The Cover - Low & Dirty Three do " Down By the River"

She could drag me over the rainbow, send me away. Down by the river, I shot my baby. Down by the river, Dead, oh, shot her dead.

Low and The Dirty Three recorded a beautiful, extended, meditative, post-modern version of Neil's great "Down By the River" for the 'In The Fishtank' mini album back in 1999. It's a CD well worth checking out.

"Down by the River" first appeared on Neil's 1969 album with Crazy Horse, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere."

It's a wonderful and ambiguous song. Murder Ballad or Paean to Heroin? - you decide!

Here, Low and Mick Turner of the Dirty Three do a beautiful cover -  but the clip is all too brief. Sob! Sob!

The vid comes from Low's third show in a row at the East Brunswick Club, Melbourne as part of the 'Don't Look Back' concert series. Their album of choice was the great 'Things We Lost In The Fire', although this particular night was just a regular gig.

Mick Turner was the support act each night, and it's great to see him on stage with the band knocking out this Neil Young number.

 Be on my side,
I'll be on your side,
baby
There is no reason
for you to hide
It's so hard for me
staying here all alone
When you could be
taking me for a ride.

Yeah, she could drag me
over the rainbow,
send me away
Down by the river
I shot my baby
Down by the river,
Dead, oh, shot her dead.

You take my hand,
I'll take your hand
Together we may get away
This much madness
is too much sorrow
It's impossible
to make it today.

Yeah, she could drag me
over the rainbow,
send me away
Down by the river
I shot my baby
Down by the river,
Dead, oh, shot her dead.

Be on my side,
I'll be on your side,
baby
There is no reason
for you to hide
It's so hard for me
staying here all alone
When you could be
taking me for a ride.

Yeah, she could drag me
over the rainbow,
send me away
Down by the river
I shot my baby
Down by the river,
Dead, oh, shot her dead.

Low with Mick Turner perform "Down by the River" Live

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Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy - Get on Jolly (2000)

Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy
Get on Jolly (2000)
Mp3 @ 192k
Palace Records

Dirty Three's Mick Turner in the guise of Marquis de Tren combines with maverick genius Will Oldham on this great 2000 EP.

A typically strange and wonderful work from the dastardly duo.

Here they collaborate to put music to the beautiful, timeless, minimalist, devotional poetry of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.

In line with the poetry - seemingly simple and fragile, yet profound and stronger than time - this work consists of seemingly simple and fragile, yet profound and powerful songs. Beautiful, ethereal, songs.

Warning though - this won't be everyone's cup of camomile tea! No, indeed! So if you're a Robbie Williams fan or something, this stuff will cause terror in your empty skull!

I've also posted a live album of this collaboration, Get the Fuck on Jolly Live (2000).

I am here to sing thee songs.
In this hall of thine I have a corner seat.

In thy world I have no work to do;
my useless life can only break out in tunes
without a purpose.

When the hour strikes for thy silent worship
at the dark temple of midnight,
command me, my master,
to stand before thee to sing.

When in the morning air the golden harp is tuned,
honour me, commanding my presence.

-Rabindranath Tagore

sunshinestrangers.com wrote a good piece about this music, which I've set out below.

Amidst the layers of ethereal Eno carbon copies and lofi techno/folk ditties, Will Oldham buried a treasure in the proverbial sand and hasn’t seemed to look back. In 2000, Will Oldham (aka Bonnie Prince Billy) and Mick Turner (of Dirty Three fame) expounded on the abstract with a collaborative effort entitled The Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy - Get On Jolly.

This shoegaze dreamscape is wrought with a tastefully placed and delightfully blurred ensemble of guitar, harmonica, and the now-and-then drum kit, leaving a bit of headroom for the beautifully arthritic voice of Oldham. Each song is colorized by sonorous, neigh melancholic lyrics adapted from poems by the album’s muse, Rabindranath Tagore — an early 20th century Bengali artist & Nobel Prize winner. Tagore wrote a volume of poems called Gitanjali, “a collection of 103 English poems, largely translations.” - wiki

“Gitanjali is also the title of an earlier Bengali volume (1910) of mostly devotional songs. The word gitanjoli is a composed from ‘git’, song, and ‘anjoli’, offering, and thus means - ‘An offering of songs’.”

