A compendium of musical delights by Alan and Margaret Ashworth
Reading Percival Everett’s novel The Trees (hilarious but ruined by the ending) reminded me of this classic written for Billie by Abel Meeropol under the pseudonym Lewis Allan. Here’s Robert … Continue readingBillie Holiday: Strange Fruit
I’ve already featured the track from the 1978 New York album, whose intro actually tells the true story of the lady irrigator Michael Kenyon, but here’s another live version from … Continue readingFrank Zappa: The Illinois Enema Bandit
WHEN I was a child, one of the highlights of the week was the family gathering around the radio listening to The Clitheroe Kid on the BBC Light Programme. This was a … Continue readingTragedy of the Clitheroe Kid
Recorded at a tribute concert shortly after the death in 2010 of Alex Chilton. Mike Mills of REM stands in for the great man. Happy Christmas to you all.
In grudging acknowledgment of the festive season. Bah!
Listening to this in bed with my eyes closed, I thought it was Jolie Holland.
Classic piece of psychedelic krautrock from 1970.
I often get this song on the brain. Another one from Old Rottenhat.
IN the late 1970s my younger sister Jill, a dancer, joined the pantomime cast of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in beautiful downtown Barnsley. The star was Charlie Williams, a black … Continue readingThe old man and the dwarf
Brilliant live performance of a song from his fourth studio album Old Rottenhat, released in 1986.