Sounds of Sanity Part III
It's a very romantic time of year in New England. Most of us are coming out of hibernation after braving through winters bitter cold and sheets of ice thick as skin. For some of us, it’s the first kiss of the year as the sun embraces our face and our New Years were spent isolated due to this pandemic that now. seems to embrace us with its own tender light as vaccinations roll out. We have survived most of mud-season and spring starts to bring life to all surrounding it.
These days I see couples smile a bit brighter as they leave the homes to start enjoying a social life beyond their living room couches; In doing so, allowing their PDA to make others both mystified and uncomfortable. I see families of deer grazing in the backyard and bears knocking over our neighbors bird feeders, when they thought squirrels were their only problem. Birds have even replaced the abrupt, whining alarm clock. Now we're all early birds trying to catch the same worm. Sometimes the worm is the morning commuting train. Some worms are school or work assignments that are past due or pushed to the last minute. Some worms are simply just to be caught, released, allowing us to roll back over and sleep until a mail truck or Amazon delivery service wakes us up.
These days I see couples smile a bit brighter as they leave the homes to start enjoying a social life beyond their living room couches; In doing so, allowing their PDA to make others both mystified and uncomfortable. I see families of deer grazing in the backyard and bears knocking over our neighbors bird feeders, when they thought squirrels were their only problem. Birds have even replaced the abrupt, whining alarm clock. Now we're all early birds trying to catch the same worm. Sometimes the worm is the morning commuting train. Some worms are school or work assignments that are past due or pushed to the last minute. Some worms are simply just to be caught, released, allowing us to roll back over and sleep until a mail truck or Amazon delivery service wakes us up.
As life flows on so does my nose, with blossoming vegetation and annual allergies lurking at my feet and above my head. As life flows on new hobbies, people, and interests are introduced to us.
I hope this page finds you well and interested to learn more as well as engage in conversations about music. Whether these songs are new or old comforts to you, I hope you share with me in the comments your interpretations, feelings, likes and dislikes about these songs.
For those new to these posts, this is where I post five - ten songs that stood out to me during the week. They may not be my favorites, but they are songs that either were reintroduced, introduced, or stuck in my head and here I put together some historical context of track and artist, as well as insert some personal interpretation of the lyrics and interject some of my own personal story to the song or artist.
For those new to these posts, this is where I post five - ten songs that stood out to me during the week. They may not be my favorites, but they are songs that either were reintroduced, introduced, or stuck in my head and here I put together some historical context of track and artist, as well as insert some personal interpretation of the lyrics and interject some of my own personal story to the song or artist.
This weeks picks go as followed;
- Coupe De Ville Baby Preformed by The Medallions
- Til The Well Runs Dry Preformed by Wynona Carr
- Florida (Live) Preformed by NRBQ
- Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) Preformed by Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings
- Lost In The Ozone Preformed by Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen
Coupe De Ville Baby
The first time I heard this song was over the summer. I was on Greystone, a little loop on my thirteen mile walks. It's about half a mile- A quarter of it climbs steep, curves, and then descends for another quarter. I was leaning back, my belly reaching forward as if to balance the shift in gravity that downhill walking had exposed me to, when The Medallions came on. Did I know The Medallions? No. Do I still know The Medallions? No. I do however know this song and I do know that I like it. And I knew when I heard it again this week, my feelings hadn't changed.
It's a song that reminds me of a bit of Ruth Brown, "As Long As I'm Moving", it has a similar pacing to it. Especially when The Medallions backing refrains jump in going,
Coupe De Ville CadillacCoupe De Ville
It make me want to jump into Ruth Brown and go,
I wanna go north, east, south, west
Every which way, as long as I'm movin'
The song is about an infatuation with their new car. However, like most cars and songs in the fifties, there are connotations that reference the car as a girl. The car is his girl, his love, his baby, his dare I say but not support, possession. He's proud of it, he wants to show it off. It’s personification that is also seen in songs like Chuck Berry’s “I Want To Be Your Driver”. For example in "Coupe De Ville Baby";
She got skin like satin
Speaking of a woman's soft skin or satin finished interior of the car.
The Song was released in 1955 off The Medallions album Speedin'. There's not much written on the song- I can't even find lyrics posted anywhere. What I did find was one site sourcing the song was written by Nathaniel Hinton, also looking at the record put out by DooTone Records (Also, home of The DooTone's session vocalists, may I add), The Medallions label, it is credited him. It also looks like (by my research, please correct me if I am wrong), this is the only song Hinton is credited for. However, other sources, for example, Spotify, credit the song to Vernon Green and Dootsie Willams - this source being Ace Records.
I can also tell you I read that the well popular "The Joker" by The Steve Miller Band, steals a line written by Vernon Green and the Medallions, "The Letter". Green created a nonsensical word and phrase; puppetutess of love. He later claimed that a "Puppetutess" was "a paper-doll fantasy figure" that he would form a relationship with. Steve Miller changed the word to "pompatus". However, please keep in mind that even this source is no longer from an active page that was once entitled "The Straight Dope". Crediting it isn't something I feel uncomfortable with in stating truth.
This however has nothing to do with "Coupe De Ville Baby", just an interesting fact, if in fact, it is fact and not fiction.
For now, historical context will have to be left out and only assumed. Though if I have my two cents, I say Hinton wrote it. But I can't even find a wikipedia page, NOTHING, on Nathaniel Hinton - perhaps an alias?
Til The Well Runs Dry
Wynona Carr came into my life in 2018. It was around the time Hadda Brooks said, “Hello. Oh, this looks lovely. I think I’ll stay here for a while” to my brain and ears. I remember the exact day and where I was driving. It was September 7th, I was heading to Robert Frost Farm to kill time before heading to a concert in Derry, New Hampshire (at Tupelo Music Hall). I won’t name the musician whom I was seeing because I have mentioned them too much already in the last two posts and I’m afraid to sound obsessive. Wynona Carr came into my life with a swoon worthy “Heartbreak Melody”. My god, this woman could sing! The emotion that carried through that song touched me on a level rarely stroked. So we continued to explore the discography.
This song is always part of a weekly journey. It's no surprise it was going to show up here, just a matter of when.
“Til The Well Runs Dry” is a song about not appreciating what you have. The character has lost their love and their pleading for their return. Claiming they can’t eat, sleep, and it’s driving them insane. To bring this message home, it is repeated;
“You’ll never miss your waterTill the well runs dry”
It’s about taking others for granted and when they leave, you recognize how essential they are. Like water.
It’s also that idea of wanting what you can’t have. Perhaps this characters lover has moved on, and then the narrator recognizes their own emptiness and flaws.
When I saw you, baby
And you looked so fine
(I know it, baby)
All I could say was
That you used to be mine
(You can't eat, you can't sleep)
I said I'm just about
To lose my mind, yeah
Wynona Carr was signed to Speciality Records under the name, Sister Wynona Carr, as to honor Sister Rosetta Tharpe. We love Sister Rosetta Tharpe here, so right on! When she first started with the label she was pinned as a gospel singer, both her and the charts weren't happy with this direction which lead to the Wynona Carr we have archived and I admire today. Her style, in both pop and gospel are clearly influence by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Wynonnie Harris, Lloyd Price - just do yourself a favor and explore own your own. It's sensual, it's moving, and it's captivating almost on a spiritual level. I laugh though at her songs being sexualized, like Mr. Jailer, after being given the nickname "Sister". She represents purgatory.
This song was released on Specialty Records on 10 November, 1956. It was written by Wynona herself, too!
Florida
NRBQ stands for New Rhythm Blues Quintet, later changed to Quartet. That’s how I met them. Actually first, I was introduced to pianist and founding member, Terry Adams as a man with flowers around his neck as if he had just got back from a place much tanner than New York City. That’s where I was. I was at Town Hall, a venue located on 123 W and 43rd Street- right off Broadway. It was 24 May , 2018, Bob Dylan’s birthday and I was there in celebration of Dylan. The Town Hall welcomed musicians and acts from all kinds to take the stage to play different renditions of Dylan’s songs. Terry Adams took to the piano to provide an upbeat version of Highway 51. He elevated the song into, well, a new rhythm and blues version. Foot stomping, both to keep in time and capturing his character and driving passion for the sound. I become a fan when I see passion for music and for performance. The following year, September 2019, NRBQ played in Boston at the City Winery. I went with my aunt Lynda. I remember describing them as “a real life Rutles”, for their music was a bit corny and reminded me much of something the Pythons would have done. Innocent, early Beatles at time, or maybe it was just comfort food, such as The Beatles are? But then their discography balances with a sound like Steve Miller, like “Ain’t It All Right” (Geez, Steve Miller again, maybe I’m sensing a theme in this post?). They remind me a bit of The James Gang, and even slightly like Bachman-Turner Overdrive. However, AllMusic lists them suggested they're released to sounds of; Keith Richards (whom was fan), The J. Geils Band, G.E Smith, Little Feat, Taj Mahal, and others - find the full list here. With that said, I encourage you to continue to listen and form your own opinions as well as share your thoughts.
