Music – Page 208 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Janis Joplin – Get It While You Can

A great bluesy song off of Pearl, Janis’s last album. The song peaked at #78 in the Billboard 100 in 1971. “Get It While You Can” was written by the songwriting team of Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman, and originally recorded by the soul singer Howard Tate. The song was the title track to Tate’s debut album, which was produced by Ragovoy. His version made just #134 in the US, and Tate struggled in the business before giving up music in the mid-’70s.

Pearl was Janis’s most polished album. Janis died on October 4, 1970, and the album was released on January 11, 1971. The album would peak at #1.

John Lennon’s birthday was on October 9 and Janis recorded a birthday message for him while completing Pearl. She sang “Happy Trails”…but by the time John received the tape, Joplin had died.

From Songfacts

In 2002, Tate once again teamed up with Ragovoy to record a new album called Rediscovered, on which they included a new version of this song. Speaking with Record Collector about the new version, Tate said, “The words mean much more to me now than they did back then, then they were just the words of a song someone had wrote for me. Now they have all the meaning in the world, I can relate to them. You have to Get It While You Can because you may not get it tomorrow, you may not get another chance.”

The most popular version of this song was recorded by Janis Joplin and the Full Tilt Boogie Band and included as the last track on her 1971 posthumous album Pearl. So if you listen to her primary studio albums in order of release, this is the last song you hear from her.

This song is about not passing up the opportunity for love and comfort, because life’s too mean and short. Isn’t that just about the cornerstone of Joplin’s philosophy? In the book Love, Janis by Janis’ sister Laura Joplin, Full Tilt Boogie Band guitarist John Till shares this moment of Janis’ free-wheeling spirit: “She’d come boogeying up to me and our faces would come right together like that, and then she’d give me a great big kiss. And I wouldn’t remember nothing except big asterisks and f***ing exclamation points over my head… It was an experience, taking a guitar solo in front of forty thousand people and getting this kiss from Janis.”

Also from Love, Janis, a glimpse into her application of the counter-culture philosophy right towards her last year: “In private, she was changing in small but important ways. When someone who latched onto her group was grumbling angrily about the ‘pigs’ abusing their power, Janis cut him short. ‘They’re cops, just people doing their job, honey. Don’t call them pigs, it just makes it worse.’ When she first started touring with Big Brother, if a waitress was rude to them because of their attire and style, they often left without tipping. On the Full Tilt tour, a rude waitress might be left a $100 bill, as a way to change her attitude about hippies.”

From the same book, a quote from Janis offering a take on her life’s work: “My whole purpose is to communicate. What I sing is my own reality. But just the fact that people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, that’s my reality too,’ proves to me that it’s not just mine.”

This song reached its peak position of #78 US in September 1971, nearly a year after Joplin died.

Get It While You Can

In this world, if you read the papers, darling
You know everybody’s fighting ah with each other
You got no one you can count on babe
Not even your own brother
So if someone comes along
He gonna give you some love and affection

I’d say get it while you can, yeah
Honey, get it while you can, yeah
Hey hey, get it while you can
Don’t you turn your back on love, no, no

Don’t you know when you’re loving anybody, baby
You’re taking a gamble on a little sorrow
But then who cares, baby
‘Cause we may not be here tomorrow, no

And if anybody should come along
He gonna give you any love and affection
I’d say get it while you can, yeah
Hey, hey, get it while you can
Hey, hey, get it while you can
Don’t you turn your back on love
No no no, no no no no no

Oh, get it while you can, yeh
Honey get it when you’re gonna wanna need it dear, yeah yeah
Hey hey, get it while you can
Don’t you turn your back on love
No no no, no no no no, get it while you can

I said hold on to somebody when you get a little lonely, dear
Hey hey, hold on to that man’s heart
Hey hey, get it, want it, hold it, need it
Get it, want it, need it, hold it
Get it while you can, yeah
Honey get it while you can, baby, yeah
Hey hey, get it while you can

Byrds – Eight Miles High

One of the reasons that Roger McGuinn is one of my favorite guitarists is because of this song. Roger has said he was influenced by John Coltrane when arranging the song.

The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100 and #24 in the UK in 1966

Many people…including me believe this song is about drugs, but the band claimed it was inspired by a flight where singer Gene Clark asked guitarist Roger McGuinn how high they were in the sky. McGuinn told him six miles, but for the song, they changed it to eight.

Roger McGuinn on Eight Miles High

Eight Miles High has been called the first psychedelic record. It’s true we’d been experimenting with LSD, and the title does contain the word “high”, so if people want to say that, that’s great. But Eight Miles High actually came about as a tribute to John Coltrane. It was our attempt to play jazz.

From Songfacts.

This story was likely a smokescreen to keep the song in the good graces of sensitive listeners. The band had been doing a lot of drugs at the time, including LSD, which is the likely inspiration. If the band owned up to the drug references, they knew it would get banned by some radio stations, and that’s exactly what happened when a radio industry publication reported that the song was about drugs and that stations should be careful about playing it. As soon as one station dropped it, others followed and it quickly sank off the charts.

When we asked McGuinn in 2016 if the song was really about drugs, he replied: “Well, it was done on an airplane ride to England and back. I’m not denying that the Byrds did drugs at that point – we smoked marijuana – but it wasn’t really about that.”

In his book Echoes, Gene Clark said that he wrote the song on his own with David Crosby coming up with one key line (“Rain gray town, known for its sound”), and Roger McGuinn arranging the song with help from Crosby.

