Category Archives: The Best Songs

List, Singer Songwriter, Sound, The Best Songs

Happy Birthday Jackson Browne – Top 10 songs

October 9, 2012 Hallgeir

I’ve listened to Jackson Browne for about 30 years, I have a friend who has a couple of older siblings who introduced him to this incredible songwriter/singer, I got it from my friend. I am eternally grateful.

allmusic says:

In many ways, Jackson Browne was the quintessential sensitive Californian singer/songwriter of the early ’70s. Only Joni Mitchell and James Taylor ranked alongside him in terms of influence, but neither artist tapped into the post-’60s Zeitgeist like Browne.

He is a true music enthusist and he has produced albums by The Eagles, J.D. Souther and Warren Zevon and more. When he was inducted into The Rock’n Roll Hall of Fame, Bruce Springsteen said that even if The Eagles was allready in the hall of fame: “You wrote the songs they wished they had written”. Bruce says all the good things that I would like to say about Jackson Browne, take ten minutes and listen to this very fine speech:

Here are my ten favourite Jackson Browne songs.

1. Sleeps dark and silent gate, one of the most beautiful songs ever written:

“Don’t know where I’m going
Wishing I could hide
Oh God this is some shape I’m in
When the only thing that makes me cry
Is the kindness in my baby’s eye”

2. Tender is the night, official video:

“You’re gonna want me tonight
When you’re ready to surrender
Forget about who’s right
When you’re ready to remember
It’s another world at night
When you’re ready to be tender”

…and a live version from Rockpalast in 1986:

3. The Pretender (with Crosby, Stills and Nash):

“I’m gonna find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we’ll fill in the missing colors
In each other’s paint-by-number dreams
And then we’ll put our dark glasses on
And we’ll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We’ll get up and do it again
Get it up again”

4. For a dancer:

“I don’t know what happens when people die
Can’t seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It’s like a song playing right in my ear
That I can’t sing I can’t help listening”

5. Before the Deluge:

“For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love’s bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in a moment they were swept before the deluge”

Continue reading Happy Birthday Jackson Browne – Top 10 songs →

Country, Singer Songwriter, Steve Earle, The Best Songs, Video

Gram Parsons Top 7 cover songs

September 19, 2012 Hallgeir 3 Comments

Relief Block print by Stephen Alcorn

Gram Parsons was a master songwriter both on his own and in collaboration with others. It is no wonder that his songs are covered by many artists. I have picked some of the best ones and hereby present my Top 7 Gram Parsons Cover songs.

1) Jay Farrar’s wonderful rendition of Drugstore Truck Drivin’ Man (and Christine’s Tune as a bonus). Jay Farrar has a great voice, and he’s a good performer, this music just fits. He gets to pay tribute to the country part of his roots. Just fantastic!

“He’s been like a father to me
He’s the only DJ you can hear after three
I’m an all night musician in a rock ‘n’ roll band
And why he don’t like me, I can’t understand”

Written By Gram Parsons and Roger McGuinn

From Wikipedia:

The song Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man details a moderately unpleasant on-air exchange between Ralph Emery and Roger McGuinn, the lead singer of the 1960s rock group The Byrds, concerning their 1968 appearance at The Grand Ole Opry. In that performance, the Byrds attempted unsuccessfully to convince traditional country music fans that their developing country rock sound was a legitimate part of the tradition.

2) I’ve chosen , A song for you performed by Whiskeytown (great vocal by Ryan Adams) and performed by Justin Townes Earle.

I couldn’t just pick one them, they’re both so god dam good and very different.

Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams:

Justin Townes Earle:

“…So take me down to your dance floor
And I won’t mind the people when they stare
Paint a different color on your front door
And tomorrow we will still be there…”

Written by Gram Parsons

Here is a great compliment: “The song is absolutely hopeless, beyond despair. It’s the saddest song I’ve ever heard.” That was Rolling Stone magazine’s description of A Song for You in March 1973, reviewing the album on which it featured, GP.

3) My Uncle performed by Steve Earle.

Steve Earle is a hero of ours and a list like this would not be complete without him. That said, he gives a fantastic interpretation of My Uncle from The Flying Burrito Brothers’ Guilded Palace of Sin.

Steve Earle My Uncle:

“A letter came today from the draft board
With trembling hands I read the questionnaire
It asked me lots of things about my mama and papa
Now that ain’t what I call exactly fair
So I’m heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don’t need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground..”

Written by Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons.

Continue reading Gram Parsons Top 7 cover songs →

Bob Dylan, Sound, The Best Songs

Great song: Tin Angel by Bob Dylan

September 10, 2012 Hallgeir 49 Comments

Just a few thoughts on the song Tin Angel.

For me, after listening to it for two days, the most obvious masterpiece on Bob Dylan’s new album is the murder ballad, Tin Angel. It’s a story-song, the kind Dylan has done so magnificently many times before. Cross the Green Mountain, Tweeter and the Monkey Man and Brownsville Girl springs to mind. They are extremely cinematic songs and they tell a story over many verses. Another song that pops up in my head is the wonderful story of Spanish Jack by Willy DeVille, not very like in sound but in tone.

The music on Tin Angel is repetitive, but not in a bad way, it’s an hypnotic rhythm and a bass that sucks the wind straight out of you. It transcends ordinary music and serves as a enhancement of the fascinating story that is told over the 28 verses.

I could try to analyze the song, but I don’t think we should. It is straightforward ballad of three doomed lovers, told in a dark, dark song, and it sounds like Bob Dylan is having a hell of a time when he tells it.

Here’s the spotify link:

It is a bit difficult to see who says what in the story, I have put who I think delivers the lines after each line of dialogue in the song.

The “playas”:

The Boss
The Wife
Henry Lee
Servant

The story starts at home at the mansion:

It was late last night when the boss came home
To a deserted mansion and a desolate throne
Servant said: “Boss, the lady’s gone
She left this morning just ‘fore dawn.” (Servant)

“You got something to tell me, tell it to me, man
Come to the point as straight as you can” (The Boss)
“Old Henry Lee, chief of the clan
Came riding through the woods and took her by the hand” (Servant)

The boss he lay back flat on his bed
He cursed the heat and he clutched his head
He pondered the future of his fate
To wait another day would be far too late

“Go fetch me my coat and my tie
And the cheapest labour that money can buy
Saddle me up my buckskin mare
If you see me go by, put up a prayer” (The Boss)

The Boss is determined to “set things straight” and rides off to get his wife and to kill Henry Lee. Henry Lee is a name that we know from an old song on the Harry Smith collection (the first on the first cd). Covered by Bob Dylan earlier (as Love, Henry), also covered by Nick Cave on the album Murder Ballads. An album where Tin Angel would fit very naturally.

The next 6 verses tells us about his journey and how he sneaks up on the unknowing lovers. Dylan really sets a terrifying scene for what is about to happen. The Boss really gets into a killing mood, “he renounces his faith, he denies his lord”:

Well, they rode all night, and they rode all day
Eastward, long down the broad highway
His spirit was tired and his vision was bent
His men deserted him and onward he went

He came to a place where the light was dull
His forehead pounding in his skull
Heavy heart was racked with pain
Insomnia raging in his brain

Well, he threw down his helmet and his cross-handled sword
He renounced his faith, he denied his lord
Crawled on his belly, put his ear to the wall
One way or another put an end to it all

He leaned down, cut the electric wire
Stared into the flames and he snorted the fire
Peered through the darkness, caught a glimpse of the two
It was hard to tell for certain who was who

He lowered himself down on a golden chain
His nerves were quaking in every vein
His knuckles were bloody, he sucked in the air
He ran his fingers through his greasy hair

They looked at each other and their glasses clinked
One single unit, inseparably linked
“Got a strange premonition there’s a man close by” (Henry Lee)
“Don’t worry about him, he wouldn’t harm a fly” (The Wife)

As we hear, the wife is not very worried or affraid of her husband.

A small snippet seems to be taken from The Fire-King by Sir Walter Scott: “He has thrown by his helmet, and cross-handled sword, Renouncing his knighthood, denying his Lord”. I’m sure there are a lot of other small “thefts” as well.

Love and theft, baby, love and theft.

Continue reading Great song: Tin Angel by Bob Dylan →

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylans's best songs, Featured Articles, The Best Songs

Bob Dylan’s best songs – If You See Her, Say Hello – #56

August 25, 2012 Egil 15 Comments

So, I kick off my journey through “Bob Dylan top 200 songs” (my list of Bob Dylans 200 greatest songs) with number 56.
Why not start at number 1… or number 200 ? No particular reason, “I just happen to feel this way”.
I will publish posts in this category on and off, with no spesific frequency.

If You See Her, Say Hello – #56

New York Version 1

Outtake from original studio sessions for Blood On The Tracks
Alt version1: A&R Studios, 19 September 1974, Columbia A&R Studios, NYC
Musicians: Bob Dylan: Guitar, Vocals, Charles Brown III: Guitar, Eric Weissberg: Guitar, Barry Kornfield: Guitar

Not released – New York Sessions bootleg

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This version is similar to Bootleg Series vol 1-3 version, but different take – softer and shorter without the harmonica solo before the last verse.

Short history – “The making of “Blood On The Tracks”:

The original “New York Sessions” for Blood On The Tracks took place from 16-25 of September 1974 in NYC. A test pressing of the album was made, but Dylan was not comfortable. He took the album “home” to Minnesota and played it for his brother – David Zimmerman. David told Bobby that the album was not “radio friendly”, and they put together a band with local musicians at Sound 80 Studio in Minneapolis on 27 & 30 December. These two sessions ended up replacing half of the albums original New York takes… And one of the unlucky ones was “If You See Here, Say Hello”.. The released Blood On The Tracks version was recorded on December 30.

Why Do I Like the original “New York” version better ?

Continue reading Bob Dylan’s best songs – If You See Her, Say Hello – #56 →

List, The Best Songs

Best 25 songs of 2011 according to Egil

August 15, 2012 Egil 1 Comment

Repost – Still proud of my 25 best songs from last year.. Great music!

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Gillian Welch gets 2.. because she delivers this years greates new album..
(btw – best “released” album this year is off course “The Rolling Stones – The Brussels Affair”)

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Here is this year’s greatest song: