1970s – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Roxy Music – Virginia Plain

This is one band, for one reason or another, that I’ve never posted. I tell people that their early music has some of the best bass sound of anyone. Ferry’s vocals in this song remind me a little of Lou Reed.

When I first saw the title Virginia Plain, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. That’s part of the charm of the song. It was released in 1972 as the debut single by Roxy Music; this song pretty much announced that this was not going to be just another rock band. It was glam, strange, catchy, and different.

Roxy Music was led by Bryan Ferry and featured a really good lineup that included Brian Eno. Ferry wrote this song and took the title from a painting he had created while attending art school. The song is interesting. The lyrics are full of images and characters that seem to come and go like scenes in a movie. I always heard it as a song that is more about creating a mood.

The recording was produced by Peter Sinfield; he was best known for his work with King Crimson. Musically, the song blended old rock and roll influences with futuristic sounds. It’s different thanks in part to Eno’s synthesizer and Ferry’s vocals. The result was something fresh and exciting. Although it was recorded after the band’s debut album had already been completed, the song was later added to subsequent editions because it quickly became one of their signature tracks.

This song was successful in the UK and helped establish Roxy Music as one of the most important bands of the glam rock era. Looking back, it still sounds unique. More than fifty years later, it remains a perfect introduction to a band that never seemed interested in following the rules. If you want to hear the moment Roxy Music arrived, this is a pretty good place to start.

The song peaked at #4 on the UK Charts and #6 in New Zealand. The album peaked at #10 in the UK in 1972. BTW… the model featured on the cover of Roxy Music’s album is Kari-Ann Muller. No, she, unlike their other models, didn’t date Bryan Ferry. She married Chris Jagger, Mick’s brother.

Virginia Plain

Make me a deal and make it straight
All signed and sealed, I’ll take it
To Robert E. Lee, I’ll show it
I hope and pray he don’t blow it ’cause

We’ve been around a long time
Just tryin’ to, tryin’ to but you
Make the big time

Take me on a roller coaster
Take me for an airplane ride
Take me for a six days wonder but
Don’t you, don’t you throw my pride aside besides

What’s real and make-believe?
Baby Jane’s in Acapulco
We are flyin’ down to Rio

Throw me a line, I’m sinking fast
Clutching at straws, can’t make it
Havana sound, we’re trying
A hard edge, the hipster jiving, oh
Last picture shows down the drive-in

You’re so sheer, you’re so chic
Teenage rebel of the week

Flavours of the mountain streamline
Midnight blue casino floors
Dance the cha-cha through ’til sunrise
Opens up exclusive doors, oh wow

Just like flamingos, look the same
So me and you, just we two
Got to search for something new

Far beyond the pale horizon
Some place near the desert strand
Where my Studebaker takes me
That’s where I’ll make my stand, but wait

Can’t you see that Holzer mane
What’s her name? Virginia Plain

Ricky Nelson

On Turn Table Talk, the topic was “It’s No Act!” . We all can think of musicians who’ve tried to make the leap to acting – David Bowie, Cher, Sting, among many others – but this month we’re looking at actors/actresses or other celebrities who’ve decided to try to launch a music career after being noted in other entertainment fields. I picked Ricky Nelson. Thanks Dave!

I think Ricky Nelson is one of the few examples of actors who went into music and were remembered as musicians. He was a good actor, but he will be remembered more as a musician.

I went through a Ricky Nelson phase when I graduated in 1985. I purchased a greatest-hits package and was learning more of his songs. I wanted to go see him perform that year, and I kept waiting for him to appear somewhere because I heard he was touring. This was before the internet, and you had to read the newspapers for announcements and listen to the radio. Musicians would play at places, and you would never know sometimes.

I never got a chance to see him because on December 31, 1985, his chartered jet crashed, killing him and six other passengers. Ricky was a rockabilly guy and a great one. He gets lost in the shuffle because he was a huge teenage actor at the time on his family’s show…The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. In the rock world, being a teen idol knocks you down the respect ladder.

Before Ricky Nelson became one of the biggest teen idols of the 1950s, he was already a television star. He was born in 1940 into a show business family. His parents, Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Nelson, starred in the popular radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Ricky appeared on the show as himself beginning in the early 1950s. Millions of viewers watched him grow up on screen each week. By the time he reached his teenage years, he was already one of the most recognizable young faces in America.

Music came almost by accident. Ricky wanted to impress a girl (she was a massive Elvis fan) and claimed he was a recording artist. To make the story true, he recorded Fats Domino’s I’m Walkin’ in 1957. The song became a hit. Soon he was recording regularly and turning out hits such as Poor Little Fool, Travelin’ Man, and Hello Mary Lou. Unlike many teen stars of the era, Nelson worked with strong musicians and was full tilt in rockabilly and early rock and roll.

As the 1960s arrived, Nelson continued acting while building a successful music career. He later dropped the “Ricky” and became known as Rick Nelson. His sound matured and moved toward country rock before the style became popular. While television gave him his start, music became his legacy. He is remembered as one of the few entertainers who successfully made the jump from television star to respected recording artist.

The sad part is that his music wasn’t taken as seriously later on because he was a teen idol. That started to change over time, and he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987. I always considered Rick Nelson a musician and a great rockabilly artist, along with country rock. I always considered him the real deal.

I’ve heard the phrase “The universal language is not music, nor love; it is loneliness,” and this song fits it perfectly.

Mick Taylor – Broken Hands

Mick Taylor was in the Stones during their most successful period. That wasn’t a coincidence. He was probably the most talented guitar player they ever had. That’s not a knock on Brian Jones or Ron Wood; he was just that good. I had no clue that he could sing as well, so this was a treat when someone sent me a link to this. You can hear his style and connect the dots to that sound. When he left the Stones, it was never replaced. Ronnie Wood plays in a different style altogether.

This song is one of the standout tracks from Mick Taylor’s self-titled debut solo album, released in 1979. The album arrived five years after Taylor left the Rolling Stones, where he had earned a reputation as one of the best guitarists in rock music. While the record never became a commercial success, it gave Taylor a chance to step out from the shadow of the Stones and show what he could do as a songwriter, singer, and bandleader. This song was tucked away near the end of side one and remains one of the album’s hidden gems.

The sessions for the album spanned several years, from 1976 to 1979. Recording took place at several studios in England, including Island Studios, Ramport Studios, Ridge Farm, and the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Taylor produced the album himself and played many of the instruments. On this song, he handled guitar, vocals, and bass guitar duties. The song has a loose rock feel with traces of blues and the melodic style that he did with the Stones.

Like much of the album, the song arrived at the wrong time commercially. By 1979, punk and new wave were dominating the music press while Taylor was delivering a blues-rock record. The album stalled on the charts, but over the years it has gained a loyal following among Rolling Stones fans and guitar enthusiasts. He was a complete musician who just happened to spend his most famous years standing next to some very large shadows that included John Mayall, Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger.

Broken Hands

Yeah, I got broken hands, God

Feel so loose and I feel so free
Running so fast that you can’t catch me
Play the night like a dream machine
Play my guitar ’cause I feel so mean

Drivin’ down the highway
Trying to get ahead
And I shake the blues away, yeah
Yeah, broken hands, I’m a broken man

Ah baby, where are we?
Howling winds on a heavy sea
Always think that you got it made
I can never see you behind your shades

Fools are around me, the devils inside
So much craziness to exercise
Let’s get small and get some lovin’ done
This life’s so hard, hit and run

There’s nothin’ happenin’ here, anyway
If we sit around much longer we’re gonna slide away
Mesmerizing, washed out eyes
Users and losers, hypnotized

I like music that sounds so sweet
I like to dance and move my feet
When I hear such a heavy sound
Come on baby, let’s get down

Drivin’ down the highway
I’m just trying to get ahead
And shake these blues away
There’s nothin’ happenin’ here, anyway

Yeah, broken hands, I’m down and out
Gimme a smile and I’ll pull ya out
Yeah, broken hands

Yeah, broken hands, I’m a broken man
Yeah, broken hands, I’m down and out
Gimme a smile and I’ll pull ya out

Souther, Hillman, Furay Band – Fallin’ In Love

I was searching for bands to cover and ran across this one. I’ve heard of them a lot but never really listened to their music. The minute I played this one, I remembered it. This song has a bite to it, with that intro guitar. They keep an edge over the Southern California style of that time. It’s catchy without being too sweet. It works as a nice pop song.

They were formed in 1974 when J. D. Souther, Chris Hillman, and Richie Furay joined together after their earlier bands had already helped shape country rock. Furay had come from Buffalo Springfield and Poco; Hillman had been in The Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers; and Souther was already becoming known as a songwriter closely tied to the Southern California music scene. This song appeared on their 1974 debut album and became the group’s biggest single.

J. D. Souther wrote the song, and his style is all over it… a polished sound, different from what Furay and Hillman did earlier. The recording sessions were handled with producer Tom Sellers. Top Studio players helped give the record a commercial sound, but with some edge still in there as well.

Even though this song gave the band a hit, Souther-Hillman-Furay Band never fully broke through the way many expected. The music business was changing quickly, and country rock was becoming more polished and corporate by the mid-1970s. The group released two albums before splitting up in 1975. Still, this remains a good snapshot of that California country-rock era.

This song peaked at #27 on the Billboard 100 in 1974.

Fallin In Love

Here I go again, it’s all right
Full moons grown to brighten the night
I’ve been lookin’, now seein’ the light
It’s sure shinin’ bright, yea

Well, honey, believe in it, it bein’ free mm
Nothin’ to love’s like nothin’ to be
You’ve got once a lifetime
To see just how much of your dream

Honey, to feel like fallin’ in love, just to know
Honey, to feel like fallin’ in love

Turnin’ home, runnin’ free as the wind
Stretchin’ my stride, wanna hold you again
Well, it’s time to be taken in
Let me know where I’ve been, yea

Honey, to feel like fallin’ in love, just to know
Don’t you know what it feels like fallin’ in love

Honey to feel like fallin’ in love

Turnin’ home, runnin’ free as the wind
Stretchin’ my stride, wanna hold you again
Well it’s time to be taken in
Let me know where I’ve been

Bronco – Time (So Long Between)

Ever since hearing Robbie Blunt, who played with Robert Plant on his first 3 albums, I wanted to know more about him. Bronco was the first major band he was in, and I love the results. His style was so unique and helped make Plant’s signature sound after Zeppelin. One listen to Big Log, and you can hear the uniqueness of his guitar playing. He didn’t have that sound in this, but really tasteful guitar playing. Bronco wasn’t formed for hits; they made really good, solid albums. My UK readers, do you remember this band?

Bronco never really became a well-known band, but for a few years in the early seventies, they were one of those British bands that blended country rock, blues, and folk in a way that fit right alongside bands like Buffalo Springfield, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and The Band. They formed in 1969 around singer Jess Roden after he left The Alan Bown Set. They signed with Island Records during the label’s peak years, when they had many roots-style bands. This song and album are very seventies-sounding, which makes sense, of course.

Robbie Blunt joined on guitar alongside Kevyn Gammond, and even then, you could hear the tasteful style that later became so important. Blunt is not a super flashy player. He worked more in mood, tone, and feel.

Their first album, Country Home, came out in 1970 and had a laid-back country-rock sound with harmony vocals and touches of blues. Around this period, Bronco toured the US and played shows at places like the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. Blunt later talked about seeing Duane Allman during that trip, something that left a real impression on him as a guitarist.

This song is off the Country Home album. Jess Roden and Robbie Blunt wrote this song.

Grateful Dead – Stella Blue

I want to thank Jim Adams at https://jimadamsauthordotcom.wordpress.com/. I helped Jim with a computer problem a while back, and he sent me something worth far more than the time we spent repairing it. He sent me my favorite Grateful Dead album, Wake of the Flood. When I heard Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo a few years ago, I knew I had to check that album out.

Most of what I know about the Grateful Dead I credit to Jim. After a few listens to the album, I realized it stacked up well against American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead. In time, I started to move it toward the top. This song is one of the album’s standouts. It was written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia.

The sessions were important because it was the first Grateful Dead studio album released on their own label after leaving Warner Bros. Keith Godchaux’s piano and Garcia’s guitar gave it that late-night feeling that fit Hunter’s lyrics perfectly. Instead of building toward a huge climax, the band let the song breathe. That became part of its power.

The song was influenced by a nightmarish acid trip that Hunter had in 1969. The Dead usually placed it late in the second set after long jams and space sections. I’ve gone back and listened to a lot of live versions of this song. Garcia’s guitar solos on the song changed from night to night. Some versions were calm and soft. Others became explosive by the end.

The song would not show up live until June 17, 1972, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. That night was also the final show for Pigpen with the band. From the start, it sounded different from a lot of the Dead’s material. It was quieter and more reflective.

The song was played live 328 times by the Grateful Dead between 1972 and 1995. Its final performance came on July 6, 1995, only weeks before Garcia died.

Stella Blue

All the years combine
They melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
From a guitar
In the end there’s just a song
Comes crying like the night (wind)
Through all the broken dreams
And vanished years

Stella Blue
When all the cards are down
There’s nothing left to see
There’s just the pavement left
And broken dreams
In the end there’s still that song
Comes crying like the wind
Down every lonely street
That’s ever been

Stella Blue
I’ve stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel
Can’t win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just
One more time
Gonna make em shine

It all rolls into one
And nothing comes for free
There’s nothing you can hold
For very long
And when you hear that song
Come crying like the wind
It seems like all this life
Was just a dream
Stella Blue

New Site: oldsteamships.com

I have been writing about the RMS Titanic on my blog, and I think it fits the pop culture theme I have, but I would like to write about the Olympic, Britannic, and other ships like the SS Edmund Fitzgerald and the RMS Empress of Ireland. But I thought it would work better in a separate blog. I won’t be posting a ton to it, but it will give me a place to write about them without disrupting the flow at powerpop.blog. If you are interested, come along, but I get it if you are not. That is why I’m making this blog. A release valve for me to explore this subject when I find something interesting. Thank you all for reading as always.

https://oldsteamships.blog

The Three Sisters

Jerry Lee Lewis – Rockin’ My Life Away

Jerry Lee wasn’t called The King or The King of Pop. No, his nickname was …The Killer. He took no prisoners, and his fifties live performances are among the best. He was the original punk and did exactly what he wanted. He had that rock and roll spirit like no other. He wasn’t universally loved because of it, but that is the point!

This song came from an interesting period in the career of Jerry Lee Lewis. By 1979, Lewis had already been through the wild Sun Records years, country chart success in the late 1960s and 1970s, and years of heavy touring. That kept him working even when trends changed around him. Elektra Records signed him during that time and released the self-titled album Jerry Lee Lewis in 1979. The record tried to bring Lewis back toward a tougher rock and roll sound while still keeping his country roots. This song fit him perfectly.

The song was written by Mack Vickery. The recording sessions happened in Los Angeles in 1979 with producer Bones Howe. Lewis was backed by a great group of session players that included Elvis’s ex-guitarist James Burton (love the solo in this one by Burton) and drummer Hal Blaine. Instead of smoothing out Lewis’s sound too much, the sessions kept things driving. Lewis attacked the piano hard, and his vocal sounded rough in that Jerry Lee way.

The arrangements mixed rockabilly, country, and straight rock and roll without trying to modernize him too much for the late 1970s. That was probably one reason the track still holds up well today. It didn’t have that late-seventies smooth professional sound that was big in LA. Although the album was not a massive commercial success, it brought a lot of attention, and this song became one of the songs people remembered most from the record.

The song sounds like Lewis singing about himself. Years later, when another genre discovered Jerry Lee Lewis through documentaries and the Great Balls of Fire! movie, this song found a new audience. The song peaked at #18 on the Billboard Country Charts and #34 in Canada in 1979.

Rockin’ My Life Away

Fourteen ninety-five, and nineteen fourty-eight
I threw a rockabilly party on my last birthday
But it was good, rockin’ my life away
I just movin’ and groovin’
And gettin’ it both night and day
I got a gal called Milly, she’s chilly pepper hot
She know how to roll, and she know how to rock
I’m rockin’, rockin’ my life away
Oh, and a boogie woogie baby
I like to do it both night and day
Ah ah oh

Steamliner, fleetliner, military brass
She knows the general’s daughter but the killer’s got brass
I’m rockin’, rockin’ my life away, ah ah
I’m just movin’ and a-groovin’
And rockin’ both night and day

And I’m rockin’, rockin’ my life away
I’m just movin’ and groovin’
And boogyin’ both night and day
I’m just rockin’, rockin’ my life away
I’m just rockin’ and rollin’ my life away
My name’s Jerry Lee Lewis and I’m damn sure here to stay

Graham Parker – Discovering Japan

The first Graham Parker album I listened to was his debut, Howlin’ Wind. I went in order, and this one was his fourth studio album, and I have enjoyed his albums. I still need to listen to his 90s output. This is one of my favorite albums by him, no doubt. It’s full of great songs like Local Girls, Saturday Nite is Dead, and Protection is just a few of them.

This song was one of the many standout tracks from Squeezing Out Sparks, released in 1979 by Graham Parker and The Rumour. By that point, Parker had already built a reputation as one of the stronger British songwriters to come out of the pub rock era. The song was reportedly inspired by Parker’s fascination with Japanese women and culture during a period when Japan was becoming more visible. Parker later admitted the title and lyrics were partly tongue-in-cheek.

