BB’s Magic Jukebox

Down South Blues

2012-02-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

Down South Blues – Scrapper Blackwell – 1931

Henry Brown Blues

2012-02-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

Henry Brown Blues – Henry Brown – 1929

Ain’t it funny

2012-02-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away” is such a great song, one of his first to hit (for Jimmy Elledge) after years of struggle. This song has been done so well by so many singers over the years; several are featured in the playlist below. And as good as they all are, I suppose when it comes down to it, there is really only Ray Price’s 1965 album cut. . . .

Neither good nor bad / Just a kid like you

2012-02-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

The big man swerves out onto the lost highway, foot to the floor, and passes the ghost of Hank Williams like he was settin’ still. . . .

Lost Highway – Sleepy LaBeef – 1980

Photo by Jim McGuire, from Rounder LP It Ain’t What You Eat It’s The Way How You Chew It, 1980.

Someday, baby, you ain’t gonna worry my life anymore.

2012-02-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

Someday Baby Blues – Sleepy John Estes – 1935

If the Nazz don’t help me baby,you better forget about me, too

2012-02-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

The Nazz Are Blue – Yardbirds – 1966

It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home

2012-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

The album title says a lot about where the country music industry, and the country, were at in 1966. Charley Pride’s take on this classic song, however, speaks for itself.

Green, Green Grass Of Home – Country Charley Pride – 1966

There stands the glass

2012-02-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

Here’s Patty Loveless’s très fine on-the-money cover of Webb Pierce’s 1953
chart topper.

There Stands The Glass – Patty Loveless – 2008

Freight Train Blues, part 2

2012-02-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

Freight Train Blues

Richard O. Hamilton – 1941

Every now and then I wonder

2012-02-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

That’s Alright – Junior Parker – 1972

Aloha ‘Oe

2012-02-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe

E ke onaona noho i ka lipo

One fond embrace,

A hoʻi aʻe au

Until we meet again

Crown Princess (later Queen) Lili‘uokalani, wrote “Aloha ‘Oe,” about 1877, around the time the portrait below was taken. Sixteen years later, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i was overthrown in a coup d’état led primarily by American economic interests, and Queen Lili‘uokalani was placed under house arrest and confined to ‘Iolani Palace in Honolulu, where she finished transcribing “Aloha ‘Oe.”

Johnny Bellar is a composer and Nashville session musician who excels on Dobro, string bass, and lap steel guitars.

Aloha Oe – Johnny Bellar – 2000

For more on “Aloha ‘Oe,” Lili‘uokalani, and the fall of the Hawaiian kingdom, follow this link.

Crippled Turkey

2012-02-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

Crippled Turkey

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – 1936

I’ve been in the storm so long

2012-02-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Been In The Storm So Long

Moving Star Hall Singers – 1965

I’ll overcome someday

2012-02-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

Recorded live in Chicago’s Maxwell Street market in 1964 as part of the soundtrack to Mike Shea’s film And This Is Free.

I Shall Overcome – Fannie Brewer – 1964

Image from And This Is Free. Available on DVD here.

Goodbye baby

2012-02-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

Good Bye – Elmore James & His “Broom Dusters” – 1955

Photo: Elmore James and companion by Jacques Demetre, Chicago, c.1959. From Soul Bag No. 94,

May/June 1983.

Me gotta go

2012-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

One of the first covers (along with Rockin Robin Roberts’ version) of Richard Berry’s “controversial” classic. Wasn’t a hit. Shoulda been.

Louie, Louie

Little Bill with The Adventurers & Shalimars – 1961

More Staples?

2012-02-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

Not quite. But here’s Aretha Franklin and Joe South giving it their Staples best on the intro, which was edited out of the released single and LP versions. A fabulous record, however you hear it.

Chain Of Fools (unedited version)

Aretha Franklin – 1967

Photo: Aretha Franklin by Art Kane, for Esquire magazine, 1967.

