Ronnie Lane

Today would have been Ronnie Lane's sixty-fifth birthday.
He was the heart of the Faces, leader of a traveling circus, a court jester and an April Fool.

Download:

"April Fool" mp3
by Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane, 1977.
available on Rough Mix

"Flags And Banners" mp3
by The Faces, 1973.
available on Ooh La La

"Sweet Virginia" mp3
by Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, 1974,
from You Never Can Tell: The BBC Sessions
out of print

"Ooh La La" mp3
by Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, 1973,
from You Never Can Tell: The BBC Sessions
out of print

"You Never Can Tell" mp3
from You Never Can Tell: The BBC Sessions
out of print

What's That Song?

Alex Chilton died a year ago today. Among his many attributes (singer, songwriter, band leader, and troublemaker) he was an interpreter and connoisseur of songs - all kinds of songs. I'd like to think that Alex had a big record collection but he probably did not. It would have only weighed him down. He was more likely a kind of musical sponge absorbing everything and spewing it out artfully in his own way. Today, in remembrance, we'll listen to a few of those songs as performed by the original artists, songs that he brought into his repertoire and made his own. Some are well known and some are not. A few of these songs, I'm fairly certain, I may have never heard had he not decided to record them. Thanks Alex.



Download:



"Make A Little Love" mp3
by Lowell Fulsom, 1967.
available on The Tramp Years
by Alex Chilton on High Priest



"Thank You John" mp3
by Willie Tee, 1965.
available on Teasin You
by Alex Chilton on Feudalist Tarts



"With A Girl Like You" mp3
by The Troggs, 1967.
available on The Singles A's & B's
by Alex Chilton on 19 Years: A Collection of Alex Chilton



"Girl After Girl" mp3
by Troy Shondell, 1961.
available on This Time: The Best Of Troy Shondell
by Alex Chilton on Like Flies on Sherbert



"Nobody's Fool" mp3
by Dan Penn, 1973.
available on Nobody's Fool
recorded by Alex Chilton on High Priest



"I've Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)" mp3
by Eddie Floyd, 1968.
available on Rare Stamps
by Alex Chilton on Loose Shoes and Tight Pussy

top photo: Alex Chilton, Bowery, 1977. by Godlis

**********************

Also:

Chris Stamey has assembled an all-star ensemble that have now twice performed Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers LP in its entirety in NC. The next performance of Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers will be on Saturday, March 26, at Mason Hall in NYC, Aided and abetted by an all-star cast of performers including Tift Merritt, Matthew Sweet, M. Ward, Norman Blake (Teenage Fan Club), Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) and others to be announced shortly to join the core group complete with the rhythm section of Jody Stephens (Big Star), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Will Rigby (dB's), Charles Cleaver, and Mitch Easter(Let's Active) and the expanded Lost in the Trees Orchestra with full strings, brass, winds, orchestral percussion and basketball. You will not want to miss this...

Tickets are available by following this link: Tickets Mason Hall, NYC, March 26

More information on this amazing project here: bigstarthird.com
All proceeds for this show benefit the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, and El System's Corona Youth Project in Queens.

Two-Sider Tuesday: The Stewart Brothers

Today is Sly Stone's 68th birthday. I sincerely hope he's having a good one. Things have been somewhat rocky for Sly for nearly 40 years now, and while he is truly one of the greats, attempts to get himself together and make a comeback have unfortunately been elusive. I was first hipped to this record-- the first single by the Stewart Brothers--by my pal Phast Phreddie. Young Sly is at the helm and begins the a-side with an introduction:

The name of this tune is...uh, "The Rat."
and uh, we are the Stewart Brothers and
Sylvester Stewart, that's myself, I wrote it.

It's a doo-wop record with some fine guitar playing by brother Freddie. I'm not sure who the rest of the personnel are on this session.

Dig it... and Happy Birthday Sly.


Download:



"The Rat" mp3
by the Stewart Brothers, 1959.
Ensign 45-4032
out of print



"Ra Ra Roo" mp3
by the Stewart Brothers, 1959.
Ensign 45-4032
out of print

Two-Sider (Fat) Tuesday

Today, we begin a new and maybe regular feature here at the Boogie Woogie Flu to be known as Two-Sider Tuesday, featuring two sides of a single platter. In honor of Fat Tuesday, and our house band here in Fluville, I present to you a classic New Orleans two-sider, Ace #571 by Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns.

***********

Download:



"Tu-Ber-Cu-Lucas and the Sinus Blues" mp3
by Huey Smith, 1959.
available on This Is Huey Piano Smith



"Dearest Darling (You're the One)" mp3
by Huey Smith, 1959.
available on Ace is Wild


***********

painting: King Zulu, 1986. by Jean-Michel Basquiat

Psychic Payne

by Will Rigby

Leon Payne's song "Psycho" is legendary, and rightly so.

Payne was a blind country singer and songwriter who has the distinction of having two of his songs recorded by Hank Williams: "Lost Highway" (listen to Leon's version here) and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me." Other well-known songs he wrote are "I Love You Because," which Elvis Presley recorded at his first session for Sun Records in 1954, and "Things Have Gone To Pieces," originally a hit for George Jones.

On a day off in Nashville in 1999 I poked around Elder's Book Store on Elliston Place. Elder's must be one of the premier sources of books on the Civil War, but when I asked Mr. Elder where his books on music were, he said he had just gotten some in that he didn't know quite what they were. In retrospect I find this a bit surprising, because he is a prominent used book dealer in Music City, and these books are uniquely Music Row products.



The books are/were songbooks printed (rather inexpensively) by music publishers to give/loan to artists, producers, and studios in Nashville for the purpose of learning the songs in order to record them. They measure 12" wide by 9" high, typically with two pages of sheet music reduced to fit side by side on one page (although there are exceptions). Some of the songs are written out by hand and photocopied.

The purpose of these books has been supplanted by CDs, MP3s, etc., so I presume they are obsolete artifacts that are no longer made. Which makes me wonder why Mr. Elder hadn't seen them before. I suspect that he has seen more of them by now, and wouldn't be surprised if there is a collector's market for them. He also had books of the Louvin Brothers, Don Gibson, and Don Everly (I bought all these), and others.



(click on image to enlarge)


Of course, "Psycho" sheet music is the most unusual find. We present it here as an artifact and a public service. Note the restriction at the bottom of the first page: "The use of the lyrics to this song with any other music is expressly prohibited". There are a couple of lyric differences from the recorded versions: "my hands near his throat" is printed but generally sung "around his throat"; and most significantly, the usual recorded ending "Mama, why don't you wake up?" is NOT in the sheet music.



(click on image to enlarge)

Payne supposedly told his publisher, Fred Rose, not to allow "Psycho" to be recorded until after he died. The first recording, by Eddie Noack, came out in 1968, but Payne did not die until 1969, so perhaps the tale is apocryphal. I recall reading a review of the 45 around 1971 (by Greg Shaw, I think), so perhaps the record came out later than the citations I can find.

There is not a lot of information on this unusual song to be found on the Web. Perhaps, someone will at least make a Wikipedia page for it, and while they're at it, one for Eddie Noack, too.


Eddie Noack


Download:



"Psycho" mp3
by Eddie Noack, 1968.
froim K-ARK 45-843
out of print

"Psycho" mp3
by Jack Kittel, 1975.
available on Psycho (Jack Forever)

"Psycho" mp3
by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 1981.
available on Almost Blue.

"Psycho" mp3
by Teddy Thompson, 1998.
available on Psycho

...and from reader, Tex. I don't know how this one slipped by us,
it is by far the scariest version:

"Psycho" mp3
by Andre Williams and the Sadies, 1999.
available on Red Dirt

*************

Written and Performed by Leon Payne...



"Empty Dreams" mp3
by Leon Payne, 1951.
available on I Love You Because



"Poke Salad Green" mp3
by Leon Payne, 1952.
available on I Love You Because



"Two by Four" mp3
by Leon Payne, 1956.
available on A Living Legend Of Country Music

"Close To You" mp3
by Leon Payne, 1963.
available on A Living Legend Of Country Music

*************

written by Leon Payne...





