I’ve posted only one Pogues song before. CB brought them up and I started to listen and song after song was quality. I remember them but more for the name than the music. What a catalog they have and I’ve been listening to them almost non-stop this week. This song is so positive that it rubs off.
This song just gives off a great vibe. The Sunny Side of the Street was inspired by the band’s experiences growing up in working-class neighborhoods. They witnessed firsthand the struggles and triumphs of the people around them. They wanted to shine the light on the resilience and ability to find joy in even the most challenging circumstances.
The Pogues were formed in Ireland in 1982 by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left because of drinking problems and was replaced by Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before breaking up in 1996. They reformed in 2001 and toured until 2014.
The song was written by Shane MacGowan and Jeremy Fier. I was released in 1990 and was on the album Hell’s Ditch. The song peaked at #23 on the Billboard Alternative Charts in 1991. The album was produced by former Clash member Joe Strummer.
On November 30…Shane MacGowan passed away. Yesterday, his coffin was being taken down the streets of Dublin pulled by a horse-drawn carriage. He was 65 years old.
The Sunny Side of the Street
Seen the carnival at Rome
Had the women, I had the booze
All that I can remember now
Is little kids without no shoes
So, I saw that train and I got on it
With a heartful of hate and a lust for vomit
Now I’m walking on the sunnyside of the street
Stepped over bodies in Bombay
Tried to make it to the U.S.A.
Ended up in Nepal
Up on the roof with nothing at all
And I knew that day
I was going to stay right where I am
On the sunnyside of the street
Been in a palace, been in a jail
I just don’t want to be reborn a snail
Just want to spend eternity right where I am
On the sunnyside of the street
As my mother wept it was then I swore
To take my life as I would a whore
I know I’m better than before
I will not be reconstructed
Just want to stay right here
The sunnyside of the street
The sunnyside of the street
The sunnyside of the street
The sunnyside of the street
This track is so alive. Lennon’s voice as always cuts through as always and Lennon’s sense of rhythm is different as always. He wrote and recorded this song in one day. John enlisted George Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, and Billy Preston to help him record the song. He also got Mal Evans, a Beatles road manager, to do the chimes, handclaps, and backing vocals. He is playing tambourine in the video below. The song was recorded on January 27, 1970, and released to the public on February 6, 1970.
I always tell people that I prefer John’s early albums to his later ones and to Pauls early ones. John had an edge to him that Paul didn’t have until Band on the Run… to me anyway.
The chorus was made up of Mal Evans, Yoko, and a small group of strangers Lennon rounded up from a West End pub called Hatchetts.
The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #4 in New Zealand, and #5 in the UK in 1970. Phil Spector produced this track with great results. John kept it simple and Spector produced an exciting record and didn’t overproduce it because John reigned him in. The drums are really in your face in this recording.
Stephen King has said the novel The Shining got its inspiration from this song with the chorus of “We all shine on.”. Before Lennon would let Spector touch the Let It Be tapes…he tried him out on this song to see if he could not overproduce something this sparse and have a hit.
Yoko caught a lot of heat in 1993 when she let Nike use this song in a commercial. I will give her credit on this one… she took the $800,000 that Nike gave her, and gave it to the United Negro College Fund. Nowadays no one says anything about it as much because it’s much more commonplace now.
John Lennon: “I wrote it in the morning on the piano. I went to the office and sang it many times. So I said ‘Hell, let’s do it,’ and we booked the studio, and Phil came in, and said, ‘How do you want it?’ I said, ‘You know, 1950’s.’ He said, ‘right,’ and boom, I did it in about three goes or something like that. I went in and he played it back and there it was. The only argument was that I said a bit more bass, that’s all, and off we went.”
Yoko Ono: “It’s like, ‘Let’s all be together and anybody who’s out there who’s not in this game, why don’t you join us?,'” she told Uncut in 1998. “And to say that ‘We all shine on,’ it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing, instead of saying some people are shining and some people are not. It’s a really uplifting song.”
Instant Karma
Instant Karma’s gonna get you Gonna knock you right on the head You better get yourself together Pretty soon you’re gonna be dead What in the world you thinking of Laughing in the face of love What on earth you tryin’ to do It’s up to you, yeah you
Instant Karma’s gonna get you Gonna look you right in the face Better get yourself together darlin’ Join the human race How in the world you gonna see Laughin’ at fools like me Who in the hell d’you think you are A super star Well, right you are
Well we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun Well we all shine on Ev’ryone come on
Instant Karma’s gonna get you Gonna knock you off your feet Better recognize your brothers Ev’ryone you meet Why in the world are we here Surely not to live in pain and fear Why on earth are you there When you’re ev’rywhere Come and get your share
Well we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun Yeah we all shine on Come on and on and on on on Yeah yeah, alright, uh huh, ah
Well we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun Yeah we all shine on On and on and on on and on
Well we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun Well we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun Well we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun Yeah we all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun
As I’ve told people before…I rarely do anniversaries. Skylab, Duane Allman, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and a few others but this one I will post as long as I blog.
