Category: Singles

Style Council – Shout To The Top

I am a Paul Weller fan, and it’s nice to see what he did after he left The Jam in 1982. Some really good soul pop songs and excellent songwriting, as you would expect from Weller. I mostly know his Jam songs but I’m learning more about him. 

Paul Weller and Mick Talbot built the song around a bright keyboard riff and a gospel-type groove that is more Curtis Mayfield than punk. It was a stand-alone single. It was later added to the 1984 album Our Favourite Shop CD release, and it became one of their biggest hits in the UK and a club favorite. It was on the US album Internationalists, a version of this album. 

This song is a great example of a perfect blend of soul history and modern pop. It’s built for radios and dance floors…and anyone needing a push through their day. Instead of stacking layers of guitars, the band focused on the rhythm and let the groove carry everything.

The song peaked at #7 in the UK and #6 in New Zealand in 1984-85. The album peaked at #1 in the UK, #6 in New Zealand, #123 in the Billboard Album Charts, and #53 in Canada. 

Should It To The Top

I was half in mind, I was half in needAnd as the rain came downI dropped to my knees and I prayedI said, “Oh heavenly thing, please cleanse my soulI’ve seen all on offer and I’m not impressed at all”

I was halfway home, I was half insaneAnd every shop window I looked in just looked the sameI said, “Now send me a sign to save my life‘Cause at this moment in time there is nothing certain inThese days of mine”

You see it’s a frightening thing when it dawns upon youThat I know as much as the day I was bornAnd though I wasn’t asked, I might as well stayAnd promise myself each and every day

That when you’re knocked on your back and your life’s a flopAnd when you’re down on the bottom there’s nothing elseBut to shout to the topWell we’re gonna shout to the topWe’re gonna shout to the topWe’re gonna shout to the topHey, we’re gonna shout to the top

You see it’s a frightening thing when it dawns upon youThat I know as much as the day I was bornAnd though I wasn’t asked, I might as well stayAnd promise myself each and every day

We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)

So when you’re knocked on your back and your life’s a flopAnd when you’re down on the bottom there’s nothing elseBut to shout to the top (shout)Well, we’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)

And when you’re knocked on your back and your life’s a flopAnd when you’re down on the bottom there’s nothing elseBut to shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)

Hey, yeah, shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)Shout to the top (shout)Shout to the top (shout)

We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)Shout to the top (shout)Shout to the top (shout)

We’re gonna shout to the top (shout)Shout to the top (shout)Shout to the top (shout)Shout to the top (shout)Shout to the top (shout)

Desert Rose Band – She Don’t Love Nobody

A few months ago, around September, I met Arthur when he was commenting on my blog. He is better known as purplegoatee2684b071ed. We have had some wonderful conversations, and I told him if you ever want to post a music post…I would be honored to do it. He took me up on my offer, and he wrote up a post about The Desert Rose Band. I do appreciate Arthur writing this up. Here is Arthur!

I am Purplesomething or other.  My name is Art Schaak.  I have no idea where WordPress got the name for me.  When I found this incredible blog I signed up for WordPress and they told me my e-mail, which is fairly unique, was already assigned to this Purple guy.  purplegoatee2684b071ed, that’s what they call me.  For years I had a full beard, now I am clean shaven (when I shave) and I’ve never sported a goatee.  I have been called an old goat, and old other things, and I honestly find it hard to deny.

I have been reading and commenting on this blog since September of 2025, a relative newcomer.  I am much more impressed with the community and its individual members than you should be of me. 

I am 72 years old.  I have been a big music fan as long as I can remember.  I skirted the peripheries of the music industry in the mid 70s until I realized I was not a follower of fashion, dedicated or not.  I know a little about this stuff, am horribly opinionated, and have very eclectic tastes. 

The Desert Rose Band was Chris Hillman, Herb Pedersen, John Jorgenson, Bill Bryson, Jay Dee Maness, and Steve Duncan.  This song, written by John Hiatt, reached #3 on Billboard’s US Hot Country Songs and was awarded the 1989 Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group Grammy.  It wasn’t their biggest hit, but it is my favorite.

The magic lies in the music.  Give it a listen. It is the energy.  The harmonies are tight.  The performance is together.  It might be too perfect, considering some of the opinions offered elsewhere on this blog, but I can’t call that a problem.  This tune just delightfully pops along.

Hiatt’s lyrics are a lot of fun.  Yes, I am a fan and have been since his Hanging Around The Observatory debut on Epic way back in the 70’s.  By the way, Hiatt did two songs on the second White Duck album on Uni that I was amazed I found at a 25-cent parking lot sale at Rhino Records; I played it once, and that was more than it deserved.

Jorgeson continues to play, but his recent performances in the Los Angeles area have been with his bluegrass ensemble and his hot jazz ensemble.  A long way from the Desert Rose Band or his tenure with the Elton John band.  He is a great guitar player with an even greater sense of the overall music he is producing, kind of like Ry Cooder, where one can groove on his expertise or just be amazed at the incredible music he is putting out.

By the way, the web says the last performance of the Desert Rose Band, Live at the Country Music Hall of Fame CMA Theater, October 2, 2022, is due to be released in March of 2026. 

And Chris Hillman seems extremely active (considering his age and such), according to his website, chrishillman.com.

Like I said, give it a listen.

She Don’t Love Nobody

From my humble point of view
She don’t love nobody
Nothin’ borrowed, nothin’ blue
She don’t love nobody

Behind the green eyes I detect
She don’t love nobody
Her heart no kiss could resurrect
She don’t love nobody

All of her life
She’s been told to hang on tight
There’s a man who’d make her his wife
But she’s not interested in anything mama said

She throws passion to the wind
She don’t love nobody
She don’t give out but she don’t give in
She don’t love nobody

And if I could I’d make her mine
But she don’t love nobody
And she would never walk that line
She don’t love nobody

All of my life
I’ve been told to hang on tight
There’s a girl who’d be my wife
But I’m not interested in anything mama said

I want the girl who does not need
She don’t love nobody

She’s the one my heart receives
She don’t love nobody

She don’t love nobody
She don’t love nobody

She don’t love nobody
She don’t love nobody

She don’t love nobody
She don’t love nobody

Whiskeytown – Faithless Street …album review

I really like this band. I spent the week living with their album Faithless Street, and what a tight album. Not just musically but vocally. It’s a true album, one song blends into another smoothly, and like I said, tight but loose in just the right spots.

Whiskeytown had one member that you might know. They were an alternative country band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They were active from 1994 to 2000. The band was led by Ryan Adams, who played a role in popularizing the alt-country genre in the 1990s. He blended traditional country with rock and indie influences. They fit in well with The Jayhawks and Wilco in that era.

Faithless Street was made fast and cheap, with a band that was still figuring itself out. It was recorded in North Carolina in 1994, and the sessions were about capturing what Whiskeytown sounded like in real time. They were limited on studio hours, so songs were often tracked live with only a few overdubs. If something felt right, it stayed, even if it wasn’t clean.

Ryan Adams was writing constantly and pushing the group to cut new material almost as quickly as it came together. Some songs had been played on stage for months. Others were nearly brand new. That mix gave the album its loose feel. You can hear moments where the band sticks to a groove and others where they’re holding it together by instinct, off the cuff.

The record opens with Midway Park, and right away, you get the blueprint. Country structure with rock volume. I love that welcoming opening riff that drives that song. Songs like 16 Days and Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight ” go into classic barroom sound with the pedal steel and open choruses. There’s also Houses on the Hill, which would later become one of Adams’ calling cards. Even in this early version, the melody sticks. 

Songs like Lo-Fi Tennessee Mountain Angel (For Kathy Poindexter) and Too Drunk to Dream go back to roots country. You also have acoustic-driven songs like Factory Girl that to me is as close to perfect as you can get. 

The production is spare. Guitars are up front. The drums don’t dominate. The vocals aren’t smoothed out, but they are tight. That raw edge became the album’s identity. Within a few years, Whiskeytown would shift lineups, and Adams would get more well-known.

He has a successful solo career and has also produced albums for Willie Nelson and collaborated with the Counting Crows, Weezer, Norah Jones, America, Minnie Driver, Cowboy Junkies, and Toots & the Maytals. He has written a book of poems, Infinity Blues, and Hello Sunshine, a collection of poems and short stories.

I hope you all will give this album a listen.

Flying Burrito Brothers – Christine’s Tune (Devil in Disguise)

I love this band, and I need to post more by them. Today, I have a theme going: alt-country, with one of the pioneers and one that picked up the mantle a little longer down the line. Like Little Feat, this band was more popular with other musicians than with the public. So the public missed something special here. 

This was the opening song on the album The Gilded Palace of Sin. They didn’t ease you in… they hit you hard with this country song with rock attitude. It’s built around a cool rhythm and sharp harmonies. I like how it had a Bakersfield sound mixed with rock’s drive. It was written by Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman. 

This song showed how country music could carry an edge without losing its roots. What makes it work is how natural it sounds, blending those two styles. Pedal steel in the background while the rhythm section drives like a rock band. It set the tone for the whole Burritos sound.

This song, like the album, barely made a dent in the music world of 1969. They developed a cult following upon its release that included Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Over time, it turned into a blueprint for country-rock.

Christine’s Tune (Devil in Disguise)

She’s a devil in disguiseYou can see it in her eyesShe’s telling dirty liesShe’s a devil in disguiseIn disguiseNow a woman like that all she does is hate youShe doesn’t know what makes a man a manShe’ll talk about the times that she’s been with youShe’ll speak your name to everyone she canShe’s a devil in disguiseYou can see it in her eyesShe’s telling dirty liesShe’s a devil in disguiseIn disguise

Unhappiness has been her close companionHer world is full of jealousy and doubtIt gets her off to see a person cryingShe’s just the kind that you can’t do withoutShe’s a devil in disguiseYou can see it in her eyesShe’s telling dirty liesShe’s a devil in disguiseIn disguise

Her number always turns up in your pocketWhenever you are looking for a dimeIt’s all right to call her but I’ll bet youThe moon is full and your just wasting time

She’s a devil in disguiseYou can see it in her eyesShe’s telling dirty liesShe’s a devil in disguiseIn disguise (in disguise)In disguise (in disguise)In disguise (in disguise)In disguise

Beatles – Leave My Kitten Alone

It’s one of those Beatles covers that I read about but never heard until the Anthology came out. This song belongs in their pre-early period, as far as playing it. They played this in Hamburg and The Cavern. 

This was recorded during the Beatles for Sale sessions in 1964; it captures the band hard into their early rock and R&B roots. John Lennon takes the lead with a sharp vocal that cuts through the song like all of his other vocals. It’s the kind of song that feels like it could’ve torn up the stage at the Cavern Club and Hamburg. It was excluded from the album at that time. 

The Beatles were huge fans of that early American R&B and rock ’n’ roll, and this one fit right into their club repertoire, tough, fast, and built to move a crowd. Their version keeps that same bite, just filtered through their Liverpool interpretation. They don’t go raw like Bad Boy (one of my favorite covers they did), but it’s good. 

Beatles For Sale was made when they were just plain worn out (look at their faces above, on the album cover). Beatlemania was getting on their nerves, what nerves they had left. George Harrison said Beatlemania was an attack on their nervous system. He explained it well; he said that they didn’t change as much, but the people all around, plus the public, went nuts. They lived inside this bubble until 1966, when they finally said no more touring after that year. It was probably, in some ways, the best decision they ever made. It might have prolonged the band’s life a little. 

I looked up the reason why this song was excluded from Beatles For Sale. The only thing I could find is that George Martin thought there were too many covers on the album already. I would agree with that, but why not leave off “Mr. Moonlight” instead of this? This is a totally personal opinion, but Mr. Moonlight (besides Lennon’s vocal, which is special in it) is in the top 5 of my most disliked Beatles songs, not just covers, which it is, but all Beatles songs. 

They just didn’t have the time to write more originals. Everyone was waiting for “the bubble to burst” on their success, but it never did. Hell, I’m still posting about them 60 years later. They only had 8 original songs on this album, and filled out the rest with covers they did in Hamburg and Liverpool. Leave My Kitten Alone was not an original; it was written by Little Willie John, Titus Turner, and James McDougal and released in 1959 by Little Willie John. 

Leave My Kitten Alone

You better leave my kitten all aloneYou better leave my kitten all aloneWell, I told you, big, fat bulldogYou better leave her alone

You better leave my kitten all aloneYou better leave my kitten all aloneThis dog is gonna get youIf you don’t leave her alone

Well, Mister DogI’m gonna hit you on the top of your headThat child is gonna miss youYou’re gonna wishThat you were dead

If you don’t leave my kitten all aloneWell, I told you, big, fat bulldogYou better leave her alone

Well, alright!

Well, Mister DogI’m gonna hit you on the top of your headThat gal is gonna miss youYou’re gonna wishThat you were dead

If you don’t leave my kitten all alone, oh yeahWell, I told you, big, fat bulldogYou better leave her alone

Hey, heyYou better leaveYou better leaveYou better leaveYeah, you better leaveYou better leaveOh, you got to leaveYeah, heyWell, I told you, big, fat bulldog

Jam – Worlds Apart

I first heard about The Jam in the 80s, around the same time I found Big Star, The Replacements, The Clash, and REM. When I listen to The Jam, I think of the Kinks and The Who right away, and that is always a good thing. 

When people talk about the British punk explosion of the late ’70s, The Jam always stand a little apart. While others were known for being abrasive and loud, The Jam drew influence from 1960s Mod culture. Paul Weller had a knack for crafting sharp, pop-infused songwriting about everyday British life. They were formed in Woking in the early ’70s by Paul Weller, bassist Bruce Foxton, and drummer Rick Buckler. The band was a trio that was tight and direct.

They went from pub stages to one of the biggest bands in Britain, leaving behind a catalog that is very strong. There is not much information on this song out there. It wasn’t on a studio album, nor was it a B-side. It was released in 1997 for the first time on their Direction Reaction Creation album, which covered all the studio albums, non-album singles, and demos. They broke up in 1982 after releasing 6 albums in all. 

