Back in the early eighties when I ran a record store on Wilshire in Santa Monica, my morning ritual for a couple years was to drop the needle on side one of this album at full volume as I turned the key and opened the doors. There was no other way to better start off my day than the opening chords of “Marie, Marie”, as distinctive use of guitar as the Beatles’ start of “A Hard Days Night”. And that voice….Phil Alvin singing the lyrics of his brother Dave:
Marie Marie
Playing guitar on the back porch
I sit in my car
While she sings so sad
Marie Marie
Marie Marie
It’s so lonely in these farmlands
Please come with me
To the bright lights downtown
Marie Marie
I said, “Hey, pretty girl
Don’t you understand
I just want to be your lovin’ man”
Marie Marie
The sun is down in the corn fields
The evening is dark
And you sing so sad
Marie Marie
Marie Marie
I got two weeks in back pay
There’s gas in my car
And your folks say I must go
Marie Marie
I said, “Hey, pretty girl
Don’t you understand
I just want to be your lovin’ man”
Marie Marie
Playing guitar on the back porch
I leave in my car
While you sing so sad
Marie Marie
I’m choosing this morning to not do what I might normally do…give you a brief but thorough history of the band from Downey California. There are just so many places on the interwebs to easily get really good information. Here is the link to their first Blasters News Letter from 1994 which features the first installment of Billy Davis’ extensive history of the band. If you like that, work your way back to the archive index for the rest of them. And our own NoDep archives have some fine reviews available for you. Probably hands down my most favorite Blasters piece is an interview from 2006 with Phil Alvin with a woman named Jenny Angel. It’s located here and if you choose to read just one of these, go for this.
In my digital library I have all of Dave Alvins’ solo work, some Phil Alvin and no Blasters. Its one of those things where I’ve just heard it so much and so often that I figured I didn’t need to hear it again. But my kid who devours music like slices of Sal’s Pizza from Mamaroneck, threw the 2002 Complete Slash Recordings into my Drop Box and said “you need to listen to this again”. And I did and he was right. Lurking around You Tube I discovered a video from January of this year at McCabes in Santa Monica. Just a few blocks south of where my old record store once stood. Long gone now of course.
For the past couple of years, Phil has been performing “Marie, Marie” in Spanish. He does it with the Blasters minus Dave, and also with the Blasters when Dave is with them. So it’s not something new or different he pulled out of his hat on this particular night. But I want you to watch this video and look at Dave. The first time I watched it I thought he was surprised, but now after repeated views I think its something else. It begins as amusement; Phil twisting it up and turning it into the San Joaquin Valley song it was meant to be. But then I think the feeling in Dave is pride and love. Both in the song, but more so in his brother. Am I reaching here? I don’t believe so. It’s a special moment. But you tell me if you feel it too.
If you made it to the very end, you heard Dave jump in and sing a verse in English. Almost as if he wanted to give the audience a reminder that “yeah…we were the Blasters…that was us”. No need really, I think they knew.
I have no time today to get into this, but I’d like to leave y’all with a thought. The quintessential music “California Story” has always been that of the Wilsons…Brian, his brothers, cousin and friend. But there are more than just that one. Buck Owens has a story. Chris Hillman has a great one. Woody and Lefty Lou. Johnny Otis and his son. But the Blasters, they have an amazing musical journey. I hope you take the time to read some of those links.
They made American music. They’re an American band. The original “Marie, Marie.”
