Badfinger (Max)

Beatles – Got To Get You Into My Life

This song still sounds fresh today. Got To Get You Into My Life was on Revolver released in 1966. It was not released as a single at the time. Any other band would have released it as a single.

In 1976 it was released as a single and peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100…not bad for a song that was 10 years old. It was released off of the horribly packaged compilation album Rock and Roll Music. Capital Records seemed to forget The Beatles represented the 60s, not the 50s that the album cover represented. They probably wanted to capitalize on the 50s revival that was going on at the time… Bad Choice.

I owned this album and Hey Jude Again for my first exposure to the Beatles.

There is a 5 piece horn section on this recording that sounds great. Paul McCartney has said the song was about pot…

“’Got To Get You Into My Life’ was one I wrote when I had first been introduced to pot. I’d been a rather straight working-class lad but when we started to get into pot it seemed to me to be quite uplifting. It didn’t seem to have too many side effects like alcohol or some of the other stuff, like pills, which I pretty much kept off. I kind of liked marijuana. I didn’t have a hard time with it and to me it was mind-expanding, literally mind-expanding.”

“So ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ is really a song about that, it’s not to a person, it’s actually about pot. It’s saying, ‘I’m going to do this. This is not a bad idea.’ So it’s actually an ode to pot, like someone else might write an ode to chocolate or a good claret. It wouldn’t be the first time in history someone’s done it, but in my case it was the first flush of pot.”

From Songfacts

This beatific love song is actually about marijuana. Paul McCartney cleared this up in his 1998 book Many Years From Now when he explained that it was not about a particular person, but his desire to smoke pot. “I’d been a rather straight working-class lad but when we started to get into pot it seemed to me to be quite uplifting,” he said.

There are no obvious drug references in the song, so it appears to be about a guy who is blissfully in love:

Ooh, then I suddenly see you
Ooh, did I tell you I need you
Every single day of my life

A British rock group called Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers released this song as a single around the same time it appeared on the The Beatles Revolver album. Bennett & The Rebel Rousers were an opening act for The Beatles on their European tour in early 1966; since there were no plans to release “Got To Get You Into My Life” as a single, Paul McCartney encouraged them to record it and produced the session.

Revolver appeared on August 5, 1966 and the Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers version of this song showed up on the UK chart for the first time on August 17, rising to #6 on September 21. It ended up being the biggest hit for the group, which made #9 in 1964 with “One Way Love.”

Session musicians played trumpets and sax. It was the first time horns were used in a Beatles song.

Earth, Wind & Fire recorded a funky new version for the 1978 movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Beatles producer George Martin was in charge of the music, and the soundtrack was a success, but the movie, which starred Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees and Aerosmith, was a huge flop. Earth, Wind & Fire’s version of this hit #9 in the US.

The first group to chart with this song was Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose horn-heavy version made #62 in the summer of 1975. The Beatles version wasn’t issued as a single until 1976, when Capitol Records issued it in America backed with “Helter Skelter.”

This version went to #7 in July that year, becoming the first Beatles song to chart in the US since 1970. Later in 1976, Capitol issued “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” which made #49.

John Lennon thought this was some of McCartney’s best work.

In the ’60s, Joe Pesci was an aspiring singer known as Joe Ritchie. He recorded a version of this that can be found on Rhino’s “Golden Throat” Series. His version merits the “Stick to Acting” award. >>

This song rarely licensed for movies or TV. The only time the Beatles rendition was used in a film is the 2015 movie Minions, where it plays under the end credits. In 2009, a version by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs appeared in the Eddie Murphy movie Imagine That, and in 2013 Kurt Hummel and Chris Colfer sang it on the “Love, Love, Love” episode of the TV series Glee.

Got To Get You Into My Life

I was alone, I took a ride
I didn’t know what I would find there
Another road where maybe I
Could see another kind of mind there
Ooh, then I suddenly see you
Ooh, did I tell you I need you
Every single day of my life

You didn’t run, you didn’t hide
And had you gone, you knew in time
We’d meet again for I had told you
Ooh, you were meant to be near me
Ooh, and I want you to hear me
Say we’ll be together every day
Got to get you into my life

What can I do, what can I be
When I’m with you I want to stay there
If I’m true I’ll never leave
And if I do I know the way there
Ooh, then I suddenly see you
Ooh, did I tell you I need you
Every single day of my life
Got to get you into my life

Boz Scaggs – Lido Shuffle

I have always liked this song. It was forever before I knew the name. Lido Shuffle peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100, #5 Canada, #13 in the UK in 1977.

