I don't agree with that in the work place

I been working all day for me mate on the site
Running around like a blue arsed fly
I been working
And I been working all day for me mate

Every bleeding minute I been on the go
Up and down the ladder like a fiddler's elbow
I been working
I been working all day for me mate

Wait for tomorrow at half past ten
When I sign on, but until then
I'll be working
I'll be working all day for me mate

Aint' got no cards, don't pay no tax
For a score in me hand I'll be breaking me back
I been working
And I been working all day for me mate
Call me a crook, call me bent
But I need more than food and rent
I been working
And I been working all day for me mate

They try to follow me every day
I give 'em the slip and I'm on my way
None of the other blokes thinks it's wrong
'Coz every one of 'em's signing on

They try to follow me every day
I give 'em the slip and I'm on my way
None of the other blokes thinks it's wrong
'Coz every one of 'em's signing on

The benefit boys are out of touch
What they don't know won't hurt 'em much
I been working
And I been working all day for me mate

If I'm caught I'll go down for a month or three
But they'll still Be paying out looking after me
I been working
And I been working all day for me mate

(zip) Metal Bastard's Professions Songs (49 mb)

1. Radiohead - Talk show host (1995)
2. Dusty Springfield - Son of preacher man (1968)
3. Harpo - Moviestar (1975)
4. The Tony Jackson Group - Fortune teller (1965)
5. The Beatles - Please mister postman (1963)
6. The Knife - The cop (2003)
7. Teddybears - At the dentist's (1993)
8. The Notwist - Pilot (2002)
9. Editors - The boxer (2009)
10. The Walker Brothers - The electrician (1978)
11. Bruce Springsteen - State trooper (1982)
12. Bob Dylan - House carpenter (1961)
13. The Tallest Man On Earth - The gardener (2008)
14. The Decemberists - The engine driver (2005)
15. Oasis - D'yer wanna be a spaceman (1994)

Pay for your music

Songs That Get My Juices Flowing #27

(mp3) Cornelius - Breezin'
Available on Sensuous (2006)

(mp3) Pink Floyd - A Spanish piece
Available on More (1969)

(mp3) 13th Floor Elevators - Baby blue (Bob Dylan cover)
Available on Easter Everywhere (1967)

(mp3) Status Quo - All the reasons
Available on Piledriver (1972)

(mp3) Emiliana Torrini - Gollum's song
Available on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Soundtrack (2002)

Silver&Crimson Vol. 28

Feil kombinasjon av e-postadresse og passord.

I Facebook-passord er det forskjell på små og store bokstaver. Se etter om du har Caps Lock på. Du kan også prøve å slette nettleserens cache og informasjonskapsler ved å følge disse instruksjonene .

(zip) Silver&Crimson Vol. 2 (38 mb)

Silverbullit galore

Ladies and gents, meet Silverbullit. One of the best and most overlooked bands of all time.

They formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1995. Their high energy rock 'n' roll along with the voice and the unpredictable antics of frontman/singer Simon Ohlsson made many compare them to The Stooges and The Doors. The selftitled debut album came out in 1997 and they quickly got attention all over the county for their wreckless live shows.

After much turmoil, the follow-up, Citizen Bird, was released in 2001. Gone was the all American Detroit-tinged boogie r'n'r', replaced instead by influences from Spiritualized/Spacemen 3, The Velvet Underground, Suicide, DAF, Joy Division/New Order, krautrock and old school computer game music. Citizen Bird was recorded on and off for several years, in a few different studios, and with six different drummers.

Håkan Hellström, who plays drums on the title track, is probably Sweden's biggest and most popular solo artist. He previously played bass in Broder Daniel and drums in Honey Is Cool, the latter a band that had none other than Karin Dreijer of The Knife and Fever Ray as their singer. Karin Dreijer who also appears on Citizen Bird, singing a duet with bassist Jukka Rintamäki on Axe Man. However, in the States the name Silverbullit was already taken , so the name was changed to Citizen Bird, making the second album their selftitled in America, and not the first one.

