Woody Guthrie, on his deathbed, continued writing song lyrics. Too sick to perform them, or even set them to music, they all ended up in the care of his wife after his death. Years later, she contacted Billy Bragg and Wilco and tasked them with making his words into songs. Mermaid Avenue is the result of that tripartite collaboration. This song in particular always spoke to me.
“There ain’t nobody that can sing like me…”
I really believe that.
handkerchief tied to stick 
What can I say? A beautiful piece of Americana, a young boy, yearning, hopeful, a little bit of bragging, making his case …….. what Billy Bragg did with this is remarkable, we can get a glimpse of Woody the country child calling to us from his youth – ain’t nobody could sing like him, and he was right. Wonder if he got the girl. There’s a story there …… Inspired work by Billy Bragg to find this perfect melody in himself to add to Woody’s legacy. The fact that it was “in the minor key” evokes how hard it is to do everything in the “major key” ……….
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