The Who’s Next album was released in 1971 and is one of the greatest classic rock albums ever released. This song is a song one clocking in at a short 2:11 and unlike most of the album…this one is softer. Pete Townshend originally wrote this for his Lifehouse project, where the character of Ray, a Scottish farmer, was intended to sing the song, which expresses the sentiment that love is meant to be shared.
The song was originally recorded several months prior to Who’s Next, as a four-minute electric version with Townshend singing lead and playing rhythm guitar, and the lead solos performed by Leslie West, the guitarist for New York power trio Mountain. The Who was recording at the Record Plant in New York, and Townshend reportedly didn’t want to spend time on overdubs, so West was called in to play on the track.
After a falling out with producer Kit Lambert, the band recorded an acoustic version that was used on the album. The Who often played the harder Rock version at their concerts. This version can be heard on their 1974 Odds & Sods album.
If two versions weren’t enough… Townshend’s original demo of the song appears on the six-disc Lifehouse Chronicles, songs from Townshend’s never fully-completed Lifehouse rock opera. This demo clocks in at 1:31, with no solo and Townshend taking advantage of the then-novel oscillator bank on his Arp synthesizer.
The album peaked at #4 in the Billboard Album Charts, #5 in Canada, and #1 in New Zealand in 1971.
Love Ain’t For Keeping
Layin’ on my back In the newly mown grass Rain is coming down But I know the clouds will pass You bring me tea Say “the babe’s a-sleepin'” Lay down beside me Love ain’t for keeping
Black ash from the foundry Hangs like a hood But the air is perfumed By the burning firewood The seeds are bursting The spring is a-seeping Lay down my darling Love ain’t for keeping Lay down beside me Love ain’t for keeping
Lay down beside me Love ain’t for keeping Lay down my darling Love ain’t for keeping
I can imagine listening to this song floating down the river on a warm southern day. How could anyone not like that title? I first heard this song in the 80s from a friend’s brother who was a complete Dead Head.
Hello baby, I’m gone, goodbye Half a cup of rock and rye
While Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia were writing the song, Garcia had a problem with one particular word in this line: Cueball’s made of styrofoam and no one’s got the time.
Robert Hunter said that Garcia argued: “This is so uncharacteristic of your work, to put something as time-dated” or whatever that word would be “as Styrofoam into it.” I’ve never sung that song without regretting I put that line in. Jerry also didn’t like songs that had political themes to them, and in retrospect, I think this was wise because a lot of the stuff with political themes from those days sounds pretty callow these days.”
The song was a popular one in concert…It was performed over 230 times live by The Grateful Dead over the years.
The song was on the Wake of the Flood album released in 1973… but not without its problems. It came three long years after the Dead’s previous studio album, American Beauty. Now, this would be normal but back in the seventies that was a lifetime.
The Dead had just left Warner Bros and were without a record deal. Then manager Ron Rakow talked to Garcia about starting the label and soon it was agreed. They made a decision to start their own record label like The Beatles and Stones did…except for one thing. They had no one to distribute them. Phil Lesh said: “We already owned our own sound system. Booking and travel were in-house. It seemed as if being our own record company would be worth a try. No one could see a downside.”
Rakow talked for a while about distributing records by ice cream trucks. Yes…fans would place their order through the local ice cream truck vendor and you would pick up your album with… a snowcone I guess. The voice of reason soon prevailed and they eventually got United Artists to distribute their records.
Wake of the Flood was their first studio album released on their new Grateful Dead Records. They did release two singles before that. They had problems after the release. They took a call from one distributor… the copies he’d received of Wake of the Flood sounded so bad, he said, that kids were bringing them back to the stores. The Dead office thought it was a hustle…retailers wanting records sent to them for free until he asked yet another grousing store owner to send him a copy of the supposedly flawed record. What arrived in the mail at the Dead office was a truly fake Wake of the Flood… a cover that amounted to a mimeographed photo of the artwork and an LP with music that sounded as if it had been copied from a cassette, complete with hissing noises. They’d been bootlegged.
One source says the label was told in advance by shadowy figures in Brooklyn that any release on Grateful Dead Records would be bootlegged and that they would have no choice but to go along with it. Soon after that batch, the bootlegs stopped and it was over as quick as it started. The band lost up to 90,000 because of the bootlegs.
Soon after the album’s release, Warner Bros released a greatest hits album called Skeletons in the Closet. Wake of the Flood peaked at #18 in the Billboard Album Charts and #30 in Canada in 1973.
Garcia talked about the line: I lost my boots in transit babe A pile of smoking leather
“I was in an automobile accident in 1960 with four other guys… 90-plus miles an hour on a back road. We hit these dividers and went flying, I guess. All I know is that I was sitting in the car and there was this… disturbance… and the next thing, I was in a field, far enough away from the car that I couldn’t see it.
“The car was crumpled like a cigarette pack… and inside it were my shoes. I’d been thrown completely out of my shoes and through the windshield. One guy did die in the group. It was like losing the golden boy, the one who had the most to offer. For me it was crushing, but I had the feeling that my life had been spared to do something, to either go whole hog or not at all…That was when my life began. Before that I had been living at less than capacity. That event was the slingshot for the rest of my life. It was my second chance, and I got serious.”
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
On the day that I was born
Daddy sat down and cried
I had the mark just as plain as day
which could not be denied
They say that Cain caught Abel
rolling loaded dice,
ace of spades behind his ear
and him not thinking twice
Half-step
Mississippi Uptown Toodleloo
Hello baby, I’m gone, goodbye
Half a cup of rock and rye
Farewell to you old southern sky
I’m on my way – on my way
If all you got to live for
is what you left behind
get yourself a powder charge
and seal that silver mine
I lost my boots in transit babe
A pile of smoking leather
Nailed a retread to my feet
and prayed for better weather
Half-step
Mississippi Uptown Toodleloo
Hello, baby, I’m gone, good-bye
Half a cup of rock and rye
Farewell to you old southern sky
I’m on my way – on my way
They say that when your ship comes in
the first man takes the sails
The second takes the afterdeck
The third the planks and rails
What’s the point to callin shots?
This cue ain’t straight in line
Cueball’s made of styrofoam
and no one’s got the time
Half-step
Mississippi Uptown Toodleloo
Hello baby, I’m gone, goodbye
Half a cup of rock and rye
Farewell to you old southern sky
I’m on my way – on my way
Across the Rio Grand-eo
Across the lazy river
Across the Rio Grand-eo
Across the lazy river
I wanted to do a more modern show other than Life On Mars…and this would qualify as it…kinda. It has been on the air since 1975… a whopping 47 years. It’s been on life support at times but has always pulled through. It’s an institution at this point. There is not enough room on a post to go over every cast. Everyone has their favorites some were extremely funny and some were extremely bad (1980 – 1981 cast) and they all make up the history of this show.
I’m going to concentrate on the original cast and how the show became SNL. Most of you have favorite different casts…usually, the one you grew up with.
Even if you don’t like this show or what it’s become…it was a cultural landmark and no one can deny that. It changed television forever. The show started because Johnny Carson wanted more time off. NBC had been airing reruns of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show on the weekends to fill space in their lineup. This allowed them to double-dip on profits from Carson’s outrageously popular show without spending another dime on production costs. He told NBC he would only be making four shows a week, which meant that best-of Carson shows that had been airing on Saturday nights would now need to be moved to a weeknight.
NBC executive Herbert Schlosser sought to create a new show with an old format…a variety show to fill the slot on Saturday Night. He picked Lorne Michaels, a Canadian writer who only had a handful of credits to be the producer. Michaels started a show that was far different than Schlosser imagined but to his credit… Schlosser was behind it and pushed for it to be on the air. The first two shows were experiments but by the third show, they found the format they would keep to this day. The funny thing is…Johnny Carson never liked the show.
Lorne Michaels made the show to appeal to baby boomers with a touch of Avant-Garde and “guerrilla-style comedy.” It was a game-changer much like All In The Family was to sitcoms. Late-night was never again a wasteland. This show helped open the doors for David Letterman and other shows to follow it.
It started out as “Saturday Night.” The Saturday Night Live title belonged to ABC for a show hosted by Howard Cosell who was out of his league. After Cosell’s show was cancelled, ABC let Saturday Night have the “Live” part.
Who was the best cast through the years? This is a question that is debated over and over again. People argue and usually pick the cast they grew up with. I grew up in the Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo era. Personally, I always thought the original cast was the best era of the show. Yes, I thought the Murphy and Piscopo casts were very funny along with later casts that had Dana Carvey, Michael Myers, Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and many others that followed. The first five seasons had something extra that others would not and could not have. It had an underground feel that vanished after it became a pure comedy show. They had a massive amount of talent in that first class.
John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Chevy Chase (though I liked his replacement better…Bill Murray), Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, and my favorite overlooked cast member Laraine Newman. They were the perfect cast for that time.
Why do I like the original cast the most? They tried new things and went out on a limb. Some of the skits succeeded some fell flat but they were different from anything on TV at that time…and also at this time. That cast pushed the envelope and made the network executives worry. The host each week was usually under the radar actors, writers, comedians musicians, and sometimes athletes. The musical guests were mostly rarely seen performers that weren’t on tv…prime time or otherwise. Frank Zappa, Leon Redbone, The Kinks, Patti Smith, Ry Cooder, Kinky Friedman, and others. You would have more popular musicians like Paul Simon but the show gave you a great variety.
No way would Michaels ever dream of that now…he usually gets whoever is the most popular to draw in ratings. He can no longer do what he did in the 70s because of that. He also used the complete ensemble. It was not Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, and everyone else of the early eighties. It was about building an unknown cast and all of them having a shot…not a star-driven show that gave all the best bits to the big names. He made sure the entire cast had a lead in skits and parody commercials. Dick Ebersol who followed Lorne Micheals, was famous for getting stars in the cast and the show revolving around them.
A lot of the skits are now famous… Ackroyd’s Bassomatic, the Samurai, the uncomfortable but funny Word Association with Richard Pryor, The Killer Bees, The Mr. Bill Show, Weekend Update, Roseanne Rosannadanna, Land Shark, Bag of Glass, The Wild and Crazy Guys, the Coneheads, The Lounge Singer, Mr. Mike, The Blues Brothers and many more.
The writers for the show were not in the variety show comedy vein..they were not in the current SNL vein either. The style was more aggressive, especially with Michael O’Donoghue. He was a comedy trailblazer with National Lampoon and added black humor to SNL. Other writers were Franken and Davis, Rosie Shuster, Alan Zweibel, Marilyn Miller, Anne Beatts, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, and also Ackroyd and Chase.
The original group also did some serious skits along with comedy and trips into the bizarre (See the ultra-dark “Mr. Mike”). …It separated the original from any other cast.
I like the feel of the underground the first five years had but you can only be that for so long…popularity takes over. Those first 5 years (the first four were great…the fifth very good) set the foundation that holds to this day…just without the daring and danger.
Ann Beatts was one of the original writers who saw the popularity of the show rise beyond anything she ever imagined. She knew the risk-taking traits in the show would have to end because of it. “You can only be avant-garde for so long until you become garde.”
By the 5th season (1979-1980), it was a circus grown out of proportion. The cast by that time were usually bigger stars than the guest hosts. Everyone left after that season along with Lorne Michaels. The show went on without him until 1985 when he rejoined. It was never the same again. Sometimes it was funny and sometimes not but it was never the same experimental show it was at the start.
What other show would introduce “Acapulco Gold” and “Orange Sunshine” to a national television audience?
The Bassomatic…something you cannot explain with words.
Some songs you don’t expect to hear a cover of…this is one of them.
I bought this single in 1976 in a local record store we had in our small town called Sounds and Scenes (long gone but I love the name). I liked the song Good Vibrations and didn’t know at the time who did the original version. I was only 9 years old and thought I had the real thing.
He made an album called Faithful, full of covers and he performed them to the letter. I’ve listened to the album and they are close but this one is really on it. He did Rain, Strawberry Fields, If Six Was Nine, and Bob Dylan’s Most Likely You Go Your Way And I’ll Go Mine.
Todd’s version of the song peaked at #34 in the Billboard 100 and #28 in Canada in 1976. The album Faithful peaked at #54 in the Billboard Album Charts.
Todd Rundgren is very talented and I’m a fan of him. He did a fantastic duplicate version of this song. My question now is why? He got so close…you have to wonder why he did it in the first place. But…who am I to question Todd Rundgren?
I usually don’t like when an artist covers a song and changes it so much you cannot tell what the song is… not a problem with this one. Todd does exactly what he says in the album name… he was very faithful to these songs.
Later on, Todd was asked what he gained after doing this album of covers.
Todd Rundgren: Well, you gain an education. I haven’t done so many of those lately. In fact, I can’t recall anything since, for instance, The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect or a Small Faces song. Everything since then has been originals. In that particular instance, on Faithful, that was like 10 years after I had gotten into the music business and I was trying to give people who either had never experienced it or had forgotten it, a taste of what it was like to move through the culture at that time. What was on the radio, what they were playing in the boutiques or in the record stores, the kind of songs you would hear. So I took a cross-section of mostly songs that were popular in 1966 and did them as dead-on as I could. People were supposed to pretend that they were listening to ’66 radio or going from store to store in a hip neighborhood in 1966 and hearing what people were listening to then.
Good Vibrations
I love the colorful clothes she wears And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair I hear the sound of a gentle word On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air
I’m picking up good vibrations She’s giving me excitations Good bop bop, good vibrations Bop bop, excitations Good, good, good, good vibrations
Close my eyes, she is somehow closer now Softly smile, I know she must be kind When I look in her eyes She comes with me to a blossom world I don’t know where but she sends me there
Oh my my my, what a sensation
Oh my my, what elation
Got to keep those loving good vibrations Happening with her
The Sweet had the ability to sound like a different band on many of their hit singles. Little Willy, Ballroom Blitz, Love Is Like Oxygen, Blockbuster!, and Fox On The Run. My first introduction to this band was a bubblegum single that my sister bought called Little Willy.
There were two different versions of this song. The first one appeared on the European version of the 1974 RCA album Desolation Boulevard album.
The band was stuck with a perception of them being puppets of their songwriters Mike Chapman and Nicky Chin and producer Phil Wainman. They had to battle to play on their own singles at times. Mike Chapman and Nicky Chin also were their managers. The Sweet were sometimes allowed to write their B sides but that was about it. After Desolation Boulevard was released, the band parted ways with Chapman and Chinn and produced their own material.
Their first effort was a reworking of “Fox On The Run,” which was originally produced by Chapman and Chinn but written by the band. The Sweet proved quite capable on their own, and the new version of Fox on the Run with a bright chorus became a global hit.
The re-worked Fox on the Run appeared on the American version of Desolation Boulevard. Capital Records released this version in America, Canada, and Japan. The album also contained Ballroom Blitz and peaked at #25 in the Billboard Album Charts and #5 in Canada.
The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1975. It was released in the US as the follow-up to their single Ballroom Blitz.
The song has been covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Girlschool, and the Scorpions to name a few. Fox on the Run was also featured in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
The original version with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chin
The hit version
“Fox On The Run”
I don’t wanna know your name ‘Cause you don’t look the same The way you did before O.K. you think you got a pretty face But the rest of you is out of place You looked alright beforeFox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy is on the run F-foxy Fox on the run and hide away
You, you talk about just every band But the names you drop are second hand (second hand) I’ve heard it all before I don’t wanna know your name ‘Cause you don’t look the same The way you did before
Fox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy on the run F-foxy Fox on the run and hide away
F-foxy Fox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy on the run F-foxy Fox on the run and hide away Fox on the run Fox on the run Fox on the run Fox on the run Fox on the run
A truly beautiful song by Cat Stevens. It was used as the B-side of Stevens’ hit Moonshadow in some locations.
His dad owned a restaurant in London and Cat (known to his dad as Steve Georgiou) worked there as a waiter right up until he signed a record deal at age 17. Stavros was hoping his son would join the family business.
Steven’s storyline for the song as he was writing it from the perspective of a father and son in a Russian family during the Russian Revolution (1917-1923). The son wants to join the revolution but his father wants him to stay home and work on the farm. Stevens, a huge fan of show tunes, wrote it in 1969 for a musical he was working on called Revolussia, which was set during the Russian Revolution. The song ended up on the Tea For The Tillerman album.
This is the song that got Stevens signed to Island Records. His first two albums were issued on Deram, a division of Decca. Stevens met with Island boss Chris Blackwell to talk about the musical he wrote this song for, but when Blackwell heard the song, he set his sights on getting Stevens on his label as an artist. Stevens’ first Island release was Mona Bone Jakon earlier in 1970; it was not just a new label for Stevens, but a new producer as well, with former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith taking the helm from Mike Hurst (ex-Springfields), who helped Stevens get his deal with Decca.
I’m really tired of superhero movies but I’m glad many songs of this era were included in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2…including this one. It exposes a new generation to these songs.
The song peaked at #52 in the UK in 1970.
Cat Stevens on his dad: “He was running a restaurant and I was a pop star, so I wasn’t following the path that he laid out. But we certainly didn’t have any antagonism between us. I loved him and he loved me.”
Cat Stevens:“I was in a Turkish restaurant one day and it came on the radio, one of my children said, ‘Dad, isn’t that your song?’ I said, ‘Why, yes it is!’ It turned out to be Boyzone. It’s a nice version and I’m grateful it was a clean-cut group who did it. I went to meet them at Top Of The Pops and we had a nice time. They’re a good bunch of lads.”
Cat Stevens:“The song is a testament to the differences we represent to each other, especially in age and traditions. Traditions have a big impact on our lives, and sometimes you’ve got to walk away.”
Father and Son
It’s not time to make a change Just relax, take it easy You’re still young, that’s your fault There’s so much you have to know Find a girl, settle down If you want you can marry Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy
I was once like you are now And I know that it’s not easy To be calm when you’ve found Something going on But take your time, think a lot Think of everything you’ve got For you will still be here tomorrow But your dreams may not
How can I try to explain? When I do he turns away again It’s always been the same, same old story From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen Now there’s a way And I know that I have to go away I know I have to go
It’s not time to make a change Just relax, take it slowly You’re still young, that’s your fault There’s so much you have to go through Find a girl, settle down If you want you can marry Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy
All the times that I’ve cried Keeping all the things I knew inside It’s hard, but it’s harder to ignore it If they were right I’d agree But it’s them they know, not me Now there’s a way And I know that I have to go away I know I have to go
This song took a few listens but then I started to like it. It peaked at #15 on the Billboard 100, #17 in Canada, and #42 in the UK charts. The song ended up being Sniff ‘n’ the Tears biggest hit.
The song was a failure in the UK but more successful in the US where it hit the top twenty in 1979. It was a hit almost everywhere but in the UK. In the UK they were set up for success. They managed to snag a Top of the Pops appearance when it came out. They filled in for the Gang of Four who dropped out at the last moment. The week after it was released… the EMI pressing plant went on strike and you couldn’t buy Driver’s Seat for four or five weeks.
An early version of this song was demoed back in 1973 by singer/guitarist Paul Roberts’ then-band Ashes of Moon for a French label. However, that band broke up, and, at the suggestion of drummer Luigi Salvini, Roberts reformed it as Sniff ‘n’ the Tears with guitarists Laurence “Loz” Netto and Mick Dyche, and bassist Chris Birkin.
They shopped the demo tape and signed with the London indie label Chiswick in 1977. Sniff ‘n’ The Tears found a good audience outside the UK until they broke up in 1983. They reformed in 1992 after Driver’s Seat featured in a Dutch TV ad for Pioneer Stereos. They were truly a one-hit-wonder in the US. They did have a single to peaked at #108 called New Lines on Love.
Paul Roberts (singer):It was a pretty massive hit everywhere apart from Britain, Britain is perverse in some respects, but it did get a lot of radio play. We were accused of ripping off Dire Straits. I never understood that, but I think it was more that we were different to the post-punk scene.
Driver’s Seat
Doing all right A little jiving on a Saturday night And come what may Gonna dance the day away
Jenny was sweet She always smiled for the people she meet On trouble and strife She had another way of looking at life
The news is blue (The news is blue) Had it’s own way to get to you What can I do? (What can I do? ) When I remember my time with you
Pick up your feet Got to move to the trick of the beat There is no elite Just take your place in the driver’s seat Driver’s seat, driver’s seat, yeah Doing all right A little jiving on a Saturday night And come what may Gonna dance the day away Driver’s seat, driver’s seat, yeah Jenny was sweet There is no elite Pick up your feet, pick up, pick up Pick up your feet, gonna dance the day away Driver’s seat, driver’s seat, yeah Driver’s seat, driver’s seat, yeah
***I have a bonus below the videos…an interview I did with a real DJ…Keith Allen (who is in our draft) about WKRP.***
I was 11 when this show aired. It was one of the shows from the late 70s that I wouldn’t miss.
This show was not like the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Bob Newhart, or All In The Family. Those are great shows…some of the best ever sitcoms…but they were aimed more at adults while this one I always felt was largely aimed at teenagers. The show aired from 1978 to 1982. Rock and Roll on a sitcom was not common at that time at all. It was the hippest show on television in primetime.
WKRP in Cincinnati” was produced by MTM – the studio Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker built that produces shows such as The Bob Newhart Show, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis, The White Shadow, Rhoda, and many others.
The episode I remember the most having an effect on me was about the horrible event in 1979 when eleven people were killed at a Who concert in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Park. The show handled the tragic situation very well.
The plot…to make it short was about a Program Director (Andy Travis) who had a perfect record in turning bad radio stations around joins the staff at WKRP. The station is at the bottom of the ratings and he wants to change the format to Rock from Laurence Welk type music which is met with trepidation from the oddball staff. Actual radio DJs were excited because they loved that the show portrayed sides of the industry you never see. They were such big fans that they would send in bumper stickers, posters, and other items that were used to decorate the walls in the TV radio station studio. Howard Hesseman who played Dr. Johnny Fever was a DJ in the 60s in San Francisco.
The show would feature new rock music as well as old. Blondie gave the show one of their gold records in appreciation because the show played “Heart of Glass” and helped to make it number 1.
When you watch the reruns…they don’t look as clear as some of the other shows of the era. Unlike Cheers, The Bob Newhart Show, Mary Tyler Moore, or M*A*S*H… WKRP was shot on videotape instead of film. That’s why WKRP reruns are murky, instead of the pristine clarity of filmed shows
The show also caught radio before it started the change. The change was giant companies buying radio stations and having them pre-program shows without local flavor. It was beginning during the show’s run. Slowly but surely the radio would be taken over by monopolies and we would lose some of the attachments we had to local DJ’s… MTV came and made the divide wider.
Close to 10 years after WKRP in Cincinnati had left the air, The New WKRP in Cincinnati premiered in 1991. Rejoining the cast was Gordon Jump (Arthur Carlson), Richard Sanders (Les Nessman), Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever), and Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek). Both Tim Reid and Loni Anderson made guest appearances but Jan Smithers and Gary Sandy decided to skip it.
Before I end I must mention an iconic episode that is always remembered. The Turkeys Away episode. Forty live turkeys were dropped from a helicopter onto an unsuspecting Cincinnati shopping mall below. In what was supposed to be a Thanksgiving giveaway promotion, the station’s manager… Arthur “Big Guy” Carlson….decided to drop live turkeys from a helicopter.
At the end, Mr. Carlson says the phrase that elevates the episode to a classic. “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”
How close was WKRP to real stations? See below the videos…
The extended theme song by Steve Carlisle Wkrp In Cincinnati peaked at #65 on the Billboard 100 in 1979.
The Cast
Bailey Quarters – Jan Smithers – A shy soft-spoken lady in charge of billing and station traffic soon worked herself up to an on-air personality and other duties. She and Jennifer on the show were a bit like Mary Ann and Ginger on Gilligans Island…my pick is Miss Quarters any day of the week!
Andy Travis – Gary Sandy –Andy comes to the station as the new Program Director to turn the station around and finds the station’s employees…are like from the Island of Misfit Toys. He finds their strengths and tries to make it work. His character was based on real-life Program Director Mikel Herrington.
Dr. Johnny Fever – Howard Hesseman – Fun Fact…David Cassidy was offered this role but turned it down. The role ultimately went to Howard Hesseman, but only after he was invited to read for Herb Tarlek’s character and flatly refused to read anything but Johnny.
Johnny had been around for a while and was fired off a Los Angeles radio station for saying booger on air. He was probably my favorite character…next to Bailey…on the show when I first watched. Dr. Johnny Fever was based on real DJ “Skinny” Bobby Harper.
Venus Flytrap – Tim Reid – Venus was the night DJ and was one of the smoothest DJ’s ever…Venus wears 70’s type flashy clothes and in the series eventually becomes Assistant Program Director. Venus was the coolest character on the show.
Herb Tarlek – Frank Bonner – Herb was a salesman and dressed very tacky and loud. He hits on Jennifer at every opportunity, despite being married… but gets turned down constantly.
Jennifer Marlowe – Loni Anderson – She was Ginger to Bailey’s Mary Ann. Mr. Carlson’s receptionist…she was the highest-paid employee at the station even though refusing to do most things that receptionists are required to do. She was very intelligent though and Anderson demanded that before taking the role.
Arthur Carlson – Gordon Jump – The lovable but ineffective station manager who is the son of the station’s owner. He never wanted to know what was going on…, but when he tries to be hands-on…it leads to disastrous results (see Turkey’s Away episode)
Les Nessman – Richard Sanders – The incompetent News Director…Les was obsessed with the region’s hog farming industry…constantly mispronounced names… ignored obvious news stories for Hog Reports…but he would win the Silver Sow Award and The Buckeye Newshawk Award. He also had an invisible office with invisible walls that the station could not afford to build.
I interviewed a DJ…and he is Keith Allen who is in the TV Draft. I asked him
WKRP, what about it is realistic and what is not?
LOL – DJ’s and other radio people get asked this a lot! I guess it depends on who you ask. Here are my thoughts –
Are there sales people like Herb? Yes. Are they as annoying? Yes!
Are all news people like Les? No, but there are plenty other folks in the biz like him.
Do all stations have a sexy secretary/receptionist? Some of the stations I worked at did.
Are all General Managers like Mr. Carlson? No, some are actually quite bright and know their stuff.
Do DJ’s usually give their program directors (like Andy) a headache? Yes. Very much so!
Do Programmers and General Managers often not see eye to eye on what’s going on with the station? Many times this is true.
Can you get fired for saying “booger” on the air? I don’t think so. We spent an entire morning talking about how those green raisins look like boogers and we weren’t fired.
Do many DJ’s have big egos like Venus and weird idiosyncrasies like Johnny? Yes, and you know it almost immediately when you meet them.
In many ways, WKRP is very realistic and while radio people probably find the show funnier than the average viewer, we also find one thing particularly annoying – the DJ’s don’t wear headphones in the studio. When a DJ turns on the microphone, the speakers in the studio shut off so there is no feedback. The DJ can hear the music and his/her voice in the headphones, so they know when to stop talking. These guys never seem to have headphones on and it has always bothered me.
They also seem to have the uncanny ability to throw a record on the turntable and have the song cued up immediately. I never had to spin vinyl until I moved to the west side of the state. I can tell you, you have to put the needle on the start of the groove, play it through a small cue speaker and wait for the song to start. You then stop it and turn the record back a ¼ turn, so that when you hit start, it plays at the right speed and doesn’t wind up to it. Carts are a whole lot easier, but almost all the music on WKRP is on vinyl.
I first noticed this song on the concert film The Festival Express a few years ago. I’ve heard the two studio versions but that live version is the one I like best. It’s something about it I really connect to. Garcia and Weir sound great singing together along with Pigpen playing the harmonica. It’s just a simple blues-type song but it works well for me anyway.
As soon as I heard it I took one of my acoustic guitars off the wall and kept running back the video file back and playing with them…I didn’t think they would mind.
This song was first released by the Dead in 1966 as their first single with Stealin on the flip side. That version is good and it reminds me of the band Them…not the voice but the music. They also released it again on their Go To Heaven album in 1980 but that version to me is a little too slick. The version on Festival Express shows all the ragged edges in the best way. It is pure Americana. They would do it live many times later on but I still go back to the Festival version.
They also covered it before they were the Grateful Dead. They started off as a jug band called Mother McCrees Uptown Jug Champions and most likely covered it when they were called the Warlocks.
They might have heard the version of the song by Henry Thomas…an old blues artist that lived from 1874 to around 1930. If you want to learn more in detail about Thomas and this song go here to Jim’s site. It also sounds close to a song by Jelly Roll Morton called Don’t You Leave Me Here. On the Go To Heaven album, it’s credited to “traditional arranged by The Grateful Dead.” The single that was released in 1966 was credited to Garcia but I’ve read where he didn’t authorize that and didn’t ask for a credit.
Speaking of the Festival Express…it was The Transcontinental Pop Festival… better known as the Festival Express. Great idea on paper… rounding up musicians in 1970 and placing them on a train going across Canada and stopping along the way to play festivals. What could go wrong? Actually, I would have loved to have been on that train. The lineup: The Band, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy Blues Band, The Fly Burrito Brothers, Sha Na Na, and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends.
There were artists that were not in the film like Traffic, Ten Years After, Tom Rush, Ian & Sylvia, Mountain, and more.
A DVD was released of this in 2004. All these musicians were on a train full of liquor and an assortment of drugs… liquor was the popular choice among the musicians on this ride. The tour was to have events in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver. The Montreal event was canceled as was Vancouver. In Toronto, protesters were saying the festival promoters were price gouging so The Grateful Dead played a free concert in a park nearby to ease tensions with the protesters.
When watching the film you can see the performers are having a ball jamming with each other because they didn’t get a lot of chances to do that on the road.
Here is the link to the full movie free on youtube…if you have time…it’s worth it!
Bill Kreutzmann (drummer for the Dead): We celebrated Janis Joplin’s birthday at the last stop the traditional way: with birthday cake. In keeping with our own kind of tradition, somebody—within our ranks, I would imagine—had secretly infused the cake with a decent amount of LSD. So it quickly became an electric birthday celebration. Allegedly, some generous pieces of that birthday cake made it to the hands and mouths of the local police who were working the show. “Let them eat cake!” (To be fair, I didn’t have anything to do with that … I was just another cake-eating birthday reveler, that night.) And that was it for the Festival Express. It was a wonderful time and I think what really made it great was the level of interaction and camaraderie among the musicians, day and night, as we were all trapped on this train careening across the great north. It probably helped that we were all trashed the entire time. Whiskey was in the conductor’s seat on that ride.
I would recommend getting the DVD of this event. It’s a great time capsule of that time in music and culture.
Don’t Ease Me In
Don’t ease, don’t ease, don’t ease me in I’ve been all night long coming home, don’t ease me in
I was standing on the corner, talking to Miss Brown When I turned around, sweet mama, she was way across town So I’m walking down the street, with a dollar in my hand I’ve been looking for a woman, sweet mama, ain’t got no manDon’t ease, don’t ease, don’t ease me in I’ve been all night long coming home, don’t ease me inThe girl I love, she’s sweet and true You know the dress she wears, sweet mama, it’s pink and blue She brings me coffee, you know she brings me tea She brings about every damn thing, but the jailhouse keyDon’t ease, don’t ease, don’t ease me in I’ve been all night long coming home, don’t ease me inDon’t ease, don’t ease, don’t ease me in I’ve been all night long coming home, don’t ease me inDon’t ease, don’t ease, don’t ease me in I’ve been all night long coming home, don’t ease me in
Talking to Miss Brown Well I turned around, sweet moma She was way cross town
So I’m walking down the street With a dollar in my hand I’ve been looking for a woman, sweet moma Ain’t got no man
The girl I love She’s sweet and true You know the dress she wears, sweet moma It’s pink and blue
She brings me coffee You know she brings me tea She brings ’bout every damn thing But the jailhouse key
The last time I posted a Steppenwolf song (Sookie Sookie)…a fellow blogger obbverse reminded me of this one and it had been a long time since I heard it.
Snowblind Friend was written by Hoyt Axton, who first released it on his 1969 album My Griffin Is Gone. The song was written about one of his musician friends who died of a drug overdose. Hoyt did not glamorize drug use in this song. He had his own problems with drug addiction and did what he could to warn of the dangers
Stoned on some new potion he found upon the wall Of some unholy bathroom in some ungodly hall
Hoyt Axton wrote so many songs…one of them was Joy To The World, he wrote it around the same time as Snowblind Friend. Steppenwolf was offered Joy To The World but they passed. It ended up going to Three Dog Night… who took it to number 1. What I wouldn’t give to hear a Steppenwolf version of Joy to the World!
This song introduced the word “snowblind” to the rock music lexicon to describe addiction, specifically to cocaine. The insidiousness of the drug and its grip on the user has never been conveyed so accurately and poignantly.
Steppenwolf 7
Snowblind Friend peaked at #60 in the Billboard 100 and #37 in Canada in 1970. It was on the album Steppenwolf 7 and it peaked at #19 in the Billboard Album Charts and #14 in Canada. This would be Steppenwolf’s last top 20 album in their career. They did have a Greatest Hits album that peaked at #24 the following year.
They are not in the Hall of Fame yet but were nominated in 2017 but didn’t make it. In 2018 the Hall did pick “Born to Be Wild” as one of the first five singles that shaped rock and roll to be inducted into the hall in its history.
Altogether they had 13 studio albums, 5 live albums, and 21 singles. 8 of the albums were in the top 40 and 7 of their singles were in the top 40. In Canada they were very popular…they had two #1’s in Born To Be Wild and Magic Carpet Ride and 11 singles in the top 40.
John Kay:“That song spoke to me because I knew the person that the song was written about. That’s why I decided, as a tribute to this young man, that we would do a version of it on the Steppenwolf 7 album.”
This is a TV special on the Steppenwolf 7 album
Snowblind Friend
You say it was this morning when you last saw your good friend Lyin’ on the pavement with a misery on his brain Stoned on some new potion he found upon the wall Of some unholy bathroom in some ungodly hall He only had a dollar to live on ’til next Monday But he spent it on some comfort for his mind Did you say you think he’s blind?
Someone should call his parents, a sister or a brother And they’ll come to take him back home on a bus But he’ll always be a problem to his poor and puzzled mother Yeah he’ll always be another one of us He said he wanted Heaven but prayin’ was too slow So he bought a one way ticket on an airline made of snow Did you say you saw your good friend flyin’ low? Flyin’ low Dyin’ slow
I cannot remember the first time I heard this song but I heard it alot growing up. The imagery of the lyrics is a lot of fun. It’s country but it’s also a little rock and a little blues. It’s hard to classify many of his songs although he was mainly known for being a country singer and songwriter. He also ventured out into garage rock, folk, and hard rock with his songs.
Hoyt Axton:“I’m one of those fringe dudes: half folkie, half hippie, half Okie. My input has been very eclectic. I was always surrounded by all kinds of music, as my family moved around the country: jazz, classical, gospel, whatever… the influences enter from a lot of directions.”
Hoyt Axton was a talented artist. He was a singer, songwriter, and actor. We all know his songs. Joy To The World, Never Been To Spain, Snowblind Friend, The Pusher, The No, No Song, and When the Morning Comes. He was also in a number of movies, commercials, and tv shows. The movie I remember him most for was Gremlins. Axton always came off as incredibly likable.
Hoyt Axton’s mom could write songs herself…Mae Boren Axton, a songwriter, co-wrote the classic rock “Heartbreak Hotel”, which became a major hit for Elvis and an iconic rock song. Now that is a cool mom.
Axton had his big hits with other people singing his songs. His composition “Joy to the World”, as performed by Three Dog Night, was #1 on the charts for six straight weeks in 1971, making it the top hit of the year. He named his record label Jeremiah after the bullfrog mentioned in the song.
Axton had an addiction problem early in his career. He wrote songs about it like Snowblind Friend, The Pusher, and The No No Song which Ringo covered.
There are a lot of theories about this song. The dog and cat are real people. He is being purposely vague as they were all involved in some shady dealings…hanging out with what is obviously a drug dealer and murderer, but the narrator is no snitch….he’s a “cool cat.” There are a lot of theories about the song…it’s a fun story song regardless.
This song was released in 1979 and peaked at #17 on the Billboard Country Charts. It was on his album A Rusty Old Halo that peaked at #27 in the Billboard Country Charts and #14 in the Canada Album Charts.
Hoyt Axton passed away on October 26, 1999, at the age of 61.
On November 1, 2007, Axton and his mother were both inducted posthumously into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Tomorrow I have another Axton song but not with Hoyt singing.
Della and the Dealer
It was Della and the Dealer and a dog named Jake And a cat named Kalamazoo. Left the city in a pick up truck, Gonna make some dreams come true.
Yea, they rolled out west where the wild sunsets And the coyote bays at the moon. Della and the Dealer and a dog named Jake and a cat named Kalamazoo
If that cat could talk what tales he’d tell About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well But the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin word.
Down Tucson way there’s a small cafe Where they play a little cowboy tune. And the guitar picker was a friend of mine By the name of Randy Boone.
Yea, Randy played her a sweet love song And Della got a fire in her eye The Dealer had a knife and the dog had a gun and the cat had a shot of Rye.
If that cat could talk what tales he’d tell About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well But the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin word.
Yea, the dealer was a killer, He was evil and mean And he was jealous of the fire in her eyes.
He snorted his coke through a century note And swore that Boone would die.
The stage was set when the lights went out. There was death in Tucson town. Two shadows ran for the bar back door And one stayed on the ground
If that cat could talk what tales he’d tell About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well But the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin word.
Two shadows ran from the bar that night And dog and cat ran too. And the tires got hot on the pick up truck As down the road they flew.
It was Della and her lover and a dog named Jake And a cat named Kalamazoo. Left Tucson in a pick-up truck Gonna make some dreams come true.
If that cat could talk what tales he’d tell About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well But the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin word.
I first heard this song in the 80s and later on, I heard it in a Tarantino movie called Jackie Brown. You feel like you are walking down that Street in 1973 with this song. You can see the sights and feel the grime as the song finishes. It’s R&B, Soul, and a touch…just a small touch of Motown in the background.
Across 110th Street Pimps trying to catch a woman that’s weak Across 110th Street Pushers won’t let the junkie go free Across 110th Street Woman trying to catch a trick on the street, ooh, baby Across 110th Street You can find it all in the street
Bobby Womack’s 1973 hit single Across 110th Street was the title song from Barry Shear-directed movie starring Anthony Quinn for which Womack provided the soundtrack music. The song peaked at #56 on the Billboard 100 and #19 in the R&B Charts. The song was written by Bobby Womack and J.J. Johnson.
It was used in the movie by Quentin Tarantino “Jackie Brown” in 1997 and featured in the 2007 movie “American Gangster.” I’m glad that it has had a revival of sorts and didn’t get lost in history.
Bobby Womack was asked if he noticed his audience changed after this song.
Bobby Womack: I did simply because, at that particular time, that was a change for me, to record with orchestration like that. Across 110th Street had meaning, because although I lived on Central Avenue in Cleveland Ohio [growing up], it was like Across 110th Street. That’s what made me in the frame of mind to write the lyric as I did, because it sort of typified me and my brothers growing up.
I was the third brother of five Doing whatever I had to do to survive I’m not saying what I did was all right Trying to break out of the ghetto was a day-to-day fight
Been down so long, getting up didn’t cross my mind But I knew there was a better way of life that I was just trying to find You don’t know what you’ll do until you’re put under pressure Across 110th Street is a hell of a tester
Across 110th Street Pimps trying to catch a woman that’s weak Across 110th Street Pushers won’t let the junkie go free Across 110th Street Woman trying to catch a trick on the street, ooh, baby Across 110th Street You can find it all in the street
Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, oh-oh-oh
I got one more thing I’d like to talk to y’all about right now
Hey, brother, there’s a better way out Snorting that coke, shooting that dope, man, you’re copping out Take my advice, it’s either live or die You got to be strong if you want to survive
The family on the upper side of town Would catch hell without a ghetto around In every city you’ll find the same thing going down Harlem is the capital of every ghetto town Help me sing it
Across 110th Street Pimps trying to catch a woman that’s weak Across 110th Street Pushers won’t let the junkie go free Oh, across 110th Street A woman trying to catch a trick on the street, ooh, baby Across 110th Street You can find it all In the street Yes, you can
Oh, look around you, look around you Look around you, look around you Yeah Yeah
I remember this song on the radio in the seventies. Of all places, it was played a lot at our local skating rink. It’s high on the list of my favorite songs. It wasn’t the best song written by Garcia and Hunter but I can listen to it at any time. Probably the first Dead…or close to a Dead song I ever heard. The song has stuck with me my entire life.
Jerry Garcia played most of the instruments on this album except drums and Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann handled those. Sugaree was on the Garcia album released in 1972. He had teamed up with other players in the past but this was his first solo album. The song peaked at #94 on the Billboard 100 in 1972. I always liked the vague lyrics to this song. I first thought it was about death… you can take it a lot of ways.
The Grateful Dead did this live many times…Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter wrote this song. The Dead made their reputation live. They got very little radio play and didn’t sell many albums, but they are one of the top-grossing concert acts of all time.
Like the Allman Brothers, they formed a family atmosphere with their crew and it extended to their audience. From the early Kool-Aid acid tests to later on allowing the audience to tape their shows drew their audience closer. They would later give them their own section to record in…while other bands like Led Zeppelin would send people to bust their tape recorder or head. Garcia commented:Well, my feelings are, the music is for the people…I mean after it leaves our instruments it’s of no value to us, ya know what I mean? it’s like, ya know…what good is it? So it might as well be taped, my feeling is that..and if people enjoy taping it and enjoy having the tapes to listen to, that’s real great. “
They never played the same show twice. They would take songs in different directions and Garcia has said that he couldn’t play something twice the same. He just wasn’t built like that. That made every show unique…not that every show was great. The Dead has admitted they had their share of bad ones.
On Deadheads following them around the country: “Well, it’s obviously very important to them. And more than that, it’s giving them an adventure. They have stories to tell. Like, “Remember that time we had to go all the way to Colorado and we had to hitchhike the last 400 miles because the VW broke down in Kansas.” Or something like that. Y’know what I mean? That’s giving them a whole common group of experiences which they can talk about. For a lot of people, going to Grateful Dead concerts is like bumping into a bunch of old friends.”
Bill Kreutzmann…if you get a chance read his book Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead. I covered it here a while back. It’s an education in the rock world…or the Dead world of the 60s through the 90s. If you are offended by drugs, sex, and great music…pass it by.
Robert Hunter: “Sugaree was written soon after I moved from the Garcia household to China Camp. People assume the idea was cadged from Elizabeth Cotten’s ‘Sugaree,’ but, in fact, the song was originally titled ‘Stingaree,’ which is a poisonous South Sea manta. The phrase ‘just don’t tell them that you know me’ was prompted by something said by an associate in my pre-Dead days when my destitute circumstances found me fraternizing with a gang of minor criminals. What he said, when departing, was: ‘Hold your mud and don’t mention my name.’
“Why change the title to ‘Sugaree’? Just thought it sounded better that way, made the addressee seem more hard-bitten to bear a sugar-coated name. The song, as I imagined it, is addressed to a pimp. And yes, I knew Libba’s song, and did indeed borrow the new name from her, suggested by the ‘Shake it’ refrain.”
Bill Kreutzmann Drummer for the Dead:The album, Garcia, was cut at Wally Heider Studios in July 1971 and released by Warner Brothers the following January. There are a lot of songs on there that became Grateful Dead mainstays, in addition to “Deal”—we’re talking about straight-up classics like “Sugaree,” “Loser,” and “The Wheel.” Also, “Bird Song” is on there, which, to this day, is one of my all-time favorite Dead songs and one of my absolute favorite songs to play live (along with “Dark Star” and “The Other One”).
When I want musicians I’m playing with to learn any of those songs, I give them the Garcia versions. They’re just so good. I had a really great time making that album. Dealing exclusively with Jerry was the most effortless thing in the world. I didn’t have to do anything other than be myself. And play.
Cocaine was our special guest throughout those recording sessions, but you’d never be able to tell because everything was very laid back. I have no idea how we were able to do that, because cocaine isn’t exactly known for its relaxing properties. Maybe it was just the dynamic between us that made it all so … easy.
Sugaree
When they come to take you down When they bring that wagon round When they come to call on you and drag your poor body down
Just one thing I ask of you Just one thing for me Please forget you knew my name My darlin Sugaree
Shake it, shake it Sugaree Just don’t tell them that you know me
You thought you was the cool fool Never could do no wrong Had everything sewed up tight How come you lay awake all night long?
Just one thing I ask of you Just one thing for me Please forget you knew my name My darlin Sugaree
Shake it, shake it Sugaree Just don’t tell them that you know me
You know in spite of all you gained you still have to stand out in the pouring rain One last voice is calling you and I guess it’s time you go
Just one thing I ask of you Just one thing for me Please forget you knew my name My darlin Sugaree
Shake it, shake it Sugaree Just don’t tell them that you know me
Shake it up now, Sugaree I’ll meet you at the Jubilee If that Jubilee don’t come Maybe I’ll meet you on the run
One thing I ask of you Just one thing for me Please forget you knew my name my darling Sugaree
Shake it, shake it Sugaree but don’t tell them that you know me Shake it, shake it Sugaree Just don’t tell ’em that you know me
You know…I haven’t been living up to my page’s name. I’ve had very little power pop on powerpop.blog lately. I hope to solve that coming up. Here is a song I’ve always liked from the mid-seventies. Dwight Twilley is one of those artists who had great songs but only had 2 hits in his career…and this is one of them.
This is a great power pop song from 1975. It peaked at #16 in 1975 on the Billboard 100. The band was formed by Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour. I always thought Twilley should have been more popular.
This was his first single from the album Sincerely. The song was released in 1975 and it did quite well. There was one big problem… the label he was on was Leon Russell’s Shelter Records and they were barely making it. Shelter Records could not release the album until a year after this single was out which killed the momentum of the single.
Shelter Records was formed by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell in 1969 and ran until 1981 but Leon Russell left in 1976 as it was falling apart. Tom Petty was also part of the label for a while. It seems like many power pop artists are accompained by a story similiar to this.
Dwight Twilley: We thought we were indestructible. And we were proven wrong really quick! We had so many problems right from the get-go. The album didn’t even come out until a year after “I’m On Fire,” and it would have gone gold if it had come out then. They believed in it so much they were going to release two more singles before it came out. They released the second single and then the company went under.
Dwight Twilley on knowing Leon Russell: “I learned a lot from Leon. We were a Tulsa-based band when we were originally signed, and Leon lived here. And we ended up being signed to his label. A lot of people thought that Leon was the driving force behind it. But we didn’t really meet Leon until after we’d had our hit single ‘I’m On Fire.’ And I guess the surprising thing was just what a kind man he was, and how generous he was. He invited us into his own home studio and had us recording in his 40-track studio. And for little kids who six months ago had only been in a 4-track studio, that was a big deal. He was very kind and super talented, and he really didn’t say much. Just by following and by example we could see some of the things that he did that were just amazing. And I think he’s a terrific talent. I’m really proud of the way that he has sustained, that he’s out there still doing it.”
I’m On Fire
Got your lady on the line Got your name on the cover Though your friends are ninety-nine Honey you ain’t got no lover And you ain’t, you ain’t, you ain’t got no lover And you ain’t, you ain’t, you ain’t got no other
I remember the feelin’ that I could be free Now I know it could never ever be me ‘Cause I’m on fire Got myself on fire
Got your joker on the table You’ve been told from time to time I’ll be willin’, I’ll be able You could read between the lines
But you ain’t, you ain’t, you ain’t got no lover, lover, lover And you ain’t, you ain’t, you ain’t got no other
I remember the feelin’ that I could be free Now I know it could never ever be me ‘Cause I’m on fire I’m-a I’m on fire
But you ain’t, you ain’t, you ain’t got no lover, lover, lover, lover And you ain’t, you ain’t, you ain’t got no other, other, other, other And you ain’t, you ain’t, you ain’t got no lover, lover, lover
I’m on fire I’m on fire (and you ain’t, you ain’t, you ain’t got no lover, lover, lover) I’m on fire (lover, lover, lover, lover) I’m on fire (lover, lover, lover)
Many people posted this song during the lockdown and I can see why.
I always liked the song and understood that isolation doesn’t equate to loneliness. You can be in a crowd of people and yet feel isolated or alone. You can be physically isolated from others yet still feel very much connected to others.
The bass player on this track was Klaus Voormann, who was a friend of the Beatles from their Hamburg days. He was also an artist… he is the artist who designed the cover of Revolver. Ringo Starr also lends a hand with drums on this track.
The song was released on his true debut album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band in 1970. Arguably one of if not his best album. Like Paul’s debut this one was not big in production but unlike Pauls…this album was not light pop songs. You can feel John releasing his inner feelings for everyone to see on this album. Not an album to play to get a party going. You can hear John’s disillusionment with life, fame, and his three former bandmates.
This was during the time John Lennon went to see Doctor Arthur Janov in scream therapy. A way to bare his soul for his feelings like his mom that was killed when he was a teenager.
John Lennon:‘Isolation’ and ‘Hold On John’, they’re the rough remixes. I just remixed them that night on seven-and-a-half [inches per second tape] to take them home to see what else I was going to do with them. And then I didn’t really, I didn’t even put them onto fifteen [IPS], so the quality is a bit hissy on ’em too. By the time I’d done everything, I started listening. I found out it’s better that, with ‘Instant Karma’ and other things, you remix it right away that night. I’d known that before, but never followed it through.
I usually don’t pay much attention to covers. I ignore actors turn singers but I did find a very good version of this song out there. In 2020 Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp recorded this song and Beck’s guitar work is great. Depp also does the vocals justice in this.
Isolation
People say we got it made Don’t they know we’re so afraid Isolation We’re afraid to be alone Everybody got to have a home Isolation
Just a boy and a little girl Trying to change the whole wide world Isolation The world is just a little town Everybody trying to put us down Isolation
I don’t expect you, to understand After you caused so much pain But then again, you’re not to blame You’re just a human, a victim of the insane
We’re afraid of everyone Afraid of the sun Isolation The sun will never disappear But the world may not have many years Isolation
