Singles – Page 54 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Kinks – All Day and All of the Night

Happy Monday everyone…if that is possible. I hope you all had a good weekend.

This simple riff is raw and cutting like Louie, Louie, and Wild Thing…and became a staple of garage bands forever.

The sound of the guitar was revolutionary. Dave Davies got the dirty guitar sound by slashing the speaker cone on his amplifier with a razor blade. The vibration of the fabric produced an effect known as “fuzz,” which became common as various electronic devices were invented to distort the sound. At the time, none of these devices were available to Dave, so Davies would mistreat his amp to get the desired sound, often kicking it.

The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard 100, #4 in Canada, #5 in New Zealand, and #2 in the UK in 1964. It’s punk…raw rock and roll to the core. The guitar was really distorted and hard for the time.

The record executives in their wisdom didn’t like this song when they heard it. They said the guitar sounded like a barking dog. Later on, the Doors would borrow this melody for Hello I Love You.

One of my favorite things about these early Kinks singles is Dave Davies’s solos. They were always driving and exciting…and yes Dave played on this song, not studio musician Jimmy Page.

The Kinks would revisit this melody with the song “Destroyer” off of the “Give The People What They Want” album.

James Hetfield from Metallica: “schooled on early riff-rock by this man [Ray Davies] and his band – The Kinks”.

Ray Davies:“I cranked up my guitar more than on ‘You Really Got Me’, when we went into the studio, everybody knew what they were doing. I think we did it in three takes… the first time the band heard it was when I ran through it with them at the soundcheck, afterwards we drove back down to London, got up in the morning, and finished the song by midday”.

Ray Davies getting the truth out…this is what he said about the rumor of Jimmy Page playing on this record: “I remember Page coming to one of our sessions when we were recording ‘All Day And All Of The Night.’ We had to record that song at 10 o’clock in the morning because we had a gig that night. It was done in three hours. Page was doing a session in the other studio, and he came in to hear Dave’s solo, and he laughed and he snickered. And now he says that he played it! So I think he’s an asshole, and he can put all the curses he wants on me because I know I’m right and he’s wrong.”

Ray Davies: ” I was a rebellious, angry kid anyway, but that had a profound effect on me. I was full of rage.” That anger was coupled with the frustration that The Kinks song ‘You Really Got Me’ just wasn’t translating in a studio setting. “I could easily have slashed my wrists,” but I had a little green amplifier, an Elpico, that was sounding crap. I thought, ‘I’ll teach it’ – and slashed the speaker cone. It changed the sound of my guitar. Then, when I wired that amp up to another, a Vox AC30, it made it a lot, lot louder”.

Dave Davies: “A little later, I was very depressed and fooling around with a razor blade. I could easily have slashed my wrists, but I had a little green amplifier, an Elpico, that was sounding crap. I thought, “I’ll teach it” – and slashed the speaker cone. It changed the sound of my guitar. Then, when I wired that amp up to another, a Vox AC30, it made it a lot, lot louder.“

All Day and All of the Night

I’m not content to be with you in the daytime
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night

I believe that you and me last forever
Oh yeah, all day and nighttime yours, leave me never
The only time I feel alright is by your side
Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night
Oh, come on

Wilson Pickett – Mustang Sally

Motown and Stax were vital to the 1960s and 70s. This is just my opinion… but Motown had more hits but Stax had an edge that was hard to beat. I always thought their music had more of a groove to it.

This is a song that our band never officially learned…it’s one of those songs where if you have played for a few years…you just know by instinct. We did this one from a request and also Midnight Hour we would play loud and intense.

The music is in groove mode, but Pickett’s explosive voice drives it home. Mustang Sally was recorded at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The studio had a unique sound plus some of the best musicians anywhere. It started to get the attention of Atlantic Records and they sent Pickett to record there. Later on, a guitar player known as Duane Allman would end up as a studio musician and talked Pickett into recording Hey Jude.

As soon as they finished this take… the tape flew off the reel and broke into pieces everywhere. Producer Tom Dowd cleared the room and told everyone to return in half an hour. Dowd pieced the tape back together and saved what became one of the coolest songs of the decade.

It was written by Mark Rice. In 1950, he moved with his family to Detroit, where he graduated from high school. After he served in the Army, he joined a group called The Falcons. He soon began singing with the Falcons, whose other members included Wilson Pickett, Joe Stubbs, and Eddie Floyd. But he would find real fame as a songwriter.

“Mustang Sally” began as “Mustang Mama,” which he was inspired to write by the newly introduced Ford Mustang sports car. It was Aretha Franklin, the pianist on Rice’s demo of the song, who persuaded him to rename it.

He recorded “Mustang Sally” as Sir Mack Rice in 1965, and it peaked at #15 on the Billboard R&B chart. Rice did a nice job but the song needed Wilson Pickett’s powerful voice.

Pickett’s version peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100, #6 on the R&B Charts, #28 in the UK, and #4 in Canada.

Mustang Sally

Mustang Sally, huh, huh, guess you better slow your Mustang down
Oh Lord, what I said now?
Mustang Sally, now baby, oh Lord, guess you better slow your Mustang down
Huh oh yeaah
You been running all over the town now
Oh! I guess I’ll have to put your flat feet on the ground
Huh, what I said now?

Listen
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride. Huh
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride

One of these early mornings, baby, you gonna be wiping your weeping eyes
Huh, what I said now?

Look it here.
I bought you a brand new mustang nineteen sixty five. Huh
Now you come around signifying a woman, you don’t wanna let me ride
Mustang Sally, now baby, oh Lord, guess you better slow that mustang down
Huh, oh Lord. Look here
You been running all over the town
Oh! I got to put your flat feet on the ground. Huh, What I said now?

Let me say it one more time ya’ll
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride
All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride

Johnny Cash – Delia’s Gone

First time I shot her
I shot her in the side
Hard to watch her suffer
But with the second shot she died
Delia’s gone, one more round
Delia’s gone

When I first heard this song in the 1990s I did a double-take. Did he sing what I thought he sang? I had never heard the original version he did in the 60s. I do prefer the 1994 version but both are worth a listen.

This song is coming from a man who once had a lyric that stated I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. This song…goes much darker than that.

Johnny Cash originally recorded this song written by Karl Silbersdorf and Dick Toops on his 1962 The Sound of Johnny Cash album.

He re-recorded it in 1994, on American Recordings produced by Rick Rubin. He explained why he chose to redo the song: “‘Delia’s Gone’ is the Devil’s deed of daring, we were talking about ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ and ‘I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die’ and I said, ‘I want another song like that.’ So Rick and I started listening and we found ‘Delia’s Gone.’ We realized I had recorded it in the ’60s, but not the way I’ve recorded it on American, and that I should work it up and do it over. So we started working on it and we did it and we came up with this version.”

in 1992, Rick Rubin reached out to Cash with the prospect of releasing a new album of music on his label, American, to which Cash was initially skeptical, but curious. Johnny Cash didn’t know who Rick Rubin was and couldn’t understand why Rubin would want to work with him. Johnny Cash’s sales were not like they were in the 60s and early 70s. Rubin just told him to grab a guitar and sing some songs he would want to do.

That shows you the mindset of some stars…some. Cash was wondering why someone would want to work with him which blows my mind.

Rubin was finally able to convince him to make the album and it was released in 1994. The album marked the beginning of a career resurgence for Cash, who was widely recognized as an icon of American music but whose record sales had suffered during the late 1970s and 1980s

This song was inspired by a true-life story. Late on Christmas Eve, 1900, young lovers Delia Green age 14, and Moses Houston, age 16, attended a party that night.

As usual at parties, Moses had too much to drink. Witnesses say he began to tease Delia, making her angry. He called her his “little wife” and they were not married. This escalated to the point of Delia calling Houston a “Son of a Bitch”, which carried much more weight at that time than it does now. Moses then pulled out a gun and shot Delia in the groin, and he ran away.

Moses was caught by the authorities and not only confessed to the killing but said he would do it again! Delia ended up dying at 3:00 AM Christmas morning. Mr Houston got a life sentence but it ended up shorter. Cooney served 12 1/2 years, the last several years at a facility in Commerce, GA. He was granted parole in October 1913, by Governor John M. Slaton.

After 120 years without a headstone at her grave…Delia got one in 2020. Here is the article.

Delia’s Gone

Delia, oh, Delia
Delia all my life
If I hadn’t shot poor Delia
I’d have had her for my wife
Delia’s gone, one more round
Delia’s gone

I went up to Memphis
And I met Delia there
Found her in her parlor
And I tied her to her chair
Delia’s gone, one more round
Delia’s gone

She was low down and trifling
And she was cold and mean
Kind of evil make me want to
Grab my submachine
Delia’s gone, one more round
Delia’s gone

First time I shot her
I shot her in the side
Hard to watch her suffer
But with the second shot she died
Delia’s gone, one more round
Delia’s gone

But jailer, oh, jailer
Jailer, I can’t sleep
‘Cause all around my bedside
I hear the patter of Delia’s feet
Delia’s gone, one more round
Delia’s gone

So if your woman’s devilish
You can let her run
Or you can bring her down and do her
Like Delia got done
Delia’s gone, one more round
Delia’s gone
Delia’s gone, one more round
Delia’s gone

Hank Williams – I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

You can’t do better in country or music period… than with The Hillbilly Shakespeare. I always thought his songs express many feelings we feel in life but we just don’t say them.

One of the most beautiful gut-wrenching songs ever written. The lyrics can be read without music and still work. The silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky, and as I wonder where you are I’m so lonesome I could cry. Songwriters work all of their lives trying to come up with a line like that… Williams had a career of them.

The song was released on November 8, 1949…as a 78-RPM single with “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It.” The song quickly became a favorite on Country radio and a staple of Williams’ live shows. The song peaked at #2 on the Country Charts. The song was rereleased in 1966 and peaked at #43 on the Hot Country Charts and #109 on the Billboard Charts.

When he wrote this song he was going to do it as a spoken word bit but his friends and musicians urged him to put music to it. He wrote it about his first wife Audrey Sheppard who seemed to love one another but had a tumultuous relationship.

Everyone knows how I feel about Bob Dylan’s songwriting. It’s incredible and to me…Hank Williams is right up there beside Bob. The artists that covered this one include Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Dean Martin, Al Green, Freddy Fender, Bob Dylan, Little Richard, Cowboy Junkies, and Elvis Presley.

If you are interested in Hank Williams and great music I suggest you check out this song by The Blasters…Long White Cadillac. The song is about the night Hank Williams died in the back of a car. He died somewhere between Bristol, Tenn., and Oak Hill on the way to a New Year’s Day 1953 show in Canton, Ohio.

Rolling Stone ranked it #111 in the list of 500 greatest songs of all time.

Bob Dylan: “Even at a young age, I identified with him. I didn’t have to experience anything that Hank did to know what he was singing about. I’d never heard a robin weep, but could imagine it, and it made me sad.”

K.D. Lang: “‘I think ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’” is one of the most classic American songs ever written, truly. Beautiful song.”

Kasey Chambers: “It’s totally heartbreaking but you don’t want to stop listening to it. Oh God, it just makes you want to crawl into a hole. It has that combination of making you feel good and bad at the same time, which is what all great country music does.”

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill,
He sounds too blue to fly.
That midnight train is whining low,
I’m so lonesome I could cry.

I’ve never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by.
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry.

Did you ever see a robin weep,
When leaves begin to die?
That mean he’s lost the will to live,
I’m so lonesome I could cry.

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky.
And as I wonder where you are
I’m so lonesome I could cry.

Stranglers – Peaches

When I started to play bass I played loud…super loud. Sometimes I would do things on bass and people would be looking at our guitar player Ron thinking he did it. My bass always had some distortion…one of the reasons was it was a hollow body bass played loud…it would give feedback and distort a little. That is why when I first heard this song I liked it.

The Stranglers were labeled a punk band but it’s obvious they were better musically than their peers and they were able to keep that rawness.

The bass starts this song off and it is a great sound. It features the bass of J.J. Burnel taking no prisoners. Peaches was released in 1977 as a single from their debut studio album, “Rattus Norvegicus”. The song was written by the band’s lead singer and guitarist, Hugh Cornwell, and according to him, the inspiration for the song came from an incident he witnessed while touring in Belgium.

He saw this group of guys ogling a girl in a cafe saying hey….come and have a look at those peaches! It turned out that the peaches they were referring to were the khaki shorts she was wearing. Cornwell has stated that the song is essentially a critique of the voyeuristic male gazes and objectification of women.

In 2019, the song was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll” exhibit, solidifying its place in music history. The song is credited to Jean Jacques Burnel, Hugh Cornwell, Dave Greenfield, and Jet Black. The song peaked at #8 in the UK in 1977. The album peaked at #4 in the UK.

JJ Burnel: “In the very early days, in order to earn a bit of money, we had a little PA, and one day we were signed to a black label called Safari, which was more or less a reggae label. We hadn’t released anything. But the owner phoned us up one day and said, ‘Look, do you want a few pounds to augment your PA to a sound system?’ Well, we didn’t know what ‘sound system’ was.

So we turned up in part of London and we were the only white guys there. We stuck our PA to their sound system, and there was an awful lot of grass going about. We were kind of excluded from the line of grass. And lo and behold, I discovered sound systems, which were I suppose an early form of rap. You’d have a toaster: a black guy talking sort of stream of consciousness over mainly a bass and drums backing rhythm. Reggae. It was all reggae. What you might know as ‘dub.’ So you have a delay on the snare or something, there’d be a lot of separation and mainly bass speakers throughout the total.

So we stayed there for the whole gig. And at the end of it, I was hooked on the idea that the bass should be the most dominant feature. So I went back to where we were living and that night, came up with the three notes which constitute ‘Peaches.’ And of course, I wanted to make a reggae song out of it. But we didn’t quite get the snare in the right beat. But never mind. We Strangle-fied it. We interpreted a reggae theme in The Stranglers way, which became ‘Peaches.'”

Peaches

Strolling along minding my own business
Well there goes a girl and a half
She’s got me going up and down
She’s got me going up and down

Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

Well I got the notion girl that you got some suntan lotion in that bottle of yours
Spread it all over my peelin’ skin, baby
That feels real good
All this skirt lappin’ up the sun
Lap me up
Why don’t you come on and lap me up?

Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

Well, there goes another one just lying down on the sand dunes
I’d better go take a swim and see if I can cool down a little bit
‘Cause you and me, woman
We got a lotta things on our minds (you know what I mean)

Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

Will you just take a look over there (where?) (there)
Is she tryin’ to get outta that Clitares?
Liberation for women
That’s what I preach (preacher man)

Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

Oh shit!
There goes the charabang
Looks like I’m gonna be stuck here the whole summer
Well, what a bummer
I can think of a lot worse places to be
Like down in the streets
Or down in the sewer
Or even on the end of a skewer

Down on the beaches, just looking at the peaches
Down on the beaches, just looking at brown bodies
Down on the beaches, just looking at all the shot glasses
Down on the beaches, just looking at all the peaches
Down on the beaches, just looking at all the peaches
Down on the beaches, just looking at all the peaches
Down on the beaches
Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm
Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm
Mmm-hmm
Mmm-hmm
Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm

Beatles – And Your Bird Can Sing

This guitar riff is incredibly hard to learn. I’ve learned some difficult riffs before but this one I finally gave up on. It’s doable but not one you can just pick up quickly. How John came up with this unorthodox riff is beyond me. John came up with some great riffs. Daytripper, I Dig a Pony, I Feel Fine, Yer Blues, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Cold Turkey, and more.

I’ve always remembered the Joe Walsh story about this song…He said he worked for weeks to master this song by himself. Only to find out later that it was two guitars playing the riff, not one… after Ringo told him.

The song was never released as a single. One of the things I like about the Beatles is the songs that they never released as singles would be milestones for other bands. I think it perfectly encapsulates the mid-sixties pop sound. You can also hear early power pop in this song. I always thought this would have fit better on Rubber Soul but I don’t care…great song.

