I’m always on the lookout for new old music…I’ve heard this band mentioned by rock stars before like David Bowie…I see why a lot of musicians liked them. They opened up for some huge bands. They were one of the pioneer all-female rock bands.
Fanny was formed in the late sixties in Sacramento by two Filipina sisters, Jean and June Millington. Fanny would be the first all-female band to release an album on a major label (their self-titled debut, on Reprise, 1970) and land four singles in the Billboard Hot 100 and two in the top 40. The band played blues, rock, and some pop.
They never got that one big hit single to break them to the masses. The broke up in 1975 and reunited in 2018 and released an album titled Fanny Walked the Earth.
They really impressed David Bowie…he said in 1999:
“They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time,” “They were extraordinary: They wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time.”
In 1979 the album Breakfast In America was huge. The album had 4 singles in the Billboard 100. The Logical Song was the lead single. It peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #7 in the UK, and #13 in New Zealand in 1979.
Breakfast In America peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #3 in the UK…and won 2 Grammys.
This was a very personal song for Roger Hodgson would work on the song during soundchecks, and completed it long before bringing it to the band. The lyrics were based on his experience of being sent away to boarding school for ten years.
To accentuate the “d-d-digital” line in the lyrics, the band borrowed a Mattel handheld electronic football game from an engineer named Richard Digby-Smith, who was working next door. This device provided an unusual sounding, layered bleep. The specific sound occurs near the end of the song just after Hodgson sings the word “digital.” The sound itself indicated a player had lost control of the football.
Roger Hodgson: “I had actually finished the words and the arrangement six months before I proposed it to the band for the album… I didn’t think anyone would like it. Interestingly enough this song has the distinction of being one of the most quoted lyrics in schools.”
From Songfacts
The lyrics are about how the innocence and wonder of childhood can quickly give way to worry and cynicism as children are taught to be responsible adults. It makes the point that logic can restrict creativity and passion. Supertramp keyboard player Roger Hodgson, who wrote this song and sang the lead vocals, said in our 2012 interview: “I think it was very relevant when I wrote it, and actually I think it’s even more relevant today. It’s very basically saying that what they teach us in schools is all very fine, but what about what they don’t teach us in schools that creates so much confusion in our being. I mean, they don’t really prepare us for life in terms of teaching us who we are on the inside. They teach us how to function on the outside and to be very intellectual, but they don’t tell us how to act with our intuition or our heart or really give us a real plausible explanation of what life’s about. There’s a huge hole in the education. I remember leaving school at 19, I was totally confused. That song really came out of my confusion, which came down to a basic question: please tell me who I am. I felt very lost. I had to educate myself in that way, and that’s why California was very good for me to kind of re-educate myself, if you like.
But it’s interesting that that song, I hear it all the time, it’s quoted in schools so much. I’ve been told it’s the most-quoted song in school. That may be because it has so many words in it that people like to spell. But I think it also poses that question, and maybe stimulates something with students. I hope so.” (Here’s our full interview with Roger Hodgson.)
Like the Lennon/McCartney partnership, most of Supertramp’s songs are credited to their lead singers Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, although in many cases one writer was entirely responsible for the song. “The Logical Song” was written by Hodgson, but it shares some themes with a song Davies wrote on Supertramp’s 1974 album Crime of the Century called “School.” Speaking of the connection in 1979 at a time when the songwriters were at odds, Davies said to Melody Maker: “‘School’ was a device, in some ways. I don’t know whether Roger would be able to associate too much with that, although I can see the connection with ‘Logical Song.’ Roger went straight from public school to a rock group, so his personal experience is a bit limited in that area. He’s very public school.”
Hodgson often writes songs by singing over his keyboard riffs. He’ll try different words and phrases to get ideas for his lyrics, which is how the title of this song came about. Said Hodgson: “From singing absolute nonsense, a line will pop up that suddenly makes sense, then another one, and so on. I was doing that when the word ‘logical’, came into my head and I thought, ‘That’s an interesting word’.”
Like another famous song from 1979, “Another Brick In The Wall (part II),” this song rails against English schooling. “What’s missing at school is for me the loudest thing,” Hodgson said. “We are taught to function outwardly, but we are not taught who we are inwardly, and what really the true purpose of life is. The natural awe and wonder, the thirst and enthusiasm and joy of life that young children have, it gets lost. It gets beaten out of them in a way.”
In 1980, Hodgson won the Ivor Novello Award from The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, who named “The Logical Song” the best song both musically and lyrically of that year.
The German dance music band Scooter did a techno version of “The Logical Song,” which was wildly popular across Europe and hit #2 in the UK. It has been certified gold by the BPI, selling over 400,000 copies and was the 15th best selling single of 2002.
In 2004, a Supertramp tribute band called Logicaltramp formed in the UK. Supertramp members John Helliwell and Roger Hodgson have given the band favorable reviews, and Helliwell has joined them on stage. >>
At a concert appearance, Roger Hodgson said of this song: “I was sent to boarding school for ten years and I definitely emerged from that experience with a lot of questions, like What the hell happened to me? What is life about? And why a lot of the things I had been told didn’t make any sense. ‘Logical Song’ was really a light hearted way of saying something pretty deep. Which is they told me how to conform, to be presentable, to be acceptable and everything but they didn’t tell me who I am or why I m here. So, it s a very profound message and I think it really resonated with a lot of people when it came out.”
The Logical Song
When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily Oh joyfully, playfully watching me But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible Logical, oh responsible, practical And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical
There are times when all the world’s asleep The questions run too deep For such a simple man Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned I know it sounds absurd Please tell me who I am
I said, watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical Liberal, oh fanatical, criminal Won’t you sign up your name, we’d like to feel you’re acceptable Respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable Oh, take it take it yeah
But at night, when all the world’s asleep The questions run so deep For such a simple man Won’t you please tell me what we’ve learned I know it sounds absurd Please tell me who I am, who I am, who I am, who I am ‘Cause I was feeling so logical D-d-digital One, two, three, five Oh, oh, oh, oh It’s getting unbelievable
“The bomb in the baby carriage was wired to the radio”
That lyric got my attention when I first heard the song. The song sounded so different at the time than anything else that was going on.
Paul Simon wrote the lyrics for this song when he returned to America from South Africa When he was there his concern was recording just the music.
The words had to work with the track that Simon’s producer Roy Halee assembled from the reels of tape they returned with. It took Simon a long time to finish the lyrics, working in phrases like “the boy in the bubble and the baby with the baboon heart” in a way that would mesh with the African rhythm.
This song is credited to Simon and Forere Motloheloa.
There was a United Nations cultural boycott in place that was designed to pressure political leaders into giving up their Apartheid policy. The boycott was to keep popular musicians away from places like Sun City where they played to the white ruling class in South Africa. The problem was that any violation of the boycott could undermine the sanctions, and many locals were not happy with Simon’s visit. Some people still complain about him making this album there.
These South African sanctions didn’t just keep outside musicians away from the country, but it also kept their local music from getting out… Simon only heard it because a friend gave him a bootleg cassette tape.
The song peaked at #86 in the Billboard 100 in 1986. The singles off the album didn’t have huge success in Billboard because they didn’t fit easily into the 80’s radio formats.
Paul Simon: “‘The Boy In The Bubble’ devolved down to hope and dread. That’s the way I see the world, a balance between the two, but coming down on the side of hope.”
The Boy In The Bubble
It was a slow day And the sun was beating On the soldiers by the side of the road There was a bright light A shattering of shop windows The bomb in the baby carriage Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation That’s dying in a corner of the sky These are the days of miracle and wonder And don’t cry, baby, don’t cry Don’t cry
It was a dry wind And it swept across the desert And it curled into the circle of birth And the dead sand Falling on the children The mothers and the fathers And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all, oh yeah
The way we look to a distant constellation That’s dying in a corner of the sky These are the days of miracle and wonder And don’t cry baby, don’t cry Don’t cry
It’s a turn-around jump shot It’s everybody jump start It’s every generation throws a hero up the pop charts Medicine is magical and magical is art Think of the boy in the bubble And the baby with the baboon heart
And I believe These are the days of lasers in the jungle Lasers in the jungle somewhere Staccato signals of constant information A loose affiliation of millionaires And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all, oh yeah
The way we look to a distant constellation That’s dying in a corner of the sky These are the days of miracle and wonder And don’t cry baby, don’t cry Don’t cry, don’t cry
I had a friend’s dad who owned their 1969 greatest hits album when I was in sixth grade and we wore it out. Broken Arrow and Expecting to fly were the ones we played over and over and heard something we missed on the previous play.
Buffalo Springfield were only active between 1966-68 but had a huge impact on other artists. The band was very talented……with Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer, Dewey Martin and Jim Messina who replaced Bruce Palmer. They had some great songs like Mr Soul, Now days Clancy Can’t Even Sing, Burned, Expecting to Fly, Bluebird, Rock and Roll Woman, Broken Arrow and their big hit For What It’s Worth…
Ritchie Furay and Steven Stills had played together in the Au Go Go Singers. Bruce Palmer and Neil Young had played together in the Mynah Birds. That band featured Rick James on lead vocals and was signed to Motown.
It was written by Neil Young. The song peaked at #98 in the Billboard 100 in 1968.
Expecting to Fly
There you stood on the edge of your feather, Expecting to fly. While I laughed, I wondered whether I could wave goodbye, Knowin’ that you’d gone. By the summer it was healing, We had said goodbye. All the years we’d spent with feeling Ended with a cry, Babe, ended with a cry, Babe, ended with a cry.
I tried so hard to stand As I stumbled and fell to the ground. So hard to laugh as I fumbled And reached for the love I found, Knowin’ it was gone. If I never lived without you, Now you know I’d die. If I never said I loved you, Now you know I’d try, Babe, now you know I’d try. Babe, now you know I’d try, Babe.
