music Archives - Page 40 of 261 - Ramblin' with Roger

Hank Williams would have been 100 years old

I Can’t Help It

Hank Williams would have been 100 years old on September 17, 2023. He died before I was born.

When I was a tween (though the term didn’t exist then), I would listen to WWVA in Wheeling, WV, a clear channel station playing country music, late at night. Hank Williams appeared often enough that I had forgotten that he was deceased.

The first listing in the book On This Day In Music History by Jay Warner, 2004 iteration, is for January 1, 1953. “Legendary country singer Hank Williams had a career forty-two hit singles, including eleven #1s such as ‘Lovesick Blues,’ Hey Good Lookin’,’Cold, Cold Heart,’ and ‘Jambalaya.'” I LOVED Hey Good Lookin’ in particular.

“The hard-drinking Mount Olive, Alabama youth (he started drinking at age eleven) started out as a songwriter in Nashville and had his first hit with ‘Move It on Over‘ in 1947. “

I swear I saw the 2015 movie I Saw The Light, starring Tom Hiddleston as Loki, I mean Hank. As I recall, it was rather bland, boring, and unfocused, though I apparently didn’t write about it. It got terrible reviews, 19% positive with critics and 37% with the audience. But I did learn that he wrote the title song, which I had assumed was an anonymous old tune.

“Troubled by back problems most of his life, pain killers, and booze became his crutch. He died of a heart attack in the rear seat of a Cadillac en route to a concert in Ohio today. He was only twenty-nine.”

I own his 40 Greatest Hits on two CDs from 1988, likely from a 1978 set of LPs.

He’s the composer.

Under soundtracks, the IMDb page has 242 references to Hank Williams as the composer and occasional performer, from Apache Country (1952) to Asteroid City (2023). It includes I Can’t Help It by Ricky Nelson, which he performed on Ozzie and Harriet in 1959.

Hank is covered a lot. Long Gone Lonesome Blues by Sheryl Crow appears on a 2001 tribute album, Timeless. There are other tribute albums as well. The one I have is The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams from 2011.

The Residents recorded Kaw-Liga in 1986. Jerry Lee Lewis took on I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive in 1995. My very favorite is Norah Jones singing Cold, Cold Heart, which appears on her debut album, Come Away With Me, which I bought in 2002.

There are three Hank Williams 100th Birthday Tribute Shows: in Leicester, England, yesterday, in Seattle today, and in Chicago tomorrow.

Sept. rambling: what is really happening

blood donations

Journalism fails miserably at explaining what is really happening to America.

August 2023, the second warmest month, closes the warmest summer, and The world’s brutal climate change report card, explained

djt explains exactly how wild and extreme his second term would be, and we’re all in law school now

‘You Will Be Removed in Jesus’s Name’: Christian Nationalist Megachurch Behind Takeover of Chino, CA School Board

NC State Republicans Try to Remove Top Jurist for Mentioning the Existence of Racial Bias

Oklahoma Superintendent Claims Tulsa Race Massacre Was Not About Race

The Disunited Methodist Church

Rights If a Family Member or Friend is Arrested

The summer food went weird: searing heat reshapes US food production

A charity can legally spend 99% on overhead

Airline Close Calls Happen Far More Often Than Previously Known

Disney and Charter Avoided Breaking the Pay TV Bundle. Is That Good?

Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force Assessment and Recommendations

The Legacy of Henrietta Lacks

How an offer by Dr. Rochelle Walensky to donate blood sparked an eight-year mission to change the nation’s antiquated rules

Kim Kardashian’s Problematic Post Is About More Than MRIs — The downside of healthcare influencers

How to Have a Great, Disabled Life

High GPAs & Growth: The 25 Fastest Growing College Towns in the U.S.

September 19, 1893: New Zealand Becomes The First Nation to Give Women the Right to Vote

Pluto TV, Tubi, Xumo Play, The Roku Channel, & More See Viewership Skyrocket 70% As Cord-Cutting Grows.

China’s Great Wall was damaged by workers looking for a shortcut

Now I Know: How 1930s Syria “Solved” Its Drought Problem: and On Tape From LA, It’s Saturday Night!

Obits

Bill Richardson, Champion of Americans Held Overseas, Dies at 75. After serving in Congress and as governor of New Mexico, he practiced quasi-public and freelance diplomacy, often with considerable success. Back in 2005, I was projecting a Russ Feingold/Bill Richardson for 2008.

Jimmy Buffett Dies at 76. The musician also expanded his iconic beach-bum image throughout his career, coming out with beach-themed clothing, a Margaritaville restaurant chain, hotels, and more.

Steve Harwell, Smash Mouth Founder and Former Lead Singer, Dies at 56

APL Centennial

Proceeds from the event benefit library programs and services. Purchase tickets here.

MUSIC

Coverville 1455: Led Zeppelin Cover Story VI and 1456: Tributes to Jimmy Buffett, Steve Harwell of Smash Mouth, and Gary Wright

Come Monday – Jimmy Buffett

Cheeseburger in Paradise – Jimmy Buffett

Bubbles Up – Jimmy Buffett.

Bubbles Up They Will Point You Towards Home
No Matter How Deep Or How Far You Roam
They Will Show You The Surface
The Plot And The Purpose
So When The Journey Gets Long
Just Know That You All Love

There Is Light Up Above And The Joy Is Always Enough
Bubbles Up

Dreamweaver – Gary Wright

All Star– Smash Mouth

Not Dark Yet (Version 1) – Bob Dylan

In honor of ADD’s love of the same, and also a recent Wordle word: I Love Onions – Laurie; Susan Christie (Lou Christie’s sister)

Batman theme – Jackey Yoshikawa & His Blue Comets

Peter Sprague Plays Coltrane’s Wise One

George Washington Bridge by William Schuman

September – Earth, Wind, and Fire

Medley from The Little Mermaid – VoicePlay

Janitor Joe – MonaLisa Twins

Good Times – Chic

It’s The End Of The World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – R.E.M.

Wake Me When September Ends -Green Day

(Sittin’ on) The Dock Of The Bay– Otis Redding

See You In September – The Happenings

This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody) -Talking Heads

Papa Was A Rolling Stone – The Temptations (12-minute version)

Sunday Stealing: Magical

anti-saucist

The Sunday Stealing prompt is stolen from Magical Journal Prompts.

1. What’s the best beach or lake day you can remember?

It was 5 a.m. in Galveston, TX, in 1996 or 1997. I walked out onto a jetty and watched the tides come in.

2. Describe your ideal picnic lunch

Cold fried chicken, fruit salad, macaroni salad, lemonade.

3. What flowers are in your bouquet?

Wildflowers. It really doesn’t matter what.

4. Silly ways to pass the time during a snowstorm

Doing play-by-play. “Mr. Jones is bringing out his industrial-strength snowplow. Will it start this time? He pulls… YES! We have ignition. Meanwhile, Mr. Jones is going old school with a shovel. Let’s hope he creates a wider path than during the last storm.”

5. The most beautiful house you’ve ever visited.

Even though it reflected the Gilded Age wretched excess, it would have to be one of Newport, Rhode Island mansions, which we visited in 2012.

6. Best place you ever dined.

Possibly Yono’s in downtown Albany, NY. It was probably for our 10th wedding anniversary.

7. How many layers to your ice cream sandwich?

I’m old school. Ice cream between two biscuits, wafers, cookies, whatever. Layers?

8. Pretty things that are faux patent leather

This is one of those clothes/fashion questions. I have no idea. Shoes, I guess.

9. What is the best way to eat chocolate?

In a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Cold milk is required.

Something highly desirable but challenging to find or obtain

10. Describe your unicorn’s special magic

The very existence of a unicorn is, by definition, magical. It flies. It’s strong and fast. Their horns purify poison water. And Uni entertains children. Here’s that Irish Rovers song, which sent to #7 on the Billboard pop charts and #2 on the Adult Contemporary charts in 1968.

11. All the fruits in your fruit salad

Strawberries, blueberries, bananas, red and green grapes, cherries.

12. Describe your magical forest’s soil, grass, trees, flowers, and rocks.

It’s magical, so I don’t need to describe it. It changes with my mood, my needs.

13. The lyrics which move you the most are:

Oh, this is tough—too many choices. Recently online, I indicated that the most romantic couplet in pop music was from Wichita Lineman by Jimmy Webb, famously recorded by Glen Campbell.

Moving in a very different way: Biko by Peter Gabriel.

Any of this quintet of melancholy songs, though it’s difficult to separate the performance from the lyrics. It’s HOW they’re sung that often resonates.

And scads of others.

