Singles – Page 69 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Suzie Q

This song has one of the most recognizable guitar licks in rock history.

A bar band needing another song to get through the night? This is the one that the guitar player would noodle around and get it and the band could kick in without rehearsing. I saw the clock turn to 3am playing this song many times… if you could see the clock through the smoke. The guitar riff on the original version was created by the then-15-year-old James Burton.

The song took Dale Hawkins and his band three months to perfect the song on the stages throughout the south. He was the original singer of the song and it came out in 1957. The song was credited to Dale Hawkins, Robert Chaisson, Stan Lewis, and Eleanor Broadwater. The song peaked at #24 on the Billboard 100 and #7 on the R&B Charts.

This song is the only top 40 song for CCR not written by John Fogerty. This song started it all for Creedence. After this, they were one of the most successful bands in the world. The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard 100 and #10 in Canada. Fogerty wanted to make their identity with this song.

CCR’s version became popular on the West Coast before it was available on vinyl. The band brought a cassette tape of the song to a San Francisco DJ, who played it in appreciation for the group’s earlier support of a DJ strike. Fantasy records then had to get the single out. The song was on their debut album called Creedence Clearwater Revival released in 1968. It peaked at #52 on the Billboard Album Charts.

The Rolling Stones also covered it on their 1964 12 x 5 album.

John Fogerty: “I knew I needed to work on arranging the song so that the band would sound like Creedence Clearwater Revival, would sound professional, mysterious and also have their own definition. The song I chose was ‘Susie Q.’ I decided not to write the song myself. I decided to pick something that existed because it’d just be easier. I’d be less self-conscious about doing things.”

John Fogerty on hearing it for the first time: “I went crazy and immediately began banging on the dashboard.”

When asked what the rhymes are in the latter part of the song, bass player Stu Cook said, “They were just simple rhymes. John hated it when songwriters used simple rhymes just to make things rhyme, so this was a statement against that. It was sort of anti-Dylan.”

Suzie Q

Oh Susie Q, oh Susie Q
Oh Susie Q baby I love you, Susie Q
I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
Susie Q

Well, say that you’ll be true
Well, say that you’ll be true
Well, say that you’ll be true and never leave me blue, Susie Q

Well, say that you’ll be mine
Well, say that you’ll be mine
Well, say that you’ll be mine, baby all the time, Susie Q

Uh uh
Uh uh
Uh uh
Uh uh

Oh Susie Q, oh Susie Q
Oh Susie Q, baby I love you, Susie Q

I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
I like the way you walk I like the way you talk, Susie Q

Oh Susie Q, oh Susie Q
Oh Susie Q, baby I love you, Susie Q

…

Izzy Stradlin And The Ju Ju Hounds – Shuffle It All

I loved this song when it was released. I saw the video before I heard it on the radio. I knew two of the members straight off the bat. Izzy Stradlin was a founding member of Guns N Roses. The other guy I knew was Rick Richards of Georgia Satellites on lead guitar. To round out the band, Jimmy Ashhurst of Broken Homes on bass, and Charlie Quintana on drums.

To my surprise…on the organ was former Faces/Small Faces member Ian McLagan. Ron Wood also played on the album. Another surprise was super session man Nicky Hopkins. Izzy had some big guns playing with him.

Stradlin quit Guns ‘N Roses in 1991 during their hottest period. He moved back to his Indiana town Lafayette and put this band together and wrote the material. The song has a very Stonesy Keith Richards feel to it.

I was surprised, to be honest…I’ve never been a fan of lead singer Axl Rose. I liked Stradlin’s voice much more. I’ve always been a fan of voices that are a little out of the norm. This album was released within a few months of the Black Crowes The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion so the airwaves were full of rootsy blues rock and roll.

The album was self-titled Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds released in 1992…wow has it been that long? The album peaked at #102 on the Billboard Album Charts. They did a huge tour into September of 1993.

Izzy has made 10 solo albums and also two more EP’s with the JuJu Hounds. He refused to rejoin Guns N’Roses in 2016 because they refused to cut the money evenly. He also played with former bandmate Slash in Velvet Revolver.

On quitting Guns N’ Roses he said some of it was due to Axl Rose’s chronic lateness and him being a diva. He was then offered a contract. “This is right before I left – demoting me to some lower position. They were gonna cut my percentage of royalties down. I was like, ‘Fuck you! I’ve been there from Day One. Why should I do that? Fuck you, I’ll go play the Whisky.’ That’s what happened. It was utterly insane.”

Shuffle It All

Boredom saturation
It’s a never ending clue
Isn’t just to fill the time
When there’s nothing else to do

She drove on out of New York
She had enough insane
And drivin’ just though Texas two days
She ended up in L.A.

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Shuffle it all
Pack up your life again

A pile of records spread out
The covers still look good
Picture here a Peter Tosh’s
startin’ down and a smokin’ wood

My dog dreaming is running
I see him twitch a paw
My woman playing Dr. Mario
On the TV all night long

Just another cigarette
Staring at the moon, yeah
Then I’m headin’ off to bed
Sleepin’ without you, yeah

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Pack up your bags again

It’s a long and winding road
Sure enjoy the view, yeah
If you want to see it
Just slow down
You’re so welcome to come along

Lookin’ for a tune to play
I’m gonna see it again
When the day is over
Try to write you ’bout the rain

Feel the motors winding on
There ain’t no news
If you see those old friends out there
Tell them that I send my love

Wake up, time to leave again
Try to find my shoes
Put the luggage in the van
Roll up your Doctor Dolittle

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Shuffle it all
Pack up your things again
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Pack up your life again

Keep on shufflin’

Orange Humble Band – Down In Your Dreams…. Power Pop Friday

Bruce from Vinyl Connection referred me to this song after The Stems post I did last week. I liked it the minute I heard it. This song was off of an EP called Down in Your Dreams released in 1998.

This band at one time or another included Darryl Mather, Mitch Easter, Ken Stringfellow, Jody Stephens, Bill Smith, Jon Auer, Dave Smith, and Rick Steff.

You may recognize some of those names. Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer were in the Posies and the later Big Star with Alex Chilton, Mitch Easter was the producer of R.E.M. and a member of Let’s Active. Darryl Mather was in the Australian band Lime Spiders.

Mather along with his bassist friend Bill Gibson formed this band in 1994 in Australia. The band released 3 albums… Assorted Creams (1997), Humblin’ (Across America) (2001) and Depressing Beauty (2015). They had one EP and that would be this one and two singles named Apple Green Slice Cut and Any Way You Want It.

I’ve dived into their catalog and song after song shows different styles and really likable music. I would strongly suggest you checking this band out. Plus…what a cool name!

Down In Your Dreams

Sorry…I could NOT find the lyrics.

…

Billy Preston – That’s The Way God Planned It

A soulful song by Billy Preston that was produced by his friend George Harrison. It was released in 1969 on Apple Records. This song had an ALL-STAR band backing it. George told Preston he would “invite some of his friends” over. Billy had no idea those friends were Eric Clapton on guitar, Keith Richards on bass, and Ginger Baker on drums. That alone makes the song worth listening to. Also, the backup vocals were done by Doris Troy and Madeline Bell.

This song peaked at #62 on the Billboard 100 Charts, #61 in Canada, and #11 in the UK in 1969.

Preston was good friends with the Beatles…playing on the Let It Be album and the Get Back film. They signed him to Apple Records after getting him out of his contract with Capitol Records. He ended up with 5 top 5 hits including 2 number 1’s. He also toured with the Rolling Stones throughout the seventies.

The album was called That’s the Way God Planned It and it peaked also at #62 in the Billboard Album Charts. Critic David Fricke said: “Preston would have bigger hits in the Seventies but never make a better one than this album’s rapturous title track … The rest of the album is solid church-infused soul, with Preston covering both Bob Dylan and W.C. Handy.”

In 1979, after a few years without a hit, he would hit the charts again with Syreeta Wright on the ballad “With You I’m Born Again.” Preston suffered from kidney disease in his later years and would pass away on June 6, 2006.

Billy Preston: “I first met [them] in Hamburg in 1962, I was backing Little Richard and they were just one of 14 other groups. They used to dedicate ‘Taste Of Honey’ and ‘Love Me Do’ to me and they were the only group I bothered to watch.”

That’s The Way God Planned It

Why can’t we be humbleLike the good Lord saidHe promised to exalt usFor love is the way

How men be so greedyWhen there’s so much leftAll things are God givenAnd they all have been blessed

That’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to be, didn’t HeWell, that’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to be, for you and meYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Let not your heart be troubledLet mourning sobbing ceaseLearn to help one anotherAnd live in perfect peace

If we just be humbleLike the good Lord saidHe promised to exalt usFor love is the way

That’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to be, doesn’t HeYou better believe meThat’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to be, for you and meYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

That’s the way, alrightCome on, come on, come on

I hope you get this messageAnd where you won’t others willYou don’t understand meBut I’ll love you still

That’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to beYou better believe meThat’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants, He wants it to be

That’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to beYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeahThat’s the way God planned itThat’s the way God wants it to beOh, yeah

…

Lynryd Skynyrd – All I Can Do Is Write About It

When you think of Lynryd Skynyrd you don’t think of an Environmental Friendly band but Van Zant was that. They all grew up in Gainesville Florida and were around wildlife and natural tropical areas. This song is a warning about the growth of his hometown and he was cautioning about urban and suburban areas claiming wild lands as their own.

‘Cause when I can see the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that come

Van Zant saw this happening all through Dixie which include South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

This song was on their Gimme Back My Bullets album released in 1976 after Ed King had left the band. It was the B-side to Gimme Back My Bullets.

Gimme Back My Bullets is mistaken for meaning real gun bullets but it’s not…it meant the chart positions of songs…” with a bullet.” The definition I found was “That has entered the charts in a high position, or has climbed rapidly in the charts, or is thought to have the potential for further rapid advancement.”

The song was written by Ronnie Van Zant and guitar player Allen Collins. The band was an album band that also included some hit singles and now classic radio staples such as Simple Man, Free Bird, Sweet Home Alabama, Gimme Back My Bullets, Saturday Night Special, The Ballad Of Curtis Lowe, and more.

What if the plane crash wouldn’t have happened? Bill Bentley, the author of “Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen,” said: “I think if Lynyrd Skynyrd had lasted, they would have become one of the foundations of American rock bands, much like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, I think Ronnie Van Zant had enough artistic strength to grow and they really would have been individuals, there wouldn’t have been another band like them.”

I’m not sure what would have happened but I don’t see them ever conforming to the trends of the day. Ronnie Van Zant in parachute pants? I just don’t see it happening. I can’t see them changing their sound like ZZ Top, Heart, and Cheap Trick. Personally, I think they would have had a huge follow-up to Street Survivors…as the 80s came they might have carried on as before like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.

If they didn’t make it in the 80s I could see them reforming in the 90s like The Allman Brothers and others. Most people think of these guys as backwoods good old boys…which some of that is true but they varied on their writing. An environmental song and a gun control song in Saturday Night Special. No one talks about that much.

All I Can Do Is Write About It

Well this life that I live took me everywhereThere ain’t no place I ain’t never goneWell it’s kind of like the sayinThat you heard so many timesWell there just ain’t no place like home

Did you ever see a she-gator protect her youngin’Or fish in a river swimmin’ freeDid you ever see the beauty of the hills of CarolinaOr the sweetness of the grass in Tennessee

And Lord I can’t make any changesAll I can do is write ’em in a song‘Cause if I can seen the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that comes

Like to see a mountain stream a flowin’Do ya like to see a youngin’ with his dogDid ya ever stop and think aboutWell the air your breathin’Well ya better listen to my song

And Lord I can’t make any changesAll I can do is write ’em in a song‘Cause when I can see the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that comes

I’m not tryin’ to put down no big cityBut the things they write about us is just a boreWell you can take a boy out of ole’ Dixieland, LordBut you’ll never take ole’ Dixie from a boy

And Lord I can’t make any changesAll I can do is write ’em in a song‘Cause when I can see the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that comes

If I can see the concrete a slowly creepin’Lord take me and mine before that comes

Delfonics – La-La Means I Love You

I first heard about this band after watching the movie Jackie Brown. I heard of a few of their songs through the years but found out more about them after I saw the movie. They are as smooth as it gets in the 60s and 70s soul.

The song was written by Thom Bell and lead singer William Hart.

This song was the first hit for The Delfonics and was produced by Thom Bell, who helped craft the Philadelphia Soul sound. Bell, and The Delfonics, worked for Cameo-Parkway Records in Philadelphia, which was looking to compete with Motown. The Delfonics are credited with significantly contributing to the development of the Philadelphia sound.

Thom Bell also produced for The Stylistics, Chubby Checker, and Elton John. But his main focus was the Philly sound, which is soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements.

The Delfonics were known as The Five Guys and played their own instruments. Bell cut them down to a trio and made them a vocal group, with Bell playing most of the instruments himself. He recorded three albums with the group and had one more big hit with them: Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) in 1970. Bell then joined Philadelphia International Records, run by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, where he worked with The Stylistics.

This song peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #2 on the R&B Charts, #11 in Canada, and #19 in the UK in 1968. They only had one more top-ten hit…Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time).

La-La Means I Love You

Many guys have come to you
With a line that wasn’t true
And you passed them by
(Passed them by)
Though you’re in the center ring
And their lines don’t mean a thing
Why don’t you let me try?
(Let me try)

Now, I don’t wear a diamond ring
I don’t even have a song to sing
All I know is

La la la la la la la la la means
I love you
Oh, baby, please now
La la la la la la la la la means
I love you

If I ever saw a girl
That I needed in this world
You are the one for me
(One for me)
Let me hold you in my arms
Girl, and thrill you with my charms
I’m sure you will see
(You will see)

The things I am sayin’ are true
And the way I explain them to you
Listen to me

La la la la la la la la la means
I love you
Ooh, baby
La la la la la la la la la means
I love you

The things I am sayin’ are true
And the way I explain them to you,
Yes to you
Listen to me

La la la la la la la la la means
I love you
Oh, you’ll have to understand now
La la la la la la la la la means
I love you
Come on and take my hand

Band – Across The Great Divide

Happy New Year to all my readers. This is my first post of the year other than the New Years’ post this morning at 12:01 AM CST. My next post in one hour will be just for all of my readers…

My friend CB (Cincinnati Baby Head) reminded me of this song not too long ago…so thank you CB. Man…wasn’t The Band a truly great band? Not many bands could get away with a name like that…but it is no question they lived up to it. They made pure music for the people…

Standin’ by your window in painA pistol in your handAnd I beg you, dear Molly, girl,Try and understand your man the best you can.

Not a good way to start your day.

Canada has given us Neil Young, The Guess Who, BTO, and many more but…to me, this band was their best export.

The Band had 3 great singers and a good one in Robbie. Robertson wrote most of the songs and wrote for the other three voices. He was smart enough to step aside and let his bandmates sing his songs. Not many singer/songwriters would do that but it worked well.

This song was on their second album called The Band released in 1969. The album is one of the best albums ever. It contained these songs, Up On Crippled Creek, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Whispering Pines, Rag Mama Rag, and more.

They recorded this album not in a recording studio but at Sammy Davis’s house in California. They remodeled the adjacent pool house into a recording studio. The Band fashioned a makeshift workshop environment similar to the one at their former home, Big Pink.

The album peaked at #2 in Canada, #9 on the Billboard 100, and #25 in the UK. This song was not released as a single.

Levon Helm: “Sometimes we would grow the songs from scratch, right there in the pool-house, sometimes we would just pull them out of thin air. We had story songs, we had picture songs and we had songs that emulated things we had heard. One thing that helped is that we had two different styles of rhythm section, with Richard and me swapping drum duties. That was done mainly to accommodate Garth’s ability to trade instruments around. Of course, Garth could play percussion, woodwind, bass—just about anything.”

Across The Great Divide

Standin’ by your window in painA pistol in your handAnd I beg you, dear Molly, girl,Try and understand your man the best you can.

Across the Great DivideJust grab your hat, and take that rideGet yourself a brideAnd bring your children down to the river side

I had a goal in my younger daysI nearly wrote my willBut I changed my mind for the betterI’m at the still, had my fill and I’m fit to kill

Across the Great DivideJust grab your hat, and take that rideGet yourself a brideAnd bring your children down to the river side

Pinball machine and a queenI nearly took the busTried to keep my hands to myselfThey say it’s a must, but who can ya trust?Harvest moon shinin’ down from the skyA weary sign for allI’m gonna leave this one horse townHad to stall ’til the fall, now I’m gonna crawlAcross the Great Divide

Now Molly dear, don’t ya shed a tearYour time will surely comeYou’ll feed your man chicken ev’ry SundayNow tell me, hon, what ya done with the gun?

Across the Great DivideJust grab your hat, and take that rideGet yourself a brideAnd bring your children down to the river side

Zombies – This Will Be Our Year

This is usually my first post in the New Year. I love tradition so here we are again!

Next to Auld Lang Syne this is my favorite New Years’ Song. A favorite of mine from one of my favorite bands. Everyone… I wish you a Happy New Year in 2023.

You didn’t have to read my blog but you did and I really appreciate it…I want to thank all of you for reading and commenting in 2022.

This song sounds like it should have been a hit but it was never pushed as a single at the time. It was the B side to Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914) which is an experimental song and was a big surprise to the band that it was picked as the first single. Both are from the great album Odessey and Oracle in 1968. There are several songs on this album that could have been in the charts but Time of the Season was the only one that made it and it was a year after the album was released.

Bruce Eder of AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five, calling it “one of the flukiest (and best) albums of the 1960s, and one of the most enduring long-players to come out of the entire British psychedelic boom”.

On recording Odessey and Oracle…Rod Argent:

“We had the chance of going in and putting things down in the way we wanted people to hear them and we had a new studio, we walked in just after The Beatles had walked out [after recording Sgt. Pepper]. We were the next band in. They’d left some of their instruments behind … I used John Lennon’s Mellotron, that’s why it’s all over Odessey and Oracle. We used some of their technological advances … we were using seven tracks, and that meant we could overdub for the first time. And it meant that when I played the piano part I could then overdub a Mellotron part, and it meant we could have a fuller sound on some of the songs and it means that at the moment the tour we’re doing with Odessey and Oracle it means we’re actually reproducing every note on the original record by having extra player with us as well.”

This Will Be A Year

The warmth of your love
Is like the warmth of the sun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Don’t let go of my hand
Now darkness has gone
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

And I won’t forget
The way you held me up when I was down
And I won’t forget the way you said,
“Darling I love you”
You gave me faith to go on

Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun
This will be our year
Took a long time to come

The warmth of your smile
Smile for me, little one
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

You don’t have to worry
All your worried days are gone
This will be our year
Took a long time to come

And I won’t forget
The way you held me up when I was down
And I won’t forget the way you said,
“Darling I love you”
You gave me faith to go on

Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Yeah we only just begun
Yeah this will be our year
Took a long time to come

Stems – At First Sight

I’m really into this band at the moment. This is one band I wish I would have known about in the 1980s. This song was on their album At First Sight, Violets Are Blue. The album is still rated as one of the best Australian guitar pop releases. In the early nineties, Rolling Stone included it in the top 100 Australian releases of all time. At First Sight became their signature song.

The Stems were a garage punk band formed in Perth, Western Australia in late 1983 by member Dom Mariani. They were hugely popular in Australia. They would release 7 singles, 2 albums, and 2 EP’s between 1985-1987.

They debuted in March 1984 and released a series of independent records on Sydney’s Citadel Records. Each release made it to number one on the Australian alternative charts. Dom Mariani’s earliest influences included The Beatles, The Raspberries, Badfinger, and Big Star. He formed his first band (The Go Starts) in 1981 and The Stems in 1984. The members included Mariani (songwriter, guitar, and vocals) Richard Lane (guitar/keyboard/vocals), Gary Chambers (drums) and Julian Matthews (bass).

The band broke up after this album in 1987. They regrouped in 2003 and played to packed houses across Australia and Europe. They disbanded again in 2009 and regrouped in 2013 and still play from time to time.

The song peaked at #90 in the Australian Kent Music Charts but I’ve read where it peaked at #1 on the alternative charts there as well…along with two more singles from this album.

On the 30th anniversary of the album….founding member Dom Mariani: “It seems like a long time, doesn’t it? Music’s one of those funny things that never dies, it’s there forever. It’s always going to be there and what we did 30 years ago has connected with people, and it’s a bit of a historical thing. Personally, I’ve kept doing it (playing music) because it gave me the confidence to keep writing songs and stay interested in it. If it had been a flop I might have taken a different path.”

Back then I would have never thought much of it. You can’t look into the future but we had high hopes, and thought we’d be chart topping & tour the world etc. We were lucky enough that what we did was popular, we had some good tunes, and we loved what we were doing. Where I’ve ended up, I’m pretty happy with though. If we’d had any degree of success that was ‘life changing’, we probably wouldn’t have done all the music that we did since then. I’ve had a great journey, and it’s always been about rock and roll. The art form is more important than owning a mansion.”

At First Sight

Just say the word and I would die for you
And I’ll be a flower if you wanted to
‘Cause I never met anyone quite like you
I lose my head my heart starts pounding too
And all I had to do was look at you
At first sight

I’ll be the motor in your car
And I’ll be the fire in your flaming star
And I’ll be the water in your waterfall
‘Cause I’d hit the ceiling I’d feel ten feet tall
And all I had to do was look at you

At first sight

Just say the word and I would die for you
And I’ll be a flower if you wanted to
‘Cause I’ve never met anyone quite like you
I lose my head my heart starts pounding too
All I had to do was look at you
At first sight

All I had to do was look at you
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight

At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight
At first sight

Who – Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand

This song was on the album called The Who Sell Out. I’ve said before that titles sometimes grab my attention and this one certainly did. This one has had many covers from other bands and artists.

The Who Sell Out is A Pop Art album that was fashioned after Pirate radio. The Who created spoof promo slots for Radio London, Premier Drums and Rotosound Strings, recorded in the brash ad-speak of 60s pirate radio. John Entwistle wrote two commercial jingles for Heinz Beans and Medac spot pimple cream.

Pete Townshend: “I’d already written two songs for [co-manager] Kit Lambert for the American Cancer Society – Little Billy and Kids! Do You Want Kids? – and I had Odorono, about a girl who loses a record contract. It wasn’t meant to be a commercial, it was just a song about body odor.”

I always thought it was a brilliant idea and remains a great satirical take on 60s consumerism.

The song would be the B side in America to I Can See For Miles.

The album was released on December 16, 1967. It peaked at #13 in the UK and #48 in the Billboard Album Charts. Their album Tommy would be released 2 years after this one and it would be their breakthrough all over the world.

Critic Dave Marsh called it “the greatest rock and roll album of its era” and “the Who’s consummate masterpiece, the work that holds together most tightly as concept and realization”.

Pete Townshend on the album: I’d demoed ‘Tattoo’ in my hotel room in Las Vegas during our three-day vacation, and a song called ‘Odorono’, named after a deodorant stick. ‘Odorono’ led us to the most perfect pop idea of all time: we would make our next record a vehicle for advertising. When we called Kit to explain, he was as excited as we were. I suggested we link the gaps between songs with jingles like those on commercial pirate radio.

John and Keith leapt on the idea, and, inspired by ‘Odorono’, began making up advertising jingles for all kinds of things, like Medac spot cream, Premier Drums and Heinz Baked Beans. But when the album was ready to be put together we were still short of tracks. John’s track didn’t feel right either, so he quickly produced a demo for another song called ‘Silas Stingy’, which, to be honest, was equally eccentric. But this was obviously going to be a very eccentric record.

Who – Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand

I danced with Linda
I danced with Jean
I danced with Cindy
Then I suddenly see

Mary-Anne with the shaky hands
What they’ve done to her man
Those shaky hands

Mary is so pretty
The prettiest in the land
Guys come from every city
Just to shake her shaky hands

Linda can cook
Jean reads books
Cindy can sew
But I’d rather know

Mary-Anne with the shaky hands
What they’ve done to her man
Those shaky hands

George Harrison – Any Road

I heard this song before George passed away…a live version of it by him on a VH1 special that he was on. The interviewer kept pushing him to do a song…I’m glad he did now. When I heard it I smiled because it was so George. With George’s songs, you could expect a good melody, slide guitar, and his own nugget of knowledge that he left behind.

This song was on George’s last album “Brainwashed” in 2003. George wrote the song in 1988 while working on a video for “Cloud Nine.” The song peaked at #37 in the UK chart in 2003.

George played this song on a VH1 show that ended up being his last performance before he died in 2001. You can tell he wasn’t really rehearsed or ready to play it but he gamely did…and I’m glad. George did not completely finish the album before he died so his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne helped finish it.

George’s son Dhani said that while he and his father were in Hawaii, they walked by a beach and saw a sign that read, “If the wind blows, you can always adjust your sails, but, if you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will take you there.” The sign was the inspiration for the song.

A form of the phrase also is in the exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

I thought this song was a good song for George to leave us with…It has his trademark slide and some ukulele in it.

“Any Road”

(Give me that plenty of that guitar.)

But I’ve been traveling on a boat and a plane
In a car on a bike with a bus and a train
Traveling there, traveling here
Everywhere in every gear

But oh Lord we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah you pay your fare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

And I’ve been traveling through the dirt and the grime
From the past to the future through the space and the time
Traveling deep beneath the waves
In watery grottoes and mountainous caves

But oh Lord we’ve got to fight
With the thoughts in the head with the dark and the light
No use to stop and stare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

You may not know where you came from
May not know who you are
May not have even wondered
How you got this far

I’ve been traveling on a wing and a prayer
By the skin of my teeth, by the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face, in the ice and the snow

But oooeeee it’s a game
Sometimes you’re cool, sometimes you’re lame
Ah yeah it’s somewhere
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

But oh Lord we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah you pay your fare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

I keep traveling around the bend
There was no beginning, there is no end
It wasn’t born and never dies
There are no edges, there is no sides

Oh yeah you just don’t win
It’s so far out, the way out is in
Bow to God and call him Sir
But if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
If you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there

(Yeah hey! Ah ee ah! Ah he ah!)

Beach Boys – Surfin’ U.S.A.

This is one of the first Beach Boy songs I heard and could connect to them. This is a song that the Beach Boys did in tribute to Chuck Berry except they forgot one small thing…they didn’t tell Chuck. He was in jail at the time of this song. When Berry threatened to sue, The Beach Boys agreed to give him a huge sum of the royalties and list him as the song’s composer along with Brian Wilson. Mike Love has claimed he wrote some of it also but never got credited.

The song also helped build Berry’s legend while he served his time. Surfin’ USA was based on Sweet Little Sixteen. Carl Wilson came up with the guitar intro, which is reminiscent of Duane Eddy’s “Moving and Grooving.”

One of the many Beach Boy songs about surfing. The only member of the band who actually surfed was drummer Dennis Wilson. The surfing culture gave them an opportunity to write songs about adventure and fun while exploring vocal harmonies and new production techniques. And while the majority of Americans didn’t surf, the songs represented California at the time.

This was the follow-up to their first hit “Surfin’ Safari.” Brian Wilson was gaining confidence as a producer, and this song marks the emergence of what would become the Beach Boys’ signature sound over the next few years.

The song peaked at #14 on the Billboard 100 in 1962. The B-side 409 peaked at #76 the same year.

Carl Wilson: “On ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.,’ Brian wanted an opening lick and I just did this Duane Eddy riff. I was worried that it had been on another record, but what the hell. That was the first time we were aware we could make a really powerful record. For the first time, we thought the group sounded good enough to be played with anything on the radio.”

Guitarist David Marks played guitar on the Beach Boys first five albums: “The energy on the Surfin’ USA session was very upbeat and happy. That’s where that chemistry thing kicks in again… there was a certain energy on that track that was a one-of-a-kind happening. It wasn’t perfect in a technical sense, but the vibe was something special that had a lasting effect.”

Surin’ USA

If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A.
Then everybody’d be surfin’
Like California
You’d seem ’em wearing their baggies
Huarachi sandals too
A bushy bushy blond hairdo
Surfin’ U.S.A.

You’d catch ’em surfin’ at Del Mar
Ventura County line
Santa Cruz and Trestle
Australia’s Narabine
All over Manhattan
And down Doheny Way

Everybody’s gone surfin’
Surfin’ U.S.A.

We’ll all be planning that route
We’re gonna take real soon
We’re waxing down our surfboards
We can’t wait for June
We’ll all be gone for the summer
We’re on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we’re surfin’
Surfin’ U.S.A.

Haggerties and Swamies
Pacific Palisades
San Anofree and Sunset
Redondo Beach L.A.
All over La Jolla
At Waimia Bay

Everybody’s gone surfin’
Surfin’ U.S.A.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Cry For The Bad Man

This is one of the many songs in rock and roll about a manager. It is a deep album cut that I’ve always liked.

Cry For The Bad Man is about Alan Walden, Skynyrd’s manager before they signed with Peter Rudge. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant was very close to Walden and even served as best man at his wedding, but he was outvoted in the decision to fire him. Walden later explained that he tried to keep the band financially sound and get them to be responsible with their money, but they rejected these efforts.

Walden was trying to get them to watch their money at a time when they just got the opening slot for The Who. Keith Moon liked the band and taught them costly habits like trashing hotel rooms and drinking the best liquor. Van Zant would later state that he regretted writing this song. Alan Walden’s brother was Phil Walden who managed The Allman Brothers.

The song was on the 1976 album Gimme Back My Bullets. The band was short one guitar player when they made the album. Ed King had left in the middle of a tour in 1975. It’s still a good album but not as strong as the previous three. After this album, they were looking for a 3rd guitarist. Leslie West of Mountain auditioned but he wanted to change their name to Lynyrd Skynryd featuring Leslie West…Ronnie Van Zant put an end to that.

Gimme Back My Bullets peaked at #20 on the Billboard Album Charts, #73 in Canada, and #34 in the UK.

Their backup singer Cassie Gaines started to tell them about her brother Steve who played guitar and would be a good fit. They thought…sure Cassie I’m sure your little brother is great. She kept pestering them until they finally gave him a chance when they played in Kansas. Steve Gaines got up on stage and blew them all away. Not only was he great…he was probably better than most guitarists in big bands at the time. He changed their sound to a more blues/jazz feel along with the rock.

They would bounce back that year with Gaines and cut the live album One More From The Road which peaked at #9 in the Billboard Album Charts, #49 in Canada, and #17 in the UK in 1976. The live versions of Gimme Three Steps and Free Bird are the versions most people remember.

Cry For The Bad Man

Well he walks so tall to be so small
Never met a man who´s stranger
He lives his life for a dollar sign
And to deal with him is dangerous
He knocked me down but I´m on my feet
Now I´m so much wiser
I´d rather quit and go back home
Than to deal with the money miser
Let´s cry for this bad man
I sing a song for the bad man

Well, you treat me right baby, I´ll treat you right
That´s the way its supposed to be
I put my faith down in my friend
And he almost put an end to me
Well I work seven days a week
Eight when I am able
When you take money from me you take food from my mama´s table
Let´s cry for this bad man
I wrote a song for the bad man

Oh baby you know who you are
Let´s cry for this bad man
I wrote a song for the bad man way down in Georgia

Well, you treat me right baby, I´ll treat you right
That´s the way its supposed to be
I put my faith down in my friend
And he almost put an end to me
Well, when you take my money baby when you hurt my family
I go walkin´ through the swamps without no shoes
Step on a snake it scares you
Let´s cry for this bad man
I wrote a song for the bad man
Oh let´s cry for this bad man
I wrote a song for the bad man

Oh baby straight to you
He´s so bad, so bad

Clash – Hitsville UK

I love Christmas every year but when it’s over…I’m happy to break back into the routine of pop/rock songs.

Recently I’ve dived into Sandinista! by The Clash. A very good triple album set. It’s been years since I listened to this one and I’m enjoying it. Not every single song but most I do like. I tend to like double and triple albums like they are. I’ve heard some say about London Calling, The White Album, and Exile On Mainstreet…hmmm they could have had a great album out of this if they would have cut it down. Most of the time I don’t agree because I love some good album cuts but this one…I will have to say I agree…this triple album should have been a double album…but for all of you Clash super fans…you might like the entire album….if you do that is great and I know how you feel…I wouldn’t change a thing about the White Album…not even Revolution #9.

Clash Saninista!

Ellen Foley, who was Mick Jones’ girlfriend at the time, is singing on this track along with Jones. You might know her from singing with Meatloaf on Paradise By The Dashboard Lights. The title relates to Motown Records or known as Hitsville U.S.A…

The song is a duet between Clash guitarist Mick Jones and his then-girlfriend Ellen Foley (who also sang “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” together with Meat Loaf). It was rumored that “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” is about Jones’ and Foley’s relationship.

Bassist Paul Simonon was busy starring in a film called Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains when the Clash started the album Sandinista! Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ bassist Norman Watt-Roy filled in for him for a few cuts including The Magnificent Seven.

In 1981, Ellen Foley and Mick Jones teamed up for another duet on “Torchlight,” a track from Foley’s solo album Spirit Of St. Louis that Jones wrote with Joe Strummer.

The song peaked at #53 in the Billboard 100 and #56 in the UK in 1980. If you want to see a review of Sandinista! check out Aphoristic Album Reviews on this album.

The song according to Songfacts: The lyrics refer to the upcoming British Indie scene in the late ’70s and early ’80s. There are several independent label references in the song, including Small Wonder, Rough Trade, Fast Product and Factory, which in contrast with “slimy deals with smarmy eels.

Ellen Foley: “That stands out as the most fun and relaxed part of the whole thing and it was fun to multitrack my vocals on that one, it was a super lighthearted song that spoke to an experience that I understood, being an American and a fan of the original Hitsville.”

Ellen Foley: “For me, ‘Hitsville UK’ is about the history of The Clash and the beginnings of British punk rock, how it was by kids for kids. The lyric goes, “I know the boys and girls are not alone now that Hitsville hit UK. Motown was really an early soundtrack of my youth. I loved the Miracles because of Smokey Robinson’s voice and songwriting. Smokey is the consummate artist and songwriter. The Four Tops and the Temptations — that was like a battle of the bands in my mind. Having these male singing groups with the amazing harmonies and choreography was something new to me.”

Hitsville UK

They cried the tears, they shed the fears
Up and down the land
They stole guitars or used guitars
So the tape would understand
Without even the slightest hope of a thousand sales
Just as if there was a Hitsville in UK
Know the boy was all alone, till the Hitsville UK

They say true talent will always emerge in time
When lightening hits small wonder
It’s fast rough factory trade
No expense accounts, or lunch discounts
Or hypeing up the charts
The band went in ‘n’ knocked ’em dead in two minutes and fifty-nine

No slimey deals, with smarmy eels, in Hitsville UK
Let’s shake ‘n’ say we’ll operate in Hitsville UK
The mutants, creeps and muscle men
Are shaking like a leaf
It blows a hole in the radio
When it hasn’t sounded good all week
A mike ‘n’ boom, in your living room – in Hitsville UK
No consumer trials, or A.O.R. in Hitsville UK
Now the boys and girls are not alone
Now the Hitsvilles hit U

Jackson 5 – Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Merry Christmas to the entire WordPress world. This is a great community we have going on and I hope everyone has a beautiful day today.

I just heard the Jackson 5 version again yesterday. I need to write the Bruce version up…I never have since I’ve been blogging which is dumb.

I’ve never been a huge Michael Jackson fan except with the Jackson 5. He was immensely talented and had some great-selling albums. Maybe it was just being burned out hearing him.. The Jackson 5 though I really liked and still do. I thought they had some great pop/soul/bubblegum singles in the early to mid-seventies.

This version was released in 1970 and it peaked at #46 in the Billboard 100 and came off the Jackson 5 Christmas Album album. The album peaked at #53 on the Billboard Album Charts and #45 in Canada.

According to Wiki: The album spent four weeks at the number one position on Billboard magazine’s special Christmas Albums chart that the magazine published in December 1970, making it the best-selling Christmas album of that year and also of the year 1972 in the United States.

According to a Top 30 list released by the performance rights organization ASCAP in December 2014, this is the most-performed holiday song of all time. “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” was ranked second and “White Christmas” third.

This was written in 1932 by Haven Gillespie and J. Fred Coots. They had trouble convincing anyone to produce it because it was seen as a kids’ song, which would have been very hard to sell. The big break came when Eddie Cantor sang it on his radio show in 1934, and the song became an instant hit. Coots was a writer for Cantor’s show and pushed for the host to perform it. Cantor was going to pass on the song but was convinced by his wife, Ida, to give it a try.

One of the most successful Christmas carols of all time, this was outsold only by “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “White Christmas.”

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town

Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

He is making a list
And checking it twice
Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice

Santa Claus is comin’ to town, oh yeah
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake

Oh, you d better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why

Oh, Santa Claus is comin’ to town, oh yeah
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town, woo hoo

Woo hoo
Woo hoo
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

Little tin horns
And little toy drums
Rooty-toot-toot
And rump-a-tum-tums
Curly-haired dolls
That tootle and coo
Elephants, boats and kiddie cars too

Oh, Santa Claus is comin’ to town, oh yeah
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

One more time now

Santa Claus is comin’ to town, oh yeah
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

…