Send Me Some Lovin’

2012-02-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

Send Me Some Lovin’ – Belô Velloso – 1997

I wish today the world, my friend, would stop bein’ sad

2012-02-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

(I Was) Born To Cry – Dion – 1962

July the 17th, Nineteen hundred and nine,Number 11 left Louisville, Kentucky

2012-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Number 111 - J. E. Mainer’s Mountaineers – 1936

Night time is the right time

2012-02-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

Night Time Is The Right Time – The Sonics – 1965

Yes, go on, you break your lovely heart

2012-02-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

Crazy Heart – Charlie Feathers – 1968

Guess I’m never gonna lose the freight train blues

2012-02-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Freight Train Blues – Cousin Emmy – 1947

Drinkin’ gin and you can’t come in

2012-01-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

Keep A Knockin’ (unissued take 4)

Little Richard – 1957

Please Send Me Some Loving

2012-01-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Send Me Some Loving – Solomon Burke – 1963

I’m on her trail like a Northwest Mountie

2012-01-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

Trailing My Baby – Mercy Dee – 1954

From Terraplane to Dynaflow

2012-01-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

Dynaflow Blues – The Johnny Shines Blues Band – 1966

I don’t wanna play house

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

I Don’t Wanna Play House – Sara Evans – 1998

You’re from Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop

Joe Turner & His Blues Kings – 1953

The Blues Kings including, in this case, Elmore James on guitar and Little Johnny Jones on piano.
Two other songs from this session (10-7-1953) are “Ti-Ri-Lee” and the great “TV Mama,” the flip
of today’s song.

Two Ton Tessie from Nashville, Tennessee

2012-01-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

Two Ton Tessie – Ray Charles – 1964

Note: Not on the original 1964 LP, but available on the 2011 CD reissue.

La Tormenta

2012-01-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

Santiago Jiménez – La Tormenta – 1980

I wonder can you hear. . . .

2012-01-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

Burying Ground – The Sensational Nightingales – 1956

I never will forget that floating bridge

2012-01-22T11:00:00.001-08:00

Floating Bridge – Sleepy John Estes – 1937

Surfing Drums

2012-01-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

Surfing Drums – Dick Dale & His Del-Tones – 1962

The sky is crying

2012-01-20T19:00:00.000-08:00

The Sky Is Crying – Etta James – 2004

R.I.P. Johnny Otis, 1921–2012

2012-01-19T11:00:00.001-08:00

Ma (He’s Makin’ Eyes At Me) – The Johnny Otis Show

with Marie Adams & The Three Tons of Joy – 1957

Poor boy, long way from home

2012-01-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

Poor Boy Long Way From Home – Bukka White – 1963

Please write my mother

2012-01-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Even with Willie Dixon’s goofy narration, which Wolf reportedly refused to do himself, this is still one of Howlin’ Wolf’s heaviest recordings.

Going Down Slow – Howlin’ Wolf – 1962

If that’s what it takes to be hip

2012-01-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

I Don’t Want You Cuttin’ Off Your Hair

B. B. King – 1967

Who made your back bent, Cunningham

2012-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time warp, I’d be playing this song in my room and my mom would come rushing in and demand to know, “What did he just sing?” And I’d reply, “Um, Cunningham.” ’Cause, really, Leadbelly did have another version where the expletive he used was “Cunningham,” due no doubt to the producer’s mom rushing into the studio and demanding to know, “What did he just sing?!” (And this
song never did make it onto 78 issue, appearing later on LP in the 1960s.)

Whoa Back, Buck – Leadbelly &

The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – 1940

Buckaroo

2012-01-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Buckaroo – Buck Owens & His Buckaroos – 1965

For Johnny Lee

Prodigal Son, part one

2012-01-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

Here’s the pre-COGIC version, so to speak, of “The Prodigal Son,” posted here last month.

