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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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 together Or is it gonna take forever and ever?
Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a river Let it go, let it go, let it flow through you Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a river Let it go, let it go, let it flow through you
Searching everywhere just tryin’ to find a reason A misunderstanding in doubt Don’t want to preach it, push it or teach it Just take a good look all around
Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a river Let it go, let it go, let it flow through you Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a river Let it go, let it go, let it flow through you
Was it gonna follow that angels gonna call on you To help you on your way Time spent together, like now, is forever So, don’t ever let this smile slip away
Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a river Let it go, let it go, let it flow through you Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a river Let it go, let it go, let it flow through you
Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a river Let it go, let it go, let it flow through you Let it go, let it go, let it flow like a river Let it go, let it go, let it flow through you
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’
Doo doo doo lookin’ out my back door.
There’s a giant doing cartwheels, a statue wearin’ high heels. Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn. A dinosaur Victrola list’ning to Buck Owens.
Doo doo doo lookin’ out my back door.
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band. Won’t you take a ride on the flyin’ spoon? Doo doo doo. Wond’rous apparition provided by magician.
Doo doo doo lookin’ out my back door.
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band. Won’t you take a ride on the flyin’ spoon? Doo doo doo. Bother me tomorrow, today, I’ll buy no sorrows.
Doo doo doo lookin’ out my back door.
Forward troubles Illinois, lock the front door oh boy! Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn. Bother me tomorrow, today, I’ll buy no sorrows.
This song is a burst of street music with a saxophone leading the way and a great groove. It has a sprawling feel like some Springsteen, Van Morrison, and Thin Lizzy had. I heard this band a lot growing up with songs like Weekend and Keep On Smiling, probably their biggest hit. Their lead singer, Jimmy Hall, has a hell of a voice as well.
When I posted about them before…I’ll say the same thing. First, let’s get this out of the way… wet–willy. Noun. (plural wet willies) (slang) A prank whereby a saliva-moistened finger is inserted into an unsuspecting person’s ear, often with a slight twisting motion… Oh yes…I’ve given them and have been on the receiving end. When you are 12, given wet willies were/are a lot of fun….oh wait…that was yesterday!
Wet Willie began as a blues-rock band during the Summer of 1969 in Mobile, Alabama. The original nucleus of the group that eventually became known as Wet Willie was called Fox. Wet Willie eventually moved to Macon, Georgia, and signed to Capricorn Records, sharing the label with The Allman Brothers and The Marshall Tucker Band. Still, they really didn’t have a Southern rock sound.
The song was written by Jimmy Hall, the band’s lead singer and harmonica player. He built it around something simple, a street musician playing for spare change, trying to get through the day. Hall’s vocal carries that idea. There’s a sense of distance in it, but also some understanding of the situation.
The track connected on the radio, which helped push their 1977 album Mannorisms up a bit. It also gave the band a song that defined them for a lot of listeners. Over time, it’s held up as a snapshot of that moment when Southern rock still had room for R&B, gospel, and bar band roots all at once. The song peaked at #30 on the Billboard 100 and #30 in Canada in 1977.
Street Corner Serenade
Down on the corner back in my home town Me and the fellows used to gather round We sang a song with a happy beat I can still hear that harmony
When we sang de de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa Yeah, yeah De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa
Guido, he’s the one that sang down low Crazy Johnny was a baritone I’m the one who took the lead And Little Jackie made our song complete
When he sang de de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Make me feel all right) De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (I can sing all night) De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa
When a pretty girl would come strolling by We’d try so hard to catch her eye When she stopped to check us out That’s when we really sing it out loud
Like this: De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Make me feel all right) De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Oh, yeah, yeah) De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Come on, sing it now) De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa
I still think about those happy days And our street corner serenade Maybe someday we’ll get together again Down on the corner, me and my old friends
We’ll sing de de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Make me feel all right)
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (We could sing all night)
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Come on, sing it with me)
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Come on and feel all right)
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Come on people, now)
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (just sing it with me) De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Come on and feel all right)
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa Yeah yeah
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa I can sing all night
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa Yeah
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
De de de de deet Whoa, whoa, whoa (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
It’s been a long while since I posted a Cat Stevens number. One of the first albums I had was Tea For The Tillerman. I got it for one song, Wild World but heard so many others off the album that were just as good. His music makes me feel calm and relaxed, but not in a boring way.
