Why can't I seem to finish a blog?
I've written several, or... several half blogs, anyway. Over the course of a year (less two weeks) since I last posted anything. But I seem to lose the thread about halfway through and they get relegated to the "things I'll maybe finish later if I feel like it" pile... and of course I never do (actually, this is the way most things, especially those of a creative bent, have gone this year... but let's stick to the issue at hand). So... why?
Well, the fact that all of half a dozen people seem to read this blog doesn't really do wonders for my motivation. But if you're curious, I think the primary thing is, this year has been pretty rough. Sort of a continuous and none-too-gentle humbling experience that's left me without a terrific wealth of faith in what I have to say, or my ability to say it. Please don't mistake- you have not been invited to a pity party. "Poor me", I am happy to report, is less and less a part of my life... and good riddance. But if there is one thing of which I still have no doubt, it's this; nothing that is not honest is worth saying. And very little that is impersonal is, either.
It seems as though my muse may be returning from her year long sojurn- maybe she finally got all the messages I left (or perhaps this is heralded by the end of the 13th baktun... hey, you can't discount it). Although my prejudices are lessened (again, good riddance... although I'm still inclined to think that very little of what I've written could or should be considered very prejudicial), so too has my attention to those of others... particularly as regards what I choose to say or do. So when I do have something to say, rest assured that, now more than ever, it will come from the heart. Without much gloss.
I think that really is a nice principle to rest on. Sort of... warm and fuzzy, but not too safe- so not too boring. Like a sleeping tiger, maybe.
Anyway, I don't want to scare away my muse, so we're still gonna take it slow. For now, all I want to tell you about is my favorite sound in recording. The oldest sound. More often than not, the most soulful sound.
The unproduced sound.
Well... turns out there's not much to say about it. The title pretty much speaks for itself- a virtue my grandfather would appreciate (sorry, inside joke).
But one thing I do think is worth mentioning is, all this super-complicated stuff that goes on in recording studios these days... the tracks-upon-tracks-upon-tracks, miking everything up to the gills, multiple retakes and patches, all that good stuff and all the equipment that goes with it... it's pretty new. There was a time not too long ago when they'd cram you in a room with maybe a couple mics and you'd play the song through and that was it. It cut directly to vinyl, so really... that was it. Robert Johnson (and all those folks of the same era I'm so fond of) was recorded with just one or two mics in a hotel room. And he turned out all right...
Incidentally, if you're into the documentary thing and you want to know more about Robert, this one's ok.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0hke-cRSCg
The bit about recording is around the 28:00 mark if you're impatient.
Also, remember Louie Louie? The original?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vae_AkLb4Q
That was recorded with just one microphone, suspended from the ceiling. The whole band just stood around it in a circle.
Those videos aren't what I was planning to show you when I started this... but I do think it's cool to see how much simpler recording used to be. Production ain't everything. Soul is. In fact, it's not uncommon for production to get in the way of soul... and frequently the lack of production does converse.
But my favorite, and what I really wanted to draw your attention to is the blatantly unproduced stuff- both in sound quality and in arrangement- that sounds, not in spite of but because of it, totally excellent.
Let me show you what I mean.
Let's start with some Black Keys. Now, if you're a faithful reader, you've heard this before... but maybe you're not. And if you are... They're worth another listen.
Flash Of Silver
and
Summertime Blues
are two of my most favoritest unknown TBK tracks, and a perfect example of that raw sound I'm talking about. But let's try a couple bands I haven't beaten you over the head with before.
How about Tom Waits? One mic, Tom and his guitar and a trumpet in an empty room, I'm guessing. You can even hear his chair creaking. I, for one, wouldn't have it any other way. Have a listen to
Jayne's Blue Wish
And here's one of my favorite Iron & Wine songs. I think it's from his first album- the one that was recorded, all by him, on a 4-track. Personally I find this to be one of the most comforting songs I've ever heard. It's lulled me to sleep on many a plane or car ride...
