Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.
The reason I came across this artist is that my son (Bailey) worked on this video of him. It’s a good pop/rock song and I thought I would pass it along. It’s a good song…give it a chance. Bailey worked as the DoP and Colorist.
This is from Spotify:
Raised in Minneapolis, 20 year old Cort Dingman combines elements of jazz, psychedelia, funk, alternative, blues, and more, into an indie rock sound. Filled with colorful licks, soulful chords, and an improvisational structure, Cort’s songs offer a unique sound that is likely to please your ears.
His cherished relationship with music began when he was 10, when he first picked up the saxophone. He then took a year of piano lessons, and began teaching himself. Not long after, Cort picked up drums, bass, uke, and finally guitar at the age of 16. He began making his own music in the form of Lofi-Jazz around this time, but after branching out in genre, he felt the need to pick the pace of his music up a bit.
One thing that makes Cort stand out is his connection of color to music. Since he began playing, he corresponded colors to each note, due to a condition known as color synesthesia. Cort feels his distinctiveness and use of experimentation is most visible is his most recent work, in the form of upcoming album, “Tinted Vibrations”. This is his most authentic and meaningful project, inspired by vast changes made in his life during this time, struggles he’s come across in his relationships, and an eye-opening realization of what life means to him versus the contemplated triviality of life and the universe itself.
Cort is now based in Nashville, TN, where he continues striving and working toward his dream of making music something he can make the most of in this life.
Video details: Director – Sean Wenning DoP and Colorist – Bailey Gower Editor – Jacob Brawley Assistant Editor – Molly Pemelton
Plant Girl
I saw her alone sitting next to me
The words all seem so pointless but we’ve got nowhere to be
Her eyes were shining bright but were
Afraid to see the light
She keeps me on my toes but I don’t
Know where this’ll go ‘cos
I can’t see through my own eyes
I’d like to think that this is right
And you are everything I’d need but
I’m scared of my own head, and what it makes me think
Your lips shift time, passing by
I don’t wonder why
The plants in her room speak to me as we
Hold each other close
She asks me what I’m thinking and I’ll say that
I don’t know, ‘cos
My mind’s moving way to fast
I try to tell you what I can
And you don’t see what I see
You’re perfect and I’ll always try to
Be just what you need
This was originally one of those B-side songs that became popular after disc jockeys turned the single over. The initial A-side was a song called Harlem. Withers has stated that the track was inspired by the 1962 movie Days of Wine and Roses… more specifically the characters played by Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon. “They were both alcoholics who were alternately weak and strong. It’s like going back for seconds on rat poison. Sometimes you miss things that weren’t particularly good for you. It’s just something that crossed my mind from watching that movie, and probably something else that happened in my life that I’m not aware of.”
This song brings out the best of the early seventies. The band is Withers with the guitar and vocal, Booker T. Jones on keyboards, Stephen Stills on guitar, Jim Keltner on drums, and Bobbye Hall on percussion…that’s a great lineup.
This was Withers’ first hit. After spending nine years in the US Navy, he had a job at a factory making parts for airplanes when he was introduced to Booker T. Jones from Booker T. & the MG’s. In 1970 he signed with the Hollywood independent Sussex Records and set about recording his first album.
Booker T was an elite session musician with Stax Records, where Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and many other soul legends recorded. He brought in some other top-notch musicians, including Stephen Stills on lead guitar, and produced this album for Withers, who was 32 when it was recorded. The “I know” parts were just filler until he wrote proper words but Booker T told him to leave that in there so Withers did. Booker T had seen Otis Redding doing the same thing with Dock Of The Bay by whistling. Redding didn’t have a chance to add any words because he would die in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.
Sax player Grover Washington became the first person to cover one of Withers’ songs when he did an instrumental version shortly after Withers released this. Later on, Washington and Withers teamed up to record Just The Two Of Us in 1981.
The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100 and #9 in Canada in 1971.
I ran across a metal band that covered this song. Black Label Society did this song in 2013 and made an unusual video for the song featuring anthropomorphic horses. Guitarist Zakk Wylde said that he got a kick out of reading the negative comments about the video from people who didn’t get the joke. Band members John DeServio and Zakk Wylde decided to cover it after seeing a 1974 episode of the TV show The Midnight Special, where Withers performed the song. They do a good version of it.
Bill Withers: It was an interesting thing because I’ve got all these guys that were already established, and I was working in the factory at the time. Graham Nash was sitting right in front of me, just offering his support. Stephen Stills was playing and there was Booker T. and Al Jackson and Donald Dunn – all of the MGs except Steve Cropper. They were all these people with all this experience and all these reputations, and I was this factory worker just sort of puttering around. So when their general feeling was, ‘Leave it like that,’ I left it like that.”
Graham Nash:“I was in the studio where we cut the first CSN record – it’s on the corner of Selma and Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles, I was taking a break, probably smoking a joint outside, and I heard this music coming from one of the other studios. I was curious, and I walked in. And there was this African American with a guitar, sitting on a chair, with his foot on a box. That was the rhythm he was creating.
He finished the song, and I said, ‘Who are you, man? That’s a fantastic song! What’s going on in your life?’ And he says, ‘Well, I’m kind of giving up. I can’t seem to break through. Nobody seems interested. Maybe I’ll just give up.’ And I said, ‘Wait a second. I don’t know who the f–k you are, but you cannot give up. What you have is an incredible gift. You should recognize that and get on with it.’ And he loved that.”
