Welcome to PhilosFX, the blog that asks, "If your life were a movie, would anyone watch?" We'll combine philosophy and special effects to explore a wide range of subjects. Some call it, "Technicolor Omphaloskepsis." I call it Life: examined, shared, and truly lived.
Trunkworthy's series on undiscovered gems in Elvis Costello's vast catalog pulled me like a sled dog. I grabbed ahold early and held on for the lo-o-o-o-o-o-ng haul: 229 weeks in all!
Recently Jorge Farah, one of the authors of the re-boot series, found this blog and dropped a nice comment. The exchange caused me to realize that I still owe the Universe one final post. You see, I had published recaps of the songs in groups of twenty. After song #80, I was geared up, anticipating the Fifth Twenty...
But after two years on the beat, Jorge and his co-author Kevin Davis announced that they had achieved what they set out to do. They closed out the column after Song #86, "Suspect My Tears" from EC's latest album at the time, 2018's Look Now.
So here is the chart of the last 6 songs of the series to complete the set:
The Song of the Week grand finale includes this Author's note (emphasis added):
"After two years of (sometimes very) intermittently writing the Elvis Costello Song of the Week column, we feel that we’ve reached a point where we’ve managed to cover a pretty thorough cross-section of Costello’s work, having now written (we think!) about at least one song from each album which, by extension, has given us the opportunity to talk about each of the albums themselves."
How well did Trunkworthy do at covering the oeuvre? I combined Shows 1 to 53 and 54 to 86 into one big group, and here are the stats:
At the time the Trunkworthy series ended, Elvis had produced 32 studio albums from MAIT through Look Now. The EP, Purse and Hey Clockface (due out in October 2020) were produced after Jorge and Kevin tossed in the towel. The authors of Parts 1 and 2 covered an impressive 28 of 32 albums, all but these four:
There were a total of 86 "weekly" episodes stretched out over a period of 229 weeks.
Part 1 by Gary and David covered 54 songs in 52 weeks
Part 2 by Jorge and Kevin added 35 more songs over 115 weeks
The gap between parts 1 & 2 was 62 weeks and we are so grateful to Jorge and Kevin for picking up the reigns and running the reboot!
There were actually 89 songs in the series. Two versions of "Blue Chair" were compared in Show 31. Three versions of "Favourite Hour" were presented in Show 56. Additionally, two songs in Part 1 were repeated in Part 2.
"How Much I’ve Lied" from Almost Blue (1981) was played in shows 22 & 58
"Stella Hurt" from Momofuku (2008) was played in shows 39 & 83
So, 89 songs, less 2 repeats and 3 additional versions yields 84 unique titles. All of them are hidden gems among the 600-song (and growing) catalog.
The authors set out to highlight some of Elvis' best, least-known songs from his 600-song discography. They did not announce an explicit goal to distribute the highlighted songs across the decades. I took a glance at that and invite you to have a look at the results below. Over the 44-year span, there were slightly more songs from 1986 (6) than from any other year. The real story is the wide distribution. You'll see some songs from five decades: 70s, 80s, 90s, aughts, and teens.
I am grateful to Trunkworthy co-founders Gary Stewart and David Gorman, who started this project. Beginning on Elvis' 60th birthday (Aug 25, 2014) and continuing weekly for a year, these two set out to shine a little light on some of the underplayed gems in Costello's repertoire. Sustained by passion and fan support, they took the project as far as they could. But the crowd wanted more! Thankfully, fellow Costellophiles Jorge Farah and Kevin Davis picked up the gauntlet and ran with it.
Perhaps there will yet be more stories in this book. Elvis is still creating compelling music, so who knows? Maybe we'll soon need a third pair of writers to continue the Trunkworthy quest with a mix of songs including material from the 20s and beyond. One can only hope. And if they do, PhilosFX will be right there with them, providing a hub from which summaries of all of the separate posts can be easily viewed.
I am also grateful that Jorge took the time to write a nice comment on PhilosFX. You can read that and my reply under this post. By way of thanks, I thought of linking to Jorge's blog, "Every -ist and Every -ism." The blog is on a temporary hiatus. Please check back later...
Instead of that link, I offer a link to Jorge's two and a half hour EC birthday show. This program is full of great music and interesting conversation from fantastic guests, such as Trunkworthy collaborator Kevin Davis, and Graeme Thomson, author of Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello.
This is the cover art for the album Black Cat by the artist Zucchero Fornaciari. The album's English version includes collaboration with Elvis Costello on "Love Again" (renamed as "Turn the World Down").
This song--Elvis Costello's words and Zucchero's bluesy rock voice--this is great stuff
Watch a video HERE as you scroll through the lyrics below.
"Turn the World Down"
Now and then It’s night again Like black ink pouring from a pen
Curse my eyes For opening I’m having trouble just recovering
And in those hours we gazed Upon white sheets, torn back from a page My heart is spent
Almost erased Turn the world down There’s nothing between? All this beauty and this suffering?
Please if you know Get the word out Let the globe spin Save everyone and everything. Like a blade Keen and thin Scimitar Soft like a maid Beneath his skin
Upon this scene Disgrace and sin Where are you now? Where have you been?
And in those hours we gazed Upon red sheets, pulled back by the rage My hearts are spent
Almost erased Turn the world down There’s nothing between all this beauty and this suffering?
And if you know Get the word out Let the globe spin Save everyone and everything Turn the world down There’s nothing between all this beauty and this suffering?
My mind is all bent It’s stamping my soul
I’m burning down To tar and charcoal
To blood and ash To feathers and trash
I gotta move
Turn the world down There’s nothing between all this beauty and this suffering?
And if you know Get the word out Let the globe spin Save everyone and everything
Turn the world down There’s nothing between all this beauty and this suffering?
I gotta move I wanna move Now and then It’s night again It’s night again
You can learn more about Zucchero's 12th studio album and listen to all 15 tracks HERE
The copyright for the Black Cat cover art displyed above is believed to belong to the label, Universal, or the graphic artist(s). Source: Fair use. File:Zucchero - Black Cat.jpg. Uploaded: 24 March 2016.
Now and then, you hear a song--and it just grabs you. "Me and Bobby McGee" is such a song for many of us. We've all heard lots of covers over the years, from Roger Miller (1969) to Grace Askew (2013). Why does this particular song spark so much interest? How is it that we prefer some versions of the "same" song over others?
"When you hear a great song, you can think of where you were when you first heard it, the sounds, the smells. It takes the emotions of a moment and holds it for years to come. It transcends time. A great song has all the key elements — melody; emotion; a strong statement that becomes part of the lexicon; and great production."--Jay-Z, Rolling Stone
Recently, I heard P!nk's (2003) cover--and it transported me back in time. I enjoyed comparing P!nk's voice and attitude with Janis Joplin's iconic expression from over 30 years prior.
Alecia Beth "Pink" Moore
The experience of reveling in the renditions of this particular story got me wondering--how it is that certain songs stick with us? Some songs grab and hold. How does that work? What makes a song stick with you over time? How does a piece music grab us when another leaves us cold? How does it work for you?
Do you respond to the lyrics? Perhaps you are a cognitive learner and you tend to experience the world intellectually--or at least, in your mind.
Or, is your response more beat-driven? In that case, you may be a kinetic learner and your favorite songs are those which make you want to dance.
Perhaps you hear the music and the accompaniment and your response is mostly about the harmony. This preference fits the profile of an auditory learner.
In truth we are all use a mix of these learning styles. Educators will often deliberately employ cognitive, kinetic, and auditory methods to engage students inside of their comfort zones. Perhaps the most successful musicians do the same, attempting to reach their audience with a variety of methods.
But when it comes to music appreciation, learning style is just one dimension to consider. Another: Personality type.
When you hear a song that grabs you, do you wish you had written it? Does it connect to your personal history? If so, you might be an Introvert (in the sense of Jungian psychology)
Or do you sing along and imagine performing the song yourself? When responding to the song, do you add your own vocal stylings? In this case you may be more of an Extrovert
Kris Kristofferson
The lesson is that the best music offers a combination of features, the mix of which appeals to cognitive, kinetic, and auditory learners and both introverts and extroverts. I believe the most memorable songs are those that somehow engage me on all of these many levels.
"Think of 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' by Queen. That song had everything — different melodies, opera, R&B, rock — and it explored all of those different genres in an authentic way, where it felt natural." --Jay-Z, Rolling Stone
How does music appreciation work for me?
I am primarily a cognitive learner with a mild propensity for extroversion. When listening to music, I often pay close attention to the lyrics. This explains my enduring fascination with Elvis Costello, one of the best lyricists ever. His voice could be described as an acquired taste.
I know others who love to dance and sure enough, they tend to prefer songs that have a good beat. Often, they have no idea what the song is "about." They are not nearly as interested in the story as they are in the beat. For me the beat is the icing, not the cake.
It was a surprise to me when I learned that most songwriters write the music first and then fill in the lyric as an afterthought. That process never would have occurred to me. I thought everyone set lyrics to music, not the other way around.
We appreciate music in different ways. Successful singers and songwriters know that and they use that information when they cast their creative efforts out to the listening audience. Humans are storytellers. We have an innate need to tell and listen to stories. Musicians are our troubadours.
All of this talk of storytelling and music appreciation brings us back full circle to the iconic song we are examining today. "Me and Bobby McGee" is a song that has endured because it:
tells a compelling, human story
tells that story in a memorable and easily absorbed manner
attracts and holds the attention of a wide range of learning styles and personality types.
Let's look at a few different renditions of this classic song and see what jumps out. Since the lyric and melody are essentially the same in all the versions, the popularity of any version must depend on something beyond those factors that are common.
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer-songwriter who first rose to fame in the late 1960s as the lead singer of the psychedelic/acid rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, and later as a solo artist with her own backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band." Janis was born on January 19, 1943 at Port Arthur, TX and she died of an apparent overdose on October 4, 1970 in Hollywood, CA.
I love the gritty and desperate edge on her voice in her rendition of this song. It is so sad that she did not live to see her song, recorded just before her death, rise to Number One in the charts. In fact Janis Joplin's version of Me and Bobby McGee is her only song in the Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and the only version of the song to make the list.
Alecia Beth "Pink" Moore (born September 8, 1979) (stylized as P!nk) is an American singer and songwriter. I enjoyed comparing P!nk's voice and attitude with Janis Joplin's iconic expression.
Dolly Parton gives it a go. Her voice is sweet and the backing vocals and instrumental accompaniment are polished--too polished for my liking. The gritty, earthiness of Janis Joplin's version connects on a more visceral level.
Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson & and Kris Kristofferson bring three quite different styles of performance to the effort. They play off each other nicely.
I enjoyed this version immensely. As an aging Country Music Hall of Famer, Kris Kristofferson sings the song he wrote in the late 1960. In this version, recorded live, Kristofferson plays his own accompaniment (harmonica and guitar) and dials down the vocals in a way that suits his range and lets the listener focus on the story. Near the end of the performance, he gives a nod to the singer who made his song famous when he sings,
"Feeling good was good enough for me (and Janis!),
good enough for me and Bobby McGee."
Is feeling good good enough for you? You can learn a lot more about Kris Kristofferson and his famous song at this link.
Bottom line for me is simple: to my mind, Janis Joplin owns this song. When I hear any rendition of this classic song, I can't help but mentally picture
Beginning 40 weeks ago, on Elvis Costello's 60th birthday, the boys over at Trunkworthy began a project I have been following very closely. Each week, they post a forgotten gem from Elvis Costello's vast catalog. And each week, I have been saving a link to the weekly Trunkworthy article.
Trunkworthy cofounders Gary Stewart and David Gorman select each song, write a highly entertaining and informative description, and post a video. They have also created a Spotify playlist called Elvis Costello Songs of the Week, which currently has a mere 242 followers. I am writing today to call additional attention to Trunkworthy. and in particular to this fantastic Elvis Costello project.
Without further ado, here is a table of the first 20 songs in the Trunkworthy collection of Elvis Costello Songs of the Week.
Need more convincing? OK, here is a table of the second 20 songs--and there's plenty more where these came from!
Seriously great stuff! If you are already a long-time Elvis Costello fan like me, then you need no convincing. But if you are new to Elvis Costello, Trunkworthy is building a great selection of the prolific, genre-busting artist's best least remembered songs.
I first heard of Rob Kapilow on an interview re-broadcast on Christmas day, 2013. I feel fortunate to have heard this program on my local NPR affiliate and somewhat disappointed that I had not discovered Rob Kapilow sooner. His music appreciation program, What Makes It Great? is in its fifth season. Rob's enthusiasm for music and musical composition is infectious.
What really hooked me was Rob's explanations of Bing Crosby's White Christmas. I will never listen to that classic Christmas song the same way again!
New to Rob Kapilow? Do yourself a favor and check him out right now.
Must-see TV: Elvis appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and performing live with Jimmy's band, The Roots! Mark your calendars and set your TiVOs or DVRs!
