Some Rays

"Good morning, sunshine, you're all around my head,
Good morning, sunshine, I'm ready to be led..."

Or: I'm off for two weeks to catch some much-needed rays.

¡Hasta luego/see you later!

Big Star - Watch The Sunrise MP3

Relatively Clean Rivers - Hello Sunshine MP3

Margo Guryan - Sun MP3

Peter Hammill - Sunshine MP3

The Halo Bit - When The Sun Hits Me MP3

Bob Mould - Sunspots MP3

The Pogues - The Sunny Side Of The Street MP3

Bunny Gale - In The Burning Sun MP3

Rip Rig & Panic - Shadows Only There Because Of The Sun MP3

The Outsiders - Sun's Going Down MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 3

Wild Weekend time again... With the For The Sake Of The Song iPod on shuffle and the eyes on the prize. The outcome? A sixpack of tunes exclusively picked by the ghost in the machine. Here we go.

And we´re off, with those blokes you can trust. "It was smaller than a cow, it was bigger than a cat..." Yup, the Cosmic Psychos are here, tackling a typically Australian phenomenon: a dead roo. Which is followed by the exquisite pairing of John Coltrane on tenor sax and Don Cherry on trumpet, performing the lovely Cherryco from their 1960 collaboration The Avant-Garde.

Cosmic Psychos - Dead Roo MP3

John Coltrane & Don Cherry - Cherryco MP3

Sixties garagepunks The Denims ask themselves that age-old question: "Why baby why?" Find it on Volume 7 of the still amazing Pebbles series and leave reality behind. When I first heard Hestia some fifteen years ago, I saw Katell Keineg as the missing link between Joni Mitchell and PJ Harvey, and predicted fortune and fame. Nostradamus I´m not then. Oh well. It´s still a great song.

The Denims - White Ship MP3

Katell Keineg - Hestia MP3

Which brings us to Chester Burnett, better known as Howlin´ Wolf, portraying ´the troublingest woo-hoo-woman´ that he´s ever seen. A giant of a man, a giant of a singer. Howl awhile. And last but not least there´s ole Shane and the Pogues. I lived close to the Shannon river myself for quite a spell, and it´s broad and majestic indeed. "I sat for a while by the gap in the wall, found a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball, heard the cards being dealt, and the rosary called, and a fiddle playing Sean Dun Na Ngall..." Good memories.

Howlin´ Wolf - I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline) MP3

The Pogues - The Broad Majestic Shannon MP3

If The Rain Comes...

Winter´s coming... and me no like. After more than five months of sunshine, wearing shorts and flipflops at all times, it´s kinda hard to adjust. Today was the first day I had to put on my trusted leather jacket, while inside the heater had to be turned on again. Last Saturday, it proved still possible to enjoy lunch outside, in shirtsleeves while sporting sunglasses, but now the weather has definitely turned. Living in a mediterranean climate, it would be hard to maintain that it´s colder than a witch´s tit, or even a well digger´s ass out there, but it sure feels that way to me at the moment. Oh well, at least the mozzies are a goner.

Another drop in temperature is expected, and the weatherman says it´s going to pour tomorrow. Which gives me an excellent opportunity to provide you with a musical ten pack about the rain. I´ve left out the most obvious ones, so no Beatles (you´ll get a fun cover version though), Temptations or Ann Peebles this time around. Now where´s that umbrella again...

Meat Puppets - Look At The Rain MP3

Keith Hudson - In The Rain MP3

Beatle Hans & The Paisley Perverts - Rain MP3

The Velvet Underground - Hey Mr. Rain MP3

The Pogues - Rain Street MP3

Lonnie Johnson - Pouring Down Rain MP3

Townes Van Zandt - None But The Rain MP3

Prince Far I - Rain A Fall MP3

The Rising Storm - The Rain Falls Down MP3

Blacktop - I Think It´s Going To Rain MP3

Grab ´em while you can

Got that grab bag fever again. I guess you know the score by now: every Friday night here at For The Sake Of The Song - trademark of quality etc. - you´ll get a mixed bag of songs I really liked over the past week. All genres go. Old or new, slow or fast... there are no boundaries. One thing you can be sure of though: they´re all goodies, so grab ´em while you can. Tonight´s issue features a blues about astrology, the version of Hey Joe that Jimi probably based his classic performance on, while we also celebrate St. Patrick´s Day a few days in advance. Cheers!

Let´s begin with a fairly recent song. I don´t really know a whole lot about David Karsten Daniels to be honest. Originally from North Carolina, he relocated to Seattle a while back to enjoy the weather there. His most recent outing Sharp Teeth (Fat Cat records) is a sparse but subtly arranged piece of work you should definitely check out. I´m already looking forward to his new album Fear Of Flying, which will come out this April if all goes as planned.

David Karsten Daniels - Jesus & The Devil MP3

I generally prefer my blues acoustic, but every once in a while the electric kind moves me as well. Especially when it´s on the legendary Stax label. Born Under A Bad Sign was written for Albert King by organist Booker T and soulsinger William Bell. In the words of the latter: "I said, hey, we´ve never had a blues song done about astrology. I got this idea that might work." It did. They made a demo which sounded so good all King had to do was overdub his vocals and guitar. "If it wasn´t for bad luck, I wouldn´t have no luck at all..."

Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign MP3

It is said that Jimi Hendrix based his arrangement of Hey Joe, the song that kickstarted his career, on the version obscure singer/songwriter Tim Rose recorded for his self-titled debut album in ´67. Others claim that Jimi adapted westcoast band Love´s version though. In my opinion a case can be made for both options, and sadly it´s too late to consult the voodoo chile himself. All I can say is I really like this one. More on Tim Rose and the amazing song Morning Dew in a future post.

Tim Rose - Hey Joe (You Shot Your Woman Down) MP3

As its Paddy´s Day soon, let´s put some Irish stuff in the mix. I´ve lived on the Emerald Isle myself for over four years, and had a wonderful time altogether. It rained a lot, but then again it never rains down the pub, as the local saying goes. Boy, do I miss that Guinness on draft. Here are the Pogues with their classic Sally MacLennane. "Well Jimmy played harmonica in the pub where I was born..." Find it on Rum Sodomy & The Lash (´85).

The Pogues - Sally MacLennane MP3

Let´s stay in Ireland for a while and listen to Van The Man. He may be a grumpy old bastard, but what a voice. This is an acoustic demo of the song that would later end up on his wonderful Moondance album. Oh, the water. Let it rush all over me. By the way, for more Irish tunes be sure to drop by at the wonderful Setting The Woods On Fire and Cover Lay Down blogs. You won´t regret it.

Van Morrison - And It Stoned Me (acoustic) MP3

It´s closing time already, and what better way to call it a day than with The Valentinos. It´s All Over Now is so familiar in the Stones´ version you´d nearly forget Mick & co only covered it. The Valentinos wrote and cut the song for Sam Cooke´s SAR records in ´64. The Rolling Stones, magpies that they are, released their version so fast it kicked the original right out of the charts, much to singer Bobby Womack´s chagrin at the time. But I guess the royalties that came in year after year must have mellowed him out a bit in the end.

The Valentinos - It´s All Over Now MP3