Almanac Music: ‘Oh Vesuvius’ – Songs Involving Hills, Mountains and Volcanoes
[Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: ‘Oh Vesuvius’ – Songs Involving Hills, Mountains and Volcanoes
Hi, Almanackers! This week’s piece in my ongoing series about key popular song themes concerns songs that involve hills, mountains and volcanoes; or, indeed, any geographical feature of a similar kind. Interpret the theme broadly: for example, the hill could be an actual one, or in some way metaphorical.
So, dear readers, please put your relevant songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get things going.
‘River Deep, Mountain High’, written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, performed by Tina Turner (1966)
‘Do I love you, my oh my’
‘On the Galtymore Mountains’, traditional, performed by the Grehan Sisters (1967)
‘On the Galtymore Mountains / So far far away’
‘Pouk Hill’, written by Don Powell, Jim Lea & Noddy Holder, performed by Slade (1970)
‘Did you see us? / We were bare standing there with our arms in the air’
‘Stand by Me’, written by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, performed by John Lennon (1975)
‘And the mountains should crumble to the sea’
‘Feels Like the First Time’, written by Mick Jones, performed by Foreigner (1977)
‘I would climb any mountain’
‘Solsbury Hill’, written and performed by Peter Gabriel (1977)
“Son,” he said / “Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home”
‘79 A.D.’, written by Andrew Duffield, Sean Kelly, James Freud and Barton Price, performed by Models (1983)
‘Oh Vesuvius / Take me to’
‘Angel of Pompeii’, written and performed by Kavisha Mazzella (1998)
‘Pompeii skies are savage blue’
https://kavishamazzella.bandcamp.com/track/angel-of-pompeii
‘Pompeii’, written by Dan Smith, performed by Bastille (2013)
‘But if you close your eyes / Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?’
……………………………………………..
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) involving geographical features of a ‘hilly’ variety, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a solid general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His fifth book-length poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws ... I'm Feeling Too Indolent, was published in late 2023 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, which was published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
A few that first came to mind
‘Thunder on the Mountain’ – Bob Dylan
‘Wolverton Mountain’ – Claude King
‘Climb Every Mountain’ – various
‘Gone the Rainbow (Johnny’s gone for a Soldier) – Peter, Paul, and Mary
‘Blueberry Hill’ – Fats Domino
Many thanks, Col, for kicking off proceedings in relation to our new theme.
I look forward to the contributions to follow!
Morning KD
Really loved the Ben E King & Foreigner selections.
I’ll start by Running Up That Hill with Kate Bush.
Cheers & happy theme day!
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Running Up That Hill’ – love Kate’s work!
Morning to you, too – cheers!
Here’s some Slim:
When the Rain Tumbles Down in July
Lights on the Hill
The Angel of Goulburn Hill
Calvary Hill
Indian Pacific
Thanks so much for some Slim Dusty, Rick. We are so lucky to have him as the key figure in Australian country music.
Led Zeppelin: Over the Hills and Far Away & Misty Mountain Hop.
Coldplay: Violet Hill.
John Denver: Rocky Mountain High.
Pogues: Young Ned of the Hill.
Dubliners: Rare Auld Mountain Dew.
Thanks, Smokie – fine, varied bunch there – from John Denver to Led Zep! Love it!
Leilani – Hoodoo Gurus
Not sure how many will know this one, but Tanrah by Tio speaks to the majesty of Vanuatu’s nature, including the Ambrym and Tanna volcanoes.
Clip – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaiPDRha7y4
Download – https://tiobang.bandcamp.com/album/sorousian
Thanks, Greg A – for your ‘volcano’ song, which fits very well under the broad umbrella of our theme, of course. The Gurus are among my favourite Oz bands, incidentally.
Great call Smokie, I was just going to say: Led Zep songs! I’m sure there’s plenty more in their catalogue.
Cheers
Thank you, JL, for ‘Tanyah’ by Tio. Just had a listen – lovely, atmospheric song!
Hey Jarrod, I don’t know the Tio song, so thanks for that, but I will throw in Volcano by Jimmy Buffett.
Cheers
Thanks for ‘Volcano’ by Jimmy Buffett, Rick – the first word that sprang to mind was ‘Calypso’. I don’t think we’ve had many calypso songs in our themed music songlists, and I’m all for eclecticism.
Farewell Transmission by Magnolia Electric Co.
There’s not any type of mountain in it. Not even a foothill or a hill of beans.
But it’s a hell of a song.
Er, thanks for sharing, Anson.
I had a listen – and do like the song. It’s fascinating.
You’re so right – nothing at all to do with mountains and the like, at least as far as I can tell.
Inspired by Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann’s ‘The Magic Mountain,’ Father John Misty’s ten-minute epic, “So I’m Growing Old On Magic Mountain.’ Both great essays on time, the track also features an utterly immersible instrumental across the last half.
Another excellent topic and thread, KD.
Excellent batch from Merle:
Old Man from the Mountain
I’m Always on a Mountain when I Fall
Way Back in the Mountains
The Train Never Stops
Kern River
Foggy Mountain Top – The Carter Family
High on a Mountain Top – Loretta Lynn
The Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia – Emmylou Harris (written by Utah Phillips)
Tecumseh Valley – Townes Van Zandt – (“She came from Spencer Across the hill She said her pa had sent her
’cause the coal was low And soon the snow Would turn the skies to winter”)
Kosciuszko- Midnight Oil
King of the Mountain- Midnight Oil
Thanks, Mickey, so pleased you like this topic. I think it’s a good ‘um, too! Lots of potential for many fine song choices. In particular, thank you for ‘So I’m Growing Old On Magic Mountain.’ The song is certainly off to an excellent start with its provenance.
‘The Mountain’ – Steve Earle (Levon Helm does a great version as well)
Thanks, Dave N – great start to this topic on your part!
While I think of it, I’ll throw in the Beatles’ ‘Rocky Raccoon’.
Many thanks, Luke, for the Oils material.
Thank you, Col, for ‘The Mountain’.
Oh – and slightly out of sequence – thanks, Rick, our ‘go to’ person, when it comes to Merle Haggard.
A question KD…..
Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Thanks, Karl, for your ‘question’.
‘The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind’
Not a bad answer!
U2: One Tree Hill, Red Hill Mining Town,
Led Zeppelin: Thank You (“when mountains crumble to the sea/ there would still be you and me), Black Mountain Side,
Midnight Oil: Mountains of Burma,
Beatles: The Fool on the Hill,
The Clash: Mensforth Hill,
Hey KD
I googled my question and your answer is – correct! Well done!
Now, for this theme’s moment of contemplation……
Yoga positions please….
Om……………………….
First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is….
Two different songs:
Mansion on the Hill, by Hank
Mansion on the Hill, Bruce
Oklahoma Hills, Woody Guthrie
Vestavia Hills, Jason Isbell
Kentucky, February 27, 1971, Tom T
Whiskey in the Jar – The Clancy Brothers (and just about every other Twentieth Century Irish band, including Thin Lizzy) “As I was a goin’ over the far famed Kerry mountains
I met with captain Farrell and his money he was counting”
The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond – folk song emerging from the Jacobite Rebellion (“‘Twas there that we parted, in yon shady glen On the steep, steep side of Ben Lomond “)
Wreck of the Old 97 – Johnny Cash. This song refers an actual train cash in 1903 and was first recorded in 1924. It has since been recorded by loads of Country and folk singers. I first heard it sung at folk clubs in the 60s I include this here not only because of the reference to White Oak Mountain (see below) but because it is about train wreck caused by going down a steep hill at high speed. (“Well, he turned and said to his big greasy fireman Hey, shovel on a little more coal And when we cross that white oak mountain Watch old ’97 roll”)
Brisbane Ladies – Gary Shearston (droving folksong) (“The first camp we make we shall call it the Quart Pot
Caboolture then Kilcoy and Collington’s hut We’ll pull up at the Stone House, Bob Williamson’s paddock And early next morning we cross the Blackbutt”) refers to the Blackbutt Range.
