Wild Weekend Vol. 16

I´m reading Juliet, Naked at the moment, which is quite hard to put down. Really should get busy to bring you edition 16 of Wild Weekend now... Ok, ok, here goes. The iPod´s on shuffle once again, and a surprise six pack in the works. No songs from Nick Hornby´s rockstar hero Tucker Crowe alas, but a whole lot of other goodies nonetheless.

Such as Fallin´ In Love by American Spring, a Brian Wilson produced pop gem from ´73. Penned by Beach Boys brother and drummer Dennis, you can find it on a heartily recommended compilation called Pet Projects. Want some heavier stuff from the same year? Featuring Iggy doing his trademark caged animal impersonation perhaps? Then try on this terrific live version of Open Up & Bleed, recorded live at Richards in Atlanta, Georgia.

American Spring - Fallin´ In Love MP3

Iggy & The Stooges - Open Up & Bleed (live ´73) MP3

Time for some Ethiopean soul now. I´m a huge fan of the Éthiopiques series, and can listen to a singer like Alèmayèhu Eshèté all day and all of the night. My Amharic is kinda rusty, but I´d wager that Addis Abèba Bété translates as ´I love Addis Abeba´. Before Built To Spill, Doug Martsch played in a grungy Seattle band called Treepeople. Nirvana they were not, but a song like Liquid Boy sure hinted at things to come.

Alèmayèhu Eshèté - Addis Abèba Bété MP3

Treepeople - Liquid Boy MP3

Moving to New Orleans now, where we´ll look up Roy Byrd aka Professor Longhair and his pumping piano. "Tell me pretty baby, is everything alright?" You bet. Worth it for that honking sax alone. And we´ll call it a day so I can finally go back to mr. Hornby with a beautiful song by Copey´s Teardrop Explodes about... books. "I´ve seen it in your eyes and I´ve read it in books, who wants love without the looks?" Not me, Julian, not me.

Professor Longhair - Who´s Been Fooling You MP3

The Teardrop Explodes - Books MP3

On The Bayou

I´m honoured to present a guest post by Paul, author of the indispensable Setting The Woods On Fire blog. Please leave many a comment, so the Motor City Cowboy might be persuaded to contribute here more often...

As recorded by Hank Williams, the song Jambalaya (On The Bayou) has long been one of my favorites. The pace, intonation, and instrumentation are all pitch perfect. Who ever thought two chords and some silly words could sound so good?

Hank Williams - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) MP3

Jambalaya (the food) is the Louisiana version of paella, a rice-based dish with a variety of vegetables and meat. Other Cajun/Louisiana-related items in the tale inlcude the pirogue, the bayou, filé gumbo, Thibodeaux, and crawfish pie. Of course, Jambalaya (On The Bayou) is not an authentic Cajun folk song, but instead would be more accurately described as ´mock´ cajun. Nevertheless, it's a lot of fun. While Hank's version is certainly the most enduring, it's not alone. Jambalaya has been one of the most often covered (and mangled) tunes in Hank's catalog. I've got 35 different versions in my computer. Most really aren't very good, but a few are worth mentioning.

After Hank's version, the next most noteworthy take on Jambalaya (On The Bayou) comes from Moon Mullican. Moon Mullican was a legendary pre-rock 'n' roller whose dynamic style mixed elements of the blues, country, R&B, and western swing. Reliable sources credit Mullican as being co-author of the song. All Music Guide explains: ´For decades, it was an open secret that he'd co-written Jambalaya (On The Bayou) with his fellow Grand Ole Opry member Hank Williams, collecting a 50 percent share of the royalties on the sly because of his contractual relationship to King Records´. With Mullican's version, you can hear a few extra verses that Hank left out.

Moon Mullican - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) MP3

The mainstream version of Jambalaya was the pop rendition by Jo Stafford, which hit no. 3 on the Billboard singles chart in 1953. If my ears aren't playing a trick on me, it sounds like Stafford tried to mainstream the lyrics a bit by changing ´Jambalaya´ to ´John

Balaya´. Maybe she was just jazzing it up:

Jo Stafford - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) MP3

What you may not realize is that the melody for Jambalaya (On The Bayou) comes from an old Cajun folk song called Grand Texas. Here are two versions of that tune:

Aldus Roger - Grand Texas MP3
Hackberry Ramblers - Grand Texas MP3

Like I said, there are many versions of Jambalaya, but most of them are kind of bad. In looking for a few covers to highlight here, I discovered that the best cover versions come from Louisiana artists playing Louisiana music. I suppose that makes sense. Here are three good ones:

Fats Domino - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) MP3
Professor Longhair - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) MP3
Jo-El Sonnier - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) MP3

P.S. The ´fruit jar´ is to be filled with whiskey.