This is such a powerful song no matter who covers it. Sonny Curtis of the Crickets wrote this song and the most famous version is by The Bobby Fuller Four in 1965. This song was made for the Clash to cover and they do a great job on this.
The Clash’s version only charted in Ireland at #24 in 1979. It was on the EP The Cost Of Living. The original song sounded like a punk song before punk was a genre. The song was written two decades before The Clash recorded it in 1959. The song was ranked No. 175 on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.
The Clash covered the song after they heard Fuller’s version on a jukebox. When playing the song live they made the song bleaker, changing the line, “I left my baby” to “I killed my baby.” Their version got them noticed in America, where the song was released in 1979, with “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais” as the B-side.
The song was re-released in 1988 and peaked at #29 in the UK and #17 in New Zealand.
Sonny Curtis: “It was some time during the summer of 1959, and I would have been about twenty-one at the time,” the now 84-year-old songwriter tells Classic Rock. “I was sitting in my living room, about three o’ clock in the afternoon, in a little town called Slaton, Texas, outside of the city of Lubbock, where Buddy and a whole bunch of us started out.
“It was a real windy day, which happens a lot in west Texas. The sand was blowing outside. I picked up my guitar, and I can’t imagine where the idea came from, but I just started writing this song, I Fought The Law. It only took about twenty minutes. You can tell that it didn’t take a rocket scientist to come up with those lyrics. But it’s my most important copyright.”
I Fought The Law
Breakin’ rocks in the hot sun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]
I needed money ’cause I had none
I fought the law and the law won [x2]
I left my baby and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
She’s the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the
Robbin’ people with a six-gun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]
I lost my girl and I lost my fun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]
I left my baby and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
She’s the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the
I fought the law and the law won [x7]
I fought the law and the
I hope you enjoy this Byrds cover by Tom Petty. One of the best B-side songs I can think of.
I posted The Waiting not long ago and talked about the similarities between The Byrds and Tom Petty. This Byrds song fits Tom Petty perfectly but the original song was not sung by McGuinn but by its writer…Gene Clark. Clark wrote this song in the mid-sixties when a girl he was seeing started to bother him. He also co-wrote Eight Miles High.
Although the song was the B side to The Byrd’s song All I Realy Want To Do, it gained a lot of promotion from Columbia Records and a lot of radio air time. It also became a classic rock standard, with dozens of artists giving their versions of the song.
This song was on Tom Petty’s solo album Full Moon Fever in 1989. The original name of the album was Songs From the Garage. It would have been an appropriate name for it. They worked on this album mostly in Heartbreaker Mike Campbell’s garage. This album caused a riff in The Heartbreakers. The other members thought Tom was going to leave the band. He kept reassuring them but they were not sure.
What’s unbelievable about it is, MCA rejected the album because they didn’t hear a single. This album would have 5 singles released from it.
Tom was absolutely stunned and depressed. He went back and added Feel A Whole Lot Better and the song Alright For Now and presented MCA with basically the same album again. There had been a regime change at MCA and this time they loved it. Ah…record companies…sometimes they are the spawn of Satan.
Although the album was released in 1989…Petty recorded it back in 1987 and 1988. MCA caused much of the delay when they rejected it.
Gene Clark of the Byrds: “There was a girlfriend I had known at the time, when we were playing at Ciro’s. It was a weird time in my life because everything was changing so fast and I knew we were becoming popular. This girl was a funny girl, she was kind of a strange little girl and she started bothering me a lot. And I just wrote the song, ‘I’m gonna feel a whole lot better when you’re gone,’ and that’s all it was, but I wrote the whole song within a few minutes.”
Tom Petty:“I didn’t see much of the Heartbreakers during that period, Mike I kept in touch with, of course, because he was working on Full Moon Fever with me. I never thought of leaving. And I kept reassuring them that I wasn’t going to leave. But I think there was some doubt in their mind.”
Feel A Whole Lot Better
The reason why, oh, I can’t say
I had to let you go, baby, and right away
After what you did, I can’t stay on
And I’ll probably feel a whole lot better when you’re gone
Baby, for a long time, you had me believe
That your love was all mine and that’s the way it would be
But I didn’t know that you were putting me on
And I’ll probably feel a whole lot better when you’re gone
Oh, when you’re gone
Now I gotta say that it’s not like before
And I’m not gonna play your games any more
After what you did, I can’t stay on
And I’ll probably feel a whole lot better when you’re gone
Yeah, I’ll probably feel a whole lot better when you’re gone
Oh, when you’re gone
Oh, when you’re gone
Oh, when you’re gone
Usually, I don’t like covers better than the original but with this song I do. John Lennon sounds demented and he pushed his vocals over the edge. Lennon has said he screamed the lyrics more than sang them but it worked. He provided the power to this song with just his vocals. The Beatles didn’t have monitors live…no one else at this time didn’t either so they had to sing loud to be heard. Author Mark Lewisohn called it “arguably the most stunning rock and roll vocal and instrumental performance of all time.”
This is probably close to sounding like they did live in Hamburg and The Cavern. This session took place on February 11, 1963, at EMI Studios in London, which was later renamed Abbey Road Studios. The Beatles did 10 songs that day, nine of which ended up on Please Please Me, their first UK album. Think about that for a minute… in one day they recorded their debut album except for the song Please Please Me which was recorded later.
