Us
Volume 3
As fate would have it, Minnesota is featured in this volume of my American playlist. My heart is heavy with today’s news of the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School. I share Mayor Jacob Frey’s outrage, which he expressed so well.
As most of the volumes do, this one begins with a larger look at the country before focusing on the states, takes a regional turn, then zooms out into space. A few of the songs refer to actual events. That was part of the impetus for this entire collection, when I remarked to someone I knew, partly tongue-in-cheek, that half of my knowledge of history came from music. He seemed to think there was a problem with that. Maybe he was joking, and it was I who missed the joke. Either way, there is a long tradition of passing along stories, true and otherwise, through song. Here’s to keeping that tradition alive.
A few more random notes. “Alice’s Restaurant” was the first non-children’s album I owned and likely contributed no small amount to my being a smart aleck in school. If looks could push a student out a classroom window, my high school English teacher would have done so. Back to the massacre. About a dozen years ago, in northern Wisconsin, I had the honor of visiting the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation. Like the Oneida and other tribes, the Stockbridge originally made their home much farther east but were pushed west. Some were from what became Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the scene of some of the action of Arlo Guthrie’s tale.
“Living in the U.S.A.,” Steve Miller Band
“Busted by the Boston Globe,” Tom Rush
“Massachusetts,” Maxine Sullivan
“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” Arlo Guthrie
“Mexico Americano,” Los Cenztonles
“The Motor City Is Burning,” John Lee Hooker
“1913 Massacre,” Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
“Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis,” Tom Waits
“Crow River Waltz,” Leo Kottke
“Ode to Billie Joe,” Bobbie Gentry
“Tupelo,” Steve Cropper, Pop Staples and Albert King
“Bio,” Chuck Berry
“St. Louis Blues,” Etta James
“Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey!” Little Richard
“Red’s,” the Morells
“Big River,” Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
“Space Cowboy,” Steve Miller Band
“Life on Mars?” David Bowie
Next: Volume 4
I really like this. The framing is super. The lower third of the flag. It is there but doesn’t dominate. The lone figures on the bench. Really great stuff!