One Hit Wonder – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Count Five – Psychotic Reaction

Another song that I found while listening to an oldies channel in the 1980s. This song reminds me of the Yardbirds in texture and feel.

This band was a true one-hit wonder in 1966. When the singer-guitarist John Byrne was a freshman in college, his friend told him Psychotic Reaction would be a great name for a song. John had a melody in his head that day and wrote the song, but all of The Count Five contributed.

It was released in the summer of 1966 on the tiny Double Shot label. The single started getting airplay in California and then went national, climbing up the charts. Suddenly, these kids were lip-syncing on American Bandstand and touring with the Beach Boys and The Hollies, off-the-wall stuff for a bunch of guys who had barely been out of San Jose.

As fast as it blew up, it was over. The follow-up singles didn’t chart, the album (also called Psychotic Reaction) was rushed out and padded with covers, and by 1969, the band had quietly dissolved. Byrne went back to civilian life, and the rest scattered into day jobs. You know what, though? Of all the years I played, I would have gladly taken the role of a one-hit wonder.

It peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada in 1966. It is garage rock, psychedelic with some punk thrown in. The songwriting credits were Kenn Ellner, Roy Chaney, Craig “Butch” Atkinson, John “Sean” Byrne, and John “Mouse” Michalski.

Psychotic Reaction

I feel depressed, I feel so bad
‘Cause you’re the best girl that I ever had
I can’t get your love, I can’t get a fraction
Uh-oh, little girl, psychotic reaction
(Shouted) And it feels like this!

I feel so lonely night and day
I can’t get your love, I must stay away
I need you girl, by my side
Uh-oh, little girl, would you like to take a ride, now
I can’t get your love, I can’t get satisfaction
Uh-oh, little girl, psychotic reaction

Pet Rocks

Sometimes pop culture takes a turn so bizarre, so ridiculous, that you can’t help but admire it. Why can’t I think of something like this? Gary Dahl did and became a millionaire.

The pet came in a box with holes…of course, so the Rock could breathe and have a nest. They were $3.95 each, and each box contained “One Genuine Pedigreed” Pet Rock…A 32-page manual was included on how to take care of your special pet. The timing was perfect. In a post-Watergate America, cynicism was in, and irony was king. People were ready to buy something utterly meaningless just for the hell of it.

You want to understand the ‘70s in a nutshell? Forget disco and mood rings, look at the Pet Rock. It was the perfect gag gift in a world suddenly obsessed with kitsch, sarcasm, and pop irony.

More than a million people bought Pet Rocks as Christmas gifts in 1975. Gary Dahl, of Los Gatos, California, had the idea while joking with friends about his easy-to-care-for pet, a rock.

This pet ate nothing and didn’t bark or chew the furniture. Pet Rocks were sold with a funny manual that included tips on how to handle an excited rock and how to teach it tricks. By 1976, Gary Dahl was a millionaire, and Pet Rocks were the nation’s favorite pet.

By 1977, the fad had already burned out. Sales dropped. The joke wore thin. The world moved on. But like most pop phenomena, the Pet Rock was never really about longevity. It was about the moment. And it absolutely nailed it. He later referred to the Pet Rock craze as “a good joke that got out of hand.”

Here is the first part of the manual. I will not list the 32 pages of care…at the bottom is a very short old news report on this novelty item. Kids today don’t know what they are missing…they have iPhones….we had Pet Rocks.

Item 1.
Your new rock is a very sensitive pet
and maybe slightly traumatized from
all the handling and shipping required
in bringing the two of you together.
While you may look in on your new
pet from time to time, it is essential
that you leave your rock in its box for
a few days. It is advised that you set
the box in an area of your home
that is to become your PET ROCK’S
“special place”. Some PET ROCK
owners have found that the ticking of
an alarm clock placed near the box
has a soothing effect; especially at
night.
It takes most PET ROCKS exactly
three days to acclimate themselves to
their new surroundings. After seventy-two
hours have passed you may remove
the rock from its box and begin
enjoying your new pet.

Yes, I do have a pet rock and the box somewhere in storage.