When The Beatles played the Royal Command Performance with the Queen watching. During the introduction to this song, John Lennon famously said,“For the people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands and the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry.” He told Brian Epstein that he was going to say “rattle your fu**ing jewelry” and Epstein was on pins and needles worried that John would go through with that…but he didn’t. John wasn’t a fan of playing at these functions.
They actually did two takes of the song and kept the first one. John was sick with a cold and had stripped off his shirt to let himself sweat it out, but he pulled it off. The next day…February 12, 1963 – The Beatles played two shows, one at the Azena Ballroom in Yorkshire and another at the Astoria Ballroom in Lancashire. No rest for the weary.
This was the first song ever written by Bert Burns. He went on to write, Piece of My Heart, Here Comes the Night, Hang on Sloopy, Cry to Me and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love to name just a few. He signed Van Morrison to his first solo deal with Bang Records. Unfortunately, he died at 38 of a heart attack in 1967. Phil Medley did get a co-writing credit on the song.
The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, and #1 in New Zealand in 1964. The Beatles version was not done yet. In the film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986, the song was used and charted again. It peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100 and #16 in Canada.
The Isley Brothers’ version is great and there have been many other charting versions of it.
Norman Smith engineer: “Someone suggested they do ‘Twist and Shout’ with John taking the lead vocal. But by this time all their throats were sore; it was 12 hours since we had started working. John’s, in particular, was almost completely gone so we really had to get it right the first time. The Beatles on the studio floor and us in the control room. John sucked a couple more Zubes (a brand of throat lozenges), had a bit of a gargle with milk and away we went.”
Twist and Shout
Well, shake it up, baby, now Twist and shout Come on, come on, come, come on, baby, now Come on and work it on out Well, work it on out, honey You know you look so good You know you got me goin’ now Just like I knew you would
Well, shake it up, baby, now Twist and shout Come on, come on, come, come on, baby, now Come on and work it on out You know you twist, little girl You know you twist so fine Come on and twist a little closer now And let me know that you’re mine, woo
Ah, ah, ah, ah, wow Baby, now Twist and shout Come on, come on, come, come on, baby, now Come on and work it on out You know you twist, little girl You know you twist so fine Come on and twist a little closer now And let me know that you’re mine Well, shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now Well, shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now Well, shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now Ah, ah, ah, ah
Our small town got a record store in 1982. We had one in the seventies but it went out of business. In the new one…this is the first single I bought there. The store only lasted a year at the most but we enjoyed it while we had it. In 1982 you could not go to school, a store, or anywhere without hearing this song. If you didn’t hear it you heard someone hum it. Much like Another One Bites The Dust from two years earlier…you just couldn’t escape it.
In 2016 I saw The Who in Nashville and I didn’t know who was opening up. I was pleasantly surprised when Joan Jett was announced. She and her band were tight and very loud. The Who had ties with Jett back in 1979 as they helped finance Jett’s debut album Bad Reputation.
This was originally recorded by a British group called The Arrows in 1975, and it was written by their lead singer Alan Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker. The song was released as a B-side with The Arrows’ “Broken Down Heart.” Co-writer Alan Merrill said “That was a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones’ ‘It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll.’ I remember watching it on Top of the Pops. I’d met Mick Jagger socially a few times, and I knew he was hanging around with Prince Rupert Lowenstein and people like that – jet setters. I almost felt like ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ was an apology to those jet-set princes and princesses that he was hanging around with – the aristocracy, you know. That was my interpretation as a young man: Okay, I love rock and roll. And then, where do you go with that?”
The Arrows did get their own TV show called The Arrows Show. It ran from 1976-1977 in the UK for two full 14-week seasons on the ITV network. It was this show that Joan Jett saw in 1976. A fun fact about the song. The Arrows were based in England, where they don’t use dimes. At that time they would put a sixpenny in the jukebox to buy a song. That would have had a different ring to it, but the original producer Mickie Most liked dime because it sounded American, and that’s the way The Arrows recorded it. Joan Jett didn’t really differ much from the Arrows version…just a little louder.
When the Runaways broke up in 1979, Joan Jett and her producer Kenny Laguna put her first solo album together with studio time and travel arrangements fronted by The Who. They struggled to get a record deal and had to form their own label, Blackheart Records, to release the album in America. Joan remembered The Arrows singing I Love Rock N Roll in 1976 while touring the UK and knew it sounded like a hit. She wanted the Runaways to cover the song but they turned it down. The reason they turned it down was that they had already covered a song called Rock and Roll by Lou Reed on their debut album and didn’t want another song with “rock” in the title at that time.
Jett recorded it with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols and released it as a B-side in 1979. Polygram Records owned that version of the song but they were not excited about the song or Joan Jett. They basically let her go and signed some of the other Runaways. Boy was that a mistake! Joan would end up being the best-known Runaway. Lita Ford was successful also along with Michael Steele with the Bangles but neither became as popular as Joan Jett…and this song was a big reason.
I like the original and both Jett covers. The hit version peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #4 in the UK in 1982.
The album was called I Love Rock And Roll released in 1981. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #25 in the UK in 1982.
The producers were Ritchie Cordell, Kenny Laguna, and Glen Kolotkin.
The song’s co-writer, Alan Merrill, died at 69 on March 29, 2020. Joan Jett offered condolences on Twitter, posting: “I can still remember watching the Arrows on TV in London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me.”
Joan Jett:“I think most people who love some kind of rock ‘n’ roll can relate to it. Everyone knows a song that just makes them feel amazing and want to jump up and down. I quickly realized, this song is gonna follow you, so you’re either gonna let it bother you, or you gotta make peace with it, and feel blessed that you were involved with something that touched so many people.”
Producer Kenny Laguna on Polygram Records: “They could care less about Joan Jett, they were busy signing every other Runaway. They thought Joan was the loser and they signed the other girls, who we’re all friends with, but I looked at the band and thought she was the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the band. The company decided that if I would pay the studio cost of $2,300, I could have all the rights, and I got three songs. I got ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ with The Sex Pistols, I got ‘You Don’t Own Me’ – they did a great version of the Lesley Gore hit, and they did a song Joan wrote called ‘Don’t Abuse Me.’ So I buy these songs back. In the meantime, Joan has a couple of fans. Rodney Bingenheimer of K-ROCK, KMAC in Long Beach, BCN in Boston, LIR in Long Island, they were playing The Sex Pistols’ kind of cruddy version of the song, and it was #1 on the alternative stations. It was really alternative music, they were way-out stations that would play some pretty adventurous stuff, that’s why they would play Joan, because Joan was not getting a record deal, Joan was way on the outside, like a Fugazi of her day. We saw some kind of potential there. I remember these guys from the big record distributors in Long Island kept calling and saying, ‘This is a hit record, we’re getting so many requests for it.’ So we cut it over and did a really good version of it.”
THE 1979 VERSION
I Love Rock and Roll
I saw him dancin’ there by the record machine
I knew he must a been about seventeen
The beat was goin’ strong
Playin’ my favorite song
An’ I could tell it wouldn’t be long
Till he was with me, yeah me, singin’
I love rock n’ roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock n’ roll
So come an’ take your time an’ dance with me
He smiled so I got up and’ asked for his name
That don’t matter, he said,
‘Cause it’s all the same
Said can I take you home where we can be alone
An’ next we were movin’ on
He was with me, yeah me
Next we were movin’ on
He was with me, yeah me, singin’
I love rock n’ roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock n’ roll
So come an’ take your time an’ dance with me
Said can I take you home where we can be alone
An we’ll be movin’ on
An’ singin’ that same old song
Yeah with me, singin’
I love rock n’ roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock n’ roll
So come an’ take your time an’ dance with me
Creedence cut through his song and stripped it bare with their version. I love Marvin Gaye’s version of this song but Creedence spun it into a garage band’s dream. I really like the steady drums that keep it tethered to earth. CCR’s drummer Doug Clifford played off of John Fogerty’s rhythm and it created the atmosphere of the song.
This is embarrassing but this song really hit my radar through constant commercials in 1987. It was used in California Raisin commercials that played, and played, and played more. When I would go to Hardees for lunch…they would give me a plastic figure of one of the raisins. Yea…I collected them. Former drummer of the Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies, Buddy Miles, sang lead in those commercials.
Creedence’s album version was a whopping (I love using that word) 11-minute song. This was a change from their other compact songs. This of course was not an original. It was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Strong came up with the idea and asked Motown writers Holland-Dozier-Holland to work on it with him. They refused to credit another writer, so Strong took it to Whitfield, who helped put it together…so it was credited to Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.
In December 1975, CCR’s label Fantasy Records re-released the song as a single, which peaked at #43 on the Billboard 100 and #76 in Canada. This release came in the middle of some heated legal battles between the band and the label, which resulted in John Fogerty taking a 10-year break from making music. The song was edited down to a more reasonable length for radio.
The song was originally on their Cosmo’s Factory album released in 1970 which is possibly their best album.
Below….the first is one of the many commercials, the second was the single version, and the third is the album’s 11-minute version.
I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Ooh-ooh, bet you’re wondering how I knew
‘Bout your plan to make me blue
With some other guy that you knew before?
Between the two of us guys, you know I love you more
Took me by surprise, I must say, when I found out yesterday
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah
You know that a man ain’t supposed to cry
But these tears I can’t hold inside
Losing you would end my life, you see
‘Cause you mean that much to me
You could’ve told me yourself that you found someone else
Instead
I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah
People say “You hear from what you see
Not, not, not from what you hear.”
I can’t help but being confused
If it’s true, won’t you tell me dear?
Do you plan to let me go
For the other guy that you knew before?
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Aah-aah, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah
This week I want to mix it up a bit so I’m doing cover versions all this week. I thought I would kick it off with The Faces. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a version of this that I don’t like. A blog that I would highly recommend that specializes in covers is Randy at Mostly Music Covers. Check him out when you can…he goes in-depth on music covers.
The Faces were fun…any band that would have a bartender on stage with a bar…has my vote. Ronnie Lane would sing the first part of this song with Rod the Mod Stewart would pick it up after the first verse. I like Ronnie’s voice a lot…it wasn’t Rod Stewart but it was very rootsy. Lane was a very good singer in a band with a great singer…twice. He was in the Small Faces with Steve Marriott and The Faces with Rod Stewart. Those two types of singers don’t come very often.
The song was on their album Long Player… They did an excellent version of this song. They added to it without losing its charm. The album was their sophomore album and it peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts, #32 in Canada, and #31 in the UK in 1971. Their next album A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse (that is a great title!) peaked at #6 on the Billboard Album Charts later that year.
