The Not-Pop Jukebox

In reposting from five years ago, I keep finding playlists that I created in Grooveshark that have all disappeared into an abyss never to be seen again. They included as many as forty versions of or thematically related songs that I spent hours curating. Ring of Fire was one of the first, and it was blessedly short!

Happily, the song and its covers have not paled over time. My family still sings it at full volume when shuffle blesses us with a version. Here's hoping the rest of my recreations go as smoothly! Here's the original post and the new video playlist with the addition of the actual original from Anita Carter and a couple of other great burning covers (don't miss DragonForce and don't look for Coldplay--this is the Not-Pop Jukebox, you know).

I feel that I should start with a disclaimer that I don’t watch American Idol. I do, however, like many of Johnny Cash’s songs and Ring of Fire in particular. It caught my eye that one of the contestants performed a very unusual version of that song last night and the wildly varying opinions led me to watch the video.

While I wasn’t crazy about the arrangement, the many posts and comments that I read expressing the opinion that Johnny Cash was spinning in his grave made me go looking for even more versions of Ring of Fire. I suspect that The Man in Black would have given the contestant a hearty pat on the back for taking such chances rather than being offended by the unusual interpretation. Of all of the country stars whose songs he could have chosen, I think Cash is the most likely to enjoy such a creative rendition.

Consider these versions of Ring of Fire, most of which were recorded while Mr. Cash was still alive (and, for the better-known acts, almost certainly with his permission). Try Grace Jones’ reggae-tinged version, Ray Charles’ soulful cover, or Blondie’s punk-country take on it. I’ve included Johnny Cash himself at the end (he's at the beginning, now), for a reminder of how it originally sounded. There’s a bit of nasty language in the Social Distortion cover, so if that will upset you then you may want to skip it.

Sometimes, you just want some funky drums. Thanks to Rusted Root, you can take a beat-heavy, Grateful Dead-esque Drum Trip, the first track on their 1994 release "When I Woke". Rusted Root lives in the genre I call "hippies", with the likes of Phish and WookieFoot. They're globally aware, world beat-influenced jam bands, all a mite more esoteric than strictly necessary. Rusted Root is also a lot of fun on songs like Drum Trip, Weave, and their better-known Send Me on My Way.

Sadly, much as I loved their first four albums (and the EP "Evil Ways"), when they took that long break after 2002's "Welcome to My Party" the seem to have lost something.  "Stereo Rodeo", released in 2009, seemed unfocused in comparison.   When they came out with "The Movement" a few years later the first song made me think they were back but, alas, the same dragging, badly-mixed sound dogged the rest of the album.  One of these days I'll post Monkey Pants for you, but for now take a Drum Trip back to Rusted Root's heyday instead.

The Libertines made decent rock, but the whole “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” concept rather went to the heads of some members, or at least to their egos. It's too bad, because songs like Narcissist prove that the group made a solid songwriting team. They actually managed to make a grungy, almost rockabilly song that doesn't wallow.

I like a little social commentary with my pop, so this song won me over to the Libertines' side of the fence (musically speaking, if not politically). While the band did meander into melancholy, The Libertines offered generally interesting, and often smart, lyrics as the cake to hold up their musical icing. They do a very old-school sound, with guitars straight out of the 70s. That's enough to earn them a spot in the jukebox!

It's time to plug the Not-Pop Jukebox back in, and what better way to do that than to go back to my first song and re-post the song with a new way to listen to it? As far as I can tell, no alternative to the wonders that were Grooveshark are going to arise and I miss posting so we're going with videos. The post went thus (I used to be more succinct):

I remember when Dance the Night Away was a old David-Lee-Roth-era Van Halen tune. I can admit that I rather liked it then; I'm old enough not to blush about my occasional enjoyment of hair band hits. But the song was due for an update. Along came the Forces of Evil in 2003, with their ska rendition of the song on the album "Friend or Foe".

I'll add to my original blurb that Dance the Night Away was Van Halen's first hit, when I was but a wee music fan, and that the story behind it could only have come from a group that paid their dues playing dive bars. Whoever that woman was that inspired the song, the world of rock and roll thanks you.

For this, my 1,000th post, I thought I’d share some thoughts on what the heck I think I’ve been doing here for four years. To that end, I’ve been considering why I blog and music bloggers in general.

