Let’s take a break this month from the
Sturm und Drang
of bluegrass and jazz to visit the jug band nostalgia of
R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders. The famed ‘60s
cartoonist led a group using tenor banjo,
guitar, mandolin, ukulele, cello, saw and
sundry other instruments to record three
albums during the 1970s. There are some
wonderful melodies here. Writes Cub
Koda on allmusic.com: “Sounding like
better-recorded versions of the 78s that
the group so highly cherishes, there’s a
stark simplicity to these recordings that
makes them all the more effective. With
their shared vocals, cracked harmonies,
and simply played accompaniment…this
is old-timey music played with some real
enthusiasm and great energy.”
Persian Rug (written in 1927 by
Charles N. Daniels, under the name Neil Moret, with lyrics by Gus Kahn) appears
on “
Chasin’ Rainbows,” a 1993 Shanachie
reissue of the second of the original albums
on the Blue Goose label. It adapts readily
to the 5-string.
The melody is essentially in halfnotes,
but I’ve introduced “ghost notes”
on the fifth string for rhythmic purposes.
In playing measure one, pivot very lightly
off the “x” notes with your thumb. There
should be no more than a wisp of sound.
Playing two half-notes with big holes
around them invites timing problems; four
quarter-notes makes for greater control.
There are some instances where an
“x” note would sound OK played “out
loud,” for example the last note in measure
three—a G, the flatted seventh of the A7
chord. It remains in its “x” status because
it’s really not part of the melody. At other
points, the ghost notes, if played with any
degree of audibility, would sound pretty
lousy, as in the E7 chord in the first measure
of the bridge.
The bridge has a nice cycle-of-fifths
flow, with the melody highlighting various
chordal extensions and alterations. I’ve
indicated the basic chord symbols, which
would work fine in a guitar accompaniment.
In the E7 measure, the second triad has a C,
the augmented fifth, on top. The subsequent
A7, to be exact, is an A9 because of the B
note on beats one and three. In the D7, bar
the first two strings at the 12th fret with
the little finger; then use the little finger
to fret the first note of the next measure as
you grab a G9 chord. This puts you in an
advantageous position to play this measure
and then move to the C chord—where the
melody briefly forms a C13 because of the
A note on the second string.
The C7 leads to an ordinary F major
chord and then a D7 where, technically
speaking, the E note on the second string
makes it a D9. A G7 augmented returns the
tune to the first section.
Want more? Listen to the song (it’s on
YouTube) and dig the oriental-sounding
intro.
continued
