On August 4, 1901, the world was graced with the birth of one of the great musical geniuses, Louis Daniel Armstrong. Armstrong, who was born in New Orleans, often said he was born on the Fourth of July, although his actual birth date was August 4. Either way, we should still have fireworks on his birthday. Just as July 4 is seen as the birth date of our country, one might easily say that August 4 is the birth date of American music.
Below is one of my favorite Louis Armstrong recordings, “West End Blues.” This perfect song was recorded in 1928 by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five when Armstrong was in his late 20s.
The “West End” in the title refers to an area with night life on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. The jazz classic appears on various CDs, including Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings. The following video provides some interesting information about what you are hearing as you listen to the song. Enjoy. Happy birthday Pops.
What is your favorite Louis Armstrong recording? Leave a comment.
On November 24, 1971, a man using the alias “Dan Cooper” boarded an airplane in Portland, later claiming he had a bomb and demanding money before he disappeared forever after parachuting out of the airplane.
In 2011, Newspapers reported that the F.B.I. had a “credible” lead in the mysterious case of D.B. Cooper. Once again, though, authorities remained baffled about the identity and fate of the famous hijacker.
Although I was around when Cooper disappeared, my interest in him peaked with a great song about the hijacker by Todd Snider.
The Hijacking
FBI Composite Sketch of “Cooper”
On November 24, 1971 — the afternoon before Thanksgiving — a man boarded a flight in Portland, Oregon under the alias “Dan Cooper.” The name was later misreported into legend as “D.B. Cooper.”
On the flight, Cooper handed a note to a flight attendant. In the note, he claimed he had a bomb and asked for parachutes and $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills.
At a stop at the Seattle-Tacoma airport, officials met the demands, and Cooper released the passengers. After refueling, the plane once again took off with Cooper and the crew on board. At some point during the flight, Cooper apparently opened a door. Then, he parachuted out of the plane with the cash into the night and a raging storm.
Cooper was never found, and in later years various discoveries contributed to the puzzle. For example, in 1980, a boy found some packets of the ransom money on the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington. Through the years, other findings have often raised speculations. But usually it would turn out the evidence was not connected to the hijacking.
In 2011, reports indicate that the F.B.I. identified a suspect in the case, although he is now dead. They are doing further investigation, so we will have to wait and see whether there is a real breakthrough or just another false lead like all the others.
June 2016 Update: In June 2016, the FBI closed the case on the hijacking, leaving the mystery of D.B. Cooper unsolved.
Todd Snider’s Song
The best thing about the Cooper news is that it gives me a chance to post one of my favorite Todd Snider songs, aptly named “D.B. Cooper.” Todd Snider is a singer-songwriter who tells great stories with his songs. Snider has noted that one of his greatest influences is Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and it shows in his music and presentation.
A Washington Post recent review of Snider’s latest live CD, Todd Snider Live: The Storyteller, explains that Snider may be “the most likable man in music.” The article reports that Snider is “one hell of a performer, having built up a cult following thanks to nearly 20 years of concerts that double as side-splitting storytelling sessions.”
Snider’s song “D.B. Cooper” from the CD Happy to Be Here (2000) recounts the story of D.B. Cooper fairly accurately. He does combine a bit of poetic license and childhood memory to make the tale an excellent song.
In writing the song, Snider perhaps found a small connection to D.B. Cooper, who began his strange journey at an airport in Portland, Oregon. On October 11, 1966, Snider was born in Portland.
And perhaps because the hijacking occurred in the 1970s and the song was released prior to the events of 9/11, one accepts the tradition of making the outlaw a hero a little bit more than we might have at another time. “Not far away from the City of Roses / A light shined from a house out in the rain / It was D.B. Cooper / Drinking champagne.”
You may hear the original full-band version from the album at this link.
What do you think happened to the real D.B. Cooper? What is your favorite Todd Snider song? Leave a comment.
Thirty years ago this Monday, on August 1, 1981 just after midnight. MTV began with a countdown to a rocket launch, a narrator then announcing “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,” and then an image of an astronaut planting the MTV flag on the moon. Then the network showed its first video, “Video Killed The Radio Star” by the Buggles.
I did not have cable at the time, and I do not remember that first broadcast. But I had three friends who shared an apartment. And they paid for the essential cable, even though their apartment was so small they had to carve out three bedrooms from one room. So I was soon exposed to MTV while hanging out at their apartment. Immediately, I was mesmerized by the new network devoted to music videos that matched my short attention span.
During the first week of its broadcast, MTV only had about 80 videos. But musicians and record companies soon changed that by making more videos to market their music to fans through MTV.
Today, as MTV has long left behind much of its music legacy to focus on shows like Jersey Shore. So, I suspect that they probably play much less than 80 videos now.
Most people remember that the first video on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Do you remember the second video? It was Pat Benatar’s “You Better Run.”
For more information, Today.com and HitFlix look back on thirty years of MTV.
Chris Whitley may be the singer with the most CDs in my collection who most of my friends have never heard of. His music covered a wide range of styles, varying from album to album, but much of it was steeped in the blues, as he was an incredible guitar player. He often used alternate tunings on his guitar, creating a unique sound that is difficult to match.
Whitley was discovered by legendary producer Daniel Lanois, and a protege of Lanois produced Whitley’s first album, where you can hear Lanois’s influence. I bought Whitley’s Living With The Law (1991) on a cassette tape when I lived in Arizona, and I played the atmospheric songs every time I drove through the desolate painted desert in the northern part of the state. I especially love the opening title track and the second song, “Big Sky Country.”
“Dirt Floor” is the title song from a solo album Whitley recorded in one day in a Vermont log cabin. The sound of the album Dirt Floor (1998) and the sparse title song contrast greatly with the sound of Whitley’s first album, but “Dirt Floor” finds its power in a dark place that hides in the blues.
As you see above, Whitley is posing with a cigarette on the album cover of Dirt Floor. Seven years later, the title song “Dirt Floor” was posted on Whitley’s website when he died in 2005 from lung cancer at the young age of 45. Whitley, who was born on August 31 in 1960, left behind a daughter.
“There’s a dirt floor underneath here / To receive us when changes fail./ May this shovel loose your trouble, /Let them fall away.”
If you like the music, check out more of his work.
What do you think of Chris Whitley’s music? Leave a comment.
In addition to all of his other musical accomplishments, the Northern-Ireland-born Van Morrison is one of the greatest living interpreters of American music, be it blues, jazz, or R&B. One of his best albums in recent years is Pay the Devil (2006), where the entire CD is devoted to country music. And a standout track on the album is Rodney Crowell’s “Til I Gain Control Again,” which first appeared on Crowell’s 1981 self-titled album.
“Til I Gain Control Again” is a beautiful song about love and heartbreak, where the singer realizes that it is too late to plead for reconciliation but is not yet able to let go. So the singer’s request is not for promises or for a future, but merely “I only hope that you can hold me now /Til I can gain control again.” Crowell has explained that the line, “There are some turns where I will spin,” means that the despair will happen again (“I’ll always pass this way again”). There may not be a sadder song about love’s end.
Crowell wrote the song not long after he first arrived in Nashville, and has explained he wrote it in sort of a “three-day trance” where it was like the song came to him from another dimension. He also noted that one of the reasons he wrote the song was to get the attention of another great songwriter, Townes Van Zandt. An article from the New York Observer has a good interview with Crowell, where the article’s author concludes that “Til I Gain Control Again” is “one of those songs that are strong enough to change your life.”
Interestingly, in an interview on Texas Monthly‘s One By Willie podcast, Crowell explained how his favorite version is a studio recording by Willie Nelson where Crowell sang background. Unfortunately, that version is not widely available, appearing only on an out-of-print album sold as a bonus when people ordered by mail Nelson’s IRS Tapes. Instead, Nelson has released several live versions of the “Til I Gain Control Again.”
This live version below has both Willie and Emmylou. Check it out.
Crystal Gayle had the biggest hit with “Til I Gain Control Again,” taking it to number one in 1982. If you want something different, This Mortal Coil does an interesting sort of Goth Emo version.
It is hard to pick a favorite version, but Van Morrison’s voice and interpretation give a soulful spin on “Til I Gain Control Again.” Although most of the artists who have recorded the song come from the country genre, Morrison does something a little different with the song, taking a brilliant song with so many excellent covers and making it his own.
What is your favorite version of “Til I Gain Control Again”? Leave a comment.
On August 4, 1901, the world was graced with the birth of one of the great musical geniuses, Louis Daniel Armstrong. Armstrong, who was born in New Orleans, often said he was born on the Fourth of July, although his actual birth date was August 4. Either way, we should still have fireworks on his birthday. Just as July 4 is seen as the birth date of our country, one might easily say that August 4 is the birth date of American music.
(1991) on a cassette tape when I lived in Arizona, and I played the atmospheric songs every time I drove through the desolate painted desert in the northern part of the state. I especially love the opening title track and the second song, “Big Sky Country.”
Whitley recorded in one day in a Vermont log cabin. The sound of the album Dirt Floor (1998) and the sparse title song contrast greatly with the sound of Whitley’s first album, but “Dirt Floor” finds its power in a dark place that hides in the blues.
