Down On The Farm

"The cows bawl, the pigs bawl, the horses bawl, too..." Over lunch yesterday, my 8 year old daughter told me that she wanted to live on a farm when she would finally be all grown up. Far from the madding crowd, surrounded by nature and with all kinds of animals to tend to. For some reason, this totally made my day.

Little Feat - Down On The Farm MP3

The Kinks - Animal Farm MP3

The Bently Boys - Down On Penny´s Farm MP3

The Carolina Tar Heels - Got The Farm Land Blues MP3

Gary Higgins - Down On The Farm MP3

Lenny Tonight

Going to see a true legend in concert tonight. Leonard Cohen´s in town and we´ve got tickets, 12th row centre stage no less. Added bonus: it´s happy Len´s 75th birthday. Got quite a scare this weekend when it was reported that Cohen had fainted because of food poisoning during last Friday´s Valencia gig, but apparently all is right again. Just a bad prawn or mussel in his paella... Guess it´s going to be an intense evening. Groomed my goatee already... now where´s that black turtleneck sweater?

To celebrate all this, here´s some wonderful live Lenny from back in the days. Chelsea Hotel #2 and Story Of Isaak were recorded at the famous Olympia Theatre in Paris in 1976. Avalanche and Joan Of Arc (a fine duet with Julie Christensen) stem from a show at the Congresshalle in Zurich in 1993. "I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best, I can't keep track of each fallen robin..."

Leonard Cohen - Chelsea Hotel #2 (live Paris ´76) MP3

Leonard Cohen - Story Of Isaak (live Paris ´76) MP3

Leonard Cohen - Avalanche (live Zurich ´93) MP3

Leonard Cohen - Joan Of Arc (live Zurich ´93) MP3

Two From Frederick

"Trouble, you can´t fool me, I see you behind that tree..." I wrote a piece about Ry Cooder´s fine cover version of Trouble, You Can´t Fool Me on the Groover´s Paradise blog recently. Check it out, it´s still up. Had to admit I´d never heard the original by an Alabama soulman called Frederick Knight, who recorded it as Trouble for the mighty Stax label back in the early seventies. But I finally managed to track down a copy and it´s easy to see why Cooder picked it. Man, that choppy guitar is funky.

And maybe even better is another Frederick Knight song I found while I was at it. You´re probably familiar with I´ve Been Lonely For So Long because of Mick Jagger´s interpretation on his solo album Wandering Spirit from ´93. Knight´s version is the real deal though. "Just can´t seem to get ahead in life, nothin´ I do ever turns out right, won´t somebody help me please..." They sure don´t come any sadder than this one.

Frederick Knight - Trouble MP3

Frederick Knight - I´ve Been Lonely For So Long MP3

Married Man´s A Fool

"Ever since you walked right in, the circle's been complete,

I've said goodbye to haunted rooms and faces in the street,
To the courtyard of the jester which is hidden from the sun,
I love you more than ever and I haven't yet begun..."

Thanks for that, Bob, could not have said it any better myself. As it happens to be my - umpteenth - wedding anniversary today, here´s a tenpack of songs about that weird phenomenon called marriage. Married man may be a fool, Ry, and granted Tom, I do indeed have to ask permission when I want to go out fishin´, but that´s cool with me.

"And I could never let you go, no matter what goes on,

'Cause I love you more than ever now that the past is gone..."

Ry Cooder - Married Man´s A Fool MP3

Bob Dylan - Wedding Song MP3

Tom Waits - Better Off Without A Wife MP3

George Jones & Tammy Wynette - Golden Ring MP3

David Bowie - Be My Wife MP3

Blind Willie Reynolds - Married Man Blues MP3

Freda Payne - Band Of Gold MP3

Jimi Hendrix Experience - 51st Anniversary MP3

Replacements - You´re Getting Married MP3

Moby Grape - Gypsy Wedding MP3

Enthusiastic And Likable

Back from my hols, but not really full of inspiration yet to be honest. Still in a laidback, beach bum kinda mood, you know how it is. But I can´t resist to draw your attention to some very interesting reading material in today´s edition of British newspaper The Observer. In a piece called The Thrill Of It All, novelist and music lover Nick Hornby stands up for music bloggers everywhere. Take notice, The Man, as the Arsenal-crazy writer of High Fidelity and About A Boy presents some serious arguments in favour of the likes of us...

An excerpt: "It took me longer than it should have done to work out that the internet is one giant independent record shop – thousands and thousands of cute little independent record shops, anyway – and they don't actually charge you for the music they stock. The MP3 blogs that stretch for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see, down that stretch of the net that isn't reserved for pornography, are staffed by enthusiastic and likable young men and women who absolutely don't want to rip the artists off: they are always careful to post links to iTunes and Amazon, and the songs they put on their sites are for sampling purposes only. (...) It works for me. I listen, and then I buy what I like, because owning music is still important to me". Right on bro! Read the full article here.

As a soundtrack to all this, here´s some stuff that might just be up mr. Hornby´s alley. Or yours for that matter. Featuring something old (the mighty Sonny Rollins), something new (a fresh ditty by the David Wax Museum), something borrowed (a crazy cover by Japrockers the Golden Cups), something blue (´Jesus, this is Iggy...´). And Brian Ferry & co of course. Oh, the thrill of it all...

Sonny Rollins Quartet - The Most Beautiful Girl In The World MP3

The David Wax Museum - Jalopy Heart MP3

Golden Cups - Hey Joe MP3

Iggy Pop - Turn Blue MP3

Roxy Music - The Thrill Of It All MP3