Boston Trilogy 2014

Jimmy Webb wrote a book about songwriting back in 1998 called TUNESMITH and thanks to Gavin O'Keefe's recommending it to me, I finally read it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had taught myself many of the tricks he advocated. In fact, it reminded me that one of my old songs from the early 70s was written on the piano with Glen Campbell in mind, and it was Jimmy Webb songs that made Campbell into one of the biggest cross-over stars of that time. So I redid "Boston Trilogy" and asked Gavin to add some viola and voila! A Knees Calhoon Jimmy Webblike song.

BOSTON TRILOGY  2014

Back in the 90s when I recorded just about all of my original songs on a Yamaha 4-track cassette recorder, I did this song for the first time. Is the 2014 version better? That's the question I ask myself every time I redo a song.

BOSTON TRILOGY 1993

Maybe It's the Wind

In the future, which is now, when books are digitized and transmitted as a couple of million bytes of data, will there be any excuse for listing the words of a song in a book and NOT providing an mp3 (or whatever) so the reader can hear the song as he reads it?

Back in the mid-60s when Jim Thompson wrote SOUTH OF HEAVEN he may have had a melody and arrangement in mind for this song, but only the lyrics were included in the book. But in 2014 Knees Calhoon spied the lyrics, which conveniently rhymed and had rhythm, and decided to see how they sounded sung over the first chord pattern that occurred to him.

MAYBE IT'S THE WIND

Disclaimer: I moved some of the lines around to get the song to fit a three-verse pattern. I have a feeling that the song, as imagined and maybe produced by Jim Thompson, was more sophisticated than my version. It's doubtful that Jim would have opted for two vocal lines, an octave apart, each run through a harmonizer that raised the bass one an octave and lowered the high one an octave. It's reminiscent of one of my favorite scenes from Get Smart. Max is getting some spy equipment from Carlson for an assignment where he'll be undercover as a reporter. He gets a camera (which Carlson explains is actually a tape recorder) and a tape recorder (which is a camera). When Max asks Carlson why he didn't keep the camera a camera and the recorder a recorder, Carlson replies: "Because my mind doesn't work that way."

It's not easy to decipher my singing so here are the lyrics, copyright by Jim Thompson

A while ago as I sat there, counting the cracks in the floor,
Trying to blot out the future, to forget all that happened before,
I heard a baby crying, and I saw a face I’d known.
But the kid was dead and the face and head were crying there alone.
Wailing in infinite sorrow, sucking its finger tips
Till nothing was left but the marrow and the feebly gnawing lips,
But maybe it’s the wind, kid. Maybe it’s the wind.

The devil and a bearded saint peeked through the door at me.
The devil had a smoky taint, the saint a golden key.
The devil laughed, and he said to him, “I keep all whom I take.”
And he bound me there to that very chair with a ten-foot rattlesnake,
Then I heard the woman’s scream when the club came down on her back,
And the starving hounds on the grassy mounds where the dead fight off attack,
But maybe it’s the wind, kid. Maybe it’s the wind.

Maybe it’s the wind that aching hungry breeze
That blows all hell loose through the lid of one contagious sneeze?
Or the gasps for breath as the rope brings death while mob-fire turns bodies black,
Or the mad men, the bad men, and the sad and the glad men who rape and murder and sack,
Where the bombs explode and the shells erode where the sinned-against have sinned,
But maybe. Just Maybe. Maybe it’s the wind.
Maybe it's the wind.
Maybe it's the wind.

BONUS COVER!

After all that mayhem here's a tune by Warren Zevon that poses a possible solution.

LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY

Cherokee Fiddle

I like doing songs I have an attachment to, for one reason or another. Cherokee Fiddle was written by Michael Martin Murphy in the early 80s and was a big hit by Johnny Lee in the Midnight Cowboy movie. It's about a guy who played fiddle for tips in Durango CO when the train came in filled with tourists. His name was Scooter. I saw him play many times and a few times he played a song or two with my band at the Palace Cabaret or Francisco's in the early 70s.

