Bootleg Rye #2

As per previous post, Bootleg Rye #1, I've been sharing songs and thoughts about songwriting with the Corktown Ukulele Jam.

My initial, almost-but-not-quite random playlist was way too big for one listen, so I carved it in two.

Even combined they don't represent more than a taste of a dip into a foray into a notion of an idea of the beginning of the edge of the margins of the faintest wisp of the world of songwriting... but these are damn good songs!

TITLE, ARTIST, ALBUM, WRITER

1. Ain't a Woman Somebody When She's Gone- Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lonely Street (Buddy Cannon, Tommy Collins)
2. Beautiful - Lori Cullen, Buttercup Bugle (Gordon Lightfoot)
3. Crazy - Patsy Cline, 12 Greatest Hits (Willie Nelson)
4. Four Letter Word (For Lonesome) - Laura Smith, b'tween the earth and my soul (W. Hillier and Laura Smith)
5. I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song - Jim Croce, Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits (Jim Croce)
6. In the Jailhouse Now, #1 - Steve Forbert, Young Guitar Days (Jimmie Rodgers)
7. Killing the Blues - Allison Kraus &Robert Plant, Raising Sand (Rowland Salley)
8. The Lovers Are Here And They're Full of Sweat - Jonathan Richman, Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild (Jonathan Richman)
9. None of Us are Free - Solomon Burke & The Blind Boys of Alabama, Don't Give Up On Me (Barry Mann, Brenda Russell; Cynthia Weil)
10. Old Pigweed - Mark Knopfler, The Ragpicker's Dream (Mark Knopfler)
11. The Roses on Annie's Table - Bob Bossin, The Roses on Annie's Table (Bob Bossin)
12. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) - k.d. lang & Tony Bennet, A Wonderful World (Harry Beasley Smith, Haven Gillespie)
13. Tower of Song - Leonard Cohen, Live in London (Leonard Cohen)
14. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye, What's Going On (Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye, Renaldo Benson)
15. Where the Blue of the Night - John Prine & Mac Wiseman, Standard Songs for Average People (Bing Crosby, Fred E. Alhert, Roy Turk)
    

Bear with me - I'll be adding links and annotation to help people do the research on what makes these tunes special to my ears. And there will be more... the tower of song is of infinite height, and its foundations, of infinite depth.

Listen!

Songlist

David Newland Songs, by title (partial)

AFRAID OF THE DARK
ANOTHER STONE UPON THE MOUND
ANYONE BUT YOU
ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN
BACK IN FOREST GLADE
BREAKIN' DOWN
CARRY ME AWAY
CHARITY CHURCH
DAVID AND GOLIATH
DIRTY LITTLE DUTY
DO NOT SPEAK
EASY AGAIN
EMPTY SOUND
THE END OF THE RAINBOW
ENOLA GAY
FADED PHOTOGRAPH
FASTER THAN YOU KNOW
FIRST OF ALL
FLASH FLOOD
FOOTSTEPS
THE FOX AND THE HOUND
FROM THE CHAIR TO THE DOOR
GOD KNOWS
GOLDEN REFLECTIONS
GREY NOVEMBER DAY
THE HANDLE OF YOUR HEART
HANGIN' JUDGE
HEAVEN ONLY KNOWS
HERE TO STAY
THE HOCKEY HYMN
I SAW THE LIGHT
I TOOK MY BODY DOWN
IN ONE EAR AND OUT THE OTHER
INHUMAN RACE
IT'S A NEW WORLD
JESUS CAME BACK
THE KING IS GONE
LAST STAMPEDE IN BABYLON
LOTTO PARADISE
LOVE, LOVE
MY GOODNESS
NOVA SCOTIA GIRL
THE OLD DOWN EAST
OLD MAN'S WORKSHOP
THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT
OVER AND OVER AND OVER
PEDDLIN POPPIES
REMEMBER THIS
ROLL AWAY
ROSIE CAN YOU READ THIS
RUN TERRY RUN
SAME OLD SONG
SHELTER VALLEY ROAD
SINCE THE DEVIL LEFT TOWN
ST MICHAEL TOLD ME SO
STATUE MADE OF STONE
SWEET BAYBERRY BUSH
SWEET MOLLY S EYES
THERE BUT FOR NOTHIN
THERE YOU ARE
THIS CAMERA
TWO WOLVES FIGHTING
WAITING FOR ROSALIE
WE TALK IN DREAMS
WHEN GORDIE CAME BACK
WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS
WHIRLING AROUND THE SUN
THE WINE AND THE SONG

Sing, people!

It's a common thing for people to tell musicians "I wish I could sing." Recently there's been some discussion in the folk community about this sad phenomenon, and I thought I'd share my two cents worth on the topic.

I've travelled around quite a bit and one thing I've noticed is that cultural environment largely determines musicality in a given society.

Three examples spring to mind.

1. I was once plunking away at a piano in the Nova Scotian home of a girlfriend of mine. Her dad came in and I sheepishly said, "Oh, sorry, that must sound awful. I haven't played since I was a kid." He said, "Boy, you'll never hear anybody complain about you playing a musical instrument in this house."

2. I was up north planting trees and a Native guy who had heard me play guitar asked if I wanted to hear some of his music. He put a tape in the stereo of my truck and the spine-tingling sounds of a drum and song performance came wafting out. This great big tough guy said "hear that really high, weird wailing there? That's me. In our music anything that comes to you to sing is okay. That's how I sing. You could sing like you do and it would be okay."

3. I was in Fiji for three weeks and literally didn't meet anyone who could not sing, play the guitar or ukulele, or dance. Most could do all of the above. The Fijians sang at every possible occasion; I once saw an entire village gather round to sing a farewell song to 4 kayakers whom they had known for about 4 hours. It was like that everywhere, all the time. Music was as much a part of life as the air they breathed, and not to be musical would have been tantamount to not breathing.

My point is that in all of these circumstances, music itself is the gift. One's own ability to carry a tune or play an instrument might vary, but that doesn't matter: the main thing is that the gift is indulged and enjoyed by all- just like the air.

On a slightly tangential note: I'd like to hear from any anthropologically-minded person which came first: music, or language? I suspect the former, or that at the beginning, they were the same thing.

Sing, people. When I hear the usual "I can't sing" line from an audience member, my response is always the same: If I can do it, anyone can.