This Canadian’s band name is a combination of the members’ last names and Overdrive, the trucker magazine. It’s been said that Randy and Frank were sitting around a table at a Husky Restaurant (which is a big “Truck Stop” chain in Canada) and they were trying to think of a name for the band. Randy was reading the magazine and said as a joke, “We should name ourselves Overdrive.”
Randy Bachman and Fred Turner would often give themselves assignments as motivation to write songs, often writing something in the style of a current hit. This song evolved out of something they wrote for a Ford commercial. In our interview with Randy Bachman, he explained:
The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #4 in Canada, and #22 in the UK in 1975.
Randy Bachman – “It’s like getting an assignment: write a new commercial for Ford and you’ll get paid $100,000. Well, I’d sit down and I’d write a commercial for Ford, ‘let it roll down the highway.’ Ford never picks it up and I have a song called ‘Roll On Down the Highway.'”
Roll On Down The Highway
We rented a truck and a semi to go Travel down the long and the winding road Look on the map, I think we’ve been there before Close up the doors, let’s roll once more
Cop’s on the corner, look he’s starting to write Well, I don’t need no ticket so I screamed out of sight Drove so fast that my eyes can’t see Look in the mirror, is he still following me?
Let it roll down the highway Let it roll down the highway Roll, roll
Look at the sign, we’re in the wrong place Move out boys and let’s get ready to race Four fifty-four’s coming over the hill The man on patrol is gonna give us a bill
The time’s real short, you know the distance is long I’d like to have a jet but it’s not in the song Climb back in the cab, cross your fingers for luck We gotta keep moving if we’re going to make a buck
Let it roll down the highway Let it roll down the highway Roll
Let it roll Let it roll Let it roll Let it roll
Let it roll down the highway Let it roll down the highway Roll, roll, roll
Down the highway Let it roll down the highway Roll, roll, roll
Let it roll down the highway Let it roll down the highway Roll, roll, roll
I’ve seen Paul in concert twice. Some performers you go and see and you may know a lot of their songs but with Paul…it’s nearly 3 hours of songs that you have heard all of your life.
Paul McCartney was given a copy of the Ian Fleming novel to read and he read the book one Saturday, during a break from sessions for the Red Rose Speedway album before writing the song on the following day.
Live and Let Die was the title song for the eighth James Bond film. It was the first to star Roger Moore as Bond.
George Martin produced this song for Paul, they hadn’t worked together since Abbey Road. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost to Barbra Streisand’s The Way We Were, but George Martin won a Grammy for his work on the song.
“Live and Let Die” was not featured on a McCartney album until the Wings Greatest compilation in 1978.
Live and Let Die peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #9 in the UK, and #20 in New Zealand.
Denny Seiwell (Wings Drummer) “Everybody thought it was cool that we were doing something for James Bond. I remember what Paul told us – he said a couple weeks before we did the actual recording, he said they wanted him to write the theme to the next James Bond movie, and they sent him the book to read. And we were up at the house one day and he had just read the book the night before, and he sat down at the piano and said, ‘James Bond… James Bond… da-da-dum!’, and he started screwing around at the piano. Within 10 minutes, he had that song written. It was awesome, really. Just to watch him get in there and write the song was really something I’ll remember the rest of my life.”
From Songfacts
The former Beatle recalled the writing of the song in an interview with the October 2010 edition of Mojo magazine: “I got the book and it’s a very fast read. On the Sunday, I sat down and thought, OK, the hardest thing to do here is to work in that title. I mean, later I really pitied who had the job of writing Quantum Of Solace. So I thought, Live And Let Die, OK, really what they mean is live and let live and there’s the switch.
So I came at it from the very obvious angle. I just thought, ‘When you were younger you used to say that, but now you say this.'”
George Martin produced this and arranged the orchestra. Martin produced most of The Beatles work, so this was McCartney’s chance to work with him again.
This was the most successful Bond theme up to that point. Other hits from James Bond movies include “Nobody Does It Better” by Carly Simon (from The Spy Who Loved Me), “For Your Eyes Only” by Sheena Easton, and “A View To A Kill” by Duran Duran.
McCartney performed this on his solo tours in 1989-1990 and 1993.
Live and Let Die
When you were young And your heart was an open book You used to say live and let live You know you did You know you did You know you did But if this ever changin’ world In which we live in Makes you give in and cry Say live and let die (live and let die) Live and let die (live and let die)
What does it matter to ya When you got a job to do you got to do it well You got to give the other fella hell
You used to say live and let live You know you did You know you did You know you did But if this ever changin’ world In which we live in Makes you give in and cry Say live and let die (live and let die) Live and let die (live and let die)
There are songs like Itchycoo Park, Can’t Find My Way Back Home, and this one that transports me back to a time that I’m too young to remember… but these songs make me feel like I was there.
Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter collaborated on “Uncle John’s Band,” which was originally part of their stage set before they recorded it as a single track from their Workingman’s Dead album. It would go on to become one of their better-known songs
It’s possible that this song is about a string band called the New Lost City Ramblers (NLCR), whose John Cohen was nicknamed “Uncle John.”
For two albums the Dead tried a more roots Americana type of music that may have been inspired by the then-new Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Personally, they are my favorite albums by them though I do like some others like From The Mars Hotel.
From Songfacts The style is a laid-back bluegrass-folk arrangement on acoustic guitar. Vocals are in close harmony in a conscious effort to echo Cosby Stills & Nash – it worked, because CS&N covered it on their 2009 concert circuit.
Lots of Americana to touch on here – this was the first time the epithet “God Damn” had been heard in a Hot 100 hit. A “buckdancer” is “one who dances the buck-and-wing” according to The Dictionary of American Regional English. The phrase “buckdancer’s choice” is both a popular fiddle tune of Appalachia, and the title of a poetry collection by the American poet James Dickey; you’ll recognize him more when we tell you that one of his other works was turned into a little 1972 film called Deliverance.
More Americana: the line “fire and ice” references American poet Robert Frost’s poem of the same name, and the line “Don’t tread on me” is a famous phrase that first came out during the American Revolution from Britain – scope out an image of a yellow flag with a coiled, hissing snake sometime, that’s the “Gadsden flag,” later popular with the American Tea Party political movement. The line “the same story the crow told me” references Johnny Horton’s “The Same Old Tale the Crow Told Me,” which was the B-side to the better-known “Sink the Bismarck.” While that’s a British song, Horton was very much an American rockabilly artist (and he has no relation to the Horton who hears a who).
OK, who is Uncle John? That could be anybody and everybody – fan speculations run wild from the Biblical John the Baptist to Mississippi John Hurt. But maybe, like the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper, it was just an alias made up for fun.
This was one of the Dead’s first attempts to reach beyond their little cult and take a shot at the mainstream. The single release was cut by 25 seconds from the album version. Although this plan didn’t work out with the single scoring a lukewarm #69, the album itself went on to sell well at one million copies – a first for them – and “Uncle John’s Band” became one of their more well-known songs.
Uncle John’s Band
Well the first days are the hardest days, don’t you worry any more ‘Cause when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door Think this through with me, let me know your mind Wo, oh, what I want to know, is are you kind
It’s a buck dancer’s choice my friend; better take my advice You know all the rules by now and the fire from the ice Will you come with me? won’t you come with me Wo, oh, what I want to know, will you come with me
Goddamn, well I declare, have you seen the like Their wall are built of cannonballs, their motto is don’t tread on me Come hear uncle John’s band playing to the tide Come with me, or go alone, he’s come to take his children home
It’s the same story the crow told me; it’s the only one he knows Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go Ain’t no time to hate, barely time to wait Wo, oh, what I want to know, where does the time go
I live in a silver mine and I call it beggar’s tomb I got me a violin and I beg you call the tune Anybody’s choice, I can hear your voice Wo, oh, what I want to know, how does the song go
Come hear uncle John’s band by the riverside Got some things to talk about, here beside the rising tide
Come hear uncle John’s band playing to the tide Come on along, or go alone, he’s come to take his children home Wo, oh, what I want to know, how does the song go
“Gonna buy me a ticket now, as far as I can, ain’t never comin’ back Take me Southbound, all the way to Georgia now, till the train run out of track”
A song that most garage bands can and do play at least once. A simple D-C-G and you are off to the races with this classic song. I was re-introduced it with the movie Blow. “”Till the train run out of track” is a great line.
This song has grown on me through the years. It’s simple, effective, and to the point. “That woman” left the singer high and dry.
There is no Marshall Tucker in The Marshall Tucker Band. The name refers to a blind piano tuner from Columbia, South Carolina. They saw the name on a door key where they used to rehearse and decided it would make a good name for their band.
This song was written by lead guitarist Toy Caldwell.
The mix between the flute (Not a southern rock standard) at the beginning with Caldwell’s great guitar licks along with his powerful singing sets this song off.
The song only peaked at #108 in the Billboard 100 in 1973 but was reissued in 1977 and peaked at #75 in Billboard and #39 in Canada…and has remained a classic radio staple.
From Songfacts
This became the anthem song for The Marshall Tucker Band, similar to “Free Bird” for Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was never a Top 40 hit, but was very popular on Album Oriented Radio (AOR) and continues to get a lot of airplay on Classic Rock stations.
The open in unusual – it starts with the picking of a guitar and the playing of a flute. Jerry Eubanks of the Marshall Tucker Band played the flute, giving the song a very distinctive sound – it’s not a common instrument in the world of Southern Rock.
The song was named the #1 greatest Southern Rock song ever recorded by Ultimate Classic Rock with Sweet Home Alabama as runner-up.