The song grew out of Stevens’ surroundings at this time. Britain was changing fast, with a lot of focus on growth and progress. He started questioning what was being traded away. Instead of writing a protest song in the usual sense, he kept it simple. The lyrics ask a question and then keep circling back to it: What happens when everything is built up, and there’s no space left for kids to just be kids?
Musically, it’s stripped down. Acoustic guitar carries most of it, with light orchestration that never gets in the way. That was part of the approach Stevens and producer Paul Samwell-Smith used on the album. Let the song do the work. No excess, no push. It sounds calm, but the message underneath it isn’t.
What’s interesting is how the song has held up. It wasn’t released as a major single, but it became one of the key tracks on Tea for the Tillerman. Over time, it’s been picked up in films, environmental discussions, and documentaries because the song is still relevant. The idea of progress versus what gets lost along the way hasn’t gone anywhere.
He just asked the question and left it there for us to decide. That’s probably why people keep coming back to it.
I’ve wanted to revisit Jerry Jeff Walker for a long time. I picked an easy one, but the song has always meant a lot to me. It’s for the personal connection that I picked this one. I first heard this song by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but I love this version as well. Only a few songs can make me feel emotional, and this one does. The song gets me emotionally involved with the story, and then comes the line, his dog up and died. I can feel that, and it hurts every time.
The inspiration for the song started in the mid-60s, before Walker was known. He was passing through New Orleans and ended up spending a night in a jail cell on a minor charge. While there, he met an older man who began talking to pass the time. The man said his name was Mr. Bojangles, not his real name, but as something he used to avoid giving his identity to the police.
During the conversation, the man talked about his life as a street dancer. He described performing for tips, moving from place to place, and how he used dance to get by. At one point, the mood shifted. He spoke about his dog that had died, and how that loss affected him. Then, almost as a way to break the tension in the cell, he started tapping and dancing a little. This meeting stayed with Walker.
After getting out, Walker wrote the song based on that encounter. He didn’t try to document the man exactly. Instead, he shaped the story into something broader, a character built from memory. The name itself came from the man’s habit of using it in place of his real one, which also echoed the stage name of dancer Bill Robinson, though the song is not about Robinson. I thought it was when I found out about Robinson.
This song has stood the test of time. I hardly use that worn-out phrase, but it does. Just like some movies are classics, this is because of that story. It’s a great story song, and you get a full look at the characters. It’s some excellent songwriting in that.
Walker was born in New York but drifted around the country in the 60s. In the early 1970s, Walker relocated to Austin, Texas, where he became part of the burgeoning outlaw country music scene. He helped define that genre. He was part of the Texas songwriters such as Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, and Townes Van Zandt. He is not technically a natural-born Texas singer-songwriter, but he is remembered by many as one.
Walker recorded the first version of the song, and it peaked at #77 on the Billboard 100 in 1968. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recorded their version the next year, releasing it in 1970, and it peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, and #2 in New Zealand in 1971.
Mr Bojangles
I knew a man Bojangles and he’d dance for you In worn out shoes Silver hair and ragged shirt and baggy pants He did the old soft shoe He jumped so high He jumped so high Then he’d lightly touch down
I met him in a cell in New Orleans I was down and out He looked to me to be the eyes of age As he spoke right out He talked of life He talked of life He laughed slapped his leg a step
He said the name Bojangles and he danced A lick across the cell He grabbed his pants a better stance Then he jumped so high He clicked his heels He let go a laugh oh he let go a laugh Shook back his clothes all around
He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs Throughout the South He spoke with tears of fifteen years how his dog And him traveled about His dog up and died He up and died After twenty years he still grieves
He said I dance now at every chance in honky-tonks For drinks and tips But most o’ the time I spend behind these county bars Hell I drinks a bit He shook his head and as he shook his head I heard someone ask him please
As most of you know, I’m a huge fan of dogs and animals in general. Will I hug a King Cobra? No, but I do love animals. Dogs (yes, I’m counting the prairie variety as well) are part of that list, and I’ve probably been closer to dogs than to any other animal. I started to think…hmmm…what are some songs that were about dogs? I’ll keep this brief except for the Neil Young description…he rambles a bit.
