This was Jimi Hendrix’s favorite song of The Who…which didn’t amuse Pete.
This was the first Who song written by bass player, John Entwistle. Pete Townshend asked him to write a song for their second album…A Quick One. A common story about the song is that “Boris the Spider” was written after John had been out drinking with Bill Wyman. They were making up funny names for animals when Entwistle came up with Boris the Spider.
The song became a huge concert favorite because it was so fun and offset many of their more serious songs. Also, the popularity of the song eventually wore off on Entwistle himself, and he began ritualistically wearing a spider medallion on stage.
Pete Townshend had this to say about the song: Politics or my own shaky vanity might be the reason, but ‘Boris The Spider’ was never released as a single and should have been a hit. It was the most-requested song we ever played on stage, and if this really means anything to you guitar players, it was Hendrix’s favorite Who song. Which rubbed me up well the wrong way, I can tell you. John introduced us to ‘Boris’ in much the same way as I introduced us to our ‘Generation;’ through a tape recorder. We assembled in John’s three by ten-foot bedroom and listened incredulously as the strange and haunting chords emerged. Laced with words about the slightly gruesome death of a spider, the song had enough charm to send me back to my pad writing hits furiously.”
From Songfacts
Entwistle was afraid of spiders as a kid. He wrote this about seeing a spider crawling from the ceiling and squishing it.
Entwistle wrote this as a joke, but it became a concert favorite. It is a fun song that offset many of the more serious Who songs.
This was the only song from the album that they continued to play live.
In the UK, the album was called A Quick One. It was changed to Happy Jack in the US to avoid being offensive.
After he wrote this, Entwistle started wearing a spider medallion at concerts.
Boris The Spider
Look, he’s crawling up my wall Black and hairy, very small Now he’s up above my head Hanging by a little thread
Boris the spider Boris the spider
Now he’s dropped on to the floor Heading for the bedroom door Maybe he’s as scared as me Where’s he gone now, I can’t see
Since Halloween is coming upon us I thought I would feature a few songs referencing the normal culprits throughout the week.
When I was a teenager the song spooked me a bit…and still does. It’s powerful and dynamic with its samba beat. Mick Jagger has said this is about the dark side of man, not a celebration of Satanism. It does, in fact, show the dark side…the lines that stand out to me are: I shouted out, Who killed the Kennedys When after all It was you and me.
Mick Jagger: The satanic-imagery stuff was very overplayed [by journalists]. We didn’t want to really go down that road. And I felt that song was enough. You didn’t want to make a career out of it. But bands did that – Jimmy Page, for instance. I knew lots of people that were into Aleister Crowley. What I’m saying is, it wasn’t what I meant by the song “Sympathy for the Devil.” If you read it, it’s not about black magic, per se.
This song is infectious, it’s a great piece of writing by Mick. The lyrics were inspired by The Master and Margarita, a book by Mikhail Bulgakov. British singer Marianne Faithfull was Mick Jagger’s girlfriend at the time and she gave him the book. Faithfull came from an upper-class background and exposed Jagger to a lot of new ideas. In the book, the devil is a sophisticated socialite, a “man of wealth and taste.”
I usually keep my posts short and quick but songfacts for this song have a book of info on this one so read it if you want. A lot of interesting info.
From Songfacts
This perpetuated the image of the Stones as frightening bad boys, as opposed to the clean-cut Beatles. It was great marketing for the band, who got some press by implying an interest in the occult.
A documentary by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard called One Plus One captured the recording of this song, which took place over five days: June 5, 6, 8 – 10, 1968. At one point, a lamp for the documentary started a fire in the studio. The tapes were saved, but a lot of the Stones’ equipment was destroyed.
The original title was “The Devil Is My Name.” Said Jagger: “Songs can metamorphasize, and ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ is one of those songs that started off like one thing, I wrote it one way and then we started the change the rhythm. And then it became completely different. And then it got very exciting. It started off as a folk song and then became a samba. A good song can become anything. It’s got lots of historical references and lots of poetry.”
Keith Richards (2002): “‘Sympathy’ is quite an uplifting song. It’s just a matter of looking the Devil in the face. He’s there all the time. I’ve had very close contact with Lucifer – I’ve met him several times. Evil – people tend to bury it and hope it sorts itself out and doesn’t rear its ugly head. ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ is just as appropriate now, with 9/11. There it is again, big time. When that song was written, it was a time of turmoil. It was the first sort of international chaos since World War II. And confusion is not the ally of peace and love. You want to think the world is perfect. Everybody gets sucked into that. And as America has found out to its dismay, you can’t hide. You might as well accept the fact that evil is there and deal with it any way you can. Sympathy for the Devil is a song that says, Don’t forget him. If you confront him, then he’s out of a job.”
The song took on a darker meaning when The Stones played it at their Altamont Speedway concert on December 6, 1969, before a fan was fatally stabbed by Hells Angels gang members hired for security. As they played it, the crowd got more unruly; a few songs later, during “Under My Thumb,” the stabbing occurred. [This is all documented in the film Gimme Shelter]. The Stones kept “Sympathy” in the their setlists, playing it throughout 1970.
Some of the historical events mentioned in this song are the crucifixion of Christ, the Russian Revolution, World War II, and the Kennedy assassinations. Robert Kennedy was killed on June 5, 1968, after Mick Jagger started writing the song. His original lyric was “who killed Kennedy?” referring to the 1963 John F. Kennedy assassination, but he changed it to “who killed the Kennedys?”
Other historical events alluded to in the song include the Hundred Years’ War (“fought for ten decades”) and the Nazi Blitzkrieg (“the blitzkrieg raged, and the bodies stank”).
The “whoo-whoo” backing vocals were added when Richard’s girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, did it during a take and the Stones liked how it sounded. Pallenberg sang it on the record along with Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, Marianne Faithfull and Jimmy Miller.
Stones producer Jimmy Miller: “Anita (Pallenberg) was the epitome of what was happening at the time. She was very Chelsea. She’d arrive with the elite film crowd. During ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ when I started going whoo, whoo in the control room, so did they I had the engineer set up a mike so they could go out in the studio and whoo, whoo.”
On their 1989 Steel Wheels tour, The Stones performed this with Jagger standing high above the stage next to a fire. Mick wore a safety belt in case he fell.
The Stones performed this on Rock and Roll Circus, a British TV special The Stones taped in 1968 but never aired. It was released on video in 1995. During the performance, Jagger removes his shirt to reveal devil tattoos on his chest and arms.
Guns ‘N’ Roses covered this in 1994 for the move Interview With The Vampire (the song appears at the end of the movie, which stars Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and a young Kirsten Dunst). Their version hit #9 in England, and marked the first appearance of their new guitarist Paul Huge (rhymes with “boogie” – he later went by “Tobias”), who replaced Gilby Clarke. Axl Rose brought in Huge, and it caused considerable conflict in the band, which broke apart over the next few years. At one point, Matt Sorum called Huge “the Yoko Ono of GNR.”
In our 2013 interview with Gilby Clarke, he recalls this recording as a signal that the band was over. “I knew that that was the ending because nobody told me about it,” he said. “Officially I was in the band at that time, and they did that song without me. That was one of the last straws for me, because nobody had said anything to me and they recorded a song by one of my favorite bands. It was pretty clear I’m a big Stones fan, and they recorded the song without me. So I knew that was it.”
The song ended up being the last one Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan recorded together. “If you’ve ever wondered what the sound of a band breaking up sounds like, listen to Guns N’ Roses’ cover of ‘Sympathy for the Devil,'” Slash wrote in his memoir.
The beat is based on a Samba rhythm. Keith Richards said it “started as sort of a folk song with acoustics, and ended up as a kind of mad samba, with me playing bass and overdubbing the guitar later. That’s why I don’t like to go into the studio with all the songs worked out and planned beforehand.”
The opening lines of this song, “Please allow me to introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste,” were quoted by the Devil character (played by actor Rick Collins) in the 1989 film The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie.
Carlos Santana thought The Stones were playing with fire on this song. “I don’t have no sympathy for the devil,” he said in an NME interview. “I like the beat of the song but I never identify with the lyric. Jagger and Richards don’t really know the full extent of what they’re talking about. If they knew what they were getting into when they sing that song they would not be doing it. The devil is not Santa Claus. He’s for real.”
Santana was one of the performers at the ill-fated Altamont concert, and Carlos claimed he could feel a “demonic presence” during their set – a striking contrast to Woodstock, where the group conjured up peace and love. Santana didn’t allow any of their footage into the Gimme Shelter film.
In 2003, The Stones released this as a “maxi-single,” with four versions of the song. The original was on there, as well as remixes by The Neptunes, Fatboy Slim, and Full Phatt.
The line, “And I laid traps for troubadours who get killed before they reach Bombay” possibly refers to the notorious Thuggee cult, who worshiped Kali, the Hindu goddess of death. They would waylay travelers on the roads of India, then kill the entire group in order to make off with their valuables. This seems to be the closest well known historical incident to fit the lyrics. Also, the Thuggee would have been well known in England, since the British Army put a stop to the cult during the colonial period.
Another interpretation is that the line refers to the hippies who traveled the “Hippie trail,” a passage through Turkey, Afghanistan, India and a few other countries that was popular in the counterculture community. Many of these travelers were killed and ripped off by drug peddlers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Those shady deals could be the “traps.”
Some other worthy covers: Sandra Bernhard, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bryan Ferry, Jane’s Addiction, The London Symphony Orchestra, Natalie Merchant, U2.
One verse of lyrics was recited by Intel vice president Steve McGeady during his testimony in Microsoft’s antitrust trial in November 1998. McGeady had written a memo about Microsoft with the subject “Sympathy For The Devil,” and when asked whether he was calling Microsoft the Devil, McGeady recited the passage about using your well-learned politesse.
In his book Mystery Train, Greil Marcus states that this was influenced by Robert Johnson’s song “Me and the Devil Blues.” Keith Richards describes Johnson’s influence as “Like a comet or a meteor” in the liner notes to Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings.
Fitting for a song about Satan, the song is heavy on the low end, with the bass, percussion and piano prominent throughout the track. The guitar doesn’t come in until 2:50, when the solo comes in. It doesn’t return until nearly two minutes later, when it returns for some licks. The Stones typically change the arrangement when they perform it live, bringing the guitar in for the first “pleased to meet you line,” sometimes punctuated with pyro or other visual elements.
Jagger (1995): “It has a very hypnotic groove, a samba, which has a tremendous hypnotic power, rather like good dance music. It doesn’t speed up or down. It keeps this constant groove. Plus, the actual samba rhythm is a great one to sing on, but it’s also got some other suggestions in it, an undercurrent of being primitive – because it is a primitive African, South American, Afro-whatever-you-call-that rhythm. So to white people, it has a very sinister thing about it. But forgetting the cultural colors, it is a very good vehicle for producing a powerful piece. It becomes less pretentious because it’s a very unpretentious groove. If it had been done as a ballad, it wouldn’t have been as good.”
Jagger (1995): “I knew it was a good song. You just have this feeling. It had its poetic beginning, and then it had historic references and then philosophical jottings and so on. It’s all very well to write that in verse, but to make it into a pop song is something different. Especially in England – you’re skewered on the altar of pop culture if you become pretentious.”
In 2006, this was included in The National Review magazine’s list of the 50 most conservative rock lyrics. They claimed that this is an anti-Communist, conservative song and that the devil being referred to is Communist Russia.
The opening line was used in Volume 2 of 10 of the graphic novel V For Vendetta. >>
This song was used for a title of a episode of the anime series Cowboy Bebop. “Honky Tonk Women” is also the title of an episode.
In the TV series Will and Grace, The character Karen states that she always wanted to walk down the aisle when she got married for the fourth time to “Sympathy For The Devil.” When her husband-to-be refuses, she fights with him.
The industrial band Laibach released an entire album containing different covers of this song. The character and tone of the Laibach covers are largely very different from the Stones original. In the opening track the lead singer sings/shouts in a very deep bass voice with a thick Slavic accent. One of their covers contains references to the violence at the Altamont raceway.
