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.
This song was off the album Straight Up which is in my top 5 of power pop albums.
George Harrison helped produce and mix this album and was impressed by this song. It was earmarked to be the first single off the album. That got cancelled. Not that the song couldn’t be a single because it is that good. Day After Day and Baby Blue were the first two singles and I can’t fault George for that.
There were many possible singles from this album. Suitcase, Sweet Tuesday Morning, Take It All and I’d Die Babe are songs that could have been considered.
If you are new to Badfinger and would like to start with an album that is not a greatest hits package…Straight Up is the album to purchase.
Name of the Game
I saw the railway master and I looked him in the eye I said, “Would you go much faster if you thought that you would die?” He said, “Not me sir, I could not care, in fact, I would not try. For protest would not take me far. It’s different, me not being a star.” I lock my feelings in a jar until another day
Oh, comfort me, dear brother, won’t you tell me what you know? For somewhere in this painful world is a place where I can go Oh, long awaiting mother, is it time to make a show? And take your babies to your breast No, we never passed the test And all our sins should be confessed before we carry on
[CHORUS:] Oh, don’t refuse me If you choose me, you’ll follow my shame No, don’t confuse me For I know it’s the name of the game
I got up off my pillow and I looked up at the sun I said, “You can see quite clearly, now, the things that we have done We burned your sacred willow and our battles we have won. But did we get so very far? It’s different, me not being a star.” I lock my feelings in a jar until we go away
In my childhood I played the Monkees to death…all along thinking they were still together and playing but they had broken up years before. On their first two albums they were not allowed to play their own instruments (other bands had this problem also) but by the third album they fought for their freedom and won it.
I remember the show this song was in…Julie Newmar was in it…I didn’t forget Julie Newmar.
“The Girl I Knew Somewhere” was the first song recorded by the Monkees containing instruments performed by the band members. The song was written by Monkee;’s guitar player Mike Nesmith. Mike also wrote the hit A Different Drum for the Stone Ponys…Linda Ronstadt’s band.
When it was recorded Mike Nesmith recorded the lead vocals but later on Mickey Dolenz put his lead vocals down for more of a commercial sound.
The song was a B side to A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You (#2 in the Billboard 100). It was not on an album but The Girl I Knew Somewhere peaked at #39 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.
The video for the show was a winner with Julie Newmar
The Girl I Knew Somewhere
You tell me that you’ve never been this way before. You tell me things I know that I’ve heard somewhere. You’re standing in the places and you’re staring down through faces, that bring to mind traces of a girl, a girl that I knew somewhere.
I just can’t put my finger on what it is that says to me “Watch out! Don’t believe her.” I can’t give any reasons girl, my thoughts are bound down in a whirl. I just can’t think who in the world was that girl; I know I met her somewhere.
Someway, somehow this same thing was done. Someone, somewhere did me this same wrong.
Well, goodbye dear, I just can’t take this chance again. My fingers are still burning from the last time. And if your love was not a game, I only have myself to blame. That’s as may be, I can’t explain.
I have played this song in a club with a 4 piece band and it actually very well received. You don’t have to have the full orchestra for it to sound good…it’s that good of song. Our bass player actually recited the poem to applause. Even after peeling off the layers of music, the song stood.
Justin Hayward wrote this song after he joined the band after Denny Laine had left. It is said that he got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets, and wrote it in his bed-sit at Bayswater.
The poem at the end was recorded separately. It is called Late Lament and was written by their drummer, Graeme Edge. The poem was read by keyboard player Mike Pinder. Edge wrote another poem that appeared early on the album called Morning Glory.
This song ushered in a new sound for this band who were formally more of a blues band. “Nights in White Satin” was originally released in 1967, charting at #19 in the UK, but topping out at #103 in America, where six-minute songs were a tough sell. In 1972, after songs like “Hey Jude ” and “Layla” paved the way for long, dramatic tunes (and The Moody Blues became more popular), the song was re-released in the US and became a hit, peaking at #2 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada.
Justin Hayward: “I wrote our most famous song, ‘Nights in White Satin’ when I was 19. It was a series of random thoughts and was quite autobiographical. It was a very emotional time as I was at the end of one big love affair and the start of another. A lot of that came out in the song.”
From Songfacts
The Moody Blues recorded the album with The London Festival Orchestra, which never actually existed – it was the name given to the musicians put together to make the Days of Future Passed album. The orchestral parts were performed separately and edited between and around the Moody Blues parts, so the orchestra did not actually accompany the group. The original idea was for the group and orchestra to record a rock version of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony,” which their record company would use to demonstrate enhanced stereo sound technology.
Before joining The Moody Blues, a teenaged Justin Hayward signed a deal with Lonnie Donegan’s publishing company, which ended up giving Donegan the lion’s share of the royalties for this and other songs Hayward wrote at the time. Donegan was star in the ’50s, famous for his skiffle sound that influenced The Beatles and The Who. In the ’60s, he became more involved in the business side of the industry and formed his publishing company Tyler Music.
Days of Future Passed is a concept album based around different times of day. For example, “Dawn Is A Feeling” and “Tuesday Afternoon.” This song was last on the album because it represents nighttime.
Justin Hayward was inspired by Moody Blues keyboard player Mike Pinder’s composition “Dawn Is A Feeling.” Since Pinder had done “The Morning” for the concept album, Hayward tried to do “The Night.”
Fans have come up with many interpretations of this song, which is just fine with Justin Hayward, who fells that the receiver gives life to the transmission. “It’s the listeners who bring the magic and the interpretations to these songs,” he said in his 2016 Songfacts interview.
This song introduced a new sound for the band. When they formed, they were more of a blues band, and had a hit in 1965 with a cover of Bessie Banks’ “Go Now.” With the songs on Days of Future Passed, they distinguished themselves with original songs in a more psychedelic/orchestral sound.
In the UK, the song made two more chart appearances, going to #9 in 1972 and #14 in 1979.
The Dickies 1979 Punk version reached #39; the Moody Blues used to use The Dickies version sometimes when doing a sound check.
The week of December 2, 1972, this song plunged from #17 to completely out of the Hot 100, setting a record for the biggest drop out of that chart in a single week. Drastic chart disappearances became more common in the ’10s, and the Glee Cast version of “Toxic” made the fall from the #16 spot in 2010.
Talking about the experiences that inspired the lyrics to this song, Justin Hayward said: “About an audience in Glastonbury, a flat in Bayswater and the ecstasy of an hour of love.”
