1960s – Page 80 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Soul Survivors – Expressway To Your Heart

When I was 18 I would listen to 96.3 in Nashville that would only play oldies. This one I heard quite a bit but never knew who performed this song…until now. It’s a nice 60s soul song that you don’t hear every day.

The song was written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 in 1967. It was on the Soul Survivors album When the Whistle Blows Anything Goes.

From Songfacts.

This was the first hit record written and produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who helped create the Philadelphia Soul sound with songs like “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” which were released on their Philadelphia International label. Gamble and Huff are from Camden, New Jersey, which is just east of Philadelphia, and often took the Schuylkill Expressway, which is the “Expressway To Your Heart.” Gamble wrote the lyrics, and he explained to National Public Radio: “I was on my way over to see a young lady, and the expressway was backed up. This is when they just started the expressway in 1967 – I was sitting there for what seemed like hours, so I started beating on the dashboard and singing, ‘Expressway to your heart, trying to get to you.’ Songs come from your imagination. You have to be quick to capture the moment.”

This song starts with the sound of car horns, which came from records containing sound effects. The horns were inspired by the Lovin’ Spoonful song “Summer In The City,” which also used the effect.

Gamble and Huff reused the lyrics “Shower you with love and affection, now you won’t look in my direction” on the song I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, which contains the line, “I’m gonna shower you with love and affection, look out, it’s comin’ in your direction.”

The Soul Survivors were a white group from New York City. They had one more Top 40 hit: “Explosion (In My Soul).”

Expressway To Your Heart

I’ve been tryin’ to get to you for a long time
Because constantly you been on my mind
I was thinkin’ ’bout a shortcut I could take
But it seems like I made a mistake

I was wrong, mmm, I took too long
I got caught in the rush hour
A fellow started to shower
You with love and affection
Now you won’t look in my direction

On the expressway to your heart
The expressway is not the best way
At five o’clock it’s much too crowded
Much too crowded, so crowded
No room for me (too crowded)
Oh, too crowded

Now there’s too many ahead of me
They’re all the time gettin’ in front of me
I thought I could find a clear road ahead
But I found stoplights instead

I was wrong, baby, I took too long
I got caught in the rush hour
A fellow started to shower
You with love and affection
Come on, look in my direction

On the expressway to your heart
The expressway is not the best way
At five o’clock it’s much too crowded
Much too crowded, so crowded
No room for me (too crowded)
Oh, too crowded

Oh, much too crowded
Oh, so crowded

Jimi Hendrix – The Wind Cries Mary

This is the softer side of Jimi. I had the American version of Are You Experienced and came across this song and it has always stuck with me. It was written about his girlfriend Kathy Mary Etchingham.

The song peaked at #6 in the UK charts and was the B side to Purple Haze in America. Bob Dylan was one of Hendrix’s biggest influences and it shows…this song has some great imagery.

From Songfacts.

Jimi wrote this in 1967 for Are You Experienced?; it was inspired by his girlfriend at the time, Kathy Mary Etchingham. He’d gotten into an argument with her about her cooking. She got very angry and started throwing pots and pans and finally stormed out to stay at a friend’s home for a day or so. When she came back, Jimi had written “The Wind Cries Mary” for her.

Kathy Mary recalled, “We’d had a row over food. Jimi didn’t like lumpy mashed potato. There were thrown plates and I ran off. When I came back the next day, he’d written that song about me. It’s incredibly flattering.” (Source Q magazine February 2013)

Jimi wrote the song quietly in his apartment and didn’t show it to anybody. After recording “Fire” (which was about his sexual relationship with Kathy), he had 20 minutes to spare in the recording studio, so he showed it to the band. They managed to record it in the 20 minute period they had. The band later recorded several more takes of the song, but they all seemed very sterile and they decided to go with the original recording.

This was the third single from Are You Experienced?.

A lot of people assumed this was about marijuana, which is also known as “Mary Jane.”

This song begins with a distinctive and recognizable introduction, in which three chromatically ascending ‘five’ chords are played in second inversion. A ‘five’ chord consists of two notes (first or “root,” and fifth) instead of three (root, third and fifth). The missing middle note gives the chord a more ‘open’ or ‘bare’ sound. A second inversion “flips” the notes in the chord, so that the fifth, not the root, is the lowest sounding note. This makes it more difficult for the listener to immediately identify what key the song is being played in. In addition, a syncopated rhythm makes it difficult for the listener to identify the “downbeats” of the song. This combination of musical elements creates a unique and disorienting experience when the song is heard for the first time.

Jamie Cullum covered this song, replacing the guitar part with a jazzy piano. Other artists to record the song include John Mayer, Popa Chubby and Robyn Hitchcock.>>

According to the book Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, Hendrix wrote this as a very long song, but broke it down to fit the short-song convention and make it radio friendly. Hendrix was concerned that listeners wouldn’t understand the song in its shortened form.

