On June 21, 1965, the Byrds helped launch the folk-rock movement with their release of their debut album with the title track of a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Below, The Byrds perform the song on television in the 1960s.
The Byrds — with Roger McGuinn singing lead as Gene Clark and David Crosby provided the harmony — recorded “Mr. Tambourine Man” in January for their debut album even before Dylan had a chance to record it himself. When Dylan heard what the Byrds did to his song, he reportedly exclaimed, “Wow, man, you can even dance to that!” By the time the Byrds released their album on June 21, 1965, Dylan was in the studio finishing up “Like a Rolling Stone.”
In this video below from a 2009 webcast, Chris Hillman of The Byrds tells how the band came to reinterpret “Mr. Tambourine Man” and how jazz great Miles Davis helped the band get its first record contract. Check it out.
This week, CNN premiered a short digital film of Bruce Springsteen discussing his life and his music, Wrecking Ball: A Conversation with Bruce Springsteen. He discusses how his upbringing affects his music and explains that his work has been about judging the distance between “American reality” and the “American dream.” He refers to current events like the recession and Occupy Wall Street, and he explains the critical and “often angry” patriotism that resides in his songs. He also revleals why he had to include the spiritual element of “Land of Hope and Dreams” on his latest album, Wrecking Ball, and he talks about his “elemental” relationship with the late Clarence Clemons (at around the 16:00 mark). Check out the film below:
“You have to be constantly listening and interested in listening to what’s going on every day,” Springsteen explains near the end. “You have to remain interested in life.” I am glad that the man has kept up his interest for so long.
What do you think of the new film? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In the years leading up to July 4, 1976 in the United States, you could not escape American Revolution Bicentennial fever and celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There were parties, celebrations, ships, special coins, speeches, Bicentennial Minutes every night on television, and much more. But there is very little this year to mark the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, which officially started 200 years ago today when the U.S. declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812. Basically, we had a bicentennial and all I got was a website.
Several years ago I worked with some young people from England and I was surprised to learn that they had never heard of the War of 1812. It is probably true that today most Americans know very little about the war, which makes it understandable that there is little about the bicentennial of a war that accomplished little. Even with some rewriting of history it is difficult to make the War of 1812 about lofty principles such as we do with other American Wars like the Revolution (freedom), the Civil War (freedom), and World War II (defeating Hitler). The 1976 Bicentennial events, in many ways, were not celebrating war but celebrating ideas. The date corresponded not to a war but to the signing of a document about equality — even though we continue to work on expanding what “equality” means.
By contrast, the War of 1812 was largely about sea rights, land rights, and the seizing of American sailors. The war involved a lot of complicated issues, such as U.S. expansion into Native American lands, that are worth exploring but beyond the scope of a short blog post. At the end of the war when the U.S. and England signed the Treaty of Ghent on February 17, 1815, many questions were still left open. Neither side won the war, but many Americans saw it as a victory that they had held their own against the powerful British Empire.
The war did have some lasting musical influences. A battle at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry gave Americans its national anthem “The Star Spangled Banner,” which we wrote about in a previous Chimesfreedom post. Another War of 1812 battle inspired a pop hit in the 1950s when Johnny Horton sang about the war’s most famous fight in the song “Battle of New Orleans.” The humorous take on the battle in the song is reflected in The Ed Sullivan Show performance below of the song that was number one on both the country and pop charts in 1959.
We fired our guns and the British kept a’comin; There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago; We fired once more and they began to runnin’ on, Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
The actual Battle of New Orleans was a big victory for the U.S. over the British, but it happened after the war had officially ended. One outcome of the battle is that it helped launch the political career of future president Andrew Jackson, referred to by his nickname “Old Hickory” in the song.
Regarding the song, Jimmy Driftwood (1907-1998), an Arkansas school principal, wrote “The Battle of New Orleans” in 1936 as a way to get his students interested in history. Driftwood, who was born James Corbitt Morris, initially recorded “The Battle of New Orleans” but radio stations would not play it because the original version had “hell” and “damn” in the lyrics. For example, in Horton’s cleaned-up version, he sings, “We held our fire ’til we see’d their faces well./ Then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave ’em … well.”
Driftwood wrote several hits throughout his career, including “Tennessee Stud.” For the music to “Battle of New Orleans,” he used an old American fiddle tune called “The Eighth of January,” which is the date of the famous battle. Here is a lively rendition of that tune:
Johnny Horton (1925-1960), who had the biggest hit with “Battle of New Orleans” in 1959, was a country and rockabilly singer who had other historical hits with songs such as “North to Alaska.” He also married Hank Williams’s widow Billie Jean Jones, and the couple had two daughters.
If you want a video with a little more history than Horton’s song, check out this short summary of the war:
Finally, while there is little U.S. national celebration of the War of 1812 Bicentennial, that does not mean the event is being ignored. For example, Ohio, whose own history was affected by the war, has several events over the next few years. Meanwhile, Maryland issued War of 1812 license plates and plans for a three-year commemoration. Also, Canadians recognize the war as playing an important role in their country’s national identity. But wherever you are, have a safe and happy bicentennial!
Painting of Battle of New Orleans by Edward Percy Moran (public domain) via.
Why do you think most people are ignoring the 1812 Bicentennial? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On June 16 in 1903, Henry Ford signed the papers incorporating Ford Motor Company. A month later, the first Ford car was manufactured in Detroit. But it would not be until later when the company really began doing well, following the 1908 introduction of the Model T and the 1913 creation of an assembly line allowing mass production.
The automobile is intertwined with American history as well as with popular culture, as there are numerous songs about the highway and cars. Some popular songs are specific about the vehicles, such as Janis Joplin’s desire for a Mercedes Benz, Don McLean’s Chevy at the levy, and Prince’s Little Red Corvette.
Ford Motor Company products appear in songs too. In the video below, Marc Cohn sings about Ford’s Thunderbird car in “Silver Thunderbird.”
The title of the song “Silver Thunderbird” focuses on the car, which began manufacturing in 1955 and ended its run in 2005. But the lyrics of the song address Cohn’s childhood memories of how his father loved his car. “Great big fins and painted steel;/ Man it looked just like the batmobile,/ With my old man behind the wheel.”
“Silver Thunderbird” captures what a car can mean to a family. And I can relate, having grown up with parents who for some reason thought it was important to be loyal to one car company.
“Silver Thunderbird” is from Marc Cohn’s self-titled album from 1991 that also included the hit, “Walking in Memphis.” “Silver Thunderbird” later was covered by Jo Dee Mesina.
The most famous song about a Ford car is also one of the greatest car songs ever. “Mustang Sally” was written by Mack Rice and immortalized by Wilson Pickett in 1966.
The song, which asks Sally to slow her Mustang down, is not quite as wholesome as Cohn’s song about the Thunderbird. But the difference in song themes matches the different reputations of the two cars.
Although nobody can surpass Pickett’s version, there are a number of good covers of “Mustang Sally.” For example, in the excellent rise-and-fall-of-an-Irish-soul-band movie The Commitments (1991), the band’s performance of the song is one of the highlights of the film, which came out the same year as Cohn’s song about the Thunderbird.
The movie scene with The Commitments performing the song is no longer available on YouTube. But here is one of the group’s live performances, featuring lead singer Andrew Strong.
One of the highlights of NBC’s America’s Got Talent show this season so far was this week’s appearance by Andrew De Leon in the Austin, Texas auditions. As De Leon explains below, he has been treated as a bit of an outcast for his Goth looks and had never before sang in front of anyone. When he first opens his mouth to sing, the sound is so unexpected that you do not know whether it is going to be terrible or not. But then you realize that the guy can sing. Check out the video below (after a short commercial).
If you are wondering what he is singing, it is “O mio babbino caro” (“Oh My Beloved Father”) a soprano aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918) by Giacomo Puccini. You may read a short description of the context of the aria on NPR’s website, which also has an audio performance by opera singer Amada Squitieri.
As for De Leon’s performance, it is always a nice surprise when someone does something unexpected. As you can see in the video, judges Howie Mandel, Howard Stern and Sharon Osbourne all voted for De Leon to stay in the competition, so we will be seeing him again.
June 27, 2012 Update: After De Leon stumbled a bit from nerves in Las Vegas, the judges voted to eliminate him from the competition. I think the judges blew it. What do you think?
August 22, 2012 Update: He’s back! Howie Mandel brought De Leon back for the Wild Card show, where the judges brought back contestants for a second chance. De Leon delivered, and America voted for him to continue in the competition.
What did you think of Andrew De Leon’s performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.
