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Do you want some rockabilly? It is Friday night after all. Link Wray definitely has at least one foot in the rockabilly camp. His haircut too. Rock on.

Jack the Ripper

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Tonight's rockabilly has a hillbilly slant but it's still got that swinging rockabilly bass and rhythm- Tennessee Ernie Ford's 16 Tons, with a song that still rings true.

'You move 16 tons

And what do you get?

Another day older

And deeper in debt'

16 Tons

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A smoking tune from 1958, Jody Reynolds' slow, spooky, bass riff led Fire Of Love. A seriously good song. So good, Jeffrey Lee Pierce took it's title for the first, definitive, Gun Club album and then recorded a cover for The Gun Club's Miami (which I posted ages ago). He looked pretty sharp too.

'The fire of love

Is burning deep

The fire of love

Won't let me sleep'

Fire Of Love

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Tonight's rocking rave up is equal parts hillbilly and rockabilly- Carl Belew in 1959 with a crazed song about the trials and tribulations of finding a pair of cool gator shoes. It's a must. It's also a favourite of my daughter E.T., who once had a car of seven year olds singing along.

I remember reading an interview with Keef Richards years ago. He was asked what he remembered about the making of Exile On Main Street (I think, could've been any album from the late 60s into the late 70s). Keef's response was, 'not much really, but I do remember having a really cool pair of alligator shoes'.

Cool Gator Shoes

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There have been problems with Blogger. My last three posts (Belle and Sebastian, The Vermin Poets and this morning's David Byrne song) have disappeared completely. I suppose I'll just have to see if they return. You can find them at the Wordpress version of this site here if you want to.

Tonight's rockabilly is from Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, who I think really were just 60s rock 'n' roll but this song- Please Don't Touch- is full of rockabilly fire and spirit. They also had a fine line in outfits.

Please Don't Touch

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This is a real humdinger of a song- Ivan's Real Wild Child from 1958. It is utterly fantastic with otherworldly guitar playing and a wonderful nasal vocal from Ivan. Ivan was Jerry Alison, one of Buddy Holly's Crickets. Recorded as a joke, he didn't want his name on it so hid behind the pseudonym Ivan. How could anyone not want their name on this? It's probably best known as Iggy Pop's only chart bothering record of the 1980s. Sadly, even Iggy can't get anywhere near the original.

http://download162.mediafire.com/g3j5swhcvw2g/c1gcdt0epdddzkc/03+Real+Wild+Child.wma

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I was going to post something pithy about that wedding but frankly, I can't be arsed, so I'm going to ignore as I have all day. It's Friday night, on with the rockabilly.

The Johnny Burnette Trio made some of the best rockabilly stuff there is, and this song Honey Hush is one of them. The guitar sound and tone on this this song may well be perfect.
Full report and music from Half Man Half Biscuit to follow.

Honey Hush.mp3

Rockabilly Train

Elvis. He kissed a girl, and she liked it.

From riding the rasta train earlier this week to a short hop on the rockabilly train. Elvis' Mystery Train is the grandaddy song, one of the actual starting points for this thing we're all obsessed with. It's got many qualities that are impossible to pin down and I'm not even going to try, except to say if you haven't got this, get it now. We're going away for a week, not by train sadly. Back online on Saturday April the 16th I should think. Be good while I'm away. Don't make a mess and remember to feed the cat.

02 Mystery Train.wma

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Carl Perkins, who had a thing about clothes- Blue Suede Shoes and Pink Pedal Pushers among others- with a Friday night instruction. Put your cat clothes on.

Put Your Cat Clothes On.wma

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A friend said to me a week or two ago that he didn't know how I could still find something to say about rockabilly songs each Friday, forty odd posts in. I'm not sure I can. This is Rick and The Fairlanes with a slightly crazed rocking instrumental called Danger. Friday evening, unseasonably warm, sun shining. Pub, anyone? Danger.mp3

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Seeing as The Fall were here this morning I thought we should have some rockabilly that linked. This is George Jones' White Lightning, as covered by Mark E Smith and one of his line-ups, an ode to the benefits of strong homemade alcohol which has the following effect- 'my eyes bugged out and my face turned blue'. I'll have one of whatever you're having please.

White Lightning.mp3#1#1

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Charlie Feathers with Bottle To The Baby from 1957, in which Charlie discovers that if he's staying out on the town and not getting in until 4am, he's going to then have to rock some more- rock that baby to sleep, give it some milk, and begin to think about settling down. What's more, if he wants any kind of action with Mrs Feathers when he gets in from the pub he's going to have to help with the kids first. A lesson that even pioneering country/rockabilly stars have to learn.

17 Bottle to the Baby.wma#2#2

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This evening's rockabilly is a cracker from 1958- a brilliant ramshackle blast of hillbilly rock 'n' roll from Jimmy and Johnny that threatens to fall apart at any moment, with some wildfire guitar playing. The story of the song is that Jimmy (or Johnny) is so drunk that he can't open the door. On the other side of the door there's a party going on, and he can hear his girlfriend laughing and who knows what's going to happen? If only he could find that pesky doorknob. A warning to us all there. Enjoy your Friday night.

22 I Can\'t Find the Door Knob.wma

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The spectacularly named Dwarless Fearsley with the raw rockabilly hit of You Talk Too Much in 1959. Hit it Dwarless...

You Talk Too Much.mp3

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You wanna rumble?

Gene Maltais makes his third Friday night appearance with the rough 'n' ready 'n' raw 1957 single Gang War in which Gene sings and riffs like his life depends on it. He later recorded another version Gang War (Fast Version) which is pretty self explanatory, but this one will do for us tonight. Proper old school rockabilly.

Gang War.mp3

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This week's rockabilly comes courtesy of Arizona's Joe D Johnson with the track Rattlesnake Daddy first released in 1959. Which makes it fiftyone years old- I'm not sure what a younger version of me would've made of an older me listening to music made over half a century ago. Rattlesnake Daddy is pretty raw and at one minute and forty seven seconds it doesn't hang around. The eagle eyed Weatherall fans among you will know Audrey pinched the title for a song on Wrong Meeting.

Rattlesnake Daddy.mp3

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OFSTED eh? They come in, crawl all over you, scrutinise everything you do, watch you work and comment on it, make a load of judgements and then leave. The sun still comes up the next day. For the record, we did pretty well and don't expect to see them again until 2013/14. Relief is the main feeling I think, and knackeredness. Open a bottle of something Mrs Swiss.

This is Gene Maltais, whose Raging Sea we rocked to a few weeks ago when this series crawled out of the grave. Gene has a crazy baby. Hope she doesn't steal hubcaps on her way home from school.

crazy baby.mp3

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I think strictly speaking this week's return of rockabilly cut isn't really rockabilly at all, more jump blues or swinging r 'n' b, but it's Friday night, let's not split hairs. This uptempo, life affirming record by The Jesse Powell Orchestra featuring the vocal talents of the brilliantly named Fluffy Hunter should have you clapping your hands, stomping your feet, walking right in and walking right out.

01 The Walkin' Blues (Walk Right in, Walk Right Out).wma

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One of the great things about rockabilly is there are tons of songs and singers to discover and unless you're a total afficionado you can come across someone who's 'an unknown legend' but totally new to you. In that line, tonight I give you Gene Maltais, whose The Raging Sea I got into recently on the Rocket In My Pocket compilation (out on Ace Records). I've since discovered I've got it on another comp, and another track by him on yet another comp, but somehow have missed them or not listened to them properly- easily done I find when it's a compilation of twenty-five plus songs. Gene Maltais has got a truly great voice and a rocking guitar sound, and this song is the quiffed up business- play it 'til it wears out. Gene wants to love his woman 'like a raging sea', which is just less than 'the force of a thousand suns', a unit noted over at The Ghost Of Electricity blog a while back as very powerful indeed. Top stuff for your Friday night.

CJ- if you happen to be reading this, does the photo of Gene Maltais remind you of anyone we know?

03 The Raging Sea.wma

The Return Of Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night

We haven't had much rockabilly round these parts recently and I'm in the mood so here's Dale Vaughn in the mid 1950s asking the question How Can You Be Mean To Me? A seriously wild slice of the rockabilly pie.

01 How Can You Be Mean To Me.wma