september 23rd extract-george jones

George Jones-Burn The Honky Tonk Down 

The number of things that I knew about George Jones before I started writing this piece are limited to three separate, but distinct, items. Firstly, he was married to Tammy Wynette. Secondly, he was fond of a drink or two. Thirdly. (I know that there isn’t such a word as thirdly but I’m writing about a country artist and although that doesn’t make difference I’ll bet the word is used in certain States of the U.S.) Thirdly, on one occasion when Tammy Wynette had hidden all the car keys in the house in a vain attempt to prevent George “nipping” out for a drink, she glanced out of the window to see George heading off down the road in a determined fashion, riding on his sit-down lawnmower. He was found a couple of miles away, having driven to the nearest bar and parked the lawnmower in the parking lot as if it was a normal car. (This third fact may not be entirely accurate, in part or in whole. It may not have been Tammy Wynette but one of George’s other wives who hid the keys. It may have not even have been George Jones but a different country singer altogether. There may not have been a lawnmower involved and it could have been a golf cart or some other sort of vehicle (Though I can’t think of anything else apart from a golf buggy or lawnmower that George-or whoever else it may have been-could have made a dash to freedom on.)  Of course, it may not even be a true story and may be something that I’ve half-remembered from a film or from reading somewhere. It may be some apocryphal myth thing, a shaggy dog tale that’s expanded over the years and has become associated (incorrectly) with country music stars. After all, it sounds like the sort of thing that country music stars of the 1960’s and 1970’s would do and even if it wasn’t true it would make a great subject for a country music song. Can you imagine it; “You took the car keys, I took the lawnmower”?)

Anyway, I’ve strung those three facts out for as much as I can. There are a couple of other snippets. I know that Elvis Costello covered Jones’ big hit “A Good Year For The Roses” on his (Costello’s) country album. I also know that George had hit after hit for decades and is, as far as I can tell, still going strong, despite giving his liver years of abuse. I think that he has been off the drink for a long time now and is a bit of a reformed character who only would use a lawnmower for cutting grass. (Wouldn’t a big star like George have a gardener? Maybe, in a down-home country style he does all his garden maintenance himself.) I think that his relationship with Tammy Wynette was tempestuous to say the least and that he’s been married at least three times. He has a nickname of Ol’ Possum because of his appearance. Coming from England and having no experience of possums this doesn’t mean anything to me nor does it make any sense. In any event why on earth do I know that fact-why has it stuck in my mind and of what possible use is it to me?     

the delgados vs the pixies

the delgados make the pixies look like one direction

three weeks today...7th Oct

three weeks today...7th October-I wonder if it'll be like this again-trying to get tickets for glastonbury

The number was already in the phone. It was just a case of redial and we would be through. Additionally the website was ready to refresh in case the phone option didn’t work. However, as soon as it was 9:01 the phone was “line busy please try later” again and again and again. The website kept crashing and wouldn’t get past the first page-even if it loaded at all. Still being optimistic we thought that this might be an initial rush and then we would be ok. As this continued for the first half hour or so it slowly dawned on us that this assumption was much too optimistic. It probably would be (as it really is) just a case of touching lucky and getting through by chance. Amy kept trying the phone and I kept tapping away at the keyboard hoping that one of us would eventually succeed. This went on for an hour and as ten o’clock headed towards eleven o’clock the mood got grimmer and grimmer. The feelings of anticipation at nine were taken over by waves of desperation and defeatism

september 3rd excerpt

Marvin Rainwater-Hot and Cold     

“Give me some of that rock and roll, I’m hot and cold.” So runs the chorus of this tune by Marvin Rainwater. This rockabilly song is one that I could well imagine The Fall covering, if they haven’t done so already. It’s the sort of spikey, sparse rockabilly that would be right up Mark E Smith’s street (or alley, I guess.) think that if it hasn’t appeared on a live Fall CD or as a bonus track on a single then it’s only really a matter of time. It’s such an archetypal rockabilly tune that all the boxes are ticked within the two minutes 10 seconds it lasts. There’s that slappy double bass, with strings so loose it sounds as if they may fall off without any prompting. There’s that tight, one drum sound-there should be a rule that for any rockabilly song, the drummer has to a be a rake-thin, gangly, pasty looking kid standing behind a single snare drum, just knocking the shit out of it. (The standing is the important factor-no drum stools allowed.) Additionally, there’s whoops and hollers (that’s the word-hollers) at random intervals throughout the song. The best whooping and hollering in rock and roll (in fact in any song) occurs in Gene Vincent’s “Be Bop A Lula” though Marvin’s band in “Hot and Cold” run it pretty close.

Best of all is Marvin’s singing, which is so fast that I can’t really make out what on earth he’s going on about. There’s the title of the song and references to rock and roll and rolling rock but little else is readily decipherable. (There is a tale that Rolling Rock beer took its name from Marvin’s references to it in this song; it’s a good story but not one that holds up. The beer was first brewed in 1933 and this tune came out in the mid-fifties. It does sound as if Marvin had consumed more than one bottle of Rolling Rock prior to recording; and possibly the odd one whist the tape was running as well.)

Marvin Rainwater (his real name-he is one quarter Native American and Cherokee) was born in 1925 in Wichita, Kansas. Isn’t the idea of having Rainwater as a real name rather than some stage name pretty cool? Rock and roll wasn’t Marvin’s chosen route into music; he actually trained professionally as a classical pianist until that career was closed off to him due to an accident which resulted in the loss of his right thumb. He then trained as a vet but after serving in the Second World War, he must have decided that dealing with cattle wasn’t his forte and took up the guitar. He became fascinated with country music and before long was making a living out it, appearing on stage wearing a headband and buckskin jacket. His song “Gonna Find Me A Blue Bird” was a million-selling hit in 1957. As good as that and “Hot and Cold” are, I wonder if Marvin still had a hankering after piano concertos; did he listen to Brahms at home whilst wearing rhinestone jackets and dreaming what might have been?