1970s – Page 70 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

The Sweet – Blockbuster!

Another song that I first heard on the show Life On Mars.

This song peaked at #1 in the UK and #73 in the Billboard 100 in 1973.

When I first heard it…I thought it had the same riff as David Bowie’s Jean Genie. The songs were recorded at roughly the same time and both Bowie and the Sweet agreed it was a coincidence. Both songs are takeoffs on a Muddy Waters riff.

Guitarist Andy Scott after being played Jean Genie : “We sat there with horrified looks on our faces. The guy asked what was wrong, and we said ‘That’s the same f—ing guitar riff as Blockbuster” He said, ‘Well, it’s quite similar isn’t it?’ ‘It’s the f—ing same!’

“I got on the blower to Nicky Chinn and said, ‘We can’t release this.’ He said, ‘Don’t worry, they’re completely different kinds of records and I predict this will be a number one.’ I thought, ‘Good luck with that.’ But he was proved right. A few weeks later, we were at number one and Bowie was at number two.”

From Songfacts

In December 1973, David Bowie’s “The Jean Genie” peaked at #2 in the UK charts. The following month, this song went one better going all the way to #1. Both songs used the same Yardbirds riff from Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man.”

This proved to be The Sweet’s only British #1, and it stayed at the top for five weeks. Their next three releases stalled at #2: “Hell Raiser,” “Ballroom Blitz” and “Teenage Rampage.”

This song featured an air-raid siren over a decade before one was used on Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Two Tribes.”

This was used in the 2000 film Gangster #1.

The team of Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn wrote this song. Chinn said in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, “Every part of a song is important and how you get into it is especially important. You have to catch the public’s attention the second that the record comes on. Look at Blockbuster with its siren. You catch the attention immediately.”

Blockbuster!

Ahh ahhh, ahh ahhh
You better beware, you better take care
You better watch out if you’ve got long black hair
He’ll come from behind, you’ll go out of your mind
You better not go, you never know what you’ll find
Ahh ahh, ahh ahhh

Can’t look into his eyes, you’ll be surprised
If don’t know what going on behind his disguse
Nobody knows where buster goes
He’ll steal your woman out from under your nose

Does anyone know the way, did we hear someone say
(We just haven’t got a clue what to do)
Does anyone know the way, there’s got to be a way
To blockbuster

The cops are out, they’re running about
Don’t know if they’ll ever be able to blockbuster out
He’s gotta be caught, he’s gotta be taught
‘Cause he is more evil then anyone here ever thought

Does anybody know the way, did we hear someone say
(We just haven’t got a aho)
Does anybody know the way, there’s got to be a way
To blockbuster

Does anybody know the way, did we hear someone say
(We just haven’t got a clue what to do)
Does anybody know the way, there’s got to be a way
To blockbuster

Ahh ahh, ahh ahh
Ahh ahh, ahh ahh

Buster buster blockbuster
Buster buster blockbuster
Buster buster blockbuster
Buster buster blockbuster

Buster buster blockbuster
Buster buster blockbuster

Mouth & MacNeal – How Do You Do

This song is a guilty pleasure of mine that takes me back to childhood. It is an earworm but I can’t help but like it. The song and video are pure seventies. So put on your Keep On Trucking shirt, eat some fondue and listen to Mouth and MacNeal.

The song does have a good pop melody running through it.

Mouth & MacNeal were Willem “Mouth” Duyn and Maggie MacNeal (real name Sjoukje Van’t Spijker), a pop duo formed in the Netherlands in 1971 by Hans van Hemert, a record producer who saw the value in adding two moderately successful solo artists to make one great team.

Mouth & MacNeal broke up soon after “How Do You Do?” to go back to their respective solo careers. Willem “Mouth” Duyn passed away from a heart attack in 2004 at age 67; Maggie MacNeal went on with her solo career.

The song peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100, #1 in New Zealand, and #2 in Canada in 1972.

From Songfacts

This is Mouth & MacNeal’s biggest claim to fame and their only hit in the US. To clear up some confusion, this song has nothing to do with Natasha Bedingfield’s 2007 “How Do You Do?” – give them both a listen, they’re completely different songs.

Mouth & MacNeal had a moderately successful career in Scandinavia and Europe, but never again charted in the US. Amongst their other notable hits were “I See a Star,” which hit #1 in Ireland, “Hey You Love,” which charted #5 in the Dutch Top 40, and “Hello-A.” They also made an appearance on the Eurovision Song Contest, once coming in third behind ABBA.

I want that hat and green vest…I mean who wouldn’t?

How Do You Do

Once I said I wanted you, I don’t remember why
I often wonder if it’s true, that you could make me cry
I only know it’s long ago, you said, I love you too
But I got one solution left, we’re gonna start anew

How do you do? mmm mmm
I thought why not, na-na, na-na
Just me and you
And then we can, na-na, na-na
Just like before
And you will say, na-na, na-na
Please give me more
And you will think, na-na, na-na
Hey, that’s what I am living for

How do you do? hoe-hoe

Once I said I wanted you and I remember why
I often wonder if it’s true, you still can make me cry
And now it’s not so long ago, you said, I love you too
‘Cause I had one solution left and that’s to start anew

How do you do? mmm
How do you do? hoe-hoe

Elton John – Daniel

This is one of the first Elton John songs I remember hearing. It’s a great song that I wore out when I got his first greatest hits. The song was written by Bernie Taupin and Elton John.

The song peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100 in 1973. The song was off of the album Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player which peaked at #1.

When Elton wrote the music for this song, he chopped off the last verse because he thought the song was already too long. The deleted verse explained that “Daniel” was a Vietnam vet who returned home to the farm after the war, couldn’t find peace, and decided to leave America and go to Spain. With the last verse chopped off, it became a fairly vague story of two brothers who part ways, although Bernie Taupin says that losing the verse wasn’t a big deal.

Bernie Taupin: “We had that whole thing about the missing verse that everybody seems to believe explained the true meaning of the song. I think that’s just an urban legend. It didn’t really explain anything. Sure, it was cut out. But that used to happen all the time with our songs. I would often overwrite, and Elton felt it necessary to edit somewhat. But believe me, it didn’t say anything that the rest of the song didn’t say.”

From Songfacts

The lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin, Elton’s writing partner. He explained the inspiration on his web site: “I’d seen this article in Time magazine on the Tet Offensive. And there was a sidebar next to it with a story about how many of the soldiers that were coming back from ‘Nam were these simple sort of down home country guys who were generally embarrassed by both the adulation and, depending on what part of the country you came from, the animosity that they were greeted by. For the most part, they just wanted to get back to a normal life, but found it hard, what with all the looky loos and the monkeys of war that they carried on their backs.

I just took it from there and wrote it from a younger brother’s perspective; made him disabled and wanting to get away. I made it Spain, basically, because it rhymes with plane.”

This was written and recorded the same day at the the Chateau d’Herouville in France (the “Honky Chateau”), where Elton and his team retreated to make the album. Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics one morning at the recording studio and brought them downstairs to Elton, who put music to it and recorded it with the band that day, doing just three takes.

Stowing away to France was Elton’s way of entering a creative environment free from distractions – there was no entourage and no phones. The Chateau could even keep the Black Knight at bay, as it was surrounded by a moat.

The result was part a very productive songwriting period for Taupin and John, who composed 12 songs over a four-day period, including “Daniel.”

Elton called this song “a calypso-type number with Everley Brothers-type harmonies.”

The record company didn’t want to release this as a single because they thought it was too long and somber to be a hit. Elton had other ideas, and insisted they release it as a single before the album came out. The record company did, but with very little promotion. It became a hit anyway.

According to Elton John: The Definitive Biography, here’s how the album got its title: While in Los Angeles, Elton was introduced to the legendary comedian Groucho Marx. They hit it off, but Groucho was always giving Elton a hard time about his name, insisting that he must have it backwards and really be John Elton. After Groucho refused to lay off the name thing at a party, Elton threw up his hands and said jokingly: “Don’t shoot me, I’m just the piano player.”

Bernie Taupin has told a different story, claiming that he found the phrase on a plaque at an American junk shop.

The engineer on the album, Ken Scott, played an ARP synthesizer on this track.

Bernie Taupin called this “the most misinterpreted song we’ve ever written,” saying he’s heard it called a gay anthem and a song about a family dispute.

Daniel

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
Oh and I can see Daniel waving goodbye
God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes

They say Spain is pretty, though I’ve never been
Well Daniel says it’s the best place that he’s ever seen
Oh and he should know, he’s been there enough
Lord I miss Daniel, oh I miss him so much

Oh oh, Daniel my brother you are older than me
Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won’t heal?
Your eyes have died, but you see more than I
Daniel you’re a star in the face of the sky

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
Oh and I can see Daniel waving goodbye
God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes
Oh God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes

Led Zeppelin – Misty Mountain Hop

The song really kicks in when John Bonham enters. The song was released as the B side to Black Dog. Misty Mountain Hop didn’t chart but Black Dog did peak at #15 in the Billboard 100 in 1972. Led Zeppelin didn’t like releasing singles and only had 10 songs in the Billboard 100. They wanted fans to buy the complete album and listen to it in context with the other songs.

Led Zeppelin wrote and recorded this at Headley Grange, a mansion with a recording studio in Hampshire, England, where the band sometimes lived. Jimmy Page wrote the song one night while the rest of the band was sleeping.

The song was off the classic Let Zeppelin IV album that was also known as ZoSo, Ruins, 4 Symbols, and Untitled.

This song was about a love-in happening near London that the police came and broke up. Robert Plant said : “It’s about a bunch of hippies getting busted, about the problems you can come across when you have a simple walk in the park on a nice sunny afternoon. In England, it’s understandable, because wherever you go to enjoy yourself, ‘Big Brother’ is not far behind.”

From Songfacts

The Misty Mountains are in Wales. They are referred to in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return Of The King. Plant is a big fan of Tolkien and used references to the Lord Of The Rings series from time to time.

This begins with John Paul Jones playing electric piano.

Robert Plant found himself drawn to Wales and eventually settled in Worcestershire, England, near the Welsh border. “I missed the misty mountains – the wet Welsh climate,” he told Rolling Stone in 2017. “I like weather people run away from.”

The band performed this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father. They played it again with Jason at the 21st birthday party for Robert Plant’s daughter Carmen, and again in 2007 at a London benefit concert for the Ahmet Ertegun education fund.

The 4 Non Blondes recorded this for the 1995 Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium. It was one of the last songs 4 Non Blondes recorded. They broke up while they were recording their second album.

Misty Mountain Hop

Walkin’ in the park just the other day Baby
What do you what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin’ on the grass with flowers in their hair said
“Hey Boy do you want to score?”

And you know how it is;
I really don’t know what time it was woh oh
So I asked them if I could stay awhile.
I didn’t notice but it had got very dark and I was really

Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us said,
“Please, hey, would we care to all get in line,
Get in line.”

Well you know,
They asked us to stay for tea and have some fun,
Oh, oh, he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.
Why don’t you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,

And Baby, Baby, Baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin’
Ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don’t care if they’re coming, oh, oh,

I know that it’s all a state of mind, ooh.
If you go down in the streets today, Baby, you better,
You better open your eyes.
Folk down there really don’t care, really don’t care,

Don’t care, really don’t
Which, which way the pressure lies,
So I’ve decided what I’m gonna do now.
So I’m packing my bags for the Misty Mountains

Where the spirits go now,
Over the hills where the spirits fly, ooh, I really don’t know.

Paul McCartney – Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five

This song was on arguably McCartney’s best album Band On The Run. It didn’t chart but it was released as the B side to the song Band on Run but it was played quite a bit on radio. One of my favorite McCartney album tracks.

Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five was never performed live by Wings, and only became part of McCartney’s live set in 2010.

Paul McCartney: With a lot of songs I do, the first line is it. It’s all in the first line, and then you have to go on and write the second line. With Eleanor Rigby I had ‘picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been.’ that was the one big line that started me off on it. With this one it was ‘No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty-five.” That’s all I had of that song for months. ”No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty… six?’ It wouldn’t have worked!

Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five

On no one left alive in 1985, will ever do
She may be right
She may be fine
She may get love but she won’t get mine
‘Cause I got you
Oh, oh I, oh oh I

Well I just can’t enough of that sweet stuff
My little lady gets behind
(Shake it, baby, don’t break it)

Oh my mama said the time would come
When I would find myself in, love with you
I didn’t think
I never dreamed
That I would be around, to see it all come true
Whoa oh oh I, oh oh I

Well I just can’t get enough of that sweet stuff
My little lady gets behind

Ah no one left alive in 1985, will ever do
She may be right
She may be fine
She may get love but she won’t get mine
‘Cause I got you
Oh oh I, oh oh I

Well I just can’t get enough of that sweet stuff
My little lady left behind

Slade – Gudbuy T’Jane

This is another song I heard for the first time on the 2006 British show Life On Mars. Slade never really broke America until the 80s with Run Runaway and Oh My My. Quiet Riot covered the Slade songs Cum On Feel The Noize and Mama, Weer All Crazee Now and had hits in the 1980s.

“Gudbuy T’Jane” was Slade’s follow-up to their hit single “Mama Weer All Crazee Now.” In his autobiography Who’s Crazee Now?, guitarist and lead vocalist Noddy Holder explained the inspiration for the song.

Jane was the co-host of a TV chat show in San Francisco whom Slade met on their US tour. They wrote the song in about half an hour, “one of the easiest songs we ever recorded.” The line, “Got a kick from her ’40s trip boots” is a reference to her kicking Holder up the backside when the band was having a laugh at her expense.

Jane had bought a pair of platform shoes which she called her “’40s trip boots,” and somehow managed to lose them. “She thought they were original ’40s shoes and she told us that she had paid a fortune for them,” he said. “She was a real loony, a typical San Francisco hippy.”

The song peaked at #2 in the UK and #68 in the Billboard 100 in 1972.

From Songfacts

Jim Lee came up with the title; Holder wanted to call it “Hullo T’Jane,” which doesn’t have the same ring to it. They recorded it in two takes, and, backed by the typically misspelled “I Won’t Let It ‘Appen Agen,” it was released on Polydor and went on to become a monster hit. The single was produced by Chas Chandler.

There was a second track on the A-side: “Take Me Bak ‘Ome.” The sheet music credits “Gudbuy T’Jane”: “Words and Music by Neville Holder and James Lea.” >>

This was kept off the UK #1 spot by Chuck Berry’s live recording of “My Ding-a-Ling.” Coincidentally, Slade was present at the Coventry gig where Berry’s hit was recorded.

Jim Lea recalled the story of the song to Classic Rock magazine: “I’d been round to Nod’s house and played ‘Gudbuy T’Jane’ to him, lyrics and all. He said, ‘S’alright.’ He was always very phlegmatic, had dodgy adenoids.”

“We had some time left at the end of the recording, so we put it down very quickly. Nod said he’d done something with the words on the train down. He started singing, ‘Hello to Jane, hello to Jane.’ I was mortified. He told me he thought that was a bit more optimistic – f–king hell. But with all of them, I knew when we were writing a hit.”

Gudbuy T’Jane

Goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
She’s a dark horse see if she can
Goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Painted up like a fancy young man
She’s a queen,
Can’t you see what I mean, she’s a queen,
See, see, she’s a queen
And I know she’s alright, alright, alright, alright

I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young

I said goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Get a kick from her forties tip boots
Goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Has them made to match up to her suits
She’s a queen,
Can’t you see what I mean, she’s a queen,
See, see, she’s a queen
And I know she’s alright, alright, alright, alright

I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young

I said goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Like a dark horse see how she ran
Goodbye to Jane, goodbye to Jane
Spits on me ’cause she knows that she can
She’s a queen,
Can’t you see what I mean, she’s a queen,
See, see, see, she’s a queen
And I know she’s alright, alright, alright, alright

I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, you’re so young
I say you’re so young, she’s alright, alright, alright, alright
I say she’s so young, so young, alright, alright
I say you’re so young …

Joe Walsh – Life’s Been Good

This song peaked at #12 in the Billboard 100 in 1978. Walsh lived this song out. He hung out with fellow stars such as Keith Moon. He said that Keith showed him the ropes of hotel destruction and Walsh was quite accomplished in that art.

The song was on his 4th album But Seriously, Folks… and it peaked at #8 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1978. This is Joe’s highest-charting song.

Joe Walsh: “I wanted to make a statement involving satire and humor, kind of poking fun at the incredibly silly lifestyle that someone in my position is faced with – in other words, I do have a really nice house, but I’m on the road so much that when I come home from a tour, it’s really hard to feel that I even live here. It’s not necessarily me, I think it paraphrases anyone in my position, and I think that’s why a lot of people related to it, but basically, that’s the story of any rock star – I say that humbly – anyone in my position. I thought that was a valid statement because it is a strange lifestyle – I’ve been around the world in concerts, and people say ‘What was Japan like?’, but I don’t know. It’s got a nice airport, you know… so it was kind of an overall statement.”

From Songfacts

This is a humorous look at the spoils of fame and fortune associated with being a rock star. Walsh pokes fun at the lifestyle of wealth and fame and the spoiled mentality – how it’s not me that’s changed, but everyone else.

Walsh lived up to this song, indulging in the hedonism he sang about long after it was released. “I started believing I was who everybody thought I was, which was a crazy rock star,” he told Rolling Stone in 2017. “It took me away from my craft. Me and a lot of the guys I ran with, we were party monsters. It was a real challenge just to stay alive.”

This is the last song on the the album. On the original recording from this album, the music fades away into silence. Then, about 30 seconds later, there is a really funny secret message from Joe Walsh which says “Wha-oh…here comes a flock of wanh-wanhs!”, followed by a chorale of “wannh”, “wanh” “wahn” (collectively sounding like a bunch of ducks or sheep). >>

The cover of the But Seriously Folks album shows Walsh eating a meal… under water. In the same BBC interview, he said: “I had to do that a couple of times, but I did go down to the bottom of the pool, and almost drowned… but it was fun. Not at the time, but it was fun to do. We weighted everything down, but it was very involved and it took a long time, and I was real proud of it. As long as you have access to art, or visually presenting something with your record, I would like to use that, pursue it and try to make it an integral part of the music. It was hard to do, but when I look at it, I can’t believe it either, I can’t believe I was stupid enough to do that, but I was proud of it. I won’t be repeating it, I can assure you!”

In 1979, Walsh announced his campaign for President of the United States, promising “Free gas for everyone” if he won (he didn’t).

A famous line in this song, “My Maserati does 185,” was used as the title to a 2005 episode of the TV series Entourage.

Joe did this to explain how he wrote it

Life’s Been Good

I have a mansion but forget the price
Ain’t never been there, they tell me it’s nice
I live in hotels, tear out the walls
I have accountants, pay for it all

They say I’m crazy but I have a have a good time
I’m just looking for clues at the scene of the crime
Life’s been good to me so far

My Maseratti does one-eighty-five
I lost my license, now I don’t drive
I have a limo, ride in the back
I lock the doors in case I’m attacked

I’m making records, my fans they can’t wait
They write me letters, tell me I’m great
So I got me an office, gold records on the wall
Just leave a message, maybe I’ll call

Lucky I’m sane after all I’ve been through
(Everybody say I’m cool, he’s cool)
I can’t complain but sometimes I still do
Life’s been good to me so far

I go to parties sometimes until four
It’s hard to leave when you can’t find the door
It’s tough to handle this fortune and fame
Everybody’s so different, I haven’t changed

They say I’m lazy but it takes all my time
(Everybody say oh yeah, oh yeah)
I keep on goin’ guess I’ll never know why
Life’s been good to me so far

Hall and Oates – Sara Smile

I liked Hall and Oates until the early 80s when they started to use more of a formula.

Daryl Hall wrote this for his collaborator/girlfriend Sara Allen. She contributed to many of the duo’s hit singles, including “You Make My Dreams”, “Private Eyes”, “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”, and “Maneater”.

They never got married, but Daryl and Sara were together for about 28 years before they broke up in 2001. In Entertainment Weekly October 16, 2009, Hall listed this as one of their favorite songs and explained: “That was a postcard to Sara Allen, who was my partner for many, many years, a ‘having a great time, wish you were here,’ kind of thing. I cannot tell you how many girls have told me they were named for it!”

Sara’s sister, Janna Allen, co-wrote their hit “Kiss On My List.” Janna died of leukemia in 1993 at age 36.

Sara Smile peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 in 1976.

From Songfacts

The album’s cover photo by Mick Jagger’s makeup designer Pierre LaRoche is a glitzy shot of Hall and Oates in heavy makeup. John Oates talked about the eye-catching image in Nick Tosches’ biography Dangerous Dances: “We decided that if we were going to put our faces on an album cover for the first time we wanted to do it in a big way. Pierre said, in that French accent of his, ‘I will immortalize you!’ And he just did. To this day it’s the only album cover that people ask us about.”

David Bowie said that LaRoche was the best makeup artist he ever worked with.

According to Barry Rudolph, who was an engineer on the session, Hall sang his vocal live with the band. The only edit they made was to punch in over the word “Sara” in the beginning of the second chorus. With the backing vocals, Hall was trying to get them to sound like the doo-wop group The Dells.

In 2009, the country singer Jimmy Wayne recorded an updated version of this song with Hall & Oates. Wayne got his first record deal because of this tune after the Dreamworks executive Scott Borchetta heard him sing it, and it has been part of his concert repertoire ever since. Wayne said in publicity materials: “Over 13 years ago, I picked a Hall & Oates Greatest Hits CD out of a bargain box that sat outside the department store in the old Gaston Mall in Gastonia, North Carolina. I listened to the CD on my way home and I heard ‘Sara Smile’ for the first time. I began singing this song long before I knew how to play it on guitar, and I just felt like it was as if the song was written for me.”

The Jimmy Wayne updated version was Hall & Oates’ debut on the Hot Country Songs chart.

This song was performed on the episode “Tom, Sarah and Usher” of the Adult Swim show The Boondocks. In the episode, Tom DuBois starts to sing the song to his wife, when Usher comes in and sings the song a lot better.

Tommy Mottola, who would later become chairman of Sony Music and marry Mariah Carey, was Hall & Oates’ manager at the time. He had some experience as a musician (recording as “T.D. Valentine”) and is credited for playing keyboards on the Daryl Hall And John Oates album.

Chris Bond produced this track with Hall & Oates. According to Scott Edwards, who played bass on this song, much of its success is attributable to Bond. Says Edwards: “Chris Bond was the real impetus behind ‘Sara Smile,’ ‘Rich Girl,’ ‘She’s Gone’ for Hall & Oates. But he was never given the accolades he deserved. He’s the one in my mind that was really responsible for their success. They may have written the lyrics and the chords and all that, but Chris was the one who figured out the production and the projection of it. He was a really good arranger and he wrote out note for note. He knew exactly how long he wanted you to let a note ring, how to hit it, how to release it. He was a good guitar player, but he played all the instruments. So he was one person who really could write out everything and it would be great.” (Here’s our full Scott Edwards interview.)

As you can imagine, this is a tough song for Sara Allen to hear, and since it still shows up on many playlists she can’t always avoid it. Daryl Hall explained to American Songwriter: “When that song comes on, the reality hits that we’re not together anymore, so it’s a very poignant and hard thing for her to deal with. I can still sing that song today and feel real about it – and always will – because emotions don’t change even though circumstances change.”

This song has been performed a number of times on Daryl Hall’s show Live From Daryl’s House. Jimmy Wayne, Rumor, Monte Montgomery and Smokey Robinson have all done the song with Hall on the program. One artist who did not was Train, whose lead singer Pat Monahan asked Hall how he hit the high notes. “That surprised me,” Hall said in our 2015 interview. “Because Pat has a higher voice than me. Pat Monahan could sing that song in his sleep.”

Sara Smile

Baby hair with a woman’s eyes
I can feel you watching in the night
All alone with me and we’re waiting for the sunlight
When I feel cold, you warm me
And when I feel I can’t go on, you come and hold me
It’s you and me forever

Sara smile
Won’t you smile a while for me, Sara

If you feel like leaving, you know you can go
But why don’t you stay until tomorrow?
If you want to be free, you know, all you got to do is say so
And when you feel cold, I’ll warm you
And when you feel you can’t go on, I’ll come and hold you
It’s you and me forever

Sara smile
Won’t you smile a while for me, Sara
Sara smile
Won’t you smile a while for me, Sara

Smile
Won’t you smile a while for me, Sara
Oh smile a while, won’t you laugh Sara
Make me feel like a man not keeping me crazy crazy
Smile a while

Staple Singers – Respect Yourself

The last time I saw Bob Dylan, Mavis Staples opened up the show. She gave a great performance and just knowing the history she represented was incredible. I remember the song “I’ll Take You There” when I was a kid but didn’t really start listening to the Staple Singers until I saw them on the Last Waltz playing The Weight.

This song peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100 in 1971.

The first two Stax albums The Staple Singers recorded were with Steve Cropper of the Stax house band, but by August 1971, when they recorded “Respect Yourself,” they were working with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section at their studios in Alabama.

At this time, the Staple Singers were recording what they called “message music,” and ads for the Be Altitude: Respect Yourself album billed it as “The message that rock music is still looking for.”

From Songfacts

The Staple Singers signed with the Memphis Soul label Stax Records in 1968, where they found success after languishing at Epic. “Respect Yourself” was written by the Stax songwriter Mack Rice and one of their artists, Luther Ingram, who is best known for his song “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right.” They wrote the song after a discussion where Ingram said to Rice, “Black folk need to respect themselves.” Rice decided to turn the idea into a song, and quickly cut a demo. He didn’t think it was right for The Staple Singers, but Stax vice-president Al Bell did, stating, “I heard that lyric and I heard that melody and I said, ‘that’s it. This is the song I’ve been waiting on.'”

They slowed down the tempo of Rice’s demo and did a lot of experimenting in the studio. Terry Manning, who engineered the session, said: “It was kind of like all or nothing. We consciously put majors and minors together and rock and blues together. It was a lot of elements trying to fuse together, purposely putting little high tinklely sounds to catch kids’ ears, and just seeing if it would work.”

In the liner notes to the 2011 remaster of the Be Altitude: Respect Yourself album, Stax biographer Rob Bowman points out some of the things to listen for in this song:

Roger Hawkins using the rim of his snare and a wet-to-dry sound on the hi-hat.
A fuzzed electric guitar line that gets louder as the song fades out at the end. This was supposed to have a subliminal effect on the listener.
Mavis Staples blasting into the words “big ole man” at the end of the second verse.
The scat singing on two 4-bar sections, which was written as horn lines. On the demo, Mack Rice did the scatting to show where the horns would be, but The Staples sang it anyway, and the results were so good they decided to leave it in.

A cover version was a #5 hit in the US for Bruce Willis in 1987. He was the first white male solo act to hit the Top 5 with a record on the Motown label, and only the second white male solo act – after R. Dean Taylor’s “Indiana Wants Me” – to be so successful for the Motown Corportation.

The very first Soul Train dance line was to this song. The show went on the air in 1971, but the famous segment where dancers showed off their moves grooving down the line didn’t start until five episodes in, when host/creator Don Cornelius realized the dancers were the big draw.

Respect Yourself

If you disrespect anybody that you run in to
How in the world do you think anybody’s s’posed to respect you
If you don’t give a heck ’bout the man with the bible in his hand, y’all
Just get out the way, and let the gentleman do his thing
You the kind of gentleman that want everything your way, yeah
Take the sheet off your face, boy, it’s a brand new day

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself
If you don’t respect yourself
Ain’t nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na
Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself

If you’re walking ’round think’n that the world owes you something ’cause you’re here
You goin’ out the world backwards like you did when you first come here yeah
Keep talkin’ bout the president, won’t stop air pollution
Put your hand on your mouth when you cough, that’ll help the solution
Oh, you cuss around women and you don’t even know their names, no
Then you’re dumb enough to think that’ll make you a big ol’ man

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself
Respect yourself, yeah yeah respect yourself, respect yourself yeah, respect yourself
You oughta you oughta respect yourself yeah, respect yourself

Circle Of Fear

This anthology supernatural series ran from 1972-1973. Like most of these types of series, it flowed from the original Twilight Zone. It wasn’t as smart (hardly anything is) but it was entertaining. It involved satanic cults, ghosts, killer dogs, twin turmoil, and so much more. And while some of the stories come off as simplistic (most really don’t have a twist), they all have something to offer… an intriguing plot or an interesting performance. It’s as I said, a solid batch of stories.

It was originally called “Ghost Story” and Winston Essex (Sebastian Cabot) opened each episode by taking the audience into his spooky old mansion and introducing the plot, which could range from a vampire preying on college students to a ghost haunting a house to an old man using voodoo against his own family. On January 5, 1973, the series changed its title to “Circle of Fear“, the Essex character was no longer part of the show, and the stories didn’t always feature supernatural themes.

It’s been sadly forgotten…if you like the supernatural it’s worth a watch.

Ronnie Lane – How Come?

The bassist and songwriter for British bands the Small Faces and the Faces, Lane gave it all up for a curious solo career: he ran away and formed a circus. After he quit the Faces he released this single.

Ronnie started his own folk-country band named “Slim Chance” and released a surprise hit single “How Come?” in 1974 and it went to #11 in the UK. Ronnie had a unique idea of touring. His tour was called “The Passing Show” which toured the countryside with a circus tent and included a ringmaster and clowns.

During the recording of the album “Rough Mix” with Pete Townshend… Lane was diagnosed with was Multiple Sclerosis. He still toured with Eric Clapton and others afterward and released an album in 1979 called “See Me.”

Ronnie Lane died of Pneumonia while in the final stages of Multiple Sclerosis in 1997

How Come?

How come when I cut the ace of hearts
You always draw the ace of spades?
How’s it when your best friend
Brings you lillies on your birthday?

