Some tv episodes are classic and will live on. When you tell someone you like a certain show, there is always that certain episode that many people will bring up that represents that show. I’ll go through a few random shows in the next few weeks and pick the one that I remember the most. They will be in no particular order.
” Those can’t be skydivers. I can’t tell just yet what they are but… Oh my God! They’re turkeys! Oh no! Johnny, can you get this?”
” The Pinedale Shopping Mall has just been bombed with live turkeys. Film at eleven”
“I really don’t know how to describe it. It was like the turkeys mounted a counter-attack. It was almost as if they were… organized!”
“As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”
WKRP IN CINCINNATI – Turkeys Away
When I talk to people about this show. This episode always comes to mind. The Characters are Bailey Quarters, Les Nessman, Mr. Carlson, Venus Flytrap, Dr. Johnny Fever, Herb Tarlek, Jennifer Marlowe and Andy Travis
Les’s play by play of the promotion is great. The complete episode is great but when Mr. Carlson says the closing line it turns into a classic episode.
It starts off with the big guy Mr. Carlson trying to act busy driving everyone crazy trying to be useful and probing the office to see what everyone was up to. He decided he would plan a promotion. He told the salesman Herb to get 20 turkeys ready for a Thanksgiving radio promotion.
Les is at the shopping center and Mr Carlson and Herb are up in a helicopter. He then notices a dark object being dropped from the helicopter, then a second one. Believing them to be skydivers, his tone becomes increasingly cautious when he sees no parachutes are opening. After a few more moments he realizes in horror that the objects are live turkeys. Continuing his broadcast (which bears a strong resemblance to the Hindenberg disaster) he says that the turkeys are hitting the ground and that the crowd has begun running away in panic. One turkey hits a parked car. Les continues, saying the turkeys are hitting the ground like “sacks of wet cement”. He tries to retreat to the store behind him but realizes he can’t after annoying the owner.
At the studio, the gang are listening, horrified themselves, when the broadcast is suddenly cut off. Johnny calmly tries to re-establish contact with Les, but hears only silence. Johnny thanks Les, telling his listeners that the shopping mall was just “bombed by live turkeys” and ends the broadcast.
At the end, Mr. Carlson says the phrase that elevates the episode to a classic. “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”
T for Texas T for Tennessee T for Tennessee T for Thelma That gal that made a wreck out of me
Jimmie Rodgers was the first country star and is called the Father of Country Music. He is also called The Singing Brakeman and The Blue Yodeler. He was massively popular and others got their start imitating him like Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry. Rodgers had a deep love for Texas and all it represented. He drew inspiration from his travels and experiences across the country.
I never heard Rodgers version until the internet. I had read where a young George Harrison mention that he was a big influence on him. I do know this song well by Lynyrd Skynyrd who Ronnie Van Zant was influenced by him. They took this 1928 song and turned it on its ear.
Rodgers recorded this at what used to be Trinity Baptist Church in New Jersey. The record company Victor (later RCA Victor) was launched in Camden, New Jersey in 1901 and, in 1918, purchased Trinity Baptist Church, at 114 N. Fifth St., in order to have a space large enough to record a symphony orchestra, with good acoustics. Many artists recorded there including Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, and the Carter Family. At the time of his death in 1933, his sales represented 10% of the total for the label. Even during the Depression his records sold well.
The song was released on February 3, 1928. Why the yodels? Rodgers said he saw a troupe of Swiss yodelers doing a demonstration at a church. They were touring America, and he just happened to catch it, liked it, and incorporated it into his songs. Altogether he wrote 13 Blue Yodels.
It’s been covered in every decade since. According to secondhandsongs.com it’s had 71 versions. Jimmie Rodgers died at 35 from a pulmonary embolism that was a direct result of tuberculosis he was diagnosed in 1924. He passed on May 26, 1933.
Journalist John Lilly wrote about the original song in 1992: It generated an excitement and record-buying frenzy that no one could have predicted. … The lyrics made an obvious connection to the southern states, talked about hard times with women and work, and had a macho, slightly dangerous undertone. Not only were these to be recurring themes in subsequent Jimmie Rodgers songs, (he re-worked these ideas for a total of 13 ‘Blue Yodels’ but they continue as themes in country songwriting to this day.”
Blue Yodel No 1 (T For Texas)
T for Texas
T for Tennessee
T for Tennessee
T for Thelma
That gal that made a wreck out of me
If you don’t want me mama
You sure don’t have to stall
You sure don’t have to stall
‘Cause I can get more women
Than a passenger train can haul
I’m gonna buy me a pistol
Just as long as I’m tall
Just as long as I’m tall
I’m gonna shoot poor Thelma
Just to see her jump and fall
I’m goin’ where the water
Drinks like cherry wine
Drinks like cherry wine
‘Cause this Georgia water
Tastes like turpentine
I’m gonna buy me a shotgun
With a great long shiny barrel
With a great long shiny barrel
I’m gonna shoot that rounder
That stole away my gal
‘Druther drink muddy water
Sleep in a holler log
Sleep in a holler log
Than to be in Atlanta
Treated like a dirty dog
“We took some pictures of the native girls; but, they weren’t developed. But, we’re going back again in a coupla weeks.”
What did I do on my summer vacation short blog break? I did some projects around the house and caught some Marx Brothers movies. I did miss blogging and talking to everyone. I thought I would start off a little different…with a movie.
