By Nicko
An interesting week. Lots of disparate songs for disparate paintings and because nominations are songs somehow triggered in a person, how can another person judge that? So it’s one song per nommer (E&EO).
There is an order in paintings too: L’Absinthe; A Bar At The Folies-Bergère (note: the real barmaid used as a model was called Suzon); Beware of Luxury; Feast Of The Interior; Nightlife; and Nighthawks.
I find there is a lot of cross-association too, and the opener is one that might fit widely about blame. Perhaps there’s some in every tune. And we finish with some largely spoken word too.
L’Absinthe, Edgar Degas, 1875-1876 (public domain)
A Bar At The Folies-Bergère, Édouard Manet, 1882 (public domain)
Beware of Luxury, Jan Steen, c.1663 (public domain)
Feast In The Interior, artist unknown, 17th century (public domain)
Nightlife, Archibald Motley, 1943 (public domain)
Nighthawks, Edward Hopper, 1942 (public domain)
Sun Ra And His Arkestra – I’m Not To Blame (SongBarLandlord)
Nommed for the boy in Feast, but it can fit widely. Who’s to blame for the distance between the pair in L’Absinthe? For the hunched woman in Luxury? The solo Nighthawk or the pair? Suzon’s demeanour? And more.
Beth Orton – Absinthe (Severin)
Enough absinthe can crush your spirit to the bone.
Exhibit A our woman in L'Absinthe. The cure isn’t really one. The stress and distance from the man isn’t going to be solved with the green fairy.
The Cure – All I Ever Am (tincanman2010)
I lose all my life like this
Reflecting time and memories.
Both those in L’Absinthe are lost in regret or memory. Close but distant. I get co-dependent working woman and pimp/boyfriend vibes (see Piaf in the Guru’s list). Robert sings he is worried what he’ll find if he empties out his mind. Will the absinthe will work to stop that happening?
Scott Walker – Big Louise (TarquinSpodd)
She’s a haunted house and her windows are broken.
Haunted works, sadly, for the woman in L’Absinthe. Scott gets melancholy so easily. Louise is outside, but the world seems to have passed our drinker by like her. Lost her way and the man must be involved even if he hasn’t gone away.
The Mountain Goats – Autoclave (Shoegazer)
I thought: how does it fit? Then I read the lyrics and I can see Suzon’s heart as a sealed, sterilised autoclave in Bar. No emotion worth having can call her heart its home. She seems not just lonely in a the heat and pressure of the crowd (Nightlife perhaps too) but clearly used too.
June Tabor – She Moves Among Men (The Barmaid’s Song) (ShivSidecar)
Down in the barroom she moves among men
Who watch her and touch her whenever they can.
And take her home. Suzon really was likely used by men this way, with another trying, as the norm was these women were available for purchase. A bleakly beautiful song, like Suzon’s face.
Emmylou Harris – Queen Of The Silver Dollar (treefrogdemon)
Now the jesters flock around her, trying to win her favours
To see which one will take the queen of the Silver Dollar home.
Rules the smoky honkytonk kingdom in splendour but it’s not a crown to be happy with. Like Suzon, who has a jester flocking to her, this honkytonk queen doesn’t just serve drinks. And is worn out by it. A man was involved in breaking her old ordinary dreams, perhaps like she in L’Absinthe.
The Grateful Dead – Hell In A Bucket (Chris7572)
Maybe going to hell in a bucket but at least enjoying the ride, like those playing-up moneyed bourgeoisie in Luxury. Or the happy ones in Bar and Nightlife.
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Baudelaire (happyclapper)
Here among all the vicious beasts
With their blood lust feast.
In Baudelaire's poem the worst sin is ennui, a worry for the excessive when it palls. In another poem Baud says be drunk all the time, on wine, poetry or virtue as you wish but for our new riche in Luxury it’s not poems. Or in Feast.
The Broadside Band - The Fits Come on Me Now or the Bishop of Chester's Jigg (ParaMhor)
English instrumental jiggery for the Dutch high jigs of Luxury. The tune was written down in 1686, so contemporary and there is a fiddler amongst the painted throng. Perhaps the Fits are gales of laughter at a 17th century bishop joke. The hunched woman didn’t get it.
James – Medieval (DiscoMonster)
James. James Band. Who are sound they keep saying. Noise sound or character sound? What of those in Feast? The line: Those men he thought were friends turned out to be the enemy could fit. Lots behind the dynamics here.
Cafe Quijano – La Taberna Del Buda (Maki)
A meeting place like Nightlife run by a man called Buddha. A broad selection of local ne'er do wells and visitors is Maki’s summation of the diverse range of punters cited.
Marvin Gaye – I Want You (pejepeine)
Pej points out the echoes of Motley in the cover of Marv's album and it's a tune that gets the dancers up. More Soul Train than lindy hop but no matter. And there must be some Gayean seductive pleading in Nightlife.
Peppermint Harris – I Got Loaded (AltraEgo)
Went to a tavern, met friends. And fell on the floor. Altra didn’t specify the painting, most obviously Nightlife, but sadly L’Absinthe and perhaps the party ones too. Number 1 R&B hit in 1951.
Green Day – Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (Marconius7)
The title says it. See also Guru’s pick. He walks alone, while our lonely nighthawk sits alone. And there is distance between the pair to ponder. Their dreams dented with tension or desperate pickups to avoid the loneliness?