The Wind Cries Mary

After all the jacks are in their boxes
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
Footprints dressed in red
And the wind whispers “Mary”

A broom is drearily sweeping
Up the broken pieces of yesterdays life
Somewhere a queen is weeping
And somewhere a king has no wife
And the wind cries “Mary”

The traffic lights they turn blue tomorrow
And shine the emptiness down on my bed
The tiny island sags downstream
Cause the life that lived is dead
And the wind screams “Mary”

Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past
And with its crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
It whispers no this will be the last
And the wind cries “Mary”

The Mamas & The Papas – I Saw Her Again

I never was a huge fan of The Mamas and Papas but I did like some of their songs like this one. This song was written by John Phillips, the leader of the Mamas And The Papas, about the affair between his wife, Michelle Phillips (a Mamas And Papas member), and Denny Doherty (a Mamas And Papas member).

After that Michelle had an affair with Gene Clark of the Byrds which ultimately led to Michelle Phillips’ dismissal from the band temporarily.

Ironically enough, Doherty received a songwriting credit. The sessions for this album must have been as uncomfortable.

I found this researching the song. The two women of the group were Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliott were opposite…one had model looks and insecure and Cass Elliott was heavy and outgoing making friends with everyone. This is a quote from Michelle Phillips…the lone survivor of the band.

“People assume that there must have been tension between us, but the truth is I wanted to be just like Cass,” says Phillips. “Cass liberated me; she stopped John trying to have too much control over me. She taught me a lot about feminism, and she always encouraged me, although I was obviously inferior to her as a singer.”

Elliot died of a heart attack in 1974, aged 32. Phillips died of heart failure in 2001, and Doherty died of an abdominal aneurysm in 2007.

This song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 in 1966 and #11 in the UK. This was their second album called The Mamas and Papas.

Jill Gibson took Michelle’s place in the band for a few weeks when this album was being recorded and then Michelle was asked back to finish out the album. Some songs have both of their voices on them.

From Songfacts.

Lou Adler produced this song, and Bones Howe was the engineer for the session. According to Bones, the part around the 2:45 mark where “I saw her” is repeated twice was a happy accident. Said Bones: “We were punching vocals in, and when we came to that part where the rhythm stops and the group goes, ‘I saw her again last night,’ I just punched in early. They came in early, and so we stopped. And then we went back and started again, and I punched in at the beginning of the vocal, they started two bars later or whatever it was. And when I played it back, the vocal went, ‘I saw her – I saw her again.’ It was a mistaken punch. And Lou said, ‘I love it! Leave it in.’ It was an error, it was a mistake. But Lou was wise enough, it caught his ear and he left it. And I learned something from that. You go with your gut. If something catches – they could be – there are wonderful mistakes that happen in the studio and you have to learn to catch those when they happen and use them.”

I Saw Her Again

I saw her again last night
And you know that I shouldn’t
To string her along’s just not right
If I couldn’t I wouldn’t

But what can I do, I’m lonely too
And it makes me feel so good to know
You’ll never leave me
I’m in way over my head

Now she thinks that I love her
Because that’s what I said
Though I never think of her
But what can I do, I’m lonely too

And it makes me feel so good to know
You’ll never leave me
Every time I see that girl
You know I want to lay down and die

But I really need that girl
Don’t know why I’m livin’ a lie
It makes me want to cry
I saw her again last night

And you know that I shouldn’t
To string her along’s just not right
If I couldn’t I wouldn’t
But what can I do, I’m lonely too

And it makes me feel so good to know
You’ll never leave me

But what can I do, I’m lonely too
And it makes me feel so good to know
You’ll never leave me
Every time I see that girl

You know I want to lay down and die
But I really need that girl
Don’t know why I’m livin’ a lie
It makes me want to cry

I saw her again last night
And you know that I shouldn’t
To string her along’s just not right
If I couldn’t I wouldn’t

I’m in way over my head
Now she thinks that I love her
Because that’s what I said
Though I never think of her

Beatles – I Am the Walrus

I first heard this when I was a kid and I tried wrapping my brain around it. It starts with a siren-like sound and dives into chaos…my favorite place. John famously said he wrote the first line on an acid trip on one weekend and the second line on another acid trip the next weekend and filled in the rest after he met Yoko.

This was the first song recorded after Beatle’s manager Brian Epstein’s death in 1967. After John first sang the song to Beatle’s producer George Martin…the did this before they worked on their songs so George could get a feel for it. George said: “Well, John, to be honest, I have only one question: What the hell do you expect me to do with that?” John was not happy about it but after being played a song with two notes… and singing about a Walrus and Eggman…you can’t really blame him.

The song was the B side to the Hello, Goodbye. I think…as well as John the A side should have been I Am the Walrus.

I Am the Walrus

I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together
See how they run like pigs from a gun
See how they fly
I’m crying

Sitting on a cornflake
Waiting for the van to come
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
Man you’ve been a naughty boy
You let your face grow long

I am the eggman
They are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’ joob

Mr. City policeman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row
See how they fly like Lucy in the sky
See how they run
I’m crying
I’m crying, I’m crying, I’m crying

Yellow matter custard
Dripping from a dead dog’s eye
Crabalocker fishwife
Pornographic priestess
Boy, you’ve been a naughty girl
You let your knickers down

I am the eggman
They are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’ joob

Sitting in an English garden
Waiting for the sun
If the sun don’t come you get a tan
From standing in the English rain

I am the eggman
(“How do you do sir”)
They are the eggmen
(“The man maintains a fortune”)
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’ joob Goo Goo Goo g’ joob

Expert, texpert choking smokers
Don’t you think the joker laughs at you
(Ho ho ho hee hee hee hah hah hah)
See how they smile like pigs in a sty
See how they snide
I’m crying

Semolina Pilchard
Climbing up the Eiffel tower
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna
Man, you should have seen them kicking
Edgar Allen Poe

I am the eggman
They are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’ joob
Goo goo goo g’ joob
Goo goo g’ joob
Goo goo goo g’ joob
Goo goo
Juba juba juba
Juba juba juba
Juba juba juba
Juba juba

(Oh I’m tired, servicible villain
Set you down father, rest you)

My Favorite Songwriters

This one was the most fun to do. These are the songwriters that I have listened to and admired the most.

1… Bob Dylan – There was no one else I could remotely place as number 1.

2… Lennon – McCartney – As a team…it was quantity and quality. Their music will live long after we are gone.

3…Chuck Berry – He wrote the blueprint for future rockers.

4…Jagger – Richards – For blues rock it doesn’t get much better than these two.

5…Paul Simon – One of the best craftsman of pop songs there is…

6…Bruce Springsteen – One of the best writers of his generation.

7…Goffin and King – Wrote some of the best known and successful songs of the sixties.

8…Smokey Robinson – Bob Dylan said of Robinson…”America’s greatest living poet”

9…Pete Townshend – Took the “Rock Opera” to new levels.

10…Hank Williams – The country poet.

Honorable Mention

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ray Davis, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt, Leiber and Stoller, Elvis Costello, Randy Newman, Woody Guthrie, Merle Haggard, Robbie Robertson, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Tom Petty, Curtis Mayfield, John Prine, George Harrison, Steve Wonder, Warren Zevon, Brian Wilson

My Favorite Singers

There are so many singers that I cannot possibly list them all. I could make a top 30 and not get them all. This is my personal favorite top 10 plus some extra.

For the most part, I like singers with soul and meaning to their singing…not vocal gymnastics.

1…Aretha Franklin – Aretha could make any song better by singing it.

2…Van Morrison, Them and Solo – Probably my favorite male singer.

3…John Lennon, Beatles – John hated his voice and always wanted an effect on it…It didn’t need it…one of his best performances was “A Day In The Life”

4…Bob Dylan – Bob changed popular singing. I would rather hear Bob sing than many of the great traditional singers.

5…Elvis Presley – Hey he’s Elvis…

6…Otis Redding – Just a fantastic singer and performer and just taking off before he was killed in a plane crash.

7…Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones – Mick makes the most out of his voice.

8…John Fogerty…CCR – If I could have the voice of anyone…it would be Fogerty. The power that John has is incredible…his voice is its own instrument.

9…Janis Joplin – She put everything she had in each song. Her last producer Paul A. Rothchild was teaching Janis how to hold back and sing more traditional to save her voice for old age…which never came.

10…Johnny Cash – Last but far from least. Only one man can sound like Cash…and that is Cash

Honorable Mention…any of these could have easily been on the list.

Steve Marriott, Paul McCartney, Levon Helm, Bessie Smith, Little Richard, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Elton John, Neil Young, Roy Orbison, Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, Joe Cocker, Billie Holiday, Freddie Mercury, Kate Bush, Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Rodgers, David Bowie.

Kingsmen – Louie Louie

This song has been played in thousands of bars, clubs, and garages. It’s an important milestone in Rock and Roll’s history. Louie Louie caused a scandal when it was released. Many people thought the mumbled words were obscene. John Ely was the lead singer for the Kingsmen at the time. He had to sing from a distance or rather shout at a distant microphone.

The FBI got involved and started an investigation…even Robert Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover received letters about it. The governor of Indiana, Matthew Welsh wanted it banned. Some technicians play it backward and forwards, they played it at different speeds, they spent a lot of time on it but it was indecipherable at any speed. The one person they didn’t ask about it was John Ely.

You have to wonder if the band or most likely the record company started the rumor about the lyrics. It was said some college student caused it but my money would be on the record company. The song peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100 and #27 in the UK in 1963.

The song was written by Richard Berry in 1955.

Here is the official FBI file on the Kingsmen’s Louie Louie.

Also, Eric Predoehl is supposedly making a documentary on the song.

The drummer did shout out something at 0.57 below that could have been the f-bomb after dropping a stick.

From Songfacts.

This was written by an R&B singer named Richard Berry in 1955. With his group The Pharaohs, he was also the first to record it, and it got some airplay in some cities in the Western US when it was released in 1957. Various garage bands heard it and started covering the song, until it became a phenomena with the Kingsmen’s 1964 version. While much of the song’s notoriety comes from the indecipherable lyrics, in Berry’s original version words are quite clear: the song is about a sailor who spends three days traveling to Jamaica to see his girl.

Dwight Rounds, author of The Year The Music Died, 1964-1972, writes: “The words to ‘Louie Louie’ are almost impossible to understand, and are rumored to be obscene. No question that this added significantly to the sales of the single. There was probably a leak somewhere that the lyrics were obscene; otherwise no one would have realized it. This was the most ingenious marketing scheme ever. The FBI tried to track down Richard Berry, The Kingsmen, and various record company executives. They were never able to determine the actual lyrics used. The Kingsmen insisted they said nothing lewd, despite the obvious mistake at the end of the instrumental, where Jack Ely started to sing the last verse one bar too soon, and can be heard yelling something in the background. Ely also said that he sung far away from the microphone, which caused the fuzzy sound, and that the notoriety was initiated by the record company. The words sound much more like the official version seen below, especially the word “rose” instead of “bone.” The lyrics rumor was a sham. The official lyrics are listed below in plain print, with one of the many alternative versions in italics.

Chorus: “Louie, Louie, oh no. Me gotta go. Aye-yi-yi, I said. Louie Louie, oh baby. Me gotta go.”

“Fine little girl waits for me. Catch a ship across the sea. Sail that ship about, all alone. Never know if I make it home.”

“Three nights and days, I sail the sea.” Every night and day, I play with my thing.
“Think of girl, constantly.” I f–k you girl, oh, all the way.
“Oh that ship, I dream she’s there. On my bed, I’ll lay her there.
“I smell the rose in her hair.” I feel my bone, ah, in her hair.

“See Jamaica, the moon above.” Hey lovemaker, now hold my thing.
“It won’t be long, me see my love.” It won’t take long, so leave it alone.
“Take her in my arms again.” Hey, senorita, I’m hot as hell.
“Tell her I’ll never leave again.” I told her I’d never lay her again.

The FBI launched an extensive investigation into this song after Indiana governor Matthew Welsh declared it “Pornographic” in early 1964 and asked the Indiana Broadcasters Association to ban it. The investigation spanned offices in several states, with technicians listening to the song at different speeds trying to discern any obscene lyrics. None were found; the FBI eventually figured out what happened when they contacted the FCC. The report details this correspondence:

“She explained that for approximately two years her company has been receiving unfounded complaints concerning the recording of ‘Louie Louie.’ She advised that to the best of her knowledge, the trouble was started by an unidentified college student, who made up a series of obscene verses for ‘Louie Louie’ and then sold them to fellow students. It is her opinion that a person can take any 45 r.p.m recording and reduce its speed to 33 r.p.m. and imagine obscene words, depending upon the imagination of the listener.”

This song was prominently featured in the film Animal House, starring John Belushi, despite the fact that it wasn’t actually recorded until almost two years after the period of time in which the movie is set (1962).

Louie Louie

Louie Louie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Louie Louie, oh baby
Me gotta go

Fine little girl waits for me
Catch a ship across the sea
Sail that ship about, all alone
Never know if I make it home

Louie Louie, oh oh no
Me gotta go, oh no
Louie Louie, oh baby
I said we gotta go

Three nights and days I sail the sea
Think of girl, constantly
On that ship, I dream she’s there
I smell the rose in her hair.

Louie Louie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Louie Louie, oh baby
Me gotta go
Okay, let’s give it to ’em, right now!

See Jamaica, the moon above
It won’t be long, me see me love
Take her in my arms again
I tell her I’ll never leave again

Louie Louie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Louie Louie, oh baby
Me gotta go

I said we gotta go now
Let’s take it on outta here now
Let’s go!!

The Troggs – Love Is All Around

We will start off the new year with a little love from 1968. The Troggs are my favorite 60’s garage rock/punk band. Their big claim to fame was “Wild Thing” in 1966. The song peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100, #6 in Canada, and #5 in the UK.

Troggs lead singer Reg Presley wrote this in about 10 minutes. He was inspired by the Joy Strings Salvation Army band he’d seen on TV

The Troggs are not the only band to have success with this song. Wet, Wet, Wet recorded this song and it peaked at #41 and #1 in the UK in 1994.

REM and the Troggs made an album together called Athens Andover… REM later released a live version of this song.

From Songfacts.

Reg Presley’s real name is Reginald Ball, he adopted the name of Presley in 1966 as a publicity stunt.

In 1994 this became a huge hit when Wet Wet Wet covered it for the movie Four Weddings And A Funeral. The band chose it over Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and Barry Manilow’s “Can’t Smile Without You” even though some of their members hadn’t heard it before. Their version was UK #1 for 15 weeks and became the best selling single in the UK in 1994.

The UK record for longest stay at #1 is held by Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You).” Wet Wet Wet’s record company tried to tie this record by announcing they were pulling the single after 16 weeks, hoping people would rush out to buy it. The plan failed and Whigfield knocked them out of #1 with “Saturday Night.” Wet Wet Wet claimed they asked their record company to pull the song because they were sick of it. Their version does hold the record for most weeks at #1 for a UK based act. In the US it reached #41.

When this was revived by Wet Wet Wet, Reg Presley got massive royalties as the songwriter. He denoted the proceeds to crop circle research.

R.E.M. did a cover of this as well, which they played on an episode of MTV Unplugged. The video for this can be found on their VHS/DVD This Film Is On, featuring all the videos for the songs off their 1991 album Out Of Time.

Presley recalled the inspiration for the song in the July 2011 edition of Mojo magazine: “I got back from America, I smelt the Sunday lunch cooking (inhales deeply), phaaaaw – after about 25 years on burgers – I kissed my wife, my little daughter, four years old. We went into the lounge and those Salvation Girls, The Joystrings, were on television, banging their tambourines and singing something, ‘Love, love,’ love.’ I went over to turn it off, knelt down and hearing that ‘Love, love’ I got a bass line, (sings) ‘doom, doom doom, doom doom, doom doom, doom,’ and I got: ‘I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. My wife, my kid… And so the feeling grows.'”

Love Is All Around

I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes
Love is all around me and so the feeling grows
It’s written on the wind, it’s everywhere I go
So if you really love me, come on and let it show

You know I love you, I always will
My mind’s made up by the way that I feel
There’s no beginning, there’ll be no end
‘Cause on my love you can depend

I see your face before me, as I lay on my bed
I kinda get to thinking of all the things you said
You gave a promise to me, and I gave mine to you
I need someone beside me in everything I do

You know I love you, I always will
My mind’s made up by the way that I feel
There’s no beginning, there’ll be no end
‘Cause on my love you can depend

It’s written on the wind, it’s everywhere I go
So if you really love me, come on and let it show
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show
Come on and let it show

My Favorite Bassists

This list means more to me because I started off playing bass and spent a lot of time listening to records of many of these artists. Slowing the record down when I was 15 -16 trying to learn the runs. There was no youtube or tabs to show how to play songs.

These are my favorite bass players and the ones I grew up listening to.

1…John Entwistle, The Who – For my money, John was the best rock bass player. He was incredibly quick on bass and his late sixties and mid-seventies tone was great. Some of his bass playing style was developed from having Keith Moon as a rhythm partner. He would have to follow Keith all over the place.

2…James Jamerson, Motown – One of the most influential bass players without a doubt. All of those great records that Jamerson played on showed how powerful and melodic he was…

3-…Paul McCartney, Beatles – The most melodic bass player that I’ve heard. Starting with Sgt Pepper his bass playing and sound changed the way the bass was recorded and played.

4…Jack Bruce, Cream – Like John Entwistle he was incredibly fast and held the song together while singing most of the time.

5…John Paul Jones – I wish Jimmy Page would have mixed his bass louder in recordings of Zeppelin. Fantastic bass player and arranger.

6…Rick Danko, The Band – He played the perfect bass lines for all of those Robbie Robertson songs. I like his sliding style along with his very loose playing. Rick also sang either lead or backup while playing.

7…Roger Waters, Pink Floyd – Roger waters made some of the most memorable bass lines ever.

8…Bill Wyman, Rolling Stones – Part of a great rhythm section with Charlie Watts. I didn’t appreciate Bill until I started to hear him live. He is still playing now at 82 with his own group The Rhythm Kings. He was overlooked with Charlie because of Mick and Keith.

9…Bootsy Collins, James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic – You want flashy? Bootsy is your man but he is also one of the best funk bass players ever.

10…Carol Kaye, Studio Musician (The Wrecking Crew) – If you listened to the radio in the 60s and 70s you heard Carol. I knew her bass playing long before I knew of her. She has played on thousands of sessions with artists such as the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder…the list doesn’t end. Here is a link to what she played on.

Honorable Mention

Les Claypool, Stanley Clarke, Donald “Duck” Dunn, All those bass players on those 70s disco records, Flea, “Jaco” Pastorius, Chris Squire, Phil Lynott

The Shangri-Las – Remember (Walking in the Sand)

I really liked the way this song is produced and the sound of it. The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 and #14 in the UK Charts in 1964. This was the Shangri-Las’ first national hit single. Like their other hits “Leader Of The Pack” and “I Can Never Go Home Anymore,” the song is about young love gone wrong, as the singer remembers all the good times with the guy who left her.

Aerosmith covered this song in 1979 with Shangri-Las lead singer Mary Weiss on uncredited backup vocals.

From Songfacts.

This was the Shangri-Las’ first national hit single. Like their other hits “Leader Of The Pack” and “I Can Never Go Home Anymore,” the song is about young love gone wrong, as the singer remembers all the good times with the guy who inexplicably left her.

George “Shadow” Morton wrote this song. Morton was an aspiring songwriter who was recommended by Ellie Greenwich to her husband Jeff Barry. Barry wanted to find out if Morton could give him a song, so Morton arranged meetings with musicians and the Shangri-Las for a future demo session. However while driving to Barry’s studio for the session, Morton remembered that he forgot to write a song! So, he pulled over to the side of the road and began writing. Thus, the song was born.

This song contains the sound effects of seagull cries. Shadow Morton was once asked how these sound effects were included, as many people assumed that they were taped from a beach. His response to the question was: “sound effects record.”

A young Billy Joel played the piano on the sessions for this and The Shangri-Las’ followup (and biggest) hit “Leader of the Pack.” In a 1987 interview with Q magazine, Joel explained: “I met a guy at an Echoes gig – was about 15 and he asked me if I wanted to play piano on a recording. So I go down to this little studio in a guy’s basement in Levittown, Dynamic Studios, and they’ve got this sheet music down there. There’s two songs, one’s called ‘Leader Of The Pack’ and the other is called ‘Remember (Walking In The Sand)’ and this is pretty easy stuff to play and then Shadow comes in. He’s a pretty strange guy, Shadow. He’s wearing this big cape and dark glasses and he played the producer role to the hilt. I think he had a thing about Phil Spector. He wanted to be the Phil Spector of the East Coast. And he talked in these wild, dramatic, theatrical terms – he wanted more ‘thunder’ and he wanted more ‘purple’ in the record. He’s waving his arms in the air saying ‘give me more PURPLE’. And I’m sitting there kind a nervous – this is my first time ever in a recording studio – and I’m hissing to the other musicians, What does that mean? How do I play “purple”? And the guitar player leans over and say, Oh, just play louder, kid.

So we did these songs in a couple of hours and the singers didn’t actually sing with us, we just did the backing tracks and I was never really sure who it was for and then I heard ‘Remember (Walking In The Sand)’ by the Shangri-Las on the radio and I went Wait a minute, that’s me, and the guys in the band said, Oh, what did you get paid? I didn’t get paid anything. What did I know. I guess Shadow pulled in guys like me so he could save some money.”

Remember (Walking in the Sand)

Seems like the other day
My baby went away
He went away cross the sea
It’s been two years or so
Since I saw my baby go
And then this letter came for me

He said that we were through
He’s found somebody new (who?)
Let me think, let me think
What can I do?

Oh no
Oh no
Oh no no no no no

(Remember) Walking in the sand
(Remember) Walking hand in hand
(Remember) The night was so exciting
(Remember) Smile was so inviting
(Remember) Then he touched my cheek
(Remember) With his finger tips
(Remember) Softly, softly we’d meet with our lips

What ever happened to
The boy that I once knew?
The boy who said he’d be true
Oh, what happened to
The light I gave to you
What will I do with it now?

My Favorite Drummers

This is my top ten favorite drummers…I’m sure I’m going to leave some great ones out. Like guitarists, I like drummers with feel more than technique. Anyone who has read this blog knows who my number 1 is without question…

1…Keith Moon, The Who – It’s hard if not impossible to copy this man’s drumming style. He changed the Who completely and was their engine. I’m not a drummer so I really never cared like some drummers do if he played by the rules in drumming…Was he disciplined? No, but it worked well for him and for the songs. Songs like Bargain and Goin’ Mobile are great examples of Keith.

2…John Bonham, Led Zeppelin – Without Bonham, there is no Led Zeppelin as we know them. He was the ultimate groove drummer. He was a bricklayer and had hard hands and hit the drums incredibly hard but with a light touch also.

3…Levon Helm, The Band – Not only was he a great drummer but also a soulful singer. He brought something many drummers didn’t… a bit of the old south.

4…Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones – Charlie and Ringo made their respective groups swing. Charlie can play blues, rock, big band, and jazz. Charlie and his rhythm section partner Bill Wyman were overlooked being in the same band with Mick and Keith. On top of his drumming skills…Charlie grounds the band much like Ringo did for the Beatles.

5…Ringo Starr, The Beatles – He was not Moon or Bonham in flash but he played exactly what was needed…He could have gone overboard and the songs would have suffered. He played for the song. Some have called him the human metronome. I cannot imagine any other drummer for The Beatles. His tom tom work on Sgt Pepper alone is excellent.

6…Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix Experience – Any holes left in Jimi’s music would be quickly filled in by Mitch. He was a jazz drummer who fused it into rock.

7…Ginger Baker, Cream – If this was a list of “likable people” Ginger would not be in the top 1000 but his drumming was some of the best of the sixties and I’m sure he would say “ever”… He was as big of part of Cream’s sound as Clapton or Bruce.

8…Bobby Elliot, Hollies – Drummer from the Hollies that other drummers have admired. He hit the drums hard and his fills were great… He is often overlooked but he is always spot on.

9…Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters, Nirvana – He can play anything… He fuels those Nirvana songs…and is really great at whatever instrument he plays.

10…Clem Burke, Blondie – An exciting drummer that was heavily influenced by number 1 on this list. He has played with Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie.

Honorable Mention

Gene Krupa, Buddy Miles, Mick Fleetwood, Max Weinberg, “D.J.” Fontana, Benny Benjamin, Stewart Copeland, and Hal Blaine.

Yes, I know… No Neil Peart…yes he is a great drummer…just not my style of music.

Simon & Garfunkel – America

I could listen to this song on a tape loop for eons and eons and be happy. Paul Simon is on a different level than other songwriters. This song peaked at #95 in the Billboard 100 and #25 in the UK in 1972. The song was originally on the album Bookends released in 1968 but this record was released as single in 1972 to promote their Greatest Hits.

The first Simon and Garfunkel album I bought was the Greatest Hits in the 80s. None of the songs ever get old to me.

From Songfacts.

In this song, Paul Simon and his longtime girlfriend Kathy Chitty (from “Kathy’s Song”) are coming to America (moving from England). Paul is deeply confused and unsatisfied, but he doesn’t know why. He just knows that something is missing. It is also about the “American Dream” – the guarantee that you will make it if you stumble upon this country. That is why they are coming to America.

The song is a great example of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel singing in unison, which was a hallmark of their sound. Garfunkel is especially fond of the section where they sing, “And walked off to look for America.” To told Paul Zollo in 1993: “That has a real upright, earnest quality because we both have the identical soul at that moment. We come from the identical place in our attitude, and the spine that’s holding us up, we are the same person. Same college kid, striking out.”

There are no rhymes in this song, which is quite a feat of songwriting. In his Songfacts interview, Gerry Beckley of America (no relation) broke it down: “The entire song is prose. There’s not one line that rhymes and I will tell some of the best songwriters you’ve ever met that particular element and you can see them stop and go through it in their head. We’re oblivious to that being an ingredient because we’re so involved in the story. You’re not sitting there going, ‘That didn’t rhyme, wait a second.’ It’s not an issue.”

The prolific session drummer Hal Blaine played on this, and considers it one of his favorites. Blaine also played on Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson.”

Other musicians on the track include Joe Osborn on bass and Larry Knechtel on organ.

At their live show in Central Park, Simon & Garfunkel repeated the line “Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike” because the home crowd could relate to the image of massive traffic on New Jersey highways.

This was used by James Leo Herlihy in his all-but-forgotten classic novel, The Season of the Witch. The story begins with a pair of teenage runaways traveling by bus to New York, riffing off the lyrics all the way. When they actually see the moon rising over an open field, they feel their journey was meant to happen.

In the movie Almost Famous, the teenaged character Anita (Zooey Deschanel) plays this song to explain why she is leaving home to explore the country. The song is included on the soundtrack to the film.

The progressive rock band Yes recorded a vastly different version which they released as a single in 1972. Their rendition, with layered vocals and musical breakdowns, made #46 in the US. The single version ran 4:06, but a full 10:28 version was also released on a sampler album called The New Age of Atlantic later that year, and included on their 1996 Keys To Ascension album.

In our interview with Yes bass player Chris Squire, he explained: “When Yes first formed, Simon & Garfunkel were very prevalent hit makers at the time and both myself and Jon Anderson were big fans of them. That’s why we covered the song ‘America.’ But we did it differently than their way. We wanted to expand things, which is basically what we did. When Pop tunes were expected to be three minutes long, our mantra was, ‘Let’s make them 10 minutes long.’ So that was really what we did.”

Paul Simon gave Bernie Sanders permission to use this song in a campaign ad when Sanders was campaigning for the Democratic nomination against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Simon told Billboard magazine: “Look, here’s a guy, he comes from Brooklyn, he’s my age. He voted against the Iraq War. He’s totally against Citizens United, thinks it should be overturned. He thinks climate change is an imminent threat and should be dealt with. And I felt: Hats off to you! You can use my song.”

America

Let us be lovers, we’ll marry our fortunes together
I’ve got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner’s pies
And we walked off to look for America
Cathy, I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I’ve gone to look for America

Laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said, be careful, his bowtie is really a camera
Toss me a cigarette, I think there’s one in my raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery
She read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

Cathy, I’m lost, I said though I knew she was sleeping
And I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America

Beatles – It Won’t Be Long

My first favorite Beatle song. The first Beatle album I was exposed to was the American album “Meet the Beatles” and I loved it. This song jumped out at me. Loved Johns voice, melody and the guitar riff. I also like the call and answer of the “yeah”. John had the chorus written and sat down with Paul in 1963 to finish it off. With the intention of writing a follow up single to the yet unreleased “She Loves You,” they put together verses and bridges in an unusual configuration with the already written chorus.

The song is a rocker and catchy but never released as a single.

It Won’t Be Long

It won’t be long yeh, yeh, yeh
It won’t be long yeh, yeh, yeh
It won’t be long yeh, till I belong to youEvery night when everybody has fun
Here am I sitting all on my ownIt won’t be long yeh, yeh, yeh
It won’t be long yeh, yeh, yeh
It won’t be long yeh, till I belong to youSince you left me, I’m so alone
Now you’re coming, you’re coming on home
I’ll be good like I know I should
You’re coming home, you’re coming home

Every night the tears come down from my eyes
Every day I’ve done nothing but cry

It won’t be long yeh, yeh, yeh
It won’t be long yeh, yeh, yeh
It won’t be long yeh, till I belong to you

Since you left me, I’m so alone
Now you’re coming, you’re coming on home
I’ll be good like I know I should
You’re coming home, you’re coming home

So every day we’ll be happy I know
Now I know that you won’t leave me no more

It won’t be long yeh, yeh, yeh
It won’t be long yeh, yeh
It won’t be long yeh, till I belong to you, woo

Rock and Roll…Quotes

Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.
John Lennon

The world used us as an excuse to go mad.
George Harrison

I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.
Paul McCartney

America: It’s like Britain, only with buttons.
Ringo Starr

I’m still the best Keith Moon-style drummer in the world.
Keith Moon

I’ve never had a problem with drugs. I’ve had problems with the police.
Keith Richards

A kid once said to me “Do you get hangovers?” I said, “To get hangovers you have to stop drinking.
Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister of Motorhead

Rock ‘n’ Roll might not solve your problems, but it does let you dance all over them
Pete Townshend

I was Marilyn Manson – times 10.
Alice Cooper

In the end you become part of everything you hate, basically.
Ray Davies

I’d rather be dead than singing “Satisfaction” when I’m forty-five.
Mick Jagger

The thing about my music is, there really is no point.
Neil Young

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.
Bob Dylan

If there’s one thing I know about music theory, it’s that if you don’t believe the singer, you won’t believe the song.
Tom Petty

Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.
Johnny Cash

I am the innovator. I am the originator. I am the emancipator. I am the architect of rock ‘n’ roll!
Little Richard

I grew up thinking art was pictures until I got into music and found I was an artist and didn’t paint.
Chuck Berry

I’m one of those regular weird people.
Janis Joplin

I sing to the realists. People who accept it like it is
Aretha Franklin

I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.
David Bowie

Music was my way of keeping people from looking through and around me. I wanted the heavies to know I was around.
Bruce Springsteen

I’m the one that’s got to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.
Jimi Hendrix

We lived the life with Keith Moon. It was all Spinal Tap magnified a thousand times.
Roger Daltrey

Steam – Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

Something light and simple today…a number one in 1969. This song was written as a throwaway B side but ended up peaking at #1 in the Billboard 100 in 1969. The song was written by Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer and Paul Leka, who had been in a band together called the Chateaus in the early ’60s. One of the unfinished songs they wrote as the Chateaus was a tune called “Kiss Him Goodbye,” which they worked on in 1961.

Not a great piece of work but a memorable song that will stay with you.

From Songfacts.

In 1968, Leka co-wrote and co-produced the song “Green Tambourine,” which was a huge hit for The Lemon Pipers. The following year, he started working with DeCarlo, who was using the stage name Garrett Scott. Working for Mercury Records, they set to work writing singles for “Garrett Scott,” recording four songs, which Leka produced. The first one released was “Working On A Groovy Thing,” which was written by Roger Atkins and Neil Sedaka. The 5th Dimension also recorded the song and released it first, which tanked the Garrett Scott version (The 5th Dimension recording made #20 US; Patti Drew recorded the song a year earlier, taking it to #62).

The next single planned for DeCarlo was “Sweet Laura Lee,” a ballad written by Larry Weiss, composer of “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Needing a B-side, Leka and DeCarlo went back to the studio, where they were joined by their old bandmate Dale Frashuer, who suggested they use their 1961 song “Kiss Him Goodbye.” That song didn’t have a chorus, so Leka wrote one, lazily using “na na”s instead of actual words. They started the session around 7 p.m. and finished at 5 a.m., but when they emerged, they had the completed song.

When Bob Reno, the A&R man at Mercury, heard the song, he loved it and didn’t want to waste it as a B-side. He needed singles for the Mercury subsidiary Fontana Records, so the song was released on that label and credited to the group Steam (named because after the session to record it, the guys were crossing 7th Ave and a subway train went beneath the roadway, shooting steam up from a manhole).

From there, the story gets convoluted, but when the single was released it became a surprise hit. Another song called “Now That I Love You” was used instead on the Garrett Scott “Sweet Laura Lee” single, which went nowhere when it was released. DeCarlo had a huge hit on his hands, but not as a solo artist but as part of an anonymous group.

The most-repeated story is that the three writers were embarrassed about “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” so they created the name Steam to hide their identities. DeCarlo told Songfacts, however, that he was never embarrassed by the song, and that he was promised more of the action. “I was supposed to be the singer and road act for ‘Na Na’ as it was my B-side,” he said. “When Paul and the company got together they decided to split the record, meaning there would be two out. Paul said I would be able to do both as Garrett Scott, which I was later told I had no group. Paul said he would get me a group from a booking agency in New York, which never happened. ‘Na Na’ was never done with a group in mind, it was the B-side of my single. The name Steam wasn’t invented until the album was being done.”

Steam – Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

He’ll never love you, the way that I love you
‘Cause if he did, no no, he wouldn’t make you cry
He might be thrillin’ baby but a-my love
(My love, my love)

So dog-gone willin’, so kiss him
(I wanna see you kiss him, wanna see you kiss him)
Go on and kiss him goodbye, now

Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye

Listen to me now

He’s never near you to comfort and cheer you
When all those sad tears are fallin’ baby from your eyes
He might be thrillin’ baby but a-my love
(My love, my love)

So dog-gone willin’, so kiss him
(I wanna see you kiss him, I wanna see you kiss him)
Go on and kiss him goodbye, na na na na, na na na

Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye

Hey hey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye