After all of the talk of The Shining yesterday I watched a few more scenes of the movie and then ran across this Jerry Lee Lewis live cut on YouTube. I pulled it up on Spotify and Jerry Lee entertained me while I painted our upstairs bathroom as fast as my arms would go. I combined painting while playing air drums. This could be an Olympic event!
Yes, today I will have to clean some paint on the base boards and on the ceiling…but it was worth it.
The album is called Live At The Star Club Hamburg released in 1964. This album is one of the best live rock albums I’ve ever listened to. The Star Club in Hamburg was one of the most important music venues of the era, having acts like The Beatles just a few years before. It was known for a crowd that demanded high-energy rock and roll, making it the perfect stage for Lewis. The audience was full of businessmen, dock workers, crooks, prostitutes, mobsters, and college kids. They all wanted hard-driving music.
The song was written by Claude Demetrius in 1957. It became famous through its association with several artists, such as Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. Per secondhandsongs it’s been covered 126 times. I heard it first by Elvis but I love this live version by Jerry Lee. In this live version, he was backed up by The Nashville Teens, an English rock band, formed in Surrey in 1962.
If you have time check out the entire live album. You can’t go wrong with Jerry Lee. To show you what the critics thought… magazines such as Rolling Stone, Mojo, Digital Dream Door, Goldmine, and the NME all have this live album listed among the best live albums of all time.
The Killer Live below has the entire Star Club album on it. Click play on Spotify and enjoy your Sunday.
Mean Woman Blues
Hmm, I got a woman mean as she can be Yeah, I got a woman mean as she can be Sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me
Well, I ain’t braggin’, it’s understood Everything I do, well, I sure do it good Well, I got a woman mean as she can be Oh, sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me, yeah
Well, she’s got ruby lips, shapely hips Boy, she’d makes ol’ Jerry flip I got a woman mean as she can be Oh, sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me, yeah
Well, I like a little coffee, like a little tea Jerry, Jerry, it’s the thing for me I got a woman mean as she can be Oh, sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me
Oh, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha-ha, ooh a-ha Hmm, uhm, uhm Easy now, ahh ooh, brr ha-ha-ha-ha Yeah, and let’s go one time
Hey, I got a woman mean as she can be Yeah, got a little woman as mean as she can be Well, sometimes I think she’s almost mean as me
We all know the great album Brothers in Arms from Dire Straits, but sometimes those brothers are “at arms” rather than in them. In this part of the mini-series with Max (Thats Me!) from PowerPop he talks about Duane and Gregg Allman from The Allman Brothers… Randy from https://mostlymusiccovers.com posted this a few months back right here.
Rare Live Footage of “Statesboro Blues” (1970)
Duane (born November 20, 1946) and Gregg (born December 8, 1947) Allman were born in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up with a loving but tough mother. Their father, Willis Turner Allman, was murdered in 1949 when Duane was 3 and Gregg was 2. They were raised by their strong mom Geraldine Robbins Allman. Geraldine never remarried because she was scared that a new husband might not treat the boys well. They lived in Nashville for a while but then moved to Daytona Beach and grew up there. Geraldine would soon go to a school to get her accounting degree and send the boys to Castle Heights Military Academy on two separate occasions in Lebanon, Tennessee.
The brothers were almost completely different except in music. Duane lived life on the very edge. Always doing things excessively, be it riding a motorbike, drugs, cars, or playing guitar. Gregg was much more conservative, thoughtful, and worried about the future. Gregg saved up his money from a paper route to buy a Silvertone acoustic guitar early on. He had $21, but the man at the store also wanted tax, so Gregg’s mom kicked in 95 cents.
In 1960, Duane had a small Harley Davidson and wrecked it. He quit school early and continued his partying ways. After a while, he started to get jealous of Gregg’s ability on guitar. Pretty soon they would be fighting over the guitar and the mom soon got Duane a guitar after he sold what was left of the Harley. Gregg showed Duane chords and Duane soon passed Gregg in ability. One, he had a natural gift, and two he had more time through the day. Soon Gregg and Duane started a band called The Allman Joys.
More Rare Live Footage “Whipping Post” (1970)
They developed a following as they started to tour in Florida after Gregg graduated from High School in 1965. Gregg had thoughts of being a dentist if it didn’t work out in music. Duane kept Gregg’s enthusiasm up through the rough times and kept him focused on his keyboard playing, songwriting, and vocals. They soon moved to California to start the band Hourglass and were signed. After two years Duane quit and moved back to the south. After Duane formed the band that would become The Allman Brothers…he called Gregg to come back home to sing. The brothers had a good relationship but were not above fights here and there. Gregg said that he was always Duane’s little brother and would listen to Duane like a second dad. Duane was killed on October 29, 1971, on a motorcycle. Gregg never got over it and it accelerated his drug use. He died on May 27, 2017, at age 69.
This song is on the Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde album by the Byrds. It’s a really good song and the song’s origin is interesting. It was written in response to an on-air argument with Ralph Emery, who was an all-night country DJ on a country radio station at the time. It was written by Roger McGuinn and Gram Parsons. The song was an open letter to Emery.
Before I get into the song which I really like…I want everyone to know I’m not downing Emery because of this. I grew up with Ralph Emery on television in the 1970s. I was never a fan because his show wasn’t in my age group. To be fair to Ralph…he did invite Roger McGuinn on his show in 1985 when Vern Gosdin covered Turn, Turn, Turn and Roger played guitar. He was on there more than once so it was all in the past by that time. Times had changed so much by the 80s…rock and country went together by then but in the 60s Buck Owens touched on it but not many people were doing both…the Byrds with Gram Parsons were pioneers in a way with Sweetheart Of The Rodeo.
In 1968 The Byrds were in Nashville promoting their new country album Sweetheart of the Rodeo and got a cool reception at the Grand Ole Opry. They got into an argument with Emery on air when he said that “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” wasn’t country and then proceeded to call them long-haired hippies and would not play the record. He also didn’t understand what the song meant and Roger told him that Dylan wrote it…well that didn’t help!
Ralph Emery would not budge…It was the 1960s in a very fifties Nashville and Ralph could not get past the hair although they didn’t have excessively long hair. It would open up a bit in the early seventies with Outlaw country music by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings. That movement would soon join traditionalists and the outlaw crowd together. They Byrds helped, in their own way, to make that happen.
The lyrics were about the narrow-mindedness of then certain segments of the country music industry. Lines like “He’s the all-American boy” and “he don’t like the way we play” reflect the hate that McGuinn and Parsons felt from some in Nashville. The title, “Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man,” is a dig at Emery, suggesting that he was more of a conventional figure who could not appreciate or understand the Byrds’ approach to country music. But I’m glad it happened because we got a good country-rock song out of it.
