The Not-Pop Jukebox

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.

Today is the anniversary of Stephen Foster's death, that pioneering gent so far ahead of his time that he tried to make a living as a songwriter and died, penniless and destitute, at the age of 37. Even if you have never heard of the man I guarantee you know at least one or two of his songs. He was that influential, eventually, he just couldn't make any money.

For today, let's have takes by well-known folks on Stephen Foster's well-known songs. I've started with a fantastic version of Old Folks at Home by Ray Charles titled Swanee River Rock. Then Taj Mahal's bluesy, harmonica-filled Oh, Susannah, Sam Cooke's soulful I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, and noddle around with Dave Brubeck and his quartet offering their take on Camptown Races. Finally, we come around full-circle to Louis Armstrong back on Old Folks at Homes.

Spare a thought for the music makers among us today and, the next time you download something that's "pay what you like", throw in an extra buck for them. You never know who's going to be the next lynchpin in the musical vocabulary of a country or even the world.

Not all songs of wanting are sad. Today let’s have a playlist filled with fun songs, all with the word “want” in the title. Everyone wants something so let’s try some Spekulation, some Cat Power, some Etta James, and some David Bowie…and that’s just for starters. I've already posted a slew of versions of I Want to Take You Higher but you'll find three different songs titled I Want My Baby Back.

You’ll find Sly & the Family Stone in here, too, cheek and jowl with Queen, Bow Wow Wow, and Blind Boy Fuller. Heck, you’ll even bump into They Might Be Giants. As neither the proper, Taj Mahal version of Give Your Woman What She Wants nor Spekulation's I Want It All appear on Grooveshark I've included separate ways to listen to each.

Have a meander and let me know if you find that wanting can be much more enjoyable than sappy love songs would have you believe. Well, okay, the David Bowie song is pretty drippy and Queen's I Want to Break Free is a solid break-up song. But I Want Some of Your Pie works as a pretty good antidote. If you’ve a favorite song of wanting that doesn’t appear on this list, share it with me!

I have a penchant for creating play lists based on song titles. One of those lists includes all of the songs I own that have a number in the title, about 200 songs at the moment. I thought I’d make up a list for you today that includes songs for which the titles begin with the numbers one through ten, just because I can.

Let’s make a little story of them, shall we? We’ll start with One More Shot from Lonnie Brooks, follow it with Two More Bottles of Wine from Delbert McClinton, and by then we’ll be hearing Three Little Birds, Bob Marley style and blowing in the Four Winds with The Killers.

So you’re playing Five Card Stud with Buckwheat Zydeco instead of getting ready for Six Days on the Road with Taj Mahal (or The Flying Burrito Brothers). You feel like a Seven Day Fool, just like Etta James, Eight Miles High with The Byrds, like it’s Nine in the Afternoon and there’s a Panic at the Disco. The only thing for it is to cool out at 10 Ritchie Drive with Gene Krupa. Dig?

Usually when I post an "et al" title I mean that I'm posting several versions of a song. In this case, it's a single song but with such a stellar group of talents performing it that I couldn't fit them all in the title. Not only do you get smooth Miles Davis trumpet but there's distinctive John Lee Hooker guitar, Taj Mahal humming identifiably, and Earl Palmer, Roy Rodgers, and Tim Drummond. With a crew like that, how could you miss?

You may or may not be shocked to learn that this bunch recorded for the soundtrack of a movie from 1990 you may not have ever seen. I certainly haven't, most likely because it stars Don Johnson. If you're curious, it's called The Hot Spot and it was directed by Dennis Hopper. Personally, I just enjoy the soundtrack without watching the movie, no matter how much I liked Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth. None of that is either here or there. The point is that you should enjoy the song and ponder with me how such a talented group of jazz musicians got roped into recording wonderful stuff for such a turkey of a movie. If you can figure it out, let me know!

