I’m on the second Peter Guralnick book about Elvis and I’m in the year of 1972…the jumpsuit, karate, Vegas Elvis. Though it had obvious hit potential, Elvis had just separated from his wife, Priscilla, and was not in the mood for a Rock n Roll number, so he wasn’t excited to record it. Elvis’ producer Felton Jarvis had to persuade him that the song was worth trying, and after 6 attempts, he recorded a suitable take. The song is great and Elvis’s performance is on the mark.
This song would peak at #2 in the Billboard 100 in 1972. Burning Love would his last top ten Billboard hit. The song was also released on an album titled Burning Love and Hits from his Movies: Volume 2… an album with this song and the rest very forgettable movie songs. This was another Colonel Tom Parker special. It was released on RCA’s budget label.
Album Covers… Elvis’s album packaging in the 1970s was just bland to me. Elvis…on stage…in the jumpsuit…in a karate pose and holding a mic. Since the sixties, album covers had been an important part of representing the artist. His covers were unmemorable and were put out cheaply to make a quick buck…very shortsighted and very Colonel Parker. The only one I remember well was the Aloha from Hawaii album with the satellite but it still didn’t compete with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and every other major act at the time. His album covers were interchangeable with each other for the most part. I’m not downing Elvis’s music but I just wish more thought would have been put into designing and marketing.
I’m not saying they had to be all works of art but a little more distinguishable.
When you see Abbey Road, Led Zeppelin II, Who’s Next, Dark Side of the Moon you know what songs are on them by just looking at them…Elvis albums?
From Songfacts
This was Elvis’ biggest hit single Stateside since “Suspicious Minds” in 1969 and his last Top 10 hit in the American Hot 100 or pop charts.
This song about the breakdown of a relationship had already featured on the self-titled 1972 album by Country-Soul pioneer Arthur Alexander.
In addition to making the original commercial recording of a song later covered by Elvis, Arthur Alexander has the claim of being the only songwriter in history to have his songs sung by The Beatles (“Anna (Go to Him))”), the Rolling Stones (“You’d Better Move On”) and Bob Dylan (“Sally Sue Brown”).
Dennis Linde, who wrote this song and also provided the guitar intro, was reclusive by nature and was at one time tagged “Nashville’s best-kept songwriting secret.” Apart from “Burning Love,” most of the successful songs he wrote were for Country stars, including,Roger Miller (“Tom Green County Fair” – 1970), Garth Brooks (“Callin’ Baton Rouge” – 1993) and The Dixie Chicks (“Goodbye Earl” – 1999.) In Britain, Welsh Rock and Roll revivalist Shakin’ Stevens recorded a #10 hit with his version of Linde’s “A Letter to You” in 1984.
In 2005, an Australian woman, who was evidently not a fan of this song, stabbed her partner in the back, thigh, and shoulder with a pair of scissors because “he played the song too many times.”
As part of a series of re-releases of Elvis songs in the UK in 2007 this re-entered the UK chart at #13.
Burning Love
Lord Almighty, I feel my temperature rising Higher higher It’s burning through to my soul
Girl, girl, girl You gonna set me on fire My brain is flaming I don’t know which way to go
Your kisses lift me higher Like the sweet song of a choir You light my morning sky With burning love
Ooh, ooh, ooh, I feel my temperature rising Help me, I’m flaming I must be a hundred and nine Burning, burning, burning And nothing can cool me I just might turn into smoke But I feel fine
‘Cause your kisses lift me higher Like a sweet song of a choir And you light my morning sky With burning love
It’s coming closer The flames are reaching my body Please won’t you help me I feel like I’m slipping away It’s hard to breath And my chest is a-heaving
Lord have mercy, I’m burning a hole where I lay ‘Cause your kisses lift me higher Like the sweet song of a choir You light my morning sky With burning love With burning love Ah, ah, burning love I’m just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love
Poodle skirts and pink Cadillacs is what I think of when I hear this song.
In the ’50s, high school dances in America were often referred to as “the hop.” Sometimes, these dances would be “sock hops” because school administrators would make the kids take off their shoes so they didn’t scuff up the floor of the gymnasium, where the dance was usually held.
This song stayed on the top of US charts for seven weeks in 1958, longer than any other song that year. For four of those weeks, it held “Great Balls of Fire” off the top spot…
From Songfacts
This was written by Dave White and John Madara, who were songwriter/producers based in Philadelphia – White was a member of Danny and the Juniors. Madara explained in an interview with Forgotten Hits: “‘At The Hop’ originally was recorded by myself, with Danny and The Juniors (who at the time were called The Juvenairs) singing background. It was titled ‘Do The Bop,’ with the B Side, ‘Sometimes,’ also with me singing lead and Danny and The Juniors singing background. I was under contract at the time to Prep Records and had just had a record, ‘Be My Girl,’ which had made the national charts.
Prep had me all set up to record again with a producer who was working with Paul Anka, Sid Feller, when I had the idea to write a song ‘Do The Bop.’ I wanted to do something that had a piano featured like ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.’ So, off we go to the recording studio, with me singing lead, Danny and The Juniors singing background, and my 45 record ‘A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ to set the tone of what I was shooting for. I paid for the session, sat in the control room, told the engineer what to do, played the Jerry Lee Lewis record for the musicians and that is how ‘Do The Bop’ was created. After the recording, we played the record for Prep.
They didn’t care for it. They still wanted me to record with Sid Feller. So we went back to Philadelphia where ‘Do The Bop’ was played for Dick Clark, who suggested that The Bop wasn’t really happening around the country and why don’t we change it to something about record hops. So with some additional lyric changes, and because I was under contract with Prep, we went back into the studio with Danny and The Juniors. Danny, who was their lead singer, sang lead, using a lot of the same phrasing that I did on ‘Do The Bop.’ Of course, the rest is rock and roll history.”
Danny & the Juniors were the Philadelphia group of Danny Rapp, Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova. At the time, they were known as The Juvenairs. They were on a street corner singing when a someone who worked at a recording studio heard them and brought them in to sing. The “Bah”‘s go in this order of singers:
Bah 1, Terranova (also does the Oh, Baby)
Bah 2, Rapp (Lead Singer and choreographer. He committed suicide in 1983 in a Holiday Inn in Arizona with a shotgun, he owned a black 1958 Impala Convertible with a continental kit)
Bah 3, Maffei (First Tenor)
Bah 4, White (Second Tenor)
Danny and the Juniors hit the US Top 40 three more times, including “Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay,” but this was their only hit in England.
This was used in the 1973 film American Graffiti, which is set in 1962 and features lots of music from early in the Rock Era.