Tony Joe White – Polk Salad Annie

Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so meanLived a girl, that I swear to the worldMade the alligators look tame

This song is just plain badass. It could have been extremely corny, but it’s not at all. It’s that groove that is impossible to escape and the lyrics just follow so nicely. Amos Moses, a song by Jerry Reed, is in this vein as well.

This song could very well be called Swamp Rock. It blends blues, rock, and country with a Southern feel. Tony Joe White, often called “The Swamp Fox,” built much of his career around this style, influencing later artists like Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Black Keys.

The song was on his 1969 album called Black and White. The album peaked at #51 on the Billboard 100, but the single did much better. Polk Salad Annie peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 and #10 in Canada in 1969.

White was what you would call a one-hit wonder, but he wrote many more hits than this one. He wrote A Rainy Night In Georgia, Willie and Laura Mae Jones, Steamy Windows, and others. Artists such as Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley (where I heard the song first), Ray Charles, and Tina Turner.

Elvis Presley released the song in 1973. It wasn’t released as a single in America, but it did manage to peak at #23 in the UK.

Polk Salad Annie

If some of ya’ll never been down south too muchSome y’all never been down s-I’m gonna tell you a little story so’s you’ll understand what I’m talkin’ aboutDown there we have a plant that grows out in the woods, and the fieldsAnd it looks somethin’ like a turnip greenEverybody calls it polk saladNow that’s polk saladUsed to know a girl lived down there and she’d go out in the evenings andPick her a mess of itCarry it home and cook it for supperBecause that’s about all they had to eatBut they did all right

Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so meanLived a girl, that I swear to the worldMade the alligators look tamePolk salad Annie, gators got your grannyEverybody said it was a shameBecause her momma was a workin’ on the chain gangA mean vicious woman

Everyday before supper time, she’d go down by the truck patchAnd pick her a mess of polk salad, and carry it home in a tow sackPolk salad Annie, the gators got your grannyEverybody says it was a shameBecause her momma was a workin’ on the chain gangA wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin’ womanLord have Mercy, pick a mess of it

Sock a little polk salad to me

Her daddy was lazy and no-count, claimed he had a bad backAll her brothers were fit forWas stealin’ watermelons out of my truck patchPolk salad Annie, the gators got your grannyEverybody said it was a shameBecause her momma was a workin’ on the chain gang

Yeah, sock a little polk salad to me, you know I need me a mess of itSock a little

Sock a little polk salad to me, you know I need a real mess of it (chick-a-boom)Sock a little polk salad, you know I need a real (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)

…

Timmy Thomas – Why Can’t We Live Together

I was searching around for new/old songs to cover and I ran across this title…I knew it sounded familiar. When I heard it…it took me back. WMAK in Nashville played this a lot when I was a kid. It was like finding a favorite shirt (you know…the one filled with holes but feels perfect?) that you had thought was lost. I didn’t know the artist but now I do. A great soul record from a decade that I think produced some of the best.

Thomas was inspired to write the song after watching news coverage of the Vietnam War and the ongoing unrest in the United States at the time. This song was ahead of its time. it was recorded using only a Lowrey organ, a simple rhythm machine, and Thomas’s vocals.

Thomas grew up in Indiana and went to Lane College in Tennessee to study music. He started his career as a session musician for other artists as a keyboardist. This song was his debut and it was a huge success. The song has been covered 35 times by artists such as Steve Winwood, Santana, Maria Muldaur, John Oats, and Sade to name a few.

This song peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100, #6 in Canada, and #12 in the UK in 1972.

Timmy Thomas: “I had just moved to Miami. And I’ll never forget, I was sitting in the study, because I was getting ready to teach school, higher education… I was sitting in my study, and I heard Walter Cronkite. I’ll never forget this. He said, ‘35,000 Viet Cong died today, 15,000 Americans.’ I said ‘WHAT?! You mean that many mothers’ children died today? In a war that we can’t come to the table and sit down and talk about this, without so many families losing their loved ones?’ I said, ‘Why can’t we live together?'”

“Bing! That light went off. And I started writing it then. ‘No more wars, we want peace in this world, and no matter what color, you’re still my brother.’ And then after that, put it on this little tape, and went to WEBF, which was a local radio station. And they played local artists then… they played it, and the phones lit up. They said ‘Man, who is that?'”

“And I did it as a one-man band! That was my foot playing bass, that was my left-hand playing guitar… Could never believe that as a one-man band, something like that would’ve been played that much. But I do believe that the world was ready to start changing a little bit. And that song made the change.”

Here is Steve Winwood and Sanata covering the song.

Why Can’t We Live Together

Tell me why, tell me why, tell me why
Why can’t we live together
Tell me why, tell me why
Why can’t we live together

Everybody wants to live together
Why can’t we be together

No more war, no more war, no more war
Just a little peace
No more war, no more war
All we want is some peace in this world

Everybody wants to live together
Why can’t we be together

No matter, no matter what color
You are still my brother
I said no matter, no matter what color
You are still my brother

Everybody wants to live together
Why can’t we be together

Everybody wants to live
Everybody’s got to be together

Everybody wants to live
Everybody’s going to be together

Everybody’s got to be together
Everybody wants to be together

I said no matter, no matter what color
You’re still my brother
I said no matter, no matter what color
You’re still my brother

Everybody wants to live together
Why can’t we be together

Gotta live together
Together

…

Lemon Pipers – Green Tambourine

When I first started to blog, mostly all I did was older hits and pop culture. I then started to experiment with album cuts and they seemed to go over pretty well. I’m surprised that I never blogged this song at the beginning. I’ve always liked it… it’s a mixture of pop, bubblegum, and a little psychedelia. What stuck out to me is the sitar…which I love to hear.

Bubblegum has a bad name but there is good bubblegum and I do like some of it. I never cared for The 1910 Fruitgum Company and The Ohio Express but some I did like. Crazy Elephant’s Gimme Gimme Good Loving and songs like that…I’ve always been fond of.

The Lemon Pipers were formed in 1966 in Oxford, Ohio, by students from Miami University. The band played harder psychedelic and blues rock. Buddah Records had different ideas. They pushed The Lemon Pipers into more bubblegum-type music. The tension between the record company and The Lemon Pipers eventually broke the band up in 1969.

You could probably consider The Lemon Pipers a one-hit wonder. They had some other charting songs but none in the top 40 on the Billboard 100 except the song Rice Is Nice which peaked at #6 in New Zealand.

This song did well here and everywhere. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, #3 in New Zealand, and #7 in the UK in 1967. The song has appeared in various films and television shows and made its place as a symbol of 1960s pop culture.

Green Tambourine

Drop your silver in my tambourine
Help a poor man fill a pretty dream
Give me pennies, I’ll take anything
Now listen while I play
My green tambourine

Watch the jingle jangle start to shine
Reflections of the music that is mine
When you toss a coin, you’ll hear it sing
Now listen while I play
My green tambourine

Drop a dime before I walk away
Any song you want, I’ll gladly play
Money feeds my music machine
Now listen while I play
My green tambourine

Listen and I’ll play

…

Frederick Knight – I’ve Been Lonely For So Long

I love early seventies soul…this is a cool gem of a song and very overlooked. I remember this one when I was around 5-6 being played on A.M. Radio. He released this on Stax Records in 1972. Stax was starting to go down around this time.

In the early 1970s, under the leadership of Al Bell, Stax expanded too rapidly and faced financial difficulties due to over-expansion and mismanagement. Despite producing some hits during this period, including Isaac Hayes’ successful albums, Stax declared bankruptcy in 1975.

The song was written by Posie Knight and Jerry Weaver. It peaked at #27 on the Billboard 100, #8 on the Billboard R&B charts, and #23 in the UK in 1972. It’s been covered 15 times and one cover was by Mick Jagger on his 1993 solo album Wandering Spirit. Paul Young also covered it on his debut album No Palez in 1983.

He didn’t chart any more top 40 songs on the top 100 and he would be known as a one-hit wonder which is a shame. He kept releasing music until 1981 and did get a song in the top 40 of the R&B Charts with I Betcha Didn’t Know That in 1975.

In the mid-1970s, Knight founded his own record label, Juana Records. Through Juana Records, he produced and promoted music for other artists, including the successful disco group Anita Ward, who had a hit with Ring My Bell in 1979.

I’ve Been Lonely For So Long

I’ve been lonely for so longDon’t seem like happiness will come alongI’ve been lonely for so longDon’t seem like happiness will come along

These ain’t rain clouds over my headEverybody’s throwing rocks in my bedJust can’t seem to get ahead in lifeOoh, nothin’ I do ever turn out for the right

Won’t somebody help me please

‘Cause I’ve been lonely for so longDon’t seem like happiness will come alongI’ve been lonely for so longDon’t seem like happiness will come along

I lay awake every nightTryin’ to figure out how to make things rightThere’s got to be a better way I knowTo shake this monkey off ’cause he’s makin’ me so

Won’t somebody help me please

‘Cause I’ve been ooh, lonely for so longDon’t seem like happiness will come alongI’ve been lonely so longDon’t seem like happiness will come along

Yes, I know what it feels like to be lonelyTo have your friends turn their backs on youTo never know the real meaningOf peace of mind, oh

Just can’t seem to get ahead in lifeOoh, nothin’ I do ever turn out for the right

Won’t somebody help me please

‘Cause I’ve been lonely for so longDon’t seem like happiness will come alongI’ve been lonely for so longDon’t seem like happiness will come along

I’ve been down so longI’ve been down so longI’ve been down so longI’ve been down so long

I get lonely, I get lonelyI get lonely, I get lonelyI get lonely, lonely

…

Jo Jo Gunne – Run Run Run

I was reading an article by Dave about Jay Ferguson and he mentioned this band. I thought the band’s name sounded familiar. When I heard it I remembered this song on A.M. radio as a kid.

They formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes after they left the band Spirit. They were known for their hits like I Got A Line On You, Nature’s Way, and the song “Taurus” which Spirit claims resembles Stairway To Heaven a little too much.

In the early seventies, David Geffen tried to get someone to sign Jackson Browne. He was turned down by almost all of the record companies. What is that old saying? “If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain.” So Geffen made his own record company to sign Jackson Browne. He called this record company Asylum.

His first signing was, of course, Jackson Browne. His second signing was Jo Jo Gunne. After Jo Jo Gunne came The Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, Bob Dylan (for two albums), Linda Ronstadt, Tom Waits, and Warren Zevon. That is a hell of a roster. The band included Jay Ferguson (vocals, keyboards) and Mark Andes (bass), the original lineup of Jo Jo Gunne included Matt Andes (guitar) and William “Curly” Smith (drums).

This song peaked at #27 on the Billboard 100, #30 in Canada, and #6 in the UK in 1972. The song was on their self-titled debut album. They released 5 albums altogether and the last one was in 2005 called Big Chain.

Despite the initial success of this song… Jo Jo Gunne did not achieve lasting mainstream popularity and they are often considered a one-hit wonder. Jay Ferguson went on to have hits on his own hit, Thunder Island peaked at #9 in America in 1978, and Shakedown Cruise #31 in 1979.

Run Run Run

Doo doo dooDoo doo doo dooRun Run RunRun Run Run

You’d better ride on baby,You was born outside of the lawRunRun

Doo doo dooDoo doo doo dooRun Run RunRun Run Run

Oh load up your mama,W’ll ride on out to the lineRunRun

RunOhRun

Doo doo dooDoo doo doo dooRun Run RunRun Run Run

Oh welcome to the party,We’re all just papers in the windRunRun

…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Rosie & The Originals – Angel Baby

This was one of John Lennon’s favorite songs throughout his life. Rosie and the Originals were also mentioned by Led Zeppelin on liner notes after the song Dy’er Mak’er…“Whatever happened to Rosie and the Originals?”

Rosie Hamlin wrote “Angel Baby,” her and the Originals’ lone hit, when she was just 14, with her first boyfriend and the Penguins’ “Earth Angel” serving as her primary inspiration. After penning the song over a couple hours in the afternoon, Hamlin and some instrument-playing San Diego friends laid down the first version of the track.

They had trouble landing a record deal. No appointments with any of the labels. They eventually found a private studio and recorded the song themselves…all teenagers. After that, they took one of their 45’s to Kresge’s Department Store in San Diego. They had listening booths in their music section where you could preview records before you bought them. Rosie asked the manager to play their record and see if he could sell it in his store.

A distributor from Highland Records heard “Angel Baby” and, without officially signing the group to a record contract, took control of the single’s master take and gave songwriting credit to the Originals’ eldest member. The single eventually found its way to famed DJ Alan Freed, who played “Angel Baby” numerous times a day in November 1960; two months later, the single peaked at Number Five on the Hot 100.

However, Hamlin parted ways with Highland after a legal battle over the song’s authorship and ownership. After disbanding the Originals, Hamlin recorded an album with her guitarist husband Noah Tafolla before leaving the music industry by 1963.

After her divorce, a little over 3 years later, she did venture into music again but never had any other hits and played live some. She made a Spanish version of this song in 2002.

It’s been covered many times but Rosie’s favorite cover version was…John Lennon’s that he recorded for his Rock and Roll album released in 1975 but the song didn’t end up being released until 1986. John’s voice can be heard saying: “This is one of my all-time favorite songs… My love to Rosie wherever she may be.”

Rosie and the Originals never received a penny from “Angel Baby,” nor any of the other Highland recordings until September 1994, when a financial settlement was reached and the masters of their recordings were returned to them. Rosie said: “It looks like that song will be around longer than I will.”

And it is …Rosie passed away in 2017 at the age of 71.

Angel Baby

It’s just like heaven being here with you
You’re like an angel, too good to be true
But after all, I love you, I do
Angel baby, my angel baby

When you are near me, my heart skips a beat
I can hardly stand on my own two feet
Because I love you, I love you, I do
Angel baby, my angel baby

Oh, I love you, oh I do
No one could love you like I do
Ooh, ooh

Please, never leave me blue and alone
If you ever go, I’m sure you’ll come back home
Because I love you, I love you, I do
Angel baby, my angel baby

It’s just like heaven being here with you dear
I could never stay the way without you near
Because I love you, I love you, I do
Angel baby, my angel baby

Oh, I love you, oh, I do
No one could love you like I do
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Zager and Evans – In the Year 2525 ….One Hit Wonder Week

If you want to break up a party…play this song…it will clear a room with quickness. So enjoy the post and song!

To say it’s bleak is an understatement. I’ve always been interested in it though. It was released in 1969 and the other chart songs around it were happy…Sugar Sugar, Dizzy, the cool Crystal Blue Persuasion, and Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In… this one seems out of place in that bunch. The duo was Denny Zager and Rick Evans. Rick Evans wrote this song.

It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and yes #1 in New Zealand. It was number one around a week before the Apollo Space Mission. This doom and gloom song was recorded in a studio in the middle of a cow pasture in Odessa, Texas in 1968.

The line that I noticed was Everything you think, do and say Is in the pill you took today. Hmmm, kind of reminds me of a thousand pills made now to control your illnesses or just make you feel better. Also if you really want to read into it… In the year 5555, Your arms hangin’ limp at your sides Your legs got nothin’ to do, Some machine’s doin’ that for you. That machine today would be a phone or a computer doing about everything. Buying your groceries, playing your music, and reading Max’s blog about that.

The other line I think about… You’ll pick your son, pick your daughter too, From the bottom of a long glass tube. Well, that happened on July 25, 1978, with the first test tube baby.

You probably guessed it by looking at the names but this was Zager and Evans, only hit. What are they doing today? The author, Rick Evans, sadly passed away in February 2018 in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of 75. Denny Zager is a highly acclaimed Guitar maker who makes his home in Nebraska. Nebraska is where both of them were from.

Their follow-up song was “Mr. Turnkey,” a song about a rapist who nails his wrist to his prison cell because he is sorry for his crime? Yeah, I wonder why that one didn’t hit? I admire the ambition but maybe a little too much inspiration was going on.

I have a quote from Zager at the bottom but here is another one and it’s interesting….Denny Zager: Before John Denver was discovered, he used to write to me all the time asking how we knew about “test tube babies” and things that hadn’t even been discovered yet. Rick used to tell him he had been abducted by aliens and “saw into the future.”

Denny Zager: Rick (Evans) said he wrote the lyrics in 10 minutes in the back of a Volkswagen van after a night of partying and a lot of Mary Jane. He tried the song with a few bands he was playing with at the time, but the music wasn’t right and it wasn’t working. I thought the lyrics were intriguing, so I rewrote the music so it blended better with the lyrics. The first night we played it live we knew it was special because the crowd looked stunned and wanted to hear it again and again.

Denny Zager: Like any band Rick and I had our squabbles, but there was a point in time that I felt we could have written some of the best music of the century. I miss him.

The follow-up!

In The Year 2525

In the year 2525, if man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find
In the year 3535
Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie
Everything you think, do and say
Is in the pill you took today
In the year 4545
You ain’t gonna need your teeth, won’t need your eyes
You won’t find a thing to chew
Nobody’s gonna look at you
In the year 5555
Your arms hangin’ limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin’ to do
Some machine’s doin’ that for you
In the year 6565
You won’t need no husband, won’t need no wife
You’ll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube

In the year 7510
If God’s a coming, He oughta make it by then
Maybe He’ll look around Himself and say
Guess it’s time for the judgment day
In the year 8510
God is gonna shake His mighty head
He’ll either say I’m pleased where man has been
Or tear it down, and start again

In the year 9595
I’m kinda wonderin’ if man is gonna be alive
He’s taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain’t put back nothing

Now it’s been ten thousand years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what, he never knew, now man’s reign is through
But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight
So very far away, maybe it’s only yesterday

In the year 2525, if man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find

Every Mother’s Son – Come On Down To My Boat

Obbverse and I were commenting the other day and this song came up. I had this single from a relative of mine when I was a kid and I would play this and Eleanor by the Turtles over and over again. The band had a really cool name. The song is pure bubblegum but enjoyable.

Every Mother’s Son was short-lived, consisting of brothers Dennis (guitars) and Larry Larden (lead vocals, guitars), along with Bruce Milner (keyboards), Schuyler Larsen (bass), and Christopher Augustine (drums). They were formed in New York City, New York in 1967.

The band’s clean image was a perfect foil to the “hippie invasion” groups of that time, and that clean image was the very reason why MGM signed them. By 1967 though the squeaky clean image didn’t help…well…their image.

The group recorded their self-titled debut album, which was released in 1967. The album mostly contained a collection of songs written by Jerry Goldstein and Wes Farrell. Not only did the band look like the Beach Boys, but Every Mother’s Son‘s sound had echoes of the Beach Boys too.

This was their first single and they hit pay dirt. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada in 1967. They were making appearances and enjoying being in the top 10 and they did try to follow up this song. They released four more singles in 1967 and 68 trying to push another one up the charts…but it didn’t work.

They would fall into the One Hit Wonder file…but it’s better than the No Hit Wonder file. The bubblegum band The Rare Breed also released this song before Every Mother’s Son but it wasn’t a hit.

Come On Down To My Boat

She sits on the dockA fishin’ in the water uh, huhI don’t know her nameShe’s the fisherman’s daughter uh, huh

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

She smiled so niceLike she wants to come with me uh, huhBut she’s tied to the dockAnd she can’t get free

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

Fish all day sleep all nightFather never lets her out of his sightSoon I’m gonna have to get my knifeAnd cut that rope, cut that rope

So we can go fishin’ in my little red boatMake you happy in my little red boat, so

Come on down to my boat babyCome on down where we can playCome on down to my boat babyCome on down we’ll sail away

Brownsville Station – Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room ….One Hit Wonder Week

I have always liked the sound of this song. I have heard covers of this but none compares to it for me. I grew up with the single that had the logo of Big Tree Records that was spinning constantly.

In 1985 Mötley Crüe covered this song. It peaked at #16 on the Billboard 100. Their version stayed true to the song and was a little heavier but didn’t have that groove that Brownsville Station had. John from 2 LOUD 2 OLD MUSIC did a fun competition between the two versions with people commenting.

