1960s – Page 58 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Pink Floyd – Astronomy Domine

Lime and limpid green, a second scene
Now fights between the blue you once knew

I’m loving this early Pink Floyd music.

This was the opening song on The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn…which was Pink Floyd’s first album; the title came from a chapter heading in The Wind In The Willows, a children’s book written by Kenneth Grahame and published in 1908.

The song was written by founding member and original band leader Syd Barrett. The song starts with some Morse Code and it turns out to be a catchy pop tune. You can hear the future of Pink Floyd in parts of this song.

In the UK, the album was a hit, reaching #6 in 1967. Pink Floyd got some attention when they toured with Jimi Hendrix in 1967.

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason: “This is such a great drum track in an interesting time signature. It’s a fantastic bit of ’60s philosophy mixed with a sort of psychedelic lyric.”

From Songfacts

“Astronomy” is the study of celestial bodies, and to “domineer” is to control something in an arrogant way. So “Astronomy Domine” means to control space for personal needs. This probably represents the space race between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War era.

This was written by Syd Barrett, who was the group’s primary songwriter at the time. A founding member of Pink Floyd, his mental health started deteriorating a short time after this was released, and by 1972 he was out of the band, doing gardening instead of leading one of the foremost bands in Britain. Pink Floyd went on to far greater success without him, but the songs he wrote represent some of the more adventurous music of the era and show sparks of the genius many believe he could have become.

Oberon, Miranda and Titania” are all moons of Uranus and are also characters in Shakespeare’s plays (Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Miranda, daughter of Prospero in The Tempest). “Titan” is the largest moon of Saturn.

Regarding the lyrics, “Stairway scare, Dan Dare, who’s there?” Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero created by illustrator Frank Hampson, and is referenced in this song with obvious references to Space, planets, and their moons. Syd Barrett’s guitar is also suggestive of the brass motif from “Mars, the Bringer of War” in Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

There is some Morse code at the beginning of this song, which was a way to transmit messages using a series of long and short tones. Plenty of people tried to decipher the code in this song, only to realize it was just a random series of tones with no meaning.

Astronomy Domine

Lime and limpid green, a second scene
Now fights between the blue you once knew
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania
Neptune, Titan, stars can frighten

Blinding signs flap,
Flicker, flicker, flicker blam, pow, pow
Stairway scare, Dan Dare, who’s there?

Lime and limpid green, the sounds around
The icy waters under
Lime and limpid green, the sounds around
The icy waters underground

…

Beatles – Help! Soundtrack Album

We wrapped up Hanspostcard’s album draft…100 albums in 100 days. We are going into extra innings and extending three more picks from these categories… favorite Soundtracks, Greatest Hits, and a music related movie. This is my pick for sountrack…Help! by the Beatles.

2020 ALBUM DRAFT- ROUND 11 PICK 4- SOUNDTRACKS- BADFINGER20 SELECTS- THE BEATLES- HELP!

To avoid confusion I’m reviewing the UK version of Help! because that is the one that I own.

The movie Help! was an enjoyable movie. It was not nearly as good as A Hard Days Night but it had it’s moments. I love black and white movies but the color made Help! stand out. The Beatles knew it wasn’t as good as their first…John had a quote about it: “it was like being a frog in a movie about clams.” Nevertheless it was a fun movie and a pleasure to watch today.

They shot the movie in five different locations…London, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Austria, and the Bahamas.

It was the first Beatle movie I ever saw…I rented it from a video store in the mid-eighties. The Help! movie was the only Beatle movie they had at the time. With no internet, it was my only window to see the Beatles other than the documentary The Compleat Beatles.

The soundtrack is a great album on it’s own.

I picked this album/soundtrack because I always thought this was the transitional album between Beatlemania and The Beatles middle period. After this album would come Rubber Soul and the swinging sixties would officially be kicked off. Help! shows them making strides into the future. You can hear a some of their earlier work and get a hint of what was coming.

Here are a few songs…I’ll leave the big hits off of the preview.

You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away is a good song with a noticeable Dylan influence.

One of my favorite songs on the album is The Night Before…I first heard it on the Beatles Rock and Roll Music compilation album. It’s another song that would have been a single for another band.

As soon as I heard I’ve Just Seen A Face…I learned it on guitar and have been playing it ever since. This is a song that you can see the change starting to take place…from the bouncy numbers to this folk influenced one. This song would be on the American version of Rubber Soul.

You’re Going to Lose That Girl has a catchy call and response chorus. The backup vocals are superb.

The title track is brilliant with John calling out for Help after being battered by Beatlemania. They also dipped into their club roots with a cover of the Larry Williams song Dizzy Miss Lizzy. The album had the hits of course…Help!, Yesterday, and Ticket To Ride…all #1 in the Billboard 100.

I’m ready to watch Help! now…can I smuggle a Blu-ray player on the island?

Help!
The Night Before
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
I Need You
Another Girl
You’re Going to Lose That Girl
Ticket to Ride
Act Naturally
It’s Only Love
You Like Me Too Much
Tell Me What You See
I’ve Just Seen a Face
Yesterday
Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Rolling Stones – 19th Nervous Breakdown

You better stop, look around
Here it comes
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown

I like this period in Rolling Stones history. Between 1964-67 they released some great music. Brian Jones added a lot of texture to this period.

The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards during their 1965 tour of the United States. The song was recorded during the Aftermath sessions. They got the title from Mick Jagger in the middle of the tour.

During the song Brian Jones is playing a lick that he got from Diddley Daddy…an old Bo Diddley song.