Ain’t No Sunshine
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
It’s not warm when she’s away
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And she’s always gone too long
Anytime she goes away
Wonder this time where she’s gone
Wonder if she’s gone to stay
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away
And I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know,
Hey, I oughtta leave young thing alone
But ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
Only darkness every day
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
When I was growing up this was a must-watch in October. It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was first released in October 1966.
Charlie Brown is invited to Violet’s Halloween party. Before the party, the Peanuts gang plan to go trick or treating, with Snoopy, who is dressed as the WWI flying ace, taking his Halloween disguise to an extreme. The one person who won’t be joining them for the trick or treating or the party is Linus, who will be waiting in his local pumpkin patch for the arrival of the Great Pumpkin to give toys and candy to all the girls and boys.
This year he talked Sally, Charlie Brown’s sister, into coming with him while the others went out. Linus and Sally stays at the pumpkin patch all night until Lucy gets up in the middle of the night to take Linus back home. The next day, Charlie Brown and Linus about the night’s events. Charlie Brown assures Linus that he’s done his share of stupid things too. This upsets Linus, who vows that the Great Pumpkin will appear next year.
It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown was adapted from Schulz’s newspaper strip, which he had conceived as a metaphor for some of the hope and disappointment associated with Santa Clause. Schulz didn’t like the idea of kids getting their hopes up about a lot of presents when many families could only afford one or two gifts for the holidays. “The Great Pumpkin is really kind of a satire on Santa Claus, when he doesn’t come, Linus is crushed.”
Growing up, there was no other cartoon I looked forward to more than The Peanuts. Every holiday I was there watching the gang. I would also read the Sunday paper to see the Peanuts strip.
Everything from Linus telling us the true meaning of Christmas, Sally and Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Lucy pulling that football from Charlie Brown, Snoopy being WWI flying ace, Lucy being a Psychiatrist, and Charlie Brown getting that sad-looking Christmas tree…we got to peek into that kids only world and listen to the wisdom that was going on while Linus and Charlie Brown discussed life.
The Peanuts taught us about life. We lose more than we win therefore everyone is Charlie Brown to an extent. Every person has failed at a big moment or many of the small ones. We felt for Charlie Brown because we could relate.
Happy Halloween everyone! This song was released in 1986 but the song would have fit well with his seventies output. I heard the song a lot in my area at the time.
The song was on the album Constrictor released in 1986. The song peaked at #80 in the UK. The song was written by Alice Cooper and Kane Roberts.
Alice Cooper’s real name is Vincent Furnier. Alice Cooper was the name of the band, but the name became so associated with the lead singer that he took it.
The band did a good job spreading the rumor that “Alice Cooper” was the name of a girl who was accused of being a witch in the 1600s, saying she contacted them through an Ouija board. Furnier later explained that he made it up when he was thinking of a sweet, innocent-sounding name that would contrast against their shocking stage show.
Cooper ran for President in 2016 with the slogan “A Troubled Man For Troubled Times” which I loved.
His “platform” were these talking points
Getting Brian Johnson back in AC/DC
A snake in every pot
No more pencils, no more books
Adding Lemmy to Mt Rushmore
Rename Big Ben “Big Lemmy”
Groucho Marx on the $50 bill
Peter Sellers on the £20 note
Cupholders required for every airplane seat
Ban on talking during movies in movie theatres
Ban on taking selfies, except on a designated National Selfie Day
Cooper is a big family man which contradicts his reputation. Cooper is a born-again Christian and believes in the devil enough to have genuine supernatural fear. He’s never taken a satanist stance and warns other bands against it. When he was a kid, his family was poor and there were very few presents. Now, Cooper goes crazy on Christmas, buying lots of gifts for his family.
Alice Cooper:“When I moved to L.A. with this little wimpy garage band, the first people we met were the Doors. Then we met Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin. All of the people who died of excess were our big brothers and sisters. So I said to myself: How do you become a legend and enjoy it? The answer is to create a character as legendary as those guys and leave that character on the stage.”
Teenaged Frankenstein
I’m the kid on the block With my head made of rock And I ain’t got nobody I’m the state of the art Got a brain a la carte I make the babies cry
I ain’t one of the crowd I ain’t one of the guys They just avoid me They run and they hide Are my colors too bright Are my eyes set too wide? I spent my whole life Burning, turning
I’m a teenage Frankenstein The local freak with the twisted mind I’m a teenage Frankenstein These ain’t my hands And these legs ain’t mine
Got a synthetic face Got some scars and a brace My hands are rough and bloody I walk into the night Women faint at the sight I ain’t no cutie-pie
I can’t walk in the day I must walk in the night Stay in the shadows Stay out of the light Are my shoulders too wide Is my head screwed on tight? I spent my whole life burning Burning, turning
I’m a teenage Frankenstein The local freak with the twisted mind I’m a teenage Frankenstein These ain’t my hands And these legs ain’t mine
I wrote this for Dave’s Turntable Talk at A Sound Day. Be on the lookout for that series at A Sound Day. He has some interesting topics. This one was on One Hit Wonders.
This song has a mixture of The Who, Beach Boys, and The Beatles… a pretty good mixture! I’m cheating a bit…The Raspberries had 4 top 40 hits but this was the only top ten hit and the song they are most known for. The song starts off with a strong Who-like loud riff then continues on with hooks galore.
When people think of The Raspberries this is the song most think of. Personally, I always thought Overnight Sensation was their best song but this one is great and the masses agreed.
The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100 and #5 in Canada in 1972. This song was on their self-titled debut album released in 1972. The American and Australian versions of this LP carried a scratch-and-sniff sticker with a strong raspberry scent.
