THE LEGENDARY STARDUST COWBOY, c/o PARLIAMENT ST, DUBLIN
Jul 24th, 2008 by Conor McCabe
Oh man.
I picked this up in the Oxfam shop on Parliament street for one euro. Classic stuff. The b-side, Who’s knocking at my door, is below, along with Paralyzed.
Here’s a bit about the Legendary Stardust Cowboy from his official site:
Norman Carl Odam was born in Lubbock, Texas in 1947. Inspired by Chet Atkins, he learned to play the guitar, and started playing on the steps of his high school, attracting crowds of kids before school started for the day. Realizing that Lubbock, Texas, was far from the action he decided to go to New York City, so that he might appear on the Johnny Carson Show. The odyssey begins.The Ledge, as he is affectionately known to his friends, loaded up his car, grabbed $160, and headed to Fort Worth. I guess this is where you go if you’re headed to New York City from Lubbock. There he was spotted in a parking lot by two guys who worked at a vacuum sweeper repair shop. They were intrigued [who wouldn’t be?] by his demeanor, and spirited him to the local recording studio.
At the helm of the studio was T Bone Burnett, who must’ve been all of about 20 then, and not yet famous. All were intrigued by the sound of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, recording engineer and vacuum cleaner repairman alike. The Ledge played “Paralyzed”, and the frenzy began. T Bone played drums, the tapes rolled, and the first single was recorded.
The studio was located on the first floor of a building that housed an AM radio station on the second floor. T Bone took the master tape upstairs to his pal the DJ, and played it for him. T Bone says that he waited several minutes for a response, expecting the worst, but the DJ screamed, “This is it! This is it! This is the new music!”
All day long the radio station hyped the single, tantalizing listeners with the promise that it would be played at 5pm. Finally the moment arrived, and the station was flooded with more calls in 30 minutes than in any entire day prior to the time the Legendary Stardust Cowboy got into town.
They knew they had something. T-Bone quickly pressed 500 copies of the 45 rpm record, and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy hit the happy trails to success. Less than a week later, he was signed to Mercury Records, and later appeared on “Laugh In”. “Paralyzed” hit the Billboard Top 200, and the world was a changed place.
Paralyzed [2:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup Who's knocking at my door [3:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup
Great find Conor - which reminds me, I must post up something I came across regarding Secondhand shops - as soon as I get a half-hour free. Never even noticed there was an Oxfam shop in Parliamant street.
Must get off jobhunting now, where’s that sawn-off shotgun gone again..
Cheers Sean. It’s about four or five years old now, on parliament street. Books, records, and DVDs only. No clothes. It’s pretty good. Almost every time I go in I pick something up.
I’m into classical music and always look for cheap buys in vinyl LPs (long-playing records to those of you who are uncouth) whenever I pop into second-hand charity shops. In the UK charity shops are more plentiful and fundraise for an amazing variety of causes. Belfast has a nice selectin of charity shops along Shaftesbury Avenue and Botanic. Some are very upmarket (they seem to get factory rejects in clothes) while others, like St. V de P in the Lower Ormeau, get their stock from the peer community and cater very much to the basic needs of that community. I find the War on Want shop in Botanic selling a range of Fair Trade goods as well as a good selection of quality reading material. It’s a pleasure to buy an interesting book at a cheap price, or to get a pair of leather shoes that fit. Those of us who held on to our record players really appreciate the cheapness of classical LPs and things. There are tape cassettes also in the charity shops, but I’ve stopped using them long ago. Incidentally, Belfast has a few interesting second-hand book places. Do your Christmas shopping there.
On a recent trip to Dublin I visited three charity shope:- S.O.A.S. off Parliament Street (parish-related), Gorta and Barnardos (off the quays near Dublin Woollen Company). Gents shirts were priced at 5 euro in S.O.A.S and Gorta, but a whopping 12 euro each in Barnardos. What explains these class contradictions in the charity shop scene? You get a different class of person going to Oxfam near the Stephens Green shopping centre in Dublin, and War on Want shop in Belfast’s university district, of course.
A lot of pricing has to do with the person in charge of the particular shop. Where you need to go for the bargains is further Northside - to Capel St, Dorset St, and Phibsboro.