Artie Singer also has a composer credit on this song. In the Forgotten Hits interview, Madara said: “Artie Singer, who had been my vocal coach, took all of the credit for the production (and production monies and all of the publishing), put his name on as a songwriter and publisher and has tried to take credit for producing ‘At The Hop’ all these years. I have read on many websites that Artie Singer went out and got Leon Huff to help with the production and play piano. This is totally, one hundred percent false. I discovered Leon Huff in 1963 playing with a band called ‘The Lavenders,’ and at that time he was about 18 years old. He would have had to have been 12 years old to be involved with ‘At The Hop.'”
Sha-Na-Na played this at Woodstock in 1969. They were relatively unknown at the time and performed covers of ’50s hits and doo-wop songs. Their Woodstock performance, which preceded Jimi Hendrix, helped launch their career, which led to their own TV show in 1977.
At The Hop
Bah-bah-bah-bah, bah-bah-bah-bah
Bah-bah-bah-bah, bah-bah-bah-bah, at the hop!
Well, you can rock it you can roll it
You can stop and you can stroll it at the hop
When the record starts spinnin’
You chalypso when you chicken at the hop
Do the dance sensation that is sweepin’ the nation at the hop
Ah, let’s go to the hop
Let’s go to the hop, (oh baby)
Let’s go to the hop, (oh baby)
Let’s go to the hop
Come on, let’s go to the hop
Well, you can swing it you can groove it
You can really start to move it at the hop
Where the jockey is the smoothest
And the music is the coolest at the hop
All the cats and chicks can get their kicks at the hop
Let’s go!
Let’s go to the hop
Let’s go to the hop, (oh baby)
Let’s go to the hop, (oh baby)
Let’s go to the hop
Come on, let’s go to the hop
Let’s go!
Well, you can rock it you can roll it
You can stop and you can stroll it at the hop
When the record starts spinnin’
You chalypso when you chicken at the hop
Do the dance sensation that is sweepin’ the nation at the hop
You can swing it you can groove it
You can really start to move it at the hop
Where the jockey is the smoothest
And the music is the coolest at the hop.
All the cats and chicks can get their kicks at the hop.
Let’s go!
Let’s go to the hop
Let’s go to the hop, (oh baby)
Let’s go to the hop, (oh baby)
Let’s go to the hop
Come on, let’s go to the hop
Bah-bah-bah-bah, bah-bah-bah-bah
Bah-bah-bah-bah, bah-bah-bah-bah, at the hop!
I’ve heard this song so much that I know every nuance of it. The song was on the album of the same name. This song would be in my top 5 of Van Morrison. It’s a beautiful epic song. I’ve always noticed the lyrics are not Morrison’s best by any means. The melody is not complicated, in fact, it is reminiscent of The Weight…same chord pattern. Van’s voice and phrasing lift this song into a great song. Well, there is Connie Kay’s drumming also.
The song peaked at #47 in the Billboard 100 in 1972. The album peaked at #27 in 1971.
From Songfacts
“Tupelo Honey” is an unreserved typically mystic take on the domestic happiness Morrison had found since he’d married his wife Janet. They’d met during his time with the Irish R&B band Them. She’d already been his muse for several of Morrison’s earlier songs.
Tupelo honey is honey made from the sweet flowers of the tupelo tree, which grows abundantly in swampy areas of the Southern United States.
There are allusions to early America and the Boston Tea Party in this song:
You can take all the tea in China
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail right around the seven oceans
Drop it straight into the deep blue sea
And
You can’t stop us on the road to freedom
You can’t stop us ’cause our eyes can see
The Irish Troubles were still raging when this song was written, and it’s important to view it as the song of an artist who was a product of that situation. Freedom was surely heavy on Van’s mind.
This song plays at the conclusion of the 1997 film Ulee’s Gold, which stars Peter Fonda as a beekeeper who makes Tupelo Honey.
Tupelo Honey
You can take all the tea in China Put it in a big brown bag for me Sail right around all the seven oceans Drop it straight into the deep blue sea She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey She’s an angel of the first degree She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey Just like honey from the bee
You can’t stop us on the road to freedom You can’t keep us ’cause our eyes can see Men with insight, men in granite Knights in armor bent on chivalry She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey She’s an angel of the first degree She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey Just like honey, baby, from the bee
You can’t stop us on the road to freedom You can’t stop us ’cause our eyes can see Men with insight, men in granite Knights in armor intent on chivalry She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey She’s an angel of the first degree She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey Just like honey, baby, from the bee
You know she’s alright, oh she’s alright with me You know, you know, you know she’s alright, she alright with me You know, you know, you know you know You know she’s alright, alright with me She’s alright, she’s alright She’s alright with me She’s alright She’s alright with me She’s alright She’s alright with me
She’s al, she’s alright, she’s alright She’s alright with me She’s alright, she’s alright, she’s alright, she’s alright
You can take all the tea in China Put it in a big brown bag for me Sail it right around all these seven oceans Drop it smack dab in the middle of the deep blue sea Because, she’s as sweet as Tupelo honey, yes she is She’s an angel of the first degree She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey Just like honey, baby, from the bee
She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey She’s an angel of the first degree She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey Just like the honey, from the bee She’s alright, she’s alright with me She’s my baby, you know she’s alright She’s my baby, she’s my baby, she’s alright She’s my baby
Great debut single by “The Who.” They released a single before this one but the band had a different name…”The High Numbers.” The song was released in 1964 but peaked at #8 in the UK in 1965.
I Can’t Explain is a simple 3 chord song and what makes it go are the drums. Keith makes his presence felt right away. This was not released on an album until 1971. It is the first song on one of the best compilation albums I ever bought, Meaty, Beaty, Big, and Bouncy.
Roger Daltrey said: “When we turned up to record it there was this other guitarist in the studio – Jimmy Page. And he’d brought in three backing vocalists, which was another shock. He must have discussed it with our management, but not with us, so we were thrown at first, thinking, ‘What the f–k’s going on here?’ But it was his way of recording.”
Page ended up playing the riff and Townsend played the solo.
John Carter, Perry Ford, and Ken Lewis provided the background vocals. The trio were popular session singers in England, where they were known for their harmony vocals. For session work, they called themselves The Ivy League, but they went on to have a hit called “Let’s Go To San Francisco” as The Flower Pot Men. Perry Ford also played piano on this track.
From Songfacts
This was produced by an American named Shel Talmy. He was famous for putting loud, powerful guitar on the songs he produced, and had recently worked with The Kinks on their first hit, “You Really Got Me.” Talmy produced this in a similar style.
Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame was a session musician at the time and was brought in to play guitar on this track. The Who producer Shel Talmy knew the guitar would be very prominent on this song and had Page ready in case Townshend couldn’t handle it. Pete did just fine, and quickly established himself as a premier rock guitarist.
The Who made their first US television appearance performing this on the ABC show Shindig. The program aired from 1964-1966 and featured many popular musicians performing their hits. The Everly Brothers, Glen Campbell, and Sonny and Cher were all frequent guests on the show.
Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy was a 1971 compilation of The Who’s early hits, many of which did not appear on albums and could only be purchased as singles. In 1966, The Who broke their contract with manager and producer Shel Talmy. As part of the deal, Talmy got royalties from Who records over the next five years. By 1971, the band was able to release the compilation album without giving the royalties to Talmy.
The Who played this at the Woodstock festival in 1969. It was the second of 24 songs in their set, which ended with a performance of all the songs from their rock opera Tommy. The Who went on at 3 a.m. the second night of Woodstock and played until the sun came up the next day.
The Kinks song “You Really Got Me” was released the previous year and was also produced by Shel Talmy. If you hear similarities in the guitar riffs, you’re not along. Dave Davies of The Kinks says that when he heard “I Can’t Explain,” he thought those “cheeky buggers” from The Who were copying them.
This was a staple of the band’s setlists throughout their career. When The Who toured in 2015 for their 50th anniversary, it was the opening number. Promoting (sort of) the tour in a Rolling Stone interview, Pete Townshend said that he didn’t like performing, partly because songs like this one have no meaning for him anymore. “The first chord of ‘I Can’t Explain’ for me kind of sets the tone for the evening,” he said. “Is this going to be an evening in which I spend the whole evening pretending to be the Pete Townshend I used to be? Or do I pretend to be a grown-up? In both cases, I think I’m pretending.”
Roger Daltrey admitted to Mojo May 2018 that he thought “I Can’t Explain” was a bit namby-pamby. He explained: “It was the backing vocals. ‘Cos Shel Talmy got the Ivy League in. They did these kind of girly high (sings in comedy falsetto) ‘I caaan’t expaaaaain (laughs)’. But you know, it was commercial and it worked, and I was grateful for that.”
I Can’t Explain
Got a feeling inside (can’t explain) It’s a certain kind (can’t explain) I feel hot and cold (can’t explain) Yeah, down in my soul, yeah (can’t explain)
I said (can’t explain) I’m feeling good now, yeah, but (can’t explain)
Dizzy in the head and I’m feeling blue The things you’ve said, well, maybe they’re true I’m gettin’ funny dreams again and again I know what it means, but
Can’t explain I think it’s love Try to say it to you When I feel blue
But I can’t explain (can’t explain) Yeah, hear what I’m saying, girl (can’t explain)
Dizzy in the head and I’m feeling bad The things you’ve said have got me real mad I’m gettin’ funny dreams again and again I know what it means but
Can’t explain I think it’s love Try to say it to you When I feel blue
But I can’t explain (can’t explain) Forgive me one more time, now (can’t explain)
(Ooh) I said I can’t explain, yeah (Ooh) you drive me out of my mind (Ooh) yeah, I’m the worrying kind, babe (Ooh) I said I can’t explain
You won’t find this song on a greatest hits package or hear it on the radio. The Beatles never performed the song live throughout their career and it’s a shame but it was an embarrassment of riches for them. It was one of my first favorite songs from them.
This song was written by John Lennon but of course, credited to Lennon-McCartney. This is where John’s voice cuts through everything and when the harmonies kick in on “All I Got To Do” I’m hooked. The song acted as filler on the album but it is way above a filler song. Any other group would have pushed this song.
John Lennon said: “I had the image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the ‘phone, although I have never called a girl on the ‘phone in my life! Because ‘phones weren’t part of the English child’s life.”
He also said, “That’s me trying to do Smokey Robinson again.”
All I’ve Got To Do
Whenever I want you around, yeah All I gotta do Is call you on the phone And you’ll come running home, yeah That’s all I gotta do.
And when I, I wanna kiss you, yeah All I gotta do Is whisper in your ear The words you long to hear And I’ll be kissing you
And the same goes for me Whenever you want me at all I’ll be here yes I will Whenever you call You just gotta call on me, yeah You just gotta call on me
And when I, I wanna kiss you, yeah All I got to do Is call you on the phone And you’ll come running home, yeah That’s all I gotta do.
And the same goes for me Whenever you want me at all I’ll be here, yes I will Whenever you call You just gotta call on me You just gotta call on me.
I admit that the part when the dog “up and died” it hits me.”Mr. Bojangles,” written by country music artist Jerry Jeff Walker.
It was based on a homeless man Jerry Walker met in a New Orleans jail. The man referred to himself as “Mr. Bojangles” and regaled Walker with various stories about his life and then created a depressing mood in the cell when he talked about his dog, who had died. When one of the other men requested for someone to cheer everyone up, “Mr. Bojangles” hopped up and performed a tap dance.
“Mr. Bojangles” was the nickname used by Bill Robinson, a black tap dancer who appeared in many movies in the 1930s, including with Shirley Temple in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. After Robinson’s success, many black street dancers became known as “Bojangles.”
The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada in 1971.
Some of the many artists to record this song include Bob Dylan, Harry Nilsson, John Denver, Nina Simone, Sammy Davis Jr., and Neil Diamond.
From Songfacts
This was written and originally released by the singer/songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker, who wrote the song in the mid-’60s and recorded it in 1968. Walker left his home in upstate New York and traveled the country playing music. He spent some time in New Orleans, where one day he was a bit tipsy and made a public display trying to convince a young lady that love, at first sight, was real. This landed him in jail, where his cellmate was an older black man who made a living as a street dancer and told Walker all about his life.
In his book Gypsy Songman, Walker tells the story: “One of the guys in the cell jumped up and said, ‘Come on, Bojangles. Give us a little dance.’ ‘Bojangles’ wasn’t so much a name as a category of itinerant street entertainer known back as far as the previous century. The old man said, ‘Yes, Hell yes.’ He jumped up and started clapping a rhythm, and he began to dance. I spent much of that long holiday weekend talking to the old man, hearing about the tough blows life had dealt him, telling him my own dreams.”
Walker moved on to Texas, where he sat down to write: “And here it came, just sort of tumbling out, one straight shot down the length of that yellow pad. On a night when the rest of the country was listening to The Beatles, I was writing a 6/8 waltz about an old man and hope. It was a love song. In a lot of ways, Mr. Bojangles is a composite. He’s a little bit of several people I met for only moments of a passing life. He’s all those I met once and will never see again and will never forget.”
Walker wrote another verse to the song but didn’t perform it because he couldn’t fit it all in. This verse was about the three wives the man in jail told him about.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band version starts with a spoken intro called “Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy.”
Jerry Jeff Walker told American Songwriter Magazine May/June 1988 that the success of this showed that songs needn’t conform to rules. He explained: “‘Bojangles’ broke all the rules. It was too long, was 6/9 time, about an old drunk and a dead dog. They had so many reasons why it didn’t fit anything. It would have never been a song if I had been living in Nashville and tried to take it through there. I recorded it in New York. I’ve always had my record deals through New York or L.A.”
According to Jerry Jeff Walker’s confrere Todd Snider, Jerry Jeff was known for a time as “Mr. Blowjangles” because of his raging cocaine habit. Todd quotes Jerry Jeff as saying: “A line of cocaine will make a new man out of you – and he’ll want some too.”
Mr. Bojangles
I knew a man, Bojangles and he danced for you In worn out shoes Silver hair, a ragged shirt and baggy pants The old soft shoe He jumped so high He jumped so high Then he’d lightly touch down I met him in a cell in New Orleans, I was Down and out He looked to me to be the eyes of age As he spoke right out He talked of life He talked of life He laughed, clicked his heels and stepped He said his name, Bojangles and he danced a lick Across the cell He grabbed his pants, a better stance Oh, he jumped so high Then he clicked his heels He let go a laugh He let go a laugh Pushed back his clothes all around Mr. Bojangles Mr. Bojangles Mr. Bojangles Dance He danced for those in minstrel shows and county fairs Throughout the south He spoke with tears of fifteen years how his dog and him Traveled about The dog up and died He up and died After twenty years he still grieves He said I dance now at every chance in honky tonks For drinks and tips But most the time I spend behind these county bars He said I drinks a bit He shook his head And as he shook his head I heard someone ask him please Please Mr. Bojangles Mr. Bojangles Mr. Bojangles Dance
I usually post single releases but this song is one of my favorites of Bob Dylan. I can just read the lyrics of this song and enjoy it. Bob Dylan is the king of song imagery. It was written about his future wife Sara Lownds. It was released in 1965 on the “Bringing It All Back Home” album.
The lyric that hooked me was She knows there’s no success like failure, And that failure’s no success at all. That line is hard to beat.
The song was included on the album Bringing It All Back Home released in 1965. The song was not released as a single but the album peaked at #6 in the Billboard Album Charts.
The title of the song is one of a kind. It’s fun to read people’s interpretations of Dylan’s songs. His songs mean so many different things to people and he is never too open about revealing what they are about.
I found this of someone attempting to mathematically break down the song.
It’s a strange way to title a song, with a slash in the middle. Until you realize that this is not a normal title per se. It’s an equation, like 4/2=2. In mathematics, the forward slash represents “divided by. Four divided by two equals two.
So what’s Love minus zero divided by no limit? Well, no limit equals infinity. It is infinite. Ten divided by infinity would be an infinitely small number. In fact, any finite number divided by infinity would be an infinitely small number.
However, if one’s love is infinite, and you subtract zero from that, the equation now reads “Infinity divided by infinity.” Which equals One. If each human heart is an infinity, it is through love that the two become one.
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
My love she speaks like silence Without ideals or violence She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire People carry roses Make promises by the hours My love she laughs like the flowers Valentines can’t buy her
In the dime stores and bus stations People talk of situations Read books, repeat quotations Draw conclusions on the wall Some speak of the future My love she speaks softly She knows there’s no success like failure And that failure’s no success at all
The cloak and dagger dangles Madams light the candles In ceremonies of the horsemen Even the pawn must hold a grudge Statues made of matchsticks Crumble into one another My love winks, she does not bother She knows too much to argue or to judge
The bridge at midnight trembles The country doctor rambles Bankers’ nieces seek perfection Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring The wind howls like a hammer The night blows cold and rainy My love she’s like some raven At my window with a broken wing
I always think of Goodfellas when I hear this. It is the scene where Ray Liotta takes Lorraine Bracco out to the Copacabana. The song peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100 in 1964.
Dolores “La La” Brooks is the only Crystal to perform on this song. Spector recorded the group’s first recordings in New York City, where they were from. When he relocated to Los Angeles, he had a group called The Blossoms (with Darlene Love singing lead) record the songs “He’s A Rebel” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” which he issued as The Crystals.
On all following Crystals recordings, Spector flew Brooks from New York to Los Angeles to perform the lead vocals, but the other Crystals never made the trip, as Spector preferred to use local backup singers.
From Songfacts
By July 1963, Phil Spector had already made the Hot 100 with seven chart hits that he produced. He successfully ended his partnership with Lester Sill and began his marriage to Annette Merar. Shortly after his marriage, Spector traveled to New York looking for a song to follow up on The Crystals success with “Da Doo Ron Ron.” “Then He Kissed Me” was the perfect song for the group and Phil put together one of his most extravagant productions for the record. (Thanks to Kent at Forgotten Hits.)
This was also around the time when the group shrunk from five members to four, losing Mary Thomas, who left to get married.
Phil Spector produced this using his “Wall Of Sound” technique, which meant long hours in the studio for the musicians, as Spector was notoriously stingy allowing breaks. His engineer Larry Levine recalled: “He didn’t want to give them a bathroom break. Not because he wanted to work them to death, but because he didn’t want them to move microphones or bodies or anything. He wanted everything to stay as it was in the studio. But he would work for three hours or more before we ever put anything on tape. And I think the reason was he wanted to tire these great musicians so that they weren’t playing individualistic; they were too tired. And so they just melded into this wall of sound.”
This was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Phil Spector also received a songwriting credit.
Crystals lead singer La La Brooks was just 15 when she recorded this song. Had she ever been kissed? “Yeah,” she replied when we asked her. “My little boyfriend at 13 years kissed me on my mouth at the door. But not kiss kiss – you know what I’m saying?”
To coax the vocal performance out of La La Brooks, Phil Spector dimmed the lights in the studio and gave her specific instructions. “He said, ‘Think of somebody kissing you,'” Brooks told us. “I was a kid, so I’m not going to think like that. So he would turn off the lights, I would have a little light on my music, on my words, and then he said, ‘Now, concentrate.’ And I said (singing), ‘Well, he walked up to me and he asked me if I wanted to dance.’ He said, ‘That’s the way you do it!’
So I guess he had to train my mind to think that I was talking about a boy. He knew how to get things out of you.”
This was The Crystals’ last US Top 40 hit, as Phil Spector soon lost interest in them and turned his attention to another girl-group called The Ronettes. The song’s first appearance on an album was on a various-artists compilation of Phil Spector’s artists entitled Today’s Hits.
In 1965, the Beach Boys recorded a version titled “Then I Kissed Her,” which reached UK #4.
The flip side of the record was an instrumental called “Brother Julius,” which was named after a hamburger stand near the Gold Star studio where the recording sessions took place. Spector usually put throwaway songs on the B-sides of his singles so the DJs wouldn’t play them instead of the A-sides.
This song opens the 1987 movie Adventures in Babysitting, where Elisabeth Shue dances to it while getting ready for a date. The song was also used in a 2006 episode of The Simpsons called “Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play.”
Then He Kissed Me
Well, he walked up to me and he asked me if I wanted to dance He looked kinda nice and so I said I might take a chance When he danced he held me tight And when he walked me home that night All the stars were shining bright And then he kissed me
Each time I saw him I couldn’t wait to see him again I wanted to let him know that he was more than a friend I didn’t know just what to do So I whispered I love you He said that he loved me too And then he kissed me
He kissed me in a way that I’ve never been kissed before, He kissed me in a way that I want to be kissed forever more
I knew that he was mine so I gave him all the love that I had And one day he took me home to meet his mon and his dad Then he asked me to be his bride And always be right by his side I felt so happy I almost cried And then he kissed me
Then he asked me to be his bride And always be right by his side I felt so happy I almost cried And then he kissed me And then he kissed me And then he kissed me
How I love this song but…no matter how hard I try I cannot get the movie Blue Velvet out of my head while listening to it. The song helped revive Roy’s career when it appeared in the movie. Here is what Roy said:
Oh God! I was aghast, truly shocked! I remember sneaking into a little cinema in Malibu, where I live, to see it, Some people behind me evidently recognised me because they started laughing when the “In Dreams” sequence came on. But I was shocked, almost mortified, because they were talking about ‘the candy coloured clown’ in relation to doing a dope deal, then Dean Stockwell did that weird miming thing with that lamp. Then they were beating up that young kid! I thought, ‘What in the world? But later, when I was touring, we got the video out and I really got to appreciate not only what David Lynch gave to the song, and what the song in turn gave to the film, but how innovative the movie was, how it really achieved this otherworldy quality that added a whole new dimension to “In Dreams”. I find it hard to verbalise why, but Blue Velvet really succeeded in making my music contemporary again.
Roy Orbison claimed in interviews that the lyrics for this song came to him in a dream he wrote the music once he woke up. The song peaked #7 in the Billboard 100 in 1963. While the song was in the charts Orbison toured Britain with a new unknown group, named the Beatles.
From Songfacts
This song is featured in a key scene in the 1986 film Blue Velvet where Dean Stockwell’s character lip-synchs to the song. Orbison initially rejected director David Lynch’s request to use this song, but later made a video for the track with scenes from the film.
The use of this song in Blue Velvet sparked a career resurgence for Orbison. Because of legal entanglements, he didn’t have access to the master recordings of many of his hits, so after the movie drummed up interest in his work, he set about re-recording his songs for a compilation called In Dreams: The Greatest Hits. When Orbison asked Lynch if he could use footage of the film in a video for the re-recorded “In Dreams,” Lynch not only agreed, but offered to help with the song. With T Bone Burnett producing, Lynch directed Orbison in his performance as he would an actor in a film, and it worked, allowing Orbison to be faithful to the original recording by doing it with no overdubs.
Shortly before he died, Roy Orbison recorded a follow-up to this song called “In The Real World” on his 1989 album Mystery Girl.
In Dreams
A candy-colored clown they call the sandman Tiptoes to my room every night Just to sprinkle star dust and to whisper “Go to sleep, everything is alright”
I close my eyes then I drift away Into the magic night, I softly say A silent prayer like dreamers do Then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you
In dreams I walk with you In dreams I talk to you In dreams you’re mine all the time We’re together in dreams, in dreams
But just before the dawn I awake and find you gone I can’t help it, I can’t help it if I cry I remember that you said goodbye
Too bad it only seems It only happens in my dreams Only in dreams In beautiful dreams.
Alex Chilton’s songwriting partner in power-pop legend Big Star, Chris Bell was an overlooked member of an overlooked band. In London, he teamed up with longtime Beatles’ engineer Geoff Emerick at AIR Studios, where the final touches and mix were completed. Bell would spend the next two years engaged in a frustrating attempt to get a record deal in the U.S. and Europe. With those prospects dimming, he eventually abandoned his career and took a job with his family’s fast-food chain back home.
Just another sad story that came from Big Star. In 1978, amid when Big Star started to get a cult following, “Cosmos” was released as a single by fan and fellow musician Chris Stamey, on his tiny North Carolina-based Car label. The song (backed with the “You and Your Sister”) would be the only solo work released during Bell’s life. Just a few months after the record was pressed, Bell would die in a late-night single-car accident near his home in East Memphis on December 27, 1978. He was 27.
The B side…You and Your Sister
I Am The Cosmos
Every night I tell myself, “I am the cosmos, I am the wind” But that don’t get you back again Just when I was starting to feel okay You’re on the phone I never wanna be alone Never wanna be alone I hate to have to take you home Wanted too much to say no, no, Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah Never wanna be alone I hate to have to take you home Want you too much to say no, no Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah My feeling’s always happening Something I couldn’t hide I can’t confide Don’t know what’s going on inside So every night I tell myself “I am the cosmos, I am the wind” But that don’t get you back again I’d really like to see you again I really wanna see you again I’d really like to see you again I really wanna see you again I’d really like to see you again I really wanna see you again I never wanna see you again Really wanna see you again
Ric Ocasek wrote this in a basement at a commune in Newton, Massachusetts where he lived. Benjamin Orr the bass player sang it. The 2-track demo recorded by the band became the most-requested song by a local band in the history of WBCN, a popular rock station in Boston.
The song peaked at #27 in the Billboard 100, #17 in the UK, and #35 in Canada in 1978. The song was on their self-titled debut album that peaked at #18 in the Billboard Album charts in 1979. The Cars set the bar high with their debut album with two songs (My Best Friends Girl, Just What I Needed) in the top 40 and one song (Let The Good Times Roll) just missing it at #41. At least 6 out of the 9 songs on the album is still being played on classic radio.
From Songfacts
This established The Cars as one of New Wave’s leading hitmakers and helped get them a deal with Elektra Records.
Lead vocals were by bass player Ben Orr, but it was written by lead singer/guitarist Ric Ocasek. Orr died of Pancreatic cancer in 2000.
This was the group’s first single. The Cars evolved from a trio called Milkwood.
The group’s manager took the Cars’ demo tape to two Boston radio stations and got it regular airplay before the group re-recorded it and released this as a single.
Seven years after it was first released, this made its second appearance on a single – this time as the B-side of the Cars’ last Top 10 hit, “Tonight She Comes.” >>
This song was used in the opening credits of the Oscar-winning film Boys Don’t Cry starring Hillary Swank.
This was used in Circuit City ads when the electronics store used the slogan, “Just What I Needed.”
Just What I Needed
I don’t mind you coming here And wasting all my time ’cause when you’re standing oh so near I kinda lose my mind It’s not the perfume that you wear It’s not the ribbons in your hair I don’t mind you coming here And wasting all my time I don’t mind you hanging out And talking in your sleep It doesn’t matter where you’ve been As long as it was deep You always knew to wear it well You look so fancy I can tell I don’t mind you hanging out And talking in your sleep I guess you’re just what I needed I needed someone to feed I guess you’re just what I needed I needed someone to bleed
When I heard this song for the first time I liked it…the line “If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts” got my attention. It is a well-written song with great imagery.
The song peaked at #40 in the U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 in 2000.
