Singles – Page 77 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody

This is fast becoming my favorite rock Christmas song second only to John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas Everybody

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

Clash – The Magnificent Seven

The bass intro to this song is worth the price of admission by itself. It still sounds alive and fresh 42 years later. When you namecheck Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Milhous Nixon, Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, and Rin Tin Tin…you are doing damn well.

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 was there so we wrote the superb bassline.

There was a controversy after Sandinista! was released due to every song having the”The Clash” writing credit that failed to name outside writers like Norman Watt-Roy. This has been considered the first rap-style song to be written by a white rock band. It was recorded in March 1980, six months before Blondie’s own attempt at the genre with “Rapture.” For me, I do think it has elements of course but it’s a cross between rock, rap, funk, and Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues. I also hear elements of the next album Combat Rock in this one.

The song peaked at 21 on the Billboard Dance Chart, #18 in Canada, and #34 in the UK.

The song was recorded in March 1980 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Sandinista! was released as a triple album in 1980. It peaked at #24 on the Billboard Album Charts, #3 in Canada, #3 in New Zealand, and #19 in the UK in 1980. They did get the title from the famous 1960 movie.

Joe Strummer on the triple album: “I stand proud of it, warts and all. It’s a magnificent thing! I wouldn’t change it even if I could. And that’s after some soul-searching. Just from the fact that it was all thrown down in one go. It’s, like, outrageous. And that it was released like that, it’s doubly outrageous — triply outrageous.”

The Magnificent Seven

Ring, ring, it’s 7:00 A.M.
Move yourself to go again
Cold water in the face
Brings you back to this awful place

Knuckle merchants and your bankers too
Must get up and learn those rules
Weather man and the crazy chief
One says sun and one says sleet

A.M., the F.M. the P.M. too
Churnin’ out that boogaloo
Gets you up and it gets you out
But how long can you keep it up?

Gimme Honda, gimme Sony
So cheap and real phony
Hong Kong dollar, Indian cents
English pounds and Eskimo pence

You lot, what?
Don’t stop, give it all you got
You lot, what?
Don’t stop, yeah

Working for a rise, better my station
Take my baby to sophistication
Seen the ads, she thinks it’s nice
Better work hard, I seen the price

Never mind that it’s time for the bus
We got to work and you’re one of us
Clocks go slow in a place of work
Minutes drag and the hours jerk

Yeah, wave bye, bye (when can I tell ’em what I do?)
(In a second, maan, alright Chuck)

Wave bub-bub-bub-bye to the boss
It’s our profit, it’s his loss
But anyway the lunch bells ring
Take one hour, do your thang
Cheeesboiger

What do we have for entertainment?
Cops kickin’ gypsies on the pavement
Now the news has snapped to attention
Lunar landing of the dentist convention

Italian mobster shoots a lobster
Seafood restaurant gets out of hand
A car in the fridge, a fridge in the car
Like cowboys do in TV land

You lot, what?
Don’t stop, give it all you got
You lot, what?
Don’t stop, huh

You lot, what?
Don’t stop, give it all you got, yeah
You lot, what?
Don’t stop

So get back to work and sweat some more
The sun will sink and we’ll get out the door
It’s no good for man to work in cages
Hit the town, he drinks his wages

You’re frettin’, you’re sweatin’
But did you notice, you ain’t gettin’
You’re frettin’, you’re sweatin’
But did you notice, not gettin’ anywhere

Don’t you ever stop, a long enough to start
Take your car outta that gear
Don’t you ever stop, long enough to start
Get your car outta that gear

Karlo Marx and Frederick Engels
Came to the checkout at the 7-11
Marx was skint but he had sense
Engels lent him the necessary pence

What have we got? Yeah, ooh
What have we got? Yeah, ooh
What have we got? Magnificence
What have we got?

Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi
Went to the park to check on the game
But they was murdered by the other team
Who went on to win fifty-nil

You can be true, you can be false
You’ll be given the same reward
Socrates and Milhous Nixon
Both went the same way through the kitchen

Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who’s more famous to the billion millions?
News flash, ‘Vacuum cleaner sucks up budgie’
Ooh, bye-bye, bub-bye

The magnificent seven
Magnificent
Magnificent seven

Bruce Springsteen – Merry Christmas Baby

There have been many versions of this song but this one is the one I listen to the most. The dynamics in this version are great.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas Baby

Bring it down, band!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh yeah!
Merry Christmas baby!

Cheap Trick – If You Want My Love ….Power Pop Friday

A great Cheap Trick song. In 1982 it was released off the album “One on One” and peaked at #45 on the Billboard 100 and #57 on the UK Charts. That low charting surprised me somewhat because it received heavy airplay on MTV when they actually played music videos.

When I heard the bridge of this song I noticed the strong Beatle influence. I would tell people in the 80s…if the Beatles released a song now…this is what it would sound like. Just a couple of years before, their album All Shook Up was produced by no other than George Martin.

This song was off the album One On One which was produced by Roy Thomas Baker. I bought the album and is one of my favorites by them. John at 2loud2oldmusic reviewed this album a while back. It peaked at #39 on the Billboard Album Chart, #39 in Canada, and #95 in the UK. The two hit singles were If You Want My Love and She’s Tight.

Original bassist Tom Petersson left the band in 1980 and was replaced by Pete Comita. Comita didn’t make it through the recording of this album and he was replaced by Jon Brant. Brant played on Saturday at Midnight, If You Want My Love, and She’s Tight. The rest of the album’s bass tracks were recorded by Rick Nielson. Brant left on good terms in 1987 after playing on the next three albums. Tom Petersson returned after that. Brant has filled in for Petersson when he wasn’t able to tour.

A similar instance happened with Tom Petty and The Heartbreaker’s original bass player Ron Blair. He left the band in 1982 only to return in 2002.

Cheap Trick was always one of the hardest-working bands ever…they toured relentlessly. Rick Nielson has said If You Want My Love is one of his favorite songs he ever recorded.

If You Want My Love

If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
I won’t hide it
I won’t throw your love away, ooh

Yes, I thought you were a mystery girl
A special girl in this crazy old world
You couldn’t see me when I laid eyes on you

Lonely is only a place
You don’t know what it’s like
You can’t fight it
And it’s a hole in my heart, in my heart

If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
I won’t hide it
I won’t throw your love away, ooh

You hold the secrets of love in this world
I’m hypnotized by your every word
A special face, a special voice, a special smile in my life

‘Cause lonely is only a place
You don’t know what it’s like
You can’t fight it
And it’s a hole in my heart, in my heart

If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
I won’t hide it
I won’t throw your love away, ooh

If you want my love, you got it
When you need my love, you got it
You won’t hide it
You won’t throw your love away, ooh

John Lennon – Crippled Inside

On December 8th I left my schedule empty because I know who I’m going to slide in there. It’s the ugliest rock date of the year. John by far is my favorite Beatle and the leader of that band. My next post as always on this date will be about where I was when I found out…and I update it some every year.

I’ve always considered Plastic Ono Band and Imagine the top two albums that Lennon made and either one will match up with the best of the other solo Beatles albums. They both are sparse and more simple than his Beatle colleagues. Imagine is a more polished album than Plastic Ono Band… of course, that is not saying a lot. Phil Spector produced this album and I’ve always wondered why Lennon got him when he didn’t like overproduced music. He kept Spector under control for the most part.

When the Beatles broke up, John and Paul dove headfirst into their individual careers. Paul jumped straight into pop and Lennon dived into writing what he thought was the truth and setting it to a backbeat. They were not going to veer from their respective targets. You could tell they didn’t have each other to hold the other back anymore. That is what the Beatles had as a whole that the two head Beatles didn’t anymore. George just went on… already accustomed to writing alone but John and Paul had no brakes.

For John, it paid off in two brilliant albums off the bat that probably would not have been the same with The Beatles. With Paul, it paid off with Ram but with just an OK debut album. After these first two albums, John seemed to lose some of his edge and Paul took a while but finally gained more confidence until he made his masterpiece Band On The Run released late in 1973.

David Bowie gave John a huge compliment. He said he could find the most odd ideas and turn them around for the masses.

Imagine peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts and the UK. It also peaked at #2 in Canada in 1971.

David Bowie: “Hell, I mean, he was one of the major major influences on my musical life. I just thought he was the very best of what could be done with Rock and Roll. I felt such kin to him as much as he would rifle the avant-garde and look for ideas that were so on the outside on the periphery of what was the mainstream and then make them apply in a functional manner to something that was considered populist and make it work.”

“He would make the most odd idea and make it work for the masses I thought that was just so admirable. I mean, that was like making art work for the people and not sort of having it as an elitist, you know. The thing there was just so much about in that I admire, he was tremendous”

John Lennon: Songwriting is like getting the demon out of me. It’s like being possessed. You try to go to sleep, but the song won’t let you. So you have to get up and make it into something, and then you’re allowed to sleep. It’s always in the middle of the bloody night or when you’re half awake or tired, when your critical faculties are switched off.

