Willi Stanke und Sein Orchester's "Der Schwarzen Panther"

This morning I listened to the first disc of the compilation Swing Tanzen Verboten!, which is subtitled German Swing, Dance, and Jazz Bands 1937-1944.  The opening of "Der Schwarzen Panther" ("The Black Panther") by Willi Stanke und Sein Orchester sounds a lot like part of "Tiger Rag," specifically the part that corresponds to the lyrics "Hold that tiger," provided it's a version of "Tiger Rag" that has lyrics.  The rhythm of the phrase is the same, and in Willi Stanke's version, it's accompanied by a rapid descending phrase, which is also featured in the Mills Brothers' version of "Tiger Rag" (although theirs isn't as rapid).  This descending phrase is also in Canadian Brass' "Tuba Tiger Rag," which they included in their Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

The problems with determining whether "Der Schwarzen Panther" is a copy of "Tiger Rag" are that there are so many versions of "Tiger Rag" and that they differ so much.  I have versions by Django Reinhardt, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Les Paul, and - as mentioned - the Mills Brothers, but parts of one version sound totally unrelated to parts of an-other version.

The publication data say that it's a different song.  "Der Schwarzen Panther" is credited to Consiglio and Casirolli, where "Tiger Rag" is credited to LaRocca, Shields, Edwards, Ragas, and Sbarbaro (with lyrics by DaCosta).  However, the musical phrase in "Der Schwarzen Panther" is so similar to that in "Tiger Rag" that I can't believe Consiglio and Casirolli didn't have "Tiger Rag" in mind while writing "Der Schwarzen Panther."  Their title mentions a large feline, too.

It makes me wonder just how different a song has to be to be garnered with a different writing credit.  "Tuba Tiger Rag" is credited to Luther Henderson, yet it's not that different from "Tiger Rag."  By hearing the two, you could tell it's the same song.  Assuming that "Der Schwarzen Panther" is a copy of "Tiger Rag," why are Consiglio and Casirolli given their own credit, where the versions by all of these other artists are credited to the original ensemble?  How different does an arrangement have to be to be considered a separate song?

The Byrds' "I Am a Pilgrim"

Earlier I listened to the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and I noticed that “I Am a Pilgrim” is pretty similar to “Wayfaring Stranger.”  I’ve heard a few versions of “Wayfaring Stranger,” but the lyrics I’m most familiar with are actually the ones that Roger McGuinn’s posted on his Folk Den (so this might not be a very impartial assessment).  He also has an entry for "I Am a Pilgrim," which is only slightly different from the version on Sweetheart of the Rodeo.  The lyrics are roughly the same too (typos notwithstanding).

The first verse of “I Am a Pilgrim” matches up to the first verse of “Wayfaring Stranger” pretty closely.  There’s the description of a “stranger” (both songs) “travelling through” (“I Am a Pilgrim”) or “wandering through” (“Wayfaring Stranger”) a land that’s “wearisome” (“I Am a Pilgrim”) or full of “woe” (“Wayfaring Stranger”).  These first two lines are followed by a contrast, specifically the “bright land” (“Wayfaring Stranger”) or “yonder city” (“I Am a Pilgrim”) that the pilgrim is trying to reach.

The next section in each (a verse in “I Am a Pilgrim” but a chorus in “Wayfaring Stranger”) talks about relatives who have already reached the pilgrim’s destination:  “I’ve got a mother, sister, and a brother / Who have gone this way before” in “I Am a Pilgrim,” and “I’m going there to see my father” in “Wayfaring Stranger.”  The second chorus of “Wayfaring Stranger” starts with “I’m going there to see my mother.”

Both also mention the Jordan River (“I’m going down to the river of Jordan / Just to bathe my wearisome soul” in “I Am a Pilgrim” and “I’m just a-going over Jordan” in “Wayfaring Stranger”), but I don’t think the river has the same rôle in both songs.

I also have a book that contains the music and lyrics for “I Am a Pilgrim.”  It’s from 1964, so it predates the Byrds’ version of the song, but it still includes these similarities to “Wayfaring Stranger.”  The lines are slightly different though.  Instead of “I’ve got a mother, sister, and a brother / Who have gone this way before,” the book has “I got a mother, sister, and a brother / Who have gone to that sweet land.”  And where the Byrds’ version has:

I’m going down to the river of Jordan
Just to bathe my wearisome soul
If I can just touch the hem of His garment, good Lord
Then I’d know He’d take me home

the book has:

As I go down to the river of Jordan,
Just to bathe my weary soul,
If I could touch but the hem of His garment, good Lord,
Well, I believe it would make me whole

It’s the same idea, but slightly different grammatically.  The book’s lyrics also rhyme (“soul”/“whole”) where the Byrds’ version doesn’t (“soul”/“home”).

A lot of folk songs exist in slightly different versions (like the version of "I Am a Pilgrim" in this book I have and the Byrds' version), so I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere back in history, "I Am a Pilgrim" and "Wayfaring Stranger" were the same song.

[Last April, I recorded a version of "Wayfaring Stranger," for which I wrote some additional vocal parts.]

