Publication info Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane,
University Press of Mississippi, November 27, 2023. Available at UPM website, Amazon,
and other online merchants. “Liza Jane” is also the subject of a forthcoming
documentary film; please visit the project’s website for a trailer, information on the creative team, details
on participating musicians, and ways to support the production. […For even more,
please see a post regarding some of the lesser-known characters in Poor Gal;
Poor GalSpotify playlist; and the author’s website.]
Dear Readers, this post is meant, simply, to present Poor Gal’s
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Sludge and Theory
I. Snotches of Songs: The WPA Slave Narrative Collection
II. “Liza Jane,” You Little Rogue: Dr. Adonis and the Regiments
III. 1865
IV. Intermission Number One: The Potential Influences of
Robert Burns, “Susan Jane,” and Others
V. “Liza Jane” Meets the Masses: Postbellum Minstrelsy, Part First and Part
Third
VI. From the Bold Soldier Boy’s Songbook to the
Cylinders of George W. Johnson: “Oh, Goodbye Liza Jane”
VII. From the New Orleans Levee to the Hampton Institute: “Little
Liza Jane” ad infinitum
VIII. Intermission Number Two: The Literary “Liza Jane” of
Charles Chesnutt, Jean Toomer, and Margaret Walker
IX. You Went a-Driving with Mister Brown: The Tin Pan Alley
Publishing Bonanza
X. Poor Gal
XI. I’se Got a Gal and You Got None: A Countess-Composer and
an Actress-Aviatrix Popularize “Li’l Liza Jane”
XII. Intermission Number Three: Effie Lee Newsome’s
“Charcoal, Leddy, Charcoal” and Betty Vincent’s “Problems of the Heart”
XIII. “Liza Jane” Meets the Media: Film, Animation, Radio,
Television
XIV. The Lomaxes
XV. The Constellation That Connects Langston Hughes and
David Bowie, Antonín Dvořák and Nina Simone
XVI. Portrait of a Young Enslaved Woman Standing Still in the
Cathedral Silence of the Deep Woods after a Dance
Appendix 1: Loose Ends
Appendix 2: Sheet Music or Notated Music of Major Variants
Also included are an Apologia and Acknowledgments in the “front
matter” of the book as well as Notes, Works Cited, and Index at the end of the
book.
Spanning a seven-year
period from 1957 to 1964, these five shakers (all of which contain a ‘walk’)
will move our bodies in the proper ways of raucous festivity. You will hear R&B.
You will hear rock ‘n’ roll. To wit, you may learn how walketh the camel, how
walketh the Cossak [sic], how walketh the cat. You will hear rockabilly.
You will hear exotica. You will hear “Whooo-ooo-ooo!” Those who sporteth-not
bosoms and those who sporteth bosoms alike will shake their bosoms. Apparently,
“In wildness is the preservation of the World.” This comes from a bloke named Thoreau,
from an essay entitled (aptly enough) “Walking.” Above all else, these five
nearly-forgotten songs will propel us forward in wildness (and jumping) and in
so doing we shall preserve the world.
Intro: Behold “Walking
With Frankie” — an R&B shaker by Frankie Lee Sims from 1957.
26-word review: Here, the
walk is a search (if not a prayer) in the registry of a driving pace with mischievous
sax, insinuating guitar, and the gal? Aloof.
Best time and situation to play:
Ten minutes to midnight, when doubt flickers.
Calories burned during the ‘walk’:
Enough “for us to get together and be as two” (listen to the song).
Notes: A cousin to Lightnin’
Hopkins and noted innovator within the idiom of postwar Texas blues, Sims
released only a handful of 45s during his lifetime although he did record enough
material (circa 1960) for at least one LP. He served three years in the Marine
Corps during World War II. He was, therefore, a soldier & a musician. We
thank him for both.
