- A Mighty Wind: The Album
DMZ/Columbia/Sony CK 89222
By Bonny Holder
-
 My
bud Kate and I went to see A Mighty Wind, the fake-documentary
produced by Christopher Guest, a couple of weeks ago. Guest,
who actually did perform folk music in his younger days (in a
band including Arlo Guthrie, I'm told) produced the film, not
unlike his earlier efforts, This Is Spinal Tap and Best
of Show.
The "folk groups" portrayed here The Folksmen,
The New Main Street Singers, and Mitch & Mickey are not real.
I hope I'm not giving away the plot here!, but in fact, the actors
are real musicians who play real instruments and write real songs.
The movie itself is a sweet portrayal of the "lite side"
of the non-political folk music of the 60's...think Kingston
Trio, New Christy Minstrels and the Limeliters. While one could
complain that the movie itself had many omissions about the genre
that could have made for a plot with more depth, it was fun to
see and, for those of us who were "there," the moments
of poignancy were many.
Last weekend, sort of as a joke, Kate presented me with the
CD soundtrack of the movie. And much to my surprise, every time
I play the darn thing, I enjoy it more.
The lyrics on this CD can best be described as "novelty."
The arrangements include all the folk cliches, from obvious harmonies,
over-the-top sincerity, a couple of songs by the New Main Street
Singers are so sweet as to be almost gacky.
And yet, this album is pretty damn good. There's some good
playing and some great singing. Actors Eugene Levy and Catherine
O'Hara (remember them from Second City?) turn in some
particularly affective vocals, the striking Canadian accent of
O'Hara lending a particular singularity.
Levy & O'Hara also contribute as lyricists, as do Christopher
Guest, Michael McKean and the always-hilarious Harry Shearer.
T-Bone Burnett is the producer.
The opening song, "Old Joe's Place", as performed by
the Folksmen -- Guest, McKean and Shearer -- includes this lyric:
Whenever I'm out a-wandering, chasing a rainbow dream
I often stop & think about a place I've never seen.
Where friendly folks can gather and raise the rafters high
with songs and tales of yesteryear until they say goodbye.
Well, there's a puppy in the parlor and a skillet on the
stove
and a smelly old blanket that a Navajo wove,
there's chicken on the table but you gotta say grace,
there's always something cooking at Old Joe's Place
Another offering by the Folksmen is called "Never Did
No Wanderin'":
My mama was the cold north wind,
my daddy was the son of a
railroad man from west of hell
where the trains don't even run.
Never heard the whistle of a southbound freight
or the singing of its driving wheel
No, I never did no wanderin'
Never did no wanderin'
Never did no wanderin' after all.
They say the highway's just one big road
& it goes from here to there
& they say you carry a heavy load
when you're rollin' down the line somewhere
Never seen the dance of the telephone poles
as they go whizzing by
Never did no wanderin', hhiiiiiiiiiiiigh,
Never did no wanderin', looooowwww
Now a sailor's life is a life for him
but it never was for me
and I've never soared where the hawk may soar
or seen what the hawk might see
never hiked to heaven on a mountain trail
never rode on a river's rage.
No, I never did no wanderin'
Never did no wanderin'
Never did no wanderin' after all.
Every folk cliche you've ever heard is available on this cut,
from the descending mandolin run to the exaggerated macho emotion.
The most amazing part is how catchy it all is!
The New Main Street Singers, include David Alan Blasucci on
guitars, Jane Lynch and Parker Posey on vocals, John Michael
Higgins and Christopher Moynihan on vocals, and the talented
Patrick Sauber on banjo and mandolin. They wear jaunty nautical-inspired
uniforms and are perky beyond belief.
In "Fare Away," reminiscent of those folky old ballads
like "Greenland Whale Fisheries", they sing:
Fare away, fare away under maintop sail, to the furbelow
of the wily whale.
Complete with pennywhistle and sad minor chord.
Truly amazing here are the performances of Mitch and Mickey,
Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara from the old Second City
night time show. Their characters were once the lovers of the
folk genre think Richard & Mimi Farina, or Ian &
Sylvia. Since they broke up twenty years ago, Mickey has enjoyed
a middle class life with her husband, who sells catheters. (The
model train scene in the film is priceless.) Mitch, however,
has become a nervous wreck.
With Levy on guitar, and O'Hara on autoharp, all four of their
tracks have a genuine sense of sincerity. I could slip any one
of their songs into a compilation CD for one of my friends, and
the listener wouldn't even blink. I would buy a Mitch and Mickey
album in a heartbeat.
There are three tracks on the CD that do not appear in the
movie, including "Blood On The Coal" by the Folksmen.
Think the tinkly intro to the old Peter, Paul & Mary classic,
"Soul Cake":
It was April 27th in the year of '91
bout a mile below the surface & the warm Kentucky sun
The late shift was ending and the early shift was late
and the foreman ate his dinner from a dirty tin plate
Blood on the tracks, blood in the mine!
Brothers and sisters, what a terrible time!
Old 97 went in the wrong hole
now it's mine # 60, there's blood on the coal
(blood on the coal, blood on the coal, blood on the coal...)
The train came round the corner you could hear the trestle
groan
but the switcher wasn't listening so he left the switch alone.
Well, the walls began to tremble & the men began to
yell
they could hear that lonesome whistle like an echo out of...welllll...
they dropped their picks and shovels as to safety they did run
for to stay amongst the living in the year of '91.
An Irishmen named Murphy said, "I'll stop this iron
horse,"
As he stood to thwart its passage, and it crushed him dead of
course,
and i hope he hears the irony when e'er this tale is told
that the train that took his life was burnin' good Kentucky coal.
Good clean fun, firmly tongue-in-ear, awaits you here.
A Mighty Wind: The Album is available all over the
place
You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net
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