I grew up in a rural area… there was no ice cream man traveling on our dirt road.
I would go visit my grandmother in Nashville on weekends and some weekdays. She lived in the suburbs so we were surrounded by houses and pavement.
I remember the sound and excitement. That sound of the Ice Cream truck coming when I was a kid. I didn’t have anything like that at home. If I was inside my grandmother’s house…which was rare, I could hear that bell and that tune playing no matter what I was doing. Old McDonald or some song like that.
I would bum a quarter off of my grandmother with promises to do anything.
When I grew older and was a teenager and no longer cared about that I started to notice something strange about the new ice cream guy. He drove by ringing the bell to the tune of “Sympathy for the Devil” and 19 and 20-year-olds would stop him down the street… I don’t think a quarter would have bought what he was selling anymore.
I saw him a few more times pass by…ringing the bell to Jumpin’ Jack Flash…a true Stones fan… and then I never saw him again…He was selling a different kind of treat. So Cheech and Chong weren’t that far off…I heard a little later the police didn’t approve of his inventory.
I liked this ballad when I heard it in the mid-80s… I could relate to it at the time. The song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #16 in the UK Charts in 1985. Howard Jones had 5 top twenty songs and 2 top ten songs in the 1980s. Altogether he had 11 songs in the top 100.
This song is about being attracted to people who you can’t be with. In our interview with Howard Jones, it was revealed how the idea for the song came about: “Well, I think we can all relate to the main theme of the song. But I was in San Francisco, and I was doing a promotion with the local record company guy, and we were crossing the street to go to the radio station, and he said to me, ‘Howard, what do you think of all the amazing women here in San Francisco?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, they’re great, they’re fantastic.’ And he said, ‘Well, you can look at the menu, but you don’t have to eat.’ And I’ve never actually heard anybody say that before. And so that was it, a good spark for a huge idea coming for a song.”
No One Is To Blame
You can look at the menu, but you just can’t eat You can feel the cushion, but you can’t have a seat You can dip your foot in the pool, but you can’t have a swim You can feel the punishment, but you can’t commit the sin
And you want her, and she wants you We want everyone And you want her and she wants you No one, no one, no one ever is to blame You can build a mansion, but you just can’t live in it You’re the fastest runner but you’re not allowed to win Some break the rules, and let you cut the cost The insecurity is the thing that won’t get lost
And you want her, and she wants you We want everyone And you want her and she wants you No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
You can see the summit but you can’t reach it It’s the last piece of the puzzle but you just can’t make it fit Doctor says you’re cured but you still feel the pain Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain
And you want her, and she wants you We want everyone And you want her and she wants you No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
Loved this song from the first time I heard it. Let My Love Open the Door peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 and #46 in the UK Charts in 1980. The song was off of his first solo album Empty Glass. This is Townshend’s only top 10 hit in Billboard.
Simon Phillips drummed on this record and he would tour with the Who in the late 80s.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine just after this song became a hit, Townshend referred to it as “Just a ditty.” He went on to say that he preferred another song from Empty Glass, “A Little is Enough,” which only reached #72 on the US charts.
Pete Townshend has been a follower of the Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba (1894-1969) since 1968 and this appears to be a devotional love song to his religious guru. However in the liner notes of Townshend’s Gold (Remaster)CD, he refers to this song as “Jesus sings.”
Among the films this has been used in are Look Who’s Talking (1989), Mr. Deeds (2002) and Along Came Polly(2004). A different version was recorded for Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), and It was also the end credit song for Jersey Girl (2004). The song played a prominent role in the 2007 movie Dan In Real Life, where Steve Carell and Dane Cook perform the song to Cook’s girlfriend, whom Carell has deep feelings for.
Two of the musicians on this track, the bass player Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki, became part of the Scottish rock quartet Big Country a few years later.