In the Forgotten Hits newsletter, McGuinn replied: “Not true! The whole theme was my idea… Gene would never have written a song about flying. I came up with the line, ‘Six miles high and when you touch down.’ We later changed that to Eight because of the Beatles song ‘Eight Days a Week.’ I came up with several other lines as well. And what would the song be without the Rickenbacker 12-string breaks?”

This song is often cited in discussions of “Acid Rock,” a term that got bandied about in 1966 with the release of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album. The genre covers a kind of psychedelic music that became popular at the time, and also the look and lifestyle that went with it. “Acid Rock” was hailed as a pathway to higher consciousness and derided as senseless drug music. At the end of the ’60s, the term petered out, as rock critics moved on to other topics for their think pieces.

The band recorded this on their own, but Columbia Records made them re-record it before they would put it on the album, partly because they had contracts with unions. The Byrds liked the first version better.

Don McLean referred to this in his song “American Pie,” which chronicles the change in musical style from the ’50s to the ’60s. The line is “Eight miles high and falling fast- landed foul out on the grass.” McLean could be sardonically implying that the song is about drugs, since “foul grass” was slang for marijuana.

Husker Du recorded a noise-pop version in 1985.

For decades, the story went that “Eight Miles High” was a commercial failure because it had been banned from radio due to its perceived pro-drug messages. Research presented by Mark Teehan on Popular Music Online challenges this theory. Teehan instead blames the song’s failure to chart on three factors:

First, its sound was too far ahead of its time, and radio stations didn’t know what to do with it.

Second, the departure of Gene Clark led to Columbia Records significantly shrinking the scope of the band’s advertising campaign.

Third, the success of Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “Kicks” further diminished Columbia’s support for the Byrds and “Eight Miles High.”

Eight Miles High

Eight miles high and when you touch down
You’ll find that it’s stranger than known
Signs in the street that say where you’re going
Are somewhere just being their own

Nowhere is there warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain gray town known for its sound
In places small faces unbound

Round the squares huddled in storms
Some laughing some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes and black limousines
Some living some standing alone

Merle Haggard – Mama Tried

Merle Haggard wrote this song while serving time in San Quentin prison for robbery. The song is based on his life, and how his mother tried to help him but couldn’t… This song came out in 1968 and peaked at #1 in the Country Charts in 1968.

The man had 38 number one hits, 71 top ten hits, and 101 songs in the top 100 in the country charts. Merle is one of my favorite country artists. If only the new ones would listen and learn.

This song has been covered by a wide range of artists, including the Everly Brothers and the Grateful Dead.

From Songfacts

The song is largely autobiographical; Haggard’s father died when he was nine years old, and his mother, a devout member of the Church of Christ, tried to keep him on the straight and narrow with a strict upbringing based on her conservative values. This didn’t sit well with Haggard, who said he was an “incorrigible” child and constantly rebelling against her (“Despite all my Sunday learning, towards the bad I kept on turning”).

He was always hopping on freight trains (“The first thing I remember knowing was a lonesome whistle blowing”), an early indicator of his itinerant outlaw personality. He got into trouble for offenses like shoplifting and writing bad checks. Stints in reform school didn’t help, and in 1957 he landed in prison for burglary, where he spent his 21st birthday.

In this song, Haggard takes full responsibility for his choices and takes pity on his mother, who did the best she could (“No one could steer me right but Mama tried”).

Mama Tried

The first thing I remember knowing,
Was a lonesome whistle blowing,
And a young un’s dream of growing up to ride,
On a freight train leaving town,
Not knowing where I’m bound,
And no one could change my mind but Mama tried
One and only rebel child,
From a family, meek and mild,
My Mama seemed to know what lay in store
Despite my Sunday learning,
Towards the bad, I kept turning
‘Til Mama couldn’t hold me anymore

I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.
No one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied
That leaves only me to blame ’cause Mama tried

Dear old Daddy, rest his soul,
Left my Mom a heavy load,
She tried so very hard to fill his shoes
Working hours without rest,
Wanted me to have the best
She tried to raise me right but I refused

I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole
No one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried,
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied
That leaves only me to blame ’cause Mama tried

Beatles – Hey Bulldog

The Beatles recorded this while they were filming the promotional video for “Lady Madonna.” Since they had to be in a studio while filming, Paul McCartney thought they should record a song. This is a nice rocking song written by Lennon. The original name was “Hey Bullfrog” but Paul barked at the end and made John Lennon laugh. They kept in the barking and changed the title, even though there is no mention of a bulldog in the verses or chorus.

John said Hey Bulldog was “a good sounding record that means nothing.” This song would not be out of place today. It is one of the few Beatle songs that gets overlooked and underplayed.

Geoff Emerick, the engineer describes the events of this session. “Even though it was destined to be given to the ‘Yellow Submarine’ film, ‘Hey Bulldog’ was a really strong song. The vibe that day was great… all four Beatles were in an exceptionally good mood because they knew they would be heading to India in a matter of days. Despite the fact that there was a film crew underfoot, it was a Sunday session, so things were quite relaxed – the Abbey Road complex was largely deserted, and The Beatles could wander around the corridors if they wanted to.”

Dave Grohl played the song with Jeff Lynne in 2014 in a tribute to the Beatles after the Grammys.

From Songfacts

This was the first recording session to which John Lennon brought Yoko.

This was the last song The Beatles recorded before leaving for a retreat in India to study meditation with the Maharishi.

John Lennon called this “a good sounding record that means nothing.” Musically, it has some interesting nuances. The middle part contains an interesting example of Lennon’s polyphonic technique: The piano in the background does not follow the singer. Near the end of the song, Lennon talks while accompanied by the music, which could be considered a forerunner to Rap. In the climax, Lennon starts shouting, and the others follow. They scream like mad while the guitar in the background plays the same notes again and again as if nothing has happened.

Hey Bulldog

Sheepdog, standing in the rain
Bullfrog, doing it again
Some kind of happiness is
Measured out in miles
What makes you think you’re
Something special when you smile

Childlike no one understands
Jackknife in your sweaty hands
Some kind of innocence is
Measured out in years
You don’t know what it’s like
To listen to your fears

You can talk to me
You can talk to me
You can talk to me
If you’re lonely, you can talk to me

Big man (yeah) walking in the park
Wigwam frightened of the dark
Some kind of solitude is
Measured out in you
You think you know me, but you haven’t got a clue

You can talk to me
You can talk to me
You can talk to me
If you’re lonely, you can talk to me

Hey hey

Roar

Hey, bulldog (hey bulldog)

Woof

Hey, bulldog
Hey, bulldog
Hey, bulldog

Hey man

Whats up brother?

Roof

What do ya say

I say, roof

You know any more?

Ah ah (you got it, that’s it, you had it)
That’s it man, wo ho, that’s it, you got it

Woah

Look at me man, I only had ten children

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ha ha ha ha
Quiet, quiet (ok)
Quiet
Hey, bulldog, hey bulldog

The Band – The Shape I’m In

The first Band album I ever bought was The Best of The Band. When I heard “The Shape I’m In” I knew I was going to like them. I knew the hits of course but the songs I never heard of at that point were great. I then started to buy their albums and loving this band. The song was off on the album Stage Fright and was a B side to the song “Time To Kill.”

There is a great version on The Last Waltz which is below. Robbie wrote the song for Richard to sing and at that time Levon, Rick, and Richard were heavy into heroin and drinking. The song peaked at #64 in Canada.

Robbie Robertson talks some about writing this song

At one time, there was talk that if you wanted to play like the angels, you had to dance with the devil—that heroin was a gateway to music supremacy. That myth was yesterday, but the power of addiction was still in full force. It hit me hard that in a band like ours, if we weren’t operating on all cylinders, it threw the whole machine off course.
This was the first time that writing songs was painful for me. In some cases I couldn’t help but reflect on what was happening behind the curtain. I wrote “The Shape I’m In” for Richard to sing, “Stage Fright” for Rick, and “The W. S. Walcott Medicine Show” for Levon—all with undertones of madness and self-destruction. While watching Richard pound out the rhythm on the clavichord, I couldn’t help but see the irony as he sang out, “Oh, you don’t know, the shape I’m in.”

The Shape I’m In

Go out yonder, peace in the valley
Come downtown, have to rumble in the alley
Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in

Has anybody seen my lady
This livin’ alone would drive me crazy
Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in

I’m gonna go down by the water
But I ain’t gonna jump in, no, no
I’ll just be lookin’ for my maker
And I hear that that’s where she’s been?

Oh, out of nine lives, I spent seven
Now, how in the world do you get to Heaven
Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in

I’ve just spent 60 days in the jail house
For the crime of having no dough, no no
Now here I am back out on the street
For the crime of having nowhere to go

Save your neck or save your brother
Looks like it’s one or the other
Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in

Now two young kids might start a ruckus
You know they feel you’re tryin’ to shuck us
Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in

Cat Stevens – Wild World

I bought Tea for the Tillerman for this song and became a fan. The song peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100 in 1971. Stevens is a very good songwriter who has had his songs covered by many artists including Rod Stewart, Don Williams, Jimmy Cliff and many more…and his unique voice sets him apart.

Cat Stevens on Wild World

“It was one of those chord sequences that’s very common in Spanish music. I turned it around and came up with that theme- which is a recurring theme in my work- which is to do with leaving, the sadness of leaving, and the anticipation of what lies beyond. There is a criticism sometimes of my music, that it’s kind of naïve, but then again that’s exactly why people like it. It goes back to the pure childish approach of seeing things almost for the first time. A kid can say things like, ‘Why is a cow?’ You shouldn’t put those words together! But if you do, then it makes you stop and think.”

From Songfacts.

Stevens wrote this about searching for peace and happiness in a crazy world. There was some speculation that much of the song was a message to Patti D’Arbanville, an actress he had been dating. Stevens cleared this up when he spoke about the song on The Chris Isaak Hour in 2009. Said Stevens: “I was trying to relate to my life. I was at the point where it was beginning to happen and I was myself going into the world. I’d done my career before, and I was sort of warning myself to be careful this time around because it was happening. It was not me writing about somebody specific, although other people may have informed the song, but it was more about me. It’s talking about losing touch with home and reality – home especially.”

This was a #8 UK hit for Jimmy Cliff three months before Stevens released his version. Cliff explained to Mojo magazine July 2012 that Stevens produced his cover. “I felt an affinity with Cat Stevens,” he said. “They tried to market him as a rock act and like me, he was more than that and one day I went to the publisher and he played me this demo of ‘Wild World’ and he told me that Steve (Cat’s real name) had written it but he didn’t like it. I loved it right away so he called up Steve and put me on the phone to him. Steve asked what my key was, I said and he started playing guitar down the phone, He said we have to record it together so he went in and did the track and I went in the following day, helped put on the backing voices with Doris Troy and then it was time to put my voice on and Steve directed me to sing the high notes. He was a really good producer and it was a big hit.”

