Paul Simon – Kodachrome

As a kid, I learned what Kodachrome meant by this song. Paul Simon was working on a song with the title “Coming Home” when the word “Kodachrome” came to him. He had no idea what it meant, but knew it would make for a much more interesting song than “Coming Home.” The song became an appreciation of the things in life that color our world.

Kodachrome is a registered trademark of the Kodak company. It is a method of color transparency, but more commonly known as a type of color film the company started marketing in 1935. The song peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100 and Canada.

From Songfacts.

This was not a hit in England, partly because UK radio stations rarely played it. The BBC had very strict rules about commercial endorsements, and they would not allow stations to play songs that seemed to push products. It’s the same reason The Kinks had to re-record part of “Lola.” The lyrics were, “We drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-Cola,” But Ray Davies had to redo them as “…Just like cherry cola” so the song could get airplay in Great Britain.

Paul Simon recorded this at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama with the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. He sought out the musicians when he found out they played on “I’ll Take You There” by the Staple Singers, and was surprised to learn that they were not Jamaican musicians, but four white guys from the South. Simon went to Muscle Shoals to record just one song: “Take Me To The Mardi Gras,” but when they finished that one much sooner than he expected, he also recorded “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like A Rock.” Simon was the first big rock artist to record at the studios – Bob Seger and The Rolling Stones were some of the others who recorded there in the ’70s.

David Hood, the bass player in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, told us this story: “When Paul Simon walked into our studio, he thought, God, what a funky place. Because it was. He was used to working at A&R and Columbia Studios in New York, and studios in England and different places. And when he came and saw our little place, he probably thought, man, this is a rat trap.

It just so happened that the roof leaked in our studio right over the recording console, and as a short term fix, we taped sanitary pads across the ceiling just to absorb the water so it wouldn’t drop down on the recording console. So we had Paul Simon, who’s got hit record after hit record walking in and seeing this place with Kotex on the ceiling. He must have thought, what in the world have I gotten myself into? But we cut this track for him in two takes, and I think he thought, wow, well these guys know what they’re doing. It doesn’t really matter.” (Here’s more on the history of the Muscle Shoals sound.)

Simon sometimes sings the line “Everything looks worse in black and white” as “Everything looks better in black and white.” He changes it a lot, and claims he can’t remember which way he wrote it.

On June 22, 2009, Kodak officially retired Kodachrome color film after 74 years. Photographers had turned to more recent Kodak products and digital technologies, which led to Kodachrome’s decline.

Kodachrome

When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It’s a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn’t hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they’d never match
My sweet imagination
Everything looks worse in black and white

Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

Mama don’t take my Kodachrome
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome
Leave your boy so far from home
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome
Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

My Favorite Songwriters

This one was the most fun to do. These are the songwriters that I have listened to and admired the most.

1… Bob Dylan – There was no one else I could remotely place as number 1.

2… Lennon – McCartney – As a team…it was quantity and quality. Their music will live long after we are gone.

3…Chuck Berry – He wrote the blueprint for future rockers.

4…Jagger – Richards – For blues rock it doesn’t get much better than these two.

5…Paul Simon – One of the best craftsman of pop songs there is…

6…Bruce Springsteen – One of the best writers of his generation.

7…Goffin and King – Wrote some of the best known and successful songs of the sixties.

8…Smokey Robinson – Bob Dylan said of Robinson…”America’s greatest living poet”

9…Pete Townshend – Took the “Rock Opera” to new levels.

10…Hank Williams – The country poet.

Honorable Mention

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ray Davis, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt, Leiber and Stoller, Elvis Costello, Randy Newman, Woody Guthrie, Merle Haggard, Robbie Robertson, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Tom Petty, Curtis Mayfield, John Prine, George Harrison, Steve Wonder, Warren Zevon, Brian Wilson

My Favorite Singers

There are so many singers that I cannot possibly list them all. I could make a top 30 and not get them all. This is my personal favorite top 10 plus some extra.

For the most part, I like singers with soul and meaning to their singing…not vocal gymnastics.

1…Aretha Franklin – Aretha could make any song better by singing it.

2…Van Morrison, Them and Solo – Probably my favorite male singer.

3…John Lennon, Beatles – John hated his voice and always wanted an effect on it…It didn’t need it…one of his best performances was “A Day In The Life”

4…Bob Dylan – Bob changed popular singing. I would rather hear Bob sing than many of the great traditional singers.

5…Elvis Presley – Hey he’s Elvis…

6…Otis Redding – Just a fantastic singer and performer and just taking off before he was killed in a plane crash.

7…Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones – Mick makes the most out of his voice.

8…John Fogerty…CCR – If I could have the voice of anyone…it would be Fogerty. The power that John has is incredible…his voice is its own instrument.

9…Janis Joplin – She put everything she had in each song. Her last producer Paul A. Rothchild was teaching Janis how to hold back and sing more traditional to save her voice for old age…which never came.

10…Johnny Cash – Last but far from least. Only one man can sound like Cash…and that is Cash

Honorable Mention…any of these could have easily been on the list.

Steve Marriott, Paul McCartney, Levon Helm, Bessie Smith, Little Richard, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Elton John, Neil Young, Roy Orbison, Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, Joe Cocker, Billie Holiday, Freddie Mercury, Kate Bush, Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Rodgers, David Bowie.

Sly and the Family Stone – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

I hope all of you have a great New Year…

Sly and the Family Stone were huge during their heyday but have been neglected since. This song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 in 1970. Sly to me, was somewhat of a musical genius until drugs started to affect him. The lyrics include references to some of Sly & the Family Stone’s earlier hits, including “Dance To The Music” and “Everyday People.

From Songfacts.

Sly Stone wrote this because he was upset that people were not listening to the messages in his songs even though the band was more popular then ever. They were an integrated band and tried to spread the message of racial harmony, but Stone thought that message was getting lost. The lyrics are scathing and mostly directed at Sly himself, but once again, many people lost the message in the powerful groove.

Larry Graham played the innovative bass line using a technique where thumped the strings. He learned this technique when he was playing in a duo with his mother, who played the organ. He thumped the strings to make up for a lack of drummer. This bass style became very popular on funk records for years to come, and was a big influence on artists like Prince and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The title is a funky way of spelling “Thank you for letting me be myself again.”

Janet Jackson sampled the bass riff from this on her 1990 hit “Rhythm Nation.” >>

In 2008, Brooke Hogan, who is the daughter of wrestling star Hulk Hogan, released a version of this song called “Thnku4lettinmebmahself,” where she sings about the trappings of fame. Her cover, which strips all Funk from the original, was released ahead of her second album.

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Lookin’ at the devil, grinnin’ at his gun
Fingers start shakin’, I begin to run
Bullets start chasin’, I begin to stop
We begin to wrestle I was on the top

I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin

Stiff all in the collar, fluffy in the face
Chit chat chatter tryin’, stuffy in the place
Thank you for the party but I could never stay
Many things is on my mind, words in the way

I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin

Dance to the music
All night long
Everyday people
Sing a simple song
Mama’s so happy
Mama start to cry
Papa still singin’
We can make it if we try

I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin

Flamin’ eyes of people fear, burnin’ into you
Many men are missin’ much, hatin’ what they do
Youth and truth are makin’ love
Dig it for a starter
Dyin’ young is hard to take
Sellin’ out is harder

Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
I want thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin
I want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin

My Favorite Bassists

This list means more to me because I started off playing bass and spent a lot of time listening to records of many of these artists. Slowing the record down when I was 15 -16 trying to learn the runs. There was no youtube or tabs to show how to play songs.

These are my favorite bass players and the ones I grew up listening to.

1…John Entwistle, The Who – For my money, John was the best rock bass player. He was incredibly quick on bass and his late sixties and mid-seventies tone was great. Some of his bass playing style was developed from having Keith Moon as a rhythm partner. He would have to follow Keith all over the place.

2…James Jamerson, Motown – One of the most influential bass players without a doubt. All of those great records that Jamerson played on showed how powerful and melodic he was…

3-…Paul McCartney, Beatles – The most melodic bass player that I’ve heard. Starting with Sgt Pepper his bass playing and sound changed the way the bass was recorded and played.

4…Jack Bruce, Cream – Like John Entwistle he was incredibly fast and held the song together while singing most of the time.

5…John Paul Jones – I wish Jimmy Page would have mixed his bass louder in recordings of Zeppelin. Fantastic bass player and arranger.

6…Rick Danko, The Band – He played the perfect bass lines for all of those Robbie Robertson songs. I like his sliding style along with his very loose playing. Rick also sang either lead or backup while playing.

7…Roger Waters, Pink Floyd – Roger waters made some of the most memorable bass lines ever.

8…Bill Wyman, Rolling Stones – Part of a great rhythm section with Charlie Watts. I didn’t appreciate Bill until I started to hear him live. He is still playing now at 82 with his own group The Rhythm Kings. He was overlooked with Charlie because of Mick and Keith.

9…Bootsy Collins, James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic – You want flashy? Bootsy is your man but he is also one of the best funk bass players ever.

10…Carol Kaye, Studio Musician (The Wrecking Crew) – If you listened to the radio in the 60s and 70s you heard Carol. I knew her bass playing long before I knew of her. She has played on thousands of sessions with artists such as the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder…the list doesn’t end. Here is a link to what she played on.

Honorable Mention

Les Claypool, Stanley Clarke, Donald “Duck” Dunn, All those bass players on those 70s disco records, Flea, “Jaco” Pastorius, Chris Squire, Phil Lynott

Led Zeppelin – Over the Hills and Far Away

When I learned this riff on guitar I felt like I won the lottery. It’s easy but sounds impressive. This is a great song from Led Zeppelin with their light-heavy approach. It starts off with an acoustic and works itself up to hard electric guitar.

The song peaked at #51 in the Billboard 100 in 1973. It was on the Houses of the Holy album.

From Songfacts.

This evolved from the Yardbirds song “White Summer,” an acoustic solo by Jimmy Page. Many of the same riffs and chords are in it. After The Yardbirds broke up, Led Zeppelin continued to play “White Summer” live. >>

This was one of the few Led Zeppelin songs released as a single in the US. It made it only to #51.

The music was inspired by Jimmy Page’s Celtic ancestry.

This began as an instrumental. Robert Plant came up with backing tracks and then lyrics.

Plant’s lyrics were inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien book The Hobbit, and to Tolkein’s 1915 poem of the same name. “Over The Hills And Far Away” describes the adventure the Hobbits embark on.

Over the Hills and Far Away

Hey lady, you got the love I need
Maybe more than enough
Oh darling, darling, darling
Walk a while with me
Ohh, you’ve got so much, so much, so much

Many have I loved, and many times been bitten
Many times I’ve gazed along the open road

Many times I’ve lied, and many times I’ve listened
Many times I’ve wondered how much there is to know

Many dreams come true, and some have silver linings
I live for my dream, and a pocket full of gold

Mellow is the man who knows what he’s been missing
Many, many men can’t see the open road

Many is a word that only leaves you guessing
Guessing ’bout a thing you really ought to know, oh, oh, oh, oh
Really ought to know
I really ought to know
Oh
You know I should, you know I should, you know I should, you know I should

My Favorite Drummers

This is my top ten favorite drummers…I’m sure I’m going to leave some great ones out. Like guitarists, I like drummers with feel more than technique. Anyone who has read this blog knows who my number 1 is without question…

1…Keith Moon, The Who – It’s hard if not impossible to copy this man’s drumming style. He changed the Who completely and was their engine. I’m not a drummer so I really never cared like some drummers do if he played by the rules in drumming…Was he disciplined? No, but it worked well for him and for the songs. Songs like Bargain and Goin’ Mobile are great examples of Keith.

2…John Bonham, Led Zeppelin – Without Bonham, there is no Led Zeppelin as we know them. He was the ultimate groove drummer. He was a bricklayer and had hard hands and hit the drums incredibly hard but with a light touch also.

