MM, RATHER ABOUT THESE SONGS....
1) THE 4-12 MARCH — This one will probably wind up in the IJF repertoire for all the hollering and fumes, and the stomping. The music’s loose—comes out of Fred McDowellLand but not any particular song. Also, that singing chainsaw reminds me of the back-track to some old rap. And that’s a homemade drum you’re hearing. Oh, and “The 4-12†is the nickname of one Lute Tucker, comes from my taxi handle. Oh, and to the Kodiak Court lady whom I peaceably ejected Friday night: I only wish we’d been in the fucking sticks when I tossed yr diseased can out of my backseat. How was breakfast in the B&B?
2) YOU GONA DIE — Sho’ nuff, the gospel truth straight to you through me from Blind Willie McTell, dropped a half-step from his idea of the gospel truth.
3) FILTHY GODDAM WATER — The watershed of our river, swollen with snowmelt, had taken on rain for all springtime and then Uncle Pete augured, “That water’s coming over the fucking reservoir, you watch.†He was right. And like last year, we’ve been getting snow all winter long. This song’s completely derivative of Skip James, Fred McDowell, and Otha Turner’s boys with little inflection on the material for my own part while the lyrics come from personal experience. But that’s the soul of every river, no matter how wide.
4) WEST COAST BLUES — Moved to the California desert a few years ago, saw a few coyotes and borax mines, moved back to the tall corn. Lyrically a tribute to Eric Wright and my old Raider’s hat while the music comes from the ragged styles of Willie McTell and Blind Blake with a refrain copped from Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers. The minor note in the second bridge is stolen John Fahey who stole from John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotten, et al.
5) YOU GOTA MOVE — Inspired by Fred McDowell’s moving rendition, and bolstered with Reverend Gary Davis’ lyrics and some of my own. This is the kind of song that makes me cry when I hear it. Playing it doesn’t move me so much but I’m working on it. I dunno—if you get moved, it works.
6) KING DON’T COME RAG — The idea’s based on "Atom Bomb" by the Blind Boys of Alabama while the music is borrowed in pieces from Robert Johnson, Blind Blake, and Joseph Spence. I’m not a religious man but I am spiritually tuned and respect whatever respectful faith of any man or woman. Moreover, as this our world slides apart while we cling dogged to its flotsam, we all of us require faith to survive. What pisses me off is this idea of RAPTURE—that some of you, just like the old Puritan Elect, will be spared the trouble of living in hard times by the exclusionary tenets of yr faith. But we all someday have to pay our toll, how’d they miss that? And you watch—these sorry motherfuckers are going to be the first to stir up trouble when the Rapture doesn’t come our way. And when IT doesn’t happen, I’m shooting first.
....LOVE, ABSOLUTE TUCKER