I don't know, but I will like again to the John Entwistle cover version that I like. He's such a tease on that song -- "there's a low note coming up here, but, not yet, next time around. Oh, wait, not that time either, maybe next time."
Listening to the original, Buddy Holly does sing it really well.
I don't know, the Bo Diddley beat? But searching for the Dead + Cipollina NFW (Dead performed it 500+ times) led me to This Site and These Photos
So thank you. My day was made.
(The woods scene interests me. Some of the kids look familiar, but I am not sure even what decade the picture was taken.)
Buddy Holly is one of those things I don't really have feelings about, like (unfortunately) The Beatles because it was what my dad played on the tape deck on the way to school and it was familiar before it had a chance to be good or bad.
I prefer the Rolling Stones' cover, because I'm a feminist I prefer Mick's sneering tone to Buddy's breathy, hopeful one.
Oh man, I had no idea that was a Buddy Holly tune. I knew it as Rolling Stones. The Buddy Holly is better. Thanks, Ben.
Why's it so great? Simplicity? It moves the body, right? It's pretty hard not to rock and sway and jazz back and forth while listening.
I don't know why that is, though.
Music is nice and all, but it really doesn't seem necessary to form so many opinions about it.
I think it's because each verse begins with what sounds like a statement of finality, musically speaking,with the first notes on the (high) tonic note, which is the highest note in the phrase. It creates kind of a never ending loop type feel when the phrase gets repeated, especially because the phrase ends and begins on the tonic note (and the tonic chord). The high point of the phrase seems like it should be at the end of the phrase rather than the beginning, but by ending each phrase with the low tonic note an octave below where the phrase begins, it automatically creates anticipation for the next phrase, even as it sounds self-contained. And it makes it a terrific showpiece for the singer, who can start each phrase with a big burst of energy.
3.1 -- This was a hell of a show. http://ia700306.us.archive.org/19/items/gd1980-01-13.sbd.miller.106517.flac16/gd80-01-13d2t03.mp3
Dead, Cipp, and Carlos Santana. Then Baez came out sang this one: http://ia600306.us.archive.org/19/items/gd1980-01-13.sbd.miller.106517.flac16/gd80-01-13d2t07.mp3
This one is hard to beat. Jockomoe fee na nay!
Everything about it, but maybe especially the riff, how it's executed?
Partly the Bo Diddley beat. Partly the way he sings it. Both of which were said above. And partly because I don't think Buddy Holly could have written a bad song if he'd tried. Even when I was a dickish teenager and going through that period of rejecting my parents' and their music I used to have a Buddy Holly cassette in my car that I listened to regularly.
Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley had a beat,
Every song he used that beat,
Bomp-buh-bomp-buh-bomp, buh-bomp-bomp
Jockomoe fee na nay!
Just in case anybody hasn't heard the original* version of Iko Iko (by the Dixie Cups), it's worth it.
From wikipedia
Their version came about by accident. They were in a New York City studio for a recording session when they began an impromptu version of "Iko Iko," accompanied only by drumsticks on studio ashtrays. "We were just clowning around with it during a session using drumsticks on ashtrays," said Dixie Cup member Barbara Hawkins. "We didn't realize that Jerry and Mike had the tapes running." Session producers Leiber and Stoller added bass and drums and released it.
* There is some debate about that claim.
Hey NickS, who does the version of House of the Rising Sun where the lyrics actually make sense -- e.g. about the gambling sweetheart and stuff, sung from a female inmates perspective.
If this is the thread for Bud Holly songs that inspired great covers, then I offer "I'm Gonna Love You Too" done by not-Blondie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOxhMM8Nkf0
Hey NickS, who does the version of House of the Rising Sun where the lyrics actually make sense
I don't know, but I'll see if I can figure it out.
The wikipedia entry is quite interesting (I didn't know that Clarence Ashley was the first person to record it) and notes, "The Animals' version transposes the narrative of the song from the point of view of a woman led into a life of degradation, to that of a male, whose father was now a gambler and drunkard, as opposed to the sweetheart in earlier versions."
So it's possible that there are several variations. Listening to a couple, I like the performance by Odetta a great deal, but I don't know if that's what you're looking for.
Someone Oudie and I went to school with had a song which included the verse:
Well my love's bigger
Than a Lincoln Continental!
And yet you accuse me of
Being overly sentimental.
22: Elliott? He's friends with Walt, too.
It would be funny if we met 20 years ago through him.
24: It has been established that we were at the same performance at a certain PA liberal arts college circa 1990, right?
Yes. I remember vaguely meeting somebody who looks vaguely like your picture, so I'm ready to make the jump and assume we've met.
Hello! How've you been? I've been good.
Hey NickS, who does the version of House of the Rising Sun where the lyrics actually make sense
Bob Dylan's version is sung from a woman's perspective, but he stole the arrangement from Dave van Ronk.
I'm sure it demonstrates my lack of musical sophistication to say that Buddy Holly recorded better songs. "Not Fade Away" is great, but too controlled, especially compared to the exuberance of "Oh Boy!" and "Rave On!" (neither of which he wrote, I realize).
Clarence Ashley's 1932 recording is the oldest one I know. There's a book by Ted Anthony.
Ma Rainey recorded See See Rider in the 1920s, sound quality's rough, but it's interesting to hear.
My favorite underappreciated early blues players are Sylvester Weaver and separately Lonnie Johnson. I posted a bunch of Lonnie Johnson here:
http://8tracks.com/lw208xx/acoustic-guitar-blues-mostly-lonnie-johnson
it's great on account of bo diddley. also, hi joe d! my dad does the greatest version of 'house of the rising sun' ever, but it's pretty much a different tune, I'll ask him where he got the arrangement.
