Mermaid Avenue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mermaid Avenue | ||
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| Studio album by Billy Bragg and Wilco | ||
| Released | June 23, 1998 | |
| Genre | Folk rock | |
| Length | 40:20 | |
| Label | Elektra | |
| Producer(s) | Billy Bragg, Grant Showbiz, Wilco |
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| Professional reviews | ||
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| Billy Bragg chronology | ||
| Bloke on Bloke (1997) |
Mermaid Avenue (1998) |
Reaching to the Converted (1999) |
| Wilco chronology | ||
| Being There (1996) |
Mermaid Avenue (1998) |
Summerteeth (1999) |
Mermaid Avenue is a 1998 album of previously unheard lyrics written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie, put to music written and performed by British singer Billy Bragg and the American band Wilco. The project was organized by Guthrie's daughter, Nora Guthrie. A second volume of recordings, Mermaid Avenue Vol. II, was released in 2000. The projects are named after a song "Mermaid's Avenue" written by Guthrie. This was also the street in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York on which Guthrie lived.
During the spring of 1995, Woody Guthrie's daughter Nora had contacted English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg about writing music for a selection of completed Guthrie lyrics. Her father had left behind over a thousand sets of complete lyrics written between 1939 and 1967; none of these lyrics had any music other than a vague stylistic notation.
According to Bob Dylan's autobiographical Chronicles, Woody Guthrie gave his unpublished songs to Dylan but Bob was unable to get them from Guthrie's family (he tells a story about a reluctant babysitter).
The liner notes of Mermaid Ave. written by Nora Guthrie indicate that it was her intention that the songs be given to a new generation of musicans who would be able to make the songs relevant to a younger generation. Nora Guthrie contacted Bragg, who in turn, approached Wilco, and asked them to participate in the project as well.
Wilco agreed, and in addition to recording with Bragg in Ireland, they were given their own share of songs to finish.
Rather than recreating tunes in Guthrie's style, Bragg and Wilco created new, contemporary music for the lyrics. What seemed like a risky enterprise surprised everyone; released in 1998 as Mermaid Avenue, the results were met with universal acclaim. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and went on to place fourth on the Jazz & Pop Critics Poll for 1998 (right behind Bob Dylan's Live 1966).
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Walt Whitman's Niece" – 3:53
- Words: Woody Guthrie 1946. Music: Billy Bragg 1997.
- "California Stars" – 4:57
- Words: Guthrie. Music: Jay Bennett/Jeff Tweedy 1997.
- "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key" – 4:06
- Words: Guthrie 1946. Music: Bragg 1997.
- "Birds and Ships" – 2:13
- Words: Guthrie. Music: Bragg 1997.
- "Hoodoo Voodoo" – 3:12
- Words: Guthrie. Music: Wilco/Bragg/Corey Harris
- "She Came Along to Me" – 3:26
- Words: Guthrie 1942. Music: Bragg/Tweedy/Bennett 1998.
- "At My Window Sad and Lonely" – 3:27
- Words: Guthrie 1939. Music: Tweedy 1997.
- "Ingrid Bergman" – 1:50
- Words: Guthrie 1950. Music: Bragg 1996.
- "Christ for President" – 2:39
- Words: Guthrie. Music: Tweedy/Bennett 1997.
- "I Guess I Planted" – 3:32
- Words: Guthrie. Music: Bragg 1997.
- "One by One" – 3:22
- Words: Guthrie 1939. Music: Tweedy 1997.
- "Eisler on the Go" – 2:56
- Words: Guthrie. Music: Bragg 1997.
- "Hesitating Beauty" – 3:04
- Words: Guthrie 1949. Music: Tweedy 1997.
- "Another Man's Done Gone" – 1:34
- Words: Guthrie. Music: Bragg 1998.
- "The Unwelcome Guest" – 5:09
- Words: Guthrie 1940. Music: Bragg 1996.
[edit] Song Details
- "Eisler on the Go" was written by Guthrie as a protest against Hanns Eisler's deportation by the U.S. Government during the Cold War.
[edit] Personnel
- Billy Bragg – guitar, vocals
- Jeff Tweedy – guitar, harmonica, vocals
- Jay Bennett – organ, bouzouki, piano, drums, background vocals, clavinet
- Corey Harris – guitar, lap steel guitar
- Ken Coomer – percussion, drums
- Natalie Merchant – vocals
- John Stirratt – piano, bass, background vocals
- Peter Yanowitz – drums
- Bob Egan – slide guitar
- Eliza Carthy – violin
[edit] External links
| Wilco |
| Jeff Tweedy | John Stirratt | Nels Cline | Glenn Kotche | Pat Sansone | Mikael Jorgensen |
| Ken Coomer | Max Johnston | Jay Bennett | Leroy Bach | Jim O'Rourke |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums and extended plays: A.M. | Being There | Mermaid Avenue | Summerteeth | Mermaid Avenue Vol. II | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | More Like the Moon | A Ghost Is Born | Kicking Television: Live in Chicago | Sky Blue Sky |
| Singles: Box Full of Letters | Outtasite (Outta Mind) | Can't Stand It | A Shot in the Arm | War on War |
| DVDs: Man in the Sand | I Am Trying to Break Your Heart |
| Related articles |
| Uncle Tupelo | Billy Bragg | The Wilco Book | Loose Fur | Down with Wilco | Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest | Golden Smog | Jeff Tweedy discography |
