You, Well-Meaning Brought Me Here (great title) is "one of the best albums of the singer/songwriter movement of the early 1970s" according to Allmusic, and giving credit where it's due, they're right. There's a vocal similarity to James Taylor, but Ralph was never going to make the girls swoon like the Sweet Baby, and his writing lacks Taylor's subtle abstract appeal - nothing as poetic as Fire And Rain here. He also lacks Taylor's introspection, bordering on self-obsession. He composes narratives about others, empathetically, which is what traditional folk music is all about, and where McTell's roots lie. Social conscience hasn't dated well, unfortunately, and it's harder to care about his fictional characters' plights in the Age Of The Selfie. The Ferryman, the closing track, is extraordinary, and way too short at seven minutes.
This is the U.K. release, without Streets Of London. You want the earlier Spiral Staircase, which includes that, let me know.
Finger-picked guitar - part of growing up for me. My acoustic guitar was my most treasured posession. You?
ReplyDeleteMy nose, for the same finger-picking reason.
DeleteD.N.C. (Digital Nasal Cleansing i.e. nose-picking) is, of course, a national sport in Canadia, where the World Series is held annually at Vancouver's prestigious Queen Hortense II Of England Stadium. Our own Clarence Pune got his name on the high school trophy in '65 and '66.
DeleteI got a small stereo with detachable speakers of my own at 14, though to be fair, my parents excellent stereo often featured blues & jazz (courtesy and dad) and folk (courtesy of mom) when they weren't blasting classical. 2 years later I bought an acoustic guitar and, well, y e a h. Also we spent the year I was 13 in Berkeley and I returned to la louisane with a bona fide roach clip...treasures.
DeleteI had an electric when I was a teen. A Hagstrom "Swede model. Passed it on to my son. I now have a Godin New York model.
DeleteStreets of London was my teenage theme song, though I grew up over 5000 miles from the Thames. There was just something about it, the melancholy perhaps.
ReplyDeleteI'll upload Spiral Staircase too, just as soon as I put lard on the goat's boil.
DeleteI spent twenty years there and worked on the tube. Nothing like the song......
DeleteFinger-picked guitar was also a part of growing up for me.
ReplyDeleteOnly by the other McTell.......
JKC's absinthe from th' Isle O' Foam© has bred a few conspiracy theories, including; being locked in the trunk of a '65 Olds with nothing but a sack of Twinkies© and a hooker, operating an illegal pet grooming salon from a dumpster behind Port Authority bus terminal, abduction by aliens (rectal probe), and counting votes in Futtbucque County, FLA. My money's on the aliens. He's been speaking funny.
DeleteI don’t know what made me go out that night
DeleteAt that hour I’d have normally been in bed
But I found myself lookin’ up at the sky
At a very bright light straight overhead
It flashed green
Then Red
Santa Claus colors
I stood there frozen in that light
Then I started hearin’ this kind of whir
The lights got louder and the noise got brighter
And I felt a sudden chill
BrrrrrrrrIt was cold
I shouldn’t have gone out without a coat
My mom was right again
Then this big old spaceship floated down
And hovered 3 feet above the Earth
Never been so scared in all my life
Could’ve given spontaneous birth
If I was a woman
And pregnant
Then these two little guys about 4 feet tall Jumped off that space age Greyhound bus
They grabbed me by the arms and said
“Start walking, Jack Kerouac's Cat. You’re coming with us”
Abduction
They didn’t actually speak, but I understood ’em
Telepathy
They strapped me down to this metal crate
Took out the 35-foot long hose
They said “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt”
Then they shoved that sucker up my nose
All the way up
I knew my nose way long, but this was a surprise
They examined me from head to toe
Stuck prods in every orifice
This cold gray box came and gave me a kiss
Then extracted a couple of quarts of piss
I felt dehydrated
They dropped me somewhere in Brazil
Took a month to get back to the USA
When I told my friends what I’d been through
No one believe what I had to say
That sucked
It’s to be expected, though
Well, my life’s back to normal now
I do the things I always do
‘Cept once a week I meet with 12
Other folks who’ve been abducted too
I tell my story
They tell theirs
I don’t believe them, though
Jonder gets slapped with JKC's violet calfskin glove in a challenge for th' I.O.F.© Laureateship!
DeleteBy the way, good to see you back around these parts, le chat de Jacques Kérouaque!
DeleteStealth Link here>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ReplyDeleteHere in the City of Emphysema
ReplyDeleteThanks
"Streets Of London" was my first brush with singer/songwriter territory and really looking at lyrics sheets, mainly because we treated the song in English class, what with learning about social conscience and caring about others and all that.
ReplyDeleteA little bit later I discovered Gordon Lightfoot in my dad's record collection and then the whole singer-songwriter thing really became a thing for me. Though I've always thought of Ralph Mc Tell as a folkie first and foremost.
I also thought that he woud've been older when he wrote and sang that, but it wouldn't have mattered much - with that mug he had no chance of competing for tenage girl's attention. He looks more like the shifty woodsman that would propose to young maidens to escort them safely through the forests, an offer that, if they had half a brain, would decline.
I buy all of my cars at Ralph Spoilsport Motors. Why would anyone shop elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteYabba Dabba Doo!
ReplyDelete