1960s – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Red Sovine – Phantom 309

Dave posted this on TurnTable Talk on November 1, 2025. The subject was: to either pick a song about a spooky or scary person or event, or else just highlight a song that sounds that way to them..

I never thought I would ever post a trucker song, but here I am, posting a trucker song! It was one of the first singles I remember playing as a child. When I was a kid, this story scared me to death. There’s something about a good ghost story that never leaves you, especially when it’s told in a Southern drawl through the crackle of a CB radio. This Red Sovine song is one of those perfect country songs that is Americana, part Twilight Zone, and part 1960s country storytelling at its finest.

An eerie monologue about a hitchhiker picked up by a kind-hearted trucker named Big Joe. The kid hops out at a truck stop, orders a cup of coffee, and the waitress gives him the shocker: Big Joe died ten years ago, crashing his rig to save a school bus full of children. The twist lands like a punchline from beyond the grave. “Son, you just met Big Joe and the Phantom 309.” 4-year-old Max got goosebumps every time.

How this record was in my house when I was 4 is a mystery to me. My dad had Merle Haggard music, and my mom had Elvis albums, and my sister would never have this. Not one of them was into trucking songs…but there it was all the same. It was released in 1967… The song peaked at #9 on the Country Charts.

It inspired covers by artists from Tom Waits to the punkabilly of Mojo Nixon. Even Pee-wee’s Big Adventure tipped a hat to it when Pee-wee hitched a ride with “Large Marge.” That alone belongs in the Twilight Zone.

Phantom 309

I was out on the West Coast, tryin’ to make abuckAnd things didn’t work out, I was down on my luckGot tired a-roamin’ and bummin’ aroundSo I started thumbin’ back East, toward my home town.

Made a lot of miles, the first two daysAnd I figured I’d be home in week, if my luck held out this wayBut, the third night I got stranded, way out of townAt a cold, lonely crossroads, rain was pourin’ down.

I was hungry and freezin’, done caught a chillWhen the lights of a big semi topped the hill Lord, I sure was glad to hear them air brakes come onAnd I climbed in that cab, where I knew it’d be warm.

At the wheel sit a big man, he weighed about two-tenHe stuck out his hand and said with a grin“Big Joe’s the name”, I told him mineAnd he said: “The name of my rig is Phantom 309.”

I asked him why he called his rig such a nameHe said: “Son, this old Mack can put ’em all to shameThere ain’t a driver, or a rig, a-runnin’ any lineAin’t seen nothin’ but taillights from Phantom 309.”

Well, we rode and talked the better part of the nightWhen the lights of a truck stop came in sightHe said: “I’m sorry son, this is as far as you go‘Cause, I gotta make a turn, just on up the road.”

Well, he tossed me a dime as he pulled her in lowAnd said: “Have yourself a cup on old Big Joe.”When Joe and his rig roared out in the nightIn nothin’ flat, he was clean out of sight.

Well, I went inside and ordered me a cupTold the waiter Big Joe was settin’ me upAw!, you coulda heard a pin drop, it got deathly quietAnd the waiter’s face turned kinda white.

Well, did I say something wrong? I said with a halfway grinHe said: “Naw, this happens every now and thenEver’ driver in here knows Big JoeBut son, let me tell you what happened about ten years ago.

At the crossroads tonight, where you flagged him downThere was a bus load of kids, comin’ from townAnd they were right in the middle, when Big Joe topped the hillIt could have been slaughter, but he turned his wheel.

Well, Joe lost control, went into a skid And gave his life to save that bunch-a kidsAnd there at that crossroads, was the end of the lineFor Big Joe and Phantom 309

But, every now and then, some hiker’ll come byAnd like you, Big Joe’ll give ’em a rideHere, have another cup and forget about the dimeKeep it as a souvenir, from Big Joe and Phantom 309!”

Frank Zappa – My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama

I’ve heard people say that to truly appreciate Frank Zappa, one must have an understanding of humor, jazz, and rock and roll. I agree with that, but many of his songs are so engaging that you can just start listening to them, and they grow on you. I heard a live cut of this one first, and it was so good…I thought it was a studio cut. The song is also known as “My Guitar.”

Zappa was one of the best guitarists in the music scene. His band was always top-notch. As we talked about last week, Little Feat was born out of that band, and we all know how great they are. Flo and Eddie also graduated from the Mothers of Invention.