Among the many artists to record this song are Procol Harum, Eric Burdon, Percy Faith, Nancy Sinatra and Il Divo. When we spoke with Justin Hayward in 2013, he told us that the best cover he heard of this song was by the soul singer Bettye LaVette. “She covered ‘Nights,’ and somebody sent it to me as an MP3, a link,” he explained. “I was sitting in bed with my laptop waking up to my emails, and I clicked on this link and I burst into tears. My wife came in and she said, ‘What the hell’s the matter with you?’ And I said, ‘You’ve got to listen to this.’ She didn’t cry. But I heard the lyric for the first time. There have been hundreds, maybe thousands of covers of ‘Nights in White Satin,’ but that was the first time I heard it for real.”
The Moody Blues enjoyed a long and illustrious career that took them well into the 2010’s, and included thousands of performances, most of which featured this song. How does Justin Hayward handle the repetition? “I never lose the emotion of songs like that,” he told us. “I’m lucky enough not to have lost the emotion or the motivation, because it’s a wonderful thing to be able to share. And the audience provides the emotion around that. Because you do it in sound check and it’s fine, but when there’s an audience there, it completely transforms the experience.”
Nights In White Satin
Nights in white satin Never reaching the end Letters I’ve written Never meaning to send
Beauty I’d always missed With these eyes before Just what the truth is I can’t say any more
‘Cause I love you Yes I love you Oh how I love you
Gazing at people, some hand in hand Just what I’m going through they can’t understand Some try to tell me, thoughts they cannot defend Just what you want to be, you will be in the end
And I love you Yes I love you Oh how I love you Oh how I love you
Nights in white satin Never reaching the end Letters I’ve written Never meaning to send
Beauty I’ve always missed With these eyes before Just what the truth is I can’t say any more
‘Cause I love you Yes I love you Oh how I love you Oh how I love you ‘Cause I love you Yes I love you Oh how I love you Oh how I love you
Back in 1981 I bought the album that this song is the title track to. I had their greatest hits of mostly their sixties hits and this album was the first new Kinks album I ever bought.
The song is a pure rock song with a huge punk edge. I read where a critic wrote that The Kinks were a great punk band who could actually play their instruments and with this song you see that.
This song is my favorite song off the album. While writing Low Budget, their previous album, Ray was watching American TV including “That’s Incredible” where people did dangerous and insane stunts. He writes a fair statement about the viewing public…now and then. Parts of it are crude but is true to life. When Oswald shot Kennedy, he was insane, But still we watch the re-runs again and again, We all sit glued while the killer takes aim…
The song tells the truth…violence sells.
Ray Davies:“What happens is the consumer is being used to entertain, to get high ratings, to sell products to consumers. It was going around in a circle. That’s a real con. And good shows were being dropped from TV. I’ve just written an outline, and I hope we’re going to get some money from RCA to do a videodisc because it’s a media-based album.”
From Songfacts
The title track to The Kinks 1981 album, “Give The People What They Want” was written by their frontman Ray Davies in response to what he saw on American TV when he was writing songs for their previous album, Low Budget. He noticed that TV was getting more and more sensational, and that viewers were fascinated with violence and tragedy – similar to how Romans watched Christians get fed to the lions.
One show Davies watched was That’s Incredible, where regular people performed dangerous stunts.
Ray Davies said that he took out the following verse:
The French Revolution was a crazy scene
All those aristocrats getting guillotined
The promoters cleaned up
The expenses were low
An execution costs nothing
It’s a wonderful show
Taken at face value with just the title for reference, this song can appear to be about The Kinks making an effort to please their audience by delivering a hit. That interpretation is way off, however, as the song is much more a social commentary on those who pander to the masses.
The Kinks went for a monster drum sound on this one in an effort to make it arena-friendly. To get his sound, they placed corrugated iron around the walls of Konk Studios in London, where they recorded the album.
Give The People What They Want
Hey, hey, hey Give the people what they want
Well, it’s been said before, the world is a stage A different performance with every age Open the history book to any old page Bring on the lions and open the cage
Give the people what they want You gotta give the people what they want The more they get, the more they need And every time they get harder and harder to please
The Roman promoters really did things right They needed a show that would clearly excite The attendance was sparse so they put on a fight Threw the Christians to the lions, it sold out every night
Give the people what they want You gotta give the people what they want The more they get, the more they need And every time they get harder and harder to please
Give ’em lots of sex, perversion and rape Give ’em lots of violence, and plenty to hate Give the people what they want Give the people what they want
When Oswald shot Kennedy, he was insane But still we watch the re-runs again and again We all sit glued while the killer takes aim “Hey Mom, there goes a piece of the president’s brain!”
Give the people what they want You gotta give the people what they want Blow out your brains, and do it right Make sure it’s prime time and on a Saturday night You gotta give the people what they want You gotta give the people what they want Give the people what they want Give the people what they want Give the people what they want
Bobby said he’d pull out Bobby stayed in Janey had a baby it wasn’t any sin They were set to marry on a summer day Bobby got scared and he ran away
This song was off of the 1987 album Tunnel of Love. This is really the last album I really loved of Springsteen. He has had some good albums since but this one was an end of an era to me.
It was not released as a single in America. It did peaked at #26 on the Mainstream Rock Charts.
This album is a more grown up Springsteen after just being married and as you can tell from some songs on the album…heading for a divorce. This song is a in your face song with a great blues harp.
Spare Parts features LA Blues artist James Woods on harmonica…he got the gig through co-producer Chuck Plotkin whom he has known since high school.
James Woods: “Chuck said, Jimmy, do you still have your blues musician’s Union card?” “I did this chugging thing that is sort of a trademark of mine,” “I wish I was louder in the mix” (laughs).
James Woods got a lot of subsequent session work afterwards, “because I was the first non-E Street cat to play harp on a Springsteen record.”
From Songfacts
The studio version of this song runs 3:44 seconds, but there is a much longer version (available on YouTube) recorded live in Sheffield in 1988 for the Bruce Springsteen: Video Anthology 1978-1988, which was released in January 1989. In the extended piano introduction Springsteen explains: “This is a song about a woman struggling to understand the value of her own independent existence… trying to find something new, and beautiful and meaningful in her life today.” The first verse is sexually explicit in a covert sort of way.
The live version features Nils Lofgren on slide guitar and backing by a full brass section. Although singer-songwriter Springsteen is not renowned for his guitar work, The Boss lets rip at the end of this track with a guitar solo.
