"Mrs. Bailey's Barbeque and Grill," by Sleepy

While making my way to Minnesota last week, I was listening to an archived show from WMSE's "The Rock Ride" (3:00-6:00PM, Monday afternoon, streaming archives available). Again, another find from the 1960s, this time from the British isles.

This entry is from an obscure British band, Sleepy, called "Mrs. Bailey's Barbeque and Grill":

Reduce a half pint of red wine by boiling it for five minutes.
A sprig of rosemary
Six crushed peppercorns
And some celery salt
Add an ounce of flour into an ounce of butter
And stir while the sauce thickens
Gently take four raisins and place them on pieces of bread
Rubbed with garlic and fried with oil

Its inclusion is a bit random, somewhat incomplete, however, it sounds like a good recipe (or at least a start...)!

"I Haven't Learned at Thing," by Porter Wagoner

Today was day three of the exterior painting extravaganza at our house. I took the portable radio powered by a drill battery with me outside (best "free" inclusion with a power tool ever, I may add). The radio is perfect while painting -- no worrying about wrecking a phone or iPod. Something about hearing the time pass, the weather announcements, and music coming from the air is most pleasant while working on a big project.

This morning, I tuned in to WMSE's most excellent program Americana/country/rockabilly program, "The Chicken Shack" (9:00AM-noon, Friday mornings, streaming archives available). For whatever reason, 1960s music has more songs with talking than seemingly any other decade.

Porter Wagoner (featuring Merle Haggard as his "guest speaker") is today's feature. It's a two-for! (That is, a talking song featuring TWO spoken sections, though neither is really an interlude, as Mr. Haggard talks over Mr. Wagoner as he sings).

We are led to believe Mr. Wagoner's drinking has caused many problems in his life, and that he has never learned a thing. Especially when he mentions that stuff about "...if [he] took the remedy..." Yikes.

I was pickin' my old guitar
Learning that I loved to drink that beer
My mom tried to tell me all the sorrow that drinking that stuff would do
It must have been a thousand times
I never learned a thing

And if I took the remedy
Oh, the songs that I'd sing would be just a bunch of jumbled-up words
Now I'm singin' in a little mission
Oh those old-time songs my papa used to sing

Classic country music: a big contributor to our slowly-growing compendium of talking songs.

"Just Another Piece of Paper," by Glen Campbell

I'm sitting in the living room and listening to The Glen Campbell Goodtime Album (1970) on a Saturday evening. My otherwise-loving spouse selected this particular album as he knew it would annoy me to hear Campbell's cover of MacArthur Park*, which is the second song. Once we had speculated yet again over the striped pants and the very sad image of a cake left out in the rain, the mister let the rest of the side play out as he was too comfortable on the couch to get up and change the record. (Let me add that I do not care for Mr. Campbell, while the other 50% of the household likes him very much.) After MacArthur Park, I managed to tune out the next song: "As Far As I'm Concerned." However, when the fourth song started, I looked up at my husband. Music, then spoken words. We were both surprised! Glen Campbell speaks!

Once I had a piece of paper
It was supposed to mean that you were mine
It looked like any other piece of paper...

It's kind of a depressing topic for a song. The guy's getting a divorce. The pieces of paper are marriage and divorce documents, all that's left of his union. Just between you and me, it doesn't sound like he's too cut up about the whole situation. The words indicate that perhaps he is not the most introspective individual, while the music features what sounds like a sitar, of all things.

Like "MacArthur Park," which was the song that compelled us to listen to this record tonight, "Just Another Piece of Paper" was written by the prolific and fabulous Jimmy Webb. If you have not heard his interview on World Cafe, you really should queue it up sometime soon. He wrote "Up Up and Away!" (And "MacArthur Park?" AND "Just Another Piece of Paper?" Prolific, fabulous, and...varied in quality.)

*Obviously, only the Richard Harris version will ever do.

"You Never Even Call Me By My Name," by David Allen Coe

This one's a song from way back, growing up in Minnesota and spending time at Hemming Farms in scenic Bertha, MN, listening to one of the best "classic" country stations in western Minnesota, K-106 from Wadena, MN. I remember listening to hours of music like this, blaring through a single speaker over the din of a tractor's diesel engine, driving through the cloud of hay dust while towing a hay baler.

K-106 also switched formats on Saturday nights, to play a syndicated oldies program featuring hits from the late 1950s through late 1960s. Good times.

David Allen Coe was a peer of the members of The Highwaymen as an "outlaw country" performer. He has a storied life, spending 20 years as a guest of correctional institutions, lived in a hearse outside the Ryman Auditorium (home of the Grand Ole Opry), and after his house in Florida was seized by the IRS, he lived in a cave in Tennessee until he got back on his feet.

Fun fact: Mr. Coe wrote "Take This Job and Shove It," which went #1 on the country chart when performed by Johnny Paycheck.

Well, a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song.
And he told me it was the perfect country and western song.
I wrote him back a letter and I told him it was not the perfect country and western song, because he hadn't said anything at all about mama,
or trains,
or trucks,
or prison,
or gettin' drunk.
Well, he sat down and wrote another verse to the song
And he sent it to me,
And after reading it,
I realized that my friend had written the perfect country and western song.
And I felt obliged to include it on this album.
The last verse goes like this here: 

 

"Won't Talk About It," by Billy Bragg

I don’t remember how I found out about Billy Bragg (perhaps listening to WORT, the community-based radio station in Madison, WI), but I was hooked forever once I did. How deep did my devotion run? As a very poor grad student, I used some Borders dollars to buy four (4!) Billy Bragg CDs at half price in what was surely my CD allotment for the year. (Yes, we bought CDs back then.) Billy Bragg doesn’t have the greatest voice, he doesn’t wield an axe in the manner of guitar legends, but his songs are earnest and powerful and simple. (Don't get me wrong, he's a great guitar player, but he's no Clapton or Whit Smith.) He carries on and furthers the tradition of protest/folk music (in fact, he's known equally for his politics as his music), while also singing about romantic themes in less-than-traditional ways.

Billy Bragg was in Milwaukee on September 9, 2010 for a concert at Turner Hall, about 10 years after I first heard his music, and I was there! Super concert, but even better rally! I left feeling as though I'd just attended a revival for secular humanism!
"Won't Talk About It" is from the album Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984). Unfortunately, even though I think this song is worthy of posting on Spoken Interludes, perhaps others don't agree with me as I can't find a version of it online to share. I came up with a lame amazon sample--that's it. Buy it to hear the whole thing!

Lame amazon.com link. It's track 13.

It’s another dead evening here
It’s already midnight and I’m still so awake
I see your lights are still on
I know you’re alone
His car isn’t there
Why don’t you come over
Is it because you’re afraid of what people will say
Stepping out with someone like me
I shouldn’t care about it if I was you
I’m not the only man in town
Honey, your secret’s safe with me
I won’t talk about it…

You know, I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately
Now is just the time for us
Just the time for us to get together
You and me
Just think of it
Alone
Doesn’t matter what people say, where you come from
Where I’ve lived
Just us together
It’s hard for you to see, but…
Your secret is safe with me
I won't talk about it...

Meat Loaf, "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth"

Meat Loaf (aka Michael Lee Aday) has a long and very storied musical career spanning six decades. From his early career in the late 1960s with bands of various names including Meat Loaf Soul, Popcorn Blizzard, Floating Circus, and Stoney & Meatloaf (and touring with the likes of Janis Joplin, The Who, The Greatful Dead, Bob Seger, and Alice Cooper!). Meat Loaf joined the Los Angeles production of the musical Hair. In 1973, Mr. Loaf was also part of the stage production The Rocky Horror Show, which led to him being part of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Since going solo in 1977, he has toured essentially continuously.

Meat Loaf is an avid baseball fan and according to Wikipedia, is said to have cheated death on "numerous occasions".

Fun fact: Meat Loaf also recorded lead vocals on Ted Nugent's Free-for-All album in 1976.

"You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth" includes a great spoken prelude with a rather Twilight-esque conversation with a werewolf.

On a hot summer night.
Would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?
Will he offer me his mouth?
Yes
Will he offer me his teeth?
Yes
Wlll he offer me his jaws?
Yes
Will he offer me his hunger?
Yes
Again.
Will he offer me his hunger?
Yes
And will he starve without me?
Yes
And does he love me?
Yes
Yes
On a hot summer night.
Would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?
Yes
I bet you say that to all the boys.

The Moody Blues, "Nights in White Satin (Late Lament)"

Released in 1967 by The Moody Blues, Nights in White Satin is purported to be a tale of unrequited love.

Breath deep
The gathering gloom
Watch lights fade
From every room
Bedsitter people
Look back and lament
Another day's useless
Energy spent

Impassioned lovers
Wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love
And has none
New mother picks up
And suckles her son
Senior citizens
Wish they were young

Cold hearted orb
That rules the night
Removes the colours
From our sight
Red is gray and
Yellow white
But we decide
Which is right
And
Which is an Illusion