Introducing the Scruffs. I love that name for a band. They have been around since the 70s and have released an album in 2011.
Big Star wasn’t the only power pop band in Memphis in the 70s. This band formed in Memphis in 1974. It was started by writer/guitarist/vocalist Stephen Burns along with guitarist David Branyan, bassist Rick Branyan, and drummer Zeph Paulson.
“She Say Yea” was influenced by the Beatles and Byrds but also early 70s American power pop greats like the Raspberries and Big Star.
They used Big Star’s same studio (Ardent) and their producer Jim Dickinson who along with Big Star worked with the Rolling Stones, Carmen McRae, Delaney & Bonnie, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dee Dee Warwick, Ronnie Hawkins, Sam & Dave, Dion, Brook Benton, Lulu, Sam the Sham and others.
I have heard some great power pop in the last 10 years but for me the golden era of Power Pop was in the 70s and 80s…I do believe in the last ten years it has made a comeback with newer bands…but I love these seventies bands that with a little more luck could have had major success.
The Scruffs released their debut album in 1977 named Wanna Meet the Scruffs? The single from the album was Break the Ice with She Say Yea as the B side. Another single off the album was Shakin’ / Teenage Girls…we will go over that one in a few weeks.
All 13 tracks were written by guitarist Stephen Burns though lead guitarist Dave Branyan gets partial credit for three numbers.
This would make it in my own top 10 songs of all time. The tone of the guitars, harmonies and the perfect constructed chorus keeps me coming back listen after listen. The song is on Big Star’s album Number1 Record.
Most of the songs on the album could have been a single.
In a 1992 interview with Oor magazine, the songs’ co-writer Alex Chilton (who is credited along with Chris Bell) revealed that, whilst he felt that Big Star’s “music is still a triumph – some of the time,” he said “I didn’t understand how to make the right sound with my voice, so things like ‘Ballad Of El Goodo’ and ‘Thirteen’ could have been better.”
Though the song can be interpreted as a broad, abstract paean to anti-conformity and independence, the lyrics could more specifically allude to the Vietnam War. The first verse plays with the idiom “stick to your guns,” which could easily be literalized with the second verse:
“There’s people around who tell you that they know
The places where they send you, and it’s easy to go
They’ll zip you up and dress you down, stand you in a row
But you know you don’t have to
You can just say no”
The Vietnam War was seemingly important to Chilton. In an 2010 obituary for Nashvillescene.com following Chilton’s death, John “Bucky” Wilkin, lead singer and songwriter for ’60s surf rock group Ronny & the Daytonas, said: “Vietnam was the war we both related to, more on the level of the Buddhist priests who set themselves on fire in protest than as the American combat soldiers – both of us somehow being able to avoid the draft.”
In our 2013 interview, Big Star drummer Jody Stephens expressed how he felt the song revealed Chilton and Bell to be a cut above the average rock n’ roller: “All of a sudden I’m playing with these guys that can write songs that are as engaging to me as the people I’d grown up listening to, so I felt incredibly lucky.” He also singled out the song as one of his favorites to play.
Counting Crows covered the song for their 2012 album of covers Underwater Sunshine (or What we did on our Summer Vacation). In a 2012 interview with Paste magazine, frontman Adam Duritz said “One of the last changes we made was putting ‘The Ballad of El Goodo’ at the end of the record. I find it hard to follow that song on a record. I really love that song… it’s speaking about survival.”
The Ballad of El Goodo
Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh But I’ve been trying hard against unbelievable odds It gets so hard in times like now to hold on My guns they’re waiting to be stuck by At my side is God
And there ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
There’s people around who tell you that they know The places where they send you, and it’s easy to go They’ll zip you up and dress you down Stand you in a row But you know you don’t have to You could just say no
And there ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round
I’ve been built up and trusted Broke down and busted But they’ll get theirs and we’ll get ours Just if we can Just, ah, hold on Hold on Hold on Hold on
Years ago my heart was set to live, oh But I’ve been trying hard against strong odds It gets so hard at times like now to hold on Well, I’ll fall if I don’t fight And at my side is God
Ain’t there no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Ain’t no one goin’ turn me ’round Hold on Hold on Hold on Hold on