Spare Parts
Bobby said he’d pull out Bobby stayed in Janey had a baby it wasn’t any sin They were set to marry on a summer day Bobby got scared and he ran away Jane moved in with her ma out on Shawnee Lake She sighed Ma sometimes my whole life feels like one big mistake She settled in in a back room time passed on Later that winter a son came along
CHORUS Spare parts And broken hearts Keep the world turnin’ around
Now Janey walked that baby across the floor night after night But she was a young girl and she missed the party lights Meanwhile in South Texas in a dirty oil patch Bobby heard ’bout his son bein’ born and swore he wasn’t ever goin’ back
CHORUS
Janey heard about a woman over in Calverton Put her baby in the river let the river roll on She looked at her boy in the crib where he lay Got down on her knees cried till she prayed Mist was on the water low run the tide Janey held her son down at the riverside Waist deep in water how bright the sun shone She lifted him in her arms and carried him home As he lay sleeping in her bed Janey took a look around at everything Went to a drawer in her bureau and got out her old engagement ring Took out her wedding dress tied that ring up in its sash Went straight down to the pawn shop man and walked out with some good cold cash
I first heard this song by the Linda Ronstadt version. She did a great job and this was one of the first songs the Beatles covered.
The movie “The Searchers” starring John Wayne inspired this song. This song peaked at #1 in the US Hot 100, #2 in the US R&B, and #1 the UK in 1957.
Holly and bandmate Allison wrote the song. Norman Petty took a writing credit on this because he produced it. This meant Holly and Allison had to share royalties with him.
Buddy Holly and his band The Three Tunes recorded this in Nashville in 1956, but Decca records didn’t like the result and refused to release it. A year later, Holly re-recorded it with The Crickets in a studio in Clovis, New Mexico owned by his new producer, Norman Petty.
Backup vocalists were brought in and the key was lowered to fit Holly’s voice a little better. This version became a huge hit and made Holly a star that summer in 1957.
From Songfacts
Holly had been kicking around his home town in Lubbock, Texas trying to write a hit song for his small rockabilly band since he had attended an Elvis Presley gig at his High School some time in 1955. His band in those days consisted of him on lead vocals and guitar, Jerry Allison on the drums and Joe B. Maudlin on upright bass. He and Jerry decided to get together and go see The Searchers, a Western movie staring John Wayne. In the movie, Wayne keeps replying, “That’ll be the day,” every time another character in the film predicts or proclaims something will happen when he felt it was not likely to happen. The phrase stuck in Jerry’s mind, and when they were hanging out at Jerry’s house one night, Buddy looked at Jerry and said that it sure would be nice if they could record a hit song. Jerry replied with, “That’ll be the day,” imitating John Wayne in the film.
This was Holly’s first hit, but it was credited to The Crickets, Holly’s band. They worked with two record labels, with one releasing Holly’s songs as The Crickets and the other as Buddy Holly. Both labels were subsidiaries of Decca Records.
This inspired the British 1973 movie of the same name, about a young man with dreams of becoming a rock star.
This was the first song John Lennon learned to play on guitar. American rock stars like Holly and Little Richard were a big influence on The Beatles.
The movie that inspired Holly and Allison to write this also provided the name for the British group The Searchers in 1964.
When this became a hit, Decca records released Holly’s earlier version as well.
“That’ll Be The Day” was the first song John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison recorded together. In 1958, when they were still known as the Quarrymen, they pooled their money, recorded the song at a local studio, and pressed one copy on a 78rpm disc, which they shared. The disc ended up in the possession of Duff Lowe, the piano player in group. In the early ’80s, he sold it to McCartney; it was first heard in a 1985 documentary on Buddy Holly, and was released in 1995 on the Anthology 1 collection.
Linda Ronstadt released her version as the lead single from her 1976 album Hasten Down the Wind. This came at the suggestion of her producer, Peter Asher, who recorded the song completely live, just as Holly’s version was done in the days before multitracking. The song went to #11 in the US and marked a shift for Ronstadt away from country rock.
On this version, listen for the guitar solo – Waddy Wachtel played the first four bars, then Andrew Gold took over for the last four. Wachtel’s performance helped raise his profile in the Los Angeles music scene, where he soon became one of the top session players.
In the US, a version by the Everly Brothers reached #111 in 1965; Pure Prairie League took it to #106 in 1976.
That’ll Be The Day
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, you give me all your loving and your turtle doving All your hugs and kisses and your money too Well, you know you love me baby, until you tell me, maybe That some day, well I’ll be through
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, when Cupid shot his dart he shot it at your heart So if we ever part and I leave you You sit and hold me and you tell me boldly That some day, well I’ll be blue
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, that’ll be the day, woo ho That’ll be the day, woo ho That’ll be the day, woo ho That’ll be the day
One of the most recognizable riffs in rock and roll. This one was also one of their most popular songs. It wasn’t ever one of my favorites by them but I did like it.
It was a rare thing for Zeppelin to release a single…but this was released as one except in the UK. This song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada in 1970.
The lyrics are based on a 1962 Muddy Waters song written by Willie Dixon called “You Need Love.” Led Zeppelin reached an agreement with Dixon, who used the settlement money to set up a program providing instruments for schools. All the members of Led Zeppelin get a writing credit along with Willie Dixon now.
Robert Plant has said that Steve Marriott was an influence and you can hear it really strong in the Small Faces rendition (I have it at the bottom) of You Need Love from 1966…and good 3 years before this was recorded. Marriott was one of the best singers of that or any era.
Jimmy Page played a theremin, a bizarre electronic instrument he liked to experiment with consisting of a black box and antennae, famously heard on the 1966 Beach Boys song “Good Vibrations.” The sound is altered by moving one’s hand closer to or farther from the antennae and was used to create the fuzz that alternates back and forth through the speakers.
John Paul Jones: “The backwards echo stuff. A lot of the microphone techniques were just inspired. Using distance-miking… and small amplifiers. Everybody thinks we go in the studio with huge walls of amplifiers, but he doesn’t. He uses a really small amplifier and he just mikes it up really well, so that it fits into a sonic picture.”
From Songfacts
This blistering track from Led Zeppelin’s second album contains some of Robert Plant’s most lascivious lyrics, culled from the blues. It’s not poetry, but he gets his point across quite effectively, letting the girl know that he’s yearning, and ready to give her all of his love – every inch.
The massive drum sound was the foundation of this track, so Jimmy Page recorded it in the big room at Olympic Studios in London, which had 28-foot ceilings. One of the engineers, George Chkiantz, got the sound by putting the drums on a platform and setting up microphones in unusual places: a stereo boom eight feet above the kit, two distant side microphones, and a AKG D30 placed two feet from the bass drum. “For the song to work as this panoramic audio experience, I needed Bonzo to really stand out, so that every stick stroke sounded clear and you could really feel them,” Page said in the Wall Street Journal. “If the drums were recorded just right, we could lay in everything else.”
