The Music Court

                 Some people have all the luck. Well, by luck I guess I mean skill. You see, in 1967 a man by the name of Mark Knopfler (you may know him better as the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, and overall great guy of Dire Straits) studied journalism for a year at Harlow Technical College. Yes, like me and many others, he was an aspiring journalist. He actually secured a job as a Junior Reporter at the Yorkshire Evening Report in Leeds, England. (Hmm. Maybe, I can get an internship there.) Two years later, Knopfler decided to advance his studies and he received an English degree from the University of Leeds. But, yeah, as I said some guys have all the luck. He could have stuck to that Journalism idea but nahh, you see, he had a little something extra.

         What was that something extra you ask? Well, he is one of the most respected fingerstyle (plucking the strings of a guitar with your finger tips or with an attached pick) guitarists in the world and is currently ranked #27 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has sold over 120 million records with Dire Straits and his own solo material. Let’s see what else. He has performed with other artists with names like Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Phil Lynott, Randy Newman, Steely Dan, Chet Atkins, Tina Turner, and even Weird Al. Odd list, ain’t it? He has scored music for numerous films. Oh yeah and he can also write lyrics pretty well. Well enough, at least, to be considered the #95^th greatest lyricist of all time by an aspiring journalist who is currently ranked as Rolling Stone’s # not even worth mentioning guitarist. Hey, I can finger pick! Like I said, some people had all the luck.

With Eric Clapton, Sweet

            So, let’s focus on some of Mark Knopfler’s lyrics. Now, of course, everyone knows the riff and a verse of Dire Strait’s hit, “Sultan’s of Swing.” If you do not think you know it, listen to it, and I will wait for the ohhhh yeahhh to come out of your mouth. My brother walked into the computer room donned in a wife beater and a bathing suit and asked what I was doing. When I told him I was doing #95 and it was Mark Knopfler, he smiled and said oh yeah, “Sultan’s of Swing.” You see, I believe every band or performer, unless you are of the likes of The Beatles or Pink Floyd, is known by their one super hit. “Sultan’s of Swing,” the tale of the guitarists of down south London town, propelled Dire Strait’s self-titled debut album to success. The song reached #4 on the Billboard top 100 charts in 1978 and #8 on the UK singles chart. But, what many miss is how successful the album was. The album reached #2 on Billboard’s top pop album chart and #5 on UK’s Albums chart. Why did it reach so high? Was it because of the amazing guitar-playing and musical confidence? Yes, this definitely was a large reason why it was so successful. But, the lyrics of Mark Knopfler sure did not hurt.

            Check out my favorite lyrics from “Sultan’s of Swing”

“And a crowd of young boys they’re fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain’t what they call Rock ‘n’ Roll”

          The imagery represented in this lyrical quatrain is simply phenomenal. Knopfler sets the scene of the young boys so well. They are all alike in the same popular gear roaming around South London looking for some true rock and roll. Okay, look I am a fan of Blood Sweat and Tears and I do like some trumpet playing bands but I love this line. It ain’t what they call Rock ‘n’ Roll.” First off, that is how Rock ‘n’ Roll is spelt and said, just with the n. Also, the lyric is so confident and cocky with an awesome swagger to the line.

            Yes, this is their best song, and arguably Knopfler’s best lyrics. But, I want you to check out these lyrics from the first track of the debut album. The song is entitled, “Down to the Waterline,” and it is about love on the docks.

Sweet surrender on the quayside
You remember we used to run and hide
In the shadow of the cargoes I take you one at a time
And we’re counting all the numbers down to the waterline
Near misses on the dogleap stairways
French kisses in the darkened doorways
A foghorn blowing out wild and cold
A policeman shines a light upon my shoulder
Up comes a coaster fast and silent in the night
Over my shoulder all you can see are the pilot lights
No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn
Your hands are cold but your lips are warm
She can see him on the jetty where they used to go
She can feel him in the places where the sailors go
When she’s walking by the river and the railway line
She can still hear him whisper
Let’s go down to the waterline

            Tell me that lyric is not beautiful. It is quiet and reserved with a perfect mix of positive and negative words. Sweet and kisses mixed with cold and wild. It has completely different lyrics compared to “Sultan’s of Swing.” Certainly the variety of lyrics that the former journalist expresses in his songs is good enough for #95 of all time. The efficiency and skillfulness of how he writes the songs does not hurt his cause.

Check out some songs:

“Sultan’s of Swing”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2nQZPC2uTs

and the same song with God/ Eric Clapton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkrWqpymXLY&feature=related

“Down by the Waterline”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylaynrlTEOI&feature=PlayList&p=EF24F7E6DD874842&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=9

     On August 17^th  1969, threatening Sunday afternoon skies welcomed Joe Cocker’s incredibly spastic, but amazing, soul-searching set at the site of the Aquarian exposition in White Lake, NY at around 2:00 p.m. (Oh no! Another Woodstock post. Man, this kid is obsessed with something that he learned through documentaries and his parents. Stay with me guys you will see how it all makes sense. Well, there I go talking to myself again.) At the time I am writing this post he was most likely belting “Do I Still Figure into Your Life” or “Feelin Alright,” but I am not entirely sure, I am just going by the set-list. After Cocker’s set a torrential downpour shut down the event for around four hours. Who knows? Maybe, Cocker’s strained voice sent the clouds in frenzy and the rain a’pourin. Or, maybe it was just a normal August thunderstorm. After the rain delay a band whose name mixed both Joseph Stalin’s nickname (Country Joe) and Mao Tse-Tung’s statement about how the true revolutionary swims through the peasantry (The Fish) into a combination of protest songs and witty chants, opened the concert again. Their lead singer-songwriter, performing for the third time at the festival in three days. A record for sure for a man who stayed firm in his belief for peace and love and still does to this very day. The number 96^th greatest lyricist of all time, Country Joe McDonald.

