Looking back it’s kinda hard to believe that a fifties sounding band made a big splash among the big hair synth 1980s. In the seventies yes it would have been not only possible but probable because of a 50’s revival then.
Brian Setzer lead guitarist: ‘I couldn’t relate to prog rock. We never had any wizards in my neighborhood. We had ’58 Chevys and good-looking girls’
Brian came up with Stray Cat Strut back his garage in Long Island when he was 18. He wanted something slower than their other songs. It was about the three members, and the lives they were living. At that point, they were still called the Tomcats, but it became “stray” when they went to London.
They found a counterculture in London that related to the fifties music and style. The original group of people that came to see them included Chrissie Hynde, Joe Strummer, Lemmy and Glen Matlock.
Ronnie Lane from the Faces put them up and Dave Edmunds grabbed them at the Venue and said: “Let me produce you before someone else ruins you.” Dave did indeed produce them.
This song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 in 1983.
Black and orange stray cat sittin’ on a fence Ain’t got enough dough to pay the rent I’m flat broke, but I don’t care I strut right by with my tail in the air
Stray cat strut, I’m a (Ladies’ cat) I’m a feline Casanova (Hey, man, that’s where it’s at) Get a shoe thrown at me from a mean old man Get my dinner from a garbage can
Meow Yeah, don’t cross my path
I don’t bother chasing mice around, oh, no I slink down the alley looking for a fight Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night Singin’ the blues while the lady cats cry “Wild stray cat, you’re a real gone guy I wish I could be as carefree and wild But I got cat class, and I got cat style”
I don’t bother chasing mice around I slink down the alley looking for a fight Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night Singin’ the blues while the lady cats cry “Wild stray cat, you’re a real gone guy I wish I could be as carefree and wild But I got cat class, and I got cat style”
In 1988 I bought Cloud Nine by George Harrison. It stayed on my turntable and in my cassette player for months. This song is not my favorite on the album but I was happy to see George at the top of the charts for the first time since “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” in 1973.
The song was written and composed by Rudy Clark and originally recorded by James Ray in 1962 but it was not a hit for James.
ELO’s Jeff Lynne produced this song with Harrison. His influence can be heard in the backing vocals of the chorus. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #2 in the UK, and #4 in NewZealand in 1988.
This song is the last number 1 song by a Beatle. Paul did have a number 1 album in 2018 with Egypt Station. Cloud Nine peaked at #8 in the Billboard Album Chart.
From Songfacts
This was written by Rudy Clark and originally recorded by James Ray in 1962. Harrison bought a copy of the single in the summer of 1963 when visiting his sister Louise in Illinois. Many years later when he was writing his Cloud Nine album, he remembered the song and decided to cover it.
Cloud Nine was Harrison’s comeback album. He hadn’t had a hit since 1981 with “All Those Years Ago,” and his previous US #1 was “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” in 1973. Until the Beach Boys released “Kokomo,” Harrison had the record for longest span between #1 hits. “Got My Mind Set On You,” however, was his last single to chart.
Harrison released another album earlier in 1982 called Gone Troppo, which flopped. Proving that he could whip up a hit, he released this very simplistic cover song and it was a huge commercial success. A lot of Harrison’s work was well off the mainstream, using unusual instruments and based on Indian music. This proved that he could release a song requiring very little thought and send it up the charts. Predictably, many of Harrison’s ardent followers can’t stand this song.
Along with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty, Harrison and Lynne formed The Traveling Wilburys in 1988.
Got My Mind Set On You
I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you
But it’s gonna take money A whole lot of spending money It’s gonna take plenty of money To do it right, child
It’s gonna take time A whole lot of precious time It’s gonna take patience and time, um To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it To do it right, child
I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you
And this time I know it’s for real The feelings that I feel I know if I put my mind to it I know that I really can do it
I got my mind set on you Set on you I got my mind set on you Set on you
But it’s gonna take money A whole lot of spending money It’s gonna take plenty of money To do it right, child
It’s gonna take time A whole lot of precious time It’s gonna take patience and time, um To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it To do it right
I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you I got my mind set on you
And this time I know it’s for real The feelings that I feel I know if I put my mind to it I know that I really can do it
But it’s gonna take money A whole lot of spending money It’s gonna take plenty of money To do it right, child
It’s gonna take time A whole lot of precious time It’s gonna take patience and time, um To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it To do it right
Set on you Set on you
Set on you Set on you Set on you Set on you Set on you Set on you I set my mind on you I’m gonna set on you
This is the first song I heard by them and I liked it right away.
The Go-Go’s formed in the spring of 1978 but didn’t really get serious until 1979 when drummer Gina Schock joined. Her playing gave the music a more forceful punch, and her insistence on frequent practicing helped move the band from novelty to contender in the L.A. scene.
Guitar player Charlotte Caffey wrote this song. It peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada. The song was on the album Beaty and the Beat which peaked at #1 in 1981 in the Billboard Album Charts.
The Go-Go’s are the first all-girl band to write the songs and play the instruments on a #1 US album.
Charlotte Caffey: “I thought it would be very clever to do ‘Going To A Go-Go.’ I thought, Well, let’s try working this out as a cover song. Which is really funny when I think about it. I was listening to it a lot one day, and later that night, the song came to me within five minutes. I don’t even know if it has anything to do with listening to that song, but this whole idea came to me. It was one of those things that just went right through me and came out my hand; I wrote it down, recorded it a little bit, and then brought it into rehearsal a few days later.”
From Songfacts
The Go-Go’s wrote their own songs, and along with the Bangles and The Dixie Chicks, are one of the most successful all-girl bands to do so. “We Got The Beat” was written by guitarist Charlotte Caffey, who drew inspiration from some Motown beats, specifically one that mentioned the name of her group.
In the ’70s, American female rockers like Suzi Quatro and The Runaways found the UK more receptive than their homeland, so The Go-Go’s followed this model, releasing an early version of “We Got The Beat” in the UK as their first single. It was issued on Stiff Records, which was home to The Specials and Madness, both groups The Go-Go’s toured with in England to promote it. It flopped, but the group fared far better in America, where they were signed to IRS Records by Miles Copeland, who managed The Police. In the US, “Our Lips Are Sealed” was released as their first single in the summer of 1981, followed by a new version of “We Got The Beat” in January 1982. This release was The Go-Go’s biggest hit, spending three weeks at #2 in April behind Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock And Roll.”
Jett was able to box them out of the top spot on the Hot 100, but Beauty And The Beat spent six weeks at #1, fending off Jett’s album. This made The Go-Go’s the first all-girl band to top the US albums chart, a mark that stood until 1999, when Dixie Chicks landed with Fly.
This plays in the opening scene of the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, where we meet the main characters in their natural habitat: the Ridgemont Mall. The song doesn’t appear on the soundtrack but got a lot of attention from the film. Other movies to use the song include:
Brimstone & Treacle (1982) Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997) Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001) My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) Poms (2019)
When The Go-Go’s formed in 1978, they had little experience but figured they could learn on the fly in the LA punk scene, where enthusiasm could make up for shortfalls in musicianship. The only seasoned member was guitarist Charlotte Caffey, who was a few years older and knew how to play when lead singer Belinda Carlisle asked her to join this new all-girl band. Charlotte took the offer, leaving her band The Eyes and becoming a key songwriter in the group along with Jane Wiedlin, the group’s other guitarist, who quickly developed into an excellent musician as well. In 1979, they replaced original drummer Elissa Bello with the more experienced Gina Schock; in early 1981 they swapped out bass player Margot Olavarria for Kathy Valentine, who had been in a group called The Textones and also wrote songs.
The narrative of the band having no idea how to play when they started stuck with them, but by the time they released their first album, Wiedlin and Carlisle were the only members without much previous experience. Those two became the most visible members and each launched successful solo careers after the band folded in 1985. Carlisle got a lot of help from Charlotte Caffey, who worked on much of her solo material.
The Go-Go’s played this and “Our Lips Are Sealed” when they were musical guests on Saturday Night Live, November 14, 1981. The group would often have a few drinks before their shows, but for SNL they didn’t take the stage until about midnight, so all that early drinking caught up with them, resulting in a rather sluggish performance.
In a Songfacts interview with Go-Go’s bass player Kathy Valentine, she said: “I think of ‘We Got The Beat’ as an anthem. It’s very trance-like, so you combine that trance factor with the beat and the anthem nature and it’s very unique.”
The song ties into the album title, Beauty And The Beat, which was Belinda Carlisle’s idea. The group’s first album, it was recorded in New York City with producer Richard Gottehrer, the man who gave us “I Want Candy.” The Go-Go’s were based in Los Angeles, so during this time they stayed together in suites at the Wellington Hotel in New York City, causing lots of mischief and having way too much fun.
The group brainstormed ideas for the cover and decided to go with a spa theme, showing the girls wrapped in towels with cream on their faces. Their art director, George DuBois, took the photos in the hotel, with shots of each member in the bathtub for use on the back cover. According to Kathy Valentine, their manager, Ginger Canzoneri, got the towels from Macy’s and returned them after the shoot. They used Pond’s cold cream on their faces.
This was performed by the cast of the TV series Glee in the 2011 episode “The Purple Piano Project.” Released as a single, this version went to #83 in the US.
This opens the musical Head Over Heels, based on the music of The Go-Go’s, which played on Broadway in 2018. When an oracle, played by Peppermint of RuPaul’s Drag Race, foresees a beatless future for the Elizabethan-era townsfolk of Arcadia, they respond with the tune.
We Got The Beat
See the people walking down the street Fall in line just watching all their feet They don’t know where they want to go But they’re walking in time
They got the beat They got the beat They got the beat Yeah, they got the beat
All the kids just getting out of school They can’t wait to hang out and be cool Hang around ’til quarter after twelve That’s when they fall in line
They got the beat They got the beat Kids got the beat Yeah kids got the beat
Go-go music really makes us dance Do the pony puts us in a trance Do the Watusi just give us a chance That’s when we fall in line
‘Cause we got the beat We got the beat We got the beat Yeah we got it!
We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat Everybody get on your feet we got the beat We know you can dance to the beat we got the beat Jumpin’ get down we got the beat Round and round and round
We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat We got the beat
“I Walk the Line” was recorded at Sun Studios for Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. A 24-year-old Cash is said to have written the lyrics in just 20 minutes as the words about his then-wife, Vivian Liberto, flowed out of him.
Recorded in April 1956, Cash’s first #1 was sped up at the urging of Sun Studios owners Sam Phillips. Jack Clements, who worked with Cash, recalled: “I wasn’t impressed with Cash at first, because I like recordings with class… And Cash seemed rough, but ‘I Walk The line’ was a class recording.”
While performing the song on his TV show, Cash admitted that his eerie hum at the beginning of each verse was to get his pitch. The song required Cash to change keys several times while singing it.
Cash wanted to record the song at a much slower tempo, making it a ballad. Sam Phillips, encouraged him to speed up the track, it became the song that we remember.
Bob Dylan on the song: “It was different than anything else you had ever heard,” “A voice from the middle of the Earth.”
From Songfacts
One of his most famous songs, this song details Johnny Cash’s values and lifestyle. It is a promise to remain faithful to his first wife, Vivian, while he is on the road.
“Walk The Line” was the title of the 2005 Cash biopic, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter.
Carl Perkins suggested the title “I Walk The Line” while on tour with Cash.
A version by Megan Wyler and Adem Ilhan was used in popular Levi’s commercials that aired in 2006.
On March 31, 1971, Cash closed out the finale of his television series The Johnny Cash Show with this song. The show had run since June 7, 1969, and drew a substantial audience, but was eliminated as part of the “rural purge” that cancelled many popular shows because they didn’t appeal to the younger generation of television viewers who were primarily concerned with things like the Vietnam War, rock and roll, and the Hippie counterculture.
The Voice contestant Craig Wayne Boyd reached #84 on the Hot 100 following a November 24, 2014 performance of the song on the show where he reinterpreted it as a slow, soulful ballad. It was the tune’s first appearance on the chart since Jaye P. Morgan’s cover reached #66 in 1960.
I Walk The LIne
I find it very, very easy to be true I find myself alone when each day is through Yes, I’ll admit that I’m a fool for you Because you’re mine, I walk the line
As sure as night is dark and day is light I keep you on my mind both day and night And happiness I’ve known proves that it’s right Because you’re mine, I walk the line
You’ve got a way to keep me on your side You give me cause for love that I can’t hide For you I know I’d even try to turn the tide Because you’re mine, I walk the line
I keep a close watch on this heart of mine I keep my eyes wide open all the time I keep the ends out for the tie that binds Because you’re mine, I walk the line
Because you’re mine, I walk the line Because you’re mine, I walk the line
This is one of the songs that got me into ELO. I always thought Jeff Lynne was singing “Bruuucee” in this song but he wasn’t. Jeff Lynne repeatedly sings the word “gruss” after the song’s title line? Apparently, it was a made-up place-keeper word to fill a gap in the vocals when he was improvising the lyrics.
When the German engineer Reinhold Mack heard the ELO frontman’s demo he asked Lynne how he knew “Gruss” means “greetings” in his country’s language. Upon learning the German meaning, Lynne decided to leave it in. Many fans misinterpreted “gruss” as “Bruce.” In fact, so many people misheard the lyric that Lynne actually began to sing the word as “Bruce” for fun at live shows.
The song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100, #3 in the UK, #1 in Canada, and #6 in New Zealand in 1979. The song was on the Discovery album which peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1979.
From Songfacts
This was the first ELO song that did not use strings. After recording it, they fired their string section, leaving four members in the band.
This is the highest-charting ELO hit in both the UK and US, although ELO’s “Xanadu” collaboration with Olivia Newton-John did hit #1 UK.
ELO leader Jeff Lynne wrote this song late in the sessions for the Discovery album. He came up with the track by looping the drums from a song he recorded earlier in the session, then coming up with more music on the piano. The words came last, as Lynne put together some lyrics about a girl who thinks she’s too good for the guy she’s with.
As a little joke, Lynne put a count-in at the beginning of the song, even though there was nobody he was counting in.
This turned out to be a good theme song for astronauts enjoying their time in space. The song was played to astronauts on the Space Shuttle Columbia as their wake up call on July 6, 1996 – they were in flight longer than expected because of bad weather on the ground. ELO’s record company also tried to tie in the song with the Skylab space station, which crashed to Earth on July 11, 1979 after six years in space. They placed ads in trade magazines promoting the new single “Don’t Bring Me Down” by dedicating it to Skylab.
This appears in the 2006 Doctor Who episode “Love & Monsters,” and in the 2012 Family Guy episode “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” It has also been used in these films:
I Can Only Imagine (2018) Super 8 (2011) College Road Trip (2008) The In-Laws (2003) Donnie Brasco (1997)
In 2020, this was used in a Peloton commercial where a dad tries to stay motivated using the fitness bike. It was also used in the trailer for the 2017 film The Emoji Movie.
Don’t Bring Me Down
You got me runnin’ goin’ out of my mind You got me thinkin’ that I’m wastin’ my time (Don’t bring me down, no no no no no) I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floor (Don’t bring me down)
You wanna stay out with your fancy friends I’m tellin’ you it’s got to be the end (Don’t bring me down, no no no no no) I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floor (Don’t bring me down)
Don’t bring me down, gruss Don’t bring me down, gruss Don’t bring me down, gruss Don’t bring me down
What happened to the girl I used to know? You let your mind out somewhere down the road (Don’t bring me down, no no no no no) I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floor (Don’t bring me down)
You’re always talkin’ ’bout your crazy nights One of these days you’re gonna get it right (Don’t bring me down, no no no no no no no) I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floor (Don’t bring me down)
Don’t bring me down, gruss Don’t bring me down, gruss Don’t bring me down, gruss Don’t bring me down
You’re lookin’ good just like a snake in the grass One of these days you’re gonna break your glass (Don’t bring me down, no no no no no no no) I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floor (Don’t bring me down)
You got me shakin’ got me runnin’ away You got me crawlin’ up to you everyday (Don’t bring me down, no no no no no) I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floor (Don’t bring me down)
I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floor (Don’t bring me down)
A guitar-powered anthem if I ever heard one. Great title track of the Clash’s greatest album London Calling.
Authorship of this song was credited to Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, but at some point, the other two members of the band, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon were added.
The title came from the BBC World Service’s radio station identification: “This is London calling…” The BBC used it during World War II to open its broadcasts outside of England. Joe Strummer heard it when he was living in Germany with his parents.
According to guitarist Mick Jones, it was a headline in the London Evening Standard that triggered the lyric. The paper warned that “the North Sea might rise and push up the Thames, flooding the city,” he said in the book Anatomy of a Song. “We flipped. To us, the headline was just another example of how everything was coming undone.”
The song peaked at #11 in the UK in 1979
The Clash wrote this song in 1979 on their first US tour, then recorded it after returning to England.
From Songfacts
This is an apocalyptic song, detailing the many ways the world could end, including the coming of the ice age, starvation, and war. It was the song that best defined The Clash, who were known for lashing out against injustice and rebelling against the establishment, which is pretty much what punk rock was all about.
Joe Strummer explained in 1988 to Melody Maker: “I read about 10 news reports in one day calling down all variety of plagues on us.”
Singer Joe Strummer was a news junkie, and many of the images of doom in the lyrics came from news reports he read. Strummer claimed the initial inspiration came in a conversation he had with his then-fiancee Gaby Salter in a taxi ride home to their flat in World’s End (appropriately). “There was a lot of Cold War nonsense going on, and we knew that London was susceptible to flooding. She told me to write something about that,” noted Strummer in an interview with Uncut magazine.
The line “London is drowning and I live by the river” came from a saying in England that if the Thames river ever flooded, all of London would be underwater. Joe Strummer was living by the river, but in a high-rise apartment, so he would have been OK.
The line about the “a nuclear era, but I have no fear” was inspired by the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor meltdown in March 1979. This incident is also referred to in the lyrics to “Clampdown” from the same album.
The band was intrigued by American music as well as its rock’n’roll mythology, so much so that the album cover was a tribute to Elvis Presley’s first album.
This was recorded at Wessex Studios, located in a former church in the Highbury district of North London. Many hit recordings had already come out of this studio, including singles and albums by the Sex Pistols, The Pretenders and the Tom Robinson Band. Chief engineer and studio manager Bill Price had developed a slew of unique recording techniques suited to the room.
Fellow punk band The Damned were recording overdubs to their album Machine Gun Etiquette in the studio, and as they were old touring buddies of The Clash they roped Strummer and Mick Jones into record backing vocals for the title song to their album – the shouted lines of “second time around!” in that song are actually Strummer and Jones in uncredited cameos.
Interestingly, the band initially wrote most of the London Calling album at the Vanilla rehearsal studios near Vauxhall Bridge in London. Roadie Johnny Green explained: “It had the advantage of not looking like a studio. Out front of a garage. We wrote a sign out front saying ‘we ain’t here.’ We weren’t disturbed.”
With a great vibe going in the studio and having already recorded some demos with The Who’s soundman Bob Pridden, Strummer had the crazy idea to record the entire album there and bypass expensive studio time. CBS refused point blank, so Wessex was chosen because it had a similar intimacy to Vanilla. The original Vanilla demos were made available on the 25th anniversary edition of London Calling.
At the end of the song, a series of beeps spells out “SOS” in morse code. Mick Jones created these sounds on one of his guitar pickups.
The SOS distress signal has often been used metaphorically in songs (like the 1975 Abba song), but in “London Calling” it’s more literal, implying that the disaster has struck and we are calling for help.
London Calling was a double album, but it wasn’t supposed to be. The band were angry that CBS had priced their previous EP, The Cost of Living at £1.49, and so in the interests of their fans they insisted that London Calling be a double LP. CBS refused, so the band tried a different tactic: how about a free single on a one-disc LP? CBS agreed, but didn’t notice that this free single disc would play at 33rpm and contain eight songs – therefore making it up to a double album! It then became nine when “Train in Vain” was tacked on to the end of the album after an NME single release fell through. “Train” arrived so late on that it isn’t on the tracklisting on the album sleeve, and the only evidence of its existence is a stamp on the run-out groove and its presence on the end of side four. So in the end, London Calling was a 19-song double-LP retailing for the price of a single!
Rolling Stone magazine named London Calling the best album of the ’80s. Pedantic readers noted that it was first released in the UK in December 1979. In the US it was released two weeks into January 1980, meaning that from a US perspective, it’s a 1980s album. And if anyone can come up with a better alternative to best album of the ’80s, Rolling Stone would love to hear from you!
According to NME magazine (March 16, 1991), we know that Paul Simonon smashed his bass guitar – as photographed on the cover of the album – at exactly 10:50 pm. This is because he broke his watch in the process and handed the busted bits to photographer Pennie Smith, who snapped the photo.
Smith thought the photo wouldn’t be good for an album cover, citing that it was too blurry and out of focus. “I was wrong!” she admitted in the Westway to the World documentary!
As a tribute to Clash singer/guitarist Joe Strummer, who died in 2002, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, Elvis Costello and Little Steven Van Zant played this at the close of the 2003 Grammys as a tribute to the band. All four played guitar and took turns on vocals. The Grammys is the type of commercialized event The Clash probably would have avoided, although they did win their first Grammy that night when “Westway To The World” won for Best Long Form Music Video.
In 2003, The Clash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it was rumored that Bruce Springsteen would join them to perform at the ceremony. The classic lineup of Strummer/Jones/Simonon/Headon were in talks to reunite to perform at the ceremony and play on stage for the first time since 1982, but Simonon was always against a reunion. In the end, Strummer’s death in December 2002 put paid to the reunion of the original lineup, and the remaining members declined to play. Said Simonon: “I think it’s better for The Clash to play in front of their public, rather than a seated and booted audience.”
According to Mick Jones, his guitar solo was played back backwards (done by flipping over the tape) and overdubbed onto the track.
This is one of the most popular Clash songs, and has been used in many commercials and soundtracks. It was used in promos counting down the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, as well as the film soundtracks for Intimacy (2001), Billy Elliot (2000), Atomic Blonde (2017) and the James Bond movie Die Another Day (2002).
The lyrics contain an observation about how society often turns to pop music to make them feel better about world events, and how The Clash didn’t want to become false idols for folks looking for escapism. This can be heard in the line, “Don’t look to us – phoney Beatlemania (a reference to The Beatles’ massive fanbase in the ’60s) has bitten the dust!” (Mick Jones said the line was “aimed at the touristy soundalike rock bands in London in the late ’70s.)
There’s also a subtle reference to Joe Strummer’s brush with Hepatitis in 1978 with the mention of “yellowy eyes.”
A check of the archives reveals that this song – hailed by many music journalists as a monumental track – received far from unanimous praise from critics when it was released. David Hepworth in Smash Hits criticized the band for playing too loud in the studio. “Why won’t Joe Strummer let us hear more than one word in every three? Until they face those elementary facts, sides like ‘London Calling’ will always fail to condense all that fury and grandeur into a truly great record,” he wrote.
The sales figures and continuing popularity of the song suggest that not many other people had the same problem!
The video was filmed at Cadogan Pier, next to the Albert Bridge in Battersea Park in London. It was directed by longtime friend of the band Don Letts, and made on a wet night in December 1979 which sees the band performing on a barge. Letts didn’t have a happy time doing the video. He explained:
“Now me, I am a land-lover, I can’t swim. Don Letts does not know that the Thames has a tide. So we put the cameras in a boat, low tide, the cameras are 15 feet too low. I didn’t realize that rivers flow, so I thought the camera would be bouncing up and down nicely in front of the pier. But no, the camera keeps drifting away from the bank. Then it starts to rain. I am a bit out of my depth here, but I’m going with it and The Clash are doing their thing. The group doing their thing was all it needed to be a great video. That is a good example of us turning adversity to our advantage.”
Joe Strummer does some ominous echoed cackling about two minutes into this song. He was essentially imitating a seagull, as heard on the Otis Redding song “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.”
Many cover versions of this song have been recorded, including variants by One King Down, Stroh, and the NC Thirteens. Bob Dylan covered the song during his 2005 London residency, and Bruce Springsteen has followed up from his performance of the song at the 2003 Grammys by performing it at some of his concerts, including on his 2009 London Calling: Live in Hyde Park DVD, which is named after the song.
In late 1991, the Irish folk-punk band The Pogues sacked lead singer Shane MacGowan just at the height of their fame. Joe Strummer, by now well split up from The Clash, agreed to take over on vocals for a couple of years until he departed in 1993 on good terms – he didn’t want to be the permanent replacement for MacGowan and wanted to do his own thing. During his time with the Pogues, the band would often play a searing version of “London Calling” at live shows. Like many strong Clash songs, Strummer took it with him to play with his solo band the Mescaleros in the late 1990s.
This was featured in the October 13, 2013 Funny Or Die episode, where a costumed Fred Armisen interviewed the real Mick Jones and Paul Simonon.
This was featured in the 1998 Friends episode “The One with Ross’s Wedding: Part 1,” when the gang arrives in London for Ross and Emily’s nuptials.
London Calling
London calling to the faraway towns Now war is declared and battle come down London calling to the underworld Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls London calling, now don’t look to us Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust London calling, see we ain’t got no swing Except for the ring of that truncheon thing
The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in Meltdown expected, the wheat is growin’ thin Engines stop running, but I have no fear ‘Cause London is drowning, and I, I live by the river
London calling to the imitation zone Forget it, brother, you can go it alone London calling to the zombies of death Quit holding out and draw another breath London calling and I don’t want to shout But when we were talking I saw you nodding out London calling, see we ain’t got no high Except for that one with the yellowy eye
The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in Engines stop running, the wheat is growin’ thin A nuclear era, but I have no fear ‘Cause London is drowning, and I, I live by the river
The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in Engines stop running, the wheat is growin’ thin A nuclear era, but I have no fear ‘Cause London is drowning, and I, I live by the river
Now get this
London calling, yes, I was there, too And you know what they said? Well, some of it was true! London calling at the top of the dial And after all this, won’t you give me a smile?
It’s one of those songs that I would have bet charted higher in the US than it did. In America, “Message In A Bottle” was just a minor hit, peaking at #74 in the Billboard 100 in 1979. It wasn’t until their third album, Zenyatta Mondatta, released in 1980, that the group got much attention in the US.
The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #2 in Canada, and #11 in New Zealand.
Sting:“I used to sing Gregorian chants and plainsong as an altar boy. A lot of my melodies might reflect that love and my early exposure to that stark, melodic narrative. ‘Message In A Bottle’ reflects that, too.”
“I think the lyrics are subtle and well crafted enough to hit people on a different level from something you just sing along to. It’s quite a cleverly put together metaphor. It develops and has an artistic shape to it.”
From Songfacts
This song is about a guy stranded on a remote island. One day he finds a bottle, puts a message in it and throws it out to sea in hopes that someone will find it and come save him. He’s thrilled to wake up one morning and find a whole bunch (a hundred billion, by his count) of bottles on the shore, proving there are many other castaways just like him. The lyrics can be seen as a metaphor for being lonely and realizing there are lots of people just like you. >>
Guitarist Andy Summers said it was the best track he ever played on.
Until they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this was the last song The Police played together; after breaking up in 1986, they performed it at Sting’s wedding to Trudie Styler in 1992. Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers were all a little drunk and didn’t play it very well, but the guests loved it. In 2003, The Police got together again for the induction ceremonies, where they played this along with “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take.”
This was the first single from the second Police album, Reggatta De Blanc (which means “White Reggae” in Police-speak). In the UK, their first album, Outlandos d’Amour, was released a year earlier but was still being discovered. “Roxanne” and “Can’t Stand Losing You” had charted, but the band was still bubbling under. “Message In A Bottle” was when they exploded in Britain; the song went to #1 on September 29, 1979 and stayed for three weeks. Their next single, “Walking On The Moon,” also went to the top. At this point, “So Lonely,” a track from their first album that flopped when it was issued as a single, was re-released, reaching #6 in March 1980.
Sting wrote in Lyrics By Sting: “I was pleased that I’d managed a narrative song with a beginning, a middle, and some kind of philosophical resolution in the final verse. If I’d been a more sophisticated songwriter, I would have probably illuminated this change of mood by modulating the third verse into a different key. But it worked anyway.”
This song is “Hey Jude”-like in its outro, with the phrase “sending out an SOS” repeated over and over for over a minute as it slowly fades. We counted 25 repetitions of the phrase.
Drummer Stewart Copeland overdubbed some cymbals and snare on top of this section, which he later came to regret. “I just overdid it,” he told Songfacts. “Where was Andy [Summers] when we needed him? Because usually it was Andy who was the limiter of our indulgence. He must have stepped out of the studio.”
The first person to hear the guitar riff for this song was not a person at all, but Sting’s dog. “I used to play it over and over again to my dog in our basement flat in Bayswater,” Sting wrote in Lyrics By Sting, “and he would stare at me with that look of hopeless resignation dogs can have when they’re waiting for their walk in the park. Was it that hopeless look that provoked the idea of the island castaway and his bottle? I don’t know, but the song sounded like a hit the first time we played it. The dog finally got his walk, and this song was our first number-one in the UK.”
This was the first-ever UK #1 for the A&M label, which Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss founded in 1962.
This might be the most famous song where a singer sends out an SOS distress signal, but it’s certainly not the only one. The Clash did it in “London Calling,” and many groups have done it metaphorically to signify love gone wrong.
Sting performed this at an Amnesty International benefit in 1981 that was used in a film released the following year called The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball.
This was one of the most popular live songs for the band, played at just about every concert after it was released, often as the set opener. Sting continued to perform it as a solo artist, including at his set at Live Aid in 1985.
After MTV launched in 1981, The Police made some high-concept, big-budget videos that were huge on the network. Prior to that, their videos were more restrained. The “Message in a Bottle” video combines concert footage with shots of the band performing it in some kind of backstage area. It was directed by Derek Burbidge.
Sting performed this with No Doubt at halftime of the 2003 Super Bowl between the Bucs and Raiders. No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani came out and sang with him about midway through. Stefani inducted Police into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later that year.
It may surprise you to learn that the song was influenced by the church music that Sting used to sing as a child. He explained in Isle of Noises by Daniel Rachel: isode “Fallen Angel”; in Doctors, in the 2011 episode “Message in a Bottle”; and in The Office (US), in the 2007 episode “Phyllis’ Wedding.”
The Police boxed set is called Message In A Box as a reference to this song.
The industrial metal band Machinehead covered this on their 1999 album The Burning Red >>
There is a 1999 film by the same name starring Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, and Paul Newman that is not directly connected to this song. >>
In 2003, this song got the post-punk treatment when American Hi-Fi covered it for the film Rugrats Go Wild.
Message In A Bottle
Just a cast away an island lost at sea-o Another lonely day, no one here but me-o More loneliness than any man could bear Rescue me before I fall into despair-o
I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle yeah Message in a bottle yeah
A year has passed since I wrote my note But I should have known this right from the start Only hope can keep me together Love can mend your life but love can break your heart
I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle yeah Message in a bottle yeah Oh message in a bottle yeah Message in a bottle yeah
Walked out this morning I don’t believe what I saw A hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore Seems I’m not alone in being alone A hundred billion castaways looking for a home
I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle yeah Message in a bottle yeah Message in a bottle whoa Message in a bottle yeah
Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. I’m sending out an S.O.S. I’m sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S. Sending out an S.O.S.
I’ve heard this one a lot but I still love that simple bass line that drives the song. They did manage to get 8 songs in the Billboard 100 but with only two top twenty hits. Radar Love is a great driving song.
This song peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100 and #7 in the UK in 1973.
Golden Earring was founded 1961 and into the ’00s was still playing with the same lineup since 1970, doing 100+ shows a year in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. The group is from The Netherlands, where this was a #1 hit. They had only one other hit. It didn’t come until 1982, with “Twilight Zone.”
To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the band, Golden Earring recorded a new track in October 2019, titled “Say When”
The time signatures to this song are quite different than your normal songs. I found this about it…so Jeremy if you are reading…you might be interested.
The song is all in 4/4 time, and the original tempo is around 100 BPM. It’s a very clever arrangement: the intro is on the beat of each bar at the start. The shuffle on the snare is semi triplets which give the illusion of the song speeding up. You have to quantize drum machines to a 6th beat. Consequently, the chorus is doubled up to give the impression that the tempo has speeded up to 200 BPM. You have to transpose the 4/4 bar so it can be played with in 1 beat of the bar. It does take a bit of lateral thinking to get your head around the math, but the song is all 4/4 at 100 BPM.
From Songfacts
Before you could send a text message or call someone in their car, there was no way to communicate to a driver – unless you had a certain telepathic love that could convey from a distance your desire to be with that person, something you might call – Radar Love. In this song, the guy has been driving all night, but keeps pushing the pedal because he just knows that his baby wants him home.
Like many of Golden Earring’s songs, this began with the title and grew from there. Originally intended only as an album track, it turned out to be the only cut on their US debut album Moontan that they could whittle down to a single for radio. It became their showstopper at concerts, and provided a striking moment for their drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk, who would take a few steps back and leap at the drum kit near the end of the song.
This song is featured in the movie Detroit Rock City, about four teenage boys and their struggle to finally see the band KISS play live.
The website http://www.radar-love.net details lots of info on the use and abuse of this song. It has been covered over 250 times: Notable versions include Bryan Adams, U2, Crowded House, Def Leppard, R.E.M. and Carlos Santana. It has also been used in TV shows The Simpsons, The X-Files, Beverly Hills, 90210 and My Name Is Earl. Movie usages include The Break-Up, Pushing Tin and Wayne’s World 2.
White Lion had a minor hit with their cover of this in 1989.
UK radio station Planet Rock carried out a survey of their listeners in 2011 regarding their favourite tracks for in-car listening. This song came out top with Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” the runner-up and AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell” in third place.
The line, “The radio’s playing some forgotten song, Brenda Lee’s coming on strong” is a reference to the 1966 Brenda Lee song “Coming On Strong,” which made #11 US.
Radar Love
I’ve been drivin’ all night, my hands are wet on the wheel There’s a voice in my head that drives my heel My baby call said I need you here It’s half past four and I’m shifting gears
When she gets lonely and the longing gets too much She sends a cable coming in from above Don’t need a phone at all We got a thing that’s called radar love We got a wave in the air Radar love
The radio’s playin’ some forgotten song Revelry’s coming on strong The road has got me hypnotized As I spin into a new sunrise
When I get lonely and I’m sure I’ve had enough She sends comfort coming in from above Don’t need no letters at all We got a thing that’s called radar love We got a line in the sky
No more speed I’m almost there Gotta keep cool, now, gotta take care Last car to pass, here I go The line of cars drove down real slow The radio plays that forgotten song Brenda Lee’s coming on strong The news man sang his same song One more radar lover gone
When I’m feeling lonely and I’m sure I’ve had enough She sends the comfort coming in from above Don’t need no radio at all We got a thing that’s called radar love We got a light in the sky We got a thing and its called radar love We got a thing that’s called Radar love
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack I went out for a ride and I never went back Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
It’s hard to beat that as an opening verse…once I heard that I was hooked. Springsteen met Joey Ramone in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Ramone asked Bruce to write a song for his band, The Ramones. Springsteen wrote “Hungry Heart” that night but decided to keep it.
Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (Flo and Eddie) of The Turtles sang backup.
The song was on the album The River. The album peaked a #1 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1980. Hungry Heart peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 in 1980. This was Springsteen’s first top 10 hit.
Bruce Springsteen:“I saw the Ramones in Asbury Park,” “and we were talking for a while and I was like, ‘Man I’ve got to write the Ramones a song.’ So I went home and I sat at my table and I wrote it in about the time it took me to sing it. I brought it in and we went to make a demo for it or I played it for [Johnny Ramone], and he said, ‘Nah, you better keep that one.’ He was right about that. It did pretty well.”
From Songfacts
This was Springsteen’s first Top 10 hit. Born To Run was a big album five years earlier, but did not have any hit singles. This song proved that Springsteen could not just sell concert tickets and albums, but could record hit pop songs.
This song explores a man’s wanderlust contrasted with his desire for a stable family life. Many of Springsteen’s songs are about wanting to get away, and in this song the main character concludes that he does not want to be alone.
Springsteen’s voice was slightly sped up on the recording, producing a higher vocal. Bob Dylan did the same thing on “Lay Lady Lay.”
This was used in the Tom Cruise movie Risky Business. It was the first time a Springsteen song was used in a film.
