Start Your iPods

Let's see what existential horrors our music delivery devices have in store for us.

Plain old random ten!

  1. Sea And Cake - Covers
  2. Gillian Welch - White Freightliner Blues
  3. Blue Sky Boys - Down On The Banks Of The Ohio
  4. Neko Case - Blacklisted
  5. Bears - Those Years
  6. Wilco - Everlasting Everything
  7. The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
  8. Flamin' Groovies - Please Please Girl
  9. Heart - Tell It Like It Is
  10. Pavement - Fight This Generation

All acceptable. Existential horror FAIL!

7 thoughts on “Start Your iPods”

  1. The Modesto Kid

    “Banks of the Ohio” is the defining element of the genre “Appalachian Murder Ballad”. This is a cool rendition of it.

    Jeff Foucault & Mark Erelli’s performance of “Billy Gray” by Norman Blake — sticks with the nascent outlaw ballad theme. Such a gentle vocal part, like a sofa for your ears.

    Ernest Tubb sings “Letters Have no Arms”, another ballad… Ernie is singing a letter to his sweetheart far away, slightly bitter longing. (Tubb was the first country musician I really listened to, I found out about him via Dylan’s poem Tarantula — a girl with her back full of ink raises her hand & says “ernest tubb”)

    Yours truly the Modesto Kid fiddles a Christmas tune which he has titled “God rest ye fine, Fegmaniax” — nice variations around a theme, quick.

    Mississippi John Hurt talks to his audience about the Morning Blues — “stay up so late, get up the morning… when you get outta bed, can’t hardly find your Monday morning shoes…” and sings. Woke up this morning… One of my very favorite John Hurt tracks, I think it’s from a concert he gave at that college near Cleveland in the 60’s. (a weird title for a concert tape, the record is called “The Best of MS John Hurt”) — That’s the only time, I ever felt like cryin…

    Back to the fiddle. Charles Long plays “My old dog’s trailing up a squirrel” from the Great Big Yam Potatoes compilation (really worth checking out if you don’t know it, I’m pretty sure it is torrentable in a couple of places)

    If you’d like to check out some TMK music I am playing stroh fiddle in a couple of videos at my blog.

  2. The Modesto Kid

    “God rest ye fine, Fegmaniax” lyrics,
    God rest ye fine, fegmaniax,
    Let nothing ye dismay —
    Remember Humphrey Bogart was born on Xmas day;
    To act in “Casablanca” — now watch it on Blu-Ray!
    O, tidings of comfort and joy,
    Comfort and joy;
    O, tidings of comfort and joy.

      1. The Modesto Kid

        Yep — I don’t remember who wrote it, somebody on the fegmaniax mailing list, a couple of Xmases ago. I came up with a fiddle part for it, sort of (obvs) the source song, but with a couple of variations thrown in.

  3. platosearwax

    Been so busy lately I totally forgot last week. Never have kids. Or a job.

    1. Rolling Stones – Mother’s Little Helper
    2. Blancmange – Running Thin
    3. Van Halen – Runnin With the Devil
    4. Elbow – Press Your Lips
    5. INXS – What You Need
    6. Foo Fighters – A Matter of Time
    7. Annie Lennox – Smithereens
    8. Interpol – Pace is the Trick
    9. Depeche Mode – My Secret Garden
    10. Editors – Blood

    That was kind of weird. Commute music the last few weeks has been the discographies of The Jesus Lizard and Dinosaur Jr. The kids find that…interesting when I pick them up.

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