            Four days ago I went to see a quasi-Woodstock reunion with a few original members of some of the better bands that performed at the Woodstock music festival. There was Big Brother and the Holding Company, lacking the pretty key Janis Joplin component, Canned Heat, lacking lead men Bob Hite and Alan Wilson, and even a twisted and odd version of Jefferson Starship (the band that was formed out of the original band from Woodstock, Jefferson Airplane. The music was fresh oldies though and the crowd was excited to see the originals pound away at their new drum sets and guitars (most likely purchased after the Woodstock festival), but nostalgia could only carry the sets so far. But, out on the stage after every act in a tie-die t-shirt was an older man with glasses, shaggy grey hair, and an acoustic guitar strapped to his neck like a weapon of peace. Yes, under all of the wrinkles and grey hair was the same young man that seemingly was out and about each day of Woodstock, on stage in front of hundreds of thousands. Performing in front of a crowd of One thousand and five hundred at best was Country Joe McDonald, still plucking that acoustic guitar and singing for peace after all of these years.

            After Woodstock ended forty years ago tomorrow, the spontaneous gathering of peace and love was gone. The endless line of muddy faces and bodies were cleaned, the butt-naked men and women were clothed, and the thousands who once roamed the field of Max Yasgur’s farm looking for some acid or pot or water or food (the basic necessities of late 60’s existance) were gone, only their mess left to clean up. As curly-haired concert promoter Michael Lang left the site by helicopter to visit bankers waiting to scorn him for losing so much money at the event he spotted out of the helicopter’s window a large crop-circle like peace sign made out of garbage. A beautiful site constructed out of dirty papers, bottles, and simple waste. The garbage peace sign could really be considered eerie and prophetic. It only took a few months later (December, 6^th) for peace and love to turn into pure hatred and fighting at The Altamont Speedway Free Festival, the Rolling Stones attempt at Woodstock. For some reason The Hell’s Angels, the rowdy motorcycle gang, were asked to provide security because the stage was only four feet high. Look, if members of The Hell’s Angels wanted to come to enjoy the show, sure, the more the merrier. But, hiring a motorcycle gang to provide any type of security is just asking for trouble and trouble they definitely received. The Vietnam war was still raging, the Kent State massacre came in May of 1970, less then a year after Woodstock, and the garbage peace sign, the odd symbol of both beauty and, well, trash, had been cleared away and the farm in upstate New York turned back into a farm. But, the one man that continues to keep trying for peace is Country Joe and his protest music is the reason why he is #96 on the list.

            People may inquire how a guy who profited on a comedic protest song could beat one Don McLean or Ray LaMontagne. A fantastic argument can be made against my case and I welcome the feedback (seriouly somebody talk to me, I am lonely in the blogosphere.) But, in my warped opinion, I feel as if Country Joe’s body of work is more significant then these other fantastic lyricists. His anti-war lyrics or not only comedic, some are rather serious, and his tireless efforts for peace are just incredibly honorable. He does not have to be Bono or Bob Geldof, who, while being noble in their goals, also have an ulterior motive in cash cow schemes to make exorbitant amounts of money through benefit concerts. He just can easily list off members of Sullivan County, the town that encompasses Bethel, NY (where Woodstock took place), who were killed in both the Vietnam War and Iraqi/Afghanistan war before and after his black comedy anti-war hit, “The Fish Cheer & I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag.” Subtle mentioning of the horrors of war. His staggering lines in his anti-war songs also are delicately placed in the music for effect. Check out these lyrics from “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-To-Die,” off of the self-titled 1967 album by him and his Fish.

 “Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don’t hesitate,
Send ’em off before it’s too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.”

 Be the first one on the block to have your boy come home in a box. It is just like, Woah. Did he really just say that? It is such a witty line and it is set to the backdrop of an old-time late 20’s rag song. But, it is and still is true. Now let us look at the lesser known, “Here I go Again,” off of the 1969 album “Here We Are Again.”

 “Father’s gone to fight the war,
He left us here alone.
I shiver in the lonesome night
Beside the telephone
But time brings no word,
I guess he’s not coming home,
It feels like the end,
It feels like the end, my friend.”

            This lacks any humor because there is no humor in war. Protest songs can be catchy and, in a sense, somewhat comical because war is obviously an incredibly dumb part of human existence, but when a father leaves for war and a child is left alone pondering whether he will ever see his father again the situation is certainly not comical. War is terror and peace may never possibly be able to exist in a world with so much violence, but Country Joe McDonald will for the rest of his peaceful life through attempt to bring a little peace with his lyric wherever he travels. This, in my opinion, is good enough for now.