The Rumour was the perfect band for Parker’s vocal style. Guitarist Brinsley Schwarz helped drive the track with sharp rhythm. The producer Jack Nitzsche gave the album an edgy sound that kept the focus on the band. The sessions for Squeezing Out Sparks took place at a time when Parker was frustrated with the music business. He kept getting overlooked commercially compared to some of his contemporaries.

Over the years, this song became one of the songs most associated with Graham Parker. It was never a major hit single, but it became an FM radio favorite and a live staple. Many fans and critics still point to Squeezing Out Sparks as Parker’s strongest album. The album did well as it peaked at #40 on the Billboard Album Charts, #79 in Canada, and #18 in the UK. The album was helped out by the single Local Girls that got a lot of play on MTV but failed to chart.

This video is an entire concert, but I pasted it with Discovering Japan on the time stamp. It’s worth watching the entire concert, but when you click play, you will hear this song.

Discovering Japan

Her heart is nearly breaking
The earth is nearly quaking
The Tokyo taxi’s braking
It’s screaming to a halt
There’s nothing to hold on to
When gravity betrays you
And every kiss enslaves you
She knows how hard a heart grows
Under nuclear shadows

She can’t escape the feeling
Repeating in her head
When after all the urges
Some kind of truth emerges
He felt the deadly surges

Discovering Japan
Discovering Japan

The G.I.’s only used her
They always ran right through her
Giving an Eastern promise
That they could never keep
Seeing a million miles
Between their jokes and smiles
She heard their heart denials

As the tears run sideways down her face, face
Ah, with the time in the tune of a different race, race

And as the flight touches down
My watch says eight oh two
That’s midnight to you
Midnight to you
Midnight to you

I dreamed of long collisions
In Cadillac Panavisions
I shouted sayonara
It didn’t mean goodbye
But lovers turn to posers
Show up in film exposures
Just like in travel brochures

Discovering Japan
Discovering Japan
Discovering Japan
Discovering Japan
Discovering Japan
Discovering Japan

Led Zeppelin – When The Levee Breaks

Drums… one of the loudest, widest drum sounds I have ever heard. The song just rolls through you. The song was from the classic Led Zeppelin IV album. John Bonham’s drums were recorded in a stairwell at Headley Grange with the microphones planted 3 stories up. The drum sound echoed up and was captured on the mics, creating a very distinctive sound.

The song started as a 1929 blues recording by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy, written after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 devastated parts of the South. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant took that old blues foundation and turned it into something darker and heavier during the sessions in 1971. The band recorded much of it at Headley Grange, the old English house where Zeppelin liked to work away from the pressure of traditional studios. I will say that Zeppelin did credit these writers.

Jimmy Page slowed the tape slightly during mixing, which gave Bonham’s drums even more weight and made the whole track feel thick. John Paul Jones added bass, harmonica, and subtle touches underneath it while Plant delivered the vocal almost like a warning coming through a storm. Page also layered slide guitar and backward effects across the track, giving it that swampy and almost haunted feeling. Even after dozens of listens, the recording still sounds huge. I do think it’s interesting that Page used his Danelectro guitar for the slide guitar part. A Danelectro is a cheap guitar (I have two), but they give you a unique metallic sound. He also used one on Kashmir.

The band turned it into one of the heaviest tracks of the early 1970s without relying on speed and huge guitar. Hip-hop producers later sampled Bonham’s drum intro because nothing else sounded quite like it. Artists from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre borrowed pieces of it. That showed how far the song traveled past classic rock radio. The song still feels massive, like my walls are shaking every time Bonham hits the drums. Hmmm, maybe because I have the volume on 11…that helps.

Jason Bonham: “It’s the drum intro of the Gods. You could play it anywhere and people would know it’s John Bonham. I never had the chance to tell dad how amazing he was – he was just dad.”

When the Levee Breaks

If it keeps on rainin’ levee’s goin’ to break
If it keeps on rainin’ levee’s goin’ to break
When the levee breaks I’ll have no place to stay.
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan
Lord mean old levee taught me to weep and moan
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home
Oh well oh well oh well.
Don’t it make you feel bad
When you’re tryin’ to find your way home
You don’t know which way to go?
If you’re goin’ down South
They go no work to do,
If you don’t know about Chicago.
Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
Now, cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.
All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin’ ’bout me baby and my happy home.
Going, go’n’ to Chicago,
Go’n’ to Chicago,
Sorry but I can’t take you.
Going down, going down now, going down
going down now, going down, going down, going down, going down
Going down, going down now, going down
going down now, going down
going down now, going down
Going d-d-d-d-down
Woo woo

Dave Mason – Let It Go, Let It Flow

I had this song in my drafts for 6 months, but never completed it after I heard this song on a Traffic and Dave Mason binge I went on. A few weeks ago, Mason passed away, and I wanted to get this out now. I do want to thank halffastcyclingclub for bringing him up last week. He could play anything, it seems, and had a huge range in music.

Dave Mason was a founding member of Traffic in the late 1960s, and they had a cool mix of folk, rock, psychedelia, and blues. Mason wrote some of Traffic’s best-known songs, including Feelin’ Alright, which later became a major hit for Joe Cocker.

Mason had a reputation for leaving and then rejoining Traffic several times because of creative differences, but he was a key part of the band’s sound. During the late 1960s and 1970s, he became one of rock’s most respected session musicians, appearing on recordings by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Derek and the Dominos, Fleetwood Mac, and Paul McCartney.

His solo career took off with songs such as Only You Know and I Know and some strong songwriting. Mason’s guitar playing was off the charts as well. This song appeared on his 1977 album Let It Flow, a record that was more toward the smoother California rock sound that was popular on the radio at the time.

This album also produced We Just Disagree, which became Mason’s biggest solo hit and helped push the record into a wider audience. Because of the song’s popularity, this song sometimes gets overlooked, but it helped establish the album’s tone from the beginning. By this time, he had been living in the United States for several years, and the album had that West Coast influence more than the English psychedelia of his Traffic days.

The album Let It Flow peaked at #41 on the Billboard Album Charts and #36 in Canada in 1977. The song peaked at #45 on the Billboard 100.

Let It Go, Let It Flow

When I’m alone, I sometimes get to thinkin’How it’s gonna be when we’re gone?Are we moving closer togetherOr is it gonna take forever and ever?

Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a riverLet it go, let it go, let it flow through youLet it go, let it go, let it flow like a riverLet it go, let it go, let it flow through you

Searching everywhere just tryin’ to find a reasonA misunderstanding in doubtDon’t want to preach it, push it or teach itJust take a good look all around

Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a riverLet it go, let it go, let it flow through youLet it go, let it go, let it flow like a riverLet it go, let it go, let it flow through you

Was it gonna follow that angels gonna call on youTo help you on your wayTime spent together, like now, is foreverSo, don’t ever let this smile slip away

Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a riverLet it go, let it go, let it flow through youLet it go, let it go, let it flow like a riverLet it go, let it go, let it flow through you

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lookin’ Out My Back Door

I hope you are doing well on this Sunday!

When I first started to pay attention to the lyrics to this song…I would have bet Mr. Fogerty wrote it under the influence while looking out his back door. John said the song was written for his son Josh, who at the time was three years old. It was inspired by the Dr. Seuss book And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street. In the book, a kid is watching a parade go by with wondrous and magical animals and characters. Fogerty put the action “out my back door” to a place he could escape to.

I always loved the country feel of this song. It mixes country and some psychedelic lyrics. It sounded like a lot of John Fogerty songs from that period, it sounds simple on the surface but has a little more going on underneath than people think. It was released as a single along with Long As I Can See the Light, and it climbed high at a time when the band couldn’t seem to miss. What a single as well…doubt A-Side no doubt.

It is notable as the only time the country-style resonator guitar was used on a CCR recording. Fogerty purchased the Regal dobro from George Gruhn in Nashville after meeting bluegrass player Tut Taylor.

Here is what it is

The song was on the album Cosmo’s Factory… arguably Creedence’s best album. The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #1 in the UK in 1969. The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada. To show you the fickled charts, CCR never had a number one hit song. Could it have been just bad luck? Could it have been that Fantasy didn’t push them hard enough or that Capitol, RCA, and WB’s songs were a bigger priority to play?

They did hit number one in 2021. Have You Ever Seen The Rain topped the Rock Digital Song Sales chart in July 2021, over 50 years after its release, following a resurgence on social media.

Lookin’ Out My Back Door

Just got home from Illinois lock the front door oh boy!
Got to sit down take a rest on the porch.
Imagination sets in pretty soon I’m singin’