Badfinger (Max)

New York Dolls – Personality Crisis

Glam Rock straight from the seventies. The Dolls were full of attitude, raw music, drugs, and mascara. They would offend as many as possible and often sabotage their own career…but they made their mark in rock history.

This song was written by Dolls lead singer David Johansen and guitarist Johnny Thunders. It was on their self titled debut album. The song was released as a single in 1973 with the B side called Trash. The song sounds loose and rocking. They had a punk hard rock sound and they influence many bands such as KISS, Guns n’ Roses, The Replacements, Sex Pistols, and The Smiths. Morrissey from the Smiths helped organize a reunion concert in 2004.

Todd Rundgren (Todd was everywhere in the 70s) produced this album and Jack Douglas engineered it…he would later produce and work with artists Cheap Trick and John and Yoko on Double Fantasy.

The album peaked at #116 in the Billboard album charts but never hit the top 100.

Jack Douglas on guitarist Johnny Thunders: “Johnny never played the same thing twice. Sometimes, playing with the rhythm section, he just got the feel and he nailed it. At other times, he would stop playing because he knew he wasn’t going to get into it and he’d want to redo it later. Suddenly, he’d be in the control room with me. Then, when he overdubbed his leads, I would do four or five tracks and just comp them like a vocal. He was totally, totally unpredictable, and that’s how he was in life.”

Personality Crisis

Well we can’t take it this week
And her friends don’t want another speech
Hoping for a better day to hear what she’s got to say

All about that
Personality Crisis you got it while it was hot
But now frustration and heartache is what you got
(That’s why they talk about Personality)

But now your trying to be some no you got to do some
Wanna be someone who cow wow wows
But you think about the times you did they took every ounce
When it sure got to be a shame when you start to scream and shout
You got to contradict all those times you were butterflying about

(You were butterflying)
All about that Personality Crisis you got it while it was hot
But now frustration and heartache is what you got
break

And your a prima ballerina on a spring afternoon
Change on into the wolfman howling at the moon hooowww

All about that Personality Crisis you got it while it was hot
But now frustration and heartache is what you got

Now with all the crossing fingers that mother nature says
Your mirrors get jammed up with all your friends

That personality everything starts to blend
Personality when your mind starts to blend
Personality impression of a friend,
Of a friend, of a friend, of a friend, of a friend
Personality wondering how celebrities ever met
(Look and find out on television)

Personality Crisis you got it while it was hot
Frustration and heartache is all you got, don’t you worry
Personality Crisis please don’t cry
It’s just a Personality Crisis, please don’t stop

Because you walk a Personality
Talk a Personality

Twilight Zone – Judgment Night

★★★1/2 December 4, 1959 Season 1 Episode 10

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

Rod Serling served in WW2 and he does have quite a few episodes about war. It’s been said that you pay for everything you do in this life. The character Carl Lanser will be paying for an eternity. World War II hadn’t been over for 15 years when Judgment Night premiered. It was still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Serling had a message starting with this episode. When Nazi’s fall in the Twilight Zone they will get their comeuppance. Serling didn’t make light of Nazis, pull any punches, or turn them into a cartoon stereotype. Carl is portrayed as someone who perpetuated a deep evil and will be punished by God for it…and punished he is.

I love the twist in this episode but I think it is a little slow moving…but still a good one to watch. There are better WWII episodes.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Her name is the S.S. Queen of Glasgow. Her registry: British. Gross tonnage: five thousand. Age: Indeterminate. At this moment she’s one day out of Liverpool, her destination New York. Duly recorded on the ship’s log is the sailing time, course to destination, weather conditions, temperature, longitude and latitude. But what is never recorded in a log is the fear that washes over a deck like fog and ocean spray. Fear like the throbbing strokes of engine pistons, each like a heartbeat, parceling out of every hour into breathless minutes of watching, waiting and dreading… For the year is 1942, and this particular ship has lost its convoy. It travels alone like an aged blind thing groping through the unfriendly dark, stalked by unseen periscopes of steel killers. Yes, the Queen of Glasgow is a frightened ship, and she carries with her a premonition of death.

Summary

During World War II, a confused Carl Lancer finds himself as one of only a few passengers on a freighter, the S.S. Queen of Glasgow, traveling from London to New York. As he sits with other passengers, he begins to realize that he is the captain of a U-Boat that is at that very moment tracking the freighter with a view to sinking it. He also knows that in just over an hour the freighter will be attacked.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“The S.S. Queen of Glasgow, heading for New York, and the time is 1942. For one man it is always 1942—and this man will ride the ghost ship every night for eternity. This is what is meant by paying the fiddler. This is the comeuppance awaiting every man when the ledger of his life is opened and examined, the tally made, and then the reward or the penalty paid. And in the case of Carl Lanser, former Kapitan Lieutenant, Navy of the Third Reich, this is the penalty. This is the justice meted out. This is judgment night in the Twilight Zone.”

