1970s – Page 21 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Frank Zappa – Catholic Girls

I grew up listening to Zappa on the American Top 40 show with Casey Kasem. Uh…scratch that. No, I only heard Zappa when I was over at a friend’s house with an older brother’s record collection. This was the first song I ever heard by him and it sticks with me after listening to it. The second song was Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow but I always favored this one.

This song reflects Zappa’s typical satirical style, poking fun at religion and society. I could only guess how many people were offended by this one. His songs still feel vibrant and new.

It was on the album Joe’s Garage which was released in two parts. “Act I” came out in September 1979, while “Acts II & III” followed in November 1979. The entire album was later released as a triple LP. He came up with the idea for Joe’s Garage as a satire on the music industry, government censorship, and society in general.

The album was about Joe, a young guitarist who started a garage band. The band gains popularity, but Joe soon faces disillusionment with the music industry. He gets involved with a groupie named Lucille, contracts a venereal disease, and ends up in trouble with the law.

I thought just maybe this would have been released as a single. Hell, he released the song Bobby Brown but not this one.

One thing the man didn’t get as much credit for as he deserved…his guitar playing was phenomenal.

Catholic Girls

Catholic GirlsWith a tiny little mustacheCatholic GirlsDo you know how they go?Catholic GirlsIn the Rectory BasementFather Riley’s a fairyBut it don’t bother Mary

Catholic GirlsAt the CYOCatholic GirlsDo you know how they go?Catholic GirlsThere can be no replacementHow do they go, after the show?

All the way(That’s right, all the way!)That’s the way they goEvery day(That’s right!)And none of their mamas ever seem to knowHip-Hip-HoorayFor all the class they showThere’s nothing like a Catholic GirlAt the CYOWhen they learn to blow

They’re learning to blowAll the Catholic Boys!Warren CuccurulloCatholic Boys!Kinda young, kinda WOW!Catholic Boys!Vinnie Colaiuta . . .

Where are they now?Did they all take The Vow?

Catholic Girls!Carmenita Scarfone!Catholic Girls!Hey! She gave me VD!Catholic Girls!Toni Carbone!

With a tongue like a cowShe could make you go WOW!

VD Vowdy vootieRight awayThat’s the way they goEvery dayWhenever their mamas take them to a showMatineePass the popcorn pleaseThere’s nothing like a Catholic GirlWith her hand in the boxWhen she’s on her knees

She was on her kneesMy little Catholic GirlChorus:In a little white dressCatholic GirlsThey never confessCatholic GirlsI got one for a cousinI love how they goSo send me a dozenCatholic GirlsOOOOOOH!(Well well now)Catholic Girls(Ma-ma-mum ma-ma-mum)Yai-ee-ahhh!Catholic GirlsOOOOOOH!(Well well now)Catholic Girls(Ma-ma-mum ma-ma-ma-ma-mum)Yai-ee-ahhh!

Joe had a girl friend named Mary.They would meet each other at the Social Club.Hold handsAnd think Pure ThoughtsBut one night, at the Social Club meeting…

…

Car Songs…Part 3

It’s a lot of fun doing these Car Songs…I could probably do one on just Cadillac songs alone! I hope you enjoy these. I try to pick songs with a car title in them. That is why I haven’t done Drive My Car and others. But I’m breaking that today…I am including a bonus.

Blasters – Long White Cadillac

A perfect road trip song from the 1983 album Non-Fiction. You’ll want to go out and buy a long white Cadillac and drive it on a long-lost highway. Dave Alvin wrote this song….The song is about the night Hank Williams died in back of a car. He died somewhere between Bristol, Tenn., and Oak Hill on the way to a New Year’s Day 1953 show in Canton, Ohio.

Dwight Yoakum recorded a version of this song in 1989 for his first greatest hits package Just Lookin’ for a Hit.

The Tom Robinson Band – Grey Cortina

This song was on his fantastic album Power In The Darkness. If you want to know a little more about him…I posted a song by the singer-activist a few months ago with the song Up Against The Wall. He has some great music and this album is great through and through.

Tom DID get his Grey Cortina in real life but… unfortunately, he said: “I bought the Cortina and it lasted 1 day before somebody ran into it and wrote it off (my fault) :-(“

Clash – Long Black Cadillac

This was a great cover by The Clash. It was on the London Calling album released in 1979. They started off as a punk band but The Clash, unlike some other Punk bands, could really play and sing well…, especially Mick Jones. He was probably the best pure musician in the band.

The song was originally by Vince Taylor and released in 1959. It was the B side to a song called Pledging My Love. Taylor wrote the song but Tony Sheridan is credited with the cool guitar riff running through the song. The song’s riff reminds me of the original Batman riff…or really the other way around.

Wilson Pickett – Mustang Sally

The music is in groove mode, but Pickett’s explosive voice drives it home. Mustang Sally was recorded at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The studio had a unique sound plus some of the best musicians anywhere. It started to get the attention of Atlantic Records and they sent Pickett to record there. Later on, a guitar player known as Duane Allman would end up as a studio musician and talked Pickett into recording Hey Jude.

As soon as they finished this take… the tape flew off the reel and broke into pieces everywhere. Producer Tom Dowd cleared the room and told everyone to return in half an hour. Dowd pieced the tape back together and saved what became one of the coolest songs of the decade.

Quiet Riot – Slick Black Cadillac

This one is for my friend Deke. The song originally appeared on Quiet Riot’s second album, Quiet Riot II, released in 1978. This album was only released in Japan. A re-recorded version of Slick Black Cadillac was included on their more widely known album, Metal Health, released in 1983.

In high school, this album was played and played by our local rock station.

Bonus today…

Cars – Gary Numan

This was suggested by glyn40wilton… This song was released in 1979 was one of many signs a change was coming in music. The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the UK and #1 in Canada. The song was keyboard-driven with a synth riff.

