Song of the Day 62 : Tiger Woods by Dan Bern

Tiger Woods by Dan Bern always makes me laugh.  I especially like the bit about not achieving your dreams too early and of course it ain't bragging if its true

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I got big balls, big old balls

Big as grapefruits, big as pumpkins

Yes sir, yes sir, and on my really good days

They swell to the size of small dogs

My balls are as big as small dogs

Well, it ain't braggin' if it's true

Yes sir, yes sir, it ain't braggin' if it's true

Muhammad Ali said that

Back when he was a young man

Back when he was cassius clay

Before he fought too many fights

And left his brain inside the ring

And sometimes I wish I was Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods

Sometimes I wish I was Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods

I got a friend whose goal in life

Was to one day go down on Madonna

That's all he wanted, that was all

To one day go down on Madonna

And when my friend was thirty-four

He got his wish in Rome one night

He got to go down on Madonna

In Rome one night in some hotel

And ever since he's been depressed

'Cause life is shit from here on in

And all our friends just shake their heads

And say too soon, too soon, too soon

He went down on Madonna too soon

Too young, too young, too soon, too soon

And it ain't braggin' if it's true

Yes sir, yes sir, it ain't braggin' if it's true

Muhammad Ali said that

Back when he was cassius clay

Before he fought too many fights

And left his brain inside the ring

And sometimes I wish I was Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods

Sometimes I wish I was Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods

If certain girls don't look at you

It means that they like you a lot

If other girls don't look at you

It just means they're ignoring you

How can you know, how can you know

Which is which, who's doin' what

I guess that you can ask 'em

Which one are you, baby?

Do you like me or are you ignoring me?

Do you like me or are you ignoring me?

Do you like me or are you ignoring me?

And all you need to do that is one big pair of big balls

Balls as big as grapefruits, balls as big as pumpkins

Balls as big as mine but even though my balls are big

Sometimes I wish they were bigger, even bigger

Big as the wheels on a tractor

Big as the golden arches

Big as the golden gate bridge

Big as the state of Kansas

Big as Mars and Jupiter

Big as the swing of Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods

Song of The Day 61 Tom Verlaine : The Funniest Thing

The Funniest Thing has some nice observational lyrics and a gentle rhythm.

One of the few songs Verlaine wrote that could have been a hit.

But it wasn't of course.

Watching you mix up the paint
brush away the questions now
ask another favour of who ever
You say it's failure not contempt that makes an

Honest fool of you... l think I'll use a lighter blue...

There's a reason for that but I don't want to talk

Much about it... isn't that the funniest thing. I think

About it all the time but I don't want to talk much

About it. Ok, Ok, anything you say.

Striking up another match... put it to the candle there

Reading them old valentines. Trucks are going in

And out of that big garage all night... I wonder why you

Turned on me as if I was a one way street but I don't

Want to talk much about it... l think about it

Some of the time but...

Playing checkers friday night... all your brother's

Friends are drunk...opinions they get funny too.

I'm thinking of the things you said, looking at the

Bottles there... "no deposit, no return"...empty or full, it

Seems...

I do not know much about Jazz but I like ....... Lee Morgan - Search for The New Land

I really like Lee Morgan's Sidewinder album which I Chris put me onto and which appears on almost all lists of best Jazz albums.  Doing my normal research on artists and albums I like I came across many articles that said that Search For The New Land offered something a bit different.

When I read that Grant Green, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter all played on it I decided I needed to buy it.

There was a problem though.  It did not seem to be in print and older copies were going for big money.

So I started to keep an eye out for it and recently I saw on line that it had been re-released and a record store in New Zealand had it in stock for close to $40.    Doing a bit more on line searching I managed to find a copy for about 2/3 of that.

The album has a different feel (if I was a real Jazz aficionado I suppose I would say different vibe) to Sidewinder.  More introspective and less poppy (if you can say that about Jazz) than Sidewinder.

Nevertheless on the three plays I have given it so far I know I am going to enjoy this album and play it often.  The title track is an excellent way to start the album, sometimes  it starts with a slightly tentative motif but does get going about midway through its quarter of an hour.  It starts with Hancock leading things which leads into Lee's solos and at about the 10 minute mark some very restrained but very typical Grant Green guitar work comes in.

Other tracks that have made an impression on me are Melancholee and The Joker

Journey Through The Past : Girls - Record 3, Father Son Holy Ghost

I bought this record because I was going to an offshoot of The Laneway Festival in Singapore.
I knew one or two of the bands' names on the roster but little of the music.  The only artists I already had in my collection were Laura Marling and the Horrors.

So I bought a bunch of CDs to do some research.  Father Son Holy Ghost was one of them and I am pleased I did as it is pretty solid collection.

Girls was in their finals stages as shortly after lead singer and songwriter, Christopher Owens was off on a solo career (apparently his latest is worth checking out). However they put on a pretty good show.  Owens has a good voice and is a good front man - singing an acappela tribute to Whitney Houston that was better than the lady herself (which in my opinion is not hard).

While not a classic album it has four tracks that I think are pretty bloody good and that these days is a pretty high hit rate.  A few of the tracks also show off some fine guitar work  - the standout track for me is the Penultimate track - Love Like A River - I think if this had been released 20 years ago it would have been a huge hit and may now be recognised as a a classic. However some of the other tracks are up there as well, the very 80's sounding opener Hunny Bunny,  Saying I love you and Jamie Marie with its beautiful, simple and understated guitar.

More Muscle From The Shoals : Bobby Lance, First Peace

By the time Bobby Lance headed to Muscle Shoals in 1971 to record First Peace he had already tasted some success with Aretha Franklin scoring a hit with his The House That Jack Built.

First Peace was released in 1971 and to me is a real find.

It shows what could happen when The Swampers (this time with Eddie Hinton on lead and slide) got behind someone and into a real groove. On this album they are supplemented by King Curtis, his horn section and The Sweet Inspirations.  Hard to see how this album could be anything but good.

Bobby has a soulful voice, writes good songs and it is interesting on why he did not achieve wider recognition or success (maybe it was the beard :-)).

The opening Somebody Tell Me sets the scene well for what the rest of the album has in store for you.  There is some debate as to whether it is Duanne Allman or Eddie Hinton playing on More Than Enough Rain.   Other tracks worth checking out include Walkin on a Highway and  It Can't Be Turned Around.

Glad I found this!!!

Journey Through The Past : Lou Reed : New York

When I was in the third and forth form we had a girl/young women in our class who always seemed more sophisticated than everyone else.

One of the things that stood her apart was that while most of us were into Bowie, T Rex and The Sweet Tracey would expound on Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.  The Bowie connection had of course led me to Walk on the Wild Side and Transformer but apart from that at that time I did not really connect with Reed.

That came a bit (lot) later.  Over the years I had accumulated a few albums including a great double career summary called Rock'n'roll Diary.  However the first album of his I went out and bought when it was released was New York, released in 1988.  I think I bought it because at the time it was hailed as a return to form.

It was one of the first CDs I bought as well and it boasted that with the right type of CD Player and a computer connection you also had access to the lyrics.  I did not have the right player so that did not matter.

The album opens with a great three punch from Romeo Had Juliette, Halloween Parade, and Dirty Boulevard.  Mike Rathke's jagged guitar complements Reeds own rhthym work and Rob Wasserman is one of the most under-rated bass players around. All this is underpinned with producer Fred Maher's economic drumming. Right from here you know that Reed has perhaps the best band he ever played with  (apart from Metallica (joke!) that is).

Not only that his lyrical focus is keen in his warts and all homage to his hometown.


Is there an opening line to an album that sets the agenda for the rest of the album better than

"Caught between the twisted stars, the plotted lines, the faulty map that brought Columbus to New York, Betwixt between the east and west he calls on her wearing a leather vest"

On Dirty Boulevard he lays the American Dream bare with a few short versus;

Pedro lives out of the Wilshire Hotel

he looks out a window without glass

The walls are made of cardboard, newspapers on his feet

his father beats him 'cause he's too tired to beg

He's got 9 brothers and sisters

they're brought up on their knees

it's hard to run when a coat hanger beats you on the thighs

Pedro dreams of being older and killing the old man

but that's a slim chance he's going to the boulevard

He's going to end up, on the dirty boulevard

he's going out, to the dirty boulevard

He's going down, to the dirty boulevard

This room cost 2,000 dollars a month

you can believe it man it's true

somewhere a landlord's laughing till he wets his pants

No one here dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything

they dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard

Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em

that's what the Statue of Bigotry says

Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death

and get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard

Other standout tracks to me include Strawman with its attack on consumerism, politicians and television evangelists.  "Spittin' in the wind comes back twice as hard"

One track that resonated with me at the time and still does is Beginning of a Great Adventure.  I was just starting my time as a parent and at the time his wife seemed to be encouraging him to start a family.  Lou was a troubled man and who had had a strained relationship with his own parents.  This song / poem questions his motivations for having a child.  It seems brutally honest with his reservations apparently winning out in the end as he had no children.

"It might be fun to have a kid that I could kick around

create in my own image like a god

I'd raise my own pallbearers to carry me to my grave

and keep me company when I'm a wizened toothless clod

Some gibbering old fool sitting all alone drooling on his shirt

some senile old fart playing in the dirt

It might be fun to have a kid I could pass something on to

something better than rage, pain, anger and hurt

I hope it's true what my wife said to me

I hope it's true what my wife said to me

I hope it's true what my wife said to me

She says, "Lou, it's the beginning of a great adventure"

 

Favourites : Anders Osborne - Living Room

I first came upon Andres Osborne about 5 years ago when a purchase I made on Amazon triggered a recommendation to buy his latest CD at the time, Black Eyed Galaxy.  I did and did not regret it.  I now  have 9 cds and one lp by the man.  All of them are very good.  Some are great.......

......... And Living Room is my favourite.  By a Long Way.  I find it hard to even pick a few songs off it to suggest to listen to as that will mean that I am not pointing you to others. The others are all good, in fact many artists would be pleased to have any of them as the best album in their catalogue.  But Living Room is special.

It was originally released in 1999 and I feel robbed of about 12 year's of listening.  I think that if this album had been released in the 70's it and he would have been talked about now in the same league as Lowell George and Little Feat.

He kind of is any way but in rather smaller circles than used to happen.

Anders was born in Sweden and emigrated to the US when he was 16 and is now settled in New Orleans and has clearly absorbed the sounds and soul of that city.  That is never more obvious than on this album - this is his Dixie Chicken.

So here is a selection of songs from this album.  Greasy Money, Ya Ya, Trippin' In Montana, Never is a Real Long Time, Takes Two, Highway, That's All. 

Last year when Jan and I had our musical odyssey around the US Jan's most wanted to see musician was Jason Isbell and mine was Anders.  They were playing one night apart in Colorado about 500km apart and we had to choose - so we spent time in the Vail Valley listening to Jason - not a bad choice.  I am not complaining - it just means I am yet to see Mr Osborne.  I will.