The album Big Rude Jake – Blue Pariah was designed to push the limits of the neo-swing movement of the late 90’s. Big Rude Jake was really pushing the envelope with this solo album of his. The album was orchestrated, designed, and packaged in a way that no one could imagine at the time. You had a mixture of neo-swing, jump blues, and cabaret. Big Rude Jake’s will make you love Canadian music. You’ll be struck by his poise and charm. One can see why this album was a commercial success. There are no etudes here. His powerful songwriting leaves much to be desired.
Seventh Avenue Revisited is the jazzy opener of the album which is an instrumental. The song revisits the classic all time favorite neo-swing song 7th Avenue. A bit of rondo is used in the instrumental. One could call this a scherzo.
Cold Steel Hammer deals with the working class blues of working class life. Particularly steel mill workers blues in this case. The song revolves around 3 main characters including Jake himself. The 3 characters are the Crow, the Jackal, and the Jack Fish. The song revolves around 4 characters who are steel mill workers facing the tough conditions any steel mill worker would face.
The sun comes up like stink off a dumpster and Parkdale wriggles like a leach. Somewhere on the corner of Hell’s half-acre, the morning comes and kicks Jake in the teeth. He has been bustin’ his ass for the boss. He is back is bowed due to being beat from toe to crown. He feels the long hard skull crackin’ blow to the noggin as the cold steel hammer swings down.
And he can’t stop thinking but that goddamn dog tied by the neck in the back of next door eats from the garbage and never leaves the yard And the shit just keeps piling up higher and higher.
The Crow, the Jackal, and the Jack Fish are suited up to go another round. Jake will be up to his ticker in deadbeats when the cold steel hammer swings down.
They found the Jack Fish rolled up like a ‘tater bug with a Doc Martin Footprint on his face. They said there were lots of broken bottles and a lot of busted bodies. And blood all over the place!
The Crow was dancing in the road kill while the grift on the Jackal spun around. He’ll do a long hard stretch on a big piece of granite. And the shit just keep piling up higher and higher.
The Jack Fish got a barrel full of sucker-bait, the Jackal got a line to troll the street, and the Crow cried carry on with the carrion. And smiled to show the flesh stuck in his teeth.
Jake can’t stop thinking that there’s got to be a hole somewhere in the bottom of the Parkdale Bowl. But that sieve keeps sucking the life out of him as he twists and squirms while trying to deke the squeeze. Jake is fightin’ like a tiger in a tar pit. That suck-hole makes a terrible sound. He is fighting all the way, but he just keeps sinking as the cold steel hammer swings down.
The bilge water whisky and bath tub gin smells like dead smelts washed up on the beach. Jake trips up on the curb and falls flat on his face.
He can’t stop thinking about that piggy on a spit. Honey glazed and barbequed and burnt to a crisp. They fill you up with gristle and grease for the pan. And then they bend you over and they give you the shaft.
His lip swells up like a Roma tomato, he keeps tellin’ himself “Just keep shakin’ your head.” because the Crow and the Jackal and Jack fish won’t be eating until they’re sure that he is dead.
Night of the King Snake described Jake’s baby’s grim encounter with a king snake in the state of Wyoming. The King Snake is a jealous man attempts to lure Jake’s baby into his wicked ways and believes she was meant to know the wisdom of the fang. Jake’s baby falls with the King Snake due to those 30 silver kisses. Do you know what it means to love a woman with the King Snake blues?
There’s a freight train on the Badlands that carries Jake’s baby to him through the darkness of Wyoming. Just rockin his baby to sleep. Now there’s an ill wind blowin’. There’s a thunder rumblin’ down in the east and there’s a King Snake coiled up in the arms of an old pine tree.
The King Snake says to his baby, “Don’t you know that I’m a jealous man. And I would never let you leave me to wrangle alone in the sand. You were never meant for roses. You were meant to know the wisdom of the fang. Take these 30 silver kisses and live with me in these Badlands.”
The King Snake is a jealous man attempts to lure Jake’s baby into his wicked ways and believes she was meant to know the wisdom of the fang.
Then the King Snake purrs as he slithers up close to her breasts. She feels a tug on her earlobe and a tingle creeping round in her head. He said, “You can make believe that this is what the Fates intend.” as 30 Silver kisses go sliding down the back of her neck.