Thanks for your latest song choices, Smokie. To select one for comment: ‘The Fool on the Hill’ serves as a reminder (if anyone ever needed one) that the Beatles have a classic song to fit just about every occasion.
Thank you, Karl, for the Donovan song. I’m contemplating it (deeply) as write this!
But remember, as George Harrison said in ‘The Inner Light’: ‘The farther one travels / The less one knows…’
I’ll add one to Smokie’s two earlier U2 contribution:
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
‘I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you’
Thanks for your latest five, Rick – all by artists of the first rank (including a few legends). Your mention of the ‘Mansion on the Hill’ titles reminded me – in purely language terms – to mention ‘Castle on the Hill’ by Ed Sheeran.
Great stuff, Dave N – a nice dose of material with a decidedly folk emphasis. Some fabulous rhythm and lead guitar in Cash’s ‘The Wreck of the Old ’97’, to note just one aspect of one song.
Thanks, Karl, for ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’.
Joe Strummer, first three songs with his band The Mescaleros, who play the Corner maybe 2001 and yes this lucky guy was there and blown away):
Get Down Moses (Once I got to the mountain top, everywhere I could see/Prairie full of lost souls running from the priests of iniquity)
Long Shadow, written for Johnny Cash(Playing in the Arroyos/Where the American rivers flow/From the Appalachians/Down to the Delta Roads)
Techno D-Day (I was a reserve DJ playing Columbian mountain beats)
Tombstone, by The Pogues, remember Joe Strummer joined The Pogues for a spell (Well, the trees stand bare like skeletons/And the mountain’s all torn down/The water holes are dry as bones/No birds are singing now)
Dum Dum Club, from the film, Sid and Nancy (You had a shot at a thing called love/In the Hollywood hills/You can’t help but follow that love/Even if it kills)
Here’s two songs commemorating the most iconic Aussie geographical feature:
Goanna – Solid Rock
‘Out here nothin’ changes, not in a hurry anyway…..
You’re standin’ on solid rock
You’re standin’ on sacred ground’
John Williamson – Raining On the Rock
‘It cannot be described with a picture
The mesmerising colours of Kata Tjuta
Or the grandeur of the Rock
Uluru is power
It’s raining on the Rock
In a beautiful country’
Your most recent lot are a striking little collection, Rick – thanks for these. Interesting that Cash turned down the opportunity of recording ‘Long Shadow’.
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Solid Rock’ and ‘Raining on the Rock’. I imagine a large number of songs have been recorded involving Uluru in particular and a much, much larger number connected to Australian geographical features of a ‘hilly’ variety more generally.
Cash turned it down not out of lack of interest but because he was in his final months, struggling healthwise. Johnny and Joe did record Bob Marley’s Redemption Song instead. And it’s impressive.
Oh, add Spanish Bombs, by Joe’s other band, The Clash
Yes, Rick – thanks for the further info re ‘Long Shadow’. I figured the reason for Cash not recording it might be along those lines, given the time concerned.
I agree with you about Cash and Strummer’s version of ‘Redemption Song’, too – it’s a beauty.
Finally, thank you for ‘Spanish Bombs’.
The second album released by Buffalo was ‘ Volcanic Rock’. This was back in July 1973.
Glen!
It’s as if no-one has ever seen The Sound Of Music
Some great, and I’m not exaggerating, songs with hill references:
El Paso, Marty Robbins
Run to the Hills, Iron Maiden
Bankrolled, The Clash (you have to wait until the end of the song for the hill reference but it’s there)
Bankrobber – man I hate autocorrect
On my musical traverse across the planet in search for iconic geological features, I discover the continent of Africa……and Toto…..
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what’s deep inside
Frightened of this thing that I’ve become
Thanks, Glen, for the note concerning Oz band Buffalo.
Thank you, Swish – ‘The Sound of Music’ title song was locked in a box waiting for you with the key. Now that box is open…
Yep, Rick, three great songs indeed. Thanks so much.
And who puts out an album with such an archetypally Western title like ‘Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs’ these days? – this is Marty Robbins’ classic 1959 LP, featuring ‘El Paso’, for those not in the know..
Side note: I really love the Spanish influence in American place names, and ‘El Paso’ certainly sounds much better than its English translation, which is ‘the route’ or ‘the pass’.
Another note: every time I hear ‘Bankrobber’ I think of ‘I Fought the Law’. There’s some resemblance in terms of melody and phrasing, I suppose.
Boot Hill: Australian Crawl
Wild Mountain Thyme: (folk song; I’m familiar with the version by The Byrds)
You ain’t goin’ nowhere: (written by Bob Dylan; I’m familiar with the version by The Byrds)
Go tell it on the mountain: (spiritual song: I’m familiar with Simon and Garfunkel’s version)
Above the clouds: Electric Light Orchestra
Eldorado Overture: Electric Light Orchestra
All the way over the hill: Roy Wood
When you’re a free man: Moody Blues
We’re not gonna take it: The Who
Thanks for Toto’s ‘Africa’, Karl. In purely musical terms, the song is a good ‘un, even if the lyrics are a bit clunky here and there, I feel.
I leave Africa and journey north by horse, by rail, by land, by sea
I find myself in Rick Wakeman country – and begin my Journey To The Centre Of The Earth:
‘In Iceland, where the mountain stood with pride
They set off with their guide
To reach the mountain side
Roped as one for safety through the long descent
Into the crater of volcanic rock they went……
(44m later)…….They had entered by one volcano and they had
come out by another. With the blue mountains of Calabria in the
east they walked away from the mountain that had returned them.
The frightening Mount Etna.
Thanks, Liam, for your interesting bunch of selections. To select just one for comment: ‘Boot Hill’ by Australian Crawl was a particularly good pick up, I feel, as – with its ‘hilly’ title – it was hiding in plain sight (no one else had selected it) until you saw its silhouette. (Get it? Hill … silhouette … saw the silhouette of a hill…)
Thanks for your Rick Wakeman input, Karl – epic!
Cat Stevens – Miles From Nowhere
‘….Look up at the mountain, mmm
I have to climb
Oh yeah, to reach there’
Neil Young – Sugar Mountain
‘Oh to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can’t be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon’
Thanks for your latest two, Karl – two fine artists there.
Trip to Hyden, Tom T (prime example of his eye for detail and capturing deeper layers of a story)
Pretty Green Hills, Tom T (lovely, sad, reflective song)
You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive, Patty Loveless, from her album, Mountain Soul
Long Monday, John Prine (showing off his wordsmith cred)
Far From Me, John Prine (truly magnificent short story)
Thanks, Rick, for your latest material.
I feel, as a collective, we’ve barely scraped the surface in terms of the material that fits under the umbrella of this ‘mountains etc’ theme.
Just thought of the classic bluegrass instrumental, ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’, in particular the hit version by Flatt and Scruggs. This then led me to think of Dolly Parton’s fine bluegrass album, The Grass is Blue – the excellent title track mentions mountains.