Harpo (Adolph Marx), Groucho (Julius Henry), Chico (Leonard Joseph Marx), and Zeppo Marx (Herbert Manfred Marx). No one was remotely like them and they haven’t been matched. My favorite movie by them is Duck Soup and Horse Feathers but this one is up there. They also had another brother…Milton “Gummo” Marx and helped them outside of being on stage. Harpo later changed his real name from Adolph to Arthur for obvious reasons.
The Brothers made 14 movies in all and 3 hit Broadway Plays (I’ll Say She Is, Cocanuts, and Animal Crackers). The first five remain my favorite. They were totally without rules and they were incredibly irrelevant. Anarchy would be the word…the plot goes out the door but that is alright. After the fifth movie they signed with MGM and their movies had solid plots and were more ordered…but those were without Zeppo. He decided to retire from the screen and became a very successful businessman. I still like the total anarchy of their earlier movies best but I do like the others also.
If you have never seen a Marx Brothers movie, just try one, I would suggest either Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, or Animal Crackers. If you want more of a plot try A Night At The Opera…one of the two Marx Brothers movies that Queen named one of their albums after…the other being A Day At The Races.
Animal Crackers had a huge revival in the early 70s on college campuses. No one had the rights to show this movie but it was cleared in America in 1974*. Groucho, who was alive then, could not believe they were popular all over again. Lines wrapped around street corners for blocks waiting to see this movie. It was their second movie and it was made in 1930. It wasn’t hard for them to make because they had performed this play on Broadway that was written for them.
All of them have certain traits that are on display. Groucho is the king of the put-downs or the comebacks…you can’t beat him. Harpo was great at pantomime…he should have been in silent movies. Chico was a great piano player and I loved his conversations with Groucho…which is in every Marx Brothers movie. Zeppo…poor Zeppo was the straight-man brother. Most of them say in real life he was the funniest Marx Brother.
The reason Harpo never talked on stage was because of a negative review he received in vaudeville. He also said there was no way he could out-talk Groucho and Chico. Everyone thought Harpo was mute but of course, he could talk fine. His father once won a bet with an audience member when the man bet him that Harpo could not talk.
Another cast member I will mention is Margaret Dumont…she plays Mrs. Rittenhouse…she played the straight person and love interest in many of their movies. There was a great chemistry between her and Groucho. Dumont didn’t have a great sense of humor…she would ask Groucho…was that supposed to be funny? She didn’t understand their humor at all and just played it completely straight.
Animal Crackers was written by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby. Kaufman was a brilliant writer.
I can only imagine Broadway audiences being introduced to one of their plays. Reviewers say they tore up the stage and people were literally laughing so hard they cried and fell down in the aisle. Animal Crackers would be the last play they made…after this, they moved out to Hollywood to make movies only. Their first two movies look kind of clumsy because “talkies” were just starting to get big and the cameras were huge and hard to move around. They basically filmed the exact play…not live of course but they used many of the play’s cast.
The characters in “Animal Crackers” celebrate the return of world traveler Captain Spaulding (Groucho) while also dealing with the theft of a rare work of art at the home of the wealthy Mrs. Rittenhouse (Dumont), where the party takes place. But once the captain arrives, along with Spaulding’s stenographer Jamison (Zeppo), Signore Ravelli (Chico), and the Professor (Harpo), nothing sane or expected takes place afterward. But really, what do you expect?
If you want a movie to get you out of a funk (like I did) this will do it! If you like movies that you can quote later…this one is for you! Below are some quotes I liked from this movie… but the quotes don’t work on paper as well unless Groucho is delivering them. I’ll start off with the famous one.
“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.”
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, which doesn’t say much for you.”
“Why, you’ve got beauty, charm, money! You *have* got money, haven’t you? Because if you haven’t, we can quit right now.”
“I’m sick of these conventional marriages. One woman and one man was good enough for your grandmother, but who wants to marry your grandmother? Nobody, not even your grandfather. Think! Think of the honeymoon! Strictly private. I wouldn’t let another woman in on this. Well, maybe one or two. But, no men! I may not go myself.”
Capt. Spaulding: [to Mrs. Rittenhouse and Mrs. Whitehead] What do you say, girls? What do you say? Are we all going to get married?
Mrs. Whitehead: All of us?
Capt. Spaulding: All of us!
Mrs. Whitehead: But, that’s bigamy!
Capt. Spaulding: Yes, and it’s big of me too.
*In 1957, Paramount forgot to renew the soundtrack rights which reverted back to the authors of the play. (The studio did renew the picture rights, though.) As a result, the film could not legally be seen in the USA until 1974, when Universal, which had since purchased Paramount’s film library, was persuaded by fan requests to re-release it.
His father said son you’ve given in, you know you won your harp But you lost in sin.
Do you ever play an album and skip a certain song to get to the next? When I first got the album Stage Fright I remember the order was The Shape I’m In, The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show, Daniel and the Scared Harp, and then the title song which I loved (I can’t remember yesterday but I can remember the order of songs from the 1980s when I got the album). I would skip this one like an idiot…which yes I was. Later on, I played it through…and fell head over heels in love with this song. It has become my favorite on the album.
What a beautiful song from The Band on their Stage Fright album. It’s one of the most fascinating songs they ever did. It’s fast becoming a favorite of mine by them. Robbie Robertson’s songwriting in this is incredible.