From what I found, it was recorded around 1978 for the album All Mod Cons, but never made the album. I’m sure that is the case because it was also included on the All Mod Cons (Deluxe Edition) that was released in 2002. They were an incredible band, being a tight full trio. Direction Reaction Creation peaked at #8, fifteen years after they broke up in 1997. 

Worlds Apart

Worlds apart, you and I, we’re worlds apart

The difference between every day
I can’t think of the words to say

Worlds apart, you and I, we’re worlds apart

I’ve been in some clubs where the music’s loud
‘cos I see your face in every crowd
But it’s not really you

It’s like having a cold on a summers day
Something ain’t right and I want you to stay
You must know that

Worlds apart, you and I, we’re worlds apart

Peter Case – I Shook His Hand

Each tongue is a world, each eye is an ocean
Of every child, woman, man here in living motion
Now who’ll protect us, who’ll pеrfect us
Who’ll live to see the day whеn love connects us

I just started to listen to Peter Case recently, although I like the Plimsouls, I never knew much about Case. This song and its history intrigued me. First of all, it’s a great song, but Case started this song by reminiscing about when he was a kid and shook hands with John Kennedy at a county fair that Kennedy had appeared at. So by total coincidence, this again fits into the book I’m reading. I had a playlist of his songs, and I heard this one, and I thought…what hand did he shake? I then read his quote about shaking hands with JFK. 

He first broke out with The Nerves, a tight power pop band that was popular on the early LA power-pop scene. Though they never found major commercial success, they did have the song Hanging on the Telephone, later covered by Blondie. The Nerves showed Case’s gift for melodic songwriting and short three-minute power pop songs.

After that came The Plimsouls, who blended power pop with roots rock and harder edges. Tracks like A Million Miles Away made them cult favorites and briefly pushed them into the mainstream. The band toured constantly, but music industry pressure and burnout pulled them apart just as they were gaining traction.

This song is off of Peter’s self-titled debut album, released in 1986. The musicians he gathered, I’m a huge fan of. Roger McGuinn on his 12-string Rickenbacker, Jim Keltner on drums, Van Dyke Parks on keyboards, T-Bone Burnett producing, and acoustic guitar and more. He was on Geffen Records at the time and also released a UK EP called Steel Strings that contained many of these songs. He also released another EP called Selections from Peter Case. That one had two different versions of the song Steel Strings on it. 

The album was largely recorded live in the room, with players reacting to each other instead of building tracks layer by layer. I say this a lot in my reviews, but it’s true in this case as well. The band played to each other, and there were minimal overdubs. He kept small imperfections that made the performances feel real. The goal wasn’t to overproduce the album; it was to capture the way these songs worked when he played them alone or in small rooms.

He has been productive as a solo artist. 14 studio albums, 4 EPs, 3 compilations, and 11 singles. A tribute album was also released in 2006, A Case for Case, with various artists. 

Peter Case: I wrote this one in 1984, on the Amtrak train down to San Antonio, where I was meeting the rest of the Plimsouls to start a tour. It’s about meeting JFK on his trip to the Erie County Fair, when I was five, though I was also thinking about MLK and RFK. 

I Shook His Hand

I was a kid out behind the fair
His words were like lightning in the summer air
His eyes were wild with the truth he told
Holding back the rain while the thunder rolled

I was too young to understand
I was proud to say I shook his hand

He took command on a winter’s day
All across the land, spring was on its way
He struck fear into the hearts of fools
Breaking up the gangs, breaking all their rules

Too young not to understand
I was proud to say I shook his hand

Each tongue is a world, each eye is an ocean
Of every child, woman, man here in living motion
Now who’ll protect us, who’ll pеrfect us
Who’ll live to see the day whеn love connects us
Who’ll take a step out in this land
I’ll be proud to say I shook his hand
I shook his hand, well I shook his hand

For years they tried to kill him, he finally died
I still remember how I felt when my mama cried
I grew up with a bullet in my breast
If you knew it or not, so did all the rest

 

Doug Sahm – Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone

I’ve posted a few of Sahm’s tracks in the past 4-5 months. I was inspired this time to post again. I have been reading 11.22.63 by Stephen King, and it’s about a man who was told about a time portal that takes you to September 9, 1958. He walked through and was going back to stop Oswald from killing JFK if Oswald was the one. The book is interesting because of the time he has to kill between 1958 and 1963, and the side trips he takes.

One of them is in Texas in a fictional town called Jodie. He is at a picnic, and this is the paragraph that caught my attention: I got my beer in a paper cup and walked closer to the bandstand. The kid’s voice was familiar. So was the keyboard, which sounded like it desperately wanted to be an accordion. And suddenly it clicked. The kid was Doug Sahm, and not so many years from now he would have hits of his own: “She’s About a Mover” for one, “Mendocino” for another. That would be during the British Invasion, so the band, which basically played Tejano rock, would take a pseudo-British name: The Sir Douglas Quintet.

