Ween at Bonnaroo, 6/12/2016
These days it’s fashionable for artists across a huge range to take advantage of Nashville’s expert musicians and studios. But that wasn’t so much the case in 1995, when Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman and Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo came to Music City with producer Ben Vaughn to record their fifth album, 12 Golden Country Greats. They made the record — which jabs artfully (and gleefully) at country tropes while showing reverence for the masterful musicianship — at Bradley’s Barn with a slew of A-list players, including pianist Bobby Ogdin, harmonica legend Charlie McCoy and iconic vocal group The Jordanaires.
Some of those musicians toured with Ween as The Shit Creek Boys after the record came out in 1996, and have appeared with the band occasionally since then. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Ween and the SCBs (exactly which members will appear wasn’t disclosed at press time) are set to convene at the Mother Church of Country Music to perform the record in its entirety, along with many other songs. We’ve asked Seth Graves and Jason Shawhan, two critics with a deep appreciation for all things Ween, to examine the record’s 10 — yes, 10, not 12 — tracks.
Side A, according to Jason Shawhan
1. “I’m Holding You”
If not for the continually escalating metaphors Gene deploys to express the psychological and physiological journey his embrace of his lover is causing, this could have been a ’70s smooth-country smash, or even a deep cut by Lee Hazlewood in an experimental mood. Those Jordanaire backing vocals are pure joy, and you’ve got to love a country song that explicitly says nothing can be mined from the earth that’s more precious than love.
2. “Japanese Cowboy”
The song that gave local treasure/piano man Jonny Gowow his band’s name is a rodeo of similes all being crashed into walls. This is Side A’s cri de coeur frappé — a “tear in my beer” plea unto an uncaring universe. And yes, once you sing the melody of “Chariots of Fire” along with it, you’ll never be able to not hear it that way again.
3. “Piss Up a Rope”
Supposedly, this is the song that David Duchovny and Téa Leoni bonded over once upon a time in the long, long ago era of the late-mid-’90s. It’s pure filth from beginning to end and yet manages to retain an overall sweet tone (as sweet as you can get when beckoning thicc ladies to go downtown). It is the Weeniest song on the album, and there may be no better dis on a country record than “I’m sick of your mouth and your 2 percent milk.”
4. “I Don’t Wanna Leave You on the Farm”
Ween has never once backed down from a challenge related to the idiom they’re working in (see also: the Crazy Frog-produced “Friends” or the steel-drum-and-cocaine-apalooza of “Bananas and Blow”). This could have been a John Denver B-side, such is its skill at incarnating the “I love you darling, but I have to go, and I swear it hurts me more than you know” subgenre of country lament. But they do flip the script a bit, because what’s being left behind is only a memory, anyway.
5. “Pretty Girl”
This is a championship line-dancing song if ever there was one. It’s also a glorious call for everyone of all shapes and sizes to throw down in all sorts of ways, knowing that sometimes getting laid properly really is the thing that can turn lives around.
Side B, according to Seth Graves
6. “Powder Blue”
After 22 years of listening, I’m still not sure what “Powder Blue” is about. Boot-scootin’ allusions to the “seventh sun of Orion” give a cryptic connotation to this expression of unconditional loyalty. What’s most important is the minute in the middle when Gene Ween introduces some of the all-star session players who performed everything but vocals and a couple guitar solos on this gem. On most copies, the recording ends abruptly where an uncleared sample of boxing legend Muhammad Ali was crudely snipped, though early pressings exist with the track intact.
7. “Mister Richard Smoker”
Ween is going to push the boundaries, even when they’re the ones making the rules. The scatalogical humor in this one hasn’t aged well — the classic-crooner delivery makes it sound like the band is poking fun at gay sex as they follow a socialite’s exploits, though you could read it that they’re aiming the punch at the social mores that made homoerotic encounters unfit for polite conversation. The upbeat Western swing-indebted music, meanwhile, shows off everyone’s chops, with a horn section trading solos with both piano and steel guitar.
8. “Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain”
While it may sound a little grotesque in the literal sense, the concept rings as true as any Taylor Swift jam. The most selfish alcoholic can feel remorse and come begging forgiveness — and sometimes we give it to them, since there are few things we won’t do for those we truly love.
9. “You Were the Fool”
Easily the most conventional song of the bunch, this is about as close as Ween comes to an earnest stab at The Flying Burritos Brothers’ Cosmic American style — or, say, Americana. “You Were the Fool” might have had the best chance of all the cuts at making it on the radio, even if that was still a snowball’s chance in hell.
10. “Fluffy”
You know it, I know it, and obviously Ween is well aware that a weird-ass country album needs a song about a loyal dog. Using a classic studio trick, the recording is slowed just a bit, making this ode to a furry pal seem way more ominous than it really is. Congratulations (or condolences) if you were at one of the shows where Ween closed their set with a 30-minute version of “Fluffy.”
