Season 338: Willie

Here is a song I almost missed. I really like Toots and the Maytals/ The Maytals / The Vikings early records. They are fantastic, and even though his career began in the sixties he still puts on a heck of a show.
A while back he did a record of collaborations with other artists and these are usually incredibly disappointing...but there is a reason that you can find Toots on records with all sorts of names on them. They would sell a song to one studio, collect payment, ride to another studio and cut the song again. The early Jamaican recording industry was not encumbered by legality.
Anyway- I bought the record to support him because nowadays he is making money and royalties. The best track on the record was written by Mr. Nelson, and it is a gem. So I played it.
 
I've always loved this Willie Nelson song, finally trying it. He's recorded this one several time, and it's been a part of his live show for decades.

 
I'm gonna use this song in my English class as a great example of an unreal past conditional..

If you had not fallen, I would not have found you...

-
 
Hello, Linda! Thanks so much for doing a second Season so soon after your last one ... you will be exhausted by the end of the week! I was absolutely amazed to find that Willie Nelson had made a recording of this - it appears of his "Rainbow Connection" album, and sounds rather as though it has been recorded with his mates in a pub after a boozy evening. I'm not saying that my attempt is any better (or even as good), but it IS the full and unexpurgated version. (And I woke up with an incredibly dry throat this morning - I think the pollen count is extremely high at the moment - so, apologies for the voice; well, apologies altogether really!!!)

 
A leaf caught in a spider's web... and American Beauty moment.


In partial voice-over, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) described for his neighbor
friend Jane (Thora Birch) a videotape that he had filmed - of a plastic bag "dancing" in the wind:

Do you want to see the most beautiful thing I've ever filmed?
It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing,
and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it.
And this bag was just, dancing with me, like a little kid beggin'
me to play with it - for fifteen minutes. And that's the day I realized
that there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly
benevolent force that wanted me to know that there was no reason
to be afraid, ever. Video's a poor excuse, I know.
But it helps me remember - I need to remember.
Sometimes, there's so much beauty in the world - I feel like I can't take it,
like my heart is just going to cave in.

She took his hand and then kissed him.
 
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Season 338. Submission 2. "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" (Words and music by Ed Bruce and Janet Bruce, 1975.)

I first heard this great song via an iconic Willie recording.


 
Fun facts

hendulele said:
Is there any popular song written in the 20th Century Willie hasn’t recorded? We may find out. (Though I guess you can’t prove a negative.) Anyway, I’ve always loved this song, no matter who did it.

Click to expand...


Fun fact about this song: for its first 8 bars, it shares the same chord progression as 'Mack The Knife'. And that's probably not just coincidental. In his book 'Sounds of the Metropolis: The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna', (2008 - New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press), author Derek B. Scott singles out 'Bring Me Sunshine' as an example of "the legacy of the Viennese popular style" in 20th-century popular music, since it marries a happy lyric to a minor key; a legacy that was surely also drawn on by Kurt Weill.
Fun fact #2: In Berlin, Kurt Weill studied music composition under Englebert Humperdinck.:)
 
Had a bit of fun looking at what kinds of songs a hall of fame songwriter would cover this morning, because I really like what artists can do with an iconic song when they re-imagine it.
Then I found this perfectly charming video of Willie playing a song I adore(song starts at about 2 minutes...irritating)...where he did just the opposite. He seems to take the road the frog took with it, and I reckon that is exactly how people want to hear it.
I suppose I should have gone to the lake with my kayak and given this an anuran treatment as well...but then I had to switch the strings around on the banjo Uke and play it other handed (surprisingly, I can do that)...and it all seemed way to complicated, so instead, I re-imagined it to the delight of my sleeping dogs in my living room.
 
redpaul1 said:
Fun fact about this song: for its first 8 bars, it shares the same chord progression as 'Mack The Knife'. And that's probably not just coincidental. In his book 'Sounds of the Metropolis: The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna', (2008 - New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press), author Derek B. Scott singles out 'Bring Me Sunshine' as an example of "the legacy of the Viennese popular style" in 20th-century popular music, since it marries a happy lyric to a minor key; a legacy that was surely also drawn on by Kurt Weill.

Fun fact #2: In Berlin, Kurt Weill studied music composition under Englebert Humperdinck.:)
Click to expand...

That Englebert Humperdinck connection to Kurt Weill is fascinating. Who knew! Except for you, of course. ;) Thank you, Paul!
 
Well, Day 2 of Season 338 is well in hand. I've really enjoyed my listening today. What I love most of all is hearing your voices embrace the songs you've brought with that singular passion of a person who just plain loves singing and playing a good song.
Fine listening this Season for me and I hope for you, too.

Thought I might share a few links at this point and wish everyone a fine rest of the day and evening! Linda :)

A list of Willie's original songs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Willie_Nelson


A compilation of some fantastic Willie collabs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQdail3_f1Q


A list of "20 Essential" Willie songs: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country-lists/willie-nelson-20-essential-songs-194451/
 
A real quick Hesitation Blues countrified by Willie and Alseep at the Wheel. A lot less countrified by me.

 
This has been one of my favorite Willie tunes for a long time, but it was both fun and frustrating to try to perform it. Took me more takes that I'd prefer, and I still didn't totally hit the solo and licks like I'd envisioned, came oh so close, but not quite. Also, I'm weak on playing bass notes and strumming at the same time, I can do one of the other fine, but both at once is a bugaboo for me, and songs like this I feel it adds a great deal to it. I can't seem to get smooth and consistent as I'd like with it. Good thing I love this song though, as many times as I tried it. lol

 
Okay guys, I have a confession. I fear I may incur the wrath of each and every one of you, including our delightful host - but I really need to get it off my chest. Please don’t hate me - here we go - but I’m not a fan of Willie Nelson. There - I’ve said it. I won’t go into details for fear of causing even more offence - suffice to say that as a consequence I’m really struggling this week. So I was mightily relieved to see that he’d covered this lovely song, which I originally did for my first season (which was Keith’s season 328 - ‘3 Favourite Songs’), and I’ve updated tonight. You’ll all be pleased to know that I plan to spend the rest of the evening seeking penitence for my Willie-related sin! Oh dear - that sounds so wrong!:eek: :D

 
DelGriff said:
Okay guys, I have a confession. I fear I may incur the wrath of each and every one of you, including our delightful host - but I really need to get it off my chest. Please don’t hate me - here we go - but I’m not a fan of Willie Nelson. There - I’ve said it. I won’t go into details for fear of causing even more offence - suffice to say that as a consequence I’m really struggling this week. So I was mightily relieved to see that he’d covered this lovely song, which I originally did for my first season (which was Keith’s season 328 - ‘3 Favourite Songs’), and I’ve updated tonight. You’ll all be pleased to know that I plan to spend the rest of the evening seeking penitence for my Willie-related sin! Oh dear - that sounds so wrong!:eek: :D
Click to expand...

Del, no confession necessary here! I thank you for your honesty! This week is a celebration of Willie, for sure, and I know that's not a pleasant thought for someone who might dislike country music or Willie music. Willie is a lot more than that though. He's also an approach to music and life.

Please take a good look at bringing a song by someone else that might reflect an independent thinker or free spirit. That's Willie music. A look at people who have covered Willie songs will take you into other genres that you like better. And another choice? Bring an original about any topic you like.

Del, I so hope you won't shy away from participating. Go outside of the box - exactly what Willie would have wanted and exactly what I want, too.

And if there's anyone else having similar thoughts, I hope you'll find that all the doors and windows are open this week. Plenty of ways in!

Thank you, Del, for speaking up. Much appreciated! Linda :)
 
DelGriff said:
Okay guys, I have a confession. I fear I may incur the wrath of each and every one of you, including our delightful host - but I really need to get it off my chest. Please don’t hate me - here we go - but I’m not a fan of Willie Nelson. There - I’ve said it. I won’t go into details for fear of causing even more offence - suffice to say that as a consequence I’m really struggling this week. So I was mightily relieved to see that he’d covered this lovely song, which I originally did for my first season (which was Keith’s season 328 - ‘3 Favourite Songs’), and I’ve updated tonight. You’ll all be pleased to know that I plan to spend the rest of the evening seeking penitence for my Willie-related sin! Oh dear - that sounds so wrong!:eek: :D
Click to expand...

I understand completely. I don't think he should be as deified as he is. There are many other Texan singer/songwriters who deserve just as much fame, or more, than he has.
 
Well, I see Joko has already done this one, but I had to have a go at it just because it is so hard to sing. Gotta be one of the hardest songs to sing I have ever tried.

 
This is supposed to be a tear-jerker, and it is pretty sad. It’s just that the original was so bouncy. One of the reasons I like this one I guess. I tried to slow it down and let the lyrics do the heavy lifting.

 
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