This song peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, and #2 in the UK in 1966.

Mick Jagger: “We had just done five weeks hectic work in the States and I said, ‘Dunno about you blokes, but I feel about ready for my nineteenth nervous breakdown.’ We seized on it at once as a likely song title. Then Keith and I worked on the number at intervals during the rest of the tour. Brian, Charlie and Bill egged us on – especially as they liked having the first two words starting with the same letter.”

Mick Jagger: “Things that are happening around me – everyday life as I see it. People say I’m always singing about pills and breakdowns, therefore I must be an addict – this is ridiculous. Some people are so narrow-minded they won’t admit to themselves that this really does happen to other people besides pop stars.”

From Songfacts

There are some drug references in this song:

On our first trip I tried so hard to rearrange your mind
But after awhile I realized you were disarranging mine

Many turned on listeners picked up on this, but most didn’t, especially since the lines are mixed low into the background. Over the next few years, the Stones drug use became more apparent, and it was reflected in their songs. British authorities took note, leading to a series of arrests and run-ins among band members and their associates.

Mick Jagger: “That’s a very Los Angeles period, I remember being in the West Coast a lot then. 19th Nervous Breakdown is a bit of a joke song, really. I mean, the idea that anyone could be offended by it really is funny. But I remember some people were. It’s very hard to put yourself back in that period now – popular songs didn’t really address anything very much. Bob Dylan was addressing it, but he wasn’t thought of as a mainstream Pop act. And anyway, no one knew what he was talking about. Basically his songs were too dense for most people. And so to write about anything other than the normal run-of-the-mill love clichés was considered very outre and it was never touched. Anything outside that would shock people. So songs like “19th Nervous Breakdown” were slightly jarring to people. But I guess they soon got used to it. A couple years after that, things took a sort of turn and then saw an even more dark direction. But those were very innocent days, I think.”

This was one of three songs The Stones performed on their Ed Sullivan Show appearance on February 13, 1966, the first time they were broadcast in color on US television.

Mick Jagger had been dating an English model named Chrissie Shripton when he wrote this song. Theirs was a tumultuous relationship that began in 1963 and ended three years later amid allegation of Mick’s philandering (he began seeing Marianne Faithfull). According to Philip Norman’s biography of Mick Jagger, Shrimpton overdosed on sleeping pills in December 1966 after Jagger stood her up when they were supposed to go on vacation together. While Jagger didn’t write this song about Shrimpton, her overdose drew parallels to the pill-popping character in the song. It was rumored that the line “On our first trip” is a reference to the first time Jagger dropped acid with Shrimpton.

19th Nervous Breakdown

You’re the kind of person you meet at certain dismal, dull affairs
Center of a crowd, talking much too loud, running up and down the stairs
Well, it seems to me that you have seen too much in too few years
And though you’ve tried you just can’t hide your eyes are edged with tears

You better stop, look around
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown

When you were a child you were treated kind
But you were never brought up right
You were always spoiled with a thousand toys but still you cried all night
Your mother who neglected you owes a million dollars tax
And your father’s still perfecting ways of making sealing wax

You better stop, look around
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown

Oh, who’s to blame, that girl’s just insane
Well nothing I do don’t seem to work
It only seems to make matters worse, oh please

You were still in school when you had that fool who really messed your mind
And after that you turned your back on treating people kind
On our first trip I tried so hard to rearrange your mind
But after a while I realized you were disarranging mine

You better stop, look around
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown

Oh, who’s to blame, that girl’s just insane
Well nothing I do don’t seem to work
It only seems to make matters worse, oh please

You better stop, look around
Here it comes
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown

Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)

I love to feature a Byrd’s song because it’s time to break out the Rickenbacker 12 string guitar and hear the magical jangle and ringing tone.

This was written by Pete Seeger, an influential folk singer and activist. He recorded a demo of the song around 1961, and included a live version on his 1962 album The Bitter And The Sweet with just voice and guitar.

The lyrics were taken from a passage from the book of Ecclesiastes (3:1-8) in The Bible. They were rearranged and paired with Seeger’s music to make the song.

When The Byrds started working on this song, McGuinn and David Crosby devised a new arrangement of Seeger’s original, but it took the band over 50 tries to get the sound right. The song was released on the Turn, Turn, Turn album in 1965. The album peaked at #17 in the Billboard Album Charts and #11 in the UK.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #26 in the UK, and #3 in Canada in 1965.

Ecclesiastes (3:1-8)

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

²A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; ³A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ⁵A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ⁶A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ⁷A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; ⁸A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

From Songfacts

Seeger: “I got a letter from my publisher, and he says, ‘Pete, I can’t sell these protest songs you write.’ And I was angry. I sat down with a tape recorder and said, ‘I can’t write the kind of songs you want. You gotta go to somebody else. This is the only kind of song I know how to write.’ I pulled out this slip of paper in my pocket and improvised a melody to it in fifteen minutes. And I sent it to him. And I got a letter from him the next week that said, ‘Wonderful! Just what I’m looking for.’ Within two months he’d sold it to the Limelighters and then to the Byrds. I liked the Byrds’ record very much, incidentally. All those clanging, steel guitars – they sound like bells.” (this appears in Zollo’s book Songwriters On Songwriting)

A folk trio called The Limeliters released an upbeat, banjo-based version in 1962.

Before he recorded this song with The Byrds, Jim McGuinn (who later went by Roger) played acoustic 12-string guitar on Judy Collins’ 1963 version, which appears on her album Judy Collins #3. He also worked up the arrangement with Collins.

