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
We have come to the end of the line for Max Picks. I decided to draw the line this year. What a year it was for me in music. I was 2 when the Beatles stopped playing music. I never got to experience a new Beatles song and this was it. It’s still a favorite of mine. I’m going to work up a few Missed Max Picks because of the songs I missed. I want to thank ALL of you for the support and your comments on this series. It was a fun one to do. We started this on June 23, 2023!
Beatles – Free As A Bird
In the 1990s I kept reading about the Beatles Anthology coming out and the three surviving Beatles getting back together to release old never heard before music as well as new. They were going to take a John Lennon demo and add something to it. This was beyond exciting for me. I was too young to remember a new Beatles song coming out.
It had an older feel but sounded modern at the same time. George Harrison’s distorted slide guitar playing brought an edge to it. It even had a strange ending like some of their other songs.
I got an early release of the Anthology CD from a friend of mine who worked in a record store and he said…don’t tell anyone. I sat glued to Free As a Bird because for once I was listening to a new Beatles song… I was one year old in 1968 so I missed them when they were originally out. I liked the song and still do. I have talked to Beatles fans who don’t really like it that much but the song has stuck with me. .
Was Free As a Bird the best song in the Beatles catalog? No not even close but just to hear something new was fantastic. The Anthology videos and CDs jump-started their popularity all over again…and it hasn’t stopped since then. I had cousins who were teenagers at the time who were never interested in them until Anthology came out. All I could say to them was…I’ve told you for years.
Also…my favorite music video of all time
Jayhawks – Blue
This song would rank high among my favorite songs. The Jayhawks were an Alt-Country band with a pop/folk sound formed in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in 1985 and played alternative country rock. They have released 10 studio albums and are worth checking out.
The song was on the album Tomorrow the Green Grass.
They recently backed Ray Davies on his albums Americana and Our Country – Americana Act II. Their 2016 album Paging Mr. Proust was produced by Peter Buck of REM.
They combine country, folk, rock, and pop with good harmonies.
Oasis – Wonderwall
This song is awash in sixties influence…which isn’t surprising by Oasis. It caught my attention in the 90s seeing that it had a mod mid-sixties influence.
This song was supposedly about Noel Gallagher’s then-girlfriend Meg Mathews, who is compared with a schoolboy’s wall to which posters of footballers and pop stars are attached. He said: “It’s about my girlfriend. She was out of work, and that, a bit down on her luck, so it’s just saying, ‘Cheer up and f—in get on with it.’” Noel later married and then divorced Meg Mathews.
Noel also said… “The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it. And how do you tell your Mrs. it’s not about her once she’s read it is? It’s about an imaginary friend who’s going to come and save you from yourself.”
Everclear – Santa Monica
With my big black boots and an old suitcase I do believe I’ll find myself a new place
Those lyrics hit me for some reason as did the song. It was my first introduction to the band and I loved it. This is one of the few new bands at the time that I followed.
Art Alexaskis formed Everclear in Portland, Oregon, in 1991. Portland in the early 90s had a huge music scene. Everclear broke out first with this song nationally. Many bands there didn’t think Everclear deserved it over everyone else…there was a lot of competition there at that time.
Santa Monica is a seaside town in California where Everclear lead singer Art Alexakis grew up. He describes it as Like LA but on the coast.
The song peaked at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Charts, #4 in Canada’s Alternative Charts, #27 in New Zealand, and #40 in the UK in 1996.
It was on the 1995 album Sparkle and Fade. John at 2 Loud 2 Old Music reviewed all of their albums in this article. It’s a great review of their recording career.
Ramones – I Don’t Want To Grow Up
This came off of the Ramones’ last album Adios Amigos. This song is a Tom Waits cover. This song actually made the top 30 for the Ramones. Their reputation grew through the years. They probably got more popular after they broke up than they were when they were together. It’s a shame that many of their songs didn’t hit bigger at the time. Their songs are short, to the point, and usually very catchy. You would have thought radio would have loved them.
