Luck

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For this week’s midweek offering I thought I’d go with another of John Holton’s prompts for his Writer’s Workshop. The one I have chosen is his #1: write a post based on the word luck. I could have waxed lyrical about having won on both our National Lottery and the Postcode Lottery in the past week, but as the combined prizes amount to £42 I won’t have much of a story to tell! So I thought I’d do it my own usual way, by playing a set of songs with luck (or, mostly, lucky) in their titles. As I already have my Tuesday Tunes series I wondered if this could be the start of another for my collection: Thurthday Thongth, anyone? Maybe, maybe not. But here are five great songs to brighten your day.

I’m guessing that many of you will only know a few of these, at best, but that is part of the fun for me: I enjoy dredging things up from the recesses of my musical tastes which I hope you will like too. I’m starting with one of my favourite bands, who have featured here several times before. Even if you know Oysterband, this isn’t one of their best known songs, and as the only live versions I can find are audience ones of dodgy quality I’m going with the original recording:

As the clip shows, Be My Luck was a track on the band’s Deep Dark Ocean album, which was released in 1997. It also featured on their double compilation album, Granite Years, which came out in 2000. In some ways it is a sad little song, in which the singer is asking for help to lift him out of his situation, but the jaunty tune really carries you along with it, and I’m always a sucker for a well-played mandolin.

Next up is one from another long time favourite of mine:

Alison Krauss and Union Station released The Lucky One in August 2001 on their album New Favorite, which peaked at #35 in the US and #72 in the UK, also making #3 on the US Country Albums chart. The song was the first of three singles taken from the album and was the only one to make a chart entry – just #46 in the US Country listings. That is probably why they made a video for it, so I was in luck there. As with everything they do, it is beautifully played and sung: gorgeous song, gorgeous video. And they have a new album coming out next month – I can hardly wait!

I mentioned this next one to a blogging friend in a comments chat last week, and then my luck was in again when John gave us his prompts for this week: I could share it with all of you, not just one! Again, this is one I suspect won’t be known to many, but I hope you like it as much as I do:

A little gem, and so typical of the reflective songs that Ryan Adams has given us. Lucky Now was released as a single in August 2011, as the lead track on his album Ashes & Fire, which came out that October. The single didn’t do all that much, just a few low chart placings in Europe though it did make #1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay listing. The album, however, did much better, getting to #9 in the UK and #7 in the US, and also made #21 in Canada. The song started off as a tribute to Chris Feinstein, a fellow band member of Ryan in the Cardinals, who died in December 2009 at just 42: this was ruled as an accident by the coroner, stemming from prior health issues and adverse reaction to over-the-counter cough medicine. Ryan has said that this was a difficult one for him to write but he was pleased with how it finally turned out: I think you can see why.

Back in March 1992 Bruce Springsteen took the almost unprecedented step of releasing two albums on the same day. Lucky Town was one of them:

The album reached #3 in the US and #2 in the UK: the other one released on that day, Human Touch, was a US #2 and UK #1. In its original release Lucky Town was very much a solo record, on which Bruce played all of the instruments. The version I’m playing here was from a live performance with a band recorded for MTV in September 1992, which was then released on record in April 1993, peaking at #4 in the UK and, wait for it, #189 in the US. For some reason they didn’t take to it, and it had a fairly negative set of reviews which appear to have dented its chances. A lesson for Americans from 30+ years ago that you shouldn’t believe everything the media tell you.

Having worked my way through folk rock, country/bluegrass, alt-country, and rock how should I close? How about a bit of prog rock from way back:

In case you didn’t know it, that was Emerson Lake and Palmer with Lucky Man. The original video for the song is still around but is a little grainy with age, so I’m playing a newer official lyric video from three and bit years ago. The song was first released as the closing track to their eponymous debut album in November 1970, and then as a single in December. The album got to #4 in the UK and #18 in the US, going Gold in both, though the single fared much less well, only making #48 in the US and not charting at all in the UK. I’ve had to double and triple check that detail, as my memory was that it was a massive hit here and was all over the radio at that time! It’s probably a good thing that I wasn’t taking bets on that, or my luck would have run out. Wikipedia does say that radio airplay of the single contributed to the album’s success, so I guess I was vaguely correct!

That’s my lot for today, with the first edition of what may become an occasional series of Thurthday Thongth. My thankth, thorry, thanks to John for the prompt and for his continuing support of the Writer’s Workshop. This has been a good theme for me, so don’t be surprised if it makes a Tuesday appearance at some point. I’ll see you again on Sunday, so until then be safe, warm and happy, and above all be lucky 🍀

 

44 thoughts on “Luck”

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  6. With the exception of the first one, I knew all your chosen songs today, Clive …. and even though I didn’t know the first one, I enjoyed it very much
    Alison Krauss is such a delight and this video is both wonderful to see and hear. With her peachy coloring and that lovely little slip of a dress, she looked like a yummy creamsicle on a hot summer day. If you don’t have creamsicles in the UK, look it up and you’ll see what I mean.
    Wonderful lineup, Clive. 😊

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    • Thank you, Nancy, I’m pleased you enjoyed these. Alison and the boys are great, aren’t they, and though I don’t know what a creamsicle is she did look good enough to eat. Oysterband, the first one, are one of my favourite bands.

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      • A creamsicle is a frozen treat on a stick made from a combination of orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream. As a kid, I never liked them, favoring instead the ever-popular Fudgesicle. Creamsicle is more an acquired taste, one that can be appreciated by a mature palate ….. much like Alison Krauss. Quite tasty!

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      • A good comparison! I looked it up and it seems like a version of what was called a Mivvi here when I was growing up. A choice of outer flavours – orange, strawberry, raspberry and pineapple – and now known here simply as Strawberry Split etc. I always liked them.

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  10. ‘When I was drunk and handsome’, what an excellent opening line to a song.

    Love the Ryan Adams song, and his pure vocal on that performance, thanks for including that in your choice. Also love the Alison Krauss song which I have on a playlist and hear often. Lucky Town was definitely, in my opinion, the better of those two albums and this song one of the best on it. Great choices Clive.

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    • It is, isn’t it. They write some great lyrics and have been doing it for a long time!

      I chose that Ryan Adams performance in preference to the recorded version: what it missed in musical accompaniment was more than compensated by the feeling he put into a song which means a lot to him.

      I’m with you on Alison Krauss: for me she can do no wrong. And I agree on the Springsteen albums too.

      Glad you enjoyed the selection, Paul 👍

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  15. I am thrilled I actually knew a few of them today, Clive. I had begun to think my hard rock roots had caused me to miss out on an entire generation of music, but in cam Bruce, Ryan and ELP to prove my theory wrong. Pleasure being here this morning.

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