Music – Page 152 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Grateful Dead – Touch of Grey

I knew of the Grateful Dead from some older brothers of friends I had and particularly one. I had heard of them as a kid in the seventies before I actually heard them. I always pictured this heavy tough metal band with a name like that. Whenever they toured they would draw a good amount of fans despite having no top ten hits…until this song. After this song, they drew huge amount of attention and fans.

When this came out in the 80s, it was like Deadmania. With MTV suddenly everyone was talking about them. While big success is great it did cause some trouble at some of their concerts. Chilled-out Deadheads followed them around the country for decades. Some financed their travels by hawking food, T-shirts, and handicrafts…not to mention pot and LSD usually peacefully. In the years more would add to the fold…some described it as a community more than a concert. In 1987 they suddenly had an influx of new young fans (Touchheads) and some didn’t know what the band was about. Along with them came some gate crashers and riots.

With the backing of the band, older Deadheads handed out flyers on how to act, trying to mellow out the crowd.

Robert Hunter started writing the lyrics to this song in 1980, and the Grateful Dead first performed it in 1982. They played it sporadically over the next few years and finally recorded it for their 1987 album In The Dark.

In the Dark peaked at #6 in the Billboard Album Chart. It was their first album since the 1980 Go To Heaven. Touch of Grey peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100.

From Songfacts

Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics, as he did with many Dead songs, although Jerry Garcia wrote the line, “Light a candle, curse the glare.” This is according to the book Box Of Rain, which was written by Hunter and is a collection of his published songs. In the book, it is “A Touch of Grey” and has an asterisk next to the line Jerry wrote. >>

According to David Dodd in The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics, the line “Light a Candle, curse the glare” is a play on Adlai Stevenson’s 1962 reference to Eleanor Roosevelt’s death. He said, “She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness.” The line, “The Ables and the Bakers and the Cs” refers to the first two words in an older version of the military communication alphabet, “Able” and “Baker.” The modern version starts with “Alpha” and “Bravo.”

The song is about the band aging gracefully. The phrase “Touch Of Grey” is a reference to getting older, as for most people, their hair starts getting grey as they age.

Aging gracefully is a challenge, especially in the music industry. According to Dead drummer Mickey Hart, Robert Hunter wrote the lyric as a pick-me-up. “When he wrote ‘Touch Of Grey,’ we were struggling,” Hart said. “But it became an anthem to us. It perked us up.”

This was The Grateful Dead’s first and only hit song. They never set out to be on the radio, enthralling fans with their mind-bending musical landscapes and confounding critics with their interminable jamming. Their large and loyal following ensured that their albums sold well and their concerts were full. For many of the Dead faithful, it was strange hearing the group on pop radio and seeing them on MTV, but the song fit well with their canon and was clearly not an attempt to chase the ’80s trends.

The song did change the dynamic of Dead discovery. Most fans were turned on to the band by listening to their classic albums or going to a concert with a seasoned follower, but now there was a new poseur class who came on board for “Touch Of Grey.”

The line, “I will get by, I will survive,” became a mantra of resilience in the Dead community. When Jerry Garcia fell into a diabetic coma in July 1986, it looked like the group could be finished; when he returned to action in December, the group opened with “Touch Of Grey,” reassuring fans that they would indeed get by.

Following Garcia’s death in 1995, various incarnations of the band and associated acts like Ratdog and Phil Lesh & Friends have played the song. A notable performance came on the final night of their Fare Thee Well tour on July 5, 2015 in Chicago when Trey Anastasio and Bruce Hornsby each sang a verse. When the band returned that year as Dead & Company with John Mayer in the fold, the song went back into rotation.

The band made a video for this song, which was the first one they made for MTV. Directed by Justin Kreutzmann, they shot it after a concert at Laguna Seca Raceway in California on May 9, 1987, which let them use a real audience. The crowd was re-admitted after the shoot was set up; they saw the band run through the song in human form, and also as skeleton likenesses. This footage was combined to create the clip.

The video was included on Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey, which was sold as a home video.

The Dead were known for varying their setlists so that every show was different, and they didn’t change this tradition even when this song was on the charts. Instead of catering to newcomers by playing their hit single at every concert, they only played it when they felt like it.

The Mighty Diamonds covered this in 1996 on Fire On The Mountain, an album of reggae versions of Grateful Dead songs.

In addition to its #9 showing on the Hot 100, this song went to #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #15 on the Adult Contemporary tally.

Touch of Grey

Must be getting early clocks are running late
Faint light of the morning sky looks so phony
Dawn is breaking everywhere
Light a candle curse the glare
Draw the curtains I don’t care ’cause it’s alright

I will get by I will get by
I will get by I will survive

I see you’ve got your fist out say your piece and get out
Yes I get the gist of it but it’s alright
Sorry that you feel that way the only there is to say
Every silver lining’s got a touch of grey

I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive

It’s a lesson to me the eagles and the beggars and the seas
The ABC’s we all must face try to keep a little grace

It’s a lesson to me the deltas and the east and the freeze
The ABC’s we all think of and try to win a little love

I know the rent is in arrears the dog has not been fed in years
It’s even worse than it appears but it’s alright
Cow’s giving kerosene, kid can’t read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene but it’s alright

I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive

The shoe is on the hand that fits, there’s really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit ’cause it’s alright
Oh well a touch of grey kinda suits you anyway
And that was all I had to say and it’s alright

I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive

We will get by we will get by we will get by we will survive
We will get by we will get by we will get by we will survive

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Midnight Special

When I hear John’s voice and that tremolo on guitar I can feel the hairs on my neck rise. John’s voice was just as much of an instrument as his guitar.

In Alan Lomax’s book Folk Song USA, the Midnight Special was a real train… the Southern Pacific Golden Gate Limited. A traditional folk song, Leadbelly popularized it upon his release from Sugar Land prison in Texas, where he could hear the Midnight Special come through. In the song, the light of the train gives the inmates hope: if it shines on them they take it as a sign they will soon go free.

Midnight Special was on the album Willy and the Poorboys. The album peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Charts. CCR’s version of Midnight Special didn’t chart. Only two versions of the song have reached the US Billboard Hot 100…one by Paul Evans in 1960 and Johnny Rivers in 1965.

The Midnight Special

Well, you wake up in the mornin’, you hear the work bell ring
And they march you to the table to see the same old thing
Ain’t no food upon the table, and no pork up in the pan
But you better not complain, boy, you get in trouble with the man

[Chorus:]
Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me
Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me
Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me
Let the Midnight Special shine a everlovin’ light on me

Yonder come miss Rosie, how in the world did you know?
By the way she wears her apron, and the clothes she wore
Umbrella on her shoulder, piece of paper in her hand
She come to see the gov’nor, she wants to free her man

[Chorus]

If you’re ever in Houston, well, you better do the right
You better not gamble, there, you better not fight, at all
Or the sheriff will grab ya and the boys will bring you down
The next thing you know, boy, Oh! You’re prison bound

John Lennon – Slippin’ and Slidin’ 1975

Sorry if you have seen this twice but it only posted for a second and then vanished.

I usually feature originals but I found this video of John covering Slippin and a Slidin’ that I never have seen before and I had to include it. My son listened to John Lennon’s Rock and Roll album (made up of entirely covers of mostly 50s Rock and Roll) and he flipped over it. Afterward, he played it so much I relistened to it and John’s love of that music really came through.

The song was on the Rock and Roll album released in 1975. I could listen to John sing the phone book.

The album made it to #6 in the Billboard 200, #6 in the UK, and #5 in Canada. Stand By Me made it to #20 in the Billboard 100. John Lennon did not make another album until Double Fantasy in 1980.

Slippin’ and Slidin’

Slippin’ and a slidin’, peepin’ and a hidin’, been told long time ago,
Slippin’ and a slidin’, peepin’ and a hidin’, been told long time ago,
I been told, baby, you been bold, I won’t be your fool no more.

Oh, big conniver, nothing but a jiver, done got hip to your jive,
Oh, big conniver, nothing but a jiver, done got hip to your jive,
Slippin’ and a slidin’, peepin’ and a hidin’, won’t be your fool no more.

Oh Malinda, she’s a solid sender, you know you better surrender,
Oh Malinda, she’s a solid sender, you know you better surrender,
Slippin’ and a slidin’, peepin’ and a hidin’, won’t be your fool no more.

Restless Sleepers – If We Never Meet Again

Jules Shear was born in Pittsburgh and his biggest success has come in writing or co-writing hits for others…most notably “All Through the Night” for Cyndi Lauper and “If She Knew What She Wants” for The Bangles. He also worked with Lindsey Buckingham.

In 1988 Reckless Sleepers released their first and only album, Big Boss Sounds. The band’s label, college radio mainstay I.R.S. Records, concentrated the promotional push on the band’s lead singer and chief songwriter, Jules Shear. They inserted a sticker on the front of the record and shifted the billing to “RECKLESS SLEEPER Starring Jules Shear,”

Jules wrote the song and inexplicably gave this song away to Tommy Conwell & the Young Rumblers and they…pushed by Columbia records made it to #48 on the Billboard 100 and #8 in the Main Stream Rock Tracks in 1988. The Reckless Sleeper’s version didn’t chart because they were beaten to the punch with their own song.

Personally, I like The Reckless Sleepers version better. The guitar intro makes it worth it.

