Singles – Page 49 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Band – Christmas Must Be Tonight

Today is Christmas Eve. This is when our family has our Christmas. My parents were divorced when I was 5 and after that…Christmas Eve was the only day of the year that my Mom, Dad, Sister, and yours truly would be together and they would get actually along. So, because of that, Christmas has always meant a lot to me. My mom and dad are gone now but as corny as it sounds… the magic of Christmas stays with me. My son is in Germany with his girlfriend this year but we will have a good time and I will think back at all of Christmas Eve’s past. Sort of like a good ghost that tells me I have a lot to be thankful for.

Robbie Robertson’s Christmas gift to his new son Sebastian during the sessions for Northern Lights-Southern Cross album… never became a seasonal favorite but it should have been. It wasn’t released until the Islands album in 1977.

Rick Danko sings this song from a Shepherd’s point of view. It’s pure and down to earth like only the Band can be. No sleigh bells or other Christmas trappings…just pure music. Maybe that is the reason it never got picked up.

Robbie Robertson re-recorded this song after he left the group. And he did for the soundtrack of Bill Murray’s Scrooged. That version is very good but I still like The Bands version much more…it’s hard to beat Rick Danko.

Christmas Must Be Tonight

Come down to the manger, see the little stranger
Wrapped in swaddling clothes, the prince of peace
Wheels start turning, torches start burning
And the old wise men journey from the East

How a little baby boy bring the people so much joy
Son of a carpenter, Mary carried the light
This must be Christmas, must be tonight

A shepherd on a hillside, where over my flock I bide
Oh a cold winter night a band of angels sing
In a dream I heard a voice saying “fear not, come rejoice
It’s the end of the beginning, praise the new born king”

I saw it with my own eyes, written up in the skies
But why a simple herdsmen such as I
And then it came to pass, he was born at last
Right below the star that shines on high

The Pretenders – 2000 Miles

I hope all of you are having a good week! This song gets me in the mood for Christmas; I can listen to it anytime, not just Christmas. It’s a wonderful song and Chrissie Hyde sounds great in it.

The guitar in this song is haunting…and for good reason. The song has an incredible depth and meaning.

2000 Miles is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25. In 1982, two days after lead singer Chrissie Hynde fired bassist Pete Farndon for drug abuse, the guitarist died of cocaine-induced heart failure. He was only 25 years old. Farndon himself passed away the following year.

“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, peaking at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.

In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK in December.

Lisa covered this one last year on Tao Talk. She also added it to her current Christmas playlist.

2000 Miles

He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you The children will sing
He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights
Sometimes in a dream you appear
Outside under the purple sky
Diamonds in the snow sparkle
Our hearts were singing
It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles
Is very far through the snow
I’ll think of you
Wherever you go

He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you

I can hear people singing
It must be Christmas time
I hear people singing
It must be Christmas time

Merry Christmas to all of the Powerpop Readers!

Before the weekend starts…I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays…whichever you prefer. Every day since I started this blog I try to post an interesting song or some pop culture fact. Every day most of you drop by for a view and I do appreciate it so much.

I’m looking forward to finishing up this year and us all discovering the new year together. I can’t believe this is my 6th year of doing this and if not for the feedback I get daily I would have stopped a long time ago. I don’t know how much I discover about music that you don’t already know… but I have learned so much from you all.

I remember when I started in 2017 it took me around 6 months to get one follower, one like, and a comment. I don’t take anyone for granted and I want you to know that and also a huge THANK YOU. You don’t have to stop by…but you do…you must be a glutton for punishment! I hope you and your families have a happy holiday and safe travels.

Max…the owner of this joint.

Paul Kelly – How To Make Gravy

Here is a Christmas song that is good on any day of the year but one we don’t hear much in America. I looked up “Gravy Day” in Australia and this is what I found: Gravy Day is an unofficial Australian holiday as marked by Kelly in his song, How to Make Gravy. The song is written from the perspective of a recently incarcerated man, Joe, as he writes to his relative, Dan, from prison.

Paul Kelly: “I started thinking… maybe I’ll write it from the point of view of somebody who is missing Christmas, who can’t get to Christmas, why can’t they get there? Maybe they’re overseas and they can’t get home. Then I thought, ‘Oh, he’s in prison’. The song wrote itself from there.”

I like great storytellers…and Paul Kelly is one of them. His music touches on many styles. Country, rock, folk, reggae, bluegrass, and touches of many more styles. He has been described as the poet laureate of Australian music. He writes about everyday life that many people can relate to. I’ve seen this stated about him… Paul Kelly’s songs dig deep into Australia’s culture.

As for who will make the gravy in the song, the question has been debated over the years, although most believe it to be Dan as Joe is sharing the recipe with him.

And yes the recipe in the song is real for gravy.

Paul Kelly: “It was a song that doesn’t have a chorus, it’s set in prison, so I never thought it would be a hit song or anything.”

How To Make The Gravy

Hello Dan, it’s Joe here
I hope you’re keeping well
It’s the 21st of December
And now they’re ringing the last bells
If I get good behaviour
I’ll be out of here by July
Won’t you kiss my kids on Christmas Day?
Please don’t let ’em cry for me

I guess the brothers are driving down from Queensland
And Stella’s flying in from the coast
They say it’s gonna be a hundred degrees, even more maybe
But that won’t stop the roast
Who’s gonna make the gravy now?
I bet it won’t taste the same
Just add flour, salt, a little red wine
And don’t forget a dollop of tomato sauce
For sweetness and that extra tang

And give my love to Angus, and to Frank and Dolly
Tell ’em all I’m sorry, I screwed up this time
And look after Rita, I’ll be thinking of her
Early Christmas morning when I’m standing in line

I hear Mary’s got a new boyfriend
I hope he can hold his own
Do you remember the last one? What was his name again?
Ahh, just a little too much cologne
And Roger, you know I’m even gonna miss Roger
‘Cause there’s sure as hell no one in here I want to fight

Oh, praise the Baby Jesus, have a Merry Christmas
I’m really gonna miss it, all the treasure and the trash
And later in the evening, I can just imagine
You’ll put on Junior Murvin and push the tables back

And you’ll dance with Rita, I know you really like her
Just don’t hold her too close
Oh, brother, please don’t stab me in the back
I didn’t mean to say that, it’s just my mind it plays up
Multiplies each matter, turns imagination into fact

You know I love her badly, she’s the one to save me
I’m gonna make some gravy, I’m gonna taste the fat
Ahh, tell her that I’m sorry, yeah, I love her badly
Tell ’em all I’m sorry, and kiss the sleepy children for me
You know one of these days, I’ll be making gravy
I’ll be making plenty, I’m gonna pay ’em all back

Yeah, do-do-do-do, do-do
Do-do-do-do, do-do

…

Bruce Springsteen – Merry Christmas Baby

We are getting close to Christmas. I hope everyone is ready…and most, if not all, of your shopping is done. There have been many versions of this song but this one is the one I listen to the most. The dynamics in this version are great.

This Dec 31st, 1980 performance of Merry Christmas Baby was recorded at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, during The River Tour. The song was played in its E Street Band arrangement. It was released in November 1986 as the B-side to WAR. This was the lead single from the Live/1975-85 box set.

Although Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley covered “Merry Christmas Baby” before Bruce did, it sounds like he based his version on Otis Redding’s 1968 version.

Lou Baxter wrote this song but it was called “Merry Christmas Blues” and Charles Brown took it home to work it out. He rewrote it with the new title. Baxter wanted Charles Brown to record it the way Charles rewrote it and it became a big hit with Brown singing with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers.

Then the music business struck again…The company promised Charles he would have a co-writer credit but of course, it didn’t happen and Johnny Moore had his name listed on the song instead. Charles never got paid royalties for the song. It was originally released in 1947 and peaked at #3 in the Charts.

Moore died, largely unknown, in the 1960s. Brown, meanwhile, became renowned as a pioneer of the laid-back, piano-driven style of West Coast blues and was recognized as an early influence on Ray Charles; he had a renaissance in the 1990s, touring with Bonnie Raitt.

Charles Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 but died before the induction.

It was also on a complication album A Very Special Christmas of various artists released in 1987.

Merry Christmas Baby

Bring it down, band!

Now, I just came here tonight to say…
I just wanna say…
I just wanna say…

Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
Come on, merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
I feel just like I’m living, living in paradise

Now listen
Now you see, I feel real good tonight
And I got music on the radio
And I feel real good tonight
And I got music on the radio
And the boys in the band are playing pretty good!
Now, I feel just like I wanna kiss you
Underneath my mistletoe

But now listen
Santa came down chimney, half past three
With lots of nice little presents for my baby and me
Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
And I feel like I’m living, just living in paradise
Come on boys!

Well now, Santa came down chimney, half past three
With lots of nice little presents for my baby and me
Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
I feel like I’m living, I’m living in paradise

And I just came down to say
Merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say, merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say, merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say, merry Christmas baby
And happy New Year, too!
Oh yeah!
Play it boys, go!
Merry Christmas
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-happy New Year
Ohhhh!

Oh yeah!
Merry Christmas baby!

Max Picks …songs from 1980

1980

We are entering the new decade. This is the year I became a teenager and I was looking forward to the 1980s. It started off terrible in December of 1980. John Lennon was murdered for no reason. As the decade went on my love for the top 40 practically vanished in around 84-85. This is the decade that I found alternative music like The Replacements and R.E.M. This is the decade of big hair, one glove, parachute pants, synths, and yes some good music came out of it.

John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over. Great song but every time I hear it…it’s December 1980 again and I’m watching news stories about Lennon’s death. Double Fantasy was a strong comeback album for John…a little more Yoko than I would have liked but a good album all the same. John would have been 83 if he would have lived.

When it was released Ringo had said John Lennon sounds like Elvis at the beginning of this song…then he said no…he doesn’t sound like Elvis…he IS Elvis. John Lennon himself said: “All through the taping of ‘Starting Over,’ I was calling what I was doing ‘Elvis Orbison.’ It’s like Dylan doing Nashville Skyline, except I don’t have any Nashville, being from Liverpool. So I go back to the records I know – Elvis and Roy Orbison and Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis.”

ACDC – Back In Black -The album Back In Black was very popular. I think it was a requirement for every teenage boy to own a copy or two all over the world.

The rock band I was in my Sophomore year in high school played this song in our first gig in the school theater. We had the only singer around who could actually sing it. The riff to the song is one of the more memorable ones in rock.

This was the first AC/DC single and album featuring new lead singer Brian Johnson. He replaced Bon Scott, who died on February 19, 1980, after a drinking binge. Scott’s father made it clear to the band that they should find a new singer and keep going.

Bruce Springsteen released The River this year. The title track of the album is one of the most depressing but best songs ever…the reason is because it’s so true.

Bruce saves the best for last though. He is talking about the dreams we have when we are younger about what we are going to do in life until life wakes us up with a bang…at least that is what I interrupt.

Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true
Or is it something worse

Queen – Another One Bites The Dust – Supposedly Steve McQueen is Steve in the opening lyrics. Steve died the year this was released on November 7, 1980. You couldn’t go anywhere in 1980 without hearing someone sing, whistle, or hum this song. I remember the high school band did a version of it. Queen released The Game in 1980 and it was huge here.

Brian May: “Freddie sung until his throat bled on Another One Bites The Dust. He was so into it. He wanted to make that song something special.”

Motorhead – Ace Of Spades. I’m not a huge Motorhead fan and it’s a bit harder music than I usually listen to… but I do like this song. I also like any interview of Lemmy I’ve ever listened to. After playing this for years, Lemmy admitted he was sick of the song, but said he kept it in the setlist because, “If I went to a Little Richard concert, I’d expect to hear Long Tall Sally.”

Bob Rivers – I Am Santa Claus

I found this song back in September while researching Ironman by Black Sabbath…this is a Christmas heavy metal song. deKE this is for you.

Bob Rivers was a DJ who made some novelty records…He released this in 1993. If you want to learn more about Bob…who was elected this year to the Radio Hall Of Fame.

If you want to know more about Bob Rivers go to https://bobrivers.com/ it is worth the read.

This song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Heat Charts, #23 on the Billboard Holiday Charts, and #106 on the Billboard 100 in 1993.

I Am Santa Claus

I am Santa Claus

Ho ho ho ho ho

Flying Through the snow
Can you hear him ho ho ho
He’s so full of cheer
Only has to work one day a year

Children in their beds
Visions of sugar plums fill their heads
So many kids out there
Santa must be a billionare

Red suit, boots of black
Big sack of toys hanging off his back
How much does he weigh
How do the reindeer pull his sleigh

Nobody sees him
As he travels the world

Leaving his presents
For the good boys and girls

Ho ho ho ho ho

Sees every move you make
Better be good for goodness sake
Leave him cookies and beer
He’ll be back to your house first next year

I am Santa Claus

Ho ho ho ho ho

Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody

This is a great Christmas song that was released in 1973 and ever since it re-enters the charts every December in the UK. The song never hit in America but it went to #1 in the UK Charts. I first heard it on a Doctor Who episode in the mid-2000s and have liked it ever since.

This was based on a psychedelic song, “My Rocking Chair,” which Noddy Holder wrote in 1967. In 1973 the Slade vocalist decided to convert it into a Christmas song after a night out drinking at a local pub.

He and the band’s bass player and co-writer Jimmy Lea camped out at Noddy’s mother’s house and got down to changing the lyrics to make them more Christmassy. Jimmy Lea incorporated into the verse parts of another song which he was then writing and Noddy re-wrote the words incorporating different aspects of the Christmas holiday season as they came to mind.

This went straight in at #1 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies on the day of its release, making it at the time the fastest ever selling record in Britain. It eventually became Slade’s best-ever selling single in the UK, selling over a million copies.

In the UK this has become a standard, and it is usually reissued in its original form each Christmas. On several occasions, the song has re-entered the Top 40.

UK copyright collection society and performance rights organization PRS For Music estimated in 2009 that 42 percent of the earth’s population has heard this tune.

The song was written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea of Slade. It was produced by Chas Chandler formerly of the Animals. The harmonium used on this is the same one that John Lennon used on his Mind Games album, which was being recorded at the studio next door.

Noddy Holder: “I wrote the original verse with the lyrics, ‘Buy me a rocking chair, I’ll watch the world go by. Bring me a mirror, I’ll look you in the eye,’ in 1967 in the aftermath of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper,” I was being psychedelic. Dave (Hill) wrote another part to the song but it didn’t work so we put it away. Then in 1973 he remembered my verse one day when we were trying to write a Christmas single. We changed the words to, ‘Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall?’ and the rest fell into place.”

Noddy Holder: “As a lad we used to knock sleds with old orange boxes and go tobogganing down this big old quarry in the snow at Christmas. It was the inspiration for the line ‘are you hoping that the snow will start to fall.’”

I want that hat he starts off with… in this video…very subtle.

Merry Christmas Everybody

Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
It’s the time that every Santa has a ball
Does he ride a red nosed reindeer?
Does a ‘ton up’ on his sleigh
Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?

Chorus:
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

Are you waiting for the family to arrive?
Are you sure you got the room to spare inside?
Does your granny always tell ya that the old are the best?
Then she’s up and rock ‘n’ rollin’ with the rest

Chorus:
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

What will your daddy do
When he sees your Mama kissin’ Santa Claus?
Ah ah

Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall?
Do you ride on down the hillside in a buggy you have made?
When you land upon your head then you’ve been slayed

Chorus (4x)
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

…

John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

I was at the grocery store this morning buying some water to take to work. A girl around 18-20 rang me up and this song started to play. She told me…”I know it’s Christmas when I hear this song.” I picked a good day to post it.

This is my favorite Christmas song hands down. This song gets me in the Christmas mood like no other. The song is highly idealistic but that is alright. It was the early seventies and the time for idealism.

In 1969 John and Yoko had rented billboard spaces in 12 major cities around the world, for the display of black-and-white posters that declared “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko”. Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message…plus John said he was sick of White Christmas.

John’s voice goes so well with this song. The song peaked at #2 in the UK charts in 1971….the song did peak at #42 in the Billboard 100 in 2019.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this in their New York City hotel room and recorded it during the evening of October 28 and into the morning of the 29th, 1971 at the Record Plant in New York. It was released in the US for Christmas but didn’t chart. The next year, it was released in the UK, where it did much better, charting at #2. Eventually, the song became a Christmas classic in America, but it took a while.

Lennon originally wrote this as a protest song about the Vietnam War, and the idea “that we’re just as responsible as the man who pushes the button. As long as people imagine that somebody’s doing it to them and that they have no control, then they have no control.”

The children’s voices are the Harlem Community Choir, who were brought in to sing on this track. They are credited on the single along with Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band.

I think of High School when I hear this song. Our school had a Christmas poster contest and a buddy and I made a poster as a joke and wrote “So this is Christmas and what have you done another year over, and a new one just begun” and won first prize…with an assist from John.

This didn’t appear on an album until 1975, when it was included on Lennon’s Shaved Fish singles compilation. This is one of the first Lennon albums I bought.

Happy Xmas (War is Over)

(Happy Christmas Kyoko)
(Happy Christmas Julian)

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Christmas

Loretta Lynn – Coal Miner’s Daughter

She was the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century…Jack White

This is one country song that even rockers know and of course, the movie with the same title doesn’t hurt either. I remember the movie when I was younger and hearing this song constantly. She wrote it and she wears it like a badge of honor singing it.

In 1976 Loretta wrote an autobiography and named it Coal Miner’s Daughter. That book is what they made the movie on. I always looked at Loretta as the Punk of country music. What I mean by that is she wrote about subjects that weren’t talked about…much less in country music. Songs like The Pill and Rated X just to name a couple. While talking…she had no filter at times and told you exactly how she felt.

In life and in this song Lynn’s main point is that she is proud of where she comes from and the morals her family values. She is not ashamed of her poverty or rural upbringing, but appreciative of her family’s hard work ethic, love for each other, and the bond that happens in hardships.

The song was on the album of the same name released in 1970. What made this one different is that it crossed over to the pop charts. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts and Canada’s Country Charts. I also peaked at #83 on the Billboard 100 in 1970.

The song was released in 1980 with Sissy Spacek singing her version of the movie…it peaked at #7 in Canada (Country Charts) and #24 in the Billboard Country Charts.

The movie Coal Miner’s Daughter was released in 1980. It starred Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn as well as co-stars Levon Helm, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D’Angelo, and more.

The producer Owen Bradley told Lynn to drop off four additional verses that she had. Loretta Lynn: “He said, There’s already been one ‘El Paso,’ and there’s never going to be another one, so I fiddled around and fiddled around, and finally I got four verses that I took off of ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter.’ I wished I hadn’t, but I did.”

Sadly those verses were lost to time because she left them in the studio.

Loretta Lynn: “I remember that, in one of the verses, I talked about Mommy papering the wall with movie magazines, and she named me after Loretta Young, because she had Bette Davis and Claudette Colbert and Loretta Young up on the wall. And the day before I was born, she said, ‘If this baby is a little girl, I’m going to name her after one of them girls.’ And she said, ‘I kept looking at the pictures, and I thought Loretta Young was the prettiest, so I named you Loretta.’ And I’m glad she did.”

“I didn’t think anybody be interested in my life, I know everybody’s got a life, and they all have something to say. Everybody has a story about their life. It wasn’t just me. I guess I was just the one that told it.”

Coal Miner’s Daughter

Well, I was borned a coal miner’s daughter
In a cabin, on a hill in Butcher Holler
We were poor, but we had love
That’s the one thing that daddy made sure of
He shoveled coal to make a poor man’s dollar

My daddy worked all night in the Van Lear coal mines
All day long in the field a hoin’ corn
Mommy rocked the babies at night
And read the Bible by the coal oil light
And ever’ thing would start all over come break of morn’

Daddy loved and raised eight kids on a miner’s pay
Mommy scrubbed our clothes on a washboard every day
Why, I’ve seen her fingers bleed
To complain, there was no need
She’d smile in mommy’s understanding way

In the summertime we didn’t have shoes to wear
But in the wintertime we’d all get a brand new pair
From a mail order catalog
Money made from selling a hog
Daddy always managed to get the money somewhere

Yeah, I’m proud to be a coal miner’s daughter
I remember well, the well where I drew water
The work we done was hard
At night we’d sleep ’cause we were tired
I never thought of ever leaving Butcher Holler

Well, a lot of things have changed since a way back then
And it’s so good to be back home again
Not much left but the floor, nothing lives here anymore
Except the memories of a coal miner’s daughter

…

Kinks – Father Christmas

We will kick off a Christmas week after today. I will still have my Max Picks but the rest will be Christmas shows, songs, and movies.

This song always brings a smile to my face. Any Kinks Christmas song would have to be different…and this one is. It’s great for cynical people on Christmas and can be enjoyed by Christmas lovers too.

I’ve always liked this raw and rough Christmas song. A writer at the NME wrote, “Successful Xmas songs are more about mood than specifics, but as this is an anti-Christmas song, it’s fine.” This is the kind of song you would expect from Ray Davies. Anti-Christmas or not…it has become a popular classic Christmas song that gets airplay every year.

The single was released during the height of punk rock and certainly exudes a punk attitude. Dave Davies told ABC Radio that he “always thought The Ramones would do a great version of it. I don’t know why they didn’t do it.”… thinking about it…Dave was right…it would have fit them perfectly.

The song was released in 1977 with the B-side Prince Of The Punks. The track was included on the Arista compilation Come Dancing with The Kinks and is also available as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the Kinks’ 1978 album Misfits.

