Happy Birthday Eric Andersen-An Eric Andersen Encore- Older But Wiser, Right?

Happy Birthday Eric Andersen-An Eric Andersen Encore- Older But Wiser, Right?


Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Eric Andersen performing "More Often Than Not".


Waves: Great American Song Series, Volume 2, Eric Andersen and various artists, Appleseed Records, 2005

This first paragraph is taken from a previously reviewed Eric Andersen CD.

“In the great swirl that was the folk music revival movement of the early 1960's a number of new voices were heard that created their own folk expression and were not as dependent on the traditional works of collective political struggle or social commentary associated with the likes of the Weavers, Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie. Although Eric Andersen was a product of the intense Cambridge folk scene and knew and played with many of the stars of that scene he had a distinctive niche in that he performed mainly his own his music and his subject matter tended toward the very personal. It was only political in the most general sense that he, like the others, was breaking away from Tin Pan Alley to express his sentiments.”

Here, Eric, older and wiser (right?) pays musical tribute to his fellow singer/songwriters of the 1960’s who influenced his own work and were in turn influenced by his. An added attraction is accompaniment by Arlo Guthrie, Tom Rush, Judy Collins and other artists that also were instrumental in that period or who were later influenced by the songwriters covered here. So what is good here? Tom Paxton’s “Ramblin’ Boy”; Tim Buckley’s “Once I Was”; Lou Reed’s “Pale Blue Eyes”, and Richard Farina’s “Bold Marauders”. Like I say this is a labor of love and it shows.


Pale Blue Eyes- Lou Reed

Sometimes I feel so happy,
Sometimes I feel so sad.
Sometimes I feel so happy,
But mostly you just make me mad.
Baby, you just make me mad.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.

Thought of you as my mountain top,
Thought of you as my peak.
Thought of you as everything,
I've had but couldn't keep.
I've had but couldn't keep.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.

If I could make the world as pure and strange as what I see,
I'd put you in the mirror,
I put in front of me.
I put in front of me.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.

Skip a life completely.
Stuff it in a cup.
She said, Money is like us in time,
It lies, but can't stand up.
Down for you is up."
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.

It was good what we did yesterday.
And I'd do it once again.
The fact that you are married,
Only proves, you're my best friend.
But it's truly, truly a sin.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.
Linger on, your pale blue eyes.
Labels: electric folk, Eric Andersen, folk and politics, folk guitar, folk revival, folk rock, folksinger, leon trotsky

*Walk On The Wild Side- Part Two-The Music Of The Late Lou Reed

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of Lou Reed performing his rock classic, Walk On The Wild Side.

DVD Review

Lou Reed: Spanish Fly: Live In Spain, Lou Reed and various musicians, Sister Ray Enterprises, 2004

I have run through a virtual litany of who was who in the folk world of the 1960s, a fair amount about the cutting edge rockers of that time, and certainly plenty about those who formed the edges of those music experiences. What I have not done, grievously not done, is to mention the work of the “edge city”, gravelly-voiced (now, anyway) singer/songwriter, Lou Reed, either as solo performer, or with the Velvet Underground, that created much good rock music back in the days. For those who are looking for points of reference since then I noticed that Reed did an excellent cover of Bob Dylan’s Foot Of Pride at Dylan's 30th anniversary celebration; did a very nice job on the Harry Smith tribute DVD in the late 1990s, and blew everybody away in Wim Wenders segment of the Martin Scorsese‘s PBS 2003 blues series (where he even smiled, doing, I think, a Blind Willie Johnson song). I will, in any case, atone here.

This DVD features Lou and a great back-up band, including an old-fashioned real bassist , playing a lot of his material from the Underground days and as a soloist in a live concert in Spain. Now let’s face it, after all these years the voice has lost some of its timber and is a little harsh (a la Dylan) but the guitar riffs are still there. And see, old Lou makes up for the weaker voice by rearranging those old classics (and having great-voiced sideman, Fernando Saunders, do harmonies) like Venus In Furs, Sweet Jane, The Blue Mask, Perfect Day, and, of course, Walk On The Wild Side. Good advise,for young and old. Doo do doo do doo do do doo.

**************

Lou Reed- Walk On The Wild Side Lyrics

Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the USA
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, Hey babe
Take a walk on the wild side
Hey honey
Take a walk on the wild side

Candy came from out on the Island
In the backroom she was everybody's darlin'
But she never lost her head
Even when she was giving head
She says, Hey babe
Take a walk on the wild side
I Said, Hey baby
Take a walk on the wild side
And the coloured girls go
Doo do doo do doo do do doo..

Little Joe never once gave it away
Everybody had to pay and pay
A hustle here and a hustle there
New York City's the place where they say,
Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side
I said, Hey Joe
Take a walk on the wild side

Sugar Plum Fairy came and hit the streets
Lookin' for soul food and a place to eat
Went to the Apollo
You should've seen em go go go
They said, Hey shuga Take a walk on the wild side
I Said, Hey babe
Take a walk on the wild side
All right, huh

Jackie is just speeding away
Thought she was James Dean for a day
Then I guess she had to crash
Valium would have helped that bash
Said, Hey babe,
Take a walk on the wild side
I said, Hey honey,
Take a walk on the wild side
And the coloured girls say,
Doo do doo do doo do do doo