Category: 1970s

Santana – Black Magic Woman ….Under The Covers Tuesday

This song was not written by guitarist Carlos Santana but by the great guitarist for Fleetwood Mac. No not Lindsey Buckingham or Bob Welch…but the great blues guitarist Peter Green. I have to admit I like both versions about the same. Two legendary guitar players make this song come alive. I always thought Santana wrote it until a few years ago.

This song was Santana’s first single from their second album Abraxas. The album was released in 1970. It was a year after their acclaimed appearance at Woodstock. That performance launched Santana into national fame. When Carlos Santana played Woodstock, he had yet not released an album.  He was one of the most unknown artists.  Basically, his manager, Bill Graham, forced the band’s way onto the bill.  A couple of weeks later, riding the great press from his Woodstock performance, Santana released “Black Magic Woman” and the rest is history.

Peter Green made friends with an occult group that dabbled in black magic. In turn, they turned Green on to acid which untimely destroyed him. He left Fleetwood Mac a couple of years after that. Green was probably happy that Santana covered this song. Green was convinced to give all of his money away. The royalties from this song helped him later on to live. He ended up taking jobs wherever he could find work, including one as a grave digger.

Fleetwood Mac’s version peaked at #37 in the UK charts in 1968. It was a non-album single. It later appeared on the band’s 1969 compilation album, The Pious Bird of Good Omen. Fleetwood Mac played the song on their last tour with Stevie Nicks singing it from a woman’s point of view. It just didn’t have the power that the original band did.

Santana’s version peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100 and #4 in Canada in 1970-71.

Christine McVie: “Something snapped in him, he dropped this fatal tab of acid and withdrew. He still has this amazing power, but it’s negative. You don’t want him around. We’ve all cried a lot of tears over Peter. We’ve all spent so much time and energy talking him into more positive channels. He’ll just sit there and laugh. ‘FUCK IT . . .’”

Santana: “I used to go to see the original Fleetwood Mac, and they used to kill me, just knock me out, to me, they were the best blues band.”

Mick Fleetwood: “Three minutes of sustain/reverb guitar with two exquisite solos from Peter.”

Santana AND Green

Black Magic Woman

Got a black magic woman
Got a black magic woman
I’ve got a black magic woman
Got me so blind I can’t see
That she’s a black magic woman
She’s trying to make a devil out of me

Don’t turn your back on me, baby
Don’t turn your back on me, baby
Yes, don’t turn your back on me, baby
Stop messing ’round with your tricks
Don’t turn your back on me, baby
You just might pick up my magic sticks

You got your spell on me, baby
You got your spell on me, baby
Yes, you got your spell on me, baby
Turnin’ my heart into stone
I need you so bad
Magic woman I can’t leave you alone

Graham Parker – Howlin’ Wind

CB and I have been talking and when that happens… some cool music is discussed. This is an artist I should have checked out long long ago.

Graham Parker is someone I’ve heard of …but never actually heard. I’ve lived with this album for a week or so. What I’ve heard is some smooth groove music that Parker contrasts with his intense lyrics. I hear a little punk influence in the lyrics and voice. If I had to compare him with someone…it would be Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson but with a touch of Van Morrison and The Band sprinkled in on this album.

A little more about Graham Parker…after that, I’ll get on about the album. This is an extremely condensed beginning for Graham up until the debut album.

Graham Parker and the Rumour

Graham Parker was born in East London in 1950 and was the right age to catch The Beatles when they hit. He and his friends had a band that adopted the haircuts, sweaters, and boots but they never really learned how to play their instruments. He did a guitar and started learning it. Later on, when he was around 15 he started to listen to soul music, Motown, ska, and especially Otis Redding.

He started to improve on guitar and played bars and clubs. He even appeared on a television show in Gibraltar and played a few of his own songs. After that, he was asked to join a psychedelic band named Pegasus. He soon tired of that music and started to concentrate on R&B songs like The Midnight Hour. He then met the manager of Brinsley Schwarz. With ex-members of Brinsley Schwarz and ex-member Nick Lowe producing them…they made his debut album Howlin’ Wind. His band had a name at this point…The Rumour.

The Rumour would be Graham’s backing band for years. They also recorded their own albums separately and did three in all. They broke up in 1980 and then reformed and started to back Parker up again in 2011 and remain his backup band to this day.

The album is great. There is not a bad song on it. The second side rocks a little more than the first so it evens it out. I hear rock, reggae, rockabilly, R&B, Soul, rock, and a touch of jazz in spots. His voice is so damn convincing…you automatically take notice as he sneers his way through it. He can get raspy and then stay smooth. There is a variety on this album…he was not stuck on one style…he spread it about and his debut album is balanced and wonderful. It was a perfect marriage between Parker and The Rumour. Also, I have to give Nick Lowe some credit. He keeps it sparse…no studio tricks just straight-ahead music.

