Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

Listen to Your Junk Man

One of the first Bruce Springsteen songs I truly fell in love with was “New York City Serenade,” the closing track from The Wild, the Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle (1973). Long before I ever imagined I would end up living in New York City, the song’s beauty resonated with me.

springsteen new york city serenade

From the opening notes on the original recording with David Sancious playing a long piano introduction before Springsteen’s guitar comes in, through the final refrain about the junk man, the music and imagery captures a time and place much like “Jungleland” later did. Unlike the later song, though, the story in “New York City Serenade” is less clear.

Left of the Dial noted the words amount to “a jumble of lyrics with some nice bits which just don’t add up to much.” But the Christian Science Monitor found some parenting advice in the song. But, as Left of the Dial also notes, the music is the star of this song.

Perhaps I found something special in the song because it was not something one heard on the radio. So among most of my friends, the song was something that only I knew.

My lonely connection to the song did not last for long. My college roommates in the early 1980s heard the song over and over again playing on my stereo. The repeated plays annoyed one of my roommates so much that we regularly engaged in a stereo war with me playing “New York City Serenade” against his beloved REO Speedwagon “Heard it from a Friend.”

Actually, I’m not even sure which REO Speedwagon song he used to play.  But even though today I am not ashamed to admit I have REO Speedwagon songs in my music collection, I still think my choice of song has held up pretty well.

I have read about early shows where Springsteen closed his concerts with “New York City Serenade.” But I have never been lucky enough to hear him play the rarely performed song live.

Yet, on July 11, 2013, Springsteen dragged out a symphony to play the song with the E Street Band. Thank God for YouTube.

Check out Blogness who asks why Europe was getting Springsteen’s rare songs. What is your favorite Springsteen deep track? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Song of the Day: “Boulder to Birmingham”

    One of the most beautiful songs ever written about someone’s death is Emmylou Harris’s tribute to Gram Parsons, “Boulder to Birmingham.”

    Emmylou Harris

     While many grieved the death of the brilliant singer-songwriter Gram Parsons on September 19, 1973, nobody created as much beauty out of the tragedy as Emmylou Harris. Her song about Parson, “Boulder to Birmingham,” is one of the most beautiful country songs lamenting the loss of someone.

    The Songwriters

     Harris had been close to Parsons, who helped  her career and featured her on his 1973 album GP.  Harris, known more for her incredible voice and talent for interpreting songs, mined her heartbreak over the loss of a friend and mentor to co-write a wonderful lament.

    Bill Danoff co-wrote “Boulder to Birmingham” with Parsons.  Danoff, as part of the Starlight Vocal Band, later wrote and recorded the hit song, “Afternoon Delight,” a catchy pop song miles distant from the heartfelt lament in “Bolder to Birmingham.” 

    Danoff also recorded “Boulder to Birmingham” with Starlight Vocal Band in a version much softer than you might expect if you only know the band’s “Afternoon Delight.” Danoff knew how to craft songs, as he earlier co-write John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as well as “I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado.”

    The Song “Boulder to Birmingham”
    I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham;
    I would hold my life in his saving grace;
    I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham,
    If I thought I could see, I could see your face.
     

    The most recognizable, and maybe the best, part of “Boulder to Birmingham” is the chorus (above).  But the line that breaks my heart every time is: “Well you really got me this time;/ And the hardest part is knowing I’ll survive.” There’s great wisdom about loss in that line.  In most cases of loss, we do survive somehow, but even knowing that does not make it easy.

    Below, Emmylou Harris sings “Boulder to Birmingham” in 1975.  In the background, you can see a young Rodney Crowell in singing backup (while “Boulder to Birmingham” followed a beautiful heartbreak song Crowell wrote, “‘Til I Gain Control Again”).  At the time of the show, Harris was around twenty-eight years old, having lost Parsons around two  years earlier.

    “Boulder to Birmingham” originally appeared on Harris’s album Pieces of the Sky (1975). Since then, it has been covered by The Hollies, Dolly Parton, The Wailin’ Jennys, and Joan Baez, among others.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Flower In the Gun

    Michael Franti & Spearhead has released a song about gun violence with a powerful new video. The song features Victoria Canal and is called “The Flower.”

    The video features moving portraits of people who have been injured or who have lost loved ones to gun violence. Whatever you believe about gun control, one cannot watch the video without being touched.

    In the song, Franti references the famous image of Vietnam War protests with protesters putting flowers in the guns of police.

    Cause we could be the healin’;
    When you’re feeling all alone;
    We could be the reason,
    To find the strength to carry on;
    In a world that’s so divided,
    We shall overcome;
    We could be the healing;
    We can be the flower in the gun;
    We could be the healing;
    We can be the flower in the gun.

    Michael Franti is releasing “The Flower” his upcoming album, #Stay Human, Vol II.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Jesus and Elvis, Painted on Velvet

    Hayes Carll What It Is

    Hayes Carll is releasing a new album, What It Is. He has released the first single with lyrics built around two icons on a velvet painting, “Jesus and Elvis.”

    The new track brings in a number of country music tropes. The singer references a son lost in a war, whiskey, redemption, Christmas lights, and a bar with a velvet painting of “the king of kings and the king of rock and roll.”

    We do not learn much about the characters in the song, except that the singer seems to find comfort only in the bar, drowning in alcohol, beneath “Jesus and Elvis.” Check it out.

    Hayes Carll‘s album on Dualtone Records, What It Is, hits stores and the Internet on Febuary 15, 2019.

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    Keeping the Wolves At Bay

    Ryan Bingham’s new single from his upcoming album begins with memories of being a scared child and ends with advice for standing one’s ground. The new song, “Wolves,” appears on his upcoming album, American Love Song. With the song appearing on an album about America, one cannot help wondering if the song is about the current state of affairs in the country. After telling about learning as a child to keep the wolves at bay, the singer recounts a lesson that is coming now from a younger generation.

    Years have gone by,
    And the callin’ carries on;
    Scars above my eye,
    Are tender to the bone;
    And though I’ve settled down,
    I hear the children say,
    “You have to stand your ground
    And keep the wolves at bay.”

    There are other types of wolves humans have to keep at bay too. Another interpretation is that the song is about struggling with addiction. A great song often leaves much of the interpretation to the listener, so listen for yourself.

    Through interviews, Bingham provides a little more insight into the song, consistent with both interpretations above. He explained to Billboard that the song is about “the constant effort of fighting the darkness.” And he recounted examples of standing up to bullies and fighting substance abuse. But additionally, he explained that the song was inspired by the March for Our Lives students who stood up to social media attacks while they were fighting for gun control in the wake of the Parkland school shooting. He added, “The courage of these kids was inspiring to me.”

    Ryan Bingham remains a wonderful talent, even though many do not recognize his name. Yet, he won the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and a Grammy for his fantastic song, “The Weary Kind.” The song appeared in Crazy Heart (2009), and probably helped win Jeff Bridges the Oscar too.

    But Bingham has recorded several albums, and it is worth delving deeper into his catalog. And it sounds like American Love Song is something to look forward to. American Love Song hits stores and the Internet on February 15, 2019.

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