82. I ain't workin' at no lumberyard!

82. "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Hotei Tomoyasu

This is the song by Hotei Tomoyasu's that is most likely to be recognized by Americans, as it's the song from the Kill Bill movie soundtrack. But Hotei has done a number of different versions of the song besides what you hear on the soundtrack, including some jam sessions with other musicians in which they take turns playing their own guitar solos.

Here's the movie soundtrack version.



And here's a performance he did on the telly. His form of guitar showmanship includes a variety of stances and moves with his legs. Most of them just look goofy--like he wants to finish up his guitar solo because he really has to go to the bathroom. He's got legs, but he doesn't know how to use them.



He had a composer/conductor friend that wrote a symphonic version. While the rest of the symphony had sheet music to cue them on what to play and when to play it, Hotei has to do everything from memory, since he doesn't read music. The video on this is super-choppy on purpose to avoid detection from the YouTube copyright bots, so you may want to just listen and not watch it.



This concert version is played at the regular tempo at first, but then it shifts into funky overdrive at the end.



And here's a concert with Brian Setzer from The Stray Cats and Char, a Japanese guitarist that has collaborated with Hotei on other songs. Setzer's the guy not wearing a pink cowboy hat with feathers in it.



Here's another version with some really famous jazz guitarists that I've never heard of.



The only jazz guitarists I know by name are Earl Klugh, George Benson, Pat Metheny, and Sonny Sharrock.

And now that I've named them, I feel obliged to share some of their music.

I was introduced to Earl Klugh by Elder Anderson on my mission. He's the one that played the guitar song on that tape I sent you from Sweden. He said, "I am Earl Klugh" to psych himself up before he started playing. One of Earl's greatest hits was the following George Benson tune "Living Inside Your Love."



George Benson's soft guitar jazz triggers a lot of memories from the 70s and 80s. Breezin' and Give Me the Night are the two songs I remember best. Here he is playing Breezin' on The Old Grey Whistle Test, which is widely known as the most difficult of all the standardized college-entrance exams.



Pat Metheny--did the soundtrack to the movie "The Falcon and the Snowman" which featured this little ditty in collaboration with David Bowie.



Sonny Sharrock--the man behind the music of Space Ghost Coast to Coast! When Sonny died back in the 90s, they had a whole episode where they played long blocks of his music. If you listen closely, it sounds like Earl Klugh is playing in the background when Space Ghost and Zorak are flying to work in The Phantom Cruiser.