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
Livin’ with my back against the wall nowhere but forward to fall
The song reminds me of something Ronnie Lane of the Faces would write…in the vein of Oh La La. A loose song that could be played on a back porch somewhere in the south. This was an album cut that I first found on their greatest hits. It’s slowly became my favorite song by this Georgia band.
I remember being a senior in high school and watching one of my buddies band play in a talent show right before us. They played “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” and it sounded great. That song was made for a rock band…any rock band and I asked him if they wrote it. He said no they had an advance copy of the song or bootleg. I’ve liked this band ever since. They were a no frills raw rock band in the middle of the sometimes over produced 80s…a band I followed until they broke up.
The song was released on the album In the Land of Salvation and Sin but wasn’t released as a single and it probably should have been. Their popularity was down at this point and the album didn’t do well. They broke up in 1990 and reformed in 1993 but without lead singer Dan Baird.
Another Chance
Livin’ with my back against the wall nowhere but forward to fall well I close my eyes, somebody will catch my breath oh my lord let’s get on board the rides gonna scare me to death
I don’t wanna leave before my time is done don’t wanna stick around when my race is run I don’t wanna go before they call my dance don’t wanna die asking for another chance
come help me Poor Richard and won’t you help me raise the glass here’s to me and here’s to you may our dreams all come to pass cruel trick of time, is played in the wink of an eye well heaven’s above you don’t need no shove the years go sailing bye, oh
I don’t wanna leave before my time is done don’t wanna stick around when my race is run I don’t wanna go before they call my dance don’t wanna die asking for another chance
another game of chance a lifetime come and gone I guess it’s up to me if I don’t want to sing another man’s song I wanna say what Grandma said, lying on her dying bed I ain’t been cheated, no mistreated, and I don’t have to say that yet, oh
I don’t wanna leave before my time is done don’t wanna stick around when my race is run I don’t wanna go before they call my dance don’t wanna die asking for another chance another chance no not another chance no no another chance
How young are you? How old am I? Let’s count the rings around my eyes
I Will Dare was released in 1984 as an independent single and then included on their Let It Be album. I loved this song in the 80s and after hearing it in the past weeks…it was like the first time I listened to it. Peter Buck from REM is playing the intro on this song. Paul Westerberg wrote the song and plays mandolin.
Let It Be was the third full album by the band’s original lineup: lead singer and songwriter Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars.
This song should have cracked the top 40 but it didn’t…mostly because they were on a small Minneapolis record label named Twin/Tone.
The song has been included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Paul Westerberg:”I Will Dare” [From Let It Be] might have been an answer to ”I Will Follow” [by U2]. Part of it has to do with the band. We’ll dare to flop, we’ll dare to do anything. ”I Will Dare” was a good slogan for a Replacements single. Every song title, if it doesn’t apply to the band in some way, we cannot use it. On the other hand, it was a kind of love song. ”Ditch the creep and I’ll meet you later. I don’t care, I will dare.”
I Will Dare
How young are you? How old am I? Let’s count the rings around my eyes
How smart are you? How dumb am I? Don’t count any of my advice
Oh, meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime Now I don’t care, meet me tonight If you will dare, I might dare
Call me on Thursday, if you will Or call me on Wednesday, better still Ain’t lost yet, so I gotta be a winner Fingernails and a cigarette’s a lousy dinner Young, are you? Wo oo
C’mon meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime Now, I don’t care, meet me tonight If you will dare, I will dare Meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime Now, I don’t care, meet me tonight If you will dare, I will dare
How young are you? How old am I? Let’s count the rings around my eyes
How smart are you? How smart are you? How dumb am I? Dumb am I
Meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime Now I don’t care, meet me tonight If you would dare, I would dare Meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime Now I don’t care, meet me tonight If you will dare, I will dare
I had a friend who raved about Robbie’s new album in the 80s. He said he liked it better than the Bands music…I would never…ever go that far but… I did like it. Listening to this song, it took me a few listens to like it. In fact the first time I heard it I thought…this is repetitive…but after that I could not get enough of it. The back up vocal is great.
It reminds me of a narration for a movie and then Robbie goes into the chorus and the song clicks then.
Robertson enlisted fellow Canadian Daniel Lanois as co-producer of the album. The self titled album Robbie Robertson was a decent comeback for Robbie.
Robertson also brought in The BoDeans to provide group vocals for some of the tracks on the album
The song peaked at #24 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts, #91 in Canada, and #15 in the UK in 1988.