Elliott Smith – Between The Bars (Uncleben)
Slow, sad tale of desperation on alcohol. Punning title – bars to drink in, bars to be trapped behind. Perhaps the couple in L’Absinthe and even Nighthawks.
Yoshiko Shinkura – It’s Been A Long, Long Time (Jamesowen475)
Cited for L’Absinthe, given the melancholy of the woman “who may well have desire still burning beneath”. It’s the mood on this one for the juke box in Nighthawks for mine too. Nice to have a less-obvious choice of (good) singer on a standard.
Tom Waits - Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street) (BanizarGalbasi)
On a restless boulevard on a midnight road.
Tom's album is called Nighthawks At The Diner. He’s got a bit of 40s channelling here. This isn’t a deserted boulevard, but nighthawks and diners. Cool jazz stylings but someone chain up the bass player. There’s humour here to end a sometimes-bleak topic.
A Bountiful Binge B-List:
Offenbach – Can Can Music (TarquinSpodd)
I checked; they do the can can at the Folie. Very Offen now for tourists, I bet.
Bert Kaempfert – Beddy Bye (Strangers In The Night) (Marconius7).
The original instrumental movie take, before the lyrics and becoming a standard. How many strangers meeting in Nightlife? Actually, a great tune.
Barbara – L’Absinthe (BanazirGalbasi)
How didn’t this get picked when the title of the song is the same as the painting! And it’s in French. One nom per person
Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees – Latin Quarter (TarquinSpodd)
Good times in another part of Paris to the Folie. Including prostitutes. Put your wine away like water.
Joel Mosquera – En Mi Casa Es El Desorden (pejepeine)
In Colombia, early closing at election time, so the disorder continues at Joe’s house.
Grace Jones – Nightclubbing (Severin)
Sorry, Iggy. It’s Grace for the Nightlife.
Mark Stewart – Dream Kitchen (pejepeine)
Dream-like dub. Ideal home and dream kitchen for the Luxury crowd. Commentary on keeping up appearances and with Mr Jones. That’s a middle-class thing.
Engine of Excess – Punishment Of Luxury (Maki)
The band name and title are spot on, but I didn’t list it? It didn’t quite fit. Excess in Luxury. And paint is mentioned.
Three Aces And A Joker – Booze Party (TarquinSpodd)
Self-explanatory.
Wire – Pieta (La Piccola) (ShivSidecar)
Great song with a barmaid. Pieta presumably it’s other meaning of compassion here.
The Damned – Absinthe (Severin)
Be blinded by the green faerie. Takes all your dreams. It doesn’t seem to be working for Ms Absinthe.
Alice Phoebe Lou – Lonely Crowd (SongBarLandlord)
Always lonely in a crowd. How many at the Folie or Nightlife?
Phoebe Snow – I Don’t Want The Night To End (Marconius7)
Classy tune and there are good and bad reasons for not wanting the night to end.
The Cure – Pictures Of You (ParaMhor)
The other Cure gloomfest nommed.
Picture This Guru’s Wildcard List:
Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five – Five Guys Named Moe
Black party time. But let’s go 1943. If you wanted a band for the jump n’ jive get Five Guys Named Moe. That year Lucky Millinder and Duke were bigger on the Harlem hit parade than Louis, but they were for the larger venues. And this one was a cross-over hit. SBL nommed Louis late, but he was already in this list.
Woody Herman And His Orchestra – Blues In The Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)
A No. 1 in 1942 when Nighthawks was painted and likely on the jukebox. Numerous versions in a hurry, none bigger than Woody’s. This is a white diner, so a white artist…doing the blues. For the man sitting alone. A rare tune in crossing to black singers eg Joe Turner. By Arlen and Mercer.
Helen Ward – Boulevard of Broken DreamsThis is the earlier one, long before Green Day (1934). From the movie Moulin Rouge with added faux French accent. Paree isn’t gay for broken-dreamed gigolos and gigolettes. There’s dancing but wandering and waking up in tears too. Perhaps they’ve tried the Folie for distraction. This is the first release with the Ed Loyd (aka Ben Selvin) Orchestra.
Miles Davis – ‘Round Midnight
It’s the mood, although I think it’s past midnight in Nighthawks. Monk’s great classic, copyrighted in 1942, first recorded by Cootie Williams, but Miles upped the mourn and set the scene for hundreds who came after. One of his signature tunes. A YT comment on a Monk version says: it always reminds me of Nighthawks.
Edith Piaf – L'Accordéoniste
A tale in a café, of the accordionist who is also the pimp of the female narrator. There’s no accordion here, but the relationship might fit our L’Absinthe pair. She is tied to him and he to her.
Josephine Baker – Paris, Paris, Paris
A song originally about Madrid, done for gay Paree. Baker a star at the Folie, in fact her famous fake banana and necklace costume was the sensation of the 1927 Un vent de folie revue.
Paul Kelly – King Of Fools
This came to mind with Luxury. A lot of fooling there, but there be a figure of fun emerge if a life of the party person who begins sing and dance and others end up laughing? Paul was the King Kong king of party fools to his regret. Never again, but…
Detail from Jan Steen’s Beware of Luxury (public domain)
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: The art of drinking: caption these paintings with lyrics and music. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.
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