Big Chill Double Decker

One of my favorite movies and soundtracks is "The Big Chill" with its window on a generation. It featured 14 great songs that acted both as music for the film and commentary on the interaction of the characters. This week you get your choice of two songs to use for your Take This Tune prompt. Hope you have as much fun as the cast did in the kitchen.

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Ain't Too Proud To Beg - The Temptations

I know you wanna leave me,
But I refuse to let you go
If I have to beg and plead for your sympathy,
I don't mind coz' you mean that much to me

Ain't too proud to beg, sweet darlin
Please don't leave me girl, don't you go
Ain't to proud to plead, baby, baby
Please don't leave me, girl, don't you go

Now I heard a cryin' man,
Is half a man with no sense of pride
But if I have to cry to keep you,
I don't mind weepin' if it'll keep you by my side

Ain't to proud to beg, sweet darlin
Please don't leave me girl, don't you go
Ain't to proud to plead, baby, baby
Please don't leave me girl, don't you go

If I have to sleep on your doorstep
All night and day just to keep you from walkin' away
Let your friends laugh, even this I can stand
Because I want to keep you any way I can

Ain't too proud to beg, sweet darlin'
Please don't leave me girl, don't you go
Ain't to proud to plead, baby, baby
Please don't leave me girl, don't you go

Now I've gotta love so deep in the pit of my heart
And each day it grows more and more
I'm not ashamed to come and plead to you baby
If pleadin' keeps you from walkin' out that door

Ain't too proud to beg, you know it sweet darlin'
Please don't leave me girl, don't you go
Ain't to proud to plead, baby, baby
Please don't leave me girl, don't you go
Baby, baby, baby, baby (sweet darling)



You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Rolling Stones

I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was footloose man

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need

I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need

I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"
I said to him

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need

You get what you need--yeah, oh baby

I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need

The House That Built Me

Whew! Almost forgot to put up a song. Now if someone other than Travis would join in, I would appreciate it. Just sign in any time this week if you have a story about what made you you.

The House That Built Me - Miranda Lambert

I know they say you can’t go home again
I just had to come back one last time
Ma’am I know you don’t know me from Adam
But these handprints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs in that little back bedroom
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar
I bet you didn’t know under that live oak
My favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could walk around I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

Mama cut out pictures of houses for years
From Better Homes and Gardens magazine
Plans were drawn and concrete poured
Nail by nail and board by board
Daddy gave life to mama’s dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could walk around in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

You leave home and you move on and you do the best you can
I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I walk around I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

South Coast of Texas

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I love story songs, slice of life songs, places that will never come again songs. Here is one of the best. Guy Clark's picture of the South Coast of Texas, his youth and the people he knew whose way of life is disappearing in favor of the tourists who don't know what they missed. So do you have a story of a place and time now gone.



The South Coast of Texas

The south coast of Texas is a thin slice of life
It's salty and hard it is stern as a knife
Where the wind is for blwon' up hurricanes for showin'
The snakes how to swim and the trees how to lean

Chorus

The shrimpers and their ladies are out in the beer joints
Drinkin' em down for they sail with the dawn
They're bound for the Mexican Bay of Campeche
And the deck hands are singin' adios Jolie Blon

There's snowbirds in search of that sunshine and night life
And fond of greasin' palms down the beach as they're goin'
This livin' on the edge of the waters of the world
Demands the dignity of whooping cranes and
The likes of Gilbert Roland

Chorus

In the cars of my youth how I tore thru those sand dunes
Cut up my tires on them oyster shell roads
But nothin' is forever say the old men in the shipyards
Turnin' trees into shrimp boats Hell I guess they ought to know

Chorus

Big City Blues

Cocktails and Broken Hearts

Jack Vettriano

This week's Take This Tune is a little different.  About 30 years ago, Barry Manilow made a jazz album with some of his favorite musicians and singers.  There is a whole video of the making of 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe on You Tube and well worth watching to see how musicians and singers come together to create a theme album.  Since it goes back to his jazz roots, this is a Manilow album for even those who think they don't like Manilow.

Below is a small piece of the documentary  featuring a consummate jazz singer Mel Torme and jazz musician Manilow creating Big City Blues which is about as classic a sound as you can get.  So take this tune and maybe tell us something about a big city or the blues or just hopes about love.




Mel Torme:

Much of my life has been spiced with romance

Barry Manilow:

Too many bedrooms I've slept in by chance

Mel Torme:

Drownin' out my sorrow

Barry Manilow:

Longin' for tomorrow

Both:

Caught up in the big city blues

Barry Manilow:

Rain pourin' down from a cold winter sky

Mel Torme:

Don't wanna smile and I'm too sad to cry

Barry Manilow:

Clouds hangin' above me

Mel Torme:

No one there to love me

Both:

Guess it's just the big city blues

Barry/Mel:

Someday I'll find me the dream that I'm after
I'll know her with only a glance
She'll make me smile
and she'll fill me with laughter
and our love will be like a dance

Skies will be clear and the sweet sun will shine
I'll hold her near and I'll know that she´s mine
No more stormy weather
Love will last forever
Good-bye to the big city blues