The Bottle Rockets – I Love My Dog
The Bottle Rockets came out of Festus, Missouri, in the early 1990s. They were part of the wave that later got labeled alt-country. At the time, it was just a bunch of bands mixing country, rock, and whatever else they grew up on. Brian Henneman had been around the scene already, even doing a stint as a guitar tech and occasional player for Uncle Tupelo, which put him right in the middle of that movement as it was forming.
Just a person, and their dog, and the sense that the dog might be the most dependable thing in their life. There is some humor in this, but it never turns into a jokey kind of song. I also love the jangle that came with this song. I’m going to revisit this band in the future. It’s hard to resist this video, especially with Carlene Carter and her dog Sparky starting it off!
This is such a cool video and song. Many happy humans, along with their owners.
Cat Stevens – I Love My Dog
This song was released in 1966 as a single and the following year on Stevens’ debut album Matthew and Son. He wrote the lyrics to the music of Yusef Lateef’s song The Plum Blossom. He credited the song to Lateef, and they shared the songwriting royalties. The song peaked at #28 in the UK, #47 in Canada, and #118 on the Billboard 100 in 1966.
Beatles – Martha My Dear
Our Saint Bernard was named after this song. Paul McCartney wrote this song about his English Sheepdog. Paul got the dog in 1966, and Martha lived a long life with Paul until 1981. Paul had Martha’s descendants, but I’m not sure about them currently. Paul has said that the riff to this song is one of the most difficult ones he came up with on piano. The song has a special place in my household. In fact, she is under my feet now as I type this.
Neil Young – Old King
This one is about Neil’s dog named Elvis. It was released in 1992 on the Harvest Moon album. This Neil Young quote is from a concert talking about this song. It’s rambling…but it’s Neil!
Neil Young: “This a song about my dog. His name is Elvis. Elvis is riding on Jimi Hendrix’s bus now. He traveled with me for many years. Well, I changed his name to ‘King’ in the song to avoid any confusion. Elvis had quite a nose. That was his whole thing, was his nose. But, you know, he was very sensitive about it. I’ll tell you a little story about him. He used to go on the road with me all the time, and, you know, he kind of smelled like a hound, ’cause… he was a hound. But it smelled good to him, and uh, you know, we would take him to a veterinarian’s place or something, and they’d clean him up a little bit so when he got on the bus, he wasn’t too comfy, you know?
After a while we all kind of got used to each other on the bus, so it was okay, but right at first he was a little strong, so. . . so anyway, once, uh, someone took him that usually doesn’t take him and took him to some fifi dog place. He came back smelling, uh, kinda like some bad toilet paper or something? Non-environmental and all. It had this odor to it that was like,(groaning)’oh no, wow.’ He kind of smelled like one of those things that hang on people’s mirrors, you know, that smell? Anyway, it was bad for me, but to him it was hell, ’cause he was, you know, sensitive.
And uh, so I was sleeping on the side of the road, I was on my way out to Eureka, California to play this gigantic gig… And ah, uh, you know, he woke me up, it was about six o’clock in the morning, I get this nose, you know, ‘snnnfff, snnnffff, snnff, snnff,’ He woke me up… I’m going, ‘What’s happening?
It’s this, this big nose, it’s lookin’ at me, kinda, you know, desperate. You know, I said, ‘God, you smell terrible. You stink.’ And he knew he stunk. He wanted off the bus. He said, ‘I want to go roll in some cowshit on the side of the road.So, you know, he was a smart dog, and he was purebred, actually, he was a beautiful hound, and uh, he had all his senses that he needed, he knew how to get back. You know, hounds will circle, uh, an area, and keep going in wider and wider circles, and they count how many times, somehow they know how many times they’ve been around it, so when they come back in they just count it like the, like the lifelines on a tree or somethin’, you know, you just come right back in and, right to the core and that’s where you started from, you know. Anyway, he knew that. He taught me that. And uh, so, I said, ‘Okay Elvis, take a shot.
He took off, I let him go. And uh, there’s only one thing that can go wrong if you do that. That’s if it rains, then, and then he can’t find his way back, ’cause he can’t smell over the little rains, you know. He just loses it. So, he lost it, he got lost. It’s like three o’clock in the afternoon, we’re still waiting for him to come back, and we gotta go to the gig pretty soon or we’re gonna be late, you know, and I’m going, ‘Shit, I lost my dog. What am I gonna tell everybody?’ You know, I can’t leave him behind, I can’t, you know, what can I do? So I went out hunting for him.
There was a railroad track there, and I walked up and down the railroad track. I was going all by myself up there, from the railroad track, (in a loud, anguished shriek) ‘Elvis!!!!’ And uh, I couldn’t hear a thing, not a hound around, and uh, so I gave up after a while, ’cause this Rolling Stone guy was following me around, taking random notes. You know, I saw him write it down, you know, I was out on this railroad track in the middle of nowhere yelling out Elvis, and uh, so I got, I knew that wouldn’t be good for my image.
“So I went back to the bus, and uh, I got out my lucky shirt, which I don’t have with me tonight, you may have noticed. I know, but it’s too hot for my lucky shirt. So anyway, I, he, I took it out there, and I put it down by the bowl, put his bowl out there, and left the shirt; he’d come back eventually, you know, find his way back to the shirt. And I’d figured after the gig I could come back. So, I get back on the bus to take off. So I’m leaving, and this guy in a pick up truck pulls up and says, ‘Hey Neil, what’re you doing?’ Well, so, I told him, I’m not gonna tell it again here, I told him, and then, uh, then uh, he said ‘Well that’s okay, Neil, I’ll, me and, I’ll go get my wife, and we’ll wait, we’ll wait right here until he comes back, and then we’ll bring him to you in Eureka.’
“I said, ‘Wow, what a great guy, you’re, you’re great.’ Yeah, so he did. You know, so I took off, and uh, just before, uh, I was about half an hour late – nothin’ like Guns n’ Roses or nothin’, but uh. . . but I lost my dog… What did they lose, you know what I mean? So, uh, so I, so I got there. Ah, hey, that’s rock n’ roll, you gotta do what you do. And ah, you know, just as I was going on he called me and said they found him.
Pink Floyd – Seamus
This blues song goes beyond writing a song about a dog. It features a dog singing! This song was on the 1971 album Meddle. The band was moving away from the early psychedelic singles and into longer, more intricate pieces, and this track, though, shows another side built around a simple, short blues pattern.
The song was about and featured Steve Marriott’s dog Seamus, whom Gilmour was dog-sitting for. Gilmour played the harmonica while Seamus was howling away. So that I’m straight on this…seventies rock stars dog sat! I would have never guessed.
I’m playing this loud…Martha is looking around everywhere.
I love this genre…I made Part 1 a couple of years ago, but never followed up. Sometimes soul blends with pop and is closely related to R&B. Below are a few that I have always liked.
Freda Payne – Band Of Gold
I’ve always liked this song. It’s a bit of a soap opera but it’s a really good soul song. The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100 in 1970. The guitar had a rubberband-type effect that was used in this song.
Because of the subject matter, Freda Payne did not want to record this at first. She thought the song was about a woman who was a virgin or sexually naïve and felt it was more suitable for a teenager. When Payne objected to this song, Ron Dunbar (co-writer of the song) said to her, “Don’t worry. You don’t have to like them! Just sing it,” and she did. Little did she know that this song would become her biggest hit and would give her her first record of gold.
