Mozes and the Firstborn on Dig the Now Sound

Dig the Now Sound (Thursdays at 10:00 pm eastern on Turn Me On, Dead Man Radio) plays standout recent garage/psych. The featured track this week is "Bloodsucker" by the Dutch garage pop band Mozes and the Firstborn. "Bloodsucker" is available as a "name your price" download on Bandcamp.

Be warned, however, that this song has some serious hooks and it will be difficult to get it out of your head once you hear it (and I mean that in a good way).

I corresponded recently with Melle Dielesen, lead singer of Mozes and the Firstborn.

Turn Me On, Dead Man: I'd just like to ask about your influences. I noticed one of your tags on Bandcamp is "70s". What bands would you put in your top 10 (or however many)?

Melle Dielesen: I'll answer by myself but I'll to represent the band as well as I can. So, here we go...

The top 10 (oh darn, this is my "High Fidelity"-moment)

Okay, off of the top of my head...
1. Nirvana
2. Plastic Ono Band/John Lennon
3. The Rolling Stones
4. The Velvet Underground
5. Guided By Voices
6. Pixies
7. Oasis
8. Black Lips
9. Neil Young
10. Beck

All of us listen to old and new music and we try to mold those two into our own music and make something refreshing. We lend from old music (like every band, I guess) because we're not gonna re-invent the wheel and we're inspired by bands from present day that are exciting to listen to live and on record. I mean, Nirvana would have never existed without the Beatles OR the Pixies. I'm not nearly trying to compare us to Nirvana... You see? Well, I think I get the point across. Ha ha! I always find it really hard not to sound pretentious when I'm talking about our influences.

Turn Me On, Dead Man: What's the music scene like in the Netherlands?

Melle Dielesen: There's definitely something happening here right now. I find it very hard to talk about a scene because it's not how I view it. It's just that there's a couple of artists in the Netherlands right now who seem to do well and are getting across the borders. It's not like there's a traditional scene where everybody hangs out in the same bar and share ideas. You know what I mean? But I can tell you about two Dutch bands that, we think, are really cool!

There's Jacco Gardner (http://jaccogardner.bandcamp.com/album/clear-the-air), a 24-year old sound whizkid. He actually signed with Trouble In Mind Records, which is really cool for a Dutch act. At least, that's what we all think! Not to mention, his psychedelic pop music is plain beauty... Cool surname, by the way!

Turn Me On, Dead Man: [note: Melle is referring to my name, which is Todd Gardner] Yeah, I've listened to Jacco Gardner. Not only is my last name Gardner, but my father's name is Jack, so his name definitely got my attention.

Melle Dielesen: Another Dutch band that we all like is traumahelikopter (http://traumahelikopter.bandcamp.com/). They're a Gories/Oblivians-style garage band. Their drummer only has a floor tom, a snare and a crash. He also plays while standing up. Their live shows are just a burst of energy! Burger Records recently released their album on cassette...

Which brings me to... us. Burger Records also released our record on cassette two weeks ago and their planning on putting it out on vinyl as well! Burger is just a really cool small label. These guys just put out everything they like. Almost 500 releases in 5 years! For us, the release on Burger Records definitely opened a window to new opportunities in America. There have been quite a few people from the States who responded positively to our album and showed interest.

Turn Me On, Dead Man: Looks like you're touring a lot this month. Any plans to come to the US (and DC in particular)? Have you had much response from people in the US?

Melle Dielesen: There's a possibility of Mozes crossing the Atlantic soon but I can't really tell you more because nothing's a hundred per cent sure yet... But of course, if there's certainty we'll let you know as soon as possible. Would be great to come to DC and play there!

In the meantime we're playing a lot here in Europe. Tomorrow we're setting out on a two-week-tour with Two Gallants! It's the longest we've been away from home with the band, so we're all really psyched about that! Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Belgium... Just going from town to town with some of your best friends. And on top of that, we get to play a show every night! Well, I can't think of anything I'd do rather than that! This month is gonna be one for the books, I guess...

Dark Fog on Dig the Now Sound

Dig the Now Sound (Thursdays at 10:00 pm eastern on Turn Me On, Dead Man Radio) plays standout recent garage/psych. The featured track this week is (((Get the Feeling))) by Dark Fog, who are from Chicago. (((Get the Feeling))) is on The Seaside Sounds Of Dark Fog At Doctor Officer Quimby's House, which is available on Bandcamp.

I corresponded recently with Ray Donato, guitarist for Dark Fog.

Turn Me On, Dead Man: I'd like to ask you about your influences. I've seen Dark Fog compared to several other bands but I'd like to know what you think are your key influences.

Ray Donato: I'd say that after these 10 years as a band psychedelic drugs and the sonics of our amplification are what really motivate us, but the main thing that I think keeps our sound unique is the fact that neither of us are of the 'chameleon' type of player who listens to a genre and can regurgitate back the teqniques and styles...I've always learned to play things my way, and as such my style is a personal evolution of the different musical tastes I've had over the years...It probably helped that I was born in the early 70's and my parents still played alot of the great music from their era, so I bounced from Neil Young and Hendrix to Metallica to Sonic Youth to Captain Beefheart to Syd's Floyd to Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman, along the way learning the endless possibilities that music could go in and trying my damnedest to incorporate the spirit of each into my own style of playing. Today I listen to a lot of the original rock/pop composers, arrangers and producers such as Hazlewood, Spector, Bacharach, Goffen and King, that type of thing- I am really trying to soak in the genius of those melodies and arrangements. As a band we really envision that playing psychedelic rock in 2013 just means that there are a few more decades of rock to choose from...

Turn Me On, Dead Man: Dark Fog has a distinctive sound. What sorts of gear/effects do you use?

Ray Donato: As far as gear I use tube and boutique analog gear almost exclusively, a wah , few types of delay and one fuzz (only 6 pedals actually) my low watt amp I hand built myself also I use a 50 watt EL34 style and my fuzz is an NOS Tychobrahe Octavia...Yt uses mostly a DW kit that I believe is standardised for heavy rock players (large bass and floor toms)...

Turn Me On, Dead Man: Who does your cover art? It's consistently great--I love those trippy images.

Ray Donato: I'm guilty of doing the cover art drawings, a tattoo artist friend did coloring on the df3 album and our former bass player Matt did the lettering on the cassette and the space mouth cartoon on the split 45, other than that it's all me, as Dark Fog is also an outlet for my artwork as well...

Turn Me On, Dead Man: Have you released everything on your own label? How is it running your own label? What are the biggest advantages and disadvantages of doing things this way?

Ray Donato: Our first few records are all on the OSR label which was run by our old guitarist/bassist- it was great because we had full creative control but unfortunately we watched him sink tons of money into the label, only to see our records massively downloaded- in 2007 our very expensively made double LP we tracked from the bit torrent sites over 50,000 downloads, which I always assumed was from the word psychedelic appearing in the title, it would pop up on searches for 'psychedelic music'...but who knows...?

I've always known that selling underground records was a lengthy process that requires perseverance, but he became extremely bitter and frustrated until finally quitting the band about four years back... Anyhow, since then we've released our records on our friends' labels- Commune, Galactic Zoo Disc, and now Eye Vybe...we strive for creative control as much as possible, and we've always recorded ourselves, when we were on OSR we had a really fancy home studio setup including a British Trident board (like the Beatles used), now we have a simpler digital 16 track with handbuilt vintage style analog mic preamps...

Turn Me On, Dead Man: Have you read a book called Turn Off Your Mind by Gary Lachman? He was in Blondie but the book is a pretty serious study of the "dark side" of occult influences in the 1960s. I was just looking at the "Influences" section of your Myspace page and I was curious if you were familiar with it.

Ray Donato: Yeah, that Gary Lachman book is one I plan to read soon...my fascination with the occult happened as a teenager helped by my Jimmy Page worship and the band Venom, my first job was at a public library where i devoured the occult section, and especially read into Crowley and the Golden Dawn...now my occult studies involve mostly watching Kenneth Anger films, reading seems to be something I do less these days unfortunately, so alot of my lyrics I must admit are culled from my past, but I'm pushing 40 so there is alot floating around this drug addled mind of mine, which is basically how I write lyrics- the sub conscious mind and inner psyche, or is it thin air...?

Turn Me On, Dead Man: I highly recommend Turn Off Your Mind. I don't know what I was expecting when I bought it but it was much more thought provoking than I had anticipated. He talks a lot about the literature that the counter-culture embraced and he does it in a way that made me want to read or re-read all of those books.

So, do you venture out of Chicago very often?

Ray Donato: We have done SXSW twice and an east coast tour, but for the past five years we have played Chicago and the Midwest exclusively, though we hope to tour again in the future, or get on one of the psych fests outside of Chicago...we'll see what the future holds...

JFK Assassination Song: "I Saw John Kennedy Today" by Luke Powers

November 22, 2013 will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This post is part of a series that will run throughout this year focusing on songs that address the JFK assassination.

"I Saw John Kennedy Today" was written and recorded by Luke Powers and released in 2006 as a track on his album Picture Book. In this bit of Americana, Luke Powers sings of having a brief encounter with John F. Kennedy many years after his assassination. In this parallel universe JFK had decided he'd had enough of being president and was looking for an escape. On November 22, 1963, JFK slipped away to buy a pickup truck and explains, "My double caught a bullet in the head/And I was free because I was dead". After that he left behind all of the trappings of celebrity and responsibilities of high office to live a simple life on the road in his pickup truck. "All I needed to get by/Was a truck and a highway to ride." In the song the narrator concludes, "and he sure looks happy enough".

