Music – Page 51 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Derek and The Dominos – Bell Bottom Blues

I like this song just as much as Layla. It was written by Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock. This song and “I Looked Away” are two of my favorites on the album. Bell Bottom Blues peaked at only #91 on the Billboard 100 in 1971. Recently, Eric did a great thing for someone with this album.

Derek and The Dominos formed after working on George Harrison’s album All Things Must Pass. After that, they played a lot of different small clubs all over Europe. They made the album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs in Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida. It’s there where Clapton met Duane Allman and a little later invited him to join them. Duane ended up turning Eric down because he believed in the Allman Brothers and he built them from the ground up. Eric was one of his guitar guys so it had to be a hard choice for him.

Clapton first heard about Allman when listening to Wilson Pickett’s version of Hey Jude for the first time and heard his guitar playing at the end of the song. He called up either Ahmet Ertegun or Tom Dowd and asked who was that guitar player? Eric has said that he has never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record.

In 1970, Eric Clapton was experiencing emotional anguish over George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd. He recounts writing the song for Boyd after she asked him to get her a pair of bell-bottom jeans while he visited the US.

Clapton repackaged this album and the first thing he did was to ask his attorneys…what is Bobby Whitlock going to get out of this? Bobby played keyboards and wrote a lot of the songs with Eric. The attorneys told Eric he would get nothing because he sold all of his rights. He was down at one time and had to sell everything. Eric and his attorneys went to the publishing company and bought back all of Bobby’s rights and handed it over to him without Whitlock even knowing.

Bobby Whitlock: Well, unbeknownst to me, Eric and Michael took their attorneys in to the respective Warner/Chappel and Universal and all the other companies and bought back my rights to my income and restored them and gave them back to me. Out of the blue.

So all of my royalties have come back. And now it’s even more so, because it hasn’t been a month-and-a-half ago that I wrote him to explain how ‘Bell Bottom Blues’ came about, and I sent it to Eric and to Michael. Someone had come online and says something about, ‘Is this true that ‘Bell Bottom Blues’ was written about a pair of trousers?’

And I said, Yeah, well, it was that and this girl in France that Eric was seeing for a little while while we were there. I’d forgotten about Pattie [Boyd – subject of ‘Layla’] asking him about those pants. But anyway, before I would answer this and put it out publicly online, I decided, Well, I probably ought to write Eric.

Bobby Whitlock: “Eric met this girl, she was like a Persian princess or something, and she wore bell bottoms. She was all hung up on him – he gave her a slide that Duane (Allman) had given him and he wrapped it in leather and she wore it around her neck. She didn’t speak a word of English and they had to date through an interpreter. That relationship did not last but a week. He started the song over there, then when we got back to England, we finished it up in his TV room in Hurtwood Edge.”

Bell Bottom Blues Indeed!

Bell Bottom Blues

Bell bottom blues, you made me cry
I don’t want to lose this feeling
And if I could choose a place to die
It would be in your arms

Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you?
Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back?
I’d gladly do it because
I don’t want to fade away
Give me one more day, please
I don’t want to fade away
In your heart I want to stay

It’s all wrong, but it’s all right
The way that you treat me baby
Once I was strong but I lost the fight
You won’t find a better loser

Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you?
Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back?
I’d gladly do it ’cause
I don’t want to fade away
Give me one more day, please
I don’t want to fade away
In your heart I want to stay

Bell bottom blues, don’t say goodbye
I’m sure we’re gonna meet again
And if we do, don’t you be surprised
If you find me with another lover

I don’t want to fade away
Give me one more day please
I don’t want to fade away
In your heart I want to stay

Doors – Peace Frog

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday. I grabbed the album Morrison Hotel yesterday and was caught off guard by this song. I don’t remember it from when I originally played the album. The music is cool as hell with the guitar in a groove with the drums. I thought this could have been an instrumental and have been good…but the lyrics make it great.

Come to find out…the song started out as an instrumental as Robbie Krieger said: “I had written the music, we rehearsed it up, and it was really happening, but we didn’t have any lyrics and Jim wasn’t around. We just said, ‘Fuck it, let’s record it. He’ll come up with something.’ And he did. He took out his poetry book and found a poem that fit.”

I always liked album cuts…sometimes a little more than hits. This a great song on a Sunday to kick back to. I never thought of the Doors as the ultimate groove band but this one fits. Morrison Hotel peaked at #4 on the Billboard Album Charts, #3 in Canada, and #12 in the UK in 1970.

The lyrics about the Indians supposedly refer to a car accident that happened when he was a child. The accident involved some Indians and Morrisons thought the Indians joined his soul. The Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven lyric refers to when the singer was arrested in New Haven in 1967. Morrison was backstage with a girl. He explains it in the quote below.

Jim Morrison: “We started talking and we wanted some privacy and so went into this little show room. We weren’t doing anything. You know, just standing there talking, and then this little man in a little blue suit and a little blue cap came in there. He said ‘Whatcha doin’ there?’ ‘Nothin’.’ But he didn’t go away, he stood there and then he reached round behind him and brought out this little black can of something. It looked like shaving cream. And then he sprayed it in my eyes. I was blinded for about 30 minutes.”

Peace Frog

There’s blood in the streets
It’s up to my ankles
There’s blood in the streets
It’s up to my knees

Blood in the street
The town of Chicago
Blood on the rise
It’s followin’ me

Just about the break of day
She came in
And she drove away
Sunlight in her hair

Blood on the streets
Runs a river of sadness
Blood in the streets
It’s up to my thighs

The river runs down
The leg of the city
The women are crying
Red rivers of weeping

She came in town
And then she drove away
Sunlight in her hair

Indians scattered on dawn’s highway bleeding
Ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile
Egg-shell mind

Blood in the streets
In the town of New Haven
Blood stains the roofs
And the palm tress of Venice

Blood in my love
In the terrible summer
Bloody red sun of
Fantastic L.A.

Blood screams her brain
As they chop off her fingers
Blood will be born
In the birth of a nation

Blood is the rose of
Mysterious union

There’s blood in the streets
It’s up to my ankles
Blood in the streets
It’s up to my knees

Blood in the street
The town of Chicago
Blood on the rise
It’s followin’ me

Joe Ely – All Just To Get To You

What a beautiful song this is. I’ve really been diving into Texas songwriters. CB sent me this one and it’s fantastic. It’s a great one that I’ve been listening to for a few weeks.

The acoustic rhythm guitar in this is catchy and intricate at the same time. We have heard the phrase of a musician’s musician…well this is the same to other songwriters. I like good songwriting and this is a great example of it. The words flow out perfectly.

The song was written by Joe Ely and Will Sexton. The song was released in 1996 and was on the album Letter To Laredo. This is songwriting at its finest. Springsteen contributed to two songs on the album including this one. Bruce traveled to Austin around the spring of 1995 and joined Ely in the studio to record his parts.

Ely has 16 studio albums and 20 singles in his career so far. This album charted at #68 on the Billboard Country Charts. He has charted quite a few in the Charts.

Joe Ely: “I like to tell in a song where the location is, paint the background, and then bring it into a rhythmic world and try to find something that doesn’t take away from it, but adds to it.”

Joe Ely and Bruce Springsteen in 2001.

All Just To Get To You

I have stumbled on the plains
Staggered in the wind
Stood at a crossroad or two
Cried to a river
Swept to the sea
All just to get to you

I have flagged a yellow cab
Hopped a rusty freight
Sang till my lips turned blue
Flown a silver bird
On the tops of the clouds
All just to get to you

I ran too hard
I played too Rough
I gave my Love
Not near Enough
I bled too red
I cried too blue
I beat my fist
Against the moon
All just to get to you

I have run from St. Paul
To Wichita Falls
Call’d you from sunny Baton Rouge
Hocked everything
From my watch to my ring
All just to get to you

I ran too hard
I played too Rough
I gave you Love
Not near Enough
I bled too red
I cried too blue
I beat my fist
Against the moon
All just to get to you

From the California Shore
Where the mighty ocean roars
To the lands of the Hopi and the Sioux
I walked the desert sands
Crossed the Rio Grande
All just to get to you

I have stumbled on the plains
Staggered in the wind
Stood at a crossroad or two
Cried to a river
Swept to the sea
All just to get to you

Van Morrison – Cleaning Windows

I went home and listened to Jimmie Rodgers in my lunch-break
Bought five Woodbines at the shop on the corner
And went straight back to work.

On my Max Picks I always notice when it’s too late that I missed a song that I wanted to include. I was telling halffastcyclingclub that I forgot this one in 1982. I didn’t find the song until around 1985 or 86 when I bought Tower Records out of any album with Van Morrison.

This song was on the Beautiful Vision album. Some Van songs grew on me but this one I liked the first time I heard it. This one has an autobiographic feel to it for a good reason. Van did have a job cleaning windows for a while in east Belfast. He captures a specific moment in his life and invites us to join him in reflecting on our own memories.

This was the early sixties when he was still a part-time musician. Not only does he touch on his job but tells us his early influences like Brownie McGhee and Jimmie Rodgers.

Leslie Holmes played with a band with Van called The Monarchs. Holmes helped Van finish the windows so they would make the gig that particular night. As I’ve said before…if you get a chance to see this man live…don’t miss it. He is the only performer where I can say his voice sounds better live than on record.

The album peaked at #44 on the Billboard 100, #22 in Canada, #31 in the UK, and #13 in New Zealand in 1982.

Leslie Holmes: “I played with The Monarchs for two years when the showband scene was at its peak, I enjoyed my time with Van who was a very talented musician and a lot of fun. In addition to the band, Van had a window-cleaning business in east Belfast, and one day I helped him to clean windows so that we could make our gig that night. So I have a special sense of identity with his song about cleaning windows.

“We travelled much of the country and the memorable places included the Orpheus Ballroom, the old Co-Op in York Street, the Flamingo in Ballymena, Moira Town Hall, the Floral Hall, and many others. After I left The Monarchs I did some fill-ins with the Witness Showband.”

Cleaning Windows

Oh, the smell of the bakery from across the street
Got in my nose
As we carried our ladders down the street
With the wrought-iron gate rows
I went home and listened to Jimmie Rodgers in my lunch-break
Bought five Woodbines at the shop on the corner
And went straight back to work.

Oh, Sam was up on top
And I was on the bottom with the v
We went for lemonade and Paris buns
At the shop and broke for tea
I collected from the lady
And I cleaned the fanlight inside-out
I was blowing saxophone on the weekend
In that down joint.

What’s my line?
I’m happy cleaning windows
Take my time
I’ll see you when my love grows
Baby don’t let it slide
I’m a working man in my prime
Cleaning windows (number a hundred and thirty-six)

I heard Leadbelly and Blind Lemon
On the street where I was born
Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee,
Muddy Waters singin’ “I’m A Rolling Stone”
I went home and read my Christmas Humphreys’ book on Zen
Curiosity killed the cat
Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums” and “On The Road”

What’s my line?
I’m happy cleaning windows
Take my time
I’ll see you when my love grows
Baby don’t let it slide
I’m a working man in my prime
Cleaning windows…

…

Lone Justice – Ways to Be Wicked

First time I heard this song I loved it. It was by a group called Lone Justice with lead singer Maria McKee. The song was Ways to Be Wicked, written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell. When I am asked my favorite female singer of the 1980s…Maria Mckee is my answer by a wide margin.

In 1985 the song peaked at #29 in the Mainstream Rock Charts and #77 in the UK. This surprised me because I heard the song quite a bit and thought it charted higher. They had two more songs that come to mind. “I Found Love” and “Shelter“. They should have made it further than they did. Maria did have a number 1 in the UK with “Show Me Heaven” in 1990.

Lone Justice was formed in 1982 and played rockabilly and country music as part of the cowpunk scene. After signing with Geffen, the band recorded their debut album, and hit the road, opening for U2. The hype was in overdrive and the pressure was on.

The critics loved the album but it didn’t sell well. I first noticed them when they were on SNL and played this song. I personally thought this would hit the top ten…I was wrong yet again. The album could not meet the expectations of all of the hype and failed to connect with a rock audience.

In 2022 Lisa let me ramble and go on about my undying love for Maria McKee at her site.

Ways To Be Wicked

Honey, why you always smile
When you see me hurt so bad?
Tell me what I did to you, babe
That would make you act like that?

Well, I’ve been your fool before, honey
Yeah, and I probably will again
‘Cuz you ain’t afraid to let me have it
No, you ain’t afraid to stick it in

Well, you know so many
Ways to be wicked
Ooh, but you don’t know one little thing
About love

Well, I can take a little pain
Yeah, I can hold it pretty well
I can watch your little eyes light up
While you’re walkin’ me through Hell

Well, I’ve been your fool before, honey
Yeah, and I probably will again
‘Cuz you ain’t afraid to let me have it
No, you ain’t afraid to stick it in

Well, you know so many
Ways to be wicked
But you don’t know one little thing
About love

Those cobra eyes
Lie with a smile
Baby you take pride
In the devil down inside, yeah

Well, I can take a little pain
Yeah, I can hold it pretty well
I can watch your little eyes light up
While you’re walkin’ me through Hell

Well, I’ve been your fool before
Yeah, and I probably will again
You ain’t afraid to let me have it
No, you ain’t afraid to stick it in

Well, you know so many
Ways to be wicked
Ooh, but you don’t know one little thing
About love

Well, you know so many
Ways to be wicked
Yeah, but you don’t know one little, one little thing
About love

Yeah you know so many
Ways to be wicked
But you don’t know one little, one little

Soul Asylum – Runaway Train

Heard this in the nineties when I still listened to the radio between changing tapes. I remember the video being used to find missing children. The music video for “Runaway Train” featured photographs and names of missing children in the style of a public service announcement. That was a great idea.

At the end of the original video, lead singer Dave Pirner appeared and said, “If you’ve seen one of these kids, or you are one of them, please call this number” before a missing children telephone helpline number appeared. The video was edited for use outside the US to include photos and names of missing children from wherever the video was to be shown. It drew awareness to the problem and was instrumental in reuniting several children with their families. The director said out of the 36 kids featured in the U.S. versions, they eventually found 21. I have a video at the bottom about a girl that was found through the video.

There is a special player in this song. This was a Hammond B3 organ was played by Booker T. Jones, who was a member of the group Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Jones played on many Soul classics of the ’60s and ’70s, mostly the Stax Records recordings, as his group served as their house band.

Lead singer Dave Pirner wrote this song and he said it was about depression. It took him a few years to write. Soul Asylum were label mates of The Replacements and were on Twin Tone Records at one time. They formed in 1981 in Minneapolis.

Runaway Train peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #7 in the UK, and #2 in New Zealand in 1993.

Here is a story of one that was found because of the video.

Runaway Train

Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a slow torch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning

So tired that I couldn’t even sleep
So many secrets I couldn’t keep
Promised myself I wouldn’t weep
One more promise I couldn’t keep

It seems no one can help me now
I’m in too deep
There’s no way out
This time I have really led myself astray

Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I’m neither here nor there

Can you help me remember how to smile
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded
Life’s mystery seems so faded

I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just drownin’ in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train

Everything is cut and dry
Day and night, earth and sky
Somehow I just don’t believe it

Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I’m neither here nor there

Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughin’ at the rain
Little out of touch, little insane
Just easier than dealing with the pain

Runaway train never comin’ back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I’m neither here nor there

Runaway train never comin’ back
Runaway train tearin’ up the track
Runaway train burnin’ in my veins
Runaway but it always seems the same

…

Max Picks …songs from 1986

1986

Crowded House – Something So Strong

It was love at first listen to this song. They had another hit that was larger in Don’t Dream It’s Over but this song is a perfect pop song. The lyric “bring life to frozen ground” still stands out to me and I cannot hear this song enough. As far as pop songs go it’s hard to beat this New Zealand band.