‘Crippled Inside’ is a social comment. It talks about people having false fronts in society and really underneath there’s something else. Satire. There was one review of that song that said, ‘Oh, that kind of song has been done before…’ but I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was sitting down and this little riff came into me head, like an old Twenties song: ‘One thing you can’t hide is when you’re crippled inside.’ It just came to me, you know, like that, and I just finished it off.

Crippled Inside

You can shine your shoes and wear a suit
You can comb your hair and look quite cute
You can hide your face behind a smile
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside

You can wear a mask and paint your face
You can call yourself the human race
You can wear a collar and a tie
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside

Well now you know that your
Cat has nine lives
Nine lives to itself
But you only got one
And a dog’s life ain’t fun
Momma take a look outside

You can go to church and sing a hymn
You can judge me by the color of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside

Well now you know that your
Cat has nine lives
Nine lives to itself
But you only got one
And a dog’s life ain’t fun
Momma take a look outside

You can go to church and sing a hymn
Judge me by the color of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside

One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside

Dion – Abraham, Martin and John

Sometimes a pop song is more important than just a regular pop song…this is one of them.

Great song by Dion. This song is a tribute to those involved in the battle for civil rights. The title refers to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and John F. Kennedy. The last verse in the song refers to Bobby …JFK’s brother, Robert Kennedy. Everyone mentioned in the song has died and this is symbolized by their progression over a hill.

This was written by the rockabilly singer Richard Louis Holler…better known as Dick Holler who also wrote the novelty hit Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron. Abraham, Martin and John has been covered by artists including Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Emmylou Harris, Andy Williams, Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston, and Moms Mabley, among others.

Dion was in bad shape when this song presented itself. He had just recovered from heroin addiction and was offered this as a possible comeback song. It peaked at #4 on Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #12 in New Zealand in 1968 and reestablished Dion in the music business.

Initially, Dion detested the song, but he has since come to understand its legacy. Later on, Dion claimed to have received over 4,000 letters thanking him for recording this song.

Dion: “I realized that what these four guys had in common was a dream… It was like they had the courage to believe that a state of love really can exist.”

Abraham, Martin and John

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone

Has anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone

Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone

Didn’t you love the things that they stood for?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free
Someday soon, it’s gonna be
One day

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin’
Up over the hill
With Abraham, Martin and John

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich – The Legend Of Xanadu

The song I know most by them is Hold Tight but after finding that one I found this odd song by them. It was their only #1 song in the UK. It also did well in New Zealand peaking at #1, #10 in Canada, and #123 in the Billboard 100 in 1968. The song was written by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley.

You know…before we continue. Sometimes a band’s name can help and maybe hurt them a little. In this case, the word HINDER comes into play… although I do get a laugh out of it…I had to serach my own site to find their correct name again.

David John Harman (Dave Dee), Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies (Dozy), John Dymond (Beaky), Michael Wilson (Mick) and Ian Frederick Stephen Amey (Tich), who were childhood friends from Wiltshire (same area as the Troggs) formed a group in 1961. They were originally called Dave Dee and the Bostons. A few years later they changed their names to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.

Songwriter Ken Howard who recorded them: “We changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, because they were their actual nicknames and because we wanted to stress their very distinct personalities in a climate which regarded bands as collectives”.

They never made it big in America but they were huge in the UK. They had thirteen UK Top forty hits, eight UK Top 10’s, and one Number 1 with this song. In New Zealand, the band had three number-one hits, and seven other songs reached the top ten.

I heard them a bit through the 80s and 90s but not much. Quentin Tarantino must have liked them because he featured Hold Tight in his movie Death Proof during the infamous crash scene.

The group re-formed in the 1990s with Dee as lead vocalist once again. Dave Dee performed his last gig in Eisenburg, Germany on September 20, 2008, and died at Kingston Hospital, southwest London, in January 2009 at the age of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer.

The Legend Of Xanadu

Esta es la leyenda de Xanadu

You’ll hear my voice, on the wind, ‘cross the sandIf you should returnTo that black barren land that bears the name of Xanadu

Cursed without hope, was the love that I soughtLost from the startWas the duel that was s’pposed to win her heart in Xanadu

And the foot prints leave no tracesOnly shadows move in places where we used to goAnd the buildings open to the skyAll echo when the vultures cry as if to showOur love was for a dayThen doomed to pass awayIn Xanadu, in Xanadu, in Xanadu

In Xanadu, in Xanadu, in Xanadu

What was it to you that a man laid down his life for your loveWere those clear eyes of yours everFilled with the pain and the tears and the griefDid you ever give your self to any one man in this whole wide worldOr did you love me and will you find your way back one day to Xanadu

You’ll hear my voice, on the wind, ‘cross the sandIf you should returnTo that black barren land that bears the name of Xanadu

In Xanadu, in Xanadu, in Xanadu, in Xanadu

Beatles – Rocky Raccoon

This coming weekend I’m going to attempt a Beatles album ranking post which I’ve never done… so I’ve been listening to the White Album. Rocky Raccoon is a great way to start out the week

I bought the White Album in the winter of 1981 right after John Lennon was murdered. It has remained my favorite album ever by far. You have such a variety on this album and it gives you different glances at the Beatles without many studio tricks and sounds.

This song starts with a strumming guitar and then comes Paul talking/singing in his best western voice. Now somewhere in the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota
There lived a young boy named Rocky Raccoon.

The main character was originally called Rocky Sassoon but McCartney changed it to Raccoon, as he thought the name was more cowboyish.

The original title of the album was going to be “A Doll’s House“… but the band Family used the title Music from a Doll’s House for its debut album, so The Beatles scrapped the idea. The album’s real name ended up being “The Beatles” but the plain white cover nickname soon took over. From some accounts here is the original cover.

In 1968, McCartney got the idea for it when he was playing guitar with John Lennon and Donovan Leitch at the Maharishi’s camp in India. Rocky in the song is a cowboy in the old west and challenges Dan when Dan ran off with Rocky’s girl. In the gunfight, Dan is too quick and shoots Rocky wounding him. When the song was recorded… Beatles producer George Martin played the piano in an old-west saloon style.

Rocky in this song is not a raccoon but a boy whose girl runs off with his rival, Dan. The song is set in the Old West, so Rocky does what any self-respecting cowboy would do: he challenges Dan to a gunfight. Unfortunately for Rocky, he Dan is quick on the draw and shoots him first, wounding Rocky and proving himself worthy of the girl.

The album peaked at #1 in the US, Canada, UK, and just about everywhere in 1968.

Paul McCartney: “Rocky was me writing (speaks-sings in a baccy-chewing old prospector voice), ‘It was way back in the hills of Dakota-or Arkansas-in the mining days. And it was tough, picking shovels, and we were underground 24 hours a day…’ I could have taken this serious route, researched it – ‘Take This Hammer’ (a prison work song recorded by British skiffle star Lonnie Donegan in 1959), stuff I’d been brought up on. But at that point I was a little tongue-in cheek. So I crossed it with a (British singer and banjo player popular in the 1940s) George Formby sensibility, where John and I would go (sings a bit of doggerel in a choppy rhythm) – Stanley Holloway, Albert in The Lion’s Den (the comic poem The Lion and Albert, written by Holloway’s creative partner Marriott Edgar in 1932). We were very versed in all that stuff (sings opening lines of Rocky Raccoon in the same choppy way). The scanning of the poetical stanza always interested me. Somehow this little story unfolded itself.

I was basically spoofing ‘the folk-singer.’ And it included Gideon’s Bible, which I’ve seen in every hotel I’ve ever been in. You open the drawer and there it is! Who’s this guy Gideon! I still don’t know to this day who the heck he is. I’m sure he’s a very well-meaning guy. Rocky Raccoon was a freewheeling thing, the fun of mixing a folky ramble with Albert In The Lion’s Den with its ”orse’s ‘ead ‘andle,’ ha ha.”

Many cover versions have been recorded. Some of the artists are Richie Havens, Ramsey Lewis, Jack Johnson, Andrew Gold, James Blunt, Phish, Jimmy Buffett, Maureen McGovern, Kingston Wall, Charlie Parr, and Andy Fairweather Low.

Rocky Raccoon

Now somewhere in the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota
There lived a young boy named Rocky Raccoon
And one day his woman ran off with another guy
Hit young Rocky in the eye
Rocky didn’t like that
He said, “I’m gonna get that boy”
So one day he walked into town
Booked himself a room in the local saloon

Rocky Raccoon checked into his room
Only to find Gideon’s Bible
Rocky had come, equipped with a gun
To shoot off the legs of his rival
His rival it seems, had broken his dreams
By stealing the girl of his fancy
Her name was Magill, and she called herself Lil
But everyone knew her as Nancy
Now she and her man, who called himself Dan
Were in the next room at the hoe down
Rocky burst in, and grinning a grin
He said, “Danny boy, this is a showdown”
But Daniel was hot, he drew first and shot
And Rocky collapsed in the corner

