musicology #217

12AngryMen #12 (alternativesoundtrack #3)

(Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – Yellow Coat)

back in the 12 angry saddle after almost a month ‘lost’ to philosophical meanderings, holidays, heartbreak, earning a living and soul searching…what have I learnt?

That true friends are essential, that a life lived alone is almost not worth living, that money is valued far beyond it’s worth and has become too important in the scheme of things. I believe it was Ruskin that said

“the only wealth is health” (and he wasn’t only refering to the physical). mind fuck is almost unbearable. harder to overcome than an expanding ‘darby’, which if youre careful can be dealt with by exercise and nutrition. I don’t know about you but my ‘butterfly mind’ is in a constant whirl and no matter how much I try to tame it’s fluttering wings with discipline or ‘will’ it always eludes me. I’m not going to go any deeper right now because it’s got nothing to do with the soundtrack, (at least not consciously), I just wanted to offer a ‘reason’ for my abscence, not an excuse.

anyway…back to the soundtrack with this classic piece of dialogue. a painful piece of prejudiced bigotry the likes of which, unfortunately, can still be heard around the globe today. not sure whether you remember the scene but one by one the jurors turn their backs on him in a show of contempt. the musicology, from Rhythm & Blues legend Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, was released in, yep you’ve guessed it, 1957 on Chicago’s famed OKeh label.