Saw a friend of Warren's at some Chinese restaurant in Costa Mesa. He was a pretty good strummer, and bold enough, and somewhat inspired, if dopey, as a writer. I spent the time thinking that if folks get away with songs like that, I shoulda written a bunch of 'em myself by now. On the other hand, his songs, while enjoyable enough, wouldn't be something I could be proud enough of to play for my mom, so I guess that's why I haven't. Seems to me like, if you're staring at a blank piece of paper casting about for ideas for a new song, and the notion of Siamese twins seems like a good idea to you, you probably need to fire your muse.
Anyway, lacking Original Tunes to play at the Gypsy Den, I'd only feel right if the tunes were remarkable in some other way -- four possibilities occur to me: Extremely Obscure, Surprisingly Well Performed, Rarely Covered, Or Unusually Arranged.
That pretty much kills all the James songs, except maybe "Water is Wide", which is on an album but nobody's heard, and "Little Help", "People Get Ready", and "The Way You Look", which are James' arrangements, but came from bootleg performances, so nobody knows 'em. But "Help" is too cheesy, and too common. The other three are possibilities, I guess...
"Something in the Way She Moves" fails most of the criteria, too, but it's kind of obscure (as it's getting so old), and I think we do it well, so maybe I'd be open to that one.
"Stardust" is ripped straight from Willie Nelson, and everyone's heard it, so that won't work. "America" is fun to play at Tully's, but I feel like it's a dim reflection of the original, lacking the harmony vocal, and played by a guy who can't really strum...
I would be willing to chance "Crying", though it fails the same tests the songs above fail. I dunno, maybe just 'cuz it's my current favorite, or because it's Rarely Covered, or because it takes such guts to sing... Anyway I guess I think I perform it reasonably well.
I think "Five O'Clock World" would work. It's clearly non-original, but it is Unusually Arranged, and Rarely Covered. It's ripped off from Hal Ketchum, but I doubt anybody would know that, nor complain if they did.
"Rhythm of the Rain" qualifies as Rarely Covered, but it's a little limp. "Ten Degrees and Getting Colder" is Obscure, and has the added attraction (for this crowd) of being about a "road musician, to the taverns he would go". I'd have to rehearse it some first, though -- I always blow the mid section.
So, let's see. Seems like if you only get two, they ought to be one fast, one slow. Maybe "Five O'Clock" and "Crying" would qualify.
Of course, there's my wife's issue, "Why do you want to do that? You already got a gig." I guess it's the fear/thrill of playing for other players. Best/worst possible audience -- outwardly, they're bound to be polite, but inside, they're the harshest judges. We'll see...
