September 2020 – Page 4 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Who – Bell Boy

Keith would sometimes call out for this song in Who concerts. The reason for that would be because he sings parts of the song along with Roger. Keith lays on the cockney voice well in this song and talks/sings it.

The song was on Quadrophenia released in 1973. The album peaked at #2 in the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in the UK, and #2 in Canada.

After the song was dropped from the set…either Keith or the crowd would request it much to Townshend’s chagrin at times.

The album was a concept album about the mod culture in the UK in the early 60s that features a character named Jimmy.

Pete Townshend: He meets an old Ace Face who’s now a bellhop at the very hotel the Mods tore up. And he looks on Jimmy with a mixture of pity and contempt, really, and tells him, in effect, ‘Look, my job is shit and my life is a tragedy. But you – look at you, you’re dead!’

From Songfacts

This is Keith Moon’s song on Quadrophenia, which centers on a character with four personalities, each one representing a different member of The Who. “Bell Boy” is about the main character Jimmy meeting an old mod “Ace Face,” or leader. However, he finds out that the Ace Face has given up music, and now he works at a hotel (as a bell boy) that a mod gang happened to destroy a few years back. Keith Moon does some of the vocals on the song.

Keith Moon’s drumming is prominent on this track. Ron Nevison, the engineer on Quadrophenia, told Songfacts what it was like recording him. “The biggest problem with Keith on the drums was finding a place to put the microphones,” he said. “He had so many drums – two hi-hats, two kick drums, six or eight tom-toms – it was challenging just to get in there to get the snare drum covered.”

Bell Boy

The beach is a place where a man can feel
He’s the only soul in the world that’s real
Well I see a face coming through the haze
I remember him from those crazy days
Crazy days, crazy days

Ain’t you the guy who used to set the paces
Riding up in front of a hundred faces
I don’t suppose you would remember me
But I used to follow you back in sixty-three

I’ve got a good job, and I’m newly born
You should see me dressed up in my uniform
I work in hotel, all gilt and flash
Remember the place where the doors were smashed?

Bell Boy, I got to get running now
Bell Boy, keep my lip buttoned down
Bell Boy, carry this baggage out
Bell Boy, always running at someone’s pleading heel
You know how I feel
Always running at someone’s heel

Some nights I still sleep on the beach
Remember when stars were in reach
I wander in early to work
Spend my day licking boots for my perks

A beach is a place where a man can feel
He’s the only soul in the world that’s real

Well I see a face coming through the haze
I remember him from those crazy days (crazy days, crazy days, crazy days, crazy days)

Ain’t you the guy who used to set the paces
Riding up in front of a hundred faces
I don’t suppose you would remember me
But I used to follow you back in sixty-three

People often change
But when I look in your eyes
You could learn a lot from
A job like mine
The secret to me
It ain’t flown on a flag
I carry it behind
This pretty little badge
What says

Bell Boy I got to get running now
Bell Boy, keep my lip buttoned down
Bell Boy, carry the bloody baggage out
Bell Boy, always running at someone’s heel
You know how I feel
Always running at someone’s heel

Police – Walking On The Moon

This 1979 song is off of their Reggatta de Blanc album.

The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #65 in Canada, #8 in New Zealand, but did not chart in the Billboard `100.

This was the second #1 UK hit for The Police. Their first album was released in 1978 but took a while to catch on. When it did, it was only a few months before this one was released. The lead single was Message in a Bottle, which gave them their first UK #1.

The song is set in space, but it’s an allegory for how Sting felt when he was on the road, confined to hotel rooms and stages as the world kept turning.

The song’s video was shot at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 23, 1979. Stewart Copeland took the opportunity to drum on a Saturn V rocket that served as backdrop. It was directed by Derek Burbidge, who did all of their early videos.

The Police’s drummer Stewart Copeland used a Roland RE-201 Space Echo unit on this track, which allowed him to create another track of delay that accentuates the moon theme.

Sting: “I came up with a melody that felt light and airy – in fact, lighter than air” “Nine years before, Neil Armstrong had walked on the moon and said the famous words that everyone misquotes. ‘Giant Steps’ is also one of my favorite John Coltrane tunes. Songs are built by whimsy, faulty memory, and free association.”

From Songfacts

Sting was visiting the German avant-garde composer Eberhard Schoener in early 1979. One night they went out on a schnapps drinking session. Sting returned to his Munich hotel room drunk, slumped on his bed when this song’s riff came into his head. He got up and starting walking around the room to try to clear his head muttering to himself, “Walking round the room, walking round the room.” The next morning he wrote down the riff and decided that “Walking round the room” was a stupid title so he changed it to an even more stupid one, which was “Walking On The Moon.”

“Each repeat is not a repeat of the immediate note preceding it, it’s a repeat of the note before that, which gives it this interesting kind of wobbling rhythmic effect,” he explained in a Songfacts interview. “I was doing that on the drums, and Andy was doing that on the guitar, and we figured that out. Years later, everybody’s doing it – check in with U2 and part of their sound is that delay line effect.”

The Space Echo units were some of the goodies they bought at Manny’s Music in New York City when the money came in from their first hit, “Roxanne.”

In America, it was a slower climb: “Message in a Bottle” stalled at #74 and “Walking On The Moon” failed to chart. Their third album, Zenyatta Mondatta, was their US breakthrough.

Acknowledging the reggae roots of this song, Sting performed it at the 2013 Grammy Awards in a tribute to Bob Marley that also included Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Damian Marley and Ziggy Marley.

The Ohio-based rock group Walk The Moon, best known for their 2014 hit “Shut Up And Dance,” took their name from this song.

Walking On The Moon

Giant steps are what you take
Walking on the moon
I hope my legs don’t break
Walking on the moon
We could walk forever
Walking on the moon
We could live together
Walking on, walking on the moon

Walking back from your house
Walking on the moon
Walking back from your house
Walking on the moon
Feet they hardly touch the ground
Walking on the moon
My feet don’t hardly make no sound
Walking on, walking on the moon

Some may say
I’m wishing my days away
No way
And if it’s the price I pay
Some say
Tomorrow’s another day
You stay
I may as well play

Giant steps are what you take
Walking on the moon
I hope my legs don’t break
Walking on the moon
We could walk forever
Walking on the moon
We could be together
Walking on, walking on the moon

Some may say
I’m wishing my days away
No way
And if it’s the price I pay
Some say
Tomorrow’s another day
You stay
I may as well play
Keep it up, keep it up

Allman Brothers – Eat A Peach…Desert Island Albums

This is my sixth-round choice from Hanspostcard’s album draft…100 albums in 100 days.

https://slicethelife.com/2020/09/02/2020-album-draft-round-6-pick-9-the-allman-brothers-eat-a-peach/

I was going to pick the At Fillmore East live album but I also wanted some studio tracks…you get both with this one. This is the last album that Duane Allman worked on before a motorcycle crash took his life. He died a few weeks into making the album. The album also included live tracks that were not used on At Fillmore East like One Way Out, Trouble No More, and a 33 minute “Mountain Jam” that was built off a riff from a Donovan song “There is a Mountain.”

They had some sort of chemistry live that was incredible. I’m usually not a fan of long endless live songs but they keep intensity up…plus with this album you get the best of both worlds.

25 years ago I would not have picked this album…I’ve learned more about them in the past few years and have become a huge fan of the classic lineup. When I listen to the Allman Brothers I listen to the music as a whole more than just the songs. They clicked so well as a band that they blended perfectly when at their best.

Their best albums to me are At Fillmore East, Eat A Peach, and Brothers and Sisters. They have been labeled and credited as starting “Southern Rock” but they were totally different than most of their peers. The Allmans were more blues/jazz oriented who happened to be from the south.

The two guitar players were Duane Allman and Dickey Betts…two of the best around at the time. They also had two drummers Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson (Jaimoe) (who played with Otis Redding). Their bass player was from Chicago…Berry Oakley (who would die in a motorcycle crash a little over a year after Duane) who was amazing. Gregg Allman would write and sing lead on many of the songs and as he said…pushed the gravy on the meat…he added texture with his Hammond Organ.

They started to work on this album in September of 1971 and laid down the basic tracks to for “Blue Sky,” “Stand Back” and “Little Martha.” Duane Allman died on October 29, 1971. So those tracks have Duane playing on them and of course all of the live material features him on guitar. After he died the band went back to the studio and recorded the rest and it was finished in December.

The album was released on February 12, 1972 and it peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #12 in Canada. The original name was going to be “Eat A Peach for Peace.”

The opening song is my favorite one on the album. Ain’t Wasting Time No More…it was Gregg Allman’s song working through the grief of his brother’s death and about soldiers coming home from Vietnam. Last Sunday morning, the sunshine felt like rain,the week before, they all seemed the same

Blue Sky is a Dickey Betts song that I never get tired of. The soaring guitars and the few verses that it has are happy and upbeat. Betts initially wanted the band’s lead vocalist, Gregg Allman, to sing the song, but guitarist Duane Allman encouraged him to sing it himself… “Man, this is your song and it sounds like you and you need to sing it.” Dickey Betts wrote this about his Native Canadian girlfriend, Sandy “Bluesky” Wabegijig.

