Day 26 – The 30 Day Song Challenge – A Song that you can play on an instrument...

Song 26 – A song that you can play on an Instrument...’The Deeper In’ – Drive By Truckers

Me and my guitar

I thought the ’30 Day Song Challenge’ should be made a bit more challenging so I decided to actually play and record my song.  And this isn’t the one that was my first choice, but having not picked up the guitar for ages and not being very good in the first place, this is the one you’ve got!

'The Deeper In' - David Millington (orig. The Drive By Truckers)

‘The Deeper In’ is a song by the ‘southern rock band’ Drive By Truckers.  They’re not a band I know well and they’re a bit too rock for my tastes really but they’ve got some fine songs and if I ever take a road trip across the southern US states, I’ll take all their albums as soundtracks.  The lyric is a little sinister in that it’s about an incestuous relationship, a true story based on the only two people in the US who are currently locked up for this crime.  The title’s based on the saying ‘The closer kin, the deeper in’.  Lovely.  It’s a really nice little song for all the odd subject.  Well, who needs another boring old love song anyway!

I couldn’t find a ‘proper’ version of how it should sound so here’s a live version.

The Drive By Truckers - The Deeper In

I’ve linked to my attempt to sing and play Damien Rice’s ‘Cannonball’ for your entertainment.  I think it’s a really good song, perhaps spoiled for some people by the determination of the record company to use it to ‘break’ Damien Rice by endlessly releasing, remixing and hawking it to film companies to use on soundtracks.  My fingers are too sore to play anymore. In fact typing is no picnic.

 David Millington - Cannonball (orig. Damien Rice)

But while I’m vaguely on the subject of good but unfashionable songs, I’d like to stick up for James Blunt.  I bought ‘Back to Bedlam’ in 1995 off the back of a series of uniformly excellent reviews in the broadsheets and music press.  It was a nice summery album and I thought ‘You’re Beautiful’ was a really good song.  I continued to enjoy it for ages until it crossed over and all of a sudden it was too uncool for the critics to still like.  It’s harsh on James Blunt, although I suppose he can make a big pair of soundproof earmuffs from all the money he made to drown out the critics.

Damien Rice - Cannonball

It’s a funny old business being a male singer songwriter.  Huge success seems totally arbitrary.  Why did James Blunt cross-over and not Stephen Fretwell, Tom McCrae, Cherry Ghost, Amos Lee or a bunch of others.  I really hope my new favourite Benjamin Francis Leftwich manages it anyway.

Pictures - Benjamin Francis Leftwich

He's playing Dot to Dot in May in Nottingham and is the main reason I'm going.

David Millington

26^th April 2011

Nottingham