The entire point of blogging is to get your opinion in front of other people. That holds even more true for sites that offer reviews and recommendations. The reason for wanting to do that, however, varies widely.

For me, blogging about music is an outlet for a long-standing habit: telling people about the weird songs that I love. I hardly fancy myself a tastemaker (my recent joining of the Tastemaker X site notwithstanding). My motives are purely selfish.

I’m hardly angling to be influential in the music industry or to make a pile of money from selling my opinion to the most-popular bidder. Were I pursuing that angle this would be the All-Pop Jukebox, after all, wouldn’t it?

Here’s my reasoning: if I put the music I think is great out there and more people hear it more people will buy it. The more people that buy it the more encouraged (and financially able) the musicians I like will be to make more. With a modicum of luck, they’ll have noticed my humble efforts here and send it to me to share with you all and then around the circle goes again.

Lacking a circle of friends interested in every great new band I had just heard, I started posting here looking for feedback from like-minded fans and open-minded listeners. What I found was that few people give me much on the posts but that everywhere else I spend time on the web has turned into a place I find a few other rabid music lovers (except Google+, where I’ve found an entire community of hundreds of them). Their comments and recommendations in response have fueled The NPJ at least as much as my own findings over the years.

I may never be a big-name music blogger on an international scale and I’m certainly not ever going to make a living here. That’s just fine with me. You, my darlings, quiet though you are, keep me wanting to find and share more wonderful songs and artists and to keep digging into the ones I already own. I won’t lie and say it’s all for you but without readers and interaction, wherever it occurs, a blogger tends to get discouraged.

Much as I enjoy blabbing and gushing and occasionally chastising here at The NPJ I doubt I’d have kept on if you all hadn’t been willing and sometimes eager to tell me what you thought. For that I thank you, dears, and offer you one of my favorite songs of all time which I’ve been saving for just this occasion. If you’ve been around for more than a couple of posts you’ll be unsurprised at its being Oingo Boingo.

Try to Believe also counts a Jukebox Roots post, as it's one of the first songs I posted. I’ll shut up now and let you listen to the song. Tomorrow I’ll be back to my briefer self.

Many, many months ago (about three and a half years' worth) I posted a little history of the song I Fought the Law with nary an embedded player to be seen. Then I wrote a little article about it, including videos, lyrics, and more and forgot all about it.

But it seems high time I gave you all a way to actually enjoy the song right here on The NPJ. For a song coming up on its sixtieth birthday I Fought the Law is still remarkably fresh-sounding to my ears. It's certainly been updated and re-imagined enough times over the passing decades.

Thus I've added for your listening pleasure everyone from Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Jr, to The Pogues and The Grateful Dead. Naturally, I've included the Bobby Fuller Four version that is so well-known and The Clash who, for me, recorded the iconic cover thereof. In all you'll find fifteen versions of the song here, though no Green Day and no Bruce Springsteen, thank you very much.

Don't miss the 80s rockabilly goodness of the Stray Cats or the barely-understandable version from Mano Negra. The Beatsteaks recorded an oddly affecting cover of the song, very gritty and a little downbeat. And Die Toten Hosen, not quite a German Clash cover band but close, naturally recorded a great version, as well. Let me know which one you like best!

Way back at the beginning, here at the NPJ, I added a slew of wonderful songs with unstable widgets that left you unable to enjoy them should you wish to explore the archives. That's why I do these "Jukebox Roots" posts: to fix those old dogs by teaching them new, Grooveshark tricks. Today I thought I'd carry on my recent paean to Martin Sexton when he does what he does best with a re-post of Diggin' Me. This was the very first song of his that I heard and one that I still love. You can read what I thought about it (and still do) on that old post. For today, I'm just going to let you enjoy the song. Don't miss the fantastic trumpet impression that slew me upon first hearing.

For no apparent reason, of late my post from mid-2009 of the 8½ Souvenirs cover of Sharp Dressed Man has been getting steady attention. It’s been a while so I presumed that I had posted a list of covers and chosen to feature that one.

Imagine my dismay when I looked at the post only to find that I’d not included the ten or more other covers of Sharp Dressed Man floating around the music world. And so today I rectify that with a dozen more, including the ZZ Top original and a great reimagining from Chrome Division.

The song appears to have captured the imagination of the country and western world, as well. That strikes me as a bit odd, perhaps because the image I have of a sharp-dressed country star involved ironed blue jeans and cowboy boots. Tack on the highly-entertaining cover from Ministry and you get to wondering what a conglomeration of these "sharp-dressed" men would look like.

Don't miss the wacky Dragonette version while you're listening. I finished up with a version in a language I can't identify so if any of you can tell me from where Ryhtivaliohumppa came I'd love it. And don't forget to hit that 8½ Souvenirs cover while you're at it.

As so often happens, I awoke with a song in my head. In this case it was Pale Young Gentlemen's Saturday Night, wholly inappropriate for a Monday morning and yet there it was...and still is. But when I went to see if I'd posted it I found only a sorry imeem widget that had long since given up the ghost.

Naturally I thought it best to replace that post, though you can still read what I thought of Saturday Night three years ago, with a song you could actually play. And so here I am today with a great indie group out of Madison, Wisconsin that still sounds inventive and fresh.

Sadly, I can find no indication that they're busily recording and making a new record for us impatient fans. They're been nothing on social media for weeks which, as you know, is something like a decade in dog years and a century in Internet terms. We can only hope that they're getting ready to follow up their first two albums with something even better. Cross your fingers, folks!

As another throwback to the bad old days at the beginning of The NPJ, when I didn't know how to post an awesome song properly, I bring you the wonder of Rage in the Cage from The J Geils Band. In short, this was the song that introduced me to the wonders of B sides, back when you bought a 45 that actually had an A and a B side.

My sister bought ours because of the pop hit on the front but from the first listen I loved Rage in the Cage about fifteen times more. I still have the thing, though, because I stole it from her when she was heavily into cassettes. She's still got the K-Tel records, though. It's a toss-up who won that round. What about you, my darlings? Do you have a favorite B side or a 45 you've been hoarding for thirty years (or more)?

Long, long ago I posted about Red Hot Chili Peppers's Magic Johnson and how much I love the song. But I didn't have Grooveshark then so I didn't post the song. What a tragedy!

Today, I remedy that little problem by gifting you the glory of a song about a basketball player. Nay, I offer a tribute to the basketball player. Magic Johnson always seemed like such a teddy bear of a guy to me, dunking or no. And what I wrote 'way back then still holds true. And there are still a couple of F-bombs, so keep it turned down if you're at work or some kid's birthday party or something. Otherwise, "Does anybody want some Magic Johnson?!"

Apparently once a year I feel the need to post an OH SNAP!! song. The first time I posted High Top Fade was when The NPJ was but a baby blog and I didn't have this whole "Grooveshark is my best friend" thing down. Naturally, that means that I didn't have the song included in the post. Well, I'm going to not only fix that but add I'm Too Fat to Be a Hipster as well. The latter is one of those songs that's not only an earworm around my house but funny as well. I can think of few things more entertaining than my little beanpole boys bopping around the house singing it, which they do with somewhat disturbing regularity.

At any rate, enjoy the tracks from two white boys who have turned old-school rap into a DJ career. Personally, I like the gimmicky, funny old stuff more than their new things like Shake It Like a White Girl and Single Girls Rock. I'll take self-deprecation over stereotyping and misogyny any day. I do like Aussies Love Tank Tops, though.

Ages ago (well, two and half years or so) I posted about one of my favorite songs but didn't give you a way to see or hear any of the versions to which I linked. That's just silly. And so today I bring you not only a playlist of some of them but a video of Bobby Darin singing the song that made me sit up and notice him. I'd heard his silly pop songs but his take on Blue Skies made me realize what a vocal powerhouse he really was and I've adored his take on some crooner classics that Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack couldn't pull off half as well. (Compare Sinatra's version below with Bobby Darin's and let me know if you agree!)

Enjoy Ella Fitzgerald's Blue Skies, too, done with her usual ease and humor. I wonder if she an Bobby Darin ever sang together? If they did I can't find proof but I'd adore being proven wrong. By the way, the sound on this video is a little flat, not just Mr. Darin. Grooveshark didn't have him performing the song, though. If you want to see the very best part, skip to 1:30. That fifteen seconds proves that he owns the song, no matter how much I adore Ella and Frank and the rest. Notice how Eva Cassidy screws up the lyrics and Benny Goodman did away with them altogether.

Unexpectedly, Harry Connick, Jr. went with a sort of ragtime version of this song and skipped the vocals as well. I think that was an excellent choice on his part, the Michael Buble of the 90s though he was. And Bing is still way too sad for the lyrics. I tossed in a violin and piano instrumental, as well. (I'd no sooner posted this than I realized that I'd already posted an even longer list of Blue Skies versions about a year ago. Apparently winter makes me want to hear this song.>

I posted Bounce more than two years ago but it was before I had discovered the joys of Grooveshark and, yet again, the imeem widget has died. So why am I posting it today? Because I'm in a mood and everything I listened to this morning seemed boring, trite, or just annoying. Then System of a Down popped up in my play list and I bounced along. I actually smiled. That was enough to make it the song of the day but then I realized that the original post was pointless and stupid, just like the rest of my morning. That seemed to make Bounce perfect. Now if only I had a pogo stick...

That's right, it's NSFW, people. I'm completely breaking the rules today because this song came to my attention in a quite not-pop way, despite its apparent popularity and the fact that the performer did the cheesy cover of Kung Fu Fighting at the end of Kung Fu Panda. You may or may not be familiar with the fact that I am easily amused by grown men pretending to cry in song. And so I came to this song as a modern example of the classic Albert Collins tradition.

So not only do we have a song with a swear word in the title but it's a pop song, as well. I don't care: it's been stuck in my head for four days. I can't take it any more. I also realized that the widget I had stuck in for ...But I Was Cool has gone to meet its maker. You get a two-for-one, fake crying extravaganza today, people. You're welcome.

Three years ago, I pleaded for help in finding a song called Man of My Dreams. As that's all I knew about it I wasn't too surprised to get no response. But I finally did find the song a couple of months ago and then completely forgot to share it with you. Honestly, I can't believe this woman never caught on with quirky DJs.

But enough of that! You want the song. Well, fine, here it is if you're going to be that way about it.

Long, long ago I posted Can't Get a Job from WookieFoot, so long ago I had not yet discovered Grooveshark. For this recessionary Friday, I thought I'd post it again in a listener-friendly format. Besides, I haven't posted a WookieFoot song all year! I still love the song, and I still listen to the band plenty. I often forget that they aren't as well known as, say, Rusted Root, the other neo-hippie jam band I enjoy. Those of you who can't get a job because you can't afford to work, this one's for you.

Ferraby Lionheart's Before We're Dead was one of the first songs that I posted here at The NPJ, but I never did include a way to listen to the tune itself. On this beautiful spring Thursday, as much as I adore you all, I can't be fussed with creating a long blather about something about which I already posted so I'm going to let the old post stand (you can click the link above to read it) and just give you the song here. I still think it's a fabulous song, filled with harmonies and horns enough to make even the grouchiest person start tapping his or her toes. You can listen to a whole lot more at Grooveshark if this taste whets your appetite and, yes, he was an SXSW artist (in 2007).

One of the very first songs that I posted was the song that introduced me to Morphine: Early to Bed. Foolishly enough, I didn't search high and/or low enough to find a way to include that song in the post. Happily, I've thought to remedy that lack of knowledge today. I had intended to post only You Look Like Rain, but it's so mellow and sparse that I hesitated to let it stand alone. I can't resist a song that includes a line like, "I can tell that you taste like sky 'cause you look like rain." Why should I, with the lovely saxophone meandering about in the background? But it definitely doesn't fit the up-beat sound here at The NPJ.

Happily, I remembered that, while I had certainly included Early to Bed early in Not-Pop Jukebox history, you weren't able to listen to the song. Thus, I offer a twin-pack of Morphine to you all today, giving two glimpses into the band's sadly defunct sound. For another, you could check my post on another of their songs, Buena.

Many moons ago, before I learned of the joys of Grooveshark, I added this mellow stretch of electro love, Eyes, Lips, Body to The NPJ. I'm sure you'll be shocked to know that I included an imeem player which has since turned itself into an ad rather than a way for you to enjoy the song.

Though I still like this song enough to want more, it's the only song I've ever found by Ramshackle (and the Hackers soundtrack is the only place I've ever found the song). If any of you have a clue as to who the mixer and/or original artist were, please share with me. It's one of those curiosities that drives a music fan crazy.