This song was written by Paul McCartney on his debut album. It should have been released as a single. He did release it as a single in 1976, a live version off the triple record set…Wings Over America. Paul wrote this song for Linda who helped pull him through a bad depression after The Beatles broke up. I did read an interesting fact about this song. “This was the first song with the word “amazed” in the title to reach the Hot 100. Another didn’t appear until 1999 when Lonestar charted with “Amazed.”
It’s hard to believe that the Faces single didn’t chart because McCartney never released it as a single himself…you would think the market would have been ready for it. Although FM stations did play the McCartney version.
Stewart always called Ronnie Lane the heart of the band and that was probably true. Lane got frustrated not being able to sing many songs and was upset at Stewart’s lack of commitment… and quit. After Lane quit in 1973, Tetsu Yamauchi took his place for touring but then they broke up in 1975 when Ron Wood joined the Stones and Stewart continued his solo career.
Ron Wood talks about Maybe I’m Amazed and has a special guest in this 1:24 clip.
Maybe I’m Amazed
Baby I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I’ll leave you
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you fool me all the time
You hung me on a line
Baby, I’m amazed at the way I really need you
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he doesn’t really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only woman that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he does not really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only one that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you’re with me all the time
Baby, I’m afraid of the way I’ll leave ya’
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you help me sing the song
You right me when I’m wrong
Baby I’m amazed at the way I really need you
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he does not really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only woman that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand
Lately, I needed to do something different so…tomorrow I will start“Under The Covers Week” here…nothing but covers next week. I hope you enjoy it. It’s good to breakup things once in a while.
When I posted the song Soul Deep by the Box Tops…CB reccomended the Gary US Bonds version and yes…it’s very soulful and and a great version. That got me listening to Bonds again and I can’t believe I forgot about this song. I remember this song in the early 80s but I haven’t heard it in forever. When heard This Little Girl in the early 80s I didn’t know much about Bonds. I soon found the song Quarter Till Three and more of his sixties hits. His voice is just golden and still is. He puts a ton of soul and grit into every song I’ve heard from him.
This song has a Springsteen feel for good reason. Bruce wrote it and backed Bonds in a comeback in the early eighties. This song and This Little Girl were the first hits Bonds had since the 60s. This one was on the album On The Line released in 1982.
Springsteen wrote more songs than he could record, and three of them went to Bonds: “This Little Girl,” “Your Love” and the title track. Springsteen and members of his E Street band also played on the album and worked on the production. “This Little Girl” was a hit, going to #11 in the US and reviving Bonds’ career. When Springsteen brought Bonds on stage a few times in 1981, the crowds were far more familiar with him. In 1982, Springsteen and his band worked on another album for Bonds… On the Line and more songs like Out of Work
The album Dedication peaked at #27 on the Billboard Album Charts, and On The Line peaked at #52. Out of Work peaked at #21 on the Billboard 100 and #22 in Canada in 1982. This was the last single to date to chart in the Billboard 100.
Out Of Work
Eight a.m., I’m up and my Feet beatin’ on the sidewalk Down at the unemployment agency All I get’s talk I check the want ads but there Just ain’t nobody hiring What’s a man supposed to do When he’s down and
Out of work I need a job, I’m out of work I’m unemployed, I’m out of work I need a job, I’m out of work
I go to pick my girl up Her name is Linda Brown Her dad invites me in He tells me to sit down The small talk that we’re making Is going pretty smooth But then he drops a bomb “Son, what d’ya do?”
I’m out of work I need a job, I’m out of work I’m unemployed, I’m out of work I need a job, I’m out of work Yeah, yeah, yeah
Hey, Mr. President I know you got your plans You’re doing all you can now To aid the little man We got to do our best to Whip that inflation down Maybe you got a job for me Just driving you around
These tough times, they’re enough To make a man lose his mind (I’m out of work) Up there you got a job but down here below
I’m out of work I need a job, I’m out of work I’m unemployed, I’m out of work I need a job, I’m out of work
Ooh, I’m out of work I’m out of work I’m out of work I’m out of work I’m out of work I’m out of work I’m out of work
Growing up I had a greatest hits album by the Kinks and this song was on it. Later, I would buy Give The People What I Want, Low Budget, and their 80s albums. It was later when I got The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society and I started to listen to more of their 60s music that wasn’t just the big hits… but was just as good or in some cases better. I also know the song through Big Star as they covered it on their album Third/Sister Lovers. Ace Frehley also covered the song.
By 1966 The Kinks were in a touring, recording, and promotion cycle that put enormous strain on the band. Ray Davies was married and had a child and was still counted on writing more songs. Ray was growing as a songwriter. Their career started with You Really Got Me and as they went along…the sophistication of the songs grew with Davies’s songwriting ability.
This single was one of the last early harder-rocking songs. What came after this was introspective pop songs like Waterloo Sunset and Dedicated Follower of Fashion. I like the jarring guitar intro plus Mick Avory’s drums. Nicky Hopkins, the supersession piano player, played on this track. The harmonies by Dave Davies and Peter Quaife elevate this song also.
The song peaked at #8 in the UK, #34 in Canada, and #50 on the Billboard 100 in 1966. For me, it ranks high on my list of early Kinks songs.
Ray Davies:“That song was about freedom, in the sense that someone’s been a slave or locked up in prison. It’s a song about escaping something. I didn’t know it was about my state of mind.”
