Johnny always needs more than he takes
Forgets a couple of chords, forgets a couple of breaks
And everybody tells me that Johnny is hot
Johnny needs something, what he ain’t got
Almost anything off of a Replacements album is going to be an album cut. This one is off of their debut album Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. The album was released on the small Minneapolis, Minnesota label Twin Tone in 1981.
I listened to them in the mid 80s but lost touch until recently. I’m going through all of their albums so I will be post some from every album coming up. I never knew their first album too much but I like it a lot. It’s punkish, rock, raw, with some great lyrics by Paul Westerberg. On this one Bob Stinson’s guitar playing feels like it may break down at anytime but stays on course and I love what he plays.
This song is about punk guitarist Johnny Thunders (John Anthony Genzale) who was a founding member of the New York Dolls. He also played with the punk band The Heartbreakers. He was in Minneapolis in 1980 with his band Gang War playing in a bar. The Replacements desperately wanted to open, but were beat out for the gig by Hüsker Dü.
He was physically struggling through the show, while battling an audience hurling objects, Thunders had been rendered a prisoner of his own addictions and cult infamy. Westerberg was in the audience and wrote this song about him.
You don’t see this happen everyday…I mean writing about “Johnny’s Gonna Die” when the guy is alive. Thunders did live a little longer…he died in 1991.
Paul Westerberg on watching Johnny Thunders: “He was frightening and beautiful and mean at the same time,” he said. “Like a child.”
“When Johnny was playing, it looked like he was walking dead, It was pitiful, like watching a guy in a cage.”
Johnny’s Gonna Die
Johnny always takes more than he needs Knows a couple chords, knows a couple leads Johnny always needs more than he takes Forgets a couple of chords, forgets a couple of breaks And everybody tells me Johnny is hot Johnny needs something that he ain’t got
And Johnny’s gonna die Johnny’s gonna die Johnny’s gonna die
Everybody stares and everybody hoots Johnny always needs more than he shoots Standing by a beach and there ain’t no lake He’s got friends without no guts, friends that never ache In New York City, I guess it’s cool when it’s dark There’s one sure way Johnny you can leave your mark
And Johnny’s gonna die Johnny’s gonna die Johnny’s gonna die
A few days ago this song has come up in conversation with a friend of mine. We talked about it and then my friend Dave from A Sound Day posted about it a few days later.
I love the power of the song and I’ve learned it on guitar but as a southern person… I think Neil generalized too much. Even Neil thinks that now. His quote on the song now is “I don’t like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue.” Are there people like that in the world? Certainly but they are not all located in the south.
Lynyrd Skynyrd replied to this song with their biggest hit Sweet Home Alabama. Neil was quite happy with “Sweet Home Alabama.” He said, “They play like they mean it, I’m proud to have my name in a song like theirs.”
Young is mentioned in the line “I hope Neil Young will remember, a Southern man don’t need him around anyhow.” Lynyrd Skynyrd were big fans of Young. “Sweet Home Alabama” was meant as a good-natured answer to this, explaining the good things about Alabama. Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt often wore Neil Young T-shirts while performing and he was thinking of covering a Young song called Powderfinger before his death in the crash.
The song was on “After the Gold Rush” released in 1970.
Neil Young: “Oh, they didn’t really put me down! But then again, maybe they did! (laughs) But not in a way that matters. S–t, I think ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ is a great song. I’ve actually performed it live a couple of times myself.”
From Songfacts
In the liner notes for his greatest hits album Decade, Young wrote: “This song could have been written on a civil rights march after stopping off to watch Gone With The Wind at a local theater.”
Young was backed by his band Crazy Horse on this track:
Danny Whitten – guitar Jack Nitzsche – piano Nils Lofgren – guitar Billy Talbot – bass Ralph Molina – drums
Nils Lofgren, a guitarist by trade, played piano on this song, an instrument he never played before After The Gold Rush. Young tasked Lofgren with playing piano as a “special trial,” according to Jimmy McDonough’s Shakey.
In trying to get the piano down, Lofgren tapped into his background with accordion. “I used to be an accordion player, and accordion’s all ‘oompah oompah,'” he said. “So I started doin’ the accordion thing on piano.”
To Lofgren’s surprise, Young loved it.
“That’s the sound I was looking for,” Young said. “I didn’t want to hear a bunch of f–kin’ licks. I don’t like musicians playing licks.”
Director Jonathan Demme first cut the opening sequence of his movie Philadelphia to this song in an effort to get Young to write a song like it for the film. Young gave him “Philadelphia,” which he used over the end. Bruce Springsteen’s contribution, “Streets Of Philadelphia,” was used over the open.
Young was married to his first wife, Susan Acevedo, when he wrote this song in his Topanga Canyon studio. They were not getting along, and Young’s foul mood translated into this track, which he described as “an angry song.”
Randy Newman felt that “Southern Man” was one of Young’s least interesting songs. “‘Southern Man,’ ‘Alabama’ are a little misguided,” he said. “It’s too easy a target. I don’t think he knows enough about it.”
During a filmed performance of this song at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, Crazy Horse’s Billy Talbot and Frank “Poncho” Sampredro dropped acid. “I can vividly remember ‘Southern Man,'” Sampredro’s said in Shakey. “It was wildly out of control – fast, slow, up, down, everywhere. At the end we were singing, I had my eyes closed and I hear this little tiny voice and I turn around and it was just me. Everybody else had quit even playing.”
Southern Man
Southern man, better keep your head. Don’t forget what your good book said. Southern change gonna come at last. Now your crosses are burning fast.
Southern man.
I saw cotton and I saw black. Tall white mansions and little shacks. Southern man, when will you pay them back?
I heard screamin’ and bullwhips cracking. How long? How long?
Southern man, better keep your head. Don’t forget what your good book said. Southern change gonna come at last. Now your crosses are burning fast.
Southern man.
Lily Belle, your hair is golden brown. I’ve seen your black man comin’ round. Swear by God, I’m gonna cut him down!
I heard screamin’ and bullwhips cracking. How long? How long?
I’m asked quite a bit…Max what is your favorite Beatle song? It’s hard to tell you because it changes from day to day. I would have to say A Day In The Life if I had to give one answer… but on certain days…this one would be it. Lennon to me was one of the best all time rock singers. He could do rock and pop/rock with ease. He never liked his voice and always wanted the producer George Martin to cover it up with echo or some effect.
The story behind this one is known to Beatle fans. They were in India with the Maharishi and were asked to meditate all day. Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence was there. Prudence was taking this very seriously and would not come out of her quarters and John wrote this song to cheer her up.
American flautist Paul Horn, who was also with them in Rishikesh said that Prudence was a highly sensitive person, and by jumping straight into deep meditation, against the Maharishi’s advice, she had allowed herself to fall into a catatonic state.
Horn stated, “She was ashen-white and didn’t recognize anybody. She didn’t even recognize her own brother who was on the course with her. The only person she showed any slight recognition towards was Maharishi. We were all concerned about her and Maharishi assigned her a full-time nurse.”
The song was on their massive double album album “The Beatles” or better known as the White Album released in 1968. On this album you get a little bit of everything. 20’s style music, pop, folk, Avant Garde, rock, to hard rock.
Donovan was also there and taught John and Paul and guitar picking style called “clawhammer.” The clawhammer style, is played with the strumming hand formed into a claw, using the backs of the fingernails to strum down on the strings.
The song was not released as a single but remains a favorite album track.
Donovan: “He was so fascinated by fingerstyle guitar that he immediately started to write in a different color and was very inspired” “That’s what happens when you learn a new style.”
Prudence Farrow:“They were trying to be cheerful, but I wished they’d go away. I don’t think they realized what the training was all about.”
From Songfacts
While Mia Farrow inspired such men as Andre Previn, Frank Sinatra and Woody Allen, her sister Prudence left her mark on John Lennon. According to Nancy de Herrera’s book, All You Need Is Love, Prudence met The Beatles on a spiritual retreat with their guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in India, which she attended with Mia. When Prudence, suffering depression, confined herself to her room, Lennon wrote this song hoping to cheer her up. It did.