I grew up in the seventies and became a teen in the 1980s. The Beatles were not popular where I lived to say the least. One concerned mother of a friend actually called my mom warning her that I was headed toward destruction because I was listening to the Beatles at around 11 years old. No, I’m not kidding. My mom, bless her heart, told the lady that “Max knows right from wrong. You worry about your child and I’ll worry about about mine.” Ok back to December of 1980.
Damn this date. Every Dec 8th I can’t help but think of where I was when I heard. This year’s release of Now and Then only heightened the anger, sadness, and confusion over what happened. I post this post every year on this date and will continue. I have updated it each year and I’ve almost rewritten it since I posted it first back in 2018…and if it’s too long now I apologize. I still feel what I felt on that date. Although to be accurate it was on December 9th that I found out…the next morning getting ready for school.
When I watched the news clips at the time I felt like an interloper because all of these fans who were sobbing grew up with Lennon in real time…I was this 13-year-old kid who was late to the party…a decade late.
It’s odd to think the Beatles had only been broken up for 10 years when this happened…to a 13-year-old at the time…that was a lifetime but in reality, it’s nothing. To put it in perspective… it’s now 2023 and 10 years ago was 2013…that doesn’t seem that long ago does it? I was only 3 years old when the Beatles broke up so I had no clue.
Since second grade (1975), I’ve been listening to the Beatles. While a lot of kids I knew listened and talked about modern music …I just couldn’t relate as much. By the time I was ten, I had read every book about The Beatles I could get my hands on. In a small middle TN town…it wasn’t too many. I was after their generation but I knew the importance of what they did…plus just great music. The more I got into them the more I learned about the Who, Stones, and the Kinks. I wanted to get my hands on every book about the music of the 1960s. Just listening to the music wasn’t enough…I wanted to know the history.
I spent that Monday night playing albums in my room. Monday night I didn’t turn the radio on…I’m glad I didn’t…The next morning I got up to go to school and the CBS morning news was on. The sound was turned down but the news was showing Beatle video clips. I was wondering why they were showing them but didn’t think much of it.
Curious, I turned the volume up and found out that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I was very angry and shocked. The bus ride to school was quiet… at school, it was quiet as well. Some teachers were affected because John was their generation. Some of my friends were shocked but some didn’t get the significance at the time and some didn’t care.
I went out and bought the White Album, Abbey Road, and Double Fantasy in late December of 1980…I can’t believe I didn’t have those two Beatles albums already…now whenever I hear any song from those albums they remind me of the winter of 80-81. I remember the call-in shows on the radio then…pre-internet… people calling to share their feelings for John or hatred for the killer.
The next few weeks I saw footage of the Beatles on specials that I had never seen before. Famous and non-famous people pouring their hearts out over the grief. Planned tributes from bands and everyone asking the same question…why?
My young mind could not process why a person would want to do this to a musician. A politician yea…I could see that…not that it’s right but this? A musician? Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and JFK were before my time. By the mid-1970s John had pretty much dropped out of sight…John and Yoko released Double Fantasy on November 17, 1980, and suddenly they were everywhere…Less than a month later John was murdered. The catchwords were Catcher in the Rye, Hawaii, handgun, and insane. The next day we were duly informed who killed John in the First, Middle, and Last name format they assign to murderers. I won’t mention his name.
I didn’t want to know his name, his career, his wife’s name, his childhood…I just wanted to know why… he says now…” attention”
I noticed a change happened after that Monday night. John Lennon was instantly turned into a saint, something he would have said was preposterous. Paul suddenly became the square and the uncool one and George and Ringo turned into just mere sidemen. Death has a way of elevating you in life. After the Anthology came out in the 90s that started to change back a little.
I called my dad a few days after it happened and he said that people were more concerned that The Beatles would never play again than the fact a man, father, and husband was shot and killed. He was right and I was among those people until he said that. Dad was never a fan…he was more Elvis, Little Richard, and country music… but he made his point. When my father passed in 2005 I thought about this conversation and knew he was teaching me again.
It was odd being into the Beatles at such a young age and after their time so to speak. While my peers were talking about all the contemporary artists at the time…all I talked about was John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I would end up comparing all the new music I heard to theirs…and that wasn’t fair at all to new music. I would think to myself…well this song (any new song at the time) wasn’t as good as Strawberry Fields and so on. I, fortunately, grew out of that but it took a while.
Below is a video of James Taylor telling how he met the killer a day before Lennon was murdered. Also, Howard Sterns broadcast the day after.
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Welcome to Bob the Punk in this song. He does away with traditional choruses…and just gets down to business. I’ve been wanting to post this for years and it’s been languishing in my draft folder. My friend Matt posted it a little while back.
I bought Infidels back in the 80s and it remains my favorite Dylan album of that decade. It had quite a few songs that made it to our radio stations in Nashville. Jokerman, Sweetheart Like You, and Union Sundown. This is the one is the one that I focused on. Ex Rolling Stone member Mick Taylor played guitar on this and the song is a rocker.
It also was the most controversial song on the album. It drew criticism from some people and others loved it. The song is clearly a pro Israel song and he sings the song with passion. It was banned from YouTube and other platforms in 2020 for “hate speech.” After articles came out in defense of the song…youtube reversed its decision. It was also recalled from the record company for a while. Hard to believe a 37-year-old song could cause so much trouble when it’s been out there since 1983.
People say Bob’s voice is this or that…but it’s made for songs like this. It fits this song perfectly. I’ve seen where some Dylan fans hate it but it’s been a favorite of mine. It’s not Masters of War or Like A Rolling Stone and it’s repetitive but I like it. The lyrics flow great in this one.
The album peaked at #20 in the Billboard Album Charts, #14 in Canada, #4 in New Zealand, and #9 in the UK in 1983.
Bob Dylan: “I’m not a political songwriter. “‘Neighborhood Bully,’ to me, is not a political song, because if it were, it would fall into a certain political party. If you’re talkin’ about it as an Israeli political song—in Israel alone, there’s maybe 20 political parties. I don’t know where that would fall, what party.”
Neighborhood Bully
Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man
His enemies say he’s on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He’s the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He’s the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He’s wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He’s always on trial for just being born
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he could apologize
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it, and the odds are slim
That he’ll live by the rules that the world makes for him
‘Cause there’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a licence to kill him is given out to every maniac
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, he got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don’t get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, he’s surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn’t hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He’s made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one’s command
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract that he signed was worth that what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He’s the neighborhood bully.
What’s anybody indebted to him for?
Nothing, they say. He just likes to cause war
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed
He’s the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully
I remember this year well. The Dodgers repeated a World Series trip but also repeated losing to the Yankees.
Great song by The Who on their last album with Keith Moon. Keith was not in the best shape by this time but his drumming on this is still fantastic. The song is about real events that happened to Pete Townshend down to being passed out drunk at night and asking a policeman that knew Pete’s name, Who the F**k are you? You can still hear Daltrey sing the expletive on classic radio stations.
This one was always a favorite of mine of the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards wrote this, but a lot of the lyrics were improvised in the studio. While the band played, Jagger came in with different lines to fit the music.
This song is a good example of the Rolling Stones tapestry of guitars. Keith and Ron Wood weave their guitars in and out until the two guitars are almost indistinguishable from each other.
Warren Zevon was a very clever songwriter. He went were other songwriters don’t often go. This track was produced by Jackson Browne. The songwriters were LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon. John McVie and Mick Fleetwood played on this song.
This song is one of the best pop singles of the 1970s. It was on the album City To City. This was Rafferty’s first release after the breakup of his former band Steeler’s Wheel. Gerry Rafferty had been unable to release any material due to disputes about the band’s remaining contractual recording obligations, and his friend’s Baker Street flat was a convenient place to stay as he tried to remove himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts. It was his second solo album, the first being Can I Have My Money Back? released in 1971.
The album and song were about life on the road in all its glory and squalor. To emphasize this notion even further, Jackson Browne literally recorded the album on the road, in hotel rooms, on buses, and, in the case of “Running On Empty,” on stage.
Dave posted this on November 16 in his Turntable Talk series. Dave wanted to know… So, talk about the Stones. Do they matter? Or what was their best song, or album? Or should they just disappear like 1960s cigarette ads featuring doctors?
I’ll answer Dave’s questions near the end.
If I ever meet an alien and he/she/it wanted to know what rock and roll looked and sounded like…I would give them a picture of Keith Richards in 1972 and a copy of “Brown Sugar”.
I found out about The Rolling Stones by reading about The Beatles. That is the same way I found out about The Who, Bob Dylan, The Kinks, and other British bands.
While growing up and playing in bands, I played with a drummer who was a huge Stones fan. He turned me onto their album cuts which I love. We had playful banter about the Beatles vs Stones, but it was all very good-natured. He liked The Beatles as well and I turned him on to their album cuts.
