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Mike
Agranoff Boutique
Click
on image below to go directly to the item.
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...Ain't Never Been Plugged!
Compact Disc
2007
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...Or Would You Rather Get a Job?
Compact Disc
2001
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The Modern Folk Musician
Compact Disc or Cassette
1994
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Rocking the Boat
Cassette
1987
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Mike Agranoff Tee Shirt
Designer apparel
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Mike Agranoff's
Recordings
Listen
to tracks:
links to an MP3 audio file. Some
files are the full track; some are short clips
as noted. You need an MP3
Player to listen.
Lyrics:
Click on 
for
song lyrics and extended information about the song. In case of discrepancies
between the lyrics on the CD and the printed words, the printed words are
probably more accurate.
How to order
recordings:
PRICES:
CD's: $15.00
each
Cassettes $10.00 each
Plus add $2.00 per item for postage and handling
US Dollars only, please. Any purchases with foreign
currency should be made through CD Baby.
You can
place an order in one of three ways: (All
3 way are the same cost to you. The difference is in convenience and your
personal preference in how you want to make the transaction.
1. BY A CHECK IN
THE MAIL
Send a check for the full amount plus postage made out to Mike Agranoff, and
mail it to
Mike Agranoff
11 Overlook Road
Boonton Township, NJ 07005
That way is best for
me, as I pay no commissions or fees on such sales.
2. ORDER THROUGH
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third party payment service.
Click on the Paypal Link, and follow the directions: You will need to establish
a Paypal account, but it will permit you to use a credit card to make your
purchases. I handle the shipping of such purchases, and I generally put the
disc in the mail the day after I get the order. I pay a nominal fee to Paypal
for each purchase.
3. ORDER THROUGH
CD Baby is
a distributor that keeps a stock of my CDs and handles the shipping. Click
on the CD BABY link next to the image of the CD cover, and you will be transferred
to a shopping cart, where you can make your selections. When finished, you
can click on "ORDER NOW" to be transferred to their website where
you can place the order and pay by credit card. They take a bigger cut of
the price.
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Ain't
Never Been Plugged!
#BFD104C--Compact
Disk
Released in 2007
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ORDER THROUGH
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ORDER
THROUGH |
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fifteen tracks on the recording are: |
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The
Wine Song (full track)
An alternative to the wine fancier.
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Gavotte
(clip)
English concertina transcription of a Bach solo violin
piece.
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The Highway
(clip)
The road we all travel and never see.
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My
Favorite Diseases (full
track)
A really, really, really horrible parody
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Planxty
Fanny Power (clip)
Solo guitar arrangement of the O'Carolan harp tune.
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The Water
Is Wide (clip)
A heartbreakingly beautiful traditional song.
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The Dream
(clip)
A newly written chorus song in the tradition of the
English pub song.
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The Battle
of Trenton (clip)
A retelling of what really happened in that
pivotal battle of the American Revolution...with critical help from
the audience
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First
Kiss (full track)
A marvelous evocation of that once-in-a-lifetime
experience.
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Joplin
Medley (clip)
Two Scott Joplin piano rags: "Solace" and
"The Maple Leaf Rag". (two tracks)
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60's
Mudley (clip)
Omygod! It's a flashback! It's out of control!
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Wayfaring
Stranger (full track)
Kick-ass country blues version of this traditional hymn
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Hands
On The Switch / The Explorer (clip)
A sandwich of a Kipling Poem between 2 parts of
a Dave Gordon song, examining Man's use of the Earth from two vantage
points a century apart. |
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The
Water is Weird (full track)
Don't ask. |
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...Or
Would You Rather Get A Job?
#BFD103C--Compact
Disk
Released in 2001
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ORDER
THROUGH
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THROUGH |
from the Newark Star Ledger
December 3, 2000
* * * (3
stars)
"... this album
has been lovingly programmed to give good accounts of Agranoff's various
interests, including traditional tunes and ballads, valedictory originals*
like "Before They Close the Minstrel Show," and various wild-eyed jokes
or parodies. There is a marked absence of filler on these 15 tracks...
A new addition
to this canon of influence is Agranoff's recent interest in the piano music
of Scott Joplin. His account here of "The Gladiolus" will be a surprise
to those of his fans who know him only as a guitarist, concertina player,
and slightly manic jokester. The performance is lovely, full of the bittersweet
introspection Joplin shares with Mozart and an embodiment of the composer's
firm dictum that ragtime should never, ever be played fast.
Agranoff's voice
will never be his fortune, but he knows what good singing is. On tracks
like "Time Has Made a Change" (ably assisted by Pat and Ken Rolston) or
"Will Ye Go," he makes its virtues plain despite a limited vocal palette.
There is emotion here, leavened with quirky humor and a sensibility that
can encompass many diverse influences in a singular package.
Highly recommended.
Peter Spencer"
*Note:
Mr. Spencer incorrectly attributed "Before They Close The Minstrel
Show" to me. It was written by Bob Coltman.
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fourteen cuts on the recording are: |
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The Ballad
of the St. Anne's Reel (clip)
An old standard fiddle tune...and a song about the
tune.
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York, Maine
(clip)
About the burning down of a wonderful old house.
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The
Folkie (full track)
What it's really like...to a familiar tune.
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Give Me
Just a Little More Time (clip)
Country blues gospel song.
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The
Ballad of the White Seal Maid (full
track)
A haunting song of the silkie, and a poem to set it
off.
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Before
They Close the Minstrel Show (clip)
Wonderful old chorus song about the end of an era.
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Gypsy
Davey, One Year After (full
track)
A newly written sequel to the traditional ballad, arranged
in the manner of Fairport Convention.
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The Gladiolus
(clip)
Scott Joplin piano rag.
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Railroad
Bill (clip)
A song about what happens when your creations start
getting away from you.
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Time Has
Made a Change (clip)
Traditional song with a great chorus.
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Ookpik Waltz
(clip)
Note:
This tune was misspelled as "Ootpik", and listed as "traditional"
in my liner notes in my initial release of this CD. I have since found
out it was written by Frankie Rogers.
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Will Ye
Go?
(clip)
I think that's how the words go...
Note: The author of this song was listed
as "unknown" in my liner notes in my initial release of this
CD. I have since found out it was written by Stephen Suffet
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The
Broken Token (clip)
What really happened when Handsome Johnnie
came back from sea after seven years to claim his Lovely Nancy.
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The
Ballad of Jake and Ten-Ton Molly (full
track)
Recitation about an unlikely hero's famous last ride. |
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The one
cut not on the recording is:
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Would
You Like to Play the Guitar? (full
track)
Click the link at the left to see the words to this
wonderful Pat Donohue parody to "Swingin' on a Star", and
read the story of why the title tune of the album isn't on the
album. The performance on the audio clip was from a live recording at
my Formal Showcase at the 2007 North East Regional Folk Alliance Conference
(NERFA).
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The Modern Folk
Musician
#BFD102C--Compact Disk
#BFD102T--Cassette
Released in 1993
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ORDER THROUGH
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ORDER THROUGH
(CD only)
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"If you're tired
of the endless stream of singer/songwriters whose main goal in life seems to
be MTV, check out this clever CD from veteran New Jersey musician/storyteller
Mike Agranoff. With guitar, concertina, a few friends that include Pete Sutherland
on fiddle an Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin, and a great sense of humor, he touch
a lot of traditional bases in 58 minutes. Agranoff includes Anglo-Celtic classics
(a properly angry-sounding 'Matty Groves,' a sweet guitar version of O'Carolan's
'Sidh Beag Agus Sidh Mor'), oddities like a Bach concerto rearranged
for multiple concertinas ('Double Concerto in D Minor'), some updated Gilbert
and Sullivan (the title track), and one of the droll recitations that are a
highlight of his live shows ('Ballad of the Sandman,' a 13-minute poem about
the last alternative DJ)." -- Dirty Linen
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The eleven
cuts on the recording are:
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The Modern
Folk Musician (clip)
as in
"I am the very model of..."
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Long Road
to Walk (clip)
A contemporary
gospel song
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Matty
Groves (full
track)
Hard driving version of the traditional ballad
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Sidh
Beag Agus Sidh Mor
(clip)
Guitar arrangement of an O'Carolan Tune
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Nova
Scotia
/Return from Fingal
(clip)
Medeley of haunting song about the first Europeans settlement
of the land with a guitar arrangement of a harp tune from the era
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Invitation
to a Funeral /Temperance Reel /Vinton's Hornpipe
(clip)
Irish patter song put together with a couple of kick-ass
fiddle tunes
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Chattanooga
Choo-Choo
(full track)
Guitar and vocal arrangement of the swing classic
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Ballad
of the Sandman
(full track)
Recitation
about the last hurrah of the last great alternative DJ
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Girl
from the Great Divide (clip)
Contemporary
song to a traditional tune
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Hamlet
(clip)
The entire story in 3 minutes 27 seconds
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Bach
Double Concerto
in Dm
(clip)
Transcribed for 2 English Concertinas and continuo
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Rocking the Boat
#BFD101T--Cassette
Released in 1987
(Not available through CD Baby)
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This early release continues to prove
a consisistent seller and favorite because of its inclusion of two Agranoff classic
recitations, "The Ballad of Jake and 10-Ton Molly" and "The Battle
of Trenton". The recording is one of a live concert complete with all the
introductions, bad jokes, and spontaneity typical of what happens when Mike gets
in front of an audience.
The
seven cuts on the recording are:
(Sorry, no sound clips) |
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1000 Times
No
In response to requests for Bob Dylan songs...with
lots of help from the audience
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Planxty Irwin
/Dark-Eyed Molly
Guitar arrangement of an O'Carolan Tune coupled with the
classic Archie Fisher love song
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Makin Whoopee
Clever guitar work characterizes the arrangement of this
standard
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My Favorite
Diseases
Julie Andrews is spinning in her grave...And she isn't
even dead!
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The Battle
of Trenton
A retelling of what really happened in that pivotal
battle of the American Revolution...with critical help from the audience
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Gavotte
From Bach's Partita No. 3 in E Major for solo violin...transcribed
for English Concertina
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The
Ballad of Jake and 10-Ton Molly
A classic tale in the tradition of Robert Service |
Mike
Agranoff Tee Shirt
(They look much better
on most people)
Show your grasp of haute
couture and excellent taste by appearing at your next function attired in one
of these high-fashion outfits.
This apparel is produced
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upon the style you select. Click on the photo above to go to Zazzle's website
to order.