Hey, inspiration may come from anywhere for a post. After reading that…I’ve been in a Doug Sahm mood. The recording blends country, soul, and Texas rhythm in a way that was natural for Sahm. The groove leans on a steady beat, light horns, and a melody that sticks without trying too hard. It came out during a period when he was working under his own name after years with Sir Douglas Quintet, and it showed how easily he could move between styles. The song had crossed over to country charts and pop audiences, which wasn’t common at the time.

You may remember the version by Charley Pride that peaked at #1 on the Country Charts in 1970. Sahm recorded this for his 1973 album Doug Sahm and Band. Something about Sahm’s version just sounds so authentic that I had to post his version. That is something about Sahm I’ve realized, everything he does sounds authentic. It was written by Glenn Martin and Dave Kirby. The first version was by Bake Turner in 1970. 

Doug Sahm and Band peaked at #125 on the Billboard Album Charts and #54 in Canada in 1973. This is another artist where the charts don’t tell the story. His albums are accessible and are full of good songs. 

Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone

Rain drippin’ off the brim of my hatIt sure is cold todayHere I am walkin’ down 66Wish she hadn’t done me that way

Sleepin’ under a table in a roadside parkA man could wake up deadBut it sure seems warmer than it didSleepin’ in our king-sized bed

Is anybody goin’ to San AntoneOr Phoenix, Arizona?Any place is alright as long as ICan forget I’ve ever known her

Wind whippin’ down the neck of my shirtLike I ain’t got nothin’ onBut I’d rather fight the wind and rainThan what I’ve been fightin’ at home

Yonder comes a truck with the U.S. MailPeople writin’ letters back homeTomorrow, she’ll probably want me backBut I’ll still be just as gone

Is anybody goin’ to San AntoneOr Phoenix, Arizona?Any place is alright as long as ICan forget I’ve ever known her

Taj Mahal – She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)

I’ve become a Taj Mahal fan in the past few years, as I was previously unfamiliar with him, except for his name. Also, with THAT title, I don’t care who it was by, I would have to listen to it. Sometimes I know the names of artists, but when I see the passion of other bloggers toward them, I want to check these artists out.  It’s not always what stats or facts the blogger writes or comments; it’s the enthusiasm you can tell they have for the performer. It makes you think…hmmm…I’m really missing something here!

His real name is Henry Saint Clair Fredericks Jr., and he was born in Harlem in 1942 and grew up in a musical home. His father was a jazz arranger, and his mother sang gospel, which gave him early exposure to American roots music. After moving to California in the early 1960s, he became part of the rising folk and blues scene, mixing country blues with elements of jazz, Caribbean music, and R&B.

His first major break came with his self-titled debut in 1968, followed closely by The Natch’l Blues. These records helped reintroduce older blues styles to a younger rock audience without changing their original feel. Instead of copying one tradition, Taj Mahal connected Delta blues, jug band music, rural folk, and modern sounds into a single sound that felt natural and current.

The song has since become a blues standard, and it earned that spot. I first heard it in The Blues Brothers movie. Mahal has said the song was built from older blues travel songs that talked about trains, leaving town, and getting left behind. Taj Mahal pulled those themes together and shaped them into something new, keeping the story simple and the rhythm moving.

This was on his second album, The Natch’l Blues, released in 1968. On lead guitar, we have Jesse Ed Davis, Gary Gilmore on Bass, Chuck Blackwell on drums, Earl Palmer on drums, and on piano, none other than Al Kooper. Kooper pops up everywhere in the history of blues, rock, and pop.

The band played mostly live in the room, locking into a steady groove before adding small fills. Guitar and piano stayed in short phrases, never stepping over the vocal.

Taj Mahal – She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)

She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
Well, my baby caught the Katy
She left me a mule to ride
The train pulled out and I swung on behind
I’m crazy ’bout her
That hard-headed woman of mine

Man, my baby long
Great, God, she mighty, she tall
You know my baby long
Great God, she mighty, my baby tall
Well, you know my baby, she long
My baby, she tall
She sleep with her head in the kitchen
And her big feet’s out in the hall
And I’m still crazy about her
That hard-headed woman of mine

I love my baby
She’s so fine
I wish she’d come to save me sometime
‘Cause she don’t believe I love her
Look what a hole I’m in
And she don’t believe I’m singin’
What look what a shape I’m in

She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride
Well, my baby caught the Katy
Left me a mule to ride
The train pulled out and I swung on behind
Well, I’m crazy ’bout her
That hard-headed woman
Hard-headed woman of mine

Rolling Stones – Moonlight Mile

When I hear this song, I think of deep winter, which fits perfectly right now. That is when I first heard it, during a cold January. Our drummer turned me on to this song and most of the Stones’ album cuts. I was the Beatles guy, and he was the Stones guy of our band, so our car trips were full of great music picked by either of us.

Keith Richards was not at the recording session for one reason or another. Richard likes the song, though. With Richards gone, Mick Taylor did all the guitar work on the recording, and it’s outstanding as usual for Taylor. Mick Taylor really defined much of their sound through this period. When he left, the sound they had stretched over their golden period of 5 albums was gone. Additionally, producer Jimmy Miller also left, and he had a huge role in the sound.

I’ve looked up what Moonlight Mile, the title, means, and I have found one source that says it means a nighttime cocaine session. I can totally buy that during that time. Others say it was just a song about profound loneliness, weariness, and longing for home while touring. This is one of the Stones’ most human and honest recordings. No blues rewrite, no stadium chorus anthems or big hit. Just fatigue, longing, and the sound of a band that knew when not to overdo it.

The song was on Sticky Fingers, and the album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Chart, #1 in the UK, and #1 in Canada in 1971. On an album packed with headlines, this quiet closer is the one I return to when I want to hear who they really were in that moment. Beggars Banquet is my favorite Stones album, but Sticky Fingers is probably their artistic best.

If you want to hear a different version…here is the Grateful Dead’s live version of it in 1976.

Mick Jagger: That’s a dream song. Those kinds of songs with kinds of dreamy sounds are fun to do, but not all the time – it’s nice to come back to reality.”

Mick Jagger: “I also came up with an Oriental-Indian riff on my acoustic guitar. At some point during the tour I played it for Mick Taylor, because I thought he would like it. At that point, I really hadn’t intended on recording the song. Sometimes you don’t want to record what you’re writing. You think, ‘This isn’t worth recording, this is just my doodling.’

“When we finished our European tour in October 1970, we were at Stargroves… We were sitting around one night and I started working on what I had initially written. I felt great. I was in my house again and it was very relaxing. So the song became about that – looking forward to returning from a foreign place while looking out the window of a train and the images of the railway line going by in the moonlight.”

Moonlight Mile

When the wind blows and the rain feels cold
With a head full of snow
With a head full of snow
In the window there’s a face you know
Don’t the nights pass slow
Don’t the nights pass slow

The sound of strangers sending nothing to my mind
Just another mad mad day on the road
I am just living to be lying by your side
But I’m just about a moonlight mile on down the road

Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes
Gonna warm my bones
Gonna warm my bones
I got silence on my radio
Let the air waves flow
Let the air waves flow

Oh I’m sleeping under strange strange skies
Just another mad mad day on the road
My dreams is fading down the railway line
I’m just about a moonlight mile down the road

I’m hiding sister and I’m dreaming
I’m riding down your moonlight mile
I’m hiding baby and I’m dreaming
I’m riding down your moonlight mile
I’m riding down you moonlight mile

Let it go now, come on up babe
Yeah, let it go now
Yeah, flow now baby
Yeah move on now yeah

Yeah, I’m coming home
‘Cause, I’m just about a moonlight mile on down the road
Down the road, down the road

Canned Heat – Rollin’ and Tumblin’

A few weeks ago, Lisa posted something on the Monterey Pop Festival with the Animals. After we got our power back on last week, I was browsing through Tubi, and there it was. It’s been so long since I saw the Monterey Pop Festival, I clicked play, and Canned Heat impressed the hell out of me with this song. Alan Wilson’s guitar and especially Bob Hite’s vocal. 

This is their take on an old Delta blues standard that goes back to Hambone Willie Newbern, Robert Johnson, and later Muddy Waters. Canned Heat didn’t try to modernize it too much. They kept the pulse steady, the guitar lines loose, and the vocal right up front, like it was happening in the room.

Bob “The Bear” Hite sings it rough but clear, leaning into the rhythm instead of forcing it. His voice is outstanding, and I know many who would kill to have it. Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson’s slide guitar moves in short phrases, answering the vocal like a second voice. The band holds everything in place with everything going in forward motion.

Canned Heat understood the song didn’t need fixing. They honored the blues structure and let feel do the work. It’s not about showing off licks, just getting the essence of the song right. Simple, direct, and built to roll all the way through. They are one of those underrated bands of the sixties, known for their 3 hits Going Up the Country (1968), On the Road Again (1968), and Let’s Work Together (1970). They are far better than that. A live album by them and John Hooker I can’t recommend enough called Hooker ‘n Heat. 

