tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497209460362406306.post3012354540915595971..comments2024-03-23T18:29:54.952-07:00Comments on ON THE FLIP-SIDE: Song of the Week: The Train Kept A-Rollin' (multiple artists)On The Flip-Sidehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07319364292191851993noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497209460362406306.post-23007020147471232462008-12-04T20:07:00.000-08:002008-12-04T20:07:00.000-08:00its all good shit but Johnny Burnette Trio gets my...its all good shit but Johnny Burnette Trio gets my vote. the original version is great, dripping with sex innuendo, but I reckon I am moved by the primal rock and roll of swampy guitars and echo'd vocals.gebishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06167061104943405436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497209460362406306.post-33566721868537964222008-12-02T11:36:00.000-08:002008-12-02T11:36:00.000-08:00The I-IV-V is a music rubric that is most commonly...The I-IV-V is a music rubric that is most commonly associated with the blues, but yes, it lives strong in country as well. Essentially your root key is the 1. The 4 and the 5 are relative positions on the scale. So, if you are playing in a root of E (1) you count up the scale (include your root note). E=1; F#=2; G#=3; A=4; B=5. And so on. Relative to this example, many blues songs will incorporate four counts on the I; two counts on the IV; two counts back on the I; one count on the V; one count on the IV; one count on the I and one count back on the V for the turnaround. It provides a common framework on which musicians can build a countless array of flourishes and riffs.On The Flip-Sidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07319364292191851993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497209460362406306.post-26698001310852153442008-12-02T11:14:00.000-08:002008-12-02T11:14:00.000-08:00From JBC-15: Can you give us non-musicians an expl...From JBC-15: Can you give us non-musicians an explanation of the old I-IV-V? This is a chord progression that is most often used in country music, no? <BR/><BR/>Also, I too never thought of the obvious double-entendre going on in this song. Pretty much every other jump-blues song is loaded with them. So many of those songs are done with a nudge and a wink. <BR/><BR/>The Yardbirds version, the version I heard first, would have never led me to believe it was anything but a runaway train in the middle of the night. Keith Relf's double tracked, but not always matching in lyrics or timing, vocals have long confused the hell out of me. What is he saying? Honestly, I thought he was singing "She was a heifer!", which made me wonder why he was so worked up about the girl. There is another part where on one track he seems to be singing "I just couldn't let her go.", while on the other track he sings, "Yes I did!" Huh?<BR/><BR/>I have loved the Johnny Burnette Trio recordings ever since I picked up the vinyl best of on the Solid Smoke label back in 1984. This has since been supplanted by the "Complete Coral Rock N' Roll Trio Recordings" on Universal Import. Actually this collection includes a few less than stellar ballads, but most of it is totally essential to any serious music collection. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Coral-Rock-Roll-Recordings/dp/B000AO37D8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1228244686&sr=1-1<BR/><BR/>As for the best recording, it is hard to deny the Yardbirds version. Tiny Bradshaw may have come up with the tune,the Johnny Burnette Trio the blueprint on how to play it, but the Yardbirds recorded the Sistine Chapel of versions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497209460362406306.post-33592011275912598132008-12-02T09:33:00.000-08:002008-12-02T09:33:00.000-08:00It's hard to pick a version as they are so differe...It's hard to pick a version as they are so different. For me it is between the Burnette and Yardbirds version and comes down to whichever version of the song I listened to last.<BR/><BR/>Re: the guitarist on the Burnette version, I would suggest listening to the earliest recordings of Johnny Horton (such as Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor and Honky Tonk Man) and early George Jones (revenuer man). They both feature Grady Martin on guitar and the similarities between that guitar phrasing and tone are striking.On The Flip-Sidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07319364292191851993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497209460362406306.post-87952994844420334162008-12-02T09:08:00.000-08:002008-12-02T09:08:00.000-08:00I learned at least three things from this post: 1)...I learned at least three things from this post: 1) "Train" is not a Johnny Burnette original (shame on me for assuming this), 2) The dame on the train was a "hipster" and NOT "hefty" or "handsome" as I had previously believed, and 3) Paul Burlison may not have played guitar on that track. (I read the Gordon/Dijkema article and, though they make a very compelling argument and no doubt they know WAY more than I do about both Burlison and Martin, I hesitate to concur until I do some research and hear the "evidence" for myself.) Thanks for the learnin'.<BR/><BR/>My favorite version? Pretty hard to say. I'd never heard the Tiny Bradshaw version 'til now, and I must say its a groovy little number. And I am quite fond of the rickety bombast of the Motorhead version. But I think I'd have to choose the Johnny Burnette version as my favorite. Which is a tough call 'cause the locomotive propulsion of the Yardbirds version is so damn punchy, and I love Beck's playing. But that Burnette version, especially the guitar (regardless of who is playing it), is totally unhinged in a recklessly enthusiastic way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497209460362406306.post-86106630689322077962008-12-01T15:56:00.000-08:002008-12-01T15:56:00.000-08:00Don't know how I never got the sexual innuendo of ...Don't know how I never got the sexual innuendo of this song ("with a heave and a ho, I just couldn't let her go"??), but it is plain as day in the Tiny Bradshaw recording. If it were written in the 70s, it surely would've been titled The Van Kept A-Rockin'. That solo in the Burnette version is devilish, I don't know what to make of it.Flipsiderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07983978215194067317noreply@blogger.com