Canned Heat -- "On the Road Again"

I didn't have no fairo

Not even no place to go

Those lyrics from Canned Heat's "On the Road Again" pretty much sum up the life of a solitary man on a solitary bike ride, who then writes about that solitary bike ride on his solitary blog.

(If that doesn't make any sense to you, click here to read the previous 2 or 3 lines.  Then it will make at least a teensy-weensy bit of sense to you.  Which is better than making no sense at all . . . right?)

I bet "fairo" is a word you haven't seen before.  Am I right?  Or am I right?

Legendary Delta blues singer Tommy Johnson

"Fairo" (which is sometimes spelled "faro") is a word that appears in a number of old blues songs -- including Delta blues legend Tommy Johnson's "Cool Drink of Water Blues," which he recorded in 1928.  (By the way, Canned Heat took its name from Johnson's "Canned Heat Blues.")  

According to the 1982 tome, Big Road Blues: Tradition and Creativity in Folk Blues, which was written by musicologist David Evans, "fairo" means "sweetheart."  

The etymology of the word is uncertain.  Evans speculates that it might be derived from "fair," or from the Scottish word fere (which means "mate" or "consort"), or from "farrow," which is a term for a young pig -- "as in the expression 'pigmeat' for a young woman." 

(I don't know about you, but I've never called a young woman "pigmeat."  God knows I've had enough trouble over the years attracting young women without referring to them as "pigmeat.")

"On the Road Again" popped up on the Sirius XM radio of my Chevrolet Sonic rental car while I was on Cape Cod last month.

The Shining Sea Bikeway (Falmouth, MA)

It was the day after Memorial Day, and I was on the road again myself.  I was heading to Falmouth to rent a bike and ride the ten-mile-long Shining Sea Bikeway, which runs from North Falmouth to Woods Hole -- which is the departure point for the Steamship Authority's Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket ferries:

Ferry leaving Woods Hole

The Shining Sea Bikeway has plenty of twists and turns to challenge even the most experienced cyclist:

You see some interesting sights along the trail, like this array of brightly-colored Adirondack chairs:

There were several Memorial Day tributes along the trail:

I saw this "War Dog Memorial" near the northern end of the bike trail:

The tribute to military dogs was only part of a much larger artistic display.  Here are photos of a few details of that display, the purpose of which eluded me:

I'm hopeful that some train aficionado will leave a comment explaining the function of this artifact, which was left behind when the old railroad right-of-way was converted to a bike trail:

"On the Road Again" was released in 1968 on the Boogie With Canned Heat album.  It went all the way to #16 on the Billboard "Hot 100."  

I can't imagine a song like this one climbing that high on the charts today.  It's a very odd song -- more performance art than blues record.

I love the late Alan Wilson's falsetto singing, but I'm sure it annoys the hell out of a lot of people.

Here's a video featuring Canned Heat lip-synching to an abbreviated version of "On the Road Again":

Here's the album version of "On the Road Again":

Click below to buy the song from Amazon:

Canned Heat -- "Time Was" (1969)

Time was when we could agree

That time is gone

Now you find fault with me

I was taught in school that the Japanese poems known as haiku were three lines long, and totalled 17 syllables.  (The first line had five syllables, the second had seven, and the last line had five.)

The Japanese would not agree.  Japanese haiku consist of 17 on -- but one on does not necessarily equate to one syllable.  (Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagasaki all contain four on, but have two, three, and four syllables, respectively.) 

There are quite a few English-speaking poets who have written haiku.  Haiku written in English do not always contain five-seven-five lines or a total of 17 syllables -- in fact, the length of most of the haiku that are currently being published in English is 10 to 14 syllables.

I was riding my bike at the Cape Cod National Seashore recently when this song came up on my sentient iPod.  For some reason -- perhaps the combination of my location and activity put me in a Zen-like frame of mind -- it hit me that the three verses of this Canned Heat song were really three related haiku. 

The first verse has 15 syllables (if you don't count the second line, which simply repeats the first line), the second one -- which is the one quoted above -- has 17, and the third one has 16.

The third verse may be the one that comes the closest to having the "feel" of a traditional haiku:

Trouble will not wreck my life

Someday you'll like

What I'm putting down

"Time Was" combines the Japanese poetic form of haiku with good ol' American 12-bar blues, which usually feature three-line verses (the first two lines are usually repeated).  East may be east, and west may be west, but sometimes the twain do meet.

"Time Was" uses words in an extremely economical fashion -- excluding the repeated initial line in each verse, the song has 41 words and only 48 syllables.

Alan Wilson, Bob Hite

Canned Heat was formed by blues aficionados Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (Wilson was extremely nearsighted) and Bob "The Bear" Hite (who was big and hirsute) in 1965.  The group appeared at the two biggest outdoor music festivals of that era, the Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock.

I bought several Canned Heat albums.  I think one reason classic blues music appealed to me was that its structure was quite transparent and predictable -- it was easy to anticipate where a song was going, and the musical structurer was simple enough that I could re-create blues songs myself.  The blues genre was also viewed as more serious and intellectually respectable than top-40 pop, Motown, psychedelic rock, and certain other styles of popular music.

I bought the Hallelujah album shortly after it was released in 1969.  One of my favorite songs on it was "Sic 'Em Pigs," a very snarky anti-police diatribe.  (I was very young back then, and my judgment left a lot to be desired.)

"Sic 'Em Pigs," which featured a lot of fake pig grunts, snorts, and squeals, ended with a pseudo-public service announcement that was spoken, not sung:

Are you looking for a way to serve God and country?  Your chance has come.  We are now recruiting trainees for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.   If you are big, strong and stupid, we want you!  

Alan Wilson died of a drug overdose (some believe he committed suicide) in 1970, when he was 27.  Bob Hite was found dead in his van after having a heart attack in 1981.  He was 38. 

Here's "Time Was":

Here's a link to use to order the song from Amazon: