1960s – Page 21 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Kinks – All Day and All of the Night

Happy Monday everyone…if that is possible. I hope you all had a good weekend.

This simple riff is raw and cutting like Louie, Louie, and Wild Thing…and became a staple of garage bands forever.

The sound of the guitar was revolutionary. Dave Davies got the dirty guitar sound by slashing the speaker cone on his amplifier with a razor blade. The vibration of the fabric produced an effect known as “fuzz,” which became common as various electronic devices were invented to distort the sound. At the time, none of these devices were available to Dave, so Davies would mistreat his amp to get the desired sound, often kicking it.

The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard 100, #4 in Canada, #5 in New Zealand, and #2 in the UK in 1964. It’s punk…raw rock and roll to the core. The guitar was really distorted and hard for the time.

The record executives in their wisdom didn’t like this song when they heard it. They said the guitar sounded like a barking dog. Later on, the Doors would borrow this melody for Hello I Love You.

One of my favorite things about these early Kinks singles is Dave Davies’s solos. They were always driving and exciting…and yes Dave played on this song, not studio musician Jimmy Page.

The Kinks would revisit this melody with the song “Destroyer” off of the “Give The People What They Want” album.

James Hetfield from Metallica: “schooled on early riff-rock by this man [Ray Davies] and his band – The Kinks”.

Ray Davies:“I cranked up my guitar more than on ‘You Really Got Me’, when we went into the studio, everybody knew what they were doing. I think we did it in three takes… the first time the band heard it was when I ran through it with them at the soundcheck, afterwards we drove back down to London, got up in the morning, and finished the song by midday”.

Ray Davies getting the truth out…this is what he said about the rumor of Jimmy Page playing on this record: “I remember Page coming to one of our sessions when we were recording ‘All Day And All Of The Night.’ We had to record that song at 10 o’clock in the morning because we had a gig that night. It was done in three hours. Page was doing a session in the other studio, and he came in to hear Dave’s solo, and he laughed and he snickered. And now he says that he played it! So I think he’s an asshole, and he can put all the curses he wants on me because I know I’m right and he’s wrong.”

Ray Davies: ” I was a rebellious, angry kid anyway, but that had a profound effect on me. I was full of rage.” That anger was coupled with the frustration that The Kinks song ‘You Really Got Me’ just wasn’t translating in a studio setting. “I could easily have slashed my wrists,” but I had a little green amplifier, an Elpico, that was sounding crap. I thought, ‘I’ll teach it’ – and slashed the speaker cone. It changed the sound of my guitar. Then, when I wired that amp up to another, a Vox AC30, it made it a lot, lot louder”.

Dave Davies: “A little later, I was very depressed and fooling around with a razor blade. I could easily have slashed my wrists, but I had a little green amplifier, an Elpico, that was sounding crap. I thought, “I’ll teach it” – and slashed the speaker cone. It changed the sound of my guitar. Then, when I wired that amp up to another, a Vox AC30, it made it a lot, lot louder.“

All Day and All of the Night

I’m not content to be with you in the daytime
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night

I believe that you and me last forever
Oh yeah, all day and nighttime yours, leave me never
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night
Oh, come on

Wilson Pickett – Mustang Sally

Motown and Stax were vital to the 1960s and 70s. This is just my opinion… but Motown had more hits but Stax had an edge that was hard to beat. I always thought their music had more of a groove to it.

This is a song that our band never officially learned…it’s one of those songs where if you have played for a few years…you just know by instinct. We did this one from a request and also Midnight Hour we would play loud and intense.

The music is in groove mode, but Pickett’s explosive voice drives it home. Mustang Sally was recorded at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The studio had a unique sound plus some of the best musicians anywhere. It started to get the attention of Atlantic Records and they sent Pickett to record there. Later on, a guitar player known as Duane Allman would end up as a studio musician and talked Pickett into recording Hey Jude.

As soon as they finished this take… the tape flew off the reel and broke into pieces everywhere. Producer Tom Dowd cleared the room and told everyone to return in half an hour. Dowd pieced the tape back together and saved what became one of the coolest songs of the decade.

It was written by Mark Rice. In 1950, he moved with his family to Detroit, where he graduated from high school. After he served in the Army, he joined a group called The Falcons. He soon began singing with the Falcons, whose other members included Wilson Pickett, Joe Stubbs, and Eddie Floyd. But he would find real fame as a songwriter.

“Mustang Sally” began as “Mustang Mama,” which he was inspired to write by the newly introduced Ford Mustang sports car. It was Aretha Franklin, the pianist on Rice’s demo of the song, who persuaded him to rename it.

He recorded “Mustang Sally” as Sir Mack Rice in 1965, and it peaked at #15 on the Billboard R&B chart. Rice did a nice job but the song needed Wilson Pickett’s powerful voice.

Pickett’s version peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100, #6 on the R&B Charts, #28 in the UK, and #4 in Canada.

Mustang Sally

Mustang Sally, huh, huh, guess you better slow your Mustang down
Oh Lord, what I said now?
Mustang Sally, now baby, oh Lord, guess you better slow your Mustang down
Huh oh yeaah
You been running all over the town now
Oh! I guess I’ll have to put your flat feet on the ground
Huh, what I said now?

Listen
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride. Huh
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride

One of these early mornings, baby, you gonna be wiping your weeping eyes
Huh, what I said now?

Look it here.
I bought you a brand new mustang nineteen sixty five. Huh
Now you come around signifying a woman, you don’t wanna let me ride
Mustang Sally, now baby, oh Lord, guess you better slow that mustang down
Huh, oh Lord. Look here
You been running all over the town
Oh! I got to put your flat feet on the ground. Huh, What I said now?

Let me say it one more time ya’ll
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride

Hank Williams – I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

You can’t do better in country or music period… than with The Hillbilly Shakespeare. I always thought his songs express many feelings we feel in life but we just don’t say them.

One of the most beautiful gut-wrenching songs ever written. The lyrics can be read without music and still work. The silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky, and as I wonder where you are I’m so lonesome I could cry. Songwriters work all of their lives trying to come up with a line like that… Williams had a career of them.

The song was released on November 8, 1949…as a 78-RPM single with “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It.” The song quickly became a favorite on Country radio and a staple of Williams’ live shows. The song peaked at #2 on the Country Charts. The song was rereleased in 1966 and peaked at #43 on the Hot Country Charts and #109 on the Billboard Charts.

When he wrote this song he was going to do it as a spoken word bit but his friends and musicians urged him to put music to it. He wrote it about his first wife Audrey Sheppard who seemed to love one another but had a tumultuous relationship.

Everyone knows how I feel about Bob Dylan’s songwriting. It’s incredible and to me…Hank Williams is right up there beside Bob. The artists that covered this one include Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Dean Martin, Al Green, Freddy Fender, Bob Dylan, Little Richard, Cowboy Junkies, and Elvis Presley.

If you are interested in Hank Williams and great music I suggest you check out this song by The Blasters…Long White Cadillac. The song is about the night Hank Williams died in the back of a car. He died somewhere between Bristol, Tenn., and Oak Hill on the way to a New Year’s Day 1953 show in Canton, Ohio.

Rolling Stone ranked it #111 in the list of 500 greatest songs of all time.

Bob Dylan: “Even at a young age, I identified with him. I didn’t have to experience anything that Hank did to know what he was singing about. I’d never heard a robin weep, but could imagine it, and it made me sad.”

K.D. Lang: “‘I think ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’” is one of the most classic American songs ever written, truly. Beautiful song.”

Kasey Chambers: “It’s totally heartbreaking but you don’t want to stop listening to it. Oh God, it just makes you want to crawl into a hole. It has that combination of making you feel good and bad at the same time, which is what all great country music does.”

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill,
He sounds too blue to fly.
That midnight train is whining low,
I’m so lonesome I could cry.

I’ve never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by.
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry.

Did you ever see a robin weep,
When leaves begin to die?
That mean he’s lost the will to live,
I’m so lonesome I could cry.

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky.
And as I wonder where you are
I’m so lonesome I could cry.

Beatles – And Your Bird Can Sing

This guitar riff is incredibly hard to learn. I’ve learned some difficult riffs before but this one I finally gave up on. It’s doable but not one you can just pick up quickly. How John came up with this unorthodox riff is beyond me. John came up with some great riffs. Daytripper, I Dig a Pony, I Feel Fine, Yer Blues, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Cold Turkey, and more.

I’ve always remembered the Joe Walsh story about this song…He said he worked for weeks to master this song by himself. Only to find out later that it was two guitars playing the riff, not one… after Ringo told him.

The song was never released as a single. One of the things I like about the Beatles is the songs that they never released as singles would be milestones for other bands. I think it perfectly encapsulates the mid-sixties pop sound. You can also hear early power pop in this song. I always thought this would have fit better on Rubber Soul but I don’t care…great song.

John or Paul never said what the song was about or what inspired it. Some have speculated that the “bird” was Mick Jagger’s then-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull. Others say it was about an interview that Frank Sinatra gave and he kept using the phrase “How’s your bird?” What caught John’s attention was the press release from Sinatra’s PR firm that read: “If you happen to be tired of kid singers wearing mops of hair thick enough to hide a crate of melons… ‘Tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is ‘and your bird can swing.

Sinatra was not a fan of rock music when it came out. He said “Rock and roll smells phoney and false. It is sung, played, and written, for the most part, by goons. It is the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has ever been my displeasure to hear.”

Frank did soften up a bit as the sixties went along. He covered “Something” written by George Harrison and said it was the greatest love song written in the last 50 years.

Some songs I have to listen to a few times to like and some the first time. This one was love at first listen. It’s not a Beatle’s masterpiece but if you like catchy guitar riff-driven songs then you can’t go wrong with this one. The song was written primarily by John. The song was released on the UK version of Revolver and the “Yesterday and Today” compilation in America in 1966. The dual guitar solo rates at #69 on the “100 Greatest Guitar Solos” list by Rolling Stone magazine.

George Harrison: “I think it was Paul and me, or maybe John and me, playing in harmony,” it’s “quite a complicated little line that goes through the middle-eight.”

Paul McCartney: “George and I would work out a melody line, then I would work out the harmony to it. So we’d do it as a piece, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ – that’s what that is. That’s me and George both playing electric guitars. It’s just the two of us live. It’s a lot easier to do with two people, believe me. It’s another one of our little tricks!”

And Can Your Bird Can See

You say you’ve got everything you want
And your bird can sing
But you don’t get me
You don’t get me

You say you’ve seen the seven wonders
And you bird is green
But you can’t see me
You can’t see me

When your prized possessions
Start to weigh you down
Look in my direction
I’ll be round, I’ll be round

When your bird is broken
Will it bring you down
You may be awoken
I’ll be round, I’ll be round

You tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is
And your bird can swing
But you can’t hear me
You can’t hear me

Drifters – Up On The Roof

It’s one of those songs that relax you while listening and just get lost in. What a mood it gives you. There are worse places to be than on a roof with peace and quiet.

This song was first recorded by Little Eva but then owned by The Drifters. The song was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. King would later revisit this song on her album Writer in 1970. The lead singer for The Drifters on this song was Rudy Lewis. The Drifters would have a lot of hits in the 50s and 60s. Save The Last Dance For Me, Under The Boardwalk, There Goes My Baby, On Broadway, and many more.

The Drifters were formed in 1953 by George Treadwell and Clyde McPhatter. George Treadwell managed the group and laid the foundation of what would give them a distinctive sound. Clyde McPhatter was the lead singer of the group that also saw numerous members over the years but two others stood out above the rest. Johnny Moore and Ben E King. Rudy Lewis was also an outstanding singer but he died in 1964.

They took their gospel background and channeled it into wonderful R&B arrangements. This song peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100 and #4 on the R&B Charts in 1962.

They were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988…up on the roof indeed.

Up On The Roof

When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space

On the roof, it’s peaceful as can be
And there the world below can’t bother me
Let me tell you now

When I come home feelin’ tired and beat
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet (up on the roof)
I get away from the hustling crowd
And all that rat race noise down in the street (up on the roof)

On the roof, the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Let’s go up on the roof (up on the roof)

At night the stars put on a show for free
And darling, you can share it all with me
I keep a-tellin’ you

Right smack dab in the middle of town
I’ve found a paradise that’s trouble proof (up on the roof)
And if this world starts getting you down
There’s room enough for two

Up on the roof (up on the roof)
Up on the roof (up on the roof)
Oh, come on, baby (up on the roof)
Oh, come on, honey (up on the roof)
Everything is all right (up on the roof)

Manfred Mann – Quinn The Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)

Some songs are just fun…and this is one of them. Yes, I like the Manfred Mann version a bunch and I also like Bob Dylan’s released version. It’s a live version with The Band at the Isle of Wight. Bob’s voice fits this song so well…he is over the top, sloppy, and loud but it works. It’s an irresistible melody and hook that Bob wrote in this song. Bob’s version is the only version I knew for a long time.

Bob Dylan wrote this song and I first heard it through his Greatest Hits II album, and then the Basement Tapes of him and The Band. Some time later I heard the Manfred Mann version of it. Something different though…Manfred Mann was the first to release it. This usually didn’t happen but Mike D’abo from Manfred Mann explains it: “We met in a publisher’s house as Bob Dylan was making some new material available to other artists, we heard about 10 songs and I thought ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’ would be the one to do, but Manfred liked The Mighty Quinn, which was called ‘Quinn The Eskimo’ then. It was sung in a rambling monotone but Manfred had recognized its potential. He sold me on the idea of doing this song, but I had to make up some of the words as I couldn’t make out everything he was saying. It was like learning a song phonetically in a foreign language. I have never had the first idea what the song is about except that it seems to be ‘Hey, gang, gather round, something exciting is going to happen ’cause the big man’s coming.’ As to who the big man is and why he is an Eskimo, I don’t know.”

The Basement Tapes version is much more mellow. This is probably the demo that Manfred Mann received.

It is thought that Bob Dylan came up with the song after seeing the 1959 movie The Savage Innocents. In that movie, Anthony Quinn plays an Eskimo named Inuk…that would explain Quinn and why he mentions an Eskimo in a pop song. That film also was the screen debut of Peter O’Toole.

Bob released the song in 1970 on his Self Portrait album… a live version recorded at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1969, with The Band backing him. His voice is great on this…it fits the song. The “heeyyyyyyyys” and the “whooooaaaas”s are perfect for it.

Manfred Mann released this in 1968 and it was a huge hit for them. The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #3 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1968.

A little trivia for Beatle fans…Klaus Voormann who drew the Revolver cover, was on this song, he played the flute part on the Manfred Mann version. I also believe he played bass but I can’t verify…that is what instrument he played.

Having turned down offers from bands like the Hollies and the Moody Blues, Voormann agreed to become a part of Manfred Mann. He got to know the Beatles when they arrived in Germany. When Stuart Sutcliffe quit playing bass…McCartney took over and a little while later Stuart volunteered…if he had spoken up sooner…you never know what could have happened.

Ron Cornelius who played on the Self Portrait album: “There’s everybody and his brother flying into Nashville to play on that thing. If you look at the credits, it’s amazing how many people were delighted to come and play on it. Out of everybody I’ve worked with, I don’t know of anyone who’s been any nicer than Bob Dylan.”

The Mighty Quinn

Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

Everybody’s building ships and boats
Some are building monuments
Others jotting down notes
Everybody’s in despair
Every girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
Everybody’s gonna jump for joy

Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

I like to go just like the rest, I like my sugar sweet
But jumping queues and making haste
Just ain’t my cup of meat
Everyone’s beneath the trees feeding pigeons on a limb
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
All the pigeons gonna run to him

Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

Let me do what I wanna do, I can’t decide ’em all
Just tell me where to put ’em and I’ll tell you who to call
Nobody can get no sleep, there’s someone on everyone’s toes
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody’s gonna wanna doze

Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

Roy Orbison – (Oh) Pretty Woman

I’ve talked about Smokey Robinson and how his voice was iconic. Roy Orbison…the same thing. His voice was ridiculous and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s a voice that is so unique that copying it would be almost impossible.

This song was written for Orbison’s first wife, Claudette. One day, she left for the store by “walking down the street” and by the time she returned, Orbison had written what would become one of his biggest hits.

There was a quote that Tom Petty gave…that when he joined the Wilburys he called his mom and told her “Mom, I’m in a band with Roy Orbison!” Not Mom I’m in a band with Bob Dylan or a Beatle George Harrison…no it was Roy. That voice was golden and magical but he paid for his success dearly as you will read below.

This one has become a rock and roll standard. It was released in 1964 and he would have rough times to come. In 1957, Orbison married his sweetheart, Claudette Frady. She was 17 at the time and he was 21. As the young couple’s romance was soon thrust into jeopardy given Orbison’s rapid rise to fame, cracks began to appear. In November 1964, Orbison divorced Claudette over her alleged infidelities. However, within ten months, the pair had reconciled their differences and were once more in a loving relationship. They had three children.

It started on June 6, 1966, when Claudette and Roy were riding motorcycles. Claudette hit the door of a pickup truck and was killed instantly. Orbison poured himself into his work after that. He wrote and toured but was out of step with the mid to late-sixties music. It was in Birmingham, England in September 1968 when catastrophe struck once more. News reached Orbison that a fire had broken out at his home in Tennessee and that his two eldest sons had tragically passed away. His younger child went to live with his grandparents.

His career stalled but he did come back in the 1980s with Jeff Lynn producing his new album Mystery Girl. He also was in the Wilburys and that thrilled the rest of the group. Roy died suddenly on December 6, 1988. Mystery Girl would be released around a month and a half after Roy passed away. The album was hugely successful peaking at #5 in America and #4 in Canada.

(Oh) Pretty Woman peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, in Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. This was during the height of the British Invasion which makes it even more significant.

In 1982 Van Halen covered Oh Pretty Woman. They did a great job on the song and introduced Roy and his song to a new generation. I bought the single when it was released. Roy’s vocals can’t be matched but they did their own arrangement and it worked.

Per songfacts…In 1964, Orbison was the only American artist to have a #1 UK hit, and he did it twice – with “(Oh) Pretty Woman” and “It’s Over.”

Bob Dylan: “He [Roy Orbison] could sound mean and nasty on one line and then sing in a falsetto like Frankie Valli in the next. With Roy, you didn’t know if you were listening to mariachi or opera. He kept you on your toes. With him, it was all about fat and blood. He sounded like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop and he meant business.”

(Oh )Pretty Woman

Pretty woman, walkin’ down the street
Pretty woman the kind I like to meet
Pretty woman I don’t believe you, you’re not the truth
No one could look as good as you, mercy

Pretty woman won’t you pardon me
Pretty woman I couldn’t help but see
Pretty woman that you look lovely as can be
Are you lonely just like me

Pretty woman stop awhile
Pretty woman talk awhile
Pretty woman give your smile to me
Pretty woman yeah, yeah, yeah
Pretty woman look my way
Pretty woman say you’ll stay with me
‘Cause I need you, I’ll treat you right
Come with me baby, be mine tonight

Pretty woman don’t walk on by
Pretty woman don’t make me cry
Pretty woman don’t walk away, hey, okay
If that’s the way it must be, okay
I guess I’ll go on home, it’s late
There’ll be tomorrow night, but wait
What do I see?
Is she walkin’ back to me?
Yeah, she’s walkin’ back to me
Oh, oh, pretty woman

…

Blind Faith – Well All Right

This song came up during the comments of the 1969 Max Picks…and I wanted to cover it.

Blind Faith was a supergroup composed of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech. This song was not written by one of those gentlemen…it was written by Norman Petty, Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, and Joe B. Mauldin…a Buddy Holly song. Blind Faith used this as the flip side to Can’t Find My Way Home.

Clapton wanted a more low-keyed band than Cream. Clapton and Winwood thought about asking Duck Dunn and Al Jackson of Booker T and the MGs to be the rhythm section but when Ginger Baker showed up at rehearsals…the band was set. Winwood became enthusiastic about being in a band with Baker… Clapton was hesitant but went ahead with it. Finally, the group was completed when the bassist for Family… Ric Grech joined the trio to make it a quartet.

When they first started to rehearse, Steve Winwood was playing the bass lines on his organ but he came to the conclusion they needed a real bass player. Clapton admired Rick Grech since the days when that band was known as The Farinas. Winwood said “I knew he was a good singer and could play great, and that was the guy we wanted. We didn’t even consider any other bass players. Once Rick was around – and he seemed like a nice guy – it was just very casually accepted that he was in the band.”

The first Blind Faith concert was a big one. It was in Hyde Park London, with around 100,000 people watching. They all thought they weren’t prepared enough for the concert. They also did a tour in the US but Eric started to hang out with Delaney and Bonnie more during the tour. He and George Harrison would play with them frequently.

Their discography is brief…one album but it’s a great one.

Ginger Baker: “We got to Stevie’s cottage in the middle of a field, and I settled down at Jim Capaldi’s drum kit and we just played for hours. Musically, Stevie and I got along wonderfully. He was one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever worked with. What I didn’t know then was that Eric would probably rather have worked with Jim Capaldi. It’s a curious thing with me and Eric. I regard him as the nearest thing I’ve got to a brother, but we always found it difficult to talk about personal things. He never explained, for example, that he wanted it all to be a much more low-key affair than Cream had been.”

Steve Winwood on recording the album: “They were full of people hanging out, Eric had a lot of bohemian friends and liked to record with people around. The only thing I remember not being very pleased with was ‘Can’t Find My Way Home.’ It was only when I heard it again later that I realized how good it was.”

Well All Right

Well all right, so I’ve been foolish.
Well all right, let people know
About the dreams and wishes that you wish
In the night when lights are low.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

Well all right, so I’m not working.
Well all right, let people say
That those foolish kids can’t be ready
For the love that comes their way.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

Well all right, so I’ve been foolish.
Well all right, let people know
About the dreams and wishes that you wish
In the night when lights are low.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

…

Zager and Evans – In the Year 2525 ….One Hit Wonder Week

If you want to break up a party…play this song…it will clear a room with quickness. So enjoy the post and song!

To say it’s bleak is an understatement. I’ve always been interested in it though. It was released in 1969 and the other chart songs around it were happy…Sugar Sugar, Dizzy, the cool Crystal Blue Persuasion, and Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In… this one seems out of place in that bunch. The duo was Denny Zager and Rick Evans. Rick Evans wrote this song.

It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and yes #1 in New Zealand. It was number one around a week before the Apollo Space Mission. This doom and gloom song was recorded in a studio in the middle of a cow pasture in Odessa, Texas in 1968.

The line that I noticed was Everything you think, do and say Is in the pill you took today. Hmmm, kind of reminds me of a thousand pills made now to control your illnesses or just make you feel better. Also if you really want to read into it… In the year 5555, Your arms hangin’ limp at your sides Your legs got nothin’ to do, Some machine’s doin’ that for you. That machine today would be a phone or a computer doing about everything. Buying your groceries, playing your music, and reading Max’s blog about that.

The other line I think about… You’ll pick your son, pick your daughter too, From the bottom of a long glass tube. Well, that happened on July 25, 1978, with the first test tube baby.

You probably guessed it by looking at the names but this was Zager and Evans, only hit. What are they doing today? The author, Rick Evans, sadly passed away in February 2018 in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of 75. Denny Zager is a highly acclaimed Guitar maker who makes his home in Nebraska. Nebraska is where both of them were from.

Their follow-up song was “Mr. Turnkey,” a song about a rapist who nails his wrist to his prison cell because he is sorry for his crime? Yeah, I wonder why that one didn’t hit? I admire the ambition but maybe a little too much inspiration was going on.

I have a quote from Zager at the bottom but here is another one and it’s interesting….Denny Zager: Before John Denver was discovered, he used to write to me all the time asking how we knew about “test tube babies” and things that hadn’t even been discovered yet. Rick used to tell him he had been abducted by aliens and “saw into the future.”

Denny Zager: Rick (Evans) said he wrote the lyrics in 10 minutes in the back of a Volkswagen van after a night of partying and a lot of Mary Jane. He tried the song with a few bands he was playing with at the time, but the music wasn’t right and it wasn’t working. I thought the lyrics were intriguing, so I rewrote the music so it blended better with the lyrics. The first night we played it live we knew it was special because the crowd looked stunned and wanted to hear it again and again.

Denny Zager: Like any band Rick and I had our squabbles, but there was a point in time that I felt we could have written some of the best music of the century. I miss him.

The follow-up!

In The Year 2525

In the year 2525, if man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find
In the year 3535
Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie
Everything you think, do and say
Is in the pill you took today
In the year 4545
You ain’t gonna need your teeth, won’t need your eyes
You won’t find a thing to chew
Nobody’s gonna look at you
In the year 5555
Your arms hangin’ limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin’ to do
Some machine’s doin’ that for you
In the year 6565
You won’t need no husband, won’t need no wife
You’ll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube

In the year 7510
If God’s a coming, He oughta make it by then
Maybe He’ll look around Himself and say
Guess it’s time for the judgment day
In the year 8510
God is gonna shake His mighty head
He’ll either say I’m pleased where man has been
Or tear it down, and start again

In the year 9595
I’m kinda wonderin’ if man is gonna be alive
He’s taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain’t put back nothing

Now it’s been ten thousand years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what, he never knew, now man’s reign is through
But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight
So very far away, maybe it’s only yesterday

In the year 2525, if man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find

Every Mother’s Son – Come On Down To My Boat

Obbverse and I were commenting the other day and this song came up. I had this single from a relative of mine when I was a kid and I would play this and Eleanor by the Turtles over and over again. The band had a really cool name. The song is pure bubblegum but enjoyable.

Every Mother’s Son was short-lived, consisting of brothers Dennis (guitars) and Larry Larden (lead vocals, guitars), along with Bruce Milner (keyboards), Schuyler Larsen (bass), and Christopher Augustine (drums). They were formed in New York City, New York in 1967.

The band’s clean image was a perfect foil to the “hippie invasion” groups of that time, and that clean image was the very reason why MGM signed them. By 1967 though the squeaky clean image didn’t help…well…their image.

The group recorded their self-titled debut album, which was released in 1967. The album mostly contained a collection of songs written by Jerry Goldstein and Wes Farrell. Not only did the band look like the Beach Boys, but Every Mother’s Son‘s sound had echoes of the Beach Boys too.

This was their first single and they hit pay dirt. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada in 1967. They were making appearances and enjoying being in the top 10 and they did try to follow up this song. They released four more singles in 1967 and 68 trying to push another one up the charts…but it didn’t work.

They would fall into the One Hit Wonder file…but it’s better than the No Hit Wonder file. The bubblegum band The Rare Breed also released this song before Every Mother’s Son but it wasn’t a hit.

Come On Down To My Boat

She sits on the dockA fishin’ in the water uh, huhI don’t know her nameShe’s the fisherman’s daughter uh, huh

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

She smiled so niceLike she wants to come with me uh, huhBut she’s tied to the dockAnd she can’t get free

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

Fish all day sleep all nightFather never lets her out of his sightSoon I’m gonna have to get my knifeAnd cut that rope, cut that rope

So we can go fishin’ in my little red boatMake you happy in my little red boat, so

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

Max Picks …songs from 1969

1969

I will be in a meeting today…so I’ll be late in commenting.

I’m so sad that we are leaving the 60s. I do love the 70s but the 60s I think were rock/pop’s best decade.

Great year… Led Zeppelin had arrived the year before and The Beatles released Abbey Road, which was the year of George. I could have flipped a coin on Something or Here Comes The Sun. This is the last year I’ll be able to include the Holy Trinity of Rock…The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones while they were all still together.

Something was written about his then-wife Pattie Boyd. This one moved his songwriting abilities up in the eyes of his bandmates Lennon and McCartney and the world. George had written some good songs before like Taxman, If I Needed Someone, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps but this one…this one placed him in another league. George had two of the highlights on Abbey Road with Something and Here Comes The Sun. Something tells me we will be seeing Mr. Harrison next year…just a hunch!

So many Led Zeppelin songs I could have had here off the second album…or the Brown Bomber. I picked Ramble On over Whole Lotta Love because it has that light-heavy feel.

Creedence Clearwater Revival was rising in 1969. They ended up being one of the best American bands ever. They only had a short window but they took advantage of it. If you want proof that life isn’t fair… Green River was kept from #1 because of the bubblegum song “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies.

The song was written by John Fogerty.

I always thought The Who was the best pure rock band out there…and I still do. They released Tommy in 1969 and although I never thought it was their best…it was and is still iconic.

It has many classic rock songs that we know and this one included…this is the Who playing We’re Not Going To Take It. It was written by Pete Townshend.

Blind Faith was a Supergroup made up of Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech. They released just one album. Winwood wrote Can’t Find My Way Home and sang lead. Many critics thought that Blind Faith sounded a lot more like Traffic than Clapton’s Cream, which is what Clapton was going for.

…

Human Beinz – Nobody But Me ….One Hit Wonder Week

It’s something about those 1960s garage band songs that I really like. Songs like Louie Louie, A Little Bit Of Soul, Hang On Sloopy, and the list goes on and on. They were not epic complicated songs…no just fun songs for everyone to enjoy and relate to.

This is one of the most negative songs ever recorded. The word “no” appears 100 times and “nobody” gets sung 46 times, according to rock critic Dave Marsh.

A couple of years ago, as I did with House MD, I found an older show called The Office and I loved it. I binged it twice through. They did an incredible one-take intro using this song in the 7th season that I’ll have posted below.

I give them an A+ on having a unique band name… They were an American rock band from Youngstown, Ohio…originally known as The Human Beingz but their name was spelled wrong (Beinz) on their contract but they just left it that way. I remember hearing this on Kill Bill Vol 1 and also on oldies radio stations through the years. The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 in 1968.

This was a cover…and that surprised me. It was originally done by the Isley Brothers in 1962. It was written in the studio by Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley, and O’Kelly Isley, Jr.

Another trivial thing about this song… these are the dances it lists… The Shingaling, The Skate, The Boogaloo, and The Philly. And if you listen to the end of the song…their bass player Mel Pachuta is hitting an empty Pepsi bottle with a drumstick. The producer wanted something different and that made him happy. You can clearly hear it at the end.

Nobody But Me

No-no, no, no, no-no-no, no, no-no, no, no-no
Na-no, no, na-no, no-no, na-no, no-no, no, no-no, no

Nobody can do the (Shing-a-ling) like I do
Nobody can do the (Skate) like I do
Nobody can do (Boogaloo) like I do
Nobody can do (Philly) like I do

Well, don’t you know
I’m gonna skate right through
Ain’t nobody do it but me
Nobody but me (Nobody but me)

Yeah, I’m gonna spin, I do
Ain’t nobody do it but me, babe
(Nobody but me)
Well, let me tell you nobody
Nobody but me

Let me tell you, nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody)

No-no, no, no, no, no-no-no, no, no-no, no, no-no
Na-no, no, na-no, no-no, na-no, no-no, no, no-no, no

Nobody can do the (Shing-a-ling) like I do
Nobody can do the (Skate) like I do
Nobody can do (Boogaloo) like I do
Nobody can do (Philly) like I do

Ooh, yeah
Nobody, nobody
Nobody, nobody

Steve Miller – Living In The U.S.A.

We’re living in a plastic land
Somebody give me a hand, yeah

I really like the organ in this song as well as the race car that’s revving up… it’s so vibrant. Miller also sets the mood with the harmonica he is playing. It’s too bad his earlier albums get lost in the shuffle because of his success from The Joker on. Those albums show a different Miller than the masses know from his big hits.

This song was released in 1968 on the Sailor LP which was the Steve Miller Band’s second LP. The album peaked at #24 on the Billboard Album Charts and #27 in Canada. Although the song was popular in the late 1960s, it truly gained a resurgence on rock radio in the late 1970s due to the success of the Fly Like an Eagle album.

Out of all Steve Miller songs…this one may be my favorite. This song peaked at #92 and then charted again at #49 in 1974. It wasn’t a big hit but it did get played on FM radio. Boz Scaggs was in Miller’s band at this time and sang harmonies.

Steve Miller: I had come out of a radical environment at the University of Wisconsin in the early ‘60s. I had been a Freedom Rider in the Civil Rights campaign and then I got involved in the Vietnam War demonstrations and debates. That was all going on, and then I ended up out in California where the psychedelic revolution was taking place. So when you combine those things, it was very powerful [creatively].

“Living in the U.S.A.” was put together with the idea of playing at the Democratic National Convention in 1968 in Chicago. That was the one where the cops beat everybody up—Mayor [Richard] Daley brought out the Chicago police. So it was a political tune. It came out, and it was kind of a hit. Then it went away, and then about five or six years later it sold 100,000 copies in a week in Philadelphia for no reason whatsoever.

Living In The U.S.A.

Stand back, stand back
Stand back, stand back

Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.
Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.

Where are you goin’ to
What are you gonna do
Do you think that it will be easy
Do you think that it will be pleasin’, hey

Stand back, what’d you say
Stand back, I won’t pay
Stand back, I’d rather play
Stand back

It’s my freedom
Ah, don’t worry ’bout me, babe
I got to be free, babe
Hey

Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.
Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.

Stand back, dietician
Stand back, television
Stand back, politician
Stand back, mortician

Oh, we got to get away
Living in the U.S.A.
Come on baby, Owwww

I see a yellow man, a brown man
A white man, a red man
Lookin’ for Uncle Sam
To give you a helpin’ hand
But everybody’s kickin’ sand
Even politicians
We’re living in a plastic land
Somebody give me a hand, yeah

Oh, we’re gonna make it, baby
Oh, we’re going to shake it, baby
Oh, don’t break it
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Come on baby, hey
Hey, hey
In the U.S.A., babe yeah

Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.
Don’t worry ’bout me, babe
Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.
Living in the U.S.A.
Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.
I got to be free
Doot do do do do doot doot
Living in the U.S.A.
Come on try it, you can buy it, you can leave it next week, yeah
Somebody give me a cheeseburger

Rolling Stones – Honky Tonk Women

Of all the Rolling Stones songs I have posted…B sides and album cuts…I’m astonished that I haven’t posted this one. This is one of the Stones’ best 60s singles. It’s B side was You Can’t Always Get What You Want. I consider Jumping Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women, and Brown Sugar their best rock singles. A case could be made for Satisfaction and Start Me Up as well.

When the Stones finished this recording on June 8, 1969…they drove to Brian Jones’s house to fire him. By this time he was trying to get himself clean of drugs and actually was getting better. He also had an arrest on his record that would stop the Stones from touring at the time. He started to record demos on his own and other people have said that it sounded like Creedence Clearwater Revival and that style. He would die on July 3, 1969, from drowning in his pool under a lot of controversy that still is questioned to this day. The song was released on July 4, 1969

This song was also the track that introduced Stones fans to guitarist Mick Taylor. The former member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers was brought in to replace founding member Brian Jones. Taylor, only 20 at the time, provided the glue for the song, helping the transition from verse to chorus. Guitarist Ry Cooder also was an inspiration for the song.

The song started on a trip that Richards and Mick Jagger took to Brazil. Inspired by the cowboys working the ranch where they were vacationing, the two started knocking together a Hank Williams/Jimmie Rodgers-inspired tune, with Jagger using the countrified tone of the music as inspiration for his lyrical ode to the working women of the Old West. That version you can hear in Country Honk on the Let It Bleed album. Honky Tonk Women was released as a non-album single.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, in the UK, in New Zealand, and #2 in Canada in 1969.

Keith Richards: ‘Honky Tonk Women’ started in Brazil. Mick and I, Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg who was pregnant with my son at the time. Which didn’t stop us going off to the Mato Grasso and living on this ranch. It’s all cowboys. It’s all horses and spurs. And Mick and I were sitting on the porch of this ranch house and I started to play, basically fooling around with an old Hank Williams idea. ‘Cause we really thought we were like real cowboys. Honky tonk women. And we were sitting in the middle of nowhere with all these horses, in a place where if you flush the john all these black frogs would fly out. It was great. The chicks loved it. Anyway, it started out a real country honk put on, a hokey thing. And then couple of months later we were writing songs and recording. And somehow by some metamorphosis it suddenly went into this little swampy, black thing, a Blues thing. Really, I can’t give you a credible reason of how it turned around from that to that. Except there’s not really a lot of difference between white country music and black country music. It’s just a matter of nuance and style. I think it has to do with the fact that we were playing a lot around with open tunings at the time. So we were trying songs out just to see if they could be played in open tuning. And that one just sunk in.”

Honky Tonk Women

I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride
She had to heave me right across her shoulder
‘Cause I just can’t seem to drink you off my mind

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

I laid a divorcée in New York City
I had to put up some kind of a fight
The lady then she covered me with roses
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues
It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

Shirelles – Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Great song that was highly influential at the time and now. I always thought this song was a pop masterpiece. Not a teen pop opera but more like a pop novella. I put it in the same class as Be My Baby…without the Brian Wilson worship temple.

Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote this song. Some radio stations didn’t play it because of the suggestive lyrics. Tony Orlando, who was then a teenager, wanted to record this song. Don Kirshner told him that it would not sound right coming from a guy. As much as I never really cared for Kirshner…he was right in this case. Orlando did record an answer song called “Not Just Tomorrow But Always” using the name Bertell Dache.

Goffin and King worked for Don Kirshner’s Aldon Music. He assigned them to work on a Shirelles song. He liked it so much that he thought he would try to get into Columbia by offering it to the label head but was rejected. Kirshner said afterward it was “The best thing he ever did for me.”

Shirelles lead singer Shirley Alston initially didn’t like the song. She thought it was “too Country and Western” for the New Jersey group to sing. Their producer Luther Dixon convinced her they could do it in their style, and asked King and Goffin if they could add strings and turn it into an uptempo song, which they did.

The Shirelles had been charting songs since 1958 but this was their first huge hit. Will You Love Me Tomorrow peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #3 in New Zealand, and #4 in the UK in 1960. The Shirelles were the first black female group to have a #1.

Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Tonight you’re mine, completely
You give your love so sweetly
Tonight the light of love is in your eyes
But will you love me tomorrow

Is this a lasting treasure
Or just a moment’s pleasure
Can I believe the magic in your sighs
Will you still love me tomorrow

Tonight with words unspoken
You say that I’m the only one
But will my heart be broken
When the night meets the morning sun

I’d like to know that your love
Is a love I can be sure of
So tell me now and I won’t ask again
Will you still love me tomorrow

So tell me now and I won’t ask again
Will you still love me tomorrow
Will you still love me tomorrow
Will you still love me tomorrow