This song just drew me in…not the type of song that would normally do that but it just does. Bassey is a little over the top but she’s not at the same time…she makes the song move. I have to listen whenever I hear it played….hey it swings.
Alex Gifford from Propellerhead wrote this song and he had Shirley Bassey in mind when he wrote it. Shirley Bassey said: “He said he was asleep, and he thought about me, and these words came out. And I asked, what’s a 35-year-old man doing thinking about a grandmother? I couldn’t imagine!”
They sent her a demo and she liked the song but she told them that Tina Turner would probably fit more. They argued that they wrote it for her so she decided to do it. Gifford said: We approached her last summer when our profile was rising and we felt confident enough to try a few mad ideas. The song was written specifically for her and she recognized we weren’t taking the mickey. We couldn’t expect her to come to our hovel in Bath so we booked a London studio, got the champagne and roses in and wore our best shirts.” The song got a lot of help from the movie There’s Something About Mary because it was on the soundtrack.
The song took off and peaked at #19 in the UK, #10 on the Billboard Dance Charts, #32 in New Zealand in 1997. I didn’t find any Canadian chart position. It was on their album Decksandrumsandrockandroll. The album peaked at #6 in the UK, #56 in Canada, #29 in New Zealand, and #100 on the Billboard Album Charts.
The cover of this single was a homage to Nat King Cole.
Bassey making the video
History Repeating
The word is about, there’s something evolving,
Whatever may come, the world keeps revolving…
They say the next big thing is here,
That the revolution’s near,
But to me it seems quite clear
That’s it’s all just a little bit of history repeating.
The newspapers shout a new style is growing,
But it don’t know if it’s coming or going,
There is fashion, there is fad
Some is good, some is bad
And the joke rather sad,
That it’s all just a little bit of History repeating.
And I’ve seen it before
And I’ll see it again
Yes I’ve seen it before
Just little bits of history repeating
Some people don’t dance, if they don’t know who’s singing,
Why ask your head, it’s your hips that are swinging
Life’s for us to enjoy
Woman, man, girl and boy,
Feel the pain, feel the joy
Aside set the little bits of history repeating
Just little bits of history repeating
And I’ve seen it before
And I’l see it again
Yes I’ve seen it before
Just little bits of history repeating
I can thank CB for mentioning this band. What a fun band they are! They have a quirky and humorous style that reflects elements of Southern culture and kitsch. They have listed their influences as The International Submarine Band, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, the Byrds, the Seeds, and the Chocolate Watchband. That is a cool mixture!
This band is out of North Carolina and they cover a wide area of music and also mash it up. They sometimes merge Americana, surf, rockabilly, and swamp garage rock. The band was formed in 1983 by guitarist Rick Miller, Mary Huff on bass and vocals, and Dave Hartman on drums. They have appeared on Conan O’Brien (my favorite modern talk show host) and The Tonight Show. This song combines surf and rockabilly…it has a faint sixties sound. Miller plays fantastic and smart licks throughout this song and album.
This song came out in 1995 on the album Dirt Track Date. It was distributed by Geffen Records. Firefly was written by Rick Miller. Michael Lipton played Steel Guitar on this album, and The Soul City Singers provided backing vocals. This was their 4th album. They have 19 albums so far and they last released one in 2021 called At Home With Southern Culture on the Skids.
Rick Miller on where the name came from: ‘We were just art students who liked bands like The Cramps (an American punk band), blues, R&B and rockabilly but everyone else was into bands like R.E.M., It was weird, people were saying that was the new sound of the south and we said “If that’s the new south, it sure don’t rock ‘n’ roll like it used to, guess we liked the music better when Southern culture was on the skids” so that’s where our name comes from!’
Rick Miller plays a Danelectro guitar (check the video below). They are cheaper guitars but I have two of them and they have a unique sound. Jimmy Page used one in Kashmir. They are fun guitars. What I did with my electric 12-string Danelectro is to put better Seymour Duncan pickups and a bone nut (the original nut is metal) and now it sounds close to a Rickenbacker…and around $1500 dollars cheaper. Sorry, I got sidetracked!
Entire Concert
Firefly
I was at a party it was late one night
Moon was hitting i was sitting alright
Two ugly girls on both sides of me
I was praying for you firefly
I say firefly won’t you shine some light
Let me see what’s happening tonight
Firefly won’t you shine some light
Let me see what’s happening tonight
Little girls followed me all the way home
They say don’t leave me out here in the
Dark all alone by myself
Reach into my pocket trying to find my keys
I was praying for you firefly
I say firefly won’t you shine some light
Let me see what’s happening tonight
Firefly won’t you shine some light
Let me see what’s happening tonight
I was at a party it was late one night
Moon was hitting i was sitting alright
Two ugly girls on both sides of me
I was praying for you firefly
I say firefly won’t you shine some light
Let me see what’s happening tonight
Firefly won’t you shine some light
Let me see what’s happening tonight
I hope you are all doing well on this Saturday! This will fill your rockabilly quota of the day.
Here is some 1980’s roots rockabilly. What caught my attention is the relentless guitar on this track plus the groove. The guitar player is Dave Gonzalez and the tone reminds me of Stevie Ray Vaughn. This song was written by blues guitarist and songwriter Otis Rush.
