Monthly Archives: April 2011

Rhinestone Cowboy

When I was growing up there were two kinds of music on the radio: country and western. Very few of the country singers I like now featured on that local radio station, though the music of Johnny Cash was a regular fixture. Another popular singer on the station was Glen Campbell and, in particular, his 1975 international hit, Rhinestone Cowboy. The song had hit the top of both the country and pop charts in the US that year and also made it to number one in Ireland. I remember it being played a lot in subsequent years and it was certainly one of my favourites at the time. Of course, I had absolutely no idea what a rhinestone cowboy was, though my knowledge of Westerns made me think he was a gunslinger of some kind. I also misheard the line “offers coming over the phone” as either “awful’s” or “Arthur’s.” I also loved this wonderful rhyming couplet: “There’ll be a load of compromisin’/On the road to my horizon.” I had the pleasure of seeing Mr Campbell in concert twice over the last few years and I was really impressed by his energy and enthusiasm. The highlights on those occasions were Wichita Lineman and By the Time I Get to Phoenix, though I also sang along to Rhinestone Cowboy. The version I’ve chosen, however, is by a now defunct Irish band who released it as their last single back in 1998. It was an appropriate choice for Something Happens because the Dublin band could identify with the plight of the character in the song. As lead singer Tom Dunne says on the single: “His is the tale of ordinary failure in the entertainment industry. So is ours.”

Rhinestone Cowboy (Glen Campbell cover) – Something Happens

I hope the Dublin Opinion blog doesn’t mind that I borrowed the image

30 Day Song Challenge Archive

Knoxville Girl

I’ve always felt guilty about enjoying a beautiful murder ballad called Knoxville Girl. My favourite version of the song appears on the 1956 album Tragic Songs of Love by The Louvin Brothers. It features some lovely harmony singing from Charlie and Ira Louvin and skips along nicely in waltz time. The tale is narrated by a young man named Willie who goes for a stroll with the titular Knoxville Girl every Sunday afternoon. Willie’s words are calm and measured, so it’s a bit of a surprise when things take a bit of a turn at the end of the first verse. All of a sudden, Willie grabs a stick and starts beating his girl. Despite her pleas for him to stop, he continues to hit her and then grabs her by the hair and throws her into the river. Willie returns to his home and placates his mother’s concerns about his bloody clothes by putting it down to a nosebleed. After a restless night’s sleep, Willie is arrested and imprisoned. The song finishes with his regretful admission that he killed the girl because he loved her. The song started out a few decades earlier as an Appalachian murder ballad, though its origins lie in Britain and Ireland where it was variously known as the Wexford Girl and the Oxford Girl. The influence of the late Louvin Brothers lives on in versions of the song by Elvis Costello, Nick Cave and The Handsome Family. Ira Louvin came to a tragic end in 1965, but his brother made it to the age of 83 when he passed away this January

Knoxville Girl – The Louvin Brothers

30 Day Song Challenge Archive

Anyone Can Play Guitar

I guess my favourite musical instrument is the electric guitar and I’d certainly like to be able play it as well as Hendrix or any other guitarist I admire. Sadly, a combination of laziness and a fear of becoming famous have prevented me from mastering the instrument. The prospect of achieving fame because of musical talent is a theme of Anyone Can Play Guitar by Radiohead. It was the second single from their 1993 debut album Pablo Honey. The songs on the album lack the complexity of the band’s later work and it is not as consistent as their subsequent releases. Along with Creep, however, Anyone Can Play Guitar is one of the album’s standout tracks. Thom Yorke imagines getting to heaven where “anyone can play guitar” and “they won’t be a nothing anymore.” I identified strongly with Yorke at this time but, as the years went by, he and his bandmates got what they wanted without getting to heaven. I don’t even believe in heaven anymore, but perhaps I’ll be reincarnated as a great guitarist in the next life

Anyone Can Play Guitar – Radiohead

30 Day Song Challenge Archive

Whole Wide World

“This is a chord. This is another. This is a third. Now form a band.” In 1976, these four short phrases appeared alongside three hand-drawn images of the A, E and G guitar chords in a punk fanzine named Sideburns. Many musicians followed this simple manifesto and hundreds of punk bands were born in late 70s Britain. They were like a breath of fresh air into a music scene that had become pretentious and boring. A couple of years earlier, a guy named Eric Goulden took just two of these chords and wrote a little ditty that would eventually be released in 1977. The song was called Whole Wide World and he had become Wreckless Eric by this time. The song’s basic structure and humorous lyric fitted perfectly into the punk aesthetic, but it failed to set the world on fire. Punk was one of the first genres of music that really grabbed me and I imagined that I knew every punk song worth knowing. Well, I must admit that I didn’t hear Eric’s song until a few years ago when the character played by Will Ferrell sang it to Maggie Gyllenhaal in a pivotal scene in Stranger Than Fiction. Ferrell’s shy and understated performance of the song is not punk rock in the strictest sense, but he did capture some of its spirit. Its two chords were reason enough for me to learn it on the ukulele a few years ago, though I also think it’s a decent tune. I tried to play it again today, but I got blisters on my fingers from just tuning up my uke. I’ll make an effort to build up the skin on the tips of my fingers and give it another go soon. By the way, that’s my ukulele in the photo above