Said the site, “Next time you hear this song in public, take notice and you’ll make the strangest observation, especially if there is booze involved. There seems to be something about this particular song that makes the majority (very ironically) close their eyes and sway their head from left to right while singing the song’s famous ‘Can’t you see’ line. That universal connection earns this song the top spot on our Southern Rock songs list.”
Can’t You See
I’m gonna take a freight train, down at the station I don’t care where it goes Gonna climb me a mountain, the highest mountain, Lord, Gonna jump off, nobody gonna know
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman, she been doin’ to me Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me
I’m gonna find me a hole in the wall, gonna crawl inside and die That lady, mean ol’ woman Lord, never told me goodbye
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman she been doin’ to me Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me
Gonna buy me a ticket now, as far as I can, ain’t never comin’ back Take me Southbound, all the way to Georgia now, till the train run out of track
Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman, she been doin’ to me Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman been doin’ to me
They were the first mostly white band signed to Motown Records in 1966. So who was the band’s lead singer? A young AWOL American sailor who went by the name of Ricky James Matthews, later Rick James. On lead guitar you had Canadian Neil Young.
The band lasted from 1964 to 1967.
The band didn’t last a long time but the memorable lineup was Rick James, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, Rickman Mason, and John Taylor. Neil and Bruce would later be members of Buffalo Springfield. Earlier members Goldy McJohn and Nick St. Nicholas would later become members of Steppenwolf.
Canadian rocker Neil Merryweather was also an earlier member of the band.
Neil joined in 1965 and Neil and James wrote some songs together and they were recorded…but the band’s manager apparently misappropriated their advance money from Motown and they fired the manager. In return, the manager informed Motown that the band’s singer was AWOL from the Navy. Rick James was taken into custody and incarcerated by the Navy. “It’s My Time” remained unreleased, and Motown scrapped plans for a Mynah Birds album.
The music was not released until the single was included in the 2006 box set The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 6: 1966
Neil and Bruce bought a hearse…yes a hearse when Rick was detained and drove to California to start Buffalo Springfield.
The Mynah Birds were a really good band. In a biography of Neil Young called Shakey… Jimmy McDonough writes this:
The Mynah Birds—in black leather jackets, yellow turtlenecks and boots—had quite a surreal scene going…. Those lucky enough to see any of the band’s few gigs say they were electrifying. ‘Neil would stop playing lead, do a harp solo, throw the harmonica way up in the air and Ricky would catch it and continue the solo.’
Neil Young:“We got more and more into how cool the Stones were. How simple they were and how cool it was.” James had them play “Get Off My Cloud” and “Satisfaction”—before the braids, cocaine, and sequins, Rick James “fancied himself the next Mick Jagger.”
The band did get back together with different members when Rick James returned in 1967…but they soon broke up.
If you want to read more about them check out the links below.
“Shake” was written and originally recorded by Sam Cooke. Cooke’s version reached #7 on the Billboard 100. Cooke was a huge influence on Otis Redding; along with “Shake,” Redding also recorded covers of Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” “Chain Gang,” “Cupid,” “Nothing Can Change This Love,” “Wonderful World,” and “You Send Me.”
The song peaked at #47 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.
Otis made a huge impact at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival along with The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin.
The album this was on was Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul and it peaked at #77 in the Biullboard Album Charts in 1966.
Shake
Shake! (Everybody say it!) Shake! (Early in the morning) Shake! (Late in the evening) Shake! (In the midnight hour) Shake! (When the time’s going bad, now) Shake! Shake with the FEELING! Shake with the FEELING!
Listen while I’m talkin’ to you now Tell you what I’m gonna do now There’s a new thing going around now I’ll tell what to put down now
You move your body all around And just shake Thats the way you do it Shake, Shake, Shake it baby Shake it like a bowl of soup Let your body loop de loop Put your hands on your hip Come on and let your backbone slip Move your body like your hip And just shake!
Shake early in the morning Shake early in the evening
A Ring-A-Ling-a-Ling Honey, Shakin’ is the greatest thing But if you really roll Gotta do the thing with SOUL!
Shake shake with all your might now If you do it, do it right now Put your hands on your hip,yeah Come on and let your backbone slip Move your body like your hip And just shake
(God have mercy now!) Early in the morning Early in the evening All night long, y’all! If you really want to roll Gotta do the thing with SOUL! Shake shake with all your might If you do it, do it right Let your body loop de lite Shake! Everybody say it, Shake! One more time, Shake! Everybody louder, Shake! One more time, now, say Shake! Everybody a bit louder, Shake!
I bought the Nebraska album when it was released when I saw the video for this song. Bruce recorded this album on a Tascam 4 track machine as a demo for the band. He tried to do the songs with the E-Street band but they just didn’t sound as good as the demo.
The album was only Bruce with an acoustic guitar with overdubs by him. It’s one of my favorite all-time favorite songs and albums by Bruce.
The Band covered this song in 1993, years after Robbie Robertson left. I like this version just as well as Bruce’s original. Levon Helm does a great job on the vocals.
The first line, “They blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night,” was taken from a newspaper article about a mob hit in Atlantic City. The “Chicken Man” was Phil Testa, number two man in the Philadelphia Mob under Angelo Bruno.
After Bruno was murdered in his car, Testa was blown up by a bomb placed under his front porch. These hits were orchestrated by Nicky Scarfo, who took over the Philly boys so he could control the new Atlantic City gambling rackets. He made such a mess of things that he and most of his crew were either murdered or in jail within a few years.
The Nebraska album peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #3 in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand in 1982.
From Songfacts
Atlantic City is a very poor city in New Jersey where gambling is legal. When casinos were built there in the early ’80s, it was supposed to revitalize the city. The casinos made it a popular tourist destination, but the city itself continues to be very run-down. There is a stark contrast between the glamorous casinos on the boardwalk and the city itself. Atlantic City is also a haven for organized crime, and it’s implied that the narrator, who struggles with his finances and ruminates on the inevitability of death, as taken a job as a hit man.
This was the first Springsteen song to be made into a video (unless you count live performance clips), but Bruce does not appear in it. Springsteen had no interest in making concept videos, but an executive at his label, Columbia Records, named Arnold Levine knew that Bruce could benefit from exposure on MTV and put together the clip using footage of Atlantic City. MTV was based in New York and run by radio veterans who were big fans of Springsteen, so the video got some airplay on the network, which was trying to stick to a rock format in 1982.
This is the only track from Nebraska included on Springsteen’s Greatest Hits album.
The title and many of the images are shared with a 1981 Louis Malle movie starring Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon.
Springsteen recorded this as a demo on a 4-track tape recorder in his house. After trying it with the band, he decided this and the other songs that would make up Nebraska sounded best as he originally recorded them.
The version on the album is acoustic, but the plugged-in live version is a concert favorite.
Other songs Springsteen wrote about his home state of New Jersey towns include “Freehold” and “Fourth Of July, Asbury Park.” He is wildly popular there.
This was released as a single in Europe, but not the US.
Springsteen recorded three takes, each with slightly different lyrics, on the tape he gave his manager which became Nebraska.
Since Springsteen did not tour for Nebraska, the first time this was played in concert was on the Born In The U.S.A. tour two years later.
When Bruce Springsteen toured with The Seeger Sessions Band in 2006, they played a drastically different arrangement of this song with multiple outros. This can be heard on the 2007 album Live in Dublin.
Atlantic City
Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last Night now they blew up his house too Down on the boardwalk they’re gettin’ ready For a fight gonna see what them racket boys can do
Now there’s trouble busin’ in from outta state And the D.A. can’t get no relief Gonna be a rumble out on the promenade and The gamblin’ commission’s hangin’ on by the skin of its teeth
[CHORUS:] Everything dies baby that’s a fact But maybe everything that dies someday comes back Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty and Meet me tonight in Atlantic City
Well I got a job and tried to put my money away But I got in too deep and I could not pay So I drew what I had from the Central Trust And I bough us two tickets on that Coast City bus
[CHORUS:]
Now our luck may have died and out love may Be cold but with you forever I’ll stay We’re goin’ out where the sand’s turnin’ to gold So put on your stockin’s ’cause the night’s getting’ cold and maybe everything dies That’s a fact but maybe everything that dies Someday comes back
Now I been lookin’ for a job but it’s hard to find Down here it’s just winners and losers and Don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line Well I’m tired of comin’ out on the losin’ end So honey last night I met this guy and I’m Gonna do a little favor for him Well I guess everything dies baby that’s a fact But maybe everything that dies someday Comes back Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty and Meet me tonight in Atlantic City
I read about Squeeze in Rolling Stone magazine when this album came out. They were being compared to the Beatles and I thought they were going to hit big. They did have a top ten hit off of this album…Tempted.
Is This Love is a very good power pop song that was on the band’s fourth album, East Side Story. It was written by Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford. It was written about Difford’s then-recent marriage.
Glen Tilbrook was influenced by The Beatles on this song. He also said the ending was Elvis Costello’s idea. Roger Bechirian and Elvis Costello produced this song and also the album.
Is That Love peaked at #35 in the UK…it was also #1 in Israel in 1981. The album peaked at #44 in the Billboard Album Chart,
Chris Difford: “This was written around the time I got married. I remember being in the bathroom and seeing Cindy’s wedding ring next to the soap, which inspired me to write the lyric. I don’t think it was particularly about our marriage, but it started off a sequence of ideas in my head.”
Is That Love?
