Singles – Page 17 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Merle Haggard – I’m A Lonesome Fugitive

Whenever I hear this man’s voice, it takes me back to my dad, who would listen to his songs in our red Plymouth Valiant. Songs like Sam Hill, Swinging Doors, and others, he would have blasting at 7 in the morning.

Merle was genuine through and through. He didn’t run from his past but used it to tell stories and warn people about going the wrong way. Merle wasn’t posing; he was the real deal. This song helped shape the outlaw country movement before it had a name.

Most people know that he spent his early adulthood behind bars for a failed attempt at robbery. While in San Quentin State Prison, Haggard wrote many songs while dreaming of freedom and life beyond the bars of a cell.

He knew a couple of inmates, James Rabbit and Caryl Chessman. Haggard and James Rabbit hatched a plan one night to escape (they would hide inside a desk he was building in the prison furniture factory), though at the last moment, Rabbit advised Haggard not to take part in the plan. Rabbit escaped, was recaptured, killed an officer, and was brought back to San Quentin to be executed. It was the first of many events to change something in Haggard’s criminal ways.

What is surprising is that Merle did not write this song. It was written by Liz Anderson and her husband, Casey Anderson, a songwriting couple who were fans of Haggard and knew of his prison past. When they sent the song his way, it clicked instantly. Haggard later said he related to it so personally that he felt like it had to be his.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts, and the album of the same name peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Album Charts.

One of my biggest concert regrets is that I never saw this great artist live.

I’m A Lonesome Fugitive

Down every road there’s always one more cityI’m on the run, the highway is my home

I raised a lot of cane back in my younger daysWhile mama used to pray my crops would failNow I’m a hunted fugitive with just two waysOutrun the law or spend my life in jail

I’d like to settle down but they won’t let meA fugitive must be a rolling stoneDown every road there’s always one more cityI’m on the run, the highway is my home

I’m lonely but I can’t afford the luxuryOf having one I love to come alongShe’d only slow me down and they’d catch up with meFor he who travels fastest goes alone

I’d like to settle down but they won’t let meA fugitive must be a rolling stoneDown every road there’s always one more cityI’m on the run, the highway is my homeI’m on the run, the highway is my home

…

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Born on the Bayou

This song is so ominous with that noise and then tremolo guitar opening. I’m ready to follow whatever comes next after that. What came after was the other instrument in the band that no other band had or could match, John’s voice. I think of Little Richard, but with a little more control. We will revisit Richard in this post. The song was the B side to Proud Mary and never did chart, but it remains one of their best-remembered songs. It should be a law, you have to wear headphones with the volume at 11 when you listen to this song. Fogerty’s voice will amaze you.

When you listen to the song, you are in a bayou, whether you want it or not. You have hound dogs barking, rolling with a Cajun Queen, running through the backwoods bare, and all the inhabitants of the bayou within your reach. Although none of the band members were from Louisiana (they were based in California), Fogerty created a vivid, swampy Southern sound that came to define CCR’s identity with this song.

John Fred was a singer (Judy In Disguise), and he played a part in this song. Fred was from Louisiana, and when Creedence played a show in Baton Rouge in 1969, he met Fogerty at a rehearsal and offered to take him to a real bayou. They drove 15 minutes to Bayou Forche, where they ate some crabs and crayfish, which helped give Fogerty the idea for this song.

The song was on their album Bayou Country, released in 1969. The album contained Proud Mary and one of my favorite CCR songs Bootleg. On making the album, John said: Everybody wanted to sing, write, make up their own arrangements, whatever, right? This was after ten years of struggling. Now we had the spotlight. Andy Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame. ‘Susie Q’ was as big as we’d ever seen. Of course, it really wasn’t that big…I didn’t want to go back to the carwash.” The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard album charts, #14 in Canada, and #62 in the UK.

I found one of the most interesting covers of this song. Little Richard (I have it below) covered it in 1971. After a 2:00 spoken intro, his voice blasts into it, and it feels just right.

John Fogerty: “We were the #7 act on the bill, bottom of the totem pole. And as the first guys to go on, we were the last to soundcheck before they opened the doors. It was like, ‘Here’s the drums, boom, boom; here’s the guitar, clank, clank.’ I looked over at the guys and said, ‘Hey, follow this!’ Basically, it was the riff and the attitude of ‘Born on the Bayou,’ without the words.”

John Fogerty: “Born on the Bayou,” “Proud Mary,” and “Choolgin'” were all connected in John Fogerty’s mind. In Bad Moon Rising, he said, “I was writing these at night, and I remember that Bobby Kennedy got killed during this time. I saw that late at night. They kept showing it over and over. ‘Bayou’ and ‘Proud Mary’ and ‘Chooglin” were all kind of cooking at that time. I’d say that was when the whole swamp bayou myth was born—right there in a little apartment in El Cerrito. It was late at night and I was probably delirious from lack of sleep. I remember that I thought it would be cool if these songs cross-referenced each other. Once I was doing that, I realized that I was kind of working on a mythical place.”

