Tag: blues

Saturday’s Theme Music

I was on the road today. Naturally, that opened my music stream to road songs. One of them that popped up early is by Canned Heat. AM Radio and the growing pop revolution introduced them to me in my early teens. I didn’t appreciate how much the blues inspired them until about six years later, when I was listening to ZZ Top and the Allman Brothers Band.

Besides Canned Heat, I was singing “Hit the Road, Jack,” “Truckin'”, “Little Red Corvette”, “American Pie”, “Little GTO”, “Beep Beep”, “Uneasy Rider”, “The Way”, “Sweet Hitchhiker”, “Life Is A Highway”, “One Headlight”, “Drive My Car”, “Mustang Sally”, “Little Deuce Coupe”, “Pink Cadillac”, “The Leader of the Pack”, “Dead Man’s Curve”, “On the Road Again”, “Where the Streets Have No Name”, “Route 66”, “Born to Be Wild”, “Ninety-nine Miles From LA”, “Midnight Rider”, “Fast Car”, “Runnin’ Down A Dream”, and “Radar Love”. You can place the performers to the songs.

You have any favorite road songs that I should have been streaming? I’d like to know them. Sharing is caring, friends.

Here’s Canned Heat with “On the Road Again” from 1968.

 

0

Monday’s Theme Music

Another rejection last night. That always opens a darkside vein, for a bit, at least. I pondered the usual of whys and hows for an hour, slept on it and sluiced through some dreams. Then I arose this morning, told myself onward, and started humming this old classic to myself.

Oh lordy lord, oh lordy lord
It hurts me so bad, for us to part
But someday baby, I ain’t gonna worry my life anymore

“Worried Life Blues” have has been sung and played for decades. I’ve heard many performers do this song, but I went with B.B. King and Eric Clapton, two musicians I admire and enjoy. This version is from Riding with the King (2000). I especially love King’s deep, emphatic style on this song.

Pour a cup of something and listen with me. Sing along, if you’re so moved. Enjoy the day.

 

2

Wednesday’s Theme Music

I started streaming this song today, and then started flipping between various versions that I knew.

“Route 66” by Bobby Troup seems to capture or convey something elemental that people like to sing. He wrote the song while driving cross-country with his wife. His lyrics are the foundations for multiple interpretations, from Nat King Cole to John Mayer, with a chunk of people in between. I happened to start with the Depeche Mode cover today, and then popped into the Mayer version before jumping back to Nat King Cole and then then the Stones. It’s intriguing how each performer adjusts it to their style and era of music. As fascinating as all of that, Route 66 features powerfully in the Steinbeck novel, The Grapes of Wrath. 

Enjoy them all, a celebration of a classic road and a classic song, “Route 66”, about a road that barely still exists.

Nat King Cole

Bobby Troup – the composer.

Chuck Berry

 

The Stones

 

Depeche Mode

 

John Mayer

0

Saturday’s Theme Music

It’s a blustery but pretty Saturday, which somehow inspired me to start streaming an old Albert King number. Maybe it’s the frequency of news about California, due to the fiery destruction of NorCal wine country, that brought the song to mind. Here’s “Travelin’ to California.” It’s from nineteen sixty-one, but I encountered it looonng after that.

0

Today’s Theme Music

I woke up in a Foghat state of mind.

I’d had an exciting and interesting dream about a recent dream. Without disclosing more, it was tremendously uplifting, bolstering my self-confidence to scary levels. I will note that I dreamed about the number eight again, which makes, unofficially, but what I can remember and enumerate, seven times. I’m waiting to see if I’ll dream of eight an eight time to end the series.

Back to Foghat. Those of you of certain ages and inclination will remember this song. “I Just Want to Make Love to You” is a blues staple that’s been well-covered by some great artists. But I encountered Foghat’s version first. It was nineteen seventy-two, and I was sixteen, a wonderful combination. By then, I was enamored with rock and guitars. Foghat’s cover of this song opens with rocking guitars, and doesn’t let up. What else needs said?

0

Today’s Theme Music

We heard this on the blues station last night on our way home. We love Koko Taylor, and I like beer, so this works. I don’t know what year it’s from, or anything like that. It’s the blues, and it makes me feel good.

Here’s the fabulous Koko Taylor with “Beer Bottle Boogie.”

0

Today’s Theme Music

I often sing the blues. My version is the first world blues. I’m blue about the state of the world, environmental concerns, human rights. I’m also blue ’bout computer issues and awful television shows while simultaneously, hypocritically decrying our consumer society. I’m blue because I love auto racing and hate its economic and environmental impact. I’m blue because while I have plenty to eat, my metabolism has slowed and I can’t eat all the foods I want all the time. I’m blue because my hair is thinning and graying even while I know I’m in a pretty damn good place. I’m blue because I’m a basket of contradictions and because my cats don’t get along better. And the blues strike, too, because I’m pretty healthy while so many friends and loved ones suffer from health issues. I sing the blues because there are too many people who seem evil for the sake of being evil and care about no one but themselves.

That’s why I sing the blues. That’s why I’m thankful for an era where we had folks like B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Etta James, Albert King, Doctor John, Phil Collins, Robert Cray, Paul Butterfield and more to lift me out of the blues via that terrible technology that I love and hate.

Here they are, strong of voice, at the top of their skills, performing ‘Why I Sing the Blues’. 

0

Today’s Theme Music

Ah, something on the light side for a Sunday morning, like a little light blues. Here’s Albert Collins, ‘I Ain’t Drunk’. Enjoy the chorus and his protests woven through the song, along with some of that terrific guitar work. Maybe you know someone with Collins’ response, “I ain’t drunk, I’m just drinking.”

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