Well hello there, my farraginous faithful and welcome to this, the 21st edition of Farraginous Fridays! This week we’ll be looking at farraginous fallibilisms, fatalism and blind faith! That’s right, this week’s theme is of a religious nature!
Let us pray!
Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly (SPOTIFY)
Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly (YOUTUBE) Tracks 2 & 3 & 4 not available on youtube so I’ve added a couple of alternatives for you guys 
Monsters Of Folk
Starting things off this week are uber-supergroup Monsters Of Folk. Made up of Jim James, M.Ward, Conor Oberst and long-time Bright Eyes member Mike Mogis; these guys managed to produce one of the finest albums of 2009. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F) is the opening track from the album so seemed a great place to start.
Bostonian crooners Willard Grant Conspiracy have never quite gained the cult status of Tom Waits or Nick Cave but Grant has written songs equally as beautiful and tortured. The Pugilist contains some of my favourite lyrics of all time. “Let God and the Devil wrestle for souls” sums up the torture and brutality of the song perfectly.
A bit of bluegrass next with country legend Bill Monroe and his cover of the Hank Williams classic I Saw The Light. I remember first hearing this song some years back when hearing Bob Dylan play it at Bournemouth International Centre. It’s joyful enough to make any atheist sing along with “Praise the Lord, I saw the light!”.
The Hidden Cameras
Joel Gibb and his Hidden Cameras are up next with a healthy slab of gay church folk music! Heaven Turns To is taken from the crazy Canadians’ 2006 album Awoo.
A second Farraginous Friday outing for soulful wretches Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. He’s been knocking out tunes since 1983 and this track from 2001 album No More Shall We Part is one of his most sensitive and touching efforts.
Ed Harcourt is a man who’s never quite reached the giddy heights of success that you feel you probably deserves. His first album Here Be Monsters was, or should I say is, a mini masterpiece and God Protect Your Soul is just one adventurous gem from it.
Taken from the The Pogues‘ 1988 album of the same name, If I Should Fall From Grace With God was the follow-up single to Fairytale Of New York and rather unfortunately only peaked at #58 on the UK singles chart. But, to me, it really captures the Irish folk-punk sensibility that made them a success in the first place!
Depeche Mode
Marc Bolan stole Norman Greenbaum‘s sound! There, I’ve said it. Listen to Spirit In The Sky from way back when in 1969 and tell me the riff, rhythm, lyrics and vocals don’t sound exactly like 80% of T-Rex’s output in the early to mid 70s. Go on, I dare ya!
Personal Jesus is taken from arguably Depeche Mode‘s finest album Violator. Numerous cover versions have been done of this 1989 hit. The most notable of which is Johnny Cash’s 2002 attempt which is definitely worth a gander.
Whether his soul will end up in heaven or hell is all that’s on Spiritualized front man Jason Pierce’s mind. This beautiful song is from the Rugby born group’s 2001 album Let It Come Down. Pierce wrote the entire album and it’s score over a four-year period following a relationship break up and is a truly challenging and heart breaking masterpiece!
That’s all for this week my delightful disciples so we close the sacred book of Farraginous Fridays for another 7 days. I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Godly suggestions and will add your own suggestions below!
Please, continue to invite new listeners to the blog! The easiest way is to invite people to the Facebook group dedicated to Farraginous Fridays. You can find it here – http://groups.to/farraginousfridays.
Laters
Farraginous Francis x
Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly (SPOTIFY)
Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly (YOUTUBE) Tracks 2 & 3 & 4 not available on youtube so I’ve added a couple of alternatives for you guys
