A Shrewdness of Apes

An Okie teacher banished to the Midwest. "Education is not the filling a bucket but the lighting of a fire."-- William Butler Yeats

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Tunesday 14: Couldn't Stand the Weather

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Couldn't Stand the Weather

Since it's spring, and I am tired of the rain, it has given me the Blues. Not depression-- I mean The Blues. And who else comes to mind than Stevie Ray Vaughan for those of us who are children of the 80s? This classic album came out on May 15, 1984, and still sounds so powerful and fresh nearly twenty-five years later. In honor of the upcoming anniversary, I pay homage to one of the truly great guitarists of our time. I first heard his genius on David Bowie's "Let's Dance," which was one of Stevie's biggest breaks outside of Texas. He later recorded several albums with his band. How sad that Stevie was killed in a tragic helicopter crash in 1990.

Stevie starts off strong showing off the extreme manual dexterity with a little 90 second gem called "Scuttle Buttin'." The title track follows with more innovative work. On this album Stevie also does the memory of Jimi Hendrix a solid with his impassioned cover of "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)." But for sheer fun, nothing can beat "Look at Little Sister." It's still one of my favorites all these years later. Especially since I had a sister like that.

And here's a bit of trivia for you: the slang term "raising sand" (also the name of a fine album by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss) shows up twice in the lyrics on this album.

So for your viewing and listening pleasure, here is a longer version of "Scuttle Buttin'" from the 1985 Montreux Festival. Be amazed!

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4 Comments:

At 4/28/09, 7:17 PM, Blogger Fred said...

It's spring and I'm tired of no rain. We can't use our sprinkler system, we can't hand water, fountains have been shut off, we can't wash out car, etc., etc., etc.

 
At 4/28/09, 9:02 PM, Blogger "Ms. Cornelius" said...

Well, we've been getting all of yours, then. Sorry! Really!

 
At 4/28/09, 10:30 PM, Blogger Miss Eyre said...

Sad, also, that Vaughan died at a time in his life when things were starting to look really good for him after many years of struggling with addiction.

 
At 4/29/09, 5:51 PM, Blogger "Ms. Cornelius" said...

You are absolutely right. It's actually amazing that the booze and coke didn't seriously harm him. But he was still a genius. How much wasted promise!

 

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