songs
about
midnight
|
Pretty much the ultimate midnight song, surely.
Slamming soul vocal here, and very funky track. Damn!
Typically crisp reggae from the great Jamaican songman
and icon. They were kinda ragged and under-rehearsed, and aside
from Vassar Clements their membership was pretty much comprised of bluegrass dilettantes. But I've got a soft spot for this band, warts and all, and they did a midnight song, so here they are. "find out what it is all ay-bout"
Since these collections are about songs, that is, songs with words, I went looking around for sung versions of this one
to include here: there was Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan and Amy Winehouse and more, but... well, I just like Monk's performances of his tune best. |
Some deep moanin' from the Wolf here. Something truly
primal about this one. And that sudden ending, on that one quixotic line that just comes outta nowhere: "well... do not worry, daddy's gone to bed"... leaves things in a very strange and oddly unsettled place. Powerful stuff. This one seemed to be playing all through the 70s when
I was a young man back in Alabama. The fugitive, rebel ethos was powerful: "not gonna let 'em catch me, no..." Right on,Greg! But that line "I don't own the clothes I'm wearing", I could never get with that one. I mean, really, how can you not own the very clothes you're wearing? They're pretty much yours, once you've got 'em on, right? The Midnight Special" refers to the train whose light would
shine into a prisoner's cell at night, as the train passed by. A beacon of freedom. Hey, not the greatest blues rock ever recorded, but certainly not the worst, either...
Oh, yes. Yes, yes. Sing it, Patsy!
Note: While looking around for any newer midnight songs
that I might not know, I discovered "Midnight in Montgomery" by one Alan Jackson. Checked it out, and once again my feelings about the mainstream "country" music of recent decades was confirmed. Yecch! |