John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Nile Rodgers: The Hitmaker

Here's the full length of a BBC 4 documentary on Nile Rodgers, the guitarist who helped found Chic and then went on to produce all kinds of things, some of them huge top 40 hits. It's remarkable to see the lineup of interviewees in this doc, from collaborators like Bryan Ferry (there was definitely a mutual admiration society between them) to fans like Debbie Harry and Johnny Marr. The "hitmaker," incidentally, is the nickname of Rodgers' guitar. 

There's plenty of tidbits for music fans, including confirmation (for me, anyway) that Le Freak had started off with a title that can't be said in polite company. (That will be your language advisory, too, by the way.) 

Walking Down Madison

Kirsty MacColl released this track in 1991 as part of the Electric Landlady album, with a hip-hop sheen and some crunching guitar courtesy of the song's cowriter, Johnny Marr. (Her then-husband, Steve Lillywhite, produced the record.) 

The song is a bit of searing look at the homelessness that was impossible to ignore in Manhattan at the time, particularly on an avenue known for its luxury shops and business suits, as well as the awkwardness that a comfortably-clothed visitor feels. "From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train, it's not that far," she sings. The video is a bit dated now, and while New York is not as gritty, the issue is definitely still with us.  

I heard an alternate version of the song this morning, on a Johnny Marr-themed compilation CD released with the Februrary issue of Mojo magazine. What's interesting is that Marr's guitars are out of the mix, as is the rap and hip-hop tone, and the arrangement is quite different. I couldn't find it online, at least quickly. 

Here's the video. And, lest we forget, the world lost a great deal with MacColl's death in a still-suspicious tragedy on a Mexico vacation in 2000. 

If Johnny Marr had played ukelele...

... a Smiths song like Half a Person might have sounded something like this. Here's Jordan Young of St. John's, who goes by the hilarious moniker of Uke of Duckworth on Twitter. (If you're from away, the name is a riff on the Duke of Duckworth pub.) 

R.E.M. gets a little Marr help

Fall on Me already had a Smiths-like sound to it; how nice to hear Johnny Marr is showing up on R.E.M.'s current tour to add his trademark jangle to the tune. Here's just one of many handmade videos on YouTube from this month alone; it's incomplete because the fellow's battery ran out! More here.

Saturday playlist (gardening edition)

As I type this, it's too wet to seriously think about doing anything in the garden today ... at least without getting drenched. Blech. All the same, I put together a list of tunes that brings gardens to mind.

Hugh Masekela: Grazing In The Grass. One of my favourite summer tunes; one made for mixing gin and tonic together, too. (And ... cowbell!) I played trumpet for a while when I was a kid, and whenever I hear Hugh Masekela, I rap my own knuckles for quitting way too soon.

Talking Heads: (Nothing But) Flowers. After almost 20 years, this song still sounds fresh, with a great blend of guitars via Johnny Marr and Yves N'Djock. With Live Earth on today, it also an environmental theme ... although I side with those who see the song as a satirical poke about what would happen if the reclaim-the-land movement actually succeeded.

Van Morrison: In The Garden/You Send Me/Allegheny. From the live album A Night in San Francisco, a great medley bringing out the best of In The Garden, one of Morrison's best songs about graveyards and that whole circle-of-life thing. He's with a peerless band, with Georgie Fame on organ, Brian Kennedy singing, Candy Dulfer on sax and Kate St. John on oboe, etc., all playing softly and then like a ragin' storm. No wonder the tune - it runs almost 10 minutes - closed out each night on that tour.

Rickie Lee Jones: Gethsemane. From her new(ish) record, The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, which opens up plenty of religious interpretation.

The Beatles: Octopus's Garden. How could not include a song I've been singing along to for four decades?

I put together a list of five songs every Saturday; click on the link below to see what else I've picked out.