Any Tom Paxton fans?

[bgjunkie]

A lady I jam with sometimes introduced me to "The Last Thing On My Mind" and now I have been listening to some of Tom Paxton's other material. There is some really nice mandolin work on some of his songs, so I was wondering if anyone plays any of his songs.

I have been trying to learn "My Pony Knows the Way" on guitar so that I can sing it, but I can't seem to get the chord progression down. Any one know it?

I also want to do his "May the Turtle Be Unbroken" one time at a jam to see folk's reactions.

[Rick Schmidlin]

I did lights for him and Nico at the Whiskey on the Sunset strip in 81, great performer.

[Spiritinthesky]

Yes, I used to have one album, can't think what it was called now? Great voice.

[MikeEdgerton]

Suddenly I can't help but wonder where I'm bound.

I've been a fan since the early 60's.

[AlanN]

And the grassers embraced TP, from early Country Gentlemen (Where I'm Bound) to Clarence White (Last Thing On My Mind).

[allenhopkins]

Rambling Boy, Bottle Of Wine, Last Thing On My Mind, Where I'm Bound, Peace Will Come, I'm Changing My Name To Chrysler, Home For Me Is Anywhere You Are, Marvelous Toy, One Million Lawyers...

Great songs, great singer, great personality and attitude. Tom surely deserved his Lifetime Achievement Grammy. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020603708.html)

[James P]

Longtime fan. Lot's of great old Paxton YouTubes. He's even got a channel that he posts his "Short Shelf-Life Songs" on - as you can imagine, some very funny stuff.

The only Paxton song I still do is a minor swing version of Things I Notice Now. I heard it on one of his live albums over 30 years ago and it just stuck. People like the song even tho' they've never heard it and have no idea who Paxton is.

[Rod_Neep]

Long time fan here too.

Back in 1974 I recorded a complete album (big round black plastic things in those days ;)) with all Tom Paxton songs on it. When Paxton heard this album he invited the lead guitar player, Ian Hunt, a job to play with him on tour, which he did for a while.

Here's one of the songs from the album: (mp3 file)

The Last Thing On My Mind (http://www.rod-neep.com/rod/songs/The_Last_Thing_On_My_Mind.mp3)

Rod

[Greg Stec]

Now I'm REALLY gonna date myself when I tell you the first Tom Paxton song I heard was a talking blues ditty called The Vietnam Pot Luck Blues from back in 1968. I believe it was on his 3rd album. There's a live version of it on an anthology package he put out a few years ago.

Most memorable lines from the tune:
What's the matter with YOU, baby!
We have met the enemy, and he is smashed!

Peace, love, weed, VW bus.
Greg

[Rod_Neep]

Here's a couple more of my Tom Paxton tracks from the 1974 album, plus another (of my own composition) from my second album in 1973.

Outward Bound, Peace Will Come, and Merlin

Lots of photos of close friends who meet once a year each August for "MartinFest" in Nazareth PA. We are all Martin nuts.



Rod

[allenhopkins]

Now I'm REALLY gonna date myself when I tell you the first Tom Paxton song I heard was a talking blues ditty called The Vietnam Pot Luck Blues from back in 1968.

Ah, Greg, you're nouveau: I bought Rambling Boy on Elektra in 1964, as a college undergrad, and learned some of the "off" songs, like My Lady's a Wild Flying Dove, Standing At the Edge of Town, Daily News, etc. Not too many people have an ongoing 45-year successful career in music!

[MikeB]

"One Time And One Time Only." One of his generally overlooked gems, IMO. My buddy and I used to play a mando/guitar duet on that one. Great performer!

[Barb Friedland]

Yes indeed. I've played some of his tunes since the early 70s. One of my favorites (still love it) is I Give You the Morning.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Talkin Vietnam Pot-Luck Blues... and he also had a couple of other talkin' blues songs that were quite hilarious... been a fan since the 60's.

[journeybear]

Now I'm REALLY gonna date myself when I tell you the first Tom Paxton song I heard was a talking blues ditty called The Vietnam Pot Luck Blues from back in 1968 ...