Townshend released a slower version of this song in 1996 that he called the “E. Cola mix,” which he remixed with Jack Hues of Wang Chung along with Chris Hughes and Tim Oliver. This version was used in the 1997 film Grosse Pointe Blank and appeared on the soundtrack. In 2017, this version of the song was used in the “So Swayze It’s Crazy” episode of The Goldbergs, and also in a Walmart commercial titled “Christmas Like a Rock Star,” where families open the door to find items delivered by the store.
The Christian rock-pop band Audio Adrenaline remade this song on their 1999 Underdog album. In their case, the “my love” was referring to God’s love.
Let My Love Open The Door
When people keep repeating That you’ll never fall in love When everybody keeps retreating But you can’t seem to get enough
Let my love open the door Let my love open the door Let my love open the door To your heart
When everything feels all over Everybody seems unkind I’ll give you a four-leaf clover Take all worry out of your mind
Let my love open the door Let my love open the door Let my love open the door To your heart, to your heart
I have the only key to your heart I can stop you falling apart Try today you’ll find this way Come on and give me a chance to say
Let my love open the door It’s all I’m living for Release yourself from misery There’s only one thing gonna set you free That’s my love That’s my love
Let my love open the door Let my love open the door Let my love open the door Let my love open the door
When tragedy befalls you Don’t let it drag you down Love can cure your problems You’re so luck I’m around
Let my love open the door Let my love open the door Let my love open the door To your heart
These were fun in the summer. A piece of plastic with a garden hose attached and voilà… a wet fun slide. I would slide down with reckless abandonment until…until I would slide over a sharp rock that was poking through the yellow plastic…then I would slip ‘n slide to first aid but it was fun. It was a great way to spend a summer day and I wouldn’t trade a minute of fun on it for anything.
Slip ‘n Slide was invented by Robert Carrier. Wham-O manufactured it in 1961, the Slip ‘n Slide is still hugely popular today.
Carrier originally sewed 50 foot of Naugahyde and brought it home for his kid to play on and all the kids in the neighborhood came by to slide down the Naugahyde material that he hosed down. He stitched a long tube along one side, sewn shut at one end, with spaces between the stitching so that when you attached the hose, the water pressure would build up and water would squirt out those openings and lubricate the surface of the material.
Wham-O traded the Naugahyde for more cost-efficient plastic (still used today), shortened the length from 50 to 25 feet and took the toy to market in 1961. It was an immediate success: 300,000 were sold within the first six months, and the total reached more than 30 million by its 50th anniversary.
This is my favorite song of Rod Stewart. It’s an acoustic driven rocker with Rod never relenting on the lyrics. The song has a stream of conscious feel to it. Every Picture Tells a Story was written by Stewart and Ron Wood.
From Songfacts.
This song recounts a series of misadventures endured by Stewart’s globetrotting protagonist, culminating with his torrid romance with a “slit-eyed lady.” (Political correctness has never exactly been Rod Stewart’s calling card).In the May 1995 issue of Mojo, Stewart said of the song: “I can remember the build up. You know what the song’s about – your early teenage life when you’re leaving home and you’re exploring the world for yourself. Ronnie (Wood) and I rehearsed round my house at Muswell Hill and recorded it the next day. That whole album was done in 10 days, two weeks, about as long as it takes to get a drum sound right nowadays.”The song’s title doesn’t appear in the lyrics until the end… where it is repeated 24 times! (“Every picture tells a story, don’t it?”)
Every Picture Tells a Story
Spent time feelin’ inferior standing’ in front of my mirrorCombed my hair in a thousand ways, but I came out lookin’ just the sameDaddy said, son, you better see the worldI wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leaveBut remember one thing, don’t lose your head to a woman that’ll spend your breadSo I got outParis was a place you could hide away, if you felt you didn’t fit inFrench police wouldn’t give me no peace, they claimed I was a nasty personDown along the left bank, minding my ownWas knocked down by a human stampedeGot arrested for inciting a peaceful riot, when all I wanted was a cup of teaI was accusedI moved onDown in rome I wasn’t getting enoughOf the things that keep a young man aliveMy body stunk, but I kept my funk at a time when I was right out of luckGetting desperate, indeed I was looking like a tourist attractionOh, my dear, I better get out of here for the vatican don’t give no sanctionI wasn’t ready for that, no, noI moved right out east, yeahOn the peking ferry I was feeling merry, sailing on my way back hereI fell in love with a slant-eyed lady by the light of an eastern moonShanghai lil never used the pill, she claimed that it just ain’t naturalShe took me up on deck and bit my neckOh, people, I was glad I found herOh, yeah, I was glad I found hereI firmly believed that I didn’t need anyone but meI sincerely thought I was so completeLook how wrong you can beThe women I’ve known I wouldn’t let tie my shoeThey wouldn’t give you the time of dayBut the slant-eyed lady knocked me off my feetGod, I was glad I found herAnd if they had the words I could tell to youTo help you on your way down the roadI couldn’t quote you no dickens, shelley or keats‘Cause it’s all been said beforeMake the best out of the bad, just laugh it offYou didn’t have to come here anyway, so rememberEvery picture tells a story don’t it?Every picture tells a story don’t it?Every picture tells a story don’t it?Every picture tells a story don’t it?Every picture tells a story don’t it?Every picture tells a story don’t it?
I’ve always liked the lyrics to this song and the overall sound of it. I liked all of the singles released off of their one and only album Boomtown. Welcome to the Boomtown, It Aint So Easy, and Swallowed by the Cracks. I was really looking forward to the follow-up album which never came.
Welcome to the Boomtown peaked at #37 in the Billboard 100 in 1986. Per Wikipedia, the two are planning to make a follow-up album. Over 30 years later…but better late than never.
Welcome to The Boomtown
Miss Christina drives a .944 satisfaction oozes from her pores she keeps rings on her fingers marble on the floor cocaine in her dresser bars on her doors she keeps her back against the wall she keeps her back against the wall so I say I say welcome welcome to the boomtown pick a habit we got plenty to go around welcome to the boomtown and all that money makes such a succulent sound welcome to the boomtown
Handsome Kevin got a little off track took a year off of college and he never went back now he smokes much too much he’s got a permanent hack deals dope out of Denny’s keeps a table in the back he always listens to the ground always listens to the ground so I say I say welcome to the boomtown pick a habit we got plenty to go around welcome to the boomtown and all that money makes such a succulent sound welcome to the boomtown
Well the ambulance arrived too late I guess she didn’t want to wait….
The Zombies were a bands band. They were very talented musicians who had the respect of other bands. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, and #12 in the Uk in 1964. They sounded like no other band at the time with a jazz/pop feel.
The group signed to Decca Records, and their keyboard player Rod Argent came up with this song for the session. It tells the story of an alluring woman who won’t be tied down to one man – the singer wants to tell us all about her, but he can only use words since she’s not there.
This was The Zombies first single. The band also recorded a cover of Gershwin’s “Summertime” for their first album, which was considered for the band’s first single, but “She’s Not There” got the nod. Boosted by radio play on New York powerhouse WINS, the song became a hit in the US.
She’s Not There Well, no one told me about her The way she lied Well, no one told me about her How many people cried
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry How would I know? Why should I care? Please don’t bother trying to find her She’s not there
Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked The way she acts and the color of her hair Her voice was soft and cool Her eyes were clear and bright But she’s not there
Well, no one told me about her What could I do? Well, no one told me about her Though they all knew
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry How would I know? Why should I care? Please don’t bother trying to find her She’s not there
Well, let me tell you ’bout the way she looked The way she acts and the color of her hair Her voice was soft and cool Her eyes were clear and bright But she’s not there
But it’s too late to say you’re sorry How would I know? Why should I care? Please don’t bother trying to find her She’s not there
Well, let me tell you about the way she looked The way she acts and the color of her hair Her voice was soft and cool Her eyes were clear and bright But she’s not there
