Roger Miller – King Of The Road
Fleetwood Mac – Albatross
The Levellers – The Boatman
Buika – Jodida Pero Contenta
Wasis Diop - Let It Go
Salt N Pepa – Independent
The Isley Brother – It's Your Thing
Nelly Furtardo – I'm Like A Bird
Michael Nesmth – Different Drum
Pere Ubu – Non-Alignment Pact
Lene Lovich – Lucky Number
John Martyn – Spencer The Rover
Janelle Monae – Q.U.E.E.N.
Explanation:
Independence? I knew a greyhound that ran away. The hare bit it. Hope it became a crusty's happy stick dog with someone like Roger Miller. His King Of The Road is a fount of wisdom and observation. Haven't all the children we used to be heard that tune and memorised it like a counting song?
The albatross soars above the Southern Ocean, hardly shifting a feather for months on end, using the power of nature. What a piece of work! And they get old, when we're not killing them. One ringed in 1956 was recently observed. Peter Green's Stratocaster piece for Fleetwood Mac's Albatross evokes the consciousness of an animal contentedly adrift; (and the souls of dead sailors).
Wouldn't it be nice to Sail Away? Or Drift Away? Or be a Sailor Boy? So there's this nice bank clerk, the one who spots your on-screen money that hasn't cleared yet but allows you to draw a necessary few quid anyway because they're a human being. What's going through their mind when we're not mithering them? Maybe The Levellers' song, The Boatman.
Picture it. Three grumpy guys backstage glaring at three feisty women giving it loads. Must be tough for a fella in those shoes. It's a balancing act; they have to be a man and all, yet have to respect a woman's independence. Salt-N-Pepa's Independent slams down the fact that they make their own money so don't tell them how to spend it. Wouldn't dream of it.
Nilpferd informs us that It's Your Thing was The Isley Brothers' parting shot to Berry Gordy's Tamla Motown label. Now, nobody in their right mind would knock Motown, but there were a few incredibly talented artists who needed to walk away from the soul of three-minute pop. When you consider what the brothers went on to achieve…
A teenager once ran away to London. He left his girl behind. Shouldn't have, but it happens when you're only half cooked. He felt really bad about it. Wrote a letter of apology. Thirty-five years later Nelly Furtado's I'm Like A Bird put his letter to music. She still owns that shabby blue page.
The Monkees' TV show was the schoolkids' Corrie, and they made some world-class pop. They hated each other of course, and you can't blame them, stuck on the road with Jimi; movies with Jack; friends with Frank. Their Michael Nesmith carved out a fine solo career, though. His Different Drum elucidates the thoughts of most rock stars, probably. Like, you can be my lover tonight, but I don't need you to be faithful. Hang on, let's read that backwards…
Could that be a Non-Alignment Pact like Pere Ubu's? If you don't mind squealing vocals, and some of us don't, then this song expresses Nesmith's thoughts in political terms.
Squealing? Did you know that there's such a thing as a professional screamer? That Hammer horror films employed them to voice, ooh, Wanda Ventham? Madeleine Smith? And that one such screamer was Lene Lovich? How do you get a gig like that? I'm not going there, except to say that the ultra-lovely Lene struck with Lucky Number, a song about being her own number one. Yes I know that she cops off in the last verse but I'm not going to let that spoil a good write-up.
You've got to admire a decent father, because some don't do the right thing. Sad but true. John Martyn tells us about Spencer The Rover, who took off and left his family. We've all known men who got in a strop and took a long walk, went independent for an hour or two, before going home. Spencer eventually returned, and his children leapt all over him. You can't buy that.
Just a lucky birth for some, thinking of a certain handsome young prince. Janelle Monae expresses her royal feelings in Q.U.E.E.N. with a depth of eloquence that only a Dylan or a Beckett could aspire to.
