My Head Was Beating Like a Song from the Clash....

I do have a bit of a headache but it's not really Clash-worthy.  It's mostly from crying and then trying to finish up our income taxes....maybe it's time to have somebody do them FOR us....am I that grown up yet?  Eh, I don't know. 

I DO know that this clip of Richard Thompson and Jo-El Sonnier on Nightmusic in the late 80's makes me inordinately happy.  I'd kind of forgotten about Jo-El Sonnier but seeing him somewhere around this time---when he was touring on his Come On Joe album---in Chicago is right up there as one of the best shows I have ever seen.

He played at Biddy Mulligan's in Chicago....a bar that, at least at that time, was one of those bars that smelled like a combination of bleach and old beer....lousy sight lines for the stage, etc., and yet we saw a handful of great shows there. it was walking distance from where we lived in Rogers Park and we trekked down there and were completely swept away by an incredible show by Jo-El Sonnier and his band.  His accent was so thick that I couldn't understand one frigging thing he said between songs but I smiled and nodded to every word anyway....

Anyway....I guess his biggest 'hit' from that album was his cover of Richard Thompson's Tear Stained Letter.....with the wonderful lyrics "my head was beating like a song by the Clash, it was writing cheques that my body couldn't cash."  I remember it from that night but I just found this version on youtube and it's pretty damn marvelous.  Richard Thompson seems to be trying not to smile the whole time----they just all look SO damn happy playing this.  In fact on a side note, we saw Richard Thompson somewhere around that time, on Navy Pier before they turned it into an amusement park and I remember being so startled by his humor and charm....somehow all those shoot out the lights kind of songs had made me think he'd be a bit more dour.....of course I was younger then....

Anyway-----I swear this will make you feel good.....