Joe Walsh’s career was slowing down when this came out. It was Walsh’s first album of entirely new music since Got Any Gum?
In 1990, Walsh reunited with former Barnstorm drummer Joe Vitale to co-produce Ordinary Average Guy. This album also features vocal and writing contributions by former Survivor lead vocalist Jimi Jamison as well as backing vocals by Ringo Starr.
This wasn’t Walsh’s best release by a long shot but the song was enjoyable. The song was written by Joe Walsh and Joe Vitale.
Walsh wrote this about his mid-life crisis. It deals with escaping the fame and fortune associated with the life of a rock star. This is a parody of Walsh’s previous release, “Life’s been Good to Me,” which is about rock star excess.
The song was off of Ordinary Average Guy and it peaked at #112 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1991. The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks.
Ordinary Average Guy
I’m just an ordinary average guy My friends all are boring And so am I We’re just ordinary average guys
We all lead ordinary average lives With average kids And average wives We all go bowling at the bowling lanes Drink a few beers Bowl a few frames We’re just ordinary average guys Ordinary average guys
And every Saturday we work in the yard Pick up the dog doo Hope that it’s hard (woof woof) Take out the garbage and clean out the garage My friend’s got a Chrysler I’ve got a Dodge We’re just ordinary average guys Ordinary average guys
Ordinary average guy(3x) Ordinary average average guys
Ordinary average guy(3x) Ordinary average average average guys
The Ramones always seem to brighten my day. No pretentious songs or long drawn out solos. They get to the point and fast. This song is a little different their previous songs and it was one of their biggest hits.
Dee Dee Ramone and producer Daniel Rey wrote this song for the 1989 Stephen King movie Pet Sematary. Another Ramones song, Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, also appears in the film.
Stephen King was a big Ramones fan and even mentioned them in the book.
The music video for Pet Sematary was filmed at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York village…it was filmed in 1989. The video features cameos by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie.
The song peaked at #4 in the Billboard Modern Rock Charts in 1989. The song was on the album Brain Drain.
Marky Ramone:“Stephen King is a big Ramones fan. … He’s a great guy, very tall, very intense-looking. His eyes are very intense, you can see he read a lot … and we hit it off. He asked us to do a song for the movie soundtrack. … He gave Dee Dee the book to read; he read the book and wrote the song in 40 minutes. I’m forever grateful I met the guy. He wrote a nice quote in the book about me. So thank you, Stephen.”
This is a link for more info on the song and video.
Under the arc of a weather stain boards Ancient goblins, and warlords Come out the ground, not making a sound The smell of death is all around And the night when the cold wind blows No one cares, nobody knows
I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery I don’t want to live my life again I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery I don’t want to live my life again
Follow Victor to the sacred place This ain’t a dream, I can’t escape Molars and fangs, the clicking of bones Spirits moaning among the tombstones And the night, when the moon is bright Someone cries, something ain’t right
I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery I don’t want to live my life again I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery I don’t want to live my life again
The moon is full, the air is still All of the sudden I feel a chain Victor is grinning, flesh is rotting away Skeletons dance, I curse this day And the night when the wolves cry out Listen close and you can hear me shout
I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery I don’t want to live my life again I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery I don’t want to live my life again, oh, no, oh, no I don’t want to live my life, not again, oh, no, oh, oh I don’t want to live my life, not again, oh, no, no, no I don’t want to live my life, not again, oh, no, no, no
This is a great sounding song. He mentions historical figures by first name…I think John Lennon, Jerry Garcia, Vincent Van Gogh are among them and includes more…I love the guitar sound. I would recommend checking them out. Thanks to Hanspostcard for pointing them out.
This is a local band out of Pittsburgh that formed in the mid 80s at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where most of them were enrolled. They started out as a cover band and soon began playing original songs.
They were on their own label while making their first albums and then MCA took notice. They signed with them in 1996 but MCA started to pay more attention to their label mate Blink – 182 and didn’t push The Clarks. They signed with Razor & Tie after MCA and achieved success locally but not nationally.