CHEROKEE FIDDLE

From the first time I heard this song I knew it was about Scooter, but to be sure I asked Michael Murphy and he assured me it was, although he mainly remembered seeing Scooter in Silverton. I asked him in Las Cruces NM in the mid 80s when he was in town for a concert and judging a songwriting contest. I saw the concert -- fantastic -- and the song I played electric piano on won the contest.

 

Blackbird

In keeping with my tradition of doing songs I should not do, may I present a Paul McCartney song. I've always been fascinated by the chords he plays in this song and when I got the Beatle book with all of the scores written accurately, I finally had a chance to learn the song properly. Unfortunately, though I learned how to form the chords, I never have been able to play them rhythmically. Only three strings are played at a time -- the rest are muted -- and I never could get it right. So I used Band in a Box for the drums and bass, and played the rhythm using standard chords. Then I added the real chords as "stings". To make the stings more accurate, I actually recorded the drums, bass, rhythm and stings at about half speed, then sped the song up with Audacity's Tempo Change (which doesn't change the key of the song) to add the vocals.

BLACKBIRD

 

As you may or may not know, I've been on a Beatle kick since reading Volume One of Mark Lewisohn's trilogy of Beatle history, TUNE IN. Then I got the huge book he wrote in the 90s listing technical data on all of the Abbey Road sessions. I'm still mired in it. Fascinating!

My fantasy: What if Paul were to spend an hour speed-listening to my 60 original songs and picking out the 18 that he thinks we could do the best. Then we spend a week at Abbey Road with him producing the album, playing drums, bass and whatever else he might want, and maybe adding some harmonies. At the end of the week we'd have a super album of originals that otherwise would never be heard outside of a few people I know. Surely it would be better than what's played on the airwaves now.

I imagine every state has several old songwriters like me who scribbled some sketchy songs in the past 50 years that have gone relatively unheard and unrecorded. Instead of hunting for the next perky video star, maybe it might be more fruitful for music moguls to find a trove of almost-forgotten masterpieces? I bet there are thousands of them out there.

Finally, everything about this song is shoddy compared to the McCartney version. I should be shot. Gavin O'Keefe added a viola solo to the instrumental verse and I outscreeched it with my ES-335 set at Blues House distortion. Here's an earlier take of the song without the ill-advised guitar and viola.

BLACKBIRD (w/o Screech) 

Long Black Veil

One of my favorite songs with a plot, Long Black Veil is a lot more modern than you might think. It was written in 1959 by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkins and it's so well done that it sounds like a classic 19th century hillbilly anthem. Thanks to Gavin O'Keefe's haunting viola chops this version seems to have banshees flying through the trees above the lonely graveyard.

LONG BLACK VEIL

 

The Family Values Polka

I don't really know what to call this song. It might have been called "Hooray, My Father's Going to Be Hung". Back in the 70s when the Calhoon Brothers used to play it at the Las Cruces Inn we called it "The Perverse Polka". I found the song in a 25 cent paperback book back in the early 60s when I was just learning folk guitar and was always looking for chord books. I wish I still had the book, (something like "Fifty Famous Folk Songs") since it might have had more tunes with lyrics like these. It had simple piano notation and chords so I think the melody I'm using is close to what the actual folk song's was. 

THE FAMILY VALUES POLKA

There were only four verses in the book but felt I needed to flesh out the family a bit and added the ones for the sister and family. Then I apparently abducted the Chipmunks and forced them to sing it for me.

Hooray! Hooray! My father’s gonna be hung

Hooray! Hooray! The dirty lyin bum.

He was oh so mean to me when I was very young.

Hooray! Hooray! They’re gonna hang my father.

Hooray! Hooray! My mother’s gonna be shot.

Hooray! Hooray! The filthy drunken sot.

She was oh so mean to me when I was just a tot.

Hooray! Hooray! They’re gonna shoot my mother.

Hooray! Hooray! My brother’s gonna be destroyed.

Hooray! Hooray! That nasty little boy.

He always used to try on me the things he read in Freud

Hooray! Hooray! They’re gonna wreck my brother.

Hooray! Hooray! My sister’s gonna be maimed.

Hooray! Hooray! That stuck-up vicious dame.

She would torture all our pets and make me take the blame.

Hooray! Hooray! They’re gonna maim my sister.

Hooray! Hooray! My uncle’s gonna be hurt.

Hooray! Hooray! That creepy sex pervert.

He was oh so free with me when I was just a squirt.

Hooray! Hooray! They’re gonna hurt my uncle.

Hooray! Hooray! My family’s gonna be wiped out

Hooray! Hooray! We deserve it all, no doubt

It’s a wonder we didn’t kill each other when I was just a sprout

Hooray! Hooray! They’re gonna wipe out my family.

 

Talking All-Knowing Dude

At the same time Knees made Pomp and Circumflex he did another tune like it, but this time in a C&W mood. It's called "The All-knowing Dude" and it contains the obligatory guitars in the background with dialog over it that was captured from Dugym Qycfyl's trip to Utah or some other tedious state. The words made sense when he spoke them into a microphone as he drove, but by the time they had been transferred to a computer and analyzed and deciphered by software, they came out a little different. But maybe they still make sense to some of us?

As with Pomp and Circumflex last night, there are three versions for you to dislike.

THE TALKING ALL-KNOWING DUDE

 Words and Music

THE ALL-KNOWING DUDE

Just the Music

THE TALKING ALL-KNOWING DUDE

Just the Talk

BONUS COVER!

When I first heard this song in the 90s I had the "never get old and gray" hook in my head for many years until I found that the song was called "The Way" and that it was by a small band from Austin called Fastball. The plot of the song is based on a true story, supposedly.

THE WAY

Talking Pomp and Circumflex

Back in 1999 or so I wanted to play some over-the-top guitar on top of a slow, soulful background -- sort of like Roy Buchanan used to do -- so I laid down a dozen or more verses of the first "Hotel California"-like chord progression that occurred to me. Drums, bass and organ. Then I played over it twice with what I considered consenting guitars. To me it sounded like the perfect music for a porn film and I called the song "Pomp and Circumflex".

But I wasn't satisfied. I needed some lyrics -- 9 minutes' worth. Luckily, at that time my friend Dugym Qycfyl just returned from a solo road trip out Utah way and while driving in his Toyota Tacoma he recorded his impressions. And he probably added some homespun philosophy. It's hard to tell because he played the mini-cassette recording of his trip, which had plenty of truck noise behind his voice, on cheap speakers and used the prevailing voice recognition software of the time (not so hot) to come up with a transcription for me. 

I've gone overboard to make this song palatable. The first version is the complete song, words and music. If you can't stand the words but like the music, or loathe the music but don't mind the words, there are two more versions for you.

TALKING POMP AND CIRCUMFLEX

Words and Music

POMP AND CIRCUMFLEX

Just the Music

TALKING POMP AND CIRCUMFLEX

Just the Talk

BONUS COVER!

How about a Neil Young song? You probably haven't heard a Neil Young song in hours. One of my favorites.

WHEN YOU DANCE

(c) by Neil Young

Altar Boy Blues

For some reason back in 2014 Knees felt inspired and wrote the lyrics of a song, then recorded the song the next day. As is his habit, he picked the first melody that occurred to him and since it's a blues song, it's probably the first melody that would occur to anyone. The lyrics were easy to write since he was writing about something he used to know something about: being an altar boy and having to get up at 6 a.m. to serve 6:30 mass. He never had any problems with the priests back in the 50s -- the nuns were the ones he had to watch out for -- but the current zeitgeist dictates that he suggest a bit of debauchery in the priest/altar boy relationship, so he did.

ALTAR BOY BLUES

To provide a bit of 1950ish Catholic ambience I decided to add, as a roving chorus, a lone voice intoning the Latin responses that altar boys of the pre-1960s era had to say in response to the priest's ejaculations. After more than 60 years I still remember most of them by heart, sad to say. 