In the 1981 Rolling Stone reader’s poll, this was voted best single. Springsteen also won for Best Artist, Album, and Male Singer.
Bruce has the audience sing the first verse and chorus when he performs this live.
The single was backed with “Held Up Without A Gun.” This started a tradition of using songs that did not appear on his albums as B-sides.
This went to #28 when it was Reissued in England in 1995. The first time it was released it only went to #44.
Springsteen performed this with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at Young’s first annual Bridge School benefit concert in 1986.
Hungry Heart
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack I went out for a ride and I never went back Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
Everybody’s got a hungry heart Everybody’s got a hungry heart Lay down your money and you play your part Everybody’s got a hungry heart
I met her in a Kingstown bar We fell in love I knew it had to end We took what we had and we ripped it apart Now here I am down in Kingstown again
Everybody’s got a hungry heart Everybody’s got a hungry heart Lay down your money and you play your part Everybody’s got a hungry heart
Everybody needs a place to rest Everybody wants to have a home Don’t make no difference what nobody says Ain’t nobody like to be alone
Everybody’s got a hungry heart Everybody’s got a hungry heart Lay down your money and you play your part Everybody’s got a hungry heart
When this came out it took me a while to warm up to it… but after a few listens I liked it. They were all over MTV then when they were opening up for the Who’s “farewell” tour.
Clash drummer Topper Headon wrote the music and the original lyrics. After he wrote it he was fired from the band because of drug problems… In the meantime, the song became an enormous hit in the US. In the music video for the song, its original Clash drummer Terry Chimes at the kit (he had returned to replace Headon temporarily).
Joe Strummer decided to take Headon’s lyrics in a different direction. According to former Clash co-manager Kosmo Vinyl, Headon’s original words were a filthy ode to his girlfriend. Joe Strummer wrote the lyrics with a more political bent.
This was The Clash’s biggest US hit, and along with “Train In Vain,” one of only two that reached the Top 40. They had several Top 40 hits in England.
The song peaked at #8 in 1983 in the Billboard 100. The album Combat Rock peaked at #7 in the Billboard Album Charts.
From Songfacts The first line of Strummer’s re-written lyrics had a specific genesis: manager Bernie Rhodes was frustrated in the early Combat Rock sessions with every track ending up being really long (stuff like “Straight To Hell” and “Sean Flynn”) and in one session shouted, “Does everything have to be as long as raga?!” Strummer told Rolling Stone shortly before he died in 2002: “I got back to the hotel that night and wrote on a typewriter, ‘The King told the boogie men You gotta get that raga drop.’ I looked at it and for some reason I started to think about what someone had told me earlier, that you get lashed for owning a disco album in Iran.” This served as inspiration for the rest of the lyrics, about the people defying the Arab ruler (Shareef)’s ban on disco music and “Rocking the Casbah.”
“Casbah” (also spelled “Qasbah” or “Kasbah”) refers to walled areas in many North African towns, especially the one in Algiers. The lyrics use many different terms in humorous context from Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and Sanskrit language and culture – along with Casbah, there are also Sharifs, Bedouins, Sheikh, kosher, raga and minerets in the song.
In the UK this single was backed on the B-side by “Long Time Jerk,” a song mostly written by bassist Paul Simonon about his then-girlfriend Pearl Harbour. “Jerk” wasn’t available anywhere else until it was included on the expanded Super Black Market Clash rarities compilation in 1993.
The US military used this as a rallying cry when they invaded Iraq in 1991. During Operation Desert Storm, Joe Strummer was irate over the song being one of the most requested on US radio because of the misunderstanding that it was an anti-Iraq in sentiment (a similar fate befell The Cure’s “Killing An Arab”).
With electronic sound effects and an intriguing video, this appealed to Americans more than any other Clash song, but it wasn’t a good representation of the band. For many young people in the US, The Clash were known as a British import with a catchy song, similar to MTV darlings like Thomas Dolby and A Flock of Seagulls. In England they were revered for breaking new ground as rock rebels.
When this became a hit, Joe Strummer considered leaving The Clash. He couldn’t justify singing rebellious songs when the band was rich and successful. In their early years, when they were struggling, their music was sincere, but he felt they were becoming a joke.
When the band broke up in 1985, it was speculated that their plan all along was to break up once they had conquered America, a feat that was achieved by “Rock the Casbah” becoming such a huge hit along with “Should I Stay or Should I Go?.”
The music video features an Arab and an orthodox Jewish person skanking, to go with the Middle Eastern theme. The parts of the Arab and Jew were played by Titos Menchaca (the sheik), and local theater director Dennis Razze (the Jew). Titos told us the story:
“We shot it in 1981 in and around Austin, Texas. This was a few months before MTV was even launched. At the time, I was a young film acting student (I had stage experience/training, but working in front of the camera is a different beast). My teacher was a guy named Loren Bivens. One day after class he mentioned that some guys were in from out of town to do some sort of film shoot. He didn’t know much about it but thought it’d be a good opportunity to work in front of a camera.
I chatted with them at their hotel room later. There was Don Letts, a rastah from London who would direct, John Hazard, ace camera man from New York, and some guy named Barry, who I later learned was their DP (director of photography). They explained that they were with the Clash and working in a brand new medium called “music videos” that bands were going to be using to pitch songs to record companies and other powers-that-be. It was such a foreign concept at the time that I didn’t think much about it after the interview until they called later and said they wanted me for the part of the sheik, they liked the contrast between my height (6’3″) and Dennis’, and the gig would pay $350 for one day’s work. NOW they had my attention.
This was Don’s directorial debut, so he was a bit unsure how to handle actors. But, he was extremely creative and we soon learned to glean from his instructions what he wanted from us in each scene.
A few quick notes about the shoot: The rock quarry scene near the beginning where I’m running – we shot that about 6 times because Don wanted to see dust flying off my shoulders à la Indiana Jones when he’s running from the natives at the beginning of the original Raiders movie which had just come out and was all the rage. He kept heaping more and more dirt on me and we kept doing takes until, mercifully, John and Barry told him it simply couldn’t be seen from that distance.
The scene where we’re jamming down the highway with the Austin skyline in the background – John was shooting out an open panel van door and there was lots of honking traffic behind us. That was real beer we were drinking all day.
For the final scene where we’re dancing in the crowd at the concert – some punk kept trying to worm his way into the shot and Don had to physically block him out (like a basketball player) so we could get the shot. (that venue has since been torn down to make a park).
We got to hang out with the band for a bit before the show. They struck me as quiet, serious. Sober, too. Joe Ely was there, also. That night, I hung out at a local reggae joint in Austin called Liberty Lunch (now torn down also) with Bivens, Barry, and these two brothers from New York who were former students of Bivens’ – in town to scout locations for their first feature, which Barry was going to DP for them.
I enjoyed some notoriety from the video when it became an MTV (and later VH1) mainstay, but that all kind of quieted down after a few years except for rabid fans of the band (of which there are many). I find it interesting that it has such social relevance now, as it did then. Maybe more. Also, kids today are rediscovering the Clash and when I do guest artist gigs at colleges my ‘cool factor’ shoots up immediately. Heh heh! Oh, by the way… Barry’s last name? Sonnenfeld. And the two brothers scouting locations? Joel and Ethan Coen. The movie? Blood Simple.
Dennis Razze, who played The Rabbi, told us: “A casting agent friend of mine suggested I audition for this video shoot, so on a lark I went down to the Sheraton Hotel that night to audition. At 8pm or so was a long line around the block of guys auditioning, and finally around 11pm I was ushered into the hotel room to meet three guys who were doing the shoot. Titos, who was a friend of mine, was next in line so we went in together. They had a boom box on which they played this song I had never heard (“Rock the Casbah”) and asked us to improv to it. We danced around a bit and did some interaction as the two characters they wanted – the Sheik and the Rabbi. When we were done they told us on the spot we got the job. We were told to be back there at 5am for makeup and costume!
I had to wear three layers of dark heavy wool and also fake “locks” that were glued to my sideburns. The day of the shoot was ungodly hot as Austin can be in the summer. Close to 100 degrees. They drove us around in a van from location to location and by mid day we had also met the band who didn’t have much to do with us (and I didn’t have a clue who they were). They had rented an expensive film camera to do the shoot (most people don’t realize that music videos were shot on film) The director loved the little bits I added like the “Fiddler on the Roof” dance and spitting beer in the pool. He encouraged me to have fun and I had no trouble being silly. As the day went by, I began to really like the song that they played over and over again at each location. The coolest thing was doing the scene with the armadillo – what a cool creature, bigger than I thought one might be.
We didn’t end the very long day till around midnight after the concert shoot which was absolutely crazy because they just worked us into the audience in front of the stage and shot us and the band in real time during the concert. I was drenched in sweat by that time, exhausted, and just wanted to go home to bed.
I never thought I would hear another thing about the video, but six months later, friends of mine form the East Coast would call and say they saw me on HBO and later MTV. (I never saw the video myself till almost two years after it was shot) We were paid a few hundred dollars for our work, and because there were no residuals in the early days of music videos, we never made another cent off of our success. Given the number of times over so many years the video has been aired, Titos and I would have made a sizable sum I think if the video had been shot a year later when it was determined that music videos would work the same way as commercials.
Combat Rock was recorded at the Electric Ladyland studio in New York. Topper Headon recalled to Mojo magazine November 2008: “I loved New York, the 24-hour city. (But) we’d lost that unity and had stopped hanging out together as friends, and would all turn up at the studio at different times, writing stuff as and when it came up. The sessions were supposed to start at two in the afternoon, though by the time everyone turned up it was seven. I got there early, and what else was I going to do except put down an idea?” That idea was the drum pattern and tune for this song.
Live performances of this song often took a different direction, since by this time the band had given up on taking a keyboard player on tour. This meant the piano part couldn’t be played live, and the song took on a heavier, more all-out rock feel in a live setting.
It was a live staple from its introduction in 1982 through to the band’s breakup in 1985. Joe Strummer was so proud of the song that it was one of the Clash songs that he performed live with his solo band, The Mescaleros (who did indeed have a keyboard player!).
Rock The Casbah
Now the king told the boogie men You have to let that raga drop The oil down the desert way Has been shakin’ to the top The Sheik he drove his Cadillac He went a-cruisin’ down the ville The muezzin was a-standing On the radiator grille
Shareef don’t like it Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah Shareef don’t like it Rock the Casbah, Rock the Casbah
By order of the prophet We ban that boogie sound Degenerate the faithful With that craazy Casbah sound But the Bedouin they brought out the electric camel drum The local guitar picker got his guitar-picking thumb As soon as the Shareef had cleared the square They began to wail
Shareef don’t like it Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah Shareef don’t like it Rock the Casbah, Rock the Casbah
Now, over at the temple Oh, they really pack ’em in The in-crowd say it’s cool To dig this chanting thing But as the wind changed direction Then the temple band took five The crowd caught a wiff Of that crazy Casbah jive
Shareef don’t like it Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah Shareef don’t like it Rock the Casbah, Rock the Casbah
The king called up his jet fighters He said you better earn your pay Drop your bombs between the minarets Down the Casbah way
As soon as the Shareef was chauffeured outta there The jet pilots tuned to the cockpit radio blare As soon as the Shareef was outta their hair The jet pilots wailed
Shareef don’t like it Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah Shareef don’t like it Rock the Casbah, Rock the Casbah
Shareef don’t like it, he thinks it’s not kosher Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah Shareef don’t like it, fundementally can’t take it Rock the Casbah, Rock the Casbah
Shareef don’t like it, you know he really hates it Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah Shareef don’t like it, really, really hates it
This was my favorite song off of the Lets Dance album released in 1983.
Stevie Ray Vaughan played guitar on this song. Bowie asked him to play on the Let’s Dance album after seeing him perform at a music festival.
David Bowie and Nile Rodgers wrote this song. Modern Love peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #2 in the UK, and #6 in New Zealand in 1983. The album was also produced by Bowie and Rodgers.
Nile Rodgers said that Bowie came into his apartment one day and showed him a photograph of Little Richard in a red suit getting into a bright red Cadillac, saying “Nile, darling, that’s what I want my album to sound like.”
How cool is that?
From Songfacts
This is about the struggle to find solace in love and religion. It has also been suggested this song contemplates the old adage “The more things change the more they stay the same.” Explaining how he remained a force in pop music for so many years, Bowie sings, “It’s not really work it’s just a power to charm.”
Bowie said this song’s call-and-response vocal arrangement “all comes from Little Richard.” A defining moment in Bowie’s childhood was when his dad came home with a copy of “Tutti Frutti.”
This sounds very similar to Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing.” They were both recorded around the same time and Bowie nor John were aware of each other’s song.
In 1987, Bowie re-recorded this with Tina Turner for a Pepsi commercial where he plays a scientist who creates the perfect woman (Turner), with a little help from Pepsi. The storyline is cribbed from the 1985 movie Weird Science.
Modern Love
I know when to go out Know when to stay in Get things done
I catch a paper boy But things don’t really change I’m standing in the wind But I never wave bye-bye But I try, I try There’s no sign of life It’s just the power to charm I’m lying in the rain But I never wave bye-bye But I try, I try Never gonna fall for
(Modern love) walks beside me (Modern love) walks on by (Modern love) gets me to the church on time (Church on time) terrifies me (Church on time) makes me party (Church on time) puts my trust in God and man (God and man) no confession (God and man) no religion (God and man) don’t believe in modern love
It’s not really work It’s just the power to charm I’m still standing in the wind But I never wave bye bye But I try, I try Never gonna fall for
(Modern love) walks beside me (Modern love) walks on by (Modern love) gets me to the church on time (Church on time) terrifies me (Church on time) makes me party (Church on time) puts my trust in God and man (God and man) no confession (God and man) no religion (God and man) I don’t believe in modern love
Modern love (modern love) Modern love (modern love) Modern love (modern love) Modern love (modern love) Modern love (modern love) Modern love (modern love) Modern love (modern love) Modern love (modern love) (Modern love) (Modern love) (Modern love) (Modern love) Modern love, walks beside me (Modern love) Modern love, walks on by (Modern love) Modern love, walks beside me Modern love Modern love, walks on by Modern love Never gonna fall for Modern love Modern love
A Byrds song that is not as remembered as much as their earlier hits. I always liked the smooth opening and it fits very well with the movie. .
The star and scriptwriter of Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, had wanted Bob Dylan to write the film’s theme song. However, when he approached Dylan, he declined. Instead, Dylan quickly scribbled a lyric fragment on to a napkin, before telling Fonda to give it to Roger McGuinn. Roger took Dylan’s lines turning them into the first verse then expanded upon them with his own lyrical and musical contributions.
The song peaked at #65 in the Billboard 100 in 1969.
