I Got the Blues - part ONE

This was originally posted on facebook - late November 2010

The first list is going to be themed - "I Got the Blues". The premise is "blues" songs. Not necessarily blues in the genre, but blues as in songs that are the xxxx blues. So, for example, "Blue Sky Mining "would not be eligible, but Jimmy Page's "Prison Bues" would be. I am even going to be tough, and say that Elton's "I guess thats why they call it the blues" would also be ineligible. Hopefully you get the drift.

Anyway, we will start with numbers 20 - 16

20 - "Duxton Blues" - 7 Worlds Collide.
7 Worlds Collide is the side project of Neil Finn whereby he gets all his musical mates (guys from Wilco, Radiohead, KT Tunstell, and many others) to make music. This track features Augie March's Gleen Richards on lead vocals. Its one of the weaker songs of a very very good album, which means its still a good track. And the title for some reason always brings back memories of my firiends Pete and Simone. After their wedding, many of their family and friends had post wedding drinks at the Duxton Hotel...

19 - "Stray Cat Blues" - (originally the Rolling Stones).
I must admit, I haven't heard the original Rolling Stones version. The one in my collection is the excellent duet from Rockwiz, featuring the Living End's Chris Cheney, and the Divinyls Chrissie Amphlett. An awesome rocking blues duet from two great talents.

18 - "Mean Woman Blues" - Roy Orbison -
who hasn't recorded a version of this song? I don't even know which one the original is. But Roy's voice is great, so I am putting his version in.

17 - "A Mess of Blues" - Elvis Presley -
if there is such a thing as trademark Elvis, this would be it. Its root oriented, and Elvis's singing ability is showcased. Great stuff.

16 - "Inner City Blues" - Rodriguez.
More people need to know about the brilliant Rodriguez, and in particular his 1970 album Cold Fact. He writes though provoking lyrics, protest songs if you like, and although some would call him Dylan-like (at one stage he was called "Detroit's answer to Dylan"), that really is pigeonholing him. If I can quote from allmusic.com, as its a good description of the sort of genre you would put this man into"There was a mini-genre of singer/songwriters in the late '60s and early '70s that has never gotten a name. They were folky but not exactly folk-rock and certainly not laid-back; sometimes pissed off but not full of rage; alienated but not incoherent; psychedelic-tinged but not that weird; not averse to using orchestration in some cases but not that elaborately produced. And they sold very few records."

15 – Singer Songwriter Blues –Tim Rogers.
From the solo album “Dirty Ron”, this song is a bit of fun, with Rogers sense of humour coming to the fore.

14 – Yesterday’s Blues – Ryan Bingham.
A new song, to show that I am hip with new music (Because country music is really gonna give me a lot of cred!!! Hehehe). You may be familiar with Bingham from the movie “Crazy Heart”. He won the Best song Oscar for his contribution to this movie. I have his first album “Mescalito”, which is a great country/rock album, sort of in the Springsteen vein. Anyway, I just recently picked up his new album, “Junky Star”, which contains “Yesterday’s Blues”, a sweet little country ballad. This song has done well to make the list after only two listens.

13 – Tombstone Blues – Bob Dylan.
I don’t actually have the Dylan version in my collection, but I have a version from Sheryl Crow’s “Live from Central Park” album, where Sheryl performs this with a host of other names, including the Dixie Chicks, Chrissie Hynde, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and others. For those that don’t know it, it’s a great blues song, with funny lyrics.

12 – San Francisco Bay Blues – Eric Clapton.
Although it’s a traditional song, the version I know is from Clapton’s Unplugged album. It gets bonus marks for the use of the kazoo, which is totally under-used in modern music (yes, people, I am a loser!!!) Perhaps best songs featuring a kazoo might be a future list topic (Queen’s Seaside Rendezvous, please be on standby!!!)

11 – Kozmic Blues – Janis Joplin.
I am not really a huge Joplin fan, but this is a good song, showcasing that amazingly powerful voice that she has.