Judy Collins’ version was released as a single in 1969 when it was included on her album Recollections. It reached #69 in the US, the only Hot 100 appearance of the song besides The Byrds’ rendition.

Dolly Parton covered this on her 1984 album of cover songs The Great Pretender, and again in 2005 on Those Were The Days.

Roger McGuinn teamed up with country artist Vern Gosdin, who was once a member of Chris Hillman’s bluegrass band The Hillman and one half of The Gosdin Brothers (who occasionally opened for The Byrds), for a cover of this song on Gosdin’s 1984 album There Is A Season. McGuinn played the same 12-string Rickenbacker that he used on The Byrds’ recording of the song. In 1994 a previously unreleased version that was originally remixed in 1984 for an anticipated single was included on the The Truly Great Hits Of Vern Gosdin.

This was used in the movie Forrest Gump as Forrest says goodbye to Jenny, who is leaving for Berkeley.

I love Roger’s glasses…I did track down a pair of them in the 80s…I then lost them and bought some off of Ebay…they are not easy to find.

Turn Turn Turn

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late

John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom

I wanted to throw some blues in this morning. I first heard Hooker’s version of the song while watching the Blues Brothers. I became an instant fan the second I heard it. It was written by John lee Hooker.

Boom Boom was the song that crossed over, marking his only entry on the US Hot 100 and becoming his signature song.

The song was released in 1962 and peaked at #16 in the Billboard R&B Charts and #60 in the Billboard 100.

Hooker recorded for Vee-Jay but members of Motown’s house band…The Funk Brothers… played on this. The Funk Brothers were great musicians and played on hundreds of hit records, but Motown didn’t pay them very well, so they would take gigs at other labels in the Detroit area to make extra money.

In 1992, this was used in a UK ad for Levi’s jeans. It was re-released that year and peaked at #16 in the UK charts and #24 in New Zealand.

In 1964 the Animals took the song to #43 in the Billboard 100 and #14 in Canada.

John Lee Hooker: “I used to play at this place called the Apex Bar in Detroit. There was a young lady there named Luilla. She was a bartender there. I would come in there at night and I’d never be on time. Every night the band would beat me there. Sometimes they’d be on the bandstand playing by the time I got there. I’d always be late and whenever I’d come in she’d point at me and say, ‘Boom Boom, you’re late again.’ And she kept saying that. It dawned on me that that was a good name for a song. Then one night she said, ‘Boom boom, I’m gonna shoot you down.’ She gave me a song but she didn’t know it.

I took that thing and I hummed it all the way home from the bar. At night I went to bed and I was still thinking of it. I got up the next day and put one and one together, two and two together, trying to piece it out – taking things out, putting things in. I finally got it down right, got it together, got it down in my head. Then I went and sang it, and everybody went, Wow! Then I didn’t do it no more, not in the bar. I figured somebody would grab it before I got it copyrighted. So I sent it to Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress, and I got it copyrighted. After I got it copyrighted I could do it in the bar. So then if anybody got the idea to do it I had them by the neck, because I had it copyrighted. About two months later I recorded it. I was on Vee-Jay then. And the record shot straight to the top. Then, after I did it, the Animals turned around and did it. That barmaid felt pretty good. She went around telling everybody I got John Lee to write that song. I gave her some bread for it, too, so she was pretty happy.”

From Songfacts

John Lee Hooker first recorded in 1948, and the next year released his classic “Boogie Chillen,” which eventually sold over a million copies. In the ’50s, he recorded under several different names (“Delta John” and “Birmingham Sam” among them) and refined his craft with constant live performances. By 1962, he was signed to Vee-Jay Records, who teamed him up with seasoned session players and tried to bring his music to a wider audience.

Hooker performed this when he appeared in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers. It was the only movie Hooker ever appeared in.

Many blues bands have covered this over the years, including The Animals and The Yardbirds. It has become a blues standard.

Hooker didn’t play this live for a long time because he feared that he wouldn’t do it justice. He finally played it in his last two shows before his death.

This was used in a 2002 commercial for The Gap. In the ad, it was performed on roller skates by Baba Oje, a former member of Arrested Development. The advertising campaign, dubbed “For Every Generation,” used a variety of artists, including Willie Nelson, Ryan Adams, and Natalie Imbruglia.

Boom Boom

Boom, boom, boom, boom
I’m gonna shoot you right down
Knock you off of your feet
And take you home with me
Put you in my house
Boom, boom, boom, boom

Ow ow ow ow ow
Hmm hmm hmm
Hmm hmm hmm hmm
I love to see you strut
Up and down the floor
When you’re talking to me
That baby talk
I like it like that
Oh yeah

Talk that talk
Walk that walk

Won’t you walk that walk?
And talk that talk
And whisper in my ear
Tell me that you love me
I love that talk
When you talk like that
You knock me out
Right off my feet
Ho ho ho ho

Well, talk that talk
And walk that walk
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Talk that talk, babe

Beatles – Drive My Car

Beep beep’m beep beep yeah

The song was on their album Rubber Soul released in 1965. What stands out is the Motown type bass line being played by Paul while George doubled him on guitar. Paul played lead with slide guitar.

George Harrison suggested the R&B arrangement and it was implemented as the rhythmic style of the song. The introduction to the song is confusing to some though.

This is another song by Lennon/McCartney but with Lennon saying it was mostly Paul’s song. Lennon though did write a lot of the lyrics as Paul’s original lyrics were pretty bad…per Paul. It was not released as a single.

According to McCartney, “‘Drive my car’ was an old blues euphemism for sex”.This expression was more common in the pre-automatic shift era of automobiles.

The opening two measures of “Drive My Car” still leave studied “musicologists” scratching their heads to this day. Producer Mark Hudson, who had worked with Ringo on his solo career for ten years, has related how he asked the drummer about the song’s introduction, saying that “he could never figure it out.” Ringo couldn’t even explain it.

The Beatles seem to do that a lot… A Hard Days Night intro and the beginning to I Want To Hold Your Hand have musicologist debating how something was done…and how it worked.

Paul McCartney: “The lyrics were disastrous and I knew it. Often you just block songs out and words just come into your mind and when they do it’s hard to get rid of them. You often quote other songs too and you know you’ve got to get rid of them, but sometimes it’s very difficult to find a more suitable phrase than the one that has insinuated itself into your consciousness.” Other songs he used as a template in this case most likely include “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “I Feel Fine,” both of which include lines about buying a “diamond ring” for someone.

Paul McCartney: “”It was wonderful because this nice tongue-in-cheek idea came and suddenly there was a girl there, the heroine of the story, and the story developed and had a little sting in the tail like ‘Norwegian Wood’ had, which was ‘I actually haven’t got a car, but when I get one you’ll be a terrific chauffeur.’ So to me it was LA chicks…and it also meant ‘you can be my lover.’ ‘Drive my car’ was an old blues euphemism for sex, so in the end all is revealed. Black humor crept in and saved the day. It wrote itself then. I find that very often, once you get the good idea, things write themselves.”

From Songfacts

Laden with sexual innuendo, this song is about a guy who meets an aspiring actress, who tells him he can “drive my car,” as she has a keen interest in him, and might even be in love.

She keeps trying to lure him in (“I can show you a better time”), but when he finally agrees to take the job, she admits that she doesn’t have a car, but still wants him to be her driver. It’s pretty clear that all this driving talk is leading to sex, but there’s no proof that it isn’t just a song about a guy, a girl, and a car – making it another radio-friendly Beatles track.

Originally, it was a very different song lyrically, with the chorus, “I can give you golden rings, I can give you anything, baby, I love you.” Knowing that storyline would lead them nowhere good, they hashed it out until they came up with “Drive My Car” for the title, and changed the song so it was the woman soliciting the man.

Paul McCartney played bass, piano and lead guitar on this one; George Harrison played guitar and did backing vocals. John Lennon sang lead with McCartney and also played tambourine.

The “beep beep” refrain is a take-off on The Beatles own “yeah, yeah yeah”s in “She Loves You” as well as a nod to The Playmates song “Beep Beep” (a #4 US novelty hit in 1958).

Paul McCartney played this at halftime of the 2005 Super Bowl. The year before, Janet Jackson exposed a breast on live TV, which caused a great deal of controversy. McCartney was a solid choice because he was unlikely to offend anyone.

At the 2005 Live 8 Concert in London, McCartney performed this in a duet with George Michael.

The title of the album comes from “plastic soul,” a derogatory phrase McCartney had overheard black musicians using about Mick Jagger. (“Plastic” in those days meant anything fake or processed.) Paul can be heard using the phrase in studio chatter on June 14, 1965, during recording of the “Help!” B-side “I’m Down.” Reliably, he put his own spin on the phrase.

Drive My Car

Asked a girl what she wanted to be
She said, “baby, can’t you see
I want to be famous, a star on the screen
But you can do something in between

Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I’m gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you”

I told a girl that my prospects were good
And she said, “baby, it’s understood
Working for peanuts is all very fine
But I can show you a better time

Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I’m gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you”

Beep beep’m beep beep yeah

Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I’m gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you

I told a girl I can start right away
And she said, “listen, babe, I got something to say
I got no car and it’s breaking my heart
But I’ve found a driver and that’s a start

Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I’m gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you”

Beep beep’m beep beep yeah
Beep beep’m beep beep yeah
Beep beep’m beep beep yeah
Beep beep’m beep beep yeah

Pink Floyd – Lucifer Sam

I’m continuing my education on early Pink Floyd. Love what I’m hearing. This one is so sixties that you can smell the incense.

When I first heard this I thought one thing…sixties James Bond…and there is not more cooler than that. Cool guitar riff to open this one up.

It was on Pink Floyd’s debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It was written by Syd Barrett.

This song is essentially an ode to Syd Barrett’s cat, Sam. However, it was rumored that it might refer to another man in some kind of relationship with Jenny Spires, who was Barrett’s girlfriend at the time.

In the line, ” Jennifer Gentle you’re a witch,” “Jennifer Gentile” is said to refer to Spires.

Jenny Spires

Rob Chapman, A Very Irregular Head – The Life of Syd Barrett‘Lucifer Sam’ is the odd track out on the Piper album. Neither lengthy instrumental nor three-minute fairy tale, its taut style is a throwback to the Floyd’s earlier raw R&B. ‘Lucifer Sam’ has a compact form and driving riff that would have made it a prime candidate for a single (or at least a perfectly serviceable B-side) if there hadn’t already been stronger contenders. It’s a character song like ‘Arnold Layne’ rather than a still-life study like ’The Scarecrow,’ and by Syd’s oblique standards it is specific and direct. Jenny Spires appears thinly disguised as Jennifer Gentle and although the whole thing wiffs of stoned paranoia (‘that cat’s something I can’t explain’ – it’s just a cat, Syd, there really is nothing to explain) and menacing undertones it also possesses a nimble and playful wit.

