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Listen, New Song

Goodbye, Goodbye

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In Cairo, the Spring can be great, but the Fall not so much

In Cairo, the Spring can be great, but the Fall...not so muchSo I had the idea for this new song on Tuesday last week. For one reason or another the old tune Goin’ Down to Cairo popped into my head while I was driving around in my car. Don’t know if you’ve ever heard that tune, check it out if you haven’t. This video is a pretty good approximation of how it’s always sung. You can also read about what that tune is all about over here, courtesy of the Old Town School of Folk Music. That’s where I first heard the song. People up there love it. Can’t get enough of it.

Anyway, I had that tune goin in my head and then I figured I hadn’t ever tried to write a song about the Arab Spring. Mainly, probably, because I don’t know a whole lot about it and because it ain’t really affecting me and my comfortable life. Other than for a week or so, a month or so ago, the news channels couldn’t get enough of it.

It’s pretty obvious, I think, how I went from a song about a town way down south at the tip of the bottom of Illinois to something about what’s going on over in the Middle East. And it was pretty easy, actually, to go from one to the other and back again. People in Illinois say “Kay-ro” and people in Egypt say “Ki-ro,” but they all want the same things when you get right down to it. Ain’t anything hard about that.

So that’s the song for today. Have a listen.

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: I Have No Idea (version 2)

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Here’s the new version of “I Have No Idea.” This is another song that made it onto my full-length album from last year. Was the last song I wrote for that album, in fact. Wrote it while I was driving down the road. Ever done that? I don’t recommend it. The people behind you know what you’re doing and they don’t like it. They’re busy and’ve got places to be, damnit.

Anyway, the structure of this one is pretty similar to the original (which you can listen to here). I haven’t performed this one too much, so I’m not totally bored with it and when I went back to play it I remembered how much I liked it. The original felt like a finished song already. So I didn’t change much. Just maybe the guitar part and the melody and singing a little.

The guitar part is loosely based on my song “Lawd Almighty.” Do you hear it in there? Go listen to that tune and maybe you’ll be able to pick it out.

I’ll leave it up to you to compare, though. You’re probably a better critic than me.

Listen, Talkin' Headline Blues

The Talkin’ Headline Blues #30

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The slow steady steam down to the ocean flowing with debris (logs, leaves, roots, muck) out into the wide open with a current that picks up that steam-rolls that rushes over and over and over and under continuing all the way to the pastures to the silt ponds to the neck of the woods to the thick forests of dead wood and moss to the blankets of salt at the delta.

Three towns over the towns forming a halo are flattened. Thank goodness for low monthly installment plans. Thank goodness for the good old American Flag flapping in the howling wind that rips and tears at the underbelly of all that is good and sacred. Thank goodness for the backs that are made to stand on for so long.

I’m a prop. How about you?

Listen, New Song

New Song: Baby, Work It All Night For Me

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Here’s the new one for this week. It’s a standard blues tune based on Blind Boy Fuller’s “Step It Up and Go.” I’ve used this a lot in the past and it’s a good one to fall back on when I don’t have any idea what kind of tune I’m gonna write or what kind of melody I want to sing.

That’s not to say I took an easy way out, though. I still wrote all the words and the guitar parts are my own (they’re not exactly like Blind Boy Fuller, because, well, I ain’t that good at guitar).

Also, while it seems like this song is about one thing, and while I was writing it I thought it was about one thing and that kinda made me giggle and kinda made me almost pass this song right by. But really it’s about something completely different than you may think. At least to me it is. I wonder what it is to you? Maybe you’d like to share, huh?

So, that’s it for today.

Tomorrow, though, I’m playing with the Barehand Jugband at our regular last-Tuesday-of-the-month show at the Hideout. Starts at 9pm. Goes all night. Promises to be a dance-filled night full of sweatin and kissin. Come out and celebrate the start of Summer with us. It’s only 5 buckaroos.

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: I Can’t Help It (version 2)

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I recorded and released “I Can’t Help It” this week last year. Here’s this year’s version. Recorded last night.

This tune wound up on the full-length album I released last August, which is fairly similar to the original recording (which is right here). This was also one of the last songs I wrote before I started recording that album. I kept writing songs last year and releasing them, but I had to stop myself at some point with some group of songs.

Anyway, you can still buy the album. Download or CD. The money goes to my next recording, so it’s a donation on your part, in a sense.

So, now, the new recording. You’ll notice I used an electric guitar on this one. So that’s different. The song’s basically the same structure, other than singing it a little different and I broke out the last two lines of the original first verse and used them as a chorus throughout instead of a repeating line. And there’s some occasional phrase/word changes here and there, but nothing major.

I like this song though. It’s a little bizarre to hear, I guess. Let me know what you think.

And, for those of you who’re interested…I plugged the guitar right into my Tascam USB Interface. Used no effects or anything like that in Garageband. Just turned up the volume and got some good old unfiltered digital feedback. I’ve got a 1955 Fender Telecaster. It stays nice and warm in its case. This is probably the first time I’ve had it out in, say, 3 years I think.

Also, the Barehand Jugband is at Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn tonight at 8pm. And we’ve got a big Friday night Double Door show coming up on June 24. We’ll be opening for the Infamous Stringdusters. Gonna be a hot show. Get your tickets now, cause they’re almost sold out.