Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – June 24, 2025: 1965

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/70807.html

Theme: 1965.

All the recordings on this show were first released 60 years ago in 1965.

The Byrds- Mr. Tambourine Man

Mr. Tambourine Man (Columbia)

The Beatles- In My Life

Rubber Soul (Parlophone)

Donovan- Sunny Goodge Street

Fairy Tale (Elite)

Martin Carthy- The Queen of Hearts

Martin Carthy (Topic)

Bert Jansch- Rambling’s Gonna Be the Death of Me

Bert Jansch (Castle)

Tom Jones- It’s Not Unusual

Along Came Jones (Decca)

Petula Claek- I Know a Place

The EP Collection (See for Miles)

The Zombies- She’s Not There

The Zombies (Parrot)

The Rolling Stones- (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Out of Our Heads (London)

The Lovin’ Spoonful- Do You Believe in Magic

Do You Believe in Magic (Sony/Legacy)

The Beach Boys- California Girls

Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) (Capitol)

Mike Regenstreif & Bruce Murdoch (2014)

Bruce Murdoch- Rompin’ Rovin’ Days

Singer-Songwriter Project (Elektra)

Carolyn Hester- Outward Bound

At Town Hall (Bear Family)

Mike Regenstreif & Tom Paxton (2001) photo: Janice Hanson

Tom Paxton- Hold On to Me Babe

Ain’t That News (Elektra)

Noel Paul Stookey & Mike Regenstreif on Zoom (2023)

Peter, Paul & Mary- Early Morning Rain

See What Tomorrow Brings (Warner Bros.)

Sylvia Tyson & Mike Regenstreif (1997)

Ian & Sylvia- Red Velvet

Early Morning Rain (Vanguard)

Phil Ochs Dodger Rag

I Ain’t Marching Anymore (Elektra)

Judy Collins & Mike Regenstreif (2014)

Judy Collins- Carry It On

Fifth Album (Elektra)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Pack Up Your Sorrows

Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Mike Regenstreif & Joan Baez (2003)

Joan Baez- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue

Farewell, Angelina (Vanguard)

Barry McGuire- Eve of Destruction

Eve of Destruction (Dunhill)

David Wiffen- Times are Getting Hard

At the Bunkhouse Coffeehouse, Vancouver BC (Universal International)

Tom Rush- Solid Gone

Tom Rush (Elektra)

Fred Neil- Blues on the Ceiling

Bleecker & MacDougal (Elektra)

Jackson C. Frank- Blues Run the Game

Blues Run the Game (Mooncrest)

Aretha Franklin- Muddy Water

Yeah!!! (Columbia)

B.B. King- Every Day I Have the Blues

Live at The Regal (ABC)

Nina Simone- Trouble in Mind

Pastel Blues (Philips)

Oscar Peterson- Blues of the Prairies

Canadiana Suite (Verve)

Next week: Songs for Canada Day.

--Mike Regenstreif

David Wiffen – Songs from the Lost & Found

DAVID WIFFEN
Songs from the Lost & Found
True North 
truenorthrecods.com

Back when I was young pup on the folk scene, Ottawa-based David Wiffen was one of the emerging Canadian artists we all seemed to be listening to.

His first LP, Live at the Bunkhouse Coffeehouse, Vancouver, BC, recorded in 1965, showcased the young Wiffen lending his deep baritone to more than credible versions of such folk standards including Ian Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds” and Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”

He then spent some time playing in bands like The Children with Bruce Cockburn, Peter Hodgson (the future Sneezy Waters) and Richard Patterson, and 3’s a Crowd before emerging as a significant singer-songwriter on his second solo LP, 1971’s eponymously named David Wiffen. Three of the songs from that album, “Driving Wheel,” “Mr. Wiffen,” and “More Often Than Not,” insightfully captured the realities of musicians’ lives and found their ways into the repertoires of such artists as Tom Rush, Ian & Sylvia, Jerry Jeff Walker, Harry Belafonte and many others.

His third LP, 1973’s Coast to Coast Fever, was produced by Bruce Cockburn and was an essential album of the era filled with memorable songs like the title track, “Skybound Station,” and a cover of “White Lines,” which introduced us to the young songwriter Willie P. Bennett. That album might have made Wiffen a star, but for whatever reasons, including personal demons, he gradually withdrew from public view until coming back, briefly, in 1999 with South of Somewhere, a CD that included some new material and re-recordings of some of his earlier material.

During the ‘70s and ‘80s, though, he did maintain some activity in the studio laying down versions of some of the songs he was writing – including five songs that would later be re-recorded for South of Somewhere. I don’t know if these were just recorded as demos or if they were tracks for a planned album, but the tapes were presumed lost for decades. But they turned up recently and many years later have been assembled as Songs from the Lost & Found.

While this new album is not as focused as his earlier LPs – it was, after all, recorded over a period of a decade-and-a-half with several different producers and sets of studio musicians – it is an important and worthy addition to Wiffen’s discography and includes 17 songs: 15 from Wiffen’s pen as well as fine versions of Lynn Miles’ “Crazy Me,” which I’d never heard before, and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ “No Expectations,” one of my all-time favorite Rolling Stones songs.

Beyond the five songs recut for South of Somewhere and the two covers, there are 10 Wiffen originals that most of us are hearing for the first time on Songs from the Lost & Found. Among my favorites are “Ballad of Jacob Marlowe,” a traditional-sounding story song; “Your Room,” an introspective break-up song with a lovely jazz-influenced melody; “Any Other Rainy Day (aka Distant Star),” which reminds of those insightful songs I mentioned from David Wiffen that captured the realities of musicians’ lives; and “Rocking Chair World,” a vivid portrait of an serene early morning and the thoughts it provokes that eventually fades into nighttime, sleep and dreams.

Mr. Wiffen has been incommunicado for far too long. It’s great to hear his voice again.By the way, he’ll be doing a rare interview on Canadian Spaces on CKCU this coming Saturday, February 7 to talk about the album.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Otis Redding – The Complete Stax/Volt Singles Collection

OTIS REDDING

Shout! Factory

otisredding.com

Although his recording career only lasted about five years, from 1962 until 1967 when he died at just 26 in a plane crash, Otis Redding was absolutely among the greatest soul singers of all time. Make that among the greatest singers of all time.

Although I know I’d heard some of his songs while he was still alive, I really discovered Redding in 1968 via the posthumous release of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” also absolutely, one of the most perfect recordings of the 1960s. As much, I would argue, a folksong as a soul ballad, the song was not typical of most of Redding’s southern R&B and soul recordings but “Dock of the Bay,” and his two-song performance in Monterey Pop, the concert film from the Monterey International Pop Festival of 1967, drew the teenaged me into Redding’s music. More than 45 years later, I never tire of listening to Redding and to the deep soulfulness that shines through every word he sang.

Redding’s recordings have been packaged and repackaged many times, and in many different combinations, over the years. From the original LPs released in his lifetime and shortly after, to who knows how many different compilations?

Without a doubt, The Complete Stax/Volt Singles Collection, 70 tracks on three CDs, all re-mastered in glorious-sounding mono, is the ultimate Otis Redding compilation. Every single, both the A- and B-sides – including the eight duets with Carla Thomas – is included, along with the two songs from Monterey Pop.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” of course, remains the greatest of Redding’s songs. But the rest are great, too. Whether using a nursery rhyme to launch a soul ballad (“Mary’s Little Lamb”), going full throttle on “Respect,” or in a version of “Satisfaction” that almost makes the Rolling Stones' original seem pale, or in gospel-inflected love songs like “Try a Little Tenderness,” Redding is utterly convincing.

Like so many southern soul singers, Redding’s musical roots are in the church and one of my favorite of his tracks is the traditional spiritual “Amen” which he arranges in a medley with “This Little Light of Mine,” another traditional folksong.

Except for the live tracks, these songs were all recorded in Memphis with members of Booker T and the MGs and the Mar-Keys (which had overlapping musicians) as the core band. The right material, the right musicians, and the right singer all adding up to soul perfection.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif