I thought of this song because a vendor I deal with asked me if I wanted to be in a whisky tasting event. I told him I rarely if ever drink but he convinced me! I was sent two bottles of whiskey and I have to log on and tell them what I think of the two different brands.
The song was written by Billy Powell, Edward King, and Ronnie Van Zant, this song is about Lynyrd Skynyrd’s touring life which was interesting. Ronnie Van Zant ran into a writer who asked him “what are you man?” Ronnie Van Zant responded to the writer, saying he is a “Whiskey Rock a Roller.”
The song was on their 3rd album Nuthin’ Fancy. This is a great bar song. It was their last album produced by Al Kooper. The sound just wasn’t coming together and it was a mutual understanding that Kooper would leave after the album was finished.
Guitar player Ed King would quit and leave in May while on tour in Pittsburgh for this album. It would be the last album he would play on by the original band. It’s also Artimus Pyle’s first album on drums with the band. Bob Burns the original drummer had left shortly before after seeing the Exorcist and thinking he was possessed by the devil.
The album peaked at #9 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1975.
From Songfacts
This song was released on the Nuthin’ Fancy album on March 24, 1975. There are also two other recordings of this song that are on Skynyrd’s live album One More From the Road. In one if these recordings, Ronnie Van Zant forgets the song, and has to ask the back up singers (the Honketts) what the song is. On the other live version. Ronnie changes the opening lyrics to “I’m traveling down a highway, got a blue sky on my head, movin’ down this highway 500 miles away.”
Whiskey Rock-A-Roller
I’m headed down a highway got a suitcase by my side Blue skies hangin’ over my head I got five hundred miles to ride I’m goin’ down to Memphis town to play a late night show I hope the people are ready there ’cause the boys are all ready to go
[Chorus] Well, I’m a whiskey rock-a-roller That’s what I am Women, whiskey and miles of travelin’ Is all I understand
I was born a travelin’ man and my feets do burn the ground I don’t care for fancy music if your shoes can’t shuffle around I got a hundred women or more and there’s no place I call home The only time I’m satisfied is when I’m on the road
[Chorus] Sometimes I wonder where will we go
Lord don’t take my whiskey, rock and roll Take me down to Memphis town, bus driver get me there I got me a queenie she got long brown curly hair She likes to drink old grandad and her shoes do shuffle around And every time I see that gal Lord she wants to take me down
[Chorus]
Sometimes I wonder where will we go Lord don’t take my whiskey, rock and roll
Sixth grade…in sixth grade this album and the songs on it was huge.
Co-credited to bandleaders Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, but written solely by Hodgson. They had a Lennon/McCartney song writing relationship that would credit both no matter if one person wrote it.
The song peaked at #10 in the Billboard 100 and #4 in Canada in 1979. Breakfast in America peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, Canada, New Zealand, and #3 in New Zealand.
It was written shortly before Supertramp went in the studio to record the Breakfast In America album, Roger Hodgson said the song was a last minute addition.
According to Producer Peter Henderson the album took 9 months to record. The reason for this is because there was no There were no click tracks and or splicing of the backing tracks. They all played the backing tracks live in the studio. The result was a fresh sounding album that was a massive hit.
The band refused a $5 million offer from the Greyhound company to use this song in bus commercials.
Roger Hobson:I’m talking about not wanting to go home to the wife, take the long way home to the wife because she treats you like part of the furniture, but there’s a deeper level to the song, too. I really believe we all want to find our home, find that place in us where we feel at home, and to me, home is in the heart and that is really, when we are in touch with our heart and we’re living our life from our heart, then we do feel like we found our home.
From Songfacts
At the press meeting when Breakfast In America was presented, Roger Hodgson explained that this song is about a guy who thinks he’s really cool (“So you think you’re a romeo, playing a part in a picture show”), but it seems that he’s the only one who thinks that. This implies that our hero avoids getting home because when he’s on the road he has a few more moments of being alone with his dreams, and in his dreams he’s a superstar.
It was another angle on the question that ran deep inside me, which is, ‘Where’s my home? Where’s peace?’ It felt like I was taking a long way to find it.”
More lyric analysis:
“But there are times that he feels he’s part of the scenery, all the greenery is comin’ down” – It seems that in real life he’s “the joke of the neighborhood” (“why should you care if you’re feeling good” is him trying to rationalize) and his wife “seems to this that he’s a part of the furniture.” In real life he “never sees what he wants to see.”
“When he’s up on the stage, it’s so unbelievable, unforgettable, how they adore him. And then his wife seems to think he’s losing his sanity… Does it feel that you life’s become a catastrophe? Oh, it has to be for you to grow, boy.” – This is the phase of our lives when we accept the fact that we’ll never be what we wanted and become ordinary, we take it very hard, but we grow into it.
“He looks through the years and see what he could have been, what might have been, if he’d had more time.” – Time is always to blame when we want to do something, but don’t. This guy always wanted to be someone, but he got stuck taking the long way home so now it’s even difficult for him being ordinary: “So, when the day comes to settle down, Who’s to blame if you’re not around? You took the long way home.”
Roger Hodgson’s debut solo DVD was titled Take the Long Way Home, Live in Montreal. It was released in Canada in 2006, where it went to #1 and sold over a million copies. The DVD was released worldwide in 2007 and is Gold in France.
“Take The Long Way Home” has endured as a favorite: it was chosen as the #5 favorite song in Mojo magazine’s readers’ poll in 2006.
Take The Long Way Home
So you think you’re a Romeo Playing a part in a picture-show Take the long way home Take the long way home
‘Cause you’re the joke of the neighborhood Why should you care if you’re feeling good Take the long way home Take the long way home
But there are times that you feel you’re part of the scenery All the greenery is comin’ down, boy And then your wife seems to think you’re part of the furniture Oh, it’s peculiar, she used to be so nice
When lonely days turn to lonely nights You take a trip to the city lights And take the long way home Take the long way home
You never see what you want to see Forever playing to the gallery You take the long way home Take the long way home
And when you’re up on the stage, it’s so unbelievable, Oh unforgettable, how they adore you, But then your wife seems to think you’re losing your sanity, Oh, calamity, is there no way out, oh yeah Ooh, take it, take it out Take it, take it out Oh yeah
Does it feel that your life’s become a catastrophe? Oh, it has to be for you to grow, boy When you look through the years and see what you could have been Oh, what you might have been, If you’d had more time
So, when the day comes to settle down, Who’s to blame if you’re not around? You took the long way home You took the long way home Took the long way home You took the long way home You took the long way home, so long You took the long way home You took the long way home, uh yeah You took the long way home
Long way home Long way home Long way home Long way home Long way home Long way home
I first heard this song in the seventies and then owned it when I got Queen’s greatest hits and I wore the grooves out in the vinyl. The guitar tone and Freddie’s voice are perfect.
This was released as a double A-side single with “Bicycle Race.” The songs ran together on the album, and were often played that way by radio stations. The year before, Queen released “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” as a double A-side. They are still usually played together by radio stations.
For the song Bicycle Race they had an all nude female bicycle race…ahhh the 70s
The cover of the single featured a nude woman riding a bicycle, and was altered after many stores refused to stock it. The new version was the same image with panties drawn over the woman…kill joys.
The song peaked at #24 in the Billboard 100, #17 in Canada, #20 in New Zealand, and #11 in the UK in 1978.
The song was on their 1978 album Jazz.
From Songfacts
Queen guitarist Brian May wrote this song, which is about a young man who comes to appreciate women of substantial girth. May told Mojo magazine October 2008: “I wrote it with Fred in mind, as you do especially if you’ve got a great singer who likes fat bottomed girls… or boys.”
Each song has a reference to the other in the lyrics: in “Bicycle Race,” a lyric runs: “Fat bottomed girls, they’ll be riding today, so look out for those beauties, oh yeah.” In “Fat Bottomed Girls” the closing call shouts “get on your bikes and ride!,” linking the two songs together.
This song was covered by Antigone Rising for the 2005 Queen tribute album Killer Queen.
The song was used as the opening theme for Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary Super Size Me.
This was used in episodes of the US TV shows Nip/Tuck and My Name is Earl, and also in the UK show Father Ted.
A funny incident involving this song occurred on the Daily Politics show on UK TV in January 2014, when respectable political editor Nick Robinson’s iPad suddenly started to play the song midway through a panel discussion between several politicians. Robinson hastily turned the device off before – in his words – “the really embarrassing lyrics start.”
This is one of a very small number of Queen songs composed and performed in an alternative tuning to standard. Brian May used a Dropped D tuning for this song.
Surprisingly for such a popular song, it only features on one Queen live compilation from the original lineup: On Fire Live at the Bowl, from Milton Keynes 1982. On the Queen + tours, it has been a regular staple, with both Paul Rogers and Adam Lambert handling the lyrics with gusto. Versions featuring Paul Rogers on vocals appear on Return of the Champions (2005), Super Live in Japan (2006) and Live in Ukraine (2008).
Kevin Fowler did his rendition of the classic Queen song on his 2002 album High on the Hog. Fowler’s version is a lighthearted take and encourages the crowd to partake in the fun.
Fat Bottomed Girls
Okay, okay! This is called, uh Fat Bottomed Girls!
(One, two, three, four!) Are you gonna take me home tonight? Oh, down beside your red firelight Are you gonna let it all hang out? Fat bottomed girls You make the rockin’ world go ’round
Hey! I was just a skinny lad Never knew no good from bad But I knew life before I left my nursery, huh Left alone with big fat Fanny She was such a naughty nanny Big woman, you made a bad boy out of me
I’ve been singing with my band Across the wire, across the land I seen every blue eyed floozy on the way, hey But their beauty and their style Went kind of smooth after a while Take me to them dirty ladies every time
C’mon! Are you gonna take me home tonight? Hey! Oh, down beside your red firelight Oh, when you give it all you got Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go ’round Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go ’round
Now I got mortgages and homes I got stiffness in my bones Ain’t no beauty queens in this locality, I tell you Oh, but I still get my pleasure Still got my greatest treasure Big woman, you done made a big man of me
Now, hear this! Oh, (I know) you gonna take me home tonight? Hey! Oh, down beside your red firelight Are you gonna let it all hang out? Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go ’round, yeah Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go ’round
Get on your bikes and ride! Like a cowboy, oh, come on, hey, go, aw yeah That’s the way I like it, yeah Yes, yes! Them fat bottomed girls You ride ’em, you ride ’em, hey hey! Alright Ooh! Ooh yeah, ooh yeah Alright
Oh yes, fat bottomed girls One more time girls, yeah, yeah Alright, yeah More, more
.This is a laid back 70s pop song. I like their music in the early seventies the best but I won’t turn this off if it comes on the radio.
The song peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100 and #10 in Canada in 1977. Their first album was named Crosby, Stills, and Nash but this one was called CSN which is confusing. The album did well helped by this hit. It peaked at #2 in the Billboard Album Charts, #10 in Canada, and #23 in the UK in 1977.
After touring in 1977 and 1978, further work as a group was complicated by Crosby’s increasing dependence on cocaine. Nash’s 1980 Earth & Sky was supposed to be another Crosby-Nash album, but Crosby was not in shape to participate
It surprised me but this was the highest charting song by CSN or CSN&Y. As Nash tells it in his memoir Wild Life, the guy taking him to the airport was his drug dealer, who said, “I’ll bet you can’t write a song before you go.” Nash then thought, “Hmm… just a song before I go,” and composed it on the spot. I have the exact quote below.
Graham Nash:I’d been on vacation in Hawaii. Leslie Morris was with me, and in an effort to score some grass we met up with a dealer named Spider at his house near the beach. This was around one in the afternoon, and I had a four o’clock flight back to Los Angeles. Spider was a cheeky little bastard. He said, “You’re supposed to be some big-shot songwriter. I bet you can’t write a song before you go.”
“Oh, really,” I said. “How much?”
“A hundred bucks.”
I finished “Just a Song Before I Go” in a little under forty minutes. Turned out to be the biggest hit Crosby, Stills & Nash ever had, on the charts for twenty weeks. The original lyric I’d scribbled on school composition-book paper is currently in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
From Songfacts
Graham Nash wrote this song on a bet. David Crosby explained in the liner notes to their 1991 boxed set: “Graham was a home in Hawaii, about to go off on tour. The guy who was going to take him to the airport said, ‘We’ve got 15 minutes, I’ll bet you can’t write a song in that amount of time.’ Well you don’t smart off to Nash like that, he’ll do it. This is the result.”
Going to the airport and his day of travel were on Nash’s mind, so that’s what he wrote about: “driving me to the airport and to the friendly skies.” The “song before I go” was for his friend who made him the bet.
This was the first single released from the re-formed Crosby, Stills & Nash, and in the US it was the highest-charting song of any iteration of the group. The group’s first album came in 1969, and they won the Best New Artist Grammy Award for that year. In 1970, they added Neil Young and released two albums before taking some time off – they didn’t see the Top 40 from 1971-1976. In this period, the members recorded solo, with Graham Nash and David Crosby teaming up for a 1972 album, and Stephen Stills forming the band Manassas. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young got back together for touring in 1974 and released the 1976 album Wind On The Water. The next year, minus Young, they were Crosby, Stills & Nash again for the first time since 1969, and the CSN album was the result. Following more solo efforts from Stills and Nash, they hit the studio again in 1982 for the Daylight Again album, and reunited with Young for the 1988 effort American Dream. They continued to go back and forth with and without Young in the ’90s. Their law firm-style name made for an unwieldy discography, but we always knew who was in the group.
Just a Song Before I Go
Just a song before I go, To whom it may concern Traveling twice the speed of sound It’s easy to get burned
When the shows were over We had to get back home, And when we opened up the door I had to be alone
She helped me with my suitcase, She stands before my eyes Driving me to the airport, And to the friendly skies
Going through security I held her for so long She finally looked at me in love, And she was gone
Just a song before I go, A lesson to be learned Traveling twice the speed of sound It’s easy to get burned
This song was on the great Damn the Torpedos album that was Petty’s breakthrough album. Petty wrote this after his first group Mudcrutch moved from Florida to Los Angeles in 1974.
Tom Petty was going to give the song to The J. Geils Band because he thought it had their sound. (Petty and the Heartbreakers had opened for the J. Geils Band on tour). However, J. Geils turned him down as they were already deep in the mixing process for their album and producer Jimmy Iovine persuaded Petty and his bandmates to record it themselves.
They were glad as it became the group’s first Top 10 hit.
The song peaked at #10 in Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #17 in New Zealand in 1977.
The album had 4 known radio songs on the album. Damn the Torpedos peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, and #57 in the UK in 1980.
Peter Wolf of the J Geils Band:It was in the midst of stuff. Maybe we thought we had the songs for our album: “We can do it for the next one.” I called up Jimmy and, I think, Tom and said, “Love the song. I’m not sure we’re gonna get to it. But I do like the song.” Tom wasn’t sure of it for himself for some reason. It was almost like, “As soon as I finished writing it, I thought of sending it to you.”
I always heard it as having a Lennon-esque quality, especially in the bridge – just the way Tom puts the edge on his voice. There is also a Dylan-esque quality [in the lyrics]: “Well, you’re gonna get yours. In the public eye, you’re gonna humiliate me? Baby, your time is gonna come.” That was a theme in Lennon’s work too – [the Beatles’] “No Reply.” But the way Tom recorded it, it just became so Tom. I always felt, “Man, I wish we’d jumped on it sooner.”
It’s funny – it came up in our last conversation. Tom and I were together in his dressing room in Philadelphia last July. I said, “Tom, I gotta tell you, ‘Don’t Do Me Like That’ …” And he goes, “Oh, yeah! Whatever happened?” I explained the whole thing – we were in the mix process or something. And he said, “I gotta thank you for that. When you didn’t end up doing it, everybody talked me into putting it on the record. And it became one of my big, big hits.”
From Songfacts
The song finds him warning (or at least asking) a girl not to dump him, as he has a friend who recently had his heart broken. Not one of the group’s more meaningful songs, Creem magazine called it a “throwaway romp.”
Many listeners enjoyed this romp, making it one of Petty’s most popular songs.
When Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers made their first appearance as musical guests on Saturday Night Live November 10, 1979, they played “Refugee” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.”
Don’t Do Me Like That
I was talking with a friend of mine Said a woman had hurt his pride Told him that she loved him so And turned around and let him go Then he said, you better watch your step Or your gonna get hurt yourself Someone’s gonna tell you lies Cut you down to size
Don’t do me like that Don’t do me like that What if I love you baby? Don’t do me like that
Don’t do me like that Don’t do me like that Someday I might need you baby Don’t do me like that
Listen honey, can you see? Baby, you would bury me If you were in the public eye Givin’ someone else a try And you know you better watch your step Or you’re gonna get hurt yourself Someone’s gonna tell you lies Cut you down to size
Don ‘t do me like that Don’t do me like that What if I love you baby? Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t do me like that Don’t do me like that What if I need you baby? Don’t do me like that
‘Cause somewhere deep down inside Someone is saying, Love doesn’t last that long I got this feelin’ inside night and day And now I can’t take it no more
Listen honey, can you see? Baby, you would bury me If you were in the public eye Givin’ someone else a try And you know you better watch your step Or you’re gonna get hurt yourself Someone’s gonna tell you lies Cut you down to size
Don’t do me like that Don’t do me like that What if I love you baby? Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t do me like that Don’t do me like that I just might need you honey Don’t do me like that
Wait Don’t do me like that Don’t do me like that Baby, baby, baby Don’t, don’t, don’t
No Don’t do me like that Don’t do me like that Baby, baby, baby
This would be one of my favorite John Lennon album cuts. It’s on the album Mind Games and it gets overlooked. It reminds me of the intro to the Beatles song “I’ve Got A Feeling.”
Some people say it was written as a coded message to Paul (there is more below a bout that) and it does have some references in there. John said later it was about Yoko…it could be both or neither…At the time when this came out him and Yoko were separated and Joh. Personally I’m not sure but I just enjoy the result. John later called it a piece of nothing but John could be dismissive about his best songs at times.
It’s a wonderful pop song nonetheless. Whenever I pull Mind Games out I go to this song first.
The song was not released as a single but the album did well. It peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #28 in Canada, and #13 in the UK in 1973.
Although in his extensive 1980 interview for Playboy he dismissed the song as “just a piece of nothing”, the lyrics of I Know (I Know) are open to interpretation as a commentary on Lennon’s relationship with Yoko Ono, which by 1973 was faltering. Lennon realised matters had turned sour, and the song can be seen as a confessional in which he claimed to finally be able to see clearly, just as he had before on the Imagine song ‘How?’ and ‘Jealous Guy’.
The curious repetition of the title in parentheses could have been simply one of Lennon’s whims, but it is possible that he was presenting a coded message – not for the first time – to his former bandmate Paul McCartney. Wings’ 1971 album Wild Life had featured the song Some People Never Know, in which McCartney lamented that some people fail to understand what it means to love. In this light, Lennon’s response saw the pair in agreement, in a marked contrast to their earlier song-based conflicts.
Lennon recorded a home demo of I Know (I Know) in the early summer of 1973, prior to entering the studio. During this time he worked on a number of songs destined for Mind Games.
Demo
I Know (I Know)
The years have passed so quickly One thing I’ve understood I am only learning To tell the trees from wood
I know what’s coming down And I know where it’s coming from And I know and I’m sorry (yes I am) But I never could speak my mind
And I know just how you feel And I know now what I have done And I know and I’m guilty But I never could speak my mind
I know what I was missing But now my eyes can see I put myself in your place As you did for me
Today I love you more than yesterday Right now I love you more right now
Now I know what’s coming down I can feel where it’s coming from And I know it’s getting better all the time As we share in each other’s minds
Today, I love you more than yesterday Right now, I love you more right now
Ooo, no more crying Ooo, no more crying Ooo, no more crying Ooo, no more crying
This was first released by Gram Parsons’ Flying Burrito Brothers in 1970. The Stones’ version was written in 1969, but had to wait for Sticky Fingers in 1971.
Wild Horses was said to be started as a song for Keith Richards’ newborn son Marlon. It was 1969 and Keith regretted that he had to leave his son to go on tour.
Mick Jagger’s girlfriend at the time, the singer Marianne Faithfull, claims “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away” was the first thing she said to Mick after she pulled out of a drug-induced coma in 1969. Jagger rewrote Keith’s lyrics, keeping only the line “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.” His rewrite was based on his relationship with Marianne Faithfull, which was disintegrating.
The Stones recorded this during a three-day session at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama from December 2-4, 1969. It was the last of three songs done at these sessions, after “Brown Sugar” and “You Gotta Move.” Jim Dickinson played piano on this song. The Stones regular pianist Ian Stewart didn’t want to play it because he hated playing minor chords.
Jim Dickinson went on to be a producer with Aretha Franklin, Big Star and the Replacements, and did a lot of movie soundtrack music with Ry Cooder.
The song was on what is arguably their best album in Sticky Fingers. One year prior to its release on Sticky Fingers, Gram Parsons convinced Jagger and Richards to allow him to record “Wild Horses” with his band The Flying Burrito Brothers. He had become good friends with Richards and helped with the arrangement of “Country Honk” as it appeared on the album Let It Bleed. The song was included on the album Burrito Deluxe released in 1970.
Wild Horses by the Stones peaked at #28 in the Billboard 100 and #11 in Canada in 1971.
Keith Richards:“‘Wild Horses’ almost wrote itself. It was really a lot to do with, once again, f—ing around with the tunings. I found these chords, especially doing it on a twelve-string to start with, which gave the song this character and sound. There’s a certain forlornness that can come out of a twelve-string. I started off, I think, on a regular six-string open E, and it sounded very nice, but sometimes you just get these ideas. What if I open tuned a twelve-string? All it meant was translate what Mississippi Fred McDowell was doing – twelve-string slide – into five-string mode, which meant a ten-string guitar.”
From Songfacs
Parsons was good friends with Keith Richards, and the musicians often cited each other as an influence. Said Parsons: “I picked up some rock and roll from Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger knows an awful lot about country music. I learned a lot about singing from Mick.”
Regarding “Wild Horses,” he said it was “a logical combination between their music and our music. It’s something that Mick Jagger can accept, and it’s something I can accept. And my way of doing it is not necessarily where it’s at, but it’s certainly the way I feel it.” (Quotes from Bud Scoppa’s liner notes in the Sacred Hearts and Fallen Angels collection.)
There are other theories as to Mick’s muse for this song, however. Jagger’s longtime girlfriend Jerry Hall in The Observer Magazine April 29, 2007, said: “‘Wild Horses’ is my favorite Stones song. It’s so beautiful. I don’t mind that it was written for Bianca.” (Not likely, since Jagger didn’t meet his future wife Bianca until 1970, which was after the song was recorded.)
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios (actually located in Sheffield, Alabama) opened in May 1969 when Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records (The Stones’ label) loaned money to four of the musicians at nearby FAME studios so they could start their own company and install 8-track recording equipment (FAME was on 4-track). Wexler sent many of Atlantic’s acts to Muscle Shoals, since the musicians were fantastic and it was a dry county with nothing to do, which meant the artists were more likely to stay focused. The studio also had a distinctive sound that can be heard on this track, especially on Jagger’s vocals – you can hear a slight distortion that was caused by the console.
When The Stones left the Shoals, they headed for Altamont, California, where they gave a free concert on December 6, 1969 – a disastrous show where a fan was stabbed to death by a Hells Angels security guard. In the documentary Gimme Shelter, which chronicles the concert, there is a scene where the band is listening to playback on “Wild Horses” at Muscle Shoals Sound.
The Sticky Fingers album had very elaborate packaging. Designed by Andy Warhol, the cover photo was a close up of a man’s jeans with a real zipper on it. It was also the first time the tongue logo was used.
Stones guitarist Mick Taylor played acoustic guitar on this song in what’s known as “Nashville tuning,” in which you use all first and second strings and you tune them in octaves.
The Chinese rock star Cui Jian sang this with Mick Jagger when The Rolling Stones played a concert in Shanghai on April 8, 2006. Jian was supposed to open for The Stones in 2003, but their Chinese tour was canceled because of S.A.R.S.
The Sundays covered this song. Their version appears on the soundtrack to Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
To coincide with the release of Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle’s cover of this song, Universal/Polydor re-released The Rolling Stones’ original as part of a special digital bundle featuring three versions of the track. The other two being a recording backstage during the band’s Voodoo Lounge tour in 1995, which was included on the Stripped live album and a video of a live performance of the song recorded at Knebworth in 1976.
Wild Horses
Childhood living is easy to do The things you wanted I bought them for you Graceless lady you know who I am You know I can’t let you slide through my hands
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away Wild, wild horses couldn’t drag me away
I watched you suffer a dull aching pain Now you’ve decided to show me the same No sweeping exit or offstage lines Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind Wild horses couldn’t drag me away Wild, wild horses couldn’t drag me away I know I’ve dreamed you a sin and a lie I have my freedom but I don’t have much time Faith has been broken tears must be cried Let’s do some living after we die
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away Wild, wild horses we’ll ride them some day Wild horses couldn’t drag me away Wild, wild horses we’ll ride them some day
I was surfing youtube and found this odd combination of The Cure and Paul’s son James McCartney doing Hello, Goodbye. This song was on the album The Art of McCartney released in 2014. A tribute to Paul… I included the tracklist at the bottom and a couple of other songs. There were some interesting combinations.
You say yes, I say no You say stop and I say go go go, oh no You say goodbye and I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello
I say high, you say low You say why and I say I don’t know, oh no You say goodbye and I say hello (Hello goodbye hello goodbye) Hello hello (Hello goodbye) I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Hello goodbye hello goodbye) Hello hello (Hello goodbye) I don’t know why you say goodbye (Hello goodbye) I say hello/goodbye
Why why why why why why do you say goodbye goodbye, oh no?
You say goodbye and I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello
You say yes (I say yes) I say no (But I may mean no) You say stop (I can stay) and I say go go go (Till it’s time to go), oh Oh no You say goodbye and I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello Hello hello I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello hello
Hela heba helloa Hela heba helloa, cha cha cha Hela heba helloa, wooo Hela heba helloa, hela Hela heba helloa, cha cha cha Hela heba helloa, wooo Hela heba helloa, cha cah cah [fade out]
The Tracklist
01 Billy Joel – “Maybe I’m Amazed” 02 Bob Dylan – “Things We Said Today” 03 Heart – “Band On The Run” 04 Steve Miller – “Junior’s Farm” 05 Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) – “The Long and Winding Road” 06 Harry Connick, Jr. – “My Love” 07 Brian Wilson – “Wanderlust” 08 Corrine Bailey Rae – “Bluebird” 09 Willie Nelson – “Yesterday” 10 Jeff Lynne – “Junk” 11 Barry Gibb – “When I’m 64″ 12 Jamie Cullum – “Every Night” 13 KISS – “Venus And Mars / Rock Show” 14 Paul Rodgers – “Let Me Roll It” 15 Roger Daltrey – “Helter Skelter” 16 Def Leppard – “Helen Wheels” 17 The Cure – “Hello Goodbye” (Feat. James McCartney) 18 Billy Joel – “Live And Let Die” 19 Chrissie Hynde – “Let It Be” 20 Robin Zander & Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick – “Jet” 21 Joe Elliott – “Hi Hi Hi” 22 Heart – “Letting Go” 23 Steve Miller – “Hey Jude” 24 Owl City – “Listen To What The Man Said” 25 Perry Farrell – “Got To Get You Into My Life” 26 Dion – “Drive My Car” 27 Allen Toussaint – “Lady Madonna” 28 Dr. John – “Let ‘Em In” 29 Smokey Robinson – “So Bad” 30 Airborne Toxic Event – “No More Lonely Nights” 31 Alice Cooper – “Eleanor Rigby” 32 Toots Hibbert with Sly & Robbie – “Come And Get It” 33 B.B. King – “On The Way” 34 Sammy Hagar – “Birthday”
It doesn’t get much better than this. This wasn’t a huge hit but it doesn’t mean that much when it’s The Band.
The Band did this song by playing musical chairs with the instruments. Most of them grabbed something different than what they normally played. Levon (drummer) sang and played Mandolin, Richard Manuel (piano) played drums, Rick Danko (bass) played fiddle, Garth Hudson (keyboards) played uprigtht piano and producer John Simon played Tuba.
Robbie Robertson wrote the song and was the only one playing their normal instrument…guitar.
The song peaked at #57 in the Billboard 100, #46 in Canada, and #16 in the UK in 1970. The song was on their second album The Band.
Songfacts
One of the Band’s first big European hit singles, “Rag Mama Rag” has some unusual instrumentation. Lead pianist Richard Manuel played drums, drummer Levon Helm played mandolin and sang lead, and bassist Rick Danko played a fiddle. This left the bass spot open on this track, and it was filled by the album’s producer, John Simon. He improvised a bassline on tuba, although he had no idea how to play the instrument. >>
Robbie Robertson is the only songwriter credited on this track, although other members of the group claim they made contributions. The song finds Levon Helm trying to convince his girl to come back home so she can “rag all over” his house. What he has in mind in unclear: “rag” could mean playing ragtime music (a possibility, considering the line “rosin up the bow”), but he might have more prurient intentions.
Rag Mama Rag
Rag Mama rag, can’t believe its true. Rag Mama Rag, what did you do? Crawled up to the railroad track Let the four nine-teen scratch my back
Sag mama sag now What’s come over you Rag Mama Rag, I’m a pulling out your gag. Gonna turn you lose like an old caboose, Got a tail I need a drag.
I ask about your turtle, And you ask about the weather, Well, I can’t jump the hurdle And we can’t get together.
We could be relaxing in my sleeping bag, But all you want to do for me mama Is rag Mama rag there’s no-where to go, Rag Mama rag. Come on resin up the bow.
Rag Mama rag, where do ya roam? Rag Mama rag, bring your skinny little body back home. Its dog eat dog and cat eat mouse, you can You can rag Mama rag all over my house.
Hail stones beating on the roof, The bourbon is a hundred proof, Its you and me and the telephone Our destiny is quite well known.
We don’t need to sit and brag. All we gotta do is Rag Mama rag Mama rag. Rag Mama rag Where do you roam? Rag Mama rag, bring your skinny little body back home
I would hear this song over at my relatives when I was young. They had two or three Elvis greatest hit albums so I got to know his music pretty well. Before Elvis entered the army he was as about has hot of an entertainer as you could get. He was rock and roll to many people…the Big E, the King, The Hip Shaking Man…
Elvis released this in 1956 and it was the B side to Hound Dog. That is a pretty good single to say the least! According to Joel Whitburn It is the only single in history to have both sides reach #1 in the US.
Don’t Be Cruel written by Otis Blackwell, a songwriter who came up with a lot of hits for Elvis. In addition to this, he also wrote “Return to Sender,” “All Shook Up,” and “One Broken Heart for Sale” for Elvis. He also wrote “Fever,” which was made famous by Peggy Lee, and “Great Balls Of Fire” for Jerry Lee Lewis. Blackwell died in 2002 at age 70.
Cheap Trick covered this in 1988. Their version peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #6 in New Zealand, and #77 in the UK. I did like this version also.
Joel Whitburn (writer): “As far as the two-sided Presley hit ‘Hound Dog” / “Don’t Be Cruel,’ I’ve always tabulated that single 45 as two #1 hits. ‘Hound Dog’ was the first title to chart and the first one to be listed as the lead #1 song. Billboard’s ‘Best Sellers in Stores’ chart listed the the #1 song on 8/18/56 as ‘Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel.’ It was also shown that way when it first topped the ‘Most Played in Juke Boxes’ chart on 9/1/56. There is absolutely no doubt that the initial sales and ‘buzz’ about this record was for ‘Hound Dog.’ It was a smash #1 hit right out of the box. As airplay began to favor ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ the two titles were flip-flopped at #1, with ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ actually showing more weeks as the #1 lead song. Again, I have always tabulated these two titles as two #1 songs. There is no way you can consider this 4-times platinum record as one #1 hit. And, neither does RIAA who awards gold and platinum selling records. They show ‘Hound Dog’ / ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ as both receiving platinum designations.”
From Songfacts
On Christmas Eve 1955, Otis Blackwell found himself on the streets in front of the Brill Building in New York City trying to stay warm. Things weren’t going well for Blackwell – it was raining and there were leaks in the soles of his shoes. His friend Leroy Kirkland walked by and asked Otis if he had written any more songs. Otis said yes. Over the next week, he sold 6 of them to a publishing company for $25 each. Management at The Brill Building liked him so much they offered him a full-time job writing, and Blackwell accepted. Not long after, Otis got some very good news: This up-and-coming rock star wanted to record one of his songs. The deal was, the guy wanted half the writer’s fee. Otis said, “No way I’m gonna give up half that song.” His friends convinced him that half of something was better than all of nothing. Besides, this new singer just might “make it” and if he did, Otis’ royalties would be tremendous. Over the next few days, Otis agreed. It wasn’t Elvis who wanted half the “writer’s fee.” It was his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. The song became one of Elvis’ biggest and longest running hits. (Thanks to the disc jockey, author and music historian Ron Foster.)
Elvis’ bass player Bill Black released an instrumental version of this in 1960 which hit US #11.
Don’t Be Cruel
You know I can be found Sitting home all alone If you can’t come around At least please telephone Don’t be cruel to who a heart that’s true
Baby, if I made you mad For something I might have said Please, let’s forget the past The future looks bright ahead Don’t be cruel to who a heart that’s true I don’t want no other love Baby it’s just you I’m thinking of
Don’t stop thinking of me Don’t make me feel this way Come on over here and love me You know what I want you to say Don’t be cruel to who a heart that’s true Why should we be apart? I really love you baby, cross my heart
Let’s walk up to the preacher And let us say I do Then you’ll know you’ll have me And I’ll know that I’ll have you, Don’t be cruel to who a heart that’s true I don’t want no other love, Baby it’s just you I’m thinking of
Don’t be cruel to who a heart that’s true Don’t be cruel to who a heart that’s true I don’t want no other love Baby it’s just you I’m thinking of
No matter how many times I’ve heard this song it sounds great.
Seger worked hard for his success. He spent years touring and in 1968 with Capitol Records he scored a hit with Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man. After that he didn’t have much success until his second stint with Capitol records.
He first left the label to record for Palladium, a Warner Bros. subsidiary run by his manager, Edward Andrews. Seger released three albums on Palladium, but when he delivered Beautiful Loser, Warner Bros. rejected it and Seger went back to Capitol. The album sold about as well as Seger’s previous releases, maybe 50,000 copies, mostly in Michigan. But his next release was the live album Live Bullet, recorded at two Detroit shows in 1975 and released in April 1976. With “Beautiful Loser” one of the standout tracks, the album proved a winner and had sold well over 100,000 by the time Seger released his next one, the breakthrough Night Moves. His sudden success stoked interest in his back catalog; Beautiful Loser ended up selling over 2 million.
Radio stations usually play the live version of “Beautiful Loser” together with “Traveling Man” off the 1976 Live Bullet album. The two songs are separate cuts but flow together perfectly.
Bob Seger:“I’ve never written the lyrics and tried to build the music around that. It’s usually a feel or a verse or a chorus, and the lyrics will come after I’ve decided that a certain pattern or groove or rhythm is cool. Then I’ll start singing gibberish over that and just find a lyrical idea that fits the ideas that I started out with.
Other times I’ll just sit down and say, ‘I wanna write a song called this.’ That’s how ‘Beautiful Loser’ happened. I just loved the title, which I got from a book of poetry from Leonard Cohen called Beautiful Losers, with an ‘s,’ and I thought it was a really cool title.
From Songfacts
This song is about people who set their goals so low, they never achieve anything. It is not about Seger personally. He told Creem magazine in a 1986 interview: “A lot of people think I wrote ‘Beautiful Loser’ about myself. I got the idea for that song from a book of Leonard Cohen poetry by the same name. The song was about underachievers in general. I very rarely write about myself that much. I draw on my own experiences like anyone else, but I’m not what you’d call auteuristic. I’m not like my songs at all. I’m a lot more up person than what I write.”
Cohen’s book that Seger refers to is called Beautiful Losers.
Seger took almost a year to write this. He played around with many different arrangements of the song until he got it right. In a 1994 interview with Music Connection, he explained:
Actually, I wrote three or four songs called ‘Beautiful Loser’ until I came up with the one that worked. But that’s a pretty rare thing.”
Glenn Frey, a member of the Eagles and a friend of Seger’s, was one of the first people Seger played this for. Frey loved it and helped Seger tweak it before it was released.
Seger spent a lot of time on the road, and he didn’t like to work on songs when he was touring. When it came time to make an album, he would work with his Silver Bullet Band, but also repair to Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, where he a cadre of very talented musicians served as his backing band.
“Beautiful Loser” was one of the tracks he recorded at Muscle Shoals, which had two standout keyboard players in their ranks: Barry Beckett and Spooner Oldham.
Beautiful Loser
He wants to dream like a young man With the wisdom of an old man He wants his home and security He wants to live like a sailor at sea
Beautiful loser Where you gonna fall? When you realize You just can’t have it all
He’s your oldest and your best friend If you need him, he’ll be there again He’s always willing to be second-best A perfect lodger, a perfect guest
Beautiful loser Read it on the wall And realize You just can’t have it all You just can’t have it all
You just can’t have it all Ohh, ohh, can’t have it all You can try, you can try, but you can’t have it all Oh yeah
He’ll never make any enemies, enemies, no He won’t complain if he’s caught in a freeze He’ll always ask, he’ll always say please
Beautiful loser Never take it all ‘Cause it’s easier And faster when you fall
You just don’t need it all You just don’t need it all You just don’t need it all Just don’t need it all
I remember this song when I was a young fellow. The Five Man Electrical Band was a rock band from Ottawa, Ontario. They started out as The Staccatos in 1963 and had success in the Canadian Charts between 1965-1975. In 1969 is when they changed their name to The Five Man Electrical Band. They had 8 top twenty hits and 4 top ten hits in Canada.
In America though they were known mostly for Signs but they did have a top 40 song called Absolutely Right. Signs was the B-Side to Absolutely Right.
This was written by the lead singer Les Emmerson. Emmerson wrote the song after taking a road trip on Route 66 in California, where he noticed many billboards that obscured the beautiful scenery. This posed a question: Who is allowed to put up signs that interfere with nature? This led to another query: Who gets to make the rules that appear on so many signs?
“Signs” was included on their second album in 1970, but not considered single-worthy by their record label, as it didn’t fit a standard pop format.
In 1970, it was issued as the B-side to the single “Hello Melinda Goodbye,” which peaked at #55 on the Canadian chart. Disk jockeys preferred the flip side, however, and started playing “Signs,” which was then released as an A-side in 1971.
It peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 and #4 in Canada in 1971.
The follow-up, “Absolutely Right,” also did well in America, peaking at #26 in the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada.
From Songfacts
The song gave voice to those without power or property rights, which in many cases were young people.
This song starts with a line that became one of the most memorable in rock: “And the sign said, ‘Long-haired freaky people need not apply.'”
By starting with the word “And,” we feel that we are picking up a story, and it’s clear that the singer has put a lot of thought into this. The first verse is a classic tale of how looks can be deceiving, as the difference between an “upstanding man” and a hippie can be something as superficial as hair.
The next verse finds the singer looking at a “no trespassing” sign and questioning its authority. This resonates with anyone who has seen beautiful beaches, vistas, and other points of nature marked as private property, often with nobody there to enjoy it.
We then enter a private club with a strict dress code, and we hear the line most willful wanderers have been confronted with: “You ain’t supposed to be here.”
Finally, we end up in church, which brings God into our story. If ever there is something that is open to all, it it God, but even in church, a donation is called for. At this point, our hero turns the tables and makes his own sign, thanking God for the wonder of life.
Tesla revived this song in 1990 when they recorded a live, acoustic version for their album Five Man Acoustical Jam, which was recorded at the Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia on July 2, 1990.
The band was on tour with Mötley Crüe, opening for the rockers on the Dr. Feelgood tour. July 2 was an off-day, so Tesla booked the acoustic show and had each band member pick a cover song to perform. Lead singer Jeff Keith picked “Signs,” a song he grew up listening to in Oklahoma. His bandmates, however, didn’t know the song, so Jeff had to round up a copy so they could learn it.
The song was the highlight of the performance, and the set was so well-received that it was released as an album, which they titled Five Man Acoustical Jam as an allusion to the original artist. Released as a single ahead of the album, the song made #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart, but didn’t crack the Hot 100. When the album started selling and MTV began airing the video, the song was re-released, making #8 on the Hot 100 in April 1991.
Tesla’s version was one of the first acoustic hit songs of the ’90s and helped launch the “Unplugged” trend. MTV ramped up their series of Unplugged concerts shortly after Tesla’s cover became a hit.
The line, “If God was here he’d tell you to your face, Man, you’re some kinda sinner” has a double-meaning, as “Man” could be just a throwaway expression, but could also be about man as a species.
In Tesla’s unedited version they replace the phrase “Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind” with “F–kin’ up the scenery, breakin’ my mind.”
Signs
And the sign said “Long-haired freaky people need not apply” So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why He said “You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you’ll do” So I took off my hat, I said “Imagine that. Huh! Me workin’ for you!” Whoa-oh-oh
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?
And the sign said anybody caught trespassin’ would be shot on sight So I jumped on the fence and-a yelled at the house, “Hey! What gives you the right?” “To put up a fence to keep me out or to keep mother nature in” “If God was here he’d tell you to your face, Man, you’re some kinda sinner”
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?
Now, hey you, mister, can’t you read? You’ve got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat You can’t even watch, no you can’t eat You ain’t supposed to be here The sign said you got to have a membership card to get inside Ugh!
And the sign said, “Everybody welcome. Come in, kneel down and pray” But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all, I didn’t have a penny to pay So I got me a pen and a paper and I made up my own little sign I said, “Thank you, Lord, for thinkin’ ’bout me. I’m alive and doin’ fine.” Wooo!
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?
I really like the sound they had at that time…it was dirty and raw.
For this song they got the idea from war stories they heard when they did a show at an American Air Force base during a tour of Europe. The four members wrote the song when they were in a grim deserted place in Zurich where they were playing for a small sum of money to an even smaller audience.
The band wanted to use this as the title of the album, but the record company thought it was too controversial and made them use “Paranoid,” another song on the album, instead. The album art, however, is a literal interpretation of a “War Pig,” showing a war “pig” with a sword and shield.
It was originally titled ‘Walpurgis’, an anniversary associated with witches and Satanists, but was changed on the recommendation of Black Sabbath’s record company. Ozzy released the original version on his 1997 album The Ozzman Cometh… the song though as the finish product was…just talk about the nightmare of War.
Geezer Butler : “Britain was on the verge of being brought into it, there was protests in the street, all kinds of anti -Vietnam things going on. War is the real Satanism. Politicians are the real Satanists. That’s what I was trying to say.”
Songfacts
This is one of many Black Sabbath songs that is often misinterpreted as evil. The song speaks out against the horrors of war.
On the US albums, this is listed as “War Pigs/Luke’s Wall.” “Luke’s Wall” is another name for the end of the song.
On the 1994 Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity In Black, Faith No More contributed a live cover version. Faith No More also covered this on their 1989 album The Real Thing.
War Pigs has been used as the name of various Black Sabbath tribute bands. We found one in Australia and another in Long Island, NY.
Ozzy’s former guitarist Zakk Wylde did a cover of this song after he went solo. Other artists who did covers: Slaves on Dope, Pig, Ether, Faith No More, Weezer, Boss Tweed, Red House Painters, Members Only, Badlands, Soulfly, Vital Remains, Ween, Sheavy, Gov’t Mule, Phish, Sacred Reich, Alice Donut, Flores Secas, Banda Arie, and Flores Secas.
This song is used for an encore in the video game Guitar Hero II for Playstation 2 and Xbox 360.
When the Sacramento band Tesla recorded this in 2007, lead guitarist Frank Hannon added a peace of Jimi Hendrix flavored “The Star Spangled Banner” to start the song.” It is the final track on Tesla’s Real To Reel 2-disk cover album, which is a tribute to Tesla’s mentors.
The song starts with the lyric, “Generals gathered in their masses. Just like witches at black masses.” Bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler was asked during a 2013 interview with Spin magazine why he used “masses” twice rather than coming up with a different word. “I just couldn’t think of anything else to rhyme with it,” he admitted. “And a lot of the old Victorian poets used to do stuff like that – rhyming the same word together. It didn’t really bother me. It wasn’t a lesson in poetry or anything.”
The song soundtracked a TV spot previewing the 2014 movie, 300: Rise Of An Empire.
War Pigs
Generals gathered in their masses Just like witches at black masses Evil minds that plot destruction Sorcerers of death’s construction In the fields the bodies burning As the war machine keeps turning Death and hatred to mankind Poisoning their brainwashed minds Oh lord yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor
Yeah
Time will tell on their power minds Making war just for fun Treating people just like pawns in chess Wait ’till their judgment day comes Yeah!
Now in darkness world stops turning Ashes where the bodies burning No more war pigs have the power Hand of God has struck the hour Day of judgment, God is calling On their knees the war pig’s crawling Begging mercy for their sins Satan laughing spreads his wings Oh lord yeah!
This song and Jessica are their two most well known instrumentals.
The Allman Brothers…much like the Grateful Dead could deliver live. They constantly toured early in their careers and played free concerts in parks all over to grow their audience. They released one of the best live albums of all time with At Fillmore East.
This song was originally on their second album Idlewild South in 1970 and later on their live album At Fillmore East.
Allmans guitarist Dickey Betts wrote this song for a girl, but not the one in the title. Elizabeth Reed Napier (b. November 9, 1845) is buried at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia, where Betts would often write.
He used the name from her headstone as the title because he did not want to reveal who the song was really about: a girl he had an affair with who was Boz Scaggs’ girlfriend.
Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are buried in the same cemetery as Elizabeth Reed Napier.
From Songfacts
This was the first original instrumental song by The Allman Brothers.
Betts wrote this is based on Miles Davis’ “All Blues.” While Davis had been incorporating elements of rock into his jazz, Betts used pieces of jazz for this rock instrumental. Jazz rhythms make excellent use of the two-drummer format the Allmans use.
This is one of their live favorites. It usually evolves into a lengthy jam.
At concerts, this was a showcase for Allman’s drummers Jaimoe and Butch Trucks, who performed a drum solo at the end.
The live version on At Fillmore East takes up almost a whole side. Because of the extended jams, it became a double album, but the band insisted it be priced close to a single album.
The earliest known recordings of this song are from the band’s Fillmore East performances on February 11, 13 and 14, 1970. The Allman Brothers were on a bill with the Grateful Dead and Love; the Dead’s soundman Owsley “Bear” Stanley kept tape rolling and got the recordings, which were compiled into his “Sonic Journal” project and released in 2018 as Allman Brothers Band Fillmore East February 1970.
We have here a Stones- Beatles collaboration…a slight one with Mick Jagger is said to be singing backups to this song.The John and Paul returned the favor on the Stones song We Love You.
I first heard this on the Magical Mystery Tour album. I love the bass sound that Paul got on this song.
The cool sounding instrument on this song is the the Clavioline which John plays. It was a forerunner to the synthesizer.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote parts of this separately and combined it to make one song… something they would repeat on “A Day In The Life.” At one point, the song was called “One Of The Beautiful People.”
On August 7th, 1967, just three weeks after the single was released in the US, George Harrison and entourage decided to make a brief visit to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California, to visit the highly publicized “beautiful people” of the area and played the song on an acoustic after one was produced from a growing crowd. George didn’t stay too long.
Near the end of the song legend has it that John sings “Baby, you’re a rich f*g jew” as a reference to Brian Epstein toward the end of the song. Whether it is…it’s hard to tell. Whatever is in your head when you listen…it can become that. I’ve never read where John admitted it…and if he would have done that…I don’t see him shying away from admitting it.
Eddie Kramer…future producer for the Jimi Hendrix played the vibraphone.
From Songfacts
This song is about how everybody can have the things that matter, and it has nothing to do with material possessions. The Beatles were rich, but they claimed that money was not that important to them.
It was rumored that The Beatles sang “Baby you’re a rich fag Jew” as a slur to their manager, Brian Epstein. He was rich, gay and Jewish, but The Beatles never said this was about him. Epstein died later in that year when he overdosed on sleeping pills.
The Beatles started working on this song with the intention of using it on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. It was used in the 1968 movie, but didn’t appear on the soundtrack.
Mick Jagger sang backup. McCartney and Lennon returned the favor by singing on The Stones’ “We Love You.”
Brian Jones, the guitarist from The Rolling Stones, played an oboe on this. A few years earlier, Lennon and McCartney gave The Stones a song called “I Wanna Be Your Man,” which was one of their first hits, and helped convince Mick Jagger and Keith Richards that they should write their own songs.
This was released as the B-side of “All You Need Is Love.”
Lennon played clavioline and piano on the song and George Harrison played tambourine. There is actually no guitar on this song at all. Paul played bass and piano as well.
This was released in mono, but in 1971 it was remixed in stereo along with several other tracks for a German version of Magical Mystery Tour. The stereo version is the one that is now the most common.
The comedy rap trio The Fat Boys performed this song in their 1987 movie Disorderlies.
In 2010, this song was used at the end of the movie The Social Network to punctuate the raging financial success of the guys who invented Facebook. It was one of the few Beatles songs licensed to a movie in its original form, meaning the Beatles version was used. Apple Corp. is very particular about where Beatles songs are used.
At one point in this song, The Beatles ask, “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?” The phrase “beautiful people” was used a lot in 1967 as a derisive way to describe the social elite. A popular book by Marilyn Bender was published that year called The Beautiful People: a Candid Examination of a Cultural Phenomenon – the Marriage of Fashion and Society in the ’60s.
Baby You’re A Rich Man
How does it feel to be One of the beautiful people Now that you know who you are What do you want to be And have you traveled very far? Far as the eye can see
How does it feel to be One of the beautiful people How often have you been there Often enough to know What did you see when you were there Nothing that doesn’t show
Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man, too You keep all your money in a big brown bag Inside a zoo, what a thing to do Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man, too
How does it feel to be One of the beautiful people Tuned to a natural E Happy to be that way Now that you’ve found another key What are you going to play
Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man, too You keep all your money in a big brown bag Inside a zoo, what a thing to do Baby, baby, you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man, too, oh Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man (baby) Baby you’re a rich man, too Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man Baby you’re a rich man, too
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