Last time, our subject was Canada's own Paul Anka. Something of a prodigy, he was one of a surprising number of pop stars who wrote his own songs a good six or seven years before The Beatles and Bob Dylan supposedly established the practice (though in reality they made it practically compulsory; in the fifties it was optional). And he did so while still just a teenager. Success, as we've already seen, came relatively quickly and he was beloved by both adolescent girls and scary men who operated nightclubs.
Naturally, not everyone was able to follow Anka's path. Jimmie Rodgers — not to be confused with the country pioneer of the same name, aka The Singing Brakeman — may have taken to a career in music just as quickly only it took him a lot longer to figure it out. Some artists do take their sweet time. It wasn't until Wes Montgomery was around nineteen or twenty that he really got serious about playing the guitar. Getting such a late start shouldn't result in becoming arguably the greatest jazz guitarist of all time but that's exactly what when down. Kim Chang-wan wasn't a whole lot younger when he purchased a classical guitar on a whim from a Seoul music store. He set about figuring out how to play it which prompted his older brother Chang-hoon to do likewise. Along with younger brother Chang-ik, they would eventually form the extraordinary Korean rock outfit 산울림 (Sanullim).
And while we're on the subject of Korea, the Hermit Kingdom was where the twenty-year-old soldier Jimmie Rodgers happened to be stationed when he bought a used guitar from a fellow member of the US Armed Forces. No doubt piano lessons from his mother growing up and studying music in college gave him something of an edge because he was already performing in bands while still in South Korea.
Anka attempting to balance pop stardom with being a jazz singer was tricky but Rodgers seemed to have no trouble bouncing around from genre to genre. Though he spent time in Nashville, he was either unwilling or unable to fit in fully with the city's rigid country and western scene. He was popular in the folk clubs but never became a huge favourite of the purists. He did devotional material from time to time but never did the gospel circuit. It probably helps that Rodgers hailed from Washington State, a region of the US that was still isolated from the various east coast epicentres of mainstream pop, country and jazz; all he could wish to be was an entertainer.
"Honeycomb" was his debut single and it seems to reflect his musical catholicism. With the lyrics making references to God ("And the Lord said now that I made a bee / I'm gonna look all around for a green, green tree"), it suggests a little faith-based pop, albeit in a much more playful manner than your typical gospel singer. Musically, it's tight and sturdy like a lot of mainstream country music though in a more aggressive fashion like rockabilly. Rodgers' singing, however, is more like a laid back teen heartthrob of the day (though certainly more like Ricky Nelson than Paul Anka) which stands out given that he was already twenty-four by this time.
But while "Honeycomb" sold very well and was really popular all over North America, I'm still undecided as to its quality. It may depend on how I'm feeling at the time: if I'm feeling grumpy, it isn't going to help; if I'm cheerful then I'll happily sing along. But there's no way it's lifting me up. (Nor is it lifting me out of anything either). And that isn't Jimmie Rodgers' job anyway; he was an entertainer, not a folk singer, not a country artist, not a rock 'n' roller, not a Christian doing hymns. He didn't wish to fit in and all the more power to him for doing so. But if I'm in the need of someone to provide me with folk or country or rock 'n' roll or gospel (I've never needed the latter in my life before but I suppose there's always a faint chance I might someday) I'll seek them out elsewhere. It's best to go see a specialist rather than a general practitioner.
Score: 5
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Hey! Where's...?
The Crickets: "That'll Be the Day"
A chart topper in both the US and UK, "That'll Be the Day" couldn't quite manage to do so up in Canada as it got stuck behind Jimmie Rodgers. Cute as "Honeycomb" is when I'm in the mood for it, there's no question that the better song missed out. That said, Buddy Holly is a bit of an acquired taste: while his voice has character, it isn't exactly tremendous and those hiccups and stutters can grate. Few would've guessed that it would end up being one of the highlights of his tragically brief career; if anyone from rock's first decade only scratched the surface of their potential, it was Buddy Holly. What was his best song? Tragically, he never got the chance to record it.
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