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 is the last Christmas song that I will feature…because right now people have had about enough Christmas songs in every restaurant, mall, and grocery store…this one I don’t hear as much.
I also want to thank everyone for dropping by here this year.
The Beatles recorded this in 1967 and wasn’t released until 1994 paired with “Free As A Bird”. It is a fun Christmas song that will stick in your head. The Beatles did not release a Christmas song commercially… only to their fan club when they were active.
Recorded December 6, 1966, and November 28, 1967, in London, England, this song was never officially released until it appeared as the B-side to “Free As A Bird” in 1994. The original version was distributed to The Beatles fan club in 1967. It’s the only song ever written specifically for the Beatles Fan Club members.
Many upbeat Pop groups of this era like The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons released Christmas songs, but The Beatles never had an official Christmas release.
Christmas time is here again
Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again
Ain’t been round since you know when Christmas time is here again O-U-T spells “out”
Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again
Ain’t been round since you know when Christmas time is here again O-U-T spells “out”
Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again Christmas time is here again
Ain’t been round since you know when Christmas time…[music continues and fades to background]
[spoken]
This is Paul McCartney here, I’d just like to wish you everything you wish yourself for Christmas.
This is John Lennon saying on behalf of the Beatles, have a very Happy Christmas and a good New Year.
George Harrison speaking. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas, listeners everywhere.
This is Ringo Starr and I’d just like to say Merry Christmas and a really Happy New Year to all listeners
[a John Lennon pastiche at this point, very hard to understand]
I’ve never had recipe’s on my blog but since it’s near Christmas I thought I would stick with my usual theme and post this dessert that is associated with the 1970s.
I’ve never been a big Eddie Money fan but this is one of his songs I like. This one has an old west theme and I like the guitar. The song is off of his album Life for the Taking released in 1978.
Johnny Cash covered this song live at times… Eddie Money “I had a song called ‘Give Me Some Water,’ and when I was told that Johnny Cash put it in his set — I was on Cloud Nine,” Money said. “I mean this is the guy who ‘Walked the Line!’”
Gimme Some Water
Mama never understood what it’s like for a losing man When her number one son goes bad playing cards with the Devil’s Hand Daddy got real sick so quick – four walls never understand I was the one who got good with the gun – took the money from the rich man’s land
Give me some water ’cause I shot a man on the Mexican border Cool, cool water Give me some water I need a little water
Jimmy grew up so fast and he met me at the pass one day Said, “You’re a wanted man. Take your brother’s hand – I’ll be running with you, anyway.” So we rode late in the night like fires on the desert sand ’til one day the posse caught us ’cause the sheriff always gets his man
Give me some water ’cause I killed a man on the Mexican border Cool, cool water I need a little water
Oh, geeze, if I just get loose my hands I’d run just as fast as my legs can But, Lord, I’ve got no room to run Shouldn’t have done what I did without that gun
Give me some water ’cause I killed a man on the Mexican border Cool, cool water
Can’t you see that long, white rope hanging from the hangman’s tree Take the restless horse; tie may hands, of course; tell my mother that I’m finally free Let me die like a man – no one understands; let me pray that a poor man pray Smack that horse in the ass; with my last dying gasp my brother could hear me say
Give me some water ’cause I shot a man on the Mexican border Cool, cool water Give me some water
Give me some water ’cause I shot a man on the Mexican border Cool, cool water Give me some water
Give me some water ’cause I shot a man on the Mexican border Cool, cool water Give me some water
Give me some water ’cause I killed a man on the Mexican border Cool, sweet water Give me some water
Whenever I see a documentary or movie about the sixties this song usually is playing somewhere in it. The Youngbloods charted with this song twice. #62 in 1967 and #5 in 1969.
Many artists including The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, and The Dave Clark Five covered it. Renewed interest in the Youngbloods’ version came when it was used in a radio public service announcement as a call for brotherhood by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The Youngbloods’ version, the most-remembered today, was re-released in 1969, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
This song has a very convoluted origin story. It was written as “Let’s Get Together” by Chester Powers, who recorded as Dino Valenti. He died in 1994 at age 57, stricken with a brain mass that required surgery. Raised by carnival performers who did a vaudeville-style act in the off-season, he was constantly on the move. A stint in the Air Force didn’t take, so he tried his hand at music, making his way to Greenwich Village, New York, where the folk scene was taking shape. In the early ’60s, he moved to Los Angeles; he claimed he wrote the song in the summer of 1963 at the estate of the actress Edie Sedgwick, where he was staying. In the florid version of his tale, he was thinking about the power of music, and how he could use it to convey a powerful message: Relax. Smile at each other.
Valenti may have had more pragmatic aspirations, as he was working on songs he could sell or record to get his career going, and “Let’s Get Together” fit the mood of the times.
In 1964, The Kingston Trio became the first to record the song, including it on their album Back In Town (as “Let’s Get Together”). Later that year, the actor Hamilton Camp, who was taking a turn as a folk singer, included it on his album Paths of Victory (as “Get Together”).