If you want to hear a live version by CCR, I couldn’t find a good video except the audio right here.

Born on the Bayou

Now, when I was just a little boyStandin’ to my daddy’s kneeMy papa said, “Son, don’t let the man get youAnd do what he done to me”‘Cause he’ll get you‘Cause he’ll get you now, now

And I can remember the fourth of JulyRunnin’ through the backwood bareAnd I can still hear my ol’ hound dog barkin’Chasin’ down a hoodoo thereChasin’ down a hoodoo there

Born on the bayouBorn on the bayouBorn on the bayou, Lord, Lord

Wish I was back on the bayouRollin’ with some Cajun QueenWishin’ I were a fast freight trainI’m just a chooglin’ on down to New Orleans

Born on the bayouBorn on the bayou, mm, mm, mmBorn on the bayou, do it, do it, do it, do itAlright

Oh, get back, boy

And I can remember the fourth of JulyRunnin’ through the backwood bareAnd I can still hear my ol’ hound dog barkin’Chasin’ down a hoodoo thereChasin’ down a hoodoo there

Born on the bayouBorn on the bayou, oh, ohBorn on the bayouAlright, do it, do it, do it, do it

Fleetwood Mac – Man of the World

And there’s no one I’d rather beBut I just wish that I’d never been born

I have to thank obbverse and CB for their enthusiasm for this version of the band. It really made me look back into their catalog more and find these great songs. This song in particular, really hit me hard lyrically and musically. Incredibly haunting and beautiful. After a couple of listens, it has stuck with me ever since.

The more I hear this early stuff by Fleetwood Mac, the more I like it. I knew about it from friends growing up who had these albums, but never really explored them until around 5-6 years ago. This song really shows how much soul Peter Green had in him. This song was part song, part confession, and so genuine. The song peaked at #2 in the UK in 1968. This version of the band was rooted in British blues and driven by the Green.

He wrote this song during a time he was getting wary of the fame, wealth, and the music business. A song that someone who appears to have everything but is lost. Green was battling depression and had begun experimenting heavily with LSD. Within a year, he would walk away from Fleetwood Mac entirely, unable to cope with the spotlight and pressure. What followed was a long period of mental health struggles, hospitalization, and silence for many years.

This song was released as a standalone single in April 1969. It marks one of Green’s most poignant personal songs, a ballad that stands apart from the blues-heavy sound the band was known for during its early years.

Peter Green quit Fleetwood Mac a year after this was released and gave all his money away to charity. He played some with Fleetwood Mac in 1971 but vanished. In 1977, Mick Fleetwood arranged a record deal for Green, but it fell through when Peter refused to sign the contract.

Mick Fleetwood: “It’s a sad song. Had we known what Peter was saying… What’s that line? ‘How I wish that I’d never been born.’ You know, whoa. It’s pregnant with passion, it’s a prayer, it’s a crying out.”

Ian Anderson has a nice cover of this song as well.

Man of the World

Shall I tell you about my lifeThey say I’m a man of the worldI’ve flown across every tideAnd I’ve seen lots of pretty girls

I guess I’ve got everything I needI wouldn’t ask for moreAnd there’s no one I’d rather beBut I just wish that I’d never been born

And I need a good womanTo make me feel like a good man shouldI don’t say I’m a good manOh, but I would be if I could

I could tell you about my lifeAnd keep you amused I’m sureAbout all the times I’ve criedAnd how I don’t want to be sad anymoreAnd how I wish I was in love

Eddie and the Hot Rods – Do Anything You Wanna Do

I was looking through some pub rock bands lately and found this band. It’s such an interesting musical era in the early to mid-seventies with pub rock. I love the stripped-down feel of that music. They almost go back to a ’50s sound. Barrie Masters was their energetic lead singer. He was skinny and hyper with great stage presence. I love the live performances I’ve seen from them. He was all over the place.

This band was between Pub Rock and Punk with a little Power Pop thrown in. They seemed too musical for punk but too edgy for radio, but this one hit the charts. Later on, bands like The Jam, The Undertones, and even early Blondie were picking up the same feel. Do Anything You Wanna Do peaked at #9 in the UK in 1977.

On how they got their name and why they were not Barrie and the Hot Rods, lead singer Barrie Masters said: “Because Barrie and the… would’ve sounded STUPID! The only reason it was Eddie and the Hot Rods… We loved the name when Dave came up with Hot Rods! And then we wanted Something and the Hot Rods. Do you remember those old Cruisin’ albums? The guy in those cars was always called Eddie. That’s how it came about — Eddie and the Hot Rods, and it stuck.”

They formed in 1975 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. They came up in the pub rock scene that rebelled against prog and glam. Bands like Dr. Feelgood, The Count Bishops, and Kilburn and the High Roads were doing away with glitter and mystique, trading them in for raw stripped-down R&B. Between 1976 and ‘79, the band (Barrie Masters, Dave Higgs, Paul Gray and Steve Nichol, later to be joined by Graeme Douglas) released three great albums and toured extensively in the UK, Europe, and America.

By 1980, the constant touring took its toll. Paul Gray and Graeme Douglas left the band and joined The Damned. They released another album after that, but a lack of promotion caused poor sales, and they broke up.

Masters would reform the band multiple times in the decades that followed, keeping the Hot Rods on the pub and festival circuit. Barrie Masters passed away in 2019.

Do Anything You Wanna Do

Gonna break out of the cityLeave the people here behindSearching for adventureIt’s the type of life to findTired of doing day jobsWith no thanks for what I doI’m sure I must be someoneNow I’m gonna find out who

Why don’t you ask them what they expect from you?Why don’t you tell them what you are gonna do?You’ll get so lonely, maybe it’s better that wayIt ain’t you only, you got something to sayDo anything you wanna doDo anything you wanna do

Don’t need no politicians to tell me things I shouldn’t beNeither no opticians to tell me what I oughta seeNo one tells you nothing even when you know they knowBut they tell you what you should doThey don’t like to see you grow

Why don’t you ask them what they expect from you?Why don’t you tell them what you’re gonna do?You’ll get so lonely, maybe it’s better that wayIt’ain’t you only, you got something to sayDo anything you wanna doDo anything you wanna do

…

James Gang – Walk Away

I’ve always liked the edge of the James Gang. I like their rawness, and I wish they had stayed together longer. This song, Funk #49, and Midnight Man are the two I remember the best. This is the Joe Walsh period that I personally like the best. They toured a lot at this time, opening for bands like The Who. Keith Moon schooled Walsh on hotel destruction and causing havoc.

The James Gang released the album Thirds in 1971, which yielded this song, their highest-charting single, “Walk Away.” It peaked at #51 in the Billboard 100. The band released a live album James Gang Live In Concert in 1971. Walsh left the group in 1971 to form his own group, Barnstorm. He later joined The Eagles.

The James Gang went through changes over the years after Walsh left. They brought in Tommy Bolin and a new lead singer, but the lineup they will be remembered for is the classic James Gang lineup — Walsh (Guitarist), Peters (Bass Player), and Fox (Drums).

They got together again for the first time to perform for then-President Bill Clinton’s election rally in late 1996. The group also made appearances on The Drew Carey Show during the late 1990s and performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, in February 2001. They have gotten together since and played concerts here and there.

The classic James Gang trio also toured across the country in the summer of 2006, where they were supported by backing vocalists and musicians.

Walk Away

Taking my time
Choosin’ my line
Tryin’ to decide what to do
Looks like my stop
Don’t wanna get off
Got myself hung up on youSeems to me
You don’t want to talk about it
Seems to me
You just turn your pretty head and walk awayPlaces I’ve known
Things that I’m growin’
Don’t taste the same without you
I got myself in
The worst mess I’ve been
And I find myself startin’ ta doubt you

Seems to me
Talk all night, here comes the mornin’
Seems to me
You just forget what we said
And greet the day

Seems to me
You don’t wanna talk about it
Seems to me
You just turn your pretty head and walk away

I’ve got ta cool myself down
Stompin’ around
Thinkin’ some words I can’t name ya
Meet ya half way
Got nothin’ to say
Still I don’t s’pose I can blame ya

Seems to me
You don’t want to talk about it
Seems to me
You just turn your pretty head and walk away

Walk away

Beatles – Lovely Rita

I got Sgt Pepper in 1977 when I was 10. I sat there for hours, staring at the cover and listening to this music I had never heard before. This is one of the songs that grabbed my attention. I liked Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Good Morning, Good Morning, and Lovely Rita, but that quickly expanded.

This song isn’t about a real person. It was Paul making up the character (I have his quote below) after hearing in America that they called Parking Meter Women “Meter Maids.” John didn’t particularly like the song because he liked songs about real things. He hardly ever just made things up…Lennon would write about people he knew or his experiences.

The Beatles recorded their debut album, Please Please Me, in a remarkably short amount of time. The entire recording process for the album took approximately 9 hours and 45 minutes of studio time. Now let’s fast forward 5 years from 1962 to 1966-67.

The Beatles spent up to 700 hours in the studio recording Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. One of the main reasons was their desire to go beyond the limitations of the standard four-track recorder. To achieve this, they linked two four-track machines together—an innovative move at the time—and experimented throughout the process. While this technique wasn’t commonly used, it allowed them to push the boundaries of what was possible in the studio. Sgt. Pepper’s remains one of the most important albums in music history, not just for its songs, but for the groundbreaking recording techniques that helped shape the future of music.

The following year, The Band changed the course of music in some ways. They released Music From The Big Pink and influenced a generation. Bands started to play more earthy…more roots-oriented music. The Beatles did that by recording the rootsy White Album.

