REVIEW: Snakefarm, Songs From My Funeral (BMG/RCA)
- Chris Hill
My first thought listening to this disc? VH1 production of beloved music my mother strummed during my childhood. With subsequent listens, the faithfulness, respect, and tribute Anna Domino and her husband/musical partner, Michel Delory, pay the ten traditional folk songs subverts my initial prejudice into grudging, then open, admiration. Potentially disconcerting, the modern arrangements breathe a freshness to these downbeat, sad tales of love gone wrong and lives badly ended.
"John Henry", an old favorite, gives a western guitar ring to the classic man versus machine song, keeping the tragedy intact, while eulogizing his heroic, fatal effort.
The pathos of "Pretty Horses", a lullaby sung by a wet nurse slave caring for a white child as her own cries in hunger, is admirably conveyed by Domino - her voice electronically altered for several verses, mirroring the unnaturalness of the situation.
"This Train That I Ride", the most upbeat tune on the cd, brings a snare drum riff, reverb, and snapping fingers to its "lonely man far from home" subject, long a cowboy favorite.
"Rising Sun" manages to give a new slant to the song perhaps best known by Eric Burdon's interpretation with the Animals. A whore's lament, it's appropriately sung by a woman, and Domino does the bitter, resigned lyrics credit.
And if "Black Girl" sounds familiar, play "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" off Nirvana's MTV Unplugged. Their version is Huddie Ledbetter's adaptation with slight lyrical changes, while Snakefarm return to the original words, but the song remains the same. The arrangement here is spare for the first two verses, banjo and guitar pulled together, then pushed aside by drum and bass, which is eventually faded out, and replaced by the original banjo and guitar. The song embodies the spirit of the disc - weaving the threads of the past into the musical quilt of the present.
Five other tracks await discovery: "Banks of the Ohio", "Frankie and Johnny", "Laredo", "Tom Dooley", and "St. James". Each is familiar and simultaneously surprising.
As the TV generation ages, what will we sing to our children? The "Gilligan's Island" theme? "Smells Like Teen Spirit"? "Fascination Street"? No harm in that, but I'd advise looking farther back. Check this disc out. You might impress your folks, while enriching yourself and your children.