Sympathy For The Devil
Please allow me to introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste I’ve been around for a long, long year Stole many a man’s soul to waste
And I was ’round when Jesus Christ Had his moment of doubt and pain Made damn sure that Pilate Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you Hope you guess my name But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. Petersburg When I saw it was a time for a change Killed the czar and his ministers Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank Held a general’s rank When the blitzkrieg raged And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you Hope you guess my name, oh yeah Ah, what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee While your kings and queens Fought for ten decades For the gods they made
I shouted out Who killed the Kennedys? When after all It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste And I laid traps for troubadours Who get killed before they reached Bombay
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah But what’s confusing you Is just the nature of my game, mm yeah
Just as every cop is a criminal And all the sinners saints As heads is tails Just call me Lucifer ‘Cause I’m in need of some restraint
So if you meet me Have some courtesy Have some sympathy, and some taste Use all your well-learned politesse Or I’ll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah
But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down
Oh yeah, get on down Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Tell me baby, what’s my name Tell me honey, can ya guess my name Tell me baby, what’s my name I tell you one time, you’re to blame
Oh, right
What’s my name Tell me, baby, what’s my name Tell me, sweetie, what’s my name
Sometimes I just have to hear some Devo to break the monotony. This is Devo from back in 1981. This song peaked at #43 in the Billboard 100, #8 in New Zealand and #17 in Canada. The song was not on their album New Traditionalists which was out at this time but it came packaged as a single included with the album.
It was also on the soundtrack of Heavy Metal.
It was written by Allen Toussaint in the early 1960s. Toussaint, as a pianist, writer, and producer, was part of the second wave of New Orleans’ Jazz and Blues culture. He worked with many big names from the era including Fats Domino, Chris Kenner, Benny Spellman, and Diamond Joe.
The song was made famous by Lee Dorsey in 1966.
From Songfacts on Working In A Coal Mine
Although “Working in the Coal Mine” sounds just like a jazz standard that could have been handed down from generation to generation of the American Old South, it was actually
In the ’60s, Toussaint wrote and produced several hits for Lee Dorsey, including “Ride Your Pony,” “Get Out of My Life Woman,” “Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky,” and “Holy Cow.”
In 1965, Toussaint wrote a song for Dorsey called “Work, Work, Work,” which was appropriate since Dorsey loved working on cars as much as he loved making music – he worked at a body shop and was often seen covered in grease. When he wrote for a specific artist, Toussaint would craft the song to that artist’s personality, which he did on “Working in the Coal Mine.”
Mining is very unpleasant work, but the incessant background vocals (“Workin’ in a coal mine, oops, about to slip down”) and Dorsey’s enthusiastic delivery turned the song – about a guy who is so tired from work that he can’t even have fun on Saturday – into a campy romp. An artist who didn’t appreciate and enjoy real work couldn’t have pulled it off, but Dorsey was the right man for the job. When he left the music business, he went back to bending fenders full-time.
That backing band on this track is The Meters, who were mainstays of the New Orleans funk sound. The Meters went on to work with Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Robert Palmer. They were also very successful recording on their own – in 1969 they hit #23 US with “Cissy Strut.”
A popular cover of this song was recorded by Devo and included on the soundtrack to the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal. Their version made #43 in the US.
In 1985, the country duo The Judds released the song on their album Rockin’ With The Rhythm.
This was recorded at J&M Studios in New Orleans, which was where just about every hit from that city was put to tape in the ’50s and ’60s. “Coal Mine” was one of the last hits recorded there, as financial problems led to its demise a few years later.
Dorsey’s label, Amy Records, commissioned a promotional film for his song (what would later be called a “music video”). The clip shows Dorsey emerging from the listening booth of a record store covered in dirt and wearing his work clothes. The clip was used to promote the song on British television shows.
You can also hear a snatch of this song in the Blaupunkt car stereo commercial of the ’90s. While we’re on the subject, we’re reminded of the fantastically popular (even record-breaking) indie video game Minecraft which has been storming the Internet gaming forums since its alpha release in 2010. Should the developers decide to create a TV advertisement, we can think of a song to recommend.
Working In A Coal Mine
Workin’ in the coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down Workin’ in a coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down
Five o’clock in the mornin’ I’m already up and gone Lord, I’m so tired How long can this go on?
Workin’ in the coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down Workin’ in a coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down
‘Cause I make a little money Haulin’ coal by the ton When Saturday rolls around I’m too tired for havin’ fun
Workin’ in the coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down Workin’ in a coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down
Lord I’m so tired How long can this go on?
Workin’ in the coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down Workin’ in a coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down
Five o’clock in the mornin’ I’m already up and gone Lord, I’m so tired How long can this go on?
Workin’ in the coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down Workin’ in a coal mine Goin’ on down, down Workin’ in a coal mine Oops, about to slip down
This is a beautiful song by Jimi with some great guitar.
Jimi wrote this song and it was inspired by the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, a concert held for 3 days during 1967. It was attended by about 200,000 music fans, it happened 2 years before Woodstock. Jimi wrote about the atmosphere at the festival as if it was a girl. He described the feeling as “Everybody really flying and in a nice mood.” He named it “Little Wing” because he thought it could just fly away.
The song was on Axis: Bold as Love released in 1967. The album peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 in 1968.
The same day they recorded “Layla,” Eric Clapton and Duane Allman recorded this as a tribute to Jimi, who was one of their guitar heroes. Hendrix died 9 days later. Jimi never heard their version of his song, which was released in 1970 on the Derek and the Dominos album, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs.
From Songfacts
The guitar on the song is played in a very unique style. Jimi frets the roots of chords with his thumb, and then elaborates on them. It often involves shifts of quartile to tertian harmony and vice versa. In theory it is quite similar to the Jazz style of chord melody.
The song is particularly revered among guitar players. Tom Morello wrote in this 2011 tribute to Hendrix in Rolling Stone: “It’s just this gorgeous song that, as a guitar player, you can study your whole life and not get down, never get inside it the way that he does. He seamlessly weaves chords and single-note runs together and uses chord voicings that don’t appear in any music books.”
The percussion instrument that sounds like a xylophone is a glockenspiel, an instrument popular in marching bands containing steel bars that are stuck with hammers to produce notes.
Jimi ran his guitar through a Leslie speaker to create an unusual sound. The Leslie speaker was designed for organs and contains a rotating paddle that distorts the sound.
