1970s – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

King Floyd – Groove Me

This is my eighth song pick for Hanspostcard’s song draft. King Floyd’s Groove Me.

The bass in this song punches you like a heavy weight fighter and will roll you like wholesale carpet…the timing is absolutely perfect. I hear some Otis and Wilson Pickett in this song and it will make you move. I wanted to touch on the seventies R&B/funk side in the draft…I can’t do any better than this one.

Floyd takes almost a full minute to build up to the chorus and it’s well worth the wait when he kicks it in. Also wanted to mention that a musician named Vernie Robbins plays the bass in this song…the bass along with Floyd carries the song…and the horns don’t hurt either.

This was the B side to a song called What Our Love Needs and DJ’s played a role in making this a hit after spinning this side more. They started to play this song in the New Orleans region and it took off nationally… something that would not happen today.

This was recorded at the same session as Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff.” In the 80s I heard this song and was hooked on the first listen. Back then it took me a while to track it down…but track it down I did at Tower Records. I get all misty eyed when thinking of pulling into the parking lot of Tower or Port O’ Call Records. .

This is a song that has not been worn out…in fact we need it more. I love the dynamics going on in the chorus when it kicks in. The song was released in 1970 and peaked at #6 in the Billboard Hot 100.

On how Floyd wrote this song… He was working at a box factory and noticed a woman there: She’d just watch me and smile at me all day. When I went to the water fountain, she would make it her purpose to come up to the water fountain. But, I was so shy. So, I decided one day that I was gonna write this poem and give it to her and I wrote ‘Groove Me.’ Believe it or not, after I finished it she never came back to work. It blew me away. So, I never gave her the poem. Man, I’d sure like to meet her one day just to thank her!”

Groove Me

Hey there sugar darlin’
Let me tell you something
Girl, I’ve been trying to say, now
You look so sweet
And you’re so doggone fine
I just can’t get you out of my mind
You’ve become a sweet taste in my mouth, now
And I want you to be my spouse
So that we can live happily, nah-nah
In a great big ol’ roomy house
And I know you’re gonna groove me, baby
Ahh, yeah, now
You make me feel good inside
Come on, and groove me, baby
I need you to groove me
Ahhh, yeah, now, now, darling
Uhh! Come on, come on!
Hey! Uhh!

Hey there, sugar darlin’
Come on, give me something
Girl, I’ve been needing for days
Yes, I’m good, good loving
With plenty, plenty hugging
Ooh, you cute little thang, you
Girl, between you and me, nah-nah
We don’t need no company
No other man, no other girl
Can enter into our world
Not as long as you groove me, baby
Ahh, come on
Make me feel good inside
Come on and groove me, baby
Move me, baby
Ahh, sock it to me, mama
Uhh! Ahh, I like it like that, baby
Uhh! Groove me, baby! Hey! Uhh!
Groove me, darling!
Come on, come on
I need you to sock it to me, mama
Come on and groove me, baby
Hey! Uhh! Good, God!
It makes me feel so good inside, mama
Now, come on, come on, and uhh
Groove me, baby, groove me, baby
Ahh, sock it to me
Sock it to me
Rock it to me
Come on, come on!
Come on!
And uhh
Groove me, mama, I want you to
Groove me!

Big Star – Kanga Roo

This album was quite different than the other two Big Star albums. This song has a wonderful melody but it sounds like the world is collapsing around him when he sings it.

This song was on their 3rd album “Third/Sisters Lovers.” By this time the bands founder Chris Bell had been gone since the debut album was released and bassist Andy Hummel quit after their second album Radio City. There were only two original members on the album…Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens. This album sometimes has been looked at as an Alex Chilton solo album…Jody did contribute a song and brought in a string section that was used in other songs.

They used different Memphis musicians on the album. Alex was dating Lesa Aldridge (who would go on to form a punk band calle The Klitz) and she helped with the album also.

Jim Dickinson produced this album and he got close to Chilton and encouraged him to try new things. Alex sometimes cut tracks late at night, then presented them to Jim the following day. After the two had been discussing the producer’s role, Alex showed up with “Like St. Joan,” possibly referencing the martyred Joan of Arc, which morphed into “Kanga Roo.”