John or Paul never said what the song was about or what inspired it. Some have speculated that the “bird” was Mick Jagger’s then-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull. Others say it was about an interview that Frank Sinatra gave and he kept using the phrase “How’s your bird?” What caught John’s attention was the press release from Sinatra’s PR firm that read: “If you happen to be tired of kid singers wearing mops of hair thick enough to hide a crate of melons… ‘Tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is ‘and your bird can swing.

Sinatra was not a fan of rock music when it came out. He said “Rock and roll smells phoney and false. It is sung, played, and written, for the most part, by goons. It is the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has ever been my displeasure to hear.”

Frank did soften up a bit as the sixties went along. He covered “Something” written by George Harrison and said it was the greatest love song written in the last 50 years.

Some songs I have to listen to a few times to like and some the first time. This one was love at first listen. It’s not a Beatle’s masterpiece but if you like catchy guitar riff-driven songs then you can’t go wrong with this one. The song was written primarily by John. The song was released on the UK version of Revolver and the “Yesterday and Today” compilation in America in 1966. The dual guitar solo rates at #69 on the “100 Greatest Guitar Solos” list by Rolling Stone magazine.

George Harrison: “I think it was Paul and me, or maybe John and me, playing in harmony,” it’s “quite a complicated little line that goes through the middle-eight.”

Paul McCartney: “George and I would work out a melody line, then I would work out the harmony to it. So we’d do it as a piece, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ – that’s what that is. That’s me and George both playing electric guitars. It’s just the two of us live. It’s a lot easier to do with two people, believe me. It’s another one of our little tricks!”

And Can Your Bird Can See

You say you’ve got everything you want
And your bird can sing
But you don’t get me
You don’t get me

You say you’ve seen the seven wonders
And you bird is green
But you can’t see me
You can’t see me

When your prized possessions
Start to weigh you down
Look in my direction
I’ll be round, I’ll be round

When your bird is broken
Will it bring you down
You may be awoken
I’ll be round, I’ll be round

You tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is
And your bird can swing
But you can’t hear me
You can’t hear me

Drifters – Up On The Roof

It’s one of those songs that relax you while listening and just get lost in. What a mood it gives you. There are worse places to be than on a roof with peace and quiet.

This song was first recorded by Little Eva but then owned by The Drifters. The song was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. King would later revisit this song on her album Writer in 1970. The lead singer for The Drifters on this song was Rudy Lewis. The Drifters would have a lot of hits in the 50s and 60s. Save The Last Dance For Me, Under The Boardwalk, There Goes My Baby, On Broadway, and many more.

The Drifters were formed in 1953 by George Treadwell and Clyde McPhatter. George Treadwell managed the group and laid the foundation of what would give them a distinctive sound. Clyde McPhatter was the lead singer of the group that also saw numerous members over the years but two others stood out above the rest. Johnny Moore and Ben E King. Rudy Lewis was also an outstanding singer but he died in 1964.

They took their gospel background and channeled it into wonderful R&B arrangements. This song peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100 and #4 on the R&B Charts in 1962.

They were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988…up on the roof indeed.

Up On The Roof

When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space

On the roof, it’s peaceful as can be
And there the world below can’t bother me
Let me tell you now

When I come home feelin’ tired and beat
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet (up on the roof)
I get away from the hustling crowd
And all that rat race noise down in the street (up on the roof)

On the roof, the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Let’s go up on the roof (up on the roof)

At night the stars put on a show for free
And darling, you can share it all with me
I keep a-tellin’ you

Right smack dab in the middle of town
I’ve found a paradise that’s trouble proof (up on the roof)
And if this world starts getting you down
There’s room enough for two

Up on the roof (up on the roof)
Up on the roof (up on the roof)
Oh, come on, baby (up on the roof)
Oh, come on, honey (up on the roof)
Everything is all right (up on the roof)

Max Picks …songs from 1970

1970

The Beatles officially broke up in April of 1970…I hate leaving the 60s behind. The seventies was the time of my childhood at the age of 3 through 13. My music tastes were formed in this decade by listening to…well mostly the 60s.

So let’s get started with The Grateful Dead. They released two of their most popular albums this year… Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Two excellent albums and it was hard to pick a song off of them…but this one does quite nicely. It was written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter.

It’s George Harrison time again. When the Beatles broke up, no one knew what to expect from him. Well…George delivered a knockout punch with his album All Things Must Pass. At that time he was outselling John and Paul and just about everyone else. George wrote this song.

This was the opening track on the A Question Of Balance album by the Moody Blues, and at one point it was going to be the title track. The song was recorded several months earlier than the other tracks on the album and its title was shortened from “Question Of Balance” to “Question.”

When I was younger I started with this album and owned everything up until Long Distance Voyager. Their early seventies output is my favorite period but I liked their entire catalog as a whole. It was written by Justin Hayward.

This is what I wrote in my post on this song a while back...”The bass in this song punches you like a heavy-weight fighter and will roll you like wholesale carpet…the timing is absolutely perfect. I hear some Otis and Wilson Pickett in this song and it will make you move.” Huh…I still agree with me!

Groove Me has been a favorite of mine for so long. King Floyd takes almost a full minute to build up to the chorus and it’s well worth the wait when he kicks it in. Thank you King Floyd for writing this song.