That’s No Way To Get Along – Robert Wilkins – 1929

Listen to my heart go bompity bomp

2012-01-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

I Need You Baby (a.k.a. Mona) – Bo Diddley – 1957

Surf music?

2012-01-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

In the early 60s a bunch of us from the block used to gather in the living room at my parents’ house and watch the five-minute 8mm movies that Surfer magazine used to sell, little excerpts from John Severson’s surf films, classic early hotdogging from California, big surf in Hawai‘i, etc., along with whatever 8mm stuff some of us were shooting at the time. Everybody would bring their 45s, I would pull out my little portable toy record player, we’d set up a screen and a projector, one of us would play DJ, and we’d all watch in awe while our version of surf music soundtracked the proceedings: Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Take Five” (“Blue Rondo A La Turk” was on the flip); Part I of “What’d I Say” by Ray Charles (not only a classic surf tune with that great electric piano, but also a jumping off point for dirty added-on junior high school lyrics), never mind that it was mostly a vocal, that long piano intro more than made up for it; “Walk—Don’t Run” by the Ventures was always a safe bet (and later, anything off their first three albums would also do just fine); and the toughest of them all, several instrumentals by The Fireballs, from Raton, New Mexico of all places: “Bulldog,” “Vaquero,” and “Torquay” (we thought Torquay was a Spanish word when it was really the name of an English
seaside town!) were all great, “Bulldog” being the musical equivalent, for me, of the small wave hot dog maneuvers of Dewey Weber, Phil Edwards, Mickey Dora, and other top surfers of the day. There was also “Harlem Nocturne,” an old standard that was given the noir treatment by The Viscounts; it came out in 1959, hit, and then was rereleased in 1965 and hit again; a really great, spooky tune.

Text excerpted from The Surfer’s Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2011.
Photo: Phil Edwards, Oceanside, 1965. Copyright © by Brad Barrett.

Cajun Classics

2012-01-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

About a million years ago I stumbled across the LP pictured, probably at Folk Arts, and it quickly became one of my favorites, twelve tracks of 50s–60s Cajun honky tonk by some of the artists Jay Miller was recording at the time: Nathan Abshire, Aldus Roger, Robert Bertrand, Louis Alleman, and the Clément Brothers. The Clément sides quickly became my favorites, even though an acquaintance at the time poo-pooed them, saying they weren’t real Cajun music, they were Cajunized rock’n’roll. Whatever. They’re still my favorites from the album, especially “La Valse De Te Maurice.” Terry Clément plays accordion, his brother Purvis plays fiddle and takes the vocals, and everybody sounds like they’re having a blast.

Thanks to Lyle Ferbrache for album cover pic and “Sugar Bee.”

If Mr. Tom Green didn’t feed so good. . . .

2012-01-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Wherein Tom Moore changes his name and moves his farm from Texas to Mississippi. (cf. “Tom Moore’s Farm” here.)

Mr. Tom Green’s Farm – The Johnny Shines Band – 1966

Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyeballs

2012-01-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyeballs

Homer & Jethro – 1953

Lights Out

2012-01-07T23:30:00.000-08:00

Lights Out – Little Walter & His Jukes – 1953

Whoaohh! Somebody help me!

2012-01-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

Pharaoh-A-Go Go – Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs – 1966

If You Really Want Me To, I’ll Go

2012-01-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

If You Really Want Me To, I’ll Go

The Ron-Dels – 1965

A Life of Sorrow

2012-01-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

A Life Of Sorrow – The Stanley Brothers – 1952

Love, oh love, oh careless love

2012-01-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

Careless Love – Ray Charles – 1962

Smokin’ cigarettes and drinkin’ coffee all night long

2012-01-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

Cigarettes And Coffee Blues – Lefty Frizzell – 1958

Merry Christmas, baby . . .I wish you a Happy New Year

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Darling – Poppa Hop & His Orchestra – 1961

Water Coast Blues

2011-12-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

Water Coast Blues – Big Bill Broonzy & His Fat Four – 1949

Photo: BBC.

