Totally Shuffled extract-Robert Parker

June 13^th

Robert Parker-Barefootin’- Nola 7” single

It’s been a while since anything popped up from New Orleans, but here is another one on a Wednesday- whilst I’m working in Preston for the day. (Preston to New Orleans-that’s more than six degrees of separation). 

Robert Parker didn’t have any other big hits, apart from this one in 1966, but sometimes selling over a million copies is enough. It was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching number 7 in America and number 24 in the U.K. It is a quintessential sixties record, extolling the values of kicking off your shoes and going barefoot. The dropped g in the title alone gives it an easy-listening type vibe. It’s got that soft gentle soul ambience, that classic soul feeling, which makes it sound timeless. I could easily imagine it being recorded as a cover next week and it would still sound good. 

Having heard so much New Orleans music in the past couple of years though, there are those trademark NOLA licks and touches, that make it just that little bit distinctive and that little bit special. It also helps, of course, that Robert Parker was the saxophonist in Professor Longhair’s band and played on “Mardi Gras in New Orleans”, as well as records by Irma Thomas, Huey “Piano” Smith, Fats Domino and many others. Not only that, but “Barefootin’” was produced by Wardell Quezergue, the famed New Orleans producer, composer and bandleader. With a pedigree like that, how could the song not be a massive success?

Some songs are so relaxed, that just hearing them puts you in a good mood. "Barefootin’” is clearly one of those. Such songs don’t (and shouldn’t) take any special effort to listen to. There‘s no need to “listen” to them-all it takes is to hear them. They should be the obvious pop hits that you may not actively love or treasure or rave about. Nevertheless, they make you understand that sometimes all you need is a simple tune (think not of something obscure or deep or meaningful,l but the obvious, optimistic and expected). Think of songs like “Walking on Sunshine”, “Stand By Me” or “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. Any number of tunes from Disney films will do the trick as well-“Be My Guest”, “Hey Ho Hey Ho It’s Off To Work We Go”, for example, just off the top of my head. I know it’s too obvious, but sometimes what’s staring you in the face is all you need to hear. 

A few years ago I did a mix CD of big tunes-largely because I was fed up of seeing crap Dad Anthem compilations advertised on the TV every Father’s Day. My big tune CD had songs on that by themselves I thought were just about alright, but when out together made a lot more sense- “The Whole Of The Moon” by The Waterboys, something by U2, Led Zeppelin, Springsteen-you get the drift. 

Maybe it’s about time that I threw together a happy mix CD- “Barefootin’” will be track one, side two. 

(See, I’ve still got that mixtape mentality).  

 "Totally Shuffled" is available here as a Kindle book (bit of a massive tome; 600 or so pages)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA 

and here as a paperback (Part 1:The First Six Months) 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Totally-Shuffled-Listening-Broken-iPod-/dp/149495687X

 

This is what it ("Totally Shuffled", the book) is all about:

One track per day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553.

From the obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex). 

From the sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse). 

From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music to The Monkees. 

From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz, classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between. 

This is what I listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to hear any more music again. 

Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated. 

Some artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of critical kicking. 

There’s memories of spending too many hours in record shops, prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that I’d completely forgotten about. 

But with 40 years of listening to music, I realised that I’ll never get sick of it. 

I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but I’ll never fall out of love with music.   

 

The Full List of all the Artists


Like me, there must be some artists you love, some you don't love and some you've probably not heard of.

Or never want to hear again.

But that's the way it goes with nearly 10,000 tracks to shuffle through at random.

These are the artists in the order they shuffled up on my iPod, starting on January 1st and finishing on December 31st.

  

January

The Clash/ Half Man Half Biscuit/ Steinski /Carl Smith with the Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle

Big Star/ The Upsettters / AC/DC /Buddy Holly/Wilco/Joy Division/High Rise

Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir/Jackie Brenston

William & Versey Smith/Boards of Canada/Randy Newman/The Blue Nile/The Chords

Wire/Steely Dan/Mercury Rev/Sigur Ros/Massive Attack v Mad Professor

Steve Reich/TheSugarcubes/U2/A Sudden Sway/Laura Cantrell/Genesis

Mbuti Pygmies of the Iruti Rainforest/The Sisters of Mercy

February

Holy Fuck/ Swans/The Sundays/My Bloody Valentine/Ja-Man

Charles Wright & the 103^rd Street Rhythm Band/Juana Molina/Sparklehorse/ The White Stripes

New Order/Dennis McGee & Ernest Fruge/Beethoven/ You.May.Die.In.The.Desert

Kate Bush/Cabaret Voltaire/Blind Lemon Jefferson/Bill Drummond/Gong

The Hold Steady/Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston/ Sunn O)))/Crass

Jelly Roll Morton/Grandmaster Flash/Led Zeppelin/Status Quo

March

Karen Cooper Complex/Spiritualized/Professor Longhair/Coldplay

Dee Clark/Prince/Teenage Jesus & The Jerks/Jeff Buckley

Young Marble Giants/Rovo/Lazy Lester/She & Him

Voodoo Ceremony in Haiti/Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers/The Woodentops

Tinariwen/Blind Blake/ Arctic Monkeys/Van Morrison/Burial/Boozoo Chavais/Teenage Fanclub

Mogwai/Nirvana/Girls/Skip James/The Lemonheads/Air Traffic Controllers

A Gril Called Eddy/ Aztec Camera/Goldfrapp

April

Evil Gazebo/ The Durutti Column/Cymbals Eat Guitars/Swell Maps/Warren Smith

The Go-Betweens/Fats Domino/Joanna Newsom/Dave Dudley/Fleetwood Mac/Lightnin Hopkins