This song peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #27 in the UK. The band did have another top 40 hit with “King Of The Party” which peaked at #31 on the Billboard 100. They also released 8 albums in the ’70s through the ’90s. Koda passed away in 2000 and the band reunited and released their 9th album in 2012 called Still Smokin’.

Brownsville Station was formed in Ann Arbor Michigan in 1969 and they dressed up in glam outfits and put on loud rock shows. They were a hard-working band…playing between 200 – 300 shows a year.

Michael “Cub” Koda and Michael Lutz wrote the song and Cub sang it. After Brownsville Station disbanded in 1979 he went on to be a DJ and a writer. He wrote the All Music Guide to the Blues, and Blues for Dummies, and some liner notes for other artists.

It took Koda and Lutz just a half hour to write the song and an hour for the band to record it. They didn’t think much of it, but the song became far and away their biggest hit. The owner of the record company hated the song and refused to release it as a single until so many requests came in from radio stations. He then relented and released it as a single.

Mike Lutz (Guitarist): “The funny thing is, when we got done with the album, Smokin’ is the last cut on the second side because nobody was really sure about it. But there was a radio station in Bangor, Maine and they started spinning it, and the phones just lit up.”

Mike Lutz: “Back in those days the whole thing was about being out on the road and pushing your product, developing a fan base, so with us it was still about doing that. It’s just that Smokin’ blew things wide open. We were making our reputation of being an energetic rock band. But after Smokin’ became a pop hit, people started to look at us as sorta bubblegum. It changed our career in that we became instantly popular to a lot of people, but it didn’t change the direction of the band.”

“We still did 320 one-nighters that year,” says Wreck. “And we drove ourselves to every gig.”

Smokin In The Boy’s Room

How you doin’ out there? Ya ever seem to have one of those days
Where it just seems like everybody’s gettin’ on your case?
From your teacher all the way down to your best girlfriend?
Well, ya know, I used to have ’em just about all the time
But I found a way to get out of ’em
Let me tell you about it!

Sitting in the classroom, thinking it’s a drag
Listening to the teacher rap, just ain’t my bag
The noon bells rings, you know that’s my cue
I’m gonna meet the boys on floor number two!

Smokin’ in the boys’ room
Smokin’ in the boys’ room
Now, teacher, don’t you fill me up with your rules
But everybody knows that smokin’ ain’t allowed in school

Checkin’ out the halls, makin’ sure the coast is clear
Lookin’ in the stalls, “No, there ain’t nobody here!”
Oh, my buddy Fang, and me and Paul
To get caught would surely be the death of us all

Smokin’ in the boys’ room
Smokin’ in the boys’ room
Now, teacher, don’t you fill me up with your rules
But everybody knows that smokin’ ain’t allowed in school

All right!
Oh, put me to work, in the school book store
Check out counter and I got bored
Teacher was lookin’ for me all around
Two hours later, you know where I was found

Smokin’ in the boys’ room (Yes indeed, I was)
Smokin’ in the boys’ room
Now, teacher, don’t you fill me up with your rules
But everybody knows that smokin’ ain’t allowed in school

One mo’!
Smokin’ in the boys’ room
Oh, smokin’ in the boys’ room
Smokin’ in the boys’ room
Smokin’ in the boys’ room
Now, teacher, I am fully aware of the rules
And everybody knows that smokin’ ain’t allowed in school!

Human Beinz – Nobody But Me ….One Hit Wonder Week

It’s something about those 1960s garage band songs that I really like. Songs like Louie Louie, A Little Bit Of Soul, Hang On Sloopy, and the list goes on and on. They were not epic complicated songs…no just fun songs for everyone to enjoy and relate to.

This is one of the most negative songs ever recorded. The word “no” appears 100 times and “nobody” gets sung 46 times, according to rock critic Dave Marsh.

A couple of years ago, as I did with House MD, I found an older show called The Office and I loved it. I binged it twice through. They did an incredible one-take intro using this song in the 7th season that I’ll have posted below.

I give them an A+ on having a unique band name… They were an American rock band from Youngstown, Ohio…originally known as The Human Beingz but their name was spelled wrong (Beinz) on their contract but they just left it that way. I remember hearing this on Kill Bill Vol 1 and also on oldies radio stations through the years. The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 in 1968.

This was a cover…and that surprised me. It was originally done by the Isley Brothers in 1962. It was written in the studio by Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley, and O’Kelly Isley, Jr.

Another trivial thing about this song… these are the dances it lists… The Shingaling, The Skate, The Boogaloo, and The Philly. And if you listen to the end of the song…their bass player Mel Pachuta is hitting an empty Pepsi bottle with a drumstick. The producer wanted something different and that made him happy. You can clearly hear it at the end.

Nobody But Me

No-no, no, no, no-no-no, no, no-no, no, no-no
Na-no, no, na-no, no-no, na-no, no-no, no, no-no, no

Nobody can do the (Shing-a-ling) like I do
Nobody can do the (Skate) like I do
Nobody can do (Boogaloo) like I do
Nobody can do (Philly) like I do

Well, don’t you know
I’m gonna skate right through
Ain’t nobody do it but me
Nobody but me (Nobody but me)

Yeah, I’m gonna spin, I do
Ain’t nobody do it but me, babe
(Nobody but me)
Well, let me tell you nobody
Nobody but me

Let me tell you, nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody) nobody
(Nobody)

No-no, no, no, no, no-no-no, no, no-no, no, no-no
Na-no, no, na-no, no-no, na-no, no-no, no, no-no, no

Nobody can do the (Shing-a-ling) like I do
Nobody can do the (Skate) like I do
Nobody can do (Boogaloo) like I do
Nobody can do (Philly) like I do

Ooh, yeah
Nobody, nobody
Nobody, nobody

Stealers Wheel – Stuck In The Middle With You ….One Hit Wonder Week

Raise your hand if you thought this was Bob Dylan when you first heard it. I sure did…I heard it after I had heard Knocking On Heavens Door and I would have bet it was Bob. Gerry Rafferty was the singer on this song and he wouldn’t sound like this later on with Baker Street. It was written by the group’s guitarist Gerry Rafferty and keyboard player Joe Egan.

Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan signed a contract with an American company and they threw a party in Chelsea. Gerry and Joe were sitting at a table with 50 record executives and their wives (clowns and jokers). They were seated between two rather boring label executives. A few days later they wrote this song. So it was basically a parody of Bob Dylan’s style that poked fun at an industry cocktail party.

It ended up sounding like Dylan. Rafferty said: “That happened by chance, the vocal inflections are certainly reminiscent of Bob Dylan and, if I’ve taken anything from him, it’s his phrasing. I suppose the subject matter and the rather dark humor are akin to Dylan too.”

The song peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100, #8 in the UK, and #2 in Canada. Gerry Rafferty is singing the lead vocal with bandmate Joe Egan harmonizing with him. They were produced by some huge talent.. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. They did have a song that hit #25 on the Billboard 100 called “Star” but we will count this as a one-hit wonder.

Gerry Rafferty would go on to have a huge album City To City that produced big hits Baker Street and Right Down The Line. Joe Egan would eventually have a minor hit with a song called Back on the Road…after that he left the industry. He did help out on Gerry Rafferty’s 1992 album On A Wing and a Prayer.

Quentin Tarantino used this song in a horrific torture scene in Reservoir Dogs to great effect.

Gerry Rafferty: “It was just one of those songs, maybe about how life often seems like a series of events, so everything is related to everything else, no matter how remote.”

Stuck in the Middle with You

Well I don’t know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain’t right,
I’m so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I’m wondering how I’ll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you

Yes I’m stuck in the middle with you,
And I’m wondering what it is I should do,
It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face,
Losing control, yeah, I’m all over the place,
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

Well you started out with nothing,
And you’re proud that you’re a self made man,
And your friends, they all come crawlin,
Slap you on the back and say,
Please, please

Trying to make some sense of it all,
But I can see that it makes no sense at all,
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor,
‘Cause I don’t think that I can take anymore
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

Well you started out with nothing,
And you’re proud that you’re a self made man,
And your friends, they all come crawlin,
Slap you on the back and say,
Please, please