The album is really good and it was a good way to go out for them.
BONUS PICK… I’m going to break my own rule about only 5 songs since this is the last Max Picks…and I’m breaking another rule by featuring a band twice in one post. Which band should it be?
Beatles – Real Love
This was the second “new” song by the Beatles to be released in the 1990s and it was on the Anthology 2 album. I liked the song but it didn’t resonate with me like Free As A Bird did. Real Love sounded more like a Lennon solo song with the Beatles backing him…but I love Lennon’s solo output so I did like it but it wasn’t as “Beatle-ly” to me as Free As a Bird.
The song was more fully realized than Free As a Bird and didn’t take as much input by the other three shaping it. This is the only Beatles song where the songwriting credit is John Lennon alone instead of Lennon-McCartney or all four Beatles.
Paul McCartney did his best John Lennon’s imitation to help the lead vocal because the recording of John’s voice was low and spotty in some places. The lead vocal is actually a John and Paul duet.
We are nearing the end of Max Picks…we still have one more year to go.
R.E.M. – What’s The Frequency Kenneth?
This song along with Fall On Me is my favorite REM song.
REM really let loose on their album Monster. I love the tone on Peter Bucks’s guitar and the loud in-your-face production. Peter Buck played the late Kurt Cobain’s Fender Jag-Stang, which he plays upside-down because Cobain was left-handed. This to me…is very close to having a REM and Replacements song all in one.
This song is about an incident that took place on October 4, 1986, when the CBS news anchor Dan Rather was attacked on a New York City sidewalk by a crazed man yelling “Kenneth, what is the frequency.” The man turned out to be William Tager, who was caught after he killed a stagehand outside of the Today Show studios on August 31, 1994. Tager, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, said he was convinced the media was beaming signals into his head, and he was on a mission to determine their frequencies.
Lead singer Michael Stipe says this is an attack on the media, who overanalyze things they don’t understand.
After this song I lost contact with REM’s music for a long time…the same with The Replacements. Those two bands represented the best of the 80s for me.
Weezer – Buddy Holly
This was released to radio on September 7, 1994, which would have been Buddy Holly’s 58th birthday.
The video for this song hooked me for not only the mention of Buddy Holly, Mary Tyler Moore but also the Happy Days set… Plus its a fun song.
Spike Jonze directed the video. Vintage Happy Days footage was intercut with shots of Weezer performing on the original Arnold’s Drive-In set. Al Molinaro, who played the diner’s owner on the series, made a cameo appearance in the video. One of the most popular clips of 1995, it scored four MTV Video Music Awards, including Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Music Video, and two Billboard Music Video Awards, among them Alternative/Modern Rock Clip of the Year.
Pretenders – I’ll Stand By You
Chrissie Hynde wrote this with Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. “I’ll Stand by You” was released as the second single from the 1994 album Last of the Independents. It’s a beautiful song that has been covered a few times.
For Hynde, working with outside songwriters was different, as she was used to writing on her own. It ended up being a very positive experience that led to more collaborations.
Chrissie had said she was uncomfortable about having such a hit but felt better after Noel Gallagher said “he wished he’d written it.”
Chrissie Hynde:“When I did that song, I thought, Urgh this is s–t. But then I played it for a couple of girls who weren’t in the business and by the end of it they were both in tears. I said, OK, put it out.”
Green Day – When I Come Around
This was my first introduction to Green Day. The more albums they released the more I liked them. American Idiot is probably my favorite album but this song was a good introduction to the band for me.
Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool are listed as writers of this song. It was not released as a single, which was a strategic move by Green Day’s label Reprise to up the sales of the album.
When performing this song at Woodstock ’94, a fan threw a clump of mud on stage and Billie Joe stuck it in his mouth. This caused the fans to keep throwing mud and started the infamous mud fight. Many fans look back at Woodstock ’94 fondly, calling it “Mudstock ’94” largely because of this incident.
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World
This version has a charm about it I like. Cobain did a great job on this.
David Bowie liked this cover saying, “I was simply blown away when I found that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and have always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.”
What he didn’t like were the kids that came up after his show and said, ‘It’s cool you’re doing a Nirvana song.’ And I think, ‘F**k you, you little tosser!”
Nirvana performed it on the MTV Unplugged episode a few months before Cobain died…it was released on the MTV Unplugged album in November of 1994.
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.
I never knew this in the 1980s but the singer is not Tommy Tutone…that is the band’s name. They were led by Tommy Heath and Jim Keller and originally called themselves Tommy and the Two-Tones.
If you were listening to the radio in the eighties you remember this song. A great little power pop song that gave you a phone number you could not forget. The song peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada in 1982. After it became a hit I started to think about the poor souls who had that number under different area codes. It changed their lives…
Mrs. Lorene Burns, an Alabama householder formerly at +1-205-867-5309; she changed her number in 1982: When we’d first get calls at 2 or 3 in the morning, my husband would answer the phone. He can’t hear too well. They’d ask for Jenny, and he’d say “Jimmy doesn’t live here anymore.” … Tommy Tutone was the one who had the record. I’d like to get hold of his neck and choke him.
The song, released in late 1981, initially gained popularity on the American West Coast in January 1982… many who had the number soon abandoned it because of unwanted calls.
Asking telephone companies to trace the calls was of no use, as Charles and Maurine Shambarger (then in West Akron, Ohio at +1-216-867-5309) learned when Ohio Bell explained “We don’t know what to make of this. The calls are coming from all over the place.” A little over a month later, they disconnected the number and the phone became silent.
Jim Keller, the lead guitarist of the band, claims that Jenny was a girl he knew and that some friends wrote her number on the wall of a men’s room as a prank. Keller says he called her and they dated for some time. Yet Alex Call, who co-wrote the song with Jim Keller, claims there was never any Jenny and that 867-5309 came to him “out of the ether.” They are lucky no one got to them and…get hold of his neck and choke him.
Alex Call: “Despite all the mythology to the contrary, I actually just came up with the ‘Jenny,’ and the telephone number and the music and all that just sitting in my backyard. There was no Jenny. I don’t know where the number came from, I was just trying to write a 4-chord rock song and it just kind of came out.
This was back in 1981 when I wrote it, and I had at the time a little squirrel-powered 4-track in this industrial yard in California, and I went up there and made a tape of it. I had the guitar lick, I had the name and number, but I didn’t know what the song was about. This buddy of mine, Jim Keller, who’s the co-writer, was the lead guitar player in Tommy Tutone. He stopped by that afternoon and he said, ‘Al, it’s a girl’s number on a bathroom wall,’ and we had a good laugh. I said, ‘That’s exactly right, that’s exactly what it is.’
I had the thing recorded. I had the name and number, and they were in the same spots, ‘Jenny… 867-5309.’ I had all that going, but I had a blind spot in the creative process, I didn’t realize it would be a girl’s number on a bathroom wall. When Jim showed up, we wrote the verses in 15 or 20 minutes, they were just obvious. It was just a fun thing, we never thought it would get cut. In fact, even after Tommy Tutone made the record and ‘867-5309’ got on the air, it really didn’t have a lot of promotion to begin with, but it was one of those songs that got a lot of requests and stayed on the charts. It was on the charts for 40 weeks.”
867-5309 / Jenny
Jenny Jenny who can I turn to You give me something I can hold on to I know you’ll think I’m like the others before Who saw your name and number on the wall
Jenny I’ve got your number I need to make you mine Jenny don’t change your number
Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Jenny jenny you’re the girl for me You don’t know me but you make me so happy I tried to call you before but I lost my nerve I tried my imagination but I was disturbed
Jenny I’ve got your number I need to make you mine Jenny don’t change your number Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine
I got it (i got it) I got it I got your number on the wall I got it (i got it) I got it For a good time, for a good time call
Jenny don’t change your number I need to make you mine Jenny I’ve called your number
Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine
Jenny Jenny who can I turn to (eight six seven five three oh nine) For the price of a dime I can always turn to you (eight six seven five three oh nine)
Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine (five three oh nine) Eight six seven five three oh nine Eight six seven five three oh nine (five three oh nine) Eight six seven five three oh nine (five three oh nine)
I bought a compilation album in 1985 with songs like Bend Me, Shape Me, Crimson and Clover, and All I Have To Do Is Dream. Since then, I’ve been a huge Everly Brothers fan.
