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How do you listen to "other" Tweedy songs?


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Guest Runaway Jim

This has to sound strange to those who think of Jay as a one note, but I never get tired of the guy.

 

I don't either. I was just encouraging you not to pass up on Jeff's stuff.

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I'm really surprised at the number of people who don't like the Billy Bragg stuff on the Mermaid discs. That's some good stuff. Walt Whitman's Niece, Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key, Ingrid Bergman, Eisler on the Go, Hot Rod Hotel, All You Fascists, etc. Great songs.

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I've just started exploring other songs outside of Wilco. I downloaded a few of the live solo Tweedy shows, and now have the fun of working out where the songs I like came from. After loving that song about "roll me under your mattress", I finally worked out it was New Madrid. You crazy yanks with your crazy accents... My version didn't make much sense, but I'm not really sure the correct one does either... Whats New Madrid? A place?

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I'm really surprised at the number of people who don't like the Billy Bragg stuff on the Mermaid discs. That's some good stuff. Walt Whitman's Niece, Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key, Ingrid Bergman, Eisler on the Go, Hot Rod Hotel, All You Fascists, etc. Great songs.

 

It's that not that dislike any of those songs, I just like what Jeff does so much more. One the other hand, I do dislike Jim's voice on the Loose Fur stuff. I thinks Jim's contributions to the Loose Fur songs and YHF are awesome. I really love his music and his ideas, but not his voice.

 

On that note, has there ever been any definite article or list of what he has contributes to Wilco recordings. Specific instruments on specific songs, or mixing techniques or decisions?

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I'm really surprised at the number of people who don't like the Billy Bragg stuff on the Mermaid discs. That's some good stuff. Walt Whitman's Niece, Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key, Ingrid Bergman, Eisler on the Go, Hot Rod Hotel, All You Fascists, etc. Great songs.

 

YHF is Wilco's highpoint as far as I'm concerned, especially since Jeff and the gang wrote all the lyrics and stuff, but Mermaid Avenue to me is the greatest album that Wilco has been associated with. I just think it is flawless.

 

Overall, I could take or leave Billy's voice. I don't hate it. I don't swoon over it. The album just works for me from start to end.

 

From time to time I've made mixes that excluded Billy's MA material, and from time to time I've made mixes that excluded Farrar's material from UT. And at some point when I've done this, I get this feeling that the music is incomplete. Whenever I hear California Stars, I immediately think of Way Over Wonder and want to hear it. It's the same with a lot of the UT material. I can't get the sequencing out of my head.

 

I'm more of an album-oriented listener, so this might not jive with some others. To each their own. Having said that, I think there are so many albums that Jeff or Wilco have been associated with or have collaborated with others on that I fear you might miss out on some incredible music and songs if you only focus primarily on the songs Jeff wrote, or sings on, rather than what the album as a whole has to offer. Mermaid Avenue, UT, Golden Smog, Loose Fur - man, collectively there is a lot of GREAT music where Jeff is not the primary vocalist / songwriter.

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Guest Speed Racer

I just don't care too much for the songs that Billy picked - I'm not into the protest/political music as much as I am the love songs. I do like "Ingrid Bergman" and "Way Over Yonder in a Minor Key," but I just don't care as much for the topic of Billy's songs quite as much.

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Guest Runaway Jim

I'm really surprised at the number of people who don't like the Billy Bragg stuff on the Mermaid discs. That's some good stuff. Walt Whitman's Niece, Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key, Ingrid Bergman, Eisler on the Go, Hot Rod Hotel, All You Fascists, etc. Great songs.

 

I like Walt, Minor Key and Ingrid, but I just absolutely hate his voice. So I skip all his songs.

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I've just started exploring other songs outside of Wilco. I downloaded a few of the live solo Tweedy shows, and now have the fun of working out where the songs I like came from. After loving that song about "roll me under your mattress", I finally worked out it was New Madrid. You crazy yanks with your crazy accents... My version didn't make much sense, but I'm not really sure the correct one does either... Whats New Madrid? A place?

New Madrid is a seismic fault line that runs near St. Louis. The song mentions Prof. Browning. In 1989 he predicted a major earthquake in the St. Louis area. That's why the song mentions bringing his baby back - via the earthquake.

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New Madrid is a seismic fault line that runs near St. Louis. The song mentions Prof. Browning. In 1989 he predicted a major earthquake in the St. Louis area. That's why the song mentions bringing his baby back - via the earthquake.

 

Oooohhhhhhh. Thanks for that. Listened on the way home form work, made much more sense!

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I'm really surprised at the number of people who don't like the Billy Bragg stuff on the Mermaid discs. That's some good stuff. Walt Whitman's Niece, Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key, Ingrid Bergman, Eisler on the Go, Hot Rod Hotel, All You Fascists, etc. Great songs.

 

 

:yes

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Oooohhhhhhh. Thanks for that. Listened on the way home form work, made much more sense!

You are welcome. By the way, the earthquake never happened. So come visit St. Louis and the arch sometime. Don't worry about the New Madrid. It's been dormant for quite a long time!

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After loving that song about "roll me under your mattress", I finally worked out it was New Madrid. You crazy yanks with your crazy accents...

 

 

i also used to think it was a yankee phrase and referred to the song as new madrid (as in the capital of Spain) - but an american VC'er told me it is actually pronounced "mad-rid"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone

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i also used to think it was a yankee phrase and referred to the song as new madrid (as in the capital of Spain) - but an american VC'er told me it is actually pronounced "mad-rid"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone

;) Ha, that's right.

 

I'd never thought about it before then, but I totally get why someone would assume that, given the pronunciation in the song, Americans just don't know how to pronounce foreign city names. While this is undoubtedly true in many cases, the real culprit here is something a little weirder. American cities/geographical regions - especially those in the midwest - just love incorporating foreign words (or even locales elsewhere in the U.S.) and pronouncing them in a different way. Some examples:

 

American locale and pronunciation / How (most) Americans pronounce the "real" city

New Madrid in MO ("new MAD-rid") / Mad-RID

New Berlin, WI ("new BER-lin") / Ber-LIN

 

Okay, so that's just two. I'm sure there are more.

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;) Ha, that's right.

 

I'd never thought about it before then, but I totally get why someone would assume that, given the pronunciation in the song, Americans just don't know how to pronounce foreign city names. While this is undoubtedly true in many cases, the real culprit here is something a little weirder. American cities/geographical regions - especially those in the midwest - just love incorporating foreign words (or even locales elsewhere in the U.S.) and pronouncing them in a different way. Some examples:

 

American locale and pronunciation / How (most) Americans pronounce the "real" city

New Madrid in MO ("new MAD-rid") / Mad-RID

New Berlin, WI ("new BER-lin") / Ber-LIN

 

Okay, so that's just two. I'm sure there are more.

 

 

speak of the devil :cheekkiss

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By the way, the earthquake never happened.

 

Maybe I should just make a random prediction and see if I can get into a song. Doctor Wise has a prediction (hey, not a doctor, but some poetic license because it sounds cool). I predict bushfires in Antartica this christmas. I mean just think about how many words rythme with fire, dire, and liar if I'm wrong.

 

On the whole pronunciation debate I struggle with Via Chicago. I'm currently on the VIIIIA Chicago message board, but listening to VEEEEIA Chicago.

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;) Ha, that's right.

 

I'd never thought about it before then, but I totally get why someone would assume that, given the pronunciation in the song, Americans just don't know how to pronounce foreign city names. While this is undoubtedly true in many cases, the real culprit here is something a little weirder. American cities/geographical regions - especially those in the midwest - just love incorporating foreign words (or even locales elsewhere in the U.S.) and pronouncing them in a different way. Some examples:

 

American locale and pronunciation / How (most) Americans pronounce the "real" city

New Madrid in MO ("new MAD-rid") / Mad-RID

New Berlin, WI ("new BER-lin") / Ber-LIN

 

Okay, so that's just two. I'm sure there are more.

 

Couple come mine in Texas

 

Palestine in Texas (Palace Teen) vs. (Palace tine)

 

Nevada in Texas (Nuh Vay duh) vs. (Nuh vah duh)

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Athens, GA. Rome, NY. Hamburg, NY.

 

I bought a used motorcycle from a guy in Cuba, NY - upstate in the Allegheny region south of Buffalo. Great guy, schoolteacher. (damn commies)

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