Blind Willie McTell written by Bob Dylan performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, electric rhythm lead Steve -electric guitars, bass, pennywhistle, harp Read the Lyrics |
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This song was written and recorded by Bob Dylan for his 1983 album Infidels but wasn't released until The Bootleg Series (1991). So who is Blind Willie McTell? Willie Mctell is one of the very greatest of the pre-World War II solo country blues artists. His singing is charged with extraordinary sensitivity and displays a variety of moods ranging from deep pathos to broad humor. And yes "Nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell". The song was also recorded by Mick Taylor. ________________________________________ |
Lakes Of Pontchatrain traditional performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, acoustic guitar Steve -electric guitars, sliding fret guitar, bass Read the Lyrics |
The Golden Encyclopedia of Folk Music states it was an "English street ballad about 100 years ago." According to Ready for the Storm, the album by Deanta, this is a "traditional Creole love song, which is commonly mistaken as being of Irish origin." It is also recorded on the Planxty album, Cold Blow and the Rainy Night. The information on that album states that the tune was probably brought back from British and French soldiers fighting in Louisiana and Canada in the War of 1812. However, the origin of the tune, both geographically and chronologically is debated. The reference to railroad cars makes the 1812 date unlikely. Alternate titles include The Creole Girl, On the Lake of the Poncho Plains and Pontchartrain. Pontchartrain Lakes are five miles north of New Orleans. According to Sam Henry the lakes "are a constant menace to New Orleans, their waters having to be kept away by great earthen dykes. The land there is so waterlogged that no cellar can be built and all tombs are above ground." This song was also recorded by Paul Brady, Be Good Tanyas and Meg Davis. ________________________________________ |
Tombstone Blues written by Bob Dylan performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal Steve -electric guitars, bass Read the Lyrics ________________________________________ |
I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) written by Bob Dylan performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, acoustic guitar Steve -electric guitars, bass Read the Lyrics ________________________________________ |
In The Future written by Steve performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal Steve -electric guitars, bass Read the Lyrics ________________________________________ |
If You See Her Say Hello written by Bob Dylan performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, acoustic guitar Steve -electric guitars, bass Read the Lyrics ________________________________________ |
Infamy written by Steve performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, acoustic guitar Steve -electric guitar, sliding fret guitar, bass, harp Read the Lyrics ________________________________________ |
Pretty Peggy-o traditional performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, acoustic guitar Steve -electric guitars, slide guitar, computer Read the Lyrics An even older, Scottish version of the ballad called "The Bonnie Lass O'Fyvie" appears in Folk-Songs of the North-East and another version is given under the title Bonnie Barbara, O, in Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland. From even the titles of the songs it is apparent that the names "Fennario" and "Fernario" both probably originally derived from "O'Fyvie" and the name "Peggy-O" perhaps from "Barbara, O." All of the versions considered together suggest the story of a love affair between a travelling enemy soldier and a local girl which is thwarted by the girl's ambitious mother who wants a son-in-law with more money and a higher social status. Thus his declarations go from a promise of love for "Barbara, O" to threats against the locals' lives when he returns from his next march. But he dies, heartbroken because of love for, respectively, "Peggy-O" and "Barbara O." "Bonnie Barbara, O" is given the setting of Derby and is in dialect, but the story of the song is a bit clearer. When the soldier asks Barbara what her mother would think of her daughter's marriage to an apparently well-to-do soldier, she replies: Little would my mammie think, bonnie Sandy, O, Little would my mammie think, bonnie Sandy O; Little would my mammie think though she heard the guineas clink. If her daughter was following a sodger, O." "A Scottish version which found its way to the Southern United States is given in The Ballad of America. This version lacks the detail of the proud, angry mother. The setting of this version, "The Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie," in other Southern American versions changes from "Fyvie" to local settings or is replaced by nonsense words like "Ivory" or "Ireo." ________________________________________ |
Days Of 49 Old Put performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, acoustic guitar Steve -electric guitars, computer drums Read the Lyrics |
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"Days of '49" came originally from "Old Put's Golden Songster", put together by Old Put himself in Gold Rush Days. He found that, while there was no money in the mines, there were plenty of miners willing to pay for any kind of music or entertainment, this being a scarce commodity. The real money in the gold fields was made by the grocers, dry good salesmen, saloon keepers, and, I guess, musicians. Put probably intended the song to be comic, but people have since found sad truth in it. Jeff Davis, liner notes for Jeff Warner & Jeff Davis, "Days of Forty-nine" (Minstrel JD-206, 1977) Old Put's real name was John A. Stone. He arrived on the California scene in 1850 and soon found that making up songs and singing them was more profitable and easier than rooting around in the mud for gold sprinkles. Though apparently he did continue with some prospecting, because he found a $15,000 nugget in 1853. Due to his boozing reputation, rumor has it that this was found not by diligent mining but by his falling in a drunken stupor upon it just outside the door of a saloon. He blew the resultant dough in relatively short order but not before forming a singing troupe called the Sierra Nevada Rangers and, in 1855 (1858?), putting out a book called Put's Golden Songster, "Containing the largest and most popular collection of California songs ever published," all, of course, written by Old Put himself. The pocket-sized book was very well received by the mining community, and eventually sold over 25,000 copies. Sad to say, neither fame nor fortune could save poor Old Put, who committed suicide in the early 1860s. The song was collected by Anne and Frank Warner and the Lomaxes. ________________________________________ |
Angelina written by Bob Dylan performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, acoustic guitar, electric guitars Steve -violins Read the Lyrics ________________________________________ |
One Too Many Mornings written by Bob Dylan performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal Steve -electric guitars, slide guitar, computer drums Read the Lyrics ________________________________________ |
Cocaine Blues traditional performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal Steve -electric guitars, slide guitar, harp, bass Read the Lyrics This one was performed by many artists with various lyrics versions and changes. This drug was very popular with the lower classes of the 20's and 30's. It mostly starts with Luke Jordan. His two tracks were cut in 1929. ________________________________________ |
House Of The Rising Sun traditional performed by Dane & Steve Dane -vocal, electric guitar Steve -electric guitars, slide guitar, violin Read the Lyrics The "Rising Sun" occurs as the name of a bawdy house in two other traditional songs, both British in origin.... The melody can be linked with one setting of "Lord Barnard and Little Musgrove"... and with other old traditional tunes.' Yet this song is, as far as I know, unique. I took it down in 1937 from the singing of a thin, pretty, yellow-headed miner's daughter [Georgia Turner] in Middlesborough, Kentucky, subsequently adapting it to the form that was popularized by Josh White.... Alan Lomax, The Folk Songs of North America, Garden City, NY, 1960. p. 280. In the United States, The Rising Sun, a song with roots in 17th century British folk melody -- the rising sun has been a longtime symbol for brothels in British and American ballads -- circulated widely among Southern musicians, black and white. Black bluesman Texas Alexander first recorded it in 1928. [Roy] Acuff [who commercially recorded the song on Nov 3, 1938] may have learned this number from such neighboring Smoky Mountain artists as versatile entertainer Clarence Tom Ashley or the Callahan Brothers, an influential duet team of the '30s and '40s. John R. Rumble, Liner Notes, Country & Western Classics: Roy Acuff, Time-Life Records, 1983, p. 19 note: I've compiled the info texts from various sources, with some aditional thoughts and notes by me. |