Waiting For A Superman
Now, next to the last ones, the sound quality on this one is positively polished. But I think it still carries the spirit of what I'm talking about. Also, it's the only Bon Iver song I really, really like.
Skinny Love
Well, this one really sounds about as clean as one could ever hope a live performance to be... but I'll allow it, because it's still just a man and a guitar. Also the only Brother & Bones song I've found that I really dig. Beautiful lyrics, man.
Gold And Silver
Ooo, and have some Lumineers. My cousin turned me onto these guys. The same cousin that showed me The Black Keys (which was one of the most important moments of my life). Thanks Heather! Here's
The Dead Sea
OH! And this one... I heard it on the nicest place on the internet. Kinda cute. 'S called
I Have Never Loved Someone
Alright, well, maybe that's about enough for now. Hopefully we'll meet again soon. I'll leave you with one more very unproduced tune. An old field holler, sung live by a fella I've never heard of. And if you're a fan of the old-timey music, you should check out the Alan Lomax Archive channel that posted this... there's lot's of stuff on there you'll never see anywhere else. Enjoy some
Dangerous Blues
Merry belated Christmas, and a very happy new year to you!
-JC
P.S. I'm still a musician, and I urge you to go buy some music instead of just listening on youtube for free. Musicians (and creative people in general) deserve your support... not so much for the work they put into their profession (they do, but so does everyone), but for the love they put in too. I guarantee if they're good enough for you to listen to, they've put a lot of love into it.
And that's important. It really is. More than you know.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Stagolee
One of the most interesting things about folk music, to me, is the way it changes over time. Not just in terms of general style, but specifically. By which I mean to say, you have a primarily oral tradition going there, unlike classical music where you're given a more or less concrete piece and told how to play it. Because of this, you can track a specific song back hundreds of years (lyrically, anyway... a hundred and change for actual recordings), and hear how that singular piece has changed with the times.
I find this fascinating (in fact, the same core concept applied to languages is the primary reason I tried to minor in linguistics for awhile). If music is expressive of the human mind and heart, then when we have a song that's been played for a long time, we basically have a map of human growth and diversity over however many years we can track it back. Like analyzing the rings of a tree- a skilled student can learn many fascinating things if they listen close enough. Although to be clear, this is significantly less scientific and more interpretive, as are all things that work on a nonphysical level. I like that better anyway.
Of course, this would be a very boring blog if I didn't give you an example. My favorite example (one that has glazed the eyes of more than one hapless girlfriend) is
Stagolee
Stagolee is a (really) well known murder blues. There are several traditional murder blues songs that've been covered a lot. Frankie and johnny is a good example- I'm guessing that one actually goes back further- but one of the things I like about Stagolee is that the song can be tied concretely to the actual event that spawned it. There's a newspaper report from a 1895 copy of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat that details the events in the song. Basically, according to the paper (I'll paraphrase), the story goes like this:
"Stacker" Lee Shelton (the nickname has a bunch of variations, the most common one being "stagolee")- a pimp and a carriage driver (apparently you could be both)- and his friend William Lyons were gambling in a St. Louis Saloon on Christmas eve. Both were drunk. At some point the conversation devolved into a political argument, at the end of which Billy grabbed Lee's hat off his head. Lee told Billy to return it, and when he refused, Lee pulled a gun, shot Billy in the stomach, and walked away. Lee was arrested and Billy went to the hospital. Billy died of his wound a couple days later. Lee was convicted and died, in prison, of tuberculosis, 17 years later.
No biggie, right? I mean, it sucks, but in the grand scheme of things that shit happens every day. People really really seem to love killing each other (I'll share a couple other choice selections on the subject a bit later), and they'll jump at the opportunity. But that leads us to the other thing I think is cool about this- this is one of the most related stories in music... ever. Hundreds of people have covered it over the past hundred years. So, knowing what the event at the root is, I find it pretty fascinating to look at all the different variations that've sprung up so far.
