1960s – Page 75 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Beatles – Rain

This song would make my personal top ten of Beatle songs… Rain was the B side to Paperback Writer. Personally, I like this song better. First off the sound was different compared to previous songs…the bass comes through like never before and Ringo’s drumming complimented the bass so well.

They experimented with a new way of recording bass. This technique involved “using a loudspeaker as a microphone,” explains engineer Geoff Emerick. “We positioned it directly in front of the bass speaker and the moving diaphragm of the second speaker made the electric current.”

The peaked at #23 in the Billboard 100 in 1966.

Ringo on this recording is outstanding and some think it’s his best moment on record. Personally, I like his playing on A Day In The Life but this one is great.

At the end of the song, the vocals are backward. There are different stories on how this happened. One was that a stoned John took the tape home and put it in backward and was astonished at what he heard and wanted the whole song backward. George Martin remembered it differently: “I was always playing around with tapes,” Martin explains, “and I thought it might be fun to do something extra with John’s voice. So I lifted a bit of his main vocal off the four-track, put it onto another spool, turned it around and then slid it back and forth until it fitted. John was out at the time but when he came back he was amazed…They all thought it was marvelous.”

Whichever way it was…it fits this song perfectly

Paul McCartney said this about who wrote the song:

I don’t think he brought the original idea, just when we sat down to write, he kicked it off. Songs have traditionally treated rain as a bad thing and what we got on to was that it’s no bad thing. There’s no greater feeling than the rain dripping down your back. The most interesting thing about it wasn’t the writing, which was tilted 70-30 to John, but the recording of it.

From Songfacts

John Lennon wrote most of “Rain.” It was his first song to get really deep, exploring themes of reality and illusion – after all, rain or shine is just a state of mind.

This was the first song to use a tape played backward, which created the strange audio effect. John Lennon discovered the technique when he put the tape for “Tomorrow Never Knows” on the wrong way. He was stoned at the time, and producer George Martin had to convince him that using a backward recording for the entire song was a bad idea.

Ringo Starr has said this is his best drumming on a Beatles song.

The backward vocal at the end fade out is actually the songs first line: “When the rain comes they run and hide their heads”.

This was one of the first Beatles records to feature loud, booming bass. McCartney’s bassline is extremely recognizable, in contrast to The Beatles’ older records.

This was released as the B-side of “Paperback Writer.” It was recorded during the Revolver sessions.

As part of the studio manipulation that gave this song such an unusual sound, the rhythm track was played fast and then slowed down on tape.

The Beatles shot a video for this song with director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who was tapped because he worked on the UK music show Ready, Steady,Go!. The videos for “Rain” and “Paperback Writer” were shot at the same time, with some footage recorded at Abbey Road studios, but most of it outdoors at the Chiswick House gardens in London.

These videos were done so The Beatles could promote the single without actually performing on the various TV shows that drew huge audiences and drove sales. In doing so, they set a standard for music videos, as other bands followed suit. The “Rain” video uses many elements that would become commonplace, including candid shots from between takes.

Rain

If the rain comes
They run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead
If the rain comes
If the rain comes

When the sun shines
They slip into the shade
And sip their lemonade
When the sun shines
When the sun shines

Rain, I don’t mind
Shine, the weather’s fine

I can show you
That when it starts to rain
Everything’s the same
I can show you
I can show you

Rain, I don’t mind
Shine, the weather’s fine

Can you hear me
That when it rains and shines
It’s just a state of mind
Can you hear me
Can you hear me

Beatles – Cry For A Shadow

I’ve always liked this instrumental because it is a fun listen. Nothing intricate but just a fun song. Its original name was Beatle Bop. This was not released on any Beatle albums during their time. This was before Brian Epstein and fame.

This instrumental is the only Beatles track to be credited to John Lennon and George Harrison alone (who play rhythm and lead respectively). It was intended as a parody of British rock band The Shadows (Hence the name), whose instrumental music was enjoying success. Whilst Harrison imitates Shadow’s guitarist Hank Marvin’s signature lead sound, McCartney can be heard replicating the style of bassist Jet Harris.

This song was recorded in Hamburg in 1961 when they were backing Tony Sheridan by the name of the Beat Brothers.

This song is one of only two officially released Beatles singles to feature Pete Best on drums. The other is “Ain’t She Sweet,” although it is alleged that a studio drummer “sweetened” the drum parts on this recording for American release. The producer Bert Kaempfert would take away Pete’s bass drum at these sessions and kept him only on the snare because of his timing issues.

From Songfacts

In a 1987 interview with Guitar Player magazine, George Harrison said: “In Hamburg we had to play so long, we actually used to play ‘Apache‘… But John and I were just bulls–tting one day, and he had this new little Rickenbacker with with a funny kind of wobble bar on it. And he started playing that off, and I just came in, and we made it up right on the spot.”

