Playing for the Ten Pound Fiddle, April 2000
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Playing for the Ten
Pound Fiddle, April 2000
Why should you buy your Utah Phillips CD's from CD Baby,
and not from a discount house?
Utah: "Im a white haired old man with a firm grip and even teeth, and its
how I make a living."
See the contact page for ordering other CD's from
No Guff Records. All single CD's $15.00 each. Audio Songbook 4 disk set $40.00
The Sound clips below are highly compressed/moderate quality so they
download faster.
The actual CD's are of course CD sound quality and sound 1000% better then these
clips.
Click on an underlined song title to hear the MP3 clip.
CD's available from U. Utah Phillips!
LOAFER'S
GLORY (Red House Records)
For some time now, friends have asked me if I ever had any intention of recording
stories - the ruminations, perturbations, fulminations, and rants that often
come between songs, enervating what (for some) would be an otherwise blessed
silence. (Fie on them!) Well, leaping to command, I have here recorded all of
the above. "Loafer's Glory" is a collage of traveling tales excerpted from my
live performances over the years, combined with homemade songs never recorded
before. All of the instrumental music is provided by longtime friend, Mark Ross
of Butte, Montana.
|
1)Loafer's Glory / Nothin' To Do But Go |
9)Budgie Lore |
   |
HEART
SONGS - The Old-Time Country Songs of Utah Phillips Sung by Jody Stecher
and Kate Brislin (Rounder Records)
There used to be an old style of song making that grew out of well-meant, deeply
felt sentimental parlor songs. "Heart Songs" is a collection of songs like this,
fashioned out of events which moved me deeply. It was literally in a dream of
mine that I could hear these songs sung by Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin. Well,
Kate and Jody have lifted that notion out of dream time and, in their singing
and playing, made these songs more real for me than I ever thought possible.
Kate and Jody's music is miraculous. (Includes detailed song notes.)
|
1) Orphan Train |
7) Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia |
 |
THE
LONG MEMORY (Red House Records)
Rosalie Sorrels is my oldest friend in the world. We've known each other since
the early 1950s. Although we have shared the stage many times over the years,
we had never done a recording project together until this one. The jist of the
record is songs and tales about work in the West. I am pleased and very proud
that Rosalie and I finally got something done together.. "The passion and commitment
he has devoted to this material for a lifetime is palpable... "The Long Memory"
is a dose of reality for the Conservative 90s."
|
1)Aunt Molly Jackson Defines |
9)Two Bums |
 |
THE
PAST DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE (Righteous Babe)
Ani DiFranco wrote me to say she had listened to a tape of my songs and stories
and wanted her young audience to hear some of them. Said they might do 'em some
good. So I gathered up a hundred hours or so of my live concert tapes picked
over the last twenty years, and shipped them off. Ani listened to all of it,
picked out (to my way of thinking) just the right stories, and surrounded them
with her own extraordinary sounds weaving in and out the way a flock of wild
birds define a salt marsh.
"A truly inspired project.. an innovative portrait of a classic American artist.
"-- No Depression
| 1)Bridges 2)Nevada City, California 3)Korea 4)Anarchy 5)Candidacy 6)Bum on the Rod |
7)Enormously Eealthy 8)Mess With People 9)Natural Resources 10)Heroes 11)Half a Ghost Town 12)Holding On |
 |
GOOD
THOUGH (Philo, released by Rounder Records)
This is the first recording I made after leaving Utah in 1969. The songs, homemade
and traditional, tell about the tramping I did on the western freight trains
over the years. Mixed in, you'll hear the sounds of steam railroading (whistles,
clanks, groans, and barking dogs). "Good Though" also contains the tale "Moose
Turd Pie," which will likely haunt me to my grave. This recording is just about
the favorite thing I ever did.
