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.

Today's songs all started with one that isn't even on it. I've not mentioned my love for spy music for some time but it's still there and a song like Undercover Agent for the Blues is right up that alley. Once I started down it, though, I thought I'd find more undercover songs.

Find them I did! While you get the Billy Joe White version of the original song (as I've never really been a fan of Tina Turner's voice), you can also listen to that ubiquitous 70s hit Undercover Angel as well as Snoop Dogg and Bootsy Collins going undercover for funk. Technically, Agent 13 doesn't have undercover as the first word in the title but I really wanted to include Undercover Ska and the song seemed to fit beautifully.

I've also included some rockin' Monster Truck, a little Two Door Cinema, and some badly-mastered Silver Bullet (are you still rapping back there? I can't hear you!) If that's not enough, I threw in OPM and their surprisingly enjoyable Undercover Freak. Have a listen to all nine and let me know if you've got a favorite undercover song that I missed.

Cedar Walton died today (though it may well be yesterday for some of you by now). While I know a great many people think of him as a pianist, when I hear his name I think if the sadly short "Mobius" album. He played the synthesizer, with a great many talented folks, and covered Blue Trane with an original arrangement of his own.

Now, songs like this explain why I love jazz. Not only do you get wildly talented musicians making things up as they go along, you generally get horns and when you find a song you love it often goes on for ten minutes. (In case you couldn't tell, that was a hint that this song lasts ten funky, jazzy, brassy minutes.) Enjoy, and do let me know if you have a favorite Cedar Walton song.

The whole purpose of mashups is to bend genres, to blend decades into wholly new music that a wide audience can appreciate…in the form of getting down to songs that all but demand you dance. Forme has taken this to a new level by combining a nonsense song that personifies the 60s surf scene and mashing it with Skrillex.

Now, everybody’s heard about the bird if they’re over the age of 25 or so but I’d bet a good portion of those folks who know the word are unfamiliar with the Bangarang. Here we have a mashup to bring generations together, a real wedding-dance winner guaranteed to fill the floor. Okay, it does in my living room, where the kids and I pretty much take up the available dancing space.

Give it a shot yourself and see if it doesn’t get you moving. Whether you come to is as a fan of The Trashman or of Skrillex, Surfin’ Bird Bangarang gives you a lot to enjoy. Naturally, you can download this Mashup of the Month for free via the link on Forme's SoundCloud upload.

When was the last time you listened to Jungle Boogie? If you're anything like me, it's been a long time since you let Kool & the Gang shake your booty with their...uh...dulcet tones.

Bah, who am I kidding? If you want hot, grunting funk then this is your groove. If you think that sounded filthy, have a listen to the song. There's not an objectionable word in it but darned if it doesn't get you all hot and bothered, so much so that you cannot keep your seat but are forced to jump up and dance around with great vigor. If you find otherwise, I would love to hear what moves you.

Did you ever wonder where Parliament Funkadelic got their inspiration? Well, in part it was from Mandrill for whom they opened in the early 70s. Songs like Mango Meat give you a great taste of what made the Brooklyn band (founded by three Panamanian brothers) so influential. As an added bonus, you get some heavy-duty funk and hardcore horns. For a Monday evening, that's just about what the doctor ordered. If you like Mango Meat have a listen to Fat City Strut from the same 1973 album.

If ever you needed proof that your parents or grandparents had minds and habits just as filthy as your friends, have a listen to Billy Ward's Sixty-Minute Man. He wrote the song with Rose Marks and made it a 1951 hit with The Dominoes. It's considered one of the seminal realy rock and roll songs and was one of the first cross-over hits.

I have to tell you, it this was the sort of thing to which my kids were listening rather than the comparatively tame Elvis Presley I might, indeed, have had a problem with rock and roll coming out of whitebread, post-WWII America. Okay, I lie. I'm willing to bet their parents had seen and heard worse over the course of the 40s, no matter the genre.

Still and all, Mr. Ward had a pretty high estimation of his prowess and openly courted women who were seeing others. It's a pretty in-your-face song that was a hit at a time when it was just barely not scandalous for a woman to wear pants. That's pretty impressive! It's also been covered many, many times and appears to be a favorite with a capella men's groups. Have a listen and let me know what you think. Also, a tip of the top hat to +Dirk Talamasca for introducing me to the song.

As we get over Humpday, let's enjoy some wondrous proto-rock, some foot-tapping soul from the fantastic Big Maybelle. It's got some classic 50s saxophone and that twangy rock guitar that used to be all the rage, but it's also got Maybelle tinkling the ivories and her voice just made for what used to be called R&B before that turned into smooth jazz for the Top 40 crowd.

Enjoy Big Maybelle singing her Ring Dang Dilly off and hearken back to a more innocent time...at least as far as radio play went...and the hey day for Okeh Records. Let me know if it doesn't make you want to hunt down some bobby socks and dance the Jitterbug, because it sure does me.

For an old blues and jazz master like Taj Mahal, you don't always expect a huge sound. Luckily for you I'm here to share wild gems like Feets Don't Fail Me Now. You get Taj's great voice, a full choir, and horns. For those who like his roots sound it's a mighty switch but it's a song not to be missed.

In case you didn't realize, this is a cover of the Little Feat song Feats Don't Fail Me Now. Personally, I find this one a stellar re-imagining that stays true to both Taj Mahal's rambling spirit and the sound of the original. He recorded the song for a George Lowell tribute album in the late 90s, "Rock and Roll Doctor".

Whatever excuse the world found to get this cover made, I thank it heartily. I'll take any for a rollicking, romping tune that makes me get up and dance. Have a listen and let me know if you like it, too.

This post is a rant only tangentially related to The Ohio Players. That’s okay, because all you really need to know about Love Rollercoaster is that it’s quintessential funk, practically the epitome of the genre. If you don’t know it, listen to it.

The song leapt into my head today and I thought, “I bet that’s how what’s-her-face thinks of herself.” As my familiarity with Nicki Minaj is limited to clips of her lolling about in a metallic bikini for a few seconds in videos for various mashups, I had to find one to uncover her actual name. That’s not quite the point I was trying to make.

That contrast between a modern-day performer—one I think of more as a burlesque act than a musician—with some talented people deservedly famous for their music rather than their willingness to shimmy in very little clothing got me recalling how some remarkably unattractive people with wonderful voices and/or musicianship sold a whole lot of records once upon a time.

Don’t misunderstand my point: appearance has always played a part in marketing. The music industry is no different than any other in that respect. Why else the pre-Photoshop prevalence of soft-focus album covers? Why else the widespread use of matching outfits for bands for every public appearance?

Sex sells, again as it always has, though folks used to have to do it the hard way, in person and then on television. There have always been talentless hacks trading on their appearances. In my rosy view of the past, however, these were flashes in the pan, people who caused a furor and disappeared, one-hit wonders deservedly shoved back into obscurity after their little moment in the sun.

I really did have a point. Talent used to count for more than the willingness to writhe about in your undergarments on the Internet (and this applies to men as much as women, of late). It wasn’t all, but it charted and it sold records. It got recording contracts.

Sure, there’ve been a lot of remarkably bad songs recorded and sold over the past hundred years. A goodly number of them have been about drinking, drugs, and sex. Anyone who denies that is either deluded or lying and is obviously not a fan of funk, disco, or the blues.

This brings me around, full circle, to Love Rollercoaster and the fact that someone singing (and actually singing, rather than approximating and letting a machine hit his or her notes) about so specious a topic can still demonstrate a remarkable ability to make music.

Have a listen to The Ohio Players and let me know what you think. Do you agree or am I relying too heavily on my rose-tinted headphones?

For a lineup you never thought you'd see, unless you happened to see the show, boogie up your Friday with Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Kid Rock getting a Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On. While this isn't vocally the best version of the song I've heard (or listened to tonight), it more than makes up for it in energy and sheer number of horns. For a Friday, what more do you need?

[Note: They take a little break after 3 1/2 minutes but then they wail right back into with with full Jerry Lee Lewis piano hammering and brass blaring. It's worth it to wait through the interlude.)

You poor dears have been without Earth, Wind, & Fire for far too long. To that end I bring you one of my favorites. Got to Get You into My Life is not only a quintessential EWF song but it's off the first cassette I ever owned: "The Very Best of Earth, Wind, & Fire, Vol. 1". I still have it, by the way, though it's much the worse for wear. I actually bought a replacement for it but never could bring myself to toss the original.

If you're ready to get your groove on, complete with funky horns and lots of seventies style, have a listen to Got to Get You into My Life. You can pick up the CD for seven bucks right now via the album cover above, about what I paid for that second cassette a couple of decades ago. If you're a disco funk fan like I am, throw me a few recommendations or let me know your favorite Earth, Wind, & Fire song!

