Category: Music

Do You Miss CD Stores?

CD Store Going Out of Business SaleI recently drove to the only remaining CD store within reasonable driving distance of where I live. It is an FYE chain CD and video store. The selection was never great, and most items were overpriced. But it was the last remaining CD store for me after the Tower Records stores closed down a few years ago.

I would go to the FYE store occasionally to browse.  And over the years there were a few CDs I wanted to get on the first day out, so I would take the drive to this store.

Today, when I stopped at the store, it was adorned by a large “Going Out of Business” sign. I was so heartbroken I could not even take advantage of the 50% off sale.

It is odd to despair about the demise of a commercial enterprise.  I am sad even though the cause of the demise, the Internet, has played an important role in helping me discover new music that I might never have found on my own in the record stores. But I cannot help feeling the loss from the closing of the CD/Record stores.

Today, I purchased Two Men with the Blues by Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis. I still remember the first three CDs I bought when the format was new. They were Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run.

Before that, I remember as a child saving my money to buy 45 rpm records at a small-town GC Murphy five-and-dime store to play on my portable record player. In college, I haunted the record stores on Coventry Road in Cleveland, discovering European recordings and bootleg LPs. As I moved around as an adult, there were always record and CD stores that were often open late at night where one could find new discoveries, old friends, or comfort from sadness, heartbreak, or loneliness.

FYE Going Out of Business SaleIn the late 1990s, I remember the thrill of discovering I could make my own CDs from selected songs off my other CDs. And then of course came the iPod and other music players, and everything changed.

I have a 160GB iPod that lets me carry around my entire music collection.  In my youth, I dreamed of being able to do that when I used to take long drives to visit my family in college and later. Instead, during those drives I would have to select the tapes or CDs that would fit in a case to take with me.

One loss from the iPod and computerized music, besides sound quality, is that I rarely listen to a single album repeatedly any more. There’s too much convenience to go to the next album, the next song, or shuffle play.

There are so many CDs where I listened to them repeatedly before falling in love with them.  So I wonder how much music I have lost as the CDs got buried in my digital collection.

For example, last month I read about a CD that sounded good.  I downloaded it from Amazon, put it on my iPod, and then forgot the name of the band and album. So, this potential new discovery sits buried somewhere on my iPod, waiting to be found again when I hear one of the songs on shuffle play. Perhaps I’ll never hear the album in its entirety once. That would never have happened in the old days of physical CDs.

One remaining remnant of the past is that my car stereo does not connect directly to my iPod.  So I do listen to CDs in my car.

But this summer, due to decreasing space in my small New York apartment, I moved my CDs to vinyl sleeves and little suitcases where they no longer sit out where I can grab them easily. My home stereo CD player died a few years ago and I have not replaced it, instead opting to play my iPod through the stereo.

So today’s purchase will be played in my car and through my iPod.  But the CD will probably never be played on a CD player in my home.

Willie Nelson Wynton Marsalis: Two Men with the Blues
My last CD store purchase ever?

So what is my point? Things change and there are good and bad things about the new world order. It is also okay to be glad one had the chance to spend those days and nights in the record stores, and to be sad those days are gone.

I wonder if today’s generation knows what they are missing. At least we still have the music. And book stores. For now.

Do you miss CD/Record stores? Leave a comment.

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    I’ll Die With a Buzzer in My Hand!

    Tonight on Jeopardy, one of the three contestants will be an IBM computer taking on two former champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. It is a battle of human against machine.

    The classic human-versus-machine song is “John Henry.” Historians debate about who was the person who inspired the folk tale. But most seem to agree that somewhere at some point, there was a real person or persons who inspired the legend.

    There are various versions of the song about the folk hero. In most versions of the story, John Henry is a railroad worker who, to save the jobs of his co-workers, claims he can beat the railroad company’s new steam-powered hammer. The tale and the song represent modern human beings’ attempts to maintain dignity in the face of rising corporate and technological powers. Although the various song versions differ, the lyrics from the song made famous by Pete Seeger include:

    John Henry told his captain,
    “A man ain’t nothin’ but a man,
    But before I let your steam drill beat me down,
    I’d die with a hammer in my hand. Lord, Lord.
    I’d dies with a hammer in my hand.”

