Gotta keep a hold on my sanity
Friday night I hit the boards again to sing a few tunes alone and then I'll be joined on stage by a couple of friends.
The tunes we're doing are druggy old hippy shit, some CSN and Y, Grateful Dead, Byrds, like that. I really don't mind druggy old hippy shit when I get to solo a lot using relatively simple scales that make me sound way more talented than I actually am.
But there has to be a balance in life, no? So I'm doing four by Ray Davies to wash the mellow out of my ears. "Stop Your Sobbing", "Apeman" "Twentieth Century Man" and "Victoria".
Davies was never a hippy. Long haired, beer guzzling smart ass, yes, free markets proponent, you bet, anti-labour, anti-socialist bootstrap programs--without a doubt. If he were an American, he'd probably have voted for Reagan. But I forgive him because he's so effing good.
"Stop Your Sobbing" is a satirical, ironical number--the central theme is "Enough already, I'll stick around only if you promise to shut the fuck up."
"Apeman" actually mocks sophisticated strict vegetarians and intellectual hippy types.
"20th Century Man" is dedicated to luddites everywhere.
"Victoria" doesn't so much lampoon British imperialism-it seems to me to be more a nostalgic anthem in favor of it--I mean "favour".
I wonder if the 30-something British crowd at the pub even knows who Ray Davies is? How could they not? If their parents reared them properly, they should have a surface knowledge of him.
This Youtube performance below kicks ass--I mean arse. I think I saw him on this tour in New Orleans yadda-yadda years ago when they opened with "You Really Got me", revamping it in a way that told Van Halen fans that this is how it's really supposed to be played, we're reclaiming it so piss off.
The tunes we're doing are druggy old hippy shit, some CSN and Y, Grateful Dead, Byrds, like that. I really don't mind druggy old hippy shit when I get to solo a lot using relatively simple scales that make me sound way more talented than I actually am.
But there has to be a balance in life, no? So I'm doing four by Ray Davies to wash the mellow out of my ears. "Stop Your Sobbing", "Apeman" "Twentieth Century Man" and "Victoria".
Davies was never a hippy. Long haired, beer guzzling smart ass, yes, free markets proponent, you bet, anti-labour, anti-socialist bootstrap programs--without a doubt. If he were an American, he'd probably have voted for Reagan. But I forgive him because he's so effing good.
"Stop Your Sobbing" is a satirical, ironical number--the central theme is "Enough already, I'll stick around only if you promise to shut the fuck up."
"Apeman" actually mocks sophisticated strict vegetarians and intellectual hippy types.
"20th Century Man" is dedicated to luddites everywhere.
"Victoria" doesn't so much lampoon British imperialism-it seems to me to be more a nostalgic anthem in favor of it--I mean "favour".
I wonder if the 30-something British crowd at the pub even knows who Ray Davies is? How could they not? If their parents reared them properly, they should have a surface knowledge of him.
This Youtube performance below kicks ass--I mean arse. I think I saw him on this tour in New Orleans yadda-yadda years ago when they opened with "You Really Got me", revamping it in a way that told Van Halen fans that this is how it's really supposed to be played, we're reclaiming it so piss off.
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5 Comments:
Nice video!
I have confidence in your Britishy crowd. I mean croud.
I am convinced that you will be very happy if you buy a ticket to a Derek Trucks show next time you're stateside. Or maybe he'll swing over there. Or maybe you've already seen him?
Anyway, it sounds like you put together a sweet set list! You always do, though. I am happy that you get to play. (Wow. A comment FULL of recommendations. I hope you have a chance to see the film 'The Visitor.' Loooooovely and a great celebration of music.)
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Hi Booda--back in the land of the living I see. Derek Trucks? That be Butch's boy of the Allman Bros. I may have ssen him and know who he is, because the Allman Bros (which we all sadly know has been for many years just the Allman Brother and a bunch of other guys) play the New Orleans jazz festival every year. Live at Fillmore East is one of my desert island picks. In fact, given a choice as the boat is sinking and the lifeboats are filling up fast, I'd leave behind the White Album and take Fillmore East.
Maybe they'll come here. Dubai is usually a stop on European tours, especially for old hippy bands, so maybe even old southern blues hippy bands.
And speaking of...
Did you know that Ray Davies thinks New Orleans is the ideal place to get shot.
Yeah--tough guy from a working clas neighborhood in the UK still should have known better than to chase a purse snatcher in N'awlins.
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