Jim jumped into action, adding electric guitar feedback, strings via a Mellotron, and his own amateurish drums—since Jody wasn’t there that day—including a very loud cowbell. Inspired, Alex grabbed a drumstick to use as a bow on his Strat, creating an eerie sound. Effects were added to Alex’s drowsy vocals, which presumably related the story of his and Lesa’s love affair:

Jim Dickinson: “Alex came in one morning and he had this little evil grin on his face,” “He said, ‘Lesa and I cut something last night I want you to hear.’ Okay, so he plays me ‘Like a Kangaroo’ [its second title], which is acoustic twelve-string and vocal on one track [making it difficult to separate the sounds]. I said, ‘Yeah, Alex, what do you hear on that?’ And with the evil grin, he says, ‘Well, why don’t you produce it, Mr. Producer?’” “I first saw you, you had on blue jeans / Your eyes couldn’t hide anything . . . Thought you were a queen, oh so flirty.” Alex later said of the lyrics that he was spewing things out loud, just song after song. . . . The whole process was kind of automatic, free association.” “I think of Alex as a collaborator. He allowed me to collaborate with him.

Kanga Roo

I first saw you
You had on blue jeans
Your eyes couldn’t hide anything
I saw you breathing, oh
I saw you staring out in space

I next saw you
You was at the party
Thought you was a queen
Oh so flirty
I came against

Didn’t say excuse
Knew what I was doing
We looked very fine
‘Cause we were leaving

Like Saint Joan
Doing a cool jerk
Oh, I want you
Like a kanga roo

Flamin’ Groovies – Slow Death

The Flamin’ Groovies are a treasure find of a band. They have songs that are power pop, grungy blues rock, and some great rock and roll. On this song we are concentrating on the rock/blues phase of the Groovies.

I first heard this band with Shake Some Action. Their music style at first was hard to pin down. They admitted they were all over the map. They are most known for the power pop song Shake Some Action but I read where a commenter said…Slow Death was the best Stones song the Stones never did.

Released the same year as the Rolling Stones’ album Sticky Fingers, Mick Jagger reportedly noticed the similarities between the Groovies Teenage Head album … and thought the Flamin’ Groovies did the better take on the theme of classic blues and rock ‘n roll revisited in a modern context.

The band started in 1965 by Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. By the end of the sixties they clashed over where to go. Loney was more Stones and Jordon leaned toward the Beatles. Loney left in 1971 and they got an 18 year old lead singer named Chris Wilson.

The moved to London and started to work with Dave Edmunds. With Chris they did more power pop and that is when Shake Some Action came about with Wilson and Jordon writing it.

They would go on to be a great power pop band and also be know as an early proto punk band…they pretty much covered the gamut. This anti-drug song was written by Jordon and Loney before he left…Chris Wilson is singing it.

Wilson left in the early eighties but the band continued until around 1994. They regrouped in 2012 including Chris Wilson. The Flamin Groovies have released 9 studio albums and one as late as 2017.

Bass Player George Alexander:

We were the fastest band on the planet, like Ramones-fast. Once Chris got in, we decided to move on to what we considered the next level. We needed a lead singer that could carry that off, a young, good-looking guy who could Jagger-out.

With Chris we were moving into ‘Shake Some Action.’ Our last record from the punk phrase was ‘Teenage Head’ and [the first single with Wilson] ‘Slow Death,’ which was more Stones-y. We kept ‘Slow Death’ in the set but it was now time for ‘Shake Some Action’ and the power pop.

On this video…looks like they are at the Marquee Club where the Who started.

Slow Death

I called the doctor
In the morning
I had a fever
It was a warning
She said “There’s nothing I can prescribe
To keep your raunchy bag of bones alive”
I got some money left for one more shot
She said “God bless you” I said “Thanks a lot”

It’s a slow, slow death

I called the preacher
Holy, holy
I begged forgiveness
That’s when he told me
He said “There’s nothing I can prescribe
To keep your raunchy bag of bones alive”
I got some money left for one more shot
He said “God bless you” I said “Thanks a lot”

Slow Death

I’m set to mainline
A hit of morphine
It’s set to mainline
It’s like a bad dream
Slow death–eat my mind away
Slow death–turn my guts to clay
It’s a slow, slow, slow death

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Someday Never Comes

This one is a sad song. It reminds me a little of Cat’s in the Cradle…except more painful. This one was inspired by Fogerty’s parents getting a divorce when he was younger.

This song was on their last studio album Mardis Gras. To put it bluntly…a bad album. The only bad album in their original catalog. The band was coming apart at this time and John’s brother Tom had already quit after the last album. They made the album as a trio. John Fogerty, Stu Cook, and Doug Clifford. The others wanted to be able to have more of a say on the direction of the band.

John had heard this for a while so he basically told them…you two are responsible for a 1/3 of the album so go write. The other two were not ready for this as they had to write songs and sing also. The album was a disaster and was known as “Fogerty’s Revenge” and after the album they did a tour and the band was over after that.

The song peaked at #25 in the Billboard Album Charts and #29 in Canada in 1972. The album peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100 and #12 in Canada on the strength of Sweet Hitch Hiker and Someday Never Comes.

John Fogerty:

“Someday Never Comes” is simply a song about my parents undergoing a divorce when I was a child and me not knowing many things. When my dad left me, he told me to be a man and someday I would understand everything. Now, I’m here basically repeating the same thing really. I had a son in 1966 and I went away when he was five years old or so and again told him “someday” he would understand everything. Really, all kids ask questions like “Daddy, when are we going fishing?” and parents always answer with “someday”, but in reality someday never comes and kids never learn what they’re supposed to learn. –

When I wrote this song, my life was pretty chaotic. I knew my marriage was going to break up. My band was falling apart. I was beginning to sense the darkness that was Fantasy Records. This song was inspired by my parents’ divorce when I was a young boy and the effect it had on me. At the time, they told me, “Someday, you’ll understand.” The truth of this is that you never do and I found myself facing this as a parent. The irony was painful and inescapable

Someday Never Comes

First thing I remember was asking papa, why,
For there were many things I didn’t know.
And daddy always smiled and took me by the hand,
Saying, someday you’ll understand.

Well, I’m here to tell you now, each and every mother’s son,
That you better learn it fast, you better learn it young,
‘Cause someday never comes.

Well, time and tears went by and I collected dust.
For there were many things I didn’t know.
When daddy went away, he said, try to be a man,
And someday you’ll understand.

Well, I’m here to tell you now, each and every mother’s son,
That you better learn it fast, you better learn it young,
‘Cause someday never comes.

And then one day in April, I wasn’t even there,
For there were many things I didn’t know.
A son was born to me. Mama held his hand,
Sayin’ someday you’ll understand.

Well, I’m here to tell you now, each and every mother’s son,
That you better learn it fast, you better learn it young,
‘Cause someday never comes
Ooo someday never comes.

Think it was September, the year I went away,
For there were many things I didn’t know.
And still I see him standing, tryin’ to be a man,
I said, someday you’ll understand.

Well, I’m here to tell you now, each and every mother’s son,
That you better learn it fast, you better learn it young,
‘Cause someday never comes
Ooo someday never comes.

Birtha – Too Much Woman (For a Henpecked Man)

Birtha was an all female rock/soul band from the seventies…and they didn’t mess about. They were really aggressive in their sound. Birtha was formed in 1968 by singer-bassist Rosemary Butler and guitarist-singer Shele Pinizzotto. The band consisted of Shele Pinizzotto, Rosemary Butler, Sherry Hagler, and drummer Olivia “Liver” Favela. All of them sang and provided backup vocals.

In the early seventies there were not loads of all female rock bands around. Fanny was probably the most successful one during that time. The other band I found was Isis… they were more of a horn rock band. Birtha was straight ahead rock and roll with some soul leanings.

The group immediately started playing the club circuit and toured from California to Alaska. From 1968 to 1971 Birtha worked to tighten and refine their rock sound and in 1971 they started writing their own material. Birtha signed a record contract with Dunhill Records in 1972 and recorded their first album, Birtha with record producer Gabriel Mckler and Engineers, David Hassinger and Val Caray.

Birtha released their self-titled debut album in 1972. It features nine songs, six of them written by the band. Too Much Woman (For a Henpecked Man) was written by Ike Turner. It was on Ike and Tina’s album Come Together released in 1970.

Birtha worked hard and toured constantly. They opened up for such acts as Fleetwood Mac, Alice Cooper, Poco, Black Oak Arkansas, Cheech and Chong, B.B. King, Three Dog Night, and The James Gang.

Birtha disbanded in 1975. The only member to continue in music was Rosemary Butler, who did backing vocals for James Taylor, The Doobie Brothers, Nicolette Larson, Neil Diamond, the Charlie Daniels Band, and numerous other artists. She also released a solo album in 1983.

I’m including two songs to give more of a selection of their music. As with Fanny…this band should have been heard…they were super talented.

Too Much Woman (For a Henpecked Man)

I wanna be loved, not teased
I don’t want no man on his knees
A henpecked man I can’t respect
‘Cause I’m a hard woman to handle, and I know that

He’s gotta be staid
Use his head to turn me on
Not give it all

My Mama was mean, my Papa was cruel
I never got the chance to do like the other girls
But now I’m a woman, sweet twenty-one
I wanna find myself a man and have myself some fun

He’s gotta be staid
Use his head to turn me on
Not give it all
Get it on, y’all

Pullin’ cotton sacks is all I’ve ever known
The man I find has got to be strong
‘Cause a weak man I can’t stand
Because I’m too much of a woman to have a henpecked man

He’s gotta be staid
Use his head to turn me on
Not give it all
So get it on

Runaways – American Nights

I’ve always liked the Runaways. They were punk, rock, and some pop thrown in together. Their best known song is Cherry Bomb and it has gained popularity in the last decade because of the 2010 movie about them and the song included on the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack.

This song was written by Mark Anthony and Kim Fowley. It was on their self-titled debut album released in 1976.

The Runaways were formed in 1975 by producer Kim Fowley after guitarist Joan Jett and drummer Sandy West introduced themselves to him in hopes of starting a group. They eventually went on to recruit Lita Ford, Jackie Fox, and Cherie Currie. Lead singer, Currie, went into her audition with a rendition of Peggy Lee’s “Fever.”

Robert Plant played a joke on them and told them it was fun to collect (steal) hotel keys in England. The keys were big and ornate, and somewhat valuable, so when the band tried to enter France, they were detained by Customs. They had to cancel their show.

Joan Jett on her one arrest: “It was in England, on the first Runaways tour, about to catch the ferry to France. I blame Robert Plant, because we once asked him what souvenirs we should get on the road; he said he took hotel room keys. In England, the keys were big, ornate, metal things. I had four. At customs, the guy said, ‘Hmm, sticky fingers, you’re under arrest’, and put me in a jail cell.”

American NIghts

Clean rock n roll
Makes the midnight flow tonight now
It’s hot tonight
Come on let’s have a good time
In the dark of the night
We hunt for fun
Chasing after the moonlight
Hiding from the sun

American nights
You kids are so strange
American nights
You’re never gonna change

Our magic is young
Cause we just begun
We light up the sky
Always on the run
We live in the streets
In the alleys of screams
Cause we’re the queens of noise
The answer to your dreams

American nights
You kids are so strange
American nights
You’re never gonna change

Hey boy you’re my good time
Dance close ya feel so fine
Hold tight we’re on fire
All night you’re my desire

Everybody
Wanna party
Everybody
Wanna party

American nights
You kids are so strange
American nights
You’re never gonna change

Fanny – Special Care

I posted a different song from this band a while ago. I’ve been listening to them recently and they were a special (see David Bowie quote below) band. The musicianship of Fanny was outstanding.

Their name was Wild Honey but…according to Wiki… The band was then renamed Fanny, not with a sexual connotation but to denote a female spirit

These women rocked…not pop rock but blues rock. They were pioneers before the Runaways, Bangles and the Go Go’s…and those bands all cited Fanny as an influence. Fanny was different than those bands… They had a blues edge about them.

Fanny was formed in the late sixties in Sacramento by two Filipina sisters, Jean and June Millington. June Millington was the lead guitar player and her sister Jean was the bass player. June could play circles around many rock guitarists. Fanny would be the first all-female band to release an album on a major label (their self-titled debut, on Reprise, 1970) and land four singles in the Billboard Hot 100 and two in the top 40. The band played blues, rock, and some pop.

Fanny toured worldwide, opening for Slade, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, and Humble Pie. They were praised by David Bowie, John Lennon, George Harrison, Lowell George, Sly Stone, and Bonnie Raitt but yet vanished without much fan fair. They were touring and releasing records between 1970 – 1975.

This song was on their Charity Ball album. The album peaked at #140 in the Billboard Album Charts. The title song charted at #40.

The worked with producers such as Vini Poncia, Geoff Emerick, and Richard Perry. They also worked with

June was described by Guitar Player as the hottest female guitar player in the music industry in the 70s. She made a career as a producer for artists including Holly Near, Cris Williamson and Bitch and Animal. June also operates a music camp for young girls. Jean has done studio work for many artists, including Keith Moon, David Bowie, and Roderick Taylor. Jean also married Bowie’s guitarist Earl Slick and is presently an herbalist. The Millingtons continued to record together after Fanny as well, most recently on the 2011 album Play Like a Girl on June’s label Fabulous Records.

They also worked with Barbra Streisand. Jean commented that they heard horror stories about her from other musicians but she treated the band with nothing but respect.

These ladies need to be heard and remembered.

David Bowie:

“They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time,” “They were extraordinary: They wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time.”

This is a trailer for documentary about Fanny…it’s short and interesting.

Special Care

You there in the corner
Staring at me
Do you think I’m blowing my cool
Playing the fool?

You there in the window
Staring at me
Do you think I’m trouble?
Would you like to shoot me down?
(Shoot me down, down, down, down)

Now, now, now, special care
(Special care)
Has been taken
To make you aware
(Special Care)
You’re forsaken
If you don’t care
(Special Care)

They’re gonna come burn your house down
(Burn it down, down, down, down)

Woaaaaa. Wooooaaaaaa
(Guitar Magic)
Ooaaaa
(Special Care)
Oo-hoo-hoo
(has been taken to make you aware)
Oo-hooooo
(You’re forsaken. If you don’t care)

Ohh-huh, they’re gonna come and burn it down
Down, oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh, do it, do it, do it

(Special Care)
(Special Care)
(Special Care)
(Special Care)
(Special Care)

Nikki and the Corvettes – He’s A Mover

Great way to start a morning listening to this 60s influenced guitar riff. It’s a pure joy power pop song.

Nikki was influenced by The Stooges and the MC5 in her teen years, before a friend pushed her on stage in the Detroit punk scene in 1978. Nikki and The Corvettes formed and recorded their self-titled and only studio album in the late ‘70s in Detroit. It was released in 1980 by Bomp! Bomp! records. This song was on that self-titled album.

The album they released influenced many starting bands in the years to follow. Nikki didn’t realize this until it was reissued in 2000. The band was short lived. They were only together from 1978-1981. Nikki returned to music in 2003 with Nikki and the Stingrays. They released an album called Back to Detroit.

In 2009 she formed a band called Gorevette and they opened up for Blondie and the Donna’s at a few shows.

Sorry I couldn’t find the lyrics…Just enjoy the song!

Droogs – Ahead Of My Time

The lyrics won’t make you mistake these guys for Bob Dylan but the guitar action is pretty cool in this one.

Several years before it became fashionable…the Droogs were playing what would later be called “garage revival”. They started playing together as pre-teens in 1966 and began issuing singles in the early to mid seventies.

Ahead of My Time was released in 1974. They missed out on the garage band sixties and they were ahead of the curve of the 60s garage band revival in the late 70’s.

They started to release albums in the mid-eighties and were part of the Paisley Underground Scene. They released 8 albums between 1984 to 2017.

The Droogs just released an album in 2017 called Young Gun and are still together doing their thing.

Ahead Of My Time

Hey babe, this must be your lucky day babe
I wanna kiss you if I may babe
Don’t care what people have to say babe

I’ve got to love you, the only way that I can
So please don’t misunderstand
They’ll tell you that I’m not your kind
But I’m just ahead of my time.

In your neighborhood, got a reputation that’s none too good.
For knowing things no young man should
I know baby, you would if you could

I’ve got to love you, the only way that I can
So please don’t me be your man
They’ll tell you true love’s hard to find
But I’m just ahead of my time.
I’m just ahead of my time.
I’m just ahead of my time.

We’re just ahead of our time.
We’re just ahead of our time.
We’re just ahead of our time.

Hey babe, this must be your lucky day babe
I wanna kiss you if I may babe
Don’t care what people have to say babe

I’ve got to love you, all the way babe

…

Emitt Rhodes – Long Time No See…. Power Pop Friday

It’s a shame this guy didn’t get the recognition he should have. He was obviously influenced by the Beatles and Paul McCartney especially.

Emitt was turned down by A&M Records so he built a studio in his parents garage. Rhodes recorded his first album (Emitt Rhodes) in that studio. ABC/Dunhill Records signed him and they released his album as well as the next three albums he recorded.

He played all the instruments himself and recorded on a four track tape machine. ABC/Dunhill then transferred the tapes to 8 track and Emitt redone all of his vocals.

This song is on his debut album Emitt Rhodes and every song is quality. The first single Fresh as a Daisy peaked at #54 in the Billboard 100 while his album Emitt Rhodes peaked at #29 in 1970.

The album was a critical success – Billboard called Rhodes “one of the finest artists on the music scene today” and later called his first album one of the “best albums of the decade“.

Unfortunately Emitt passed away in 2020 in his sleep.

From Wiki: Italian director Cosimo Messeri shot a documentary movie about Emitt Rhodes’s vicissitudes: life, past, present, troubles and hopes. The movie, titled The One Man Beatles, was selected for the International Rome Film Festival 2009, and it received standing ovations. In 2010 The One Man Beatles was nominated for David di Donatello Award as Best Documentary of 2010. Its US premiere screening was scheduled for May 29, 2010, at the Rhino Records Pop Up Store in Westwood, California.

Long Time No See

It’s been a long time, I remember you well
It’s been a long time no see, where you been keeping yourself?

You’ve been staying all alone when you should be playing
Been feeling all alone when you should be praying
It’s been a long time no see.

It’s been a rough road to ride, says the sun in the West
It’s been hard but I get by with a moment to rest.

Been thinking all the time that things will get better
And living all alone can’t make me much sadder
It’s been hard but I’ll get by.

Oh oh oh oh, yeah
Oooh…

It’s been a long time, I remember you well
It’s been a long time no see, where you been keeping yourself?

You’ve been staying all alone when you should be playing
Been feeling all alone when you should be praying
It’s been a long time no see.

Oh oh oh oh, yeah
Oooh…

Badfinger – Lost Inside Your Love

I haven’t posted a Badfinger song in a while…and this is the first one I’ll post that came after Pete Ham passed away. Pete Ham was the principle songwriter but Joey Molland and Tom Evans were no slouches. This edition included Tony Kaye, formally of Yes.

This song is slow but the melody is fantastic. This song was long after Pete Ham was gone from the band in 1975. This song was written by bass player Tom Evans. In 1977 the guitar player Joey Molland and Evans started the band back after the death of Ham.

They were signed by Electra Records and released an album called Airwaves. I remember when I was around 11 I saw this in a cutout bin…I bought it because I’d read so much about them from Beatle books. It’s a good album considering there is no Pete Ham

The album flopped, only hitting #125 in America. “Lost Inside You Love”, however, was selected to be the album’s first single release. Backed with the Joey Molland-written track “Come Down Hard”, the song, like the album, was not successful, not charting in America or Britain. Another single followed named “Love Is Gonna Come at Last”, that same year which got some radio play.

In 1983, after a dispute with former bandmate Joey Molland over royalties for the song “Without You”, Tom Evans hanged himself in his garden only eight years after Pete Ham did the same.

Lost Inside Your Love

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a victim of you
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love

What can it be, who can I see?
All of your life you’ve been the winner in me
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love

Is it any wonder there’s no reason why?
Is it all because I left it open wide for your pride
To leave me one more time
Are you leaving me one more time?

[guitar solo (Joey Molland)]

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a winner with you
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love.

LOST INSIDE YOUR LOVE [solo demo version] (Tom Evans)
What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a victim of you
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love

What can it be, who can I see?
All of my life you’ve been the loser in me
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love

Is it any wonder there’s no reason why?
Is it all because I left it open wide for your pride
To lose me once again
Am I losing you once again?

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a loser with you
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love.

Slade – Get Down And Get With It

Noddy’s voice in this song is a perfect example of why AC/DC supposedly asked him to replace Bon Scott in 1980.

When they decided to record it, at Olympic Studios, they did so with a live feel, setting up the microphones in the stairwell outside which gave the echo for hand clapping and stamping. Most DJs wouldn’t play it because they thought it was too rowdy, but a few did, including John Peel.

The song was written by Bobby Marchan and he released it in 1964. Little Richard covered it and released it in 1967. Slade heard the Little Richard version and based their recording off of his. Little Richard was given the writer’s credit, then they were sued by the real writer, Bobby Marchan. Slade’s record company, Polydor, sorted out the mess.

It peaked at #16 in the UK in 1971.

From Songfacts

Slade ended their live set with “Get Down And Get With It” for nearly two years; in his autobiography, band member Noddy Holder said it was a Little Richard cover in 12-bar format, but “had something magical about it”; the original was all piano and sax, but they did it with guitars.

It peaked at #16, and earned them an appearance on Top Of The Pops.

When the sheet music was published by Burlington Music at 20p, it was credited correctly to Marchan, copyright 1965 by Tree Publishing of Nashville. The full title was given as “GET DOWN AND GET WITH IT (GET DOWN WITH IT).”

Get Down and Get With It

All right everybody
Let your head down
I want to say everybody get on of your seat
Clap your hand and step your feet
*Get down and get with it
I said*
Do the turns
Come on baby
I’m going to watch everybody work
I said come on baby
Watch everybody do the dance
(*repeat)
It’s been a long long time
Yeah,yeah,yeah
I’m going to watch everybody go around
I said (*repeat) baby
Watch everybody make some time

(* repeat)
It’s alright
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Ma ma ma ma…..
Baby it’s alright
Ma ma ma ma ma ma

Everybody raise both of your hand in the air
Everybody, everybody
I said clap your hands
Everybody clap your hands
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma
Everybody clap your hands ma ma ma…
I want to see everybody get your boots on
Everybody everywhere
I said step your feet
Come on and step Your feet Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Ma ma ma ma…
Everybody step your feet
Ma ma ma ma…
I want to say everybody get above your seats
Clap your hands and step your feet
Make it

(* repeat)
I said (*repeat)
I said (*repeat) baby
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma
I said come on baby, ma ma ma ma…
I said step your feet and do the thing baby
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma ma ma ma…
Everybody step your feet baby
I said ma ma ma ma
Yeah…
I said (*repeat) now
Yeah,yeah,yeah
Ma…..
(*repeat) baby
Ma…..

I want everubody to say their feels
All right

Rolling Stones – Sister Morphine

A dark country blues song by the Stones with help from Marianne Faithfull.

Mick Jagger wrote the music in Rome in 1968. Marianne Faithfull wrote the lyrics, but The Stones did not give her an official songwriting credit until they released it on their 1998 live album No Security. The Stones were very protective about songwriting credits to say the least…they made sure most of their songs were credited to Jagger/Richards.

The Stones recorded this in 1968. Ry Cooder played the bottleneck guitar on this track. He was filling in for the Brian Jones, who died before this song was released. This was the only song on Sticky Fingers that Mick Taylor, who replaced Jones, didn’t play on.

A little trivia on Sticky Fingers… The Sticky Fingers album had an actual zipper on the cover. On many copies, this track was damaged because the zipper pressed into it. To solve the problem, the zipper was opened before the album shipped, this way it just dented the label.

Marianne Faithfull: “I just liked the name, and loved Lou Reed’s work, ‘Sister Ray and ‘Heroin.’ I liked the idea poetically. I thought it was like Baudelaire, but the song doesn’t glamorise anything. It was a really interesting vision.”

From Songfacts

Marianne Faithfull recorded this during The Stones’ Let It Bleed sessions (she was Mick Jagger’s girlfriend at the time). Her version was released in 1969 and tanked. Decca Records pulled it after 2 weeks.

The song is about a man who gets in a car accident and dies in the hospital while asking for morphine.

Faithfull was not a heavy drug user when she wrote the lyrics, but became an addict in 1971, at the same time The Stones’ version was released. She called this her “Frankenstein,” consuming her and leading her into an abyss of drugs. In later years, she was able to break the habit resume a successful career as both a singer and an actress.

Some of the lyrics were inspired by the time Anita Pallenberg, Keith’s girlfriend, was hospitalized and given morphine.

The Stones recorded this in 1968, but their version was not released until 1971.

This was left off the Spanish release of Sticky Fingers because of the explicit content. It was replaced with “Let It Rock.”

This was influenced by the Velvet Underground, who were writing dark songs about drugs, especially heroin.

Not long after writing the song, the lyrics came painfully true to Marianne Faithfull. She recalled to The Guardian: “The story is about a man in a car accident in hospital, who’s very damaged and wants to die. It isn’t exactly what happened to me, but my feelings about it are probably the same. I was hospitalized in Sydney after an attempted suicide after Brian Jones died. It was a terrible time.”

Sister Morphine

Here I lie in my hospital bed
Tell me, sister Morphine, when are you coming round again?
Oh, I don’t think I can wait that long
Oh, you see that I’m not that strong

The scream of the ambulance is sounding in my ears
Tell me, sister Morphine, how long have I been lying here?
What am I doing in this place?
Why does the doctor have no face?

Oh, I can’t crawl across the floor
Ah, can’t you see, Sister Morphine, I’m trying to score

Well it just goes to show
Things are not what they seem
Please, sister Morphine, turn my nightmares into dreams
Oh, can’t you see I’m fading fast?
And that this shot will be my last

Sweet cousin Cocaine, lay your cool cool hand on my head
Ah, come on, sister Morphine, you better make up my bed
‘Cause you know and I know in the morning I’ll be dead
Yeah, and you can sit around, yeah and you can watch all
The clean white sheets stained red

James Gang – Midnight Man

This is my third song pick for Hanspostcard’s song draft. The James Gang Midnight Man.

My next door neighbor while growing up was named Clint. He was a teenager my sister’s age. He would sometimes let me tag along with him and his friends. They would play albums in his room and this James Gang album was one of the most popular. He only let me tag along because he liked my sister…being nice to me didn’t help him in that department but he was a good sport about it.

I knew better than to cause trouble with the guys….I just stayed quiet and listened to the music or I would be kicked out of the room. I was mesmerized by this song as a kid and still am. I was only 7 or 8 but hanging out with older kids was cool and listening to this new…to me…music stirred something in me.

This was about the time in my young life I realized…the Osmonds weren’t cool and I had to tell that to my Osmond obsessed sister…she didn’t give a flip what I thought and continued on with Puppy Love and with her Donny posters.

When I think of the James Gang I think of this simple slower song. Yes Funk #49, The Bomber, and Walk Away are more popular but this song stayed with me. I think Joe Walsh’s guitar tone and voice are absolutely perfect in this song.

In the third verse Joe steps aside and lets Mary Sterpka take it and it works well. When she sings “be mine” and then goes up high…it gives me chills. Joe plays some simple but creative guitar throughout the closing minute but doesn’t over play. I also like the Hawaiian guitar licks which makes the song different than their other songs.

It peaked at #80 in 1971. Thirds was the last James Gang album made with Joe Walsh. It was never a big song but that doesn’t matter…it filled a musical need when I needed it. Walsh wrote the song.

Thank you Clint for letting a little kid tag along and hear this wonderful music…sorry my sister wasn’t interested.

I just realized I have picked two Cleveland picks in a row… The Raspberries and the James Gang both hail from Cleveland…hey Cleveland Rocks!

Midnight Man

I’m the midnight man
I do what I can
To make sure that I am
The midnight man
Midnight man’s on time
Everything is fine
All the words in rhyme
With everything

[solo]

Midnight man, you’re pretty
Midnight man, you’re fine
Midnight man, be careful
Midnight man
Midnight man, be mine

ZZ Top – Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers

The thing about ZZ Top is they never seem to take themselves too seriously. No concept albums or big love ballads… just good old fashion boogie blues rock.

I saw them in 1983 in Nashville. I remember the light show was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it since. Near the end they made it look as if the stage was shaking and someone fell out of the lighting rig to the stage. Everyone at first thought it was a real person but it was a stuffed dummy.

They sounded great that night and it’s a concert I’ll never forget. The Little Ol’ Band from Texas didn’t disappoint. Who knew at that time they would be be together over 50 years with the same members they started out with.

The death of Dusty Hill had me to pull out Tres Hombres and give it another listen. Compared to other trios like Cream or the Jimi Hendrix Experience…ZZ Top played more in a groove. Dusty wasn’t all over the place on bass but he kept that bottom end grounded for Gibbons guitar to dance around in while Beard was locked with Dusty.

Tres Hombres was released in 1973. The album had four of their best known early songs such as La Grange, Waitin’ For The Bus, Jesus Just Left Chicago, and this one.

The album peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100 in 1973 and #13 in Canada…thanks to Vic (The Hinoeuma Cosmic Observation) for the Canada info.

Billy Gibbons: “On to a gig in Phoenix, we were driving through a West Texas windstorm. We, the band, were waiting to discover a place with some safe ground cover when the late-night lights of a roadside joint appeared. It was just across the line outside El Paso into New Mexico.

We ducked in quick and came face to face with our kind of folks… those soulful souls seeking solace, not only out of the dust and sand, but out of mind. What chance does one get better than that! We joined the gathering and started scribbling.”

From Songfacts

Group composition “Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers” (with or without the ampersand) is a fun track with the band playing up to their Southern redneck image. Unusually, bass player Dusty Hill supplies the lead vocal, backed up by axeman Gibbons.

It has been suggested that the line, “Baby, don’t you wanna come with me?” means something a little more explicit than, “Would you like to accompany me to the honky-tonk, miss?” If that is indeed the case, then the censor missed it; although it was not released as a single it received considerable airplay, including in the UK, where in 1973 this sort of innuendo would not have been tolerated by the BBC.

The original version runs to 3 minutes 23 seconds, and the song has been covered by both Van Halen and Motörhead, the latter of whom produced a blistering track with some fine and innovative soloing by Fast Eddie Clarke, but as is often the case, the original has not been bettered.

Here is a live version from 1980. I don’t like posting live versions unless they were done around the time of the release…this is as close as I could find as far as a video of them.

Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers

If you see me walkin’ down the line
with my fav’rite honky tonk in mind,
well, I’ll be here around suppertime
with my can of dinner and a bunch of fine.

Beer drinkers and hell raisers, yeah.
Uh-huh-huh, baby, don’t you wanna come with me?

The crowd gets loud when the band gets right,
steel guitar cryin’ through the night.
Yeah, try’n to cover up the corner fight
but ev’rything’s cool ’cause they’s just tight.

Beer drinkers and hell raisers, yeah.
Huh, baby, don’t you wanna come with me?
Ah, play it boy.

The joint was jumpin’ like a cat on hot tin.
Lord, I thought the floor was gonna give in.
Soundin’ a lot like a House Congressional
’cause we’re experimental and professional.

Beer drinkers, hell raisers, yeah.
Well, baby, don’t you wanna come with me?