Category: Music

Tom Waits’s “San Diego Serenade”

I recently purchased a copy of Dion’s Yo Frankie CD.  The album featured an excellent cover of Tom Waits’s “San Diego Serenade,” although Dion renamed the song “Serenade.” I love the Tom Waits version, which is hard to top, but Dion does a great job.

Tom Waits Heart of Saturday Night “San Diego Serenade” originally appeared on The Heart Of Saturday Night (1974), which was the second album by Tom Waits. Waits is one of the great songwriters of his generation. I am not sure why more artists do not cover his songs, but it might be because Waits’s vocal style is so distinctive and memorable.

In addition to Dion, Nancy Griffith also covered “San Diego Serenade” on Late Night Grande Hotel (1991).  But there are not as many covers of the beautiful song as one might expect. Nothing matches the original recording by Waits of this song about regret and about recognizing what you have lost only when it is too late.

I never saw the morning ’til I stayed up all night;
I never saw the sunshine ’til you turned out the light;
I never saw my hometown until I stayed away too long;
I never heard the melody, until I needed a song.

The Voice of Tom Waits

In later live versions, you hear a change in Waits’s voice, as later albums embraced a raspy gravely vocal sound. There are various theories arguing that the change was a choice, that it was due to a change or damage to his vocal cords, or that it was caused by cigarettes, alcohol and/or drugs.

Waits briefly discussed his voice in this interview on NPR (starting around the 7:45 mark), but he does not clearly answer the question. The live version below was recorded in December 1975, which is less than two years from the release of the original above.  But you can already hear a big difference in his voice. Still, the interpretation is beautiful.

A Nice Cover Version

I looked through a number of other covers and amateur recordings. One usually finds interesting amateur recordings of songs on YouTube.  But there may be something about the emotion and voice needed for this song.  It is difficult to find any worthwhile versions of “San Diego Serenade.”

A band called The Sensitives created one of the best covers of the song.  I had never heard of the band, and from their MySpace page, they are from Australia. Or were. They have not updated their MySpace page in more than two years.

No label apparently singed The Sensitives, and there are some rough signs in this video — like the use of a music stand.  So, I suspect they are no longer performing together (though at least the lead guitarist Henrik “Pilen” Pilquist still seems to be in a band called the Marino Valle Band).

Here, though, whoever he is, the lead singer of The Sensitives has an excellent voice.  He is one of the rare singers who capture the meaning of the song in his performance. Whoever you are, dude, I hope you are still singing somewhere, just as I hope Tom Waits keeps writing and singing these beautiful songs.



What do you think of “San Diego Serenade”? What do you think of the cover by The Sensitives? Leave a comment.

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    A Coen Brothers Movie About Dave Van Ronk?

    Dave Von Ronk Mayor of MacDougal Street
    Reports are going around, including from the Los Angeles Times, that the Coen Brothers plan to make a movie loosely based on 1950s-1960s folk-singer Dave Van Ronk and the New York folk scene. It will be great to see the Coens creating another movie based around great music like O Brother Where Art Thou?

    If you watched Martin Sorsese’s documentary about Bob Dylan, No Direction Home, you might recall that one of the most interesting interviewees in the movie was Dave Van Ronk. Van Ronk was a folk singer in Greenwich Village during the 1960s, and he was a friend and supporter to many of the singers who would go on to more fame than he achieved, such as Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Van Ronk passed away in 2002 while he was working on a memoir, which was then completed by his collaborator Elijah Wald. The book, which will be used by the Coens, is titled after one of Van Ronk’s nicknames, The Mayor Of MacDougal Street.

    One of Van Ronk’s classic recordings is of the song ‘Green Rocky Road.”

    When I go by Baltimore,
    Ain’t no carpet on the floor.
    Come along and follow me;
    Must go down to Galilee,
    Singin’ green, green rocky road,
    Promenade in’ green;
    Tell me who ya love,
    Tell me who ya love.

    [UPDATE:  The movie became Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).]

    What do you think about the plans of the Coen Brothers? Who should play the Van Ronk character in the movie? Leave a comment.

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    Jimmy Soul on Happiness

    On June 25 in 1988, singer Jimmy Soul died of a heart attack at the age of 45. Who was Jimmy Soul, you ask? He had a short career in music, starting off as a gospel singer as a teenager and then had a huge hit with a calypso-sounding song rejected by Gary U.S. Bonds. The song, “If You Wanna Be Happy” went on to become a number one song in 1963. Unfortunately, he never had a hit song again, and he gave up his music career to join the army.

    Jimmy Soul In case the title does not ring any bells for you, the lyrics go:

    If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life,
    Never make a pretty woman your wife;
    So from my personal point of view,
    Get an ugly girl to marry you.

    The hit song was a version of a previously recorded Calypso song, “Ugly Woman.” I doubt the song is politically correct these days. But I’m not sure how anyone can hear it without smiling at least a little and wanting to get up and dance. You can see it here in this final scene from the movie Mermaids (1990), starring Cher, Winona Ryder, and a very young Christina Ricci in her first movie role. So, if you wanna be happy, just put on Soul’s one big hit song.

    Bonus “If You Wanna Be Happy” Information: Although nobody tops Jimmy Soul’s version of the song, actor Robert Mitchum did an interesting take on the song, entitled “From a Logical Point of View.” Yes, I actually own Robert Mitchum’s calypso CD. On several places around the Internet, several people incorrectly list the singer of Jimmy Soul’s version as The Coasters, including on some YouTube clips. Although The Coasters did not record the hit “If You Wanna Be Happy,” they had several other big hits, including “Yakety Yak” and “Charlie Brown.” The lead singer of the Coasters, Carl Gardner, passed away less than two weeks ago on June 13. Rest in peace.

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    Somebody to Love

    Writer Christopher Hitchens tells a great story about the playwright and activist Lillian Hellman. Late in her life, she was speaking at a college and someone asked her why, considering all of her activist work, she had not been a vocal advocate for gay rights. As the elderly Hellman leaned on her cane and looked through her thick glasses, she explained, “The forms of f**king do not require my endorsement.”

    Tonight, though, the New York Senate considered whether to endorse gay marriage, moments ago passing a bill that allows it. The New York Assembly had already passed the bill, which will now go to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who announced he will sign the bill. So, it appears New York will become the sixth and largest state to legalize gay marriage. The law, of course, is landmark legislation considering the history of discrimination, including the Stonewall Rebellion that began in New York City forty-two years ago this coming Monday when police raided a gay nightclub.

    I realize that people are divided on the issue, and many of us have views on gay marriage that have changed over time, just like Republican NY Sen. Mark Grisanti, who talked about his change on the NY Senate floor. But whatever you think about whether such things should require approval, you cannot deny that everyone needs somebody to love.


    In the above video, Freddie Mercury and Queen perform “Somebody to Love” off of A Day at the Races (1976). Mercury was recently voted the second greatest singer of all time in an NME Magazine poll and voted the best in a radio poll.

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    Glen Campbell: Gentle On Our Minds

    Today, Glen Campbell’s representative announced that the singer has Alzheimer’s disease and will be making his final tour later this year. Campbell’s wife Kim explained that they wanted fans to know about the illness in case it affected his performances on stage.

    Glen Campbell Gentle On My Mind

    On August 30, Campbell is releasing a new album, Ghost On The Canvas, featuring Jakob Dylan, Paul Westerberg, Chris Isaak, and Billy Corgan. While it has been a long time since I listened to new music by him, I am still fond of several of his classic songs from earlier in his career. I remember watching his television show, and of course, he was in the original True Grit. So, our wishes and prayers go out to him and his family through this time in his life.

    My favorite Glen Campbell song used to be “Rhinestone Cowboy,” but as I have aged, I have grown more fond of “Gentle on My Mind.” Maybe you prefer “Wichita Lineman” or “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” or another song. But in later years as I have listened more closely to the lyrics of “Gentle on My Mind,” I have discovered an unusual poetry in their words (“I dip my cup of soup back from a gurglin’ cracklin’ cauldron”). Although the song was written by John Hartford (who was inspired by the film Doctor Zhivago), Campbell’s delivery of the song about a wandering man’s memories of a lost or abandoned love reveals a true talent conveying complex emotions in a pop song.

    Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines,
    And the junkyards and the highways come between us;
    And some other woman’s cryin’ to her mother
    ’cause she turned and I was gone;
    I still might run in silence,
    Tears of joy might stain my face,
    And the summer sun might burn me till I’m blind;
    But not to where I cannot see
    You walkin’ on the back roads
    By the rivers flowin’ gentle on my mind.

    “Gentle on My Mind” was the title song off Campbell’s sixth album, which was also his first hit album. The single, though, was not a hit at the time, but it has earned a classic status over the years. The song has been recorded by greats like Elvis Presley, Lucinda Williams, and Dean Martin. But Campbell’s recording will always be what we associate with the song. His version keeps me ever smiling and remains gentle on my mind.

    What is your favorite Glen Campbell song? Leave a comment.

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