The Pride of Poverty

When they busted my chops over That Summer Feeling, it sent a chilling effect through the site. So cold it got, that I’ve now lost for the first time in several mixtapes. But for what it’s worth, I’m partial to the Rolling Stones’ version of Money, but I like the original too…I wanna thank Jace the Ace Face for a brief flirtation with DC funk in the 1980s, with Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers’ succinctly titled “We Need Money” one of the better examples on record…And finally (so soon?) I remember watching this clip of Elvis Costello when it first aired on Letterman about 26 years ago. In fact, for some strange reason, I recorded it on my ghetto blaster (built-in mic recording output from TV speaker), and kept it on an actual mixtape which is still kicking around the gaff. An embarrassment of riches this aint, but there is a pride in poverty.

The Poor Man's Rich Man Poor Man Mixtape

Money, That’s What I Want – Barrett Strong
The Poor Orphan Child – The Carter Family
We Need Money – Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers
Bankrobber – The Clash
Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Man Out of Time – Elvis Costello
Poor Paddy on the Railway – The Dubliners
Big Boss Man – Jimmy Reed
Promised Land – Johnny Allan
Sometimes I Wantcha for Your Money – The Milkshakes
I’m a Man You Don’t Meet Everyday – The Pogues
Money, That’s What I Want – Rolling Stones
Do Re Mi - Woody Guthrie

Here is a link to the winning mixtape. Check out some Japanese folkies rocking the last entry from BD’s homeboy.

No Xmas for John's Cache

And the Christmas lights, they blew up
Now the leccy's all gone dead
I look like a coal miner
And I've a pain inside my head
--A CHRISTMAS LULLABY (1996)

I’m not gonna dwell on the negative, but this theme is woeful. Both the theme itself and my attempt to make a tape. It’s like the baseball theme – there’s just so few songs on topic that are any good. Two of my favorite artists from the borough of Queens – Run DMC and the Ramones – both made very forgettable Christmas songs late in their careers, leaving a bad taste, so I’m not gonna bother with them. It’s ill-timed too, so let’s just get it over with, concede to BD, and move on.

Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys
Christmas Greetings – The Beatles
Merry Christmas Baby – Chuck Berry
Little Drummer Boy – Bing Crosby and David Bowie
Santa Claus is Back in Town – Elvis Presley
No Xmas for John Quays – The Fall
Christmas Episode 1946 – Jack Benny Radio Program
Run Rudolph Run – Keith Richards
Fairytale of New York – The Pogues
A Christmas Lullaby – Shane MacGowan and the Popes
Santa Claus – The Sonics
Comanche (Link Wray's Christmas) – Wild Billy Childish & the Musicians of the British Empire
Jesus Christ – Woody Guthrie

Bob Dylan's victorious Xmixtape.

Locked Up: the Jail Mixtape

Back in 1981, someone pointed out to me the macho cartoon aspect of The Clash, mostly in their choice of lyrical content and song/album titles. I wasn’t too interested in that kind of analysis at the time, but I filed away the information anyway. Visual image-wise, of course, they loved dressing up. Sometimes you’d see pictures of the group and they would look like bikers-- other times, they would be cowboys, policemen, soldiers, foppish dandies (is there any other kind?) -- or all of the above. That’s it! The Clash were the Village People!

I’m not sure if they ever dressed up specifically as jailbirds, but they certainly looked liked some kind of prisoners on the cover of their very first single. Some editing was required to get the Jail Mixtape to include only three Clash songs. In Jail Guitar Doors, they sang about real-life musicians who fell foul of the law, including Peter Green, Wayne Kramer and Keith Richards. Stay Free was a sweet ode to a thieving friend. Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad was inspired by the bust of a drug factory in Wales, IIRC.

They put him in a cell, they said ‘you wait here’
‘Now you got the time to count all of your hair’

Other jail songs on the tape feature more serious crimes, including at least three murders. You'll have to scroll down, though. Too clever by half with the Jail song table -- there's a big blank space and I can't get rid of it:

Song	Artist	Crime(s)	Sentence(s)
Worried Man Blues	The Carter Family	Went across the river and lay down to sleep	21 years on the R.C. Mountain line
John Hardy	Billy Childish	Murder (multiple)	Death
Jail Guitar Doors	The Clash	Deals of cocaine / gun threat / heroin possession	2 years / institutionalized / out on bail ($25,000)
Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad	The Clash	Illegal manufacture of tablets…in their millions	10-25 years
Stay Free	The Clash	Went on a nicking spree	Three years in Brixton
Jailhouse Rock	Dean Carter	Unknown	Unknown
007 (Shanty Town)	Desmond Dekker	Looting and shooting	Probation
Folsom Prison Blues	The Huns	Shot a man in Reno just to watch him die	Life (implied)
On Parole	Motorhead	Looking for fun / forgot the reason	Forever and a day / parole
Prison Cell Blues	Blind Lemon Jefferson	Nell	Undetermined number of days
The Old Main Drag	The Pogues	Vagrancy	Beaten and mauled at Vine Street lock-up
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos	Public Enemy	Draft dodging	Serving time in the state pen
The Auld Triangle	Ronnie Drew	Unknown	Death
Your Funeral and My Trial	Sonny Boy Williamson II	Threat of murder	None--yet
Prison Cell of Love	Werly Fairburn	Love	Love
Bad Lee Brown (Cocaine Blues )	Woody Guthrie	Blowed his woman down	Life in the penitentiary

Traditional music features heavily when it comes to the Jail Mixtape, but not everything is pure roots. There's comedy, too, from Motorhead, and from Public Enemy:

I got a letter from the government the other day
I opened and read it
It said they were suckers
They wanted me for their army or whatever
Picture me givin' a damn - I said never

For such an over the top song, I find its opening verse hilarious. Chuck D. deserves credit for inserting humor where you least expect it: there's plenty of wit dispensed throughout his otherwise often angry oeuvre.

Other stuff: I used to see Ronnie Drew around town before he passed away this year, having lived in his parish for the last while...The 80s Huns (not the 70s Texas ones) demoed Folsom Prison in Iowa...I've been to the Vine Street police station, where the protagonist of the Old Main Drag was brutalized "between the metal doors", but only to give a statement as a witness...Dean Carter's performance is the wildest on the mixtape, Desmond Dekker's the prettiest, and Werly Fairburn just has the best name.



Click here for Bob Dylan's Jail mix.