Album: Chip Taylor, Yonkers NY (Train Wreck)

Andy Gill
Friday 20 November 2009 06:29 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Best known for writing a bouquet of diversely distinctive 1960s hits – "I Can't Let Go", "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing" – Chip Taylor has led the kind of life that usually only happens in Hollywood films, including a stint as a professional gambler ultimately banned from Las Vegas casinos.

But as this suite of autobiographical childhood reminiscences shows, he wasn't the only odd one in his family. Even before his brother Jon Voight left for Hollywood, and his other brother Barry became a "genius vulcanologist", their dad was baffling his offspring with tall tales of being an FBI agent – when he was really a golf pro.

Taylor recounts his life with this family of oddball fabulists in songs such as "Barry Go On", "Without Horses" and "Gin Rummy Rules" (wherein he admits how it was gambling that taught him mathematics), interspersing them, sometimes mid-song, with spoken recollections. It's a fascinating, entertaining ride, whose country-rock settings are flexible enough to accommodate the chunks of "Rock Around the Clock" inserted into "Hey Jonny", an account of how Blackboard Jungle hipped the brothers to rock'n'roll, and the Johnny Cash-style "chick-a-boom" groove in "Saw Mill River Road", illustrating how his youthful Johnny'n'June duo brought a touch of rural rawness to a New York suburb starved of country and race records.

Download this Barry Go On; Hey Jonny; Saw Mill River Road

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in