This story song is close to Robert Johnson‘s story of selling his soul to the devil to be able to play like he did. It’s a song based on the Faust story. I always enjoyed stories about selling your soul for an item or an ability. In movies also…like The Devil and Daniel Webster. If you are wondering what the Faust story is…here is a brief definition I found: a German necromancer or astrologer who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power.
Also, I must add…Sacred harp music is a religious folk music named for Benjamin Franklin White’s The Sacred Harp (1844) using four-shape shape note notation… Its old-time spirituals are sung a cappella… the “sacred harp” is the human voice singing hymns to God.
Robbie seemed to be going for an Appalachian sound in this song and succeeded. He also made it sound biblical against the backdrop of the American South long ago.
Robbie used the words ‘sacred harp’ but this harp is a physical one. What kind of harp is it? To blues players, it’s a mouth harp or harmonica. Could it be a harp as the kind angels play? The song’s vocals are shared between Levon Helm and Richard Manuel. Manuel sings the part of “Daniel” in this song and Levon is the narrator of the story.
The end of the song is chilling. He played out his heart just the time to pass But as he looked to the ground, he noticed no shadow did he cast. The Band never played Daniel and the Sacred Harp live.
Stage Fright peaked at #5 on the Billboard Album Charts, #6 in Canada, and #15 in the UK in 1970. The album has some of my favorite songs by the Band on it. The Shape I’m In, Stage Fright, The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show, and this one.
Robbie Robertson: I was so obsessed that I was stealing everything in sight. From Fred Carter, Roy Buchanan, the Howlin’ Wolf records. I came a long way in a short time, and people used to kid me, saying, “What is it with this guy? Did he sell his soul?”
Robbie Robertson: Roy Buchanan was only three or four years older than me, but he’d been around quite a bit for his age. He told me a lot of stories, crazy stories about how he was half-wolf, half man. They were like the stories you heard about Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil. We know these are just silly stories, but at the same time they’re fascinating American mythology. Like we’d be sitting in a room playing together and I’d ask Buchanan how he’d figured out some lick and he’d say, “Well, I can’t really tell you,” clearly implying that he, too, had made some sort of pact. Years later, it became obvious he was playing a game with me.
An alternate take…
Daniel And The Sacred Harp
Daniel, Daniel and the sacred harp
Dancing through the clover
Daniel, Daniel would you mind
If I look it over
I heard of this famous harp years ago back in my hometown
But I sure never thought old Daniel be the one to come and bring it around
Tell me Daniel how the harp came into your possession
Are you one of the chosen few who will march in the procession?
And Daniel said
The sacred harp was handed down, from father unto son
And me not being related, I could never be the one
So I saved up all my silver and took it to a man
Who said he could deliver the harp, straight into my hand
Three years I waited patiently
‘Till he returned with the harp from the sea of Galilee
He said there is one more thing I must ask
But not of personal greed
But I wouldn’t listen I just grabbed the harp
And said take what you may need
Now Daniel looked quite satisfied, and the harp it seemed to glow
But the price that Daniel had really paid, he did not even know
Back to his brother he took his troubled mind
And he said dear brother I’m in a bind
But the brother would not hear his tale
He said Old Daniel’s gonna land in jail
So to his father Daniel did run
And he said oh father what have I done
His father said son you’ve given in, you know you won your harp
But you lost in sin.
Then Daniel took the harp and went high on the hill
And he blew across the meadow like a whippoorwill
He played out his heart just the time to pass
But as he looked to the ground, he noticed no shadow did he cast
I have been hyped about this because I’m not old enough to remember The Beatles when they were together. In the 90s when Free As A Bird came out I was so excited because it was the first time I ever heard a “new” Beatles song. I’ve been waiting for Paul to finish this song for 27 years. I thought it would end up just being him finishing it or not at all. My son Bailey is excited also. He was born in 2000 so he didn’t even get to hear Free As A Bird much less The Beatles as an active band. I think he is more excited than I am.
The thing that I’m happy about the most after listening to it is the great sound. They didn’t try to make it fit with everyone else now. The mix sounds lively and not flat and compressed to death like a lot of recordings. I’m listening through headphones and they did a hell of a job on it.
This song is not one of John’s best but it sounds great hearing John Lennon again. This will be the last single from them and for me, this is my musical event of the year.
This came about because of Peter Jackson’s advancements in audio technology while working on Get Back. He took John’s voice off of the 1978 cassette tape and it’s clean. They ran into a buzz on the tape before and could not finish it in the 90s.
Is this the best song ever by them? No, it’s not but it’s a nice send-off. On the single version, the B-Side is appropriately their first single Love Me Do. The video (out tomorrow) was directed by Peter Jackson.
What a long road this song took to get here.
12-Minute Bio on the song.
Now and Then
I know it’s true, it’s all because of you
And if I make it through, it’s all because of you
And now and then, if we must start again
Well we will know for sure, that I love you
I don’t want to lose you – oh no, no, no
Lose you or abuse you – oh no, no, no, sweet doll
But if you have to go, away
If you have to go
Nda-da-doo, doo-doo-doo
Now and then, I miss you
Oh now and then, I want you to return on me
And now return to me…
I know it’s true, it’s all because of you
And if you go away, I know you you’ll nev’… stay
I don’t want to lose you – oh no, no, no
Abuse you or confuse you – oh no, no, no, sweet darl’
But if you had to go,
Well I won’t stop you babe
And if you had to go, well you believe in that love
This song was on the first album I ever bought by the Beatles. It was a greatest hits package called Hey Jude Again when I was eight. This song I liked right away as I was learning about the band. Ask a Beatle fan what their opinion of Yoko is…and you will get different answers but I would safely say more negative. Don’t count me as a fan. She gets blamed for breaking the Beatles up. I think Allen Klein deserves more of the blame but not all…
It’s John, George, and Ringo who followed Klein and later paid millions for it but not as dearly as The Stones. Klein ended up with rights to all of their 1960s catalog. Paul’s lawsuit against the Beatles and Klein stopped Klein from doing more damage. I do think the Beatles broke up at a perfect time. Closing a career with Abbey Road…is about as good as it gets.
This song…was written obviously by Lennon but it wasn’t a true Beatles recording. Only John and Paul played on the recording. Despite the business BS going on…the music still worked between the two. John played all of the guitars and lead vocals and Paul played drums, bass, and backing vocals. George was out of town and Ringo was filming a movie. The song is a true story about John and Yoko getting married.
It was banned by many stations in America and the UK because of the line “Christ, you know it ain’t easy.” The song was supposedly written, recorded, and mixed on the same day…April 14, 1969. John didn’t like spending a long time in a studio and would do this later on with Instant Karma. He liked minimum production in those days.
John and Yoko were married on March 20, 1969, in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on Spain’s south coast.
The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #8 on the Billboard 100, #7 in Canada, and #2 in New Zealand in 1969. At the time, it was a non-album single with the George Harrison song Old Brown Shoe as the B side. It would later be on Hey Jude Again.
A small side note…as an eight-year-old, I did learn about Holland, France, Paris, Gibraltar, and Spain. I told my mom that I would like her to drive me to France please…hey give me a break…I was 8.
The Ballad of John and Yoko
Standing in the dock at Southampton
Trying to get to Holland or France.
The man in the mac said you’ve got to go back,
You know they didn’t even give us a chance.
Christ! You know it ain’t easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They’re going to crucify me.
Finally made the plane into Paris,
Honeymooning down by the Seine.
Peter Brown called to say,
You can make it OK,
You can get married in Gibraltar near Spain.
Christ! You know it ain’t easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They’re going to crucify me.
Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton,
Talking in our beds for a week.
The newspapers said, say what’re you doing in bed,
I said we’re only trying to get us some peace.
Christ! You know it ain’t easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They’re going to crucify me.
Saving up your money for a rainy day,
Giving all your clothes to charity.
Last night the wife said,
Oh boy, when you’re dead you
Don’t take nothing with you but your soul think!
Made a lightning trip to Vienna,
Eating chocolate cake in a bag.
The newspapers said,
She’s gone to his head,
They look just like two Gurus in a drag.
Christ! You know it ain’t easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They’re going to crucify me.
Caught the early plane back to London,
Fifty acorns tied in a sack.
The men from the press said we wish you success,
It’s good to have the both of you back.
Christ! You know it ain’t easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
They’re going to crucify me
This year was very interesting. I had a hard time with the 5th pick. You have The Who and Led Zeppelin releasing albums and with me…normally I would go with the Who but in this year…Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti won out. I think it would be hard to say that none of these belong. I like all of them of course or they would not be on here.
Born To Run broke Bruce Springsteen through to the masses after two very good to great albums but commercial failures. Columbia Records got behind this album, too much so for Bruce’s tastes, and they hit gold with it. With his face on Newsweek and Time magazine…everyone was introduced to Mr. Springsteen. In simple terms… 1975 was Springsteen’s year.
This was on the great album Blood on the Tracks. In my opinion Bob Dylan‘s best album of the seventies. When I first got this album I couldn’t quit listening to it and I really wore this song out. I could sing this song in my sleep…I know every word because it’s ingrained in my head.
This would make my top 5 Bob Dylan songs. I’ve seen Bob 8 times and the first 6 times I saw him I kept waiting for this song because with Bob you don’t know what you will get. He finally played it on the 7th time and I was surprised the next time because it was the only older song he played.
Talking to Ron Rosenbaum, Bob Dylan once told him that he’d written “Tangled Up in Blue”, after spending a weekend immersed in Joni Mitchell’s 1971 album Blue.
Queen used so many overdubs that the tape was virtually transparent on Bohemian Rhapsody. All the oxide had been rubbed off. They hurriedly made a copy so they could preserve what they had already. They were working with a 24-track machine but they still had to bounce tracks. They used `180 overdubs… The song took 3 weeks to record. The song was on A Night At The Opera album.
This made a huge comeback courtesy of Waynes World in 1991. The song was written by Freddie Mercury.
Elton John owned the early to mid-seventies Billboard Charts. Even Elton said he was tired of hearing himself in America on AM radio. Philadelphia Freedom was just another #1 for Elton.
Elton had an interesting B-side on this single. The B-side was a live duet of The Beatles hit “I Saw Her Standing There” that Elton recorded with his friend John Lennon. Elton had previously sung on Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Through The Night” and also released a version of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” which was written by Lennon. This song was written by Elton John and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
Led Zeppelin‘s Kasmir is one of their best if not their best song. It was on the Physical Graffiti Album released in 1975. The song did not chart but is hugely popular on the radio.
The song is hypnotic to listen to. The drums are the key to this song… Jimmy Page has said this about John Bonham on Kashmir… It was what he didn’t do that made it work.
The song was written by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Bonham.