"If you're looking for the real McCoy, the undiluted Utah Phillips wit and wisdom,
"Good Though" is cause for celebration." --Victoria Times Colonist
| 1)Cannonball Blues 2)Queen of the Rails 3)Going Away 4)Frisco Road 5)Starlight on the Rails 6)Calling Trains |
7)Daddy, What's a Train? 8)Moose Turd Pie 9)Old Buddy Goodnight 10)Phoebe Snow 11)Nickle Plate Road No. 759 12)Wabash Cannonball/Tolono |
 |
I'VE
GOT TO KNOW (Alcazar)
During the Gulf War, I got plenty good and mad. I parked my car and wouldn't
drive it because I said it wouldn't run on blood. Then, with the help of Dakota
Sid Clifford, I went into a small but very fine studio here in Nevada City.
I said to Bruce Wheelock, the engineer, "Set up two mikes and start the tape.
I'll tell you when I'm done." For the next seventy minutes I spouted, fulminated,
and sang about war, peace, pacifism, and anarchy. I used songs, poems, and rants
to make the point, and said, "Okay, turn off the machine." Bruce said, "Don't
you want me to edit it?" I said, "No! I'm mad! Leave it the way it is!"
|
1)Stupid's Pledge |
12)Trooper's Lament 13)Victory Stuff 14)Mountan Valley Home 15)Michael 16)The Soldier's Return 17)Was it You? 18)Lord, Ain't it Sad? 19)What is a Pacifist? 20)I Will Not Obey 21) The Violence Within |
22)Judas Ram |
 |
WE
HAVE FED YOU ALL A THOUSAND YEARS
(Philo, released by Rounder Records)
These are songs and stories of the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies),
a union to which I have belonged for over forty years. Recorded live in front
of a group of striking Telecommunications Worker s in British Columbia, this
is what I wanted to sing and say about our working class culture and why we
should teach, study, and cherish it all the time, using it to build class solidarity
and a better future for all workers. By the way, these workers I was singing
for really joined in, and they all knew what we were singing about too!
"Anarchy in song! Utah Phillips keeps the Wobbly flame alive. --Sacramento News
& Review
See the Lyrics HERE.
(Some of the songs below are in Real Audio format, served by www.pbs.org
See their program on Joe Hill HERE.)
|
1)The Boss |
10)Casey
Jones - The Union Scab 11)Where the Fraser River Flows 12)Bread And Roses 13)Joe Hill 14)Union Burying Ground 15)The Two Bums 16)Halleluja, I'm A Bum! 17)Solidarity Forever 18)There Is Power In A Union |
 |
LOOK FOR ME IN BUTTE (Smokestack)
Here's a recording by my longtime friend and accompanist Mark Ross of Butte,
Montana. To my mind, Mark is the best all-around traditional folk musician I
know of. He plays it all: fiddle, 5-string, mandolin, and is a marvelously inventive
guitarist. Mark is also the Official Minstrel of the National Hobo Convention
in Britt, Iowa. (I'm a Grand Duke in that myself). Mark Ross is good on the
trains, too. He's the only tramp I know who's been in a train wreck. This record
is songs of the Butte miners, some made up by Mark, some by me, and some stumbled
over around town. Much recommended for folks who want to hear folk music off
the true vine.
| 1)My Sweetheart's A Mule in the Mines/Butte Miner's Song 2)Butte 3)I Wandered Today To The Hill Maggie 4)Dad's Dinner Pail 5)Marcus Daly Enters Heaven 6)The Butte Newboys Song 7)Only A Miner 8)The Steward Mine Disaster/7 Stacks Of The Neversweat 9)Hey Boys, Let It Ring 10)If We Could But Remeber 11)Goodby Joe Hill |
12)Nevada Jane |
LEGENDS
OF FOLK (Red House Records)
This record was a cherished project of Bob Feldman at Red House Records. He
rented the World Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota and got Ramblin' Jack Elliott,
Spider John Koerner, and myself to do a show together. This is it.
"A wonderful celebration of folk music and humanity." -- Z Magazine
|
1)Spider John Koerner |
12)On the Range of the Buffalo 13)U. Utah Phillips 14)Railroading on the Great Divide 15)Halleluja, I'm A Bum 16)Final Set Introduction 17)Old Shep 18)Danville Girl 19)Touch Me 20)Everybody's Going for the Money 21)912 Greens 22)Here With You |
EL CAPITAN (Philo, released by Rounder Records)
No Longer available. See THE TELLING TAKES ME HOME
These are songs about the new and old West. I mean my West, not just the narrow
cowboy West. Many of these songs I collected along the way from working people
who sang for their own pleasure. Others I made up as I moved through events
that provoked songs -- events that made me feel happy, sad, angry, puzzled,
betrayed, bemused, and sometimes scared.
| 1)The Telling Takes Me Home 2)The Goodnight-Loving Trail 3)Old Dolores 4)John D. Lee 5)Dog Canyon 6)The Star of Bannock 7)Sitting by the Old Corral 8)Johnny Thurman 9)Scofield Mine Disaster |
10)Rock Me to Sleep 11)I've Got A Home Out in Utah 12)Jesse's Corrido 13)Enola Gay 14)Larimer Street 15)Pig Hollow 16)Yuba City 17)She'll Never Be Mine 18)The Sweet Briar |
ALL USED UP (Philo, released by Rounder Records)
No longer available. THE TELLING TAKES ME HOME
The skids are the oldest part of any town -- also the poorest. "All Used Up"
is made up of songs about the skids, mainly about the enormous variety of people
who filter down through the layers of society and wind up on the street. Maybe
me and maybe you.
|
1) The Boss |
10)All Used Up 11) Jay Gould's Daughter 12) Scott's Creek Bluff 13) Halleujah, I'm a Bum 14)Go to Sleep You Weary Hobo 15) Dump the Bosses off Your Back 16) We Have Fed You All for 1000 Years 17) Eddie's Song 18) I Have A Good Life |
DON'T MOURN-ORGANIZE Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill (Smithsonian
Folkways)
This recording (oddly enough) was released by Smithsonian - Folkways on the
75th anniversary of the execution of Joe Hill, the Wobbly Bard -- by the (semi)
sovereign state of Utah. On this recording, everyone from Billy Bragg to Pete
Seeger and Paul Robeson celebrates Joe's songs and offers them again to a world
that needs to hear and sing them.
"A treasure for anyone interested in American folk or labor music." -- Washington
Post
|
1) Joe Hill - Billy Bragg |
8) Mr. Block - Mats Paulson 9) Joe Hill Listens to the Praying - Joe Glazer 10) The Tramp - Cisco Houston 11) "Joe Hill" - Earl Robinson 12) The White Slave - Alfred Esteban Cortez 13) Narrative - Elizabeth Gurley Flynn 14) The Rebel Girl - Hazel Dickens 15) There is Power in a Union - Entertainment Workers IU 630, I.W.W. |
REBEL
VOICES Songs of the IWW (Flying Fish, released by Rounder Records)
The labor movement traditionally was a singing movement. Over the past 20 years,
a lot of us who sing labor songs have worked to lift them out of the past and
put them to work where they belong: in the union hall, on the picket line, and
as part of growing up thinking and living union. ln 1984, 12 members of the
Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) got together in Chicago to do just
that. This CD, recorded live before audiences of full-throated unionists, is
the result.
THE
TELLING TAKES ME HOME (Rounder Records)
Years ago I first recorded with Philo Records in North Ferrisburg, Vermont.
I was living in a railroad caboose at the time. When Philo became part of Rounder
Records, two of my Philo recordings were reissued as cassette tapes only. Now
I have combined "El Capitan" and "All Used Up" into one CD called "The Telling
Takes Me Home." "El Capitan" is made up of homemade songs about my West, new
and old. "All Used Up" consists of songs I made up about where the skid rows
came from and what happens there now. The two blend together into a natural
whole.
| 1 The Telling Takes Me Home 2 The Goodnight-Loving Trail 3 John D. Lee 4 Dog Canyon 5 Johnny Thurman 6 Pig Hollow 7 Jesse's Corrido 8 Enola Gay 9 Rock Me To Sleep 10 Larimer Street |
11 Stupid's Song (I Have Led A Good Life) 12 Scott's Creek Bluff 13 Weepy Doesn't Know 14 Yuba City 15 I Remember Loving You 16 Dancers 17 Room For The Poor 18 Eddy's Song 19 All Used Up 20 She'll Never Be Mine |
 |
FELLOW
WORKERS (Righteous Babe)
Ani DiFranco got me down to New Orleans to work with her and the gang on this
collection of labor songs and stories intended to give those just entering the
labor market some idea of where unions come from and why we need them today.
Though I occasionally wax pontifical, Ani exuberantly leavens the whole affair
with ingenious instrumental and vocal arrangements that make the old songs come
alive again and, yes, rock.
|
1) Joe Hill (instrumental) |
10) Why Come? |
 |
THE
MOSCOW HOLD (Red House Records)
How many times after a show have I been asked, "Where can I get the stories
you tell?" Gee. And I thought they came to share my winsome ballads and, though
I say it myself, rather tentative guitar. Well, all right, here they are: a
collection of live recordings of tall tales which I believe to be absolutely
true. Take my word for It if you don't believe me Here are "The Egg Settin'
Horse" (the funniest story I've ever heard) and "The Dreaded Moscow Hold," which,
among others in this collection, are moderately radio-legal. Liven up any wedding,
funeral, or bar mitzvah with this paean to oral flatulence. You, too, will ask
yourself, "Who is this wise ass?"
|
1)Railroading On the Great Divide/Moose
Call |
8)Natural Resources 9)Oameal 10)The Moscow Hold 11)Blackie's Fridge 12)Oliver's Outhouse 13)Halleluja I'm a Bum/How I Became a Buddhist |
 |
MAKING
SPEECH FREE (Philadelphia IWW)
A while back I did a concert for a free speech conference in San Francisco.
The concert was recorded and somehow made its way across the country to Philadelphia,
where fellow workers in the Industrial Workers of the World issued it as a fundraiser
for the union. I've never done a live concert on a record before, and this one
came as a complete surprise to me. The gist of the whole record is free speech
-- its power and, at the same time, its fragility. The best way to hold on to
free speech is to open your mouth and do it. (Also, please notice the union
label.)
|
1)Railroading on the Great Divide |
12)The Origin of the hiring hall and free speach fights" |
 |
|
Recorded live at "Cross Currents 30 year Anniversary Concert"
in Kansas City, Missouri November 14, 2000. Featuring: U. Utah Phillips,
Mark Ross, Bob Suckiel, Diana Suckiel, Kuddie, Bruce Brackney, and
Larry Penn.
The Rose Tattoo |
|
Luther The Jet - King of the Hoboes
I never cared much for kings. Nobody elects them. They don't do anything except sponge off those they regard as inferiors. They don't put anything into the world that has any value except to themselves. They're parasites! Kings are probably the greatest waste of time and materials since Herbert Hoover. With one exception: The King of the Hoboes. Luther the Jet was elected by a mob, group, coterie, clack, jury, assembly, host of sisters and brothers of the road convened in Britt, Iowa, where since 1900 hoboes have gathered in convention to do just that ... elect a king and queen. Luther became king not by conquest, assassination, palace intrigue, marriage, or genetic accident, but because he knows how to by god Hobo ... how to get through the world without doing anything! (The rich have long since figured out how to do this; why can't we?) Luther the Jet knows trains ... east to west, north to
south, hotshot, drag, short line, or transcontinental, Luther knows
and has ridden them all. For free. Along the way his keen eye and wry
wit have allowed him to fashion out of what he has seen and learned
... all the lore of our traveling nation ... brilliant songs that stand
equal to the best of our railroad classics and that are certain to join
them. Here they are now, like wild butterflies caught on the wing as
they breezed by, the songs of Luther the Jet, King of the Hoboes, not
imposed through war or inheritance, but elected by willing subjects,
those who know him to be the best.
Vocals: Luther the Jet. Producer: Kuddie.
Engineer: Bruce Wheelock. Editor and Chief: Joanna Robinson. Dedicated
to the memory of Al Grierson (1948-2000) |
||
|
A Collection of Hobo Poetry written and narrated by Buzz Potter
The poems on this CD are dedicated to the countless men (and a few
woman) who, for whatever reason, rode America's freight trains during
the last days of the steam locomotive. |
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