Track LisTingI Was Stabbed By SatanWorld Series ’57On The RoadProud MaryAcrobatDock EllisThe Old Black RumMarianneWhen Susannah CriesTrain Song41 ThundererMurder IncorporatedOn The RunGod’s Gonna Cut You DownBack Where We Began

K’NaanJohn McCutcheonJohn DenverCreedence Clearwater RevivalTurnstoneZachariah & the Lobos RidersGreat Big SeaLongue DistanceLind, Holm, Nilsen & FuentesVashti BunyanDave Carter & Tracy GrammerBruce SpringsteenGangstagrassJohnny CashTodd Coyle

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.

This mixtape isn’t my favorite collection of songs ever, but it’s the mix I’m most impressed with myself for making, because it’s a tight concept album. From beginning to end, the album traces the path of a a single life, a nameless, wandering man.

After an introduction (“I Was Stabbed by Satan”), the album works through a hopeful childhood (“World Series ’57” and “On The Road”) into young adulthood, as the nameless character sets out to earn a living (“Proud Mary”). But he finds failure is an all-too-real possibility when out on your own (“Acrobat”).

As a strong young man, he accomplishes great things despite substance abuse (“Dock Ellis”) but soon his addictions catch up to him and affect his personal life (“The Old Black Rum”). His girlfriend nearly leaves him before giving him another chance (“Marianne”), but eventually he leaves her for another girl. This doesn’t last long, and soon he’s on the road again trying to track down a past love (“Train Song”).

With the dangers of the road, he begins packing heat (“41 Thunderer”), then falls into crime and kills someone (“Murder Incorporated”), which leads to a life as an outlaw (“On The Run”) and inevitable death (“God’s Gonna Cut You Down”) before the entire cycle begins again (“Back Where We Began”).

I wa

s st

ab

bed

1

On the day thatI was born“ ”

by satan This song by the Somali-born rapper K’Naan is framed by an old wives’ tale he learned growing up — that the reason babies cry at birth is because “Satan stabs a child at birth, as an introduction to pain — y’know, welcome to the world, right?”

This sets the theme for the entire mix — that pain is part of the human experience, even from the very beginning. The verses tell the story of a “poor black ghetto child” who descends into violence, which ends, predictably, in tragedy and death. But K’Naan holds out hope at the end, that this cycle of violence doesn’t have to be endless and future generations can break free.

That glimmer of hope doesn’t break through in this mix, though it will rise up again in the final song.

world serIes ’57

It was coolin October“

”

2 Even rough lives don’t necessarily start off sadly. This song charts a happy childhood, fixed around the rituals of baseball and time spent with one’s father.

The music is a little schmaltzy, but that works in the context of this mix — this is a song of childhood, before innocence is replaced by cynicism.

“World Series ’57” tells of a man who grows up and recreates his childhood glories with his own children, which is not the story this mix tells. But the broader idea is one of nostalgia for the halcyon days of youth. Our hero’s life will eventually take a turn for the worse, denying him the chance to return to the simple pleasures of his youth.

3

We didn’tknow whowe were

“

”

on the road Now we’re in adolescence, as the idea of a restless, rootless life takes hold. Life is still happy and without serious consequence in this song from John Denver’s 1974 album.

Thematically, this establishes both the appeal and shortcomings of a life on the road. Travelling enables new experiences that someone rooted at home will never get — but also can leave those experiences transitory, like the pretty girl in the truck cafe who enters and leaves the budding protagonist’s life in the space of ten minutes.

4The way thingsmight have been“

”

Proud mary Fully grown, the protagonist sets out to earn a living and support himself. But a safe, “good job in the city” just doesn’t satisfy. Instead, he heads off to work a riverboat, which keeps always “rollin’, rollin’ on the river,” as CCR sings in this classic.

Things start out well. On the river, he sees the world from a new perspective, and relishes in the friendliness of strangers. Despite being constantly moving, he never loses “one minute of sleepin’ worryin’ ‘bout the way things might have been.”

That comes later.

5 acrobatStir ourdreams“ ”

This song is a little less story-driven than the others, full of cryptic lyrics, but it establishes the first big thematic twist.