Lest you think that Taj Mahal is a one-trick blues pony, I offer you a fantastic version of Hoochi Coochi Coo, that great R&B oldie from Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. As much as I like the original, Taj Mahal sped it up a bit and gave it some serious boogie potential. That's why I'm sharing his cover with you today although I do like both versions.

I'll bet you thought I wasn't going to make twenty posts this month, didn't you? And yet here I am with another fantastic song that I doubt you ever heard. It's all part of the service, here at The NPJ. Let me know what you think. For some reason Grooveshark is being difficult about letting me have the URL for the original, though it'll play there, but you'll have to find The Hoochi Coochi Coo on the list of all their great doo wop songs. In case you're wondering, they did The Twist first, before Chubby Checker.

I've left you all without a new Taj Mahal recommendation for far too long. Let's try one of my favorites, a Creole-flavored blues stomp celebrating a Southern woman who treats her man to the best of the Delta. And no, that's not as dirty as it sounds so get your minds out of the gutter.

I defy you not to move to this one. It rollicks, my dears, it simply romps. There are tubas, for goodness' sake! Enjoy this little bit of Cajun blues and do let me know if it brings to mind any similar songs. I can always use more chair-dancing fodder.

When I linked the other day to my post about Shake Your Blank I realized that I'd left off of that list one of my favorite songs: Taj Mahal's Shake That Thing. Naturally, I thought I'd better remedy that. And so for a lazy Sunday afternoon have some classic piano blues to carry you through. I promise I'll never get "sick and tired of telling you how to shake that thing," my dears. But I do have fun hearing Taj complain about it.

For this, my 500th post, I thought I'd share a slew of songs. But what to post for such a nice, round number? It took me a bit of pondering before I finally realized what was needed. I compiled a play list today of all of the songs I had that included a number in the title. It turned out to include one hundred songs exactly. That seemed to me an interesting enough coincidence for a post, and a perfect match for this milestone.

Of the 100, seventeen began with actual numbers, including two versions of 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Paul Simon and Throat Culture) and four songs whose titles were just numbers (1-2-8 by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Prince’s 7, 19 from Paul Hardcastle, and Phoenix’s 1901). Two were phone numbers and one included a zip code. Heck, I've even posted 60 Revolutions. Thirty-five were various pieces of classical music that I won’t bother including. Another eight were different version or portions of the same song, such as Come On In Part2 and Part 3 by RL Burnside. For some reason Part 1 doesn’t seem to exist even though the album is named “Come On In”.

At any rate, I thought I'd offer you some of the fruits of my labor as a reward for sticking with me through this long and often winding journey. Thank you, dear listeners! I wish I could have included Two in the Bush (Is Worth One in the Hand but, alas!, no one else appears to find that song as entertaining as I do. Where possible, I've included the version from the album on which I own the song. I tried to mix them up to give you a feel for what my typical listening session sounds like. Enjoy!

Not only has it been months since I've posted some Taj Mahal but I've never posted my favorite song from his "Maestro" album and I've been posting relatively down-tempo songs this week. I say, "It's Friday! Let's get down and dirty!" In that spirit, have a listen to Scratch My Back and understand why I consider Taj Mahal to be one of the hottest bluesmen ever. I'm shaking my think all over the place and would be casting "come hither" looks at hubby were he anywhere near. This is the perfect song for dancing around on a Friday. Enjoy!

There are few things that make a not-pop music snob happier than to sing an old folk tune along with The Cramps with her kids wailing back-up. Give it a try sometime and see if it doesn’t give you a lift on a rough day.

Of course it could just be The Cramps’s version of Shortnin’ Bread, which we tend to sing at the top of our lungs while leaping about the house like mad people, but I’m guessing my little guys howling, “Put on the skillet,” has a lot to do with it.

I could hardly leave you all with a single version of the song. It’s been around for quite a while, you know. You'll find here The Cramps, of course, Taj Mahal, The Ink Spots, and The Beach Boys for your entertainment.

I've included The Andrews Sisters on this one as well, which definitely counts as a cover. You can hear the conscious imitation of "colored" pronunciation in their version. It's an interesting interpretation, however, and has a lot of the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy to it. Considering the historical context, I'm willing to overlook the condescension that I read into the performance and enjoy the song itself. I hope that you will, too.

How about a classic hobo song about stealing some free time on a train, filled with awesome and harmonica. You'd like that? Handily, I happen to have one right here. Sorry for the scant post and for the fact that there's an even more rockin' version of But I Rode Some on Taj Mahal's . I'll have more to say tomorrow.

While Sir Mixalot was touting the joys of much back, Taj Mahal was signing his own ode to the big booty, in a bluesier but still rollicking style designed to get you jumping, regardless of the amount of your own endowment. Kids, this one's not really for you, although there isn't anything too explicit herein. The subject matter is for grown-ups, though. My particular favorite part? It could be the WD-40 reference, but shortly thereafter Taj calls for "hammer time", introducing a piano hammmering. I'm pretty certain he's not about to do the "Hammer Dance", but you just never know with people. Whatever the case, enjoy this gun tune and let me know whether you think Sir Mixalot did a better job convincing you that a big behind is beautiful.

I squandered some of my absolute favorite songs on my early posts, without a way for you to listen to them without going somewhere else entirely. Squat That Rabbit was among the first songs that I posted, because I was so excited to let people know about this almost-completely disregarded gem. How on earth did I expect you to realize how fantastic the song is without providing you a way to hear it?! I'm rectifying that bit of foolishness by re-posting the song, complete with the actual song, so that you can do a naughty little boogie yourself.

Edit, because this is the one song that Grooveshark had pulled that was never replaced. I'm including a video that does not include any live footage but which has the version of the song I wanted to share in the first place.

In keeping with the river motif, and the relief of the no-longer rising flood predictions, enjoy Taj Mahal and River of Love. It's a wonderful song, especially for a community that has not only shared a river of love with each other and the hundreds of volunteers who arrived over these past two weeks but who can start to forgive their beloved Red River, as long as it promises to behave itself for another year. With any luck, there will be permanent protection in place by then, and people can go back to enjoying it. (Maybe I'll post Muddy Water from Keb' Mo' tomorrow. I promise, I'll get off the flood theme as soon as they start picking up garbage and letting kids go back to school.)

Apparently the song was taken down from Grooveshark. I've found it on YouTube but this is the wrong album cover. Don't look, just enjoy.

Buy River Of Love

I've been compiling a page on Stagger Lee, or Stack O'Lee, and have listened to a few dozen interpretations today. They range from Mississippi John Hurt's blues version to The Fabulous Thunderbirds with their sax and back-up vocals to a Tom Jones lounge-ified croon to Ike and Tina Turner rockin' out. That, of course, means that my posting time has been otherwise spent. In order to show that I still love you, I'm posting a couple of versions of the song that I particularly enjoyed.

Stagger Lee - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Stagger Lee - Taj Mahal
Buy Taj Mahal's Stagger Lee
Buy Ike and Tina Turner's Stagger Lee And Billy (Amazon doesn't have the Fabulous Thunderbirds's version.)

A blues artist like Taj Mahal does some of his best work live, and none more so than his inventive improvisations on Nobody’s Business But My Own. Likely the best version is the one on 1998’s “In Progress & In Motion (1965-1998)”, a fantastic three-disc set. Nobody’s Business But My Own was recorded with The Pointer Sisters, as were a couple of other previously-unreleased, live tracks on the second disc. I love this for the verse that begins about 1:45 and includes a Wolfman Jack impression. I’ve included a couple of Taj Mahal’s other recordings for your entertainment, as well.


Buy Nobody’s Business But My Own
Forget that! Buy "In Progress & In Motion" and get 54 songs for $26!