I featured this band a few months ago. Elizabeth Anne “Z” Berg the singer and guitarist wrote this song. It’s on the album Release Me which was released in 2010.
The band has some cool power pop songs. They were formed in Los Angeles in 2001 and unfortunately have been on an indefinite hiatus since 2013.
The Like’s lineup consisted of Z Berg (vocals and guitar), Tennessee Thomas (drums), Laena Geronimo (bass), and Annie Monroe (organ). The band released three extended plays (EPs) and two studio albums.
Their influences were The Kinks, Beatles, Dylan, Motown, and The Who. Also the Motown sound of the 60s.
Now the lead singer “Z Berg” is fronting a band called the Phases.
Z Berg interview in 2005: We timed this band perfectly so we’d never have to get a job. We started the band when we were all 15, and once we started, we were in school for the next three years and worked on the band during the summer and weekends. There was no real way to argue with it because we were playing shows, touring, and working a lot. So the worse day job I’ve ever had is being in a band, which is pretty lucky so far.
I Can See It In Your Eyes
Knock knock knock, you’re knocking On my window last night This fire’s been out for some time You told me it was over with her That’s not quite right You said I was your life So be min, so be mineThings are rough enough Won’t you toughen up Please just make up your mind How could I be so blindI can see it in your eyes I can see it in your eyes When you lie I see it in your eyesYou’ll never leave her will you, baby? I understand You’ll never grow up, or be a man And I’d wait a thousand years for you But this I demand Just tell me where I stand Take my hand, I know you canShe keeps calling me I can’t take it She thinks I’m really her friend I think we’re near in the endI can see it in your eyes I can see it in your eyes When you lie I see it in your eyes
So crooked mouths speak crooked words That ruin you for other girls I don’t know how to conjugate a lie My crooked eyes have crooked tears, You turned the tables on me, dear I was so shocked I couldn’t even cry
I can see it in your eyes Yes, I see it in your eyes When you lie I see it in your eyes Yeah, I see it in your eyes I can see it in your eyes
The Gin Blossoms made some good power pop in the 90s.
This song was released in 1996 and was part of a double A-side with Til I Hear It From You. The song peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #30 in the UK in 1996. Billboard lists the song as Follow You Down/Til I Hear It From You. It did hit #1 in the Billboard Alternative Charts.
The song was on the album Congratulations… I’m Sorry and it peaked at #10 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1996.
The song was written by D. Scott Johnson, Jesse M. Valenzuela, Phillip Rhodes, Phillip N. Rhodes, Robin Wilson, and William Leen.
The Gin Blossoms broke up in early 1997 but reunited in 2002. They still perform to this day but with some personnel changes.
Follow You Down
Did you see the sky? I think it means that we’ve been lost Maybe one last time is all we need I can’t really help it If my tongue’s all tied in knots Jumping off a bridge is just the farthest That I’ve ever been
Anywhere you go, I’ll follow you down Anyplace but those I know by heart Anywhere you go, I’ll follow you down I’ll follow you down, but not that far
I know we’re headed somewhere I can see how far we’ve come But still I can’t remember anything Let’s not do the wrong thing And I’ll swear it might be fun It’s a long way down When all the knots we’ve tied have come undone
Anywhere you go, I’ll follow you down Anyplace but those I know by heart Anywhere you go, I’ll follow you down I’ll follow you down, but not that far
How you gonna ever find your place Running in an artificial pace Are they gonna find us lying face down in the sand So what the hell now we’ve already been forever damned
Anywhere you go, I’ll follow you down Anyplace but those I know by heart Anywhere you go, I’ll follow you down I’ll follow you down, but not that far
A couple of weeks ago we looked at Bonnie Raitt in the late 80s…Here she is in the 70s putting a new bluesy twist on Runaway. It was her breakthrough in the Singles Charts. It would be 12 more years before she broke through big with the album Nick of Time.
Del Shannon and his keyboard player, Max Crook, wrote with this while they were playing a club in their hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan. Crook played a keyboard called a “Musitron” on Del’s version of the song.
The Raitt version of Runaway peaked at #57 in the Billboard 100 and #79 in Canada. It was on the Sweet Forgivness album released in 1977 which peaked at #25 in the Billboard Album Charts.
Runaway
As I walk along I wonder what went wrong With our love, a love that was so strong And as I still walk on I think of the things We’ve done together while our hearts were young I’m a walking in the rain, to the bone I feel the pain Wishing you were here by me to end this misery And I wonder, I w-w-wonder, why, you ran away And I wonder if you will stay, my little runaway, my runaway I’m a walking in the rain, to the bone I feel the pain Wishing you were here by me to end this misery And I wonder, I w-w-wonder baby yeah, you know why, you ran away And I wonder if you will stay, my little runaway, my little runaway Come back baby (Run, run, runaway) You left me standing in the rain (Run, run, runaway) Come back baby (Run, run, runaway) Standing in the rain (Run, run, runaway)
The Babys had a brief career in the spotlight and had some hits. Back On My Feet Again, Isn’t It Time, and this one. They were a good opening act for many bands at that time but although having a few top 40 hits never did breakthrough big.