You’ve left my ring by the soap Now is that love? You cleaned me out, you could say broke Now is that love? The better, better, better it gets The more these girls forget That that is love
You won’t get dressed, you walk about Now is that, is that A teasing glance has pushed me out Now is that, is that The tougher, tougher, tougher it gets The more my lips frequent Now that is love
Beat me up with your letters, your walk out notes Funny how you still find me right here at home Legs up with a book and a drink Now is that love that’s making you think
You’ve called my bluff, I’m not so hot Now is that love? My assets froze while yours have dropped Now is that, is that It’s the cupid, cupid, cupid disguise That more-or-less survived Now that is love
Beat me up with your letters, your walk out notes Funny how you still find me right here at home Legs up with a book and a drink Now is that love that’s making you think
You’ve made my bed, the finger points Now is that, is that love The more you, more you, more you cool down The easier love is found Now that is love
When I first heard this on the radio I thought it was a John Lennon song. Julian’s voice is different but can be very similar to John.
This was Julian’s first single in the US and his second in the UK. His next American single, “Too Late for Goodbyes,” fared even better, going to #5 in the Billboard 100.
Julian recorded this at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, which was located along the Tennessee River in Sheffield, Alabama.Jimmy Johnson who was one of the studio owners, Lennon’s lyric “Sitting on a pebble by the river playing guitar” was inspired by his time there.
Valotte peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 and #9 in Canada.
The great director Sam Peckinpah directed Julian’s first two movies.
Julian Lennon: “The place where that was written, which was actually a beautiful little run-down chateau in the middle of France, which is where the label at the time decided was a good place to send their artists to work out their writing skills. I know that Thomas Dolby had been down there and a few other high-end acts at that point in time.
It was just a really tranquil, beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere, where one could get a little lonely, I guess. The song initially came from that idea of just being in this beautiful landscape and dreaming of the idea that if you found that love of your life, this is something that you’d aspire to. It’s as simple as that, really.”
From Songfacts
The album was dedicated to “My mother Cynthia and to my Father.” Julian is John Lennon’s first son. His mother is Cynthia Lennon, who John was married to before Yoko (they had a son named Sean). Julian sounds a lot like his dad, and a lot of people were surprised to learn it was not a John Lennon song when they first heard it.
On “Valotte,” Lennon was backed by bass player David Hood, and keyboard player Barry Beckett, and drummer Roger Hawkins, who were the other owners of the studio.
The album was mixed at The Hit Factory recording studio in New York City on the same console John Lennon used to record the album Double Fantasy.
Most Americans got their first look at Julian Lennon on MTV, which gave his clips consistent airplay. In the UK, he often appeared in the gossip press, but his interviews to promote the Valotte album gave the first real insights into his personality and his feelings toward his dad. In these early interviews, he stressed that he was forming his own identity, and in no way trying to emulate his father’s music. He also spent a lot of time disproving the notion that he was a coddled rich kid; he went to public schools and did not receive money from John Lennon’s estate until he was older.
As for the question of how he felt toward his dad, Julian explained that he was proud of his dad’s work, but it was very difficult growing up with an absent father. In his first Melody Maker interview, he said, “I always had something against him, but I never knew what it was… apart from him leaving home and all that. It was because I went to visit him but he never came to visit me. That’s the only thing that got me.”
Justin Clayton and Carlton Morales, who played guitar on the album, co-wrote this song with Lennon.
Valotte
Sitting on the doorstep of the house I can’t afford I can feel you there Thinking of a reason, well, it’s really not very hard to love you even though you nearly lost my heart How can I explain the meaning of our love It fits so tight, closer than a glove
[ Chorus ]
Sitting on a pebble by the river playing guitar Wonderin’ if we’re really ever gonna get that far Do you know there’s something wrong ‘Cause I’ve felt it all along
I can see you face in the mirrors of my mind Will you still be there We’re really not so clever as we seem to think we are We’ve always got our troubles So we’ll solve them at the bar The days go by, we seem to drift apart If I could only find a way to keep hold of your heart
[ Repeat chorus ]
Sitting in the valley as I watch the sun go down I can see you there Thinking of a reason, well, it’s really not very hard to love you though you nearly lost my heart When will we know when the change is gonna come I’ve got a good feeling and it’s coming from the sun
Sitting on a pebble by the river playing guitar Wonderin’ if we’re really ever gonna get that far Do you know there’s something wrong We’ll stick together ’cause we’re strong
This was the first single off the Fleetwood Mac album released in 1975. This was the first Fleetwood Mac album with newcomers Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
McVie has said that she composed the song using a portable Hohner electric piano in Malibu, California, where she and then-husband John McVie lived after completing a concert tour to promote the previous album Heroes Are Hard to Find.
The song was written by Christie McVie and peaked at #20 in the Billboard 100 and #9 in Canada in 1976.
The single itself was edited…the fade-in intro that appeared on the album version was removed, and louder guitars were added in the chorus. It became their first song to reach the American charts since 1970s Oh Well.
Over My Head
You can take me to paradise, And then again you can be cold as ice I’m over my head, But it sure feels nice. You can take me anytime you like, I’ll be around if you think you might love me baby, And hold me tight. Your mood is like a circus wheel, You’re changing all the time, Sometimes I can’t help but feel, That I’m wasting all of my time. Think I’m looking on the dark side, But everyday you hurt my pride, I’m over my head, But it sure feels nice, I’m over my head, But it sure feels nice.
The album Back In Black was very popular. I think it was a requirement for every teenage boy to own a copy or two all over the world.
The rock band I was in my Sophomore year in high school played this song in our first gig in the school theater. We had the only singer around who could actually sing it. The riff to the song is one of the more memorable ones in rock.
This was the first AC/DC single and album featuring new lead singer Brian Johnson. He replaced Bon Scott, who died February 19, 1980 after a drinking binge. Scott’s father made it clear to the band that they should find a new singer and keep going.
The album peaked at #4 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #24 in New Zealand, and #1 in the UK in 1980.
You Shook Me All Night Long peaked at #35 in the Billboard 100 and #38 in the UK in 1980.
Brian Johnson said that the inspiration for this song came from seeing images of American girls while recording in the Bahamas for the album.
From Songfacts
Brian Johnson came up with the line “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean” when he realized that cars and women were very much alike – they go fast, let you down, but then make you happy again when you see the new model. AC/DC has never been known for deep, meaningful lyrics.
Angus and Malcolm Young have received lots of praise for their guitar work on this track. The song has made many lists of top guitar solos in rock.
Brian Johnson told UK’s Absolute Radio about the inspiration behind the song. “The boys had a title,” he recalled. “Malcolm and Angus [Young] said, ‘Listen, we’ve got this song. It’s called ‘Shook Me All Night Long.’ That’s what we want the song to be called.’ And if you listen to the chords, [the chorus] just fell into place so I can’t claim any credit on that thing.”
“It was as quick as it had to be, which was that night. I guess I had to try and impress somebody,” he continued. “It was just a thing that came at the time, and I still think it’s one of the greatest rock and roll riffs I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Some copies of the single were pressed incorrectly – they play a song called “Shake A Leg” and are considered collector’s items.
MTV wasn’t on the air when this song was released, but in Australia and England, there were some TV shows that would show videos, so bands popular in those countries would sometimes make them. AC/DC made one for this song, which was directed by David Mallet, who also did some of Blondie’s videos. He based the video on the comic strip character Andy Capp, which was very popular in England. Brian Johnson took on the drunkard persona of the character, and we see him come home to a room of scantily clad women, one of which is riding a mechanical bull. Mallet also directed their video for “Thunderstruck.”
The album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
AC/DC played this when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, who inducted them, sang on it with them.
This is a very popular song at strip clubs (or so we’re told…). The lyrics and groove go very well with pole dancing.
This plays over the end credits of the movie A Knight’s Tale. >>
Shania Twain sang this on her Up! Close And Personal TV special (also released as a DVD). Her then-husband, Mutt Lange, produced Back In Black.
In 2002 Celine Dion covered this song together with Anastacia at a VH1 Divas Las Vegas concert. The French-Canadian singer came on stage playing air-guitar and proceeded to belt out this track. Though never released as a single, some radio stations played her version of this classic heavy metal track. In a 2008 poll conducted by a panel of experts in the Total Guitar magazine her rendition was awarded the dubious honor of worst cover song of all time. Total Guitar editor Stephen Lawson commented “Celine Dion covering AC/DC is sacrilege.” Two more covers by pop acts of legendary tunes by rock acts followed Dion in the survey. Sugababes and Girls Aloud 2007 version of Aerosmith and Run DMC’s “Walk This Way” came second on the list and Westlife’s 1999 version of “More Than Words” by Extreme, a track on their self-titled debut album, came third.
Johnson told USA Weekend that this song is for him the highlight of the band’s catalog because: “It was the first song I wrote with the guys, and it has a special groovy beat that won’t let you go. It has such a special place in my heart, and I still love to sing it onstage. To me, it might be one of the best rock songs ever written – if I do say so myself.”
You Shook Me All Night Long
She was a fast machine She kept her motor clean She was the best damn woman I had ever seen She had the sightless eyes Telling me no lies Knockin’ me out with those American thighs Taking more than her share Had me fighting for air She told me to come but I was already there ‘Cause the walls start shaking The earth was quaking My mind was aching And we were making it and you
Shook me all night long Yeah you shook me all night long
Working double time On the seduction line She was one of a kind, she’s just mine all mine Wanted no applause Just another course Made a meal out of me and came back for more Had to cool me down To take another round Now I’m back in the ring to take another swing ‘Cause the walls were shaking The earth was quaking My mind was aching And we were making it and you
Shook me all night long Yeah you shook me all night long
And knocked me out and then you Shook me all night long You had me shakin’ and you Shook me all night long Yeah you shook me Well you took me
You really took me and you Shook me all night long Oh you Shook me all night long Yeah, yeah, you Shook me all night long You really took me and you Yeah you shook me, yeah you shook me All night long
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