I’ve mentioned Van Morrison and I have to say Springsteen also. If you like those artists…you should like this Graham Parker album. Don’t get me wrong…he doesn’t copy them…he has his own original thing going on but it has some of the feel of those artists. I’ve listened to this album at home, in the car, and at work. It kept getting better as I was going through it.

Give this album a shot.

  1. “White Honey” – 3:33
  2. “Nothin’s Gonna Pull Us Apart” – 3:21
  3. “Silly Thing” – 2:51
  4. “Gypsy Blood” – 4:37
  5. “Between You and Me” – 2:25
  6. “Back to Schooldays” – 2:54
  7. “Soul Shoes” – 3:13
  8. “Lady Doctor” – 2:5
  9. “You’ve Got to Be Kidding” – 3:30
  10. “Howlin’ Wind” – 3:58
  11. “Not If It Pleases Me” – 3:12
  12. “Don’t Ask Me Questions” – 5:38

Graham Parker: “When I’m writing, I don’t write angry or think angry, so I appreciate that you noticed this, and thank you, sadly, all critics see or hear is anger. Not me, though. ‘With a little humor, always with a little humor.’” 

Graham Parker: “I’ve always tried to be playful, starting with Howlin’ Wind, not dumb, not goofy, but playful. I’m a fan of humor. People have always thought I was pissed off, but really, I was just joking around. They don’t get it or they’re not hearing me. I have always loved to tickle people.”

Originally released in 1976, from the album ‘Howlin’ Wind’. This remix was released as a single in 1978 from the album ‘The Parkerilla’.

Joni Mitchell – Help Me ….Canadian Week

I remember hearing this song on WMAK-AM in the seventies on my sister’s Vega radio. The car that she carried a case of oil in the hatchback because it burned it more than gas.

This song was on the great album Court and Spark. Joni tried using LA’s best session players for this but it didn’t work like she wanted. She then used jazz musicians to back her on this album. Joni’s songs can be complicated because Graham Nash once said that she played in so many different open chord tunings…that she made some of them up. The jazz band she used was The L.A. Express, led by saxophonist Tom Scott.

Joni Mitchell not only wrote her own songs but was also her own producer. That is not very common with female or male artists on the whole. This song was Mitchell’s biggest hit that she had. That surprised me…I would have thought it would have been Big Yellow Taxi. I always compared her voice to a slide whistle we had as kids. That’s not a put-down…but she can cover the gambit with her voice from low to extremely high.

Joni Mitchell - A Chronology of Appearances

Who did she write this song about? Some say it was Jackson Browne who she had just broken up with and some say it’s Glenn Fry. Whoever it’s about she left it open enough so that anyone can relate to it. The song peaked at #6 in Canada and #7 on the Billboard 100.

Prince, who was a huge fan of Mitchell, even mentioned it on “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” from his 1987 album, Sign ‘O’ the Times.

She said, “Sound like a real man to meMind if I turn on the radio?”“Oh, my favorite song, ” she saidAnd it was Joni singing: “Help me, I think I’m falling”

Joni Mitchell: “A throwaway song, but a good radio record.”  “My record companies always had a tendency to take my fastest songs on album for singles, thinking they’d stand out because they did on the LPs. Meantime, I’d feel that the radio is crying for one of my ballads.”

Help Me

Help me
I think I’m falling
In love again
When I get that crazy feeling, I know
I’m in trouble again
I’m in trouble

‘Cause you’re a rambler and a gambler
And a sweet-taIking-ladies man
And you love your lovin’
But not like you love your freedom

Help me
I think I’m falling
In love too fast
It’s got me hoping for the future
And worrying about the past
‘Cause I’ve seen some hot hot blazes
Come down to smoke and ash
We love our lovin’

But not like we love our freedom
Didn’t it feel good
We were sitting there talking
Or lying there not talking
Didn’t it feel good
You dance with the lady
With the hole in her stocking

Didn’t it feel good
Didn’t it feel good
Help me
I think I’m falling
In love with you

Are you going to let me go there by myself
That’s such a lonely thing to do
Both of us flirting around
Flirting and flirting

Hurting too
We love our lovin’
But not like we love our freedom

Rush – Closer To The Heart ….Canadian Week

There are some bands that I would not want to meet in real life. There are other bands that seem like the nicest people in the world and Rush is one of them. With Rush’s music…I normally like sloppy bands…and I mean that in the best way. The Stones, Who, Zeppelin, and Beatles were all sloppy in some ways. With Rush…no sloppiness is allowed…everything is on point.

I would love to meet the two surviving members of Rush. I’ve never been a huge fan but I’ve watched their documentary (Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage) over and over again. I would encourage all of you to watch it. Even if you are not a fan…you WILL like these guys on a personal basis.

I have a great respect for their musical ability. A trio is not easy to play in…I’ve been the bass player in a couple and you have to work to keep it all together. All three of them are/were massively talented. Neil Peart is in the top 5 Rock Drummers of all time without a doubt. Geddy Lee, the same with bass and Alex doesn’t get as much attention as the other two but he is great as well.

I do like their radio hits like Tom Sawyer, Limelight, Working Man, Red Barchetta, and a few others. One thing about some of Rush’s lyrics…I think…hmmm will I be tested on this when I’m finished? I listened to many of their albums with a cousin of mine. I liked Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves, Hemispheres, and some of A Farewell to Kings.

Closer To The Heart has a chorus that is extremely universal. Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson says this song is the ultimate Rush song. It was on their album A Farewell To Kings released in 1977. It was written by Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, and for the first time… an outside writer…Peter Talbot.

The song peaked at #76 on the Billboard 100, #36 in the UK, and #44 in Canada in 1977-78.

In 1981 a live version peaked at #21 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts.

Geddy Lee: I remember when we had to bring it back into the set for the Rio shows, as there was such a demand to hear it and we’d stopped playing it for a while. It’s always resonated with people for some reason, and it was a hit as far as we’ve ever had a hit. It got us on the radio, the kinds of radio that would never normally associate with us, so it was as close as we ever came to a pop song, especially at that point. Over here in the UK it had that effect, and in the US too.

Closer To The Heart

And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality
Closer to the heart
Closer to the heart

The blacksmith and the artist
Reflect it in their art
They forge their creativity
Closer to the heart
Yes, closer to the heart

Philosophers and plowmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the heart
Yes closer to the heart, yeah, oh

Whoa, whoa
You can be the captain
And I will draw the chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the heart
Closer to the heart
Well closer to the heart, yeah
Closer to the heart
Closer to the heart
I said closer to the heart
Well closer to the heart, yeah
Closer to your heart
Closer to your heart, whoa

John Denver – Sunshine On My Shoulders

The post starts with John Denver and ends with Frank Zappa and Dee Snider from Twisted Sister…

John Denver’s reputation went down after the 70s and really unfairly. He was noted as square and sometimes rejected by his musical peers. That is sad to me because he was a great songwriter, guitarist, and singer. He didn’t get much street cred until…you will see at the bottom.

During the “We Are The World” filming featuring dozens of pop stars, Willie Nelson cracked, “If a bomb hit this building, John Denver would be No. 1 again.” Everybody laughed – and sneered. And the image of Michael Jackson, Kenny Rogers and others mocking Denver is a sad one. It showed just how low he’d fallen on the barometer of pop music.

Denver was an easy target for critics and peers. Robert Christgau dubbed him “the blandest pop singer in history,” and compared him to James Taylor…  “If James is a wimp, John is a simp, and that’s even worse.” I don’t think all the criticism was fair. Some of his music was really good to great like Rocky Mountain High, Sunshine on My Shoulders, and Take Me Home Country Roads.

Denver was a huge star in the early to mid-seventies.  I’m not a huge fan by any means but he did have a few songs I liked. He was a songwriter, musician, activist, and actor, and he sold millions of records (over 33 million). He was never known to be cool or hip but he was John Denver and he did things his way.

Lyn Helton
9/23/1971, NOV 8 1971 Dies of Cancer – Mrs. Lyn Helton, 20 the mother who tape-recorded her thoughts on death as cancer was taking her life, died Sunday at Denver’s Children’s Hospital. Credit: Denver Post (Denver Post via Getty Images)

Denver wrote this song in Minnesota on a rainy spring day. It first appeared on John Denver’s 1971 album Poems, Prayers & Promises. This song got a big boost when it was used in a November 1973 made-for-TV movie called Sunshine, a tale about a woman dying of cancer who recorded tape messages for her child in her final days. It was based on a true story of Lyn Helton who would listen to John Denver’s music.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada in 1973. It was included in his Greatest Hits album that year.

PRMC

The PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) was a group founded by Tipper Gore that was designed to provide censorship and/or warning of offensive material in regard to music albums that had things that parents would find offensive such as profanity, obscene images, lyrics, descriptions of sexual and/or violent matters, etc.

In 1985, several hearings were held to discuss the possibility of certain albums being required to have a ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker placed on the cover. Many musicians were understandably against this action, and some of those musicians were even invited to come and speak their minds about this issue. Three stand out in particular. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, Frank Zappa, and maybe most notably, John Denver.

Frank and Dee spoke out against it of course and they were afraid of John Denver being in favor of it…and Congress was counting on it. Well, that didn’t happen. John gave arguably the sharpest testimony out of anyone who testified. He was eloquent and blunt. The looks on the faces of Congress say it all. Inviting John Denver to testify backfired for Congress.

John Denver on the TV Movie: “It was the true story of Lyn Helton, an incredibly courageous lady who chose to live her short life to the fullest even though she knew she would die of a rare bone cancer in a matter of months. It seems that in the last year of her life she found some happiness in my music. I was most honored to have my songs used as part of that television show.”

John Denver: “On one level it was about the virtues of love. On another, more deeply felt level, it reached for something the whole world could embrace.”

Dee Snider of Twisted Sister talks about John Denver. It should start at the place Dee talks about Frank and John.

Sunshine On My Shoulders

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happySunshine in my eyes can make me crySunshine on the water looks so lovelySunshine almost always makes me high

If I had a day that I could give youI’d give to you a day just like todayIf I had a song that I could sing for youI’d sing a song to make you feel this way

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happySunshine in my eyes can make me crySunshine on the water looks so lovelySunshine almost always makes me high

If I had a tale that I could tell youI’d tell a tale sure to make you smileIf I had a wish that I could wish for youI’d make a wish for sunshine all the while

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happySunshine in my eyes can make me crySunshine on the water looks so lovelySunshine almost always makes me highSunshine almost all the time makes me highSunshine almost always

Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath

The song hits you like a sack of bricks when the piano intro concludes. It’s powerful, strong, and perfectly pieced together. It reminds me a little of Band On The Run (or the other way around)… as the song is in sections.

I’ve been posting songs, movies, and pop culture posts since 2017 but somehow I’ve missed posting anything about Jethro Tull. I thought today would be the day to correct that…the voice, guitar, and the flute…yea rock and roll flute. Ian Anderson wrote the song but it took a few tries to record it. Anderson explained to the band to imagine a boiler building up pressure until it explodes or a train going off the tracks after gaining speed. He said he wrote it about the overpopulation on Earth.

The song was released in 1971 on the album Aqualung. The song didn’t chart. It was re-released in 1976 and this time it was a different story. The song peaked at #62 on the Billboard 100 and #85 in Canada and has come a classic radio staple. The album Aqualung was huge… it peaked at #7 on the Billboard Album Charts, #5 in Canada, and #4 in the UK.

The song was recorded in pieces and put together and everything fell into place. I feel very safe in saying that it contains one of the best flute solos in rock…of course, that list is not long.

I will say this about Ian Anderson. Like David Byrne, Van Morrison, Freddie Mercury, Neil Young, and a few more…you know when Anderson opens his mouth to sing that it’s him…and very distinctive voice…and the best rock flute player ever!

Ian Anderson:  “When I wrote it, I wasn’t deliberately setting out to write a piece of music on a particular subject. But it evolved during the writing process into being not terribly specific but about the issues of overcrowding – the rather claustrophobic feel of a lot of people in a limited space. And the idea of the incessant unstoppable locomotive being metaphor for seemingly the unstoppable population expansion on planet Earth.

When I look at it today, it does, for me, become very crystallized in being a song about unmanageable population expansion. It’s something that concerns me even more today than it did back when I wrote it, when the population of planet Earth was only about two thirds of what it is today. So in my lifetime alone, we’ve seen an enormous increase in population, and an enormous increase in the degree to which we devour our limited resources. So the idea of population planning and management is something that I think we ought to be thinking about a lot more than we do. Does that mean I think we should sterilize everybody after the age of 30? No, of course not. The size of the family you want to have is going to be your choice. But, you should make that choice knowingly, wisely, and responsibly.”

Locomotive Breath

In the shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath
Runs the all-time loser
Headlong to his death

Oh, he feels the piston scraping
Steam breaking on his brow
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train it won’t stop
Oh no way to slow down

He sees his children jumping off
At the stations one by one
His woman and his best friend

In bed and having fun
Oh, he’s crawling down the corridor
On his hands and knees
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train it won’t stop going
No way to slow down
Hey

He hears the silence howling
Catches angels as they fall
And the all-time winner
Has got him by the balls
Oh, he picks up Gideons bible
Open at page one
I thank God he stole the handle
And the train it won’t stop going
No way to slow down

No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down
No way to slow down

Big Star – Mod Lang …. Power Pop Friday

A song by the band Big Star. This song was on Radio City and released in 1974…their second album and follow-up to their debut…Big Star #1 Record.  Although Chris Bell had quit the band after the release of #1 Record.

After the failure of their first album, singer/songwriter guitar player Chris Bell quit Big Star. Alex Chilton didn’t know if Big Star was going to make another album. He continued making demos because he could always do a solo album. The two other members, drummer Jody Stephens and bass player Andy Hummel weren’t sure either what was going to happen. They had talked about ending the band.

Worn Frets

Their record company Ardent was under the Stax umbrella. They sent out invitations to all of the major rock journalists of the day in 1973. They invited them to Memphis to see Ardent’s roster of bands but most of all Big Star. The rock writers loved Big Star. Many legendary writers were there including Lester Bangs. They played at Lafayette’s Music Room.

Radio City is not as polished as their debut album but it’s just as good and many say better. Chilton remained the constant variable that made the band’s music soar. His September Gurls is among the band’s finest songs and one of the prototypical power pop songs.

This song was the B side to one of their most famous songs, September Gurls. They released 3 studio albums in the seventies. All three are in Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums of all time. For a band that never charted a record that isn’t too bad. When their albums were finally discovered by later bands, they influenced many artists such as The Replacements, REM, The Cars, Cheap Trick, Sloan, Matthew Sweet, KISS, Wilco, Gin Blossoms, and many more. They influenced alternative rock of the 80s and 90s and continue to this day.

Big Star did returned in 1993 with a new lineup when guitarist Jon Auer and bassist Ken Stringfellow joined Chilton and Stephens. Auer and Stringfellow remained members of the Posies. In 2005 the reformed band released their last album called In Space.

Whenever I write about this band, I always have to stop myself from gushing about them. Was it the mystique of them? Was it the coolness factor of liking a band that not many people know? No, and no. It’s about the music. Mystique and coolness wear off and all you are left with is the music…We are fortunate to have 3 albums by the original Big Star to enjoy.

Drummer Jody Stephens: “All of a sudden I’m playing with these guys that can write songs that are as engaging to me as the people I’d grown up listening to, so I felt incredibly lucky.” 

Alex Chilton: “I really loved the mid-’60s British pop music, all two and a half minutes long, really appealing songs. So I’ve always aspired to that same format, that’s what I like.”

Mod Lang

I can’t be satisfied
What you want me to do?
And so I moan
Had to leave my home

Love my girl, oh yeah
She got to save my soul
I want a witness, I want to testify

How long can this go on?
How long can this go on?

All night long I was howling
I was a barking dog
A-how, a-how

I can’t be satisfied
What you want me to do?
I want a witness, I want to testify
How long can this go on?
How long can this go on?

All night long I was howling
I was a barking dog
I want a witness, I want to testify

Sting-Ray Afternoons: A Memoir ….by Steve Rushin

I saw the cover of this book and I knew I would be interested. Steve Rushin is a writer and was hired by Sports Illustrated when he was 22 in 1988. He describes growing up in Minnesota during the seventies…but you could have lived anywhere to get the references. He is witty with a good sense of humor. He writes it like he is actually living it real time and that makes it enjoyable.

If you are looking for action this is not for you. He didn’t fall into addiction, turn to crime, or become a sports or music star. His family was not rich but middle class. It’s just what life was like during the 1970s in an American nuclear family. I just read his sequel “A Night At White Castle” about him leaving home in the 1980s and going to college. That one is great as well…a more teenage look at the 1980s.

The title draws inspiration from the Sting-Ray bicycle that was popular at the time. Banana seat luxury as I remember. I usually got Huffy bikes but I did have one Sting-Ray. It was a banana yellow 3-speed. I loved that bike and it represented freedom and a way to get 2-5 miles away from home at the time. It worked until a little later and my first car took its place.

Steve brings up things that you are sure to remember. Romper Room, Sesame Street, board games, toys, music, sports, and about everything seventies connected. He also will tell the history of some things like Boeing 747s and how other things came about. He talks about his family vacations and the places they go and the trouble that happens. His Dad was an 8-Track 3m tape salesman…he travels all over the world selling 3m tape. When 8-tracks go out of style he switches to videotape.

The Rushin family could be any family in America at that time or in most other countries. If you are that age…this will bring back a lot of memories. All of his siblings grow up to be successful. Two of them went to college on full hockey scholarships and one sister…became a doctor.

The book reminded me of my fears and insecurities growing up that I had completely forgotten about with school situations, family arguments, and everyday life. If you grew up in the seventies or would like to know how it was…this is the book to read. I will say this is not a fact book about the 70s but an eyewitness who lived it telling us the human side.

If you want to see some pictures from the book…here is a PDF Stingray with just pictures. 

Steve ended up marrying Rebbecca Lobo the famous WNBA star.

…

Ron Wood / The Tragically Hip – Seven Days

There’s kissing in the valley,
Thieving in the alley,
Fighting every inch of the way.

I’m really happy to be posting again! I thought I would start off with a cool under-the-radar Bob song. I’ve caught up with work projects for the most part right now. I had a good time off but I missed interacting with all of you.

Ronnie Wood performed this song at Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary concert. When I first heard it I took an immediate liking to it. I heard this and also George Thorogood doing another Dylan song called Wanted Man.

I also found another version that is really great by the Canadian band The Tragically Hip (video at the bottom of the post). They have the same rawness that Wood had in his…great version. It’s the groove of this song that makes it.

I’ll have a full Tragically Hip post coming soon.

Seven Days Written lyrics

Some of the original written lyrics

This song was written by Bob in March 1976, at Shangra La Studios in Malibu. Eric Clapton was recording the No Reason To Cry album…Bob Dylan offered Clapton Seven Days but he turned it down. Ron Wood was there and he took it for his next album and did a good job of it.

I like Wood’s voice. For me, his best job on lead vocals was Ooh La La by the Faces but this one comes in a close second. I usually will take the studio versions with most songs…but not this one. He has more drive in the live version video. Here is a cleaner version of the Tragically Hip. 

The song has been covered many times as has many Dylan Songs. Artists such as The Tragically Hip, Joe Cocker, and others. No studio version by Bob has surfaced as far as I know. He has covered it live a few times.

Ron Wood:  “Bob played it (“Seven Days”) to me and Eric in the studio, and he said to Eric “You can have this song if you want it.” And I took him up on it and Eric didn’t.” 

Seven Days

Seven days, seven more days she’ll be comin’
I’ll be waiting at the station for her to arrive
Seven more days, all I gotta do is survive.

She been gone ever since I been a child
Ever since I seen her smile, I ain’t forgotten her eyes.
She had a face that could outshine the sun in the skies.

I been good, I been good while I been waitin’
Maybe guilty of hesitatin’, I just been holdin’ on
Seven more days, all that’ll be gone.

There’s kissing in the valley,
Thieving in the alley,
Fighting every inch of the way.
Trying to be tender
With somebody I remember
In a night that’s always brighter’n the day.

Seven days, seven more days that are connected
Just like I expected, she’ll be comin’ on forth,
My beautiful comrade from the north.

There’s kissing in the valley,
Thieving in the alley,
Fighting every inch of the way.
Trying to be tender
With somebody I remember
In a night that’s always brighter’n the day.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Was I Right Or Wrong

This song tells a tragic tale of a son going off for fame and coming back home for the acceptance of his parents but he finds out…they died. They recorded this track in Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama. It was before they were signed to a contract. Shooting Star which came after this song…. covered a small portion of this but the star in this song lives but doesn’t get satisfaction out of the outcome.

At first I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I loved were in the ground

It was on an album called First and Last. It was released in 1978 after the crash. It covered the demos they made at Muscle Shoals. The owners of the studio thought they would be signed because their songs were very good and they had everything arranged before recording…so it was quick. After they were not signed…Ronnie Van Zant promised the recording studio owners that he would mention them in a song if they hit. They thought…yea right! A man of his word…a couple of years later in Sweet Home Alabama he did “Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers and they’ve been known to pick a song or two (yes they do).”

I wouldn’t dare compare this to a normal release but it has it’s charm all the same and shows how advanced the band was in the early seventies. Van Zant worked his band members hard to get them in shape. They practiced in an old cabin with no air conditioning in Florida. He would make them go through songs until they were perfect…they nicknamed the place Hell House.

Ronnie Van Zant was a great and sometimes underrated songwriter. The band members have said that he never wrote lyrics down on paper. The band would be practicing and he would hear a riff or a chord progression he liked and would tell them to keep going through it over and over. After thinking about it he would start singing what he came up with.

They were not a jam band (again the Allmans were) but a song band that played their 3-5 minute songs and got off the stage with the exception of the lengthy Free Bird. They were planning to release this before the crash.

No one wanted to sign them because they couldn’t figure out what they were. Record executives said they sounded too much like The Allman Brothers. Which that in itself is just stupid. The executives thought anyone from the south sounded like the Allmans. The Allmans had jazz influences and Lynyrd Skynyrd drew inspiration from British acts like Free and lead singer Paul Rodgers. They were completely different in every way.

Al Kooper met and signed them to a contract back in 1973. Kooper had worked with Jimi Hendrix, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and Bob Dylan. He said Lynyrd Skynyrd were the best arrangers of songs he ever met plus the most organic musicians he worked with. That is high praise coming from Al Kooper.

Another song off of this album is called Comin’ Home which is really good.

Was I Right Or Wrong

Like a restless leaf in the autumn breeze,
Once, I was a tumbleweed
Like a rolling stone, cold and all alone,
Livin’ for the day my dream would come

Never cared for school or any golden rules
Papa used to always say I was a useless fool
So I left my home to show ’em they was wrong
And headed out on the road, singin’ my songs

Then one sunny day, the man, he looked my way
And everything that I dreamed of, it was real
Money, girls, and cars and big long cigars
And I caught the first plane home so Papa would see

When I went home to show ’em they was wrong
All that I found was two tombstones
Somebody tell me, please, was I right or wrong?
Lord, it’s such a sad song

At first I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I loved were in the ground
Papa, I only wish you could see me now
Take a listen Papa, I learned how to play my guitar, superstar
Play one for momma now

If there’s any way that you can hear what I say
Papa, I never meant to do you wrong
All the money, girls, and cars,
And all the world’s long cigars,
Papa, I just want you to know,
They couldn’t take your place

When I went home to show ’em they was wrong,
All that I found was two tombstones
Somebody tell me please, was I right or wrong?
Lord, it’s such a sad song
At first I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I loved were in the ground
Somebody tell me, please, was I right or wrong?

Amazing Rhythm Aces – Third Rate Romance

I like hearing this song once in a while. It’s one of those 1970’s AM Gold Hits.

They recorded Third Rate Romance for its 1975 album Stacked Deck, releasing the song as the group’s debut single. The song peaked at #14 on the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada in 1975. This is a country/rock humorous song. Sammy Kershaw covered this song in 1994 and is maybe the better-known version for some people but this is the version I remember and like.

Amazing Rhythm Aces Stacked Deck Vinyl LP Album 1975 image 1

The Amazing Rhythm Aces were formed in 1974 in Memphis by Jeff Davis and Butch McDade. By 1975 they had added Russell Smith, Barry Burton, and James Hooker to the group. Burton left the group in 1977 and was replaced by Duncan Cameron. They disbanded in 1980 after the release of their album How the Hell do you spell Rhythum? The song was written by Russell Smith.

Rusell Smith went on to be a successful songwriter, Billy Earheart joined Hank Williams Jr’s Bama Band and Cameron joined Sawyer Brown, who had their own success with a style close to the Amazing Rhythm Aces.

Russell Smith: “I got the idea for it from watching a couple in a restaurant, but I made up a lot of the story. At first, it was like a goddamn book report, about eight minutes long. But once I’d edited it down, I was pretty happy with it.”

Third Rate Romance

Sitting at a fancy table, in a ritzy restaurant,
He was staring at his coffee cup,
Trying to get his courage up.
The talk was small when they talked at all,
They both knew what they wanted,
There was no need to talk about it,
They were old enough to talk it out, and still keep it loose.

Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous,
Then he said, “You don’t look like my type, but I guess you’ll do.”
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous,
He said, “I’ll tell you I love you, if you want me to.”
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous,

They left the bar, got in his car, and they drove away;
They drove to the Family Inn, she didn’t even have to pretend.
She waited in the car and he went to the desk,
Made his request while she waited outside.
When he came back with the key she said,
“Give it to me and I’ll unlock the door.”

She said, “I’ve never done this kind of thing before, have you?”
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous
He said, “Yes I have, but only a time or two.”
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous.

Journey – Wheel In The Sky

This was the Journey I really liked…before a member left (Gregg Rolie) and one was added (Jonathan Cain)…and they became more radio-friendly with Escape. It comes down to my personal tastes. Gregg Rolie played a B4 organ and sounded great and Cain played an 80’s Casio (just kidding but…) synth…it changed the music completely…but it did make them more accessible to the masses…so yea I’m in the minority.

This song was on the album Infinity. Personally…my favorite Journey album is Departure. The three I listen to are Infinity, Evolution, and Departure. The albums before were prog albums and the ones after…more 80’s radio pop. With those three albums, they were more of a rock band.

The origin of this song is interesting. It started off as a poem by Diane Valory, the wife of Journey bassist Ross Valory. The band’s first vocalist, Robert Fleischman, wrote new lyrics, and guitarist Neal Schon wrote the melody on acoustic guitar in the back seat of a station wagon while the band was driving between shows.

This song was the first single to chart for the band. Before this album, they were more of a progressive band. With this single and the next two albums, they started building themselves up in the charts to lay the groundwork for superstardom in the eighties.

The song peaked at #57 on the Billboard 100 and #45 in Canada in 1978.

Wheel In The Sky

Winter is here again, oh Lord
Haven’t been home in a year or more
I hope she holds on a little longer
Sent a letter on a long summer day
Made of silver, not of clay
Ooh, I’ve been runnin’ down this dusty road

Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’

I’ve been trying to make it home
Got to make it before too long
Ooh, I can’t take this very much longer, no
I’m stranded in the sleet and rain
Don’t think I’m ever gonna make it home again
The morning sun is risin’
It’s kissin’ the day

Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
I don’t’ know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’, whoa, whoa, whoa
My, my, my, my, my
For tomorrow

Oh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Ooh, I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps me yearnin’
Ooh, I don’t know, I don’t know where

Oh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Ooh, I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Ooh, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know

Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps turnin’
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’

Steve Miller – Dance, Dance, Dance

Steve Miller goes country bluegrass?

In the late seventies, my friend had the Fly Like An Eagle album. I loved it at that time and this song is the one young Max zoned in on. It’s one Steve Miller song that is NOT worn out! It’s not a great song by any means but there is something charming about this country-type song. It’s one you can imagine someone singing on a back porch.

I like when artists do something different out of the norm. At this time he was changing from blues to pop…and this song went in a different direction.

The Steve Miller Band started off as a blues psychedelia band. They got signed for $50,000 dollars in 1967…quite a lot at that time… after the band had an impressive performance at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival They continued to release one album a year but they never rose up the charts too much. At that time the band included drummer Gary Mallaber and LonnieTurner on bass, but the albums also featured contributions by harmonica player James Cotton, session guitarist Led Dudek, and the Doobie Brothers’ John McFee…and Boz Scaggs was a member for a while.

One song in the earlier period I’ll touch on in a few weeks is “My Darkest Hour” and he recorded it with Paul McCartney in one of his most darest hours…right after Paul refused to sign with Allen Klein.

TheJoker.jpg

After The Joker was released as a single in 1973, Miller started to move toward pop melodies and struck gold with Fly Like An Eagle. The album bounces everywhere in style. He does a Sam Cooke cover, Send Me to sitars on “Wild Mountain Honey…along with this Bluegrass – Country song Dance, Dance, Dance. Then there are the hits. The title track Fly Like An Eagle, Take The Money and Run, and Rockin’ Me. This album is one of the building blocks of classic rock radio.

The album was released in 1976 and it peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Charts, #4 in Canada, and #11 in the UK.

Dance, Dance, Dance

My grandpa, he’s 95
And he keeps on dancin’
He’s still alive

My grandma, she’s 92
She loves to dance
And sing some, too

I don’t know
But I’ve been told
If you keep on dancing
You’ll never grow old

Come on darling
Put a pretty dress on
We’re gonna go out tonight
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
All night long

I’m a hard working man
I’m a son of a gun
I’ve been working all week in the noon day sun
The wood’s in the kitchen
And the cow’s in the barn
I’m all cleaned up and my chores are all done
Take my hand, come along
Let’s go out and have some fun

Come on darling put a pretty dress on
We’re gonna go out tonight
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
All night long

Pick on

Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
All night long

Come on darling, don’t look that way
Don’t you know when you smile
I’ve got to say you’re my honey pumpkin lover
You’re my heart’s delight
Don’t you want to go out tonight
You’re such a pretty lady
You’re such a sweet girl
When you dance it brightens up my world
Come on darling put a pretty dress on
We’re gonna go out tonight
And dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
All night long

Steve Forbert – Romeo’s Tune

I won this single at the county fair. From the title, I didn’t know what it was until  I played it. It was a hit single at the time. It’s a well-constructed song that never gets old to me. The song peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, and #21 in New Zealand in 1979-80. It came off the great Jackrabbit Slim album.

I liked that album and also Alive on Arrival released a year before this one. Sometimes I hear songs and think…man I wish I could have wrote that song. This is one of them. It’s a pop song but a pop song that fits together perfectly. It has great hooks and the verses flow perfectly.

Steve has had a nice career but I really thought he would have been more known. He was one of the many who got stuck with the “New Bob Dylan” tag. I met him one afternoon. He is a nice guy…he sat behind me at a Rolling Stones concert in Vanderbilt Stadium on the Bridges to Babylon tour on Oct. 26, 1997. He was almost 20 years older but still had that boyish face. It surprised me because I was thinking…wait…he is Steve Forbert…why doesn’t he have better seats?

According to the Jackrabbit Slim album sleeve, the song was dedicated to the memory of the late Supreme, Florence Ballard, who died in 1976. Forbert actually wrote the song about a girl from his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, rather than the Supremes singer.

John Simon produced this song/album. His credits include The Band’s Music from Big Pink and Janis Joplin’s Cheap Thrills. The song and album were recorded in Quadraphonic Sound studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

One tidbit I picked up that I would have never guessed. Steve was in Cyndi Lauper’s video “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” I only halfway believed it but sure enough he plays Cyndi’s boyfriend in a tuxedo at the end.

Steve Forbert on Ballard: “that seemed like such bad news to me and such sad news. She wasn’t really taken care of by the music business, which is not a new story.”

Steve Forbert on being compared with Dylan: “You can’t pay any attention to that. It was just a cliché back then, and it’s nothing I take seriously. I’m off the hook – I don’t have to be smarter than everybody else and know all the answers like Bob Dylan.”

Romeo’s Tune

Meet me in the middle of the day
Let me hear you say everything’s okay
Bring me southern kisses from your room
Meet me in the middle of the night
Let me hear you say everything’s alright
Let me smell the moon in your perfume

Oh, Gods and years will rise and fall
And there’s always something more
It’s lost in talk, I waste my time
And it’s all been said before
While further down behind the masquerade the tears are there
I don’t ask for all that much I just want someone to care
That’s right now

Meet me in the middle of the day
Let me hear you say everything’s okay
Come on out beneath the shining sun

Meet me in the middle of the night
Let me hear you say everything’s alright
Sneak on out beneath the stars and run

Oh yeah, oh yeah yeah, oh yeah

It’s king and queen and we must go down now beyond the chandelier
Where I won’t have to speak my mind and you won’t have to hear
Shreds of news and afterthoughts and complicated scenes
We’ll huddle down behind the light and fade like magazines

Meet me in the middle of the day
Let me hear you say everything’s okay
Bring me southern kisses from your room

Hey hey, meet me in the middle of the night
Let me hear you say everything’s alright
Let me smell the moon in your perfume

Oh now, meet me in the middle of the day
Let me hear you say everything’s okay
Let me see you smiling back at me

Hey, meet me in the middle of the night
Let me hear you say everything’s alright
Hold me tight and love and loving’s free

Whoa yeah