Boz Scaggs met Steve Miller in 1959 and they played in various bands together. He then traveled to London, Sweden, and San Francisco and hooked back up with Miller again and played in the Steve Miller Band for their first two albums. He signed with Columbia Records in 1972. This song was on his platinum album Silk Degrees released in 1976 which peaked at #2 in the Billboard album charts.

Boz Scaggs wrote this song with David Paich, who was also his co-writer on “Lowdown.” Scaggs said: “‘Lido’ was a song that I’d been banging around. And I kind of stole… well, I didn’t steal anything. I just took the idea of the shuffle. There was a song that Fats Domino did called ‘The Fat Man’ that had a kind of driving shuffle beat that I used to play on the piano, and I just started kind of singing along with it. Then I showed it to Paich and he helped me fill it out. It ended up being ‘Lido Shuffle.'”

From Songfacts

The song is about a drifter looking for a big score. Scaggs and Paich were both very good at crafting songs with intriguing storylines using words and phrases that don’t often show up in a lyric: “A tombstone bar,” “makin’ like a beeline…”

The name Lido is very unusual as well. From the perspective of songcraft, it’s very versatile, allowing the singer to get clear vocal sounds and follow with the “whoa-oh-oh-oh” hook. Kenny Loggins did something similar on his song “Footloose,” writing the character “Milo” into it (“Woah… Milo, come on, come on let’s go”).

The last single from Silk Degrees, this wasn’t released until about a year after the album was issued. The first single, “It’s Over,” peaked in May 1976; “Lido Shuffle” didn’t reach its chart peak until May 1977. The Silk Degrees album was a slow burner, gradually gaining momentum and selling over 5 million copies.

The song’s co-writer David Paich played keyboards on this track. Scaggs played guitar, bass was handled by David Hungate, and Jeff Porcaro played drums. Paich, Hungate and Porcaro would soon form the band Toto.

Lido Shuffle

Lido missed the boat that day he left the shack
But that was all he missed
And he ain’t comin’ back

At a tombstone bar, in a juke joint car he made a stop
Just long enough to grab a handle off the top

Next stop Chi town, Lido put the money down, let ’em roll
He said one more job ought to get it
One last shot ‘fore we quit it
One for the road

Lido
Whoah oh oh oh
He’s for the money, he’s for the show
Lido’s waitin’ for the go, Lido
Whoah oh oh oh oh oh
He said one more job ought to get it
One last shot ‘fore we quit it
One more for the road

Lido will be runnin’, havin’ great big funnin’ till he got the note
Sayin’ toe the line or blow it and that was all she wrote

He’ll be makin’ like a bee line, headin’ for the border line, goin’ for broke
Sayin’ one more hit ought to do it
This joint ain’t nothin’ to it
One more for the road

Lido
Whoah oh oh oh
He’s for the money, he’s for the show
Lido’s waitin’ for the go, Lido
Whoah oh oh oh oh oh
One more job ought to get it
One last shot then we quit it
One more for the road

Lido
Woah oh oh oh
He’s for the money, he’s for the show
Lido’s waitin’ for the go, Lido
Woah oh oh oh oh oh
One more job ought to get it

A quick look at Gomer Pyle USMC and Frank Sutton

I watched a few episodes this weekend. The show has a local connection for me because of Frank Sutton.

The show ran from 1964 to 1969 and was a spinoff from The Andy Griffith Show. The character of Gomer Pyle was portrayed by Jim Nabors and he left The Andy Griffith Show in the 4th season in an episode entitled Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

Gomer was a naive country boy from Mayberry North Carolina who joined the Marines and Andy went with him for the induction and helped the clueless Gomer get accepted. Frank Sutton played quick tempered Sgt Carter who would be tormented by Gomer Pyle for five seasons. I would watch the show as a kid and I thought Sgt Carter was mean to Gomer…as an adult I could understand if Carter would have choked him.

The show was a major hit. It never placed lower than 10 in the Neilson ratings. In 1969 Jim Nabors wanted out because he wanted to do a variety show. No one could understand why he wanted out of a hit show but he wanted to be in a program where he could sing, dance, and do different bits.

CBS offered Nabors a variety show so he was happy. They also offered Frank Sutton his own show Sergeant Carter–USMC. It would employ a black recruit who, unlike Gomer, would always be one step ahead of the Sergeant. It could have been a big hit but he turned it down because he felt like he did everything he could do with the character.

Sutton ended up co-starring with Nabors on his variety show and Sutton worked well in the comedy bits but was not a dancer or singer. CBS told Nabors he had to fire Sutton but Nabors refused and the show was canceled.

The local connection with Sutton is he was born in Clarksville Tennessee, a few miles from where I live. Sutton appeared in movies and shows from the 50s thru the 70s. The Twilight Zone, Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Route 66 and many more.

He took acting in East Nashville High School and graduated in 1941.

After high school, Sutton returned to Clarksville to become a radio announcer. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and served in the South Pacific, taking part in 14 assault landings. Sutton was a sergeant who served from 1943–1946 in the 293rd Joint Assault Signal Company. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart; he had been medically rejected by the Marine Corps.

Frank, a heavy smoker, would only live to be 50. He would die of a heart attack in 1974 just a few months shy of his 51st birthday. In 2017 a statue of Frank Sutton was unveiled in Clarksville Tn. Here is a link to the story of the unveiling. Statue of Frank Sutton in Clarksville.

This is an interview with Frank Sutton that was never published around the time of the variety show.

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

Joe Cocker – You Are So Beautiful

A beautiful song by Joe Cocker. It was written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher. Billy’s inspiration was his mom. The song was on Preston’s on his 1974 album The Kids and Me and was the B-side of his hit single “Nothing From Nothing.” Producer Jim Price created a slow arrangement for Cocker’s cover. The song was on Cocker’s album was on I Can Stand a Little Rain.

This was originally released as the B-side of “Put Out the Light,” which was the first single from the album. After a few weeks, A&M Records flipped the songs, and “You Are So Beautiful” became the A-side.

You Are So Beautiful peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 in 1975. The song is beautiful and the slowed down tempo fits Joe Cocker’s voice perfectly. It is one of those songs that is instantly recognizable.

From Songfacts

This Billy Preston/Bruce Fisher song was first recorded by Preston

Fisher was Preston’s songwriting partner and he co-wrote both of Preston’s American chart-toppers, “Will It Go Round In Circles” and “Nothing From Nothing.”

This is one of the more romantic songs out there, but Billy Preston wrote it as a tribute to his mother, a fact that embarrassed Sam Moore, half of the soul duo Sam & Dave, who often performed the tune to attract girls. After bragging to Preston about his exploits with the song, Preston finally set him straight. “You never understood after that how stupid I felt,” Moore told BBC Radio 4 in 2010. Moore still recorded it for his 2006 solo album, Overnight Sensational, with Preston on keyboards and Eric Clapton and Zucchero on guitar.

Legend surrounding “You are So Beautiful” claims that Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys helped Preston complete it. Wilson received no songwriting credits but he sang this song for many years at Beach Boys concerts.

This was used in the 1993 movie Carlito’s Way and in the 1981 film Modern Romance.

Cocker sang this at Billy Preston’s funeral in 2006.

This is one of the most-recognized songs in America, but it didn’t crack the chart in Joe Cocker’s native UK.

You Are So Beautiful

You are so beautiful
To me
You are so beautiful
To me
Can’t you see

You’re everything I hope for
You’re everything I need
You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me

You are so beautiful
To me
Can’t you see
You’re everything I hope for
You’re every, everything I need
You are so beautiful to me

Kinks – A Well Respected Man

Musically this is a sing-along song but the lyrics are full of social satire and anger. The Kinks record company Pye did not release this song in the UK at the time because they wanted harder songs like “You Really Got Me.” It was released in other countries and peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100 in 1965.

I first heard this song on a Kinks complication album along with “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” and The Kinks earlier songs. A Well Respected Man marked a turning point in Davies’s writing from rock/punk to more satirical, character-driven songs.

From Songfacts

Kinks frontman Ray Davies wrote this song after the group’s 1965 tour of the United States. The tour did not go well, with infighting, fatigue and a conflict with the musician’s union that kept them from performing in the country for another four years.Davies recovered from the tour with a vacation at the English resort town of Torquay, Devon. There, a wealthy hotel guest recognized him and asked Ray to play a round of golf. Far from being flattered by the invitation, he took great offense. “I’m not gonna play f–king golf with you,” he told him. “I’m not gonna be your caddy so you can say you played with a pop singer.”

Dense with lyrics describing the pretentious gentleman born to good fortune, Ray Davies says this was the first “word-oriented” song he wrote.

A Well Respected Man

Cause he gets up in the morning,
And he goes to work at nine,
And he comes back home at five-thirty,
Gets the same train every time.
‘Cause his world is built ’round punctuality,
It never fails.

And he’s oh, so good,
And he’s oh, so fine,
And he’s oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
He’s a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

And his mother goes to meetings,
While his father pulls the maid,
And she stirs the tea with councilors,
While discussing foreign trade,
And she passes looks, as well as bills
At every suave young man

‘Cause he’s oh, so good,
And he’s oh, so fine,
And he’s oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
He’s a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

And he likes his own backyard,
And he likes his fags the best,
‘Cause he’s better than the rest,
And his own sweat smells the best,
And he hopes to grab his father’s loot,
When Pater passes on.

‘Cause he’s oh, so good,
And he’s oh, so fine,
And he’s oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
He’s a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

And he plays at stocks and shares,
And he goes to the Regatta,
And he adores the girl next door,
‘Cause he’s dying to get at her,
But his mother knows the best about
The matrimonial stakes.

‘Cause he’s oh, so good,
And he’s oh, so fine,
And he’s oh, so healthy,
In his body and his mind.
He’s a well respected man about town,
Doing the best things so conservatively.

The Beau Brummels – Laugh Laugh

A garage band song released in the wake of the Beatles… It was written by written by guitarist Ron Elliott. They were as among the first wave of San Francisco groups to make the Charts. Laugh Laugh resembled the British Invasion songs that were dominating the charts at the time.

At the height of the band’s popularity, the Beau Brummels were seen as teen idols. The band appeared on several television productions such as American Bandstand, Shindig!, Hullabaloo and the cartoon series The Flintstones (as the animated version of themselves, the Beau Brummelstones). They appeared in movies as well, such as Village of the Giants and Wild, Wild Winter.

“Laugh, Laugh” became the Beau Brummels’ first hit, peaking at #15 on the Billboard 100 in 1965.

Laugh Laugh

I hate to say it but I told you so, don’t mind my preachin’ to you
I said “don’t trust ’em, baby” now you know
You don’t know ev’rything there is to know in school.
Wouldn’t believe me when I gave advice, I said that he was a tease
If you want help you better ask me now
So be sincere, convince me with a “pretty please”

Laugh, laugh, I thought I’d die
It seemed so funny to me
Laugh, laugh you met a guy who taught you how it feels to be
Lonely, oh so lonely

Don’t think I’m bein’ funny when I say you got just what you deserve
I can’t help feeling you found out today
You thought you would, you could, you had a lot of nerve

Won’t say I’m sorry for the things I said. I’m glad he packed up to go
You kept on braggin’ he was yours instead
Found you don’t know ev’rything there is to know

Laugh, laugh, I thought I’d die
It seemed so funny to me
Laugh, laugh you met a guy who taught you how it feels to be
Lonely, oh so lonely

Before I go I got to say one thing, don’t close your ears to me
Take my advice and you find out that he
Is just another guy who’ll cause you misery
Don’t say you can’t get any boy to call, do be so smug or else
You’ll find you can’t get any boy a’tall
You’ll wind up an old lady sittin’ on the shelf.

Laugh, laugh, I thought I’d die
It seemed so funny to me
Laugh, laugh you met a guy who taught you how it feels to be
Lonely, oh so lonely

Lonely, oh so lonely

The Traveling Wilburys – Tweeter and the Monkey Man

One of my favorite Dylan songs of the 1980s. Tweeter and the Monkey Man has a cool story and he sprinkles references to Bruce Springsteen songs all through it. The songwriting credit went to all of the Wilburys and George Harrison remembered Bob and Tom writing it and George didn’t understand a lot of it because of the American references. Jeff Lynne and George contributed to the chorus.

It’s a story of two drug dealers, Tweeter and the Monkey Man and an undercover cop chasing them…and to add more drama the undercover cop who had a sister named Jan…and she loved the Monkey Man. it also contains an excellent lyric… In Jersey anything’s legal as long as you don’t get caught.”

Tom Petty talked about the Bruce Springsteen references, “It was not meant to mock him at all. It started with Bob Dylan saying, ‘I want to write a song about a guy named Tweeter. And it needs somebody else.’ I said, ‘The Monkey Man.’ And he says, ‘Perfect, ‘Tweeter and the Monkey Man.” And he said, ‘Okay, I want to write the story and I want to set it in New Jersey.’ “I was like, ‘OK, New Jersey.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, we could use references to Bruce Springsteen titles.’ He clearly meant it as praise.”

Tweeter and the Monkey Man

Tweeter and the Monkey Man were hard up for cash
They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash
To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan
For reasons unexplained she loved the Monkey Man

Tweeter was a boy scout before she went to Vietnam
And found out the hard way nobody gives a damn
They knew that they found freedom just across the Jersey Line
So they hopped into a stolen car took Highway 99