Musical Memories of Edward Peckham (2)

I found making my second selection just as difficult as making the first. I decided to look at the genres I didn't cover the first time around. So there is no Classical music, no Jazz, no Country. I still have Blues and Rhythm 'n' Blues related music and Folk, but any selection I would make, even a Top Five would have to include them.

(1) Planxty, Follow Me Up To Carlow (1973)

My first selection is Irish music. Planxty were formed in January 1972. They were Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhran), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), Donal Lunny (bouzouki, guitars, bodhran, keyboards) and Liam O'Flynn (Uilleann Pipes, Tin Whistle). They were all involved in 'Traditional' Irish Folk Music before forming Planxty.

They recorded 6 studio albums between 1973 and 1983 and were active between 1972-76 and 1978-83. "Follow Me Up They had all performed together on Christy Moore's previous album entitled "Prosperous".

The song is about the defeat of an army of 3,000 English by Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne at the battle of Glenmalure during the second Desmond Rebellion in 1580. The words are by Patrick McCall (1861-1919) and the tune or Air is reputed to be the marching tune of O'Byrne's pipers.

(2) Steve Earle, Billy Austin (1990)

This song would have been my first choice as a Protest Song but for the length. It is anti capital punish-ment and also about forgiveness. It comes from Earle's fourth album "The Hard Way" released in 1990.

Steve Earle was born in Virginia and moved to Texas before he was two. He is a self-styled Socialist, left of Bernie Sanders he says, in a state which is, generally, even more conservative that Nashville, where he first worked as a song-writer. He has said that, when he introduced this song in the Us, he is often booed or heckled which is a bit futile when he is the one with a microphone.

He also writes poetry and fiction and has done some acting. He is has been in prison, for drug and 'weapon possession, and he corresponded with a prisoner (Jonathan Nobles) on death row for 10 years. He only met Nobles a month before his execution by lethal injection which Earle also attended. He said this was the most difficult thinh he has ever had to do.

He has released songs in country, alternative country, rock, folk and bluegrass. He has won a number of awards including 3 Grammy awards and he has had songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Bob Seger and Emmylou Harris and many others. Finally he has been married 6 times, including twice to the same person.

(3) The Robins, Riot In Cell Block No. 9 (1954)

My next choice is in the genre called Doo Wop. Muddy Waters sang "The Blues Had A Baby and They Named It Rock'n'Roll ". Strictly speaking between Blues and Rock'n'Roll came Rhythm'n'Blues, Blues with a driving rhythm from 1940s jazz. Out of R'n'B came Doo Wop which also morphed in Rock'n'Roll .

The Robins were a West Coast vocal group formed in 1949. They were Bobby Nunn, Terrell "Ty" Leonard, Billy and Roy Richard. They were one of the first groups who would later be termed Doo Wop.

The songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who also wrote songs for many subsequent Rock'n'Roll performers, wrote "Riot In Cell Block No. 9" for the Robins. They then persuaded some of the Robins to move to the East Coast and sign with Atlantic Records. They became the much better known group "The Coasters" who also recorded this song.

The lead vocal on "Riot In Cell Block No. 9" is by Richard Berry and the other musicians are Gil Bernal on tenor saxophone, Chuck Norris on guitar, Mike Stoller on piano, Ralph Hamilton on bass and Jess Sailes on drums.

This is not a typical Doo Wop recording, neither in style and execution nor in lyrical content. It is nearer to 'pure' Rhythm'n'Blues.There have been a number of re-recordings of the song and one of the best is by Dr. Feelgood.

(4) Lotte Lenya, Moritat Von Mackie Messer (Mack the Knife) (1931)

My fourth choice comes from Musical Theatre. The song was a late addition to "The Threepenny Opera" by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in 1928. The opera was based on John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" and Mackie Messer is based on Gay's highwayman MacHeath. Mackie is a much darker character.

The song, performed by a street singer with a barrel organ, begins and ends the drama and the actor Harald Paulsen asked that Weill and Brecht add a song to more effectively introduce his character. They decided it should not be sung by Mackie himself.

The song is best known in english for the 1956 version by Louis Armstrong and the even more famous version by Bobby Darin in 1959.

Lotte Lenya was married to Kurt Weill and she played the part of Jenny in the original 1928 version of "The Threepenny Opera" in german and Jenny again in the 1957 Broadway production in 1957 in English.

Kurt Weill was Jewish and Brecht was a well-known communist and Weill and Lenya escaped from Germany in 1935 to America. She is best known here for her part in the second James Bond film "From Russia With Love". I saw her at the Royal Court Theatre in the 1960s in "Brecht On Brecht".

Here Lotte Lenya sings the original German version of "Moritat Von Mackie Messer".

(5) Nick Cave and Polly Jane Harvey, Henry Lee (1986)

I first came across Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with their third album "Kicking Against The Pricks" from 1986. This was an album of only cover versions.

Cave came from Australia in 1980 with his then band The Birthday Party and formed the Bad Seeds in 1983. His songs have been used in numerous films and tv shows and he has composed, with Warren Ellis from the Bad Seeds, a number of film scores. He has also written two novels "And The Ass Saw The Angel" and "The Death of Bunny Munro".

"Henry Lee" or "Love Henry" is the American version of the Child Ballad No. 68 "Young Hunting" which originated in Scotland. It is unusual in that the victim is the man rather than the woman.

This version comes from Cave's 1996 album "Murder Ballads" which is a mixture of Traditional Ballads and his own songs. There is another duet on the album "Where The Wild Roses Grow" featuring Kylie Minogue. Cave said he wrote it with her in mind and at her recent Glastonbury performance she invited him on stage to perform it with her.

This song has been one of the most successful records for Cave and the Bad Seeds.

I have chosen "Henry Lee" because I prefer the video to the one for "Where The Wild Roses Grow" and I like (Polly Jane) Harvey's voice.

(6) Big Joe Turner, Shake Rattle and Roll (1954)

Within Blues and Jazz there were a small group of vocalists, mostly male, called Blues Shouters. They were capable of singing unamplified with a band.

Jimmy Rushing (Mr Five-by-Five) was one and another notable example was Big Joe Turner. Also, like Fat Domino and a few others, he was one the blues and rhythm 'n' blues singers who had considerable success in the Rock 'n' Roll era.

"Shake Rattle and Roll", from 1954, by Joe Turner and His Blues Kings was one such success. It was recorded for Atlantic Records. The lyrics are explicit and sexist and are far from being PC. They were written by Jesse Stone (under the pseudonym Charles Calhoun).

The 'shouting' chorus is by Stone, Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun. The Blues Kings were Sam "the Man" Taylor on saxophone, Mickey Baker on guitar and Connie Kay (later in the Modern Jazz Quartet) on drums.

"Shake Rattle and Roll", with sanitised lyrics, was recorded by Bill Hayley and His Comets and by Elvis Presley.

(7) Ray Charles and Bonnie Raitt, Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (2004)

In my original selection I didn't have any Soul Music. Then came the decision who to pick. Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield were all possibilities. Finally I thought you cannot go wrong with Ray Charles. But what to chose from his considerable discography.

I decided on a track from his final studio album "Genius Loves Company" from 2004. As the title suggests this is an album in which Brother Ray duets with, among others, B. B. King, Gladys Knight, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson and Diana Krall.

I chose "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" written by Billy Burnette and Michael Smotherman. Confusingly there is another song with the same title written by Dolly Parton.

Here Ray sings the duet with Bonnie Raitt. Bonnie has collaborated with a host of other artists including John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin, Dr. John, Stephen Stills and Eric Bibb. She is known as a fine blues singer and guitarist in her own right.

This track is not as 'soul' as some of his earlier work from labels like Atlantic Records, but, in my view, it is a fitting tribute to the genius of Ray Charles.

(8) Oumou Sangare, Kounadya (2009)

I didn't have any World Music in my previous selection and world music to me is more often than not also African Music.

Again comes the problem of who to pick. Fela Kuti from Nigeria or Youssou N'Dour from Senegale or Ali Farka Toure or Salif Keita from Mali.

Apologies for my lack of proper pronounciation of the names of these artists.

Finally I decided on Oumou Sangare also from Mali. She is one of the artists I have been listening to recently. I bought one of her albums "Ko Sira" (1993) from a Worting Library 'clearout' and inside was also a ripped cd of her 2009 album "Seya".

"Kounadya", meaning "Lucky Star, comes from "Seya" and the musicians include Toumani Diabate on Kora, Djelimandy Tounkara on guitar, Tony Allen and Will Calhoun on drums and Magic Malik on flute.

Omou was born in 1968 in Bamako in Mali. She sings in the Wassoulou language which comes from a region south of the Niger River. She is one of the most popular current female singers from Africa and she has toured with Baaba Maal and Femi Kuti. She has also worked with the banjo player Bela Fleck and with Herbie Hancock.

(9) Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Sweet Gene Vincent (1977)

Many of us will remember Pub Rock. Being able to see a band for the price of a pint and perhaps a few pounds on the door.

Venues like the Hope and Anchor, the Nashville Room and the Dublin Castle. Bands like Bees Make Honey, the 101'ers, the Kursaal Flyers, Brinsley Schwarz and Chilli Willi and the red Hot Peppers. Some current performers had their first success here.

One band I never got to see, but I wish I had, was Kilburn and the High Roads. I did have both versions of their only album release on Pye Records entitled "Handsome". Ian Dury was the lead singer and I could have picked his song "The Upminster Kid" from that album.

Instead I picked "Sweet Gene Vincent" from Ian Dury and the Blockheads 1977 first album "New Boots and Panties". Both songs are on very similar themes, but "Sweet Gene Vincent" is a much better recording. Stiff Records were much more sympathetic to what artists like Dury were trying to acheive than Pye ever were.

Dury was a unique performer, a self-styled character with elements of musical hall and an "Essex" jack-the-lad. I saw him several times and the Blockheads were one of the best bands I have seen live. They consisted of some of the Kilburns and additions like Norman Watt-Roy and Charlie Charles who were both respected session musicians. Chaz Jankel wrote many of the songs with Dury.

The song title is a curious one as Gene Vincent could be described as many things, but 'sweet' wouldn't be one of them. It is however a clever song, with the change of tempo and the incorporation of elements about Vincent himself and tracks he performed. Dury said he was a great admirer of Gene Vincent Craddock.

(10) Charles Trenet, La Mer (1946)

I was very sorry to miss John Simkin's second selection last time, not least because he played "Ne Me Quitte Pas" by Jaques Brel.

Brel is considered to be one of the masters of 'modern' chanson. I have picked for my tenth selection one of the masters of chason before the (second) war, Charles Trenet.

Trenet was born in Narbonne in 1913 and moved to Paris in the early 1930s. During the war, after being bemobbed from the French Army, he stayed in Paris and continued perfoming largely for German audiences in the night clubs and cabarets. After the war he was examinded, as a collaborator, but was only reprimanded as he had also performed for French prisoners of war.

His best known songs were "La Mer" and "Boum!". Most chanson singers in the 1930s sang songs written by other people. Trenet wrote his own songs and declined to sing songs written by anyone else.

He wrote "La Mer" in 1943 and finalised the song with his pianist Leo Clauliac. It was first recorded in 1945 by Roland Gerbeau and Trenet recorded his famous version in 1946.

Trenet moved briefly to the US after the war, but returned to Paris in 1950. He continued performing until 1975 when he retired, but he made several comebacks. He was given the nickname Le Fou Chantant (the Singing Fool) by Edith Piaf.

In 1959 Bobby Darin had a big hit with "Beyond the Sea" which was a re-working of the song, but with completely new lyrics written by Jack Lawrence.

(11) Randy Newman, Linda Ronstadt and Ry Cooder, Rider In The Rain (1977)

Randy Newman was born in 1943 in Los Angeles and spent some of his childhood in New Orleans. He is a singer/songwriter and film music composer. He has been writing songs since he was 17 and cites Ray Charles as his greatest influence.

Newman comes from a family of film score composers. He has 3 uncles and 4 cousins who all also compose film scores. He is number 25 in the Rolling Stone magazine 100 greatest songwriters of all time. Bob Dylan is number 1.
He has the dubious distinction of receiving the most Oscar nominations (15) without winning any of them although he has now won 2 oscars. He has written many film scores, the best known of them are for Pixar and include the "Toy Story" franchise, "Monsters Inc" and "Cars".

The song I have chosen is "Rider In The Rain" from his 1977 album "Little Criminals". This album also has his best known song from any of his own albums "Short People". As you will remember, this was quite controversial at the time, people failing to appreciate the irony in the song. On the album "Rider In The Rain" had backing vocals by the Eagles. Newman said it was simply about imagining himself as a cowboy.

It is not his best song, I'm sure I could easily pick which one of his many songs is his best. I just like this performance from, I think, the Odeon nightclub in New York from 1983. Linda Ronstadt is in good form and enjoying herself although Ry Cooder does seem to be very subdued. He and Newman had worked together on Newman's second album "12 Songs" and on the soundtrack to the 1970 British film "Performance". This very strange film, directed by Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg, was about a gangster seeking refuge in the house of a faded rock star and starred James Fox and Mick Jagger.

(12) June Tabor, The King Of Rome (1988)

My final choice was first going to be another piece of Irish music, probably by the Pogues. Then some 1960s West Coast (psychedelic) rock by Jefferson Airplane or the Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish or the Doors, Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart.

But I couldn't have any selection without some English folk song. Along with Sandy Denny, who featured in my previous selection, and Ann Briggs, one of the great voices in contemporary folk music is June Tabor.

I could have chosen one of two song's by Eric Bogle "No Man's Land (Green Fields of France)" or "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda". Finally I chose Dave Sudbury's song "The King of Rome" from her 1988 album "Aqba".

It is the true story of Charlie Hudson and his pigeon called the King of Rome who won a race from Italy in 1913. Dave Sudbury came from Derby and knew the place the song descibes and the people who came from there.

June first heard the song at the songwriting contest 'Songsearch' at Kendal Folk Festival. The song came third, but she said it should have won and she knew she had to sing it. "I've just been sitting here waiting for you. And now there you are" she said about the song.Along with Sandy Denny, who featured in my previous selection.