12 October 2006

 

October 12, 2006

"Funky Liza" by New Orleans Nightcrawlers
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Well this is just a four star song by a four star band on a four star album (all from a four star city). Funky, funky, fun, swinging, get up and move kind of music. The kind of music that makes it look to the outsider that I may suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome (but it's just the rhythm).

Apparently the song is based on an old traditional brass band tune called "Little Liza Jane". I wasn't familiar with the title, but when I listened to a few versions I was familiar with the tune. So that's either because of the similarity with "Funky Liza" or because at some point I heard the song around New Orleans and Mardi Gras and such. But then, if you dig a little deeper, you find that this song is a real traditional number and there are all kinds of bluegrass, jazz, and country renditions. And that's even more interesting to me because I read about the history of a song called St. James Infirmary, which ties back throught the history of New Orleans music, to traditional country, all the way to England - the old country - under some other names. Who'd have thought that modern funky brass band music comes from such traditional sources

Now if you search the internet for this kind of stuff, it turns out there are lots of people who spend a good amount of time making these connections and documenting them for posterity, and it's not so uncommon knowledge, but it's new knowledge for me and that's all right.

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