[Punkrockmonday #11] John Lee Hooker - Hobo Blues; Weird Al Yankovic - My Sharona; Edgar Cruz - Bohemian Rhapsody

I was going to do a long-winded thing building off of Novalis' often quoted claim about philosophy arising from a sense of homelessness, and tie that to John Lee Hooker's Hobo Blues, concluding with a discussion about how punk rock, arguably like philosophy, is self-refuting in that the conditions for its production presuppose its failure, further tying this to the paradoxical way that songs of misery can be comforting. But then I just sat back and watched this a few more times and was rendered speechless by the power of the performance.

If you are a drummer who can harnass even one one-hundredth of the power of this era John Lee Hooker's tapping foot, then you can write your own ticket. Sadly, the best Chicago blues players were vastly better before they made it to Chicago to get the Chess records Willie Dixon kind of slickness put on their genius like an ill fitting coat. But the market's hand, visible or not, is certainly not attached to a brain.

Anyow, there is something overwhelmingly glorious about one person able to rock out as much as the very best bands. Consider this, the earliest known (1979) video of Weird Al Yankovic.

Or consider Edgar Cruz rocking out on Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, perhaps the greatest cover here of what is certainly the greatest song ever written (which, incidently my friend and colleague James Rocha persuasively argues to be about Freddie Mercury's homosexuality HERE).

It's one thing to keep your head while playing all those notes, but to retain the feeling of the original while also bring the thunder oneself, and solely oneself, is incredibly inspiring. We should all be capable of something analogous.

[For yet another inspiring instance of one person against the world and winning through the power of rock, see sElf's cover of AC/DC's "Back in Black" in punkrockmonday #10, linked to below.]

1. [Punkrockmonday #1] The White Stripes - Jack the Ripper (orig. Screaming Lord Sutch), Black Math, and the Big Three Killed My Baby]
2. [Punkrockmonday #2] Roy Cook - Saint Paul Cathedral, Minneapolis Capitol Building, Aayla Secura Mosaic, and Firefly Class Spaceship
3. [Punkrockmonday #3] El Général- Rais Le Bled (President, Your Country)
4. [Punkrockmonday #4] Charlie Patton -High Water Everywhere, Part 2
5. [Punkrockmonday #5] Henry Rollins- What Am I Doing Here; Willie Nelson- Me and Paul; Rainbow Connection (orig. Kermit the Frog)
6. [Punkrockmonday #6] Philip Larkin - Church Going
7. [Punkrockmonday #7] David Bowie - Time
8. [Punkrockmonday #8] P.J. Harvey - When Under Ether; White Chalk; Broken Harp
9. [Punkrockmonday #9] Allison Kraus and Robert Plant - When the Levee Breaks (orig. Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie)
10. [Punkrockmonday #10] Doog - Famous Blue Raincoat (orig. Leonard Cohen); sElf - Back in Black (orig. AC/DC); Johnny Cash- Down There By the Train (orig. Tom Waits)