The most frustrating part about listening to music decades older than myself is knowing I'm missing out on the song's original context. Even though the guitars and voices I hear through my computer speakers are the same ones that crackled through AM radio fifty years ago, my interpretation and reaction is, by default, going to be different than that of those who hear the same thing when the song was originally released. Our environments are different and our perceptions of music are different. Quite simply, I can't unhear the years of rock and roll fuzz and unexperience the years of modern technological advancement that now filter the way I hear music, and Joe Nineteen-Fifty-Five couldn't even begin to imagine what a Led Zeppelin was, or that his children would eventually have access to a universe of music at the touch/click of a button.
But despite this, I try. I try to go back to simpler times. Before sampled beats. Before heavy distortion. Before FM. Before the Beatles. When it was all quite innocent, when even the rebellion was all in good fun.
Hop into your Delorean, we're going back to 1955.
Chuck Berry - Maybellene
This track flies -- dig, man, dig-- and was quite ahead of its time. Music back then just didn't rock like this. There's no country twang, no big band orchestration, no crooning, and though this song has a blues foundation Chuck Berry, instead of wallowing in it, sets everything on fire. That guitar solo must've driven the fogeys crazy. And OF COURSE this song is about cars and girls. "Maybellene" turned out to be Berry's first big hit and more or less ushered in the rock 'n' roll era. The kids, both black and white, loved it. Berry followed up with more hits. Music got aggressive. Rockabilly grew from a fetus to a musical movement, perpetuated by Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, among many others. Somewhere along this chain of events that extends to this very day your favorite band exists on a rung that links way back to that duck-walkin' man and his ditty about drag-racing hotties.
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
Cash is so many things to so many people -- country singer, gospel singer, hero to the common man-- but the line about shooting a man just to watch him die? That's straight up GANGSTA. Lyrically this song goes all over the place. He dwells on what's outside the prison walls, recalls his mama's unheeded words of wisdom, dwells on an after-prison life, wonders extensively about what the people inside a passing train are doing, and, of course, laments his evil deed. Musically "Folsom Prison Blues" is easy on the ears. The rhythm shuffles along and the bass is cool and plucky. Cash's guitar kicks back, steps up when it needs to, then hangs back again. There's no urgency to the sound, no focus to the lyrics, and really if you're doing time in prison you've got time (nothing but time) to amble and ramble.
Eddy Arnold - Cattle Call
Every time I listen to this song I try to recall what John Ford film I heard it in. None of them, of course, but this could very well have appeared on the soundtrack to "My Darling Clementine". In the Dvorak-ish introduction to the song I can see the low sun spill across the western plains, casting shadows across the face of the upright cattle man, equal parts good-ol'-boy and frontier cowboy. And screw the Swiss Miss, old school country singers are by far the best yodelers, and Eddy Arnold's golden voice could quell even the most aggressive Indian raids. Despite the abundant countryness of this song, Arnold's use of "pop" orchestration led many in the country music community to cry "sell out". Music snobs existed even back then. And though I am usually a fan of stripped down music, the strings and brass and xylophone add a nostalgic and cinematic element to the tune that makes it inseparable from the classic and wholly appealing old west imagery.
Wanda Jackson - Tears At the Grand Ole Opry
Before Wanda Jackson became a rockabilly hellcat she was a straight up twangy country singer. While with Decca Records in the min-50s she released a series of country ballads that were certainly charming but definitely not edgy. Later, after hanging out with Elvis for a while, her music evolved into something very aggressive and she became one of music's first female rock stars. But back in 1955 she was playing the role of country music chanteuse, crooning traditional-esque waltzes about heartbreak and such. Though Jackson was only 17 when this song was released she already sounds quite accomplished and seems to understand (and thus able to effectively channel) the heart and soul of the genre.
Porter Wagoner - Satisfied Mind
"Satisfied Mind" sounds like a cautionary tale as told by your grandpa... that is, if your grandpa spoke in sweet gentle harmonies and carried a pompadour atop his head. Money can't buy happiness, the song goes, though I don't know if Wagoner continued to perform this song after becoming rich and successful. He probably did as this was one of his most popular songs, reaching #1 on the country charts in 1955. The tempo and melody and Wagoner's own mournful voice makes this song sound a lot sadder than it is, but maybe there's nothing more sad than seeking shallow happiness through earthly wealth rather than, y'know, finding fulfilling happiness through good deeds and being nice and stuff. There's also a Bible lesson in here somewhere. Camels and needle eyes, etc. Anyway, Wagoner passed away exactly one year ago today, hopefully with a satisfied mind.
But despite this, I try. I try to go back to simpler times. Before sampled beats. Before heavy distortion. Before FM. Before the Beatles. When it was all quite innocent, when even the rebellion was all in good fun.
Hop into your Delorean, we're going back to 1955.
Chuck Berry - MaybelleneThis track flies -- dig, man, dig-- and was quite ahead of its time. Music back then just didn't rock like this. There's no country twang, no big band orchestration, no crooning, and though this song has a blues foundation Chuck Berry, instead of wallowing in it, sets everything on fire. That guitar solo must've driven the fogeys crazy. And OF COURSE this song is about cars and girls. "Maybellene" turned out to be Berry's first big hit and more or less ushered in the rock 'n' roll era. The kids, both black and white, loved it. Berry followed up with more hits. Music got aggressive. Rockabilly grew from a fetus to a musical movement, perpetuated by Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, among many others. Somewhere along this chain of events that extends to this very day your favorite band exists on a rung that links way back to that duck-walkin' man and his ditty about drag-racing hotties.
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison BluesCash is so many things to so many people -- country singer, gospel singer, hero to the common man-- but the line about shooting a man just to watch him die? That's straight up GANGSTA. Lyrically this song goes all over the place. He dwells on what's outside the prison walls, recalls his mama's unheeded words of wisdom, dwells on an after-prison life, wonders extensively about what the people inside a passing train are doing, and, of course, laments his evil deed. Musically "Folsom Prison Blues" is easy on the ears. The rhythm shuffles along and the bass is cool and plucky. Cash's guitar kicks back, steps up when it needs to, then hangs back again. There's no urgency to the sound, no focus to the lyrics, and really if you're doing time in prison you've got time (nothing but time) to amble and ramble.
Eddy Arnold - Cattle CallEvery time I listen to this song I try to recall what John Ford film I heard it in. None of them, of course, but this could very well have appeared on the soundtrack to "My Darling Clementine". In the Dvorak-ish introduction to the song I can see the low sun spill across the western plains, casting shadows across the face of the upright cattle man, equal parts good-ol'-boy and frontier cowboy. And screw the Swiss Miss, old school country singers are by far the best yodelers, and Eddy Arnold's golden voice could quell even the most aggressive Indian raids. Despite the abundant countryness of this song, Arnold's use of "pop" orchestration led many in the country music community to cry "sell out". Music snobs existed even back then. And though I am usually a fan of stripped down music, the strings and brass and xylophone add a nostalgic and cinematic element to the tune that makes it inseparable from the classic and wholly appealing old west imagery.
Wanda Jackson - Tears At the Grand Ole OpryBefore Wanda Jackson became a rockabilly hellcat she was a straight up twangy country singer. While with Decca Records in the min-50s she released a series of country ballads that were certainly charming but definitely not edgy. Later, after hanging out with Elvis for a while, her music evolved into something very aggressive and she became one of music's first female rock stars. But back in 1955 she was playing the role of country music chanteuse, crooning traditional-esque waltzes about heartbreak and such. Though Jackson was only 17 when this song was released she already sounds quite accomplished and seems to understand (and thus able to effectively channel) the heart and soul of the genre.
Porter Wagoner - Satisfied Mind"Satisfied Mind" sounds like a cautionary tale as told by your grandpa... that is, if your grandpa spoke in sweet gentle harmonies and carried a pompadour atop his head. Money can't buy happiness, the song goes, though I don't know if Wagoner continued to perform this song after becoming rich and successful. He probably did as this was one of his most popular songs, reaching #1 on the country charts in 1955. The tempo and melody and Wagoner's own mournful voice makes this song sound a lot sadder than it is, but maybe there's nothing more sad than seeking shallow happiness through earthly wealth rather than, y'know, finding fulfilling happiness through good deeds and being nice and stuff. There's also a Bible lesson in here somewhere. Camels and needle eyes, etc. Anyway, Wagoner passed away exactly one year ago today, hopefully with a satisfied mind.