Discography: Frankie Lee
Sims. “Walking With Frankie” A-side b/w “Hey Little Girl” B-side. Ace Records
527. 1957. Jackson, Mississippi. Likely personnel: Frankie Lee Sims (vocals and
guitar); Jack White (tenor saxophone); Willie Taylor (piano); Ralph Morgan
(bass); Jimmy Mullins aka Mercy Baby (drums). Other musicians, if any, unknown.
Composition credit: Frankie Lee Sims and John Vincent.
Intro: Behold “Camel
Walk” — a rock ‘n’ roll shaker by The Original Starfires from 1959.
26-word review: Each of us
has four limbs, same as the camel, and the sultry instructions may be obvious,
but nevertheless, what do we do with the hump?
Best time and situation to play:
Round about 2am when everyone is blotto.
Calories burned during the ‘walk’:
Enough to cover the 3am pancakes & stout run.
Notes: We detect a little bit
of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That A Shame” here and there — when the musicians decide to
reassure us (somewhat). The ‘camel walk’ was a dance fad that reached regal heights
with the likes of James Brown performing the moves onstage. There is also a
surprising version (with church bells) by Magic Sam. Lots o’ camels. Lots o’
walks. Yep.
Discography: The Original
Starfires. “Camel Walk” A-side b/w “Fender Bender” B-side. Pace Records P-101. 1959.
New York. Musicians unknown [“Starfires” was a popular band name; some online
speculation indicates that this band hailed from Florida.] Instrumentation
likely includes lead and rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and saxophone. Composition
credit: Jim Ford. [Also released on APT Records, a subsidiary of ABC
Paramount.]
Intro: Behold “Cossak Walk”
[sic]— an R&B shaker by Al Duncan from 1962.
26-word review: Cultures
collide when an African American groove-drummer reimagines “The Twist” as a
Cossack dance with an absolute MONSTER baritone sax prevailing. Wtf? as the kids
say.
Best time and situation to play:
To shock a party back into its fundamental mission, as when Sha Na Na or Billy
Joel needs to be decisively cleansed from the air.
Calories burned during the ‘walk’:
Enough to scale a peak in the Caucasus region.
Notes: Not to get too deep
into the weeds, but Eugene Chadbourne writing in All Music Guide to the
Blues calls this recording the work of an “obscure rockabilly dude” and not
the legendary drummer Al Duncan, but we think Mr. Chadbourne is mistaken. This does
appear to be the work of “one of the forefathers of groove” (and his
collaborator Johnny Pate). We agree with Mr. Chadbourne on everything else,
including how Duncan helped to develop the fundamental timekeeping or “metric
feeling” of R&B.
Discography: Al Duncan.
“Cossak Walk (Twisting in Moscow)” A-side b/w “Bawana Jinde” B-side. Stacy
Records 933 XM. 1962. Chicago. Likely personnel: Al Duncan (drums) and Johnny
Pate (bass); other musicians unknown. Composition credit: Johnny Pate.
Intro: Behold “Cat Walk”—
a rock ‘n’ roll shaker by Tiny Fuller from 1963.
26-word review: Played
ostensibly to drown-out the racketing sound of the freight train, the song startlingly
projects the same locomotion that it’s meant to obscure. Which is which?
Best time and situation to play:
10pm when nothing has been broken (yet).
Calories burned during the ‘walk’:
Enough to wrassle that swordfish on the record.
Notes: This rockabilly
guitarist is nearly a complete mystery. What else can we say? The sound is not “tiny.”
The harmonicaist cooperates. Perhaps the snippets of voice echo the yelps,
etc., of western swing bandleader Bob Wills.
Discography: Tiny Fuller
and His Combo. “Cat Walk” A-side b/w “Shock” B-side. Marlin Records 6301. 1963.
Memphis, Tennessee. Personnel: Tiny Fuller (guitar); other musicians unknown. Composition
credit: Tiny Fuller
Intro: Behold “I’ll Walk
A Mile”— an R&B shaker by Bob Marriott and the Continentals from 1964.
26-word review: A pleading,
howling, grooving piece that situates despair and triumph nearby as the singer
confronts the dynamics of uncertainty: “take me in your arms” + “Whooo-ooo-oooo!”
Best time and situation to play:
Anytime you’re in trouble with your sweetie pie. (Usually late at night after an
understandable miscue.)
Calories burned during the ‘walk’:
Enough to “walk a mile” at which point your sweetie pie will (usually) relent.
Notes: This was an
integrated group, with an African American singer fronting a quartet of white
musicians. The leader and his bandmates were inducted into the Kansas City
Music Hall of Fame in 2021. Very deservedly so.
Discography: Bob Marriott and The Continentals. “I’ll Walk
A Mile” B-side b/w “Night Train” A-side. Jayco Records 45-260701/02. 1964.
Kansas City, Missouri. Likely personnel: Bob Marriott (guitar); Chuck Vallent
aka Aubrey Washington (vocals); Larry Hensiek (drums), Cliff Manning (bass), and
Ricky Lee (keyboards); maybe Butch Kelly (instrument unknown); other musicians,
if any, unknown. Composition credit: Chuck Vallent.
Bob Marriott and the (fabulous!) Continentals
sources of
information Eugene Chadbourne. “Al Duncan.” AllMusic Guide to the
Blues. Backbeat Books, 2003 45cat page
for Al Duncan release on Stacy Billboard May 19, 1962 Discogs page
for Bob Marriott release on Jayco Discogs page
for The Original Starfires release on Pace Discogs page
for Tiny Fuller release on Marlin Discogs page
for Frankie Lee Sims release on Ace Edward M. Komara, editor. Encyclopedia of the Blues.
Routledge, 2006 Jazz Discography page
for Eddie Higgins (includes information on Al Duncan and Johnny Pate) Kansas City Music Hall of Fame page for 2021 inductees, including
Marriott and his band Krazy Kat liner notes for
Walkin’ With Frankie LP Wikipedia page
for Al Duncan Wikipedia page for Frankie Lee
Sims Wirz discography page for Barrelhouse Records
(establishes Tiny Fuller as a guitarist) Wirz discography page
for Frankie Lee Sims
This “Walking” post is
part of a double issue, Dear Reader. Do you need to RUN instead? If so, please
see “Run Like Femke Bol.”
We begin this post, well, at the finish line. The setting
is: the women’s 4x400-meter relay at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
Three top teams — Jamaica, Great Britain, and the Netherlands — vied for the lead
throughout the race. Entering the anchor leg, Jamaica had a good lead, with
Great Britain following in second and the Netherlands a bit farther back in
third. Yet the Dutch anchor was Femke Bol, a gifted athlete who had something
to prove. Yes, she’d won gold at her signature event — the 400-meter hurdles — but
had fallen right near the finish line in the mixed (i.e., men’s and women’s) 4x400
relay, disqualifying the team.
Often enough, writer-types (and other types) dismiss the importance
of athletic competition, but they couldn’t be more mistaken. Overcoming a significant
deficit right at the finish line, Femke Bol reminds us all to “believe in your
game” and “keep pushing despite long odds” and “run for your teammates” or your
community. This is not meant to take anything away from Jamaica and Great
Britain whose athletes are world-class and whose teams finished second and
third, respectively, by mere fractions of a second. They too were magnificent
and earned their spots on the podium.
For me, anyhow, Femke Bol ran a race that depended on the
craft of her calm, upright posture as well as the edginess of her finish — the great
move she made at the end, when she sprinted for all she was worth. It is one of
the greatest comebacks of all time. Her teammates are Eveline Saalberg, who ran
the first leg; Lieke Klaver, who ran a magnificent second leg; and Cathelijn
Peeters, who ran the third leg. To be fair, they all played a big role, and Femke
Bol didn’t win the race by herself.
Don’t take my word for it though. Check out the
following videos, which explore the results from a couple of different perspectives. Laten we gaan!
The whole race.
The race, as seen from the perspective of two teammates cheering from the stands
This “Running” post is part of a double issue, Dear Reader. Would you rather
walk, instead? Check out these five walkers — but be prepared to jump! And shake!
Behold “Pleadin’” (above) and “Don’t Lie to Me” (below). A singer
& drummer named Mercy Baby aka Julius W. “Jimmy” Mullins recorded these wild
R&B numbers in the late 1950s on the now-defunct New Orleans label Ric
Records. We suggest you medicate yourself appropriately and then consider the
following 10 observations as you listen to these rollicking tracks.
10 Things to Consider
About This Release
1. Mercy Baby is a pretty good stage name. 2. The drumming (by Mercy) and the hollering (by Mercy) are quite
propulsive. 3. Notably, the guitar is played by one Frankie Lee Sims, a cousin
of Lightnin’ Hopkins. 4. Never underestimate the B-side! Especially for the horns. 5. The topics – pleading and lying – seem to go
hand-in-hand. 6. Apparently, pleading and lying can be great reasons to
jump around! 7. Neither of these records prospered. Mr. Mullins himself
died of a gunshot wound. 8. Once again great American music associates with tragedy
and a paucity of commercial success. 9. These tunes appear in the very formidable Shakers
Era. 10. Grab yr Sweetie Pie. Turn up the sound. & Shake
everything on yr body!
Discographic Information Mercy Baby. “Pleadin’” (A-side) b/w “Don’t Lie to Me” (B-side). Ric Records
955. Recorded in 1957 or 1958 in Jackson, Mississippi or in New Orleans. (Probably
released in 1958; potentially released late as 1960). Likely personnel: Mercy
Baby aka Julius W. “Jimmy” Mullins (drums and vocals); Jacquette Brooks
(saxophone); Jack White (saxophone); Willie Taylor (piano); Frankie Lee Sims
(guitar); Ralph Morgan (bass); other musicians, if any, unknown. Songwriting
credit: Jimmy Mullins and Joe Ruffino.
Sources of Information Discogs page
for the release on Ric Records 45cat page
for the release on Ric Records Wikipedia page
for Ric Records Wikipedia page
for Mercy Baby Wikipedia page for Frankie Lee
Sims Cosimo Code page
for Ric and Ron Records Jeff Hannusch. I Hear You Knockin’:
The Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues. Swallow Publications, 1989 Jeff Hannusch. The Soul of New Orleans: A Legacy of Rhythm
and Blues. Swallow Publications, 2001 Stefan Wirz discography page for Frankie Lee Sims
Behold “Rockin’
This Joint To-Nite” and “Storm Warning”
Both of these shakers will rattle your marbles if you play them
loudly and you should play them loudly, Dear Reader, so beware the jostled
immies in your noggins. Both songs travel to us from 1959. The musicians who
recorded them led vastly different lives. One died in obscurity and tragically
at that. The other reached considerable heights. Nonetheless, both tunes
predict mischief and both deliver. Amply. They deserve our devotion so let’s get
to jumping! Shall we?
Kid Thomas – “Rockin’
This Joint To-Nite”
The man who would eventually call himself Kid
Thomas was born Louis Thomas Watts in Mississippi, circa 1934. He moved to
Chicago with his family at a young age and eventually began gigging in South Side clubs. In 1957, he convinced the mighty King Records to
record several songs but the company only released one of them on its
subsidiary label, Federal. This one single did not chart or generate any
recognition for the harmonica-playing bluesman. Having gotten little traction
in the Chicago music scene, Kid Thomas relocated to Los Angeles in 1959 where
he cut “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” b/w “You Are an Angel” on a micro-label,
Transcontinental Records.
Easily one of the roughest-sounding, hardest-charging songs of its generation, the
lyrics for “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” may have been hollered in emulation of
Little Richard, but the side occupies its own terrain somewhere between the
jump blues efforts of Chris Powell and Jimmy Preston, the Chicago electric
blues idiom, and the proto heavy metal developed by the controversial Pat Hare
in the mid-1950s. The ferocious shouting, amped-up harmonica, and relentless
guitar will rock the joint to-nite, to-morrow nite, and every other nite.
