Dance like a Monkey

Just watched the New York Dolls performing live on Jonathan Ross's show - David Johansen has become an Elder Statesman of punk, got that white shoe cool about him. They were a huge influence via Malcolm McLaren but I came straight into the English mainstream of punk with The Buzzcocks and The Clash, only circling back to NYC through Patti Smith and a brush with Richard Hell and the Voidoids.

Now I'm sitting here watching a documentary about Mose Allison with Van, Georgie Fame, Pete Townsend and Elvis Costello. Never saw the roots of My Generation in the blues til Pete demonstrated the Mose influence.

And earlier I was watching Walk the Line with U and, after the delight of Folsom Prison Blues, revelled in the conjunction of Johnny Cash, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and that whole Memphis holy rock'n'roll vibe.

There's a physics thing about music I really love, the transmission of energy from generation to generation, place to place, Groove's Law, a biology thing, the evolution of the beat, dance like a monkey, soar like an angel.

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When I was just a baby

My Mama told me: "Son,

Always be a good boy,

Don't ever play with guns."

But I shot a man in Reno

Just to watch him die.

When I hear that whistle blowin'

I hang my head and cry.