"I Saw John Kennedy Today" is unique among JFK assassination songs, not to mention one of the cleverest of songs referencing any historical figure. Most JFK songs are homages or articulate some sort of conspiracy theory, while others use the event as a historical marker, including "list" songs such as R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" and Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire". "I Saw John Kennedy Today" doesn't fit any of these categories. Instead, the song is on its own imagining an alternative reality where JFK is still alive. In fact, half of the verses are in the voice of "John Kennedy." The video Luke Powers made for this song consists of a series of still images that contrast the menacing forces opposed to JFK with the appeal of a simple life living on the open road. "Who would want such a job?" the song asks, which is all the more perplexing given that we know how it all turned out for JFK. Perhaps on some level we want to believe John F. Kennedy was somehow able to live out his days in peace. Of course, then there's that poor double....

I spoke with Luke powers on the phone recently and he told me the story of how he came to write "I Saw John Kennedy Today". He was driving in downtown Nashville and saw a man in a red pickup truck who looked very much like John F. Kennedy. I asked him if he looked like JFK looked in 1963 or if he was an older man. The man Luke saw was "vintage Kennedy" and had the look of someone out of time. Not only did he have a JFK-style haircut and Ray-Ban sunglasses on, but the pickup truck also looked like a well maintained truck with from a bygone era. Luke turned around to follow the guy but after two blocks he was just gone. A strange experience, to be sure, but he says he didn't think much more about it after that. The encounter stuck in his mind, though, because that night he had a dream where the events of the day reemerged. In the dream Luke was in the Exit/In in Nashville and R.E.M. was on stage. In his dream R.E.M. performed a song called "I Saw John Kennedy Today". According to Luke the song in his dream was completely realized and he got up the next day and wrote it down. He did point out, however, that R.E.M.'s version was more jangly and "R.E.M.-ish" than the more countrified version he recorded.

I saw John Kennedy today
He ain't dead like they say
He's driving a pickup truck
And he sure looks happy enough
 
He was out on old Route 6
We were both stuck in traffic
He was wearing his vintage shades
But he sure didn't look his age

I yelled, "Hey, is there an accident
And weren't you the president?"
He just sat there for a while
And then he flashed his Kennedy smile.

He said, "Son, it occurred to me
Way back in '63,
I no longer had to be
President Kennedy

And I didn't need Jackie O
Didn't need Marilyn Monroe
All I needed to get by
Was a truck and a highway to ride

Well in Dallas it was my luck
I snuck out to buy this old truck
My double caught a bullet in the head
And I was free because I was dead

I've been driving along ever since
Food and gas are my only expense
Wherever the road takes me
You know the girls are always friendly."

I saw John Kennedy today,
He waved as he pulled away
He's driving a pickup truck
And he sure looks happy enough

JFK Assassination Song: "Sleeping In" by The Postal Service

November 22, 2013 will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This post is part of a series that will run throughout this year focusing on songs that address the JFK assassination.

"Sleeping In" is an electronic pop track on Give Up (2003), the only full-length album release to date from the Postal Service. In "Sleeping In" the Postal Service describe a recurrent strange dream where "everything was exactly how it seemed".  In the first occurrence of the dream "there was never any mystery of who shot John F. Kennedy." They go on to describe JFK's assassin as "just a man with something to prove, slightly bored and severely confused." This description sounds much like the Warren Commission's conclusions about Lee Harvey Oswald. The Warren Commission determined that Oswald had acted alone. He was a "lone nut" who was driven to kill the president because his life had been "characterized by isolation, frustration and failure" and he "was profoundly alienated from the world in which he lived." In "Sleeping In" the narrator doesn't want to wake up from the dream because, the song suggests, reality is much murkier than this. The implication is that Oswald did not, in fact, act alone, and that the public was too willing to be soothed by the simplistic pronouncements of the Warren Commission.

The Postal Service go on to describe a recurrence of the strange dream in the second verse of "Sleeping In" where the focus is on global warming. In the dream global warming is not a threat but a reward of living a good life--for following rules and for being good to others. Here again the Postal Service appear to be saying that the public's desire for reassuring messages belies the crisis before them. In the dream the narrator celebrates that "[n]ow we can swim any day in November". The reference to November serves two purposes here, as an example of viewing a radical environmental change through rose-colored glasses, and as a further reference to the JFK assassination, which occurred on November 22, 1963.  Over and over again the narrator states, "Don't wake me I plan on sleeping in." as he doesn't want to awaken from the soothing dream and and be faced with the uncomfortable truth.

Last week I had the strangest dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where there was never any mystery of who shot John F. Kennedy
It was just a man with something to prove
Slightly bored and severely confused
He steadied his rifle with his target in the center
And became famous on that day in November

Don't wake me I plan on sleeping
Don't wake me I plan on sleeping in

Again last night I had that strange dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought they were just being rewarded
For treating others as they'd like to be treated
For obeying stop signs and curing diseases
For mailing letters with the address of the sender
Now we can swim any day in November

Don't wake me I plan on sleeping
(now we can swim any day in November)
Don't wake me I plan on sleeping in

Give Up was released by Sub-Pop and sold over a million copies. Earlier this month it was reissued as a double-CD Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition. The album was popular enough to inspire photographer and filmmaker Thomas Andrew to produce an unauthorized video for "Sleeping In", and the video itself has become something of a YouTube hit (uploaded under the name carbootsoul). As of this writing the video has been viewed 3,140,048 times.