Now the doctor came in, stinking of gin
And proceeded to lie on the table
He said, “Rocky, you met your match”
And Rocky said, “Doc, it’s only a scratch
And I’ll be better, I’ll be better, Doc, as soon as I am able”

Now Rocky Raccoon, he fell back in his room
Only to find Gideon’s Bible
Gideon checked out, and he left it, no doubt
To help with good Rocky’s revival

David Bowie – Drive-In Saturday

Like Neil Young, The Beatles, and a few others…Bowie could and would change his music direction on a dime and still be commercially successful. Personally, I liked his glam period the best but I liked all of them. He would venture into soul music, experimental music, dance music, pop music, stripped-down rock with Tin Machine, and the list goes on.

Not only was he a great singer and musician but he was also a very good actor. He appeared in such movies as The Man Who Fell To Earth, Labyrinth, The Last Temptation of Christ, and more.

I love this song and Bowie’s glam rock period. It hit high in the charts in the UK but was not released as a single in America or Canada. It peaked at #3 in the UK in 1973. The song was on the album Aladdin Sane which peaked at #1 in the UK, #17 on the Billboard Album Charts and #20 in Canada. Here is a review of the album from The Press Music Reviews.

Bowie had written Mott The Hoople’s greatest hit All The Young Dudes and he wrote this for them as a follow-up. They rejected it so he took it for himself. He said it was influenced by the landscape between Seattle and Phoenix, Arizona on his 1972 tour. Just a few hours after he wrote it he performed it on that 72 tour.

In the song, he referenced some famous people like Mick Jagger, Carl Jung, and Twiggy. Twiggy would later appear on the cover of his album Pin-Ups. The song has an unusual storyline… In the future, nuclear war has caused humanity to forget how to have sex and they have to relearn seduction techniques from old films.

Before he played the new song he told the audience this: This is the bit where all the people with the tape recorders have to leave, because I’m gonna do a new number and you mustn’t record it…. I’ll tell you where we wrote this. We wrote this from Phoenix down to Seattle—no, see, it’s the other way around, isn’t it—from Seattle down to Phoenix, and it was about the future, and it’s about a future where people have forgotten how to make love, so they go back onto video-films that they have kept from this century. This is after a catastrophe of some kind, and some people are living on the streets and some people are living in domes, and they borrow from one another and try to learn how to pick up the pieces. And it’s called “Drive-In Saturday.”

Drive-In Saturday

(Uh uh ah) Let me put my arms around your head
(Dom do ah) Gee, it’s hot, let’s go to bed
Don’t forget to turn on the light
Don’t laugh babe, it’ll be alright
(Dom do ah) Pour me out another phone
(Dom do ah) I’ll ring and see if your friends are home
Perhaps the strange ones in the dome
Can lend us a book we can read up alone

And try to get it on like once before
When people stared in Jagger’s eyes and scored
Like the video films we saw

His name was always buddy (got got do ah aah aah)
And he’d shrug and ask to stay
She’d sigh like twig the wonder kid (got got do ah)
And turn her face away

She’s uncertain if she likes him (got got do ah aah aah)
But she knows she really loves him
It’s a crash course for the ravers (got got do ah)
It’s a drive-in Saturday

Jung the foreman prayed at work (dom do ah)
Neither hands nor limbs would burst
It’s hard enough to keep formation with this fall out saturation

(Bah dom bah) cursing at the astronette
(Dom do ah) who stands in steel by his cabinet
He’s crashing out with Sylvian
The bureau supply for aging men
With snorting head he gazes to the shore
Once had raised a sea that raged no more
Like the video films we saw

His name was always buddy (got got do ah aah aah)
And he’d shrug and ask to stay
She’d sigh like twig the wonder kid (got got do ah)
And turn her face away

She’s uncertain if she likes him (got got do ah aah aah)
But she knows she really loves him
It’s a crash course for the ravers (got got do ah)
It’s a drive-in Saturday

His name was always buddy (got got do ah aah aah)
And he’d shrug and ask to stay
She’d sigh like twig the wonder kid (got got do ah)
And turn her face away

She’s uncertain if she likes him (got got do ah aah aah)
But she knows she really loves him
It’s a crash course for the ravers (got got do ah)
It’s a drive-in Saturday, yeah, yeah

(Drive-in Saturday)
(It’s a drive-in Saturday)
(It’s a drive-in Saturday)
(It’s a drive-in Saturday)
It’s a, it’s a, it’s a drive in Saturday (It’s a drive-in Saturday)
It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir,
Yes sir
(It’s a drive-in Saturday) dom do do do, dom do do do
(It’s a drive-in Saturday) dom do do da, dom do do da
(It’s a drive-in Saturday) yes sir
(It’s a drive-in Saturday)

Ramones – I Wanna Be Sedated

This song and The KKK Took My Baby Away are my two top favorite Ramones saongs.

This song was released in 1978 on The Ramone’s album Road to Ruin. It has no chart history on Billboard but is one of their best-known songs. The Ramones were to the point, with no solos, no frills… just about the song.

I’ve heard them described as punk, bubblegum, rock, heavy rock and everything in between. I always thought they combined the elements of all of them.

When Joey Ramone wrote the lyrics for “I Wanna Be Sedated,” he was not joking. They were on tour in New Jersey in 1977 when the singer badly burned his face and chest with scalding water from a vaporizer he was using to soothe his throat.

He finished the show, then went to the hospital with second and third-degree burns. They pulled a bunch of shows while he recovered, and when they returned to the road in Europe he was still in constant pain. The song was scribbled down in London around Christmas, and the band cut it in 1978. Needless to say, it didn’t impact the charts, but today it’s one of their most-played songs on the radio. Joey Ramone said at one time it was his favorite Ramone track.

Joey Ramone: It’s a road song. I wrote it in 1977, through the 78. Well, Danny Fields was our first manager and he would work us to death. We would be on the road 360 days a year, and we went over to England, and we were there at Christmas time, and in Christmas time, London shuts down. There’s nothing to do, nowhere to go. Here we were in London for the first time in our lives, and me and Dee Dee Ramone were sharing a room in the hotel, and we were watching The Guns of Navarone. So there was nothing to do, I mean, here we are in London finally, and this is what we are doing, watching American movies in the hotel room.

I Wanna Be Sedated

Twenty twenty twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothing to do, nowhere to go o,
I wanna be sedated

Just get me to the airport, put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry, before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers, I can’t control my brain
Oh no oh oh oh oh

Twenty twenty twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothing to do, no where to go o,
I wanna be sedated

Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry, before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers, I can’t control my brain
Oh no oh oh oh oh

Twenty twenty twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothing to do, no where to go o,
I wanna be sedated

Just put me in a wheelchair, get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry, before I go loco
I can’t control my fingers, I can’t control my toes
Oh no oh oh oh oh

Twenty twenty twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothing to do, no where to go o,
I wanna be sedated

Just put me in a wheelchair, get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry, before I go loco
I can’t control my fingers, I can’t control my toes
Oh no oh oh oh oh

Ba ba baba, baba ba baba, I wanna be sedated
Ba ba baba, baba ba baba, I wanna be sedated
Ba ba baba, baba ba baba, I wanna be sedated
Ba ba baba, baba ba baba, I wanna be sedated

Bing Crosby & David Bowie – Peace On Earth / The Little Drummer Boy

I love unions like this…I will start to have some holiday posts mixed in on the way to Christmas as a second post like this one. In 1977 Bowie released his album Low at the beginning of the year and he toured as Iggy Pop’s keyboardist that year.

I know what I was doing on November 30, 1977. I was watching Merrie Olde Christmas special as a kid. I didn’t appreciate the weirdness of the combination of Bing Crosby and David Bowie at the time. Something that the seventies did well…was to intersect generations on variety shows. This one was a great combination.

This special had guest stars Twiggy, David Bowie, Ron Moody, Stanley Baxter, and The Trinity Boys Choir. It was the duet with Bing Crosby and David Bowie that has been remembered. I remember watching this knowing that Bing Crosby had died the month earlier. The duet was taped on September 11, 1977, and Crosby died on October 14, 1977.

David Bowie’s mother was a huge Bing Crosby fan and Bing Crosby’s children were big David Bowie fans…so the two agreed to sing together. It was questionable at first if it would work out.

Mary Crosby: “The doors opened and David walked in with his wife, They were both wearing full-length mink coats, they have matching full makeup and their hair was bright red. We were thinking, ‘Oh my god.'” Nathaniel Crosby, Bing’s son, added: “It almost didn’t happen. I think the producers told him to take the lipstick off and take the earring out. It was just incredible to see the contrast.”

Another possible hitch happened with Bowie. He didn’t like The Little Drummer Boy and refused to sing it. The writers then wrote a revised version of the song that he liked. They wrote a counterpart section for Bowie to sing. Crosby liked the challenge of his part. The rest is history and one of the most unusual pairings you will ever see…

One funny part is Bowie’s idea of “older fellas” at the time is John Lennon and Harry Nilsson.

