Category Archives: I Like This Song

Eno, “Baby’s on Fire”

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I was listening to Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy yesterday. It’s the Eno elpee I’ve never owned, and while I like the title I was a little put off by much of the music. Not bad, just hard and brittle for the most part, with lots of Englishy dancehall references.

So tonight I put on Here Come the Warm Jets, which is a great record. But I hadn’t listened to it for a while, and when Baby’s on Fire came on I had to post. It is incredible. Incredible in, like, why did we ever need another rock song after this?

Roots

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Have we done anything on murder songs? We should. This one isn’t exactly murder but the threat is refreshingly explicit.

I wonder how many real murders have been directly – inspired isn’t quite the word here – influenced shall we say – by songs? It must have happened a few times. Music has been a major player in various murder cults of course, and war of course, but individuals who committed murder under the influence of a song – how rare is that? Inquiring minds want to know.

Anyway, Sonny Boy II has his very own blues style, and I happen to think that he’s one of the greatest singers ever, not to mention maybe the best harp player, both instantly recognizable at any rate, and his band swings the blues good.

 

Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Betrayal Takes Two

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At the time, I’m not sure I played any record more than Richard Hell and the Voidoid’s Blank Generation elpee. There are a bunch of great tunes on it, including a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover(!!!!) that’s both surprising and grooves. But this one is a bit like a folk song, except for the brittle strutting guitar solo in the middle, by the always excellent Robert Quine. I’m not sure what it means, except maybe it’s the other side of the Dark End of the Street.

Brian Eno, Kurt’s Rejoinder

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Those solo records he made in the mid 70s are notebooks of sounds that he gave to Talking Heads, Devo and U2, but they also stand up on their own. This one from Before and After Science comes with a neat video, and like Eno’s other elpees of the period has Phil Collins playing drums, which was probably cool at the time but in retrospect is just a little paradigm shifting.

Mink DeVille, “Let Me Dream If I Want To”

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This is a live cut. It’s a very fine rock song, and it only appears on the CBGB live compilation album, which was something of a survey of the bands who played CBGB who hadn’t yet signed major label deals. Mink DeVille, the Shirts, and Tuff Darts did, I don’t think the others did, but it’s still a pretty fun slice of the times.

Mink DeVille, Mixed Up Shook Up Girl

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I can’t believe we haven’t posted this one before. This is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Willy DeVille’s romantic songs kill me. This is pitch perfect, as is the whole Cabretta album. This music was taken at the time as some sort of revivalism, which as Gene said in the earlier post wasn’t handled all that much by the critics of the time, but that view misses the genius that somehow transforms that old time into the modern age. These songs aren’t oldie goldie mimicry but cries from the heart that use the languages available to express themselves most fully and directly.

In other words, rock ‘n’ roll.

 

 

The Young Rascals, “Mustang Sally”

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My first experience of Mustang Sally was this single by the Young Rascals.

The history of white acts covering hits originally performed by black acts is long, deep and full of argument.

I mean, Pat Boone?

The Rascals, as they grew up to be known, were better than exploiters, but where you draw the line concerning cultural appropriation might color your opinion. What I’m sure of is the Rascals loved R&B music, and brought their own shape (my first thought was to say color, but that would be wrong) to it.

If you doubt the Rascals soul, try this: