Sister Rosetta Tharpe‘s version of “Didn’t It Rain” (Manchester, England in 1964). She exemplified the musical connection between gospel, blues and rock and roll. The song first appeared as piano sheet music in 1927, but I’d guess it dates to the 1800s [h/t Bunkessa].
What a treasure trove this is [via]. In the early 1960s The Blues was largely ignored in the U.S., yet many classic artists found a receptive audience in Britain. From the Utoobage description:
“Recorded live for TV broadcast throughout Britain, these historic performances have been unseen for nearly 40 years. Filmed with superb camera work and pristine sound, 14 complete performances and 4 bonus performances are included by Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Lonnie Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Howlin’ Wolf, Big Joe Turner, Junior Wells, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.”
Spotted Willie Dixon on bass in that vid, so let’s post this:
Yeah, he stuttered in real life, yet Dixon wrote and performed an incredible amount of classic blues tunes.
This compilation should hold you for a while. Have a great weekend, folks, and may you never be nervous.
Bizarre, and with a great soundtrack. Oorutaichi [via].
Pokey LaFarge performing “La La Blues” at Music City Roots live from the Loveless Cafe on 20 April 2011 [via]. So what should follow that? Maybe something in C Am F & G…
The Crows‘ “Gee” from 1953 may have been the first R&B crossover hit, and it was a B side experiment. Ike Turner earned the prize for the first rock and roll hit “Rocket 88” in 1951, recording as Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats . Y’all have heard that classic, or should have by now, and James Cotton did a kickass version.
More recently Dan Akroyd took a shot at it and pulled it off.
How to make a wooden Viking beer mug with a hatchet and a knife. I’d use the rawhide method.
Better yet – how to scout and set up a whiskey still in the hills of Appalachia. The late Popcorn Sutton is his own live narrator on this 96 minute video, entitled, “This Is The Last Damn Likker Run I’ll Ever Make.” Take the time to watch it.
Doobie Brothers. Look how they danced around on stage back then. How could such good music become so embarrassing? Fortunately most of us only heard them on FM and 8-Track and never saw their awesome stage performance.
Speaking of performances, this one goes out to Jay Leno, one of the funniest modern comedians who never had to use vulgarity to score a laugh. He’s right up there with Johnny Carson, Jonathan Winters and Bill Cosby. I never met Leno, but some friends did. Each said essentially the same thing: “Jay’s an honest nice guy, and he’s funny as hell.” That’s how I want to be remembered when I’m gone. Leno’s still alive.
Sorry, but I can’t bring myself to post any of the more recent poor quality sucky sounding live versions of “Sweet Melissa.” God bless you, Jay, and thanks for all the entertainment.
The Portuguese Man O’ War is amazing, as it’s not a single animal, but a colony of several bizarre organisms, all dependent on the others for survival. One provides transportation, one lures and traps food, one processes it, one cooks, and the other one does laundry and runs the blog.
The harmless gasbag idiot-animal floats while dangling his nasty stinging-tentacled buddies as deep as 160 feet below the surface. How they find each other and decide to hang together is a mystery to me, unless it has something to do with cheap beer, tasers and fraternity parties.
I saw one washed up on a beach when I was a kid without knowing what it was – thought it was an inflatable toy dolphin with seaweed attached. Yeah, I poked it with a stick, and yeah, I found out what the insides of a Portuguese Man O’ War smelled like, as did everyone else within a quarter mile downwind.
When the floating-gasbag idiot-animal washes up on shore and dies, it takes the other idiot-animals with him, and they can’t do anything about it because their free ride is over. Such is the life of a sycophant.
The missus informed me that there were words to that great theme, and she’s right. The closing credits for the early episodes included “The Cartwrights” singing the theme (after apparently stumbling out of a saloon/cat house joint venture in Carson City) and mounting up to pick fights with and wreak havoc on the local populace before they rode back to their fortified enclave known as The Ponderosa:
[Little Joe] I’ve got a flair for women everywhere, Bonanza!
[Hoss] BONANZA! ¡AI-AI-AI!
[All] I’m gonna call on any gal at all, she’s gonna welcome me.
[Ben] I’m not afraid of any pretty maid, Bonanza! BONANZA! When I give a kiss to any pretty miss, She’ll learn a lot from me!
[All] One for four, four for one This we guarantee!
We got a right to pick a little fight – Bonanza! BONANZA! If anyone fights any one of us, He’s gotta fight with me!
BTW, the best comment on that Utoobage link was posted by someone named 75yellowraven:
“144-441 what does that mean?”
The lyrics and acting were so laughably absurd that the clip was canned. Years later Lorne Greene sang the song with much different lyrics: Lorne Greene singing The Theme To Bonanza.
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But that’s not the weird part. The Bonanza Theme was orchestrated by David Rose, same guy who composed “The Stripper,” a number of TV theme songs, and this horrible piece of 1960s grocery aisle music:
Bet you couldn’t last the whole two-point-five minutes of that, so here’s almost a whole hour of The Beat Farmers circa 1984, featuring the late Country Dick Montana on drums, vocals, beer and belligerence.
Hope that grabs on, holds and squeezes you for this edition of The Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend, even if you have to mow the snow.
P.S. If you ever wanted to sing along to The Chips‘ “Rubber Biscuit” we’ve got the Complete & Accurate day down sum wanna jigga-wah lyrics here.
“Say there, young fellow, let’s go divvies!” says the ad.
Sounds like a predatory skinny-dipping proposal to me, or maybe it’s a way to get Boy Freckles to wash up in the retention basin so the hot dogs don’t smell like a 14-year-old boy’s armpits. Maybe he’ll lose those lens-less dork frames at the same time.
Instead, I’d tell him, “Now hold ’em all real still, boy. Here comes the chili, and it’s kinda hot.”
Tacky Raccoons 