Songs To Die For

 

Three of us went from Richmond to the Baltimore Civic Center to see what was my first big-name arena concert, starring Cream (you can guess how long ago that was!).  It was disappointing, as have been more than half of such events since:  terrible seats, too loud and too short.  Didn't have binoculars then, either.  One of the best shows I've been to was on the far other end of the spectrum at a short-lived venue nearby called The Local Beat.  There were several acts on an intimate stage with fine sound; the standout was a pair of sisters who announced they were going to do "Appalachian murder ballads."  That was a transcendent fifteen minutes.

 These came from England and lowland Scotland before proliferating on these shores and probably had a Germanic or Scandinavian origin.  I did not know when hearing such songs as "Tom Dooley," "Lord Randall," and "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" during the folk era that it was a deep genre.

Unfortunately, I have only one CD (by The Chieftans) which contains two of these, but they are good ones:  Ry Cooder  sings "The Lily of the West" and Mick Jagger does "Long Black Veil," which sounds like an old anonymous tune but was written in 1959.  Its first recording by Lefty Frizell is still regarded as the best.  Johnny Cash's version would have to be second only to that one.  The narrator of the story is the victim's ghost -- chilling.

 Songs which mention deadly events but do not tell the story are close to but do not fit the genre, such as Neil Young's "Down by the River" and Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues."  Johnny Cash's "I Hung My Head," Charlie Monroe's traditional "Down in the Willow Grove" and Waylon Jennings' "Cedartown, Georgia" definitely do.

The Dixie Chicks had a little fun with it in "Goodbye, Earl," where the woman was not going to be the victim and turned the tables on the mal-intentioned Earl.

Murder ballads made their way to the popular record charts with "Mack the Knife," "Stagger Lee" and "Hey Joe," along with many set in the Old West.  The subject matter was definitely there for those cowboy tales of thievery, shootings and hangings, but very many were never published or performed more than locally, and disappeared.

We can't forget to mention Ralph Stanley's "O Death," perfectly done in a primitive Appalachian acapella style.  It goes way back, but the dialogue between the mortal and relentless Death is timeless.

  

Missed a Turn

 The other week I missed a turn and had to make two lefts to get back on the right track.  Speaking of right tracks, in front of a house on one of those back streets there was a massed display of flags, one a standard national one and the rest what you may call "message flags."  You've seen them proliferate, some employing historical tropes from the 18th and 19th centuries, but more often some questionable alterations of Old Glory.

The usual red and white stripes are changed to black, red or blue where a white one should be, indicating "support"of police, firefighters, emergency responders, etc.  Nothing wrong with supporting those who risk their safety and lives for their fellows -- all of ours locally are as professional, efficient and dedicated as you could want.  But behind that seemingly positive message other things lurk, and those are really the intended message.  They are tribal colors, marking a line between their groups and others; a throwback to primitivism: a rejection of peaceful processes, community-wide unity, and as we have seen, civilized norms.  During much of human history, a stranger unknown to you was fair game for violence to quickly eliminate any possible or perceived danger to your people. Folks don't need to be so riled up that we return to those times.

Uses and misuses of the flag are spelled out in Title 4 of the U.S. Code.

Section 8g reads, "The flag should never have placed upon it, nor any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, picture or drawing of any nature."  So a picture of a Presidential candidate (grinning, scowling, or dressed as Rambo) on the U.S. flag is a violation of the law.  I guess the Department of Justice missed that.

The use of the flag design on hats and other apparel is discouraged (not to mention tasteless) but is not forbidden.  However, the practice at the Olympics and other events of wearing the actual flag as a cape or cowl is expressly illegal, under Section 8d.  The Olympic committee and universities should know that, don't you think? 

I hope I'm not misunderstood about the above, but there's a possibility of my first troll comment appearing. Maybe I should stick with the usual obscurities you find here...

 

 

From The Attic

 

The "Just Sayin'" attic of unused blog topics is overflowing, so it's time to clear them out.  Lucky you!

Did you ever wonder about America being named after Amerigo Vespucci?  That given name goes way back to an unexpected source -- the Visigoths, to whom it was Amalric.  Their 300 year rule over Spain left many such:  Adalfuns (Alfonso), Alewar (Alvaro), Hrodric (Rodrigo), Gundislav (Gonzalo)... along with the endings -ez and -es (Gonzales), which denotes "child of."  The term "hildago" (a gentleman or minor noble) may mean "child (hijo) of Goths."  Another interpretation is "child of someone" (hijo de algo) -- that is, not the offspring of a nobody. 

Speaking of words, "dog"has 161 meanings in slang.

The expression "the whole nine yards"was first recorded in 1907, and we usually think it means a cement or concrete truck's capacity, though some may conjure up an image of a part of a football field where, however, ten yards is the critical number  But those trucks range from eight to 12 1/2 cubic yards, and even 15 yard capacity trailers (pretty rare, though).  So...

Albania's name for itself is "Shqiperi."  That one would eliminate quite a few contestants in a spelling bee.

Have you always wondered where Portugal got its name?  No?  I had to know, for reasons unexplainable.  It comes from its second largest city, Oporto, which the Romans called "Porto Cale," meaning either warm or tranquil seaport.  Another explanation holds it was known as the Port of the Gauls, after the Celtic people who were there before the Roman takeover. 

 I recently came across a British travel writer using the word "brick" to denote a bar.  That was a new one to me, but we remember the sign for The Brick tavern in the opening of the TV show Northern Exposure.  Its inspiration actually exists and has been a fixture in Roslyn, Washington State, since 1889 (above).  I have no idea how that term came about, but there are many hotels, pubs and even pizza places using the word, including  an adult Lego bar (plastic building bricks).  The Brick in a Northern Exposure episode was nearly shut down by the health department; its namesake has a 23-foot running water spitoon gutter in front of the stools --  maybe a health department should look into that!