In 1963 Jimi recorded a song that may have been a precursor to this. The song “Fox,” which was one of his first recordings was played with sax player Lonnie Youngblood and sounded very similar to this.
This is one of the songs that had to be remixed just before the album was released when one of the master tapes went missing. No one ever found out what happened to the original tape but its been speculated that Jimi either accidentally left the tape in a taxi or purposely disposed of the tape because he wasn’t satisfied with its sound.
This song, along with “Spanish Castle Magic,” are the only songs Hendrix ever performed in concert from his Axis: Bold as Love album. He played this live only 8 times.
Hendrix has described this as being one of the few he likes from this album. He said “Little Wing” is “like one of those beautiful girls that come around sometimes.” Hendrix enjoyed writing slow songs because it was easier to put emotion into them.
Little Wing
Well she’s walking through the clouds With a circus mind That’s running wild Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams And fairly tales
That’s all she ever thinks about
Riding the wind
When I’m sad she comes to me With a thousand smiles She gives to me free
It’s alright, she says It’s alright Take anything you want from me Anything
I’m more of a studio guy when it comes to listening to bands but there are a few live albums I really like. This is my top 10 and a few honorable mentions at the bottom. Very few artists can improve on the studio version but sometimes some manage to pull it off.
10. Led Zeppelin – How the West Was Won – After the disappointing live album The Song Remains The Same, this album released in 2003 contained Led Zeppelin live in 1972 from two shows in top form.
9: Simon And Garfunkel – The Concert In Central Park – This was big for me when it was released. I had by this time worn a groove out in their greatest hits. The band was great and their harmonies were as good as ever.
8: George Harrison – The Concert For Bangladesh – Fun to listen to George freed from the Beatles and he sounds great with Dylan, Billy Preston, Ringo, and other friends.
7: The Band: The Last Waltz – One of the best live albums ever. The Band’s last concert with Robbie with a host of talented famous friends. I still don’t get the Neil Diamond selection…nothing against Neil…he didn’t fit in with this atmosphere.
6: The Allman Brothers Band “At Fillmore East” – This album floats up and down this list depending on my mood. It was at number 2 when I first made this list a couple of weeks ago. This band was probably one of the most talented bands in the seventies. I didn’t start heavily listening to them until around 5-10 years ago. They are better live than in the studio. There was not a weak link in this 6 piece band…especially in the Duane version but later incarnations were almost as strong.
5: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, ‘Live/1975-85’ – I listened to this so much in the 80s that I knew the stories Bruce would tell by heart. Later when listening to the studio version of a song I would expect the story that went with it.
4: Paul McCartney Wings Over America – This triple album set was a live greatest hits. The songs had some edge to them thanks to Jimmy McCulloch the young prodigy guitar player. Paul even broke his silence on the Beatles and included five Beatle songs. Blackbird, I’ve Just Seen a Face, Yesterday, The Long and Winding Road, and Lady Madonna. Unlike the other 3 albums ahead of this on in the list, Paul didn’t mess with the songs too much from the original studio recordings.
3: The Rolling Stones – ‘”Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!” – This tour and the 1972 tour were the Stones at their live peak.
2: Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert – I have seen Dylan 8 times but if I could pick a tour to see him on…I would go back and this would be the one. With The Band backing him up…minus Levon Helm but Mickey Jones on drums is very powerful.
1: The Who – ‘Live at Leeds’ This album highlights The Who at their best. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a rock band so tight. The power of the performance is huge. Pete Townshend told his soundman Bob Pridden to erase all other shows on this tour at the time…Bob did… much to Pete’s regret later on.
Honorable Mentions
Beatles Live At The Star-Club in Hamburg Germany – The quality of the recording is pretty bad but it’s exciting to hear the punkish Beatles before Beatlemania hit.
The Runaways were formed in 1975 by producer Kim Fowley after guitarist Joan Jett and drummer Sandy West introduced themselves to him in hopes of starting a group. They eventually went on to recruit Lita Ford, Jackie Fox, and Cherie Currie. Lead singer, Currie, went into her audition with a rendition of Peggy Lee’s “Fever.” When the band refused to play the song, Jett and Fowley wrote the chorus of “Cherry Bomb”.
The album peaked at only #194 on the Billboard 100 in 1976. The Runaways materialized out of the Sunset Strip rock-club scene in the mid-1970s, enjoying a few years of fame. Their first gig was in 1975 and they broke up in 1979. The Runaways remain best remembered as the first band of both Joan Jett and Lita Ford.
From Songfacts
A “Cherry Bomb” is a small explosive device popular with kids, but in the context of this song, it means an underage girl who is lots of trouble – in this case taunting her parents and other adults with suggestions of promiscuity and bad behavior.
This was all by design, as Fowley was out to shock with The Runaways and generate a great deal of hype. The band earned a lot of press and a fair amount of rock credibility, since they played their own instruments and for the most part were genuinely talented. In many ways, however, Currie was the weak link – it was hard to take a band seriously when their lead singer wore lingerie on stage and presented herself as jailbait. Currie left the group in 1977 after their third album, and when asked why The Runaways were having a hard time being taken seriously, Joan Jett said, “It was that whole ‘Cherry Bomb With The Corset’ thing with Cherie.”
Joan Jett became the biggest star to come out of The Runaways, and her story was the focus of their 2010 movie, where she was portrayed by the fetching Kristen Stewart. When the group dissolved in 1979, she didn’t have a lot of offers, but the producer Kenny Laguna partnered with her, forming Blackheart Records and creating many classic songs, including the famous cover of the Arrows song “I Love Rock And Roll.” When we spoke with Laguna, he told us: “The record companies could care less about Joan Jett, they were busy signing every other Runaway. They thought Joan was the loser and they signed the other girls, who we’re all friends with, but I looked at the band and thought she was the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the band.”
To give you a hint as to how central this song is to The Runaways’ legacy, the poster of the 2010 Runaways movie features a juicy dripping cherry whose stem is lit and sparking like a bomb. Bevis and Butthead took one look at it and spontaneously combusted.
That’s Cherie Currie growling the vocals here, which were performed by Jett when she left the band. You know what else is on her resumé? Chainsaw artist. That is, she carves wood sculptures using a chainsaw. No, really, she’s good. Check her personal site here. How’s that for machisma? If you don’t see how carving art with a chainsaw is a metaphor for punk rock, we obviously haven’t been explaining this stuff clearly enough to you.
By the way, modern audiences might easily get Joan Jett and Lita Ford confused – their styles are very similar. They were both in The Runaways at the same time and basically wrote the book on all-girl punk bands in the ’70s – but really, they’re a continuation of the lineage first started by Suzi Quatro, whom Jett cites as an influence. You can hear the go-to-hell delinquent rebel in the style of all three, right?
Speaking at Kim Fowley’s memorial service, Joan Jett said that they wrote the song for Cherie Currie’s audition – the collaboration marked the first time Jett had written a song with someone else.
Joan Jett’s version was featured on the 1992 “Free Fall” episode of the TV series Highlander, which starred Jett as an immortal. The song can also be heard on a 2012 episode of True Blood and in the 1993 movie Dazed and Confused.
The song was featured in Marvel Studios’ 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy. Director James Gunn explained how some of the music was used during the filming: “Where possible, the songs were played live on set,” he said. “When you see the gang walking down the hall to ‘Cherry Bomb,’ they were actually walking down the hall to ‘Cherry Bomb.'”
Accompanied by Dave Grohl, Joan Jett performed this song at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when she was inducted in 2015.
Cherry Bomb
Can’t stay at home, can’t stay at school. Old folks say ‘You poor little fool’. Down the streets I’m the girl next door. I’m the fox you’ve been waiting for.
Hello, daddy. Hello, mom. I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! Hello world! I’m your wild girl. I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!
Stone age love and strange sounds too. Come on, baby, let me get to you. Bad nights causing teenage blues. Get down ladies, you’ve got nothin’ to lose.
Hello, daddy. Hello, mom. I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! Hello world! I’m your wild girl. I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!
Hello, daddy. Hello, mom. I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! Hello world! I’m your wild girl. I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!
Hey, street boy, want some style? Your dead end dreams don’t make you smile. I’ll give you something to live for. Have you and grab you until you’re sore.
Hello, daddy. Hello, mom. I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! Hello world! I’m your wild girl. I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! Cherry bomb! Cherry bomb! Cherry bomb! Cherry bomb!
The Regrettes are a band from Los Angeles. They have been described as “girl-group power-pop-punk.”
They are worth checking out. They do have typical older teenage rebellion lyrics but they have some punch. They are having some success in California and are about to tour Europe. I do like the way they handled this cover of the classic Sweet song. The Regrettes released their second studio album, How Do You Love? in August of this year.
From Allmusic by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Led by singer/songwriter Lydia Night, the Regrettes were all in their teens when they released their first singles in 2016. All three singles — “A Living Human Girl,” “Hey Now,” and “Hot” — show the Los Angeles-based quartet demonstrate a pop sense so keen, it could be called classicist if it weren’t for the nervy, punky energy and teenage rebellion that keep this music fresh.
Night formed the Regrettes with guitarist Genessa Gariano, bassist Sage Nicole, and drummer Maxx Morando in 2015. Night started playing guitar and writing songs when she was six, picking up pointers from classic rock and punk played around the house. She wound up enrolling in Los Angeles’ School of Rock program around the age of 12, which is when she first met Gariano and Nicole, but the Regrettes weren’t formed until late 2015. By that point, Night had several originals under her belt, all of which helped get the band signed to Warner Bros. “A Living Human Girl” appeared in the summer of 2016, followed by “Hey Now” and “Hot,” all teasers for their full-length debut, Feel Your Feelings Fool!, released by Warner in early 2017.
Early in 2018, the Regrettes released the EP Attention Seeker. A handful of singles followed that year, including “California Friends” and “Poor Boy,” continuing into 2019 with a cover of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Throughout the first half of the year, they issued several singles previewing their sophomore full-length, including “Pumpkin,” “Dress Up,” and “I Dare You.” Titled How Do You Love?, the album was released by Warner that August.
Regrettes cover Sweet’s Fox On The Run on the A.V Undercover Web Series
Fox on the Run
I don’t wanna know your name ‘Cause you don’t look the same The way you did before Okay, you think you got a pretty face But the rest of you is out of place You looked alright before
Fox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy on the run F-foxy Fox on the run And hide away
You, you talk about just every band But the names you drop are second hand (second hand) I’ve heard it all before I don’t wanna know your name ‘Cause you don’t look the same The way you did before
Fox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy on the run F-foxy Fox on the run And hide away
F-foxy Fox on the run You scream and everybody comes a running Take a run and hide yourself away Foxy is on the run F-foxy Fox on the run And hide away (Fox on the run) (Fox on the run) (Fox on the run) (Fox on the run)
I saw this quote by a critic about this song: “Take one part Small Faces, one part Who, one part Beatles, mix, cook to a boil and let rock!”
I found this song on their greatest hits. I would highly recommend one of their greatest hits to anyone.
A powerpop group from Cleveland Ohio in the early to mid-70s. They were influenced by the Beatles, Small Faces, The Who and The Beach Boys. They had some of the same problems as Badfinger, being too hard for pop and too soft for rock. Badfinger was overall more successful but the Raspberries had some top 40 hits.
This song peaked at #69 on the Billboard 100 in 1973. Tonight was originally on their 3rd album called Side 3 that peaked at 128 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1973. Eric Carmen would go on to greater success as a solo performer but I never thought he topped what he did with the Raspberries.
Tonight
One, two, three, four When you smiled at me And I saw your eyes All I ever wanted to be Was in your arms tonight You looked too young to know about romance Oh, yes you did But when you smiled, I had to take a chance I had to take a chance and be with you
Tonight I’ll be with you tonight Tonight You’ll love me too tonight Woh baby, tonight
I’m making love to you Woh, tonight Bop-om-doo-doh-woh-mop-shoo Woh, tonight You’re gonna love me too Tonight Woh, tonight
I don’t know myself If it’s wrong or right All I know is what I can feel So be my love tonight You looked too young to know about romance Oh, you know what I mean But when you smiled, I had to take a chance I had to take a chance and be with you
Woh, tonight Won’t you let me sleep with you, baby Woh, tonight I just wanna make you feel good inside, baby Woh, tonight Let me feel the love that’s in you Woh, tonight Come on, come on, come on, come on And let me Come on, baby Woh, tonight
I love garage rock and this song is what it’s all about. Distortion and feedback with a driving beat.
Action Woman is The Litter’s most well-known song. With its demonic fuzz/feedback guitar riffs and snarling lead vocal, it was an archetype of the tough ’60s garage rock and a precursor of the 70s punk movement.
The Litter was heavily influenced by British Invasion bands such as The Yardbirds and the Who, they recorded their debut single, Action Woman backed by The Who’s A Legal Matter with local producer Warren Kendrick in late 1966.
Kendrick wrote Action Woman for them. They finally signed to a major label in 1969 but their distortion was toned down a bit and their singer and guitar player was replaced. Their album Emerge peaked at #175 in the Billboard Album Chart.
The B side…Cover of The Who’s Legal Matter
Action Woman
Hey, Miss High and Mighty I’ve had all I can take Walkin’ right on by me That’s your last mistake
I’ve gotta find myself some action To satisfy my soul A little mad distraction Before I lose control
You say you love me good But why are you so cold? You say you own the world, But you don’t own my soul.
A little competition, now Maybe that’ll wake you up, Stir up some ambition, yeah And really shake you up.
Yeah! Oh!
I’m gonna find me an action woman To love me all the time, A satisfaction woman Before I lose my mind.
Yeah, I’m gonna find me an action woman To love me all the time, A satisfaction woman Before I lose my mind.
I’m gonna find me an action woman A satisfaction woman! I’m gonna find me an action woman! (fade out)
First time I heard this I liked it. It’s a sugary pop song and I was surprised at the time that Dave Grohl the drummer for Nirvana wrote and sang it.
The song peaked at #9 on the Alternative Charts and #19 in the UK in 1996.
David Grohl wrote this and many other songs on the album when he was still the drummer for Nirvana. Kurt Cobain knew he wanted to pursue projects outside of Nirvana, and had no problem with it.
The video is a takeoff on Mentos commercials. Mentos are mint candies that come in tubes. They are made in Europe, and the commercials had a campy feel. Unfortunately for The Foo Fighters, Mentos make great projectiles and for years fans would throw the candy at them when they played this.
They stopped playing the song because of the Mentos flying at them and didn’t start playing it again until Weezer, who was touring with them started to play the song.
It won the 1996 MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video.
From Songfacts
This song is about being dumped. Lead Foo Dave Grohl broke it down: “Girl meets boy, boy falls in love, girl tells him to f–k off!”
The Mentos commercials became a big part of pop culture in the US. In each spot, someone gets a moment of inspiration after eating a mint and is then able to overcome some obstacle. In one spot, a woman’s car is boxed in, so she gets some burly construction workers to pick it up and move it for her. In another, a kid acts like a roadie to get backstage at a concert.
The video shows the band in similar situations, solving problems with the aid of their own special candy called Foo-tos.
This song was often covered by Weezer when the Foo Fighters and Weezer toured together in 2005.
The Foo Fighters released an acoustic version with Petra Haden singing with Dave Grohl for their 2006 live CD Skin and Bones.
In the video for the Foo Fighters song “Monkey Wrench,” which Grohl directed, a soothing version of “Big Me” plays as elevator music. Grohl commissioned the electronic act The Moog Cookbook, which had covered “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to his liking, to create this rendition for the video. The full electro version of “Big Me” can be heard on the Moog Cookbook compilation album Bartell.
Big Me
When I talk about it It carries on Reasons only knew When I talk about it Aries or treasons All renew
Big me to talk about it I could stand to prove If we can get around it I know that it’s true
When I talked about it Carried on Reasons only knew
But it’s you I fell into
When I talk about it It carries on Reasons only knew When I talk about it Aries or treasons All renew
Big me to talk about it I could stand to prove If we can get around it I know that it’s true
Well I talked about it Put it on Never was it true But it’s you I fell into
Well I talked about it Put it on Never was it true But it’s you I fell into
This song was a B side to Cripple Creek. This was on the Band’s self-titled second album The Band with peaked at #9 in 1970 in the Billboard Album Charts. The song was written by Robbie Robertson:
’ I told Levon I wanted to write lyrics about the Civil War from a southern family’s point of view. ‘Don’t mention Abraham Lincoln in the lyrics’ was his only advice, ‘That won’t go down too well.’ I asked him to drive me to the Woodstock library so I could do a little research on the Confederacy. They didn’t teach that stuff in Canadian Schools. When I conjured up the story about Virgil Caine and his kin against this historical backdrop, the song came to life for me. Though I did stop and wonder, can I get away with this? You call this rock ‘n’ roll? Maybe!
Joan Baez covered this song and it peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 in 1971…while the Bands version didn’t chart…Life isn’t fair at times. Asked about the Baez version of this song, Robbie Robertson said it was “a little happy-go-lucky for me,” but he was thankful that it introduced many listeners to The Band.
The song appeared at number 245 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
From Songfacts
Robbie Robertson wrote this song, which is set during the American Civil War – “Dixie” is a term indicating the old American South, which was defeated by the Union army. The song is not related to his heritage, as Robertson is half-Mohawk Indian, half-Jewish Canadian.
Robertson came up with the music for this song, and then got the idea for the lyrics when he thought about the saying “The South will rise again,” which he heard the first time he visited the American South. This led him to research the Civil War.
The main character in the song, Virgil Caine, is fictional, but there really was a “Danville train” and “Stoneman’s cavalry.”
The train would have been part of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, a vital conduit for the Confederate Army. George Stoneman was a Union cavalry officer who led raids on the railroad.
The vocals featured the 3-part harmonies of Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, and Rick Danko on the choruses, and Helm sang the verses. He was the only band member who was from the South (Arkansas), so it was fitting that he played the role of Virgil Caine, a Virginia train worker, in this song.
This was recorded in Sammy Davis Jr.’s house in Los Angeles. The Band rented it and converted a poolhouse into a studio to record their second album.
Joan Baez covered this in 1971. It was her biggest hit, reaching US #3 and UK #6.
Her version was recorded at Quad Studios in Nashville with producer Norman Putnam, who gathered about 20 people from around the studio to sing on the chorus. One of those voices belongs to Jimmy Buffett, who Putnam would later work with on his album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.
Baez changed some of the lyrics on her version. For example, she sings, “Virgil Cain is my name and I drove on the Danville train. ‘Til so much cavalry came and tore up the tracks again.” The original lyrics are, “Virgil Cain is THE name and I SERVED on the Danville train. ‘Til STONEMAN’S cavalry came and tore up the tracks again” referring to George Stoneman, who was a general in the Union army).
This was used as the B-side to “Up On Cripple Creek.”
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train ‘Til Stoneman’s cavalry came and tore up the tracks again In the winter of ’65, we were hungry, just barely alive By May the tenth, Richmond had fell, it’s a time I remember, oh so well
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the bells were ringing The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singin’ they went La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she called to me “Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E Lee” Now I don’t mind choppin’ wood, and I don’t care if the money’s no good Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest But they should never have taken the very best
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the bells were ringing The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singin’ they went La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Like my father before me, I will work the land Like my brother above me, who took a rebel stand He was just eighteen, proud and brave, but a Yankee laid him in his grave I swear by the mud below my feet You can’t raise a Caine back up when he’s in defeat
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the bells were ringing The night they drove old Dixie down, and all the people were singin’, they went Na, la, na, la, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
The night they drove old Dixie down, and all the bells were ringing The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singin’, they went Na, la, na, la, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
First time I heard this song was in the brilliant comedy Animal House by the fictional group Otis Day and the Knights. The movie was such a big hit that many people thought Otis Day And The Knights were a real group, so they went on tour. They did very well, selling out many of the places they played and released an album in 1989 called Shout. Otis Day’s real name is DeWayne Jessie.
This song was recorded in its first take during the studio session. Shout was never a big chart success (#47), but it sold over a million copies and became a rock and R&B classic. The Isley Brothers bought their mother a house in New Jersey with the proceeds from this. She was living in Cincinnati.
After Shout got some attention, RCA records signed the Isleys to a record deal despite concerns that people would not understand what they were singing.
From Songfacts
The Isleys wrote this on the spur of the moment at a Washington, DC, concert in mid-1959. As they performed Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops,” Ronald Isley ad-libbed, “WELLLLLLLLLLL… you know you make me want to SHOUT” and Rudy and O’Kelly joined in on the improvisation. The audience went wild and afterwards, RCA executive Howard Bloom suggested putting it out as their first RCA single. >>
This evolved out of the call-and-response style The Isleys grew up singing in church. The organist from their church, Professor Herman Stephens, played on the song.
The Isley Brothers did not consider this a song at first. It was just a “thing” they would do onstage and the crowd would go nuts. They knew they were onto something when Jackie Wilson, who they were opening for, started using the stop-and-go style in his show.
This song has its own dance. When The Isleys sing the “little bit softer now” part, you go a little lower, then gradually rise up for the “little bit louder now part.” For the rest of the song, you just jump around and go crazy. It’s an easy dance, which makes it popular at weddings, proms, and other events where many rhythmically-challenged people end up on the dance floor.
The 1978 movie Animal House featured this in a famous scene where the frat brothers danced to it. The movie starred John Belushi and became a classic, helping revive interest in the song as well as the dance associated with it. In 2003, the group MxPx recorded a new version for the 25th anniversary DVD release of the movie.
In the UK, this is the song that introduced the singing sensation Lulu. The Scottish singer came to London at age 15 and recorded a version of the song with her group Lulu & The Luvvers that made it to #7 on the UK charts. Early on, Lulu often performed in Blues clubs where the song was a great fit. She soon became a very successful actress as well, appearing in the film To Sir With Love and scoring a #1 US hit with the title track.
Lulu, just 13 at the time, was introduced to the song by the Scottish rocker Alex Harvey, who she saw perform it in a Glasgow club called The Scene. Lulu added it to her act with The Luvvers, and it became their first hit when Lulu sang it at an audition for Decca records. She had a terrible cold when she recorded it, which gave her a rougher sound that suited the song.
The Isleys developed this on tours of black theaters in the late ’50s. They were usually low on the bill with other R&B acts.
The B-side of the single was “Shout Part 2,” an even wilder version.
The Isley Brothers next 4 singles tanked. They did not have another hit until “Twist And Shout” in 1962.
A cover version by Joey Dee And The Starlighters was a US Top 10 hit in 1962.
Shout
Well
You know you make me wanna (Shout!) Kick my heels up and (Shout!) Throw my hands up and (Shout!) Throw my head back and (Shout!) Come on now (Shout!)
Don’t forget to say you will Don’t forget to say, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (Say you will) Say it right now baby (Say you will) Come on, come on (Say you will) Say it, will-a you (Say you will) Come on now!
(Say) say that you love me (Say) say that you need me (Say) say that you want me (Say) you wanna please me (Say) come on now (Say) come on now (Say) come on now
(Say) I still remember (Shooby-doo-wop-do-wop-wop-wop-wop) When you used to be nine years old (Shooby-doo-wop-do-wop-wop-wop-wop) Yeah yeah! I was a fool for you, from the bottom of my soul, yeah! (Shooby-doo-wop-do-wop-wop-wop-wop) Now that you’ve grown, up (Shooby-doo-wop-do-wop-wop-wop-wop) Enough to know, yeah yeah (Shooby-doo-wop-do-wop-wop-wop-wop) You wanna leave me, you wanna, let me go (Shooby-doo-wop-do-wop)
I want you to know I said I want you to know right now, yeah! You been good to me baby Better than I been to myself, hey! hey! And if you ever leave me I don’t want nobody else, hey! hey! I said I want you to know-ho-ho-hey! I said I want you to know right now, hey! hey!
You know you make me wanna (Shout-woo) hey-yeah (Shout-woo) yeah-yeah-yeah (Shout-woo) all-right (Shout-woo) all-right (Shout-woo) come on now! (Shout) come on now! (Shout) yeah, yeah, yeah (Shout) yeah, yeah, yeah (good sound) (Shout) yeah, yeah, yeah (good sound) (Shout) yeah, yeah, yeah (good sound) (Shout) all-alright (good sound) (Shout) it’s all-alright (good sound) (Shout) all-alright (good sound) (Shout) all-alright (aah)
Now wait a minute! I feel alright! (Yeah yeah, yeah yeah!) Now that I got my woman I feel alright! Every time I think about you You been so good to me You know you make me wanna (Shout-woo) lift my heels up and (Shout-woo) throw my head back and (Shout-woo) kick my heels up and (Shout-woo) come on now (Shout-woo) take it easy (Shout-woo) take it easy (Shout-woo) take it easy (higher) (Shout) a little bit softer now (woo) (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now (Shout) a little bit softer now
(Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now (Shout) a little bit louder now
(Shout) Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Shout now! Jump up and shout now (woo) Jump up and shout now (woo) Jump up and shout now (woo) Jump up and shout now (woo) Jump up and shout now (woo)
Everybody shout now Everybody shout now Everybody, shout, shout Shout, shout, shout
It’s been 42 years since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane crashed in a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi. The band had just released the album “Street Survivors” and it was probably their best well-rounded album. With new guitarist Steve Gaines, they were primed for commercial success but on October 20, 1977, they lost singer-songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick. The plane crash also claimed the lives of pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray Jr.
A year earlier Steve Gaines joined the band and he was pushing them in directions they never had gone. Listening to “Street Survivors” you can hear his influence with songs I Never Dreamed and I Know A Little. Steve was a super talented guitarist, songwriter, and singer and I have to wonder where his career would have gone.
On this tour, they were headlining and moving up in status after years of touring as mostly an opening band.
Below is a good Rolling Stone article on the crash. The song below that is “I Never Dreamed,” a song heavily influenced by Gaines.
Great guitar riff that has been recycled into many songs, catchy chorus, and Neils unique voice. A nice mid-sixties rocker.
This started out with a guitar lick Diamond came up with that caught Jeff Barry’s ear. He and Greenwich loved it and encouraged Neil to finish the song. Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich produced the song.
The song peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100 in 1966.
In an interview with Melody Maker, Jeff Barry said that this song was originally “Money, Money,” but that he and Bang records owner Bert Berns convinced Diamond to make it lighter and more teen-friendly.
Neil Diamon has had 3 number 1 hits, 13 top ten hits, and 53 songs in the Billboard 100.
From Songfacts
Neil Diamond is the only credited songwriter on this track, but he got some help from Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who worked with him after he signed with Bang Records and produced the song. Barry and Greenwich were part of the Brill Building songwriting community, and had written many major hits, including “Be My Baby” and “Chapel Of Love.” They mentored Diamond early in his career and helped him create this Pop nugget, which helped make him a star.
Ever notice that there are no drums in this song? That’s because the version you hear was intended as a demo, with hand claps providing the drum beat. Diamond recorded the demo with Barry and Greenwich on backing vocals and Artie Butler on piano and Hammond organ. When they recorded the song in an official session complete with horns and drums, they couldn’t capture the exuberance of the demo. The drum and horn version was included on Diamond’s 1996 anthology In My Lifetime.
When this became a hit, Diamond’s songs were in demand. This led to The Monkees recording of Diamond’s “I’m A Believer,” which was the biggest hit of 1967.
Ellie Greenwich was not just a premier league songwriter, she was a fine backing singer as well; she and Jeff Barry often did the backing vocals for the songs they wrote. Neil Diamond recalled to Rolling Stone her contribution to this song: “Ellie was the best background singer ever. She did all the background parts on my early Bang records, ‘Cherry Cherry,’ ‘She Got the Way to Move Me,’ ‘Kentucky Woman’ – all of those records were Jeff and Ellie. They just had this great knack of singing all kinds of background parts and they were great at it. She invented the background parts to ‘Cherry Cherry.'”
Diamond made his TV debut performing this song on American Bandstand in 1966. Said Diamond, “American Bandstand was the holy grail of television shows for any Rock and Roll artist at that time.”
Cherry Cherry
Baby loves me Yes, yes she does Ah, the girl’s outta sight, yeah Says she loves me
Yes, yes she does Gonna show me tonight, yeah
She got the way to move me, Cherry She got the way to groove me She got the way to move me She got the way to groove me
Tell your mamma, girl, I can’t stay long We got things we gotta catch up on Mmmm, you know You know what I’m sayin’
Can’t stand still while the music is playin’ why’ain’t got no right No, no you don’t Ah, to be so exciting
Won’t need bright lights No, no we won’t Gonna make our own lighting
She got the way to move me, Cherry She got the way to groove me She got the way to move me She got the way to groove me
No, we won’t tell a soul where we gone to Girl, we do whatever we want to Ah, I love the way that you do me Cherry, babe, you really get to me
She got the way to move me, Cherry She got the way to groove me She got the way to move me She got the way to groove me
It’s 1973 and your band needs a plane all to themselves and you have the money ($2,500-per-flight hour ). You want an open bar…check…an organ…check…a fireplace…check…plenty of excesses…check check. The first time The Allman Brothers boarded they were greeted with “Welcome Allman Brothers” rendered in lines of cocaine on the club room bar.
If you wanted the plane painted a different color…no problem…and your name could be stenciled on it. Bedrooms and enough space where Elton John could roller skate. It was redecorated to fit your taste.
The registration number was N7201U, The Serial Number was 17907, it was the first B720 built and it was delivered to United Airlines on October 1960 and then purchased in 1973 by Contemporary Entertainment. Sherman and Sylvester invested $200,000 to reduce its seating capacity to forty and to install into the main cabin a bar, seats and tables, revolving armchairs, a 30-foot-long couch, a television set and a video cassette player, complete with a well-stocked video library.
The airplane was used by Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan and The Band, Deep Purple, Allman Brothers, The Rolling Stones, and Peter Frampton. John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, and Cher were passengers at one time or another.
Led Zeppelin is probably the most famous band that used it.
The plane was all about decadence and luxury. Many stories have originated on this plane from a lot of the bands that used it…I won’t repeat them here. Peter Frampton was the last to use it in 1976. After that, it developed engine problems. The Starship went through several ownership changes from 1977 through 1979 until it went into storage at Luton Airport. It was dismantled for parts starting in July 1982
With the times changing and fuel costs going up…this wasn’t as common after the 70s.
This is one rock and roll relic I would have loved to have flown on at least one time… it should have been saved and turned into a museum…or at least sold to me… Long live the Starship!
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