This song by Simon and Garfunkel has become a standard. Bridge Over Troubled Water along with Georgia On My Mind was my mom’s favorite song…so I couldn’t leave it off. It was written by Paul Simon.

…

Bessie Smith – Baby Won’t You Please Come Home

When I heard this woman sing…I was shocked. Listen to the purity of her voice…she still amazes me. We cannot forget the pioneers of any genre. Artists like Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, and Norah Jones have all given Bessie Smith credit as their inspiration.

It seems like the female singers I like the most have a growl to their voices. That includes Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Willie Mae Thorton, and yes Bessie Smith.

Within 10 months of signing Smith, the Columbia label sold two million records. Over the next four years, her sales reached six million. But she sang a wider repertoire than most, in her traveling tent show, on theatrical tours, and, later, in jazz clubs. The blues made Smith the highest-paid black entertainer of her era, but she was just as adept at singing show tunes and more popular Tin Pan Alley songs, which became the basis of many early jazz standards. Those record sales don’t sound as high now but remember this was in the 1920s!

This song came out in 1923 and peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100… I just looked it up…Billboard first published a chart in 1894.

Whenever I hear Bessie Smith I hear pain and greatness all at once. I’ve written about her song No One Loves You When You’re Down And Out and I’ve been revisiting her lately. This song was written by Charles Warfield and Clarence Williams in 1919. It’s been covered by Louie Prima and Frank Sinatra.

I got into Bessie Smith from listening to Janis Joplin and reading about her. Bessie’s voice sends chills up my spine…that is my litmus test. This particular song grabs me because of Smith’s voice and the recording vibe. She sings it, means it, and she damn well lived it. The sound of the record and her voice is just unbeatable. Yes, we have digital now but digital could not give you this sound.

Smith took care of her own…she moved her sister and other family to live near her in Philadelphia and supported them financially when they squandered her money.

She died from injuries in a car accident in 1937, having not recorded a song in years, more than 5,000 people attended her funeral. Her grave had no headstone. There was money for a headstone apparently, but her estranged husband spent it on something or someone else.

Janis Joplin helped buy Smith’s headstone in 1971…two weeks before her own untimely death. But the real story was the other person who helped buy the stone. That was Juanita Green… a little girl whom Smith once told to give up singing and stay in school.

Louis Armstrong: “I say, ‘Look here Bessie, you got change for a hundred? And she say, ‘Sure my man.’ She raised up her dress standing and there was, like, [you know,] how a carpenter keeps his nails? Man, so much money in the apron under her skirt that killed me.”

Danny Barker a New Orleans musician: “If you have a church background, like people who came from the South as I did, you would recognize a similarity between what she was doing and what those preachers and evangelists from there did, and how they moved people … Bessie did the same thing on stage.”

Baby Won’t You Please Come Home

I’ve got the blues, I feel so lonely
I’ll give the world if I could only
Make you understand
It surely would be grand

I’m gonna telephone my baby
Ask him won’t you please come home
‘Cause when you’re gone
I’m worried all day long

Baby won’t you please come home
Baby won’t you please come home
I have tried in vain
Evermore to call your name
When you left you broke my heart
That will never make us part
Every hour in the day
You will hear me say
Baby won’t you please come home, I mean
Baby won’t you please come home

Baby won’t you please come home
‘Cause your mama’s all alone
I have tried in vain
Nevermore to call your name
When you left you broke my heart
That will never make us part
Landlord gettin’ worse
I’ve got to move May the first
Baby won’t you please come home, I need money
Baby won’t you please come home

Manfred Mann – Quinn The Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)

Some songs are just fun…and this is one of them. Yes, I like the Manfred Mann version a bunch and I also like Bob Dylan’s released version. It’s a live version with The Band at the Isle of Wight. Bob’s voice fits this song so well…he is over the top, sloppy, and loud but it works. It’s an irresistible melody and hook that Bob wrote in this song. Bob’s version is the only version I knew for a long time.

Bob Dylan wrote this song and I first heard it through his Greatest Hits II album, and then the Basement Tapes of him and The Band. Some time later I heard the Manfred Mann version of it. Something different though…Manfred Mann was the first to release it. This usually didn’t happen but Mike D’abo from Manfred Mann explains it: “We met in a publisher’s house as Bob Dylan was making some new material available to other artists, we heard about 10 songs and I thought ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’ would be the one to do, but Manfred liked The Mighty Quinn, which was called ‘Quinn The Eskimo’ then. It was sung in a rambling monotone but Manfred had recognized its potential. He sold me on the idea of doing this song, but I had to make up some of the words as I couldn’t make out everything he was saying. It was like learning a song phonetically in a foreign language. I have never had the first idea what the song is about except that it seems to be ‘Hey, gang, gather round, something exciting is going to happen ’cause the big man’s coming.’ As to who the big man is and why he is an Eskimo, I don’t know.”

The Basement Tapes version is much more mellow. This is probably the demo that Manfred Mann received.

It is thought that Bob Dylan came up with the song after seeing the 1959 movie The Savage Innocents. In that movie, Anthony Quinn plays an Eskimo named Inuk…that would explain Quinn and why he mentions an Eskimo in a pop song. That film also was the screen debut of Peter O’Toole.

Bob released the song in 1970 on his Self Portrait album… a live version recorded at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1969, with The Band backing him. His voice is great on this…it fits the song. The “heeyyyyyyyys” and the “whooooaaaas”s are perfect for it.

Manfred Mann released this in 1968 and it was a huge hit for them. The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #3 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1968.