Maxi Priest recorded this in 1988. His version hit #5 in the UK.

This was released as a single only in the US. Stevens’ European label, Island Records, wanted to encourage people to buy the albums rather than the 45s.

This was one of the songs that convinced Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, to release a boxed set of his songs in 2001. He stopped making secular music in 1979 but came to realize that people find strength and inspiration in the songs he recorded as Cat Stevens.

This was Stevens’ first song to chart in the US.

In an interview with Mojo magazine June 2009, the comment was made that lyrically this song has “an uninhibited simplicity.” Stevens responded:

Stevens that this is, “a song about me.”

TV presenter Jonathan King covered this after he accused the Pet Shop Boys of ripping off the song’s melody for their 1987 hit “It’s A Sin.” He eventually dropped the claim… after the duo sued him and won.

Wild World

Now that I’ve lost everything to you
You say you want to start something new
And it’s breaking my heart you’re leaving
Baby, I’m grieving

But if you want to leave, take good care
Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there

Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
It’s hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
I’ll always remember you like a child, girl

You know I’ve seen a lot of what the world can do
And it’s breaking my heart in two
‘Cause I never want to see you sad girl
Don’t be a bad girl

But if you want to leave take good care
Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there’s a lot of bad and beware
Beware

Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
It’s hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
And I’ll always remember you like a child, girl

Baby I love you
But if you want to leave take good care
Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there’s a lot of bad and beware
Beware

Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
It’s hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
And I’ll always remember you like a child, girl

Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
And it’s hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
And I’ll always remember you like a child, girl

Paul McCartney’s Lost ‘Bruce McMouse Show’ Film Heading to Theaters

Found the below article in Rolling Stone about this long-shelved concert footage/animation coming to select theaters January 21, 2019

Paul and Linda started this project in 1972 combining the 72 tour with animation about a mouse…Bruce McMouse to be correct.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/paul-mccartney-lost-bruce-mcmouse-show-movie-theaters-777090/

More details about the showings

https://www.denofgeek.com/us/culture/music/278570/paul-mccartney-will-release-lost-concert-film-in-theaters

Never-before-seen, The Bruce McMouse Show is a concert film with a difference. Paul McCartney opens with the story of how the band came to meet the inimitable impresario Bruce McMouse. Featuring the original Wings line up, live concert footage from Wings’ 1972 European tour is interspersed with animated scenes, introducing a family of mice living under the stage. After opening the film with ‘Big Barn Bed’ – taken from Wings’ LP Red Rose Speedway – the camera takes us down through the floorboards into this charming animated world. We see Bruce McMouse regale his children with stories from his past, when son Soily rushes into the room in a whirlwind of excitement announcing that “The Wings” are playing above them.

As the concert plays on, Bruce declares to his wife Yvonne that Paul and the band need his help. Bruce then proceeds to venture on stage to offers his services as producer. As the concert progresses, the animated scenes culminate with dozens of animated mice flocking to the venue to see Wings play. The film was directed by Barry Chattington and produced by Roger Cherrill with the live elements taken from four shows in Holland and Germany in 1972.

Paul viewed the initial concert edit and realized there was great potential in the material captured. Prior to the European tour, Paul had the idea of a family of mice and sketched the characters. Picking up the idea, Eric Wylam took Paul’s sketches and created the final McMouse family. This storyline was incorporated and used as a linking theme within the concert footage. The voice-overs for the animated mice took place at the end of 1973, recorded by Paul and Linda McCartney, Deryck Guyler, Pat Coombs and Derek Nimmo.

Production stretched from 1972 to 1977 when the film was complete, however, with changes in the band’s line-up and music scene, the project was shelved. ‘The Bruce McMouse Show’ has been fully restored in 2018 at Final Frame Post alongside a brand-new audio mix (stereo and 5.1) created at AIR Studios and mastered at Abbey Road.

Andrews Sisters – Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

I can’t help but like this song. It’s super catchy and the vocals sound so good. My 18-year-old son of all people got me into listening to 40s music…Frank Sintra and big band and I heard this one on satellite radio and remembered hearing it when I was younger.

The Andrews Sisters made the song famous when they performed it in the 1940 Abbott and Costello movie Buck Privates. The song begins in the movie with a solo trumpeter opening Reveille jazz style before a piano enters with a boogie-woogie bass vamp. Dressed in military uniforms and sitting on barstools drinking malts, the sisters stand up and start singing their inimitable close harmonies (notes near enough to grab with one hand on a piano). At the Academy Awards the following spring, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” won the Oscar for Best Song.

By the time they retired from singing professionally, the Andrews Sisters had become the most successful female vocal group in history to that point, recording some 600 tunes that sold 75 million to 100 million records. When the Vocal Group Hall of Fame opened in Sharon, Pennsylvania, in 1998, they were among the original inductees. “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” remains their signature song and was voted number 6 of 365 on the 2001 list Songs of the Century.

There is a 70s version with Bette Midler and a newer version with Katy Perry…I’ll stick with the Andrew Sisters.

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way
He had a boogie style that no one else could play
He was the top man at his craft
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft
He’s in the army now, a-blowin’ reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

They made him blow a bugle for his Uncle Sam
It really brought him down because he couldn’t jam
The captain seemed to understand
Because the next day the cap’ went out and drafted a band
And now the company jumps when he plays reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

A-toot, a-toot, a-toot-diddelyada-toot
He blows it eight-to-the-bar, in boogie rhythm
He can’t blow a note unless the bass and guitar is playin’ with ‘I’m
He makes the company jump when he plays reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

He was some boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
And when he plays the boogie woogie bugle he was busy as a “bzzz” bee
And when he plays he makes the company jump eight-to-the-bar
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

Toot toot toot-diddelyada, Toot-diddelyada, toot-toot
He blows it eight-to-the-bar
He can’t blow a note if the bass and guitar isn’t with ‘I’m
Ha-ha-hand the company jumps when he plays reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

(Instrumental)

He puts the boys to sleep with boogie every night
And wakes ’em up the same way in the early bright
They clap their hands and stamp their feet
Because they know how he plays when someone gives him a beat
He really breaks it up when he plays reveille
He’s boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

Three Dog Night – Shambala

I first heard this song in the seventies and liked it. I ordered Three Dog Night’s Greatest hits off of television. They were very successful in the late sixties and seventies…songs like Joy To The World, Family of Man, Black and White, The Show Must Go On, etc… They racked up 11 top ten hits and 3 number 1’s… and 21 songs in the Billboard 100 altogether.

They were unusual because they had not one, not two…but three lead singers.

I always wondered what “Shambala” meant…now I know. The word ‘Shambala’ has a spiritual meaning in the Buddhist religion, and some Tibetan Buddhists believe that it is a mythical kingdom or a mystical land hidden somewhere in the Himalaya mountains…

The song’s writer, Daniel Moore, told this story. I remember getting excited about the sound of the word, ‘Shambala.’ Before I wrote the song, I called a friend, Eddie Zip, who I’d been working with and telling him, ‘That word Shambala has a magic sound to it, you ought to put together a band and call it Shambala, you couldn’t lose.’ We had just recorded one of his songs titled ‘Don’t Make God’s Children Cry.’ We were getting – ELEVATED!

I wrote the words and melody, a capella, driving on the Ventura Freeway in about 10 minutes. I got home, picked up my Martin guitar and had the music finished in 5 minutes; a pretty good 15 minutes.

The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 and #4 in Canada in 1973.

This is the commercial I ordered it from back in 1970s.

From Songfacts.

This was written by the songwriter Daniel Moore, and first released by the Texas songwriter B.W. Stevenson. Moore told Songfacts: “Regarding the song, ‘Shambala,’ it was written entirely by myself, Daniel Moore, in the fall of 1972. It was recorded by Three Dog Night in December of 1972. It was recorded by B.W. Stevenson in Late February, 1973 and released two weeks before the Three Dog Night version was released. During those two weeks B.W.’s version sold 125,000 single 45s. Then Three Dog Night released their version and sold 1,250,000 single 45s.”

Later in 1973, with the Three Dog Night version of “Shambala” climbing the charts, Stevenson released a carbon copy single called “My Maria” (credited to Stevenson and Moore), which peaked at #9 US, two months after “Shambala” hit #3.

‘In 1972 my brother, Matthew, called me and informed me that he had received a letter from Dorothy Beg at Lake Pleasant, Massachusetts that told him where and who he had been in his past lives. He had sent a letter to her requesting this information. After recounting several past lives the letter ended with, ‘My messenger tells me to tell you, ‘Let your light shine in the halls of Shambala.” In the phone conversation at that point Matthew said, ‘Shambala, what the hell is that?’

So I did some research and found dozens of references to the word Shambala, the 5000-year-old word originating from Sanskrit. Some were weird, some were goofy but the one I liked was found in Alice Bailey’s Treatise On White Magic. It basically said that there was a gigantic cavern under the Gobi Desert that has a replica of every evolving human being. And when that replica begins to light up or glow (meaning you are cleaning up your act and becoming more spiritual minded or raising your consciousness to a higher level), there is point where your replica gets bright enough to warrant a spiritual teacher being sent to you.

The recording session of my demo in 1972 was with Dean Parks and Jim Varley. Dean (playing bass) was sitting with me (I was engineering, playing the acoustic guitar and singing live) in the control room. We were wearing earphones with the speakers turned off, and 50 feet away at the other end of the studio on the other side of the glass with earphones, was Jim Varley playing drums. Twenty-eight years later I had Greg Beck overdub an electric guitar and that is what you hear on this recording. That’s the only time Dean Parks and Greg Beck have played together, according to Greg.

Three Dog Night heard the song through a publisher, Lindy Blaskey, who was working at ABC Dunhill Publishing. He called me and was very excited because he had gotten such a positive reaction from Three Dog Night and their producer Richie Podler. Anyway, they cut it, it was their single and it was a hit. Bless all of their hearts.

Postscript:
In the Guinness Book of World Records, under Prophecies, there is a reference to Shambala where it says, ‘Any one who furthers the name, ‘Shambala’ shall be rewarded 100 times.’ And so it is.”

This was used in a commercial television advertisement campaign for Citgo Petroleum.

Cory Wells, who along with Danny Hutton and Chuck Negron was one of three vocalists in the band, sang lead on this track. Wells died in 2015 at age 74.

Shambala

Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala

[Chorus]
Ah, ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind
On the road to Shambala
Everyone is lucky, everyone is so kind
On the road to Shambala

[Chorus]

How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala

I can tell my sister by the flowers in her eyes
On the road to Shambala
I can tell my brother by the flowers in her eyes
On the road to Shambala

[Chorus]

How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala

The Easybeats – Friday On My Mind

This song was co-written by Easybeats guitarists George Young and Harry Vanda, who were the primary songwriters in the group (Young is the older brother of Malcolm and Angus Young from AC/DC). A nice mid-sixties pop/rock song.

Friday On My Mind peaked at #16 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.

The Easybeats were already huge in their native Australia when they recorded this song, but this was their first hit outside of that country. After scoring several Aussie hits in 1965, they got an international distribution deal in 1966. In the UK, “Come And See Her” was their first single, and in the US, “Women (Make You Feel Alright)” was chosen. Their second single in each territory was “Friday On My Mind,” which was their breakthrough (the song was also a huge hit in Australia, where it was #1 for eight weeks).

From Songfacts.

Previously, the band’s main songwriting team had been George Young and lead singer Stevie Wright. Vanda and Young produced The Easybeats’ later albums and after the group broke up in 1969, formed their own group, Flash And The Pan, which had a few successes during the late ’70s and early ’80s. They also continued writing and producing hits for other artists like AC/DC and John Paul Young. >>

This song has quite a buildup. After the opening cymbal crash, its just a staccato guitar for the next 20 seconds underscoring Stevie Wright’s vocal where he runs through the days of the week, explaining why Monday-Thursday don’t excite him. The bass finally comes in as he gets closer to the weekend. Finally, 30 seconds into the song, we hit Friday and the drums come in to play.

This energy carries into the chorus, where we hear about the plans for the weekend. But then it’s back to Monday, and we do the “five-day drag once more.” This time, however, the tempo is faster and he’s even more optimistic, knowing that his time will come. The second chorus is even more energetic and repeats to close out the song. All of this is packed into 2:47, making it one of the more distinctive and energetic hits of the era.

The group was not able to capitalize, falling victim to drug abuse, management struggles, and internal strife. It was six month before their next single, “Who’ll Be The One,” appeared, and listeners were underwhelmed.
They never had another US hit and in the UK managed just one more: “Hello, How are You,” which made #20 in 1968.

The group recorded this song in London with producer Shel Talmy, who is famous for his work with The Who.

Friday On My Mind

Monday mornin’ feels so bad
Ev’rybody seems to nag me
Comin’ Tuesday I feel better
Even my old man looks good
Wed’sday just don’t go
Thursday goes too slow
I’ve got Friday on my mind

Gonna have fun in the city
Be with my girl, she’s so pretty
She looks fine tonight
She is out of sight to me
Tonight I’ll spend my bread, tonight
I’ll lose my head, tonight
I’ve got to get to night
Monday I’ll have Friday on my mind

Do the five day grind once more
I know of nothin’ else that bugs me
More than workin’ for the rich man
Hey! I’ll change that scene one day
Today I might be mad, tomorrow I’ll be glad
‘Cause I’ll have Friday on my mind

Gonna have fun in the city
Be with my girl, she’s so pretty
She looks fine tonight.
She is out of sight to me
Tonight I’ll spend my bread, tonight
I’ll lose my head, tonight
I’ve got to get to night
Monday I’ll have Friday on my mind

Allman Brothers – Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More

Fantastic song that you don’t hear as much as some of the other Allman songs like Rambling Man. Gregg Allman had most of the music written already but wrote the lyrics right after his brother Duane died in a motorcycle wreck. It’s about Gregg dealing with the loss of his brother and the soldiers coming back from Vietnam. The Allmans were halfway through with the album Eat A Peach when Duane died. Soon after he passed they went to Miami to finish the album.

The song peaked at #77 in the Billboard 100 in 1972.

Gregg Allman talking about the song from “My Cross To Bear”

Losing Duane really slammed Dickey too, but he didn’t show it. We didn’t see too much of Dickey after my brother died. He had this huge garden, and when something would piss him off, he would go out there and sling a hoe or a shovel or an ax for about four hours in the hot sun. He’d come back in for dinner, and he’d be okay. The cat really does have a heart, and I think he really cared about my brother—you don’t go naming your child after someone that you don’t care for.

When my brother died, Dickey really stepped up. He wood-shedded like crazy; I remember him learning how to play the slide part for “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” on the airplane, during the flight down to Miami to finish up Eat a Peach.

Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More

Last Sunday morning, the sunshine felt like rain
The week before, they all seemed the same
With the help of God and true friends, I’ve come to realize
I still have two strong legs, and even wings to fly

So I, ain’t a wastin’ time no more
‘Cause time goes by like hurricanes, and faster things

Well, Lord, Lord, Miss Sally, why are your cryin?
Been around here three long days, lookin’ like we’re dyin’
Go step yourself outside and look up at the stars above
And go on downtown, baby, find somebody to love

Meanwhile, I ain’t a wastin’ time no more
‘Cause time goes by like pourin’ rain, and much faster things

You don’t need no gypsy to tell you why
Ya can’t let one precious day to slip by
Well, look inside yourself, and if you don’t see what you want
May be sometimes then ya don’t
But leave your mind alone and just get high

Well, by and by, way after many years have gone
And all the war freaks die off, leavin’ us alone
We’ll raise our children, in the peaceful way we can
It’s up to you and me brother to try and try again

So, hear us now, we ain’t wastin’ time no more
‘Cause time rolls by like hurricanes
Runnin’ after the subway train
Don’t forget the pourin’ rain

The Vogues – You’re The One

Starts off with a nice guitar riff. The Vogues are from Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. This was the first of eight US Top 40 hits for The Vogues, who recorded the song in Pittsburgh’s Gateway Studios. Its follow-up, “Five O’Clock World,” is their best-known tune.