This track features the original Beatles drummer Pete Best, who received some royalties from the song when it was included on the 1995 Anthology collection.

This track was recorded in Hamburg whilst the Beatles performed under the moniker “The Beat Brothers” as a backing band for English singer Tony Sheridan. The track was produced by German big band leader and composer Bert Kaempfert.

Released on Polydor Records, the label declined further recordings from The Beatles, who returned to England, whilst Tony Sheridan stayed in Hamburg. At the request of The Beatles new manager Brian Epstein, Kaempfert dissolved his contract with the band in May 1962.

The Hollies – Bus Stop

A good mid-sixties pop song from The Hollies. The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100, #5 in the UK, and #1 in Canada in 1966.

Bus Stop was written by Graham Gouldman, who went on to form the band 10cc, best known for their hit “I’m Not In Love.” Gouldman was just 19 when he wrote “Bus Stop,” but he had already written three Yardbirds songs: “For Your Love,” “Heart Full of Soul” and “Evil Hearted You.”

Graham Nash of The Hollies recalls learning about this song when their manager, Michael Cohen, told them about “this little kid who lives down the street,” which was Graham Gouldman. When Gouldman played it for them, they knew they had a winner. Nash says they recorded it in just an hour and 15 minutes.

From Songfacts

This song is about a couple who meet one rainy day at a bus stop. Love blooms when they share an umbrella.

In a Manchester newspaper, Graham Gouldman said he wrote it whilst riding on the No. 95 bus, which ran from East Didsbury – the route went through Manchester city center, to Sedgeley Park, Cheetham Hill, Prestwich, and on to Whitefield near Bury. Gouldman was living with his family on this route in Broughton Park Salford at the time. >>

Graham Gouldman’s father was a talented and creative writer who often helped his son with song ideas. Graham had the idea for bus stop setting, and his dad came up with the first line: “Bus stop, wet day, she’s there, I say, ‘please share my umbrella.'” From that starting point, he was able to finish the song.

In a Songfacts interview with Gouldman, he explained: “He gave me those words and I immediately, as I was reading them, heard the melody in my head, and it just kind of wrote itself. And then the middle part of the song I wrote – I got the melody and the words all in one chunk.”

The timeline in this song is a little askew. We know that love bloomed over the summer, but then we get the line, “Came the sun, the ice was melting.” This harkens spring, so apparently, time has passed. In Gouldman’s Songfacts interview, he clarified: “Winter is over, the snow is passed because the sun has melted it, so there’s no need to shelter anymore under the umbrella. You could say the snow is underfoot so you don’t need an umbrella anyway, but it’s poetic license: it could have been snowing so the umbrella can protect you from the snow as well as the rain.”

According to Gouldman, this song’s middle eight was one of the few instances in his songwriting career when he had a sudden inspiration rather than having to resort to hard toil. He explained to Mojo magazine in a 2011 interview: “You have to be working to make something happen. Occasionally you can wait for some magic, like McCartney waking up with Yesterday already written in his mind, which does happen – it’s like a gift from your own subconscious. Or sometimes, it’s like a tap’s turned on. When I’d written most of ‘Bus Stop,’ I was actually on a bus thinking about how the middle eight should go. And this whole, ‘Every morning I would see her waiting at the stop / Sometimes she’d shop…’ that all came to me in one gush, and I couldn’t wait to get home to try it. When that sort of thing happens, it’s really amazing. But that’s rare. Mostly, you have to do the slog.”

Herman’s Hermits also recorded this song in 1966. They got first crack at many of Gouldman’s songs because their manager was married to his sister.

In the Songfacts interview with Peter Noone, the Herman’s Hermits frontman explained: “‘Bus Stop’ went to the Hollies before us, because Graham didn’t think it was the kind of song that we would like. Then when we heard it, it was like, Are you kidding me? We want that. Luckily John Paul Jones heard it when we were trying to figure it out and he said ‘Nah, I’ve got it,’ and he re-invented the song. That’s John Paul Jones who turned that into a hit record, nobody else. It is not a hit song. If you listen to the Hollies demo version of it, it’s just not good. He reorganized the song and made it what it is: serious artwork.”

There is a short instrumental passage midway through the song, but the vocals, sung by Allan Clarke, carry the day. The only real verse section is in the middle – the rest is chorus and bridge, which at the end of the song is flipped – “Every morning I would see her waiting at the stop” comes in before the “bus stop, wet day” part, providing a bookend.

With so little verse, there are very few details – we have no idea what the bus or people look like – but that works to the song’s advantage because the listener can fill in the gaps. It’s a technique Gouldman picked up listening to The Beatles. “Sometimes it’s what’s left out that makes it work,” he says.

Bus Stop

Bus stop, wet day
She’s there, I say
Please share my umbrella
Bus stops, bus goes
She stays, love grows
Under my umbrella

All that summer we enjoyed it
Wind and rain and shine
That umbrella we employed it
By August she was mine

Every morning I would see her
Waiting at the stop
Sometimes she’d shop
And she would show me what she’d bought

Other people stared
As if we were both quite insane
Someday my name and hers
Are going to be the same

That’s the way the whole thing started
Silly but it’s true
Thinking of our sweet romance
Beginning in a queue

Came the sun
The ice was melting
No more sheltering now
Nice to think that that umbrella
Led me to a vow

Every morning I would see her
Waiting at the stop
Sometimes she’d shop
And she would show me what she’d bought

Other people stared
As if we were both quite insane
Someday my name and hers
Are going to be the same

Bus stop, wet day
She’s there, I say
Please share my umbrella
Bus stops, bus goes
She stays, love grows
Under my umbrella

All that summer we enjoyed it
Wind and rain and shine
That umbrella we employed it
By August she was mine

Beatles – I’m So Tired

Another gem from the White Album. John Lennon loved to sleep…he referenced it in another song on Revolver named “I’m Only Sleeping.” Paul would have a songwriting session planned with Lennon and would arrive at John’s house only to have to wake him up. I’ve always liked this song and fit perfectly with the diverse song styles of the album.

John wrote this at a transcendental meditation camp in India when he couldn’t sleep. He was meditating day and night, and after three weeks of meditation and lectures by the Maharishi, he thought of his future wife Yoko Ono while his current wife Cynthia was there with him. and came up with the song. He even thought of inviting Yoko with him along with Cynthia… that would have added some spice to the trip. Bringing a date on a trip with your wife…probably a bad idea.

John mumbles something at the end of the song.

Mark Lewisohn’s book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” explains this final bit of Lennon mumbling as “Monsieur, monsieur, how about another one?“, insinuating that he was requesting another attempt at the backing vocals. This final mumbling was the only one that made it onto the finished mix.

In 1969 when the “Paul is dead” rumor went around the world people insisted when the mumbling at the end of this song was played backward, John was saying “Paul is dead, miss him, miss him, miss him!” This made for yet another clue for the poor departed Paul …but of course was not true and Paul was and is very much alive… but it did ruin a lot of record player needles in the process of trying to find out.

John said this about the song: “One of my favorite tracks. I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well“.

From Songfacts

The voice at the end sounds like, “Paul is dead man, miss him,” when played backward. This helped fuel rumors that McCartney was dead and replaced by an actor that looked like him.

The line “When I hold you in my arms, and feel my finger on your trigger” from “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” appears in bootlegged, unreleased versions of this song as “When I hold you in your arms, when you show each one of your charms, I wonder should I get up and go to the funny farm.”

The word “get” as used in this song is a well-known term as a quite mild insult that is still commonly used on Merseyside. Lennon is cursing Sir Walter Raleigh (who is credited with introducing tobacco to Britain from America in the 16th century) for indirectly getting him hooked on cigarettes.

At the bottom below the lyrics, I found a version of Paul singing the song and having a good time. It possibly is from the Let It Be sessions…I’m not sure.

I’m So Tired

I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink
I’m so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No, no, no.

I’m so tired, I don’t know what to do
I’m so tired, my mind is set on you
I wonder should I call you but I know what you would do

You’d say I’m putting you on
But it’s no joke, it’s doing me harm
You know I can’t sleep, I can’t stop my brain
You know it’s three weeks, I’m going insane
You know I’d give you everything I’ve got
For a little peace of mind.

I’m so tired, I’m feeling so upset
Although I’m so tired, I’ll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh
He was such a stupid get.

Give you everything I’ve got
For a little peace of mind.

I’d give you everything I’ve got
For a little peace of mind.

Zombies – This Will Be Our Year

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

Bruce Eder of AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five, calling it “one of the flukiest (and best) albums of the 1960s, and one of the most enduring long-players to come out of the entire British psychedelic boom”.

On recording Odessey and Oracle….Rod Argent

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

This Will Be A Year

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those Who Could Not Escape Their Character.

I’m not saying that these actors and actresses never acted in anything else but they ended up trapped in the role that ended up defining them good or bad. This list could have been much longer.

Bob Denver – Gilligan – I just picked Bob because he was the star of the show but a point could be argued that the entire cast of this show was eternally typecast. Bob Denver also played Maynard Krebs (which I loved) on The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis but Gilligan wins out.

Mark Hamill – Luke Skywalker – After he auditioned for the title role in 1983 movie Amadeus the director dismissed the idea saying “I don’t want Luke Skywalker in this film.” He has broken a little out of the image by doing voiceovers like the Joker in Batman animated cartoons.