Time for some examples.
...Is 10 enough?
Trust me, I promise this is the only time I will ever give you so many versions of the same song.... but I think this is so cool, I just can't help it this time. It's worth noting, however, that while I might be inclined to share notes with you about stylistic variations, that's not quite what I'm talking about with the tree rings thing. You can talk about music all day long, and regardless of how eloquent you are, you may still be missing the point. I feel like I've hammered this in so many ways from so many angles in the past, but in the artistic world (most of the world, really) it's the key point. So I'll italicize it this time, just to make it extra clear. It's not about facts, figures, thoughts or analysis- IT'S ALL ABOUT SOUL! So if you really want to understand what I'm talking about, close your eyes, sit back, and just listen.
Mississippi John Hurt
...covered the tune at one point. Although it's unlikely that he wrote it (he was 2 years old when the deed actually went down), his version is generally considered to be the quintessential one.
Herb Wiedoft's Orchestra
...is one of the earliest recordings (1924), although the only thing to link the song, really, is the title.
Furry Lewis
...did a version around 1927, As you can hear, the lyrics, melody, and story all started changing pretty drastically, pretty fast. 15 years after Stagolee was in his grave, his story was already pretty varied. Cool, huh?
Ma Rainey
was an "urban blues" singer (Furry and John are "country blues"- you'll hear the difference) contemporary with the rest of these guys. She did a version called Stack O' Lee that was, in fact, Frankie and Johnny with slightly tweaked lyrics. A lot of the urban blues performers were... not very original.
Moving along, they (predictably) schlocked it up pretty considerable in the '50s.
Lloyd Price
...managed to make a No. 1 hit out of it, though.
As you no doubt noticed, the same basic elements usually remain (the names, the shooting, and usually the hat)... but everything else is fair game for...modification. By the '70s, Stag's legend had grown to truly epic proportions.
Pacific Gas And Electric
...released a pretty embellished rendition, in which Stagolee goes to hell and dethrones the devil. Really... we're getting pretty out there, man.
Renditions of Stagolee have also been featured in two movies of late.
Keb Mo
...plays it in the 2007 movie Honeydripper.
and
Samuel L. Jackson
Plays a heavily modified version in Black Snake Moan (2006). I really like the first person narrative in this one. The version he's playing is actually a spinoff of R.L. Burnside's version -not the only nod to Burnside in that movie. If you haven't seen it, I recommend you go watch it and find out what I mean!
That's probably enough about Stack and Billy for one day. Hopefully you're getting a little bit of what I'm saying about the sheer breadth and depth of variation on this story. If you're really interested, I encourage you to look up some more tunes. I guarantee you won't run out anytime soon. I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite versions (for obvious reasons).
The Black Keys
...did their own Stagolee on the album they released around the time I found them (you know... before they were cool). Awesome!
I'll be back soon with some more examples of good old fashioned murder blues.
Later
-JC
I find this fascinating (in fact, the same core concept applied to languages is the primary reason I tried to minor in linguistics for awhile). If music is expressive of the human mind and heart, then when we have a song that's been played for a long time, we basically have a map of human growth and diversity over however many years we can track it back. Like analyzing the rings of a tree- a skilled student can learn many fascinating things if they listen close enough. Although to be clear, this is significantly less scientific and more interpretive, as are all things that work on a nonphysical level. I like that better anyway.
Of course, this would be a very boring blog if I didn't give you an example. My favorite example (one that has glazed the eyes of more than one hapless girlfriend) is
Stagolee
Stagolee is a (really) well known murder blues. There are several traditional murder blues songs that've been covered a lot. Frankie and johnny is a good example- I'm guessing that one actually goes back further- but one of the things I like about Stagolee is that the song can be tied concretely to the actual event that spawned it. There's a newspaper report from a 1895 copy of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat that details the events in the song. Basically, according to the paper (I'll paraphrase), the story goes like this:
"Stacker" Lee Shelton (the nickname has a bunch of variations, the most common one being "stagolee")- a pimp and a carriage driver (apparently you could be both)- and his friend William Lyons were gambling in a St. Louis Saloon on Christmas eve. Both were drunk. At some point the conversation devolved into a political argument, at the end of which Billy grabbed Lee's hat off his head. Lee told Billy to return it, and when he refused, Lee pulled a gun, shot Billy in the stomach, and walked away. Lee was arrested and Billy went to the hospital. Billy died of his wound a couple days later. Lee was convicted and died, in prison, of tuberculosis, 17 years later.
No biggie, right? I mean, it sucks, but in the grand scheme of things that shit happens every day. People really really seem to love killing each other (I'll share a couple other choice selections on the subject a bit later), and they'll jump at the opportunity. But that leads us to the other thing I think is cool about this- this is one of the most related stories in music... ever. Hundreds of people have covered it over the past hundred years. So, knowing what the event at the root is, I find it pretty fascinating to look at all the different variations that've sprung up so far.
Time for some examples.
...Is 10 enough?
Trust me, I promise this is the only time I will ever give you so many versions of the same song.... but I think this is so cool, I just can't help it this time. It's worth noting, however, that while I might be inclined to share notes with you about stylistic variations, that's not quite what I'm talking about with the tree rings thing. You can talk about music all day long, and regardless of how eloquent you are, you may still be missing the point. I feel like I've hammered this in so many ways from so many angles in the past, but in the artistic world (most of the world, really) it's the key point. So I'll italicize it this time, just to make it extra clear. It's not about facts, figures, thoughts or analysis- IT'S ALL ABOUT SOUL! So if you really want to understand what I'm talking about, close your eyes, sit back, and just listen.
Mississippi John Hurt
...covered the tune at one point. Although it's unlikely that he wrote it (he was 2 years old when the deed actually went down), his version is generally considered to be the quintessential one.
Herb Wiedoft's Orchestra
...is one of the earliest recordings (1924), although the only thing to link the song, really, is the title.
Furry Lewis
...did a version around 1927, As you can hear, the lyrics, melody, and story all started changing pretty drastically, pretty fast. 15 years after Stagolee was in his grave, his story was already pretty varied. Cool, huh?
Ma Rainey
was an "urban blues" singer (Furry and John are "country blues"- you'll hear the difference) contemporary with the rest of these guys. She did a version called Stack O' Lee that was, in fact, Frankie and Johnny with slightly tweaked lyrics. A lot of the urban blues performers were... not very original.
Moving along, they (predictably) schlocked it up pretty considerable in the '50s.
Lloyd Price
...managed to make a No. 1 hit out of it, though.
As you no doubt noticed, the same basic elements usually remain (the names, the shooting, and usually the hat)... but everything else is fair game for...modification. By the '70s, Stag's legend had grown to truly epic proportions.
Pacific Gas And Electric
...released a pretty embellished rendition, in which Stagolee goes to hell and dethrones the devil. Really... we're getting pretty out there, man.
Renditions of Stagolee have also been featured in two movies of late.
Keb Mo
...plays it in the 2007 movie Honeydripper.
and
Samuel L. Jackson
Plays a heavily modified version in Black Snake Moan (2006). I really like the first person narrative in this one. The version he's playing is actually a spinoff of R.L. Burnside's version -not the only nod to Burnside in that movie. If you haven't seen it, I recommend you go watch it and find out what I mean!
That's probably enough about Stack and Billy for one day. Hopefully you're getting a little bit of what I'm saying about the sheer breadth and depth of variation on this story. If you're really interested, I encourage you to look up some more tunes. I guarantee you won't run out anytime soon. I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite versions (for obvious reasons).
The Black Keys
...did their own Stagolee on the album they released around the time I found them (you know... before they were cool). Awesome!
I'll be back soon with some more examples of good old fashioned murder blues.
Later
-JC
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