Melissa is probably the most remembered song off of this album. It’s a great song that Greg had written years before…he couldn’t think of the right woman’s name until he heard a lady in a grocery store yell for her daughter… Melissa.

One Way Out is some of the live feel that I wanted with Fillmore East and I get it on this album along with the above studio cuts. One of their best known songs.

I thought the island needed a southern touch so the Allmans will do just fine. I’ll just sit back with soul food, listen to Allmans, and watch the tide.

Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More
Les Brers In A Minor
Melissa
Mountain Jam
One Way Out
Trouble No More
Stand Back
Blue Sky
Little Martha
Mountain Jam Cont’d.

Rolling Stones – Child of the Moon

It’s hard to believe this was recorded at the beginning of the Beggars Banquet album. It sounded like it belonged in 1967 than in 1968…the two years in music were drastically different.

This song was the B side to Jumping Jack Flash. The Stones made a video of it and it’s probably my favorite video they ever made. It was shot in Black and White and Color and showed the Stones in a horror/sci fi setting acting as if they are guarding a road…prepared not to let anyone pass. It feels like Children of the Damned meets a little of Lord of the Flies.

The song was never released on a studio Stones album except for compilations. I usually don’t say this but the video really helps this song…it’s a chill about this video.

In the 1960s The Stones and Beatles had power… Beatles toyed with the idea of doing Lord of the Rings and The Beatles signed a petition for Mick Jagger to play “Alex” in A Clockwork Orange…this is before Kubrick was involved.

Child Of The Moon

The wind blows rain into my face
The sun glows at the end of the highway
Child of the moon, rub your rainy eyes
Oh, child of the moon
Give me a wide-awake crescent-shaped smile

She shivers, by the light she is hidden
She flickers like a lamp lady vision
Child of the moon, rub your rainy eyes
Child of the moon
Give me a wide-awake crescent-shaped smile

The first car on the foggy road riding
The last star for my lady is pining
Oh, child of the moon, bid the sun arise
Oh, child of the moon
Give me a misty day, pearly gray, silver, silky faced
Wide-awake crescent-shaped smile

Van Morrison – Moondance

One of Van the Man’s best songs. The jazz and bouncy feel of this song hooks you. I really started to notice the song in the movie An American Werewolf in London.

The song was the title track to the Moondance album released in 1970.

Van didn’t release the song as a single until 1977…over seven years after it was first released. The song peaked at #92 in the Billboard 100 in 1977.

“Moondance” started as a Jazz saxophone instrumental, and Van played that original sax solo he wrote for the song. Van had said he used to play this sax number over and over, anytime h picked up his horn.

The song was listed as #226 in Rolling Stone magazine’s December 2004 feature “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

From Songfacts

Van Morrison comes up with songs many different ways, sometimes a lyric or title idea sparks a song, and other times it’s a melody.

That Rolling Stone quote is about all you’re going to get from Van regarding the song. He is notoriously fickle when it comes to speaking about his music, as he feels that the songs should speak for themselves. The liner notes to the Moondance album were written by his girlfriend Janet Planet, and instead of a traditional explanation of the recording process or a list of thank-you’s these notes are a fable, telling the story of an artist in ancient times who has a great gift but keeps it to himself. When his wife gets sick, he cures her using his gift of song. She then asks, “But who will ease your pain, who will save you?”

The flute is a big part of this song. It was played by Collin Tilton, who replaced John Payne on the instrument for the Moondance album.

This song plays throughout the sex scene in the 1981 movie An American Werewolf in London (Director John Landis also asked Cat Stevens for the use of “Moonshadow,” but was turned down). It was also used in a 2002 episode of the TV series The West Wing.

Pianist and organist Jeff Labes recalled the recording of the track to Uncut: “I remember ‘Moondance’ itself was a big question mark. It was jazzy, and didn’t seem to belong to the pack. The first time we recorded it, it came out really well, but Van thought there must be a catch. So we did it about a dozen times, and ended up going back to the first one, He liked to sing live along with the track, because Sinatra did that. He loved having a first-take vocal. He was looking for the magic.”

Moondance

Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
‘Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I’m trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush

Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love
Can I just make some more romance with you, my love

Well, I want to make love to you tonight
I can’t wait ’til the morning has come
And I know now the time is just right
And straight into my arms you will run
And when you come my heart will be waiting
To make sure that you’re never alone
There and then all my dreams will come true, dear
There and then I will make you my own
And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside
And I know how much you want me that you can’t hide

Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love
Can I just make some more romance with you, my love

One more moondance with you in the moonlight
On a magic night
La, la, la, la in the moonlight
On a magic night
Can’t I just have one more dance with you my love