The Robbie Robertson album won the 1989 Juno Award for Album of the Year. Lanois and Robertson jointly won the Producer of the Year Juno award at the same ceremony.
From Songfacts
A single from Robbie Robertson’s eponymous debut album, the song finds the former Band’s guitarist singing of the levee life in the Deep South.
RLanois told Exclaim! magazine that the song started with the “Somewhere Down the Crazy River,” title. It was a line that Robertson came up with when he was telling the producer about hanging out with former Band colleague Levon Helm in his old Arkansas neighborhood. “He was telling me about the hot nights and fishing with dynamite,” he recalled. “I was curious about his stories because I wanted them to be on that record… It’s kind of like a guy with a deep voice telling you about steaming nights in Arkansas.”
Robbie Robertson wrote the song with Martin Page (“These Dreams,” “We Built This City”). He recalled the time spent with Robertson in an interview with us. “With Robbie, you were really dealing with a song craftsman who would take as long as it took to piece a great piece of music together with great, great atmosphere,” he said. Obviously, his time with Bob Dylan had influenced him.”
“My period with Robbie Robertson was very, very long,” Page added. “I’d bring in ideas and he’d mull over it and we’d experiment and experiment and experiment. But he would encourage me in the way I would sing these demos for him and I would guide him with the demo, then leave him alone.”
Somewhere Down The Crazy River
Yeah, I can see it now The distant red neon shivered in the heat I was feeling like a stranger in a strange land You know, where people play games with the night God, it was too hot to sleep
I followed the sound of a jukebox coming from up the levee All of a sudden, I could hear somebody whistling from right behind me I turned around, and she said “Why do you always end up down at Nick’s Cafe?” I said, “Uh, I don’t know, the wind just kinda pushed me this way” She said, “Hang the rich”
Catch the blue train Places never been before Look for me Somewhere down the crazy river (Somewhere down the crazy river) Ooh, catch the blue train All the way to Kokomo You can find me Somewhere down the crazy river (Somewhere down the crazy river)
Take a picture of this The fields are empty, abandoned ’59 Chevy Laying in the back seat listening to Little Willie John Yeah, that’s when time stood still You know, I think I’m gonna go down to Madam X And let her read my mind She said, “That voodoo stuff don’t do nothing for me”
I’m a man with a clear destination I’m a man with a broad imagination You fog the mind, you stir the soul I can’t find no control
Catch the blue train Places never been before Look for me Somewhere down the crazy river (Somewhere down the crazy river) Ooh, catch the blue train All the way to Kokomo You can find me Somewhere down the crazy river (Somewhere down the crazy river)
Wait, did you hear that? Oh, this is sure stirring up some ghosts for me She said, “There’s one thing you gotta learn Is not to be afraid of it” I said, “No, I like it, I like it, it’s good” She said, “You like it now But you’ll learn to love it later”
I been spellbound Falling in trances I been spellbound Falling in trances You give me the shivers Chills and fever You give me the shivers You give me the shivers I been spellbound I been spellbound I been spellbound (Somewhere down the crazy river) Somewhere down the crazy river
This is song by the one and only AC/DC called Hells Bells.
AC/DC recorded this a few months after lead singer Bon Scott died of acute alcohol poisoning after a night of heavy drinking. The album is a tribute to him, with new singer, Brian Johnson, on vocals.
This is the first track on Back In Black, AC/DC’s biggest album. In tribute to Bon Scott, it starts off with the bell tolling four times before the guitar riff comes in. The bell rings another nine times, gradually fading out. When played live, Brian Johnson would strike the bell.
Back In Black peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada and The UK in 1980.
Brian Johnson on writing the song:“I don’t believe in God or Heaven or Hell. But something happened. We had these little rooms like cells with a bed and a toilet, no TVs. I had this big sheet of paper and I had to write some words. I was going, ‘oh f–k.’ and I’ll never forget, I just went (scribbles frantically as if his hand is possessed). I started writing and never stopped. And that was it, hells Bells. I had a bottle of whisky and I went (generous gulps). I kept the light on all night, man.”
From Songfacts
You don’t honor Bon Scott’s memory with a bell from a sound effects reel, so the band needed a real bell, and a big one. The first attempt to record the bell took place in Leicestershire, England at the Carillon and War Memorial Museum. This proved insufficient, so the band commissioned a one-ton bronze bell from a local foundry that they would also use on stage.
The bell wasn’t ready in time for recording, however, so the manufacturer (John Taylor Bellfounders) arranged for them to record a similar bell at a nearby church. According to engineer Tony Platt, that didn’t go well, as there were birds living in the bell, so when they rang it they also got the fluttering of wings (the birds would retreat back inside the bell after the toll).
They decided to use the bell that was in production, so they borrowed a mobile recording unit owned by Ronnie Laine and wheeled it into the foundry. The bell was hung on a block and tackle and struck by the man who built it.
Because of the harmonics, bells are not easy to record, so Platt placed about 15 microphones with various dynamics in different locations around the foundry to record the sounds. Once it was on tape, Platt brought the recordings to Electric Lady Studios in New York, where he and producer Mutt Lange chose the right combination of bell sounds, put a mix together, and slowed it down to half speed so the one-ton bell would sound like a more ominous two-ton bell. This was integrated into the mix, and the song was completed. Listeners with very sharp ears will notice that the bell when chimed live is an octave higher than than it is on the recording.
This was one of the first songs regularly played as entrance music for a Major League Baseball relief pitcher. In the ’90s, the bells signaled the entrance of San Diego Padres relief pitcher Trevor Hoffman. This bit of home team intimidation was copied throughout the league, most famously by the New York Yankees, who appropriated Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” as Mariano Rivera’s entrance music.
The concept of relief pitcher entrance music was introduced in the 1989 movie Major League, where Charlie Sheen’s character comes in to “Wild Thing” by The Troggs. A few years later, The Philadelphia Phillies played that song when their pitcher Mitch Williams would come in from the bullpen.
There is an all-female AC/DC tribute band in Seattle called Hell’s Belles.
The term “Hell’s Bells” is an exclamation of surprise, although in the context of this song, it is used to conjure up images of the underworld and the feeling of raising hell – something Bon Scott was known for.
The album was produced by John “Mutt” Lange, who also helmed the previous AC/DC album, Highway to Hell. Lange went on quite a run after Back In Black, producing the Foreigner album 4 (1981) and the Def Leppard albums High ‘N’ Dry (1981) and Pyromania (1983).
At University of North Carolina football games, this song is played at the start of the fourth quarter.
Johnson told Q magazine how this song played a part in rescuing imprisoned Black Hawk Down pilot Michael Durant following the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993. He recalled: “That was the best one. He was shoved in prison, his back was broken. They were kicking him, shooting bullets into him and he was terrified. His pals knew that AC/DC was his favorite band so they hooked up a speaker to the skid of one of the Black Hawks and they were playing ‘Hells Bells’ over the rooftops. He took his shirt off and- cos his legs were broken- he crawled up to the windows and waved his shirt. That’s how they got him out. Ain’t that amazing!”
Since this song specifically is a tribute to the late Bon Scott, it’s probably a good idea to mention that a statue of him was unveiled in 2008 in Fremantle, Western Australia. Here’s a little video tour of the statue.
At the same time, as soon as the first lyric is heard, it is unmistakable that the band could not have found a better replacement than Brian Johnson. Johnson puts a manic rage into every syllable and an unearthly howl on the chorus, making a song with scarily sacrilegious lyrics even scarier. By the way, that hat he wears onstage was his brother’s idea, to help Brian Johnson keep the sweat out of his eyes. His brother loaned it to him and never got it back.
Four years after this song, Metallica released “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” which also opens with a bell. Theirs came from a sound effects library.
Hells Bells
I’m a rolling thunder, a pouring rain I’m comin’ on like a hurricane My lightning’s flashing across the sky You’re only young but you’re gonna die
I won’t take no prisoners, won’t spare no lives Nobody’s putting up a fight I got my bell, I’m gonna take you to hell I’m gonna get you, Satan get you
Hell’s bells Yeah, hell’s bells You got me ringing hell’s bells My temperature’s high, hell’s bells
I’ll give you black sensations up and down your spine If you’re into evil you’re a friend of mine See my white light flashing as I split the night Cause if good’s on the left, Then I’m stickin’ to the right
I won’t take no prisoners, won’t spare no lives Nobody’s puttin’ up a fight I got my bell, I’m gonna take you to hell I’m gonna get you, Satan get you
Hell’s bells Yeah, hell’s bells You got me ringing hell’s bells My temperature’s high, hell’s bells
Yeow
Hell’s bells, Satan’s comin’ to you Hell’s bells, he’s ringing them now Hell’s bells, the temperature’s high Hell’s bells, across the sky Hell’s bells, they’re takin’ you down Hell’s bells, they’re draggin’ you around Hell’s bells, gonna split the night Hell’s bells, there’s no way to fight, yeah
Bruce Hornsby is an excellent musician. I remember him breaking out in the mid eighties. He also played keyboards for the Grateful Dead off and on in the early nineties after the Dead’s keyboardist Brent Mydland. died.
It’s a strange song to become a #1 because it doesn’t have a big catchy chorus…instead it has a jazz feel that carries the song. When I heard it a couple of times I loved it.
Bruce Hornsby said this song deals with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The line in the lyrics that mentions “The law passed in ’64” is the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law was supposed to prohibit discrimination in public places, the government and employment.
The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, in Canada, #15 in the UK, and #23 in New Zealand in 1986. The song came off the album of the same name and it peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Charts. the album produced 3 songs in the top twenty.
Bruce Hornsby on growing up in Virginia: “My mother came from the New England area, and she was a little more enlightened about racial subjects than a lot of people in the South. So I had a different attitude to a lot of my friends whose parents were more conservative.”
When I was brought up, the vibe I got of Martin Luther King in my town was that he was a real evil man – just the vibe in the air, that he was terrible. And if you grow up in that environment you can’t help but be affected by it a little bit. Luckily, I came from a family that guarded us against that conservatism, but sure, I grew up in the thick of all that bad feeling.”
From Songfacts
The lyrics in this song deal with the need to resist complacency and never resign yourself to racial injustice as the status quo.
With a consistent tempo and a jazz-inflected sound, it appealed to a more adult audience and added a welcome diversity to Top 40 playlists that were dominated by uptempo, synth-driven songs. It was a song grown-ups loved and their kids could tolerate, reaching the top of both the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts.
Hornsby had been working as a staff songwriter for years with no luck getting a record deal. With his attempts to appeal to popular taste falling short, he decided to make a demo of songs in his own style – ECM jazz – and included this track. He sent the demo to a new label called Windham Hill, which specialized in vocal groups. They offered him a deal, but so did some major labels that also got a hold of it. Hornsby signed with RCA because they offered him creative freedom. They were rewarded when this song and the album became huge hits.
The conservative radio host Sean Hannity used an instrumental portion of this song as his show’s theme for many years. Hornsby, a liberal democrat, had vastly different political views, but there was nothing he could do about Hannity using the song as long as royalties were paid.
The Way It is
Standing in line, marking time Waiting for the welfare dime ‘Cause they can’t buy a job The man in the silk suit hurries by As he catches the poor old ladies’ eyes Just for fun he says, “get a job”
That’s just the way it is Some things will never change That’s just the way it is Ah, but don’t you believe them
Said, hey little boy you can’t go where the others go ‘Cause you don’t look like they do Said, hey old man how can you stand To think that way Did you really think about it Before you made the rules?
He said, “son That’s just the way it is Some things will never change That’s just the way it is Ah, but don’t you believe them”
Oh yeah
(That’s just the way it is)
(That’s just the way it is) well, they passed a law in ’64 To give those who ain’t got a little more But it only goes so far Because the law don’t change another’s mind When all it sees at the hiring time Is the line on the color bar, no, no
That’s just the way it is And some things will never change That’s just the way it is That’s just the way it is, it is, it is, it is
I heard this song in Jr High and couldn’t help but like it. It has a very good melody and is a really good pop song.
The song was written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson and was on the album Famous Last Words in 1982. The album peaked at #5 in the Billboard album charts, #1 in Canada, and #6 in the UK in 1982.
The song peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100, #4 in Canada, and #26 in the UK
At the end of the song they repeat a nursery rhyme called “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”.
Roger Hodgson: I wrote It’s Raining Again on a day when I was feeling sad because I’d lost a friend. I was in England looking outside the window and it was pouring rain and literally, the song came to me. I started playing these chords on this pump organ and I just started singing It’s Raining Again.
The first version of it was much slower and more melancholy and then when I recorded it with Supertramp I decided to increase the tempo and it was more upbeat.So it’s another of my songs witha sad lyric set to up upbeat melody.
The five members of Supertramp all appear in the video. At the beginning, John Helliwell is a street musician playing an alto saxophone. Before the first chorus, Dougie Thomson appears as the bus driver (this was the last filmed video where Thomson would appear with his then trademark moustache and beard). Hodgson plays the guitar-playing bus passenger. Lastly, Rick Davies and Bob Siebenberg play the two pickup truck rednecks.
It’s Raining Again
It’s raining again Oh no, my love’s at an end. Oh no, it’s raining again and you know it’s hard to pretend. Oh no, it’s raining again Too bad I’m losing a friend. Oh no, it’s raining again Oh will my heart ever mend. Oh no, it’s raining again You’re old enough some people say To read the signs and walk away It’s only time that heals the pain And makes the sun come out again It’s raining again Oh no, my love’s at an end. Oh no, it’s raining again Too bad I’m losing a friend.
C’mon you little fighter No need to get uptighter C’mon you little fighter And get back up again Oh get back up again Fill your heart again…
I like original people…Andy was that completely. This post is a little long…for me.
He covered the bases…Mighty Mouse, Foreign Man, wrestling women, Elvis Impersonator (I think the best), Tony Clifton, bongo player, Great Gatsby reader and generally pissing people off, boring them or making them laugh. He was a performance artist – a comedian who sometimes was uncomfortable to watch but great as well. He was not a joke comedian…not remotely close.
I remember seeing him on a clip from the Tonight Show… as the very innocent childlike foreign man talking for a while and doing terrible celebrity impersonations and then suddenly shedding that character like a used coat and did Elvis impersonation…no, he WAS Elvis… I’ve read where Elvis said that Andy was his favorite impersonator but whether that is true or not I don’t know.
His first SNL performance… All he did was to get on stage with a record player playing the “Mighty Mouse” theme and mime along in certain spots. He made it work. He was only doing what he did growing up alone in his room as a child…he translated that to a national audience.
He loved to be the bad guy… At his performances, he would sometimes threaten to read the Great Gatsby…the complete book…just to piss everyone off…He would read a chapter or so and then ask the crowd if they wanted to hear some music from his record player….the audience, thinking of Mighty Mouse would applaud and he then would start playing a record of him reading The Great Gatsby from where he left off right before.
Andy grew up loving wrestling. After he achieved his fame he started to wrestle…wrestle women. I’m sure many people at the time were baffled.
That led to the infamous guest shot on The David Letterman Show with wrestler Jerry Lawler in 1982. Jerry slapped Andy off a chair who had a neck brace on already…at the time people really bought into it. Lawler says he still gets hate mail to this day from people who think he caused Andy’s death. Of course, both planned this and they were friends.
A couple of years before his death he made a film with Fred Blassie… a wrestler Andy admired. He filmed it at a restaurant and called it “Breakfast with Blassie.”
Andy once played Carnegie Hall and took the entire audience out afterward for milk and cookies. Being Andy, some probably didn’t believe it but he had 20 buses waiting outside for them and they all went to have milk and cookies.
He will be remembered best for Taxi and his character Latka Gravas. It amazes me that he was on Taxi…that he was on any normal show…though Taxi was great…It worked out well that they found a place for Andy’s foreign man character…but Andy wasn’t always happy being on the show.
He also had an alter ego character he played called Tony Clifton. Tony was a loud, obnoxious. sleazy lounge singer that would rip the audience. Usually, the person getting ripped was Andy’s writing partner and friend Bob Zmuda. Later on, to really mess with people’s minds…Andy had Bob to play Tony Clifton and they would appear together. “Tony Clifton” even got himself thrown off of the Taxi set.
Some people loved Andy, some hated him, some thought he was irritating and some all three. I just appreciated the fact he was different.
Andy died in 1984…or did he? Bob Zmuda has said that Andy did say he was going to fake his death and said that he actually helped Andy plan it. More people have come forward saying the same thing. Every few years we get an Andy sighting in Albuquerque or somewhere else. No, I don’t believe he did fake it…but hey I would love if he popped up well and alive anytime in the future. The world needs original people. You know he would be loving the rumors about him being alive…if he is alive or not.
REM had a song that was based on Andy called Man on the Moon. It was about questioning everything like the Moon landing, Elvis dying, religion, Andy dying and etc… from REM’s bassist Mike Mills “He’s the perfect ghost to lead you through this tour of questioning things. Did the moon landing really happen? Is Elvis really dead? He was kind of an ephemeral figure at that point so he was the perfect guy to tie all this stuff together as you journey through childhood and touchstones of life.”
In 1999 a movie called Man on the Moon starring Jim Carrey was released about Andy’s life. I went to see it when it came out and enjoyed it. I’m not sure how close Carrey got to Andy’s non-public side because of course, I didn’t know him. Marilu Henner said that he was a warmer person than the movie portrayed and Judd Hirsch said that while not performing, Andy was a very normal, quiet guy but Judd admits he really didn’t know him. I do think Carrey did a good job portraying him.
I like one of a kind people like Andy Kaufman and Keith Moon. Expect the unexpected…it keeps life interesting.
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