A little trivia for Beatle fans…Klaus Voormann who drew the Revolver cover, was on this song, he played the flute part on the Manfred Mann version. I also believe he played bass but I can’t verify…that is what instrument he played.

Having turned down offers from bands like the Hollies and the Moody Blues, Voormann agreed to become a part of Manfred Mann. He got to know the Beatles when they arrived in Germany. When Stuart Sutcliffe quit playing bass…McCartney took over and a little while later Stuart volunteered…if he had spoken up sooner…you never know what could have happened.

Ron Cornelius who played on the Self Portrait album: “There’s everybody and his brother flying into Nashville to play on that thing. If you look at the credits, it’s amazing how many people were delighted to come and play on it. Out of everybody I’ve worked with, I don’t know of anyone who’s been any nicer than Bob Dylan.”

The Mighty Quinn

Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

Everybody’s building ships and boats
Some are building monuments
Others jotting down notes
Everybody’s in despair
Every girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
Everybody’s gonna jump for joy

Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

I like to go just like the rest, I like my sugar sweet
But jumping queues and making haste
Just ain’t my cup of meat
Everyone’s beneath the trees feeding pigeons on a limb
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here
All the pigeons gonna run to him

Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

Let me do what I wanna do, I can’t decide ’em all
Just tell me where to put ’em and I’ll tell you who to call
Nobody can get no sleep, there’s someone on everyone’s toes
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody’s gonna wanna doze

Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn

Roy Orbison – (Oh) Pretty Woman

I’ve talked about Smokey Robinson and how his voice was iconic. Roy Orbison…the same thing. His voice was ridiculous and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s a voice that is so unique that copying it would be almost impossible.

This song was written for Orbison’s first wife, Claudette. One day, she left for the store by “walking down the street” and by the time she returned, Orbison had written what would become one of his biggest hits.

There was a quote that Tom Petty gave…that when he joined the Wilburys he called his mom and told her “Mom, I’m in a band with Roy Orbison!” Not Mom I’m in a band with Bob Dylan or a Beatle George Harrison…no it was Roy. That voice was golden and magical but he paid for his success dearly as you will read below.

This one has become a rock and roll standard. It was released in 1964 and he would have rough times to come. In 1957, Orbison married his sweetheart, Claudette Frady. She was 17 at the time and he was 21. As the young couple’s romance was soon thrust into jeopardy given Orbison’s rapid rise to fame, cracks began to appear. In November 1964, Orbison divorced Claudette over her alleged infidelities. However, within ten months, the pair had reconciled their differences and were once more in a loving relationship. They had three children.

It started on June 6, 1966, when Claudette and Roy were riding motorcycles. Claudette hit the door of a pickup truck and was killed instantly. Orbison poured himself into his work after that. He wrote and toured but was out of step with the mid to late-sixties music. It was in Birmingham, England in September 1968 when catastrophe struck once more. News reached Orbison that a fire had broken out at his home in Tennessee and that his two eldest sons had tragically passed away. His younger child went to live with his grandparents.

His career stalled but he did come back in the 1980s with Jeff Lynn producing his new album Mystery Girl. He also was in the Wilburys and that thrilled the rest of the group. Roy died suddenly on December 6, 1988. Mystery Girl would be released around a month and a half after Roy passed away. The album was hugely successful peaking at #5 in America and #4 in Canada.

(Oh) Pretty Woman peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, in Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. This was during the height of the British Invasion which makes it even more significant.

In 1982 Van Halen covered Oh Pretty Woman. They did a great job on the song and introduced Roy and his song to a new generation. I bought the single when it was released. Roy’s vocals can’t be matched but they did their own arrangement and it worked.

Per songfacts…In 1964, Orbison was the only American artist to have a #1 UK hit, and he did it twice – with “(Oh) Pretty Woman” and “It’s Over.”

Bob Dylan: “He [Roy Orbison] could sound mean and nasty on one line and then sing in a falsetto like Frankie Valli in the next. With Roy, you didn’t know if you were listening to mariachi or opera. He kept you on your toes. With him, it was all about fat and blood. He sounded like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop and he meant business.”

(Oh )Pretty Woman

Pretty woman, walkin’ down the street
Pretty woman the kind I like to meet
Pretty woman I don’t believe you, you’re not the truth
No one could look as good as you, mercy

Pretty woman won’t you pardon me
Pretty woman I couldn’t help but see
Pretty woman that you look lovely as can be
Are you lonely just like me

Pretty woman stop awhile
Pretty woman talk awhile
Pretty woman give your smile to me
Pretty woman yeah, yeah, yeah
Pretty woman look my way
Pretty woman say you’ll stay with me
‘Cause I need you, I’ll treat you right
Come with me baby, be mine tonight

Pretty woman don’t walk on by
Pretty woman don’t make me cry
Pretty woman don’t walk away, hey, okay
If that’s the way it must be, okay
I guess I’ll go on home, it’s late
There’ll be tomorrow night, but wait
What do I see?
Is she walkin’ back to me?
Yeah, she’s walkin’ back to me
Oh, oh, pretty woman

…

Allman Brothers – Whipping Post

The bass line at the beginning of the song is iconic. The best version of this one is the live cut. Whipping Post was one of the first songs Gregg Allman wrote for the Allman Brothers. That bass intro has a time signature of 11/8…not a common one to use.

He was staying with friends and thought of the lyrics but could not find a pencil and paper so he wrote the lyrics on an ironing board with burnt matches in the middle of the night. He had to be quiet and not wake up his friend’s child. He caught hell for messing up the ironing board but I think it was worth it.

The Allman Brothers…much like the Grateful Dead could deliver live. They constantly toured early in their careers and played free concerts in parks all over to grow their audience. They released one of the best live albums of all time with At Fillmore East. Money wasn’t the thing…they built a grassroots following and they were probably more popular in New York than anywhere else for this southern band.

The song was originally on their debut album The Allman Brothers Band and it peaked at #188. A live version was on the At Fillmore East album and it peaked at #13 on the Billboard Album Charts and #44 in Canada in 1971.

Frank Zappa would sometimes cover this song live.

This is Gregg Allman from the book “My Cross to Bear”

So that first night, I laid me down to go to sleep on my attic couch, and I dozed off for a while. All of a sudden I woke up, because a song had me by the ass. The intro had three sets of three, and two little steps that allowed you to jump back up on the next triad. I thought it was different, and I love different things. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I wish the rest of them had come like this—it was all right there in my head, all I had to do was write it down so I wouldn’t forget it by the morning.

I started feeling around for a light switch, but I couldn’t find one anywhere. I was in my sock feet; I just had on my drawers and a T-shirt. I found my way into the kitchen and it was pitch-dark. I had my hands out and I touched an ironing board—thank goodness, instead of tripping over it, which would’ve made a terrible noise.

I was feeling all around the counters for a piece of paper. I couldn’t find any paper or a pencil anywhere, but I did find a box of kitchen matches. A car happened to go by, and its lights flashed long enough to allow me to see that red, white, and blue box. I knew I could use the matches to write with, because I had diddled around enough with art to know that charcoal would work.

I figured the ironing board cover would work as a pad, so I’d strike a match, blow it out, use the charcoal tip to write with, and then strike another one. I charted out the three triads and the two little steps, and then I went to work on the lyrics:
“I’ve been run down, and I’ve been lied to …”

I got it all down on that ironing board cover, in the closest thing to shorthand as I could muster up. I was really proud that I didn’t wake Brittany up. The next morning, Hop raised so much fucking hell with me about that ironing board cover, but it worked out, and we got “Whipping Post” down that day…

The seldom-heard studio version.

Whipping Post

I’ve been run down and I’ve been lied to.
And I don’t know why, I let that mean woman make me a fool.
She took all my money, wrecks my new car.
Now she’s with one of my good time buddies,
They’re drinkin in some cross-town bar.

Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel,
Like I been tied to the whippin’ post.
Tied to the whippin’ post, tied to the whippin’ post.
Good Lord, I feel like I’m dyin’.

My friends tell me, that I’ve been such a fool.
But I had to stand by and take it baby, all for lovin’ you.
Drown myself in sorrow as I look at what you’ve done.
But nothing seemed to change, the bad times stayed the same,
And I can’t run.

Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel,
Like I been tied to the whippin’ post.
Tied to the whippin’ post, tied to the whippin’ post.
Good Lord, I feel like I’m dyin’.

Blind Faith – Well All Right

This song came up during the comments of the 1969 Max Picks…and I wanted to cover it.

Blind Faith was a supergroup composed of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech. This song was not written by one of those gentlemen…it was written by Norman Petty, Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, and Joe B. Mauldin…a Buddy Holly song. Blind Faith used this as the flip side to Can’t Find My Way Home.

Clapton wanted a more low-keyed band than Cream. Clapton and Winwood thought about asking Duck Dunn and Al Jackson of Booker T and the MGs to be the rhythm section but when Ginger Baker showed up at rehearsals…the band was set. Winwood became enthusiastic about being in a band with Baker… Clapton was hesitant but went ahead with it. Finally, the group was completed when the bassist for Family… Ric Grech joined the trio to make it a quartet.

When they first started to rehearse, Steve Winwood was playing the bass lines on his organ but he came to the conclusion they needed a real bass player. Clapton admired Rick Grech since the days when that band was known as The Farinas. Winwood said “I knew he was a good singer and could play great, and that was the guy we wanted. We didn’t even consider any other bass players. Once Rick was around – and he seemed like a nice guy – it was just very casually accepted that he was in the band.”

The first Blind Faith concert was a big one. It was in Hyde Park London, with around 100,000 people watching. They all thought they weren’t prepared enough for the concert. They also did a tour in the US but Eric started to hang out with Delaney and Bonnie more during the tour. He and George Harrison would play with them frequently.

Their discography is brief…one album but it’s a great one.

Ginger Baker: “We got to Stevie’s cottage in the middle of a field, and I settled down at Jim Capaldi’s drum kit and we just played for hours. Musically, Stevie and I got along wonderfully. He was one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever worked with. What I didn’t know then was that Eric would probably rather have worked with Jim Capaldi. It’s a curious thing with me and Eric. I regard him as the nearest thing I’ve got to a brother, but we always found it difficult to talk about personal things. He never explained, for example, that he wanted it all to be a much more low-key affair than Cream had been.”

Steve Winwood on recording the album: “They were full of people hanging out, Eric had a lot of bohemian friends and liked to record with people around. The only thing I remember not being very pleased with was ‘Can’t Find My Way Home.’ It was only when I heard it again later that I realized how good it was.”

