Radiola #14
It goes on forever.
This is our latest Radiola show. I'm Lenny and I've been posting playlists like radio shows since 2008, so that's 16 years now, but it's only the 14th show. Is that too much? I have used many platforms over the years, and now it's all on Youtube.
Stacey and I were listening to an actual radio station, KPFT, and Robert Earl Keene's The Road Goes on Forever came on. It's such a great story. You can see the people and the scenes. It made us both think about a lot of other songs we liked. So we decided to work on this playlist together. She suggested we treat it more like a podcast. Great!
So I'll go through the list with some comments. Here's the link of where to listen and watch, if you don't mind the ads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJRWtKePKuY&list=PLLPNsdx4mpNMMyBFQ9Dt-QLaA1fMfd4GO&pp=gAQBiAQB8AUB
This collection is a metaphor for the path that IS taken. But no matter how far you go, you really never get anywhere new.
- The Road Goes On Forever - Robert Earl Keene. The lyric is "the party never ends," but really it's the story never ends, and most of the time, it's no party. A writer decides to end the narrative so the story has a defined arc, but in real life, it goes on, things happen, good and bad.
The playlist is divided into themes. It features a few Nashville legends, some of our East Texas favorites, and a few surprises.
- Ford Econoline - Nancy Griffith - This Mormon woman isn't stopping for anything, leaving her worthess husband behind
- Miss Ohio - Gillian Welch - another woman living her life her own way. She wants to do right but not right now.
Lack of home:
- The Weight - The Band - from the movie The Last Waltz, so check the film quality, in spite of the anamorphic distortion. I love this recording, especially for the Staple Singers. The story is obscure, but the feel is clearly that there's no place to settle.
- LA Freeway - Guy Clark - He probably will get killed or caught. This is an awesome acoustic version from the annual Austin City Limits songwriter show
- Jackson - Lucinda Williams - She's driving to get him off her mind. How's that going?
- Jackson - Johnny & June - A classic! The fire went out at one point and now they just fight, but the recording is so fun and loving, that fire is not out.
- Tennessee Plates - John Hiatt - This is the most rocking song on this list. This bad guy is in a bad place.
- I’m a Lonesome Fugitive - Merle Haggard - He has to be alone to stay free.
- Me and Bobby McGee - Kris Kristofferson - He's missing his youth, Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free
- Fast car - Tracy Chapman - whatever you're running from, there you are, but she's ready to go it alone without her toxic partner.
Murder & revenge:
- Frankie and Johnny - Big Bill Broonzy - A blues legend tells us what a guy gets for doing her wrong
- Caleb Meyer - Gillian Welch - Our Gillian is back with no remorse for what she did to Caleb.
- Pretty Little One - Steep Canyon Rangers - Steve Martin and Edie Brickell have a story to sing.
Death:
- Boulder to Birmingham - Emmylou Harris - You can see Mark Knopfler in the background, and their album Roadrunning is a great collaboration, but this is Emmylou's chance to shine and she's mesmerizing, singing about the one she misses. It breaks my heart every time.
- Darlin' Corey - Pete Seeger - he sings this traditional song.
- Pancho and lefty - Townes Van Zandt - an awesome video. The song he's most known for writing, illustrates well how placing the story's arc on the survivor makes the song special
- Long Ride Home - Patty Griffin - another heart breaker, Forty years of things you say you wish you'd never said
- Death and Life - Jamie Lin Wilson - Said "I used to be a lover but I still feel like a wife"
- My Man's Gone Now - George Gershwin, Dubose Heyward's lyrics (from Porgy & Bess), Audra McDonald sings a thrilling version of this song.
- Red Dirt Girl - Emmylou Harris - We could go on much much longer, but we'll end with another from Emmylou, about the life and the death of a red dirt girl named Lillian
