"Oh, How We Danced..."

I first heard that song, with an appended parenthetical to the title ("...Anniversary Song") on a Jim Capaldi album in 1972.  The credited composers were Al Jolson and Saul Chaplin, but it turns out that they adapted the tune from an apparently quite famous Romanian composition, Waves Of The Danube, and Jolson wrote new lyrics, the first line of which is "Oh, how we danced on the night we were wed."

Yesterday I went to a 40th Anniversary celebration for two good friends whose wedding I was an usher in, one my friend of longest duration (Alice once had a young woman write in a composition about her "longest boyfriend;" we assumed that she, too, was referring to duration of the relationship, but I guess you never know...).  To protect their identities I'll call them "Roberta (Bert)" and "Eric." Surviving 40 years of marriage is pretty mind-blowing, even if you're not married to Bert for that time; turns out Eric is superhuman. Anyway, it's kind of shocking to have contemporaries celebrating a 40th, given that I'm barely over 40 myself; some sort of time warp somewhere, I guess.

I looked up the socially-dictated, or accepted, traditional 40th anniversary gift, and found that it's ruby.  So I wore a ruby-colored shirt to the festivities but, me being me and trying to force my proclivities and obsessions on others, I also put together a CD of all of the songs in my collection whose title contained the word "ruby" or "rubies."  Turned out that I thought it was a great collection of songs, so I've decided to build the bulk of Tuesday's show around it.  And by the way, when I told Eric that the traditional 40th thing was Ruby, he said "I thought it was Prozac."  I told him I was pretty sure that that was for each of the first 39 years.

This week's show, though, will be--and I cast no aspersions here-- like a marsupial's penis: two-pronged (you could look it up...!).  For on Saturday night I worked at a Billy Bragg concert at The Opera House in Bellows Falls, VT., and it was fabulous.  I know, I should have written something before the show, to entice folks to go, but Mr. Bragg doesn't need that: the place was just 20 tickets shy of being sold out.  Bragg is a committed Lefty, an often brilliant (and frequently very touching) songwriter, has something of a signature guitar sound, is very well-read and learned, and tells great stories.  In fact, at one point near the end of the show, someone yelled out a request; Mr. Bragg, in as gentle a refusal as I believe I've ever heard, said "Well now, you see, madam, all you need to remember is the title: I, however, have to remember the title, the chords, the key, all of the lyrics, and the usual 5 minute bullshit introduction I probably used to give it."  How do you not love that?

So, sort of two disparate playlists this week, perhaps linked by the fact that, as Bragg sings, "There is power in a union:"

Ruby                                                                         Dave Rawlings Machine
Ruby                                                                         Ray Charles
Ruby's Arms                                                             Tom Waits
Ruby's Eyes                                                              Tommy Emmanuel
Ruby Baby                                                                Donald Fagen
Ruby Dear                                                                 Talking Heads
Ruby Heart                                                                The Guggenheim Grotto
Ruby Lane                                                                 Milla
Ruby Lee                                                                   Joe Cocker
Ruby On The Morning                                              Brewer And Shipley
Ruby Sees All                                                            Cake
Ruby Tuesday                                                            Dual Sessions
Ruby Tuesday                                                            Melanie
Ruby Tuesday                                                            Rolling Septuagenarians
See Ruby Fall                                                             Johnny Cash
Rubylove                                                                    Cat Stevens
Rubies & Diamonds                                                   Carla Olson & Mick Taylor
Ruby, My Dear                                                           Thelonius Monk & John Coltrane
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town                       Cake
Oh How We Danced (Anniversary Song)                  Jim Capaldi
Anniversary                                                                Graham Parker
Anniversary                                                                Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance
Greetings To The New Brunette                                 Billy Bragg
Ideology
Levi Stubbs' Tears
Must I Paint You A Picture
A New England
She's Got A New Spell
There is Power In A Union
Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key
Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards                       Billy Bragg

Yeah, three "Ruby Tuesday"'s but they're wicked different, so I'm playin' 'em all.

Tuesday, noon till two, the same old place, or the old Same Place, for you Nick Dangerists:
 91.5 FM, wool.fm.   And here's to the next 40!