This song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 in 1964.

From Songfacts.

Petula Clark is best known as a recording artist with a resumé that includes the American #1 hits “Downtown” and “My Love,” both of which were penned by Tony Hatch. However the English songbird is also a fine songwriter, having composed over 100 tunes including this hit for The Vogues. Petula told us it came about because she needed one more song for her I Know a Place album and Tony Hatch had run out of ideas. He asked her to write something and she came up with this song’s melody, to which he added the lyric.

This was the first of eight US Top 40 hits for Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania Pop group The Vogues, who recorded the song in Pittsburgh’s Gateway Studios. Its follow-up, “Five O’Clock World,” is their best-known tune.

The success of the Vogues’ cover alerted Petula Clark’s UK label to the song’s hit potential. Pye rush released Clark’s own version as a single and it peaked at #23 in the singer’s native country and also reached #4 in Australia. In addition Clark recorded a French version entitled “Un Mal Pour Un Bien,” which climbed to #6 in France. However, the English songstress vetoed her US label, Warner Bros’, suggestion to issue it as a single in America to battle with the Vogues’ version.

Surprisingly, despite her success, Petula does not consider herself to be a songwriter at all. She told us: “I’m a sometime songwriter. I’ll write a song if it comes to me, but nobody could say to me, “Will you write me a song?” Because I wouldn’t know how to do that. It just has to come.”

You’re The One

Every time we meet, everything is sweet
Oh, you’re so tender, I must surrender
My love is your love, now and forever

You’re the one that I long to kiss
Baby, you’re the one that I really miss (yeah, yeah, yeah)
You’re the one that I’m dreamin’ of
Baby, you’re the one that I love

Keep me in your heart, never let us part
Ooh, never leave me, please don’t deceive me
I want you only, you must believe me

You’re the one that I long to kiss
Baby, you’re the one that I really miss (yeah, yeah, yeah)
You’re the one that I’m dreamin’ of
Baby, you’re the one that I love

I adore you and no one before you could make me feel this way, yay
Since I met you I just can’t forget you, I love you more each day
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

There may be some tears through the comin’ years
Ooh, all the while I know you’ll be smilin’
Your love will guide me through every mile ’cause

Beach Boys – I Get Around

This is one of the best double A side singles ever released…The B side to I Get Around was “Don’t Worry Baby.” I had this single growing up and would watch the yellow and orange 45 spin. I’m not an audiophile but I will say the vinyl version of I Get Around jumps off the record at you while the cd seems flat.

I Get Around peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 while reaching #7 in the UK in 1964. This was The Beach Boys first number 1 in the US. It was rated fifth biggest seller of 1964 by both Billboard and Cash Box indicating close to 2 million US units sold.

From Songfacts.

Like most early Beach Boys songs, this does not have deep lyrical content; it’s a fun song about a teenage lifestyle featuring friends, girls and cars. Musically, however, it was incredibly innovative, with an opening fuzz guitar, stop-start rhythms and a keyboard line working in and out of the song. Written by Brian Wilson with contributions from Mike Love, it was the first Beach Boys recording after The Beatles took hold in America, and Wilson responded with this rather complex creation.

This was The Beach Boys first #1 in their own country (“Surfin’ Safari” went to #1 in Sweden two years earlier). Father-manager Murry Wilson and therefore his beleaguered son Brian despaired over not hitting the top spot in the US, coming off second best first to the Four Seasons through 1962 and into ’63, then to Jan & Dean when they got to #1 that summer with “Surf City” – a song Brian Wilson wrote – and then into 1964 with the Beatles took over.

This was The Beach Boys real breakthrough in the UK, reaching #7 in a chart that for months had seen only British faces. It was effusively pushed by Mick Jagger on British TV’s Juke Box Jury and he personally circulated copies of it to the UK’s independent pirate radio stations offshore. It was also #1 in Canada and New Zealand.

Fuzzed and reverbed guitar were demonstrated in this way before anyone else in rock, but too subtle for the general public to notice. It was about three years later that fuzz and reverb became a huge deal from the amplifiers of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards.

In our interview with Randy Bachman, he recalls a conversation with Brian Wilson where Wilson explained that this song is based on the Broadway show tune “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue.” Said Bachman:

“I said, ‘How did you do that?’ He said, ‘Well, when they say to stay on the C chord for two beats, I stay on it for four. Or if they say stay on the C chord for eight beats, I stay on it for two.’ So if you listen to ‘Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, oh, what those five feet could do,’ that’s ‘I Get Around.’ But they went, ‘Round, round, get around, I get around.’ And then he put his own, ‘Woo oo,’ and then he wrote his own song and he put in his own lyrics.”

I Get Around

Round round get around
I get around
Yeah
Get around round round I get around
I get around
Get around round round I get around
From town to town
Get around round round I get around
I’m a real cool head
Get around round round I get around
I’m makin’ real good bread

I’m gettin’ bugged driving up and down the same old strip
I gotta finda new place where the kids are hip

My buddies and me are getting real well known
Yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone

I get around
Get around round round I get around
From town to town
Get around round round I get around
I’m a real cool head
Get around round round I get around
I’m makin’ real good bread
Get around round round I get around
I get around
Round
Get around round round oooo
Wah wa ooo
Wah wa ooo
Wah wa ooo

We always take my car cause it’s never been beat
And we’ve never missed yet with the girls we meet

None of the guys go steady cause it wouldn’t be right
To leave their best girl home now on Saturday night

Round round get around
I get around
Yeah
Get around round round I get around
Get around round round I get around
Wah wa ooo
Get around round round I get around
Oooo ooo ooo
Get around round round I get around
Ahh ooo ooo
Get around round round I get around
Ahh ooo ooo
Get around round round I get around
Ahh ooo ooo

Ace – How Long

A great pop song by Ace and this was their only top 40 hit. Paul Carrack was the lead singer of Ace. He went on to sing for Squeeze and Mike And The Mechanics and had a solo hit with “Don’t Shed a Tear.” He also worked as a keyboardist in Roxy Music and a backup musician for Frankie Miller.

This song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #20 in the UK.

From Songfacts.

Many listeners believed that this was a love song. The truth is that is was about bass player Terry Comer working with other bands (he played briefly with The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver before returning to Ace). He didn’t tell the members of Ace and they felt cheated.

This was Ace’s only hit. They broke up in 1977.

The bass introduction is borrowed from “Traveling Song” by the British folk rock group Pentangle.

When singer-songwriter Paul Carrack appeared on the BBC Breakfast news programme on June 29, 2009 he was asked about the inspiration for this song. Rather than being about a two-timing lover it was, he said, about another band who were “trying to nick our bass player”.
“How Long?” was one of the first songs he ever wrote and remains one of his biggest hits. It was released on the Anchor label, copyright 1974, backed by “Sniffin’ About”, and produced by John Anthony for Neptune Productions. It has been recorded many times since. Terry Comer, the bass player a rival band were trying to “nick”, returned in time to play on the original recording.

How Long

How long has this been goin’ on
How long has this been goin’ on

Well, if friends with their fancy persuasion
Don’t admit that it’s part of a scheme
But I can’t help but have my suspicions
‘Cause I ain’t quite as dumb as I seem
And you said you was never intendin’
To break up our scene in this way
But there ain’t any use in pretendin’
It could happen to us any day

How long has this been goin’ on
How long has this been goin’ on

—- musical interlude —-

Oh, your friends with their fancy persuasion
Don’t admit that it’s part of a scheme
But I can’t help but have my suspicion
‘Cause I ain’t quite as dumb as I seem
Oh, you said you was never intending
To break up our scene in this way
But there ain’t any use in pretendin’
It could happen to us any day

And how long has this been going on
How long has this been going on
How long

How long has this been going on
How long has this been going on
How long has this been going on
How long
How long has this been going o

Isley Brothers – This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)

The song was written by Holland-Dozier-Holland. Lamont Dozier said it was inspired by a girl he just couldn’t give up. “The more I tried the deeper I fell,” he said. “I made excuses for her and all the wrong she had done to me. She was a necessary evil that I just couldn’t overcome.”

The song peaked at #12 in the Billboard 100 in 1966.

Rod Stewart later covered this song in 1975 and again with Ronald Isley which reached #10 in the Billboard 100 in 1990.

From Songfacts.

The Isley Brothers became one of the most successful acts of the ’70s, and also one of the most independent – they wrote, produced and released their own music throughout the decade. But in 1966, they were signed to Motown Records, who teamed them with the songwriting/production team of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland (Holland-Dozier-Holland), who put together this heartbreak song for the group.

Released as their first Motown single, it was a hit, but their last Top 40 with the label, who reassigned Holland-Dozier-Holland to other artists. In 1968, The Isley Brothers left Motown to record on their own label, T-Neck Records. Their first T-Neck release was the group’s biggest hit: “It’s Your Thing.”

This is one of those Motown songs with an upbeat tune but heartwrenching lyrics about a guy who is devastated by the loss of his girl. The poor dude just can’t move on, and like the singer in “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” he’s abandoned his pride: “If you leave me a hundred times, a hundred times I’ll take you back. I’m yours whenever you want me.”

Rod Stewart, a huge fan of both Motown and The Isley Brothers, recorded his own version in 1975 and released it as a single. His rendition was a big hit in the UK, climbing to #4, but it only went to #83 in America. He did a lot better stateside when he recorded the song as a duet with Ronald Isley in 1989. This version made #10 in the US.

In the UK, this song originally charted at #47, but it reached #3 when it was re-released to coincide with a promotional tour of Britain from The Isley Brothers.

Motown singer Tammi Terrell made #67 with her 1969 cover version of this song.

This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)

This old heart of mine been broke a thousand times
Each time you break away, I fear you’ve gone to stay
Lonely nights that come, memories that flow, bringing you back again
Hurting me more and more

Maybe it’s my mistake to show this love I feel inside
‘Cause each day that passes by you got me
Never knowing if I’m coming or going, but I, I love you
This old heart darling, is weak for you
I love you, yes, I do
These old arms of mine miss having you around
Makes these tears inside start a-falling down

Always with half a kiss
You remind me of what I miss
Though I try to control myself
Like a fool I start grinnin’ ’cause my head starts spinnin’ ’cause I

I love you
This is old heart, darling is weak for you
I love you, yes I do, yes I do

Ooh, I try hard to hide, my hurt inside
This old heart of mine always keeps me cryin’
The way you’re treating me, leaves me incomplete
You’re here for the day, gone for the week now

But if you leave me a hundred times
A hundred times I’ll take you back
I’m yours whenever you want me
I’m not too proud to shout it, tell the world about it ’cause I

I love you
This is old heart, darling is weak for you
I love you
This is old heart, darling is weak for you

I love you
This is old heart, darling is weak for you
I love you, yes I do, yes I do
I love you, yes I do, darling is weak for you