Singer-songwriter-musician Alonzo “Lonnie” Johnson was born on February 8, 1899 in New Orleans. Johnson was a musical pioneer for, among other reasons, his work with the electric guitar and the electric violin.
Besides the fact he created some great music, he has been credited with creating the note-by-note guitar solo style that became common in many kinds of music. His career spanned decades, starting with his jazz and blues work in the 1920s and 1930s. And after World War II, he had some success as an R&B performer, although he eventually ended up taking other labor jobs to support himself.
Johnson died on June 16, 1970 in Toronto. He had been in poor health following getting hit by a car in March 1969. Because he had no money when he died, in 2014 the Killer Blues Headstone Project paid for the headstone on his grave.
What is your favorite recording by Lonnie Johnson? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Folksinger, actor, and famous snowman Burl Ives was born in Illinois on June 14, 1909. Ives had one of the most recognizable voices of American singers, although I suspect that most people today know him for one TV role more than anything else. But many of us, like Johnny Cash, learned some of our first songs from Ives.
In the 1930s, Ives became an important figure in the folk-revival movement. After moving to New York City, he worked for progressive causes and performed with musicians that included Pete Seeger, Josh White, Alan Lomax and Lead Belly.
A rift later developed between Ives and Seeger after Ives, accused of being a communist, cooperated with the witch hunt by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952. Ives saved his career as others who stood up for the First Amendment suffered. Seeger compared him to a “common stool pigeon.” But Ives and Seeger eventually reconciled decades later.
Ives recorded a number of successful albums and helped popularize songs like “Blue Tail Fly” and “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” Growing up, my family welcomed Christmas every year with Ives’ interpretation of Christmas folk songs on the record album Christmas Eve (1957).
Many associate Ives with Christmas for another reason. He provided the voice for the narrator Sam the Snowman in the 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer holiday TV special. Ives also developed a career as an actor, including roles in films like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Big Country (1958).
Throughout it all was his wonderful voice. The warmth of his tone made every song welcoming and familiar.
Below, Ives appears on Johnny Cash’s television show. After performing by himself, Ives is joined by Cash to sit down, tell some stories, and sing some folk songs. Cash introduces the songs by noting how he learned some of his first songs and chords by listening to Ives.
Ives, who was a pipe and cigar smoker, died from complications related to oral cancer on April 14, 1995.
What is your favorite Burl Ives recording? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Odetta, who was born in Alabama on December 31, 1930, performed a range of jazz, blues, folk, and spiritual music. She inspired many other artists, contributing to the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. And she also was active in the civil rights movement.
Thus, it is wonderful to see Odetta singing the timeless traditional folk song “House of the Rising Sun.” While many know the song for the rock interpretation by the Animals, its origins go back at least to the early twentieth century with the first printed version appearing in 1925.
In this performance from 2005, Odetta reveals the tragic blues of the song. She makes you feel it as the singer warns the listener not to “do the things that I’ve done.” Check it out.
Odetta passed away about three years later after that performance on December 2, 2008. What is your favorite Odetta song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” raises more questions than answers.
One of Bob Dylan’s great songs is “All Along the Watchtower” from his John Wesley Harding album. Dylan’s eighth album remains one of his great accomplishments. Released in December of 1967, seven months after The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band, the acoustic sound of John Wesley Harding appears as a stark contrast to the psychedelic sounds from across the ocean.
The lyrics to “All Along the Watchtower” raise more questions than answers, but that is the brilliance of the song. Who are the princes and the two riders? Who is the joker and who is the thief, and why did the joker tell the thief, “There must be some way out of here”?
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view. While all the women came and went, barefoot servants too; Outside in the distance, a wildcat did growl; Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
Nerdwriter 1 created a short video exploring the depth of “All Along the Watchtower,” a song you may have thought was a simple tale. But in the video, Nerdwriter1 dissects some of the mysteries behind the lyrics, and why the brilliance of the song helps explain why Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in literature. Check it out.
Some believe that Dylan is the “Joker” in the song, while Elvis Presley is the “Thief.” Others surmise how the two characters are really different sides of Dylan. Still others see a Biblical reference, with Jesus as the Joker and the Thief being the thief on the cross. There is no one answer, but a great thing about the song is how it can make you think and find your own interpretation.
Another wonderful feature, as Jimi Hendrix knew, is the way the song rocks.
What do you think is the meaning behind “All Along the Watchtower”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Although Bruce Springsteen is generally known for clean lyrics, he does occasionally use swear words. Perhaps because he rarely inserts the f-word or graphic imagery, when he does do so, the language usually has a special impact on the listener.
Some of the songs where Springsteen uses the f-word include “Long Time Comin’,”
Long Time Comin’
The first time Springsteen used the “f-word” in lyrics on an official record was in “Long Time Comin’,” which appeared on Devils & Dust (2005). “Long Time Comin'” is one of my favorite Springsteen songs and it makes effective use of one simple swear word.
Many think of Springsteen for his songs of youth and escape, but as he has aged the topics of many of his songs have matured with him. In “Long Time Comin’,” the adult singer remembers his own father not being around during the singer’s childhood as the singer reflects on his own family.
In one of Springsteen’s most beautiful lines, he notes that his one wish for his children is that they will make their own mistakes. As the Western-themed song closes, the young family is camping:
“Well there’s just a spark of a campfire left burnin’; Two kids in a sleeping bag beside; Reach ‘neath your shirt, put my hands across your belly And feel another one kickin’ inside; And I ain’t gonna fuck it up this time.”
The f-word comes out of nowhere, but it makes it all the more powerful because it is exactly how many men would describe the joy and fear of having a child. Perfect.
Queen of the Supermarket
Another recent song where Springsteen effectively drops the f-bomb is “Queen of the Supermarket,” which also may be one of Springsteen’s most hated songs. Still, others try to defend it. In the song from Working on a Dream (2009), the singer begins with the wonders of the modern grocery store:
There’s a wonderful world where all you desire, And everything you’ve longed for is at your fingertips; Where the bittersweet taste of life is at your lips, Where aisles and aisles of dreams await you. . .
The opening reminds me of Don DeLillo’s great novel White Noise, where the character’s existential angst is reflected in the description of the modern supermarket, a place that takes an unusual role in modern people’s lives. Springsteen, however, goes from there into more typical Springsteen territory with the singer longing for one of the cashiers: “The way she moves behind the counter/Beneath her white apron her secret remains hers.”
While I understand why some people hate the song, it does capture a common human experience of seeing someone and for that moment feeling like you are falling in love. But what really saves the song for me, is the rare Springsteen f-bomb. “As I lift my groceries in to my car, I turn back for a moment and catch a smile That blows this whole fucking place apart.”
As in “Long Time Comin’,” Springsteen saves the f-bomb for the end of the song for maximum effect, and it works here, expressing the depth of the singer’s feelings and making the song a highlight on the album. Again, if you are going to swear, you are much more effective if you save it for special occasions, and falling in love — or even obsession — is one of those occasions.
Harry’s Place
More recently, the f-word appeared in “Harry’s Place” from Springsteen’s 2014 album High Hopes. But the word in this song lacks the dramatic impact of the word’s use in other Springsteen songs and almost seems gratuitous: “You don’t fuck with Harry’s money, you don’t fuck Harry’s girls.”
There is nothing wrong with the lyrics of the song, it is just that the use of the f-word in “Harry’s Place” lacks the dramatic impact of his graphic words or imagery in other songs. But it is still a good song.
Other Dirty Springsteen Songs
Springsteen’s use of the f-bomb seems to be a more recent phenomena. But he earlier had used other swear words in “The Big Payback,” a B-side and outtake from 1982’s Nebraska album.
Perhaps he became more comfortable with using the f-word in his art when, during his acoustic The Ghost of Tom Joad tour in the mid-1990s, he regularly gave a semi-serious and semi-humorous suggestion that audience members tell chatty neighbors to “shut the f-up.” His comments led some to call the Tom Joad tour, the “Shut the F-Up Tour.”
