Jeff Tweedy – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Wilco – How to Fight Loneliness

I first heard of Wilco from the song Secret of the Sea by Billy Bragg and Wilco for the album Mermaid Avenue Volume II. I started to follow them more closely and learned a lot from bloggers about them.

Wilco was formed in 1994 in Chicago, Illinois, following the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band was founded by Jeff Tweedy, along with former Uncle Toledo members John Stirratt, Ken Coomer, and Max Johnston. Over the years, Wilco evolved from an alternative country sound into a more experimental and genre-blending style. After this album, their sound changed from the alt-country sound they had with Uncle Tupelo.

What first jumps out with this song is the acoustic in front with a small amount of reverb. It takes me back a little to John Lennon’s version of Stand By Me. I can’t get enough of that sound. The song started with Tweedy at the piano. It was written around a repeating chord pattern and a vocal line that doesn’t try to do too much.

This was on the album Summerteeth, released in 1999. It was their 3rd studio album. From listening to them recently, Wilco had already moved past the alt-country tag that followed them after Uncle Tupelo. Being There opened the door. Summerteeth walked through it and didn’t look back. I really like this album.

From what I’ve read, there was tension during the making of the album. Jay Bennett’s role grew, and he and Tweedy wrote most of the album. So did the friction. Multi-tracking replaced some of the earlier live feel. Drummer Ken Coomer has said parts were built in sections rather than full takes. The band was evolving in real time, and not everyone was comfortable with the shift. Still, the focus was on getting the songs right, even if that meant reworking them again and again, and they did a great job.

The album peaked at #78 on the Billboard Album Charts and #38 in the UK in 1999.

How To Fight Loneliness

How to fight loneliness
Smile all the time
Shine you teeth til meaningless
Sharpen them with lies

And whatevers going down
Will follow you around
Thats how you fight loneliness
You laugh at every joke
Drag your blanket blindly
Fill your heart with smoke
And the first thing that you want
Will be the last thing you ever need
Thats how you fight it

Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time

Uncle Tupelo w/Doug Sahm – Give Back The Key To My Heart

Yes, I posted Sahm recently, but here he is leading the way with Uncle Tupelo. What a great and natural combination. Running across this was just fantastic! I can’t put into words how much I love the down-home sound of this. One more legend is on this album that I will reveal at the bottom of the post…no skipping or peaking!

When Uncle Tupelo teamed up with Doug Sahm on this song, it felt less like a guest spot and more like a handoff between two generations. Sahm had already lived a lifetime in Texas blues, country, and rock and roll. Uncle Tupelo were still mapping out what roots rock could sound like in the early ’90s. The song sits right in the middle of that meeting point.

Sahm sounds relaxed, like he’s telling a story on a porch. Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy hang back just enough to let the song lead. I always liked Uncle Tupelo anyway, but add Doug Sahm? Oh hell yes! I could listen to this type of music all day and twice on Sunday, as the saying goes. It gives me a great feeling, and it just fits all together so well. The backup vocals are on target, but also riding around the edges; it’s such a lived-in sound that I love. There is no overdubbing or big production…just back porch sounding goodness.

This track shows what Uncle Tupelo were always good at, connecting past and present without making it sound like a museum piece. Doug Sahm doesn’t feel like a legend that was just dropped in for credibility. He feels like part of the band, which in this he is. Doug Sahm wrote this song, and it was on the Uncle Tupelo album called Anodyne, released in 1993. He first released it as Sir Doug and the Texas Tornados in 1976.

There is one more legend on this album doing some vocals…the one and only Joe Ely. He did the lead vocals on Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?

Give Back The Key To My Heart

Take my picture off the wallIt don’t matter to me at allSaid I was headed for a fallBut you wanted me to crawl

Give back my TVIt don’t mean that much to meWhile you’re giving back my thingsGive me back the key to my heart

Give back the key to my heartGive back the key to my heartAnd let my love flow like a riverStraight into your heart, dear

Well, you say I was the oneTo blame for the wrong that’s been doneWell, you got a friend named cocaineAnd to me, he is to blame

He has drained life from your faceHe has taken my placeWhile you’re alone in San AntoneGive me back the key to my heart

Give back the key to my heartGive back the key to my heartAnd let my love flow like a riverStraight into your heart, dear

Golden Smog – Glad and Sorry

If you take acoustic country and mix it with Big Star, you get bands like Wilco and this band Golden Smog. You literally get Big Star, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo (who I spelled wrong in the past), and The Jayhawks; the explanation is at the bottom. I’m glad that CB mentioned this band because they are exactly what I’m into right now.

They started as a loose collaboration of Minneapolis-based musicians who got together to play cover songs under pseudonyms. The name Golden Smog comes from a character in a Flintstones episode. The band initially played country and rock covers, but it evolved into a serious musical project over time.

Membership in this band has been fluid. They have had Chris Mars (Replacements drummer), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Louris and Perlman of The Jayhawks, Dave Primer from Soul Asylum, and more. Also in 1997, Jody Stephens became their drummer. He was an original member of Big Star.

