The Green Monkey never gets cold when he's covered

The latest installment of the ongoing saga we call The Green Monkey music mix is up over at Splotchy's place. This version is all covers and their originals. I'm a big fan of covers so I jumped at the chance to be in this one. And because everyone else does it and because Splotchy demands we do it, here's my take on my selections.

Once I saw the list of folks who were in on this mix I knew which way I wanted to go with my selections. I knew that they'd pick a bunch of esoteric covers by bands most of us never heard of or listen to on a regular basis, and by and large I was right. So I went in a different direction, I decided to spotlight some well known recording artists doing some esoteric covers and some recording artists who are criminally under appreciated and ignored by the mainstream doing covers of songs by well known bands. And I wanted my selections to have a distinct rockabilly/folky air about them.

In and around 1993 or '94 I checked out a CD from a local library that was put out on the Smithsonian/Folkways label. It was a CD of modern artists covering the song of Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. One of the tunes I liked best on that CD was a song by the under appreciated artist Taj Mahal.Taj is a blues singer who also does other styles as well. He's probably more well known among older black folks, and by that I mean black folks age 50 and over. Anyway, the song he did on that CD that I was taken with so much was a tune of Leadbelly's called The Bourgeois Blues. It's an autobiographical song about Leadbelly's search for a house to buy in Washington DC in the 1930's. Mahal's version chronicles all the bullshit a black man had to go through to buy a house during that time period.But when you listen to the original Leadbelly version of the song you hear more about the total package of racism that he had to endure. Leadbelly sings not just about trying to find a house in that bourgeois town Washington, DC, he also sings about being shut out of restaurants (both white and black owned) and other injustices he faced at that time. If you're not familiar with Leadbelly he is one of the fathers of modern rock and roll and if you're not familiar with Taj Mahal, then get off your ass and search some of his stuff out. As I mentioned above that Smithsonian/Folkways Cd also featured songs by Wood Guthrie covered by modern performers. One of Woody's songs that was covered was classic Do Re Mi, a song about poor southerners trekking to the promised land of California during the depths of the Great Depression. Once the folks from 'beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee' get to California, they find out it's not quite the paradise they thought it was going to be and they still need money to make their dreams come true in the Golden state. John Mellencamp covered Do Re Mi on the CD but instead of going that way I chose Ani DiFranco's version of it because I like her vocal stylings and I like that fact she cut an album with the late great Utah Phillips a few years ago.
Nanci Griffith also cut a version of Do Re Mi for her CD of covers which she called Other Voices Other Rooms. It's a nice version but the song on that CD I really liked was her cover of Gordon Lightfoot's Ten Degrees and Gettin' Colder. It's got one of the best opening stanza's ever written in a pop song and the whole song itself is dripping with Lightfoot's love of the USA. I think both versions of this song are smashingly wonderful.
The late great Buck Owens made the song Act Naturally quite famous. It's rockabilly twang not only bewitched country and pop music fans, it also made quite an impression on people like Ringo Starr and national treasure Loretta Lynn. And it's her version of his song that I included in this mix. In a side note I never realized how much the young Loretta Lynn looked like my late mother.

While searching for cover songs to be in this mix I found out that the late great Warren Zevon did a cover of Steve Winwood's Back in the High Life. The thought of Zevon crooning about being back in the high life again after his death appealed to my sometimes morbid sense of humor so I included the songs in this mix.

And finally we come to the first song I chose for this mix. Well, actually that's a lie. I actually chose John Hiat doing a version of the Bruce Springsteen Song Candy's Room, but Splotchy couldn't find a version of it online, so I had to make a substitution. And the substitution I chose was Kate Rusbydoing a version of the Kink's song The Village Green Preservation Society. This album was one of the first 'concept' albums ever put out by a major rock and roll band. It was meant to be a celebration of the vanishing idyllic British country life. But while the album was conceived as a love letter to that life and lifestyle but it came off as snarky and mean spirited at the time. The song and the album were ignored by critics and audiences alike because there were no 'hits' on the record. But as time marched on people have come around to see the genius of what Ray Davies and the Kinks did on this recording. It is now recognized as a landmark piece of music on the rock and roll scene and it's getting it's due from younger recording artists, such as Ms. Rusby. Her version of the title track is the theme song to a TV show called Clatterford that celebrates, and gently pokes fun at, modern British rural life. Both versions sound great but I like Rusby's a little better because I think her voice is sexy.

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And that's my contribution to the latest Green Monkey Music mix.

Six Degrees of Green Monkey Music Mayhem ( or How I became a Green Monkey Music Master in three easy mixes!)

When I saw that Splotchy was reviving the Green Monkey Music Mixes I jumped at my chance to participate in my third one because once you do three mixes he awards you this coveted award:
Being a GMMP Master means that one day, Splotchy willing, I'll be able to set the theme for a mix. I'm grateful to Splotchy for making me a Green Monkey Master and I'm grateful to Beth for allowing me to be in her 'Six Degrees' Green Monkey Music Mix. You can download all the different participants by clicking here.

My choices for the mix are as follows:
1. I've made no secret for my love of Stiff Records. The first record Stiff put out back in the day was one by Nick Lowe. Sadly, that song is not in this mix.

However his criminally under appreciated song American Squirm off his late '70's album Labour Of Lust is. On an album that features a slew of great but somewhat twisted pop songs, American Squirm remains one of my all time favorites. It's got the best first line of any song ever written by a snarky British dude who was married to Johnny Cash's step daughter, Carlene Carter Cash. The song begins, "I made an American squirm and it felt so right..."

2. Lowe was, and still is, not only a great singer/songwriter, he's also a talented producer. He not only produced this Elvis Costello and the Attractions album, he also wrote one of the few hits off it.

That's right boys and girls, when Elvis sings, "What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?," he's singing lyrics Nick Lowe wrote. I like this version better because it's the one I first heard and it's less folky than Lowe's original version. This song is also the unofficial theme song of my blog.

3. Elvis took a page out of Nick's playbook and he branched out into producing records as well. He produced some tracks for The Specials and for one of my favorite Irish rock bands ever, The Pogues. In fact, Elvis not only produced this album for the Pogues, he also made off with their token female singer Cait O'Riordan, who is lead vocal on this track by the way. Sadly their romance didn't last but we'll always have Rum Sodomy and the Lash. One of my favorite tracks from this great album is the song I'm a Man You Don't Meet Everyday. It's a haunting song that's done beautifully.

4. When Elvis stole Cait away from the Pogues they replaced her with Kirsty MacColl on a few tracks on later recordings. The most famous of which is the song Fairytale of New York. I chose not to put that song in this mix and instead I chose this song by Kirsty, Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim. It's a country tinged song about a gal who lays down the law to a would be suitor. It features the late Ms. MacColl's voice wonderfully.

5. When not singing with the Pogues and making records on her own, Kirsty MacColl was married to one of the most influential record producers of the last 30 years. His name is Steve Lillywhite and he produced many many tracks for a ton of groups like U2, the Rolling Stones, Morrissey, Phish, the Dave Matthews Band, and The Talking Heads. Life During Wartime is one of my favorite songs ever. Maybe I'm paranoid or maybe I'm just a nervous person by nature but whatever it is I really identify with this song.

6. One of the places mentioned in the above song is a seminal rock and roll club called CBGB's. I've never been there, and I think it's been torn down now, but I know it was the place to play for a time in the late '70's and '80's. One of the bands that played there is a sugary confection of a group from Japan called Shonen Knife. Shonen Knife is girl group that sings catchy poppy songs that invade your subconscious and don't let go. One of the songs of theirs that does that is this one:

I defy you to listen to that song and not start singing it's chorus later.

Thanks once again to Beth and Splotchy for bringing the Green Monkey back. And you my little pets, you can now call me either Dr. Monkey or Master Monkey, whichever you prefer.

Green Monkey ABC Mix

Somehow I managed to wrangle another spot in another Green Monkey mix! This one was tough to get into since Splotchy limited the participants to songs that begin with a specified number of letters in the alphabet. As luck would have it my obsessive checking of other people's blogs paid off for me and I got in under the wire and I was able to take part in my second GMMP mix.

Splotchy assigned me the letters P through T and here are a few words about my choices:

P-I chose an Ute Lemper song for my P selection because she gets very little love here in the US of A. She's my second favorite German female singer, sorry Ute but Nena, she of the 99 Luft Balloons and fuzzy arm pits will always be my fave German female vocalist. Passionate Fight comes from her Punishing Kiss CD and it is one of my favorites off that stellar effort.

Q-This one almost threw me for a loop until I remembered a song that Sparky and I had heard not too long ago when I put the John Prine CD's in the Scion. Quit Hollerin' at Me is one of my favorite newish songs of Prine's and it also is something I usually have to say to family members when I see them, I come from a family of LOUD talkers and shouters.

R-Respectable is my second favorite song off my favorite Rolling Stones recording. I love the lyrics, "You're the easiest lay on the White House lawn." If you're not dancing when you hear this song then you're probably dead.

S-Beckeye was the first to put an Elvis Costello song into the Green Monkey Music Matrix and I'll always have a grudge against her for it (just kidding sugar). She chose a good one but this one is from Armed Forces which was the first Elvis album I owned. Senior Service is early Elvis at his snarling, sneering, world hatin' best. How great are these angry lyrics about wanting to get ahead by any means possible: "I want your dick, I want the seat that you sit on, I want your chair." I love this song, I love this album, and I love angry Elvis.

T-Nah, nah, nah, I got the first Nick Lowe song all up in the Green Monkey. What? No one else loves Nick as much as I do? Well feck off then. The Rose Of England is such a hip song that it takes me away when I hear it. It should, like all Nick Lowe's stuff, be played and appreciated more than it is. I admit it, I'm a pub rock geek. Pub rockers, for those of you who do not know are people like Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Graham Parker, and Iam Gomm. Let the clever writing and music of this Nick Lowe ditty take you away and then go buy some of Nick's CD's.


Thanks for letting me do my second Green Monkey Music Mix Mr. Splotchy. It's a great thing you did by unleashing that verdant simian onto the blogosphere.

It's 100% more absorbent!

Okay okay, calm down. I know I'm the last of the bloggers to list my songs on Splotchy's Green Monkey Mix Total Absorption edition. You know I just love you all so much that I saved the best for last. Check out Beth's list on Cup of Coffey, Barbara's list on Bad Tempered Zombie, and of course Splotchy's mix on I, Splotchy and you can get the whole mix there as well.

We were charged with choosing ten songs, I came up a tad short for reasons that escape me now, that we get totally absorbed by and that we must hear all the way through when we begin to hear them. I am totally blown away by the great choices the others made and holy hell did they introduce me to some great new music.

Anyway, here are my contributions to the mix:

Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue: I've heard it a million times but when I hear ol' Johnny start his tale of that boy named Sue I get hooked yet again. It's one of the first songs that I heard as a kid that I demanded the grown ups let play all the way through.

Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town: The title track off his late '70's masterpiece. It's not an easy boppy bright song but it captures that time like almost no other song ever did. I used play this album over and over again while I sang and played air guitar.

Rank and File - Post Office Wall:This is 1:43 seconds of pure genius. The cheesy singing and the jangly guitars and the funny lyrics always get me. I first heard it on a sampler years ago and I loved it to no end. If you have kids you better not play it around them because it is so infectious. It's been in my head since last night when Splotchy sent it to me via email. I can't stop singing it.

Kirsty MacColl - Titanic Days :I discovered this song on a new used sampler I just got. I love her voice, the lyrics, the haunting music, and the nautical noises in the background. God how I wish she were still alive, imagine all the great stuff she would do if she were still with us.

Mediaeval Baebes - Kilmeny: I discovered this group one day while searching for a Loreena McKinnet CD. Their CD looked interesting so I bought it and I fell in love with the whole medieval song and instrument shtick. This song sounded so modern to me when I heard it amongst the others and whenever I hear it I've got to listen to it all. As soon as the temperatures start to dip below 50 degrees I put the Baebes in heavy rotation on my CD player.

Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill: How can you not love a song where the singer talks about switching places with god? I adore Kate Bush and I can not wait to hear her new CD sometime soon, but I Hounds of Love will remain my fave because this song is on it. This song actually got banned on one of the local radio stations when it first came out around here, they said it was sacrilegious.

Stiff Little Fingers - Who Died and Made You Elvis?: I admit I'm a late comer to SLF. I should have been hep to them years ago but I had other things to do, like smoke too much pot and drink a shit load of beer. But I was lucky enough to pick up their CD Guitar and Drum one day after attending cardiac rehab and boy was I knocked out when I heard it. I love every song on the CD but this one is my favorite. I love how they use a pop icon like Elvis to make the point that we should all be a little more humble in our daily lives. I could have easily named Strummerville, their moving tribute to the late Joe Strummer of The Clash, as another total absorbtion song but I felt like I should limit myself to one song per artist. If you like punk rock then you owe it to yourself to pick this CD up.


It was fun choosing the songs and even more fun listening to what everyone else chose. Thanks for letting me play Splotchy!

Check it before you wreck it

Big ups go to my man DJ Splotchy for putting together the first bloggers edition of The Green Monkey Mix. The GMM, as us cool kids refer to it, can be found here. Splotchy, mix master extraordinaire and father of several cool kids, is the ringleader of this mix. Also throwing down the jams on this one are the lovely Beth from A Cup of Coffey, the Calgary cutie pie Barbra of Bad Tempered Zombie, and yours truly, although I got to admit that next to their selections, mine look positively puny.

The theme of the mix is "total absorbtion." We all picked songs that we get totally absorbed in while we listen to them. It's a bitchin' set of tunes and many thanks go to Splotchy for all his work in putting it together.

Splotchy, for all you do this toast is for you!

Go, listen, and rock that body while you do!