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator (voice)
Nehemiah Persoff … Carl Lanser
Deirdre Owens … Barbara Stanley (as Deirdre Owen)
Patrick Macnee … First Officer McLeod
Ben Wright … Captain Wilbur
Leslie Bradley … Major Devereaux
Kendrick Huxham … Bartender
Hugh Sanders … Jerry Potter
Richard Peel … 1st Steward
Donald Journeaux … 2nd Steward
Barry Bernard … Engineer
James Franciscus… Lt. Mueller

…

Beatles – I’m Down

I have always liked this B side to Help! Not a bad B side at all.

It was credited to Lennon/McCartney but Paul McCartney wrote this track… in the style of Little Richard. American R&B singers like Richard were a big influence on The Beatles.

The Beatles used this as their closing number on 1965 North American and UK tours, and the 1966 World tour.

When the Beatles were recording this…Paul took a break after shredding his vocal cords and recorded the classic…Yesterday. John Lennon played the Hammond organ on this track. It was the first time Lennon played any kind of keyboard on a record. When The Beatles played this live, he often played an electric piano.

This was the first song ever recorded by Aerosmith. They used it as a demo which eventually got them a record deal. They used also recorded it in 1987 on their album Permanent Vacation.

Paul McCartney: “I’m not sure if John had any input on it, in fact I don’t think he did. But not wishing to be churlish, with most of these I’ll always credit him with 10 per cent just in case he fixed a word or offered a suggestion. But at least 90 per cent of that would be mine.”

From Songfacts

In this song, Paul McCartney plays the role of a poor sap wallowing in his misery. But the joke is on him, which the arrangement and backing vocals make clear. When he sings, “I’m down,” John Lennon and George Harrison retort in mocking fashion, with lines like “down on the ground.” It’s as if they’ve heard too much of his bellyaching and they’re sick of it.

A telling line is, “How can you laugh when you know I’m down?” You can only have so much sympathy for someone who won’t help himself. After that, you have to laugh.

The Beatles performed this on their third live Ed Sullivan Show appearance – September 12, 1965. Before The Beatles broke through in America, Sullivan was in the London airport when The Beatles returned from a tour of Sweden. When he saw the massive crowd there to greet them, he thought The Queen was arriving. When he found out the throngs were there for The Beatles, he made sure to book them on his show. He became a big fan and had them on whenever he could.

This was recorded at the same session with “Yesterday” and “I’ve Just Seen a Face.”

The Beastie Boys recorded a version of this in 1986. Michael Jackson, who owned the publishing rights to this and many other Beatles songs, would not allow them to release it.

Paul McCartney played this at the “Concert For New York,” a benefit show he helped organize in 2001 to help victims of the World Trade Center disaster. It was the first song of his set.

I’m Down

You tell lies thinking I can’t see
You can’t cry ’cause you’re laughing at me
I’m down (I’m really down)
I’m down (Down on the ground)
I’m down (I’m really down)
How can you laugh when you know I’m down
(How can you laugh) When you know I’m down

Man buys ring woman throws it away
Same old thing happens everyday
I’m down (I’m really down)
I’m down (Down on the ground)
I’m down (I’m really down)
How can you laugh when you know I’m down
(How can you laugh) When you know I’m down

We’re all alone and there’s nobody else
You still moan, “Keep your hands to yourself!”
I’m down (I’m really down)
Oh baby, I’m down (Down on the ground)
I’m down (I’m really down)
How can you laugh when you know I’m down
(How can you laugh) When you know I’m down, wow
Baby I’m down

Oh baby, you know I’m down (I’m really down)
Oh yes, I’m down (I’m really down)
I’m down on the ground (I’m really down)
Ah, Down (I’m really down)
Oh baby, I’m upside down, a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I’m down (I’m really down)
Oh baby, I’m down (I’m really down)
I’m feeling upside down (I’m really down)
Oh, I’m down (I’m really down)
Baby, I’m down, yeah
Oh baby, I’m down, yeah
Baby I’m down (I’m really down)
Well, baby I’m down (I’m really down)
Well, baby, baby, baby (I’m really down)
Oh baby, I’m down
I’m down, down, down

…

Replacements – Merry Go Around

This one is off of their last studio album All Shook Down. I was going to conclude with this one having one off of their studio albums but there is one more coming next week.

This is not my favorite off the album but it did have a commercial sound for that time and it’s something that I thought would have charted in the Billboard 100. Merry Go Round did peak at #1 on the alternative charts. The album peaked at #69 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1990.

“Merry Go Round” was written about the lives of Westerberg and his sister Mary (“They ignored me with a smile, you as a child”).

The band went to Los Angeles to make a video for Merry Go Round. With Westerberg’s okay, Warner Bros. hired Bob Dylan’s twenty-three-year-old son Jesse Dylan, who was just starting to direct.

It was shot in black and white and later edited to include some colorful inserts. From the opening moments, with a stone-faced Westerberg staring blankly into the camera, the video lacked the fun that had marked some of their other clips. Paul and Tommy managed a few smiles, and Slim played along gamely. The drummer Chris Mars, miming to Charley Drayton’s drum track, was understandably less than enthused.

Merry Go Round

Hush was the first word you were taught
And they watched you wear
The clothes they claimed that they bought
They brought you down
To watch the merry-go around

In fall, you knew how much it cost
A trouble doll
Around your neck when you lost
You wouldn’t make a sound
But I could hear your little heart pound
And I watched your feet slip off the ground

Merry go round in dreams
Writes ’em down, it seems
When she sleeps, she’s free
Merry go round in dreams

You wake to another day and find
The wind’s blowing out of key with your sky
Only you can see
And the rain dancing in the night
Everybody stands around in delight

Merry go round in dreams
Writes ’em down, it seems
When she sleeps, she’s free
Merry go round in dreams

And everybody thinks she’s sick
She’s got two worlds she can pick
And she’s sad

Hush is the only word you know
And I stopped listening long ago
They ignored me with a smile
You as a child
But the trouble doll hears your heart pound
And your feet they say goodbye to the ground

Merry go round in dreams
Writes ’em down, it seems
When she sleeps, she’s free
Merry go round in dreams

Merry go round in dreams
Merry go round in me
Merry go round
Round and round in me
Merry go round
Round and round in me

Twilight Zone – Perchance to Dream

★★★ November 27, 1959 Season 1 Episode 9 (Episode 8 is Time Enough At Last which I covered in my top 10)

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

This one gets really creepy. Filmed in black and white works in the favor of this episode. It’s never been a favorite of mine but does have some scary scenes. I like the way they do the eerie dream scenes. A carnival at night with a cloudy atmosphere that is downright creepy. Suzanne Lloyd is stunning as Maya in Edward’s nightmares and as the secretary Miss Thomas.

The end has a nice twist but it’s not a classic episode but a good one.

This was the first Twilight Zone episode aired that was written by Charles Beaumont and also the first that was not written by Rod Serling. This episode was based upon a short story of the same name by Beaumont that was first published in the November 1958 issue of Playboy magazine.

This show was written by Charles Beaumont

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Twelve o’clock noon. An ordinary scene, an ordinary city. Lunchtime for thousands of ordinary people. To most of them, this hour will be a rest, a pleasant break in a day’s routine. To most, but not all. To Edward Hall, time is an enemy, and the hour to come is a matter of life and death.

Summary

Edward Hall seeks the help of a psychiatrist, Dr. Rathman. He tells the doctor he hasn’t slept for days, and has been taking pills to stay awake, because he has a fear that if he does go sleep, he’ll die. He’s been having a series of dreams where each on’s part of a long story – like chapters in a book. The main character in his dream other than himself is a beautiful young woman, named Maya. He’s now reached the point of the story where he believes Maya will kill him and so he’s terrified to fall asleep.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

They say a dream takes only a second or so, and yet in that second a man can live a lifetime. He can suffer and die, and who’s to say which is the greater reality: the one we know or the one in dreams, between heaven, the sky, the earth – in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Richard Conte … Edward Hall
John Larch … Dr. Eliot Rathmann
Suzanne Lloyd … Maya / Miss Thomas

…

Ben Vaughn – Too Sensitive For This World

I’m a bona fide sucker for a guitar tremolo effect…throw in a voice that melts into the song and yea…I’m hooked. During the last part of the first verse backup singers come in and give it a short gospel quality. That makes me warm inside.

John Hiatt did the solo whistling and backing vocals.

The song was written by singer-songwriter Ben Vaughn, off his 1990 album Dressed In Black. Vaughn grew up in the Philadelphia area. He has said that At age 6, his uncle gave him a Duane Eddy record and forever changed his life.

In 1983, he formed the Ben Vaughn Combo. The band was together five years, releasing two albums and touring the U.S. several times. They received rave reviews in Rolling Stone and People magazine and video airplay on MTV.

Vaughn started a solo career in 1988 and has released over 17 albums. He is very versatile… he plays Rock, blues, jazz, folk, soul, R & B, country, Bossa Nova, movie soundtracks, easy listening and more, all with Vaughn’s musical slant.

Too Sensitive For This World

Ev’ry day starts with a broken heart
I must be too sensitive for this world
Well I know it ain’t right to cry ev’ry night
I must be too sensitive for this world

And the world is such a careless place
It’s a wonder, hummm it’s a wonder
It’s a wonder
Anyone survives

The clouds in the sky just make me cry
I must be too sensitive for this world
I don’t think I can last until these bad times pass
I must be too sensitive for this world

Solo

And the world is such a careless place
The world is such a selfish place
And life is such an awful fate
It’s a wonder, hummm it’s a wonder
It’s a wonder
Anyone survives
I must be

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Vaughn

Twilight Zone – The Lonely

★★★★1/2 November 13, 1959 Season 1 Episode 7

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

This one is an excellent episode. This one probably isn’t recognized as a classic episode but it’s great. Two great character actors John Dehner and Jack Warden are in this episode. Plus you have a future star in Ted Knight that would go on to star as Ted Baxter in the Mary Tyler Moore show.

This episode…you feel the heat and the guy’s loneliness being a prisoner on a distance barren planet. This show makes you think…about the loneliness of the prisoner and when Captain Allenby gives the Jack Warden character a big box to open… makes you wonder what constitutes a human being.

The Lonely was filmed on location in Death Valley. Unprepared for the terrible conditions they would face, the crew suffered extreme dehydration and heat exhaustion and director of photography George T. Clemens even collapsed, falling from a camera crane while filming continued.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Witness if you will, a dungeon, made out of mountains, salt flats, and sand that stretch to infinity. The dungeon has an inmate: James A. Corry. And this is his residence: a metal shack. An old touring car that squats in the sun and goes nowhere for there is nowhere to go. For the record, let it be known that James A. Corry is a convicted criminal placed in solitary confinement. Confinement in this case stretches as far as the eye can see, because this particular dungeon is on an asteroid nine million miles from the Earth. Now witness, if you will, a man’s mind and body shriveling in the sun, a man dying of loneliness.

Summary

James A. Corry’s a man sentenced to prison; 50 years solitary on a distant asteroid. After 4 and a half years, James anxiously waits for Captain Allenby and his crew who every now and then bring him supplies, and also give him someone to talk to. When Captain Allenby arrives, he brings a suprise box for James; the ultimate female robot, named Alicia that is human-like and has feelings. James initially rejects her but soon falls in love with her. On the Captain Allenby’s next visit, he informs James he’s been pardoned and will return to Earth. But the ship only has enough room for him.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

On a microscopic piece of sand that floats through space is a fragment of a man’s life. Left to rust is the place he lived in and the machines he used. Without use, they will disintegrate from the wind and the sand and the years that act upon them. All of Mr. Corry’s machines, including the one made in his image, kept alive by love, but now obsolete—in The Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator (voice)
Jack Warden … James A. Corry
John Dehner … Captain Allenby
Jean Marsh … Alicia
Ted Knight … Adams (uncredited)
James Turley … Carstairs (uncredited)

…

Johnny Cash – Get Rhythm

Remember those old E.F. Hutton commercials? If you don’t youtube one but anyway…when Johnny Cash talked or sang…everyone listened. This song is a fantastic B side that was raised up from that years later.

In 1956, Johnny Cash released his No. 1 song “I Walk the Line.” The B-side of his song is his rockabilly song “Get Rhythm.” Not much attention was given to this song.

After fourteen years, Cash released his song “Get Rhythm” again in 1969. This time he released it as a single. It peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart…and #60 in the Billboard 100. Not bad for a forgotten B side.

Get Rhythm

Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on, get rhythm when you get the blues
Get a rock ‘n’ roll feelin’ in your bones
Put taps on your toes and get gone
Get rhythm when you get the blues

A Little shoeshine boy never gets low down
But he’s got the dirtiest job in town
Bendin’ low at the peoples’ feet
On the windy corner of the dirty street
Well, I asked him while he shined my shoes
How’d he keep from gettin’ the blues
He grinned as he raised his little head
Popped a shoeshine rag and then he said

Get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on, get rhythm when you get the blues
A jumpy rhythm makes you feel so fine
It’ll shake all the trouble from your worried mind
Get rhythm when you get the blues

Get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on , get rhythm when you get the blues
Get a rock ‘n’ roll feelin’ in your bones
Put taps on your toes and get gone
Get rhythm when you get the blues

Well, I sat down to listen to the shoeshine boy
And I thought I was gonna jump for joy
Slapped on the shoe polish left and right
He took a shoeshine rag and he held it tight
He stopped once to wipe the sweat away
I said you’re a mighty little boy to be-a workin’ that way
He said I like it with a big wide grin
Kept on a poppin’ and he said again

Get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on, get rhythm when you get the blues
It only costs a dime, just a nickel a shoe
Does a million dollars worth of good for you
Get rhythm when you get the blues

Tommy Hoehn – Blow Yourself Up… Power Pop Friday

I’ve been reading about the early to mid-seventies Memphis scene and have found out that we missed out on some great power pop that was never heard by the general public. To my readers I have to pass all of this along. I do appreciate of you reading about these more unknown artists…but if one person listens to some of these posts and likes one…it makes it worth it…it also feels good living up to my WP power pop name.

Tommy Hoehn is another in a long line of musicians who should have been heard but it just didn’t happen. I would have never thought of Memphis as a power pop location but a generation of local musicians were heavily influenced by the Beatles, Who, and the Kinks. They took mid-sixties pop… along with Badfinger and the Raspberries and put a different spin on it.

The most known band from that period from Memphis is Big Star…you won’t hear that sentence a lot. Tommy Hoehn played with Big Star’s Chris Bell and Alex Chilton as well as helping out on Big Star’s 3rd album. “Blow Yourself Up” is full of hooks and his voice is perfect for power pop.

All of these musicians at the time hung out a lot at Ardent Studios. The owner John Fry would let them record and gave many keys to come in when they could and no one took advantage of it for a long time. That is one reason many of these artists sounded really good…they had time to get a sound they wanted.

This song was released in 1977 on Power Play Records, a local Memphis label and it was a regional hit. That same year, Power Play Records released Hoehn’s first solo album Spacebreak, which contained two of the songs Hoehn had recorded with Prix as well as the Blow Yourself Up single.

Blow Yourself Up was featured on Rhino’s D.I.Y.: Come Out and Play: American Power Pop (1975-78) compilation that was released in 1993.

He continued to release albums in the 80s, 90s, and 2000’s. In late 2009, Hoehn began work on a solo album tentatively titled Pi. However, in December 2009, he was diagnosed with cancer, and became too ill to sing lead vocals on the album. He died on June 24, 2010, at the age of 55.

Blow Yourself Up

She lie / in a cool repose / She breathing
Tries to believe I don’t know it
I’m not dull, I show it
She shies away:
Shaken / and I push her just a little
Even enough to fool just her
Ooo I really mussed her
Cutchya’ I’ll blow yourself up

She-vades / Such a crude contempt
I invade
She gets away and I feel it
Then I just can’t hide it
She shies away
Thinkin’ / There’s a full moon, I’m not thinkin’
Stupid as nails she keeps askin’
“Who just opened my door?”
Come in and blow yourself up

Stop! We don’t care!
Step above, I could stare –
In your eyes, for a week
Maybe two
They’re so blue…

She lie! / In a room she made to wonder
Tries to believe in a reason
Frets inside her feelings
Comin’ so close – solo!
And the overcast is breathing
Even the leaves gonna shudder
I see stars and colors
Something to blow yourself up

Link Wray & His Ray Men – Rumble

When I hear this song I automatically think of Jack Rabbit Slim’s restaurant in the movie Pulp Fiction. It was played when Mia and Vincent were talking about the five dollar milk shake.

Wray came up with this when he was asked to play a stroll at one of his shows. The song was different from other popular instrumentals, as it helped introduce gritty guitar distortion and power chords to the world of rock.

The song is credited to Link Wray and Milt Grant.

This instrumental was somewhat controversial because it implied gang violence – some radio stations refused to play it. It might be the only instrumental song ever banned on the radio. It was feared that the piece’s harsh sound glorified juvenile delinquency. Did the song cause juvenile delinquency? We can only hope.

The song peaked at #16 in the Billboard 100 in 1958.

Pete Townshend on Link Wray: “He is the King; if it hadn’t been for ‘Rumble,’ I would have never picked up a guitar.”

From Songfacts

Wray was with Archie Bleyer’s Cadence label and he wanted to record this as a single. Bleyer was ready to pass on it until his step daughter said she liked it and that it reminded her of the rumble scenes in West Side Story. Bleyer named the song “Rumble” and decided to release it.

Wray was drafted in 1951 and fought in the Korean War where he caught Tuberculosis. As a result, he had a lung removed in 1957 and couldn’t sing. After returning from Korea, he joined his family band the Palomino Ranch Gang, and went on to record as “Lucky” Wray in 1956.

Wray used a 1953 Gibson Les Paul guitar run through a Premier amp to produce this song.

This was used in a 2017 commercial for the Ford Focus where a cat rides in the backseat and closes the window to drown out the sound of a barking dog.

The song was honored at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 when they announced a category for “singles.” Five other songs were selected along with it:

“The Twist” – Chubby Checker
“Rocket 88” – Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats
“Louie Louie” – The Kingsmen
“A Whiter Shade Of Pale” – Procol Harum
“Born To Be Wild” – Steppenwolf

…

Twilight Zone – Escape Clause

★★★★ November 6, 1959 Season 1 Episode 6 (Episode 5 is Walking Distance which I covered in my top 10)

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

In this episode we meet the Devil for the first of many times in The Twilight Zone. We also meet the sad little man…hypochondriac Walter Bedeker. This guy is so unlikable that you have no feeling for him whatsoever. You actually root for the devil.

David Wayne does a great job playing Mr. Bedeker and Virginia Christine is very good as his put upon wife. Thomas Gomez is a very business like devil who lays it out straight for Bedeker. I had it at 3 1/2 stars until I watched it again…the ending is worth it.

Saying that a Twilight Zone episode has a great twist is like saying the sun will rise but this one…is wonderful…and you feel some justice.

A couple of facts about this episode: The cast includes two actors each best known for starring in a long-running TV commercial: Virginia Christine (Mrs. Olson for Folgers Coffee) and Dick Wilson (Mr. Whipple for Charmin Bathroom Tissue).

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

You’re about to meet a hypochondriac. Witness Mr. Walter Bedeker age forty-four. Afraid of the following: death, disease, other people, germs, draft, and everything else. He has one interest in life and that’s Walter Bedeker. One preoccupation, the life and well-being of Walter Bedeker. One abiding concern about society, that if Walter Bedeker should die how will it survive without him?

Hypochondriac Walter Bedeker has once again had his doctor come to his bedside but he can find absolutely nothing wrong with him. The doctor tells him his aches and pains are psychosomatic but he refuses to accept it. Later that night, a Mr. Cadwallader suddenly appears in his room and has a proposition for him: in return for his soul, he will give him immortality. He even has an escape clause in that if he ever gets tired of living, Cadwallader will provide him with a hasty demise. He accepts the deal and soon collects 14 insurance claims over a variety of accidents. He finds it all very boring however but his quest for a thrill brings results with an unexpected outcome.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

There’s a saying, “Every man is put on Earth condemned to die, time and method of execution unknown.” Perhaps this is as it should be. Case in point: Walter Bedeker, lately deceased. A little man with such a yen to live. Beaten by the devil, by his own boredom, and by the scheme of things in this, the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator (voice)
David Wayne … Walter Bedeker
Thomas Gomez … Cadwallader
Virginia Christine… Ethel Bedeker
Raymond Bailey … Doctor
Wendell Holmes … Cooper
Dick Wilson … Jack
Joe Flynn … Steve
Nesdon Booth … Guard (as Nesden Booth)

…

Ray Davies and Alex Chilton – Till The End of the Day

I didn’t know they ever did anything together and to find this was special. Two of my favorite performers coming together. Ray of course from one of my favorite bands of all time and Alex Chilton from another band I admire, Big Star.

Ray had an album in 2010 called See My Friends, a 2010 album featuring versions of classic Kinks’ songs recorded with Alex Chilton, Black Francis, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica and many others.

This song was recorded a year before Alex died. They were neighbors in New Orleans and Alex would bring beer over to Ray’s house although Alex didn’t drink. Alex and Big Star were huge fans of The Kinks.

Ray Davies:

“Way back in 2004 I was in New Orleans, recovering from an injury, and I was befriended by a neighbor called Alex Chilton. Alex had been in a band called Big Star, and had sung on a record called ‘The Letter’ by The Box Tops. We didn’t talk about music much, but he did say to me before I came back to England, ‘You know, I’ve recorded one of your songs, ‘Till the End of the Day’, with Big Star, and I’d love to do another song with you. And he asked me to write some songs for him – I felt really flattered, because by then I had found out about his history. A very unassuming guy.”

“In 2009, on July 4th, Independence Day, he came up to Konk Studios. He was a real character – he was wearing a New Orleans beret, he had a cigarette holder – he was a chain smoker, and I think a recovering drinker – and he said, ‘Let’s do it!’ I said, ‘What would you like to do?’ He said, ‘‘Til The End Of The Day’ and ‘Set Me Free’. So I just had an acoustic guitar and a rhythm box, because I hadn’t organized anything. I played guitar and Alex sang. We did five or six takes and comped it together. “

I cannot find Set Me Free but here is a short clip of Ray talking about Alex.

…

Replacements – Talent Show

“We apologize, here they are… The Replacements.” (see story at bottom)

I’m going to stick with the album Don’t Tell A Soul for one more song. The album has a bunch of good songs and this is around the time I stopped following them. I’ve picked the band back up with earnest but a box set was released with this album mixed how it was meant to be.

At the time it was mixed with a pop sheen that felt outdated by the end of the decade. The original mixes are great and this one is one of my favorites off the album…and the band.

They were invited to play the International Rock Awards show and they felt out of place in the star studded audience…then came the introduction…”We apologize, here they are… The Replacements.” You then hear Paul ask… “What the hell are we doing here?” before they start into the song.

Before the show the producers told Paul that they would have to bleep out the line “We’re feelin’ good from the pills we took.” and Westerberg suspiciously happily agreed. He wasn’t going to leave it at that though…they did silence out the line and he rolled his eyes. For the song’s closing “It’s too late to turn back” coda, Westerberg began to sing “It’s too late to take pills” instead—several times. The censors missed it completely and let it go out live on the air… ABC was not amused… the Replacements were ushered out of the building at the end and did not get to participate in on jam.

It seemed most in the audience were too busy looking for another star than actually listening to the music…except Matt Dillion at the end.

Here is the live clip of the event

Talent Show

In my waxed up hair and my painted shoes
Got an offer that you might refuse
Tonight, tonight, we’re gonna take a stab
Come on along, we’ll grab a cab

We ain’t much to look at so
Close your eyes, here we go
We’re playin’ at the talent show
Playin’ at the talent show
Come on along, here we go
Playin’ at the talent show
Check us out, here we go
Playin’ at the talent show

Well we got our guitars and we got thumb picks
And we go on after some lip-synch chicks
We’re feelin’ good from the pills we took
Oh, baby, don’t gimme that look

We ain’t much to look at so
Close your eyes, here we go
We’re playin’ at the talent show
Playin’ at the talent show
Come on along, here we go
Playin’ at the talent show
Hop a ride, here we go
Playin’ at the talent show

Well it’s the biggest thing in my life I guess
Look at us all, we’re nervous wrecks
Hey, we go on next

Talent show
Talent show
Playin’ at the talent show
Playin’ at the talent show

Wish us luck if you can’t go
Playin’ at the talent show
An empty seat in the front row
We might even win this time, guys, you never know

It’s too late to turn back, here we go

…

Twilight Zone – The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine

★★★1/2 October 23, 1959 Season 1 Episode 4

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

This episode has more than a strong resemblance to the film Sunset Boulevard. Barbara Jean Trenton who is played by the great actress and director Ida Lupino is an aging actress who continually looks back at her old films and forgets the world has gone on. The ending has a good twist but something about the episode just doesn’t live up to some of the great ones. Saying that, it still is a very good episode…an average Twilight Zone is better than many other’s best shows.

Martin Balsam makes an appearance as her agent Danny Weiss. We will see Martin again in the fourth season in a much scarier role. He was also in the 1985-87 reboot Twilight Zone. I remember him the most in 12 Angry Men and his appearances many 60s and 70s tv shows.

Ida Lupino, who starred in this episode, would later direct The Twilight Zone: The Masks. She became not just the only woman to direct an episode of the The Twilight Zone, but also the only person to both star in an episode and direct one.

Ida Lupino has 42 credits to her name as a Director.

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Picture of a woman looking at a picture. Movie great of another time, once-brilliant star in a firmament no longer a part of the sky, eclipsed by the movement of earth and time. Barbara Jean Trenton, whose world is a projection room, whose dreams are made out of celluloid. Barbara Jean Trenton, struck down by hit-and-run years and lying on the unhappy pavement, trying desperately to get the license number of fleeting fame.

Summary

Former queen of the silver screen, Barbara Trenton’s a woman who lives in her past – watching her movies from more than 25 years earlier. Her housemaid, Sally’s worried by her behavior, and tells Barbara’s friend, and agent Danny Weiss. He tries to make Barbara move on, even getting her a role in an upcoming film. But Barbara lives in the past and won’t accept that she’s older now

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

To the wishes that come true, to the strange, mystic strength of the human animal, who can take a wishful dream and give it a dimension of its own. To Barbara Jean Trenton, movie queen of another era, who has changed the blank tomb of an empty projection screen into a private world. It can happen in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator (voice)
Ida Lupino … Barbara Jean Trenton
Martin Balsam … Danny Weiss
Jerome Cowan … Jerry Hearndan
Ted de Corsia … Marty Sall
Alice Frost … Sally

Rolling Stones – Shattered

I remember this one very well. I bought the single and then the album a little while later. It’s a great rock song with some punk in it. It’s on the album Some Girls that was released in 1978.

This was the last song on Some Girls. While they were recording this album, Keith Richards had drug charges hanging over his head from a bust in Toronto. Facing a maximum sentence of life in prison, Keith let Mick take control of the album, which is shown on songs like this. Richards ended up getting off easy… he was sentenced to probation and ordered to play a concert for the blind.

Richards came up with the guitar riff on this and the line “Sha-doobie.” Jagger wrote the rest.

They performed this on Saturday Night Live and to this viewer they were not as tight as normal. Turns out they drank a lot of alcohol, did some seventies substances and rehearsed a lot before show time… after watching the rehearsals it seems like they made the mistake of peaking too early during the rehearsals. By showtime they didn’t sound as strong as usual…but it still was a good show.

The song peaked at #31 in the Billboard 100 and #32 in Canada in 1978.

From Songfacts

The lyrics are a bleak picture of life in New York City. The Stones always had a love/hate relationship with the US, and Mick Jagger’s lyrics were often influenced by his thoughts on the country (see “Satisfaction”). New York in particular is a place where you could be wildly successful, but is also a city filled crime, drugs, and poverty. It should be noted that The Stones have taken shots at their home country of England as well, notably on “Hang Fire.”

Just after this was released, The Stones performed it on Saturday Night Live. It was memorable for Mick Jagger licking Ron Wood on the lips for about 5 seconds. This stuff just didn’t happen on TV back them.

When Jagger sings, “Shmatta, shmatta, shmatta, I can’t give it away on 7th Avenue, this town’s been wearing tatters,” he’s making reference to the fashion district of New York City, which is on 7th Avenue. The word “Shmatta” is slang for old, worn clothing.

Shattered

Uh huh shattered, uh huh shattered
Love and hope and sex and dreams
Are still surviving on the street
Look at me, I’m in tatters!
I’m a shattered
Shattered

Friends are so alarming
My lover’s never charming
Life’s just a cocktail party on the street
Big Apple
People dressed in plastic bags
Directing traffic
Some kind of fashion
Shattered

Laughter, joy, and loneliness and sex and sex and sex and sex
Look at me, I’m in tatters
I’m a shattered
Shattered

All this chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter ’bout
Shmatta, shmatta, shmatta, I can’t give it away on 7th Avenue
This town’s been wearing tatters (shattered, sha ooobie shattered)

Work and work for love and sex
Ain’t you hungry for success, success, success, success
Does it matter? (shattered)
Does it matter?

Ah look at me
I’m shattered
I’m shattered 0
Look at me, I’m a shattered, yeah (shattered)

Pride and joy and greed and sex
That’s what makes our town the best
Pride and joy and dirty dreams and still surviving on the street
And look at me, I’m in tatters, yeah
I’ve been battered, what does it matter
Does it matter, uh-huh
Does it matter, uh-huh, I’m a shattered

Mmm, I’m shattered, unh
Sha oobie, shattered, unh
Sha oobie, shattered
Sha oobie, shattered, shattered

Don’t you know the crime rate is going up, up, up, up, up
To live in this town you must be tough, tough, tough, tough, tough!
You got rats on the West Side
Bed bugs uptown
What a mess this town’s in tatters, I’ve been shattered
My brain’s been battered, splattered all over Manhattan

Sha oobie, shattered, shattered, what say
Sha oobie, shattered
Sha oobie, shattered
Sha oobie, shattered

Uh-huh, this town’s full of money grabbers
Go ahead, bite the Big Apple, don’t mind the maggots, huh
Sha oobie, my brain’s been battered
My friends they come around they
Flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter
Pile it up, pile it up, pile high on the platter