Here is the complete show if you want to give it a try

The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)

Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Our finest gifts we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum

[Verse 2: Bowie and Crosby]
Peace on Earth can it be?
Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Years from now, perhaps we’ll see?
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day of glory
Our finest gift we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day, when men of good will
To lay before the king pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, Rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
So to honour him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Can it be
When we come

[Bridge: Bowie and Crosby in unison]
Every child must be made aware
Every child must be made to care
Care enough for his fellow man
To give all the love that he can

[Verse 4: Bowie and Crosby]
I pray my wish will come true
Little baby pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
For my child and your child too
I stood beside him there pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
He’ll see the day of glory
I played my drum for him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day when men of good will
I played my best for him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
Me and my drum
Can it be

Can it be

Sloan – Spend The Day …. Power Pop Friday

My friend Deke got me into this power pop band from Canada. Deke and Dave have introduced me to many Canadian artists that I hadn’t heard of before like Blue Rodeo, The Moist, ~~Justin Bieber~~ (Just Kidding Guys!), Tragically Hip, and more. It still puzzles me why some very successful Canadian bands in the 80s-90s didn’t translate in the US.

Sloan got its start in Halifax during the early ‘90s. The band played around the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Toronto. They got their name from a pot-smoking musician they knew in Halifax. He worked in a restaurant as a busboy and used to be known as “the slow one.”

The band made their recording debut on the Halifax, Canada CD compilation “Hear & Now” with the song “Underwhelmed” before releasing their debut EP “Peppermint” in 1991 on their own label Murderecords. In 1992 Sloan signed with Geffen Records and released their full-length debut “Smeared”. The album had somewhat of a grunge style. They soon switched to power pop and they have some fantastic songs.

Hearing this band is encouraging for Power Pop. A few weeks ago I posted a song about The Beths and now Sloan who have new albums out. Their influences have been listed as The Beatles, Sonic Youth, Fleetwood Mac, and more. In this song, I hear a little Beatles and Who.

This song is on their new album called Steady released on October 21, 2022. It’s their 13th album to date. Guitarist Patrick Pentland wrote this song. There is a great review of this album here. I would recommend giving this power pop band a try.

Spend The Day

It’s not like living in your real worldIs better than my life on The Other SideI’m sick of wired and I’m tetheringAnd weathering somewhere out of my mind

Hide awaySpend the day in here with me a whileHide awaySpend the day in here with me a while

It’s not like every time your wide eyesLook at something that it’s full of liesYou’re gonna try and findThe who what why whereI refuse to recognize

Hide awaySpend the day in here with me a whileHide awaySpend the day in here with me a while

It’s not that living in your real worldIs better than my life on The Other SideI’m sick of wired and I’m tetheringAnd weathering somewhere out of my mind

Hide awaySpend the day in here with me a whileHide awaySpend the day in here with me a whileHide awayHide awaySpend the dayHide awayHide awayWith me a while

Paul McCartney – The Back Seat Of My Car

This is an overlooked McCartney song on his album Ram. It’s close to pop perfection. He wrote it when he was still with the Beatles. You can hear some of it on Get Back. It sounds like Paul and Brian Wilson merged together.

This song charted in the UK in 1971 at #39. Paul wasn’t the most popular Beatle out of the gate. Much of the public still blamed him for the Beatle’s split because he was the one that officially announced it to the world. The other Beatles weren’t really happy with him either because he was suing them. The critics were after him for being too pop. His first album McCartney and this one, Ram were not well received when released.

After time these albums are favorably reviewed. Ram has been called the first alternative album by some modern critics. The Back Seat Of My Car was McCartney’s second single release in the UK but it wasn’t released as a single the US. Uncle Albert – Admiral Halsey was the first single released from the album and it peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, in Canada, and New Zealand.

There were some lines in this song that John Lennon thought were directed at him and Yoko. Specifically, “We believe that we can’t be wrong.”Paul did get the help of the New York Philharmonic to provide the orchestral accompaniment on this song.

Paul McCartney: “Back Seat of My Car” is the ultimate teenage song, and even though it was a long time since I was a teenager and had to go to a girl’s dad and explain myself, it’s that kind of meet-the-parents song. It’s a good old driving song. [Sings] “We can make it to Mexico City.” I’ve never driven to Mexico City, but it’s imagination. And obviously “back seat” is snogging, making love.

The Back Seat Of My Car

Speed along the highway, honey I want it my way
But listen to her daddy’s song, don’t stay out to long
Were just busy hidin’, sitting in the back seat of my car

The lazy lights are pretty, we end up in Mexico City
But listen to her daddy’s song, makin’ love is wrong
Were just busy ridin’, sitting in the back seat of my car

Oh we was only hidin’, sitting in the back seat of my car
And when we’ve finished drivin’ we can say we were late in arriving
And listen to her daddy’s song, we believe that we can’t be wrong
Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong
Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong

We can make it to Mexico City, sittin’ in the backseat of my car

Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong
Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong
Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong
Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong
Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong
Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong
No no no no
Ohhh we believe that we can’t be wrong

…

Bruce Springsteen – Working On The Highway

I probably won’t be commenting today…yesterday I felt terrible and it seems I have the flu…just wanted to let you know.

This song has grown on me through the years. It was my least favorite on Born In The USA when it was released but I started to like it.

Springsteen has always been prolific…he picked 12 songs out of the 70 demos for the album and of course, this one made the cut.

This song is about the only song not released as a single off of Born In The USA. I’m being sarcastic but not really. There were 7 top ten hits off of this album. Springsteen hit the mass’s jackpot with this album. It’s not my favorite album by him by any stretch but it has a friendly radio sound.

Born In The USA was the album I listened to endlessly from 1984-1985. You heard it everywhere you turned. A friend of mine (a big Bruce fan from the old days) saw Bruce in 85 and he was depressed that Bruce was no longer a cult performer. The horse was out of the barn so to speak…The public knew and knew him well. Bruce and that bandana were all over the news and any magazine you read.

In 1985 I went on my graduation trip to Florida. The Born In The USA cassette tape was playing in my car where some buddies were riding with me on our senior trip. There are certain songs that take you back to a time. Walking On Sunshine, Glory Days, Working On The Highway, and Darlington County all connect me with that trip.

The album peaked at #1 in America, Canada, New Zealand, and The UK.

Working On The Highway

Friday night’s pay night, guys fresh out of work
Talking about the weekend, scrubbing off the dirt
Some heading home to their families, some looking to get hurt
Some going down to Stovell wearing trouble on their shirts

I work for the county out on ninety five
All day I hold a red flag and watch the traffic pass me by
In my head I keep a picture of a pretty little miss
Someday, mister, I’m gonna lead a better life than this

Working on the highway, laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway, all day long I don’t stop
Working on the highway, blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway

I met her at a dance down at the union hall
She was standing with her brothers, back up against the wall
Sometimes we’d go walking down the Union tracks
One day I looked straight at her and she looked straight back
So I’m

I saved up my money and I put it all away
I went to see her daddy but we didn’t have much to say
“Son, can’t you see that she’s just a little girl
She don’t know nothing about this cruel, cruel world”

We lit out down to Florida, we got along all right
One day her brothers came and got her and they took me in a black-and-white
The prosecutor kept the promise that he made on that day
And the judge got mad and he put me straight away
I wake up every morning to the work bell clang
Me and the warden go swinging on the Charlotte County road gang
I’m

Crazy Elephant – Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’

I first heard this song in the 80s on an oldie channel. The song has a drive to it that I love. After I heard it I went straight away and learned it on guitar. We played this at every gig because it’s so much fun…and yes easy. As I pasted the words…I thought…hell…we sang our own words and just sounded them out.

It was originally released in 1969 and it peaked at #12 on the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, and #12 in the UK. It was written by Joey Levine and Ritchie Cordell. The band wasn’t really a band that toured…just a studio band. It was one of the many formed by the Kasenetz-Katz production duo.

The duo took advantage of the bubblegum phase in the late sixties. They also formed The Ohio Express, The Music Explosion, and the 1910 Fruitgum Company. This song though…if it’s played at the right volume and intensity loses that bubblegum feel quickly.

The band needed attention so they made a rather elaborate story which said that they were a group of coal miners who came all the way from Wales. Vocalist Robert “Bobby” Spencer did the lead vocals on this song. Future 10cc member Kevin Godley later sang lead vocals on one of Crazy Elephant’s songs, There Ain’t No Umbopo.

Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’

From Atlanta, Georgia, to the Gulf Stream water
up to California end I’m gonna spend my life both night and day
I say, gimme, gimme good lovin’ every night
(Hey you know it’s alright, child)
Gimme, gimme good lovin’ make it alright
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha

To the girls in Frisco, to the girls in New York
To the girls in Texican, you gotta understand
That baby I’m your man
I say, gimme, gimme good lovin’ every night
(Yeah you know it’s alright now)
Gimme, gimme good lovin’ make it alright
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha