From Empire Dylanesque:

— that big, terrible ’80s production with the Miami Vice drums, the overbearing backup singers, and the sluggishly steady metronomic synth gurgle that makes the version of “When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky” on Empire Burlesque feel like dying from a torturously slow cocaine overdose.

Back in 2016 a new tarantula species Aphonopelma johnnycashi was discovered at Folsom prison.

I wrote some humorous lyrics in honor of this spider -- also paying homage to the Man in Black. I once sang the song in a student recital with a bluegrass ensemble.

The song is intended to be sung to the tune of “Wabash Cannonball” by A.P. Carter, in the style of Johnny Cash. The chorus is admittedly awkward to sing with all the Latin words 😄 It's important to pronounce 'johnnycashi' as 'Johnny Cash-ee'.

The NSFW flair is due to drug references.

Eight-legged Johnny Cash

I’m stuck in Folsom prison; it’s dark and I’m broke;
So I find myself a doobie, close my eyes and smoke.
Then I awake in horror; hit the floor with a crash;
It’s crawling on my face — the eight-legged Johnny Cash!

Chorus:
Genus Aphonopelma johnnycashi,
Family Theraphosidae … oh, Lord help me!
It’s worse than a fungus or any kind of rash.
Meet your new cellmate, the eight-legged Johnny Cash!

Arachnids are dandy, so all the people say!
Beautiful orb weavers; daddy long legs at play.
Recluse has a fiddle; black widow the hour glass;
But the meanest damn spider? Eight-legged Johnny Cash!

Walked up north from Mexico, one cold December day.
Crawled in Folsom prison and decided to stay.
Shook hands with the warden; made his home in a crack.
Now a smart ass arachnologist named him for the man in black.

There’s folks in California, living high and wholesome;
Laughing in a dispensary, not far from Folsom.
When I get out of prison, I’ll start my new stash
With the best strain of all time, eight-legged Johnny Cash!

Watching a billionaire sing Watching the River Flow

These lyrics are making fun of Whole Foods and their customers, of course, while also having a go at the tune “Tom Dooley” and gothic murder-your-girlfriend ballads in general. Idealy, it should be sung in the style of The Kingston Trio.

To snowy Colorado,
I came to meet my wife.
She took me into Whole Foods,
I swear it cost my life.

Instead of goin’ fishing,
We bought some arctic char.
I grilled that fish a-cryin’,
Cost more than my first car.

We bought us a tom turkey,
To eat Thanksgiving day.
I gave the man my wallet,
Then kneeled down to pray.

Organic shade grown coffee,
Milk made from flax?
Hemp-filled gluten-free waffles,
Raw probiotic snacks.

We had to sell our condo,
For one over-packaged eclair!
If it weren’t for Whole Foods,
I coulda been a millionaire.

“I’m afraid I poached Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited out of curiosity and found myself well rewarded. Dylan’s cawing, derisive voice is probably well suited to his material – I say probably because much of it was unintelligible to me – and his guitar adapts itself to rock (Highway 61′) and ballad (‘Queen Jane’) admirably. There is a marathon ‘Desolation Row’ which has an enchanting tune and mysterious, possibly half-baked words.”

Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues

Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness

bLAck pARty - Summer Love

Van Morrison - And It Stoned Me - 2013 Remaster

Bananarama - Cruel Summer

Nathaniel Rateliff, Courtney Marie Andrews - Summer's End

Childish Gambino - Feels Like Summer

Chelsea Cutler - Summer Love (Live From Spotify Studios NYC)

Neil Diamond - Summerlove - From "The Jazz Singer" Soundtrack

Don Henley - The Boys Of Summer - Remastered 2024

The Who - Summertime Blues

Jada Facer - Summertime Sadness (Acoustic)

REO Speedwagon - (Only A) Summer Love

Jackie DeShannon - And It Stoned Me

Bob Dylan - In the Summertime

Ace of Base - Cruel Summer

John Prine - Summer's End

Kylie Dailey - Summer Love

First Aid Kit - The Boys of Summer

Alan Jackson - Summertime Blues

Taylor Swift - august

Bob Seger - Night Moves

Sara Watkins - Long Hot Summer Days

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Summertime

Sing-Sing - Feels Like Summer

John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John - Summer Nights - From Grease

Justin Timberlake - Summer Love

KT Tunstall - The Boys Of Summer

Open Road Folk Music - Summer Days

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/14MENOyIiyXMXtNP60Mukh?si=e77387db14314ea5

This playlist has been evolving since I first created last October. It's now something that I can really enjoy with other members of my family when driving across the state to hike or ski. About two thirds of the songs feature female vocalists. The primary genre represented is Americana, with some excursions into alt-country, folk, blues and southern rock.

Sierra Ferrell - American Dreaming

Ellen McIlwaine - Can't Find My Way Home

Kacey Musgraves - Slow Burn

Sturgill Simpson - All Around You

Tift Merritt - Traveling Alone

Margo Price - Hurtin' (On the Bottle)

Marcus King - Wildflowers & Wine

Gillian Welch - Revelator

Emmylou Harris - Deeper Well

Jason Isbell - Cover Me Up

Neko Case - Star Witness

Shannon McNally - Banshee Moan

Leon Bridges - Coming Home

Pieta Brown - Before Gas and TV

Mary Gauthier - Our Lady Of The Shooting Stars

Colter Wall - Sleeping on the Blacktop

The Secret Sisters, Ray LaMontagne - All the Ways (feat. Ray LaMontagne)

Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Body Electric

Watchhouse - Wildfire

Joy Oladokun, Chris Stapleton - Sweet Symphony (feat. Chris Stapleton)

Sierra Ferrell - In Dreams

The Revivalists - Wish I Knew You

Lucinda Williams - Something About What Happens When We Talk.

The Be Good Tanyas - In My Time Of Dying

Angel Snow - Coals and Water

The Steeldrivers - If It Hadn't Been For Love

Elizabeth Cotten, Brenda Evans - Shake Sugaree

Natalie Merchant - Poor Wayfaring Stranger

John Prine, Iris DeMent - In Spite of Ourselves

Lake Street Dive - Better Than

Nicole Atkins - A Little Crazy

The Red Clay Strays - I'm Still Fine

Uncle Lucius - Keep The Wolves Away

Cowboy Junkies - Flirted with You All My Life

Alabama Shakes - Hold On

Kashus Culpepper - Pour Me Out

Karen Dalton - It Hurts Me Too

Tara Nevins - Stars Fell On Alabama

Chris Stapleton - More Of You

Cassandra Lewis - Hold The Door

Martha Wainwright - Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole

The Red Clay Strays - Wondering Why

Valerie June - Astral Plane

Iris DeMent - Let the Mystery Be

The Avett Brothers - No Hard Feelings

Rhiannon Giddens - Moonshiner's Daughter

Linda Ronstadt, Ann Savoy - Adieu False Heart

Paul Cauthen - Holy Ghost Fire

Brandi Carlile - The Eye

Gillian Welch - The Way It Goes

Chris Stapleton - I Was Wrong

Rhiannon Giddens - At the Purchaser's Option

Robert Plant, Alison Krauss - Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us

Charley Crockett - I Am Not Afraid

case/lang/veirs, Neko Case, k.d. lang, Laura Veirs - Atomic Number

Lucinda Williams - Fruits Of My Labor

Brent Cobb - Black Crow

Headless Heroes - Blues Run the Game

Hurray For The Riff Raff - Jealous Guy

Dave Rawlings Machine - Short Haired Woman Blues

Valerie June - Long Lonely Road

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Troubled Soul

Sturgill Simpson - Turtles All the Way Down

The Secret Sisters - You Don't Own Me Anymore

Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59tm3fKT0HvJpVWJtDRGcp?si=bed7eede8bbd4cd7

The issue of Olivia Rodrigo's song "brutal" borrowing from "Pump it Up" by Elvis Costello is being discussed in other subreddits. "Pump it Up" was inspired by Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" which drew from Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" (as well as pulling heavily from Beat poets).

Fast, clever rhythmic wordplay has a long history in American music. The larger story here is that white popular music lifted the ideas from African American musicians. Here is a playlist that picks one representative song from each decade, going back to the 1920s. A playlist like this could easily have ended with rap and hip hop, but I steered it towards "brutal", which is a pretty good song.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/19gZ9pPTHav8EBYGNkybtg?si=c0d6cc5214f2496b

1920s - McKinney's Cotton Pickers - It's Tight Like That

1930s - Robert Johnson - They're Red Hot

1940s - Cab Calloway - The Jumpin' Jive

1950s - Chuck Berry - Too Much Monkey Business

1960s - Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

1970s - Elvis Costello - Pump it Up

1980s - R.E.M. - It's the End of the World as we Know It (And I Feel Fine)

1990s - Savage Garden - I Want You

2000s - The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name

2010s - Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian at Best

2020s - Olivia Rodrigo - brutal