listen.

rainy days and mondays always get me down...

oh KAREN! so true....

Rainy Days and Mondays, The Carpenters

Well, rainy days don’t always get me down, I rather love them, BUT a rainy Monday can sometimes get one down.... rather a good song for a day like today.

Let’s indulge in some rainy day music, shall we?

It’s Raining, Irma Thomas
Drip drop....a great soul tune. 

I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today, Nina Simone
Yes Nina, I do too.

Early Mornin' Rain, Peter Paul and Mary
Sigh.

You’re Gonna Need Me, Dionne Warwick
my friend just shared this tune with me.... perfect for a monday, no?

That’s all. Just some good tunes for gray day.

i'll take you there

this past tuesday ben took me and his good friend (who has since become a good friend of mine as well), amanda duarte to see mavis staples at BAM on january 22nd.  it was our christmas gift from him, and what a good gift it was.
mavis (we're on a first name basis) was a keynote at BAM's 22nd Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And then on the 22nd she performed at the opera house with her band.

and it was amazing. (not too long, but it didn't really matter)  i am not sure if i have smiled so much or clapped harder at a concert in a long time. 
the quote BAM kept throwing around from the Boston Globe was:
"Mavis Staples doesn't so much sing a song as baptize it in truth."

i mean, if that was ever said about me, i would throw it around every day of my life.  (i can aslo say that i have to agree with that statement very much so.)

her set list was pretty rad - she sang a lot of civil rights songs - a lot from her family's group THE STAPLE SINGERS.  as her dad said about Dr. King: if he can preach it - we can sing it.

i wish i had the technology to record the concert so i could share some of the versions, but i'll share the early versions i have.  just picture her voice older, smokier - having lived a little more life.

i'll take you there, the staple singers
i love this song.  long before i understood who the staple singers were. i have memories of all the cooks in the kitchen of my parents restaurant dancing around to this.

the weight, the staples singers
same as above.

heavy makes you happy, the staple singers
not the same as above. but you gotta love a song where she screams "schom-on y'all" [or however you would spell that]. and i just love a good sha-na-boom-boom, don't you?

here are some mavis staples songs i love:

until i met you, mavis staples
this song could be in a musical.  maybe it was? maybe it will be.  maybe i'll sing it.

son of a preacher man, mavis staples
i'm not hating on dusty - but this is the best version of this song. period.

if there's one thing the concert made me think it's that i want to hear mavis sing every day. i need to. the other thing it made me think about was that i really want to be a soul singer. so i guess i should start working on that dream while i'm still spry enough to shake it.

alrighty. enjoy.

Blue Monday* redux

Before we begin – let me say that I am quite a happy fellow lately.

It’s just this rain.

These gray skies and wet sidewalks.

It just begs me to fall down the (aforementioned) rabbit hole of somber folk and blues.

And fall I do – gladly.

Blues run the game, Jackson C Frank

It doesn’t get much sadder than this man’s life. And this song is just so gorgeous.

"wherever you go, the blues are all the same."

Basically his school furnace blew up – covering his adolescent body in burns, he started playing the guitar, moved to new york, and was drawn into the folk coffee house scene of Greenwich village  - then he came into money through an insurance settlement – and moved to London, released an album – which never caught on in the US – his money ran out so he had to go back to nyc and fell into a deep depression and was then cripple with stage fright.
Broke, he lived on the streets, eventually he grew very unhealthy and became a ward of the state.
A fan found him in a housing project in the Bronx and took him to woodstock, ny where he started to sing and write songs again. he died in 1999.  i mean, the man has a right to sing the blues.

fountains of sorrow, joan baez
the title says it all.  If this isn’t an evening-commute-ipod-on-repeat kinda song – I don’t know what is.

both sides, now – joni mitchell
My good friend rebecita brought this song into my life.  And shortly after being introduced to it i listened to it whilst smokin grass – and my body almost shut down. i don't listen to joni stoned anymore.  talk about a coming of age song. 

court and spark – joni mitchell
my dear friend/collaborator jesica brought this album into my life. And I am ever so grateful.

that’s a nice trend – wonderful woman bringing the wonderful joni Mitchell into my life.

Ne Me Quitte Pa, jaques brel
literlally translated it means – do not leave me – but the English version of the song is called IF YOU GO AWAY. which works – but I think do not leave me is more tragic – it’s really desperate. – especially repeated at the end.  my french pen pal, lo, sent this to me. he's filled my ipod with a lot of great music -- expect a paris-post soon...

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my knowledge of classic rock and musical tastes were heavily defined by my parents - my mom's peter, paul and mary and donovan albums (not to mention linda ronstadt and sinatra) - my dad always listening to jethro tull and the stones (and some patsy cline or hendrix) -our family taking a drive while listening to loggins and messina or gordon lightfoot.   one artist they never listened to all that much was neil young, i am not sure why - they just didn't; or they did - but i don't remember it.  as i've grown, and my tastes have matured into my own, i've folded all sorts of new genres and artists into the mix.  for whatever reason, neil young never found it's way into my music library. then this cute guy, named sean, started playing him for me -- and i am really digging it.

one day, sean and i were on our way to the MoMA and we wandered down into the york street station to hop on the F.  the platform was empty - save for one dude waiting for the train and a subway musician (an "official" one, with the MTA sign, etc.) sitting on the bench - singing harvest moon. he was really good - and the york station is so unique and the song is so beautiful - it was like a scene out of some less polished looking wes anderson movie. definitely a moment when i was very happy to be living in this city.

harvest moon, neil young

have i posted this song:

ticket to ride, the carpenters

i mean, really? just the saddest cover of this song ever, ever, EVER. if a sadder one exists - i shan't listen to it. my head might implode.  "i think i'm gonna be sad, i think it's today."  mateo, for better or worse, emailed it to me one day - and i really appreciate it.

and what somber rabbit hole would be complete without a little indigo girls?

ghost, indigo girls.

"And the mississippis mighty
But it starts in minnesota
At a place that you could walk across
With five steps down
And I guess thats how you started
Like a pinprick to my heart
But at this point you rush right through me
And I start to drown"

enough said.

 

and for good measure - here's the wonderful rosemary clooney:
blues in the night, rosemary clooney

i love music. 

to prove i don't ONLY listen to sad music -- i'll post happy stuff tomorrow.

enjoy

g

*yes, it's tuesday. i was supposed to post this yesterday - but, you know, sometimes you just don't get around to it....

 

monday blues

.....as i sit, about to head off to work.  drinking my coffee, eating my toast with peanut butter - i try to focus on the fact that this work week promises to be short one -- there's some time off on the horizon.

but that cold, wet, gray monday morning (that, ultimately is such a beautiful, november occurrence) just wanted me to lie under my blankets, listening to wnyc until it was time to get out of bed and make a grilled cheese sandwich.  alas - i did none of that.

but i did listen to some music on my subway ride. (and seriously folks - can the subways not handle a slighty drizzly morning? i had to wait half and hour for the E train at court sq.)

best song to walk down the street to first thing in the morning
hazy jane II

the first song on bryter later.  such a good album

"...what will happen in the morning when the world it gets
so crowded that you can't look out the window in the morning.

And what will happen in the evening in the forest with the weasel
with the teeth that bite so sharp when you're not looking in the evening.

And all the friends that you once knew are left behind they kept you safe
and so secure amongst the books and all the records of your lifetime.

What will happen
In the morning
When the world it gets so crowded that you can't look out the window
in the morning.
....
Let's sing a song
For Hazey Jane
She's back again in my mind.
If songs were lines
In a conversation
The situation would be fine."

sigh. i agree nick, that would make the situation fine.

LIFE!

now - knowing i needed more spring in my step before i fell down the rabbit hole of somber folk (a rabbit hole i am quite fond of -- but not every morning.)  i turned to smokey robbinson.
i want to hear songs about heart break - but i want it to be motown and a little upbeat.

tears of a clown, smokey robinson and the miracles

don't let me glad expression give you the wrong impression. A.M.E.N.

track of my tears, smokey robinson and the miracles

and how can you not appreciate  this song:

cruisin'

gwyneth paltrow (sp?) and huey lewis did their best to ruin it for a nation with their HORRIBLE movie about karaoke.  but it didn't work. so there.

and for good measure the ever-so-amazing etta james and her song

seven day fool.

love it love it love it! those back up singers?
i want to be soul singer and i won't rest until i am.