They were one of the 3 great power pop bands of the early 70s. Badfinger, Big Star, and The Raspberries. Out of those three, Badfinger was the most successful but all were good. Many alternative bands that followed would list all three or at least one of them as an influence. The Raspberries released 4 albums in total between 1972 and 1975. They broke up after their last album Starting Over (#143) and the great single Overnight Sensation only charted at #18. After you listen to Go All The Way…check out Overnight Sensation…it’s an epic song.
I moved to a different town when I was 8 and in a new school (we would move back later that year) we went on a field trip to some college. Thinking back, it was a small college and the students there put on a small show for us kids. After the show, they showed us the grounds and I remember Go All The Way booming out of a room. It’s funny how music can send you back to a place and I can remember the smell also.
Eric Carmen said he was inspired by The Rolling Stone’s performance of “Let’s Spend The Night Together” on the Ed Sullivan Show when Mick Jagger had to sing it as “Let’s spend some time together.”
This was before Eric Carmen went solo and started doing ballads and songs on soundtracks such as Dirty Dancing. Carmen hit it big solo but personally, I think his music with the Raspberries was the best he did.
This song appears in the 2000 film Almost Famous but was not included on the soundtrack. It did make the soundtrack to the 2014 film Guardians Of The Galaxy, which went to #1 in America and revived many ’70s hits. My son got the soundtrack mostly for this song.
Fans of the band included John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen. They did reunite in November of 2004 and toured shortly until 2006.
Eric Carmen:“I knew then that I wanted to write a song with an explicitly sexual lyric that the kids would instantly get but the powers that be couldn’t pin me down for.”
Eric Carmen: “I remember ‘Go All The Way’ vividly. The year was 1971. I was 21. I had been studying for years. I had spent my youth with my head between two stereo speakers listening to The Byrds and The Beatles and later on The Beach Boys – just trying to figure out what combinations of things – whether it was the fourths harmonies that The Byrds were singing on ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ – I must have worn out 10 copies of that first Byrds album listening to it over and over, and turning off the left side and turning on the right side trying to figure out why these certain combinations of instruments and echo and harmonies made that hair on your arms stand up. I did the same thing with Beatles records, and I tried to learn construction.
Go All The Way
I never knew how complete love could be ‘Til she kissed me and said
Baby, please, go all the way It feels so right (feels so right) Being with you here tonight Please, go all the way Just hold me close (hold me close) Don’t ever let me go
I couldn’t say what I wanted to say ‘Til she whispered, I love you
So please, go all the way It feels so right (feels so right) Being with you here tonight Please, go all the way Just hold me close (hold me close) Don’t ever let me go
Before her love I was cruel and mean I had a hole in the place Where my heart should have been
But now I’ve changed And it feels so strange I come alive when she does All those things to me
And she says (Come on) Come on (Come on) Come on (Come on) Come on (Come on) I need ya (come on) I love ya (come on) I need ya (come on) Oh, oh, baby
Please, go all the way It feels so right (feels so right) Being with you here tonight Please, go all the way Just hold me close (hold me close) Don’t ever let me go no
The Animals were so raw sounding and that had a lot to do with Eric Burdon singing. his voice conveyed emotion with the best of them. They excelled in grit and this song is no different. I like the interplay between the guitar and organ a minute or so into the studio version.
The song wasn’t a giant hit but it did have a great sound. It showed that the Stones and The Who had nothing on the Animals as far as a dark gritty sound. After 1966 the band would break up except for Eric Burdon. He would recruit more musicians and continue on as the Animals (sometimes Eric Burdon and The Animals) with a harder edge until 1968. He would then go and join WAR who would go on to produce Spill The Wine together.
In 1966 The Animals changed labels to Decca and started writing their own material. This song was one of their most adventurous, with every bar in the same minor chord. The song peaked at #34 on the Billboard 100, #21 in Canada, and #12 in the UK in 1966. The songwriting is credited to John Lomax, Alan Lomax, Eric Burdon, and bass player Chas Chandler.
The song itself is loosely based on a song called Rosie which was an American Prison Work Song. In the 1920s and 30s prison camps had inmates who used to work for 12-15 hours a day chopping trees, cutting cane, and shoveling gravel. To help them pass the time and get through the day, they would make up songs.
Eric Burdon:“It’s the first number we’ve recorded without a tune. It originates from a Mississippi prison song, the kind of blues we’ve always wanted to do.”
Inside-Looking Out
Sittin’ here lonely like a broken man
Sell my time and do the best I can
I wasn’t boss this around in me
But I don’t want your sympathy, yeah
Oh baby, oh baby, I just need your tender lovin’
To keep me sane in this burnin’ oven
When my time is up, be my reaper
Like Adam’s work on God’s green earth
My reaper, my reaper baby, yeah me is my reaper, yeah
Ice cold waters runnin’ in my brain
And they drag me back to work again
Pains and blisters on my minds and my hands
From living daily with those canvas bags
Thoughts of freedom their drivin’ me wild
And I’ll by happy like a new born child
We’ll be together, girl, you wait and see
No more walls to keep your love from me
Yeah, can’t you feel my love
Baby, baby, need you, squeeze you,
Nobody but, nobody but, you girl, I love you, need you
All right
I said everything’s gonna be all right
And if you don’t believe what I say
Just listen baby and I’ll tell you
Can’t you feel my love
Can’t you see my skill
Can’t you yell my love
It’s getting louder
It’s getting louder
A little closer, yeah
I said baby, I need you, c’mon, squeeze, please
Lord, I love you, I need you, yeah
Yeah, right by my side
I need you here by my side
But I can’t help it baby
But I’ll be home soon
I’ll be home soon, yeah
All right
Whoa!!!
This is an almost impossible task. It is of course subjective. How do you compare Between the Buttons to Some Girls… Steel Wheels to Goats Head Soup? There was such a difference in eras…and in the Stones case decades apart.
When making these lists the question always comes to mind…do I make the list of my favorite albums or what I think artistically their best albums are in history. I’ve just gone with my personal favorite.
1: Beggars Banquet 1968 – This was the second Stones album I ever owned and with songs like Prodigal Son, Jigsaw Puzzle, and the filthy Stray Cat Blues it’s hard to resist. Their rock/blues peak started with this album into a stretch of 5 great albums in a row. The common dominator was producer Jimmy Miller in all 5. This album was the last one to feature Brian Jones.
Favorite song – Stray Cat Blues
2: Sticky Fingers 1971 – Is this the best Stones album artistically? I would have to say yes. There is not a weak track on this album. After reviewing it and comparing it to Exile on Main Street…I have to give it to Sticky Fingers as artistically the best Stones album…but it’s my second. They had a lot of competition that year with The Who Who’s Next and Led Zeppelin IV.
Favorite song – Dead Flowers
3: Let It Bleed 1969 – The first album with Mick Taylor. This was the second album into their gold stretch of 5 great albums. The Mick Taylor years are said by some to be their best albums. I do miss Brian Jones’s coloring of the musical pictures though. They were more flexible with Jones than anyone else but it’s hard to beat Mick Taylor’s fat guitar sound.
Favorite song – Monkey Man
4: Exile On Mainstreet 1972 – This was my favorite Stones album at one time. It was mostly recorded in the Nellcôte in France in a damp basement. It’s one of the greatest double albums ever. Not much I can say about this album that hasn’t already been said.
Favorite Song – tied… Happy and All Down The Line
5: Some Girls 1978 – What a filthy-sounding title track and I mean that in the best way. This album was great…personally, I think it’s their last great album…but the next one on the list is close.
Favorite Song – Before They Make Me Run
6: Tattoo You 1981 – Over the hill… Geritol-drinking old geezers…those are some of the comments I heard about the Stones while they were 39 and 40! This album was a hodgepodge of outtakes and older songs put together for an album. For me…this was their last brush with greatness. Not that some of the later albums weren’t good…they were but not at this level of good.
Favorite Song – Worried About You
7: Between The Buttons (American Version) 1967 – This was the first Stones album I owned. I had to add a Brian Jones-era album. This period gets overlooked too much. They were adventurous during this period and tried new things…I wish that would have carried over more later on instead of the blues/rock on and on….but they did touch a little funk and reggae later on.
Favorite song – Ruby Tuesday
8: Goats Head Soup 1973 – The new deluxe mix has moved this one up. It was a drop-off from Sticky Fingers and Exile on Mainstreet but they were hard to compete with.
Favorite song – 100 Years Ago
9: Black and Blue 1976- This was not known as a great album and it’s not. You would need a scorecard to see what guitar player they were auditioning on each track. It contains my all-time favorite Rolling Stones song…Memory Motel. They do mix it up with different styles with this one.
Favorite song – Memory Motel
10: It’s Only Rock and Roll 1974 – This was a drop from the previous 5 albums and the last album featuring Mick Taylor. It does contain some good songs like the title track, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, If You Can’t Rock Me, and others.
Favorite Song – If You Can’t Rock Me
Honorable Mention
Get Your Ya Ya’s Out 1970 – I didn’t include any live albums but if I did this one would be in there. I also liked Still Life but this one to me is their best by far.
Favorite Song – Jumping Jack Flash
Their Satanic Majesties Request 1967 – I know Stones fans who either hate this album or love it. I like it because they showed some more range in this one. They tried something different after Sgt Pepper was released and some of it works.
Favorite Song – She’s A Rainbow
Steel Wheels 1989 – My favorite album after Tattoo You would be Steel Wheels by far. It contained the songs Mixed Emotions and Rock in a Hard Place. I missed this tour and the last one with Bill Wyman playing bass.
Favorite Song – Sad, Sad, Sad
Below is Happy from the 1972 tour…for my money, they never sounded better. One big reason was Mick Taylor and his Les Paul. Also, I like hearing Keith sing lead and backup…no it’s not perfect but it’s the Stones…no professional backup singers, please.
The Kinks are a band that belongs up with The Beatles, Who, and Stones but sometimes gets overlooked. I’ve always been a fan of them since I had a greatest hits album at a young age that covered the early years. In 1981 I bought Give The People What They Want when it was released and I’ve been hooked ever since. I saw them in 1983 and it is still one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. I saw them at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville in an intimate setting.
I’ve always liked this song. The lyrics are a touching goodbye to someone or a situation. It’s up in my top 10 of the Kinks songs. I’ve read a critic who said The Kinks were “the most adamantly British of the Brit Invasion bands.” I think that is a fair statement.
Days was originally going to be an album track on the 1968 concept album Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. The reason for the change is because Their previous single “Wonderboy” failed in the charts and the record company rushed this song out as a single. It did the trick because it peaked at #12 in the UK and #11 in New Zealand.
At the time The Kinks were making these great albums but they couldn’t tour in the US because of a touring ban. It didn’t chart in America or Canada. They would not chart a song in America or Canada until 2 more years later with Lola.