Their latest album, their masterpiece Arclight, came out in 2004. By far the best album released that year. On some days, I'm convinced it's the best album ever. Yes, ever. Picking only three tracks from it was a genuine pain the arse. I kept wanting to post all twelve, that would be pushing my luck. So please, check out the whole album, as it is hard to get the full experience from just the three songs I chose to post. It is really an album in the true sense of the word, and listening to songs out of context don't do it justice. Trust me: Arclight is fucking monumental. Listening to it in its entirety will be the biggest favor you ever do yourself.

Even darker, more ominous and more electronic than Citizen Bird, Arclight also drew heavily on the band's love for the shoegazing scene, whilst showing many new influences. Once Upon A Time proves you can make rock with a disco beat without sounding like Franz Ferdinand, and Seconds wouldn't have felt out of place on some of Depeche Mode's late 80's albums, like Black Celebration or Music For The Masses (in my head it's Martin Gore singing it, not Dave Gahan).

The songs were longer, more monotonous and with a disturbing sinister feel that's never in your face, it's all inbetween the lines. The lyrics are deliberately ambiguous, but leaves you with the feeling that something about this band is very, very wrong. They simply cannot be quite right in the head. I don't want to know that they live in the same world as the rest of us, I want to believe they live some sort of parallell universe, oddly similar to some communist state of yesteryear. Considering what their music sounds like, it must be created in a cloudy, grey cityscape of concrete, iron and misery. Where everything is run down, windows are boarded up and no one can find work. Prostitution and drugs are a part of everyone's daily routine, and the recording studios haven't seen an upgrade since the 60's.

They're probably just regular guys with kids, normal family lives, mortgages, 9 to 5 jobs, golden retriever, the whole bit. But I prefer to ignore that.

Enough rambling, check out these songs (every last one of them, ya hear!). For more Silverbullit go here, here, here, here, here, and here.

(mp3) Silverbullit - Boom boom boogie (recommended!)
(mp3) Silverbullit - King of the line
(mp3) Silverbullit - Fall in love
Available on S/t (1997)


(mp3) Silverbullit - Glory
(mp3) Silverbullit - This is the place (recommended!)
(mp3) Silverbullit - Knuckleduster
Available on Citizen Bird (2001)


(mp3) Silverbullit - Run (recommended!)
(mp3) Silverbullit - Buddy
(mp3) Silverbullit - Seconds
Available on Arclight (2004)


Bonus tracks:

(mp3) Silverbullit - Know your rights (demo, 1996) (extremely recommended)
(mp3) Silverbullit - Axe man (feat. Karin Dreijer)
(mp3) Silverbullit - Running free (Iron Maiden cover)

.

Jonajted stejts åv amerrka

USA! USA! USA!

Star Maker Machine is one of my favorite blogs of all time. For the last two years a large number of writers and contributors have gotten together to post songs and pontificate about music in general, with a new theme every week. What I also really appreciaite is that they only allow songs made after the year 2000 in very rare cases, if the reason for it is good enough. You gotta love that, as it leaves room for classics tracks that have stood the test of time and prevents recent flash-in-the-pan artists to litter the blog.

I only discovered Star Maker Machine about a year ago when I had unknowningly posted a number of these theme mixes around the same themes they had already used. Some of these similiar themes have been "Days of the week", "The Moon", "Bodies of water" and "Drinkin' songs".

Most of them were as I said coincidences, but there have been a couple of themes that I stole from shamelessly from them, and this is one of them. A while back they did the mammoth task of posting 50 songs, one about each state. It was too good not to rip off, so here's my take on it.

I tried to make it entirely my own, but now looking back at what they did I see that both Tom Waits' Johnsburg, Illinois and Vic Chesnutt's Florida were also featured on theirs. Oh well.

Read Star Maker Machine's rundown here.

I'm not entirely sure if The Rolling Stone's Sweet Virginia is really about the state of Virginia. It could just as well be about some random tart named Virgina who got to taste Mick's jagger backstage in 1970. I suppose five seconds on Wikipedia would solve the mystery, but I honestly couldn't be bothered.

(zip) Metal Bastard's The United Songs of America (55 mb)

1. Vic Chesnutt - Florida (1991)
2. The Buffoons - Arizona (1973)
3. J.J. Light - Gallup, New Mexico (1969)
4. Gipsy Kings - Hotel California (1988)
5. R.L. Burnside - Georgia women (1997)
6. Jesse Winchester - Mississippi you're on my mind (1974)
7. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (1982)
8. The Black Crowes - Wyoming and me (1997)
9. Steve Young - Alabama highway (1975)
10. Tom Waits - Johnsburg, Illinois (1983)
11. Martin Denny - Hawaii (1965)
12. The Rolling Stones - Sweet Virginia (1972)
13. Red House Painters - New Jersey (1993)
14. Fairport Convention - Reno, Nevada (1968)
15. Emmylou Harris - Waltz across Texas tonight (1995)

Pay for you music

Songs That Get My Juices Flowing #26

(mp3) Doktor Kosmos - Lesbian wannabe
Available on Ett Enkelt Svar! (2005)

(mp3) Johnny Cash - The night they drove old Dixie down
Available on John R. Cash (1975)

(mp3) Chris Morris - Bad sex 2
Available on Blue Jam (2000)

(mp3) No Doubt - You can do it
Available on Tragic Kingdom (1995)

(mp3) The Afghan Whigs - Somethin' hot
Available on 1965 (1998)

Blur galore

(I just saw the new Blur documentary No Distance Left To Run, which not only made me very nostalgic for the wonderful britpop of the 90s, but also reminded me of one of the very first posts on this blog. The following was originally posted on August 26th 2008.)

Britpop. Ah yes, Britpop. What a wonderous era in music history that was. I don't know how much of this was noticed outside Europe, but for some reason Britain kept spitting out one great band after another between circa 1993 to 1997. Some say this creative peak was because kids being sick of the conservative rule, and I suppose that's an explanation as good as any.

Strife and struggle always create good music. There's a reason there's been countless fantastic rock bands from dismal cities like Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Detroit, and Berlin, while you have to look pretty hard to find even one good rock band from Hawaii. Because what do they have to write about? Pineapple shortage?

Whatever the reason, this was a great time for music, hell I even dug bands like Menswear, that everyone else seemed to agree was shit. The most successful ones, sales wise and certainly in terms of media attention, were Blur and Oasis. There was this fued going between the working class lads in Oasis and the prim and proper middle class boys in Blur, but I loved both bands so I didn't give a shit.

How sad to see some fans actually choosing sides. It's okay to like both, you know. You're allowed to like both Pink Floyd and The Sex Pistols. Both Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Just because two people don't like each other, don't mean you can't like both.

This little (well maybe not so little, it's 71 mb) Blur mix is something I made in 2001 after borrowing my sister's Blur collection. I simply took the tracks I dug the most, and burned them onto a cd.

And I must say these aren't just my favorite Blur songs, these are some of my favorite songs by anyone. Songs like Strange News From Another Star, Badhead, The Universal, To The End, Best Days, Tracy Jacks and End Of A Century are at times too good to be true. Perfect little pop masterpieces.

I never really cared for Leisure (1991) or Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993) though, so these songs are all from Parklife (1994), The Great Escape (1995), Blur (1997) and 13 (1999). What about the album made after guitarist Graham Coxon left? Well... Let's pretend that never happened, shall we?

Parklife = @
The Great Escape = $
Blur = %
13 = #

(zip) The best of Blur according to Metal Bastard

1. End of a century @
2. London loves @
3. Song 2 %
4. M.O.R. %
5. Parklife @
6. Best days $
7. Strange news from another star %
8. The universal $
9. Tender #
10. Beetlebum %
11. Charmless man $
12. Chinese bombs %
13. You're so great %
14. Stereotypes $
15. Tracy Jacks @
16. Coffee & TV #
17. Movin' on %
18. Death of a party %
19. I'm just a killer for you love %
20. Badhead @
21. To the end @

Buy all things Blur @ Amazon.com.

Peter Dolving

Who's that funny looking white boy with the Norman Bates stare, you ask? That's Peter Dolving, I answer.

Peter is a singer/songwriter from Gothenburg. Did solo gigs around Sweden before he was asked to join metal band Mary Beats Jane in the early 90's. At first he was hesitant, but was eventually won over. MBJ made two albums (the selftitled debut in 1994 and their magnum opus Locust in 1997) before going separate ways.

Shortly thereafter Dolving recorded vocals on a demo for Gothenburg thrash metal band The Haunted. The demo turned out so great that he was asked to stay with the band and sing on their first album. He left the band shortly thereafter, citing personal issues.

This is when the story gets interesting. Dolving surprised his metal fans and formed Peter Dolving Band, a largely acoustic rock/pop/soul/country band that wasn't metal in the least. Musically, lyrically, spiritually and politically they're not far from the stuff David Sandström is doing these days. A tour with the two, or even better a collaboration, would truly be (.)(.)

PDB released a string of self-produced CD-Rs and toured like maniacs, building quite a reputation. Then, in 2003, he was asked to rejoin The Haunted for their forth album, rEVOLVEr. He gladly accepted, as he had regretted leaving The Haunted in the first place. He didn't leave because he wanted to, but because he had too many things going on in his personal life at the time. But this didn't put a stop to Peter Dolving Band. Instead, they changed their name and mutated into BringTheWarHome (crap name, I know) and released the 6th best album of 2008.

What I've always liked about Peter Dolving is the immense passion he puts into every little thing he does. This is the last person in the world who would do something half-assed. Furthermore, he is well-versed in the English language, more so than most Swedes. I rank him as the best lyricist in Sweden today, along with Christian Kjellvander. The reason for their eloquent lyrics probably has something to do with the fact that they've both spent many years living in the States (Kjellvander in Seattle, Dolving in San Fransisco).

Some of these songs have a certain harrowing darkness that many songwriters attempt but very few can actually muster. I always thought Johnny Cash should've covered All Good Things - it would have sounded great on one his Rick Rubin-produced American records.

He is also one of those people who have opinion on everything. He frequently goes on rants in his MySpace page, and his blog has many readers (not surprisingly, I'm one of them).´

Okay, I can't think of anything else to add about Dolving. If you've read all of this, you have my sympathies. Download and see the wonder that is Peter Dolving.

(mp3) Peter Dolving Band - All good things (recommended!)
(mp3) Peter Dolving Band - Break or bust (recommended!)
(mp3) Peter Dolving Band - Let them swing
(mp3) Peter Dolving Band - Should have been you (recommended!)
(mp3) Peter Dolving Band - Some things
(mp3) Peter Dolving Band - These words

For the sake of the song

I’m walking
I am walking along
And I am humming
I am humming
One of your songs

I just know one small verse in the middle of it
But it makes me wanna hear it
On and on and on and on
I just know one small verse in the middle of it
But it makes me wanna hear it
On and on and on and on

Everyday I hear your song now
Everyday
It won´t go away.
So I am humming
I am humming
One of your songs

I just know one small verse in the middle of it
But it makes me wanna hear it
On and on and on and on
I just know one small verse in the middle of it
But it makes me wanna hear it
On and on and on and on

So I am humming
I am humming
One of your songs

(zip) Metal Bastard's Song Songs (85 mb)

1. Bob Dylan & The Band - Wedding song (1974)
2. Ane Brun feat. Ron Sexsmith - Song no. 6 (2005)
3. Adam Faith - The beat girl song (1960)
4. Steve Martin - Dentist song (1986)
5. Monty Python - I bet you they won't play this song on the radio (1980)
6. Foo Fighters - The last song (2005)
7. The Posies - Hate song (1996)
8. Ken Page - Oogie Boogie's song (1993)
9. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Wrote a song for everyone (1969)
10. Beastie Boys - Song for the man (1998)
11. The Doors - Alabama song (whiskey bar) (1967)
12. The Cure - Love song (1989)
13. Bat For Lashes - Siren song (2009)
14. Radiohead - Pyramid song (2001)
15. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Love song #3105 (1998)

Pay for your music.

(Winter) Songs That Get My Juices Flowing #25

(mp3) Silverbullit - Winter coat
Available on Arclight (2004)

(mp3) Bob Dylan - Winterlude
Available on New Morning (1970)

(mp3) Ronny & The Daytonas - Winter weather
Single (1966)

(mp3) Josh Rouse - Winter in the Hamptons
Available on Nashville (2004)

(mp3) Firefox feat. Tiger Lou - Winter rose
Available on If I Were A Melody (2006)

Angelo Badalamenti - "Twin Peaks Soundtrack" (1990)

Just about the best darn tootin' TV show in history.

I was too young for it when it first aired (a wee eight year old, I was), but all the buzz I certainly didn't miss. I don't remember seeing a frame of it, but I do remember wondering what the hell that "Twin Peaks" thing was that everybody was talking about. Hearing about it, mainly from eavesdropping on my then-teenage sister and her friends, gave it an air of mystery that I could never quite shake off.

My sister had the soundtrack album (by Angelo Badalamenti) on vinyl, and I listened to it constantly, creating images to the music in my head. I would look at the trees on the cover (there was something creepy about them, but I couldn't figure out what), studied the faces of the many characters depicted trying to figure who they were and how they related to each other. Twin Peaks became something I carried with me without even knowing what it was.

(mp3) Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks theme
(mp3) Angelo Badalamenti - Laura Palmer's theme
(mp3) Angelo Badalamenti - Audrey's dance

Then, when I was in high school (1995/96 or so) the show was aired again on Swedish television, on TV3 nonetheless. A station that hadn't up to that point (and hasn't since) aired anything worth watching. I watched the pilot, and for once in my life my expectation were succeeded. It was love at first sight, and I've been hooked ever since. Within a week I had bought the soundtrack on CD, I started taping every episode and my obsession grew stonger.


Still to this day I have no idea what half of it is about, but that's the magic of David Lynch. There were so many moments that hit me straight in the heart: The Horne brothers with their brie & butter sandwiches, the cherry pies and coffee (of course), the log lady, the owls who aren't what they seem, the Norwegians, and Audrey Horne, good lord Audrey Horne... Played by the divine Sherilyn Fenn (depicted below), Audrey Horne set my loins alight like no else ever has. She was dark, cunning, a little bitchy, and didn't take shit from nobody, but deep inside she was just a little girl with a big heart, sweet as sugar and craving attention. In other words, the perfect woman. Whomever I marry will have to compete with Audrey Horne.

She looked amazing all through the series (particularly in the episodes where she worked undercover at the One Eyes Jack's brothel and wore skimpy whore outfits), but my favorite look was in the pilot. Her black-as-a-raven hair kept short, that porcelain skin, a knitted pink sweater, saddle shoes and a plaid skirt. She had the naughty 1950's Elizabeth Taylor look nailed down and she was hottest thing on TV. And of course with that sexy mole right next her left eye. No suprise my favorite song on the soundtrack was the seductive Audrey's Dance. God bless you, Sherilyn Fenn. God bless you.

Sherilyn might be sixteen years my senior, but she still looks as good as she ever has, and I'd marry her in a heartbeat. But then again, she used to date Johnny Depp so I have a feeling she wouldn't settle for anybody, certainly not someone as scummy as yours truly.

And that, dear readers, is my cross to bear. To never get to make sweet love to Sherilyn Fenn.


Buy the soundtrack here.

Buy the DVDs here and here.

Simon & Garfunkel galore

This is a little compilation of mine previously posted on my old blog, but no one read that blog so no one downloaded it.

These are taken from four of S&G's five albums - Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. (1964), Sounds Of Silence (1966), Bookends (1968) and Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970). I wanted to include tracks from 1966's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme but my cd was so worn out and scratched that the computer wouldn't rip it. So there you go.

You'll notice the most well-known songs were excluded. That's because no one needs to hear The Boxer for the millionth time.

(zip) Simon & Garfunkel galore (40 mb)

1. He was my brother (1964)
2. Blessed (1966)
3. Save the life of my child (1968)
4. America (1968)
5. We've got a groovy thing goin' (1966)
6. Hazy shade of winter (1968)
7. Leaves that are green (1966)
8. Anji (1966)
9. Baby driver (1970)
10. Richard Cory (1966)
11. You can tell the world (1964)
12. Fakin' it (1968)
13. Keep the customer satisfied (1970)
14. Somewhere they can't find me (1966)
15. Wednesday morning, 3 A.M. (1964)

Buy everything S&G @ Amazon.com.