Are the Stones relevant today? Sure, they are… you can’t stay together since the early sixties selling out stadiums without being relevant. In today’s time though, no bands are relevant anymore in the way they were at one time, including the Stones. Musicians once influenced what was going on in the world. Now they are more of a disposable product – which I truly hate.
The Stones’ peak probably was 1968 – 1973 from Beggars Banquet to Goats Head Soup but there is another period I would like to talk about briefly.
To me, their most underrated period was 1965-1967. They had a string of singles starting with “Satisfaction”, “Get Off My Cloud”, “As Tears Go By”, “19th Nervous Breakdown”, “Paint It Black”, “Ruby Tuesday”, etc.
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger would write these wonderful songs and Brian Jones would color the songs with sitar, harpsichord, flute, marimba, and even saxophone. He was the best musician of the band along with being its founder. When they lost Brian, they lost a key piece. Yes, they found the rock/blues groove which they still have but I liked that underappreciated era and what Brian gave them.
They started as a blues cover band and didn’t worry about writing their own songs. They realized they had to because other bands such as The Beatles, Kinks, and The Who were writing their own songs, and you couldn’t keep on covering blues artists or Chuck Berry and sustain that.
They contributed some great pop songs in the mid-sixties. These songs are sometimes overlooked (except “Satisfaction”) in favor of their late-sixties and early-seventies material. I like these songs because they give a variety of sounds. As much as I love the Mick Taylor period, they lost this part of them and never really went back and it’s a shame.
I wasn’t sure they would continue when I read that Charlie Watts died. Keith always says how important Watts was to the Rolling Stones. If they wouldn’t have had a tour planned who knows if they would have. Watts was indeed important to their sound, but they did continue and I’m glad they did, especially for the fans.
Now I want to answer Dave’s questions. Should they retire? No, why should they do that? Many people say that, but hell no (I also hear this about other artists). If they are happy doing what they are doing, then go ahead. I seriously doubt if they are doing it because of the money at this point. Just like everything else if people don’t want to see them…don’t go to the concerts. I don’t believe people should decide what is good for other people. If I don’t want to hear the Stones, I will turn them off, but I have no plans to do that. To answer Dave’s question… my favorite (to me the best) album is Beggars Banquet. My favorite song is “Memory Motel”.
If I had to describe the Stones, I would describe them as The World’s Greatest Bar Band. That is not a put down…that is a compliment. I think Mr. Richards would approve of that title because I’ve heard him use it. Both times I’ve seen them I heard bum notes and that made them more human to me and made me like them more. If you want your music perfect, they are not for you…but rock and roll wasn’t made to be perfect.
I thought it was time to include some arena rock since I haven’t posted any for a long time. The band will always be connected to the Cowbell because of Saturday Night Live…but this is a fun song. It helps that I’m a huge fan of Godzilla.
This song was obviously inspired by a series of Japanese films from the 1950s featuring the one and only Godzilla. The song lyrics depict famous scenes from Godzilla films. The band didn’t understand why the 2014 movie didn’t use the song but…in Godzilla The King of The Monsters…it was used but it was a remake…not the original version…they should have used the BOC version.
The song appeared on the album Spectres. The album peaked at #43 on the Billboard Album Charts, #58 in Canada, and #60 in the UK in 1977. The song didn’t chart and wasn’t a hit but lives on and on….on classic radio.
The band’s guitarist, Buck Dharma, wrote this song and shared lead vocals on the track with Eric Bloom. Dharma loved monster movies, and when he came up with the guitar riff, it made him think of Godzilla, which gave him the concept of the song.
In concert at one time, a smoke-spewing animatronic Godzilla with flashing eyes would appear on stage when the band performed this song. Buck Dharma would give it a convincing introduction, often referring to recent newsworthy catastrophes. In later years, the stage Godzilla was retired, but the band still used a barrage of sound effects to start the song
According to the bookContents Under Pressure: 30 Years Of Rush, while opening on tour with Blue Öyster Cult, Rush members replaced a sound recording that queued up with a video of Godzilla at the opening of the set with a recording of “Hello, My name is Mister Ed.” The two bands often played pranks on one another during the tour.
The tune has been used in the soundtracks of numerous other movies, such as “Detroit Rock City,” “Dogtown” and “Z-Boys,” as well as in television shows, commercials, video games, and compilation recordings. It has been covered by bands like Racer X and the Smashing Pumpkins. It also has been parodied by several artists, most notably Blue Oyster Cult members Eric Bloom and Donald Roeser, who released “NoZilla” in response to their song not appearing in the 1998 “Godzilla” film soundtrack.
Buck Dharma: “The story of the tune was, I just came up with the parallel fifths guitar riff in a hotel room in Dallas, Texas back in the day, probably about 1975. And it immediately made me think of Godzilla, like the plodding, you know, guy-in-a-suit monster. And I started writing the lyrics from what happened in the movie. Like, the high-tension wires are a big part of that movie.”
The NEW version
Godzilla
With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high-tension wires down
Helpless people on subway trains
Scream, bug-eyed, as he looks in on them
He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town
Oh, no, they say he’s got to go
Go, go, Godzilla (yeah)
Oh, no, there goes Tokyo
Go, go, Godzilla (yeah)
Oh, no, they say he’s got to go
Go, go, Godzilla (yeah)
Oh, no, there goes Tokyo
Go, go, Godzilla (yeah)
This song is one of the best pop singles of the 1970s. It was on the album City To City. This was Rafferty’s first release after the breakup of his former band Stealer’s Wheel. Rafferty had been unable to release any material due to disputes about the band’s remaining contractual recording obligations, and his friend’s Baker Street flat was a convenient place to stay as he tried to remove himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts. It was his second solo album, the first being Can I Have My Money Back? released in 1971.
Rafferty’s daughter Martha later said that the book The Outsider by Colin Wilson also heavily inspired the song. Rafferty was reading the book, which explores ideas of alienation and creativity while traveling between the two cities.
The first thing you notice about the song is the sax solo. Raphael Ravenscroft played the solo. Rafferty wrote the song with an instrumental break but didn’t have a specific instrument in mind. The producer, Hugh Murphy, suggested a saxophone, so they brought in Ravenscroft to play it. He was only paid £27 for his sax contribution. One urban legend about this is that the check bounced. Ravenscroft has confirmed that it didn’t bounce.
The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #4 in New Zealand in 1978. It won the 1979 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. The album City to City peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #6 in New Zealand, and #6 in the UK.
In 2011, Ravenscroft said that he thought the solo was out of tune. He admitted he was “gutted” when he heard it played back. Apparently, he had not been able to re-record the take, as he was not involved when the song was mixed.
Raphael Ravenscroft: I’m irritated because it’s out of tune; yeah it’s flat; by enough of a degree that it irritates me at best.
Gerry Rafferty: Everybody was suing each other, so I spent a lot of time on the overnight train from Glasgow to London for meetings with lawyers. I knew a guy who lived in a little flat off Baker Street. We’d sit and chat or play guitar there through the night.
Studio Guitarist Jake Burns: I went to the studio after I played the gig and I think one of the first songs we played was Baker Street, and I said, ‘This is fantastic. This is a great song, quite frankly, I loved his songs. I regard it as a great good fortune that I was able to meet and contribute something to Gerry’s music.
Baker Street
Winding your way down on Baker Street Light in your head and dead on your feet Well, another crazy day You’ll drink the night away And forget about everything
This city desert makes you feel so cold It’s got so many people, but it’s got no soul And it’s taken you so long To find out you were wrong When you thought it held everything
You used to think that it was so easy You used to say that it was so easy But you’re trying, you’re trying now
Another year and then you’d be happy Just one more year and then you’d be happy But you’re crying, you’re crying now
Way down the street there’s a light in his place He opens the door, he’s got that look on his face And he asks you where you’ve been You tell him who you’ve seen And you talk about anything
He’s got this dream about buying some land He’s gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands And then he’ll settle down In some quiet little town And forget about everything
But you know he’ll always keep moving You know he’s never gonna stop moving ‘Cause he’s rolling, he’s the rolling stone And when you wake up, it’s a new morning The sun is shining, it’s a new morning And you’re going, you’re going home
This song is on the album Tommy about the deaf, dumb, and blind kid. This is not a Christmas song you will hear on the radio at this time of year…it’s just part of the story of Tommy. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album along with Sally Simpson.
Tommy’s father has concerns about his son on Christmas morning. Tommy is deaf, dumb, and blind, and doesn’t appear to have much of a future, but that Christmas, he gets a game of pinball and his life changes when he becomes the Pinball Wizard. This was written by Pete Townshend and it fits perfectly on that album.
It’s the backup vocals that always catch my attention. Also the drums by Mr. Moon plus Townshend’s slashing guitar. They also go into the refrain of “Tommy Can You Hear Me” and “See Me Feel Me.” The song is powerful and also very catchy. I always listen to it around Christmas.
I don’t think any band in rock could have touched them during this time live. On the tour of Tommy is where Live At Leeds came from and it is the tightest I’ve heard a rock band.
Tommy peaked at #2 in the UK, #4 on the Billboard 100, and #6 in Canada in 1969.
Christmas
Did you ever see the faces of children
They get so excited.
Waking up on Christmas morning
Hours before the winter sun’s ignited.
They believe in dreams and all they mean
Including heavens generosity.
Peeping round the door
to see what parcels are for free
In curiosity.
And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is.
Doesn’t know who Jesus was or what praying is.
How can he be saved?
From the eternal grave.
Surrounded by his friends he sits so silently,
And unaware of everything.
Playing poxy pin ball
picks his nose and smiles and
Pokes his tongue at everything.
I believe in love
but how can men who’ve never seen
Light be enlightened.
Only if he’s cured
will his spirits future level ever heighten.
And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is.
Doesn’t know who Jesus was or what praying is.
How can he be saved?
>From the eternal grave.
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
How can he be saved?
[Tommy:]
See me, feel me
Touch me, heal me.
See me, feel me
Touch me, heal me!
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
Tommy can you hear me?
How can he be saved?
Last weekend I posted Muddy Waters and found this band looking for High John de Conqueror… an African-American folk hero who is name-checked in some blues songs. I played this song and when he started to sing…I knew I liked them. “Johnny Conqueroo” is this band’s name.
Their first EP was released in 2015, with a full-length album right after titled “Washed Up” in 2016. The album consists of 10 songs that travel through a variety of sounds that are both catchy and organic. The lead singer’s name is Grant Curless and what a rock voice he has. Shawn Reynolds plays bass and Wils Quinn plays the drums.
At first, Johnny Conqueroo played at private parties and house concerts. But by their second year as a band, they began to play in clubs and other venues. In recent years, they have branched out to perform in places like Chicago, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Ohio, Alabama, and the Tri-State. “Rock and Roll” is the second single from Johnny Conqueroo’s EP, “Taking it Easy.” I like this one a lot…it has a Kink’s like guitar riff and a terrific rock and roll voice.
Johnny Conqueroo is based out of Lexington Kentucky. He has a garage band type of sound. They were influenced by The Stooges, The Vines, and The Detroit Cobras. He is signed to Soul Step Records. According to Soul Step Records…this song was released in 2019. I’ve listened to his other songs…if you are a rock fan…you will like them. I’m excited to hear about this new band…or newer band who plays gritty rock and roll.
Grant Curless: “Some kid played a guitar recital at my school and that was when I decided that was where I needed to be, I started taking lessons at a guitar shop here in Lexington for a little bit and I was hooked. As we progressed, it was just Wils and me for a while, trying to feel out what we wanted to do musically and where we wanted to go. Later on we brought in Shawn, who didn’t play a lick of bass at the time. But we slowly showed him what to do and where to put his fingers and eventually it all worked out and we grew with each other. We have stayed together for these five years because of good friendships and it works because of dedication. We decided that we would meet every Saturday to practice and to not let it get away from us. Plus, it is fun, so it is hard for us not to do it.”
I was more of an album guy while younger but I did collect singles too. Do you know one thing I miss about vinyl singles? The B-sides that I always liked discovering. My cousin Janene was a teenager when I was 7 years old. She let me have some of her singles from the sixties and the Monkees’ debut album.
She gave me Light My Fire and I loved it. I then turned it over one day and found this song. It was one of the oddest things I’d ever heard as a 7-year-old. I was in a trance listening to it and kept thinking of a glass ship in a blue sea. It wasn’t as good as Light My Fire but I liked this strange piece of music.
The song was on their debut self-titled album released in 1967. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100 and #15 in Canada. Morrison dipped into his notebook of words to get this one. He wrote it after splitting up with his girlfriend, Mary Werbelow.
Werbelow followed him from Florida to Los Angeles. Doors drummer John Densmore confirmed that Crystal Ship is about Mary. The song was a goodbye to her. Werbelow and Morrison broke up in 1965 but saw each other off and on until she moved to India in 1969. He reportedly told her that the first four Doors albums were about her…Manzarek has said that parts of them were.
Mary Werbelow is a mystery to many. People still want to know if she is still alive. She gave a short interview in 2005 but has not been heard from since. She said in that interview that she never wants to talk about Jim again. Mary says she is tired. She has trouble sleeping. She says she’s not sure if she has done right by talking so much. She’s worried that others will seek interviews that she does not want to give. She wants that made clear: She does not want to talk about Jim anymore.
The Crystal Ship
Before you slip into unconsciousness
I’d like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss
The days are bright and filled with pain
Enclose me in your gentle rain
The time you ran was too insane
We’ll meet again, we’ll meet again
Oh tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You’d rather cry, I’d rather fly
The crystal ship is being filled
A thousand girls, a thousand thrills
A million ways to spend your time
When we get back, I’ll drop a line
The devil’s on sugar smacks Down at the Radio Shack Turning shit into solid gold Solid gold
CB sent me this link…Good sounds different and I really liked his songs. Some of the lyrics won me over to this one.
Matthew Good is an alternative musician from Burnaby…a city in British Columbia, Canada. He started with music in high school. He wrote lyrics for a folk band. He taught himself how to play guitar at 20 years old and started to play and sing with the Rodchester Kings.
In 1995 he formed The Matthew Good Band which lasted from 1995 to 2001. They released 3 EPs and 7 albums including Beautiful Midnight which peaked at #1 in Canada. This song was on that album and Hello Time Bomb peaked at #26 in Canada, #3 on the Canadian alternative charts, and #34 on Billboard’s Alternative Charts in 1999.
After the band broke up he went on to become a solo act. He has released 9 studio albums and 6 of them were in the top 10, 2 were in the top 20, and the last one during 2020 was at #49 in Canada.
Good had troubles throughout his life with medical things. One doctor said he had an ulcer and others said other things. In the mid-2000’s he was diagnosed with Bipolar and things got better for him after that. “I was so relieved to finally know what was wrong with me, and have the chance to deal with the impact a diagnosis would have on my life, before being on medications, my life went from a negative 10 to a plus 10. On medication, it’s a negative three to a plus three. I had to learn to accept that.” He gives tips for people with BiPolar disorder to manage it.
Good has been nominated for 21 Juno Awards and has won four: 2011 Rock Album of the Year for Vancouver, 2002 Video of the Year for Weapon, 2000 Best Rock Album of the Year for Beautiful Midnight, and Best Group of the Year.
Matthew Good has maintained a lukewarm relationship with the music industry and the media, often avoiding the spotlight and avoiding interviews and awards shows (he has not accepted any of his Juno awards in person). In addition to his music projects, he has become a well-known writer and blogger on politics and culture; his book, At Last There is Nothing Left to Say, was published in 2001.
Hello Time Bomb
I found me a reason
So check me tomorrow
We’ll see if I’m leaking
Push and push and push ’till it hurts
The Devil’s on roller-skates
The Devil’s on roller-skates
Down at the roller rink
Picking up chicks for me
Ones that push and push and push ’till it hurts
Push and push ’till it hurts
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Life’s for the living
So check me tomorrow
We’ll see if I’m kidding
Push and push and push ’till it hurts
Did it on Ritalin
I got me some good grades
Now I work me the night shift, where I
Pull and pull and pull ’till it hurts
Pull and pull ’till it hurts
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Hello, time bomb, I’m ready to go off
Hello, time bomb, I’m ready to go off
Hahahaha
If life’s for the livid
Check me tomorrow
We’ll see if I’m emperor
The devil’s on sugar smacks
Down at the Radio Shack
Turning shit into solid gold
Solid gold
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Hello, time bomb, I’m ready to go off
Hello, time bomb, I’m ready to go
Ready to go off
When I was a senior in High School…1985… for some unknown reason I really got into surf music at the beginning of the year. I listened to Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys, Dick Dale, Link Wray, and The Ventures. I loved those songs then and now. Plus the bass and drums in these songs are crazy good.
Surf music is about fun… The Beach Boys expanded surf music and then left it for a while with Pet Sounds. By that time Surf purists didn’t like it. They wanted the old formula songs… I wasn’t a purist…I like them all.
This song peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 and #39 in Canada. The song was written by Brian Wilson, Jan Berry, Artie Kornfeld, and Roger Christian. The song is about a real stretch of road in Los Angeles. It is on Sunset Boulevard near the UCLA campus.
Jan and Dean were William Jan Berry, and Dean Ormsby Torrence, who formed in Los Angeles and 1958. They helped to shape the California Sound and vocal surf music. Jan and Dean had over 20 charting songs and going strong until Jan Berry was in a horrendous car crash that left him permanently brain-damaged and severely handicapped for the rest of his life in 1966.
After numerous brain operations, Jan spent six weeks in a coma and awoke severely brain damaged, unable to speak, and completely paralyzed on his right side. He fought back and was able…although tremendously handicapped to return to the recording studio the next year (1967) to work on material for an unreleased Jan & Dean project that was not to be released until 2010 called Carnival of Sound. He still could not sing well enough to perform.
Jan kept working at it and finally, he was able to sing again in the early seventies again. He didn’t do any live performances until the late 70s with Dean. At first, Jan lipsynced but he was able to sing after a while.
Dean would go on to be a graphic artist and make album covers for Harry Nilsson, Steve Martin, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dennis Wilson, Bruce Johnston, the Beach Boys, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Linda Ronstadt, Canned Heat and more.
Jan and Dean performed again in 1976…10 years after the accident. Jan and Dean continued to tour through the 80’s to the 2000’s. Jan passed away in 2004.
Here is a long quote from one of the songwriters…Artie Kornfeld: One day,Brian and I were chilling and trying out this tiny Honda that the company had sent him as a thank you for writing the Hondells “Little Honda.” (the song was not yet released, but Wilson had already written it for a Honda commercial) We were cruisin’ about three miles from his ex-wife, Marilyn’s mom’s house. Brian, as he was known to do, was pushing two hundred pounds way over what a 60 cc Honda could handle. I said Bry you should slow down, as in Santa Monica there is a lot of sand on the streets. We went over and the bike and were torn apart. We carried half a Honda each three miles, bleeding like crazy, to an open door in an empty house. We noticed a piece of blank paper on the piano and Bry sat down and I pulled up a chair and, I guess because of recent events I wrote down the words, “Dead Mans Curve.”
Brian started a two four piano rhythm but I don’t have any idea for the lyric… except I always envied Jan’s Corvette, sang to Brian’s chords” I was crusin’ in my Sting Ray late one night and an XKE pulled upon the right…” Bran repeated what I wrote down with the melody and I almost finished the lyric in about 30 minutes with me writing the words, some with Brian, as being a New Yorker after I put us on Sunset Blvd. I had no idea what landmarks we would pass to that curve after Doheny where it turns right and heads into Beverly Hills.
We were laughing and Brian said, lets hear what we have, laughing at the whole trip and tripping on our wipeout still. I jumped up and said Brian stop, “I think we need an accident here.” He responded, “You are nuts Artie,” but stopped and hit a chord, for some reason at that moment I thought of Robert Frost Poem about two roads in the woods and went metaphoric putting in an accident.
In my mind symbolic with the point we make those decisions that may change or end our lives. I wrote something like it says on the record and Brian Started a Kick Ass chorus. In walks the ever great loving talented Jan Berry who with Bry and a little me worked out the complete song. As Jan tightened up the song for a Jan and Dean Record, he was already hearing a finished product. Jan sat down at a table, hardly touched the piano, except to find the changes and as only Jan with Brian there could do…wrote out the entire arrangement, that as I remember, and was not a note off when we went in with it to play for Lou Adler. It just seems like moments but it was really days later when we went in and recorded it. The reason we had to put DJ Roger Christians name on the song, Lou Adler would know more than I.
The musicians on the date included Glen Campbell, then a tough T-shirted ass kicker on guitar, and Leon Russell (wearing a suit). Then there was Earl Palmer and Hal Blaine, the only drummers you could put together, and it came out great. Of course being about 19 or 20 I could not help but notice Lou’s Fiancée Shelly Faberes, in a very tight sweater. Dean did not show. I did stand behind Bry to get a falsetto sound that was a little different.
When the record came out it was the B-side to “New Girl in School.” I guess I did my first promotion as for reasons so few know I reversed the Charts and “New Girl in School” stopped shooting up the charts and “DEAD MANS CURVE” RULED! Brian, Jan and I all lived “Dead Mans Curve” in our separate lives.
Dead Man’s Curve
I was cruisin’ in my Stingray late one night
When an XKE pulled up on the right
He rolled down the window of his shiny new Jag
And challenged me then and there to a drag
I said “You’re on buddy, my mill’s running fine
Let’s come off the line now at Sunset and Vine
But I’ll go you one better, if you’ve got the nerve
Let’s race all the way to Dead Man’s Curve”
(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve) you’d best keep away
(Dead Man’s Curve) I can hear ’em say
Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve
The street was deserted late Friday night
We were buggin’ each other while we sat out the light
We both popped the clutch when the light turned green
You should’ve heard the whine from my screamin’ machine
I flew past La Brea, Schwab’s and Crescent Heights
And all the Jag could see were my six tail lights
He passed me at Doheny then I started to swerve
But I pulled her out and there we were at Dead Man’s Curve
(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
Dead Man’s Curve
“Well, the last thing I remember, Doc
I started to swerve
And then I saw the Jag slide into the curve
I know I’ll never forget that horrible sight
I guess I found out for myself that everyone was right”
Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve
(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve) you’d best keep away
(Dead Man’s Curve) I can hear ’em say
Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve
(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve) you’d best keep away
(Dead Man’s Curve) I can hear ’em say
Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve
(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve) you’d best keep away
(Dead Man’s Curve) I can hear ’em say
Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve
(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve) you’d best keep away
(Dead Man’s Curve) I can hear ’em say
Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve
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