Tag Archives: Etruscan

Leo Kotke: 6 & 12 String Guitar

In December 1969, “Takoma” label released “6 and 12-String Guitar”, the second Leo Kottke album. It was recorded in 1969, at “Empire Photo Sound” in Minneapolis.

Personnel:

  • Leo Kotke – 6 and 12-string guitars, song notes
  • Frank Hulbert – lacquer cut
  • Annie Elliott – illustration, design
  • Mark Humphrey – liner notes

Personnel:

All tracks by Leo Kottke, except where noted.

  1. The Driving of the Year Nail (from an old Etruscan drawing of a sperm cell)
  2. The Last of the Arkansas Greyhounds (a terror-filled escape on a bus from a man fired from Beaumont ranch)
  3. The Ojo (Ojo Caliente where the Zuni hid from Estaban, the Moor, and the Spaniards)
  4. Crow River Waltz (a prayer for the demise of the canoe and the radar trap without which Federal prisons will have to be rebuilt to accommodate prepubescence)
  5. The Sailor’s Grave on the Prairie (originally written to commemorate Nedicks and a Minneapolis musician’s contempt for the three A.M. cheeseburger with a nickel slice of raw
  6. Vaseline Machine Gun (1 for waking up nude in a sleeping bag on the shore of the Atlantic surrounded by a volleyball game at high noon, 2 for the end of the volleyball game)
  7. Jack Fig (a reluctant lament)
  8. Watermelon (while at Watermelon Park Music Festival I had the opportunity to play a banjo in the middle of the night for a wandering drunk. When I finished, he vomited—an astute comment on my playing. Made me feel very distinguished)
  9. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (J.S. Bach – the engineer called this the ancient joy of man’s desire). (Bach had twenty children because his organ didn’t have any stops)
  10. The Fisherman (this is about the mad fishermen of the North whose ice fishing spots resemble national shrines)
  11. The Tennessee Toad (who made an epic journey from Ohio to Tennessee)
  12. Busted Bicycle (reluctance)
  13. The Brain of the Purple Mountain (from A. L. Tennyson)
  14. Coolidge Rising (while rising from the sink, cupboard doors opened and engulfed his head; while turning to the right to avoid the whole incident he walked into a refrigerator—which afforded a good chin rest for staring at some bananas in a basket)