Glad It’s Over?

There are most likely many happy people in America this morning, and a lot of disgruntled, disappointed ones. By far, most people seem to be simply relieved it’s over.

It’s been a nasty and brutal year leading up to Election Day, so nasty you’d think the Civil War had started up again. Hell, even the band The Civil Wars broke up. That’s how divided everyone is.

So it’s time to move on. Congratulations to President Obama and Mr. Romney for getting their respective messages out to so many people – let’s hope we can find some ground in the middle from which we can work to solve our problems.

MP3: “Come Together” (live) by John Lennon & Elephant’s Memory

MP3: “Let’s Work Together” by Canned Heat

MP3: “One Time One Night” by Los Lobos

MP3: “Chimes of Freedom” by The Byrds

MP3: “The Rising” by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

MP3: “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream” by Johnny Cash

MP3: “Find The Cost of Freedom” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

MP3: “Blame It On Obama” by Andre Williams

MP3: “Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze” (live at Woodstock) by Jimi Hendrix

Video Du Jour (Part Trois): Bob Dylan

From the premiere of “The Johnny Cash Show” on ABC-TV in 1969. The show’s first-episode guests were Joni Mitchell, Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw – and Bob Dylan.

Video Du Jour: Johnny Cash

Happy birthday, Johnny Cash. He would have been 80 years old today.

Video Du Jour: Johnny Cash

Sorry we haven’t posted anything this week – we’ve been listening to that new Springsteen record. So to make it up to you, here’s “Help Me,” from the great Johnny Cash in 2006.

Veterans’ Day: Thank You

Today is Veterans’ Day in the United States – a day we set aside each year to honor and give thanks to the men and women who have defended our many freedoms.   Veterans’  Day is close to the holiday season that includes Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that helps us to remember that many of these brave people in uniform will not be home with family and friends over that celebratory time.

Thank you for your sacrifice, and your patriotism.

MP3: “Sam Stone” by John Prine

MP3: “Born In The U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

MP3: “The Ballad Of Ira Hayes” by Johnny Cash

MP3: “Johnny Come Lately” by Steve Earle

MP3: “Red, White and Blue” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

MP3: “Soldier’s Last Letter” by Merle Haggard

MP3: “MIA” by Avenged Sevenfold

MP3: “And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” by the Pogues

MP3: “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger

Prison Closing Blues

The Central Unit in Sugar Land is now closed. (Photo by Justin Dehn/Texas Tribune)

Here’s a new one: in Texas, we’re shutting down a prison. Not because there aren’t enough inmates – no, they have shut down one of the state’s oldest prisons because they want to turn the property into a shopping center.

Texas is looking for ways to save money and shutting the Central Unit in Sugar Land will save about $12 million a year. Texas bought the prison property in 1908 from Imperial Sugar, the company for which Sugar Land was named. The current prison, built in 1932, housed more than 1,000 inmates at times.

It was originally called the Imperial State Prison Farm, and one of its most famous occupants was Huddie Ledbetter, who was imprisoned there in 1918 or so. That’s where the singer known as Leadbelly most likely learned the traditional song “Midnight Special.” Leadbelly added some lyrics and it’s a classic today.

So today let’s spin some jail songs.

MP3: “Midnight Special” by Leadbelly

MP3: “Life In Prison” by the Byrds

MP3: “I Fought The Law” by the Bobby Fuller Four

MP3: “San Quentin” (live) by Johnny Cash

MP3: “Mama Tried” by Merle Haggard

MP3: “Prison Song” by Graham Nash

MP3: “Christmas In Prison” by John Prine

MP3: “County Jail” by Muddy Waters

MP3: “Ellis Unit One” by Steve Earle

MP3: “Penetentiary Blues” by Lightnin’ Hopkins w/Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

MP3: “Jailhouse Rock” by ZZ Top

MP3: “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash

70 Years Out: Bob Dylan

This week (May 24) Bob Dylan will celebrate his 70th birthday. Probably the most important figure in popular music, Dylan has built a body of work that is breathtaking in its scope. On top of that, it would be quite fair to say that when Dylan was at his peak in the 1960s his music helped change the world. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny his powerful influence on rock music. Thanks, Bob.

MP3: “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (live) by Bob Dylan & the Band

MP3: “Like A Rolling Stone” (live) by Jimi Hendrix

MP3: “Watching The River Flow” by Leon Russell

MP3: “One More Cup of Coffee” by Roger McGuinn & Calexico

MP3: “To Ramona” by the Flying Burrito Brothers

MP3: “Thunder On The Mountain” by Wanda Jackson

MP3: “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” by the Grateful Dead

MP3: “Girl From The North Country” by Johnny Cash & Joni Mitchell

MP3: “Si Tu Dois Partir” by Fairport Convention

MP3: “Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar” by Bob Dylan

MP3: “My Back Pages” by the Hollies

MP3: “Masters of War” by Pearl Jam

MP3: “If Not For You” by Olivia Newton John

MP3: “Come Una Pietra Scalciata (Like A Rolling Stone)” by Articolo 31

MP3: “Chimes Of Freedom” (live) by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

MP3: “Wicked Messenger” by the Faces

MP3: “Everything Is Broken” by R. L. Burnside

MP3: “This Wheel’s On Fire” by the Byrds

MP3: “Gotta Serve Somebody” by Mavis Staples

MP3: “Highway 61 Revisited” by Johnny Winter

MP3: “Tweeter and the Monkey Man” by the Traveling Wilburys

MP3: “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” by the Beach Boys

MP3: “All Along The Watchtower” (live) by Neil Young

MP3:  “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” (live) by Bob Dylan (w/George Harrison, Leon Russell & Ringo Starr)

MP3:  “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan & the Band

“Watching The River Flow” by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Ben Waters

Ready for the weekend?

In case you haven’t heard, Saturday is the End of the World. Well of course it would happen before I receive my income tax refund. And I was kinda hoping to see that new Transformers movie … oh well.

MP3: “Waiting For The End of the World” by Elvis Costello

MP3: “The Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash

MP3: “It’s The End of the World (As We Know It)” by R.E.M.

MP3: “Wooden Ships” (live) by Crosby & Nash

MP3: “The End Of The World” by Skeeter Davis

MP3: “Let The World End Tomorrow” by Henry Moore

MP3: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” by Bob Dylan

MP3: “Working For The Weekend” by Loverboy

Je n’ai rien appris, Part 2 – More foreign language fun

The Beach Boys in Japan, 1966.

More versions of English/American hits done in other languages by the original artists. Now, there are TONS of hit songs that were remade for European and Japanese music fans – the Beatles’ remakes alone could fill a large warehouse – but we thought we’d focus here on the versions cut by the people who made the hits. I would give anything to see how long it took Johnny Cash to lay down German versions of his songs.

Full disclosure: “Santo Domingo” by Wanda Jackson, was actually originally recorded only in German in 1965. She cut a handful of German-language songs that were eventually collected on an album, Made In Germany.

MP3: “Le Temps des Fleurs” (Those Were The Days) by Mary Hopkin (French)

MP3: “Lowdown” (live, sung in Japanese) by Chicago

MP3: “Santo Domingo” by Wanda Jackson (German)

MP3: “My Cherie Amor” (Italian version) by Stevie Wonder

MP3: “Wer kennt den Weg” (I Walk The Line) by Johnny Cash (German)

MP3: “Sie Liebt Dich” (She Loves You) by the Beatles (German)

MP3: “L’amore Verrà” (You Can’t Hurry Love) by the Supremes (Italian)

MP3: “Call Me” (Spanish version) by Blondie

MP3: “96 Tears” (en Español) by ? and the Mysterians

MP3: “Waterloo” (French version) by ABBA

MP3: “Wie Schön Das Ist” (How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You) by Marvin Gaye (German)

MP3: “Green Circles” (Italian version) by the Small Faces

MP3: “Downtown” (German version) by Petula Clark

MP3: “Gira Gira” (Reach Out I’ll Be There) by the Four Tops (Italian)

Je n’ai rien appris – English hits in other languages

Here we have a bunch of American and British hit singles, with the original artists, re-cut in foreign languages. Why did the world’s biggest artists feel the need to re-record their hit songs with vocals in different languages? To sell more records, of course.

Don’t worry – people like Johnny Cash didn’t know German, or the Police didn’t speak Japanese. They got their song lyrics translated and sang them phonetically. God knows what kind of job they did – if you speak French or German or Japanese, let us know.

MP3: “Fuego d’Amor” (Ring Of Fire)  by Johnny Cash (Spanish)

MP3: “Ring Ring” (German version) by ABBA

MP3: “Oui Tu Es Mon Ami” (Sweet City Woman) by the Stampeders (French)

MP3: “Jennifer Juniper” (Italian version) by Donovan

MP3: “De Do Do Do De Da Da Da” (Japanese version) by the Police

MP3: “Ganz Allien” (In My Room) by the Beach Boys (German)

MP3: “Regardez Par Des Fenetres” (Look Through Any Window) by the Hollies (French)

MP3: “Si No Estas Tu” (Without You) by Harry Nilsson (Spanish)

MP3: “Warten Und Hoffen” (Wishin’ and Hopin’) by Dusty Springfield (German)

MP3: “Con Le Mie Lacrime” (As Tears Go By) by the Rolling Stones (Italian)

MP3: “Francene” (Spanish version) by ZZ Top

MP3: “Geh Raus” (Get Back) by the Beatles (German)