A few days ago I had a Movie Quotes post and received suggestions from people and have included some. Thanks to you all including msjadeli, hanspostcard, and The Hinoeuma.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail – Just a flesh wound.
at 1:10
Cool Hand Luke – “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”
Tombstone – I’m your Huckleberry, why Johnny Ringo looks like somebody just walked over your grave.
Pulp Fiction (deleted scene) “There are only two kinds of people in the world, Beatles people and Elvis people. Now Beatles people can like Elvis and Elvis people can like the Beatles, but nobody likes them both equally. Somewhere you have to make a choice. And that choice, tells you who you are.”
at 1:21
Dirty Harry – You’ve got to ask yourself a question: ‘do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?
at :49
Spinal Tap – “But these go to 11”
A League of Their Own – “There’s no crying in baseball!”
at :35
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it’
Planet of the Apes – “Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!”
at 1:58
Good Morning Vietnam – No, Phil, he’s not all right. A man does not refer to Pat Boone as a beautiful genius if things are all right.
Some songs make you think about social issues, some make you feel good, some make you sad, some make you think of certain people…and some take you back to a place in time when you first remember it. This one does the later for me. It’s not Elton’s best single whatsoever but I heard it a lot later on when I was 13 and I’m 13 again when I hear it and it’s 1980. I must have heard it before many times but it took hold for some reason then.
This came along in the fifties revival that happened in the 1970s. This is not a type of song I would normally like but it transports me back and I like it.
Crocodile Rock was a fifties sounding single that was a massive hit. It peaked in 1972 at #1 in the Billboard 100, #5 in the UK, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand.
Elton and Bernie Taupin wrote the song.
Bernie Taupin “a strange dichotomy because I don’t mind having created it, but it’s not something I would listen to.”
From Songfacts
This tells the story of a guy in the ’50s and ’60s who frequented a restaurant where the patrons loved an obscure dance called the Crocodile Rock. Because of all the events that happened in the ’60s, however, this unknown little dance forever vanished into history and no one cared anymore. Even his girlfriend, who also enjoyed “burning up to the Crocodile Rock,” left him. It’s a catchy little song with really sad lyrics.
There is a distinct ’50s musical theme in this song. Elton said that it contains flavors of a lot of his favorite early rock songs, including “Little Darlin’,” “At The Hop” and “Oh Carol,” as well as songs by The Beach Boys and Eddie Cochran. The title is a play on the Bill Haley song “See You Later Alligator” – Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock” even gets a mention, as that’s what the other kids were listening to while our hero was doing the Crocodile Rock.
This was the first of many #1 singles by Elton John in the US. His first in the UK came in 1976 with Kiki Dee (“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”). His first solo #1 in the UK was “Sacrifice” in 1990.
The falsetto hook from Pat Boone’s 1962 hit, “Speedy Gonzales” has some similar “La La”s, and that song’s writers spoke out, accusing Elton of plagiarism. There was no legal action taken, and Elton has copped to the influence, saying “Crocodile Rock” was “a really blatant homage to ‘Speedy Gonzales’ and all the great ’50s and ’60s records that we used to love.”
A precursor to this song is Elton’s 1970 single “Rock And Roll Madonna,” which pays tribute to the musical form. “This time I wanted to do something that was a send-up of the early ’60s rather than an out-and-out rocker,” he told Beat Instrumental. I wanted it to be a tribute to all those people I used to go and see as a kid. That’s why I used the Del Shannon-type vocals and that bit from Pat Boone’s ‘Speedy Gonzales.'”
Elton added: “We also tried to get the worst organ sound possible… something like Johnny and The Hurricanes used to manage to produce. This type of song is actually a very hard thing to write because the temptation is to try too hard and go berserk.”
Don McLean has mentioned that this is similar to his hit “American Pie,” which came out the previous year. Both songs are about young people in the ’50s obsessed with rock n’ roll, but disappointed when the music “dies.” Both songs also feature a Chevy. Elton admits the song is highly derivative because it’s about the things he grew up with. In Elton John: The Definitive Biography, Elton is quoted as saying: “I wanted it to be a record about all the things I grew up with. Of course, it’s a rip-off.”
Elton performed this on The Muppet Show when he appeared on a Season Two episode in 1977. A very popular song with kids, it made for a great opening number, with Elton performing in a swamp with a crocodile chorus.
This song helped send the Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player album to #1 on both sides of the Atlantic. It was Elton’s first #1 in the UK, but Honky Chateau went to #1 in the US earlier that year.
A few “firsts” are attributed to both the song and album. It was the first song released as a single on the MCA label (catalog #40000) after MCA dissolved its Uni (Elton John’s previous label), Decca, Kapp and Coral labels. It was also MCA’s first #1 song as well as Elton John’s first #1. >>
There is a Crocodile Rock in The Philippines, which from the right angle, looks like an enormous croc.
Partial inspiration for this song is the Australian band Daddy Cool and their hit single “Eagle Rock,” which Elton discovered on his 1972 tour to Australia. In the artwork for the Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player packaging, there is a shot of Bernie Taupin wearing a badge that says “Daddy Who?”
The sheer popularity of this song caused a backlash against it in some circles – notably disc jockeys who had to play it over and over. Stations used to determine what songs they would play by using “auditorium testing,” where listeners were gathered into a big room and played hooks from different songs, which they would then rate. This song always got very high marks, which embedded it onto playlists and drove some DJs to hate it.
The odd thing is that Elton has a very deep catalog filled not just with meaningful hits, but with more obscure songs that many listeners enjoy. “It was just a one-off thing,” Elton said of “Crocodile Rock,” adding, “It became a huge hit record, and in the long run, it became a negative for me.”
Elton has described this song as “disposable pop.” Bernie Taupin gave his thoughts in a 1989 interview with Music Connection. Said Taupin: “I don’t want people to remember me for ‘Crocodile Rock.’ I’d much rather they remember me for songs like ‘Candle In The Wind’ and ‘Empty Garden,’ songs that convey a message. Well, they don’t really need to convey a message, as long as they can convey a feeling. But there are things like ‘Crocodile Rock,’ which was fun at the time, but it was pop fluff. It was like, ‘Okay, that was fun for now, throw it away, and here’s the next one. So there’s a certain element of our music that is disposable, but I think you’ll find that in anybody’s catalog.”
One of Elton’s more memorable performances of this song took place on September 7, 1973 at the Hollywood Bowl. As Elton played from his piano, a few feet behind him, sound engineer Clive Franks played the electric piano while wearing an enormous crocodile head.
The Baha Men recorded a new version of this for the film The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course with new lyrics that described the life of Steve Irwin. Ironically, “Suzie” (the girl described in this song) is the name of Steve Irwin’s dog, who appears frequently on the series.
Elton John – Crocodile Rock
I remember when rock was young Me and Suzie had so much fun Holding hands and skimming stones Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own But the biggest kick I ever got Was doing a thing called the Crocodile Rock While the other kids were Rocking Round the Clock We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock
Well Crocodile Rocking is something shocking When your feet just can’t keep still I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will Oh Lawdy mama those Friday nights When Suzie wore her dresses tight And the Crocodile Rocking was out of sight
But the years went by and the rock just died Suzie went and left us for some foreign guy Long nights crying by the record machine Dreaming of my Chevy and my old blue jeans But they’ll never kill the thrills we’ve got Burning up to the Crocodile Rock Learning fast as the weeks went past We really thought the Crocodile Rock would last
Well Crocodile Rocking is something shocking When your feet just can’t keep still I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will Oh Lawdy mama those Friday nights When Suzie wore her dresses tight And the Crocodile Rocking was out of sight
I had this post started since last year but never posted. I saw another blog yesterday mentioning Leon’s passing at 69 years old on Thursday. I never bought a record by him but I loved his songs and his appearances on Saturday Night Live in the 70s. This was back when Lorne Michaels would actually take a chance and let someone play that wasn’t on the charts or “hot.”
I have a friend…Chris who would play his songs on guitar and sometimes goof around on popular songs in Leon’s style. Redbone was one of a kind and a part of my childhood growing up.
He was a hell of a guitar player that played in a twenties – forties jazz and blues style along with his deep voice.
This was on Leon’s website…
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that early this morning, May 30th 2019, Leon Redbone crossed the delta for that beautiful shore at the age of 127. He departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat. He’s interested to see what Blind Blake, Emmett, and Jelly Roll have been up to in his absence, and has plans for a rousing sing along number with Sári Barabás. An eternity of pouring through texts in the Library of Ashurbanipal will be a welcome repose, perhaps followed by a shot or two of whiskey with Lee Morse, and some long overdue discussions with his favorite Uncle, Suppiluliuma I of the Hittites. To his fans, friends, and loving family who have already been missing him so in this realm he says, ” Oh behave yourselves. Thank you…. and good evening everybody.”
Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone
Please don’t talk about me when I’m gone, oh honey
Though our friendship ceases from now on
If you can’t say anything real nice, it’s better
Not to talk at all, is my advice
You go your way I’ll go mine, best we do
Here’s a kiss, I hope that this brings lots of luck to you
Makes no difference, how I carry on
Please don’t talk about me when I’m gone
You go your way I’ll go mine, best we do
Here’s a kiss, I hope that this brings lots of luck to you
Makes no difference, how I carry on
Please don’t talk about me when I’m gone
It’s hard not to like John Prine. This is a brilliant song…for him to think of this and write about it shows he thinks outside of the box. The song is included on the album “Sweet Revenge” released in 1973… it peaked at #135.
I have a one John Prine story. A friend of mine named Chris went to see John Prine and Arlo Guthrie in the ’90s and met John in the parking lot after the concert. Prine was really talkative and asked Chris if he could boost his car off…which, of course, he did. Chris told me he was really down to earth and a genuinely nice guy.
Dear Abby for those of you who may be too young to remember was an American Advice Columnist. Her real name was Pauline Phillips who went under the pen name “Abigail Van Buren”. people would write in and tell her their troubles and she would answer back in the newspaper. Her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, now owns the legal rights to the pen name.
From Songfacts
Prine’s song about an assortment of miserable people who write letters to the renowned advice columnist was recorded during a live gig at New York’s State University after a studio session didn’t pan out. Prine explained in an interview with Performing Songwriter: “The studio version of that was cut with a band, and it was real stiff and humorless. We cut it once, live, and that was it. That was the power of the song, in the way people would turn their heads the minute I’d get to the first verse, the first chords. That was the reason we used the live version.”
Prine found inspiration when he happened upon a “Dear Abby” column while on a trip to Rome, Italy. He said:
“I was in Europe and my first wife and I stopped in Rome for the day. I wanted a newspaper and all they had was the International Herald Tribune which is all the tragic news in the world crammed into six pages with no sports results and no comics. And yet here’s ‘Dear Abby.’ She was the only relief in the whole paper. and that’s where I wrote most of the song – in Rome, Italy that is.”
“Years later somebody took the verse about the guy whose stomach makes noises, wrote it just out of kilter enough so it didn’t rhyme, and send it to ‘Dear Abby.’ And she answered it in her column. She suggested that he seek professional help. She got loads of letters from people who knew the song and told her she’d been had.”
Dear Abby
Dear Abby, dear Abby My feet are too long My hair’s falling out and my rights are all wrong My friends they all tell me that I’ve no friends at all Won’t you write me a letter, won’t you give me a call Signed bewildered
Bewildered, bewildered
You have no complaint You are what your are and you ain’t what you ain’t So listen up buster, and listen up good Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood
Dear Abby, dear Abby My fountain pen leaks My wife hollers at me and my kids are all freaks Every side I get up on is the wrong side of bed If it weren’t so expensive I’d wish I were dead Signed unhappy
Unhappy, unhappy
Dear Abby, dear Abby You won’t believe this But my stomach makes noises whenever I kiss My girlfriend tells me it’s all in my head But my stomach tells me to write you instead Signed noise-maker
Noise-maker, noise-maker
Dear Abby, dear Abby Well I never thought That me and my girlfriend would ever get caught We were sitting in the back seat just shooting the breeze With her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees Signed just married
What hooked me on this song was the guitar riff played by Mick Ronson. Bowie said that the song is “about the ultimate rock superstar destroyed by the fanaticism he creates.”
The song is off of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and it peaked at #75 in the Billboard 100 in 1973 and #5 in the UK in 1972.
Ziggy Stardust is a character Bowie created with the help of his then-wife, Angela. The character’s name was inspired by the 1960s psychobilly musician, Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Bowie performed under the Stardust persona for about a year.
In 2010 the song ranked at No. 282 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
In the middle of this period, Bowie was itching to move on from Ziggy. “I’d said all I could say about Ziggy,” Bowie said. “I’m very tempted to go further with this Ziggy thing only because it’s so popular, but actually, it’s not what I really want to do. I’ve created this bloody thing, how do I sort of get out of it?” He soon did… Bowie abandoned Ziggy and re-imagined himself again. “He really grew, sort of out of proportion — got much bigger than I thought Ziggy was going to be,” “Ziggy just overshadowed everything.”
Bowie said that Ziggy “wouldn’t leave me alone for years. That was when it all started to go sour … My whole personality was affected. It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity.”
From Songfacts
This specific song is about Stardust growing too conceited: “Making love with his ego, Ziggy sucked up into his mind.” Stardust’s band, The Spiders From Mars, consequently plan to get revenge on the egotistical front man: “So we bitched about his fans, and should we crush his sweet hands?”
Iggy Pop (note the name: zIGGY), Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Gene Vincent and Jimi Hendrix (“He played it left hand, but made it too far” – Hendrix was left-handed), were all likely influences on the character Ziggy Stardust, but the only musician Bowie admits was a direct influence is Vince Taylor, an English singer who took the “rock star” persona to the extreme, calling himself Mateus and declaring himself the son of God. Taylor was popular in France in the early ’60s, and Bowie met him in 1966 after his popularity had faded.
Bowie-based the clothes, hair, and makeup of Ziggy Stardust on the Malcolm McDowell character in A Clockwork Orange, and on William Burroughs book Wild Boys. Some of the posturings were inspired by Gene Vincent, a rockabilly star who injured his leg in a 1960 car accident that killed Eddie Cochran. When Bowie saw Vincent in concert, he was wearing a leg brace and had to stand with his injured leg behind him; Bowie appropriated this stance, calling it “position number one for the embryonic Ziggy.”
“Weird and Gilly” were two of Bowie’s bandmates in The Spiders From Mars: bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Woody Woodmansey.
This song and the Ziggy Stardust persona as a whole was a major influence on glam rock bands like T-Rex and Suede. Glam rock was characterized by outrageous costumes, flamboyant stage antics, and sexual ambiguity.
Bowie was very theatrical and a student of acting and mime. He admitted that the Ziggy character was his way of dealing with the mental health issues that plagued his family – he basically went into character so he wouldn’t go crazy. “One puts oneself through such psychological damage in trying to avoid the threat of insanity,” Bowie said. “As long as I could put those psychological excesses into my music and into my work, I could always be throwing it off.” After a while, Ziggy started to scare David, as he was getting engrossed in the persona. He was afraid that the blurring of Stardust and Bowie would lead to madness, and on July 3, 1973, David did his last show as Ziggy at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The show was made into a movie directed by D.A. Pennebaker called Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars. It was released on DVD in 2003. For years Bowie would not look at tapes of himself performing as Ziggy Stardust, but when he finally did, he thought they were hilarious.
The album cover shows David Bowie (dressed as Ziggy Stardust) standing outside the furriers, K. West, which was located at 23 Heddon Street, London. In March 2012, a plaque honoring Ziggy Stardust was installed where the K. West sign once hung. This plaque is one of the few in the UK dedicated to a fictional character.
While doing an interview in character as Ziggy Stardust, Bowie admitted he was gay. This gave him a great deal of publicity, even though it was not entirely true. Bowie later married the model, Iman.
Bauhaus recorded a version of this song in 1982 that hit #15 in the UK. The song has also been recorded by Def Leppard, Nina Hagen, and Hootie And The Blowfish.
A production error meant a live version of this song was left off some copies of the 3-CD set Bowie At The Beeb. Bowie later made the track available for download to those fans who did not get it on the album.
This never charted because it was not released as a single. Many British acts at the time focused on albums and tried to limit the number of singles they issued.
There is a plaque outside the pub in London where Bowie created the Ziggy Stardust character. Bowie performed there when it was The Three Tuns. It is now called The Rat And Parrot.
Ziggy Stardust
Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly And the spiders from Mars. He played it left hand But made it too far Became the special man, then we were Ziggy’s band
Now Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo Like some cat from Japan, he could lick ’em by smiling He could leave ’em to hang ‘Came on so loaded man, well hung and snow white tan
So where were the spiders, while the fly tried to break our balls With just the beer light to guide us So we bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands?
Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo The kid was just crass, he was the nazz With God given ass He took it all too far but boy could he play guitar
Making love with his ego Ziggy sucked up into his mind Like a leper messiah When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band
The intro and the harmonies are great in this song. One of my favorite CSN&Y songs. This song was written by Joni Mitchell. She did not perform at Woodstock. The fear of missing the Dick Cavett Show is what actually led to Joni Mitchell canceling a scheduled appearance at Woodstock. Her manager David Geffen convinced her that it was more important for her career to do the Cavett Show than it was to appear at Woodstock.
The song was on Déjà Vu that peaked at #1 in 1970. Woodstock peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100 in 1970.
Joni Mitchell: “I was one of the many who were thwarted,” “That was the place every kid wanted to be. I got to the airport with CSN and our agent, David Geffen, and our manager, Elliott, on a Sunday night. It was a catastrophe. I had to do The Dick Cavett Show the following day, and it was Geffen who decided we can’t get Joni out in time. So he took me back to his suite where he lived, and we watched it on TV. I was the deprived kid who couldn’t go, so I wrote it from the point of view of a kid going. If I had been there in the back room with all the egomaniacal crap that goes on backstage, I would not have had that perspective.”
From Songfacts
That Tuesday, Mitchell, David Crosby and Stephen Stills all appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. Crosby has said that he and Stills were talking about the festival, and Mitchell wrote the song based on their experience there. Mitchell, however, claimed that she wrote the song before the band returned.
Joni Mitchell watched coverage of the Woodstock festival from a New York City hotel room. She had given up religion long ago, but found herself going through a “born-again Christian trip” when she wrote this song. Said Mitchell: “Suddenly, as performers, we were in the position of having so many people look to us for leadership, and for some unknown reason, I took it seriously and decided I needed a guide and leaned on God. So I was a little ‘God mad’ at the time, for lack of a better term, and I had been saying to myself, ‘Where are the modern miracles?’ Woodstock, for some reason, impressed me as being a modern miracle, like a modern-day fishes-and-loaves story. For a herd of people that large to cooperate so well, it was pretty remarkable and there was tremendous optimism. So I wrote the song ‘Woodstock’ out of these feelings.”
Joni Mitchell released this the same year on Ladies of the Canyon. It was also the B-side to her song “Big Yellow Taxi.” Her version is much more basic than the CSN&Y release.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s performance at Woodstock was only their second show together. Before forming the band, Crosby had been a member of The Byrds, Nash was with The Hollies, Stills and Young were members of Buffalo Springfield. Neil Young played with the group for only part of the set.
It may seem odd that the most famous song about Woodstock came from someone who wasn’t there, but Mitchell had a different perspective.
Without Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash returned to play Woodstock ’94. Other acts that played both festivals include Joe Cocker, The Band, and Santana.
Neil Young is not seen in the Woodstock movie even though he was there for part of the set. He strongly disagreed with the idea of the movie, so he declined to appear in it. If he were to play any songs in the movie, he’d have to be cropped out of frame. >>
The opening lyrics are a reference to the book of Matthew in which it says, “Blessed are those who try to make peace for they will be called children of God.”
In the UK the best-known version is the more country-rock flavored recording by Matthews’ Southern Comfort, which topped the British singles and peaked at #23 in the US. Ian Matthews had been the lead singer with Fairport Convention, leaving in 1969 to form Matthews’ Southern Comfort. He recalled in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner & Spencer Leigh: “I had bought Joni Mitchell’s album and we had to do four songs on a BBC lunchtime show. We worked up an arrangement for ‘Woodstock’ and the response was so good that we put it out as a single. Crosby, Stills & Nash’s record had just come out and so we waited to see what happened to that first.” In 1978 Matthews had a #13 hit in the US as a solo artist with “Shake It.”
Joni Mitchell’s no-show at Woodstock was sometimes reported as being caused by “transportation problems.” A persistent rumor was that James Taylor was supposed to give her a lift up the New York Thruway from her hotel in New York City, but Taylor was in a bad motorcycle accident on Martha’s Vineyard, breaking both arms and keeping him out from behind the wheel and away from the guitar for months. That was it for Joni’s trip to Woodstock.
In September 1969, Stephen Stills was invited to a Jimi Hendrix session at the Record Plant in New York. Stills burst into the session with a song Joni Mitchell had recently composed, titled “Woodstock.” Joined by Hendrix and Buddy Miles, the trio laid down the tune months before Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released their popular rendition. The Hendrix, Stills and Miles version can be heard on Both Sides of the Sky, a 2018 compilation of previously unheard Hendrix material.
Woodstock
Well, I came upon a child of God He was walking along the road And I asked him, Tell me, where are you going This he told me
Said, I’m going down to Yasgur’s Farm Gonna join in a rock and roll band Got to get back to the land and set my soul free
We are stardust, we are golden We are billion year old carbon And we got to get ourselves back to the garden
Well, then can I roam beside you? I have come to lose the smog, And I feel myself a cog in somethin’ turning And maybe it’s the time of year Yes and maybe it’s the time of man And I don’t know who I am But life is for learning
We are stardust, we are golden We are billion year old carbon And we got to get ourselves back to the garden
We are stardust, we are golden We are billion year old carbon And we got to get ourselves back to the garden
By the time we got to Woodstock We were half a million strong And everywhere was a song and a celebration And I dreamed I saw the bomber death planes Riding shotgun in the sky, Turning into butterflies Above our nation
We are stardust, we are golden We are caught in the devils bargain And we got to get ourselves back to the garden
I’ve never been a fan of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship or just plain Starship but this one has good memories connected to it. It was released in 1978 and it peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, and #24 in New Zealand. This is the last output by the band that I liked.
Marty Balin sang this song…whenever I think of Marty Balin I think of when he was in The Jefferson Airplane at Altamont. He stood up to the Hells Angels and got walloped over the head for his trouble. Paul Kantner (guitar player for the Airplane) then announced what happened. It went something like this.
Kantner to the crowd:“Hey man, I’d like to mention that the Hell’s Angels just smashed Marty Balin in the face and knocked him out for a bit. I’d like to thank you for that.”
A Hell’s Angel grabs a microphone: “Is this on? If you’re talking to me, I’m gonna talk to you.”
Kantner:“I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to the people who hit my lead singer in the head.”
Hell’s Angel:“You’re talking to my people.”
Kantner: “Right.”
Hell’s Angel: “Let me tell you what’s happening: You are what’s happening.”
Paul Kantner, Marty Balin and later Keith Richards stood up to the Angels at Altamont.
Precious love I’ll give it to you Blue as the sky and deep in the Eyes of a love so true Beautiful face You make me feel Lite on the stairs and lost in the Air of a love so real
And you can count on me girl You can count on my love Woman You can count on me baby You can count on my love to see You through
Emerald eyes and China perfume Caught in the wheel and lost in The feel of a love so soon Ruby lips You make my song Into the night and saved by the lite Of a love so strong
See you through Oh You can count on me girl You can count on my love
This list will be different for every baseball fan. Many times it’s your team’s announcer and other times it’s a network announcer you grew up with. I tend to like announcers who are not complete homers although some I like… like Harry Caray. He made it fun even though he openly rooted for the Cubs…and Budweiser.
There are many more that could be on this list.
5:Harry Caray – He injected fun into the game. It was like a fan announcing the game. He wasn’t technically the best baseball announcer but he was enjoyable.
4:Mel Allen – I remember Mel when I was a kid on “This Week in Baseball.” That voice was a part of my childhood.
3:Bob Uecker – “Just a bit outside” the more I listen to him the more I appreciate him.
2:Jack Buck – NOT Joe… You could hear his excitement for the game in his voice. For me, the best is between Jack and…
1: Vin Scully – Being a Dodgers fan I was spoiled by Vin Scully… my number 1 favorite. If you tuned into a Dodger game you would not know who employed Mr. Scully. He would not root for the Dodgers and he knew when not to say anything and let the action speak for itself.
When I think of horror movies..this one tops the list. I don’t get scared easily and slasher films make me laugh more than anything. This film is different to me than other horror movies. It’s been copied with sometimes awful results.
I got to see this in a theater in 2000 on Halloween at the re-release of the director’s cut. It was an experience I’ll never forget. The place was full of teenagers who were scared even though they had seen more modern horror movies but this one still worked.
When it was released in 1973 it was a huge success. Lines wrapped around street corners waiting to get in to see this. It broke records across the nation in most theaters it opened. The Exorcist went on to gross $232.91 million (1.6 Billion adjusted to today) domestically. The Exorcist film has grossed over $441 million at the worldwide box office.
I remember firsthand how this was handled by theaters. My cousin was pregnant at the time this movie premiered in 1973 and they would not let her in to see the movie because they did not want to be liable.
People were fainting or becoming ill at almost every show. This movie has its place firmly in 70’s pop culture.
Stephen King: [The Exorcist] is a film about explosive social change, a finely honed focusing point for that entire youth explosion that took place in the late sixties and early seventies. It was a movie for all those parents who felt, in a kind of agony and terror, that they were losing their children and could not understand why or how it was happening.
I would not call it a great movie, no one would ever mistake this with Citizen Kane but it is a very interesting sci-fi – horror movie. When I first watched this movie…I did not know what it was about and I ended up liking the twist. I wanted to know where the term came from…Katherine Ross is great as Joanna. I have not watched the remake of it nor have I read the book. I liked how this movie draws you in suburbia only to start hinting at things that were not completely right with the Stepford Wives.
A husband and wife with kids (one kid being future 80s star Mary Stuart Masterson) move from New York City to Fairfield County, Connecticut to a suburb called Stepford. Walter Eberhart (Joanna’s husband) made the decision to move here without much input from Joanna. She is not happy about the move but tries to make the best out of it. Walter joins a men’s social club and Joanna starts noticing the wives not acting normal. All they talked about is cleaning and cooking and are happy all of the time. All the wives have model looks, spotless houses, and are sickeningly optimistic.
Joanna meets two other women (Bobbie and Charmaine) who notice the same thing and together they start investigating what is going on.
After Charmaine takes a trip with her husband, Joanna and Bobbie notice that when she returns she is not the same anymore. She is just like the others. They both at first think the men are adding something to the water but it is much worse than that.
It’s interesting to see Tina Louise from Gilligans Island in this as Charmaine.
Stevie Wonder in the 60s and 70s was unbeatable. Not discounting his 80s output but for me, it’s hard to beat his 70s output.
Higher Ground peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100, #29 in the UK, and #9 in Canada. The song was on the album Innervisions ($4) released in 1973. Right after the album was released Stevie was riding in a car when it collided it with a logging truck. Some logs crashed through the windshield and hit Stevie. He was in a coma for 4 days with a severe brain contusion.
Steve Wonder on the song: I would like to believe in reincarnation. I would like to believe that there is another life. I think that sometimes your consciousness can happen on this earth a second time around. For me, I wrote “Higher Ground” even before the accident. But something must have been telling me that something was going to happen to make me aware of a lot of things and to get myself together. This is like my second chance for life, to do something or to do more, and to value the fact that I am alive.
From Songfacts
The lyrics deal with getting a second chance (“So darn glad he let me try it again”) and making the most of it. Strangely, Wonder recorded it three months before he was almost killed on his way to a benefit concert in Durham, North Carolina. The car he was riding in was behind a truck carrying a load of logs, which stopped suddenly, sending a log through the windshield and hitting Wonder in the head. The accident put Wonder in a coma for four days. His road manager and good friend, Ira Tucker Jr., knew that Stevie liked to listen to music at high volume, so he tried singing this song directly into his ear. At first he got no response, but the next day, he tried again and Wonder’s fingers started moving in time with the song – the first sign that he was going to recover.
Recalling his time in the coma, Wonder said, “For a few days I was definitely in a much better spiritual place that made me aware of a lot of things that concern my life and my future and what I have to do to reach another higher ground. This is like my second chance for life, to do something or to do more and to face the fact that I am alive.”
Innervisions was released on August 3, 1973, just three days before Wonder’s accident.
Guided by a mix of Christian morality and astrological mysticism, Wonder believed he was writing a “special song” whose lyrics suggested a coming day of judgment. “I did the whole thing in three hours” he told Q magazine. It was almost as if I had to get it done. I felt something was going to happen. I didn’t know what or when, but I felt something.”
When he turned 21, Wonder renegotiated his deal with Motown Records, taking control of his recordings by forming his own production and publishing companies. Motown was very regimented in terms of what musicians and producers were used on recordings, but Stevie wanted to do most of this work himself. In 1971, he teamed with the engineers Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil and began a constant cycle of recording in which he played most of the instruments himself. On this track, Wonder is the only credited musician, listed as playing Hohner clavinet, drums, and Moog bass.
In 1993 UB40 included a cover version on their Promises And Lies album that reached #45 in the US and #8 in the UK.
Wonder was a huge influence on The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who remade this with a more uptempo beat on their Mother’s Milk album. They even thank him in the lyrics by adding the phrase “You know what Stevie says.” Their version helped introduce many listeners to Wonder. >>
Wonder sang an a cappella version of this song with Alicia Keys at the Grammy Awards in 2006.
Higher Ground
People keep on learnin’ Soldiers keep on warrin’ World keep on turnin’ ‘Cause it won’t be too long
Powers keep on lyin’ While your people keep on dyin’ World keep on turnin’ ‘Cause it won’t be too long
I’m so glad that he let me try it again ‘Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin I’m so glad that I know more than I knew then Gonna keep on tryin’ Till I reach my highest ground
Lovers keep on lovin’ Believers keep on believin’ Sleepers just stop sleepin’ ‘Cause it won’t be too long Oh no
I’m so glad that he let me try it again ‘Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin I’m so glad that I know more than I knew then Gonna keep on tryin’ Till I reach my highest ground
Woo! Till I reach my highest ground No one’s gonna bring me down Oh no Till I reach my highest ground
Don’t let nobody bring you down (they’ll sho ‘nough try) God is gonna show you higher ground
There is probably not a song on Who’s Next that hasn’t been played to death…but I dont’ hear this one as much as some of the others.
One of my favorite Keith Moon drum tracks… It’s not the most noticeable part he played but no other drummer would have played it this way. I included an isolated drum track of this song at the bottom.
Pete Townshend wrote this and sang it… it was part of his “Lifehouse” project, which was a film script featuring The Who in a future world where rock ‘n’ roll saves the masses. The Who scrapped plans for the concept double album and released most of the songs on Who’s Next…pretty much agreed their best album and one of the best in rock.
The song was the B side to Behind Blue Eyes in 1971.
From Songfacts
This is about taking a vacation by riding around in a car with no particular destination. It was something Pete Townshend liked to do.
This was much lighter and more simplified than the other songs on the album.
For the solo, Townshend ran his guitar through a device called an Envelope Follower. It was a type of synthesizer distortion that made it sound like he was playing under water.
Keith Moon’s isolated drums on Going Mobile
Going Mobile
I’m going home And when I want to go home, I’m going mobile Well I’m gonna find a home on wheels, see how it feels, Goin’ mobile Keep me moving
I can pull up by the curb, I can make it on the road, Goin’ mobile I can stop in any street And talk with people that we meet Goin’ mobile Keep me moving, mmm
Out in the woods Or in the city It’s all the same to me When I’m driving free The world’s my home When I’m mobile, ey woo, beep beep
Play the tape machine Make the toast and tea When I’m mobile Well, I can lay in bed with only highway ahead When I’m mobile Keep me moving
Keep me moving Over fifty Keep me groovin’ Just a hippie gypsy Come on move now Movin’ Keep me movin’ yeah
Keep me movin’, movin’, movin’, yeah Movin’ yeah Mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile
I don’t care about pollution I’m an air-conditioned gypsy That’s my solution Watch the police and the taxman miss me! I’m mobile! Oh yeah he he Mobile, mobile, mobile, yeah
A great little pop/rock song. The song was on the album Labor of Lust and the album peaked at #31 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1979. Rockpile recorded this album and at the same time recorded Edmunds solo album Repeat When Necessary.
12 was popular with this song…The song peaked at #12 in many charts… Billboard 100, Canada RPM, New Zealand, and the UK… In Ireland, it only reached #19.
Nick Lowe said about the song: “I wrote that when I was with a band, Brinsley Schwarz, that I was with from the early ’70s to about the mid-’70s. … We recorded it on a demo, it never came out, and when I signed to Columbia Records the A&R man [Gregg Geller] there at the time suggested I record it again. And I didn’t think it would do anything, but he kind of bullied me into it.”
The video featured Nick’s wife Carlene Carter who had just got married Nick shortly before and included some real footage of the ceremony in the video. Rockpile guitarist Dave Edmunds plays the chauffeur in the video. Drummer Terry Williams was the photographer. Guitarist Billy Bremner also got a role, playing the guy who serves the cake.
This would be Nick’s only top forty hit in Billboard.
From Songfacts
This song reflects on a lover’s rather antagonistic attitude. Nick Lowe co-wrote the song with his Brinsley Schwarz bandmate, Ian Gomm, for the Brinsley Schwarz album, It’s All Over Now, though said album was never officially released. In 1979, Lowe re-recorded the song for his second solo album, Labour of Lust.
Lowe and Gomm were hoping the song would be a pop hit for Brinsley Schwarz, and crafted it for mass consumption. Lowe only grudgingly recorded it, and he considered it an aberration – a pop sell-out song. When he performed the song on The David Letterman Show, he called it “wimpy” and had little interest in discussing it.
Lowe cribbed the phrase “cruel to be kind” from Shakespeare, who used it in Hamlet:
I must be cruel only to be kind
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind
Lowe revealed the musical influence behind this song to The A.V. Club: “I wrote with ‘The Love I Lost’ by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in mind.”
This was Lowe’s highest charting hit in the US, where it peaked at #12 (coincidentally, it also peaked at #12 in the UK, Canada and New Zealand). Lowe spoke to The A.V. Club about his chart success: “I remember coming to Los Angeles when it was a hit, and did that thing where you change the radio station, and it was on about two or three at the same time. You could hear it starting on one station and finishing on another. Amazing.”
The official video is a comedic reenactment of Lowe’s marriage to Carlene Carter, who plays herself in the clip.
The couple was married on August 18, 1979 after Lowe had just finished a tour with his band Rockpile. Figuring he could kill two birds with one stone, Lowe made the wedding the theme of the video, and used some actual footage of the event, turning his wedding day into a video shoot (although aren’t they all, sort of?). The day before, director Chuck Statler shot staged footage of Lowe preparing for the nuptials and Rockpile performing the song outside of the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles, where the reception was held.
The wedding took place at Carlene’s house in Hollywood. Guests at the wedding show up in the clip – you can spot Carter’s stepsister Rosanne Cash sitting on the couch.
Carter and Lowe toured together in 1982, opening for The Cars, with both singers sharing the same band. The couple divorced in 1990.
“We were having great fun,” Edmunds said in his Songfacts interview. “In that band, the four years we were together, we never had any falling out – it was a little club of our own.”
The drum kit in the video says “The Textones.” That’s because Rockpile didn’t have a drum kit handy, so they borrowed one from a local band. Kathy Valentine, who would later join The Go-Go’s, was a member of this band.
In 1982, Enjoh Santyuutei released a Japanese cover version of this song and in 2010, Stavros Michalakakos recorded it in Greek.
The video was one of 206 that aired on MTV’s first day of broadcasting: August 1, 1981.
Cruel To Be Kind
Oh I can’t take another heartache Though you say you’re my friend, I’m at my wit’s end You say your love is bonafide, but that don’t coincide With the things that you do And when I ask you to be nice, you say
You’ve gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure Cruel to be kind, it’s a very good sign Cruel to be kind, means that I love you, baby (You’ve gotta be cruel) You gotta be cruel to be kind
Well I do my best to understand dear But you still mystify and I want to know why I pick myself up off the ground To have you knock me back down, again and again And when I ask you to explain, you say
You’ve gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure Cruel to be kind, it’s a very good sign Cruel to be kind, means that I love you, baby (You’ve gotta be cruel) You gotta be cruel to be kind
Well I do my best to understand dear But you still mystify and I want to know why I pick myself up off the ground To have you knock me back down, again and again And when I ask you to explain, you say
You’ve gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure Cruel to be kind, it’s a very good sign Cruel to be kind, means that I love you baby (You’ve gotta be cruel) You gotta be cruel to be kind
(Cruel to be kind), oh in the right measure (Cruel to be kind), it’s a very very very good sign (Cruel to be kind), it means that I love you, baby (You’ve gotta be cruel) You gotta be cruel to be kind
(Cruel to be kind), oh in the right measure (Cruel to be kind), yes it’s a very very very good sign (Cruel to be kind), it means that I love you, baby (You’ve gotta be cruel) You gotta be cruel to be kind
(Cruel to be kind), oh in the right measure (Cruel to be kind), yes it’s a very very very good sign (Cruel to be kind), it means that I love you
That guitar intro and tone hooked me into this song. Gray said in an interview that the song’s hook of “Gimme the beat boys and free my soul” has been misheard and incorrectly sung as “Gimme the Beach Boys,” “Gimme the wheat boys” (proposed for a cereal commercial), “Gimme the peat moss,” and “Gimme the meatballs.”
The song was recorded at Quad Studio in Nashville. Drift Away was written by producer/songwriter Mentor Williams in 1973. Mentor is the brother of Paul Williams.
The Rolling Stones recorded a version of Drift Away for their “It’s Only Rock and Roll” album in November of 1973 but it didn’t make the album and has never been released except on bootlegs.
Drift Away peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 in 1973.
From Songfacts
This was originally sung by John Henry Kurtz, an actor whose 1972 Reunion album also featured Kenny Loggins and a cover of Loggins’ “Danny’s Song.”
Virtuoso guitarist and session man Reggie Young Jr. played on this track, which is known for its distinctive intro. His son, Reggie Young III, told us that his father had to re-learn the signature guitar lines for a live radio broadcast around 1993, when Lonnie Mack did a special out of Nashville and invited several people to perform as guests. Said Young, “Dobie Gray asked my father to join him in playing ‘Drift Away’ live. This was the first time since 1973 that they had played the song together. In the ’80s my father was showing another guitar player how to play the intro to ‘Drift Away,’ but the other guy said he thought that my father was playing it wrong. In fact he was playing in the wrong key. Also, when this was re-recorded in 1997 for Gray’s CD Diamond Cuts, he declined, as he didn’t think he could do it any better than he did on the original.”
In 2002, Gray recorded this as a duet with Uncle Kracker. When this track reached the Billboard top 10 in 2003, 30 years later, Gray broke the record for the biggest gap between top US top 10 appearances.
His record of 30 years, two months and one week was broken in 2018 by Andy Williams. The late crooner had a gap of 47 years, eight months and three months between his two visits to the upper reaches of the chart with “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” in 2018 and “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story” in 1971.
This song was not only a commercial breakthrough for Mentor Williams but also a breakthrough as a recording project. He explained to American Songwriter MagazineMarch/April 1988: “I think one of the hardest things for me to learn about songwriting was to really expose my feelings and weaknesses and to write personal, emotional things. As soon as I started doing that, I realized other people were relating to my songs. You can study how to write and spend a lot of time writing, but without this emotional content in a song, it’s just not there. ‘Drift Away’ was a big breakthrough for me. It was a song where it suddenly was okay for me to write about being hurt and let people know that I had been hurt and I wasn’t afraid to expose my feelings.”
The updated version with Uncle Kracker holds the record for the longest run atop the Adult Contemporary chart, having reigned for 28 weeks in 2003-04.
This has been featured in several movies, including the 1988 comedy Heartbreak Hotel (starring David Keith as Elvis Presley), the 2003 drama Wonderland (starring Val Kilmer), and 2006 sports biopic Invincible (starring Mark Wahlberg). It was also used on The Office (US), in the 2007 episode “Product Recall.”
Drift Away
Day after day I’m more confused So I look for the light in the pouring rain You know that’s a game that I hate to lose I’m feelin’ the strain, ain’t it a shame
Oh, give me the beat boys, and free my soul I want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away
Beginning to think that I’m wastin’ time I don’t understand the things I do The world outside looks so unkind I’m countin’ on you to carry me through
And when my mind is free You know a melody can move me And when I’m feelin’ blue The guitar’s comin’ through to soothe me Thanks for the joy that you’ve given me I want you to know I believe in your song Rhythm and rhyme and harmony You help me along makin’ me strong
Patti Smith has always had a cult following and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet this is her only top 40 hit…it peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100 ad #5 in the UK in 1978.
Bruce Springsteen started writing this song in 1976, but he couldn’t come up with verses. He couldn’t finish it but he couldn’t record it anyway because he was in a legal battle with his manager, Mike Appel, that kept him from recording for almost three years.
The song lay dormant until his producer, Jimmy Iovine, convinced him to give a copy to Patti Smith, who eventually got around to filing in the verses and recording the song. Iovine was also producing Smith’s Easter album and convinced her to record it for the set.
Bruce talked about the song: “It was a love song and I really wasn’t writing them at the time. I wrote these very hidden love songs like For You, or Sandy, maybe even Thunder Road, but they were always coming from a different angle. My love songs were never straight out, they weren’t direct. That song needed directness and at the time I was uncomfortable with it. I was hunkered down in my samurai position. Darkness… was about stripping away everything – relationships, everything – and getting down to the core of who you were. So that song is the great missing song from Darkness On The Edge. I could not have finished it as good as she did. She was in the midst of her love affair with Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith and she had it all right there on her sleeve. She put it down in a way that was just quite wonderful.”
From Songfacts
For many not familiar with Smith’s career or the history of punk, this is the only recognizable song of hers. The producers of the 2013 movie CBGB played to this audience when they portrayed Smith singing this song at the famous club in 1975 – two years before she recorded it and a year before it was written. In the film, Smith is played by Mickey Sumner, who is Sting’s daughter.
Smith wrote the verses in one night in 1977 while waiting for her boyfriend, Fred “Sonic” Smith, to call. Fred, a founding member of the MC5, lived in Michigan and performed with his band Sonic’s Rendezvous; Patti was in New York. They relied on phone calls to stay in touch, but they were both poor and long distance calls were very expensive, so they limited their talks to about once a week, always at night when the rates were cheaper. One night, Patti was expecting his call at 7:30, but it didn’t come. That’s when she played Springsteen’s cassette demo for the first time, listening to it over and over while she wrote lyrics about her yearning love. She got rather specific:
Love is a ring, a telephone
By the time Fred called around midnight, the song was done. This was very unusual for her, as she typically took a lot longer to compose lyrics.
Springsteen didn’t release a studio version of this song until 2010 for his album The Promise, but he often played it at his live shows with different lyrics. The first time his version was released came in 1986 on the boxed set Live 1975-1985.
Smith’s producer on the Easter album was Jimmy Iovine, who would go on to great things as a producer and entrepreneur, but was still getting started in the business at the time. “Because The Night” was his first hit as a producer, and he credits Bruce Springsteen for granting him the opportunity. Iovine had worked on Bruce’s 1975 Born To Run album, and Springsteen gave him the song to deliver to Smith. This “really launched by career,” Iovine said.
Smith was hesitant to use a song written by someone else, and even after writing the verses she wasn’t sure she would record it. Jimmy Iovine and her band members helped convince her to give it a go. “In the end, we were a good match for that particular song,” she told Billboard. “I could have never written a song like that. I’d never write a chorus like that.”
10,000 Maniacs covered this song in 1993, outcharting Smith at #11 US. When Smith’s husband (and the song’s muse), Fred, died of a heart attack on November 11, 1994, at age 45, royalties from that cover helped keep her solvent financially – she had two young children, son Jackson and daughter Jesse, and little money.
The song became a lasting tribute to Fred; Smith later took to performing it with Jackson and Jesse, who became musicians.
Springsteen and Smith performed the song together at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on April 23, 2018. Smith said: “This song always makes me think of three men: Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith who inspired it, Jimmy Iovine who produced it, and Bruce Springsteen who wrote it.” Springsteen insisted they sing her lyrics, not the ones he typically sang.
This wasn’t the first time they shared a stage: Springsteen joined Smith onstage several times from 1976-1977, while legal battles kept Bruce from recording.
Smith bought her dad a new 1978 Cordoba with the money she made from this song.
Because The Night
Take me now, baby, here as I am Pull me close, try and understand Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe Love is a banquet on which we feed
Come on now try and understand The way I feel when I’m in your hands Take my hand come undercover They can’t hurt you now Can’t hurt you now, can’t hurt you now Because the night belongs to lovers Because the night belongs to lust Because the night belongs to lovers Because the night belongs to us
Have I doubt when I’m alone Love is a ring, the telephone Love is an angel disguised as lust Here in our bed until the morning comes
Come on now try and understand The way I feel under your command Take my hand as the sun descends They can’t touch you now Can’t touch you now, can’t touch you now Because the night belongs to lovers Because the night belongs to lust Because the night belongs to lovers Because the night belongs to us
With love we sleep With doubt the vicious circle Turn and burns Without you I cannot live Forgive, the yearning burning I believe it’s time, too real to feel
So touch me now, touch me now, touch me now
Because the night belongs to lovers Because the night belongs to lust Because the night belongs to lovers Because the night belongs to us Because tonight there are two lovers If we believe in the night we trust Because the night belongs to lovers Because the night belongs to lust Because the night belongs to lovers Because the night belongs to us
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