In this Buzzy Podcast, Chief Larry and I continue interviewing Pat Woodburn as we discuss various articles that he has written for the St. Mary’s County Historical Society’s Chronicles. (As always, I encourage you to become a member of the Historical Society so you can start getting your quarterly copies of the Chronicles (click here.)
We mention the story of the murder of the Farmer’s Wife (28:45 mark) by author Carol Booker. To catch her at one of the Historical Society’s recent dinner meetings telling of that incident (click here.)
For more info on the Cornfield Harbor German spy Jules Silbert that Pat discusses (29.35) (click here.)
Musically, I heard this Bob tune the other day and it made me pause and recall how much I did not care for it when I first heard it. Titled “Floater” it was on his “Love and Theft” album which won a Grammy for Best Folk Album and was nominated in a couple other Grammy categories. The album was well received by critics and ranked as one of his all time bests.
But even with all those accolades, the album overall did not do much for me. I liked the tune “Mississippi” (mostly because Sheryl Crow had done a great version (click here) of it before it appeared on Bob’s album.)
However, the remaining 11 songs didn’t move me much. “Floater” and “Moonlight” were the two that really put me over the edge with their Tin-Pan-Alley-shuffling music and lyrics that, even for Bob, didn’t make much sense to me. My initial thought was “Man, the boy really has jumped the shark this time.”
Sixteen unrelated verses long, below is “Floater.” Listen and see what you think. Having heard it many times since my first take, I have come to appreciate it to the point that it now makes me smile at different verses. For example “Romeo, he said to Juliet “You got a poor complexion. It doesn’t give your appearance a very youthful touch.” Juliet said back to Romeo “Why don’t you just shove off if it bothers you so much?”” (3:00.) Don’t believe Shakespeare ever penned any dialogue as great as that!
For a more detailed i.e. smarter discussion of “Floater” (click here.)