Sunday, March 1, 2009

Midnight Shift

from the KTEP Folk Fury broadcast of 28 Feb. 2009
Zoomer Roberts: vocal and harmonica
Buddy Winston: guitar
Doug Neal: bass


Zoomer here. I usually include some lesser-known items in tribute shows. This is one of the songs Buddy Holly recorded in Nashville for Decca in 1956. It was also done by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen in the early 1970s. It's not a great song, but it's fun. Originally, the line "brother, there just ain't no ifs" appeared in three consecutive verses, and I thought once was plenty, so I did a minor re-write wherein Annie drives your car off of a cliff and reeks of liquor and illicit sex the next morning. Another line -- "when you're at the morgue identifyin' the stiff / you'll know that Annie was a-workin' on the midnight shift" -- was left on the cutting room floor.