Paul McCartney: “I was bopping about on the piano in Liverpool when someone told me that in America, they call parking-meter women meter maids. I thought that was great, and it got to ‘Rita Meter Maid’ and then “Lovely Rita Meter Maid’ and I was thinking vaguely that it should be a hate song: ‘You took my car away and I’m so blue today’ and you wouldn’t be liking her; but then I thought it would be better to love her and if she was very freaky too, like a military man, with a bag on her shoulder. A foot stomper, but nice. The song was imagining if somebody was there taking down my number and I suddenly fell for her, and the kind of person I’d be, to fall for a meter maid, would be a shy office clerk and I’d say, ‘May I inquire discreetly when you are free to take some tea with me.’ Tea, not pot. It’s like saying ‘Come and cut the grass’ and then realizing that could be pot, or the old teapot could be something about pot. But I don’t mind pot and I leave the words in. They’re not consciously introduced just to say pot and be clever.”

John Lennon: That’s Paul writing a pop song. He made up people like Rita, like a novelist. You hear lots of McCartney influence going on now on the radio: these stories about boring people being postmen and writing home.

Lovely Rita

(Lovely Rita, meter maid)
(Lovely Rita, meter maid)

Lovely Rita, meter maid
Nothing can come between us
When it gets dark I tow your heart away

Standing by a parking meter
When I caught a glimpse of Rita
Filling in a ticket in her little white book
In a cap she looked much older
And the bag across her shoulder
Made her look a little like a military man

Lovely Rita, meter maid
May I inquire discreetly
When are you free to take some tea with me?

Rita

Took her out and tried to win her
Had a laugh and over dinner
Told her I would really like to see her again

Got the bill and Rita paid it
Took her home, I nearly made it
Sitting on the sofa with a sister or two

Oh, lovely Rita, meter maid
Where would I be without you
Give us a wink and make me think of you

(Lovely Rita, meter maid)
(Lovely Rita, meter maid)
(Lovely Rita, meter maid)
(Lovely Rita, meter maid)

…

Greg Brown – Laughing River

CB featured a video of Greg Brown live with guitar player Bo Ramsey. The venue looked like a small club, and with just those two, the sound was huge. I started to listen to Brown’s catalog around two weeks ago. His songs are a lot to take in lyrically, which immediately hooked me. As with several artists lately, picking one song is hard. If you like storytelling, then Greg Brown is your guy.

This song makes me feel good. I love the baseball metaphors and imagery that he uses and the total mood of the song. This song was covered back in 2022 by Seth Avett. Seth made an album called Seth Avett Sings Greg Brown…an album with all of Brown’s songs. A truly beautiful song.

He got the inspiration for the song during a road trip through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He saw a sign for Laughing River that was likely referring to the Laughing Whitefish River near Laughing Whitefish Falls State Park, and composed the song on the hood of his car. It was originally released in 1992 on his Dream Café album.

Brown is from Iowa, and he grew up in a musical household. His father was a preacher, and his mother sang and played guitar. He was influenced by country, gospel, and blues and locked into the folk music scene of the 1960s. He worked with Eric Andersen and Odetta, and even had a stint as the musical director for the Public Radio International show A Prairie Home Companion.

One artist Brown influenced was Iris DeMent, whom Brown later married. He has been compared to Leonard Cohen, John Prine, and Bob Dylan, but his voice sets him apart. Brown has released over 30 studio and live albums combined.

Laughing River

I’m goin away,
’cause I gotta busted heart.
I’m leavin’ today,
if my Travel All will start.
And I reckon where I’m headed,
I might need me different clothes–
way up in Michigan,
where the Laughing River flows.

Twenty years in the minor leagues–
ain’t no place I didn’t go.
Well I gotta few hits,
but I never made the show.
And I could hang on for a few years,
doin what I’ve done before.
I wanna hear the Laughing River,
flowin’ right outside my door.

My cousin Ray,
said he’s got a job for me.
Where the houses are cheap,
and he knows this nice lady.
He said she even saw me play once,
said she smiled at my name.
Well upon the Laughing River,
could be a whole new game.

So goodbye to the bus.
Good bye to payin’ dues.
Goodbye to the cheers,
and goodbye to the booze.
well I’m trading in this old bat,
for a fishing pole.
I’m gonna let the Laughing River,
flow right into my soul.

…

Otis Redding – Hard To Handle

I first heard this song in 1989 or 1990 by the Black Crowes. I loved it from the minute I heard it. It was great to hear a rock/soul song on the radio at the time, with a throwback feeling to the early seventies. I soon found out that it was an Otis Redding song when a friend played me a video of Pigpen of the Dead singing the song and told me.

This song was recorded in 1967, just months before Redding’s tragic death in a plane crash on December 10th of that year. He never got to see the song’s success. It was one of several tracks released posthumously as part of his 1968 album The Immortal Otis Redding, which compiled unreleased material from his final sessions. The song was written by Otis Redding, Allen Jones, and Al Bell. Jones and Bell were key figures at Stax Records. Bell was a top executive, and Jones was a prolific producer and songwriter.

The song by Otis peaked at #51 on the Billboard 100 (this is why charts don’t matter all of the time), #38 on the Billboard R&B Charts, and #15 in the UK in 1968. It must be said, though, it was released as the B side to a song called Amen, a terrific soul/gospel song, so it didn’t get the full exposure it could have with an A-side slot.

I just saw a picture I had never seen before. Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding are talking, probably at Monterey.

Otis’s live reputation was growing stronger after Monterey. I would have loved to have heard Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding play together. It’s not like one wasn’t enough, but I could only imagine what they would have sounded like.

The Dead with Pigpen doing lead vocals.

Hard To Handle

Baby, here I am, I’m a man on the sceneI can give you what you wantBut you got to go home with meI’ve got some good old lovingAnd I got some in storeWhen I get through throwing it on youYou got to come back for more

Boys and things will come by the dozenThat ain’t nothing but drug store lovingPretty little thing, let me light your candle‘Cause mama, I’m sure hard to handle, now, yessir’am

Action speaks louder than wordsAnd I’m a man with a great experienceI know you got another manBut I can love you better than himTake my hand, don’t be afraidI’m wanna prove every word I sayI’m advertising love for freeSo won’t you place your ad with me?

Boys will come a dime by the dozenBut that ain’t nothing but ten cent lovingPretty little thing, let me light your candle‘Cause mama I’m sure hard to handle, now, yessir’am

Baby, here I am, I’m a man on the sceneI can give you what you wantBut you come go home with meI’ve got some good old lovingAnd I got here in storeWhen I get through throwing it on youYou got to come back for more

Boys will come a dime by the dozenBut that ain’t nothing but drug store lovingPretty little thing, let me light your candle‘Cause mama, I’m sure hard to handle, now, yessir’am

Give it to me, I got to have itGive it to me, good ol’ lovingSome of your good loving

…

Gene Clark – No Other

As big a Byrds fan as I am, I’m surprised I’ve never covered Gene Clark. Recently, I’ve started to listen to more of his solo work. Clark was in the Byrds from 1964 to 1966. He was one of the main songwriters of the band, along with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby. He wrote or co-wrote songs such as I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better, Eight Miles High, She Don’t Care About Time, and more. One of the reasons he quit the band was that he would get physically sick while flying in airplanes.

Aphoristical is one of the few bloggers who talk about him. I can certainly see why now, I went through a lot of his catalog, and it was hard to get it down to one song….so I added two. Great, singing and songwriting. I think he should, at least, get some recognition that past him by during his life. He has Byrds’ jangly music, Americana, Folk, Country, and more.

I listened to his album No Other and was floored… It’s great through and through. I have the Spotify link at the bottom, and here is a link for it on YouTube. No Other was the title track from his 1974 album. I don’t talk about albums much, but I would consider this a masterpiece that wasn’t appreciated in its time but gained cult status years later. He blended rock, folk, country, gospel, and even a touch of funk and psychedelia. Jesse Ed Davis and Danny Kortchmar were on guitar, plus Jim Gordon on drums. The artist Beck has sited this album as a huge inspiration.

The other song, the 1970 song One in a Hundred sounds like The Byrds, and there is good reason for that. This was during Clark’s attempt to form a Byrds reunion with original members. All five original Byrds contributed to the track, making it the first time since 1966 that the original lineup recorded together. The song was unreleased for several years, as the reunion project failed without a label’s support. It was finally released on Gene Clark’s 1973 Dutch-only LP Roadmaster. The Byrds did reunite in 1973 but they didn’t match this song.

No Other

All alone you say that you don’t want no otherSo the Lord is love and love is like no otherIf the falling tide can turn and then recoverAll alone we must be part of one another

All alone you say, the power is perfectionIs the power of peace or merely the connectionTo the God of love that powers the protectionFrom the tide of life that flows in each direction

When the stream of changing daysTurns around in so many waysThen the pilot of the mind must findThe right direction

All alone you say that you don’t want no otherSo the Lord is love and love is like no otherIf the falling tide can turn and then recoverAll alone we must be part of one another

When the stream of changing daysTurns around in so many waysThen the pilot of the mind must findThe right direction

All alone you say that you don’t want no otherAll alone you say that you don’t want no otherAll alone you say that you don’t want no otherAll alone you say that you don’t want no other

Traffic – The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys

I first learned of Traffic with one of my favorite songs of all time, Dear Mr Fantasy. I remember this one on our rock station in Nashville, WKDF. They would play new rock songs and mix classic ones in as well. I kept up with the newer releases because of that, and heard classic songs I hadn’t heard before. Seems like a winning combination, but that is rare, if not impossible, to find now.

This song is one of those songs you just let play and enjoy every single second of it. It was released in 1971 but was not released as a single…It clocked in at 12 minutes long. Jim Capaldi started writing this in Morocco, where he was getting ready to make a movie called Nevertheless with actor Michael J. Pollard. The film project fell through, but it did lead to one of Traffic’s best-known songs.

Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood wrote this song. Dave Mason had left the band by this time, but Traffic added some new members for the Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys album, including drummer Jim Gordon from Derek and the Dominos, which allowed Capaldi to focus more on vocals. Original member Chris Wood played the saxophone on this track. The album did much better in the US than in the UK at the time.

The percussionist was Rebop Kwaku Baah, who played on the album and live as well. Later on, Rebop was dismissed from Traffic during the recording sessions for their 1974 album When the Eagle Flies… One problem they had with him was live concerts, according to Steve Winwood: “He insisted on going onstage and singing – and he can’t sing!” He would later be on Winwood’s first solo album in 1977, so he must have given up singing.

Jim Capaldi: “Pollard and I would sit around writing lyrics all day, talking about Bob Dylan and the Band, thinking up ridiculous plots for the movie. Before I left Morocco, Pollard wrote in my book ‘The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys.’ For me, it summed him up. He had this tremendous rebel attitude. He walked around in his cowboy boots, his leather jacket. At the time he was a heavy little dude. It seemed to sum up all the people of that generation who were just rebels. The ‘Low Spark,’ for me, was the spirit, high-spirited. You know, standing on a street corner. The low rider. The ‘Low Spark’ meaning that strong undercurrent at the street level.”

The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

If you see something that looks like a star
And it’s shooting up out of the ground
And your head is spinning from a loud guitar
And you just can’t escape from the sound
Don’t worry too much, it’ll happen to you
We were children once, playing with toys
And the thing that you’re hearing is only the sound of
The low spark of high-heeled boys
The percentage you’re paying is too high a price
While you’re living beyond all your means
And the man in the suit has just bought a new car
From the profit he’s made on your dreams
But today you just read that the man was shot dead
By a gun that didn’t make any noise
But it wasn’t the bullet that laid him to rest was
The low spark of high-heeled boys
If you had just a minute to breathe and they granted you one final wish
Would you ask for something like another chance?
Or something similar as this? Don’t worry too much
It’ll happen to you as sure as your sorrows are joys
And the thing that disturbs you is only the sound of
The low spark of high-heeled boys
If I gave you everything that I owned and asked for nothing in return
Would you do the same for me as I would for you?
Or take me for a ride, and strip me of everything including my pride
But spirit is something that no one destroys
And the sound that I’m hearing is only the sound
The low spark of high-heeled boys

Byrds – My Back Pages

I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now

This is my favorite song by the Byrds. I like the Byrds’ arrangement of this great Bob Dylan song. Roger McGuinn’s voice plus Rickenbacker is always a winning combination. Dylan recorded his version in 1964 on his Another Side of Bob Dylan album. I fell for the song because of the line, I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now. Just a great phrase from a catalog that is full of them.

On the countless Dylan songs that are covered, I will usually like Dylan’s version better…on this one, I prefer the Byrds. The song peaked at #30 on the Billboard 100 in 1967. It’s one of those songs that I so wish I could have written. Even the title is cool because “My Back Pages” is not uttered in the song.

Bob Dylan helped the Byrds a lot with Mr. Tambourine Man and other songs. The Byrds, in turn, helped widen Bob’s popularity to the new rock audience that was developing, which may not have heard some of these songs as much.

In 1992 the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert happened, and my cousin had the complete concert on VHS. He had a satellite, so I didn’t have to wait for it to be released almost a year later. I’ll never forget this song being played with Roger McGuinn sharing the stage with Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Neil Young.

Roger McGuinn: “I don’t try to interpret what Bob meant when he wrote the song. He doesn’t do that, and to do that, you spoil it for people who have a different meaning of the song.”

The song being played at Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary concert. Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn, Neil Young, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and a bunch more.

My Back Pages

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Countless with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
We’ll meet on edges, soon, said I
Proud ‘neath heated brow

Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now
Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
Rip down all hate, I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
Sisters fled by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

My guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Brenton Wood – Gimme Little Sign

I had forgotten about this song until I read about it in a biography. I remember working in the 1980s and listening to an oldies channel, and I heard this one quite a bit. I just learned the title from the book. It’s a song that just makes you feel good.

This song has been covered and sampled by many. Unlike Motown and Stax…Wood came in from left field with a whole different vibe in the late 1960s. He is known primarily for The Oogum Boogum Song and this song. He was born Alfred Jesse Smith and adopted the stage name of Brenton Wood…possibly from the Los Angeles neighborhood Brentwood.

He stayed active from the sixties on and released his last album in 2009 called Lord Hear My Prayer. He had a few more top 40 songs in the 60s, but never hit the top ten again.

This song peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #17 in Canada, #8 in the UK, and #20 in New Zealand in 1967. Giimme Little Sign was written by Alfred Smith, Joe Hooven, and Jerry Winn. Brenton got a resurgence in popularity in the new century with his songs’ inclusion in various films and television shows, such as Almost Famous, Don’t Worry Darling, and Big Little Lies.

We lost Mr. Wood on January 3, 2025, at the age of 83.

