Download: "Vote" mp3 by Chris Stamey and Yo La Tengo Public Service Announcement "Time Has Come Today" mp3 by The Chambers Brothers, 1968. available on The Time Has Come "Stand!" mp3 by Sly and the Family Stone, 1969. avaliable on Stand! "Yes We Can Can" mp3 by Allen Toussaint, 2005. available on Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast [...]
It's one of rock'n'roll's most worn-out cliches that the Devil has the best tunes. But as this selection highlights, Jesus has his fair share of great songs too. MP3: Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers Parts Two & Three There's something slightly menacing about this song, the second track on Neutral Milk Hotel's masterpiece In The Aeroplane Over Sea . In fact, I've found that singing the opening aloud after a few pale ales does indeed scare people. [...]
It's one of rock'n'roll's most worn-out cliches that the Devil has the best tunes. But as this selection highlights, Jesus has his fair share of great songs too. MP3: Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers Parts Two & Three There's something slightly menacing about this song, the second track on Neutral Milk Hotel's masterpiece In The Aeroplane Over Sea . In fact, I've found that singing the opening aloud after a few pale ales does indeed scare people. [...]
Tough times begat tough songs. Woody Guthrie sang about 'em years back, and with all the chatter about a new Depression , it seems that "Talking Them Dust Bowl Blues" works for today's Rock Clip of the Week.
The other day I posted a first batch of songs that had been recorded as tributes to other artists. Originally I planned to just write one post on the theme but when I realised that a Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie thread ran through so many of the songs, a separate selection seemed justified... MP3: Dan Bern - Talkin' Woody Bob Bruce Dan Blues (live) MP3: Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (acoustic) [...]
The other day I posted a first batch of songs that had been recorded as tributes to other artists. Originally I planned to just write one post on the theme but when I realised that a Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie thread ran through so many of the songs, a separate selection seemed justified... MP3: Dan Bern - Talkin' Woody Bob Bruce Dan Blues (live) MP3: Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (acoustic) [...]
I love it when artists use literary references in their work. I can just imagine Woody Guthrie sitting on a train thumbing through a copy of The Grapes of Wrath, John Darnielle boning up on his Beowulf or MC Lars donning his monocle to recite some Poe... Anyone out there have any other favorite literary illusions in songs? A Pict Song- Billy Brag (A Pict Song, Rudyard Kipling) Tom Joad Part 1
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , Video , Exclusive Spinner.com : Last October, Tim Robbins, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, the Tangents, a reunited Brad and Tom Morello joined together to salute Woody Guthrie and his wife, Marjorie, in order to raise funds for the Huntington's Disease Society of America (HDSA). The... Read more
In the 1880s, large numbers of newly freed slaves were hired to help build the railroads. In this period, the legend of John Henry was born. One of the most important jobs at that time was cutting blasting holes into the sides of mountains; explosives were than placed in these holes to make tunnels. These blasting holes were originally cut by hand by men like John Henry, who wielded large hammers to accomplish the task. In time, technological advances brought the steam drill, and threatened these men's jobs. The legend and the song tell of how John Henry [...]
MP3: Jonatha Brooke - "There's More True Lovers Than One" from The Works, out today on Bad Dog Records. This is the first album of previously unheard lyrics by Woody Guthrie set to original music written and performed by a...
I'm sitting here watching the Democratic National Convention, which is something else. Hundreds of political bigwigs, dressed in stern suits, acting like cheerleaders with the banners, cheering, waving at the camera, etc. I almost expected Howard Dean to streak. So as this damn election continues to never end, here are some political songs. Trying playing them over the campaign commercials; it make might make them more enjoyable. Kodiak - Political World (Bob Dylan) An underrated gem from Dylan's underrated Oh Mercy , [...]
The Olympics were a grand spectacle of human excellence and a welcome break from the nightly onslaught of bad news. I've always enjoyed watching the Olympics and the Beijing Olympics were an exciting couple of weeks. No Olympics has been without controversy, but you've got to hand it to China for hosting a great event. Congratulations to all of the athletes. Now that the Olympics are over, the other event that only comes around every four years is about to begin in earnest. The national conventions of both major American political parties will [...]
Woody Guthrie: Riding in My Car [ purchase ] Bruce Springsteen: Riding in My Car [ purchase ] Elizabeth Mitchell: Car Car [ purchase ] Woody and Arlo Guthrie: Riding In My Car [ purchase ] Every time someone tries to deify the great troubadors of early folk in my presence, I remember that I grew up listening to [...]
my afternoon at starbucks had a welcome interruption yesterday with the opening guitar strums of "california stars", one of the woody guthrie songs that billy bragg worked with wilco in bringing to life in the mermaid avenue series. i had almost forgotten how much i loved this song when i first started listening to wilco, starting with the perfection of yankee hotel foxtrot and working my way back to their older country days. "california stars" has been a live favorite of theirs for years, and this version (live at the ryman, nashville in '02, [...]
Jonatha Brooke's The Works will be released on August 26th and features guests Keb' Mo', Derek Trucks, Eric Bazialian, and Glen Phillips. Though I didn't realize it when I first listened to and fell in love with the brilliant new album, The Works is a kind of tribute to Woody Guthrie. Jonatha was invited by Guthrie's daughter Nora to glean previously unreleased material from The Woody Guthrie Archives and set lyrics written by the legendary singer-songwriter to new, original music. In Nora Guthrie's own words, "For the first time ever, a woman has composed, arranged, produced [...]
One of the things I like to do here at Setting The Woods On Fire is to compile what I call the "original" version of well-known cover albums. It's no secret that The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo was an important album in the development of country rock. (Read about it here , here , and here .) But you might be surprised to learn that nine of the eleven songs were covers. Listening to earlier versions of the songs covered by The Byrds, along with two originals written by then-member [...]
I was recently interviewed by Tami Althoff of The Oklahoman about being on the Oklahoma Official Rock Song advisory panel . That story appears in The Oklahoman today (read the full article after the jump) . Remember, public nominations for the state's official rock song close at the end of this month, so get to it quickly! To nominate a song, visit oklahomarocksong.org . For more information on "Another Hot Oklahoma Night", visit anotherhotoklahomanight.org . (more...)
Over at Star Maker Machine this week we've been tackling state songs; songs, that is, about each of the 50 states of the good ole US of A, as opposed to official state songs. In addition to the posts I made over there, I decided that it would be a good idea to run my own list of all the states...this was perhaps a mistake, because I have just spent about four days scouring my music library, finding songs, making very difficult decisions about what to include and what to cull, and generally... Please visit Ceci N'est [...]
At the risk of my father calling me a "commie pinko" and rolling his eyes, MOKB wishes Woody Guthrie a happy post-mortem birthday today. The American folk-singer is thankfully still a great influence on today's modern musicians and songwriters. He wrote more than 1,400 songs in his all-too-brief lifetime (55-years old at death) and was a primary influence of such musical greats like Bob Dylan. Always one of my favorite songs, This Land Is Your Land seemed to be a [...]
Over at Star Maker Machine this week we've been tackling state songs; songs, that is, about each of the 50 states of the good ole US of A, as opposed to official state songs. In addition to the posts I made over there, I decided that it would be a good idea to run my own list of all the states...this was perhaps a mistake, because I have just spent about four days scouring my music library, finding songs, making very difficult decisions about what to include and what to cull, and generally... Please visit Ceci N'est [...]
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Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
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American Idol Finalists: where are they now?
