Two new songs bookending two very old ones.
Save Us (From Those Who Want To Save Us)
For anyone tired of having their needs and identities defined and hijacked by someone else’s agenda.
If for any reason you are not like others
If you feel unhappy ’cause you don’t belong
Break out of your old box, step into your new box
Stay within the right box and you won’t go wrong
Don’t try to move against the traffic
You still need to fit a demographic
Shake It And Break It
An electro boogie reworking of 100+ year old jazz standard I’ve only ever encountered in full via sheet music. Composed by vaudeville xylophone virtuoso Lou ‘Friscoe’ Chiha (which explains the mad jumps throughout) with lyrics by H. Qualli Clark (of whom I know nothing beyond this and other songwriting collaborations with Chiha), it was first recorded as an instrumental by the Kentucky Serenaders in 1921 and later popularised by Joe ‘King’ Oliver. Charley Patton had a hit with a very pared down vocal version, but I am yet to find a recording of the entire published song. If anyone knows of such a record, I would be grateful to hear of it.
Those that dance this new dance suffocate with delight
You jazz to the left and then you jazz to the right
What a sweet sensation, it gets you right through
And then you cling to Mama like glue
Sister Kate
Another old jazz standard published in 1922 by violinist and bandleader Armand J. Piron, with a cheeky extra verse added by yours truly. This song has been covered far and wide over the years, but, to the best of my knowledge, never like this. If anyone objects to the dirty electro-punk treatment I’ve given it, go cry to Kate.
I’ve got to know her secret, I don’t want to wait
Please, someone teach me how to shimmy like my Sister Kate
A Good Idea
For all the projects that never were. It is up to you whether to respect this song’s protagonist for their calm acceptance of unrequited dreams, or to chide them for their lazy excuses.
As the months turned into years
Procrastination calmed my fears
That I was heading for a fall
That it wasn’t such a good idea at all