Ry Cooder, Captain Beefheart, John Handy : Hard Work! Hard Work!

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Hard Work. Hard Work.

Never killed anyone.

Or so the sages say.

But, Lord, Lord, it sure can make you dog tired.

What brought me to these thoughts?

Moving House.

Moving up into the hills.

Farming country criss crossed with ancient footpaths.

Moving all our stuff.

All our stuff.

All the Books!

All the Vinyl!

All the DVDs and CDs.

All the accumulated treasures and trifles of a lifetime to be boxed, bagged and loaded.

Now that is hard work!

Hard Work.

So, Dear Readers, precious little time to research and ponder deeply before writing.

So, so, I set the numbskulls free to roam in my brain’s music data base with ‘Hard Work’ as the search tag.

And, look what emerged!

From the 1970s two paens to the Working Life.

First up Saxophonist John Handy.

An alumnus of the Great Charles Mingus Band.

Classic solo on, ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’

Here, he digs in and you just gotta go with the groove.

Hard Work. Hard Work.

Next. From the Soundtrack of Paul Schrader’s, directorial debut, ‘Blue Collar’ the one and only Captain Beefheart in the guise of a classic Blues Singer with, ‘Hard Working Man’.

Can’t you feel the gears grinding and the metal shuddering!

A constellation of talent on show.

Written and produced by Jack Nitzsche a shadowy guiding hand and presence involved with many great records for decades.

Guitar by Ry Cooder.

Ry has impact whenever he plays.

Hard Work! Hard Work!

73 thoughts on “Ry Cooder, Captain Beefheart, John Handy : Hard Work! Hard Work!”

  1. Loved the Handy tune ((#1) – especially the jazzy instrumentals. New to me, so thanks for sharing. It brings to mind late-nights in smoky Manhattan venues, barely room to move, listening to the “cats” jam after getting off their regular gigs. Good days!

    I know from the other offering you posted on this week’s Senior Salon that the packing part of your hard work is now behind you for the most part. NOW comes the hard work of UNpacking and organizing, so keep that track handy. 🙂
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
    ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
    “It takes a village to educate a world!”

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  2. Hard work is the root to content, I do believe. But mostly I am amazed that mid move you are even able to write let alone construct a wonderful piece that weaves in great music. Your signature, of course. Bon courage et bons déménagements

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