Month: August 2019

Country Rock

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Country Rock

 

Music genres attempt to be definitive but are still typically full of a good spectrum of divergent styles. In order to pigeon hole artists we have over time developed other genres, sub and sub sub genres. Country music has over two dozen including; Classic Country, Country Pop, Blues Country and even Country rap.

Most Artists can be placed in more than one category but we tend to want to associate them most closely with a specific one. I’ve read that Country Rock came from Rock bands doing more Country flavored music not Country artists doing rock music. But I’ve found there are many early examples of Country music sounding pretty rock-like and I have included some examples below. We don’t always tend to identify music and genres in the early stages of development and in many cases it’s done quite retroactively. I’ve talked about a few artists thought to be ‘Rock’ that started to record with a more Country music feel, back as early as the 1950’s and 60’s. This is before it really took off with the proliferation of the electric guitar which changed most all genres of popular music.Read More »

Aretha Franklin: Remembering the Gospel, Soul and Pop music Virtuosa

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Remembering Aretha Franklin, a story… through cover songs

On the first anniversary of her passing, another homage to one of the greatest voices of all time. I paid tribute to her and some of her most memorable cover songs on August 16 of last year, but there are many more to talk about.

If you know anything about Aretha Franklin then you will know that the Church and Gospel Music was a big part of her life. I myself do enjoy the odd Gospel song, particularly ones I’ve discovered from the likes of the unbelievably talented  Sister Rosetta Tharpe . Also some of the other singers I regularly enjoy such as Elvis or Johnny Cash, mostly because of the vocal intensity and the connections I can draw to popular music. But this particular song from Aretha just blew me away.  Considering this was a live recording of not the greatest technical quality with lots of background distraction, ‘believer’ or not you won’t be able to not feelsomething when you listen.
“Precious Lord”, Aretha Franklin was recorded singing this in 1956. The melody is adapted from the 1844 hymn “Maitland, Maitland”, Lyrics written by Rev. Thomas Dorsey. Aretha was just 14 years old when a series of Gospel songs were recorded in the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. This was not released until the album “Songs of Faith” by Checker Records in 1965, nine years later. A voice like this had to be shared with the world and I find it’s so strange it was not released earlier. 
The first recording of this song known as “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” is from 1937, by the Heavenly Gospel Singers .  And as in the Aretha version just as “Precious Lord” by Mahalia Jackson the “Queen of Gospel” also coincidentally recorded in 1956. Elvis in 1957.
Another meaningful song, this time about the civil rights movement in 1960’s U.S.A. is “People Get Ready” originally by The Impressions (1965),  Written by the amazing Curtis Mayfield .
Aretha recorded this in 1968, adding that stronger touch of gospel once again and contributing her uniqueness to enhance the original.
A lesser know song is “Lean on Me” originally by Vivian Reed (1970) written by Joe Cobb and Van McCoy. Not to be confused with the Bill Withers song of the same name. A very moving song by Vivian Reed, herself a child prodigy who has made a very successful career on Broadway, Television and Movies.
Not to make light of the original version but you can hear the difference for yourself in Aretha’s cover from 1971. You can fairly say that Vivian’s original is soulful, but again in my opinion Aretha creates a fusion of soul and gospel that changes the song. She really did give a lot of thought to the way she sang a song, they don’t turn out like this by chance.
“Bridge over Troubled Water” written by Paul Simon, released in 1970 by Simon and Garfunkel.
The cover of this was recorded by Aretha Franklin in 1971 and is nearly unrecognizable from the original song. Aretha, as she did with “Respect” adds her own lyrical and musical touch to an already hugely popular song which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1971.  Aretha would go on to sell two million copies of her version and what to me is seemingly impossible – her song would win the Grammy Award the following year for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1972. Pop and Gospel together in a way only Aretha could deliver.

“Oh Happy Day” was originally released in 1914 by the Trinity Choir and was collectively written and changed over time by Philip Doddridge, Johann Freylinghausen and Edward F. Rimbault. The first recorded ‘cover version’ was from the The Edwin Hawkins Singers which won a Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance in 1970. Edwin Hawkins was a pianist at Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, California and he came up with this new arrangement of a commonly sang gospel song in churches across the U.S. This adaptation has been recorded over 75 times since and I ran across this true gem from Aretha Franklin and the amazing Mavis Staples (1987) with a somewhat different arrangement.

There are so many more amazing songs that I have not touched on but for now just a remembrance of the late and great Aretha Franklin. May she rest in peace.

References: https://secondhandsongs.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, https://www.goalcast.com/2017/12/31/aretha-franklin-quotes/,
Images: https://www.macleans.ca/culture/a-conversation-with-the-queen-of-soul-2/, Grammy.com, Billboard.com
Virtuosa; the female equivalent of the male Virtuoso; meaning with exceptional talent.

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Elvis Presley (part 2)

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Elvis Presley (part 2)

In part one on the King (born January 8, 1935)  I stuck to songs he had covered and recorded in 1956. With August 16 coming up, being the anniversary of his untimely passing (August 16, 1977) I will honour his music and will wander outside of 1956.

I will have little trouble finding cover songs that I have not mentioned, even though including the one dedicated issue, I have cited and inserted Elvis songs throughout at least a dozen posts. There are just so many to choose from, since that first post just over a year ago Secondhandsongs.com has added more cover songs that Elvis recorded, it was 485 and it now stands at 507.

During the time Elvis was making a string of movies (1964-66) his recording releases were largely dedicated to songs from those films. Unless you are an Elvis fanatic you may not know that an album was released in 1999 of ‘home’ recordings from 1964-67. Some of the songs are just Elvis solo, several were used for a later Gospel album and other songs include an ensemble such as “500 Miles“. It’s a folk favorite written by Hedy West first recorded by “The Journeymen” (John Phillips, Scott McKenzie and Dick Weissman) in 1961. This song was based on the words and melody from this traditional folk song, the first recording is called “I’m Nine Hundred Miles from Home” by Fiddlin’ John Carson (1924).

Just how far back can we go to find a connection to a song Elvis covered? So far (that I’ve found at least) it is “Love Me Tender” as it’s roots go back to 1861 and you can check it out my Love Songs post. But here is another, “The Gospel Train” or “Get On Board” is a traditional gospel song dating back to at least 1872. Here are the Tuskegee Institute Singers (1916). Based on this same melody is “Cindy” by Riley Puckett and Clayton McMichen, first recorded in 1927. Hope you are following along OK, now a song based on that melody was recorded as “Cindy Cindy” (words and music by Darrell Fuller, Buddy Kaye and Ben Weisman) by Elvis in 1971.

“Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” by Eddie Riff with Orchestra (written by Ivory Joe Hunter and Clyde Otis) in 1956. Elvis recorded this as a single in 1964.

“And I Love You So” (1970) written and performed by Don McLean, another beautiful song from a gifted artist, this song touched Elvis enough that he released a version in May of 1975.

Elvis recorded several songs from the talented Jimmy Reed, such as “Baby What You Want Me to Do” (1959). Elvis (1968).

In an earlier post I talked about Aretha’s cover (1971) of “Bridge over Troubled Water’ from Simon and Garfunkel (January 26, 1970) but Elvis , and an astounding 52 other artists did a cover of this in that first year (1970) alone.

As with “Hound Dog” originally from Willie Mae Thornton albeit via Freddie Bell and The Bellboys, Elvis (on a somewhat rare occasion) would cover songs from female artists. “Dark Moon” from Bonnie Guitar (written by Ned Miller) was another of those home recordings by Elvis from 1966/7. Check out this clip from ‘Big Mama’ Thornton, “Everything Gonna Be Alright” and you will hear why she came to people’s attention beyond “Hound Dog”, she was an incredible talent who was unfortunately much overlooked in her time.

Elvis also covered Bob Dylan (four times) including “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right“. To say Elvis’s tastes and abilities were diverse is a bit of an understatement.

Trivia. The Queen song “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (1979) was written by Freddie Mercury in about 10 minutes while lounging in a bath. It was a tribute to Elvis. It was the first time Freddie composed a song using a guitar which he admittedly “couldn’t play for nuts” and the band completed and recorded the song in half an hour. It went to #1 in the US, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands and sold close to 3 million copies worldwide. A great cover by the very talented Dwight Yoakam the closest thing to a legit ‘Country Elvis’ you’ll ever find, he hit #1 on the Canadian Country chart in 1999.

Interesting fact that top ranked (Rolling Stone Magazine) music icons Elvis (#3), Aretha Franklin (#9) and Robert Johnson (fifth greatest guitarist) all passed away on August 16,

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, Secondhandsongs.com, https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2rrx78

If you like my blog, please consider filling in the follow by email link at the top right hand of the page. Remember to confirm the subscription when you get the first email. Confidentiality is assured unless you are a close friend or family member then all bets are off. While I can compile data from my blog it’s not tracking in terms of anyone’s identity.  Pass it along to a friend who might enjoy it as well or post it to your timeline on FB. And many thanks as always for reading my blog!

For past blog posts click on the menu at the top right corner.