1970s – Page 31 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Black Sabbath – Iron Man

I hope many of you enjoyed a long weekend!

This is a fun song. Now its popularity has risen to an all-time high with the 2008 Marvel movie Ironman. I know most serious movie fans are not big fans of the Marvel movies. I fit in there also because I don’t like watching a lot of CGI. As a music fan though, I’m glad they are sharing 60s and 70s music to a new generation.

Another song that the riff is easy for beginning guitar players to learn how to play. It was one of the first ones I learned. This was the biggest US hit for Black Sabbath. It got very little radio play but developed a cult following, which led to enough sales to give it a chart position.

Iron Man peaked at #52 in 1971 on the Billboard 100 and #68 in Canada. The song was written by all of the members of the band. It was on the album Paranoid released in 1970. The album peaked at #12 on the Billboard Album Charts, #20 in Canada, and #1 in the UK Album Charts.

They did something smart as far as singles. They followed the Led Zeppelin way of doing it. In the UK they didn’t release this as a single because they had released Paranoid the year before. People would show up in the UK wanting to hear one song…Paranoid… so they limited their single releases there.

Black Sabbath Bass guitar player Geezer Butler: “I was walking down the street one day and thought… ‘what if there were a bloody great bloke made out of metal walking about?”‘

There is debate on how Ozzy got his voice distorted in the intro. Some say he got that by singing from behind a metal fan. Others say it was him singing through a VCS-3 Synthesizer…they came out in 1969. Another rumor was a processor called a ring modulator (effects box) ran through a tremolo. Why don’t they just ask Ozzy? Uh…ok never mind! just kidding.

This is the only Black Sabbath album that I owned. I always liked it… Paranoid, War Pigs, Iron Man, and Hand of Doom I liked. One cool fact I read is Frank Zappa surprised Black Sabbath by covering this song because he knew they were in the audience.

Here is a partial list of artists who have covered this song from Songfacts: Marilyn Manson, Alice in Chains, Butthole Surfers, Add N To (X), Busta Rhymes, Therapy, NOFX, Auburn U. Band, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Tim McCarthy, Heavy Voltage, DYS, Tanzwut, EMO, Amoco Renegades, Dead Alewives, Replacements, The Cardigans, The Mats, and Offspring.

Tony Iommi: “A lot of the words in the songs – a lot of the moods of the songs – are aggressive, especially in the early days – Satanic, if you like… That was the way it felt, so that was the way we played. But it got out of hand. With Paranoid in England, for instance. There was a girl (Hillary Pollard) found dead – a nurse she was: dead in her room with our album on the turntable going round. And it was taken to court saying that it was because of the album that she was depressed and killed herself, which was totally ridiculous, I think.”

Geezer Butler: “If the moral majority don’t understand it they’ll try to put it down, or get other people to read all sorts of things into it … The moral majority sort of people picked up on the Satanic part of it. I mean, most of it was about stopping wars and that side of it, and some science fiction stuff. There wasn’t that much Satanic stuff, and what there was it wasn’t exactly for the devil or anything like that; it was just around at the time and we just brought it to people’s attention.”

Iron Man

I am iron man

Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all
Or if he moves will he fall?

Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
We’ll just pass him there
Why should we even care?

He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
Where he traveled time
For the future of mankind

Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfold

Now the time is here
For iron man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved

Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge

Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron man lives again

Mink DeVille – Spanish Stroll

While talking to my friends CB and Paul…they bring up Mink Deville a lot so I decided to go check them out. I’ve heard of some of their music but I wanted more so I spent a few hours listening…I see why they bring them up…they are different and bring a lot to the table.

Mink DeVille was formed in 1974 in San Francisco but they are known for their association with punk bands at the New York club CBGB. They would go on to record six albums and Willy DeVille made 10 albums solo. The band lasted until 1986.

When I post a song of a more unknown artist to most of my readers…I try to find a song that is more commercial…maybe not their best song but a “radio-friendly” song to get people digging more. This one is radio-friendly and has a Lou Reed feel. I really like this band’s music…love the lyrics to this.

The song “Spanish Stroll” by Mink DeVille is an iconic track from their debut album, released in 1977. It’s very New York and it describes navigating around in urban life to escape the mundane and ordinary. They blend genres, I can hear Latin and punk elements, which helped propel this track into the mainstream. I can also hear some Springsteen and even Mellencamp on some of their songs.

This was on their debut album Cabretta. It peaked at #186 on the Billboard Album charts. The song Spanish Stroll peaked at #20 in the UK in 1977. The song was written by the lead singer Willy DeVille.

I learned a lot by reading Paul’s reviews of their albums on his site. He has a wide variety of album reviews to look at…and that is an understatement.

Bob Dylan on how Willy DeVille should be in the Hall of Fame: “(DeVille) stood out, his voice and presentation ought to have gotten him in there by now.”

Peter Wolf: “He had all the roots of music that I love and had this whole street thing of R&B – just the whole gestalt … He was just a tremendous talent; a true artist in the sense that he never compromised. He had a special vision and remained true to it.”

Willy DeVille: “We were sitting around talking of names, and some of them were really rude, and I was saying, guys we can’t do that. Then one of the guys said how about Mink DeVille? There can’t be anything cooler than a fur lined Cadillac can there? “What could be more pimp than a mink Cadillac? In an impressionistic sort of way.”

Piano player Kenny Margolis: “I don’t think the American public had a chance to experience him because in America at that time you had MTV telling you what to like. Europe had not had MTV at that point and they were very open to different music.”

Spanish Stroll

Hey Mr. Jim I can see the shape you’re in
Finger on your eyebrow
And left hand on your hip
Thinking that you’re such a lady killer
Think you’re so slick!
Alright

Brother Johnny, he caught a plane and he got on it
Now he’s a razor in the wind
And he got a pistol in his pocket
They say the man is crazy on the West Coast
Lord there ain’t no doubt about it!
Well allright

Sister Sue tell me baby what are we gonna do
She said take two candles,
And then you burn them out
Make a paper boat,light it and…. send it out
send it out now..

Spanish Stroll
Spanish Stroll
Spanish Stroll

Hey Rosita! Donde vas con mi carro Rosita?
tu sabes que te quiero
pero ti me quitas todo
ya te robasta mi television y mi radio
y ahora quiere llevarse mi carro
no me haga asi, rosita
ven aqui
ehi, estese aqui al lado rosita
Spanish Stroll

Mira aqui!

Hey Johny! Yeah, tenth street Johny
We’ve been looking for you man
Everybody told me you had moved uptown
Hey! you wanna go for a ride
I’m going uptown myself
For what?

Yeah, ain’t it right?
Yeah, one time for Tito Puente, one time
Are you ready?
Yeah, of course we cannot leave out, Mr Ray Baretto
Are you ready?Are you ready?Are you ready?

Five of my Favorite Country Songs

The good thing about Star Trek being over is…I can start posting a couple of music things on Saturday and Sunday.

I grew up near Nashville so it did leave its imprint on me but I don’t listen to modern country music. I do include some songs that are more country/rock but they fit what I like. They are in no particular order…well my favorite admittedly is the top one.

Hope you enjoy the small sample platter of country songs.

This song is my favorite of the Flying Burrito Brothers. It came off their great album The Gilded Palace of Sin. It didn’t chart at the time. Parsons wrote this song with Burrito bass player Chris Ethridge while the band was living in their San Fernando Valley house that was dubbed “Burrito Manor.”

Merle Haggard was a constant on the radio here with my parents. He wrote so many classic songs and this is one of them…Mama Tried.

Merle Haggard wrote this song while serving time in San Quentin prison for robbery. The song is based on his life, and how his mother tried to help him but couldn’t… Mama Tried came out in 1968 and peaked at #1 on the Country Charts and #1 in the Canada Country Charts in 1968.

The man had 38 number-one hits, 71 top-ten hits, and 101 songs in the top 100 in the country charts. Merle is one of my favorite country artists. If only the new ones would listen and learn.

Hank Williams is one of my favorite country artists. He could write songs of great quality but the ironic thing is…this one is one of the few he didn’t write. His nickname…The Hillbilly Shakespeare is true to form. Hank Williams released this song in 1949 and it peaked at #12 on the Country Charts. It was written by Leon Payne.

Loretta Lynn is my favorite female country singer with apologies to Dolly Parton. This is a song that she did with Jack White called Portland Oregon. If the modern country was like this…I would listen. Their voices go really well with each other. Country radio would not play it but the album still peaked at #2 on the Country Charts and #24 on the Billboard Album Charts and #1 on the UK Country Charts in 2004.

They didn’t win any country music awards but came away with two Grammys.

I love the build-up to this song…Jack White builds this up and Loretta starts singing around 1:40.

Now to finish it out with 5 songs…I thought I would add Dwight Yoakam who was inspired by Buck Owen’s Bakersville Sound. The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Country Charts and at #3 in Canada in 1993. It was written by Yoakam and produced by Pete Anderson.

The song was on Dwight’s album This Time. The album peaked at #4 in the Billboard Country Album Charts, #1 in the Canada RPM Album Charts, and #25 in the Billboard Album Charts.

…

Stevie Wonder – You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

You are the sunshine of my lifeThat’s why I’ll always be around

Stevie Wonder… had such a long career before he was even 18. He wrote this for his wife Syreeta Wright whom Wonder married in 1970.

Wright was from Detroit, an aspiring ballet dancer who didn’t have the money to pursue her passion and who ended up working as a receptionist at Motown in 1965. Eventually, Wright started singing on demos for Motown singers, and the label released a single of hers in 1968 under the name Rita Wright. When Diana Ross left the Supremes, Berry Gordy thought about installing Wright as her replacement but it didn’t happen.

in 1968 Syreeta Wright met Stevie Wonder. In 1969, they started dating, and they also started working together. In 1970, they got married, when Wright was 24 and Wonder was 20. By that time, they were already writing partners. Together, Wright and Wonder helped write the Spinners’ “It’s A Shame” and Wonder’s own “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”

In 1972 they broke up. Wonder also produced the album Syreeta…Wright’s first album. He also recorded this song that year. It was no doubt who it was about. It was on the great album Talking Book. Just as he was singing this beautiful song they were breaking up. She would go on to record more music and one song with Billy Preston. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 58.

Some sources list the couple’s divorce as happening in 1972, but Wright, who died in 2004, claimed they were married until 1975. The marriage was difficult and exacerbated by their working relationship, which Wright found stifling. “I was always living in his shadow.”

He recorded this at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. It was recorded off the cuff and his band fell right in. The album Talking Book peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts, #12 in Canada,#16 in the UK in 1972.

You Are The Sunshine Of My Life peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #8 in New Zealand, and #7 in the UK. The first single off the album was Superstition…how is this for a follow-up!

This song won Wonder the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

You are the sunshine of my lifeThat’s why I’ll always be aroundYou are the apple of my eyeForever you’ll stay in my heart

I feel like this is the beginningThough I’ve loved you for a million yearsAnd if I thought our love was endingI’d find myself drowning in my own tears, whoa, oh, oh

You are the sunshine of my life, yeahThat’s why I’ll always stay around, mmm, mmm, yeah, yeahYou are the apple of my eyeForever you’ll stay in my heart

You must have known that I was lonelyBecause you came to my rescueAnd I know that this must be heavenHow could so much love be inside of you?Whoa, whoa

You are the sunshine of my life, yeahThat’s why I’ll always stay around, mmm (baby)You are the apple of my eyeForever you’ll stay in my heart, yeah

You are the sunshine of my life, babyThat’s why I’ll always stay around

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes – Hearts of Stone

A strong New York sound with a song written by Bruce Springsteen. Southside Johnny did some incredible vocals on this one. The album songs were written by Southside Johnny (Johnny Lyon), Bruce Springsteen, and Steven Van Zandt.

It’s a downright beautiful ballad and the vocals are about as good as it gets. This song is off his third studio album Hearts Of Stone released in 1978. Critics have called it “the best album that Bruce Springsteen never recorded.” Some also have compared it to Exile On Main Street. Steven Van Zandt produced and arranged this album.

Springsteen recorded this song during his Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions in 1977. He gave this song and Talk To Me it to Southside Johnny and Bruce didn’t end up releasing it until 1998. Springsteen also shares writing credits with Southside Johnny and Steven Van Zandt on Trapped Again which was co-written in early 1978 during the Hearts Of Stone recording sessions.

Van Zandt tapped photographer Frank Stefanko to shoot the album cover art, after meeting Stefanko when they worked together with Springsteen on Darkness On The Edge Of Town.

This album could have been huge because his record company Epic got fully behind it but then the tour got cut short. Southside Johnny: “I had cut my arm on a glass during a show in Sacramento. I was supposed to be off the road for three months at least and we were back on the road in two weeks. We had a huge tour booked. We were going to be gone for a year. The record company had actually started to get into it, but as soon as I got hurt and was off the road, they kind of said ‘That’s that’ and moved on to other things. It was bitter for me then, but over time you learn that’s just the way this business is.”

The album peaked at #112 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1978. E Street drummer Max Weinberg played on this album along with The Miami Horns.

Hearts of Stone

You stare in the mirror at the lines in your faceAnd you try so hard to see, girlThe way things were when we were at your placeEveryday was just you and me, girlAnd you cry because things ain’t like beforeWell, don’t you know it can’t be that way anymore?But don’t worry baby

I can’t talk now, I’m not aloneSo put your ear close to the phoneCause this is the last dance, the last chanceFor hearts of stone

If there was something, baby, that I could doSomething that would last, honey, I wouldBut you should know better than to think that youCan return to the pastSo close your eyes and I’ll be thereHold you once more, not go anywhereI wish I could, babe

But I can’t talk now, I’m not aloneSo put your ear close to the phoneCause this is the last dance, the last chanceFor hearts of stone

And you cry because things get so strange so fastAnd you cry because nothing good ever lastsWell, I know babeYes, I know, babe

But I can’t talk now, I’m not aloneSo put your ear close to the phone‘Cause this is the last dance, the last chanceFor hearts of stone

This is the last dance, the last chanceFor hearts of stone

Band – The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

Gonna see Miss Brer Foxhole
Bright diamonds at her teeth
She is pure gold down underneath

I’ve talked about it before…a title can draw a person in a song. This one begs to be listened to. Sometimes they don’t live up to the title but this one does. Although Robbie Robertson wrote this, Levon Helm’s vocals brought this piece of Americana to life. He owns this song. He grew up near Helena, Arkansas, and heard stories of traveling Medicine Shows coming in and out of town. When he was a kid he got to see some of these shows. Robertson later translated that into this song.

Helena, Arkansas was the home of the King Biscuit Time radio show. It debuted in 1941. Performers such as Sonny Boy Williamson II would be on the show. The show was the thing that really crystallized blues music in that area. It is said that Muddy Waters and B.B. King would come home from working in the fields every day just to listen to the King Biscuit hour.

This song was on their 3rd album Stage Fright. By this time, Robertson was having trouble writing songs. The brotherhood they all shared was getting complicated because of outside influences. Robertson also had a baby daughter and pregnant wife at home. The songs were great though.

Stage Fright peaked at #5 on the Billboard Album Charts, #6 in Canada, and #15 in the UK in 1970. The album has some of my favorite songs by the Band on it. The Shape I’m In, Stage Fright, and this one.

Robbie Robertson: I wrote about a traveling medicine show I had heard Levon speak of years earlier, something between a carnival sideshow and the African American origins of rock and roll. We recorded “The W. S. Walcott Medicine Show” and another take of “Daniel and the Sacred Harp” with Todd at a studio in the city, and these turned out to be a couple of our favorite tracks. That put the finishing touches on what we could pull out of the hat for this record. I was worn out from this process and trying to maintain a stable family life with my baby daughter and pregnant wife.

The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

When your arms are empty, got nowhere to go
Come on out and catch the show
There’ll be saints and sinners
You’ll see losers and winners

All kinds of people you might want to know
Once you get it, you can’t forget it
W.S. Walcott medicine show

You know he always holds it in a tent
And if you’re looking for the real thing
He can show you where it went

There’s a young faith healer, he’s a woman stealer
He will cure by his command
When the music’s hot then you might have to stand

To hear the Klondike Klu Klux Steamboat Band
Don’t you sweat it, you can’t forget it
W.S. Walcott medicine show

I’d rather die happy than not die at all
For a man is a fool who will not heed the call

Gonna see Miss Brer Foxhole
Bright diamonds at her teeth
She is pure gold down underneath

She’s a rock and roll singer and a true dead ringer
For something like you ain’t never seen
Once you get it, you can’t forget it
W.S. Walcott medicine show
W.S. Walcott medicine show
W.S. Walcott medicine show

Leon Russell – Stranger in a Strange Land

I heard this song on the show House MD not long ago and it stuck with me. I knew it was Leon Russell but I didn’t know a thing about it. Very good song all the way around. Movies and TV Shows are a good way to pick up new and old songs that you don’t know.

It’s hard to resist Leon Russell’s music. His song Tight Rope was one of the first songs I remember in my life. His real name was Claude Russell Bridges. He was born in Oklahoma and in high school he worked with future Bread singer-songwriter David Gates.

Leon did a lot before the public ever heard of him. He was part of the Wrecking Crew who played on Beach Boy records and hits like This Diamond Ring for Gary Lewis. Most major players in the seventies wanted Leon Russell on their albums. After George Harrison invited him to play with him a short while later Mick Jagger worked with him. He was a popular man among the British elite rock stars.

The song was on the album Leon Russell and the Shelter People released in 1971. The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard Album Charts, #29 in The UK, and #14 in Canada. The song was not released as a single.

Elton John helped bring Leon Russell back into prominence in 2010 through a successful album. He worked up until his death on November 13, 2016. He had already planned a tour starting in January 2017.

Stranger in a Strange Land

How many days has it been
Since I was born
How many days until I die
Do I know any ways
That I can make you laugh
Or do I only know how to make you cry

When the baby looks around him
It’s such a sight to see
He shares a simple secret
With the wise man

He’s a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land
Tell me why
He’s a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land

How many miles will it take
To see the sun
And how many years until it’s done
Kiss my confusion away in the night
Lay by side when the morning comes

And the baby looks around him
And shares his bed of hay
With the burro in the palace of the king

He’s a stranger in a strange land
Tell me why
He’s a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land

Well, I don’t exactly know
What’s going on in the world today
Don’t know what there is to say
About the way the people are treating
Each other, not like brothers

Leaders take us far away from ecology
With mythology and astrology
Has got some words to say
About the way we live today
Why can’t we learn to love each other
It’s time to turn a new face
To the whole world wide human race

Stop the money chase
Lay back, relax
Get back on the human track
Stop racing toward oblivion
Oh, such a sad, sad state we’re in
And that’s a thing

Do you recognize the bells of truth
When you hear them ring
Won’t you stop and listen
To the children sing
Won’t you come on and sing it children

He’s a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land

Garland Jeffreys …a New York Original

CB (Cincinnati Babyhead) and I have got together again and worked on this post. When CB sent me the link to “Wild In The Streets” I was sold, hooked, and happy. The more I listened to Jeffreys music the more it affected me like Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison did when I first heard them. Jeffreys’ music found a spot in me where Morrison and Springsteen lives. It’s deep, sprawling, and meaningful. Not many artists affect me like this. Like Big Star, The Replacements, and others…this man should be known to more people.

This post is a sample platter…I kept it relatively short so you can enjoy the songs. I’ll be covering more Garland Jeffreys coming up in the next few weeks to give more information rather than cramming everything in one post.

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 he came back to further his education at New York’s Institute of Fine Arts.

In 1969 he formed a band called Grinder’s Switch, they released just one album Garland Jeffreys & Grinder’s Switch. Members of that band played on the debut album of John Cale of the Velvet Underground. Jeffreys wrote a song for the album called Fairweather Friend and did backup vocals for it. In 1973 he released his first album entitled Garland Jeffreys.

Springsteen opened for Jeffreys at the Cafe Au Go Go back in 1972. They’ve stayed in touch ever since. Jeffreys appears on Light of Day, a great Springsteen tribute album, performing “Streets of Philadelphia” with just as much emotion as its author. He was friends with peers like Lou Reed, Bob Marley, John Lennon, and Joe Strummer, explored in both original songs (“Reggae on Broadway”) and a pair of choice covers (“I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Help”).

One thing I found is he really connected with baseball. His album One Eyed Jack has him on the front cover when he was a young kid in a baseball uniform and his childhood idol Jackie Robinson was on the back. Some of his credits list baseball players from Bobby Bonds to Brian Doyle.

Let us start off with the first song that CB sent me that won me over within a few seconds. It’s as New York as Martin Scorsese, Springsteen, The Yankees, The Statue of Liberty, and subways. It was released in 1973 as a single and was included in the 1977 album Ghost Writer… it is called Wild In The Streets. It’s naked, raw, and genuine…just like Jeffreys.

35 Millimeter Dreams is a song off of the 1977 album Ghost Writer. This one is catchy and it’s too bad it didn’t catch on when released as a single.

Hail Hail Rock and Roll…CB did a take on Hail Hail Rock and Roll. Some of his take: A little tribute to Rock n Roll by one of the best guys out there. This song gets into your blood. Garland knows his stuff. CB has been thinking about this rock and roll thing lately. All the music and pioneers that have contributed to this thing he loves so much. This song more than touches on a lot of those thoughts and feelings.

It was released in 1983 on the album Don’t Call Me Buckwheat.

Roller Coaster Town was released in 2011 on the album The King Of In Between. The album made numerous annual Best Of lists with NPR naming it a “best of the year so far” and Rolling Stone calling it one of the Best Under The Radar Albums of 2011.

City Kids is off the American Boy and Girl album released in 1979. Here is what CB says about the album: “This is NY music from Jeffrey’s experience. He’s lived it. Another one of those “How come artists that never made it bigger?” He is a NY poet. Songs got into me, moved me. What can I say? Springsteen’s ‘Wild Innocent’ vibe. This is his world like Scorsese’s. Close to the streets. When he sings ‘City Kids’ I’m gone with him. Sends a few shivers. Love the feel. Cousin to ”Jungleland’ by Bruce. ‘Matador’ is just beautiful. Sung in his distinctive voice. Hit the romantic side of CB.”

…

Graham Parker – Local Girls

I posted a Graham Parker album (Howlin’ Wind) a while back and it was the first time I’d heard it. This song…as soon as I heard it I remembered it. I remember MTV and Fridays playing this video in the 1980s.

This was on the album Squeezing Out Sparks released in 1979. The album peaked at #18 in the UK, #79 in Canada, and #40 on the Billboard 100. Parker had just left Mercury Records and this was his debut on Arista Records.

I’ve listened to Squeezing Out Sparks and there is not a weak song on the album. Parker had felt like Rumour had overplayed on his albums to this point. He told them they need to play like they were in a studio and not live. After that… once they were clicking, it only took 11 days to complete the album.

This album didn’t include horns that were on his albums up to this point. It was a no-frills approach that made it arguably his finest album. This song has everything you want. Smart writing, catchy hook, and Parker’s voice is on point.

Normally, Parker named his albums after song titles, although this time he toyed with calling it “The Basingstoke Canal” after a waterway connecting to the Thames River, about 30 miles from where he was born in the London area of Hackney…but he woke up one morning with a song on the album called You Can’t Be Too Strong going through his head with the lyric “I know it gets dark down by Luna Park/But everybody else is squeezing out a spark/That happened in the heat, somewhere in the dark.”

Graham Parker: “‘Local Girls,’ of course, refers to the girls in my/your hometown, not the girls in someone else’s town. … The idea for ‘Local’ is from remembering what it was like to be a boy at home, looking out the window, seeing a rather toothsome piece stroll by, nose in the air perhaps, down the quiet semi-detached suburban street, and knowing that she probably already (at 13/14 years of age) fancies herself as an army wife (I grew up next door to an army camp and the squaddies were always stealing the girlfolk) and is going to look upon your feeble advances with some disdain. It’s a fairly typical the-object-of-ones-desire-is-always-out-of-reach-type song, just about 30 times better and more pregnant with meaning/detail than pretty much anyone else on the planet could even begin to aspire to, is all”

Graham Parker: “It wasn’t until I’d done all my Hippie traveling and being a freak and all that, and got back and lived with my parents and started to absorb all influence of my earlier years. I just pushed myself out in the world, got to London and met the right people, including Dave Robinson, who became my manager. He put the band the Rumour around me. So that was basically the beginnings of my career. I was just basically what I consider to be a successful singer/songwriter/musician by the time I came to write Squeezing Out Sparks. It was very inspired times for me, and that’s what resulted in that album.”

Local Girls

Sit by my window and look outside, wonder why the sun don’t shine on me
What’s wrong with you, you stupid child, don’t you think that I’m the one
You’re waiting to see?
Don’t talk too much ’cause she falls for the suckers, makes her feel
Everything is secure
Don’t ever leave a footprint on the floor

Don’t bother with the local girls, don’t bother with the local girls
They don’t bother me

She’s probably half-wit, she must be straight,
Or bound to have a mother who knows nothing but hate
Don’t want to love her, I’d rather knock her down
Standing at the bus stop where she waits each morning
So isolated that she thinks that the army is the place where a man ought to be
Don’t bother with them, they don’t bother me

Don’t bother with the local girls, don’t bother with the local girls
They don’t bother me

They got the walk, they got the talk, right down without a flaw
At 6:00 I got to stop my dreaming at the counter of the store

Don’t bother with the local girls, don’t bother with the local girls
They don’t bother me

Without a doubt I got to intercept, must be time someone ran and shouted in
Their head
You look all right in the cheap print dress,
But every time you swish it ’round you make me disappear
I’m aware of exactly what I’m doing, making everything a mystery
Don’t bother with it, it don’t bother me

Atomic Rooster – The Devil’s Answer

This is another song I noticed on the BBC Life On Mars TV series in the mid-2000s.

Atomic Rooster… Now that is a name. I’ve been in short-term bands with different names such as… “The Flying Junebugs”, “The Cryin ‘Shame” and “Green Swingset” but Atomic Rooster is unique.

Atomic Rooster was an English rock band, originally composed of former members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Throughout their history keyboardist, Vincent Crane was the only constant member and wrote the majority of their material.

The band was founded by the late British blues pianist Vincent Crane, originally with British drummer Carl Palmer, after Crane left The Crazy World of Arthur Brown which he had co-founded in 1966. During 1970 they formed Atomic Rooster as decided in New York, and the band’s first gig was headlining at the Lyceum, London, with Deep Purple as support. The first Atomic Roster single was “Friday the 13th”, and the first album was Atomic Ro-o-oster.

Their history is defined by two periods: the early-mid-1970s and the early 1980s. Their genre in music is difficult to define since they went through radical changes in a very short time during the life of the band. However, their best-known era represented a more hard rock/progressive rock sound, exemplified by their only hit singles… Tomorrow Night peaked at #11 in the UK and The Devil’s Answer peaked at #4… both in 1971.

The Devil’s Answer

People are looking but they don’t know what to do
It’s the time of the season for the people like you
Come back tomorrow, show the scars on your face
It’s a clue to the answer we all chase

Three, five and seven lift the heaviest load
reach the top of the heaven that’s fallen below
Devil may care but you wish for the best can’t you see there’s an answer that lies there
Come all you sinners and keep with the time
can we see all the faces that have fallen behind
Don’t make the reason it’s a secret for you

There’s a clue to the answer we all know
There’s no clue to the answer we all know
People are looking but they don’t know what to do
It’s the time of the season for the people like you
Come back tomorrow, show the scars on your face

It’s a clue to the answer we all chase
It’s a clue to the answer we all chase

Doors – Roadhouse Blues

This is one of my favorite songs I like by them. The song peaked at #50 on the Billboard 100 and #41 in Canada in 1970. This was the B side of the song “You Make Me Real.”

John Sebastian from the Lovin’ Spoonful played the harmonica on this recording. He is identified on the album as “G. Puglese” because of Sebastian’s contract with Reprise Records. Lonnie Mack played the bass on this one with is unusual…the Doors usually let the keyboard handle the bass parts.

Morrison was said to write this song about The Topanga Corral, a windowless nightclub in Topanga Canyon. There were also bungalows in the back that Morrison mentions in the song. The club burnt down in the seventies. It is remembered for artists such as Canned Heat, Spanky and Our Gang, Linda Ronstadt, and Little Feat playing there.

Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure and sentenced to six months in jail, but he died while the case was being appealed. In 2010, Florida Governor Charlie Crist granted Morrison a pardon, clearing him of the charges.

It was on the album Morrison Hotel. The album peaked at #4 on the Billboard Album Charts, #3 in Canada, and #12 in the UK in 1970.

Robby Krieger on Morrison Hotel: “Ray (Manzarek, keyboards) had been driving around downtown LA, and he saw this place called Morrison Hotel. So we decided to go down and shoot some photos there, but the guy who owned the hotel wouldn’t let us inside it. I guess they thought we were hippies. There were a lot of drunks and bums hanging around that area. Anyway, we snuck in there real quick when he wasn’t looking and got the shot that became the cover of Morrison Hotel.”

Outtakes from one of Morrison’s recording sessions were used to dub his voice into this version on the 2000 tribute album Stoned Immaculate, where he duets with John Lee Hooker.

Roadhouse Blues

Ah keep your eyes on the road,
Your hands upon the wheel.
Keep your eyes on the road
Your hands upon the wheel.
Yeah, we’re going to the roadhouse,
Gonna have a real good-time.

Yeah, the back of the roadhouse,
They’ve got some bungalows.
Yeah, the back of the roadhouse,
They’ve got some bungalows.

They dance for the people
Who like to go down slow.

Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, all night long.

Do it, Robby, Do it!

You gotta roll, roll, roll,
You gotta thrill my soul, alright.
Roll, roll, roll, roll-a
Thrill my soul.

*improv*
Passionate Lady.
Passionate Lady.
Give up your vows.
Give up your vows.
Save our city.
Save our city.
Ah, right now.

Well, I woke up this morning
And I got myself a beer.
Well, I woke up this morning
And I got myself a beer.

The future’s uncertain
And the end is always near.

Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, all night long.

Crabby Appleton – Go Back ….Power Pop Friday

I’m reaching into the obscurity bin for this one but it’s a good song. They didn’t have any hits further, leading them to be called as a one hit wonder.

Crabby Appleton was founded in Los Angeles, California, founded by Michael Fennelly. Fennelly was previously with another band The Millenium, a pop band that recorded one album, Begin.

Fennelly was also Crabby Appleton’s principal songwriter, and the lineup was rounded out by bassist Hank Harvey, keyboardist Casey Foutz, percussion Felix “Flaco” Falcon, and drummer Phil Jones. The group was initially named as Stonehenge but re-named themselves as Crabby Appleton, after a Tom Terrific cartoon character.

This band was not exactly a household name but this single is really good. Go Back was released in 1970 and it peaked at #36 in the Billboard 100. The album, Crabby Appleton, made it to #175 on the Billboard 200 album charts.

It was produced by Don Gallucci… formerly of the Kingsmen. The drummer Phil Jones also played percussion and drums for Tom Petty on every song but one on Full Moon Fever. He has also played with Joe Walsh, Johnny Rivers, and Waddy Wachtel.

Fennelly embarked on a solo career and recorded two albums Lane Changer and Stranger’s Bed from the early to mid-1970s. He also went on to work with other artists such as Steely Dan.

The band did release two albums before breaking up in 1971. Bands like this fascinate me. I listened to their debut album and it’s really good…I have to wonder if Electra didn’t push them enough.

I do remember hearing this song in the 70s.

Go Back

You don’t hold me so well
And it’s not hard to tell
When you know in your heart
That it’s wrong

‘Cause your thoughts are not here
And you’re making it clear
That the one you love is gone

Well, I can’t tell you your life, no
I can’t tell you what to do
But you know, yes, you know
That’s it’s true

I think you better go back
Go back to your lover, go back
He’s the one you really love
Go back, go back to your bed
I said, go back
He’s the one you’re thinking of

Go back, go back to your bed
I said go back, girl
As fast as you can, go back

Now you look good to me
Still, I can’t help but see
You’ve been thinking of him
All the time

And you know it’s not right
When you kiss me tonight
You pretend his lips are mine

Yeah, I can’t tell you your life, no
I can’t tell you what to do
But you know, yes, you know
That it’s true

I think you better go back
Go back to your lover, go back
He’s the one you really love
Go back, go back to your bed
I said, go back
He’s the one you’re thinking of

Go back, go back to your bed
I said, go back, girl
As fast as you can
Go back, whooooooa
Go back, go back to your lover
Go back
Go back, go back to your bed
I said, go back

Deep Purple – Space Truckin’

I had a relative that played this song to death…but I didn’t mind. Machine Head is a great hard rock album.

The intro to this song is worth the price of admission. Jon Lord’s organ has a filthy dirty sound. The half-step riffs in the refrain were inspired by the theme music for the Batman TV program composed by Neal Hefti. Blackmore asked singer Ian Gillan if he could write any lyrics over the riff, and the rest of the song evolved from there.

Machine Head peaked at #1 in the UK, #1 in Canada, and #7 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1972. Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice – are all credited as writers of this song.

This song actually got into space when the astronaut Kalpana Chawla took a copy of the Machine Head album with her on board the Space Shuttle Columbia, which sadly disintegrated before it could land back on Earth during its 2003 mission. Chawla got to know Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, which is why she brought the album with her. Morse wrote a song called “Contact Lost,” which appeared on the 2003 Deep Purple album Bananas in memory of Chawla and the others on board.

The album Machine Head was recorded in a hotel. The plan was to use the Montreux Casino in Switzerland as a studio to help capture their live sound, but the day after they got there, it burned down during a Frank Zappa concert. We all know that story told so well as told in Smoke On The Water.

They ended up recording this at the Grand Hotel and they used the Rolling Stones mobile unit that Zeppelin and a few others used at that time. That was a genius idea…you could have a studio in your house or an old castle somewhere if you wanted.

Ace Frehley covered this song in 2020.

Space Truckin

Well, we had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
We’re meeting all the groovy people
We’ve rocked the Milky Way so far
We danced around with Borealis
We’re space trucking ’round the the stars

Come on, come on, come on
Let’s go space truckin’
Come on, come on, come on
Space truckin’

Remember when we did the moonshot?
And pony trekker led the way
We’d move to the Canaveral moonstop
And every ‘naut would dance and sway

We got music in our solar system
We’re space truckin’ ’round the stars

Come on, come on, come on
Let’s go space truckin’
Come on, come on, come on
Space truckin’

The fireball that we rode was moving
But now we’ve got a new machine
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah the freaks said
Man those cats can really swing

They’ve got music in their solar system
They’ve rocked around the Milky Way
They dance around the Borealis
They’re space truckin’ everyday

Come on, come on, come on
Let’s go space truckin’
Come on, come on, come on
Space truckin’

Yeah, yeah, yeah, space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah, space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah, space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Cheap Trick – In The Street ….Under the Covers Tuesday

Wish we hadA joint so bad

I’m a huge Cheap Trick fan but when I heard this song as the theme to That 70s Show… I just asked myself why? Why not use the original version of the song? That’s not a dig at Cheap Trick…they did fine with it but it was unnecessary. The show later covered a Big Star song in an episode…the haunting song Thirteen. The band had lost out on stardom in the early seventies and now many people really like the theme song but have no clue who wrote it. In a way though…unfortunately, that fits Big Star perfectly.

In the first season, the theme song was done by Todd Griffin. It’s a close copy of the original soundwise but with different lyrics by Ben Vaughn. The rest of the show’s seasons was replaced by the Cheap Trick version. The only reason I can think of not using Big Star is they needed an edited version of the song and felt they had to change the song’s lyrics although the lyrics would have fit the show. Cheap Trick’s version is very good of course because it’s Cheap Trick…but it would have been nice to hear the original. Many people think that Cheap Trick wrote the song.

Chris Bell and Alex Chilton are credited with writing the song. In 2000, Chilton confirmed that he was paid $70 in royalties each time the show aired, an amount he thought ironic, given the show’s title. The song was originally on their debut album #1 Record.

Recently I watched some performances they did on the Leno show later on when Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens reformed the band with two members of the Posies. The introduction made me do a double take…“Big Star…the missing link between the Beatles and The Replacements.” How could I not like that? Three of my favorite bands right there.

The #1 album was hailed by critics and got radio play when released. The feedback from people who heard it was very positive. There was one problem though. They signed with Stax Records which normally didn’t deal with pop and rock bands. They weren’t prepared to promote them and the biggest problem was there was no distribution. People started to go to record shops to buy it but there were no Big Star albums there. Stax was in financial trouble as well. They carried on for three albums but with no commercial breakthrough…although bands like Cheap Trick, The Replacements, R.E.M., KISS, and others all say they were heavily influenced by them.

Jody Stephens drummer of Big Star: “I don’t know if the general population even knows that Big Star had anything to do with it.”

Mike Mills of REM: “I heard the first two records first, Radio City and #1 Record, I just thought they were perfect. If I could make records, that would be the sort of records I would make. The third one took me a bit longer to get into, but it does reward repeated listening. What Big Star was doing made sense to me.”

The Todd Griffin version

The Cheap Trick version

The Orginal

In The Street

Hanging out, down the streetThe same old thing we did last weekNot a thing to doBut talk to you

Steal your car, and bring it downPick me up, we’ll drive aroundWish we hadA joint so bad

Pass the street lightOut past midnight

Ahh

Hanging out, down the streetThe same old thing we did last weekNot a thing to doBut talk to you

Allman Brothers – Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More

This is one of the first Allman Brothers songs I remember hearing on the radio.

It’s a fantastic song that you don’t hear as much as some of the other Allman songs like Rambling Man. Gregg Allman had most of the music written already but wrote the lyrics right after his brother Duane died in a motorcycle wreck.

It’s about Gregg dealing with the loss of his brother and the soldiers coming back from Vietnam. The Allmans had just started recording the album Eat A Peach when Duane died. Soon after he passed they went to Miami to finish the album.

They started to work on this album in September of 1971 and laid down the basic tracks for “Blue Sky,” “Stand Back” and “Little Martha.” Duane Allman died on October 29, 1971. So those tracks have Duane playing on them and of course, all of the live material features him on guitar. After he died the band went back to the studio and recorded the rest and it was finished in December.

The album also included live tracks that were not used on At Fillmore East like One Way Out, Trouble No More, and a 33-minute “Mountain Jam” that was built off a riff from a Donovan song “There is a Mountain.”

They had some sort of chemistry live that was incredible. I’m usually not a fan of long endless live songs but they keep the intensity up…plus with this album, you get the best of both worlds. The album was released on February 12, 1972, and it peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100 and #12 in Canada. The original name was going to be “Eat A Peach for Peace.”

Dickey Betts had never played electric slide before but when Duane died he was forced to learn the old material and put his spin on Duane’s slide parts. He also came up with new slide parts to this song and Melissa.

The song peaked at #77 on the Billboard 100 in 1972.

Gregg Allman: Losing Duane really slammed Dickey too, but he didn’t show it. We didn’t see too much of Dickey after my brother died. He had this huge garden, and when something would piss him off, he would go out there and sling a hoe or a shovel or an ax for about four hours in the hot sun. He’d come back in for dinner, and he’d be okay. The cat really does have a heart, and I think he really cared about my brother—you don’t go naming your child after someone that you don’t care for.

When my brother died, Dickey really stepped up. He wood-shedded like crazy; I remember him learning how to play the slide part for “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” on the airplane, during the flight down to Miami to finish up Eat a Peach.

Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More

Last Sunday morning, the sunshine felt like rain
The week before, they all seemed the same
With the help of God and true friends, I’ve come to realize
I still have two strong legs, and even wings to fly

So I, ain’t a wastin’ time no more
‘Cause time goes by like hurricanes, and faster things

Well, Lord, Lord, Miss Sally, why are your cryin?
Been around here three long days, lookin’ like we’re dyin’
Go step yourself outside and look up at the stars above
And go on downtown, baby, find somebody to love

Meanwhile, I ain’t a wastin’ time no more
‘Cause time goes by like pourin’ rain, and much faster things

You don’t need no gypsy to tell you why
Ya can’t let one precious day to slip by
Well, look inside yourself, and if you don’t see what you want
May be sometimes then ya don’t
But leave your mind alone and just get high

Well, by and by, way after many years have gone
And all the war freaks die off, leavin’ us alone
We’ll raise our children, in the peaceful way we can
It’s up to you and me brother to try and try again

So, hear us now, we ain’t wastin’ time no more
‘Cause time rolls by like hurricanes
Runnin’ after the subway train
Don’t forget the pourin’ rain