J Dub to Jacksonville

"J Dub"  Boxcutter  Glyphic
"J.B. Shout"  Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s  Funky Good Time: The Anthology
"Ja Funmi"  King Sunny Ade  Juju Music
"Jabuticaba"  Bebel Gilberto  Bebel Gilberto
"Jackie, Dressed In Cobras"   The New Pornographers  Twin Cinemas
"Jackpot"  The English Beat  Can't Stop It
"Jackrabbits"  Joanna Newsom  Have One On Me
"Jackson"  Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash  At Folsom Prison [6/8/11 - link is to San Quentin, not Folsom]
"Jackson"  Lucinda Williams  Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
"Jacksonville"  Sufjan Stevens  Illinois

  The Super Bowl happened yesterday, and that has nothing to do with the songs in this set (except in the sense that none of these artists have ever performed at a Super Bowl - James Brown was in the halftime in 1997, but not the J.B.'s).  However, I had a couple of music-related thoughts about that event.

  I have invested some space here discussing the value of a cover song, and a cover discussion of sorts broke out over the national anthem.  Christina Aguilera is being pilloried for her performance.  While the biggest part of this is certainly due to her failing to get all of the words right, a recurring theme among some bloggers and critics is that she didn't "sing it right" regardless of the lyrics.  The idea is that this song has only one "proper" reading, and any attempt to make it one's own is sacrilege - that it is somehow a song that cannot be covered.  This, of course, is bullshit.  The idea that the national anthem has only one true reading is ridiculous.  Like a cover of any other song, the artist has to bring his/her own voice the song.  Jimi Hendrix's version of this song is a sacrilege?  Well - perhaps, and perhaps that was the intent.  But Whitney Houston's Super Bowl version is revered, and it bears little resemblance to the way the average person would sing this song (I would also note that Whitney prerecorded her version - less chance of the kind of response Christina is receiving).  At Super Bowls alone, about 40 different artists have performed this song.  It is inconceivable that performers as diverse as Aaron Neville, Garth Brooks, and the Backstreet Boys would sing any song in exactly the same manner (or that you would expect them to).  As with any cover, there are certainly good versions and bad versions, but to say that there is a "right" version is inane.

  The list of performers linked above (both of the national anthem singers and of the halftime shows) is a fascinating piece of history.  It documents the growth of the Super Bowl from a football championship in the 1960s to the television-driven media event it is today. As the Super Bowl became bigger, the list serves to track fluctuations of popular opinion.  The first two games (and Super Bowl IX) featured marching bands.  The last instrumental performance of the anthem was 1988 - by Herb Alpert.  While the seventies started to see national names performing the anthem, there were still performers like The Colgate Thirteen (1979), and Phyllis Kelly (1978).  The former is an a capella group from Colgate University, and the latter is from what is now University of Louisiana - Monroe (she may have been the same Phyllis Kelly who was Miss Louisiana 1978, but that Phyllis Kelly apparently is from Southeastern Louisiana University).  Since the mid- to late-1980s, the anthem has become a part of the Super Bowl hype machine, and now serves as a history of the most popular music of a particular time.  Because the anthem is a pretty demanding song (not just in its arrangement, but in the expectations laid upon the singer), this list is more conservative than the halftime performers [which I am not sure they have ever gotten right], and rewards those the public views as not merely popular, but a substantial vocal talent.  However, the list is not without its questionable decisions (Garth Brooks?  Billy Joel twice!!).  The sole exception to the list of popular entertainers is 2005, when there was a retrenching after Janet Jackson's halftime boobsplosion, and the combined military choirs sang the anthem. 

  Anyway.  Things actually related to this set, in no particular order:

• A Jabuticaba is a South American fruit tree that produces grape-like fruit.  The trees sometimes are used for Bonsai.
• "Jackson" is one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs, and it is stronger here than the studio version.  June Carter is absolutely growling through her verses, and it is one of the highlights of one my cliched "desert island" albums.  I also enjoy the banter at the start, particularly when June says, "I'm glad to be back in Folsom!" 
• The Lucinda Williams song is not a cover, just shares a name.
• I like the Boxcutter track, but I am wracking  my brain to find a context in which it would be appropriate.  The most obvious answer is no longer relevant to me.  Maybe background for a quiet party - like all back to my place after the bar - but it has some intrusive squonks.  I could see driving, but it drones, and late at night that could be dangerous..  It could work if you need to clear a dance floor after last call.