If We Never Meet Again

Well there’s one thing I’d like to rearrange
But after everything’s already happened and there’s nothing left to change
They can take their advice and use it all on themselves
‘Cause when all the talking stops I want to have something else

[Pre-Chorus 1]
I want to have a little faith
I want to know what a boy and girl can do
When they’re dizzy cause they’re just not spinning with this world

[Chorus]
Ah if we never meet again
If goodbyes remain unspoken
I won’t glorify our past
But our bond remains unbroken
If we never meet again

[Verse 2]
Well there’s one thing that I’ll never forget
It’s the beauty of a friendship that’s not over yet
I know how just one smile can be planted like a seed
And I want to do that with somebody else the way it was done for me

[Pre-Chorus 2]
I want to have a little faith
There’s something better at the end of this path
Cause these memories get old and flat like photographs

[Chorus]
Ah if we never meet again
If goodbyes remain unspoken
I won’t glorify our past
But our bond remains unbroken
If we never meet again

[Verse 3]
Now there’s one thing that I don’t need to even up
You can be what they’ve made you into or you can make your own luck
You can’t blindly fight your enemies
You can’t blindly follow your friends
I know it’s happened so many times
I guess it’s gonna happen again

[Pre-Chorus 3]
But I gotta have faith
I got to know that a boy and a girl
Can still make it even when they’re just not spinning with this world

[Chorus]
Ah if we never meet again
If goodbyes remain unspoken
I won’t glorify our past
But our bond remains unbroken

If we never meet again
If goodbyes remain unspoken
I won’t glorify our past
But our bond remains unbroken
If we never meet again

My 10 Favorite Powerpop Songs

As you may have guessed by now I’m an extreme fan of power pop. This list was hard to write…I kept changing most of it… but I knew the top choice and worked from there.

I just gave my self ten choices or I would have gone on and on. A lot of artists and their songs were left off…such as Todd Rundgren, The Cars, Sloan, The Lemon Twigs, The Flamin’ Groovies, The Shivvers, The Jayhawks, and too many more to mention.

10. The Ride – Twisterella– 1992 – I found this a few months back and have been listening to it ever since.

9. The Records – Starry Eyes– 1979 – Great song. Starry Eyes would end up being The Record’s best-known song. Robert John “Mutt” Lange produced their debut album for The Records.

8. The La’s – There She Goes– 1990 – A very good power pop song that has no verses…It just repeats the chorus four different ways four different times…but that doesn’t matter.

7. Cheap Trick – Voices– 1980 – One of my top Cheap Trick songs. Robin Zanders voice sounds great in this Beatlesque song.

6. The Who –Pictures of Lily– 1967 – When this song came out Pete Townshend coined the name “power pop” and this song is about the childhood…lusts…of a boy.

5. Raspberries – Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)– 1974 – An epic song by the Raspberries. Not their most popular…that would be “Go All The Way” but this encapsulates everything power pop is about. Bruce Springsteen on Overnight Sensation: It’s one of the best little pop symphonies you’ll ever hear.

4. Big Star – The Ballad of El Goodo – 1972 – The tone of the guitars, harmonies and the perfect constructed chorus keeps me coming back listen after listen.

3. Badfinger –No Matter What– 1971 – The only band to make this list twice. Why? because this song defines the crunchy power pop of bands like Cheap Trick to come.

2. Tom Petty – American Girl– 1977 – The Rickenbacker, the hook, and a Byrds sounding track.

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Badfinger – Baby Blue – 1972 – The number one song was the easiest decision of the list. The rest were changed a few times…this one for me is a no-brainer. This song is the perfect power pop song…strong vocals, Crunchy Brit guitar, great hook, and great melody

Lynyrd Skynyrd – What’s Your Name

I always thought this was one of the most commercial songs they ever released. It is a fun tight song but yes it has been played to death.

Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington wrote this one night when they were in Miami with Steve Cropper and producer Tom Dowd. Cropper, the guitarist for the Stax Records band Booker T. & the MG’s, gave them some ideas.

They had a well-deserved reputation for being a hard-partying band. This song is based on a true story. One night while they were on tour, the band was drinking at their hotel bar when one of the roadies got in a fight. They all got kicked out, went to a room, ordered champagne, and continued the party.

The incident also really didn’t happen in Boise, Idaho. The first line was originally, “It’s 8 o’clock and boys it’s time to go,” but Ronnie Van Zant changed it when he found out his brother, Donnie, was opening his first national tour with his band .38 Special in Boise. The first line became It’s 8 o’clock in Boise, Idaho.

The song was on the album Street Survivors…their last studio album with the original band. They were in a plane crash just days after the release of the album.

The song peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100 and #6 in Canada in 1978.

Street Survivors peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1977.

From Songfacts

Three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a plane crash just three days after this album was released. The album had to be given a new cover because the original one portrayed the group surrounded by flames.

This was released as a single in January 1978, a few months after the plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines.

The B-52s reached #74 in 1980 with “Private Idaho,” but “What’s Your Name” is the biggest hit song to mention the state in the lyric.

What’s Your Name

Well, its eight o’clock in Boise, Idaho
I’ll find my limo driver
Mister, take us to the show
I done made some plans for later on tonight
I’ll find a little queen
And I know I can treat her right

What’s your name, little girl?
What’s your name?
Shootin’ you straight, little girl?
Won’t you do the same?

Back at the hotel
Lord we got such a mess
It seems that one of the crew
Had a go with one of the guests, oh yes
Well, the police said we can’t drink in the bar, what a shame
Won’t you come upstairs girl
And have a drink of champagne

What’s your name, little girl?
What’s your name?
Shootin’ you straight, little girl?
For there ain’t no shame

What’s your name, little girl?
What’s your name?
Shootin’ you straight, little girl?
Won’t you do the same? Awh yeah

What’s your name, little girl?
What’s your name?
Shootin’ you straight, little girl?
Won’t you do the same?

Nine o’clock the next day
And I’m ready to go
I got six hundred miles to ride
To do one more show, oh no
Can I get you a taxi home
It sure was grand
When I come back here next year
I want to see you again

What was your name, little girl?
What’s your name?
Shootin’ you straight, little girl?
Well there ain’t no shame
What was your name, little girl?
What’s your name?
Shootin’ you straight, little girl?
Won’t you do the same? Woo

Joe Walsh – The Confessor

This Joe Walsh song is a little different from his other songs but I like it. It was released in 1985 the year I graduated so I remember it well. The song was over 7 minutes long but still got airplay where I was during those years.

The Confessor made it to #8 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts. His album of the same name peaked at #65 in the Billboard Album Charts.

Joe was dating Stevie Nicks at the time and Walsh used some of the same musicians that Stevie used on her albums…they included Waddy Wachtel, members of Toto, and Randy Newman. The song production is very eighties with the synths and drums.

The Confessor

If you look at your reflection in the bottom of a well,
What you see is only on the surface.
When you try to see the meaning, hidden underneath,
The measure of the depth can be deceiving.
The bottom has a rocky reputation

You can feel it in the distance the deeper down you stare.
From up above it’s hard to see, but you know when you’re there.
On the bottom words are shallow.
On the surface talk is cheap.
You can only judge the distance by the company you keep
In the eyes of the Confessor.

In the eyes of the Confessor,
There’s no place you can hide.
You can’t hide from the eyes (of the Confessor)
Don’t you even try.
In the eyes of the Confessor
You can’t tell a lie,
You cannot tell a lie (to the Confessor)
Strip you down to size,
Naked as the day that you were born,
Naked as the day that you were born.

Take all the trauma, drama, comments,
The guilt and doubt and shame
The “what ifs” and “if onlys”
The shackles and the chains
The violence and aggression,
The pettiness and scorn,
The jealousy and hatred,
The tempest and discord,
AND GIVE IT UP!

Beatles – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

My favorite psychedelic song and it was on Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. The “Lucy” who inspired this song was Lucy O’Donnell (later Lucy Vodden), who was a classmate of John’s son Julian Lennon when he was enrolled at the private Heath House School, in Weybridge, Surrey.

It was in a 1975 interview that Lennon said, “Julian came in one day with a picture about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”

Many thought Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds was about LSD because of the initials but John denied it all of his life. I believe John because he was honest about much worse than this…John went to great lengths to deny any drug connotations involved in this song.

John did say he was inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland. He wrote the song with help from Paul. One of the highlights of this song is Paul’s bass playing. His walking bass line builds suspense through the song and then kicks in with the chorus.

This was banned by the BBC for what they thought were drug references. A Day In The Life was also banned off of the same album.

John Lennon: “I didn’t even see it on the label. I didn’t look at the initials. I don’t look – I mean I never play things backwards. I listened to it as I made it. It’s like there will be things on this one, if you fiddle about with it. I don’t know what they are. Every time after that though I would look at the titles to see what it said, and usually they never said anything.”

From Songfacts

The identity of the real Lucy was confirmed by Julian in 2009 when she died of complications from Lupus. Lennon re-connected with her after she appeared on a BBC broadcast where she stated: “I remember Julian and I both doing pictures on a double-sided easel, throwing paint at each other, much to the horror of the classroom attendant… Julian had painted a picture and on that particular day his father turned up with the chauffeur to pick him up from school.”

Confusion over who was the real Lucy was fueled by a June 15, 2005 Daily Mail article that claimed the “Lucy” was Lucy Richardson, who grew up to become a successful movie art director on films such as 2000’s Chocolat and 2004’s The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers. Richardson died in June 2005 at the age of 47 of breast cancer.

Lennon affirmed this on the Dick Cavett Show, telling the host, “My son came home with a drawing of a strange-looking woman flying around. He said, ‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds.’ I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ I immediately wrote the song about it.”

It’s not just fans that didn’t believe him: Paul McCartney said it was “pretty obvious” that this song was inspired by LSD.

In our interview with Donovan, who was good friends with John Lennon and joined The Beatles on their 1968 retreat to India, he made the point that Lennon often thought in terms of artwork, and like Donovan did on this song “Wear Your Love Like Heaven,” Lennon painted images in his head that became the lyrics for this song. “When we put the painter’s brush down and we picked up the guitar, a lot of the songwriters started ‘painting’ songs,” he said. “You’d just have to think of John’s ‘Picture yourself on a boat on a river’ – you’re actually in a movie or you’re in a painting. ‘Tangerine trees and marmalade skies’ – he’s painting.

