This song is a bit of a gem hidden away on the interweb thingy. It hasn't been recorded and I doubt it ever will be given the fact it has an "older Fred song" sound to it. I don't think the writing is overly poetic or anything, but it conveys enough of the emotion from the topic that it made me want to read the entire Wikipedia page on the "Ipperwash Crisis" which says something since I exist a few provinces and a couple thousand miles away from it.
Let me tell you a story
About Dudley George.
Gunned down in Ipperwash
By the OPP.
Word came down
From old Queens Park,
You get it done
And get it done quickly.
(Chorus)
Reservation cars.
Snake-bit soldiers.
Wooden Indians in antique stores.
The gunned him down
Without a whisper.
Now I don't wanna come around
Here anymore.
They stood around
Their ancient grounds
Like they had 100 years before.
They wouldn't listen,
They never do.
I guess nothin's
Changed since then you know.
(Chorus)
No subpoenas,
No court marshals,
No inquisitions,
Nothing at all.
Just one dead Indian.
Just one more.
It won't be long
Until all of them are gone.
(Chorus) x 2
Chords - As best as I can tell the chords are G, Am, C, G but I might not know my ass from a hole in the ground here.
Song can be found here (http://www.frednet.nl/jukebox/081114_venlo/).
Friday, 2 August 2013
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
18 Wheels
So I was at the Calgary Folk Festival last weekend and saw Steve Earle close out the night. I thought his set was great (although I would have preferred to see him solo). I got thinking about how he compares to Fred and had these thoughts on how to compare the two on this blog but the idea came out clunky and I scrapped it. In the end, I love Steve Earle's music and his attitude as an artist, but Fred Eaglesmith is the best song writer in the whole world and I'll stand on Steve Earle's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.
With a tip of the hat to one of my favourite Steve Earle songs (his version of Willin'), here's a trucking song that I always find myself singing to myself when it's raining or snowing.
18 Wheels
Driving rain, 40 miles out of Michigan,
Spiderweb headlights, shut me down.
I knocked on the door, I rang the bell,
The sign said Vacancy, there was no one around.
(Chorus)
18 wheels up against the wall,
56 tonnes, grain alcohol.
Danger pay, I'm trying to be strong,
But my will is gone, my will is gone, my will is gone.
Lightning crashing, standing in a phone booth,
I called her number, I got a machine.
I heard her voice, I heard the tone,
I tried to speak, I couldn't say anything.
(Chorus)
Blinding snow, Sioux City Iowa,
It dawned on me, she was gone to stay.
I jammed the brakes, I swung it around,
Now I'm heading back, but it's way too late.
(Chorus)
Chords
I've seen people play this a few different ways. You can play the verses with just G with a D thrown in at the end of each sentence. You can also throw a quick C in before the G if you want to get fancy. The chorus seems to be Am, C, G, D.
With a tip of the hat to one of my favourite Steve Earle songs (his version of Willin'), here's a trucking song that I always find myself singing to myself when it's raining or snowing.
18 Wheels
Driving rain, 40 miles out of Michigan,
Spiderweb headlights, shut me down.
I knocked on the door, I rang the bell,
The sign said Vacancy, there was no one around.
(Chorus)
18 wheels up against the wall,
56 tonnes, grain alcohol.
Danger pay, I'm trying to be strong,
But my will is gone, my will is gone, my will is gone.
Lightning crashing, standing in a phone booth,
I called her number, I got a machine.
I heard her voice, I heard the tone,
I tried to speak, I couldn't say anything.
(Chorus)
Blinding snow, Sioux City Iowa,
It dawned on me, she was gone to stay.
I jammed the brakes, I swung it around,
Now I'm heading back, but it's way too late.
(Chorus)
Chords
I've seen people play this a few different ways. You can play the verses with just G with a D thrown in at the end of each sentence. You can also throw a quick C in before the G if you want to get fancy. The chorus seems to be Am, C, G, D.
Monday, 15 July 2013
Time To Get A Gun
I guess there's no getting around Time To Get A Gun. It's probably the most well known song that FJE has due to Miranda Lambert's cover of it (Toby Keith's cover of White Rose and Alan Jackson's cover of Freight Train haven't seemed to raise the profile of those songs as much as Lambert has). It's admittedly not my favourite song of his, but when I find myself at party when a guitar is being passed around it's the song that I usually sing. It's a playful song that doesn't take itself seriously. In a way, I think this song is what Fred is trying to get away from now in the music he makes now. I've heard him state in interviews that he refuses to turn into a caricature of himself and keep creating the same music with different words and topics. But at the same time, every concert of his that I've been to has included a rendition of this song.
I love the explanation to how he came to write this song he's given in some of the live versions I've heard or witnessed. He makes it seem so simple when he'll say something like "Well, my neighbour's car was stolen the other night. We heard the dogs barking, but we didn't pay any attention to them". The live versions are always fun, but the heart of this song lives in the original version in my opinion. The banjo combined with everything that Washboard Hank was playing give the song the perfect feel. You get the feeling that there's the right balance between seriousness and absurdity within the 20 seconds of the song. As much as he moves away from this type of music now, part of his charm will always lie in this song.
My neighbour's car got stole last night,
Right out of this driveway.
We heard the dogs a barkin',
We never paid them any mind.
Mary says she's gonna lock the doors
From now on when we go away.
And I've been walkin' around this farm,
Wondering if it's time......
Time to get a gun.
That's what I've been thinking.
I could afford one,
If I did just a little less drinking.
Time to put something
Between me and the sun.
When the talking is over,
It's time to get a gun.
Last week a government man was there,
When I walked out of my back door.
He said "I'm sorry to bother you son
But it don't matter anymore.
Cause even while we're talking,
And right here where we stand,
They're making plans for a four lane highway
And a big old overpass......
(Chorus)
(Bridge)
Mary says she's worried,
About herself and the kids.
She's never known anybody had a gun
And her daddy never did.
But I think it should be up to me,
Cause when it's all said and done,
Somebody's gotta walk into the night,
Well I'm gonna be that one.
(Chorus)
Chords
Capo on two, and the verse goes G, Am, C, G. The last time through on the verse, instead of ending it with a G end with a D. The chorus goes one time through on G, Am, C, D and one time on G, Am, C, G. The bridge goes D, C for the most part and finished with a D before going back into the chorus.
I love the explanation to how he came to write this song he's given in some of the live versions I've heard or witnessed. He makes it seem so simple when he'll say something like "Well, my neighbour's car was stolen the other night. We heard the dogs barking, but we didn't pay any attention to them". The live versions are always fun, but the heart of this song lives in the original version in my opinion. The banjo combined with everything that Washboard Hank was playing give the song the perfect feel. You get the feeling that there's the right balance between seriousness and absurdity within the 20 seconds of the song. As much as he moves away from this type of music now, part of his charm will always lie in this song.
My neighbour's car got stole last night,
Right out of this driveway.
We heard the dogs a barkin',
We never paid them any mind.
Mary says she's gonna lock the doors
From now on when we go away.
And I've been walkin' around this farm,
Wondering if it's time......
Time to get a gun.
That's what I've been thinking.
I could afford one,
If I did just a little less drinking.
Time to put something
Between me and the sun.
When the talking is over,
It's time to get a gun.
Last week a government man was there,
When I walked out of my back door.
He said "I'm sorry to bother you son
But it don't matter anymore.
Cause even while we're talking,
And right here where we stand,
They're making plans for a four lane highway
And a big old overpass......
(Chorus)
(Bridge)
Mary says she's worried,
About herself and the kids.
She's never known anybody had a gun
And her daddy never did.
But I think it should be up to me,
Cause when it's all said and done,
Somebody's gotta walk into the night,
Well I'm gonna be that one.
(Chorus)
Chords
Capo on two, and the verse goes G, Am, C, G. The last time through on the verse, instead of ending it with a G end with a D. The chorus goes one time through on G, Am, C, D and one time on G, Am, C, G. The bridge goes D, C for the most part and finished with a D before going back into the chorus.
Friday, 12 July 2013
Rough Edges
I haven't wrote in a little while, a lot of things have been adding up lately. And I'm in a down mood today (fight with the wife over reasons that were trivial) and have been zoned out mentally because of that. I'm at work and and listening to music on my iPad, and one of my favourite songs comes on (I'm also a little drunk because I'm in Calgary and it's the last day of the Calgary Stampede......being drunk at work is more common than you might think given the circumstances). This was the first song I learned to play on the guitar with any level of seriousness. I'm guessing it's a giveaway at this point that it's a FJE song.
