Seven Songs From My Father
Posted by jeffrubard on June 3, 2008
Dominic has tagged me to talk about seven songs I’ve been listening to recently. This is dedicated to my father, who begins his retirement today (not a moment too soon); not all of this is stuff he likes, but I wouldn’t be listening to any of it if it wasn’t for him.
1. Don Covay – “Mercy Mercy“
More familiar to readers from the Stones version, this classic R&B/black rock track from songwriter Don Covay was Jimi Hendrix’s first appearance on wax; he tears it up, especially at the break (also on “Take This Hurt Off Me”, which I believe was covered by the Small Faces). Dad passed up the opportunity to see Hendrix at Monterey Pop (an early date with my mother), but I’m sure he’s always been perfectly aware of Covay’s merits.
2. James Brown – “Don’t Be A Dropout“
Dad did go to see James Brown at the Oakland Coliseum in 1964, a lesson in race relations for the San Leandro high school student; he later added additional qualifications by riding the bus on E. 13th Street between San Leandro and Berkeley and working at the Oakland Navy base after college. This is one I like, one of JB’s “message” songs: the full James Brown Band sound is still nascent, but it bridges traditional slice-of-life R&B and funk pretty well.
3. David Bowie – “Heroes”
Not reproduced for reasons of obviousness. I’m not a big Bowie fan (the only album I’ve ever listened to is Ziggy Stardust), but this song was pretty meaningful to me a few years ago: it helped me establish distance on an interaction where two people with some level of involvement in socialism were each acting quite unlike the good people they desperately wanted to be. The production values are great, presaging Eno-era Talking Heads, and I can listen to it without getting too maudlin by this point.
4. The Velvet Underground – “What Goes On”
Ditto. If you didn’t know, this is an exciting but carefully mannered guitar work-out with Lou and the gang from the third album Velvet Underground (which Patti Smith said was her favorite, on account of it being the most oppressive). The ‘Tators covered this one, although not with much aplomb.
5. Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth – “They Reminisce Over You”
I’ve been meaning to talk about this one for a while. Pete Rock was one of the production geniuses of the “golden era of hip-hop”, responsible for most of the tracks on Illmatic: this is the classic track from his own outfit, dedicated to the late “T-Roy” from Heavy D. and the Boyz. For some perspective on how good this guy’s ears are listen to the song the main sample was taken from: it’s Tom Scott’s “Today“, not acid jazz.
6. Grateful Dead – “Till the Morning Comes“
Dad used to treat me to disquisitions on the relative merits of the Fillmore and the Avalon, and also those of Pigpen McKiernan (the early Dead fan favorite) and Jerry Garcia. I personally didn’t like the Dead as a young guy, but as sometimes happens with uncool bands lots of cool people I know inexplicably like I’ve mellowed on them: American Beauty is a good record and this one is fun pop.
7. Nick Lowe – “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding”
As the son of a full-blooded Scot, Dad perhaps took a keener interest in British music than most people: he didn’t like glam rock too well, but some punk and the gritter kind of New Wave sat pretty well with him. This is one of his favorites from that time, for the reason that he read Nick Lowe intended it as a joke; I like this live version pretty well.
