The Americana and roots music authority
revisiting the blasters' marie, marie
Back in the early eighties when I ran a record store on Wilshire in Santa Monica, my morning ritual for a couple years was to drop the needle on side one of this album at full volume as I turned the key and opened the doors. There was no other way to better start off my day than the opening chords of "Marie, Marie", as distinctive use of guitar as the Beatles' start of "A Hard Days Night". And that voice....Phil Alvin singing the lyrics of his brother Dave:
Marie Marie
Playing guitar on the back porch
I sit in my car
While she sings so sad
Marie Marie
Marie Marie
It's so lonely in these farmlands
Please come with me
To the bright lights downtown
Marie Marie
I said, "Hey, pretty girl
Don't you understand
I just want to be your lovin' man"
Marie Marie
The sun is down in the corn fields
The evening is dark
And you sing so sad
Marie Marie
Marie Marie
I got two weeks in back pay
There's gas in my car
And your folks say I must go
Marie Marie
I said, "Hey, pretty girl
Don't you understand
I just want to be your lovin' man"
Marie Marie
Playing guitar on the back porch
I leave in my car
While you sing so sad
Marie Marie
I'm choosing this morning to not do what I might normally do...give you a brief but thorough history of the band from Downey California. There are just so many places on the interwebs to easily get really good information. Here is the link to their first Blasters News Letter from 1994 which features the first installment of Billy Davis' extensive history of the band. If you like that, work your way back to the archive index for the rest of them. And our own NoDep archives have some fine reviews available for you. Probably hands down my most favorite Blasters piece is an interview from 2006 with Phil Alvin with a woman named Jenny Angel. It's located here and if you choose to read just one of these, go for this.
In my digital library I have all of Dave Alvins' solo work, some Phil Alvin and no Blasters. Its one of those things where I've just heard it so much and so often that I figured I didn't need to hear it again. But my kid who devours music like slices of Sal's Pizza from Mamaroneck, threw the 2002 Complete Slash Recordings into my Drop Box and said "you need to listen to this again". And I did and he was right. Lurking around You Tube I discovered a video from January of this year at McCabes in Santa Monica. Just a few blocks south of where my old record store once stood. Long gone now of course.
For the past couple of years, Phil has been performing "Marie, Marie" in Spanish. He does it with the Blasters minus Dave, and also with the Blasters when Dave is with them. So it's not something new or different he pulled out of his hat on this particular night. But I want you to watch this video and look at Dave. The first time I watched it I thought he was surprised, but now after repeated views I think its something else. It begins as amusement; Phil twisting it up and turning it into the San Joaquin Valley song it was meant to be. But then I think the feeling in Dave is pride and love. Both in the song, but more so in his brother. Am I reaching here? I don't believe so. It's a special moment. But you tell me if you feel it too.
If you made it to the very end, you heard Dave jump in and sing a verse in English. Almost as if he wanted to give the audience a reminder that "yeah...we were the Blasters...that was us". No need really, I think they knew.
I have no time today to get into this, but I'd like to leave y'all with a thought. The quintessential music "California Story" has always been that of the Wilsons...Brian, his brothers, cousin and friend. But there are more than just that one. Buck Owens has a story. Chris Hillman has a great one. Woody and Lefty Lou. Johnny Otis and his son. But the Blasters, they have an amazing musical journey. I hope you take the time to read some of those links.
They made American music. They're an American band. The original "Marie, Marie."
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Comment by Jack on November 29, 2012 at 10:02am -
My favorite band ever. Well, except for Dave's solo career, which long ago surpassed what came before. Hard not to mention the Blasters and Dave in the same sentence, even now. I believe Dave has said that Marie, Marie was the first tune he ever wrote, which if I'm accurate, and I'm pretty sure I am, is as auspicious a start as anyone could hope for. He's also been saying at shows that no one sings his songs better than Phil, though Dave remembers the lyrics. So yeah, I suspect some brotherly pride at the end of the video. Be sure to catch the version of Marie, Marie that closes the Blasters fine new record, Fun On Saturday Night, which completely slows down and reworks the arrangement and is also sung in Spanish.
Ed, you mentioned the Beach Boys and other American bands but not CCR, and I have long felt that The Blasters were the equals of CCR in the roots music dept. and I think the Blasters anthology states the case nicely. Be sure to crank the volume for This Is It, which is not one of their better known songs but one that I think is a peak moment for them. Great guitar break, then Phil comes in fiercely with "it ain't no hangin' crime". Magic.
Billy Davis' Blasters/Dave Alvin Newsletter is at www.blastersnewsletter.com It's been a labor of love for Billy and it's the absolute best place on line for news about the Blasters and Dave Alvin. I was cleaning out a few boxes of stuff from the basement last week and found several copies of mid and late 90's Newsletters, which back then were printed and mailed by Billy. Billy's a good guy, glad you mentioned him and his newsletter.
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Comment by Phil Fox on November 29, 2012 at 11:57am -
What about the Nelson clan? Three generations of music making. Though I never met Ozzie, I did meet Rick and once had an interesting evening in a strip club in Nashville with the twins.....oh the days! BTW nice article as always.
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Comment by Easy Ed on November 29, 2012 at 3:08pm -
"An interesting evening in a strip club in Nashville with the twins"...Phil, that sounds like the beginning of a cheap pulp novel. But yes, of course the Nelson family would be another California story. (I never met the elder Nelson nor Dave or Rick. But the twins and Traci were regular shoppers at the aforementioned record shop and she in particular was a sweetie.)
And Jack...I knew you'd be the first person to see this post. As far as CCR, they wouldn't have come to mind as a musical "family" because aside from having the same last names the Fogerty boys spent more time not making music together than being a unit.
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Comment by Terry Roland on November 29, 2012 at 3:30pm -
Great story, Ed. You're right, we do need to explore more of California's trademark music, which travels well beyond the beach borders of Wilson and company. The Alvins are great symbols of that...and there's the Sweetwater scene in Redondo Beach in the 70's. Everyone came there from Emmylou to Charles Bukowski.
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Comment by Easy Ed on November 29, 2012 at 4:17pm
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@Terry: Now that I'm in NY, how about if I tackle the village and you take the left coast. We can work our way up starting from, let's say...mid-late fifties. Go.
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Comment by Rudyjeep on November 30, 2012 at 3:44pm
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My Brother in Law, who thinks drinking anything but Budweiser is a communist plot, didn't immediately take a shine to me. It was only when he found out that I too loved the Blasters that he finally warmed up to me. And it was over this song too. He was also right about beer in a green bottle; it is "skunky".
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Comment by Steve Ford on December 1, 2012 at 6:50pm -
Great piece, Ed. I don't think you were reading too much into Dave's reactions.
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Comment by L A Johnson on December 2, 2012 at 12:08am
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Saw The Blasters way back but the recent Dave Alvin live shows are peerless. Excellent stuff.
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Comment by Hugh MacDonald on December 3, 2012 at 8:03am -
That was a great article...thanks.
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Comment by Greg on December 4, 2012 at 6:11pm
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Many thanks. Love that smile.
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