FAHEY UNRELEASED SESSIONS 1977-2000

UNISSUED STUDIO SESSIONS 1977

Sandy on Earth
Originally titled "The Nut House". Rerecorded (or not) for "God Time & Causality" 12 years later. By which I mean that on the unreleased version we have these little occasional electronic effects, reverb and echo and such, which really add a tinge of excitement. Not that the unvarnished "Let It Be" version isn't a major classic.

Bossa Nova Song 1 & 2
Elder-Z-Travels
   Parts of this recycled into "Melody McBad"
Melody Brennan
Hare Krishna Song 1 & 2
   The main theme of this drop-dead brilliant 18 minute piece was used in "Charlie Becker's Meditation" on "Railroad". We tried at various times to get Fahey to a) remember this piece, and b) having remembered it, get it released. As you will realise, to no avail.

Melody McBad/Portland Cement Factory/Funeral Song for John Hurt
   Rerecorded (or not) for "God Time & Causality" 12 years later.

Unknown Song Takes 1 & 2
Unknown Bossa Nova
Unknown Song/Nut House
Lover Come Back to Me
Lover Come Back to Me/I'll See You in my Dreams
Unknown Song
Rubber Dolly
The Nut House (part)

THREE LIVE SONGS circa 1976-77

Irish setter/The Nut House/Ann Arbor
Unknown Song
   Contains elements of "Beverley" and 2 other (unidentified) songs but mainly sounds like an improvisation
Intro to "Wine and Roses"

LIVE AT MR BROWN'S, COLUMBUS OHIO (June 1978)

"That Part of the Show's Over"

Part of a concert recorded at Mr Brown's, Columbus, Ohio in June 1978. In the first half of the performance Fahey races through some splendid medleys lasting 20 minutes each. He does the business, he gets on with it, he delivers the goods. However, after the first half comes the second half. Here's a transcript:

JF: Now they must turn over the house, in other words all of you have to leave and pay to come back again regardless of whether only I play or both people play. This is the standard policy of the clubs on the circuit in the United States -- I beg your pardon?

Audience: Encore, encore!

I just played the encore, baby, you wanna hear me again you stay and pay your money for the second set!

JF plays six more tunes without a break and without talking. The rowdy student audience applauds.

JF: Woh, thank you ver' much, one more li'l drink of brandy [beginning to speak in a mock French accent] -- I just wajnt to 'ave one more shot of the brandy but there was none 'ere... Unfortunately it is all GONE but what can one do...

He bums a cigarette off someone in the crowd then continues, still in the French accent.

JF: Now I will play. I will conclude this evening's performance with the song we used to sing ice-skating in the winter going to see a girl-friend at McConnellsville [?] up the [indistinguishable] river.., and by the way if anyone wants to see me tomorrow night, when I am more sober or more drunk as I am, I will be in Dayton, Ohio, on June 20th - is that tomorrow night? Yes, ah, at Gillie's...can't read the address, yes, Dayton, Ohio but I can't read the name of the street, and then on June 22nd I am in Milwaukee. And now a sacred song from my youth skating up the [indistinguishable] river in midwinter to see my girlfriend Gretchen Hosenfat... I don't remember exactly what it was but for God's sake does someone have an ASHTRAY? I don't wa nna burn the stage... ASHTRAY!~ Thank you, thank you, let us have a hand for the young man, the cute young man, ha ha ha ha... ah, but have you ever made it with an elephant? And now, the Ice Skating Song concluded by two spirituals--- hey GANG!

The first part of this song starts quietly, just gimme one minute of relative quiet, not absolute quiet, just a little bit of quiet, so that it can build up dramatically, so you can imagine skating up the [indistinguishable] river, ha ha ha ha haaaah!

JF plays "The Grand Finale".

JF: [Yelling now] You've got to sing "You've Got to Walk that Lonesome Valley'. I can't sing

He proves this by howling the first couple of lines. He exhorts the audience to join in. Howls out the rest of the song. The most painful recording in the whole Fahey discography. He slides into a frantic "Grand Finale". The crowd yells.