I'd like to thank +Jason Meininger for broadening my funk horizons the other day by introducing me to Geraldo Pino & the Heartbeats. I've very much enjoyed exploring their sound and would love to share them with you, too, my dears. To that end, have a listen to Power to the People.

I particularly enjoy how Mr. Pino talked to his band, bringing in various musicians with funk-appropriate comments. He did this on several songs on this album (the only one I could find pretty much anywhere, on-line) and I'd bet it was a staple of his live shows as well. As he passed in late 2008, sadly I'll never get a chance to see him and find out for myself.

On that less-than-cheerful note, I'm going to shush and let you listen. If you're a fan I'd love to hear which song is your favorite and if you're new to The Heartbeats please let me know what you think. You can listen to Heavy, Heavy, Heavy over at the Listening to...music community at G+ if the funk catches your feet, too.

Some people might be ready for drinks and a night out, but I'm offering you instead a steaming heap of Jambalaya, chock full of bayou sass and made by everyone from Hank Williams to The Carpenters. Should that not be enough to tempt you I also threw in a crazy helping of Brenda Lee, the essential seasoning of Clifton Chenier with spoons in hand, and the unexpected flavor of Los Felinos.

"But," you say, "what about that well-known Cajun swingster, Harry Connick, Jr.?" He's in there, too, with a side of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival to whet your appetite. Jeff Healey brings the bite of serious boogie and then The Residents balance the recipe with a creepy take on the whole concept.

All together I've assembled fourteen ingredients to make one enormous pot of Jambalaya (On the Bayou). Dip in and have a taste. I won't blame you a bit if you eat the whole thing, though this is one meal that will likely leave you starving when you've finished dancing your way through it. If I've missed your favorite cover, I'd love to know who performed it.

From time to time it amuses me to realize that there are pop songs out there that I know thought I’ve never heard the original. When I think of Adele, for instance, I think of her as re-imagined by Marc Johnce (with all sorts of pop music) and DJs from Mars (with Robin S). I’ve heard her over thrash metal and slowed down to a lady Barry White. I have no idea how the song is “supposed” to sound.

Daft Beatles mashed Rolling in the Deep with Sweet Dreams. DJ Maya Jakobson added some classical and some Britney Spears to make ‘Til the Swan Lose Deep Control. Dan Mei chose to lay Adele over Fire and Flames to give her that 200-bpm, flame-broiled bite. ShyBoy slowed her and rolled her with Underworld to make Born in the Deep (Rolling Slippy).

Then there's Ryan Nellis, who rolled Adele through the Eye of the Tiger and the one that slew me, the piece de resistance, Wick-it the Instigator's Rolling in the Fire, which takes Rolling in the Deep and gives it some deep funk.

Naturally, you can download all of these for free. Just click the links above. I've got a set at SoundCloud so that you can hear them but Dan Mei's track isn't there so you get that one on a separate player. Have a listen and let me know which you like best, or if you're true to the original.

Sh-Boom is one of those songs that I've known since I was a kid, though I haven't the faintest idea from where. It's long been an earworm and I've spent more than my fair share of time trying to emulate the "yaddadadadadadadada" part at speed. Just so you know, I still can't do it as well as The Crew Cuts.

Imagine my delight at hearing the song when watching Cars with my kids. I was sad it was so short but I've made up for it by making them listening to it fully many times since then. I'd like to think some day they'll have it stuck in their heads and will play it for their little ones, too. Until then, I want to share it with you.

I'm hungry, and there's only one thing that will do: funk so thick you can eat it with a spoon. To that end, find out what makes The Bar-Kays Too Hot to Stop. It's a full meal of funk, with a side of love song and a big helping of horns to make you drool.

Dang, I really am hungry now. Get your groove on to work up your own appetites, my darlings, and let me know if you think there's a funkier Bar-Kays song that Too Hot to Stop.

While Trout Fishing in America has more in common with Flight of the Conchords than they do Simon and Garfunkel, they did improve upon a wonderfully fun song that I thought I ought to share with you all. It's one of the few coffee songs I haven't posted.

I like this version better than the album version because they're not trying to get the audience to sing along. I would like them to keep going faster and faster at the end until they trip over their own tongues, though. That would be wildly entertaining.

At any rate, have a Proper Cup of Coffee with Trout Fishing in America. Whatever you do don't listen to the Andrews Sisters version of the song. It's dreadful. One would have thought they didn't have a copper pot between them!