Stagger Lee Saturdays - Foghorn Stringband

Foghorn Stringband (official bio AMG MyS FB) are an old-timey bluegrass band from Portland, OR. They just completed a major European tour and have their whole summer planned out (including a folk fest next weekend -- if you're in the area, I'm jealous).

This is fast and furious (in a slightly different way from this take on Stag), and the speed and energy the band put into this are almost punishing -- I can't imagine any group of five people keeping this up live for an hour. This is from the band's major label debut in 2005, and their devoted network of fans have kept them touring ever since.

The main original lyrical motif in this version is that we can't find out exactly what time of day the shooting happened -- but it was rainy.

Foghorn Stringband - Stagger Lee
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Buy via the band

Wedding Wednesdays - Michael Bublé - You And I

Got a few more wedding songs to upload for all of you. This is a song written by Stevie Wonder -- we already heard from him both on this blog and at the wedding, which is why I'm not posting the original. (It's not a coincidence, though -- Stevie is high in the list of our top ten favorite musicians as a couple. He might even be in the top three.)

Michael Bublé (official mySpace wiki AMG) is a Canadian big band/swing crooner, who's been doing some press the last few weeks connected with the Olympics and his upcoming tour. We'll hear his cover of the Stevie Wonder song today (but during our actual wedding ceremony the song was performed by the bride's sister, who did a great job and blew us all away). The album this song comes from also includes Michael's version of "Try A Little Tenderness," and his lackluster cover of "Can't Buy Me Love."

Michael Bublé - You And I
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Buy from Amazon -- Buy from Deep Discount

Multiple Mondays: Must Be Santa!

This will absolutely be the silliest Multiple Monday ever, and it's also another oddball one. We're looking at some wildly different (but all closely-related) versions of a call-and-response style of song. (Next week I can put up a regular MM post, I think.)

So, sometime in the last four hundred years (estimates vary and historians are widely divided on the genealogy of the song), German-speakers came up with a call-and-response song named "Schnitzelbank." It's known in America these days as a drinking song heard at Oktoberfests all around the country.

First, we'll hear a traditional Oktoberfest version from Schwarze Schafe, then a kiddie parody from The Biscuit Brothers. Bill Haley and His Comets rewrite it and rock it up as "Rockin' Rollin' Schnitzelbank." Next, the version probably best known to Americans under 35 and not of German heritage, the version from Animaniacs.

Okay, so in 1953, Mel Blanc recorded a holiday version of "Schnitzelbank" entitled "Ya, Das Ist Ein Christmas Tree" which is an excuse to showcase his incredible voice talents. And that was in turn parodied decades later by Joel Kopischke as "Stupid Christmas Song."

Somewhere in the middle of all this mess, our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft, added his own version of the song, a silly love song called "Oh You Sweet One."

Now, finally, we come to the point. At least by 1961, which is when Mitch Miller committed his version to tape, we got around to hearing "Must Be Santa." It retains the structure and polka style of "Schnitzelbank" but changes the tune a little and the lyrics a lot. Now it's all about the fat man in the red suit. (I know, I know, I'd never have guessed I'd post a Mitch Miller track on this blog, but it really brings out the call-and-response aspect, and I don't have another good classic take on the song.)

I'd intended at this point in the post to write a long review of Bob's album, but it's been done other places by better, more knowledgeable writers and this post is already a leetle long. So, let me just say this: it's not a particularly good Christmas album, and it's not a particularly good Dylan album. (Bob is one of those people like Tom Waits or Lou Reed, who has the ability to make sweet pretty music but doesn't do so very often. He doesn't try to make any of these songs particularly pretty, and most of them were written to be pretty.)

It is, however, all for charity. A good charity. There's no buy link today, just a link to donate to that charity. "Must Be Santa" is the best track on the album, largely because (in my opinion) it doesn't express or try to inspire reverence for the holiday which means a lot of different things to a lot of different people (and has meant several different things to Bob over the span of his career, I'd bet).

Then, after Bob finishes up, we have the triumphant return of Glenn Campbot, with his ladyfriend Linda Ronbodt, singing "Must Be Giftbot." I love me some singing robots. As always, I recommend the zipfile.

Zipfile

1. Schwarze Schafe - Die Schnitzelbank 1 2
2. The Biscuit Brothers - Schnitzelbank 1 2
3. Bill Haley and His Comets - Rockin' Rollin' Schnitzelbank 1 2
4. Animaniacs - Schnitzelbank 1 2
5. Mel Blanc - Ya, Das Ist Ein Christmas Tree 1 2
6. Joel Kopischke - Stupid Christmas Song 1 2
7. Thurl Ravenscroft - Oh You Sweet One 1 2
8. Mitch Miller and The Gang - Must Be Santa 1 2
9. Bob Dylan - Must Be Santa 1 2
10. Glenn Campbot and Linda Ronbodt - Must Be Giftbot 1 2

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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Paul Asbell

Paul Asbell (official MySpace AMG) is a well-traveled Chicago boy (if you click on either of the first two links, you can see the impressive list of people he's played with), now transplanted to Vermont, where he plays his blend of acoustic folk blues and even gives private lessons.

This take on Stag is from Paul's 2005 album Steel String Americana, which also includes a Dr. John cover and the girl-group classic "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" In the liner notes, Paul writes:

"Stack-O-Lee, Stagolee, Staggerlee... there are as many musical variants of this folk epic as there are spellings of the man's name. And i mean entirely different SONGS here, with different melodies, refrains- practically everything different except the mythical bad dude with the original bad 'tude. ... The Louisiana variant of this tune seems to represent a different branch of the Stagolee tree than the Furry Lewis/John Hurt songster variant. My version comes more from the Louisiana side of the family."

I really like the opening line, with it's understated assertion that Stag and Billy "just couldn't get along," and the emphasis on the oral folk tradition that gave birth to this song, with the repeated "'That right? You don't say!"

Folks, I'm on vacation starting Tuesday, so there may be no Stagger Lee next Saturday. I'm going to try to get one in the pipeline, but I have an awful lot to do between now and then, so no promises.

Paul Asbell - Stack A Lee
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Buy from Paul Asbell hisownself

Long-overdue Mike Doughty post

So it's been four weeks now since LebowskiFest, and I just couldn't seem to get these posts up. Sorry 'bout that. (There were a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of strands in the ol' Duder's head.)

Mike Doughty was by no means the only artist playing at LebowskiFest. However, he was certainly my favorite (and he seems to have enjoyed himself). He used to be in a band called Soul Coughing -- maybe you've heard of them? -- but left to pursue his folk-rock troubadour muse.

I've heard a few live recordings of Mike Doughty, and they were all with a full rock and roll band, but for this show he only brought his exquisitely talented guitarist Andrew "Scrap" Livingston, which was just fine with me. The show had a real intimate vibe to it, odd considering it was attended by hundreds of fans, outside a bowling alley. Sadly, I didn't get to hear a few of my five favorite Mike Doughty songs (for example, "Fort Hood," which you can hear by clicking to his MySpace page via his name above), but he did play my two favorites, and even his cover of "The Gambler." He also played his song "I Hear The Bells," which contains possibly the funniest rhyming couplet in the history of pop music, even better than Frankie Laine's line from "High Noon:"

"He made a vow while in state prison,
Vowed it would be my life or his'n..."

(I won't tell you what Mike's line is, but you'll recognize it when you hear it.)

Here are a few studio cuts from Mike Doughty, songs I particularly liked the live performances of. Come back Monday for about nine versions of "Dead Flowers," which'll be my final LebowskiFest post this year.

Zip file
Buy Golden Delicious from Mike

Dr. Dog - Say Something

From Dr. Dog's 2005 album Easy Beat comes a lovely slab of post-Beatles rock.

I don't have much to say about this song, because I love it so much I don't actually trust my love. This song hits me in the same places that early Kinks and late Beatles do, in the places where The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev collide. I don't know if there's a categorization for that, but there's a warmth to it, and an expression of the joy of playing music.

Brian Wilson wrote that he wanted people who listened to Pet Sounds to feel loved. This song (and the record as a whole) has that same feeling for me.

Dr. Dog - Say Something
Buy from record label -- Buy from CD Universe

Stagger Lee Saturdays - Marseilles Figs

I know I promised all of you a post about The New Pornographers, but it's Saturday, and you all know what that means. (You'll get that post tomorrow, I promise.)

Marseilles Figs are a UK band that play cabaret-vaudeville indie pop (that's not a very precise definition of their style, but it'll do for now). This is a version of Stag they recorded for a lovely animated film currently in production (still to the right there). If you click this link, you can watch the first minute or so of the film, and it makes me happy in all sorts of places.

Marseilles Figs - Staggerlee
No buy link, as the CD is out of print, but you can visit the band's website and download a lot more from them for free.

Beck - Which Will

I was reorganizing my MP3s today, and ran across this, which I downloaded who knows when from who knows where.

I've listened to it about twenty times since. All I know about it is that Beck released it on his website in 2005, along with two other Nick Drake covers, which I sadly don't have copies of. I'm supposed to be asleep, so you don't get any other fun links now.

Beck - Which Will

Chris Hatfield - Born-Again Pagan

Chris Hatfield recorded this original song for a Christmas compilation in 2005, which was (and still is) available for free online.

This song is basically the true history of Christmas in three minutes, in keeping with this week's Movie Night selection of The God Who Wasn't There.

Chris Hatfield - Born-Again Pagan