M.G.s that made this instrumental the classic that it is today (but don't miss the Memphis Black version below).

PLAY: Hang 'Em High - Dominic Frontiere |buy album|
PLAY: Hang 'Em High - Hugo Montenegro |buy album|
PLAY: Hang 'Em High - Booker T. and the M.G.s |buy album|
PLAY: Hang 'Em High - Memphis Black |buy album|
PLAY: Hang 'Em High - The Meters |buy album|
PLAY: Hang 'Em High - Jackie Mittoo
PLAY: Hang 'Em High - Richard Ace |buy album|
PLAY: Hang 'Em High - Reggae Cowboys |buy album|

Cowgirl In The Sand

Written by Neil Young in 1969 for his second solo album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (the first album with his backup band Crazy Horse). He wrote Cowgirl, Cinnamon Girl, and Down By The River in a single day while he was sick with a 103 degree fever. Everyone thinks they know what the song is actually about, but can't actually agree on the meaning of the lyrics.

It's hard to imagine any covers of this song rivaling Young's exquisitely chaotic guitar in the long intro, or his pained voice as he addresses his cowgirl. But these are all pretty good versions. The recent release by Marissa Nadler (hipster alert!) is sung beautifully. The version by The Byrds has an arrangement that makes it feel less like a cover and more like a different song.

There's also an excellent Cowgirl in this show Live from Fillmore East (1970)

PLAY: Neil Young - Cowgirl In The Sand |buy album|
PLAY: Marissa Nadler - Cowgirl In The Sand
PLAY: The Byrds - Cowgirl In The Sand |buy album|

Well... Alright

I had no idea this was an original Buddy Holly song. The Blind Faith version with Eric Clapton seems to be the de facto standard, and it is one of the best. But a recent addition from Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes) makes a catchy, pop version of the song.

PLAY: Buddy Holly - Well...Alright
PLAY: Blind Faith - Well...Alright
PLAY: Albert Hammond, Jr. - Well...Alright

The Dark End of the Street

James Carr is to soul what... Otis Redding is to... soul.

James Carr was on all sorts of drugs and drinking very heavily while he was on tour in the late 60's, which went really well with his being bipolar and all. It took hitting rock bottom, and that rock was found in the middle of a concert in Japan in 1970. As his body began to succumb to an overdose of anti-depressants, he just stopped singing mid-song; he pretty much finished his career right then and there. Next stop, mental hospital. Next, next stop - lung cancer, to really stick it to him.

The Dark End of the Street was written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn, and originally sung by James Carr in Memphis, 1966. If you like this song, the rest of his stuff is even better.

Clarence Carter, who was a dirty, dirty blind soul singer, did the best version of this song I've ever heard, and there are a LOT of covers out there - from Aretha to My Morning Jacket to Dolly Parton. Everyone seems to sing and play it exactly the way James Carr did it (even Frank Black). Clarence did his own intro to the song and changed it forever.

PLAY: The Dark End of the Street - James Carr
PLAY: (Making Love at) The Dark End of The Street - Clarence Carter

On A Monday...

I think the Johnny Cash version, called I Got Stripes, is the most well known version of this song, but Leadbelly (aka Huddie Ledbetter, aka King of the 12-String Guitar) was the original outlaw and an even bigger bad-ass, and wrote the original words and music to On A Monday.

A little background from the Leadbelly Foundation:
In 1918, [Leadbelly] fought and killed a man in Dallas and was sentenced to thirty years to be served in the state prison in Huntsville, Texas. In 1925, he wrote a song asking Governor Pat Neff for a pardon. Neff, who had promised at his election never to pardon a prisoner, broke his promise and set Huddie Ledbetter free. In 1930, after a fight at a party, he was sentenced to another prison term in the infamous Angola Farm prison plantation in Louisiana. In a way, this was a stroke of luck, because he was discovered by folklorists John and Alan Lomax, who were recording prison songs for the Library of Congress.

PLAY: Leadbelly - On A Monday
PLAY: Johnny Cash - I Got Stripes

(Take a Little) Piece of My Heart

Poor Erma.

She's the 60's Nicky Hilton. She played some with Aretha, but never really got anywhere.

Even her big hit is better known as Janis Joplin's.

PLAY: Erma Thomas - Take a Little Piece of My Heart
PLAY: Janis Joplin - Take a Little Piece of My Heart

This Land is Your Land

Woody Guthrie wrote the original words to this one in 1940 - but not the music (which was added later and recorded in 1944). That melody was lifted from the Carter Family's recording of When the World's on Fire, which had been recorded as Rock of Ages by Blind Willie Davis, a black singer-guitarist from Mississippi.

Dylan's version was very true to Guthrie's original, and no one even knew it existed until it was found while making No Direction Home. It was recorded at the Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City in 1961.

But the funkiest, horn-iest version of this song has got to be the one by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. She turns this song sideways, inside out, upside down, and then just kills it. I've never heard a more soulful, truthful version of this 3rd grade classic.

(This Land was also George H.W. Bush's song in both campaigns)

Know another? Let us know.

Play: This Land is Your Land - Woody Guthrie
Play: This Land is Your Land - Bob Dylan
Play: This Land is Your Land - Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

The Godfather Theme

I never heard a cover of the Godfather theme (Henry Mancini original) until I heard The Professionals do it on Dusty Fingers; it sounds Italian and Ethiopian at the same time. Well, it turns out everyone covered this song - even Slash. But I can't find anything about The Professionals.

Anyone?

PLAY: Henry Mancini - The Godfather Theme
PLAY: The Professionals - The Godfather

Contest #2

The second Two Free Four contest for the month. For any song already posted, send me a version not listed or post one in the comments section. One random winner will receive a $20 iTunes card.

Contest begins right now, and ends at the end of the month. Send entries to david@twofreefour.com

Contest #1

The first Two Free Four contest - design a small, informal logo, and one lucky designer will win a Squeezebox to add wifi to your hifi. Stream music from any computer in the house to your stereo over a wireless network. Only exercise fanatics get up to browse their music or make a playlist; YOU can use a remote. Contest begins right now, and ends at the end of the month.

Contest begins right now, and ends at the end of the month. Send entries to david@twofreefour.com

Contest #2

The second Two Free Four contest for the month. For any song already posted, send me a version not listed or post one in the comments section. One random winner will receive a $20 iTunes card.

Contest #1

Design a small, informal logo, and one lucky designer will win a Squeezebox to add wifi to your hifi. Stream music from any computer in the house to your stereo over a wireless network. Only exercise fanatics get up to browse their music or make a playlist; YOU can use a remote.

Contest begins right now, and ends at the end of the month. Send entries to david@twofreefour.com