On February 1, 1994, Green Day released one of the landmark albums of the 1990s, Dookie. At the time, you could not go anywhere without hearing “When I Come Around.” The album would become Green Day’s best-selling album. And even if I prefer their American Idiot (2004) album, there is no denying the impact or catchy hooks of Dookie.
It is hard to believe that it has been around two decades since the band released Dookie. In the video below from the 2013 Reading Festival (U.K.) performance at Brixton Academy, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong reminded the audience of the upcoming anniversary of the album, and then he announced the band was going to play the entire album. Roll cameras.
Check out the whole performance below.
What is your favorite Green Day song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The excellent Coen Brothers’ movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) opens with a scene of prisoners in the old South working on a road and singing the work song “Po’ Lazarus.” Unlike many of the other songs on the T-Bone Burnett produced soundtrack, though, “Po’ Lazarus” was not recorded specifically for the film.
Recording of “Po’ Lazarus”
The recording of “Po’ Lazarus” was one of the many recordings made by Alan Lomax and his father John Lomax. The two men visited the Mississippi State Penitentiary in 1959 and recorded prisoner James Carter leading a group of other prisoners in the song.
That recording of “Po’ Lazarus” later appeared on Lomax’s 1960’s album Bad Man Ballads credited to James Carter and the Prisoners. The song recounts a sheriff going to arrest Lazarus. Then, the sheriff ends up shooting “Po’ Lazarus”: “Well then they taken old Lazarus/ Yes they laid him on the commissary gallery.”
Finding James Carter
But that background is not even the coolest part of the story. According to The Southern Journey of Alan Lomaxby Tom Piazza, the Coen Brothers movie brought a little more good will to singer James Carter.
After the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? became a bestseller, Alan Lomax’s daughter Lomax Chairetakis and others tracked down the 76-year-old Carter living in Chicago. They gave him a substantial royalty check. And then in February 2002 flew him, his wife, and two daughters to the Grammy Awards ceremony. At the ceremony, the soundtrack won the album of the year for 2001.
The New York Times noted that Carter had left home at age 13 and did time in prison for theft, a parole violation, and weapons possession. Before his rediscovery, he barely recalled singing the song for the recording.
James Carter passed away in November 2003, less than two years after his trip to the Grammys. The other prisoners in the recording have never been identified. But together they created an outstanding recording used in a classic film.
What is your favorite song from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Bob Dylan has released a short film promoting his new CD set Another Self Portrait (1969 – 1971): The Bootleg Series Vol. 10. The video features studio player Al Kooper, producer Bob Johnston, and guitarist David Bromberg discussing the 1969-1971 Dylan. During that time period, Dylan produced his much-maligned Self-Portrait album as well as New Morning.
The interesting nearly 12-minute version of the film addresses questions such as why many were disappointed in that period, what was up with Dylan’s voice at that time, and why it is worth reconsidering that period. [Update: The 12-minute version appears to be no longer available, but here is a shorter promotional film.]
Another Self Portrait will be released August 27.
What is your favorite song from the 1969-1971 Bob Dylan? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On August 21 in 1883, Frank James went on trial in Gallatin, Missouri. In April 1882, Robert Ford had shot and killed Frank’s brother Jesse. Instead of waiting for someone to shoot him in the back, Frank James decided to turn himself in to authorities in October 1882.
Despite the crimes committed by the Janes brothers, many Missourians thought highly of the two outlaws. Although the James-Younger Gang had killed many people during their robberies, many citizens saw them as heroes, taking money from the banks and railroads and giving it back to the poor.
Post-Civil War sympathies also helped Frank James, who had fought for the South. So, the jury found him not guilty. Likewise, Alabama would fail to convict Frank James of armed robbery.
After the Trial
In late 1883, Missouri released James, and he went to live with his mother in Oklahoma for awhile. He lived within the law, doing a number of jobs including berry picker, shoe salesman, lecturer, Burlesque theater ticket taker and betting commissioner.
Unlike his brother, Frank James died peacefully in Missouri on February 18, 1915 at the age of 72. He was cremated and his ashes were kept in a bank vault to avoid the risk of grave robbers. Eventually, his ashes were buried with his wife in Missouri.
Popular Culture
There is a very inaccurate Henry Fonda movie about Frank after Jesse’s death, called The Return of Frank James (1940). The film was a sequel to 1939’s Jesse James, starring Tyrone Power.
Frank James is also portrayed as an older man, briefly, near the end of the 2010 version of True Grit. In the scene, where the James character remains sitting, Mattie Ross says, “Keep your seat, trash.”
Perhaps, because Frank James died peacefully, he never became the subject of many songs like his brother did. The most famous song about Frank’s brother is the folk song “Jesse James,” which makes Jesse a hero and calls his killer a coward.
Below is a version of “Jesse James” by Van Morrison with Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber from The Skiffle Sessions (2000).
Although dying in a blaze of violence is more likely to be mythologized than a quiet death at old age, I suspect there is yet to be a great song written about Frank James.
(Photo of Frank James via Library of Congress – Public Domain)
What is your favorite version of “Jesse James”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Country outlaw Tompall Glaser passed away this week. Glaser had a distinguished career, performing with his brothers and running a publishing company. But most of us know him for his work on the first “outlaw” country album, appropriately named Wanted! The Outlaws. The 1976 album — which also featured Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter — was a landmark album that went platinum.
One of the songs Glaser performed on the album, along with “Put Another Log on the Fire,” was “T for Texas.” Here he is performing the song in the 1980s.
Glaser also co-wrote the great song, “Streets of Baltimore,” for Bobby Bare. The song contains a lot of alt-country street cred because of the wonderful version by Gram Parsons. More recently, the song has been covered by The Little Willies. Here is a 2006 Virginia performance of the song by Ryan Adams.
T for thanks for the great music, Mr. Glaser. Rest in peace.
What is your favorite Tompall Glaser song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On February 1, 1994, Green Day released one of the landmark albums of the 1990s, Dookie. At the time, you could not go anywhere without hearing “When I Come Around.” The album would become Green Day’s best-selling album. And even if I prefer their American Idiot (2004) album, there is no denying the impact or catchy hooks of Dookie.
by Tom Piazza, the Coen Brothers movie brought a little more good will to singer James Carter.
(1940). The film was a sequel to 1939’s Jesse James, starring Tyrone Power.