On the night of the King Snake time hangs in the seamy gloom. Jake was hanging round the station waiting on the 12:02. The brakeman finally told him, “Don’t you know that you’ve been made a fool? She love them 30 silver kisses. She don’t love you.”
You can love her like no other man and lift her up when no one else would. Bang your head against the wall. It really makes no difference what you do. She loves them 30 silver kisses. She don’t love you. She ain’t’ comin’ back to you.
Swing Baby uses a powerful swing fusion which follows an uptempo pace to a 1930s style jazz number. The sound is reminiscent of swing jazz of the 1930s which is quite nostalgic.
Three Drunks at Last Call explained in detail by skilled song craft about how an old mangy cat woman plans on winning her man back before the bars calls for closing time because his beer money buddies love to spend his dough.
Three Drunks at Last Call also explains that beer money buddies love to spend your dough but whenever trouble comes around you’ll find you drink alone. When the crunch comes down baby, you’ll find you drink alone.
Jake uses clever and witty wordplay with his songwriting due to his skilled song craft in lyrics such as these, “She’s a bar-bell, a cock-tale a bomb-shell ne’er-do-well”. Notice the dash in “cock-tale”. “cock-tale” is wordplay on the alcoholic beverage cocktail. He spelt words phonetically such barbell (bar-bell). This is wordplay here also, “pell-mell nutshell”.
Jake has been a fly on the wall and a flash in the pan. He’s been the cock of the walk and a flim-flam man. But for all he’s seen, he just can’t understand why a fool won’t fold while a fool still can. So you already know he has seen shady shiesty questionable bullshit.
The cowboy with the coin slot eyes comes on like a cripple at the foot of Christ and he’s begging the bartender for one last Ballantines. He’s a coin-slot buckshot. He wants the Reichenbach clock to stop and slowly unwind. He wants to spend the rest of his days in a misty whisky haze. Or at least the minute before they call closing time.
An old mangy cat goes and draws out her claws and stares down the babe at the end of the bar. She is convinced that chick is moving in her time. She’s a bar-bell. A cock-tale of a bombshell that is certainly a ne’er-do-well. And in the pell-mell nutshell that houses her mind.
She’s going to make that bitch pay in some kinky slinky way. She’s gonna win her man back before the bar calls for closing time because his beer money buddies love to spend his dough. When the crunch comes down, he’ll find himself drink alone.
And with his hands on the bumper in a parlour in town, some kid goes and puts his last dollar down
His knuckles go white, but he’s gotta let that bundle ride. This kid is a chalk blue pool cue billiard fool. He’s got a follow through that’s true blue but he’s still four games behind. He ducks an old fat and sweaty roly-Polish land lady. He’s gotta win it all back before they call closing time. But nothing ever sounds all that profound when the lights come up at closing time. Who are those folks over there? Just some drunks he knew at closing time.
Sliverman told the tale of Jake’s broken heart. Jake stumbles drunk into the night back to his little room. His tongue is slick with booze. His head is thick with things that were left unsaid. He wants to be by his lady’s side. Jake wants to be the thorn in her side. Yet he doesn’t want tenderness which is somewhat oddly strange.
The Girl in the Pink Canoe is a tribute to oral gratification.
There’s a boardwalk on the lakeshore back in Jake’s hometown in Canada. It’s a place where couples meet to watch the sun go down.And there’s a boy on the boardwalk pining all alone. Jake asked him what was on his mind. He answered sad and low.
The boy said, “I’m in love with the girl. The girl in the pink canoe who lives up in the bush-lands on the shores of the old Yazoo! She shines like a rose with her petals all covered in dew. She’s the only one for me. Far from home and all alone. As the white capped waves rode high! Lost at sea she sprung a leak. On a diddle diddle dark and stormy night!”
She stroked and stroked in her little pink boat. But it was to no avail! She tossed, turned, chugged, and churned. And let go a mournful wail! The girl wailed and said, “Won’t someone please come rescue me and board my boat and sail me home?” The boy called out to the girl,“If you would let me, I would gladly come to rescue you. I’ve got an oar and I’ll row you back to shore.” And on that shore he’ll kiss the girl in the pink canoe.
Now the lyrics “She stroked and stroked in her little pink boat/But it was to no avail!/She tossed and turned and chugged and churned/And let go a mournful wail!!!” imply that the girl was engaging in an act of masturbation. Female masturbation to be exact.
The Artist showcased some of his most advanced songwriting skills and lyrics to date. He uses advanced enhanced vocabulary in his lyrics. The song uses some dark imagery similar to Lovesick Lullaby. There is not much whimsical or witty wordplay here. Now his vocals here are just clean and serene.
He gets in touch with spiritual and religious side on this song which is why you hear references to religion. The song revolves around beliefs in his Catholic faith which is why you can hear ecclesial Christian religion references.
Jake has a picture of the miracle of Fatima sitting on his mantelpiece. The virgin there and she looks so serene. She got a sacred heart that glows in the dark on his mantelpiece. And when you turn out the lights, her eyes are phosphorescent green.
Jake prays to God to carry his prayers to Jesus for his sins are legion and only he has himself to blame. “Oh, sweet mother of God, please carry my prayers to Jesus for my sins are legion and I’ve only my self to blame. Please do your best to grant my request of forgiveness. Even though in my heart, it is true that I am unashamed. Keep me and save me from mine enemies.”
“What a horrible fate that I should be born in a world such as this. In a world without prophets, in a world where I suffer disdain. Purse-proud and callow, they scheme in the shadows. All about me I hear them. Spewing brimstone and bane!”
But a rabbit’s foot talisman pinned to his shirt sleeve keeps evil away. And a Salvation Army store oracle keeps him from harm. Under his bed is the Masonic Fez that keeps Satan at bey. He is filled with its power as he turns out the light. In the crown of his hat is a mustachioed Jack from an old euchre deck. A wallet sized picture of Shiva keeps him from harm.
But he has seen the signs that mark the end times.And the dark days of ravage and spite. The vile crimes committed, both brutal and brilliant. For God and for country and love unrequited.
He uses advanced enhanced vocabulary in his lyrics. Just look at these lyrics by taking time to read them and understand where he is coming from. However only a few people will get the idea.
You see the virgin there and she looks so serene
She got a sacred heart that glows in the dark on my mantelpiece
And when you turn out the lights, her eyes are phosphorescent green
Oh, Seraphim, Cherubim! Extra Terrestrial
Eucharist Biscuits and Chamomile Tea
Eye of the pyramid, Great seal of Solomon
Shrewdly placed billiard balls service in concealing her charms
And in the crown of my hat is a mustachioed Jack from an old euchre deck
The Diner showcased a meddlesome lover’s quarrel that Jake had with his lady. He tells his lady not to speak to him of love. His intention was to take her higher. Why must they speak of love?
Seventh Avenue Revisited is the jazzy opener of the album which is an instrumental. The song revisits the classic all time favorite neo-swing song 7th Avenue.
Blue Pariah (#3) was a remix of the original version which is Blue Pariah (#1). Jake was always disappointed that the band never recorded it quite the way he wanted in the style of a Quincy Jones soundtrack or theme song. The record company didn’t want to pay for the extra recording time. So the band just winged it one day and taped it live off the floor. The band did a great job, but it still isn’t quite what Jake was looking for. The lyrics are slightly altered. Jake sings about how he is the Blue Pariah who is compelled by a mystery.
Lovesick Lullaby uses some dark sad imagery which explains how Jake is lovesick and why he sings a lovesick lullaby. The song is filled with deep dark lyrics such as these, “The smoke in my lungs like the cloud of my own regrets”
Jake sings a lovesick lullaby whilst soaked in Detroit blues and 12-year-old rye smudged with nicotine stains and little white lies. An absent-minded smile on his face. Jake stares at his lady as she puts on her stiletto heels and seams up her thighs. He gave her one last kiss good night at the nape of her neck and Chanel Number 5
As Jake walks through the glow of every lamp post light, he stops to wonder where his lady is tonight.
He sifts though his pockets and digs out his cigarettes. He sparks up his last DuMaurier. Then he watches the match flare up and then fade away. The smoke in his lungs like the cloud of his own regrets. And still he sings a lovesick lullaby chock full of good intentions and cheap alibis. He sings a lovesick lullaby about how good it feels to take her inside. One last kiss good-night is all he wants.
Jake has been holding this wall up for a day or so when he knows he should have made tracks a long time ago, But just like a chump, he sticks around here, anyway. Jake keeps telling himself they are through with their relationship. He ain’t gonna take anymore of this here trash from her. Instead he sings a lovesick lullaby. And then he hears her voice and he forget what he was gonna say. He’ll toss and turn all night. But he won’t forget her face no matter how hard he tries.
I rate this album 5/5*****!!
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