Okay, because of popular demand, here are two more versions of the song.

ALTAR BOY BLUES (Just the Latin)

ALTAR BOY BLUES (Just the Profane)

Written: Vancleave MS 2014

Well you wake up inna mornin

Gotta serve that early mass

If you don’t make it by 5:30,

Father Damien will have yo ass,

You got the altar boys blues

Ain’t no joy for you today

Till dat priest done said his piece

You his prisoner and his slave.

Well you put on a grimy cassock

And a surplice with big sleeves

Then you light up all the candles

And get down upon your knees,

You got the altar boys blues

Ain’t no joy for you today

Till dat priest done had his fill

You his prisoner and his slave.

Well you answerin all his questions

In some crazy ancient tongue

When all you wanna say is

“Lemme outta here while I’m young,”

You got the altar boys blues

Ain’t no joy for you today

Till dat priest has done his deed

You his prisoner and his slave.

The time rolls by so slow

And you keep watchin yo behind,

The priest’s got Latin on his lips

But Greek is on his mind.

You got the altar boys blues

Ain’t no joy for you today

Till that priest done seen his god

You his prisoner and his slave.

Well de mass is finally over

You stop feeling like a fool

You just got one more year of this

Den you can go to public school

You got the altar boys blues

Ain’t no joy for you today

Till that priest done say Amen

You his partner and his slave.

Let em get you when you young

You’ll be servin to your grave

If you let em have their way with you

You gonna serve your life away.

  

The LATIN LOW MASS — Altar Boy’s Responses

Ad Deum qui laetificat, juventutem meam.

Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo mea: quare me repulisti, et quare tristis incedo, dum affligit me inimicus?

Et introibo ad altare Dei: Ad Deam qui laetificat juventutem meam.

Spera in Deos quoniam adhuc confetibor illi: salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper: et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Ad Deum qui laetificat, juventutem meam.

Qui fecit caelum et terram.

Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus, et dimissis peccatis tuis, perducat te ad vitam aeternam. Amen.

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beate Mariae semper Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Joanni Baptistae, sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus Sanctis, et tibi, Pater: quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, et opera mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, beatum Michaelem Archangelum, beatum Joannem Baptistam, sanctos Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, omnes Sanctos et te, Pater, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum.

Amen. Amen.

Et plebs tua laetabitur in te.

Et salutare tuum da nobis.

Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

Et cum spiritu tuo.

Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.

Suscipiat Dominus sacrificium de manibus tuis ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, ad utilitatem quoque nostrum, totsiusque Ecclesiae suae sanctae.

Habemus ad Dominum.

Dignum et justum est.

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus, Deus Sabbaoth. Pleni sunt caeli et terra Gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domine. 

Hosanna in excelsis.

1955 - Father Theophil's School of Charm

Knees is directly in front of Theophil, Michael to Theophil's right and Bob is between the two tall girls on the far right. Where's Johnny?

BONUS COVER!

How about 90% of a great old Bob Dylan song? It's a long song about a guy getting stuck in a carnival sideshow and as Bob sang it, it had a short bridge about tax-deductible charity organizations. I didn't like the words (blasphemy!) so I left it out and just kept the nightmare plot going. Sorry, Bob.

BALLAD OF A THIN MAN

Standing

I've been concentrating on books lately and neglecting my music but I managed to squeeze out a song over the weekend before my computer started giving me fits. So this is the final version of this song written by Joss Whedon and sung by Anthony Head in "Once More with Feeling", the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I need to do every track over, but with my computer injecting audible glitches at random times I'm pretty sure I'm retiring this song and probably looking into getting another computer.

STANDING

As I approach my 70s I find that I have to lower every song a few keys because I can't sing as high as I used to. So even though I knew the song was in F (I have the chord book for the episode) I tried it in D and found that there are no high notes in the melody. The song sounded quite dull and lifeless with me singing so low. So I did it again in F and it has a bit more zest to it now. It made me feel young again, singing a song in its original key.