In the context of this mix, “Acrobat” by the obscure group Turnstone highlights the harsh reality of the adult life, in contrast to “the make-believe” of childhood. The grand sights of this life “stir our dreams,” but in this show, there’s no safety net. It’s the “circus where the acrobats daren’t fall.”

Our hero will learn this lesson the hard way, very soon. For now, though, he continues to soar.

6A winwouldcompli-mentmy loss

“

”dock ellIs

In the full flush of youth, the protagonist accomplishes great things, portrayed allegorically by this tale of baseball pitcher Dock Ellis’s no-hitter against the San Diego Padres.

But as anyone familiar with Ellis’s story knows, the seeds of potential ruin were present at the time of his singular triumph. Ellis (or so he later claimed) pitched his no-hitter while tripping on LSD. Though the drug almost causes him to miss the game, Ellis performs masterfully.

Ellis eventually got himself sober and lived a reasonably long life counseling addicts. But not everyone riding this tiger gets off as easily.

the old black rum7

Like a dog wrapped‘roundmy leg

“

”

Now our protagonist’s addiction has taken over his life. In Newfoundland folk-rockers Great Big Sea’s drinking song, the “old black rum’s got a hold on me, like a dog wrapped ’round my leg.”

He drinks all his money and sleeps in the rain, gets into fights — and knows at the end of each day that he’s “gonna do it again.”

In one of their live CDs, the band jokes that there’s a “misconception” about them that “because we had our apprenticeship in the pubs of Atlantic Canada... it is said we do a lot of drinking songs.”

Untrue, the band members insist with a straight face.“We actually do anti-drinking songs,” one says.This song certainly qualifies. (The rest of Great Big Sea’s oeuvre,

alas, is a bit light on the “anti” part.)

8 marIanne

tu m’fais languir“

”

This song’s in French, so most of you probably won’t understand it. It’s actually in Québecois French, so I hardly understand it, either, and I studied French for the better part of a decade.

Here’s a rough summary. At the beginning the singer sings the praises of his love, Marianne, and asks her to “fly away” with him. But even in his love, he fears the worst and expects her to dump him for another. He pleads with her to “give me one night” — and she agrees to give him a chance.

(It’s possible, of course, that my rusty French and the Québecois patois have combined to leave me entirely wrong about this song’s meaning.)

For the purposes of this mix, this song illustrates that our hero’s romantic life has its problems. Even with his prior problems, he’s still somewhat functional, and can reach receptive ears with his heartfelt pleas.

But his true enemy isn’t what Marianne will decide to do. It’s his own choices that will hurt him the most.

wh

en s

usa

nn

ah

I’m leaving tonight“

”9

crIe

sAnd now the shoe is on the other foot. The protagonist’s

girlfriend is desperately in love with him — and knows, deep inside, that he doesn’t love her back in the same way. Indeed, the hero suspects, “she knows about me and you.”

The same man (in this mix) who once begged his girlfriend for another chance now is the one doing the dumping. He’s off to a new girl and a new city, unwilling to remain any longer even though “she’ll always be my baby.”

It’s the curse of wanderlust again, returning to sabotage the hero’s personal life, to finish what drugs and alcohol started.

The song was apparently a 1997 hit in Europe when it was released by Norwegian singer-songwriter-producer Espen Lind. This particular version was recorded by Lind and three other Norwegian singers for a live, harmony-rich concert.

10

Itwon’t

belong

“

”

traIn sonGVashti Bunyan’s recording of this song languished in obscurity —

her few recordings sold so little she abandoned music altogether — was revitalized when Reebok used it in a commercial featuring NFL players.

It describes someone on the move, trying to reconnect with his or her former lover. The singer doesn’t “even know what I’ll say when I find you” and admits their love is “over and gone,” but insists “I know where I belong.”

Given that the unidentified singer is our hero, we have a tale of a man on the move again, trying to reconnect with a lost love. He insists over and over again “it won’t be long,” as if trying to convince himself this last journey will solve everything.

But from what we know, this journey won’t end well. Our hero doesn’t have it in him to stay in one place. Soon enough he’ll be on the road again, searching for yet another love. And not all roads are safe...

41 thunderer11

PridefulI stumbledFoolishI fell

“

”

When on the move, many people bring weapons for their own protection, and our hero — to his detriment — is one of them. This song, by the late songwriter Dave Carter and his partner Tracy Grammer, has a Western theme about a lone gunfighter and the true love of his life — a .41 Colt Thunderer six-shooter pistol.

Carter describes the gun in delightfully mixed metaphors:slender and wicked, flame in her eyes

pearl white and nickel ‘round the curve of her thighssmooth as dry whiskey, but cold to caress

she slid like a viper from her tooled leather dressArmed with this formidable ally, the gunman fears “not the

lawman nor the thief in the night, nor angel nor devil.” But the weapon soon begins to control the fighter — “her hunger burned blazes till it felt like my own; her wandering heart drove me wild and alone.”

What was once an expediency for protection has now taken over our hero’s life, as violence sometimes does for those made of weaker stuff. This will lead to nothing good.

12 murder Inc.

You can’t compete“ ”

Bruce Springsteen’s “Murder Incorporated” starts off with a man and a gun, a place with which we’re by now familiar. But he’s now out of his depth — a cold-blooded killer, he’s up against organized crime, with which he “can’t compete.”

He’s “never out of danger,” despite small comfort from his steel companion, and finds his life even more consumed by crime and violence than before: “Everywhere you look, life ain’t got no soul.”

Frustrated and isolated, Springsteen kills off his character as “just another homicide,” but our hero won’t get off quite so easily.

Either walk or fly I’m readyto die

“

”

on the run13 The climax of our hero’s sad, soon-to-be-abbreviated life is in the first verse of this song, by bluegrass-hip-hop fusion artists Gangstagrass. A petty criminal, he shoots a cop and knows his end is coming: “soon I’ll be chillin’ with Elvis and Hitler.”

But he’s not sitting by to accept his doom. Instead, our hero goes “on the run,” swearing he’ll “never be behind bars” and promising to “take a few of ‘em with me.”

As he tries to escape the coming heat, knowing he’ll fail, the protagonist reflects on the cycle of death and pain K’Naan introduced in the first song of the album: “The war is on, and it’s never gonna end. Some people know what’s up, some people like to pretend.”

14G

od

’s G

on

na Youcanrun onfor alongtime

“

”

cut you down Returning to classic artists, I break out a little Man In Black and his gospel-fueled, late-career hit, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.”

Getting all spiritual about life as a sinner, Cash insists that being on the run is at best a temporary expedient. Eventually, one runs out of space to run and ends up before his maker.

Cash holds out repentance as the only way out of this doom, but things are too late for our poor hero, a “long-tongued liar” and “midnight rider” who has reached the end of his line.

15 back where

Onestepat a time

“

”w

e beG

an

And here we reach the end, getting philosophical again with the prospect of a do-over. Echoing ideas of reincarnation, Todd Coyle looks “back where we began” when “we all had dreams.”

This song isn’t really my kind of music, but it’s a perfect capstone to this concept album, advocating a life of facing our demons and going through life “one step at a time.”

In the first song, K’Naan hinted at the possibility of an end to the cycle of violence, and “Back Where We Began” suggests with another do-over in a new generation, we can make different choices. Perhaps a more measured approach by our wandering hero would have prevented his death as an unloved fugitive sinner.

Or perhaps all this is far too overwrought, and we should just enjoy the music.

Photo credits:Track listing: David Montgomery, red sunset over the South Da-kota Capitol, July 20, 2009, Pierre, SD1. K’Naan in concert, from www.theurbanian.com2. Stolen from http://dmont.co/333. Stolen from http://dmont.co/344. Public domain, accessed via http://dmont.co/355. Stock art, used freely from http://dmont.co/366. By James Blagden, from http://dmont.co/377. Kraken rum, stolen from seemydrink.com: http://dmont.co/1da8. Band “Longue Distance,” from http://dmont.co/389. Creative Commons, from http://dmont.co/3910. Album cover from http://dmont.co/3f11. “Young Guns” still, from http://dmont.co/3a12. Gangster police lineup, from http://dmont.co/3b13. Unknown origin, from http://dmont.co/3c14. Public domain, from http://dmont.co/3d15. “Ascending and Descending,” from http://dmont.co/3e