so just leave time alone

Along with John Prine’s “Paradise,” probably the song which I start almost unconsciously singing more than any other is Ed and Patsy Bruce’s “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” Way back when I was a trouble-making 8 year old, my pops used to sit in the living room on Sunday mornings and strum his guitar along to Waylon Jennings’ and Willie Nelson’s duet version of “Mammas” from their double-platinum 1978 release Waylon & Willie. (My roommate Jenna just told me that when she was growing-up her mom would cut a friend’s hair and when he went to wash his hair out he would sing “Mammas” in a pitch-perfect Kermit the Frog voice: now that’s a mash-up I can get behind.) But when I return to W&W, I find myself listening to Nelson's “Pick-Up the Tempo” more than any other tune. Willie’s concept album Phases and Stages features a rather slower take on the tune, but the real template for the duet version is Waylon’s performance of it on This Time from 1974. The rendition on W&W simply overdubs Willie’s voice onto that version. However, even if it is an overdub, I still like it better than either of the other two. And my pop's had it right all along: it's a sweet Sunday morning album.

Waylon and Willie - Pick Up the Tempo [buy]

And here’s that other very singable “Paradise."

Wave Goodbye

Lowlights - Wave Goodbye [buy]

When the Lord Made Me

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan get in a nice one-two punch with their reworking of Hank’s “Ramblin’ Man.” The song dips into Tom Waits territory, with a whiplash slapping down through the song, literalizing the demand placed upon a supposedly free man to take to the road because God made him a wanderer. However, if the good Lord’s whip sends him out onto the road, then Isobel Campbell plays devil’s advocate, whispering seductively in his ear about how she’s back at home “cooking up a storm” and missing her man.
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Ramblin’ Man [buy]
But, mercy, the sheer weight of Hank’s version! God may have put him out on that lost highway, but it sounds to me like hell hounds are on his trail. If this is freedom, doom shadows it unto the grave.
Luke the Drifter - Ramblin’ Man [buy]

it's like walking on a trampoline

The Clientele - Since K Got Over Me
The Clientele - The Dance of The Hours

I Often Dream of Trains

I can easily imagine a devilish grin on Robyn Hitchcock’s face when he did the song-sequencing for his I Often Dream of Trains. A stark and autumnal nocturne opens the album, preparing you for a bit of shoe-gazing, only to jolt back into classic Hitchcockian surrealism with the self-pleasuring fantasy “Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl.” But then we have a minor key meditation on the mysteries of consciousness and love (“Cathedral”). The record more or less goes on like this until a nocturne fade-out. This slightly schizophrenic back and forth might call into question the conceit of wholeness implicit in those bookending nocturnes, but even if that is true, it wouldn’t diminish the album for an instant. From the bizarro Barber Shop Quartet lesson in parenting (and personal favorite) “Uncorrected Personality Traits” to the twisted sing-a-long “Ye Sleeping Nights of Jesus” to the, yes, haunting “Trams of Old London” and (instrumental) “Heart Full Of Leaves” I Often Dream of Trains is full of brilliant songwriting.

Robyn Hitchcock - Uncorrected Personality Traits [buy]
Robyn Hitchcock - Trams of Old London

Vocals Only

So, I sort of followed my labor day advice about buying an unemployed friend a beer, or two, or twelve. I bought a 12-pack -- for myself. And ended-up listening to the vocals-only Pet Sounds disc. Is it me, or is the vocals-only “Caroline, No” an even fuller expression of loss than the album version?

Beach Boys - Caroline, No (Vocals Only) [buy]

Labor Day Blues

Labor Day isn’t quite as celebratory a holiday when the unemployment rate is at 10%.  It also doesn’t help that the social safety net which should be in place is instead torn and frayed and not adequate to the pressing demands of families scrambling to make ends meet in a recessionary economy.  And while I’m at it, why in the hell is our military budget basically as big as all the other military budgets combined?  Couldn’t we shave-off a few of those billions of dollars and make them available for slightly more important social needs?  Ok, enough ranting.  If you’ve got a job, raise a glass and be thankful – and buy your friend who doesn’t have a job a cold beer, or two, or twelve.  Ronnie Van Zant can tell you about paying dues and watching where his money goes.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Workin’ For MCA [buy]

Why Is It Taking So Long?

The refrain to Pops Staples’ steady-groovin’ “Black Boy” -- a knowing “well, well, well” -- does a whole lot of signifying.

Pops Staples - Black Boy [buy]

What A Meal You'll Be!

boy you just keep on walking
why don't you stand still,
my you look so delicious
hold still jack while i get my fill

Rudy Green and HIs Orchestra - Buzzard Pie [buy]