A big, rusting surprise was just one minute’s walk away from the house in which we recently spent sixteen nights – on a forested hill near Youngs Siding, in Western Australia’s Deep South.
This post’s musical complement: a singular treatment of an apropos Thelonious Monk number, plus the most tender song ever written about a car salesman….
We set off for a short walk in the Karri-dominant forest that surrounded the holiday house, nicely sited, within half an hour’s drive of Denmark – to the west – and of Albany – to the east.
From “our” balcony we could see a nearby deserted, derelict house/shack which was in the early stages of being “swallowed” by the forest.
Not until we walked over to it did we realise that the deserted house was the hub of an automotive graveyard!
Thelonious Monk’s Ugly Beauty was the only one of his compositions that Monk recorded as a waltz.
In 1988 drummer Paul Motian recorded an album called Monk in Motian, with saxophonist Joe Lovano and guitarist Bill Frisell.
Steve Goodman (1948-1984) wrote what Bob Dylan reportedly described as the best train song he had ever heard.
Many people mistakenly believe that The City of New Orleans is an Arlo Guthrie number. (Arlo’s cover was the hit)
Goodman’s life was much too short, but – like his best friend, John Prine – Steve Goodman was the author of much more than one uncanny song: