Music – Page 50 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Osmonds – Crazy Horses

Please don’t disown me after this…but a Led Zeppelin and Osmond’s story is too hard to pass up. I have played this song to people without telling them who did it…none of them guessed it.

My sister would aggravate me when I was 4 or 5 by playing their records repeatedly. All I could remember was looking at that album and being blinded by that bright glaring smile they all had. So this post is for my sister who probably would not have liked this particular song…but that is probably why it stuck with me.

This is a comment on YouTube about this song “This is what happens when Mormons finally have caffeine.“

I hate to admit it…but this song is not that bad. The Osmonds had this song banned in South Africa, not because of their wild image but because the word Horse meant heroin there. The keyboard at the intro with the slide sound was a YP-30 Yamaha organ with a portmento slide.

A few years after this song…The Osmonds were invited to see Led Zeppelin at Earls Court by the band. They went backstage and met Zeppelin’s family. The Osmonds even used their sound system when they played Earls Court ourselves the following night.

I have to admit…it’s a pretty damn hard song. It peaked at #14 on the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #6 in Canada in 1972. Hmmm wonder how close we came to a Black Sabbath – Osmonds tour in the early seventies?

There was a positive message with the song…it was an environmental song about pollution… an allegory for mankind’s destructive tendencies. As much as I hate to…I’ll give them their due. They stepped out of the teenybopper box they were in and tried something different.

Jay Osmond: I remember we went in a day early because we were using Led Zepplin’s sound equipment. And so we went in to watch them and those guys were so fun and cool. We went backstage and played frisbee with their kids and then they invited us to come up and play with them on ‘Stair Way To Heaven’. And I’ll never forget, The Osmonds and Led Zepplin on the same stage.

Merrill Osmond: “Before that, my brothers and I had been what’s now called a boy band… all our songs were chosen for us by the record company. But now, having been successful, we wanted to freak out and make our own music. We were rehearsing in a basement one day when Wayne started playing this heavy rock riff. I came up with a melody and Alan got the chords. Within an hour, we had the song. I had always been the lead singer, but I sang Crazy Horses with Jay. The line “What a show, there they go, smoking up the sky” had to be sung higher, so I did that and Jay did the verses because his voice was growlier, and this track was heavier than anything we’d ever done.”

Donny Osmond: “Ozzy Osbourne actually told me that ‘Crazy Horses’ is one of his favorite rock and roll songs. “The problem is my teenybopper career was selling like crazy and it overshadowed anything we did as a rock and roll band.”

Donny Osmond: We had a wall of Marshalls in the studio. It was so loud that you couldn’t even walk in the studio, so we had to play the organ from the control room. My brother Alan actually played it on the record. I played it live. But the secret to it was a wah-wah pedal. We opened the wah-wah just enough to get that really harsh kind of a piercing sound, but it was the loudness of the Marshalls that got us that sound. And then we doubled it. That was the secret to that sound.”

This is a song off of that album…they borrowed a Zeppelin riff for this one.

Crazy Horses

There’s a message floatin’ in the air.
Crazy horses ridin’ everywhere.
It’s a warning, it’s in every tongue.
Gotta stop them crazy horses on the run.

What a show, there they go smokin’ up the sky, yeah.
Crazy horses all got riders, and they’re you and I.
Crazy horses (repeat 3 times)

Never stop and they never die.
They just keep on puffin’ how they multiply.
Crazy horses, will they never halt?
If they keep on movin’ then it’s all our fault.

What a show, there they go smokin’ up the sky, yeah.
Crazy horses all got riders, and they’re you and I.
Crazy horses (repeat 3 times)

So take a good look around,
See what they’ve done, what they’ve done —
They’ve done–
They’ve done–
They’ve done–
They’ve done.

Crazy horses.

Allman Brothers – Wasted Words

There is nothing better than sitting back on a cool Fall day and listening to the Allman Brothers.

The album Brothers and Sisters was released in August 1973. This was almost two years after Duane Allman had died. Around a year later on November 11, 1972…their bassist Berry Oakley died on a motorcycle within a few blocks of where Duane crashed. Some of the band members have said…Berry died on the day that Duane died but his body just kept moving until a little over a year later. He never got over Duane dying and his drug and alcohol use escalated. He was on his motorcycle and hit a bus. He went back to his house and they took him to a hospital where he died a short time later.

Let me say this about Berry Oakley. He is sadly overlooked today. Not only was he a superb blues bass player but he had something that not all blues bassists have. He had a great sense of melody…I would compare him to Paul McCartney in that department. In the middle of those jams, you would hear the bass playing these wonderful countermelodies…he was unique in that way.

The Allmans recorded Brother and Sisters between October and December of 1972. It was a monster hit for the Brothers. It contains the last songs that Oakley ever played on. Berry Oakley played on this song and the huge hit Ramblin’ Man that he recorded shortly before his death. They had try-outs for another bass player but Jaimo’s friend Lamar Williams won out easily. He played with the band until they broke up briefly in 1976. He developed lung cancer at the age of 32 from exposure to Agent Orange during his Vietnam service and died in 1983.

Gregg Allman wrote this and Dickey Betts played a slide on the song. He didn’t like playing slide because of Duane. When Duane died instead of replacing him with another guitar player…they recruited the great piano player Chuck Leavell. That was a smart thing to do because of the comparisons to Duane on whoever would have taken that spot. Dickey had to play slide when they played their older songs but it’s something he stayed away from on newer songs when he could.

The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #42 in the UK. What helped the album was Ramblin’ Man and Jessica, two of their most classic songs. They toured with this album and played sold-out stadiums and arenas. A little later they would lease The Starship… the same one that Led Zeppelin used in the seventies. They were up there with The Who, Led Zeppelin, and the monster bands of the seventies.

The first time I heard of the Allman Brothers was on SNL where Dan Ackroyd played Jimmy Carter talking down a caller on acid. I was around 9 when I heard it and it stuck. I have it below.

Wasted Words

Can you tell me, tell me, friend, just exactly where I’ve been?
Is that so much to ask I’ll pay you back no matter what the task
You seem really sure ’bout something I don’t know,
Take that load off, looks like chest’s about to go
Your wasted words already been heard, are you really god, yes or no?

Well, all day and half the night you’re walkin’ round lookin’ such a fright
Good is it me or is it you?
I’d make a wager and I’d hope you lose
Time’s gone, looks like Rome is ’bout to fall,
Next time take the elevator, please don’t crawl
Your wasted words so absurd, are you really Satan, yes or no?
Tell me now baby?
Ooh hoo
Oh

Well, I ain’t no saint and you sure as hell ain’t no savior
Every other Christmas I would practice good behavior
That was then, this is now, don’t ask me to be mister clean
Baby, I don’t know how
Ring my phone ’bout ten more times, we will see,
Find that broke down line and let it be
Your wasted words will never be heard, go on home baby and watch it on TV

Weekday soap-box specialty, you know what I’m talkin’ ’bout now
By the way, this song’s for you, sincerely, me

Max Picks …songs from 1988

1988

Three albums shaped this year for me. One was by The Traveling Wilburys, U2, and the other was by Keith Richards..

Traveling Wilburys – Handle With Care

This was the hit that kicked the Wilburys project off the ground. George Harrison and Jeff Lynne started the ball rolling… Initially an informal grouping with Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, they got together at Bob Dylan’s Santa Monica, California studio to quickly record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison’s song This Is Love. This was the song they came up with, which the record company immediately realized was too good to be released as a single B side. They also recorded “You Got It” at the session, which helped convince them to record an album together.

The title Handle With Care came when George Harrison saw the phrase on the side of a cardboard box in the studio.

Tom Petty on Bob Dylan: “There’s nobody I’ve ever met who knows more about the craft of how to put a song together than he does. I learned so much from just watching him work. He has an artist’s mind and can find in a line the keyword and think how to embellish it to bring the line out. I had never written more words than I needed, but he tended to write lots and lots of verses, then he’ll say, this verse is better than that, or this line. Slowly this great picture emerges. He was very good in The Traveling Wilbury’s: when somebody had a line, he could make it a lot better in big ways.”

Steve Earl – Copperhead Road

Brilliant song by Steve Earle. I became a fan of Steve Earle when I heard “I Ain’t Never Satisfied” off of the Exit 0 album. Copperhead Road was an actual road near Mountain City, Tennessee. It has since been renamed Copperhead Hollow Road, owing to the theft of road signs bearing the song’s name.

What is interesting is Earle tells a story of three generations, of three different eras, and shows how they intersect all in one song. Earle himself called the album the world’s first blend of heavy metal and bluegrass.

U2 – Angel Of Harlem

This song has an old feel and a lot of power. It was on the Rattle and Hum album. I’ve talked to many U2 fans who don’t like the album a lot but it is my favorite album the band did. It broke a little from their previous albums. The Edge backed off the reverb and delay some on this album. They traded their “new wave” sound for Americana and I loved it. Rattle and Hum is very rootsy and raw. For me and I’m sure I’m in the minority…this song was one of the best singles of the 80s. I could hear Van Morrison doing this. This song is what made me go back and listen to the rest of their catalog. This album is not The Joshua Tree Part II…they go down a different path like great bands do.

The “Angel of Harlem” is Billie Holiday, a Jazz singer who moved to Harlem as a teenager in 1928. She played a variety of nightclubs and became famous for her spectacular voice and ability to move her audience to tears. She dealt with racism, drug problems, and bad relationships for most of her life, and her sadness was often revealed in her songs. She died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1959 at age 44.

Angel of Harlem was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis.

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car

When I heard this song it sounded so different than other songs at the time. It’s a well-written song lyrically and musically that has a folk feel to it. It could have been a hit in any era… the lyrics got my attention. While they’re standing in the welfare lines / crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation / wasting time in the unemployment lines / sitting around waiting for a promotion.

The song remains one of my favorites from that era. I always thought this song was an instant classic. It could have been released in 1973.

A still unknown Tracy Chapman was booked to appear down the bill at the Nelson Mandela birthday concert at Wembley Stadium on June 11, 1987. She had no reason to think her appearance would be the catalyst for a career breakthrough. After performing several songs from her self-titled debut during the afternoon, Chapman thought she’d done her bit and could relax and enjoy the rest of the concert.

That would not be the case… later in the evening, Stevie Wonder was delayed when the computer discs for his performance went missing, and Chapman was ushered back onto the stage again. In front of a huge prime-time audience, she performed “Fast Car” alone with her acoustic guitar. Afterward, the song raced up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Keith Richards – Take It So Hard

When I heard this song with the opening riff coming from that 5-string G turning that he is known for I loved it. I bought the album Talk is Cheap which some reviews half-jokingly called the best Rolling Stones album in years (It WAS!). The song got plenty of play on rock stations at the time. It peaked at #3 in the Mainstream Rock Tracks. The album was recorded in a period when Mick and Keith were feuding with each other about the direction of the Stones. They were not recording or playing live. “You Don’t Move Me Anymore” off of the album points right at Mick.

Personally, I’ve always liked Keith’s voice. Happy, Salt of the Earth, You Got the Silver, and Before They Make Me Run rank among my favorite Stones songs. This song would fit on any Stones album.

Beatles – All You Need Is Love…Happy Valentines Day!

I posted this on February 14, 2021, and every year this is the first song that comes to mind on Valentine’s day. I then thought…enough time has gone by so I’m posting it again. Sorry to cheat but to me it is such a Valentines song that I just had to.

I hope all of you have a great Valentine’s Day… let’s join the Beatles on June 25, 1967, for All You Need Is Love. There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done…

How nerve-racking this had to be even if you were a Beatle. They performed this on one of the first Satellite hookups around the world. An estimated 350 million people were watching. This performance was a rock and roll milestone…they were in front of the world.

The show was called “Our World”, the first worldwide TV special. Broadcast in 24 countries on June 25, 1967, the show was six hours long and featured music from 6 continents, with The Beatles representing Britain.

If any of you remember this show…please comment.

At the Beatles’ feet were members of The Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, The Hollies, and The Small Faces helping by singing along.

The song peaked at #1 almost everywhere and probably even in Venus and Mars in 1967.

Musically, this song is very unusual. The chorus is only one note, and the song is in a rare 7/4 tempo. In the orchestral ending, you can hear pieces of both “Greensleeves,” a Bach two-part invention (by George Martin) and Glenn Miller’s “In The Mood.” Royalties were paid to Miller for his contribution.

Just think of all of the bits of paper all of them wrote or scribbled on and threw away. John Lennon’s hand-written lyrics for this song sold for one million pounds in the summer of 2005. Lennon left them in the BBC studios after this appearance, and they were salvaged by a very smart BBC employee.

From Songfacts

The concept of the song was born out of a request to bring a song that was going to be understood by people of all nations. The writing began in late May of 1967, with John and Paul working on separate songs. It was decided that John’s “All You Need Is Love” was the better choice because of its easy to understand message of love and peace. The song was easy to play, the words easy to remember and it encompassed the feeling of the world’s youth during that period.

“All You Need Is Love” was a popular saying in the ’60s anti-war movement. The song was released in the middle of the Summer of Love (1967). It was a big part of the vibe.

John Lennon wrote this as a continuation of the idea he was trying to express in his 1965 song “The Word.” John was fascinated by how slogans effect the masses and was trying to capture the same essence as songs like “We Shall Overcome.” He once stated, “I like slogans. I like advertising. I love the telly.” In a 1971 interview about his song “Power To The People,” he was asked if that song was propaganda. He said, “Sure. So was ‘All You Need Is Love.’ I’m a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change.”

It was not until 1983 and the publication of the in the book John Lennon: In My Life by Pete Shotton and Nicholas Schaffner that it was revealed that John Lennon was the primary composer of the song. It is typical of Lennon: Three long notes (“love -love -love”) and the rise of excitement with at first speaking, then recital, then singing, then the climax and finally the redemption. This as opposed to McCartney’s conventional verse, verse, middle part, verse or A,A,B,A. Lennon felt that a good song must have a rise of excitement, climax and redeeming.

Ringo’s second son, Jason, was born the day this hit #1 in the US: August 19, 1967. Jason is also a drummer.

McCartney sang the chorus to The Beatles 1963 hit, “She Loves You” at the end: “She loves you yeah yeah yeah… She loves you yeah yeah yeah”

This begins with a clip from the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg on April 25, 1792. Its original name was “Chant de guerre de l’Armee du Rhin” (“Marching Song of the Rhine Army”) and it was dedicated to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian-born French officer from Cham. It became the rallying call of the French Revolution and got its name because it was first sung on the streets by troops from Marseille upon their arrival in Paris. Now the national anthem of France, the song was also once the anthem of the international revolutionary movement, contrasting with the theme of The Beatles song. In the late 1970s, Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version “Aux Armes et cetera,” with Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar and Rita Marley in the choir in Jamaica, which resulted in him getting death threats from veterans of the Algerian War of Independence.

Al and Tipper Gore had this song played at their wedding. They married in 1970 and separated in 2010.

George Harrison mentioned this in his 1981 song “All Those Years Ago” with the line, “But you point the way to the truth when you say ‘All you need is love.'” Harrison’s song is a tribute to John Lennon, who was killed in 1980.

This was used in the climactic final episode of the UK sci-fi series The Prisoner, and was the entrance music for Queen Elizabeth II during the UK Millennial celebrations of 1999. It was also sung by choirs across the kingdom in 2002 during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebration.

In 2007, this was used in an advertising campaign for Luvs diapers with the lyrics changed to “All You Need Is Luvs.” While Beatles songs have been used in commercials before, notably “Revolution” in spots for Nike and “Hello Goodbye” for Target, this peace anthem shilling for diapers didn’t go over well with fans who thought it sullied The Beatles legacy. The publishing rights to “All You Need Is Love” and most other Beatles songs are controlled by the Sony corporation and Michael Jackson, which means The Beatles cannot prevent a company from re-recording the song and using it in a commercial.

When asked what his favorite lyric is during an interview with NME, John Lennon’s son Sean replied: “My list of favorite things changes from day to day. I like when my dad said: ‘There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known/ Nothing you can see that isn’t shown/ Nowhere you can go that isn’t where you’re meant to be.’ It seems to be a good representation of the sort of enlightenment that came out of the ’60s.”

All You Need Is Love

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung
Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game
It’s easy
Nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown
There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
(Love is all you need)
(Love is all you need)
(Love is all you need)
Yesterday
(Love is all you need)
Oh
Love is all you need
Love is all you need
Oh yeah
Love is all you need
(She love you, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(She love you, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Love is all you need)
(Love is all you need)

….

Mick Jagger – Memo From Turner

This song should have been a Rolling Stones song but it was on the soundtrack of a movie Jagger did in 1969. It’s my absolute favorite thing Jagger ever released under his name only. The slide guitar in this song is just downright nasty. Ry Cooder did the honors in this song.

Mick Jagger starred in this movie called Performance in 1970. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel so I’ll paste the plot from IMDB:

Chas is an East London thug who works for gangster Harry Flowers and his associates (although they don’t use the word gangster to describe themselves). Chas is generally sadistic in his nature and thus revels in his work. But his sadistic nature also pervades his personal life. As such, he will work on his own personal agenda outside of the work for Harry. It is in this vein that an encounter with Joey Maddocks, a man with whom Chas has a history, leads to Chas needing to hide out from Harry and his associates. Ultimately Chas feels he needs to clandestinely leave the country. In the meantime, he, based solely on a private conversation he overhears between strangers, manages to take refuge in the basement of a Notting Hill flat owned by a man named Turner, who lives there with two female companions named Pherber and Lucy. Chas considers their lifestyle bohemian and one of free love, which is outside of his mentality. Turner is an ex-rock musician who has lost his “demon” and thus his desire to be a performer. As Chas makes arrangements for his departure out of England, he gets caught up in Turner’s lifestyle, Turner who is working on his own agenda in spending time with Chas.

I saw this movie in the 1980s…it’s a good movie. It’s not Mary Poppins by any stretch of the imagination so you will be seeing an R-rated movie that can border on X. They had to cut a few scenes to make it an R back then. Jagger does a great job in it…it’s been said more than playing himself in this film… he was playing his ex-bandmate Brian Jones.

The song was credited to Jagger/Richards and on some takes only Jagger. There were 3 versions of the song. The first take was from Mick with some of the band Traffic backing him but it wasn’t officially released. The 2nd version was a version of it by The Stones with Ry Cooder on slide. The third version was recorded in 1970 featuring Mick Jagger, Ry Cooder on slide guitar, Russ Titelman (guitar), Randy Newman (piano), Jerry Scheff (bass), and Gene Parsons on drums. That is the one that everyone knows.

Keith Richards didn’t want anything to do with it. He was not happy with the love scenes between his actress girlfriend Anita Pallenberg and Mick Jagger. Keith held a lot of resentment over that for a long time and let Mick know in his 2010 book Life. He ripped Jagger pretty well over it and it took them a few years to start talking again.

This is a very dirty and grimy song…it would have been a perfect fit on Exile On Mainstreet or Sticky Fingers. Any Goodfellas fans out there might remember it in that movie.

The song peaked at #32 on the UK Charts in 1970.

Memo From Turner

Didn’t I see you down in San Antone on a hot and dusty night?
We were eating eggs in Sammy’s when the black man there drew his knife
Didn’ you drown that Jew in Rampton when he washed his sleeveless shirt
With that Spanish-speaking gentlemen, the one we all called “Kurt.”

Come now, gentleman, there must be some mistake
How forgetful I’m becoming, now you fixed your business straight

I remember you in Hemlock Road in nineteen fifty-six
You’re a faggy little leather boy with a smaller piece of stick
You’re a lashing, smashing hunk of man
Your sweat shines sweet and strong
Your organ’s working perfectly, but there’s a part that’s not screwed on

Weren’t you at the Coke convention back in nineteen sixty-five
You’re the misbred, grey executive that I’ve seen heavily advertised
You’re the great, gray man whose daughter licks policemen’s buttons clean
You’re the man who squats behind the man who works the soft machine

Come now, gentleman, your love is all I crave
You’ll still be in the circus when I’m laughing, laughing in my grave

When the old men do the fighting and the young men all look on
And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plastic on
So be wary please my gentle friends of all the skins you breed
They have a nasty habit that is they bite the hands that feed

So remember who you say you are and keep your noses clean
Boys will be boys and play with toys so be strong with your beast
Oh Rosie dear, don’t you think it’s queer, so stop me if you please
The baby is dead, my lady said, “You gentlemen, why you all work for me?”

Eric Clapton – Promises

I had this single when I was a kid that was passed down to me from someone. This was before I knew about Cream, Yardbirds, or anything else. It was probably my first impression of Eric Clapton. When I did hear Cream it was a bit of a shock.

A country rock song by Eric Clapton that’s always been a favorite of mine. It was released in 1978 and peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #82 on the Country Charts, #37 in the UK, and #7 in Canada. This song was from his Backless album. At the time when Clapton was influenced by Don Williams the country artist.

His album Slowhand was released the year before this album. He kept the same producer, Glyn Johns, and recorded in the same studio (Olympic in London). This album was laid-back like Slowhand. It also has a country feel with Tulsa time and this song Promises. The album is not as critically acclaimed as Slowhand…this single was the only hit song on the album.

The album peaked at #8 on the Billboard Album Charts, #22 on the Canadian charts, #18 in the UK, and #22 in New Zealand in 1978. The female singer in this song is Marcy Levy. She wrote Lay Down Sally with Clapton and George Terry.

It was written by Richard Feldman and Roger Linn

Promises

I don’t care if you never come home
I don’t mind if you just keep on
Rowing away on a distant sea
‘Cause I don’t love you and you don’t love me

You cause a commotion when you come to town
You give ’em a smile and they melt
Having lovers and friends is all good and fine
But I don’t like yours and you don’t like mine

La la, la la la la la
La la, la la la la la

I don’t care what you do at night
Oh, and I don’t care how you get your delights
I’m gonna leave you alone, I’ll just let it be
I don’t love you and you don’t love me

I got a problem. Can you relate?
I got a woman calling love hate
We made a vow we’d always be friends
How could we know that promises end?

I tried to love you for years upon years
You refuse to take me for real
It’s time you saw what I want you to see
And I’d still love you if you’d just love me

I got a problem. Can you relate?
I got a woman calling love hate
We made a vow we’d always be friends
How could we know that promises end?

Velvet Underground – I’m Waiting For The Man

When I think of The Velvet Underground… the bands Big Star and The Replacements come up. Those three bands influenced a huge range of other bands but didn’t come along at the right time to make it themselves. They never had mainstream success but their music lives on with every 15-year-old guitar player that picks up one of their albums.

Ask Peter Buck, Paul Westerberg, Paul Stanley, and Rick Nielsen, about some of their influences. The Underground would come up and Big Star… In the 90s performers such as Kurt Cobain and Green Day were heavily influenced by The Replacements. Ok, I’ll step off of my soapbox now.

While the West Coast bands at the time had songs about free love and romanticized the psychedelic experience… The Velvet Underground was more about New York’s dirty streets and drug addictions.

It’s no big secret what this song is about. Waiting for his drug dealer to come. The song is about scoring $26 worth of heroin in Harlem. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Reed said: “Everything about that song holds true, except the price.” The place where the deal took place is a Harlem brownstone near the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street to buy drugs from a dealer.

The song was released in 1967 on The Velvet Underground & Nico album. Songs like “I’m Waiting For The Man,” “Heroin,” and “Venus In Furs” were what kept The Velvet Underground out of a record contract with Atlantic Records. Atlantic executive Ahmet Ertegun told them he would take them if they would drop those songs about drugs…they refused. They would eventually (1970) sign with Cotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records that specialized in blues and Southern soul). Until then they were signed to Verve Records…subsidiary of MGM.

Lou Reed wrote this song. John Cale who played piano and bass guitar started to push Reed into more avant grade directions. You can hear Cale’s influence on Reed by listening to the demo version. It sounds like a traditional blues song. I have it at the bottom also above the studio version. The versions are night and day.

The album peaked at #129 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #43 in the UK in 1967.

David Bowie: “I actually played ‘Waiting for the Man’ in Britain with my band before the album was even released in America. Talk about oneupsmanship. A friend of mine came over to the states to do some work with Andy Warhol at The Factory, and as he was leaving, Andy said, ‘Oh, I just made this album with some people. Maybe you can take it back to England and see if you can get any interest over there.’ And it was still the vinyl test pressing. It hadn’t got a company or anything at the time. I still have it. There’s a white label on it, and it says ‘Warhol.’ He signed it. My friend gave it to me and he said, ‘This is crap. You like weird stuff, so maybe you’ll enjoy it.’ I played it and it was like ‘Ah, this is the future of music!’ I was in awe. It was serious and dangerous and I loved it. And I literally went into a band rehearsal the next day, put the album down and said, ‘We’re going to learn this song. It is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.’ We learned ‘Waiting for the Man’ right then and there, and we were playing it on stage within a week. I told Lou that, and he loved it. I must have been the first person in the world to cover a Velvet Underground song.”

The DEMO version

I’m Waiting For the Man

I’m waiting for my man
Twenty-six dollars in my hand
Up to Lexington, 125
Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive
I’m waiting for my man

Hey, white boy, what you doin’ uptown?
Hey, white boy, you chasin’ our women around?
Oh pardon me sir, it’s the furthest from my mind
I’m just lookin’ for a dear, dear friend of mine
I’m waiting for my man

Here he comes, he’s all dressed in black
PR shoes and a big straw hat
He’s never early, he’s always late
First thing you learn is you always gotta wait
I’m waiting for my man

Up to a Brownstone, up three flights of stairs
Everybody’s pinned you, but nobody cares
He’s got the works, gives you sweet taste
Ah then you gotta split because you got no time to waste
I’m waiting for my man

Baby don’t you holler, darlin’ don’t you bawl and shout
I’m feeling good, you know I’m gonna work it on out
I’m feeling good, I’m feeling oh so fine
Until tomorrow, but that’s just some other time
I’m waiting for my man

Jerry Jeff Walker – Pissin’ In The Wind

Pissin’ in the wind, bettin’ on a losing friend
Makin’ the same mistakes, we swore we’d never make again
And we’re pissin’ in the wind, but it’s blowing on all our friends
We’re gonna sit and grin and tell our grandchildren

I heard this song as a kid…where and when I can’t tell you but it came back to me as soon I started to play it. There was no way country radio would have played this back in 1975 so I sure as hell didn’t hear it there. You know what is really odd? I’ve been blogging for 7 years and never have I had a song with “piss” in the title…and this is the second song TODAY I’ve written up with that word in the title. I decided against posting them back to back so I picked another song to follow this post.

I had forgotten about this song until Randy and CB brought up Jerry Jeff Walker. You know his most famous song very well, Mr Bojangles. That song was made popular by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. When I get into something…I usually fall hard for it. That is the reason you have seen weeks of Texas songwriters. The writing is so consistently good. Walker was not Texan born but he settled in Texas in the 1970s and stayed there for the rest of his life.

This song is funny and different. He used a Dixieland clarient in a country song which is a wonderful mixture. Needless to say, this is not one of his serious songs but I love the loose feel of it. On top of that, he throws a fun jibe at Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind.

The song was on the critically praised album Ridin’ High. The album charted at #14 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1975.

Pissin’ In The Wind

Pissin’ in the wind, bettin’ on a losing friend
Makin’ the same mistakes, we swore we’d never make again
And we’re pissin’ in the wind, but it’s blowing on all our friends
We’re gonna sit and grin and tell our grandchildren

About the time I called this guy it was four in the morning
Teach me the words to the song I was humming

He just laughed and he said that the ole grey cat is sneakin’ down the hall
But all he wants to know is who in the hell is paying for the call

Chorus

Now this Nunn called me up, it was eight in the morning
Wanted to know how in the world am I doin’
He just laughed and he said get together boy, and fall on by the house
Some Gonzo buddies would like to play anything your’s picking now

Chorus

Now we worked and we suffered and struggled
Makin’ our record till we got it right
Now we’re waiting on the check to come sneaking down the hall
Like that old time feeling
That we never should have ever put the record out at all

Chorus

That the answer my friend is just pissin’ in the wind
The answer is pissin’ in the sink

….

Rodney Crowell – It Ain’t Over Yet

You can’t take for granted none of this shitThe higher up you fly boys, the harder you get hit

This song is haunting and gorgeous. On this album, Crowell has a conversation with his late friends Guy and Susanna Clark and his history. His ex-wife Rosanne Cash and John Paul White also appear with Crowell on this song.

What I like about this song is its simplicity but underneath…there are a lot of things going on. His writing makes it easy to follow but there is more underneath the surface.

This song is on his 15th solo studio album, Close Ties released in 2017. He calls it a bit of a “concept album,” with a clear stroll through his personal history. You almost feel like you are prying into his personal diaries while listening to it.

Crowell was born in Houston, Texas in 1950. He had a rough childhood with an alcoholic father and a very strict Pentecostal mother. At age 15 (1965) he left and joined a rock and roll band 30 miles from home. He said his parents didn’t really acknowledge him when he left.

In 1972 he left for Nashville and found a group of songwriters headed by fellow Texan Guy Clark. He gave Crowell a Dylan Thomas poetry book to look over and study. Clark told him they were not making products but making art. Clark has said: “I’ll bet that when you’re dying, you’re not going to think about the money you made. You’re going to think about your art.”

