Beausoleil
Beausoleil's JournalGallows Pole
I have always been intrigued by this song ever since Led Zeppelin III came out. This is really a fantastic album, often overshadowed by II and IV.
"Gallows Pole" is based on an old folk ballad, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner.
The ballad exists in a number of folkloric variants, from many different countries, and has been remade in a variety of formats. For example, it was recorded in 1939 as "The Gallis Pole" by folk singer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, and in 1970 as "Gallows Pole", an arrangement of the Fred Gerlach version, by English rock band Led Zeppelin, on the album Led Zeppelin III.
Lead Belly version
Folksinger Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, who also popularized such songs as "Cotton Fields" and "Midnight Special", first recorded "The Gallis Pole" in the 1930s accompanied by his own twelve-string guitar. His haunting, shrill tenor delivers the lyrical counterpoint, and his story is punctuated with spoken-word passages, as he "interrupts his song to discourse on its theme".
Lead Belly's intro is included, really worth listening to for his perspective on the adaptation of the ballad.
Led Zeppelin version
"Gallows Pole" begins as a simple acoustic guitar rhythm; mandolin is added in, then electric bass guitar shortly afterwards, and then banjo and drums simultaneously join in. The instrumentation builds up to a crescendo, increasing in tempo as the song progresses. The acoustic guitar chord progression (in standard tuning) is simple with a riff based on variations of the open A chord and the chords D and G occurring in the verse. Page played banjo, six and 12 string acoustic guitar and electric guitar (a Gibson Les Paul), while John Paul Jones played mandolin and bass.
Page has stated that, similar to the song "Battle of Evermore" that was included on their fourth album, the song emerged spontaneously when he started experimenting with Jones' banjo, an instrument he had never before played. "I just picked it up and started moving my fingers around until the chords sounded right, which is the same way I work on compositions when the guitar's in different tunings." It is also one of Page's favourite songs on Led Zeppelin III.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maid_Freed_from_the_Gallows
I really didn't expect all the hearts!
Thanks so much you guys!
If it gets to be too much, I will purchase more hearts because I would much rather give than receive!
"You gotta pay"
Trump: "In fact I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay."
Pretty rich coming from a gigantic deadbeat and thief.
Why do we never hear that in four years Trump will be older than Biden is now?
Joe Biden will be 82 years and 2 months on January 20, 2025.
Trump will be 82 years and 7 months on January 20, 2029.
And this is a valid reason to denigrate Biden's age?
Trump loyalists
It should be absolutely clear by now that any Trump appointee is there due to their loyalty to Trump. That's why they were appointed, that's their qualiification and that's their purpose.
So there should be a concerted effort to point out any judge, prosecutor or other political appointee still in government service that was appointed by Trump, is there to do his bidding.
That is job #1 for these flacks and no benefit of the doubt should be given. The burden is on them to prove this is not the case.
Cannon, Hur, Weiss, Durham and 3 Supremes come to mind.
They need to be called out as loyalists.
Who should serve as AG in the next Biden term?
Should it be Garland or someone else?
Should it be some other Federalist Society hack? Or some other choice to placate the right-wing?
I think it should be someone who won't appoint Special Counsels as window dressing or only when backed into a corner. Or someone who wouldn't wait for a Congressional investigation to complete before finally deciding to appoint a Special Counsel two years after an insurrection.
I think, in hindsight, that Garland was a poor choice for SCOTUS and Biden should have avoided appointing him as AG. He's not up to the job, IMHO.
Avoiding the appearance of being political is as bad as being political as it turns out.
I like Neal Katyal.
Mercury Blues Live
This song came up in the Lounge covers thread, but not the one by David Lindley. I was surprised and sad when he passed. I really wanted to see another El Rayo-X album!
I would have loved to have been at this concert!
Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Bruce Hornsby, Shawn Colvin and
the great David Lindley
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss "Can't Let Go"
Geez, this is better than the studio version.
JD McPherson on lead guitar.
Bonnie Raitt & Jackson Browne "My Opening Farewell"
I could listen to Bonnie all day.
Great Jackson Browne song and they're beautiful together.
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