This song has been in my head all week. A great classic soul song and a great song in general. The guitar riff is simple but perfect… it drives the song along with Pickett’s explosive voice. It has to be one of my all-time favorite songs to play on bass or guitar. It’s a sliding riff that stays in a perfect rhythm.
The song was recorded in 1965 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. Pickett worked with producer and songwriter Jerry Wexler and Steve Cropper. Cropper came up with the guitar riff while the band worked out the rhythm in the studio. Wexler encouraged the musicians to play slightly behind the beat, which gave the song its loose but powerful feel. That rhythm became one of the signatures of the Muscle Shoals sound.
The backing musicians included members of the studio band that would later be known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Their playing is tight, but they left room for the song to breathe. Pickett’s voice sits right in the center, rough and urgent, especially when he shouts the title line. Al Jackson Jr. and Donald “Duck” Dunn from Booker T. & the MG’s played on this track with bandmate Cropper.
In the Midnight Hour” was recorded on May 12, 1965, with all musicians performing at once, in the repurposed movie theater that was the Stax recording studio, with absolutely no overdubs. The song peaked at #21 on the Billboard 100 and #1 on the R&B Chart in 1965.
In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant. It was written by Pickett and Steve Cropper.
In The Midnight Hour
I’m gonna wait ’till the midnight hour
That’s when my love come tumbling down
I’m gonna wait ’till the midnight hour
When there’ no one else around
I’m gonna take you, girl, and hold you
And do all things I told you, in the midnight hour
Yes I am, oh yes I am
One thing I just wanna say, right here
I’m gonna wait till the stars come out
And see that twinkle in your eyes
I’m gonna wait ’till the midnight hour
That’s when my love begins to shine
You’re the only girl I know
Can really love me so, in the midnight hour
Oh yeah, in the midnight hour
Yeah, all right, play it for me one time, now
I’m gonna wait ’till the midnight hour
That’s when my love come tumbling down
I’m gonna wait, way in the midnight hour
That’s when my love begin to shine, just you and I
Oh, baby, just you and I
Nobody around, baby, just you and I
Oh, right, you know what?
I’m gonna hold you in my arms, just you and I
Oh yeah, in the midnight hour
Oh, baby, in the midnight hour
If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.
Both sides are becoming identical. An International community, a perfect blueprint for world order….Number 2
The show has such a good premise. What does a super spy do when he/she retires? Most likely, they won’t be able to live their life in peace, but where do they go?
This was the 5th episode filmed, but it’s the second one aired. This explains the reason a few months have passed in time since he arrived. It’s one of my favorite episodes. The sugar cubes scene is very telling. They have it in his file how many cubes he uses in his tea. Just to mess with them, he changes the number he usually takes. Number 2 looks on in disbelief because Number 6 will not join quietly like some others did.
This episode really pushes the series into spy territory, playing with the idea that escape might be possible. Number Six encounters another prisoner who claims that she has outside contacts and a plan, and for the first time, the Village seems less sealed than it did in Arrival. She insists she knows a way to escape from the Village, and Number 6 builds a raft. After carefully planning their attempt, the two manage to leave the Village and drift out to sea. You think, hmmm, maybe he will break out of there…and he does, but then comes a twist.
The episode borrows the spy checklist… coded messages, double agents, and quiet deals, which suggests a more familiar path forward. You also see in what lengths the village will go to tame Number 6, and it’s out there. It also makes clear that intelligence work itself can be a trap. Trust becomes a liability, and the system Number Six once served is resembling the one now holding him.
It really drives home that escape is not just physical; it is psychological. It reinforces the idea that resistance is expected, managed, and often used against those who attempt it. It’s a great episode with who I think made the best Number 2, Leo McKern. He is one of the few who will return at the end. Be Seeing You!
In the 1980s, I went through my first Doors phase. Read every book and even bought an album called An American Prayer, full of Jim Morrison’s poems. I saw the Oliver Stone movie and many of the documentaries at the time. They came back in popularity big time in the 1980s with Morrison making the Rolling Stone cover with the headline “He’s Hot, He’s Sexy, and He’s Dead.” At the time…I thought…well, that is disturbing sounding.
When The Doors released their debut album, The Doors, in 1967, most listeners expected songs written by Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore. But tucked into the record was something unusual, “Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar).” It wasn’t written by the band at all. The song came from German theater, written by Bertolt Brecht with music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 stage production Little Mahagonny, later used in the opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.
They discovered the song through Manzarek, who had studied theater and classical music. The band kept the original English lyrics but changed the arrangement. Instead of an orchestra, they built it around Manzarek’s carnival organ. It stood out on the album, but it fit the band’s taste for the theatrical.
Manzarek’s keyboard carries the melody while Krieger adds small guitar lines. It circles around the refrain, “Show me the way to the next whiskey bar,” until it feels like something being shouted across a room. The structure is simple, but the mood is uneasy because of Manzarek and Morrison. You can hear a slight German polka sound in this.
The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Album Charts, #42 in Canada, and #43 in the UK in 1967.
Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
Well show me the way To the next whiskey bar Oh don’t ask why Oh don’t ask why
Show me the way To the next whiskey bar Oh don’t ask why Oh don’t ask why
For if we don’t find The next whiskey bar I tell you we must die I tell you we must die I tell you, I tell you I tell you we must die
Oh moon of Alabama We now, must say goodbye We’ve lost, our good old Mama And must have whiskey Oh, you know why
Oh, moon of Alabama We now must say goodbye We’ve lost, our good old Mama And must have whiskey Oh, you know why
If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.
I have covered The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode by episode, and I think The Prisoner will fit in perfectly. This will be my first British show episode by episode, although I’ve made posts on Fawlty Towers and Are You Being Served. I hope you will enjoy these.
What an opening! You resign from your workplace, and you are abducted by someone or some group and wake up in a pastel-looking village where individuality is a no-go. You are assigned a number, and that is now your name. There are so many symbolic images, and our Number 6 refuses to give in. Also, who would think a white weather balloon-looking device (Rover) could be so menacing?
This episode opens The Prisoner by throwing the viewer, like its hero, straight into disorientation. A government agent abruptly resigns, is abducted, and wakes up in the Village. It’s a bright seaside resort that feels pleasant until it doesn’t. Patrick McGoohan establishes the conflict immediately: individuality versus control and bureaucracy. The episode uses visuals and silence as much as dialogue, which pulls you in. As soon as he awakes from an unfamiliar pillow, the show is on.
The Village itself becomes the real star. Smiling residents, surveillance, and cheery announcements clash with the unspoken threat behind them. Authority is masked as friendliness, and rules are vague but absolute and must be followed. Trying to escape is treated as both foolish and dangerous. The balloon-like Rover makes its first appearance here, not explained, just accepted as the force it is. You will see it in action, and we are not sure why it attacked a Villager, and we are not told why. It reinforces the show’s refusal to reassure the audience that everything will be all right. Names are not used here; only numbers are used. Our spy is now Number 6. The Village is totally internal; no outside is mentioned or displayed. Any map is just of the Village, nothing of the world.
He meets a person who is the so-called leader…today. That would be Number 2. A different Number 2 every episode, with a few exceptions. They want to know why number 6 resigned. That is when our guy Number says I will not make any deals. I’ve resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own. Number 6 comes off as rude and impatient, but it makes sense. He is there against his will and doesn’t know who to trust. Throughout the series, he does find a few he does trust at the moment, at least partway.
By the end, this introductory episode has done its job. It defines the tone and the mystery. It also doesn’t resolve anything. Questions about identity, obedience, and yes, freedom are raised but not answered. That unease is the point and a big reason I kept on watching. As a first episode, it is bold and strange. You think everything will be explained, but it won’t. Beware of Rover!
In this episode, Number 6 is finding out the lay of the land, and the Village is getting to know him. He is looking to get out and give it a couple of shots. He does meet someone he knows, a spy, and he meets a lady with a chance to escape.
And so the trip to the bizarre begins, Be Seeing You!
“I will not make any deals. I’ve resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own.”… Number 6
“I must have individuality in everything I do. I question everything. I don’t accept anything on face value. I argue because by arguing, something good often comes from the results.”… Patrick McGoohan
This introductory post is quite long, but I’ll keep the episodes within a 1-2 minute read, I promise, because I have most of them written. There is SO much to say about this show. I started this post in January and have been adding to it ever since. Next Friday we start the episodes with Episode 1…Arrival.
