Daphne Parker Powell – In the Soup Till the Pot Rots
You might’ve heard about the greatness of old poets and about the beauty of their work. But reading through them always gives you a headache. Listening to the music tied to their rhymes never gives you much of a thrill.
You’re probably right! This ain’t for you, and you shouldn’t try to work things out. It’s just very likely that life’s been good to you. It’s very likely that you’ve never felt the need to move, try and suffer for things that you really desired. Perhaps all of it came easily.
That’s certainly not the story of any of the poets, or the people who love them. All of those got moving before they started getting hurt. All of them wrote about their joys and sorrows and could never be convinced to ditch them.
Daphne Parker Powell is a great poet and might be ambitious as well. Powell wants her rhymes to hit as many people as possible straight to the heart and so marries them to charming blues-rock grooves. “In the Soup Till the Pot Rots” is a song about bad decisions, as well as the humour and strength required to recognise them.
Covered Wagon – Wrong or Right
Rock n’ rollers, the few that are still left, are an awful lot like the Buddhist monks. The war in Iran? Political upheaval in the good old United States of America? Economic downturns across the world? There’s no reason they should know any of that. All of these things make most people feel anxious and out of place, but there’s no reason they should affect them.
Sure, there’s a price to be paid. People look at them funny. They chuckle among themselves when they see them walk down the street. They’re not in fashion, and there’s no reason that they should ever try to apply for a loan. But the rockers, as well as the monks, have found a way to protect themselves.
Covered Wagon’s music sounds like old-fashioned rock n’ roll made by people confident that focusing all your energies on getting just the right kind of rumble to come out of your guitar amp is enough. “Wrong or Right” is a song about everything being relative, and presumably, since nothing can be determined, the best course of action is to drink another beer, roll another spliff and just one more song.
