Tune Tag #67 with Sonny Rane of "The Gen X Jukebox": Rush, Tragically Hip, Arcade Fire, Cutting Crew, Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen, Kiefer Sutherland
It's Gen X vs. Baby Boomer in this Tune Tag for the ages (old and a little younger)! Can both be tragically hip, or, will one show he's up for the task, and bring the arcade fire?
Meanwhile, at Tune Tag Headquarters, located in Upper Slobbovia, Head Comms Director, Sid, is using our new hi-res monitor to connect with today’s Tune Tag guest: “Sonny…Come in, Sonny……
We’ve made contact! Before we lose our tenuous connection, let’s welcome of The Gen X Jukebox!
Sonny Rane was born in Greece, raised in Canada, and currently lives in the city of Prague. You can usually find him waiting for K. at the corner of Lightness and Unbearable.
He welcomes music lovers of all ages and tastes to join him at The Gen X Jukebox!
Put another dime in The Gen X Jukebox!
Last week, you’ll recall we invited Texan, ’s Of a Sober Mind to Tag Tunes:
Next week, tune in to see the tunes we tag with !
Sonny’s song #1 sent to Brad: The Tragically Hip, “Blow at High Dough,” 1989
Sonny’s rationale: I am not a good Canadian. I don’t watch hockey, I can’t stand poutine, and Celine Dion can kiss my derrière. But, when Brad suggested I start things off with a track that means a lot to me, I knew right away there was only one song that would do the Tune Tag trick:
“Blow at High Dough” (recorded at Memphis, Tennessee’s storied Ardent Studios in April 1989) was written and recorded by The Tragically Hip – a five-piece outfit from Kingston, Ontario. They released 14 albums throughout their career, 9 of which hit #1 in Canada. They also won 17 Juno Awards (Canada’s version of the Grammys), and currently rank as the fourth best-selling Canadian artist in the country.
It’s an impressive feat, really. Especially given the band is no longer. They disbanded following the death of lead singer and lyricist Gord Downie, who we lost to brain cancer at the age of 53 on October 17, 2017.
Here’s what Simon Vozick-Levinson of The New York Times wrote after Gordie passed:
The place of honor that Mr. Downie occupies in Canada’s national imagination has no parallel in the United States. Imagine Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Michael Stipe combined into one sensitive, oblique poet-philosopher, and you’re getting close.
That might sound a tad on the hyperbolic side, but Vozick-Levinson’s words ring true. Gord Downie was, is, and forever shall be, a God in Canada, eh.
It’s impossible to explain how Downie’s cryptic lyrics or the band’s driving rhythms managed to capture the elusive Canadian identity; how driving with The Hip blasting in your car, down dark city streets or across the endless prairies, feels as right, as honest and as true, as listening to Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker while cruising down Highway 61.
“Blow at High Dough” was the first song I ever heard by The Hip. I was 17 at the time, and I remember being mesmerized by Downie’s voice, by the snaky and snarling slide guitar, by the way the song builds and releases with a bang. It’s a simple song, sure, but I was a simple Canuck. And while I had no idea what Gordie was talking about, I knew he was talking to me.
“Blow at High Dough” is a straight-up rocker, and a facile example of what The Hip went on to accomplish both musically and lyrically. But, it was my gateway drug into a band and a lyricist who went on to influence the way I thought about music and writing and life in general.
I certainly don’t expect the song or the band to hit you in the same illuminating way it did me all those moons ago. Though I do hope you’ll stop for four-and-a-half minutes and allow yourself to get just a little bit high on some of Canada’s finest supply.
Brad’s song #1 sent to Sonny: Kiefer Sutherland, “Not Enough Whiskey,” 2016
Sonny’s response: My initial reaction was excitement. Kiefer Sutherland? Jack Bauer? Let’s freaking do this! Then I heard the song.
Let me just say that as much as I love Brad, and as honored as I am to be a part of this Tune Tag, there’s “not enough whiskey” in the world to get me to listen to that song again! Might as well have called it “Not Enough Ideas” or “Not Enough Talent” or “Not Enough Sense To Hire A Vocal Coach.” And come on, Kiefer! What are you talking about “not enough whiskey”?
There was clearly enough hooch going around when you introduced yourself to this Christmas tree:
So, why did Brad send me this song? My guess is he wanted to punish me for being Canadian. Which leads me to….Connection #1: Kiefer and the boys in The Tragically Hip are all Canadian.
Which begets…
Connection #2: Both Kiefer and The Hip are proud members of the Canadian Walk of Fame (which, if I’m not mistaken, is actually a cul-de-sac in Toronto…see below):
I’m probably missing something obvious here, but that’s the best this Canuck can do!
Brad’s rationale: The Hip’s “Blow at High Dough” was used as the closing theme song for Canadian CBC-TV comedy show, Made in Canada (1998-2003). In one of the show’s episodes, Kiefer Sutherland portrayed a fictionalized version of himself. In 2016, Sutherland recorded the Down in a Hole album, produced by veteran recording artist, Jude Cole, who co-wrote “Not Enough Whiskey” (and the album’s ten other songs, and played guitar and bass) with Sutherland.
Sonny’s song #2: Rush, “New World Man,” 1982
Brad’s response: I believe there’s a Canada link, here: Rush and Kiefer are natives of The Great White North, eh?
Sonny’s rationale: I introduced myself as a bad Canadian. But, I kicked things off with a Canadian band, and Brad continued with a Canadian actor, and now there’s something lurking inside me that wants to keep the Canadiana coming!
Enter “New World Man” by Rush – the famous power trio from my hometown, Toronto.
I also wanted to tag the subject matter of the songs. In “Not Enough Whiskey,” the woman Kiefer sings about has left him for another man. Hence, the boatload of whiskey that follows. Well, I couldn’t leave Kiefer all destitute like that. We Canadians have to stick together!
So I decided to pep him up the morning after he drowns his sorrows with optimistic thoughts like: He’s got a problem with his poisons / But you know he’ll find a cure. And while Kiefer suffered a major blow in the love department, you simply can’t keep a good man (if awful singer) down for very long: He’s not concerned with yesterday / He knows constant change is here today.
Brad’s song #2: Cutting Crew, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms,” 1986
Sonny’s response: First off, there’s the 80’s: “New World Man” and “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” were released in ’82 and ’86, respectively. You can practically taste the Tab Cola as soon as you hit PLAY!
It’s while I’m hearing ‘Arms’ for the second time, however, that I begin to wonder who produced this anthem from my misplaced childhood. A quick search reveals the second—and most relevant—connection at work: a gentleman by the name of Terry Brown.
Terry’s a British record producer who’s worked with numerous musical artists, ranging from The Who to Kenny Rogers. Guess who else Terry Brown’s worked with?
Cutting Crew and Rush! He produced a total of nine albums with Rush, including Signals, which features the second track I sent to Brad, “New World Man.” Brown also produced Cutting Crew’s debut album, Broadcast. Track #6 is “(I Just) Died in Your Arms.” So there you have it. There’s your tag: Terry Brown—producer extraordinaire.
Brad’s rationale: Signals, the Rush album from whence “New World Man” comes, was co-produced (with Rush) and co-arranged (with Rush) by Terry Brown. Brown co-produced (with Cutting Crew and John Jansen) this hit (mimed in-studio for Dutch music TV show, TopPop):
Sonny’s song #3: Arcade Fire, “Month of May,” 2010
Brad’s response: “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” and “Month of May,” with its lyrics, “If I die in the month of May”: Our connection? If Sonny’s trying to take advantage of my now-well-known general disinterest in lyrics, then well-played! But, I think I got this one….we’ll see!
Sonny’s rationale: I’m going to stick stubbornly to my maple leaf lane. So I tag thee, Brad, with another Canadian artist, this time on two distinct fronts:
Tag #1: The concept of death: Nick Van Eede (now 66) of Cutting Crew sang that he died in his lover’s arms. Meanwhile, Win Butler of Arcade Fire reflects on dying in the month of May.
Tag #2: Arms: Nick Van Eede dies in them. The children in “Month of May,” however, “are all standing there with their arms folded tight.” That’s because the song is about resistance; about a teenager’s reluctance to enter adulthood. I thought it would be fun to pair the concept of not wanting to grow up, with that of dying (even if metaphorically) once you do.
Brad’s song #3: Brett Kingsbury, Rachmaninoff Etude-Tableau in E flat Minor, Opus 33 No. 5, 2019
Sonny’s response: I understood the connection immediately this time! Brett Kingsbury is Assistant Professor of Piano for the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University. He also serves as pianist for the Madawaska Chamber Ensemble. More to the point, Brett Kingsbury is brother of Tim Kingsbury, who plays bass, guitar, and the occasional keyboard for Arcade Fire.
Sonny’s song #4: Leonard Cohen, “Tower of Song,” 1988
Brad’s response: A bit of a classical piano sound within? I’m terribly curious to see if Sonny gets the brother connection between Arcade Fire and a classical pianist! Perhaps a link from a “tower of song” in the classical realm via Rachmaninoff? I like the female background singers who harken back to a sixties vibe.
In a 2014 reader’s poll, Rolling Stone listed this song as the 8th-favorite Cohen song.
The genesis of “Tower of Song”:
“Tower of Song” is the keynote work of I’m Your Man (1988, produced by Cohen on Columbia Records). With it, Cohen wanted to “make a definitive statement about the heroic enterprise of the craft” of songwriting. In the early eighties, he called the work “Raise My Voice in Song.”
His concern was with the aging songwriter, and the “necessity to transcend one’s own failure by manifesting as the singer, as the songwriter.” He had abandoned the song, but one night in Montreal, he finished the lyrics and called an engineer and recorded it in one take with a toy synthesizer.—Ira Bruce Nadel, Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen, 1996
Cohen revised the song, which contains the rumination, “I was born like this, I had no choice/I was born with the gift of a golden voice.” Ever mindful of his reputation as a “flat singer” among critics, audiences often reacted when Cohen sang these lines live. Cohen also cited Hank Williams, a songwriter he had professed great admiration for, in the song (“...a hundred floors above me...”). Cohen (1934-2016) recited the lyrics in full when he was inducted (by Lou Reed) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008:
Sonny’s rationale: It was while I was researching Rachmaninoff’s Etudes that I learned the one which Brad sent (Etude #5) had wound up being published posthumously. This got me thinking about the nature of death; how the music one makes can lend them a kind of immortality.
That led me to Leonard Cohen, who’s also Canadian (surprise, surprise). In “Tower of Song,” he sings of the heroic enterprise of songwriting. As noble as practicing the craft may be, it’s also a solitary and lonesome pursuit: “I asked Hank Williams, how lonely does it get? Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet.”
That’s OK, Cohen assures us. He’ll continue on, paying his rent every day until he dies in the tower of song. Like Brett Kingsbury. Like Brad Kyle. Like you and me and everybody else. Even Kiefer Sutherland.
Brad’s song #4: Jennifer Warnes, “These Days,” 1972
👆This was the stunning front cover photograph for Jennifer’s Jennifer album in 1972 (Reprise/Warner Bros. Records). I was 17 in ‘72, and had this album at the time, and always thought this was a gorgeous portrait of her. Those familiar with the work of longtime Warner Bros. Art Director, Ed Thrasher (1964-1979 in that position for WB), won’t be surprised to discover that the cover photo is the result of his keen eye for portraiture and design.
Fascinating show-biz-related dinner conversation must’ve filled the Thrasher home from 1962-1983; it was during that time period that Thrasher was married to actress, Linda Gray, best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on the long-running CBS-TV prime time “soap,” Dallas (1978-1991). Currently, Gray is 84, while Thrasher died of cancer at 76 in 2004.
Sonny’s response: Jennifer Warnes is a tremendous artist. Leonard Cohen recognized that as early as 1971, when they met and became instant friends. She toured with Leonard Cohen and appeared on a number of his albums, including 1988’s I’m Your Man, on which my previous selection, “Tower of Song,” appears.
Brad’s rationale: Jennifer Warnes, now 77, singing a Jackson Browne song (written, he has said, in about 1965, when he was 16—see video below), on which he plays guitar mere months after recording his 1972 self-titled debut album. Sixteen years after recording this, her third album (Jennifer, produced by John Cale on Reprise/Warner Bros. Records), she sang backing vocals on the Cohen song!
Browne shares his story on the writing of “These Days”:
1972, a busy year: Jackson Browne performed for a couple hundred people crowded into a back room at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. After the show, FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE exclusive contributor, Stephen Michael Schwartz (two years from recording his 1974 debut album for RCA Records, at age 20) grabbed a guitar off the wall, and gave Joni Mitchell and Jackson an impromptu performance of his newest song:
Excellent Tune Tag boys! Loved the snark, also the word "Canadiana".
Oh Sonny, what a song to start with! I absolutely loved the Hip when I was in Canada from 89 to 97 and “Blow at High Dough” was one of the I first songs I ever heard followed shortly thereafter by “New Orleans is Sinking”, another classic Hip jam.
Though their talent is undeniable, I’m just not a huge fan of Rush. Their music is all just a little too much for me.
For some reason that’s not too clear to me “I Just Died in your Arms” is probably one of my favorite songs of the 80s for me, nice to see it here.
Somewhat embarrassingly, I only really know of Jennifer Warned from the Dirty Dancing “Time of my Life” and her duet with Joe Cocker (“Up Where We Belong”) and I didn’t know that she started making music in the 60s. I’d always assumed she was just a 1980s flash in the pan. I might have to take a look at some of her music.