Crowell charted albums to make enough money to pay the bills through the 80s and 90s but his album Diamonds and Dirt was a huge success. 5 of the singles off that album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1998-1999.

Close Ties peaked at #28 on the Billboard Country Charts and #138 on the Billboard Album Charts in 2017.

It Ain’t Over Yet

It’s like I’m sitting at a bus stop waiting for a trainExactly how I got here is hard to explainMy heart’s in the right place, what’s left of it I guessMy heart ain’t the problem, it’s my mind that’s a total messWith these rickety old legs and watery eyesIt’s hard to believe that I could pass for anybody’s prizeHere’s what I know about the gifts that God gaveYou can’t take ’em with you when you go to the grave

It ain’t over yet, ask someone who ought to knowNot so very long ago we were both hung out to dryIt ain’t over yet, you can mark my wordI don’t care what you think you heard, we’re still learning how to flyIt ain’t over yet

For fools like me who were built for the chaseTakes the right kind of woman to help you put it all in placeIt only happened once in my life, but man you should have seenHer hair two shades of foxtail red, her eyes some far out sea blue greenI got caught up making a name for myself, you know what that’s aboutOne day your ship comes rolling in and the next day it rolls right back outYou can’t take for granted none of this shitThe higher up you fly boys, the harder you get hit

It ain’t over yet, I’ll say this about thatYou can get up off the mat or you can lay there till you dieIt ain’t over yet, here’s the truth my friendYou can’t pack it in and we both know whyIt ain’t over yet

Silly boys blind to get there firstThink of second chances as some kind of curseI’ve known you forever and ever it’s trueIf you came by it easy, you wouldn’t be youMake me laugh, you make me cry, you make me forget myself

Back when down on my luck kept me up for daysYou were there with the right word to help me crawl out of the mazeAnd when I almost convinced myself I was hipper than thouYou stepped up with a warning shot fired sweet and low across the bowNo you don’t walk on water and your sarcasm stingsBut the way you move through this old world sure makes a case for angel wingsI was halfway to the bottom when you threw me that lineI quote you now verbatim, “Get your head out of your own behind”

It ain’t over yet, what you wanna betOne more cigarette ain’t gonna send you to the graveIt ain’t over yet, I’ve seen your new girlfriendThinks you’re the living end, great big old sparkle in her eyeIt ain’t over yet

…

Ritchie Valens – Come On, Let’s Go

Ritchie Valens is known now because of the plane crash, the 1987 movie La Bamba, and the music he made. His rise was short and he was only 17 years old when he died. I remember the movie in the 80s, I went in not knowing much about him except the song La Bamba. I came out with a new appreciation for Ritchie Valens and he carries more influence than his small catalog. Now before you think that I took the movie as gospel…I didn’t but it did get him noticed.

Valens recorded more songs than I ever knew. He recorded 29 songs and he wrote 21 of them. Come On, Let’s Go still sounds fresh and the quality is great. The song peaked at #42 on the Billboard 100 in 1958. It has been covered by Tommy Steel which peaked at #10 in the UK in 1958, The McCoys #22 on the Billboard 100, and Los Lobos for 1987 the movie which peaked at #21 on the Billboard 100 in 1987. After he died, a live album was released as well.

Bob Keane produced most of Ritchie Valens’ recordings. In the summer of 1958, the two hit the road to promote the young new rock singer’s first release which was this song. While in the car, Valens played him another song that he would like to try that he didn’t write. It was a Mexican folk song that Keane didn’t think that audiences would like because of the Spanish lyrics. On top of that…Valens didn’t know much Spanish at all. But…that’s a song for another post.

Valen’s contributions are huge. He is considered a pioneer of and Latin rock, inspiring many musicians of Mexican heritage. Artists like Santana and Los Lobos are among the artists he influenced. Who knows how far Valens could have gone had the airplane crash hadn’t happened. Not only was he a great performer but he could write as well.

The B side…Framed

Come On, Let’s Go

Well, come on, let’s go, let’s go, little darlin’
Tell me that you’ll never leave me
Come on, come on, let’s go again
Go again and again

Well, now, swing me, swing me, swing me, little darlin’
Come on, let’s go, little darlin’
Let’s go, let’s go again once more

Well, I love you, babe
And I’ll never let you go
Come on, baby, so, oh, pretty baby, I love you so

Well, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, little sweetheart
Forever we can always be together
Come on, come on, let’s go again

Oh, well, I love you, babe
And I’ll never let you go
Come on, baby, so, oh, pretty baby, I love you so

Well, come on, let’s go, let’s go, little darlin’
Tell me that you’ll never leave me
Come on, come on, let’s go again
Again, again, and again
Again, again, and again
Again, again, and again

Beatles – You Really Got A Hold On Me

I had this scheduled for later in March but since it’s February 9…I thought I would move it up. It was exactly 60 years ago today on February 9, 1964, that The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.

This Smokey Robinson song is a great one…I really like both versions of this song. You can’t go wrong with either one. You will not beat Smokey’s voice but I like how The Beatles adapted their sound to it. Lennon did a great job on this one. This is close to what the Beatles would have sounded like in the Cavern or Hamburg.

The Beatles liked covering B sides and songs that were not hits but this one was a hit just the year before. Smokey was a huge influence on them in this time frame of 1962-63. Seven live takes of the song were first recorded, featuring all four Beatles playing their usual instruments and singing without overdubs, accompanied by producer George Martin on piano. Only four of these performances were complete (three of them being false starts), “take seven” being the keeper. The song was featured on With The Beatles released in the UK on November 22, 1963.

Smokey Robinson said he was thrilled that The Beatles would cover one of his songs. He also said that The Beatles were the first white band that came out and said they were influenced by him and other black artists. He also said they helped other black artists when they made that statement to be heard.

Later on when the Beatles toured America…it was written in their contract that they would absolutely not play in front of a segregated audience.

Robinson was influenced by Sam Cooke’s Bring It All Home To Me…which I can hear. Cooke would sometimes perform at Robinson’s church with his group the Soul Stirrers and Robinson was a huge fan.

While recording the vocal track for the song “Woman” on the Double Fantasy album… Yoko commented that John sounded like a Beatle. Lennon corrected her by saying, “Actually I’m supposed to be Smokey Robinson at the moment, my dear, because The Beatles were always supposing that they were Smokey Robinson.”

You Really Got A Hold On Me

I don’t like you
But I love you
See that I’m always
Thinking of you

Oh, oh, oh,
You treat me badly
I love you madly
You’ve really got a hold on me
You’ve really got a hold on me, baby

I don’t want you
But I need you
Don’t want to kiss you
But I need you
Oh, oh, oh

You do me wring now
My love is strong now
You’ve really got a hold on me
You’ve really got a hold on me, baby
I love you and all I want you to do
Is just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me

I want to leave you
Don’t want to stay here
Don’t want to spend
Another day here

Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now
I just can quit now
You’ve really got a hold on me
You’ve really got a hold on me, baby
I love you and all I want you to do
Is just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me
You’ve really got a hold on me
You’ve really got a hold on me

Squeeze – Black Coffee In Bed

A cousin of mine sent me a link to this song and I haven’t heard it in a long time. Black Coffee in Bed was released in 1982 and it surprises me that this did not chart in the Billboard 100 but it did peak at #26 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts. It also peaked at #51 on the UK Charts.

Black Coffee In Bed was released in 1982 as the first single from Squeeze’s fifth album, Sweets from a Stranger. Glenn Tilbrook sang lead and wrote the music to accompany Chris Difford’s lyrics. Elvis Costello and Paul Young sang backup.

The first article I read about Squeeze in Rolling Stone gave them a “New Beatles” label. That is not a good label to have and usually is the kiss of death. The band did have a hit the year before with Tempted. This song was played a lot on MTV. When MTV launched in 1981 they were on the hunt for videos and many of the British bands of that time had been making videos so this was in the rotation.

Sweets from a Stranger peaked at #20 on the UK Charts, #26 in Canada, and #32 on the Billboard Album Charts. This album was their follow-up to East Side Story. Like Crowded House a little later, they made some great pop albums that still sound good today.

John, a fellow blogger from 2 Loud 2 Old Music reviewed this song.

Chris Difford: “The lyric was inspired by my picking up my notebook one day and seeing a coffee stain on it, which inspired the first line. It was a very vivid image for me and inspired this song of loss and regret. Lyrically it was attractive to a country kind of meter. The fact that Glenn put a soul melody to it shows the unique quality of our writing.”

Black Coffee In Bead

There’s a stain on my notebook
Where your coffee cup was
And there’s ash in the pages
Now I’ve got myself lost
I was writing to tell you
That my feelings tonight
Are a stain on my notebook
That rings your goodbye
With the way that you left me
I can hardly contain
The hurt and the anger
And the joy of the pain
Now knowing I am single
They’ll be fire in my eyes
And a stain on my notebook
For a new love tonight
From the lips without passion
To the lips with a kiss
There’s nothing of your love
That I’ll ever miss
The stain on my notebook
Remain all that’s left
Of the memory of late nights
And coffee in bed
Now she’s gone
And I’m back on the beat
A stain on my notebook
Says nothing to me
Now she’s gone
And I’m out with a friend
With lips full of passion
And coffee in bed

Danny O’Keefe – Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues

I ran across this song a few weeks ago. It was the first time I heard this song in many years. I would hear it on local radio stations growing up.

Danny O’Keefe was from Spokane, Washington and he wrote the song during a period when he was struggling with his own demons. He had just gotten out of a bad relationship and was dealing with alcohol and drug addiction.

It was also recorded by Elvis using the same musicians as O’Keefe did on this recording. He also wrote the song “The Road” on Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty Album. It peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 and #19 in Canada in 1972. It was recorded at American Studios in Memphis with Arif Marden producing. Danny O’Keefe was a one-hit wonder with Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues his only Billboard hit.

The song has been featured in numerous films and television shows, including The Sopranos and Forrest Gump. It has also been recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which included it in its list of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.”

Danny O’Keefe: “The success of one’s dreams is always exhilarating. Elvis cut the song with the same group of musicians I had, so there was a pride in continuity, but I didn’t think he brought anything new to it. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate it more as part of the song’s great legacy.”

Danny O’Keefe: “Maybe it was about hipsters drawn to the high life. I lived in interesting times and there was a lot of experimentation with every kind of drug. There were a lot of damages and strange intersections of lives that provided much grist for a young songwriter’s mill.”

Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues

Everybody’s goin’ away
Said they’re movin’ to LA
There’s not a soul I know around
Everybody’s leavin’ town
Some caught a freight, some caught a plane
Find the sunshine, leave the rain
They said this town’s a waste of time
I guess they’re right, it’s wastin’ mine
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Ya know my heart keeps tellin’ me
“You’re not a kid at thirty-three”
“Ya play around, ya lose your wife”
“Ya play too long, you lose your life”
I got my pills to ease the pain
Can’t find a thing to ease the rain
I’d love to try and settle down
But everybody’s leavin’ town
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
(whistling to end)

Max Picks …songs from 1987

1987

I listened to the radio in 1987 a little more than in the previous 3 years or so. The albums that really got my attention were George Harrison’s Cloud Nine and the Replacements album that’s one of my favorites of the 1980s…Please To Meet Me… it was recorded in the Memphis studio where Big Star recorded. It was also the year of the Grateful Dead…a huge top-ten album and single.

Grateful Dead – Touch Of Grey

I knew of the Grateful Dead from an older brother of a friend I had. I had heard of them as a kid in the seventies before I actually heard them. I knew some of their songs and the Garcia song Sugaree. I always pictured this heavy tough metal band with a name like that. Whenever they toured they would draw a massive amount of fans despite having no top ten hits…until this song. After this song, they drew a larger amount of attention and fans.

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

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

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

George Harrison – We We Was Fab

I loved this song when I heard it. To hear George sing about his time with The Beatles surprised me. Of all the Beatles George seemed to have the most resentment and some of it was understandable. A few years after this he would join the remaining Beatles and start on The Beatles Anthology. George wanted Paul to be in this video but Paul was tied up at the time. He asked George to put a left-handed bass player in the video with a walrus mask and tell everyone it was him.

George co-wrote the song with Jeff Lynne, who also co-produced the album that shortly pre-dates the two of them forming The Traveling Wilburys. ‘When We Was Fab’ is a musical nod to the psychedelic sound that the Beatles had made their own. George used a sitar, string quartet, and backward tape effects.

He also got some help from Ringo. Starr played drums on this track and a few others on the album. Harrison says that when he started writing the song, he had Ringo’s drumming in mind for the intro and the overall tempo

Replacements – Alex Chilton

The Replacement’s tribute song about Big Star and Box Tops lead singer, Alex Chilton. The song was off the album Please To Meet Me. One of my favorite bands of all time singing about a singer in one of my favorite bands. This would be my number 1 song of 1987.

The Replacements recorded Pleased To Meet Me in Memphis at Ardent Studios, the same studio as Big Star. The man behind the board was Jim Dickinson, who produced the storied third Big Star album. Alex came into the studio a few times while the Replacements were working on the record (and laid down a guitar fill for “Can’t Hardly Wait”), but the band avoided the awkwardness of playing “Alex Chilton” whenever Chilton was around.

R.E.M. – It’s The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

This song came off of the great Document album. With some REM songs, it takes a few listens for me but this one… the first time was enough to know I really liked it. It was recorded in the Sound Emporium in Nashville, Tennessee. The song peaked at #69 in 1988. The song was inspired by Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan and you can tell.

Michael Stipe said: “The words come from everywhere. I’m extremely aware of everything around me, whether I am in a sleeping state, awake, dream-state or just in day to day life. There’s a part in ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ that came from a dream where I was at Lester Bangs’ birthday party and I was the only person there whose initials weren’t L.B. So there was Lenny Bruce, Leonid Brezhnev, Leonard Bernstein… So that ended up in the song along with a lot of stuff I’d seen when I was flipping TV channels. It’s a collection of streams of consciousness.”

Los Lobos – La Bamba

This band had been around a long time before this song came out. They formed in 1973 and released their first album in 1978. They opened for bands such as The Clash and The Blasters so they got exposed to a lot of different audiences.

They recorded some Ritchie Valens covers for the movie La Bamba and their cover of the title track made them known internationally. The song was number 1 almost everywhere including the US, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand.

Looking Glass – Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)

It’s good to be back…I was under the weather yesterday and not a bunch better today but better all the same.

This is a song that automatically takes me back to being a kid. When it was included on the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 soundtrack…it was exposed to many kids and teens which now lives on for another generation. I rarely cover AM Gold songs because early on I covered so many of them…and this one is worth it.

No one other than Clive Davis signed this band to a contract. He knew they had hit on their hands! Well…yes he did but he didn’t think this song was it though. This song was originally the B-side to a song called “Don’t It Make You Feel Good.”It’s a good song but not Brandy. Harv Moore, a disc jockey in Washington DC, flipped the record and played “Brandy” instead. It became popular in the DC area, and quickly spread nationwide.

This song was released in 1972 and it was a big hit. It still is being played today on classic radio and in any supermarket near you. It peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #51 in the UK.

It was written by the lead singer Elliot Lurie. Looking Glass didn’t hang around too much longer… after a minor hit the next year with “Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne,” Lurie left the band to pursue a solo career.

There is another reason why Looking Glass didn’t do more. They were originally a hard rock band from New Jersey until the success of “Brandy,” which pushed them (reluctantly) into a softer direction. Apparently, the band was never entirely pleased with the song’s success or their new direction, and they never really altered their heavier stage act to accommodate what their new listeners were used to hearing from them on the radio.

I’m sure that Lurie doesn’t mind the softness now when the song is included in movies and soundtracks.

Elliot Lurie: Brandy is a made-up individual,” he said. “The name was derived from a high school girlfriend I had whose name was Randy with an ‘R.’ Usually when I write — I still do it the same way I did back then — I strum some guitar and kind of sing along with the first things that come to mind. Her name came up. Then I started writing the rest of the song, and it was about a barmaid. I I thought Randy was an unusual name for a girl, it could go either way, and (the song was about) a barmaid, so I changed it to Brandy.”

Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)

There’s a port on a western bay
And it serves a hundred ships a day
Lonely sailors pass the time away
And talk about their homes

And there’s a girl in this harbor town
And she works layin’ whiskey down
They say, Brandy, fetch another round
She serves them whiskey and wine

The sailors say, “Brandy, you’re a fine girl” (you’re a fine girl)
“What a good wife you would be” (such a fine girl)
“Yeah, your eyes could steal a sailor from the sea”

Brandy wears a braided chain
Made of finest silver from the North of Spain
A locket that bears the name
Of the man that Brandy loved

He came on a summer’s day
Bringin’ gifts from far away
But he made it clear he couldn’t stay
No harbor was his home

The sailor said, “Brandy, you’re a fine girl” (you’re a fine girl)
“What a good wife you would be” (such a fine girl)
“But my life, my love and my lady is the sea”

Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes
When he told his sailor story
She could feel the ocean fall and rise
She saw its ragin’ glory
But he had always told the truth, Lord, he was an honest man
And Brandy does her best to understand

At night when the bars close down
Brandy walks through a silent town
And loves a man who’s not around
She still can hear him say

She hears him say, “Brandy, you’re a fine girl” (you’re a fine girl)
“What a good wife you would be” (such a fine girl)
“But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea”

It is, it is
Yes, it is, yes it is

He said, “Brandy, you’re a fine girl” (you’re a fine girl)
“What a good wife you would be” (such a fine girl)
“But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea”