"She Came Along To Me" How great is this song? Yeah, it could easily slip into a Billy Bragg album. A breezy, happy-go-lucky melody set alongside an introspective lyric. I just wish that it wasn't so short. "At My Window Sad And Lonely" This one has a more relaxed, contemplative vibe about it. Much like the previous track, it'd be no surprise to find this one on an early Wilco LP. I really like the backing vocals here, they give the song a cozy atmosphere. The strengths of this album just keeps on giving.
I'm going to pair two songs up again today, as one is a solo Bragg piece: Ingrid Bergman Just 1:50, this solo acoustic song is pretty and intimate on the surface but super randy when you dig in to the lyrics. This is basically an extended sex fantasy from Woody Guthrie for the beautiful (and talented) actress Ingrid Bergman. Here's a pretty insightful YouTube comment that provides some context: "Ingrid wrote Roberto Rossellini asking if he would make a movie with her, which ended up being Stromboli. During production, they initiated an affair, which eventually produced a marriage and three children. Also during production, she was photographed reading Woody's autobiography (Bound For Glory). My reading of the song is that Woody wished he were Roberto Rossellini." Even in the 40s, people fantasized about celebrities, I guess. I wouldn't call this song sweet, but it is a glimpse at another side of Guthrie's personality and Bragg wrote another strong melody for it.
This is one of my favorites from the album and I've used it on a few playlists. A fine performance by Billy.
And our Wilco song for the day: Christ for President Led by banjo and a stomping, thumping rhythm, 'Christ for President' is one of the few times in the Mermaid Avenue sessions that Wilco composed music for one of Guthrie's very political sets of lyrics. Would things on Capitol Hill be better if we had the ability to elect Jesus Christ himself? It's an idea I actually still see come up now and again today. I don't want to get too into the political weeds because we aren't allowed, so I'll stick to the music. This is one of my least favorites on the album. I've just never dug it much. In a way, it reminds me of mid-60s Dylan but I was never hugely into a song like Rainy Day Women either. It has kind of a nagging quality to it--more stomp-thumpy than anything else and it just doesn't appeal to me very much. I'm interested if this is one that any of you dig more than me.
“Christ for President” is the optimistic counterpart to Woody’s song, “Jesus Christ.” Whereas that song suggests that the authorities “laid Jesus Christ in his grave” because he advocated for the poor, and they would do it again if he were preaching the same messages today, this song more naively stumps for the idea that we’d be much better off with Christ, or a Christ-like figure, in the White House. I like the idea—it’s a pity that those in power don’t have more genuine Christian compassion—but Woody knows as well as anyone what fate may be dealt to a person who threatens the established order. I enjoy the old-timey musical arrangement, but it’s not one of my favorite Tweedy vocals, and the melody isn’t as memorable as Bragg’s political song that follows.
Track 8 & 9 of a 15 tracks CD that was never supposed to get a vinyl release. We're a little bit in the soft underbelly of the record in my opinion. Of course, when it finally became a double vinyl album in 2013, Ingrid Bergman was the opening song of the second LP, which completely ruins my theory. Anyway, Ingrid B. is indeed an endearing song and performance. And Christ for President is certainly one of the less stellar Wilco songs here. Still good, though. It sounds a bit like what Steve Earle might've come up with, if asked to contribute to the project. Also : is it really Jay Bennett who contributes that honky tonk piano part ? The same Jay Bennett who claimed he could not really play the piano ???
I’m with you on this. This is the one Jeff Tweedy sung song on the album that won’t go onto my playlist (allowing me to stick to my target of five per album for the first time). It’s okay, but nothing more when it comes to the music.
Thread guide Introduction and Uncle Tupelo Mar 1995 AM I Must Be High Casino Queen Box Full Of Letters Shouldn't Be Ashamed Pick Up The Change I Thought I Held You That's Not The Issue It's Just That Simple - live Should've Been In Love - live 1995 Passenger Side - live 1996 Dash 7 - live 2010 Blue Eyed Soul Too Far Apart Outtakes Oct 1996 Being There Misunderstood Far Far Away Monday Outtasite (outta mind) Forget The Flowers Red Eyed and Blue I Got You What's The World Got In Store Hotel Arizona Say You Miss Me Sunken Treasure Someday Soon Outta Mind (Outtasite) Someone Else's Song Kingpin (Was I) In Your Dreams Why Would You Wanna Live The Lonely 1 Dreamer In My Dreams Blasting Fonda (outtake?) Live 1996 - televised version Snow Job 97 June 1998 Mermaid Ave (with Billy Bragg) California Stars Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key Birds And Ships Hoodoo Voodoo She Came Along to Me At My Window Sad And Lonely Ingrid Bergman Christ For President
I like the idea, but the execution is a little rough and ready ... probably by design, but I would have liked this to be a little more reflective.
very nice comment and true on both points. It made me think of this brilliant Kris Kristofferson track. The Law Is For Protection Of The People I looks at the paranoia of authority and crescendos into the third verse where the authorities crucified Christ out of fear. "I wonder who them law men was protectin' when they nailed our Saviour to the cross" Sorry ... hope it's not too off topic, but Kristofferson's debut album is, to me at least, an early shot fired in the alt country type sound
Sorry I have been MIA, been rather overloaded. Out of interest, I was made aware of Woody via Bob Dylan. I was wondering how many folks were made aware of Woody via this album? Sorry if you guys have already talked about this, if so, just ignore this
I grew up in Illinois in the 1970’s-1980’s, and I became aware of Woody Guthrie because in elementary school music class we often sang “This Land Is Your Land”. That’s how big Woody Guthrie was. He was a legend. That song seemed as if it was pretty much the “unofficial national anthem” of the USA at the time, around the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976. The 1988 album Folkways: A Vision Shared album was a major reminder of Woody’s influence and it featured Springsteen, Mellencamp and U2 - all big deals at the time. So the 1998 Mermaid Ave. project with Wilco and Billy Bragg was a continuation of my exposure to Guthrie, but by no means my introduction to him.
Lol I'm starting nothing at the moment, buried in work and threads... kinda created a rod for my own back
I sang 'This Land is Your Land' in elementary school too. And that was in the '90s, so the song just kept on going and going. Very much a standard at this point. That was my 'introduction' to Woody, though of course I had no idea he had written it. In fact, at that age you don't even really think about any songs having songwriters. They just kind of exist, don't they? I became aware of Woody Guthrie as an actual person through Bob Dylan when I was in high school.
That's how it was for me I knew This Land really well, but had no idea whose song it was, and I'm not American lol
The moment I became aware that Woody Guthrie was a “songwriter” in the normal sense (as opposed to a guy that wrote children’s songs to be sung in elementary school music class) was when I heard Bruce Springsteen sing “This Land Is Your Land” in a concert I listened to on the radio. I think a light bulb literally went on in my head.
There was a great live version of Wilco doing Christ for President at Austin City Limits on youtube, that had Jay doing a fantastic, melodic solo, but it's been taken down....
Like a lot of you folks I first became aware of Woody Guthrie in elementary school. My folks had some of his albums and I always thought that was kinda cool. I really learned more about him ( and Leadbelly ) from A Vision Shared : A Tribute To Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly:
The Americana style of Mermaid is definitely far closer to Being There. But it’s a much tidier record (even when it’s loose on songs like Hoodoo Voodoo and Christ for President) and the carefully layered production seems to be laying the groundwork for Summerteeth. As we get to Vol 2, I’ll argue that the lessons in production from Summerteeth then bleed over into more new sounds not seen on Vol 1. As for today’s new songs, they’re a reversal of expectations. Bragg doing a funny tune and Wilco going political. Both are great. Christ features another oompah stomp something Wilco only ever explored in these albums. Airline to Heaven, Blood of the Lamb, Christ for President, and even Walt Whitman’s niece all have this gospel style beat underneath them.
Like a lot of you I became aware of Woody Guthrie in elementary school. Each year at my elementary school the 6th graders gave a music presentation for parents - it was one of those "end of the year" things and one of the songs we sang the year I was in it was "This Land is Your Land." Our music teacher gave us "background" on each of the songs and that would have been my first exposure. I came back around to him again much later through my fandom of all things Bruce Springsteen. The first time I saw Bruce live on The River tour back in 1981 he actually played that song and gave us a little more background on its "protest" roots which, of course, my music teacher had not covered back around 1971/1972. "Ingrid Bergman" is a fun song. It makes me smile. Its not my favorite on the record by any means, but I do enjoy it. The quality of the performances on this record is just staggering to me, the more I listen to it. I like "Christ for President" a bit more than many of you. It's another song that makes me laugh. I have always felt it to be quite 'tongue in cheek," but maybe I am reading something in it that is not there. Again it would not be my favorite song on the record but I do enjoy it. I think I have seen the band do it at least one time live, but I am not 100 percent sure of this.
Well, since here in Europe, nobody sings 'This Land is Your Land' in elementary school, my introduction to Woody had to be a different one. It came through the Arthur Penn / Arlo Guthrie movie 'Alice's Restaurant'. The Woody character (as portrayed by a guy named Joseph Boley) appears in a hospital scene where Arlo is visiting his dying, mute father, accompanied by Pete Seeger (playing himself), and they sing 'Pastures of Plenty' and 'Let's Go Riding in a Car Car' for him. I seem to remember that this was supposed to be a reenactment of a real life moment, that had happened a year or so before the shooting of the movie (which makes sense since it was released in august 1969, and Woody died in October 1967). It's a lovely scene.