Internal conflicts led to the founder, guitarist, and keyboard player Michael Corby being removed from the group by Chrysalis Records in 1978. The three remaining members of the Babys…John Waite, Wally Stocker, and Tony Brock completed the album for a January 1979 release. Jonathan Cain would join in 1980 and his membership would be shortlived.
During a performance in Cincinnati on December 9, 1980 (the day after John Lennon had been murdered), John Waite was pulled from the stage by an overzealous fan during an encore and seriously injured his knee. Following a subsequent final performance by the group in Akron, Ohio, the remainder of the tour was canceled, and the group disbanded following the tour.
They broke up in 1981 and John Waite went solo and had a number 1 hit… and Jonathan Cain joined Journey. Wally Stocker and Tony Brock would later play in Rod Stewart’s band.
Every Time I Think Of You was written by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy and released in 1979 as the lead single from The Babys’ third studio album Head First.
The song peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, and #41 in New Zealand in 1979.
Every Time I Think Of You
Every time I think of you It always turns out good Every time I’ve held you I thought you understood
People say a love like ours Will surely pass But I know a love like ours Will last and last
But maybe I was wrong not knowing how our love should go (How our love, how our love should go) But I wasn’t wrong in knowing how our love would grow (How our love, how our love would grow)
And every time I think of you (every time) Every time I think of you (every single time) It always turns out good
Seasons come and seasons go But our love will never die Let me hold you, darlin’ So you won’t cry
‘Cause people say that our love affair Will never last But we know a love like ours Will never pass
But maybe I was wrong not knowing how our love should go (How our love, how our love should go) But I wasn’t wrong in knowing how our love would grow (How our love, how our love would grow)
And every time I think of you (every time) Every time I think of you (every single time) It always turns out good
People say a love like ours Will surely pass But I know a love like ours Will last and last
But maybe I was wrong not knowing how our love should go (How our love, how our love should go) But I wasn’t wrong in knowing how our love would grow (How our love, how our love would grow)
And every time I think of you Every time I think of you Every time I think of you It always turns out good
Every time I think of you Every time I think of you Every time I think of you Every time I think of you
Every time I think of you Every time I think of you Every time I think of you Every time I think of you
Every time I think of you Every time I think of you
Rod Stewart has gone through many phases of his career. He started off as a rocker and his voice was one of the best around in an era of great voices in the late 60s and early 70s. I liked the Faces era and his early solo acoustic-based songs a lot. His Mercury albums are for the most part very good.
This song was on the B side of the UK single of The First Cut Is The Deepest in 1977 and it peaked at #1 in the UK…In America, it wasn’t released until 1979 and it peaked at #46 in the Billboard 100 in 1980. I didn’t’ hear the song until I got the Greatest Hits.
Danny Whitten wrote this song while he was in Crazy Horse. Danny was a creative force in the group as their rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist. Whitten was battling a heroin addiction at the time and died a year later when on November 18, 1972 he overdosed and died. Crazy Horse released a self-titled album with this song included.
Rod Stewart recorded this song for his 1975 album Atlantic Crossing, which was produced by Tom Dowd.
One interesting note…
The Sex Pistols topped the charts of most major British music publications with “God Save The Queen,” which mocked the monarchy and the celebrations. The Sex Pistols’ song suspiciously stalled at #2 on the official chart, placing behind Rod Stewart’s version of “I Don’t Want To Talk About It.” There were many accusations that the chart was rigged to avoid embarrassment in the week of the jubilee.
From Songfacts
Nils Lofgren, who was also in Crazy Horse, recalls in the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh: “Danny was a very soulful man and a good man and he was the one who got me in Crazy Horse. I loved his song, ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It,’ and I think it is one of the greatest ballads ever. It has a very haunting lyric and put two lines into the song because Danny was so ill when he recorded it. He could still sing and play but he wasn’t bothered with much else. We said, ‘Danny, we’ve got to do this song, it’s a great song’ and he said, ‘It needs a second verse’ and this went on for months. He never could get it together and then we were in the studio and got in an argument, and he said, ‘Okay, well, one of you write it.’ I left the studio and wrote a couple of lines quickly and I said,’What about these” and he said, ‘Fine, let’s do it’. Danny and I sat opposite each other with acoustic guitars and Ry Cooder was playing slide on his lap and it came out beautifully.”
The Crazy Horse album was an assemblage of top-tier musicians and producers. Along with Danny Whitten and Nils Lofgren, Jack Nitzsche, Ry Cooder, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina played on it, and it was produced by Nitzsche and Bruce Botnick.
It enjoyed just modest sales, but was adored by critics, including John Mendelsohn, who called this song an “unexaggerably lovely ballad” in his Rolling Stone review.
Whitten never got to perform the song with Crazy Horse, as his addiction pushed him out of the group. He was replaced by George Whitsell, who played on the group’s next album, Loose, released in 1972. Whitten picked up again with Neil Young’s band, but again his addiction led to his dismissal.
However, at the Christmas concerts Stewart gave in London that year, he was taken aback when his fans started singing the chorus to “I Don’t Want To Talk About It” along with him – continuing even when he dropped out to watch them. Because of their obvious enthusiasm for this song, Stewart’s label decided to issue it as his next single. Since so many of Rod’s followers already had Atlantic Crossing, a track from Night On The Town, “The First Cut Is The Deepest,” was included on the flip side and issues as a double-A side disc. The single went to #1 for four weeks in the UK.
In 1988 the duo Everything But The Girl recorded a cover version which bought them their first UK Top 10 hit when it climbed to #3.
They recorded the song at a time when they were frustrated with the lack of success from their first three albums and the constant criticism revolving around their change of sound with every record. Ben Watt of the duo explained to Q in 1996 that covering this song was in response to never being able to please everyone, stating: “When we did ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It,’ we were almost trying to say, ‘F–k you then! We’ll do a cover version, that’s what you really meant.'” Watt angrily continued, “And of course it went to #3, and completely backfired again!”
EBTG vocalist Tracey Thorn echoed Watt’s thoughts in 2012 to The Quietus when asked about the annoyance of the song being added to the beginning of their album Idlewild when it became an unexpected success. Said Thorn: “Obviously the trouble with having a hit with something like a cover of a ballad, you attract a whole new set of listeners. Which is great, but on the other hand they start to pigeonhole you a little bit, and there was a period around that time where for a few years after where we did pick up an audience that began to get older and expect certain things from us.”
Stewart sang this song as a duet in his concert One Night Only! Live at Royal Albert Hall, with Amy Belle. Stewart told the audience, “A week ago this girl was busking the streets of Glasgow,” and he felt that it was his right to bring her into the limelight because “I was discovered busking at a train stop.”
Nils Lofgren recorded a new version of this song for his 2015 solo album UK2015 Face the Music Tour.
I Don’t Want To Talk About It
I can tell by your eyes
That you’ve probably been cryin’ forever
And the stars in the sky
Don’t mean nothin’ to you, they’re a mirror
I don’t wanna talk about it
How you broke my heart
If I stay here just a little bit longer
If I stay here, won’t you listen to my heart?
Whoa, heart
If I stand all alone
Will the shadow hide the color of my heart?
Blue for the tears, black for the night’s fear, heart
And the stars don’t mean nothin’ to you, they’re a mirror
I don’t wanna talk about it
How you broke my heart
If I stay here just a little bit longer
If I stay here, won’t you listen to my heart?
Whoa, heart, my heart, whoa, heart
I don’t wanna talk about it
How you broke my heart
If I stay here just a little bit longer
If I stay here, won’t you listen to my heart?
Whoa, heart, my heart, whoa, heart
My heart, whoa, heart, my heart, whoa, heart
What I like about Zeppelin is change. Every album took a step in another direction. It wasn’t just the bombardment of hard guitars like the first album. They stepped into folk, reggae, rockabilly, soul, blues, country, and rock and roll. The fans and critics complained at times especially over Led Zeppelin III.
I’ve always liked this song. John Paul Jones’s bass stands out in this song. His bass in some Zeppelin songs is back in the mix a bit. The lyrics were inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien and similar themes appeared on subsequent Led Zeppelin albums. In this song they did what they did best…light and dark…soft and hard. The dynamics they worked on would later culminate into Stairway to Heaven.
This song was on Led Zeppelin II that they recorded all over in different studios on their first tour. They recorded this song in New York.
The album Led Zeppelin II peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #1 in the UK.
From Songfacts
Some of Robert Plant’s lyrics in this song were inspired by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of The Rings. The references are to the adventures of the Hobbit, Frodo Baggins, as he goes to “the darkest depths of Mordor” and encounters “Gollum and the evil one.” Plant later admitted in an audio documentary that he was embarrassed by the Tolkien references, as they don’t make all that much sense – a fair maiden wouldn’t be found in Mordor, and Gollum would want nothing to do with her anyway, since his only concern is the precious ring.
This is one of Led Zeppelin’s most enduring songs, but they never performed it live from start to finish while the band was active. It was in their set when Zeppelin reunited for a one-off concert at the O2 Arena in London on December 10, 2007. John Bonham’s son Jason filled in on drums at that show.
What John Bonham played as percussion to supplement his drums on this song is not clear. It sounds like bongos, but has been reported to be a plastic garbage pail or a guitar case.
The concept of the troubadour “rambling on” – going from place to place and constantly moving forward – is one Robert Plant embraced. In his post-Zeppelin career, he went from one project to the next, refusing to fall back on nostalgia. It was Plant who kiboshed the proposed Led Zep reunion tour in 2007.
The group Train covered this on their 2001 Midnight Moon album. Their lead singer, Pat Monahan, was once in a band that did entire sets of Zeppelin songs. Producer Brendan O’Brien heard Train’s version and agreed to produce their second album.
This was sampled by the Insane Clown Posse for the song “50 Bucks” on their rare album Psychopathics From Outer Space and was also the single that accompanied The Pendulum #7, a 12-comic series of the group done by Chaos! Comics.
Along with “Going To California,” this is one of two Led Zeppelin songs used in the 2019 indie film The Friend. The band agreed to license the songs at a much lower rate than usual after hearing pleas from the filmmakers. The movie tells the true story of Nicole Teague, a woman with terminal cancer. The songs were part of her story and played an important role in the narrative.
Ramble On
Leaves are falling all around It’s time I was on my way Thanks to you I’m much obliged For such a pleasant stay But now it’s time for me to go The autumn moon lights my way For now I smell the rain And with it pain And it’s headed my way
Ah, sometimes I grow so tired But I know I’ve got one thing I got to do
Ramble on And now’s the time, the time is now To sing my song I’m goin’ ’round the world, I got to find my girl On my way I’ve been this way ten years to the day Ramble on Gotta find the queen of all my dreams
Got no time for spreadin’ roots The time has come to be gone And thoough our health we drank a thousand times It’s time to ramble on
Ramble on And now’s the time, the time is now To sing my song I’m going ’round the world, I got to find my girl On my way I’ve been this way ten years to the day I gotta ramble on I gotta find the queen of all my dreams
I ain’t tellin’ no lie Mine’s a tale that can’t be told My freedom I hold dear How years ago in days of old When magic filled the air ‘T was in the darkest depths of Mordor I met a girl so fair But Gollum, and the evil one Crept up and slipped away with her Her, her, yeah Ain’t nothing I can do, no
I guess I keep on rambling I’m gonna, yeah, yeah, yeah Sing my song (I gotta find my baby) I gotta ramble on, sing my song Gotta work my way around the world baby, baby Ramble on, yeah Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, my baby Doo, doo, doo, doo Doodoo doodoo doodoo doodoo doodoo
I gotta keep searching for my baby (Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby) I gotta keep-a-searchin’ for my baby (My, my, my, my, my, my, my baby) Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I can’t find my bluebird I listen to my bluebird sing I can’t find my bluebird I keep rambling, baby I keep rambling, baby
I was watching WKRP and Johnny Fever was playing this song. I heard a few of the lyrics and found it. Although Johnny Fever is a fictional character…he has great taste. This song was released after Otis had died in an airplane crash in1967. Love Man was released in June 1969 and featured songs Redding had recorded in 1967. The album was produced by Steve Cropper, and featured Booker T. and the M.G.’s.It was on the album of the same name.
Matthew Greenwald of Allmusic said that apart from “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”, the album’s title track was “one of Otis Redding’s finest and most commercial sides that he cut at the end of his brief career.”
The song peaked at #72 in the Billboard 100, #17 in the Billboard R&B Charts, and #43 in the UK.
The album peaked at #8 in the Billboard R&B Charts in 1969.
Love Man
I’m a Love Man Call me the Love Man Oooh, baby I’m the Love Man That’s what they call me I’m a Love Man Six feet one weigh two hundred and ten A Long hair… Real fair skin A long legs and I’m-a out-a sight There ain’t no doubt I’m gonna take you out, ‘Cause I’m a love man That’s what they call me I’m the Love Man Make love to you in the mornin’ Make love to you at night now Make love to when you think about it I’ gonna bet you Everything’s alright ‘Cau…’Cau…’Cau…’Cau…’Cause I’m a love man Ooh baby I’m a love man That’s what they call me I’m a Love Man Say there goes a love man Six feet one weigh two hundred and ten Long hair… Real fair skin I’m long legged and I’m-a out-a sight My, my babe I’m gonna take you out ‘Cause I’ a love man Ooh baby I’m a love man Take your hand; let me holler one time…AAWW!
Love man that’s all I am now I’m just a love man Ooh baby call me a love man Yes I am, I’m just a love man Let me tell you somethin’ Which one of you girls want me to hold you? A Which one of you girls want me to kiss you? Which one of your girls wants me to take you out? Go on I got you, gonna knock you all night ‘Cause baby I’m a love man All right, Ooh, baby I’m a love man Let me tell ya! I’m sayin’ I’m just a love man, good ol’ man I’m just a love man, fancy man I’m just a love man, good ol’ man I’m just a…..
