Monthly Archives: December 2010

Christmas Card From a Hooker In Minneapolis

Taken from his 1978 album, Blue Valentine, Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis by Tom Waits is not a typical seasonal song. In fact, it’s not even a typical song as it is presented in the form of a letter and has no chorus or repeated lines. Its title situates the song in a particular time and place and introduces preconceived notions in the listener’s mind about its subject simply by naming her profession. As soon as the singer’s distinctive voice begins, it becomes apparent that her letter is addressed to a guy named Charlie and he reads the letter to us through the voice of Waits. Straight away, she reveals that she’s pregnant and living in a seedy part of town. However, she claims that she has given up soft drugs and whiskey and is even married to a musician who works at a racecourse. She has informed her husband that he’s not the father of the child, but he has decided to stand by her and the baby. We learn that she hails from Omaha and has made a number of attempts to move back to her family, but keeps returning to Minneapolis because everyone she knew back home is “either dead or in prison”. She may have had a previous relationship with Charlie as she tells him that she now regrets the amount of money they wasted on drugs in the past

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Zig Zag Wanderer

The musician and artist Don Van Vliet has just died in California. He is best known as the leader of Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band and was an occasional musical accomplice of Frank Zappa’s. He released a number of critically-acclaimed albums throughout his musical career, but abandoned music for painting in the 1980s. He always had a cult following as a musician and an artist, but made more money from the art world. His music is quite uncompromising and his most infamous album is Trout Mask Replica (1969), an album I’m not alone in admitting that I’ve yet to get into. I’m a big fan of his first release, Safe As Milk (1967), which contains some of his most accessible songs and features Ry Cooder on guitar. The blues in general and Howling Wolf in particular were big influences on his music and voice and it’s easy to see him as the missing link between Wolf and Tom Waits. Below, I’ve chosen my favourite Beefheart number, the wonderfully-named My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains from the album Clear Spot (1972). I’m Glad from the first album is another favourite and I’ve chosen a recent version by The Black Keys that isn’t a million miles away from the original. Finally, Ashtray Heart appears on Doc At The Radar Station (1980) and was one of three Beefheart covers that The White Stripes released as part of a limited edition single in 2000. Van Vliet had been confined to a wheelchair since 1993 and suffered from multiple sclerosis. He died four weeks short of his 70th birthday

My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains – Captn Beefheart & the Magic Band

I’m Glad (Captn Beefheart cover) – The Black Keys

Ashtray Heart (Captn Beefheart cover) – The White Stripes

Maybe This Christmas

As promised yesterday, today’s Christmas song is more upbeat than the three I’ve chosen already. It’s the title track of a compilation from 2002 called Maybe This Christmas and was written and sung by the Canadian songwriter Ron Sexsmith. I was a big fan of Sexsmith’s early albums and the melodic folk-pop songs they contained. Maybe This Christmas follows this pattern and is an optimistic little ditty that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s possibly a bit too short and sweet for my liking, but I still like the song and Ron’s voice. I also agree with the sentiment expressed in its opening line that “Maybe this Christmas will mean something more”. The last few months have been pretty tough for many people on the isle of Ireland, but I’ve a feeling that this year’s festivities will give us a chance to let our hair down for a while before the hangover strikes in 2011. It looks like we could be in for some nasty haircuts in the New Year

Maybe This Christmas – Ron Sexsmith

The 12 Songs of Christmas Archive

Suddenly It’s Christmas!

Loudon Wainwright III‘s seasonal tune is as unseasonal as you would expect from this fine songwriter. Suddenly It’s Christmas is a frenetic rant against the commercial side of the holiday and, in particular, the suddenness of its arrival each year. This is certainly not a recent phenomenon and the early marketing of Christmas puts many people off the whole thing. The song is taken from a wonderful live album called Career Moves (1993), which I first owned on cassette. I listened to this album more than any other for over a decade before replacing my Sony Walkman with an MP3 player. The album includes much more of his acerbic material as well as his moving songs about failed relationships and the single life. In addition to the songs, I loved hearing his hilarious introductions to each one and came to know his intros just as well as the songs. This humour comes across in the almost conversational nature of his delivery and is evident right from the first lines here:

Suddenly it’s Christmas,
Right after Hallowe’en.
Forget about Thanksgiving;
It’s just a buffet in between.

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Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

The original version of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) was recorded by Darlene Love in 1963 and released on the Phil Spector-produced A Christmas Gift For You later that year. The song was written by Spector and the husband-and-wife team of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry and many of the songs the trio wrote became hits for girl groups of the sixties. Loads of bands and singers have attempted the song over the years and Death Cab For Cutie recorded it for a compilation called Maybe This Christmas Tree (2004). The narrator of this particular ditty fondly remembers the previous Christmas when his “baby” was still at home. Everything to do with the holiday reminds him of happier times and the chorus becomes a plea for her to return. This sense of yearning and loss is a common theme amongst festive songs and may be one I return to over the next ten days

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Darlene Love cover) – Death Cab For Cutie

The 12 Songs of Christmas Archive

iPod Xmas

Including today and the day itself, there are a dozen days to go to Christmas and I plan to post a seasonal song on each one. Technically, the Twelve Days of Christmas begin on the 25th, but I’ve chosen that as my last one because I’m sure I’ll be sick of hearing festive songs by then. I’m not a terribly big fan of Christmas tunes anyway and most of the ones I’ll be posting could also be played at other times of the year. Some of these songs won’t even be all that well known, though hopefully you’ll enjoy one or two of them. It’s my first Christmas owning an iPod, so I’ll be making an Xmas playlist for the first time. Heck, I’ll even check it twice

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Jungle Boogie

Earlier this year, Gorillaz released their third studio album, Plastic Beach, the follow-up to Demon Days (2005). The band is the creation of Blur’s Damon Albarn and the comic book artist Jamie Hewlett. The group’s members are represented by animated characters who appear on their album covers, music videos and publicity material. Despite this “virtual” existence, the band’s singles and albums have been both commercial and critical successes. In addition to this imagined world, Albarn is currently gigging around the Southern Hemisphere with a touring band that includes The Clash’s rhythm section. He has also written a load of new material that he has recorded onto his iPad. He’s got enough songs for Gorillaz’s next album and has revealed that the band’s fourth record will be released before the end of the year. In fact, it’s going to be available for free from their website on Christmas Day. I don’t know if you need to be a member of their fan club to receive the files as a Christmas present, though I’m sure that will become more clear before the 25th. The sad news for fans of the band is that this could be Gorillaz’s last record as they’ve indicated that this particular musical project may be about to end

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Ellie & Laura

I’m not familiar with a song called Only Girl (In the World) by Rihanna and I’m only slightly more familiar with the singer Ellie Goulding (above left). However, Ms Goulding performed a quite brilliant version of the tune the other day for the Live Lounge on BBC Radio 1. It begins with picked guitar and a faint piano before her vocals start. The song then soars during the chorus as the strings come in. The 23-year-old singer released her debut album Lights earlier this year and is one of a number of English singers who’ve had a good 2010. Another is Laura Marling who is three years younger than Goulding, but has already released two acclaimed albums. Both of them, Alas, I Cannot Swim (2008) and I Speak Because I Can (2010), have been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. The Wrote & the Writ is a song by her friend Johnny Flynn and it appears on A Larum (2008), the first of his two albums. Marling and Flynn both have a strong folk background and this song’s tune and lyric seem to come from an earlier generation. It’s a love song that draws upon religious imagery and its remove from modernity is highlighted by its reference to letter writing as opposed to the prevalence of electronic forms of communication in contemporary society and culture. I’m a fan of both of her albums and this song, but I’m as unfamiliar with Johnny Flynn’s original as I am with Rihanna’s. Perhaps it’s better that way, as I’ve been told that familiarity can often breed contempt

Only Girl (In the World) (Rihanna cover) – Ellie Goulding

The Wrote and the Writ (Johnny Flynn cover) – Laura Marling