The images Lennon used in the song were inspired by the imagery in Through The Looking-Glass, the sequel to the book Alice In Wonderland. “It was Alice in the boat,” Lennon explained in a Playboy interview. “She is buying an egg and it turns into Humpty Dumpty. The woman serving in the shop turns into a sheep and the next minute they are rowing in a rowing boat somewhere and I was visualizing that.”

George Harrison played a tambura on this track. It’s an Indian instrument similar to a sitar that makes a droning noise. He had been studying with Indian musician Ravi Shankar, who is the father of Norah Jones.

Elton John released a cover version of this song in 1974 that hit #1 in the US the first week of 1975. Elton is the only artist to top the tally with a Beatles cover, although Peter & Gordon took “A World Without Love,” which was written by Lennon and McCartney, to #1 in 1964.

John Lennon sang and played guitar on Elton’s “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” but reportedly forgot some of the chords and needed Davey Johnston, Elton John’s guitarist, to help him out. Lennon made a surprise appearance in Elton’s Thanksgiving concert in New York and performed three songs, which proved to be his last public performance.

Actor William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk on Star Trek, covered this in his dramatic, spoken-word style. In at least one poll, this version was voted the worst Beatles cover of all time.

In 1974, Johanson and Gray named the 3 million-year-old Australopithecus fossil skeleton they discovered (the oldest ever found) Lucy, after this song because it was playing on the radio when Johanson and his team were celebrating the discovery back at camp. >>

Lennon said “The girl with kaleidoscope eyes” turned out to be Yoko: “There was also the image of the female who would someday come save me… a ‘girl with kaleidoscope eyes’ who would come out of the sky. It turned out to be Yoko, though I hadn’t met Yoko yet. So maybe it should be ‘Yoko in the Sky with Diamonds.'”

During the media controversy over this song in June of 1967, Paul McCartney admitted to a reporter that the band did experiment with LSD.

In 2004, McCartney addressed the issue of drugs in an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper: “‘Day Tripper,’ that’s one about acid. ‘Lucy In The Sky,’ that’s pretty obvious. There are others that make subtle hints about drugs, but it’s easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on The Beatles’ music. Just about everyone was doing drugs in one form or another, and we were no different, but the writing was too important for us to mess it up by getting off our heads all the time.”

A group called John Fred and his Playboy Band had a #1 hit in 1968 with “Judy In Disguise (with Glasses),” a song that is a parody of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.”

In the Anthology one of the Beatles referred to being on LSD as like seeing through a kaleidoscope. Although Lennon denied this is about drugs, it does refer to “The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.”

This song is very distinctive musically: It’s in three different keys and uses two different beats.

Lennon admitted to British journalist Ray Connolly in an interview around the time of the break-up of the Beatles that he didn’t think he sang this song very well. “I was so nervous I couldn’t sing,” he said, “but I like the lyrics.”

In 2004 the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced the discovery of the universe’s largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers gave the star the catchier name of “Lucy” from this song.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she’s gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
And you’re gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah

Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds

Allman Brothers – Dreams

According to Gregg, this was written in Los Angeles after the breakup of Hourglass, the band he and his brother Duane had there. They opened up for acts such as Buffalo Springfield and The Doors. They were then forced by the record company to play more pop-style music so Duane quit and headed back home to Macon Georgia.

Gregg stayed behind to fulfill the contract and a little later Duane called him up to come to Macon and try out for a new band he put together. Gregg traveled to Macon and sat behind the keyboard and played them his songs. This song won them over and they soon became the Allman Brothers.

This was on their first album The Allman Brother’s Band and it peaked at #188.

Gregg’s autobiography on first playing with the Brothers: They asked me if I had any songs with me, and I told them I had twenty-two, so they told me to play them. I’d get through with one, and they’d ask me, “What else you got?” I’d play ’em another one and they were like, “That was kinda neat, a little potential; what else you got?”

After twenty of them, I’m going, “Oh fuck, I might be without a job here in a minute.” I had two songs left—“Not My Cross to Bear” and “Dreams.” I showed them “Dreams” first, and let me tell you, they joined right in. We proceeded to sit down, learn that song the same way you hear it today, and I was in, brother. They loved it. I bet we played that thing eleven times in a row, and the more we played it, the better it got.

From Songfacts

Gregg Allman wrote this sorrowful song about unrealized dreams when he was living in Los Angeles. He left Georgia to get his music career going there, and wrote a bunch of songs before returning and forming The Allman Brothers Band with his brother Duane. This was the song that won over his bandmates. Allman wrote in his 2012 biography: “I showed them ‘Dreams,’ and let me tell you, they joined right in. We learned that song the way you hear it today, and I was in, brother.”

Listen to the guitar part – you’ll hear Duane Allman switch to bottleneck guitar midway through the song.

“Dreams” was used as the title of The Allman Brothers 1989 5-album boxed set. An unreleased studio version of this song was used on it.

Molly Hatchet released a version of this in 1978.

This is one of the few songs Gregg Allman wrote on the Hammond B-3 organ.

Here is a live version at the Fillmore BUT someone didn’t plug the input in Gregg’s mic until a few minutes.

Dreams

Just one more mornin’
I had to wake up with the blues
Pulled myself out of bed, yeah
Put on my walkin’ shoes
And went up on the mountain
To see what I could see
The whole world was fallin’, right down in front of me

‘Cause I’ve a hunger for the dreams I’ll never see, yeah, baby
Ah, help me baby, or this will surely be the end of me, yeah

Pull myself together
Put on a new face
Climb down off the hilltop, baby
Get back in the race

‘Cause I’ve a hunger for dreams I’ll never see, yeah, babe
Lord, help me baby, or, this will surely be the end of me, yeah

Pull myself together
Put on a new face
Climb down off the hilltop, baby
And get back in the race

‘Cause I’ve a hunger for the dreams I’ll never see, yeah, baby
Ah, ah, help me baby, or this will surely be the end of me, yeah, ah
Yeah, yeah, yeah

John Mellencamp – Cherry Bomb

One of my favorite John Mellencamp songs. Back when it was released I liked it because it was a catchy song. Now I like it more because I can relate to it about growing up. I will admit though…I always thought he said “That’s when a spoke was a spoke“… I thought what? Must be some crazy Indiana thing….then I thought…no that can’t be right…it must be “That’s when a smoke was a smoke“….Wrong again…it is… “That’s when a sport was a sport.”

The prominence of the accordion and violin in this are usually not associated with Rock and Roll but it makes the song sound fresh. The song peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, and #4 in New Zealand.

It was on the album The Lonesome Jubilee released in 1987. The album peaked at #6 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1987.

Cherry Bomb

Well I lived on the outskirts of town
In an eight room farmhouse, baby
When my brothers and friends were around
There was always somethin’ doin’
Had me a couple of real nice girlfriends
Stopped by to see me every once in a while
When I think back about those days
All I can do is sit and smile

That’s when a sport was a sport
And groovin’ was groovin’
And dancin’ meant everything
We were young and we were improvin’
Laughin’, laughin’ with our friends
Holdin’ hands meant somethin’, baby
Outside the club “Cherry Bomb”
Our hearts were really thumpin’
Say yeah yeah yeah
Say yeah yeah yeah

The winter days they last forever
But the weekends went by so quick
Went ridin’ around this little country town
We were goin’ nuts, girl, out in the sticks
One night, me with my big mouth
A couple guys had to put me in my place
When I see those guys these days
We just laugh and say do you remember when

Say yeah yeah yeah
Say yeah yeah yeah

Seventeen has turned thirty-five
I’m surprised that we’re still livin’
If we’ve done any wrong
I hope that we’re forgiven
Got a few kids of my own
And some days I still don’t know what to do
I hope that they’re not laughing too loud
When they hear me talkin’
Like this to you

That’s when a sport was a sport
And groovin’ was groovin’
And dancin’ meant everything
We were young and we were improvin’
Laughin’, laughin’ with our friends
Holdin’ hands meant so much, baby
Outside the club “Cherry Bomb”
Our hearts were really thumpin’
Say yeah yeah yeah
Say yeah yeah yeah

Edgar Winter – Free Ride

It doesn’t get much more seventies than this song.

This was released as the first single from the album, but it went nowhere. After Frankenstein went to #1, “Free Ride” was released again, this time going to #14 in America. The song lived on as a radio favorite.

Dan Hartman is credited as the only songwriter on this track even though Edgar Winter made some contributions. Winter didn’t get greedy, knowing that Hartman made some contributions to tracks that were credited to Edgar alone.

Free Ride is a song included in the Edgar Winter Group album They Only Come Out At Night in 1972. The initial riff is played by Dan Hartman who also sings lead on the song.

From Songfacts

The “free ride” can be literally interpreted as a road trip, but it’s really about a spiritual journey. The song was written and sung by Dan Hartman, who had recently joined the Edgar Winter Group, but Winter added the lyrics:

We got to do better, it’s time to begin
You know all the answers must come from within

The song offers salvation of sorts, with Hartman offering us direction when we don’t know where to turn:

So I’ve come here to give you a hand
And lead you into the promised land

The song isn’t an endorsement of a specific religion, but a call to look inside ourselves for answers. Winter was trying to make that message more clear in the lyrics he added.

Edgar Winter played Woodstock before he even released an album. That’s because his older brother, Johnny Winter, was a celebrated blues guitarist who used Edgar in his band. When Edgar struck out on his own in 1970, it was with a horn-heavy band he assembled for his first album. His next two albums were with a group he called White Trash, which had more jazz leanings. In 1972, he started clean with a new band: the Edgar Winter Group. Dan Hartman, who was in a Pennsylvania band called the Legends, was his first recruit. Hartman had already written “Free Ride” (which is one of the reasons Winter wanted him), so it was one of the first songs this new group recorded.