Original, experimental, very surreal, still totally relevant today, ahead of its time, who is number 1? Where or what is The Village? Struggles with individualism, conformity, authority, and the nature of freedom, set within a mysterious, idyllic village. Surrealism? Yes, this one has it in spades! Salvador Dali could have directed some of the episodes. Also…the color of these shows! They beat modern movie colors with a stick. The brightness and distinct color just pop off the screen, a selling point for color TV back then, creating a surreal, pop-art feel. McGoohan even banned the word “television” on the set. He wanted everyone to have a cinematic view.
The word “allegory” comes up frequently in descriptions of this series. People are still trying to figure out what it means, and we all have our interpretations. Patrick McGoohan was a very successful actor, but he was questioned the rest of his life about this 17-episode series. It was a British show in 1967-1968. In Canada and the US, college classes have been taught about this show to try to get the meaning out of it.
I’m going to post this series episode by episode. It’s only 17 episodes this time, so it won’t take long. I wanted another sci-fi show, and this one fits that bill without a hundred episodes. This is one of the most interesting television shows I’ve ever seen, bar none. It’s like James Bond meets The Twilight Zone…heavy on the Twilight Zone. They only had 17 episodes, but it was enough to go on a trip into the bizarre. I watched this a decade ago, and I just watched it again in the past two weeks. Number 6 is my hero in his fight against a forced society.
A British spy resigns, and he goes home. At home, you see sleeping gas coming through the keyhole, and after that, he wakes up in a new home. He wakes up in a place called “The Village” with no name, a small microcosm of a perfect community where people are issued numbers instead of using names. Escape is made nearly impossible, enforced by a gang of thugs and a bizarre white sphere (called Rover) that smotheres people to death or brings them back to the village after an escape attempt. Cordless phones, constant surveillance, manipulative organisations, people reduced to numbers, and so on. Rover seemed laughable at the time with the effects, but now drones perform exactly that function, so it was a question of the technology not being available when the show was made.
A map (title is Your Village) says “The Mountains,” “The Sea,” and other generic names. Individualism is gone in this place. It’s quite a nightmare. He does not have his name when he is there; he is called Number 6. You never know his real name. The main question the Village leaders want to know is the reason WHY he resigned. He has a lot of secrets in his head, important to both sides. He just will not disclose the reason for his resignation. One reason is that he doesn’t know which side got him. The other reason is that he just didn’t want to because his life is his own.
He doesn’t resist using weapons or gadgets, but with wit and stubbornness. Each episode tests him in a different way: psychological games, manufactured communities, false friendships, and shifting authority figures. The Village looks pleasant, almost cheerful, which makes its constant surveillance more unsettling. The question is never just who is in charge, but why submission is expected at all. They mess with his mind constantly to the point where they bring a double in and convince him he is someone else. But, I’m happy to say, he messes with them as well, like in the episode Hammer Into Anvil. He usually turns the tables on them. He is the only independent thinker in the village, or the only one who admits it.
What separates The Prisoner from standard spy television shows (or other shows, for that matter) is its willingness to abandon logic for an idea. That’s the best way I know of putting it. Some episodes are like satire, others like dreams that do not explain themselves. The rotating cast of Number Twos keeps power unstable, reinforcing the sense that the system matters more than any individual running it. It’s a show that requires your attention, and they counted on that to keep the audience engaged. Number 6 is not a nice guy in this. He doesn’t want to be there, and some of the good citizens were in the know, and some were like Number 6. You cannot trust anyone, and he refuses to conform.
This show was the brainchild of “Danger Man” actor Patrick McGoohan. In The Prisoner, he was also director/co-producer/creator, and his allegorical tale concerned the retirement/imprisonment of a spy who knew too much.
Historians have long argued whether he was retiring his character John Drake from Danger Man, and if this was John Drake character, it’s never said. Patrick denied it, but others say it was probably the character he played before, but wouldn’t mention him because of royalties that would have to be paid tothe creator of Danger Man. It doesn’t really matter if this is John Drake or not; we know him now by Number 6.
I love this band, and I need to post more by them. Today, I have a theme going: alt-country, with one of the pioneers and one that picked up the mantle a little longer down the line. Like Little Feat, this band was more popular with other musicians than with the public. So the public missed something special here.
This was the opening song on the album The Gilded Palace of Sin. They didn’t ease you in… they hit you hard with this country song with rock attitude. It’s built around a cool rhythm and sharp harmonies. I like how it had a Bakersfield sound mixed with rock’s drive. It was written by Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman.
This song showed how country music could carry an edge without losing its roots. What makes it work is how natural it sounds, blending those two styles. Pedal steel in the background while the rhythm section drives like a rock band. It set the tone for the whole Burritos sound.
This song, like the album, barely made a dent in the music world of 1969. They developed a cult following upon its release that included Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Over time, it turned into a blueprint for country-rock.
Christine’s Tune (Devil in Disguise)
She’s a devil in disguise You can see it in her eyes She’s telling dirty lies She’s a devil in disguise In disguise Now a woman like that all she does is hate you She doesn’t know what makes a man a man She’ll talk about the times that she’s been with you She’ll speak your name to everyone she can She’s a devil in disguise You can see it in her eyes She’s telling dirty lies She’s a devil in disguise In disguise
Unhappiness has been her close companion Her world is full of jealousy and doubt It gets her off to see a person crying She’s just the kind that you can’t do without She’s a devil in disguise You can see it in her eyes She’s telling dirty lies She’s a devil in disguise In disguise
Her number always turns up in your pocket Whenever you are looking for a dime It’s all right to call her but I’ll bet you The moon is full and your just wasting time
She’s a devil in disguise You can see it in her eyes She’s telling dirty lies She’s a devil in disguise In disguise (in disguise) In disguise (in disguise) In disguise (in disguise) In disguise
It’s one of those Beatles covers that I read about but never heard until the Anthology came out. This song belongs in their pre-early period, as far as playing it. They played this in Hamburg and The Cavern.
This was recorded during the Beatles for Sale sessions in 1964; it captures the band hard into their early rock and R&B roots. John Lennon takes the lead with a sharp vocal that cuts through the song like all of his other vocals. It’s the kind of song that feels like it could’ve torn up the stage at the Cavern Club and Hamburg. It was excluded from the album at that time.
The Beatles were huge fans of that early American R&B and rock ’n’ roll, and this one fit right into their club repertoire, tough, fast, and built to move a crowd. Their version keeps that same bite, just filtered through their Liverpool interpretation. They don’t go raw like Bad Boy (one of my favorite covers they did), but it’s good.
Beatles For Sale was made when they were just plain worn out (look at their faces above, on the album cover). Beatlemania was getting on their nerves, what nerves they had left. George Harrison said Beatlemania was an attack on their nervous system. He explained it well; he said that they didn’t change as much, but the people all around, plus the public, went nuts. They lived inside this bubble until 1966, when they finally said no more touring after that year. It was probably, in some ways, the best decision they ever made. It might have prolonged the band’s life a little.
I looked up the reason why this song was excluded from Beatles For Sale. The only thing I could find is that George Martin thought there were too many covers on the album already. I would agree with that, but why not leave off “Mr. Moonlight” instead of this? This is a totally personal opinion, but Mr. Moonlight (besides Lennon’s vocal, which is special in it) is in the top 5 of my most disliked Beatles songs, not just covers, which it is, but all Beatles songs.
They just didn’t have the time to write more originals. Everyone was waiting for “the bubble to burst” on their success, but it never did. Hell, I’m still posting about them 60 years later. They only had 8 original songs on this album, and filled out the rest with covers they did in Hamburg and Liverpool. Leave My Kitten Alone was not an original; it was written by Little Willie John, Titus Turner, and James McDougal and released in 1959 by Little Willie John.
Leave My Kitten Alone
You better leave my kitten all alone You better leave my kitten all alone Well, I told you, big, fat bulldog You better leave her alone
You better leave my kitten all alone You better leave my kitten all alone This dog is gonna get you If you don’t leave her alone
Well, Mister Dog I’m gonna hit you on the top of your head That child is gonna miss you You’re gonna wish That you were dead
If you don’t leave my kitten all alone Well, I told you, big, fat bulldog You better leave her alone
Well, alright!
Well, Mister Dog I’m gonna hit you on the top of your head That gal is gonna miss you You’re gonna wish That you were dead
If you don’t leave my kitten all alone, oh yeah Well, I told you, big, fat bulldog You better leave her alone
Hey, hey You better leave You better leave You better leave Yeah, you better leave You better leave Oh, you got to leave Yeah, hey Well, I told you, big, fat bulldog
I’ve become a Taj Mahal fan in the past few years, as I was previously unfamiliar with him, except for his name. Also, with THAT title, I don’t care who it was by, I would have to listen to it. Sometimes I know the names of artists, but when I see the passion of other bloggers toward them, I want to check these artists out. It’s not always what stats or facts the blogger writes or comments; it’s the enthusiasm you can tell they have for the performer. It makes you think…hmmm…I’m really missing something here!
His real name is Henry Saint Clair Fredericks Jr., and he was born in Harlem in 1942 and grew up in a musical home. His father was a jazz arranger, and his mother sang gospel, which gave him early exposure to American roots music. After moving to California in the early 1960s, he became part of the rising folk and blues scene, mixing country blues with elements of jazz, Caribbean music, and R&B.
His first major break came with his self-titled debut in 1968, followed closely by The Natch’l Blues. These records helped reintroduce older blues styles to a younger rock audience without changing their original feel. Instead of copying one tradition, Taj Mahal connected Delta blues, jug band music, rural folk, and modern sounds into a single sound that felt natural and current.
The song has since become a blues standard, and it earned that spot. I first heard it in The Blues Brothers movie. Mahal has said the song was built from older blues travel songs that talked about trains, leaving town, and getting left behind. Taj Mahal pulled those themes together and shaped them into something new, keeping the story simple and the rhythm moving.
This was on his second album, The Natch’l Blues, released in 1968. On lead guitar, we have Jesse Ed Davis, Gary Gilmore on Bass, Chuck Blackwell on drums, Earl Palmer on drums, and on piano, none other than Al Kooper. Kooper pops up everywhere in the history of blues, rock, and pop.
The band played mostly live in the room, locking into a steady groove before adding small fills. Guitar and piano stayed in short phrases, never stepping over the vocal.
Taj Mahal – She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride Well, my baby caught the Katy She left me a mule to ride The train pulled out and I swung on behind I’m crazy ’bout her That hard-headed woman of mine
Man, my baby long Great, God, she mighty, she tall You know my baby long Great God, she mighty, my baby tall Well, you know my baby, she long My baby, she tall She sleep with her head in the kitchen And her big feet’s out in the hall And I’m still crazy about her That hard-headed woman of mine
I love my baby She’s so fine I wish she’d come to save me sometime ‘Cause she don’t believe I love her Look what a hole I’m in And she don’t believe I’m singin’ What look what a shape I’m in
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride Well, my baby caught the Katy Left me a mule to ride The train pulled out and I swung on behind Well, I’m crazy ’bout her That hard-headed woman Hard-headed woman of mine
A few weeks ago, Lisa posted something on the Monterey Pop Festival with the Animals. After we got our power back on last week, I was browsing through Tubi, and there it was. It’s been so long since I saw the Monterey Pop Festival, I clicked play, and Canned Heat impressed the hell out of me with this song. Alan Wilson’s guitar and especially Bob Hite’s vocal.
This is their take on an old Delta blues standard that goes back to Hambone Willie Newbern, Robert Johnson, and later Muddy Waters. Canned Heat didn’t try to modernize it too much. They kept the pulse steady, the guitar lines loose, and the vocal right up front, like it was happening in the room.
Bob “The Bear” Hite sings it rough but clear, leaning into the rhythm instead of forcing it. His voice is outstanding, and I know many who would kill to have it. Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson’s slide guitar moves in short phrases, answering the vocal like a second voice. The band holds everything in place with everything going in forward motion.
Canned Heat understood the song didn’t need fixing. They honored the blues structure and let feel do the work. It’s not about showing off licks, just getting the essence of the song right. Simple, direct, and built to roll all the way through. They are one of those underrated bands of the sixties, known for their 3 hits Going Up the Country (1968), On the Road Again (1968), and Let’s Work Together (1970). They are far better than that. A live album by them and John Hooker I can’t recommend enough called Hooker ‘n Heat.
Rollin’ and Tumblin’
Well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled I cried the whole night long Oh well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled I cried the whole night long Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby Something’s goin’ on wrong
Oh well, I really love you, baby Come on and say you’ll be mine Oh well, I really love you, baby Come on and say you’ll be mine Well, if you don’t like my taters Don’t you dig up my vine
Oh well, I cried last night, mama I cried the night before Oh well, I cried last night, mama I cried the night before Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby You don’t love me no more
Well, if the river was whiskey I was a divin’ duck Well, if the river was whiskey I was a divin’ duck Well, I would swim to the bottom Baby, I wouldn’t come up
Oh well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled I cried the whole night long Oh well, I rolled’ ‘n’ tumbled I cried the whole night long Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby Something’s goin’ on wrong
Back a few years ago, I got into The Blasters. Since then, I’ve followed their guitar player, Dave Alvin, into different bands and soloed all over the map. I never say this phrase much, but Dave Alvin is a true American treasure. I’ve heard the man play roots rockabilly, old country, punk, rock and roll, hard rock, and psychedelic/jazz type of music as The Third Mind. It’s nothing that this man can’t do on guitar.
The Third Mind is a band co-founded by Dave Alvin and bassist Victor Krummenacher (of Camper Van Beethoven) with the idea of creating spontaneous, live-in-the-studio music without rehearsals. The concept is inspired by the free-form recording techniques of artists like Miles Davis, where musicians simply pick a key, start playing, and let the performance evolve organically.
They took this folk song by Richard Farina and gave it some bite with Alvin’s guitar. It’s a folk song stretched into something wider, keeping the original intact. I have also heard them cover Dark Star and Morning Dew (a song originally written and recorded by Canadian Folk singer Bonnie Dobson) by the Grateful Dead. Reno, Nevada, is on the 2025 album Right Now!. This song feels like a drive through the desert at night.
Dave Alvin: I had a crazy idea and was looking for musicians who perhaps didn’t think it was so insane. Many years ago I’d been reading John Szwed’s excellent biography of Miles Davis, “So What”, and was fascinated by his thorough descriptions of how Mr. Davis and his producer, Teo Macero, created some of his classic electric albums like Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson. Basically, Miles would gather great musicians in a studio, pick a key and a groove and then record everything live over several days. Then he and Mr. Macero would edit and shape these improvisations into compositions. Having never recorded like that, I had a fantasy to try it someday if the fates ever allowed.
One night after a gig in San Francisco, a decade or more later, I mentioned this fantasy to Victor Krummenacher. I’d known the always musically adventurous Mr. Krummenacher for a couple of decades (since he was a young buck bassist in Camper Van Beethoven) and hoped he would understand.
The Third Mind Dave Alvin: Guitar, Vocals David Immerglück: Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals Michael Jerome: Drums, Percussion Victor Krummenacher: Bass, Vocals Featuring: Jesse Sykes: Guitar, Vocals
Here is a full performance by The Third Mind
Reno, Nevada
It’s a long, long way down to Reno, Nevada And a long, long way to your home But the change in your pocket is beginning to grumble And you reap just about what you’ve sown You can walk down the street, pass your face in the window You can keep on fooling around You can work day and night, take a chance on promotion You can fall through a hole in the ground
Now there ain’t no game like the game you been playing When you got a little something to lose And there ain’t no time like the time you been wasting And you waste just about what you choose There’s a man at the table and you know he’s been able To return all the odds that you lay But you can’t feed your hunger and you ain’t getting younger And your tongue ain’t got nothing to say
It’s a long, long way down to Reno, Nevada And a long, long way to your home But the ground underneath you is beginning to tremble And the sky up above you has grown There’s a time to be moving and a time to be grooving And a time just for climbing the wall But the odds have been doubled, and it ain’t worth the trouble And you’re never going nowhere at all
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 a buck And things didn’t work out, I was down on my luck Got tired a-roamin’ and bummin’ around So I started thumbin’ back East, toward my home town.
Made a lot of miles, the first two days And I figured I’d be home in week, if my luck held out this way But, the third night I got stranded, way out of town At a cold, lonely crossroads, rain was pourin’ down.
I was hungry and freezin’, done caught a chill When the lights of a big semi topped the hill Lord, I sure was glad to hear them air brakes come on And I climbed in that cab, where I knew it’d be warm.
At the wheel sit a big man, he weighed about two-ten He stuck out his hand and said with a grin “Big Joe’s the name”, I told him mine And he said: “The name of my rig is Phantom 309.”
I asked him why he called his rig such a name He said: “Son, this old Mack can put ’em all to shame There ain’t a driver, or a rig, a-runnin’ any line Ain’t seen nothin’ but taillights from Phantom 309.”
Well, we rode and talked the better part of the night When the lights of a truck stop came in sight He 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 low And said: “Have yourself a cup on old Big Joe.” When Joe and his rig roared out in the night In nothin’ flat, he was clean out of sight.
Well, I went inside and ordered me a cup Told the waiter Big Joe was settin’ me up Aw!, you coulda heard a pin drop, it got deathly quiet And the waiter’s face turned kinda white.
Well, did I say something wrong? I said with a halfway grin He said: “Naw, this happens every now and then Ever’ driver in here knows Big Joe But son, let me tell you what happened about ten years ago.
At the crossroads tonight, where you flagged him down There was a bus load of kids, comin’ from town And they were right in the middle, when Big Joe topped the hill It could have been slaughter, but he turned his wheel.
Well, Joe lost control, went into a skid A nd gave his life to save that bunch-a kids And there at that crossroads, was the end of the line For Big Joe and Phantom 309
But, every now and then, some hiker’ll come by And like you, Big Joe’ll give ’em a ride Here, have another cup and forget about the dime Keep it as a souvenir, from Big Joe and Phantom 309!”
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
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 armor Queen jealousy, envy waits behind him Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground
Blue are the life-giving waters taken for granted They quietly understand Once happy turquoise armies lay opposite ready But wonder why the fight is on
But they’re all bold as love Yes, they’re all bold as love Yeah, they’re all bold as love Just ask the axis
My red is so confident, he flashes trophies of war And ribbons of euphoria Orange is young, full of daring But very unsteady for the first go round
My yellow, in this case, is not so mellow In fact, I’m trying to say it’s frightened like me And all these emotions of mine keep holding me from Giving my life to a rainbow like you, but I’m
Yeah, I’m bold as love, yeah-yeah Well, I’m bold, bold as love Hear me talking, girl I’m bold as love Just ask the axis
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 shotgun Shoot ’em for he run now Do the jerk baby Do the jerk now Hey
Put on your red dress And then you go downtown now I said buy yourself a shotgun now We’re gonna break it down, baby now We’re gonna load it up, baby now And then you shoot him for he run now
I said shotgun Shoot ’em for he run now Do the jerk baby Do the jerk now Hey
Shotgun Shoot ’em for he run now Do the jerk baby Do the jerk now Hey
Put on your high heel shoes I said we’re goin’ down here to listen to ’em play the blues We’re gonna dig potatoes We’re gonna pick tomatoes
I said shotgun Shoot ’em for he run now Do the jerk baby Do the jerk now Hey
I said it’s twine time I said it’s twine time I said it’s twine time Hey, what’d I say?
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 spring And here she comes back Hi, hi, hi, hi there Them summer days Those summer days
That’s when I had Most of my fun, back Hi, hi, hi, hi there Them summer days Those summer days
I cloud nine when I want to Out of school, yeah County fair in the country sun And everything is true Ooh, yeah, yeah
Hot fun in the summertime Hot fun in the summertime Hot fun in the summertime Hot fun in the summertime
First of the fall And then she goes back Bye, bye, bye, bye there Them summer days Those summer days
Boop-boop-boop-boop When I want to Out of school County fair in the country sun And everything is cool Ooh, yeah, yeah
Hot fun in the summertime (hey, hey, hey, ooh) Hot fun in the summertime (ooh, yeah) Hot fun in the summertime
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 