 

and i shall also direct your attention back to older melancholy post with some somber then upbeat tunes.

happy monday.
g

killing me softly.

some days it's kinda gray out and you're a little sleepy and maybe a little overwhelmed with life.

on days like this (today) i turn to my music (well either that or my friends or my couch and muppet dvds)
but we deal with music here. so....

more often than not i turn to nina simone.
and more specifically - her softer side.

i let it cradle me.

which is why we are going to enjoy her singing some lullabies

here are songs from FOLKSY NINA

You Can Sing A Rainbow, nina simone

hush little baby, nina simone

here's aretha singing a different version:

mockingbird, aretha franklin

now how about some oh, susanna?

oh! susanna, carly simon
the first time i heard this song (on jonathan schwartz's saturday show) i cried. i think i was really emotional that day.  it's really beautiful - it's from her album into white.

oh susanna, james taylor.
from sweet baby james. such a good album.

now let's let nina sing about love:

i want a little sugar in my bowl, nina simone

cotton eyed joe, nina simone

this song KILLS ME. i love it. we've all known a cotton eyed joe one way or another.

and let's have nina sing us out - with a rousing little number?

in the evening by the moonlight, nina simone.

it's not the cleanest file (it makes weird sounds) but i love this song so -- it from her live at newport festival.  oh, to have been there!

okay. that's my playlist for a day like today.

enjoy

g

i hear music in the air

today boys and girls let's celebrate folk music, shall we?

maybe we'll start with a little old school gospel.
i used to work at this great little cafe - taralluci e vine on 10th and 1st.
and regulars would make us mix cd's -- usually on a theme

i was (and still am) big into old gospel/folk/bluegrass
and one regular made me some AMAZING old gospel mixes.
and we are talking - small town -- revival -- let's sing our love for the lord.
(let is be known that i am not some born-again-revivalist and all spiritual beliefs aside - these songs can be appreciated simply as music)

above my head, i hear music in the air - the southern sons

i love the title of this song (i love the song too.) talk about a different time? these dudes are an amazing quartet.

milky white way - the trumpeteers

aren't they great songs? anyway - the main reason i am posting today is to celebrate

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW
an (attractive) group of bluegrass/folk musicians from nashville.

i'm sure you've heard of them -- they've got two great albums out:
O.C.M.S. and BIG IRON WORLD.
(sadly they don't come to nyc too often) (dudes - if somehow you see this....please come again...pretty please.)

anway - they sing a lot of amazing old folk songs -- and i want to share some of them and some older versions of them -- i enjoy these songs - similar to my love for standards -- these songs belong to the people and are ours to sing - and be interpreted by so many artists from so many generations. it has so little to do with copywright and mp3's and royalty fees.
it's about life - and sharing our stories - and (most importantly) sharing it through song.
here are some good ones:

tell it to me

tell it to me, the tenneva ramblers

this is The Tenneva Ramblers - i love it.  recordings like this are a time capsule.

such a bizarre song. or rather i never sang folk songs about cocaine killing my honey-dear.

union maid

union maid, judy collins and pete seeger

judy collins and pete seeger singing this at a woodie guthrie tribute. i like how they sing slightly different lyrics while they sing together.

cc rider

easy rider, odetta

the odetaa version is soooo good. i really like the slight title change. i also have rockin versions by elvis and ella f.  wait for 3:40 when she sings about being a catfish. such. a. good. song.

down home girl

down home girl, the rolling stones

the is from the stones' album The Rolling Stones, Now! they do a lot of old blues stuff on it. it's an album you should totally check out.

okay. i have to stop now -- or i am going to share all there songs.

they are such an awesome band -- if you don't already listen to them -- go get one of their albums.

peace
geo

trouble in mind

oh mercury in retrograde!  thwarting my plans for a wonderful Old Crow Medicine Show post....alas... you all will have to wait a few more days.
i know you can't stand it -- but be strong.

so in lieu of that post i bring you TROUBLE IN MIND.

now, as you are probably well aware - i rather enjoy various versions of standards/folk songs, etc. and if you ever received a mix from me  - you know i like interspersing several great versions of a rad song on mixes.

that being said -- for your enjoyment here are several versions of this amazing blues song:

TROUBLE IN MIND

"trouble in mind, that's true
i have almost lost my mind
life ain't worth livin' - feel like I could die.
i'm gonna lay my head on some lonesome railroad track
let the 219 train ease my troubled mind"

does it get better than singin' the blues?

Trouble in mind, Aretha Franklin

Trouble in Mind, Johhny Cash

Trouble in Mind, Dinah Washington

i totally underappreciate dinah washington. she is simply amazing.

and my two faves:

Trouble in Mind, Ella Fitzgerald
i love a lot of musical instruments and the electric organ is definitely high on the list (probably below accordion and above harpsichord (( i like variations of the piano the way i enjoy variations of a coffee maker)))

trouble in Mind, Nina Simone

from her live in newport album. Dammit. this song is just a masterpiece. from her "let's go boys!" to the band right up to her "bam bam bam - YEAH....allright" at the end - i am with her.

remember as the songs says:

you won't be blue always. The sun is gonna shine through your back door someday.
g

as a corollary - somehow, for me, this belle & sebastian song has been linked with trouble in mind.  So I am sharing it  as well-- like a nice wine and cheese pairing.

big john shaft

---------------------
and we've FINALLY been able to tally the BYE BYE BLACKBIRD: rock the vote!
a record number of you (NINE PEOPLE!) voted.
and it looks like liza won (I know a certain babrablogger who is very happy...)

covers for friday

boy and girls.

this heat and humidity? sigh.

you know what we need?

COVERS!!!

am i right, or am i RIGHT?

(this may or may not be because i just keep listen.ing to the songs from the melancholia post and all the new amazing barbra that was brought into my life...)

anyway. put your heart on your sleeve and get ready to FEEL.

hearts and bones, jessica molasky
the AMAZING jonathan schwartz brought this AMAZING song into my life on his AMAZING saturday/sunday show on wnyc.  he rocks and so does jessica molasky.  i wish mr. schwartz was my uncle - and we could meet up for lunch - or go see a concert somewhere every once and a while.  i digress: he said, and i agree, that not many people can cover paul simon - for most people can't convey all the emotion needed for his songs  - except ms. molasky and this cover.
tonight: pour a glass of wine, dim the lights and put this song on repeat. 
"why won't you love me for who i am, where i am?
that's not the way the world is baby..."

LIFE!

god only knows, john pizzarelli
coincidentally - ms. molasky's husband (life partner? not sure what their technical definition is) and this past may they were at the OAK ROOM. alas tickets were about $70 with a two drink minimum.... if they ever read this - you guys are amazing and if you feel like doing a show at pete's candy store in williamsburg - it would be packed. and i would be the happiest boy in the world. 

and this song? gorgeous.

hey jude, ella fitzgerald
goddammit. jordan actually threatened to hit ella in the mouth for singing this amazing cover. what a song. let her into your heart jude. do it. for ella.

a case of you, diana krall
i could drink a case of you and still be on my feet. oh joni. my life will not be complete until i give joni (and now diana) a hug.

angel of the morning, nina simone
less of a cover and more of a standard.
i'm old enough to face the dawn.
the most poetic walkin-home-after-a-hook-up song ever. period.

and for good measure - here is the feist video for my moon, my man:

have a good friday!

g

melancholia

so.
the fall is good for so many things:
pumpkin ravioli, squash soup, wondrous bicycle weather, all hallow's eve, trips upstate, fun clothes, reading poetry in prospect park - among other things.
it's also a good times for those that enjoy being melancholy.

you know - take a long bike ride listening to joni mitchell, then stop down by the grand st. water front and read an ee cummings poem -- then maybe watch annie hall.... which i may or may not LOVE doing.

even when it's 70º and i have to pretend is it brisk and autumnal outside.
(on a side note: this weather?)

anyway - i have found some new fall tunes i am SUPER into. i'm talkin: play-on-repeat-for-an-hour into.

the first came to me via another paste magazine sampler.
fionn regan - an acoustic folk singer.

according to his myspace music page he is from wicklow, ireland.