Prudence Farrow wanted to “Teach God quicker than anyone else,” according to John Lennon. She would lock herself in her room trying to meditate for hours and hours. From A Hard Day’s Write, by Steve Turner: “At the end of the demo version of Dear Prudence John continues playing guitar and says: ‘No one was to know that sooner or later she was to go completely berserk, under the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. All the people around were very worried about the girl because she was going insane. So, we sang to her.'”
Ringo had left the group as the White Album sessions got very tense, so Paul McCartney played drums. When Ringo came back a short time later, there were flowers on his drum kit welcoming him back.
According to the singer-songwriter Donovan, who was on the retreat in India with The Beatles, he taught John Lennon a “clawhammer” guitar technique that he used on this track.
John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics were auctioned off for $19,500 in 1987.
Lennon considered this one of his favorites.
Siouxsie And The Banshees covered this in 1983. Their version went to #3 in the UK and became their biggest hit.
“Dear Prudence” was the second Beatles song that the Banshees had covered from their White Album. Previously, they’d recorded a version of “Helter Skelter” for their 1978 LP The Scream.
“Helter Skelter was very much part of our live show before we recorded it,” mused Siouxsie Sioux to TeamRock. “The great thing was that the two Beatles songs we chose – ‘Helter Skelter’ and ‘Dear Prudence’ – were not originally singles by The Beatles, so it wasn’t necessarily a surefire: ‘Oh, they’re doing a Beatles song.’ And it was also a bit irreverent as well, I suppose. A good test of doing a cover version is when people think that you’ve written it. Quite a lot of people thought Dear Prudence was an original.”
This song was in the movie Across the Universe, which was based on The Beatles music. In the movie, Prudence (played by T.V. Carpio) locked herself in a closet after discovering that Sadie and JoJo were together when she thought she loved Sadie. Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), Jude (Jim Sturges), Sadie (Dana Fuges) and Max (Joe Anderson) sing this to make her feel better. It gets her out of the closet and they end the song at a anti-Vietnam War rally.
Siouxsie and the Banshees’ take on the song added to The Beatles’ simple original arrangement. “It was kind of an undeveloped song on the White Album,” Siouxsie said. “and so there was a lot of scope to put in your own stuff, really. What did I want to bring? Oh, some psychedelic transformation there [laughing].”
“No, I think that actual track’s fairly restrained, simple and understated on the White Album,” she added. “I was listening to singles like Itchycoo Park by the Small Faces, so I think it was wanting to capture the 60s, and all that kind of phasing. Also, it was where we were at the time.”
Dear Prudence
Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play? Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day The sun is up, the sky is blue It’s beautiful and so are you Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?
Dear Prudence, open up your eyes Dear Prudence, see the sunny skies The wind is low, the birds will sing That you are part of everything Dear Prudence, won’t you open up your eyes?
Dear Prudence, let me see you smile Dear Prudence, like a little child The clouds will be a daisy chain So let me see you smile again Dear Prudence, won’t you let me see you smile?
Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day The sun is up, the sky is blue It’s beautiful and so are you Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?
For me…this was one of those landmark songs that started a change in music. I liked it because it was a guitar players dream and it was raw without much of the 80’s production. I never was a big fan of them but I did like the throw back to the more rawer rock.
The song peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100 and #24 in the UK in 1988. When this was released as a single in 1987, it charted in the UK but flopped in America. It finally became a hit in the US when they re-released it in 1988 after “Sweet Child O’ Mine” hit #1.
The album Appetite for Destruction was huge. It peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #3 in Canada, and #5 in the UK.
The video was shot at Park Plaza and 450 South La Brea in Hollywood. The band’s first video, it was very successful, winning at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards for Best New Artist Video. Guns N’ Roses performed the song on the show.
Slash:“I was at my house and I had that riff happening and Axl came over and he got those lyrics together, and then the band sort of arranged it. We got an arrangement for the whole band, ’cause that’s how we work. Someone comes in with an idea and someone else has input and in that way everyone’s happy. That came together really quickly too, that was arranged in one day.”
From Songfacts
This song is about Los Angeles. It exposes the dark side of the city many people encounter when they go there to pursue fame. Guns N’ Roses knew this side of the city well: in 1985, they lived in a place on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles that they called “Hell House.” The house was often filled with drugs, alcohol and groupies.
Axl Rose wrote the lyrics when he was in Seattle, which gave him some perspective on the size of Los Angeles.
In 2007 Rolling Stone magazine ran a feature on the 20th anniversary of Appetite For Destruction. They explained that a famous lyrics from this song originated when Axl Rose spent a night in a Queens schoolyard before joining the band. Said Rose: “This black guy said, ‘You’re in the jungle! You gonna die.'”
On 93.1 WIBC FM, a radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana, Jake Query, a friend of Axle Rose, gave a different account, saying: “When Axl Rose hitchhiked to Los Angeles, California, on the last leg, a truck driver drove him to Los Angeles, and when Rose got out of the truck, the truck driver said, ‘Welcome to the Jungle.” >>
This was used in the 1988 Clint Eastwood movie The Dead Pool, where the band makes a cameo. It also plays in the opening sequence of the 1989 film Lean On Me, about an inner-city high school reformed by principal Joe Clark. Other movies to use the song include:
The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017) How to Be Single (2016) The Interview (2014) Megamind (2010) Selena (1997) The Program (1993)
This was the second UK single and third US single from Appetite For Destruction. The first single, “It’s So Easy,” was a flop.
Numerous college and pro sports teams use this to intimidate their opponents at home games. The Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL were probably the first. The Norwegian Soccer team Lillestrom SK uses this song before every home game.
This was the first track on Appetite For Destruction, which caused controversy because of its cover, a drawing of a robot apparently raping a woman.
The album was a raging success, selling 18 million copies in America by 2008, making it the best-selling debut album in history until 2018, when the RIAA certified Cracked Rear View by Hootie & the Blowfish at 21 million.
Slash re-recorded his guitar parts as he was dissatisfied with his first attempts. To produce the vicious yet pure tone, the Guns N’ Roses gunslinger used a Les Paul ’59 replica plugged into a Marshall JCM, aided most likely by some Jack Daniel’s.
This was used in the 2017 movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and the next installment, Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). The films are set in a virtual jungle.
When Axl says “my serpentine,” he’s describing his famous dance, which he copied from Richard Black, lead singer of the band Shark Island.
Slash left the band in 1996, leaving Axl Rose firmly in control. Rose kept the band going with new members and in 2001 got in yet another dispute with Slash when producers of Black Hawk Down wanted to use “Welcome To The Jungle” in the movie. According to Slash, Axl refused unless he could re-record it with the current members of Guns N’ Roses, meaning Slash and the rest of the Appetite For Destruction lineup would have lost out on royalties.
The song never made it into the film, which tells the story of an ill-fated US raid on Mogadishu in 1993. It was going to be used in a scene where Army Rangers are preparing for the raid – in real life, they really did blast the song before heading out. The Faith No More song “Falling To Pieces” was used in its place.
Guns N’ Roses made a surprise appearance at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards where they performed this song. At the time Axl Rose was the only original member in the band, but there was great anticipation for their album Chinese Democracy, which was expected soon. The album finally appeared in 2008.
This song is used in the soundtrack to the Playstation 2 game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Axl lends his voice to one of the radio stations.
In 2007, three teens at Booth Free School in Roxbury, Connecticut (one of them a janitor), were messing around with the public address system when one of them sang some lyrics to this song, including “You’re in the jungle baby; you’re gonna die.” This freaked out one teacher, who thought it was a threat, barricaded herself in a classroom and called the police, who came in and detained the three teens until they could clear up the misunderstanding.
