Showing posts with label travel tunes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel tunes. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 33

On our trip to Yellowstone a few years ago, we went to the Gallatin County Fair in Bozeman, Montana.  While we were there, we took in a show by a husband and wife country duo who put on a great show.  At one point, the husband said they got a lot of requests to sing El Paso but complained that the song was too long so he was able to get the complete song into a 30 second version.  They started playing and he sang these lyrics: "Down in the West Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love, I got shot, and I died..." 

End of song.

Funny bit, and yes, it does give you pretty much the whole story in one line but the original version is worth listening to, all 5 minutes and 2 seconds of it.

Marty Robbins was born in Glendale, Arizona in 1925.  This is a suburb to the west of Phoenix, better known as the location of the Cardinals new football stadium that's shaped like a rattlesnake.  A product of a broken and disfunctional family, Robbins found comfort hanging with his grandfather and listening to his stories of the old west. 

He went into the navy in World War II and was stationed in the Pacific where he learned to play the guitar and loved Hawaiian music.  After the war, he played gigs around Phoenix which netted him a local TV show.  Success soon followed and he went on to the Grand Ole Opry and a long career in country music.

Robbins also raced and drove in 35 NASCAR races, including 6 top ten finishes, one of which was the 1973 Daytona 500.  He also dabbled in acting and his last film appearance was in Clint Eastwood's Honkytonk Man.  He died of cardiac arrest in December of 1982 at the age of 57.

In the tradition of Sons of the Pioneers, Robbins was one of the best balladeers to come along.  He covered other writers tunes, such as the classic cowboy ballad Cool Water and A Hundred And Sixty Acres, but wrote a few classics of his own such as Big Iron and, of course, El Paso, which he recorded for his 1959 album Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs.

El Paso is the story of the cowboy who comes into a cantina in the title town and falls in love with a Mexican girl...I certainly can relate to that.  When another man makes move on his beloved Felina, the cowboy shoots him dead and flees the law.  Hiding out in New Mexico, the cowboy realizes his heartache is worse than death so he heads back to El Paso to find his Felina.  He is spotted and a posse goes out to stop him.  He is shot and dies in Felina's arms.

What makes the song so good is the Spanish guitar work and Robbins lyrics: "I Challenged his right for the love of this maiden.  Down went his hand for the gun that he wore. My challenge was answered in less than a heart-beat; The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor.  Just for a moment I stood there in silence, Shocked by the foul evil deed I had done," "I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle, I feel the bullet go deep in my chest," "from out of nowhere, Felina has found me...cradled in two loving arms that I'll die for, one little kiss and Felina good bye."

You're going to find yourself driving across a desert someday and this, along with Cool Water, Riders In The Sky, and Desert Skies should be mandatory on your playlist.  Give it a whirl and see if you don't get caught up in the cowboy's sad story.

Below is a video, I think from the 1967 film Road to Nashville but I'm not sure, where Robbins ends the movie with a full rendition of the song.  Enjoy!
-Darryl

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 32

Another destination specific song, this week by Portland's Everclear.  Everclear is actually mostly Art Alexakis who had a life worthy of a Behind the Music episode.  In fact, there was an episode devoted to Everclear.

Art grew up in west L.A. in the projects of Mar Vista, a community just off of Santa Monica and Venice.  He fell into drugs and crime and when his family broke up was shuttled between various family members around the country.  After a near fatal cocaine overdose, Alexakis gave up drugs cold turkey.

At one point, a young Art had a girlfriend who jumped off of the Santa Monica Pier and killed herself.  Depressed, Art tried to to the same thing but visions of his brother changed his mind and he was able to save himself once in the water.

Along with stints in abusive relationships, the suicide attempt inspired Art to write this week's tune, Santa Monica.  Lyrics abound about not wanting to continue in the same downward relationship spiral..."I am still living with your ghost, lonely and dreaming of the West Coast,"  "I don't want to be your fall back crutch anymore," "I don't want to be the bad guy, I don't want to do your sleep walk dance anymore."  The suicide attempt is part of the song's chorus, "we can swim out past the breakers, watch the world die."

So what makes this song about suicide and failed relationships a good travel tune?  First, the rest of the lyrics talk about how we'd like to get away from the bad times by heading to a new place...the west coast in this version: "I just want to feel some sunshine, I just want to find some place to be alone, "  " I just want to see some palm trees, I will try to shake away this disease." 

Second, it's a great song with a building strength that starts off with a lone guitar, slowly adding other instruments throughout until you have a very hard rocker in the end.  The tune is slightly western and a bit punk, probably influenced by Alexakis' days in the cowpunk movement in San Francisco.  It goes with travel very well...makes me want to put on my big black boots and pack an old suitcase and go.

At the bottom is a live version of the song sponsored by Taylor Guitars, who Art endorses with their use.  The actual video of the song is very good and a tight mix but the record label does not allow embedding.  You can see that video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW6E_TNgCsY&feature=related

Below is the live version from Taylor Guitars.  Enjoy!

-Darryl

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 31

This week’s Travel Tune touches on a fantasy for some. We’ve talked about heading out on the open road before, with no plans, just to see what comes along but what about if you just keep going? That’s the theme of this week’s song, someone just getting up, leaving, and never coming back.

This particular song’s story is haunting and maybe…inadvertently to be sure…a little creepy.

Fastball is a band out of Austin, Texas. Bassist Tony Scalzo heard the story of Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple who left for a family reunion one day and never showed up. He imagined that they just kept going, on with a new life, leaving everything and everyone behind…just living on the road. It’s a romantic fantasy, but those kinds of things don’t always turn out the way you want.

The song is The Way and it is ALWAYS on our road trip playlist. A ballad about leaving it all behind, it features a slightly Latin flavored guitar and rhythm, while featuring those haunting lyrics…”they left before the sun came up that day…they drank they wine and they got to talking, They now had more important things to say…where were they going without ever knowing the way?”

Haunting lyrics give way to a chorus reflecting everybody’s fantasy at this point…”anyone can see the road that they walk on is paved in gold, it’s always summer, they’ll never get cold, they’ll never get hungry, they’ll never get old and gray…” Warning: the chorus is a serious brain worm and will stay in your head for weeks.

It’s a fun fantasy to listen to with some great guitar licks and wonderful harmonies. So what’s so creepy? Actually, nothing in the song itself. It turns out that after Scalzo wrote and recorded the song, Lela (who had Alzheimer’s) and Raymond (who had recently had brain surgery) were found dead at the bottom of a canyon near their abandoned car. Fantasy rarely squares with real life.

Anyway, it’s a great song and I think you’ll enjoy it and want to add it to your collection. Here’s Fastball with The Way. Enjoy!


-Darryl

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 30

A tip for those of you from other lands that are visiting the United States.  If you'd really like to see what we're like, and to get to know us, I can think of no better way to do it in a couple of hours than taking in a ball game.  Baseball is very American and you'll get a big dose of us and our ways when you go to a game.

In those couple of hours you'll see us celebrate, argue, be nice and polite, be profane, drink and eat to excess, and at the end of it all (usually), end up friends and looking forward to the next time.

When we're on the road, sometimes we'll find ourselves in a small town with nothing much to do (Columbia, South Carolina...I'm looking at you).  One thing we can always count on if there's a minor league team nearby is to take in a game.  It's a lot of fun, it gets us out of the room, exercises our passions, and it's cheap!

Since we're in the middle of a big baseball themed trip, this week's Travel Tune is explicitly about this, the joys of watching great minor league baseball.  As the lyrics say, "beer as flat as can be, we like our dogs with mustard and relish.  We've got a great pitcher...what's his name?"  (actually, I like some fizz in my beer - Ed) We may be minor league but at least we're AAA.   Enjoy this week's tune, Alabama's ode to the fun of minor league ball with a video set to scenes from some of the best baseball movies ever...there's nothing like a beer in The Cheap Seats.



-Darryl

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 29

The Stig
Photo courtesy Wikimedia
nahtanoj under CC-BY license

Next week we'll be up to 30 (or 31) Travel Tunes here on The World on Wheels, time for y'all to download some of them and make a road playlist or CD (commissions from downloads go into Tim's pocket for a little walking around money, so please download or go to Amazon through that link over to the left should you be so inclined).

This week, we pay homage to one of our favorite TV shows.  This is the best show in Britain, by far, and one of the best shows ever.  We're talking about the Petrolheads of Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond, and...of course...The Stig, in Top Gear

Yes, it's a car show but you don't need to be a car nut to enjoy it.  My wife, who is not into cars at all really, loves the show.  It's a highly entertaining mix of frank car reviews (they will trash a half-million car in a minute if they find something they don't like), adventures (there treks to the North
Pole, across Africa...("Oliver!"), and the very scary trip to Bolivia), and stunts.

Try it, you'll like it very much indeed.  It airs on BBC America, and you can also download many clips on Youtube and at Topgear.com.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
Matt523 under CC-BY license

The theme song for the show is a great driving tune, Jessica, by the Allman Brothers Band.  No lyrics, just smooth, guitar based intrumentals that provide a great background for a road trip.  Enjoy!


-Darryl

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 28

"Around the world the trip begins with a kiss"...I think I'll start taking that advice.  Too often, each trip begins more like "get your butt in the car, it's time to go!" 
Picture courtesy of Wikimedia
Corentin LAMY under CC-BY-SA license

The kids from Athens, Georgia seem to know a little bit more than I.   Start it off right.  So they get this week's pick as the travel tune, the B-52's with Roam from their 1989 album, Cosmic Thing.  It hit number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990.  It's THE travel song for many, appearing in Subaru ads in New Zealand, the theme for Peter Greenberg's show, in Discovery Network ads, and on PBS World.

Really, that's why we travel.  To go see new things, new places, different cultures, and...above all...have a good time.  That's what this song is all about, "roam if you want to, roam around the world...hip to hip rockin' through the wilderness."  Here now, enjoy Roam...

-Darryl

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 27

John Fogerty has been through a lot for his music.  Sued by his producer for plagiarizing his own songs, practically disowned by his brother just before his brother died, and being forced to take a long hiatus from singing to deal with the legal issues...some of which went all the way to the Supreme Court!
Back to the music, Fogerty wrote extensively about the south, very convincingly too for someone who had not grown up there or even visited there until long after the songs were written.  Born on the Bayou, Green River, and Bad Moon Rising are all good examples. 

We've just gotten back from a trip where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers were an almost constant companion, so we're going with John's ode to riverboat travel, Proud Mary.  Written by Fogerty in 1969, it first appeared on Creedence Cleawater Revival's Bayou Country album.  Ike and Tina Turner did a very successful cover of it...in fact, many say it sold more copies than the original CCR version.  Tina does a very good version without Ike too.  Other artists that have covered it include Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen.

Proud Mary, of course, refers to the name of a riverboat.  People could cruise up and down the river, free of worries.  Don't worry if you're down and out because, as the lyrics say, "people on the river are happy to give."  Great song that has by now become a standard.  A happy tune about life on the river that Mark Twain could easily get behind.

Here it is, sung by Fogerty at a concert taped at L.A.'s Wiltern Theater, enjoy!

-Darryl

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 26

Love, LOVE this song...

Several country singers can't really stand the slick, Nashville influence on their music and several sub-genres were developed.  Today, we have a merging of two of them, the Outlaw style of West Texas and the Bakersfield Sound.  Willie Nelson  really doesn't need any intro and if you look back at last week's tune, you can get the back story on the Bakersfield Sound and its native son, Merle Haggard.

Merle's a real outlaw.  When Johnny Cash was singing at San Quentin back in the 60's, Haggard was in the audience, doing time for burglary.  When they met later in life, Haggard told Cash he was there that day and Johnny told him that he didn't remember him being in the band.  Haggard informed him that he was an audience member.

Anyway, today's song is one where I make everybody hush when its turn on the playlist comes up in the car.  No one really knows what it is about, something to do with bandits and the men who turn on them.  Whole essays have been written about the meaning...Tim did one in college.  We'll put it on this week because it's a great song, great road song, and...since we're in Ohio this week...spends a good time during the lyrics in Cleveland (the rest of the time in Mexico).

Enjoy one of my favorite songs, Pancho And Lefty written by the late Townes Van Zandt and performed by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.


-Darryl

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 24

As travelers, we've all been there...the temptation to just pack a bag, jump in the car, and go.  No destination, you'll find that out when you get there.  We've actually tried this and, as romantic as it sounds, it rarely works out as well as a planned trip does.  The attraction is still there and this week's Travel Tune captures that wanderlust perfectly.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
Jean-Luc under CC-BY-SA License
Talking Heads was formed in New York City in 1974 by David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz who all attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.  The next year they added Jerry Harrison to the line up. Their first performance was opening up for the Ramones at CBGB's.  Not having much success, the band teamed up with producer Brian Eno in 1978 and came out with their first hits, a cover of Al Green's Take Me To The River and their own homegrown Psycho Killer.  Later albums with Eno produced such hits at Once In A Lifetime and Life During Wartime ("this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around")

After their collaboration with Eno ended in 1982, David Byrne increasingly exerted control over the group.  It was this period that produced some huge hits like Burning Down The House and And She Was.  In 1985 the band recorded the Little Creatures album which is where this week's tune is taken from

Road To Nowhere seems more like a life journey as you examine the lyrics but it fits a random road trip perfectly.  Byrne thought the song repetitious and monotonous when he first wrote it so he added the acapella chorus at the beginning to break it up.  It has an infectious beat and happy melody.  In particular, I like the zydeco accordion that is played on the track...it reminds me of a Cajun restaurant we used to spend our Saturday nights at.  Pop this one on as soon as you break loose of the city and you'll find yourself in anticipation of what the road will bring.
Enjoy!

-Darryl

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 23

Trying to find a song to tie into this week's London theme was harder than I thought it would be.  The obvious choice, London Calling, is one that played in my head for weeks before we went on our first trip across the pond but doesn't really evoke the city for me now that I've been there.  The Pet Shop Boys' West End Girls is possible, but play it a couple of times and it soon gets tiring.  I love (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea by Elvis Costello but it might be a bit too obscure for some people.  One of my favorite movies set in London is John Landis' An American Werewolf in London, so Werewolves Of London by Warren Zevon was also considered.
Naw, when I think about it, the song that really evokes London for me is the Who's Who Are You which recounts a down and out drunks's attempt to get along without landing in jail with lyrics like "I woke up in a SoHo doorway, a policeman knew my name.  He said you can sleep at home tonight if you can get up and walk away."  Spend some late nights in London's pubs and you'll understand that line explicitly.

Anyway, here are Pete Townsend, Roger Daltrey and the late John Bonham and Keith Moon putting their lives in song for us here (warning - rough language)
 
-Enjoy

-Darryl

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 22

Last week's New York trip was fantastic.  We've never had a bad time in this great city.  This week's tune is a tribute to New York, written and sung by the pride of Hicksville, New York (on Long Island), Billy Joel.
Picture courtesy of Wikimedia
minds-eye under CC-BY-SA license
Joel was a piano player at the Executive Room, a lounge on Wilshire Bl. in Los Angeles, when he started to get noticed.  It was this stint at the piano bar that inspired the song Piano Man.  After three years on the West Coast, he moved back to New York and wrote a whole album's worth of songs reflecting his feelings about going home.  This became the Turnstiles album, which went platinum.

Not big hit at first, New York State of Mind became a lot more popular after the 9/11 attacks.  Listen to this song and you're in the city.  Here he is, in concert at the old Yankee Stadium.  Enjoy.
-Darryl

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 21

John Fogerty took a 9 year break after his first unsuccessful attempt at a solo career following the breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival.  When he finally came back with his Centerfield album, he was...as he says..."ready to play."

The acrimony wasn't completely behind him, however, as the song Zanz Can't Dance resulted in a lawsuit from Saul Zaentz, his former manager, suing him because his new song, Old Man Down the Road, sounded too much like his old CCR song Run Through the Jungle which Zaentz owned the rights to.

This led to an ironic twist...a songwriter (Fogerty) was being sued for plagarizing himself.
Fogerty took the stand with his guitar and played some selections to the jury demonstrating that songwriters just tend to have a style.  The case was dismissed, but that was not the end of it.

Fogerty countersued for attorneys fees and at first was denied because the court determined that he had not been sued in bad faith.  Appeals were filed and went all the way to the Supreme Court, who decided that the case was indeed frivolous and awarded the fees.

This week's song is the title track, Centerfield, which was Fogerty's way of, literally, telling us he's back and wants to be put in the game.  It's one of the great baseball themed tunes and you'll here it at many ballparks.  Describing a perfect sunny day at the ballpark and ready to play, it evokes just what so many of us like about the game. Today, it serves as our song as we celebrate the opening of the season with baseball trips taken and other trips to come.  Here is Fogerty, who uses a custom made baseball bat guitar, and Keith Urban singing Centerfield.
-Darryl

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Travel Tunes - Week 20

We've reached the second 10 songs in the series so the list for these songs are at the bottom.  Follow the links and you can make your own mix for your iPod or other brand-name MP3 device.  There's also a link to a list of the first 10...that's 20 hand-picked songs to pass the time with in the car or on the plane.
Picture courtesy of Wikimedia
Steve Alexander under CC-BY-SA license
This week's tune features a repeat performance by the Eagles from their Hell Freezes Over concert.  With the Eagles, you get four great song writers and four great singers.  The main body of work comes from drummer Don Henley and guitarist Glenn Frey, and sometimes the two collaborate as they did with this week's tune.  Joe Walsh is next with several entries such as Pretty Maids All In A Row and In The City.  Timothy B. Schmidt, with his high voice, throws his efforts in there too with songs like I Can't Tell You Why.

In honor of this week's Cocktail Hour, we present Tequila Sunrise from the album Desperado.
The song vaguely hints at an Eagles specialty, a guy with a girl well past his station in life trying to hold on to that tenuous relationship.  The song was writting by Henley and Frey after a night of drinking tequila and came together when the sun came up.  It's a smooth, kind of deserty feeling song that is perfect for that drive to the Grand Canyon...try it, you'll see!

The video is from the Hell Freezes Over PBS special with Glenn Frey doing the singing, enjoy!

Here's The World on Wheels second Top 10 List of Travel Tunes....

20. Tequila Sunrise - the Eagles (above)