I’ve been a Sheryl Crow fan since I heard her first songs. The lyrics she writes with Jeff Trott are different than the usual pop song. Many of their songs are abstract which I like.
Crow wrote this with guitarist Jeff Trott and drummer Brian MacLeod during a six-month stay in New Orleans. The song shows an array of images to highlight what needs changing in someone’s life.
This song peaked at #1 in the Billboard US Adult Alternative Songs, #8 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1997.
If you want to check out something new Sheryl has done…check out this piece from Christian from christiansmusicmusings about Sheryl and Citizen Cope covering a Bill Withers song. A very good version of Lonely Town, Lonely Street.
In this song, she takes a gentle swipe at the Material Girl who inspired this verse…and a few others with:
Canine, feline, Jekyll and Hyde
Wear your fake fur on the inside
Queen of south beach, aging blues
Dinner’s at six, wear your cement shoes
I thought you were singing your heart out to me
Your lips were syncing and now I see
Jeff Trott: I don’t know how we were talking about Madonna, but the second verse of “A Change Would Do You Good” was directed at Madonna. “You wear your fake fur on the inside.” It’s been awhile. I can’t think of all the lyrics. But one of them was “Mercedes Ruehl and a rented Lear.”
“We were trying to come up with something like the Staple Singers. Mavis Staples is one of those legendary soul singer/songwriters, and Sheryl and I have this affinity for those old soul songs, Motown, stuff like that. We’re always trying to find those rare, rare songs for inspiration.”
Songfacts
The trio came up with so many lyric ideas that they decided to throw them all in a hat and draw them out, leading to a string of non-sequiturs that tie the song together. Trott said: “Sheryl just picked them out randomly and put them on a piece of paper, and we all read them. We all thought, ‘Whoa, this actually makes sense, even though it’s so oblique and completely abstract.’ So, we put this thing together and tried to keep the order pretty close, just swapping a couple of the lines to make more sense.”
So, a change would do who good? According to Trott, the first verse is about producer Bill Bottrell, who walked out on the making of the album. While the lyrics are biting, Trott says it was all in fun. “She had a little bit of resentment towards him, but not in a harsh way, but in a playful kind of way.”
He’s a platinum canary, drinkin’ Falstaff beer
Mercedes Ruehl, and a rented Lear
Bottom feeder insincere
Prophet lo-fi pioneer
The above lyrics are often misquoted, but Trott confirmed they indeed reference Mercedes Ruehl. The Academy Award-winning actress also starred in the 1999 thriller The Minus Man, in which Crow made her debut film appearance.
After some convincing, Crow agreed to make the last verse about herself:
I’ve been thinking ’bout catching a train
Leave my phone machine by the radar range
Hello it’s me, I’m not at home
If you’d like to reach me, leave me alone
Three music videos were made. The first, a black-and-white clip directed by Crow and Lance Acord, shows the singer both performing out on the street and tossing her belongings out of a window in the background.
The star-studded second video, directed by Michel Gondry, has Crow magically manipulating characters’ lives, loosely inspired by the classic sitcom Bewitched. Cameos include Mary Lynn Rajskub, Heather Matarazzo, Jeff Garlin, Ellen DeGeneres, Molly Shannon, Andy Dick and Toby Huss.
The third video consists of footage from a live VH1 performance.
This was covered by Dean Geyer and Lea Michele on the 2012 Glee episode “Makeover.”
A Change Would Do You Good
Ten years living in a paper bag, Feedback baby, he’s a flipped out cat, He’s a platinum canary, drinkin’ Falstaff beer, Mercedes rule, and a rented leer.
Bottom feeder insincere, High fed low fat pioneer, Sell the house and go to school. Pretty young girlfriend, daddy’s jewel.
A change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good, (A change would do you good) I think a change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good. (A change would do you good)
God’s little gift is on the rag, Poster girl posing in a fashion mag, Canine, feline, Jekyll and Hyde? Wear your fake fur on the inside.
Queen of south beach, aging blues, Dinners at six, wear your cement shoes, I thought you were singing your heart out to me, Your lips were singing and now I see.
A change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good, (A change would do you good) I think a change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good. (A change would do you good)
A change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good, (A change would do you good) I think a change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good. (A change would do you good)
Chasing dragons with plastic swords, Jack off jimmy everybody wants more, Scully and angel on the kitchen floor, And I’m calling buddy on the ouija board.
I’ve been thinking ’bout catching a train, Leave my phone machine by the radar range, “Hello it’s me, I’m not at home, If you’d like to reach me, leave me alone”
A change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good, (A change would do you good)
“Hello it’s me, I’m not at home, If you’d like to reach me, leave me alone”
A change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good, (A change would do you good) I think a change, (A change would do you good) Would do you good. (A change would do you good)
I heard this song in a movie called The Matchmaker and I liked the song better than the movie. A great song that was a hit but not for World Party, unfortunately. When I listen to the song I think of Jeff Lynn.