When it starts, it comes right at you, like Zappa is daring you to keep up. The title alone tells you what kind of ride you’re in for, and I’m a sucker for a great title. I love the humor of it, but this is a rock song that knows exactly what it’s doing. Zappa’s vocal delivery stays pointed, almost like he’s reading a message off a note he left on the refrigerator.

You can laugh at the story, but the groove is real, and the guitar work carries weight. Zappa could have stretched it out into something longer, but keeping it short makes it hit harder.

This song first appeared on The Mothers of Invention’s 1970 album Weasels Ripped My Flesh, released in 1969. Frank Zappa wrote this song…who else could have? The song was released as a single.

Here is a live cut from December 23, 1984.

My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama

You know, your mama and your daddy
Saying I’m no good for you
They call me dirty from the alley
Till I don’t know what to do

I get so tired of sneaking around
Just to get to your back door
I crawled past the garbage and your mama jumped out
Screaming, don’t come back no more
I can’t take it

My guitar wants to kill your mama
My guitar wants to kill your mama
My guitar wants to burn your dad
I get real mean when it makes me mad

Later I tried to call you
Your mama told me you weren’t there
She told me don’t bother to call no more
Unless I cut off all my hair

I get so tired of sneaking around
Just to get to your back door
I crawled past the garbage and your mama jumped out
Screaming, don’t come back no more

My guitar wants to kill your mama
My guitar wants to kill your mama
My guitar wants to burn your dad
I get real mean when it makes me mad

…

Jimi Hendrix – Bold As Love

After seeing the clip of a younger Jimi Hendrix with Jr. Walker and the All-Stars, I had to post something by him since it’s been a while. His playing and writing still blows me away. Hendrix had a flow through his songs. Is this one very commercial on the surface? No, but it IS because of the way he arranged his songs. His songs draw you in with that flowing sound. I first really found Hendrix when I was 11 or 12. Later on, when I started to play guitar and bass… no, I couldn’t do his solos (still can’t!), but I took some of his movements to the bass.

His guitar playing was off the charts and identifiable like a fingerprint. He slid a lot while playing, and after him, many guitar players picked that up as well. This song closed out his album Axis: Bold As Love, released at the end of 1967. Six months after his debut album, Are You Experienced. The biggest difference between the two albums can be heard. It was Hendrix realizing that the studio itself was an instrument, and learning how to play it or work it. I also read where his songwriting was catching up with his guitar playing, which fits.

The basic track was cut live by them, with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell locking into a loose groove. Hendrix kept the structure simple at first until the end, when it exploded. His voice was very intimate and more confident than on the first album. You could tell from this album that he wanted his lyrics more exposed.

The verses move gently with Noel Redding’s bass and Mitch Mitchell’s drumming, keeping everything fluid rather than forced. The album Axis: Bold As Love peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Chart and #5 in the UK in 1967-1968.

Bold As Love

Anger!He smiles, towering in shiny metallic purple armorQueen jealousy, envy waits behind himHer fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground

Blue are the life-giving waters taken for grantedThey quietly understandOnce happy turquoise armies lay opposite readyBut wonder why the fight is on

But they’re all bold as loveYes, they’re all bold as loveYeah, they’re all bold as loveJust ask the axis

My red is so confident, he flashes trophies of warAnd ribbons of euphoriaOrange is young, full of daringBut very unsteady for the first go round

My yellow, in this case, is not so mellowIn fact, I’m trying to say it’s frightened like meAnd all these emotions of mine keep holding me fromGiving my life to a rainbow like you, but I’m

Yeah, I’m bold as love, yeah-yeahWell, I’m bold, bold as loveHear me talking, girlI’m bold as loveJust ask the axis

He knows everythingYeah-yeah-yeah

Yeah

…

Jr. Walker & The All-Stars – Shotgun

Good R&B song from Jr. Walker and The Allstars. A little trivia on this song. If you look at the live video below, you will see a young Jimi Hendrix in the background playing guitar. They were on a show called Night Train, and it was videotaped at Channel 5, at that time, WLAC in Nashville. He didn’t play on the original recording, but it’s cool to see him here playing guitar in 1965.

Walker, whose real name was Autry DeWalt, was a great saxophone player who made his vocal debut on this song. He recorded the vocals because the singer didn’t show up. He didn’t expect his vocal track to make the cut, but the Motown producers liked the sound and left it in. Junior Walker & The All Stars were Motown, but I would have sworn they were Stax. They had more of a raw, unpolished sound than Motown usually had.

This was the first hit for Junior Walker & The All Stars, who were signed to the Motown label. The “Shotgun” is a dance. There were many dance crazes in the ’60s, and 2 of them are mentioned in the lyrics: The Jerk “Do The Jerk, baby”, and The Twine “It’s Twine Time”. The band had several more hit songs, including What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) and a cover of the Supremes’ song Come See About Me. Walker also played sax on Foreigner’s Urgent before he died in 1995.

The song peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100 and #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts in 1965. It was written by Jr Walker himself.

Here is the video of their performance on Channel 5. Jimi Hendrix is on the right side of the drummer when you are looking at it, and of course, playing left-handed.

Shotgun

I said shotgunShoot ’em for he run nowDo the jerk babyDo the jerk nowHey

Put on your red dressAnd then you go downtown nowI said buy yourself a shotgun nowWe’re gonna break it down, baby nowWe’re gonna load it up, baby nowAnd then you shoot him for he run now

I said shotgunShoot ’em for he run nowDo the jerk babyDo the jerk nowHey

ShotgunShoot ’em for he run nowDo the jerk babyDo the jerk nowHey

Put on your high heel shoesI said we’re goin’ down here to listen to ’em play the bluesWe’re gonna dig potatoesWe’re gonna pick tomatoes

I said shotgunShoot ’em for he run nowDo the jerk babyDo the jerk nowHey

I said it’s twine timeI said it’s twine timeI said it’s twine timeHey, what’d I say?

Sly and the Family Stone – Hot Fun in the Summertime

Some of us need his right now with the cold we are experiencing. Some way more than others. I live near Nashville, so we are in the 20s and 30s, but nothing compared to the northern states. I think of a few of my readers who live in Wisconsin and Michigan…I can’t imagine.

A gentle, sun-soaked groove that felt like the last afternoon before school started again. It’s a song that takes summer with it whenever you listen. Most of his radio hits were positive, like this one and Everyday People. He was huge during his heyday, but has been neglected since. He had such a span of success between 1967 – 1973. 9 singles in that span in the top 40 including 3 number ones. He also wrote most of their hits, including this one. A terrific songwriter.

This song came out in 1969, sandwiched between the more serious Everyday People and Stand!. The song primed their audience for their successful upcoming appearance at Woodstock. Some thought their set was one of the best of the festival. I was only two in 1969, but I would imagine this song was drifting out of car radios, backyard barbecues, and AM stations every summer like clockwork. You didn’t analyze it, you lived in it.

The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100 and #4 in Canada in 1969. In January of 2026, let’s listen to the song and think warm thoughts, and catch that warm vibe.

Sylvester Stewart passed away in June of 2025.

Hot Fun In The Summertime

End of the springAnd here she comes backHi, hi, hi, hi thereThem summer daysThose summer days

That’s when I hadMost of my fun, backHi, hi, hi, hi thereThem summer daysThose summer days

I cloud nine when I want toOut of school, yeahCounty fair in the country sunAnd everything is trueOoh, yeah, yeah

Hot fun in the summertimeHot fun in the summertimeHot fun in the summertimeHot fun in the summertime

First of the fallAnd then she goes backBye, bye, bye, bye thereThem summer daysThose summer days

Boop-boop-boop-boopWhen I want toOut of schoolCounty fair in the country sunAnd everything is coolOoh, yeah, yeah

Hot fun in the summertime (hey, hey, hey, ooh)Hot fun in the summertime (ooh, yeah)Hot fun in the summertime

Zombies – This Will Be Our Year

The warmth of your love
Is like the warmth of the sun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

I love tradition, so here we are again! Happy New Year 2026. Next to Auld Lang Syne, this is my favorite New Year’s Song. A favorite of mine from one of my favorite bands and one of my favorite albums of all time (no pressure!). Have you ever had a song that would bring out an emotion in you? This one does it for me: hope, clarity, mixed with calm.

For the past few years, this has been my first post in the New Year. If you have followed me for a while, you should know this one. Again, for 2026, my first post! I have added some more context to the song this year.

There’s something quite miraculous about the way this song opens, like a warm and comfortable exhale. A few soft notes drift in like morning light through the curtain, and suddenly you’re there. The reason I like this song so much? The Zombies had a knack for making hope sound earned. This track is one of the gentlest and nicest declarations of optimism I’ve ever heard.

This song sounds like it should have been a hit, but it was never pushed as a single at the time. It was the B side to Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914), which is an experimental song, and it was a big surprise to the band that it was picked as the first single. Both are from the great album Odessey and Oracle in 1968. Several songs on this album could have been in the charts, but Time of the Season was the only one that made it, and it was a year after the album was released.

Tell Her No, She’s Not There, and Time Of The Season. They are best remembered for those three hits, but also for one album…Odessey and Oracle. With this album, they elevated themselves to new heights…but that took a little while. In Rolling Stone magazine in the ’80s and ’90s, I read great write-ups about this album. Finally, I tried it for myself and was more than happy I did. Many critics hailed this album as one of the greatest of the decade, and it lived up to their hype.

By the way… The band wanted to call the album “Odyssey and Oracle,” but cover artist Terry Quirk accidentally spelled the title wrong, and the band decided to run with the misspelling.

On recording Odessey and Oracle…Rod Argent:

“We had the chance of going in and putting things down in the way we wanted people to hear them and we had a new studio, we walked in just after The Beatles had walked out [after recording Sgt. Pepper]. We were the next band in. They’d left some of their instruments behind … I used John Lennon’s Mellotron, that’s why it’s all over Odessey and Oracle. We used some of their technological advances … we were using seven tracks, and that meant we could overdub for the first time. And it meant that when I played the piano part I could then overdub a Mellotron part, and it meant we could have a fuller sound on some of the songs and it means that at the moment the tour we’re doing with Odessey and Oracle it means we’re actually reproducing every note on the original record by having extra player with us as well.”

I hope you all had a fun and safe New Year’s! Also, do yourself a favor and listen to this album. It’s a masterpiece to me. Care of Cell 44 is brilliant! It’s as if Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney had a baby…that is what this sounds like! The bass is terrific. The fact that The Zombies are not mentioned with the greats shows you that life isn’t fair.

This Will Be A Year

The warmth of your love
Is like the warmth of the sun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Don’t let go of my hand
Now darkness has gone
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

And I won’t forget
The way you held me up when I was down
And I won’t forget the way you said,
“Darling I love you”
You gave me faith to go on

Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun
This will be our year
Took a long time to come

The warmth of your smile
Smile for me, little one
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

You don’t have to worry
All your worried days are gone
This will be our year
Took a long time to come

And I won’t forget
The way you held me up when I was down
And I won’t forget the way you said,
“Darling I love you”
You gave me faith to go on

Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Yeah we only just begun
Yeah this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Otis Redding and Carla Thomas – New Year’s Resolution

This song is a great way to start the year! This one is a tradition here…I always post it on New Year’s Eve. Anytime you can hear Otis…you are on the right path! Have a Happy New Year! Get ready for 2026. Their voices sound amazing. They complemented each other very well. I just wish they had had time to do more.

Stax’s house band, Booker T & the MGs, provides the backing. Note Booker T’s subtle but effective organ lending the song a spiritual element, while Donald “Duck” Dunn’s bass and Steve Cropper’s tasteful guitar licks ground the track’s rhythm

Stax was hoping to replicate the success of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Stax paired two of their greatest stars for the 1967 album King & Queen, which produced the hit “Tramp.” The album featured their takes on classics such as “Knock on Wood,” “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby,” “Bring It on Home to Me,” and “It Takes Two”

This song was on the King and Queen album released in 1967. This is the only album they got to make because Otis died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967. Carla Thomas would go on to a successful career with 2 top 20 hits plus many top 20 R&B hits.

I’m adding the song Tramp off of the album. This song peaked at #26 on the Billboard 100, #2 on the R&B Charts, and #1 on the UK R&B Charts in 1967.

New Year’s Resolution

I hope it’s not too late
Just to say that I’m sorry, honey
All I want to do
Is just finish what we started, baby

Let’s turn over a new leave
And baby let’s make promises
That we can keep
And call it a New Year’s resolution, hmmm

Oh, I’m a woman
And woman makes mistakes too
But will you, will you forget the changes
That I put you through

let’s try it again
Just you and me
And, baby, let’s see how happy honey, yeah
That we can be
And call it a New Year’s resolution, yeah, yeah, yeah

Many times we had our ups and downs
And times you needed me I couldn’t be found
I’m sorry
And I’m sorry too
I’ll never, never do it again, no, no, no
So baby before we fall out
Let’s fall on in, yeah, yeah
Oh, and we’re gonna try harder
Not to hurt each other again, oh
Love me baby, huh
Week after week
And baby let’s make promises
That we can keep
And call it a New Year’s resolution, yeah, oh
I know we can do it Carla
I’m gonna keep my promises
I’m gonna hold on that we can do it, baby
Oh, it’s not too late
You’re gonna love me
Nobody else
Oh Otis let’s finish what we started
Talk no mean

Booker T and the MGs – Green Onions

I was talking about this song to someone a few years ago, and I told him what it reminded me of. It reminds me of Sandy Koufax, who retired before I was born. Ken Burns made a documentary on baseball, and he inserted this song while showing Sandy Koufax pitching against a 1960s pastel-looking background at Dodger Stadium in the early sixties. The music and that time fit so well. That was remarkably powerful at the time.

Green Onions was a very influential instrumental record that was released in 1962. The band was waiting for rockabilly Sun Recording artist Billy Lee Riley at a session. They put the time to good use. Booker T. Jones said, “That happened as something of an accident. We used the time to record a blues which we called ‘Behave Yourself,’ and I played it on a Hammond M3 organ. Jim Stewart, the owner, was the engineer, and he really liked it and wanted to put it out as a record. We all agreed on that, and Jim told us that we needed something to record as a B-side since we couldn’t have a one-sided record. One of the tunes I had been playing on piano we tried on the Hammond organ so that the record would have organ on both sides, and that turned out to be ‘Green Onions.’

Jim Stewart, who was the president of Stax Records, liked the song but the band was not impressed with it at first. He asked Booker T what he wanted to call the song. Booker T replied, “Green Onions”… when Jim asked why Green Onions? Booker T said, “Because that is the nastiest thing I can think of, and it’s something you throw away.”

The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 and #7 in the UK in 1962. The song was the B side to “Behave Yourself.” Steve Cropper took it to a DJ friend of his in Memphis named Rueben Washington. He played some of the A side but kept playing “Green Onions” over and over.

Steve Cropper: “He played it four or five times in a row. We were dancing around the control room, and believe it or not, the phone lines lit up. I guess we had the whole town dancing that morning.”

Green Onions

Instrumental

Clarence Carter – Slip Away

Some more cool R&B that is right up my alley. I love Carter’s voice in this one. I heard this one in the 1980s on 96.3 in Nashville. It was an oldies channel where I heard many of the 1960s hits for the first time.

I love the arrangement of this song because it gives Carter space to phrase like a storyteller and to breathe. His voice in this is great. He doesn’t scream or plead, he simply tells you the story. This song went on to become one of Clarence Carter’s signature songs, and for good reason. It’s timeless, and a record that still sounds perfect on a crackling AM radio or a hifi stereo.

The song was recorded at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and produced by the great Rick Hall. The guitar player on this cut was Duane Allman in one of his first sessions. This was the B-side to a song called Funky Fever. The single was flipped over, and this song was played the most.

Slip Away was written by William Armstrong, Marcus Daniel, and Wilbur Terrell. The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100 and #12 in Canada in 1968. The single’s B-side, “Funky Fever”, reached #49 on the U.S. R&B chart and #88 on the Billboard 100 chart.

Slip Away was featured on his 1968 album This Is Clarence Carter. The album peaked at #200 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1968. Clarence Carter will be 90 years young next month.

Here is an older Carter performing this song in 2010.

Slip Away

What would I give
For just a few moments
What would I give
Just to have you near

Tell me you will try
To slip away somehow
Oh, I need you, darling
I want to see you right now

Can you slip away
Slip away
Slip away
Oh, I need you so

Love, oh, love
How sweet it is
When you steal it, darling
Let me tell you somethin’ now how sweet it is

Now I know it’s wrong
The things I ask you to do
But please believe me, darling
I don’t mean to hurt you

But could you just slip away
Without him knowing you’re gone
Then we could meet somewhere
Somewhere where we’re both are not known

And guess can you slip away
Slip away
Slip away
I need you so

Oh, can you slip away, baby
I’d like to see you right now, darling
Can you slip away now, baby
‘Cause I got to, I got to see you
I feel a deep burning inside

Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus and Lucy

Nothing like Vince Guaraldi for this time of the year. It’s hard to resist this song. It automatically makes me happy when I hear it. I see the Peanuts gang doing their thing.

This song I can hear anytime of the year and be happy. It’s associated with Christmas also…whichever… I never get tired of it.

Ironically, just about everyone would call this “the Charlie Brown song” even though it’s actually titled after Linus and Lucy Van Pelt, brother and sister in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip universe.

The song is most famous for its use in the yearly favorite A Charlie Brown Christmas, which first aired in 1965, but it was written two years earlier for a documentary about Schulz and the Peanuts gang called A Boy Named Charlie Brown, which never aired.

Producer Lee Mendelson was in charge of the documentary and asked Vince Guaraldi to compose music for it

Guaraldi was huge in the jazz world and won the 1962 Grammy for Best Original Jazz Composition for “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” for his group, the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Mendelson was searching for what kind of music to play for the documentary when he took a taxi cab, and “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” was playing as he crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. He loved it and his decision was made.

Guaraldi wrote a series of songs for the project, including “Linus and Lucy,” that he recorded with his group, the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Even though A Boy Named Charlie Brown was shelved, the soundtrack was released in 1964, which is where “Linus and Lucy” first appeared.

In 1965, Mendelson put together the first Peanuts TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, using many of the same people who worked on the documentary. “Linus and Lucy” formed the score, and a song he wrote with Guaraldi called “Christmas Time Is Here” was included in a key scene.

When A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted in 1965, it quickly turned the Peanuts franchise into a television institution. That first special also shot Guaraldi to greater fame, and he became connected to all subsequent Peanuts shows.

Guaraldi would continue to work on Peanuts films until his death in 1976.

No words…just enjoy

…

Who – Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere

These sixties singles by the Who are so exciting. They sounded different from their peers and were cutting their own path. This was The Who’s second single. It was the follow-up to I Can’t Explain. When this was sent to their American record label to distribute, they sent it back, assuming the feedback meant there was something wrong with it.

Townshend turned what most engineers considered a mistake into an instrument. Those piercing squeals and roars mid-song weren’t accidents; they were the sound of pop music evolving in real time. The Who didn’t want to sound clean or polite; they wanted to sound like the inside of a jet engine, and they nailed it.

The Who’s early singles like Can’t Explain, The Kids Are Alright, Substitute, I’m A Boy, and A Legal Matter don’t get the airplay that their later music does. They were innovative at the time with feedback, distortion, and Moon’s aggressive drumming.

Townshend later said the song was about personal freedom, and that’s exactly what it feels like. The right to be loud, to be different, to not apologize for who you are. You can trace the line from this track straight through to everything that came after: The Jam, The Clash, The Raspberries, Big Star… all carrying that same spark of defiance.

This song was written by Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey. It was one of the few times they wrote together. Super session man Nicky Hopkins was on the piano.

The song peaked at #10 in the UK in 1965.

Roger Daltrey: ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’ was the first song when we attempted to get that noise onto a record and that was a good deal of time before Hendrix had even come to England, the American pressing plant sent it back thinking it was a mistake. We said, ‘No, this is the f—ing noise we want. CUT IT LOUD!'”

“We were doing this feedback stuff, even before that. We’d be doing blues songs and they’d turn into this freeform, feedback, jazzy noise. Pete was getting all these funny noises, banging his guitar against the speakers. Basically, the act that Hendrix is famous for came from Townshend, pre-‘I Can’t Explain.'”

Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere

I can go anyway, way I choose
I can live anyhow, win or lose
I can go anywhere, for something new
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose

I can do anything, right or wrong
I can talk anyhow, and get along
Don’t care anyway, I never lose
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose

Nothing gets in my way
Not even locked doors
Don’t follow the lines
That been laid before
I get along anyway I dare
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere

I can go anyway, way I choose
I can live anyhow, win or lose
I can do anything, for something new
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere I choose

(Oooh) anyway
(Oooh) Anyway I choose, yeah
(Oooh) Anyway I want to go
(Oooh) I want to go ‘n do it myself
Do it myself
Do it myself, yeah
Anyway, way I choose
Anyway I choose
Yeah, yeah
Ain’t never gonna lose the way I choose
The way I choose
The way I choose

“You shouldn’t like music that was made before you were born”

I thought I would do something different today. I was reminded of this by the phrase, “it was before my time.” Movies and music fall into this category. I do know people who will not watch movies made “before their time.” I don’t think many of my readers would agree to this statement, but who knows?

I had a co-worker in the early 2000s (Sam) tell me that I shouldn’t like music that was before my time because it was unnatural (yes, he said that). I was first kinda of amused and shocked. I like Sam a lot, and we would talk a lot; he is a smart fellow. However, on this point, I didn’t understand. Why? Is there some unwritten law that I can’t like 1950s or 1960s music up to 1967, when I was born? That cut off some of the best music of the 20th century and beyond.

He grew up in the 80s, as I did, and was probably around 5 or so years younger than me. I’ve seen other people act the same way. If it were before they were born, then they would not give it a second listen. If a movie is black and white, they act as if they are near a radiation leak!