    There are many great versions of the song by people such as Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash. There’s a blues version with some great guitar playing by Mississippi Fred McDowell.

    Here’s another version by Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Session Band that is a little less raw and a little more like a celebration of John Henry’s sacrifice.

    John Henry beat the machine, but in the end he died. Tonight, we doubt there will be any deaths, but can Jennings and Rutter beat the machine? Please answer in the form of a question.

    Post-Match Update: The computer won. But this match was just a warm up for a one-million dollar rematch that will be broadcast February 16, so there may still be hope for the humans.

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    Will Gov. Quinn Sign the Death Penalty Bill?

    Yesterday, the Illinois Legislature passed a bill to abolish the death penalty in that state. In order for the bill to become law, the governor must sign it. The bill now sits on Governor Pat Quinn’s desk, and he has said that he does not yet know what he will do.

    Lethal Injection ChamberIllinois has been a leader in the death penalty debate in recent years, so it will be interesting to see if the governor has the courage to accept the role in abolishing the death penalty. After several Illinois death row inmates were found to be innocent in the 1990s, then-Gov. George Ryan ordered a commission to review the criminal justice system and he ultimately commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois’s death row. The results from the commission, and studies by other states inspired by Illinois, in effect, found that there are so many flaws in the criminal justice system, that we can never be sure that we will not execute an innocent person.

    Fifteen states and the District of Columbia do not have the death penalty, and there has been a strong worldwide trend for decades to get rid of the death penalty. Yet, when we hear about a violent crime, like the recent tragic shootings in Arizona, our first reaction is to reach for the lethal injection needle. That quest for revenge is normal and human, but it is also normal and human to act out of rational thought instead of anger. And rational thought and experience tell us that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison, ineffective, racist, inaccurate, and discriminates against the poor.

    Steve Earle touches on several of these themes in his excellent song, “Billy Austin.” The stark tale is narrated by a death row inmate who is part Native American. He does not claim to be innocent, and he describes committing a murder during a filling station robbery. The song then addresses the trial, referencing the poor representation often given to those charged with capital crimes. Earle seems to be telling us that the death penalty is not given based on the worst crimes, it is given based on what happens in a courtroom.

    But my trial was over quickly
    And then the long hard wait began
    Court appointed lawyer
    Couldn’t look me in the eye
    He just stood up and closed his briefcase
    When they sentenced me to die

    The narrator then describes the wait on death row, touching on the racism in the system.

    I ain’t about to tell you
    That I don’t deserve to die
    But there’s twenty-seven men here
    Mostly black, brown and poor
    Most of em are guilty
    Who are you to say for sure?

    And the song ends with another question.

    Could you take that long walk with me
    Knowing hell is waitin’ there
    Could you pull that switch yourself sir
    With a sure and steady hand
    Could you still tell yourself
    That you’re better than I am.

    And those are the questions that face Gov. Quinn. If he does not sign the bill, he will be the one pulling the switch on everyone executed in Illinois from this day forward. And that is a heavy responsibility to bear. Because the death penalty ultimately is not about the person being killed, it is about who we are.

    Bonus Governors’ Dilemmas in Other States: In the past week, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen granted clemency to men on death row. Meanwhile, also in the last week, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter granted a posthumous pardon to Joe Arridy, who was executed in 1936, because evidence now shows Arridy was innocent.

    Bonus Discussion of Another Steve Earle Song on the Death Penalty:  Justice Stevens and Steve Earle’s “Ellis Unit One.”

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    Happy Birthday Elvis!

    Elvis Birthday On January 8 in 1935, the king of rock and roll was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.  The child was born to Gladys Love Presley and named after the middle name of his father, Vernon Elvis Presley.

    Thirty-five minutes before Elvis Presley was born, an identical twin brother named Jesse Garon Presley was delivered, stillborn. The deliveries took place in a small two-room house that Vernon had built in preparation for the anticipated births.

    Ten years later, Elvis gave his first public performance, standing on a chair at a fair to reach the microphone and dressed as a cowboy. He sang, “Old Shep.”

    In those pre-YouTube days, he made his first recording eight years later when he was eighteen. He went to Sun Records in Memphis to pay to record a couple of songs, with the first recorded sounds of that voice singing, “My Happiness.”

    There are varying stories about whether he simply wanted to record a song for his mother or whether he thought the recording might lead to his discovery. Either way, you can hear the start of something there.

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    Bob Dylan’s Late Career Classic About Loss and Memory: “Red River Shore”

    Although Bob Dylan originally left “Red River Shore” off of the album “Time Out of Mind,” he eventually released several versions of the song on his “Bootleg” series, to the delight of fans and critics.

    When I purchased Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (2008), the Bob Dylan CD that features unreleased songs from the time period of his more recent albums, the song “Red River Shore” stood out immediately as I played the CD in my car. I kept playing the song over and over again, barely getting to anything else on the CD. It is another example of a great song that Dylan originally decided to leave off an album he was making.

    At least, like other gems left off Dylan albums, “Red River Shore” eventually got released. And after this post was originally written, Dylan released additional versions of the song in 2023 on  The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996–1997). The music is great, as are the beautiful lyrics of loss.

    Bob Dylan Tell Tale SignsNow I’m wearing the cloak of misery
    And I’ve tasted jilted love
    And the frozen smile upon my face
    Fits me like a glove
    But I can’t escape from the memory
    Of the one that I’ll always adore
    All those nights when I lay in the arms
    Of the girl from the Red River shore

    Meaning of the Song

    Many listeners have speculated on the meaning behind “Red River Shore.” On its face, of course, the narrator sings about woman he once knew.  But the lyrics are tied up with the narrator’s feelings of loss and memory, such that a listener may speculate whether the singer’s story is reliable.

    The song is rich and open to interpretation.  Some writers have wondered if the girl from the Red River shore is the same person who was featured in Dylan’s “Shelter from the Storm,” such as in this piece on Gardener is Gone.

    Further, some have speculated that the narrator of the song is a voice from the grave.  There are several references in the lyrics that support this theory: The singer notes, “Sometimes I think nobody ever saw me here at all.”  And the following verse may indicate the events remembered happened a very long time ago (which may be literal or may just be that the memories seem so long ago):

    Well I’m a stranger here in a strange land,
    But I know this is where I belong;
    I ramble and gamble for the one I love,
    And the hills will give me a song;
    Though nothing looks familiar to me,
    I know I’ve stayed here before,
    Once a thousand nights ago,
    With the girl from the Red River shore.

    The above quote about being a “stranger here in a strange land” echoes a line from the Bible in Exodus 2:22, where Moses says, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.” So it might not be surprising that some listeners such as Songs for the Journey have found religious overtones in the song.  One has even argued that the entire song is about Dylan’s relationship with Christ.

    At first, I was interested that there might be a hidden meaning in the song. Of course, Dylan is Dylan and one may never know his intent, but on further listening I do not the main theme of the song is religious.

    The song is what it appears to be: a song about loss and memory. And while the final verse does have a reference to Jesus, it’s a statement that in today’s modern world, we unfortunately cannot count on God to undo what is lost. “He knew how to bring ’em on back to life/ Well, I don’t know what kind of language he used/ Or if they do that kind of thing anymore; /Sometimes I think nobody ever saw me here at all/ ‘Cept the girl from the Red River shore.”

    Inspiration for the Song?

    Bod Dylan may have been inspired to write the song by a folk song of the same name.  One version appears in The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection, a collection of songs recorded by a traveling salesman.  The “Red River Shore” there is about a woman waiting for a brave soldier, but the woman’s father puts together an army to prevent the soldier from reaching his daughter.

    The song, which appears to be in the folk tradition of a tragic love affair, takes a turn in the last verse.  There, the singer, who had spied the young damsel and the brave soldier, leaves the listener with a warning:

    Love, love is the great fortune,
    For all of mankind;
    The woman controlled,
    They’re always confined;
    They’re controlled by their parents,
    Until they are wise;
    Then slaves for their husbands,
    The rest of their lives.

    On July 5, 1960, Lulu Davis of Fayetteville, Arkansas made a recording of the folk song, available at this link.

