Big Daddy emerged as a comedy cover band on Rhino Records in 1983 ( see here). Their (brilliant) shtick is they were a fifties Rock and Roll band who were captured while touring Viet Nam(!) in the early sixties and were rescued in the early eighties. They then attempted to gain fame by covering the hits of the day (80’s) in the styles they knew . Some pretty hilarious stuff ensued! In the opinion of the Infinite Jones staff, theirs is the best version of this Springsteen song, Enjoy.
This is one of Johnny Cash’s wildest, loosest, craziest performances. It has the feel of a live performance but, was probably recorded in the studio. Johnny can be heard cracking up and ad libbing with the background singers (including his wife June Carter Cash). He seems like he’s barely holding it together (who knows what substances fueled the performance)but, when he goes down for that low note at the end the line “Leaving little girls that hate to see me Go”, you know he is in complete control. Who but Cash could start as low as this song already is and then reach down so effortlessly for that payoff note. Amazing!
As near as I can tell this was recorded in 1963 and released as the B-side of the Ballad of Ira Hayes single. It first appeared on an album in 1964 called I Walk the Line, a Columbia compilation of some sort that features new tunes and as well as re-recordings of some of Cash’s famous Sun sides (see here for details). The song was written by J. D. Loudermilk and also appeared, in a fine version, on yesterday’s Infinite Jones Recommends album Ton-Ton Macoute! by Johnny Jenkins.
Anyone who is into greasy, funky Swamp Rock, Southern Soul, Southern Rock or, the Allman Brothers Band should really hear this record. Ton-Ton Macoute! (1970) was intended to be Duane Allman’s solo debut but, the Allman Brothers Band started taking off and Duane left. Jenkins took over the vocal duties and made this album his own. Although, Jenkins is an acclaimed guitarist (apparently a significant influence on Jimi Hendrix), most of the guitar on this album is by Duane – not that there is anything wrong with that! Most of the rest of the ABB play on this too (except Gregg and Dickie Betts) as well as a lot of the Muscle Shoals gang. (See here for further details.) The result is a gritty, low down and dirty, funky Guitar Album. Highlights include, I Walk on Gilded Splinters (sampled by Beck for Loser), equally funky Blind Bats & Swamp Rats, the slinky Voodoo in You and Dylan cover Down Along the Cove. Johnny Jenkins virtually dropped out of the Music business after this failed to make him a star. He did not release another album until 1996 but, at least he left us this Gem. Enjoy.
Bonus
Here is an example of Jenkin’s guitar style, his 1964 instrumental “hit’, Spunky:
Bonus 2
Even though Jenkins version of I Walk on Guilded* Splinters is my favorite, here are a couple of other pretty cool versions (frickin’ Cher!):
*it’s spelled with AND without the “U” in different places