They did not rock like Chuck Berry, early Elvis, Little Richard, or Buddy Holly. They were different…their two voices made one complete whole voice. Their inspiration goes down the line to The Hollies, Beatles, Stones, and many of the British Invasion Bands. Keith Richards called Don Everly was one of the finest rhythm guitar players he ever heard.
(Till)I Kissed You is a catchy tune with catchy guitar riffs and the signature harmonies that the Everly Brothers were known for. Don Everly wrote this song while touring Australia. He said he wrote it about every girl he met on the tour…but especially about a girl named Lillian.
This recording features two great musicians. Chet Atkins is on guitar with Jerry Allison on drums. They were one of the pioneering acts in country rock. The Everly Brothers are members of the Rock and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame. Though the brothers had a strained personal relationship, they didn’t speak for ten years at one point, but they managed to chart 35 top 100 singles.
The song peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #8 on the Billboard Country Charts, #3 in Canada, #2 in the UK, and #22 on the Billboard R&B Charts in 1959.
Don Everly: “I wrote it about a girl I met on that trip, her name was Lillian, and she was very, very inspirational. I was married, but… you know.”
(Till) I Kissed You
Never felt like this until I kissed you
How did I exist until I kissed you
Never had you on my mind
Now you’re there all the time
Never knew what I missed until I kissed you, uh-huh
I kissed you, oh yeah
Things have really changed since I kissed you, uh-huh
My life’s not the same now that I kissed you, oh yeah
Mm, you got a way about you
Now I can’t live without you
Never knew what I missed until I kissed you, uh-huh
I kissed you, oh yeah
You don’t realize what you do to me
And I didn’t realize what a kiss could be
Mm, you got a way about you
Now I can’t live without you
Never knew what I missed until I kissed you, uh-huh
I kissed you, oh yeah
You don’t realize what you do to me
And I didn’t realize what a kiss could be
Mm, you got a way about you
Now I can’t live without you
Never knew what I missed until I kissed you, uh-huh
I kissed you, oh yeah
I kissed you, uh-huh
I kissed you, oh yeah
I kissed you, uh-huh
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.
Roy was making a great comeback in the late eighties. He was a member of the hottest band at the time…The Traveling Wilburys. He had just finished a new album called Mystery Girl in November of 1988. He confided in Johnny Cash that he was having chest pains and he would have to have it looked at…he never did. It was so nice hearing Roy on the radio again with You Got It.
The Traveling Wilburys Vol 1 was rising in the charts and he flew to Europe to do a show and came back and did a few more in America. On December 6, 1988, he flew model planes with his kids and after dinner passed away at the age of 52.
It was written during the Christmas season of 1987 and recorded in April of 1988 with Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, and Phil Jones providing the backing track. The song is credited to Orbison, Lynne, and Petty. It’s pretty obvious it was produced by Jeff Lynne. Jeff was a busy man during this time. He would produce George Harrison’s Cloud Nine, Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever, and Orbison’s Mystery Girl.
The track is quite significant to the career of Jeff Lynne as it was his first entry into the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and his only Top 10 Country hit, peaking at #7 in 1989. Jeff’s only other Billboard Hot Country chart entry was the following Roy Orbison single, California Blue, which peaked at #51 later that year.
I remember watching the Traveling Wilburys video “End of the Line”. They made the video after Roy passed away… when his part came up they showed an empty rocking chair with Roy’s picture beside it.
You Got It featured Jeff Lynn, Tom Petty, and Phil Jones.
You Got It was released in 1989 and it peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, #3 in the UK, #7 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1989.
You Got It
Every time I look into your loving eyes I see a love that money just can’t buy
One look from you, I drift away I pray that you are here to stay
Anything you want, you got it Anything you need, you got it Anything at all, you got it, baby
Every time I hold you I begin to understand Everything about you tells me I’m your man
I live (I live) My life (my life) To be (To be) With you (with you) No one (no one) Can do (can do) The things (the things) You do (you do)
Anything you want, you got it Anything you need, you got it Anything at all, you got it, baby
Anything you want (you got it) Anything you need (you got it) Anything at all
Ricky Nelson was a rockabilly guy and a very good one. He gets lost in the shuffle because he was a huge teenage actor at the time on his family’s show…The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Actors that switch to music are sometimes looked over but Nelson was very successful. All in all, he released 94 singles and 24 studio albums in his career. When talking about the fifties though….Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and Elvis get brought up a lot but Nelson not as much.
t’s Late was written by Dorsey Burnette and his cousin Johnny Burnette and Dorsey released it in 1958. The following year Nelson recorded and released the song. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100 and #3 in the UK in 1959.
I went through a Ricky Nelson phase when I graduated high school in 1985. I purchased a greatest hits package and was learning more songs from him. I wanted to go see him perform that year and I kept waiting for him to appear somewhere because I heard he was touring. This was before the internet and you had to look at the newspapers for any announcements and listen to the radio. Musicians would play at places and you would never know sometimes.
I never got a chance to see him because on December 31, 1985, his chartered jet crashed killing him and six other passengers.
I have to admit…I like the Dorsey Burnette version of this also.
It’s Late
It’s late, it’s late We gotta get on home It’s late, it’s late We’ve been gone too long
Too bad, too bad We shoulda checked our time Can’t phone, can’t phone We done spent every dime
It’s late, it’s late We’re ’bout to run outta gas It’s late, it’s late We gotta get home fast
Can’t speed, can’t speed We’re in a slow-down zone Baby, look at that clock Why can’t it be wrong
If we coulda left home at a quarter to nine Woulda had fun and plenty of time We got started just a little bit late Hope this won’t be our last date
Look up, look up Is that the moon we see? Can’t be, can’t be Looks like the sun to me
It’s late, it’s late I hate to face your dad Too bad, too bad I know he’s gonna be mad
It’s late, it’s late We gotta get on home It’s late, it’s late We’ve been gone too long
It’s late, it’s late We’re ’bout to run outta gas It’s late, it’s late We gotta get home fast
Can’t speed, can’t speed We’re in a slow-down zone Baby, look at that clock Why can’t it be wrong
If we coulda left home at a quarter to nine Woulda had fun and plenty of time We got started just a little bit late Hope this won’t be our last date
Look up, look up Is that the moon we see? Can’t be, can’t be Looks like the sun to me
It’s late, it’s late I hate to face your dad Too bad, too bad I know he’s gonna be mad
It’s late, it’s late We gotta get on home It’s late, it’s late We’ve been gone too long
This is one of my top U2 songs… it was on the album Achtung Baby released in 1991. the song peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1992. Johnny Cash covered it on 2000’s American III: Solitary Man,..the video is at the bottom of the post.
The Edge talks about when they came up with it: Suddenly something very powerful happening in the room. Everyone recognized it was a special piece. It was like we’d caught a glimpse of what the song could be. It was a pivotal song in the recording of the album, the first breakthrough in what was an extremely difficult set of sessions.
The band wrote this song in Berlin after being there for months trying to record Achtung Baby. The Berlin Wall had just fallen, so the band was hoping to find inspiration from the struggle and change. Instead, they found themselves at odds with each other and unable to do much productive work.
Most of the song was written in about 30 minutes and it rejuvenated the band creatively. When they left Berlin, they had little to show for it except for this song, but they were able to complete the album back home in Ireland with this song as the centerpiece of the album.
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
A friend of mine moved to Seattle in the early 90s for a job. He called me at some point and told me about the music scene there and something big was happening. He said he had just seen a band in a dingy club with a left-handed blonde guitar player who had a strong voice named Nirvana.
I was the same age as Kurt Cobain. When this song came out it was more than popular. It was instantly embedded into the culture. I did like the rawness of it but I would have never guessed it would have been so popular. I just didn’t click with grunge music.
Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of the group Bikini Kill, gave Cobain the idea for the title when she spray painted “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” on his bedroom wall after a night of drinking and spraying graffiti around the Seattle area. In his pre-Courtney Love days, Cobain went out with Bikini Kill lead singer Tobi Vail, but she dumped him. Vail wore Teen Spirit deodorant, and Hanna was implying that Cobain was marked with her scent.
Kurt Cobain said that he was trying to write the ultimate pop song. He said he was basically trying to rip off The Pixies.
Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend
Great power pop song by Matthew Sweet. The song reached #4 on the Alternative Billboard Chart in 1991. The song was off of his 3rd album of the same name. The album was Sweet’s breakthrough album.
The song has a little of everything in it…noisy guitar, loud drums but with a pop melody.
Tom Petty – Into The Great Wide Open
I’ve always liked this song and album. I saw them on this tour and it would be the only time I got to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The song is a cautionary tale about stardom and the record business. The album of the same name peaked at #13 in 1991. This was the first Heartbreakers album since Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) in 1987. Tom Petty released his solo album Full Moon Fever two years before this.
The video to the song was well made. Petty later commented that he was approached about making a movie out of the song. The video not only featured Johnny Depp but also Faye Dunaway.
REM – Losing My Religion
I hope everyone is having a happy Monday…at least as happy as it can be.
I heard early REM albums from friends. They really made an impact with college kids and built a following. Then they released The One I Love and the dam burst. This song took it a step higher.
Peter Buck has commented that after this song’s success that the bands popularity soared. He mentioned that R.E.M. went from a respected band with a cult following to one of the biggest bands in the world.
The title is based on the Southern expression “lost my religion,” meaning something has challenged your faith to such a degree you might lose your religion or cool.
REM was surprised when their record label chose this song as the first single from Out Of Time. Running 4:28 with no chorus and a mandolin for a lead instrument, it didn’t seem like hit material, but it ended up being the biggest hit of their career.
Michael Stipe revealed the lyrics about obsessional love were heavily influenced by The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” which he called “the most beautiful, kind of creepy song.”
We’re gonna tear down the mailbox, rip up the floor Smash out the windows and knock down the door
Bill Haley heard this song played on an R&B station and wanted to try it. It was different from the country he played. He started this off in a nightclub and people went crazy. He described it as “Cowboy Jive” and everyone rose to their feet…he knew he was on to something here. The song is credited to Doc Bagby, Don Keene, and Harry Crafton.
Bill had a radio show also during this point. The man that followed him on air was a disc jockey named Jim Reeves (not the singer Jim Reeves) and he played R&B. Haley had heard Jimmy Preston’s version of Rock This Joint on Reeves’s show. Haley had been wanting to incorporate countryfied rocking boogies in the repertoire of his band, The Saddlemen, this song seemed to him to be the perfect way to take that concept further.
The one thing I noticed about Haley’s version is guitar player Danny Cedrone’s solo… it was recycled for Rock Around The Clock…note for note. Later on…Bill Haley and his Comets would re-record this song as well.
It was released by Essex Records in 1952 but didn’t get into the national charts. Preston’s version was released in 1949 and is known as one of the first rock and roll records. In 1957 this version was rereleased in the UK and peaked at #20. That same year the Comets would rerecord it and release it but it didn’t chart.
It’s a cool early rock and roll song. There have been 16 different versions of it. Billy Swan and Reverend Horton Heat another to play it.
Rock This Joint
We’re gonna tear down the mailbox, rip up the floor
Smash out the windows and knock down the door
We’re gonna rock, rock this joint
We’re gonna rock, rock this joint
We’re gonna rock, rock this joint
We’re gonna rock this joint tonight
Well, six times six is thirty six
I ain’t gonna hit for six more licks
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock this joint tonight
Do the sugar foor rag, side by side
Flying low and flying wide
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock this joint tonight
Do an ol’ Paul Jones and a Virginia Reel
Just let your feet know how you feel
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock this joint tonight
Well six times six is thirty six
I ain’t gonna hit but six more licks
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock
Rock this joint
We’re gonna rock this joint tonight
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
Don’t be a square man… listen to Eddie Cochran and play backseat bingo. Well, I thought I would try some of the fifties phrases.
Eddie Cochran was one of the first rock star guitar players…he was ahead of his time. He didn’t use his guitar as a prop like some did (cough cough Elvis)…he played it and played it well. He also worked as a session musician. He helped bring rock guitar along in more ways than just his playing. He was one of the first to modify his pickups and he did away with the wound G string on the guitar. He replaced it with an unwound string which made it easier to bend. Many future musicians were paying attention, sitting on the front row of his British tour.
His influence can be heard throughout rock and roll…It was because Paul McCartney knew the chords and words to “Twenty Flight Rock” that impressed John Lennon enough to ask Paul to become a member of the Quarrymen.
Eddie was popular, especially in the UK where they never forgot the 50s stars that started it all. C’mon Everybody peaked at #6 in the UK and #35 on the Billboard 100 in 1958.
During a British tour in 1960, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Sharon Sheeley (Eddie’s fiancé), and tour manager Pat Thompkins were in a taxi. They were leaving a show in Bristol, England to go to the London Airport…the taxi hit a lamp post and Eddie was thrown from the car and suffered a head injury and died in a hospital. He was only 21 years old. Gene Vincent received injuries to his already bad leg and walked with a limp after the crash. Eddie was the only one to die.
Sharon Sheeley was a songwriter. She wrote Ricky Nelson’s first hit “Poor Little Fool” and a couple of songs (Love Again and Cherished Memories) for Cochran.
I love the set of this video!
C’mon Everybody
Oh, well, c’mon everybody and let’s get together tonight I got some money in my jeans, and I’m really gonna spend it right Well, I’ve been a doin’ my homework all the week long And now, the house is empty and the folks are gone Ooh, c’mon everybody
Oh well, my baby’s number one, but I’m gonna dance with three or four And then the house’ll be shakin’ from the bare feet a-slappin’ the floor Well, when you hear that music, you can’t sit still If your brother won’t rock, then your sister will Ooh, c’mon everybody
Oh well, we’ll really have a party, but we gotta put a guard outside If the folks come home, I’m afraid they’re gonna have my hide There’ll be no more movies for a week or two No more runnin’ ’round with the usual crew Who cares, c’mon everybody
This song played a key part in making me love the power pop genre. It’s one of my favorite power pop songs of all time. It was originally released in 1988 but wasn’t played over in America until 1990. So I’m cheating on this but I had no way of hearing it before then.
A song by a British band called The La’s. A very good pop song that has no verses…it just repeats the chorus four different ways four different times. It was written by the singer Lee Mavers and recorded in 1988 and remixed and released again in 1990. It only peaked at #49 in 1990 in the US.
Many people think the song was about heroin. Paul Hemmings an ex-guitarist for the band denies that rumor. Either way, it is a perfectly constructed pop song. It’s been covered by a lot of artists but probably most successfully by Sixpence None the Richer. I’ve always liked The La’s version the best.
The Black Crowes – Hard To Handle
When I heard this song in 1990 I was thrilled because it sounded like the Faces of the 70s. It was plain rock and roll and had a timeless quality about it. I waited the entire 1980s for rock and roll like this to be back on the mainstream charts. The Replacements were the other rock band but not in the charts. It happened occasionally (Georgia Satellites and Guns and Roses) but not much. This song was originally recorded by Otis Redding, who wrote it with Allen Jones and Al Bell. It was the only cover song on The Black Crowes debut album which sold over five million copies.
The album also had songs like Jealous Again and She Talks To Angels. I knew things were changing when I saw the success of their album.
The two other versions that I like are Otis Redding and Grateful Dead version with Pigpen taking the lead.
The Replacements – Merry Go Round
This one is off of their last studio album All Shook Down. I was going to conclude with this one having one off of their studio albums but there is one more coming next week.
This is not my favorite off the album but it did have a commercial sound for that time and it’s something that I thought would have charted in the Billboard 100. Merry Go Round did peak at #1 on the alternative charts. The album peaked at #69 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1990.
“Merry Go Round” was written about the lives of Westerberg and his sister Mary (“They ignored me with a smile, you as a child”).
The band went to Los Angeles to make a video for Merry Go Round. With Westerberg’s okay, Warner Bros. hired Bob Dylan’s twenty-three-year-old son Jesse Dylan, who was just starting to direct.
AC/DC – Thunderstruck
As much as I love Angus Young’s intro to this…it’s his brother’s rhythm guitar that makes this song go. Brothers Angus and Malcolm Young wrote this song.
A side note to this song. In 2012 a couple of Iranian uranium-enrichment plants were hacked and their computers shut down but not before blasting Thunderstruck at maximum volume like you are probably doing right now or will be soon.
The album was recorded with producer Bruce Fairbairn at his Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, where he also produced Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and the Aerosmith albums Permanent Vacation and Pump. It was the group’s first time working with Fairbairn.
Sinéad O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
This song was everywhere in 1990. Prince wrote this song in 1984 but didn’t release it. He gave it to a group called The Family that was signed to his label. The Family included it on a 1985 album but it never went anywhere. Five years later it became the biggest hit of 1990. Prince recorded his own version as well, but it wasn’t released until 2018, two years after his death.
It was O’Connor’s manager, Fachtna O’Kelly, who suggested she record a version of the track. O’Kelly knew it would be perfect for her.
I remember Freddy Fender as a kid and this song. I remember it being played everywhere. It was a huge crossover hit and I saw him on television at the time singing it on different shows.
Freddy Fender wrote and recorded it in 1959 for a small label. It wasn’t until 1975 that he was able to release it again under his name. He and some band members were charged with pot possession in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1960.
Fender served 3 1/.2 years in prison until he was pardoned by Governor Jimmie Davis. There was a condition though…he had to stay away from anywhere that served alcohol. In the late sixties, he started to work in a garage and play music on the weekends.
He started to record again in 1974 and struck gold with his first two releases. Before the Next Teardrop Falls peaked at #1 in the Billboard Country Charts, #1 on the Billboard 100, and #1 on the Canadian Country Charts. Wasted Days and Wasted Nights peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts, #8 on the Billboard 100, #2 on the Canadian Country Charts, and #6 in Canada in 1975.
He would have more number 1s in the Country Charts for Billboard and Canada. Later on, Fender would later join the Texas Tornados and Los Super 7.
Here is Freddie with the Texas Tornados doing the song.
Wasted Days Wasted Nights
Wasted days and wasted nights I have left for you behind For you don’t belong to me Your heart belongs to someone else
Why should I keep loving you When I know that you’re not true? And why should I call your name When you’re to blame For making me blue?
Don’t you remember the day That you went away and left me? I was so lonely Prayed for you only My love
Why should I keep loving you When I know that you’re not true? And why should I call your name When you’re to blame For making me blue?
Don’t you remember the day That you went away and left me? I was so lonely Prayed for you only My love
Wasted days and wasted nights I have left for you behind For you don’t belong to me Your heart belongs to someone else
Why should I keep loving you When I know that you’re not true? And why should I call your name When you’re to blame For making me blue?
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 