Carrie Fischer – Princess Leia – Harrison Ford was able to break out more successfully than his other two co-stars in Star Wars. Carrie Fischer acted in a lot of movies but could never shake Princess Leia…she is forever frozen in time in the minds of teenage nerds at the time and now.

Christopher Reeve – Superman – He is said to have stated that he spent his career trying to “escape the cape.”… When I think of Superman…I do think of Christopher Reeve’s version

George Reeves – Superman – See Above

Barbara Eden – Jeannie – She appeared in many TV movies but nothing topped beautiful Jeannie. Larry Hagman did manage to escape his character in I Dream of Jeannie into another…J.R. Ewing.

Elizabeth Montgomery – Samantha – Everyone’s favorite witch. Like Eden she did many TV movies…a lot of them really good but is known for Samantha.

Don Adams – Maxwell Smart -Adams also provided the voices for the animated series Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales and Inspector Gadget but was

Anthony Perkins – Is Norman Bates and there is no arguing that.

Robert Englund – Freddie Kruger – and I don’t believe he minds at all.

Hollies – King Midas In Reverse

Graham Nash wanted to change the direction of the Hollies and write songs that were more in vogue around this time instead of the simple pop songs they were writing. The song only made it to #18 in the UK charts and it was considered a failure compared to their earlier releases although it was praised by the critics. I think it is inventive and fits in really well with the times.

Nash wrote it after he got back from America on a tour. This was not the rest of the band’s favorite song by any means and they wrote a simple…very simple pop song to follow this song called Jennifer Eccles that of course went to #7 in the UK charts which a disheartened Nash hated and he left for greener pastures with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. I can’t blame him for not liking Jennifer Eccles…it was a weak song.

The song only made it to #51 in the Billboard 100 in 1967. Maybe the change of direction didn’t sit too well with the public. It’s one of my favorites by the Hollies.

Graham said: “My world was turning to sh*t at that point. I was on top of the world, we had 16 or 17 top ten hits, but I was feeling shitty. We made a great record of that song but it only got into the top 30, and the Hollies were always expecting their songs to go into the top 10. So they started to not trust me and not record my songs, ‘’Marrakesh Express’’ being one of them. So I wasn’t feeling that great about my life. It was all turning to sh*t, it wasn’t turning to gold, it was turning to rust.”

Personally, I like the song better than Marrakesh Express.

King Midas In Reverse

If you could only see me.
And know exactly were I am.
You wouldn’t want to be me,
Oh I can assure you of that.

I’m not the guy to run with,
Cause I’ll pull you off the line.
I’ll break you and destroy you
Give time.

He’s King Midas with a curse.
He’s king Midas in Reverse.
He’s King Midas with a curse.
He’s King Midas in Reverse.

It’s plain to see it’s hopeless,
Goin’ on the way we are.
So even though I loose you,
You’ll be better off by far.

He’s not the man to hold your trust,
Everything he touches turns to dust in his hands.
Nothing he can do is right, he’d even like to sleep at night, but he can’t.

All he touches turns to dust
All he touches turns to dust
All he touches turns to dust
All he touches turns to dust

I wish someone would find me,
And help me gain control.
Before I loose my reason,
And my soul

He’s King Midas with a curse.
He’s King Midas in reverse.
He’s King Midas with a curse.
He’s king Midas in Reverse.

He’s King Midas with a curse
(all he touches turns to dust)
He’s Kind Midas in Reverse.
(all he touches turns to dust)
He’s King Midas with a curse,
(all he touches turns to dust)
He’s King Midas in Reverse

Beatles – It’s All Too Much

A George Harrison song that was inspired by… Pattie Boyd of course. It was on perhaps the worst Beatle album, the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine. This one I have always liked. The intro is psychedelic with an awesome loud guitar with an organ following. It’s not George’s or the Beatles best song but it fits well on the album and film. Like many Beatle songs…any other band would have featured this song more prominently on an album but the Beatles just stuck it on the soundtrack they didn’t care much about at the time.

Harrison said in 1999 that Paul McCartney played the screaming intro guitar on this song and John Lennon supplied the guitar feedback, allowing George to be free to concentrate only on vocals during the recording of this song.

The Beatles recorded this at De Lane Lea Recording Studios instead of Abbey Road because they were booked at the time.

From Songfacts

A verse was edited out of album version, cutting time from 8 minutes to 6. The full version appears in film Yellow Submarine.

This was by far the longest Beatles song until “Hey Jude” was recorded over a year later.

The line, “With your long blond hair and your eyes of blue” was taken from the song “Sorrow,” originally recorded by the McCoys but popularly covered by The Merseys in 1966 and David Bowie in 1973.