The Clarks who play Power Pop have released 12 studio and live CDs selling nearly quarter of a million copies. they have built a fan base from over 20 years of performances an they sell out 7,500 seat venues in Pittsburgh and venues in the East coast and Mid-West.
This song was on the Let It Go album released in 2000.
It originally appeared on singer Scott Blasey’s 1999 solo album, Shine, but was then reworked by the entire band for its appearance on this album.
Dave Marsh Rock Critic: “They’ve got first-rate songs, they play together the way only bands who’ve truly lived with each other’s chops can, they can sing, and as far as I can tell, at the end of the story, they get the girl. What more do you want?”
Born Too Late
Vincent will you teach me how to paint Teresa will I ever be a saint John I really think your songs are great I was born too late
William will you teach me how to write Cassius will you show me how to fight Thomas A. I think I see the light I was born tonight
I’ve had a hard time leaving this town I’ve been losing everything that I’ve found I’m gonna search the sky, kiss the ground Build it up and tear it back down
I’ve had a hard time leaving this place I’ve been counting all the lines on my face I’m gonna curse the sky, hit the ground What goes up comes tumbling down
Jimi show me how you play that thing Elvis will I ever be a king and Jerry all the joy and love you bring I was born to sing
Martin Luther King show me the way Jesus Buddha teach me how to pray Christopher I think I see the bay I was born today
Whenever I hear this song I think of a story that Dick Cavett told. He said he met Janis in a restaurant and a Janis song was playing on a jukebox while they sat down. Cavett asked Janis what the name of it was…and she said “Down On Me.” Dick said “Wow, I guess that is one you cannot sing on television”…Janis smiled and said “Dick, it’s a gospel song.”
It was a traditional gospel song from the 20s that Janis reworked. The song was on the debut album of Big Brother & the Holding Company featuring Janis and the album had the same name. The song peaked at #43 in the Billboard 100 in 1967. The album was sloppy…Big Brother and the Holding Company were really raw with no polish. On their second album “Cheap Thrills” they would improve but Janis left after the that album to work with better musicians.
This is not the best Joplin song but I do like it.
Down On Me
Down on me, down on me, Looks like everybody in this whole round world They’re down on me.
Love in this world is so hard to find When you’ve got yours and I got mine. That’s why it looks like everybody in this whole round world They’re down on me.
Saying they’re down on me, down on me. Looks like everybody in this whole round world Down on me.
When you see a hand that’s held out toward you, Give it some love, some day it may be you. That’s why it looks like everybody in this whole round world They’re down on me, yeah.
Lord, they’re down on me, down on me, oh! Looks like everybody in this whole round world Is down on me.
Believe in your brother, have faith in man, Help each other, honey, if you can Because it looks like everybody in this whole round world Is down on me.
I’m saying down on me, oh, down on me, oh! It looks like everybody in this whole round world Down on me!
This is one of the most remembered songs from Jimi. According to Hendrix biographer Harry Shapiro, the song was probably inspired by Heather Taylor, who eventually married Roger Daltrey, the lead singer for The Who.
Kathy Etchingham, Jimi’s girlfriend at the time, also claimed to be one of many inspirations for “Foxy Lady.” I’m sure there are/were a lot of claims.
Hendrix recorded this on December 13, 1966. That same day, he made his first TV appearance on the British show Ready Steady Go. The Jimi Hendrix Experience had been together only 2 months at that point, but things moved very quickly. Three days later, their first single, “Hey Joe” was released.
Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 153 on its list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
The song was on the Are You Experienced album released in 1967. It peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts, #15 in Canada and #2 in the UK
Foxy Lady peaked at #67 in the Billboard 100.
From Songfacts
Hendrix opened for The Monkees on their 1967 tour. When he played this, the young girls who came for The Monkees and had no interest in Hendrix shouted “Davy!” when Hendrix sang “Lady,” resulting in “Foxy Davy,” and turning it into a tribute to their idol, Monkees lead singer Davy Jones.
This was featured in the movie Wayne’s World. It is used in a scene where Garth (Dana Carvey), sings it while thinking about his dream woman, played by Donna Dixon.
In the booklet for the Experience Hendrix CD, Hendrix was quoted as saying this was the only happy song he had ever written. He said that he usually just doesn’t feel happy when writing songs.
The title of this song has two alternate spellings: “Foxey Lady” (for release in America) and “Foxy Lady” (for release in the UK).
Foxy Lady
Foxey, foxey You know you’re a cute little heart breaker, ha Foxey, yeah And you know you’re a sweet little love maker, ha Foxey
I want to take you home, haha yeah I won’t do you no harm no, ha You got to be all mine, all mine Ooh foxey lady, yeah Foxey, foxey
Now-a I see you come down on the scene Oh foxey You make me want to get up and a scream Foxey, oh baby listen now I’ve made up my mind Yeah, I’m tired of wasting all my precious time You got to be all mine, all mine Foxey lady Here I come Foxey
Yeah I’m gonna take you home I won’t do you no harm no You got to be all mine, all mine Foxey lady Here I come baby, I’m commin’ to get ya
Ooh foxey lady yeah yeah You look so good foxey Oh yeah foxey Yeah give us some foxey Foxey foxey lady Foxey lady
Rick Danko conveys so much hurt, loneliness and heartache in this song. You can feel his pain with every word he sings. It’s one of the best vocals of pure suffering I’ve ever heard. He sounds like a man at the end of his tether because of a hopeless love affair.
The Band’s later material sometimes gets neglected since their first two albums were so good. This song was on the Northern Lights – Southern Cross album released in 1975.
The album peaked at #26 in the Billboard 100 and #27 in Canada.
Robbie Robertson: “I thought about the song in terms of saying that time heals all wounds,” he said. “Except in some cases, and this was one of those cases.”
Robbie Robertson: “I wrote this song specifically for Rick to sing, and when we first started discovering the possibilities, it kept expanding to more levels of emotion. What Garth and I could add to finalize the statement of this song was purely instinctual.”
From Songfacts
This was included on the soundtrack to The Last Waltz, a 1978 documentary about The Band directed by Martin Scorsese, named after the group’s 1976 concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The group also performed the song during the concert, which was a basis for the film.
This was included on the sound Solomon Burke covered this on the 2005 album Make Do With What You Got. Other covers include My Morning Jacket on the 2007 album Endless Highway: The Music of The Band and the 2012 album Love for Levon, and Over the Rhine on the 2013 album Meet Me at the Edge of the World.
It Makes No Difference
It makes no difference where I turn I can’t get over you and the flame still burns It makes no difference, night or day The shadow never seems to fade away
And the sun don’t shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door
Now there’s no love As true as the love That dies untold But the clouds never hung so low before
It makes no difference how far I go Like a scar the hurt will always show It makes no difference who I meet They’re just a face in the crowd On a dead-end street And the sun don’t shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door
These old love letters Well, I just can’t keep Cause like the gambler says Read ’em and weep And the dawn don’t rescue me no more
Without your love I’m nothing at all Like an empty hall it’s a lonely fall Since you’ve gone it’s a losing battle Stampeding cattle They rattle the walls
And the sun don’t shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door
Well, I love you so much It’s all I can do Just to keep myself from telling you That I never felt so alone before
God have mercy on the man Who doubts what he’s sure of
I was 20 years old when I heard that lyric for the first time and a chill went through me. Brilliant Disguise I would play over and over again.
Springsteen sings this from the viewpoint of a man who is conflicted over a romantic relationship. Although he claims the song is not directly about him, Springsteen was having problems in his marriage to his first wife, Julianne Phillips, and they divorced soon after.
This was the first single off Tunnel Of Love, an album Springsteen recorded in his home studio in New Jersey. Tunnel of Love is one of my favorite albums by Springsteen. The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, Canada, and the UK.
The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, and #20 in the UK in 1987.
Bruce Springsteen: “I guess it sounds like a song of betrayal – who’s that person sleeping next to me, who am I? Do I know enough about myself to be honest with that person? But a funny thing happens: songs shift their meanings when you sing them, they shift their meanings in time, they shift their meanings with who you sing them with. When you sing this song with someone you love, it turns into something else.”
Brilliant Disguise
I hold you in my arms As the band plays What are those words whispered baby Just as you turn away I saw you last night Out on the edge of town I wanna read your mind To know just what I’ve got in this new thing I’ve found So tell me what I see When I look in your eyes Is that you baby Or just a brilliant disguise
I heard somebody call your name From underneath our willow I saw something tucked in shame Underneath your pillow Well I’ve tried so hard baby But I just can’t see What a woman like you Is doing with me So tell me who I see When I look in your eyes Is that you baby Or just a brilliant disguise
Now look at me baby Struggling to do everything right And then it all falls apart When out go the lights I’m just a lonely pilgrim I walk this world in wealth I want to know if it’s you I don’t trust ‘Cause I damn sure don’t trust myself
Now you play the loving woman I’ll play the faithful man But just don’t look too close Into the palm of my hand We stood at the alter The gypsy swore our future was right But come the wee wee hours Well maybe baby the gypsy lied So when you look at me You better look hard and look twice Is that me baby Or just a brilliant disguise
Tonight our bed is cold I’m lost in the darkness of our love God have mercy on the man Who doubts what he’s sure of
The song was written by Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons. Waylon Jennings was in Moman’s American Studios in Nashville recording Luckenbach, Texas when Willie Nelson happened to drop by for no particular reason.
Jennings saw him and asked him to sing with him on this. So Willie ended up adding his voice to the final verse, providing a couple of lyrical changes in the process.
Chips Moman used reverse psychology on Waylon to get him to record this song. Chips told him “here’s a song that you can’t cut because I’ve got it promised to someone else, but can I get your opinion on it?” It worked, Waylon took the bait and told Moman “I’m gonna cut that song.”|
Suddenly the tiny town of Luckenbach was besieged by network reporters and camera crews. Over one hundred city-limit signs have been stolen from the town since Jennings’ famous record was first released in 1977, and ironically neither Waylon nor the song’s writers Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons ever made their way to Luckenbach, Texas.
The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard Country Charts, #25 in the Billboard 100, and #1 in the Canadian Country Charts, and #46 in the Canadian RPM Charts in 1977.
Luckenbach Texas
Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas With Waylon and Willie and the boys This successful life we’re livin’ Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys Between Hank Williams’ pain songs and Newbury’s train songs and “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain” Out in Luckenbach, Texas, ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain
So baby, let’s sell your diamond ring Buy some boots and faded jeans and go away This coat and tie is choking me In your high society, you cry all day We’ve been so busy keepin’ up with the Jones Four car garage and we’re still building on Maybe it’s time we got back to the basics of love
Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas With Waylon and Willie and the boys This successful life we’re livin’ got us feudin’ Like the Hatfield and McCoys Between Hank Williams’ pain songs and Newbury’s train songs and “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain” Out in Luckenbach, Texas, ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain
Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas Willie and Waylon and the boys This successful life we’re livin’s got us feudin’ Like the Hatfield and McCoys Between Hank Williams’ pain songs And Jerry Jeff’s train songs and “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain” Out in Luckenbach, Texas, there ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain
Last Train to London was on the Discovery album released in 1979. Dave (A Sound Day) covered this album and he has some great trivia on who the model was on the cover. Click on there and see who it was…it will probably surprise you.
I had this album and there are two songs I really liked off of it other than the big hits. One of them is this one and the other was The Diary of Horace Wimp.
Jeff was happy to admit that he appreciated disco. Shine a Little Love and Last Train To London certainly pointed that way.
This album generated four top-ten UK singles, a successful new milestone in spite of the fact that this was the first which the group did not support with a tour.
Last Train To London peaked at #39 in the Billboard 100, #28 in Canada, and #8 in the UK.
Discovery peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Chart, #1 in the UK and #3 in Canada.
Jeff Lynne: “I love disco. I love it and I always have loved it, ever since I first heard that ‘bang, bang, bang, bang!’ And I realized, ‘Wow! You just keep the bangs in and fill the holes in with something else.’ And it worked. I mean Shine A Little Love is the perfect example, right there. And Last Train To London. I really enjoyed doing disco.”
Last Train To London
It was 9-29, 9-29 back street big city The Sun was going’ down, there was music all around It felt so right
It was one of those nights One of those nights when you feel the world stop turning You were standing there, there was music in the air I should have been away, but I knew I’d have to stay
Last train to London, just heading out Last train to London, just leaving town But I really want tonight to last forever I really wanna be with you Let the music play on down the line tonight
It was one of those nights One of those nights when you feel the fire is burning Everybody was there, everybody to share, it felt so right
There you were on your own Looking like you were the only one around I had to be with you, nothing else that I could do I should have been away, but I knew I’d have to say
Last train to London, just heading out Last train to London, just leaving town But I really want tonight to last forever I really wanna be with you Let the music play on down the line tonight
Underneath a starry sky Time was still but hours must really have rushed by I didn’t realize, but love was in your eyes I really should have gone, but love went on and on
Last train to London, just heading out Last train to London, just leaving town But I really want tonight to last forever I really wanna be with you Let the music play on down the line tonight
One of the great guitar riffs in rock…very melodic and sounds great on a guitar.
John Lennon said he borrowed from the song “Watch Your Step” by the American blues musician Bobby Parker. I Feel Fine was released in late 1964. It was the A side of the single with She’s A Woman on the B side.
The first note of this song marked the first time feedback was used on a major release. It was created when John Lennon leaned his electric guitar against an amplifier and Paul McCartney played a note on his bass, creating a strangely appealing feedback loop.
The band thought it sounded great, but in this pre-Hendrix era, feedback was considered a technical malfunction and not an artistic enhancement.Producer George Martin was always open to new ideas and agreed to insert it at the beginning of the song. Paul would say that he let them experiment.
The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, Canada, UK, and New Zealand in 1965.
From Songfacts
An early Beatles track, “I Feel Fine” lyrically is a simple love song about a guy who is crazy about his girl. It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s effective:
She’s so glad, she’s telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know
He buys her diamond rings, you know
The refrain is typical of Lennon’s songwriting, with the three long notes: “I’m so glad.” The sudden explosive refrain in harmonies is similar to Giovanni Gabrieli’s grand concerto “In ecclesiis,” an early baroque-music-piece.
There is a very faint sound at the end of the song that was rumored to be barking dogs. It’s actually just McCartney goofing around.
The Beatles included this in their setlist when they toured the US in August 1965. Prior to their famous Shea Stadium appearance on August 15, they taped a performance of this song and five others for an Ed Sullivan Show episode that aired September 12.
The group made two music videos for this song as part of a one-day shoot where they banged out takes for four others as well. These were not high-concept films: just the band having some fun while lip-synching the tracks. The first “I Feel Fine” video got pretty goofy, with Ringo riding a stationary bike. For the second, the band simply sits down and eats lunch. This later version wasn’t released until 2015 when it was included on the 1+ collection.
The Ventures incorporated the riff into their surf rock instrumental version of “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” on their 1965 Christmas album.
In America, this knocked “Come See About Me” by The Supremes from the top spot. “I Feel Fine” stayed for three weeks, at which point “Come See About Me” returned to bump it off.
I Feel Fine
Baby’s good to me, you know She’s happy as can be, you know She said so I’m in love with her and I feel fine
Baby says she’s mine, you know She tells me all the time, you know She said so I’m in love with her and I feel fine
I’m so glad that she’s my little girl She’s so glad, she’s telling all the world That her baby buys her things, you know He buys her diamond rings, you know She said so She’s in love with me and I feel fine
Baby says she’s mine, you know She tells me all the time, you know She said so I’m in love with her and I feel fine
I’m so glad that she’s my little girl She’s so glad, she’s telling all the world That her baby buys her things, you know He buys her diamond rings, you know She said so She’s in love with me and I feel fine She’s in love with me and I feel fine, mmm
This is officially a country record but with pop leanings. Whatever it is…it still stands up and is really good. I heard this song when it came out and bought the album. The band touches different genres on this album. The song does remind me a little of Dwight Yoakam.
The Mavericks are a country band that combine Tex-Mex, neotraditional country music, Latin, and rockabilly influences. The Mavericks were founded in 1989 in Miami, Florida.
“What a Crying Shame” was also used as the title of their third studio album. It was released in 1994 with songs like “O What a Thrill,” “Here Goes My Heart,” “I Should Have Been True,” and “All That Heaven Will Allow” (a Springsteen cover).
The song peaked at #25 in the Country US Hot Country Songs and #6 in the Canadian Country Charts 1993.
What A Crying Shame
Wasn’t I good to you Didn’t I show it And if I ever hurt you I didn’t know it
If you think I don’t care Then you’re mistaken My love was always there But now my heart’s breakin’
(Oh) baby oh what a crying shame To let it all slip away And call it yesterday Oh baby my life would be so blue My heart would break in two Oh what a crying shame
‘Cause I believed in you From the beginning I thought our love was true But now it’s all ending
(Oh) baby oh what a crying shame To let it all slip away And call it yesterday Oh baby my life would be so blue My heart would break in two Oh what a crying shame
(Oh) baby oh what a crying shame To let it all slip away And call it yesterday Oh baby my life would be so blue My heart would break in two Oh what a crying shame Oh what a crying shame Oh what a crying shame Oh what a crying shame Oh what a crying shame
Procol Harum wrote and performed one of my favorite songs of all time…A Whiter Shade of Pale. The band formed in 1967 partly out of a band called The Paramounts.
Conquistador was on their self titled debut album. It was released as a single in 1967 but the studio version was not a hit.
This became a hit when Procol Harum recorded it live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra on November 18, 1971. It was released in 1972 on the aptly titled album Procol Harum Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
The song peaked at#16 in the Billboard 100 and #7 in Canada in 1972.
Conquistador – a conqueror, especially one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.
Gary Brooker: “I would say something off of the Edmonton Symphony Live album. I don’t mind which one, really. But it always gives one a great deal of pleasure if you know that when you sing live, that you sing as well or better than you did in the studio. And, of course, when you get excited, when you’re playing on stage, a bit more adrenaline, it always fits well in with the feeling. When we played in Edmonton with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra that first time, it was a very inspiring evening, and there was a lot of good music going on from everybody, and the vocals had to get over it all.”
From Songfacts
Procol Harum’s lyricist Keith Reid told us the story behind this song: “Gary Brooker and I, before we formed Procol Harum, when we were just working together as songwriters and getting into it, we had this regular deal where he lived about 40 miles from London near the ocean, and I’d jump on a train once a week and go visit him. He’d have a bunch of my lyrics and he’d play me whatever he had been working on. This particular time, though, I’d got down there and he’d been working on a tune. He said, ‘What does this sound like to you?’ And I said, ‘Oh, conquistador.’ It had a little bit of a Spanish flavor to it. I went into another room and started writing the words there and then. 99 out of 100 of those Procol Harum songs were written the words first, and then were set to music. But that particular one, the words hadn’t existed before he had the musical idea.”
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers who set out to conquer the Americas after their discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Conquistador
Conquistador your stallion stands in need of company And like some angel’s haloed brow You reek of purity
I see your armor plated breast Has long since lost its sheen And in your death masked face There are no signs which can be seen
And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind
Conquistador a vulture sits, upon your silver sheath And in your rusty scabbard now, the sand has taken seed And though your jewel-encrusted blade Has not been plundered still The sea has washed across your face And taken of its fill
And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind
Conquistador there is no time, I must pay my respect And though I came to jeer at you I leave now with regret And as the gloom begins to fall I see there is no, only all And though you came with sword held high You did not conquer, only die
And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind
And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind
Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan
I love that line. This song has a cool simple guitar riff that starts it off into the Grateful Dead’s familiar shuffle beat. It’s a song that is commercial sounding and I don’t understand why it didn’t dent the charts. It’s a straight ahead rocker that has a great hook.
The song was released as a single with “Loose Lucy” as the B-side in 1974. It was on the album From The Mars Hotel. The album did peak at #16 in the Billboard Album Charts.
“U.S. Blues” grew out of a 1972 Grateful Dead song “One More Saturday Night.” Robert Hunter, the Dead’s lyricist wrote the words and Jerry Garcia wrote the music. They had a great writing partnership.
The song changed a lot through Hunter’s many rewrites. At some points it was a forceful anti-military song, but the final result isn’t so serious. It’s a fun song that the Dead frequently played live.
P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan are mentioned in the lyric.
P.T. Barnum – (1810-1891), showman, author. Born in Connecticut, Barnum began his career as showman in 1835 when he bought and exhibited slave who claimed to be 161 years old and the nurse of George Washington. Seven years later he opened his American Museum, in New York City, exhibiting the Fiji Mermaid (half monkey, half fish), General Tom Thumb (a midget less than three feet tall), and the original Siamese Twins, Chang and Eng. He also arranged the American tour of Jenny Lind, known as the Swedish Nightingale. After serving as mayor of Bridgeport and as a member of the Connecticut legislature, he organized “The Greatest Show on Earth,” a circus that opened in Brooklyn, New York, in 1871. A merger in 1881 created Barnum and Bailey’s.”
Charlie Chan – He is a fictional character…a pudgy, wise, smiling Chinese detective living in Hawaii who appears in a number of stores by Earl Derr Diggers. Chan has a large and constantly growing family–a son in the latter tales begins to learn the sleuthing business from his father–and Charlie is given to philosophical reflections, many of them supposedly culled from Chinese sages. … Chan first appeared in The House Without a Key (1925), later in other novels, in the movies, and in many radio sketches.”
From Songfacts
Dead co-founder Bob Weir told Dupree’s Diamond News in their 18th issue (May 1991) that the song wasn’t meant to be favorable of Uncle Sam and American culture. “We have our pantheon, and one of the figures in the pantheon is Uncle Sam. He’s sort of like the godfather figure of American culture. So we actually have a fair bit of respect for him. And he comes around in different guises, you know – in our little region, he comes around as a skeleton, but he’s still wearing the same hat.”
“Uncle Sam,” who appears in the line, “I’m Uncle Sam, how do you do?” refers to a mythological character representing the United States government. The character first arose during the war of 1812. Uncle Sam appears in many contexts of varying seriousness, but one of the most consistent is as a military recruiter. During World War II it was common to see posters with Uncle Sam’s visage and the words “I Want You for U.S. Army.”
The lyric “blue suede shoes” in the first line refers to the song of the same name.
US Blues
Red and white, blue suede shoes, I’m Uncle Sam, how do you do? Gimme five, I’m still alive, ain’t no luck, I learned to duck. Check my pulse, it don’t change. Stay seventy-two come shine or rain. Wave the flag, pop the bag, rock the boat, skin the goat. Wave that flag, wave it wide and high.
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my. I’m Uncle Sam, that’s who I am; Been hidin’ out in a rock and roll band. Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan. Shine your shoes, light your fuse. Can you use them ol’ U.S. Blues? I’ll drink your health, share your wealth, run your life, steal your wife. Wave that flag, wave it wide and high.
Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my. Back to back chicken shack. Son of a gun, better change your act. We’re all confused, what’s to lose? You can call this all the United States Blues. Wave that flag, wave it wide and high. Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my.
The song was credited to Keith Moon, Towser and Jason; the latter two “composers” being Pete Townshend and John Entwistle’s actual pet dogs.
I know this instrumental mostly for the drumming..and for vocals by…you guessed it… Towser and Jason…Pete and John’s dogs. This was the B side to Pinball Wizard in some countries. When they flipped the single about the deaf, dumb, and blind kid…they would hear this odd instrumental.
I found an a few Neil Peart questions answers and I thought I would post it along with this song.
Neil Peart: I told you what a big Who fan I was. When that song first started, I didn’t recognize it. It’s been probably 20 years since I’ve heard it. I thought, “Who’s around that can play like that?” I was really knocked out. Then the answer became clear. Of course. It was Keith Moon.
Question: He wrote the song.
Neil Peart: Yeah, well…. (laughs). It’s one of the craziest songs known to man. So that doesn’t surprise me.
Question: If he was just hitting the scene today, do you think he could get away with playing like that? Would there be a venue for his style of playing?
Neil Peart: Yeah. He proved it later on with the Who’s Next album, for instance, where he had to play with sequencers. He was playing to true metronomic time, but he was able to average himself over it. In the same terms that we were just discussing, he could play all around that metronomic time and still be bound by it.
Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers):I got the partying from Keith Moon. As you can see, there are ghosts. Keith Moon was the first guy I ever heard who incorporated such wild abandon. He had such personality, and it came out more in his playing than almost any other musician. No one else played like that. He was the first one I heard incorporate crashes in the middle of his fills. Live At Leeds and Quadrophenia are my favorite Who records. I don’t play anything like Moon, but what really moved me was that he always sounded like he was having so much fun playing the drums.
Roger Taylor (Queen Drummer): Keith Moon was great. In the early days, he was absolutely brilliant. He had a totally unique style; he didn’t owe anyone anything. The first time I saw him perform was with the Who in ’64 or ’65. It was just great. The Who was an outrageous band—real energy, real art. I loved them
Neil Peart:I think (Gene Krupa’s) rock ‘n’ roll heir was probably Keith Moon. In fact, I see a lot of direct similarities between their playing styles, even though Keith Moon showed even more abandon and was more sloppy. But he was a drummer who really captured my imagination because he was so free and so exciting because of his freedom. It opened me up.
At the same yard sale that I purchased LA Woman by the Doors for 10 cents I got a Chuck Berry’s Greatest Hits album for the same price. That is when I became a huge Chuck Berry fan. This song in particular (no pun intended) caught my attention.
“No Particular Place To Go” was written at a time when Chuck Berry had literally no place to go… He was in prison…he also wrote Nadine in there. He was convicted in late 1961 of violating the Mann Act. Berry served one and one-half years in prison, from February 1962 to October 1963.
When he returned he was now facing the British invasion with the Beatles and the other bands out of England.
This song was released on his album St. Louis to Liverpool album in 1964. Music critic Dave Marsh named it “one of the greatest rock & roll records ever made.” The album peaked at #124 in the Billboard Album Charts. The album included You Never Can Tell and Promised Land.
No Particular Place to Go peaked at #10 in the Billboard 100, #6 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #2 in New Zealand in 1964.
From Songfacts
Chuck first saw the inside of a slammer back in the 1940s due to a youthful folly, but it is fair to say that since then his encounters with the law have been more low key and if anything somewhat contrived.
Although this song didn’t enrage Mrs. Whitehouse like his later, number one hit, in which he offered to show us his ding-a-ling, it is fairly laden with innuendo, although of the tragic kind, because herein, our hero is unable to unfasten his safety belt.
“No Particular Place To Go” was released in May 1964 backed by the instrumental “Liverpool Drive”, and is instantly recognizable as a Berry composition with his distinctive, clean cut guitar style.
No Particular Place To Go
Riding along in my automobile My baby beside me at the wheel I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile My curiosity running wild Crusin’ and playin’ the radio With no particular place to go
Riding along in my automobile I’s anxious to tell her the way I feel So I told her softly and sincere And she leaned and whispered in my ear Cuddlin’ more and drivin’ slow With no particular place to go
No particular place to go So we parked way out on ko-ko-mo The night was young and the moon was gold So we both decided to take a stroll Can you image the way I felt I couldn’t unfasten her safety belt
Riding along in my calaboose Still trying to get her belt a-loose All the way home I held a grudge For the safety belt that wouldn’t budge Crusin’ and playing the radio With no particular place go