World Party began as an outlet for the pop of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger, previously best known for his tenure with the Waterboys. He grew up with the Beatles and Motown as influences. World Party released this song in 1997 on their Egyptology album.
Robbie Willams covered the song in 1998 and took it to number 1 in 1999 in the UK charts. The song’s producer, Guy Chambers, used World Party’s touring band to perform the backing track for Williams, resulting in an identical sounding cover.
World Party’s frontman and songwriter Karl Wallinger was not made aware that a soundalike cover was going to be released using his own band. When the song became a hit, Wallinger stated that he experienced “ongoing bitterness”, going on to state, “The song had a much better time than me, popping off to the Brits while I was at home eating crackers dipped in water”
Williams often claims it is one of the best songs he’s ever written, despite not actually having written the song. This culminated in a telephone outburst from the song’s actual writer, Wallinger, to Chambers, stating “Your fucking friend Robbie Williams. Tell him from me that he’s a c**t”
She’s The One
I was her She was me We were one We were free And if there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one
We were young We were wrong We were fun All along And If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one
When you get to where you want to go And you know the things you want to know You’re smiling When you said what you want to say And you know the way you want to play it You’ll be so high you’ll be flying.
Tho’ the sea Will be strong I know we’ll Carry on Cos if there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one
When you get to where you want to go And you know the things you want to know You’re smiling When you said what you want to say And you know the way you want to play it You’ll be so high you’ll be flying.
I was her She was me We were one We were free And if there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one She’s the one If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one She’s the one If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one She’s the one If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one She’s the one If there’s somebody calling me on She’s the one She’s the one If there’s sombody calling me on She’s the one
I had a lot of comedy albums growing up and these were my favorites.
10: Steve Martin – His Wild and Crazy album, Let’s Get Small, and Comedy is Not Pretty stayed on my turntable forever.
9: Sam Kinison – His routine of Are You Lonesome Tonight is worthy enough to have him on this list.
8: Chris Rock – I followed him from SNL on.
7: Eddie Murphy – His eighties standup videos are still staples of the era.
6: Bob Newhart – If you like dry humor…this is your man.
5: George Carlin – Carlin was just so cool. His routines are well known now. He was topical and many of the things he expressed are true today. He was also on the first SNL episode.
4: Woody Allen – He had a wit as quick as you could get. His stand up from the sixties is outstanding. I had a friend with a lot of his standup routines that we listened to in the 80s.
3: Robin Williams/Jonathan Winters – Williams and Winters were very similar because Winters was a huge influence on Robin Williams. They could pick any subject and make it funny.
2: Bill Hicks –NOT family-friendly. Bill was as dark as they come but he made you think whether you agreed with him or not. He will offend EVERYONE… I like Denis Leary but Leary got a lot of his material from Hicks and cleaned it up. It can get uncomfortable listening to Bill…maybe that is the reason I liked him.
1: Richard Pryor – Richard was a game-changer…I had his albums growing up and he changed stand up comedy. He can make me laugh at any time.
Honorable Mention: Albert Brooks, Lily Tomlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Klein, Joan Rivers, and Denis Leary.
***One comedian, I never understood…maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up in his time. He had an interesting story but I just never got Lenny Bruce. I find his material once in a while funny but many lists have him as number 1 or 2. Yes, he did make a huge impact on his profession like few others but I just don’t get him like some do.
It’s unbelievable how close this famous movie prop came to being lost.
The model used in the film along with some other props were thought to be garbage after the movie finished filming.
Many of the props were kept in a facility called Dollar Moving and Storage. The storage unit was rented by the studio and upon completion of postproduction, the studio decided they no longer wanted to pay rent and ordered everything in storage to be discarded. An employee named Doug W. rescued many of the props from the garbage including the Death Star. In a world before ebay…who knows what was lost.
Doug displayed the Death Star in his home in California for about a decade. Around 1988, Doug moved to Missouri and stored the Death Star at his mother’s antique shop (Sutter’s Mill Antiques, later renamed The Mexican Hillbilly) in Missouri.
Todd Franklin, a Star Wars collector living in the area, drove by the antique shop and was immediately convinced it had to be the original Death Star model. Todd wondered how and why the original Death Star was in Missouri. He made some calls and was convinced it was the one. He was going to buy it but before he got back it was sold to another person named Mark who was the owner of a country and western music show called Star World. Mark displayed the Death Star in the lobby.
In 1994 Todd, his brother Pat, and friend Tim Williams traveled to Star World who was going out of business. The Death Star was being used as a trash can in the corner! Todd made an offer and bought it on the spot. All three owned it and contacted Lucasfilm but they did not want to buy it back.
In 1999 Gus Lopez contacted Todd, Pat, and Tim and negotiated a price. Now, Gus owns the famous Death Star.
Since then, Lopez has had the original Death Star on display in a custom-made case in his home, and he even loaned it to the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle (though Lopez refers to it by its former name: the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum) for a five-year stint.
Gus Lopez: “The EMP gave it top billing in the museum with a prominent spot at the center of one of the main rooms. I got a kick out of reading about the Death Star in local tourist literature and walking by the Death Star on display at the museum to hear conversations from people telling their stories about what Star Wars meant to them. And now the Death Star is back home, where I see it every day. And when I look at it, I am still amazed it survived its long journey and is sitting right in front of me.”
I remember this song in the 90s and never knew much about the song or band. It does have a catchy hook. The song was released to radio and MTV, but in the interest of album sales, it was not sold as a single. This made the song ineligible for the Billboard Hot 100 but pushed sales of their debut album Lemon Parade past one million. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts in 1997.
Tonic frontman Emerson Hart wrote this song after a tense phone call with his mother. Hart was 21 years old and planning to get married – not what his mother had in mind. She tried to talk him out of it, but you can’t argue with love. Emerson told her: “If you could only see the way she loves me, then maybe you would understand,” and then he hung up.
In the end, his mother was right: it didn’t work out with the girl and they never got married.
From Songfacts
This was Tonic’s first single, but it almost didn’t make the album. The band got a deal with Polydor Records after playing clubs for a few years in the Los Angeles area. When it came time to record their debut album, Emerson Hart wasn’t sure if they should use “If You Could Only See,” since it was a very vulnerable song and he wasn’t sure how it would be received. Polydor, however, loved it and made sure it was the debut single.
The song made #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart and received very consistent airplay – it lasted an astonishing 63 weeks on the Airplay chart, peaking at #11 in December 1997, long after it had been released.
Tonic had a minor hit with “Open Up Your Eyes” (#68 Airplay), but never came close to matching “If You Could Only See.”
The music video finds Emerson Hart searching desperately for the girl who is being kept away from him. It was directed by Ramaa Mosley, whose other credits include the Creed videos for “What’s This Life For” and “Higher,” and the movie The Brass Teapot.
Mosley looked to French cinema for inspiration – notably the 1960 film Breathless and 1963 movie Contempt. “I started envisioning this combination of a love story mixed with this kind of communist oppression,” she said in her Songfacts interview. “I locked myself in my house and listened to the song hundreds of times and the story just kept building.”
If You Could Only See
If you could only see the way she loves me Then maybe you would understand Why I feel this way about our love And what I must do If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says
When she says she loves me Well you got your reasons And you got your lies And you got your manipulations They cut me down to size Sayin’ you love but you don’t You give your love but you won’t If you could only see the way she loves me
Then maybe you would understand Why I feel this way about our love And what I must do If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says
When she says she loves me Seems the road less traveled Show’s happiness unraveled And you got to take a little dirt
To keep what you love That’s what you gotta do Sayin’ you love but you don’t You give your love but you won’t You’re stretching out your arms to something that’s just not there
Sayin’ you love where you stand Give your heart when you can If you could only see the way she loves me Then maybe you would understand Why I feel this way about our love And what I must do If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says When she says she loves me
Sayin’ you love but you don’t You give your love but you won’t Sayin’ you love where you stand Give your heart when you can
If you could only see the way she loves me Then maybe you would understand Why I feel this way about or love And what I must do If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says When she says she loves me
This song had a resurgence in the 90s because of the movie Pulp Fiction. Urge Overkill did a cover that was included in the movie and soundtrack.
Neil Diamond is protective of his songs, initially refused to let Tarantino use it as he hated the violent script. However, he was probably glad he relented as the success of the song put Diamond back on the radar after a period when he wasn’t having hits. Urge Overkill’s version reached #37 in the UK, and Diamond’s back catalog got a huge bump in sales.
Urge Overkill didn’t fare as well. After serving as the opening act for both Nirvana and Pearl Jam, they got a major label deal with Geffen Records and released the album Saturation. Their next album flopped, and they disbanded in 1997. They reformed in 2004 and have performed from time to time.
The song peaked at #10 in the Billboard 100 in 1967. For Urge Overkill it peaked at #59 in the Billboard 100, #37 in the UK, and #19 in New Zealand in 1994.
From Songfacts
Diamond wrote this one for the ladies, which made up most of his fan base. David Wild wrote in his book He Is…I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond, “When Diamond first recorded the slow, seductively sensitive song in 1967, it solidified his growing connection with his female fan base, many of whom are apparently still following him all these years later, even if they are no longer properly addressed as ‘girl.’ Diamond has said that the song was written for all those teenaged girls who would show up at his earliest tour dates and vocally express their tremendous support.”
In 1994 a cover by alternative rock band Urge Overkill appeared prominently in Quentin Tarantino’s movie Pulp Fiction.
Tarantino recalled to Rolling Stone that he found the Urge Overkill version “on an EP in a little record store in Holland, so I picked it up and thought, ‘Wow, that’s a really cool track.’ And it just kept staying with me and staying with me. So then I worked the scene out with Uma [Thurman] and it ended up working fantastic, it became very iconic.”
Urge Overkill’s Eddie “King” Roeser recalled to Mojo magazine: “We did our version of ‘Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon’ from memory. The lyrics, I don’t even know if they go that way. It speeds up, the fills are all over the place, it’s out of tune.”
In addition to Pulp Fiction, these movies have used the song:
War Dogs (2016) The Upside of Anger (2005) Sorority Boys (2002)
And these TV series:
Supernatural (“Our Little World” – 2015) Friends (“The One with the Stoned Guy” – 1995) Family Ties (“The Fugitive: Part 1” – 1983)
Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon
Love you so much, can’t count all the ways I’d die for you girl, and all they can say is “He’s not your kind”
They never get tired of puttin’ me down And I never know when I come around What I’m gonna find Don’t let them make up your mind Don’t you know
Girl, you’ll be a woman soon Please come take my hand Girl, you’ll be a woman soon Soon you’ll need a man
I’ve been misunderstood for all of my life But what they’re sayin’, girl, just cuts like a knife “The boy’s no good”
Well, I finally found what I’ve been looking for But if they get the chance, they’ll end it for sure Sure they would Baby, I’ve done all I could It’s up to you
Girl, you’ll be a woman soon Please come take my hand Girl, you’ll be a woman soon Soon you’ll need a man
I could write pages on this show but I’ll keep it short.
I’ve covered a lot of cartoons but this one is special. This Simpsons is probably my favorite of all time. It has influenced countless TV shows. This show appealed to young and older audiences alike.
The Simpsons was created by Matt Groening, who thought of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks’s office. He named the characters after his own family members, substituting “Bart” for his own name. The family debuted as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. In 1989, the shorts were spun off into the series The Simpsons which debuted on December 17, 1989.
The family members’ animated bodies have changed shape a bit since, but they have not aged much, aside from shows that looked into characters’ futures. In fact, most people would agree that Matt Groening’s goofy humor hasn’t gotten old either.
The town of Springfield has a cast of characters that really made the show. You get to know them weekly from Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Disco Stu, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Moe Szyslak, Marge, Lisa, and the list goes on.
Other shows such as Family Guy, American Dad, and South Park were influenced by The Simpsons but they are cruder and use more shock value. Nothing wrong with that but I always thought the Simpsons was more clever. The two cartoons that I have really liked since the Simpsons started are King of the Hill and Futurama, the later also created by Groening.
In the early stages, the show revolved around the young Bart Simpson’s trouble-causing antics, making it appeal to a younger crowd. Over the years, however, the writers, which have included Conan O’Brien, found viewers responded more to the father figure Homer Simpson, and he became the show’s main character.
In 2007, the family finally made its way to theaters in the Simpsons Movie.
The Simpsons have ran for 31 seasons and nearly 700 episodes (676 as of this writing). The show is the longest-running scripted series in TV history.
A few of the Catchphrases that have worked into our everyday life.
Here is to better days to all of you…. in the New Year starting tomorrow.
On March 31, 1992, I purchased two albums by Bruce. Lucky Town and Human Touch…both albums released on the same day. I’ve always liked Lucky Town more than Human Touch. Better Days kicked off the album. It was originally released in the United States in March 1992 as a double A-side with “Human Touch”, and peaked at #16 on Billboard 100.
Bruce Springsteen: “With a young son and about to get married (for the last time) I was feelin’ like a happy guy who has his rough days rather than vice versa.”
From Songfacts
This was the only track from Lucky Town included on Springsteen’s 1995 Greatest Hits album.
This is the first track on Lucky Town, which was released the same day as Human Touch. Springsteen decided to do this after Guns N’ Roses simultaneously released their albums Use Your Illusion I and II.
Better Days
Well my soul checked out missing as I sat listening To the hours and minutes tickin’ away Yeah just sittin’ around waitin’ for my life to begin While it was all just slippin’ away I’m tired of waitin’ for tomorrow to come Or that train to come roarin’ round the bend I got a new suit of clothes a pretty red rose And a woman I can call my friend
These are better days baby Yeah there’s better days shining through These are better days baby Better days with a girl like you
Well I took a piss at fortune’s sweet kiss It’s like eatin’ caviar and dirt It’s a sad funny ending to find yourself pretending A rich man in a poor man’s shirt Now my ass was draggin’ when from a passin’ gypsy wagon Your heart like a diamond shone Tonight I’m layin’ in your arms carvin’ lucky charms Out of these hard luck bones
These are better days baby These are better days it true These are better days There’s better days shining through
Now a life of leisure and pirate’s treasure Don’t make much for tragedy But it’s a sad man my friend who’s livin’ in his own skin And can’t stand the company Every fool’s got a reason for feelin’ sorry for himself And turning his heart to stone Tonight this fool’s halfway to heaven and just a mile outta hell And I feel like I’m comin’ home
These are better days baby There’s better days shining through These are better days Better days with a girl like you
These are better days baby These are better days it’s true These are better days Better days are shining through
Stewart’s original version was released as a single with “Reason To Believe” as the B-side. Disc jockeys liked the flip side better and played “Maggie May” instead, which became the hit.
Rod did the song for MTV unplugged in 1993 and the song peaked at #19 in the Billboard 100 in 1993.
This was written by folk singer Tim Hardin, who originally recorded it in 1965 and performed it at Woodstock four years later. Hardin wrote some popular songs and was a very influential musician, but he had severe drug problems and died in December 1980 at age 39.
From Songfacts
At first listen, this song can seem rather sweet, but it’s anything but. The girl “lied straight-faced” while he cried, but still he can’t get over her. He knows if he gives her the chance, she’ll make him forget about it because he keeps looking for a reason to believe she’s not that kind of person.
Stewart released this again in 1993 as a live, acoustic version for MTV Unplugged. Appearing on the album Unplugged… and Seated, this is the version that charted.
Bobby Darin recorded a version of this in 1967.
The 1993 Unplugged version was recorded at an MTV special with Ron Wood, who played with Stewart in The Faces. It was the first time they performed it together in 22 years. Stewart commented that his wife at the time, Rachel Hunter, was one year old when it was first released.
Reason To Believe
If I listened long enough to you I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried Still I look to find a reason to believe
Someone like you makes it hard to live without Somebody else Someone like you makes it easy to give Never think about myself
If I gave you time to change my mind I’d find a way just to leave the past behind Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried Still I look to find a reason to believe
If I listened long enough to you I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried Still I look to find a reason to believe
Someone like you makes it hard to live without Somebody else Someone like you makes it easy to give Never think about myself
Someone like you makes it hard to live without Somebody else Someone like you makes it easy to give Never think about myself
Someone like you makes it hard to live without Somebody else Someone like you makes it easy to give Never think about myself
Someone like you makes it hard to live without Somebody else
Two FBI agents assigned to investigate cases for which there may be only paranormal explanations. Hailed by critics, the show was one of the network’s top-rated shows.
The show was heavily influenced by Kolchak, Twilight Zone, and Twin Peaks.
The X-Files was a show I didn’t miss in the 1990s. It was a superbly written science fiction show along with likable characters…Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. The series combined drama, science fiction, comedy, and an ongoing storyline. You could say the X-Files help define the 90s.
This episode won two Emmy Awards: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Boyle), and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
The X-Files – Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose
The Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Clyde Bruckman, The Puppet (as Stu Charno), Detective Cline, Detective Havez, Tarot Dealer, Madame Zelmas, Clerk
The Stupendous Yappi, Young Husband, and Photographer
The writers got the name “Clyde Bruckman” from a comedy writer that wrote for Buster Keaton in the 20s. He later fell on hard times and committed suicide in 1955.
Scully and Mulder are called into the investigation of a series of murders where the victims were all psychics of some sort. A tea leaf reader, tarot card reader and palm reader are all the apparent victims of a serial killer. The local police have brought in a well-known TV psychic that Mulder finds laughable. He does come across Clyde Bruckman, an insurance salesman who may be a genuine psychic. While Scully is appropriately skeptical, Mulder realizes that Bruckman can only see one thing – how people will die.
Clyde Bruckman is a grumpy old man with psychic powers that show him how someone will die assists the agents with the hunt for a crazed killer who targets psychics. He also cryptically reveals to Mulder and Scully their own ultimate fates
I really liked this song when it was released in 1997. Unfortunately what it’s remembered for is the royalties and credit that The Verve lost. Lead singer Richard Ashcroft wrote the lyrics but the credits also included Jagger and Richards. Allen Klein owned the publishing rights on all of the Stones songs until 1969.
The song peaked at #12 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in the UK in 1997. The trouble started when the Verve wanted to use a sample, an instrumental version of the Rolling Stones song “The Last Time” that had appeared on an album by the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra. It sounded nothing like The Last Time and was written by the arranger.
According to the book Allen Klein: The Man Who Bailed Out the Beatles, Made the Stones, and Transformed Rock & Roll, it states that The Verve’s manager offered Klein 15% of the publishing to obtain the rights for the sample. Klein turned him down flat, and when he realized that the Verve were sitting on a hit record they couldn’t release without a deal, he insisted on 100% of the publishing. The Verve gave in, since they really had no choice. Richard Ashcroft, who wrote the lyric, was given a flat fee of $1,000 and had to sign away his rights. “I was put under duress to sign away one of the greatest songs of all time.”
The end result was Klein make an enormous profit on the song every time it was purchased or used in a TV show, movie or commercial. Jagger and Richard still owned a percentage and their name was placed on the song. Jagger and Richards had both a payday and a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year which they had nothing to do with.
But there is a good ending. In 2019 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards signed over all their publishing for Bitter Sweet Symphony, which was the right thing for them to do. Jody Klein (Klein’s son) was part of the process.
Richard Ashcroft said this right after this happened:
It gives me great pleasure to announce as of last month Mick Jagger and Keith Richards agreed to give me their share of the song Bitter Sweet Symphony. This remarkable and life affirming turn of events was made possible by a kind and magnanimous gesture from Mick and Keith, who have also agreed that they are happy for the writing credit to exclude their names and all their royalties derived from the song they will now pass to me.
I would like to thank the main players in this, my management Steve Kutner and John Kennedy, the Stones manager Joyce Smyth and Jody Klein (for actually taking the call) lastly a huge unreserved heartfelt thanks and respect to Mick and Keith.
From Songfacts
At this point in his career, Ashcroft had learned that money and happiness were not synonymous. “People have been sold a lottery dream in life that money solves everyone’s problems,” he said in a Songfacts interview. “Suddenly you’re looking at people and you’re thinking: ‘I know they need X but if I give X then that relationship that should have died years ago is going to carry on and spoil.’ It opens up a myriad of things that you would never normally be thinking about, responsibilities on a new level.”
The famous orchestral riff incorporates a sample from an obscure instrumental version of the 1965 Rolling Stones song “The Last Time” by Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham, who included it on a 1966 album called The Rolling Stones Songbook (credited to The Andrew Oldham Orchestra). The Verve got permission to use the six-second sample from Decca Records, which owned the Oldham recording, but they also needed permission from the publisher of “The Last Time,” something they didn’t realize until after the album was completed.
So, with Urban Hymns ready to go and “Bitter Sweet Symphony” slated as the first single, Verve manager Jazz Summers tried to secure those rights, which belonged to Allen Klein’s company ABKCO. The Rolling Stones signed a very lopsided contract with Klein, who was their manager, early in their career, and had to make huge concessions in order to get out of it. Part of the deal gave Klein the publishing rights to all of the Stones’ songs they recorded through 1969.
“Try to make ends meet, you’re a slave to money, then you die”
Ashcroft’s father, Frank, was an office clerk, a dissatisfying job that earned him enough to get by. He died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 1982 when Richard was 11 and his sisters, Victoria and Laura, were very young.
“He worked nine to five and got nowhere,” Ashcroft told Select. “I immediately realized that wasn’t the life for me.”
The sample used in this song is one of many layers that make up the track. The opening section of the song isn’t a sample – it was arranged by Wil Malone – although it was based on those notes.
Nike used this in commercials as part of their 1998 “I Can” campaign, showing everyday athletes practicing with determination. The Verve were dead set against using their songs in commercials, but they didn’t control the publishing rights to this song: Allen Klein’s ABKCO company did. When ABKCO authorized the song, it gave Nike the right to re-record it with other musicians, so The Verve agreed to let their original recording be used so that wouldn’t happen.
Lyrically, the song stands in stark opposition to the sneaker-selling corporate monolith, but Nike used just the instrumental portion, which was in high demand, as Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and other big companies were vying to use it.
The Verve were reportedly paid $175,000, with ABKCO receiving much more. The group donated the money to the Red Cross Land Mine Appeal.
After the ad started running, the Urban Hymns album got a nice sales bump in America, giving the band lots of additional exposure in that country.
In Europe, the song was used under similar circumstances around the same time in ads for the car company Vauxhall.
This was the only American hit for The Verve, but they were far more popular in their native UK, where their next single, “The Drugs Don’t Work,” went to #1. The band broke up in 1999 and reformed in 2007, releasing the album Forth in 2008. Their previous albums were:
A Northern Soul – Released in 1995, it has a darker side. A Storm In Heaven – Released in 1993, a psychedelic rocker. No Come Down – A collection of the B-sides from A Storm in Heaven, released in 1994.
After Urban Hymns, their lead singer, Richard Ashcroft, launched a successful solo career.
Did you catch the play on words in the title?: Bitter Suite Symphony.
The video shows Ashcroft bumping into people as he walks down Hoxton Street, a crowded shopping area in London. It was inspired by the video for Massive Attack’s 1991 song “Unfinished Sympathy,” which was showed the singer walking down a street in a similar manner. The clip was directed by Walter Stern, who also did Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” promo.
Had The Verve retained publishing rights to this song, there’s a good chance it never would have become a hit in America. That’s because they wouldn’t have allowed it to be used in the Nike commercial, which is what introduced the song there.
The Verve tried to break into the American market in 1992 when they staged a publicity stunt, playing their song “A Man Called Sun” for a few hours from the back of a flatbed truck driving around New York City. But they couldn’t break through in America and put little effort into promoting Urban Hymns there.
When Nike started airing the commercial (it debuted during the NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers on January 11, 1998), radio stations added “Bitter Sweet Symphony” to their playlists, and MTV put the video in rotation. But the song wasn’t released as a single in America until March 10, when it had already peaked in popularity. It debuted at #13 on the Hot 100, peaked at #12 a week later and gradually climbed down the chart over the next 18 weeks.
Because this sampled the song from The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards got composer credits along with Richard Ashcroft. Upset that he lost the royalties, Ashcroft said this was “The best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years.”
This is featured at the pivotal end scene in the 1999 movie Cruel Intentions, where after Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) dies, his stepsister Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) gets her comeuppance. It is meant to portray Sebastian’s ups and downs in life: Kathryn’s cruel antics that nearly destroyed him and the beautiful girl (Reese Witherspoon) who showed him how to love and redeemed his life.
According to producer Neal Moritz, the song cost nearly a million dollars to clear, about 10% of their budget. When they found out the cost, they tried many other songs in its place, but none had the same impact.
We have yet to find an explanation why, but the Seattle Seahawks football team has been using this as their theme song since the mid-’00s. The song is certainly not a typical sports anthem, and has nothing to do with Seattle – a city with a rich musical history and many homegrown songs that seem more appropriate.
The Seahawks play the song when coming on to the field, so it could be heard at the three Super Bowls the team made: a loss to the Steelers in 2006, a win against the Broncos in 2014, and a loss to the Patriots in 2015 (the Pats came out to “Crazy Train”).
Details of the legal tussle surrounding this song aren’t clear-cut, as there was no court case to get it on record. It appears that David Whitaker, who did the string arrangement on the orchestral version of “The Last Time” that was sampled, got nothing. Andrew Loog Oldham, who produced that version, got in on the action after “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was released, and it’s unclear if he got a settlement.
As for the publishing rights to the “The Last Time,” those were administrated by ABKCO, but Allen Klein apparently was not the sole owner. According to an article in Mojo magazine, Klein got 9/24ths of the publishing, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards split 9/24ths, and 3/24ths went to Westminster Publishing, who were the Stones publishers early on. The takeaway here is that Jagger and Richards profited from the deal in a big way, which explains why they never had much to say about the lawsuit.
Another wrinkle: “The Last Time” is very similar to a 1955 song by The Staple Singers called “This May Be The Last Time,” but The Stones claimed it as their own.
In a statement released on May 23, 2019, Richard Ashcroft announced that Jagger and Richards had given him back “Bitter Sweet Symphony” royalties and The Stones duo also had their writing credits removed. The announcement coincided with Ashcroft receiving the Outstanding Contribution To British Music prize at the Ivor Novello Awards. Ashcroft says he can finally enjoy the song when he hears it played at football matches.
Bitter Sweet Symphony
Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony this life Trying to make ends meet, you’re a slave to the money then you die. I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah. No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change, but I’m here in my mold, I am here in my mold. But I’m a million different people from one day to the next I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
Well I never pray, But tonight I’m on my knees, yeah. I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah. I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now. But the airwaves are clean and there’s nobody singing to me now.
No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change, But I’m here in my mold, I am here in my mold. And I’m a million different people from one day to the next I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
(Well have you ever been down?) (I can’t change, I can’t change)
Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony this life. Trying to make ends meet, trying to find some money then you die. I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah. No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change, but I’m here in my mold, I am here in my mold. But I’m a million different people from one day to the next I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I can’t change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
It justs sex and violence melody and silence It justs sex and violence melody and silence (I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down) It’s just sex and violence melody and silence It’s just sex and violence melody and silence It’s just sex and violence melody and silence (I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down) (It’s just sex and violence melody and silence)Been down (Ever been down) (Ever been down) (Ever been down) (Ever been down) (Ever been down)
In 1995 “Roll to Me” peaked at #10 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada and #22 on the UK charts. One of the many power-pop songs of the 90s.
Ironically it was the band’s biggest hit and they did not like the song. Del Amitri toured the US when this became a hit, but they played the song reluctantly, often telling the audience that it was something they had to do. Del Amitri wasn’t able to get a foothold in the States, and this was their last hit there.
They are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Glasgow in 1980. In 2002 the band went on hiatus and reformed in 2014 and are now still together.
Roll to Me
Look around your world pretty baby Is it everything you hoped it’d be The wrong guy, the wrong situation The right time to roll to me
Roll to me
Look into your heart pretty baby Is it aching with some nameless need? Is there something wrong And you can’t put your finger on it? Right, then roll to me
And I don’t think I have ever seen A soul so in despair So if you want to talk the night through Guess who will be there?
So don’t try to deny it pretty baby You’ve been down so long you can hardly see When the engine’s stalled and it won’t stop raining It’s the right time to roll to me Roll to me Roll to me
And I don’t think I have ever seen A soul so in despair So if you want to talk the night through Guess who will be there?
So, Look around your world pretty baby Is it everything you hoped it’d be The wrong guy, the wrong situation The right time to roll to me The right time to roll to me The right time to roll to me…oooh
This is more of a question than a post…just curious what you think.
I was commenting on A Sound Day and I asked Dave a question on a post about Michael Hutchinson of INXS. Who was the last Rock Star? Since Kurt Cobain died has there really been a rock star like we knew in the 60s and 70s to come along? Not counting older ones still around.
When I say rock star…I mean one comparable to the legends that we know… Between 1955 and 1994 there were plenty to pick from…Elvis, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Elton John, Sly Stone, Roger Waters, Prince, and the list could go on…These artists spoke to generations.
So no… Nickleback’s lead singer would not count.
The only two names I could think of was Dave Grohl and Jack White of the White Stripes. Someone who is known outside the world of Rock and Roll. I’m not sure Grohl and White would count either.
This song peaked at #10 in the Billboard 100 in 1995. This remains Natalie’s highest-charted single thus far. This track from her first album Tigerlily and is what she calls her “New York song,” as it’s written about New York City.
Tigerlily peaked at #13 in 1995 in the Billboard Album Chart.
This is somewhat creepy… This song was played at the funeral of serial killer Aileen Wuornos as part of her final request. She had listened to the song and the entire album Tigerlily continually while on death row. When confronted with this, Natalie was initially shocked but gave permission to use the song in the documentary Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, saying that “It’s very odd to think of the places my music can go once it leaves my hands. If it gave her some solace, I have to be grateful.” Wuornos was also the subject of the film Monster.
From Songfacts
Merchant grew up in rural Jamestown, New York, which is in the western part of the state south of Buffalo. That’s where she formed 10,000 Maniacs in 1981, a group she was with until 1993 when she left to go solo.
Merchant explained in a VH1 Storytellers appearance: “‘Carnival’ really evokes for me what it’s like to walk down any avenue in the City. I grew up in the country, so the nearest thing I ever experienced to walking down the street in New York before I was 16 and I came here for the first time was a carnival – the Stockton Gala Days actually. I’d never seen people walking down the street eating before – that was a bizarre experience. We in the country sit down to take our meals – that just blew me away.
Something else I’d never seen before were the gentlemen with the two-sided placards that hand out invitations to peep shows, but I never seemed to get one – they always picked the guys around me. It’s an amazing city, but what I love about it even more than places like Los Angeles is that everybody at sometime has to deal with other people. It’s not a car culture here. I like that: people have to rub against each other. I like to take the subway, I like to study people’s faces, try to imagine their stories. In the song, I see the city as a stage, as a spectacle, as a carnival, and as a madhouse, because sometimes it is that, it’s a totally insane place to live. When I was 16 and I visited for the first time, I said, ‘I’m going to live here someday.’ You’ve got to be careful what you wish for because sometimes it comes true.”
Merchant performed this song, along with “Wonder,” on an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by David Schwimmer in 1995.
Carnival
Well, I’ve walked these streets A virtual stage, it seemed to me Makeup on their faces Actors took their places next to me
Well, I’ve walked these streets In a carnival, of sights to see All the cheap thrill seekers vendors and the dealers They crowded around me
Have I been blind have I been lost Inside myself and my own mind Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?
Well, I’ve walked these streets In a spectacle of wealth and poverty In the diamond markets the scarlet welcome carpet That they just rolled out for me
And I’ve walked these streets In the madhouse asylum they can be Where a wild-eyed misfit prophet On a traffic island stopped and he raved of saving me
Have I been blind, have I been lost Inside myself and my own mind Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen
Have I been wrong, have I been wise To shut my eyes and play along Hypnotized, paralyzed by what my eyes have found By what my eyes have seen What they have seen?
Have I been blind Have I been lost Have I been wrong Have I been wise Have I been strong Have I been hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have found In that great street carnival
Have I been blind Have I been lost Have I been wrong Have I been wise Have I been strong Have I been hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have found In that great street carnival
This was written by guitarist Doug Hopkins. He had problems with mental health and alcohol abuse and was fired from the band before this was released. He committed suicide on December 5, 1993. This song peaked at #25 in the Billboard 100 in 1994.
Gin Blossoms broke up in early 1997 but reunited in 2002. They still perform to this day but with some personnel changes. The band had a total of 4 songs in the Billboard 100 with 1 top ten hit… Follow You Down/Til I Hear It From You.
From Songfacts
The song is based on a compilation of episodes with several of Hopkins’ girlfriends: “I heard about nights out in the school yard. I found out about you.” – This has a double meaning. He found out about a girlfriend meeting another guy in a schoolyard and it is also where he and another girl swung on the swings and talked finding out about each other. “Street lights blink on through the car window. I get the time too often on A.M. radio.” – The group members hung around together and this particular line refers to a night when the girl from the swings was with Doug and Robin was driving. They were doing a lot of partying and were listening to the radio when the announcer said the time.
Found Out About You
All last summer in case you don’t recall I was your and you were mine forget it all Is there a line that I could write Sad enough to make you cry All the lines you wrote to me were lies The months roll past the love that you struck dead Did you love me? Only in my head. Things you said and did to me Seemed to come so easily The love I thought I’d won you give for free
Whispers at the bus stop Well I heard about nights at the school yard I found out about you
Rumours follow everywhere you go And when you left I was last to know You’re famous now and there’s no doubt In all the places you hang out They know your name and know what you’re about
Whispers at the bus stop I heard about nights out in the school yard I found out about you I found out about you
Street lights blink on through the car window I get the time too often on AM radio You know it’s all I think about I write your name drive past your house Your boyfriend’s over I watch your lights go out
Whispers at the bus stop I heard about nights out in the school yard I found out about you
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