It’s All Too Much

It’s all too much, it’s all too much

When I look into your eyes, your love is there for me
And the more I go inside, the more there is to see

It’s all too much for me to take
The love that’s shining all around you
Everywhere, it’s what you make
For us to take, it’s all too much

Floating down the stream of time, of life to life with me
Makes no difference where you are or where you’d like to be

It’s all too much for me to take
The love that’s shining all around here
All the world’s a birthday cake
So take a piece but not too much

Set me on a silver sun, for I know that I’m free
Show me that I’m everywhere, and get me home for tea

It’s all to much for me to see
A love that’s shining all around here
The more I am, the less I know
And what I do is all too much

It’s all too much for me to take
The love that’s shining all around you
Everywhere, it’s what you make
For us to take, it’s all too much

It’s too much, it’s too much

Too much, too much, too much

The Who – I Can’t Explain

Great debut single by “The Who.” They released a single before this one but the band had a different name…”The High Numbers.” The song was released in 1964 but peaked at #8 in the UK in 1965.

I Can’t Explain is a simple 3 chord song and what makes it go are the drums. Keith makes his presence felt right away. This was not released on an album until 1971. It is the first song on one of the best compilation albums I ever bought, Meaty, Beaty, Big, and Bouncy.

Roger Daltrey said: “When we turned up to record it there was this other guitarist in the studio – Jimmy Page. And he’d brought in three backing vocalists, which was another shock. He must have discussed it with our management, but not with us, so we were thrown at first, thinking, ‘What the f–k’s going on here?’ But it was his way of recording.”

Page ended up playing the riff and Townsend played the solo.

John Carter, Perry Ford, and Ken Lewis provided the background vocals. The trio were popular session singers in England, where they were known for their harmony vocals. For session work, they called themselves The Ivy League, but they went on to have a hit called “Let’s Go To San Francisco” as The Flower Pot Men. Perry Ford also played piano on this track.

From Songfacts

This was produced by an American named Shel Talmy. He was famous for putting loud, powerful guitar on the songs he produced, and had recently worked with The Kinks on their first hit, “You Really Got Me.” Talmy produced this in a similar style.

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame was a session musician at the time and was brought in to play guitar on this track. The Who producer Shel Talmy knew the guitar would be very prominent on this song and had Page ready in case Townshend couldn’t handle it. Pete did just fine, and quickly established himself as a premier rock guitarist.

The Who made their first US television appearance performing this on the ABC show Shindig. The program aired from 1964-1966 and featured many popular musicians performing their hits. The Everly Brothers, Glen Campbell, and Sonny and Cher were all frequent guests on the show.

Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy was a 1971 compilation of The Who’s early hits, many of which did not appear on albums and could only be purchased as singles. In 1966, The Who broke their contract with manager and producer Shel Talmy. As part of the deal, Talmy got royalties from Who records over the next five years. By 1971, the band was able to release the compilation album without giving the royalties to Talmy.

The Who played this at the Woodstock festival in 1969. It was the second of 24 songs in their set, which ended with a performance of all the songs from their rock opera Tommy. The Who went on at 3 a.m. the second night of Woodstock and played until the sun came up the next day.

The Kinks song “You Really Got Me” was released the previous year and was also produced by Shel Talmy. If you hear similarities in the guitar riffs, you’re not along. Dave Davies of The Kinks says that when he heard “I Can’t Explain,” he thought those “cheeky buggers” from The Who were copying them.

This was a staple of the band’s setlists throughout their career. When The Who toured in 2015 for their 50th anniversary, it was the opening number. Promoting (sort of) the tour in a Rolling Stone interview, Pete Townshend said that he didn’t like performing, partly because songs like this one have no meaning for him anymore. “The first chord of ‘I Can’t Explain’ for me kind of sets the tone for the evening,” he said. “Is this going to be an evening in which I spend the whole evening pretending to be the Pete Townshend I used to be? Or do I pretend to be a grown-up? In both cases, I think I’m pretending.”

Roger Daltrey admitted to Mojo May 2018 that he thought “I Can’t Explain” was a bit namby-pamby. He explained: “It was the backing vocals. ‘Cos Shel Talmy got the Ivy League in. They did these kind of girly high (sings in comedy falsetto) ‘I caaan’t expaaaaain (laughs)’. But you know, it was commercial and it worked, and I was grateful for that.”

