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Steve Miller – Jet Airliner …Under The Covers Week

This ends Under The Covers Week. I hope you all have enjoyed it…I wrote a few more but I will post them later.

I’ve stayed away from Steve Miller as far as posting because of the constant play on classic radio he gets. I have to admit though, that guitar lick in the intro never gets old. I always thought he wrote this song. I had no idea that someone did this before.

Jet Airliner was written by Paul Pena, a blind folk singer from Cape Cod. Pena played at the Newport Folk Festival in 1969 but was unable ever to make it big in the music business. Pena wrote this song in 1973 and the song tackled his unhappiness over working on his album New Train which, as a result of disagreements, remained unreleased for 27 years. In 2000 it was finally released and praised.

He was grateful that Steve Miller covered this song. For the rest of his life, his royalties from Miller’s version was his only source of income. In 1997 he was in a fire and with heavy smoke inhalation and was in a coma for four days. In the last years of his life, he had diabetes and pancreatitis…he passed away in 2005 because of both complications. In the eighties, he also lived through his wife passing away.

In 1975, Steve Miller needed one more song to record his Book Of Dreams album. This one fit perfectly…the original song had angry verses that Miller re-shaped and it turned out to be a big hit for him. Personally, I like both versions but Pena’s is really raw and I like it. Miller tightened it up and streamlined it.

The album peaked at #2 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #5 in New Zealand, and #12 in the UK in 1977. He had 2 top twenty hits off of that album along with Jungle Love which peaked at #23.

The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, #12 in New Zealand, and didn’t chart in the UK.

Steve Miller talked about Pena’s song: “‘Jet Airliner’ was about those people and his treatment on the East Coast when he went out, He really didn’t want to leave California and go to the East Coast and record this record, and this was a song about it. When he brought it to me, he had recorded an album, and nothing had happened. On that album, there were five or six really, really great songs, and I needed one song.”

Steve Miller: “it was very long, verse after verse after verse of anger, a lot of it. So I took the song and said, ‘Can I reshape it? Can I play with it?’ They said, ‘You can do anything you want to with it.’ I remember laying out all the lyrics, typing them up on big sheets of paper… I had them all out on my kitchen table, moving the verses around… then I got it all together and went, ‘Yeah, this’ll work – it’s great!’”

Jet Airliner

Leavin’ home, out on the road
I’ve been down before
Ridin’ along in this big ol’ jet plane
I’ve been thinkin’ about my home
But my love light seems so far away
And I feel like it’s all been done
Somebody’s tryin’ to make me stay
You know I’ve got to be movin’ on

Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay

Goodbye to all my friends at home
Goodbye to people I’ve trusted
I’ve got to go out and make my way
I might get rich you know I might bet busted
But my heart keeps calling me backwards
As I get on the 707
Ridin’ high I got tears in my eyes
You know you got to go through hell
Before you get to heaven

Big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay

Touchin’ down in New England town
Feel the heat comin’ down
I’ve got to keep on keepin’ on
You know the big wheel keeps on spinnin’ around
And I’m goin’ with some hesitation
You know that I can surely see
That I don’t want to get caught up in any of that
Funky shit goin’ down in the city

Big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay

Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah

Big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay

Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
Carry me to my home
Oh, oh big ol’ jet airliner
‘Cause it’s there that I belong

…

Clash – I Fought The Law ….Under The Covers Week

This is such a powerful song no matter who covers it. Sonny Curtis of the Crickets wrote this song and the most famous version is by The Bobby Fuller Four in 1965. This song was made for the Clash to cover and they do a great job on this.

The Clash’s version only charted in Ireland at #24 in 1979. It was on the EP The Cost Of Living. The original song sounded like a punk song before punk was a genre. The song was written two decades before The Clash recorded it in 1959. The song was ranked No. 175 on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.

The Clash covered the song after they heard Fuller’s version on a jukebox. When playing the song live they made the song bleaker, changing the line, “I left my baby” to “I killed my baby.” Their version got them noticed in America, where the song was released in 1979, with “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais” as the B-side.

The song was re-released in 1988 and peaked at #29 in the UK and #17 in New Zealand.

Sonny Curtis: “It was some time during the summer of 1959, and I would have been about twenty-one at the time,” the now 84-year-old songwriter tells Classic Rock. “I was sitting in my living room, about three o’ clock in the afternoon, in a little town called Slaton, Texas, outside of the city of Lubbock, where Buddy and a whole bunch of us started out.

“It was a real windy day, which happens a lot in west Texas. The sand was blowing outside. I picked up my guitar, and I can’t imagine where the idea came from, but I just started writing this song, I Fought The Law. It only took about twenty minutes. You can tell that it didn’t take a rocket scientist to come up with those lyrics. But it’s my most important copyright.”

I Fought The Law

Breakin’ rocks in the hot sun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]
I needed money ’cause I had none
I fought the law and the law won [x2]

I left my baby and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
She’s the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the

Robbin’ people with a six-gun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]
I lost my girl and I lost my fun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]

I left my baby and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
She’s the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the

I fought the law and the law won [x7]
I fought the law and the

Beatles – Twist And Shout ….Under The Covers Week

Usually, I don’t like covers better than the original but with this song I do. John Lennon sounds demented and he pushed his vocals over the edge. Lennon has said he screamed the lyrics more than sang them but it worked. He provided the power to this song with just his vocals. The Beatles didn’t have monitors live…no one else at this time didn’t either so they had to sing loud to be heard. Author Mark Lewisohn called it “arguably the most stunning rock and roll vocal and instrumental performance of all time.”