Chris Hillman: “There was the funny story with Ralph Emery, the DJ in Nashville, where he had The Gilded Palace Of Sin tacked on the wall outside of his office, and with a big red pen it said, ‘This is not country music.’ Roger and Gram had gone to do an interview with him when we were all still with the Byrds, and Ralph was such a jerk to them then that they wrote that song “Drug Store Truck Driving Man”. A classic! I wish I’d written a part of that. But later, whenever I’d go on his show with the Desert Rose Band, Ralph would ask, “Did you write that song?” Finally, I had to say, “No, but I wish I had!” So when Roger was on later, Ralph would say, “Well, how is Gram doing?” and Roger would answer, “He’s still dead.” McGuinn was pretty darned quick in those situations!”
I’m adding a live version and a hell of a story by Jason and the Scorchers…on how they played this song and it found a spot on Ralph Emery’s TV show in the early 80s.
Ralph Emery when he invited McGuinn on his show in 1985
Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man
He’s a drug store truck-drivin’ man
He’s the head of the Ku Klux Klan
When summer rolls around
He’ll be lucky if he’s not in town
Well, he’s got him a house on the hill
He plays country records till you’ve had your fill
He’s a fireman’s friend he’s an all-night DJ
But he sure does think different from the records he plays
He’s a drug store truck-drivin’ man
He’s the head of the Ku Klux Klan
When summer rolls around
He’ll be lucky if he’s not in town
Well, he don’t like the young folks I know
He told me one night on his radio show
He’s got him a medal he won in the War
It weighs five-hundred pounds and it sleeps on his floor
He’s a drug store truck drivin’ man
He’s the head of the Ku Klux Klan
When summer rolls around
He’ll be lucky if he’s not in town
He’s been like a father to me
He’s the only DJ you can hear after three
I’m an all-night musician in a rock and roll band
And why he don’t like me I can’t understand
He’s a drug store truck-drivin’ man
He’s the head of the Ku Klux Klan
When summer rolls around
He’ll be lucky if he’s not in town
Thanks to Dave who published this on TurnTable Talk. This time the subject was more of rock’s arty album covers…well of course I had to pick this one.
I’ll never forget buying the Sgt Pepper album. I bought it in 1977, 10 years after it was released, and I played it constantly. I remember opening it and finding this cool sheet of cardboard that contained a cutout mustache, paper pins, Sgt stripes, a cool photo of the Beatles, and Sgt Pepper himself! Thinking back…it’s cool that they included these 10 years after the release date. Here is what a 10-year-old Max found in the album. I wore that mustache for days.
I would venture to say that Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is probably the most famous album by anyone. Personally, I never thought it was their best, but I know many Beatles fans who do think that. If they had added “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” (which most bands would have done) and maybe dropped “Lovely Rita” and “When I’m 64”, then I would have probably considered it the best. Now, after saying that…I like both of those songs, don’t get me wrong. “ Lovely Rita” as a 10-year-old caught my attention. I think Revolver is very hard to beat and that is their best album artistically…personally as most of you know I have a soft spot for “The White Album” and that is my personal #1.
Sgt. Pepper’s is their most ambitious artistic statement, I think, but I listen to Revolver more often, I think it has higher replay value to me anyway. That is like comparing a great work of art by your favorite painter – you love both but see something else in one so it’s very subjective. As far as packaging… now that is where Sgt Pepper knocks it out of the park.
For really the first time on a massive scale, an album was like a work of art. The Beatles standing as Sgt Pepper’s band with a massive audience behind them. Beside them includes the younger Beatles and behind includes everyone from WC Fields to Lenny Bruce. John wanted Jesus and Hitler on the cover but was talked out of it by Sir Joesph Lockwood, the chairman of EMI.
It was designed by artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth. The cover features the band members dressed in colorful, military-style outfits standing in front of a collage of life-sized cardboard cutouts of famous people. Surrounding The Beatles are cutouts of various cultural icons, artists, actors, musicians, and other notable figures. Some of these include Bob Dylan, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Karl Marx, and Oscar Wilde.
There are five people still alive who were on the cover as of right now. Bob Dylan (top right), Dion DiMucci (smiling blond guy above and to the left of Lennon), Larry Bell (between Lennon and Starr), and obviously Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
The cover cost approximately £25,000 ((equivalent to £573,000 in 2023)) to produce, which was a significant amount for an album cover at the time. In comparison, most album covers in the 1960s typically cost around £50. The high cost was due to the elaborate design, the custom-made costumes, the creation of the collage with life-sized cutouts, and the use of wax figures borrowed from Madame Tussauds.
The Beatles recorded their debut album Please Please Me in a remarkably short amount of time. The entire recording process for the album took approximately 9 hours and 45 minutes of studio time. Now let’s fast forward five years from 1962 to 1966-67. The Beatles used up to 700 hours of recording time to record Sgt Pepper. The reason why is because they wanted more tracks than just four. They connected two four-track machines together and recorded the album. That wasn’t done all of the time, and they experimented as they went. This album is one of the most important in music history if only because of the newer recording techniques and how far music advanced because of it.
Going off different memories of the albums by people who were there by the time. Some of them said that all you had to do was walk down a UK street and you would hear it from the windows. It was massively popular and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #1 in the UK in 1967. It also peaked at #1 on the Billboard CD charts in 1987 when it was re-released.
The following year The Band changed the course of music in some ways. they released Music From The Big Pink and influenced a generation. Bands started to play more earthy, more roots-oriented music. The Beatles did that by recording the rootsy “White Album”.
To close out…Sgt. Pepper was a game changer. Not one single was released from the album…it does need to be listened to as a whole.
A Day In The Life
I read the news today, oh boy About a lucky man who made the grade And though the news was rather sad Well, I just had to laugh I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car He didn’t notice that the lights had changed A crowd of people stood and stared They’d seen his face before Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords
I saw a film today, oh boy The English Army had just won the war A crowd of people turned away But I just had to look Having read the book I’d love to turn you on
Woke up, fell out of bed Dragged a comb across my head Found my way downstairs and drank a cup And looking up, I noticed I was late Found my coat and grabbed my hat Made the bus in seconds flat Found my way upstairs and had a smoke And somebody spoke and I went into a dream
I read the news today, oh boy Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire And though the holes were rather small They had to count them all Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall I’d love to turn you on
I love this genre of music. I really could put these songs in any order I wanted and it would work. I had to leave so many off…I could easily make this list with 100 different artists but I wanted the page to actually load so you could read it. This is just a partial list…if you like it I could do a part II one day.
James Carr – Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
No…his name is not a household name like the rest of the list but this song just gets to me every single time I listen to it. If you don’t listen to any other song on this post…give this one a try. I dropped Sam Cooke from this list because of Carr but I like this song that much.
His voice and that wonderful guitar. Pouring Water on a Drowning Man charted at #85 on the Billboard 100 and #23 on the R&B Chart in 1966. This song is so easy to listen to. Great guitar sound and Carr’s voice is wonderful. The small intro is worth it. The guitar can sound can seem so deceptively easy but it’s not to be right. He lived in Memphis and was called “the world’s greatest Soul Singer” but he had a bipolar disorder and that made it hard for him to tour because of the depression.
At one time he was mentioned along with Otis Redding and they had the same manager for a while. The guy had a great voice. Check his other music out.
Arthur Conley – Sweet Soul Music
Otis Redding believed in Conley’s talent. In January 1967 Redding and his managers, Phil Walden (future ABB manager) and his brother Alan Walden (future Lynyrd Skynyrd manager) brought Conley to producer Rick Hall’s FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Conley recorded two singles at FAME Studios but they were not successful and Hall did not want to work with Conley anymore.
By this time Otis was fed up and took Conley himself to FAME and used his own band. With Jimmy Johnson Engineering they recorded Sweet Soul Music. It was a million-selling single. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #2 in the R&B Charts, and #7 in the UK in 1967.
It was written by Conley and Otis Redding. It was based on “Yeah Man” by Sam Cooke and was a tribute to soul singers. The songs mentioned in this song are “Going To A Go-Go,” “Love’s a Hurtin’ Thing,” “Hold On I’m Coming,” “Mustang Sally” and “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song).” The artists mentioned are Otis, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, James Brown, and Lou Rawls.
Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On
I never checked the statistics…but I have to think there had to be a baby explosion nine months after “Let’s Get It On” was released in 1973. Anyone born in 1974 may owe their very existence to this song.
This song’s co-writer Ed Townsend also produced the album with Marvin and co-wrote the three other songs on the first side of the disc, including “Keep Gettin’ It On.” He wrote with Marvin again on songs for Marvin’s 1978 album Here, My Dear.
This song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, The guitar and voice are excellent in this song. There is no guessing what this song is about.
Otis Redding – Shake
This song was a highlight when watching the Monterey Pop Festival. Otis had the voice, charisma, and loads of talent. Shake was written and originally recorded by Sam Cooke. Cooke’s version reached #7 on the Billboard 100. Cooke was a huge influence on Otis Redding; along with Shake, Redding also recorded covers of Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come, Chain Gang, Cupid, Nothing Can Change This Love, Wonderful World, and You Send Me.
The song peaked at #47 on the Billboard 100 in 1967. Otis was on his way to superstardom. Otis made a huge impact at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival along with The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin.
The Reverend Al Green – Let’s Stay Together
I never tire of hearing his voice. This song almost wasn’t released because Green hated the thin sound of his falsetto. Producer Willie Mitchell said: “The only fight I ever had with him was about ‘Let’s Stay Together,’ because he thought ‘Let’s Stay Together’ was not a hit.” It did pretty well for a song Green didn’t think was a hit.
The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #7 in the UK, and #14 in Canada in 1972. Let’s Stay Together also spent nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.
It was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
We all know the great album Brothers in Arms from Dire Straits, but sometimes those brothers are “at arms” rather than in them. In this part of the mini-series Randy, from mostlymusiccovers.com, talks about the “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em” Siblings of the Bee Gees.
“To Love Somebody” was written by Robin and Barry Gibb. It was released as a single in 1967 and reached #41 in their native UK. The song did better elsewhere making several top 10s and #17 on the Hot 100. It would be a cover by Michael Bolton released in 1992 that put it at #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts in Canada and the US. It has endured to become a classic with over 210 versions of the song.
Formed in 1958 with brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice. After the family’s move to Australia they found their first success, just the three boys returned to their native UK in 1967. They would go on to sell an estimated 200 million records, post nine #1s on the Hot 100 and entered the top five of the most successful bands in history.
Life was not so easy, with an unreliable father they became the bread winners for the family at a very young age. Despite the pressures the boys got on quite well, until the dreaded “S” word enter in. Success. Their first #1 in the UK was “Massachusetts” in 1967. Robin sang lead on it and it was a position he was not willing to give up. The in-fighting began.
This is not perhaps the level of fighting on the same scale as some of our other brother groups, but they were not producing any hits and Robin was really at the heart of a split up in 1969. The reconciliation produced their first US #1 Hot 100 hit, “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” in 1971. It was very much an autobiographical song. Success is fleeting in the music business and another downturn followed as their next album was a flop. By 1975 they had all moved to the US. Both Robin and Maurice struggled mightily with addiction problems. Robin seemed to tolerate the more democratic Barry becoming the defacto leader, but there were tensions. Not enough though to stop them from reinventing themselves yet again.
The Disco era and Saturday Night Fever saw them rise to incredible worldwide success with eight Hot 100 #1 hits in the mid to late 1970s. Younger brother Andy would join in the success. Everyone knows the rise and fall of Disco, and no one paid a heavier price than the Bee Gees. All of a sudden no one wanted to hear a Bee Gees song. In fact, they were and are still hated by some. I was not a disco fan, but I was a Bee Gees fan, and I took my fair share of ribbing for it.
Despite all this turmoil surrounding them, only minor tensions erupted, and Barry, Maurice and Robin would discover other people respected their songwriting abilities. First came “Woman in Love” by Barbra Streisand, and then “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, both worldwide #1 smash hits. And also, songs for Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and others. So, the brothers Gibb had risen from the ashes for yet a third time but as songwriters. And then remarkably a fourth time, as recording success returned once again and they placed four more songs in the top 10 in the UK in the 90s.
Maurice would die at age 53 in 2003 and despite attempts to regroup, the band that was the Bee Gees were effectively no more. Younger brother Andy had died in 1988 and Robin in 2012. Barry the oldest, has continued to record and perform.
I love Spaghetti Westerns and this is one of the very best. Let’s see…great writing, great acting, and great music. The Good (Clint Eastwood – Blondie), The Bad (Lee Van Cleef -Angel Eyes or Sentenza), and The Ugly (Eli Wallach – Tuco) is a classic movie with a great film score by Ennio Morricone.
While I was re-watching the movie my son Bailey came in and asked me…so you are watching the best movie ever again? Where do I begin with this movie? I like the story and the atmosphere draws me in for repeat viewings. In 1964 Sergio Leone started his trilogy of westerns starring Clint Eastwood. It’s sometimes called the Dollars Trilogy. A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For A Few More Dollars More (1965), and finally this one…The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966).
This is not your typical John Wayne-style Hollywood western…although I love a lot of his movies. Funny, in the early 2000’s I never thought much about Westerns or really liked them…but this one changed my mind about the entire genre…it’s that good.
This film has an epic scope and therefore covers a lot of ground. There is not a dull spot in this film. From the beginning, we are guessing and it all leads up to one of the very best suspenseful endings ever filmed. As much of an Eastwood fan as I am…Eli Wallach grabbed my attention before anyone did. His character is such a wild card. I can’t say enough about his acting in this. He IS Tuco. All three leads were fantastic.
What exactly is a Spaghetti Western? I was asked this before when I would talk about them to different people about Westerns. I think the biggest difference between a regular Western and these would be the realism and the grittiness of the Spaghetti Western. Also with regular Westerns, you have good vs evil…Spaghetti Westerns often feature the in-between anti-heroes, huge stark landscapes, and a more cynical tone. But that is just my opinion.
These films were primarily made in Italy (hence the term “Spaghetti”) during the 1960s and 1970s. They were often directed by Italian filmmakers like Sergio Leone and featured international casts, including American actors.
There is one more thing I would like to say about the movie. On top of everything else…the cinematography is some of the best I’ve ever seen. You also have Eastwood in probably his most iconic role. Out of all of the movies I’ve featured…I have probably watched this one the most.
My favorite scene was the last bit between Blondie and Tuco.
Plot from IMDB
During the American Civil War, three men set off to find $200,000.00 in buried gold coins. Tuco and Blondie have known each other for some time now, having used the reward on Tuco’s head as a way of earning money. They come across a dying man, Bill Carson, who tells them of a treasure in gold coins. By chance, he reveals the name of the cemetery and the name of the grave where the gold is buried. Now rivals, the two men have good reason to keep each other alive. The third man, Angel Eyes, hears of the gold stash from someone he’s been hired to kill. All he knows is to look for someone named Bill Carson. The three ultimately meet in a showdown that takes place amid a major battle between Confederate and Union forces.
Quotes:
Blondie: You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.
______
[Tuco is in a bubble bath. The One Armed Man enters the room]
One Armed Man: I’ve been looking for you for 8 months. Whenever I should have had a gun in my right hand, I thought of you. Now I find you in exactly the position that suits me. I had lots of time to learn to shoot with my left.
[Tuco kills him with the gun he has hidden in the foam]
Tuco: When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.
______
Tuco: I’m very happy you are working with me! And we’re together again.
[pause]
Tuco: I get dressed, I kill him and be right back.
Blondie: Listen, I forgot to mention… He’s not alone. There’s five of ’em.
This is the last Kinks day. I’m going to finish up with one of my favorite Kinks songs. I want to thank everyone who wrote and everyone who read the posts! I thought I would be lucky to get 10-12 people to do this… so I was shocked with 18 Kinks songs. I’ll be listening to The Kinks for months now. I did this song back in 2018 or 19 but I wanted to make sure it got covered during this Kinksathon so I revamped it.
We are the Sherlock Holmes English-speaking Vernacular. God save Fu Manchu, Moriarty, and Dracula. We are the Office Block Persecution Affinity. God save little shops, china cups, and virginity.
Some songs can be written by anyone and some can be very popular but generic. Some can only be written by certain songwriters. This would be one of those songs. Ray Davies’s songs have their own DNA. This was on the great 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. The album is a concept album reflecting on the loss of the old England that Ray remembered, he captures older village life, tradition, and the impact of the rapid changes happening in British society during the 1960s.
One thing that makes this song and many Kinks songs stand out is Dave Davies…I’m not talking about his highly underrated guitar playing. It’s his high-pitched harmony singing with Ray that compliments the songs so well. Without Dave’s voice, the Kinks would not sound like The Kinks.
This nostalgic song is a favorite of mine. This is a big jump from You Really Got Me to…”We are the Sherlock Holmes English-speaking Vernacular, God save Fu Manchu, Moriarty, and Dracula.”
I learned a lot about older British Culture with this song. Desperate Dan, Mrs. Mopp, and Mother Riley… he fits the words like a jigsaw puzzle that magically falls into place. There are no forced lyrics and with these lyrics…that is not easy. This song to me, is up there with their best songs.
Ray Davis: “The people in it are all characters I liked as a kid or people my family could relate to, like Old Mother Riley and Mrs Mopp. Because I used to love listening to the BBC Light Programme on Sundays, like Round The Horne with Kenneth Williams. A time when the population was allowed to be trivial.”
Ray Davies: “You have to remember that North London was my village green, my version of the countryside. The street and district I grew up in was called Fortis Green, and then there was Waterlow Park and the little lake. I sang in the choir at St James’s Primary School until I was about 10, then I trained myself to sing out of tune so I could hang around with a gang called the Crooners instead. Our Scottish singing teacher Mrs. Lewis said, ‘Never mind, Davies – I hear crooners are making a lot of money these days.'”
Pete Townshend: “The Kinks were much more quintessentially English. I always think that Ray Davies should be one day, be Poet Laureate. You know, he invented a new kind of poetry. A new kind of language for Pop writing, which I think, influenced me from the very, very beginning. (It was) very strange that I should be so directly influenced because it was from sideways. We were moving forward together. But I was very influenced by him.”
“I think that Dave Davies is also very underestimated. When we started, I used to feel that. Well, it’s obvious that Dave couldn’t have done the kind of innovation that I did. Because I was with Jim Marshall building the bloody amplifiers. Somehow The Kinks adopted some of that as well. They didn’t actually use the Marshall-size amps that we used. But they were loud, they were raucous. The guitar sound was similar, there was feedback there.”
I added a live version which for me is superior to the studio cut but that is just me. This is a rare time when I liked the live over the studio. I heard this live version before the studio recording. The horns add a lot to this song.
We are the Draught Beer Preservation Society.Amen, Ray…
Village Green Preservation Society
We are the Village Green Preservation Society.
God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety.
We are the Desperate Dan Appreciation Society.
God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties.
Preserving the old ways from being abused.
Protecting the new ways, for me and for you.
What more can we do?
We are the Draught Beer Preservation Society.
God save Mrs. Mopp and good old Mother Riley.
We are the Custard Pie Appreciation Consortium.
God save the George Cross, and all those who were awarded them.
Oooh…
We are the Sherlock Holmes English-speaking Vernacular.
God save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula.
We are the Office Block Persecution Affinity.
God save little shops, china cups, and virginity.
We are the Skyscraper Condemnation Affiliates.
God save Tudor houses, antique tables, and billiards.
Preserving the old ways from being abused.
Protecting the new ways, for me and for you.
What more can we do?
We are the Village Green Preservation Society.
God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety.
We are the Desperate Dan Appreciation Society.
God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties.
He started the blog halffastcycling.club to chronicle a coast-to-coast bike trip and I’ll let him tell you the rest. Recently retired from a series of careers (in co-ops, plumbing, and health care), I spend my time riding my bike (once across the continent wasn’t enough so I quit working to do it again), paddling, writing about bikes and whatever pops into my head, and sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair. I’m old enough that I remember this music when it was new, not from oldies stations. The first hit records I remember hearing were by Little Richard (78 RPM). (I have older siblings.) My intro to live music (besides high school dances) was through BB King (followed quickly by Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Luther Allison, Bonnie Raitt, Pete Seeger, and the Grateful Dead, among others). I wrote a high school term paper on the Beatles (after reading the new Hunter Davies bio in 1968) and got a D.
Muswell Hillbilly
The Buddha said that life is suffering and suffering arises from desire.
Pop culture, one could argue, is the packaging and selling of fantasy. Hell, one could argue that all of capitalism involves packaging and selling fantasy. And by fantasy, I mean the objects of desire.
One of the more insidious forms of fantasy is nostalgia…a desire for what was or, more commonly, what never was but what we imagine to have been.
Make America Great Again sells us the fantasy that there once was a time that the USA was great and that it is no longer. When was it great? That’s never specified, but maybe it was 1776 or maybe 1956. When did it stop being great? That’s implied, but might be when folks other than white, property-owning men wanted their share.
Carol Hanisch wrote a paper that was published in 1970 with the title “The Personal is Political”. She argued that “There are no personal solutions at this time. There is only collective action for a collective solution.”
What does this have to do with The Kinks? In 1964 they released “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night”, two songs that led some 11 year olds I know to think we could be rock and rollers. The Beatles were unreachable to us, but we thought we could be The Kinks. Some of us only fantasized. Some went out and bought instruments. None of us became rock and roll musicians. (At least not that particular group of 11 year olds.)
By the time “Muswell Hillbillies” was released in 1971, rock music had gained sophistication, musically and lyrically. It was no longer enough to sing “I wanna hold your hand” or “Girl, I want to be with you in the daytime”, even if we added “nighttime” (“nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more”).
A critique of mainstream society was an element of rock by then. In 1969 The Jefferson Airplane sang:
We are forces of chaos and anarchy. Everything they say we are we are. And we are very Proud of ourselves.
The world of rock music had moved on from selling 2 minute singles to selling albums. Albums then became more than a collection of singles and filler. The Kinks had already embraced that by 1968’s “The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society” as well as 1970’s “Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One”. “Lola” was both a critique of the music industry and an exploration of sexuality and gender. I hope this series will cover both of these songs or albums. (If not, check out this and this from Powerpop five years ago.)
Muswell Hill is a suburban district of North London, the childhood home of Ray and Dave Davies. It is also the location of St Luke’s Woodside Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders, a branch of the former St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics (1751-1916).
Muswell Hillbillies
explores alienation and mental illness. “Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues” is sung from the viewpoint of a man who is “too terrified to walk out of my own front door”.
He sings:
They’re watching my house and they’re tapping my telephone. I can’t trust nobody, but I’m much too scared to be on my own. And the income tax collector’s got his beady eye on me. Oh, there ain’t no cure for acute schizophrenia disease.
In “Catch-22″ (1961), Joseph Heller wrote, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”
In the US, COINTELPRO (1956-71) targeted anyone the FBI considered subversive. That originally meant suspected communists, then mostly Black people but also the New Left. They aimed to disrupt organizations via planting false information, creating conflict, infiltration; in short, by making people paranoid. MKUltra (1953-73), a CIA program, dosed people with LSD and other psychedelics without their knowledge. So is the protagonist of Muswell Hillbillies crazy, or does he just think he is, or is there no difference?
In “20th Century Man”, he sings:
This is the age of machinery, A mechanical nightmare, The wonderful world of technology, Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare.
He has confirmed Hanisch’s assertion that “the personal is political”. He is paranoid but the solution is not an individual one because the problem is not an individual one. Therapy is not going to fix this.
In the title track (you knew we’d get to that eventually, right?) the singer is nostalgic for a USA that he has never seen. US culture is dominant so he knows “Oklahoma” the musical, he knows roots music, and it sounds like he listened to “Rocky Raccoon” for some of his US education, or maybe it was cowboy movies:
Cos I’m a Muswell Hillbilly boy, But my heart lies in old West Virginia, Never seen New Orleans, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Still I dream of the Black Hills that I ain’t never seen.
He’s headed for the mental hospital:
They’ll move me up to Muswell Hill tomorrow, Photographs and souvenirs are all I’ve got, They’re gonna try and make me change my way of living, But they’ll never make me something that I’m not.
He knows he doesn’t fit in but he’s not certain that that is his problem. He recognizes that this is bigger than he is but feels powerless to stop it:
They’re putting us in identical little boxes, No character just uniformity, They’re trying to build a computerised community, But they’ll never make a zombie out of me.
But maybe he can resist individually, even if he can’t stop the train. He doesn’t have the power to change society but maybe he can maintain some personal integrity. He is a little bit RP McMurphy from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1962, Ken Kesey). [Spoiler Alert: They make a zombie out of RP McMurphy via frontal lobotomy. Of note, the novel was written under the influence of LSD when Ken Kesey was a voluntary subject of MKUltra and working nights in a VA hospital psychiatric unit. He didn’t know it was a CIA project but did know he was getting free LSD.]
By 1971, the Left in the US was in disarray. By 1971, the Left in the US was in disarray. The 1970 bombing of the Army Math Research Center (AMRC), in the wake of the National Guard killing of students at Kent State and Jackson State, had brought the war home in a way no one expected, as someone was accidentally killed in the bombing. The Kent State killings had galvanized mainstream opposition to the war. [Killing people of color was a long-standing US tradition.] After Army Math, revolution no longer seemed to be just around the corner; and this shit was getting serious. Were we still, like the Jefferson Airplane, “very proud of ourselves”?
COINTELPRO and MKUltra had not yet been exposed and were still active. The American Dream seemed to be a nightmare. Paranoia is no fun. [Many in Madison, WI – home of AMRC – feared that the Grand Jury investigation would be a fishing expedition into the New Left and “We Won’t Talk” bumperstickers appeared around town. Were we paranoid? Were they after us?] Nostalgia began to look good – certainly in the US, probably equally in the UK.
The Muswell Hillbilly is paranoid, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t after him. He wants to live in a nostalgic fantasy world where life is simpler
But in her dreams, she is far away In Oklahoma, USA.
– but instead he is being packed off to a mental hospital. He feels the alienation of modern life and continues to resist in any way that he can. When faced with a world we don’t want, what are our choices? We can capitulate, we can resist, we can escape to a fantasy world. We can organize, but even that looks hopeless to him.
I’ve known Music City Mike for a while and I met him through hanspostcard. I can always count on Mike commenting when I post someone not on the beaten path… guys like Garland Jefferies, The Records, Joe Ely, Robert Earl Keen, and many others. He has worked with some artists and is very knowledgeable…You can find him at https://musiccitymike.net and his YouTube site is HERE.
“Waterloo Sunset” – The Kinks
A few years back, I was a guest blogger along with some fellow music writers where we conducted a draft to pick and write about our top ten favorite songs of all time. The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset” would have made it high on my list had it not been for someone else drafting it ahead of me. Given the chance to pick a Kinks’ song to write about, my choice was easy.
Why? Well, the only way to say it is that this song is perfect. And it’s not just me that feels this way! I have seen countless lists where people include “Waterloo Sunset” as one of their favorite songs. And I have also seen quite a few who boldly claim it to be the best song ever written. I have no trouble seeing their point. It’s the “Over the Rainbow” of the Rock era.
Now what makes a song perfect? First off, it grabs you the first time you hear it, you follow every word, and the melody gets implanted into your brain. There also is a simplicity to it that allows you to easily sing along. Better yet, if you are a player, said simplicity makes it easy to learn and while it allows for alternative musical arrangements, it would be sacrilege to mess with its basic structure (i.e., no jamming or extended guitar solos). Importantly, there is a poignancy to its lyrical content – not life changing, but more than just a carefree love song. All these things are packed together tightly in a nice box to make it perfect.
Some other examples of modern perfect songs in my opinion are Elton John’s “Your Song,” James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” Gram Parson’s “Brass Buttons,” The Replacements “Achin’ to Be,” and Squeeze’s “Up the Junction.”
What happens to me with “Waterloo Sunset” is that I hear either the original version or one of its countless covers, and I start and can’t stop listening to it over and over again. My latest incident occurred with Robyn Hitchcock’s cover of the song for his forthcoming 1967 LP release of songs he loved from that year. I recently got to see Robyn perform the song live in front of a small crowd and the song filled the room with smiles and collective singing of the “sha-la-la’s.” And what do you think I started listening to as soon as I got to my car?
My favorite hearing of the song though was in 1989 while I was riding on Will Birch’s “Rock Tour of London” bus. The song played over the PA as we crossed the Waterloo Bridge over the river. Even without there being a sunset over the Thames, I became overjoyed hearing the song in this setting.
“Waterloo Sunset” cinematically captures an endearing sentimentality. The song’s narrator recalls this beautiful sunset that makes him say “I don’t need no friends.” He also sings of two lovers, Terry and Julie, who are also so taken in that “They don’t need no friends.” Whether these are excuses for just being loners or just an analogy to how happy they feel doesn’t really matter. He and they “are in paradise.”
And while it’s not totally clear, I think that the narrator’s preference of nature over the hustle-bustle of nearby Waterloo Station comes from two perspectives – his view of the gorgeous sunset as well as seeing the two young lovers enjoy its splendor as well.
Musically, the song has an instantly recognizable and infectious opening riff. Dave Davies’ sharp staccato guitar intro leads into a precise plucking of notes that foreshadow the upcoming tune of the song’s lyrical refrain, a truly memorable melody. Lyrically, the writing is compact with nary a wasted word.
Ray Davies performed “Waterloo Sunset” at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics which was a crowning achievement for the song. Plain and simple, Sir Raymond Douglas Davies penned and produced a masterpiece that people will be listening to hundreds of years from now.
Maybe someday I will return to London and take the time to witness my own Waterloo sunset.
This entry is by Lisa from Tao-Talk. I’ve known Lisa since 2018 and the biggest George Harrison fan I’ve ever met. She is a wonderful writer with a wide knowledge of music. Lisa is a mother, grandmother, gardener, retired government worker, observer, reader, writer, cinema lover, learner, bicyclist, woman who runs with the wolves, and last but not least, a lover of music! Go visit Lisa when you can!
Stop Your Sobbing, written by Ray Davies
Released 10/2/64 on The Kinks’ debut album, “Kinks”
The first time I heard, “Stop Your Sobbing” was on a Pretenders album. As Chrissie writes her own songs for the most part, it never occurred to me that she didn’t write this one. It was only when a blogmate mentioned that Ray and Chrissie had been a couple and had a child together that I began to wonder and looked a little deeper. It has been an enjoyable journey of discovery on how the song came about, how Ray met Chrissie, and how Chrissie came to record a Kinks song.
The Kinks line-up was Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife, and Mick Avory.
“Stop Your Sobbing” was the next to the last song on The Kinks’ debut album, “Kinks,” released on 10/2/64. The American release of the album was missing 3 tracks: “I Took My Baby Home”, “I’m a Lover Not a Fighter” and “Revenge.” The only single released from the album was, “You Really Got Me.” Looking at the playlist, I was kind of surprised that 8 of the 14 songs were not written by Ray and one was co-written with him. The 3 omitted tracks were written by, respectively, Ray, Jay Miller, and co-written by Ray and Larry Page.
I’ve seen this pattern before, with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (and probably many others?) in their first recordings being written often by others and then transitioning over to mostly written by the groups. Hoping to get some feedback from readers on this.
Secondhand songs shows 11 covers of the song, including 3 in 1965, 1 in 1979, 3 from 2000-2003, 1 in 2011, 1 in 2015; and the most recent is reggae-styled from May of 2023, by Rhoda Dakar.
I know how some readers like chart stats. Peak positions for the album charts in 1964-65 were:
UK Melody Maker top 10 LP = 4
UK New Musical Express best selling LP = 5
UK Record Retailer LPs chart = 3
US Billboard Top LPs = 29
US Cash Box top 100 albums = 25
US Record World 100 top LPs = 20
West German Musicmarkt LP hit parade = 7
For those who want even more deets on The Kinks, including the statistics part, Kinda Kinks has a meticulous breakdown of everywhere the song was released – AND SO MUCH MORE.
Fate Intervenes Where Human Effort Fails
Now to get to the juicy part of what hooked me on the song and motivated me to look deeper, which is what inspired Ray to write it, how Chrissie became aware of it, and how Ray and Chrissie got together and had a baby.
In Ray’s autobiography, “X-Ray,” he said the song was inspired by a tearful girlfriend:
“Her sobbing was making me feel guilty and I told her to stop…”
Most of the songs on that debut album besides the single faded into obscurity, including, “Stop Your Sobbing.” Years passed. Chrissie Hynde, born in Ohio, USA, moved to London in 1973 and began working for NME, a major music publication. She also began forming a band. In 1978, when The Pretenders decided to put a demo tape of 6 songs together, she thought of, “Stop Your Sobbing.” Nick Lowe produced the single and it was released in 1979. The single reached the lower end of the UK top 40. More importantly, it caught the attention of Ray himself. Dave Everley from LouderSound, says that Chrissie had reviewed another single of theirs, Mirror of Love, for NME (I tried to find the review and failed.) and had tried multiple times to get an interview set up with Ray, but he declined. I love this quote about his refusal, taken from Johnny Rogan’s book, _The Complete Guide to the Music of The Kinks_:
“I avoided it. “I’d heard she’d said nice things about me. I thought: ‘Oh God, when she meets the real person and sees what a conner I am.’”
Ray and Chrissie finally met in a New York club in 1980.
I found an excellent DailyMail article about Ray, his relationships with women, and a good photo and quote by him in regards to meeting Chrissie:
She couldn’t take the sudden fame that had come to her and I think she saw me as someone who had done all that rock ’n’ roll stuff and understood it,
Their relationship is reported to have lasted until 1983. Natalie, their daughter, was born in early 1983. Chrissie went on to marry Jim Kerr from the band, Simple Minds, in 1984. Reports say that Ray never met Natalie until she was an adult.
LYRICS
It is time for you to stop all of your sobbing
Yes, it’s time for you to stop all of your sobbing
There’s one thing that you gotta do
To make me still want you
Gotta stop sobbing now
Yeah, stop it, stop it
Gotta stop sobbing now
It is time for you to laugh instead of crying
Yes, it’s time for you to laugh so keep on trying
There’s one thing that you gotta do
To make me still want you
Gotta stop sobbing now
Yeah, stop it, stop it
Gotta stop sobbing now
Each little tear that falls from your eye
Makes, makes a me want
To take you in my arms
And tell you to stop all your sobbing
Yes, it’s time for you to stop all of your sobbing
Yes, it’s time for you to stop all of your sobbing
There’s one thing that you gotta do
To make me still want you
Gotta stop sobbing now
Yeah, stop it, stop it
Gotta stop sobbing now
Stop it, stop it
Graham was one of the first bloggers I followed in 2018. His site has a wealth of album reviews from the 1960s to now. I was thrilled when he agreed to this. You will find his site Aphorisitc Album Reviews here at https://albumreviews.blog/. I learn about new pop albums and some less-known names from the past from him as well. Plus, he is a fellow Big Star fan.
The Kinks maintained a long career because they were able to change with the times. They first enjoyed success with raw garage rockers like ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All Day and All of the Night’. Bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys brought more diverse instrumentation and styles to rock albums in the mid-1960s. The Kinks were able to follow the trend, dialing back the intensity for their 1967 album Something Else.
Something Else features ‘Waterloo Sunset’, perhaps Ray Davies’ most acclaimed song. It’s also notable for three songs written by Dave Davies. ‘Death of a Clown’ and the rocker ‘Love Me Til The Sun Shines’ stand proudly among his brother’s best songs here. There’s an embarrassment of riches. The Kinks explore psychedelia on ‘Lazy Old Sun’ while ‘Harry Rag’ dips into English music hall. ‘David Watts’ later became a hit for The Jam.
Among all these strong tracks, one of my favourites on Something Else is ‘Two Sisters’. Musically it’s driven by harpsichord played by Stones sideman Nicky Hopkins. The simple, light string arrangement that arrives later in the song is a clever touch.
Lyrically ‘Two Sisters’ is a thinly veiled commentary of Ray Davies’ relationship with his brother. Ray Davies was a married introvert. Dave Davies was a party animal, expelled from school at 15 after getting caught having sex on London’s Hampstead Heath.
The scene is set by an evocative opening line:
Sybilla looked into her mirror
Priscilla looked into the washing machine
There’s a feeling of reconciliation by the conclusion. As Ray Davies told biographer Nick Hasted:
“Dave made up for both of us, he was the youthful, fun-loving one. ‘Two Sisters’ is quite accurate, in the sense that one had all the freedoms – one brother stays in, and the other goes out and has fun. And one resents the other for the ability to do it. But in the end, look what I’ve got…”
Ray Davies was married to Rasa between 1964 and 1973. She’s sometimes an overlooked part of The Kinks’ 1960s era. She provided backing vocals and occasionally helped with songwriting.
The Kinks have a lot of great songs, and it’s easy for gems to get lost. ‘Two Sisters’ is a highlight from one of their best records.
I’ve been visiting Stewart at Number1sblog for a few years. His blog never lets me down. Learning about #1 songs in the UK and how different the American charts can be from them. He is currently in the year 1998 but travel back to see the previous years also. He always gives you a quality take on every #1 song.
The Kinks, ‘Autumn Almanac’
Thanks, Max, for giving us the space to write about our favourite songs from Britain’s third-best band of the 1960s. And yes, the Kinks were the sixties ‘third’ British band. Forget the Who, or the Hollies. Don’t dare mention Manfred Mann or Herman’s Hermits! In bronze position, behind the Beatles and the Stones, stand Muswell Hill’s finest.
The Kinks scored twelve top ten hits, and three number ones, between 1964 and 1967, with their last big chart hit of the sixties being ‘Autumn Almanac’. And if you needed an example of why many non-Brits might not choose the Kinks as the ‘60s third-best band, then this is the perfect record.
Not many pop songs talk of sweeping leaves, of crawly caterpillars, buttered currant buns, or of rheumatic backs. Nothing very rock ‘n’ roll there. Nor is there in the middle-eight: I like my football on a Saturday, Roast beef on Sundays, All right… It’s quintessential Kinks: tongue-in-cheek vignettes of British life. Not as famous as Terry and Judy from ‘Waterloo Sunset’, the unnamed aristocrat in ‘Sunny Afternoon’, or the legendary ‘Lola’, but every bit as vital. No wonder Blur’s Damon Albarn named ‘Autumn Almanac’ as his favourite Kinks’ record, given that he spent much of the nineties trying to recreate it…
But before it all gets too cozy and twee, Ray Davies turns his attention to British ideas of respectability, and the class system. This is my street, And I’m never gonna leave it… If I live to be ninety-nine… The singer is trapped in his lower-middle class environment. Everyone he meets, seems to come from his street, and he can’t get away… No social climbing allowed.
For this to be the Kinks final Top 10 record of the decade is fitting. It’s the culmination of their move away from the garage rock of ‘You Really Got Me’, through to more traditional, folksy pop. ‘Autumn Almanac’ is at one moment crunchy guitars, the next a trombone-led, music hall singalong.
But while it’s easy to claim that the Kinks were too ‘British’ for American audiences, leading to less chart success as the sixties went on; that’s not quite the full picture. The fact that they had been banned from touring the States since 1965 thanks to their habit of attacking one another on stage was probably a much more pressing reason.
Still, maybe it was a blessing in disguise, for the touring ban coincided with a change in their sound. Their hard-rocking early hits are great, but for me the classic Kinks period starts with the hilariously catty ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’, through ‘Dead End Street’, and the timeless ‘Waterloo Sunset’, to this. My answer might change depending on which time of year it is, but ‘Autumn Almanac’ will always be close to the top of my ‘Best Kinks Songs’ list.
I met deKE when I published a Georgia Satellites song and fellow blogger Graham told me about him after he posted a Satellites song a little earlier. Since then he has me listening to all sorts of music. I’m forever indebted to him for the introduction to the Canadian Power Pop band Sloan. Go visit his WordPress site. and he also has a youtube channel to visit. It’s worth subscribing to the YouTube channel. He has interviewed musicians, producers, and all sorts in the know. Ok, deKE…take it away…
Thanks to Mad Max for letting me be a part of this series. I’ve been reading everyone’s posts about The Kinks and I can honestly say I know the least about them and their history. Sure I know about Ray and Dave’s onstage/offstage antics as I read about some of it back in the day when I would pick up the monthly issue of Creem magazine.
The first time I ever heard of the band name ‘The Kinks’ was via ‘Van Halen’. Believe it or not it wasn’t VHs killer version of ‘You Really Got Me’ but Dave and Eddie’s muscled up version of ‘Where Have All The Good Times Gone’.
Now you’re probably thinking “say what?!” but it’s true. I discovered VH back in April 81 but I didn’t get the VH debut with ‘You Really Got Me’ on it until 1984.(if you’re a fan of VH, see what I did there). There was so much hard rock coming out between 1980 and 1985 (my teenage years) I had a hard time keeping up. My first two VH purchases were ‘Women & Children First’ and ‘Fair Warning’ in 1981 as previously mentioned. My third VH purchase was in 1982 when they dropped the half originals/half covers release ‘Diver Down’. One of the cover tunes featured was ‘Where Have All The Good Times Gone’.
If VH wanted to kick off their latest release with a loosey jam like vibe then this was the track to do just that with. Once you hear Alex Van Halen’s drums kick in, next thing you know Eddie Van Halen and Micheal Anthony are joining the party. Ringleader/vocalist David Lee Roth pulls down a good vocal on the song.
As a young rock fan and even as the years passed by and the decades started rolling by, I liked the fact that VH could take a cover tune and make it their own! Eddie’s guitar solo on the song is what air guitar is all about.
The great thing about YouTube is I pulled up The Kinks original of this song and holy moly Van Halen definitely rocked it up but you have to consider back when Ray and Dave cooked up this track that many years later VH took that cue and partied it up and put it out for the masses to devour.
By the way I’m sure Ray and Dave are still enjoying the royalty pay cheques thanks to Halen!
We all know the great album Brothers in Arms from Dire Straits, but sometimes those brothers are “at arms” rather than in them. In this part of the mini-series Randy, from mostlymusiccovers.com, talks about the “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em” Siblings of the Fogerty brothers from Creedence Clearwater Revival.
“Proud Mary” written by John Fogerty was CCR’s first big hit single peaking at #2.
Tom was the elder of the two brothers, he was born in 1941 (1990) and John was born in 1945, now age 78. They were born in Berkley but grew up in El Cerrito, California. Tom signed a record contract in 1959 but had little success in terms of recording a hit. John and his band would eventually provide backing to Tom and this led to the creation of the Golliwogs where John and Tom shared lead vocals. By the time Credence Clearwater Revival (CCR) had formed in 1967, John had stepped to the forefront as lead singer, guitar player, and principal songwriter.
That is Tom on the left and John on the right.
CCR would go on to what is now regarded as legendary success. Between 1968 and 1970 they released six albums, two of them charting #1. They still hold the record for having five songs reach #2 without ever having a #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Tom left the band early in 1971 to pursue a solo career. CCR would release just one more album Mardi Gras in 1972 but had recorded two of the songs before Tom left. There is no evidence that things got physical but they argued a lot and the tension was high.
Tom’s departure leads us further into the discussion about the feud between him and John was more than just that. As with any break-up, there are two sides to every story, and with this one, there are at least 5 sides, the most notorious falling out suffice to say is with John and their former boss at Fantasy Records, Saul Zaentz. I won’t get too much into that story today and most will be familiar with Zaentz taking control of the CCR music and also controlling the copyright and the infamous lawsuits. I discussed this in a post back in 2018.
John admittedly was so bitter he stopped playing music for almost 10 years. Some years after the nasty split up of CCR, Fogerty recorded two songs aimed squarely at Zaentz, “Zanz Kant Danz” and “Mr. Greed”. John would eventually emerge victorious over the lawsuits brought by Zaentz and his own subsequent countersuit.
For Tom’s part, he clearly sided with Zaentz. Early on Tom was named in the lawsuit against John and at one time referred to Zaentz as his “best friend”. The band, including Tom and Zaentz had their money invested and got a tip to pull out, they didn’t tell John and he lost almost everything. At the heart of the trouble was that Tom left CCR as he felt John had taken control of the band. This I think, is a fair statement. John wrote most all of the lyrics and the music. Certainly for all their big hits. He had the best and most distinctive voice, and at lead guitar was the best musician.
As a band member, Tom in all honesty could not, and did not do better. At their height, they were one of the most successful Rock bands and history has certainly born that out. An estimated 50 million in record sales in about five years is nothing to sneeze at. John as a solo artist has almost doubled that number.
“Have You Ever Seen the Rain”, words and music by John Fogerty and the last hit single before the departure of Tom from the band.
Now I am not saying John is blameless for the falling out, I am sure he might have handled things better, but his ego I think would get in the way. But there may have been little he could have done. Tom’s actions in many ways seem born of jealousy. He decided to leave CCR. I understand his reasoning, he felt he had some good songs and he wanted to sing lead on them, John felt that the band was doing just fine with the way things were, and he wasn’t wrong. Despite the success John brought to CCR, it seems after the breakup it was John that got the cold shoulder from everyone.
Once the band split a year or so later the acrimonious relationship(s) only got worse, with John at the center and Tom and the others all playing a part.
As mentioned, Tom would embark on a solo career with his first album charting at #78 which is the best he would do. I did hear Tom in an interview say that had he been able to do things over, he would not have left the band. John did contribute some guitar tracks on Tom’s Zephyr National (1974). John also attended Tom’s wedding in 1980 and a high school reunion in 1984, and at both they jammed a bit.
John released Blue Ridge Rangers (1973) which charted at #47 and then in 1975 his album John Fogerty had the hit single “Rockin’ All Over the World” that peaked at #27. The weight of the various lawsuits and his admitted bitterness over the feud with Tom and the others led him to withdraw from the business. He was actually barred from playing any CCR songs for several years.
Over the years that followed John made some attempts to reconcile, motivated more for their mother’s benefit. Tom would receive an HIV-contaminated blood transfusion after back surgery and the ensuing complications would lead to his eventual death in 1990. Truly tragic.
The brothers never did reconcile and for John’s part, he says he has forgiven Tom.
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 