All in all, they have released 4 albums starting in 1995 with Down by the Old Mainstream. This is the album that this song was on. It was a cover of a Faces song written by Ronnie Lane, and they did a super job on it. I love both versions, and I’m not easy on cover versions, but this hits the mark.

I will be going over all of their albums in the future. I’ve liked everything I’ve heard by them so far. Here is a list of their members…present and past.

Kraig Johnson (Kraig Jarret Johnson and the Program)
Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum)
Gary Louris (Jayhawks)
Marc Perlman (Jayhawks)
Steve Gorman (Black Crowes)

and their past members

Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum)
Chris Mars (Replacements)
Noah Levy (Brian Setzer and Soul Asylum)
Jeff Tweedy (Uncle Tupelo and Wilco)
Jody Stephens (Big Star)

Glad and Sorry

Thank you kindlyFor thinking of meIf I’m not smilingI’m just thinkingGlad and sorryHappy or sadAll is done and spokenYou’re up or I’m downCan you show me a dream?Can you show me one that’s better than life?Can you stand it in the cold light of day?Well, neither can ICan you show me a dream?Can you show me one that’s better than life?Can you stand it in the cold light of day?Well, neither can I

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Wilco – I Must Be High

I really like this band and many of the bands during this period. Good music and good lyrics…they have it all. This one album is quite different than their later albums. It sounded like a continuation of Tweedy’s former band Uncle Tupelo.

This song was the opening song on their A.M. album released in 1995. Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar had creative differences with Uncle Tupelo so they split…Tweedy with Wilco and Farrar with Sun Volt. They both released an album within 5 months of each other.

The album wasn’t a commercial success but it would pick up fans through the years. I’ve also added Casino Queen to this post. The two were the first two the band ever recorded as Wilco. All songs on the album were written by Jeff Tweedy. The album peaked at #27 on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart.

Jeff Tweedy: We recorded “A.M.” with Brian Paulson at Easley Studios in Memphis. “I Must Be High” is the first take of the first performance that we ever did as Wilco. Maybe that’s noteworthy. We had all been in a band together as Uncle Tupelo, and we played together a little bit just sitting around with acoustic guitars to learn the songs and everything, but the very first tape that we ever rolled as Wilco recording is basically what you hear on that first song on the record. “Casino Queen” on that record would be the other one I’d talk about. My dad asked me to write a song about it—it’s a real riverboat casino. I took my dad to go to the casino one time, and he said, “This could be something you could write a song about.” He basically forced me to do it

Jeff Tweedy: “We had all been in a band together as Uncle Tupelo, and we played together a little bit just sitting around with acoustic guitars to learn the songs and everything, but the very first tape that we ever rolled as Wilco recording is basically what you hear on that first song on the record.”

I Must Be High

You always wanted more time
To do what you
Always wanted to do
Now you got it
And I, I must be high
To say goodbye
Bye bye bye

You never said you needed this
You’re pissed that you missed
The very last kiss
From my lips
And I, I must be high
To say goodbye
Bye bye bye

And you never looked in my eyes
Long enough to find
Any peace of mind
But now you got it, and I
I must be high
To let you say goodbye
I must be high

Bye bye bye
Bye bye bye

…

Uncle Tupelo – No Depression

What a soulful song that just cries out Americana… this alt-country band hits the spot.

Many 1990s alternative rock bands credit No Depression, and Uncle Tupelo as one of the biggest sources of inspiration behind what each of them tried to be. This song is a cover of a song by the Carter Family back in 1936. Uncle Tupelo based their version off the New Lost City Ramblers version that was called No Depression in Heaven. It was written by Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter.

No Depression was also the name of their debut album released in 1990. It was recorded for an independent record label named Rockville. It’s been considered one of the most important alt-country records ever recorded. They did it on a tiny $3500 budget.

Jay Farrar formed Uncle Tupelo with Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn in 1987. They continued until 1994 when Farrar and Tweedy couldn’t work with each other anymore. Personally…I can hear the Jayhawks and other alt-country bands in this. They were only recording from 1989 through 1993 but made a huge mark.

Spin Magazine listed the album at #63 in their rankings of the Top 90 Albums of the 90s.

Jay Farrar: “I first heard it on an old folk compilation that I dug out of my mom’s record collection, I think that version was by the New Lost City Ramblers. It just seemed like the sentiment of the song seemed to fit our surroundings.”

Jay Farrar: “That’s something I learned later on from Woody Guthrie, he talks about how people pay more attention if you sing about topical issues. I guess that was what we were trying to do, in our own way. We were trying to encapsulate what we were seeing around us and put it into music.”

No Depression

Fear the hearts of men are failing
These our latter days we know
The great depression now is spreading
God’s word declared it would be so

I’m going where there’s no depression
To a better land that’s free from care
I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home’s in heaven
I’m going there

In this dark hour, midnight nearing
The tribulation time will come
The storms will hurl the midnight fear
And sweep lost millions to their doom

I’m going where there’s no depression
To a better land that’s free from care
I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home’s in heaven
I’m going there

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