2000s – Page 4 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Matthew Good – Hello Time Bomb

The devil’s on sugar smacks
Down at the Radio Shack
Turning shit into solid gold
Solid gold

CB sent me this link…Good sounds different and I really liked his songs. Some of the lyrics won me over to this one.

Matthew Good is an alternative musician from Burnaby…a city in British Columbia, Canada. He started with music in high school. He wrote lyrics for a folk band. He taught himself how to play guitar at 20 years old and started to play and sing with the Rodchester Kings.

In 1995 he formed The Matthew Good Band which lasted from 1995 to 2001. They released 3 EPs and 7 albums including Beautiful Midnight which peaked at #1 in Canada. This song was on that album and Hello Time Bomb peaked at #26 in Canada, #3 on the Canadian alternative charts, and #34 on Billboard’s Alternative Charts in 1999.

After the band broke up he went on to become a solo act. He has released 9 studio albums and 6 of them were in the top 10, 2 were in the top 20, and the last one during 2020 was at #49 in Canada.

Good had troubles throughout his life with medical things. One doctor said he had an ulcer and others said other things. In the mid-2000’s he was diagnosed with Bipolar and things got better for him after that. “I was so relieved to finally know what was wrong with me, and have the chance to deal with the impact a diagnosis would have on my life, before being on medications, my life went from a negative 10 to a plus 10. On medication, it’s a negative three to a plus three. I had to learn to accept that.” He gives tips for people with BiPolar disorder to manage it.

Good has been nominated for 21 Juno Awards and has won four: 2011 Rock Album of the Year for Vancouver, 2002 Video of the Year for Weapon, 2000 Best Rock Album of the Year for Beautiful Midnight, and Best Group of the Year.

Matthew Good has maintained a lukewarm relationship with the music industry and the media, often avoiding the spotlight and avoiding interviews and awards shows (he has not accepted any of his Juno awards in person). In addition to his music projects, he has become a well-known writer and blogger on politics and culture; his book, At Last There is Nothing Left to Say, was published in 2001.

Hello Time Bomb

I found me a reason
So check me tomorrow
We’ll see if I’m leaking
Push and push and push ’till it hurts

The Devil’s on roller-skates
The Devil’s on roller-skates
Down at the roller rink
Picking up chicks for me
Ones that push and push and push ’till it hurts
Push and push ’till it hurts

Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad

Life’s for the living
So check me tomorrow
We’ll see if I’m kidding
Push and push and push ’till it hurts

Did it on Ritalin
I got me some good grades
Now I work me the night shift, where I
Pull and pull and pull ’till it hurts
Pull and pull ’till it hurts

Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Hello, time bomb, I’m ready to go off
Hello, time bomb, I’m ready to go off

Hahahaha

If life’s for the livid
Check me tomorrow
We’ll see if I’m emperor

The devil’s on sugar smacks
Down at the Radio Shack
Turning shit into solid gold
Solid gold

Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Dirty enough, I got me a love
And it’s so bad, it’s so bad
Hello, time bomb, I’m ready to go off
Hello, time bomb, I’m ready to go
Ready to go off

…

Willie Nile – House of a Thousand Guitars

Neath a delta moon and a worn brass ring in the house of a thousand guitars.

I’ve really been into this artist lately and especially this song. This song should have been played on the radio. I have a weakness for songs that name-drop other people. For instance Tom Petty’s Jammin’ Me, R.E.M.’s The End of the World (As We Know It), The Replacements Alex Chilton, Neil Young’s “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black), and well…you get the picture. I posted an earlier article about Nile and the readers really liked it.

Nile made two critically acclaimed albums in 1980 and 81 and then walked away from the music business. He didn’t like the business end but came back with an album in 1991. Since then he has made up for lost time with 11 albums. This was the title track to his 2009 album. It was his 6th studio album and since this album he has released 8 more. One of those albums is Positively Bob: Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan which is fantastic.

In this song, Nile lists John Lennon, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, The Stones, Bob Dylan, and more. It also has a hell of a catchy chorus that will stick with you. It’s very commercial-sounding and accessible.

Willie Nile is still out there touring and playing concerts.

House of the Thousand Guitars

Jimmy Hendrix plays all night long in the house of a thousand guitars.
Through a purple haze you can hear the song in the house of a thousand guitars.
When the clock strikes 12 Robert Johnson sings in the house of a thousand guitars.
Neath a delta moon and a worn brass ring in the house of a thousand guitars.
There’s not a dry eye when old Hank sings in the house of a thousand guitars.
With the pain and the hurt love sometime brings in the house of a thousand guitars.
Well you can hear Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones in the house of a thousand guitars.
There will be no vultures picking on their bones in the house of a thousand guitars.
House of a thousand, house of a thousand, house meet the moon and stars.
House of a thousand, house of a thousand, house of a thousand guitars.
You can spread your finger across the universe in the house of a thousand guitars.
John Lennon, Muddy Waters, man you can do worse in the house of a thousand guitars.
Well you can walk bare foot on broken glass in the house of a thousand guitars.
Cause Mr. John Lee Hooker’s gonna kick your ass in the house of a thousand guitars.
House of a thousand, house of a thousand, house meet the moon and stars.
House of a thousand, house of a thousand, house of a thousand guitars.
You can hear electric fingers playin’, dripping down life’s crooked alleways.
They say there are no broken strings in the house of a thousand guitars.
Just some busted hearts and bee that stings.
There are stained glass windows on the bedroom walls.
You can hear the cry when salvation calls.
Well you can move your body, you can shake your heads in the house of a thousand guitars.
You can play with blood on your fingtips in the house of a thousand guitars.
House of a thousand, house of a thousand, house meet the moon and stars. House of a thousand, house of a thousand, house of a thousand guitars.

House MD

I’m usually late getting into a show or a band. I didn’t watch The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, or The Wire until years after they went off the air. I just found House MD in May and I’ve been binging on it. It ran from 2004 to 2012. It was one of the most intelligent shows on television. Hugh Laurie did a fantastic job on his show along with the rest of the actors.

Gregory House is a doctor with a horrible bedside manner and that is putting it mildly. He is a genius, mad doctor. House is the head of a diagnostic team that was put together around him. They get the most challenging cases in the hospital and solve them more often than not. On the surface, he has little interest in patients and instead, it is about solving the puzzle of their ailment that draws him in but we see many subtle instances which prove he does have a heart for both his patients and his friends. That is the root of the show that extends not only to patients but to his life and friends. He seems to have Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD).

The writers based the show on Sherlock Holmes and Watson. House could have been a master detective because his ability to read people is incredible. Even the names were common…Holmes-House and his best friend on the show was an oncologist named Wilson who was House’s Watson.

The parallels are very close. Both House and Holmes are drug addicts, and both are tortured musicians. But more fundamentally, House is really a detective show, not a medical show. It’s about solving the cause of mysterious diseases in the face of numerous misdirections (which often turn out to be caused by flaws in human nature) as opposed to solving mysterious crimes.

House goes around the hospital popping Vicodin because he is in constant pain. He suffered a leg injury that left him with severe pain for the rest of his life. The injury was caused by an infarction incurred while golfing. He is cynical, often cruel, but yet undeniably a genius. The actor behind House, Hugh Laurie, openly admitted to experimenting with Vicodin to “get closer to the character.” Speaking about his experience, “I wouldn’t recommend it – we have to be careful. But then again … if you’re not in pain it gives a floaty, pleasurable feeling.”

Although House appears to be uncaring to his patients he will do unethical procedures to save them, risking his own career. That could be to solve the all-important “puzzle” also. He does rub off on people. The team that stays around him starts to become him in some ways. They want to work with him because of how great he is at what he does. He spies on their personal life and tells their secrets but they keep coming back. My theory is they would do anything to be around greatness…and have that rub off.

Lisa Cuddy is the Dean of Medicine in the hospital. She tries to reign in House and that is almost impossible but she is strong and sometimes wins the battle. She makes House do “clinic duty” in the free clinic hoping that will improve his relationship with patients but he actively hates it and tries to dodge it because usually, there is no puzzle. As he said… that job can be done by a monkey with a bottle of Motrin. Here are a few clips from the clinic duty. These are not serious cases…but they are funny. Be on the lookout for the lady with an asthma inhaler.

His best friend Wilson is a kind person who is the only friend who can put up with House long term. Wilson is not stupid…he is intelligent and can be manipulative in a way but is not in the same league as House in that department. They are totally different but play college pranks on each other and need each other to be whole in a lot of ways.

The show stays fresh because his team changes through the years but the original team does rejoin at different points. It’s not just about cases…in fact, some episodes don’t even have a case at all.

This is a true ensemble show. Yes, it centers around House but the characters Foreman, Chase, Cameron, Thirteen, Taub, Kutner, Masters, and more are just as important and you get an insight into their lives as well. You can see them slowly change into House’s logic that “Everybody Lies.”

Medical shows usually bore me but this one kept my attention all the way through. The cases they handle are based on real cases but they are very rare. It’s not a comedy…it’s a drama with comedy thrown in…the writing is second to none. The writers go deep into the characters.

Would you want him as your doctor if you had something terribly wrong with you? Would you care in the end if it was just a puzzle for him to solve or if he cared about you or not? I’ll end it here with just a simple statement…watch this show.

This is a show where you can store up quotes. I used one on the guy who works for me at work when we were both trying to solve a problem together. “I thought I’d get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual.”

The look on his face was priceless.

Here are a few short clips together from the first season.

…

Kathleen Edwards – I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory

You’re cool and cred like Fogerty
I’m Elvis Presley in the seventies
You’re Chateauneuf, I’m Yellow Label
You’re the buffet I’m just the table

This was recommended by a former blogger who reached out to me and wanted me to hear this song. I knew I had seen or heard of her somewhere. I asked Randy and sure enough, he posted a song called Six O’Clock News with her last June. I like her voice and her overall sound. After I finished this post…I must have listened to this around 8-9 times. It will stay in my rotation.

The song and Edwards were very likable on the first listen and now I’m hooked on it. Fun video also. Kathleen Edwards is a Canadian musician who released her first album in 2003. She was influenced by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Tom Petty growing up.

She also worked with John Doe, of the punk rock band X, on his solo album A Year in the Wilderness. She sings on three tracks.

This song was written in honor of fellow Canadian musician Jim Bryson, who made contributions to Edwards’ first two albums and also toured with her. In this song, she is self-deprecatingly suggesting in the song that her own success was obscuring Bryson’s talents.

I like some of the lyrics in this one. You’re cool and cred like Fogerty, I’m Elvis Presley in the seventies…You’re Chateauneuf, I’m Yellow Label…You’re the buffet I’m just the table. And my favorite…a hockey reference You’re the Great One, I’m Marty McSorley. The Great One of course is Wayne Gretzky…Marty McSorley was a hockey player who was charged with assault and suspended by the NHL for the remainder of the 1999–2000 season and the playoffs, missing 23 games when he swung his stick and hit Donald Brashear in the head. After serving a full year he never would play in the NHL again. You can see him in the video…the big guy whom Edwards is hugging.

She has released 5 albums since 2003 and her last one was in 2020 called Total Freedom. Her 2012 album Voyageur hit the top 40 in America. In 2003 Rolling Stone declared her one of the year’s most promising new acts.

This song was on her 2008 album Asking For Flowers. The album peaked at #14 on the Canadian Album Charts, #102 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Charts.

The video features Kathleen Edwards and her band playing against Blue Rodeo singer Jim Cuddy and former NHL-ers, Paul Coffey and Brad Dalgarno for a lopsided game of shinny. Marty McSorley joins Edwards team and the video also features sportscaster Dave Hodge.

It’s hard not to like her. One of her songs is called “One More Song The Radio Won’t Like.”

I Make The Dough, But You Get The Glory

Blazing a trail to the southern cities
From the streets of our hometown
Basement bars we played from the heart
In the company of our friends

If I write down these memories
That I have saved away
Photographs of the years that passed
Inside my little brain

You’re cool and cred like Fogerty
I’m Elvis Presley in the 70’s
You’re Chateauneuf, I’m Yellow Label
You’re the buffet I’m just the table
I’m a Ford Tempo you’re a Maserati
You’re the Great One, I’m Marty McSorley
You’re the Concorde, I’m economy
I make the dough but you get the glory

Big fish small pond and some cover songs
We sang along the way
We used to midnight run to the Vesta Lunch
Cheeseburgers and chocolate shakes
Once I got drunk with Jeff
I told him I was in love with you
But I love you like a brother
So at least half of it was true

You’re cool and cred like Fogerty
I’m Elvis Presley in the seventies
You’re Chateauneuf, I’m Yellow Label
You’re the buffet I’m just the table
I’m a Dodge Fargo, you’re a Lamborghini
You’re the Great One, I’m Marty Mcsorley
You’re the Concorde, I’m economy
I make the dough, but you get the glory

If I write down these memories
That I have saved away
Photographs of the years that passed
Inside my little brain

I’m sure it’s been said in the finer print
You make me look legitimate
Heavy rotation on the CBC
Whatever in hell that really means
You’re cool and cred like Fogerty
I’m Elvis Presley in the 70’s
You’re the Concorde I’m economy
I make the dough, but you get the glory

Corrs and Bono – When the Stars Go Blue

Good morning everyone. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday…well it’s Sunday here. Now that Star Trek is over I’ll start posting music, book reviews, and other things on the weekends before the music posts…and sometimes two music posts like today.

I heard this song in the early 2000s and liked it the first time I heard it. I had never heard of the Corrs…I recommend checking them out. I also like Ryan Adams’s original version of the song. This one was written by Ryan Adams and released on his album Gold in 2001. The Corrs with Bono released this song in 2002 and it peaked at #18 in the Adult Top 40. The song was off the album VH1 Music First Presents: The Corrs -Live In Dublin released in 2002 and it peaked at #52 in the Billboard 200.

The Corrs grew up in the small town of Dundalk, County Louth, on the east coast of Ireland, which is 50 miles north of Dublin. Their parents, Jean and Gerry were also musicians who played in cover bands. Jean was the singer and lyrics writer and Gerry was the keyboard player. The house was very musical and all the siblings were taught classical piano at an early age.

The Corrs are an Irish band that contains three sisters and one brother, the Corrs consists of vocalist Andrea, drummer Caroline, violinist Sharon, and guitarist/keyboard player Jim. In late 1995, Anthony Drennan (lead guitar) and Keith Duffy (bass guitar) joined the band and remained a permanent part of the touring and recording line-up.

When Drennan was released in early 1998 to tour with Genesis, his temporary replacement for two legs of the Talk on Corners tour was Irish guitarist Conor Brady. Jason Duffy, younger brother to Keith, joined the line-up as drummer for the Borrowed Heaven tour due to Caroline’s pregnancy. Both Anthony Drennan and Keith Duffy re-joined the band for their 2015 return.

Ryan Adams: I’m always so shocked by what it’s up to, another year will pass and I’ll hear like, ‘Oh, so-and-so is doing ‘When The Stars Go Blue.’ It’s like the song that wouldn’t go away.”

When The Stars Go Blue

Dancing where the stars go blue
Dancing where the evening fell
Dancing in your wooden shoes
In a wedding gown

Dancing out on 7th street
Dancing through the underground
Dancing little marionette
Are you happy now?

Where do you go when you’re lonely?
Where do you go when you’re blue?
Where do you go when you’re lonely ? I’ll follow you…
When the stars go blue (bluuuuue)
When the stars go blue (bluuuuue)
When the stars go blue (bluuuuue)
When the stars go blue

Laughing with your pretty mouth
Laughing with your broken eyes
Laughing with your lover’s tongue
In a lullaby

When the stars go blue (bluuuuue)
(bluuuuue) when the stars go (bluuuuue)

Where do you go [Bono] when you’re lonely?
Where do you go when you’re blue yeah?
Where do you go when you’re lonely ? I’ll follow you..

Guided By Voices – Chasing Heather Crazy

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Friday. I posted a song by this band a year or so ago. I really liked their sound and songs but after posting it I got distracted by something else. CB brought this band up to me recently and I returned to them. This song is a very good power pop song. You have some power and jangle…the recipe for good power pop…this band can dish it out.

Guided By Voices was formed in Dayton, Ohio, United States in 1983. The band’s lineup has changed several times throughout the band’s history, with its only constant member being singer/songwriter Bob Pollard. They are still together and touring… Bob Pollard is with the current lineup.

Bob Pollard is terribly prolific. They have had 37 studio albums, 12 Compilation albums, 19 EPs, 39 singles, 2 live albums, and 2 books! On top of that, they have appeared on several soundtracks including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Crime and Punishment, Scrubs, and many more. They also counted Rik Ocasek as one of their producers.

Their first EP came out in 1986 and their first LP came out in 1987. They have released 15 albums since 2016.

Chasing Heather Crazy was released in 2001 on the Isolation Drills album. The album peaked at #6 on the Heat Seekers Charts, #8 on the Indie charts, and #168 on the Billboard Album Charts.

Review by Allmusic Tom Maginnis: “Chasing Heather Crazy” is a blissed-out rocker of the sort that showcases Robert Pollard’s sharp pop songcraft skills. His infectious melody is fully fleshed out here, with big clean studio production miles removed from the scrappy lo-fi quality of past efforts, such as Bee Thousand, which first brought Guided By Voices to the attention of the mainstream press and independent rock audiences alike. Pollard also seems more comfortable delving into personal matters, addressing his lyrics with a directness that was seldom found on earlier works, which also helps bring a margin of intimacy that could otherwise be lost in the slickness of the recording.

Chasing Heather Crazy

Trailing off the likes of it
She likes it when it grows
Sending out a candidate
She’s sinking her foes
Peaking out then leveling
Wherever it goes

And her mother will greet you
And a river will reach you
Breaking out to make you slave again

Chasing Heather crazy
Chasing Heather crazy
Making sure that all the world is coming down
All the world is coming down on her
Anywhere I want to
And if you want to come too
We’ll go down where
All the girls are stumblin’ round
All the world is crumbling down around her

Staring out from otherworldly windows painted red
Doesn’t have to listen to the voices in your head
That’s a different lie
Do you remember what was said?

And her mother will greet you
And a river will reach you
Breaking out to make you slave again

Around her
Around her
Around her
Around her

…

Garland Jeffreys …a New York Original

CB (Cincinnati Babyhead) and I have got together again and worked on this post. When CB sent me the link to “Wild In The Streets” I was sold, hooked, and happy. The more I listened to Jeffreys music the more it affected me like Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison did when I first heard them. Jeffreys’ music found a spot in me where Morrison and Springsteen lives. It’s deep, sprawling, and meaningful. Not many artists affect me like this. Like Big Star, The Replacements, and others…this man should be known to more people.

This post is a sample platter…I kept it relatively short so you can enjoy the songs. I’ll be covering more Garland Jeffreys coming up in the next few weeks to give more information rather than cramming everything in one post.

Jeffreys is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-born singer/songwriter who has released 15 studio albums in his 53-year career. His mixed heritage Puerto Rican and African-American is mirrored in his music, which embraces rock, soul, R&B, and reggae. He began his career performing solo in Manhattan clubs in 1966 after attending college at Syracuse University as an art major, where he became friends with Lou Reed. He then spent some time in Italy studying art before he came back to further his education at New York’s Institute of Fine Arts.

In 1969 he formed a band called Grinder’s Switch, they released just one album Garland Jeffreys & Grinder’s Switch. Members of that band played on the debut album of John Cale of the Velvet Underground. Jeffreys wrote a song for the album called Fairweather Friend and did backup vocals for it. In 1973 he released his first album entitled Garland Jeffreys.

Springsteen opened for Jeffreys at the Cafe Au Go Go back in 1972. They’ve stayed in touch ever since. Jeffreys appears on Light of Day, a great Springsteen tribute album, performing “Streets of Philadelphia” with just as much emotion as its author. He was friends with peers like Lou Reed, Bob Marley, John Lennon, and Joe Strummer, explored in both original songs (“Reggae on Broadway”) and a pair of choice covers (“I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Help”).

One thing I found is he really connected with baseball. His album One Eyed Jack has him on the front cover when he was a young kid in a baseball uniform and his childhood idol Jackie Robinson was on the back. Some of his credits list baseball players from Bobby Bonds to Brian Doyle.

Let us start off with the first song that CB sent me that won me over within a few seconds. It’s as New York as Martin Scorsese, Springsteen, The Yankees, The Statue of Liberty, and subways. It was released in 1973 as a single and was included in the 1977 album Ghost Writer… it is called Wild In The Streets. It’s naked, raw, and genuine…just like Jeffreys.

35 Millimeter Dreams is a song off of the 1977 album Ghost Writer. This one is catchy and it’s too bad it didn’t catch on when released as a single.

Hail Hail Rock and Roll…CB did a take on Hail Hail Rock and Roll. Some of his take: A little tribute to Rock n Roll by one of the best guys out there. This song gets into your blood. Garland knows his stuff. CB has been thinking about this rock and roll thing lately. All the music and pioneers that have contributed to this thing he loves so much. This song more than touches on a lot of those thoughts and feelings.

It was released in 1983 on the album Don’t Call Me Buckwheat.

Roller Coaster Town was released in 2011 on the album The King Of In Between. The album made numerous annual Best Of lists with NPR naming it a “best of the year so far” and Rolling Stone calling it one of the Best Under The Radar Albums of 2011.

City Kids is off the American Boy and Girl album released in 1979. Here is what CB says about the album: “This is NY music from Jeffrey’s experience. He’s lived it. Another one of those “How come artists that never made it bigger?” He is a NY poet. Songs got into me, moved me. What can I say? Springsteen’s ‘Wild Innocent’ vibe. This is his world like Scorsese’s. Close to the streets. When he sings ‘City Kids’ I’m gone with him. Sends a few shivers. Love the feel. Cousin to ”Jungleland’ by Bruce. ‘Matador’ is just beautiful. Sung in his distinctive voice. Hit the romantic side of CB.”

…

Cheap Trick – In The Street ….Under the Covers Tuesday

Wish we hadA joint so bad

I’m a huge Cheap Trick fan but when I heard this song as the theme to That 70s Show… I just asked myself why? Why not use the original version of the song? That’s not a dig at Cheap Trick…they did fine with it but it was unnecessary. The show later covered a Big Star song in an episode…the haunting song Thirteen. The band had lost out on stardom in the early seventies and now many people really like the theme song but have no clue who wrote it. In a way though…unfortunately, that fits Big Star perfectly.

In the first season, the theme song was done by Todd Griffin. It’s a close copy of the original soundwise but with different lyrics by Ben Vaughn. The rest of the show’s seasons was replaced by the Cheap Trick version. The only reason I can think of not using Big Star is they needed an edited version of the song and felt they had to change the song’s lyrics although the lyrics would have fit the show. Cheap Trick’s version is very good of course because it’s Cheap Trick…but it would have been nice to hear the original. Many people think that Cheap Trick wrote the song.

Chris Bell and Alex Chilton are credited with writing the song. In 2000, Chilton confirmed that he was paid $70 in royalties each time the show aired, an amount he thought ironic, given the show’s title. The song was originally on their debut album #1 Record.

Recently I watched some performances they did on the Leno show later on when Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens reformed the band with two members of the Posies. The introduction made me do a double take…“Big Star…the missing link between the Beatles and The Replacements.” How could I not like that? Three of my favorite bands right there.

The #1 album was hailed by critics and got radio play when released. The feedback from people who heard it was very positive. There was one problem though. They signed with Stax Records which normally didn’t deal with pop and rock bands. They weren’t prepared to promote them and the biggest problem was there was no distribution. People started to go to record shops to buy it but there were no Big Star albums there. Stax was in financial trouble as well. They carried on for three albums but with no commercial breakthrough…although bands like Cheap Trick, The Replacements, R.E.M., KISS, and others all say they were heavily influenced by them.

Jody Stephens drummer of Big Star: “I don’t know if the general population even knows that Big Star had anything to do with it.”

Mike Mills of REM: “I heard the first two records first, Radio City and #1 Record, I just thought they were perfect. If I could make records, that would be the sort of records I would make. The third one took me a bit longer to get into, but it does reward repeated listening. What Big Star was doing made sense to me.”

The Todd Griffin version

The Cheap Trick version

The Orginal

In The Street

Hanging out, down the streetThe same old thing we did last weekNot a thing to doBut talk to you

Steal your car, and bring it downPick me up, we’ll drive aroundWish we hadA joint so bad

Pass the street lightOut past midnight

Ahh

Hanging out, down the streetThe same old thing we did last weekNot a thing to doBut talk to you

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Please Read the Letter

I saw Alison Krauss with Union Station in Franklin Tennessee in the 1990s. I never knew she was that good of a musician. Her voice was great as well and I wasn’t a fan when I was given the tickets…but I was after I saw her.

Since the first time I heard this song…I loved it. It’s put together so well and Plants and Krauss harmonize beautifully. Please Read The Letter was originally off the Walking Into Clarksdale album by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. The song was written by Charlie Jones, Michael Lee, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant.

I listened to the Page and Plant version…it just didn’t have the magic that the Krauss version did. I usually go with the loud guitar but not in this case. Plant and Alison Krauss met at a tribute concert to Leadbelly, and decided to collaborate. They made an album together in 2007 called Raising Sand. The album featured production by T-Bone Burnett and songwriting by Plant, Tom Waits, Sam Phillips, Townes Van Zandt, and Gene Clark among others.

This version peaked at #20 in the U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and #102 in the UK in 2009. I like the original version but Krauss’s harmony lifts this version up over that and turns into a great record. The arrangement of this version highlights the lyrics and enhances the song. I was hooked at the first listen.

Raising Sand won The Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 2009. The song was off of the Raising Sand album. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Album Charts, #5 in Canada (The Canada peak number I’m not sure about), #2 in the UK, #3 in New Zealand in 2007-08.

The follow-up album was released in 2021 and it’s called Raise The Roof.

Robert Plant: “When we started this project together, the whole game was a mystery. We gave ourselves three days, and we said if it doesn’t work, we’ll just take lunch, and I’ll go back to Wolverhampton. But we brought this song out and it’s been given that Nashville touch and it feels pretty good.”

Page and Plant’s version

Please Read the Letter

Caught out running
With just a little too much to hide
Maybe baby
Everything’s gonna turn out fine
Please read the letter
I mailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out
We needed so much more

Too late, too late
A fool could read the signs
Maybe baby
You’d better check between the lines
Please read the letter, I
Wrote it in my sleep
With help and consultation from
The angels of the deep

Once I stood beside a well of many words
My house was full of rings and
Charms and pretty birds
Please understand me, my
Walls come falling down
There’s nothing here that’s left for you
But check with lost and found

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

One more song just before we go
Remember baby
All the things
We used to know
Please read my letter
And promise you’ll keep
The secrets and the memories and
Cherish in the deep

Ah…

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

Paul Kelly – To Her Door… and more

This extended from my last chat with CB… we had Graham Parker last week and Paul Kelly was brought up. I ran out of time last week to write this one up. I really like great storytellers…and Paul Kelly is one of them. His music touches on many styles. Country, rock, folk, reggae, bluegrass, and touches of many more styles. He has been described as the poet laureate of Australian music. He writes about everyday life that many people can relate to. I’ve seen this stated about him… Paul Kelly’s songs dig deep into Australia: how it feels, looks, tastes, sounds.

Today I’m going to give you a small sample platter of this great artist.

Here is a very short bio of Paul Kelly.

Paul Kelly was born in 1955 is from Adelaide, Australia. Debuted in Hobart, Australia, 1974; moved to Melbourne and performed in pubs, 1976; formed band the Dots, released albums Talk, 1981, and Manila, 1982; moved to Sydney, 1984; released Post with Steve Connolly and Ian Rilen, 1985; formed as Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released Gossip, 1986; regrouped as Paul Kelly and the Messengers, released Gossip in the U.S., followed by Under the Sun, 1987; published collected writings volume Lyrics, 1993; formed new lineup with Shane O’Mara, Bruce Haymes, Peter Luscombe, Stephen Hadley, and Spencer Jones. Kelly is still releasing albums. His last album was Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train released in 2021. Altogether he had 28 studio albums, 6 live albums, 8 compilation albums, and an incredible 64 singles.

He also comments on important social and historical events and their significance to Australian identity and life. Several of his songs highlight the plight of Australia’s Indigenous people including ‘Maralinga (Rainy Land)’, a song about atomic testing by the British in Australia’s outback and its effects on the Indigenous people of that area. He and Midnight Oil were some of the artists who contributed to the album Building Bridges – Australia Has A Black History. All sales proceeds were donated to the National Coalition of Aboriginal Organisations.

The first song I listened to by Paul Kelly was “To Her Door.” It reminded me of Steve Earle or Springsteen. Not because of his voice but because of the songwriting. The story…the way lyrics flow and ebb and fit together like a puzzle. All the while this is going on the music has great dynamics that rise up to meet the lyrics head-on and punctuates it. The song was released in 1987 and was on the album Under The Sun that peaked at #14 in Australia.

That album also produced the single Dumb Things. This song has a shuffle that jumps. It starts off with a cool harmonica blasting and invites you in. This character-driven song stuck with me for days. This one peaked at #36 in Australia and #17 on the Billboard Alternative Charts in 1987.

Now it’s time for a pure rock song by Kelly called Darling It Hurts. This song was off of the album Gossip released in 1986. The song peaked at #25 in Australia and #19 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts.

This one is called Bradman and it’s off of Gossip as well. It has a sports connection. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about Cricket but the song is great. It’s about Sir Donald Bradman, arguably…. the greatest ever cricketer (and definitely the greatest ever Australian cricketer). This one peaked at #51 in Australia and was part of a double A-sided single along with the song Leaps and Bounds.

I’m going to close this on this song or I could go on for pages. This song is called Careless. It was released in 1989 on the album So Much Water So Close to Home. It’s an incredibly catchy song but a song that means something. Like a mixture in a bottle, like a frozen over lake, Like a long-time, painted smile I got so hard I had to crack, You were there, you held the line, you’re the one that brought me back

If you liked what you have heard…do some homework and look this artist up…you won’t be sorry. He will now remain on my playlist. I’ve given you a few samples but it’s so much more to explore.

Rock Critic David Fricke: “I have had the pleasure and privilege of seeing Paul Kelly in performance more times than I can count – although it’s still not enough. I’ve seen him in performance in the Northeast and Southwest Hemispheres, unplug and plugged in, solo, with his band and, on one memorable evening in New York, on stage exchanging songs, quips and composing tips with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Michelle Shocked and Allen Toussaint. If memory serves me right, Paul actually sang a few bars of Fats Domino’s‘Blueberry Hill’ one thanksgivings back in the mid 80s at my apartment in Manhattan as he pored over a road atlas- his forefinger on the city of New Orleans – and excitedly pointed out the route he was taking on a car trip through the southern United States”

Now here is one for the road…this song’s title appealed me right away… “How to Make Gravy.”

How To Make Gravy

Hello Dan, it’s Joe here
I hope you’re keeping well
It’s the 21st of December
And now they’re ringing the last bells
If I get good behaviour
I’ll be out of here by July
Won’t you kiss my kids on Christmas Day?
Please don’t let ’em cry for me

I guess the brothers are driving down from Queensland
And Stella’s flying in from the coast
They say it’s gonna be a hundred degrees, even more maybe
But that won’t stop the roast
Who’s gonna make the gravy now?
I bet it won’t taste the same
Just add flour, salt, a little red wine
And don’t forget a dollop of tomato sauce
For sweetness and that extra tang

And give my love to Angus, and to Frank and Dolly
Tell ’em all I’m sorry, I screwed up this time
And look after Rita, I’ll be thinking of her
Early Christmas morning when I’m standing in line

I hear Mary’s got a new boyfriend
I hope he can hold his own
Do you remember the last one? What was his name again?
Ahh, just a little too much cologne
And Roger, you know I’m even gonna miss Roger
‘Cause there’s sure as hell no one in here I want to fight

Oh, praise the Baby Jesus, have a Merry Christmas
I’m really gonna miss it, all the treasure and the trash
And later in the evening, I can just imagine
You’ll put on Junior Murvin and push the tables back

And you’ll dance with Rita, I know you really like her
Just don’t hold her too close
Oh, brother, please don’t stab me in the back
I didn’t mean to say that, it’s just my mind it plays up
Multiplies each matter, turns imagination into fact

You know I love her badly, she’s the one to save me
I’m gonna make some gravy, I’m gonna taste the fat
Ahh, tell her that I’m sorry, yeah, I love her badly
Tell ’em all I’m sorry, and kiss the sleepy children for me
You know one of these days, I’ll be making gravy
I’ll be making plenty, I’m gonna pay ’em all back

Yeah, do-do-do-do, do-do
Do-do-do-do, do-do

A Question For the Readers

The reason I’m posting this at night? I want to make sure it works…and I didn’t want to be scrambling with it on my way to work.

I am putting together my new music computer and I haven’t recorded anything in a few years… and what a project it has been! I was wondering if you all would be receptive if I posted any of my songs once in a while? I’m only talking every once in a while…not many. The only thing I request of you…is if you can… listen to it… if possible wear headphones. The reason is I am NOT a good mixer and I mixed them down in headphones which you should never do.

On most, I played all the instruments myself unless I note it otherwise. When I was playing more (before covid) with the guys in my garage…I would make demos to show them…hey this is how it goes.

The songs you will be hearing are basically demos… I made them a few years ago for our band to learn so we could record them properly. Well life happens and that never happened. Some of you have heard some of the songs I’ve emailed to you… and I’ve somehow got positive feedback. I did most of the instruments my self…guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, and programming real drums sounds which I’m not good at. These were never meant for public consumption but what the hell…I’m not 20 anymore trying to make something.

The reason I haven’t posted them before? My terrible voice and I was waiting for my cousin Mark…who is a proper singer to take over but that will take a while…so you would be hearing the rough demos.

So what do you think? Are you game for this? I’ve included an example of a song…this one has no vocals…just something a friend I have and I put together in 10 minutes (really just 10 minutes) a few years ago to work on later. It’s just guitar (him), bass (me), and some drums that I programmed from real drum kits. We called it “Whats In That Brown Paper Bag?”…more as a joke. This is not one of the songs I want feedback on…the feedback on this is how it sounds over your system. It is harder than the usual songs I write. Chris, my friend who plays guitar on this, came up with this riff. It gave me an excuse to have fun playing bass…Also….does it even play?

It’s very repetitive because like I said…it was for the fun of it and so we wouldn’t forget it. Today we are using it as a test. IF it goes well and I don’t get too many “no’s” then I will post one within a week or two with singing and a real song.

…

Steve Miller – Jet Airliner …Under The Covers Week

This ends Under The Covers Week. I hope you all have enjoyed it…I wrote a few more but I will post them later.

I’ve stayed away from Steve Miller as far as posting because of the constant play on classic radio he gets. I have to admit though, that guitar lick in the intro never gets old. I always thought he wrote this song. I had no idea that someone did this before.

Jet Airliner was written by Paul Pena, a blind folk singer from Cape Cod. Pena played at the Newport Folk Festival in 1969 but was unable ever to make it big in the music business. Pena wrote this song in 1973 and the song tackled his unhappiness over working on his album New Train which, as a result of disagreements, remained unreleased for 27 years. In 2000 it was finally released and praised.

He was grateful that Steve Miller covered this song. For the rest of his life, his royalties from Miller’s version was his only source of income. In 1997 he was in a fire and with heavy smoke inhalation and was in a coma for four days. In the last years of his life, he had diabetes and pancreatitis…he passed away in 2005 because of both complications. In the eighties, he also lived through his wife passing away.

In 1975, Steve Miller needed one more song to record his Book Of Dreams album. This one fit perfectly…the original song had angry verses that Miller re-shaped and it turned out to be a big hit for him. Personally, I like both versions but Pena’s is really raw and I like it. Miller tightened it up and streamlined it.

The album peaked at #2 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #5 in New Zealand, and #12 in the UK in 1977. He had 2 top twenty hits off of that album along with Jungle Love which peaked at #23.

The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, #12 in New Zealand, and didn’t chart in the UK.

Steve Miller talked about Pena’s song: “‘Jet Airliner’ was about those people and his treatment on the East Coast when he went out, He really didn’t want to leave California and go to the East Coast and record this record, and this was a song about it. When he brought it to me, he had recorded an album, and nothing had happened. On that album, there were five or six really, really great songs, and I needed one song.”

Steve Miller: “it was very long, verse after verse after verse of anger, a lot of it. So I took the song and said, ‘Can I reshape it? Can I play with it?’ They said, ‘You can do anything you want to with it.’ I remember laying out all the lyrics, typing them up on big sheets of paper… I had them all out on my kitchen table, moving the verses around… then I got it all together and went, ‘Yeah, this’ll work – it’s great!’”

Jet Airliner

Leavin’ home, out on the road
I’ve been down before
Ridin’ along in this big ol’ jet plane
I’ve been thinkin’ about my home
But my love light seems so far away
And I feel like it’s all been done
Somebody’s tryin’ to make me stay
You know I’ve got to be movin’ on

Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay

Goodbye to all my friends at home
Goodbye to people I’ve trusted
I’ve got to go out and make my way
I might get rich you know I might bet busted
But my heart keeps calling me backwards
As I get on the 707
Ridin’ high I got tears in my eyes
You know you got to go through hell
Before you get to heaven

Big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay

Touchin’ down in New England town
Feel the heat comin’ down
I’ve got to keep on keepin’ on
You know the big wheel keeps on spinnin’ around
And I’m goin’ with some hesitation
You know that I can surely see
That I don’t want to get caught up in any of that
Funky shit goin’ down in the city

Big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay

Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah

Big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay

Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
Carry me to my home
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s there that I belong

…

George Harrison – Any Road

I heard this song before George passed away…a live version of it by him on a VH1 special that he was on. The interviewer kept pushing him to do a song…I’m glad he did now. When I heard it I smiled because it was so George. With George’s songs, you could expect a good melody, slide guitar, and his own nugget of knowledge that he left behind.

This song was on George’s last album “Brainwashed” in 2003. George wrote the song in 1988 while working on a video for “Cloud Nine.” The song peaked at #37 in the UK chart in 2003.

George played this song on a VH1 show that ended up being his last performance before he died in 2001. You can tell he wasn’t really rehearsed or ready to play it but he gamely did…and I’m glad. George did not completely finish the album before he died so his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne helped finish it.

George’s son Dhani said that while he and his father were in Hawaii, they walked by a beach and saw a sign that read, “If the wind blows, you can always adjust your sails, but, if you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will take you there.” The sign was the inspiration for the song.

A form of the phrase also is in the exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

I thought this song was a good song for George to leave us with…It has his trademark slide and some ukulele in it.

“Any Road”

(Give me that plenty of that guitar.)

But I’ve been traveling on a boat and a plane
In a car on a bike with a bus and a train
Traveling there, traveling here
Everywhere in every gear

But oh Lord we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah you pay your fare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

And I’ve been traveling through the dirt and the grime
From the past to the future through the space and the time
Traveling deep beneath the waves
In watery grottoes and mountainous caves

But oh Lord we’ve got to fight
With the thoughts in the head with the dark and the light
No use to stop and stare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

You may not know where you came from
May not know who you are
May not have even wondered
How you got this far

I’ve been traveling on a wing and a prayer
By the skin of my teeth, by the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face, in the ice and the snow

But oooeeee it’s a game
Sometimes you’re cool, sometimes you’re lame
Ah yeah it’s somewhere
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

But oh Lord we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah you pay your fare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

I keep traveling around the bend
There was no beginning, there is no end
It wasn’t born and never dies
There are no edges, there is no sides

Oh yeah you just don’t win
It’s so far out, the way out is in
Bow to God and call him Sir
But if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
If you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

(Yeah hey! Ah ee ah! Ah he ah!)

Paul McCartney – All Things Must Pass

No, I didn’t type the artist wrong.

It was touching to see Paul cover this great George Harrison song in the Concert For George…a year after George passed away. I don’t think Paul really got this song until he performed it. Not only did he do it in that concert but he would play it live occasionally after that. He knocks it out of the park with this version.

It’s simply one of the best songs George ever wrote. It was the title track of his debut album released in 1971. The song was worked up with the Beatles during the Get Back sessions and started to sound really good. It wasn’t rejected…they just moved on with different songs. There were songs they worked up that ended up on McCartney’s debut album as well. The same with John Lennon’s Gimme Some Truth.

A few days before George passed…Paul and Ringo joined him and talked about old times. George also told Paul to start getting along with Yoko because as he very well knew…life is too short. Paul did just that.

Paul McCartney: “I sat with him for a few hours when he was in treatment just outside New York. He was about 10 days away from his death, as I recall. We joked about things – just amusing, nutty stuff. It was good. It was like we were dreaming. He was my little baby brother, almost, because I’d known him that long. We held hands. It’s funny, even at the height of our friendship – as guys – you would never hold hands. It just wasn’t a Liverpool thing. But it was lovely.”

Eric Clapton: The only minor difficulty arose over who should sing “Something.” Olivia thought I should sing it. Paul McCartney had been doing it on the ukulele in his shows and wanted to do it that way, and I wanted Paul to sing “All Things Must Pass,” which I considered the key song of the whole event. In the end, we compromised and Paul and I did “Something” as a duet, and later in the show he performed a brilliantly soulful version of “All Things.” It was a great night, and everybody who was there or has seen the DVD agrees that it was the perfect sendoff for a man we all loved, and who gave us over the years so much beautiful music.

‘Those guys’ (Beatles) inability to express love for one another was classic, the exception is Ringo, who says [in the film], ‘I love George, and George loved me.’ That wouldn’t have been so easy for Paul.’”

“Paul had to admit that he didn’t know ‘All Things Must Pass,’ and that was an awful thing to confront. It was huge humble-pie stuff for Paul to be among these people who he may have thought had a better relationship with George than he did.

“But I believe Paul missed George as much as — if not more than — anybody.”

All Things Must Pass

Sunrise doesn’t last all morningA cloudburst doesn’t last all daySeems my love is up and has left you with no warningIt’s not always gonna be this grey

All things must passAll things must pass away

Sunset doesn’t last all eveningA mind can blow those clouds awayAfter all this, my love is up and must be leavingIt’s not always gonna be this grey

All things must passAll things must pass away

All things must passNone of life’s strings can lastSo, I must be on my wayAnd face another day

Now the darkness only stays the night timeIn the morning it will fade awayDaylight is good at arriving at the right timeIt’s not always gonna be this grey

All things must passAll things must pass awayAll things must passAll things must pass away

Bob Dylan – Must Be Santa

My friend Dave (A Sound Day) asked some of us bloggers to write about a Christmas song that was special to us for Turntable Talk…so I went with Mr. Bob Dylan… who won’t be mistaken as the jolly old guy any time soon.

I would never bet against Bob doing anything. When one of my friends told me at the time that Dylan released a Christmas album…I thought he was kidding. No, he wasn’t…and I liked it when I heard it. This song was based on a German drinking game, with the lyrics taking on a ‘call and answer’ structure… “Who’s got a beard/That’s long and white?/Santa’s got a beard/That’s long and white.”

“Must Be Santa” was written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks. The song was first released in 1960 by Mitch Miller. In 2009, Bob Dylan covered Brave Combo’s arrangement as part of his holiday album, Christmas in the Heart.

All of the profits from this album went towards Feeding America Crisis, and the World Food Program. In 2009, Dylan told Bill Flanagan that he had intended to make a Christmas record for some time: “Yeah, every so often it has crossed my mind. The idea was first brought to me by Walter Yetnikoff, back when he was President of Columbia Records.”

If you want to know what Dylan considers to be a great Christmas meal… it would consist of “Mashed potatoes and gravy, roast turkey and collard greens, turnip greens, biscuit dressing, cornbread and cranberry sauce.”

Bob Dylan: “This version comes from a band called Brave Combo. Somebody sent their record to us for our radio show [Theme Time Radio Hour]. They’re a regional band out of Texas that takes regular songs and changes the way you think about them. You oughta hear their version of ‘Hey Jude.'”

Bob Dylan – Must Be Santa

Who’s got a beard that’s long and white?
Santa’s got a beard that’s long and white
Who comes around on a special night?
Santa comes around on a special night

Special Night, beard that’s white

Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Who wears boots and a suit of red?
Santa wears boots and a suit of red

Who wears a long cap on his head?
Santa wears a long cap on his head

Cap on head, suit that’s red
Special night, beard that’s white

Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Who’s got a big red cherry nose?
Santa’s got a big red cherry nose

Who laughs this way: “HO HO HO”?
Santa laughs this way: “HO HO HO”

HO HO HO, cherry nose
Cap on head, suit that’s red
Special night, beard that’s white

Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Who very soon will come our way?
Santa very soon will come our way

Eight little reindeer pull his sleigh?
Santa’s little reindeer pull his sleigh

Reindeer sleigh, come our way
HO HO HO, cherry nose
Cap on head, suit that’s red
Special night, beard that’s white

Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen
Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton

Reindeer sleigh, come our way
HO HO HO, cherry nose
Cap on head, suit that’s red
Special night, beard that’s white

Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Must be Santa, Santa Claus
Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Must be Santa, Santa Claus