Snapshots Spillover: More Coat Songs

Should have posted these on Monday, but other business took precedent. Some more songs that were left in the Snapshots cloakroom after last weekend...

Dan Bern - Hoody

Black - Her Coat And No Knickers

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - When You Laugh at Your Own Garden in a Blazer 

Glenn Miller - Tuxedo Junction

David Bowie - Sell Me A Coat

Another Sunny Day - Anorak City

Cake - Short Skirt / Long Jacket

Luke Haines - Bomber Jacket

Luke Kelly - Raglan Road

Dolly Parton - Coat Of Many Colours

And yes, that's why Jason Donovan was the picture clue on Saturday...

Jason Donovan - Any Dream Will Do

See also...

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Joseph's Coat

Speaking of colourful coats (beyond the famous blue one)... do any of these take your fancy?

Philip Jeays - In My Long Grey Coat

Bob Dylan - Man In The Long Black Coat

A. Savage - My New Green Coat

Bubblegum Lemonade - Famous Blue Anorak 

Lloyd Arnold - Red Coat, Green Pants & Red Suede Shoes

New Model Army - White Coats

Red Hewitt &The Buccaneers - The Girl In The Teddy Bear Coat

And here are some to protect you from the elements...

E - My Old Raincoat

Josh Ritter - Rainslicker

Ariel Pink - Plastic Raincoats In The Pig Parade

The Sprites - Winter Coat

Benjamin Shaw - Goodbye, Kagoul World

Guy Clark - Like A Coat From The Cold

REM - Harborcoat

And before we go, a brief exchange between Eliza and Cat.

Eliza Gilkyson - Take Off Your Old Coat

Cat Power - The Coat Is Always On

That's her told. 

Finally then, a brief word from JOhn...

John Cooper Clarke - Gaberdine Angus

Not really a song, that last one, but maybe the man in the Gaberdine coat was a spy...

Snapshots #311: A Top Ten Mystery Songs

I suppose you're wondering why I gathered you all here this morning. 

If it's still a mystery, allow me to explain...

10. Leg, Suit, Dream.

Wet Leg, Wet Suit, Wet Dream...

Wet Wet Wet - Sweet Little Mystery

9. Spider-Man's son?

Spider-Man is Peter Parker. Shh. It's a secret identity.

Junior Parker - Mystery Train

That's the original. Long before Elvis got his hands on it.

8. Fair Lady who likes to smooch fish.

My Fair Lady is Eliza Doolittle. If she smooches fish, she might be doing some gil kissing.

Eliza Gilkyson - Mister Mystery

7. Frank n Barry, after a punch up.

Frank Black 'n' Barry Blue get into a scrap, end up looking...

Black 'n' Blue - Miss Mystery

Video of the week. Why wasn't that a hit?

6. You'll find them in Hell or Heaven. 

Hell or Heaven. 

Hello - Little Miss Mystery

5. Two blogging pals get together in a Trojan Hymn.

John and Martin (or Martyn) get into an anagram...

John Martyn - Sweet Little Mystery

4. Humbug, baloney, twaddle.

What a load of tosh.

Peter Tosh - Mystery Babylon

3. Sounds like Paul and Randy... but not the same.

Sounds like Paul and Randy Newman, but not quite the same...

Gary Numan - We Take Mystery (To Bed)

2. Get into ya house, young lady.

Get into ya house.

Toyah - It's A Mystery

1. Is he Basil's mate or similar to a buffalo?

Basil Brush's mate was Mr. Roy. Or (a) bison?

Bono wrote this. Proof that even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Roy Orbison - She's A Mystery To Me

More mysteries to be solved next Saturday...

My Top Twenty of #2020: #13

 

I guess you can call this my "Ladies of Americana" post. Four fine albums that I struggled to pick a favourite from, all worthy of merit... so why not give them all a mention?

Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers

I was undecided on Courtney Marie Andrews until this record. It convinced me. 

Courtney Marie Andrews - Burlap String

Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Dirt & The Stars

Always good to have MCC back... sadder and angrier than ever. 

Mary Chapin Carpenter - Asking For A Friend 

Eliza Gilkyson - 2020

I keep coming back to this track, taken from letters written by Woody Guthrie aimed at Fred Trump...

Eliza Gilkyson - Beach Haven

Lucinda Williams - Good Souls

Wait for it, I saved the bleakest for last...

Lucinda Williams - Black Train

I almost put this post to bed, and then I remembered the best of the bunch. Gretchen Peters recorded an album of songs written by Mickey (Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In) Newbury. And every one's a belter...

2020 Contenders: Woody Vs. Trump

The gentleman on the left is one Frederick Christ* Trump, father of the devil himself. (Although, to be fair, the devil's much smarter than Donald, and would know which way up to hold a Bible.)

The gentleman on the right is Woody Guthrie.

Many, many years ago, Fred Trump was Woody Guthrie's landlord. In 1954, Woody Guthrie wrote a song about "the racist housing practices and discriminatory rental policies" of his landlord, but never recorded it. The lyrics were unearthed years later and recorded by both U.S. Elevator, and later by Ryan Harvey, with Ani DiFranco & Tom Morello.

I suppose that Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate

He stirred up in that bloodpot of human hearts

When he drawed that colour line

Here at his Beach Haven family project

Beach Haven ain't my home!

No, I just can't pay this rent!

My money's down the drain,

And my soul is badly bent!

Beach Haven is Trump’s Tower

Where no black folks come to roam,

No, no, Old Man Trump!

Old Beach Haven ain't my home!

U.S. Elevator - Beach Haven Ain't My Home

Ryan Harvey - Old Man Trump

Eliza Gilkyson revisits this story on her new album 2020. But rather than recording another version of Woody's lyrics, she's unearthed a letter, written by Guthrie and sent directly to Trump Sr. It was written two years before the song above and is a little more upbeat in tone, pleading with Trump to change his evil ways, “tear down these race hate locks” and “rip out the strangling red tape” that stopped non-white people living in the same apartment complex as Woody.

It's the ultimate Positive Song For Negative Times... written 68 years ago.

And we could shake hands together

And get together

And walk together

And talk together

And sing together

And dance together

And work together

And play together

The more things change...


(*That's not a joke. Fred's father was a Trump, his mother was a Christ. Google it if you don't believe me. Like everything else about The Donald, it's beyond parody.)