After the failure of Wonderboy, Ray Davies wrote this song to say goodbye to his career. Davies:“I didn’t care anymore. So I thought, ‘Say goodbye nicely,’ and wrote ‘Days.'”
That wasn’t the only thing that was on his mind with this song though. His sister Rosie had just immigrated to Australia. Ray Davies: “She left and said, ‘Say goodbye, my loving brother,’ and I said, ‘Thank you for being my sister, so the song’s for her, really, and her generation.”
The song peaked at #12 in the UK but failed to chart in the US.
Ray Davies: “I started writing it in a hotel on tour. Strangely enough, it was the rhythm I wanted to get first, the sustained chords. The actual tune came later. And then I wrote some of it in a phone box while I was phoning somebody I shouldn’t be phoning. The song wasn’t about the person on the other end of the line. Well, not really. But I suppose it’s the ultimate kiss-off, isn’t it? ‘Thank you for the days.'”
“The song has grown in intensity over the years,” he said. “I didn’t think much about the song when I wrote it. Sometimes songs occur like that. You don’t think about it, but it’s built up quite a lot of mystique over the years. It certainly left me. It belongs to the world now.”
Kirsty MacColl did a version that peaked at #12 in the UK in 1989
For those of you in the UK you might remember it in a 2011 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet Comercial.
Days
Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I’m thinking of the days
I won’t forget a single day, believe me
I bless the light
I bless the light that lights on you believe me
And though you’re gone
You’re with me every single day, believe me
Days I’ll remember all my life
Days when you can’t see wrong from right
You took my life
But then I knew that very soon you’d leave me
But it’s all right
Now I’m not frightened of this world, believe me
I wish today could be tomorrow
The night is dark
It just brings sorrow, let it wait
Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I’m thinking of the days
I won’t forget a single day, believe me
Days I’ll remember all my life
Days when you can’t see wrong from right
You took my life
But then I knew that very soon you’d leave me
But it’s all right
Now I’m not frightened of this world, believe me
Days
Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I’m thinking of the days
I won’t forget a single day, believe me
I bless the light
I bless the light that shines on you believe me
And though you’re gone
You’re with me every single day, believe me
Days
Jerry Lee Lewis passed away today. He is one of… if not the last of the great 1950s artists that was still around. He was not an angel in life (who is?) but what a performer! The man was pure rock and roll and was hated by parents everywhere…and that is a rock and roll seal of approval. When I see those fifties clips of him live they are incredible. His blonde hair would unravel by the middle of the song and would be pounding the piano till the end.
I always thought that Jerry Lee and Little Richard were the two raunchiest 50s performers live…and I mean that in the best way. He went through controversies like we go through socks. He was successful in Rock and Roll and later in Country Music.
He was never short on confidence…he talks about moving to Memphis: “I was reading a lot of magazines about Sam Phillips and Sun Records … so I told my dad, this is the man we need to go see. And we did. We drove down from Ferriday into Memphis and pulled up in front of Sun Records. I came in and auditioned for Jack Clement, who said I could never make it playing the piano. He said rock ’n’ roll was out, cause Elvis had it all tied up. He said I could forget that. Well, I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I said, ‘I’m a hit.’ He said, ‘They all say that, son.’ I said, ‘I’m not all. I’m different.’”
Sad to hear of the passing of Jerry Lee Lewis. Love his music and I was hugely influenced by his records and live performances which were always full of fire and inspiration! No one could touch him! God Bless you, Jerry Lee ❤️👼🏼 pic.twitter.com/yp9DQr7z7D
What a great-sounding band XTC has been for years. I was exposed to many bands in the 80s like The Replacements, REM (before they hit), and Big Star but not XTC. I didn’t find out about them until their 2002 release I’m The Man Who Murdered Love. When I heard that song I knew I had to find out about this band. Way back when I published that post I also looked up this song that a fellow blogger (run-sew-read) suggested. It’s only taken me 4 years but I’ve finally posted it!
This song was released in 1982 on the album English Settlement. The album peaked at #48 on the Billboard Album Chart, #15 in Canada, #12 in New Zealand, and #5 in the UK. The song peaked at #10 in the UK, #31 in Canada, #37 in New Zealand, and #38 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts.
When they went on tour for this album… it would be their last. That didn’t exactly help them cross over to a mass audience. Andy Partridge had a fear of flying and severe stage fright that could have been heightened by withdrawing from valium that he had taken since childhood. On April 3, 1982, they performed their last show in San Diego. After that first night of the American tour, the rest of the tour was canceled. My friend Dave from A Sound Day has more info on this band and album.
I do think XTC would have broken through to a mass audience if they could have toured. At the time some people in America had thought that Partridge died and some bands held tribute shows.
Allmusic Stephen Thomas Erlewine: XTC was one of the smartest – and catchiest – British pop bands to emerge from the punk and new wave explosion of the late ’70s. … While popular success has eluded them in both Britain and America, the group has developed a devoted cult following in both countries that remains loyal over two decades after their first records. … XTC’s lack of commercial success isn’t because their music isn’t accessible – their bright, occasionally melancholy, melodies flow with more grace than most bands – it has more to do with the group constantly being out of step with the times. However, the band has left behind a remarkably rich and varied series of albums that make a convincing argument that XTC is the great lost pop band.
Drummer Terry Chambers on their last concert:“The audience was electric, everyone was on their feet and cheering throughout. It was the first date of our first major U.S. headlining tour, playing decent-sized venues, and the future looked good. I had no idea that Andy [Partridge, singer] was in such bad shape. Even after the gig, when we were traveling to LA, we had no clue that anything was wrong.”
Andy Partridge:“We were bullied back onto the road and that really started to wind me up, I’d be there onstage thinking: ‘I hate doing this.’ The anger towards being made to tour and the mental stress it was causing me began to manifest itself in stage fright, which I’d never had in my life. It didn’t help that my mental state was being exacerbated by the impact of Valium withdrawal, which I’d been on since my early teens.”
“And I had no concept of withdrawal, and I had no concept of what would happen to you if you stopped taking this stuff, which… your brain becomes dependent on it,” Partridge said in 2006. “And after 13 years of quite high doses, you’re really dependent on it. … I was losing my memory, I was getting bouts of amnesia, I was getting physical problems like pains in my stomach, I was getting weird events like I couldn’t move my legs. And my brain came unwound. I started having panic attacks.”
Senses Working Overtime
Hey, hey, the clouds are whey
There’s straw for the donkeys
And the innocents can all sleep safely
All sleep safely
My, my, sun is pie
There’s fodder for the cannons
And the guilty ones can all sleep safely
All sleep safely
And all the world is football-shaped
It’s just for me to kick in space
And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste
And I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to take this all in
I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to taste the difference ‘tween a lemon and a lime
Pain and pleasure, and the church bells softly chime
Hey, hey, night fights day
There’s food for the thinkers
And the innocents can all live slowly
All live slowly
My, my, the sky will cry
Jewels for the thirsty
And the guilty ones can all die slowly
All die slowly
And all the world is biscuit-shaped
It’s just for me to feed my face
And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste
And I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to take this all in
I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to taste the difference ‘tween a lemon and a lime
Pain and pleasure, and the church bells softly chime
And birds might fall from black skies (Whoo-whoo)
And bullies might give you black eyes (Whoo-whoo)
And buses might skid on black ice (Whoo-whoo)
But to me they’re very, very beautiful (England’s glory)
Beautiful (A striking beauty)
And all the world is football-shaped
It’s just for me to kick in space
And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste
And I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to take this all in
I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to tell the difference ‘tween the goods and crimes
Dirt and treasure
And there’s one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to take this all in
I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to taste the difference ‘tween a lemon and a lime
Pain and pleasure, and the church bells softly chime
A very good George Harrison song. While I was searching for the song on youtube…I came across a 19-minute studio outtake with the Beatles when they were working on this song. George had a time reeling in John and Paul but…I will say this…Lennon could be hilarious. Actually, all of them could be. When you have 19 minutes to kill…listen to that outtake I will post above the song. It gives an insight into them. One comment was, “they sound like drunk teenagers, ” which is correct. They were young and their sense of humor was flowing.
Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting was improving by leaps and bounds at this time. They had started to write years before and George had only been writing a couple of years. He did have one thing they didn’t have…he witnessed firsthand Lennon and McCartney’s writing and was influenced by them. This was only George’s fifth published song, the lyrical depth, and structure of Think For Yourself proved that George Harrison was going to improve and catch his bandmates in quality if not quantity.
The music to this one is really cool. Paul plays his bass through a fuzz box to give the song a different sound. The song was on the 1965 album Rubber Soul. This album was a game changer that started with Help! and would lead up to Sgt Pepper in 1967.
Rubber Soul showed the Beatles growing artistically and venturing out to different styles of music. Since With The Beatles they were trying new things with every album. By this time they were breaking out of the Beatlemania image and started touching on every genre to a more mature sound. The Beatles were breaking/making the rules as they were going along. Not only in writing superb songs but pushing the limits of the studio as well as doing things that pop stars just didn’t do before them…
Producer George Martin was also developing artistically, experimenting with an eye toward making the album sound good in either stereo or mono.
Rubber Soul peaked at #1 in America, Canada, and The UK in 1965.
George Harrison:“When Phil Spector was making ‘Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah’ (by Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans), the engineer who’d set up the track overloaded the microphone on the guitar player and it became very distorted. Phil Spector said, ‘Leave it like that, it’s great.’ Some years later everyone started to try to copy that sound and so they invented the fuzz box. We had one and tried the bass through it and it sounded really good.”
Think For Yourself
I’ve got a word or two
To say about the things that you do
You’re telling all those lies
About the good things that we can have
If we close our eyes
Do what you want to do
And go where you’re going to
Think for yourself
‘Cause I won’t be there with you
I left you far behind
The ruins of the life that you had in mind
And though you still can’t see
I know your mind’s made up
You’re gonna cause more misery
Do what you want to do
And go where you’re going to
Think for yourself
‘Cause I won’t be there with you
Although your mind’s opaque
Try thinking more if just for your own sake
The future still looks good
And you’ve got time to rectify
All the things that you should
Do what you want to do
And go where you’re going to
Think for yourself
‘Cause I won’t be there with you
Do what you want to do
And go where you’re going to
Think for yourself
‘Cause I won’t be there with you
Think for yourself
‘Cause I won’t be there with you
Blue Ash is one of those bands that should have made it to the masses. That has always interested me why great bands like Blue Ash, Big Star, and so many others couldn’t find their way to mass popularity. I’ve been listening to their debut album and it stacks up against their peers at the time and definitely now!
This song reminds me of a great FM album track. Blue Ash toured and opened for such acts as The Stooges, Bob Seger, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and more but for lack of sales they were dropped by Mercury Records in May 1974. You would think with those bands they would have picked up a lot of fans.
