Usury - commonplace, normally, generally.
We usury see a rise in interest rates this time of year.
We usury see a rise in interest rates this time of year.
Now, the first thing I heard behind the words was an "Asian" accent. Other artists besides Sixty have riffed off this -- think Roman Polanski in Chinatown: "...salt water, bad for glass..."
My mind also goes back to the The Kingston Trio and their 1958 hit "Coplas" (Couplets). Give it a quick listen:
"You are surprised I speak your language...you see, I was educated in your country at U.C.R.A."It's all in good fun! And isn't that self-deprecating mockery -- the way he says OK, la guitara, ¡andele! with a very American accent at the very beginning?
One last word about The Kingston Trio. Bob Shane is the last surviving original member. I see the following in his Wiki bio:
For the Kingston Trio's success took acoustic folk-based music out of the niche market it had occupied prior to the Trio's arrival and moved it into the mainstream of American popular music, opening the door for major record labels to record and market both more traditional folk musicians and singer-songwriters as well. linkIn a sense, The Kingston Trio opened the door for artists like Bob Dylan. Remember that around 1960, Capitol Records had The Kingston Trio; another label had Joan Baez. Columbia Records had Pete Seeger, but they needed someone younger who could speak to a new generation. That's when Dylan stepped forth from the shadows.
6 comments:
I remember their vertical wide stripe shirts. Orange and white. Aqua and white. That was a big deal to me then. They were bringing the news from The Golden Land. "We come on the sloop John B...." "Hang down your head Tom Dooley...." "Scotch and soda, mud in your eye..." Yup, they were cool.
My mom had all of their vinyl LPs but also bought The Beatles 45 RPM "I Saw Her Standing There" (flip side, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"). I was raised by 1950's teens, not by the Greatest Generation nor by the Greatest Degeneration. This music bridged those generations in weird way.
unushul- what it's not
I lived through the Great Folk Scare, it wasn't pretty, people, not pretty at all. Imagine music that makes mayonnaise seem spicy.
But we were tough, we made it through, and can now look back and marvel at the genius of Brian Wilson and how he could transform a simple folk ditty into an actual piece of music. Supertonic indeed!
Yeah, Brian Wilson hated the Trio -- probably thought them too saccharine. I wonder what Wilson thought of Dick Dale? Someone should get those old 'Merican farts --including Dylan and Bob Shane -- together for a talk before one of them croaks. They all had hits before The Beatles. Probably like herding cats, though.
Back in those days all you had to do was learn three chords on a guitar and suddenly you were transformed into Ramblin' Sandy Pitnik. Good times, good times...
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