This is about Lemmy Kilmister the founder of Motorhead. The documentary is called Lemmy: 49% motherfucker. 51% son of a bitch. His name was Ian Fraser Kilmister…better known as Lemmy.
I’m not a huge fan of Motorhead but I do like a few of their songs. Lemmy though is another matter. He is a great subject for a documentary. This was made in 2010 and it’s hard not to like the guy. He was who he was and he wasn’t changing for anyone. He reminds me a little of Keith Richards…but a rougher version.
Lemmy saw The Beatles in the Cavern and is a huge fan which surprised me. He was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and he played with Hawkwind and later formed his band…Motorhead. They took punk and heavy metal and cross-pollinated the two forms in some ways.
This documentary was released in 2010. Some of the people in this documentary per Wiki are Slash, Duff McKagan, Ozzy Osbourne, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo, Kirk Hammett, Nikki Sixx, David Ellefson, Scott Ian, Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Peter Hook, and Marky Ramone, as well as Nik Turner and Dave Brock of Lemmy’s former band Hawkwind. The filmmakers were also able to capture many candid moments with colleagues such as Dave Grohl and Billy Bob Thornton conversing with Lemmy in bars and recording studios.
Lemmy passed away on December 28, 2015. Even if you are not a fan…you probably will enjoy this.
I watched a Bob Dylan film in the 80s called Don’t Look Back and it covered his 1965 UK tour. In that documentary (which I highly recommend) Donovan comes into Bob’s hotel room and starts playing this folk song called “To Sing For You.” The small audience there is captivated. In the middle of the song, Dylan shouts, “Hey, that’s a good song, man!”
It surprised me because at that time I watched this…all I knew from Donovan were these psychedelic songs like Mellow Yellow and Hurdy Gurdy Man. The melody to Catch The Wind borrows heavily from Bob Dylan’s “Chimes Of Freedom” but Bob didn’t say a word in the documentary.
Donovan and Dylan also made their UK chart debut in the same week, Donovan with Catch The Wind and Dylan with “The Times They Are A Changin’.” Donovan was often dubbed as Britain’s answer to Dylan…NEVER a good thing to be the “new” Dylan/Elvis/Beatles anywhere. There will be no doubt who influenced him though after a listen to the song. It’s a very accessible folk song.
He dated model Linda Lawrence, who was then the girlfriend of the Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones soon after writing this song. He bumped into her four years later and they married in 1970.
The song was added to his first album What’s Bin Did and What’s Bin Hid released in 1965. This was released right after Donovan turned 19. The album peaked at #3 in the UK and #30 on the Billboard Album Charts. I could not find an entry in Canada.
The song peaked at #4 in the UK,#10 in Canada, and #23 on the Billboard 100 in 1965. It has been covered by hundreds of artists including Sammy Hagar, Bruce Springsteen’s first band The Castiles, The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, and Rickie Lee Jones.
Donovan:“‘Catch The Wind,’ I wrote it for Linda, although I hadn’t really met her yet. It is a song of unrequited love, yet I hadn’t really met her, so how could I miss her? And I seem to write prophetic songs in the sense of the Celtic poet and I wrote this song before I met Linda, of a love I would like to have had and lost.”
‘She was the first paparazzi-worthy girlfriend and was going out with the most charismatic rock star in Britain, Brian Jones. When I met her she’d just split from Brian, and she told me she wasn’t ready for another serious relationship. We had a passionate love affair, but parted in 1965 as she needed some time away from the limelight in which to grow up. She was only 16 when she and Brian had a child together, Julian, who later I’d raise as my own.
Catch The Wind
In the chilly hours and minutes
Of uncertainty, I want to be
In the warm hold of your love and mine
To feel you all around me
And to take your hand along the sand
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
When sundown pales the sky
I want to hide a while behind your smile
And everywhere I’d look your eyes I’d find
For me to love you now
Would be the sweetest thing ‘twould make me sing
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
Di di di di, di di di di
Di di di di, di di di di
Di di di
When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind
For standin’ in your heart
Is where I want to be and long to be
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
My friend Dave was nice enough to publish this post on his site A Sound Day a couple of months ago for Turntable Talk.
Trent Reznor: “That song isn’t mine anymore”
A good cover song needs to be somewhat faithful, so you know what it is… to the original but not an exact replica as in Todd Rundgren’s Good Vibrations. Very few times do I see covers that are as good as the original, but it does happen. Jimi Hendrix did the trick with Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watch Tower and Dylan does it in Jimi’s style even today. Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt adds a different layer to the song…and it works.
Hurt written by Trent Reznor seemed unlikely to be covered by Johnny Cash. The producer Rick Rubin convinced Cash to give it a shot and it worked. Johnny was a different kind of artist. There are only a few that can cross genres so easily. I think Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash belong in that category.
The song was born in a house that at one moment in time… was a real house of horrors. Trent Reznor, the singer of Nine Inch Nails, moved into a rented house at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles. Nine Inch Nails recorded the EP Broken and The Downward Spiral album in that house. Hurt was on the later album.
The house was no other than Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate’s old home where Manson’s followers murdered Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Steve Parent in 1969. After Reznor met Sharon Tate’s sister…he realized he didn’t want to be looked at like he was endorsing serial killers so he moved out. “When she was talking to me, I realized for the first time, ‘What if it was my sister?’ I thought, ‘F— Charlie Manson.’ I don’t want to be looked at as a guy who supports serial-killer bull—-.” Reznor moved out soon later but he did take the front door. It was demolished soon after.
The song deals with addiction struggles and isolation but in the hands of Cash it changes but remains true. This is the one song where I say…watch the video also. I don’t say that often but it adds to Cash’s story. The video was shot in February of 2003. June Cash would die in May and Johnny would die in September.
Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers play on the track.
Trent Reznor: “I pop the video in, and wow… Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. Somehow that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure.”
Trent Reznor: “I wasn’t prepared for what I saw, what I had written in my diary was now superimposed on the life of this icon and sung so beautifully and emotionally. It was a reminder of what an important medium music is. Goosebumps up the spine. It really made sense. I thought: ‘What a powerful piece of art.’ I never got to meet Johnny, but I’m happy I contributed in the way I did. It wasn’t my song anymore.”
Hurt
I hurt myself today To see if I still feel I focus on the pain The only thing that’s real
The needle tears a hole The old familiar sting Try to kill it all away But I remember everything
What have I become? My sweetest friend Everyone I know goes away In the end
And you could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns Upon my liar’s chair Full of broken thoughts I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time The feelings disappear You are someone else I’m still right here
What have I become? My sweetest friend Everyone I know goes away In the end
And you could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt
If I could start again A million miles away I would keep myself I would find a way
I’m currently reading a book about John Bonham called Beast: John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin. So it’s possible you may see another Zeppelin post soon. This song starts like a herd of Vikings coming to pillage your town.
This song was on Led Zeppelin III released in 1970. At the time it was not immediately loved like the first two albums. One reason is that it wasn’t as bombastic as the other two. It mixed in some acoustic numbers along with harder numbers. This album paved the way for their future of mixing light and heavy together that they would master on Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy.
In the Immigrant song…the band played Iceland and Robert got the idea from there. The line “The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands” would stick with them as The Hammer Of The Gods was a line to describe them as well as a book by Stephan Davis about the band. Plant’s love of history played into the lyric, as he was thinking about explorers like Marco Polo and how they must have felt in their travels.
Led Zeppelin would open their concerts with this song for a couple of years. Zeppelin is hugely popular now with fans and critics alike but it took a while for the critics to be interested. Many didn’t like the fact that they made it so fast and the huge amount of money they were making. Rolling Stone Magazine ran many critical articles about them…accusing the band of hype.
This song was released as a single in some markets. A rare thing in Zeppelin’s world. It peaked at #16 on the Billboard 100, #4 in Canada, and #4 in New Zealand. It was not released as a single in the UK. The band didn’t want any singles released but Atlantic did occasionally much to the band’s frustration.
This song was written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Zeppelin has been singled out for being one of the first bands in “Heavy Metal.” Page does not like that tag. “I’m not really sure where we got that tag, there’s no denying that the elements of what became known as heavy metal is definitely there within Led Zeppelin. But the reality of it is that this is riff music, and riff music goes back to the blues — the electric blues of the ’50s and what was going on down there in Chicago.”
He even refused to be interviewed on “That Metal Show” because…guess why? Because it was called “That Metal Show” so he refused because of the word Metal. The host of the show was Eddie Trunk and he said: “He refuses to do anything with the word ‘metal’ in it. Now, ‘That Metal Show’ was way beyond metal, as anybody who watched it knew. We did all kinds of stuff, but he wouldn’t, he wasn’t having it. It was crazy.”
Robert Plant:“We weren’t being pompous. We did come from the land of the ice and snow. We were guests of the Icelandic Government on a cultural mission. We were invited to play a concert in Reykjavik and the day before we arrived all the civil servants went on strike and the gig was going to be canceled. The university prepared a concert hall for us and it was phenomenal. The response from the kids was remarkable and we had a great time. ‘Immigrant Song’ was about that trip and it was the opening track on the album that was intended to be incredibly different.”
Immigrant Song
Ah-ah, ah
Ah-ah, ah
We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde and sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming
On we sweep with threshing oar
Our only goal will be the western shore
Ah-ah, ah
Ah-ah, ah
We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
How soft your fields so green
Can whisper tales of gore
Of how we calmed the tides of war
We are your overlords
On we sweep with threshing oar
Our only goal will be the western shore
So now you’d better stop
And rebuild all your ruins
For peace and trust can win the day
Despite of all your losing
I first heard this band through a song called Hold Me Up a while back. Cool hooks, guitar sound, and melodies. This band has the distorted and jangly sound well mixed together. This song came off of the 1994 album Teenage Symphonies to God which is probably their best-known album. I have listened to this album a bunch and the songs sound like classic songs that have been forgotten.
Vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck are the band’s two constant members. They had previously worked together in 3 other bands…Choo Choo Train, Bag-O-Shells, and The Springfields in the 1980s.
Guitarist Jeffrey Underhill played with them on their first three albums. The album was produced by Mitch Easter who would produce R.E.M among other artists. He gets such a warm sound with Velvet Crush. Matthew Sweet has also worked with this band.
Chastain, Menck, and Underhill reunited in 2019 to tour.
Time Wraps Around You
To the summer of love, from the winter of fear Seasons change us around, the reasons not clear So turn the page Their innocence can’t be saved Beginning again
Like the motions you make, the wave of your hand Like the time that it takes to know that you can Standing by To try and make you feel alright
This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you You know I’ll stay
Through the summer of love, the winter so near Seasons scatter good friends, and more every year Looking back Then you find Learning that It’s time to leave the past far behind
You know it’s alright This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you Know I’ll stay
When I went through my Doors phase as a teen…this one was one of the songs that drew me in. I still like the band but I have sympathy for the members not named Morrison. When they played live in the later part of their career…he could be a handful.
This was the first song on The Doors debut album, and also their first single. It got some airplay on Los Angeles radio stations after their friends and fans kept requesting it. Light My Fire…did just that after this single. Break On Through peaked at #126 in the Billboard Charts, #64 in the UK, and #28 in New Zealand in 1967.
“She gets high,” was in the original chorus but their producer Paul Rothchild thought that would limit the song’s airplay potential, and convinced the group to leave it out. Instead, “high” was edited out, making it sound like, “she get uuggh,” but the “high” line can be heard in live versions and the high was restored in the 1999 remaster.
Elektra Records boss Jac Holzman commissioned a promotional film for this song…later known as a music video. Like The Beatles, The Doors were innovators in the music video medium, creating films of various kinds to their songs. Videos saved bands’ trips to TV studios to mime their latest record. MTV used them as their business plan two decades later.
Elektra Records promoted the album with a billboard on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood with a photo of the band and the headline, “The Doors Break On Through With An Electrifying Album.” It gave a lot of attention to the band at the time.
John Rechy’s 1963 book City of Night was a huge influence on Morrison in writing this song. There is a passage that Rechy wrote “place to place, week to week, night to night” and Jim turned it into Made the scene, Week to week, Day to day, Hour to hour.
Jim Morrison:“I like ideas about the breaking away or overthrowing of the established order. I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that seems to have no meaning.”
Break On Through (To The Other Side)
You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side, yeah
We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried?
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Yeah
Come on, yeah
Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby
She get
She get
She get
She get high
I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through, oww
Oh, yeah
Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
This is a band I discovered off of the compilation album Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era, 1976–1995. It was a follow-up to the Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968. That album consisted of early American psychedelic and garage rock singles.
Children of Nuggets was the second wave of garage bands that consisted of psychedelic, power pop, punk, alternative, and alt-country, and also included the Byrds-influenced Paisley Underground Scene that was going on at the time. It was a nice break from the disco and synth-driven bands that were all over the top 40 during the 80s.
The Rain Parade was part of the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the early 80s. The Paisley Underground scene contained bands such as The Bangles, Green on Red, and The Long Ryders. There was no shortage of good songs in the period. They just didn’t get the push from their record companies and they were out of step with other bands like Duran Duran.
This song peaked at #28 in the UK Indie Charts in 1985.
Their roots were in punk music but in this band…instead of the Sex Pistols and the Clash, they went for the Byrds jangly guitars. They also resemble early R.E.M. in this song.
David Roback was in this band. He is most famous for being a founding member of Mazzy Star. He was also in a band with Susanna Hoffs before she joined the Bangles.
You Are My Friend
You are my friend
So sad this had to end
Some broken things don’t mend
They lie where they fall
You say the knife
Is twisted in your back
You don’t remember that
It wasn’t in mind
But you’re my friend
And you know
Things are not the same
You can’t hide your lies
’cause this time
there’s nothing you can change
Friend
I’m sad it had to end
You can’t bring back the dead
They’ll burn you down
You’re much too smart
To waste your mind on me
And you know too late
Don’t be a fool
If you’re my friend
My friend
You are my friend
My friend
My son had never visited Graceland and his girlfriend is visiting so I thought it would be time to go. I’ve been 2 times before…once in the 80s and again in the mid-nineties. We stayed in the Exchange Building in Memphis…a building that is 112 years old. If you are looking for a place in Memphis, it’s listed under Air B&Bs…I would recommend this place…love the architecture.
We got to Graceland on Saturday and it was crowded of course…and the price has more than doubled in the past 10 years from what I read. It’s now $77 (80 with tax) dollars per person for a house visit plus the planes and different exhibits. Compared to the 90s…it’s enough items to keep you busy at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours easy…still that is steep when you have a few people.
You get through the house in 30 minutes or so…at least we did. It’s the huge new complex they built to house most of his items that takes a lot of time.
I’m going to show as many pictures as possible but two exhibits surprised this Beatles fan. They had a section called “Icons” and the artists that were influenced by Elvis. They had many things on loan from The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. I got to see the piano that John Lennon wrote a lot of Double Fantasy on and a vest and Marshall amp from no other than Jimi Hendrix. Also a James Brown outfit, KISS items, Joe Perry, Buddy Holly, and a leather jacket from Bruce Springsteen.
You can google Graceland and get most of the pics inside the house but here are a few…I like the yellow man cave. After this, we took a walk on Beale Street which was really cool. Next time I’m allowing more time. Sun Studios and Buford Pusser’s place in McNairy country are places I wanted to see also.
You should be able to click on the pictures and see all of them one at a time if you want.
Here are some of the exhibits
Last but not least…Elvis’s outfits…it looked like a giant doll’s house.
The Bangles were The Bangs at first, and their line-up consisted of Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson, and Vicki Peterson. The group was part of the Paisley Underground movement, a musical scene based around Los Angeles in which groups mixed 1960s-inspired pop with garage rock. They produced the song themselves and Vicki Peterson wrote the song.
The Bangs released Getting Out Of Hand on their own label DownKiddie Records and distributed it locally around Los Angeles in 1981. They renamed themselves The Bangles because a band in New Jersey was already called The Bangs and threatened to sue. The B side was written by Hoffs called Call On Me.
The songs didn’t chart but they drew the attention of Miles Copeland, who signed the band to his label Faulty Products. They would then release the 1982 EP called The Bangles which contained the song The Real World.
Faulty Products issued a 12-inch “remix” single of The Real World to radio and media, but a setback came as the label folded. I.R.S. Records picked up distribution and reissued the EP. Michael Steele soon joined the band at this time.
The Bangles were a breath of fresh air in the mid-eighties. The band played sixties-inspired rock with Byrd’s chiming guitars. I’ve said it before…and I’ll say it again. The lead singer on this song, Susanna Hoffs, caught my eye right away. Yes for the normal ways but also for the fact she was playing a Rickenbacker guitar…what more could I want? Game over…life complete.
Getting Out Of Hand
A friend told me yesterday You’ve been lookin’ for me If I’ve been stayin’ out of your way I’ve done it intentionally
Saw you walking with her (walkin’ with her) Always kept that few steps behind, yeah Wonder if she knows for sure (she knows for sure) Her man’s goin’on walking the line
Then I say to myself ‘beware’ It’s getting out of hand (out of hand) It’s getting out of hand (don’t look now) If he’s lovin’ you, he’s not being true He’s got another woman, yeah
Look me right in the eye Tell me I’m the one that you love Right back into your lies Forgetting how determined I was
Then I say to myself ‘beware’ It’s getting out of hand (out of hand) It’s getting out of hand (don’t look now) If he’s lovin’ you, he’s not being true He’s got another woman, yeah
My friend Dave first posted this article I wrote here on an episode of Turntable Talk. For those who didn’t see it…here it is. Cincinnati Babyhead also reviewed this on Hanspostcard’s site.
Dave asked a question: Is there an act that actually comes out better on live releases than studio ones?
First, let me say…overall I’m more of a record guy…I usually like the studio version of songs but yes there are some bands that can come off better. I would say The Who, Allman Brothers, Cream, The Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, The Stones (1969-1972), and Bob Dylan’s “1966 tour.” However, there is one condition to this.
I think you have to take into consideration the era you are talking about with each band or artist. If we are talking about the peak years then yes. The Rolling Stones for instance…for me it would be 1969 through 1974. When they had Mick Taylor on guitar…they had a huge raw sound live they haven’t had since. With Dylan, the 66 tour for me was the top and I could listen to those versions all day. The Who it would be 1969 through 1976 when they were untouchable live. But I’m not saying I don’t like other years with these artists…but those are known as the peak years.
When the Who took Tommy on tour I think the live recordings beat the studio album by a long shot. That leads me to…my favorite live rock album of all time.
From Classic Rock website ranking Who albums: “We usually don’t include live albums in our rankings, but ‘Live at Leeds’ is no ordinary live album. Like ‘Live at the Apollo,’ ‘At Fillmore East,’ ‘At Folsom Prison’ and a handful of other classic concert records, it transcends the genre, turning a quick record-company cash turnaround into a statement of purpose.”
The Who: Live at Leads. If you are a rock and roll fan, a rock fan, or even a heavy metal fan…everyone can find something on that album. This is guitar rock at its best. Listening to the sound of that record, it’s no telling how loud they played. They weren’t the loudest in the Guinness Book of World Records for nothing! When Pete hit a power chord you could almost feel your eardrums retract in and out like a speaker.
It’s not being loud though that makes it so great. Personally, I’ve never heard a band as tight as they were during this tour. They wanted to release a live album and soundman Bob Pridden had 38 shows taped. Pete wanted Pridden to go through all shows and tell him which one was best. Because of constant touring Pridden could never get through all of the shows. The day came and Pete asked him ok…which shows. He couldn’t give Pete an answer.
They had a show at Leeds and Hull coming up on the schedule. In a move he’d later label “one of the stupidest decisions of my life,” Townshend told Pridden to burn the tapes so that they’d never wind up in the hands of bootleggers. So, instead of more shows from that era…we have very few.
So…now the tapes were burned and the Leeds and Hull concert was coming up. They had a lot of pressure to get it right for the live album.
Pete Townshend:“I played more carefully than usual and tried to avoid the careless bum notes that often occurred because I was trying to play and jump around at the same time. The next day we played a similar set in City Hall in Hull. This was another venue with good acoustics for loud rock, but it felt less intense than the previous night.”
They played most of the Tommy album and their “oldies” on this tour, which was songs only around 5-6 years old. The original Live at Leeds didn’t have any Tommy songs on it. This album was like a marker for the pre-Tommy Who coming to an end. The deluxe re-released version had the complete show full of Tommy material
The recordings had a few clicks in the tape and Townshend tried to maneuver around them.
Townshend tried slicing out the clicks with a razor blade and quickly realized it would be impossible to get all of them. But subpar-sounding bootlegs were flooding the market at this time, so the band just added a note to the label saying the clicks were intentional! The album cover was a faded stamp reading “The Who: Live at Leeds” on brown paper, mirroring the look of illegal vinyl bootlegs of the era. Later on, Aerosmith had a similar live bootleg album cover.
What impresses me is the only overdubbing on the album was the backup vocals because they were poorly recorded. John Entwistle and Pete did the backup vocals in one take in the studio to stay true to the live album. What you hear on the album is what the good people at Leeds heard that night. No massive overdubbing to tighten anything up.
By 1970 The Who had been touring almost non-stop since 1964 and it showed on this album. After the album, the band didn’t tour as much as before. They worked in the studio on more complex albums Who’s Next and Quadrophenia. Their tours were not the marathon tours of the sixties.
This was before Won’t Get Fooled Again, Baba O’Riley, and Quadrophenia’s complex music that required backing tapes live. This album was The Who as nature intended… a very loud tight rock band and possibly the best live rock album.
BTW…Bob Pridden worked as The Who’s soundman until 2016 when he retired.