I love watching this from time to time. Yes, it’s bad…really bad but it’s so bad it’s good. All the celebrities who are in different phases of their careers, cross paths in this epic of a show. First, let’s go through all of the stars. It’s probably remembered most for KISS’s first television appearance.
Paul Lynde of course,
Billie Hayes (Witchiepoo from H.R. Pufnstuf)
Margaret Hamilton (The witch from Wizard of Oz)
Tim Conway (No seventies variety show was right without Tim Conway)
Florence Henderson (Brady Bunch mom)
KISS (their first TV show appearance)
Billy Barty (was in many films)
Betty White (Everyone knew Betty White)
Roz Kelly (Pinky Tuscadero from Happy Days)
Donny and Marie Osmond! (just to top it off)
The plot… which really doesn’t matter.
I always thought Paul Lynde was wickedly funny. In this, he was watered-down and could not be his Hollywood Squares best. He had a quick campy wit at times and the writers probably toned it down for prime time. I first noticed Lynde on Bewitched as Uncle Arthur and he was great in that role. It was his delivery that made everything work in his comedy.
This special has comedy bits and music…oh yes the music. You have KISS, you have the disco and you have Florence Henderson singing “That Old Black Magic…” Most of the comedy bits fail but the real comedy is how bad it is… The only thing missing from this extravaganza was a guest appearance from Harvey Korman and/or Don Knotts.
The main reason many people have watched it since it aired is it was KISS’s first TV show appearance…not including concert material.
It is a train wreck but one I like watching over and over again. At no other time could a show like this have been aired. It only aired once…for good reason.
What other show does Paul Lynde play a trucker who wants to marry Pinky Tuscadero?
I’ve covered a lot of Springsteen’s songs and I was going to look at my post of this one. I never covered it so I’m correcting that mistake today. This is one of those epic songs like A Day In The Life, Stairway To Heaven, Layla, and Free Bird.
1975 was the year of Bruce Springsteen. He was featured in Newsweek and Time magazine to his horror. The magazines were each granted interviews with Springsteen. Although they both featured similar details about his background and newfound stardom after his first two albums failed, the two articles were strikingly different in tone.
Time magazine wrote an article called “Rock’s New Sensation” in which he heaped praise on the new star. The writer knew music and realized how great Bruce was at the time. Newsweek was a different story. They wrote a story called “The Making of a Rock Star,” and looked at Columbia Records’ marketing campaign for ‘Born to Run’ and concluded it was pretty much hype. The ironic thing was that Bruce hated hype. Before he played the Hammersmith Odeon in London he ripped down a Springsteen promotional poster inside the Theatre before going upstairs and joining his party, after talking to a couple of the Record Company Executives he told his manager to instruct CBS to stop the hype and let the music sell itself.
Springsteen did try to use the Time and Newsweek covers to his advantage the next year. While touring Memphis he went to Graceland and jumped the fence but Elvis’s people were not amused. They escorted him out and told him that Elvis was in Lake Tahoe…which he was at the time. Bruce wanted to give him a song that he later gave the Pointer Sisters…Fire.
Now the song Born to Run. I think it’s fair to say that Born to Run is the song and album that broke him into stardom. On this album he had rock critic Jon Landau help him with the recording. That set off problems between Bruce and his manager Mike Appel…Appel wanted to stop Landau from working with Bruce after the album was made. That started a long saga of Bruce suing Appel which he didn’t want to do but he had to.
We all know Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” Well Bruce did his own Wall of Sound in this one. Springsteen has said that he counted 24 guitar overdubs in this track…that is why it sounds so huge. This was the only song on the album that Ernest “Boom” Carter played on. The original drummer Vini “Maddog” Lopez was fired in 1974 and Carter came in and helped out. He played this one song and then Max Weinberg took over the drums and still holds that spot. Carter left for a career in jazz. The keyboard player David Sancious only played on this song also and left for a very successful career in jazz. He would work on Springsteen’s solo albums later on.
Springsteen had other names for the album until deciding on this song as the title song. Other names he had were War And Roses, The Hungry, The Hunted, American Summer, and Sometimes At Night.
The song peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100 and #53 in Canada in 1975. It didn’t chart in the UK until 1987 when a live version peaked at #16. There was talk of making this the official state song of New Jersey.
Bruce Springsteen: “One day I was playing my guitar on the edge of the bed, working on some song ideas, and the words ‘born to run’ came to me,” he recalled. “At first I thought it was the name of a movie or something I’d seen on a car spinning around the circuit. I liked the phrase because it suggested a cinematic drama that I thought would work with the music that I’d been hearing in my head.”
Bruce Springsteen: “This is a song that has changed a lot over the years. As I’ve sung it, it seems to have been able to open up and let the time in. When I wrote it, I was 24 years old, sitting in my bedroom in Long Branch, New Jersey. When I think back, it surprises me how much I knew about what I wanted, because the questions I ask myself in this song, it seems I’ve been trying to find the answers to them ever since. When I wrote this song, I was writing about a guy and a girl that wanted to run and keep on running, never come back. That was a nice, romantic idea, but I realized after I put all those people in all those cars, I was going to have to figure out someplace for them to go, and I realized in the end that individual freedom, when it’s not connected to some sort of community, can be pretty meaningless. So, I guess that guy and that girl out there were looking for connection, and I guess that’s what I’m doing here. So, this is a song about two people trying to find their way home. It’s kept me good company on my search, and I hope it keeps you good company on yours.”
Before playing this song on December 9, 1980, Springsteen said before starting this song: “If it wasn’t for John Lennon, a lot of us would be someplace much different tonight. It’s a hard world that asks you to live with a lot of things that are unlivable. And it’s hard to come out here and play tonight, but there’s nothing else to do.”
Steven Van Zandt: “Bruce and I were just friends at this point. He said I wanna play you my new record. And he played ‘Born to Run’ for me, with me lying on the floor of the studio. He’d been working on it for months – I mean, literally months on one song, which is incredible now. But he played it from me, and I said, Oh, that’s great. I particularly love that minor riff, very Roy Orbison, something The Beatles would do. And he said, ‘What minor riff? What do you mean?’
What was happening was he was doing a Duane Eddy style riff, with a bunch of echo on it, and he was bending up to the last note. But you never heard him bending up to the notes, it didn’t register in your ear. He said, ‘Oh my f—ing God,’ and then played it how I heard it for the other guys, and I guess they all started to hear it the way I was, which was the way the whole world was gonna hear it! So they had to redo the guitar part and then the whole f–‘ing mix. The mix alone took them a couple of weeks, because in those days there was no automation and there was a lot going on in the song.”
Born To Run
In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway nine,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin’ out over the line
Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we’re young
‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims
And strap your hands ‘cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We’ll run till we drop, baby we’ll never go back
Oh, will you walk with me out on the wire
Girl I’m just a scared and lonely rider
I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
I want to know if love is real
Oh can you show me?
Beyond the palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
Girls comb their hair in rear view mirrors
Boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
In an everlasting kiss
One, two, three
Highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody’s out on the run tonight
But there’s no place left to hide
Together wendy we can live with the sadness
I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul
Oh, someday girl I don’t know when
We’re gonna get to that place
Where we really wanna go
We’ll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
Baby we were born to run
Tramps like us baby we were born to run
Tramps like us baby we were born to run
Tony Sheridan was an excellent guitarist and had a good rock voice. The Beat Brothers were The Beatles and they punch this old standard up of My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean. This record is probably the most important record they made …even as just a backing group.
They were thrilled to be on a record. “I didn’t stop playing it for days,” George told the NME two years later. Teenager Jimmy Campbell would remember Paul running up the stairs at Aintree Institute shouting “This is our record!” He made the DJ Bob Wooler put it on and he was bouncing all over the place just listening to himself coming out of the speakers. He was really made up. “Listen to that!”
Brian Epstein ran NEMS record store and one of his policies was to get any song that he might not have in stock. Around mid-afternoon on Saturday, October 28, 1962, a young man from Knotty Ash, Raymond Jones, walked into the NEMS shop on Whitechapel and tried to buy the record.
What happened next is the subject of conflicting accounts, though they end the same way. Jones remembers that Brian Epstein, unable to find “My Bonnie” in any release lists, asked him questions about it, which concluded with Jones saying the Beatles were locals and “the most fantastic group you will ever hear.” Brian himself, in his autobiography, suggested this additional information only came to him over the following days, and in the raw interview transcript for that book, he said one of his shop-girls noted Jones’ order.
That led Brian Epstein to the Cavern Club where the Beatles played. That is somewhere that he would probably have never gone. Raymond Jones’s simple request would go down in history. Soon after, Brian was managing the Beatles and within a year they got George Martin’s attention and the rest is history.
While the Beatles were in Hamburg they were signed to a record contract by Bert Kaempfert. He recorded many cuts with The Beatles backing Sheridan and also a few by themselves. One original was the Lennon-Harrison instrumental Cry For A Shadow. The rest were standards like Ain’t She Sweet and When the Saints Come Marching In. The Beatles were fortunate with Bert Kaempfert. He wasn’t a shark…he signed them and when they had a chance to sign with EMI…he only asked that they record a couple of more songs and he let them go.
My Bonnie was released in October of 1961 in Germany and peaked at #32 in the German charts. It didn’t do much in the UK but fans knew about it and wanted it. The Beatles were very popular in Liverpool at the time and it sold well there after Brian got it in his store. Later on when they released Love Me Do it sold over 10,000 copies in Liverpool alone.
Record executives thought Epstein bought that many to put it in the charts but no….they really sold. Most people outside of Liverpool couldn’t understand how a “new” band would sell that many but they had been popular there since coming back from Hamburg in 1961. The Beatles started their own fan club in 1962 before Brian met them.
Their old bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe was there, but Paul played bass during the sessions.
My Bonnie
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
Oh bring back my Bonnie to me
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
Well my Bonnie lies over the ocean
Yeah bring back my Bonnie to me
Yeah bring back, ah bring back
Oh bring back my Bonnie to me to me
Oh bring back, oh bring back
Oh bring back my Bonnie to me
Well my Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
Yeah my Bonnie lies over the ocean
Oh I said bring back my Bonnie to me
Yeah bring back, ah bring back
Oh bring back my Bonnie to me to me
Oh bring back, ah bring back
Oh bring back my Bonnie to me
I had just graduated high school in 1985 and I was on CoCo Beach with some of my friends and this song takes me back there. Four guys in a Toyota Celica driving 15 hours to a place called Coco Beach. We picked it because of the name…not for the easy driving. We could have picked Pensacola and it would have been a 6 1/2 hour drive plus a better beach with the gulf…but live and learn.
This is one upbeat and positive song! I was about to graduate when I heard this song and I felt like the world was open and anything could happen. I wasn’t jaded yet but it felt good while it lasted.
The song peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #8 on the UK Charts, and #3 in Canada in 1985… hard to believe this song is 38 years old. This song has been a staple on pop stations and any supermarket near you.
The members were Katrina Leskanich, Kimberley Rew, Vince de la Cruz, and Alex Cooper. This song has been in almost 70 movies and television series.
Guitarist Kimberley Rew wrote the song and he also wrote “Going Down To Liverpool” which was covered by the Bangles. When that song was covered in 1984 it brought attention to Katrina and the Waves because Going Down To Liverpool was on their debut album Walking On Sunshine in 1983. One of the songs on there was of course...Walking on Sunshine but it was reworked with horns for their 1985 album Katrina And The Waves. That is the version we all know.
The band went on to release eight more albums, concluding with 1997’s Walk on Water. The album featured the lead single “Love Shine a Light,” which hit No. 3 in the UK and won the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest. The band later disbanded in 1999 after struggling to replace Leskanich, who left the year prior. But they will always be remembered because of this song that will never go away.
Katrina and the Waves were dropped by Capitol Records one year later. Katrina Leskanich: “They thought we were the new Monkees, The Beach Boys,” but we weren’t even that kind of band. We were cooler. I thought I was Nico from The Velvet Underground. Black turtlenecks, eyeliner, no smiling in photographs …”
Original Version
Walking On Sunshine
Ow
Mm, yeah
I used to think maybe you loved me, now, baby, I’m sure
And I just can’t wait till the day when you knock on my door
Now every time I go for the mailbox, gotta hold myself down
‘Cause I just can’t wait till you write me you’re coming around
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
And don’t it feel good
Hey, all right now
And don’t it feel good
Hey, yeah
I used to think maybe you loved me, now I know that it’s true
And I don’t want to spend my whole life just a-waiting for you
Now, I don’t want you back for the weekend, not back for a day, no, no, no
I said, baby, I just want you back, and I want you to stay
Oh, yeah, now I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
And don’t it feel good
Hey, all right now
And don’t it feel good
Yeah, oh, yeah, now
And don’t it feel good
Walking on sunshine
Walking on sunshine
I feel alive, I feel the love, I feel the love that’s really real
I feel alive, I feel the love, I feel the love that’s really real
I’m on sunshine, baby, oh
Oh, yeah, I’m on sunshine, baby
Oh, I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
And don’t it feel good
Hey, all right now
And don’t it feel good
I’ll say it, I’ll say it, I’ll say it again now
And don’t it feel good
Hey, yeah now
And don’t it feel good
Now don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it
And don’t it feel good
I’ll say it, I’ll say it, I’ll say it again now
And don’t it feel good
Now don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it
And don’t it feel good
Now tell me, tell me, tell me again now
And don’t it feel good
Oh, yeah, now
And don’t it feel good
Oh, don’t it feel good, don’t it feel good
Now don’t it feel good
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah
And don’t it feel good
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah
And don’t it feel good
After appearing on the covers of Time and Newsweek in October 1975, Springsteen sometimes changed the words to “Tell your papa I ain’t no freak, ’cause I got my picture on the cover of Time and Newsweek” when he performed it live. This wasn’t a “hit” at the time but it still lives on in classic radio and is a key song in Bruce’s catalog.
I’ve seen Bruce do this song live and it is special. It’s one of the best live songs I’ve ever heard along with The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again. The song is exciting as he pleads with Rosie and calls out the nicknames of their friends.
I was around 7 years old when this was released. I remember being in a tire swing in my Aunt’s front yard when I heard this Hollies on a radio that was playing from a car that someone was working on. I still remember smelling the grass and the green surroundings of that day.
This song would be way up in my favorite songs ever. Graham Nash had left by this time and the band turned a corner when he had gone. They went from a pop sixties band to more of a rock/pop band with hits like Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress, He Ain’t Heavy (He’s My Brother), and finally this song which was their last top ten hit in the US and Canada. It was written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood.
Great song great music great voice. This song was performed by Rufus with Chaka Khan and written by Stevie Wonder. The Talk-Box which Frampton later used sounds great in this song.
Rufus evolved from a group called The American Breed, who had a hit with “Bend Me, Shape Me.” They took their name from a column in Popular Mechanics magazine called “Ask Rufus,” later shortened to Rufus when Chaka Khan joined the band in 1972.
Paul McCartney‘s Band on the Run was one of his best songs since the Beatles. This song fell in a grey area. The album was released in December of 1973 but the single was released in April of 1974 so it could have gone in either year.
The song was recorded in two parts, in different sessions. The first two were taped in Lagos while the third section was recorded in October 1973 at AIR Studios in London. Paul was robbed at knifepoint in Lagos, Nigeria and they took the tapes that he had at the time. They were never recovered and Paul figured they recorded over them.
The song was off the album Band On The Run which was I think Paul’s best solo album. It was written by Paul and Linda McCartney.
Trying to figure out Elton’s lyrics has always been interesting…not what they mean…I won’t even try that. No, it’s… what is he singing? “He’s got electric boots a mohair suit You know I read it in a magazine, oh” I wasn’t even close. I thought “masseuse” was in there. I don’t think I can even spell what I’ve been singing along with for years. Mick Jagger does this well also.
Regardless of the hard-to-decipher words…I love the song.
Elton wrote the music to this song as an homage to glam rock, a style that was popular in the early ’70s, especially in the UK…and of course, Bernie Taupin co-wrote it with Elton.
You don’t get more rockabilly than Carl Perkins. This concert was a show built around the man. The guests that showed their support were Dave Edmunds, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, and Roassane Cash. Plus you had Stray Cats Slim Jim Phantom on drums and Lee Rocker on bass.
It’s pretty cool to see these other legends openly admiring Carl Perkins. Most grew up with his songs and they show their appreciation.
Dave from A Sound Day featured the Roy Orbison concert in the eighties which was a little later on than this one. I remember both of them and this one I watched at a friend’s house at the time on VHS.
Everyone takes a turn singing Carl Perkin’s classic songs in this one. It was filmed at London’s Limehouse Studios in front of a live audience on October 21, 1985. It’s a great show and Carl Perkins hadn’t lost a thing on guitar. Perkins was around 53 at the time.
They had Johnny Cash, Rob Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis do a quick intro for Perkins at the beginning. It’s the bottom video on this post. They also played at The Capitol Theater in New Jersey on September 9, 1985. You can find that one on YouTube also.
Carl Perkins: “Nothing in the music business has even come close to this for me. At times I felt I was going to break down crying.”
Here are the guest Musicians:
Carl Perkins (guitar, vocals)
George Harrison (guitar, vocals)
Ringo Starr (drums, tambourine, vocals)
Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals)
Dave Edmunds (guitar, vocals, musical director)
Rosanne Cash (vocals, maracas)
Phantom, Rocker & Slick {Slim Jim Phantom (drums), Lee Rocker (double bass), Earl Slick (guitar)}
Pick up you belongings boys and scatter about We’ve got an off-schedule train comin’ two miles out
Great title for Mr. Chuck Berry. My only complaint about this song is it’s way too short. He borrowed liberally from Johnny B. Good but that is alright…hell it’s his song to borrow from. Just think how many artists have taken this riff, especially the rhythm track, and used it over and over again. The Rolling Stones, Animals, and Beatles owe a large part of their success to this man.
Speaking of the Rolling Stones…they recorded this song live as a B-side in the UK for the single Brown Sugar. It was recorded live in March 1971 at the University of Leeds in England. Right around the time when The Who recorded possibly the best rock live album ever…Live At Leeds. The Stones do a good job on this song…it’s in their wheelhouse completely.
This song is not about teenagers. Chuck wrote this from the perspective of a railroad worker in Alabama. The phrase “Let It Rock” won’t be found in the lyrics. Supposedly the train that is coming is Rock and Roll.
The musicians on this album are Johnnie Johnson on piano, Willie Dixon on double bass, and Fred Below on drums. Johnnie Johnson was one of the best boogie-woogie piano players around at the time.
Johnnie Johnson never got his due for these wonderful riffs that he helped Chuck create. When Keith Richards wanted him to play in Hail Hail Rock and Roll in the mid-80s…he was driving a bus in Saint Louis. Chuck gave his OK and Johnnie was in the band. After he appeared in the movie he worked for the rest of his life as a musician.
This song has been covered by The Connection, The Grateful Dead, Rockpile, The Rolling Stones, Motörhead, Jerry Garcia, Hasil Adkins, Skyhooks, The Yardbirds, Widespread Panic, The MC5, Bob Seger, the Stray Cats, George Thorogood, The Head Cat, Shadows of Knight, John Oates, The Georgia Satellites, and Jeff Lynne to name a few.
The song peaked at #18 on the Billboard R&B Charts and #64 on the Billboard 100 Charts in 1959.
Have a great day and Let It Rock!
Let It Rock
In the heat of the day down in Mobile Alabama
Working on the railroad with the steel driving hammer
I gotta get some money to buy some brand new shoes
Tryin’ to find somebody to take away these blues
“She don’t love me” hear them singing in the sun
Payday’s coming and my work is all done
Well, in the evening when the sun is sinking low
All day I been waiting for the whistle to blow
Sitting in a tee pee built right on the tracks
Rolling them bones until the foreman comes back
Pick up you belongings boys and scatter about
We’ve got an off-schedule train comin’ two miles out
Everybody’s scrambling, running around
Picking up their money, tearing the tee pee down
Foreman wants to panic, ’bout to go insane
Trying to get the workers out the way of the train
Engineer blows the whistle loud and long
Can’t stop the train, have to let it roll on
I don’t do anniversaries very much but some things I try to keep up with and this is one of them. I’ve posted this in the past few years on October 20.
It’s been 46 years since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane crashed in a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi. The band had just released the album “Street Survivors” and it was probably their best well-rounded album. With new guitarist Steve Gaines, they were primed for commercial success but on October 20, 1977, they lost singer-songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick. The plane crash also claimed the lives of pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray Jr.
I believe that if the crash had not happened they would have moved into the most successful stretch of their career. They were leaving the “southern rock” label behind and into one of the top rock bands in the world.
A year earlier Steve Gaines joined the band and he was pushing them in directions they never had gone. Listening to “Street Survivors” you can hear his influence with the songs I Never Dreamed and I Know A Little. Steve was a super-talented guitarist, songwriter, and singer and I have to wonder where his career would have gone.
On this tour, they were headlining and moving up in status after years of touring as mostly an opening band.
Below is a good Rolling Stone article on the crash. The song below that is “I Never Dreamed,” a song heavily influenced by Gaines.
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 