Starts off with a nice guitar riff. The Vogues are from Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. This was the first of eight US Top 40 hits for The Vogues, who recorded the song in Pittsburgh’s Gateway Studios. Its follow-up, “Five O’Clock World,” is their best-known tune.
This song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 in 1964.
Petula Clark is best known as a recording artist with a resumé that includes the American #1 hits “Downtown” and “My Love,” both of which were penned by Tony Hatch. However the English songbird is also a fine songwriter, having composed over 100 tunes including this hit for The Vogues. Petula told us it came about because she needed one more song for her I Know a Place album and Tony Hatch had run out of ideas. He asked her to write something and she came up with this song’s melody, to which he added the lyric.
This was the first of eight US Top 40 hits for Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania Pop group The Vogues, who recorded the song in Pittsburgh’s Gateway Studios. Its follow-up, “Five O’Clock World,” is their best-known tune.
The success of the Vogues’ cover alerted Petula Clark’s UK label to the song’s hit potential. Pye rush released Clark’s own version as a single and it peaked at #23 in the singer’s native country and also reached #4 in Australia. In addition Clark recorded a French version entitled “Un Mal Pour Un Bien,” which climbed to #6 in France. However, the English songstress vetoed her US label, Warner Bros’, suggestion to issue it as a single in America to battle with the Vogues’ version.
Surprisingly, despite her success, Petula does not consider herself to be a songwriter at all. She told us: “I’m a sometime songwriter. I’ll write a song if it comes to me, but nobody could say to me, “Will you write me a song?” Because I wouldn’t know how to do that. It just has to come.”
You’re The One
Every time we meet, everything is sweet Oh, you’re so tender, I must surrender My love is your love, now and forever
You’re the one that I long to kiss Baby, you’re the one that I really miss (yeah, yeah, yeah) You’re the one that I’m dreamin’ of Baby, you’re the one that I love
Keep me in your heart, never let us part Ooh, never leave me, please don’t deceive me I want you only, you must believe me
You’re the one that I long to kiss Baby, you’re the one that I really miss (yeah, yeah, yeah) You’re the one that I’m dreamin’ of Baby, you’re the one that I love
I adore you and no one before you could make me feel this way, yay Since I met you I just can’t forget you, I love you more each day (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
There may be some tears through the comin’ years Ooh, all the while I know you’ll be smilin’ Your love will guide me through every mile ’cause
This is one of the best double A side singles ever released…The B side to I Get Around was “Don’t Worry Baby.” I had this single growing up and would watch the yellow and orange 45 spin. I’m not an audiophile but I will say the vinyl version of I Get Around jumps off the record at you while the cd seems flat.
I Get Around peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 while reaching #7 in the UK in 1964. This was The Beach Boys first number 1 in the US. It was rated fifth biggest seller of 1964 by both Billboard and Cash Box indicating close to 2 million US units sold.
From Songfacts.
Like most early Beach Boys songs, this does not have deep lyrical content; it’s a fun song about a teenage lifestyle featuring friends, girls and cars. Musically, however, it was incredibly innovative, with an opening fuzz guitar, stop-start rhythms and a keyboard line working in and out of the song. Written by Brian Wilson with contributions from Mike Love, it was the first Beach Boys recording after The Beatles took hold in America, and Wilson responded with this rather complex creation.
This was The Beach Boys first #1 in their own country (“Surfin’ Safari” went to #1 in Sweden two years earlier). Father-manager Murry Wilson and therefore his beleaguered son Brian despaired over not hitting the top spot in the US, coming off second best first to the Four Seasons through 1962 and into ’63, then to Jan & Dean when they got to #1 that summer with “Surf City” – a song Brian Wilson wrote – and then into 1964 with the Beatles took over.
This was The Beach Boys real breakthrough in the UK, reaching #7 in a chart that for months had seen only British faces. It was effusively pushed by Mick Jagger on British TV’s Juke Box Jury and he personally circulated copies of it to the UK’s independent pirate radio stations offshore. It was also #1 in Canada and New Zealand.
Fuzzed and reverbed guitar were demonstrated in this way before anyone else in rock, but too subtle for the general public to notice. It was about three years later that fuzz and reverb became a huge deal from the amplifiers of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards.
In our interview with Randy Bachman, he recalls a conversation with Brian Wilson where Wilson explained that this song is based on the Broadway show tune “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue.” Said Bachman:
“I said, ‘How did you do that?’ He said, ‘Well, when they say to stay on the C chord for two beats, I stay on it for four. Or if they say stay on the C chord for eight beats, I stay on it for two.’ So if you listen to ‘Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, oh, what those five feet could do,’ that’s ‘I Get Around.’ But they went, ‘Round, round, get around, I get around.’ And then he put his own, ‘Woo oo,’ and then he wrote his own song and he put in his own lyrics.”
I Get Around
Round round get around I get around Yeah Get around round round I get around I get around Get around round round I get around From town to town Get around round round I get around I’m a real cool head Get around round round I get around I’m makin’ real good bread
I’m gettin’ bugged driving up and down the same old strip I gotta finda new place where the kids are hip
My buddies and me are getting real well known Yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone
I get around Get around round round I get around From town to town Get around round round I get around I’m a real cool head Get around round round I get around I’m makin’ real good bread Get around round round I get around I get around Round Get around round round oooo Wah wa ooo Wah wa ooo Wah wa ooo
We always take my car cause it’s never been beat And we’ve never missed yet with the girls we meet
None of the guys go steady cause it wouldn’t be right To leave their best girl home now on Saturday night
I get around Get around round round I get around From town to town Get around round round I get around I’m a real cool head Get around round round I get around I’m makin’ real good bread Get around round round I get around I get around Round Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah
Round round get around I get around Yeah Get around round round I get around Get around round round I get around Wah wa ooo Get around round round I get around Oooo ooo ooo Get around round round I get around Ahh ooo ooo Get around round round I get around Ahh ooo ooo Get around round round I get around Ahh ooo ooo
I can’t listen to this every day but once in a while, it’s alright. It’s very mid-sixties plus it has the word groovy in it. Winner winner …
They were a beat group from Manchester, England. They were known as Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders but Mr. Fontana decided to quit in the middle of a concert in 1965… Eric Stewart (later in 10cc) became the lead singer.
The song peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100 in 1966.
Phil Collins covered the song in the 1980s and it peaked at #1 in 1988.
From Songfacts.
This was written by New York songwriters Carole Bayer Sager and Toni Wine; Sager was 22 when they wrote it, and Wine was 17. They wrote the song for Screen Gems publishing, and Jack McGraw, who worked at Screen Gems’ London office, thought the song would be perfect for the British group The Mindbenders. The song became a huge hit in England, and was released in America a year later, where it was also very successful.
Sager was still teaching high school when she wrote this, and Wine was still in high school. Both went on to very successful careers in the music industry, with Sager writing popular songs for stage productions and movies (including “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)”), and Wine writing the hit “Candida” and singing on many famous songs, including Willie Nelson’s version of “Always On My Mind” and “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies. They wrote this in Sager’s apartment.
In our interview with Toni Wine, she explained: “We were talking about ‘Groovy’ being the new word. The only song we knew of was 59th Street Bridge Song, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. You know, ‘Feelin’ groovy.’ And we knew we wanted to write a song with that word in it. Because we knew it was the happening word, and we wanted to jump on that. Carole came up with ‘Groovy kinda… groovy kinda… groovy…’ and we’re all just saying, ‘Kinda groovy, kinda groovy, kinda…’ I don’t exactly know who came up with ‘Love,’ but it was ‘Groovy kind of love.’ And we did it. We wrote it in 20 minutes. It was amazing. Just flew out of our mouths, and at the piano, it was a real quick and easy song to write. Those are incredible things when those songs can get written. Like some you can just be hung on for so long, and then others just happen very quickly. And that was one of them. And it’s been so good to us.”
In 1966, this was also recorded by Patti LaBelle And The Bluebelles, but the version recorded by The Mindbenders, who released it as their first single without lead singer Wayne Fontana, became the hit.
Wayne Fontana left the Mindbenders after numerous singles failed to chart after their hit “Game of Love.” To quote an angry Eric Stewart after Wayne just walked off the stage while they were playing: “All we lost was our tambourine player. Wayne had been threatening to leave the band for some time and drummer Ric Rothwell had reached the end of patience with his groaning an moaning. Ric was urging him to take his ego trip and p–s off.”
This was a #1 UK and US hit for Phil Collins in 1988. His version was used in the movie Buster, where Collins plays the title role of Buster Edwards. Collins put together the soundtrack using various ’60s songs because that’s when the movie was set (he enlisted Motown hitmaker Lamont Dozier to co-write “Two Hearts,” another US #1 hit used in the film). According to Toni Wine, “Separate Lives” composer Stephen Bishop wanted to record a cover and brought a demo to his pal Collins, hoping he would produce it. Instead, Collins convinced Bishop to let him record it for the movie.
A child actor, Collins was wary about taking a movie role after becoming famous as a musician, and he made sure the song didn’t appear until the end of the film so musical perceptions wouldn’t taint his performance. The film was a box office flop, but Collins stood by it, saying it was an excellent film.
The music is based on the Rondo from “Sonatina in G Major” by Muzio Clementi.
Collins’ version was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 1989 Grammy Awards, but lost to Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy.”
Sonny & Cher recorded this for their 1967 album, In Case You’re In Love.
A Groovy Kind Of Love
When I’m feelin’ blue, all I have to do is take a look at you, Then I’m not so blue. When you’re close to me I can feel you heart beat I can hear you breathing in my ear.
Wouldn’t you agree, baby, you and me got a groovy kind of love. We got a groovy kind of love.
Any time you want to you can turn me on to anything you want to. Any time at all. When I taste your lips Oh, I start to shiver can’t control the quivering inside.
Wouldn’t you agree, baby, you and me got a groovy kind of love. We got a groovy kind of love.
When I’m in your arms nothing seems to matter If the world would shatter I don’t care. Wouldn’t you agree, baby, you and me got a groovy kind of love. We got a groovy kind of love. We got a groovy kind of love. We got a groovy kind of love
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.
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
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.
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”
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.
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
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)
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
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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
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
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.
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?
(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
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.
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.
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
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 