Best Song Ever (MP3 blogging)

Let's talk about Johnny Cash some more. What always fascinated me about Cash is how he could be embarassingly hokey and frightfully poignant, often in the same song. Sometimes these two states were separated by a line break. The song I am going to provide a link to today is Singin' in Vietnam Blues. How can you not love a song that has these opening lines:

"One mornin' at breakfast I said to my wife
We've been everywhere once and some places twice
As I had another helpin' of country ham
She said we ain't never been to Vietnam."

Yes, he actually rhymed "country ham" with "Vietnam." Who else but Johnny Cash would have the fucking balls to rhyme those two terms? But right alongside one of the hokiest lines in the history of recorded music there are two powerful moments of the kind only Cash could summon. Listen to his voice when he reads the line "She said, 'I'm scared.' I said, 'Me too.'" There couldn't be a simpler line and when he stripped words and music down to their minimum that's when he would shine. Later on a similar moment occurs when Johnny and June are asked to visit wounded troops. Johnny's answer is one word: "Yeah." The whole second to last stanza is full of hope and love and, since that's not enough, he carries it a bit too far in teh last stanza while still being able to waffle on the whole Vietnam war issue. Johnny at his finest.

I present to you Singin' in Vietnam Talking Blues by Johnny Cash.

Radio Deliro

I came across the best internet radio station last weekend while playing around on Itunes. If you get a chance check out Radio Deliro. It's a French station that plays everything except heavy metal. I've heard classical, blues, Beatles, show tunes, French pop music, tin pan alley, jazz (really good jazz) and world music. It's amazing. Seriously, whoever is programming this station is goddamn genius. Give it a shot.