Hey Hey…Let’s all wake up to the Monkees on this quarantined morning. It’s hard to resist this song…it’s fun and reminds me of the intro to their television show…which is a good thing.
This was the first song written and recorded for The Monkees TV series, which ran on NBC 1966-1968. Written to introduce the Monkees and used as the theme song for the show.
It was written by the songwriter/producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who were hired to write three songs for the show’s pilot, including the theme. When they wrote it, the cast had not been chosen and they had very little direction…the show was pitched as “An American version of The Beatles” and loosely based on the Beatles movie A Hard Day’s Night.
Peter Tork:“I always thought the song worked fine as the theme song for the TV show. But I never allowed us to sing it in public,” “The whole idea of standing up there and singing, ‘We’re wonderful/We’re the wonderful ones/And our names are The Wonderful Ones,’ was too self-congratulatory. What we do now is, the backing band plays [the music] and Micky and I come out onstage to it. I can’t ever see us singing ‘Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees!’ I couldn’t bear it.”
From Songfacts
The finger snaps and “here we come” line were influenced by the Dave Clark Five song “Catch Us If You Can,” where they sing, “Here we come again, catch us if you can.”
The Monkees didn’t play on their early albums, so very often the only band member to appear on a song would be its lead vocalist, which in this case was Micky Dolenz. This song was produced by the song’s writers, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who had members of their band, the Candy Store Prophets, play the instruments. The backing credits are as follows:
Micky Dolenz: vocal Tommy Boyce: backing vocals Wayne Erwin, Gerry Mcgee & Louie Shelton: guitar Larry Taylor: bass Billy Lewis: drums Gene Estes: percussion
Turns out this song works very well in a documentary about actual monkeys: It was used to open the 2015 Disney film Monkey Kingdom.
The Monkees Theme
Here we come Walkin’ down the street We get the funniest looks from Everyone we meet
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we’re too busy singing To put anybody down
We go wherever we want to Do what we like to do We don’t have time to get restless There’s always something new
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we’re too busy singing To put anybody down
We’re just tryin’ to be friendly Come and watch us sing and play We’re the young generation And we’ve got something to say, oh
Any time Or anywhere Just look over your shoulder Guess who’ll be standing there?
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we’re too busy singing To put anybody down
Whaaa, one time!
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we’re too busy singing To put anybody down
We’re just tryin’ to be friendly Come and watch us sing and play We’re the young generation And we’ve got something to say
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
You go and see Pete Townshend to watch him windmill his guitar and jump about. Not on this song…you hear Pete happily playing on a banjo…and that is a great thing. He also slips in the accordion for good measure. This is not The Who’s best song but it’s happy and catchy. It’s also the first Who song I remember hearing without knowing much about them. My sister surprisingly had this single…a bright spot among the many bad ones she owned.
This song was on the album The Who By Numbers released in 1975 and peaked at #8. Squeeze Box made it to #16 in the Billboard 100 in 1976.
Townshend wrote all of the songs and they were deeply personal. He had just turned 30 and he was beginning to question his place in Rock and Roll. A question he would wrestle with a few more years.
Squeeze Box was originally intended for a Who television special planned in 1974. In the planned performance of the song, the members of the band were to be surrounded by 100 topless women playing accordions
Pete Townsend: “It’s not about a woman’s breasts, vaginal walls, or anything else of the ilk.”
Roger Daltrey:“What’s great about ‘Squeeze Box’ is that it’s so refreshingly simple, an incredible catchy song. A good jolly. I’ve never had a problem with that song because it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is and I love it for that. Live audiences love it. Nothing wrong with a bit of ‘in-and-out’, mate!”
From Songfacts
“Squeeze Box” is a slang term for an accordion, but it is also slang for the vagina. The band just wanted to see if they could get away with singing about the joys of explicit sex.
In the liner notes to Pete Townshend’s compilation album Scoop, he wrote that he recorded the song for fun one day when he had bought himself an accordion. The accordion gave the song a polka-esque rhythm and the lyrics were “intended as a poorly aimed dirty joke.” Townshend had no thought of it ever becoming a hit.
The song is about an accordion (sort of), but there is hardly any of the instrument in the song. You can hear some in the section about 90 seconds in that goes, “squeeze me, come on and squeeze me,” but the subsequent instrumental section is mostly banjo. Pete Townshend played both instruments.
Squeeze Box
Mama’s got a squeeze box She wears on her chest And when daddy comes home He never gets no rest ‘Cause she’s playing all night And the music’s all right Mama’s got a squeeze box Daddy never sleeps at night
Well the kids don’t eat And the dog can’t sleep There’s no escape from the music In the whole damn street ‘Cause she’s playing all night And the music’s all right Mama’s got a squeeze box Daddy never sleeps at night
She goes in and out and in And out and in and out and in and out She’s playing all night And the music’s all right Mama’s got a squeeze box Daddy never sleeps at night
She goes, squeeze me, come on and squeeze me Come on and tease me like you do I’m so in love with you Mama’s got a squeeze box Daddy never sleeps at night
She goes in and out and in and out And in and out and in and out ‘Cause she’s playing all night And the music’s all right Mama’s got a squeeze box Daddy never sleeps at night
It’s easy to relate to this song… most have someone who they felt got away and you still think about them and wonder if they think about you.
It has a great hook and it gets you right away. The Moody Blues have been described as a progressive rock band but I have never thought of them that way. Maybe because I don’t particularly like progressive rock bands. I’ve always thought the Moodies were a great pop/rock band who plays for the song like Story In Your Eyes, Question, and others. This song is more of a pop song than some of their early ones but a catchy one.
It was written by Justin Hayward and peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the Adult Contemporary Charts, and #2 in the Mainstream Rock Charts in1986.
Justin Hayward: “I found with ‘Wildest Dreams’ that it was a common experience for a lot of people,” he said. “I thought I was writing a frivolous sort of song. I thought ‘Wildest Dreams’ would be a throwaway thing that people wouldn’t really take much notice of lyrically. But I found out that it was a common experience and desire by a lot of people. So that was very revealing.”
From Songfacts
The Moody Blues were one of the first bands to use a Mellotron, which was a keyboard instrument that played sounds by triggering tape loops. Mike Pinder, a founding member of the band, was their Mellotron virtuoso. After Pinder’s departure in 1979, Justin Hayward began experimenting with synthesizers and became particularly fond of the Yamaha DX7, which is apparent on this track.
Tony Visconti, famous for his work with David Bowie, produced The Other Side Of Life album and encouraged the band to use some unusual instruments. “Most of ‘Wildest Dreams’ – 90% of it – is Tony Visconti, my DX7, and a guitar synth,” Justin Hayward tells us. “The piece at the beginning that sounds like a sort of Theremin, a (humming) ‘oooo ooo,’ that’s a guitar synth. All of that is. So it was just another way of exploring musical avenues. Tony Visconti was very much into that and the first person who really turned the band on to programming in a serious way. And he was very, very good at it, so I enjoyed every moment of that.”
Justin Hayward wrote the song “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere,” which appeared on the next Moody Blues album, Sur la Mer, as a sequel to this song, with the singer longing to find the girl.
For “Somewhere,” he went back to his Yamaha DX7 synthesizer and used the same keyboard and bass sounds, keeping the same tempo. This gave the songs a similar musical feel to connect them musically, and then he wrote the lyrics to continue the story.
Your Wildest Dreams
Once upon a time Once when you were mine I remember skies Reflected in your eyes I wonder where you are I wonder if you think about me Once upon a time In your wildest dreams
Once the world was new Our bodies felt the morning dew That greets the brand new day We couldn’t tear ourselves away I wonder if you care I wonder if you still remember Once upon a time In your wildest dreams
And when the music plays And when the words are touched with sorrow When the music plays I hear the sound I had to follow Once upon a time
Once beneath the stars The universe was ours Love was all we knew And all I knew was you I wonder if you know I wonder if you think about it Once upon a time In your wildest dreams
And when the music plays And when the words are touched with sorrow When the music plays And when the music plays I hear the sound I had to follow Once upon a time
Once upon a time Once when you were mine I remember skies Mirrored in your eyes I wonder where you are I wonder if you think about me Once upon a time In your wildest dreams (ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah) In your wildest dreams (ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah) In your wildest dreams (ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah) In your wildest dreams (ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah)
As Van Morrison would say…Into The Mystic… this song off of Sgt Pepper was a George Harrison song…and he was the only Beatle on it… This is about as sixties as you can get with the sitar and philosophical lyrics.
This was a brilliant addition to Sgt Pepper to show yet another side to the Beatles.
It’s hard to overestimate how profound of an effect that the introduction to Eastern religion had on George Harrison. Under the name of Sam Wells, George, along with his wife Pattie, vacationed in Bombay, India for six weeks, beginning on September 20th, 1966. At the suggestion of Ravi Shankar, from whom he was going to take sitar lessons while there, he grew a mustache as a subtle disguise so as to ward off any Indian “Beatlemaniacs” that may have been around in the area.
The book Autobiography Of A Yogi really changed his life and mind. It influenced his writing of songs like Within You Without You’ and many others. George started to write this song on a pedal harmonium at friend Klaus Voormann’s home.
During the recording, George was there with Indian musicians and they had a carpet on the floor and there was incense burning.
At George Harrison’s request, they added a small bit of laughter at the end of the song as it faded out to lighten the mood a bit.
John Lennon: “I think that is one of George’s best songs, one of my favorites of his. I like the arrangement, the sound and the words. He is clear on that song. You can hear his mind is clear and his music is clear. It’s his innate talent that comes through on that song, that brought that song together. George is responsible for Indian music getting over here. That song is a good example.”
From Songfacts
Although this song is billed as being recorded by the Beatles, George Harrison was the only Beatle to play on the track. There is no guitar or bass, but there are some hand-drums.
Harrison spent weeks looking for musicians to play the Indian instruments used on this. It was especially difficult because Indian musicians could not read Western music.
This is based on a piece by Indian musician Ravi Shankar, who helped teach Harrison the sitar. Harrison wrote his own lyrics and shortened it considerably.
Harrison wrote this as a 30-minute piece. He trimmed it down into a mini-version for the album.
This was the only song Harrison wrote that made it onto the album. He also contributed “Only A Northern Song” (recorded in February of 1967 as verified by the Anthology 2 album), but it was left off the album at the last minute. It was initially intended to go on the first side of Sgt. Pepper between “She’s Leaving Home” and “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” >>
This was one of Harrison’s first songs to explore Eastern religion, which would become a lifelong quest. He believed in reincarnation, which helped him accept death in 2001, when he lost his life to cancer.
Oasis covered this for the BBC to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
This is the second Indian classical-influenced song that George Harrison wrote for the Beatles, the first being “Love You To.”
“Now “Within You/Without You” was not a commercial song by any means. But it was very interesting. [George Harrison] had a way of communicating music by the Indian system of kind of a separate language… the rhythms decided by the tabla player.” –Sir George Martin, from the documentary The Material World.
Within You Without You
We were talking About the space between us all And the people Who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion Never glimpse the truth Then it’s far too late when they pass away
We were talking About the love we all could share When we find it To try our best to hold it there, with our love, with our love We could save the world, if they only knew
Try to realize it’s all within yourself, no-one else can make you change And to see you’re really only very small And life flows on within you and without you
We were talking About the love that’s gone so cold And the people Who gain the world and lose their soul They don’t know, they can’t see Are you one of them?
When you’ve seen beyond yourself then you may find peace of mind is waiting there And the time will come when you see we’re all one And life flows on within you and without you
One quick story before the song. When I was 6 years old my dad, mom, sister. and I piled into the car and we all traveled to the carnival. I was so excited…too excited. I was in the backseat and stuck my head out the driver’s side window. My dad was not paying attention…can you see this coming? My dad started to roll the window up and could not understand why it was stuck. My neck was in it and Dad was trying to roll up harder. By this time I could not breathe, my face was turning red, and I was flopping around like a mouse in a trap…my mom yelled at my dad…MAX IS IN THE WINDOW… what? my dad asked…then my mom and sister screamed…MAX IS IN THE WINDOW…in unison no less. I can still hear him….Son…why the hell did you have your head handing out the window? Uh Dad…I wanted out to go to the carnival.
I loved carnivals growing up. At night they were magical with the lights, sounds, and smells.
This song was on The Band’s fourth studio album Cahoots. The song was written by Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Robbie Robertson. The song peaked at #72 in the Billboard 100 in 1972. The album Cahoots peaked at #21 in the Billboard Album Charts in the same year.
The Band had a new studio in Bearsville NY to experiment in during the early ’70s. It was opened by their manager Albert Grossman but Robbie Robertson commented that it left them a bit cold. They are also going through drug problems with three members at the time of recording.
Rick Danko in 1993: “I think we shipped a million copies of that second album,” “And that changed a lot of people’s lives — in particular, the Band’s. After that, we were only getting together once a year, for a couple of months, to record. It was like we were too decadent to play.”
Life Is A Carnival
You can walk on the water Drown in the sand You can fly off a mountaintop If anybody can
Run away, run away (run away, run away) It’s the restless age Look away, look away (look away, look away) You can turn the page
Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap? Here on the street I got six on each arm And two more ’round my feet
Life is a carnival Believe it or not Life is a carnival Two bits a shot
Saw a man with a jinx In the third degree From trying to deal with people People, you can’t see
Take away, take away (take away, take away) This house of mirrors Give away, give away (give away, give away) All the souvenirs
We’re all in the same boat ready to float Off the edge of the world The flat old world The street is a sideshow From the peddler to the corner girl
Life is a carnival It’s in the book Life is a carnival Take another look
Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap? Here on the street I got six on each arm And two more ’round my feet
Life is a carnival Believe it or not Life is a carnival Two bits a shot
This was the B side to Cecilia. I’ve had two different bloggers mention this song to me in the past few days. I started to get into this song a little later than the others but it’s a beautiful song.
Paul Simon wrote this song about his partner Art Garfunkel going to Mexico to act in a movie called Catch-22, which was directed by Mike Nichols, who gave Simon & Garfunkel a big boost when he featured their songs in his 1967 film The Graduate. Simon was also going to be in the film, but Nichols cut his part, which separated the duo. Garfunkel spent months working on the film while Simon returned to New York, where he toiled away on the Bridge Over Troubled Water album.
Paul Simon sent letters to keep in touch with Garfunkel and update him on the album’s progress. Up to that point, the pair had always partnered musically and shared a bond, which was now breaking… Simon and Garfunkel split up after the album was released…Paul recorded as a solo artist, and Art pursued his acting career.
From Songfacts
Regarding the lyrics, “Tom get your plane right on time. I know that your eager to fly now,” before the folk duo became famous, they were known as Tom and Jerry. Tom was Art’s stage name, so this line symbolizes their increasing need for musical and personal freedom.
In a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine, Simon said: “I liked the ‘aaahhhs,’ the voices singing ‘aaah.’ That was the best I think that we ever did it. It was quite a lot of voices we put on, maybe twelve or fifteen voices. We sang it in the echo-chamber.”
This song was addressed during a screening of the Simon & Garfunkel documentary Songs of America. At the screening, Garfunkel said, “I had Paul sort of waiting: ‘All right, I can take this for three months. I’ll write the songs, but what’s the fourth month? And why is Artie in Rome a fifth month? What’s Mike [Nichols] doing to Simon & Garfunkel?’ And so there’s Paul in the third month, still with a lot of heart, writing about, ‘I’m the only living boy in [New York]. You used to be the other one.”
This was used in the 2004 movie Garden State. Zach Braff, who wrote and directed the movie, thought the song worked perfectly to convey the loneliness of a character. Simon & Garfunkel rarely license the song, but they let Braff use it for a greatly reduced fee after seeing the scene.
The session musician Joe Osborn played an 8-string bass on this track, which the album’s producer Roy Halee said was the featured musical element of the song. Years later, when Osborn tried to relearn his part to demonstrate it, he realized it was very difficult to reproduce live, as Halee spliced together various takes for the recording.
The Only Living Boy In New York
Tom, get your plane right on time
I know your part’ll go fine
Fly down to Mexico
Do-n-do-d-do-n-do and here I am,
The only living boy in New York
I get the news I need on the weather report
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report
Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile
Do-n-doh-d-doh-n-doh and here I am
The only living boy in New York
Half of the time we’re gone
But we don’t know where,
And we don’t know where
Half of the time we’re gone
But we don’t know where,
And we don’t know where
Tom, get your plane right on time
I know you’ve been eager to fly now
Hey let your honesty shine, shine, shine now
Do-n-do-d-do-n-do
Like it shines on me
The only living boy in New York,
The only living boy in New York
In 1975 my friends and cousin had a clubhouse that was an old horse barn. We had a record player, a lantern, and a one-armed bandit. My cousin played the Meet The Beatles album and me… being a Monkee fan soaked it up and it started a lifelong love for The Beatles.
My first favorite Beatle song was It Won’t Be Long…then this one came in second at the time. George wrote this when he was down with the flu in a hotel room in the Northeast of England. It was the first song he wrote……technically he did have partial credit on the instrumental Cry For A Shadow.
Is it George’s best song? Of course not but it fits in well with the early Beatles and it gets overlooked. If you think about it…”Don’t Bother me” is so George and his attitude at times. I always really liked it…the overall feel of it is cool. It was a very good attempt at his first song.
George Harrison:“I don’t think it’s a particularly good song… It mightn’t even be a song at all, but at least it showed me that all I needed to do was keep on writing, and then maybe eventually I would write something good.”
Tom Petty:“I thought it was just the coolest song, like nothing I’d heard in rock,” Petty said in 2014 “I’d say, ‘Well, I like it. A lot. If you did that today, I’d say it was really good.’ And he’d go, ‘Well, you’d be wrong.'”
The Smithereens did a great job covering this song.
From Songfacts
This was George Harrison’s first recorded song. It was his response to critics who claimed he was not an important member of the group because he did not write songs.
A Harrison-penned song would not appear again until the 1965 album Help!. That would be “You Know What To Do.”
This song has a darker, more pessimistic mood that was uncommon of The Beatles main sound, but would come to be Harrison’s trademark stamp. This is actually part of what made the Beatles’ formula work: McCartney was the chirpy, positive one, and Harrison was the melancholic counterpart.
Years later these were sold off at one of the London auction houses. This song in it’s very earliest stages is available on bootleg and features George working the music and lyrics out as he goes along. George stated, “I wrote the song as an exercise to see if I could write a song. I was sick in bed. Maybe that’s why it turned out to be ‘Don’t Bother Me.'”
For your information, the photography technique for the cover of With The Beatles, in which the Fab Four’s headshots hover in a half-moon, light-and-shadow effect, is called “chiaroscuro.” It’s an Italian word to describe the Renaissance technique of dramatically contrasted lighting effects in oil paintings.
This was the first song on Side 2 of Meet The Beatles, their first album released in the US. With The Beatles was their second UK release.
Don’t Bother Me
Since she’s been gone I want no one to talk to me It’s not the same but I’m to blame, it’s plain to see
So go away, leave me alone, don’t bother me I can’t believe that she would leave me on my own It’s just not right when every night I’m all alone
I’ve got no time for you right now, don’t bother me I know I’ll never be the same if I don’t get her back again Because I know she’ll always be the only girl for me
But ’til she’s here please don’t come near, just stay away I’ll let you know when she’s come home Until that day Don’t come around, leave me alone, don’t bother me
I’ve got no time for you right now, don’t bother me I know I’ll never be the same if I don’t get her back again Because I know she’ll always be the only girl for me
But ’til she’s here please don’t come near, just stay away I’ll let you know when she’s come home Until that day
Don’t come around, leave me alone, don’t bother me Don’t bother me Don’t bother me Don’t bother me Don’t bother me
As a teenager, I could relate to this song. Now in this world, we live in now… I can relate to this song even more. I love the harmonies in this song.
Brian Wilson suffered from severe agoraphobia and refused to leave his bedroom for a significant amount of time. He wrote this song to give people an idea of how he felt. The song, like many Beach Boys songs, has beautiful harmonizing. The song was written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher.
This song was the B side to Be True To Your School released in 1963. The song peaked at #23 in the Billboard 100 in 1963.
Brian Wilson: “When Dennis, Carl and I lived in Hawthorne as kids, we all slept in the same room. One night I sang the song ‘Ivory Tower’ to them and they liked it. Then a couple of weeks later, I proceeded to teach them both how to sing the harmony parts to it. It took them a little while, but they finally learned it. We then sang this song night after night. It brought peace to us. When we recorded ‘In My Room,’ there was just Dennis, Carl and me on the first verse… and we sounded just like we did in our bedroom all those nights. This story has more meaning than ever since Dennis’ death.”
From Songfacts
In the 1998 documentary Endless Harmony, Brian Wilson described this song as about being “somewhere where you could lock out the world, go to a secret little place, think, be, do whatever you have to do.”
Charles Manson, who was convicted of orchestrating the murders of six people in 1969, made repeated claims that The Beach Boys stole this song from him. In Manson’s view, he wrote a song called “In My Cell” which was about how he feels peace with himself in his jail cell. Manson did have a connection to The Beach Boys – he knew their drummer Dennis Wilson – and did write and record some songs. His claims have little basis in fact – something that is true of most of his proclamations.
Bill Medley from The Righteous Brothers recorded this with Phil Everly and Brian Wilson for his album Damn Near Righteous, his first new album since the untimely 2003 death of his partner Bobby Hatfield.
Interesting food for thought: Brian Wilson just might have inadvertently inspired one of the greatest jazz fusion bands, Blood Sweat & Tears, albeit indirectly. Al Kooper relates in Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards that he was sitting in Brian Wilson’s living room while he showed off the Pet Sounds album. He was just leaving The Blues Project and wandering around California in an existential haze wondering what to do next, when while visiting with Brian Wilson, “Deep in the back of my mind was a band that could put dents in your shirt if you got within fifteen rows of the stage…” He explains his idea of having a band with a horn section in it, more than R&B bands but less than Count Basie’s or Buddy Rich’s. “Somewhere in the middle was a mixture of soul, jazz, and rock that was my little fantasy.”
This was released as the B-side of “Be True To Your School.”
Linda Ronstadt and Tammy Wynette both covered this song.
One of the many who found solace in this song is Steve Perry of Journey fame, who told Rolling Stone: “This was an anthem to my teenage isolation. I just wanted to be left alone in my room, where I could find peace of mind and play music.”
In My Room
There’s a world where I can go and tell my secrets to In my room, in my room In this world I lock out all my worries and my fears In my room, in my room
Do my dreaming and my scheming Lie awake and pray Do my crying and my sighing Laugh at yesterday
Now it’s dark and I’m alone I won’t be afraid In my room, in my room In my room, in my room In my room, in my room
This song has always stuck with me. I have a special place for it. J.D. Souther was influenced by the Roy Orbinson song Only The Lonely. This title fits some today in what all of us are going through. You know sometimes when you say “all of us” you mean maybe your state, district, or country…but now it truly means all of us.
J.D. Souther collaborated on many of The Eagles’ hits, including New Kid in Town. J.D. Souther had some talented friends. In the early days of his career, Souther shared an apartment with future Eagles member Glenn Frey in Los Angeles. Downstairs was Jackson Browne. Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt and many others from that scene hung around, too.
“You’re Only Lonely” was originally released in 1979, and was No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. It peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100.
J.D. Souther talks about how Linda Ronstadt gave him good advice: “Very pointedly, she said, ‘Don’t try to rewrite the songs.’ I mean, she encouraged me to do the record because I defer to her advice quite often,” Souther says. “She really has just practically infallible taste in songs. She’s got what jazz players call ‘big ears.’ So I just kind of sat back and approached it as though the songs had been chosen for me by someone else.
From Songfacts
A #1 Adult Contemporary hit for 5 weeks, Souther told us that Roy Orbison, who had a hit with “Only The Lonely,” was a big influence on this song. Said Souther: “I was a little kid when I first heard Roy Orbison, but he was magic. He’s the guy that you turned out the lights and listened to his records by yourself – or with a girl – because he was just completely other-worldly. He had sarcastic and adventurous songs and great arrangements, and then that beautiful, almost operatic voice. Beautiful, natural deep echo on it. He is one of half a dozen or so rockabilly musicians that I really loved. When I was in junior high school was the first time I really started listening to that.
But then I started playing drums all the time, and I got so fascinated with jazz, I didn’t really think much about singing or making rock and roll records for quite a few years. The first song I ever heard called ‘Only the Lonely’ was this song that Frank Sinatra sang. It’s a Johnny Mercer song; it’s on a Sinatra album called Songs for Only the Lonely. There are a lot of songs with that name. But the beat that I used for ‘You’re Only Lonely’ is that rockabilly beat. That sort of break in it was taken from another Roy Orbison record called ‘I’m Hurtin” that I really love.”
When You’re Only Lonely
When the world is ready to fall on your little shoulders And, when you’re feeling lonely and small, You need somebody there to hold you; You can call out my name
When you’re only lonely; Now, don’t you ever be ashamed; You’re only lonely.
When you need somebody around on the nights that try you I was there when you were a queen And I’ll be the last one there beside you; So you can call out my name
When you’re only lonely; Now, don’t you ever be ashamed; You’re only lonely. (You’re only lonely) (You’re only lonely) (You’re only lonely)
Ooh, When the world is ready to fall on your little shoulders And, when you’re feeling lonely and small, You need somebody there to hold you; So don’t you ever be ashamed When you’re only lonely; You can call out my name
When you’re only lonely; (You’re only lonely) When you’re only lonely; (You’re only lonely) Ooh, it’s no crime, Darlin’, we got lots of time, Woh, woh, (You’re only lonely) Woh, woh, woh, (You’re only lonely) No there’s nothing wrong with you, Darlin, I get lonely too. (You’re only lonely)(You’re only lonely) So, if you need me, (You’re only lonely) All you’ve gotta do is call me Well, you’re only lonely (You’re only lonely)(You’re only lonely) Ooh, ooh, (You’re only lonely)
White Trash or Trash as they were later called signed with Apple Records and released these Beatles songs from the Beatles then-upcoming Abbey Road album. John Lennon loved it but Paul was upset about the recording…the reason why is below.
I’m critical on Beatle covers because I’m such a fan…but this is pretty good.
This was supposed to be just a demo but it was a finished product. Paul was not happy about the money spent producing it…
When they recorded what was supposed to be a demo of it, Paul was furious: “I asked for a demo and I’m handed a finished master of a full production with strings on it and the lot!” Everyone thought the record was dead,
but press officer Derek Taylor grabbed the record and took it to John Lennon.
When it was over, Lennon pointed to one of the speakers and declared, “That’s a good imitation of us! It’s going out!”
They started out as the Pathfinders, a Scottish group from Glasgow, doing a Goffin-King song called “Road To Nowhere”, which Tony Meehan brought to George Harrison and Paul McCartney who liked it and said “Let’s put it out.” DiLello worked in the Apple Press Office, interviewed the band, and came up with a better name — White Trash. Unfortunately, the record distributors didn’t go for that, so they censored the offensive word “White” and just called the band “Trash”. The band consisted of: Ian Crawford Clews, vocalist, Fraser Watson, lead guitar Colin Hunter-Morrison, Bass, Ronald Leahy, organ, and Timi Donald, percussion
Richard DiLello was the “House Hippie” of Apple Records in the press department and was writing the press biography for the band and was trying to come up with a tag line for them. His choice? “They begin where The Cream leave off!” Apple’s press officer Derek Taylor said a big fat NO. A bit later, Richard came up with an alternate: “They Leave Off where the Cream BEGAN?”
In 1969, White Trash hooked up with singer Marsha Hunt and went on
tour. When she ripped her vocal cords one night, a long rest was recommended for her, and by mid-September The White Trash found themselves rehearsing to perfection their version of Golden Slumbers from the Beatles’ “Abbey Road”.
To any Beatle fan, I would recommend the Richard DiLello book The Longest Cocktail Party.It’s informative and hilarious.
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight
Once there was a way To get back homeward
Once there was a way To get back home
Sleep, pretty darling Do not cry And I will sing a lullaby
Golden slumbers Fill your eyes Smiles await you when you rise Sleep pretty darling Do not cry And I will sing a lullaby
Once there was a way To get back homeward
Once there was a way To get back home
Sleep, pretty darling Do not cry And I will sing a lullaby
Carry That Weight
Boy, you gotta carry that weight Carry that weight a long time Boy, you gonna carry that weight Carry that weight a long time
I never give you my pillow I only send you my invitation And in the middle of the celebrations I break down
Boy, you gotta carry that weight Carry that weight a long time Boy, you gotta carry that weight You’re gonna carry that weight along time
I thought I would continue the theme that many of us are going through. Hopefully, we have our family around to be alone with…or if you are by yourself do something that makes you happy….but don’t linger on this song long…it is damn depressing.
I remember this mostly in the eighties when I worked at a printing place and listened to the oldies channel…99.6 in Nashville.
This song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #2 in New Zealand, and #3 in the UK in 1972.
I do respect Gilbert for this quote: ‘Alone Again (Naturally)’ has no comic purpose at all, and it is not a song that people can dismiss like ‘Get Down’ or ‘Clair.’ Because it means so much to some people, I will not allow it to be used for karaoke or commercials.”
One of the most depressing songs ever written, “Alone Again (Naturally)” tells a rather sad tale of a lonely, suicidal man being left at the altar and then telling the listener about the death of his parents. The song connected with listeners on various levels: the downtrodden could commiserate with the singer, and the lucky ones who were not in this position were reminded of their good fortune.
This was Irish-born singer Gilbert O’Sullivan’s only American #1. It sold 2 million copies, spent six weeks at the summit in America and earned him three Grammy Award nominations (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year). It was the second best-selling single of the year in America behind Don McLean’s “American Pie.”
Gilbert O’Sullivan has denied that this song is autobiographical or about the death of his father when he was 11. O’Sullivan said: “Everyone wants to know if it’s an autobiographical song, based on my father’s early death. Well, the fact of the matter is, I didn’t know my father very well, and he wasn’t a good father anyway. He didn’t treat my mother very well.”
O’Sullivan charted in UK with “Nothing Rhymed” from his first album, but didn’t make in impact in America until “Alone Again (Naturally)” was released as the first single from his second album. In the first half of the ’70s, O’Sullivan enjoyed a succession of hits in the UK, including two #1s that show his considerable range as a songwriter. The first was “Clair,” inspired by Clair Mills, the 3-year-old daughter of his manager Gordon Mills, whom O’Sullivan baby-sat. The second was “Get Down,” which shows off his soulful side. O’Sullivan was the first Irish-born recording artist with two UK #1 hits.
In a Songfacts interview with O’Sullivan, he explained how this song came together. “‘Alone Again’ was written with two other songs in a writing period when I was 22 years of age. I had been a postal clerk in London, so I was only able to write after work in the evening. When Gordon Mills managed me – he managed Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck – when he took me on, he allowed me to quit my job and move into a bungalow that he owned where I could write every day. So, therefore, I was in a writing mode, and ‘Alone Again’ was just one of the songs I’d written. I was really pleased with it, happy with it, but I didn’t see it as being any more special than other songs. Suffice it to say, I was happy.”
The guitar solo was performed by Big Jim Sullivan, one of the most prolific session guitarists in the UK. He used a guitar with nylon strings to get the distinctive sound.
At the end of the 1980s this was used as the opening theme song and “Get Down” the closing theme song of Masion Ikkoku, a Japanese animated series. They were used without authorization, which caused some controversy at the time. However the net result was that a new Japanese generation discovered Gilbert’s music and his popularity grew in Japan. Some of his 1990s albums have only been released in Japan, where he has continued to enjoy some success.
In 1982 O’Sullivan took his former manager Gordon Mills to court over his original contract, ultimately winning back the master tapes to his recordings as well as the copyrights to his songs. Nine years later in 1991, O’Sullivan went to court again to sue the rapper Biz Markie, who used an unauthorized sample from this song in his track “Alone Again,” which appeared on Markie’s third album, I Need A Haircut. The judge made a landmark ruling in O’Sullivan’s favor that the rapper’s unauthorized sample was in fact theft. From this point on, artists had to clear samples or be subject to costly lawsuits.
O’Sullivan talked about the case in 2010 at a screening for the movie Out On His Own: Gilbert O’Sullivan. He said Biz Markie’s record company approached him about sampling the song, and O’Sullivan asked to hear it before granting permission. “Then we discovered that he was a comic rapper,” said Gilbert. “And the one thing I am very guarded about is protecting songs and in particular I’ll go to my grave in defending the song to make sure it is never used in the comic scenario which is offensive to those people who bought it for the right reasons. And so therefore we refused. But being the kind of people that they were, they decided to use it anyway so we had to go to court.”
O’Sullivan won’t let this song be used in commercials, but he often authorizes it for movies and TV shows, which typically use it for comic effect. Movies to use it include:
Gloria Bell (2018) Napoleon Dynamite (2012) Skylab (2011) Megamind (2010) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) Stuart Little 2 (2002) Osmosis Jones (2001) The Virgin Suicides (1999)
O’Sullivan had an unusual image in the early ’70s, performing in an outfit of pants and a flat cap. With his pudding-bowl haircut, he resembled a Depression-era street urchin. Around the time of the release of “Alone Again (Naturally),” he switched his outfit in favor of an endless series of collegiate-styled sweaters embossed with the letter “G.”
Sugar Ray borrowed the line “my mother, god rest her soul” for their 1997 hit “Fly.”
At least 100 artists have covered this song, including Anita Bryant, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Mathis, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond. Pet Shop Boys did a version with Elton John, and Diana Krall and Michael Bublé recorded it together for Krall’s 2015 album Wallflower.
Alone Again (Naturally)
In a little while from now If I’m not feeling any less sour I promise myself to treat myself And visit a nearby tower And climbing to the top Will throw myself off In an effort to Make it clear to whoever Wants to know what it’s like When you’re shattered
Left standing in the lurch at a church Were people saying, My God, that’s tough She stood him up No point in us remaining We may as well go home As I did on my own Alone again, naturally To think that only yesterday
I was cheerful, bright and gay Looking forward to who wouldn’t do The role I was about to play But as if to knock me down Reality came around And without so much as a mere touch Cut me into little pieces Leaving me to doubt Talk about, God in His mercy
Oh, if he really does exist Why did he desert me In my hour of need I truly am indeed Alone again, naturally It seems to me that There are more hearts broken in the world That can’t be mended
Left unattended What do we do What do we do Alone again, naturally Looking back over the years And whatever else that appears I remember I cried when my father died Never wishing to hide the tears
And at sixty-five years old My mother, God rest her soul Couldn’t understand why the only man She had ever loved had been taken Leaving her to start With a heart so badly broken Despite encouragement from me
No words were ever And when she passed away I cried and cried all day Alone again, naturally Alone again, naturally
I always liked this song. It is defiant and cocky and in times like these, we need it.
Before recording Full Moon Fever, an arsonist burned down Tom Petty’s house while he was in it with his family and their housekeeper. They escaped and spent much of the next few months driving between hotel rooms and a rented house, but Petty was badly shaken.
It was on these drives that he came up with many of the songs for the album, and the fire was a huge influence, especially on this song. Petty felt grateful to be alive, but also traumatized – understandable he could have been killed. According to a report, an arsonist had drenched the house’s back staircase in lighter fluid. Petty and his family was deeply disturbed by the fact that someone had wanted to kill them. The case remains unsolved.
The song was on Full Moon Fever which I bought as soon as it was released. The song peaked at #12 in 1989 in the Billboard 100. Full Moon Fever peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Charts that same year. The song was written by Petty and producer Jeff Lynne.
Tom Petty: “At the session George Harrison sang and played the guitar. I had a terrible cold that day, and George sent to the store and bought a ginger root, boiled it and had me stick my head in the pot to get the ginger steam to open up my sinuses, and then I ran in and did the take.”
I remember loving the video to this song. George Harrison and Ringo appear and guitar player Mike Campbell plays George’s guitar “Rocky” for the solo.
Songfacts
“I Won’t Back Down” was his way of reclaiming his life and getting past the torment – he said that writing and recording the song had a calming effect on him.
The arsonist was never caught, which made Petty’s plight even more challenging. As for motive, there was no direct connection made, but 11 days earlier, Petty won a lawsuit against the B.F. Goodrich tire company for $1 million. Goodrich wanted to use Petty’s song “Mary’s New Car” in a TV commercial, and when he wouldn’t let them, their advertising agency commissioned a copycat song that the judge felt was too similar.
This was the first single from Full Moon Fever, which was produced and co-written by Jeff Lynne. Petty and Lynne worked on the album at Mike Campbell’s house. As guitarist for the Heartbreakers, Mike has written and produced many songs with Petty.
He told us what happened when they brought the album to MCA Records: “We thought it was really good, we were real excited about it. We played it for the record company and they said, ‘Well, we don’t hear any hits on here.’ We were very despondent about the whole thing and we went back and recorded another track, a Byrds song called ‘I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better,’ thinking at the time that maybe they’ll like this one. In the interim, they changed A&R departments and a whole new group of people were in there. We brought the same record back like six months later and they loved it – they said ‘Oh, there’s three hits on here.’ We were vindicated on that one. It was the same record. We played the same thing for them and they went for it. I guess it’s a situation of timing and the right people that wanted to get inspired about it. At the end of the line, if the songs are good and if the public connects with certain songs, that really is the true test, but you’ve got to get it out there.” (Read more in our interview with Mike Campbell.)
This was Petty’s first single without the Heartbreakers credited as his backing band. Members of the band did play on the album.
The video, directed by David Leland, features Ringo Starr on drums, with George Harrison and Jeff Lynne on guitar. Harrison did play on the track and contributed backing vocals, but Ringo had nothing to do with the song itself – a session musician named Phil Jones played drums on the Full Moon Fever album.
In some shots, Mike Campbell is playing George Harrison’s Stratocaster guitar, which he called “Rocky.” It was Harrison’s suggestion for Campbell to play it.
Around this time, Petty was active in the group The Traveling Wilburys with Lynne, Harrison, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison.
This is perhaps Tom Petty’s most personal song. In a 2006 interview with Harp, he said, “That song frightened me when I wrote it. I didn’t embrace it at all. It’s so obvious. I thought it wasn’t that good because it was so naked. So I had a lot of second thoughts about recording that song. But everyone around me liked the song and said it was really good and it turns out everyone was right – more people connect to that song than anything I ever wrote. I’ve had so many people tell me that it helped them through this or it helped them through that. I’m still continually amazed about the power a little 3-minute song has.”
Many fans have felt a connection with this song. “The one that most strangers come up and tell me about is ‘I Won’t Back Down,'” Petty told Mojo. “So many people tell me it meant something in their lives.”
Petty played this on September 21, 2001 as part of a telethon to benefit the victims of the terrorist attacks on America. Celebrities at the event included Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Cruise. Almost 60 million people watched the special in the US.
In response to this being used as a patriotic anthem after September 11th, Petty said: “The song has also been adopted by nice people for good things, too. I just write them, I can’t control where it ends up.”
This was one of four songs Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played at the halftime show of the Super Bowl in 2008. The others were “American Girl,” “Runnin’ Down A Dream” and “Free Fallin’.”
Tom Petty died on October 2, 2017, the day after a mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas that killed 58. On October 7, Jason Aldean, who was on stage during the shooting, opened Saturday Night Live with a performance of this song, which served as both a tribute to Petty and a call for togetherness. “When America is at its best, our bond and our spirit is unbreakable,” he said before playing it.
When the shooting took place, Aldean was performing “When She Says Baby,” which was inspired by Petty’s “Here Comes My Girl.”
I Won’t Back Down
Well, I won’t back down No I won’t back down You can stand me up at the gates of hell But I won’t back down
No I’ll stand my ground Won’t be turned around And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down Gonna stand my ground
And I won’t back down (I won’t back down) Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down) Hey I will stand my ground And I won’t back down Well I know what’s right I got just one life In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around But I’ll stand my ground And I won’t back down (I won’t back down) Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down) Hey I will stand my ground (I won’t back down) Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down) Hey I won’t back down (I won’t back down) Hey, baby, there ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down) I will stand my ground And I won’t back down No I won’t back down
I had this single as a kid from a cousin. The song was off of the 1973 Ringo album that was his most successful album. Three of his former bandmates helped contribute to this album. It contained Photograph, You’re Sixteen, and this one that were hit.
Lennon jokingly sent a telegram to Ringo after the success of this album and said: “Congratulations. How dare you? And please write me a hit song.”
The song peaked at #5 in 1974 in the Billboard 100.
Oh My My
One, two, three, four!
I phoned up my doctor to see what’s the matter, He said, “come on over.” I said, “do i have to?” My knees started shakin’, my wrist started achin’ When my doctor said to me:
“oh my my, oh my my, can you boogie, can you slide? Oh my my, oh my my, you can boogie if you try. Oh my my, oh my my, it’s guaranteed to keep you alive.”
The head nurse she blew in, just like a tornado, When they started dancin’, i jumped off the table. I felt myself healin’ and as i was leavin’, This is what they said to me:
“oh my my, oh my my, can you boogie, can you slide? Oh my my, oh my my, you can boogie if you try. Oh my my, oh my my, it’s guaranteed to keep you alive.”
(oh – yeah hey! All right! Oh! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! All right now! Ooh!)
Now if you should slow down and you’re feelin’ low down, Don’t call up your doctor, just grab you a partner. It’s what you’ve been missin’, i’ve got your prescription, That boogie woogie remedy.
“Oh my my, oh my my, you can boogie, you can slide? Oh my my, oh my my, we can boogie ’til we die. Oh my my, oh my my, it’s guaranteed to keep you alive, alright.”
“oh my my, oh my my, watch me boogie, watch me slide, Oh my my, (ow!) Oh my my, born to boogie, born to slide. (can you boogie?) Oh my my, oh my my, oo-wee, boogie, oo-wee, aye. (can you boogie?) Oh my my, oh my my, play that boogie, play that slide. (can you boogie?) Oh my my, oh my my, love that boogie, love that slide. (can you boogie?) Oh my my, oh my my, oh, my boogie, oh, my slide. (can you boogie?) Oh my my, oh my my, come on, baby, come on now. (can you boogie) Oh my my, oh my my, come on, baby, i’m willing to die. (can you boogie?) Oh my my, oh my my, come on, baby, come on, try. (can you boogie?) Oh my my, oh my my.”
One thing that strikes me about this song is the constant guitar. The song was on perhaps the most famous rock album…or album ever released. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was released on May 26, 1967. No singles were pull off of this album when it was released.
Paul McCartney: “It’s an optimistic song,” “I often try and get on to optimistic subjects in an effort to cheer myself up and also, realizing that other people are going to hear this, to cheer them up too. And this was one of those. The ‘angry young man’ and all that was John and I filling in the verses about schoolteachers. We shared a lot of feelings against teachers who had punished you too much or who hadn’t understood you or who had just been bastards generally. So there are references to them.”
John Lennon had a bad acid trip during the recording. While doing the overdubs, John began to get very sick. He said, “I suddenly got so scared on the mike. I thought I felt ill and I thought I was going to crack. I said I must get some air.” George Martin took him up on the roof of the studios for air and John started walking towards the edge. Martin panicked, thinking that John would fall or leap off and that would be it. On the roof, when John saw Martin looking at him “funny,” he realized he was on acid. John decided he couldn’t do anymore that night, so he sat in the booth and watched the others record. Paul eventually took him home and stayed to keep him company, and he decided to drop some acid with John. It was Paul’s first LSD experience.
John Lennon: “I thought I was taking some uppers and I was not in the state of handling it. I took it and I suddenly got so scared on the mike. I said, ‘What is it? I feel ill.’ I thought I felt ill and I thought I was going cracked. I said I must go and get some air. They all took me upstairs on the roof, and George Martin was looking at me funny, and then it dawned on me that I must have taken some acid. I said, ‘Well, I can’t go on. You’ll have to do it and I’ll just stay and watch.’ I got very nervous just watching them all, and I kept saying, ‘Is this all right?’ They had all been very kind and they said, ‘Yes, it’s all right.’ I said, ‘Are you sure it’s all right?’ They carried on making the record.”
The idea of “Getting Better” came to Paul McCartney while he was walking his dog, Martha. The sun started to rise on the walk and he thought “it’s getting better.” It also reminded him of something that Jimmy Nichol used to say quite often during the short period when he was The Beatles drummer. This song was a true collaborative effort for Lennon and McCartney, with Lennon adding that legendary part about being bad to his woman. He later admitted to being a “hitter” when it came to women. He said “I was a hitter. I couldn’t express myself, and I hit.”
George Harrison played the tamboura, a large Indian string instrument. It is the droning noise about 2/3rds of the way through.
The string sound at the end was Beatles producer George Martin hitting the strings inside a piano.
Lennon contributed the pessimistic viewpoint, coming up with the line, “It can’t get no worse.” McCartney usually wrote much happier lyrics than Lennon. Lennon revisited this song when he used the lyrics, “Every day, in every way, it’s getting better and better” for his 1980 track “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy).” This time, instead of taking the cynical side, he was affirming that life does just get keep getting better and better.
This was used in commercials for Phillips television sets in 1999. The living Beatles resent the use of their songs in advertisements, but cannot prevent it because they do not own the publishing rights; Michael Jackson does.
The Beatles had stopped touring by the time this was released. The first time McCartney played it live was on his 2002 “Back In The US” tour. That tour was made into a CD and a 2-hour concert film that aired on ABC and was released on DVD.
This was used in the 2003 movie The Cat in the Hat starring Mike Myers.
Getting Better
It’s getting better all the time I used to get mad at my school The teacher’s that taught me weren’t cool You’re holding me down Filling me up with your rules
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better A little better all the time I have to admit it’s getting better It’s getting better since you’ve been mine
Me used to be angry young man Me hiding me head in the sand You gave me the word I finally heard I’m doing the best that I can I’ve got to admit it’s getting better
I used to be cruel to my woman I beat her and kept apart from the things that she loved Man I was mean but I’m changing my scene And I’m doing the best that I can
I admit it’s getting better A little better all the time Yes I admit it’s getting better It’s getting better since you’ve been mine…
I was riding with my uncle in the summer of 1975 going to Florida to see relatives. I remember this song was big that summer and I heard it quite a few times all the way down there.
Elton owned the early to mid-seventies. this song peaked at # in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #2 in New Zealand, #12 in the UK in 1975.
Elton had an interesting B-side on this single. The B-side was a live duet of The Beatles hit “I Saw Her Standing There” that Elton recorded with his friend John Lennon. Elton had previously sung on Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Through The Night” and also released a version of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” which was written by Lennon.
Elton John: “In America, I’ve got ‘Philadelphia Freedom’ going up the charts again. I wish the bloody thing would piss off. I can see why people get sick and tired of me. In America, I get sick and tired of hearing myself on AM radio. It’s embarrassing.”
From Songfacts
Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to most of Elton John’s songs, but Elton would occasionally suggest titles. Elton requested a song with the title “Philadelphia Freedom” in honor of his friend, the tennis player Billie Jean King. At the time, there was a professional tennis league in America called World Team Tennis, and in 1974 King coached a team called the Philadelphia Freedoms, becoming one of the first women ever to coach men. Taupin had no obligation to write lyrics about King, and he didn’t – the song was inspired by the Philadelphia Soul sound of groups like The O’Jays and Melvin & The Blue Notes, and also the American bicentennial; in 1976 the US celebrated 200 years of independence.
Elton John and Billie Jean King became good friends after meeting at a party. Elton tried to attend as many of her matches as he could, and he promised King a song after she gave him a customized track suit. Elton and Billie Jean King would become icons of the gay and lesbian community, but at the time, they were both still in the closet, since athletes and entertainers faced a backlash if they revealed their homosexuality. Elton was often answering questions about why he hadn’t settled down with a girl, and King avoided the subject as best she could, but was forced to come out in 1981 when a former lover sued her for palimony. King was married to a man up until her outing, and Elton was married to a woman from 1984-1988.
On the single, it said this song was dedicated to “B.J.K.” (Billie Jean King) and “The Soulful Sounds Of Philadelphia.”
This song was a huge hit in America, following up another #1 single from Elton John, his cover of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” Elton dominated the charts at this time, but it didn’t always make him happy, as he felt he was being overexposed.
Running 5:21, this was one of the longest dance hits of the ’70s. A few months earlier, a national radio programer declared that he would no longer play any Elton John song over 4 minutes long because they were screwing up his playlists (Program directors liked short songs because they could play more of them. Elton’s opuses like “Daniel” and “Funeral For A Friend” had a way of screwing up the “14 Hits In A Row” format). Elton knew this would be a hit, and was happy to screw the programmer by making it long, knowing he would have to play it anyway.
Elton said this was “one of the only times I tried to deliberately write a hit single.”
On May 17, 1975, Elton become one of the first white performers to appear on the TV show Soul Train, which was an honor for him. He performed this song and “Bennie And The Jets.”
Depending on where he was performing, Elton would sometimes alter the lyrics of the song, swapping “Philadelphia” for his present location. He would only do it if he could make it fit, so “Cincinnati Freedom” was a go, but Cleveland didn’t get customized.
Philadelphia Freedom
I used to be a rolling stone you know If a cause was right I’d leave to find the answer on the road I used to be a heart beating for someone But the times have changed The less I say the more my work gets done
‘Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom From the day that I was born I’ve waved the flag Philadelphia freedom took me knee high to a man, yeah Gave me a piece of mama, daddy never had
Oh Philadelphia freedom, shine on me, I love you Shine the light, through the eyes of the ones left behind Shine the light, shine the light Shine the light, won’t you shine the light Philadelphia freedom, I love-ve-ve you, yes I do
If you choose to you can live your life alone Some people choose the city (some people the city) Some others choose the good old family home (some others choose a good old) I like living easy without family ties (living easy) Till the whippoorwill of freedom zapped me Right between the eyes
‘Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom From the day that I was born I’ve waved the flag Philadelphia freedom took me knee high to a man Mm mm, gave me a piece of mama, daddy never had
Oh Philadelphia freedom, shine on me, I love you Shine the light, through the eyes of the ones left behind Shine the light, shine the light Shine the light, won’t you shine the light Philadelphia freedom, I love-ve-ve you, yes I do
Oh, Philadelphia freedom, shine on me, I love you Shine the light, through the eyes of the ones left behind Shine the light, shine the light Shine the light, won’t you shine the light Philadelphia freedom, I love-ve-ve, You know I love-ve-ve , you know I love-ve-ve you Yes I do, Philadelphia freedom I love-ve-ve you Yes I do, Philadelphia freedom You know that I love-ve-ve you Yes I do, Philadelphia freedom Don’t you know that I love-ve-ve you Yes I do, Philadelphia freedom Don’t you know that I love-ve-ve you Yes I do, Philadelphia freedom
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