JF : [The ridiculous French accent returns] Thank you very much. I have enjoyed playing here this evening. I will not play any more, but if someone wants to sing a couple more hymns.., so I wonder if we could have a couple of requests for hymns we could sing together.

Audience: "Knott's Berry Farm" "Oh Lord I'm Discouraged"!

JF: You wanna sing "Lord I'm Discouraged", you came up here and I'll play it and you sing it. Come on, come on. And where the hell's the bartender with the brandy? Come on, man, you wanna sing "Lord I'm Discouraged"?

Man in audience: I can't even remember the first line.

JF: I'm tired...

Flamboyant amateur in audience commences singing.

JF: That's not the first line, that's the verse.

Audience : "In Christ there is no East or West"

JF: No, no, let's sing spirituals. I have the American copyright on that. Come, come, let's sing some ooooold country hymns.

Audience [satirically]: "Onward Christian Soldiers"!

JF: Nah, corny, corny, corny. Country hymns, country hymns, man. Okay. We have a young man here who wishes to lead us in a hymn. What is the name of this? An old Negro spiritual, good one.., what are the words? Oh, oh yeah, it's ca lled "I'll Meet you on the Other Shore". Now you must keep strict rhythm young man. Let us have the hand for the young man who is going to try to lead us in an old, a very very old Negro country spiritual.

Young Man (rather rudely): I don't know if I can keep it as strict as you. I haven't drunk quite as much.

JF: How's this key? What's your name sir?

Young Man : Masked Marvel.

They perform.

JF: No no no we gonna sing you some songs from way down south. We recognise that this is Southern culture up here. Let us sing you something REAL DEEP SOUTH. Do you know "Troubled Bout my Mother"? Well, what do you know?

Marked Marvel: I know a lot of Charley Patton. Blind Willie McTell. "Moon Goin' Down"?

JF: No, no, spirituals.

They are all looking blank. The audience is growing restive. Fahey is losing their attention.

JF: Do you do "Down by the Riverside"? It's kind of a little overdone, don't you think?

Someone suggests "The Other Side of the Jordan" but no one remembers how it goes.

JF: Do you do "Sone Day, Some Happy day"? SOME DAAAAAAAY, SOME HAAAAAAAPPY DAAAAAAAY... You don't know that.

Masked marvel: I could follow it.

JF: "Jesus Met a Woman by the Well"... "Lord, Lord, He's a Dying Bed Maker"...

Masked Marvel: Which one's that?

JF: Well you tell me, cause you're singing.

Masked Marvel: I'm drawin' a blank "I Shall Not be Moved".

A group of women in the audience break into "Will the Circle be Unbroken".

JF: Oh, man, everybody's tired of "Will the Circle be Unbroken". God damn, come on ladies. Co me on ladies, cool it, cool it. We're tryna do spiritual songs that you ain't never heard before. You can hear those songs any day of the week... If you don't like what we're doin' you can kick us out, but what they're doin' you can hear anytime up here. Now you had a song there, "I Shall Not be Moved", but the original, not the Martin Luther King stuff.

They perform "I Shall Not be Moved".

JF: Hey, you know what we got, we got a problem. I am in a weird tuning in which I can only play in one key.

Masked Marvel: Yeah, and it's a little too high for me.

JF: So I am gonna change to standard tuning... Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to attempt to recreate in our diminutive manner a song which A P Carter wrote many years ago called "I'm Going Down to the River of Jordan Some of these Days". Give me perhaps fifteen seconds more to tune my guitar, cause I am just not as good as Maybelle Carter to whom I did dedicate my new book which isn't coming out by the way. Y'all will forgive me for my lack of hot guitar licks, like Maybelle Carter maybe, but I don't have a capo. Never use one. Sing.

They perform.

