I was afraid of this. Now before everybody starts accusing me of cheating and picking my own song, I used random.org’s random number generator (used by sweepstakes, lotteries, gambling websites, etc.) and I SWEAR I only clicked the button once, and this was the result.
Anyway, I think this is a good choice for a few reasons. First of all, it’s a pretty “airy” song, so it’s open to interpretation. Secondly, I like that it has elements of electronic music and jazz, two genres that weren’t particularly well represented anywhere else on the submission list. Thirdly, I just think this is a great song, and Soul Coughing is a great nineties band that I think gets left behind a lot. Nirvana, Cake, Smashing Pumpkins… for me, the nineties sounds like Soul Coughing.
This is a track from Soul Coughing’s final album, “El Oso.” From Wikipedia: “Some consider El Oso to be a marked deviation from their previous albums, Ruby Vroom and Irresistible Bliss, particularly in its departure from jazz and continuation of the melodicism of Bliss in an overall darker mood.” The whole album is an incredibly solid listen, I highly recommend it.
I’ll submit the link to a video here, but there’s no official video, and therefore the video I will post will (probably) be shitty and homemade. In the next few days I’ll find the time to upload both the audio track from the album, as well as Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty’s solo acoustic version (also very good, but different). Until then…. enjoy!
NOTE: anybody who wants to can submit three new songs for consideration this month. If you don’t submit anything, I’ll just include your previous choices in the next drawing.
Get covering!
1. A google search for “ram jam fan page” yields no results.
2. A google search for ‘ram jam fan page’ (without quotes) only yields 50,000 pages, most of which are places where people are selling used copies of ram jam records.
3. Ram Jam’s most popular track on last.fm is “Black Betty,” with 2,269 plays in the last week. Their next most popular track is “Let it all out,” with only 31 plays. Overall, “Black Betty” represents 88% of all Ram Jam plays on last.fm.
4. Here are some of the 36 ‘shouts’ Ram Jam has received on last.fm:
“Black Betty - makes me still wanna Ram Jam - great classic cover song”
“My favourite rock song. Excellent!!” [presumably referencing “Black Betty”]
“Black Betty is one of my favourite songs.”
“ROCK ON BLACK BETTY!!!! nice….”
“Whoooaaaa, Black Betty, Bam-A-Lam, Whooaaa, Black Betty, Bam-A-Lam”
“315,720 of 358,283 plays are Black Betty. One-hit wonder?”
“Mickey Rourke is a Ram Jam.”
5. Ram Jam is also the name of a sports complex, a yearly event for young fans of the football team the Rams, a nightclub, an energy drink and a sexual maneuver (see #6).
6. UrbanDictionary.com defines the Ram Jam Crush Combo as when you “Ram the ‘M’… then you Jam the ‘P’… and then you Crush the ‘A’”
…oh man. I love these guys. Keep on Ram Jammin’! Submissions are due on the 1st… that’s only eight more days!
Sophomore slump?
For our first song, we are choosing Ram Jam’s epic 1977 hit single, “Black Betty.” Guitarist Bill Bartlett took Leadbelly’s “Black Betty,” composed new music for it, and recorded it independently. Record producers in New York took interest, hired a band to play with Bartlett, and produced a whole record of filler to release along with “Black Betty.”
The single’s release, however, was marred by criticism over what was perceived as blatantly racist lyrics. The NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality took particular issue with the song.
From Wikipedia: “Despite the controversy, the song reached number 18 on the singles chart in 1977 in the U.S. and Top Ten in the United Kingdom, while the Ram Jam album reached the U.S. Top 40. It was also a hit in the Netherlands, reaching number 4. Also, Ted Demme used the song in the soundtrack to his 2001 film, Blow, and it is often played between innings at Yankee Stadium.”
Racism and poor production aside, this song has clearly stood the test of time. So, for those who’d like to grow their hair long, grab their bandanas and double kick drums and rock out in front of a white house, I bring you… “Black Betty!”
SOURCE: Wikipedia
It’s a lot like the old blog. Except here we can post audio… which is kind of the whole point. So here we go!
