Neil Young & Crazy Horse:, "Jesus' Chariot (She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain)"
Yeah. That's not how we did it when I was in elementary school.
Except... well, I was going to say, "except the irony is," only it's one of those things that ain't ironic. It's exactly what you'd expect. They changed all the lyrics on all the songs when I was in elementary school. "This Land Is Your Land" came to us with all the socialism stripped out. Hoyt Axton's "Joy To The World" (same song made famous by Three Dog Night) came to us with Jeremiah as a teetotaler: being underage, we didn't help him drink his wine, nor did we make sweet love to anyone. I'm sure somewhere in third grade we probably sang some song about skullfucking farm animals with the lyrics adapted to a much friendlier "with a quack-quack here, a quack-quack there, here a quack, there a quack, everywhere a quack-quack".
Sort of insulting to the songs, you know?
But anyway: the non-irony I almost erred and labeled "ironic" was simply that Young's version of "Jesus' Chariot (She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain)" is, of course, more faithful to the original, even if the old spiritual version sung by slaves in the 19th Century had fewer squalling electric guitars in it for some reason. The whole song, we learn from Wikipedia is one of them big ol' religious allegories; "she" isn't some little old lady like I always thought, "she" is the chariot Jesus will be riding in when he comes back to shut down the world. Fair enough that Young's version sounds fairly apocalyptic, with those growling guitars and The Horse wailing, "When she comes" like a Greek chorus watching Clytemnestra off her husband in the tub.
Today's clip, by the way, comes to you courtesy of the ScatterKat, who has been raving about Neil Young's Americana since she heard parts of it on NPR a month ago and has been telling me I need to listen to more of it and we ought to get it; I'm a Neil Young fan, as regulars know, I just haven't had the chance to keep up (I haven't even picked up the most recent Springsteen and Sigur Rós, I'm sad to confess). The SK is awesome, even if she does like Rush (the band, not the Limbaugh); I might have to tell her I said so.
Hope you're having a good, non-apocalyptic weekend. Cheers.
Except... well, I was going to say, "except the irony is," only it's one of those things that ain't ironic. It's exactly what you'd expect. They changed all the lyrics on all the songs when I was in elementary school. "This Land Is Your Land" came to us with all the socialism stripped out. Hoyt Axton's "Joy To The World" (same song made famous by Three Dog Night) came to us with Jeremiah as a teetotaler: being underage, we didn't help him drink his wine, nor did we make sweet love to anyone. I'm sure somewhere in third grade we probably sang some song about skullfucking farm animals with the lyrics adapted to a much friendlier "with a quack-quack here, a quack-quack there, here a quack, there a quack, everywhere a quack-quack".
Sort of insulting to the songs, you know?
But anyway: the non-irony I almost erred and labeled "ironic" was simply that Young's version of "Jesus' Chariot (She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain)" is, of course, more faithful to the original, even if the old spiritual version sung by slaves in the 19th Century had fewer squalling electric guitars in it for some reason. The whole song, we learn from Wikipedia is one of them big ol' religious allegories; "she" isn't some little old lady like I always thought, "she" is the chariot Jesus will be riding in when he comes back to shut down the world. Fair enough that Young's version sounds fairly apocalyptic, with those growling guitars and The Horse wailing, "When she comes" like a Greek chorus watching Clytemnestra off her husband in the tub.
Today's clip, by the way, comes to you courtesy of the ScatterKat, who has been raving about Neil Young's Americana since she heard parts of it on NPR a month ago and has been telling me I need to listen to more of it and we ought to get it; I'm a Neil Young fan, as regulars know, I just haven't had the chance to keep up (I haven't even picked up the most recent Springsteen and Sigur Rós, I'm sad to confess). The SK is awesome, even if she does like Rush (the band, not the Limbaugh); I might have to tell her I said so.
Hope you're having a good, non-apocalyptic weekend. Cheers.
Comments
Obviously a woman of superlative taste.