I Can’t Explain

Got a feeling inside (can’t explain)
It’s a certain kind (can’t explain)
I feel hot and cold (can’t explain)
Yeah, down in my soul, yeah (can’t explain)

I said (can’t explain)
I’m feeling good now, yeah, but (can’t explain)

Dizzy in the head and I’m feeling blue
The things you’ve said, well, maybe they’re true
I’m gettin’ funny dreams again and again
I know what it means, but

Can’t explain
I think it’s love
Try to say it to you
When I feel blue

But I can’t explain (can’t explain)
Yeah, hear what I’m saying, girl (can’t explain)

Dizzy in the head and I’m feeling bad
The things you’ve said have got me real mad
I’m gettin’ funny dreams again and again
I know what it means but

Can’t explain
I think it’s love
Try to say it to you
When I feel blue

But I can’t explain (can’t explain)
Forgive me one more time, now (can’t explain)

(Ooh) I said I can’t explain, yeah
(Ooh) you drive me out of my mind
(Ooh) yeah, I’m the worrying kind, babe
(Ooh) I said I can’t explain

Beatles – All I’ve Got To Do

You won’t find this song on a greatest hits package or hear it on the radio. The Beatles never performed the song live throughout their career and it’s a shame but it was an embarrassment of riches for them. It was one of my first favorite songs from them.

This song was written by John Lennon but of course, credited to Lennon-McCartney. This is where John’s voice cuts through everything and when the harmonies kick in on “All I Got To Do” I’m hooked. The song acted as filler on the album but it is way above a filler song. Any other group would have pushed this song.

John Lennon said: “I had the image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the ‘phone, although I have never called a girl on the ‘phone in my life! Because ‘phones weren’t part of the English child’s life.”

He also said, “That’s me trying to do Smokey Robinson again.”

All I’ve Got To Do

Whenever I want you around, yeah
All I gotta do
Is call you on the phone
And you’ll come running home, yeah
That’s all I gotta do.

And when I, I wanna kiss you, yeah
All I gotta do
Is whisper in your ear
The words you long to hear
And I’ll be kissing you

And the same goes for me
Whenever you want me at all
I’ll be here yes I will
Whenever you call
You just gotta call on me, yeah
You just gotta call on me

And when I, I wanna kiss you, yeah
All I got to do
Is call you on the phone
And you’ll come running home, yeah
That’s all I gotta do.

And the same goes for me
Whenever you want me at all
I’ll be here, yes I will
Whenever you call
You just gotta call on me
You just gotta call on me.

Oh, you just gotta call on me

Rock Combinations That Could Have Happened

Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Miles Davis, and jazz drummer Tony Williams.

This one would have been interesting. Jimi had sent a telegram to Paul in 1969. The telegram said:

“We are recording and LP together this weekend in NewYork [sic],” “How about coming in to play bass stop call Alvan Douglas 212-5812212. Peace Jimi Hendrix Miles Davis Tony Williams.”

Beatles aide Peter Brown responded the next day say that McCartney was on Holiday and was not expected back until 2 weeks.

Of the ones on this post…this would have been the most musically interesting to me.

Elvis Presley album produced by David Bowie

Dwight Yokum said in an interview that David Bowie told him that in 1977 Elvis heard “Golden Years” on the radio and he called Bowie and asked him to produce his next album. This is a “he said he said” but it would have been a unique combination…but Bowie was no stranger to that.

A Bob Dylan/Beatles/Rolling Stones Super Album

In 1969 Producer Glyn Johns met Bob Dylan and Dylan told Johns that he would like to make an album with the Beatles and Stones. Glyn went back to England very excited and told Keith Richards and George Harrison and they were all for it. Ringo, Charlie, and Bill said they would do it. John didn’t say no but Mick and Paul said absolutely not…leaves you to wonder what it would have sounded like…

Glyn also said “I had it all figured out. We would pool the best material from Mick and Keith, Paul and John, Bob and George, and then select the best rhythm section from the two bands to suit whichever songs we were cutting. Paul and Mick were probably, right, however, I would have given anything to have given it a go.”

XYZ Band

It would have been comprised of ex-Yes bassist and drummer, Chris Squire and Alan White, along with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. XYZ was said to have stood for eX–Yes-&-Zeppelin. They had rehearsals and Robert Plant came to one to give it a try in 1981 but found the music too complex for his liking…he was also getting over the death of their drummer and his friend John Bonham.

This one didn’t excite me as much…now Chris Squire and Page does sound interesting and with Robert’s comment it looks like it was going to be a more Yes progressive path.

Bob Dylan – Love Minus Zero/No Limit

I usually post single releases but this song is one of my favorites of Bob Dylan. I can just read the lyrics of this song and enjoy it. Bob Dylan is the king of song imagery. It was written about his future wife Sara Lownds. It was released in 1965 on the “Bringing It All Back Home” album.

The lyric that hooked me was She knows there’s no success like failure, And that failure’s no success at all. That line is hard to beat.

The song was included on the album Bringing It All Back Home released in 1965. The song was not released as a single but the album peaked at #6 in the Billboard Album Charts.

The title of the song is one of a kind. It’s fun to read people’s interpretations of Dylan’s songs. His songs mean so many different things to people and he is never too open about revealing what they are about.

I found this of someone attempting to mathematically break down the song.

It’s a strange way to title a song, with a slash in the middle. Until you realize that this is not a normal title per se. It’s an equation, like 4/2=2. In mathematics, the forward slash represents “divided by. Four divided by two equals two.

So what’s Love minus zero divided by no limit? Well, no limit equals infinity. It is infinite. Ten divided by infinity would be an infinitely small number. In fact, any finite number divided by infinity would be an infinitely small number.

However, if one’s love is infinite, and you subtract zero from that, the equation now reads “Infinity divided by infinity.” Which equals One. If each human heart is an infinity, it is through love that the two become one.

Love Minus Zero/No Limit

My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful
Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire
People carry roses
Make promises by the hours
My love she laughs like the flowers
Valentines can’t buy her

In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
Some speak of the future
My love she speaks softly
She knows there’s no success like failure
And that failure’s no success at all

The cloak and dagger dangles
Madams light the candles
In ceremonies of the horsemen
Even the pawn must hold a grudge
Statues made of matchsticks
Crumble into one another
My love winks, she does not bother
She knows too much to argue or to judge

The bridge at midnight trembles
The country doctor rambles
Bankers’ nieces seek perfection
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring
The wind howls like a hammer
The night blows cold and rainy
My love she’s like some raven
At my window with a broken wing

The Crystals – Then He Kissed Me

I always think of Goodfellas when I hear this. It is the scene where Ray Liotta takes Lorraine Bracco out to the Copacabana. The song peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100 in 1964.

Dolores “La La” Brooks is the only Crystal to perform on this song. Spector recorded the group’s first recordings in New York City, where they were from. When he relocated to Los Angeles, he had a group called The Blossoms (with Darlene Love singing lead) record the songs “He’s A Rebel” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” which he issued as The Crystals.

On all following Crystals recordings, Spector flew Brooks from New York to Los Angeles to perform the lead vocals, but the other Crystals never made the trip, as Spector preferred to use local backup singers.

From Songfacts

By July 1963, Phil Spector had already made the Hot 100 with seven chart hits that he produced. He successfully ended his partnership with Lester Sill and began his marriage to Annette Merar. Shortly after his marriage, Spector traveled to New York looking for a song to follow up on The Crystals success with “Da Doo Ron Ron.” “Then He Kissed Me” was the perfect song for the group and Phil put together one of his most extravagant productions for the record. (Thanks to Kent at Forgotten Hits.)

This was also around the time when the group shrunk from five members to four, losing Mary Thomas, who left to get married.

Phil Spector produced this using his “Wall Of Sound” technique, which meant long hours in the studio for the musicians, as Spector was notoriously stingy allowing breaks. His engineer Larry Levine recalled: “He didn’t want to give them a bathroom break. Not because he wanted to work them to death, but because he didn’t want them to move microphones or bodies or anything. He wanted everything to stay as it was in the studio. But he would work for three hours or more before we ever put anything on tape. And I think the reason was he wanted to tire these great musicians so that they weren’t playing individualistic; they were too tired. And so they just melded into this wall of sound.”

This was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Phil Spector also received a songwriting credit.

Crystals lead singer La La Brooks was just 15 when she recorded this song. Had she ever been kissed? “Yeah,” she replied when we asked her. “My little boyfriend at 13 years kissed me on my mouth at the door. But not kiss kiss – you know what I’m saying?”

To coax the vocal performance out of La La Brooks, Phil Spector dimmed the lights in the studio and gave her specific instructions. “He said, ‘Think of somebody kissing you,'” Brooks told us. “I was a kid, so I’m not going to think like that. So he would turn off the lights, I would have a little light on my music, on my words, and then he said, ‘Now, concentrate.’ And I said (singing), ‘Well, he walked up to me and he asked me if I wanted to dance.’ He said, ‘That’s the way you do it!’

So I guess he had to train my mind to think that I was talking about a boy. He knew how to get things out of you.”

This was The Crystals’ last US Top 40 hit, as Phil Spector soon lost interest in them and turned his attention to another girl-group called The Ronettes. The song’s first appearance on an album was on a various-artists compilation of Phil Spector’s artists entitled Today’s Hits.

In 1965, the Beach Boys recorded a version titled “Then I Kissed Her,” which reached UK #4.

The flip side of the record was an instrumental called “Brother Julius,” which was named after a hamburger stand near the Gold Star studio where the recording sessions took place. Spector usually put throwaway songs on the B-sides of his singles so the DJs wouldn’t play them instead of the A-sides.

This song opens the 1987 movie Adventures in Babysitting, where Elisabeth Shue dances to it while getting ready for a date. The song was also used in a 2006 episode of The Simpsons called “Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play.”

Then He Kissed Me

Well, he walked up to me and he asked me if I wanted to dance
He looked kinda nice and so I said I might take a chance
When he danced he held me tight
And when he walked me home that night
All the stars were shining bright
And then he kissed me

Each time I saw him I couldn’t wait to see him again
I wanted to let him know that he was more than a friend
I didn’t know just what to do
So I whispered I love you
He said that he loved me too
And then he kissed me

He kissed me in a way that I’ve never been kissed before,
He kissed me in a way that I want to be kissed forever more

I knew that he was mine so I gave him all the love that I had
And one day he took me home to meet his mon and his dad
Then he asked me to be his bride
And always be right by his side
I felt so happy I almost cried
And then he kissed me

Then he asked me to be his bride
And always be right by his side
I felt so happy I almost cried
And then he kissed me
And then he kissed me
And then he kissed me

Roy Orbison – In Dreams

How I love this song but…no matter how hard I try I cannot get the movie Blue Velvet out of my head while listening to it. The song helped revive Roy’s career when it appeared in the movie. Here is what Roy said:

Oh God! I was aghast, truly shocked! I remember sneaking into a little cinema in Malibu, where I live, to see it, Some people behind me evidently recognised me because they started laughing when the “In Dreams” sequence came on. But I was shocked, almost mortified, because they were talking about ‘the candy coloured clown’ in relation to doing a dope deal, then Dean Stockwell did that weird miming thing with that lamp. Then they were beating up that young kid! I thought, ‘What in the world? But later, when I was touring, we got the video out and I really got to appreciate not only what David Lynch gave to the song, and what the song in turn gave to the film, but how innovative the movie was, how it really achieved this otherworldy quality that added a whole new dimension to “In Dreams”. I find it hard to verbalise why, but Blue Velvet really succeeded in making my music contemporary again.

Roy Orbison claimed in interviews that the lyrics for this song came to him in a dream he wrote the music once he woke up. The song peaked #7 in the Billboard 100 in 1963. While the song was in the charts Orbison toured Britain with a new unknown group, named the Beatles.

From Songfacts

This song is featured in a key scene in the 1986 film Blue Velvet where Dean Stockwell’s character lip-synchs to the song. Orbison initially rejected director David Lynch’s request to use this song, but later made a video for the track with scenes from the film.

The use of this song in Blue Velvet sparked a career resurgence for Orbison. Because of legal entanglements, he didn’t have access to the master recordings of many of his hits, so after the movie drummed up interest in his work, he set about re-recording his songs for a compilation called In Dreams: The Greatest Hits. When Orbison asked Lynch if he could use footage of the film in a video for the re-recorded “In Dreams,” Lynch not only agreed, but offered to help with the song. With T Bone Burnett producing, Lynch directed Orbison in his performance as he would an actor in a film, and it worked, allowing Orbison to be faithful to the original recording by doing it with no overdubs.

Shortly before he died, Roy Orbison recorded a follow-up to this song called “In The Real World” on his 1989 album Mystery Girl.

In Dreams

A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night
Just to sprinkle star dust and to whisper
“Go to sleep, everything is alright”

I close my eyes then I drift away
Into the magic night, I softly say
A silent prayer like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you

In dreams I walk with you
In dreams I talk to you
In dreams you’re mine all the time
We’re together in dreams, in dreams

But just before the dawn
I awake and find you gone
I can’t help it, I can’t help it if I cry
I remember that you said goodbye

Too bad it only seems
It only happens in my dreams
Only in dreams
In beautiful dreams.

The Searcher… Elvis Presley

Whenever I start reading about someone (In this case Elvis Presley) I usually dive deep into them. I’ve watched a few documentaries on youtube and the Comeback Special.

Last week Slightly Charming (I highly recommend checking out her blog) recommended this documentary on Elvis and it is the best one I’ve watched about him. It’s an HBO production with commentary by Priscilla Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Robbie Robertson, and many others.

It is a two-part documentary around 3 hours long both combined. Much like the Peter Guralnick books I’ve been reading it is very even-handed but it doesn’t pull any punches.

Elvis was an interesting person. A poor southern boy who gained fame and fortune quickly and handled it well considering what he was going through until his mother passed away. After that came the Army stint in Germany and from there while his fortune and fame grew his artistic credibility went down. In the mid-sixties, while The Beatles, Dylan, and the Stones dominated the charts…Elvis, a big influence to all three was stuck in a cycle of bad movies and bad soundtracks that he didn’t want to do.

The documentary goes over Colonel Tom Parker his manager, The infamous Memphis Mafia, Las Vegas, and the failed marriage to Priscilla.

The one thing this film does is concentrate on his music and not the parody he turned into at the end of his life. I found myself rooting for him during the 1968 Comeback Special. He had the spark back again and his voice was the Elvis we heard in the fifties. After the dismal movie soundtracks, he made this great comeback special but then it slowly started to go down. There was still good music to come but the end was in sight.

This great documentary is worth the time to check out.