Unfortunately, “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” did not achieve commercial success.
Kid Thomas had few additional recording opportunities in Los Angeles and, by
1969, was working in L.A. as a landscaper. In that capacity, he accidentally
struck a boy with his lawnmowing equipment in 1969 and killed him. A few months
later, the boy’s father waited for Kid Thomas / Louis Watts outside a courthouse
and shot him to death. There is just too much sadness in this outcome to swing
this concluding note upward, but the ferocity of Kid Thomas’s record nevertheless ought to
remind us about living large, larger-than-life, while we still have the opportunity to
do so.
Mac Rebennack –
“Storm Warning”
Yes, someone recorded a song under the absolutely devastating,
winning name of Mac Rebennack. Born Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr., the fellow in question
would go on to call himself by a moniker—Dr. John—you may very well recognize. A
New Orleans native, Dr. John began his recording career as a teenager, and would
come to blend the rich Nola music he inherited along with voodoo, psychedelia, and
other genres. Eventually, he became a member of the famous group of session
musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, a winner of six Grammys, and an inductee
into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. His albums such as Gris-Gris (1968)
and Gumbo (1972) are well-known, important, and have received critical praise.
We here at Blood And Gutstein especially appreciate Gumbo because he
included a version of the folk song—“Little Liza Jane”—that features America’s favorite Poor Gal
Dr. John cut the instrumental “Storm Warning” as a seventeen-year-old
guitarist in New Orleans. He molded it in the “Bo Diddley vein” and the song
would go on to become a regional hit. We can understand why. First of all, Dr.
John / Mac Rebennack discredits the entire notion of “the calm before the
storm.” The song serves the dual purpose of predicting the “house rocking” to
come as well as actually rocking the house. A “storm warning” generated by a New
Orleans musician more than likely refers to a hurricane, and in this case, it’s
the two saxophonists—Lee Allen on tenor and Alvin “Red” Tyler on bari—who do the
hurricane-force blowing. In fact, Tyler really jumps the piece about halfway
through. He unleashes some muscular phrasing upon the groovy ladder that Rebennack,
et. al., offer via guitar, bass, keys, and drums.
As a teenager, Rebennack obeyed an impulse to rock
hard. He didn’t reinvent instrumental rock ‘n’ roll with this piece but, at the
same time, he substantially swung the proceedings. He also chose saxophone as
the soloing instrument in a genre that was increasingly turning to the electric
guitar for this kind of statement. Of course, coming from New Orleans, Dr. John
would naturally choose a horn to represent the virtuosity of the soloist, a practice that
another Nola musician—a cornetist / trumpeter named Louis Armstrong—established a few decades earlier
and, in doing so, in establishing the importance of soloing, would change
American music forever.
Best Practices When
Listening to These Songs
Dear Reader, we advise you to adopt the following protocols: —Liquid refreshments (e.g., corn liquor) wouldn’t hurt, but swill
these in moderation. —Put on some sensible slacks! —Engage your core. —Jump by squatting down low, then propelling yourself into
the air. Repeat often. —Above all else, invite your sweetie pie to join you. If you
don’t have a sweetie pie, then invite a nice companion to join you. This hardy
soul may—just may—turn into a sweetie pie, especially if you’ve observed all
the other best practices given above. Oi.
Kid Thomas
Discographic
Information
“Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” A-side b/w B-side “You Are an
Angel.” Transcontinental T-1012, Hollywood, Calif., 1959. Kid Thomas aka Louis
Thomas Watts (vocals, harmonica). Other musicians, potentially including two
guitars, drums, and any other instruments, unknown. Songwriting credit: Kid
Thomas and Brad Atwood.