JF: You know folks, we are amateurs at doin' this gospel singin' but, by God, you know I was brought up in Maryland, near the Appalachian Mountains, and, er , I happen to believe all this stuff we're singing... [collapses in laughter]. If anyone wants to sit around and sing a few more gospel songs... I ain't gonna sing nothing too sentimental, cause I don't believe in that... "Horses"? I wrote a song called " Horses" but it ain't got nothin' to do with this stuff man... Well, you're from Ohio and--- hey, Canada's same as Ohio. Better place than where I live. I have to live in that damn place California and I hate it. Let us not do "Gospel Ship" because Joan Baez did it and I hate her... Look, I want songs that didn't come out of the God damned folk boom. I want songs that came out of these hills just like I did. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for, man. Songs that come out of my heart didn't come out of this Joan Baez Pete Seeger crap. Beg pardon?

Audience: "Requiem to John Hurt".

JF: No, no, that part of the show's over, we're just singing a few gospel songs... If we do this song "Will the Circle be Unbroken" which you've all heard, we're gonna do it really nice...

ROCKPALAST VIDEO : LIVE IN HAMBURG 17/3/78

On the Sunny Side of the ocean

Hawaiian Two Step

Tiger

The Approaching of the Disco Void

Steve Talbot on the Keddie Wye

Steamboat Gwine Round de Bend

How Green was my Valley

Candy Man/Brenda's Blues

Take a Look at that Baby

Beverley

When you wore a Tulip/Ann Arbor

The Revolt of the Dyke Brigade/Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt

The Discovery of the Sylvia Scott

Poor Boy/Steel Guitar Rag

Christmas at McCabe's December 1979

Hark the Herald Angels Sing/O Come all ye Faithful

O Come O Come Emmanuel/Good Christian Men/What Child is this

We Three Kings/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming/God Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen/In Christ there is no East nor West

Joy to the World/The Bells of St Mary's/Auld Lang Syne/Funeral Song for Mississippi John Hurt

Silent Night

Italian Recording Session with Maurizio Angeletti 1982

I'll See You in my Dreams

Stomping Tonight Fantasy

The Life and Death of LA's Motels (1 & 2)

An otherwise unknown (and undistinguished) song

Lonesome Weary Blues

The latter two are duets

Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival 1983

On the Sunny Side of the ocean/Hawaiian Two-Step/Logan County Blues

Tiger

Steamboat Gwine Round de Bend

How Green was my Valley

Silent Night

The World is Waiting for the Sunrise

Steve Talbot on the Keddie Wye

The Voice of the Turtle/Charlie Becker's Meditation

Steamboat Gwine Round de Bend

How Green was my Valley

Mark 1:15/Let Go

The Last Steam Engine Train

The Revolt of the Dyke Brigade/Funeral Song for John Hurt

The Grand Finale

THE RAIN FORESTS DEMO TAPE (1984)

Note: exactly what it says. You can hear Fahey switching the home tape recorder on and off all the time. The titles appear to have come from JF.

Of the 12 pieces only Night Train to Valhalla is complete. Four of the rest actually made it onto the"Rainforests" album.

Ocean Waves

By Bola Sete

Brazilian Song

Entitled "Joganda" , this is the first song on Bola Sete' s "Ocean Vol 2", and was recorded by fahey under the title "Unknown Tango" on "I Remember Blind Joe Death" 3 years later.

Moscow Nights

Under the title "Midnight in Moscow" this was a No 1 hit in 1961 for the English trad jazz band Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. The tune comes from a Russian song by Vassili Soloviev-Sedoi and M Matusovsky (credit where credit' s due, says the IFC). An odd choice, even for Fahey.

Dance of the Jungle

Untitled

First version of "Melody McOcean"

Night Train to Valhalla

This fine version has a long original introduction.

Slow Blues in Open G

Similar to Charley Patton's "Love my Stuff"

Untitled

The penultimate section is Elizabeth Cotton's "Spanish Flang Dang"

Oregon Rain Forest

Untitled

Om Sri, Jai, Sri Jai Shananach Aria

Wm F Buckley

Mr Buckley is a well-known right-wing American magazine editor, TV host, columnist and author of amongst others "Atlantic High", which Fahey used to rename this composition.

Nine songs

West Virginia Rag

Delta Serenade

1950s medley: In the Still of the Nite

My Prayer

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Blueberry Hill

Pony Blues

Spoonful Blues

Claire

The Great Pretender

A Fool Such as I

Diane Kelley

Unknown

ANDY KERSHAW SESSION 15 October 1987

Nightmare/Summertime

Spanish Two-Step

On the Sunny Side of the Ocean

Dance of Death

Supposedly, Richard Thompson, the great English acoustic-electric guitarist and singer-songwriter, a Fahey fan himself, was so appalled at what he perceived to be Fahey's sloppiness in this set that he phoned Andy Kershaw and asked to record an acoustic set for the programme to make up for it, in some karmic way. Richard was probably unaware of Fahey's various health problems, which by 1987 were beginning to affect his guitar playing.

AZALEA CITY MEMORIES AND OTHER TOXIC MEMORABILIA (1990)

This is a so-far unreleased album which was completed at the same time as (and is the obvious companion to) "Old Girlfriends".

Dorothy Gooch Part II

A new composition. In 1991 this was turned into Fahey's second-ever song-with-lyrics (the first - you knew this! - being "Some Summer Day" for Fonotone). The lyricist was long-time Fahey associate, guitarist and tablature writer Janet Smith. Fahey asked Janet to transcribe the tune in a letter written on the back of a copy of pages from "Admiral Kelvinator's Clockwork Factory" , JF's unpublished autobiographical fantasy. JS asked to see more of that MS. "Darned if she didn't come up with a set of words based on an episode from my own life!" exclaims Fahey. "We essentially worked out a fairly final version of the lyrics over the phone and through the mail. The piece and the song are dedicated to Dorothy Gooch, a girl I knew and loved many years ago." (Information from "Acoustic Guitar" Jan/Feb 1992.

Alas, with lines like "Two young hearts could never guess how far/Our lives' journeys would lead us apart" the song will, we feel, attract few cover versions. In fact, the editors would like to classify "Dorothy the Song" in a category reserved also for "Pretty Afternoon the Song" - see note to that one.

The present recording is with guitar only.

Dorothy Gooch Part I

A re-recording of the piece from VOT (1968)

Two American Folk Hymns

From "Yes! Jesus Loves Me" (1980)

In the Still of the Night

The original by the 5 Satins is supposed to be "America's favourite oldie".

Banjo St

A major new composition which evolved over the years into "Who will Rock the Cradle" (In Concert video, 1996) and "Red Rocking Chair" (Georgia Stomps, 1998). Dock Boggs is the original inspiration, especially "Country Blues" and "Sugar Babe" (from AAFM). The second slow part of this long piece is from "Willie Moore" (AAFM).

The editors would like to know what the tune is which appears around 2.20. They had the temerity to ask Fahey himself, but he just said "I thought I wrote it" which wasn't much help.

My Prayer

Composed by Boulanger and Kennedy, and sung by the Platters. No 1 in 1956.

Springtime in Azalea City

This recording possibly dates from 1965 or 1966 and is from Fahey's own archives (what other gems like there unheard? Heard melodies are sweet, but unheard sweeter still.) Parts are speeded-up phrases from what we now know as "Dry Bones in the Valley" (Old Fashioned Love, 1974)

Our Lady of Sorrows

A shorter version of "The Voice of the Turtle" (America, 1970)

Horses

From "After the Ball" , 1973.

Old Girlfriends Outtakes

Dorothy Gooch Part II

Marilyn/My Prayer/John Henry Variations/Orinda-Moraga

Blueberry Hill

The Thing at the End of New Hampshire Avenue

Tuff

View

Delta Dog (Through the Book of Revelation)

Come Go with Me/Come Softly to Me

 

 
Things to Come

Index