Have you ever lived in a small little town?

2011-12-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

A Small Little Town – Floyd Tillman – 1952

Elec-a-tricity

2011-12-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

Electricity – Jimmy Murphy – 1951

Mama Rosin

2011-12-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

Mama Rosin – Little Yvonne Le Blanc – 1956

Wintertime done rolled around

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Wintertime Blues – Lightnin’ Slim – 1963

Rank Stranger

2011-12-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

Rank Stranger – The Stanley Brothers – 1960

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas – Lightening Hopkins – 1951

Silent Night . . . Rumble

2011-12-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

Silent Night Rumble – Jackie & The Cedrics – 1996

Don’t Say Nothing At All

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Don’t Say Nothing At All – Dinah Washington – 1962

Downtown Blues

2011-12-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Downtown Blues (take 2) – Frank Stokes – 1928

¿How much is that perro en la ventana?

2011-12-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

How Much Is That Doggie In The Window

Freddy Fender – 1975

Only Love Me

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Only Love Me – Timi Yuro – 1962

Photo: “Bill McCune and the Mellow Tones, with Timi Yuro, McClellan Air Force Base, Sacramento, circa 1972.” Bill McCune/Living Blues (November/December 1994)

Oh, she’s bald head!

2011-12-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

She Ain’t Got No Hair

Professor Longhair & His Shuffling Hungarians – 1949

He gets so mad he stomps his hat

2011-12-19T18:00:00.001-08:00

Little Willie – Berna-Dean – 1961

Run Mountain

2011-12-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Run Mountain – J. E. Mainer’s Mountaineers – 1963

Here comes the pitiful part, boys and girls. . . .

2011-12-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Shade Of The Old Apple Tree – Jack Elliott – 1964

Baby, please

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Baby Please Come Back – Lightnin’ Slim – 1964

Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella

2011-12-15T16:00:00.000-08:00

Bella – Jack Scott with The Chantones – 1959

Jay Gould’s daughter said before she died. . . .

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Jay Gould’s Daughter – Patrick Sky – 1966

Rag . . . just do that rag

2011-12-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Rag, Mama, Rag – Blind Boy Fuller – 1935

Ain’t no need of crying

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

2011-12-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Homer & Jethro with June Carter – 1949

Image: Homer and Jethro with June Carter, 1971. Courtesy morethings.com.

The Prodigal Son

2011-12-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

The Prodigal Son – Rev. Robert Wilkins – 1964

Honky Tonk

2011-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Honky Tonk – The Ventures – 1960

Album cover courtesy Little Jimbo

Current events—WWII edition

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Pearl Harbor—Parts 1 & 2

The Soul-Stirrers with Willie Eason – c.1948

Photo: Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. Photo # NH 50930. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Hubert Sumlin

2011-12-06T16:00:00.000-08:00

Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s longtime guitarist, passed away on Sunday at the age of 80. Here he is with Wolf in younger days, performing a jaw-dropping 42-second solo on “Hidden Charms” (the fun begins at 1:02).

Hidden Charms – Howlin’ Wolf – 1963

’Board! . . . First train goin’ south

2011-12-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

Orange Blossom Special – Rouse Brothers – 1939

Image: Thomas Hart Benton, The Sources of Country Music, 1975

Blue Monk

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Blue Monk – Thelonious Monk – 1954

Blow your horn, baby!

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Little Boy Blue – Bobby “Blue” Bland – 1958

You can thumb a ride with me

2011-12-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

Hitchhiking Woman – Black Ace – 1960

Sunday School

2011-12-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

It’s A Long Way From Amphioxus – Sam Hinton – 1961

Look in your eyes pretty mama

2011-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Look In Your Eyes Pretty Mama – Smokey Hogg – 1950

LP cover scan by El Enmascarado, courtesy of Be Bop Wino.

All I gotta do is act naturally

2011-12-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

1965. Summer’s just about over. I’m driving around in my little 1960 blue Falcon, “radio tuned to rock’n’roll.” This country song keeps coming on and I immediately switch stations. What are they doing playing this kind of stuff on my station? One day I tune in just as the song ends and the DJ says, “That was ‘Act Naturally’ by The Beatles.” Whaaat?!? Well, after that, I started listening to it and, eating my prejudice for lunch, started to really like it. I mean, it was the Beatles. Sometime later, one of my friends played me a song he was learning on his guitar, “Buckaroo,” by some guy called Buck Owens. That was pretty fine too. Little by little. . . . Well, at some point along the way I heard Buck Owens’ original of “Act Naturally,” and though the Beatles’ version is still a favorite, there’s really no comparison. Conversion complete.

Act Naturally – The Beatles – 1965

Act Naturally – Buck Owens – 1963

Mr. Tom Moore’s Farm

2011-12-03T16:11:00.000-08:00

When this song came out on the LP pictured below in the late ’60s, it was credited to “Anonymous.” Though civil rights had officially been the law of the land for several years, when Mance Lipscomb recorded “Tom Moore’s Farm” in 1960, he was a 65-year old farmer and lived in east Texas in the same county that the powerful and infamous Tom Moore had his plantation, so “anonymous” seemed the prudent way to go. (When Lightning Hopkins made his version of the song in 1948, it was issued as “Tim Moore’s Farm” and after the record was released he was allegedly “told” by Moore himself not to sing the song publicly.) Mance made a number of recordings of the song over the years, and by the early ’70s, times changed somewhat, he even sang the song at the request of one of Mr. Moore’s sons at a house party, though Mance later told Chris Strachwitz he didn’t sing the least flattering verses.

Tom Moore’s Farm – Mance Lipscomb – 1960

You can find plenty of Mance Lipscomb’s recordings here, both on CD and LP.

Here’s old Stagolee!

2011-12-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

Stackolee – Jesse Fuller – 1965

Ballad of a Teenage Queen

2011-11-28T16:00:00.000-08:00

Ballad Of A Teenage Queen – Cowboy Jack Clement

with Johnny Cash – 2004

Ruby (Are You Mad At Your Man)

2011-11-28T00:00:00.002-08:00

Ruby (Are You Mad At Your Man) – No Speed Limit – 2006

Let your light shine on me

2011-11-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last week I posted a fun version of my favorite Blind Willie Johnson song done up right by Jim Dickinson and his pals in Memphis. Today, here is the original from 1929.

Let Your Light Shine On Me – Blind Willie Johnson – 1929

Sunday School

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

“. . . if you can remember this, you won’t get lost on the cross while you trying to get across.”

Old Rugged Cross – Rahsaan Roland Kirk – 1972

Current events

2011-11-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

Causes – The Broadside Singers – 1964

(lead vocal: Pat Sky)

Collective personnel for this October 1964 session: Phil Ochs, Pat Sky, Len Chandler, Tom Paxton, David Blue, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Peter La Farge, Pete Seeger, Eric Andersen.

Struggle Blues

2011-11-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Struggle Blues – Woody Guthrie – c.1940s

An American Trilogy

2011-11-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

An American Trilogy – Mickey Newbury – 1971

Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall?

2011-11-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall? – Tom Russell – 2006

If it’s not asking too much. . . .

2011-11-25T11:30:00.000-08:00

Please Send Me Someone To Love – Esther Phillips – 1970

Happy Thanksgiving. . . .

2011-11-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

I Heard The Voice Of A Porkchop – Jim Jackson – 1928

Illustration from Li’l Abner by Al Capp, 12-22-1960

Country Blues Classics

2011-11-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

“Oh, child, you killin’ me . . . you killin’ me graveyard dead, yeah yea-yeah!”