Has anyone else noticed how sarcastic (and ironically, more accurately titled) some classic novels would be with the help of a little piece of punctuation called the quotation mark? Here are a few examples:
"Brave" New World by Aldous Huxley
"Crime" and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky
As I Lay "Dying" by William Faulkner
Call of the "Wild" by Jack London
The "Adventures" of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain/Sam Clemmons
The "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri
"Paradise" Lost by John Milton
"Great" Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Yellow "Wallpaper" by Charolette Perkins-Gilman
The "Dharma" Bums by Jack Kerouac
Invisible "Man" by Ralph Ellison
The "Myth" of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
The "Sun" Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The "Awakening" by Kate Chopin
Adam Bede by "George" Eliot (this one was too easy)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering "Genius" by Dave Eggers
and the list goes on...
I'm starting to realize more and more that I'm a fan of folk and bluegrass than I used to care to admit. Staying true to my pedant title, these songs are probably more rock-a-billy stringband than either of those, so I guess I'm technically safe, and rock they do. The harmonies are tight, the banjo is pensive and playful, the lyrics are smart. I was lucky enough to witness these guys jamming last year, and it was by far one of the best shows I've ever seen. They didn't play with any real percussion, minus a washboard, yet they keep, and kept, a steady, diesel engine-like rhythmic timbre. Great tune. The line "so while you sit and whistle 'Dixie' with your money and your power" in contrast to all the pain, destruction and hatred crooned over in this song gives me chills everytime I hear it. I'd go as far as to say this band made me apply to LSU...that along with their non-trad (more trad?) legal education, and the absurd ratio of death penalty sentences for blacks Baton Rouge sports. Anyway, great stuff.
My old roommate turned me onto this band last fall. After escaping the clutches and certain fiscal death of a slum, we just moved into a mansion of a town home with a third roommate, and everything was exciting and intoxicating (in more ways than one). Their first CD was some thing unique, like a cross between indie- chamber pop with a busk of neo- African tribal beats. It was complex but direct, intellectual (most of the dudes went to Columbia) but accessible. In other words, it was great. And if "Horchata" is what to expect from their new album, I have one hell of a year ahead of me. This song is like my groundhog day, not only because I'll listen to it over and over and over again either. More recently, this song has been very poignant for me; a quick read over the last few entries and the lyrics here will more than explain why.
The Jayhawks are among the last, precious few of a dying breed of band. They're carefree, spirited but still have a specific point they want to communicate. They have a sad but sundrenched sound. Sometimes it's melancholy, sometimes its elating. It's not something you can make in a studio, it's something that has to live and breathe in between band and their songs. It's something very special, something that can't really be communicated through any other way than hearing the sonorous and beautiful melodies that live all around rock music. The Jayhawks tapped into that inexhaustible well of sounds. Their cover of GFR's "Bad Time" is spot on, without mimicking the original too much...and again, the song strikes a poignant chord. Get out of my head, Jayhawks.
Oh, and this is a good idea.
Til next time.
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