The Paladins are from San Diego and were into rockabilly. They billed their music as Western Bop. They played a combination of rockabilly and vintage country together with a blues groove. They were founded in 1980 by guitarist Dave Gonzalez and bass player Thomas Yearsley.
Dave Gonzalez’s initial influences came from his mother, who listened to Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and the Rolling Stones. He mixed this with his father’s love of country singers Buck Owens and Merle Haggard who also made a strong impression on him. As he got older he got into blues artists like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Johnny Winter.
Put that all together and you come up with a varied roots style.
They did some tours with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Los Lobos, The Blasters, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. This song was on the Let’s Buzz! album released in 1990. They were nominated for the 1990 Entertainer Music Awards but lost out to the Beat Farmers…but they won two years later.
Dave Gonzalez and bass player Thomas Yearsley along with drummer Brian Fahey are still a top attraction at clubs at the present time. They have recorded five singles, nine full-length studio records, and three live albums.
Keep On Lovin Me Baby
I want you to love me (repeat) woh yeah. Oh baby i’m so glad youre mine… I want you to kiss me… Woh baby i’m so glad you’re mine…
Early every morning, sometimes late at night i can Feel your tender lips they make me feel alright.
Keep on loving me baby… Woh baby i’m so glad you’re mine…
I wanted to post the Hank version anyway but I remember this version from a few years ago and I had to include that one as well. We are combining them today.
The Hillbilly Shakespeare Hank Williams wrote this song. When Williams moved to MGM Records in 1947 the hits started to come but this wasn’t one of them. It’s hard to believe this was not a hit. It’s a strong spiritual song that will stay with me until I die. The song started to get more popular after its initial release in 1948 and eventually, Williams would close shows with it.
Williams based the song on Albert E. Brumley Jr‘s song He Set Me Free. It’s close in melody but Hank made it a standard. Williams’s version is more universal. For me, it’s one of the best songs ever written. Williams wrote I Saw the Light on the way back from a dance in Fort Deposit, Alabama. Hank was out of it and sleeping in the car. His mother Lily said ‘Hank, wake up, we’re nearly home. I just saw the light.” He wrote the song right after she said that.
The The released their Hanky Panky album in 1995. The entire album featured Hank Williams cover songs. It was at first meant to be an EP of various artists doing the covers but then they decided just to go with the album by just them. They didn’t want to just copy the songs…they wanted to get the spirit of them in their own way. The album peaked at #28 on the UK album charts in 1995.
The song peaked at #31 in the UK.
Here is another song off of the Hanky Panky album…Your Cheating Heart.
I Saw The Light
I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin I wouldn’t let my dear Savior in Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light No more darkness, no more night Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight Praise the Lord, I saw the light
Just like a blind man, I wandered along Worries and fears I claimed for my own Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light No more darkness, no more night Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I was a fool to wander and stray For straight is the gate and narrow’s the way Now I have traded the wrong for the right Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light No more darkness, no more night Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight Praise the Lord, I saw the light
Again…a big thank you again to Phil Strawn who gave me the necessary information so the story could be told and much of it from a personal view.
One of the performers in The Big D Jamboree was Ronnie Dawson. He was from Dallas Texas and was nicknamed “The Blonde Bomber.” His father Pinkie showed him how to play the mandolin, drums, and bass guitar. Dawson attended Southwestern Bible Institute in Waxahachie but was expelled. After that, he appeared regularly on the Big D Jamboree Radio Show in Dallas in 1958 as Ronnie Dee and the D Men. Dawson was known to be highly energetic on stage. Many thought he got it from Elvis but he said no, he learned it from the dynamic Pentecostal revivals he attended.
The Jack Rhodes song “Action Packed” was Dawson’s first release in 1958 on the Backbeat label. After that came the 1959 Rockin’ Bones and this time it was on the Rockin’ Records label. It was issued under Ronnie’s own name with “The Blond Bomber” added. Though Ronnie toured nationally with Gene Vincent and appeared on TV, his records gained no more than regional airplay.
The next 3 paragraphs are from Phil. Back in the early ’60s, there was a club on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas called The Levee. It was a sing-along Dixieland place that was popular at the time. The band was banjos, a doghouse bass and a clarinet and sax. Burgers and pitchers of beer made up the menu. Southern Methodist University was two blocks away, across Highway 75, so most of the clientele were students and couples in their twenties. The famous Egyptian Lounge was next door. It served the best Italian food in Dallas and was a known hangout for the Dallas Mafia and other wise guys.
At a Levee Singers gig at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, around 1961 or 62. Phil’s dad is also playing a tenor banjo, as is Ronnie.
Smokey Montgomery, the banjo player for the Light Crust Doughboys, started the Levee with Ed Burnett, who was also his partner in Summit Sounds, a well-known recording studio on Greenville Ave. Ronnie was playing with the Doughboys, so Smokey asked him to play with the banjo band in order to add some youth to the mix. He was a huge hit, and the business tripled. The coeds loved him; their boyfriends hated him. The Levee bounced along all through the 60s until the fad went flat. In the mid-70s, Ronnie was into the progressive country music scene and started a band called The Steel Rail. I don’t remember the drummer, lead, or bass players’ names, but the legendary Tommy Morrell played the pedal steel while Ronnie sang and tore up his Strat.
The old Levee club was empty, so Ronnie leased the space and opened a club called “Aunt Emma’s,” a nod to his favorite aunt. On opening night, Ronnie asked my dad to come down and add some fiddle to the band, which he did. I took my guitar, just in case he needed another player. The place was full up, with a line down past the Egyptian. Around 11 pm, Johnny Paycheck strolled in the door. He had finished a gig in Dallas and heard about Ronnie’s new club, so he stopped by to sit in. Of course, he did all of his hits and played for at least an hour. After that, word got around that Aunt Emma’s was the place to go for the new outlaw country; it out-drew Willie Nelson’s Whiskey River which was a few blocks away on Greenville Ave.
He made several singles in the early sixties with Dick Clark’s Swan Records. He also did some session work. He played on Paul & Paula’s “Hey Paula. After Elvis died rockabilly started to make a comeback.
Dawson’s career experienced periods of obscurity. However, he continued to perform and record music throughout his life, earning a cult following among rockabilly enthusiasts. In the 1980s and 1990s, he experienced a resurgence of interest in his music, performing at festivals and recording new albums.
In the 1980s Ronnie was just beginning. A fifties revival was happening in the UK and he became popular there. This led Dawson to tour Britain for the first time in 1986. He was blown away by the audience’s reception. Dawson sounded purer than most of his peers from the 1950s and he put on a more energetic show.
He recorded new material for No Hit Records, the label of British rockabilly fan Barry Koumis, which was leased in the USA to Crystal Clear Records. No Hit Records also reissued his recordings from the 1950s and early 1960s on a 16-track LP called “Rockin’ Bones” and an extended 2-CD version of which was released by Crystal Clear in 1996.
Ronnie was still performing until the early 2000s when health problems started. He passed away in Dallas on September 30, 2003, at the age of 64.
Phil Strawn:He was a great guy and close friend. After his death from lung cancer, which shocked us all because he never smoked cigarettes but did partake of other smokable plants, his wife, Chris, held a wake at the Sons of Herman Hall in Deep Ellum. You couldn’t stir the musicians and rock stars with a stick; the ballroom on the second floor was packed. I remember Billy Joe Shaver, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Michael Martin Murphy, Robert Earl Keen, and Robert Duvall being there. George Gimarc, a noted Texas music historian, has a treasure trove of photos and reel-to-reel recording tapes of Ronnie dating back to the Big D Jamboree and American Bandstand. He refuses to share or part with any of his collections. I told him, that’s okay, leave a few to me when you bite the dust. There is no need for me to approve of your article; you write great music history, and Ima sure this one will also be stellar.
Ronnie Dawson:“At that point in my life, I was so ready to get out of Dallas. I was really ready to go, and I just blew up when I got over there. … I couldn’t believe it. All these people started embracing me. I was in heaven. I didn’t want to go home.”
He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, in 1998.
It took me a while to find all of these but I’m very happy with this list for 1993. We only have 2 more to go until 1995 and the end.
Tom Petty – Mary Jane’s Last Dance
I like the rawness of the song and the lyrics are fun. Tom was making his second solo album Wildflowers but the record company wanted a couple of tracks to go on the greatest hits album. Mary Jane’s Last Dance is one of Tom’s most successful songs. This would be the last song Stan Lynch played drums on for the Heartbreakers.
To tell you the truth…I always thought the title was Last Dance of Mary Jane.
Petty made some strange videos, and this was no exception. Tom plays a mortician who takes home a corpse played by Kim Basinger. When he gets her home, he puts her in a wedding dress and dances with her. Then he puts her in a pickup truck and throws her into the ocean, and she opens her eyes as she sinks. It won Best Male Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Counting Crows – Mr. Jones
In 1993 I was living at my studio apartment. I woke up one morning and heard this song coming from my radio. I immediately thought it was a new Van Morrison song. I was all excited and I loved the track. Earlier that week I had been at band practice and everyone was saying how a band called The Counting Crows was good but they were being hyped. I wasn’t reading Rolling Stone at this point so I had no clue. I later found out this was them and I liked what I heard.
The band was really good though and the lead singer Adam Duritz, could write and sing well. They were big for a few years and then faded.
Lenny Kravitz – Are You Going My Way
Love the guitar riff, the vibe, and the artist. To my surprise, this was not released as a single in the US, but in 1995 a live version was used as the B-side of Kravitz’ “Rock And Roll Is Dead” single.
I first learned of Lenny Kravitz in 1989 with Let Love Rule which is probably my favorite song by him. I like this one because it’s aggressive and right in your face. The song was released in 1993.
The song is about Jesus Christ, whom Lenny referred to as “the ultimate rock star.” It’s about how God gives choice to man about where to turn.
Sheryl Crow – All I Wanna Do
I was an instant fan when I first heard Sheryl Crow. During the nineties, there were many pop-oriented females that I listened to (Sarah Mclaughlin is one)…and ones that I didn’t at all (her last name rhymes with “tears” “beers” “fears”) but Sheryl was different. She was more in the rock and roll genre. I saw her open up for the Rolling Stones at Vanderbilt’s Stadium and she sounded great.
I have always liked her lyrics…she has fun with them and always kept them interesting.
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Over The Rainbow / What A Wonderful World
We all know this song from The Wizard of Oz but this is a great version in its own right. I first heard this song in Life On Mars and will never forget it. Israel (IZ) fits “What a Wonderful World” in this and it is fantastic.
Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo’ole recorded this in a medley with “What a Wonderful World” for his 1993 album Facing Forward. This version was used in the films Finding Forrester, Meet Joe Black, Life on Mars and 50 First Dates as well as on the television show ER.
I was checking out UK #1’s Blog the other day and he posted this song as going number #1 in 1996. As Stewart points out…they borrow a lot of music but to me… they do it to enhance what they have…not a rewrite of the same song.
I’ve heard this song just a few times and his post brought it back. Over here in America, I only really heard Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova with any consistency. This one I like better than either one of those.
They borrowed from John Lennon’s Imagine for the intro but that is fine. The line “So I start a revolution from my bed” was supposedly linking Lennon’s Bed In for Peace in Toronto. Just looking at them… they could have stepped out of the mid sixties mod movement. They were part of the 90’s Britpop scene of Blur, Pulp, The Verve, and others. I was always drawn to Oasis more because they didn’t go out of their way to sound modern or mix in modern styles. They did sound 90s but in a mid-sixties type of way.
Guitarist Noel Gallagher sang the lead on this song not his lead singer brother Liam Gallagher. Noel is credited with writing this one. He gave his brother Liam the option of singing lead on this one or Wonderwall. Liam picked Wonderwall (look for the quote below) which is the one that Noel wanted to sing because it was about his then girlfriend.
The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #24 in Canada, #55 on the Billboard 100, and #20 in New Zealand in 1996.
I’m going to borrow this bit of Stewart’s post from UK #1’s Blog:
“Meanwhile, it has also been voted the 4th Most Popular #1 Single ever, the 2nd greatest Britpop song (after ‘Common People’), and the Greatest Song of the 1990s. (And, most importantly, the 2nd Best Song to Sing Along to While Drunk – controversially robbed of top spot in that poll by Aerosmith’s God-awful ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’.) It is also by far the best of Oasis’s eight number ones… and I hope that’s not too much of a spoiler for what’s to come!”
Sorry for the long quote below but it pretty much tells the story of the song. Plus I love the dig he makes at Liam at the end.
Noel Gallagher: “We were in Paris playing with The Verve, and I had the chords for that song and started writing it. We were due to play two days later. Our first-ever big arena gig, it’s called Sheffield Arena now. At the sound check, I was strumming away on the acoustic guitar, and our kid (Liam Gallagher) said, ‘What’s that you’re singin?’ I wasn’t singing anyway, I was just making it up. And our kid said, ‘Are you singing ‘So Sally can wait?’ And I was like – that’s genius! So I started singing, ‘So Sally can wait.'”
“I remember going back to the dressing room and writing it out, it all came really quickly after that. (The title) ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ just popped out. We wrote the words out in the dressing room, and we actually played it that night, in front of 18,000 other people. On acoustic guitar. Sat on a stool. Like an idiot. I never do that now.”
“When we were coming off recording ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger,’ I was originally gonna sing ‘Wonderwall,’ and Liam said, ‘I wanna sing it!’ And I was like, ‘I’m singing one of them, so you take your pick. He chose ‘Wonderwall’ and I chose the other one, then it came out as the single. And on that (BBC TV) series Our Friends In The North – the last ever one where they all meet up, when they’re all older and have all got kids, and they’re all alcoholics – that was the music for the end credits. And I still haven’t seen that episode, but loads of people have come up to me, saying, ‘Man it was so powerful.’ And it kind of took a life of its own after that. It took over from ‘Wonderwall’ in England as our most famous song. And it’s the biggest song of the night now, when we play it live. Which must do Liam’s head in – as he doesn’t get to sing it – but it makes me feel pretty good.”
Don’t Look Back In Anger
Slip inside the eye of your mind Don’t you know you might find A better place to play You said that you’d never been But all the things that you’ve seen Will slowly fade away
So I start a revolution from my bed ‘Cause you said the brains I had went to my head Step outside, summertime’s in bloom Stand up beside the fireplace Take that look from off your face You ain’t ever gonna burn my heart out
And so Sally can wait She knows it’s too late As we’re walking on by Her soul slides away But don’t look back in anger I heard you say
Take me to the place where you go Where nobody knows If it’s night or day But please don’t put your life in the hands Of a rock and roll band Who’ll throw it all away
I’m gonna start a revolution from my bed ‘Cause you said the brains I had went to my head Step outside ’cause summertime’s in bloom Stand up beside the fireplace Take that look from off your face ‘Cause you ain’t ever gonna burn my heart out
And so Sally can wait She knows it’s too late As she’s walking on by My soul slides away But don’t look back in anger I heard you say
So Sally can wait She knows it’s too late As we’re walking on by Her soul slides away But don’t look back in anger I heard you say
So Sally can wait She knows it’s too late As she’s walking on by My soul slides away But don’t look back in anger Don’t look back in anger I heard you say At least not today
This is a fantastic-sounding song by a band named Ride. It’s high up on my top powerpop songs. The band was part of the shoegaze genre. Along with the previous year’s There She Goes by the La’s…I was in power pop heaven.
Ride was formed in 1988 in Oxford by school friends Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, before recruiting drummer Loz Colbert at the Oxfordshire School of Art & Design and local bassist Steve Queralt.
They broke up in 1996 because of differences between Andy Bell and Mark Gardener. Gardener wanted to go forward in a more dance style of music…Bell didn’t but both wanted to go more contemporary style. Bassist Steve Queralt said: The band had two future directions open to them, and they chose the wrong option.
They reunited in 2014 and released their first album in 21 years in 2017.
Melon – No Rain
This 1993 song has a sixties feel to it. The lead singer Shannon Hoon did a great job on this track. I think when movies are made about the 1990s…this has to be on the soundtrack. It screams 90s more than about any other song.
Blind Melon bass player Brad Smith wrote this song before he formed the band. He had moved from Mississippi to Los Angeles, where he fell into a down period. He said that the song is about not being able to get out of bed and find excuses to face the day when you have nothing. At the time he was dating a girl who was going through depression and for a while, he told himself that he was writing the song from her perspective. He later realized that he was also writing about it himself.
The video was very popular. It has a very intriguing video featuring a girl dressed in a bee costume. The bee girl, Heather DeLoach, was 10 years old when she starred in it, creating one of the most enduring images on MTV.
The concept for the video was inspired by the Blind Melon album cover, which features a 1975 photo of Georgia Graham, the younger sister of Blind Melon drummer Glenn Graham. DeLoach was the first to audition for the role, and because she resembled Graham’s sister so much, director Samuel Bayer (who also directed Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”) chose her.
R.E.M. – Man On The Moon
I’ve noticed that I have never written about this song which is a shame since it’s in my top 5 of REM. This song is about one of my comedic heroes…the very different Andy Kaufman.
It was the title of a new movie starring Jim Carey as Kaufman. I went to see the movie at the theater and this song fits brilliantly. I think it’s one of the best-written songs they did. Bill Berry came up with the melody and Peter Buck helped finish it off. Stipe came up with the lyrics as their back was against the wall to finish the album.
Bruce Springsteen – Better Days
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.
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.”
Jayhawks – Waiting For The Sun
Ever since I heard this band on our alternative radio station in Nashville…Lightning 100 I’ve liked them. The Jayhawk’s writing and voices won me over with songs like Blue and I’m Gonna Make You Love Me. The Replacements had broken up by this time and The Jayhawks took their place beside REM.
Benmont Tench, Charley Drayton, and Nicky Hopkins play on the album with the Jayhawks.
The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul music scene in the mid-80s. Minneapolis had a strong scene for bands in the 80s. The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, and of course the big one…Prince.
The song, like most of The Jawhawk’s early cuts, is credited to the band’s guitarist Gary Louris and frontman Mark Olson.
Gary Louris: I didn’t know there was a song called “Waiting for the Sun,” I was not a Doors fan. I like them now, but I didn’t know there was a song called that. Maybe in my subconscious I did.
I’ve been waiting to write about this one. There are songs…and then there are SONGS. This one was written by Tom Russell. It is like watching/hearing a movie. The song is about adventure, loyalty, honor, and gambling all set against the backdrop of a time before California joined the U.S.
I’ve talked about these kind of songs before. How songwriters would be happy to write one song like this. I write power pop/rock songs and a song like this would make me insanely happy. It doesn’t matter if it’s not a huge hit…it’s quality. The attention to detail is incredible. It would never be a pop hit and maybe that is a check in its favor.
Tom Russell wrote this in 1979 in California. It’s not just a song…it’s an epic song. It’s been covered by four other artists. Ian Tyson in 1983 (its first release), Tom Russell in 1984, the version at the bottom is Joe Ely’s version released in 1995, and Ian Siegal in 2014.
Ely has 16 studio albums and 20 singles in his career so far. The song was released in 1996 and was on the album Letter To Laredo. This album charted at #68 on the Billboard Country Charts. He has charted quite a few in the Charts.
Gallo Del Cielo
Carlos Saragosa left his home in Casas Grandes when the moon was full He had no money in his pocket, just a locket of his sister framed in Gold He headed for el Sueco, stole a rooster named Gallo Del Cielo Then he crossed the Rio Grande with that roosted nestled deep within his arm
Galllo del Cielo was a warrior born in heaven so the legends say His wings they had been broken, he had one eye rollin crazy in his head He’d fought a hundred fights and the legends say that one night near El Sueco He fought Cielo seven times, seven times he left brave roosters dead
Hola my Teresa I’m thinkin of you now in San Antonio I have 27 dollars and the good luck of your good luck of your picture framed in gold Tonight I’ll put it all on the fighting spurs of Gallo Del Cielo Then I’ll return to buy the land Pancho Villa stole from father long ago
Outside of San Diego in the Onion fields of Paco Monte Verde The Pride of San Diego lay sleeping on a fancy bed of silk Adn they laughed when Saragosa pulled the one-eyed Del Cielo from beneath his shirt But they cried when Saragosa waked away with a thousand dollar bill
Hola my Teresa I’m thinkin of you now in Santa Barbara I have 27 dollars and the good luck of your good luck of your picture framed in gold Tonight I’ll put it all on the fighting spurs of Gallo Del Cielo Then I’ll return to buy the land Pancho Villa stole from father long ago
Now the moon has gone to hiding and the lantern light spills shadows on the fighting sand A wicked black named Zorro faces Del Cielo in the sand And Carlos Saragosa fears the tiny crack that runs across his roosters beak And he fears that he has lost the 50, 000 dollars riding on the fight
Hola my Teresa I’m thinkin of you now in Santa Clara The money’s on the table, I’m holding now your good luck framed in gold Everything we dream of is riding on the spurs of Del Cielo Then I’ll return to buy the land Pancho Villa stole from father long ago
The signal it was given and the roosters rose together far above the sand Gallo Del Cielo sunk a gaff into Zorro’s shiny breast They were separated quickly but they rose and fought each other time and time again And the legends all agreed that Gallo Del Cielo fought the best
But then the screams of Saragosa filled the night outside the town of Santa Clara As the beak of Del Cielo lay broken like a shell within his hand And they say that Saragosa screamed a curse upon the bones of Pancho Villa As Zorro rose up one more time and drove Del Cielo in the sand
Hola my Teresa I’m thinkin of you now in San Francisco I have no money in my pocket I no longer have your good luck framed in gold I buried it last evening with the bones of my beloved Del Cielo I will not return to buy the land that Villa stole long ago
Do the rivers still run muddy outside of my beloved Casas Grandes? Does the scar upon my brother’s face turn red when he hears mention of my name? And do the people of El Sueco still curse the theft of Gallo Del Cielo? Tell my family not to worry, I will not return to cause them shame.
It’s a Pontiac It’s a ’63 Stratochief with a three on the tree And it belongs to me
I’m taking a break from work and posting…It’s nice to be back if only for the weekend…I hope you all have been doing good!
I had this song bookmarked and I bet ya that CB forgot he sent it to me a long time ago … but I’ve listened to it for a year or so now. I love car songs and this song slots in very nicely.
Fred Eaglesmith is a Canadian and he is in the alt-country genre. He is from Port Dover, Ontario. When I listen to him he seems to ride a line between 1960s rock and country music. He has formed country bands, rock bands, and bluegrass bands…he switches lanes quite nicely. John Prine was a huge influence on Eaglesmith.
This song is from the album Lipstick, Lies, and Gasoline released in 1997. Now that is a great name for an album. This guy has been a true working musician. At one point he would average four to eight hours between shows in his converted 1990 Bluebird tour bus. He outfitted the bus with a system of filters and pumps which he designed himself to enable them to run on waste vegetable oil recycled from deep fryers in venues and restaurants along the road. He is what I would call a musical troubadour.
He has toured all over Canada, the Letterman show, the Grand Ole Opry, and everywhere in between. He is worth diving into for some great music. His debut album Fred J. Eaglesmith was released in 1980 and he has released 22 altogether.
One concert reviewer in Los Angeles said: “Eaglesmith snarled out lyrics that underscore his overriding attitude that music and musicians ought to be cherished in the here-and-now and valued for the quality of their art, not the size of their bank accounts or TV ratings.”
Fred Eaglesmith: The biggest epiphany I had was when I was 10 or 12 and I saw Elvis in a movie. I thought he wrote his own songs. I was working on a farm, just dying, you know…cold and tired…and I walked into the kitchen. We’d just gotten a television, and there was Elvis. That’s when I started writing songs-at 10 or 12.
Fred Eaglesmith: There really are two different schools of songwriting-American and Canadian. It’s interesting. You guys have this history of guys like Paul Williams and Jimmy Webb, and they’re different than Neil Young and Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. All those weird voices come out of Canada. That’s because it’s so cold here we can hardly open our mouth. We get much less light in Canada. No wonder the writing’s dark.
I’m including this song from his Letterman appearance.
Pontiac
It’s a Pontiac It’s a ’63 Stratochief with a three on the tree And it belongs to me And my baby Her and me We go driving down old highway seventeen She puts on the radio Rolls down the window Lays her head back It’s a Pontiac
It ain’t got no wild horses painted on the side And the objects in the mirror are precisely their own size It’s got a chrome Indian in front of the door Might be an Apache or an Arapaho Or a Pontiac
There was an incident last night At seventeen and third It all happened so fast nobody’s really sure But somebody held the rifle, somebody held the sack And as fast as they were there Well they were gone just like that In a Pontiac
The anti-freeze is boiling and the oil pressure’s low And the pedal’s to the metal and it’s as fast as it can go And the stain on her shoulder I getting darker you know And the radio keep blasting out the facts It’s a Pontiac
What a soulful song that just cries out Americana… this alt-country band hits the spot.
Many 1990s alternative rock bands credit No Depression, and Uncle Tupelo as one of the biggest sources of inspiration behind what each of them tried to be. This song is a cover of a song by the Carter Family back in 1936. Uncle Tupelo based their version off the New Lost City Ramblers version that was called No Depression in Heaven. It was written by Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter.
No Depression was also the name of their debut album released in 1990. It was recorded for an independent record label named Rockville. It’s been considered one of the most important alt-country records ever recorded. They did it on a tiny $3500 budget.
Jay Farrar formed Uncle Tupelo with Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn in 1987. They continued until 1994 when Farrar and Tweedy couldn’t work with each other anymore. Personally…I can hear the Jayhawks and other alt-country bands in this. They were only recording from 1989 through 1993 but made a huge mark.
Spin Magazine listed the album at #63 in their rankings of the Top 90 Albums of the 90s.
Jay Farrar: “I first heard it on an old folk compilation that I dug out of my mom’s record collection, I think that version was by the New Lost City Ramblers. It just seemed like the sentiment of the song seemed to fit our surroundings.”
Jay Farrar: “That’s something I learned later on from Woody Guthrie, he talks about how people pay more attention if you sing about topical issues. I guess that was what we were trying to do, in our own way. We were trying to encapsulate what we were seeing around us and put it into music.”
No Depression
Fear the hearts of men are failing
These our latter days we know
The great depression now is spreading
God’s word declared it would be so
I’m going where there’s no depression
To a better land that’s free from care
I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home’s in heaven
I’m going there
In this dark hour, midnight nearing
The tribulation time will come
The storms will hurl the midnight fear
And sweep lost millions to their doom
I’m going where there’s no depression
To a better land that’s free from care
I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home’s in heaven
I’m going there
I’m going where there’s no depression
To a better land that’s free from care
I’ll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home’s in heaven
I’m going there
I noticed doing my Max Picks that I have never covered this song before by REM (I guess I’m giving this one away)…which really shocks me because it’s one of my favorites by them. This one is in my top three or four of REM songs. Its subject matter is no other than Mr. Andy Kaufman and that is probably the reason I like it so much. I’ve read a couple of books about Andy…what an interesting fellow. First a little about Andy.
Andy Kaufman covered the bases…Mighty Mouse, Foreign Man, wrestling women, Elvis Impersonator (I think the best), Tony Clifton, bongo player, Great Gatsby reader and generally pissing people off, boring them or making them laugh. He was a performance artist – a comedian who sometimes was uncomfortable to watch but great. He was not a joke comedian…not remotely close. He loved making the audience uncomfortable to the point of booing him at times. He ate all of that up. More than once he started to read The Great Gatsby…and he continued to read it until everyone left. Not one of his best routines but people noticed. After a show at Carnegie Hall, he took his entire audience out for milk and cookies with buses taking all the audience out.
I remember seeing him on a clip from the Tonight Show… as the very innocent childlike “foreign man” talking for a while and doing terrible celebrity impersonations and then suddenly shedding that character like a used coat and doing an Elvis impersonation…no, he WAS Elvis… I’ve read that Elvis said that Andy was his favorite impersonator but whether that is true or not I don’t know. He did do that show before Elvis died so it’s quite possible.
The song was originally titled ‘C to D Slide’ because that is the chord pattern that drummer Bill Berry had for it. Bill Berry came up with the melody and Peter Buck helped finish it off. Stipe came up with the lyrics as their back was against the wall to finish the album. It’s one of their most beloved songs. It was on the album Automatic for the People.
One line that I like is “Mr. Fred Blassie and the breakfast mess” which refers to Kaufman’s movie My Breakfast With Blassie…which is a good but different…as is everything to do with him. It was Andy talking and yes…having breakfast with wrestler Fred Blassie.
There are always rumors about celebrities being alive. You know…Lennon and Cobain hang out on an island having Mai Tai cocktails while jamming with Elvis. The only one that I thought if any more could pull it off…it would have been Andy.
The song was released in 1992 and peaked at #30 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, #18 in the UK, and #8 in New Zealand. I double-checked it and #30 on Billboard is much lower than I thought it would be…I was thinking top 10.
Andy died in 1984…or did he? Bob Zmuda has said that Andy did say he was going to fake his death and said that he actually helped Andy plan it. More people have come forward saying the same thing. Every few years we get an Andy sighting in Albuquerque or somewhere else. No, I don’t believe he did fake it…but hey I would love it if he popped up well and alive anytime in the future. The world needs original people. You know he would be loving the rumors about him being alive…if he is alive or not…yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mike Mills: “Bill Berry is still a very good songwriter, he had a lot of musical ideas, then he and Petr Buck fleshed the rest of it out musically. It was a song that me, Pete, and Bill really loved and had musically finished right up to the last day of recording and mixing in Seattle, and we’d been leaning on Michael very heavily for some time trying to finish it.”
Man On The Moon
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Monopoly, twenty-one, checkers, and chess, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Let’s play Twister, let’s play Risk, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I’ll see you in heaven if you make the list yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, Andy, did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?
Hey baby, are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
Moses went walking with the staff of wood, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Newton got beaned by the apple good, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, Andy, did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?
Hey baby, are you having fun?
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
Here’s a little agit for the never-believer, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here’s a little ghost for the offering, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here’s a truck stop instead of Saint Peter’s, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Andy Kaufman’s gone wrestling, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, Andy, did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?
Hey baby, are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believed there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believed there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
A few weeks ago I covered an artist named Alejandro Escovedo, a Texas singer-songwriter who has been around since the early seventies. I’ve recently listened to the album The Pawn Shop Years and it’s fantastic. The band was named after the T. Rex song Buick MacKane and I see the similarities.
They formed in 1989 and began recording songs for the album that would be released in 1997. They mostly played around Austin and they were a mix between garage and glam rock…and it sounds great. Escovedo had just broken up with his band The True Believers when all of this happened. They were popular in Austin and they had some trouble with people accepting Buick MacKane because they thought it would be The True Believers part two.
If you want to hear a 1990s rock album that sounds like the early seventies…this is the one. Instead of checking out a few songs…check out the album. I’ve posted two songs by them to give you a hint. These guys are not going to give you lush ballads…every song is turned up to 11. They use feedback in many of the songs and it’s so refreshing to hear that. I missed these guys in the 90s but…better late than never.
My only disappointment with this band is that they didn’t make any more albums. I’ve never messed with Spotify much but I thought I would post a link to their album at the bottom.
Rick Reger, Chicago Tribune: “A part-time project recorded over three years by musicians who passionately care about the fact that they’re having a great time in the process, ‘The Pawn Shop Years’ comes, conquers and destroys with far more devastating effect than many a self-important hard rock band purporting to do this for a living.”
And he tells the waitress, “Hey, I just found the body Of some guy who was famous long ago”
CB sent me this and it’s a song about the last sad years of Bill Haley. Haley’sComet is a hell of a rocker but tells a poignant story. It’s sad to think that a pioneer American Rock and Roll hero could be forgotten to the point he’s not even recognizable. I like how Alvin focuses on Haley’s loneliness and makes you feel it.
It was written by Dave Alvin and Tom Russell. I wore this song out this week. While researching this post I got a book about Bill Haley and I’m almost halfway through it now. He was an interesting artist that I never knew much about. It’s a shame he is not remembered like his peers such as Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others. He helped kickstart rock and roll.
He was known to everyone in the 1950s for his band The Comets and songs such as Rock Around The Clock, Crazy Man Crazy, Shake Rattle and Roll, and more. He had the world’s attention in 1955 and 1956. He looked more like a fatherly figure than a rock star but he was very popular at that time. He also appeared in two movies, Don’t Knock The Rock and Rock Around The Clock in 1956.
After the fifties, his popularity on the charts vanished. He was still a popular touring act in the UK. Many American 50s rockers toured there in the 60s and 70s like Gene Vincent. There were no more hits but Haley kept touring. He also developed a bad drinking problem.
There was a rumor, that was denied by his wife, that he had a brain tumor. Haley didn’t want to tour anymore. That rumor helped him stay hidden. He started to call and write his friends pages of rambling, bitter notes about his career. He also took to painting his bedroom windows black as the song tells. He was said to be a modest gentle courteous man, who throughout his career encouraged every change and newcomer in music, never criticizing anyone. He passed away in February of 1981.
Dave Alvin was the guitar player for the Blasters. This song was on his solo album Blue Blvd released in 1991. Tom Russell is a singer-songwriter who resides in El Paso, Texas. Russell’s songs have been recorded by artists such as Johnny Cash, Ian Tyson, Nanci Griffith, Dave Alvin, and others. In addition to his music, he is also an artist and published author. There will be more posts about him coming up.
Dave Alvin: Haley’s Comet was sadly based on the last years of Bill Haley’s life as you know it. It’s one of those “Don’t let this happen to you” songs.
Haley’s Comet
Do you know who I am?” said Bill Haley
In a pancake house near the Rio Grande
The waitress said, “I don’t know you from diddley”
“To me you’re just another tired old man”
He walked alone down on Main street
A hot wind was blowing up from the south
There were two eyes staring in a pawn shop window
And a whiskey bottle was lifted up to his mouth
There was no moon shining on the Rio Grande
As a truck of migrants pulled through town
And the jukebox was busted at the bus depot
When Haley’s Comet hit the ground
He blacked out all the windows in his bedroom
He was talking to the ceiling and the walls
He closed his eyes and hit the stage in 1955
As the screams of the children filled the hall
This cop walked into a pancake house in Texas
And ordered up a couple of cups to go
And he tells the waitress, “Hey, I just found the body
Of some guy who was famous long ago”
What a beautiful song this is. I’ve really been diving into Texas songwriters. CB sent me this one and it’s fantastic. It’s a great one that I’ve been listening to for a few weeks.
The acoustic rhythm guitar in this is catchy and intricate at the same time. We have heard the phrase of a musician’s musician…well this is the same to other songwriters. I like good songwriting and this is a great example of it. The words flow out perfectly.
The song was written by Joe Ely and Will Sexton. The song was released in 1996 and was on the album Letter To Laredo. This is songwriting at its finest. Springsteen contributed to two songs on the album including this one. Bruce traveled to Austin around the spring of 1995 and joined Ely in the studio to record his parts.
Ely has 16 studio albums and 20 singles in his career so far. This album charted at #68 on the Billboard Country Charts. He has charted quite a few in the Charts.
Joe Ely: “I like to tell in a song where the location is, paint the background, and then bring it into a rhythmic world and try to find something that doesn’t take away from it, but adds to it.”
Joe Ely and Bruce Springsteen in 2001.
All Just To Get To You
I have stumbled on the plains Staggered in the wind Stood at a crossroad or two Cried to a river Swept to the sea All just to get to you
I have flagged a yellow cab Hopped a rusty freight Sang till my lips turned blue Flown a silver bird On the tops of the clouds All just to get to you
I ran too hard I played too Rough I gave my Love Not near Enough I bled too red I cried too blue I beat my fist Against the moon All just to get to you
I have run from St. Paul To Wichita Falls Call’d you from sunny Baton Rouge Hocked everything From my watch to my ring All just to get to you
I ran too hard I played too Rough I gave you Love Not near Enough I bled too red I cried too blue I beat my fist Against the moon All just to get to you
From the California Shore Where the mighty ocean roars To the lands of the Hopi and the Sioux I walked the desert sands Crossed the Rio Grande All just to get to you
I have stumbled on the plains Staggered in the wind Stood at a crossroad or two Cried to a river Swept to the sea All just to get to you
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