Ray Davies:“I remember how ‘Till the End of the Day’ came about. I had a bit of writer’s block, and my managers were getting worried because I hadn’t produced anything in almost a month. They sent Mort Shuman around to my house, one of my hit-writing heroes. He wrote ‘Save the Last Dance For Me” with Doc Pomus. This mad, druggy New Yorker came ’round to my little semi-detached house in London. He said, ‘I’m here to find out what you’re thinking about. I’m not interested in what you have written; I’m interested in what you’re gonna write.’ He was completely paid off by my managers to say it. I thought it was ridiculous that there was so much importance put on it. If I don’t want to write for a month, I won’t. To say the least, I was pressured into doing it. Then I went off to stay with my sister and bought a new toy, a little upright piano, and wrote ‘Till The End Of The Day.”
Till The End Of The Day
Baby, I feel good
From the moment I arise
Feel good from morning
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Yeah, you and me
We live this life
From when we get up
Till we go sleep at night
You and me were free
We do as we please, yeah
From morning, till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Yeah, I get up
And I see the sun up
And I feel good, yeah
Cause my life has begun
You and me were free
We do as we please, yeah
From morning, till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
You and me were free
We do as we please, yeah
From morning, till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Good girls don’t Good girls don’t But, she’ll be telling you Good girls don’t But I do
The Knack was huge after their debut album but the record company wanted another one quickly. That was a huge mistake. A band takes years and years to make their first album. What I mean is they are writing songs as teenagers and later until they get a record deal. They use most of them up for the debut and now are stuck with coming up with a new album in a few months. That is a hard chore to do and why there is a sophomore slump with some bands.
Good Girls Don’t was released by the Knack in 1979 off the album Get the Knack. It was written by Knack singer Doug Fieger and peaked at 11 on the Billboard Charts. Everyone knows their other big single off that album “My Sharona” but I really liked this one at the time and still do. I was going to write…this song would not fly today but…I’ve heard rap songs that make this sound like Mother Goose.
One of the main reasons I like this song is the bridge. I don’t talk about a song’s bridge very much but it’s put together well. It starts with it’s a teenage sadness and builds. I will say this…I still like My Sharona…but I’ve My Sharonaed out. I still like it but in small doses. This one is a lot of fun.
I was 12 about to be 13 when I heard this song for the first time. For a new teenage boy, it was a great song. Fieger wrote this song in 1972 and didn’t want to record it for the album until the producer talked him into it. It is a strong power pop song with some edgy lyrics for 1979 and a “clean” single was released also that edited out the naughty things. It is a teenage song but it’s still fun.
The first video is the cleaner version of them in the studio…the second is the real version.
Good Girls Don’t
She’s your adolescent dream School boy stuff A sticky, sweet romance And she makes you wanna scream Wishing you could get inside her pants
So you fantasize away While you’re squeezing her You thought you heard her saying
Good girls don’t Good girls don’t But, she’ll be telling you Good girls don’t But I do
So you call her on the phone To talk about the teachers that you hate And she says she’s all alone And her parents won’t be coming home ’til late
There’s a ringing in your brain ‘Cause you could have swore You thought you heard her saying
Good girls don’t Good girls don’t But, she’ll be telling you Good girls don’t But I do
And it’s a teenage sadness Everyone has got to taste An in-between age madness That you know you can’t erase ‘Til she’s sitting on your face
You’re alone with her at last And you’re waiting ’til you think the time is right ‘Cause you’ve heard she’s pretty fast And you’re hoping that she’ll give you some tonight
So, you start to make your play ‘Cause you could have swore You thought you heard her saying
Good girls don’t Good girls don’t But, she’ll be telling you Good girls don’t But I do
And it’s a teenage sadness Everyone has got to taste An in-between age madness That you know you can’t erase ‘Til she’s sitting on your face (And it hurts)
Good girls don’t Good girls don’t But, she’ll be telling you Good girls don’t But I do
Good girls don’t Good girls don’t But, she’ll be telling you Good girls don’t But I do But I do But I do But I do
Some songs take me back to a point in time. This one is no different but it takes me to two points. I remember this when I was a small kid growing up. I didn’t hear it again until the early 2000s.
I was driving around in Panama City Beach Florida and this song came on the radio. As soon as I heard it I knew the song but I didn’t know what band did it. I loved that riff and that tone…was it a guitar or synth??? Whatever it was I had to find it. I searched for it on the internet…I used the only word I remembered…”winner” plus a great guitar riff. This one finally came up and I was on my way. I grew up with a single my sister had by them called “You Sexy Thing.”
1978 Roland GR500
Everyone 1’s A Winner came off an album of the same name by Hot Chocolate. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100,#5 in Canada, #7 in New Zealand, and #12 in the UK in 1978.
It’s known for the great guitar riff that was played using the first Roland guitar synth with the Les Paul-type guitar-the GR500. Yea my urge that my wife hates is kicking in…the urge to track one of these babies down and buy it.
They are best known for “You Sexy Thing” but this is one that sticks with me. Hot Chocolate was briefly signed with The Beatle’s Apple Records and they did a reggae version of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.”
This band charted a song every year between 1970 and 1984. The song was written by Errol Brown the lead singer.
Lead Guitar player Harvey Hinsley:The guitar I used on most of our records was an SG standard, It had a thicker sound than Fenders, Usually double-tracked the riffs, etc; The amp was a sound city 200 watt, or 125 pa amp, [no distortion on amps back then-just turned amp up] – they sounded much the same; On early stuff like Brother Louis, You’ll always be a friend & I believe in love, -I used Larry Ferguson’s Leslie cab; On Cadillac, I used a phaser pedal; On Emma, Sexy thing, so you win, I used a foot volume pedal too,on Every 1′ a winner I used the first Roland guitar synth with the Les Paul type guitar-the GR500; Put your love in me I used a Watkins echo & a waa-waa pedal set half on to give a more trebly sound
Lead singer Errol Brown:“I was getting nowhere with it when I heard my eldest daughter crying in a particular rhythm and used that for the melody.”
Every 1’s A Winner
Never could believe the things you do to me, Never could believe the way you are. Every day I bless the day that you got through to me, ‘Cause baby, I believe that you’re a star.
Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth (yes, the truth) Making love to you is such a thrill. Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie (yes, no lie) You never fail to satisfy (satisfy)
Never could explain just what was happening to me, Just one touch of you and I’m a flame. Baby, it’s amazing just how wonderful it is That the things we like to do are just the same.
Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth (yes, the truth) Making love to you is such a thrill. Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie (yes, no lie) You never fail to satisfy (satisfy)
Let’s do it again.
Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth (yes, the truth) Making love to you is such a thrill. Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie (yes, no lie) You never fail to satisfy (satisfy)
I’ve been running hot You got me ticking gonna blow my top If you start me up If you start me up I’ll never stop
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
I’ve never covered this song before because of all the Stones songs…this one is up there with the ones that radio has simply worn out. But the bottom line is…it’s a great rock song. Even if you don’t like it…you would have to admit that. It might be one of their albums’ best intro songs.
Let’s go back to 1981…I was over at my friend Kenny’s house and I heard this song. Kenny loved animals and had a tarantula, piranha, and other sorts of fun animals. I think it was his radio alarm that went off but I heard this song and knew exactly who it was and I was hooked. This was before it was worn completely out. The opening riff is straight out of the 5-string open G tuning for all of you guitarists. That tuning helped Keith come up with all of those great riffs.
All the news at the time was on their tour. They were called old and over the hill…funny now thinking back…they were only in their late 30s and early 40s. Nowadays that is a young band. I went out and bought the album and loved it. The next year I bought the live (from that tour) Time is On My Side and Going To A Go-Go singles. I then broke down and bought the Still Life live album they came from.
In my opinion, Tattoo You was their last brush with greatness. They did have Undercover, Steel Wheels, and others but this one is very good. The album was made up of outtakes and songs that were almost a decade old going back to Emotional Rescue and the Goats Head Soup album. They would never be this raw again…but there still is time.
Start Me Up started as a reggae-type song but soon developed into a full-blown rock song that kicked the doors down. It has become a staple in their concerts along with Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Satisfaction.
It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #7 in the UK, and #33 in New Zealand in 1981. I loved the low quality of the main video for the song. It looked like it was made by a poor high school rock band…it fit perfectly. It’s what you call a one-take video. You can see Charlie laughing at the front three.
The early version of Start Me Up
Start Me Up
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop
I’ve been running hot
You got me ticking gonna blow my top
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop
Never stop, never stop, never stop
You make a grown man cry
You make a grown man cry
You make a grown man cry
Spread out the oil, the gasoline
I walk smooth, ride in a mean, mean machine
Start it up
If you start it up
Kick on the starter give it all you got, you got to, you got to
I can’t compete with the riders in the other heats
If you rough it up
If you like it I can slide it up, slide it up, slide it up, slide it up
Don’t make a grown man cry
Don’t make a grown man cry
Don’t make a grown man cry
My eyes dilate, my lips go green
My hands are greasy
She’s a mean, mean machine
Start it up
Start me up
Give it all you got
You got to never, never, never stop
Slide it up
Baby up just slide it up
Start it up, start it up, start it up
Never, never, never
You make a grown man cry
You make a grown man cry
You make a grown man cry
Ride like the wind at double speed
I’ll take you places that you’ve never, never seen
If you start it up
Love the day and we will never stop, never stop, never stop, never stop
Tough me up
Never stop, never stop
You, you, you make a grown man cry
You, you make a dead man cum
You, you make a dead man cum
Buffet has always lived on the pop/country side of music…and soon after this, it was pop/country/tropical music. I bought his greatest hits in the 80s and I became a fan. I saw him live twice and if you ever want a concert that is more like a giant party or a Hawaiian Lūʻau…go see Buffet live. Also If you like tailgating before the concert… this is the man to see. His truly devoted fans are called “parrotheads.”
This song was written by Buffet and released in 1973 and peaked at #30 on the Billboard 100, #23 in Canada, and #58 on the Country Charts. The song was off of Living & Dying in ¾ Time and the album was Buffet’s first album to reach the top 200 at #176. Come Monday was his first top-40 hit. He would have some minor hits after this like Pencil Thin Mustache, A Pirate Looks at Forty, and others but it was Margaritaville in 1977 that broke it open for him.
The single version of the song replaces the third line, “I’ve got my Hush Puppies on,” with “I’ve got my hiking shoes on.” Some broadcast outlets, including the BBC, would not play songs with brand names in the lyrics, something that forced an edit on the Kinks song “Lola.”
Jimmy Buffet was quite the partier in the 70s. I’ve talked to a music producer who knew him back then and it’s a wonder he survived. He did have a run-in with a famous Tennessee sheriff…6’6″ Bufford Pusser. If you have a few minutes…it’s worth the story!
He wrote this song for his girlfriend, who he was missing and she ended up in the video. When he sings the first line, “Headed out to San Francisco for the Labor Day weekend show,” he’s talking about a specific concert in 1973.
Buffet explains quickly how the video was made and then the video.
Come Monday
Headin’ up to San Francisco For the Labor Day weekend show, I’ve got my hush-puppies on, I guess I never was meant for Glitter rock and roll. And honey I didn’t know That I’d be missin’ you so.
Come Monday It’ll be all right, Come Monday I’ll be holding you tight. I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze And I just want you back by my side.
Yes it’s been quite a summer, Rent-a-cars and west bound trains. And now you’re off on vacation, Somethin’ you tried to explain. And darlin’ I love you so that’s The reason I just let you go.
Come Monday It’ll be all right, Come Monday I’ll be holding you tight. I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze And I just want you back by my side.
I can’t help it honey, You’re that much a part of me now. Remember the night in Montana when We said there’d be no room for doubt.
I hope you’re enjoyin’ the scenery, I know that it’s pretty up there. We can go hikin on Tuesday, With you I’d walk anywhere. California has worn me quite thin, I just can’t wait to see you again.
Come Monday It’ll be all right, Come Monday I’ll be holding you tight. I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze And I just want you back by my side.
Let’s go back…way back. Music did exist before the 50s and sometimes I like to explore it. These are the talented artists who inspired later generations that we listen to. We cannot forget the pioneers of any genre. Artists like Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, and Norah Jones have all given Bessie Smith credit as their inspiration.
Whenever I hear Bessie Smith I hear pain and greatness all at once. I’ve written about her song No One Loves You When You’re Down And Out and I’ve been revisiting her lately. This song was her debut single in 1923.
I got into Bessie Smith from listening to Janis Joplin and reading about her. Bessie’s voice sends chills up my spine…that is my litmus test. This particular song grabs me because of Smith’s voice and the recording vibe. She sings it, means it, and she damn well lived it. The sound of the record and her voice is just unbeatable. Yes, we have digital now but digital could not give you this sound.
She was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 15, 1894. She lost her dad while she was an infant and her mom when she was 7-8 years old. She was raised by her tough older sister. To help support her orphaned siblings, Bessie began her career as a Chattanooga street musician, singing in a duo with her brother Andrew to earn money to support their poor family.
She is credited with recording more than 160 songs between 1923 and 1933. Smith performed on stage throughout the southern United States and recorded with such jazz greats as Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and Coleman Hawkins.
Before the Great Depression, Bessie was the highest-paid black entertainer in the world, collecting as much as two thousand dollars a week to perform. She was accompanied by great musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson, and Benny Goodman.
This song was written by Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin. The song is about a mistreated woman and had been recorded by fellow blues singer Alberta Hunter in 1922. A year later Bessie Smith sang it with pain, passion, and power as if it was her own song. The record sold more copies than any blues or jazz record had before…780,000 in the first six months after the release, #1 in the Billboard charts for 4 weeks, it helped to save Columbia from imminent bankruptcy and made Bessie a star.
They called Bessie Smith the “Empress of the Blues,” and for good reason.
Down Hearted Blues
Gee, but it’s hard to love someone
when that someone don’t love you!
I’m so disgusted, heart-broken, too;
I’ve got those down-hearted blues.
Once I was crazy ‘bout a man;
he mistreated me all the time,
The next man I get has got to promise me
to be mine, all mine!
Trouble, trouble, I’ve had it all my days,
Trouble, trouble, I’ve had it all my days,
It seems like trouble
going to follow me to my grave.
I ain’t never loved but three men in my life,
I ain’t never loved but three men in my life,
My father, my brother,
the man that wrecked my life.
It may be a week, it may be a month or two,
It may be a week, it may be a month or two,
But the day you quit me, honey,
it’s comin’ home to you.
I got the world in a jug, the stopper’s in my hand,
I got the world in a jug, the stopper’s in my hand,
I’m gonna hold it until
you meet some of my demands.
A simply beautiful song. I remember Dixie Chicken and a few others while growing up, but they were not played a lot on the radio. I did have some friends who had the albums that is how I found this band.
Guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne formed Little Feat in 1969. Lowell George was a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Bass player of the Mothers Roy Estrada joined along with drummer Richie Hayward.
The band never broke out in huge commercial success but other musicians loved this band. One of them was Jimmy Page who named Little Feat his favorite American band in 1975. Lowell George stepped up as a producer in the studio for this album and he wrote this song as well.
After their debut nearly cost them their record contract because of low sales, Little Feat had to fight their way through to a second album (Sailin’). They nearly fell apart before they could make their third. Bassist Roy Estrada quit joining Captain Beefheart during the second album. They replaced him with bassist Kenny Gradney and added percussionist Sam Clayton and guitarist Paul Barrere.
When that was going on Lowell George almost left the band to join John Sebastian and Phil Everly. George decided to continue with Little Feat. All that struggle paid off on Jan. 25, 1973, with the end result, Dixie Chicken. The album peaked at only #205 but went Gold. They never sold a lot of records but they remained rock’s more consistently acclaimed act.
Lowell George:“We had one get-together which was really nice. Real great three-part harmony, with John on the bottom, Phil on the top and me in the middle. But it could never have come to fruition, not in a million years. … I don’t think that Phil Everly and I could share a stage. I mean, I’m 20 pounds overweight and he’s 20 pounds, er, over the hill.”
Roll Um Easy
Oh I am just a vagabond A drifter on the run And eloquent profanity It rolls right off my tongue And I have dined in palaces Drunk wine with Kings and Queens But darlin’, oh darlin’ You’re the best thing I’ve ever seen Won’t you roll me easy Oh slow and easy Take my independence With no apprehension, no tension You walki’ talkin’ dream paradise Sweet pair a’ dice Well I been across this country From Denver to the ocean And I never met girls who could sing so sweet Like the angels that live in Houston Singin’ “Roll me easy, so slow and easy… Play that Concertina, I’ll be your temptress…” And baby I’m defenseless Singin’ harmony In unison Sweet harmony Gotta hoist your flag and I’ll beat your drum
Well everyone…this is powerpop’s 3000th post! I want to thank all of you for making this happen. There was a while when I started that I didn’t know if I would go on because as we all know…it’s sometimes hard to get started and known in word press. The big break for me came when Hanspostcard republished one of my posts (the 1967 movie Bedazzled) and I started to get a few readers and that grew. The reason I keep doing it is because of the comments…meeting like-minded people is the reason this is still fun so thanks again.
In the early 1990s, my cousin Mark and I shared an apartment in Nashville. On our answering service we would leave funny or what we thought were funny messages. I broke out the guitar and we did the chorus of this song as a message. It went over well but we got tired of hearing it every time someone called.
If I had to rank Tom Petty songs in my personal list. This song would come right behind American Girls as far as my favorite Tom Petty songs. I’m a huge Tom Petty fan and one of the reasons besides the music is this. At the time, Tom Petty was so popular his record label wanted to charge $1 more for the LP than the standard $8.98, but they backed down after he considered naming the album $8.98. Tom seemed to be a good man.
I bought the single when it came out in 1981 and then the album Hard Promises. This song has a Byrds feel and is reminiscent of the mid-sixties. It peaked at #19 on the Billboard 100, #6 in Canada, and #27 in New Zealand and it didn’t chart in the UK…the UK missed the boat on this one.
Tom seemed to always channel his inner Roger McGuinn. American Girl is a prime example. It sounds so much like Roger McGuinn that the first time Roger heard the song he asked his manager “when did I record this?” McGuinn met Petty and they got along great…McGuinn invited Petty to open up for him on his 1976 tour.
In the 1980s I watched the Gary Shandling Show faithfully and I remember that Tom Petty played this song on one episode.
Tom Petty:“I remember writing that one very well. That was a hard one. Went on for weeks. I got the chorus right away. And I had that guitar riff, that really good lick. Couldn’t get anything else. (Softly) I had a really hard time. And I knew it was good, and it just went on endlessly. It was one of those where I really worked on it until I was too tired to go any longer. And I’d get right up and start again and spend the whole day to the point where other people in the house would complain. “You’ve been playing that lick for hours.” Very hard.
It’s one that has really survived over the years because it’s so adaptable to so many situations. I even think of that line from time to time. Because I really don’t like waiting. I’m peculiar in that I’m on time, most of the time. I’m very punctual.
Roger [McGuinn] swears to me that he told me that line. And maybe he did, but I’m not sure that’s where I got it from. I remember getting it from something I read, that Janis Joplin said, “I love being onstage, it’s just the waiting.”
Roger McGuinn on hearing Tom Petty for the first time:
“I said, ‘when did I record that?” I was kidding, but the vocal style sounded just like me and then there was the Rickenbacker guitar, which I used. The vocal inflections were just like mine. I was told that a guy from Florida named Tom Petty wrote and sings the song, and I said that I had to meet him. I liked him enough to invite Petty and the Heartbreakers to open for us in 1976. When I covered ‘American Girl,’ I changed a word or two and Tom asked me if it was because the vocal was too high and I said ‘yes.’ I had fun with Tom’s song.”
Tom on the Gary Shandling show. I remember this episode.
Again thank you to everyone!
The Waiting
Oh baby, don’t it feel like heaven right now? Don’t it feel like something from a dream? Yeah, I’ve never known nothing quite like this Don’t it feel like tonight might never be again? Baby, we know better than to try and pretend
Honey, no one could’ve ever told me ’bout this I said yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
The waiting is the hardest part Every day you see one more card You take it on faith, you take it to the heart The waiting is the hardest part
Well, yeah, I might have chased a couple women around All it ever got me was down Yeah, then there were those that made me feel good But never as good as I feel right now Baby, you’re the only one that’s ever known how
To make me wanna live like I wanna live now I said yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
The waiting is the hardest part Every day you get one more yard You take it on faith, you take it to the heart The waiting is the hardest part
Oh, don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to you Don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to you I’ll be your bleeding heart, I’ll be your crying fool Don’t let this go too far, don’t let it get to you
Yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
The waiting is the hardest part Every day you get one more yard You take it on faith, you take it to the heart The waiting is the hardest part
Yeah, the waiting is the hardest part
Woah-oh It’s the hardest part Woah-oh It’s the hardest part
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