Well All Right

Well all right, so I’ve been foolish.
Well all right, let people know
About the dreams and wishes that you wish
In the night when lights are low.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

Well all right, so I’m not working.
Well all right, let people say
That those foolish kids can’t be ready
For the love that comes their way.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

Well all right, so I’ve been foolish.
Well all right, let people know
About the dreams and wishes that you wish
In the night when lights are low.

Well all right, well all right,
You know we live and love with all our might.
Well all right, well all right,
You know our lifetime love will be all right.

…

Van Morrison – Wild Night

I first heard this song in the eighties when I bought the Tupelo Honey album. Wild Night and the title track caught my attention immediately. This song is very radio-friendly and so is the album to a large extent. It was released in 1971 and peaked at #28 on the Billboard 100 and #20 in Canada.

John Mellencamp also released a version in 1994 and the song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100. John did a great job but this is my go-to version. Van’s voice…you can’t beat it. If my fairy God Mother said to me…Max, you can have any voice you want…who will it be? It would be this man’s voice.

Ted Templeman, who would later produce another Van Halen, produced the Tupelo Honey album with Morrison. Musicians to perform on this track include Ronnie Montrose on electric guitar, John McFee on pedal steel guitar, Jack Schroer on saxophone, and Luis Gasca on trumpet.

I have always liked this album a lot. I have recommended some people to this album because it is very accessible compared to say…Astral Weeks. I love Astral Weeks by the way and I think it probably is his best album but it’s not as accessible when you first listen to it…not to me anyway. Van cleaned out a lot of leftover songs when he made this album but it is very enjoyable. The title track may be his finest song.

Van Morrison: “I wasn’t very happy with Tupelo Honey, it consisted of songs that were left over from before and that they’d finally gotten around to using. It wasn’t really fresh. It was a whole bunch of songs that had been hanging around for awhile. I was really trying to make a country and western album.”

Wild Night
As you brush your shoes
Stand before the mirror
And you comb your hair
Grab your coat and hat
And you walk, wet streets
Tryin’ to remember
All the wild night breezes
In your mem’ry ever

And ev’rything looks so complete
When you’re walkin’ out on the street
And the wind catches your feet
Sends you flyin’, cryin’

Ooo-woo-wee!
Wild night is calling, alright
Oooo-ooo-wee!
Wild night is calling

And all the girls walk by
Dressed up for each other
And the boys do the boogie-woogie
On the corner of the street

And the people, passin’ by
Stare in wild wonder
And the inside juke-box
Roars out just like thunder

And ev’rything looks so complete
When you walk out on the street
And the wind catches your feet
And sends you flyin’, cryin’

Woo-woo-wee!
Wild night is calling
Alright

Ooo-ooo-wee!
Wild night is calling, alright

The wild night is calling
The wild night is calling

Come on out and dance
Whoa, come on out and make romance
Yes, indeed

Come on out and dance
Come on out, make romance

[Instrumental & horn solo]

The wild night is calling, alright
The wild night is calling

Come on out an dance
Yeah, come on out ‘n make romance

Come on out and dance, alright
Come on out, n’ make romance.

Ronnie Lane – April Fool

She said there’s dust and cobwebs on your north star
There’s no more frost and campfire in your hair

When I hear a Ronnie Lane song it makes me relaxed… It sounds like he is playing to you on a back porch somewhere…very intimate. He was a very underrated songwriter and singer. He just happened to be in two bands (Small Faces and Faces) that had two of the best singers of their generation so he didn’t sing lead a lot in those bands but when he did he was great.

I’ll get in a mood where I have to hear something rootsy or down to earth. I usually pick either The Band or Ronnie Lane. We all know Lane’s sad story but the man loved to play music over making money as his career will tell you. The love was for the music…not the dollar. He would record anywhere like in the middle of a meadow, on a back porch, or anywhere the notion struck. Most weren’t commercial catchy but they meant something. Songs like this…are the reason I have a blog.

An album with Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane you would figure to be huge at the time. It wasn’t huge but it was a great album and has been highly regarded since.

In October of 1976, the Who closed a North American tour in Toronto, a show that would be the last with Keith Moon before a paying audience. The band took a break to pursue individual projects. Ronnie Lane had wanted Townshend to produce his album but he then wanted Townshend to collaborate writing on the songs. Townshend declined because he had never written with anyone before but they did manage to write the title track, Rough Mix, together.

The album ended up with Townsend songs and Lane songs. They did do a cover of a Don Williams song called Till All The Rivers Run Dry. Rough Mix didn’t draw a lot of attention at the time but is now considered a lost gem. Townshend has said in his book that there was a big argument where he shoved Ronnie Lane. Pete said it felt like he didn’t know his own strength because Lane felt like he was made out of paper. Later Pete found out about Lane’s multiple sclerosis.

The album peaked at #44 in the Billboard Album Charts, #70 in Canada, and #45 in the UK in 1977.

I usually don’t post covers of the song I’m covering but this one is tastefully done by Magpie Salute. It features Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes on guitar. Something tells me Lane would like this as well.

April Fool

She said I’ll see you in the morning, darling
I’ll see you when the kids have gone to school
But well I know tomorrow is your birthday
I know you know that you’re an April Fool
We used to roam so freely. It’s been so long
I’ll take my dreams to bed now, where they belong

She said there’s dust and cobwebs on your north star
There’s no more frost and campfire in your hair
I see your wheels they’re rustin’ in the backyard
I know that we’re not going anywhere
We used to roam so freely. It’s been so long
I’ll take my dreams to bed now, where they belong