This song is for Song Lyric Sunday for Jim Adams’s blog. This week’s prompt is Apple/Banana/Cherry/Olive/Orange/Strawberry… I hope all of you have a wonderful Sunday!
I really liked REM when this came out but with this album I became a huge fan. The song was off of their album Green. Orange Crush peaked at #1 in the Billboard Alternative Charts and Mainstream Rock Hits, #28 in the UK, and #5 in New Zealand in 1989. (sorry I could not find Canada)
Orange Crush was my favorite soda growing up but this one is not about that. They got this name from Agent Orange…an awful chemical used in the Vietnam war.
Agent Orange was used to devastating effect during the Vietnam war. A toxic mix of herbicides and defoliants, nearly 20 million gallons of the it was sprayed over forested areas by the US military over a nine-year period up to 1971.
The idea was to root out guerrillas from rural communities and force people into American-controlled urban cities. It’s estimated that 400,000 were killed or maimed and it caused 500,000 children to be born with severe defects. Veterans on both sides of the conflict, meanwhile, have shown increased rates of cancer and nerve disorders. Returning US soldiers were also subject to accelerated instances of their wives having miscarriages or infants born with abnormalities.
The song was credited to all members of REM as were their other songs. The drill sergeant heard in the background during the middle is an imitation by Stipe.
Michael Stipe:“The song is a composite and fictional narrative in the first person, drawn from different stories I heard growing up around Army bases. This song is about the Vietnam War and the impact on soldiers returning to a country that wrongly blamed them for the war.”
Guitar Player Peter Buck:“I must have played this song onstage over three hundred times, and I still don’t know what the f*** it’s about. The funny thing is, every time I play it, it means something different to me, and I find myself moved emotionally. [Playwright/composer] Noel Coward made some remark about the potency of cheap music, and while I wouldn’t describe the song as cheap in any way, sometimes great songwriting isn’t the point. A couple of chords, a good melody and some words can mean more than a seven-hundred-page novel, mind you. Not a good seven-hundred-page novel mind you, but more say, a long Jacqueline Susann novel. Well alright, I really liked Valley of the Dolls.”
From Songfacts
Orange Crush was an orange flavored soft drink. In this case, though, it was meant to refer to Agent Orange, a chemical used by the US to defoliate the Vietnamese jungle during the Vietnam War. US military personnel exposed to it developed cancer years later and some of their children had birth defects. The extreme lyrical dissonance in the song meant that most people completely misinterpreted the song, including Top Of The Pops host Simon Parkin, who remarked on camera after R.E.M. performed the song on the British TV show, “Mmm, great on a summer’s day. That’s Orange Crush.”
Stipe’s father served in Vietnam in the helicopter corps.
Stipe sometimes introduced this in concert by singing the US Army jingle, “Be all that you can be, in the Army.”
This was not the first R.E.M. song to deal with the Vietnam War. That distinction goes to “Body Count,” an early unreleased song that they played live many times.
This was used in the 2007 drama Towelhead, starring Maria Bello, Chris Messina and Summer Bishil.
The song’s meaning keeps changing for Peter Buck. He wrote in the In Time liner notes:
Orange Crush
(Follow me, don’t follow me) I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush (Collar me, don’t collar me) I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush (We are agents of the free) I’ve had my fun and now it’s time To serve your conscience overseas (over me, not over me) Coming in fast, over me
(Follow me, don’t follow me) I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush (Collar me, don’t collar me) I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush (We are agents of the free) I’ve had my fun and now it’s time To serve your conscience overseas (over me, not over me) Coming in fast, over me
(Follow me, don’t follow me) I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush (Collar me, don’t collar me) I’ve got my spine, I’ve got my orange crush (We are agents of the free) I’ve had my fun and now it’s time To serve your conscience overseas (over me, not over me) Coming in fast, over me
Now we continue our quest of famous guitars and the artists cherish them… Here was Part 1 and Part 2.
Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young’s guitars
Bruce Springsteen’s Guitar
Bruce has stuck with this guitar from the first album until now. You see this guitar on his Born to Run album. When I saw him in 2000 he was playing it. Bruce bought this in 1972 in Phil Petillo’s Neptune New Jersey guitar shop for $185. Now the guitar is said to be worth between $1 million and $5 million…pretty good investment Bruce!
The guitar is a composite assembled from parts from at least two other Fender guitars. The bolt-on neck dates from a 1950s Fender Esquire guitar. The Esquire decal on the headstock indicates that the neck came from the single-pickup variant of Fender’s more-popular two-pickup Telecaster. The body is a 1950’s Telecaster
The guitar had been originally owned by a record company and was part of the payola scams of the 1960s. It was rigged with four pickups wired into extra jacks that would each plug into a separate channel on the recording console.
Petillo removed the extra pickups and returned the guitar to original Telecaster shape before he sold it Springsteen, but a huge side effect of the routing was that the Tele was now really light, giving it a sound a feel unlike any other.
Bruce had Peillo modify it over the years. He added his triangular Precision Frets, a six saddle titanium bridge, and custom hot-wound waterproofed pickups and electronics so they could better survive a sweat-soaked 4 hour show.
Bruce has now retired the Esquire from road duty, so these days Springsteen plays clones on stage, but still records with the original.
Neil Young’s “Old Black”
Neil Young is known mostly as a singer songwriter but he is a hell of a guitar player. He is one of my favorite rock guitarists. He doesn’t play lightning quick and that is a good thing…it’s playing with feel that many guitar players forget about.
Neil Young acquired Old Black in 1968 through a trade with Buffalo Springfield member Jim Messina, who traded Old Black for one of Young’s orange Gretsch guitars (Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins).
The guitar made a humming sound so he dropped it off at a guitar shop in LA. When he came back, the shop had closed for good and lost one of the pickups. To replace the lost pickup, Neil added a Gretsh pickup that didn’t quite sound the way he wanted, but it stayed that way until Larry Cragg found an old Firebird pickup and installed it. Then Old Black was restored to its former glory and that Firebird pickup is still installed on the guitar today. It was roughly resprayed to jet black, and received a new Tune-o-matic bridge (not available when the guitar was produced) and a B-7 model Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.
The neck pickup has always been the original P-90 pickup, but it is covered by a metal P-90 cover. Neil is still playing Old Black to this day and he said he will until he dies.
If there ever was ever a year I was looking forward to Christmas…this is the one…This Christmas song that 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.
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
Anyone who grew up in the eighties is going to know this one. This was a big MTV and radio song in 1982. It was on the American Fool album which was his breakthrough. This song helped Mellencamp forge his identity, which was a struggle for him. John was still going by stage name John Cougar at this time. He would use Mellencamp for the follow up album Uh-Huh in 1983.
Mellencamp was inspired by the drum break in Phil Collins In The Air Tonight and asked his drummer Kenny Aronoff to come up with a drum break for this song.
The American Fool album produced two top 5 hits. It peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts and Canada…and #35 in the UK. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #25 in the UK.
Mick Ronson played guitar, provided backup vocals, and helped arrange this song.
John Mellencamp:“The image that was given to me by the record company was so far off base of who I was and what I wanted to do,” he said in his Plain Spoken DVD. “I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew what I didn’t want to do. I did not want to be Johnny Cougar, I did not want to sing love songs, I did not want to be the next Neil Diamond, which is what they wanted.”
“I had to figure out what my image was, and I had a girl say to me, ‘John, just be a pair of blue jeans. That’s what you are.’ And the great thing about blue jeans is, you can dress them up, or you can dress them down.”
From Songfacts
A song about a high school couple falling in love, Mellencamp wrote “Jack & Diane” as a tribute to life in the rural working class. The inspiration was his hometown of Seymour, Indiana, which had a population of about 13,000 when it was released. The song has a very nostalgic feel, but paints a picture of a couple whose best years will soon be behind them. In a 1982 interview with The LA Herald Examiner, Mellencamp explained: “Most people don’t ever reach their goals, but that’s cool, too. Failure’s a part of what you’re all about anyway. Coming to terms with failed expectations is what counts. I try to write about the most insignificant things, really. I mean, someone who picks up a copy of Newsweek, then sits down and writes a song about the troubles in South America – who cares? What’s that song telling us that we don’t already know? Write about something that matters to people, man.”
In Campbell Devine’s authorized biography of Ian Hunter and Mott The Hoople it is revealed that this song was heavily influenced by Mick Ronson. The multi-talented Ronson (1946-1993), who was best known as a guitarist, recorded as a solo artist as well as playing lead guitar for both David Bowie and Ian Hunter (as Hunter-Ronson). In the book, Mellencamp says he’d thrown the song on the junk heap, adding: “I owe Mick Ronson the song… Mick was very instrumental in helping me arrange that.”
Some of Mellencamp’s high school photos and home movies were used to make the video, which was pretty much an afterthought. His record company hired Jon Roseman Productions to make videos for the songs “Hurts So Good” and “Hand To Hold On To.”
Paul Flattery, who worked for that production company, explained in the book I Want My MTV that Mellencamp made a special request after those videos were completed: “He said, ‘Look, there’s a song on the album the label doesn’t believe in. But I do. Can you do me a favor and save one roll of film, shoot me singing the song, I’ll give you some old photos and stuff and then you cobble it together for me?
The song was ‘Jack & Diane.’ So we stole some editing time in LA. We projected slides on the edit room wall, and we had the tape-op wear white gloves to do the clapping. We didn’t charge John a cent.”
Mellencamp spent a long time crafting this song in an effort to make it a hit. This was part of his plan to become so successful he could ignore critics and tell his record company to stick it. But first, he had to make some concessions, like changing his name.
His manager named him “Johnny Cougar,” and he went along with it, scoring an Australian hit with “I Need A Lover” in 1978. A year later, he altered his moniker to “John Cougar,” which is how he was billed on the American Fool album. The first single, “Hurts So Good” became a huge hit and got him on MTV, and when “Jack & Diane” followed, it accomplished his mission of autonomy through hits.
When he released Uh-Huh in 1983, it was as John Cougar Mellencamp, with songs that were less crafted and more inspired, especially “Pink Houses.” He lived up to his reputation of being difficult, but it didn’t matter because he could call the shots.
Jack and Diane were a interracial couple in the first version of this song, inspired by the blended couples Mellencamp saw during his live performances (Jack was black, Diane was white). He took the race part out of it and made Jack a football star after an executive from his record company heard what he was working on and asked him to do so in an effort to make the song more relatable and therefore boost its hit potential. With race removed from the equation, a broader swath of Mellencamp’s audience identified with the song, especially in the Midwest. He says that lots of folks have told him that the characters are just like them.
Following Phil Collins’ template from the 1981 hit “In The Air Tonight,” Mellencamp ordered a drum break in the middle of this song. His drummer, Kenny Aronoff, had to come up with it on the spot, proving his mettle when he did so. In a Songfacts interview with Aronoff, he told the story:
“I walk into the studio and the co-producer has a Linn LM-1 drum machine. I’d never seen a drum machine before. I’m being told that they’re using this on the song ‘Jack & Diane’ that we were having trouble coming up with an arrangement for. I’m devastated that I’m going to be replaced by a drum machine. I grab the drum machine, I get the manual, and I program the drum part. I’m in the lounge, really bummed out and wondering, ‘What’s the future of the drummer?’ This is 1981. I’m wondering, ‘Will that machine replace us?’