The song dates back to 1984 when Neil Finn did a demo of the song. He was still in Split Enz at that time. They split in 1985 so Finn and drummer Paul Hester formed Crowded House.

The song was written by Neil Finn and Mitchell Froom.

R.E.M. – Fall On Me

A musician friend of mine invited me over to listen to this album. We must have played it 5 times through by nighttime.

Bill Berry (drummer) said the song was specifically about Acid Rain, which occurs when the burning of fossil fuels releases sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, causing rain to be acidic and threatening the environment.

Michael Stipe said about the song: “I was reading an article in Boston when I was on tour with the Golden Palominos, and Chris Stamey showed me this article about this guy that did an experiment from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, whereby he dropped a pound of feathers and a pound of iron to prove that there was… a difference in the… density? What did he prove? I don’t even know. They fall just as fast.”

Steve Earle – Someday

Ever since I heard him in the mid to late 80s I liked Steve Earle. He opened up for Bob Dylan in 1988 and he was fantastic. His music was between country, folk, and rock. You can’t really put Earle in a box…and you shouldn’t. I’ve read reviewers compare him to Randy Newman, Bruce Springsteen, and Waylon Jennings in the same review. That is a great span of artists.

The song is about escaping the town you are living in. I knew a lot of people who wanted to escape the small town I grew up in. The song reminds me a little of The River by Bruce Springsteen in content. It’s a song that many people will be able to relate to.

The song was from his debut album Guitar Town. I remember he was being played on country radio and WKDF…Nashville’s number-one rock station back in the 80s. The album is ranked 489 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 500 albums. They called it a rocker’s version of country.

Georgia Satellites – Keep Your Hands To Yourself

A friend of mine who played guitar in high school got a bootleg of this song a year before it was officially released. His band was playing in the gym before we went on and they played this song. I thought they wrote it until I asked him. It’s a great-sounding song live.

It was an instant bar band song classic. It was a song you didn’t really have to rehearse…just one listen would do it. We learned it in one take… and again it was one of only a handful of times that we played a song in the top ten at the time. This is the kind of music I missed in the mainstream during the mid to late eighties.

This was the only big hit for the Georgia Satellites, although lead singer Dan Baird had a hit as a solo artist in 1992 with “I Love You Period.” They didn’t have another big hit but they did have some songs that got airplay on radio and MTV like Battleship Chains and a cover of Hippy Shake. This was one of the few straight-out rock and roll songs to hit the charts at this time.

Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs

Buck Owens made the Bakersville sound popular and it’s one of my favorite types of country. Yoakam and Steve Earle came out at around the same time and they were not like everyone else (George Jones has a funny quote about that at the bottom). They were a breath of fresh air in country music and they crossed over genres as well. They essentially brought the country back to being country and not southern rock pop with a twang.

It was released in 1986 and was the second single off of his debut album Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. This song was written by Dwight Yoakam. Pete Anderson (producer) was a huge help in the making of the album. He provided some ideas music-wise, played the guitar, and even sang background vocals.

George Jones: ‘We spent all these years trying not to be called hillbillies, and Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle fucked it up in one day.’”

…

Ringo Starr – Early 1970

This song is not one of Ringo’s best songs but it probably is my secret favorite of his because of what it’s about. The song is about the status of the Beatles in early 1970.

I usually don’t describe what a song is about because I like the back stories to songs much more…and everyone interprets songs a different way…but this one is known to be about the other Beatles. This was the B side to It Don’t Come Easy…it’s a very basic simple song…no great work of art but it has a charm about it because it’s Ringo.

The first verse is about Paul… he talks about his farm, and his new wife Linda, and Paul was very quiet around this time and he stopped coming to Apple. He also told Ringo to get out of his house when Ringo delivered a message from the 3 Beatles for McCartney to delay releasing his debut album because of Let It Be releasing at the same time. They finally gave in to Paul. Ringo was wondering if Paul would play music with him when he came by again. And when he comes to town, I wonder if he’ll play with me.

The second verse is about John. Ringo sings about John and Yoko doing the bed in and what I thought was “Cocaine” as a kid was really a lesser drug…”Cookies.” He also references Yoko with “With his mama by his side, she’s Japanese.” At the end of the verse…unlike Paul he knows John will play music with him. And when he comes to town, I know he’s gonna play with me.

The third verse is about George. Ringo and George were extremely close in the Beatles and afterward. Things did pop up between them through the years but they remained friends. He describes George in the first line, Pattie Boyd Harrison in the second, and George’s famous mansion Friar Park in the 3rd. Ringo and George wrote together and George hung out with Ringo more than the other Beatles. He’s a long-haired, cross-legged guitar picker, um-um.
With his long-legged lady in the garden picking daisies for his soup. A forty acre house he doesn’t see, ‘Cause he’s always in town playing for you with me.

The last verse was pretty much true…Ringo knew a little piano and guitar but that is about it other than drums. It’s the last verse that had to make Beatle fans happy at the time. “And when I go to town I wanna see all three.”

Early 1970

Lives on a farm, got plenty of charm, beep, beep.
He’s got no cows but he’s sure got a whole lotta sheep.
And brand new wife and a family,
And when he comes to town,
I wonder if he’ll play with me.

Laying in bed, watching tv, cookies!
With his mama by his side, she’s japanese.
They scream and they cried, now they’re free,
And when he comes to town,
I know he’s gonna play with me.

He’s a long-haired, cross-legged guitar picker, um-um.
With his long-legged lady in the garden picking daisies for his soup.
A forty acre house he doesn’t see,
‘Cause he’s always in town
Playing for you with me.

I play guitar, a – d – e.
I don’t play bass ’cause that’s too hard for me.
I play the piano if it’s in c.
And when I go to town I wanna see all three,
And when I go to town I wanna see all three,
And when I go to town I wanna see all three.

…

Modern English – Melt With You

This was a 1983 New Wave song from the band Modern English. I wasn’t a big New Wave fan but I liked this song. I did like some of the songs I heard but music at the time began to miss something. It seemed to be either New Wave, Pop, or Heavy Metal…rock and roll wasn’t heard hardly at all on mainstream radio.

This song is dark but people and advertisers don’t care. The lead singer Robbie Grey said it was about a couple making love as an atom bomb drops and they melt together. At that time in the 80s the Cold War was going on and we would talk about it as teens. The single was released around the same time as other Cold War songs like Nena’s “99 Luftballons,” Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Two Tribes,” Time Zone’s “World Destruction,” Men at Work’s “It’s a Mistake,” Prince’s “1999,” and Culture Club’s “The War Song.” As long we are naming songs… let’s name some movies that touched on the subject. War Games, Red Dawn, and the frightening TV movie The Day After. The Day After was the most-viewed TV movie of all time with over 100 million viewers in 1983. It was truly frightening.

It peaked at #78 on the Billboard 100 which surprises me that it didn’t get higher. It recharted again in 1990 at #76. Again, I’m surprised at how low some of the songs of my youth charted. The song was first popularized when it was featured in the 1983 Nicolas Cage teen rom-com Valley Girl.

They were essentially a one-hit wonder in the US but not back in the UK where they had a few top twenty hits. They did have one other song in the Billboard 100 with Hands Across The Sea which peaked at #57 but it’s not remembered like this one.

During Covid, Modern English re-recorded a “From Quarantine” rendition by guitarist Gary McDowell, bassist Michael Conroy, keyboardist Stephen Walker, and drummer Roy Martin—from their respective homes during lockdown. Only drummer Roy Martin is not from the original band. The original drummer was Richard Brown and he couldn’t make it.

They have been reunited since 2010 and did a tour in 2022. Blogger Jim Everett Table Toss suggested checking out Nouvelle Vague’s cover of this song. I really like it…it’s really smooth and sleek.

Robbie Grey: “The amount of times we get told people got married to our song, made love to that song for the first time… whatever, it’s lovely. But literally, the lyrics are about a couple making love as the atom bomb drops and sort of melting together, but that’s quite good. I like the fact that it’s got layers to it — that people can get what they want from it. … I like the fact that it’s like a love song, but with a dark lyric.”

Robbie Grey: “I was definitely stoned when I wrote it, It was during the day, I remember it really well. I sat down on the floor of my flat in London, a cheap place in the housing association, and wrote the verse just straight off in about 10 minutes.”

Robbie Grey: “I’d always been shouting on songs before, I’d never really sung on a song. And there’s not really any singing on this either, it’s more spoken, but Hugh Jones the producer said, ‘Don’t shout into the microphone, just talk into it.’ I’d never done that before – I was a punk rocker. And so, I did. I just kind of stood back and mouthed the words. And I think that’s a lot of the attraction of the verses on ‘I Melt With You’ is that almost spoken quality.”

Nouvelle Vague – Melt With You

Melt With You

Moving forward using all my breath
Making love to you was never second best
I saw the world crashing all around your face
Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace

I’ll stop the world and melt with you
You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time
There’s nothing you and I won’t do
I’ll stop the world and melt with you

Dream of better lives the kind which never hates
(You should see why)
Trapped in the state of imaginary grace
(You should know better)
I made a pilgrimage to save this humans race
(You should see why)
Never comprehending the race has long gone bye

I’ll stop the world and melt with you
(Let’s stop the world) You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all
the time
(Let’s stop the world) There’s nothing you and I won’t do
(Let’s stop the world) I’ll stop the world and melt with you

The future’s open wide

**The future’s open wide

I’ll stop the world and melt with you
(Let’s stop the world) I’ve seen some changes but it’s getting better all the
time
(Let’s stop the world) There’s nothing you and I won’t do
(Let’s stop the world) I’ll stop the world and melt with you

The future’s open wide

hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm

I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)
You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time (Let’s stop the
world)
There’s nothing you and I won’t do (Let’s stop the world)
I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)

I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)
I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)

Led Zeppelin – Dancing Days

I like the strange riff that opens this one up. It sounds tonally off in some ways and that makes it appealing. While in Bombay, Page and Plant heard an Indian song that inspired this. The creative process for “Dancing Days” began with Jimmy Page’s guitar riff. Robert Plant then added the lyrics, which they were inspired by a girl he met in Bombay.

The term “dancing days” is thought to refes to high school. On a bootleg recording of the song from a concert on Jan. 14th, 1973 Robert Plant sings “Let’s go back to high school” in the song.

The song was on the Houses of the Holy album released in 1973. The funny thing is that the song Houses of the Holy would be on the Physical Graffiti album, not its namesake. This song was the B side to Over The Hills And Far Away rare single released in 1973. The single peaked at #51 on the Billboard 100 and #63 in Canada.

The band was determined not to repeat themselves after the success of Led Zeppelin IV. This album is diverse with songs Over The Hills and Far Away, The Ocean, The Rain Song, and the funk of The Crunge. This album was a perfect gateway into their next album Physical Graffiti.

The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Charts, #1 in the UK, and #1 in Canada.

Dancing Days

Dancing days are here again
As the summer evenings grow
I got my flower, I got my power
I got a woman who knows

I said it’s alright, You know it’s alright
I guess it’s all in my heart
You’ll be my only, my one and only
Is that the way it should start?
Crazy ways are evident
In the way that you’re wearing your clothes
Sippin’ booze is precedent
As the evening starts to glow

You know it’s alright, I said it’s alright
You know it’s all in my heart
You’ll be my only, my one and only
Is that the way it should start?

You told your mamma I’d get you home
But you didn’t say I had no car
I saw a lion he was standing alone
With a tadpole in a jar

You know it’s alright, I said it’s alright
I guess it’s all in my heart, my heart
You’ll be my only, my one and only
Is that the way it should start?

So dancing days are here again
As the summer evenings grow
You are my flower, you are my power
You are my woman who knows

I said it’s alright, You know it’s alright
You know it’s all in my heart
You’ll be my only, my one and only
Is that the way it should start?

Stooges – I Wanna Be Your Dog

As I was listening to Robert Earl Keen…CB sent me a link to the Stooges. A change of pace to put it lightly. I went on a binge of Stooges songs. You know what’s great about this song? Hard-driving music that doesn’t let up. This was punk before there was punk. For an added bonus I’m posting Iggy’s friend right after this post.

In 1969 this was about as hard and loud as you could get on a record. And yes…when you listen to this song… you will hear Christmas sleigh bells in the background. So, it’s a holly jolly tune about sexual submission. Now that is punk!

The song would not have worked with the masses because of the sexually explicit lyrics. Guitarist Ron Ashton came up with the driving riff. They were all sitting around and just throwing out words. They came up with the word God but didn’t want to include that in this song so they turned the letters around backward.

This song is on their self-titled album was released in 1969. This was released as a single the same year. John Cale of The Velvet Underground produced the album. The song was written by The Stooges… Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, and Iggy Pop.

Iggy Pop: “I was in a band called The Stooges in a little town in Michigan called Ann Arbor, we weren’t a very empowered group of people. We were basically a kind of far-fetched group of dreamers, and our dream was to have a little rock band. A lot of people used to laugh at us.”

“We used to get pretty stoked on hash and grass, and one thing that we’d do on this hash and grass, we’d sit around and we’d imagine these kind of savage tribes, like ‘How are the Mongols when they just came in and killed everybody?’ Think of how it must have been when these little guys with these fierce faces on their little ponies going ‘Wooooo!’ Just killing and riding over all opposition in their path, and that was the kind of thing we were talking about.”

Iggy Pop: “I used to do ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog,’ and people just stared in horror,” he recalled. “And then I would do ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog,’ and people would just drink their beer and watch, kind of musing. And it got to the point where I did it and people were grooving. When I go out and do it now go out, they know all the words in the verses. So, that’s a beautiful thing.”

I Wanna Be Your Dog

So messed up, I want you hereIn my room, I want you hereNow we’re gonna be face-to-faceAnd I’ll lay right down in my favorite place

And now I wanna be your dogAnd now I wanna be your dogAnd now I wanna be your dog

Well, come on

And now I’m ready to close my eyesAnd now I’m ready to close my mindAnd now I’m ready to feel your handAnd lose my heart on the burning sands

And now I wanna be your dogAnd now I wanna be your dogAnd now I wanna be your dog

Well, come on

WooUhUh

…

David Bowie – The Jean Genie

I love the rawness of this song and performance. I’m convinced there is no style that Bowie could not do. Since I posted his friend Iggy Pop this morning I thought I would post this Bowie song. I love this song because of its rawness and energy…I’m not surprised that it was recorded in the 1st take.

The two main influences for this song were said to be Iggy Pop and Cyrinda Foxe. Many of the lyrics reflect Iggy Pop’s lifestyle and stage antics. Cyrinda Foxe was an actress who starred in commercials for Jean Genie jeans. Legend has it that Bowie wrote this in Foxe’s apartment to entertain her. Foxe would appear in the song’s official video alongside Bowie.

The song was on Bowie’s album Aladdin Sane which was released in 1973. The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard Album Charts, #20 on the Canadian Charts, and #1 on the UK Charts in 1973. Bowie was prolific during this period. He would release another album Pin Ups later in the year. Here is a review of the Aladdin Sane from The Press Music Reviews. Whenever I want to look up anything Bowie I go to that blog.

The Jean Genie was the first song recorded for the album. It’s believed to have emerged from a jam on board the Spiders From Mars’ Greyhound tour bus, as they traveled between Cleveland and Memphis on 23 September 1972. It originally had the working title ‘Bussin”, and originated after Mick Ronson began playing the central riff on his new Les Paul guitar.

This song was released in 1972 and peaked at #2 in the UK, #71 on the Billboard 100, and #75 in Canada.

David Bowie: “Starting out as a lightweight riff thing I had written one evening in NY for Cyrinda’s enjoyment, I developed the lyric to the otherwise wordless pumper and it ultimately turned into a bit of a smorgasbord of imagined Americana … based on an Iggy-type persona. The title, of course, was a clumsy pun upon Jean Genet.”

David Bowie: “I wanted to get the same sound the Stones had on their very first album on the harmonica. I didn’t get that near to it, but it had a feel that I wanted – that ’60s thing.”

The Jean Genie

A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city
Strung out on lasers and slash-back blazers
Ate all your razors while pulling the waiters
Talking ’bout Monroe and walking on Snow White
New York’s a go-go, and everything tastes right
Poor little Greenie, ooh-ooh

Keep her comin’
The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls (Jean Genie)
Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoah

Sits like a man but he smiles like a reptile
She love him, she love him but just for a short while
She’ll scratch in the sand, won’t let go his hand
He says he’s a beautician and sells you nutrition
And keeps all your dead hair for making up underwear
Poor little Greenie, ooh-ooh

The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls (Jean Genie)
Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoah

He’s so simple-minded, he can’t drive his module
He bites on the neon and sleeps in a capsule
Loves to be loved, loves to be loved

Oh, Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls (Jean Genie)
Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoah

Go!
Go!

The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls (Jean Genie)
Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoah

Go, go go!

Robert Earl Keen – The Road Goes On Forever

The road goes on forever and the party never ends

This is the kind of song that a songwriter dreams of writing and very few ever do. The Road Never Ends was released in 1989 on his second album West Textures. It has become Keen’s signature song. It’s a Bonnie and Clyde type of song framed by that chorus. I heard this song way back in the early nineties but was reminded of it in a comedy song of all things. Todd Snider with Beer Run .

Keen was born in Houston, Texas, and performed some concerts with the likes of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. The song has been covered by Joe Ely, The Highwaymen, and Jack Ingram.

Keen grew up listening to Bob Wills’ Western swing, so he asked his parents for a fiddle. His frustration at trying to master it found him giving that up and trying an acoustic guitar…which worked out much better. He moved to Austin in 1978 and launched his professional career playing folk and bluegrass at night spots around town and other venues such as Gruene Hall in nearby New Braunfels.

Keen won the 1983 New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival which encouraged him to record his first album, No Kinda Dancer. In 1986 he headed for Nashville but less than two years he was back in Texas landscaping and trying to make a living. He kept playing and released a live album in 1988 and then this one in 1989. His popularity and influence grew after that.

He had a top 10 country album in 2001 called Gravitational Forces and his five next albums were in the top 21 in Country music and his last one called Happy Prisoner number 10 in 2015. Keen decided to retire and spend time with his family now.

This song has spawned a lot of tattoos.

The Road Goes On Forever

Sherry was a waitress at the only joint in townShe had a reputation as a girl who’d been aroundDown Main Street after midnight with a brand new pack of cigsA fresh one hangin’ from her lips and a beer between her legsShe’d ride down to the river and meet with all her friendsThe road goes on forever and the party never ends

Sonny was a loner he was older than the restHe was going into the Navy but he couldn’t pass the testSo he hung around town he sold a little potThe law caught wind of Sonny and one day he got caughtBut he was back in business when they set him free againThe road goes on forever and the party never ends

Sonny’s playin’ 8-ball at the joint where Sherry worksWhen some drunken outta towner put his hand up Sherry’s skirtSonny took his pool cue laid the drunk out on the floorStuffed a dollar in her tip jar and walked on out the doorShe’s runnin’ right behind him reachin’ for his handThe road goes on forever and the party never ends

They jumped into his pickup Sonny jammed her down in gearSonny looked at Sherry and said lets get on outta hereThe stars were high above them and the moon was in the eastThe sun was settin’ on them when they reached Miami BeachThey got a hotel by the water and a quart of Bombay ginThe road goes on forever and the party never ends

They soon ran out of money but Sonny knew a manWho knew some Cuban refugees that delt in contrabandSonny met the Cubans in a house just off the routeWith a briefcase full of money and a pistol in his bootThe cards were on the table when the law came bustin’ inThe road goes on forever and the party never ends

The Cubans grabbed the goodies and Sonny grabbed the JackHe broke a bathroom window and climbed on out the backSherry drove the pickup through the alley on the sideWhere a lawman tackled Sonny and was reading him his rightsShe stepped into the alley with a single shot .410The road goes on forever and the party never ends

They left the lawman lyin’ and they made their getawayThey got back to the motel just before the break of daySonny gave her all the money and he blew her a little kissIf they ask you how this happened say I forced you into thisShe watched him as his taillights disappeared around the bendThe road goes on forever and the party never ends

Its Main Street after midnight just like it was before21 months later at the local grocery storeSherry buys a paper and a cold 6-pack of beerThe headlines read that Sonny is goin’ to the chairShe pulls back onto Main Street in her new Mercedes BenzThe road goes on forever and the party never ends

Powerhouse – I Want To Know

Last week I ran across the one-off “supergroup” The Buzzin’ Cousins that John Mellencamp formed with Joe Ely, Dwight Yoakam, John Prine, and James McMurtry. I thought I would look around for any more that I don’t know about.

Many of you probably know this band but I had no clue about it. It’s been called different things like Eric Clapton’s Powerhouse. This band featured Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood, Paul Jones (Manfred Man) Pete York (Spencer Davis Group drummer), and Ben Palmer (piano, previously played with Clapton and Jones as a member of the Roosters and the Grands) and they recorded this in 1966.

This was meant to be and was a short-term one-off band that included some heavy players back in the day and huge historically. They recorded three songs that appeared on the Elektra Records compilation What’s Shakin’ in 1966. A fourth song, “Slow Blues”, was recorded but remains unreleased to this day.

It’s been said that I Want To Know was written by Paul Jones but he used his wife’s name in the credit…Sheila McLeod. I would guess for contract reasons. Also due to contractual restrictions, Stevie Winwood is listed as Steve Angulo. The songs are I Want To Know (Shelia McLeod), Steppin Out (Memphis Slim), and Crossroad (Robert Johnson) which Cream would later cover.

Later on these songs were released on collections by Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Steve Winwood. This was around the time that Jack Bruce was in Manfred Man.

Here is a link to the complete album on youtube.

I’m going to include their released discography here…all three songs.

I Want To Know

I want to know why do you always run around
I want to know why do you always run around
Every man I know is watching you pull me down
I want to know, do you really mean to hurt me
I want to know, do you really mean to hurt me
Well, I’m tryin’ to understand the dirty way you always treat me
I want to know if I can come home every night
I want to know if I can come home every night
Well, oh woman, oh woman, why can’t you try to treat me right

I wanna know, I wanna know
Hey hey I want want, I wanna know, oo oh
All right, what do you say
Well woman, oh woman, why can’t you try to treat me right

Hometown Artist…Don Williams

Dave from A Sound Day wanted us to write about our Hometown and for us to write either a song about our hometown or highlight an artist from there.

It’s my sister’s birthday today so I thought I would post this since she is in it. Dave posted this a while back.

If you have read my blog for a while…you already know a couple of these stories so I do apologize. When someone asks me where I’m from I usually say Nashville. I was born there but I lived/live in a small town north of Nashville. It’s a town called Ashland City and it’s your typical two-redlight town. I could write about Nashville but that would cover around 20 posts so I’ll go with the town I grew up in.

Now to confuse everyone…there are 3 towns close to each other in the same county. Ashland City, which is the capital of the county, Pleasant View, and Chapmansboro where I live now…they are all within 7-8 miles of each other so “Ashland City” pretty much covers them all…at least in our minds.

3 major country stars lived in our small area while growing up at that time. Don Williams, Mel Tellis, and Randy Travis. I was at my sister’s house in the eighties and I heard her scream and then run out and slam the door. She woke me up with her oohing and ahhing and I asked what was going on. Someone was riding a horse down tout dirt road. Tammy (my sister) went out and talked a little and she came back all happy.

I asked who it was and she said it was Randy Travis. I was a total modern country snob back then…I told her…when Eric Clapton rides by on a horse…then you wake me up. Make it someone worth it…yea I know I wasn’t nice. The reason for the snobbery…if you live here you are expected to like country music…but I couldn’t take it…except early country music. You start to rebel against music that is thrown at you constantly. That may be the reason I liked British rock artists more than country artists in my backyard. As I got older I started to appreciate them more.

Why did I say, Eric Clapton? Many of us think he might have visited our town in the 70s. The reason was that he was good friends with Don Williams. Now I did like Don Williams a lot. I also liked Mel Tillis but Randy Travis was part of that new country at the time that I didn’t really care for. I personally think my sister just loved the way he looked more than anything else.

Here are two stories that I’ve told before…The first star I met was Loretta Lynn and I had breakfast with her at her ranch (in a town called Waverly) which was the coolest breakfast I ever had while I was 8 years old. I would see other stars (Jerry Reed and Kenny Rogers) also once in a while but only really talked to two…Loretta Lynn and the featured artist today.

I was around 10-12 and I played baseball at the city ballpark. I would go there after school and practice. There were days I would just hang around and talk to people. I saw this man mowing the grass that had this old cowboy hat on. After a little while, he stopped and talked to me and asked me how I was doing. I knew the guy’s face and it came to me… I was talking to Don Williams. The reason I knew him was because of my mom’s country albums. I wasn’t into country music but some songs I did like.

I would see him off and on throughout my teenage years and he always was as nice as can be. I went to school and played baseball with his son. Don would mow the city park and the high school field. I’m not sure if he was bored or just wanted to help the community…he was a super guy either way. One of the last things he did was help raise money to get his church a new building. He passed away at 78 years old in 2017.

Williams had songs like It Must Be Love and I Believe In You…plus many more.

I Believe in You peaked at #1 on the Country chart in 1980. It also peaked at #1 in Canada on the Country Charts. It ended up being Don Williams’ only Top 40 song on the Billboard 100, the song peaked at #24 in the Billboard 100, #4 in New Zealand, and #20 in Australia.

It Must Be Love peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts and #2 on the Canada Country Charts in 1979.

All together Williams had 21 #1 singles on the Country Charts and a total of 25 studio albums and 62 singles.

Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend were admirers of Don Williams and both covered his songs. Eric Clapton would cover Tulsa Time and take it to #30 in the Billboard 100.

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