Certain Songs

Certain Songs #1946: Robert Johnson – “Stop Breakin’ Down Blues”

October 29, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: The Centennial Collection
Year: 1937

. . .

Of course, like most rockboys of my generation, I came to Robert Johnson’s music through second-hand sources. The Rolling Stones “Love in Vain,” (shamefully credited to “Woody Payne” on Let It Bleed), Cream’s cover of “Cross Roads Blues,” (or more accurately, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s cover of Cream’s “Crossroads,”), the, um, er Blues Brothers cover of “Sweet Home Chicago”, and so on and so forth.

And while the Johnson covers dried up as the years went on, there were still the occasional great ones, like Gil Scott-Heron’s utterly chilling take on “Me and The Devil Blues” that somehow updated the original while still retaining all of the darkness.

Certain Songs #1945: Robert Johnson – “Hellhound on My Trail”

October 28, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: The Centennial Collection
Year: 1937

. . .

All of the Robert Johnson records that are extant were recorded in a pair of sessions in Texas: 1936 in San Antonio and 1937 in Dallas. Of course had he lived, Johnson probably would have gone on to record, and possibly even been feted more fully, as folks like John Hammond and Alex Lomax had heard those recording and wanted more, especially before they knew he was dead.

But, of course, his death is part of the legend. Not how he died, but that he died: it meant that all we would have — all we would ever have — are the fruits of those two recording sessions, meaning that his music get never got changed by time or circumstance.

Certain Songs #1944: Robert Johnson – “Kind Hearted Woman Blues”

October 27, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: The Centennial Collection
Year: 1936

. . .

This is probably the oldest song I’m going to cover on Certain Songs. I’m not going to say that it’s the oldest song I love — after all, both “Wild Mountain Thyme” and “La Bamba” probably go back centuries — but, with the possible exception of something from one of the Harry Smith anthologies, it’s the oldest captured performance that resonates with me.

“Kind Hearted Woman Blues” was the very first song that famed country producer Don Law — a great reminder at how musically artificial some of the divides of American popular music truly are — recorded with Johnston after Law probably walked up to him and said, “here I am, let’s make records!” And the first result was a timeless tale of lust, frustration and infidelity.

Certain Songs #1943: Robbie Robertson – “Broken Arrow”

October 26, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Robbie Robertson
Year: 1987

. . .

Robbie Robertson is an interesting figure, especially given the ongoing resentment against him for how The Band broke up and how the aftermath of that break-up treated the other guys.

That said, he’s an all-timer just for his work in the decade from 1966-1976. Or for that matter, the first two Band albums. Or for that matter, his work with Dylan. Or for that matter, his guitar playing on the 1966 tour, which remains some of the most powerful and unique rock guitar ever played — one of the keys to music that remains unmatched.

Certain Songs #1942: Robbie Fulks – “Aunt Peg’s New Old Man”

October 24, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Upland Stories
Year: 2016

. . .

Alt-country weirdo lifer Robbie Fulks has been making records since the mid-1990s, and I’ll admit that I still haven’t heard half of them, but one of the ones I have heard was 2016’s Upland Stories, which ended up being one of my favorite albums of that year, which utterly surprised me.

Certain Songs #1941: River Roses – “Dark Stroll”

October 23, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

. . .

Album: Each and All
Year: 1988

. . .

And sometimes I just don’t remember. That’s always part of the fun in a project like this: trying to remember exactly how you came across a song that you’ve loved for decades and decades. Especially when it’s the only song you remember by that artist. And it’s an obscure artist, to boot.

And so, I’m going to do a lot of guesswork here, and say that River Roses played Fresno at some point during the dark summer of 1988. Perhaps at Manchester Mall. I have a weird memory of seeing shows there, but for the life of me, I don’t remember where or when.

Certain Songs #1940: Ritchie Valens – “La Bamba”

October 22, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Single, 1958

. . .

There’s this great podcast that I just discovered during the lockdown called A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs by a droll Englishman named Andrew Hickey. He’s already done 100 episodes, so I’ve been grazing to catch up, but one of the things that I learned recently was that “La Bamba” might have been around for centuries as a Mexican folk song.

Which makes sense, because it’s one of those songs that feels like it was written in our DNA, that was always out there hanging around, waiting patiently until the technology to actually record it existed.

Certain Songs #1939: Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow – “Kill The King”

October 21, 2020 by Jim Connelly 2 Comments

Album: Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
Year: 1978

. . .

Yeah, I know it’s officially “Rainbow,” but for some reason — maybe their first album — I always thought of them as “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, which is where I had them on my master playlist, so this is both in and out of alphabetical order.

Ritchie Blackmore was probably my first guitar hero: the guy whose tone and general mastery of hard rock guitar spoke to me in my early teens. And so, even after he split from Deep Purple and started making records with a tiny necromancer named Ronnie James Dio, I was at least marginally curious, and “Man on The Silver Mountain” was enough of simulacrum of Purple to sound good to me when it was on the radio.

That said, the only one of his albums I bought was 1978’s Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll. I don’t remember why, though it probably had something to do with hearing the title track on Rock 96 FM, and generally agreeing with the sentiment. :: Flashes Devil Horns ::

Certain Songs #1938: Ringo Starr – “Photograph”

October 20, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Ringo
Year: 1973

. . .

1973 was the year when whatever made me a music fanatic finally completely broke loose in my brain, and I spent that year utterly immersed in the glories of AM Top 40 radio, often hearing songs three or four times a day — I mean, when I wasn’t in school or some stupid shit like that.

And, of course, the ones I loved to pieces I started buying as singles — “Daniel” and “Cisco Kid” were the first two of many — but even the ones I just liked a lot I memorized completely.

Certain Songs #1937: Ringo Starr – “It Don’t Come Easy”

October 19, 2020 by Jim Connelly 1 Comment

Single, 1971

Recorded a full year before it was released as a single, “It Don’t Come Easy” was the first of a ridiculous run of Ringo Starr singles.

And I do mean ridiculous: from 1971 – 1975, every single single Ringo released made the the top ten, two of them peaking at #1. That’s a better five-year run than — to pull some random names out of a hat — John Lennon, George Harrison or Paul McCartney ever had. Though Macca ended up with more, eventually.