"Lost Highway" mp3
by Hank Williams, 1949.
available on Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits

"They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" mp3
by Doug Sahm, 2000.
available on Return of Wayne Douglas

"I Love You Because (Take 3)" mp3
by Elvis Presley, 1954.
available on The Complete Sun Sessions

"Things Have Gone To Pieces" mp3
by George Jones, 1971.
available on Sings the Great Songs of Leon Payne

"Take Me (Take 1 with string overdub)" mp3
by George Jones, 1965.
available on Walk Through This World With Me - The Complete Musicor Recordings, 1965-1971 (Part 1)

"Blue Side of Lonesome" mp3
by John Prine and Mac Wiseman, 2007.
available on Standard Songs for Average People

New Scenery, New Noise

"An artist is an artist only because of his exquisite sense of beauty, a sense which shows him intoxicating pleasures, but which at the same time implies and contains an equally exquisite sense of all deformities and all disproportion."
Charles Baudelaire on Edgar Allan Poe, 1856.
from The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays

"Well, could you play a car crash with an electric guitar?"
Patti Smith to Lenny Kaye, 1971. from Just Kids

Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye performed together for the first time on February 10, 1971 at The Poetry Project at the St. Marks Church in New York City. It was also the first time an electric guitar had ever been played at the church, and Lenny uses it to demonstrate the auditory car crash sounds in "Ballad of a Bad Boy," one of four selections from this rarely heard performance, and would serve as the the first of many collaborations between these two. Later becoming the Patti Smith Group, they helped to forge a new alliance between rock n roll, art and poetry in New York's punk scene of the mid 1970s. The historic venues in New York where they originally played before touring the world are now all gone except for The Poetry Project which tonight will host their return in celebration of the 40th anniversary of that first performance.

So, if you're in New York City, you might wanna check it out.

*******

Download:

"Mack The Knife" mp3
by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye, 1971.
available on February 10, 1971

"Dedication" mp3
by Patti Smith, 1971.
available on February 10, 1971

"Oath" mp3
by Patti Smith, 1971.
available on February 10, 1971

"Ballad of A Bad Boy" mp3
by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye, 1971.
available on February 10, 1971

*******



"Hey Joe (Version)" mp3
by Patti Smith, 1974.
on Mer 601-45
out of print



"Piss Factory" mp3
by Patti Smith, 1974.
available on Land (1975-2002)

*******
"Radio Free Ethiopia" mp3
Patti Smith, 1976.
WNEW New York Hungerthon Radio Broadcast

*******

top photo: Patti Smith in Subway, 1971. by Gerard Malanga.

Consolation Prize

Once upon a time there was a band from Glasgow named Orange Juice. Formed as punk rock group the Nu-Sonics in the late 70s, they went on to record several records that flirted with rock, pop, soul and disco sounds, all the while being audaciously twee and unafraid to use major seventh chords. The singer and frontman Edwyn Collins, had an unusual feylike baritone voice sounding at times like (among others) Bela Lugosi. Collins, also displayed an unusual and unique guitar style, that when interweaved with original OJ guitar player James Kirk could conjure up an Anglo-like version of Television. They were brilliant and virtually unknown on these shores (they never played in the US) and went on to influence countless bands in the UK, including Belle and Sebastian, the Teenage Fanclub, The Smiths, and Aztec Camera. A few months ago Domino Records released a long overdue career spanning box set compiling their singles, LPs, some rarities and BBC recordings from the John Peel Show as well as a DVD: seven discs in all. Most of their catalog has been out of print or only available as expensive imports for several years.

Download:

"Felicity" mp3
by Orange Juice, 1982.
available on Coals to Newcastle

In conjunction with Domino Records, we are offering the first ever giveaway here at the Boogie Woogie Flu. An 18 song sampler from Coals to Newcastle plus 10 groovy Orange Juice pins, pictured below. We have three of these packages to give away. If you'd like one, send an email with your mailing address (US Residents only) to boogiewoogieflu@gmail.com and explain in 25 words or less why you want it. These will go fast. Good luck.

Gone!

The giveaway is over, and all winners have been notified. Two of the three winners are from Texas. So as an addendum I think it's appropriate to add this:

"Texas Fever" mp3
by Orange Juice, 1981.
available on Ostrich Churchyard







**********

Bonus:

"You Old Eccentric" mp3
by Orange Juice, 1980.
Peel Session
available on Ostrich Churchyard

"Consolation Prize" mp3
by Orange Juice, 1981.
available on Glasgow School

"Wan Light" mp3
by Orange Juice, 1982.
available on You Can't Hide Your Love Forever

"I Guess I'm Just A Little Too Sensitive" mp3
by Orange Juice, 1984.
available on The Orange Juice

"What Presence?!" mp3
by Orange Juice, 1984.
available on The Orange Juice

*********

"I Don't Care" mp3
by the Nu-Sonics, 1979.
available on Glasgow School