In 1965, the California group We Five were the first to release the song as a single, taking it to #31 in the US (as “Let’s Get Together”). This same year, Powers was arrested three times: the first two busts for marijuana possession, the third for speed. In 1966, Jefferson Airplane included the song (as “Let’s Get Together”) on their debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. The song became a fixture on the San Francisco music scene, with Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins sometimes performing it. This is around the time Powers began serving his one-to-ten-year sentence at Folsom Prison. He got out early in 1967 though a series of legal maneuvers that included a deal with Epic Records as a solo act – with his song making the rounds, the label was hot to have him on the roster. Signing him signified that he was worthy of parole, as he was less of a threat to society. This deal required a lawyer, which Powers paid for by selling the rights to “Get Together” to SFO Music.
Jesse Colin Young, who had been performing the song as a solo artist, released it with his band The Youngbloods in 1967. This release had little impact, peaking at #62 in America in October, somehow missing the Summer Of Love. Powers released his debut solo album (as Dino Valente) in 1968, but didn’t include “Get Together” on the track list (SFO would have earned the royalties).
“Get Together” stayed in the zeitgeist, with covers by Linda Ronstadt, The Sunshine Company, and The Staple Singers in 1968. But it didn’t break through as a hit until 1969, when The National Conference of Christians and Jews distributed it to radio and TV stations to support Brotherhood Week. At the time broadcasters were required to run public service announcements for the public good. Non-profit organizations vied for this airtime with messages that were often preachy (Don’t do drugs!) or unappealing (Have a rash? It could be a sign of something worse.). Brotherhood Week was a fun one, with this catchy tune in the background. These PSAs were very popular, and listeners started calling radio stations to ask about the song. This prompted The Youngbloods record company, RCA, to re-release it, and this time it was an undeniable hit, reaching #5 in September 1969.
When Rolling Stone asked Powers if he regretted selling the song, he answered, “A lot of people say I was stupid for selling all my rights to the song, but for ten years of my life, man, I can write another song.”
Here are the charting versions of the song in America:
1965: We Five (#31) 1967: The Youngbloods (#62) 1968: The Sunshine Company (#112) 1969: The Youngbloods (#5) 1996: Big Mountain (#44)
Other acts to cover the song include Anne Murray, Skeeter Davis, Indigo Girls and Wilson Phillips.
This song was the last of The Dave Clark Five‘s eight Top Ten UK hits, reaching #8 when they recorded it as “Everybody Get Together” in 1970. The backing vocals on their version were done by the students of the Central London School of Speech and Drama. Included amongst the backing vocalists was one Peter Davison who went on to star in the BBC TV series All Creatures Great And Small, 1977-79, and as the fifth Dr. Who, 1982-84. This was the only version of the song to have much impact in the UK.
Early versions of this song were done in a folk style at a medium tempo. The Yardbirds version was slower, with a memorable acoustic guitar intro.
This song has been used in a number of TV shows and movies, notably Forrest Gump, where it was part of a soundtrack that sold over 12 million copies. Other films to use the song include:
Pump Up the Volume (1990) Radio Flyer (1992) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) Riding the Bullet (2004) Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
TV shows include:
Baywatch (“Lost and Found” – 1996) 3rd Rock from the Sun (“Dick on a Roll” – 1998) Cold Case (“Volunteers” – 2004) The Simpsons (“Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?” – 2009)
In 2017, this was used in commercials for Blue Diamond almonds. It also featured in Walmart’s “Many Chairs, One Table” ad showing people of many ethnicities joining together for a meal.
The song’s writer, Dino Valenti (Chester Powers), was friends with the band Quicksilver Messenger Service and wrote “Dino’s Song,” made it onto their debut album. Valenti joined the group in 1969.
Get Together
Love is but a song to sing Fear’s the way we die You can make the mountains ring Or make the angels cry Though the bird is on the wing And you may not know why
Come on people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love one another Right now
Some may come and some may go We shall surely pass When the one that left us here Returns for us at last We are but a moment’s sunlight Fading in the grass
Come on people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love one another Right now
Come on people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love one another Right now
Come on people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love one another Right now
If you hear the song I sing You will understand (listen!) You hold the key to love and fear All in your trembling hand Just one key unlocks them both It’s there at your command
Come on people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love one another Right now
Come on people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love one another Right now
Come on people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love one another Right now
Love the tone of the guitar in this one. The song peaked at #61 in the Billboard 100 and #42 in the UK in 1968. The song is off of the album In Search of the Lost Chord.
John Lodge quote on writing Ride My See-Saw
“The song is really about growing up. It’s about what you learn at school and everything else…it’s pretty cool. But when you grow up and go into the real world, you can’t take that with you. You need to see what’s happening in the real world, and whatever you learned in life up until that time, it will give you a nice grounding so you can find your way in life. It’s really important that you’re aware of the world and what’s actually happening in it, and to try to relate to that. “Ride My See-Saw” is the fact that you’re going up and down—you learn a bit and you lose a bit. That’s what this song is about.”
