By Tony Attwood
After the theme time radio hour based on the subject of weddings which I contemplated inj the last article in this series (there is a link at the end to previous articles), I guess it was inevitable that Bob would move onto divorce and that the programme, which was first broadcast on 28 June 28, would begin with Tammy Wynette’s 1968 recording DIVORCE (with full stops rather ungrammatically put after each letter of the title).
But what made this episode interesting for me was just how far back Bob went to find some of the songs he chose. As far as I can see the oldest was “Divorce Me C.O.D.” by Merle Travis released in 1946.
Now I have to admit I have not come across this music before, but as I have started to explore the songs in this episode, it has struck me just how far back American protest music goes, with topics like the exploitation of miners being sung about in the 1930s. This is not a subject that Bob was concerned with in this episode; it simply does show me, for the first time, that the writers of the 1950s and 1960s did not create the concept of protest within popular music. Merle Travis himself was particularly associated with songs about the exploitation of coal miners.
While Bob’s protest songs that we all remember were tracks such as “Chimes of Freedom” and “Masters of War” I found it most interesting personally to start reading about the protest songs of earlier decades, which clearly Bob knew and indeed knows all about.
As a child, I did of course, come across songs such as “16 Tons” but don’t recall hearing much else by way of protest music until Bob came along – although perhaps that just reflects my sheltered life (my family moved from London to rural Dorset when I was 11 and the only radio we had was the BBC).
And in listening here, I’ve also learned that Merle Travis is remembered for inventing a new style of guitar playing still known as Travis picking and was highly influential in his work. As a child in England, it all past me by.
Another track from the 1940s was “Alimony Blues” – Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson & His Orchestra, in the classic slow 12 bar blues style, which gives the pianist a chance to go everywhere his fingers take him.
I don’t know when the idea of writing blues protests against alimony arrangements faded away – although maybe it still exists in the US. I can’t recall hearing anything like this in recent years in the UK. In fact, five of the songs in this selection by Bob have the word “alimony” in the title. I didn’t count how many had the word embedded in the lyrics without actually making it to the record label but I think there were a few more.
Now at this point, I was going to include “Alimony” by Huey Piano Smith, but on listening to it (and remembering I am English and thus not fully conversant with American idioms) I suspect it contains appalling racist language, but if I am wrong and if you want to investigate, you can find the song on the internet.
So, trying to stay on firmer ground, I moved on through Bob’s tracks and found “(Pay Me) Alimony” – by Maddox Brothers and Rose, which comes from 1946.
But the subject of divorce as something to be found in rock music survived until the 1980s if not beyond, and across the years composers have tried to take the subject into different musical terrains. Here is “Divorce Decree” by Doris Duke in 1981. And I should add here, this is Doris Duke originally Doris Willingham, not to be confused with Doris Duke, the billionaire.
But I want to end with something a little more upmarket – so here is the most recent of the songs Bob included in this episode. It is by Jerry Reed. “She got the goldmine (I got the shaft).” I can relate to that.
Previously in this series
- 1: Happy 20th anniversary, Theme Time Radio Hour. Still offering us fun
- 2: Mother
- 3: Drinking
- 4: Coffee
- 5: Jail
- 6: Father
- 7: Wedding