Mr. Trend's Random 10

This week’s seventh song comes from Buddy Guy’s “Damn Right, I've Got the Blues.” For whatever unfortunate reason, people just don’t pay much attention to the blues anymore. And we’re not just talking music listeners – you really don’t see many new blues acts anymore, either (the rock band the Black Keys are perhaps one of the only exceptions). But how many under-40 blues musician do you know of? It’s not like the blues have nothing left to say, and Guy’s work is a perfect example of that. Although it’s from 1991, “Damn Right, I've Got the Blues” is just a top-notch blues album from top to bottom, drawing from the old Chicago blues tradition, even while making it fresh and giving Guy’s own re-take on it, with just great songs (the tribute "Remembering Stevie" is far better than Vaughan himself ever did). Additionally, he shows how blues lyrics can be adapted to modern times, even while the themes stay the same. “Black Night” is a perfect example of that – while lamenting the loneliness he feels as all have left him, he laments that “My brother’s in Iraq/and I don’t know what to do/Black Night is falling…”. While 16 years old, the lyrics are hauntingly resonant even today, and show how vital and fresh the blues still can be.

1. “The Wait” – The Pretenders
2. “Eu Trago Sereia” – Música Foclórica do Brasil (Disc 4 – Paraíba)
3. “Little Bug” – Big Bill Broonzy
4. Der Zauberflöte – Zweitens Akt: “In diesen heil’gen hallen” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
5. “Black Snake Moan” – Blind Lemon Jefferson
6. “Gavião” – Música Foclórica dlo Brasil (Disc 2 – Paraíba)
7. “Black Night” – Buddy Guy
8. “Bad” – U2
9. “Leg of Lamb” – Queens of the Stone Age
10. “Saint Simon” – The Shins