- Wikipedia

Following suit with Tagore, Turner and Oldham titled their songs after the poem numbers of their adapted verses — albeit some verses have been modernized (see below), they still give credit where the credit is due.

2 & 15 - Tagore
When thou commandest me to sing it seems that my heart would break with pride; and I look to thy face, and tears come to my eyes.
All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony — and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across the sea.

I know thou takest pleasure in my singing. I know that only as a singer I come before thy presence.
I touch by the edge of the far-spreading wing of my song thy feet which I could never aspire to reach.
Drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself and call thee friend who art my lord.

I am here to sing thee songs. In this hall of thine I have a corner seat.
In thy world I have no work to do; my useless life can only break out in tunes without a purpose.
When the hour strikes for thy silent worship at the dark temple of midnight, command me, my master, to stand before thee to sing.
When in the morning air the golden harp is tuned, honour me, commanding my presence.

The great source poems can be found indexed by number at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu

Below is the Turner/Oldham adaptation of poems 2 & 15.

2 & 15 - The Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy (Listen)
When you ask me to sing, it feels like my heart will burst with pride; and I look at your face, and tears come to my eyes.
All that’s harsh and wrong in my life melts into one sweet song — and my love spreads wings like a gladbird flying over the road.
I know you take pleasure in my singing. I know that only when I sing do you hear me.
‘ Cause then I touch things that I can’t touch, I touch parts of you that I can’t really touch.
I’m drunk with the joy of singing — I forget myself and call you my friend.

I’m here to sing you songs. In your room I have a corner seat.
In your world I have no work to do; my life can only break out into songs that have no purpose.

Tracklisting

II/XV
XXV
LXXXI
LXXXVI
LXIV
LXVI

Here she be:

Mp3 / 192k

GetJolly.rar

Big thanks to experimentaletc.blogspot.com

Mail us: stupidand@gmail.com

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Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy - Get the Fuck on Jolly Live (2000)

Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy
Get the Fuck on Jolly Live (2000)
Mp3 @ 192k
Palace Records

Dirty Three's Mick Turner in the guise of Marquis de Tren combines with maverick genius Will Oldham on this great 2000 Live album.

Here they perform tracks from their 2000 collaboration Get on Jolly - which we've already posted - where they put music to the beautiful, timeless, minimalist, devotional poetry of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.

A typically strange and wonderful work from the dastardly duo here.

In line with the poetry - seemingly simple and fragile, yet profound and stronger than time - this work consists of seemingly simple and fragile, yet profound and powerful songs. Beautiful, ethereal, songs.

Warning though - this won't be everyone's cup of camomile tea! No, indeed! So if you're a Bon Jovi fan or something, this stuff will cause terror in your empty skull!

Verse CII

I boasted among men that I had known you.

They see your pictures in all works of mine.

They come and ask me, `Who is she?'

I know not how to answer them.

I say, `Indeed, I cannot tell.'

They blame me and they go away in scorn.

And you sit there smiling.

I put my tales of you into lasting songs.

The secret gushes out from my heart.

They come and ask me, `Tell me all your meanings.'

I know not how to answer them.

I say, `Ah, who knows what they mean!'

They smile and go away in utter scorn.

And you sit there smiling.

-Rabindranath Tagore

Well, I told them all that I knew
They see you in all that I do
Here and they ask, "Who is she ?"
I don't know what my answer should be

I say, "I don't know..., it's nobody"
They leave me
You, you smile at me

Well, I write about you in awesome songs
Secret of you I can't keep in
And they ask me to say who I mean
But I can't really say who I mean

So I say, "It's nobody"

You, you smile at me
I say, you, you smile at me
You, you smile at me
You, ah you smile at me

- Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy

art by scorsagra

So, here, from a concert in December 2000, the boys perform tracks from their Jolly EP.

The tracklisting is self explanatory!! Actually, the songs are, rather cryptically, titled after the verse number of the adapted verse(s) from Tagore's Gitanjali, a wonderful collection of 103 English poems.

Tracklisting

XXV
II/XV
LXXXI
LXXXVI
LXIV
LXVI
XIII
CII

Here she be:

Mp3 / 192k

GettheFuckJolly

Big thanks to experimentaletc.blogspot.com

Mail us: stupidand@gmail.com

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