    The Kingston Trio recorded a version of this “Red River Shore” with slightly different lyrics.  The Kingston Trio version is in the voice of the brave soldier.  In this version, the brave soldier dies at the hand of the father’s army before reaching his true love (whereas in the Max Hunter collection version, it appears the soldier survives the attack of the father’s men).

    I grabbed my six-shooter, spun round and around,
    Till six men were wounded and seven were down;
    I can’t fight an army of twenty and four,
    When I’m bound for my true love on the Red River shore.

    At the foot of yon mountain where the big river flows,
    There’s a fond creation and a soft wind that blows,
    There lives a fair maiden, she’s the one I adore.
    But never will marry on the Red River shore.

    Like Dylan’s “Red River Shore,” the earlier folk song is about a lost love, though at least in the Kingston Trio version, with the loss clearly centered around the death of the soldier.

    Another more well-known folk song with a similar title about lost love, of course, is “Red River Valley.” At least the title of the lament might have been on Dylan’s mind while crafting his song (with “Shore” echoing the “r” in the the previous two words, while “Valley” echoes the “v” in “River”).  In “Red River Valley,” the singer asks the lover leaving him to remember the Red River Valley and their love.

    But except for the names of these songs and the themes of loss, Dylan’s “Red River Shore” ultimately is very different from those other Red River songs.

    Versions of Dylan’s “Red River Shore”

    As noted above, Dylan eventually released several versions of “Red River Shore” on his “Bootleg” series of albums, even if it was originally left off Time Out of Mind.  Reportedly, the reason for the initial omission resulted from some tension between Dylan and producer Daniel Lanois on how to approach the song.

    Musician and producer Jim Dickinson, who was eventually brought on to play over a ten-day period on the Time Out of Mind sessions, later explained that when he heard “Red River Shore,” he recognized it as a great song.  But Dylan seemed frustrated with the attempts to get a final cut, telling Dickinson, “Well, we’ve done everything on that one except call the symphony orchestra.”

    Whichever Dylan version you choose, though, they all are lovely.

    Covers of “Red River Shore”

    For whatever reason Dylan did not put “Red River Shore” on Time Out of Mind (unsatisfied with the takes, the belief that did not fit thematically on the album, etc.), once the outtakes were released, critics and fans recognized “Red River Shore” as one of Dylan’s late-career classics.

    Although covers rarely match the original, I am intrigued by the number of people who have the guts to play a song and post it on YouTube. There are some nice covers of this song on YouTube. [2024 Update:  Some  of the ones mentioned below are no longer on YouTube.]

    For example, there’s a good one by a German band called CCC Inc.  A video of Henry Lim looks very professional, and it has nice instrumentation. Lim is the technical services assistant for the UCLA Music Library, and he has a busy extracurricular life. He has covered other artists like Radiohead with his string quartet, and he is an artist with Legos.

    There are some good versions in the “dude with a guitar” category, such as a nice one by Kevin Magoon, who also adds a little electronic drum. C22romero does a nice job on the song too, but maybe he should turn down the reverb a little. I wish Chris Pap would focus the camera, but he does a nice quiet version of the song.

    Perhaps because of the viewpoint of the lyrics, almost all of the covers are by men. But Linda Kosut performs the song in California.

    After this post was initially published, singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave covered “Red River Shore” on his album, Depending on the Distance (2012). LaFave, who in addition to writing his own songs was a wonderful interpreter of several Dylan songs, is one of the rare established acts to tackle the epic length of “Red River Shore.”  But he does an outstanding interpretation.  Below is the excellent version from that album.

    In another video after this post’s original publication, an artist named Kape does a nice version too. I cannot find much about him from the Internet, but he appears to be from Sweden.

    Finally, one of my favorite covers is this version of “Red River Shore” by “lornisply.” The video features a guy playing an electric piano in his home. He has a good voice and seems to connect to the song.

    And there is something about the simple weariness of the performance of the melancholy song that makes it believable, like he is thinking of someone he knew from long ago.

    I know nobody matches the Bob Dylan version, but which cover version do you like best? Leave a comment.