This is probably close to sounding like they did live in Hamburg and The Cavern. This session took place on February 11, 1963, at EMI Studios in London, which was later renamed Abbey Road Studios. The Beatles did 10 songs that day, nine of which ended up on Please Please Me, their first UK album. Think about that for a minute… in one day they recorded their debut album except for the song Please Please Me which was recorded later.

When The Beatles played the Royal Command Performance with the Queen watching. During the introduction to this song, John Lennon famously said, “For the people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands and the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry.” He told Brian Epstein that he was going to say “rattle your fu**ing jewelry” and Epstein was on pins and needles worried that John would go through with that…but he didn’t. John wasn’t a fan of playing at these functions.

They actually did two takes of the song and kept the first one. John was sick with a cold and had stripped off his shirt to let himself sweat it out, but he pulled it off. The next day…February 12, 1963 – The Beatles played two shows, one at the Azena Ballroom in Yorkshire and another at the Astoria Ballroom in Lancashire. No rest for the weary.

This was the first song ever written by Bert Burns. He went on to write, Piece of My Heart, Here Comes the Night, Hang on Sloopy, Cry to Me and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love to name just a few. He signed Van Morrison to his first solo deal with Bang Records. Unfortunately, he died at 38 of a heart attack in 1967. Phil Medley did get a co-writing credit on the song.

The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, and #1 in New Zealand in 1964. The Beatles version was not done yet. In the film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986, the song was used and charted again. It peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100 and #16 in Canada.

The Isley Brothers’ version is great and there have been many other charting versions of it.

Norman Smith engineer: “Someone suggested they do ‘Twist and Shout’ with John taking the lead vocal. But by this time all their throats were sore; it was 12 hours since we had started working. John’s, in particular, was almost completely gone so we really had to get it right the first time. The Beatles on the studio floor and us in the control room. John sucked a couple more Zubes (a brand of throat lozenges), had a bit of a gargle with milk and away we went.”

Twist and Shout

Well, shake it up, baby, nowTwist and shoutCome on, come on, come, come on, baby, nowCome on and work it on outWell, work it on out, honeyYou know you look so goodYou know you got me goin’ nowJust like I knew you would

Well, shake it up, baby, nowTwist and shoutCome on, come on, come, come on, baby, nowCome on and work it on outYou know you twist, little girlYou know you twist so fineCome on and twist a little closer nowAnd let me know that you’re mine, woo

Ah, ah, ah, ah, wowBaby, nowTwist and shoutCome on, come on, come, come on, baby, nowCome on and work it on outYou know you twist, little girlYou know you twist so fineCome on and twist a little closer nowAnd let me know that you’re mineWell, shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, nowWell, shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, nowWell, shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, nowAh, ah, ah, ah

Joan Jett – I Love Rock And Roll ….Under The Covers Week

Our small town got a record store in 1982. We had one in the seventies but it went out of business. In the new one…this is the first single I bought there. The store only lasted a year at the most but we enjoyed it while we had it. In 1982 you could not go to school, a store, or anywhere without hearing this song. If you didn’t hear it you heard someone hum it. Much like Another One Bites The Dust from two years earlier…you just couldn’t escape it.

In 2016 I saw The Who in Nashville and I didn’t know who was opening up. I was pleasantly surprised when Joan Jett was announced. She and her band were tight and very loud. The Who had ties with Jett back in 1979 as they helped finance Jett’s debut album Bad Reputation.

This was originally recorded by a British group called The Arrows in 1975, and it was written by their lead singer Alan Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker. The song was released as a B-side with The Arrows’ “Broken Down Heart.” Co-writer Alan Merrill said “That was a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones’ ‘It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll.’ I remember watching it on Top of the Pops. I’d met Mick Jagger socially a few times, and I knew he was hanging around with Prince Rupert Lowenstein and people like that – jet setters. I almost felt like ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ was an apology to those jet-set princes and princesses that he was hanging around with – the aristocracy, you know. That was my interpretation as a young man: Okay, I love rock and roll. And then, where do you go with that?”

The Arrows did get their own TV show called The Arrows Show. It ran from 1976-1977 in the UK for two full 14-week seasons on the ITV network. It was this show that Joan Jett saw in 1976. A fun fact about the song. The Arrows were based in England, where they don’t use dimes. At that time they would put a sixpenny in the jukebox to buy a song. That would have had a different ring to it, but the original producer Mickie Most liked dime because it sounded American, and that’s the way The Arrows recorded it. Joan Jett didn’t really differ much from the Arrows version…just a little louder.

When the Runaways broke up in 1979, Joan Jett and her producer Kenny Laguna put her first solo album together with studio time and travel arrangements fronted by The Who. They struggled to get a record deal and had to form their own label, Blackheart Records, to release the album in America. Joan remembered The Arrows singing I Love Rock N Roll in 1976 while touring the UK and knew it sounded like a hit. She wanted the Runaways to cover the song but they turned it down. The reason they turned it down was that they had already covered a song called Rock and Roll by Lou Reed on their debut album and didn’t want another song with “rock” in the title at that time.

Jett recorded it with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols and released it as a B-side in 1979. Polygram Records owned that version of the song but they were not excited about the song or Joan Jett. They basically let her go and signed some of the other Runaways. Boy was that a mistake! Joan would end up being the best-known Runaway. Lita Ford was successful also along with Michael Steele with the Bangles but neither became as popular as Joan Jett…and this song was a big reason.

I like the original and both Jett covers. The hit version peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #4 in the UK in 1982.

The album was called I Love Rock And Roll released in 1981. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #25 in the UK in 1982.

The producers were Ritchie Cordell, Kenny Laguna, and Glen Kolotkin.

The song’s co-writer, Alan Merrill, died at 69 on March 29, 2020. Joan Jett offered condolences on Twitter, posting: “I can still remember watching the Arrows on TV in London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me.”

Joan Jett: “I think most people who love some kind of rock ‘n’ roll can relate to it. Everyone knows a song that just makes them feel amazing and want to jump up and down. I quickly realized, this song is gonna follow you, so you’re either gonna let it bother you, or you gotta make peace with it, and feel blessed that you were involved with something that touched so many people.”

Producer Kenny Laguna on Polygram Records: “They could care less about Joan Jett, they were busy signing every other Runaway. They thought Joan was the loser and they signed the other girls, who we’re all friends with, but I looked at the band and thought she was the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the band. The company decided that if I would pay the studio cost of $2,300, I could have all the rights, and I got three songs. I got ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ with The Sex Pistols, I got ‘You Don’t Own Me’ – they did a great version of the Lesley Gore hit, and they did a song Joan wrote called ‘Don’t Abuse Me.’ So I buy these songs back. In the meantime, Joan has a couple of fans. Rodney Bingenheimer of K-ROCK, KMAC in Long Beach, BCN in Boston, LIR in Long Island, they were playing The Sex Pistols’ kind of cruddy version of the song, and it was #1 on the alternative stations. It was really alternative music, they were way-out stations that would play some pretty adventurous stuff, that’s why they would play Joan, because Joan was not getting a record deal, Joan was way on the outside, like a Fugazi of her day. We saw some kind of potential there. I remember these guys from the big record distributors in Long Island kept calling and saying, ‘This is a hit record, we’re getting so many requests for it.’ So we cut it over and did a really good version of it.”

THE 1979 VERSION

I Love Rock and Roll

I saw him dancin’ there by the record machine
I knew he must a been about seventeen
The beat was goin’ strong
Playin’ my favorite song
An’ I could tell it wouldn’t be long
Till he was with me, yeah me, singin’

I love rock n’ roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock n’ roll
So come an’ take your time an’ dance with me

He smiled so I got up and’ asked for his name
That don’t matter, he said,
‘Cause it’s all the same

Said can I take you home where we can be alone

An’ next we were movin’ on
He was with me, yeah me

Next we were movin’ on
He was with me, yeah me, singin’

I love rock n’ roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock n’ roll
So come an’ take your time an’ dance with me

Said can I take you home where we can be alone

An we’ll be movin’ on
An’ singin’ that same old song
Yeah with me, singin’

I love rock n’ roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock n’ roll
So come an’ take your time an’ dance with me

…

Creedence Clearwater Revival – I Heard It Through The Grapevine ….Under The Covers Week

Creedence cut through his song and stripped it bare with their version. I love Marvin Gaye’s version of this song but Creedence spun it into a garage band’s dream. I really like the steady drums that keep it tethered to earth. CCR’s drummer Doug Clifford played off of John Fogerty’s rhythm and it created the atmosphere of the song.

This is embarrassing but this song really hit my radar through constant commercials in 1987. It was used in California Raisin commercials that played, and played, and played more. When I would go to Hardees for lunch…they would give me a plastic figure of one of the raisins. Yea…I collected them. Former drummer of the Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies, Buddy Miles, sang lead in those commercials.

Creedence’s album version was a whopping (I love using that word) 11-minute song. This was a change from their other compact songs. This of course was not an original. It was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Strong came up with the idea and asked Motown writers Holland-Dozier-Holland to work on it with him. They refused to credit another writer, so Strong took it to Whitfield, who helped put it together…so it was credited to Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.

In December 1975, CCR’s label Fantasy Records re-released the song as a single, which peaked at #43 on the Billboard 100 and #76 in Canada. This release came in the middle of some heated legal battles between the band and the label, which resulted in John Fogerty taking a 10-year break from making music. The song was edited down to a more reasonable length for radio.

The song was originally on their Cosmo’s Factory album released in 1970 which is possibly their best album.

Below….the first is one of the many commercials, the second was the single version, and the third is the album’s 11-minute version.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Ooh-ooh, bet you’re wondering how I knew
‘Bout your plan to make me blue
With some other guy that you knew before?
Between the two of us guys, you know I love you more
Took me by surprise, I must say, when I found out yesterday

Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah

You know that a man ain’t supposed to cry
But these tears I can’t hold inside
Losing you would end my life, you see
‘Cause you mean that much to me
You could’ve told me yourself that you found someone else
Instead

I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah

People say “You hear from what you see
Not, not, not from what you hear.”
I can’t help but being confused
If it’s true, won’t you tell me dear?
Do you plan to let me go
For the other guy that you knew before?

Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah

Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Aah-aah, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah

Faces – Maybe I’m Amazed ….Under The Covers Week

This week I want to mix it up a bit so I’m doing cover versions all this week. I thought I would kick it off with The Faces. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a version of this that I don’t like. A blog that I would highly recommend that specializes in covers is Randy at Mostly Music Covers. Check him out when you can…he goes in-depth on music covers.

The Faces were fun…any band that would have a bartender on stage with a bar…has my vote. Ronnie Lane would sing the first part of this song with Rod the Mod Stewart would pick it up after the first verse. I like Ronnie’s voice a lot…it wasn’t Rod Stewart but it was very rootsy. Lane was a very good singer in a band with a great singer…twice. He was in the Small Faces with Steve Marriott and The Faces with Rod Stewart. Those two types of singers don’t come very often.

The song was on their album Long Player… They did an excellent version of this song. They added to it without losing its charm. The album was their sophomore album and it peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts, #32 in Canada, and #31 in the UK in 1971. Their next album A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse (that is a great title!) peaked at #6 on the Billboard Album Charts later that year.

This song was written by Paul McCartney on his debut album. It should have been released as a single. He did release it as a single in 1976, a live version off the triple record set…Wings Over America. Paul wrote this song for Linda who helped pull him through a bad depression after The Beatles broke up. I did read an interesting fact about this song. “This was the first song with the word “amazed” in the title to reach the Hot 100. Another didn’t appear until 1999 when Lonestar charted with “Amazed.”

It’s hard to believe that the Faces single didn’t chart because McCartney never released it as a single himself…you would think the market would have been ready for it. Although FM stations did play the McCartney version.

Stewart always called Ronnie Lane the heart of the band and that was probably true. Lane got frustrated not being able to sing many songs and was upset at Stewart’s lack of commitment… and quit. After Lane quit in 1973, Tetsu Yamauchi took his place for touring but then they broke up in 1975 when Ron Wood joined the Stones and Stewart continued his solo career.

Ron Wood talks about Maybe I’m Amazed and has a special guest in this 1:24 clip.

Maybe I’m Amazed

Baby I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I’ll leave you
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you fool me all the time
You hung me on a line
Baby, I’m amazed at the way I really need you

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he doesn’t really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only woman that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he does not really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only one that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Baby, I’m amazed at the way you’re with me all the time
Baby, I’m afraid of the way I’ll leave ya’
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you help me sing the song
You right me when I’m wrong
Baby I’m amazed at the way I really need you

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he does not really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only woman that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Gary U.S. Bonds – Out Of Work

Lately, I needed to do something different so…tomorrow I will start“Under The Covers Week” here…nothing but covers next week. I hope you enjoy it. It’s good to breakup things once in a while.

When I posted the song Soul Deep by the Box Tops…CB reccomended the Gary US Bonds version and yes…it’s very soulful and and a great version. That got me listening to Bonds again and I can’t believe I forgot about this song. I remember this song in the early 80s but I haven’t heard it in forever. When heard This Little Girl in the early 80s I didn’t know much about Bonds. I soon found the song Quarter Till Three and more of his sixties hits. His voice is just golden and still is. He puts a ton of soul and grit into every song I’ve heard from him.

This song has a Springsteen feel for good reason. Bruce wrote it and backed Bonds in a comeback in the early eighties. This song and This Little Girl were the first hits Bonds had since the 60s. This one was on the album On The Line released in 1982.

Springsteen wrote more songs than he could record, and three of them went to Bonds: “This Little Girl,” “Your Love” and the title track. Springsteen and members of his E Street band also played on the album and worked on the production. “This Little Girl” was a hit, going to #11 in the US and reviving Bonds’ career. When Springsteen brought Bonds on stage a few times in 1981, the crowds were far more familiar with him. In 1982, Springsteen and his band worked on another album for Bonds… On the Line and more songs like Out of Work

The album Dedication peaked at #27 on the Billboard Album Charts, and On The Line peaked at #52. Out of Work peaked at #21 on the Billboard 100 and #22 in Canada in 1982. This was the last single to date to chart in the Billboard 100.

Out Of Work

Eight a.m., I’m up and myFeet beatin’ on the sidewalkDown at the unemployment agencyAll I get’s talkI check the want ads but thereJust ain’t nobody hiringWhat’s a man supposed to doWhen he’s down and

Out of workI need a job, I’m out of workI’m unemployed, I’m out of workI need a job, I’m out of work

I go to pick my girl upHer name is Linda BrownHer dad invites me inHe tells me to sit downThe small talk that we’re makingIs going pretty smoothBut then he drops a bomb“Son, what d’ya do?”

I’m out of workI need a job, I’m out of workI’m unemployed, I’m out of workI need a job, I’m out of workYeah, yeah, yeah

Hey, Mr. PresidentI know you got your plansYou’re doing all you can nowTo aid the little manWe got to do our best toWhip that inflation downMaybe you got a job for meJust driving you around

These tough times, they’re enoughTo make a man lose his mind(I’m out of work)Up there you got a job but down here below

I’m out of workI need a job, I’m out of workI’m unemployed, I’m out of workI need a job, I’m out of work

Ooh, I’m out of workI’m out of workI’m out of workI’m out of workI’m out of workI’m out of workI’m out of work

…

Kinks – Till The End Of The Day

Growing up I had a greatest hits album by the Kinks and this song was on it. Later, I would buy Give The People What I Want, Low Budget, and their 80s albums. It was later when I got The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society and I started to listen to more of their 60s music that wasn’t just the big hits… but was just as good or in some cases better. I also know the song through Big Star as they covered it on their album Third/Sister Lovers. Ace Frehley also covered the song.

By 1966 The Kinks were in a touring, recording, and promotion cycle that put enormous strain on the band. Ray Davies was married and had a child and was still counted on writing more songs. Ray was growing as a songwriter. Their career started with You Really Got Me and as they went along…the sophistication of the songs grew with Davies’s songwriting ability.

This single was one of the last early harder-rocking songs. What came after this was introspective pop songs like Waterloo Sunset and Dedicated Follower of Fashion. I like the jarring guitar intro plus Mick Avory’s drums. Nicky Hopkins, the supersession piano player, played on this track. The harmonies by Dave Davies and Peter Quaife elevate this song also.

The song peaked at #8 in the UK, #34 in Canada, and #50 on the Billboard 100 in 1966. For me, it ranks high on my list of early Kinks songs.

Ray Davies: “That song was about freedom, in the sense that someone’s been a slave or locked up in prison. It’s a song about escaping something. I didn’t know it was about my state of mind.”

Ray Davies: “I remember how ‘Till the End of the Day’ came about. I had a bit of writer’s block, and my managers were getting worried because I hadn’t produced anything in almost a month. They sent Mort Shuman around to my house, one of my hit-writing heroes. He wrote ‘Save the Last Dance For Me” with Doc Pomus. This mad, druggy New Yorker came ’round to my little semi-detached house in London. He said, ‘I’m here to find out what you’re thinking about. I’m not interested in what you have written; I’m interested in what you’re gonna write.’ He was completely paid off by my managers to say it. I thought it was ridiculous that there was so much importance put on it. If I don’t want to write for a month, I won’t. To say the least, I was pressured into doing it. Then I went off to stay with my sister and bought a new toy, a little upright piano, and wrote ‘Till The End Of The Day.”

Till The End Of The Day

Baby, I feel good
From the moment I arise
Feel good from morning
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Yeah, you and me
We live this life
From when we get up
Till we go sleep at night
You and me were free
We do as we please, yeah
From morning, till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Yeah, I get up
And I see the sun up
And I feel good, yeah
Cause my life has begun
You and me were free
We do as we please, yeah
From morning, till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
You and me were free
We do as we please, yeah
From morning, till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day
Till the end of the day

Knack – Good Girls Don’t ….Power Pop Friday

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

The Knack was huge after their debut album but the record company wanted another one quickly. That was a huge mistake. A band takes years and years to make their first album. What I mean is they are writing songs as teenagers and later until they get a record deal. They use most of them up for the debut and now are stuck with coming up with a new album in a few months. That is a hard chore to do and why there is a sophomore slump with some bands.

Good Girls Don’t was released by the Knack in 1979 off the album Get the Knack. It was written by Knack singer Doug Fieger and peaked at 11 on the Billboard Charts. Everyone knows their other big single off that album “My Sharona” but I really liked this one at the time and still do. I was going to write…this song would not fly today but…I’ve heard rap songs that make this sound like Mother Goose.

One of the main reasons I like this song is the bridge. I don’t talk about a song’s bridge very much but it’s put together well. It starts with it’s a teenage sadness and builds. I will say this…I still like My Sharona…but I’ve My Sharonaed out. I still like it but in small doses. This one is a lot of fun.

I was 12 about to be 13 when I heard this song for the first time. For a new teenage boy, it was a great song. Fieger wrote this song in 1972 and didn’t want to record it for the album until the producer talked him into it. It is a strong power pop song with some edgy lyrics for 1979 and a “clean” single was released also that edited out the naughty things. It is a teenage song but it’s still fun.

The first video is the cleaner version of them in the studio…the second is the real version.

Good Girls Don’t

She’s your adolescent dreamSchool boy stuffA sticky, sweet romanceAnd she makes you wanna screamWishing you could get inside her pants

So you fantasize awayWhile you’re squeezing herYou thought you heard her saying

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

So you call her on the phoneTo talk about the teachers that you hateAnd she says she’s all aloneAnd her parents won’t be coming home ’til late

There’s a ringing in your brain‘Cause you could have sworeYou thought you heard her saying

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

And it’s a teenage sadnessEveryone has got to tasteAn in-between age madnessThat you know you can’t erase‘Til she’s sitting on your face

You’re alone with her at lastAnd you’re waiting ’til you think the time is right‘Cause you’ve heard she’s pretty fastAnd you’re hoping that she’ll give you some tonight

So, you start to make your play‘Cause you could have sworeYou thought you heard her saying

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

And it’s a teenage sadnessEveryone has got to tasteAn in-between age madnessThat you know you can’t erase‘Til she’s sitting on your face(And it hurts)

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I do

Good girls don’tGood girls don’tBut, she’ll be telling youGood girls don’tBut I doBut I doBut I doBut I do

Hot Chocolate – Everyone 1’s A Winner

Some songs take me back to a point in time. This one is no different but it takes me to two points. I remember this when I was a small kid growing up. I didn’t hear it again until the early 2000s.

I was driving around in Panama City Beach Florida and this song came on the radio. As soon as I heard it I knew the song but I didn’t know what band did it. I loved that riff and that tone…was it a guitar or synth??? Whatever it was I had to find it. I searched for it on the internet…I used the only word I remembered…”winner” plus a great guitar riff. This one finally came up and I was on my way. I grew up with a single my sister had by them called “You Sexy Thing.”

1978 Roland GR500

Everyone 1’s A Winner came off an album of the same name by Hot Chocolate. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100,#5 in Canada, #7 in New Zealand, and #12 in the UK in 1978.

It’s known for the great guitar riff that was played using the first Roland guitar synth with the Les Paul-type guitar-the GR500. Yea my urge that my wife hates is kicking in…the urge to track one of these babies down and buy it.

They are best known for “You Sexy Thing” but this is one that sticks with me. Hot Chocolate was briefly signed with The Beatle’s Apple Records and they did a reggae version of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.”

This band charted a song every year between 1970 and 1984. The song was written by Errol Brown the lead singer.

Lead Guitar player Harvey Hinsley: The guitar I used on most of our records was an SG standard, It had a thicker sound than Fenders, Usually double-tracked the riffs, etc; The amp was a sound city 200 watt, or 125 pa amp, [no distortion on amps back then-just turned amp up] – they sounded much the same; On early stuff like Brother Louis, You’ll always be a friend & I believe in love, -I used Larry Ferguson’s Leslie cab; On Cadillac, I used a phaser pedal; On Emma, Sexy thing, so you win, I used a foot volume pedal too, on Every 1′ a winner I used the first Roland guitar synth with the Les Paul type guitar-the GR500; Put your love in me I used a Watkins echo & a waa-waa pedal set half on to give a more trebly sound

Lead singer Errol Brown: “I was getting nowhere with it when I heard my eldest daughter crying in a particular rhythm and used that for the melody.”

Every 1’s A Winner

Never could believe the things you do to me,Never could believe the way you are.Every day I bless the day that you got through to me,‘Cause baby, I believe that you’re a star.

Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth (yes, the truth)Making love to you is such a thrill.Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie (yes, no lie)You never fail to satisfy (satisfy)

Never could explain just what was happening to me,Just one touch of you and I’m a flame.Baby, it’s amazing just how wonderful it isThat the things we like to do are just the same.

Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth (yes, the truth)Making love to you is such a thrill.Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie (yes, no lie)You never fail to satisfy (satisfy)

Let’s do it again.

Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth (yes, the truth)Making love to you is such a thrill.Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie (yes, no lie)You never fail to satisfy (satisfy)

Jimmy Buffet – Come Monday

Buffet has always lived on the pop/country side of music…and soon after this, it was pop/country/tropical music. I bought his greatest hits in the 80s and I became a fan. I saw him live twice and if you ever want a concert that is more like a giant party or a Hawaiian Lūʻau…go see Buffet live. Also If you like tailgating before the concert… this is the man to see. His truly devoted fans are called “parrotheads.”

This song was written by Buffet and released in 1973 and peaked at #30 on the Billboard 100, #23 in Canada, and #58 on the Country Charts. The song was off of Living & Dying in ¾ Time and the album was Buffet’s first album to reach the top 200 at #176. Come Monday was his first top-40 hit. He would have some minor hits after this like Pencil Thin Mustache, A Pirate Looks at Forty, and others but it was Margaritaville in 1977 that broke it open for him.

The single version of the song replaces the third line, “I’ve got my Hush Puppies on,” with “I’ve got my hiking shoes on.” Some broadcast outlets, including the BBC, would not play songs with brand names in the lyrics, something that forced an edit on the Kinks song “Lola.”

Jimmy Buffet was quite the partier in the 70s. I’ve talked to a music producer who knew him back then and it’s a wonder he survived. He did have a run-in with a famous Tennessee sheriff…6’6″ Bufford Pusser. If you have a few minutes…it’s worth the story!

He wrote this song for his girlfriend, who he was missing and she ended up in the video. When he sings the first line, “Headed out to San Francisco for the Labor Day weekend show,” he’s talking about a specific concert in 1973.

Buffet explains quickly how the video was made and then the video.

Come Monday

Headin’ up to San Francisco
For the Labor Day weekend show,
I’ve got my hush-puppies on,
I guess I never was meant for
Glitter rock and roll.
And honey I didn’t know
That I’d be missin’ you so.

Come Monday It’ll be all right,
Come Monday I’ll be holding you tight.
I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze
And I just want you back by my side.

Yes it’s been quite a summer,
Rent-a-cars and west bound trains.
And now you’re off on vacation,
Somethin’ you tried to explain.
And darlin’ I love you so that’s
The reason I just let you go.

Come Monday It’ll be all right,
Come Monday I’ll be holding you tight.
I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze
And I just want you back by my side.

I can’t help it honey,
You’re that much a part of me now.
Remember the night in Montana when
We said there’d be no room for doubt.

I hope you’re enjoyin’ the scenery,
I know that it’s pretty up there.
We can go hikin on Tuesday,
With you I’d walk anywhere.
California has worn me quite thin,
I just can’t wait to see you again.

Come Monday It’ll be all right,
Come Monday I’ll be holding you tight.
I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze
And I just want you back by my side.

Bessie Smith – Down Hearted Blues

Let’s go back…way back. Music did exist before the 50s and sometimes I like to explore it. These are the talented artists who inspired later generations that we listen to. 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.

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 her debut single in 1923.

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.

She was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 15, 1894. She lost her dad while she was an infant and her mom when she was 7-8 years old. She was raised by her tough older sister. To help support her orphaned siblings, Bessie began her career as a Chattanooga street musician, singing in a duo with her brother Andrew to earn money to support their poor family.

She is credited with recording more than 160 songs between 1923 and 1933. Smith performed on stage throughout the southern United States and recorded with such jazz greats as Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and Coleman Hawkins.

Before the Great Depression, Bessie was the highest-paid black entertainer in the world, collecting as much as two thousand dollars a week to perform. She was accompanied by great musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson, and Benny Goodman.

This song was written by Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin. The song is about a mistreated woman and had been recorded by fellow blues singer Alberta Hunter in 1922. A year later Bessie Smith sang it with pain, passion, and power as if it was her own song. The record sold more copies than any blues or jazz record had before…780,000 in the first six months after the release, #1 in the Billboard charts for 4 weeks, it helped to save Columbia from imminent bankruptcy and made Bessie a star.

They called Bessie Smith the “Empress of the Blues,” and for good reason.

Down Hearted Blues

Gee, but it’s hard to love someone
when that someone don’t love you!
I’m so disgusted, heart-broken, too;
I’ve got those down-hearted blues.

Once I was crazy ‘bout a man;
he mistreated me all the time,
The next man I get has got to promise me
to be mine, all mine!

Trouble, trouble, I’ve had it all my days,
Trouble, trouble, I’ve had it all my days,
It seems like trouble
going to follow me to my grave.

I ain’t never loved but three men in my life,
I ain’t never loved but three men in my life,
My father, my brother,
the man that wrecked my life.

It may be a week, it may be a month or two,
It may be a week, it may be a month or two,
But the day you quit me, honey,
it’s comin’ home to you.

I got the world in a jug, the stopper’s in my hand,
I got the world in a jug, the stopper’s in my hand,
I’m gonna hold it until
you meet some of my demands.

Little Feat – Roll Um Easy

A simply beautiful song. I remember Dixie Chicken and a few others while growing up, but they were not played a lot on the radio. I did have some friends who had the albums that is how I found this band.

Guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne formed Little Feat in 1969. Lowell George was a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Bass player of the Mothers Roy Estrada joined along with drummer Richie Hayward.

The band never broke out in huge commercial success but other musicians loved this band. One of them was Jimmy Page who named Little Feat his favorite American band in 1975. Lowell George stepped up as a producer in the studio for this album and he wrote this song as well.

After their debut nearly cost them their record contract because of low sales, Little Feat had to fight their way through to a second album (Sailin’). They nearly fell apart before they could make their third. Bassist Roy Estrada quit joining Captain Beefheart during the second album. They replaced him with bassist Kenny Gradney and added percussionist Sam Clayton and guitarist Paul Barrere.

When that was going on Lowell George almost left the band to join John Sebastian and Phil Everly. George decided to continue with Little Feat. All that struggle paid off on ‎Jan. 25, 1973, with the end result, Dixie Chicken. The album peaked at only #205 but went Gold. They never sold a lot of records but they remained rock’s more consistently acclaimed act.

Lowell George: “We had one get-together which was really nice. Real great three-part harmony, with John on the bottom, Phil on the top and me in the middle. But it could never have come to fruition, not in a million years. … I don’t think that Phil Everly and I could share a stage. I mean, I’m 20 pounds overweight and he’s 20 pounds, er, over the hill.”

Roll Um Easy

Oh I am just a vagabondA drifter on the runAnd eloquent profanityIt rolls right off my tongueAnd I have dined in palacesDrunk wine with Kings and QueensBut darlin’, oh darlin’You’re the best thing I’ve ever seenWon’t you roll me easyOh slow and easyTake my independenceWith no apprehension, no tensionYou walki’ talkin’ dream paradiseSweet pair a’ diceWell I been across this countryFrom Denver to the oceanAnd I never met girls who could sing so sweetLike the angels that live in HoustonSingin’ “Roll me easy, so slow and easy…Play that Concertina, I’ll be your temptress…”And baby I’m defenselessSingin’ harmonyIn unisonSweet harmonyGotta hoist your flag and I’ll beat your drum

Tom Petty – The Waiting ….Power Pop Friday #3000!

Well everyone…this is powerpop’s 3000th post! I want to thank all of you for making this happen. There was a while when I started that I didn’t know if I would go on because as we all know…it’s sometimes hard to get started and known in word press. The big break for me came when Hanspostcard republished one of my posts (the 1967 movie Bedazzled) and I started to get a few readers and that grew. The reason I keep doing it is because of the comments…meeting like-minded people is the reason this is still fun so thanks again.

In the early 1990s, my cousin Mark and I shared an apartment in Nashville. On our answering service we would leave funny or what we thought were funny messages. I broke out the guitar and we did the chorus of this song as a message. It went over well but we got tired of hearing it every time someone called.

If I had to rank Tom Petty songs in my personal list. This song would come right behind American Girls as far as my favorite Tom Petty songs. I’m a huge Tom Petty fan and one of the reasons besides the music is this. At the time, Tom Petty was so popular his record label wanted to charge $1 more for the LP than the standard $8.98, but they backed down after he considered naming the album $8.98. Tom seemed to be a good man.

I bought the single when it came out in 1981 and then the album Hard Promises. This song has a Byrds feel and is reminiscent of the mid-sixties. It peaked at #19 on the Billboard 100, #6 in Canada, and #27 in New Zealand and it didn’t chart in the UK…the UK missed the boat on this one.

Tom seemed to always channel his inner Roger McGuinn. American Girl is a prime example. It sounds so much like Roger McGuinn that the first time Roger heard the song he asked his manager “when did I record this?” McGuinn met Petty and they got along great…McGuinn invited Petty to open up for him on his 1976 tour.

In the 1980s I watched the Gary Shandling Show faithfully and I remember that Tom Petty played this song on one episode.

Tom Petty: “I remember writing that one very well. That was a hard one. Went on for weeks. I got the chorus right away. And I had that guitar riff, that really good lick. Couldn’t get anything else. (Softly) I had a really hard time. And I knew it was good, and it just went on endlessly. It was one of those where I really worked on it until I was too tired to go any longer. And I’d get right up and start again and spend the whole day to the point where other people in the house would complain. “You’ve been playing that lick for hours.” Very hard.

It’s one that has really survived over the years because it’s so adaptable to so many situations. I even think of that line from time to time. Because I really don’t like waiting. I’m peculiar in that I’m on time, most of the time. I’m very punctual.

Roger [McGuinn] swears to me that he told me that line. And maybe he did, but I’m not sure that’s where I got it from. I remember getting it from something I read, that Janis Joplin said, “I love being onstage, it’s just the waiting.”

Roger McGuinn on hearing Tom Petty for the first time:

“I said, ‘when did I record that?” I was kidding, but the vocal style sounded just like me and then there was the Rickenbacker guitar, which I used. The vocal inflections were just like mine. I was told that a guy from Florida named Tom Petty wrote and sings the song, and I said that I had to meet him. I liked him enough to invite Petty and the Heartbreakers to open for us in 1976. When I covered ‘American Girl,’ I changed a word or two and Tom asked me if it was because the vocal was too high and I said ‘yes.’ I had fun with Tom’s song.”

Tom on the Gary Shandling show. I remember this episode.

Again thank you to everyone!

The Waiting

Oh baby, don’t it feel like heaven right now?Don’t it feel like something from a dream?Yeah, I’ve never known nothing quite like thisDon’t it feel like tonight might never be again?Baby, we know better than to try and pretend

Honey, no one could’ve ever told me ’bout thisI said yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

The waiting is the hardest partEvery day you see one more cardYou take it on faith, you take it to the heartThe waiting is the hardest part

Well, yeah, I might have chased a couple women aroundAll it ever got me was downYeah, then there were those that made me feel goodBut never as good as I feel right nowBaby, you’re the only one that’s ever known how

To make me wanna live like I wanna live nowI said yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

The waiting is the hardest partEvery day you get one more yardYou take it on faith, you take it to the heartThe waiting is the hardest part

Oh, don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to youDon’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to youI’ll be your bleeding heart, I’ll be your crying foolDon’t let this go too far, don’t let it get to you

Yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

The waiting is the hardest partEvery day you get one more yardYou take it on faith, you take it to the heartThe waiting is the hardest part

Yeah, the waiting is the hardest part

Woah-ohIt’s the hardest partWoah-ohIt’s the hardest part

Aretha Franklin – Baby I Love You

This is my personal favorite song of Aretha Franklin…and she has a boatload of great songs to pick from. She could bring soul to You Light Up My Life and THAT is saying something. I’ve said this a lot but Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin are my top female singers.

This Aretha Franklin song was released in 1967 and it was on the Aretha Arrives album. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #39 in the UK in 1967. Her sisters Carolyn and Erma provided backing vocals along with the Sweet Inspirations, an R&B girl group founded by Cissy Houston. Musicians who were featured on the track included engineer Tom Dowd and Muscle Shoals players Jimmy Johnson and Joe South on guitars, Tommy Cogbill on bass, Spooner Oldham on electric piano, and Roger Hawkins on drums. Truman Thomas also played the organ.

Franklin recorded this with Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler in New York City during the same session as Chain Of Fools. The song was written by Ronnie Shannon, who was also responsible for another hit for Aretha with I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You).

The horns are on point and perfect in this song. The music and vocal backups make a perfect backdrop for Aretha’s explosive voice. She never sounded like she was singing by a formula…each song is marked by her individuality. We lost her great voice and soul on August 16, 2018.

This woman could sing the phonebook and I would listen. This is one of many songs I like from her… She has sold over 75 million records in her career. This is the first song I remember hearing from her.

Aretha Franklin: “Those sessions were a lot of fun, and there was a lot of good food coming in and out of the studio. Lots of burgers, fries, and milkshakes. In between takes, we would sit and chat, with whoever was producing, Jerry or Arif. They’d be enjoying those burgers so much I couldn’t wait until mine came!”

Baby, I Love You

If you want my lovin’If you really doDon’t be afraid, babyJust ask meYa know I’m gonna give it to you

Oh, and I do declare (I do)I wanna see you with itStretch out your arms, little boyYou’re gonna get it‘Cause I love you, oh(Baby, baby, baby, I love you)There ain’t no doubt about itBaby, I love you(Baby, baby, baby, I love you)I love you, I love you, I love youI love you, baby I love you

If you feel you wanna kiss meGo right ahead I don’t mindAll you got to do is snap your fingersAnd I’ll come a runnin, I ain’t lyin’(I ain’t lyin’)And oh what you wantLittle boy you know you got itI’d deny my own selfBefore I see you without it‘Cause I love you(Baby, baby, baby I love you)Ain’t no doubt about it baby I love you(Baby, baby, baby I love you)I love you, I love you, I love youI love you, baby I love you

Someday ya might wanna run awayAnd leave me sittin’ here to cryBut if it’s all the same to ya babyI’m gonna stop you from sayin’ goodbye(Goodbye)Baby I love ya (baby, baby, I love ya)Baby I need ya (baby, baby I need ya)Said I want ya (baby baby I want ya)Getcha have ya baby (baby baby I love ya)Don’t let your neighbors tell ya I don’t want ya(Baby, baby I want ya)Don’t let your lowdown friends(Baby, baby I want ya)