Hartman played guitar on the album version of the song, with Randy Jo Hobbs on bass and Johnny Badanjek on drums (when the group fully formed, it was with Ronnie Montrose on guitar, Chuck Ruff on drums, and Hartman on bass). Speaking with Songfacts, producer Rick Derringer said that on the single version, which they recorded later, he played lead guitar.

Winter was adept at keyboard, synthesizer, saxophone and drums. On “Free Ride,” he played a Hohner clavinet, which is what Stevie Wonder played on Superstition. Winter generated the wind sounds with his new toy: an ARP 2600 synthesizer, the instrument featured on the album’s big hit, “Frankenstein.”

This was produced by Rick Derringer, who produced the entire They Only Come Out at Night as well as Winter’s previous two albums. When Ronnie Montrose formed his own band in 1973, Derringer stepped in as guitarist for the Edgar Winter Group.

Free Ride

The mountain is high, the valley is low
And you’re confused on which way to go
So I’ve come here to give you a hand
And lead you into the promised land, so

Come on and take a free ride (free ride)
Come on and stand here by my side
Come on and take a free ride

All over the country, I’ve seen it the same
Nobody’s winning at this kind of game
We gotta do better, it’s time to begin
You know all the answers must come from within, so

Come on and take a free ride (free ride)
Come on and stand here by my side
Come on and take a free ride

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, free ride

Come on and take a free ride
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Come on and take a free ride
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Don Henley – The End of the Innocence

Bruce Hornsby played piano on this and wrote this with Henley. I did like Don Henley’s solo albums in the 80s. I had this album and I wore it out in the late 80s. This one is probably my favorite Henley album. I prefer his solo music to the Eagles.

When the Eagles broke up in 1980, Joe Walsh (loved The Confessor ) and Glenn Frey also launched solo careers. They all did fairly well, but Henley was the most successful. The Eagles re-formed in 1994 for their Hell Freezes Over tour.

The End of the Innocence peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #48 in the UK.

The End of the Innocence album peaked at #8 in the Billboard Album Charts.

The End Of The Innocence was Henley’s third solo album. He didn’t release another for 11 years.

From Songfacts

The “Tired old man that we elected king” is a reference to US president Ronald Reagan. There are a lot of political overtones in the song, as Henley strongly opposed Reagan’s agenda.

The line about “Beating ploughshares into swords” is a distortion of Isaiah 2:4 in which Isaiah describes the end times: “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

The inversion of the words most likely hints at the decline of the number of family farms and the increase in US military power in the ’80s as a signal of the end times of innocence.

David Fincher directed the music video. Around this time, he was taking the form to a new level, with cinematic textures and storylines that would later appear in his films (The Game, Fight Club, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Other videos he directed around this time include Madonna’s “Vogue” and Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got A Gun.”

Bob Dylan often performed this on his 2002 US tour.

You can’t the get original video on youtube from Donny…he doesn’t allow it…so here is a live version.

The End of the Innocence

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by

When happily ever after fails
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly

But I know a place where we can go
Still untouched by man
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind

You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end

This is the end of the innocence
O’ beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They’re beating plowshares into swords

For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details

Since daddy had to lie
But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by

And the tall grass wave in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense

But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
Who knows how long this will last
Now we’ve come so far, so fast

But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss

And let me take a long last look
Before we say good bye
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me

Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

Robert Plant – Big Log

A 1966 Mustang is what I think of when I hear this song. That was my first car in 1983. My mom foolishly got me what is now a classic car. Not a good car to give a 16-year-old. When I heard this song I knew Robert wasn’t in Zeppelin anymore. It was a smart thing to distance himself at the time.

What I remember the most is the guitar parts played by Robbie Blunt. I remember the licks he plays just as much as the words Plant sings. It’s a great song to listen to on a long car trip.

A Big Log is common lingo of tractor-trailer drivers. It is the book in which their road hours are logged, therefore the connection between the road and love and the countless hours we all log on both…

The song peaked at #20 in the Billboard 100, #23 in Canada, #11 in the UK, and #7 in New Zealand in 1983. The album was The Principle of Moments that peaked at #8 in the Billboard Album Chart, #7 in the UK, #1 in Canada, and #

Phil Collins played drums on this and 5 other tracks on the album. He also played drums on Plant’s previous album Pictures At Eleven.

From Songfacts

In the video, Plant’s classic car overheats at a desolate desert gas station, which causes him to muse upon lost love.

This was Robert Plant’s first hit as a solo artist after the break up of Led Zeppelin.

Some people know this song as “My Love Is In League With The Freeway.” The phrase “Big Log” does not appear in the lyrics.