“Storm Warning” A-side b/w B-side Foolish Little Girl. Rex 1008, New Orleans,
1959. Likely personnel: Mac Rebennack aka Dr. John (guitar); Allen Toussaint
(keyboards); Frank Fields (bass); Charles Williams (drums); Lee Allen (tenor
sax); Alvin “Red” Tyler (baritone sax); and Melvin Lastie (trumpet). Other
musicians, if any, unknown. Songwriting credit: Rebennack.
Sources of Information Dr. John and Jack Rummel, Under a Hoodoo Moon, St.
Martin’s Publishing Group, 1995 45cat page
for “Storm Warning” Album Liner notes page for a Dr.
John anthology Wikipedia page for Dr. John Wikipedia page for Kid
Thomas AllMusic page
for Kid Thomas Bear Family Records page for Kid Thomas Mike Leadbitter and Neil Slaven, Blues Records, January
1943 to December 1966, Hanover Books, 1968. (Contains session information
for the 1959 Thomas recording.)
Behold “Park Avenue”
(above) and “Stampede” (below), two instrumental shakers recorded in 1959 by
The Scarlets, a group that would release only one 45 before morphing into
another group, or disbanding, or running riot. To be fair, it’s always possible
they power-walked or jogged riot. “Park Avenue” is the B-side, but we present
it first because we prefer it just a smidgen better than “Stampede.” We admit
that “Park Avenue” is brighter; “Stampede” is more malevolent. Still, we prefer
the B-side, slightly. And in case you haven’t noticed, we specialize in bands
like The Scarlets, who poked their heads out for just one recording session in
1959 — during that fertile Shakers
Era between the appearance of Elvis and the British Invasion of the Beatles
et. al.
After listening to “Stampede” we feel like walking the hot
summer streets at sundown just looking to heist — or hoist — an armored car. It
doesn’t matter, heist or hoist, we’re just fairly jacked up. With “Park Avenue”
on the other hand, we want to walk the hot summer streets at sundown and find
us some new sweetie pies. We want to tell them all sorts of tales about
ourselves — “we just heisted an armored car” — “we just hoisted
an armored car” — before whirling them about a dance floor to the strains of
that phat saxophone. O, we have torrid affairs with our new sweetie pies, and O,
our new sweetie pies have torrid affairs with us. (For couple of minutes,
anyhow. . . . . It’s all very innocent fwiw.)
As for you, Dear Readers, skip the heisting and hoisting and
go right for the new sweetie pies. We suppose you can keep your old sweetie pies
if you must. The key thing is to medicate yourselves (in moderation) and prepare
to jump (knee high?) when that phat sax arrives.
Discography and
Personnel: “Stampede” b/w “Park Avenue.” Dot Records 16004, Hollywood, Calif.
(1959). Also released on Prince Records PR 1207, Hollywood, Calif. (1959). Likely
personnel: Tony Lepard (drums); John Sanzone (guitar); Pete Antonio aka Pete
Antell (lead guitar); Bert Salmirs (piano); Howard Herman (saxophone); unknown
additional musicians may include a second saxophone and upright bass. Composition
credits: Wally Zober, Bert Salmirs, and Pete Antonio (“Stampede”); Wally Zober
and Bert Salmirs (“Park Avenue”). Earlier on, the band may have been known as Tony Leopard and
the Spots before changing to other names such as the Escorts and the Scarlets.
Antell, Salmirs, and Herman went on to have lengthy careers in music. Sanzone
seems to have been a Vietnam Veteran who served in the U.S. Navy. Not much is
known about Lepard and any of the other musicians who may have played on these
tracks.
Sources of
information: Discogs page for The
Scarlets Howard Herman website Pete Antell website AllMusic page for
Bert Salmirs’ composing credits Blogpost with some biographical information
on John Sanzone John Clemente. Girl Groups: Fabulous Females Who Rocked
the World. Author House, 2013 September 28, 1959 issue
of The Billboard
Behold “Weekday Ave.” I sometimes consider it to be the jewel
of Joy on Fire’s hard-charging (and mildly charting) 2022 album States
of America. Your humble blogger served as lyricist and vocalist for said
album, and as you might imagine, Dear Reader, I brought some poetry to the mix.