Wind in the willows

In common terminology, wind is the flow of air. In a broader sense, it is the flow of gases that compose an atmosphere. The latter definition takes into account the presence of atmospheric gases on various planetary bodies, in addition to the Earth.

There are various types of winds, which may be classified in any of several ways, such as by their spatial scale, speed, geographic location, the types of forces producing them, or their effects. Some winds are gentle breezes. Others, known as eolian (or aeolian or æolian) winds, reshape landforms by processes such as large-scale erosion and dune formation.

Early mariners relied on the "trade winds" (or "trades") to carry them across oceans. Others harnessed the power of the wind to drive windmills used for grinding grain and pumping water. Today, wind turbines are being built in some parts of the world to generate electricity.

(zip) Metal Bastard's Wind Songs (56 mb)

1. Johnny Cash - Four strong winds (2006)
2. Arcade Fire - Cold wind (2005)
3. The Plan - The wind starts blowing (2001)
4. P.J. Harvey - The wind (1998)
5. Pink Floyd - A pillow of winds (1971)
6. Frank Sinatra - Ill wind (1954)
7. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - The wind cries Mary (1967)
8. Flogging Molly - Whistles the wind (acoustic, 2006)
9. King Crimson - I talk to the wind (1969)
10. Talking Heads - Listening wind (1980)
11. Roky Erickson & The Aliens - The wind and more (1981)
12. Cat Stevens - The wind (1971)
13. Thin Lizzy - Look what the wind blew in (1971)
14. Ed Harcourt - Wind through the trees (live, 2001)
15. The Tallest Man On Earth - This wind (2008)

Buy 'em @ Amazon.com

Songs That Get My Juices Flowing #24

(mp3) Blair - Mona Lisa
Available on Pluto (ep, 2007)

(mp3) Pavement - Gold soundz
Available on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)

(mp3) Dave England - My ass hurts so bad
Available on Jackass Number Two Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2006)

(mp3) Pauline - Runnin' out of gaz
Available on Candy Rain (2003)

(mp3) The Bonzo Dog Band - Humanoid boogie
Available on The Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse (1968)

David Sandström

David “I Have A Better Beard Than You” Sandström was the subject of this rather lengthy post right here. I’m 99% sure you missed it, but it’s damn good so check it out.

The album I wrote about there is by far the strangest of Sandström’s albums, and the only one in Swedish. Usually he occupies himself with writing and playing more traditional, rootsy rock with his band David Sandström Overdrive. These are some songs he gave away for free at his website in 2007.

Highly recommended, all four of them. They’re the kind of songs that are so good, so well-written that even when listening to them the first time, they feel like something you listened to as a kid. Songs you can hum along to straight away, they somehow sound very familiar but not because they’re rip offs of some old songs you already know, but because they have a timeless quality that just hits you straight in the heart. Songs that are like meeting an old friend.

How Sandström doesn’t get more praise is a mystery. Swedish acts are hyped like hell on blogs world wide at the moment; if it’s not well-known ones like Peter Bjorn & John, Lykke Li, The Knife, Robyn or Hello Saferide, it’s some small little weird unsigned band that not even Swedes have heard about, but who somehow caught the ear of some American blogger who prowls the far corners of the Internet in search of Scandinavian music. Yes Craig, I’m talking about you :).

So why not David Sandström? Fuck knows. A Sandström hype is long overdue! Let’s start one, right here, right now. Download, listen, obey the genius that is David Sandström, and spread the motherfartin’ word! Tell your friends, people. Tell your friends.

Again, these songs were given away for free so have no qualms about sharing them. Send them to everyone you know who likes good music, post them on your own blog even. It would be truly unfair for David Sandström to stay obscure.

(mp3) David Sandström Overdrive - The Fatville treaty
(mp3) David Sandström Overdrive - The sixties
(mp3) David Sandström Overdrive - Move along
(mp3) David Sandström Overdrive - TJ queen

Del Shannon

Del Shannon was born Charles Westover in Michigan in 1934. After a few hit singles in the U.S. (Runaway, Hats Off To Larry etc) he became quite the star in England. By 1970 there wasn't much left of his career. He suffered from depressions and soon succumbed to heavy drinking.

He occasionally worked with people like Tom Petty and The Smithereens, but he never much of a mark again. He recorded a comeback album in 1990, but before its release he shot himself in the head. According to his wife, it was his recent drug use that prompted him to take his life. The album was released posthumously as Rock On.

Shannon was at his best when he played his own material (all songs below are Shannon originals), as they often had a very melancholic quality I cannot help but find completely irresistable. The best example would be Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun), by far his best song.

But unfortunately he relied too much on other people's songs. Besides the tried and true (read: boring) 60's standards like Twist And Shout, he recorded the Rolling Stones' Under My Thumb, Roy Orbison's Crying (doing his best to sound just like Orbison), Beatles songs like World Without Love and From Me To You (where he sounded almost identical to Lennon & McCartney). That is, when he wasn't busy impersonating Hank Williams on some of Williams' most well-known songs, like Cold Cold Heart and Your Cheatin' Heart.

His songs were, and still are, covered by a wide variety of artist. Elvis Presley, The Small Faces, The Misfits, John Fruisciante and The Beach Boys all performed their own versions of Runaway, and I Go To Pieces was a hit for Peter & Gordon in 1965.

Del Shannon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

(mp3) Del Shannon - Keep searchin' (we'll follow the sun) (highly recommended)
(mp3) Del Shannon - Runaway
(mp3) Del Shannon - Hey little girl
(mp3) Del Shannon - Hats off to Larry
(mp3) Del Shannon - So long baby (also recommended)
(mp3) Del Shannon - I go to pieces
(mp3) Del Shannon - Stranger in town

Available on The Definitive Collection (2000)

Nervous Norvus - "Stone Age Woo: The Zorch Sounds Of Nervous Norvus" (compilation, 2004)

James Drake has a secure spot in music history as one of the great eccentrics in rock 'n' roll. He was also most likely the first outsider rap artist without even knowing it. Hell, he was probably the first rap artist period.

Under the moniker Nervous Norvus (the name alone should tell you we're dealing with a loon), Tennessee native Drake recorded some singles for Dot Records in the 1950s and 60s, consisting of some of the most peculiar songs ever written. All these songs were potential novelty hits, but most were just a bit too disturbed and became worrying and a little scary as opposed to merely entertaining.

In the end only two songs managed to make a dent on the charts: Transfusion, a song about a race car driver who loves getting blood tranfusions ("Hey daddy-o/Make that type O"), and Ape Call, which explain how everyone and everything from tigers, dinosaurs and Adam (of Bible fame) go nuts whenever they spot a female.

The latter has some of my favorite Norvus lines, such as "A Pterodactyl was a flying fool/Just a breeze flapping daddy of the old school/But a mama dactyal could sure make him drool". Words of a true genius. Ape Call went as high as the #24 spot on the Billboard chart, and Transfusion made it all the way to #8!

Both singles were released in 1956 and both featured radio personality Red Blanchard, an impressivly eccentric individual himself who had created his own slang which he called "Zorch". Drake even wrote a tribute song to his hero, In Bed With Red.

Other songs include one about a new dance craze (Bullfrog Hop), one about The King's stay in the army (Elvis You're A G.I. Now), one about an alien coming to earth looking to get laid (The Fang), and perhaps his most absurd piece: Does A Chinese Chicken Have A Pigtail. My guess is no.

The lyrics are truly a wonder - inspired rhymes and total nonsense such "Yool yappa yappa zoink zoink!" delivered in a jiving, rhythmic style that flows so well any rapper should be jealous.

Drake would never have another hit - after The Fang flopped he was dropped by his label, but continued to record for various smaller labels. He died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1968 at the age of 56.

Compilations of his material has been released over the years and in 2004 Norton Records did the world one of the biggest favors of all time by releasing the definitive collection Stone Age Woo: The Zorch Sounds Of Nervous Norvus.

Buy it and marvel at the work of a unique performer who deserved to be bigger than Elvis.

(mp3) Nervous Norvus - Transfusion
(mp3) Nervous Norvus - Stoneage woo
(mp3) Nervous Norvus - Ape call (recommended!)
(mp3) Nervous Norvus - Elvis you're a G.I. now
(mp3) Nervous Norvus - Noon ballon to Rangoon
(mp3) Nervous Norvus - Does a chicken have a pigtail

Buy Stone Age Woo: The Zorch Sounds Of Nervous Norvus @ Amazon.com

Wine! Sweetmeats! Can't you see that Their Honours are exhausted?

We're gonna die when the sun comes up
We'll drink until we drop
My blood's 100 proof
We're gonna stumble, twist and crawl
99 bottles of beer on the wall
I'd rather drink than fuck

No doubt about it
I cant live with out it
No doubt about it
I cant live with out it
Alcohol

It is my destiny

You've got the beer
We've got the time
You've got the coke
Gimme a line

No doubt about it
I cant live with out it
No doubt about it
I cant live with out it
Alcohol

(zip) Metal Bastard's Boozin' Songs (54 mb)

1. Oasis - Cigarettes and alcohol (1994)
2. The Pogues - Streams of whiskey (1984)
3. The Little Willies - I gotta get drunk (2006)
4. Hank Williams III - Six pack of beer (2008)
5. Jim Ford - Happy songs sell records, sad songs sell beer (197?)
6. Jeff Daniels - You can drink an ugly girl pretty (2007)
7. Leerone - Care for some whiskey? (2007)
8. Johnny Cash - The kneeling drunkard's plea (1996)
9. Bessie Smith - Gimme a pigfoot (and a bottle of beer) (1933)
10. Emmylou Harris - Two more bottles of wine (1978)
11. Slim Cessna's Auto Club - Champagne like a lady (1995)
12. Murder City Devils - Rum to whiskey (2000)
13. Drive-By Truckers - Daddy needs a drink (2008)
14. John Lee Hooker - Whiskey and wimmen (1960)
15. Christian Kjellvander - Drunken hands (2005)

Previous installments:

Metal Bastard's Red Songs (December 23rd)
Metal Bastard's Mountain Songs (November 30th)
Metal Bastard's Mind Songs (November 19th)
Metal Bastard's Light Songs (November 14th)
Metal Bastard's White Songs (November 3rd)
Metal Bastard's Tears Songs (October 23rd)
Metal Bastard's Green Songs (October 14th)
Metal Bastard's Dreams Songs Redux (October 6th)
Metal Bastard's Moon Songs (October 1st)
Metal Bastard's Black Songs (September 22nd)
Metal Bastard's Door Songs (September 14th)
Metal Bastard's Midnight Songs (August 22nd)
Metal Bastard's Capitals Songs (August 3rd)
Metal Bastard's Road Songs (July 28th)
Metal Bastard's Money Songs (July 21st)
Metal Bastard's Blue Songs (July 17th)
Metal Bastard's Eye Songs (July 12th)
Metal Bastard's Death Songs (July 3rd)
Metal Bastard's Summer Songs (June 29th)
Metal Bastard's Life Songs (June 15th)
Metal Bastard's Songs About Fellow Artists (June 7th)
Metal Bastard's Friends Songs (May 31st)
Metal Bastard's Angel Songs (May 25th)
Metal Bastard's Body Parts Songs (May 17th)
Metal Bastard's Street Songs (May 10th)
Metal Bastard's Fire Songs (May 1st)
Metal Bastard's Murder Songs (March 30th)
Metal Bastard's Bird Songs (March 25th)
Metal Bastard's Rain Songs (March 19th)
Metal Bastard's Boy Songs (March 15th)
Metal Bastard's Weekdays Songs (March 6th)
Metal Bastard's Lost Songs (March 1st)
Metal Bastard's Animals Songs (February 23rd)
Metal Bastard's River Songs (February 19th)
Metal Bastard's Hand Songs (February 14th)
Metal Bastard's Time Songs (February 9th)
Metal Bastard's Water Songs (February 9th)
Metal Bastard's Dream Songs (February 1st)
Metal Bastard's Satan Songs (January 28th)
Metal Bastard's House Songs (January 23rd)
Metal Bastard's Gone Songs (January 20th)