I had mentioned in the beginning post of this blog that Rodeo Boy was the first song that drew me into FJE, but the first song that made me fall in love with the music that he produces was Rough Edges. It was back when Napster was a thing that existed, and I had found a copy of Rough Edges from the "From the Paradise Motel" album. I loved the intro with the subtle jokes that half the audience got. When I listen to that version of the song now, his voice sounds a little more tender, a little more desperate. The song doesn't feel as polished as it could be but that makes it seem a little more fitting. Sitting at my cubicle (whilst half cut from screwdrivers and the liquid lunch), the tone of the song is what talks to me right now. I'm drawn into the feeling of hopelessness he's describing. Just wanting to go where the "whisky has colour, and the cows feed on grass" before being drawn back into reality where the "blankets are dirty". At least I know that "an east wind always means rain", and I'm hoping that in this case, rain is a good thing and fresh chances in life always coming along.
Rough Edges
Cracks in your windshield.
Holes in you life.
And you're trying to get home,
Before it gets light.
And that old 5 tonne truck,
Don't run good no more.
Barely gets up those hills,
With your foot to the floor.
And your horses are tired,
And your excuses are weak,
And you ain't won a race,
Since '73.
But on through the night,
That trailer just sways.
An east wind you know,
Always brings rain.
And out on the freeway,
Those big wheels just roll.
Out past your time,
And through your front door.
Lights on the skyline.
Signs on the road.
You don't pick up your mail.
You don't answer your door.
And your old friends are dead,
And gone away.
Wild flowers cry,
Over their graves.
And the paper they throw,
At the end of the lane,
An east wind it says,
Always brings rain.
Down by the river,
Where the old boys still ride,
And the edges are rough,
As suicide.
Where the whisky's got colour,
And the cows feed on grass.
The windmills pump water.
And your cheques don't go bad.
And your blankets are dirty,
And your eternity frayed.
And on through the night
That trailer just sways.
So load up those cattle,
And move out that train.
An east wind you know,
Always brings rain.
Cracks in your windshield.
Holes in you life.
And you're trying to get home,
Before it gets light.
Chords - The progression at the start and end of each verse is G, F, C, D, with two measures of G, Em, C, D in between.
I had mentioned in the beginning post of this blog that Rodeo Boy was the first song that drew me into FJE, but the first song that made me fall in love with the music that he produces was Rough Edges. It was back when Napster was a thing that existed, and I had found a copy of Rough Edges from the "From the Paradise Motel" album. I loved the intro with the subtle jokes that half the audience got. When I listen to that version of the song now, his voice sounds a little more tender, a little more desperate. The song doesn't feel as polished as it could be but that makes it seem a little more fitting. Sitting at my cubicle (whilst half cut from screwdrivers and the liquid lunch), the tone of the song is what talks to me right now. I'm drawn into the feeling of hopelessness he's describing. Just wanting to go where the "whisky has colour, and the cows feed on grass" before being drawn back into reality where the "blankets are dirty". At least I know that "an east wind always means rain", and I'm hoping that in this case, rain is a good thing and fresh chances in life always coming along.
Rough Edges
Cracks in your windshield.
Holes in you life.
And you're trying to get home,
Before it gets light.
And that old 5 tonne truck,
Don't run good no more.
Barely gets up those hills,
With your foot to the floor.
And your horses are tired,
And your excuses are weak,
And you ain't won a race,
Since '73.
But on through the night,
That trailer just sways.
An east wind you know,
Always brings rain.
And out on the freeway,
Those big wheels just roll.
Out past your time,
And through your front door.
Lights on the skyline.
Signs on the road.
You don't pick up your mail.
You don't answer your door.
And your old friends are dead,
And gone away.
Wild flowers cry,
Over their graves.
And the paper they throw,
At the end of the lane,
An east wind it says,
Always brings rain.
Down by the river,
Where the old boys still ride,
And the edges are rough,
As suicide.
Where the whisky's got colour,
And the cows feed on grass.
The windmills pump water.
And your cheques don't go bad.
And your blankets are dirty,
And your eternity frayed.
And on through the night
That trailer just sways.
So load up those cattle,
And move out that train.
An east wind you know,
Always brings rain.
Cracks in your windshield.
