Stop This World, Let Me Off: Mose Allison Checks Out
OK. Seriously, 2016, WTF?
David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Leon Russell, Bobby Vee, Dan Hicks, Sir Neville Marriner, Blowfly, George Martin, Keith Emerson, Gato Barbieri, Leon Haywood, Glenn Frey, Shawty Lo, Matt Roberts, Lou Pearlman, Sandy Pearlman, Bobby Hutcherson, Bernie Worrell, David Swarbrick, Rob Wasserman, Pete Fountain, Rudy van Gelder.
Prince, Prince Be, Prince Buster, Bob Cranshaw, Victor Bailey, Paul Kantner, Maurice White, Vanity, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Phife Dawg, Kay Starr, Merle Haggard, James Woolley, Toots Thielesmans, John Berry, Stanley Dural, Jr., Rod Temperton, Phil Chess, Don Ciccone, Andy Newman, Robert Stigwood, Lonnie Mack, Billy Paul, Buster Cooper, Candye Kane, Wayne Jackson.
And that represents less than a quarter of the musicians we have lost this year. Chances are you know some, recognize a few more, and are not familiar with many on the list.
Add one more to the “probably unfamiliar” list, although it is for certain you know his music, at least as covered by other artists.
“I’m Not Talkin’” by the Yardbirds. “Parchman Farm” by Jethro Tull. “Look Here” by The Clash. “Top Forty” by Bonnie Raitt. “Wildman on the Loose” by John Mayall. “Young Man Blues” by The Who. “Everybody Cryin’ Mercy” by Elvis Costello. “I Don’t Worry ‘Bout a Thing” by Van Morrison. “Your Molecular Structure” by Maria Muldaur. “Middle Class White Boy” by Dave van Ronk. “Your Mind is On Vacation” by Vassar Clements.
So very many musicians have performed the music of Mose Allison, who left the building Tuesday, November 15th. He had just celebrated his 89th birthday on Veterans’ Day. Attempts to classify Allison’s music always fall short of the mark. He was a jazz pianist who played the blues, country folk, and very soulful music, always with a delightful if demented twist.
As the very abbreviated list of covers shows, Allison was much revered, especially by the members of the British invasion including the Stones, the Who, Van Morrison of Them, Jethro Tull, and John Mayall. Many American artists such as Dave van Ronk, Bonnie Raitt and Johnny Winter also covered his sardonic songs.
Allison grew up in Mississippi, and his music certainly bears the stamp of the Delta blues, most prominently in “Parchman Farm,” a song about a Mississippi prison. He could be laconic one moment and swing his ass off the next. He considered jazz as home base, reaching out in many directions but always returning home.
His breakthrough album was 1962’s I Don’t Worry About a Thing. The full song title is “I Don’t Worry About a Thing (Because I Know Nothing Will Turn out Right).” Addison Farmer and Osie Johnson were his rhythm section on that landmark recording. He worked with jazz giants such as Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan but played primarily in trio settings.
The lyrics of Mose Allison are brilliant, poignant, sometimes brutal, often funny but spot on. He is often discussed in the same conversation with writers such as Bob Dorough and David Frishberg, some of the wittiest song men in the business.
Consider his anti-war screeds such as “Everybody Cryin’ Mercy:” “Everybody cryin’ peace on earth, just as soon as we win this war.” And in “I Know You Didn’t Mean It,” he offers the ultimate Cold War statement: “I know you didn’t mean it when you blew us up. You just happened to think it was a good idea.”
But his signature tune features lyrics which were true 54 years ago when he wrote them and will be just as true 54 years from now (and long after that):
You’re sitting there yakkin’ right in my face
I guess I’m gonna have to put you in your place
Y’know if silence was golden
You couldn’t raise a dime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is
Working overtimeYou’re quoting figures, you’re dropping names
You’re telling stories about the dames
You’re always laughin’ when things ain’t funny
You try to sound like you’re big money
If talk was criminal, you’d lead a life of crime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is
Working overtimeYou know that life is short and talk is cheap
Don’t be making promises that you can’t keep
If you don’t like the song I’m singing, just grin and
Bear it
All I can say is if the shoe fits wear it
If you must keep talking please try to make it rhyme
‘Cause your mind is on vacation and your mouth is working
Overtime
As Mose Allison sang: “Stop this world, it’s not making sense.”
No mas, 2016. No mas!