Lucifer Sam

Lucifer Sam, Siam cat
Always sitting by your side
Always by your side
That cat’s something I can’t explain

Jennifer Gentle you’re a witch
You’re the left side
He’s the right side
Oh, no!
That cat’s something I can’t explain

Lucifer go to sea
Be a hip cat, be a ship’s cat
Somewhere, anywhere
That cat’s something I can’t explain

At night prowling sifting sand
Hiding around on the ground
He’ll be found when you’re around
That cat’s something I can’t explain

…

Johnny Nash (1940-2020)

Another loss to add to the other losses in this past week… Johnny Nash passes away at 80 years old.

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/johnny-nash-dead-singer-i-can-see-clearly-now-1234795224/

One of the best feel-good songs of all time. The reggae-influenced I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada and #5 in the UK in 1972. The song was written by Johnny Nash and a hit again for Jimmy Cliff in 1993.

It’s one of the first songs I remember.

I Can See Clearly Now

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I’ve been prayin’ for
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there’s nothin’ but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothin’ but blue skies

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour

This is the title song to the soundtrack album of the movie Magical Mystery Tour. In reality it was more of a very expensive home movie but I do like it. Like Paul McCartney said…where else would you see a video of the Beatles doing I Am The Walrus?

They began on the song two weeks after Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released.

In the 60s a “Mystery Tour” was a bus trip to an unknown destination. They were popular in England at that time…many times they ended up to see the Blackpool lights.

The song peaked at #2 in the UK. It was not released as a single in the US. The song was written by Lennon and McCartney. Paul’s concept and Lennon helped with the lyrics.

“Magical Mystery Tour” was released as the title track to a six-song double EP in the United Kingdom on 8 December 1967. It was the first example of a double EP in Britain. In the United States, the double EP was stretched to an LP by adding five songs previously released as singles.

Paul McCartney: “’Magical Mystery Tour’ was co-written by John and I, very much in our fairground period. One of our great inspirations was always the Barker. ‘Roll up! Roll up!’

Paul McCartney: “It used to just be called a mystery tour, up north,” “When we were kids, you’d get on a bus, and you didn’t know where you were going, but nearly always it was Blackpool. From Liverpool, it was inevitably Blackpool and everyone would go, ‘Oooo, it was Blackpool after all!’ Everyone would spend time guessing where they were going, and this was part of the thrill. And we remembered those. So much of The Beatles’ stuff was a slight switch on a memory; in ‘Penny Lane,’ the nurse and the barber and the fireman were just people we saw on a bus route, but this time they’d be with us. So we’d always just heighten the reality to make a little bit of surreality. That we were interested in.”

From Songfacts

Five months after recording this, The Beatles started making a TV special with this as the title track. The special aired in the UK in 1967, but didn’t appear in the US until 1976 when it was released in theaters, becoming the fourth Beatles movie. The film, which was an early precursor of today’s reality TV shows, didn’t go over well with critics or fans.

When they started recording this, they only had the title, a little bit of music, and the first line. Paul McCartney wrote the verses, John Lennon the refrain.

The carnival barker at the beginning is Paul McCartney.

In the 1978 movie The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash directed by former Monty Python member Eric Idle, this song is parodied by the title “Tragical History Tour.”

Charles Manson used to refer to life as “A Magical Mystery Tour” after hearing this song. He later warped other Beatles songs (“Helter Skelter,” “Piggies,” “Blackbird”) to explain a race war named Helter Skelter. He used to say that the Beatles were telling it like it is.

Magical Mystery Tour

Roll up roll up for the Mystery Tour
Roll up roll up for the Mystery Tour

Roll up
That’s an invitation
Roll up for the Mystery Tour
Roll up
To make a reservation
Roll up for the Mystery Tour

The Magical Mystery Tour
Is waiting to take you away
Waiting to take you away

Roll up
Roll up for the Mystery Tour
Roll up
Roll up for the Mystery Tour

Roll up
They’ve got everything you need
Roll up for the Mystery Tour
Roll up
Satisfaction guaranteed
Roll up for the Mystery Tour

The Magical Mystery Tour is hoping to take you away
Hoping to take you away

The Mystery Tour

The Magical Mystery Tour
Roll up
Roll up for the Mystery Tour

Roll up
That’s an invitation
Roll up for the Mystery Tour
Roll up
To make a reservation
Roll up for the Mystery Tour

The Magical Mystery Tour
Is coming to take you away
Coming to take you away

The Magical Mystery Tour
Is dying to take you away
Dying to take you away
Take you today

Janis Joplin – Move Over

I listened to Pearl today and was remembering Janis who died 50 years ago on this date at the Landmark Motor Hotel (now Highland Gardens Hotel) while working on her album Pearl.

Janis Joplin is my favorite rock/blues female singer. I like a gravelly voice and Janis had that covered. She put her soul in every song and left everything on stage. Like her or not she was genuine. She had a rough life growing up in Port Arthur Texas being bullied in High School and College and finally making it in 1967 with Big Brother and the Holding Company when she moved to San Francisco.

Move Over was the first track on the Pearl album, which sold four million copies and hit #1 on the charts, all after Joplin passed away. She wrote this one herself and recorded it the same day as Trust Me and Me And Bobby McGee.

The album was released January 11, 1971, three months after her death. It peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #20 in the UK.

Janis went on the Dick Cavett Show on September 25, 1970, to perform “Move Over.” On the show, she stated that the song was about men…specifically the guy who tells you your relationship is over but won’t move on, thus equating the way some guys hold on love to the way one would dangle a carrot in front of a mule.

Move Over

You say that it’s over baby, Lord
You say that it’s over now
But still you hang around me, come on
Won’t you move over

You know that I need a man, honey Lord
You know that I need a man
But when I ask you to you just tell me
That maybe you can

Please don’t you do it to me babe, no!
Please don’t you do it to me baby
Either take this love I offer
Or just let me be

I ain’t quite a ready for walking, no no no no
I ain’t quite a ready for walking
And what you gonna do with your life
Life all just dangling?

Oh yeah
Make up your mind, honey
You’re playing with me, hey hey hey
Make up your mind, darling
You’re playing with me, come on now
Now either be my loving man
I said-a, let me honey, let me be, yeah

You say that it’s over, baby, no
You say that it’s over now
But still you hang around me, come on
Won’t you move over

You know that I need a man, honey, I told you so
You know that I need a man
But when I ask you to you just tell me
That maybe you can

Hey! Please don’t you do it to me, babe, no
Please don’t you do it to me baby
Either take this love I offer
Honey let me be

I said won’t you, won’t you let me be
Honey, you’re teasing me
Yeah, you’re playing with my heart, dear
I believe you’re toying with my affections, honey

I can’t take it no more baby
And furthermore, I don’t intend to
I’m just tired of hanging from the end of a string, honey
You expect me to fight like a goddamned mule
Wah, wah, wah, wah, honey

Chuck Berry – You Never Can Tell

And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

Now when I hear this song I think of Pulp Fiction because it was feature in the 1994 classic.

The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #11 in Canada, and #23 in the UK in 1964.

You Never Can Tell was written at a time when Chuck Berry was in prison…he also wrote Nadine in there. He was convicted in late 1961 of violating the Mann Act. Berry served one and one-half years in prison, from February 1962 to October 1963.

When he returned he was now facing the British invasion with the Beatles and the other bands out of England.

This song was released on his album St. Louis to Liverpool album in 1964. The album peaked at #124 in the Billboard Album Charts. The album included No Particular Place To Go and Promised Land.

In 1977, Emmylou Harris had a Top 10 Country hit with her version, which she renamed “(You Never Can Tell) C’est La Vie.”

From Songfacts

This song tells the story of a teenage couple getting married and staying together. Many of Berry’s songs are written from the perspective of young people, but this one even takes a dig at the older generation: “‘C’est la vie,’ say the old folks,” Berry sings. (“C’est la vie'” is French for “That’s life”).

Most songs that describe a young couple in love on their way to adulthood don’t end well, as disaffection or tragedy strikes. This song is unusual in that the couple does just fine, settling in with a nice record collection and some Roebuck furniture. As they settle into married life, their love stays strong. It’s not the storyline you’d expect, but you never can tell.

This was one of the new batch of hits Berry produced after being released from prison in 1963 after serving 20 months for “transporting an underage female across state lines for immoral purposes.” Berry had met a 14-year-old girl in Mexico who he brought back to St. Louis to work in his nightclub.

There is very little guitar on this track, which is driven by piano and saxophone.

When Berry sings, “The Coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale,” he’s referring to a brand of refrigerator called a Coolerator that was popular in the 1950s.

This was featured in the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. It was used in the scene where Uma Thurman and John Travolta dance to it in the twist contest at Jack Rabbit Slim’s.

This is quoted in Stephen King’s 1995 novel, Rose Madder, when Norman – a policeman with a violent temper – contemplates his new promotion: “It made him think of a Chuck Berry song, one that went ‘C’est la vie, it goes to show you never can tell.'”

King referenced the tune again in The Institute (2019) to describe a successful teenage marriage like the one in the song.

You Never Can Tell

It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well
You could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle
And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale
The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale
But when Pierre found work, the little money comin’ worked out well
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast
Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz
But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They bought a souped-up jitney, ’twas a cherry red ’53
They drove it down to Orleans to celebrate the anniversary
It was there that Pierre was married to the lovely mademoiselle
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

,,,

Led Zeppelin – Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (She’s Just A Woman)

I forgot to post this yesterday with Heartbreaker so I thought I would get it in today.

I’ve always liked this song tacked on the end of Heartbreaker. This is a song about a groupie who bothered the band in their earlier days. She was a much older woman claiming and acting like she was really young. Radio stations would usually play both of these together. This was released as the B-side of “Whole Lotta Love.”

Zeppelin never played this song live because Jimmy Page hated it. Robert Plant played it on his solo tour in 1990.

The album Led Zeppelin II peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, the UK, and Canada in 1969.

It was rare when Jimmy Page did backup vocals…he did on this song.

And both together

Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (She’s Just A Woman)

With a purple umbrella and a fifty cent hat,
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
Missus cool rides out in her aged Cadillac.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.

*Come on, babe on the round about, ride on the merry-go-round,
We all know what your name is, so you better lay your money down.

Alimony, alimony payin’ your bills,
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
When your conscience hits, you knock it back with pills.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.

* Chorus

Tellin’ tall tales of how it used to be.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
With the butler and the maid and the servants three.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.

Nobody hears a single word you say.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.
But you keep on talkin’ till your dyin’ day.
Livin’, lovin’, she’s just a woman.

* Chorus

Livin’, Lovin’, She’s just a woman.

…

Led Zeppelin – Heartbreaker

I talk about this a lot but this guitar riff is great and makes the song for me. I like how they ease into Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (She’s Just a Woman).

Heartbreaker was ranked number 328 in 2004 by Rolling Stone magazine, in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was credited to all four members of the band, “Heartbreaker” was produced by Jimmy Page and engineered by Eddie Kramer.

The solo is something different in this song. Jimmy Page does not play it with the band. He plays it by himself in a break in the song. Page didn’t find out until years later that the solo was in a different pitch than the rest of the song…but it sounded great.

The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, the UK, and Canada in 1969.

Eddie Van Halen: I think I got the idea of tapping watching Jimmy Page do his “Heartbreaker” solo back in 1971. He was doing a pull-off to an open string, and I thought wait a minute, open string … pull off. I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around? I just kind of took it and ran with it.

Jimmy Page: “The interesting thing about the solo is that it was recorded after we had already finished ‘Heartbreaker’ – it was an afterthought. That whole section was recorded in a different studio and it was sort of slotted in the middle.”

Eddie Krammer: “I met Page for the first time in Pye studios when I was working on sessions of The Kinks. Page had earned a certain reputation as a studio guitarist. I also worked with John Paul Jones on a few sessions, and we became friends. Jones was a brilliant musician. He wrote arrangements for chord orchestras and he could play many instruments extremely well. Before I left England to work with Jimi Hendrix at Record Plant studio in New York, in April 1968, Jonesy had invited me at his place to have me listen to a few demos of his new group, Led Zeppelin. I remember it sounded very heavy, and I was surprised that Jimmy Page played guitar because I didn’t know they were friends. Jonesy was very proud of John Bonham, an ex-mason from the north of England who could hit it hard on the drums, as well as of Robert Plant, their wild singer. While I wasn’t convinced by the name they had chosen, I wished them good luck. Then in ’69, I was working at Electric Lady studios when I received a call from Steve Weiss, Jimi’s right-hand man, saying that Led Zeppelin was in town. Page called later to tell he wanted I help him release what they had recorded and to make a few more tracks. Led Zeppelin had been a major success for Atlantic and they were urging Jimmy to finish the second album. Their schedule however wasn’t very arranging. So we ended up listening, doubling, recording and mixing in many different studios around New York, including Groove Sound, a nice R&B 8-track studio.

From Songfacts

This opens Side 2 of Led Zeppelin II and goes right into “Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (she’s just a woman)” on the album. Radio stations usually play them together, but “Maid” was never performed live by Led Zeppelin.

A crowd favorite, Led Zeppelin sometimes opened live shows with it.

At concerts, Jimmy Page would stretch out the guitar solo and incorporate bits of other songs, like “Greensleeves,” “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” and Bach’s “Bouree in C minor.”

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones performed this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father.

Led Zeppelin opened many of their live shows in 1971 and 1972 with “Immigrant Song,” followed by a segue right into this.

Eddie Kramer, sound engineer on Led Zeppelin II, told Guitare & Claviers in 1994 how he ended up working on the album:

Heartbreaker

Hey fellas have you heard the news?
You know that Annie’s back in town?
It won’t take long just watch and see
How the fellas lay their money down

Her style is new but the face is the same
As it was so long ago
But from her eyes a different smile
Like that of one who knows

Well it’s been ten years and maybe more
Since I first set eyes on you
The best years of my life gone by
Here I am alone and blue

Some people cry and some people die
By the wicked ways of love
But I’ll just keep on rollin’ along
With the grace of the Lord above

People talkin’ all around ’bout the way you left me flat
I don’t care what the people say, I know where their jive is at
One thing I do have on my mind, if you can clarify please do
It’s the way you call me by another guy’s name when I try to make love to you, yeah

I try to make love but it ain’t no use
Give it to me, give it

Work so hard I couldn’t unwind
Get some money saved
Abuse my love a thousand times
However hard I tried

Heartbreaker, your time has come
Can’t take your evil way
Go away heartbreaker
Heartbreaker
Heartbreaker
Heartbreaker

The Festival Express

Transcontinental Pop Festival… better known as the Festival Express. Great idea on paper… rounding up musicians in 1970 and placing them on a train going across Canada and stopping along the way to play festivals. What could go wrong? Actually, I would have loved to have been on that train.

The lineup:

The Band

The Grateful Dead

Janis Joplin

Buddy Guy Blues Band

The Fly Burrito Brothers

Sha Na Na

Delaney & Bonnie & Friends

There were artists that were not in the film like Traffic, Ten Years After, Tom Rush, Ian & Sylvia, Mountain and more.

A DVD was released of this in 2004. All these musicians on a train full of liquor and an assortment of drugs… liquor was the popular choice among the musicians on this ride. The tour was to have events in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver. The Montreal event was canceled as was Vancouver. In Toronto, protesters were saying the festival promoters were price gouging so The Grateful Dead played a free concert in a park nearby to ease tensions with the protesters.

There are some very good performances on the film. My favorite is Buddy Guy and Janis Joplin’s performance. I also like the Dead’s “Don’t Ease Me In” with Pigpen on blues harp. The festival lost money and the film was thought lost for over 30 years. Janis would be gone a few months after this but her performance of Cry Baby is electrifying.

The train was where the fun was at. They actually stopped at a liquor store and bought out the complete store…including the giant display bottles. The Dead’s crew even dosed some of the liquor…and cake with LSD as you will see below… on board. When watching the film you can see the performers are having a ball jamming with each other because they didn’t get a lot of chances to do that on the road.

Bill Kreutzmann (drummer for the Dead) from his book “Deal”

We celebrated Janis Joplin’s birthday at the last stop the traditional way: with birthday cake. In keeping with our own kind of tradition, somebody—within our ranks, I would imagine—had secretly infused the cake with a decent amount of LSD. So it quickly became an electric birthday celebration. Allegedly, some generous pieces of that birthday cake made it to the hands and mouths of the local police who were working the show. “Let them eat cake!” (To be fair, I didn’t have anything to do with that … I was just another cake-eating birthday reveler, that night.)
And that was it for the Festival Express. It was a wonderful time and I think what really made it great was the level of interaction and camaraderie among the musicians, day and night, as we were all trapped on this train careening across the great north. It probably helped that we were all trashed the entire time. Whiskey was in the conductor’s seat on that ride.

I would recommend getting the DVD of this event. It’s a great time capsule of that time in music and culture.

Otis Redding – Try A Little Tenderness

Lets mellow out this morning and try a little tenderness by Otis Redding. I first heard this song by Three Dog Night who I like a lot but I have to go with Otis.

This song is a standard recorded by many artists, including crooners Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme and Bing Crosby. It was written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry Woods, and first published in 1933.

Otis recorded this song for Stax Records in Memphis. The house band was Booker T. & the M.G.’s and they backed him up on this recording…

Redding did not want to record this song, but Stax Records executives and his friends wore him down with a constant barrage of requests.

When he finally recorded it, he did it with a pleading vocal that he was sure would not be released. The ploy didn’t work. Redding’s version of “Try a Little Tenderness” became his biggest selling record released before his death.

The song peaked at #25 in the Billboard 100 and #46 in the UK in 1966.

From Songfacts

Campbell and Connelly were a British songwriting team who often collaborated with a third composer, which in this case was the American Harry Woods.

In 1962, Aretha Franklin recorded the song, charting at #100 in the US at a time when most of her singles failed to get much higher. Her arrangement was similar to that of the previous crooner versions and her vocal relatively restrained; it was Otis Redding who did the definitive soulful version of the song, complete with horns, organ, and an uninhibited vocal that builds in intensity as the song progresses.

Sam Cooke’s version of this was a big influence on Redding. It was never released as a single but was one of high points of his live “Sam Cooke at the Copa” LP (1964) as part of a medley that started with “Tenderness” (followed by “Sentimental Reasons” and “You Send Me”). Redding idolized the man, particularly after Cooke’s death, but he did not want to record “Tenderness.” He caved in after tremendous pressure from his friends and (according to one source) a family member – but he didn’t want to record it like Cooke (in fact, he considered his version a “joke” to quiet the people who wanted him to record it). The rest is history.

Three Dog Night recorded this as a tribute to the late Otis Redding. Their version became their first Top 40 hit in 1968. Their first Top 10 hit, “One,” written and originally recorded by Harry Nilsson, soon followed.

For Three Dog Night, it was a staple of their live shows throughout the 1980s. They would often stretch the song to the 15-20 minute mark.

In the movie Bull Durham, erratic young pitcher Nuke LaLoosh, played by Tim Robbins, sings this on the team bus but butchers the lyrics, much to the dismay of Crash Davis, the veteran catcher played by Kevin Costner. Instead of “Young girls they do get wearied” he sang “Young girls they do get wooly.”

This was one of two songs Aretha Franklin performed when she made her TV debut on American Bandstand August 2, 1962. A cover by her peaked at #100 on the Hot 100 the same year.

Jon Cryer’s character Duckie lip-synchs this to Molly Ringwald’s character Andie in the 1986 movie Pretty In Pink. The film’s director Howard Deutch chose the song because he wanted something that would express the heartbreak Duckie feels as he tries to make inroads with Andie.

In 2015, Cryer re-created the scene on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

This was covered by Florence and the Machine for their 2012, MTV Unplugged – A Live Album. Speaking with Nicole Alvarez of LA radio station 106.7 KROQ, Florence Welch said it was hard choosing an acoustic cover for the show. “I almost didn’t do ‘Try A Little Tenderness’ because it’s my favorite song and I thought, ‘I can’t do this,'” she admitted. “I didn’t know how to do it the same, but I just thought, ‘I’ve got to slow it down.'”

The Otis Redding version was used in 2015 commercials for McDonald’s Chicken Select Tenders. Because, you know, “tender” is in the song title.

Try A Little Tenderness

Ooh, she may be weary
And young girls, they do get wearied
Wearing that same old shaggy dress, yeah
But when she gets weary
Try a little tenderness, yeah, yeah

You know she’s waiting
Just anticipating
The thing that she’ll never, never, never, never possess, yeah, yeah
But while she’s there waiting, and without them
Try a little tenderness
That’s all you gotta do

It’s not just sentimental, no, no, no
She has her grief and care, yeah yeah yeah
But the soft words, they are spoke so gentle, yeah

It makes it easier
Easier to bear, yeah

You won’t regret it, no no
Young girls, they don’t forget it
Love is their whole happiness, yeah

But it’s all so easy
All you got to do is try, try a little, tenderness yeah
All you’ve gotta do is, man
Hold her where you want her
Squeeze her, don’t tease her
Never leave her, get to her
Just try, try a little tenderness, y-y-yeah
You got to love and kiss her, man
Got to, got to, got to, don’t lose her, no, no
You got to love her, tease her, don’t you leave her
Got to try, now, now, now
Try, tru a little tenderness
Yeah, watch the groove now, you gotta know what to do, man…