Tips His Hat

Reinhard Kleist, who drew an amazing graphic novel about Johnny Cash a few years back, now points his surrealist pencil at Nick Cave, and the results are nothing short of breathtaking. Kleist dives deep into Cave's murky universe, starting down under with the Boys Next Door, and moving from rainy London to icy Berlin with the Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds. The ending sees St. Nick in his trusted Jag, hightailing it from the fabled crossroads all the way to Geneva with none other than Robert Johnson riding shotgun. You need this, it's a hallucinatory Rinky Dink Special, with a little umbrella too.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Jangling Jack

Walking Side By Side

Soul survivor and godfather of hiphop Gil Scott-Heron is back after a long absence, and that´s good news. I saw the man, who came to fame with the immortal The Revolution Will Not Be Televised in the early seventies, perform live one time in a small club in the late eighties and that made quite an impression. Although attendance was poor to say the least, Gil gave it his all and simply sang his heart out for two hours.

On his new album, the ironically titled I´m New Here, he deliciously modernizes blues legend Robert Johnson´s Me And The Devil Blues. Heavy stuff, inna surprising triphop stylee. Do yourself a favor and compare the two below, and in chronological order if you please. "Hello Satan, I believe it´s time to go..."

Robert Johnson - Me And The Devil Blues MP3

Gil Scott-Heron - Me And The Devil MP3

The title track of I´m New Here brings another surprise. Who could ever have thought Scott-Heron would one day cover a song by Bill Callahan of lofi heroes Smog? Cool choice, and Gil obviously has fun with it.

"Met a woman in a bar, I told her I was hard to get to know, and near impossible to forget...

She said I had an ego on me the size of Texas...

Well I´m new here, and I forget, does that mean big or small?"

Gil Scott-Heron - I´m New Here MP3

Smog - I´m New Here MP3

The Johnsons

Blind Willie, Lonnie, Tommy, Elizabeth, and the king of ´em all: Robert of course. Four legendary bluesmen and one obscure blueswoman. They were not related - but easily could have been.

Blind Willie Johnson - Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed MP3

Lonnie Johnson - Death Valley Is Just Half Way To My House MP3

Tommy Johnson - Canned Heat Blues MP3

Elizabeth Johnson - Sobbin´ Woman Blues MP3

Robert Johnson - Drunken Hearted Man MP3

32-20 Blues vs. 22-20 Blues

I´m all immersed in the new installment of Dylan´s Bootleg Series at the moment. Another treasure trove from the archives, with quite a few songs even hardcore Dylan collectors hadn´t heard before. Dreamin´Of You, Marchin´To The City, Mary And The Soldier, Red River Shore, Can´t Escape From You... Very very nice. By the way: as so many other Bobcats I know I bought the 2 disc version and downloaded the - ridiculously priced - third disc somewhere. If Sony might ever decide to release the third disc on its own with a more or less normal pricetag, I´ll be the first to pick up a copy.

Anyway, one of the tracks on Tell Tale Signs that immediately caught my fancy was 32-20 Blues, an interesting leftover from the ´93 World Gone Wrong album. Heavy lyrics, sung with conviction: "If I send for my baby, 
man, and she don't come... all the doctors in Hot Springs 
sure can't help her none... If she gets unruly, thinks she don't wan´ do... take my 32-20 now and 
cut her half in two."

Writes Larry ´Ratso´ Sloman in the booklet accompanying Tell Tale Signs: "In Dylan´s memoir Chronicles - Volume One, he describes the staggering impact Robert Johnson had on him when he began to write songs. Here, for the first time, we have an official release of Dylan singing Johnson. The track reminds us of what a great white blues singer Dylan remains. ´Ah baby, where you stayed last night?´ cuts to the bone and makes the imminent use of his 32-20 all the more believable."

Ok, I´m with you, Ratso, but... 32-20 Blues is of course Robert Johnson's version (from ´36) of the song Skip James wrote and recorded in ´31 as 22-20 Blues. Johnson changed the reference to Wisconsin throughout the song to Hot Springs, Arkansas, except in the third from last verse, where he forgot to do so and used Skip's original lyric instead. A good example of an early case of ´Love & Theft´... Why not mention this fact? Sloman should know. And I´m pretty sure Bob knows... His publishing company isn´t called Special Rider Music without reason. Yup, that´s after Special Rider Blues, by the same Skip James.

Skip James - 22-20 Blues MP3

Robert Johnson - 32-20 Blues MP3

Bob Dylan - 32-20 Blues MP3

Skip James - Special Rider Blues MP3