the song i found:
put a penny in the slot

is a truly beautiful song about a relationship ending.  on his myspace you can sample some more before you log on to the itunes store and buy the album. 
this song, obviously, got me thinking about all the random things you wind up with in your apt during/after a relationship - suspenders, books, cds you don't like, the list goes on.  i remember once - i sent this guy i was dating a postcard that i found at an art gallery that i thought was really funny - it was three naked woman wearing skeletor masks- all of whom were ENORMOUSLY pregnant with giant breasts and they were wading in the ocean. ANYWAY, i wrote: "dear _____,  vacation is wonderful - wish you were here! xo geo" (or something to that affect.) they next day - homeboy dumped me. the point? well a day or two later he received the post card. ha. i found that knowledge funny.  so - he wound up with a naked skeletor woman postcard (and my yoga mat.)
_______________
The Limes
this cool mp3 blog said the gramophone tipped me off to this cool band/music project happening called The Limes.
what are the limes you ask?
well, according to myspace they are:
"..an inter-continental band consisting of Toy Fight, Orouni, Mina Tindle, John Hale and Henry Sparrow. Started with the simple idea of sharing musical ideas between the Atlantic, members submit material to each other to interpret and record. A large amount of "musical trust" (we like it that way) is placed in each other, as well as the hope that fresh and interesting music can emerge from the crossing of borders."

Beyond Blue

"when we were young we wore rose colored glasses."
sing it sister.
what a rad song - i've listened to it about 30 times today. i get obsessed, what can i say?
i LOVE the percussion.

attractive little group, no?

anyway - go to their page -- you can listen to other songs.  and then you can go the members own pages and enjoy their music.  and then sit and marvel about how much new, good music just came into your life.

anyway: i hope this project yields many, many more songs.

------------

i also came upon this ABBA track (now this song is sad too, but it's abba sad - meaning up beat.)
but it is sooooo dramatic. i love it. really fun to dance to in your apt.

ring ring
lady - get some self worth. you just sit by the phone waiting for it to ring?
at least go for a walk. i love it!
my friend jordan drunkenly described it as "bye bye birdie meets nothing" when i played it for him on the L train the other night coming home from a bar. i think that fits very well.

and since we're talkin melancholy love - here's a little walt whitman and an indigo girls song.
(side note - the other day ben mentioned that people hate on the indigo girls. call me a lesbian trapped in a gay man's body - (actually my old boss, chezza, said i was a straight man trapped in a lesbian's body, trapped in a gay man's body....) i digress - THERE IS NO NEED to hate on these wonderful women and the music they brought us.

the wood song

  As I Lay With My Head In Your Lap Camerado

  As I lay with my head in your lap camerado,
  The confession I made I resume, what I said to you and the open air
     I resume,
  I know I am restless and make others so,
  I know my words are weapons full of danger, full of death,
  For I confront peace, security, and all the settled laws, to
     unsettle them,
  I am more resolute because all have denied me than I could ever have
     been had all accepted me,
  I heed not and have never heeded either experience, cautions,
     majorities, nor ridicule,
  And the threat of what is call'd hell is little or nothing to me,
  And the lure of what is call'd heaven is little or nothing to me;
  Dear camerado! I confess I have urged you onward with me, and still
     urge you, without the least idea what is our destination,
  Or whether we shall be victorious, or utterly quell'd and defeated.

oh. walt. sigh.

okay. wow. i guess this is what happens when you spend all night and day listening to the above three songs - you wind up reading whitman to the soundtrack of the indigo girls. not a bad place..

peace
geo

celebrity deathmatch: Odetta vs. Dylan

so in '65 awesome blues-gospel-folkster-chanteuse Odetta released one of the first Dylan-only cover albums, and it's totally amazing, so i thought we could listen to some of those today, alongside their Dylan originals.  fun, right??  (i was kidding about the deathmatch part, they're both too good for that)

Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright

Odetta - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright

no, seriously, don't worry about it, you totally screwed me over and broke my heart, but i'm dealing with it, and i'm just gonna go. later.

Bob Dylan - The Times, They Are a-Changin'

Odetta - The Times, They Are a-Changin'

are they? I can never tell.

Bob Dylan - With God On Our Side

Odetta - With God On Our Side

an intense song about the appropriation of religion for war, as hard-hitting now as it was in '65.

Bob Dylan - Paths of Victory

Odetta - Paths of Victory

better roads are waiting, and boys, they aren't far off.

and now for some BONUS TRACKS!!

ms. Power's own take:

Cat Power - Paths of Victory

and another awesome non-Dylan Odetta song:

Odetta - God's Gonna Cut You Down

special thanks to geo for introducing me to the music of Odetta a while back.

xo,ben