A line from this song became a bit of a catch phrase for Axl Rose, who began screaming at crowds when performing it at shows, “Do you know where the f–k you are!?” Axl said it in 2006 when he introduced The Killers at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Guns N’ Roses opened for Aerosmith in the summer of 1988, culminating in a show on September 15 at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California. At this final show, Aerosmith’s road crew had some fun by dressing up in gorilla costumes and messing around on stage when G N’ R performed this song. It was all in good fun, as the bands got along great, with Axl expressing his admiration for Aerosmith at every show. When Aerosmith took the stage that night, they had Guns N’ Roses join them for an extended jam of “Mama Kin,” a song Guns often covered.
By the end of the tour, Guns N’ Roses was the hotter band – “Sweet Child O’ Mine” hit #1 the week the tour ended.
Slash’s gear for the entire Appetite For Destruction album was a Kris Derrig-built 1959 Les Paul replica guitar, and a rented S.I.R. (known to S.I.R. as Stock #36) Marshall 1959 Superlead Metal Panel modded by Frank Levi and Glenn Buckley (based on Tim Caswell’s modification to Stock #39).
This soundtracked a 2016 Super Bowl commercial for the Taco Bell Quesalupa featuring basketball player James Harden, soccer star Neymar, actor George Takei and “Texas Law Hawk” Bryan Wilson. In the spot, we learn that the cheesy treat will be bigger than Tinder, drones, and possibly even football.
Welcome To The Jungle
Welcome to the jungle We’ve got fun ‘n’ games We got everything you want Honey, we know the names We are the people that can find Whatever you may need If you got the money, honey We got your disease
In the jungle Welcome to the jungle Watch it bring you to your Knees, knees I wanna watch you bleed
Welcome to the jungle We take it day by day If you want it you’re gonna bleed But it’s the price you pay And you’re a very sexy girl That’s very hard to please You can taste the bright lights But you won’t get them for free
In the jungle Welcome to the jungle Feel my, my, my, my serpentine I, I wanna hear you scream
Welcome to the jungle It gets worse here everyday You learn to live like an animal In the jungle where we play If you got a hunger for what you see You’ll take it eventually You can have anything you want But you better not take it from me
In the jungle Welcome to the jungle Watch it bring you to your Knees, knees I’m gonna watch you bleed
And when you’re high you never ever wanna come down, so down, so down, so down, yeah!
You know where you are? You’re in the jungle, baby You’re gonna die
In the jungle Welcome to the jungle Watch it bring you to your Knees, knees
In the jungle Welcome to the jungle Feel my, my, my, my serpentine
In the jungle Welcome to the jungle Watch it bring you to your Knees, knees
In the jungle Welcome to the jungle Watch it bring you to your…
This song was off the album Straight Up which is in my top 5 of power pop albums.
George Harrison helped produce and mix this album and was impressed by this song. It was earmarked to be the first single off the album. That got cancelled. Not that the song couldn’t be a single because it is that good. Day After Day and Baby Blue were the first two singles and I can’t fault George for that.
There were many possible singles from this album. Suitcase, Sweet Tuesday Morning, Take It All and I’d Die Babe are songs that could have been considered.
If you are new to Badfinger and would like to start with an album that is not a greatest hits package…Straight Up is the album to purchase.
Name of the Game
I saw the railway master and I looked him in the eye I said, “Would you go much faster if you thought that you would die?” He said, “Not me sir, I could not care, in fact, I would not try. For protest would not take me far. It’s different, me not being a star.” I lock my feelings in a jar until another day
Oh, comfort me, dear brother, won’t you tell me what you know? For somewhere in this painful world is a place where I can go Oh, long awaiting mother, is it time to make a show? And take your babies to your breast No, we never passed the test And all our sins should be confessed before we carry on
[CHORUS:] Oh, don’t refuse me If you choose me, you’ll follow my shame No, don’t confuse me For I know it’s the name of the game
I got up off my pillow and I looked up at the sun I said, “You can see quite clearly, now, the things that we have done We burned your sacred willow and our battles we have won. But did we get so very far? It’s different, me not being a star.” I lock my feelings in a jar until we go away
I have played this song in a club with a 4 piece band and it actually very well received. You don’t have to have the full orchestra for it to sound good…it’s that good of song. Our bass player actually recited the poem to applause. Even after peeling off the layers of music, the song stood.
Justin Hayward wrote this song after he joined the band after Denny Laine had left. It is said that he got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets, and wrote it in his bed-sit at Bayswater.
The poem at the end was recorded separately. It is called Late Lament and was written by their drummer, Graeme Edge. The poem was read by keyboard player Mike Pinder. Edge wrote another poem that appeared early on the album called Morning Glory.
This song ushered in a new sound for this band who were formally more of a blues band. “Nights in White Satin” was originally released in 1967, charting at #19 in the UK, but topping out at #103 in America, where six-minute songs were a tough sell. In 1972, after songs like “Hey Jude ” and “Layla” paved the way for long, dramatic tunes (and The Moody Blues became more popular), the song was re-released in the US and became a hit, peaking at #2 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada.
Justin Hayward: “I wrote our most famous song, ‘Nights in White Satin’ when I was 19. It was a series of random thoughts and was quite autobiographical. It was a very emotional time as I was at the end of one big love affair and the start of another. A lot of that came out in the song.”
From Songfacts
The Moody Blues recorded the album with The London Festival Orchestra, which never actually existed – it was the name given to the musicians put together to make the Days of Future Passed album. The orchestral parts were performed separately and edited between and around the Moody Blues parts, so the orchestra did not actually accompany the group. The original idea was for the group and orchestra to record a rock version of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony,” which their record company would use to demonstrate enhanced stereo sound technology.
Before joining The Moody Blues, a teenaged Justin Hayward signed a deal with Lonnie Donegan’s publishing company, which ended up giving Donegan the lion’s share of the royalties for this and other songs Hayward wrote at the time. Donegan was star in the ’50s, famous for his skiffle sound that influenced The Beatles and The Who. In the ’60s, he became more involved in the business side of the industry and formed his publishing company Tyler Music.
Days of Future Passed is a concept album based around different times of day. For example, “Dawn Is A Feeling” and “Tuesday Afternoon.” This song was last on the album because it represents nighttime.
Justin Hayward was inspired by Moody Blues keyboard player Mike Pinder’s composition “Dawn Is A Feeling.” Since Pinder had done “The Morning” for the concept album, Hayward tried to do “The Night.”
Fans have come up with many interpretations of this song, which is just fine with Justin Hayward, who fells that the receiver gives life to the transmission. “It’s the listeners who bring the magic and the interpretations to these songs,” he said in his 2016 Songfacts interview.
This song introduced a new sound for the band. When they formed, they were more of a blues band, and had a hit in 1965 with a cover of Bessie Banks’ “Go Now.” With the songs on Days of Future Passed, they distinguished themselves with original songs in a more psychedelic/orchestral sound.
In the UK, the song made two more chart appearances, going to #9 in 1972 and #14 in 1979.
The Dickies 1979 Punk version reached #39; the Moody Blues used to use The Dickies version sometimes when doing a sound check.
The week of December 2, 1972, this song plunged from #17 to completely out of the Hot 100, setting a record for the biggest drop out of that chart in a single week. Drastic chart disappearances became more common in the ’10s, and the Glee Cast version of “Toxic” made the fall from the #16 spot in 2010.
Talking about the experiences that inspired the lyrics to this song, Justin Hayward said: “About an audience in Glastonbury, a flat in Bayswater and the ecstasy of an hour of love.”
Among the many artists to record this song are Procol Harum, Eric Burdon, Percy Faith, Nancy Sinatra and Il Divo. When we spoke with Justin Hayward in 2013, he told us that the best cover he heard of this song was by the soul singer Bettye LaVette. “She covered ‘Nights,’ and somebody sent it to me as an MP3, a link,” he explained. “I was sitting in bed with my laptop waking up to my emails, and I clicked on this link and I burst into tears. My wife came in and she said, ‘What the hell’s the matter with you?’ And I said, ‘You’ve got to listen to this.’ She didn’t cry. But I heard the lyric for the first time. There have been hundreds, maybe thousands of covers of ‘Nights in White Satin,’ but that was the first time I heard it for real.”
