End of the week and time for a bit of hair letting down fun. The remarkable Old Man Blues (Michael Krogsgaard) has been with us twice before. ‘Remarkable’ because in his seventh decade I believe he’s still working (in the medical profession) and still rocking even harder. He puts some Gen Z-ers to shame with his work ethic, never mind how he belts out his tunes.
On his first appearance his teasing subject matter was ‘Sex without love’ while the second one, ‘Respect’, dealt with just that – showing deference to your upbringing.
This, the third single from his album, ‘Excuse me sir, are you feeling alright?’, released on 14th June, is a little more down to earth, literally.
By that I mean that ‘Dog Log Blues’could refer to what I often find on the pavement outside my house, even though the municipality will fine you 50 quid for allowing it to happen.
Actually we’ve had several songs over the years about ‘man’s best friend’ but the twist here is that this single and album track is not only about different kinds of dog personalities but also about humans and how you should “read their logs” (personalities, I guess) before you get involved with them.
“Check yourself before you wreck yourself” as Chinese restaurant owner Mr Wu used to say in the British TV comedy Benidorm.
Or in Old Man Blues’ case, “Underdog, over dog, cheaters and liars”, they’re all there in the canine and human worlds. Or to paraphrase Orwell: Two legs bad; four legs bad.
There are some wonderful lines in it – “Running around, pissing off territory/telling the truth or inventing a story”. Just like what we see every week on TV just now at these public inquiries into government failures, where there’s not a lot of truth to be found.
The song steams along just like those logs on the pavement, there’s some great fuzzy guitar, proggy keys, a punky chorus and an extended bluesy guitar solo bridge that’s worth listening to the track for just on its own.
As for the dog contribution, the song starts off with a growling, snapping monster of the kind the posties have to deal with every day to deliver your bills, but ends up with one whimpering. I’m not sure if there’s a message in there. Take a listen and decide for yourself.
The 12 new songs on the album deal with many different topics. He says, “There is a tribute to Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren (the originator of, inter alia, Pippi Longstocking); a tribute to Greenland; reflections on life and death; reflections on how to protect your relationship and prevent a divorce; reflections on the problems of getting old and so on and encompassing a range of musical styles.”
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Photo: Suste Bonnén.