Holes in you life.
And you're trying to get home,
Before it gets light.
Chords - The progression at the start and end of each verse is G, F, C, D, with two measures of G, Em, C, D in between.
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Water In The Fuel
FJE occasionally will tell the story of a song during a concert by doing a prolonged intro, talking about why he wrote the song while the music plays in the background. He's done it for "White Rose" and "Carmelita: (both of which you can find on YouTube), but my favourite is "Water In The Fuel". I've seen him do this version a few times, but the first was the best. He was playing at Ranchman's in Calgary, and it was the first time I saw him after Willy had left the band. He was playing the Gretsch, adding a new haunting sound to his songs.
The song itself isn't his best wordsmithing by any stretch. It's a song about a truck driver realizing that his relationship is likely over, and coming to grips on why it happened. When he thinks "You wanted to buy that little trailer, out on the edge with the money you were saving. It had a carport, a colour TV, and no place to turn around" he sees that both of them just wanted a better life but their definitions of that better life were different. She just wanted him, he wanted to work to get more secure, buy new things, whatever. The point is their path diverged and he's realizing the reasons why and the impact that will have.
When I listen to the long version of this song, there's one part of the intro that always gets me. It takes me to times in my life where I've been hopelessly lost without knowing where to go. It reminds me of times when I know what I was doing wasn't working, but I've continued down the path I know to be wrong anyway. Times when I've realized that life isn't easy. That part of the intro (and lyrics to the song) goes like this:
There's a light in every diesel truck and it says water in the fuel.
When it comes on, well it means you have water in the fuel.
Leave that light on too long, and your truck just dies.
Leave that light on too long, and your bus just dies.
Leave that light on too long, and your heart just gets broken........
Well darling I'm coming down on route number 67.
I just got off the turnpike avoiding the Ohio State Inspection.
Johnny Law followed me up the road, then he turned off and he let me go.
I guess this old truck ain't worth shutting down.
Your voice last night on the telephone said you wouldn't be there when I got home,
So when I get to Cleveland I'll head back south.
(Chorus)
The light keeps coming on, I got water in the fuel.
My brakes are gone.
I got a left front tire throwing thread, by tomorrow morning I could be dead.
Baby maybe you were right all along.
You said you couldn't stay with a man who's always going away,
And all you wanted to do was settle down.
You wanted to buy that little trailer, out on the edge with the money you were saving.
It had a carport, a colour TV, and no place to turn around.
(Chorus)
(Bridge)
Remember that winter when the lake froze over,
We drove out there after we unloaded,
We revved that truck and we spun it 'round and 'round.
Then we left it idling out on that ice,
Crawled in the sleeper and I held you tight,
Baby I'm sure on thin ice now.
(Chorus)
Baby maybe you were right all along.
Chords - Most of the song is just G-D-C-C. The chorus skips one of the C-C progressions. The bridge adds a Am, if you listen it's easy to pick up. You can add a little flourish to the second C to make a little more fun. And again, there's a good chance I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground with these chords.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Run-A-Way Lane
So I'm not necessarily starting this in a logical place. Chronological or alphabetical order be damned. If I only had one FJE song to take with me to a desert island, it would be Run-A-Way Lane.
On the Balin' album, this song fits in so seamlessly it's easy to overlook. It starts out with a few notes on the banjo, which meets up with a gentle guitar and quiet dobro. The lyrics are simple, just someone lamenting about what there "ought" to be in the world. The images used in the song (a mountain road, a switchback windin') take you visually to a lonely place. A fiddle sneaks up in the background with a few notes that make you forlorn instantly. The last line before the song goes into the dobro interlude ("and you ought to be here with me, that's the way it was supposed to be") is all you really need to know about the motives behind the song. You get the emotion behind the song without caring that there's no story or chorus to it. You can connect the times in your life where you just want something that you don't have and don't know how to get.
The dobro bit in the middle and the fiddle at the end are among the most sublime pieces of music I've ever heard. In a bad mood they connect with that bad mood, in a good mood they elevate that good mood with the beauty behind them. The fact that the song finishes with the promise that "it will be faded out by then" and the band's friendly banter back and forth adds to the perfection of the song somehow in my mind. The song conveys an emotion that can take you anywhere, but at the end that emotion comes back to the people that it was grounded in and who produced this art.
