1980s – Page 21 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Heaven and Hell – by Don Felder and Wendy Holden…Book

Let me start this out by being completely truthful. I am not an Eagles fan whatsoever but I like biographies and I do respect the band as musicians and songwriters. This is a good book for Eagles fans and rock fans in general. It covers a lot of history of the Eagles and rock in the 60s and 70s.

Felder by far was the most versatile of the band. He was offereded a teaching job at Berklee College of Music in Boston before he even joined the Eagles.

What made me want to read this book was…the documentary on the Eagles released in 2013 (I also love rock documentaries). One of the reasons they made the documentary was because of this book! Don Henley and Glenn Frey were livid about Heaven and Hell and wanted to tell their side. The funny thing is… they ended up proving Don Felder right on most of what he wrote.

It’s a good book…I liked it because it helped document an important time in rock music…the sixties and seventies. The book is interesting for more reasons than the Eagles. Florida in the 1960s was a hotspot for future rock and roll stars. Don Felder, Tom Petty, Allman Brothers, Stephen Stills, and Lynyrd Skynyrd just to name a few were all playing clubs on both coasts of Florida.

Don Felder grew up in Gainesville Florida and worked at a music store. He gave young Tommy his first guitar lessons…that Tommy would be Tom Petty. He played in a band with Stephen Stills in high school. He then met future Eagle Bernie Leadon and they started to play in bands together. Felder was taught slide guitar by no other than Duane Allman! They played many of the clubs that the Allman Joys did.

It’s worth reading just for his pre-Eagle days.

When the Eagles first formed, their goal was to divide the writing and singing equally. That way, they reasoned, nobody would become a star or feel like a sideman. That had happened in their previous bands, and they didn’t create the Eagles to go through all that again. After a while that plan went out the window and the problems started.

You learn about the dynamics of the Eagles and how everything changed after Hotel California. Henley and Frey took over the band and called the shots. The problem was Felder was a full member (owner) in the band unlike Timothy B Schmit and Joe Walsh who were just paid employees then and now. When Felder would sugggest something or would want to know where the money was going…he was ignored or pushed off to Irving Azoff the manager by Henley and Frey.

He also covers the problems that Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner had with Frey and Henley….and the close friendship that he had with Joe Walsh.

This is not a gossip book. Felder doesn’t use the book just to slam Frey and Henley. Felder has faults and we see them in this book. He does seem to try to be even handed. As I’ve mentioned before…one look at the Eagles documentary and most of what he says will be verified. He covers their career…up until he was let go.

It’s an enjoyable book and I would recommend it. As I said, I’m not an Eagles fan but I enjoyed it.

The Pretenders – 2000 Miles

Good morning everyone and I hope you have a great Christmas.

The guitar in this song is haunting…

This song is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25.

“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, where it peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.

In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK that December.

2000 Miles

He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you The children will sing
He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights
Sometimes in a dream you appear
Outside under the purple sky
Diamonds in the snow sparkle
Our hearts were singing
It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles
Is very far through the snow
I’ll think of you
Wherever you go

He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you

I can hear people singing
It must be Christmas time
I hear people singing
It must be Christmas time

Billy Squier – Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You

This Christmas song doesn’t get played a bunch here. I’ve always liked it since is was released. It was written by Billy Squier and was the B side to the single “My Kinda Lover.”

In 1981 MTV made it’s debut and Billy Squier’s career was going strong with the 1981 release of the Don’t Say No album. MTV at the beginning had a more family atmosphere. The crowd in this sing-a-long included technicians, the secretaries, the executives, the production assistants.

MTV helped countless careers. It made some careers larger than they would have been and some had careers beccause of MTV. It changed everything for a while.

Billy had a great career going on until the Rock Me Tonite video with the pink tank top…then it all fell apart in 1984.

The video was filmed at the Teletronics MTV studio.

VJ Nina Blackwood: “It was taped at our original Teletronics Studio on West 33rd Street and featured our original studio crew, who we all loved and were very close to, along with all the people from the MTV offices,” “Everybody traipsed down to the studio from 44th Street & 6th Ave for the taping. Billy Squier’s career was on fire at this time, and since he lived in NYC, he was a frequent guest at the studio, so it was appropriate that he was chosen for the video.”

“Pretty much what you see on camera is an accurate representation of the celebratory and fun feeling that was happening,” Blackwood said. “It was like one big happy family, which sums up the entire vibe of the early days of MTV. One of a kind experience. When I watch all of these early MTV Christmas videos, the overwhelming sensation I come away with is that of joyous love.”

Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You

Christmas is the time to say “I love you”
Share the joys of laughter and good cheer
Christmas is the time to say “I love you”
And a feeling that will last all through the year

On the corner carolers are singing
There’s a touch of magic in the air
From grownup to minor no one could be finer
Times are hard but no one seems to care
Christmas Eve and all the world is watching
Santa guides his reindeer through the dark
From rooftop to chimney, from Harlem to Bimini
They will find a way into your heart

Christmas is the time to say “I love you”
Share the joys of laughter and good cheer
Christmas is the time to say “I love you”
And a feeling that will last all through the year

Just outside the window snow is falling
But here beside the fire we share the glow
Of moonlight and brandy, sweet talk and candy
Sentiments that everyone should know
Memories of the year that lays behind us
Wishes for the year that’s yet to come
And it stands to reason that good friends in season
Make you feel that life has just begun

Christmas is the time to say “I love you”
Share the joys of laughter and good cheer
Christmas is the time to say “I love you”
And a feeling that will last all through the year

So when spirits grow lighter
And hopes are shinin’ brighter
Then you know that Christmas time is here

Bruce Springsteen – Merry Christmas Baby

There has been many versions of this song but this one is the one I listen to the most. The dynamics in this version is great.

This Dec 31st, 1980 performance of Merry Christmas Baby was recorded at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, during The River Tour. The song was played in its E Street Band arrangement. It was released in November 1986 as the B-side to WAR. This was the lead single from the Live/1975-85 box set.

Although Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley covered “Merry Christmas Baby” before Bruce did, it sounds like he based his version on Otis Redding’s 1968 version.

Lou Baxter wrote this song but it was called “Merry Christmas Blues” and Charles Brown took it home to work it out. He rewrote it with the new title. Baxter wanted Charles Brown to record it the way Charles rewrote it and it became a big hit with Brown singing with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers.

Then the music business struck again…The company promised Charles he would have a co-writer credit but of course, it didn’t happen and Johnny Moore had his name listed on the song instead. Charles never got paid royalties for the song. It was originally released in 1947 and peaked at #3 in the Charts.

Moore died, largely unknown, in the 1960s. Brown, meanwhile, became renowned as a pioneer of the laid-back, piano-driven style of West Coast blues and was recognized as an early influence on Ray Charles; he had a renaissance in the 1990s, touring with Bonnie Raitt.

Charles Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 but died before the induction.

It was also on a complication album A Very Special Christmas of various artists released in 1987.

Merry Christmas Baby

Bring it down, band!

Now, I just came here tonight to say…
I just wanna say…
I just wanna say…

Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
Come on, merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
I feel just like I’m living, living in paradise

Now listen
Now you see, I feel real good tonight
And I got music on the radio
And I feel real good tonight
And I got music on the radio
And the boys in the band are playing pretty good!
Now, I feel just like I wanna kiss you
Underneath my mistletoe

But now listen
Santa came down chimney, half past three
With lots of nice little presents for my baby and me
Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
And I feel like I’m living, just living in paradise
Come on boys!

Well now, Santa came down chimney, half past three
With lots of nice little presents for my baby and me
Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
I feel like I’m living, I’m living in paradise

And I just came down to say
Merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say, merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say, merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say, merry Christmas baby
And happy New Year, too!
Oh yeah!
Play it boys, go!
Merry Christmas
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-happy New Year
Ohhhh!

Oh yeah!
Merry Christmas baby!

Mike Nesmith (1942-2021) and the Monkees influence

I had something else planned to post but I found out that Mike Nesmith passed away. Nesmith was a big inspiration to me. There is no question…Nesmith would have made it without the Monkees…he was a talented writer, actor, producer, novelist and a very good Texas guitar player. He wrote some great country rock songs, Elephant Parts, and even a hit for Linda Ronstadt’s band The Stone Poneys…Different Drum.

While watching the reruns of the Monkees I bugged my mom to buy me a green wool hat with buttons but you can’t buy them off the shelf. She got me a green stocking cap…it wasn’t the same but I was happy. When the Monkees are mentioned some people cringe but they still have a place in my 5-year-old heart…plus how many bands can say that Jimi Hendrix opened up for them? Although that might be the worst pairing ever.

I’m not saying they deserve to be remembered with the best bands ever. Not at all but they do need to be recognized for their influence on a couple of generations. They influenced a lot of kids to form bands…mostly because of their weekly prime-time television show and ensuing hit singles. In the 80s they had a big comeback with a tour and massive airplay on MTV… I got to see them then…without Nesmith though.

They were a lot of fun. I thought WOW… I must be in a band one day. Little did I know that being in a band was not living in a cool place at the beach and having adventures at every turn…not to mention everyone getting along…it just doesn’t happen that way…but it is a special feeling being in a band with an us against them attitude and a great growing experience.

After I went through the Monkees faze I discovered the Beatles, The Who, Stones, Kinks…anything British but I still have a soft spot for some of the old Monkees songs.

The Monkees basically took A Hard Days Night movie humor and made a television show around a life of a mid-sixties rock band. Kids wanted to form bands after seeing them romp around the screen with girls…who wouldn’t want that gig? Michael Stipe from REM has said he was influenced by them.

They were not allowed to play on their first couple of albums…only sing…The Monkees were put together by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for Screen Gems with two real musicians in the band…Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork… Micky Dolenz (he did sing in cover bands before The Monkees) and Davy Jones could sing and act…. and Mickey quickly learned drums.

When news came out that they didn’t play on their albums they were roundly criticized in the 1960s. They fought Don Kershner who controlled what they sang…. and won… The funny thing is many sixties pop bands didn’t play on their records and the Monkees actually started to play their own instruments on their third album (Headquarters) and writing some songs for every album afterward.

In the second season of their tv show they started to gain more control. Some of those last episodes are very pot influenced…especially the episode called “The Frodis Caper”… It is surreal and broke the fourth wall…the second season is worth a watch…all of them are fun but the 1st season is more formulaic.

I still like many songs by them…anything written by Michael Nesmith (famous also for Elephant Parts), Pleasant Valley Sunday, Randy Scouse Git, Steppin Stone and Saturday’s Child.

All in all, they ended up singing and playing on some of the best-known sixties pop-rock hits.

I’ll just add one more thing…he Monkees belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

….

December 8, 1980…Lennon

Damn this date. Every Dec 8th I can’t help but think of where I was at when I heard. Get Back only heightened the anger and confusion over what happened.

It’s odd to think the Beatles had only been broken up for 10 years when this happened…to a 13 year old at the time…that was a lifetime but in reality it’s nothing.

Since second grade, I’d been listening to the Beatles. While a lot of kids I knew listened and talked about modern music …I just couldn’t relate as much. By the time I was ten I had read every book about The Beatles I could get my hands on. In a small middle TN town…it wasn’t too many. I was after their generation but I knew the importance of what they did…plus just great music. The more I got into them the more I learned about the Who, Stones, and the Kinks. I wanted to get my hands on every book about the music of the 1960s. Just listening to the music wasn’t enough…I wanted to know the history.

I spent that Monday night playing albums in my room. Monday night I didn’t turn the radio on…I’m glad I didn’t…The next morning I got up to go to school and the CBS morning news was on. The sound was turned down but the news was showing Beatle video clips. I was wondering why they were showing them but didn’t think much of it.

Curious, I walked over to the television and turned it up and found out that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I was very angry and shocked. The bus ride to school was quiet, at school, it was quiet as well. Some teachers were affected because John was their generation. Some of my friends were shocked but some really didn’t get the significance at the time and some didn’t care. A few but not many kids acted almost gleeful which pissed me off…It was obvious their parents were talking through them.

I went out and bought the White Album, Abbey Road and Double Fantasy in late December of 1980…I can’t believe I didn’t have the two Beatle albums already…now whenever I hear any song from those albums they remind me of the winter of 80-81. I remember the call-in shows on the radio then…pre-internet… people calling to share their feelings for John or hatred for the killer.

The next few weeks I saw footage of the Beatles on specials that I had never seen before. Famous and non-famous people pouring their heart out over the grief. Planned tributes from bands and everyone asking the same question…why?

My young mind could not process why a person would want to do this to a musician. A politician yea…I could see that…not that it’s right but this? A musician? Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and JFK were before my time. By the mid-1970s John had pretty much dropped out of sight…John and Yoko released Double Fantasy on November 17, 1980, and suddenly they were everywhere…Less than a month later John was murdered. The catchwords were Catcher in the Rye, Hawaii, handgun and insane. The next day we were duly informed on who killed John in the First, Middle, and Last name format they assign to murderers.

I didn’t want to know his name, his career, his wife’s name, his childhood…I just wanted to know why… he says now…”attention”

I noticed a change happened after that Monday night. John Lennon was instantly turned into a saint, something he would have said was preposterous. Paul suddenly became the square and the uncool one and George and Ringo turned into just mere sidemen. Death has a way of elevating you in life. After the Anthology came out in the 90s that started to change back a little.

I called my dad a few days after it happened and he said that people were more concerned that The Beatles would never play again than the fact a man, father, and husband was shot and killed. He was right and I was among those people until he said that. Dad was never a fan but he made his point.

Below is a video of James Taylor telling on how he met the killer a day before Lennon was murdered.

…

Eddy Dixon – Relentless

My thanks to Cincinnati Babyhead (CB to be short) turned me on to this song. The guitar hooked me right away. The song has turned into a cult favorite.

Relentless came from the 1981 cult movie soundtrack Loveless staring Willem Dafoe. Eddy is not an easy guy to pin down to say the least. He has been an actor playing “Rock a Billy Guy” in the 1988 David Lynch TV Mini Series The French As Seen By… and the 1990 film Wild At Heart playing Rex. Dixon has also has been a musician playing rockabilly in New York clubs. He has been called a pioneer of the 1970s rockabilly movement in New York City.

Eddy has also performed out as Eddy Dixon and the the Dixonettes.

In the sixties Eddy was an art student who worked on some John Waters films. Later on he was friends with Willem Dafoe and he introduced Eddy to David Lynch. Eddy really ran the gamut working with Waters and Lynch.

I’ll let Eddy take over from here.

Eddy Dixon on music: 1957. I was 7 years old and my best friend’s parents bought him a Fender Stratocaster. I would hang out at his house and started playing it and it just progressed from there. I went through the Dylan era and the folk era and the British Invasion era. I was playing in bands through the 60s with crazy names like The In Sex, then I got way heavy into country music towards the end of the 60s. Then in the 70s I moved to New York and started my own rockabilly band. I left Baltimore with 50 bucks, a trashbag full of clothes and a $20 guitar. I started doing all the showcases down on Bleeker Street and started hooking up with the real players, turned professional and started playing Max’s Kansas City and CBGBs.

Eddy Dixon on acting: I started off with John Waters back when I was a teenager in the late 60s. I did 5 John Waters films. He’s great – he’s very professional and knows what he wants. When I started, he was starting out and we were all art students in Baltimore living in a block in Bolton Hill. It was the most exclusive neighborhood in Baltimore at the turn of the century, but by this point everything was all run down. There were huge townhouses, gorgeous – 20-foot ceilings, marble fireplaces, mirrors from the floors to the ceilings – and they just sectioned them off and were renting them to the students. Some law firm bought up the whole block and kicked us all out. So we moved down to the docks, where we rented this 27-room double house with a courtyard – the whole deal for about $100 a month. One day my brother brought John Waters down – I think he met him at a party. So every Sunday we would pile into the Volkswagen, go out into the woods and film and that’s how it all started. My brother to this day still does all his sets. I did a Superfly sequel – I don’t know if it ever came out or not. The working title was ‘Don’t Call Me Boy’ and when they finished it they called it ‘The Hitter’. I did Run DMC’s movie – I played a cop in that.

…

Webb Wilder – Meet Your New Landlord

I first heard Webb Wilder in the late eighties with songs Poolside and Human Canon Ball. He looked and sounded different right away.

Webb Wilder looks like he dropped out of a 50’s black and white detective show. By 1991 I was walking through a street fair in Nashville and there he was playing with his band. He had just released an album called Doodad that got some local and national airplay. His music is a mixture of rock/country/rockabilly/punk and anything else he can throw in…including the kitchen sink.

He has described his music as “Swampadelic”, “Service-station attendant music”, “Uneasy listening”, “Psychobilly”…they all fit.

I purchased the Doodad album and this song is what I zero’d in on. The hit off the album was Tough It out which peaked at #16 on the Mainstream Charts. It included guest appearances by Al Kooper and Sonny Landreth.

The guitar riff is instantly catchy and the first verse was about losing your house/land in a poker game. A great story telling song.

Wilder got some MTV exposure with Human Canon Ball and a lot of local play with a song caled Poolside. He is a fantastic performer to catch live. He has been an actor, disc jokey, and a great artist…a true original.

The two videos are the same version…some were getting video not found.

Meet Your New Landlord

Neon lights don’t never dim
In the kind of bars that never close
In a back room game T. Jim yells
“Saint Gabriel, I’m gonna steal the show.”
He slapped his cards down on the table
Said, “Boys, i got me a winning hand.”
But the sight that made old T. Jim tremble
Was the king that took his land

Mister, meet your new landlord
Heard you knockin’ upon my door
Mister, meet your new landlord
Plenty of room down on the floor

With a ticket burning in his hand
And the tip still ringing in his ear
Big Pete bet his whole life savings
As the race was drawing near

A shot was fired
The gates flew open
The years streaked right before his eyes
Too bad they were riding on a saddle
From the moment of ill advice

Mister, meet your new landlord
I heard you knockin’ upon my door
Mister, meet your new landlord
Plenty of room down on the floor

Other names and other places
Different rules but it’s all the same
Cause if that bug ever b***s you
The scar will bear you shame
Hey listen, son, you know you’re in trouble
When you wake up one morning in a daze
And as you peer into the mirror
The face leaning over says

Mister, meet your new landlord
I heard you knockin’ upon my door
Mister, meet your new landlord
Got plenty of room down on the floor

Mister, meet your new landlord
I heard you knockin’ upon my door
Mister, meet your new landlord
Plenty of room down on the floor

Hey, mister, meet your new landlord
Whooo

…

John Fogerty – Vanz Kant Danz

This song is referring to Saul Zaentz, Fogerty’s former boss at Fantasy Records. Both took turns suing each other as Zaentz sued Fogerty for plagiarizing himself on The Old Man Down the Road and also for defamation for the song Vanz Kant Danz, which was originally titled Zanz Kant Danz, but was altered as part of the settlement. Fogerty counter-sued for reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and in a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, he won…sometimes there IS justice in the world.

Saul Zaentz took CCR’s money and built an empire with it. He owned the worldwide film, stage, and merchandise rights to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He financed the Lord of the Rings animation in 1978 and many other films.

The contract CCR signed with Zaentz was one sided. Zaentz promised the band he would renegotiate when the band had a hit…he refused of course when that day happened. Fogerty has said that he brought in the ultimate crooked band manager Allen Klein to break the contract. Klein who could famously manipulate contracts told Fogerty that the contract was iron clad.

The video for this was the first ever filmed entirely in “Claymation.” It was produced at Will Vinton Studio, named for the inventor of the clay animation technique. The video didn’t garner a lot of attention at the time because the song wasn’t a hit…it did get some airplay on MTV at the time.

From Songfacts

The song is about an unnamed street dancer and his sidekick, a pig trained to pick people’s pockets as they watch the dancer do his stuff. The pig, originally named Zanz as a dig at Saul Zaentz, “Can’t dance, but he’ll steal your money – watch him or he’ll rob you blind.” When Zaentz threatened Fogerty with yet another lawsuit, Fogerty changed the pig’s name to Vanz.

Another song from the Centerfield album, “Mr. Greed,” is also thought to be a musical salvo by Fogerty in his long-running feud with Zaentz, which lasted until 2004 when Fantasy Records was bought out by Concord Records, who restored Fogerty’s rights to his CCR material.

Vanz Kant Danz

Vanz can’t dance, but he’ll steal your money
Watch him or he’ll rob you blind
Vanz can’t dance, but he’ll steal your money
Watch him or he’ll rob you blind
Vanz can’t dance, but he’ll steal your money
Watch him or he’ll rob you blind
Vanz can’t dance, but he’ll steal your money
Watch him or he’ll rob you blind

Out in the street the crowd is gatherin’
Pushed down by the heat of the building, they’re wantin’ to dance
Makin’ their way up the street, a boy with a pig and a radio
Little Billy can work on the crowd, put ’em into a trance
For the little pig Vanz

You’re watchin’ ’em dance, not a care in the world
So Billy and Vanz get busy, they’re makin’ their move
The little pig knows what to do
He’s silent and quick, just like Oliver Twist
Before it’s over, your pocket is clean
A four-legged thief paid a visit on you

…

REM – (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville

This is one of the first songs I remember hearing from R.E.M. A buddy of mine had the Reckoning album and wore it out. It is up in the top ten of my favorite REM songs.

This song is about Ingrid Schorr, a girl the band knew at the University of Georgia whose hometown was Rockville, Maryland. She got a lot of attention on campus as classmates lamented her departure.

Don’t Go Back To Rockville is a R.E.M. song that bass player Mike Mills wrote most of the lyrics but as always with R.E.M. credited to the entire band. Mills exaggerated in the song and he wasn’t a boyfriend to Ingrid…only good friends but he saw a good song in the story.

The orginal version of the song was really fast like a Ramones kind of punk rock song. They slowed it down to a country tinged feel as a nod to their manager Bertis Downs, who really loved the song.

This was the second single from the album Reckoning released in 1984. The song didn’t chart but the album peaked at #27 in the Billboard Album Charts, #23 in New Zealand, and #91 in the UK.

Mike Mills: “There was a girl Ingrid Schorr. We were seeing each other and we really liked each other, but we were not boyfriend and girlfriend. She was going back to Rockville for the summer. And I thought that ‘going back to Rockville’ just screamed song, right there. As I wrote it, it turned into what if we were in love and she was leaving and never coming back. And that’s how it turned into ‘(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville.’ It just morphed as it went along.”

Mike Mills: “I remember sitting at the kitchen table on Little Oconee Street in Athens, (Georgia),” Mills explains. “There’s a turnaround in the song that’s inspired by part of a Simon & Garfunkel song (“Mrs. Robinson”) that I heard, and I started building the song around that. Sometimes the first line is the hardest line and once I got that first line (‘Looking at your watch a third time/Waiting in the station for a bus’), the rest of it flowed naturally.”

From Songfacts

The band had already been playing this song in a much faster, punk-like style for a long time and didn’t even consider it for the Reckoning album until their legal advisor, Bertis Downs, begged them to “at least do one take of it for me … please!?!?”

Drummer Bill Berry remembers tweaking the song to mess with Downs: “To playfully suggest to him that the song wasn’t in contention, we recorded a much slower version than he was accustomed to hearing and we sprinkled it with a Nashville twang to drive the point home. It started out silly, but when Mike added piano, the tune took on new light. Thanks, Bert!”

Don’t Go Back To Rockville

Looking at your watch a third time
Waiting in the station for the bus
Going to a place that’s far
So far away and if that’s not enough
Going where nobody says hello
They don’t talk to anybody they don’t know

You’ll wind up in some factory
That’s full time filth and nowhere left to go
Walk home to an empty house
Sit around all by yourself
I know it might sound strange but I believe
You’ll be coming back before too long

Don’t go back to Rockville
Don’t go back to Rockville
Don’t go back to Rockville
And waste another year

At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend
I don’t care if you’re not here with me
‘Cause it’s so much easier to handle
All my problems if I’m too far out to sea
But something better happen soon
Or it’s gonna be too late to bring you back

Don’t go back to Rockville
Don’t go back to Rockville
Don’t go back to Rockville
And waste another year

It’s not as though I really need you
If you were here I’d only bleed you
But everybody else in town only wants to bring you down and
That’s not how it ought to be
I know it might sound strange, but I believe
You’ll be coming back before too long

Don’t go back to Rockville
Don’t go back to Rockville
Don’t go back to Rockville
And waste another year

Green On Red – Death And Angels

These guys were in the Paisley Underground movement in the 1980s. They should be a classic band but they never broke through to the masses.

The Paisley Underground Scene had many different types of bands. The sound they all had was not united. Bands like Green on Red more of a country-ish/stones rock and roll, Rain Parade more of a Beatles type, The Bangles were more of a pop/rock band. The scene had about any thing you would want except major hits…The Bangles are the ones that really broke through.

Death and Angels

In the event (In the event)
Of sudden disaster (sudden disaster)
Just look into a face (look into a face)
That matters

Death and angels (death and angels)
On the ground (on the ground)
Death and angels (death and angels)
I swear
Fly around (fly around)

(ahh ahh)
In the case of a sudden (ahh ahh)
Point of view (ahh ahh)
(ahh ahh)
Just listen to your heart (ahh ahh)
I swear
(ahh ahh)
That’s what’s true (ahh ahh)

Death and angels (ahh ahh)
On the ground (ahh ahh)
I swear
Death and angels (death and angels)
Flying (fly around)

Seems so dark and lonely
Seems …
Feels so cool
Oh no —
The lack of compassion
(in the world) in our world

Lime Spiders – Slave Girl

This is garage rock/punk and hits you right between the eyes. The Lime Spiders formed in 1979 in the Liverpool area (not that Liverpool) of Western Sydney Australia around a core of vocalist Mick Blood and guitarist Darryl Mather.

They played a mixture of blend of power pop, psychedelia and 60s garage punk and they won a lot of fans in Australia.

Allmusic has this to say… Lime Spiders were an Australian post-punk unit resurrecting the trashier elements of ’60s garage and psychedelic rock with willful abandon. Bless them for that! And more power to them for doing it in the middle of the 80s. Rolling Stone magazine once described them at times as The Sex Pistols on acid…that about sums it up.

In 1988 they released the Weirdo Libido single, which appeared on the soundtrack to an Australian film called Young Einstein but after that they broke up. They did reunite in 1992 and again in 1997…they were together in some form or another until 2009. They last released an album in 2007.

They released 12 LP’s and EP’s all together with several singles. This one was released in 1984 as a single only at the time.

Slave Girl

Let me tell you ’bout a girl I know
I drag her around wherever I go
This little woman drives me insane
She’s tied to my ankle with a ball and chain

For sixteen years she’s been hangin’ around
Try’n’ to bury me in a hole in the ground
Well I think it’s time that I even the score
There’s only room for one in this cage of yours

Don’t save me when I’m startin’ to drown
Don’t use me when you don’t want me around
Just be my slave girl ’cause that’s all I need
So take a little step back to the stone age with me. Go!

Well I hear a strange noise as I lie in my bed
I feel a lotta water drippin’ on my head
I look around tried to see through my hair
You left me alone, but do you think I care?

‘Cause you moved me when I was takin’ my time
You abused me when I’m outta line
You tried to warn me of the danger sign
So watch out, go

Well, you got me in the bondage of another age
You drive me to distraction in a primitive way
I can’t control my instincts when I hear her say
“Just come around and see me if you lose your way”

So join my chain gang play along with me
I’ll be your caveman, it’s basic as can be
I’m not insane, man, I’m just outta my dream

Three O’Clock – With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend

Great up tempo power pop song. Three O’Clock came from the Paisley Underground movement in the 80s. They were a mixture of 60s psychedelia and early 80s pop sensibilities.

The Three O’Clock was a rock group associated with Los Angeles’ Paisley Underground scene in the early 1980s. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio is credited with coining the term “Paisley Underground” to describe bands such as Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, Green On Red and the Bangles from the area. The Three O’Clock was originally formed under the name The Salvation Army in 1981 but then changed it’s name to Three O’Clock when legal problems with the actual Salvation Army forced the band to change their name.

This song was on the EP called Baroque Hoedown released in 1982. They later had a college hit with a song called Jet Fighter.

After signing with I.R.S. Records they got MTV play with a song called Her Head’s Revolving. After that Prince signed them to his own Paisley Park Records and they made one album and vanished. They did record a song Prince wrote for them called Neon Phone.

They had a reunion of the classic line-up, Michael Quercio (vocals/bass), Louis Gutierrez (guitars) & Danny Benair (drums) — were joined by new member Adam Merrin (keyboards). The group played both weekends of the Coachella festival, and also played on Conan on April 10, 2013.

They later embarked on a mini-tour, and released several archival recordings that same year. The final show at the time was at a record store in Long Beach California in June of 2013.

As of 2018 they reunited band remained active touring around California.

With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend

Sorry I could not find the lyrics

Violent Femmes – American Music…. 80’s Underground Mondays

The Milwaukee, Wisconsin band Violent Femmes are best known for their song Blister in the Sun released in 1983. A girl that I knew drove me crazy playing that song but after a while I started to like it…more than the girl. The song started to be played on alternative and college radio.

James Honeyman Scott (Pretenders guitar player) was booked to play a gig and he was so impressed by the Violent Femmes that he let them open for him. They were were then offered a record deal by Slash Records and soon after that they released their 1982 debut album, “Violent Femmes.” The album slowly hit and later went platinum.

This song was on their Why Do Birds Sing? album in 1991 and it was their fifth studio album. The album peaked at #141 in the Billboard Album Chart but the song peaked at #2 on Billboard‘s Modern Rock chart.

Through breakups and reunions the band minus the original drummer Victor DeLorenzo are still together. Gordon Gano is the singer- songwriter and Brian Ritchie is the bass player with new drummer John Sparrow.

They released an album in 2019 called Hotel Last Resort and it peaked at #29 in the Billboard Indie Charts.

American Music

Can I, can I put in something like…
“This is “American Music”… take one.” 1-2-3-4!
Do you like American music?
I like American music.
Don’t you like American music, baby?

I want you to hold me, I want your arms around me.
I want you to hold me, baby…
Did you do too many drugs? I did too many drugs.
Did you do too many drugs, too, baby?

You were born too late, I was born too soon,
But every time I look at that ugly moon, it reminds me of you.
It reminds me of you… ooh-ooh-ooh.

I need a date to the prom, would you like to come along?
But nobody would go to the prom with me, baby…
They didn’t like American music, they never heard American music.
They didn’t know the music was in my soul, baby…

You were born too soon, I was born too late,
But every time I look at that ugly lake, it reminds me of me.
It reminds me of me…

Do you like American music? We like American music.
I like American music… Baby.
Do you like American music? We like all kinds of music.
But I like American music best… baby.

You were born too late, and I was born too late,
But every time I look at that ugly lake,
It reminds me of me…
It reminds me of me
It reminds me of me
Do you like american music
It reminds me of me
Do you like american music
It reminds me of me
Do you like american music
It reminds me of me
I like american music
It reminds me of me
She like american music
It reminds me of me
I like american music
It reminds me of me
She like american music
It reminds me of me
I like american music
It reminds me of me
She like american music
It reminds me of me
I like american music
It reminds me of me
She like american music
It reminds me of me
I like american music
It reminds me of me
She like american music
It reminds me of me

Rolling Stones – Worried About You

When Tattoo You came out I bought the single Start Me Up and couldn’t get enough of it…yea I have had about enough of it now. I bought the album played it non stop. 10 years later a friend and I took a trip to Pensacola after playing a gig and this album was on all of the way. This song stood out at the time because I skipped the hits. Mick sings it in a falsetto voice that works well.

The Stones dug down deep in their vaults for this album because they wanted to tour in 1980. They had released Some Girls in 78, Emotional Rescue in 80, and Tattoo You in 1981 and needed some songs. This song’s origins go back to 1976’s Black and Blue.

This song features a guitar solo by Wayne Perkins, who had once auditioned as a potential replacement for Mick Taylor, and Billy Preston on keyboards.

Tattoo You peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #2 in the UK in 1981.

Worried About You

Sometime I wonder why you do these things to me
Sometime I worry girl that you ain’t in love with me

Sometime I stay out late, yeah I’m having fun
Yes, I guess you know by now that you ain’t the only one

Yeah-hey, oh baby
Ooh, sweet things that you promised me babe, yeah
Seemed to go up in smoke
Yeah, vanish like a dream
Baby I wonder why you do these things to me

Cause I’m worried
I just can’t seem to find my way, baby

Ooh, the nights I spent just waiting on the sun, yeah
Just like your burned out cigarette
You threw away my love
Why did you do that baby

I wonder why, why you do these things to me well, oh

I’m worried
Lord, I’ll find out anyway
Sure gonna find myself a girl someday
‘Til then I’m worried
Yeah, I just can’t seem to find my way
Ooh

Yeah, I’m a hard working man
When did I ever do you wrong?
Yeah, I get all my money baby, yeah
I bring it, I bring it all home
Yeah, I’m telling the truth, yeah

Well, sweet things, sweet things that you promised me

Well I’m worried and I just can’t seem to find my way, baby

I’m worried about you, yeah
I’m worried about you, yeah
Tell you something now
I’m worried ’bout you (oh, yeah)
I’m worried ’bout you, child (oh, yeah)
I’m worried ’bout you, woman (oh, yeah)
That’s come on, tell you something now
I’m worried ’bout you (oh, yeah)
I’m worried about you (aw yeah), yeah

Yeah, I’m worried
Lord, I’ll find out anyway
Sure as Hell I’m gonna find that girl someday
Lord, I’m worried
Lord, I just can’t seem to find my way

….