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Superlative Death Valley is one of the driest places on earth as well as the lowest. But, there is underground water and lots of it. At Badwater Basin, you can see it:

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"Prime the pump" -- where have I heard that metaphor before?

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Overheard at Lem's:

Sixty Grit said...

Usury - commonplace, normally, generally.

We usury see a rise in interest rates this time of year.

January 2, 2017 at 12:09 PM

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:

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"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. link

In 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.

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While not the exact version I knew and loved growing up, it's close enough -- and always timely.

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Overheard at Lem's:

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...
I do not use the term [cuckservative] because the alt right uses it in the context of a black man screwing a white woman (while her white nebish husband watches from a closet). It is apparently a popular sub genre in porn.
June 5, 2016 at 1:30 AM

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I once worried about the meaning of The Kingston Trio's lyrics in that 1959 classic:

Well Bob is in the livin' room holdin' hands with Sue
Nicky's at that big front door, vowin' to come on through
Well I'm here in the closet, oh lord what shall I do
We're worried now but we won't be worried long

"Bob" and "Nicky" were Dave Guard's bandmates.
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[added] Let's analyze the term "cuckservative" in more detail. Screwing over your own citizens (for whom you took an oath to serve) is like cuckoldry. Aside from the repulsive porn reference, the term is apt. On the other hand, I don't like the one-sided implications of cuckoldry because men cheat on women too--perhaps exemplified by Donald Trump.

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Not the Kingston Trio's best recording, I admit (and I'm a fan). But, it was the first recorded version of "Get Together"-- that great '60's anthem. The song sprang not from hippie times but rather from that special egg shell-fragile time period of American music between the death of Buddy Holly and the onslaught of the British: 1960-63.

Chet Powers (Dino Valenti) wrote the song in 1963 but he never got famous for it. The Youngbloods immortalized it for him:

Link in case the video doesn't play

Lyrics after the jump.

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They're rioting in Ferguson...

...there's strife in Iran...

Plus ça hope et change, plus c'est la chosen meme.

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Overheard in the "Robin Williams, RIP" thread:

"We've got to walk that lonesome highway all by ourselves."

The Reverend Mr. Black said the same thing:

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Pete Seeger (1919-2014) left a musical legacy: inventor of the Seeger longneck banjo and the author of a couple of catchy tunes. But his politics were atrocious and deserve to be mocked and scorned. It was he and his pious ilk who despised The Kingston Trio -- jealousy? Oh and Pete had no kind words for Israel.

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The song is from 1958, from a highly successful group that cool people love to hate.  BTW, did you know that only one original member is still alive?  Did you know that he attended the same prestigious Honolulu high school that our president attended?

Don't ask for a translation because they do that for you.

The song ends with something "funny" about cats.

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My older brother and I loved this song as kids. We would never have thought of making my parents' albums into frisbees.

The Sinking Of The Reuben James

This post probably belongs below the fold in my last one about JFK-era American folk songs. This one is special for a couple reasons:

(1) The song is from 1961 and was released around the 20th anniversary of the sinking of the USS Reuben James. JFK had his own naval experience memorialized by Jimmy Dean around that time.

(2) The Reuben James sinking predated Pearl Harbor by a full 5 weeks and yet is largely forgotten. Imagine the outrage with today's news cycle.

(3) The song was written by Woody Guthrie at a time when both the political right and left could still unite against common enemies.

(4) Guthrie originally intended to include the names of every sailor lost in the sinking, but settled for "what were their names;"  The maker of this YouTube video admirably succeeds at Guthrie's original goal. I liken the effect to releasing the men's names from the blackened depths--like bubbles coming to the surface each time the song is played:

The Kingston Trio added their own flourish at the end:

Many years have passed since those brave men are gone,
Those cold icy waters they're still and they're calm,
Many years have passed and still I wonder why,
The worst of men must fight and the best of men must die.