Aretha Franklin – Baby I Love You
This is my personal favorite song of Aretha Franklin…and she has a boatload of great songs to pick from. She could bring soul to You Light Up My Life and THAT is saying something. I’ve said this a lot but Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin are my top female singers.
This Aretha Franklin song was released in 1967 and it was on the Aretha Arrives album. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #39 in the UK in 1967. Her sisters Carolyn and Erma provided backing vocals along with the Sweet Inspirations, an R&B girl group founded by Cissy Houston. Musicians who were featured on the track included engineer Tom Dowd and Muscle Shoals players Jimmy Johnson and Joe South on guitars, Tommy Cogbill on bass, Spooner Oldham on electric piano, and Roger Hawkins on drums. Truman Thomas also played the organ.
Franklin recorded this with Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler in New York City during the same session as Chain Of Fools. The song was written by Ronnie Shannon, who was also responsible for another hit for Aretha with I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You).
Temptations – I Wish It Would Rain
It sure got A LOT of play when I went through my first real hard breakup. You break up with someone…the Temptations have your back. Their greatest hits were more like advice than songs, which I loved.
David Ruffin sings this song, and you can feel the sadness and pain in his voice. The man had a tremendous voice. Naming my favorite Temptations song would be hard, but this one would be near the top.
The song has been covered by Gladys Knight and the Pips, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and The Faces. This song was released right before the psychedelic soul hit Cloud Nine, and the band’s style began to change.
Stevie Wonder – I Was Made To Love Her
Of all Stevie Wonder songs…this one is at the top of the list for me.
Anything Stevie does, I like. Sometimes when I hear a song, it takes a few times for me to like it, but this one…hooked me the first time. This song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, and #5 in the UK Charts in 1967. The song was written by Wonder, Lula Mae Hardaway, Henry Cosby, and Sylvia Moy. Lula Mae Haraway was Stevie Wonder’s mother.
Jimmy Ruffin – What Becomes of the Broken Hearted
Jimmy Ruffin was the brother of then Temptation David Ruffin. This was written by Motown writers Jimmy Dean, Paul Riser, and William Witherspoon. They wrote it for The Detroit Spinners, but Ruffin convinced the Motown writers to let him try it, and they liked what they heard.
I think Motown has been the soundtrack to more breakups than anyone else. This song peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100 in 1966. The great Smokey Robinson produced this track. He worked on many Motown classics as an artist, writer, and producer. This would be Jimmy’s biggest hit of his career.
I have to thank obbverse for introducing this song. This song was on the 1976 album The Best Of The Band. It was also released as a non-album single in 1975, along with “The Weight” in the UK.
This is one I didn’t pay much attention to at first. It sat on that best of record surrounded by their giant songs. But over time, I would give it a listen or two. When obbverse mentioned it…I kept it on my playlist and realized how great a song it is. I also found an alternative version with Levon singing it. Something about Danko’s version, though, that makes it sound so personal.
The song was written by Robbie Robertson; like most Band material, it was shaped by everyone in the room. The sound is rooted in the group’s style, but the direction feels more centered.
Some bands have great voices and tight harmonies. The Beatles and The Beach Boys, to name a few, but The Band’s harmonies were loose, yet at the same time just as tight in their own way. They had that back porch and bluegrass sound. Their music sounded spontaneous, but it was well-crafted. They always left enough raw edge to keep it interesting.
Robbie Robertson’s words and melodies were Americana flowing through a Canadian who had part-Jewish and Native-Canadian roots. He would read one movie screenplay after another. It helped him with his songwriting to express the images he had in his head. Robbie also took stories Levon told him of the South and shaped them into songs.
Twilight
Over by the wildwood Hot summer night We lay in the tall grass Till the mornin’ light If I had my way I’d never Get the urge to roam But a young man serves his country An old man guards the home Don’t send me no silly salutations Or silly souvenirs from far away Don’t leave me alone in the twilight ‘Cause twilight is the loneliest time of day I never gave it a second thought It never crossed my mind What’s right and what’s not I’m not the judgin’ kind I can take the darkness, oh Storms in the skies But we all got certain trials Burnin’ up inside Don’t put me in a frame upon the mantel ‘Fore memories grow dusty old and gray You don’t leave me alone in the twilight ‘Cause twilight is the loneliest time of day And don’t leave me alone in the twilight ‘Cause twilight is the loneliest time of day
I wrote this for Lisa’s WMM (Women Music March) as I have proudly done for the past few years in March. Lisa was one of the first followers I had when starting out, and she is one of the readers who helped build my site in a lot of ways. Please go see the original post and visit her site. Thanks, Lisa!
It’s a shame she is more remembered for what may or may not have happened to her than for her music. She has been hailed for being ahead of her time, and she was. I plead with everyone reading this, please look her up and read some things about her. I have barely scratched the surface with this post.
Connie Converse is one of the most unusual stories in folk music or music in general. She wrote quiet, thoughtful songs in the early 1950s. That was years before the folk revival made that style popular. At the time, almost no one outside a small circle of friends heard her music. Decades later, people realized she had been doing something new long before it became fashionable.
She was born Elizabeth Eaton Converse in 1924 in New Hampshire. She grew up in a strict Baptist family and showed an early interest in writing and music. After leaving college, she moved to New York City in the late 1940s. She went there hoping to find a place in the arts. Instead of the louder folk style that would come later, Converse wrote reflective songs that sounded closer to personal thoughts or even letters.
During the early 1950s, she performed occasionally in New York apartments and small gatherings. Her friend Gene Deitch, who later worked in animation, recorded many of her songs at home on a tape machine. In 1954, she appeared on The Morning Show on CBS, singing several of her compositions. The appearance did not lead to a recording contract, and by the end of the decade, she stepped away from performing.
In the early 1960s, Converse moved to Michigan and worked in publishing and writing. Music slowly faded from her life, and she became a huge activist on racism. On August 10, 1974, she wrote letters to friends and family and packed her belongings into a Volkswagen Beetle and drove away from her Ann Arbor, Michigan home. She was never heard from again, and her disappearance remains unexplained. She left letters indicating a desire to start a new life and instructed friends/family not to look for her. No traces of her or her car were ever found. There have been theories about her. While she may have started a new life, the most widely discussed theories include suicide (possibly by driving into a body of water) or death by misadventure.
Several years after she left, someone told her brother Philip that they had seen a phone book listing for “Elizabeth Converse” in either Kansas or Oklahoma, but he never pursued the lead. About ten years after she disappeared, the family hired a private investigator in hopes of finding her. The investigator told the family, however, that even if he did find her, it was her right to disappear, and he could not simply bring her back. After that, her family respected her decision to leave and ceased looking for her.
Her music might have stayed unknown if Gene Deitch had not preserved those early tapes. In 2009, the label Squirrel Thing Recordings released a collection of her recordings. For the first time, people heard the songs she had written more than fifty years earlier. Listeners were struck by how modern they sounded, both in their lyrics and their quiet delivery.
Today, Connie Converse is often mentioned as a lost pioneer of singer-songwriter music. She worked alone with a guitar, writing direct songs about daily life, loneliness, and independence, years before artists in the 1960s folk revival made that approach common.
What makes Connie Converse interesting is timing. She was writing personal, singer-songwriter-style material in the early 1950s, almost a decade before that approach became common. If these songs had been recorded during the 1960s folk revival, her story might look very different.
Connie Converse: “Human society fascinates me and awes me and fills me with grief and joy; I just can’t find my place to plug into it”
“I believe all true art is, in this sense, impersonal: its value does not depend on knowing or thinking anything about its maker. Art is not an extension of the artist’s personality, but has its own life”
“The problem, or at least a problem, I’ve been told — is that I am not very concerned about being missed upon any of my exits, not the ones that are voluntary nor the ones that swoop down without warning to cover me in a quilt of dark feathers”.
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