Adam Duritz the songwriter/singer has finally admitted to how he wrote the song Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby. According to an interview he did he admitted he wrote the song about a person who falls in love with an idealized version of someone and not who they actually are. In this particular case, the character falls in love with an actress on a screen, Monica Potter.
From Songfacts
This song deals with memories and hope (both the false ones and all the far-searching dreams). Mrs. Potter is a movie star who Adam Duritz is looking up at, admiring, and wanting her to be a part of his life. This song has a very dreamy feel about it all the way through, as does the video clip. Duritz says he wrote the song after going to a movie and wondering what it would be like to fall in love with a girl on the screen.
Duritz had some particular insights here, as he has dated a litany of actresses, including Mary Louise Parker, Jennifer Aniston, Samantha Mathis and Emmy Rossum.
It was written about Monica Potter from the movies Con Air, Patch Adams and Saw. He says that after he wrote the song, he had dinner with a couple who brought an actress friend along. She and Duritz hit it off, and he invited her to the recording session, where he announced her as “Mrs. Potter.” She went out of town for a few days, during which time Duritz wrote a few songs inspired by their quick separation and long phone calls: “Colorblind,” “Four Days” and “Kid Things.”
When she returned, they started dating. Their producer Dennis Herring had given her a tape from the sessions, which she played for Duritz when he told her that they were having trouble mixing the song. One take on the tape sounded really good, so Adam played that one for the band and used it on the recording. They realized that they had overcomplicated the song, so they stripped it down, working from that one take.
This song runs 7:46, but Adam Duritz tells us that it took him only about 8 hours to write. “It’s a longer song, but it’s one sitting,” he said. “I would always sit in that feeling for a while.”
Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby
Well I woke up in mid-afternoon cause that’s when it all hurts the most I dream I never know anyone at the party and I’m always the host If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast
Well, I am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame I am an acrobat swinging trapezes through circles of flame If you’ve never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame And though I’ll never forget your face, sometimes I can’t remember my name
Hey Mrs. Potter don’t cry Hey Mrs. Potter I know why but Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me
Well, there’s a piece of Maria in every song that I sing And the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings And there is always one last light to turn out and one last bell to ring And the last one out of the circus has to lock up everything
Or the elephants will get out and forget to remember what you said And the ghosts of the tilt-a-whirl will linger inside of your head And the ferris wheel junkies will spin them forever instead When I see you a blanket of stars covers me in bed
Hey Mrs. Potter don’t go Hey Mrs. Potter I don’t know but Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me
All the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep And the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep All the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep Hey I can bleed as well as anyone, but I need someone to help me sleep
So I throw my hand into the air and it swims in the beams It’s just a brief interruption of the swirling dust sparkle jet stream Well, I know I don’t know you and you’re probably not what you seem But I’d sure like to find out So why don’t you climb down off that movie screen
Hey Mrs. Potter don’t turn Hey Mrs. Potter I burn for you Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me
When the last king of Hollywood shatters his glass on the floor and orders another Well, I wonder what he did that for That’s when I know that I have to get out cause I have been there before So I gave up my seat at the bar and I head for the door
We drove out to the desert just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars We stand up at the Palace like it’s the last of the great Pioneertown bars We shout out these songs against the clang of electric guitars You can see a million miles tonight But you can’t get very far
Hey Mrs. Potter I won’t touch and Hey Mrs. Potter it’s not much but Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me
Just a beautiful song and it’s close to perfect. The song was obviously inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. Underneath the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, there is a time capsule that contains the sheet music to this song along with some of Van Gogh’s brushes. This song is often played at the museum.
The song peaked at #12 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the UK, and #3 in Canada. It was on the album American Pie.
Don McLean: “In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms. I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn’t crazy. He had an illness and so did his brother Theo. This makes it different, in my mind, to the garden variety of ‘crazy’ – because he was rejected by a woman as was commonly thought. So I sat down with a print of Starry Night and wrote the lyrics out on a paper bag.”
McLean was going through a dark period when he wrote this song “I was in a bad marriage that was torturing me. I was tortured. I wasn’t as badly off as Vincent was, but I wasn’t thrilled, let’s put it that way.”
From Songfacts
The words and imagery of this song represent the life, work, and death of Vincent Van Gogh. A Starry Night is one of the Dutch impressionist’s most famous paintings.
The lyrics, “Paint your palette blue and gray” reflect the prominent colors of the painting, and are probably a reference to Vincent’s habit of sucking on or biting his paintbrushes while he worked. The “ragged men in ragged clothes” and “how you tried to set them free” refer to Van Gogh’s humanitarian activities and love of the socially outcast as also reflected in his paintings and drawings. “They would not listen/They did not know how” refers to Van Gogh’s family and some associates who were critical of his kindness to “the wretched.”
“How you suffered for your sanity” refers to the schizophrenic disorder from which Van Gogh suffered.
This song and Van Gogh’s painting reflect what it’s like to be misunderstood. Van Gogh painted “Starry Night” after committing himself to an asylum in 1889. He wrote that night was “more richly colored than the day,” but he couldn’t go outside to see the stars when he was committed, so he painted the night sky from memory.
Talking about the song on the UK show Songbook, McLean said: “It was inspired by a book. And it said that it was written by Vincent’s brother, Theo. And Theo also had this illness, the same one Van Gogh had. So what caused the idea to percolate in my head was, first of all, what a beautiful idea for a piece of music. Secondly, I could set the record straight, basically, he wasn’t crazy. But then I thought, well, how do you do this? Again, I wanted to have each thing be different.
I’m looking through the book and fiddling around and I saw the painting. I said, Wow, just tell the story using the color, the imagery, the movement, everything that’s in the painting. Because that’s him more than he is him.
One thing I want to say is that music is like poetry in so many ways. You have wit and drama and humor and pathos and anger and all of these things create the subtle tools that an artist, a stage artist, a good one, uses. Sadly, this has really gone out of music completely. So it makes someone like me a relic because I am doing things and people like me are doing things that utilize all the classic means of emotional expression.”
There could be some religious meaning in this song. McLean is a practicing Catholic and has written songs like “Jerusalem” and “Sister Fatima” that deal with his faith. The “Starry Night” could mean creation, with many of the other lyrics referring to Jesus. McLean has said that several of the songs on the American Pie album has a religious aspect to them, notably the closing track “Babylon.”
Josh Groban recorded the song for his self-titled debut album, which was released in 2001 when he was just 20 years old.
The British electronic artist Vincent Frank aka Frankmusik (check out “Better Off as Two”) was named after this song.
Irish singer Brian Kennedy sang this song at footballer George Best’s funeral.
According to the movie Tupac, the Resurrection, Gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur was influenced by Don McLean, and this was his favorite song. When he was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting in 1996, his girlfriend put this tune into a player next to his hospital bed to ensure it was the last thing he heard.
This soundtracked the moment on the “‘Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky” episode of The Simpsons when Lisa becomes interested in astronomy.
Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)
Starry, starry night Paint your palette blue and gray Look out on a summer’s day With eyes that know the darkness in my soul Shadows on the hills Sketch the trees and the daffodils Catch the breeze and the winter chills In colors on the snowy linen land
Now I understand what you tried to say to me And how you suffered for your sanity How you tried to set them free They would not listen, they did not know how Perhaps they’ll listen now
Starry, starry night Flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue Colors changing hue Morning fields of amber grain Weathered faces lined in pain Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand
Now I understand what you tried to say to me And how you suffered for your sanity And how you tried to set them free They would not listen, they did not know how Perhaps they’ll listen now
For they could not love you But still your love was true And when no hope was left inside On that starry, starry night You took your life as lovers often do But I could have told you, Vincent This world was never meant For one as beautiful as you
Starry, starry night Portraits hung in empty halls Frameless heads on nameless walls With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget Like the strangers that you’ve met The ragged men in ragged clothes A silver thorn, a bloody rose Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow
Now I think I know what you tried to say to me And how you suffered for your sanity And how you tried to set them free They would not listen, they’re not listening still Perhaps they never will
The guitar riff is worth it even if Bowie wouldn’t have sung on it. When I learned this on guitar…though not hard but it sounded great. When I’ve been in bands that played it live it never fails to get a good reaction. The song peaked at #64 in the Billboard 100, #5 in the UK, and #30 in Canada in 1974.
Bowie’s guitarist, Mick Ronson, quit in 1973 in order to pursue a solo career, so Bowie played guitar on this song… Bowie said this: “When I was high school, that was the riff by which all of us young guitarists would prove ourselves in the local music store. It’s a real air guitar thing, isn’t it? I can tell you a very funny story about that. One night, I was in London in a hotel trying to get some sleep. It was quite late, like eleven or twelve at night, and I had some big deal thing on the next day, a TV show or something, and I heard this riff being played really badly from upstairs. I thought, ‘Who the hell is doing this at this time of night?’ On an electric guitar, over and over [sings riff to ‘Rebel Rebel’ in a very hesitant, stop and start way]. So I went upstairs to show the person how to play the thing (laughs). So I bang on the door. The door opens, and I say, ‘Listen if you’re going to play…’ and it was John McEnroe! I kid you not (laughs). It was McEnroe, who saw himself as some sort of rock guitar player at the time. That could only happen in a movie, couldn’t it? McEnroe trying to struggle his way through the ‘Rebel Rebel’ riff.”
From Songfacts
This song is about a boy who rebels against his parents by wearing makeup and tacky women’s clothes. It was a defining song of the “Glam Rock” era. Characterized by feminine clothes and outrageous stage shows, Glam was big in England in the early ’70s. Bowie had the most mainstream success of the glam rockers.
Three years before this was released, Bowie admitted he was bisexual. The announcement seemed to help his career, as he gained more fans and wrote more adventurous songs.
Bowie did an episode of VH1 Storytellers in 1999 where he introduced this song with this yarn:
I can tell you about the time that I first met Marc Bolan who became a very, very good friend of mine. We actually met very early on in the ’60s before either of us were even a tad pole known. We were nothing; we were just two nothing kids with huge ambitions, and we both had the same manager at the time. And we met each other firstly painting the wall of our then manager’s office.
“Hello, who are you?”
“I’m Marc, man.”
“Hello, what do you do?”
“I’m a singer.”
“Oh, yeah, so am I. Are you a Mod?”
“Yeah, I’m King Mod. Your shoes are crap.”
“Well, you’re short.”
So we became really close friends. Marc took me dustbin shopping. At that time Carnaby Street, the fashion district, was going through a period of incredible wealth and rather than replace buttons on their shirts or zippers on their trousers, at the end of the day they’d just throw it all away in the dustbin. So, we used to go up and down Carnaby Street, this is prior to Kings Road, and go through all the dustbins around nine/ten o’clock at night and get our wardrobes together. That’s how life was, you see.
I could also tell you that when we used to play the working men’s clubs up north – very rough district – and I first went out as Ziggy Stardust, I was in the dressing room in one club and I said to the manager: “Could you show me where the lavatory is, please?”
And he said: “Aye, look up that corridor and you see the sink attached to the wall at the end? There you go.”
So, I tottered briefly on my stack-heeled boots and said: “My dear man, I’m not pissing in a sink.”
“He said: “Look son, if it’s good enough for Shirley Bassey, it’s good enough for you.”
Them were the days, I guess.
In 1972, Bowie produced “Walk On The Wild Side” for Lou Reed, which is another song celebrating transgender individuals.
An alternate version appears on Bowie’s compilation album Sound And Vision. On this version, Bowie plays all the instruments, bar the congas, which are played by Geoff MacCormack.
The Diamond Dogs tour was an enormous production. It featured moving bridges, catapults, and a huge diamond that Bowie emerged from.
The album cover was painted by Dutch artist Guy Peellaert. It shows Bowie as a dog in front of a banner that says “The Strangest Living Curiosities.” The cover caused some controversy because the Bowie dog had clearly not been neutered. An alternate cover was released with the appendages airbrushed out. Mick Jagger had shown Bowie artwork that Peellaert had done for the not yet released Rolling Stones album It’s Only Rock And Roll. Bowie quickly got a hold of Peelaert and had him design the cover for Diamond Dogs, which was unleashed to the public prior to the album by The Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger was none too happy about this. David Bowie has this to say about the incident: “Mick was silly. I mean, he should never have shown me anything new. I went over to his house and he had all these Guy Peellaert pictures around and said, ‘What do you think of this guy?’ I told him I thought he was incredible. So I immediately phoned him up. Mick’s learned now, as I’ve said. He will never do that again. You’ve got to be a bastard in this business.”
The lyric, “We like dancing and we look divine,” is a reference to the famous drag queen known as Divine, who starred in many John Waters films, including Pink Flamingos and Hairspray.
The transgender musician Jayne County claims Bowie based this on her song, “Queen Age Baby,” which was recorded a month before “Rebel Rebel.” County told Seconds magazine: “After one of his shows, me and Bowie were chatting. I had just signed to MainMan at the time and had all these great ideas kicking around, and I told David I had the best idea in the world. I told him I wanted to do a whole album of all British Invasion hits. Six months later he comes out with Pin-Ups [Bowie’s cover album]. I was flabbergasted! When I would say anything to anyone, they would just laugh and say I was paranoid. I said, ‘Something’s up here.’ They took me into the studio to record. I recorded ‘Wonder Woman,’ ‘Mexican City,’ ‘Are You Boy Or Are You A Girl?,’ ‘Queen Age Baby,’ all these incredible lyrics I had come up with. So I sent him all of my tapes and not long after that, Sherry is sitting at the house in Connecticut. Bowie called her up and said that he wrote this great song called ‘Rebel Rebel’ and plays her this demo. She listened to it and said, ‘This sounds like one of Wayne’s songs.’ Basically, ‘Queen Age Baby’ is the mother of ‘Rebel Rebel.’ If he had never heard ‘Queen Age Baby,’ he would have never written ‘Rebel Rebel.'”
This song was created in a spate of spontaneous inception. Alan Parker, the guitarist on “1984,” recalled to Uncut magazine: “He (Bowie) said, ‘I’ve got this list and it’s a bit Rolling Stonesy – I just want to piss Mick off a bit.'”
“I spent about three-quarters of an hour to an hour with him working on the guitar riff – he had it almost there, but not quite,” Parker continued. “We got it there, and he said, ‘Oh, we’d better do the middle…’ So he wrote something for the middle, put that in. Then he went off and sorted some lyrics. And that was us done.”
You’ve got your mother in a whirl She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl Hey babe, your hair’s alright Hey babe, let’s go out tonight You like me, and I like it all We like dancing and we look divine You love bands when they’re playing hard You want more and you want it fast They put you down, they say I’m wrong You tacky thing, you put them on
Rebel Rebel, you’ve torn your dress Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess Rebel Rebel, how could they know? Hot tramp, I love you so!
Don’t ya? Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo
You’ve got your mother in a whirl ’cause she’s Not sure if you’re a boy or a girl Hey babe, your hair’s alright Hey babe, let’s stay out tonight You like me, and I like it all We like dancing and we look divine You love bands when they’re playing hard You want more and you want it fast They put you down, they say I’m wrong You tacky thing, you put them on
Rebel Rebel, you’ve torn your dress Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess Rebel Rebel, how could they know? Hot tramp, I love you so!
Rebel Rebel, you’ve torn your dress Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess Rebel Rebel, how could they know? Hot tramp, I love you so!
You’ve torn your dress, your face is a mess You can’t get enough, but enough ain’t the test You’ve got your transmission and your live wire You got your cue line and a handful of ludes You wanna be there when they count up the dudes And I love your dress You’re a juvenile success Because your face is a mess So how could they know? I said, how could they know?
So what you wanna know Calamity’s child, chi-chile, chi-chile Where’d you wanna go? What can I do for you? Looks like you’ve been there too ‘Cause you’ve torn your dress And your face is a mess Ooo, your face is a mess Ooo, ooo, so how could they know? Eh, eh, how could they know? Eh, eh
A fun song with a sense of humor. It stays with me on one listen. Apparently, it stayed with others because it peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 in 1961. Unfortunately, this was Ernie’s only top 40 hit.
This song was written by Allen Toussaint, who was Ernie K-Doe’s producer. Toussaint came up with the song when he was playing piano in his family’s living room, messing around with bits of a song he had heard from the gospel group the Harmonizing Four. Trying to think up lyrics, he came up with the title and quickly fabricated the story about a guy who is put through hell by his mother-in-law.
After researching this song…I found a picture of Ernie and Led Zeppelin in New Orleans.
From Songfacts
K-Doe’s real name: Ernest Kador. Born in 1936, he remained a popular singer and radio personality in New Orleans until his death in 2001. While best known as a singer, K-Doe was also an accomplished drummer.
The song plays on the stereotype of the meddling mother-in-law who feels the man who married her daughter isn’t good enough for her. Most songs of this nature would be labeled “novelty” records, but K-Doe’s sincere delivery kept that tag off the song in most publications.
Toussaint didn’t have a mother-in-law at the time – he was single – but he kept hearing comedians making mother-in-law jokes on TV, so he knew it would get a reaction. Toussaint says that his grandmother was horrified when she heard it, but forgave him later.
The bass singer on this track who repeats the “mother-in-law” refrain was Benny Spellman. The success of this song caused a running argument between K-Doe and bass singer Spellman as to who was responsible for the hit. Spellman prevailed upon Toussaint to write a song for him to record, “Lipstick Traces (on a Cigarette).” When Spellman recorded it, K-Doe sang backup vocals.
Allen Toussaint thought Ernie K-Doe would be a good fit for this song, since Ernie was known as a showman, and for making outrageous self-promotional statements. K-Doe claimed that this song “will last to the end of the Earth, because someone is always going to get married.”
This was by far the biggest hit for K-Doe, whose other chart entries were “Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta” (#53, 1961), “I Cried My Last Tear” (#69, 1961), “A Certain Girl” (#71, 1961) and “Popeye Joe” (#99, 1962). His 1970 song “Here Come The Girls!” was sampled by the Sugababes for their 2008 UK hit “Girls.”
In 1994, K-Doe opened a bar and music venue in New Orleans called “The Mother-in-Law Lounge” with his wife Antionette. After Ernie died in 2001, Antionette kept the venue alive, preserving Ernie’s memory with a fully costumed, look-alike mannequin of the singer. The lounge was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but reopened a year later. Antionette K-Doe died of a heart attack on February 24, 2009, which was the day of Mardi Gras.
K-Doe claimed that he fished the song out of Allen Toussaint’s trash can and recorded it because he related strongly to its sentiments: his mother-in-law was living in his house at a time of marital turmoil. In our interview with Toussaint, he explained what happened: “I wrote four songs for him to do, because we always recorded four songs at a time, and ‘Mother-In-Law’ was one of them. When I tried it out on him the first time, he began to shout and preach at it and I really didn’t like his approach to it. I thought it was a waste of time to try to get him to do it, so I balled it up and put it in the trash can, like I did with other songs. One of the backup singers, Willie Harper, thought it was just a wonderful song, so he took it out of the trash can and said, ‘K-Doe, why don’t you calm down and listen closer to the way Allen is doing it and try to do it like that? This is a good song.’ So he calmed down and didn’t preach at it, but did it like it finally came out.”
This song was recorded in New Orleans at J&M Studios, which was also where Little Richard and Fats Domino recorded. Allen Toussaint was a regular at the studio, sometimes recording his own material, but usually doing session work.
Mother-In-Law
Mother-in-law (mother-in law), mother-in-law (mother-in-law) The worst person I know, mother-in-law, mother-in-law She worries me so, mother-in-law, mother-in-law If she leaves us alone, we would have a happy home Sent from down below (Mother-in-law) mother-in-law, (mother-in-law), mother-in-law
Sin should be her name, mother-in-law, mother-in-law To me, they’re about the same, mother-in-law, mother-in-law Every time I open my mouth, she steps in, tries to put me out How could she stoop so low? (Mother-in-law), mother-in-law, (mother-in-law), mother-in-law
I come home with my pay, mother-in-law, mother-in-law She asks me what I make, mother-in-law, mother-in-law She thinks her advice is a contribution But if she will leave that will be a solution And don’t come back no more (Mother-in-law), mother-in-law, (mother-in-law), mother-in-law
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