Traditional Tunes (Part I) - Just Dave Van Ronk

A lot of people would tell you where you're born and raised affects how you define yourself. That's true. Then they will go on telling you that your homeland outlines your lines of perception, and those perceptions are mostly clear cut. To them there's one language you speak as your own, one kind of culture in which you will find the tools to talk about yourself. That, i say, is bullshit.

I will pour my heart on two topics of discussion over the next few dozen lines--both sharing absolutely nothing with where i've lived, or where i was born. They're two great works of art on stories told by men who lived neither in my time, nor on my land. they belong to the traditional ammo of an entirely different culture, nevertheless, i believe they speak of things larger than lands and borders. Hence my fascination with their existence.

It was a couple of weeks back that i got my hands on an unfamiliar, yet greatly appreciated, album: Dave Van Ronk's Just Dave Van Ronk. And a few days back i got my hands on another somewhat more familiar one: Bob Dylan's World Gone Wrong. What the two albums had in common (besides great music and musicians with colorful pasts on the streets of the Village) was their share of traditional tunes--Dylan's being entirely a complation of them, Van Ronk's being mainly arrangements, with a few other wonderful additions.

Just Dave Van Ronk



First time I saw Dave Van Ronk was on No Direction Home, all I could think was how huggable he looked. Then I noticed his gracefullness ("I could not have blamed him for that, and I didn't"*), and the amount of life squeezed into his body. You could see it wanting to break free, this flow of energy and compassion and liveliness trying to shake loose its meat suit, but obediently doing what he says nonetheless--as if he had a huge ball of life that would roll over on his command for a chewy treat.

So needless to say when I got Just Dave Van Ronk I was miserably excited, since it was to be (finally) my musical, official introduction to the man. It took me a week or two though to become acquantinces with him and with the album, but now I can say I'm on safe ground.

Overall, two things caught my attention on the album. First, Van Ronk's incredible ability to elevate songs. You feel like you're in some higher state of being when he sings. Plant sometimes has that effect; this way of turning your daily, ordinary world into some unseen sense of brand new order. Second thing that pulls you in--the vivacious, lively feel of the songs. They become living organisms through Van Ronk's cherishable tone, and you feel they move around on their own account. They force you to participate; you don't feel seperate from the songs, but kept at their arms length.

My favorites-- well, I have a few. Every song on the album is worth your while, but my money is on (by far distance and assurance) Wanderin'. It already made itself to the list of my favorite songs ever, let alone on this one album. It is almost scarily honest. It paints a world of pain and burdensome loneliness-- it is in itself a lonely song. It's kind of a song that would linger outside after closing time, with a cigarette and boney fingers. It's naturally beautiful.

Pastures Of Plenty is another interesting one--for reasons independent of the album. I have a version of it done by Dylan. He sings it in his youthful persona much more immaturely; though that may not be the word for it, there's a sense of ripeness in his version. It's a step mellower, though it's more upbeat. It has that Dylan way of making it one's own without really making it one's own. You can see the words are not Dylan's (over a zillion words he used, you can still tell which are by dylan and which aren'), he still owns the song. Dave's version is much more edgier, threatening and definetly more mature. He doesn't only sing it, but knows it. He too owns the song, but in a completely different way. He stands tall, not as a narrator, but as sort of a God-man behind it all.

God Bless The Child would be my third favorite--again simply of Van Ronk's originality in its arrangement, if of nothing else. Didn't It Rain too is worth a couple of plays back to back. Candy Man is charming to the last note, Frankie's Blues is a song that grasps you in your first play.

I have been insanely curious about House of The Rising Sun after all the stories about it, but now, I do have to say, The Animals version on my account beats both Van Ronk's and Dylan's that was later recorded for his debut album.

All in all, Dave Van Ronk musically was no disappointment on my behalf. He definetly made his way into my limited yet heartfully loved list of artists. The bluesy grandness in both his tone and in his arrangements make him simply beautiful. If you do have time on your hands, and do not care where songs come from as long as they move you, Just Dave Van Ronk is a great way to open your ear to a different kind of music that we don't hear that often these days.

Tomorrow, hopefully, I will talk about Dylan's World Gone Wrong--Till then, make sure you give this artful man a chance.

*the exact quotation i can not remember for the life of me, but it was something similar to that.