This song was on the Basement Tapes and one of my favorites on that album. When I wrote the Bessie Smith article for Lisa…I forgot all about it. CB brought it up on my Bessie Smith post the other day. I completely forgot about it.
The Basement Tapes was a collection of recordings made by Bob Dylan and The Band in 1967. These recordings took place in the basement of a house known as “Big Pink,” located in West Saugerties, New York, where members of The Band lived at the time. It was released in 1975.
The story behind The Basement Tapes is quite interesting. In 1966, Bob Dylan had been involved in a motorcycle accident and retreated from the public eye to recover. During this period, he began recording informal sessions with members of The Band, then known as The Hawks. These sessions were largely acoustic, featuring Dylan and The Band members playing a mix of original songs and cover tunes in a relaxed, informal setting. It was mostly recorded by Garth Hudson the keyboard player for The Band.
Many of these songs were bootlegged through the years and received a lot of attention. This release included songs like “The Mighty Quinn,” “I Shall Be Released,” “This Wheel’s on Fire,” and “Tears of Rage,” among others.
Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko wrote this song and it wasn’t about Bessie Smith’s life but he used her to symbolize the blues and their respect for her. It incorporates her name into a broader narrative while celebrating her.
The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard Album Charts, #15 in Canada, and #18 in New Zealand in 1975.
Bessie Smith
Bessie was more than just a friend of mine We shared the good times with the bad Now many a year has passed me by I still recall the best thing I ever had
I’m just goin’ down the road t’ see Bessie Oh, see her soon I’m just goin’ down the road t’ see Bessie Smith When I get there I wonder what she’ll do
All the crazy things I had to try Well I tried them all and then some But if you’re lucky one day you find out Where it is you’re really comin’ from
I’m just goin’ down the road t’ see Bessie Oh, see her soon I’m just goin’ down the road t’ see Bessie Smith When I get there I wonder what she’ll do
Now in my day I’ve made some foolish moves But back then, I didn’t worry ’bout a thing And now again I still wonder to myself Was it her sweet love or the way that she could sing
I’m just goin’ down the road t’ see Bessie Oh, see her soon I’m just goin’ down the road t’ see Bessie Smith When I get there I wonder what she’ll do
Bonnie Raitt: Fanny was the first all woman rock band that could really play and get some credibility within the musician community.
When people think of female rock bands, this band doesn’t come up much but should. The usual suspects are the Go-Go’s, Bangles, and Runaways because they had more commercial success. The Runaways had more after they broke up.
Out of those three bands, The Runaways resembled more of a “rock band” but the talent level wasn’t up to these ladies. The other two had their moments but were mostly top-40 pop-rock bands…nothing wrong with that. There have been a few all-female rock bands (not enough) but this one…to me is the most talented one I’ve heard. They were not a “girl group”…they were a full-fledged rock band.
Fanny was formed in the late sixties in Sacramento by two Filipina sisters, Jean and June Millington. 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 on the Billboard Hot 100 and two in the top 40. The band played blues, rock, and some pop.
David Bowie, who wrote the band a fan letter in the early 1970s – and two decades later in a Rolling Stone interview was still talking about how criminally overlooked they were. Bowie said: “They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time, revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done.”
They never got that one big hit single to break them to the masses. They had a few songs with a pop flavor that really should have made it such as All Mine… that would get my vote. Fanny broke up in 1975, reunited in 2018, and released an album titled Fanny Walked the Earth. I simply adore these women because they could rock.
The album Charity Ball peaked at #150 on the Billboard Album Charts. The title cut peaked at #40 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1971.
They have a documentary out called Fanny: The Right To Rock.
Joe Elliott: “I had no idea who they were, but this four minutes of music, and I was hooked.”
Kathy Valentine: They made 5 records. The Go Gos get a lot of attention for what we did and we only made 3 records.
Earl Slick: It’s always the ones that start it gets f**ked
Charity Ball
Dance, ooh, stand, ooh Move to charity ball Dance, ooh, stand, ooh Move to charity ball
Get the musicians ready Get them good and hot, good and hot, woo Stand and deliver Give ’em everything you’ve got You got my number
Charity ball Ooh, stand, ooh Move to charity ball Dance, ooh, stand, ooh Move to charity ball
Come on and grab a partner We’re gonna roll ’till the break of dawn And I need you I need you I need you Oh, charity ball
Oh yeah, now I’m ready (I wanna be there) Yes, I’m ready (I wanna be there) Oh, I’m ready (I wanna be there) Charity ball
Oh, I’m ready (I wanna be there) (I wanna be there) (I wanna be there)
This is a fantastic-sounding song by a band named Ride. It’s high up on my top powerpop songs. The band was part of the shoegaze genre. Along with the previous year’s There She Goes by the La’s…I was in power pop heaven.
Ride was formed in 1988 in Oxford by school friends Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, before recruiting drummer Loz Colbert at the Oxfordshire School of Art & Design and local bassist Steve Queralt.
They broke up in 1996 because of differences between Andy Bell and Mark Gardener. Gardener wanted to go forward in a more dance style of music…Bell didn’t but both wanted to go more contemporary style. Bassist Steve Queralt said: The band had two future directions open to them, and they chose the wrong option.
They reunited in 2014 and released their first album in 21 years in 2017.
Melon – No Rain
This 1993 song has a sixties feel to it. The lead singer Shannon Hoon did a great job on this track. I think when movies are made about the 1990s…this has to be on the soundtrack. It screams 90s more than about any other song.