“Ride My See-Saw” was written by John Lodge, bass player for The Moody Blues. It was one of two singles from their In Search of the Lost Chord album. The B-side of the single was “A Simple Game” in the UK “Voices In The Sky” in the US.
“Ride My See-Saw” has become one of the band’s most popular live tunes. It is the song regularly reserved for the finale performance in stage shows, with a lengthy keyboard and drum duet before the rest of the band comes out onstage for the encore.
This song was one of the first single releases to be recorded on 8-track multi-track tape.
In Search of the Lost Chord is a concept album around a broad theme of quest and discovery. This song found the Moodies exploring knowledge in a changing world.
Ride My See-Saw
Ride, ride my see-saw, Take this place On this trip Just for me.
Ride, take a free ride, Take my place Have my seat It’s for free.
I worked like a slave for years, Sweat so hard just to end my fears. Not to end my life a poor man, But by now, I know I should have run.
Run, run my last race, Take my place Have this number Of mine.
Run, run like a fire, Don’t you run in In the lanes Run for time.
Left school with a first class pass, Started work but as second class. School taught one and one is two. But right now, that answer just ain’t true.
One of the most surreal shows to ever be on television.
I was too young to catch this show when it was on originally. I never thought too much of it but I started to watch it later on in life. At first look, it looked like a rural show with country humor….wrong wrong wrong. Yes, it was wacky but it broke through the 4th wall… You can see it’s influenced in the Simpsons and more shows. Poor Oliver was surrounded by crazy people and the craziness infected him at times. The show takes place in the fictional town of Hooterville…they never reveal the state but it doesn’t matter. The characters of this show were classic.
It’s really hard to describe this show. It was intertwined with 2 other shows…The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction…BUT it’s nothing like those other two. Not in the same zip code or planet…
Drums… one of the loudest widest drum sound I have ever heard. The song just rolls through you. The song was off of the classic Led Zeppelin IV album. John Bonham’s drums were recorded in a stairwell at Headley Grange with the microphones planted 3 stories up. The drum sound echoed skyward and was captured on the mics, creating a very innovative and distinctive sound
The song was an old blues song (big surprise) written by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie (Lizzie Douglas) but Zeppelin did credit them on this one.
The lyrics to this song (written by Memphis Minnie in 1927) are based on The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. African-American plantation workers were forced to work on the levee at gunpoint, piling sandbags to save the neighboring towns. Hence the lyrics, “I works on the levee, mama both night and day, I works so hard, to keep the water away.” After the levee breached, blacks were not allowed to leave the area, and were forced to work in the relief and cleanup effort, living in camps with limited access to the supplies which were coming in. Many left at the first chance since there was no work in the Delta after the destruction of all of the plantations; hence the lyrics, “Oh cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do no good” and “I’s a mean old levee, cause me to weep and moan, gonna leave my baby, and my happy home” >>
Memphis Minnie McCoy (born Lizzie Douglas), was a Blues artist who recorded this in 1929. Robert Plant had the record in his collection. >>
Heavily produced in the studio, this was difficult to perform live, which Led Zeppelin did only twice: once in a “warm up” gig in Denmark before their 1975 US tour, and again on their second night in Chicago.
The vocals were processed differently on each verse, sometimes with phasing added.
Jimmy Page’s backward echo technique, where he would put the echo ahead of the sound, was used on the harmonica.
Was very difficult to mix, and due to extensive processing, is best appreciated with headphones.
Many rap songs have sampled the drums on this. For sampling purposes, this is great because of the clean, uninterrupted drum break at the beginning. The Beastie Boys used it on “Rymin’ And Stealin'” which opened their first album License To Ill. Other songs to use it include “Lyrical Gangbang” by Dr. Dre and “Beats And Pieces” by Coldcut.
The song was recorded at a different tempo, then slowed it down. Plant then sang in the sort of in between key the song was now in, which explains its sort of flat and sludgy sound, particularly on the harmonica and guitar solos. This also made it very difficult to accurately reproduce live.
This song was the only one on the album that was not remixed after a supposedly disastrous mixing job in the US (the rest of the tracks were mixed again in England). The original mixing done on this song seemed to suit it very well, so it was kept in its original form.
A Perfect Circle covered this on their third album Emotive. The album is made up of covers that changed normal upbeat songs into very dark political songs. >>
Since 75 years have passed since Memphis Minnie’s version was recorded in 1929, the song is now in the public domain, meaning anyone can record it without paying royalties. >>
Page and Plant played an acoustic version on their 1995 No Quarter tour, swapping it with “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” at times. >>
Jason Bonham said to Q magazine of his father’s contribution to this song: “It’s the drum intro of the Gods. You could play it anywhere and people would know it’s John Bonham. I never had the chance to tell dad how amazing he was – he was just dad.”
Page used his Danelectro guitar for the slide guitar part.
When the Levee Breaks
If it keeps on rainin’ levee’s goin’ to break If it keeps on rainin’ levee’s goin’ to break When the levee breaks I’ll have no place to stay. Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan Lord mean old levee taught me to weep and moan Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home Oh well oh well oh well. Don’t it make you feel bad When you’re tryin’ to find your way home You don’t know which way to go? If you’re goin’ down South They go no work to do, If you don’t know about Chicago. Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good, Now, cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good, When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move. All last night sat on the levee and moaned, All last night sat on the levee and moaned, Thinkin’ ’bout me baby and my happy home. Going, go’n’ to Chicago, Go’n’ to Chicago, Sorry but I can’t take you. Going down, going down now, going down going down now, going down, going down, going down, going down Going down, going down now, going down going down now, going down going down now, going down Going d-d-d-d-down Woo woo
This is a great Christmas song that was released in 1973 and ever since it re-enters the charts every December in the UK. The song never hit in America but it went to #1 in the UK Charts. I first heard it on a Doctor Who episode in the mid-2000s and have liked it ever since.
This went straight in at #1 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies on the day of its release, making it at the time the fastest ever selling record in Britain. It eventually became Slade’s best-ever selling single in the UK, selling over a million copies.
This was based on a psychedelic song, “My Rocking Chair,” which Noddy Holder wrote in 1967. In 1973 the Slade vocalist decided to convert it into a Christmas song after a night out drinking at a local pub. He and the band’s bass player and co-writer Jimmy Lea camped out at Noddy’s mother’s house and got down to changing the lyrics to make them more Christmassy. Jimmy Lea incorporated into the verse parts of another song which he was then writing and Noddy re-wrote the words incorporating different aspects of the Christmas holiday season as they came to mind.
When Noddy Holder wrote the line “Look to the future now, it’s only just begun,” he had in mind the strikes that were blighting Britain at the time. He told the Daily Mail On Sunday November 10, 2007: “We’d decided to write a Christmas song and I wanted to make it reflect a British family Christmas. Economically, the country was up the creek. The miners had been on strike, along with the gravediggers, the bakers and almost everybody else. I think people wanted something to cheer them up – and so did I. That’s why I came up with the line.”
The harmonium used on this is the same one that John Lennon used on his Mind Games album, which was being recorded at the studio next door.
This was recorded at the Record Plant studios in New York while the band were on a tour of the States in the summer of 1973. When they recorded the vocals, they sang the chorus on the stairs in order to achieve the echo that they required. Guitarist Jimmy Lea recalled to Uncut magazine in 2012: “All these Americans were walking past in their suits thinking we were off our rockers singing about Christmas in the summer.”
Producer Chas Chandler opened the song with a howl recorded during some of Noddy Holder’s vocal exercises.
In the UK this has become a standard, and it is usually reissued in its original form each Christmas. On several occasions, the song has re-entered the Top 40.
A few months before Slade recorded this song, drummer Don Powell was badly injured in a car crash. Though his physical recovery was quick, the mental scars took longer to heal. Noddy Holder explained to The Daily Mail December 18, 2009: “The doctors told us to get him playing drums again as soon as possible to boost his confidence. But he was suffering from short-term memory loss – he could remember our old songs, but not the new ones. So, instead of recording live, we built up Merry Xmas Everybody layer by layer. That gave it a more poignant, restrained sound. It was something new for us. But the fates were with us and it became our biggest hit.”
Noddy Holder explained to Q magazine January 2013 how the song was originally inspired by The Beatles: “I wrote the original verse with the lyrics, ‘Buy me a rocking chair, I’ll watch the world go by. Bring me a mirror, I’ll look you in the eye,’ in 1967 in the aftermath of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper,” he said. I was being psychedelic. Dave (Hill) wrote another part to the song but it didn’t work so we put it away. Then in 1973 he remembered my verse one day when we were trying to write a Christmas single. We changed the words to, ‘Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall?’ and the rest fell into place.”
UK copyright collection society and performance rights organization PRS For Music estimated in 2009 that 42 percent of the earth’s population has heard this tune.
Noddy Holder’s earliest childhood memory served as inspiration for one of the song’s lines. He recalled to the Mail On Sunday’s Live magazine: “As a lad we used to knock sleds with old orange boxes and go tobogganing down this big old quarry in the snow at Christmas. It was the inspiration for the line ‘are you hoping that the snow will start to fall.'”
I want that hat he starts off with… in this video…very subtle.
Merry Christmas Everybody
Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall? It’s the time that every Santa has a ball Does he ride a red nosed reindeer? Does a ‘ton up’ on his sleigh Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?
Chorus: So here it is merry Christmas Everybody’s having fun Look to the future now It’s only just begun
Are you waiting for the family to arrive? Are you sure you got the room to spare inside? Does your granny always tell ya that the old are the best? Then she’s up and rock ‘n’ rollin’ with the rest
Chorus: So here it is merry Christmas Everybody’s having fun Look to the future now It’s only just begun
What will your daddy do When he sees your Mama kissin’ Santa Claus? Ah ah
Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall? Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall? Do you ride on down the hillside in a buggy you have made? When you land upon your head then you’ve been slayed
Chorus (4x) So here it is merry Christmas Everybody’s having fun Look to the future now It’s only just begun
I Love Lucy was huge in the fifties and helped start the modern sitcom. It is still popular to this day.
William Frawley and Vivian Vance portrayed Fred and Ethel Mertz on screen the landlords to Ricky and Lucy Ricardo. Ethel was Lucy’s friend and Fred was Ricky’s cheap best friend.
The on-screen chemistry between William Frawley (Fred Mertz) and Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz) on I Love Lucy is the stuff of sitcom legend. But behind the scenes, their relationship was far less warm, at times bordering on outright hostility. Though they never appeared together on The Lucy Show (Frawley had long since exited Lucille Ball’s TV orbit by then), their infamous off-screen dynamic continues to fuel stories to this day. Here’s a closer look at the Frawley–Vance feud, the moments that defined it, and how The Lucy Show played into their legacy.
In real life, things were not smooth at all between the two. The age difference between Frawley and Vance was 22 years. Vivian was overheard telling Lucy that no one would believe that she would be married to that old coot. Frawley overheard this and the relationship was born.
Desi Arnaz had wanted Frawley to play Fred, but he had a drinking problem, so Desi had to lecture Frawley about always being on time etc.
Vance was professional, had her lines learned, and was always on time. Frawley would learn his lines at the last minute while locked away in a hotel listening to a baseball game. He also had it in his contract that if the Yankees were in the World Series that he would get time off.
They would argue while rehearsing, and the director would have to settle it. Lucy and Desi would usually just ignore it.
After I Love Lucy went off the air, CBS offered Frawley and Vance a chance to star in a spin-off series called either Fred and Ethel or The Mertzes. Frawley, always in need of drinking money, was willing, but Vance refused, never wanting to work with him again. This supposedly infuriated Frawley.
While Vance was working on the new “The Lucy Show”, Frawley would sneak to the soundstage and drop film canisters loudly, deliberately ruining Vance’s scene and causing a re-take.
I will say this… whatever feud or dislike they had…their performances will forever be remembered.
Here are some quotes they gave about the other.
Frawley: “She’s one of the finest gals to come out of Kansas, and I often wish she’d go back there. I don’t know where she is now and she doesn’t know where I am. That’s exactly the way I like it.”
Vance: “I loathed William Frawley and the feeling was mutual. Whenever I received a new script, I raced through it, praying that there wasn’t a scene where we had to be in bed together.”
William Frawley died of a heart attack in 1966 at the age of 79. When she heard the news, Vivian Vance was dining in a restaurant. What she supposedly said after hearing the tragic news was: “Champagne for everybody!”
To be fair… Vivian Vance also said this when Frawley died… “There’s a great big amusing light gone out of this world.”
You do get the feeling that while they argued, they did respect each other.
This would make it in my own top 10 songs of all time. The tone of the guitars, harmonies and the perfect constructed chorus keeps me coming back listen after listen. The song is on Big Star’s album Number1 Record.
Most of the songs on the album could have been a single.
In a 1992 interview with Oor magazine, the songs’ co-writer Alex Chilton (who is credited along with Chris Bell) revealed that, whilst he felt that Big Star’s “music is still a triumph – some of the time,” he said “I didn’t understand how to make the right sound with my voice, so things like ‘Ballad Of El Goodo’ and ‘Thirteen’ could have been better.”
Though the song can be interpreted as a broad, abstract paean to anti-conformity and independence, the lyrics could more specifically allude to the Vietnam War. The first verse plays with the idiom “stick to your guns,” which could easily be literalized with the second verse:
“There’s people around who tell you that they know
The places where they send you, and it’s easy to go
They’ll zip you up and dress you down, stand you in a row
But you know you don’t have to
You can just say no”
The Vietnam War was seemingly important to Chilton. In an 2010 obituary for Nashvillescene.com following Chilton’s death, John “Bucky” Wilkin, lead singer and songwriter for ’60s surf rock group Ronny & the Daytonas, said: “Vietnam was the war we both related to, more on the level of the Buddhist priests who set themselves on fire in protest than as the American combat soldiers – both of us somehow being able to avoid the draft.”
In our 2013 interview, Big Star drummer Jody Stephens expressed how he felt the song revealed Chilton and Bell to be a cut above the average rock n’ roller: “All of a sudden I’m playing with these guys that can write songs that are as engaging to me as the people I’d grown up listening to, so I felt incredibly lucky.” He also singled out the song as one of his favorites to play.
Counting Crows covered the song for their 2012 album of covers Underwater Sunshine (or What we did on our Summer Vacation). In a 2012 interview with Paste magazine, frontman Adam Duritz said “One of the last changes we made was putting ‘The Ballad of El Goodo’ at the end of the record. I find it hard to follow that song on a record. I really love that song… it’s speaking about survival.”
The Ballad of El Goodo
Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh But I’ve been trying hard against unbelievable odds It gets so hard in times like now to hold on My guns they’re waiting to be stuck by At my side is God
And there ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
There’s people around who tell you that they know The places where they send you, and it’s easy to go They’ll zip you up and dress you down Stand you in a row But you know you don’t have to You could just say no
And there ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
I’ve been built up and trusted Broke down and busted But they’ll get theirs and we’ll get ours Just if we can Just, ah, hold on Hold on Hold on Hold on
Years ago my heart was set to live, oh But I’ve been trying hard against strong odds It gets so hard at times like now to hold on Well, I’ll fall if I don’t fight And at my side is God
Ain’t there no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Hold on Hold on Hold on Hold on
I’m not a huge Motorhead fan and it’s a bit harder music than I usually listen to… but I do like this song. I also like any interview of Lemmy I’ve ever listened to. After playing this for years, Lemmy admitted he was sick of the song, but said he kept it in the setlist because, “If I went to a Little Richard concert, I’d expect to hear Long Tall Sally.”
From Wiki.
The song spent 13 weeks in the UK Singles Chart and originally peaked at number 15 upon its initial release. At the midweek point in January 2016 it reached No. 9 and in the official Friday chart, they reached number 13, following the death of frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister in December 2015 and subsequent dissolution of the band. It has sold 208,830 digital copies as of January 2016.[6] It reached the top of the UK Rock & Metal Singles and Albums Charts on 9 January 2016.
In 2014, NME ranked it number 155 in a list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
This is Motörhead’s most famous song; it is about gambling and risks. Lemmy recalled writing the song in an interview with Mojo magazine February 2011: “‘Ace of Spades’ is unbeatable, apparently, but I never knew it was such a good song. Writing it was just a word-exercise on gambling, all the clichés. I’m glad we got famous for that rather than for some turkey, but I sang ‘the eight of spades’ for two years and nobody noticed.”
The “Ace Of Spades” is the dead man’s hand, which was Wild Bill Hancock’s hand as he was shot dead (he was an American sheriff who was killed during a game of poker). The hand consists of aces and eights, including the ace of spades.
This song was featured in the episode of The Young Ones called “Bambi,” where Motörhead performed as the stars of the show got to the train station.
This is used in the video game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, and also appears in the movie Superbad.
Ace of Spades
If you like to gamble, I tell you I’m your man, You win some, lose some, all the same to me, The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say, I don’t share your greed, the only card I need is The Ace of Spades
Playing for the high one, dancing with the devil, Going with the flow, it’s all a game to me, Seven or eleven, snake eyes watching you, Double up or quit, double stake or split, The Ace of Spades
You know I’m born to lose, and gambling’s for fools, But that’s the way I like it baby, I don’t wanna live for ever, And don’t forget the joker!
Pushing up the ante, I know you gotta see me, Read ’em and weep, the dead man’s hand again, I see it in your eyes, take one look and die, The only thing you see, you know it’s gonna be, The Ace of Spades
Listening to this song is like reading a novel. You have early Springsteen’s themes…cars, roads, and a plan to flee. This song is from the now classic 1975 Born to Run album.
After the album was released Bruce’s popularity jumped immensely when Bruce was on the cover of Newsweek and Time in the same week.
This was the first track on Born To Run, a crucial album for Springsteen. His first two albums sold poorly, and he was in danger of losing his record deal if he did not produce a hit. With songs like this one about escaping to the open road, he connected with an audience that proved extremely loyal.
He considered this song the “invitation” to the album, with the opening notes being the welcome. “Something is opening up,” Springsteen said during his 2005 Storytellers appearance. “What I hoped it would be was the sense of a larger life, greater experience, sense of fun, the sense that your personal exploration and possibilities were all lying somewhere inside of you.”
Springsteen took the title from a 1958 Robert Mitchum movie. He did not see the film, but got the idea from a poster for it in a theater lobby.
The vocal sound was inspired by Roy Orbison. Springsteen pays homage to him with the line: “The radio plays Roy Orbison singing for the lonely,” a reference to Orbison’s 1960 hit, “Only The Lonely.”
The name of the girl mentioned at the beginning was changed several times. It had been Angelina and Chrissie before Springsteen settled on “Mary’s dress waves.”
The original title was “Wings For Wheels.” It began as an outtake called “Glory Road.”
Cars were very important growing up in New Jersey and show up in many of Springsteen songs. Bruce’s first car was a ’57 Chevy with orange flames painted on the hood.
This is a concert favorite that Springsteen has performed at many of his shows over the years.
At one point, Born To Run was going to be a concept album spanning the course of a day, with an acoustic version of this starting the album and the full band version closing it.
Springsteen’s friend and future manager, Jon Landau, convinced him to record this at The Record Plant in New York instead of the low-budget studio he was using. Springsteen’s current manager, Mike Appel, resented Landau’s influence and would file a lawsuit that kept Springsteen from recording for 3 years.
Since the band didn’t know the song very well, Springsteen used a version with just him at the piano to open a series of shows at The Bottom Line in New York City in 1975. Sponsored by a New York radio station, the disc jockey, Dave Herman, apologized on the air for not playing enough Springsteen the morning after the first show.
On November 3, 1980, Springsteen kicked off his tour to support the album in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For the encore, Bob Seger, who is to Michigan what Springsteen is to New Jersey, joined him onstage to perform this.
Has been performed live many different ways: with the full band, solo with guitar, solo with piano, slowed down, etc. The version on Live 1975-1985 features Springsteen singing over Roy Bittan’s piano.
Bruce taped a performance of this that was played at the funeral of James Berger, a worker in the World Trade Center who helped people get out before he was killed when it collapsed. He was a big Springsteen fan and this was his favorite song. Bruce dedicated it to his sons.
This was also the first track on Springsteen’s live album Hammersmith Odeon London 1975, which was recorded on November 18, 1975 during Springsteen’s first concert in Europe. It was released on DVD in 2005, and on CD the following year
Thunder Road
The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays Roy Orbison singing for the lonely Hey, that’s me and I want you only Don’t turn me home again, I just can’t face myself alone again Don’t run back inside, darling, you know just what I’m here for So you’re scared and you’re thinking that maybe we ain’t that young anymore Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night You ain’t a beauty but, hey, you’re alright Oh, and that’s alright with me
You can hide ‘neath your covers and study your pain Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain Waste your summer praying in vain For a savior to rise from these streets Well now, I ain’t no hero, that’s understood All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood With a chance to make it good somehow Hey, what else can we do now? Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair Well, the night’s busting open, these two lanes will take us anywhere We got one last chance to make it real To trade in these wings on some wheels Climb in back, heaven’s waiting on down the tracks
Oh oh, come take my hand We’re riding out tonight to case the promised land Oh oh oh oh, Thunder Road Oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road Lying out there like a killer in the sun Hey, I know it’s late, we can make it if we run Oh oh oh oh, Thunder Road Sit tight, take hold, Thunder Road
Well, I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk And my car’s out back if you’re ready to take that long walk From your front porch to my front seat The door’s open but the ride ain’t free And I know you’re lonely for words that I ain’t spoken But tonight we’ll be free, all the promises’ll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets They scream your name at night in the street Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet And in the lonely cool before dawn You hear their engines rolling on But when you get to the porch, they’re gone on the wind So Mary, climb in It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out of here to win
The cartoon was released in 1966 and has been shown every year since. This one along with Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and a few more were a part of Christmas. These specials would prime you for the big day.
One cool thing about the cartoon was that Boris Karloff was the narrator. Thurl Ravenscroft (voice of Tony the Tiger) sang the great song “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch. ”
The citizens of Whoville looked and acted like the others of Dr. Suess’s universe. They were all getting ready for Christmas while a certain someone…or thing looked down from Mt. Crumpit. The Grinch has hated Christmas for years and sees the Whovillians getting ready for Christmas and is determined once and for all to put an end to it.
He dresses up as Santa Clause and makes his poor dog Max act as a reindeer to swoop down and steal Christmas. The Grinch sleds down the hill almost killing Max and they soon reach Whoville. He is busted by one kid…Cindy Lou Who, who asks him questions as the Grinch took her family tree. He lies to her and sends her to bed.
In the morning after he has everything including “The Roast Beast,” he listens for the sorrow to begin.
You need to watch the rest or rewatch…
A live action remake came out in 2000 but I still like this one the best. You cannot replicate Boris Karloff.
The Budget – Coming in at over $300,000, or $2.2 million in today’s dollars, the special’s budget was unheard of at the time for a 26-minute cartoon adaptation. For comparison’s sake, A Charlie Brown Christmas’s budget was reported as $96,000, or roughly $722,000 today (and this was after production had gone $20,000 over the original budget).
You’re a mean one Mr Grinch The famous voice actor and singer, best known for providing the voice of Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, wasn’t recognized for his work in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Because of this, most viewers wrongly assumed that the narrator of the special, Boris Karloff, also sang the piece in question. Upset by this oversight, Geisel personally apologized to Ravenscroft and vowed to make amends. Geisel went on to pen a letter, urging all the major columnists that he knew to help him rectify the mistake by issuing a notice of correction in their publications.
My favorite Christmas song hands down. Yea I’m biased because I am a Beatles fan but this one is great. John’s voice goes so well with this song. The song peaked at #2 in the UK charts in 1971.
I think of High School when I hear this song. Our school had a Christmas poster contest and a buddy and I made a poster as a joke and wrote “So this is Christmas and what have you done another year over, and a new one just begun” and won first prize…with an assist from John.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this in their New York City hotel room and recorded it during the evening of October 28 and into the morning of the 29th, 1971 at the Record Plant in New York. It was released in the US for Christmas but didn’t chart. The next year, it was released in the UK, where it did much better, charting at #4. Eventually, the song became a Christmas classic in America, but it took a while.
John and Yoko spent a lot of time in the late ’60s and early ’70s working to promote peace. In 1969, they put up billboards in major cities around the world that said, “War is over! (If you want it).” Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message. John also claimed another inspiration for writing the song: he said he was “sick of ‘White Christmas.'”
The children’s voices are the Harlem Community Choir, who were brought in to sing on this track. They are credited on the single along with Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band.
Lennon and Ono produced this with the help of Phil Spector. Spector had worked on some of the later Beatles songs and also produced Lennon’s “Instant Karma.” It was not Spector’s first foray into Christmas music: he and his famous session stars (including a 17-year-old Cher) spent six weeks in the summer of 1963 putting together A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, featuring artists like The Ronettes and Darlene Love. Unfortunately, the album was released on November 22, 1963, which was the same day US president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The album sold poorly as America was focused on news of the killing.
This was originally released on clear green vinyl with Yoko Ono’s “Listen, The Snow Is Falling” as the B-side.
At the beginning of the song, two whispers can be heard. Yoko whispers: “Happy Christmas, Kyoko” (Kyoko Chan Cox is Yoko’s daughter with Anthony Cox) and John whispers: “Happy Christmas, Julian” (John’s son with Cynthia). >>
This being a Phil Spector production, four guitarists were brought in to play acoustic guitars: Hugh McCracken (who had recently played on the Paul McCartney album Ram), Chris Osbourne, Stu Scharf and Teddy Irwin. According to Richard Williams, who was reporting on the session for Uncut, when Lennon taught them the song, he asked them to “pretend it’s Christmas.” When one of the guitarists said he was Jewish, John told him, “Well, pretend it’s your birthday then.”
As for the other personnel, Jim Keltner played drums and sleigh bells, Nicky Hopkins played chimes and glockenspiel. Keltner and Hopkins were part of Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, and a third member, Klaus Voorman, was supposed to play bass on this track, but got stuck on a flight from Germany. One of the guitarists brought in for the session covered the bass – which one nobody seems to remember.
John Lennon was shot and killed less than three weeks before Christmas in 1980. The song was re-released in the UK on December 20 of that year, reaching #2 (held off the top spot by “There’s No One Quite Like Grandma” by St. Winifred’s School Choir). It made the UK Top 40 again in 1981 (#28), 2003 (#32) and 2007 (#40). Also in 2003, a version sung by the finalists of the singing competition Pop Idol reached #5.
The Fray were the first to chart with this song in America, reaching #50 in 2006; Sarah McLachlan’s version went to #107 that same year. Other artists to cover it include The Alarm, The Cranes, The December People, and Melissa Etheridge (in a medley with “Give Peace a Chance”).
The Australian artist Delta Goodrem also covered it in 2003, taking it to #1 in her native country as a double-A-side single with “Predictable.” >>
Though now a Christmas standard, Lennon originally penned this as a protest song about the Vietnam War, and the idea “that we’re just as responsible as the man who pushes the button. As long as people imagine that somebody’s doing it to them and that they have no control, then they have no control.”
This didn’t appear on an album until 1975, when it was included on Lennon’s Shaved Fish singles compilation. Most Christmas songs are compiled with other songs of the season, but Shaved Fish listeners got to hear it year round.
Happy Xmas (War is Over)
(Happy Christmas Kyoko) (Happy Christmas Julian)
So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun And so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young
A very Merry Christmas And a happy new year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear
And so this is Christmas For weak and for strong For rich and the poor ones The world is so wrong And so happy Christmas For black and for white For yellow and red ones Let’s stop all the fight
A very Merry Christmas And a happy new year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear
And so this is Christmas And what have we done Another year over A new one just begun And so happy Christmas We hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young
A very Merry Christmas And a happy new year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear War is over, if you want it War is over now
The Peanuts were my favorite cartoon growing up and I would never miss their Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas specials. Everyone can relate to Charlie Brown because we lose more than we win in life. He doesn’t get to kick that football, his dog has more things than he does and he is forever trying to get the elusive little redhead girl to notice him.
The Peanuts inhabit a kids world where grownups are felt but not heard. At least not in English.
This 1965 special has everything good about them in one show.
The gang is skating and Charlie Brown is telling Linus that despite Christmas being a happy time he is depressed. Linus tells Charlie that is normal and Lucy pipes in with “Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest.” That sums it all up.
Charlie gets to direct the Christmas play and his main job was to get a spectacular Christmas tree under Lucy’s orders. …He picks the only real tree there…more like a branch but he is sure it will do the job. Most of the gang do not agree when he comes back with the tree but Charlie persists. Linus gets up and reads from the Bible and the inflection he lends to the reading is great.
After that, you will need to watch because it will be worth it.
Aluminum Christmas trees were marketed beginning in 1958 and enjoyed fairly strong sales by eliminating pesky needles and tree sap. But the annual airings of A Charlie Brown Christmas swayed public thinking: In the special, Charlie Brown refuses to get a fake tree. Viewers began to do the same, and the product was virtually phased out by 1969. The leftovers are now collector’s items.
Actors and Actresses The early Peanuts specials made use of both untrained kids and professional actors: Peter Robbins (Charlie Brown) and Christopher Shea (Linus) were working child performers, while the rest of the cast consisted of “regular” kids coached by Melendez in the studio. When Schulz told Melendez that Snoopy couldn’t have any lines in the show—he’s a dog, and Schulz’s dogs didn’t talk—the animator decided to bark and chuff into a microphone himself, then speed up the recording to give it a more emotive quality.
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