14. What are the best sauces in the world?

There’s a vodka sauce we use on our pasta, Bertolli or another brand, the name of which escapes me. In general, almost all sauces meet specific needs; Worcheshire, soy, duck, and honey mustard, e.g. I refuse to be saucist about it.

15. Write a haiku about nature

The earth is on fire

What will the future bring us?

Must fix, yesterday!

Music that’s gone to the dogs

Beatles, Royal Guardsmen, and, of course, Rufus Thomas

Oh, no, I missed National Dog Day on August 26. But we’re still in the midst of Responsible Dog Ownership Month. We can still celebrate National Dog Week, September 20-26. Why Dog Day isn’t in Dog Week, I just don’t know. And here are more celebrations.

Now for some music that’s gone to the dogs. Two things: I own physical copies of each of these songs and not all of them are actually about dogs.

Black Dog – Led Zeppelin

Diamond Dogs – David Bowie. The title song of the album.

Dirty Old Egg Sucking Hound – Johnny Cash, from the “comedy” album, Everybody Loves A Nut.

Hey, Bulldog – The Beatles. The group was supposed to record a promotional film for Lady Madonna but decided to record a new song instead upon arrival. A great song and a joyous video. The recording ended up on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack.

Hound Dog – Big Mama Thornton. Reportedly, someone did a cover of this, which was fairly successful.

(How Much Is) That Doggie In the Window – Patti Page

I Love My Dog – Cat Stevens

I’ll Be Doggone – Marvin Gaye

More canine choruses

Jealous Dogs – The Pretenders. I was playing my Pretenders albums in honor Chrissie Hynde (7th) and Martin Chambers (4th), whose birthdays are both in September, and I had forgotten about this song.

Martha My Dear – Beatles. Paul’s English sheepdog, a factoid I’ve known since before the group broke up.

My Dog and Me – John Hiatt

Old King – Neil Young

Quiche Lorraine– The B-52’s. For the second time this year, the song appears in this blog.

A Salty Dog– Procol Harum. The “salty dog” in question is the captain of a majestic sailing ship.

Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron – The Royal Guardsmen. The RGs had a few Snoopy songs, including a relatively dark one, Snoopy v. Osama, which I wrote about here and here.

Walking the Dog – Rufus Thomas. He had several dog songs, including No More Doggin’ Around (from 1952!), The Dog, Can Your Monkey Do The Dog, and Somebody Stole My Dog (all from 1963 and ’64).

Movie review: Golda

Henry Purcell

Right after we got home from church, my wife said we had to go NOW if we were celebrating National Cinema Day with $4 tickets. I didn’t know that she’d selected a movie to see at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany.

I knew nothing about the film Golda, except that it was about the late Israeli prime minister and starred Helen Mirren.

After a cursory history of Israel (formed in 1948 and fought the Six-Day War in 1967), we heard a discussion among Israel’s military leaders about what turned out to be the Yom Kippur War of 1973. There were disagreements about strategies in anticipation of Egyptian and Syrian military buildups; a preemptive strike by Israel would have been unacceptable to the US leadership of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger.

What I learned in the film is that Golda Meir smoked cigarettes. She smoked a LOT of cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes was hazardous to her health.

Meanwhile, the battles far from Tel Aviv seemed at arm’s length, hearing about defeats and victories via audio transmissions.

I was not engaged in the film until about halfway through when Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber) arrived. There’s subsequently a good scene with multiple phones and a few others. But it was too little, too late.

Wanted more

Golda Meir, the person, is intriguing; she was born in Kiev/Kyiv in 1898, immigrated with her family to Milwaukee, and then emigrated to Palestine with her husband in 1921. She became the first female head of government in the Middle East.

Golda, the movie, is, according to critic Todd Jorgenson of Cinemalogueone” “.. .uninvolving as a political thriller and incomplete as a recap of Golda’s background and rise to power. It remains emotionally detached while struggling to penetrate her steely gaze.” I’ll buy that. It was 51% positive with the critics, though 89% with the audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Music

One thing I loved was the outro music. It was from Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, specifically Dido’s Lament from the aria “When I am laid in earth.” Conductor Leopold Stokowski wrote a transcription of the piece for the symphony orchestra.

Here’s a version conducted by Stokowski. The video has too much background hiss, but I love that the conductor announces that it’s a piece “we all know.”

Listen to a version from the 1995 Proms, conducted by Andrew Davis.

One last thing: to the woman whose cellphone rang at least four times during the film- Grawlix.