I Can See You - by Paddy Summerfield c. 1986

Sunday, February 15, 2026

John Cale - Sabotage Live 1979 | Voodoo Wagon

 John Cale - Sabotage Live 1979 

[Out of Print]

From the original FBS Archives, Back From The Dead
Originally posted here March 19, 2014 and April 16, 2021 

A SILENT WAY RE-BOOT

John Cale - Sabotage Live
Recorded live at CBGB's
New York, New York 1979

Rare and Out of Print @320
 


Mercenaries (Ready For War)

Mercenaries are useless, disunited, unfaithful
They have nothing more to keep them in a battle
Other than a meager wage
Which is just about enough to make them wanna kill for you
But never enough to make them wanna die for ya

I'm just another soldier boy
I'm just another soldier boy
Looking for work
Looking for work
Looking for work

My rifle is my friend
My rifle is my friend
I clean my rifle everyday
I clean my rifle everyday
That's why my rifle is my friend

Ready for war, ready for war
Ready for war, ready for war
Ready for war, ready for war
Ready for war, ready for war

Did some work in Zaire, the jolly old Belgian Congo
Went back to Geneva to get paid
Back there in Geneva, that's were the money grows
That's were the money grows, that's were the money flows

They didn't wanna pay me
They didn't wanna pay me, but they did
Try to separate me from my money
is try to separate me from my life

Ready for war, ready for war
Ready for war, ready for war
Ready for war, ready for war
Ready for war, ready for war

Let's go to Moscow, let's go to Moscow
Let's go, let's go, let's go to Moscow
Fight a backdoor to the Kremlin
Push it down and walk on in

5000 feet and closing
Target visibility one nine
4000 feet and closing
Target visibility two six
3000 feet and closing
Target visibility seven nine
2000 feet and closing
Visibility one ten
1000 feet and closing
Visibility seven four
500 feet and closing
Target visibility zero!

Ready for war, ready for war
You better be ready for war
Ready for war, ready for war
Are you ready for war
Ready for war, ready for war
- Mercenaries

"I know it's probably hard for a John Cale fan that may not know this record to accept the guy dropping his acoustical piano and violin 

for an electric guitar, and issuing what's most probably the most brutal/ straightforward live album ever- but it would be a crime to 

ignore this masterpiece, which runs at full voltage all the way down. Captain Hook is probably the best Cale performance ever, 

Mercenaries the best anti-war song ever written, but anyway the whole album is an astonishing experience, provided of course that you 

do know how to pump up the volume for your speakers. Silent Way


Track List:

01 - Mercenaries (Ready For War)

02 - Baby You Know

03 - Evidence

04 - Dr. Mudd

05 - Walkin' the Dog

06 - Captain Hook

07 - Only Time Will Tell

08 - Sabotage

09 - Chorale


 

Personnel: John Cale: Bass, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Viola, Vocals,

 Producer, 

Fretless Bass, Mixing el:

Marc Aaron: Guitar

Joe Bidwell: Keyboards, Vocals

Doug Bowne: Drums, Vocals

Deerfrance: Percussion, Vocals

George Scott: Bass

A favourite Cale album bought on Vinyl when it came out 

. . .thanks to Silent Way

PLEASE DON’T SHOOT! 


John Cale - Mercenaries (Ready For War) - (Rockpalast 1984)


Peter Gabriel - Indigo | jt1674

 

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/808452145204641792/peter-gabriel-indigo

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - ‘This Little Light Of Mine’ live [Colourised] 1960

 Somebody posted this on flickennabokk! . . .so y’ere ’tis!

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - This Little Light of Mine
at the Juan-les-Pins jazz festival in 1960

It’s for your SUNDAY!

Yes I DO enjoy some religious folks singing . . . Sister is one!

The Triffids - Trick of The Light (demo) [1987] | GUESS I’M DUMB

image

The Triffids - A Trick of the Light (1987)

"I was really disappointed in the Triffids 4th LP Calenture; it was so overproduced. Only recently I learned that they’d released a remastered version with demos. The demos are fantastic! Similar to their LP In the Pines. When not smothered in 80s production, the brilliance of David McComb’s songwriting shines through. “ Guess I’m Dumb

Well the rim of her mouth was golden
Her eyes were just desert sand
s

Flamin’ Groovies - Jumpin’ in the Night (1979) | Guess I’m Dumb

 

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Flamin’ Groovies - Jumpin’ in the Night (1979)

Jumpin’ title track to the Groovies third and final LP on Sire. 

TURN IT UP!

Weather Report | Jaco Pastorius - largely thanks to John French posting lovely clips of Jaco at work . . . .

 WEATHER REPORT ‘BIRDLAND’ (Jaco Pastorius)


John 'Drumbo’French has been posting clips on his Facebook page of the wonderful bass player Jaco Pastorius who played in Weather Report really the last band playing Jazz I listened to and was a real fan of but the story of Joco’s death following his descent into very poor mental health gets me every time . . . . . . still I could not post something in response to John’s highlighting the master of the bass (hear starting a signature pice with inched harmonics on a bass - ever seen aye do THAT? No me neither  . . .tragic loss
so here they are Weather Report - Birdland (Jaco Pastorius)



Weather Report - Teentown Midnight Special 1977

P.P. Arnold by Gered Mankowitz 1967

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Kris Kristofferson on Songwriting [and John Prine note] | Don’s Tunes

 May be a black-and-white image of one or more people, beard, blonde hair and people smiling

Photo by Henry Diltz


Kris Kristofferson: I never saw songwriting as having the potential to be a lifetime thing, or something that you would do for your life’s work. It didn’t seem to measure up to that. I didn’t think it was something worthy of devoting your life to until I went to Nashville after I’d been in the army. It was so exciting and creatively stimulating to me being around all of the serious songwriters there. Everybody was hanging out every night listening to each other’s stuff. It was like a rebirth for me after five years in the army.

To me, your first four records really exemplify that period when the singer/songwriter was king. And of course guys like John Prine came along during that time as well…

It was really cool for me to be a part of his success story. Steve Goodman had introduced us, and I remember Paul Anka was in town to see my show. Steve took us to a club to see Prine, and Paul offered to fly them both to New York where I was going to be playing at The Bitter End. He got the owner to let them play however long they wanted to. Jerry Wexler from Atlantic Records came to see one of the shows and signed Prine on the spot. We made some demos with Steve there and he got a record deal too.

Do you look back on that time now as a golden era?

Absolutely. It was pretty amazing because maybe five years before that I couldn’t even sing my own demos. They weren’t used to hearing a voice like mine. I think Bob Dylan helped a lot of us in that way. They couldn’t understand Dylan, but he was doing great, so I guess that gave us a chance to try to make a living at it.

J Williamson Interview 2009


Art of The Day - Don Van Vliet - again from Gary Lucas’ Facebook page


Don Van Vliet “Feather Times A Feather”

1987 

Oil on canvas


Now this is a choice and a half I LOVE this painting!


 

Captain Beefheart lyric (visual) reference of the day


 Maybe you had a girl like that . . . . . CLICK CLACK, CLICK CLACK

Well I had this girl

Threatened ‘n leave me all the time

Threatenin’ t’ go down t’ N’Orleans-uh

‘N get herself lost ‘n found

Maybe you had uh girl like this

She’s always threatenin’ t’ go down t’ N’Orleans

‘N get herself lost ‘n found


Two trains
Two railroad tracks
One goin’ ‘n the other one comin’ back
There goes my baby on that ole train
I say come back come back baby come back
Click clack click clack

There’s my baby wavin’ her handkerchief down
My ears stand up when I hear that sound
This time it sound like it’s for keeps
Click clack click clack

I get down on the ground
With the gravel around
I pray t’ the Lord
That the train will stop
Turn right around
‘N never stop till it drop my baby off

Now I had this girl
Threatened ‘n leave me all the time
Maybe you had uh girl like that
I-yuh all time cryin’

Well I had this girl
Threatened ‘n leave me all the time
Threatenin’ t’ go down t’ N’Orleans-uh
‘N get herself lost ‘n found
Maybe you had uh girl like this
She’s always threatenin’ t’ go down t’ N’Orleans
‘N get herself lost ‘n found

C’mon I’ll play it for yuh
Lemme tell yuh ’bout it
Lemme tell yuh ’bout it
There were two railroad tracks
Click clack click clack

One ah them leavin’-uh
‘N the other one comin’ back
I was two years from yuh baby
You were goin’ way up the tracks
The train was leavin’-uh
I could see yuh wavin’ your handkerchief

[Originally made available at Justin Sherill’s Home Page Replica.]

(1972)