Most memorable lines from the tune:
What's the matter with YOU, baby!
We have met the enemy, and he is smashed!



Not a bad place to have started - my starting point too. That got a LOT of airplay on FM radio in my neck of the woods (southern CT) at the time, along with other similarly themed ditties like "Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic" by Jaime Brockett. I investigated a little further and realized I'd heard some of his songs already, like "Last Thing On My Mind" and "Rambling Boy." My favorite lines:

"But who'd have pot in Viet Nam?"
"What do you think you're sitting on?"
These funny little plants ... thousands of them ... Good God almighty!
Pastures of plenty!

and

Swattin' flies, swappin' lies,
Firing the odd shot here and there.

I don't know why, just like the casualness of it, its tone, the mise en scêne.

Nice to have met him, decades later, when he played at Falcon Ridge. He stood out amongst all the younger singer/songwriter types there, rather the elder statesman, singing topical songs instead of the more prevalent soul-searching fare. Along my winding way to that point I had gotten to become friends with Patrick Sky and Eric Von Schmidt, and also met the likes of Dave Van Ronk, Geoff and Maria Muldaur, Tom Rush, David Bromberg, and Eric Weissberg (who tuned my banjolin back to standard from Geoff's odd "Minglewood" open tuning - the A strings were even tuned into a third - in something like 27 seconds without a tuner, an amazing thing to observe), but meeting Tom Paxton was one of those special moments that fulfilled a long-standing quest I didn't even know I was on.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Tom Paxton's music was big in the Folk Scene in Ireland in the 70's. American Folk was just beginning to get edged out by Planxty et al.

[allenhopkins]

Tom Paxton's music was big in the Folk Scene in Ireland in the 70's. American Folk was just beginning to get edged out by Planxty et al.


Funny story Paxton told at his last Rochester concert: his granddaughter (I think -- coulda been his daughter) was in Scotland, went to a pub, and heard the singer do Last Thing On My Mind. She went up to him afterward, said she appreciated him doing a song written by her grandfather. Singer said, "No, it's a traditional Scottish song!" Argument ensued, and she was never able to convince the guy that she was a relative of the composer.

I wonder how the "underneath my feet the subway's rumbling" line fit in a Scottish "trad" song? Maybe the singer omitted that verse...

[Eddie Sheehy]

Funny story Paxton told at his last Rochester concert: his granddaughter (I think -- coulda been his daughter) was in Scotland, went to a pub, and heard the singer do Last Thing On My Mind. She went up to him afterward, said she appreciated him doing a song written by her grandfather. Singer said, "No, it's a traditional Scottish song!" Argument ensued, and she was never able to convince the guy that she was a relative of the composer.

I wonder how the "underneath my feet the subway's rumbling" line fit in a Scottish "trad" song? Maybe the singer omitted that verse...

Nessie in the sewer system?

[James P]

So many great songs I've forgotten.
So many I've never heard!

Here's a funny variation on an older tune.

[Wesley]

Our trio does four or five of his songs. "Modern Maturity" usually gets a big laugh. Out of all of our writers I'm sure that some of Toms songs will outlive him by generations. And some will become traditional folk songs. Years from now folks will still be singing "Ramblin' Boy" and saying "Tom Who"? And that's a good thing.

[Wolfboy]

Happy to see this thread - I just got back from my third U.K. tour as Tom's sideman and I can report that he's going strong at 71 and still writing great songs. There's talk of a concert DVD maybe later this year. I'll keep you informed!

For bgjunkie, Tom does "My Pony Knows the Way" in E flat (by capoing 3 and fingering in C):

The (Eb)Chisholm Trail became the road to (Ab)Disneyland

(Bb)After Billy the Kid came Lash La-(Eb)Rue

The only longhorns left are in the (Ab)movies

The (Bb)only buffalo left are in the (Eb)zoo.

CHORUS

But my (Ab)pony, my pony knows the (Eb)way back home

My (Bb)pony loves his stall and he wants his (Eb)hay

This night air just might sober me some

My (Ab)head is pounding like a (F)Cherokee drum

But my (Eb)pony, my (Bb)pony knows the (Eb)way


...in other words, except for the II chord on the word "Cherokee", it's a straight I-IV-V progression. Replace Eb, Ab, Bb and F respectively with C, F, G and D, or G, C, D, and A, or whatever's comfortable. Hope that helps.

[Wesley]

Wolfboy - Good to hear from you. What do you take with you on the road?

[bgjunkie]

Thanks Wolfboy, I don't know why I struggled so much with figuring that out. I think sometimes I get caught up in the lyrics and trying to sing the song and don't focus on the chords.

[Wolfboy]

Wolfboy - Good to hear from you. What do you take with you on the road?

1920 Gibson A mandolin, 1987 Stefan Sobell cittern and 1991 Martin J40 guitar. Tom's started playing his late-70's Martin M38 again, which he loves, and says he particularly likes the way it blends with my J40.

[Jon Hall]

I recently learned one of his new songs, "How Beautiful On The Mountain". Our group enjoys singing it. I've sung several of Tom's songs for 40 years.

[allenhopkins]

Last time I saw Tom Paxton in Rochester, he was joined by Eric Weissberg, who did a separate set and then backed Tom up. Of course Weissberg was required to play Dueling Banjos, and Paxton did a creditable guitar lead on the back-and-forth part. No one will ever accuse him of being a flashy picker, but it was fun to see him trading licks with Weissberg.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Tom Paxton came over to the UK several times at the height of his career. I went to see him at a Folk Club held at pub called the "Two Brewers" in Salford (part of Manchester UK),one of the Folk Clubs i used to play at. He arrived & was really p****d off at not having a taxi cab sent to pick him up at his Hotel to bring him to the club.He was telling the guy that runs the club that if he came over here to 'fill up our club for us ...." etc. It had to be pointed out to him that the club was full to bursting every Sunday night, whether he was there or not. After that little altercation was out of the way,he settled down & played one of the finest sets of contemporary folk music it's ever been my joy to witness,he was terrific & a nice guy to talk to,
Saska

[Michael Eck]

Tom's going to be at the Wood Theater in Glens Falls NY on April 17. It's a production of Caffe Lena, the legendary folk club in Saratoga Springs.

[FrDNicholas]

No one mentioned "Talking Pop Art" which was one of my favorites. Here's my Tom Paxton story: I went to see him at the Gaslight in Greenwhich Village. Somehow I ended up sitting in the seats just ahead of those reserved for friends of the performer. (I didn't know that then) The young lady with me was not familiar with the music. At some point there was a young man sitting behind us who was singing harmony, quietly along with Tom. My friend turned to him at and said that he had a nice voice. He responded, "Thank you. Tom sings a little lower than I do, so it's easy to harmonize." I found out later from another friend who was taking banjo lessons from the backup guitar/banjo player whose name was Mark something, that Dylan had been in the audience that night. So my friend had told Bob Dylan he had a nice voice!

[billkilpatrick]

i'm a fan but ... nolo bene - as with him and any other folk/protest singer, it would be wise to keep discussion as general as possible. with his political leanings and recent songs in mind - positive mention of a specific song can cause consternation and gnashing of teeth ... leading to puce, red-button censure.

- bill*

[Coffeecup]

I also want to do his "May the Turtle Be Unbroken" one time at a jam to see folk's reactions.

While searching for something else I stumbled on this old thread. Just to give credit where it's due; the words to "May the Turtle Be Unbroken" were written by Les Barker, a very funny many. He has numerous great clips on You Tube but not "turtle" as far as I can see.

[Frank Silver]

Always - been a fan. T'was just listening to him the AM which I had not done in awhile, but he's in my iTunes list for certain.

[sunburst]

And the grassers embraced TP, from early Country Gentlemen (Where I'm Bound) to Clarence White (Last Thing On My Mind).

More recently, Junior Sisk flat out nails Where I'm Bound (IMO) singing it with Wyatt Rice and Santa Cruz on their only album.