How come, how come?
Well, I ain’t superstitious, but
Well, these things I’ve seen
How come, how come?
I ain’t a superstitious fella, but it worries me

How come when the local clergy calls
He tells me that you shouldn’t wear black
And what kind of bread are you gonna bake
With that hemlock in your spice rack?

How come, how come?
Well, I ain’t superstitious, but
Well, these things I’ve seen
How come, how come?
I ain’t a superstitious fella, but it worries me

The spider’s run, the cobweb’s gone
Did you eat it when the moon was new?
I drowned your cat, what do you say about that?
I’ve even broken up your broom

How come, how come?
Well, I ain’t superstitious, but
Well, these things I’ve seen
How come, how come?
I ain’t a superstitious fella, but it worries me

The Rubinoos – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend ….Powerpop Friday

The Rubinoos are an American power pop band that formed in 1970 in Berkeley, California. Their only chart hit was a cover of Tommy James “I Think We’re Alone Now” in 1977.

This song was released in 1979 from the album “Back To The Drawing Board.” They had a resurgence in popularity because of the below claim.

Avril Lavigne had a song called Girlfriend…The writers of The Rubinoos song sued Lavigne in 2007 over the similarities. Avril responded with this statement: “I had never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on five words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language. Let it be crystal clear that I have not ripped anyone off or done anything wrong.”

The Rubinoos made a statement afterward: “We are satisfied that any similarities between the two songs resulted from Avril and Luke’s use of certain common and widely used lyrics. We therefore completely exonerate Avril and Luke from any wrongdoing of any kind in connection with the claims made by us in our lawsuit.”

They released a new album in 2019 called From Home.

I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

Sitting here so close, together
So far we’re just friends, but I’m wondering whether
I, am I just imagining
You, or do you really have a thing for me
Like I think I see when I see you smile
And the smile’s for me, I wanna tell you…Hey, You, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Trying to say I wanna be your number one
Hey, You, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Gonna make you love me before I’m done late at night when I, when I can’t sleep
Picture in my mind, I see you and me
I, I’m telling you what I wanna be
You, you’re saying you’re in love with me
And oh, it feels so good in a dream
That I know in life it’s just got to be
I wanna tell you……Gonna make you love me, yeah I’m
Gonna make you love me, yeah I’m
Gonna make you love me, before I’m done

I, am I just imagining
You, or do you really have a thing for me
Like I think I see when I see you smile
And the smile’s for me, I wanna tell you…
Hey, You, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Trying to say I wanna be your number one
Hey, You, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Gonna make you love me, yeah I’m
Gonna make you love me, yeah I’m
Gonna make you love me before I’m done

Raspberries – Ecstacy ….Powerpop Friday

My favorite band from Cleveland. This song was on their Side 3 album released in 1973. The album only charted at #138 in the Billboard album charts. The song was released as a single but it didn’t chart.

The following year the band would give it one more shot with Starting Over and they would have one more top twenty single…Overnight Sensation. After that Eric Carmen lost his edge and was All By…himself.

Anyway, a Raspberries song is a good way to start your weekend…

Ecstacy

Come on!

When I think of all your lovin’ it makes me shiver
‘Cause when I get home
Just wait ’til I get you alone

Ecstasy
When you touch me I’m in ecstasy
No one else could do the things you do
Let me please you too
Tonight

Ecstasy
When you kiss me I’m in ecstasy
No one else could make me feel this way
Tell me that you’ll stay
Tonight

When you wrap your love around me and move so gently, yeah
I feel it begin
Don’t stop, I can feel my head spinning

Baby, baby, I just wanna make you
Feel the way I do
You got my backbone shakin’
And my poor heart’s breakin’ in two

Stay tonight
Stay tonight

AC/DC – Highway To Hell

This was the first AC/DC song to chart in the US. It helped drive huge sales for the Highway To Hell album, which has sold over seven million copies in America. It was AC/DC’s sixth album, and the last with vocalist Bon Scott, who died in 1980. The song charted at #37 in Billboard 100 in 1979.

Angus Young described Highway to Hell about touring in American but Highway to Hell’s origin was the nickname for the Canning Highway in Australia. It runs from where lead singer Bon Scott lived in Fremantle and ends at a pub/bar called The Raffles, which was a big rock ‘n roll drinking hole in the ’70s. As Canning Highway gets close to the pub, it dips down into a steep decline.

Brian Johnson: “It was written about being on the bus on the road where it takes forever to get from Melbourne or Sydney to Perth across the Nullarbor Plain. When the Sun’s setting in the west and you’re driving across it, it is like a fire ball. There is nothing to do, except have a quick one off the wrist or a game of cards, so that’s where Bon came up with the lyrics.”

From Songfacts

So many people where killed by driving fast over that intersection at the top of the hill on the way for a good night out, that it was called the highway to hell, so when Bon was saying “I’m on the highway to hell” it meant that he was doing the nightly or weekly pilgrimage down Canning Highway to The Raffles bar to rock and drink with his mates: “Ain’t nothing I would rather do. Going down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too.”

Mutt Lange, who has also worked with The Cars, Bryan Adams, and Def Leppard (and Shania Twain, who he was married to from 1993-2008), produced the album. Lange took over after after failed sessions with Eddie Krammer, who had a solid resumé that included work with Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, but whose procedural style didn’t work for AC/DC.

Lange was able to enhance the band’s sound without altering their essence. On this song, he added robust background vocals to the choruses – something AC/DC didn’t do on their previous efforts. This and other production refinements helped made the song a hit and expand their audience.

Recorded in London, Highway To Hell was the first AC/DC album recorded outside of Australia. The album cover had Angus Young on the cover wearing his schoolboy uniform and devil horns. Some religious groups found this quite offensive.

Serial killer Richard Ramirez claimed this album compelled him to murder. He believed AC/DC stood for “Anti Christ/Devil’s Child.”

In the film School of Rock Jack Black teaches the riff to the guitarist in the band. The song was also featured in the Movie Little Nicky, starring Adam Sandler.

The AC/DC bluegrass tribute band Hayseed Dixie covered this on their 2001 album, A Hillbilly Tribute To AC/DC.

AC/DC performed this at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony when they were inducted in 2003. Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler inducted them, saying, “There is no greater purveyor of the power chord.”

The chorus to the song was used in the 2010 movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief.

A campaign to make the this the top song on the UK singles chart for Christmas 2013 resulted in a #4 placing and AC/DC’s first top 10 British hit in a 40-year career. The Anglo-Australian hard rockers had previously been the most successful act never to have had a Top 10 hit single in the UK, having achieved a grand total of 30 chart entries, none of which have ever peaked any higher than #12 (that honor went to 1988 hit “Heatseeker”).

When this song was released, there really was a “Highway to Hell” in America: Route 666. This section of highway ran through Arizona and Utah; it was later renumbered after various ghost stories emerged about unexplained happenings on the road.

AC/DC, who didn’t win their first Grammy Award until 2010 (Best Hard Rock Performance for “War Machine”), played this at the 2015 ceremony. They opened the telecast with “Rock or Bust,” then segued into “Highway.”

This is the song that gets Peter Griffin banished from Amish country on the Season 10 episode of Family Guy titled “Amish Guy.” Looking to introduce the Amish to rock and roll, he produces a boom box and plays the song for their leader, who does not approve.

When AC/DC was accused of backmasking Satanic messages on their Highway To Hell record, Angus Young responded: “You didn’t need to play [the album] backwards, because we never hid [the messages]. We’d call an album Highway To Hell, there it was right in front of them.”

Highway To Hell

Livin’ easy
Lovin’ free
Season ticket on a one way ride
Askin’ nothin’
Leave me be
Takin’ everythin’ in my stride
Don’t need reason
Don’t need rhyme
Ain’t nothin’ that I’d rather do
Goin’ down
Party time
My friends are gonna be there too

I’m on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell

No stop signs
Speed limit
Nobody’s gonna slow me down
Like a wheel
Gonna spin it
Nobody’s gonna mess me around
Hey, Satan
Payin’ my dues
Playin’ in a rockin’ band
Hey, mamma
Look at me
I’m on the way to the promised land

I’m on the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell
Highway to hell

Don’t stop me

I’m on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell

(highway to hell) I’m on the highway to hell
(highway to hell) highway to hell
(highway to hell) highway to hell
(highway to hell)

And I’m goin’ down
All the way
I’m on the highway to hell

Faces – Ohh La La

What a great song from The Faces. The song was written by Ronnie Lane and Ronnie Wood and sung by Wood. That is strange because The Faces had one of the best lead singers around at the time…Rod Stewart.

Stewart by this time was soaring as a solo artist and his interest in the Faces was waning. He claimed the song was not in his key to sing. He did do vocals for it then and Lane but Wood ended up singing the released version.

The Faces had one big hit…Stay With Me but this song is their greatest song to me. Rod Stewart finally covered the song in 1998 for a tribute to Ronnie Lane. Ronnie Lane did his own version with his band Slim Chance. Ronnie Wood also does it live in solo shows.

A song between Granddad and Son about the ways of love. The song never ages because the subject matter never changes and it is continually passed along. The song creates an atmosphere and Wood who is not known for his singing ability did a great job on this one.

The song was included in the 1998 film Rushmore and enjoyed renewed popularity.

It’s one of my favorite songs of all time. Just a beautiful melody and words.

Ohh La La

Poor old granddad
I laughed at all his words
I thought he was a bitter man
He spoke of woman’s ways

They’ll trap you, then they use you
Before you even know
For love is blind and you’re far too kind
Don’t ever let it show

I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger

The can can’s such a pretty show
They’ll steal your heart away
But backstage, back on earth again
The dressing rooms are gray

They come on strong and it ain’t too long
Before they make you feel a man
But love is blind and you soon will find
You’re just a boy again

When you want her lips, you get a cheek
Makes you wonder where you are
If you want some more and she’s fast asleep
Then she’s twinkling with the stars

Poor young grandson, there’s nothing I can say
You’ll have to learn, just like me
And that’s the hardest way
Ooh la la, ooh la la la yeh

I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger