#1 Greatest Felice Brothers song (so Far)- Frankie's Gun!

The response to Frankie's Gun is usually immediate. Everyone falls in love with this song, and it's a gateway to the rest of their music. Written in one day, it sounds old, but it's hook-laden cadence and points of reference are all fresh. Now the song has become somewhat of a minor cultural phenomenon, popping up in film and tv and being passed around the world via twitter, facebook and YouTube.

What's most interesting to me is the transformative power of the song in many of our lives. I once saw an interview on 60 Minutes with Bruce Springsteen, where he gets asked if he ever tires of playing "Born To Run" after 30 years of playing it virtually every night. He answered forcefully, no. He explained that each time the band played the song, he could look around the stage at the guys he grew up with, he knew from when they all had nothing, and they all could collectively share those 4 minutes, knowing what that song brought them and their families. It opened up the whole world to them and their loved ones.

Frankie's Gun! ensured that The Felice Brothers, have a career. It's opened up doors and opportunities for them, and help give a living, to the guys in the band. This blog or forum would likely not exist without that song. Let's hope that have another miracle in them.

My car goes
Chicago
Every weekend to pick up some cargo
I think I know the bloody way by now, Frankie
And turn the god damn radio down, thank you
Pull over
Count the money
But don't count the thirty in the glove box buddy
That's for to buy Lucille some clothes

Bang bang bang went Frankie's gun
He shot me down Lucille
He shot me down

Work zones double fines
Don't pass the double lines
Trailer McDonald's rest stop trailer double wide
I saw a man hit my mom one time, really
I hurt him so damn bad I had to hide in Jersey
Called my mama told her
In the dresser
There's ten or twenty dollars but there ain't no lesser
That's for to take my sister to the picture show

Bang bang bang went Frankie's gun
He shot me down Lucille
He shot me down

Sha nay na sha nay na na na ...



Slip make a fender shine
Frankie you're a friend of mine
Got me off a bender after long legged Brenda died
I thought we might be on a roll this time Frankie
I could have swore the box said Hollywood blanks but
You see my mama
Please tell her
I left a little rock in a box in the cellar
That's for to wear till kingdom come

Bang bang bang went Frankie's gun
He shot me down Lucille
He shot me down

#2 Greatest Felice Brothers song (so Far)- Don't Wake the Scarecrow

The tragic tale of a junkie and a hooker wrapped up in the setting of L Frank Baum's classic Wonderful Wizard of OZ, written and sung by Simone Felice, is as Uncut magazine called it, "one of the best songs written in the past twenty years". Its really a miracle, one that can so shake the listener, that the characters become part of our day. Is it a true tale of Simone's life? not sure. James, once said that Simone told him it was true, Simone once said, its true, but he only observed it. That said i have never heard a song that conjured up such vivid mental images, that i keep expecting the film version of this song to be released.
The line in the song that really connects these characters to world of the living is;
"I'd find you there in the bath
We'd cook up your shit in a tin can
And you started calling me Tin Man
And we started making plans to begin again
Begin again"

Neil McCormick of the London Telegraph says of Simone, "
But when he tells stories from his own life, as he did on the Felice Brothers remarkable 'Scarecrow' (which I think is lyrically the greatest song of recent years, with its incredible internal rhyming scheme, bold metaphor and powerful emotion) he goes to places few artists ever touch. "

I included both versions of this song, Felice Brothers and Duke and the King

full lyrics


Would you love me
If I told you I was born upstream
If I told you I come from money
White money
Would you love me
Would you love me

Well, I was born down
By a bad little river in a poor town
Where an indian-giver put a board out
It said "Boarding House"
Call him Scarecrow
He kept whores around

And I'd go there
I'd wait my turn on the broke stairs
And get me the girl with the gold hair
Aw yeah, leave your clothes there
On the folding chair

In that cold room
our breath would twist just like ghosts do
You said, "Call me Dorothy in red shoes"
And the bed moved
The bed moved
The bed moved

Tracy, don't you wake that scarecrow tonight

Well, the man would come in
It's hard living right giving head when
The sad days of winter have set in
And the medicine for an mannequin is heroin

I'd find you there in the bath
We'd cook up your shit in a tin can
And you started calling me Tin Man
And we started making plans to begin again
Begin again

You saved a C note
Told me you felt like a seagull
Told me to meet at the depot
With the needle, then maybe we'd go
To Reno

Where you'd be my desert dove
And we'd find a way to make better love
Said, "Baby, that's how the West was won"
And the blood-red sun
Yeah, the blood-red sun
And the blood-red sun

Tracy, don't you wake that scarecrow tonight

Well, the man cries,
"Who gives a damn when a tramp dies?"
But I loved you there in the lamp light
With your bare thighs
And the halo of your hair line

And all my lifelong
I'll never shake off your siren song
And all of your talk about dying young
With an iron lung and that crazy way

You said, "Simone,
I think I might stay here with Scarecrow tonight
Simone, I think I'm gonna stay here with Scarecrow tonight."








Don't Wake the Scarecrow (The Duke and the King)

#3 Greatest Felice Brothers Song (so far)-Love Me Tenderly

listen here




linkage
The Felice Brothers common comparisons with Bob Dylan and the Band are probably flattering and often aggravating to the fellas. It's also unfair. Anyone playing rock music, particularly with an accordion as a major part of the sound is going to owe something to the folks that inhabited a pink house in Woodstock 40 years ago. 
It's unfair as well, since without question the biggest influence I hear in their music is Randy Newman. Mostly in James Felice's piano playing. What you hear in songs like Greatest Show on Earth, Marie and this song, Love me Tenderly, is the pure joy that is heard in James performance(that is Newman's trademark) It's all over the self titled album, and I believe why fans went bonkers for that record. 
Moreover, the Lyrics and melody to this tune, are infectious as it gets. It's consistently one tune that gets the crowd hollering in concert. 

Wouldn't you like that?

I added the Randy Newman song that likely was nicked a bit for Love Me Tenderly.

#4 Greatest Felice Brothers Song (so far)- Ballad of Lou the Welterweight

play here



About 5 years ago, sitting on their fathers porch, before there ever was a touring band, Simone and James Felice were stunned at a new song their brother Ian had just written, called "Ballad of Lou The Welterweight", about a down and out pugilist, who "had a way like Errol Flynn". Unlike other great boxing songs like the imagined tragedy of The Hurricane, (the real tragedy was the victims, which is likely why Dylan refuses to play it), Lou the Welterweight is a heart wrenching tale of a man toiling his trade, paying the ultimate price for it, and the ones he leaves behind. Its one of the very best story songs ever written.

Most often sports themed music and film deal with characters like Lou, as they get older, trying to come to grips with their diminished existence (Pride of the Yankees, Bull Durham, On The Waterfront), but this character is very different. Lou is unaware of his impending doom, his diminished abilities, and in this way he resembles Scorcese's "Raging Bull".

#5 Greatest Felice Brothers Song (so far)- Rockefeller Drug Law Blues

Another song that has grown in popularity, in part because it has not been played live in a few years. The opening lyric is memorable "the exhaust from the prison van is going is going to Heaven, but i'm going to Attica"

The Rockefeller Drug Laws, was Draconian legislation enacted in the early 1970's, by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, that sentenced any criminal in possession of over 2 ounces of a controlled substance, to a minimum of 15 years to life. They were the harshest drug laws in the country, and roundly criticized around the nation for being too harsh and possibly discriminatory. They were rolled back in 2004, somewhat.

#6 Greatest Felice Brothers Song (so far)-"Forever Green"

This song has fans begging for its inclusion on setlists, and is growing more popular with every show they do not play it. Lyrically it mirrors The Rolling Stones "Wild Horses"

hear it here:

We would like to publish a video of a live performance of the song, but as far as our research can find, the song was only played live one time, in Rochester NY in 2009. No video exists that we can dig up. Please forward if you have a copy or see a performance in the future.

The great lyric in the song that stirs me is
"grandma was a country singer
id have loved to have seen her
making some barroom swing
i could see you doing that
gotta stetson hat
and electric guitar to sing with"

I researched a bit on the use of the Stetson hat as symbolism in blues music earlier this year. Read that here


Link to Pic

# 7 Greatest Felice Brothers Song (so far) Goddamn You, Jim

Dark and apocalyptic as a Cormac McCarthy novel, with a dash of Tom Waits, Goddamn You Jim, has always been the James Felice tour de force on stage, and the version above is accentuated by The Searchers thunderous accompaniment.
A heartbreaking song.

#8 greatest Felice Brothers song - "Marie"

Mark this up to mostly personal taste, I fell in love with the lyric from the start and the Randy Newman swing that accompanies it. It sounded like a hit song, and still does (although the rough presentation that is charming to me, might keep it away from radio dials).
Lyrically, the smart guy playing dumb, is always a big hit for me (and the song was dubbed "best Lyrics of the year" by Awkward World).

They say we ran our course
But i feel like a racing horse
Got a Feeling i will be running all my life
Oh, all i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
Give me one more night

I thought i was smart enough
I read Moby Dick and stuff
I guess i ain't smart enough for you
oh, all i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
give me one more night

You say you don't wanna dance
till i wash my hands
but my hands aren't as dirty as my mind
oh, all i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
give me one more night

They say this song's in "G"
but i don't give a shit
i wrote this song in the key of love
oh, all i'm asking you Marie
is spend one more fare on me
give me one more night

#9 Greatest Felice Brothers Song- "the Devil is Real"

The first Felice Brothers concert that i attended, i was only familiar with the songs, before the show, and didn't know specifically who sang each tune. About halfway through a raucous set, with Ian Felice handling most of the vocals, the stage was littered with empty whiskey bottles, pots and pans, a tin cover to a trash can, and a sheet of aluminum roofing and had already seen the drum kit lose a cymbal stand into the crowd a couple times. Out of this wreckage emerged the drummer, who had already proved to be quite truculent behind the kit. He had goaded, teased, and joked with audience members, between songs and gave constant props to his brothers.
At This particular moment he stepped to the microphone at the front of the stage as his brother Ian, so readily slunked into the shadows, and the drummer, Simone Felice, proclaimed "This is for the powers that be!"
His eyes snuck back into the back of his skull as he began with a short spoken word poem, and then sang "The Devil is Real", a song so very different than the ones that they had been playing all night. Some argue that great songs, are really built around one great line, and for me the line in this one was "Bonnie, the birthmark at the base of your ass, it's shaped like the gallows and the shadow they cast"

It was powerful, and it added such a dynamic element to the live show of the band.
But also acted as a mission statement for the band at that particular moment in their history. For them, i think, it was a warning to the wide open world, that they were coming for it all. This is a time when their ambition seemed almost limitless. It was very charming, and completely believable.

a video clip

The Greatest Songs in Felice Brothers History #10 Take This Bread

Its tough to pick out 10 of the very best when there are so many great ones, from so many great songwriters to choose from. The standard for these picks are, personal taste, but also the response the tunes get from the audience, in a live setting, or in some cases a mysterious cult that surrounds songs that are rarely, if ever, played, though much admired.

We will post one song every day for the next ten days as we count down to #1.

So at #10, to start the countdown, we have a song off the 2008 self titled album, "Take This Bread". Written by Ian Felice, its a tribute to his late grandfather, who had recently passed away, and used a phrase, i think, similar to "I'm alright if you're alright." The version on the album begins with a phone message recorded from home, and is a much slower version than what we all hear live. The horns, the rollicking harmonies, The sounds of gunfire, coins and bottles falling to the ground, and a fantastic vocal performance by Ian.

The song was lauded this past summer by the Huffington Post as having a positive message to young people and promoting goodwill toward others.

Email me feedback Mvbigtuna@yahoo.com

Hear the album version here!!!

Here is a version from last years "Big Surprise Tour"