R & M are going solo

"Last chorus for beloved Seattle folk duo Reilly & Maloney" -- Paul de Barros

"'FolkScene's' Roz Larman: 'If Roz liked it, it was folk'"

Gretchen Peters - "Five Minutes"

Sometimes it's a couple of lines or more of a song's lyrics that zing the listener into an altered state of consciousness. It's not necessarily that the remainder of the lyrics pale in comparison but more the combination of words simply being so virginal and literate.

Such as this opening of a Gretchen Peters song:



"I've got five minutes to sneak a cigarette
Five minutes to myself
Back behind the screen door of Andy's luncheonette
And I ain't got time to worry 'bout my health
My boss Andy says I smoke myself to death
Andy he reminds me some of you
Back when you were Romeo and I was Juliet
West Texas Capulet and Montague..."

Now did anyone see (hear?) that coming? A Shakespeare reference?

+++++++

I've got five minutes to sneak a cigarette
Five minutes to myself
Back behind the screen door of Andy's luncheonette
And I ain't got time to worry 'bout my health
My boss Andy says I smoke myself to death
Andy he reminds me some of you
Back when you were Romeo and I was Juliet
West Texas Capulet and Montague

Now I don't think too much about you anymore
We weren't much more than kids
It was nearly twenty years ago I shut and locked that door
Now I've got five minutes
Not much time to reminisce

Most nights I come home from work and I pour a glass of wine
Sometimes it's three or four before I stop
And Jessie makes a sandwich if I sleep through suppertime
And she leaves me on the couch to sleep it off
Now Jessie just turned 17 and she's wild as she can be
And there ain't nothin' I can do
Last weekend she ran off to meet a boy in Tennessee
Just like I used to run to you

I gave her hell when she came home this afternoon
Mascara runnin' down her face
Seems like history repeats itself, and it ain't up to you
And in five minutes
Your whole life can change

Andy he's good to me, and I can see it in his eyes
He'd love to take your place
But somethin' deep inside me just withers up and dies
To make love to him and only see your face

Somehow I've let myself go gently down the stream
A fine example I have set
Between the working and the livin' and the ghosts that haunt my dreams
I've got five minutes and I'm gonna smoke this cigarette

Garnet Rogers - "Summer's End I"

For all his hulking and imposing self, Garnet Rogers is a softie and we are all the better for that. He has created a myriad of songs sustaining this statement and one of those is "Summer's End I."


This night is still and quiet
Summer's almost past.
There's a cricket with a socket wrench
In the dry and dusty grass.
Above our heads a breath of wind
Is rattling the leaves.
The last swallows of the season
Have fled their nests beneath the eaves.

And you and I we sit together
In the dark beneath the trees.
I move my chair close to yours
As we sit and drink our tea.
We talk together in the quiet
And try to reckon up the cost.
And bind our wounds and count the scars
From all that we have lost.

And the days they hurry by.
Running on together.
Until you can't recall a time before sorrow touched your heart
And left its mark on you forever.

So maybe somewhere precious rain falls
On a parched and barren earth
Maybe somewhere in a house filled with love
There's a mother giving birth.
A small child's fever breaks.
Parents breathe a prayer and sigh.
And a soul somewhere in deep despair
Lifts his eyes unto the sky.
And I look into the heavens
And I stare into the black
And I laugh at those who say God shapes the load to fit your back.
There's no Golden Throne beyond the Veil.
No angel choirs above.
And Hell is just outliving everyone you've known and loved.
And all of those who we have loved and lost from near and far
They've left us here to carry on
Beneath cold indifferent stars.

And the days they hurry by…

And so for now we muddle on.
I guess that is the way.
And try to look a little further down the road
And not just day to day
I know you'll look out for me
As I look out for you.
And we'll live in hope for better days.
It's the best that we can do.


And the days…

Danny Schmidt - "Two Timing Bank Robber's Lament"

Sometimes it's a couple of lines or more of a song's lyrics that zing the listener into an altered state of consciousness. It's not necessarily that the remainder of the lyrics pale in comparison but more the combination of words simply being so virginal and literate.

Such as this from a Danny Schmidt song:

"A carnation on my collar and diamonds on my cuff
Gonna wine and dine my baby cause sometimes whinin’ ain’t enough
But let me tell you friends about the recipe for pain . . .
It’s a splash of fresh magnificence with a hint of old disdain..."

That last line is just perfect and so fresh. The combination of lyrics and the jazzy music just fit so well.


TWO TIMING BANK ROBBER'S LAMENT

She had eyes like dirty emeralds and hair like melted gold
And a taste for silver dollars, or so I’m told
She said: “There’s things a lover needs or else a lover comes undone.”
But she’s got a walk that leaves me wonderin’ am I still the only one?

I ain’t got the means, ain’t got the money
Thank god the church closed the banks on Sunday
Cause I’ve got two strong shoulders and this old rock hammer
Puttin’ two and two, and two and two, and two and two together

Refrain:
Singin’: “Hey now, what can you do?
Oh hey now, what can you do?
Oh hey now, hey now, what can you do?”
You went off happily ever after
Sadly all I was ever after’s you

A carnation on my collar and diamonds on my cuff
Gonna wine and dine my baby cause sometimes whinin’ ain’t enough
But let me tell you friends about the recipe for pain . . .
It’s a splash of fresh magnificence with a hint of old disdain

She said: “What you doin’ baby? You’re dressed up like a clown.
Looks like a touch of class done kicked your ass and thrown you to the ground.
Believe me, it’s so easy to see whose dues are paid . . .
New money smells like vinyl. Honey, old money smells like suede.”

Refrain

I said: “Why you talkin’ crazy, baby? I bought these things for you.”
She said: “You’re throwin’ round your money like you just robbed a bank or two.”
I said: “Maybe I’ve been workin’ hard and maybe had some luck
And maybe we should go before the maitre d' hears us.”

So I stood up in a fluster and I went upfront to pay
She went back to the powder room to powder up her face
And I guess she found the telephone and I guess she found the time
Cause while I picked up the dinner check, sweet honey dropped the dime

Refrain

I heard the sirens comin’ and I was out the door
Back to put the money where the money was before
I made it to the bank and I made it through the wall
But I kicked a brick behind me and I heard the tunnel fall

So here I am and here I sit and here is where I’ll be
Trapped inside the bank vault til the police rescue me
And take me to the big house where there ain’t no girls like you
And where the boys all tell you what they want and that’s all you’ve gotta do

Refrain

Pretty good for a song and dance man

"Bob Dylan deserves the Nobel Prize: He brought sophistication to the language of popular music like no one else" -- Scott Timberg

"7 literary Bob Dylan songs, in honor of his Nobel win" -- Maeve McDermott

"100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs" (which also includes video of each)

Oscar Brand passes

"RIP Oscar Brand, Who Was Way More Than a Folk Music Footnote" -- David Hinckley

It opens with: "If most deaths are like losing a page or a chapter, Oscar Brand’s death Friday was like losing a book..."

This one is a podcast

"Richard Shindell on Careless and Storytelling Music" -- Brian Koppelman

Michael Johnathon "The Dream" jacket art

Michael Johnathon writes about his latest release "The Dream," primarily about his choices for the inside jacket art and the feedback he received about those choices.

A Gordon Lightfoot interview

"Gordon Lightfoot Talks Sadness, Regret, and Maritime Disasters" -- Mike Sacks