musicology #459

TheManWithTheBag #9

(Amos Milburn – Let’s Make Christmas Merry Baby)

LISTEN

Intended on breaking the mould today and throwing the cut early?, (unless of course you’re in NYC, LA, ‘Chi’ or pretty much any State in America), but as Robert Burns wrote:

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!”

So stick that in yer pipes and smoke it !! while we slide into this cut from one of the great Rhythm & Blues pioneers Amos Milburn who, (along with Louis Jordan), had a major impact on the transition from swing to Rhythm & Blues in the mid 1940’s. recorded in 1949 for Eddie & Leo Mesner’s powerhouse Aladdin label, (the home of West Coast Rhythm & Blues).

musicology #183

soulsearching #5

(Dinah Washington - Am I Asking Too Much)

LISTEN

penultimate cut of the soulsearching which, to be honest feels like it has been a piece disjointed and not quite how I imagined it. still…”The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” to quote a, (much used by me), line from Rabbie Burns’s 1785 poem ‘To A Mouse’

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear

which, apoun reading inspired author John Steinbeck to change the name of his book from ‘Something That Happened’ to ‘Of Mice And Men’

anyway back to the music with a 1947 slice of the downbeat pie. this one shouldnt need any explanation and is as plain as the nose on my face. I’m trying hard to ‘Tame The Bull’ but at the moment it feels like an uphill climb to the bottom. if your ‘companion’ is treating you like dirt on the ground then you know how it feels, if not…then good luck to you.