Douglas Cowie

Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Lost John Dean” by Bascom Lamar Lunsford:

A friend of mine told me about this song last weekend. I didn’t know it before, though I am familiar with Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s version of “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground,” because Greil Marcus writes about it in Lipstick Traces. “Lost John Dean” has a great chorus, sung amazingly by Lunsford here, and the ballad tells its story with real verve, to my ear. Really, though, it’s the way he sings “long gone” that transfixes me, along with that “lucky/Kentucky” rhyme.

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Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Boot and Spleen” by Melt Yourself Down:

I went to see Melt Yourself Down on Wednesday night. They crank out a lot of noise and energy on stage. The jazz/dance qualities that you hear on the recording were driven by a thundering bass guitar sound, drummer and extra percussionist. They veered towards hardcore, sounded sometimes like they were channeling Tom Morello’s guitar through their saxophones, swerved through grime textures and cadences, all while sounding like themselves.

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Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears:

A friend of mine was telling me the other day that he’s been listening to Tears for Fears a lot lately, after falling down a 1980s musical rabbit hole on Spotify. I loved Tears for Fears when I was a very young child and they were in the charts, and I still think they’re pretty great. “Head Over Heels” is my buddy’s current favorite, so I figured that was as good a reason to post it here today.

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