Songs That Tell Stories

Great one, edgar. One good dog, one good horse, and one good woman.

I decided to do a tribute to Langston Hughes here, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z9wBQb0wNs

You know how I feel about Langston, letty. Thanks for posting that.

Well, edgar, can't resist posting a Charles Dickens tribute. This is a song that tells literature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O563gV5XItc&feature=related

Read almost all of his stories when I was a wee thing

I have praised Dickens as many times as I have had opportunity, letty. I never tire of his characters and my favorites of his books.

Just a note . . . oysterband and June Tabor swept the BBC 2 Folk Music Awards

Mama Tried by Merle Haggard is probably the most touching song he ever wrote. It's certainly autobiographical since Merle spent some time behind bars:

The first thing I remember knowing,
Was a lonesome whistle blowing,
And a young un's dream of growing up to ride;
On a freight train leaving town,
Not knowing where I'm bound,
No-one could change my mind but Mama tried.
One and only rebel child,
From a family, meek and mild:
My Mama seemed to know what lay in store.
Despite all my Sunday learning,
Towards the bad, I kept on turning.
'Til Mama couldn't hold me anymore.

And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.
No-one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried.
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied.
That leaves only me to blame 'cos Mama tried.

Dear old Daddy, rest his soul,
Left my Mom a heavy load;
She tried so very hard to fill his shoes.
Working hours without rest,
Wanted me to have the best.
She tried to raise me right but I refused.

And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.
No-one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried.
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied.
That leaves only me to blame 'cos Mama tried.

weird. I was on my way to a music club tonight, and passed the Border Cafe, a more-or-less Mexican restaurant in Harvard Square, which has a sound system on the street for the entertainment of people waiting in their long lines outside, and it was playing "Mama Tried" as I walked by--hadn't heard it in years, a great son. Somehow I have the feeling that the Grateful Dead covered it at some point.

Yep, the Dead did do it too



Good on oysterband/June Tabor

This is a thread that can support a little lunacy, right edgar?

Our band has an engagement(gig) in a couple of weeks and we were asked to learn this song for the event.
Now this is the silliest tune that has come out of Nashville in forever but it tells a goofy story and tells it well.





Now, red solo cup is the best receptical
For barbecues, tailgates, fairs, and festivals
And you, sir, do not have a pair of testicles
If you prefer drinkin' from glass

Hey, red solo cup is cheap and disposable
And in fourteen years, they are decomposable
And unlike my home, they are not foreclosable
Freddy Mac, can kiss my ass

Whoo!

Red solo cup
I fill you up
Let's have a party
Let's have a party

I love you, red solo cup
I lift you up
Proceed to party
Proceed to party

Now, I really love how you're easy to stack
But I really hate how you're easy to crack
'Cause when beer runs down the front of my back
Well, that, my friends, is quite yucky

But I have to admit that the ladies get smitten
Admirin' at how sharply my first name is written
On you with a Sharpie when I get to hittin' on them to help me get lucky

Now, I've seen you in blue and I've seen you in yellow
But only you, red, will do for this fellow
'Cause you are the Abbot to my Costello
And you are the Fruit to my Loom

Red solo cup, you're more than just plastic
You're more than amazing, you're more than fantastic
And believe me that I am not the least bit sarcastic
When I look at you and say

That's great. The thread needs an occasional spark to keep it alive.

Thank you edgar. You are indeed a gracious thread-master.

once new a nigga name trife put his own life on the line
instead of trying he went out and took out anothers life
stabbed the guy 3 times and ended up in pen before dien

it all begun when the nigga was young, looking at guns
and got jumped by the chumps who bruised his lungs
so he started to become crazy after smoking blunts

he didnt give a **** bout no one, not even his mothers love
didnt have knowledge about the 1 who controls from above
wished he would but couldnt cause he was living life as a thug

his mother died after some time, he regreted and couldnt stop cryin
soft hearted, his heart was on fire from inside
wanted to change what he did but it was to late
so he murdered a guy and then tryed to escape
the feds found his finger prints on the knife when traced
found where was staying at so they raided his place
a few years after when he was in pen he changed his ways
to God he prayed, and never commited a sin again

Ten years ago today, Waylon died.

Love that one by Waylon, edgar. Are you sure Hank done it that way? Great line.

Songs that Tell history.

First, the culprit.



Now, the trailer and the song. Incidentally, Paper Lace got the wrong side of Chicago. It was the west side near Lincoln Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3KplEGXwnE

Now the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXY1_F5YkoM

The Night Chicago Died" is a work of fiction. Although it references the notorious Chicago mobster Al Capone and his gang by name, no such massive police shootout took place during Capone's reign as the head of the city's organized crime syndicate. In fact, police often worked with the gangsters, soliciting and accepting bribes, and sometimes even standing guard during liquor deliveries. Capone's criminal career ended quietly in 1931, when he was convicted of income-tax evasion and weapons possession.

The song's events supposedly take place "on the East Side of Chicago." Chicago has three commonly referred-to regions; the North Side, the West Side, and the South Side. The East Side is not one of these "sides" of town, but in reality is a neighborhood located on the South Side, just several miles away from where Al Capone lived (at 7244 South Prairie Avenue).

While the song is entirely fictional, probably the most notable contemporary real-life event in Chicago resembling a massive shoot-out involving Capone's forces as depicted by the lyrics would be the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929, an encounter between Capone's men and a rival Chicago gang rather than the police, and it took place on the city's North Side in February instead of "in the heat of a summer night."

The songwriters said in interviews—most notably on Beat Club shortly after the song's smash success—that they had never been to Chicago before that time, and that their knowledge of the city and that period of its history had been based on gangster films.

Paper Lace did send the song to Mayor Richard Daley, who was not impressed with the song and greatly disliked it