When Bob Dylan saw a private screening of Easy Rider and realized that he had been credited as co-writer on its theme song, he telephoned McGuinn and demanded that his name be removed from the credits. It’s believed that Dylan disowned the tune as he hated the film’s ending.
From Songfacts
The version of the country-tinged tune used in the film and included on the Easy Rider soundtrack album is McGuinn singing and playing acoustic guitar whilst fellow Byrd Gene Parsons accompanies him on harmonica. The version that The Byrds would later release as a single and include on their Ballad of Easy Rider album is a completely different take performed at a quicker tempo.
Ballad of Easy Rider
The river flows It flows to the sea Wherever that river goes That’s where I want to be
Flow river flow Let your waters wash down Take me from this road To some other town
All he wanted Was to be free And that’s the way It turned out to be
Flow river flow Let your waters wash down Take me from this road To some other town
Flow river flow Past the shaded tree Go river, go Go to the sea Flow to the sea
The river flows It flows to the sea Wherever that river goes That’s where I want to be
Flow river flow Let your waters wash down Take me from this road To some other town
Every bar band who has ever played this song in hole in the wall bar… can relate to the lyrics. This song was the B-Side to Bad Moon Rising. CCR and The Beatles had the best double-sided singles of anyone in my opinion.
Lodi is a city in California located in the central valley, about 38 miles south of Sacramento and 87 miles away from Oakland. Fogerty and his earlier band (The Golliwogs) often performed in out of the way towns like Lodi.
Because of being the B side… Lodi peaked at #52 in the Billboard 100 while the A-side Bad Moon Rising peaked at #2 in 1969.
Drummer Doug Clifford on Lodi California: “There were nine people in there, they were all locals, they were all drunk and all they did all night was tell us to turn it down.”
From Songfacts
In Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music, John Fogerty explained that the inspiration for “Lodi” came from trips with his father around central California, an area of the world where he “felt very warm and special.” This seed of an idea grew into a story about a traveling musician whose career “is in the rearview mirror.” Fogerty was only 23 when he wrote this song about an aging musician.
This song is a reflection on John Fogerty’s days with The Golliwogs, an early version of Creedence Clearwater Revival. They had to struggle for success, playing wherever they could with dilapidated equipment and an often indifferent audience. He did not want a return to the Bad Old Days.
Al Wilson recorded a cover of this song. His version was issued on Soul City Records in America and on Liberty Records in the United Kingdom. It was played extensively in the few underground “Northern Soul” clubs of England during the late 1960s and early ’70s, getting its first exposure at the famous Twisted Wheel Club Allnighters in Manchester, England.
In a radio interview, John Fogerty said when he was young his parents took him and his brother to camp at Lodi lake (called Smith lake then) and they hated camping there. So later on they wrote a song about Lodi using their old hatred for the place.
Tesla did an acoustic version of this song that was included on their 1990 live album, Five Man Acoustical Jam. Each band member got to pick a song to cover for the set, and Tesla drummer Troy Luccketta chose “Lodi” since he was born there.
Lodi
Just about a year ago I set out on the road Seekin’ my fame and fortune Lookin’ for a pot of gold Thing got bad and things got worse I guess you know the tune Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again
Rode in on the Greyhound I’ll be walkin’ out if I go I was just passin’ through Must be seven months or more Ran out of time and money Looks like they took my friends Oh Lord, I’m stuck in Lodi again
A man from the magazine Said I was on my way Somewhere I lost connections Ran out of songs to play I came into town, a one night stand Looks like my plans fell through Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again
If I only had a dollar For every song I’ve sung Every time I had to play While people sat there drunk You know, I’d catch the next train Back to where I live Oh Lord, stuck in a Lodi again Oh Lord, I’m stuck in a Lodi again
Running Scared is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 and #9 in the UK. Roy’s voice turns this into something more than just a pop song.
Something I’ve read about this session. Roy wasn’t happy with his first couple of takes. He felt he wasn’t singing that final verse loud enough. The orchestra seemed to be drowning him out. He’d been singing that final note in falsetto, and he finally decided to just sing it full-on, singing it as hard as he could. Orbison sang so hard the musicians in the orchestra stopped playing. They were stunned.
Running Scared, like many of his other songs, was recorded in RCA Studio B in Nashville with the session pros known as “The A-team.”
From Songfacts
A song called “Running Scared” delivered in the trembling tones of Roy Orbison sure sounds pretty bleak, especially when he starts singing about the girl’s past love and how she still feels for him. At the end, however, we find out that everything works out for the best, and the girl walks away with the singer. Orbison’s plaintive voice led many to believe that all his songs were based on misery, but he liked to point out that this one has a happy ending.
Orbison began his career with Sun Records in Memphis, where he was a Rockabilly singer – in 1956 he reached #59 US with “Ooby Dooby,” recorded with his group the Teen Kings. As a songwriter, he also cracked the charts with “So Long I’m Gone” (#72 for Warren Smith in 1957) and “Claudette” (#30 in 1958 for The Everly Brothers).
After moving to Monument Records, Orbison went to Nashville and teamed with fellow songwriter Joe Melson. The pair began writing more operatic songs that would become huge hits for Orbison and define his style – songs that “give you an up mood while you’re crying,” as Melson put it. Their first major success was “Only The Lonely (Know The Way I Feel),” which was followed by “Blue Angel,” “Up Town,” “I’m Hurtin'” and “Running Scared,” which the pair claimed they wrote in just five minutes.
The engineer on these sessions was Bill Porter, who gave this song an exaggerated dynamic range, meaning some parts are very quiet and others are very loud. While most songs of the era had a range of about 3 decibels, Porter said that this one has 24.
This was the last song Roy Orbison ever sung live. His final performance was on December 4, 1988, just two days before his sudden passing, at a Cleveland-area venue. As was his usual habit, Orbison closed the show with “Running Scared.”
Running Scared
Just runnin’ scared each place we go So afraid that he might show Yeah, runnin’ scared, what would I do If he came back and wanted you
Just runnin’ scared, feelin’ low Runnin’ scared, you love him so Just runnin’ scared, afraid to lose If he came back which one would you choose
Then all at once he was standing there So sure of himself, his head in the air My heart was breaking, which one would it be You turned around and walked away with me.
These are my favorite guitar solos. Some of these solos are intricate but some are pretty simple. I picked ones out that I have always liked. Some of them are not considered great but I always thought they were memorable. They caught my ear for one reason or another.
1. Cream – Crossroads – A live solo by Eric Clapton. He pulls notes out of the air and turns this cover of the Robert Johnson song into a great rock track.
2. Beatles – While My Guitar Gently Weeps – One of the few times someone else played on a Beatles track. This was Eric Clapton playing this solo. Eric played his guitar through a Leslie cabinet to make it more “Beatlely”
3. Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower – Jimi made this Bob Dylan song into his own.
4. Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing – I can hum this one all the way through. I know it better than the lyrics.
5. Elvis Presley – That’s Alright Mama – Scotty Moore nails this solo. It’s very simple but it’s perfect.
6. The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil – Keith’s solo compliments the song perfectly.
7. Led Zeppelin – Heartbreaker – My favorite solo by Jimmy Page
8. Tom Petty – Breakdown – Mike Campbell’s solo is just as part of the song as the lyrics are…
9. Queen – We Will Rock You – Not a difficult solo but catchy. This solo was one of the first ones that I ever noticed. Brian May plays solos you can hum.
10. Badfinger – Baby Blue – A very simple solo but it fits this great power-pop song.
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