Badfinger (Max)

Twilight Zone Season 2 Review

I can’t believe we are ready to start Season 3 already! Today I’ll just have this review and we will start on season 3 on Wednesday. Thank you all again for following me on this long journey. The second season was very strong with many great episodes. In the third season Serling started to burn out. He had writing credits on almost every show and was the Twilight Zones showrunner.

Of 156 episodes of The Twilight Zone, Serling wrote roughly 70 percent of them. He would write a script in less than 40 hours and then on to the next one. Serling also spent a great deal of time defending scripts against narrowminded network executives alarmed that some of the content would upset sponsors. And, with the hundreds of functions as a television producer, the workload caught up to him. By the time the series was canceled in 1964, Serling was physically and mentally exhausted.

While running the show he also fought battles with the CBS executives who complained about the darkness of the scripts among many other things. Serling wanted integrity and would even fight against some of the commercials. “However moving and however probing and incisive the drama, it cannot retain any thread of legitimacy when after 12 or 13 minutes, out comes 12 dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.“

James Aubrey, who became CBS president after the show launched, hated the show, believing programs with regular stars were more likely to grab audiences.

Aubrey canceled Twilight Zone twice, once after its third season, but it was revived when a replacement program tanked in the ratings. Later, he reduced the show’s budget to compromise its quality and axed the series in 1964. Ironically, Aubrey was fired a year later…not soon enough…and that was a good thing.

Do any of you have any different thoughts on the rankings below? What was your favorite and least favorite episode of season two?

I would like to link to two other bloggers doing tv shows. They are going through a TV series show by show like I’m doing here. I’ll continue to have the Twilight Zone every Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday.

Hanspostcard is going through the episodes of The Andy Griffith Show

John Holton is going through each episode of Hogan’s Heroes

Season 2
Episode	Date	Episode	Stars
1	Sept 30, 1960	King Nine Will Not Return	3.5
2	Oct 7, 1960	The Man in the Bottle	4
3	Oct 14, 1960	Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room	4
4	Oct 28, 1960	A Thing About Machines	3
5	Nov 4, 1960	The Howling Man	5
6	Nov 11, 1960	The Eye of the Beholder	5
7	Nov 18, 1960	Nick of Time	5
8	Dec 2, 1960	The Lateness of the Hour	4
9	Dec 9, 1960	The Trouble with Templeton	5
10	Dec 16, 1960	A Most Unusual Camera	3.5
11	Dec 23, 1960	The Night of the Meek	5
12	Jan 6, 1961	Dust	4
13	Jan 13, 1961	Back There	4
14	Jan 20, 1961	The Whole Truth	3
15	Jan 27, 1961	The Invaders	5
16	Feb 3, 1961	A Penny for Your Thoughts	4.5
17	Feb 10, 1961	Twenty-Two	4
18	Feb 24, 1961	The Odyssey of Flight 33	5
19	Mar 3, 1961	Mr. Dingle, the Strong	3.5
20	Mar 10, 1961	Static	3.5
21	Mar 24, 1961	The Prime Mover	4
22	Mar 31, 1961	Long Distance Call	5
23	April 7, 1961	A Hundred Yards Over the Rim	5
24	April 21, 1961	The Rip Van Winkle Caper	4
25	April 28, 1961	The Silence	5
26	May 5, 1961	Shadow Play	5
27	May 12, 1961	The Mind and the Matter	2.5
28	May 26, 1961	Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up	5
29	June 2, 1961	The Obsolete Man	5

…

Rascals – I’ve Been Lonely Too Long

What a great band! I could almost leave it at that and post the song. They were technically the Young Rascals when this song came out of AM radios in the sixties. They were never really an album band but more of a super singles band. The dropped the “young” in 1968 and continued having hits.

The Rascals rose to prominence playing rhythm and blues and soul music. Their 1966 cover of the Rudy Clark and Artie Resnick song…Good Lovin went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart. They had the majority of their hits between 1966-1968.

They had nine top 20 hits and thirteen top 40 hits…they also had three number 1 hits and a total of 18 songs in the Billboard 100 before they disbanded in 1972. This song was written by Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati.

This song was known as I’ve Been Lonely Too Long and Lonely Too Long…it peaked at #16 in the Billboard 100 and #7 in Canada. It was released on January 16, 1967.

They went on to have more hits with “Groovin,” “People Got to Be Free,” “How Can I Be Sure?” and “A Beautiful Morning” before disbanding in 1972.

I’ve Been Lonely Too Long

I’ve been lonely too long, I’ve been lonely too long
In the past it’s come and gone, I feel like I can’t go on without love
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely too long)
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

As I look back
I can see me lost and searching
Now I find that I can choose, I’m free, oh yeah
So funny I just have to laugh
All my troubles been torn in half
I been lonely too long (he’s been lonely too long)
Lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

In the past it’s come and gone
I feel like I can’t go on without love
(Lonely) lonely too long
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

Just see me now
Makes it worth the time I’ve waited
She was all I need to make me see, oh yeah
I keep hopin’ with all my mind
Everything gonna turn out right
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely too long)
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

Now look at me
Gliding through this world of beauty
Everything I do brings ecstasy, oh yeah
No wonder I could die
I feel like I’m ’bout ten miles high
I’ve been lonely too long (he’s been lonely too long)
Lonely too long (he’s been lonely)

Found myself somebody (he’s been lonely)
Don’t have to be alone no more (he’s been lonely, he’s been lonely)
Don’t have to alone no more, no more (he’s been lonely, he’s been lonely)

Twilight Zone – The Obsolete Man

★★★★★ June 2, 1961 Season 2 Episode 29

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This episode is a cautionary tale of a totalitarian state of the near future. This one ranks as one of the best of the series. The government in The Obsolete Man determines if you are necessary or as the title states…obsolete. The plot was running theme with Serling who wrote about the fascist governments of World War II that he encountered while in the war…and the suppression of the inherent rights of a human being.

.It has two main characters. Romney Wordsworth, a Christian librarian played by Burgess Meredith. The second is the Chancellor, played by Fritz Weaver. Both of them play off each other with sharp, powerful dialogue. Wordsworth is the victim in this but slowly turns the tables on the Chancellor until him, not the state, is in charge of the situation although it comes at a great cost. Casting again hit a homerun with this episode.

A five star classic and a grand finale to the 2nd season. This episode is not only a classic…but an important one to watch and learn…and should not to be forgotten

After the classic Meredith episode Time Enough at Last…books were again Meredith’s character main focal point.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future, not a future that will be but one that might be. This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super-states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace. This is Mr. Romney Wordsworth, in his last forty-eight hours on Earth. He’s a citizen of the State but will soon have to be eliminated, because he’s built out of flesh and because he has a mind. Mr. Romney Wordsworth, who will draw his last breaths in The Twilight Zone.

Summary

In a futuristic totalitarian world, meek and mild-mannered librarian Romney Wordsworth finds himself on trial for being obsolete. This future society has decided on everything people need to know. There is no God and there are no books. Society doesn’t need librarians. Romney makes an impassioned plea about his rights and free will but the judge in the case, the Chancellor, will have nothing of it. The jury finds Romney obsolete and orders him to be executed. As he can choose the method of his death, Romney’s plans include a little surprise for the Chancellor.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshiped. Any state, any entity, any ideology which fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man…that state is obsolete. A case to be filed under “M” for “Mankind” – in The Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling…Narrator
Burgess Meredith…Romney Wordsworth
Fritz Weaver…Chancellor
Josip Elic…the Subaltern
Harry Fleer…Guard
Harold Innocent…Man in Crowd

Emitt Rhodes – Long Time No See…. Power Pop Friday

It’s a shame this guy didn’t get the recognition he should have. He was obviously influenced by the Beatles and Paul McCartney especially.

Emitt was turned down by A&M Records so he built a studio in his parents garage. Rhodes recorded his first album (Emitt Rhodes) in that studio. ABC/Dunhill Records signed him and they released his album as well as the next three albums he recorded.

He played all the instruments himself and recorded on a four track tape machine. ABC/Dunhill then transferred the tapes to 8 track and Emitt redone all of his vocals.

This song is on his debut album Emitt Rhodes and every song is quality. The first single Fresh as a Daisy peaked at #54 in the Billboard 100 while his album Emitt Rhodes peaked at #29 in 1970.

The album was a critical success – Billboard called Rhodes “one of the finest artists on the music scene today” and later called his first album one of the “best albums of the decade“.

Unfortunately Emitt passed away in 2020 in his sleep.

From Wiki: Italian director Cosimo Messeri shot a documentary movie about Emitt Rhodes’s vicissitudes: life, past, present, troubles and hopes. The movie, titled The One Man Beatles, was selected for the International Rome Film Festival 2009, and it received standing ovations. In 2010 The One Man Beatles was nominated for David di Donatello Award as Best Documentary of 2010. Its US premiere screening was scheduled for May 29, 2010, at the Rhino Records Pop Up Store in Westwood, California.

Long Time No See

It’s been a long time, I remember you well
It’s been a long time no see, where you been keeping yourself?

You’ve been staying all alone when you should be playing
Been feeling all alone when you should be praying
It’s been a long time no see.

It’s been a rough road to ride, says the sun in the West
It’s been hard but I get by with a moment to rest.

Been thinking all the time that things will get better
And living all alone can’t make me much sadder
It’s been hard but I’ll get by.

Oh oh oh oh, yeah
Oooh…

It’s been a long time, I remember you well
It’s been a long time no see, where you been keeping yourself?

You’ve been staying all alone when you should be playing
Been feeling all alone when you should be praying
It’s been a long time no see.

Oh oh oh oh, yeah
Oooh…

Beatles – This Boy

When I hear this song, it reminds me of just how great the Beatles were at songwriting and harmonizing. My all time favorite rock singers includes John Lennon…this song demonstrates why. His voice could cut through anything and is always sharp…and has been widely imitated but it wasn’t liked by John himself who notoriously wanted it covered up on recordings.

The song was on Meet The Beatles…the first Beatle album I ever listened to. The vocals were a three part harmony sung by Harrison, Lennon and McCartney. The song was written by Lennon and McCartney.

This was the first Beatles composition that was commented on by a music critic. William Mann wrote in The London Times December 27, 1963, that the song had “pandiatonic clusters.” Musicians and parents who knew something about music knew there was something more than just hair with this band. The songs they were hearing were more sophisticated than the regular pop songs at the time.

Capitol of Canada released a couple of unique singles of their own creation in early 1964 to capitalize on the success of Beatlemania in that country. The second of which was “All My Loving” paired with “This Boy” as its flip side.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada and #53 in the Billboard 100.

John Lennon: “Just my attempt at writing one of those three-part harmony Smokey Robinson songs,”

From Songfacts

John Lennon wrote this song. One of his early compositions, it is seemingly simple, but very clever. The song contains only a few notes, but the space between the notes is filled by the arrangements. It’s the same technique you hear in Liszt’s “Liebestraum,” the piano piece in Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze and in Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.”

George Harrison: “It was John (Lennon) trying to do Smokey (Robinson).”

The Beatles performed this on their second Ed Sullivan Show appearance – Feb 16, 1964. They played six songs on the show that night, and this provided a slow change of pace from the uptempo songs like “She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” The Beatles were just beginning their breakthrough in America and got a huge audience from the show.

This was used in Ringo’s big scene in The Beatles movie A Hard Day’s Night. The version used in the film is an instrumental renamed “Ringo’s Theme (This Boy),” and without any harmony singing.

This was one of the first songs on which The Beatles used a 4-track recorder.

Artists to cover this song include Tom Baxter, David Bowie, Sean Lennon, George Martin, Delbert McClinton and The Nylons

George taking a stroll down memory lane:

This Boy

That boy
Took my love away
Though he’ll regret it someday
But this boy wants you back again

That boy
Isn’t good for you
Though he may want you, too
This boy wants you back again

Oh, and this boy would be happy
Just to love you, but oh my
That boy won’t be happy
‘Til he’s seen you cry

This boy
Wouldn’t mind the pain
Would always feel the same
If this boy gets you back again

This boy, this boy, this boy

…

Santo and Johnny – Sleep Walk

This is my fifth song pick for Hanspostcard’s song draft. Santo and Johnny Sleep Walk.

I have always liked and admired good instrumentals. I look at them the same way I look at the great silent movies of the early 20th century. They have to get across what they want to say without dialog. That is not easy to do but when they succeed…they are great. When I hear Sleep Walk it’s like hearing a dream set to music…haunting and beautiful at the same time.

Lyrics would not do this song justice…it says all it needs to say.

I first heard it on the movie La Bamba and I never grew tired of it. Unlike other soundtrack songs…I don’t think of the movie when I listen to this one. It’s on it’s own little island.

I like many instrumentals but this one is probably my favorite. It sets a mood like no other. It was written and performed by Santo and Johnny Farina in 1959. It peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 and #22 in the UK Charts.

Twilight Zone – Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up

★★★★★ May 26, 1961 Season 2 Episode 28

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This one makes my top ten of the Twilight Zones. It has a little of everything. You get to know the characters well in this episode. The one that lightened the episode up was the great character actor Jack Elam who played Avery…listed as the “crazy man.” This episode has some great dialog and it is a “who is it?” until the very end.

A bus of 6 or is it 7 exits the bus because of an icy bridge in some far away place. There is a suspected Martian in the bunch…but who is it? Will paranoia turn everyone against each other? This episode is just as much about human nature as it is Martians.

This episode is a great one.

SPOILERS BELOW

Barney Phillips on the third eye: They had run a wire over my head concealed in my hair and one of the property men was concealed behind me, manipulating the trigger on the wire to effectuate the rolling of the eyeball in the socket. They had done a very big makeup job. They made a cast of the eye socket. I guess they must have spent well over a day working with me fitting that device prior to the actual shooting of the show.

Every time that that particular segment is televised, without exception, the next day I’m greeted by somebody, some total stranger along the way, who says, My God, where’s the third eye?

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Wintry February night, the present. Order of events: a phone call from a frightened woman notating the arrival of an unidentified flying object, then the checkout you’ve just witnessed, with two state troopers verifying the event – but with nothing more enlightening to add beyond evidence of some tracks leading across the highway to a diner. You’ve heard of trying to find a needle in a haystack? Well, stay with us now, and you’ll be part of an investigating team whose mission is not to find that proverbial needle, no, their task is even harder. They’ve got to find a Martian in a diner, and in just a moment you’ll search with them, because you’ve just landed – in The Twilight Zone.

Summary

After an anonymous phone call about a spacecraft that crashed in a frozen wood, two police officers find evidence that the event really happened. Apparently one alien had walked away from the spot. They drive to the nearby highway Café and they find a bus with seven passengers waiting for the reopening of a snowed in bridge. However the driver says that he had only six passengers when he parked the bus. While interrogating the travelers, weird things happen in the diner, with the lights switching on and off and the turntable turning on and off.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Incident on a small island, to be believed or disbelieved. However, if a sour-faced dandy named Ross or a big, good-natured counterman who handles a spatula as if he’d been born with one in his mouth, – if either of these two entities walk onto your premises, you’d better hold their hands – all three of them – or check the color of their eyes – all three of them. The gentlemen in question might try to pull you in – to The Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling…Narrator
John Hoyt…Ross, the businessman
Jean Willes…Ethel McConnell, the dancer
Jack Elam…Avery, the crazy man
Barney Phillips…Haley, the cook
John Archer…Trooper Bill Padgett
William Kendis…Olmstead, the bus driver
Morgan Jones…Trooper Dan Perry
Gertrude Flynn…Rose Kramer, the older wife
Bill Erwin…Peter Kramer, the older husband
Jill Ellis…Connie Prince, the younger wife
Ron Kipling…George Prince, the younger husband

…

Badfinger – Lost Inside Your Love

I haven’t posted a Badfinger song in a while…and this is the first one I’ll post that came after Pete Ham passed away. Pete Ham was the principle songwriter but Joey Molland and Tom Evans were no slouches. This edition included Tony Kaye, formally of Yes.

This song is slow but the melody is fantastic. This song was long after Pete Ham was gone from the band in 1975. This song was written by bass player Tom Evans. In 1977 the guitar player Joey Molland and Evans started the band back after the death of Ham.

They were signed by Electra Records and released an album called Airwaves. I remember when I was around 11 I saw this in a cutout bin…I bought it because I’d read so much about them from Beatle books. It’s a good album considering there is no Pete Ham

The album flopped, only hitting #125 in America. “Lost Inside You Love”, however, was selected to be the album’s first single release. Backed with the Joey Molland-written track “Come Down Hard”, the song, like the album, was not successful, not charting in America or Britain. Another single followed named “Love Is Gonna Come at Last”, that same year which got some radio play.

In 1983, after a dispute with former bandmate Joey Molland over royalties for the song “Without You”, Tom Evans hanged himself in his garden only eight years after Pete Ham did the same.

Lost Inside Your Love

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a victim of you
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love

What can it be, who can I see?
All of your life you’ve been the winner in me
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love

Is it any wonder there’s no reason why?
Is it all because I left it open wide for your pride
To leave me one more time
Are you leaving me one more time?

[guitar solo (Joey Molland)]

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a winner with you
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love.

LOST INSIDE YOUR LOVE [solo demo version] (Tom Evans)
What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a victim of you
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love

What can it be, who can I see?
All of my life you’ve been the loser in me
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love

Is it any wonder there’s no reason why?
Is it all because I left it open wide for your pride
To lose me once again
Am I losing you once again?

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a loser with you
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love.

John’s Children – Desdemona

Marc Bolan didn’t appear on John’s Children’s first album Orgasm album released in 1967…he did join after the album was completed…although he did write, play guitar and sing the backing vocals on this song.

The song failed to chart in Britain, possibly due to the fact it was banned by the BBC for the lyric “lift up your skirt and fly.” However, the song was a minor hit in Europe. The band consisted of Andy Ellison on vocals, John Hewlett on guitar and bass, Geoff McLelland on guitar and Chris Townson on drums. The band started as The Few in Surrey in 1964.

Marc Bolan joined the group for a time as their principal singer and songwriter as well as several unreleased cuts that have surfaced on reissues. Bolan departed in an argument with Napier-Bell (producer), and the group released a couple more flop singles before disbanding in 1968.

They had promise…not a bad sounding mid-sixties mod band.

Some ex-members of John’s Children were involved with the obscure British groups Jook, Jet, and Radio Stars in the ’70s.

Desdemona

Desdemona just because
You’re the daughter of a man
He may be rich he’s in a ditch
He does not understand
Just how to move or rock and roll
To the conventions of the young

Desdemona, Desdemona
Desdemona Desdemona
Desdemona, Desdemona

Lift up your skirt and fly
Just because my friend and I
Got a jute joint by the Seine
Does not mean I’m past fourteen
And cannot play the game
I’m glad I split and got a pad
On Boulevard Rue Fourteen

Desdemona, Desdemona
Desdemona Desdemona
Desdemona, Desdemona

Lift Up your skirt and fly
Just because Toulouse Lautrec
Painted some chick in the rude
Doesn’t give you the right
To steal my night
And leave me naked in the nude
Well just because the touch of your hand
Can turn me on just like a stick

Desdemona, Desdemona
Desdemona Desdemona
Desdemona, Desdemona
Lift up your skirt and speak

Twilight Zone – The Mind and the Matter

★★1/2 May 12, 1961 Season 2 Episode 27

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

Spoilers… this episode is hard to write about without giving some away. I like the concept of the episode but I found the plot lacking.

This is a relatively forgettable Twilight Zone episode. Shelley Berman plays Archibald Beechcroft who is fed up with humanity. He is given a book which tells him that with the proper mental state he can eliminate the stresses of the day…namely every one else on earth but him. He is not a likeable person so we feel very little sympathy for him.

Beechcroft detests people, but he feels he has no alternative but to suffer the crowds and the noise until an office boy, trying to make up for spilling coffee on his suit, gives him a book on mind power. After reading this, Beechcroft is convinced that concentration can do anything, and he proves it by making his landlady disappear, followed by everybody else in the world.

The good thing about this episode is the special effects.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

A brief if frenetic introduction to Mr. Archibald Beechcroft. A child of the 20th century, a product of the population explosion, and one of the inheritors of the legacy of progress. Mr. Beechcroft again, this time Act Two of his daily battle for survival, and in just a moment our hero will begin his personal one-man rebellion against the mechanics of his age, and to do so he will enlist certain aides available only in the Twilight Zone.

Summary

The intolerant Archibald Beechcroft is a clerk of the Central Park Insurance Co. that hates everybody. When a colleague gives him a book about the power of the mind, Archibald reads the magic book and decides to wipe out the human race. However, he feels lonely and uses his ability to make the entire population of his city his perfect clone, discovering how hateful the world would be.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Mr. Archibald Beechcroft, a child of the twentieth century, who has found out through trial and error – and mostly error – that with all its faults, it may well be that this is the best of all possible worlds. People notwithstanding, it has much to offer. Tonight’s case in point – in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling…Narrator
Shelley Berman…Archibald Beechcroft
Jack Grinnage…Henry
Chet Stratton…Mr. Rogers
Robert McCord…Elevator Operator
Jeane Wood…Landlady

Barracudas – We’re Living In Violent Times

This 80s band started off as a surf band and then they switched to a more garage band sound. The song has a 1960s feel…it would be expected from a band who had a song called (I Wish It Could Be) 1965 Again.

The Barracudas are an English-Canadian band that formed in 1978 when Robin Wills (from London) met Jeremy Gluck (from Ottawa) and they are now based in England. The band’s original line-up consisted of Jeremy Gluck (vocals), Robin Wills (guitar and vocals), Starkie Phillips (bass and vocals) and Adam Phillips (drums).

The band broke up in 1984 but reformed in 1989. In 2005 they released their back catalog and that provided a boost to their career. They started to release singles and an album in 2014. They ended up with more compilations albums than regular releases.

This song was released in 1981 on their debut album Drop Out.

There was also a sixties band with the same name.

Jeremy Gluck: Radio was an enormous influence. You can’t imagine now how important it was then, it would seem sentimental to get into it. There were some good local stations, like CFRA, that played the Top 40 – I remember calling them like crazy in hope of my “Bang-a-Gong” request hitting paydirt. But the best was on FM. The night my top FM DJ played all of ‘Quadrophenia’ days before its release was one of many highlights. At night through the crystal clear winter skies I could tune in dozens of American stations, and discovered a lot of music and madness that way. Radio is magic: the first time I heard a record of mine on radio (John Peel show!), it was an epiphany.

Jeremy Gluck is the author and founder of the Nonceptualism art manifesto…yea don’t ask me but he described it.

“Nonceptualism is about the (an) end to art, and the end of the idea of an artist in self-concept and conception and execution of work, as we and consider it…but maybe it’s also my way of saying, It’s about an end to some or all of me as I’ve conceived myself since conditioning began – as it does with all of us – not long after birth. Which I like…”

We’re Living In Violent Times

Stayed in all day
I was scared of getting killed
Didn’t pick up my pay
I know I’ll just get bills
Maybe it’s all in my frozen mind
We’re living in violent times
Maybe it’s in my mind
We’re living in violent times
Took the news off the TV
It always depresses me
Put my new car in the garage
I’m so scared of a crash
I couldn’t wait to turn off the lights
We’re living in violent times
I tell ya
We’re living in violent times
Protested
Guess I should look at the bright side
And be glad just to be alive
I’ll be happy right now
If I come through this and survive
I’m not imagining this I see the signs
We’re living in violent times

Twilight Zone – Shadow Play

★★★★★ May 5, 1961 Season 2 Episode 26

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This one is a Twilight Zone classic. Dennis Weaver stars in this episode as Adam Grant. Weaver has always been a favorite of mine. He starred in the movie Duel, as McCloud, and in the first 9 seasons of Gunsmoke as Chester. Again and again The Twilight Zone cast these episodes perfectly.

This one is about a nightmare that Adam Grant finds himself trapped in. Grant has created this world with many of the same faces but different characters. It starts with him in a court room being convicted of first degree murder. We don’t see the crime…just Adam being thrown in jail and on death row…but something is off and he knows it. This episode is one of the must see Twilight Zones.

The writer Charles Beaumont once again explores a nightmare in Shadow Play as he did in Perchance for a Dream.

From IMDB: The title refers to the ancient art of shadow play or shadow puppetry using opaque figures that cast shadows on clear curtains. Such entertainment is known in countries throughout the world and is presented in theaters and by traveling troupes.

This show was written by Charles Beaumont and Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Adam Grant, a nondescript kind of man, found guilty of murder and sentenced to the electric chair. Like every other criminal caught in the wheels of justice, he’s scared, right down to the marrow of his bones. But it isn’t prison that scares him, the long, silent nights of waiting, the slow walk to the little room, or even death itself. It’s something else that holds Adam Grant in the hot, sweaty grip of fear, something worse than any punishment this world has to offer, something found only in – The Twilight Zone.

Summary

When Adam Grant is found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced he lashes out telling everyone that he will not be murdered again. Grant claims to be having a recurring nightmare where he is found guilty and executed. The characters around him change and so he argues that all of them will vanish if he dies. It leads newspaperman Paul Carson to question what is real and what might just be a figment of someone else’s imagination. DA Henry Ritchie visits Grant in jail and decides to try and do something about his claims, no matter how far-fetched his claims might be.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

We know that a dream can be real, but who ever thought that reality could be a dream? We exist, of course, but how, in what way? As we believe, as flesh-and-blood human beings, or are we simply parts of someone’s feverish, complicated nightmare? Think about it, and then ask yourself, do you live here, in this country, in this world, or do you live, instead, – in The Twilight Zone?

CAST

Rod Serling…Narrator
Dennis Weaver…Adam Grant
Harry Townes…District Attorney Henry Ritchie
Wright King…Paul Carson
Bernie Hamilton…Coley
William Edmonson…Jiggs
Anne Barton…Carol Ritchie
Tommy Nello…Phillips
Mack Williams…Father Beaman
Gene Roth…Judge

…

Traffic – Paper Sun

Lets go back to the psychedelic sixties with this song that was released in the Summer of Love. The song fit perfectly with the times even featuring an Indian sitar played by Dave Mason. That year had singles such as “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Ruby Tuesday”, “Sunshine Of Your Love”, “Nights In White Satin”, “Whiter Shade of Pale”, “See Emily Play”…the list goes on and on. This is a great example of British psychedelia.

Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi wrote this song in 1967 when Winwood and Capaldi were members of two different bands. They were on tour together, and after a show put the song together in a hotel room.

When Winwood and Capaldi formed Traffic a short time later with Dave Mason and Chris Wood, they recorded Paper Sun and released it as their first single.

The song peaked at #5 in the UK, #4 in Canada, and #94 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.

Jim Capaldi: “I got the title from a newspaper in a boarding house in Newcastle,” “I was half-asleep, lying there writing this lyric in my head at about 3:30 in the morning. I woke up Steve with this idea and then we went into the living room where there was a little upright piano and finished the song.”

Paper Sun

So you think you’re having good times
With the boy that you just met
Kicking sand from beach to beach
Your clothes are soaking wet
But if you look around and see
A shadow on the run (on the run)
Don’t be too upset because it’s just a paper sun

Ah paper sun, ah paper sun

In the room where you’ve been sleeping
All our clothes are thrown about
Cigarettes burn window sills
Your meter’s all run out
But there again it’s nothing
You just split when day is done (day is gone)
Hitching lifts to nowhere, hung up on the paper sun

Ah paper sun, ah paper sun

Standing in the cool of my room
Fresh cut flowers give me sweet perfume (too much sun will burn)
Too much sun will burn (too much sun will burn)
Too much sun will burn

When you’re feeling tired and lonely
You see people going home
You can’t make the train fare
Or the sixpence for the phone
And icicles you’re crying
Down your cheek have just begun
Don’t be sad, good times are had
Beneath the paper sun

Ah paper sun, ah paper sun

Daylight breaks while you sleep on the sand
A seagull is stealing the ring from your hand
The boy who had given you so much fun
Has left you so cold in the paper sun
In the paper sun, in the paper sun, in the paper sun, in the paper sun

Slade – Get Down And Get With It

Noddy’s voice in this song is a perfect example of why AC/DC supposedly asked him to replace Bon Scott in 1980.

When they decided to record it, at Olympic Studios, they did so with a live feel, setting up the microphones in the stairwell outside which gave the echo for hand clapping and stamping. Most DJs wouldn’t play it because they thought it was too rowdy, but a few did, including John Peel.

The song was written by Bobby Marchan and he released it in 1964. Little Richard covered it and released it in 1967. Slade heard the Little Richard version and based their recording off of his. Little Richard was given the writer’s credit, then they were sued by the real writer, Bobby Marchan. Slade’s record company, Polydor, sorted out the mess.

It peaked at #16 in the UK in 1971.

From Songfacts

Slade ended their live set with “Get Down And Get With It” for nearly two years; in his autobiography, band member Noddy Holder said it was a Little Richard cover in 12-bar format, but “had something magical about it”; the original was all piano and sax, but they did it with guitars.

It peaked at #16, and earned them an appearance on Top Of The Pops.

When the sheet music was published by Burlington Music at 20p, it was credited correctly to Marchan, copyright 1965 by Tree Publishing of Nashville. The full title was given as “GET DOWN AND GET WITH IT (GET DOWN WITH IT).”

Get Down and Get With It

All right everybody
Let your head down
I want to say everybody get on of your seat
Clap your hand and step your feet
*Get down and get with it
I said*
Do the turns
Come on baby
I’m going to watch everybody work
I said come on baby
Watch everybody do the dance
(*repeat)
It’s been a long long time
Yeah,yeah,yeah
I’m going to watch everybody go around
I said (*repeat) baby
Watch everybody make some time

(* repeat)
It’s alright
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Ma ma ma ma…..
Baby it’s alright
Ma ma ma ma ma ma

Everybody raise both of your hand in the air
Everybody, everybody
I said clap your hands
Everybody clap your hands
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma
Everybody clap your hands ma ma ma…
I want to see everybody get your boots on
Everybody everywhere
I said step your feet
Come on and step Your feet Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Ma ma ma ma…
Everybody step your feet
Ma ma ma ma…
I want to say everybody get above your seats
Clap your hands and step your feet
Make it

(* repeat)
I said (*repeat)
I said (*repeat) baby
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma
I said come on baby, ma ma ma ma…
I said step your feet and do the thing baby
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma…
Everybody step your feet baby
I said ma ma ma ma
Yeah…
I said (*repeat) now
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma…..
(*repeat) baby
Ma…..

I want everubody to say their feels
All right

Chuck Berry – Carol

One of many songs by Chuck Berry that helped defined Rock and Roll. I first heard the song by the Rolling Stones as Keith Richards is a huge fan of Berry. The Beatles also covered the song live.

Berry’s assistant, Francine Gillium, told Berry about the High School that she worked at and helped him get in the right mindset to write these songs about teenagers. He mostly stayed away from politics and topical references in his songs…which is why many are relatable today.

Chuck Berry got the name Carol from the daughter of Clyde McPhatter’s girlfriend’s daughter. McPhatter was popular R&B singer who fronted The Drifters for a time.

The song peaked at #18 in the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 in the R&B Charts in 1958.

From Songfacts

This song is about a boy who must learn to dance or risk losing Carol to other men. He insists he will learn, and tempts her with a trip to a jumping little joint he knows about.

The Rolling Stones covered this on their first album in 1964. They were the first to bring this and many other R&B songs to a white audience.

The Beatles recorded this song for a BBC radio special in 1963. This recording was released in 1994 of on the Live At The BBC album.

Carol

Oh Carol, don’t let him steal your heart away
I’m gonna learn to dance if it takes me all night and day

Climb into my machine so we can cruise on out
I know a swingin’ little joint where we can jump and shout
It’s not too far back off the highway, not so long a ride
You park your car out in the open, you can walk inside
A little cutie takes your hat and you can thank her, ma’am
Every time you make the scene you find the joint is jammed

Oh Carol, don’t let him steal your heart away
I’m gonna learn to dance if it takes me all night and day

And if you want to hear some music like the boys are playin’
Hold tight, pat your foot, don’t let ’em carry it away
Don’t let the heat overcome you when they play so loud
Oh, don’t the music intrigue you when they get a crowd
You can’t dance, I know you wish you could
I got my eyes on you baby, ’cause you dance so good

Oh Carol, don’t let him steal your heart away
I’m gonna learn to dance if it takes me all night and day

Don’t let him steal your heart away
I’ve got to learn to dance if it takes you all night and day
Oh Carol