The Mountain Goats' "Dance Music"

This morning I listened to the Mountain Goats' The Sunset Tree.  I'd noticed before how the harmonies in "This Year" come in during the line "twin high-maintenance machines," in order to musically portray what's in the lyrics, but this morning I discovered that this feature is also present in "Dance Music."  Aside from the choruses, the only part with a harmony vocal is the line "I don't wanna die alone."  Like "twin high-maintenance machines" in "This Year," it's an-other instance where the musical qualities add to the lyrics.

In both songs, there are harmony parts in the more anthemic sections ("I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me" and "dance music," for example - the choruses of both songs), but in some verses (moreso in "This Year" than in "Dance Music"), the harmony parts serve to emphasize particular lines, sort of like musical underlining or highlighting.

Waylon Jennings' "Lucille (You Won't Do Your Daddy's Will)"

This morning I listened to a compilation album of Waylon Jennings.  I was surprised to find that "Lucille (You Won't Do Your Daddy's Will)" turned out to be the same song as Little Richard's "Lucille."

I compared Jennings' version with Little Richard's, just to make sure, and I noticed that some of the lyrics are different.  Jennings' version has lines like, "Lucille, you won't do your daddy's will" and "There ain't nothing to you, but I love you still," where Little Richard's has "Lucille, you won't do your sister's will" and "You ran off and married, but I love you still."  Jennings' alliteration ("Lucille, you won't do your daddy's will") is more concentrated and easier to find than Little Richard's ("Lucille, you won't do your sister's will").

In the "I woke up this morning" sections, Jennings' version changes the lyrics in the repetition.  So the first time, the line is "I asked my friends about her, but all their lips were tied," and the second time, it's "I asked her friends about her" (emphasis added).  Jenning's speaker/singer is concerned to the point that he not only asks his own friends, but he asks Lucille's too.  In Little Richard's version, the line is the same both times.

I think Jennings' version has more lyrical complexity, but Little Richard's has a great rock 'n' roll energy (and he also co-wrote the song with Al Collins, which certainly counts for something), so I don't think one is better than the other.

Cat Power's "Real Life"

Yester-day I listened to Cat Power's Sun.  I noticed a clever bit of wordplay in "Real Life," specifically:

I met a preacher, he want to be sinister

Sinister is only a letter different from minister, which is an-other word for preacher.
I think there's also something to be said about that similarity between sinister and minister (differing only by one letter) and how a preacher's wanting to be sinister sort of makes him ineligible of being a minister (or at least a good one).  It's as if that one quality is the thing that invalidates him and changes the M to an S.  I'm not quite sure if that's a valid point in the context of the rest of the song though.

The Cyrkle's "Red Rubber Ball"

I'm currently listening to some compilation albums, one of which includes the Cyrkle's "Red Rubber Ball."  I'd never noticed the appropriateness of the key change.  It comes right before:

The story's in the past with nothing to recall
I've got my life to live, and I don't need you at all
The roller coaster ride we took is nearly at an end
I bought my ticket with my tears, that's all I'm gonna spend

The first part of the song describes the nature of the (apparently failed) relationship, but the verse after the key change has a decidedly different outlook.  It's moving past the sentiment in those earlier verses, which is reflected in the new key.

Arcade Fire's "Rococo"

I just listened to Arcade Fire's The Suburbs.  I'd never noticed that there's harpsichord in "Rococo" (or at least I hadn't paid much attention to it), but it's fitting.  I don't know much about it, but Rococo was an artistic period in the 18th century, sort of a smaller branch of the Baroque, if I understand correctly from my skimming of the Wikipedia article.  And the harpsichord was "widely used" in Baroque music.

Glenn Miller's "Chattanooga Choo Choo"

Yester-day, I listened to a five-CD set of Glenn Miller titled Still in the Mood.  It includes "Chattanooga Choo Choo," but listening to it this time, I noticed something weird.

It's in these lines:

Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham and eggs in Carolina

They're talking about the food available on the train, but it seems to imply that the passengers eat ham and eggs (which I'm fairly certain are breakfast foods) for dinner.

It might just be two separate meal times that are squished together because of the phrasing, but - in that case - I think a word or two could have been changed or added to prevent any misunderstanding.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's "Find the Cost of Freedom"

Yester-day, I listened to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's So Far.  I noticed two things about songs on it, although neither of them is a very large point.

First I noticed that the melody in "Find the Cost of Freedom" goes along with the lyrics:

Find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground
Mother Earth will swallow you
Lay your body down

The melodies corresponding to "buried in the ground" and "lay your body down" go down.

An even smaller point: I'd never noticed that there's tambourine in "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."

Loudon Wainwright III's "New Street People"

I'm currently listening to Loudon Wainwright III's Social Studies.  I found a reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet in "New Street People."  Wainwright's line is "a thousand toxic, natural shocks," which adds only one word (toxic) to a sentence from Hamlet's famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy:  "To die--to sleep-- / No more; and by a sleep to say we end / The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to" (III.i.68-71).

However, I'm not exactly sure what Wainwright is trying to say with that Hamlet quote.