And the Firm Soil Win of the Wat'ry Main

This is the third song I wrote for the April project for the Cover Album Project Band, giving me a trio of tunes with strange titles: The Advantage on the Kingdom of the Shore, That Time Will Come and Take My Love Away, and now, And the Firm Soil Win of the Wat'ry Main. For this third song, I let myself be inspired by a particular "style" in Band in a Box called "Dr. John". The program plays the piano, drums and bass so well I kept them all for the audio, and only added guitars, organ and vocals.

AND THE FIRM SOIL WIN OF THE WAT'RY MAIN

MP3

AND THE FIRM SOIL WIN OF THE WAT'RY MAIN

Youtube Video

Oh de tide roll in

And de tide roll out

Like a kitchen door

In a crabshack down sout'

Dere ain’t no lotion

Like de ocean, when yo dry.

Oh de land grow slow

And de water flow fas’

Dey each one race

Don’ wanna come in las’

And dere ain’t no motion

Like de ocean, Ah tell you why.

And the firm soil win of the wat’ry main

What de hell kind of language is dat?

But you ask anyone and dey’ll all say

Dat Shakespeare was some groovy cat.

Oh you got ebb and flow

All night and day

You got to and fro

Every which a way

And dere ain’t no potion

Like de ocean, when yo high.

And the firm soil win of the wat’ry main

Shakespeare musta been quite a sight

Throwin’ out words jus’ like a man insane

Took him 64 tries to get it right.

So let’s say hello

To our frien’ de moon

It’s a summer night

He’ll be rising soon

And dere ain’t no notion

Like de ocean, when you die.

  

And the firm soil win of the wat’ry, wat'ry main

BONUS COVER!

Knees was feeling pretty good one day while recording and realized he knew two songs with the same name. One was a old standard Johnny Horton song and the other was a ethereal ballad by The Band. Both were great songs but were not much alike. But, Knees wondered, could they possibly be mashed, pureed and blended into a single recording? Yes they could, and here is how Knees did it.

WHISPERING PINES

Carmelita

My daughter Naomi and her family are in Vancleave visiting and the great duo of Fender and Naomi once again got together for a song. (See "Sometimes You Just Cain't Win" from the December 2012 blog.) This time it's a classic stoner song written by Warren Zevon. It turned out so well Naomi and I are planning another vacation for her that will result in a dozen or so of our quaint duets.

CARMELITA

 

If the Satellite Went Down Tonight

This is a song done for the Cover Album Project Band's latest monthly challenge, Songs by Someone You Know. I suggested the topic because I wanted to do a Knees Calhoon version of a song by Terry Törnblom called "If the Satellite Went Down Tonight". So I took Terry's clear, simple song and added tracks until it was properly overproduced, and voila!

IF THE SATELLITE WENT DOWN TONIGHT

 Here is a link to the video on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/Q0qP8t0KV6Q

BONUS COVER!

Back in the late 60s I had an album by a Canadian band called the Paupers and years later I only remembered one of the songs, a C&W pastiche called "Another Man's Hair on My Razor". The Mighty Calhoon Brothers used to do it at the Las Cruces Inn in the late 70s. It has a pretty good plot.

ANOTHER MAN'S HAIR ON MY RAZOR

2013 Version

ANOTHER MAN'S HAIR ON MY RAZOR

1978 Calhoon Brothers Version

 

Willin'

I don't know why I did this song other than it is a great old tune and it fits in with some of my other covers. I used the keyboard for the bass and actually played some piano, something I've been away from for the past few years.

WILLIN'

 

That Time Will Come and Take My Love Away

I picked another line from Sonnet #64 to do, and this time it was actually a more normal line: "That time will come and take my love away." That's a fairly bleak sentiment and the words I wrote all pretty much echo it, blaming time for all that we lose in life. But, ironically, I seem to have come up with the happiest, bounciest music I've done in years to go with the dreary lyrics. I call it "artistic juxtaposition". But mainly I just strung together some 80s cliches and used my favorite guitar setting on the Fender G-Dec amp: Blues House. Fun times.

The video version features a musical slideshow for the Commodore 64 computer of a retelling of Poncielli's Dance of the Hours that was published on LOADSTAR back in the 90s. Artwork by Walt Harned.

TIME WILL COME AND TAKE MY LOVE AWAY

MP3

TIME WILL COME AND TAKE MY LOVE AWAY

Youtube Video

Baby I saw it comin

It came screamin out of the dawn

Time was just playin a game with me

It was movin me like a pawn

Just when I thought I had it all worked out

I was just about to make my play

Time come along and take my love away.

We were just two young fools in love

From the very first day we met

We thought we’d live forever

We were ridin out a sure bet

But now there ain’t no doubt about it

Sure as nighttime follow day

Time’s Gonna Come and Take My Love Away

I told you all about my plans

All the things I was gonna be

You tole me that you shared the dream

And you’d do it all with me

But we were just kids, foolin ourselves

And sure as nighttime follow day

That Time Gonna Come and Take Yo Love Away

Baby we saw it comin

It came screamin outa the dawn

Time was just playin a game with me

It was movin me like a pawn

Just when I thought I had it all worked out

I was just about to make my play

Time come along an take my love away

That Time Will Come And Take My Love Away.

BONUS COVER!

Can you tell that one of Knees' favorite bands of the 60s was Buffalo Springfield? And that this is one of their best songs?

GO AND SAY GOODBYE

Advantage on the Kingdom of the Shore

In February of 2014 we (an online music-making group called the Cover Album Project Band) picked a Shakespearean sonnet, #64, and each was given a line from it to inspire an original song. For an added frisson, the song was supposed to feature the ii - V - I chord progression prominently. My line was "Advantage on the Kingdom of the Shore" and here is what resulted. Gavin O'Keefe, the Ramble House artist, provided the soaring eagle and seagull calls on his viola.

ADVANTAGE ON THE KINGDOM OF THE SHORE

MP3

 

ADVANTAGE ON THE KINGDOM OF THE SHORE

VIDEO

Who wouldn’t want to live

Where the tide sets the pace

Who wouldn’t want to hear

The ocean’s vibrant roar

Who wouldn’t want to have the great advantage

The advantage on the kingdom of the shore.

Who wouldn’t want to lie

In a gentle valley

Who wouldn’t want to fly

Up where the eagles soar

Who wouldn’t want to have the great advantage

The advantage on the kingdom of the shore.

Mountains to the east

Ocean to the west

Livin on the edge of land

Is like ridin on the crest

Of a wave that never ends

And never asks for more

It’s the seacoast advantage

On the Kingdom of the Shore

Who wouldn’t want to fight

With the water at your back

Who wouldn’t want to know

About the times that went before

Who wouldn’t want to take the great advantage

The advantage on the kingdom of the shore.

Desert to the east

Water to the west

Livin on the coast

Is like flyin on the crest

Of a wave that never ends

And always knows the score

It’s the seacoast advantage

On the Kingdom of the Shore

Sonnet 64 (c) 1609 by William Shakespeare, by permission of the author
 

 

BONUS COVER!

Are there any popular songs about zombies? You'd think there would be plenty these days. Here's one from the 70s by Asleep at the Wheel and I imagine it would go over well at a bar. In the old days it wasn't quite so ironic.

DEAD MAN

Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You

I was inspired to do this old Bob Dylan tune by hearing it done by Hit & Run, a band I was in back in the mid-70s in Farmington NM. I had found an old reel-to-reel tape of a night at Dizzyland Liquors (Dizzy's) and it brought back some wonderful memories. I asked Gavin O'Keefe to add a viola part, especially on the choruses, and our system of sharing files between Mississippi and Maine seems to be working.

TONIGHT I'LL BE STAYING HERE WITH YOU

Here's how it sounded back in 1974 at Dizzy's with Hit & Run playing it. Fender on guitar and vocals; Bill Smith on bass and vocals; Johnny Cunningham on drums.