Jimmy Page served as Led Zeppelin’s producer, and on this song, he let loose in the studio, using all kinds of innovative techniques, particularly in the freeform section about 1:20 in, which was the result of him and engineer Eddie Kramer “twiddling every knob known to man.” This part is often referred to as “the freakout.”
One of the more intriguing sections of this song comes at the 4-minute mark, where the distant voice of Robert Plant sings each line (“Way down inside… woman… you need… love”) before his full-throated vocal comes in. This is known as “backward echo,” and one of the first uses of the technique, but it happened by accident: A different take of Plant’s vocal bled over to his master vocal track, so when Page and engineer Eddie Kramer mixed the song, they couldn’t get rid of it. They did what most creative professionals do with a mistake: they accentuated it to make it sound intentional, adding reverb to it so Plant sounded like he was foreshadowing his lines from afar.
Led Zeppelin didn’t release singles in the UK, where it was considered gauche, and in America, they didn’t issue any from their first album. “Whole Lotta Love” was the first song they allowed as a US single, and it became their biggest hit, going to #4 (their only Top 10 entry) despite a 5:33 running time. Many of Zeppelin’s most popular songs, including “Stairway To Heaven,” were not released as singles.
Led Zeppelin used this as the basis for a medley they performed in their later shows. They had lots of songs by then, so they used the medley to play snippets of their popular songs they did not want to play all the way through. They incorporated various blues songs in these medleys as well, notably “Boogie Chillen” by John Lee Hooker, which was often followed by what they called “Boogie Woogie, by Unknown,” and “Let’s Have A Party” by Wanda Jackson. They would put this in when Robert Plant would yell, “Way Down INSIDE.”
When this song became a hit in America, the UK division of the band’s label, Atlantic Records, pressed copies of a shortened version of the song to release there, but Jimmy Page quashed that idea when he heard the 3:12 truncated edit (“I played it once, hated it and never listened to the short version again,” he told the Wall Street Journal). The band issued a press release stating: “Led Zeppelin have no intention of issuing ‘Whole Lotta Love’ as a single as they feel it was written as part of their concept of the album.” The American single is the same version as found on the album.
This was recorded on an 8-track tape machine at Olympic Studios, London in April 1968, but Jimmy Page waited to mix it until the band came to New York on tour in August because he wanted Eddie Kramer, who had relocated there, to work on it. To the delight of deconstructionists, Page later released the eight split tracks of Whole Lotta Love, along with the mixdowns, on the Studio Magik – Sessions 1968-1980 CD compilation. These stems reveal an entire middle vocal section that’s totally different and the “da da” vocal about two beats behind what was released. In the drum tracks, during the rolls, you can hear John Bonham groaning.
The line, “Shake for me girl, I wanna be your back door man” is a reference to the “back door man” of blues cliché (popularized in a Willie Dixon song). This guy enters and leaves through the back door to avoid detection, as the lady is using him to cheat on her boyfriend or husband. This adds an illicit edge to the storyline.
After Page started fooling around with the theremin in the studio, it was open season for experimentation on the track; he started messing around with his guitar by detuning it and pulling on the strings, and Plant did his part by going to the extreme high of his vocal range.
Page, Plant, and John Paul Jones played this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father. Jason joined the band again in 2007 at a benefit concert for the Ahmet Ertegun education fund, where they played this as the first encore.
In 1997, this became the only single Led Zeppelin released in the UK when a 4:50 edit was issued to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary. The singles chart was dominated by acts like the Spice Girls and Puff Daddy, and this release got little attention, reaching just #21.
Guitar World noted Page’s use of the wah-wah pedal during his famous solo, securing its place at #17 on the magazine’s 2015 list of greatest wah solos of all time. Jack White has cited it as the greatest guitar solo ever recorded.
Jimmy Page played the loose blues riff for the intro on a Sunburst 1958 Les Paul Standard through a 100W Marshall “Plexi” head amp with distortion from the EL34 output valves.
Alexis Korner hit #13 UK and #58 US with his mostly instrumental cover of this song in 1970 with his studio group CCS. King Curtis also did an instrumental version that went to #64 US that year. A vocal cover by The Wonder Band reached #87 US in 1987. Tina Turner recorded it for her 1975 album Acid Queen, and the London Symphony Orchestra also covered it.
The remaining members of Led Zeppelin played this at their Live Aid reunion in 1985. Along with Tony Thompson, Phil Collins sat in on drums. Collins was the biggest presence at Live Aid. He played a set in London, flew to Philadelphia, played another set, then stayed on when Zeppelin took the stage. Jimmy Page was not happy – he thought Collins butchered it.
This song was performed by Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics during the hand over to the host of the 2012 games, London. Prior to the performance there was some concern about the track’s somewhat family unfriendly lyrical content, but Lewis tactfully changed the words from “every inch of my love” to “every bit of my love.”
They appeared alongside English soccer star David Beckham as symbols of British entertainment, both old and new. The performance took place in a magnificent, elaborate setting: Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium. Lewis and Page appeared out of what had been a London double-decker bus, later transformed into a garden of green hedges.
On May 5, 2009, this became the first Led Zeppelin song performed on American Idol when Adam Lambert sang it during Rock Week, with Slash as the guest mentor. The judges loved Lambert’s version and he advanced to the next round.
In 2010, Mary J. Blige covered “Whole Lotta Love” and “Stairway To Heaven,” which were released as downloads and appeared on the UK version of her Stronger With Each Tear album. Musicians contributing to these tracks include Steve Vai, Orianthi, blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Randy Jackson of American Idol fame, who played bass. “Whole Lotta Love” was produced by RedOne and Ron Fair, who is Chairman of Geffen Records. >>
The song’s guitar riff was voted the greatest of all time by listeners of BBC Radio 2 in a 2014 poll. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses came second in the listing and “Back In Black” by AC/DC third.
The songwriting credits on this track have been convoluted over the years. The four band members were listed as the writers on the original recording, and later, Willie Dixon was added as part of his settlement. But the ASCAP record shows this, which is often reprinted:
John Bonham John Paul Jones Pete Moore Jimmy Page Sharon Plant
The best we can tell, these credits come from a 1996 cover of the song by the British group Goldbug, which sampled Pete Moore’s song “Asteroid.” “Sharon Plant” is apparently a mistake (should be “Robert Plant”). This version of the song was a hit in the UK, reaching #3. At some point, Dixon’s credit was omitted in most listings.
This song got a mention in the 2014 lawsuit alleging that Jimmy Page stole the intro to “Stairway To Heaven” from a song called “Taurus” by the group Spirit.
In 1968, Spirit played some shows on the same bill with Zeppelin, and “Taurus,” an instrumental written by guitarist Randy California, was in Spirit’s set. California died in 1997, but his estate filed the wide-ranging lawsuit, which accused page of nicking an entire sound during this time. It states: “Jimmy Page’s use of the Etherwave – Theremin, and other psychedelic-type audio effects which helped give Led Zeppelin its distinctive sound – especially prominent in ‘Whole Lotta Love’ – was inspired by seeing California effectively use these types of audio-enhancing effects on tour.”
The CCS version was used as the theme song to the BBC music show Top of the Pops from 1970-1977 and again from 1998-2003. Led Zeppelin never appeared on the program, as they had no interest in lip-synching and weren’t a good fit for the TOTP audience.
Jack Johnson performed a very laid-back version of this song when he headlined the first night of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2008.
Robert Plant played this on his Strange Sensations tour of the UK in 2005.
In Led Zeppelin: The Oral History of the World’s Greatest Rock Band, Jack White, one of the most notable rock guitarists of the early 2000s, is quoted saying the guitar solo in “Whole Lotta Love” may be the greatest of all time. He’s talking about the part running from 2:22 to 2:39, popularly called the “freakout.”
Whole Lotta Love
You need cooling Baby I’m not fooling I’m gonna send ya Back to schooling
A-way down inside A-honey you need it I’m gonna give you my love I’m gonna give you my love
Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love
You’ve been learning Um baby I been learning All them good times baby, baby I’ve been year-yearning
A-way, way down inside A-honey you need-ah I’m gonna give you my love, ah I’m gonna give you my love, ah oh
Whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love
You’ve been cooling And baby I’ve been drooling All the good times, baby I’ve been misusing
A-way, way down inside I’m gonna give ya my love I’m gonna give ya every inch of my love I’m gonna give ya my love
Hey! Alright! Let’s go!
Whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love
Way down inside Woman, you need, yeah Love
My, my, my, my My, my, my, my Lord Shake for me girl
I wanna be your backdoor man Hey, oh, hey, oh Hey, oh, hey, oh Ooh Oh, oh, oh, oh
Cool, my, my baby A-keep it cooling baby A-keep it cooling baby Ah-keep it cooling baby Ah-keep it cooling baby Ah-keep it cooling baby
I’m going to write about my top 10 favorite TZ episodes in the next few weeks…Most of the Twilight Zones are like songs to me…to be enjoyed over and over. The Twilight Zone is not really an ordinary TV show. It’s THE TWILIGHT ZONE. This is my personal choice for #9 on my list.
This episode has some great dialog and it is a “who is it?” til 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.
Rod Serling Intro: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.
Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?: After an anonymous phone call about a spacecraft that crashed in the frozen woods, two police officers find evidence that the event really happened. Apparently one alien had walked away from the spot. They drive to the HI-WAY Cafe and they find a bus with seven passengers waiting for the reopening of an iced bridge.
However the bus driver says that he only had 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. The passengers/customers start to turn on each other. When the bridge is declared safe for travel they take off…it’s not over then though. We find out the truth after that…it does not disappoint. Just when you think it’s explained Serling throws a wonderful twist in.
Rod Serling wrote this episode.
The stand out character in the café is Jack Elam as a crazy old man named Avery. Barney Phillips plays Haley the cook/server and his face is out of central casting for character actors. If you are new to the Twilight Zone this is a great one to start off with…thank you for reading and I’ll have another one next weekend.
I hope all of you have a great Valentines day…lets join the Beatles on June 25, 1967 for All You Need Is Love. There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done…
How nerve-racking this had to be even if you were a Beatle. They performed this on one of the first Satellite hookups around the world. There was an estimated 350 million people watching. This performance was a rock and roll mile stone…they were in front of the world.
The show was called “Our World”, the first worldwide TV special. Broadcast in 24 countries on June 25, 1967, the show was six hours long and featured music from 6 continents, with The Beatles representing Britain.
At the Beatles feet were members of The Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, The Hollies, and The Small Faces helping by singing along.
The song peaked at #1 almost every where and probably even in Venus and Mars in 1967.
Musically, this song is very unusual. The chorus is only one note, and the song is in a rare 7/4 tempo. In the orchestral ending, you can hear pieces of both “Greensleeves,” a Bach two-part invention (by George Martin) and Glenn Miller’s “In The Mood.” Royalties were paid to Miller for his contribution.
Just think of all of the bits of paper all of them wrote or scribbled on and threw away. John Lennon’s hand-written lyrics for this song sold for one million pounds in the summer of 2005. Lennon left them in the BBC studios after this appearance, and they were salvaged by a very smart BBC employee.
From Songfacts
The concept of the song was born out of a request to bring a song that was going to be understood by people of all nations. The writing began in late May of 1967, with John and Paul working on separate songs. It was decided that John’s “All You Need Is Love” was the better choice because of its easy to understand message of love and peace. The song was easy to play, the words easy to remember and it encompassed the feeling of the world’s youth during that period.
“All You Need Is Love” was a popular saying in the ’60s anti-war movement. The song was released in the middle of the Summer of Love (1967). It was a big part of the vibe.
John Lennon wrote this as a continuation of the idea he was trying to express in his 1965 song “The Word.” John was fascinated by how slogans effect the masses and was trying to capture the same essence as songs like “We Shall Overcome.” He once stated, “I like slogans. I like advertising. I love the telly.” In a 1971 interview about his song “Power To The People,” he was asked if that song was propaganda. He said, “Sure. So was ‘All You Need Is Love.’ I’m a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change.”
It was not until 1983 and the publication of the in the book John Lennon: In My Life by Pete Shotton and Nicholas Schaffner that it was revealed that John Lennon was the primary composer of the song. It is typical of Lennon: Three long notes (“love -love -love”) and the rise of excitement with at first speaking, then recital, then singing, then the climax and finally the redemption. This as opposed to McCartney’s conventional verse, verse, middle part, verse or A,A,B,A. Lennon felt that a good song must have a rise of excitement, climax and redeeming.
Ringo’s second son, Jason, was born the day this hit #1 in the US: August 19, 1967. Jason is also a drummer.
McCartney sang the chorus to The Beatles 1963 hit, “She Loves You” at the end: “She loves you yeah yeah yeah… She loves you yeah yeah yeah”
This begins with a clip from the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg on April 25, 1792. Its original name was “Chant de guerre de l’Armee du Rhin” (“Marching Song of the Rhine Army”) and it was dedicated to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian-born French officer from Cham. It became the rallying call of the French Revolution and got its name because it was first sung on the streets by troops from Marseille upon their arrival in Paris. Now the national anthem of France, the song was also once the anthem of the international revolutionary movement, contrasting with the theme of The Beatles song. In the late 1970s, Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version “Aux Armes et cetera,” with Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar and Rita Marley in the choir in Jamaica, which resulted in him getting death threats from veterans of the Algerian War of Independence.
Al and Tipper Gore had this song played at their wedding. They married in 1970 and separated in 2010.
George Harrison mentioned this in his 1981 song “All Those Years Ago” with the line, “But you point the way to the truth when you say ‘All you need is love.'” Harrison’s song is a tribute to John Lennon, who was killed in 1980.
This was used in the climactic final episode of the UK sci-fi series The Prisoner, and was the entrance music for Queen Elizabeth II during the UK Millennial celebrations of 1999. It was also sung by choirs across the kingdom in 2002 during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebration.
In 2007, this was used in an advertising campaign for Luvs diapers with the lyrics changed to “All You Need Is Luvs.” While Beatles songs have been used in commercials before, notably “Revolution” in spots for Nike and “Hello Goodbye” for Target, this peace anthem shilling for diapers didn’t go over well with fans who thought it sullied The Beatles legacy. The publishing rights to “All You Need Is Love” and most other Beatles songs are controlled by the Sony corporation and Michael Jackson, which means The Beatles cannot prevent a company from re-recording the song and using it in a commercial.
When asked what his favorite lyric is during an interview with NME, John Lennon’s son Sean replied: “My list of favorite things changes from day to day. I like when my dad said: ‘There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known/ Nothing you can see that isn’t shown/ Nowhere you can go that isn’t where you’re meant to be.’ It seems to be a good representation of the sort of enlightenment that came out of the ’60s.”
All You Need Is Love
Love, love, love Love, love, love Love, love, love
There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game It’s easy Nothing you can make that can’t be made No one you can save that can’t be saved Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time It’s easy
All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need
All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need
There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known Nothing you can see that isn’t shown There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be It’s easy
All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need
All you need is love (all together now) All you need is love (everybody) All you need is love, love Love is all you need
Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) (Love is all you need) (Love is all you need) (Love is all you need) Yesterday (Love is all you need) Oh Love is all you need Love is all you need Oh yeah Love is all you need (She love you, yeah, yeah, yeah) (She love you, yeah, yeah, yeah) (Love is all you need) (Love is all you need)
I’m going to write about my top 10 favorite TZ episodes in the next few weeks…Most of the Twilight Zones are like songs to me…to be enjoyed over and over. The Twilight Zone is not really an ordinary TV show. It’s THE TWILIGHT ZONE. This is my personal choice for #10 on my list.
If I had to name a favorite show of all time…this would be it. I have all of them and I’ve watched them all at least 5 or more times. Each are like a work of art on their own. I like shows that are “Twilight Zone like” but none measure up to the original. Even the reboots in the 80’s, 2000’s, and now doesn’t live up to the original.
Ring-A-Ding Girl was written by Earl Hamner Jr….the Waltons creator. He went on to write eight Twilight Zones and one more by him will be coming up in my top ten.
The way Rod Serling handled social problems with a science fiction twist was compelling. TV has a reputation of being dumb…and it earned that reputation fair and square… Serling cannot be blamed for that…he was all about quality.
Rod Serling Intro:Introduction to Bunny Blake. Occupation: film actress. Residence: Hollywood, California, or anywhere in the world that cameras happen to be grinding. Bunny Blake is a public figure; what she wears, eats, thinks, says is news. But underneath the glamour, the makeup, the publicity, the buildup, the costuming, is a flesh-and-blood person, a beautiful girl about to take a long and bizarre journey into The Twilight Zone.
Unfortunately he died in 1975 at a young 50 years old. Now lets get to the episode…I don’t do spoilers and if I ever did I would mark it before you read it…so here it goes. Just a very short look at it.
The Ring-A-Ding Girl: This one is in my top ten of Twilight Zone episodes. An actress Barbara “Bunny” Blake is in Hollywood is about to take off to Rome to make a movie. She tells her PA that they will be flying over her old hometown of Howardville. She receives a ring from her sister which is giving her warnings to come home while she flies cross country.
She then visits her sister in Howardville. The Founders Day picnic is the same day but Bunny has other ideas. You can see something is bothering her so she goes down to the TV station. She announces that she wants to do a one woman play at the High School Gym. Everyone is upset because they think she is so full of herself that she is wanting people to come see her and not to the Founders Day picnic. She has her reasons and we find out at the end.
She knows something that everyone else doesn’t know…I won’t give away the ending.
Bunny Blake is a little self centered but likable. She is what you would think some stars of the 50s and 60s would be like. Maggie McNamara does a wonderful job playing her.
It will be a little different today as this song was never a studio song. The Beatles never recorded this song for an album or single. Much later it was released in 1994 on Live At The BBC of them obviously doing it live.
They played this song regularly at the Cavern and Hamburg. The only known film footage of them playing in the Cavern is of them playing this song. It had been filmed on August 22, 1962 for Granada Television but the footage was grainy and they didn’t broadcast it until the Beatles hit big.
This is just a few days after Ringo became a Beatle. They had just got rid of Pete Best and you can hear at the very first of the Cavern footage a Pete Best fan saying “We Want Pete.” The footage is grainy but great. This was at the start of their rise. Love Me Do would be released two months later.
The Beatles loved to cover B sides and they had a knack for picking the right ones. I do wish they would have recorded this one in the studio but I don’t know if it would have captured the excitement of the live Cavern or BBC version. The song was written by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and Richie Barrett. Barrett released the song in 1962.
George Harrison: Brian (Manager Brian Epstein) had had a policy at NEMS of buying at least one copy of every record that was released. If it sold, he’d order another one, or five or whatever. Consequently he had records that weren’t hits in Britain, weren’t even hits in America. Before going to a gig we’d meet in the record store, after it had shut, and we’d search the racks like ferrets to see what new ones were there. That’s where we found artists like Arthur Alexander and Ritchie Barrett – ‘Some Other Guy’ was a great song.”
John Lennon: I’d like to make a record like ‘Some Other Guy’. I haven’t done one that satisfies me as much as that satisfies me.
The original, the BBC version, and the Cavern Version (it also shows a little of the original One after 909)…love Ringo’s drums on this.
Some Other Guy
Some other guy, now Is taking my love away from me, oh now Some other guy, now Is taking away my sweet desire, oh now Some other guy, now Just threw water, hold my hand, oh now I’m the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel, all right
Some other guy Is tippin’ up behind me like a yellow dog, oh now Some other guy, now Has taken my love just like I’m gone, oh now Some other guy, now Has taken my love away from me, oh now I’m the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel, all right
Oh oh oh oh
Some other guy Is making me very, very mad, oh now Some other guy, now Is breaking my padlock off my pad, oh now Some other guy, now Took the first girl I’ve ever had, oh now I’m the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel, all right now
You’re just a memory of a love That used to mean so much to me
When someone will ask me what my favorite Rolling Stone song is…this is the one I usually say. It rarely if ever changes. It probably wasn’t their best song but I’ve always liked it. Happy Friday to everyone.
The Memory Motel is in Montauk on Long Island. It’s near The Church Estate, which Andy Warhol bought in 1972. Arthur Schneider, who owns the Memory Motel, said that The Stones stayed at Warhol’s estate when they were on tour in 1975-’76.
Since the Memory Motel was the only place in the area with a pool table and a piano, The Stones would occasionally come by and hang out at the bar. The owners at the time were not impressed…they hated The Stones.
With Mick Taylor gone, The Stones were auditioning lead guitarists while recording Black And Blue. Harvey Mandel from Canned Heat played lead on this while session man Wayne Perkins played acoustic, but Ron Wood eventually got the job.
The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, #2 in the UK, and #4 in New Zealand in 1976.
It has a haunting melody and lyrics that stick with you. Some say the Hannah in the song is referring to Carly Simon and some say it’s Annie Leibovitz. Whoever the muse was, they inspired a beautiful song.
From Songfacts
It’s widely speculated that “Hannah Honey” with the curled nose is none other than Carly Simon. Jagger had been romantically linked to Carly around this time, and her physical traits are eerily similar to the song’s descriptions. One theory is that Simon wrote “You’re So Vain” after a one-night-stand with Jagger at The Memory Motel. Simon has never said who that song is about.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards duet on vocals. Richards did not play guitar on the track – a rarity.
Jagger played the acoustic piano, Richards the electric piano, and Billy Preston the synthesizer.
On their live album No Security, Dave Matthews duets with Jagger in place of Richards. Matthews joined The Stones onstage from time to time and also sang this with Jagger on a televised St. Louis concert in 1997
Memory Motel
Hannah honey was a peachy kind of girl Her eyes were hazel And her nose were slightly curved We spent a lonely night at the Memory Motel It’s on the ocean, I guess you know it well It took a starry to steal my breath away Down on the water front Her hair all drenched in spray Hannah baby was a honey of a girl Her eyes were hazel And her teeth were slightly curved She took my guitar and she began to play She sang a song to me Stuck right in my brain You’re just a memory of a love That used to be You’re just a memory of a love That used to mean so much to me She got a mind of her own And she use it well Well she’s one of a kind She’s got a mind She got a mind of her own And she use it mighty fine She drove a pick-up truck Painted green and blue The tires were wearing thin She turned a mile or two When I asked her where she headed for “Back up to Boston I’m singing in a bar” I got to fly today on down to Baton Rouge My nerves are shot already The road ain’t all that smooth Across in Texas is the rose of San Antone I keep on a feeling that’s gnawing in my bones You’re just a memory of a love That used to mean so much to me You’re just a memory girl You’re just a sweet memory And it used to mean so much to me Sha la la la la She got a mind of her own And she use it well Mighty fine, she’s one of a kind On the seventh day my eyes were all a glaze We’ve been ten thousand miles Been in fifteen states Every woman seemed to fade out of my mind I hit the bottle and hit the sack and cried What’s all this laughter on the 22nd floor It’s just some friends of mine And they’re busting down the door Been a lonely night at the Memory Motel
I bought this song on a single along with Sky Pilot when I was getting into the Animals as a pre-teen. This was not the same Animals of House of the Rising Sun and others…everyone but Eric Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins had been replaced.
In this song Eric welcomes you to the Summer of Love in 1967 San Francisco. This new version of the Animals they were losing traction in Europe and at the spoken word beginning of this song Burdon welcomes the Europeans over to San Francisco. The song was popular and also an anti Vietnam song.
The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #9 in the Billboard 100, and #7 in the UK in 1967.
Many people complained that San Francisco is not that warm at night or any other time. Burdon and his group had recently played in San Francisco during a rare 10-day stretch of exceptionally warm spring weather, which left a strong impression.
At a concert Burdon has said the song was written about an evening with Janis Joplin in San Francisco.
Eric Burdon: “Britain is not as aware of what we are trying to communicate as the Americans. The whole world still needs a kick up the pants – the Americans are one move ahead. The record company was afraid I would offend England if I released ‘San Franciscan Nights’. They thought I had offered enough insults to England.”
From Songfacts
1967 was the year of the “Summer of Love,” and San Francisco was a hot spot for Hippies. Along with “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair),” “San Franciscan Nights” was a popular ode to the city in those turbulent times.
The Animals were from England, but were welcomed in America along with other British Invasion groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. They wrote this song themselves, which takes a stand against the Vietnam War. Looking back on the song in our 2010 interview, Animals lead singer Eric Burdon said: “The ‘Love Generation’ helped the anti-war stance in the states. It certainly turned a lot of soldiers’ heads around, making them wonder why they had to be out fighting a war when back home their girlfriends were frolicking around and it caused a lot of anguish on that level. Maybe it helped politically with the so-called enemy. I’m not sure.”
San Franciscan Nights
This following program is dedicated to the city and people of San Francisco, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so Is their city this is a very personal song, so if the viewer Cannot understand it particularly those of you who are European Residents save up all your bread and fly trans love airways to San Francisco U.S.A., then maybe you’ll understand the song, it Will be worth it, if not for the sake of this song but for the Sake of your own peace of mind.
Strobe lights beam create dreams Walls move minds do too On a warm San Franciscan night Old child young child feel alright On a warm San Franciscan night Angels sing leather wings Jeans of blue Harley Davidsons too On a warm San Franciscan night Old angels young angels feel alright On a warm San Franciscan night.
I wasn’t born there perhaps I’ll die there There’s no place left to go, San Franciscan.