Gimme Little Sign

If you do want me, gimme little sugarIf you don’t want me, don’t lead me on girlBut if you need me, show me that you love meAnd when I’m feeling blue and I want youThere’s just one thing that you should do

Just gimme some kind of sign girlOh, my babyTo show me that you’re mine girlOh, yeah

Just gimme some kind of sign girlOh, my darlingTo show that you’re mine girlAll right

If you do want me, gimme little sweet talkIf you don’t want me, don’t lead me on girlBut if you need me, show me that you love meAnd when I’m feeling down, wearing a frownYou be there when I look around

Just gimme some kind of sign girlOh, my babyTo show me that you’re mine girlAll right

Just gimme some kind of sign girlOh, my babyTo show me that you’re mine girlOh, yeah

Just gimme some kind of sign girlOh, my darlingTo show me that you’re mine girlAll right

Just gimme some kind of sign, signJust gimme some kind of sign girlOh, my babyTo show me that you’re mine girlAll right

…

Don Covay – Mercy, Mercy

The first thing I noticed was the guitar part at the beginning. I thought to myself, the style sounded familiar. Two people came to mind, and I can’t believe I guessed it. The two people that I thought of were Curtis Mayfield and Jimi Hendrix. After researching the song, I was batting 500…it was Jimi Hendrix, but 2 years before he was The Jimi Hendrix.

I read about Don Covay and how he wrote Chain of Fools for Aretha Franklin and more songs in the ’60s through the ’80s. Covay wrote the number 1 hit for Chubby Checker called Pony Time and also co-wrote Peter Wolf’s first solo album in the early eighties with good success.

Covay was the son of a Baptist preacher. He began his musical career singing gospel with his family’s group, the Cherry Keys. Following his father’s death, the family relocated to Washington, D.C., where Covay’s musical interests expanded into the soul/R&B genre.

He was a great songwriter. His songs have been covered by Gene Vincent, Wanda Jackson, Chubby Checker, Connie Francis, Steppenwolf, The Daughters of Eve, Bobby Womack, the Rolling Stones, Wilson Pickett, Small Faces, Grant Green, Bonnie Raitt, and Peter Wolf.

The song peaked at #35 on the Billboard 100 in 1964. The Rolling Stones covered this song on their album Out of Our Heads in 1965. It was the lead-off track of the album.

Curtis Knight: Jimi Hendrix, and I all used to live in the same apartment building – around 81st Street [near the A1 Studio] … Don Covay came around shopping for a record deal. He used to go down to the Harlem clubs looking for somebody to use … on songs he was looking to sell to Atlantic [Records]. He’d say, ‘I got this tune I want you to help me with … come on down to the studio … Can you sing this part? Can you play this part?

Steve Cropper: I hadn’t worked with Don [Covay] yet, but I asked Jimi to show me that great lick he played. [Later] Jimi took my guitar and started playing that sucker upside down. I laughed and told him, ‘I can’t learn that lick by looking at it that way.

Mercy, Mercy

Have mercyHave mercy, babyMmm, have mercyHave mercy on me

Well, I went to see a gypsy and had my fortune readShe said, “Don, your baby’s gonna leave you”Her bag is packed up under the bed and I cried

Have mercyHave mercy, baby, yeahHave mercy, yeahHave mercy on me

I said if you leave me, baby, girl, if you put me downWell, I’m a goin’ to the nearest river, childAnd jump (jump) overboardAnd drown, but don’t leave me (jump, jump, jump, jump)

Have mercyHave mercy, baby, mercyYeah, have mercyHave mercy on me

Well, now, hey, hey baby, hey, hey nowWhat you tryin’ to do, huh?Hey, hey, baby, hey, hey nowPlease don’t say we’re through

I said if you stay here, baby, I tell you what I’m gonna doI’m gonna work two jobs seven days a weekAnd bring my money home to you (bring it, bring it)

Well, I said mercy (mercy), mercy (mercy)Mercy (mercy), mercy (mercy)Mercy (mercy)

…

Kinks – Do It Again

Standing in the middle of nowhere
Wondering how to begin
Lost between tomorrow and yesterday
Between now and then

Great riff and rock song by the Kinks. It starts with a chord reminiscent of the A Hard Day’s Night intro. I was in high school when it was released, and it was great to hear a guitar-driven song at that time on the radio. I remember our band following another band, and they did this song. I was jealous we didn’t get to it first. Do It Again was released in 1984 as the opening track on their album Word of Mouth. Written by lead singer Ray Davies

The band had a resurgence in the late seventies and early eighties with 3 straight albums in the top 20. They also had a top ten hit off of State of Confusion with Come Dancing. I bought my first real-time Kinks album in 1980 with Give The People What They Want.

Working on their twentieth album Word of Mouth, conflicts between drummer Mick Avory and guitarist Dave Davies led to Avory’s leaving during the recording of the album. As a result, Avory played drums on just three tracks: Missing Persons, Sold Me Out, and Going Solo. The remaining tracks featured Bob Henrit on drums. Dysfunction seemed to fit this band and others like The Who and The Replacements. It made them who they were. Another song off of this album is the Dave Davies song Living On A Thin Line. The song grew in popularity when played repeatedly in The Sopranos third season episode University.

Ray Davies wrote this about the stressful working schedules the Kinks were going through. The song peaked at #41 on the Billboard 100 in 1984. I saw this line on a review of the song in Rolling Stone: The record kicks off with “Do It Again,” a tune that’s a love letter to every poor bastard out there grinding their teeth to dust in this cruel little hamster wheel of existence. I thought that fit well with this song.

Ray Davies: The saddest day for me was when Mick left. Dave and Mick just couldn’t get along. There were terrible fights, and I got to the point where I couldn’t cope with it anymore. Push came to shove, and to avoid an argument I couldn’t face. … we were doing a track called “Good Day” and I couldn’t face having Mick and Dave in the studio, so I did it with a drum machine. Dave said he wanted to replace Mick, and … I took Mick out, and we got very, very drunk. We were in Guildford, and after about five pints of this wonderful scrumpy, Mick said if any other band offered him a tour, he wouldn’t take it, because he didn’t want to tour. And I remember him getting the train back – because he was banned from driving; it was a very bad year for Mick – and he walked to the station and disappeared into the mist.

Do It Again

Standing in the middle of nowhere
Wondering how to begin
Lost between tomorrow and yesterday
Between now and then

And now we’re back where we started
Here we go round again
Day after day I get up and I say
I better do it again

Where are all the people going
Round and round till we reach the end
One day leading to another
Get up go out do it again

Then it’s back where you started
Here we go round again
Back where you started
Come on do it again

And you think today is going to be better
Change the world and do it again
Give it all up and start all over
You say you will but you don’t know when

Then it’s back where you started
Here we go round again
Day after day I get up and I say
Come on better do it again

The days go by and you wish you were a different guy
Different friends and a new set of clothes
You make alterations and [a fact in you knows]
A new house a new car a new job a new nose
But it’s superficial and it’s only skin deep
Cause the voices in your head keep shouting in your sleep
Get back, get back

Back where you started, here we go round again
Back where you started, come on do it again

Back where you started, here we go round again
Day after day I get up and I say, do it agaiiinnn
Do it again
Day after day I get up and I say, do it again

Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought The Law

I fought the law and the law won

When I hear this song, I think of it as an early punk song. It’s a song that garage bands can sink their teeth into. I Fought The Law is pure rebellion. At the same time, it has a Buddy Holly feel, and there is a reason for that. The Crickets’ Sonny Curtis wrote this song, and he played with Holly off and on, and when Buddy died, he took over the lead guitar for The Crickets. Earl Sink was brought in to sing it and to sound like Buddy. Thanks to Randy for that info!

The Crickets recorded this song in 1959 with Sonny Curtis playing guitar and singing. In 1962, Paul Stefen and the Royal Lancers recorded it, and it was a local hit in Milwaukee, but it didn’t break nationally. Sammy Masters released a version in 1963 as well.

Bobby Fuller was a Texas-born rock & roller heavily influenced by Buddy Holly. He formed The Bobby Fuller Four in El Paso before moving to L.A. Bobby was DIY before DIY was cool, he built a home studio in his parents’ house in El Paso and recorded local singles there with his brother Randy Fuller.

In the early ’60s, Bobby moved to Los Angeles to chase bigger opportunities. He signed to Mustang Records (run by Bob Keane, who also discovered Ritchie Valens). He then formed The Bobby Fuller Four with his brother Randy and other rotating members. In 1965, the band recorded I Fought the Law with a tighter arrangement, crisp guitar work, and Fuller’s vocals. It was released in late 1965 but hit the charts in 1966.

Fuller was found dead in the front seat of his mother’s car shortly after I Fought The Law became a national hit. His death was ruled a suicide, but there were signs of foul play, and the investigation was tainted, leaving the circumstances of his death a mystery, and rumors continue to run rampant to this day. The song peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #11 in Canada, and #33 in the UK in 1966. Sonny Curtis would later write “Love Is All Around,” The Mary Tyler Moore Theme.

The Clash covered this song in 1979 and changed the lyrics from “I left my baby” to “I killed my baby.” So they made it quite a bit darker. Their version got them noticed in the US.

Rick Stone (roadie for Fuller): My mom, Mary Stone, wrote music with Bobby at our home at 7420 Catalpa Lane in El Paso, Texas. Bobby did NOT have gas in his mouth when he was found in the car, but he did die of asphyxiation. Bobby had “I Fought The Law” released on his own label in El Paso two years earlier where it was a Top 10 Hit regionally. The original lyric was “Robbin’ people with a six gun,” but he would sing it as “Zip Gun,” “Shotgun” or “Six Gun,” and joked about other guns when he sang it live.

I Fought The Law

I’m breakin’ rocks in the hot sun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

I needed money ’cause I had none
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

I left my baby and I feel so sad
I guess my race is run
But she’s the best girl I’ve ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

Robbin’ people with a six-gun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

I miss my baby and the good fun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

I left my baby and I feel so sad
I guess my race is run
But she’s the best girl I’ve ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won