Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Marvel Boycott Diary: Top Ten Songs The Jack Kirby Petition Would Be

So I had a few drinks and listened to some hurtin' songs. Then I wondered about the soundtrack that would play when Jack Kirby finally gets his due.

Please sign the Kirby petition.

#10. Waylon Jennings, Mental Revenge. "I hope that the friend that you find yourself with gets drunk and loses his job/and that the road that you're traveling on gets rough, rocky and hard/you never really loved me, you only made me blue/and all in all if the curtain should fall, I hope it falls on you."

#9 Blondie, One Way Or Another. I like to picture Kirby listening to Blondie records while penciling The Eternals. Thena and Kro teaming up against The Celestials? Totally a Debbie Harry moment.

#8. Destiny's Child, Survivor. Maybe Beyonce could be one of Kirby's zaftig amazons?

#7. Big Maybelle, One Monkey Don't Stop the Show. Blues diva Big Maybelle (1924-1972) had a storied career and many hits, the last in 1967. Born in Jackson, Tenessee, she toured the entire U.S., including the Apollo Theater in New York City. She recorded "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" two years before Jerry Lee Lewis. This rendition of the Rose McCoy-penned classic "fuck you" song is a great hard-boiled jilted lover tune.

#6. Kate Bush, The Wedding List. A song based on the 'La Mariee Etait En Noir' or 'The Bride Wore Black' by Francois Truffaut. Revenge melodrama. Kirby could have seen it in a matinee in 1969 or so.

#5. Rocky Racoon by Lena Horne. I like to think that Jack could have heard this version of the Beatles country-blues themed murder ballad, originally presented on Charles Manson's favourite record, here recorded by that most classy of dames, Miss Lena Horne, sometime in the 1960s or 70s on a late-night FM broadcast or maybe on some 80s variety show with jokes written by Mark Evanier.

#4. Nazi Rock by Serge Gainsbourg. Born Lucien Ginsburg in Paris, France, the son of Russian Jewish emigrants, Serge Gainsburg survived the Nazi occupation to become once of France's biggest pop stars and sex symbols. Cartoonist Joann Sfar has recently directed a film of his career, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life.

#3. Magnetic Fields, Yeah Oh Yeah. I love this song and decided to throw it in here since it seems to be an oblique criticism of an incompetent "lesser" artist. It kind of has a quirkiness and enunciation that I associate with Kirby.

#2. The Clash, Ghetto Defendant. As seen in his classic "Street Code" comic book short story, Kirby was the original ghetto defendant. Here, Alan Ginsberg updates the Kirby experience to the 1970s.

#1 what else?

Woody Guthrie Tear the Fascists Down. Kirby as Depression-era scrabbler, Captain America creator, World War II veteran.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:22 PM

    I'd like to dedicate this one to Stan from Jack.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFZOhmLXReo

    "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes. Then you'd know what a drag it is to see you."

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  2. heh, just checked that link to Dylan's Postively 4th Street. the vid was removed for "copyright reasons" of course...

    You got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend/
    When I was down, you just stood there grinning /
    You got a lotta nerve to say you gotta helping hand to lend /
    You just want to be on the side that's winning/
    You say I let you down, you know it's not like that /
    If you're so hurt why then don't you show it? /
    You say you lost your faith but that's not where it's at /
    You have no faith to lose and you know it/
    I know the reason that you talk behind my back/ I used to be among the crowd you're in with /
    Do you take me for such a fool to think I'd make contact/
    With the one who tries to hide what he don't know to begin with?/
    You see me on the street, you always act surprised /
    You say, "How are you? Good luck," but you don't mean it/
    When you know as well as me you'd rather see me paralyzed /
    Why don't you just come out once and scream it?/
    No, I do not feel that good when I see the heartbreaks you embrace/
    If I was a master thief perhaps I'd rob them /
    And now I know you're dissatisfied with your position and your place/ Don't you understand, it's not my problem/
    I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes /
    And just for that one moment, I could be you /
    Yes, I wish that for just one time, you could stand inside my shoes /
    You'd know what a drag it is to see you

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