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
LA Woman by The Doors
I see your hair is burnin’
Hills are filled with fire
Pictures of Home by Deep Purple
Somebody’s shouting up at a mountain
Only my own words return
Many thanks, Karl, for ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ – I’m certain that there’s little to be said about this great song that hasn’t already been said.
Thanks for two classic songs from the early seventies, Greg A.
Magenta Mountain- King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
A couple to add to the collection:
Tim Buckley – from 1967’s excellent ‘Goodbye & Hello’ album
I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (1967) but also a hit for Diana Ross (1970)
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Mountain of Love – Harold Dorman (who wrote the song) later, better known versions include Johnny Rivers and Charley Pride.
One Tin Soldier – The Original Caste. Released in 1970, used a year later with different singers as the theme for The Legend of Billy Jack, a cult movie that I have never seen. The song is very “late 60” in subject and style.
“Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
‘Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley-folk below.”
“
A Picture of You (I saw you there on the crest of a hill and I took a picture of you) – Joe Brown and the Bruvvers
Wild Mountain Rose – Conway Twitty
Over Thirty (Not over the Hill) -Conway Twitty
Go Tell it on the Mountain – Frank Sinatra
Gonna Build a Mountain – Bing Crosby
Friendly Mountains – Bing Crosby
I’d Climb the Highest Mountain – Bing Crosby
Yodlin’ Jive (The Mountains Echo his Jive) – Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters
A Perfect Mountain – Dean Martin
In the Misty Moonlight – Dean Martin
She Came Rolling Down the Mountain – Tex Morton
The Big Rock Candy Mountain – Tex Morton
Endlessly (Higher than the Highest Mountain) – Brook Benton
Away on the Mountain’s Brow – Brenda Lee
Big Four Poster Bed (A field of fluffy mountains for a little girl to hide in) – Brenda Lee
The Folks that Live on the Hill – Peggy Lee
Mountain Greenery – Peggy Lee
Come Rain or Shine (High as a mountain, deep as a river) – Peggy Lee
Eagle – ABBA
Faith Can Move Mountains – Nat King Cole
La Feria de Las Flores (The Flower Fair) (I crossed the mountain to come see the flowers) – Nat King Cole
You Gave Me a Mountain – Frankie Lane
Where the Winds Blow (and follow the trail where the mountains grow) – Frankie Lane
Mule Train – Frankie Lane
The Ballad of Davy Crockett – Fess Parker
The Happy Wanderer – Henri Rene
Mockin’ Bird Hill – Teresa Brewer
The Ballad of Lovers Hill – Teresa Brewer
And that all time Aussie classic – sung by Lucky Starr in 1962
I’ve been everywhere, man
‘Cross the deserts bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I’ve had my share, man
I’ve been ev’rywhere
Plenty of references to ‘mountain’ locations in the original Aussie version as well as subsequent US, UK & NZ versions.
Thanks, Luke, for ‘Magenta Mountain’.
Thank you, Karl, for your latest selections. ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’ almost ‘picks itself’, to choose a widely used expression.
Thanks, Dave, for your latest song choices.
I remember seeing Billy Jack, incidentally, at a small cinema in Portarlington, Victoria, when I was a kid on summer holidays, and probably first heard its theme song then. My family had a caravan at the nearby camping ground.
Many thanks, Fisho, for your wonderful array of ‘mountain etc’ songs. Impressive list indeed!
The Deadwood Stage (Oh the Deadwood stage is a headin’ on over the hills) – Doris Day
The Black Hills of Dakota – Doris Day
Tom Dooley (I met her on the mountain) – The Kingston Trio
You Gave Me a Mountain – Elvis Presley
There’s Gold in the Mountains – Elvis Presley
The Swiss Maid – Del Shannon
My Tennessee Mountain Home, Dolly and what a song, chorus includes this line: “Life is as peaceful as a baby’s sigh”
Tennessee Homesick Blues, if you thought it was a Dolly song you guessed correctly
Appalachian Memories, one clue, it’s Dolly
My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy, another by Dolly
The Seeker, yep, Dolly with a stunning gospel song
and finally, Wildflowers, by Dolly, and a couple of her good friends, Linda and Emmylou
Songs of the Snowy Mountains – The Settlers
This is an extraordinary album. The Settlers were a group of musicians who had worked on the Snowy Mountains Scheme in the 1960s. The main songwriter was an Irish immigrant named Ulick O’Boyle .who worked as a concreter. The music is basically folk and country but O’Boyle borrowed from lots of genres. The songs describe the Snowy workers at work and leisure. There are also songs of the history of the scheme and a couple mourning the flooding of land and townships as the dams were built. There are songs about fatal industrial accidents and industrial victimization.
The Settlers ended up releasing several albums about the Snowy. They never really became major figures on the folk scene. The songs vary in quality, some are a bit corny or over-sentimental, others are quite brilliant, funny, and/or insightful. Frankly I learnt more about life on the Snowy Scheme from The Settlers than I did from from two television documentaries and one fictional TV series that I watched on the subject.
She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain – Henry Whitter
Blue Berry Hill – Fats Domino
Mountain of Love – Bobby Vee
I believe this is the only time Dylan has mentioned Australia in his lyrics – and it just so happens that it is on theme.
Outlaw Blues (1965) from the ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ album:’
Oh, I wish I was on some Australian mountain range (repeat)
I got no reason to be there, but I Imagine it would be some kind of change
(Note – on one lyrics site it deletes the ‘al’ so that it becomes ‘Austrian mountain range’).
Searchin’ (And if I have to climb a mountain) – The Hollies
Scarborough Fair (Tell her to make me a cambric shirt on the side of a hill in the deep forest green) – Roger Whittaker
Half Way Up the Mountain – Roger Whittaker
Mountain Woman – The Kinks
Daylight (Daylight over the hills and valleys heralding the morning) – The Kinks
Thank you, Fisho, for your latest choices – another impressive lot of thematically fitting songs.
Good golly Miss Dolly! – thanks so much, Rick, for your latest selections. (Special nod, too, to Linda and Emmylou.)
Thanks, Dave, for your material concerning The Settlers – as informative and interesting as ever.
Thanks, Karl, for Dylan’s ‘Outlaw Blues’. The Australian connection is certainly worth noting.
(There Was a) Tall Oak Tree – Dorsey Burnette
Mountains of Love – Neil Diamond
Back To the Hills – Tom Jones
Smokey Mountains I’m Coming Home – Tom Jones
A mixed bag with a bit of a lean to country, just a smidge:
Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone), Kurt Vile (Standing on top of Mount Airy Hill/Thinkin ’bout, flyin’)
The Wind, PJ Harvey (I see her in her chapel/High up on the hill/High up on the hill/She must be so lonely)
When We Were Very Young, Belle and Sebastian (I can see mountains/I can see sky/I sometimes wish that I was blind/To all the futures that we left behind)
Hillbilly Hula Girl, Junior Brown (She’s had enough of the hills and me/So she’s taken to the lessons in Waikiki)
My Baby’s Gone, Wanda Jackson. Yes, I know The Louvins covered it first but I do love Wanda’s version. (Hold back the rushing minutes/Make the wind lie still/Don’t let the moonlight shine/Across the lonely hill)
Way back in 1961, there was a group called ‘The Journeymen’ and their debut album included 2 ‘on theme’ cover songs that are worth a listen:
Cumberland Mountain Deer Chase
Gilgara Mountain
The Journeymen was the breeding ground for 2 up & coming singer/songwriters:
John Phillips – founding member & one of the vocalists of The Mamas & The Papas. He also penned the song ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)
Scott McKenzie – who recorded ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair).
There are also 2 interesting Dylan connections.
1. Another cover song on The Journeymen’s debut album was a traditional folk song – morphed from it’s Scottish roots (The Boonie Lass o’ Fyvie) to become a US Civil War song that eventually became known as ‘Fennario’. Dylan further morphed & covered Fennario on his 1962 debut album with the song ‘Pretty Peggy-O’. He opens the song with a spoken ‘Been around this whole country, but I never found Fennario’.
2. Check out the album cover of John Phillips 1970 debut ‘John Phillips (The Wolf King Of LA) and Dylan’s 1976 ‘Desire’ album.
Thanks, Fisho, for your very latest choices.
Interesting, quality material as usual, Rick. Thanks!
Fine, highly interesting, detailed material in your latest comments. Thank you, Karl.
House Upon a Hill – Paul Anka
Get Here (There hills and mountains between us) – Paul Anka
Five Little Ducks (Five little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away) – the Wiggles or Amber Lawrence.
Hey KD
I’m still making my way up a mountain of songs – looking forward making it to the top & taking in the view – before the trek back down.
Woody Guthrie – Oklahoma Hills (may have already been mentioned?) – son Arlo does a nice version on his 1969 ‘Running Down The Road’ album.
Stephen Stills (post CSN&Y) formed Manassas (1972/3) – well worth checking out
On the 1972 self-titled double album, there is a song called Colorado
‘Come a woman who wants to be near
Me and my mountains, we’ll be right here
Colorado (Colorado)’
Birmingham, Drive By Truckers (“Dynamite Hill ain’t on fire any longer” – reference to a place and time when the KKK wrecked havoc)
Uncle Frank, DBT (Some of them made their living cutting the timber down,/snaking it one log at a time up the hill and into town)
Lookout Mountain, Drive Bys (If I throw myself off Lookout Mountain who will ever hear my songs?/Who’s gonna mow the cemetery when all of my family’s gone?)
Guns of Umpqua, Drive By Truckers (one sad sad song)
+
Over the Hills and Far Away, Kevin Johnson (Over the hills and far away,/I’m gonna understand one day,/What the other half believe in)
Here’s a swag from Gene Autry –
There’s a Good Gal in the Mountains
Mellow Mountain Moon
The Singing Hills
Oklahoma Hills
Left my Gal in the Mountains
When it’s Spring Time in the Rockies
Don’t Fence Me In (Till I see the mountains rise)
Thanks for your latest two batches, Fisho. In the first of these – Paul Anka and the Wiggles – what an unexpected combination!
Thanks for your latest input, Karl. Yep, we’re all a good way up the mountainside now!
At a quick look through, I don’t think ‘Oklahoma Hills’ has been mentioned before, either.
Re ‘Oklahoma Hills’, Karl…seems like you got in with it just before Fisho (but with a different performer mentioned).
Thanks so much for the DBT and Kevin Johnson material, Rick.
And congrats to all contributors to this theme – we’ve now passed the ton!
Ah, I added Oklahoma Hills only 4 days back, Woody’s version.
And while I’m here I’ve gotta put forward the sad yet powerful Troy Cassar-Daley lament, Shadows on the Hill, which I was fortunate to hear a heart breaking version at Port Fairy in 2019.
Three from Emmylou and one from Buffy.
My Antonia – Emmylou Harris (“She held me, she kissed me, begged me not to leave her To cross on 1he mountain my fortune to win But a letter now tells me she died of a fever I’ll never see her in this world again”)
Timberline – Emmylou Harris (“On that Shenandoah hill where our love bloomed until
You went away and left those promises behind
But when I rise from the timberline and call your name
Will you remember mine?”)
The Ballad of Sally Rose (“They’ve got a national monument carved out of stone
On the side of a mountain where her forefathers roamed
Playing cowboys and Indians right under the nose
Of Theodore Roosevelt and the sweet Sally Rose”)
The Piney Wood Hills – Buffy Sainte Marie (“I’ll return to the woodlands
I’ll return to the snow
I’ll return to the hills
and the valley below
I’ll return like a poor man
or a king if God wills
but I’m on my way home
to the piney wood hills”)
Jackson Browne – off his debut 1972 self titled album (also referred to as ‘Saturate Before Using’ album)
A Child Of These Hills
‘I am a child in these hills
I am away, I am alone
I am a child in these hills
And looking for water, And looking for life’
Joni Mitchell – off her debut 1968 ‘Song To A Seagull’ album
Michael From Mountains
‘Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well’
Thanks for the correction re ‘Oklahoma Hills’, Rick, and for ‘Shadows on the Hill’.
Thank you for the Emmylou and Buffy material, Dave – excellent, telling use of quotation, as usual, too.
Oh, and, Rick, speaking/writing about Port Fairy experiences – as you were in your last comment – reminds me of one of my best-ever nights at a concert – attending a performance in a small hall in Port Fairy about 1994 and seeing Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick perform – ‘Byker Hill’ was among their repertoire, and is also the name of a Carthy/Swarbrick album of the late sixties, as you’d probably know.
Thanks, Karl, for your Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell songs.
The mountains/hills/volcanoes theme shows no sign of ‘slowing down’ yet!
I feel like I’m in a David Bowie song from his 1980 Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) album:
Up The Hill Backwards.
As I begin the descent of Mt Densley all I can see are Dylan lyrics before me…….
As an aside to your earlier comment re Martin Carthy – he is acknowledged as the person who taught Dylan his version of ‘Scarborough Fair’ as well as the traditional folk ballad ‘Lady Franklin’s Lament’ in late 1962 while Dylan was in England….on returning to NY in early 1963, Dylan recorded ‘Girl From The North Country’ using Carthy’s musical arrangement for Scarborough Fair as well as ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’ based on the tune of Lady Franklin’s Lament.
Has anyone mentioned I GOT YOU BABE? (There ain’t a hill or mountain we can’t climb) – Sonny and Cher
Gonna Build a Mountain – Dusty Springfield
Foggy Mountain Top – Dusty Springfield
The Ninety and Nine (Buy one and out on the hills away, far off from the gates of gold, away on the mountains wild and bare) – Tennessee Ernie Ford
Thanks, Karl, for your latest contribution – yes, I’d heard about Carthy’s influence on Dylan. But many others may not have have.
One thing I distinctly remember about Carthy’s playing ( I was about four feet from him in his concert in that little Port Fairy hall) was the loud, distinctive, percussive way he played his acoustic guitar. He needed to retune his guitar at the end of just about every song.
Thanks, Fisho, for your latest choices – as far as I can see, no one has mentioned ‘I Got You Babe’.
‘Foggy Mountain Top’ has been previously mentioned – but it was the Carter family version, not the Dusty Springfield one.
Here’s something different. ‘Quanah Un Rama’ by American metal band, Eagle Twin, involving Gentry Densley and Tyler Smith. The lyrics in this song mention ‘Mountains rising up like beasts’. The song itself is from the 2018 album, The Thundering Herd. It’s very heavy and long, going over 11 minutes.
Wikipedia describes Eagle Twin thus: ‘Eagle Twin is an American metal band formed in Salt Lake City, Utah by singer/guitarist Gentry Densley and drummer Tyler Smith. Eagle Twin’s music could be broadly classified as doom metal or sludge metal, but also touches on progressive rock, blues rock, jazz fusion and psychedelic rock, featuring lengthy instrumental passages and Densley’s gruff, half-chanted vocals, which occasionally veer into overtone singing.’
A slightly embellished, but nonetheless, true story:
Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues – Bob Dylan
Written June 1961 (just after Dylan’s 20th birthday), recorded April 1962 & finally released on the 1991 Bootleg Series Vol 1-3.
A few days back Dave Nadal mentioned Townes Van Zandt song, Tecumseh Valley but Dave, you forgot to note the song (well, second and better attempt at the song) is from his album (drum roll please) Our Mother the Mountain. Along with Tecumseh Valley, the album includes the title track, St. John the Gambler, Snake Mountain Blues, and My Proud Mountains. Not bad, 5 of the 11 tracks are hill/mountain themed.
Cheers
Sorry Karl, I’m jumping into your territory now, as I was listening to New Morning last night (what a wonderful album) and Time Passes Slowly comes up, so I’m throwing it in.
Has Landslide, Fleetwood Mac been mentioned? If not, lock it in.
Aja, Steely Dan
Remember the Mountain Bed, Wilco & Billy Bragg (lyrics by Woody Guthrie)
The World Turned Upside Down, Billy Bragg (from his second album, a cover of a song by Leon Rosselson, a 60s folk and protest singer who incidentally was in a band in the 60s with Martin Carthy).
The Heather on the Hill – Gene Kelly (From the movie Brigadoon)
Here’s a few from Mario Lanza –
The Hills of Home
Seven Hills of Rome
Do You Wonder (Ask the mountain where the river flows)
Somebody Bigger than You or I (who made the mountains)
Hey Rick – Bob is big enough to be shared by the multitudes. I’ll just cross ‘Time passes slowly up here in the mountains’ off my list.
Hey KD – your intro to this theme says, & I quote – ‘Interpret the theme broadly: for example, the hill could be an actual one, or in some way metaphorical.’
Joan Baez – from the original Woodstock album
‘I dreamed, I saw Joe Hill last night
Alive as you and me
Says I “But Joe, you’re ten years dead”
“I never died” says he’
Has anyone mentioned DANNY BOY. It’s been recorded by so many people over the years but my favourite version was by CONWAY TWITTY.
A few notes.
Rick I didn’t mention the album that Tecumseh Valley came from because I did not know it. I was first introduced to the song on a “very best of Townes Van Zandt” album.
Leon Rosselson, who, as Rick says, wrote The World Turned Upside Down, a song about The Diggers who were a sort of Christian Socialist movement during the English Civil War, is still alive at 90. I saw him perform at a folk club in London in 1974 and at Port Fairy in 1988. He wrote The Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party about the Wilson Labour Government which includes the line “We’ll reform the country bit by bit, so nobody will notice it” For some reason this line makes me think of Albo.
Karl, I am glad Joan Baez sang Joe Hill at Woodstock but it is a Trade Union Rebel song rather than an anti war song. Prefer Paul Robeson’s version. Robeson actually performed the song for the workers building the Sydney Opera House in1960.
Sorry Kevin, this post has nothing to do with mountains, I just wanted to respond to some sugestions, Dave
Thanks for your latest material, Karl. Love your inclusion of ‘Joe Hill’, by the way – a rich, resonant, rousing (how’s that for alliteration?) song, of which there are many versions, as you’d know.
Thanks, Fisho, for ‘Danny Boy’ – at a quick look through our list, I can’t see it anywhere.
And, slightly out of sequence, thanks, Fisho, for the Gene Kelly and Mario Lanza songs.
Thank you, Rick, for your latest songs and information – always interesting. I thought ‘Landslide’ may have been mentioned earlier, but can’t see it there at a glance through.
Thanks, Dave, for your notes – highly relevant and interesting to read.
Happy 1 week birthday for this theme KD. Looking good with over 120 comments – maybe not a record but an impressive innings nonetheless.
Staying with the metaphorical, does:
‘I’m on top of the world looking down on creation’ count?
Back to normal transmission:
Bob Dylan – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (1965)
‘Up on Housing Project Hill, it’s either fortune or fame
You must pick one or the other, neither of them are what they claim’
Hi Karl – yes, the theme is going very well. Highly pleasing! I feel ‘on top of the world’ is a bit of a stretch, but why not, the song is not referring to say, outer space, but – metaphorically – to terra firma as far as I can tell. Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, for example, would be a considerably stronger entry, because of the word ‘Heights’ being a quasi-geographical term for an area of land that stands out because of its elevation.
Thanks for ‘Tom Thumb’s Blues’, too.
Young Men Dead by The Black Angels from their Passover album (2006).
“Fire for the hills pick up your feet and lets go
Head for the hills pick up steel on your way
And when you find a piece of them in your sight
Fire at will don’t you waste no time”
Psych rock band from Austin Texas.
Sound is heavily influenced by The Velvet Underground.
The album contains a few anti-Iraq War songs written from the perspective of the Vietnam War.
Speaking of Austin, kudos to Dave for Tecumseh Valley (great song) and Rick for the Our Mother the Mountain album. I only discovered him a couple of years ago but I am now a big Townes Van Zandt fan.
Thank you, Greg, for ‘Young Men Dead’, and for your comments.
Snow (Snow,oh, to see a mountain covered with a quilt of snow) – Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Danny Kaye and Trudy Stevens
Green Side of the Mountain – Dorsey Burnette
I forgot about ‘Supernova’ by Liz Phair.
“Your kisses are as wicked as an M-16
And you f*ck like a volcano
And you’re everything to me”
A bit out of step from some of the other offerings.
Thanks, Fisho, for your latest two.
Our mountain theme is certainly reaching an impressive height!
Vive la difference! Thank you for ‘Supernova’, Greg. Good to get another song mentioning a volcano, too.
Visionary Mountains – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Mountains and Hills – Dan Shutte
Land of Oden ( There stands a mountain) – Peter and Gordon
Going with the metaphoric use of terms like, hill, I submit the stunning song by Drive By Truckers and penned/sung by Jason Isbell, Decoration Day.
Quite the opposite of stunning, I submit Springsteen’s song, Outlaw Pete, which is crap and shows that even the best writer’s don’t hit bull’s eye every time.
Cheers
Oh, forgetful me….
The opening song to my Life & Love album is:
Monkey Mountain Road
‘I’m gonna ride my Indian Chief up the Monkey Mountain Road
There’s a mystic woman living there I’m dying to know’
Monkey Mountain Road is on the A1 about 30 mins north of Bateman’s Bay.
My song should not be confused with ‘Monkey Mountain Road’ by the Bungalows – a band from Gerringong (south coast NSW).
Thanks, Fisho, for your latest three – Peter Asher (of Peter and Gordon fame), incidentally, is probably better known these days as a record producer – especially in connection with people such as Linda Ronstadt.
Thank you for ‘Decoration Day’ (striking and powerful) and ‘Outlaw Pete’, Rick – the metaphorical is welcome in this theme, too, of course.
Thanks for ‘Monkey Mountain Road’, Karl – surprising that there’s two songs with this interesting and unusual title.
Yes KD – most surprising to find 2 different Monkey Mt Road songs – although to be fair, by its very name it has an intriguing road sign that captures the creative imagination. Members of the Bungalows & I would have driven past the sign numerous times & were both drawn to the creative potential.
Rick mentioned Dylan’s ‘New Morning’ album in an earlier post. Here’s another on theme lyric from that album – ‘Day Of The Locusts’.
I put down my robe, I picked up my diploma
Took hold of my sweetheart and away we did drive
Straight for the hills, the black hills of Dakota
Sure was glad to get out of there alive
One of my favourites from Andre Rieu’s fab concerts –
Heia in the Mountains – Carla Maffioletti
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Day of the Locusts’ – interesting that Dylan and McCartney both wrote about Dakota’s black hills, the latter in ‘Rocky Raccoon’. (From two Monkey Mt songs to two black hills of Dakota songs, though the latter songs are – just a bit! – better known.)
Thanks, Fisho, for ‘Hela in the Mountains’.
I had a scan through the list so far – & I believe ‘On Top Of Old Smokey’ now makes a belated entrance.
Back to Dylan…..
‘In a littler hiiltop village, they gambled for my clothes[‘ – Shelter From the Storm (1975)
‘Once I had mountains in the palm of my hand’ – I Threw It All Away (1969)
Thanks for your latest three, Karl.
And, yes, ‘On Top Of Old Smokey’ is one that surprisingly wasn’t mentioned earlier.
Theme song for the Beverly Hillbillies – Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs
Thank you, Fisho – good one!
Local Melbourne singer/songwriter Steve Lane – from his 2022 ‘Great Imposter’ album:
Deeper Than Everest Is High
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Sea Of Madness
‘Silver rain on the mountain clover
Washes away until the music is over’
Has anyone put up New York, New York, by Frank? If not, wow, how did we miss that.
And some ACDC – first two from their most recent album in 2020 and third song from the album they toured on in 1988, my only time seeing them live and they were everything you’d want from an ACDC concert!:
Through the Mists of Time
Shot in the Dark
Kissin Dynamite (includes the elusive volcano)
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Deeper Than Everest Is High’ and ‘Sea of Madness’. Regarding the former song, it’s a fine thing, in general terms, to get some contemporary Oz stuff among the song choices.
Thank you, Rick, yep, good pick up re ‘New York, New York’ (‘king of the hill’). Thanks, also, for the AC/DC material – that band do bring a smile to my face!
At 1min, 32sec ‘Father Of Night’ from Dylan’s 1970 ‘New Morning’ album is his shortest studio recording:
‘Father, who build the mountain so high
Who shapeth the cloud up in the sky’
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band turned the song into a 9min, 57sec opening track epic on their symphonic rock 1973 ‘Solar Flare’ album..
Thanks for ‘Father of Night’, Karl. One of the many good points about our themed music pieces is how mentioning a song that fits the theme often involves bringing up other important and interesting aspects of the song and artist concerned. For example, in this instance, the shortest Dylan studio recording and the cover by Manfred Mann.
Thanks for your comment KD. I have always seen your themes as an opportunity to flesh out the song/lyric – to add to the theme beyond simply naming a song. Dave N does a great job of that each time he writes.
Black Diamond Bay from Dylan’s 1976 ‘Desire’ album may be the only time Dylan has penned ‘volcano’ into his lyrics (+ there’s a ‘mountain’ as well to fit the theme twice):
‘Then the volcano erupted
And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above’
Thanks, Karl – for your most recent comment, and for the Dylan mountain AND volcano song, ‘Black Diamond Bay’.
A few more additions to the theme – this time from Aussie band ‘Not Drowning, Waving’:
Up In The Mountains (1986) from ‘The Sing, Sing’ album
‘Up in the mountains, up near the border,
there’s souls for the saving, the missionaries gleam.
Souls for the saving, Souls for the saviour,
dress them in white clothes, to greet the Lord’
Albert Namatjira (1993) from the ‘Circus’ album
‘Albert Namatjira
Paintings for the white man
He painted purple mountains in the spirit of his land’
Long Black Veil, Lefty Frizzell and a whole lot of others including my fave Johnny Cash (and has this song already been submitted
I’m an Old, Old Man, another by Lefty, from early in his career and when he’s about to become a huge country star
and Honky Tonk Hill, yep, Lefty, very late in his career and sadly after alcohol had got the best of him
Speaking of alcohol, White Lightning, George Jones!
Thanks, Karl, for the ‘Not Drowning, Waving’ songs. As you may know, their band name came from the excellent poem by English poet Stevie Smith (1902-1971), ‘Not Waving but Drowning’.
Thank you, Rick, for the Frizzell and Jones material – it’s no surprise that so many country songs feature hills and mountains, I suppose.
Just a few more steps until I reach the bottom of the mountain……
Dylan’s ‘Changing Of The Guards’ from the 1978 ‘Street Legal’ album:
‘I’ve moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning’
and…just wondering if John Denver’s ‘Country Roads, Take Me Home’ has been mentioned?
‘Almost Heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze’
Thanks for the Dylan and Denver songs, Karl. Pretty certain ‘Country Roads’ is not already on our list – funny thing, it has been going through my head on and off for days, but I’d never captured the moment and posted it in the comments.
So many country songs reference mountains and hills so why stop now!
Here’s a few from Zach Bryan and as I’ve said before if you don’t know his stuff get on it you won’t be disappointed:
Spotless (Your heart knows deeper seasons than my eyes ever will/I’m a self-destructive landslide if you wanna be the hill/I ain’t spotless, neither is you)
God Speed (Well, I wanna see the road melt/Into the mountains away as I drive/And make it out of this damn town alive/And not let the dreams I shoulder die)
Driving (You’d give anything at all to be anywhere but here/Your breathin’ only steadies when you start to disappear/You wanna be in mountains or smellin’ water by the coast/But you can’t get out of your own mind, so you settle in and coast)
From Austin (Remember northwest mountains, they were snow-capped in June/You were nappin’ on my arms on a Sunday afternoon/But babe, I’ve gotta heal myself from the things I’ve never felt/Repression is my Heaven but I’d rather go through hell)
Purple Gas ((And if I weren’t a flatland boy, I’d say I have a hill/A hill that I will die upon if the climb don’t get me killed)
Yes, Rick, why stop now – so glad you haven’t, as our readers benefit considerably from your music knowledge.
Thank you for the Zach Bryan material.
A couple more from Dylan’s typewriter:
Is Your Love In Vain – from 1978’s ‘Street Legal’ album
‘Well I’ve been to the mountain, and I’ve been in the wind
I’ve been in and out of happiness
I have dined with kings, I’ve been offered wings
And I’ve never been too impressed’
Jokerman – from 1983’s ‘Infidels’ album
‘You’re a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds
Manipulator of crowds, you’re a dream twister’
Many thanks for the latest Dylan material, Karl.
Pretty sure no one has previously mentioned Joe Walsh’s ‘Rocky Mountain Way’, either. I recall playing it as a fifteen year old in my first band.
Arvo KD!
I have been a bit surprised at how infrequently Neil Young lyrics turn up in your themes – one lyric here & there but given his longevity & output I’d expected a stronger innings from him. As I was contemplating such thoughts after downing tools from a spot of yardwork, a lyric fell into my consciousness…..
There’s A World – from his iconic 1972 ‘Harvest’ album:
‘In the mountains, in the cities
You can see the dream
Look around you, has it found you?
Is it what it seems?’
Picking up on your point Karl about Neil Young, got me thinking about other kinda like-minded artists of the late 60s and 70s.
Bob Seger song, (drum roll) The Mountain. It may have already come through but just in case. It actually wasn’t the song of his I was trying to remember. No. So I submit Roll Me Away (Stood alone on a mountain top starin’ out at the Great Divide/I could go east I could go west it was all up to me to decide)
Tom Petty has a song called Climb that Hill from a forgettable 90s rom-com. Better than that, is his song, Learning to Fly (the sun went down as I crossed the hill/And the town lit up, the world got still/I’m learning to fly but I ain’t got wings)
Cheers
Neil Young, of course!
‘Powderfinger’ from Rust Never Sleeps.
“Daddy’s gone, my brother’s out huntin’ in the mountains”
Also ‘Revolution Blues’ from On the Beach.
“I got the revolution blues, I see bloody fountains
And ten million dune buggies comin’ down the mountains
Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars
But I hate them worse than lepers and I’ll kill them in their cars”
Looks like were on to a good thing with this Neil Young idea! A couple of good ‘uns from Greg A! A few more from me:
LA – off the 1973 ‘Time Fades Away’ album:
‘And the mountains erupt
And the valley is sucked
Into cracks in the earth’
Motion Pictures (For Carrie) – off the 1974 ‘On The Beach’ album
‘I hear the mountains
are doin’ fine’
Thank you, Karl, for your Neil Young material. Not sure why he hasn’t appeared more in our themed lists, but you’ve just helped to remedy that.
Thanks, Greg A, for your Neil Young additions.
Thanks, Rick, for your latest contributions.
To single out one, ‘Learning to Fly’ is, in my opinion, one of an outstanding bunch of songs from Tom Petty, who certainly had an impressive overall career.
Hey KD
Time to return to old faithful – Bob Dylan.
Spirit On The Water – from the 2006 Modern Times album
‘You think, I’m over the hill
Think, I’m past my prime
Let me see what you got
We can have a whoppin’ good time’
Shake Mama Shake – from the 2009 Together Through Life album
‘Well it’s early in the evening and everything is still
One more time, I’m walking up around the hill’
Early Roman Kings – from the 2012 Tempest album
‘All the early Roman kings
In the early, early morn’
Coming down the mountain
Distributing the corn’
Thanks, Karl, for your latest Dylan input – neat, highly effective quotations from the songs concerned, too!
PInk Floyd did a concert film released in 1972 called Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii. The band played live in the amphitheatre at this historic location, without an audience, and the film includes an instrumental called ‘Pompeii’. The connection to volcanoes is obvious, of course.
Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, also did a live album and film called Live at Pompeii, using the same Pompeii amphitheatre – it was released in 2017.
Happy Friday KD!
I’ve enjoyed my trek up & down the mountain with Bob – he’s been great company & very engaging, even at 83 years of age. As I take my final step off the mountain and bid Bob a fond farewell, he reminds me of 3 relevant lyrics from his most recent album, 2020’s ‘Rough & Rowdy’ Ways.
False Prophet
‘I climbed the mountain of swords on my bare feet’
I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You (perhaps his longest song title?)
‘I’ve traveled from the mountains to the sea
I hope that the gods go easy with me’
Mother Of Muses
‘Mother of Muses, sing for me
Sing of the mountains and the deep dark sea’
No doubt I’ll invite Bob to join me when the next theme drops.
Happy Friday, Karl!
Thanks for the lyrics from Rough and Rowdy Ways. I think it’s wonderful that great artists such as Dylan are still highly creative in their later years.
Note: a new theme of mine will appear next Friday, 6 September.
Circling back to the Floyd, I will add ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’ from A Saucerful of Secrets.
“Over the mountain watching the watcher
Breaking the darkness waking the grapevine
One inch of love is one inch of shadow
Love is the shadow that ripens the wine
Set the controls for the heart of the sun”
Make of that what you will.
‘Echoes’ from that Pompeii shoot is one of my ‘go to’ online videos.
And now for some hip-hop/rap but with a twist:
That’s the Joint by the Funky 4 + 1 (We’re here for the party people on Sugar Hill/So what’s the deal? (Sugar Hill!)/So what’s the deal? (Sugar Hill!)/THAT’S THE JOINT!)
The song was released by the famous hip-hop record label, Sugar Hill Records. One of its owners was Sylvia Robinson of Mickey & Sylvia fame. Remember the early 60s song, Love is Strange? A brilliant song that has easily stood the test of time. The Sugar Hill label also included The Sugar Hill Gang (Rapper’s Delight, another wow song) and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (The Message). We’re talking hip-hop royalty and artists/songs that paved the way to an extraordinary genre that dominates popular music these days. It also inspired break-dancing, which is why I wasn’t quite on board as others were about the Aussie competitor in the Paris Olympics.
Anywhoo, here’s another song from that label and time:
Sugarhill Groove, The Sugarhill Gang (S-U-G-A-R-H-I-L-L/We go by the name of The Sugarhill Gang and that’s how it’s spelled!/(Check it out!) Just freak it to the rhythm and don’t stop/Just freak it to the rhythm and don’t quit/Just freak it to the rhythm and don’t move/‘Cause this is known to be the Sugarhill Groove, get on down!)
And if you are interested in the origin story of this remarkable genre I highly recommend this read: Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang
Finally, let’s time warp this baby with a jump to the left.
Sugar Hill, a bit of a raunchy song by Dolly Parton from 2002. (Sug, Sug, Sug, Sugar Hill memories/Stealing sugar on the mountainside/Sug, Sug, Sug, Sugar Hill sugar/Sweeter than candy and cake and pie).
Dolly wrote this song as her album it is from was released by a record label called Sugar Hill Records. No, not the same label. This company is a bluegrass label. Interestingly they were both established within a year of each other, back in the late 70s.
So, in wrapping this little excursion up, I also include the Del McCoury Band, another artist on this label’s roster, who won a Grammy in 2006 for their bluegrass album, The Company We Keep, featuring a song by Larry Keel, called Mountain Song (Way up on the mountain/In the sweet southern air/Is where I seem to lose loads I have to bear)
Cheers
As we patiently await the new theme and inch our way – comment by comment – to the high altitude mark of 200, I have a couple more Neil Young lyrics to offer:
Looking For A Love – from the 1975 ‘Zuma’ album
‘Where the sun hits the water and the mountains meet the sand
There’s a beach that I walk along sometimes’
Human Highway – from the 1978 ‘Comes A Time’ album
‘I come down from the misty mountain
I got lost on the human highway’
Thanks, Greg A, for your Floyd input. Glad you connected with some of my recent comments about their highly interesting Pompeii film, too. The line ‘live from the city of the dead’ keeps going through my mind – I should turn it into a fully-fledged poem!
Wonderful excursion, Rick, into hip-hop/rap territory, before your ‘jump to the left’ into Dollyland then into Del McCoury Band country.
Thank you for your latest two Neil Young songs, Karl – you’re certainly been mining a rich vein in this context.
‘Glass Onion’ by the Beatles: ‘I told you about the fool on the hill / I tell you man, he’s living there still…’
Great Beatles/Glass Onion pick up KD!
Are you aware of the 2019 movie ‘Yesterday’, directed by Danny Boyle? One of my favourites and it happened to be on TV last night. Imagine a world where The Beatles never were.
Neil Young & Willie Nelson each recorded this Neil song in 1985
Are There Any More Real Cowboys
‘Are there any more real cowboys
Left out in these hills?’
Thanks, Karl, re ‘Glass Onion’ – I think I know just about every Beatles song lyric word-for-word.
Haven’t seen the ‘Yesterday’ film, but will definitely try to do so. Recently, I saw ‘Nowhere Boy’ on TV, about the early life of John Lennon, which was a good piece of filmmaking.
Thanks, also, for ‘Are There Any More Real Cowboys’.
Hi KD
I believe my well of geological features has run dry but we’ve certainly climbed a few mountains & run up a few hills together.
I saw ‘Nowhere Boy’ at the Canberra International Film Festival in November 2009 and also wrote a film review about it for the ANU Film Group.
I would suggest that you move hills & mountains to see ‘Yesterday’ – you will definitely not regret it. I have it on my favourite all time movies list.
Hi Karl. The main thing I recall liking about ‘Nowhere Boy’ was its feel, the sense it gave of life in Liverpool and in young Lennon’s world in the nineteen fifties – I wasn’t watching it in a particularly critical mood, just as a TV thing to fill in the evening. I’d have to watch it again if I was to articulate my thoughts in detail or write a review.
As I’ve already written, I’ll definitely look up ‘Yesterday’.
While I’m here, I may as well put forward another song connected to our theme – and John Lennon: Yoko Ono’s ‘You’re the One’, originally released in 1984, which begins ‘Mountains may move, rivers may run…’
I’m very late to the whole Ted Lasso love-in, and we finally got there; watched the first season yesterday. What a great show, laughs and heart aplenty and in equal measure. One scene is set in a karaoke bar, when the team’s owner Rebecca belts out a song from Frozen called Let It Go (The snow glows white on the mountain tonight/Not a footprint to be seen/A kingdom of isolation/And it looks like I’m the queen). And while I haven’t seen the movie the song did win an Oscar.
Also, from outa nowhere:
The Pill, Loretta Lynn (There’s a gonna be some changes made/Right here on nursery hill/You’ve set this chicken your last time/’Cause now I’ve got the pill) A couple more from Loretta coming later today!
Thanks, Rick, for your latest material. Ah yes, ‘Let It Go’ – maybe we’d blocked it from our collective consciousness! (No judgement, of course!)
And I look forward to some more Loretta Lynn, when you’re ready.
Cheers.
More Loretta:
High on a Mountain Top, from the album Jack White produced in 2004, which reintroduced Loretta to a wider and younger audience, great song, terrific album
See that Mountain (from 1971)
Pickin’ Wild Mountain Berries, with Conway Twitty and I don’t think they’re actually picking berries which is what they’re telling their families when they come home looking a bit fresh and messed up!
God’s Country, a cookie cutter of a song from a cookie cutter of an album
When I’m in Love All Alone, a pedestrian song in a period where Loretta, like many other elder states-people of country were losing their way. Or country music radio was forgetting what made them!
Mountain Climber, another from the late 80s but this song is kinda special because it is literally Loretta’s manifesto and feels like a song she is singing to her own heart. Think, I Won’t Back Down.
Cheers
The mention by Rick above of Jack White working with Loretta Lynn reminded me that Jack also produced Wanda Jackson’s 2011 ‘The Party Ain’t Over’ album.
To bring this theme full circle, that album includes an excellent Dylan cover that was also the first song listed in this theme by Col Ritchie – Thunder On The Mountain.
Thanks for the latest Loretta Lynn material, Rick. You’ve placed the selected songs in context so well, as usual.
Thanks, Karl – I like the way you’ve thought through your latest comments, and ‘brought home the bacon’, so to speak, with the Dylan song mentioned by Col R.
You are most welcome KD!
It is those unexpected & unscripted connection of the dots that seem to lighten my step & give me an extra beat of the heart.
The bigger issue is: will we make a double century??
Double century? A shoe-in.
Paul Kelly:
Good Things (a Maurice Frawley song)
She’s Rare
Leaps and Bounds
From Little Things (Big Things Grow) co-write with Kev Carmody) because it’s about “Gurindji people’s struggle for equality and land rights after their walk off at the Wave Hill property in 1966”.
Light on the Hill (written by Casey Bennetto)
Thanks, Karl. I certainly agree with you in relation to the interesting ‘connection of the dots’ issue.
Thank you, Rick, for your latest choices. Love the Oz content, as always.
I’m currently at the ‘non-strikers’ end. Who will raise the bat for our two hundred?
I can’t remember if I’ve already put this song forward but what the hell:
Bury Me Deep in Love, The Triffids
Better still:
Kill Devil Hills by The Kill Devil Hills!
Hey Rick,
Note my first post on this thread (August 16th at I.53 pm) “High on a Mountain Top – Loretta Lynn”
Nanci Griffith did a very good cover of this on her final album Intersections
Gotcha Dave, I reckon if I’m going to intersect with anyone on these great themed pieces it’ll be you. Will check out NG version.
Cheers
Mountain by Chocolate starfish. I went to school with the band’s guitarist, Zoron Romic (so did fellow knackers Gigs and John Weldon). Really nice bloke Zoran. Passed away a few years back tragically. The song isn’t much chop, however … but Zoran does play a nice groove on it. (Oh and I once worked with the band’s keyboard player Norm Falvo … one of the nicest blokes I’ve met.)
Thanks, Rick, for your latest stuff – and Dave for your most recent input.
And congrats to all concerned for our double century milestone!
New theme tomorrow, Friday 6 Sept.
Thank you, Punx Pete, for ‘Mountain’ and for the interesting accompanying info.
And welcome aboard!
I have no idea if these Ray Davies songs have been posted so here goes:
Americana, Ray Davies
Muswell Hillbilly, The Kinks
Mountain Woman, The Kinks
Thanks for the Ray Davies songs, Rick. I don’t think they’ve been mentioned before, though the list is very long now. so I can’t be 100% sure.
Like Rick above, I have no idea if the Harold Dorman song ‘Mountain Of Love’ has been mentioned.
I only mention it now because Tommy Cash released a cover version in 1982. Did you know that Tommy was Johnny’s younger brother by 8 years? He was the youngest of all 7 Cash siblings. Tommy released about 20 albums, beginning in 1967. Sadly, Tommy passed away last Friday (13.09.24) aged 84. I suspect Tommy has never been included in any of these theme topics, so I felt it fitting that he be given the honour – just once.
As far as I’m aware, ‘Mountain of Love’ hasn’t been placed under the umbrella of this theme until you did so, Karl – though with such a long list of songs, I’m not absolutely certain. Still, though, thanks for it and for the highly interesting material about Tommy Cash.
Hi KD
I just came across a very listenable song – written by Mike Rudd & Bill Putt
Living On A Volcano (1995)
Mike & Bill are best known as original members of Spectrum (I’ll Be Gone) & Ariel (Jamaican Farewell)
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Living On A Volcano’ – I’ll certainly give it a listen. Interestingly, this theme has shown that while many songs reference mountains and hills, not as many as I expected refer to volcanoes, so it’s good to get another one in this context.
Hi KD
My latest musician interest (Herbie Flowers) has led me here:
Jane Wiedlin – Big Rock Candy Mountain
Well worth a listen if you like tapping your feet – Herbie’s bass is excellent (as always!)
If I don’t return to this site before the weekend is over, then have a good weekend and may your team do well & if they deserve to win, then let it be!
Thanks for your latest addition to this mountains, hills etc. theme, Karl. I’ll certainly give it a listen, with particular attention to Herbie on the bass – being an old bass guitarist (and tuba player) myself!
My team, Geelong, has so far exceeded my expectations for season 2024 – let’s hope that continues.
Hey KD
I know you are seeking more volcano songs for this theme.
The list is far too long to check, but I just came upon:
U2 – Volcano (2014) off the Songs Of Innocence album