Category: Music

Sam Cooke’s “Live at the Harlem Square Club” (Great Live Albums)

One of the greatest live albums of all time features Sam Cooke’s rousing performance on “Sam Cooke Live at Harlem Square Club.”

Sam Cooke Live at Harlem Square Club

On January 12, 1963, Sam Cooke performed in downtown Miami at the Harlem Square Club. The club was full of Cooke’s fans, and Cooke delivered one of the great live performances.  The show also resulted  in the album Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963.

In his detailed biography of Sam Cooke, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, Peter Guralnick described the Harlem Square Club as “a big barn of a building.” He noted that the show was early in the tour when Cooke performed at the Harlem Square Club. That night, the show included a late performance that went from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. (p. 453.)

Cooke used his live gospel background for his rousing performance, which contrasted with many of his pop hits played on radio. Guralnick writes, “There was nothing soft, measured, or polite about the Sam Cooke you saw at the Harlem Square Club.”

The performance, however, was too much for the record company. RCA believed that the album would not attract the mainstream audience it wanted for Cooke. So the record was shelved and not released until 1985, long after the young singer’s tragic death in December 1964.

The album is among my top few favorite albums, live or otherwise.  Cooke’s performance of “Bring It On Home to Me” on the album jumps off the CD.  His voice makes you feel like you were there on that January Miami night, as you ride through the slow 2-minute-plus build up to the release of the opening notes of the chorus.

NPR has an interesting interview with Greg Geller, the record executive who rediscovered the tapes of the show in 1985. But the best thing to do to mark the anniversary is to put on the album, close your eyes, and let Sam Cooke take you back to a time when you believed that music could not only change your life but could transform your soul.

What is your favorite track on “Live at the Harlem Square Club”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Great Nameless Country Voice of Texas Playboy Tommy Duncan

    Tommy Duncan Bob Wills Texas Playboys On January 11, 1911, Thomas Elmer Duncan was born in Whitney, Texas. Tommy Duncan, as he would become known, went on to become perhaps the most-recognized voice in country swing. If you have ever enjoyed a country swing song, you recognize his voice, but you probably do not know his name.

    Until fairly recently, I had incorrectly thought that Bob Wills sang lead on the classic country swing songs he recorded with the Texas Playboys. While band leader, fiddle-player, and entertainer Bob Wills is rightfully credited for his great work, the lead vocals on most of the songs you recognize were sung by Tommy Duncan. You may hear Bob Wills’s high-pitched voice throwing in an occasional “Ah-ha” or something like that, but it is Duncan who does the lead singing.

    Some folks have been working to get Duncan the credit he deserves, and there is a film in the works about him called In the Shadow of a King – The Tommy Duncan Story. I look forward to watching the film, but until then, I hope this birthday post helps a little bit in spreading the praises of the voice of Tommy Duncan, who passed away in 1967. Check out Duncan singing lead on “Ida Red” in this performance with Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys in the movie Blazing the Western Trail.

    Tommy Duncan did some work separate from the Texas Playboys, as he and Wills had an on-again off-again professional relationship reportedly due partly to Wills’s drinking issues. But both men are known for their peak work when they were together. Duncan, as part of The Texas Playboys, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as an “Early Influence” in 1999.

    What is your favorite Tommy Duncan and Bob Willis collaboration? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Happy Elvis Presley Day?

    presley

    There has been a movement to get January 8 to be a national day in honor of Elvis Presley. In 2012, some members of Congress signed a resolution to name the day in honor of the King of Rock and Roll, but other activities distracted the legislators from following through.

    Of course, Elvis fans chose the date because Elvis was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. But almost as importantly, January 8 is also the date in 1946 when the eleven-year-old Elvis, hoping for a bicycle or a rifle, was instead given a guitar. For his birthday, his mother Gladys took him to the hardware store where she bought him the instrument that would inspire his musical career and change history.

    So, while the fiscal cliff and other matters distracted Congress from giving us an Elvis Presley day in 2013, we can still recognize that boy and his guitar here. One of my favorite Elvis Presley performances with a guitar is “One Night” from his 1968 “Comeback” TV special.

    Elvis’s “One Night” was a slightly cleaned up version of Smiley Lewis’s recording of “One Night (of Sin),” a song that, depending on the source, is about an orgy or a trip to a whorehouse and was written by Dave Bartholomew, Pearl King, and Anita Steiman. “Colonel” Parker and the record company had reservations about the steamy song that Elvis liked, so the lyrics were cleaned up a little, including the change of “One night of sin is what I’m now paying for” to “One night with you is what I’m now praying for.”

    The “clean” version was a hit in 1958. Although Elvis also recorded the original “dirty” version, it was not released until 1992. For a comparison of the two versions, check out this article on Crooked Timber. Below you can hear Smiley Lewis’s take on “One Night (of Sin).”

    Although Elvis’s cover using the original lyrics was decades from being officially released, in his 1968 performance, he goes back to the original song in both attitude and some of the lyrics, singing the original lines “The things I did and I saw / Would make the earth stand still” instead of the clean version’s “The things that we two could plan / Would make my dreams come true.” And whereas Lewis’s take on those lyrics is slower, more regretful, and bluesy, Presley’s 1968 performance is steamy, funny, and steeped in joyful sexuality.

    Elvis’s 1968 stage presence is a long way from an eleven-year-old with his first guitar. Music writer Greil Marcus has described the performance, “No one has ever heard him sing like this; not even his best records suggest the depth of passion in this music.” (Mystery Train, p. 126.) He adds, “It was the finest music of his life. If ever there was music that bleeds, this was it.”

    This performance alone should earn the King an Elvis Presley Day.

    What is your favorite Elvis Presley guitar performance? Leave your two cents in the comments?

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    Life Lessons From Patti Page

    Patti Page Arfie

    Patti Page, who was born in Oklahoma as Clara Ann Fowler, passed away at the age of 85 on 2013’s New Year’s Day. While her most famous song and my favorite is probably “Tennessee Waltz,” that is not the first song of hers that comes to my mind.

    When I think of Patti Page, I think of one of the first songs I remember hearing as a child: her endearing recording of the song, “(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window?“

    “(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window?”

    “(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window?” was recorded in December 1952, awhile before I was born.  But my parents had the 1957 Patti Page Sings 1, 2, 3 album with the song on it. On this album, Page also told a story with the song about a dog named Arfie. Years later when we got a dog, I strongly advocated for naming our dog “Arfie,” but I lost.

    I also remember that the dog story and the song used to creep me out. For some reason, the tale about the dog, who was threatened with being sent back to the pound, and about the attempted home invasion by burglars made me feel less secure.

    UPDATE: The recording with the story doesn’t seem to be available on YouTube currently. But it still creeps me out.

    “Tennessee Waltz”

    On the other hand, “Tennessee Waltz” is a beautiful song for adults about losing a love. Although Cowboy Copas first released the song in 1947, it is Patti Page’s version from 1950 that we remember because of the way her voice captures the sadness in the song.

    Few singers and few songs capture lost love the way Page does here. It is not surprising that Page’s version of “Tennessee Waltz” was No. 1 on the pop, country and R&B charts.

    On Film

    It was not until I read the obituaries, though, that I was reminded that Page also starred in Elmer Gantry (1960) with Burt Lancaster. In the film, you get to hear her singing a hymn, “Let Jesus Come Into Your Heart.”

    Well, Ms. Page, I never got a dog named “Arfie.” But your recordings gave me warnings about some of the scary parts of life, like lost pets, threats to a sense of security, and the tragedy of lost love. So I am thankful for the warnings. Rest in peace.

    What is your favorite Patti Page song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    It’s New Year’s Day Just Like the Day Before

    Slaid Cleaves One Good Year New Year's Day Singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves has so many great lines in his song set on New Year’s Day called “One Good Year,” which is from his excellent 2000 album Broke Down. In “One Good Year,” the singer facing hard times makes a simple request asking just for one good year to get his feet back on the ground, noting “I’ve been chasing grace / But grace ain’t so easily found.”

    The song is both sad and hopeful at the same time. In the bridge, he notes “It’s a bitter wind / In your face every day;/ It’s the little sins / That wear your soul away.” But even with some sad stories in the news lately, all we can really hope for is that the next year is one good year.

    What are your hopes for the new year? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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