Neko Case’s new album came out yesterday, so Mr. Isbell and I walked down to Slowtrain to get it. Then we listened to it twice.
tunes
Wednesday Tune: Happy Birthday, Ralph Stanley
Bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley is 82 today, so today’s tune is one of his: “The Darkest Hour.”
It’s just before dawn, of course. Which is another way of saying things have to get better.
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Have you noticed I haven’t had any local political commentary lately? I’m only getting the Tribune on Sundays now and it’s been lovely. The less I know about what the patriarchs in the Utah Legislature are doing, the happier I am in the mornings. (Of course, the paper boy decided to deliver the paper every day this week, just in time for Buttars to disgrace himself again.)
2. Since I mentioned WWII on Tuesday, I have to mention that Yesterday was the National Day of Remembrance for the American citizens who were put into internment camps during WWII. Families could only take what they could carry–what about their pets?
3. And I was so excited to post the quote about pie on Wednesday that I forgot Wednesday’s tune. To end the week of sad stories and WWII on happy note, here’s Big Rock Candy Mountain, “a song about a hobo’s idea of paradise,” according to Wikipedia.
Friday Unrelated Information
1. The weekly baking report: I made the French chocolate granola (awesome), the chocolate cookies (awesome and getting made again this weekend), the slow-rise bread that appeared in the NY Times about a year ago, and a light wheat sandwich bread. And today I’m making cheesecake for our Valentine’s Day dessert. It takes 4 packages of cream cheese. That’s two pounds. I guess love is being able to eat a pound of cream cheese with your sweetheart?
2. Speaking of Valentine’s Day, how about some Wilson Pickett to express our feelings?
I also like Elwood’s addition to the lyrics (which you can watch here):
“You know people when you do find that somebody hold that woman, hold that man. Love him, hold him, squeeze her, please her, hold her, squeeze and please that person, give ’em all your love. Signify your feelings with every gentle caress because it’s so important to have that special somebody to hold, kiss, miss, squeeze and please!”
3. Why yes, I have learned how to embed video. How could you tell?
Wednesday Work Tune
I realize that “Work Tune” is kind of a stretch, because I’m not playing real work songs like “Union Maid,” but I think the blues count, right? Here’s Robert Johnson’s 1936 recording of “Walking Blues” for your Wednesday listening.
Why this one? I like the nervous energy in it, and I like the verse around 1:30:
Well, some people tell me that the worried blues ain’t bad
Worst old feelin’ I most ever had
Some people tell me that these old worried old blues ain’t bad
It’s the worst old feelin’, I most ever had
Wednesday Work Tunes
I thought I’d start a feature of some Depression-era songs, if only to remind me that it could still be a lot worse. The song I wanted to feature first, though–“Hard Times Come Again No More”–wasn’t written in the Great Depression; it was written in 1854, by Stephen Foster.
I’m sad to admit I don’t know much about the economic situation leading up to the Civil War, but I think the fact that it was 1854 is enough to qualify the song for inclusion here, even if there wasn’t a recession on then. (No vaccines, no painkillers, slavery was still going strong…) And the lyrics are still meaningful, I think:
Let us pause in life’s pleasures
And count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor.
There’s a song that will linger
Forever in our ears:
“Oh hard times, come again no more.”