Iron & Wine "Grace For Saints And Ramblers"

I love this tune, because it's one of those songs that, the more you listen, the more you hear.

From the well placed "Woo Ooh Oooh"s of the background singers, to the gentle use of jingle bells and hand claps, or the little horn punctuations that don't show up until the songs is more than half-way over, it's a cornucopia of tasteful delights.

And then you start to dig into the lyrics, which tumble out like a Dylan epic that feels both meaningful and obtuse.

There were washed out cars in our bark-old clothes
They were rubbing on each other, rubbing ghost on ghost
There were Jonesed-up punks and Jesus freaks
Weaving in and out of trouble, wrapping 'round and 'round a leash
There were sleepless dreamers, blues day preacher
The message and the messenger, the gun beneath the register
The sweet gum tree by the dug drop tank
We could never give enough to the bad-luck bank
There were hopeless sinners, sweepstake winners
They danced with the farmer’s daughter
Capered with the corporate lawyers

 What does it all mean?  I have no idea.

But I hope the Rock World catches up with the Rap World.

There's a site called Rap Genius, that allows users to "annotate" lyrics to songs, inserting meanings or explanations into phrases.  For instance, you can check out how Rap Genius explains what the heck LL Cool J is talking about in "Mama Said Knock You Out."

(Want to hear Bob Dylan sing that song?)

The good news is that Rap Genius has Rock songs on there.  But alas, no one has annotated "Grace For Saints And Ramblers."

If you have any answer, please, drop science like Galileo dropped the orange.


Hear the song on Youtube.

"Grace For Saints And Ramblers" is mvyradio's Album Of The Week tomorrow at 9pm ET.

LL Cool J “Mama Said Knock You Out”

While writing about the Bob Dylan cover version of this song, I was reminded of an LL Cool J version---not the original.

Sure, I liked the original. It had the right mix of LL punch and swagger.

But the version that really stands out to me as a seminal musical moment, is from an MTV Unplugged episode.

Rap music is so much a part of the culture now, it’s hard to imagine a time when it didn’t have wide main stream acceptance, or even the acceptance as a legitimate musical form from the musical establishment. But yeah, even in the late 80s/early 90s Rap was having to defend its credibility.

Among the not-entirely-baseless claims was that Rap was a studio confection, that could not be reproduced in a live setting.

At the time, if you saw a Rap act in concert, you probably saw the MC onstage, maybe a DJ in the background, and the music was provided by a backing track. Flat and flaccid.

MTV was having a pretty successful run with its Unplugged format, and while there was no one Rap performer who could carry a full episode, they at least insured a curiosity factor, filling an episode with a couple songs each by De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, MC Lyte and LL Cool J, backed by a live instrument House Band.

The thing about concerts on TV is that they can only do so much to transcend the medium. With rare exception, the power of being in the room with a live act, is completely squeezed out when wrung through a TV’s tiny speakers and screen.

With rare exception.

I don’t know that the YouTube clip is going to do it justice either, but I remember watching on my TV as LL took the stage on this episode (which had the unfortunate title “Yo! Unplugged Rap”). The camera shows enough of the audience to really get the sense that the power of his performance was winning the crowd over, second by second, until the song’s frenzied conclusion, in the same manner it was winning me over at home.

It was an impressive performance, and I think it went a long way to legitimize the form for non-believers, as well as pave the way for the acceptance of live instrumentation in Rap, from bands like The Roots and The Beastie Boys, among others.

Bob Dylan “Mama Said Knock You Out”

Perhaps, from this point forward, all Bob Dylan entries should be considered WTF entries.

For your Mother’s Day pleasure, please enjoy Mr. Dylan rapping the first verse of LL Cool J’s classic “Mama Said Knock You Out.”

This is not a joke (exactly). Mr. Dylan hosts a satellite radio program, and on a “Mama” themed show, he ended the program with this clip, where he actually seems to know the words. His co-host for the episode, Stephen Merchant, finishes it off.

But . . . “Bob Dylan covers LL Cool J”?

WTF for Mother’s Day!