Blind Melon bass player Brad Smith wrote this song before he formed the band. He had moved from Mississippi to Los Angeles, where he fell into a down period. He said that the song is about not being able to get out of bed and find excuses to face the day when you have nothing. At the time he was dating a girl who was going through depression and for a while, he told himself that he was writing the song from her perspective. He later realized that he was also writing about it himself.
The video was very popular. It has a very intriguing video featuring a girl dressed in a bee costume. The bee girl, Heather DeLoach, was 10 years old when she starred in it, creating one of the most enduring images on MTV.
The concept for the video was inspired by the Blind Melon album cover, which features a 1975 photo of Georgia Graham, the younger sister of Blind Melon drummer Glenn Graham. DeLoach was the first to audition for the role, and because she resembled Graham’s sister so much, director Samuel Bayer (who also directed Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”) chose her.
R.E.M. – Man On The Moon
I’ve noticed that I have never written about this song which is a shame since it’s in my top 5 of REM. This song is about one of my comedic heroes…the very different Andy Kaufman.
It was the title of a new movie starring Jim Carey as Kaufman. I went to see the movie at the theater and this song fits brilliantly. I think it’s one of the best-written songs they did. Bill Berry came up with the melody and Peter Buck helped finish it off. Stipe came up with the lyrics as their back was against the wall to finish the album.
Bruce Springsteen – Better Days
On March 31, 1992, I purchased two albums by Bruce. Lucky Town and Human Touch…both albums released on the same day. I’ve always liked Lucky Town more than Human Touch. Better Days kicked off the album.
Bruce Springsteen: “With a young son and about to get married (for the last time) I was feelin’ like a happy guy who has his rough days rather than vice versa.”
Jayhawks – Waiting For The Sun
Ever since I heard this band on our alternative radio station in Nashville…Lightning 100 I’ve liked them. The Jayhawk’s writing and voices won me over with songs like Blue and I’m Gonna Make You Love Me. The Replacements had broken up by this time and The Jayhawks took their place beside REM.
Benmont Tench, Charley Drayton, and Nicky Hopkins play on the album with the Jayhawks.
The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul music scene in the mid-80s. Minneapolis had a strong scene for bands in the 80s. The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, and of course the big one…Prince.
The song, like most of The Jawhawk’s early cuts, is credited to the band’s guitarist Gary Louris and frontman Mark Olson.
Gary Louris: I didn’t know there was a song called “Waiting for the Sun,” I was not a Doors fan. I like them now, but I didn’t know there was a song called that. Maybe in my subconscious I did.
In my Fred Eaglesmith post on Saturday, two comments caught my attention. One was Keith telling me when he was a DJ they would play car songs at certain times. Then Obbverse mentioned… that would be a good post for someone…and indeed he was right.
When I was a teenager…a car wasn’t just a car…it was freedom. It was a key to an adult world we wanted eagerly to jump into. Ok…I’ll have songs with either the word “car” in them or with a model of a car in the title only. If not I would have 80 percent of Springsteen songs…not a bad thing at all but I will play by those rules.
Janis Joplin – Mercedes Benz
Let’s start with Janis Joplin. This is based on a song called C’mon, God, and buy me a Mercedes Benz by the Los Angeles beat poet Michael McClure. Joplin saw McClure perform it, and on August 8, 1970, she reworked it into her own song, which she performed about an hour later.
There are three credited songwriters on this track: Joplin, Michael McClure, and Bob Neuwirth. McClure says he never earned a cent from his poetry, but “Mercedes Benz” paid for his house in the Butters Canyon section of Oakland, California.
Janis Joplin never got a Mercedes Benz, but she did have a 1965 Porsche that was painted to become a piece of hippie art.
Wilco – Bull Black Nova
Many thanks to Obbverse for recommending this one. This song is a dark one…very dark. It’s somewhat cryptic and open to interpretation but one thing it does show… guilt, betrayal, and the consequences of one’s actions…and the narrator possibly killing his girlfriend. This song was released in 2009 on the album Wilco (The Album). The song was written by Wilco… Glenn Kotchie, Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Mikael Jorgensen, Nels Cline, and Pat Sansone.
If I am the one, blood on the sofa Blood in the sink, blood in the trunk High at the wheel of a bull black Nova And I’m sorry as a setting sun This can’t be undone, can’t be outrun
Bruce Springsteen – Cadillac Ranch
I could probably do a post just on Cadillac songs.
This song is a great little rocker off of The River. This is one of many early Springsteen songs featuring cars. Some others were “Thunder Road,” “Backstreets,” and “Racing In The Street.” Bruce used the Cadillac image again in 1984 on “Pink Cadillac.”
Springsteen used Cadillac Ranch as a metaphor for the coming of death.
There is a real Cadillac Ranch.
In 1974 along Route 66 west of Amarillo, Texas, Cadillac Ranch was invented and built by a group of art-hippies from San Francisco. They called themselves The Ant Farm, and their silent partner was Amarillo billionaire Stanley Marsh 3. He wanted a piece of public art that would baffle the locals, and the hippies came up with a tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin. Ten Caddies were driven into one of Stanley Marsh 3’s fields, then half-buried, nose-down, in the dirt
T Rex – Jeepster
This song was on the 1972 album Electric Warrior. The music was supposedly based off of the Willie Dixon song You’ll Be Mine.
Jeepster was recorded live in the studio. The recording happened entirely organically and was not overdubbed. Marc Bolan, amid a performance, jumped up and down as he played his guitar, shaking the microphone stands. The sound of those stands was kept in the song. Producer Tony Visconti saw them as important features of the overall mood of the track and chose to include them.
K.C. Douglas-Mercury Blues
Mercury Blues was written by the Blues musicians K.C. Douglas and Robert Geddins in 1949. It was originally titled “Mercury Boogie.” The song was made famous 44 years later by Alan Jackson, whose 1993 cover peaked at #2 on the Billboard Country charts. The song has also been covered by Steve Miller, David Lindley, and Meat Loaf.
Whenever I’m in a reflective mood, I immediately put on Ronnie Lane’s solo albums. As I do with most of the Lane posts…I put a little of his history for people who don’t know him. He went from a historical mod band to a rock band to a solo career. His solo career was so different than other artists. He did what he wanted to do and not the standard artist path. He did a tour under a big top with circus performers and kept his music down to earth.
Ronnie Lane was a British songwriter and bass player. He started with the Small Faces as the bass player and he and Steve Marriott wrote most of the band’s songs. The Small Faces never toured America so they never really broke out big. They did have 11 top twenty hits in the UK but only one in America with Itchycoo Park charting at #16. Steve Mariott left the Small Faces in 1968 and Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Ian McLagan to start The Faces. The Faces released four albums between 1970-1973… First Step, Long Player, A Nod is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse and Ooh La La. They were one of the top-grossing touring bands.
After Rod Stewart’s solo career took off his interest in the band began to wane and in 1973 Ronnie Lane quit. After Ronnie left the Faces, they made no more studio albums.
Ronnie started his own folk-country band named “Slim Chance” and released a surprise hit single “How Come?” in 1973 it went to #11 in the UK. Ronnie had a unique idea of touring. His tour was called “The Passing Show” which toured the countryside with a circus tent and included a ringmaster and clowns.
This song was on Lane’s first solo album after leaving the Faces called Anymore for Anymore released in 1974. Look for a biography on youtube called Ronnie Lane: The Passing Show… I watched it around 5-6 years ago and discovered more about him.
The song was written by a folk player who played with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott named Derroll Adams. He released it in 1967.
Ronnie Lane was heavily into Mehar Baba and his philosophy. Pete Townshend was also a big follower.
Roll On Babe
Roll on, babe
Don’t you roll so slow
When the wheel don’t turn
You don’t roll no more
I dreamt last night
Ole Lola was dead
I saw the apron string
All around her head
Roll on, babe
Don’t you roll so slow
When the wheel don’t turn
You don’t roll no more
Well, I jumped a train
When I wanna go
And for where she’s bound
Well, I don’ t wanna know
Roll on, babe
Don’t you roll so slow
When the wheel don’t turn
Well, you won’t roll no more
Well, I’ve been drinking gin
I drank some whisky too
Yeah, I got hooked
Oh, whatcha gonna do
Roll on, babe
Don’t you roll so slow
When the wheel don’t turn
You don’ roll no more
mmm, mmm…
A while back CB sent me Herman Brood’s name and a few links but we had talked about other bands and Brood got lost in the shuffle. I started to listen and the guy has some seriously good songs. He was a musician, singer-songwriter, an artist, and an actor. He was in five movies with the last one released in 2000. His voice got me right away…it’s different and unique. This guy was a true artist.
I hear rock, blues, and some pub rock in there also. Most of his songs are radio-friendly and they rock. Probably the biggest reason he didn’t hit more was his hedonistic lifestyle which grew worse as the years went by.
Herman Brood was born in Zwolie in the Netherlands. After finishing art school he started off as a keyboard player in a band called The Moans in the early sixties. At the end of the sixties, Brood was part of the blues band Cuby + Blizzards. When he took a break from music… he got into trouble. Brood quickly slipped into crime. Burglary and drug trafficking and, as a consequence, a small stint in jail.
He released his first album in 1977 called Street and followed it up with 1978’s Shpritsz and Cha Cha. In 1979 he released Herman Brood & His Wild Romance. This album was released in America only. It contained tracks from Shpritsz also. The album peaked at #122 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1979. The song Saturday Night peaked at #35 on the Billboard 100.
The classic line-up of The Wild Romance was formed in November of 1977: Dany Lademacher (guitar), Freddie Cavalli (bass) Cees “Ani” Meerman (drums) supplemented with The Bombitas (background vocals). This album’s songs were recorded quickly and mostly cut live in the studio. That is why this album sounds so alive when you hear it. The album featured 15 short-driven songs.
He continued making music through the 80s releasing 8 albums in that decade and 4 in the 90s. He also started to paint and do pop art with screen prints.
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During the end of his life, he tried to refrain from taking drugs but just couldn’t quit. He died in 2000. Like with the Beat Farmers, it was hard to pick one song out but I will be doing more so I will get to him again soon.
Saturday Night
he neon light, of the Open all night
Was just in time replaced by the magic appearance of a new day-while
A melancholic Reno was crawling on his back just in
Front of the supermarket door-way child
Hey girl, on a cold summer night
As we stood on the corner
As a man passed by and asked us
What we were doing what we need
As he pointed his big fat finger
To the people hangin’ round at the corner of the – other side of street
Oh well
Doin’ nothing, just hanging around
What do you mean doin’ nothing Sir
So we had to hit him to the ground
Doin’ nothing just hanging around
His head all busted lookin’ just a little to wise child
I just can’t wait
I just can’t wait for Saturday night
For Saturday night
For Saturday night
Saturday night
This is another post for my sister. Bless her heart… she did introduce me to pop music and I do thank her for it. Now there were very few I really liked but Bread wasn’t a teeny bopper band…just a soft rock hit machine in the early seventies. So, Tammy, I hope you enjoy reading this. I’ve included my sister Tammy and another with her and a stupid little kid who wanted a JJ hat.
Tammy
Tammy with the author…I wanted a hat like JJ
This is a band I heard from my sister’s record collection. I have to admit when I hear one of their songs now…I know all of the lyrics and it is 1972 again.
I’ve always called them a guilty pleasure but hell…I like them. When I hear one of their songs I’m listening to them with my sister again. The thing about this band is that they could whip out an electric guitar and rock with songs like Mother Freedom. They could also do power pop…yes power pop with a song I’ll be posting soon. Here is a take on this song by my friend Matt.
David Gates is a wonderful songwriter and he wrote the hits basically but James Griffin and Robb Royer also wrote songs. Their songs were not bad at all but they were in a band with a great songwriter. He knew how to write a hook and a wonderful melody…and words we all can relate to.
David got started early. David’s girlfriend in the early sixties was the sister of singer/songwriter Leon Russell. Once he’d heard Leon’s material, he was inspired to write songs himself. He became a session musician and played on Jackie De Shannon’s demos. Six months had passed and he wasn’t making much headway until Johnny Burnette recorded his song The Fool Of The Year in 1962 and that was enough for him to keep writing.
This song was not romantic… it was written for Gate’s father after he passed away. Gates says that his father was a kind and gentle man and took the time to teach Gates to read and write music and play various instruments. He was influential in introducing Gates to classical music, which, in Gate’s words is his foundation. He attributes the song title to the kind words of his father after Gates sent his mother a gift of an orchid, which was more than he could at the time. Gate’s father was touched by the gesture and said that Gates could have “Everything she owned”.
They released a lot of material between 1970 – 1973 and constant touring caused fatigue to set in. All eleven of Bread’s charting singles between 1970 and 1973 had been written and sung by Gates. Elektra Records had always selected Gates’ songs for the A-sides of the singles, while Griffin felt that the singles should have been split between the two of them.
Something I didn’t know is that in 1996, after being broken up for years, reunited and toured the United States, South Africa, Europe, and Asia. After that, they went their separate ways.
Everything I Own peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #32 in the UK, and #9 in New Zealand in 1972.
A Jamaican singer Ken Booth also recorded a version of this song and it peaked at #1 in the UK
David Gates on his Dad:“My success would have been so special to him as he was my greatest influence. So I decided to write and record Everything I Own about him. If you listen to the words, ‘You sheltered me from harm, kept me warm, gave my life to me, set me free,’ it says it all.”
David Gates: “My father was kind and gentle and revered by everyone. People will do what you do, not what you say. He always had time for me and taught me to read and write music, play various instruments and introduced me to classical music, my foundation. One year I sent my mom an orchid for her birthday, she was so touched that my dad wrote to tell me I could have had ‘anything she owned’ in return. My father died in 1963 and I wanted to write a song in memory of him. He did live to see some of my early progress towards success, but not the major songs or stardom with Bread. As with all my songs, the music led and the words tried to keep up, but they came pretty quickly. I wrote the lyrics, ‘I would give everything I own just to have you back again’ so that they could be interpreted as a love song, but when I played it for my wife, she knew right away that it was about my father. She cried.”
David Gates: “The recording session with Bread felt pressurized because I wanted to convey the emotion in the vocal that existed when I played it with an acoustic guitar,” Gates said. “The covers [by Rod Stewart, Shirley Bassey and Boy George] have all felt genuine, and it is magical to sing. Everything I Own has reached farther than any other song I’ve ever written. It’s a tribute to the song and Ken that it was able to go reggae.”
Everything I Own
You sheltered me from harm
Kept me warm, kept me warm
You gave my life to me
Set me free, set me free
The finest years I ever knew
Were all the years I had with you
And I would give anything I own
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
Just to have you back again
You taught me how to love
What it’s of, what it’s of
You never said too much
But still you showed the way
And I knew from watching you
Nobody else could ever know
The part of me that can’t let go
And I would give anything I own
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
Just to have you back again
Is there someone you know
You’re loving them so
But taking them all for granted?
You may lose them one day
Someone takes them away
And they don’t hear the words you long to say
I would give anything I own
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
Just to have you back again
Just to touch you once again
This is one of my top U2 songs… it was on the album Achtung Baby released in 1991. the song peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1992. Johnny Cash covered it on 2000’s American III: Solitary Man,..the video is at the bottom of the post.
The Edge talks about when they came up with it: Suddenly something very powerful happening in the room. Everyone recognized it was a special piece. It was like we’d caught a glimpse of what the song could be. It was a pivotal song in the recording of the album, the first breakthrough in what was an extremely difficult set of sessions.
The band wrote this song in Berlin after being there for months trying to record Achtung Baby. The Berlin Wall had just fallen, so the band was hoping to find inspiration from the struggle and change. Instead, they found themselves at odds with each other and unable to do much productive work.
Most of the song was written in about 30 minutes and it rejuvenated the band creatively. When they left Berlin, they had little to show for it except for this song, but they were able to complete the album back home in Ireland with this song as the centerpiece of the album.
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
A friend of mine moved to Seattle in the early 90s for a job. He called me at some point and told me about the music scene there and something big was happening. He said he had just seen a band in a dingy club with a left-handed blonde guitar player who had a strong voice named Nirvana.
I was the same age as Kurt Cobain. When this song came out it was more than popular. It was instantly embedded into the culture. I did like the rawness of it but I would have never guessed it would have been so popular. I just didn’t click with grunge music.
Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of the group Bikini Kill, gave Cobain the idea for the title when she spray painted “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” on his bedroom wall after a night of drinking and spraying graffiti around the Seattle area. In his pre-Courtney Love days, Cobain went out with Bikini Kill lead singer Tobi Vail, but she dumped him. Vail wore Teen Spirit deodorant, and Hanna was implying that Cobain was marked with her scent.
Kurt Cobain said that he was trying to write the ultimate pop song. He said he was basically trying to rip off The Pixies.
Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend
Great power pop song by Matthew Sweet. The song reached #4 on the Alternative Billboard Chart in 1991. The song was off of his 3rd album of the same name. The album was Sweet’s breakthrough album.
The song has a little of everything in it…noisy guitar, loud drums but with a pop melody.
Tom Petty – Into The Great Wide Open
I’ve always liked this song and album. I saw them on this tour and it would be the only time I got to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The song is a cautionary tale about stardom and the record business. The album of the same name peaked at #13 in 1991. This was the first Heartbreakers album since Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) in 1987. Tom Petty released his solo album Full Moon Fever two years before this.
The video to the song was well made. Petty later commented that he was approached about making a movie out of the song. The video not only featured Johnny Depp but also Faye Dunaway.
REM – Losing My Religion
I hope everyone is having a happy Monday…at least as happy as it can be.
I heard early REM albums from friends. They really made an impact with college kids and built a following. Then they released The One I Love and the dam burst. This song took it a step higher.
Peter Buck has commented that after this song’s success that the bands popularity soared. He mentioned that R.E.M. went from a respected band with a cult following to one of the biggest bands in the world.
The title is based on the Southern expression “lost my religion,” meaning something has challenged your faith to such a degree you might lose your religion or cool.
REM was surprised when their record label chose this song as the first single from Out Of Time. Running 4:28 with no chorus and a mandolin for a lead instrument, it didn’t seem like hit material, but it ended up being the biggest hit of their career.
Michael Stipe revealed the lyrics about obsessional love were heavily influenced by The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” which he called “the most beautiful, kind of creepy song.”
This song played a key part in making me love the power pop genre. It’s one of my favorite power pop songs of all time. It was originally released in 1988 but wasn’t played over in America until 1990. So I’m cheating on this but I had no way of hearing it before then.
A song by a British band called The La’s. A very good pop song that has no verses…it just repeats the chorus four different ways four different times. It was written by the singer Lee Mavers and recorded in 1988 and remixed and released again in 1990. It only peaked at #49 in 1990 in the US.
Many people think the song was about heroin. Paul Hemmings an ex-guitarist for the band denies that rumor. Either way, it is a perfectly constructed pop song. It’s been covered by a lot of artists but probably most successfully by Sixpence None the Richer. I’ve always liked The La’s version the best.
The Black Crowes – Hard To Handle
When I heard this song in 1990 I was thrilled because it sounded like the Faces of the 70s. It was plain rock and roll and had a timeless quality about it. I waited the entire 1980s for rock and roll like this to be back on the mainstream charts. The Replacements were the other rock band but not in the charts. It happened occasionally (Georgia Satellites and Guns and Roses) but not much. This song was originally recorded by Otis Redding, who wrote it with Allen Jones and Al Bell. It was the only cover song on The Black Crowes debut album which sold over five million copies.
The album also had songs like Jealous Again and She Talks To Angels. I knew things were changing when I saw the success of their album.
The two other versions that I like are Otis Redding and Grateful Dead version with Pigpen taking the lead.
The Replacements – Merry Go Round
This one is off of their last studio album All Shook Down. I was going to conclude with this one having one off of their studio albums but there is one more coming next week.
This is not my favorite off the album but it did have a commercial sound for that time and it’s something that I thought would have charted in the Billboard 100. Merry Go Round did peak at #1 on the alternative charts. The album peaked at #69 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1990.
“Merry Go Round” was written about the lives of Westerberg and his sister Mary (“They ignored me with a smile, you as a child”).
The band went to Los Angeles to make a video for Merry Go Round. With Westerberg’s okay, Warner Bros. hired Bob Dylan’s twenty-three-year-old son Jesse Dylan, who was just starting to direct.
AC/DC – Thunderstruck
As much as I love Angus Young’s intro to this…it’s his brother’s rhythm guitar that makes this song go. Brothers Angus and Malcolm Young wrote this song.
A side note to this song. In 2012 a couple of Iranian uranium-enrichment plants were hacked and their computers shut down but not before blasting Thunderstruck at maximum volume like you are probably doing right now or will be soon.
The album was recorded with producer Bruce Fairbairn at his Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, where he also produced Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and the Aerosmith albums Permanent Vacation and Pump. It was the group’s first time working with Fairbairn.
Sinéad O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
This song was everywhere in 1990. Prince wrote this song in 1984 but didn’t release it. He gave it to a group called The Family that was signed to his label. The Family included it on a 1985 album but it never went anywhere. Five years later it became the biggest hit of 1990. Prince recorded his own version as well, but it wasn’t released until 2018, two years after his death.
It was O’Connor’s manager, Fachtna O’Kelly, who suggested she record a version of the track. O’Kelly knew it would be perfect for her.
I remember Freddy Fender as a kid and this song. I remember it being played everywhere. It was a huge crossover hit and I saw him on television at the time singing it on different shows.
Freddy Fender wrote and recorded it in 1959 for a small label. It wasn’t until 1975 that he was able to release it again under his name. He and some band members were charged with pot possession in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1960.