That album ended with a song that also used the f-word. The song “My Best Was Never Good Enough” includes a string of common sayings with each verse ending with the singer adding in frustration that “my best was never good enough.” A few swear words pop up in the song, reflecting that frustration, including a change to the saying about the early bird: “The early bird catches the fuckin’ worm.” [Thanks to Michael in the comments for reminding me of this reference.]
In ano unreleased song, Springsteen incorporated the f-word into the mostly spoken-word song, “Pilgrim in the Temple of Love.” Like “Long Time Comin’,” Springsteen performed the song during his solo Devils & Dust tour.
“Pilgrim in the Temple of Love” recounts a Christmas Eve visit to a strip club, ending with a drunken vomiting Santa who wishes everyone, “Merry Christmas to all you assholes/ And to all a good fucking night!” Below is a December 12, 1996 performance in Cincinnati, Ohio, featuring some additional swearing in the introduction.
“Pilgrim in the Temple of Love” is played for humorous effect, so the cursing serves that purpose. Yet, because of the humor in “Pilgrim in the Temple of Love,” the swearing does not give the surprise and depth as it does in “Long Time Comin'” and “Queen of the Supermarket.”
Springsteen has described sexual acts in songs without using swear words. For example, he sang about getting on your knees to taste a “Red-Headed Woman.”
Springsteen’s song that probably has the most graphic description of sex does not actually use the f-word. In “Reno,” off of Devils & Dust, the singer sings about an encounter with a prostitute. Several lines are graphic, including where the woman explains, “‘Two hundred dollars straight in/ Two-fifty up the ass’ she smiled and said.”
But unlike “Pilgrim in the Temple of Love,” the singer’s adventure in “Reno” is not for humor. And it is one of Springsteen’s most heartbreaking and beautiful songs. As the sexual encounter begins, the singer thinks back to a lost love named Maria. By the end of the encounter with the nameless prostitute, he closes with lines so devastating, he does not need to add a curse word.
She brought me another whiskey, Said “Here’s to the best you ever had.” We laughed and made a toast; It wasn’t the best I ever had; Not even close.
Of course, a songwriter would not expect graphic songs or songs with swear words to get radio airplay. Still, a songwriter could get by with merely using symbolic wordplay as in “Born to Run” (“Just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims / And strap your hands ‘cross my engines”).
Perhaps Springsteen has loosened up as he has aged. Or maybe he no longer worries about radio play due to the development of other avenues for accessing music through the Internet that do not require radio deejays or MTV.
Whatever the reason for the evolution in his lyrics, some of these songs from Springsteen’s most recent decade have revealed a songwriter’s skill continuing to explore effective ways to use language. Even if that language might get your mouth washed out with soap.
What is your favorite Springsteen lyric with a swear word? Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via public domain.
(1957).
Odetta, who was born in Alabama on December 31, 1930, performed a range of jazz, blues, folk, and spiritual music. She inspired many other artists, contributing to the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. And she also was active in the civil rights movement.
One of Bob Dylan’s great songs is “All Along the Watchtower” from his 
album. Dylan’s eighth album remains one of his great accomplishments. Released in December of 1967, seven months after The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band, the acoustic sound of John Wesley Harding appears as a stark contrast to the psychedelic sounds from across the ocean.
Although 
(2005). “Long Time Comin'” is one of my favorite Springsteen songs and it makes effective use of one simple swear word.
(2009), the singer begins with the wonders of the modern grocery store:
, where the character’s existential angst is reflected in the description of the modern supermarket, a place that takes an unusual role in modern people’s lives. Springsteen, however, goes from there into more typical Springsteen territory with the singer longing for one of the cashiers: “The way she moves behind the counter/Beneath her white apron her secret remains hers.”
. But the word in this song lacks the dramatic impact of the word’s use in other Springsteen songs and almost seems gratuitous: “You don’t fuck with Harry’s money, you don’t fuck Harry’s girls.”