Singles – Page 2 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Janis Joplin – Piece Of My Heart ….Under The Covers Tuesday

Erma Franklin, Aretha’s sister, was the first to record this song. She did a fantastic job and Janis Joplin came later and did what is probably the definitive version of it.

Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns wrote this song. Aretha Franklin’s younger sister Erma sang the original version and put it on the R&B charts in 1967. It peaked at #63 on the Billboard 100, #10 on the Billboard R&B Charts, #3 on the Canada Adult Contemporary Charts, and #9 in the UK in 1967.

Big Brother and the Holding Company covered it and it peaked at #12 on the Billboard 100 and #9 in Canada a year later in 1968. For Erma Franklin, it was her biggest hit. She went on to sing backup on some of Aretha’s songs and ran a childcare agency called Boysville. Erma died of cancer in 2002 at age 64.

I like Erma’s version of it. It’s a very soulful version of the song. I’m surprised it didn’t do better on the charts. I have to wonder if Aretha would have covered it first…would it have been more of a hit since she was so popular and had more of a presence on the charts?

A great song by one of my favorite artists…Janis Joplin. I could listen to her sing the phone book and be happy….but some songs I really like are…Down On Me, Summertime, Piece of My Heart, Ball and Chain, Try (Just a little bit Harder), Maybe, Little Girl Blue, Cry Baby, Me and Bobby McGee, Mercedes Benz, and anything live she did with either band…She could sing the blues and she lived them…

I covered this song back around 5 years ago but I wanted to get this in for a Tuesday cover.

Piece Of My Heart

Didn’t I make you feel
Like you were the only man?
Didn’t I give you everything that a woman possibly can?
(Ohhhh ohhh ohhhhh)

But with all the love I give you
It’s never enough
But I’m gonna show you, baby
That a woman can be tough
So come on
Come on
Come on
Come on
And
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby
(Break it!)
Break another little bit of my heart now, honey
(Have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
(You know you got it if it makes you feel good)

You’re out on the streets (looking good)
And you know deep down in your heart that it ain’t right
And ohhhhh you never never hear me when I cry at night
Ohhhhhhhh

I tell myself
That I can’t stand the pain
But when you hold me in your arms
I’ll say it again
So come on
Come on
Come on
Come on

And take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby
Heyyyy!
(Break it!)
Break another little bit of my heart now, baby
You can
(Have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
(You know you got it if it makes you feel good)

Hey heyyyyy!
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby
Ohhhh
(Break it!)
Break another little bit of my heart now, honey
Heyyyyyy!
(Have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
Come on
(Take it!)
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby

Tragically Hip – Ahead By A Century

I learned about this band from my Canadian friends Dave and Deke. What a wonderful band they were and I’m still shocked they didn’t make a bigger impact in America. The Tragically Hip remains a national treasure in Canada. This song is not only beautiful but it weaves together past, present, and future. It is about time, memory, loss, disappointment, and desire.

The song was released in 1996 on the album Trouble In The Henhouse. The album peaked at #1 in Canada, #7 on the Billboard Heatseeker Album Charts, and #134 on the Billboard Album Charts.

They got their name from Elephant Parts. That was a video by Michael Nesmith (Monkee guitarist) and they heard it in an Elvis Costello song (Town Cryer) also. Gordon Downie said: “There’s one skit in there that is sort [of] like a TV plea: ‘Send some money to the Foundation for the Tragically Hip.’ And that phrase has also appeared in an Elvis Costello song. It crops up every now and again, and it’s just a name that we like.”

They formed in 1984 in Kingston, Ontario. They were together until 2017. They have released 13 studio albums, one live album, one compilation album, two video albums, two extended plays, and a boxed set. In December 2015, their lead singer Gordon Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

Following Downie’s terminal diagnosis, he soldiered on for one final tour with the group that had over a thirty-plus-year career and become known as “Canada’s Band.” Night after night, the group’s set closed with a lengthy ovation for a man that had…in his impressive body of work…seemingly captured everything that made Canada…well Canada.

On the last night of the tour – in the band’s hometown of Kingston, Ontario – Downie said his final goodbye with this song. The credited songwriters are Rob Baker, Gordon Downie, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, and Gord Sinclair.

Gordon Downie died on October 17, 2017, and the country mourned his passing.

Gordon Downie: “Originally, that song was entirely different,” he revealed. “The lyrics were almost totally overhauled, which is not usually my style, but whatever—it seemed like the way to go. Originally, what was it: ‘First thing we’d climb a tree, and maybe then we’d talk; I will touch your cunt, you will touch my cock; then we’ll be married, then we won’t have to hide.’ Those were sort of working lyrics, but they stuck there, they said to me ‘innocence’, and that’s what I wanted, because I thought, ‘It’s two little kids, and they don’t know what a cunt is and they don’t know what a cock is—they just heard them called that.’

“People picked up on that within the band, but then it became apparent that I was going to have to defend one’s right to use words that possibly offend other people, and I didn’t really care to have a Lenny Bruce situation on my hands. But the biggest concern—which was pointed out to me by our guitar tech, Billy—was that no one’s gonna get to hear this song because no one’s gonna play it, and ultimately the real reason no one’s gonna hear it is because they’re only gonna hear those lines and not the rest of the song. People’s ears are gonna race to those words and start having a little debate about what those words mean.

The last concert and last song…Ahead By A Century

Ahead By A Century

First thing we’d climb a tree
And maybe then we’d talk
Or sit silently
And listen to our thoughts
With illusions of someday
Cast in a golden light
No dress rehearsal
This is our life

And that’s where the hornet stung me
And I had a feverish dream
With revenge and doubt
Tonight, we smoke them out

You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century

Stare in the morning shroud
And then the day began
I tilted your cloud
You tilted my hand
Rain falls in real time
And rain fell through the night
No dress rehearsal, this is our life

But that’s when the hornet stung me
And I had a serious dream
With revenge and doubt
Tonight, we smoked them out

You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century

You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
You are ahead by a century
And disappointing you is gettin’ me down

John Prine – In Spite of Ourselves

He’s got more balls than a big brass monkey
He’s a wacked out weirdo and a love bug junkie
Sly as a fox and crazy as a loon
Payday comes and he’s a howlin’ at the moon

There will be only one John Prine. He was down-to-earth and a wonderful songwriter. This song describes more couples than people may think. Both describe their marriage to each other in a different light.

I do have a second-hand John Prine story. A friend of mine named Chris went to see John Prine and Arlo Guthrie in the ’80s and met John in the parking lot after the concert. Prine was really talkative and asked Chris if he could boost his car off…which he did. Chris told me he was really down to earth and a genuinely nice guy.

He wrote this for a movie called Daddy and Them released in 2001. Prine is in the movie also…he plays Billy Bob Thorton’s brother and Andy Griffith is their dad. Prine talked about it and said that made him Opie’s stepbrother.

Iris Dement dueted with Prine on this song and fit the song perfectly. Prine developed cancer in 1998 in his neck…and after the operation, he wasn’t sure if he could sing again. After recording this song…everyone was happy because he still could do it. It was originally released in 1999 on the album In Spite Of Ourselves…and was released again when the movie came out in 2001.

That album was an album of duets. He thought that most people would turn him down but most agreed. Lucinda Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Connie Smith, Melba Montgomery, Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, and Dolores Keane also appear. In Spite of Ourselves was the only original song on the album…the rest were covers.

The album peaked at #21 on the Billboard Country Charts and 197 on the Billboard 100. Critic Robert Christgau wrote: “… the costar is Iris DeMent, who kills on both the Bobby Braddock cornpone of “(We’re Not) The Jet Set” (rhymes with “Chevro-let set”) and the conflicted spouse-swapping of the impossible old George & Melba hit “Let’s Invite Them Over”—as well as Prine’s only new copyright, the title track, in which a husband and wife who love each other to death paint totally different pictures of their marriage.

In Spite of Ourselves

She don’t like her eggs all runny
She thinks crossin’ her legs is funny
She looks down her nose at money
She gets it on like the Easter Bunny
She’s my baby
I’m her honey
I’m never gonna let her go

He ain’t got laid in a month of Sundays
I caught him once and he was sniffin’ my undies
He ain’t too sharp but he gets things done
Drinks his beer like it’s oxygen
He’s my baby
And I’m his honey
Never gonna let him go

In spite of ourselves
We’ll end up a’sittin’ on a rainbow
Against all odds
Honey, we’re the big door prize
We’re gonna spite our noses
Right off of our faces
There won’t be nothin’ but big ol’ hearts
Dancin’ in our eyes

She thinks all my jokes are corny
Convict movies make her horny
She likes ketchup on her scrambled eggs
Swears like a sailor when shaves her legs
She takes a lickin’
And keeps on tickin’
I’m never gonna let her go

He’s got more balls than a big brass monkey
He’s a wacked out weirdo and a love bug junkie
Sly as a fox and crazy as a loon
Payday comes and he’s a howlin’ at the moon
He’s my baby
I don’t mean maybe
Never gonna let him go

In spite of ourselves
We’ll end up a’sittin’ on a rainbow
Against all odds
Honey, we’re the big door prize
We’re gonna spite our noses right off of our faces
There won’t be nothin’ but big ol’ hearts
Dancin’ in our eyes

There won’t be nothin’ but big ol’ hearts
Dancin’ in our eyes

In spite of ourselves

…

Replacements – Androgynous

The Replacements are a band that deserved to be heard. I always thought they should have been in the spotlight just as much as R.E.M. I always looked at them as the Stones to R.E.M’s Beatles. They didn’t help themselves though… as they tended to self-sabotage many breaks they received.

Paul Westerberg was one of the best songwriters of the 1980s. They had more of a timeless sound than many of their peers until their last albums. You could listen to this album Let It Be and think it comes from any decade and that is what Westerberg wanted.

This song was way ahead of the curve on the subject matter. It was released in 1984. Their manager Peter Jesperson for a brief time worked for R.E.M. and the two bands were friends. When he came back to the Replacements he had a couple of Peter Bucks (guitar player for R.E.M.) guitars. Buck came by to get them and used that as an excuse to hit the clubs with Westerberg.

Westerberg and Buck even talked about having Buck produce this album. As Buck and Westerberg were drunkenly hitting the bars they decided to have some fun and wear loud makeup and women’s clothes for a laugh. It nearly got them into a bar fight with some less-liberal locals.

A girl called them androgynous, which was the first time Westerberg heard the word. He looked it up and based the song around it. The song is about Dick and Jane who don’t stick to traditional gender norms.

An artist in the movement for transgender rights was Laura Jane Grace, who performed this song with Miley Cyrus and Joan Jett at a benefit for The Happy Hippie Foundation, which encourages young people to accept others without judgment.

The Crash Test Dummies and Joan Jett have covered this song.

Androgynous

Here come Dick, he’s wearing a skirt
Here comes Jane, you know she’s sporting a chain
Same hair, revolution
Same build, evolution
Tomorrow who’s gonna fuss

And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than you know, love each other so
Androgynous

Don’t get him wrong and don’t get him mad
He might be a father, but he sure ain’t a dad
And she don’t need advice that’ll center her
She’s happy with the way she looks
She’s happy with her gender

And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than you know, love each other so
Androgynous

Mirror image, see no damage
See no evil at all
Kewpie dolls and urine stalls
Will be laughed at
The way you’re laughed at now

Now, something meets boy, and something meets girl
They both look the same
They’re overjoyed in this world
Same hair, revolution
Unisex, evolution
Tomorrow who’s gonna fuss

And tomorrow Dick is wearing pants
Tomorrow Janie’s wearing a dress
Future outcasts and they don’t last
And, today, the people dress the way that they please
The way they tried to do in the last centuries

And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than we know, love each other so
Androgynous

Ron Wood / The Tragically Hip – Seven Days

There’s kissing in the valley,
Thieving in the alley,
Fighting every inch of the way.

I’m really happy to be posting again! I thought I would start off with a cool under-the-radar Bob song. I’ve caught up with work projects for the most part right now. I had a good time off but I missed interacting with all of you.

Ronnie Wood performed this song at Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary concert. When I first heard it I took an immediate liking to it. I heard this and also George Thorogood doing another Dylan song called Wanted Man.

I also found another version that is really great by the Canadian band The Tragically Hip (video at the bottom of the post). They have the same rawness that Wood had in his…great version. It’s the groove of this song that makes it.

I’ll have a full Tragically Hip post coming soon.

Some of the original written lyrics

This song was written by Bob in March 1976, at Shangra La Studios in Malibu. Eric Clapton was recording the No Reason To Cry album…Bob Dylan offered Clapton Seven Days but he turned it down. Ron Wood was there and he took it for his next album and did a good job of it.

I like Wood’s voice. For me, his best job on lead vocals was Ooh La La by the Faces but this one comes in a close second. I usually will take the studio versions with most songs…but not this one. He has more drive in the live version video. Here is a cleaner version of the Tragically Hip.

The song has been covered many times as has many Dylan Songs. Artists such as The Tragically Hip, Joe Cocker, and others. No studio version by Bob has surfaced as far as I know. He has covered it live a few times.

Ron Wood: “Bob played it (“Seven Days”) to me and Eric in the studio, and he said to Eric “You can have this song if you want it.” And I took him up on it and Eric didn’t.”

Seven Days

Seven days, seven more days she’ll be comin’
I’ll be waiting at the station for her to arrive
Seven more days, all I gotta do is survive.

She been gone ever since I been a child
Ever since I seen her smile, I ain’t forgotten her eyes.
She had a face that could outshine the sun in the skies.

I been good, I been good while I been waitin’
Maybe guilty of hesitatin’, I just been holdin’ on
Seven more days, all that’ll be gone.

There’s kissing in the valley,
Thieving in the alley,
Fighting every inch of the way.
Trying to be tender
With somebody I remember
In a night that’s always brighter’n the day.

Seven days, seven more days that are connected
Just like I expected, she’ll be comin’ on forth,
My beautiful comrade from the north.

There’s kissing in the valley,
Thieving in the alley,
Fighting every inch of the way.
Trying to be tender
With somebody I remember
In a night that’s always brighter’n the day.

Ray Charles – Night Time Is The Right Time

I’ve seen this song listed as (Night Time is) The Right Time, Night Time Is The Right Time, and The Right Time.

I first heard this song from the Creedence Clearwater Revival cover version of it. I loved it and then I heard the Ray Charles version…I was lost. Night Time Is the Right Time was first performed by Roosevelt Sykes in 1937. His version, which he wrote with fellow bluesman Jimmy Oden was different than the version we know.

In 1938 Big Bill Broonzy recorded this song. Napoleon Brown Goodson Culp (Nappy Brown) recorded it in 1957 as The Right Time. Brown’s version had the Night and Day backing vocals. His version was on a small label and didn’t make much impact. Brown got credited as the songwriter after he changed it around.

When Ray Charles released this in 1958 it was a hit…it’s become the definitive version of the song. It’s been covered many times…some who covered it are Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Lulu, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Rufus & Carla Thomas, and The Animals.

The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard R&B charts in 1958. Margie Hendrix with Charles’ backup singers the Raelettes provided the accompaniment to Charles’ vocals.

Nappy Brown: , “The difference between me and Ray Charles’s ‘Night Time Is the Right Time’ … is he had it up-tempo with Mary Ann and them behind him—the ladies [Charles’ female backup singers, the Raelettes]. I had mine in a slow tempo with a gospel group behind me. That was my gospel group. But he got everything just like mine, note for note”.

Night Time Is The Right Time

You know the nighttime, darling (night and day)Is the right time (night and day)To be (night and day)With the one you love, now (night and day)

Say now oh baby (night and day)When I come home baby, now (night and day)I wanna be with the one I love, now (night and day)You know what I’m thinking of (night and day)

I know the nighttime (night and day, oh)Whoa, is the right time (night and day, oh)To be with the one you love, now (night and day)I said to be with the one you love (night and day)

You know my mother, now (night and day)Had to die, now (night and day)Mm, and my father (night and day)Well, he broke down and cry (night and day)

Whoa! Whoa, baby (night and day)When I come home baby now (night and day)I want you to hold my hand (night and day)Yeah, tight as you can (night and day)

I know the nighttime (night and day, oh)Whoa, is the right time (night and day, oh)To be with the one you love (night and day)You know what I’m thinking of (night and day)

Whoa! Sing your song, MargieBaby (night and day)Baby (night and day)Baby (night and day)Oh, baby (night and day)

Girl, I love you (night and day)No one above you (night and day)Hold me tight (night and day)And make everything all right (night and day)

Because the nighttime (night and day)Oh, is the right time (night and day)To be with the one you love now (night and day)Oh, yeah (night and day)

Tease me (night and day)Squeeze me (night and day)Leave me (night and day)Ah, don’t leave me (night and day)

Lawdy, baby (night and day)Take my hand, now (night and day)I don’t need (night and day)No other man (night and day)

Because the nighttime (night and day)Ow, is the right time (night and day)To be with the one you love (night and day)Oh, yeah (night and day)

I said baby (night and day)Baby (night and day)Baby (night and day)Whoa! Baby now (night and day)

Oh, come on baby (night and day)You know I want you by my side (night and day)I want you to keep (night and day)Oh, keep me satisfied (night and day)

I know the nighttime (night and day)Every day is the right time (night and day)Yeah, to be with the one you love now (night and day)Well, you know it’s all right

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Was I Right Or Wrong

This song tells a tragic tale of a son going off for fame and coming back home for the acceptance of his parents but he finds out…they died. They recorded this track in Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama. It was before they were signed to a contract. Shooting Star which came after this song…. covered a small portion of this but the star in this song lives but doesn’t get satisfaction out of the outcome.

At first I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I loved were in the ground

It was on an album called First and Last. It was released in 1978 after the crash. It covered the demos they made at Muscle Shoals. The owners of the studio thought they would be signed because their songs were very good and they had everything arranged before recording…so it was quick. After they were not signed…Ronnie Van Zant promised the recording studio owners that he would mention them in a song if they hit. They thought…yea right! A man of his word…a couple of years later in Sweet Home Alabama he did “Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers and they’ve been known to pick a song or two (yes they do).”

I wouldn’t dare compare this to a normal release but it has it’s charm all the same and shows how advanced the band was in the early seventies. Van Zant worked his band members hard to get them in shape. They practiced in an old cabin with no air conditioning in Florida. He would make them go through songs until they were perfect…they nicknamed the place Hell House.

Ronnie Van Zant was a great and sometimes underrated songwriter. The band members have said that he never wrote lyrics down on paper. The band would be practicing and he would hear a riff or a chord progression he liked and would tell them to keep going through it over and over. After thinking about it he would start singing what he came up with.

They were not a jam band (again the Allmans were) but a song band that played their 3-5 minute songs and got off the stage with the exception of the lengthy Free Bird. They were planning to release this before the crash.

No one wanted to sign them because they couldn’t figure out what they were. Record executives said they sounded too much like The Allman Brothers. Which that in itself is just stupid. The executives thought anyone from the south sounded like the Allmans. The Allmans had jazz influences and Lynyrd Skynyrd drew inspiration from British acts like Free and lead singer Paul Rodgers. They were completely different in every way.

Al Kooper met and signed them to a contract back in 1973. Kooper had worked with Jimi Hendrix, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and Bob Dylan. He said Lynyrd Skynyrd were the best arrangers of songs he ever met plus the most organic musicians he worked with. That is high praise coming from Al Kooper.

Another song off of this album is called Comin’ Home which is really good.

Was I Right Or Wrong

Like a restless leaf in the autumn breeze,
Once, I was a tumbleweed
Like a rolling stone, cold and all alone,
Livin’ for the day my dream would come

Never cared for school or any golden rules
Papa used to always say I was a useless fool
So I left my home to show ’em they was wrong
And headed out on the road, singin’ my songs

Then one sunny day, the man, he looked my way
And everything that I dreamed of, it was real
Money, girls, and cars and big long cigars
And I caught the first plane home so Papa would see

When I went home to show ’em they was wrong
All that I found was two tombstones
Somebody tell me, please, was I right or wrong?
Lord, it’s such a sad song

At first I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I loved were in the ground
Papa, I only wish you could see me now
Take a listen Papa, I learned how to play my guitar, superstar
Play one for momma now

If there’s any way that you can hear what I say
Papa, I never meant to do you wrong
All the money, girls, and cars,
And all the world’s long cigars,
Papa, I just want you to know,
They couldn’t take your place

When I went home to show ’em they was wrong,
All that I found was two tombstones
Somebody tell me please, was I right or wrong?
Lord, it’s such a sad song
At first I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I loved were in the ground
Somebody tell me, please, was I right or wrong?

Amazing Rhythm Aces – Third Rate Romance

I like hearing this song once in a while. It’s one of those 1970’s AM Gold Hits.

They recorded Third Rate Romance for its 1975 album Stacked Deck, releasing the song as the group’s debut single. The song peaked at #14 on the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada in 1975. This is a country/rock humorous song. Sammy Kershaw covered this song in 1994 and is maybe the better-known version for some people but this is the version I remember and like.

The Amazing Rhythm Aces were formed in 1974 in Memphis by Jeff Davis and Butch McDade. By 1975 they had added Russell Smith, Barry Burton, and James Hooker to the group. Burton left the group in 1977 and was replaced by Duncan Cameron. They disbanded in 1980 after the release of their album How the Hell do you spell Rhythum? The song was written by Russell Smith.

Rusell Smith went on to be a successful songwriter, Billy Earheart joined Hank Williams Jr’s Bama Band and Cameron joined Sawyer Brown, who had their own success with a style close to the Amazing Rhythm Aces.

Russell Smith: “I got the idea for it from watching a couple in a restaurant, but I made up a lot of the story. At first, it was like a goddamn book report, about eight minutes long. But once I’d edited it down, I was pretty happy with it.”

Third Rate Romance

Sitting at a fancy table, in a ritzy restaurant,
He was staring at his coffee cup,
Trying to get his courage up.
The talk was small when they talked at all,
They both knew what they wanted,
There was no need to talk about it,
They were old enough to talk it out, and still keep it loose.

Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous,
Then he said, “You don’t look like my type, but I guess you’ll do.”
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous,
He said, “I’ll tell you I love you, if you want me to.”
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous,

They left the bar, got in his car, and they drove away;
They drove to the Family Inn, she didn’t even have to pretend.
She waited in the car and he went to the desk,
Made his request while she waited outside.
When he came back with the key she said,
“Give it to me and I’ll unlock the door.”