Whole Wide World – Wreckless Eric

30 Day Song Challenge Archive

The Laughing Policeman

If I want a good laugh I’ll read a funny story, watch a comedy or check out the current state of the Irish economy. I wouldn’t necessarily put on a piece of music to get me rolling on the floor, though there are certain songs that make me smile and even a few that have been known to raise a chuckle or two. However, there is one particular song that tickles my funny bone and always manages to put more than a smile on my face. The Laughing Policeman by Charles Penrose was first released in Britain in the 1920s and went on to sell over a million copies. Penrose capitalised on its popularity by recording more songs about jocular characters in such professions as the army, the clergy and the office. Only the policeman with the hearty laugh is know today and even that song was based on George W. Johnson’s The Laughing Song from the start of the twentieth century. Penrose’s version tells the tale of an overweight English bobby who takes great pleasure from life and even his job. The singer’s vocals are delivered with great gusto, but Charlie really lets rip on the chorus with a laugh so boisterous that I find it impossible not to join in anytime I hear it. Mr Penrose stopped laughing on a permanent basis in 1952, but he’ll always have the last laugh thanks to his jolly lawman

The Laughing Policeman – Charles Penrose

30 Day Song Challenge Archive

Going Underground

What’s the difference between an Irish wedding and an Irish funeral? There’s one fewer drunk at an Irish funeral. One of the few certainties in life is that we’ll die and I suppose the best we can hope for is a good send off. I’m already working on a playlist of songs to be played on that fateful day and it includes such classics as Return to Sender, Highway to Hell and Another One Bites the Dust. However, if I had to pick just one tune then it would have to be Going Underground by The Jam. It was the tenth song they released as a single and the band’s first number one in the UK charts. In fact, it entered the charts at number one and was only the tenth single to achieve that feat at the time. It’s quite an angry and subversive song and it remains one of my favourite chart toppers ever. I have no plans to be cremated and I would be delighted if this song gets a spin as my casket is lowered into the ground

Going Underground – The Jam

30 Day Song Challenge Archive

Will You Love Me Tomorrow?

My selection of tunes in the 30 Day Song Challenge is about to enter its final week. Today’s choice is a completely hypothetical one: a song to be played at my wedding. I’ve managed to get through life so far without getting hitched and I think I’m safe for a few more years. I may settle down one day, but I’m in no rush to give up the single life just yet. Nevertheless, I’d like to put forward my nomination for the song I’d like to be played if that special occasion ever arises. Fittingly, it was written by a songwriting couple who became a married couple by the time the single made it to the top of the US charts in 1961. The marriage of Gerry Goffin and Carole King only lasted for eight years, though the song is still going strong today. Will You Love Me Tomorrow? has been recorded by tons of artists over the years, but I still prefer the original version by The Shirelles. Of course, I’m aware that the future love of my life may decide to choose a different song for the big day and that would be no problem for me. After all, I’d like to stay in her good books until at least the day after the wedding

Will You Love Me Tomorrow? – The Shirelles

Way to Blue

It would surely make more sense to listen to happy music when you’re feeling down, but I find that sunny pop songs actually make me feel worse. Personally, I prefer to wallow in my sadness by listening to the likes of Leonard Cohen, Radiohead and Joy Division. Anything to cheer me up, I suppose. There’s one particular singer-songwriter, however, whose music is perfect for what ails you. Nick Drake was an English singer and musician whose voice and songs reflected the inner turmoil of a man who took his life in 1974 at the age of 26. He released three albums during his lifetime and each one contains a selection of pastoral folk songs with dark undercurrents. Way to Blue is taken from his 1969 debut Five Leaves Left and is one of a number of songs on the album that features Drake’s vocal accompanied by just a string arrangement. Drake followed up his strong first collection with the equally consistent Bryter Layer the next year before releasing his final long player in 1972. He sold few records during his lifetime, though he was adored by fellow musicians as well as by music critics. His work has started to sell in recent years and even appears in the background of TV shows and commercials. This is certainly a strange turn of events for someone whose music evokes such a strong sense of the past. Perhaps Nick Drake just wasn’t made for these times

Way to Blue – Nick Drake

30 Day Song Challenge Archive