This song "Florida" is also a song that has no lyrics posted anywhere, so while writing this, I feel as if the words are ingrained in my brain. The song is simple day dreaming of packing up and taking a trip to Florida.
One can interpret it as a retirement, pack up, move out and stay there. No worries. Or it’s merely, let’s take time to just be on hiatus together in Florida.
The song is written by Chris Ligon, whom Chicago Magazine refers to as "Chicago's answer to Harry Nilsson"- look another reoccurring theme. Nilsson was mentioned in Part I of this series, as co-writer on a John Lennon track. It was released on Look At The Birdy, Ligon's record of 2009. NRBQ released their version in 2019 on their album, Turn on, Tune In, an album featuring NRBQ in a quartet; Terry Adams, Scott Ligon (Chris's younger brother), Casey McDonough, and John Perrin. An album I am now just realizing might have been why the band was on tour in 2019 and I saw them. Turn on, Tune In, features a plethora of covers previously done by NRBQ as well as their own renditions of Carol King and The Beach Boys.
"Florida" has that upbeat feel of a Beach Boy song, but isn't sang like a California cruise. It is instead representing the anticipation of heading towards a vacation with verses of fast paced, rambling only to invite the idea of heading to Florida, which is sang in a three-part harmony. Take a listen;
Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
5 o'clock morning shifts use to be my schedule from May to August, until I told my work I didn't have a car until 6. I would wake up at three, drag myself out of bed and drink as much caffeine as I could. The bags under my eyes and lethargic body would find itself sleeping for an additional half hour on the couch while a documentary played on the TV. It took me three days to consciously watch a documentary on Sharon Jones and The Dap- Kings. I hadn't known who they were when I selected the film. I do this a lot. There are a lot of musicians whom I know their story but not their music and vice versa. Sharon Jones I know about her treatment and dying days. I believe I remember her being a wedding singer but now can't find a source and hopefully can find a documentary again. I also remember learning that she had a gravitational pull and power to bring back the power of soul music.
Sharon Jones and The Dapking's didn't release their debut album until 2002! Before this the band members, then known as The Soul Providers, were recording a James Brown inspired album when they heard Sharon Jones singing back up for Lee Fields- Fields providing lead vocals on their album. Jones at the times was, get this, a corrections officer.
The Dap-Kings came around when members of this James Brown inspired album group disbanded and one member, Garbriel Roth, decided to launch his own record label, Daptone's Records (there is more to this story which includes Desco Records, a label in which Roth as well as Soul Providers member Phillipe Lehman started together- this however, is the short version). The first album released on Daptone's was one recorded by Sharon Jones, the backup singer Roth had heard a few years ago and had worked with a few times after during his time at Desco Records. This formed The Dap-Kings as her backing group. Some members of the Dap-Kings were passed members of the Soul Providers as well as The Might Imperials - another group from the passed Desco Records era.
The group went on to record seven studio albums from 2002 - 2017, until Jones was diagnosed and unfortunelty passed from bile duct cancer. She passed away in 2016, making their last album one released after her death. Miss Sharon Jones, is the documentary I mentioned and was at the time found on Netflix. This film follows her battle.
I started listening to some Sharon Jones and The Dap-King's shortly after watching the documentary, and continuously find myself wrapped around this song.
It was written by Mickey Newbury as a warning of the effects of LSD. It appeared on his 1968 debut album Harlequin Melodies (though Newbury disregarded it as his debut album, due to the albums over production and arrangements not being cohesive). The song was originally cut by Jerry Lee Lewis whom released his version in 1967, though his take isn't the one most talked about. First Edition topped charts with their rendition in the same year. Kenny Rogers on lead vocals, making this his first Top Ten hit - peaking at No. 5 in Billboard charts.
Here I pause for a somber moment to recognize that Jerry Lee is the only one still alive out of those mentioned whom have recorded it. This world has a lot of light, and folks like Kenny Rogers charged part of it. Sharon Jones, when you hear this song will illuminate you. Jerry Lee Lewis is an electric shock. This is why I write, because I don't want any of this light to go out. Music is an eternal torch and we have to keep it from fading and turning to ashes to blow away.
ANYWAYS
The song has since been covered numerous times, by Willie Nelson, Tom Jones, and many others from leaps of genres. The version I picked today was released forty years after Mickey Newbury released his. In 2008 the great, and I sure hope still not forgotten, Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson starred in a musical comedy, Soul Men. Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings cover appeared on the films soundtrack, to provide a much needed call back to times when soul, as well as counterculture drug advocacy was around of the mid-late sixties.
So let's draw back to the LSD. What first draw me to this song was the lyrics itself, I didn't think of LSD, but then again, I suppose I didn't know what I thought. Just "killer lines".
I woke up this mornin' with the sundown shinin' in
I found my mind in a brown paper bag within
I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high
I tore my mind on a jagged sky
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
"I found my mind in a brown paper bag within" a tab in a bag that the characters about take. I'm proud to say I don't actively partake in LSD, but the drug is almost as mixing your subconscious with the lucid. The rational mind with your dreamscape as well as your anxieties. What got me about this song was the imagery - "Trip on a cloud and fell- a eight miles high". The next verse;
I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in
I watched myself crawlin' out as I was a-crawlin' in
I got up so tight I couldn't unwind
I saw so much I broke my mind
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
The first line here I think recognizes the anxiety, the initial recognition of not being in control but then accepting. Very Alice in Wonderland, following down the rabbit hole imagery. This idea of Alice can also be used when "I watched myself...", as Alice crawls through a looking glass, one that is reflective. We watch our reflections. My folks won't like reading this part, but I remember being so high once I was mute and angry at my own reflection. I was a passenger in the car and saw this character, myself unrecognizable in this state to my concious, sticking out her tongue and puffing her cheeks out at me in the rearview mirror. I remember being so angry, "why are they making fun of me?" but this drug had consumed me so much, I felt I couldn't speak and I sat silent for nearly an hour. I also remember going to a beach and picking up litter instead of seashells. But that's how I relate to that line.
Then the title of the song;
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
Our character here escaped to their world of a dreamscape reality to see what their subconscious thought of their conscious state.
Lost In The Ozone
I decided to end the post with this song due to it's comforting rally to join in the chorus. This week I had started listening to a country podcast, a lot of Don Rich and Buck Owens. I learned about The Judds. I stepped away from the podcast and turned on my playlist to get away from country for a minute -not that I often look to get break from it, but for a nice pallet cleanser. Cody Commander was the artist that appeared and I was back on the country train.
Cody Commander and his Lost Planet Airmen was a group I got into three summers ago. I remember "Hot Rod Lincoln" came over my speaker I had clipped to my hip. My dog Oz, was running circles around me, not understanding part of Fetch is to hand me the ball. "Hot Rod Lincoln" reminded me of something witty Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry would have written together. Since then I started playing the song everywhere I went - my dad even asking our Alexa to play it from time to time.
This song however, is not that song. "Hot Rod Lincoln" still drives on the forces that the band had for supplying a country style sound. But Hot Rod Lincoln, if it isn't alluded to in the name, is much more rockabilly than "Lost In The Ozone". Both song however, were released in 1971 on Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen's first album. This song is the title track to the album released, featuring all kinds of rock and country influences as well as incorporating Americana, with the use of fiddles and pedal steel guitar. This masterfully creates a debut album honoring multi-genres and an idea that you can be lost and found at the same time.
What I mean by that in "Hot Rod Lincoln" we have a character that gets in trouble for driving too fast in their car. The character has not yet been found or accepting societies rules or ways. They find themselves when they're lost in chaos -perhaps thats why no matter how many times he is asked to "stop driving that hot rod Lincoln" he can't because he's found, subconsciously, behind the wheel. In the song I chose for today, "Lost In The Ozone", the character is hopelessly in love, lost in an infatuation with whom I assume to be the mother of his children;
Now the neon lights are shinin' bright downtown.There's a thousand swingin' doors gonna let me in.
I tucked the kids in bed, heh!, at eight o'clock and then...
I'm gonna head for the ozone again.
To cope with this love battle, he drinks. Ozone being a state of drunkenness. These neon lights and swinging doors are bars or rather saloons, where the character can be found for a while. Ozone perhaps relating to the intoxication giving a buzz and blurred impression of living in a state that's not earthly. It's not like getting high, but being drunk can elevate one in a different way. It also allows one to become very vulnerable. So whether it’s a feeling of solving problems by overcompensating ones own vanity and supernatural gifts, or it effecting someone on a lower plane, releasing a feeling much like sinking into a deep seated cushion. Lost in a temprapedic almost- Weighted. Either way, the state one has entered when intoxicated is one that allows them to escape from reality for a moment. Live in an altered universe. It is where they are found.
Thank you for joining in this weeks post. As always, feel free to comment below your thoughts, opinions, maybe your song picks of the week. Post your grocery list here, so you don't forget it! I really don't care. Just take care!
-L