Fender served 3 1/.2 years in prison until he was pardoned by Governor Jimmie Davis. There was a condition though…he had to stay away from anywhere that served alcohol. In the late sixties, he started to work in a garage and play music on the weekends.
He started to record again in 1974 and struck gold with his first two releases. Before the Next Teardrop Falls peaked at #1 in the Billboard Country Charts, #1 on the Billboard 100, and #1 on the Canadian Country Charts. Wasted Days and Wasted Nights peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts, #8 on the Billboard 100, #2 on the Canadian Country Charts, and #6 in Canada in 1975.
He would have more number 1s in the Country Charts for Billboard and Canada. Later on, Fender would later join the Texas Tornados and Los Super 7.
Here is Freddie with the Texas Tornados doing the song.
Wasted Days Wasted Nights
Wasted days and wasted nights I have left for you behind For you don’t belong to me Your heart belongs to someone else
Why should I keep loving you When I know that you’re not true? And why should I call your name When you’re to blame For making me blue?
Don’t you remember the day That you went away and left me? I was so lonely Prayed for you only My love
Why should I keep loving you When I know that you’re not true? And why should I call your name When you’re to blame For making me blue?
Don’t you remember the day That you went away and left me? I was so lonely Prayed for you only My love
Wasted days and wasted nights I have left for you behind For you don’t belong to me Your heart belongs to someone else
Why should I keep loving you When I know that you’re not true? And why should I call your name When you’re to blame For making me blue?
This is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard. I’ve never lived in New York but you get a sense of what it’s like in this song. I don’t post ballads much but this one I just had to.
Jeffreys is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-born singer/songwriter who has released 15 studio albums in his 53-year career. His mixed heritage Puerto Rican and African-American is mirrored in his music, which embraces rock, soul, R&B, and reggae. He began his career performing solo in Manhattan clubs in 1966 after attending college at Syracuse University as an art major, where he became friends with Lou Reed. He then spent some time in Italy studying art before returning to further his education at New York’s Institute of Fine Arts.
He seemed on the cusp of making it so many times but never crossed that bridge. Jeffreys was named the most promising new artist of 1977 by Rolling Stone magazine, and positive pieces about Jeffreys appeared in the Village Voice and the New Yorker. He was friends with peers like Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Bob Marley, John Lennon, and Joe Strummer.
This song was included on the 1977 album Ghost Writer. The album also included my favorite song by him so far…Wild In The Streets. I have posted a couple of posts on him before and he hits me the same way that Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, and Graham Parker do.
Fellow blogger MusicCityMike made a video/post about Ghost Writer back in 2020. Take a look at it if you can.
Wild In The Streets was released as a single in 1973 but it was included on Ghost Writer.
New York Skyline
Baby Jean Vaudeville queen She love to ragtime in the night I know I?m gonna miss my baby Jean Cause she treats me oh so right
But the New York Skyline It?s calling me home tonight Female, feline, feminine, She?s been making my world so bright
Hindsight, foresight Sometimes we?ve got no sight at all New love, true love Sometimes we?ve got no love at all
But the New York Skyline it?s Calling me home tonight Female, feline, feminine, She?s been making my world so bright
New York Skyline, New York Skyline I can see those city lights And I can feel those neon signs Bright lights, big city Well it must be modern times Yes it must be modern times Well it must be modern times
Free Fallin’ may be the song he is most remembered by. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne wrote and recorded “Free Fallin’” in just two days, the first song completed for Full Moon Fever.“We had a multitude of acoustic guitars,” Petty told Rolling Stone of the song’s Byrds-y feel. “So it made this incredibly dreamy sound.”
Tom Petty: “There’s not a day that goes by that someone doesn’t hum ‘Free Fallin” to me or I don’t hear it somewhere,” “But it was really only 30 minutes of my life.”
Replacements – I’ll Be You
My favorite band of the 1980s. I was so amazed to hear The Replacements on mainstream radio at this time. This was the closest the Replacements came to having a “hit.” It peaked at #51 on the Billboard 100 and #1 on the Modern Rock Charts in 1989. The song did expand its audience with younger kids coming to see them without knowing their back catalog. This was an annoyance to some of the band members who some nights didn’t play I’ll Be You.
The line, “Left a Rebel without a clue” was later borrowed by Tom Petty into his hit, “Into the Great Wide Open,” in 1991. The Replacements opened up for Petty in his 1989 tour with the Heartbreakers.
Roy Orbison – You Got It
Roy was making a great comeback in the late eighties. He was a member of the Traveling Wilburys and he finished a new album called Mystery Girl in November of 1988. He confided in Johnny Cash that he was having chest pains and he would have to have it looked at…he never did.
The Traveling Wilburys Vol 1 was rising in the charts and he flew to Europe to do a show and came back and did a few more in America. On December 6, 1988, he flew model planes with his kids and after dinner passed away at the age of 52.
I remember watching the Traveling Wilburys video “End of the Line”. They made the video after Roy passed away… when his part came up they showed an empty rocking chair with Roy’s picture beside it.
You Got It featured Jeff Lynn, Tom Petty, and Phil Jones.
Bonnie Raitt – A Thing Called Love
Thing Called Love was written by John Hiatt for his 1987 album Bring the Family. Bonnie covered this song for her 1989 Nick of Time album.
Nick of Time was Bonnie Raitt’s breakthrough album. After years of endless touring and making albums it all paid off with this album.
This is the song that really got me into the newer version Bonnie Raitt. I did like her earlier hit Runaway and I’d heard of her music and read about her. She paid her dues and I was happy to see her hit big. She is an extremely gifted slide guitar player and singer.
Neil Young – Rockin’ In The Free World
This is from our favorite Canadian Neil Young. It surprised me that this was released in 1989. I remember it the most in the 90s.
This was inspired by the political changes going on at the time, and was highly critical of George Bush Sr. Some of the lyrics mock Bush’s campaign speeches: “We got 1,000 points of light, for the homeless man,” “We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand.”
Rocking In A Free World was written in February 1989, as Neil Young toured the Pacific Northwest. Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini had just issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie because of his controversial novel The Satanic Verses and Russia had recently withdrawn its forces from Afghanistan.
Pearl Jam has performed this song from time to time with Young, who said that Neil is their musical mentor. The first time they performed it together was at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, where the “Jeremy” video won four awards. Young came on as a surprise guest.
Sometimes as a guitar player, you come up with a riff that you know is good…this riff must have made Allen Collins happy when he thought of it.
It was released on their third album Nothin’ Fancy in 1975. The album was produced by Al Kooper who signed the band and produced their first three albums. Near the end of the sessions, it was decided that Kooper would leave and not produce them anymore. The sessions were tense so he told them he would rather be their friend than their producer so they parted on good terms.
They premiered the song live in Paris in 1974. Nothin’ Fancy was not one of their best albums but did contain some staples for them. Saturday Night Special, Whiskey Rock-a-Roller, and this song On The Hunt. Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant wrote this song in 1974.
Bob Burns and Artimus Pyle
Right before this album it was decided that the drummer Bob Burns needed to part from the band. He was getting more erratic personally. He had some mental issues that the large amount of drugs and drinking certainly didn’t help. The worst occasion was when he went to see the Exorcist. After he saw that he started to see demons everywhere. While in England he was in the 3rd or 4th floor and threw the hotel’s cat out of the window. He thought the cat was the devil himself. The other band members, even the tough Ronnie Van Zant, were not comfortable around him.
They called up Charlie Daniels and asked him if he knew any drummers, so Daniels told them about Artimus Pyle so he joined. No doubt about it, Pyle was a better drummer but he also fit the band perfectly at that time. Pyle had been marking time and making friends as a session drummer for the likes of both Marshall Tucker and The Charlie Daniels Band. Pyle was a former Marine, a health enthusiast, and a Vegan for the most part. He wasn’t all natural though. He would normally take LSD while they were flying and staying at hotels.
The biggest problem with making the album was that they did not have the time to write the songs and arrange them before they recorded them. On their previous two albums, they had that luxury….even the solos were planned out in every song. The record company wanted something now so they had to write in the studio.
Now that many reviewers have looked back on the album…it has got favorable reviews now. As I have said before…they only released 5 studio albums (not counting one after the crash that had their pre-fame material on it) and three of them would be classic albums. Two of them would be very good…other rock bands at the time would have taken this album and loved it. Their live album released in 1976 is one of the best in rock. It shows the band in great form…the one who opened up for the Stones and made a statement at the 1976 Knebworth event.
Al Kooper: Each record got harder to make, and on the third record [Nuthin’ Fancy]we really battled it out and it was getting dangerous in terms of our friendship. At the last day of the third record, I told them that I didn’t want to produce them anymore — that I would rather be their friend than their producer. I think they had suffered as much as I had and were glad to hear that.
The third album was a very tough album to make because they didn’t have the preparatory time that they had on the first two albums. For instance, the guitar solos were not composed. They were made up in the studio.
On The Hunt
I said baby mama, I don’t know your name But I said baby, sugar I can play your game Every night when we leave the hall I see you hanging around You wanna ride in my big black car baby Wanna go uptown
[Chorus] I know who you are baby I know what they call you girl Never put you down baby I’m just like you baby, I’m on the hunt
I know lady People gonna talk about you and me Let me say one thing mama, sugar I do as I please And if you wanna love me baby, I’m your man And all those high-falutin’ society people I don’t care if they don’t undertand
[Chorus]
My daddy told me a long time ago Said there’s two things son Two things you should know And in these two things you must take pride That’s a horse and woman, yeah Well both of them you ride
Please don’t disown me after this…but a Led Zeppelin and Osmond’s story is too hard to pass up. I have played this song to people without telling them who did it…none of them guessed it.
My sister would aggravate me when I was 4 or 5 by playing their records repeatedly. All I could remember was looking at that album and being blinded by that bright glaring smile they all had. So this post is for my sister who probably would not have liked this particular song…but that is probably why it stuck with me.
This is a comment on YouTube about this song “This is what happens when Mormons finally have caffeine.“
I hate to admit it…but this song is not that bad. The Osmonds had this song banned in South Africa, not because of their wild image but because the word Horse meant heroin there. The keyboard at the intro with the slide sound was a YP-30 Yamaha organ with a portmento slide.
A few years after this song…The Osmonds were invited to see Led Zeppelin at Earls Court by the band. They went backstage and met Zeppelin’s family. The Osmonds even used their sound system when they played Earls Court ourselves the following night.
I have to admit…it’s a pretty damn hard song. It peaked at #14 on the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #6 in Canada in 1972. Hmmm wonder how close we came to a Black Sabbath – Osmonds tour in the early seventies?
There was a positive message with the song…it was an environmental song about pollution… an allegory for mankind’s destructive tendencies. As much as I hate to…I’ll give them their due. They stepped out of the teenybopper box they were in and tried something different.
Jay Osmond: I remember we went in a day early because we were using Led Zepplin’s sound equipment. And so we went in to watch them and those guys were so fun and cool. We went backstage and played frisbee with their kids and then they invited us to come up and play with them on ‘Stair Way To Heaven’. And I’ll never forget, The Osmonds and Led Zepplin on the same stage.
Merrill Osmond: “Before that, my brothers and I had been what’s now called a boy band… all our songs were chosen for us by the record company. But now, having been successful, we wanted to freak out and make our own music. We were rehearsing in a basement one day when Wayne started playing this heavy rock riff. I came up with a melody and Alan got the chords. Within an hour, we had the song. I had always been the lead singer, but I sang Crazy Horses with Jay. The line “What a show, there they go, smoking up the sky” had to be sung higher, so I did that and Jay did the verses because his voice was growlier, and this track was heavier than anything we’d ever done.”
Donny Osmond: “Ozzy Osbourne actually told me that ‘Crazy Horses’ is one of his favorite rock and roll songs. “The problem is my teenybopper career was selling like crazy and it overshadowed anything we did as a rock and roll band.”
Donny Osmond: We had a wall of Marshalls in the studio. It was so loud that you couldn’t even walk in the studio, so we had to play the organ from the control room. My brother Alan actually played it on the record. I played it live. But the secret to it was a wah-wah pedal. We opened the wah-wah just enough to get that really harsh kind of a piercing sound, but it was the loudness of the Marshalls that got us that sound. And then we doubled it. That was the secret to that sound.”
This is a song off of that album…they borrowed a Zeppelin riff for this one.
Crazy Horses
There’s a message floatin’ in the air. Crazy horses ridin’ everywhere. It’s a warning, it’s in every tongue. Gotta stop them crazy horses on the run.
What a show, there they go smokin’ up the sky, yeah. Crazy horses all got riders, and they’re you and I. Crazy horses (repeat 3 times)
Never stop and they never die. They just keep on puffin’ how they multiply. Crazy horses, will they never halt? If they keep on movin’ then it’s all our fault.
What a show, there they go smokin’ up the sky, yeah. Crazy horses all got riders, and they’re you and I. Crazy horses (repeat 3 times)
So take a good look around, See what they’ve done, what they’ve done — They’ve done– They’ve done– They’ve done– They’ve done.
There is nothing better than sitting back on a cool Fall day and listening to the Allman Brothers.
The album Brothers and Sisters was released in August 1973. This was almost two years after Duane Allman had died. Around a year later on November 11, 1972…their bassist Berry Oakley died on a motorcycle within a few blocks of where Duane crashed. Some of the band members have said…Berry died on the day that Duane died but his body just kept moving until a little over a year later. He never got over Duane dying and his drug and alcohol use escalated. He was on his motorcycle and hit a bus. He went back to his house and they took him to a hospital where he died a short time later.
Let me say this about Berry Oakley. He is sadly overlooked today. Not only was he a superb blues bass player but he had something that not all blues bassists have. He had a great sense of melody…I would compare him to Paul McCartney in that department. In the middle of those jams, you would hear the bass playing these wonderful countermelodies…he was unique in that way.
The Allmans recorded Brother and Sisters between October and December of 1972. It was a monster hit for the Brothers. It contains the last songs that Oakley ever played on. Berry Oakley played on this song and the huge hit Ramblin’ Man that he recorded shortly before his death. They had try-outs for another bass player but Jaimo’s friend Lamar Williams won out easily. He played with the band until they broke up briefly in 1976. He developed lung cancer at the age of 32 from exposure to Agent Orange during his Vietnam service and died in 1983.
Gregg Allman wrote this and Dickey Betts played a slide on the song. He didn’t like playing slide because of Duane. When Duane died instead of replacing him with another guitar player…they recruited the great piano player Chuck Leavell. That was a smart thing to do because of the comparisons to Duane on whoever would have taken that spot. Dickey had to play slide when they played their older songs but it’s something he stayed away from on newer songs when he could.
The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #42 in the UK. What helped the album was Ramblin’ Man and Jessica, two of their most classic songs. They toured with this album and played sold-out stadiums and arenas. A little later they would lease The Starship… the same one that Led Zeppelin used in the seventies. They were up there with The Who, Led Zeppelin, and the monster bands of the seventies.
The first time I heard of the Allman Brothers was on SNL where Dan Ackroyd played Jimmy Carter talking down a caller on acid. I was around 9 when I heard it and it stuck. I have it below.
Wasted Words
Can you tell me, tell me, friend, just exactly where I’ve been?
Is that so much to ask I’ll pay you back no matter what the task
You seem really sure ’bout something I don’t know,
Take that load off, looks like chest’s about to go
Your wasted words already been heard, are you really god, yes or no?
Well, all day and half the night you’re walkin’ round lookin’ such a fright
Good is it me or is it you?
I’d make a wager and I’d hope you lose
Time’s gone, looks like Rome is ’bout to fall,
Next time take the elevator, please don’t crawl
Your wasted words so absurd, are you really Satan, yes or no?
Tell me now baby?
Ooh hoo
Oh
Well, I ain’t no saint and you sure as hell ain’t no savior
Every other Christmas I would practice good behavior
That was then, this is now, don’t ask me to be mister clean
Baby, I don’t know how
Ring my phone ’bout ten more times, we will see,
Find that broke down line and let it be
Your wasted words will never be heard, go on home baby and watch it on TV
Weekday soap-box specialty, you know what I’m talkin’ ’bout now
By the way, this song’s for you, sincerely, me
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