Gary Numan on the inspiration of the song. “A couple of blokes started peering in the window and for whatever reason took a dislike to me, so I had to take evasive action. I swerved up the pavement, scattering pedestrians everywhere. After that, I began to see the car as the tank of modern society.”

Numan has stated that he has Asperger syndrome, which is a mild form of autism, but until he was diagnosed, he had a lot of trouble relating to other people.

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry

In 1974 I was 7 years old and my aunt…who was watching me for the night took me to see Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, and Gone in Sixty Seconds (the original of course). Car chase movies were popular at the time and this was a good one. The cast includes Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Roddy McDowall, and Vic Morrow. Kenneth Tobey was in the movie also…not a huge part but really good.

This movie always stuck with me because it is so real. It took a British director named John Hough to film this Americana car movie and he used the low budget to great effect – no studio sets, no process shots, no fakery…

It is a B movie but a fun B movie. Larry Rayder (Peter Fonda) is an aspiring NASCAR driver, Deke Sommers (Adam Roarke) is a mechanic. As they feel they collectively are the best, the only thing that is holding them back is money to build the best vehicle possible. They decide to rob a supermarket and are successful as they steal 150,000 dollars.

Larry’s one-night stand, Mary Coombs (Susan George) talks them into letting her go with them. The best part for me is when they steal a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T from a Flea Market. Fonda lives up to his name in this movie for the most part. Susan George’s character starts to realize this and starts to think that Adam Roarke is the one she should have liked.

Vic Morrow is fantastic in this movie as he always is in his films. A very tangible character that seems real. He was one actor who seemed completely natural in his roles. It was like he wasn’t acting at all.

I love cars and this was a time when cars actually looked different. They used three cars in this movie for the Charger. Two for the stunts and the main one for the normal shots. The color of them was Citron Yellow. A yellow car with a green tint. In the original movie, the car looked banana-yellow because of someone doing a wrong color correction. In the blue ray version, the car is like it was…Citron Yellow.

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry car yellow — This is one I found of the color of the car with the original movie after the “color correction.”

The car's original color — The car’s original color before color correction

A lot of the stunts were done by Peter Fonda. Susan George and Fonda both said that in the chase scenes, Fonda would be going over 100 mph with cars bumping into them. George has said that many of her screams were in fact real. The other stunts were done by stunt driver Carey Loftin. All without the aid of CGI, adding to the film’s excitement. That is why it looks so real…because it is.

The budget was 1.4 million and made over 28 million dollars (178 million today) back in 1974. When it was released, the film received mixed reviews from critics. However, it has since gained a cult following, particularly among fans of car chase films and 1970s cinema. It does have a great car chase. My favorite car chase in a movie is a 40-minute one in Gone in Sixty Seconds also released in 1974.

If you are bored and want to watch an entertaining car chase movie, you might like this one. Citizen Kane, it’s not but it’s a fun movie in which Peter Fonda made a fortune from a percentage deal he made. It really caught fire with Drive-In Theaters. If you have seen the movie and want to see a really good film locations video…watch this.

The filming locations were around Stockton California.

George Thorogood and the Destoyers – One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

I accidentally published this yesterday around 5:30 CST by mistake…I took it back off the market pretty quick…I apologize to anyone who was trying to view it.

I first heard of George Thorogood when I watched the movie Christine back in the 1980s and the song Bad to the Bone. This song is what a grimy bar (not a dance club) in the 1980s sounded like…trust me. When I heard this song I was in high school in Graphic Arts class while Mr Hall, the teacher, was listening to it. He would tell us stories of traveling to Memphis to see artists like Jimi Hendrix.

The song’s roots trace back to the 1950s, originally written by Rudy Toombs and recorded by rhythm and blues artist Amos Milburn in 1953. Milburn’s version was a straightforward R&B number, capturing the era. John Lee Hooker gave the song a new lease on life. Hooker’s rendition infused it with a talking blues style, adding to the future interpretations.

Thorogood supercharged the song. He didn’t just cover it…he transformed it into an epic medley by incorporating elements from Hooker’s House Rent Boogie. It was released by George Thorogood and the Destoyers on their self-titled debut album in 1977.

What makes the live version work so well is the storytelling. It sets up the dynamics of the song perfectly.

One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

Want to tell you a storyAbout the house-man bluesI come home one FridayHad to tell the landlady I’da lost my job

She said that don’t confront meLong as I get my money next FridayNow next Friday come I didn’t get the rentAnd out the door I went

So I goes to the landladyI said you let me slide?I’ll have the rent for you in a monthNext I don’t know

So said let me slide it onI notice when I come home in the eveningShe ain’t got nothing nice to say to meBut for five year she was so nice

Loh’ she was lovy-dovyI come home one particular eveningThe landlady saidYou got the rent money yet?

I said no, can’t find no jobTherefore I ain’t got no moneyTo pay the rentShe said I don’t believe

You’re tryin’ to find no jobSaid I seen you today you was standin’ on a cornerLeaning up against a postI said but I’m tired

I’ve been walkin’ all dayShe said that don’t confront meLong as I get my money next FridayNow next Friday come I didn’t have the rent

And out the door I wentSo I go down the streetsDown to my good friend’s houseI said look man

I’m outdoors you knowCan I stay with you maybe a couple days?He said let me go and ask my wifeHe come out of the house

I could see it in his faceI know that was noHe said I don’t know manAh she kinda funny, you know

I said I knowEverybody funny, now you funny tooSo I go back homeI tell the landlady I got a job

I’m gonna pay the rentShe said yeah? I said oh yeahAnd then she was so niceLoh’ she was lovy-dovy

So I go in my roomPack up my things and I goI slip on out the back doorAnd down the streets I go

She a-howlin’ about the front rentShe’ll be lucky to get any back rentShe ain’t gonna get none of itSo I stop in the local bar you know people

I go to the bar, I ring my coatI call the bartenderSaid look man, come down hereHe got down there

So what you want?One bourbon, one scotch, one beerWell I ain’t seen my babySince I don’t know when

I’ve been drinking bourbon, whiskeyScotch and ginGonna get high man I’m gonna get looseNeed me a triple shot of that juice

Gonna get drunk don’t you have no fearI want one bourbonOne scotch and one beerOne bourbon, one scotch, one beer

But I’m sitting now at the barI’m getting drunk, I’m feelin’ mellowI’m drinkin’ bourbonI’m drinkin’ scotch

I’m drinkin’ beerLooked down the barHere come the bartenderI said look man, come down here

So what you want?One bourbon, one scotch, one beerNo I ain’t seen my baby sinceThe night before last

Gotta get a drink manI’m gonna get gassedGonna get high manI ain’t had enough

Need me a triple shot of that stuffGonna get drunkWon’t you listen right hereI want one bourbon

One shot and one beerOne bourbon, one scotch, one beer

Now by this timeI’m plenty highYou know when your mouth a-getting dryYou’re plenty high

Looked down the barI say to my bartenderI said look manCome down here

He got down thereSo what you want this time?I said look manA-what time is it?

He said the clock on the wallSay three o’clockLast call for alcoholSo what you need?

One bourbon, one scotch, one beerNo I ain’t seen my baby sinceA nigh’ and a weekGotta get drunk man

Till I can’t even speakGonna get high manListen to meOne drink ain’t enough

Jack you better make it threeI want to get drunkI’m gonna make it real clearI want one bourbon

One scotch and one beerOne bourbon, one scotch, one beer

…

Joe Cocker – Cry Me A River

I wanted to post something by Joe Cocker from the now legendary Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. I have a Joe Cocker 1980s song in my drafts but I wanted to do another song from that tour.

I was lucky enough to see him one time. He was opening up for Tina Turner on October 20, 2000, in Gaylord Arena. It was a hell of a double feature with those two performers. Cocker still had that voice and he sounded excellent.

This song was written in 1953 by Arthur Hamilton. The first release of this song was by Julie London in 1955. London was Jack Webb’s wife at the time and she is probably best known for her role in Emergency.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen kicked off on March 20, 1970, and ended on May 16, 1970. Cocker’s manager, Dee Anthony, saw an opportunity to capitalize on Cocker’s rising fame and organized a new tour. A band was quickly put together by musical director Leon Russell. It included an eclectic mix of musicians, backup singers (such as Rita Coolidge), and even a dog mascot.

The tour was immortalized in the live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, released in August 1970. It became a critical and commercial success. It is still considered one of the great live albums in rock.

The album peaked at #95 on the Billboard 100, #46 in Canada, and #2 in New Zealand. Looks like New Zealand is the only country that got it right.

The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard 100 and #15 in Canada in 1970.

Arthur Hamilton: “I had never heard the phrase. I just liked the combination of words… Instead of ‘Eat your heart out’ or ‘I’ll get even with you,’ it sounded like a good, smart retort to somebody who had hurt your feelings or broken your heart.”

I Will See You Next Weekend!

Cry Me A River

Why don’t you, why don’t youWhy don’t you cry me a river?

Now you say that you’re lonelyAfter being so untrue

I want you to cry (cry me a river)Want you to cry (cry me a river)All over me (cry me a river)I want you to cry (cry me a river)Yeah, over me (cry me a river)Hey, yeah, cry (cry me a river)Yeah, I cried a river over you

Now you say that you’re sorryOh, for being so unkind

I want you to cry (cry me a river)Cry for me (cry me a river)Oh! (cry me a river)Over me (cry me a river)Want you to cry (cry me a river)Right on me, yeah (cry me a river)Oh, I cried a river over you

You drove me, nearly drove me out of my headNever shed a tearRemember, I remember all that you saidTold me love was a stupid thingYou were through with me

Cry me a riverCome on love (cry me a river)Won’t you cry? (cry me a river)Oh, yeah (cry me a river)Oh, cry (cry me a river)Cry me a river (cry me a river)Oh, I cried a river over you

You drove me, nearly drove me out of my headOoh, never shed a tearRemember, I remember all that you saidTold me love was a stupid thingYou were through with me

Cry me a riverYes, cry (cry me a river)I want you to cry (cry me a river)Cry me a river (cry me a river)Ah (cry me a river)Cry me (cry me a river)Oh, I cried a river over you

Yeah, I cried a river over you(I cried a river over you)Over you (I cried a river over you)Over you (I cried a river over you)

I, I cried (I cried a river over you)Let me (I cried a river over you)I cried a river (I cried a river over you)Cry me a river (I cried a river over you)Over the mountain (I cried a river over you)(I cried a river over you)Baby, I cried a river over you

One, two, three, fourCry me a riverCry me a riverCry me a riverCry me a riverYeah (cry me a river, cry me a river)Cry, cry a river over you

Thanks againThank you very much

David Essex – Rock On

The bassline and minimalist nature to this song…makes it all worth the repeat listens. It’s very much a cultural artifact that encapsulates its time.

This is a song from childhood that I will never forget. It had a strange sound and that is what made it special. No other than Herbie Flowers played bass on this song and he made it stand out. Yes this song is worn out but I will turn it up sometimes just to hear that bass.

David wrote and released this song in 1973. It appeared in the movie he and Ringo Starr were appearing in called That’ll Be The Day. Essex made unsuccessful recordings in the sixties until found success as an actor. This was the first of his many hits in the UK.

On another note. That’ll Be The Day is a really good movie and so is the follow-up… Stardust. I would suggest if you get the chance…watch them. I think it’s the best movie Ringo Starr ever appeared in excluding A Hard Days Night.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #5 in the Billboard 100, and #3 in the UK in 1973. Essex never charted another hit in America, although the Grammy nomination he got for “Rock On” was enough to give him a cult following in America.

The producer of this song was a jingle composer named Jeff Wayne. Wayne was an unusual choice, but his background in jingles, which must be very efficient, proved worthy.

Jeff Wayne: “I can recall the three musicians on the backing track for ‘Rock On’ all looking around in a mostly empty Advision Studios, Studio 1, wanting to know when the rest of the band was arriving! I explained there weren’t any others for that track, and I was relying on them to understand my idea for the production. While the drums and percussion parts were written out, it was definitely Herbie that grasped immediately that a bass guitar playing a lead riff could fill a large part of the spatial spectrum and he took my idea and turned some basic notes of mine, into his amazing bass riff. Then to top it off, he suggested playing it again an octave higher. So you get this unusual bass sound right up front – now it couldn’t have been up front if the arrangement didn’t allow the air and the space to be created that way.”

Rock On

Hey kids rock and roll,
Rock on, oh my soul
Hey kids boogey too, did ya

Hey shout, summertime blues,
Jump up and down in my blue suede shoes
Hey kids rock and roll, rock on

And where do we go from here?
Which is the way that’s clear

Still looking for that blue jean, baby queen
Prettiest girl I’ve ever seen
See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean
James Dean, rock on

Rolling Stones – Fool To Cry

This song was on the forgotten Black and Blue album. My all-time favorite Stones song is on that album…Memory Motel.

This album was made when the best guitarist the Stones ever had…left them. That’s no knock on Keith, Brian, or soon-to-be Ronnie Wood at this time…Mick Taylor was just that good. He was on 4 of the 5 classic albums they are mostly known for. Another significant person left before Taylor did…Jimmy Miller produced the albums Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street, and Goats Head Soup. He was the most important producer they worked with. He gave them a sound that they did not have before.

Ronnie Wood is not the guitar player in this song. They were auditioning guitar players on this album. The three guitar players were Wayne Perkins, Harvey Mandel, and Ronnie Wood. Wayne Perkins, a super-session player, was the lead guitar player on this song. He didn’t get the job because he was from Alabama. Keith said that was hard to get over because they wanted the Stones to remain an English band. Wayne Perkins was probably the best guitar player they auditioned…but Ronnie Wood looked the part and fit in.

The album was not as well received but still peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, #2 in the UK, and #4 in New Zealand in 1976.

Fool To Cry peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100, #11 in Canada, #6 in the UK, and #38 in New Zealand.

Mick Jagger has said of this song: This dates from the period when I had a young child, my daughter Jade, around a lot, calling me daddy and all that. It’s another of our heartmelting ballads, a bit long and waffly at the end maybe, but I like it.

Keith Richards: “I was just glad somebody in the band could sing that falsetto. I got a pretty good falsetto myself. But when you got a singer and he can hit those notes, baby go for it. And Mick was always fascinated with the falsetto Soul singers like Aaron Neville. That’s crafty stuff, you know what I mean? But he’d been listening to so many people. It’s kinda like what goes in, will come out. You’ll just hear a phrase or a piece of music. And one way or another it’s part of your experience. And a lot of the time it comes out what you do without even realizing it. I don’t really like to think about these things too much. It’s more to do with feeling than intellectualizing about it.”

Keith Richards: Ronnie wasn’t necessarily a shoo-in as our new guitarist, despite our closeness at the time. He was still, for one thing, a member of the Faces. We tried other players before him–Wayne Perkins, Harvey Mandel. Both great players, both of them are on Black and Blue. Ronnie turned up as the last one, and it was really a toss-up. We liked Perkins a lot. He was a lovely player, same style, which wouldn’t have ricocheted against what Mick Taylor was doing, very melodic, very well-played stuff. Then Ronnie said he had problems with the Faces. So it came down to Wayne and Ronnie. Ronnie’s an all-rounder. He can play loads of things and different styles, and I’d just been playing with him for some weeks, so the chips fell there. It wasn’t so much the playing, when it came down to it. It came down to the fact that Ronnie was English! Well, it is an English band, although you might not think that now. And we all felt we should retain the nationality of the band at the time. Because when you get on the road, and it’s “Have you heard this one?,” you’ve all got the same backgrounds. Because of being London-born, Ronnie and I already had a built-in closeness, a kind of code, and we could be cool together under stress, like two squaddies. Ronnie was damn good glue for the band. He was a breath of fresh air. We knew he’d got his chops, we knew he could play, but a big decider was his incredible enthusiasm and ability to get along with everybody. Mick Taylor was always a bit morose. You’ll not see Mick Taylor lying on the floor, holding his stomach, cracking up with laughter for anything. Whereas Ronnie would have his legs in the air.

Fool To Cry

When I come home baby
And I’ve been working all night long
I put my daughter on my knee, and she says
Daddy what’s wrong?
She whispers in my ear so sweet
You know what she says, she says
Ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
You’re a fool to cry
And it makes me wonder why

Daddy you’re a fool
You know, I got a woman (daddy you’re a fool)
And she lives in the poor part of town
And I go see her sometimes
And we make love, so fine
I put my head on her shoulder
She says, tell me all your troubles
You know what she says?
She says, ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
You’re a fool to cry
And it makes me wonder why

Daddy you’re a fool to cry
Yeah, she says
Oh, Daddy you’re a fool to cry
You’re a fool to cry
And it makes me wonder why

She says, ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
Ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
Ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
Ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry

Even my friends say to me sometimes
And make out like I don’t understand them
You know what they say?
They say, ooh daddy you’re a fool to cry
You’re a fool to cry
And it makes me wonder why, ah

I’m a fool baby, ah ya
I’m a certified fool, ah yeah
Gotta tell ya, baby
I’m a fool baby, ah yeah
Whoo
Certified fool for ya, mama, ya, yeah, come on, yeah
I’m a fool, yeah

Foghat – Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was A Fool)

I thought it was time for another 1970s arena rock track. This one is more of a ballad which you didn’t get much from Foghat. This was one of their biggest singles.

Their lead singer during this time was David “Lonesome Dave” Peverett. Dave Peverett was a good singer, guitar player, and songwriter. Other Foghat alumni who made their mark elsewhere in music include replacement lead vocalist Charlie Huhn, who was also in Humble Pie and in Ted Nugent’s band before that. Also, Foghat guitarist Bryan Bassett is better known as the lead strings on “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry.

I always liked their name…Foghat…it just sounds like a cool rock and roll name. Foghat was born out of the blues band Savoy Brown. Dave Peverett, the drummer Roger Earl, and the bassist Tony Stevens quit that band and decided to form their own band in 1970. The band wanted to take the sound of Savoy Brown a step further and add a rock edge to its basic boogie blues. The name Foghat was taken from a word that Peverett and his brother, John, had invented in a Scrabble game. I also looked up the name and it said… Foghat: A euphemism for getting high on marijuana.

Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was a Fool) peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100 and #33 in Canada in 1979. This was their second-highest charting single…right behind the #20 Slow Ride. This song is from the album Boogie Motel. The album peaked at #35 on the Billboard Album Charts.

This album was a little different from their earlier ones. They sounded a bit more radio-friendly on this album. Another song that charted on the album was Somebody’s Been Sleepin’ in My Bed. The band is still out there playing and releasing albums. Unfortunately, Lonesome Dave passed away in 2000 from kidney cancer. For me…he was the band.

Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was a Fool)

It’s all behind meThere’s good luck up aheadCan’t break what’s left of my heartOnce bitten twice shyI hate to see it all fall apartFirst love I had I was seventeen and I was youngerLove to us was some kind of gameAnd all my letters said I would never forget herNow I can’t recall her name

The first time I was a foolnever knew that love could be so cruelIt happened againThird time luckyOh Yeah

I was in love one timeI thought it was the real thingBut I kept the feelings to myselfAfraid to show themExpecting her to knowIt’s the reason she found someone else

It’s all behind meThere’s good luck up aheadCan’t break what’s left of my heartOnce bitten twice shyI hate to see it all fall apart

The first time I was a foolnever knew that love could be so cruelIt happened againThird time luckyOh Yeah

…

Butch Hancock – To Each His Own

After listening to the Flatlanders…I’ve listened to Joe Ely and Johnnie Dale Gilmore but never Butch Hancock. I was struck by his voice and was reminded a little of Dylan, Prine, Buddy Holly, and a little of Steve Earle at times.

In the early 1970s, Hancock co-founded The Flatlanders with fellow Lubbock musicians Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The group initially struggled to find commercial success but later became famous within the Americana and alternative country scenes. Hancock has been a very good songwriter. Artists who covered him include Willie Nelson, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, The Texas Tornados, Emmylou Harris, Jerry Jeff Walker, and more.

This song was on the album Eat Away The Night which was released in 1994. He has released 12 albums since 1978. This man is worth checking out. He will never make the top 40 but he has some quality songs that are worth hearing. This song has his voice and also a twangy guitar that sold it for me.

As I’ve been perusing his catalog…I’ve noticed a lot of storytelling, a sense of humor, good lyrics plus that voice. The album’s sound is powered by a classic rock ‘n’ roll combination of a Hammond B-3 organ, electric guitars, an acoustic, harmonica, and steel guitar at the edges for country and folk flavorings.

The title song closes the album, and I will include that above To Each His Own. Eats Away the Night sounds like something a musician would play at four in the morning after a six-hour gig. A quiet, restrained, and thoughtful tune to settle down with. A good way to end a night of music-making and an album. It’s almost a solo performance, with only a slide guitar accompanying Hancock’s voice and guitar.

Here is a link to the complete album.

To Each His Own

Down in the pit of my stomach
I knew it couldn’t last…
It left me just as fast…
I tried to blame it on the moon above…
As I walked the beach alone
But all I heard were these few words…
To each his own

Down in the heart of the matter…
I first lost touch with you…
But for rosy and her constant chatter…
There was not much i could do
The world I tried to reach with her…
You can only reach alone
I even heard rose say to herself…
To each his own…

I’ve seen survival’s violent side…
I’ve seen some beast of prey…
Bring down some beasts of burden…
That just got in their way…
Some tore the hide…some chewed the
Flesh…right down to the bone
Some stopped there but some kept going…
To each his own…

I’ve run these things around my mind…
I’ve run ’em through my heart
In the mighty dream of life, i seem…
To play the strangest part
If I’m buried when I die…
Carve this on my stone…
Take a little here and leave a little there but
give…to each his own…

…

Flatlanders – Dallas

Well Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes

What a find this was for me. When CB recommended Joe Ely a while back, I found that he played in this band from 1972 until now. Their music is not the tears in my beer Nashville country music that you heard at the time and sometimes now. I would call it Americana…they have developed a big following following over the years. Comparing their music to country music at the time…this sounds like it came from a different planet.

They were formed in 1972 by three singer-songwriters: Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock. The band was born out of the music scene in Lubbock, Texas, where all three members grew up. They recorded their first album, All American Music in Nashville. Initially, the album was released only as an 8-track tape by Plantation Records, with the title “Jimmie Dale and the Flatlanders.” This limited release received little attention at the time, and the band members soon went their separate ways to pursue solo careers.

They then released an album in 1980 called One More Road. Their debut album was re-released in 1990 as More a Legend Than A Band after all of them had some success during their solo careers. They have released 9 albums including a live album in 2004 from 1972 to 2021. Their last album was released in 2021 called Treasure Of Love. They started to chart in the music charts in the 2000s.

Dallas was on their debut album All American Music released in 1972. This song was written by Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The track has a cool tool/instrument on it that always interested me…Steve Wesson is playing a saw on this. Take a listen to this and I included a much more recent live cut from Austin City Limits.

In 2016 The Flatlanders were voted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore: “The hook line of the song occurred to me while I was actually flying into Dallas, the line just presented itself to me. I had all those mixed feelings about the city and the song just came gradually. I’ve never felt that I’ve got it down right though. I’ve always been a perfectionist about that song. Joe also recorded it several times before he got the version that they put on the Musta Notta Gotta Lotta album. I’ve had a strange relationship with the song. I’ve had periods when I wish I’d never written it, then I’ve rediscovered it, looking at it through different eyes.”

Jimmie Dale Gilmore: “It so happened that in 1970 we all happened to be back in Lubbock, I had been in Austin working with a band called the Hub City Movers. Joe had been traveling in Europe and Butch had been in San Francisco. We just coincidentally moved back to Lubbock at the same time and started playing together. There was no design to put a band together as such but the chemistry was so great that it just took on a life of its own. We all had a common love of folk music, country and country blues-but then we also loved the Beatles. We had very eclectic taste. There was great radio in Lubbock at that time especially the border stations at night. We listened to it all.”

Joe Ely on the album: “It’s pretty crude but there’s a certain flavor about the record. It had an eerie, lonesome sound which reflected our roots in Lubbock and the wind, the dust and the environment.”

Music Critic Robert Christgau: In 1972, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, and leader Jimmie Dale Gilmore–drumless psychedelic cowboys returned to Lubbock from Europe and San Francisco and Austin–recorded in Nashville for Shelby Singleton, and even an eccentric like the owner of the Sun catalogue and “Harper Valley P.T.A.” must have considered them weird. With a musical saw for theremin effects, their wide-open spaceyness was released eight-track only, and soon a subway troubadour and an architect and a disciple of Guru Mararaji had disappeared back into the diaspora. In cowpunk/neofolk/psychedelic-revival retrospect, they’re neotraditionalists who find small comfort in the past, responding guilelessly and unnostalgically to the facts of displacement in a global village that includes among its precincts the high Texas plains. They’re at home. And they’re lost anyway. A-

Dallas

Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night?
Well Dallas is a jewel, oh yeah, Dallas is a beautiful sight
And Dallas is a jungle but Dallas gives a beautiful light
Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night?

Well, Dallas is a woman who will walk on you when you’re down
But when you are up, she’s the kind you want to take around
But Dallas ain’t a woman to help you get your feet on the ground
And Dallas is a woman who will walk on you when you’re down

Well, I came into Dallas with the bright lights on my mind,
But I came into Dallas with a dollar and a dime

Well Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes
A steel and concrete soul with a warm hearted love disguise
A rich man who tends to believe in his own lies
Yeah Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes

Well, I came into Dallas with the bright lights on my mind,
But I came into Dallas with a dollar and a dime

…

Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a Story

Spent time feelin’ inferior
standing’ in front of my mirror
Combed my hair in a thousand ways, but I came out lookin’ just the same

*If you are on the main site…sorry for the formatting but if I correct the spaces it will publish everything as one huge paragrah…thanks WP*

This is my favorite song by Rod Stewart hands down. It’s an acoustic-driven
rocker with Rod never relenting on the lyrics. The song has a
stream-of-consciousness feel to it. Every Picture Tells a Story was written by
Stewart and Ron Wood.

For my money…this is Rod Stewarts best era. He sounds sharp, the music is
alive, and he is not following a trend. I just wish they would have saved some
of these songs for The Faces also. This song has something some of his later
songs did not…a raw energetic sound.

He had some guests on this song. Maggie Bell with vocals, Long John Baldry with vocals, Ian McLagan on Hammon organ, Ronnie Wood on lead and acoustic guitar, and Kenney Jones on drums.

Stewart went from recording the second Faces’ album Long Player,
while also squeezing in tour dates with the group, to starting up the sessions
for Every Picture Needs a Story. He also produced this album and
laid the songs down fast. This album made Rod Stewart in a lot of ways. The
album had Maggie May, Reason To Believe, (I Know) I’m Losing You (with the
Faces), Mandolin Wind, and of course the title song. It is my favorite Stewart
album. I grew up with most of the singles.

One lyric that I’ve heard wrong…well not really heard wrong. In the line On
the Peking ferry I was feeling merry, sailing on my way back here. I knew
what he was singing…but I thought it was “Peking Ferry I was feeling Mary“
which I think would have fit perfectly.

Rod Stewart: “I can remember the build up. You
know what the song’s about – your early teenage life when you’re leaving home
and you’re exploring the world for yourself. Ronnie (Wood) and I rehearsed
round my house at Muswell Hill and recorded it the next day. That whole album
was done in 10 days, two weeks, about as long as it takes to get a drum sound
right nowadays.”

Every Picture Tells a Story

Spent some time feeling inferiorStanding in front of my mirrorCombed my hair in a thousand waysBut I came out looking just the same

Daddy said, “Son, you better see the worldI wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leaveBut remember one thing, don’t lose your headTo a woman that’ll spend your bread”So I got out, whoo

Paris was a place you could hide awayIf you felt you didn’t fit inThe French police wouldn’t give me no peaceThey claimed I was a nasty person

Down along the Left Bank, minding my own, whooWas knocked down by a human stampedeGot arrested for inciting a peaceful riotWhen all I wanted was a cup of teaI was accused, whoo

I moved onDown in Rome, I wasn’t getting enoughOf the things that keep a young man aliveMy body stunk, but I kept my funk, whooAt a time when I was right outta luck

Getting desperate, indeed I was, yeahLooking like a tourist attractionOh, my dear, I better get outta hereFor the Vatican don’t give no sanctionI wasn’t ready for that, no, no

I moved right out east, yeahListenOn the Peeking ferry, I was feeling merrySailing on my way back hereI fell in love with a slit-eyed ladyBy the light of an eastern moon

Shanghai Lil never used the pillShe claimed that it just ain’t naturalShe took me up on deck and bit my neckOh, people, I was glad I found herOh, yes, I was glad I found her, whoo-hoo

Wait a minuteI firmly believed that IDidn’t need anyone but meI sincerely thought I was so completeLook how wrong you can be

The women I’ve known I wouldn’t let tie my shoeThey wouldn’t give you the time of dayBut the slit-eyed lady knocked me off my feetGod, I was glad I found her

And if they have the words I can tell to youTo help you on the way down the roadI couldn’t quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats‘Cause it’s all been said beforeMake the best out of the bad, just laugh it off, haYou didn’t have to come here anyway

So, remember, every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? Whoo

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Alone in the Wilderness…documentary

If you ever watch something I recommend…please give this short one-hour film a chance. Someone brought a DVD of this for me to watch around 7 years ago. I thought it was going to be boring. I ended up watching it twice in one sitting. It will draw you in. I watch it at least once every year or two.

A 50-year-old man named Dick Proenneke is in Twin Lakes Alaska in 1968 and films himself building a retirement cabin. He starts out by staying in a friend’s cabin. He starts gathering wood and making some of the tools he uses as he goes. This man…is a real man. if he needs a spoon…he starts carving himself out one. He builds this cabin and makes everything including wood hinges for the door. He also made hinges out of his tin containers. He gathers rocks from somewhere down the lake and brings them back… then he starts building his chimney.

He is by himself and sets up the camera everywhere he goes. He goes out fishing when he is hungry and hunting for meat for the winter only taking what he needs. He uses just what he needs and doesn’t take more from nature than he could use. He makes almost everything from scratch. He uses his tin canisters for different things. He buries one and covers for a refrigerator. The only help he receives is a pilot friend who lands every now and again to deliver supplies. He was a master craftsman, to say the least.

He also filmed all the wildlife around. Rams, wolves, bears, birds, and Caribou. He also gets some great shots of the area around Twin Lakes. The snowy mountains were breathtaking.

It doesn’t sound that special but I have watched it at least 6 more times since the night I watched it twice… sometimes showing it to other people. He makes it look so easy. He filmed enough to have a few more short documentaries which were released but nothing matches that first one. This man made me feel like a mouse, a kid, a beginner, a slouch. He is so talented and tough.

He ended up staying there until 1999 alone and then left to live with his brother at age 82. Dick passed away at 86 in 2003. The cabin is still there and is on the National Register of Historic Places. People come from all over the world to visit it.

I wish YouTube had the complete documentary but they don’t. I watch modern YouTube videos of people visiting the cabin now. They see his cache in the back, his sled, and all the cabin parts. You see him in 1968 building those items. Like I said earlier, there are more documentaries on him but start with this one. This one is great. I’ve never had someone tell me they were disappointed in it.

The cabin now

Here is the first 9:34 minutes or so

The Concorde

When I started this blog…I had no idea that I would concentrate on single songs. I was going to cover pop culture and I did at the beginning more. I would like to get one in every now and then.

Today… everything seems to be bigger, stronger, and faster. That isn’t true though with a certain passenger airplane. A flight from New York to London now will take around 7 hours and 35 minutes to 8 hours and 10 minutes long. How fast would that flight be in the 1970s on the Concorde? That would take you a cozy three-and-a-half hours. The fastest flight was two hours and fifty-two minutes. It would travel at 1,354 mph. It was more than twice the speed of sound.

I’m not a huge airplane guy but this aircraft fascinated me and I always wanted to ride on one. The nose cone would come down so the pilots could see the runway…it looked like something from a Scifi movie. It would reach Mach 2 between London and New York. I would see pictures of it as a kid or on the news and I thought it was the coolest plane I’d seen. I probably still do. I do remember complaints about the sonic boom.

In November 1962, the British and French governments signed a treaty to jointly develop the Concorde. The Concorde prototype made its maiden flight on March 2, 1969. After some more prototypes, they tested and made modifications, including addressing issues with noise, fuel efficiency, and environmental impact. received its airworthiness certificate in 1975, with the first commercial flights beginning on January 21, 1976, by British Airways and Air France.

There was a plan for a Concorde-type supersonic plane in the US called a Boeing 2707. It would have gone 3 times the speed of sound and held 277 passengers compared to the 100 passengers the Concorde held. It was too expensive to build and was called “the most expensive aircraft never built.” Here is a picture of a 1966 mock-up of the 2707.

In 1977, it cost £431 to fly one way onboard Concorde between London and Washington. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about £2,200 ($2,800) in today’s money. However, fare prices gradually went up, and by 1996, a roundtrip across the Atlantic would generally be priced at around $12,500 in today’s money. So it was very expensive. The meals and service were great but it was cramped inside compared to other airplanes at the time. It was also noisy…

All together… two prototypes, two pre-production aircraft, two development aircraft, and 14 production aircraft for commercial service. All of them except the two pre-production builds are preserved in museums.

This all leads us to why the Concorde is in museums now and not in the sky. The price, noise, and it was so expensive to operate. Every hour in the sky had to have 22 hours of maintenance. Also on July 25, 2000, the Concorde crashed. It was shortly after takeoff and 109 people died onboard plus 4 on the ground. That was its only crash. They did go on until 2003 but officially retired the plane that year.

A New York Times writer wrote this about the food served. “What followed the coffee was a breakfast of fresh papaya, guava, pineapple, strawberries and mangoes, croissants and brioche that might have come from a Paris bakery, a pretty good approximation of eggs benedict and a soufflé Gruyère, all washed down with Piper‐Heidsieck Cuvée Diplomatique. The china, of course, was Limoges.”

This video shows the take-off from inside the plane by a passenger.

Car Songs…Part 2

I have so many songs I want to have on here. I read the original post I did and re-read the comments and took some songs from your suggestions and used them. I haven’t got to all of them…so the others probably will be on the next one. I picked one song and you all picked the rest. Some will be in the next edition that I couldn’t fit in this one.

I hope you are all having a great Sunday.

Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats – Rocket 88

CB mentioned this one and it should have been on the first one…since this is often said to be the first rock and roll song. It’s only fitting that it was about a car. The recording session happened on March 3, 1951, at Sam Phillips’ Memphis Recording Service in Memphis, Tennessee, which would later become the legendary Sun Studio.

The song was written by Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston. The Delta Cats were actually Ike Turner’s band Turner’s King of Rhythm.

A review from Time Magazine in 1951

Rocket 88 was brash and it was sexy; it took elements of the blues, hammered them with rhythm and attitude and electric guitar, and reimagined black music into something new. If the blues seemed to give voice to old wisdom, this new music seemed full of youthful notions. If the blues was about squeezing cathartic joy out of the bad times, this new music was about letting the good times roll. If the blues was about earthly troubles, the rock that Turner’s crew created seemed to shout that the sky was now the limit.

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen – Hot Rod Lincoln

The main thing I like about the song is the guitar. It has a slight Chuck Berry feel to it and I like the fills the guitar player throws in. Of course, I like Commander Cody’s (George Frayne) vocal sound as well.

The band signed with Warner Brothers and the label wanted a soft country sound but the band refused to change its raw style.

Hot Rod Lincoln was originally written by Charlie Ryan. It was first recorded and released by Charlie Ryan and The Livingston Brothers in 1955. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were a County-Rock group formed at the University of Michigan. Commander Cody is the lead singer and piano player George Frayne. This would be their only top-ten hit. Another song that is well-known by them is Smoke Smoke Smoke.

The Renegades – Cadillac

Fellow blogger HotFox63 mentioned this song when I did a Clash post on Brand New Cadillac so I thought it would be perfect for this. Very cool song that I knew nothing about.

The Renegades were a British rock band formed in Birmingham in 1960. The original lineup consisted of Kim Brown (vocals, guitar), Denys Gibson (guitar), Ian Mallet (bass), and Graham Johnson (drums). Cadillac was released as a single in 1964. The song quickly became a hit in Finland, reaching #1 on the charts. Its success in Finland helped the band gain a substantial following in Scandinavia, and the song’s popularity also spread to other parts of Europe, including Italy.

Rosanne Cash – Black Cadillac

Obbverse mentioned this one. It’s a song from 2005 from an album with the same name. The black Cadillac in the song symbolizes both a funeral car and a connection to her father, who owned a black Cadillac…and about loss, memory, and mourning.

She wrote the album about dealing with the death of her father.

“It certainly crossed my mind that I was opening myself to questions about how much [of the album] was documentary and how much was poetry, I certainly did think about it. But, at the same time, I think that the themes are so universal that it almost doesn’t matter what’s particular to my life. … People can bring their own lives to this subject very easily.”

Beach Boys – 409

Christiansmusicmusings and Halffastcyclingclub both mentioned this one by the Beach Boys. The Beach Boys would be an endless supply of cars and endless summers. This song was written by Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and Gary Usher and was released in 1962.

This song was the B side to Surfin’ Safari.

…

….

Sports Songs

CB mentioned a song on this list and this list came to life…so thanks CB. Some songs about sports or sports figures. I managed to get in baseball, boxing, and even Cricket. I can see a part II in the future.

The songs I know the most about are Baseball theme songs because that is the sport I follow the most.

John Fogerty – Centerfield

Along with “Talkin’ Baseball” and “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” this quickly became one of the most popular baseball songs ever. It’s a fixture at ballparks between innings of games and plays at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Fogerty mentions 3 huge baseball stars…”So say, Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio.” He was influenced by Chuck Berry’s Brown Eyed Handsome Man with the lyrics “Rounding third he was heading for home, it was a brown eyed handsome man,” which is lifted from Berry’s song “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.”

John Fogerty: “I’d hear about Ruth and DiMaggio, and as my dad and older brothers talked about the Babe’s exploits, their eyes would get so big. When I was a little kid, there were no teams on the West Coast, so the idea of a Major League team was really mythical to me. The players were heroes to me as long as I can remember.”

Paul Kelly – Bradman

I’ll be the first to admit I know ~~little~~ nothing about Cricket but the song is great. It’s about Sir Donald Bradman, arguably…. the greatest ever cricketer (and definitely the greatest ever Australian cricketer). This one peaked at #51 in Australia in 1987 and was part of a double A-sided single along with the song Leaps and Bounds.

Chris Gaffney – Eyes of Roberto Duran

This song was written by Tim Russell and it’s covered here by Chris Gaffney. Gaffney had a terrific voice and I discovered him when I covered The Hacienda Brothers last week. This song was on the 1995 album Loser’s Paradise.

Roberto Durán, a Panamanian boxer, is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Known as “Manos de Piedra” (Hands of Stone) for his punching power, Durán’s career lasted from 1968 to 2001. That is a long long career for a boxer.

Durán has talked about an incident from his childhood that left him with a unique trait. As a young boy, he was hit in the eye with a rock, resulting in a permanent droop in his left eyelid. This injury gave Durán a distinctive look, contributing to his fierce ring presence. Despite this, his vision was not significantly impaired.

Bob Dylan – Hurricane

Hurricane is a protest song by Bob Dylan co-written with Jacques Levy, released in 1976 on Dylan’s album Desire. The song tells the story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a middleweight boxer who was wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1966. Dylan’s song played a huge role in bringing Carter’s case to public attention.

Warren Zevon – The Ballad of Bill Lee

This song is about one of the most colorful baseball players ever. Bill Lee was called Spaceman because of his views on the world. He was from the 1960s counterculture when most baseball players were straight-laced. When asked about mandatory drug testing, Lee said “I’ve tried just about all of them, but I wouldn’t want to make it mandatory.”

This is from Warren Zevon’s 1980 album “Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School.” The song is a tribute to Bill “Spaceman” Lee.

…