The Moody Blues enjoyed a long and illustrious career that took them well into the 2010’s, and included thousands of performances, most of which featured this song. How does Justin Hayward handle the repetition? “I never lose the emotion of songs like that,” he told us. “I’m lucky enough not to have lost the emotion or the motivation, because it’s a wonderful thing to be able to share. And the audience provides the emotion around that. Because you do it in sound check and it’s fine, but when there’s an audience there, it completely transforms the experience.”
Nights In White Satin
Nights in white satin Never reaching the end Letters I’ve written Never meaning to send
Beauty I’d always missed With these eyes before Just what the truth is I can’t say any more
‘Cause I love you Yes I love you Oh how I love you
Gazing at people, some hand in hand Just what I’m going through they can’t understand Some try to tell me, thoughts they cannot defend Just what you want to be, you will be in the end
And I love you Yes I love you Oh how I love you Oh how I love you
Nights in white satin Never reaching the end Letters I’ve written Never meaning to send
Beauty I’ve always missed With these eyes before Just what the truth is I can’t say any more
‘Cause I love you Yes I love you Oh how I love you Oh how I love you ‘Cause I love you Yes I love you Oh how I love you Oh how I love you
Back in 1981 I bought the album that this song is the title track to. I had their greatest hits of mostly their sixties hits and this album was the first new Kinks album I ever bought.
The song is a pure rock song with a huge punk edge. I read where a critic wrote that The Kinks were a great punk band who could actually play their instruments and with this song you see that.
This song is my favorite song off the album. While writing Low Budget, their previous album, Ray was watching American TV including “That’s Incredible” where people did dangerous and insane stunts. He writes a fair statement about the viewing public…now and then. Parts of it are crude but is true to life. When Oswald shot Kennedy, he was insane, But still we watch the re-runs again and again, We all sit glued while the killer takes aim…
The song tells the truth…violence sells.
Ray Davies:“What happens is the consumer is being used to entertain, to get high ratings, to sell products to consumers. It was going around in a circle. That’s a real con. And good shows were being dropped from TV. I’ve just written an outline, and I hope we’re going to get some money from RCA to do a videodisc because it’s a media-based album.”
From Songfacts
The title track to The Kinks 1981 album, “Give The People What They Want” was written by their frontman Ray Davies in response to what he saw on American TV when he was writing songs for their previous album, Low Budget. He noticed that TV was getting more and more sensational, and that viewers were fascinated with violence and tragedy – similar to how Romans watched Christians get fed to the lions.
One show Davies watched was That’s Incredible, where regular people performed dangerous stunts.
Ray Davies said that he took out the following verse:
The French Revolution was a crazy scene
All those aristocrats getting guillotined
The promoters cleaned up
The expenses were low
An execution costs nothing
It’s a wonderful show
Taken at face value with just the title for reference, this song can appear to be about The Kinks making an effort to please their audience by delivering a hit. That interpretation is way off, however, as the song is much more a social commentary on those who pander to the masses.
The Kinks went for a monster drum sound on this one in an effort to make it arena-friendly. To get his sound, they placed corrugated iron around the walls of Konk Studios in London, where they recorded the album.
Give The People What They Want
Hey, hey, hey Give the people what they want
Well, it’s been said before, the world is a stage A different performance with every age Open the history book to any old page Bring on the lions and open the cage
Give the people what they want You gotta give the people what they want The more they get, the more they need And every time they get harder and harder to please
The Roman promoters really did things right They needed a show that would clearly excite The attendance was sparse so they put on a fight Threw the Christians to the lions, it sold out every night
Give the people what they want You gotta give the people what they want The more they get, the more they need And every time they get harder and harder to please
Give ’em lots of sex, perversion and rape Give ’em lots of violence, and plenty to hate Give the people what they want Give the people what they want
When Oswald shot Kennedy, he was insane But still we watch the re-runs again and again We all sit glued while the killer takes aim “Hey Mom, there goes a piece of the president’s brain!”
Give the people what they want You gotta give the people what they want Blow out your brains, and do it right Make sure it’s prime time and on a Saturday night You gotta give the people what they want You gotta give the people what they want Give the people what they want Give the people what they want Give the people what they want
I first heard this song by the Linda Ronstadt version. She did a great job and this was one of the first songs the Beatles covered.
The movie “The Searchers” starring John Wayne inspired this song. This song peaked at #1 in the US Hot 100, #2 in the US R&B, and #1 the UK in 1957.
Holly and bandmate Allison wrote the song. Norman Petty took a writing credit on this because he produced it. This meant Holly and Allison had to share royalties with him.
Buddy Holly and his band The Three Tunes recorded this in Nashville in 1956, but Decca records didn’t like the result and refused to release it. A year later, Holly re-recorded it with The Crickets in a studio in Clovis, New Mexico owned by his new producer, Norman Petty.
Backup vocalists were brought in and the key was lowered to fit Holly’s voice a little better. This version became a huge hit and made Holly a star that summer in 1957.
From Songfacts
Holly had been kicking around his home town in Lubbock, Texas trying to write a hit song for his small rockabilly band since he had attended an Elvis Presley gig at his High School some time in 1955. His band in those days consisted of him on lead vocals and guitar, Jerry Allison on the drums and Joe B. Maudlin on upright bass. He and Jerry decided to get together and go see The Searchers, a Western movie staring John Wayne. In the movie, Wayne keeps replying, “That’ll be the day,” every time another character in the film predicts or proclaims something will happen when he felt it was not likely to happen. The phrase stuck in Jerry’s mind, and when they were hanging out at Jerry’s house one night, Buddy looked at Jerry and said that it sure would be nice if they could record a hit song. Jerry replied with, “That’ll be the day,” imitating John Wayne in the film.
This was Holly’s first hit, but it was credited to The Crickets, Holly’s band. They worked with two record labels, with one releasing Holly’s songs as The Crickets and the other as Buddy Holly. Both labels were subsidiaries of Decca Records.
This inspired the British 1973 movie of the same name, about a young man with dreams of becoming a rock star.
This was the first song John Lennon learned to play on guitar. American rock stars like Holly and Little Richard were a big influence on The Beatles.
The movie that inspired Holly and Allison to write this also provided the name for the British group The Searchers in 1964.
When this became a hit, Decca records released Holly’s earlier version as well.
“That’ll Be The Day” was the first song John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison recorded together. In 1958, when they were still known as the Quarrymen, they pooled their money, recorded the song at a local studio, and pressed one copy on a 78rpm disc, which they shared. The disc ended up in the possession of Duff Lowe, the piano player in group. In the early ’80s, he sold it to McCartney; it was first heard in a 1985 documentary on Buddy Holly, and was released in 1995 on the Anthology 1 collection.
Linda Ronstadt released her version as the lead single from her 1976 album Hasten Down the Wind. This came at the suggestion of her producer, Peter Asher, who recorded the song completely live, just as Holly’s version was done in the days before multitracking. The song went to #11 in the US and marked a shift for Ronstadt away from country rock.
On this version, listen for the guitar solo – Waddy Wachtel played the first four bars, then Andrew Gold took over for the last four. Wachtel’s performance helped raise his profile in the Los Angeles music scene, where he soon became one of the top session players.
In the US, a version by the Everly Brothers reached #111 in 1965; Pure Prairie League took it to #106 in 1976.
That’ll Be The Day
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, you give me all your loving and your turtle doving All your hugs and kisses and your money too Well, you know you love me baby, until you tell me, maybe That some day, well I’ll be through
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, when Cupid shot his dart he shot it at your heart So if we ever part and I leave you You sit and hold me and you tell me boldly That some day, well I’ll be blue
Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die
Well, that’ll be the day, woo ho That’ll be the day, woo ho That’ll be the day, woo ho That’ll be the day
One of the most recognizable riffs in rock and roll. This one was also one of their most popular songs. It wasn’t ever one of my favorites by them but I did like it.
It was a rare thing for Zeppelin to release a single…but this was released as one except in the UK. This song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada in 1970.
The lyrics are based on a 1962 Muddy Waters song written by Willie Dixon called “You Need Love.” Led Zeppelin reached an agreement with Dixon, who used the settlement money to set up a program providing instruments for schools. All the members of Led Zeppelin get a writing credit along with Willie Dixon now.
Robert Plant has said that Steve Marriott was an influence and you can hear it really strong in the Small Faces rendition (I have it at the bottom) of You Need Love from 1966…and good 3 years before this was recorded. Marriott was one of the best singers of that or any era.
Jimmy Page played a theremin, a bizarre electronic instrument he liked to experiment with consisting of a black box and antennae, famously heard on the 1966 Beach Boys song “Good Vibrations.” The sound is altered by moving one’s hand closer to or farther from the antennae and was used to create the fuzz that alternates back and forth through the speakers.
John Paul Jones: “The backwards echo stuff. A lot of the microphone techniques were just inspired. Using distance-miking… and small amplifiers. Everybody thinks we go in the studio with huge walls of amplifiers, but he doesn’t. He uses a really small amplifier and he just mikes it up really well, so that it fits into a sonic picture.”
From Songfacts
This blistering track from Led Zeppelin’s second album contains some of Robert Plant’s most lascivious lyrics, culled from the blues. It’s not poetry, but he gets his point across quite effectively, letting the girl know that he’s yearning, and ready to give her all of his love – every inch.
The massive drum sound was the foundation of this track, so Jimmy Page recorded it in the big room at Olympic Studios in London, which had 28-foot ceilings. One of the engineers, George Chkiantz, got the sound by putting the drums on a platform and setting up microphones in unusual places: a stereo boom eight feet above the kit, two distant side microphones, and a AKG D30 placed two feet from the bass drum. “For the song to work as this panoramic audio experience, I needed Bonzo to really stand out, so that every stick stroke sounded clear and you could really feel them,” Page said in the Wall Street Journal. “If the drums were recorded just right, we could lay in everything else.”
Jimmy Page served as Led Zeppelin’s producer, and on this song, he let loose in the studio, using all kinds of innovative techniques, particularly in the freeform section about 1:20 in, which was the result of him and engineer Eddie Kramer “twiddling every knob known to man.” This part is often referred to as “the freakout.”
One of the more intriguing sections of this song comes at the 4-minute mark, where the distant voice of Robert Plant sings each line (“Way down inside… woman… you need… love”) before his full-throated vocal comes in. This is known as “backward echo,” and one of the first uses of the technique, but it happened by accident: A different take of Plant’s vocal bled over to his master vocal track, so when Page and engineer Eddie Kramer mixed the song, they couldn’t get rid of it. They did what most creative professionals do with a mistake: they accentuated it to make it sound intentional, adding reverb to it so Plant sounded like he was foreshadowing his lines from afar.
Led Zeppelin didn’t release singles in the UK, where it was considered gauche, and in America, they didn’t issue any from their first album. “Whole Lotta Love” was the first song they allowed as a US single, and it became their biggest hit, going to #4 (their only Top 10 entry) despite a 5:33 running time. Many of Zeppelin’s most popular songs, including “Stairway To Heaven,” were not released as singles.
Led Zeppelin used this as the basis for a medley they performed in their later shows. They had lots of songs by then, so they used the medley to play snippets of their popular songs they did not want to play all the way through. They incorporated various blues songs in these medleys as well, notably “Boogie Chillen” by John Lee Hooker, which was often followed by what they called “Boogie Woogie, by Unknown,” and “Let’s Have A Party” by Wanda Jackson. They would put this in when Robert Plant would yell, “Way Down INSIDE.”
When this song became a hit in America, the UK division of the band’s label, Atlantic Records, pressed copies of a shortened version of the song to release there, but Jimmy Page quashed that idea when he heard the 3:12 truncated edit (“I played it once, hated it and never listened to the short version again,” he told the Wall Street Journal). The band issued a press release stating: “Led Zeppelin have no intention of issuing ‘Whole Lotta Love’ as a single as they feel it was written as part of their concept of the album.” The American single is the same version as found on the album.
This was recorded on an 8-track tape machine at Olympic Studios, London in April 1968, but Jimmy Page waited to mix it until the band came to New York on tour in August because he wanted Eddie Kramer, who had relocated there, to work on it. To the delight of deconstructionists, Page later released the eight split tracks of Whole Lotta Love, along with the mixdowns, on the Studio Magik – Sessions 1968-1980 CD compilation. These stems reveal an entire middle vocal section that’s totally different and the “da da” vocal about two beats behind what was released. In the drum tracks, during the rolls, you can hear John Bonham groaning.
The line, “Shake for me girl, I wanna be your back door man” is a reference to the “back door man” of blues cliché (popularized in a Willie Dixon song). This guy enters and leaves through the back door to avoid detection, as the lady is using him to cheat on her boyfriend or husband. This adds an illicit edge to the storyline.
After Page started fooling around with the theremin in the studio, it was open season for experimentation on the track; he started messing around with his guitar by detuning it and pulling on the strings, and Plant did his part by going to the extreme high of his vocal range.
Page, Plant, and John Paul Jones played this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father. Jason joined the band again in 2007 at a benefit concert for the Ahmet Ertegun education fund, where they played this as the first encore.
In 1997, this became the only single Led Zeppelin released in the UK when a 4:50 edit was issued to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary. The singles chart was dominated by acts like the Spice Girls and Puff Daddy, and this release got little attention, reaching just #21.
Guitar World noted Page’s use of the wah-wah pedal during his famous solo, securing its place at #17 on the magazine’s 2015 list of greatest wah solos of all time. Jack White has cited it as the greatest guitar solo ever recorded.
Jimmy Page played the loose blues riff for the intro on a Sunburst 1958 Les Paul Standard through a 100W Marshall “Plexi” head amp with distortion from the EL34 output valves.
Alexis Korner hit #13 UK and #58 US with his mostly instrumental cover of this song in 1970 with his studio group CCS. King Curtis also did an instrumental version that went to #64 US that year. A vocal cover by The Wonder Band reached #87 US in 1987. Tina Turner recorded it for her 1975 album Acid Queen, and the London Symphony Orchestra also covered it.
The remaining members of Led Zeppelin played this at their Live Aid reunion in 1985. Along with Tony Thompson, Phil Collins sat in on drums. Collins was the biggest presence at Live Aid. He played a set in London, flew to Philadelphia, played another set, then stayed on when Zeppelin took the stage. Jimmy Page was not happy – he thought Collins butchered it.
This song was performed by Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics during the hand over to the host of the 2012 games, London. Prior to the performance there was some concern about the track’s somewhat family unfriendly lyrical content, but Lewis tactfully changed the words from “every inch of my love” to “every bit of my love.”
They appeared alongside English soccer star David Beckham as symbols of British entertainment, both old and new. The performance took place in a magnificent, elaborate setting: Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium. Lewis and Page appeared out of what had been a London double-decker bus, later transformed into a garden of green hedges.
On May 5, 2009, this became the first Led Zeppelin song performed on American Idol when Adam Lambert sang it during Rock Week, with Slash as the guest mentor. The judges loved Lambert’s version and he advanced to the next round.
In 2010, Mary J. Blige covered “Whole Lotta Love” and “Stairway To Heaven,” which were released as downloads and appeared on the UK version of her Stronger With Each Tear album. Musicians contributing to these tracks include Steve Vai, Orianthi, blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Randy Jackson of American Idol fame, who played bass. “Whole Lotta Love” was produced by RedOne and Ron Fair, who is Chairman of Geffen Records. >>
The song’s guitar riff was voted the greatest of all time by listeners of BBC Radio 2 in a 2014 poll. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses came second in the listing and “Back In Black” by AC/DC third.
The songwriting credits on this track have been convoluted over the years. The four band members were listed as the writers on the original recording, and later, Willie Dixon was added as part of his settlement. But the ASCAP record shows this, which is often reprinted:
John Bonham John Paul Jones Pete Moore Jimmy Page Sharon Plant
The best we can tell, these credits come from a 1996 cover of the song by the British group Goldbug, which sampled Pete Moore’s song “Asteroid.” “Sharon Plant” is apparently a mistake (should be “Robert Plant”). This version of the song was a hit in the UK, reaching #3. At some point, Dixon’s credit was omitted in most listings.
This song got a mention in the 2014 lawsuit alleging that Jimmy Page stole the intro to “Stairway To Heaven” from a song called “Taurus” by the group Spirit.
In 1968, Spirit played some shows on the same bill with Zeppelin, and “Taurus,” an instrumental written by guitarist Randy California, was in Spirit’s set. California died in 1997, but his estate filed the wide-ranging lawsuit, which accused page of nicking an entire sound during this time. It states: “Jimmy Page’s use of the Etherwave – Theremin, and other psychedelic-type audio effects which helped give Led Zeppelin its distinctive sound – especially prominent in ‘Whole Lotta Love’ – was inspired by seeing California effectively use these types of audio-enhancing effects on tour.”
The CCS version was used as the theme song to the BBC music show Top of the Pops from 1970-1977 and again from 1998-2003. Led Zeppelin never appeared on the program, as they had no interest in lip-synching and weren’t a good fit for the TOTP audience.
Jack Johnson performed a very laid-back version of this song when he headlined the first night of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2008.
Robert Plant played this on his Strange Sensations tour of the UK in 2005.
In Led Zeppelin: The Oral History of the World’s Greatest Rock Band, Jack White, one of the most notable rock guitarists of the early 2000s, is quoted saying the guitar solo in “Whole Lotta Love” may be the greatest of all time. He’s talking about the part running from 2:22 to 2:39, popularly called the “freakout.”
Whole Lotta Love
You need cooling Baby I’m not fooling I’m gonna send ya Back to schooling
A-way down inside A-honey you need it I’m gonna give you my love I’m gonna give you my love
Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love
You’ve been learning Um baby I been learning All them good times baby, baby I’ve been year-yearning
A-way, way down inside A-honey you need-ah I’m gonna give you my love, ah I’m gonna give you my love, ah oh
Whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love
You’ve been cooling And baby I’ve been drooling All the good times, baby I’ve been misusing
A-way, way down inside I’m gonna give ya my love I’m gonna give ya every inch of my love I’m gonna give ya my love
Hey! Alright! Let’s go!
Whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love Want to whole lotta love
Way down inside Woman, you need, yeah Love
My, my, my, my My, my, my, my Lord Shake for me girl
I wanna be your backdoor man Hey, oh, hey, oh Hey, oh, hey, oh Ooh Oh, oh, oh, oh
Cool, my, my baby A-keep it cooling baby A-keep it cooling baby Ah-keep it cooling baby Ah-keep it cooling baby Ah-keep it cooling baby
I hope all of you have a great Valentines day…lets join the Beatles on June 25, 1967 for All You Need Is Love. There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done…
How nerve-racking this had to be even if you were a Beatle. They performed this on one of the first Satellite hookups around the world. There was an estimated 350 million people watching. This performance was a rock and roll mile stone…they were in front of the world.
The show was called “Our World”, the first worldwide TV special. Broadcast in 24 countries on June 25, 1967, the show was six hours long and featured music from 6 continents, with The Beatles representing Britain.
At the Beatles feet were members of The Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, The Hollies, and The Small Faces helping by singing along.
The song peaked at #1 almost every where and probably even in Venus and Mars in 1967.
Musically, this song is very unusual. The chorus is only one note, and the song is in a rare 7/4 tempo. In the orchestral ending, you can hear pieces of both “Greensleeves,” a Bach two-part invention (by George Martin) and Glenn Miller’s “In The Mood.” Royalties were paid to Miller for his contribution.
Just think of all of the bits of paper all of them wrote or scribbled on and threw away. John Lennon’s hand-written lyrics for this song sold for one million pounds in the summer of 2005. Lennon left them in the BBC studios after this appearance, and they were salvaged by a very smart BBC employee.
From Songfacts
The concept of the song was born out of a request to bring a song that was going to be understood by people of all nations. The writing began in late May of 1967, with John and Paul working on separate songs. It was decided that John’s “All You Need Is Love” was the better choice because of its easy to understand message of love and peace. The song was easy to play, the words easy to remember and it encompassed the feeling of the world’s youth during that period.
“All You Need Is Love” was a popular saying in the ’60s anti-war movement. The song was released in the middle of the Summer of Love (1967). It was a big part of the vibe.
John Lennon wrote this as a continuation of the idea he was trying to express in his 1965 song “The Word.” John was fascinated by how slogans effect the masses and was trying to capture the same essence as songs like “We Shall Overcome.” He once stated, “I like slogans. I like advertising. I love the telly.” In a 1971 interview about his song “Power To The People,” he was asked if that song was propaganda. He said, “Sure. So was ‘All You Need Is Love.’ I’m a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change.”
It was not until 1983 and the publication of the in the book John Lennon: In My Life by Pete Shotton and Nicholas Schaffner that it was revealed that John Lennon was the primary composer of the song. It is typical of Lennon: Three long notes (“love -love -love”) and the rise of excitement with at first speaking, then recital, then singing, then the climax and finally the redemption. This as opposed to McCartney’s conventional verse, verse, middle part, verse or A,A,B,A. Lennon felt that a good song must have a rise of excitement, climax and redeeming.
Ringo’s second son, Jason, was born the day this hit #1 in the US: August 19, 1967. Jason is also a drummer.
McCartney sang the chorus to The Beatles 1963 hit, “She Loves You” at the end: “She loves you yeah yeah yeah… She loves you yeah yeah yeah”
This begins with a clip from the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg on April 25, 1792. Its original name was “Chant de guerre de l’Armee du Rhin” (“Marching Song of the Rhine Army”) and it was dedicated to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian-born French officer from Cham. It became the rallying call of the French Revolution and got its name because it was first sung on the streets by troops from Marseille upon their arrival in Paris. Now the national anthem of France, the song was also once the anthem of the international revolutionary movement, contrasting with the theme of The Beatles song. In the late 1970s, Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version “Aux Armes et cetera,” with Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar and Rita Marley in the choir in Jamaica, which resulted in him getting death threats from veterans of the Algerian War of Independence.
Al and Tipper Gore had this song played at their wedding. They married in 1970 and separated in 2010.
George Harrison mentioned this in his 1981 song “All Those Years Ago” with the line, “But you point the way to the truth when you say ‘All you need is love.'” Harrison’s song is a tribute to John Lennon, who was killed in 1980.
This was used in the climactic final episode of the UK sci-fi series The Prisoner, and was the entrance music for Queen Elizabeth II during the UK Millennial celebrations of 1999. It was also sung by choirs across the kingdom in 2002 during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebration.
In 2007, this was used in an advertising campaign for Luvs diapers with the lyrics changed to “All You Need Is Luvs.” While Beatles songs have been used in commercials before, notably “Revolution” in spots for Nike and “Hello Goodbye” for Target, this peace anthem shilling for diapers didn’t go over well with fans who thought it sullied The Beatles legacy. The publishing rights to “All You Need Is Love” and most other Beatles songs are controlled by the Sony corporation and Michael Jackson, which means The Beatles cannot prevent a company from re-recording the song and using it in a commercial.
When asked what his favorite lyric is during an interview with NME, John Lennon’s son Sean replied: “My list of favorite things changes from day to day. I like when my dad said: ‘There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known/ Nothing you can see that isn’t shown/ Nowhere you can go that isn’t where you’re meant to be.’ It seems to be a good representation of the sort of enlightenment that came out of the ’60s.”
All You Need Is Love
Love, love, love Love, love, love Love, love, love
There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game It’s easy Nothing you can make that can’t be made No one you can save that can’t be saved Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time It’s easy
All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need
All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need
There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known Nothing you can see that isn’t shown There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be It’s easy
All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need
All you need is love (all together now) All you need is love (everybody) All you need is love, love Love is all you need
Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) (Love is all you need) (Love is all you need) (Love is all you need) Yesterday (Love is all you need) Oh Love is all you need Love is all you need Oh yeah Love is all you need (She love you, yeah, yeah, yeah) (She love you, yeah, yeah, yeah) (Love is all you need) (Love is all you need)
It will be a little different today as this song was never a studio song. The Beatles never recorded this song for an album or single. Much later it was released in 1994 on Live At The BBC of them obviously doing it live.
They played this song regularly at the Cavern and Hamburg. The only known film footage of them playing in the Cavern is of them playing this song. It had been filmed on August 22, 1962 for Granada Television but the footage was grainy and they didn’t broadcast it until the Beatles hit big.
This is just a few days after Ringo became a Beatle. They had just got rid of Pete Best and you can hear at the very first of the Cavern footage a Pete Best fan saying “We Want Pete.” The footage is grainy but great. This was at the start of their rise. Love Me Do would be released two months later.
The Beatles loved to cover B sides and they had a knack for picking the right ones. I do wish they would have recorded this one in the studio but I don’t know if it would have captured the excitement of the live Cavern or BBC version. The song was written by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and Richie Barrett. Barrett released the song in 1962.
George Harrison: Brian (Manager Brian Epstein) had had a policy at NEMS of buying at least one copy of every record that was released. If it sold, he’d order another one, or five or whatever. Consequently he had records that weren’t hits in Britain, weren’t even hits in America. Before going to a gig we’d meet in the record store, after it had shut, and we’d search the racks like ferrets to see what new ones were there. That’s where we found artists like Arthur Alexander and Ritchie Barrett – ‘Some Other Guy’ was a great song.”
John Lennon: I’d like to make a record like ‘Some Other Guy’. I haven’t done one that satisfies me as much as that satisfies me.
The original, the BBC version, and the Cavern Version (it also shows a little of the original One after 909)…love Ringo’s drums on this.
Some Other Guy
Some other guy, now Is taking my love away from me, oh now Some other guy, now Is taking away my sweet desire, oh now Some other guy, now Just threw water, hold my hand, oh now I’m the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel, all right
Some other guy Is tippin’ up behind me like a yellow dog, oh now Some other guy, now Has taken my love just like I’m gone, oh now Some other guy, now Has taken my love away from me, oh now I’m the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel, all right
Oh oh oh oh
Some other guy Is making me very, very mad, oh now Some other guy, now Is breaking my padlock off my pad, oh now Some other guy, now Took the first girl I’ve ever had, oh now I’m the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel, all right now
I bought this song on a single along with Sky Pilot when I was getting into the Animals as a pre-teen. This was not the same Animals of House of the Rising Sun and others…everyone but Eric Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins had been replaced.
In this song Eric welcomes you to the Summer of Love in 1967 San Francisco. This new version of the Animals they were losing traction in Europe and at the spoken word beginning of this song Burdon welcomes the Europeans over to San Francisco. The song was popular and also an anti Vietnam song.
The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #9 in the Billboard 100, and #7 in the UK in 1967.
Many people complained that San Francisco is not that warm at night or any other time. Burdon and his group had recently played in San Francisco during a rare 10-day stretch of exceptionally warm spring weather, which left a strong impression.
At a concert Burdon has said the song was written about an evening with Janis Joplin in San Francisco.
Eric Burdon: “Britain is not as aware of what we are trying to communicate as the Americans. The whole world still needs a kick up the pants – the Americans are one move ahead. The record company was afraid I would offend England if I released ‘San Franciscan Nights’. They thought I had offered enough insults to England.”
From Songfacts
1967 was the year of the “Summer of Love,” and San Francisco was a hot spot for Hippies. Along with “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair),” “San Franciscan Nights” was a popular ode to the city in those turbulent times.
The Animals were from England, but were welcomed in America along with other British Invasion groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. They wrote this song themselves, which takes a stand against the Vietnam War. Looking back on the song in our 2010 interview, Animals lead singer Eric Burdon said: “The ‘Love Generation’ helped the anti-war stance in the states. It certainly turned a lot of soldiers’ heads around, making them wonder why they had to be out fighting a war when back home their girlfriends were frolicking around and it caused a lot of anguish on that level. Maybe it helped politically with the so-called enemy. I’m not sure.”
San Franciscan Nights
This following program is dedicated to the city and people of San Francisco, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so Is their city this is a very personal song, so if the viewer Cannot understand it particularly those of you who are European Residents save up all your bread and fly trans love airways to San Francisco U.S.A., then maybe you’ll understand the song, it Will be worth it, if not for the sake of this song but for the Sake of your own peace of mind.
Strobe lights beam create dreams Walls move minds do too On a warm San Franciscan night Old child young child feel alright On a warm San Franciscan night Angels sing leather wings Jeans of blue Harley Davidsons too On a warm San Franciscan night Old angels young angels feel alright On a warm San Franciscan night.
I wasn’t born there perhaps I’ll die there There’s no place left to go, San Franciscan.
Cop’s face is filled with hate Heavens above he’s on a street called love When will they even learn Old cop young cop feel alright On a warm San Franciscan night The children are cool They don’t raise fools It’s an American dream Includes indians too.
Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, was also known as “Bruddah Iz” or “IZ.” I first heard him on the show Life On Mars with just his voice and ukulele. His name is pronounced “Ka-MA-ka-VEE-vo-oh-lay” and it means “the fearless eye, the bold face” in the Hawaiian
Kamakawiwoʻole was born in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Before launching his solo career in 1990, he performed with his brother Skippy as part of the successful group The Makaha Sons of Niʻihau. .
After years of popularizing Hawaiian music, Kamakawiwo’ole recorded his solo album Ka ‘Ano’i in 1990. on the album is”Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World,” a medley combining the songs “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World,” made famous by Louis Armstrong in 1967.
Although Kamakawiwo’ole’s 1990 solo album included “Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World,” it’s not the version that most people remember. The acoustic version, with Kamakawiwo’ole on vocals and ukelele, was recorded a few years prior and kept in a recording studio’s archives until the release of his 1993 follow-up, Facing Future.
In 1988, recording studio manager Milan Bertosa was wrapping a long day at 3 a.m. when the phone rang. A regular client had called on behalf of Kamakawiwo’ole, who had an idea he desperately wanted to see through. Bertosa was then put on the phone with Kamakawiwo’ole, whom Bertosa remembers as “this really sweet man, well-mannered, just kind.”
“Please, can I come in?” Kamakawiwo’ole kindly asked. Bertosa relented.
About 15 minutes later, there’s a knock on Bertosa’s door. “And in walks the largest human being I had seen in my life,” Bertosa told NPR. Throughout his life, Kamakawiwo’ole suffered obesity, weighing as much as 757 pounds.
“The first thing at hand is to find something for him to sit on,” Bertosa remembered. Someone from building security gave Israel a big steel chair. “Then I put up some microphones, do a quick soundcheck, roll tape, and the first thing he does is ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’ He played and sang, one take, and it was over.” The next day Bertosa gave a copy for Israel and kept the master for himself. Over time, he found himself playing Kamakawiwo’ole’s recording for family and friends. “It was that special,” he said. “Whatever was going on that night, he was inspired. It was like we just caught the moment.”
In 1993 Bertosa was working on Kamakawawiwo’ole’s next album, Facing Future. On the last few days of recording, he felt something was missing. So Bertosa dug up that 3 a.m. recording, played it for producer Jon de Mello (who was won over), and it was added to Facing Future.
The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard World Music charts. By 2002, the record had sold 500,000 copies—the first Hawaiian-produced album to go gold—and was certified platinum, selling over 1 million copies by 2005.
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole died on June 26, 1997, at the age of 38, before he gained his vast popularity. He had suffered from morbid obesity his entire life. He died of respiratory failure. He was laid in honor in Hawaii’s Capitol building, and his ashes were later scattered into the ocean. He left behind his wife and teenage daughter.
This was written by Bob Thiele and George Weiss. Thiele was a producer for ABC records, and Weiss was a songwriter who helped create the hit version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
What A Wonderful World
I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself what a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do They’re really saying I love you
I hear babies crying, I watch them grow They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know And I think to myself what a wonderful world Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world
It’s hard to say what song by Creedence is my favorite…but this one is in my top 3.
Creedence had some of the best singles ever. This was released as the B-side to the single for “Up Around the Bend,” which was issued in April and quickly went gold. Up Around the Bend/Run Through The Jungle peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada in 1970.
Many people thought this was about Vietnam but Fogerty has said it was about America and guns. He isn’t anti-gun but many people he thought were “gun happy” and that is what the song is about. John’s quote is below
Long after this song was released and Fogerty released his single “Old Man down the Road” in 1985…Former CCR executive Saul Zaentz claimed that that song, which Fogerty released as a solo artist, was too similar to Run Through The Jungle, and even took him to court. It was perhaps the first time an artist was sued for plagiarizing himself.
Fogerty won that case, but Zaentz also sued him for his song “Zanz Kant Danz,” professing that it was an attack on him. Zaentz won that case and Fogerty not only had to pay a fine, but also had to change the song’s name to “Vanz Kant Danz.” Zaentz was the root of the problem between the members of CCR.
John Fogerty: “I think a lot of people thought that because of the times, but I was talking about America and the proliferation of guns, registered and otherwise. I’m a hunter and I’m not antigun, but I just thought that people were so gun-happy – and there were so many guns uncontrolled that it really was dangerous, and it’s even worse now. It’s interesting that it has taken 20-odd years to get a movement on that position.”
From Songfacts
This is often believed to be about the Vietnam War, as it referred to a “jungle” and was released in 1970. The fact that previous CCR songs such as “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” and “Fortunate Son” were protests of the Vietnam War added to this theory. In response,
This position is best demonstrated in this lyric:
200 million guns are loaded
Satan cries, “Take aim!”
This opens with jungle sound effects created by, according to Stu Cook, “lots of backwards recorded guitar and piano.”
Speaking about the musical influence on this song, John Fogerty said: “There were so many more people I’d never heard of – like Charlie Patton (an early Delta bluesman). I’m ashamed to admit that, but he wasn’t commercially accessible, I guess. I read about him, and about a month or two later, I realized there were recordings of his music. To me, that was like if Moses had left behind a DAT with the Dead Sea Scrolls or something! ‘You mean you can hear him?! Oh my God!’ And then when I did hear Patton, he sounded like Howlin’ Wolf, who was a big influence on me. When I did ‘Run Through the Jungle,’ I was being Howlin’ Wolf, and Howlin’ Wolf knew Charlie Patton!”
The line, “Devil’s on the loose” (“They told me, ‘Don’t go walking slow ’cause Devil’s on the loose'”) was taken from music journalist Phil Elwood, who misinterpreted the line “doubles on kazoo” from the song “Down on the Corner” (“Willy goes into a dance and doubles on kazoo”). Fogerty saw this misquoted lyric in the newspaper and loved it, so he thanked Phil and used it for “Run through the Jungle.”
Most artists didn’t use songs that could be standalone singles as B-sides, but if you bought a CCR single, you often got two hit songs – another example is “Travelin’ Band” and “Who’ll Stop The Rain?,” which were paired on the same single.
John Fogerty played the harmonica part. Like the vocals on “Down on the Corner,” he recorded it after recording the actual song and dubbed it in, because it went from harmonica to vocals so quickly and he couldn’t remove the harmonica from his mouth fast enough. John also played harmonica on his solo effort The Wall (not to be confused with the Pink Floyd album).
Fogerty told Guitar World in 1997 that when he sang “Run Through the Jungle,” he was “being Howlin’ Wolf,” an artist he cites as a major influence on him.
The Gun Club covered this for their album Miami, although with different lyrics because vocalist and band leader Jerry Pierce couldn’t understand what John Fogerty was singing. He took some lyrics from black slavery songs, a Willie Brown song and personal experience (a heroin overdose is mentioned). They first performed it at a friend’s birthday party before they were persuaded to include it on the album.
Besides Gun Club, this has been covered by Bruce Springsteen, Georgia Satellites, 8 Eyed Spy, Los Lobos and Killdozer.
Tom Fogerty called this song, “My all-time favorite Creedence tune.” He added, “It’s like a little movie in itself with all the sound effects. It never changes key, but it holds your interest the whole time. It’s like a musician’s dream. It never changes key, yet you get the illusion it does.”
This song has appeared in the following movies:
Air America (1990) My Girl (1991) Rudy (1993) The Big Lebowski (1998) Radiofreccia (1998) Radio Arrow (1998) Tropic Thunder (2008) Drift (2013)
And these TV series:
Entourage (The Scene – 2004) Supernatural (“Sin City” – 2007, “Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire” – 2015) Hawaii Five-0 (“Kahu” – 2012)
Run Through The Jungle
Whoa thought it was a nightmare Lord it was so true
They told me don’t go walking slow The devil’s on the loose
Better run through the jungle Better run through the jungle Better run through the jungle Whoa don’t look back to see
Thought I heard a rumblin’ Calling to my name
Two hundred million guns are loaded Satan cries “take aim”
Better run through the jungle Better run through the jungle Better run through the jungle Whoa don’t look back to see
Over on the mountain, thunder magic spoke Let the people know my wisdom Fill the land with smoke
Better run through the jungle Better run through the jungle Better run through the jungle Whoa don’t look back to see
Great under the radar song by John Mellencamp. It was on the album Big Daddy released in 1989. I bought this album at the time because of this song… and Pop Singer was another favorite.
John was going through a divorce with his second wife Victoria Granucci when he released this album and it help inspire this song.
The song peaked at #20 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts and #23 in Canada in 1989.
John Mellencamp: After the divorce went through, my wife took my two little kids and moved away from Indiana, which she was allowed to do because I didn’t contest it. I had a family, and all of a sudden I didn’t. I had just done the Lonesome Jubilee tour, it was the biggest, most successful tour in the country that year, and it meant nothing to me. I was grateful that people liked the songs, but I felt like a monkey on a string. We did 190 shows, and it was like, “Oh, let’s get out there and give them one more rousing chorus of ‘Pink Houses.'” I was like a cheerleader, and I didn’t like it.
“I wrote ‘Jackie Brown’ about myself in a different scenario: me disguised as a poor guy – not as a guy that had been successful and pretty much lost everything, which in my mind I had, because I’d lost my daughters. The song is about how you have to go outside to use the bathroom because you’ve sunk so low.”
From Songfacts
Eight years before Quentin Tarantino released the movie Jackie Brown, John Mellencamp used the title for a song that tells a very different story. Mellencamp’s Jackie Brown is a destitute man who will never escape poverty.
Jackie Brown
Is this your life, Jackie Brown? Poorly educated and forced to live on the poor side of town. Is this your daughter, Jackie Brown? This pretty little girl In the worn out clothes That have been hand-me down. Is this your wife, Jackie Brown? With sad blue eyes, walking on eggshells so you don’t see her frown. Is this your family, Jackie Brown?
Dream of vacationing on a mountain stream And giving the world more than it gave you. What ugly truths freedom brings And it hasn’t been very kind to you. Is this your life, Jackie Brown?
Is this your meal, Jackie Brown? Barely enough, I’ve seen people throw more than this out. Is this your home, Jackie Brown? This three room shack With no running water And the bathroom out back. Is this your grave, Jackie Brown? This little piece of limestone that says another desperate man took Himself out. Is this your dream, Jackie Brown?
Going nowhere and nowhere fast We shame ourselves to watch people like this live. But who gives a damn about Jackie Brown? Just another lazy man who couldn’t take what was his. One helluva life Jackie Brown. Forevermore, Jackie Brown Amen and amen – Jackie Brown?
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