3…Levon Helm, The Band – Not only was he a great drummer but also a soulful singer. He brought something many drummers didn’t… a bit of the old south.

4…Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones – Charlie and Ringo made their respective groups swing. Charlie can play blues, rock, big band, and jazz. Charlie and his rhythm section partner Bill Wyman were overlooked being in the same band with Mick and Keith. On top of his drumming skills…Charlie grounds the band much like Ringo did for the Beatles.

5…Ringo Starr, The Beatles – He was not Moon or Bonham in flash but he played exactly what was needed…He could have gone overboard and the songs would have suffered. He played for the song. Some have called him the human metronome. I cannot imagine any other drummer for The Beatles. His tom tom work on Sgt Pepper alone is excellent.

6…Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix Experience – Any holes left in Jimi’s music would be quickly filled in by Mitch. He was a jazz drummer who fused it into rock.

7…Ginger Baker, Cream – If this was a list of “likable people” Ginger would not be in the top 1000 but his drumming was some of the best of the sixties and I’m sure he would say “ever”… He was as big of part of Cream’s sound as Clapton or Bruce.

8…Bobby Elliot, Hollies – Drummer from the Hollies that other drummers have admired. He hit the drums hard and his fills were great… He is often overlooked but he is always spot on.

9…Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters, Nirvana – He can play anything… He fuels those Nirvana songs…and is really great at whatever instrument he plays.

10…Clem Burke, Blondie – An exciting drummer that was heavily influenced by number 1 on this list. He has played with Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie.

Honorable Mention

Gene Krupa, Buddy Miles, Mick Fleetwood, Max Weinberg, “D.J.” Fontana, Benny Benjamin, Stewart Copeland, and Hal Blaine.

Yes, I know… No Neil Peart…yes he is a great drummer…just not my style of music.

The Honey Cone – Want Ads

The song peaked at #1 in 1971 in the Billboard 100 and #11 in Canada. They were an R&B soul trio. These early seventies soul records have some great grooves on them. Martha & the Vandellas and the Marvelettes two of the female vocal groups that epitomized Motown Records’ sound in the ’60s were among Honey Cone’s main influences

From Songfacts.

Honey Cone was the first act signed to the Hot Wax label, which Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland (Holland-Dozier-Holland) formed after leaving Motown in 1969. The group was the trio of Shelly Clark, Carolyn Willis, and Edna Wright. Wright was an accomplished singer, having done background work on various TV shows as well as tours with Bill Medley and Billy Preston, and singing backup for Motown, which is where she met Eddie Holland. Hot Wax wanted to sign Wright’s sister, Darlene Love (Phil Spector is the one who suggested she change her name from Darlene Wright to Darlene Love), but she was busy with her group the Blossoms and passed on the offer. When Darlene got an offer to do an Andy Williams TV special, she turned it down but suggested Edna, who called her friend Carolyn Willis, who called her friend Shelly Clark, and they sang together for the first time at the gig.

They continued to perform together, and when Hot Wax signed them, they took a page from Motown’s book and crafted an image for them. The attractive trio was christened Honey Cone and sent to charm school and to dance classes where they choreographed some routines. The girls returned to Detroit and released the singles “Girls It Ain’t Easy” and “While You’re Out Looking For Sugar” (both written by H-D-H, “Girls hit #68 and “Sugar went to #62, both in 1969) before hitting it big with “Want Ads,” a song about a girl who is fed up with her lying, cheating man and is ready to advertise for a new one (and even willing to train). The song topped both the Hot 100 and the R&B charts.

This was written by the Hot Wax songwriting team of General Johnson (the Showmen, The Chairmen of the Board) and Greg Perry (Chairmen of the Board), who produced versions by Glass House, Scherrie Payne (who later joined the Supremes), and Frieda Payne (Scherrie’s sister, who hit #1 with “Band of Gold”) before deciding to try the song with Honey Cone. An engineer at the studio named Barney Perkins also got a songwriting credit.

It was Perkins who suggested a song about want ads, which were the way goods and services were solicited before the internet. A week later, Perry was sitting at the piano when the chorus line came to him: “Gonna put it in the want ads, I need some love for sale.” Johnson suggested they tweak the lyric so the girl didn’t sound like a prostitute, and they came up with the idea of looking for a new man to replace the defective one.

Johnson and Perry teamed up to write a follow-up hit for Honey Cone (this time with Angelo Bond as co-writer) called “Stick-Up,” which made #11 on the Hot 100 and gave the group their second #1 R&B hit. Subsequent hits for the group were “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show (Part I)” (#15) and “The Day I Found Myself” (#23).

Sixteen years later in 1987, Taylor Dayne, who was nearly unknown at the time, recorded a cover version of this song for her debut album Tell It To My Heart. Dayne’s cover wasn’t released as a single, but the album was a big hit, selling over 2 million copies.

Want Ads

Wanted, young man single and free
Experience in love preferred, but will accept a young trainee
Oh I’m gonna put it in the want ads, I need a love that’s true
Gonna put it in the want ads, my man and I are through

At home I find myself, lost and all alone
My man is playing the field, the thrill is gone
He stays out all night, says he’s with the boys
But lipstick on his collar, perfume on it too
Tells me he’s been lying, tell ya what I’m gonna do
I’m gonna put it in the want ads, this girl’s in misery
Gonna put it in the want ads, somebody rescue me

I spend my nights alone, cryin’ bitter tears
Although I cry aloud, nobody really hears
And when I need him most, he’s never by my side
He’s either playing cards or drinking at the bar
He thinks that I’m a fool, I’m going to the evening news
Gonna put it in the want ads, I need somebody new
Gonna put it in the want ads, my man and I are through

Extra extra, read all about it, wanted, young man single and free
Experience in love preferred but will accept a young trainee

Oh I’m gonna put it in the want ads, I need somebody new
Gonna put it in the want ads, my man and I are through
Gonna put it in the want ads, this girl’s in misery
Gonna put it in the want ads, please somebody rescue me

Lipstick on his collar, perfume on it too
Tells me he’s been lying, I’m going to the evening new
Gonna put it in the want ads, I need somebody new
Gonna put it in the want ads, my man and I are through
Gonna put it in the want ads, this girl’s in misery
Gonna put it in the want ads, please som

Slade – Mama Weer All Crazee Now

Slade was one of the UK’s biggest glam bands in the early to mid-seventies. They were huge in the UK but never hit in America until the 80s. This song was released in 1972 and peaked at #1 in the UK and #76 in the Billboard 100 in 1973.

Quiet Riot took two of their songs, Cum On Feel The Noize and this one and hit with them in the 80s. I’ll take Slade’s versions myself. It’s a fun rock and roll song.

Some trivia about Noddy Holder the lead singer… AC/DC asked him to sing for them after the death of Bon Scott but he turned them down because of loyalty to Slade.

From Songfacts.

This was originally the work of bassist Jim Lea; it was the first tune he wrote completely on his own. However, his writing partner Noddy Holder was responsible for the lyrics, standing on the stage after a typically boisterous London show and surveying the smashed seating left in the auditorium. “I thought everyone must have been crazy tonight,” he later said.

The song was originally titled “My My We’re All Crazy Now.” The title was changed by their manager Chas Chandler, and the intentional misspelling became a Slade trademark years before Prince adopted a similar convention. Some of their other hits were “Look wot You Dun,” “Cum On Feel The Noize” and “Skweeze Me Pleeze Me.”

In the UK Slade enjoyed 16 Top 10 hits including six #1s. They didn’t enjoy the same success in the US, where their biggest hit was “Run Runaway,” which peaked at #20 in 1984. They had just one other American Top 40: “My Oh My” (#37) also in 1984.

The American metal band Quiet Riot broke big with a cover of Slade’s “Cum On Feel The Noize” in 1983. For their next album, they did “Mama Weer All Crazee Now,” issuing it as the first single. It reached #51, marking their last Hot 100 appearance. “We were already getting the stigma of, ‘You had a hit with somebody else’s song,'” their drummer, Frankie Banali, said in a Songfacts interview. “I could see the writing on the wall coming on that one.”

Slade

I don’t want to drink my whisky like you do
I don’t need to spend my money but still do
Chorus
Don’t stop now a c’mon
another drop now c’mon
I want to lot now so c’mon
That’s right, that’s right
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
A you told me fool fire water won’t hurt me
A you tease me and all my ladies desert me
Chorus
don’t want to drink my whisky but still do
I had enough to fill up “H” Hill’s left shoe
Chorus
Mama mama mama mama oh yeah…

Paul McCartney – Coming Up

Merry Christmas to everyone…

I was 12 when this came out in 1979 and loved it…especially the video that went with it. The live version is the one that hit really big and the single had the live and studio version. The song (Live Version) peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK and #1 in Canada in 1980.

McCartney played all the instruments and shared vocal harmonies with wife Linda McCartney on the studio version.

Paul McCartney on recording Coming Up

I originally cut it on my farm in Scotland. I went into the studio each day and just started with a drum track. Then I built it up bit by bit without any idea of how the song was going to turn out. After laying down the drum track, I added guitars and bass, building up the backing track. I did a little version with just me as the nutty professor, doing everything and getting into my own world like a laboratory. The absent-minded professor is what I go like when I’m doing those; you get so into yourself it’s weird, crazy. But I liked it.

Then I thought, ‘Well, OK, what am I going to do for the voice?’ I was working with a vari-speed machine with which you can speed up your voice, or take it down a little bit. That’s how the voice sound came about. It’s been speeded up slightly and put through an echo machine I was playing around with. I got into all sorts of tricks, and I can’t remember how I did half of them, because I was just throwing them all in and anything that sounded good, I kept. And anything I didn’t like I just wiped.

On John Lennon

I heard a story from a guy who recorded with John in New York, and he said that John would sometimes get lazy. But then he’d hear a song of mine where he thought, ‘Oh, shit, Paul’s putting it in, Paul’s working!’ Apparently ‘Coming Up’ was the one song that got John recording again. I think John just thought, ‘Uh oh, I had better get working, too.’ I thought that was a nice story.

Coming Up

You want a love to last forever
One that will never fade away
I want to help you with your problem
Stick around, I say

Coming up, coming up, yeah
Coming up like a flower
Coming up, I say

You want a friend you- can rely on
One who will never fade away
And if you’re searching for an answer
Stick around. I say

It’s coming up, it’s coming up
It’s coming up like a flower
It’s coming up. yeah

You want some peace and understanding
So everybody can be free
I know that we can get together
We can make it, stick with me

It’s coming up, it’s coming up
It’s coming up like a flower
It’s coming up for you and me

Coming up, coming up
It’s coming up, it’s coming up, I say
It’s coming up like a flower
It’s coming up
I feel it in my bones

You want a better kind of future
One that everyone can share
You’re not alone, we all could use it
Stick around we’re nearly there

It’s coming up, it’s coming up everywhere
It’s coming up like a flower
It’s coming up for all to share
It’s coming up, yeah
It’s coming up, anyway
It’s coming up like a flower
Coming up

Rock and Roll…Quotes

Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.
John Lennon

The world used us as an excuse to go mad.
George Harrison

I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.
Paul McCartney

America: It’s like Britain, only with buttons.
Ringo Starr

I’m still the best Keith Moon-style drummer in the world.
Keith Moon

I’ve never had a problem with drugs. I’ve had problems with the police.
Keith Richards

A kid once said to me “Do you get hangovers?” I said, “To get hangovers you have to stop drinking.
Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister of Motorhead

Rock ‘n’ Roll might not solve your problems, but it does let you dance all over them
Pete Townshend

I was Marilyn Manson – times 10.
Alice Cooper

In the end you become part of everything you hate, basically.
Ray Davies

I’d rather be dead than singing “Satisfaction” when I’m forty-five.
Mick Jagger

The thing about my music is, there really is no point.
Neil Young

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.
Bob Dylan

If there’s one thing I know about music theory, it’s that if you don’t believe the singer, you won’t believe the song.
Tom Petty

Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.
Johnny Cash

I am the innovator. I am the originator. I am the emancipator. I am the architect of rock ‘n’ roll!
Little Richard

I grew up thinking art was pictures until I got into music and found I was an artist and didn’t paint.
Chuck Berry

I’m one of those regular weird people.
Janis Joplin

I sing to the realists. People who accept it like it is
Aretha Franklin

I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.
David Bowie

Music was my way of keeping people from looking through and around me. I wanted the heavies to know I was around.
Bruce Springsteen

I’m the one that’s got to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.
Jimi Hendrix

We lived the life with Keith Moon. It was all Spinal Tap magnified a thousand times.
Roger Daltrey

Pinball Machines

When I would go skating, the best part was playing all of the pinball machines. I’ve always favored them over the video games at arcades because they were machines instead of a screen. Some took some skill and bumping the machine a little but not too much to tilt. I remember Baseball pinball machines, Elton John model, KISS model, The Who Pinball Wizard model, and many bicentennial models.

The start of the pinball machine started in the 19th century with a “Bagatelle-Table”,
a sort of hybrid between a “pin table” and pool table. Players tried to hit balls with cue sticks and get them into pockets or slots surrounded by nails and pins. Another step towards the modern pinball form occurred sometime at the end of 19th century when inventor Montague Redgrave patented a device called a “ball shooter”, which was based on the recently invented steel spring.

The first coin-operated “pinball machine” was invented in 1931 by Automatic Industries and was called “Whiffle Board”. But the gaming industry really began in the mid-1930’s with the production of a game called “Ballyhoo”. It was invented by one Raymond Maloney, who later started the Bally Manufacturing Company of Chicago, IL.

Pinball machines really grew in popularity after World War II. The ten year period of 1948-58 is referred to by some as the “Golden Age” of pinball, due to the invention of flippers in 1947 by the D. Gottlieb Co. in a game called “Humpty Dumpty”, and was one of the main reasons for the renewed interest in pinball machines at the time. Humpty Dumpty was the very first pinball machine with flippers!

In 1966, the first digital scoring pinball machine, “Rally Girl” was released Rally. In 1975, the first solid-state electronic pinball machine, the “Spirit of 76”, was released by Micro. In 1998, the first pinball machine with a video screen was released by Williams in their new “Pinball 2000” series machines. Versions of pinball are now being sold that are completely software based.

I still like the software free machines…some were like works of art.

I didn’t know they had a Beatle pinball machine.

I have to close this out… with what else?

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-pinball-1992320

Watergate Salad

I’ve never had recipe’s on my blog but since it’s near Christmas I thought I would stick with my usual theme and post this dessert that is associated with the 1970s.

This recipe is coming to you straight from Kraft.

https://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipe/053771/watergate-salad

Watergate Salad

1 Hr(s) 15 Min(s)

15 Min(s) Prep

1 Hr(s) Cook

Create a cool and creamy classic with our Watergate Salad!

What You Need

8 Servings

1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Pistachio Flavor Instant Pudding

1 cup JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows

1/2 cup chopped PLANTERS Pecans

1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Let’s Make It

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl.

2. Stir in COOL WHIP.

3. Refrigerate 1 hour.

TA-DAH Watergate Salad.

Eddie Money – Gimme Some Water

I’ve never been a big Eddie Money fan but this is one of his songs I like. This one has an old west theme and I like the guitar. The song is off of his album Life for the Taking released in 1978.

Johnny Cash covered this song live at times… Eddie Money “I had a song called ‘Give Me Some Water,’ and when I was told that Johnny Cash put it in his set — I was on Cloud Nine,” Money said. “I mean this is the guy who ‘Walked the Line!’”

Gimme Some Water

Mama never understood what it’s like for a losing man
When her number one son goes bad playing cards with the Devil’s Hand
Daddy got real sick so quick – four walls never understand
I was the one who got good with the gun – took the money from the rich man’s land

Give me some water ’cause I shot a man on the Mexican border
Cool, cool water
Give me some water
I need a little water

Jimmy grew up so fast and he met me at the pass one day
Said, “You’re a wanted man. Take your brother’s hand – I’ll be running with you, anyway.”
So we rode late in the night like fires on the desert sand
’til one day the posse caught us ’cause the sheriff always gets his man

Give me some water ’cause I killed a man on the Mexican border
Cool, cool water
I need a little water

Oh, geeze, if I just get loose my hands
I’d run just as fast as my legs can
But, Lord, I’ve got no room to run
Shouldn’t have done what I did without that gun

Give me some water ’cause I killed a man on the Mexican border
Cool, cool water

Can’t you see that long, white rope hanging from the hangman’s tree
Take the restless horse; tie may hands, of course; tell my mother that I’m finally free
Let me die like a man – no one understands; let me pray that a poor man pray
Smack that horse in the ass; with my last dying gasp my brother could hear me say

Give me some water ’cause I shot a man on the Mexican border
Cool, cool water
Give me some water

Give me some water ’cause I killed a man on the Mexican border
Cool, sweet water
Give me some water

Big Star – The Ballad of El Goodo

This would make it in my own top 10 songs of all time. The tone of the guitars, harmonies and the perfect constructed chorus keeps me coming back listen after listen. The song is on Big Star’s album Number1 Record.

Most of the songs on the album could have been a single.

From Songfacts.

In a 1992 interview with Oor magazine, the songs’ co-writer Alex Chilton (who is credited along with Chris Bell) revealed that, whilst he felt that Big Star’s “music is still a triumph – some of the time,” he said “I didn’t understand how to make the right sound with my voice, so things like ‘Ballad Of El Goodo’ and ‘Thirteen’ could have been better.”

Though the song can be interpreted as a broad, abstract paean to anti-conformity and independence, the lyrics could more specifically allude to the Vietnam War. The first verse plays with the idiom “stick to your guns,” which could easily be literalized with the second verse:

“There’s people around who tell you that they know
The places where they send you, and it’s easy to go
They’ll zip you up and dress you down, stand you in a row
But you know you don’t have to
You can just say no”

The Vietnam War was seemingly important to Chilton. In an 2010 obituary for Nashvillescene.com following Chilton’s death, John “Bucky” Wilkin, lead singer and songwriter for ’60s surf rock group Ronny & the Daytonas, said: “Vietnam was the war we both related to, more on the level of the Buddhist priests who set themselves on fire in protest than as the American combat soldiers – both of us somehow being able to avoid the draft.”

In our 2013 interview, Big Star drummer Jody Stephens expressed how he felt the song revealed Chilton and Bell to be a cut above the average rock n’ roller: “All of a sudden I’m playing with these guys that can write songs that are as engaging to me as the people I’d grown up listening to, so I felt incredibly lucky.” He also singled out the song as one of his favorites to play.

Counting Crows covered the song for their 2012 album of covers Underwater Sunshine (or What we did on our Summer Vacation). In a 2012 interview with Paste magazine, frontman Adam Duritz said “One of the last changes we made was putting ‘The Ballad of El Goodo’ at the end of the record. I find it hard to follow that song on a record. I really love that song… it’s speaking about survival.”

The Ballad of El Goodo

Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh
But I’ve been trying hard against unbelievable odds
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on
My guns they’re waiting to be stuck by
At my side is God

And there ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round

There’s people around who tell you that they know
The places where they send you, and it’s easy to go
They’ll zip you up and dress you down
Stand you in a row
But you know you don’t have to
You could just say no

And there ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round

I’ve been built up and trusted
Broke down and busted
But they’ll get theirs and we’ll get ours
Just if we can
Just, ah, hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on

Years ago my heart was set to live, oh
But I’ve been trying hard against strong odds
It gets so hard at times like now to hold on
Well, I’ll fall if I don’t fight
And at my side is God

Ain’t there no one goin’ turn me ’round
Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on