The name “Big Log” is likely meaningless. Plant’s solo work (up until Now And Zen) and work with Led Zeppelin often featured songs with titles that had little or nothing to do with the lyrics. Also from The Principle Of Moments are the tracks “Messin’ With A Mekon,” “Horizontal Departure” and “Stranger Here… Than Over There.”

Big Log

My love is in league with the freeway
It’s passion will rise as the cities fly by
And the tail lights dissolve in the coming of night
And the questions and thousands take flight

My love is miles in awaiting
The eyes that just stare and the glance at the clock
In the secret that burns and the pain that won’t stop
And it’s fueled with the years

Leading me on (leading me on)
Leading me down the road
Driving me on (driving me on)
Driving me down the road

My love is exceeding the limit
Red eyed and fevered with the hum of the miles
Distance and longing and my thoughts do collide
Should I rest for a while and decide

Your love is cradled in knowing
Eyes in the mirror still expecting their prey
Sensing too well when the journey is done
There is no turning back
No
There is no turning back

On the run

My love is in league
With the freeway
Oh with the freeway
And the coming of the night time
My love
My love
Is in league with the freeway

Pretenders – Back On The Chain Gang

The “picture of you” Chrissie Hynde sings about is a picture she found in her wallet of Ray Davies, lead singer and songwriter of The Kinks. Hynde and Davies were a couple and had a daughter together. This song started off about him, but the meaning changed when Honeyman-Scott died.

The song turned into a tribute to James Honeyman-Scott, the Pretenders guitarist who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at age 26. Scott’s death was followed by bass player Pete Farndon’s 10 months later. Farndon had been kicked out of the band because of his drug problems and died of an overdose.

The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #14 in New Zealand, and #17 in the UK in 1983.

From Songfacts

This is a very emotional song. Chrissie Hynde would sometimes tear up when performing it.

A Chain Gang is a group of convicts who are chained together while they do manual labor, usually outside.

This was the first Pretenders single featuring Billy Bremner and Tony Butler, who replaced Farndon and Honeyman-Scott.

This was released as a single almost two years before the album came out.

Back On The Chain Gang

I found a picture of you, oh oh oh oh
What hijacked my world that night
To a place in the past
We’ve been cast out of? Oh oh oh oh
Now we’re back in the fight
We’re back on the train
Oh, back on the chain gang

A circumstance beyond our control, oh oh oh oh
The phone, the TV and the news of the world
Got in the house like a pigeon from hell, oh oh oh oh
Threw sand in our eyes and descended like flies
Put us back on the train
Oh, back on the chain gang

The powers that be
That force us to live like we do
Bring me to my knees
When I see what they’ve done to you
But I’ll die as I stand here today
Knowing that deep in my heart
They’ll fall to ruin one day
For making us part

I found a picture of you, oh oh oh oh
Those were the happiest days of my life
Like a break in the battle was your part, oh oh oh oh
In the wretched life of a lonely heart
Now we’re back on the train
Oh, back on the chain gang

Kinks – Tired Of Waiting

The Kinks are a band that I saw in 1983. Along with The Who and Paul McCartney they were among the best bands, I saw live.

Kinks lead singer Ray Davies wrote this song while he was a student at Hornsey School of Art in London. Ray was running out of ideas, so he decided to record the song he had written in college. The group put down the backing track, but he couldn’t remember the words, so he went home and wrote them the next day on the train ride into the studio.

This was released as the first single from the album Kinda Kinks. “Tired of Waiting for You” was a hit, peaking at #6 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the UK, #3 in Canada in 1965.

Dave Davies: “The recording went well but there was something missing and it was my raunchy guitar sound. Ray and I were worried that putting that heavy-sounding guitar on top of a ponderous song might ruin it. Luckily it enhanced the recording, giving it a more cutting, emotional edge. In my opinion ‘Tired Of Waiting’ was the perfect pop record.”

From Songfacts

When the Kinks released their first album in 1964, they scored a huge hit with the Davies-penned “You Really Got Me,” which was followed by the sound-alike “All Day And All Of The Night.”

In this song, Ray Davies sings about a girl who has him under her spell. Problem is, she keeps stringing him along and it’s wearing him out. The vocal is suitably weary, lacking that adrenaline rush of their previous hits. This discontent would play out for real throughout 1965 as The Kinks were dispatched to one show after another, doing promotional appearances along the way. It quickly became clear that there was a great deal of animosity in the band and that they couldn’t keep up the pace for long.

Tired Of Waiting

So tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you

I was a lonely soul
I had nobody till I met you
But you keep a-me waiting
All of the time
What can I do?

It’s your life
And you can do what you want
Do what you like
But please don’t keep a-me waiting
Please don’t keep a-me waiting

‘Cause I’m so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you

So tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you

I was a lonely soul
I had nobody till I met you
But you keep a-me waiting
All of the time
What can I do?

It’s your life
And you can do what you want
Do what you like
But please don’t keep a-me waiting
Please don’t keep a-me waiting

‘Cause I’m so tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you

So tired
Tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
For you
For you