Cop’s face is filled with hate Heavens above he’s on a street called love When will they even learn Old cop young cop feel alright On a warm San Franciscan night The children are cool They don’t raise fools It’s an American dream Includes indians too.
Vanishing Point fulfills my thriller portion of the draft.
This 1971 movie was brought up in 2007 by Quentin Tarantino’s movie Death Proof. In Death Proof, one of the leading characters hero-worships and repeatedly refers to Vanishing Point’s protagonist, Kowalski, who is a car delivery driver.
This movie has a lot of symbolism. It took me a few times it to put it together…and I’m still finding things that I missed.
I was a kid in the 70s and Kowalski reminds me of my dad back then… he looked, and dressed like Kowalski. To describe Kowalski I’ll use what was in the original trailer:
“Name. Kowalski. Occupation. Driver. Transporting a supercharged Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. Background, metal of honor in Vietnam. Former stock car and bike racer. Former cop, dishonorably discharged. Now he uses speed to get himself up. To get himself – gone.”
The whole movie is Kowalski, Barry Newman, driving someone else’s white 1970 Dodge Challenger through the desert after making a bet with his drug dealer that he can’t reach SF in less than 12 hours. He takes a few detours and as the movie goes along you learn about his past through flashbacks. You see that he has been surrounded by death his whole life. You start seeing why he ended up here.
Cleavon Little plays a blind radio DJ (Super Soul ) that can somehow communicate with Kowalski but it is never explained how or why. What does Cleavon’s character represent? Kowalski is a decent man but not perfect. You could call him an anti-hero. He is prepared to die rather than give in to the establishment. A loner, he rejects the norms of both culture and counter-culture…he doesn’t fit anywhere. He is his own man but I’m not sure if he knows who he is.
When I first watched it in the 80s…I thought it was a cool car movie from the seventies with chases. Well yes it is but within the first few minutes when you see two cars passing by each other going opposite directions…something is wrong with the picture. You know Kowalski is in one car and a few minutes later…you wonder if he was in the other also.
It’s the kind of movie that I would love to watch with all of you just to see what you thought about different parts of it.
The 70s gave us some great car movies. Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry, Gone in 60 Seconds (the original one), Macon County Line, and I could continue…this movie is not one of those although I like those also. For the car lover in me…ok the 70 Dodge Challenger is really cool not only to see but to hear.
The one flaw in some versions is the deleted scene. I do have one unusual request…if you see the movie which I really hope you do. Go to youtube and watch the deleted scene that was in the UK version but left out of the American version at the time…my only guess is because of pot smoking. Kowalski picks up a female hitch hiker at night.
As soon as the movie ends watch that scene. To find it you can search for “Charlotte Rampling’s Scene in Vanishing Point” in youtube. It’s pretty clear what Charlotte Rampling’s character symbolizes… and to me it’s important to that film and should be in every version. I had to hunt down a version that had it. Hopefully your version does.
The stand out actors? Barry Newman, Dean Jagger, and Cleavon Little…and the Dodge Challenger! You also get a musical surprise in the desert…Bonnie and Delaney make an appearance as gospel singers…which they were known to be. My biggest question after watching this was why wasn’t Barry Newman a bigger star? I also cannot leave out Charlotte Rampling…in that 7 minute scene she is great.
One note… Director Richard C. Sarafian’s original choice for the role of Kowalski was Gene Hackman, but the studio, “20th Century Fox,” insisted on using Barry Newman if the movie was going to be made. As much as I like Gene Hackman…they made the right casting choice in this movie.
Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, was also known as “Bruddah Iz” or “IZ.” I first heard him on the show Life On Mars with just his voice and ukulele. His name is pronounced “Ka-MA-ka-VEE-vo-oh-lay” and it means “the fearless eye, the bold face” in the Hawaiian
Kamakawiwoʻole was born in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Before launching his solo career in 1990, he performed with his brother Skippy as part of the successful group The Makaha Sons of Niʻihau. .
After years of popularizing Hawaiian music, Kamakawiwo’ole recorded his solo album Ka ‘Ano’i in 1990. on the album is”Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World,” a medley combining the songs “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World,” made famous by Louis Armstrong in 1967.
Although Kamakawiwo’ole’s 1990 solo album included “Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World,” it’s not the version that most people remember. The acoustic version, with Kamakawiwo’ole on vocals and ukelele, was recorded a few years prior and kept in a recording studio’s archives until the release of his 1993 follow-up, Facing Future.
In 1988, recording studio manager Milan Bertosa was wrapping a long day at 3 a.m. when the phone rang. A regular client had called on behalf of Kamakawiwo’ole, who had an idea he desperately wanted to see through. Bertosa was then put on the phone with Kamakawiwo’ole, whom Bertosa remembers as “this really sweet man, well-mannered, just kind.”
“Please, can I come in?” Kamakawiwo’ole kindly asked. Bertosa relented.
About 15 minutes later, there’s a knock on Bertosa’s door. “And in walks the largest human being I had seen in my life,” Bertosa told NPR. Throughout his life, Kamakawiwo’ole suffered obesity, weighing as much as 757 pounds.
“The first thing at hand is to find something for him to sit on,” Bertosa remembered. Someone from building security gave Israel a big steel chair. “Then I put up some microphones, do a quick soundcheck, roll tape, and the first thing he does is ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’ He played and sang, one take, and it was over.” The next day Bertosa gave a copy for Israel and kept the master for himself. Over time, he found himself playing Kamakawiwo’ole’s recording for family and friends. “It was that special,” he said. “Whatever was going on that night, he was inspired. It was like we just caught the moment.”
In 1993 Bertosa was working on Kamakawawiwo’ole’s next album, Facing Future. On the last few days of recording, he felt something was missing. So Bertosa dug up that 3 a.m. recording, played it for producer Jon de Mello (who was won over), and it was added to Facing Future.
The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard World Music charts. By 2002, the record had sold 500,000 copies—the first Hawaiian-produced album to go gold—and was certified platinum, selling over 1 million copies by 2005.
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole died on June 26, 1997, at the age of 38, before he gained his vast popularity. He had suffered from morbid obesity his entire life. He died of respiratory failure. He was laid in honor in Hawaii’s Capitol building, and his ashes were later scattered into the ocean. He left behind his wife and teenage daughter.
This was written by Bob Thiele and George Weiss. Thiele was a producer for ABC records, and Weiss was a songwriter who helped create the hit version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
What A Wonderful World
I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself what a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do They’re really saying I love you
I hear babies crying, I watch them grow They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know And I think to myself what a wonderful world Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 