Summer Wine

Some Japanese wiseguy named Hokekyo Sho once proclaimed that ´at the third cup, wine drinks the man´. He got pretty famous with that one, and he just may have been right, too. Which hardly ever stops me from pouring said cup, but that´s another story... Here´s a grand cru, slightly country-flavoured tenpack with a velvety aftertaste about a mighty fine drink. "Strawberries, cherries and an angel´s kiss in spring, my summer wine is really made from all these things..." Salud!

Charlie Walker - Who Will Buy The Wine MP3

The Stanley Brothers - The Little Glass Of Wine MP3

James Luther Dickinson - Wine MP3

Gene Simmons - Drinkin´ Wine MP3

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Summer Wine MP3

George Jones - Yesterday´s Wine MP3

Michael Hurley - I Like My Wine MP3

Merle Haggard - Little Ole Wine Drinker Me MP3

The Band - Strawberry Wine MP3

Jerry Lee Lewis - Wine Me Up MP3

Walk with me in the morning dew

I don´t know if anyone here has read The Road, the most recent novel by one of my favorite authors, Cormac McCarthy? An incredibly bleak but very moving account of a father and son travelin´ down the road in a post-apocalyptic landscape after a nuclear showdown. Soon to be a motion picture, I guess only one song fits as the perfect theme song. And that´s Morning Dew, a fine piece of cold war paranoia written by folk singer Bonnie Dobson in ´62. In an interview she once remarked her song was based on a movie too by the way: On The Beach, a ´59 flick starring Gregory Peck, and based on the novel by Nevil Shute.

"Take me for a walk in the morning dew my honey, take me for a walk in the morning sun my love... You can´t go walking in the morning dew today, you can´t go walking in the morning sun today...." Bonnie´s version is apparently a live take, but that´s often said to be fake. Whatever the case, she sounds extremely vulnerable here. "Won´t you tell me where have all the people gone? Oh don´t you worry ´bout the people anymore..."

The first ones to cover Dobson´s composition were Greenwich Village folkies Fred Neil and Vince Martin, who rearranged it for their Tear Down The Walls album (´64). A nice interpretation, though just a little bit too stiff. Singer/songwriter Tim Rose based his ´66 cover of Morning Dew on the Neil version and added himself as a co-writer in the process. Through a loophole in American law, he even managed to get royalties this way. Bonnie Dobson has always protested this, but hey, what can you do... Fact is that Rose´s menacing full-band version has a lot of power. "What they were saying all these years is true, ´cause there´s no more morning dew..."

Subsequently, Morning Dew has been covered by loads of bands: Nazareth, Jeff Beck, and the Allman Brothers to name a few. The Grateful Dead´s jam version is probably the most well known. Goes on for ages too... Lee Hazlewoods take is interesting, especially because of that swirling psychedelic piano. But the only interpretation since Tim Rose that really blows one away must be credited to German noisemeisters Einstürzende Neubauten. Listen to their Morning Dew (from ´87) and you can almost hear the four riders of the apocalypse approaching... Blixa´s guitar is sharp as a razor here. If I directed The Road, I´d play the Neubauten version as a starter, and Rose´s one when the credits finally roll.

Bonnie Dobson - Morning Dew MP3

Fred Neil & Vince Martin - Morning Dew MP3

Tim Rose - Morning Dew MP3

The Grateful Dead - Morning Dew (live ´73) MP3

Lee Hazlewood - Morning Dew MP3

Einstürzende Neubauten - Morning Dew MP3

Easter grab bag

Back to the grind with another version of Friday nite grab bag, after a few days in chilly Amsterdam with old friends, animated conversation, good food and way too much to drink. Here are some great songs that assaulted my eardrums during the past week. Guaranteed: no ditties about bunnies or eggs. Instead you´ll get two great duets by the daughter of Ol´ Blue Eyes, a singer/songwriter turning anarcho punk into campfire singalongs and a new Triffids reissue. Happy easter, folks.  

While in Amsterdam, I got a great Nancy Sinatra album I had previously overlooked somehow from a friend. Thanks again! It´s one of these albums you expect to hate at first glance because of a formula that hardly ever works: a more or less forgotten singer is surrounded by contemporary admirers. On Nancy Sinatra (Sanctuary records ´04) the plan succeeds for once though, mainly because the songs are so good. My current favorite track is the one Nancy recorded with Jon Spencer of Pussy Galore and Blues Explosion fame. Spencer plays the Lee Hazlewood-role with gusto. But even he can´t better these old Nancy & Lee duets, as a golden oldie like Sand (´67) clearly shows.
Nancy Sinatra - Ain´t No Easy Way MP3
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Sand MP3

Ramones tributes are a specialty of mine. The ones I like most don´t only sound like the Ramones, but namecheck da Brudders as well. Johnny And Dee Dee by the Australian band The Eastern Dark (´85) is a good example. Watching a Ramones video makes the singer completely forget his girlfriend for a while. "They´re my heroes in life, and they´re there to take me high..." Rightly so. The Badtown Boys from California recorded their furious ode to Dee Dee in ´91. I saw them live once and they had the look down pat: leather jackets, sneakers and ripped jeans. One two three four... 

The Eastern Dark - Johnny And Dee Dee MP3

Badtown Boys - Dee Dee Took The Subway MP3

Singer/songwriter and comic artist Jeffrey Lewis achieved the impossible. He just recorded an acoustic Crass cover album, and guess what? It works. And it´s big fun, too. For the uninitiated: Crass was one of the most uncompromising punk collectives of the late seventies. They lived in a commune, preached anarchy and did everything themselves. Their music was anything but pretty, but New Yorker Lewis proves on the aptly titled 12 Crass Songs (Rough Trade) that it´s possible to turn their slogan-songs into folky campfire singalongs. Comparing the Crass originals (this one´s from their ´78 debut The Feeding Of The 5000) with the cover versions is priceless.

Jeffrey Lewis - Do They Owe Us A Living MP3

Crass - Do They Owe Us A living MP3

I´ve complimented Domino Records before in these pages on the excellent job it´s doing with the Triffids´ back catalogue. Their newly released Beautiful Waste And Other Songs (Mini Masterpieces 1983-1985) is another goodie. It compiles early singles, ep´s and mini albums like Field Of Glass and the great Raining Pleasure. St James Infirmary has been covered by many, but I´ve always had a weak spot for the Triffids´version.

The Triffids - St James Infirmary MP3

"If memory serves we´re still on a break." Art Brut´s ode to a first love always brings a smile to my face. "I haven´t seen her in 10 years, 9 months, 3 weeks, 6 hours, 13 minutes, 5 seconds..." I do believe the guy is still in love. With Emily Kane. Find it on Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda ´05).

Art Brut - Emily Kane MP3

Let´s close Easter proceedings with one of these heartbreakingly beautiful songs by the late great Townes Van Zandt. This blog isn´t called For the Sake Of The Song for nothing, if you know what I mean... "We´ve got the sky to talk about and the world to lie upon". To Live Is To Fly is from the mighty High, Low And Inbetween album (´72).

Townes Van Zandt - To Live Is To Fly MP3