On The Sixth Day...

This song would probably work better for day 12 but what can you do. Possibly the easiest Christmas  song to parody and oh yes, there will be parodies. We start out with Johnny Cash and the Cash family singing The Twelve Days of Christmas on the Johnny Cash show.

More versions after the jump

Boooo!tiful Tunes

I made a pretty pretty prettyyy great playlist of some pseudo Halloween songs. My sister made the amazin' artwork and Bill came up with the title. Don't listen with the lights off...

1. David Bowie – Please Mr. Gravedigger
2. The Meteors – Corpse Grinder
3. Tom Waits – Whistlin’ Past The Graveyard
4. Roy Orbison – Running Scared (Live)
5. Roky Erickson – Bloody Hammer (Live)
6. Grandpaboy (Paul Westerberg) – Vampires & Failures
7. John Doe – Hotel Ghost
8. The Gun Club – A Devil In The Woods
9. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Little Ghost Song
10. Neil Young – Vampire Blues
11. Skip James – Devil Got My Woman
12. Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
13. Black Sabbath – Children Of The Grave
14. Johnny Cash – Ain’t No Grave
15. The Whites Stripes – Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground
16. Elvis Costello – Ghost Train
17. Bo Diddley – Bo Meets The Monster
18. The Flaming Lips – Halloween On The Barbary Coast
19. Eels – Friendly Ghost
20. John Frusciante – The Will To Death
21. The Cure – Fear Of Ghosts
22. Neutral Milk Hotel – Ghost
23. Joy Division – Dead Souls
24. Joe Henry – Scare Me To Death
25. New York Dolls – Frankenstein
26. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – I Put A Spell On You
27. The Cramps – Zombie Dance
28. The Black Keys – Stack Shot Billy
29. The Pogues – Down In The Ground Where The Dead Men Go

Download

The Darkness of Johnny and Bonnie

Rick Rubin gave the world quite the gift when he convinced Johnny Cash to record cover versions of modern songs. The most well known being Cash's brilliant cover of 'Hurt' originally done by Nine Inch Nails. The perfect final single for an American legend. Cash was able to perform songs by Soundgarden, U2, and Depeche Mode with honesty. This was a man who understood the depths of the songs. Many of the tracks he truly made his own and turned them into the definitive version. However, there is one song that Cash was unable to corral.

Although still a fantastic recording, 'I See A Darkness' exists in that special place where the song is better than anyone who records it. Originally by Bonnie "Prince" Billy  (stage name of Will Oldham) it can be found on the album of the same name. A dark song about a man having a (hypothetical?) conversation with a friend questioning the future.

"Many times we've been out drinking
And many times we've shared our thoughts
But did you ever, ever notice, the kind of thoughts I got"

Lyrically, it's the perfect song for Johnny Cash in this period. He does a perfectly fine job with it. Will Oldham even sings on it. Despite knowing Cash's version first, I still prefer the original. Well it's a good song either way. I'll always see a darkness.