A collection of links to video clips, music shops, tutorial clips, etc.
Mostly . . . US country / old time/rock and roll(a bit); Blues; English, Irish folk; humour and curiosities; sixties stuff
This song, In 1983 a Merman I Shall Turn to Be (or something like that), is on Hendrix's Electric Ladyland album. It's over 13 minutes long and it's great. This version seems almost acoustic.
Young brother, young brother hey? although you are crying to me Your father has left us He has gone to the place of the dead Protect the head of the living, protect the orphan child
Interpreting the Song:
This interpretation and lyrics come from one very old lady, living in Fataleka (one of the Solomon Islands), as translated by her grandchildren. The song is said to be very old and hence the new generation does not understand every word.
The song is about a young child crying because he does not see his father with the family. In response his elder sister sung this song to comfort as well as tell him the reality, with an appeal for their deceased father to protect this child in the land of the living (local ancient belief is that the dead care for loved ones they left behind).
This guy, Eden Ahbez, was a bohemian type living in California in the 40s. Apparently he lived for a long while behind the "L" in the big Hollywood sign. He wrote the song Nature Boy that was a hit for Nat King Cole. These clips show him meeting up with Nat King Cole for the first time.
He rides his bike on stage and seems to speak from a pre-arranged script about how he likes to live simply and close to nature. He says he's staying in the best hotel - Central Park. I initially thought he meant he was really staying in a grand hotel, but I think he means he was sleeping in the park.
One thing that sounds a bit weird these days is his saying that he'd like a jeep so he could "get to nature more quickly".
Eden Ahbez died in the mid-90s aged 85 when he was run over by a lorry while riding his bike.
Other Hollywood sign curiousities: In 1932, Welsh actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping from the letter "H" when she thought her career was on the slide. Ironically, when she jumped there was already a letter in the post offering her a big part in a film. Even more ironically, the character they wanted her to play was a woman who commits suicide.
Lonnie Donegan singing Whoa Buck. Lonnie Donegan was a skiffle performer in the UK in the 50s. He copied a lot of songs from American blues artists, particularly Lead Belly, and, so I've heard, claimed them as his own.
This song was recorded by Lead Belly but also features on a very early recording of prison chain gangs in Mississippi.
Dock Boggs recorded these songs in the 20s or 30s. He gave up music and went back to mine working - he'd also had a spell as a bootlegger during Prohibition. Like a lot of those old guys, he was "rediscovered" in the folk and blues movement of the 60s and took up music again.
A couple of songs from the 60s. I think Canned Heat are still going in some form, though Alan Wilson and Bob Hite have been dead for years. Alan Wilson wrote both these songs (on the road again adapted from old blues songs). He died of a drugs overdose at the age of 27 in the tradition of rock musicians.
The name "canned heat" came from an old song called Canned Heat Blues - a reference to drinking Sterno ( a cleaning fluid) by desperate alcoholics.
I remember this song from the Donovan version in '65.I didn't realise it had such a deep (but unclear) history.Some people say it was written by Itschak Katsenelson (1886-1944) in the Warsaw ghetto or actually in a cattle truck on the way to a concentration camp. The wikipedia version says that it was a Yiddish song written in Nazi Germany in the 30s and performed in a play called "Esterke" in 1940 - obviously not performed in Germany at that time.
Just stumbled on this one. Nice bit of fingerstyle guitar to try and copy. George Harrison wrote some good songs, didn't he?
Memphis Jug Band - On the road again Great song (but dodgy lyrics!). Recorded in 1929. Just a photo accompanying it - what can you expect for nearly 80 years ago! I've got this song on a CD that came with a book of Bob Crumb drawings of old time American music. Highly recommended. Yours for $20!
I also remember this from the 60s. It used to be played a lot on pirate radio. It turns out that the guy who started Radio Caroline also had a record label and this was the first release.
Mark Almond did a version in the 80s.
I was curious as to what the story behind it was. Apparently it was about a friend of David McWilliams who went down the tubes with alcohol. David McWilliams was from Belfast and died in 2002.
Stumbled on this YouTube site. She is a Celtic harpist, but also has lots of other clips on the site. I was actually looking for a guy called Andrew Cronshaw and I found this clip of a bike ride on the moors with moody music. Bit short though.