Here are three examples. Young Man Blues. Listen to Moon and Entwistle intertwine with each other. You also have Summertime Blues and A Quick One, While He’s Away.
Any song that contains train references I usually like and this one is no exception. I was surprised when I heard this song was by Cinderella. They had changed themselves into a bluesy hard rock roots band. The other song that I heard off the album at the time was Shelter…and that one I loved also.
The song peaked at #44 on the Billboard 100, #60 in Canada, #54 in the UK, and #13 on the Billboard Rock Charts in 1991.
In 1990 we were the house band at club at the time. We never played new music but I learned this one just to see the faces of the people when we played a new song. We did this one and Jealous Again by the Black Crowes.
They never really got a chance to follow this momentum up with another album. n 1991, Keifer lost his voice due to a paresis of his vocal cords. After operations, they didn’t follow up this album until 1994 (Still Climbing) and by then grunge had taken over and Cinderella was dropped from the record company after the album went nowhere.
They reformed in 1996 and would tour off and on until 2014.
Heartbreak Station
Waiting at the station
Tears filling up my eyes
Sometimes the pain you hide
Burns like a fire inside
Lookin’ out my window
Sometimes it’s hard to see
The things you want in life
Come and go so easily
She took the last train out of my heart
The last train
And now I think I’ll make a brand new start
The last train out of my heart
Watching the days go by
Thinking ’bout the plans we made
Days turn into years
Funny how they fade away
Sometimes I think of those days
Sometimes I just hide away
I’m waiting on that 9:20 train
I’m waiting on a memory
She took the last train out of my heart
The last train
And now I think I’ll make a brand new start
The last train out of my heart, yeah
My lady’s on the fly
And she’s never coming back
My love is like a steam train
Rolling down the tracks, yeah, yeah
The last train out of my heart
The last train
And now I think I’ll make a brand new start
Took the last train out of my heart, yeah
she took the last train, out of my heart
(The last train) she took the last train
And now I think I’ll make a new start
Last train out of my heart
Before I start…I’ll be off and on this weekend because I’m traveling to Memphis to see Big E’s house…Graceland… for the 3rd time.
Power pop can be traced back to George Harrison and Roger McGuinn’s 12-string Rickenbackers. This was right before the Byrds dived into country rock with Graham Parsons and made the Sweethearts of the Rodeo album.
The Notorious Byrd Brothers cover controversy. It has been said that McGuinn or the other Byrds wanted to insult the fired David Crosby by placing a horse in the stall beside them in his place. McGuinn had the best response to this… “If we had intended to do that, we would have turned the horse around.”
The album (The Notorious Byrd Brothers) marked Gene Clark’s brief return to the band. He had left The Byrds the year before and made a solo album that was critically praised but failed commercially. His supposedly fear of flying had a huge impact. After the album was released he toured with the band briefly but after an anxiety attack in Minneapolis, he quit.
David Crosby was fired by McGuinn and Hillman before the album was finished. He was upset at the rest of the band for finishing one of his songs and using it among many things. Crosby was not in favor of doing this song written by “two Brill Building writers” and they should only record their original music. They bickered back and forth and Crosby was fired. Crosby went on to fame in Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Parsons and Hillman would, later on, form the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Crosby also fought with drummer Michael Clarke and Clarke soon quit before it was finished. This left McGuinn and Hillman and that is when they got Gene Clark to take Crosby’s place which lasted only 3 weeks.
Clarence White, the future Byrd the following year, helped out on the album with pedal steel guitar. Goin’ Back was a Goffin and King song. The first version/hit was by Dusty Springfield and it peaked at #10 in the UK in 1966.
The single was released a few months before The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Goin’ Back peaked at #89 on the Billboard 100 in 1967.
Gene Clark:“The fear of flying wasn’t why I quit the group, When you’re 19, 20 years old and you start on a fantasy, then six months later you’re hanging out with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, it can cause you to become a little disturbed. The reason for the group’s breakup was much less the fear of flying than it was we were too young to handle the amount of success that was thrown at us all at once.”
David Crosby:“I started going up and hanging out with Roger and Gene, we would sing together at The Troubadour, Gene was from a family of 11 from somewhere like Mississippi, he had no clue what the rules were, so he would just do it in a way that somebody else hadn’t thought of. And Roger was so smart, who listened to and go, ‘Well, we could just do this and this to it,’ and boom, it’s a record! I almost hate giving Roger as much credit as I do, but you can’t deny it – he was a moving force behind that band, and he did create the arrangements for the songs.”
Photographer Gus Webster:I get asked about this cover shot for The Byrds all the time. This was shot a couple of years after I first worked for them. The picture was done up in [Topanga] Canyon. The group was going through changes. I got a call to shoot the album cover. They wanted to go out to the country, since their first album cover was shot in a studio.
So I found this abandoned barn with four open windows. There was a horse in the field. I put each one of the guys in the windows. And in the last window I put the horse. I was mistakenly accused of denigrating David Crosby. It wasn’t to replace Crosby, who had been fired; it wasn’t to insult anyone. It was just to balance the composition. It was just a space and a horse — and what an image.”
Goin’ Back
I think I’m goin’ back
To the things I learned so well in my youth,
I think I’m returning to
The days when I was young enough to know the truth
Now there are no games
To only pass the time
No more coloring books,
No Christmas bells to chime
But thinking young and growing older is no sin
And I can play the game of life to win
I can recall a time,
When I wasn’t afraid to reach out to a friend
And now I think I’ve got
A lot more than a skipping rope to lift
Now there’s more to do
Than watch my sailboat glide
Then everyday can be my magic carpet ride
And I can play hide and seek with my fears,
And live my life instead of counting my years
Let everyone debate the true reality,
I’d rather see the world the way it used to be
A little bit of freedom, all we’re left
So catch me if you can
I’m goin’ back
I liked this song on my first listen. Guided by Voices is an indie rock band formed in Dayton, Ohio, United States in 1983. The band’s lineup has changed several times throughout the band’s history, with its only constant member being singer/songwriter Bob Pollard. They are still together and touring… Bob Pollard is with the current lineup.
If this band is anything…it’s prolific. They have had 35 studio albums, 12 Compilation albums, 19 EPs, 39 singles, 2 live albums, and 2 books! On top of that they have appeared on several soundtracks including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Crime and Punishment, Scrubs, and many more. They also counted Rik Ocasek as one of their producers.
Their first EP came out in 1986 and their first LP came out in 1987. They have released 14 albums since 2016.
Glad Girls was released in 2001 on the Isolation Drills album. The album peaked at #6 on the Heat Seekers Charts, #8 in the Indie charts, and #168 on the Billboard Album charts. Here is an interesting fact… “Glad Girls” was nominated for the High Times“Pot Song of the Year” award.
Metacritic gives the album a score of 83 out of 100. Sonicnet:Ditching lo-fi aesthetics for a more radio-ready sound in the spirit of, say, the Raspberries or Badfinger, Pollard has wisely chosen not bury his songs in oblique lyrical references and muddy tape hiss.
Glad Girls
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
Glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
There will be no coronation
There will be no flowers flowing
In the light that passes though me now
In the light that passes though me
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
There will be no graduation
There will be no trumpets blowing
In the light that passes through me now
In the light that passes through me
With the sinking of the sun
I’ve come to greet you
Clean your hands and go to sleep
Confess the dreams
Of good and bad men all around
Some are lost and some have found
The light that passes though me now
Yeah, the light that passes though me
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
Was Robert Johnson the most influential guitarist in the history of blues and rock? That very possibly could be true. It wasn’t until the 80s that I started to read and hear more about him. Reading interviews with Clapton, Jimmy Page, and others…they all owed a huge debt to Johnson.
My introduction to Robert Johnson came from Eric Clapton while playing with Cream. Johnson was a great blues guitarist that supposedly sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to be able to play the blues. Some of the songs he wrote played into this myth. He only cut 29 songs that he recorded in a two-year period between 1936 and 1937.
Movies such as the 1980s film Crossroads brought Johnson many more fans. Many people have searched for Johnson after listening to artists that were influenced by him. His voice will haunt you after you listen to his recordings. His songs are pure and timeless.
With this song…I heard it before I heard Robert Johnson’s version… I knew the Blues Brothers version of it the best. Robert Johnson is listed as the writer but the origins are before that. Scrapper Blackwell’s “Kokomo Blues” and Kokomo Arnold’s “Old Original Kokomo Blues,” both similar to Johnson’s original right down to their “baby don’t you want to go” choruses, were recorded years before Johnson first entered a studio but Johnson owns it.
Now when it’s played in movies or sold on CDs… Stephen LaVere’s family gets half the royalties and Johnson’s the other half. LaVere entered the picture in 1973, persuading Johnson’s elderly half-sister Carrie Thompson to sign a contract ceding him 50 percent of the profits from Johnson’s music. He went out and marketed Johnson’s music and it paid off in millions for both parties.
Sweet Home Chicago
Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?
Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?
Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now one and one is two
Two and two is four
I’m heavy loaded, baby
I’m booked, I gotta go
Crying baby
Honey, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
And two and two is four
Four and two is six
You gonna keep monkeyin’ ’round here friend, boy
You’re gonna get you business all in a trick
Crying baby
Honey, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home, Chicago
Now six and two is eight
Eight and two is ten
Friend-boy she trick you one time
She sure gonna do it again
But don’t cry, hey hey!
Baby, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
I’m going to California
From there to Des Moines Iowa
Somebody will tell me that you
Need my help someday
Crying, baby
Baby, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
I was at Jeff’s site EclecticMusicLover and I heard a song by the band “Death Cab For Cutie” that I liked. I like a few songs by them. That band was named after this song and when I hear their name this is what I think of. This is very different kind of band than what I usually post about. It’s a bit of surreal humor from 1967 from this band that was quite different than anyone else. I’ve always said that Devo was unlike anyone else…and this band I would include also.
The band was the guest of the Beatles on the Magical Mystery Tour movie. There is something about this song…that sticks with me. It might be the intro that pulls me in and won’t let me go…even when I want it to. It is a parody of a 50s teenage tragedy song which I will get to. There was a relationship with Monty Python with a few members like Neil Innes…and you can tell.
The Bonzos were asked personally by Paul McCartney to be in the film as they were gaining popularity in Britain at the time. The song was written by the group’s singer Vivian Stanshall, the initial inspiration for this song was the title of an old American pulp fiction crime magazine he once came across. Stanshall wanted to sing it as a teenage tragedy song of the 50s such as Teen Angel.
It was not a hit in the UK but they did have a top 10 hit with I’m The Urban Spaceman (produced by McCartney) which peaked at #5 in 1968. Death Cab For Cutie was on their album called Gorilla.
The indie rockers Death Cab for Cutie named their band after this song. Lead singer Ben Gibbard says that if he knew his band would still be popular 15 years after they formed, he would’ve picked “something more obvious” for a band name. Ben Gibbard: “I would absolutely go back and give it [the band] a more obvious name, thank God for Wikipedia. At least now, people don’t have to ask me where the f**king name came from every interview. I’m glad we have the name now, but in the early days it was tough.”
The Bonzo Doo-Dah band was formed in the early 60s by British Art Students combining elements of music hall, trad jazz, and psychedelia with surreal humor and avant-garde art. They came up with their name from the cartoon dog created in the 20s by artist George Studdy…Bonzo The Dog.
The phrase “Death Cab for Cutie” can be traced to a book by British Academic Richard Hoggart. In 1957, Hoggart published a book called The Uses of Literacy which discussed British popular culture and cultural studies.
I was around 13 when I saw Magical Mystery Tour. Citizen Kane, it’s NOT but to see videos of I Am The Walrus and Fool On The Hill was worth it. When this band came on to sing Death Cab For Cutie…they were accompanied by stripper Jan Carson doing her act while the Bonzos were performing…I forgot a lot of things about the movie…but not that.
This is the Magical Mystery Tour version that I saw….the censored version
This is an outtake ***NON censored*** version… you see a bit more of Jan Carson in this one. So a warning…yes there is nudity.
The song starts around the 1-minute mark on this one.
Death Cab For Cutie
That night Cutie called a cab -Baby don’t do it She left her East Side drum so drab -Baby don’t do it She went out on the town Knowing it would make her lover frown -Death cab for Cutie -Death cab for Cutie Someone’s going to make you pay your fare
The cab was racing through the night -Baby don’t do it His eyes in the mirror, keeping Cutie in sight -Baby don’t do it When he saw Cutie it gave him a thrill Don’t you know Baby, curves can kill -Death cab for Cutie -Death cab for Cutie Someone’s going to make you pay your fare
Cutie, don’t you play with fate Don’t leave your lover alone If you go out on this date His heart will turn to stone
Bad girl Cutie, what have you done -Baby don’t do it Slipping sliding down Highway 31 -Baby don’t do it The traffic lights changed from green to red They tried to stop but they both wound up dead -Death cab for Cutie -Death cab for Cutie Someone’s going to make you pay your fare Someone’s going to make you pay your fare Someone’s going to make you pay your fare Someone’s going to make you pay your fare
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