Lyrics
Ought to be a train somewhere,
Ought to be a railroad line,
Ought to be a rusted train,
Ought to be a lonely sign,
Ought to whistle blowin',
Ought to be one thin dime,
Ought to be a train somewhere to take me down the line.
Ought to be a switchback windin',
Ought to be a mountain road,
Ought to be a run-a-way lane when there's nowhere else to go.
Ought to be a low gear sign,
Ought to be a dangerous prairie (?),
Ought to be a switchback windin' to make things go my way,
And you ought to be here with me,
That's the way it was supposed to be.
Ought to be a train somewhere,
Ought to be switchback windin',
Take me up into the clouds into all that silver lining,
Ought to be a low gear sign,
Ought to be a mountain road,
Ought to be a run-a-way land when there's nowhere else to go,
Ought to be a run-a-way land when there's nowhere else to go.
Chords are G, F, and C with a capo on the second fret (as far as I can tell....there's a good chance I'm wrong).
On the Balin' album, this song fits in so seamlessly it's easy to overlook. It starts out with a few notes on the banjo, which meets up with a gentle guitar and quiet dobro. The lyrics are simple, just someone lamenting about what there "ought" to be in the world. The images used in the song (a mountain road, a switchback windin') take you visually to a lonely place. A fiddle sneaks up in the background with a few notes that make you forlorn instantly. The last line before the song goes into the dobro interlude ("and you ought to be here with me, that's the way it was supposed to be") is all you really need to know about the motives behind the song. You get the emotion behind the song without caring that there's no story or chorus to it. You can connect the times in your life where you just want something that you don't have and don't know how to get.
The dobro bit in the middle and the fiddle at the end are among the most sublime pieces of music I've ever heard. In a bad mood they connect with that bad mood, in a good mood they elevate that good mood with the beauty behind them. The fact that the song finishes with the promise that "it will be faded out by then" and the band's friendly banter back and forth adds to the perfection of the song somehow in my mind. The song conveys an emotion that can take you anywhere, but at the end that emotion comes back to the people that it was grounded in and who produced this art.
Lyrics
Ought to be a train somewhere,
Ought to be a railroad line,
Ought to be a rusted train,
Ought to be a lonely sign,
Ought to whistle blowin',
Ought to be one thin dime,
Ought to be a train somewhere to take me down the line.
Ought to be a switchback windin',
Ought to be a mountain road,
Ought to be a run-a-way lane when there's nowhere else to go.
Ought to be a low gear sign,
Ought to be a dangerous prairie (?),
Ought to be a switchback windin' to make things go my way,
And you ought to be here with me,
That's the way it was supposed to be.
Ought to be a train somewhere,
Ought to be switchback windin',
Take me up into the clouds into all that silver lining,
Ought to be a low gear sign,
Ought to be a mountain road,
Ought to be a run-a-way land when there's nowhere else to go,
Ought to be a run-a-way land when there's nowhere else to go.
Chords are G, F, and C with a capo on the second fret (as far as I can tell....there's a good chance I'm wrong).
The Beginning
When I was a teenager in the 1990s I started down the path that's led me to this blog. I was watching CMT one night while playing video games (I know, I was a pretty popular kid) when a song came on that I hadn't heard before. I looked to the screen and saw it was "Rodeo Boy" by Fred Eaglesmith. I had seen the video for "105" before, and I liked the song but not enough to investigate this Eaglesmith character more. The opening guitar riff of "Rodeo Boy" changed that. I was immediately drawn in by the swampy electric guitar mixed with a sad steel guitar in the background. With lyrics like "Down at the old cafe, people throwing looks my way, I guess they don't know what to say" I was drawn in further. I immediately went to Napster and began trying to find whatever songs I could. Every song I found I loved. I started down the slippery slope to Fredheadville.
Fred is the foundation that the rest of my musical profile is based upon. Everything is compared to Fred. His music is the reason I picked up a used ten dollar guitar and learned to play. There used to be a link on his website that went to a site that housed the lyrics and chords for a ton of his songs. The website still exists in the depths of the internet (located here and run by a fellow named Jason Hammond). I don't really want to duplicate what he's done, I want to just create a forum where I can take a song and say why I like it (and for anyone who happens to read this).
So that's it. Just me writing about Fred Eaglesmith songs saying why I like them.
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