Two hours later, I’m summoned into the control room, where John tells me, ‘I need you to come up with a drum solo or something after the second chorus.’ At that moment, I was absolutely terrified and excited. Excited because I’m now going to be playing on the record. Terrified because I knew that I had to save the song in order to save my career. Because if I didn’t come up with it, they’d replace me. Two people had already been fired in the band and when I joined two years prior, I was fired from playing on the record. So, this was a scary moment for me.
The long and short of it is, I come up with this part on the spot and it becomes a #1 hit – John’s biggest hit ever. That and ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins are probably the two most air-drummed solos on pop radio, ever [even Mellencamp air drums it in the video]. It’s not technically hard, but I was forced to create that on the spot.”
Up until the big drum break, a drum machine was used on this song, but drummer Kenny Aronoff gave it a human touch not just for the break, but also the section that immediately follows. “When I got into the groove after the drum solo, the drummer that influenced me to hit the floor tom on beat four was Steve Gadd from a recording he did on a Chick Corea album, and the song was called ‘Lenore,'” Aronoff told Songfacts. “Steve Gadd would always hit the beat on beat four. I thought that was cool, so even though I don’t sound anything like Steve Gadd and nothing like he was playing on the Chick Corea record, that track influenced me to hit the floor tom, which made my hi-hats open.”
The only musical couple song that can rival this one for popularity is the standard “Frankie And Johnny. Most other hit songs of this nature were cribbed from literature or film, like “Romeo And Juliet” and Bonnie And Clyde. In 1978, Raydio had a hit with “Jack And Jill.”
Weird Al Yankovic planned to parody this song on his 1983 debut album as “Chuck And Diane,” making fun of the royal couple Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Yankovic couldn’t get Mellencamp’s permission to do the parody (which he asks as a courtesy, as anyone can parody a song as long as proper royalties are paid), so he used the lyrical content for an original song called “Buckingham Blues” instead. Yankovic did parody the song on the 2003 Simpsons episode “Three Gays Of The Condo,” where he sang it in animated form as “Homer And Marge.”
This is the only #1 Hot 100 hit in Mellencamp’s career, and based on streams and downloads, his most popular song.
The Sun October 10, 2008 asked Mellencamp if it bothered him being best known for this little ditty. He replied: “That song is 30 or so years old and it gets played more today in the United States than it did when it came out. As much as I am a little weary of those two, I don’t know any other two people in rock and roll who are more popular than Jack and Diane. Some people probably think there’s a place in hell for me because of those two people! But it gave me the keys to do what I want. I’m 57 today. I’ve lived the way I wanted to live, sometimes recklessly and stupidly, but still been able to do that. I’ve been able to live on my whims, that’s what Jack and Diane gave me, so I can’t hate them too much.”
In 2012, a film was released called Jack & Diane, but Mellencamp had nothing to do with it, and the song is not used in the movie. In the film, Jack (played by Riley Keough) is a girl, and she and Diane have a lesbian relationship. Mellencamp said in a statement: “You don’t hear my song in the film, and I played no part in suggesting or offering this title. It’s most apparent that the lead characters were named with the hope that the familiar title might resonate in some people’s minds. I guess that’s OK to do, strictly from a legal perspective, but riding on someone else’s coattails and having a moral compass is left up to each individual.”
Mellencamp mentioned the title characters again in his 1998 song “Eden Is Burning.” The first line is, “Diane and Jack went to the movies.”
Jack and Diane
A little ditty ’bout Jack & Diane Two American kids growing up in the heart land Jack he’s gonna be a football star Diane debutante in the back seat of Jacky’s car Suckin’ on chilli dog outside the Tastee Freez Diane sitting on Jacky’s lap Got his hands between her knees Jack he says: “Hey, Diane, let’s run off behind a shady tree Dribble off those Bobby Brooks Let me do what I please” Saying oh yeah Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone Sayin’ oh yeah Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone Now walk on Jack he sits back, collects his thoughts for a moment Scratches his head, and does his best James Dean Well, now then, there, Diane, we ought to run off to the city Diane says: “Baby, you ain’t missing nothing” But Jack he says: “Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone” Oh yeah He says: “life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone” Oh, let it rock, let it roll Let the bible belt come and save my soul Holdin’ on to sixteen as long as you can Change is coming ’round real soon Make us woman and man Oh yeah, life goes on A little ditty ’bout Jack and Diane Two American kids doin’ the best they can
Stevie Nicks always got more attention in Fleetwood Mac but I’ve always favored Christine’s songs. McVie has written some superb pop songs. This video I saw many times on the still new MTV.
Fleetwood Mac singer/keyboard player Christine McVie wrote this song with Robbie Patton, a singer who had a US hit in 1981 with “Don’t Give It Up,” which features guitar by Lindsey Buckingham.
This song was inspired by Christine McVie’s relationship with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. After she split with Fleetwood Mac bass player John McVie, Christine dated Wilson for several years before they broke up in 1981. Wilson died in 1983 in a drunk-drowning accident.
Hold Me was on the Mirage album released in 1982. The band recorded the album at the Château d’Hérouville outside of Paris… they filmed the video for this song in the Mojave Desert outside of Palm Springs. The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #5 in the UK, and #4 in Canada in 1982.
The song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100, #7 in Canada, and #94 in the UK.
Christine McVie on Mirage getting overlooked: “It does, and I don’t know why,” she says. But, she adds, “As it stands today, a lot of people know every track on it. Which is quite unbelievable. So I just take it for what it is.”
I suppose we all felt in a way that what we were doing was kind of an homage to Rumours, in the sense that, obviously, after Rumours we went completely the opposite way and made a double album of an entirely different nature with Tusk. And for Tusk we had done this hugely long tour. Two world tours, I believe. Then we all disappeared for a few years. But we have a habit of doing that, Fleetwood Mac. Just kind of taking quite long hiatuses. And as we got together again, I think it was Mick who had this idea that perhaps we should enter another bubble-like situation, which was similar to what we had done for the Rumours album, when we recorded in Sausalito. Just taking us away from familiar things, like our families. There was the idea that maybe something would emerge from there that was completely different. Maybe it would make us more creative. And I think it worked, to an extent. It was definitely an unusual experience.
From Songfacts
Robbie Patton toured as an opening act with Fleetwood Mac in 1979 and McVie produced his albums Distant Shores (1981) and Orders From Headquarters (1982).
The video for this song was inspired in large part by the works of the Belgian painter Magritte, whose paintings appear in the clip. It was directed by Steve Barron and shot in the Mojave Desert. The combination of extreme heat and band tension made for a very difficult shoot. Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks had all started solo projects, and getting the band to collaborate was a lesson in futility. The video’s producer Simon Fields said in I Want My MTV by Craig Marks, “John McVie was drunk and tried to punch me. Stevie Nicks didn’t want to walk on the sand with her platforms. Christine McVie was fed up with all of them. They were a fractious bunch.”
The video was subpar, but it was a fresh Fleetwood Mac video, which was good enough for MTV, which in 1982 was desperate for new clips by rock artists, especially established ones. Fleetwood Mac’s video for “Tusk” was one of the few they had available when they launched on August 1, 1981.
Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham share the lead vocals on this track.
Hold Me
Can you understand me Baby don’t you hand me a line Although it doesn’t matter You and me got plenty of time
There’s nobody in the future So baby let me hand you my love Oh, there’s no step for you to dance to So slip your hand inside of my glove
Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me
I don’t want no damage But how am I gonna manage with you You hold the percentage But I’m the fool payin’ the dues
I’m just around the corner If you got a minute to spare I’ll be waitin’ for ya’ If you ever want to be there
Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me
Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me Hold me, hold me, hold me
At the start of MTV my small town I lived in had yet to get cable…but it wouldn’t take too long. At that time I had to travel to relatives in Nashville before I got a chance to see it. I would spend the weekend and we would watch MTV for hours at a time. Binge watching before binge watching was a saying. We would wake up the next day bleary eyed and turn on more MTV.
I did find some music I never heard before. This band and song caught my attention. The song was released in 1982. It peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #5 in the UK.
The song was on the The Rise & Fall album. They were different…they have been described as a British ska and pop band.
This was Madness only top 10 hit in the US. Much of the song’s success in America was helped out by the clever music video that was in heavy rotation early days of MTV.
The producers were Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley
Alan Winstanley: “At the time of doing Madness we were kind of flying along together,” adds Langer. “Alan’s very precise and very particular, and I’m more slapdash and in a hurry and probably tend to like rougher-sounding records. That’s a generalization, because in the end we do like the same records, but sometimes the whole process with Alan can be laborious for me. He normally does the vocal comps whereas I’ll do a lot more work in the rehearsal room on the arrangements, deciding what instruments should play what where, how long the chorus should be and things like that. Still, we’ve got on fine considering how long we’ve worked together.”
Graham “Suggs” McPherson lead singer :“This was the first time we worked with the string arranger David Bedford. It was clear to him what our records needed and he did great things for us. It’s strange now to think we were so philosophical about such everyday things.”
From Songfacts
This won the Best Song award at the 1983 Ivor Novello Awards.
This was played in a 2007 TV commercial shown in the UK for Bird’s Eye Fish Fingers, which featured Suggs. In the advert the Madness frontman is sitting with a family at tea time. The daughter is studying for her school exams and asks Suggs where Omega 3 can be found. He offers the answer of Birds Eye Fish Fingers.
The song’s video featured the band as a cloth-cap wearing family squashed into a terraced house. Drummer Dan “Woody” Woodgate recalled to Q Magazine August 2008: “The knocking-on-the-door bit where somebody comes out, goes, ‘Where are they?’ and the others sneak in and close the door… That’s The Flintstones. We stole lots of ideas from the Keystone Kops and Benny Hill.”
Our House
Father wears his Sunday best Mother’s tired, she needs a rest The kids are playing up downstairs Sister’s sighing in her sleep (ah) Brother’s got a date to keep, he can’t hang around
Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, it has a crowd There’s always something happening And it’s usually quite loud Our mum she’s so house-proud Nothing ever slows her down and a mess is not allowed
Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our (something tells you that you’ve got to move away from it)
Father gets up late for work Mother has to iron his shirt Then she sends the kids to school Sees them off with a small kiss (ah) She’s the one they’re going to miss in lots of ways
Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our
I remember way back then when everything was true and when We would have such a very good time, such a fine time Such a happy time And I remember how we’d play, simply waste the day away Then we’d say nothing would come between us Two dreamers
Father wears his Sunday best Mother’s tired, she needs a rest The kids are playing up downstairs Sister’s sighing in her sleep Brother’s got a date to keep, he can’t hang around
Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, was our castle and our keep Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, that was where we used to sleep Our house, in the middle of our street Our house, in the middle of our street, our house
The ones, love us best are the ones we’ll lay to rest And visit their graves on holidays at best The ones, love us least are the ones we’ll die to please If it’s any consolation, I don’t begin to understand them
This song starts with a raw cool riff and a scream…how much more rock and roll can you get? The lyrics above is what got me into this song in the 80s.
The song was on the album Tim released in 1985. The album was produced by Tommy Ramone. Alex Chilton also helped out with the album.
Why was the album called Tim? There was no reference to the name on the album. The bands manager said that he asked Paul Westerberg what the name of the album would be. Paul told him “Tim” and the manager asked why? Paul said “because it’s such a nice name. “
It was placed 136th on Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 137 in a 2012 revised list. The album peaked at #186 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1986.
“Bastards of Young” was used in the 2020 film The New Mutants during the “party” scene where they are relaxing even though they are still confined.
Paul Westerberg working on the album:“”Writing songs like ‘Androgynous’ and ‘Answering Machine’ wasn’t difficult – presenting them to the group was. I’d been tinkering with stuff like that early on… It was hard getting across the idea we should just put the best songs on the record, even if there wasn’t always a place for Bob to have a hot lead. Bob was the hard one to get to acquiesce. So [Tim] ended up putting the chink in the armor of the idea of us as a four-piece rock band.”
From Songfacts
Fitting with the rebellious nature of The Replacements, this song is about a lost generation. The references to “Elvis” and the “Baby Boom” imply their parents, who see them as nothing more than tax deductions. “Bastard” is a derogatory term for a child born out of wedlock.
Some have speculated that the chorus is actually, “We are the sons of Norway” (somewhat fitting, given the Minnesota birthplace of all members) but, (famously) as no lyric sheet was ever provided by the band, it remains speculation.
The video is a black-and-white, single shot of a stereo system playing the song. He see a guy enter the frame, lie on the couch and smoke a cigarette, but we never see his face. At the end of the clip, he kicks over a speaker and leaves.
Bastards of Young
God, what a mess, on the ladder of success Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled It beats pickin’ cotton and waitin’ to be forgotten
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young We are the sons of no one, bastards of young The daughters and the sons
Clean your baby womb, trash that baby boom Elvis in the ground, there’ll ain’t no beer tonight Income tax deduction, what a hell of a function It beats pickin’ cotton or waitin’ to be forgotten
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young We are the sons of no one, bastards of young Now the daughters and the sons
Unwillingness to claim us, ya got no war to name us
The ones, love us best are the ones we’ll lay to rest And visit their graves on holidays at best The ones, love us least are the ones we’ll die to please If it’s any consolation, I don’t begin to understand them
We are the sons of no one, bastards of young We are the sons of no one, bastards of young Daughters and the sons
Young, young, young, young
Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours Take it, it’s yours
Deke and Dave my Canadian friends both have mentioned them in their blogs. I like what I’ve heard from the band…I remember this band by the name Teenage Heads in the 1980s in America… but never heard much of their music then. They had some rock, punk, and power pop thrown in…what’s not to like about that?
They are from Hamilton, Ontario in Hamilton Weston High school… friends Frankie (Venom) Kerr and Gordon Lewis formed the group in 1975 with bassist Steve Mahon and Nick Stipinitz on drums.
They took their name from a Flaming Groovies song title and album. They quickly gained a loyal following on the Ontario club circuit for their shows, highlighted by Lewis’ guitar work and front man Venom’s on stage presence.
Their self-titled debut album was released in 1979, and it was distributed by Epic Records Canada. A year later, the group signed to Attic Records and released this album Frantic City, the album that put them on the international radar. The hit singles, “Something On My Mind” and “Let’s Shake” helped propel the album to platinum sales (100,000) in Canada.
Somethin On My Mind peaked at #20 in Canada in 1980.
After a couple of years Teenage Head was finally recognized by M.C.A. Records for their international potential and signed to a U.S. deal… but the deal came with conditions. The band was forced to change their name to “Teenage Heads” and that is the name I remember them by in the 80s.
***Updating this…the band has a new documentary out…Picture My Face***
Somethin’ On My Mind
If you go, ah well, you know I just won’t mind ‘Cause they say, a love like ours takes time Have to say, uh, that there’s something on my mind She’s a friend and I knew you wouldn’t mind
But if you, well, have to go That’s OK But if you decide to stay Please don’t go Please don’t go
If you stay, ah well, I won’t care anyway If you’re bad, well it’s the last chance that you have Can I say, uh, that a love is sometimes blind Now I see, all the things that went behind
But if you decide to go That’s OK But if you, well, plan to stay Please don’t go No no no
But if you, well, plan to go Please don’t go But if you decide to stay No no no Please don’t go
You don’t have to please me ‘Cause baby, you know I’m easy The last time that you went You burned all the cards I sent
But if this time it’s for good Uh, so it’s understood So, if you leave once more You’ll find out what’s in store
Have to say, uh, that there’s something on my mind She’s a friend and I knew you wouldn’t mind Have to say, uh, that there’s something on my mind She’s a friend and I knew you wouldn’t mind Have to say, uh, that there’s something on my mind
This song is for Song Lyric Sunday for Jim Adams’s blog. This week’s prompt…Bird/Cat/Dog/Fish/Pet…I hope everyone has a good Sunday and turns up Hot Dog!
I know some Zeppelin fans that don’t like this song. I guess it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. I love playing that intro on guitar. The intro sounds like a square dance riff from hell. Robert Plant does a great rockabilly vocal and they have the echo set perfectly.
This one is a fun song that Zeppelin sounds like they had a good time recording. Led Zeppelin played this live at the 1979 appearance at Knebworth and 1980 tour in Europe.
The song was on the album In Through The Out Door and it peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, Canada, The UK, and New Zealand. The song was the B side to Fool In The Rain. The song was written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
A promotional video was shot. This was the closest Led Zeppelin came to a music video.
From Songfacts
This was influenced by American rockabilly music, which Robert Plant enjoyed. A hot dog is distinctly American cuisine.
Led Zeppelin had some heavy songs, but this was a fun, rollicking tune at a tough time for the band. Plant’s 5-year-old son, Karac, died in 1977 and they were all worn out from constant touring and recording.
The lyrics about a girl in Texas who “Took my heart” may have been based on a real woman in Plant’s life, but he called this a tribute to Texas and the state of mind of the people in Texas.
On a particularly cold day at a turn of the 20th century New York baseball game, no one was buying concessionaire Harry Stevens’ ice cream, so he begun selling sausages and rolls. He started calling out, “Red hot dachshund sausages!” and found they were very popular. Thomas “Tad” Dorgan, a sports cartoonist for The New York Journal, was in the press box and seeing this he attempted to draw a cartoon of a barking sausage steaming in its stretched out roll. He didn’t know how to spell “Dachshund,” so he wrote “hot dog” instead, a name which immediately caught on. (from the book Food for Thought: Extraordinary Little Chronicles of the World by Ed Pearce)
Hot Dog
(Oh, hot dog) Well, I just got into town today To find my girl who’s gone away She took the Greyhound at the general store I searched myself I searched the town When I finally did sit down I find myself no wiser than before
She said we couldn’t do no wrong No other love could be so strong She locked up my heart in her bottom drawer Now she took my heart she took my keys From in my old blue dungarees And I’ll never go to Texas anymore
Now my baby’s gone I don’t know what to do She took my love and walked right out the door And if I ever find that girl I know one thing for sure I’m gonna give her something like she never had before
I took her love at seventeen A little late these days it seems But they said heaven is well worth waiting for I took her word I took it all Beneath the sign that said “you-haul” She left angels hangin’ round for more
Now my baby’s gone I don’t know what to do She took my love and walked right out the door And if I ever find that girl I know one thing for sure I’m gonna give her something like she never had before
I thought I had it all sewn up Our love, a plot, a pick-up truck But folks said she was after something more I never did quite understand All that talk about rockin’ bands But they just rolled my doll right out the door Oh yeah, they just rolled my doll right out the door But they just rolled my doll right out the door
Good morning everyone… hope you have a great Monday.
I bought the Emotional Rescue single when it was released. I also bought the album and it was a let down to me after the great Some Girls album. The title track is heavily leaning toward disco and I do like it. What attracted me to the song is the superb bass line in the intro.
Ronnie Wood played bass on the song and Bill Wyman played synthesizer. Ronnie is a great bass player. He played bass on Rod Stewart’s Maggie May. The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #9 in the UK, and #1 in Canada.
The Stones played this for the very first time in concert on May 3, 2013, 33 years after they recorded the song. Keith Richards was not a fan of the song and it never made a Stones setlist until the first show of their 50 and Counting tour at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Mick Jagger: ‘We were just doing dance music, you know. It was just a dance music lick I was just playing on the keyboard. Charlie has a really nice groove for that.”
From Songfacts
This alienated many Stones fans who thought it was a sell out to disco, but it was still a Top 10 hit in the US and UK.
Mick Jagger sang much of this in a falsetto, which was the thing to do with disco songs. The Bee Gees did the same thing, but unlike The Stones, were never able to get back the fans they lost to disco.
Bobby Keys’ sax solo and Mick Jagger’s vocals were added almost a year after the rhythm track was recorded.
Jagger wrote this on an electric piano.
The video for this used the same thermal imagery effect as the album cover. It was cutting-edge visual stuff in 1980.
Emotional Rescue
Is there nothing I can say, nothing I can do to change your mind? I’m so in love with you, you’re too deep in, you can’t get out You’re just a poor girl in a rich man’s house Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh Yeah, baby, I’m crying over you
Don’t you know promises were never meant to keep? Just like the night, they dissolve off in sleep I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true I’ll come to your emotional rescue I’ll come to your emotional rescue Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh Yeah, the other night, cryin’, cryin’ baby yeah I’m cryin Yeah I’m cryin, I’m your child baby, child, Yeah I’m a child, I’m a child, I’m a child
You think you’re one of a special breed You think that you’re his pet Pekinese I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true I’ll come to your emotional rescue I’ll come to your emotional rescue Ooh ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Yeah, I was dreamin’ last night baby Last night I was dreamin’ that you’d be mine But I was cryin’ like a child Yeah I was cryin’, cryin’ like a child Could be mine, mine, mine, mine, mine all mine You could be mine, could be mine, could be mine all mine
I come to you, so silent in the night So stealthy, so animal quiet I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true I’ll come to your emotional rescue I’ll come to your emotional rescue Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Yeah, you should be mine, mine, ooh!
Mmm yes, you could be mine, tonight and every night I will be your knight in shining armor Coming to your emotional rescue You will be mine, you will be mine, all mine You will be mine, you will be mine, all mine
I will be your knight in shining armor Riding across the desert on a fine Arab charger
This is John in his “Cougar” days. It was right before the floodgates opened for him with the album American Fool that would come in 1982.
This song came off of his 4th studio album Nothing Matters and What If It Did released in 1980. Ain’t Even Done With The Night peaked at #17 in the Billboard 100 and #15 in Canada. Mellencamp wrote the song.
He has been asked what is the worse thing he ever did for success. He replied that would be changing his name to Johnny Cougar but the record company had him in a corner.
In 1983 after the hugely successful American Fool album John had enough leverage to force his record company to use his real name. It would now be John Cougar Mellencamp.
Steve Cropper produced this album…he produced many artists for Stax records.
John Mellencamp: “I have probably never gotten along with any record company executive ever, except maybe one,” “And if they were such good businessmen, why aren’t they running Coca-Cola or other major corporations now?”
John Mellencamp: “I see things that other people don’t see,” he said in his Plain Spoken DVD. “I pay attention to detail. That’s where my songs come from. They’re not about me.”
From Songfacts
John Mellencamp got married at 18 and had his first child a short time later. He knew the vagaries of young romance and fear of commitment quite well, which certainly qualified him to write this song about a couple deeply in love, with the guy unsure what to do and the girl reassuring him.
This method of songwriting proved very successful and comes into play on this song: There was probably a time when your heart was beating like thunder, etching a memory so powerful you can remember the song that was playing on the radio.
This song came during a transitional period for Mellencamp, after his first hit but before his star turn. In 1978, “I Need A Lover,” a song from his second album, took off in Australia, giving him a leg up on the other young rockers he was competing against. From there, he set out to create hits, which he felt was essential to his survival – he was a strong-willed, hard-headed country boy who didn’t get along with his record label and most industry folks, so unless he could become invaluable, he wasn’t going to make it.
“Ain’t Even Done with the Night” came from his quest to make hit pop songs, and even thought he has shown no affinity for it, the song became one of his most enduring, showing up on playlists decades after it was first released.
It helped keep him on the charts until his breakthrough fifth album, American Fool, with the hits “Hurts So Good” and “Jack & Diane.” After that, he no longer had to care even a little what people think. His songs that followed are the ones he considers his best work.
This song falls smack in the middle of the “John Cougar” years – the name he used from 1979-1983; before that he was “Johnny Cougar.” In 1983 he started using “John Cougar Mellencamp,” then in 1990 just John Mellencamp.
Steve Cropper, who produced Otis Redding and many other acts at Stax Records, produced the Nothin’ Matters And What If It Did album.
Ain’t Even Done With The Night
Well our hearts beat like thunder I don’t know why they don’t explode You got your hands in my back pockets And Sam Cooke’s singin’ on the radio You say that I’m the boy who can make it all come true Well I’m tellin’ ya that I don’t know if I know what to do
You say that’s all right, hold tight Well I don’t even know if I’m doin’ this right Well all right, hold tight We can stay out all day or we can run around all night Well all night, all night Well it’s time to go home And I ain’t even done with the night
Well I don’t know no good come-ons And I don’t know no cool lines I feel the heat of your frustration I know it’s burnin you up deep down inside You say that I’m the boy who can make it all come true Well I’m tellin ya that I don’t know if I know what to do
You say that’s all right, hold tight Well I don’t even know if I’m doin’ this right Well all right, hold tight We can stay out all day or we can run around all night Well all night, all night Well it’s time to go home And I ain’t even done with the night
Another blogger turned me on to this band and I’ve enjoyed them.
Green On Red were made up of Dan Stuart (vocals/guitar), Jack Waterson (bass), Van Christian (drums, later of Naked Prey) and Chris Cacavas (organ). They part of a California musical scene called Paisley Underground…it basically marriage of classic rock, punk, psychedelia, and garage rock…Green on Red brings in a Country element and more in their mixture.
This band is hard to describe because over their 7 studio albums and 3 EPs they changed and ended up more toward a rock/country feel. This song was released in 1985 on the EP No Free Lunch.
Time Ain’t Nothing
Walking down dusty roads
Looking for horny toads
With the sun on my back
Thinking about people past
Memories that never last
When you’re young and naive
Chorus
Time ain’t nothing
When you’re young at heart
And your soul still burns
I’ve seen rainy days
Sunshine that never fades
All through the night
Had a motorcycle at 10
Never got into heroin
I guess I want to live
Maybe get a house someday
Find a wife raise a family
That don’t mean you have to die
I first heard this song at Tower Records in 1986 while shopping for a Van Morrison album.
The song was on their twenty second studio album Think Visual released in 1986. The album peaked #81 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1986.
In America, the song “How Are You” was released and the B side was Working at the Factory. In the U.S., AOR disc jockeys flipped the single over and played Working At The Factory as though it was the second single. The song ended up peaking at #16 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The song got a lot of airplay in Nashville at the time.
The Kinks never was as popular as some of their peers as The Beatles, Stones, and The Who. One of the reasons is because during the sixties the Kinks were banned from touring the US for 4 years due to their on stage antics. Promoters complained to the American Federation of Musicians. The union had the power to withhold work permits for British musicians if they misbehaved on stage or refused to perform without good reason. That’s exactly what happened.
The Kinks have sold over 50 million records worldwide and have been cited as a big influence on a number of bands and a key reference point for many Britpop bands. The Kinks were awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Service to British Music, and singer Ray Davies received a CBE in 2004, and was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to the arts.
Working At The Factory
All my life, I’ve been a workin’ man When I was at school they said that’s all you’ll ever understand No profession, I didn’t figure in their plans So they sent me down the factory to be a workin’ man
All I lived for, all I lived for All I lived for was to get out of the factory Now I’m here seemingly free, but working at the factory
Then music came along and gave new life to me And gave me hope back in 1963 The music came and set me free From working at the factory
All I lived for, all I lived for Was to get out of the factory All I lived for, all I lived for Was to get out of the factory
Never wanted to be like everybody else But now there are so many like me sitting on the shelf They sold us a dream but in reality It was just another factory I made the music, thought that it was mine It made me free, but that was in another time But then the corporations and the big combines Turned musicians into factory workers on assembly lines
All we live for, all we live for All we live for is to get out of the factory We made the music to set ourselves free From working at the factory
All my life I’ve put in a working day Now it’s sign the contract, get production on the way
Take the money, make the music pay Working at the factory All I lived for was to get out of the factory
Never wanted to be like everybody else But now there are so many like me sitting on the shelf They sold us a dream that in reality Was just another factory
Thing Called Love was written by John Hiatt for his 1987 album Bring the Family. Bonnie covered this song for her 1989 Nick of Time album.
Nick of Time was Bonnie Raitt’s breakthrough album. After years of endless touring and making albums it all paid off with this album. Nick of Time peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts and 3× Platinum in Canada.
The song peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100 in 1989. This is the song that really got me into the newer version Bonnie Raitt. I did like her earlier hit Runaway and I’d heard of her music and read about her. She paid her dues and I was happy to see her hit big. She is an extremely gifted slide guitar player and singer.
Bonnie Raitt on the video:
“VH1 was new, and there was an outlet for me to get that kind of exposure. I said that if Dennis Quaid, who was a good buddy of mine, would star in the video as my boyfriend, then I could act more flirty than if I tried to act like that in front of the camera. Because I’m not an actress, and I wasn’t used to videos. The way the song sounds so sexy, I said, that would make me more comfortable and relaxed.
“He said yes, and all my fears went away. Basically I was blushing the whole way, throwin’ it back at him, and he was suckin’ on a toothpick…. The combination of all those things made [the album] Nick of Time an amazing breakthrough.”
Thing Called Love
Don’t have to humble yourself to me, I ain’t your judge or your king Baby, you know I ain’t no queen of Sheba We may not even have our dignity, This could be just a powerful thing Baby we can choose you know we ain’t no amoeba
Are you ready for the thing called love Don’t come from me and you, It comes from up above I ain’t no porcupine, Take off your kid gloves Are you ready for the thing called love I ain’t some icon carved out of soap Sent here to clean up your reputation Baby, you know you ain’t no prince charming We can live in fear or act out of hope For some kind of peaceful situation Baby, how come the cry of love is so alarming
Ugly ducklings don’t turn into swans And glide off down the lake Whether your sunglasses are off or on You only see the world you make
Are you ready for the thing called love Don’t come from me and you, It comes from up above I ain’t no porcupine, Take off your kid gloves
Are you ready for it Are you ready for the thing called love Don’t come from me and you, It comes from up above I ain’t no porcupine, Take off your kid gloves
Are you ready for it Are you ready for love, baby Oooh yeah babe Are you ready for love
Webb Wilder is just different…different in a great way. He looks like he dropped out of a 50’s black and white detective show. The song peaked at #16 in the Mainstream Rock Songs in 1992.
His real name is John “Webb” McMurry and according to wiki “The Webb Wilder character was created in 1984 for a short comedy film created by friend called “Webb Wilder Private Eye.” The character was a backwoods private detective who fell out of the 1950s and happened to also be a musician. The short appeared on the television variety show “Night Flight.”[Whatever it is it works.
Webb Wilder’s quote when asked what kind of music he plays.
“I came to Nashville as kind of a hunch, an educated guess that it would be a good place for me. Rock ‘n’ roll and country have more in common than not. We don’t have the typical Nashville country sound, but we thought we could use that to our advantage. It’s sorta like we’re a roots band for rock ‘n’ roll fans and a rock band for roots fans” he also adds these phrases…“Swampadelic”, “Service-station attendant music”, “Uneasy listening”, “Psychobilly”
Psychobilly….Now that is a cool description.
By 1991 I was walking through a street fair in Nashville and there he was playing with his band. He had just put out 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. The man has the gift of gab also.
I’ve seen him a couple of times in the 90s and he can bring the house down. He did get some MTV and VHI play nationally in 1991-92. His other known songs are my favorite “Meet Your New Landlord,” Poolside, and “Human Cannonball”. He has had some great backing bands. He also did a great cover of Steve Earle’s The Devil’s Right Hand….
I’m including my favorite song by him called Meet Your New Landlord and of course Tough it Out.
Tough It Out
When I was in the cradle Momma used to say “Now, baby Don’t ya cry cry cry” She turned on the radio And fed me rock and roll Lullaby-by-by Well it got under my skin And man it pulled me in ’cause it was strong strong strong I hit the ground runnin’ And let me tell ya somethin’ I was gone gone gone
Get offa my line ’cause I’m comin’ through I’m aimin’ high And I’m willin’ to shoot
I won’t bow, I won’t bend I won’t break, I’ll tough it out I won’t budge, I won’t deal I won’t change, I’ll tough it out (Tough it out) Keep rockin’ (tough it out) No stoppin’ ‘Til I win the prize, I’ll tough it out (Tough it out) Straight ahead (tough it out) knock ’em dead No compromise, I’ll tough it out
Now I’ve got somethin’ For ever man woman And child child child We don’t leave the hall ’til they’re bouncin’ off the walls Goin’ wild wild wild It might happen any day Might be light years away I don’t mind mind mind We got our head down, ears back Headed for the barn Feelin’ fine fine fine
Get offa my line ’cause I’m comin’ through I’m aimin’ high And I’m willin’ to shoot
I won’t bow, I won’t bend I won’t break, I’ll tough it out I won’t budge, I won’t deal I won’t change, I’ll tough it out (Tough it out) Keep rockin’ (tough it out) No stoppin’ ‘Til I win the prize, I’ll tough it out (Tough it out) Straight ahead (tough it out) knock ’em dead No compromise, I’ll tough it out(Tough it out) (tough it out)
You might catch me down But I won’t stay caught Now I might not sell But I can’t be bought
I won’t bow, I won’t bend I won’t break, I’ll tough it out I won’t budge, I won’t deal I won’t change, I’ll tough it out (Tough it out) Keep Rockin’ (tough it out) No stoppin’ ‘Til I win the prize, I’ll tough it out (Tough it out) Straight ahead (tough it out) knock ’em dead No compromise, I’ll tough it out
I won’t bow, I won’t bend I won’t break, I’ll tough it out I won’t budge, I won’t deal I won’t change, I’ll tough it out Tough it out ‘Til I win the prize, I’ll tough it out Tough it out No compromise, I’ll tough it out
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PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 