The dreamlike quality of this video was produced by having the actor perform actions backward and then showing the film in reverse. After the video had been viewed over 2,000,000 times, carbootsoul uploaded a "making of" video, which shows how the action was filmed.

Update (May 5, 2013). I emailed Thomas Andrew with a few questions about the video he made for "Sleeping In" and he had this to say:

Turn Me On, Dead Man: What inspired you to make a video for "Sleeping In"? Did you ever have any correspondence with the Postal Service about it?

Thomas Andrew: Well back when I made the video in 2006 I had just discovered the Postal Service through their "Give Up" album. I was at University in London studying broadcasting so as part of my studies I produced many short TV programmes. I made all sorts of things from documentaries, to dramas and finally a music video. I got the train into London each day and would often stare out of the window and I would pass the location the video was eventually shot at. I think for me the lyrics really spoke to me and I could visualise how it would work out .

After I posted the video on YouTube (2006) I wrote to the Postal Service, Ben Gibbard and their record label essentially letting them know what I had made and asking their permission to keep it on YouTube. I didn't get a response so it has been up ever since. To be honest I am not at all upset about that as in the end someone somewhere (the band/label) must approve of it as it hasn't been removed. It would be a great shame if it was taken down, but now as it's been downloaded all over no doubt someone else will put it back.

Turn Me On, Dead Man: I'm always fascinated by dream sequences in movies and I love the effect created by the backwards motion in you video. Can you talk a little bit about the imagery you used in this video and how it relates to the track?

Thomas Andrew: I had the idea of this guy essentially dreaming and reliving his journey shot from start to finish. Visually I was inspired by a video by/for Radiohead "There There" which had used a similar technique to create this strange creepy walk. I also have always loved the work of Michel Gondry who makes amazing dream sequences often through very low tech means. The final video was shot in forward motion as normal, so the actor is walking backwards at all times and the wool is being pulled away from the trees. The idea is that when the footage was reversed the actor would be walking forwards and the wool would look like it has a mind of its own.

We shot the video just outside London in April, so the leaves were just starting to come out on the trees and the sunlight was bright. We used about 500 feet of red wool to cover some of the woodland and then would proceed to remove it as the character walked past (backwards). The most difficult thing about the shoot was that I had to always think how this would work in reverse so quite a few shots never made the final cut.

Turn Me On, Dead Man: Were you expecting to get so much attention when you initially posted the video on YouTube? What sort of feedback did you get about your video?

Thomas Andrew: I really wasn't expecting the kind of reception the video got from the users of YouTube. I posted it just after I submitted it for my university course mainly to show my friends. However after a few quiet months the views and comments grew. At this stage it seems even though it is unofficial it has been adopted by the fans of the Postal Service as their video of choice.

Turn Me On, Dead Man: Also, your "About" page has very little about you. Where are you located and do you make your living through your photography? App development? Something else?

Thomas Andrew: Yes been meaning to sort that out! I am located in Buckinghamshire, UK (about 10 miles from Oxford and about 50 miles from London). I'm 28 and now I use my skills working in Education teaching my skills to others and developing software and videos for education. I do also do photography work and video work for all sorts of clients.... I'm a busy guy... but still available for the next Postal Service video, if they give me a call!

Turn Me On, Dead Man: One last question. Any thoughts on the JFK assassination? I'm just curious if that event has much significance anymore in the UK.

Thomas Andrew: I think the JFK Assassination still has a presence here in the UK, US politics is present on the news most evenings so no doubt several references will be made to it on the anniversary. In terms of the video I did do a bit of research so to reference it within the video. The most significant reference is when the actor is taking photographs and then throws the camera away. This was meant to signify the event in terms of how show many images were captured on that fateful day (one of the first world news events to be captured as it happened on video), a truly world changing event but now this time later those memories have faded.

JFK Assassination Song: "The Warmth of the Sun" by the Beach Boys

November 22, 2013 will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This post is part of a series that will run throughout this year focusing on songs that address the JFK assassination.

"The Warmth of the Sun" was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, and recorded by the Beach Boys. It was initially released as the B-side of the single "Dance, Dance, Dance" in 1964. Though it may not be immediately obvious, "The Warmth of the Sun" has a strong connection to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. When asked about "The Warmth of the Sun" in an interview in American Songwriter in 2009, Brian Wilson stated, "That song was inspired by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The day he was killed Mike (Love) and I went into my office where I had a piano and wrote a song in his memory. That came quickly."

In the documentary film I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, which was released in 1995, Brian Wilson had gone into greater depth describing the circumstances around composing this song. Upon hearing the news of JFK's assassination, Brian went to his office with Mike Love with the expressed goal of writing a song to express their emotions during this trying time. He described it as a "very spiritual night" and considered it a rare event to be able to capture such profound feelings in a song. According to Brian,

JFK got shot to death and so we were a little bit despondent about it. So [Mike Love] called me up and said, "So what do you think?" "Ah, it's terrible." And he goes, "Well, do you want to write a song to JFK tonight at your office?" I said, "Sure." So we met at my office at around 6:00, 7:00 in the evening, just when the sun was going down. Very spiritual night. We had windows. My office had a lot of windows so we had a view--a panoramic view of the city. So we got going. I don't know... a mood took over. It was like a... something took us over. I can't explain it. It was like... [plays a bit of the tune on the piano and sings, "that grows into day"] It was a vibration or a mood--whatever you call it--and Mike flipped out. He said, "that song is one of the most spiritual songs I've ever heard." I said, "Thanks." I said, "Those lyrics are beautiful"--he wrote the lyrics. Whoo. Ya know, I mean, stuff like that happens every 20 years. It doesn't happen every day that JFK gets shot to death and the Beach Boys can go write "The Warmth of the Sun."

Though Brian describes his memories of this experience in vivid detail, more than likely this account is not accurate. According to The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio by Keith Badman, on the evening of November 22, 1963, the Beach Boys performed a concert in Marysville, California, over 400 miles from Brian's office in Hollywood. Beach Boys concert promoter Fred Vail reports that the group and the venue considered canceling the show, but they decided to go forward with it. He asked the audience to observe a moment of silence before introducing the Beach Boys, and he remembers the concert as being a great success. Vail recalls that Mike Love and Brian had been working on "The Warmth of the Sun" earlier and they completed the song at the hotel after the concert. To add to the confusion, Mike Love remembers it differently. He was quoted in Endless Summer Quarterly as saying that he and Brian had written "The Warmth of the Sun" on the day before the JFK assassination. He related that "there was a very mystical eerie feeling associated with writing the song" that was reinforced when the events surrounding the JFK assassination unfolded the following day.

Whenever this song was written, it's clear that "The Warmth of the Sun," has come to be associated with the JFK assassination in the minds of its songwriters and those close to the Beach Boys. In this song Brian was trying to remember the happiness of an earlier time in the face of tragedy ("The love of my life/She left me one day... Still I have the warmth of the sun/Within me tonight"). On a surface level the song is about a breakup, but the first verse and the chorus have a more universal quality that could be applied to an event of any kind, including the devastation caused by the assassination of a prominent political figure. The song laments a great loss and yearns for a happier, more innocent time.

Though it was originally released as a B-side, over time the stature of "The Warmth of the Sun" has increased and it has come to be recognized as one of the finest Beach Boys songs. Perhaps this is because the sentiments explored in "The Warm of the Sun" are some of Brian Wilson's signature themes, and the song expresses nostalgia just as the Beach Boys music generally has come to represent a simpler, more carefree time. This was not always the case, however, as the Beach Boys were among the most trendsetting bands through the release of their album Pet Sounds. Their star began to fade, however, when the band could not carry through with their follow-up album. In I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, lyricist Van Dyke Parks, who collaborated with Brian Wilson, observed,

As Pet Sounds came to print [Brian Wilson] began work on his next project called Smile. Smile was a record to even explore in greater detail the modular aspects of songwriting. He wanted to explore the innocence of youth--maybe the innocence that America had just lost following the assassination of John Kennedy and our entanglement in a war that a generation rebelled against. Brian decided to go back and explore that innocence of childhood.

Brian would ultimately abandon Smile (though he released a reworked version of it called SMiLE with the aid of Darian Sahanaja in 2004). As the 1960s wore on, Brian was increasingly torn in his effort to top Pet Sounds (not to mention the Beatles). His own lifestyle had changed radically from the days of his youth as the Beach Boys' fame grew and his mental health was deteriorating. For Brian personally, as well as society in general, there was no going back to a happier, more innocent time following the assassination of JFK.

What good is the dawn
That grows into day
The sunset at night
Or living this way

For I have the warmth of the sun
(warmth of the sun)
Within me at night
(within me at night)

The love of my life
She left me one day
I cried when she said
I don't feel the same way

Still I have the warmth of the sun
(warmth of the sun)
Within me tonight
(within me tonight)

I'll dream of her arms
And though they're not real
Just like she's still there
The way that I feel

I loved like the warmth of the sun
(warmth of the sun)
It won't ever die
(it won't ever die)

JFK Assassination Song: "The Motorcade Sped On" by Steinski

November 22, 2013 will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This post is part of a series that will run throughout this year focusing on songs that address the JFK assassination.

"The Motorcade Sped On" by Steinski & The Mass Media is a hip hop sample-based sound collage that was initially released in 1986. This track takes sound clips from news reports of the Kennedy assassination along with samples of JFK's speeches and arranges them over a sample of the drum pattern from the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women." Steinski finds Walter Cronkite's rhythmic groove in the phrases "More details just arrived", "Mrs. Kennedy jumped up/she called, 'oh no'" and rounded out with the phrase "the motorcade sped on" to form the "chorus" of the track. In addition to Walter Cronkite's reports from CBS's news coverage of the JFK assassination, the "verses" contain samples from KBOX (Dallas) radio reporters  Sam Pate and Ron McAlister, who were covering Kennedy's motorcade through Dallas, and Ike Pappas of WNEW (New York), who was reporting on developments surrounding the accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

"The Motorcade Sped On" is arranged more or less in chronological order of how events unfolded in November, 1963. The first two verses of "The Motorcade Sped On" includes initial reports of the assassination, in which the journalists struggled to make sense of what was going on during live coverage. Sam Pate and Ron McAlister were positioned at different locations on JFK's motorcade route. Sam Pate was at Dealey Plaza where the shooting took place, and his reports make up most of the first verse. Ron McAlister was located farther down the route closer to the Trade Mart. His description of the chaos that erupted after the motorcade scrambled away from the site of the shooting make up the second verse. The third verse is Walter Cronkite's announcement of President Kennedy's death. Where the first three verses are all from November 22, 1963, the fourth verse shifts the focus to event two days later, with Ike Pappas reporting from the basement of the police station as Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being transferred to the county jail by the Dallas police. Ike Pappas was standing very close to Lee Harvey Oswald when he was gunned down by Jack Ruby. The track also includes a couple of brief samples from Lenny Bruce's observations about stereotypical views of Jews in regard to Jack Ruby. Recordings of JFK's speeches are used at key points throughout the track. Most of the clips are from Kennedy's inaugural address, but also included here is the famous line "Ich bin ein Berliner" from JFK's speech at the Berlin Wall on June 26, 1963.

I hear two currents in "The Motorcade Sped On". The JFK quotes used in the track sound sincerely reverent to me while some of the other samples (Ed McMahon's "Here's Johnny" and the opening chord from "A Hard Day's Night") suggest that the assassination of JFK is just another episode from an endless stream of media images. In a recent email exchange I asked Steinski (Steven Stein) about this. He explained that this is in part due to the spontaneous approach he takes to his work. "I doubt you'll meet anyone less analytical regarding this sort of thing than me. I work very much in a stream of consciousness vein, just flowing along and grabbing for whatever seems appropriate at the time." I asked him if media coverage of events reduces everything to banality and he responded, "yes, I believe media--and TV in particular--eventually turn everything into oatmeal."

Despite whatever trivializing effect media coverage of JFK may have had, the Kennedy samples in "The Motorcade Sped On" present him as an inspirational leader. The overall effect of the track is to highlight the great sense of tragedy surrounding the JFK assassination and to recall the initial shock of this event. Playing back the journalistic accounts of the unfolding tragedy in this way makes it clear why so many people can clearly recall what they were doing when the first heard the news of Kennedy's assassination. I asked Steinski, "So which wins out in the end, that we can still be shocked or that it all gets reduced to banality?" and he responded, "Shock, I hope. That's what I was aiming for." I would make the case that "The Motorcade Sped On" succeeds on all levels, as a comment on media coverage and as a statement of profound reaction to a tragic event, not to mention that it's an extremely catchy track that stays with you long after you've listened to it.

"The Motorcade Sped On" found its way onto a couple of interesting releases. NME magazine included it on a 7" vinyl compilation called NME's Hat-Trick, which was given away with the February, 1987, issue of the magazine. Steinski explained that Island Records arranged for the track to be included on the NME compilation, "Just after I put the record out, I got signed to Island Records; Island helped publicize the record through their UK connections."

Later "The Motorcade Sped On" was included on Stay Free's Illegal Art Compilation CD. Illegal Art is a record label founded by "Philo T. Farnsworth" in 1998 to challenge existing copyright law. The Illegal Art compilation CD was released in 2002, gathering tracks that had all run into copyright issues that prevented them from wider distribution. The liner notes for the compilation CD explained, "Most of these tracks would never have existed if the artists had adhered to copyright law." The CD also included liner notes for each track, and it had this to say about "The Motorcade Sped On":

Steinski & Mass Media*
"The Motorcade Sped On" 
Steven Stein created this cut-up of Kennedy assassination coverage. His label, Tommy Boy, was unable to officially release it because CBS refused to grant clearance for the use of Walter Cronkite’s voice. It was instead released as a white label 12-inch single in 1986.

*used without permission

In 2008 Illegal Art released a compilation of Steinski's work called What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective that included "The Motorcade Sped On". Steinski explains, "Illegal Art approached me about putting together a retrospective comp (bless their hearts), and I felt we weren't taking too big a risk putting the JFK piece out again due to it being so far under the radar at that point." Illegal Art is on indefinite hiatus, but Steinski's work is still available through the Illegal Art website. Steinski continues to reflect on "Music. Copyright. Politics. Life" on his website.

Ed McMahon: And now, here's Johnny
[Opening chord from "A Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles]
JFK: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your [three gunshots]
[drums begin]

Walter Cronkite: Here is a bulletin
Walter Cronkite: Here is a bulletin
???: What is it?
Sam Pate: Stand by please
Sam Pate: Stand by please
Walter Cronkite: In Dallas, Texas [gunshot]
Sam Pate: It appears as though something has happened
Sam Pate: in the motorcade route
Sam Pate: in the motorcade route

JFK: ich ich ich bin ein ein ein Berliner

Walter Cronkite: Three shots were fired
Walter Cronkite: three
Ron McAlister: Put me on, Phil, put me on
Walter Cronkite: Three
Ron McAlister: Put me on, Phil, put me on
Walter Cronkite: Three
Walter Cronkite: President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting
Sam Pate: Stand by please
Sam Pate: Stand by please

Chorus:
Walter Cronkite: More details just arrived
Walter Cronkite: Mrs. Kennedy jumped up
Walter Cronkite: she called, "Oh no"
Walter Cronkite: Oh no
JFK: The energy
Walter Cronkite: Oh no
JFK: The faith
Walter Cronkite: Oh no
JFK: The devotion
Walter Cronkite: Oh no
Walter Cronkite: The motorcade sped on

JFK: The world is very different now

Ron McAlister: Something has happened here
Ron McAlister: We understand there has been a shooting
Ron McAlister: Something has happened here
Ron McAlister: I can see many, many motorcycles
Ron McAlister: I can see many, many motorcycles
Ron McAlister: Mrs. Kennedy's pink suit
Ron McAlister: something has happened here
Ron McAlister: many, many motorcycles
Ron McAlister: Mrs. Kennedy's pink suit
Ron McAlister: something has happened here
Ron McAlister: something is wrong here, something is terribly wrong

Chorus

JFK: ich ich ich bin ein ein ein Berliner

Walter Cronkite: The flash
Walter Cronkite: Apparently official
Walter Cronkite: The flash
Walter Cronkite: Apparently official
Walter Cronkite: President Kennedy died at 1:00 PM central standard time
Walter Cronkite: Time
Walter Cronkite: Time
Walter Cronkite: Time
Walter Cronkite: Time
Walter Cronkite: Time

JFK: We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution

Ike Pappas: There is the prisoner
Ike Pappas: There is the prisoner
Ike Pappas: Wearing a black sweater
Ike Pappas: Do you have anything to say in your defense?
[gunshot]
Ike Pappas: Oswald has been shot
Ike Pappas: Oswald has been shot
Ike Pappas: Jack Ruby
Ike Pappas: Jack Ruby
Lenny Bruce: Ruby
Lenny Bruce: Came from Texas
Ike Pappas: He runs the carousel club
Ike Pappas: Here is the ambulance

Chorus (2x)

JFK Assassination Song: "Sympathy for the Devil"

November 22, 2013 will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This is the sixth post in a series that will run throughout this year focusing on songs that address the JFK assassination.

In the summer of 1968 the Rolling Stones returned to Olympic Studios to record the album Beggars Banquet. After the previous year's Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Rolling Stones had had enough of psychedelia. They set out to move in a different direction and found their footing in "jaded, blues-soaked hard rock". Beggars Banquet would be the first of a string of great classic Stones albums, and the song that leads off the album is "Sympathy For The Devil." Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics and had the basic melody when the Rolling Stones went into the studio in early June, 1968. The development of "Sympathy for the Devil" is captured in the movie Sympathy for the Devil (1968), directed by John-Luc Godard.

Godard had set out to make a movie about a woman involved with both a neo-fascist and a black militant. For whatever reason he not only scrapped this story but abandoned conventional storytelling altogether. Instead this film jumps randomly from one abstract statement to another. Scenes of the Rolling Stones in the studio experimenting with different approaches to "Sympathy for the Devil" anchor the film, and it serves as a fascinating document of the Stones' creative process. While the initial composition was Mick Jagger's, the film shows clearly how Keith Richards was the driving creative force in the band, first playing the bass (with Bill Wyman relegated to playing the maracas), then guitar, then leading the "whoo whoo" chorus; and it was Keith who suggested using a samba-like rhythm for the track. In According to the Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts is quoted as saying "'Sympathy is one of those sort of songs where we tried everything.... We had a go at loads of different ways of playing it; in the end I just played a jazz Latin feel in the style of Kenny Clarke would have played on 'A Night in Tunisia'--not the actual rhythm he played, but the same styling." The film also shows the marginalization of Brian Jones. He might just as well not even be there, as his acoustic guitar is not even audible at any point in the film, or in the resulting final track, for that matter. Godard's version of the film was called One Plus One, but the title was changed because the producer, Iain Quarrier, saw fit to include the Rolling Stones' final version of "Sympathy for the Devil" in the soundtrack, an edit that so enraged Godard that he assaulted Quarrier.

"Sympathy for the Devil" contains just one reference to the JFK assassination. After describing events ranging from the trial of Jesus Christ to the 100 Years War (1337-1453) to the Russian Revolution to World War II, the lyrics turn to recent political assassinations, "I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys'/When after all it was you and me". Interesting to note that Jagger originally wrote "I shouted out, 'Who killed Kennedy?'" referring only to John F. Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, but the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy occurred during the time the Stones were developing this track. The "Sympathy" sessions took place from June 4 to June 10, 1968, and Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated on June 6, 1968. The change in the lyric indicates that at least Mick Jagger was aware of the event, but it passes without a mention in the film. The rehearsal where Jagger changes the lyric is the same one where the "whoo whoo" chorus is introduced, which is a much more noticeable change for viewers.

Godard's film has one other reference to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Godard's wife, Anne Wiazemsky, plays the role of Eve Democracy. Wearing what looks to be a peasant dress, she wanders through a forest answering only "yes" and "no" to a series of non sequitur questions about politics, art, drugs, sex, religion and culture. Along the way the interviewer asks, "Do you have a theory about who killed Kennedy?" to which Eve Democracy answers, "No." demonstrating clearly that in Sympathy for the Devil Godard was not interested in current events, but rather in making more abstract ideological statements. Some of the scenes in this film are of revolutionaries just reading radical texts--just... reading... and reading.

Keith Richards appreciated the film because it captured the transformation of the song "from a turkey into a hit" but otherwise he thought Godard's movie was "a total load of crap." Martin Scorsese, by contrast, called Sympathy for the Devil "quintessential." In an interview in The Guardian shortly before the release of his own Rolling Stones documentary, Shine a Light, Scorsese went on to say,

That movie still, with the vignettes that [director Jean-Luc] Godard intercuts, the rehearsal sessions with this still powerful and disturbing movie. It makes you rethink; it redefines your way of looking at life and reality, and politics.

While I have a great deal of respect for Martin Scorsese, I think Keith Richards is closer to the mark here. It's hard to imagine a film like One Plus One/Sympathy for the Devil being made today. Revolution was in the air in 1968 and this film gave expression to some of the intellectual currents of the time, but the pacing of this film is laboriously slow and the ideological statements go on way too long. I watched Sympathy for the Devil again recently and was struck by how awful the acting in this movie is. In one scene, black revolutionaries toss guns to one another like some kind of bucket brigade. I gather that this is supposed to strike fear into the hearts of white viewers particularly when they lay the guns across white women who have been executed. Not only do the murdered women's white gowns have what look like ketchup stains, but the men tossing the guns look so awkward in this scene that they look like "they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag," to quote one of my father's favorite sayings. Also, the graffiti scenes look more like snotty punks out for kicks rather than revolutionaries. My main criticism of this movie, however, is that the Stones track really doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the film. Unlike "Street Fighting Man" recorded only weeks earlier, "Sympathy for the Devil" is not about upsetting the existing order. The song recounts historical tragedies not as prelude to revolution, but as senseless acts. And in the case of the Russian revolution, "Sympathy for the Devil" sympathizes with the monarchs ("Killed the czar and his ministers/Anastasia screamed in vain"). The message of the song appears to be that evil exists in the world and that we all share in the blame for tragic events ("Tell me baby, what's my name?/I tell you one time, you're to blame"). Jann Wenner, in a 1995 interview in Rolling Stone, asked Mick Jagger about the message of the song:

WENNER: Were you trying to put out a specific philosophical message here? You know, you’re singing, “Just as every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints”.
JAGGER: Yeah, there’s all these attractions of opposites and turning things upside down.

In the end, then, we all have the potential for committing (or allowing) evil acts.That we all share in the blame for tragic events is stated explicitly in the lyrics in the case of the Kennedy assassinations ("I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys'/When after all it was you and me"). The Rolling Stones Wiki suggests that the verse about the assassination of the Kennedys was a reference to The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche.

The insane man jumped into their midst and transfixed them with his glances. "Where is God gone?" he called out. "I mean to tell you! We have killed him,—you and I! We are all his murderers!

Perhaps this is what Jagger had in mind, but this seems like a stretch to me. This passage discusses the abandonment of religious faith, while the assassinations of JFK and RFK were real-world events. Then again, perhaps my resistance to this idea stems from my experience of being assigned to read Nietzsche for a class in college and hating every minute of having to read that turgid, turgid writing. Hard to believe that reading Nietzsche could inspire anything other than the desire to doze off. In any case it's clear that neither Mick Jagger nor Jean Luc Godard thought it worthwhile to go beyond broad philosophical statements in regard to the assassination of JFK.

"Sympathy for the Devil" has been covered a number of times. The most interesting cover version is by the Slovenian (then Yugoslavian) band Laibach, who released an EP with seven different versions of the track in 1988. One version, "Sympathy for the Devil (Who Killed the Kennedys)" starts out with a sample from Godard's film, the moment when the interviewer asks Eve Democracy "Do you have a theory about who killed Kennedy?" and she answers, "No." Despite the title, that's really the only thing in the track about the Kennedy assassinations. From there Laibach include recordings related to the Rolling Stones performance at Altamont, as well as drug references sampled from Godard's film.

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith

I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

[refrain]
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

[refrain]

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made

I shouted out,
"Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all
It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay

[refrain]

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste

[refrain]

Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can you guess my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame