quote:

Boy, I really had no clue all this was going on in the 80 's. No clue. I am an 80's idiot in any genre.

Sometimes being clueless is the most fun part. You can go back, and it's all new. I thought I was pretty hip to the music scene in the 80's (and early 90's) and I'm completely new to a lot of Bob's stuff. Esoteric, intersting, intriguing...
Why should we expect anything else from him?

quote:

Originally posted by Rabellaka:
Another one!!

It's great to hear what type of music has influenced Bob over the years. There have been a few bands I've heard of, and others that I think I'd like to hear sometime.

Hey Rabellaka, I'm currently looking into ways in which you can learn a little more about the bands Bob mentions. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Cheers,

Helen

NEW BOB'S SOUNDTRACK JOURNAL!

Bob writes about the legendary Steve Earle in his newest Bob's Soundtrack Journal entry!

Total accident I discovered it before you posted, Helen. I figured today or tomorrow we might find one, so I checked back a couple times. Peek #3 was rewarded. At least I have heard of Steve Earle! I have also heard of the Pogues, but can't see the likeness between them and GBS. A lot of people describe GBS as Pogue-ish. Maybe I'm not listening to the right songs.

Anne

---

And when the winds of change begin to blow,
I'll whisper, "You're my lighthouse" in case you didn't know.

Sons of Maxwell

visit my website!:
Anne's Philly Phan Site at http://www.gbsfanatic.com

Anne, I think the Pogues connection has to do more with the intentions driving the bands than actual sound. The Pogues wanted to take traditional songs that were being sanitized and Disneyfied by the "Come Discover Ireland" tourism movement and make them real and vital and relevant. (Bob Geldof wrote a great essay on this; I think it was included in the liner notes of a reissue CD.) The Pogues approach married the traditional songs and some traditional instruments with modern instruments and a hard-driving punk sound that spoke to the anger/despair of a generation of Irish youth who could go nowhere in the economically depressed Ireland of the 60s-80s. Although most folks don't hear the punk edge in GBS (except for Mari Mac), I think a lot of what GBS tries to do connects with the Pogues' intent, though the cultural contexts are different.

I think you can also see the same intent in the ways both bands excelled at writing new contemporary songs that sound like they could have been traditional songs.

Oh, here is the Geldof article, if you are interested: Bob Geldof on Pogues

Meg

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Meg

Thanks Meg!

Interesting article.

Anne

---

And when the winds of change begin to blow,
I'll whisper, "You're my lighthouse" in case you didn't know.

Sons of Maxwell

visit my website!:
Anne's Philly Phan Site at http://www.gbsfanatic.com

I didn't even know that this thread was here. Honestly. I have to investigate a little more. Now... Where was the discussion going? Oh yeah:


I see a lot of connections between the Pogues stuff and GBS's early recordings. I think there are 2 basic differences though:

1. The Pogues had Shane McGowan.
2. GBS has Alan Doyle.

We're talking about 2 fundamentally different public voices there and, naturally, that led to different themes and sounds. Still, comparing GBS tunes to Pogues greats like "Fairytale of New York," "The Broad Majestic Shannon" or "The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda" seems pretty natural to me. The enthusiasm behind the recordings and the blending of traditional instruments and modern sounds are the same - whether it's filtered through Alan's rose-coloured glasses or McGowan's drunken haze.

Now - Steve Earle kicks ass. Pardon my French (and, if you're French, pardon my implying that cursing is a French trait). He recorded a tune with the Pogues - "Johnny Come Lately" off the Copperhead Road LP. Good stuff. There is one lyric problem (Johnny's grandfather was in the 2nd World War and Johnny was in Vietnam. The timing behind that is impossible.) but other than that, I loved it all.

I jumped on the Steve Earle bandwagon before Bob though. I worked at a music store and we got Earle's first international release - Guitar Town - as a play copy. To this day, I know all the words to all the songs on that LP. I won front row tickets to a Steve Earle concert by reciting all the lyrics for a radio contest once (that was 1996, actually). The stand out song of the LP for me was "My Old Friend the Blues" - covered with much Scottish brogue by the Proclaimers, a few years later. My friend's favourite was "Fearless Heart" because, like Earle, she "fell in love alot" and she "nearly always gave it (her) best shot."

I've always been on board with Earle's politics and I've never given much thought to his trouble with the law or drugs. I love his later 'comeback' recordings too. In particular, "Jerusalem" has struck a chord with me, which is odd since I'm an atheist. But still, this lyric really strikes a cord with me:

"But I believe there'll come a day
when the lion and the lamb
Will lie down in peace together
in Jerusalem"

I guess the idea of the children of Abraham laying down their swords in Jerusalem appeals to the idealist in me.

These soundtrack thingies are great. I hope Bob keeps them up.

---

There's a rope around my neck
and there's a trigger in your gun.
Jesus, say something.
I am someone, I am someone
I am someone.

quote:

(Johnny's grandfather was in the 2nd World War and Johnny was in Vietnam. The timing behind that is impossible.)

Not necessarily. Both my grandfather and father fought in WWII. Granddad was 43 when he entered the war in 1942, and Dad was 18 in 1944 (Granddad entered voluntarily because he believed he owed something to his adopted country. Dad was drafted.) Because of Vietnam everyone assumes serving in war means being drafted at 18; that's not always true.

Anyway, I agree with everything you said about the Pogues and Earle. And "Jerusalem" is an incredible song.

Meg

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Meg

Sorry, I should have filled in the details of the song. Johnny's grandparents meet in England during the Blitz and then he fights in Vietnam. That's not possible. The story starts out in the first person - a man singing about being an American entering the war - but then it switches to the "hero's" grandson. Here's the lyric (yeah... I've memorized it...):

"My granddaddy sang this song
Told me 'bout London when the Blitz was on
And how he married Grandma
and brought her back home,
A hero throughout this land

Now, I'm standing on a runway in San Diego
A couple purple heart, so I move a little slow
There's nobody here, maybe nobody knows
'Bout a place called Vietnam."

So, it's pretty clear that his grandparents meet between 1942 - 45 and then marry, etc. His parents could have met during the Blitz and had a kid that fought in Vietnam, but not his grandparents.

Jerusalem is great, isn't it? It's definitely a 'play it loud and sing along' song. As a matter of fact, I think I'll go play it now.

---

There's a rope around my neck
and there's a trigger in your gun.
Jesus, say something.
I am someone, I am someone
I am someone.

quote:

His parents could have met during the Blitz and had a kid that fought in Vietnam, but not his grandparents

Yeah, probably not, unless all generations reproduce at the age of 14 or something!

I'm playing "Jerusalem" right now!

Meg

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Meg

LOL! Me, too! I have it on my computer's hard drive.

---

There's a rope around my neck
and there's a trigger in your gun.
Jesus, say something.
I am someone, I am someone
I am someone.

On mine, too. MP3s are wonderful things.

Meg

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Meg

You know, from the same CD, I'm quite fond of "I Remember You." I saw Earle perform that one live with his opening act (female singer, name escapes me) and it was brilliant. I like "The Kind" as well, particularly this verse that references the Mona Lisa:

quote:

Paint me a picture of a girl with a secret smile
Lookin' back at ya 'cross the years through ancient eyes
You're standin' there like an open door
'Cause she's seen it all before
That's the kind of picture I like '“ the kind that makes you sigh

You know, I'm a little surprised that Bob likes Steve Earle. I don't know why -maybe because Earle is so unapologetically political in his songs and performances. I remember Bob talking in a podcast about enjoying a David Lee Roth show because there was none of that there - just straight entertainment. Last time I saw Earle, it was like attending a political rally.

I'm cool with that, but I got the impression that Bob wouldn't be. Mind you, Bob never said that he liked Earle's shows, did he?

---

There's a rope around my neck
and there's a trigger in your gun.
Jesus, say something.
I am someone, I am someone
I am someone.

I'm listening to "Fearless Heart" now (from Guitar Town, I think). That's another of his I like a lot.

I'm not surprised at all by Bob's choice. My experience is that anyone who still cares about the punk aesthetic past adolescence is someone with some strong political opinions and ideas.

Meg

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Meg

quote:

Originally posted by Sandra:
Pogues greats like ....."The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda"

Actually, "The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda" is originally an Eric Bogle song, and Aussie singer/wongwriter who originally hails from Scotland. The Pogues' cover of the song makes me tear up...Eric's performance absolutely slays me and leaves me bawling, he's amazing. Ack, I hate to be that annoying girl that corrects people! I only mention it, Sandra, because if you like that song, you should definitely check out some of his other music, I think you'd really enjoy him!

www.ericbogle.net

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"We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
-Charles Bukowski

"Bad as I am, I'm still here."