In England, Father Christmas is the personification of Christmas, in the same way as Santa Claus is in the United States. Although the characters are now synonymous, Father Christmas and Santa Claus historically have separate entities, stemming from unrelated traditions.

Ray Davies on performing the song as an opening act in the 70s:

“When the record came out we were on tour with a very successful band at the time supporting them,” he recalled during an interview with Southern California radio station KSWD. “I went on dressed as Santa at the end of the show to do ‘Father Christmas.’ And the other band found it hard to follow us. The following night with the same band I went to run on but there was a bunch of heavies preventing me from running on stage. And I was protesting. But the people said, ‘The Kinks didn’t do an encore but Santa Claus was there and they were stopping him from going on stage.'”

From Songfacts: First written about in Tudor England and pre-dating the first recording of Santa Claus, Father Christmas was a jolly, well-nourished man who typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry. In time, the tradition merged with America’s Santa Claus with both riding in a reindeer-pulled sleigh carrying a sackful of toys that lands on the roofs of houses that contain good children. The mythical, white bearded Santa/Father Christmas then enters the properties through their chimneys clutching gifts for the well-behaved little ones inside.

Father Christmas

When I was small I believed in Santa Claus
Though I knew it was my dad
And I would hang up my stocking at Christmas
Open my presents and I’d be glad

But the last time I played Father Christmas
I stood outside a department store
A gang of kids came over and mugged me
And knocked my reindeer to the floor

They said
Father Christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Don’t give my brother a Steve Austin outfit
Don’t give my sister a cuddly toy
We don’t want a jigsaw or monopoly money
We only want the real mccoy

Father Christmas, give us some money
We’ll beat you up if you make us annoyed
Father Christmas, give us some money
Don’t mess around with those silly toys

But give my daddy a job ’cause he needs one
He’s got lots of mouths to feed
But if you’ve got one I’ll have a machine gun
So I can scare all the kids on the street

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin’
While you’re drinkin’ down your wine

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
Father Christmas, please hand it over
We’ll beat you up so don’t make us annoyed

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over
We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Thin Lizzy – Whiskey In The Jar

I could listen to this guitar tone all day long.

This is an old traditional Irish song that was spruced up by Thin Lizzy. What set Thin Lizzy apart from other rock groups was Phil Lynott’s writing, bass playing, and singing. In this song, the guitar solo sounds fantastic.

Although a massive first hit for Thin Lizzy, this was actually meant to be the B-side. The band recorded “Black Boys On The Corner” as the A-side and put the old traditional Irish Song “Whiskey In The Jar” on the B-side because they didn’t have anything else. It was the record company that decided to make “Whiskey in the Jar” the A-side.

Phil Lynott had known the song for years, having performed it many times during the 60s in his formative days on Ireland’s folk music circuit. With Thin Lizzy members Eric Bell and Brian Downey taking a breather between songs, Lynott picked up a guitar, singing bits of this song and pieces of that song until he launched into “Whiskey in the Jar.” As they were playing, their Irish co-manager Ted Carroll walked in, noting the song sounded like a potential hit single.

“Whiskey in the Jar is a song about a notorious Irish highwayman Patrick Fleming who was hanged in 1650. What was a highwayman? This is the definition I found. A highwayman was a robber who stole from travelers. This type of thief usually traveled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads.

Metallica recorded a popular cover of this song on their 1998 Garage, Inc. album an outlier for them as they rarely mention girls in their songs. Other notable versions are The Grateful Dead, The Pogues, The Dubliners, U2, Pulp, and Smokie. The lyrics of this song can vary from version to version, but most covers use the Thin Lizzy lyrics.

Whiskey in the Jar peaked at #6 in the UK charts in 1973.

Whiskey In The Jar

As I was goin’ over the Cork and Kerry mountains.
I saw Captain Farrell and his money he was countin’.
I first produced my pistol and then produced my rapier.
I said stand o’er and deliver or the devil he may take ya.

Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.

I took all of his money and it was a pretty penny.
I took all of his money and I brought it home to Molly.
She swore that she’d love me, never would she leave me.
But the devil take that woman for you know she tricked me easy.

Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.

Being drunk and weary I went to Molly’s chamber.
Takin’ my money with me and I never knew the danger.
For about six or maybe seven in walked Captain Farrell.
I jumped up, fired off my pistols and I shot him with both barrels.

Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.

Now some men like the fishin’ and some men like the fowlin’,
And some men like ta hear a cannon ball a roarin’.
Me? I like sleepin’ specially in my Molly’s chamber.
But here I am in prison, here I am with a ball and chain, yeah.

Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.

And I got drunk on whiskey-o
And I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love my Molly-o.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – The Kindness of Strangers

When I first heard this…I thought…damn, this is a well-written song. I don’t know much about Nick Cave but I like what I’ve heard. I’ve read where a lot of bloggers have mentioned him along with Matt and CB. I just started to listen to some songs and this one really caught me. The way he wrote it and the way it is constructed.

In 1973, Cave joined a band with fellow classmates Phill Calvert and Mick Harvey at Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia, and covered songs by Lou Reed, Alex Harvey, and Roxy Music. They moved to London in the late seventies and changed their name to The Birthday Party. They released their self-titled debut in 1980, along with three more albums — Prayers on Fire, and Junkyard — before disbanding in 1983.

Cave, along with Harvey on drums, Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Blixa Bargeld, former Magazine bassist Barry Adamson, and Jim G. Thirlwell initially formed a new band in London. At first, they called themselves Nick Cave and The Cavemen, a label that stuck for several months. The Cavemen turned into The Bad Seeds, referencing the final 1983 EP by The Birthday Party, Mutiny/The Bad Seed. Cave’s longtime girlfriend Anita Lane was credited as a lyricist on occasional songs. They broke up in 1983 but continued to work together off and on til the 90s.

His music won’t appeal to everyone but if you enjoy excellent written songs and twists…then give Cave a try. The song warns of the dangers of trusting strangers and that one must be cautious of seemingly innocent people, as some may have ulterior motives. The last four lines of the song are chilling:

So mothers keep your girls at home
Don’t let them journey all alone
Tell them this world is full of danger
And to shun the company of strangers

The song was on the album Murder Ballads released in 1996. In this song, poor Mary Bellows was traveling through Tennessee and ran into a man named Richard Slade. She trusted a stranger a little too much. The album, as it states, has songs about murder. It peaked at #8 in the UK, #3 on the Australian Charts, and #12 in New Zealand in 1996.

The song has a sense of hopelessness…and imminent death. The song drew me in by the first verse. It was written by Nick Cave.

Nick Cave on the album: “There were heroic women, and female murderers, and all sorts of stuff going on in that record, and songs before that. But I’m not personally a misogynist. I don’t have those inclinations, but I liked to write songs that were violent in those days.”

The Kindness of Strangers

They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed
With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head
O poor Mary Bellows
She’d grown up hungry, she’d grown up poor
She left her home in Arkansas
O poor Mary Bellows
She wanted to see the deep blue sea
She traveled across Tennessee
O poor Mary Bellows
She met a man along the way
He introduced himself as Richard Slade
O poor Mary Bellows
Poor Mary thought that she might die
When she saw the ocean for the first time
O poor Mary Bellows
She checked into a cheap little place
Richard Slade carried in her old suitcase
O poor Mary Bellows
“I’m a good girl, sir”, she said to him
I couldn’t possibly permit you in
O poor Mary Bellows
Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye
And turned away without goodbye
O poor Mary Bellows
She sat on her bed and thought of home
With the sea breeze whistling all alone
O poor Mary Bellows
In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor
And undid the latch on the front door
O poor Mary Bellows
They found her the next day cuffed to the bed
A rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head
O poor Mary Bellows
So mothers keep your girls at home
Don’t let them journey all alone
Tell them this world is full of danger
And to shun the company of strangers
O poor Mary Bellows
O poor Mary Bellows

…

Manfred Mann – Do Wah Diddy Diddy

I’ve been blogging since 2017 and someone asked me about this song not long ago. I told them yea…I posted that one. Well, no I didn’t post this one so now is the time. I first heard this over a friend’s house in the 80s…his dad had this song among his singles collection of the early to mid-sixties.

This song was from one of the biggest years in popular music. It was released in 1964 by Manfred Mann. It was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who were looking to recreate the gibberish gold they struck on The Crystal’s hit “Da Doo Ron Ron.” In the UK they had already had success with 5-4-3-2-1 and Hubble Bubble (Toil and Trouble) but had yet to break through in America. This song did the trick…and well! The original name of the song was Do Wah Diddy…but the band added the extra Diddy to the end.

This was not the original version. That version was The Exciters but it tanked. Actually, it’s a pretty good version…I’ll post it at the bottom as well. Manfred Mann’s version fits well into the British Invasion and this made them known really quick. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #1 in the UK. They followed this one up with another hit called Sha La La.

Paul Jones was the lead singer at the time of Manfred Mann. He heard this song by the Exciters and knew it had potential. Most of the group was not very happy with recording this song but finally did it. The band found that touring the US a thoroughly miserable experience, and decided that they weren’t going back again. So, while they would continue to have big hits in Britain for the rest of the decade, they only had a few minor successes in the States.

They would have more success in the 70s with a revamped band named Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

The original version.

Doo Wah Diddy Diddy

There she was just a-walkin’ down the street, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Snappin’ her fingers and shufflin’ her feet, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
She looked good (looked good), she looked fine (looked fine)
She looked good, she looked fine and I nearly lost my mind

Before I knew it she was walkin’ next to me, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Holdin’ my hand just as natural as can be, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
We walked on (walked on) to my door (my door)
We walked on to my door, then we kissed a little more

Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love
Yes I did, and so I told her all the things I’d been dreamin’ of

Now we’re together nearly every single day, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
A-we’re so happy and that’s how we’re gonna stay, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Well, I’m hers (I’m hers), she’s mine (she’s mine)
I’m hers, she’s mine, wedding bells are gonna chime

Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love
Yes I did, and so I told her all the things I’d been dreamin’ of

Whoa-oh-oh-oh, oh yeah
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do, we’ll sing it
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do, oh yeah, oh, oh yeah
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

Paul McCartney – Mull of Kintyre …Denny Laine

This song was a monster hit in the UK but did hardly anything in America. The reason I’m posting this today is because of Denny Laine. Laine, who co-wrote this song with Paul… passed away at the age of 79 on December 5th.

When you think about huge-selling singles of the 1970s…this one doesn’t come to mind unless you live in the UK. It was the highest-selling single in the UK over the entire course of the ’70s.

When they were a beat group, Denny Laine was the original singer for the Moody Blues. Their first big hit had Laine on vocals with Go Now.

The song is a tribute to the Kintyre Peninsula in Scotland where Paul and his wife Linda had a farm. McCartney initially thought the song had no chance of becoming a hit. The duo wrote the song one afternoon as they looked at the beauty of the mull while drinking a bottle of Whiskey and letting the scenery write the song.

Wings then enlisted the local Campbelltown Pipe Band who added a sprinkling of Scottish sound to the track and suddenly Wings had their unconventional Christmas song. ‘Mull of Kintyre’ would remain the highest-selling UK single until 1984 when Band-Aid would knock it off the top spot.

The farm he had (and still does) gave Paul a lot of comfort after The Beatles ended. The citizens of Campbelltown were great to him and Linda as well. There was a huge spike in visitors to Kintyre in the wake of the songs’ release which not only boosted the local economy but filled the local residents with pride in their area. After the tranquillity Kintyre provided McCartney at his lowest point, this song allowed him to finally repay the area for helping him.

The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #33 on the Billboard 100, #1 in New Zealand, and #44 in Canada. It sold over 2 million in the UK which was a record at the time beating The Beatles She Loves You over a decade before. The B-side “Girls School” did better in America and Canada than the A-side.

Paul McCartney: “I am very saddened to hear that my ex-bandmate, Denny Laine, has died, “I have many fond memories of my time with Denny: from the early days when the Beatles toured with the Moody Blues. Our two bands had a lot of respect for each other and a lot of fun together. Denny joined Wings at the outset. He was an outstanding vocalist and guitar player. His most famous performance is probably ‘Go Now,’ an old Bessie Banks song which he would sing brilliantly. He and I wrote some songs together, the most successful being ‘Mull of Kintyre’ which was a big hit in the Seventies. We had drifted apart but in recent years managed to reestablish our friendship and share memories of our times together.”

Paul McCartney: “When we finished it, all the pipers said, ‘Aye, it’s got to be a single, that.’ It was up to them, really, to do it. I thought it was a little too specialized to bring out as a single, you would have to bring out something that has something with more mass appeal…but they kept saying, ‘Oh, the exiled Scots all over the world. It’ll be a big single for them.’ Yet I still thought, ‘Yeah, well, but there’s maybe not enough exiled Scots,’ but they kept telling me, after a few drinks.”

Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Far have I traveled and much have I seen
Darkest of mountains with valleys of green
Past painted deserts the sun sets on fire
As he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days I knew then
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the times of the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain
Still take me back where my memories remain
Flickering embers go higher and higher
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre