1990s – Page 18 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Sling Blade

This 1996 movie is about a mentally challenged man from the South named Karl Childers who is in a mental hospital after he kills the town bully and his mom when he is 12 years old. He thought the man was taking advantage of his mom but she was encouraging it so he killed her also.

Karl is very southern, slow, absurd, sympathetic, and frightening. The movie was written, directed, and starred Billy Bob Thornton. Karl spends most of his life in the “nervous” hospital and is released with nowhere to go to. He goes back to the small town he was from and with the help of one sympathetic staff member he got a job at a small engine shop. He is great at repairing engines. He then makes friends with a young boy named Frank who has a single mom with a rather nasty boyfriend named Doyle Hargraves (Dwight Yoakam).

At first, you first meet Charles Bushman at the mental hospital in mostly a one-way conversation with Karl. Charles is beyond creepy and it’s an interesting character contrast between the two. They both killed other people and are institutionalized …Charles because he feels like he is entitled to kill and Karl because he thought he was protecting his mother and then she becomes a victim because he thought she was wrong in taking part in the affair.

Karl is likable and you do feel sympathetic to his situation. He grew up alone in an old shed outside of his parent’s house. He is basically dumped on society after 25 years in a mental hospital and you pull for him to make it through.

Karl sees things in very simplistic terms…in fact, he sees things better than some others. There is one scene that shows this best. Karl is called over to look at a tiller to see what is wrong with it…no one could figure out why the thing would not start after it was taken apart and put back together…Karl takes one look at it and said: “It ain’t got no gas in it”…

Billy Bob Thorton on who Karl was based on: “I was raised in a place where a guy who was kinda deformed, and couldn’t talk plain, was made to live out in back of his parents’ house. They fed him like a dog. The story was that the mother thought he came out the way he did — and he struggled, just to walk — his mother said she was scared by a snake when she was pregnant, and it caused him to come out like that — he was the devil’s child. It turned out he had polio. That’s all it was. That’s where I got the setup for where Karl comes from.

Here is the cast.

Billy Bob Thornton as Karl Childers

Dwight Yoakam as Doyle Hargraves

J. T. Walsh as Charles Bushman

John Ritter as Vaughan Cunningham

Lucas Black as Frank Wheatley

Natalie Canerday as Linda Wheatley

James Hampton as Jerry Woolridge

Robert Duvall as Karl’s father

Jim Jarmusch as Deke, the Frostee Cream employee

Vic Chesnutt as Terence

Brent Briscoe as Scooter Hodges

Mickey Jones as Johnson

From Wiki…Awards and Nominations

Academy Awards
- Won for Best Adapted Screenplay (Thornton)
- Nominated for Best Actor (Thornton)
Chicago Film Critics Awards
- Won for Best Actor (Thornton)
Edgar Awards
- Won for Best Motion Picture Screenplay (Thornton)
Independent Spirit Awards
- Won for Best First Feature
Kansas City Film Critics Awards
- Won for Best Actor (Thornton)
National Board of Review Awards
- Won for Special Achievement in Filmmaking (Thornton)
Satellite Awards
- Nominated for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Thornton)
- Nominated for Best Original Screenplay (Thornton)
Screen Actors Guild Awards
- Nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
- Nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Thornton)
Writers Guild of America Awards
- Won for Best Adapted Screenplay (Thornton)
Young Artist Award
- Won for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film (Black)
YoungStar Award
- Won for Best Young Actor in a Drama Film (Black)

Tom Petty – You Don’t Know How It Feels

I remember seeing the video and MTV would play the version with the word “joint” in reversed…like people would wonder what Tom was rolling. Another version I heard on the radio was… instead of “roll another joint” it was “hit another joint”… which is…worse?

“The strangest thing happened. I wrote this song not thinking that it was controversial in any way and I nearly left this song off the album ’til the very end, and we put it on. Imagine my surprise when this song comes on television and they say, ‘Let’s roll another noojh,’ which sounded worse to me than joint. Because, I don’t know if you’ve ever had a noojh, but it sounds really wicked.”

I do miss Tom…

This song peaked at #13 in 1995 in the Billboard 100.

Tom Petty on this song: “Every blue moon or so, I might have a toke on somebody’s… cigarette. It’s an OK way to live your life, but it’s not to be advised. I’m not going to say it’s good or bad.

But I wrote this song a while back and I was trying to do this character in the song who was kind of down and looking for some company. And instead of having him say, ‘Let’s have another beer’ – they always have to have that in the song – I thought this guy should roll another joint.”

From Songfacts

“You don’t know how it feels to be me” is something many of us have said to seek empathy for our burdens. Typical of Petty’s songwriting, the lyric is couched in ambiguity, which could be the point: We don’t know how it feels to be him, so how can we possibly know what the song is about? It’s certainly not entirely autobiographical, at least literally, as Petty’s father was not born to rock – he was leery of his son’s career in music.

We’ll get to the point: marijuana had a little something to do with this song. Here’s what Petty said about it on his VH1 Storytellers special:

The video was directed by Phil Joanou. It’s one continuous shot, with the camera revolving around a microphone as all kinds of crazy stuff happens in the background, including a circus act and a bank robbery.

Tom Petty was one of MTV’s biggest stars, but they wouldn’t play the video as delivered because of the drug reference (sex and violence were generally OK on the network, but they were very sensitive about drugs). When the video aired, the word “joint” was reversed so it came out sounding like “noojh.”

Perhaps to atone, MTV awarded it Best Male Video at the VMAs.

This won a Grammy in 1995 for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. >>

The band performed this on Saturday Night Live when they were the musical guests November 19, 1994. Their drummer, Stan Lynch, had left the band, so Dave Grohl, who had not yet formed Foo Fighters, sat in for the performance. Steve Ferrone got the gig as Heartbreakers drummer a short time later.

You Don’t Know How It Feels

Let me run with you tonight
I’ll take you on a moonlight ride
There’s someone I used to see
But she don’t give a damn for me

But let me get to the point, let’s roll another joint
And turn the radio loud, I’m too alone to be proud
You don’t know how it feels
You don’t know how it feels to be me

People come, people go
Some grow young, some grow cold
I woke up in between
A memory and a dream

So let’s get to the point, let’s roll another joint
Let’s head on down the road
There’s somewhere I gotta go
And you don’t know how it feels
You don’t know how it feels to be me

My old man was born to rock
He’s still tryin’ to beat the clock
Think of me what you will
I got a little space to fill

So let’s get to the point, let’s roll another joint
Let’s head on down the road
There’s somewhere I gotta go
And you don’t know how it feels
No, you don’t know how it feels to be me

Dwight Yoakam – Ain’t That Lonely Yet

I was forced to listen to country music at work around this time…but this one and other songs off of the album Time I really liked. It crossed over to pop/rock stations also. I always liked bitter breakup songs like this one.

It peaked at #2 in the Hot Country Songs Chart in 1993… It also peaked at #2 on the “US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles” Charts (way too many charts) and #3 on the Canada Country Tracks.

The song was written by James House and Kostas Lazarides.

From Songfacts

This tale of a girl trying in vain to win back her ex was written by Greek-born songwriter, Kostas (Patti Loveless’ “I Can Love You Better”) and country artist James House (Martina McBride’s “A Broken Wing”).

House told American Songwriter the story of the song.

“We had already been working on another song idea for a couple of hours but it had gotten stale so we decided to take a break,” he said. “We started talking and Kostas asked me if I was going to get back together with my estranged girlfriend and I said, ‘I ain’t that lonely yet,’ and we looked at each other and said, ‘let’s write that’.”

“I grabbed my guitar and started singing the verse melody and Kostas was furiously writing lyrics,” House continued. “After 10 or 15 minutes he sang the first verse to the melody I was playing. The chorus fell out of him as we were jamming it out. I knew it was a special song when Kostas looked up with a smile and sang the lyric about the spider in my bed. You know you’re onto something when the lyrics are coming as fast as you can write them, I think there were four or five more verses that we didn’t use.”

The song was recorded by Dwight Yoakam and released as the lead-off single to his This Time album.

“Kostas was writing with Dwight a couple of weeks later and played him the cassette work demo we did,” House recalled. “If I remember right it was recorded fairly soon and released within a couple of months.”

The song earned Yoakam his first Grammy award, which he won for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.

Ain’t That Lonely Yet

You keep calling me on the telephone
You say you’re all alone
Well that’s real sad

And you keep leavin’
Notes stuck on my door
Guess you’re hungry for some more
Girl that’s too bad

‘Cause I ain’t that lonely yet
No I ain’t that lonely yet
After what you put me through
I ain’t that lonely yet

Once there was this spider in my bed
I got caught up in her web
Of love and lies

She spun her chains around my heart and soul
Never to let go
Oh but I survived

‘Cause I ain’t that lonely yet
No I ain’t that lonely yet
After what you put me through
I ain’t that lonely yet

There’s nothing left that you can do
To try and bring me ’round
‘Cause everything you do
Just brings me down

‘Cause I ain’t that lonely yet
No I ain’t that lonely yet
After what you put me through
I ain’t that lonely yet

‘Cause I ain’t that lonely yet
No I ain’t that lonely yet
After what you put me through
No I ain’t that lonely yet

‘Cause I ain’t that lonely yet
No I ain’t that lonely yet
After what you put me through
No I ain’t that lonely yet
‘Cause I ain’t that lonely yet
No I ain’t that lonely yet

Natalie Merchant – Wonder

Natalie has a unique voice and a style of her own. I saw her in the 80s with 10,000 Maniacs and they were great.

When she was a teenager, Natalie Merchant worked at a day camp for special needs children, many of whom had been institutionalized since infancy and abandoned by their parents. This song was inspired by that experience.

The song peaked at #20 in the Billboard 100 and #10 in Canada in1996. Wonder was on the album Tigerlily that peaked at #13 in Billboard album charts in1995.

From Songfacts

She explained on a VH1 Storytellers appearance: “When I was 13 years old, we’re talking 1976, I spent my summer working as a volunteer for a bunch of hippies, basically, that got a seed grant from the Carter administration, which had a lot of really wonderful programs for the arts. These people started a day camp for handicapped children, and I worked for them the whole summer. A lot of these children were institutionalized – their parents had left the scene a long time ago. They didn’t function so well in a conventional sense, but it seems that a lot of the children had developed like a private language or new senses so they could navigate through the world, especially the blind and the deaf children that we worked with.

From an early age, I had that contact with children who had special needs. I had lost my fear of intimacy with them – especially with Down syndrome kids, they could be really unpredictable and up to that point I had been a little frightened of them. I maintained some of the friendships with those kids and I was always open to meeting children with special needs. So when I wrote the song ‘Wonder,’ I wrote the song about a woman who was born with handicaps that seemed insurmountable, but she did overcome them, greatly because she had a loving family, especially her adoptive mother – she had been given up to an institution at birth.”

This is a very meaningful song to many people who grew up with special needs and their caretakers. The song views these people as “wonders,” with doctors having no explanation for their condition, but seeing the work of God in the creation.

“I’ve met a lot of people through this song, and they’ve told me that they’ve taken it on as their song, that it describes them,” Merchant said. “It describes their strengths in spite of what others would see as deficiencies.”

Natalie Merchant performed this song, along with “Carnival,” on an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by David Schwimmer in 1995.

Wonder

Doctors have come from distant cities, just to see me
Stand over my bed, disbelieving what they’re seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as they see, they can offer
No explanation

Newspapers ask intimate questions, want confessions
They reach into my head to steal, the glory of my story

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as they see, they can offer
No explanation

Ooo, I believe, fate, fate smiled
And destiny laughed as she came to my cradle
Know this child will be able
Laughed as my body she lifted
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience, and with faith
She’ll make her way, she’ll make her way

People see me I’m a challenge to your balance
I’m over your heads how I confound you
And astound you
To know I must be one of the wonders

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as they see, they can offer
No explanation

Ooo, I believe, fate, fate smiled
And destiny laughed as she came to my cradle
Know this child will be able
Laughed as she came to my mother
Know this child will not suffer
Laughed as my body she lifted
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience and with faith
She’ll make her way, she’ll make her way

Fastball – Fire Escape

I liked this group the first time I heard them. This song was released right after “The Way” and I’ve always been partial to songs played in variations of the D chord like this one, Here Comes The Sun, and If I Needed Someone by the Beatles.

This song peaked at #10 on the Alternative Billboard Chart in 1998. The song has a jangling feel to it with good lyrics.

From Songfacts

In this song, a guy is trying to explain his true self, probably to a girl. He knows he doesn’t want to be Superman, and he’s not sure where he’s headed, so he settles on an abstract answer: he’ll be the rain falling on her fire escape. He’s more comprehensible at the end of the song: “I can be myself, how ’bout you?”

This was written and sung by Fastball guitarist Miles Zuniga, who along with Tony Scalzo did most of the songwriting in the band. It was released as the second single from the band’s breakthrough album All the Pain Money Can Buy, following their hit, “The Way.”

The video was directed by Francis Lawrence, whose credits include the films Constantine and I Am Legend, as well as videos for Audioslave (“Be Yourself”) and Lady Gaga (“Bad Romance”).

It’s one of the more unusual videos ever made: the band appear in it, but they’re all dead. It takes place in an home of an obsessed female fan who is getting ready for work, casually ignoring their corpses. At one point, a TV news program comes on and Access Hollywood host Pat O’Brien announces that the band has disappeared. “If anybody sees them, they might want to show them the way,” he says, referencing their hit song.

The video is all one shot (well, not really – there’s an edit when they go from a Steadicam to what is likely a crane), and breaks the fourth wall at the end when the woman breaks character and says, “Francis, I can’t work like this.”

The video was shot in Newhall, California on a sweltering hot day. According to Tony Scalzo, it took them about 10 takes to get it right. “The second-to-last one was almost perfect, and then the girl closed the door too fast and closed it on the camera, which upset everybody not just because the shot was ruined, but because it was a very expensive camera,” he told Songfacts. “It’s deathly hot. I’m in this bathtub so that’s okay. But I gotta lie upside down in the water with my face under water. Well, it took all day, but we finally got it and it came out a pretty creepy, weird video. The only other shots we had to do were us walking out of the house, looking stupid, and the live stuff where you see a performance video that’s on a TV in the house.”

Fire Escape

Well, I don’t wanna be President, Superman, or Clark Kent
I don’t wanna walk around in their shoes

‘Cause I don’t know whose side I’m on
I don’t know my right from wrong
I don’t know where I’m goin’ to
I don’t know about you
I’ll be the rain falling on your fire escape

And I may not be the man you want me to
I can be myself, how ’bout you?

I don’t wanna make you mad
I don’t wanna meet your dad
I don’t wanna be your dream come true
‘Cause I don’t know just what I’ve found

I don’t know my sky from ground
I don’t know where I’m goin’ to
I don’t know about you
I’ll be the rain falling on your fire escape

And I may not be the man you want me to
I can be myself, how ’bout you?

I’ll be the rain falling on your fire escape
And I may not be the man you want me to
I can be myself, how ’bout you?
I can be myself, how ’bout you?
I can be myself, how ’bout you?

Fastball – The Way

This song is based on the true story of Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple from Salado, Texas who drove to the annual Pioneer Day festival 10 miles away in Temple and didn’t return. She had Alzheimer’s disease and he was recovering from brain surgery.

When they disappeared, a reporter wrote a series of articles about the missing couple. Fastball bassist Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading the articles. “It’s a romanticized take on what happened,” he said. Scalzo pictured them “taking off to have fun like they did when they first met.”

Thirteen days after the Howards went missing, they were found in Hot Springs, Arkansas, about 400 miles from their destination; they were still in the vehicle, which had veered off the side of the road and was hidden in the brush. Scalzo had finished writing the song when he learned that the couple had died.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Alternative Charts in 1998. When I heard this band I thought they would be around for a while but I never heard much more from them. They did follow this song up with “Fire Escape” which I liked even better than this one.

From Songfacts

The song was released in February 1998 as the first single from Fastball’s second album, All The Pain Money Can Buy. The band was little known at the time, so it took a few months for the song to catch on, but by the summer of 1998 it was getting lots of airplay.

The keyboard figure that plays throughout this song was made with a Casio keyboard Tony Scalzo had. It was processed to loop around itself, creating a distinctive, but lo-fi sound.

The song opens with the sounds of an analog radio going up and down the dial, briefly tuning in stations amongst the static. When “The Way” starts, it’s as if the listener has found a song he likes and is going to give it a listen. For the first 40 seconds, the dynamics are restricted to simulate the limited frequency of a radio signal. At the line, “they drank up the wine,” the full range comes in.

The band didn’t put much thought into the radio collage: they simply put a microphone in front of a radio and turned the dial. The result is a sampling of Los Angeles radio in the summer of 1997. Most of it is indistinguishable chatter, but you can pretty clearly hear a split second of “Foolish Games” by Jewel in the mix – part of her line “in case you failed to notice.”

In a Songfacts interview with Tony Scalzo, he talked about writing this song while the Howard saga was unfolding. “I didn’t think it would be anything but an abstraction of their story, so I wasn’t really thinking about that,” he said. “Also, I wasn’t expecting it to be this massive song that everybody liked, so I was unfettered by any of those concepts.”

Guitarist Miles Zuniga is a big fan of ’50s music and drew inspiration from the hit “Secret Agent Man” for his solo.

This is a rather unusual song with a retro feel and lot of little sound effects incorporated into the mix. “There was this brief moment in time when people were having hits with really weird stuff,” Miles Zuniga said. “We got lucky that we came around at that time. Even two years later was too late.”

This was Fastball’s breakout hit, but it came on their second album. The group was signed to a major label, Hollywood Records (owned by Disney) and in 1996 released their debut, Make Your Mama Proud. It tanked, in part because the label was in disarray and gave it little promotional support. This story usually ends with the band getting dropped, but there was so much turnover at Hollywood Records that there was nobody to drop them, and they got to record a second album in the summer of 1997.

Once the album was recorded, there was no guarantee it would be released. One of the reps at the record company felt very strongly about “The Way” and took it to radio stations, which got lots of positive feedback from listeners when they played it. The song was clearly a hit, and about six weeks later the album was released.

In America, “The Way” wasn’t sold as a single, which was a ploy to force listeners to buy the album. It worked: All the Pain Money Can Buy sold over a million copies in the US.

This was a big song in the summer of 1998. It peaked on the Billboard Airplay chart at #5 on June 20 that year.

This song proved quite enduring, selling over 500,000 copies by 2014 after it was released digitally in 2003.

The music video was suitably abstract, with no allusion to the tragic story that inspired the song. It shows the band driving into the desert, arriving at a camper where dancers emerge, performing as the band plays the song.

It was directed by McG, who before directing films like Charlie’s Angels and Terminator Salvation did music videos, mostly for bands around his stomping grounds of Orange County, California. He also did most of the videos for Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth

The Way

They made up their minds and they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?
They drank up the wine and they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
And when the car broke down they started walking
Where were they going without ever knowing the way?
Anyone can see the road that they walk on is paved with gold
It’s always summer they’ll never get cold
They’ll never get hungry, they’ll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won’t make it home but they really don’t care
They wanted the highway, they’re happier there today, today
The children woke up and they couldn’t find ’em
They left before the sun came up that day
They just drove off and left it all behind ’em
Where were they going without ever knowing the way?
Anyone can see the road that they walk on is paved with gold
It’s always summer they’ll never get cold
They’ll never get hungry, they’ll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won’t make it home but they really don’t care
They wanted the highway, they’re happier there today, today
Anyone can see the road that they walk on is paved with gold
It’s always summer they’ll never get cold
They’ll never get hungry, they’ll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won’t make it home but they really don’t care
They wanted the highway, they’re happier there today, today

Tom Cochrane – Life Is A Highway

I remembered Cochrane from Red Rider and their hit Lunatic Fringe. “Life Is a Highway” is a song by Canadian-native Tom Cochrane. It is his only US Top-40 hit, reaching #6 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada in 1992. Cochrane is a celebrated artist within the Canadian music scene. His honors include seven Juno Awards, membership in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, being an Honorary Colonel in the Canadian Air Force, and having been inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame.

From Songfacts
Cochrane was also the frontman and chief songwriter for the group Red Rider for ten years and hit a few times with that group as well. Their best-known song in America is “Lunatic Fringe.”

This song was inspired by Cochrane’s trip to West Africa, where he was gaining exposure for the World Vision famine relief organization. He recalled to Jam! Music: “When I wrote that song after my first trip to Africa, which was just mind bending and soul-sapping, I was mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted and I really needed something to pull me out of this funk. I had this sketch that I had written and I ended up going into the studio and recorded it in an hour at seven in the morning.”

“The irony is that it was the most positive song I’d ever written, coming out of a pretty heavy experience. I needed a pep talk, and it became that for me and for millions of others.”

Cochrane devotes a great deal of his time to activism and causes, blending them together with his music, similar to artists such as Neil Young.

Since 1992, this song has had a near-continuous popularity thanks to heavy use in commercials. These include one for Cleveland, Ohio-based bank National City Corp and one for the NBC TV series VIPER. Before you say “car commercials,” that was different versions by other artists. It was most recently covered by Rascal Flatts who also got it to #7 on the Hot 100.

Rascal Flatts recorded a more kid-friendly version for the 2006 Disney movie Cars. The original version was used in the movies Cheaper by the Dozen and There Goes the Neighborhood.

Life Is A Highway

Life’s like a road that you travel on
When there’s one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There’s a world outside every darkened door
Where blues won’t haunt you anymore
Where the brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore
We won’t hesitate break down the garden gate
There’s not much time left today

Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you’re going my way
I want to drive it all night long

Through all these cities and all these towns
It’s in my blood and it’s all around
I love you now like I loved you then
This is the road and these are the hands
From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The Khyber pass to Vancouver’s lights
Knock me down get back up again
You’re in my blood I’m not a lonely man

There’s no load I can’t hold
Road so rough this I know
I’ll be there when the light comes in
Just tell ’em we’re survivors

Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you’re going my way
I want to drive it all night long

There was a distance between you and I
A misunderstanding once but now
We look it in the eye

There ain’t no load I can’t hold
Road so rough this I know
I’ll be there when the light comes in
Just tell ’em we’re survivors

Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you’re going my way
I want to drive it all night long

Weezer – Buddy Holly

This was released to radio on September 7, 1994, which would have been Buddy Holly’s 58th birthday.

The video for this song hooked me for not only the mention of Buddy Holly, Mary Tyler Moore but also the Happy Days set… Plus its a fun song. This song peaked at #17 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 Charts in 1995.

Spike Jonze directed the video. Vintage Happy Days footage was intercut with shots of Weezer performing on the original Arnold’s Drive-In set. Al Molinaro, who played the diner’s owner on the series, made a cameo appearance in the video. One of the most popular clips of 1995, it scored four MTV Video Music Awards, including Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Music Video, and two Billboard Music Video Awards, among them Alternative/Modern Rock Clip of the Year.

From Songfacts

With the “I’m yours – you’re mine” lyrics, this song sounds like a romantic missive, but lead singer Rivers Cuomo explained that it’s largely misinterpreted: the song is about defending a platonic female friend.

This was Weezer’s second single, following “Undone – The Sweater Song.” It got a lot of play on Top 40 radio and reached #2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart, but in a bid to boost album sales, the song wasn’t sold as a single in America, which made it ineligible for the Hot 100 (it reached #18 on the Airplay chart).

When downloading became legal and practical, this song proved very popular, and in 2006 it became Weezer’s second Gold single (following “Beverly Hills”), thanks to downloads of over 500,000.

According to the book Rivers’ Edge: The Weezer Story, Cuomo didn’t think this song fit on the album and was tempted to leave it off. It was the album’s producer, Ric Ocasek, who convinced him to include it. Cuomo is glad they left it on, as it became one of his favorite songs to perform.

The popularity of the song skyrocketed after The Microsoft Windows 95 release included its video amongst a number of “Fun Stuff” items on the CD. Watching a music video on your computer was a pretty big deal at the time.

The early demo of this song had a slower tempo and some different lyrics. The chorus originally referenced famous dancing duo Fred & Ginger: “Oo-wee-oo you look just like Ginger Rogers, Oh, oh, I move just like Fred Astaire,” before it was changed to “Oh wee-ooh, I look just like Buddy Holly, Oh, oh, and you’re Mary Tyler Moore.”

Actress Mary Tyler Moore became a household name just a couple years after Holly’s death when she landed a starring role on The Dick Van Dyke Show in 1961 (and later her own Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970).

This runs a very compact 2:39.

This song was the centerpiece of a 2015 commercial for the Honda Pilot Elite minivan. In the spot, a large family sings the song while riding in the vehicle.

On their 2018 summer tour, Weezer re-created the video when they performed this song, complete with costumes and set design.

Buddy Holly

What’s with these homies dissin’ my girl?
Why do they gotta front?
What did we ever do to these guys
That made them so violent?

Woo-hoo, but you know I’m yours.
Woo-hoo, and I know you’re mine.
Woo-hoo, and that’s for all the time.

[chorus]
Woo-ee-oo, I look just like Buddy Holly.
Oh-oh, and you’re Mary Tyler Moore.
I don’t care what they say about us anyway.
I don’t care ’bout that.

Don’t you ever fear, I’m always there. I know that you need help.
Your tongue is twisted, your eyes are slit.
You need a guardian.

Woo-hoo, and you know I’m yours.
Woo-hoo, and I know you’re mine.
Woo-hoo, and that’s for all the time.

[chorus]

I don’t care ’bout that.

Bang bang knock on the door, another big bang, you’re down on the floor.
Oh no! What do we do?
Don’t look now but I lost my shoe.
I can’t run and I can’t kick.
What’s a matter babe, are you feelin’ sick?
What’s a matter, what’s a matter, what’s a matter you?
What’s a matter babe, are you feelin’ blue?
Oh-oh-oh

And that’s for all the time. (x2)

[chorus]

I don’t care ’bout that. (x3)

Black Crowes – She Talks To Angels

The song peaked at #30 at 1991 in the Billboard 100. The song was on their debut album Shake Your Money Maker that peaked at #4 in 1991. I really liked this band when they came out. They had a sound like the Stones and Faces of the early 70s.

I heard so many different origins of this song

Chris Robinson, wrote this song with his bandmate/brother Rich, said: “‘She Talks to Angels’ is a funny song in that so many people resonate with it. The dark details like drugs and things like that would be a part of growing up and being in this world, but when I wrote that song I had no idea – I hadn’t done any of those things. I hadn’t lived that – everything was in my imagination.”

From Songfacts

During VH1’s The Black Crowes Storytellers, filmed at The Bottom Line in New York City on August 27, 1996, lead singer Chris Robinson explained that this song is not about “one” person, but rather a “hot dog” (as he put it) of people that they knew from the Atlanta club scene in their early days. “Not all the best parts” explained Chris, “or the best parts for you.” Chris says that there was always a girl in the club scene back then with really dark makeup (like Siouxsie And The Banshees), and after thinking about her one day, he scribbled the lyric “she paints her eyes as black as night.” He then went on to write an entire biography (completely made up, by the way) about her in the form of the song that then became “She Talks to Angels.” >>

The Christian band Third Day has a song about the Black Crowes that references this song and others. It’s called “Black Bird” and imitates their style. The song says that Third Day really likes The Black Crowes music but that they essentially need Jesus in their lives. There is a lyric in “Black Bird” that says “You say to talk to angels, well I say it’s such a lie.”

She Talks To Angels

She never mentions the word addiction
In certain company.
Yes, she’ll tell you she’s an orphan
After you meet her family.

She paints her eyes as black as night now.
Pulls those shades down tight.
Yeah, she gives me a smile when the pain comes.
The pain gonna make everything alright.

Says she talks to angels.
They call her out by her name.
Oh yeah, she talks to angels.
Says they call her out by her name.

She keeps a lock of hair in her pocket.
She wears a cross around her neck.
Yes the hair is from a little boy,
And the cross from someone she has not met, well, not yet

Says she talks to angels.
Says they all know her name.
Oh yeah, she talks to angels.
Says they call her out by her name.

She don’t know no lover,
None that I ever seen.
Yeah, to her that ain’t nothing
But to me it means, means everything.

She paints her eyes as black as night now.
Pulls those shades down tight.
Oh yeah there’s a smile when the pain comes.
Pain’s gonna make everything alright, alright yeah

Says she talks to angels.
Says they call her out by her name.
Oh yeah, angels
Call her out by her name
Oh angel,
They call her out by her name
Oh she talks to angels,
They call her out, yeah yeah
Call her out,
Don’t you know that they call her out by her name

Wallflowers – One Headlight

The song was written by Jakob Dylan, and produced by T-Bone Burnett. It was released in November 1996 as the second single from the band’s 1996 album, Bringing Down the Horse. This one really got my attention when it came out. Well written and performed song. The Wallflowers song I heard first a few years before was Asleep At The Wheel. Off of their first album. This one got plenty of airplay.

The song is notable for being the first song to reach No. 1 on all three of Billboard‘s rock airplay charts – Alternative Songs, Mainstream Rock Songs, and Adult Alternative Songs. The song did not make the Billboard 100 though.

Really Good RS 2000 article about Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers…by David Fricke

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-confessions-of-jakob-dylan-a-wallflowers-coming-out-80746/

From Songfacts

Jakob Dylan: “I tend to write with a lot of metaphors and images, so people take them literally. The song’s meaning is all in the first verse. It’s about the death of ideas. The first verse says, ‘The death of the long broken arm of human law.’ At times, it seems like there should be a code among human beings that is about respect and appreciation. I wasn’t feeling like there was much support outside the group putting together the record. In the chorus, it says, ‘C’mon try a little.’ I didn’t need everything to get through, I could still get through – meaning ‘one headlight.” >>

This song wasn’t released as a single in America, so it was not eligible for the Hot 100 (Billboard changed this rule a few years later). It did, however, make #2 on the Airplay chart.

One Headlight

So long ago, I don’t remember when
That’s when they say I lost my only friend
Well they said she died easy of a broken heart disease
As I listened through the cemetery trees

I seen the sun comin’ up at the funeral at dawn
The long broken arm of human law
Now it always seemed such a waste, she always had a pretty face
So I wondered how she hung around this place

Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There’s got to be something better than
In the middle
But me and Cinderella
We put it all together
We can drive it home
With one headlight

She said it’s cold
It feels like Independence Day
And I can’t break away from this parade
But there’s got to be an opening
Somewhere here in front of me
Through this maze of ugliness and greed
And I seen the sun up ahead at the county line bridge
Sayin’ all there’s good and nothingness is dead
We’ll run until she’s out of breath
She ran until there’s nothin’ left
She hit the end, it’s just her window ledge

Well this place is old
It feels just like a beat up truck
I turn the engine, but the engine doesn’t turn
Well it smells of cheap wine, cigarettes
This place is always such a mess
Sometimes I think I’d like to watch it burn
I’m so alone and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain’t changed, but I know I ain’t the same
But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin’ dreams
I think of death, it must be killin’ me

Hey, hey hey come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There’s got to be something better than
In the middle
But me and Cinderella
We put it all together
We can drive it home
With one headlight

Everclear – I Will Buy You A New Life

In the late-1990s I started to listen to this band. They were formed in the early 90s by lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter Art Alexakis. Art’s dad left his mom and family and they had to survive in rough neighborhoods in LA. Some of the songs he wrote like “Father of Mine” relates that.

This is a band I really liked in the 90s and early 2000s. This song has a great hook to it.

This song peaked at #3 in the US Billboard Alternative Songs Charts and #1 in the Canadian Rock/Alternative Charts in 1998.

This is a personal song written by lead singer Art Alexakis. When his daughter Anna was a baby, he and his ex-wife would go to a wealthy neighborhood in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon. They would look at the fancy houses, drive around and fantasize about living there. One day, after the success of Everclear, Art bought one of those houses and moved into the neighborhood.

Alexakis: “It wasn’t about the money, it was about a different kind of life, giving all of yourself to another person. It’s the ultimate romantic song to me.”

I Will Buy You A New Life

Here is the money that I owe you
Yes you can pay the bills
I will give you more
When I get paid again

I hate those people who love to tell you
Money is the root of all that kills
They have never been poor
They have never had the joy of a welfare christmas

I know we will never look back

You say you wake up crying
Yes and you don’t know why
You get up and you go lay down
Inside my baby’s room

Yeah, I guess I’m doing OK
I moved in with the strangest guy
Can you believe he actually thinks
That I am really alive

I will buy you a garden
Where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car
Perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house
Way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life
Yes I will

Yes, I know all about that other guy
The handsome man with athletic thighs
I know about all the time before
With that obsessive little rich boy

They might make you think you’re happy
Yeah maybe for a minute or two
They can’t make you laugh
No they can’t make you feel the way that I do

I will buy you a garden
Where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car
Perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house
Way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life
I will buy you a new life

I know we can never look back

Will you please let me stay the night
Will you please let me stay the night
No one will ever know

I will buy you a garden
Where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car
Perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house
Way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life

I will buy you a new life
I will buy you a new life

Wallflowers – Sixth Avenue Heartache

Hard to believe this song peaked at #2 in the Billboard Alternative song chart 23 years ago in 1996. At first I thought well that is cool…it’s Bob Dylan’s son Jacob but then I realized I really liked the Wallflowers…Dylan’s son or not. I always thought he did it the right way by being in a band and not coming out at first as Jacob Dylan solo artist.

I went out and bought this album Bringing Down the Horse and their debut album. Bringing down the Horse peaked at #4 in the Billboard Album chart.

Mike Campbell played slide on the album and he said: “I really like the one guitar line in there, it was very George Harrison sounding and I was really proud of it when I got the sound in the studio, so I was glad they used it. The funny thing is, later, I ran into George. He had a real whimsical, cynical kind of thing – he looked at me and goes, ‘You know, I heard that record on the radio – you’re doing me now?’ He said it with a little chuckle.”

Lead singer Jakob Dylan wrote this in 1988 when he was only 18 years old. He considers it to be his first real song. Part of the song is about some time that Jakob spent in New York City and the things he witnessed.

From Songfacts

This was the first video and single released off of Bringing Down The Horse. It was originally written for The Wallflowers first CD, but the record company wouldn’t let them include it with the album.

Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played the slide guitar part. There is a connection here: Jakob’s dad, Bob Dylan, played with Tom Petty in The Traveling Wilburys. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers also toured with Dylan in 1986, and Dylan helped write “Jammin’ Me.”

Producer T-Bone Burnett is the one who wanted Campbell to play on this. Campbell didn’t have time to come to the studio, so Burnett sent him the tape, which had some open tracks along with the basic rhythm track. Mike has a studio in his house, and one afternoon when he had a few hours to spare, he plugged in his guitar, came up with a few parts, doubled a couple of things, and got a sound he liked. He sent the tape back to Burnett, and the next thing he knew, Burnett called to tell him it came out really good, and the song was on the radio with his tracks. He never even met the guys in The Wallflowers.

The video was shot in New York City by David Fincher. Predominantly a movie director, Fincher has directed films such as Seven, The Game, Fight Club, and the third installment of Alien.

Pointing out how David Fincher came to direct the video, Jakob Dylan said: “You know, I don’t exactly remember how it happened. He just got a tape before the record was out. He got a preview of the record – an advance copy. He had heard that this was going to be the new single, and he actually called us and said he was interested in doing it, if we were interested. So we thought about it and we were like, what else have you done.”

Adam Duritz of Counting Crows provided backing vocals. Duritz and Dylan became friends in the early ’90s when Duritz was working as a bartender at The Viper Room in Los Angeles.

Sixth Avenue Heartache

Sirens ring, the shots ring out
A stranger cries screams out loud
I had my world strapped against my back
I held my hands, never knew how to act

And the same black line that was drawn on you
Was drawn on me
And now it’s drawn me in
6th Avenue heartache

Below me was a homeless man
Singin’ songs I knew complete
On the steps alone, his guitar in hand
It’s fifty years, stood where he stands

And the same black line that was drawn on you
Was drawn on me
And now it’s drawn me in
6th Avenue heartache

Now walkin’ home on those streets
The river winds move my feet
Subway steam, like silhouettes in dreams
They stood by me, just like moonbeams

And the same black line that was drawn on you
Was drawn on me
And now it’s drawn me in
6th Avenue heartache

Look out the window, down upon that street
And gone like a midnight where was that man
But I see his six strings laid against that wall
And all his things, they all look so small
I got my fingers crossed on a shooting star
Just like me just moved on

And the same black line that was drawn on you
Was drawn on me
And now it’s drawn me in
6th Avenue heartache

Last Train to Memphis…book by Peter Guralnick

I’ve read numerous books about The Beatles and other rock stars but never one on Elvis. This book is detailed pretty well and you get to know Elvis, his friends, and family up until 1958 and after his mother’s death. Peter Guralnick does a very good job not dwelling too long in one place. He keeps the story moving at a good pace. Guralnick is very even-handed and does not sensationalize his life.

Peter does have a second book called “Careless Love” I will start reading soon that covers the rest of Elvis’s life when things come unraveled.

I grew up listening to Elvis. I was never a huge fan. He was a great entertainer and interrupter of other people’s songs. He helped open the door to blues. soul and rock music for the masses like The Beatles and Stones did later.

You meet some very interesting and historical characters. Sam Phillips who first signed Elvis to Sun Records, Dewey Phillips (famous Memphis DJ) who first played “It’s All Right” on the radio, Hank Snow, and many others. Elvis wasn’t an overnight sensation but his success just continued to grow until it was uncontrollable. He covers the tours and tv appearances.

I’ve never thought too much of Colonel Tom Parker and this book didn’t help. Keeping Elvis separated from anyone who could influence him and caring more about his investment than the person.

Even at this early stage, I started feeling sorry for Elvis because of the isolation of not being able to go out in public without causing a scandal or being chased. He did have some close relationships with girls that were broken up because of the situation Elvis was in.

The part that disappointed me was that Elvis seemed to neglect his band. Scotty Moore and Bill Black were put on salary and could not work for anyone else. Scotty has blamed it on some RCA execs and Parker. They were with Elvis through the lean times and Scotty even managed them at the beginning. Scotty’s guitar help develop Elvis’s sound at the beginning.

Overall Elvis comes off as a good kid who got the world thrown at him and being his age he took it rather well. He was nearly always gracious to his fans, friends, and family.

If I had to give a rating I would give it 5 stars out of 5… A great book on how he began and it did clear up some myths built around him.

Annie Lennox – Walking on Broken Glass

“Walking on Broken Glass” is a song written and performed by Scottish singer Annie Lennox, taken from her 1992 album, Diva. This song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada and #8 in the UK in 1992.

The video was directed by Sophie Muller, the music video is based in part on the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons, and on period films dealing with the late 18th century, such as Amadeus. John Malkovich, who starred in the film.

A very well done pop song. For some reason, the song has always reminded me of something Squeeze would do.

From Songfacts

The video was based on the 1988 movie Dangerous Liaisons, with elaborate costumes inspired by film, which was set in France during the 1700s. John Malkovich, who starred in the movie, also appeared in the video, as does Hugh Laurie, who went on to star in the TV show House. With the string section and harpsichord sound, the music fit the theme.

Contrary to the lilting melody, the lyrics describe a woman who is anguished over a breakup.

The elaborate photography on the Diva album was done by Anton Corbijn, who also worked with U2 and Depeche Mode. >>

Annie Lennox recalled the song’s promo in a blog promoting her 2009 greatest hits album: “This was a wonderful video to create. There were some wonderful people involved – John Malkovich and Hugh Laurie (before he had an American accent)! That was tremendous fun. The idea of it being a period piece, like Les Liaisons Dangereux. The alternative title for ‘Broken Glass’ could easily have been ‘Hell hath no more fury than a woman scorned.’ The video is very wry and tongue-in-cheek. People can take me a little seriously sometimes, but I do actually have a rather radical sense of humor.”

The music video was helmed by prolific director Sophie Muller, a frequent collaborator of Annie Lennox who cut her teeth directing several Eurythmics clips, including “I Need A Man,” “You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart,” and “Angel.”

Walking on, walking on broken glass
Walking on, walking on broken glass

You were the sweetest thing that I ever knew
But I don’t care for sugar, honey, if I can’t have you
Since you’ve abandoned me
My whole life has crashed
Won’t you pick the pieces up
‘Cause it feels just like I’m walking on broken glass

Walking on, walking on broken glass

The sun’s still shining in big blue sky
But it don’t mean nothing to me
Oh, let the rain come down
Let the wind blow through me
I’m living in an empty room
With all the windows smashed
And I’ve got so little left to lose
That it feels just like I’m walking on broken glass

And if you’re trying to cut me down
You know that I might bleed
‘Cause if you’re trying to cut me down
I know that you’ll succeed
And if you want to hurt me
There’s nothing left to fear
‘Cause if you want to hurt me
You’re doing really well, my dear

Now everyone of us was made to suffer
Everyone of us was made to weep
We’ve been hurting one another
Now the pain has cut too deep
So take me from the wreckage
Save me from the blast
Lift me up and take me back
Don’t let me keep on walking
I can’t keep on walking, keep on walking on broken glass

Walking on, walking on broken glass
Walking on, walking on broken glass
Walking on, walking on broken glass
Walking on, walking on broken glass

Yahtzee History

Saturday night we had some guests over and we all played Yahtzee. It was the first time I’d played it since the 1980s at least. I had a good time and looked up the history of the game.

In 1954 a wealthy anonymous Canadian couple, who called it The Yacht Game invented the game to play aboard their yacht. They would invite friends and teach them. In 1956 they went to toy maker Edwin S. Lowe to make some games for their friends as Christmas gifts. Edwin liked the game so much that he wanted to buy the rights to it. The couple sold the rights for the amount of making them a 1000 games.

When Edwin released it on the market it did not do well in it’s first year. The game could not be explained easily in an ad. It had many nuances and interesting things about it and they can only be understood if the game was actually played.

Finally, Edwin tried a different approach. He started to have Yahtzee parties hoping to spread the news about the game by word of mouth. That started to work and Yahtzee got extremely popular. During Lowe’s ownership alone, over forty million copies of the game were sold in the United States of America as well as around the globe

In 1973 Milton Bradley Company bought the E.S. Lowe Company and in 1984 Hasbro, Inc. acquires the Milton Bradley Company and the game.

The origins of the game came from the Puerto Rican game Generala and the English games of Poker Dice and Cheerio. Another game, Yap, shows close similarities to Yahtzee.

http://www.twoop.com/yahtzee/