Blue Ash was formed in the summer of 1969 in Ohio by bassist Frank Secich & vocalist Jim Kendzor. Guitarist Bill “Cupid” Bartolin and drummer David Evans were recruited later that summer. They got their name from a road sign outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, pointing towards a small town called Blue Ash. During a three-year stretch of 1970-1973 the band recorded numerous songs along with hitting the road playing western New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia along with Ohio, performing over 250 shows a year. Think about that for a second… 250 – 300 shows a year!
Their first album No More, No Less was released in May 1973 and received rave reviews in the rock press. This album is usually always in people’s top twenty power pop albums. It is considered a power pop classic and is regarded as highly collectible among fans of that genre.
This one transports me to the seventies. The intro is around a minute but I love the sustained guitar that kicks in after the intro ends.
Pleasant Dreams
When day is done and night has begun
A smile comes on my face
I know that I’ll be taking me
To a very pleasant place
It’s half-way across my mind
It’s not so hard to find
I’ve been there many times before
And everytime ti’s seems
I know that I’ll be back for more
I’m hooked on pleasant dreams
Without reality there’s
Nothing i can’t see
Can’t wait to go to sleep
It’s gonna be alright, It’s going to be alright
Can’t wait to climb in bed
Lay me down so I will have
Pleasant dreams tonight
Pleasant dreams tonight
I know that tonight
It’s gonna be alright
A copper king, a movie star
I’m anything I please
I slip into my private world
Which sets my mind at ease
I do the things I feel you know
I feel the the things I do
Can’t wait to go to sleep
It’s gonna be alright, It’s going to be alright
Can’t wait to climb in bed
To lay me down so I will have
Pleasant dreams tonight
Pleasant dreams tonight
I know that tonight
It’s gonna be alright
I wake up in the morning and
It seems I’ve come undone
I make believe I’m not asleep and
I’m pretending that it’s fun
I’m half the man I am
I’m twice the man I’m not
Can’t wait to go to sleep
It’s gonna be alright, It’s going to be alright
Can’t wait to close my eyes to
Lay me down so I will have
Pleasant dreams tonight
Pleasant dreams tonight
I know that tonight
It’s gonna be alright
It took me a while to like this band but this song helped. I remember this song in Jr High School and laughing until tears were flowing… I still get a laugh out of it. There is something about the Bon Scott era that I like the best. He had a sense of humor but he also was a really good songwriter and his voice was so different. This one plays on words with a sexual edge. It’s clearly a juvenile song but I mean it in the best way. The way Scott’s posh upper crest voice sings it…I don’t see how he held in his laughter. This masterpiece was written by Bon Scott, Malcolm, and Angus Young.
Sexual innuendo is nothing new in rock ‘n’ roll with songs like Chuck Berry’s My Ding-a-Ling (which reminds me of the spirit of this song) and Jerry Lee Lewis’s Great Balls of Fire. This song was on their Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap album that was only released in Europe and Australia in 1976. Atlantic Records didn’t like the vocals and production on the album so they originally rejected it but wound up releasing it in America five years later. The album was finally released in 1981 in America and Canada after Bon Scott’s death.
The name of the album and title track was based on a reference to a cartoon called Beany and Cecil, which Angus watched as a kid. One of the characters in it, “Dishonest John”, carried a business card that read “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Holidays, Sundays, and Special Rates.”
Dishonest John
The album has been certified six-times platinum in America for sales of over six million copies. It is the fifth-highest-selling AC/DC record behind Back in Black, Highway To Hell, Black Ice, and The Razor’s Edge. According to THIS site, it has sold 7,224,562 copies.
Radio stations would sometimes play Big Balls together with Rocker because it’s right after this on the album and the song starts up right away. The album peaked at #5 in Australia in 1976 and at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #20 in New Zealand in 1981.
Malcolm Young:“It was Angus that came up with the song title – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. It was based on a cartoon character that had the phrase as his calling card [Dishonest John in the TV cartoon Beany And Cecil]. Then Bon stuck in the line ‘I’m dirty, mean, mighty unclean’ from an advert for mosquito spray that was running on Aussie TV at the time. Yes, we were always a very topical band. We looked at what was happening in the world [laughing].
“Big Balls was the other one from that record that sticks in the mind. It was just a bit of a joke, a bit of fun. We needed to fill up the album, someone came up with a rumba or a tango, and Bon started writing these hilarious words. Bon loved an innuendo and he was obsessed with his balls.”
Big Balls
I’m upper, upper class high society
God’s gift to ballroom notoriety
And I always fill my ballroom
The event is never small
All the social papers say I’ve got the biggest balls of all
I’ve got big balls
I’ve got big balls
And they’re such big balls
Dirty big balls
And he’s got big balls,
And she’s got big balls,
But we’ve got the biggest balls of them all!
And my balls are always bouncing
My ballroom always full
And everybody comes and comes again
If your name is on the guest list
No one can take you higher
Everybody says I’ve got great balls of fire!
I’ve got big balls
I’ve got big balls
And they’re such big balls
Dirty big balls
And he’s got big balls,
And she’s got big balls,
But we’ve got the biggest balls of them all!
Some balls are held for charity
And some for fancy dress
But when they’re held for pleasure,
They’re the balls that I like best.
And my balls are always bouncing,
To the left and to the right.
It’s my belief that my big balls should be held every night.
I’ve got big balls
I’ve got big balls
And they’re such big balls
Dirty big balls
And he’s got big balls,
And she’s got big balls,
But we’ve got the biggest balls of them all!
And I’m just itching to tell you about them
Oh, we have such wonderful fun
Seafood cocktail
Crabs
Crayfish
Sorry if you have seen this already today but it vanished in the reader so I’m republishing it. it…thank you.
Today we look at a song that is best known by the live version. Midnight Rambler is up there with Sympathy For The Devil for setting an eerie atmosphere. I’ve always liked this one…partly because it’s not worn out like many other Stones songs of this era.
The Boston Strangler was the likely inspiration for this song. As for the song, while the lyrics do not directly relate to the case, Jagger implies it when he sings, “Well you heard about the Boston…” before an instrumental stab cuts him off.
n 1965, Albert DeSalvo (the Boston Strangler), who was serving time in a mental institution on rape charges, confessed to the murders and was later sentenced to life in prison. There was no clear physical evidence that DeSalvo committed the crimes, however, and his confession has been questioned, with some forensic experts stating that there may have been multiple killers. DeSalvo died in prison in 1973; new evidence has come up in the case from time to time.
This song was on their great Let It Bleed album released in 1969. But the version that is more known is the version on what I think is their best live album… Get Your Ya Ya’s Out…it was released in 1970. They recorded the version in Madison Square Gardens on their 1969 tour. The sound they had with Mick Taylor was fantastic. His guitar tone was raw and fat and it is instantly recognizable. When he joined the Stones onstage recently…the Stones had that great sound again. Since Mick Taylor left they sound really thin live…to me.
Brian Jones is credited with percussion on the studio version. Even though he died before this album was released, a few of the songs were recorded during the Beggar’s Banquet sessions in 1968.
Keith Richards:“When we did Midnight Rambler, nobody went in there with the idea of doing a blues opera, basically. Or a blues in four parts. That’s just the way it turned out. I think that’s the strength of the Stones or any good band. You can give them a song half raw and they’ll cook it.”
Mick Jagger:“That’s a song Keith and I really wrote together. We were on a holiday in Italy. In this very beautiful hill town, Positano, for a few nights. Why we should write such a dark song in this beautiful, sunny place, I really don’t know. We wrote everything there – the tempo changes, everything. And I’m playing the harmonica in these little cafés, and there’s Keith with the guitar.”
Studio Album Version
Midnight Rambler
Did you hear about the midnight rambler
Everybody got to go
Did you hear about the midnight rambler
The one that shut the kitchen door
He don’t give a hoot of warning
Wrapped up in a black cat cloak
He don’t go in the light of the morning
He split the time the cock’rel crows
Talkin’ about the midnight gambler
The one you never seen before
Talkin’ about the midnight gambler
Did you see him jump the garden wall
Sighin’ down the wind so sadly
Listen and you’ll hear him moan
Talkin’ about the midnight gambler
Everybody got to go
Did you hear about the midnight rambler
Well, honey, it’s no rock ‘n’ roll show
Well, I’m talkin’ about the midnight gambler
Yeah, everybody got to go
Well did ya hear about the midnight gambler?
Well honey its no rock-in’ roll show
Well I’m talking about the midnight gambler
The one you never seen before
Oh don’t do that, oh don’t do that, oh don’t do that
Don’t you do that, don’t you do that (repeat)
Oh don’t do that, oh don’t do that
Well you heard about the Boston…
It’s not one of those
Well, talkin’ ’bout the midnight… sh…
The one that closed the bedroom door
I’m called the hit-and-run raper in anger
The knife-sharpened tippie-toe…
Or just the shoot ’em dead, brainbell jangler
You know, the one you never seen before
So if you ever meet the midnight rambler
Coming down your marble hall
Well he’s pouncing like proud black panther
Well, you can say I, I told you so
Well, don’t you listen for the midnight rambler
Play it easy, as you go
I’m gonna smash down all your plate glass windows
Put a fist, put a fist through your steel-plated door
Did you hear about the midnight rambler
He’ll leave his footprints up and down your hall
And did you hear about the midnight gambler
And did you see me make my midnight call
And if you ever catch the midnight rambler
I’ll steal your mistress from under your nose
I’ll go easy with your cold fanged anger
I’ll stick my knife right down your throat, baby
And it hurts!
Here are some cool lyrics to some songs. My all-time favorite is the first one…I’ve used this one over and over whenever at work and in our world. I could have filled this up with Dylan lyrics but I wanted to spread the wealth.
Meet the new boss/same as the old boss…The Who (No truer words have been spoken)
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make…The Beatles
I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back And started walking toward a coffee-colored Cadillac… Chuck Berry
And I need you more than want you, And I want you for all time…Jimmy Webb
You can blow out a candle but you can’t blow out a fire…Peter Gabriel.
Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan… Grateful Dead
I wasn’t looking too good but I was feelingreal well… Rolling Stones
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die… Johnny Cash
We learned more from a three-minute record, than we ever learned in school…Bruce Springsteen
The silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky… Hank Williams Sr.
I just spent 60 days in the jailhouse/for the crime of having no dough…The Band
I drank enough whiskey to float a battleship around… Lynyrd Skynyrd
I blew out my flip-flop stepped on a pop-top/cut my heel had to cruise on back home… Jimmy Buffet
She knows there’s no success like failure and that failure’s no success at all… Bob Dylan
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then… Bob Seger
In Jersey, anything’s legal, as long as you don’t get caught… The Traveling Wilburys
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself…Ricky Nelson
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain and celluloid heroes never really die… Kinks
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