There are a lot of great labor-themed songs — Navigator, I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night, Plenty Tough, Union Made, and John Henry. This is my favorite, I first heard it when I saw Harlan County USA in 1988, which I remember like it was yesterday. I’ll put up Navigator too. What are …
Music
Song of the week
Rusty Zinn, “The Chill” (2000) Here’s the reason I use shuffle. I’ve got a handful of those great Alligator collections but somehow never quite get around to giving them a proper listen. (What’s the appropriate occasion? Maybe Labor Day weekend?) But when the right song pops up at the right moment and bops you on …
Do you want to see me crawl across the floor?
I’d gladly do it. We got to get ABL back here somehow! Also too, I love begging and hoping-against-hope songs, so I’m making this a regular feature until ABL comes back. Jewish Steel is a big Clapton fan and requested I start with this one. What are your favorite beg-you-to-take-me-back songs?
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Open Thread: Let all the children boogie, Doctor
Philip Sandifer at Tardis Eruditorium sent me scurrying to watch Mr Bowie on Top of the Pops. Those eyes, those lips, those hips, all mine again for three more minutes, with little Micky Ronson sidling into shot just like he sidled through the bedroom door that wet Sunday afternoon in David’s suite in the Dorchester, …
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I spoke not a word, though it meant my life
This is fascinating, especially for a lyrics freak like me: At Woodstock, Joan Baez sang a famous folk ballad celebrating Joe Hill, the itinerant miner, songwriter and union activist who was executed by a Utah firing squad in 1915. “I never died, said he” is the song’s refrain. Hill’s status as a labor icon and …
I spoke not a word, though it meant my lifePost + Comments (41)
Song of the week
From Can’t Explain. ————– Skylark, “Wildflower” (1973) Who says Canadians can’t play soul music? Skylark was basically another project that emerged out of the welter of Ronnie Hawkins’s many and various backup bands, which include the Band. The guy had a knack for spotting talent. “Wildflower” was a big hit in the early ’70s, both …
Because Someone Has to Go There…
…The inevitable musical storm open thread. The original for what has to be our theme song for the next couple of days seems to be breaking the front page, but here’s my favorite cover. <div align=”center”><iframe width=”420″ height=”345″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/-Y0VhPXOooQ” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div> …I’ve also long been partial to Willie’s version: <div align=”center”><iframe width=”420″ height=”345″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/W1Sc77hTkx0″ frameborder=”0″ …