TONIGHT I'LL BE STAYIN (HIT & RUN) 

You can hear the whole night at Dizzy's at this link:

www.ramblehouse.com/dizzyland1974.htm

 

 

 

Honks

I actually recorded these back in June of 2006 not long after I bought a new amp, a Fender G-Dec, that had drums and all kinds of effects built-in. Back then I was recording a song a night and calling them "Nightsongs". I used to have them up at the Ramble House web site but I phased them out when I started Knees Calhoon's Midnight Ramble.

It occurred to me that I rarely play any solos in the songs I've been covering, so here's some picking, the way I did it back in 2006.

HONK

Bill Jourdan, a great and wise steel guitar player I used to play with in 1966, and I were listening to a Dixieland song one time and I remarked that it sounded like everybody was taking a solo at the same time. "That's exactly right," Bill said. "Everybody solo, all the time. That's Dixieland." So, in that spirit, I recorded about a half dozen solos over the same bass-drums track and played them all at the same time. As usual they weren't listening to each other.

DIXIE HONK

Here are another two Nightsongs that are not technically Honks but I really liked the rhythm and the guitar tones the amplifier supplied.

MAUVEGRASS

BLUES HOUSE

BONUS COVER!

Here to temper the jangliness of the Honks is a comforting country tune by Buffalo Springfield.

KIND WOMAN

by Buffalo Springfield

Holy Man - The Sequel

Our previous song was written by Richard A. Lupoff back in the 60s and recently put to music by Knees Calhoon. But when Dick heard the tune he was inspired all over again and wrote three more verses for it, bringing it up to date. Doesn't a song that was written in two parts, 50 years apart, deserve to be considered a masterpiece and sequel? Yes. So here's how the night that began as a druggy ritual of exploration ended up, two generations later.

HOLY MAN - THE SEQUEL

Ommmmm Ommmmm

Holy man, Oh Holy man

Ommmmm Ommmmm

Get you high Oh yes he can

The years flew by, you’d think I’d hit the big fast-forward key

I look into the mirror and I say, this cannot be

My rocker friends no longer rock, I can’t believe they’re gone

But Bob and Nick have left this world, and Jerry too, and John

Old Mozart seems my meat these days, my energy is low

And weed no longer moves my soul, the time moves much too slow

The kids I see on TV now, I feel more like their father

And if they try to show me how I tell them not to bother

Ommmmm Ommmmm

Holy man, Oh Holy man

Ommmmm Ommmmm

Get you high Oh yes he can

The politics that once outraged, I called for revolution

Now I’ll leave it for somebody else to work out the solution

I’d rather drink a glass of wine and read a good whodunit

Than climb into a hotrod car and hit the gas and gunnit

But someone needs to raise his fist and smash the social order

And call upon the decent folks who wait there at the border

And so I’ll leave it up to you to keep the banner flying

And keep on living all your life and never think of dying

Ommmmm Ommmmm

Holy man, Oh Holy man

Ommmmm Ommmmm

Get you high Oh yes he can

It’s been a great and happy life, to start with Benny Goodman

Scarecrow, and Beast, and Toto too, and don’t forget the Tin Woodman

The lady that I met that night, her guru was a wizard

He got me high, he laid me low, my head was in a blizzard

She’s with me still, our life has been a long fantastic pleasure

Our kids are grown, they’re on their own, each one’s been a treasure

And so I leave you to your chores, do everything in style

So when at last you close your eyes you do it with a smile.

Ommmmm Ommmmm

Holy man, Oh Holy man

Ommmmm Ommmmm

Get you high Oh yes he can.

 

BONUS COVER!

Knees had never heard of Bruce Cockburn until he joined the Canadian group called the Cover Album Project Band, and found that Bruce was a fantastic songwriter, singer and guitar player. One of his songs, an instrumental, seemed like a candidate for Knees' first excursion into playing without a pick. He even made a video with a very lousy camera.

WHEN IT'S GONE, IT'S GONE