I Can't Quit These Songs: Mix Reviews Volume 11

Having read Mighty Tom's review I can state with some certainty that I like country music more than he does, including these songs, though I don't chalk these songs up as the best that the vast country genre has to offer. In music, I'm a sucker for a good melody, though that's never enough to make a good song. Lyrics are the missing piece to finish the whole. All the great melodies are not great songs, and bad lyrics is the principal reason why. The specifics of arrangement and musical treatment then put on the final polish to give the best songs of glorious luster to last through the ages.

My first listens to this collection occured en route to the wilds of Escalante, the story of which is enfolding here. Riding down Interstate 35 through the heart of Iowa, with me proceeding each song with a reading aloud of the 'liner notes' provided by TClog. The three of us would listen to a song and make general comments and then do the same for the next one. In this way was I introduced to the Coca Cola Cowboy. Far different from my usual method, namely loading it into my Ipod and listening to it repeatedly while walking the dog, and then ultimately over and over as I compose my comments (this last part remains the same - go John Denver go).

There's no doubting or minimizing the importance of specific experiences in relation to individual songs and TClog shows us once again how deeply he feels the songs he chooses. Inevitably the rest of us will be hard pressed to put ourselves into such an extreme state of empathy that we can feel the same as our friend, but we should try. Mighty Tom does a good job of relating one such experience and we all know TClog to wear his emotions like a poncho, or like Pancho, your choice. So as I listen to these songs I am reminded of many miles travelled on the interstates of our fair country, and my friend TClog crooning his way through his memories of these songs. But still.... I remain fervently objective.

And with that I shall begin:

Track One
Good Ole Boys - Waylon Jennings

As we discussed in the Sombrero, there's no way to disassociate this song from The Dukes of Hazard, a tv show that inspires fond memories for most males my age, but not me. I really did not like Bo and Luke or anything they stood for. Yeah, even an 8 year old me knew Daisy was hot, but where was that going to get me? She was long gone before I was going to do anything with that imagery. Mostly what DoH represents to me was a reason for the other kids in the neighborhood to be inside on Friday evenings when I would have rather been outside for another hour. Ahh well.

But I can get past that and just listen to the song. A funny little ditty, and blessedly 'pure' in arrangement (unlike some of the songs that follow) The lyrics don't blow me away, but they're fun enough and get the job done. The melody is also fun and the musicianship is certainly good enough resulting in a pleasant little ditty. Pretty much a middle of the road venture if I can forget my DoH past.

Can't forget to mention the occasional 'yeah' in the song. Better in context with the DoH opening credits.

Is it Waylon Jennings that does the 'Are you ready for some football?' shit? Seems like that's his voice. A strike against him there.

Track Two
Pancho and Lefty - Willie Nelson with an assist from Merle Haggard

If I didn't know Willie a bit better than the songs on this collection I would accuse him of doing most of his recording in a basement with a Casio keyboard. The intro to this song is BAD, with its really cheesy St. Elsewhere keyboard riff and possibly programmed drums. It's almost as if some producer got a hold of this between Willie and the record company and 'filled it out' a bit, perhaps believing it would go over better with the Miami Vice crowd. Luckily, most of the song is free from the worst of this crap and allows, what is a nice little story, to take over.

With a different arrangement, something simpler generally, I could REALLY like this song. A good melody, some well written and touching lyrics in a classic country style, are set up for a very good song. But the bullshit is tough to get around. I'd like to here the TVZ version to see if it's better, though Willie's got a great voice and that would be missed.

As for Mr. Haggard, what the hell IS he doing here? Possibly the worst implemetation of a duet ever. I almost imagine Willie singing along, finishing his verse expecting Merle to pick up the chorus and then.....nothing.... still just Willie. And then the verse....of course!....Merle will do the second verse and second chorus, and then we'll do the third verse together. But no. Merle just stands there with his arms folded still smarting from Willie's crack earlier about looking 'a little haggard'. "Hey everybody, Merle's looking a 'litte haggard'! Haa haa haa. Apparently that's a sore point going back to his childhood. How would Willie know?

Or it could be that Merle Haggard sounds a little like Fozzy Bear at times and Willie tried to limit the damage. Not sure.

Lots of potential in this song, just not great follow through.

Track Three
'til the Rivers All Run Dry - Don Williams

Lovely, though not mind blowing. Lovely melody and very pleasant lyrics. I can understand how TClog can find emotional appeal in this song. It's universal and far more satisfying than many other possibilities.

Track Four
Me and My Uncle - John Denver

I loved John Denver as a child. This song is not a good one, and I don't think that it would be better in another version, or by another person. Maybe if I was being orally pleasured while listening to this could I develop a positive attachment. Until then, I remain unimpressed.

The musicianship seems fine, but it's such a cynical and mean-spirited song that it just leaves me flat, limp even.

Track Five
El Paso City - Marty Robbins

From thirty thousand feet above the desert floor I see it there below
A city with a legend, the West Texas city of El Paso
Where long ago I heard a song (it was by MEEEEE) about a Texas cowboy and a girl
And a little place called Rosa's where he used to go and watch this beauty whirl

I don't recall who sang the song ('cause I'm a drunk, but it was MEEEE) but I recall a story that I heard
And as I look down on this city I remember each and every word
The singer (that was MEEE) sang about a jealous cowboy and the way he used a gun
To kill another cowboy, then he had to leave El Paso on the run

El Paso City
By the Rio Grande
The cowboy lived and rode away but love was strong he couldn't stay
He rode back just to die in that El Paso sand
El Paso City
By the Rio Grande
I try not to let you cross my mind but still I find
There's such a mystery in the song that I don't understand (even though the writer was MEEEE)

My mind is down there somewhere as I fly above the badlands of New Mexico
I can't explain why I should know the very trail he rode back to El Paso (that rider was maybe MEEE)
Can it be that man can disappear from life and live another time
And does the mystery deepen 'cause you think that you yourself lived in that other time

Somewhere in my deepest thoughts familiar scenes and memories unfold
These wild and unexplained emotions that I've had so long, but I have never told (except in that other song, sung by MEEE)
Like everytime I fly up through the heavens and I see you there below
I get the feeling sometime in another world I lived in El Paso (yeah MEEEE)

El Paso City
By the Rio Grande
Could it be that I could be the cowboy in the mystery (it was MEEE)
That died there in that desert sand so long ago
El Paso City
By the Rio Grande
A voice tells me to go and seek, another voice keeps telling me
Maybe death awaits me in El Paso (MEEEEE)

My dad was a Marty Robbins fan, though my distrust (ignorant hatred) of country music kept me from listening to it. It all seemed to be about rural life and that held no appeal to me, what with Flocks of Saegulls to watch. He has a pleasant voice and I occasionally find my self singing that OTHER song about El Paso quietly to myself, at least the first verse, but this is too much. A song about another song, that HE WROTE? Hilarious, and seemingly one trip back to the well too many.

Just can' t get into this one, though stripped to its constituent parts I could like some of them.

Track Six
Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell

Oh lord. As previously mentioned this song is SO SO SO Neil Diamond it's amazing. Anyone check to see if Neil was invilved - this would have been from his heyday. Apparently not, though that Allmusic review is worth checking out.

I may have loved this song when I was 4. I certainly remember it clearly. But it's so cartoony to me now that it leaves me bewildered. Seems to come from the Midnight Cowboy/Urban Cowboy cowboy aesthetic, not the height of cowboy aesthetics. Polished production leaves me dazzled as if staring into a hat full of rhinestones.

Track Seven
Highwayman - Highwayman

Another one of those productions run amuck. Holy crap the effects in this one are CRAZY. Although unlikely, I could see Brian Eno heading this up.

Some very strange things about this song lyrically:

Willie's version of the Highwayman seems to be from England, circa 1700 maybe. Pistol AND blade? Baubles?

Glen Campbell returns as a 'Sailuuuur' rounding the 'horn of Mexico?' Does anyone refer to Mexico as having a horn? Maybe they do, but it'd be new to me. Did Glen Campbell have a stroke on that 'sailuuur'.

And Waylon again, as a dam builder. Hardly the romantic vision conjured by the other three. And steel plus water equals rust.

Johnny Cash. IN SPACE? Wow.

This song was written by Jimmy Webb, who brought us the lovely Wichita Lineman, Galveston, McCarthur Park (metaphorical cake in the rain anyone?) and songs by lots of others. This one is weird, though it has potential. Might have been better in the hands of The Decemberists.

I want to like this song. I do. But between the production weirdness and the lyrical incongruities, I can't get all the way there.

Track Eight
Streets of Bakersfield - Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens

With a classic country voice DY dellivers my favorite of the songs I didn't know on this collection. Surprising I would guess, but there you have it. It's gotten a hopping little tune and some clever lyrics and I'm a sucker for accordion when used well.

I'm not sure if there's a Bakersfield other than the one in CA (there is one in England, but that seems even weirder). Since he mentions SF I assume it is CA. An odd setting for a country song. Even though it experienced most of the western expansion pangs of lots of other cities, it doesn't strike me as having the reputation of a place to compare one's life experiences to, as he suggests.

Track Nine
Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

Great song. And California again. And NV. And TX.

Track Ten
That's the Way Love Goes - Merle Haggard

Similar to Track Three, though I like it less.

Track Eleven
Ghost Rider - JC and WN

Blessedly free from the overproduction seemingly always lurking behind Willie (on this collection) thanks to VH1, this is a song that I knew, though not well. I would like to hear a better version of this song, with both gentlemen in better shape, particularly JC.

I like it. It's got that true ballad feel that marks a lot of my favorite country songs.


Wrap Up
I liked this collection better than Mighty Tom, regardless of how my comments come across. TClog can continue exposing us to the songs that trip his trigger (better those than his balls) with no fear of excommunication. Let it out, and keep letting it out. We're all partially shaped by the music we grew up with and sharing that gives insight.

SIWHUI (song I would have used instead) Wichita Lineman over Rhinestone Cowboy
SIWHI - these are your memories
BS - Folsom Prison Blues
BSIDK (best song I didn't know) Streets of Bakersfield

So who's next? Me?