In this regard, you might detect echoes of Robert Hayden and Paul Celan. See
below for those details, as well as the full lyrics, but first let’s have a look
“under the hood” at the fabulous musicians who provide “Weekday Ave.” with its
formidable pulse.
Songwriter and guitarist / bassist John Paul Carillo directs
the highly textured musical expedition of “Weekday Ave.” — one that seamlessly
enters a variety of idioms. The song burns low-medium (or straight up the
middle) with some notable climbing action. While JPC may describe the overall
sound of Joy on Fire as “punk jazz,” this piece resists category. Ultimately, “Weekday
Ave.” offers a potent urban elegy, but not without the energetic stripe of
optimism that courses through the band’s catalogue.
Enter saxophonist Anna Meadors, who displays enviable
versatility throughout. She doubles the vocals, chants in opposition to the
vocals, and confers the sort of lyrical statement on saxophones (alto and bari)
that endows the song with most of its emotional content. (She also audio-engineered
the proceedings, including the addition of some synth keyboards.)
Drummer Chris Olsen delivers propulsive, off-kilter percussion,
which amply contradicts the typical enervated rhythms found, these days, on a
typical American weekday avenue.
The outro is sheer magic, and owes to John’s guitar
communicating with psychedelic themes as well as futuristic content. It should
be retroactively added to the sci-fi flick Blade Runner.
As for the lyrics, they are mostly original, but borrow from
two twentieth century poets.
If you know Robert Hayden’s masterpiece “Those Winter
Sundays,” then you might recall the phrase “weekday weather” as it applies to
the speaker’s father, whose hands cracked selflessly during manual labor in
just such climatology. From there, I arrived at “Weekday Ave.” — the typical
American thoroughfare capable only of generating “glassy condos,” “cute
t-shirts,” and symbolic outrage during a crisis. The enjoyable play between
“Weekday Ave.” and “weekday haven’t you” ensued straightaway.
I drew a little more from post-Holocaust European poet Paul
Celan, whose lines “Die Welt ist fort // ich muß dich tragen” (“The world
is lost // I must carry you”) ring outward from his 1967 collection, Atemwende,
or Breath-Turn. I invert and jumble these thoughts, with the singer (me)
requiring the burden of being carried. Much of everything returns to love, and
the inward turn we all take, when we lose someone. While Celan may have
intended his lines to read with centripetal gravity, the genius of his language
may reside in its elasticity — and universality.
As John’s outro proceeds, the concept of feeling
inwardness springs forth. I suppose there is a difference between inwardness
and feeling inwardness. The way there is a difference between “Weekday
Ave.” and “weekday haven’t you.” The way we might trip along, numbly, without forming
“a thinker’s word.”
The lyrics follow below. States of America
can be heard and purchased [here]. As
always, Dear Reader, we urge you to don sensible attire, alter your mindset
responsibly, and hardly resist when your body begins to move without any
inhibitions. Oi.
Weekday Ave.
Scream, a siren The scream alone “O” of outrage & secondhand time
[Chorus:] Weekday Ave. Or weekday haven’t you? Weekday Ave. Weekday Ave. Weekday Ave. Or weekday haven’t you?
Yeah! / Yeah!
Glassy condos & cute t-shirts Never require A thinker’s word
[Chorus]
Da-da da-da! // You must carry me Da-da da-da! // The world is lost Da-da da-da! // And if the world is lost Da-da da-da! // I feel inwardness!
[Da-da da-da! + Chorus]
I feel inwardness […]
personnel
John Paul Carillo: bass guitar, electric guitar, songwriting Anna Meadors: Vocals, alto sax, bari sax, sound engineering Chris Olsen: Drums, percussion Dan Gutstein: Lyrics, vocals
“Weekday Ave.” & States of
America appeared on Procrastination Records (2022).
