Skittering freely down Tin Pan Alley, a group of songs are suddenly transported one hundred years into the future. Can they possibly hold onto their devil-may-care exuberance? And just what of these newer songs shadowing them..?
Blue Skies is the first EP in the Shifafa on the Side series; a series that pairs songs from the 1920s with those from the 2020s.
Piano, guitar, vocals: J Roth
All songs written and/or rearranged by J Roth
Special thanks to Ryan Murphy of Phlox House for mixing assistance
The three songs from the 1920s:
“Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin;
“I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover” by Mort Dixon and Harry M. Woods;
“My Blue Heaven” by Walter Donaldson and George A. Whiting
*Scroll past the liner notes to find the lyrics for all songs
Liner Notes
Through the years I have had frequent musical “trysts” with the wonderfully varied genre of music we call Jazz. I’ve connected with/to the music by playing solo, jamming with others, listening to recordings, or going to see it performed live. I say “trysts” because my attention inevitably shifts away to other styles of music before circling back… and then flitting away again and so on… And due to my lack of complete devotion to practicing this kind of music (and perhaps lack of inherent skill?), I have never been able to rise to a level of proficiency in playing it that would warrant attention from aficionados of said genre. Yet that hasn’t stopped me from taking great pleasure in using the medium to express myself using its road map: a map that shows some guideposts but expects/encourages one to find their own way of getting from point A to B and onward and back again.
This album series, Shifafa on the Side, is an attestation of sorts to the kind of jazz-making “side hustle” I’ve been engaged in over the past three decades. I created the albums by imagining myself divided into a stripped-down combo not so dissimilar from the Nat King Cole Trio or the Jimmy Giuffre 3.
I am the pianist but in addition to comping chords, the instrument also fills in for the absent bassist. Nothing my hands coax from the keys will drop jaws, but how nice it is to have the voice of what I would argue is the most versatile instrument ever created.
The guitar’s role here is largely to cover the beat; what with the lack of drums, the guitar helps get a bit of a swing going by thwacking on the back beat. For those moments when a guitar solo was called for midstream, the challenge was to continue to provide that beat while creating interesting melodic lines. Sure with the power of overdubbing, I could have had two guitars playing at once: one holding the rhythm while the other took a solo, but I tried to imagine this as it would be for a live performance, so no sudden appearance of a second guitar.
The third member of the trio is the vocalist. I am aware of my limitations with this particular instrument, and yet, after all these decades of singing despite my shortcomings, I’ve grown to be more-or-less at peace with my voice. It helps that I appreciate the likes of Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits whose voices few would (sanely) praise as “music to their ears”. But those three are all true to themselves and so I try to be. Paradoxically, I make use of my falsetto voice a fair bit on these recordings. This is a voice I used to bar myself from exploring – I mean, it’s right in it’s name: it’s false. Yet, thinly or not, my voice can stretch and contort to make those high sounds, so why not have a little fun with it?
Any lack of virtuosity in the members of this imaginary trio is hopefully made up for with the raw vigor and enthusiasm with which they (as in I) go after the material.
Regarding that material:
My appreciation for some of the Tin Pan Alley songs of the 1920s came late in my explorations of jazz. I disregarded it at first as “jazz lite” (or perhaps “jazz white”): too happy-sappy, too lovey-dovey, too square. But as I dipped my toe from time to time into those pre-Depression era waters I began to discern intriguing chord voicings and progressions laying paths for wonderful bouncing melodies which were chalked full of twisting wordplay. These may have been mere pop (shallow?) tunes of their day, but these were crafted by gifted song-smiths. When I discovered some of these treasures were entering the public domain, I realized I could take a few of my favorites and make them mine, removing some of the polish and giving them a touch of the grit and grime of the times I find myself living in here one hundred years after these songs’ creation. I decided also to pair each of the songs with a companion piece of my own creation. Some of my pieces reveal a gaping span between sentiments expressed in the 1920s versus those here in the 2020s. I suspect though that it’s not so much that the times, feelings, and hardships are so very different now versus then, but that expectations for songs themselves are. Though my knowledge of music history is far from perfect, I would point to the 1960s as a turning point in which the interest/demand for (pop?) songs that weren’t just about love increased. It’s not necessarily that the songs with my lyrics are “deeper” and thus better, but certainly they are reflecting upon the world differently than those I’ve chosen from the 1920s. (There very well may have been songs from that era that did the same but never grabbed the popular imagination enough to persevere.)
I dedicate this album to the maternal side of my wife’s family, The Agostinis; they who appreciate(d) the oldies-but-goodies presented here and the importance of music-making in a life that is so very bitter sweet.
Thanks all for listening,
J
March 2023
LYRICS
Blue Skies (Nothing But)
(adapted from original lyrics written by Irving Berlin)
Blue skies, all of them gone
Nothing but blue days, from now on
Those blue skies, they once smiled on me
Nothing but blue skies did I see
And those bluebirds, singing their song
Was nothing but bluebirds, all day long
Now I never see the sun, shining bright
Never see things going right
Noticing the days, hurrying by
These moments in time, my how they fly
I never see the sun, shining bright
Never see things going right
Noticing the days, hurrying by
These moments in time, my how they fly
Now my blue days, why aren’t they gone?
When these blue skies just go on and on
Down for Awhile (Blue Skies Waiting)
Won’t you take me down for awhile
Seems I forgot how to smile in this while
Won’t you take my crown for awhile
I’ll try out a new style for awhile
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down for awhile
Bury my frown in the ground for awhile
And to the sky let’s be bound for awhile
With backs stacked ‘pon the lawn for awhile
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down
Getting lost we’ll be found
Blue skies waiting, just past the clouds
Don’t need no airship, when we’ve got a plow
To furrow a lane straight through this haze
Then fall back into some shady, breezy place
And dismiss this… this gloom without bliss
Won’t you take me down for awhile
I still can’t find my smile in this while
Won’t you wake my clown for awhile
Shake up the mild child inside for awhile
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down for awhile
And in your sea I will drown for awhile
Where up is down, down is up for awhile
And time’s trap is wound shut for awhile
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down
Won’t you take me down
And sweet surrender… we’ll let surround
Blue skies waiting, if we take a look
Let’s get to baiting, sunshine we may hook
We’ll cook up daydreams to hang in the trees
And watch them helicopter down on the breeze
Blue skies waiting and they’re within grasp
This is no illusion, we’re not birds about to crash into glass
Come on, let’s slip back in through Eden’s gates
And claim a stake in some alternative fate
Than this… this gloom without bliss
Come my sweet dish, won’t you, won’t you, won’t you
Run away with this spoon
I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover
(adapted from original lyrics written by Mort Dixon)
Before
And once more
Before
And will be once more
I’m looking over a four leaf clover
That I overlooked before
One leaf is sunshine, the second is rain
The third’s for the flowers, that grow midst my pain
No needing explaining, the one remaining
Is somebody I adore
I’m looking over a four leaf clover
That I overlooked before…
And will it be once more?
Before, before and will it be once more?
Are you looking over your four leaf clover?
Over that four leaf clover
Are you looking over that four leaf clover?
Over the clover, over the clover
You looking over that clover that you overlooked?
And will it be, will it be once more?
Will it be once more?
Yeah, will it be once more?
Are you overlooking that same old clover?
That you looked over before
There’s that one leaf for sunshine, that second for rain
That third for the flowers that grow amidst your pain
No needing explaining, the one remaining
Is somebody you’d better adore
Better look over that same old clover
That you overlooked before
Better look over that four leaf clover
That you overlooked before
Will you overlook once more?
Just like before and once more
Before and once more
Before it’s over, before it’s over better look over the clover
Over it… it’s over
Sprig (No Leaf Clover)
Will you stay or you go?
When the locomotive starts to slow down
Approaching your town
Where all your broken motives slink ‘cross the ground
Like dogs beaten down
And will you bow or stand tall?
When all the alternatives draw up to you
‘Cause through and through the old altered narratives
No longer ring true
They’re backed by too many proofs
No matter which one you choose
You find you’re biting off nothin’ you can chew
One-two, things were handed to you
And you threw and threw them up in the air without a care
You knew they’d pour down and with the streams you’d be bound for
Fortune’s shore
But three-four, the rain’s had more in store
Then you had planned and splashin’ ‘pon your shoulder
Take a look – the waves are about to wash ‘way
The last leaf of your four leaf clover
One-two, the world was handed to you
And you blew and blew it up in the air without a care
You knew it’d float down and with the streams you were bound to be bound for
Fortune’s shore
But three-four, the wind’s had more in store
And now you’re desperate for a shoulder to cry upon
As you look down at the leafless sprig of your, of your, of your four leaf clover
Will you stay or you go?
When the locomotive won’t slow down
Approaching your town
And your broken motives, they crowd ’round
Imploring you to buy them one last round
Oh, but the train’s whistle – how it does sound
And it ain’t slowin’ down
Better jump now
It ain’t slowin’ down
You better jump now
You better jump now or never
You were so clever
But it’s now or never
Now or never
Yeah, it was pleasure for pleasure
But now it’s measure for measure
Measure for measure, measure for measure…
My Blue Heaven
(adapted from original lyrics written by George A. Whiting)
What’s that to the right?
A little white light?
Could it lead to my blue heaven?
When whippoorwills call
And evening is nigh
I hurry to my blue heaven
A turn to the right
There’s that little white light
Yes, it’s leading to my blue heaven
I see a smiling face, a fireplace, a cozy room
A little nest that’s nestled where some love can bloom
Yeah, just Mollie and me
Let’s add a baby, let’s make it three
Oh, how happy we’ll be in our blue heaven
Come on, Mollie, let’s go…
Cut that rug, cut that rug…
Just like a slice of heaven…
Don’t stop now…
Just like a slice, a slice of heaven
I see a smiling face, a fireplace, a cozy room
Yeah, a little nest that’s nestled where love can bloom
Just Mollie and me
Yeah, and the baby makes three
We’re happy in my blue heaven
We’re happy in my blue heaven
We’re happy in our blue heaven