Music Labyrinth Episode 011
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! / Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Hello, and welcome back to episode 11 of The Music Labyrinth. We just kicked off this episode with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds with the title track from their 2008 album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!. If you have been with us previously you will know that the song we just listened to was the one that ended our last episode. You will also know that I am about to pluck from apparently thin air some tenuous link to another tune and off we will continue through this labyrinth. If this is your first time with us, you now have some idea of the unstable platform upon which this concept is perched. My advice to you is to suspend all expectation of logic and consistency, and enjoy the ride. Nick Cave has explained the song we just heard was his effort to take the biblical story of Lazarus being brought back to life and place it in a contemporary setting - in this case, modern San Francisco. Now, in thinking about biblical stories in contemporary music, my mind went straight to Jesus Christ Superstar. So lets have a listen to King Herod's Song, because it references a bunch of those biblical parables. I've chosen the production that aired on NBC television in 2018, primarily because you might just recognise who is singing this song.
King Herod's Song / Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018)
From the 2018 NBC television special Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert that was King Herod's Song sung, for that production, and for us, by Alice Cooper. Let's stay with Alice, but go right back to the start of his performing and recording career. From the 1970 album, Love It To Death, this is I'm Eighteen.
I'm Eighteen / Alice Cooper
You're listening to The Music Labyrinth where, just before that short break, we listened to I'm Eighteen, by Alice Cooper. That song brought Cooper's particular blend of shock-rock and musical theatre to widespread attention. Within two years he had attracted the attention of the UK Christian morality campaigner, Mary Whitehouse, who persuaded the BBC to ban a subsequent Alice Cooper single, School's Out. On his website alicecooper.com, it is claimed that Cooper sent Mary Whitehouse a bunch of flowers in gratitude for her publicity which helped that song to number one in the UK charts. A handful of years later, Mary Whitehouse was famously, and unflatteringly, referenced by name in this album track from Pink Floyd's mighty album, Animals. Sit back and enjoy Pigs (Three Different Ones).
Pigs (Three Different Ones) / Pink Floyd
On The Music Labyrinth we just heard the Pink Floyd song Pigs (Three Different Ones), from the 1977 album Animals. Animals was a concept album, based loosely on the themes raised in George Orwell's Animal Farm. On that same album another song, Sheep, in part took the phrasing of Psalm 23 of the Bible and reworked it into a message about the meek submission of the flock. In a convenient link to our next song, Psalm 23 also appears to have provided some inspiration for Midnight Oil. The 1993 album Earth and Sun and Moon contains the lovely and deeply personal song, In The Valley. The lyrics of In The Valley echo Psalm 23 in the way in which they emphasise the shadows of the deaths of family members. At least - I think so. Have a listen and see if you agree.
In The Valley / Midnight Oil
From 1993, that was the lovely Midnight Oil song In The Valley. I was tempted to describe it as nostalgic, but I think its more than that. For me, it is a reminder of how each of us is shaped to some extent by family and circumstance. Anyway, enough of being deep and meaningful! Lets wade into the shallow end for a moment. An integral member of Midnight Oil since since 1987 is the bassist Bones Hillman. In an earlier incarnation, Hillman was a member of the New Zealand band The Swingers, who enjoyed major chart success on both sides of the Tasman with this tune.
Counting The Beat / The Swingers
From 1981 that was The Swingers with Counting The Beat. You may recall that song being used in advertising for the Australian arm of a large international retailer (the mart that exists in between JMart and LMart). Another tune used in that same capacity by the same retailer was this one.
The Clapping Song / Shirley Ellis
You're back with The Music Labyrinth. The last song we listened to came to us from 1965, and was Shirley Ellis' version of The Clapping Song. That song has been covered many times in the years since. I recall first hearing it performed by Gary Glitter! Although a Tom Waits cover of The Clapping Song is almost impossible to imagine, there is little doubt that his 1985 tune Clap Hands references the song. In the case for the prosecution, I produce exhibit A, a live version of Clap Hands from 1987.
Clap Hands / Tom Waits
That track by Tom Waits was recorded during his tour of North America and Europe in 1987. Waits is a fascinating character to me. Although recognised as a singer, songwriter, musician, composer and actor, to me he is a poet who uses music and film as vehicles for his poetry. Anyway, what do I know, because the bloke I call a poet was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011?! One of Waits' close friends is the Los Angeles songwriter and vocalist Chuck E Weiss, who will be forever remembered as the subject of this song.
Chuck E's In Love / Ricki Lee Jones
Ricki Lee Jones has been prominent in the music world for many years and continues to record and perform to this day. The song we just heard, Chuck E's In Love, was first released in 1979. Now lets end this episode of The Music Labyrinth with a show tune! We skip forward a decade to 1989 when Ricki Lee Jones collaborated with someone we have already encountered in the Labyrinth, Dr John. This is Makin' Whoopee. Thanks for listening.
Makin' Whoopee / Dr John with Ricki Lee Jones
Hello, and welcome back to episode 11 of The Music Labyrinth. We just kicked off this episode with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds with the title track from their 2008 album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!. If you have been with us previously you will know that the song we just listened to was the one that ended our last episode. You will also know that I am about to pluck from apparently thin air some tenuous link to another tune and off we will continue through this labyrinth. If this is your first time with us, you now have some idea of the unstable platform upon which this concept is perched. My advice to you is to suspend all expectation of logic and consistency, and enjoy the ride. Nick Cave has explained the song we just heard was his effort to take the biblical story of Lazarus being brought back to life and place it in a contemporary setting - in this case, modern San Francisco. Now, in thinking about biblical stories in contemporary music, my mind went straight to Jesus Christ Superstar. So lets have a listen to King Herod's Song, because it references a bunch of those biblical parables. I've chosen the production that aired on NBC television in 2018, primarily because you might just recognise who is singing this song.
King Herod's Song / Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018)
From the 2018 NBC television special Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert that was King Herod's Song sung, for that production, and for us, by Alice Cooper. Let's stay with Alice, but go right back to the start of his performing and recording career. From the 1970 album, Love It To Death, this is I'm Eighteen.
I'm Eighteen / Alice Cooper
You're listening to The Music Labyrinth where, just before that short break, we listened to I'm Eighteen, by Alice Cooper. That song brought Cooper's particular blend of shock-rock and musical theatre to widespread attention. Within two years he had attracted the attention of the UK Christian morality campaigner, Mary Whitehouse, who persuaded the BBC to ban a subsequent Alice Cooper single, School's Out. On his website alicecooper.com, it is claimed that Cooper sent Mary Whitehouse a bunch of flowers in gratitude for her publicity which helped that song to number one in the UK charts. A handful of years later, Mary Whitehouse was famously, and unflatteringly, referenced by name in this album track from Pink Floyd's mighty album, Animals. Sit back and enjoy Pigs (Three Different Ones).
Pigs (Three Different Ones) / Pink Floyd
On The Music Labyrinth we just heard the Pink Floyd song Pigs (Three Different Ones), from the 1977 album Animals. Animals was a concept album, based loosely on the themes raised in George Orwell's Animal Farm. On that same album another song, Sheep, in part took the phrasing of Psalm 23 of the Bible and reworked it into a message about the meek submission of the flock. In a convenient link to our next song, Psalm 23 also appears to have provided some inspiration for Midnight Oil. The 1993 album Earth and Sun and Moon contains the lovely and deeply personal song, In The Valley. The lyrics of In The Valley echo Psalm 23 in the way in which they emphasise the shadows of the deaths of family members. At least - I think so. Have a listen and see if you agree.
In The Valley / Midnight Oil
From 1993, that was the lovely Midnight Oil song In The Valley. I was tempted to describe it as nostalgic, but I think its more than that. For me, it is a reminder of how each of us is shaped to some extent by family and circumstance. Anyway, enough of being deep and meaningful! Lets wade into the shallow end for a moment. An integral member of Midnight Oil since since 1987 is the bassist Bones Hillman. In an earlier incarnation, Hillman was a member of the New Zealand band The Swingers, who enjoyed major chart success on both sides of the Tasman with this tune.
Counting The Beat / The Swingers
From 1981 that was The Swingers with Counting The Beat. You may recall that song being used in advertising for the Australian arm of a large international retailer (the mart that exists in between JMart and LMart). Another tune used in that same capacity by the same retailer was this one.
The Clapping Song / Shirley Ellis
You're back with The Music Labyrinth. The last song we listened to came to us from 1965, and was Shirley Ellis' version of The Clapping Song. That song has been covered many times in the years since. I recall first hearing it performed by Gary Glitter! Although a Tom Waits cover of The Clapping Song is almost impossible to imagine, there is little doubt that his 1985 tune Clap Hands references the song. In the case for the prosecution, I produce exhibit A, a live version of Clap Hands from 1987.
Clap Hands / Tom Waits
That track by Tom Waits was recorded during his tour of North America and Europe in 1987. Waits is a fascinating character to me. Although recognised as a singer, songwriter, musician, composer and actor, to me he is a poet who uses music and film as vehicles for his poetry. Anyway, what do I know, because the bloke I call a poet was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011?! One of Waits' close friends is the Los Angeles songwriter and vocalist Chuck E Weiss, who will be forever remembered as the subject of this song.
Chuck E's In Love / Ricki Lee Jones
Ricki Lee Jones has been prominent in the music world for many years and continues to record and perform to this day. The song we just heard, Chuck E's In Love, was first released in 1979. Now lets end this episode of The Music Labyrinth with a show tune! We skip forward a decade to 1989 when Ricki Lee Jones collaborated with someone we have already encountered in the Labyrinth, Dr John. This is Makin' Whoopee. Thanks for listening.
Makin' Whoopee / Dr John with Ricki Lee Jones