I think the subject centered around how I loved 50s and 60s music and The Beatles, The Who, The Stones, and The Kinks. He said I should be listening to music from my teenage years (well, I WAS…60s music was my soundtrack growing up), but I DID listen to the top 40 when I was a teenager, which, to me, didn’t live up to those bands to any degree or form. Maybe it wasn’t fair to compare Men Without Hats to those 1960s bands. It was hard to stomach some of the ’80s for me, but not all. Now I’m busy catching up on music I missed that wasn’t on Top 40 radio at the time. I did find an oasis in the 80s, alternative music like The Replacements and REM…and the classic bands.

I still want to find other music and movies I like. Why would age have any effect on the music, whether we like it or not? That doesn’t mean I don’t like new music. I have posted newer bands here before who have just released albums. If it’s good, it doesn’t matter what era it came from, at least not to me. Christian, Graham, and Lisa all posted some newer songs that I liked. With movies, yes, I find some I like. I just saw Weapons and loved it, plus there are others.

I’m not putting people down at all who think like that. Hey, if that is what they believe, more power to them. I never believed in criticizing people for their opinions, music, or otherwise. Whatever blows their hair back.

Anyway, what do you think?

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Charlie Rich – Midnight Blues

When I was growing up, I remember watching music shows from Nashville, and I saw this white haired man constantly. That white haired guy was Charlie Rich. I never knew much about his older music, but I am really getting into it.

After a stint in the Air Force, Rich started writing his own songs and playing around Memphis, the city that ended up shaping him more than anything else. Memphis in the 1950s was a blend of blues, country, gospel, and early rock and roll, and Rich fit right into the middle. He wasn’t a purist of any genre; he was a blender, and that would become his signature for the rest of his career.

His big break came when he walked into Sun Records, though it wasn’t exactly instant stardom. Sam Phillips didn’t quite know what to do with him because Rich didn’t fit the Sun mold. He wasn’t a raw rocker like Jerry Lee Lewis, and he wasn’t a rockabilly guy like Carl Perkins. He was smoother, jazzier, more complicated.

Before he became the “Silver Fox” singing Behind Closed Doors, he was a studio guy down in Memphis, searching for the sound that matched his style. Midnight Blues, recorded in 1960 for Sun, captures that in-between phase perfectly, smoky, late-night melancholy set to a subtle shuffle.

Some singers have a pain in their voice, such as Richard Manuel of the Band. Charlie Rich’s early Sun Records is like that as well. What always blows me away with Rich is that he could sound both heartbroken and confident at the same time. This song has a little bit of everything in it. He had one of those voices that could blend into anything, from country to soul, jazz, or blues.

He would go on to have nine country number ones in the 1970s. Lonely Weekends was his first US hit. It hit #27 on Cash Box in 1960.

Midnight Blues

Midnite, you know you’re doing me wrongMidnite, doing me wrongKeeping me up all night longAll night, all night longEverytime I feel a little bit freeI hear those blues, midnite bluesCommence to calling meMidnite, why don’t you leave me aloneLeave me, leave me aloneI’m trying my best to make a happy homeHappy, happy homeEverytime I feel a little bit freeI hear those blues, midnite bluesCommence to calling meI just can’t help to feel a little bit ashamedEverytime I hear you call my nameI’m blaming you for all the bad things I’ve doneBlame you for what I’ve doneStill I will admit that every once in a while it was fun

Yeah but midnite, don’t keep me running aroundDon’t keep running aroundI made up my mind, I’m gonna settle downAh ha, settle downEverytime I feel a little bit freeI hear those blues, midnite bluesBlues, midnite bluesI hear those blues, midnite bluesCommence to calling meThat blues is a calling meMidnite blues is a calling me

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Duane Eddy – Peter Gunn

I’ve always liked this song. It was originally by Henry Mancini for the Peter Gunn television show in 1958. I love instrumentals, and this is one of the best. I think the heyday of instrumentals was the fifties and sixties.

This (and many of his songs) was recorded in a Phoenix studio, which had an echo chamber that was originally a large water tank. A single speaker was placed at one end of the tank, the microphone at the other, and the guitar was piped in there. It’s hard to mimic that with a reverb stomp box.

Duane Eddy, the man who made a single twangy note sound like thunder rolling across the land. In 1959, he took Henry Mancini’s already cool Peter Gunn TV theme and turned it into something leaner and meaner. Backing him up was producer Lee Hazlewood, who knew how to turn an amplifier and that echo chamber into sonic gold. Together, they recorded this song in Phoenix, with a rhythm section that was tight and lean.

I like how Eddy arranged his songs. No big flashy solos or seeing how fast he could play, just that sound he had, never letting up. Duane Eddy laid the groundwork for surf music, spy soundtracks, and even hard rock. Everyone from The Ventures to George Harrison took notes from that tone.

The song peaked at #27 on the Billboard 100, #30 in Canada, and #6 in the UK in 1959 and 1960.

Rising Sons – Candy Man

Just found this band. What a band, Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal in the same band. It doesn’t get much better than that. Some songs sound like they were born on the back porch, passed around from player to player, gathering different fingerprints and stories along the way. This is one of those songs. This is a traditional song arranged by the Rising Sons.

The band formed around 1964 in Los Angeles, built on the partnership between two then unknown but soon to be legendary musicians, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. Taj had moved west from Massachusetts after studying agriculture and getting into the folk revival. Cooder was a teenage slide guitar prodigy growing up in Santa Monica who already had a reputation as the kid who could play anything with strings. They met in the LA clubs, places like the Ash Grove and Troubadour.

They quickly became a standout act on the LA scene. They were signed to Columbia Records in 1965, which tells you how much buzz they had, but the label didn’t really understand what to do with a group that wasn’t rock, wasn’t folk, and wasn’t blues, but somehow all three. Their album was shelved for decades. This is the same problem the Goose Creek Symphony had; the label didn’t know what box to put them in.

The real joy of their Candy Man is how it captures a moment in time right before American roots music exploded. This was before the Byrds went country, and The Band were still the Hawks backing up Bob Dylan. This short-lived 1965 band was a great one, featuring a young Taj Mahal, an even younger Ry Cooder, and future Byrds drummer Kevin Kelley (later on), who replaced Ed Cassidy, Jesse Lee Kincaid on vocals and guitar, and Gary Marker on bass. The Rising Sons didn’t last long, but recordings like this show just how special that little window was.

They recorded an album, and it was produced by Terry Melcher. The album wasn’t released, but this single was. The album was finally released in 1992. It’s blues meeting folk with a bit of country rock in there. I was reminded in the comments that this version was based on the Reverend Gary Davis version. Thank you, halffastcyclingclub and purplegoatee2684b071ed.

I wanted to include these slang words and definitions that were given.

Salty Dog – In blues songs, a “salty dog” is a slang term for a man, often an experienced sailor, who seeks a casual, non-committal sexual relationship. The phrase can also refer to a libidinous man more generally, or someone who is “salty” in the sense of being experienced, spicy, or unpredictable.

Candy Man – In blues songs, a “Candy Man” is a term for a gigolo, ladies’ man, or dealer of drugs, often with a sexually suggestive connotation. While the literal interpretation is a seller of candy, the more common meaning in traditional blues songs refers to a charismatic and enticing man who sells a different kind of “sweet” product, like sexual favors or drugs.

Gary Marker: “We were the problem; we had difficulties distilling our multiple musical agendas down to a product that would sell. We had no actual leader, no clear musical vision…. I think [Melcher] went out of his way to make us happy – within the scope of his knowledge. He tried just about everything he could, including the live, acoustic session that produced ‘2:10 Train.'”

Candy Man

Candy man, Candy man
Been and gone been and gone
Candy man, Candy man
Been and gone been and gone
Candy man, Candy man
Been and gone been and gone

Well, I wish I was down in New Orleans
Sitting on the candy stand
Candy gal through the candy stand
Oh yea, got stuck on the candy man
Candy gal through the candy stand
Oh yea, got stuck on the candy man
Candy gal through the candy stand
Oh yea, got stuck on the candy man

I love my candy gal
God knows I do
Little red light, little red light
Little green light, little green light
Little red light, little red light
Little green light, blue green light
Little red light, little red light
Little green light, little green light
The light’s stuck on red but when it goes to green don’t you mess with Mr. Inbetween

Went on down to the candy stand
Found my gal with the candy man
I went on down to the candy stand
Found my gal with the candy man
Took her hand from the candy man
I said I’d be her candy man now

I love my candy gal
God knows I do

Candy man Candy man
Salty dog, Salty dog
Candy man Candy man
Salty dog, Salty dog
Candy man Candy man
Salty dog, Salty dog

Well, I wish I was down in New Orleans
Sitting on the candy stand

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