YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 43 (Animals)
Preface: Very simple: this week, we'll listen to some songs with animals in the title.
Monday (5/12/08): Michael Bloomfield - Mama Lion [If You Love These Blues, 1976]
Comments: This is, in my opinion, one of the top tracks from Bloomfield's mid-seventies instructional tribute to the various styles of the blues that had inspired him - If You Love These Blues, Play 'Em As You Please. This particular track features not infrequent collaborator Nick Gravenites on vocals.
Tuesday (5/13/08): The Rolling Stones - Monkey Man [Let It Bleed, 1969]
Comments: I don't really get what the big deal is about monkeys. Have a look at this comic. I agree, the word "monkey" does not transform whatever you are saying into something hilarious. Still, despite having the word "monkey" in the title, this song by The Rolling Stones is actually quite good. Proving that you can't judge a song by its title.
Wednesday (5/14/08): Ted Nugent - Street Rats [Free-For-All, 1976]
Comments: If you think street rats are bad, just be glad they're not sewer rats, or worse yet, plague rats. Speaking of which, I used to collect different kinds of rat cards in Magic: The Gathering for some reason. I never played the game much; I just liked collecting the cards that looked neat. Also on the topic of rats, I remember a game David Letterman would play every once in awhile on The Late Show, called Let's Look For Rats, where they'd stick the camera out the window, look down into the alley below, and watch for rats. It's a blast.
Thursday (5/15/08): Stillwater - Fever Dog [Almost Famous (Soundtrack), 2000]
Comments: Alright, so this is a fake classic rock song from a fake classic rock band, invented for the movie Almost Famous, but I still think it's a pretty kickass song. The imagery is poignant, and you can just imagine the fever dog of your worst diseases and habits scratchin' at your back door, while you're layin' in bed, tryin' to spit out the taste of the hair of the fever dog.
Friday (5/16/08): Robin Trower - Day of the Eagle [Bridge of Sighs, 1974]
Comments: An excellent rock song from Robin Trower's classic Bridge of Sighs album, with a slowed down coda partially similar to the treatment of Too Rolling Stoned (also on that album), though to a lesser extent. Remember, the eagle fights for honor and glory and freedom, while the dove represents peace, and by extraction, love. "Living in the day of the eagle - the eagle, not the dove."
Saturday (5/17/08): The Doors - Crawling King Snake [L.A. Woman, 1971]
Comments: The Lizard King himself declares rule over his den in this track from the excellent L.A. Woman album. The snake represents the fear that lives within us all, and so to conquer that snake and rule over the lizard kingdom symbolizes dominion over fear itself. It is true that one who stands victorious over his own fears no longer has anything to be afraid of.
Sunday (5/18/08): Jimi Hendrix - Catfish Blues [Blues]
Comments: This song seems to lie somewhere between Muddy Waters' Rollin' Stone (after which the greatest rock n roll band in the world named themselves), and Jimi's own Voodoo Child. The longer one. To be honest, I'm not sure how many pretty women go fishing after catfish, but the sentiment is nice.