Neil Young/Chin Up Chin Up/The Jesus Lizard/Mel & Tim/XTC/Faron Young/Electro Hippies

Rev. Gary Davies/ Robyn Hitchcock/Lee Perry/Fuck Buttons/Portastatic/The Jesus & Mary Chain

Blind Willie Davis/The Misunderstood/ The Art of Noise/The Feelies/Francoise Hardy

The Rolling Stones

May

Dracula’s Daughter/American Music Club/Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Echo & the Bunnymen

Link Davis/Television/This Mortal Coil/Elder Curry/Vampire Weekend/Scritti Politti/Battles

Immortal Technique/Pavement/Jad Fair/The Everly Brothers/Impact All Stars

Hambone Wille Newbern/The Zimmermen/Chic/Buzzcocks/Ellis Regina & Toots Theilman

The Silver/Lights In A Fat City/Althea & Donna/Phew!/Eddie & Ernie/Sly & The Family Stone/

The Parliaments/The Ruts/Muddy Waters

June

Captain Beefheart/Emmylou Harris/Jimmy Rodgers/Bob Dylan/Lush/Foetus Interruptus

Johnny Cash/Lattie Moore/Satan Alfa Beel Atem/Freddie Hall/The Ravens/Robert Parker

David Sylvian/The Stone Roses/Charlie Parker/SonnyBoy Williamson/Steve Earle/Tiny Bradshaw

Lonnie Johnson/Blind Alred Reed/Southside Johnny/The Showstoppers/L/Roy Orbison/The KLF

Tony Bennett/The Chantells/The Nightingales/Luciole

July

Some Chicken/The Meters/Kris Kristofferson/Rev A W Nix/The Flaming Lips/Big In Japan/Morphine

The Greenhornes/Ron Sexsmith/DoMaJe/Girls At Our Best! /The Masterdon Committee

Umm Kulthun/Alton Ellis & The Flames/James Brown/Brownsville Station/ The O’Jays

Jimmy Lewis/Tom Archia/Big Youth/The Smiths/The Fuckers/Nat King Cole/The 012/Group Doueh

Louis Prima/Jonsi & Alex/Carolina Buddies/Jerry Lee Lewis/Lori & The Chameleons/Dogie O’Dell

August

Frank Sinatra/Roy Head/Lara & the Trailers/King Solomon Hill/Central African Pygmies

The Beach Boys/The Pixies/ Billy Ward & His Dominos/Shep & The Limelites/The Adverts

Los Campesinos!/Elmore James/”Do you ever have a night when you don’t dream about The Fall?”

Aramic Wedding Chants/Camille/The Anemic Boyfriends/Trinity/Prefab Sprout/Bobby Marchan

The Grateful Dead/A Certain Ratio/The Beta Band/The Bell Rays/ DJ Food/

Booby Saffron & The Postal Bargains/Miles Davis/Anne Peebles/Marvin Rainwater

The Manavishnu Orchestra/Culture/Clannad 

September

Gormenghast/Tammy Wynette/Wah! Heat/Mississipi John Hurt/The Henchman/Elvis Costello

The Velvetones/Mott the Hoople/ Armando/Walter “Kid” Smith /Junior Parker/Sandy Denny

The The/The Pilgrim Travellers/Muslimgauze/The Marvelettes/Elf Power/Ry Cooder

Johnny Burnette Trio/Big Amos/Johnnie Taylor/Ronny Jordan/Brahms/John Coltrane/ O V Wright

The Fall/George Jones/The Gang of Four/Pink Floyd/Mickey Lee Lewis

October

Young Fresh Fellows/ the passage/System Fucker/The Bays/Molton Rock/De La Soul/Muse

Popol Vuh/Schubert/Curtis Mayfield/Joe South/The Beat/Sleepy John Estes/Bruce Springsteen

I Roy/Soledad Brothers/Roshell Anderson/Louis Armstrong/The Nitecaps/The Clovers

Clarence Ashby/Emitt Rhodes/Black Uhuru/Gram Parsons/Chuck Willis/Johnny Fortune/

Blind Willie McTell/Dinosaur Jr./Charles Brown

November

Billie Holliday/Rocketship/Johnny Dove & the Magnolia Playboys/MGMT/Chrome/Blue Angel

Little Axe/The Delgados/Mahler/Novem/Siouxsie & The Banshees/Charlie Mingus/The Monkees

P J Harvey/Riley Puckett/Roger Miller/The Sonics/Louis Jordan/The Raincoats/Paul McCartney

Tampa Red & Georgia Tom/ The Upholsterers/Kristina Bruuk/Green Bailey/The Blue Orchids

Harry Pussy/Shostakovich/The National/Don Covay/K T Tunstall

December

Bill Monroe/Sonic Youth/Electric Light Orchestra/Johnny Adams/The Cocteau Twins/Squeeze

The Latin Playboys/The Cherry Pies/Stevie Wonder/Toussaint McCall/Eva Cassidy

Howling Wolf/Crowded House/Stanley Winston/The Velvet Underground

Pat Metheny/Elbow/Alternative TV /Long Gone Miles/The Pernice Brothers/Paddy McAloon

Al Green/Talking Heads/Radiohead/AMM/Smokey Robinson & The Miracles/

Big Black/Joni Mitchell/Madonna/The Birthday Party/Honeyboy