Monthly Archives: February 2010

Hello, I’m Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was born 78 years ago today in Arkansas and, like most popular musicians following their deaths, his records are still being released and his music is as popular as ever. The sixth and, presumably, final release in the Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings series came out this week. American VI: Ain’t No Grave was put together from songs left over from the sessions for the previous instalment. Like most of the albums in the series, the songs deal with death and mortality. To aid my research I’ve been reading a graphic novel about Cash that I’ve borrowed from my friend John via our mutual acquaintance Dave. Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness was originally written in German by Reinhard Kleist and it chronicles the major moments in Cash’s life. His story is quite familiar to fans of music following his two autobiographies, a couple of BBC documentaries and the film Walk the Line. Despite this familiarity, Kleist’s graphic novel is a welcome addition to the Cash story. It’s a quick read, which may be explained by the author’s drawing style but also by the areas of Cash’s life that he focuses upon. The story is narrated by an inmate at Folsom Prison and mainly deals with Cash’s life as a young boy up to the concert at that prison in 1968. These narrative elements move along quickly and give the reader little time for more introspective moments. However, the story is broken up at certain points by visual inserts of some of his more popular songs. Like John, I felt that the novel’s weakest aspect was the dialogue although this is often a problem in graphic novels as it needs to fill in some of the story background. Now it’s time for some musical background. I’ve put together some songs written about Mr Cash, a selection of covers by others plus a number of originals and interpretations by the Man in Black

Continue reading →

Ash Wednesday

In honour of the day that’s in it, here are some tunes by the band from Downpatrick in County Down. The three-piece from Northern Ireland have been together for nearly twenty years and I’ve been a fan of them since their first album, 1977. The band’s punk-pop sound had been augmented for a while by the inclusion of Charlotte Hatherley on guitar, but has reverted to its original line-up in recent years. In 2007, the band announced that they would be only releasing singles for the forseeable future. This is not a bad idea for the group as their single releases have always stood head and shoulders above their album tracks. Here are songs covered by Ash that have appeared as extra tracks on some of their singles and on tribute albums. It should be obvious that the Buzzcocks and Nirvana were influences on the band and it shouldn’t really be a surprise that the music of Abba and Motown were also influences on them. Like their predecessors The Undertones, Ash’s sound has always combined elements of both punk and pop. Another contemporary pop star from the North, Neil Hannon, joins the band for a version of their song, Oh Yeah. Peter Wilson (aka Duke Special) is from Belfast and he brings out the spiritual side of Shining Light, a song that has also been given a piano-based cover by Emm Gryner. We move away from Ash and Northern Ireland to New Zealand and Bic Runga’s version of Ashes to Ashes. The final two songs actually concern Ash Wednesday. Elvis Perkins is the son of the actor Norman who died on September 12th, 1992. Nine years later, his mother died as a result of the attack on the Twin Towers. He wrote the songs on his album Ash Wednesday about her; the first side is about her life up to 9/11 while side two focuses on its aftermath. I got Mary Catherine’s Ash Wednesday Journal Entry by Christine Kane from this Star Maker Machine post. Nice. I’m off now to take the chicken out of the oven

Continue reading →

Love is in the Air

In most corners of the world this weekend, certain sections of the economy are going to receive a welcome boost. In particular, restaurants, florists, confectioners and greeting card companies should see a significant swell in their coffers as a result of all the goodwill generated by Valentine’s Day. February 14 has been known as St Valentine’s Day since the end of the fifth century and was called after a number of Christian martyrs who were all named Valentine. According to this site, around a billion Valentine’s cards are sent around the world every year, with men spending twice as much as women during the weekend. In the Middle Ages, lovers spoke or sang their greetings while handwritten cards began to appear in the fifteenth century. Mass produced greeting cards originated in the nineteenth century and, thanks to such companies as Hallmark, it is second only to Christmas as the most profitable period of the year for card companies. Over the years, songwriters have constantly drawn upon the theme of Valentine’s Day as the basis for songs about love and the like. So, for all you funny valentines out there here is a collection of songs to get you in the mood for tomorrow. I’ve also included some blue valentines as well as one for those of you who’ll be celebrating the day on their own. Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!

Continue reading →

Borrowed Tunes



I popped into the city library in Limerick yesterday and was quite saddened to see the above notice prominently displayed on the counter of the library’s music section. Now, it wasn’t the content of the notice that got to me as I’m fully aware that the music contained on the CDs that I borrow doesn’t belong to me and that I only have the use of it for a certain period of time. No, there were two things about the sign that upset me. Firstly, it’s also illegal for members of the library to photocopy substantial portions of books that the library lends out. However, I didn’t see a prominent notice to this effect at the main counter. Secondly, I was even more dismayed by the inaccurate and misleading message conveyed by the notice. I asked myself for whom is it illegal to download or burn these CDs? To which library does the note refer? Does the Copyright & Related Rights Act 2000 apply to all music libraries or just to this one? Does the library actually offer a CD download service? Is it even possible to burn the CDs that the library lends? Most importantly, the note does not indicate that it is illegal to make an exact copy of a disc or to rip its files to another source. Of course, Limerick City Library does not provide a CD download service to its members. While it’s possible to download music files from the internet, it’s not physically possible to download a compact disc. The correct terms to use instead of ‘download’ are ‘rip’ or ‘copy’. Also, it isn’t possible to burn the type of CDs that the library lends; this can only be done using appropriate blank discs

Continue reading →

Best Albums of the 00s: She & Him (Volume One)

Volume One - She & Him (2008)

The final entry (finally!) in my dozen favourite albums of the decade is also the one with the shortest running time on the list, She and Him’s Volume One (2008). ‘She’ is Hollywood actor Zooey Deschanel and ‘Him’ is singer-songwriter and musician M. Ward. The pair met on the set of a film called The Go-Getter where they recorded a version of Richard & Linda Thompson’s When I Get to the Border for its soundtrack. The pair got on well and Ward discovered that Deschanel had been writing songs for years, but had never pursued a musical career. She sent him demos of these songs and Ward was sufficiently impressed to offer to produce and play on the album. Over the years, many actors have added a musical side to their thespian talents and, more often than not, the resulting efforts have left much to be desired. For example, 2008 also brought another pairing of an indie musician with a Hollywood starlet. Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio played and produced Scarlett Johansson’s (mostly) covers album of songs by Tom Waits, Anywhere I Lay My Head. Unfortunately, Johansson’s project was let down by her weak voice

Continue reading →