Rollin’ and Tumblin’

Well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled
I cried the whole night long
Oh well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled
I cried the whole night long
Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby
Something’s goin’ on wrong

Oh well, I really love you, baby
Come on and say you’ll be mine
Oh well, I really love you, baby
Come on and say you’ll be mine
Well, if you don’t like my taters
Don’t you dig up my vine

Oh well, I cried last night, mama
I cried the night before
Oh well, I cried last night, mama
I cried the night before
Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby
You don’t love me no more

Well, if the river was whiskey
I was a divin’ duck
Well, if the river was whiskey
I was a divin’ duck
Well, I would swim to the bottom
Baby, I wouldn’t come up

Oh well, I rolled ‘n’ tumbled
I cried the whole night long
Oh well, I rolled’ ‘n’ tumbled
I cried the whole night long
Oh well, I had the feelin’, baby
Something’s goin’ on wrong

Robert Cray – Smoking Gun

Robert Cray was a delight to hear in the 1980s. SRV, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, and a few others received significant radio play in that decade. It was great hearing the guitar-dominant songs.

The song was recorded for Strong Persuader, the album that changed Robert Cray’s career. The sessions focused on sound clarity and guitar, not excess. Producers Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker kept the arrangements tight, making sure the rhythm section stayed locked in.

The song’s success was helped by radio and MTV, which was unusual for a blues artist at the time. The video, simple and story-driven, fit the song’s mood and helped it cross formats. That exposure turned this song into a breakout hit and pushed Strong Persuader into success. This song helped him get to a wider audience, and he didn’t lose who he was.

His guitar tone is remarkably clean and controlled in this song. Sometimes, it’s not what you put into a song, but what you leave out. Silent spaces let songs breathe, and I think that is a big part of this. The song peaked at #22 on the Billboard 100 in 1986. The album peaked at #13 on the Billboard Album Charts, #34 in Canada, #5 in New Zealand, and #34 in the UK.

Smoking Gun

I get a constant busy signal
When I call you on the phone
I get a strong, uneasy feeling
You’re not sitting there alone

I’m having nasty, nasty visions
And baby you’re in every one, yeah
And I’m so afraid I’m gonna find you with
A so-called smoking gun

Maybe you wanna end it
You’ve had your fill with my kind of fun
But you don’t know how to tell me
And you know that I’m not that dumb

I put two and one together
And you know that’s not an even sum
And I know just where to catch you with
That well-known smoking gun

I’m standing here, bewildered
I can’t remember just what I’ve done
I can hear the sirens whining
My eyes blinded by the sun

I know that I should be running
My heart’s beating just like a drum
Now they’ve knocked me down and taken it
That still-hot smoking gun

Yeah, yeah, still-hot smoking gun
They’ve taken it, the still-hot smoking gun
Oh, they’ve taken it, still-hot smoking gun
They’ve knocked me down
And taken it
Oh

Third Mind – Reno, Nevada

Back a few years ago, I got into The Blasters. Since then, I’ve followed their guitar player, Dave Alvin,  into different bands and soloed all over the map. I never say this phrase much, but Dave Alvin is a true American treasure. I’ve heard the man play roots rockabilly, old country, punk, rock and roll, hard rock, and psychedelic/jazz type of music as The Third Mind. It’s nothing that this man can’t do on guitar. 

The Third Mind is a band co-founded by Dave Alvin and bassist Victor Krummenacher (of Camper Van Beethoven) with the idea of creating spontaneous, live-in-the-studio music without rehearsals. The concept is inspired by the free-form recording techniques of artists like Miles Davis, where musicians simply pick a key, start playing, and let the performance evolve organically.

They took this folk song by Richard Farina and gave it some bite with Alvin’s guitar. It’s a folk song stretched into something wider, keeping the original intact. I have also heard them cover Dark Star and Morning Dew (a song originally written and recorded by Canadian Folk singer Bonnie Dobson) by the Grateful Dead. Reno, Nevada, is on the 2025 album Right Now!. This song feels like a drive through the desert at night.

Dave Alvin: I had a crazy idea and was looking for musicians who perhaps didn’t think it was so insane. Many years ago I’d been reading John Szwed’s excellent biography of Miles Davis, “So What”, and was fascinated by his thorough descriptions of how Mr. Davis and his producer, Teo Macero, created some of his classic electric albums like Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson. Basically, Miles would gather great musicians in a studio, pick a key and a groove and then record everything live over several days. Then he and Mr. Macero would edit and shape these improvisations into compositions. Having never recorded like that, I had a fantasy to try it someday if the fates ever allowed.

One night after a gig in San Francisco, a decade or more later, I mentioned this fantasy to Victor Krummenacher. I’d known the always musically adventurous Mr. Krummenacher for a couple of decades (since he was a young buck bassist in Camper Van Beethoven) and hoped he would understand.

The Third Mind
Dave Alvin: Guitar, Vocals
David Immerglück: Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Michael Jerome: Drums, Percussion
Victor Krummenacher: Bass, Vocals
Featuring:
Jesse Sykes: Guitar, Vocals

Here is a full performance by The Third Mind

Reno, Nevada

It’s a long, long way down to Reno, Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the change in your pocket is beginning to grumble
And you reap just about what you’ve sown
You can walk down the street, pass your face in the window
You can keep on fooling around
You can work day and night, take a chance on promotion
You can fall through a hole in the ground

Now there ain’t no game like the game you been playing
When you got a little something to lose
And there ain’t no time like the time you been wasting
And you waste just about what you choose
There’s a man at the table and you know he’s been able
To return all the odds that you lay
But you can’t feed your hunger and you ain’t getting younger
And your tongue ain’t got nothing to say

It’s a long, long way down to Reno, Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the ground underneath you is beginning to tremble
And the sky up above you has grown
There’s a time to be moving and a time to be grooving
And a time just for climbing the wall
But the odds have been doubled, and it ain’t worth the trouble
And you’re never going nowhere at all

Tom Petty – Out In The Cold

I saw them on this tour (Into The Great Wide Open), and it would be the only time I got to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He came to Nashville on that last tour, and I stupidly didn’t go. I bought this album the day it was released. It will always be one of my favorite Petty albums.

Petty had released his solo album Full Moon Fever in 1989, and it was huge, with 5 singles pulled from it. This album was a reunion with the Heartbreakers, and 7 singles were pulled from this album, including this one. The making of Into the Great Wide Open emerged from a creative stretch where Tom Petty felt clear again after the fights with record labels that had plagued him earlier in his career. Coming off Full Moon Fever, he wasn’t trying to recreate that sound. He wanted to make a real band record, one that sounded lived-in, and he succeeded with this one.

A huge part of the album’s sound came from working again with Jeff Lynne, who helped keep everything tight without making it stiff. Lynne pushed for clean arrangements and strong melodies, but Petty made sure the songs still breathed and felt organic. Many tracks started as simple demos, acoustic guitar and voice, then slowly grew as the band locked into the groove. First takes often mattered more than perfection.

This song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts in 1991. The album peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200, #4 in Canada, #12 in New Zealand, and # #3 in the UK. This song was written by Petty and Jeff Lynne.

 

Out in the Cold

The day fell down, the air got coldI walked out in the streetDaydreamed for a mile or twoStaring at my feet

Like a workin’ boy, out of luckFallin’ through the cracksNight rolled in, I turned back homeA hard wind at my back

I’m out in the cold (Out in the cold)Body and soul (Out in the cold)There’s nowhere to go (Out in the cold)I’m out in the cold (Out in the cold)

Well I woke up, my brain was stunnedI could not come aroundI reached out to grab my keysTumbled to the ground

I thought of you, starry eyedI wonder where we standDid I just fall from your armsDown into your hands?

I’m out in the cold (Out in the cold)Body and soul (Out in the cold)There’s nowhere to go (Out in the cold)I’m out in the cold (Out in the cold)

I’m outStandin’ in a doorway

I’m outWalkin’ aroundHands in my pocketsI’m out in the cold (Out in the cold)Body and soul (Out in the cold)There’s nowhere to go (Out in the cold)I’m out in the cold (Out in the cold)

Jake Bugg

Dave’s theme for TurnTable Talk was “That’s New!” I hope you can dig back into your memories and recall one artist you heard that was unknown to you but made you instantly react with a “Wow! That’s good!” . It might be someone you discovered as a kid, could be someone you just found out about this month, could be a first release or could be some old, established artist you didn’t know about… just something that was new and exciting to you.  You might also add if you continued to enjoy the artist in later years…

I knew nothing about Jake Bugg back in 2012. He popped up on YouTube as something I might like. Well, that did the trick. Jake Bugg caught my attention in 2012 when the song Two Fingers was released. It has an older feel to it. It did not chart in America, but it did peak at #28 on the UK charts. I like the echo in his voice, and the chorus will stick with you.

The next song I heard by him was Lighting Bolt. The song peaked at #26 in the US Adult Alternative Songs Billboard and #15 in the UK in 2013.  The song was on his self-titled debut album. Jake is an artist who could have debuted in the 60s and ’70s and fit in perfectly.

Jake Bugg’s debut album debuted at #1 on the UK charts. He was only 19 years old when he became the youngest British male ever to have an album enter the charts at the top position. The song was about his home life growing up. He said it wasn’t exactly like the video, but not far off.

I don’t attend many concerts anymore, but in December 2018, my son and I saw him at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville, with Kelsey Waters opening up. There was an even mixture of young and old to see the 23-year-old play. He has listed influences as diverse as  Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, and Nick Drake. He played with mostly just an acoustic and knocked the place out.

I have followed him ever since. He is always changing, but always brings up something good to the table. In the era of boy bands, this talented artist came up and made a noise. This wasn’t One Direction, who were popular at the time; this was rootsy music, not choreographed for a video.  Bugg was his own man.

From the first time I heard Two Fingers…I knew I found a newer artist that I truly liked.

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