She said, “I’ve never done this kind of thing before, have you?”
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous
He said, “Yes I have, but only a time or two.”
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous
Third rate romance, low rent rendezvous.

Chuck Berry – Sweet Little Sixteen

If you tried to give rock ‘n’ roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry…John Lennon

Chuck Berry is the father of rock and roll. His guitar paved the way but most importantly his poetry with his writing. He used rhyme and more reason to weave his songs into the fabric of society. If you were a teenager in the 1950s you understood No Particular Place To Go and his other songs. He used cars as a symbol of freedom much like Bruce Springsteen would do years later.

Berry’s assistant, Francine Gillium, told Berry about the High School that she worked at and helped him get in the right mindset to write these songs about teenagers. He mostly stayed away from politics and topical references in his songs…which is why many are relatable today.

Sweet Little Sixteen, the second-biggest pop hit of his career next to the terrible My Ding-a-Ling. Chuck wrote this song when he was on a package tour, and came across a teenage autograph-seeker who was insistent upon getting the autograph of each headliner on the tour.

The most important collaborator that Chuck had was Johnnie Johnson. He was a piano player who collaborated with Berry on many songs, including “Maybellene,” “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Sweet Little Sixteen.” Johnson often wrote songs on the piano, and then Berry converted them to guitar and wrote lyrics. Berry joined Johnson’s group, The Sir John Trio, in 1953, and quickly became the lead singer and centerpiece of the band.

There is a controversy that Johnson came up with a lot of the riffs that Chuck used and Berry would transpose them from piano to guitar. In 2000, Johnson sued Chuck Berry, alleging he deserved co-composer credits (and royalties) for dozens of songs, including No Particular Place to Go, Sweet Little Sixteen, and Roll Over Beethoven, which credit Berry alone. The case was eventually dismissed because too many years had passed since the songs in dispute were written. Keith Richards has talked about this also… he is a huge fan of Chuck but also a huge fan of Johnnie Johnson.

Sweet Little Sixteen

They’re really rockin’ Boston
In Pittsburgh, PA
Deep in the heart of Texas
And ’round the ‘Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
And down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen

Sweet Little Sixteen
She’s just got to have
About half a million
Famed autographs
Her wallet filled with pictures
She gets ’em one by one
Becomes so excited
Watch her, look at her run, boy

Oh, mommy, mommy
Please, may I go?
It’s such a sight to see
Somebody steal the show
Oh, daddy, daddy
I beg of you
Whisper to mommy
It’s all right with you

‘Cause they’ll be rockin’ on Bandstand
In Philadelphia, PA
Deep in the heart of Texas
And ’round the ‘Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
Way down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen

‘Cause they’ll be rockin’ on Bandstand
Philadelphia, PA
Deep in the heart of Texas
And ’round the ‘Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
Way down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with, ooh
Sweet Little Sixteen

Sweet Little Sixteen
She’s got the grown up blues
Tight dresses and lipstick
She’s sportin’ high heel shoes
Oh, but tomorrow morning
She’ll have to change her trend
And be sweet sixteen
And back in class again

But they’ll be rockin’ in Boston
Pittsburgh, PA
Deep in the heart of Texas
And ’round the ‘Frisco Bay
Way out in St. Louis
Way down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen

Journey – Wheel In The Sky

This was the Journey I really liked…before a member left (Gregg Rolie) and one was added (Jonathan Cain)…and they became more radio-friendly with Escape. It comes down to my personal tastes. Gregg Rolie played a B4 organ and sounded great and Cain played an 80’s Casio (just kidding but…) synth…it changed the music completely…but it did make them more accessible to the masses…so yea I’m in the minority.

This song was on the album Infinity. Personally…my favorite Journey album is Departure. The three I listen to are Infinity, Evolution, and Departure. The albums before were prog albums and the ones after…more 80’s radio pop. With those three albums, they were more of a rock band.

The origin of this song is interesting. It started off as a poem by Diane Valory, the wife of Journey bassist Ross Valory. The band’s first vocalist, Robert Fleischman, wrote new lyrics, and guitarist Neal Schon wrote the melody on acoustic guitar in the back seat of a station wagon while the band was driving between shows.

This song was the first single to chart for the band. Before this album, they were more of a progressive band. With this single and the next two albums, they started building themselves up in the charts to lay the groundwork for superstardom in the eighties.

The song peaked at #57 on the Billboard 100 and #45 in Canada in 1978.

Wheel In The Sky

Winter is here again, oh Lord
Haven’t been home in a year or more
I hope she holds on a little longer
Sent a letter on a long summer day
Made of silver, not of clay
Ooh, I’ve been runnin’ down this dusty road

Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’

I’ve been trying to make it home
Got to make it before too long
Ooh, I can’t take this very much longer, no
I’m stranded in the sleet and rain
Don’t think I’m ever gonna make it home again
The morning sun is risin’
It’s kissin’ the day

Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
I don’t’ know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’, whoa, whoa, whoa
My, my, my, my, my
For tomorrow

Oh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Ooh, I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps me yearnin’
Ooh, I don’t know, I don’t know where

Oh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Ooh, I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Ooh, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know

Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps turnin’
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’

Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun ….Under The Covers Tuesday

It’s a rare event that I post a top ten song of the eighties but this song was a cover and I didn’t know that for the longest. In the 80s my favorite female singers of that time were Maria McKee from Lone Justice and Patty Smyth of Scandal. As far as mainstream artists…I did like Cyndi Lauper and Pat Benatar at the time. My then-girlfriend played Lauper constantly so I gradually started to like her music like Money Changes Everything.

This song was her breakout song and never did I think it was a cover. She released an album in 1981 as a member of the group Blue Angel, but “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” made her famous. She turned the song into a 1980s anthem. The song was on the album She’s So Unusual released in 1983.

Singer/songwriter named Robert Hazard, who had a band called Robert Hazard and the Heroes, wrote it and released it in 1979. It was much more rock guitar based than Lauper’s version.

Lauper had trouble recording the song. They tried it in different ways but nothing worked. Lauper listened to Come On Eileen and was inspired by that…they did it in that tempo and it worked.

The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #2 in the UK in 1983. She would have two number 1’s in Billboard with Time After Time and True Colors.

The album She’s So Unusual peaked at #4 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #3 in New Zealand, and #16 in the UK. She had 5 charting singles off of that album…four top 5 songs including a number 1 and one top 30 song.

The video made for the song features the wrestler Captain Lou Albano as Lauper’s father, and also Lauper’s real-life mother, who had no acting experience. It won the first ever award for Best Female Video at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. Albano was also in her next video, “Time After Time.”

What’s an eighties song without a parody from Weird Al?… “Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch.” He said he didn’t want to make fun of women so he kept it at lunch. Lauper said: “I like Weird Al. I LOVED ‘Like a Surgeon.’ I thought he was going to make MORE fun of Girls just wanna have lunch. But it wasn’t hard. Because everybody thought I was an alien, I spoke funny and I dressed funny… Not hard to make fun of.”

Cyndi Lauper: “I wanted ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ to be an anthem for women around the world – and I mean all women – and a sustaining message that we are powerful human beings. I made sure that when a woman saw the video, she would see herself represented, whether she was thin or heavy, glamorous or not, and whatever race she was.”

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

I come home in the morning light
My mother says, “When you gonna live your life right?”
Oh, mother dear, we’re not the fortunate ones
And girls they wanna have fun
Oh, girls just wanna have fun

The phone rings in the middle of the night
My father yells, “What you gonna do with your life?”
Oh, daddy dear, you know you’re still number one
But girls they wanna have fun
Oh, girls just wanna have

That’s all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Oh, girls, they wanna have fun
Oh, girls just wanna have fun

(Girls they want, wanna have fun)
(Girls wanna have)

Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I wanna be the one to walk in the sun
Oh, girls they wanna have fun
Oh, girls just wanna have

That’s all they really want
Is some fun
When the working day is done
Oh, girls, they wanna have fun
Oh, girls just wanna have fun

(Girls they want, wanna have fun)
(Girls wanna have)

They just wanna, they just wanna (girls)
They just wanna, they just wanna (girls just wanna have fun)
Oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun

(They just wanna, they just wanna)
They just wanna, they just wanna (girls)
They just wanna, they just wanna (girls just wanna have fun)
Oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun

When the workin’
When the workin’ day is done
Oh, when the workin’ day is done
Oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun
Everybody, ha, ha

They just wanna, they just wanna (girls)
They just wanna, they just wanna (girls just wanna have fun)
Oh, girls, yeah, girls just wanna have fun

(They just wanna, they just wanna)
When the workin’
When the workin’ day is done, oh (they just wanna, they just wanna)
When the workin’ day is done (girls)
(Girls just wanna have fun)
Oh, girl, girls just wanna have fun

(They just wanna, they just wanna) Everybody now
Yeah, yeah, yeah
(They just wanna, they just wanna) Yeah, yeah
Girls

Steve Miller – Dance, Dance, Dance

Steve Miller goes country bluegrass?

In the late seventies, my friend had the Fly Like An Eagle album. I loved it at that time and this song is the one young Max zoned in on. It’s one Steve Miller song that is NOT worn out! It’s not a great song by any means but there is something charming about this country-type song. It’s one you can imagine someone singing on a back porch.

I like when artists do something different out of the norm. At this time he was changing from blues to pop…and this song went in a different direction.

The Steve Miller Band started off as a blues psychedelia band. They got signed for $50,000 dollars in 1967…quite a lot at that time… after the band had an impressive performance at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival They continued to release one album a year but they never rose up the charts too much. At that time the band included drummer Gary Mallaber and LonnieTurner on bass, but the albums also featured contributions by harmonica player James Cotton, session guitarist Led Dudek, and the Doobie Brothers’ John McFee…and Boz Scaggs was a member for a while.

One song in the earlier period I’ll touch on in a few weeks is “My Darkest Hour” and he recorded it with Paul McCartney in one of his most darest hours…right after Paul refused to sign with Allen Klein.

After The Joker was released as a single in 1973, Miller started to move toward pop melodies and struck gold with Fly Like An Eagle. The album bounces everywhere in style. He does a Sam Cooke cover, Send Me to sitars on “Wild Mountain Honey…along with this Bluegrass – Country song Dance, Dance, Dance. Then there are the hits. The title track Fly Like An Eagle, Take The Money and Run, and Rockin’ Me. This album is one of the building blocks of classic rock radio.

The album was released in 1976 and it peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Charts, #4 in Canada, and #11 in the UK.

Dance, Dance, Dance

My grandpa, he’s 95
And he keeps on dancin’
He’s still alive

My grandma, she’s 92
She loves to dance
And sing some, too

I don’t know
But I’ve been told
If you keep on dancing
You’ll never grow old

Come on darling
Put a pretty dress on
We’re gonna go out tonight
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
All night long

I’m a hard working man
I’m a son of a gun
I’ve been working all week in the noon day sun
The wood’s in the kitchen
And the cow’s in the barn
I’m all cleaned up and my chores are all done
Take my hand, come along
Let’s go out and have some fun

Come on darling put a pretty dress on
We’re gonna go out tonight
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
All night long

Pick on

Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
All night long

Come on darling, don’t look that way
Don’t you know when you smile
I’ve got to say you’re my honey pumpkin lover
You’re my heart’s delight
Don’t you want to go out tonight
You’re such a pretty lady
You’re such a sweet girl
When you dance it brightens up my world
Come on darling put a pretty dress on
We’re gonna go out tonight
And dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance
All night long

Gene Vincent – She She Little Sheila

A true rock and roll pioneer. I don’t have to be coaxed to listen to Gene Vincent but I watched the 1969 bio of him doing a UK tour in 1969 (at the bottom of the post). He radiated star but you could tell he was in pain probably from all directions. I always liked him because of his attitude while singing but I noticed…very late…but I saw what a great unusual voice he had. He could go from ballad to rocker in a split second.

Vincent was injured in a car accident on April 16, 1960…with Eddie Cochran in a taxi which killed Cochran. Vincent whose leg was weak due to a wound incurred in a motorcycle accident in Virginia during the Korean War. He walked with a noticeable limp for the rest of his life. In 1962 he was in Hamburg and played on the same bill as the Beatles.

The 50s revival had started in the UK and Vincent did around 24 shows altogether on that tour. The bio is a fascinating look into the UK in 1969. The music is there of course but it gives a lesson on how touring is not always glamorous and 5-star hotels.

Vincent’s energetic performance and dynamic vocals make this song a standout track. It was written by Whitey Pullen and Jerry Merritt. The song was released in 1960 and it peaked at #22 in the UK charts. By this time the UK is where all of the 50’s rock stars went because America was too busy listening to Paul Anka, Fabion, and Pat Boone. It was a sad state of music at that time for rock and roll. The parents probably loved the no soul no trouble singers. Then thankfully…the British invasion and Motown were coming up.

The Beatles, Stones, Who, and other bands made America wake up to the blues and rock artists they had been ignoring.

Gene Vincent would die only two years after this tour in 1971 after recording an album called The Day the World Turned Blue at 36 years old. He was the first inductee into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame upon its formation in 1997. The following year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He would die of a ruptured ulcer, internal hemorrhage and heart failure.

She She Little Sheila

Well, she, she, she little Sheila
Best lookin’ gal in town
Well now, she, she, she little Sheila
With your hair so long and brown
Well, you never-never know what my Sheila’s puttin’ down

Well now, Dick Clark said you’re the best lookin’ girl
On his big bandstand
I know it too and I love you true
And honey, I’m your man
Well, you never-never know what my Sheila’s puttin’ down

Yeah, she, she, she little Sheila
She, she, she little Sheila
She, she, she little Sheila
She, she, she little Sheila
Well, you never-never know what my Sheila’s gonna put down

Well, she, she, she little Sheila
Best lookin’ gal around
Well, she, she, she little Sheila
With your hair so long and brown
Well, you never-never know what my Sheila’s puttin’ down (aw)

Yeah, she, she, she little Sheila
She, she, she little Sheila
She, she, she little Sheila
She, she, she little Sheila
Well, you never-never know what my Sheila’s puttin’ down

…

The Godfathers

I’ve heard of this band but CB (Cincinnati Babyhead) turned me on to them…and when that happens great music comes out of it. I listened to their first real album Birth, School, Work, Death and it was fantastic. I then skipped around and listened to some songs throughout their career. Super band… they have a tough, rought Katie bar the door… no-holds-barred sound. I hear some Who, Kinks, Small Faces, Sloan, and other bands in them.

The main reason I like them…the hooks. They know how to develop and use great hooks in the right places. While you have the hooks and melodies you also have the super-aggressive anger riding on top of everything. They mix it perfectly. In short… abrasive in-your-face rock.

Think of this post as a sample platter…I included some history but the main thing is…listen to these songs.

Peter and Chris Coyne started the band in 1982 calling it the Side Presley Experience. By 1985 they had removed some members and brought in some more. They also made a name change to The Godfathers. They wanted to record so they found a producer in Vic Maile who had worked with The Kinks, Who, and Motorhead. They released some singles in the UK and finally after seeing import sales they put together an album made up of singles and B sides plus they did a cover of John Lennon’s Cold Turkey and called it Hit By Hit (#3 in the UK).

Then came the call every band wants…Epic Records signed them to a contract. They released the single Birth, School, Work, Death in 1987. The following year they released an album with the same name. Birth, School, Work, Death peaked at #38 in the US Modern Rock Charts.

They broke up in 2000 but reformed in 2008 with the original members. Chris is not with the band but Peter still is. They released an album last year named Alpha Beta Gamma Delta.

Also on the album was this song…Love Is Dead peaked at #3 in the UK indie chart in 1987.

Now, let’s skip around a little too different album songs. She Gives Me More peaked at #8 in 1989 on the US Modern Rock Chart.

Now to one of the coolest titles ever… Just Because You’re Not Paranoid Doesn’t Mean To Say They’re Not Going To Get You!

Together they had 10 studio albums with the last released in 2022.

Hit by Hit (comp, 1986)
Birth, School, Work, Death (1988)
More Songs About Love & Hate (1989)
Unreal World (1991)
Unreal World (1991)
The Godfathers (1993)
Afterlife (1995, Intercord)
Jukebox Fury (2013)
A Big Bad Beautiful Noise (2017)
Alpha Beta Gamma Delta (2022)

Peter Coyne: I would like The Godfathers to be remembered as a great British rock & roll band who made some fantastic singles & classic albums – right from the start to the very end. I would also like us to be remembered as a brilliant, kick ass live band who brought a lot of pleasure to punters all round the world. On my gravestone you can chisel “He came, he saw, he’s gone – awopbopalubopalopbamboom!”

Peter Coyne: I would have liked to have been in The Beatles circa ’61 during their Hamburg period. All that black leather gear they wore, quiffs, speed, girls with peroxide blonde hair, seedy clubs, high energy rock & roll & exotic, neon night life would have suited me fine!! Beatlemania & their psychedelic era was ace too. Fab4 FOREVER! X

Now one for the road…Unreal World was their highest charting song in North America. It peaked at #6 in the US Modern Rock Chart.

Unreal World

I heard women crying everywhere
Babies born and no one cares
People sleeping on the ground
See the rain come falling down
There’s decisions to be made
There has to be some give and take
For this the road we walk along
Is no the road we started on
Have you heard the full time score
We’re living under Murphy’s Law

I’ve been walking ‘cross vast empty spaces I feel
I’ve been looking for one face I know that is real
I’ve been walking ‘cross vast empty spaces

Let’s talk about the way I feel
The whole wide world’s become unreal

Time’s like money it’s soon spent
Let’s talk about the government
They’re selling England by the gram
We’re stranded in the strangest land
There’s not enough to go around
No one knows what’s going down
Nothing ventured nothing gained
Why should we feel so ashamed
‘Cause every dog must have it’s day
And I refuse to be your slave

I’ve been walking ‘cross vast empty spaces I feel
I’ve been looking for one face I know that is real
I’ve been walking ‘cross vast empty spaces

Let’s talk about the way I feel
The whole wide world’s become unreal
Let’s talk about the way I feel
The whole wide world’s become unreal

London’s mourning skies turned black
They’ve gone too far we can’t turn back
Free the ravens from the tower
We’ve yet to have our finest hour
Don’t believe the news at ten
That happy days are here again
Where’s the Union Jack and Jill
‘Cause we should not be standing still
Listen to me understand
A hungry man’s an angry man

Let’s talk about the way I feel
The whole wide world’s become unreal
Let’s talk about the way I feel
The whole wide worl’ds become unreal

…

Turtles – It Ain’t Me Babe

I first heard the Turtles with the single that I got from a cousin. The single was Eleanor… I fell for them at that moment. After I got to know them better…I found out they didn’t take themselves seriously and had some good pop songs.

This was written and originally recorded by Bob Dylan, who released the song on his 1964 album Another Side Of Bob Dylan. Smart performers started to pick up that this Bob guy could write accessible songs for the public. Add a Rickenbacker or a jangly guitar and whala you have folk rock.

The band was formed by Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan. They were saxophone players who did whatever was trendy in order to make a living as musicians. They were also in the choir together in high school.

They were in an instrumental band but with the Beatles and the British invasion, they soon switched to a rock and roll band with Howard Kaylan as lead singer.

This was their debut single and what a single it was for them. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada in 1965. It was on their debut album with the same name. The album didn’t do as well…it peaked at #98 on the Billboard Album Charts.

The Turtles were more of a singles band but did release some interesting ones at the end of their career. One of them was called The Turtles Present The Battle of the Bands. It was a concept album where they pretended to be different bands for each song. I’ve always liked that idea.

After they broke up Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan became Flo and Eddie.

Howard Kaylan: “When the Turtles first signed our original recording agreements with the tiny label that would become White Whale, we were all under the legal age of 18. Needless to say, the contracts required our parents’ approval. This was all done before a judge in the county of Los Angeles who reviewed the paperwork about to be executed and told our parents that, “If you let your sons sign these papers, the court won’t be responsible for the outcome. These are the worst contracts that I have ever seen.” We didn’t care. We wanted to make records and damn the consequences. So we signed. And our parents co-signed. And the judge had been right. It took many years and many thousands of dollars to win back our money and our self-respect. But, in the meantime, we had a record deal.

We had originally intended to break up our band, the Crossfires, on one particular evening in 1965, while playing our usual Friday night gig at the a teen club in Redondo Beach, California called the Revelaire. On my way upstairs with our resignation, two shady-looking entrepreneurs stopped me and asked if we were interested in making a record. They loved the way we sounded doing a cover of the new Byrds single (our guitarist had gone out and bought a 12-string guitar earlier that week) and thought that doing folk-rock was the key to our future.

It fell upon me to find the tunes to record. The Crossfires had been a surf band in high school, but together with a friend of ours, Betty McCarty, we had also done some folk singing as The Crosswind Singers. In fact, we opened a concert at Westchester High that starred the folk duo Joe and Eddie (a foreshadowing of things to come, many years before the names Flo and Eddie were to become our nom de plumes). I found Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ on an album and, being blissfully unaware that anyone else had ever recorded it, thought that it would make a great rock song. So I literally ‘lifted’ the Zombies’ approach to pop – a soft Colin Blunstone-like minor verse bursting into a four-four major chorus a-la ‘She’s Not There.’

It Ain’t Me Babe

Go away from my window
Leave at your own chosen speed
I’m not the one you want, babe
I’m not the one you need
You say you’re lookin’ for someone
Who’s never weak but always strong
To protect you and defend you
Whether you are right or wrong
Someone to open each and every door

But it ain’t me, babe
A-no, no, no it ain’t me, babe
Well, it ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe

Go lightly from the ledge, babe
Go lightly on the ground
I’m not the one you want, babe
I’ll only lead you down
You say you’re lookin’ for someone
Who’ll promise never to part
Someone to close his eyes to you
Someone to close his heart
Someone who will die for you and more

But it ain’t me, babe
A-no, no, no it ain’t me, babe
Well, it ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe
No it ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe
I said a-no, no, no, it ain’t me, babe
I said a-no, no, no, it ain’t me, babe
I said a-no, no, no, it ain’t me, babe
I said a-no, no, no, it ain’t me, babe