Singles – Page 84 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Nazareth – Holiday

*** This week is the last round of the TV draft. I won’t be posting a music post after today until July 4th. Hope you all have a great week! Enjoy the TV Draft!***

I liked this song when it was released… MTV played the video in a heavy rotation for a while. I saw them in 1982 opening up for a popular Billy Squier at the time. Squier was good but I was looking forward to Nazareth a bit more because of a childhood full of Hair of the Dog.

Dan McCafferty has such a recognizable voice. When I saw them the volume on his voice was at 11. On top of being very loud he would scream as he talked… it looked like it was just natural for him but when the songs started…he sounded great. There was no way the instruments were drowning him out.

Holiday was co-written by all five members of Nazareth for their Malice in Wonderland album in 1980. They toned down their heavy sound for this album and made it more radio-friendly. That paid off with this minor hit in the US. I always liked the cover of this album.

They will forever be remembered for the album Hair of the Dog released in 1975 with the hit single Love Hurts. Holiday peaked at #87 on the Billboard 100 and #21 in Canada in 1980. The album Malice in Wonderland peaked at #41 on the Billboard Album Charts and #19 in Canada.

In 1968 this Scottish band was named The Shadettes…they changed their name to Nazareth. This was not inspired by the Biblical birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. It was inspired by a line in a song called The Weight by The Band. The lyrics were “I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ about half past dead…”

In this case, Nazareth referred to Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Robbie Robertson chose to place the lyrics in Nazareth because it was the home of Martin Guitars. Robertson wrote the song on a 1951 Martin D-28 guitar.

The band is still touring. In 2013, lead singer Dan McCafferty retired from touring with Nazareth. In 2018 Nazareth released their 24th studio album, Tattooed on My Brain. The current lineup has Carl Sentence on lead vocals, Pete Agnew on bass guitar, Jimmy Murrison on lead guitar, and Lee Agnew on drums.

Some trivia about the video. The video game the teen is playing is Super Road Champions, made by Model Racing in 1978.

Holiday

Drinkin’ my wine, makes me feel fine,
Gonna have me a holiday
Poorman’s party, rich man’s daughter,
Gettin’ hotter and hotter.

She’s pushin’ way too hard
I don’t want any part of her way
Drinkin’ my wine, makes me feel fine,
Gonna have me a holiday.

It’s a holiday, it’s a holiday

Mama, mama, please no more jaguars
I don’t want to be a pop star
Mama, mama, please no more deckhands
I don’t want to be a sailor man
Mama, mama, please no more facelifts
I just don’t know which one you is
Mama, mama, please no more husbands

Drinkin’ my wine, wastin’ my time
Hidin’ out in my rented dream
Lookin’ for attention
A cover story mention in
Life magazine
Ask the chauffeur who he knows
Numbers he’s got, lots of those.

Drinkin’ my wine, spendin’ my time
Tryin’ to run from this halloween.

It’s a holiday, it’s a holiday

Mama, mama, please no more jaguars
I don’t want to be a pop star
Mama, mama, please no more deckhands
I don’t wanna be a sailor man
Mama, mama, please no more facelifts
I just don’t know which one you is
Mama, mama, please no more husbands
I don’t know who my daddy is.

It’s a holiday, it’s a holiday

Bob Dylan – Let’s Stick Together

This post is a 4-in-1 deal…Let’s Stick Together was on Bob Dylan’s album Down In The Groove…considered his worst album by some critics. I never thought that…I bought it when it came out and it’s not that bad. The worse Bob Dylan album is much better than a lot of others.

This song has been covered by a lot of artists. The confusing part is the song not only goes by Let’s Stick Together but also Let’s Work Together.

Our band covered this one and we did it with the arrangement that Dylan laid down. I like this song no matter who covers it. I like Bryan Ferry, Canned Heat, and Wilbert Harrison’s version.

Wilbert Harrison originally wrote and recorded this blues-style R&B number as “Let’s Stick Together,” a plea for fidelity in a fractured marriage. That version, released in 1962, didn’t make the charts (until Bryan Ferry covered it in 1976) but never left Harrison’s mind. Seven years later, he resurrected the song, keeping the melody but changing the lyrics. “I thought I’d put some words to it that meant a bit more.”

Changing the title to “Let’s Work Together,” Harrison’s new message of unity was aimed at a nation rife with conflict over the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War.

Canned Heat didn’t want to overshadow Harrison with their version. In fact, if they’d known the singer was going to have success with it, they never would have recorded it in the first place. They first heard the tune when it was still making the rounds at underground radio stations. Their new guitarist Harvey Mandel played it for the rest of the guys and suggested they cover it, but their co-vocalist, Bob “The Bear” Hite, wanted to wait a few months to see if Harrison would chart first. According to drummer Adolfo de la Parra, Hite didn’t like taking songs away from living black musicians unless they weren’t hits.

Bryan Ferry had success with the song…peaking at #4 in the UK in 1976 and #1 in Australia. In 1988 Ferry did an updated version of the song, re-mixed by Bruce Lampcov & Rhett Davies. This re-recording reached #12 in the UK chart. Ferry had the most success with the song.

Let’s Stick Together

Well, a marriage vow, you know, it’s very sacred
The man put us together, now, you wanna make it
Stick together
Come on, come on, stick together

You know, you made a vow, not to leave one another, never
Well, ya never miss your water ’til your well runs dry
Now, come on, baby, give our love a try, let’s stick together
Come on, come on, stick together

We made a vow, not to leave one another, never
Well, ya never miss your water ’til your well runs dry
Come one, baby, give our love a try, let’s stick together
Come on, come on and stick together
You know, we made a vow, not to leave one another, never

It might be tough for a while, but consider the child
Cannot be happy without his mom and his papi

Let’s stick together
Come on, come on, stick together
You know, we made a vow, not to leave one another, never

Marshall Crenshaw – Whenever You’re On My Mind ….Power Pop Friday

Marshall Crenshaw wrote this song during the making of his debut album but was saved for his second album release. I had his first two albums in the 80s and I thought the guy would be huge. He could come up with some sophisticated, unexpected chord changes in a song yet maintain the feel of the song.

This song has a wonderful guitar intro that sets up the song. As the old phrase goes…it’s got more hooks than a tackle box.

He got his first break playing John Lennon in the off-Broadway touring company of the musical Beatlemania between 1978-1980. Crenshaw said: “In the beginning, I was bothered by it, as an egotistical young person, maybe because I had just gotten out of Beatlemania, and I was sick of any kind of heavy association with some other figure.”

He later played Buddy Holly in La Bamba in 1987. “I’ve been a Buddy Holly fan all my life. The joy still comes across in his music. It’s really got its own je ne sais quoi. It really stands apart from a lot of ’50s rock, because it conveys a sense of intimacy. I think it’s because it was made in this little building on the side of a highway late at night with this isolated group of people.”

“I always say the guys from the ’50s who invented ’60s rock were Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. When you watch documentaries about Holly, you see people like Keith Richards, and he still gets broken up talking about him. The English guys, they just loved Buddy Holly.”

He released his self-titled debut album in 1982 and it was nearly perfect. This song was on Field Day his second album that was released in 1983. The album peaked at #52 in the Billboard 100 in 1983. This song peaked at #103 in the Billboard 100 and #23 in the Main Rock tracks in 1983.

He also performed as a guest vocalist for the Smithereens since the 2017 death of their lead singer Pat DiNizio.

Ronnie Spector recorded a cover of this song in 2003.

When Ever You’re On My Mind

I think about you and forget what I’ve tried to be
Everything is foggy and hard to see
It seems to be, but can it be, a fantasy?
Whenever I think about you, strangers eyes in the crowd flash past
I go on and think of the fate you’ve cast
It seems to be a reverie, you’re here with me

’cause whenever you’re on my mind
Whenever you’re on my mind
I leave the world behind
Whenever you’re on my mind

I think about you and I’m weak though I’m in my prime
Set my watch and still lose the track of time
It seems to be, but can it be, a fantasy?
Whenever I think about you, strangers eyes in the crowd flash past
I go on and think of the fate you’ve cast
It seems to be a reverie, you’re here with me

Whenever you’re on my mind
Whenever you’re on my mind
I leave the world behind
Whenever you’re on my mind

I never thought I’d be in this situation
It seems wherever I go I’m with you
And though I never seem to find my place
At every turn I see your face
Whenever I think about you
It seems to be a reverie, you’re here with me
’cause whenever you’re on my mind
Whenever you’re on my mind
I leave the world behind
Whenever you’re on my mind

Bonnie Tyler – It’s a Heartache

Late seventies at the skating rink…this one was played and that is what I think of. I knew enough about Rod Stewart at the time I was 10-11 to think this was him for a while. My sister got the single and I loved it. Rod Stewart finally covered the song in 2007.

It’s a Heartache was released in 1978 and peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #4 in the UK, and #1 in Canada. It also crossed over to the country charts at #10. The single sold over 6 million copies. This song fits Bonnie Tyler’s voice perfectly. The song was written by Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe.

Bonnie Tyler had throat problems severe enough to require surgery in 1976, the procedure can often be career-threatening. In this case, however, the nodules that she developed singing in nightclubs in her native Wales turned out to be career-making. She was told not to speak 6 weeks after her surgery but she did and it helped cause the rasp.

Some useless trivia… The two weeks that “It’s A Heartache” was at #3, for those two weeks the #1 record was “Shadow Dancing” by Andy Gibb and at #2 was “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty

The drummer on this song was Mike Gibbons of Badfinger.

It’s a Heartache

It’s a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Hits you when it’s too late
Hits you when you’re down

It’s a fool’s game
Nothing but a fool’s game
Standing in the cold rain
Feeling like a clown

It’s a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Love him ’til your arms break
Then he let’s you down

It ain’t right with love to share
When you find he doesn’t care for you
It ain’t wise to need someone
As much as I depended on you

Oh, it’s a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Hits you when it’s too late
Hits you when you’re down

It’s a fool’s game
Nothing but a fool’s game
Standing in the cold rain
Feeling like a clown

It ain’t right with love to share
When you find he doesn’t care for you
It ain’t wise to need someone
As much as I depended on you

Oh, it’s a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
You love him ’til your arms break
Then he let’s you down

It’s a fool’s game
Standing in the cold rain
Feelin’ like a clown
It’s a heartache
Love him ’til your arms break
Then he let’s you down
It’s a fool’s game

Jerry Garcia – Deal

I haven’t heard this song as much as Sugaree but I like it almost just as well.

It is so well crafted and it swings with the best of them. This was off of his debut Garcia album and his voice is in perfect form. When I think of Jerry Garcia I never think…hmm great vocalist… but this changes my mind. His voice is so clear…it shows what a good vocalist Garcia could be. Robert Hunter’s words flow through you while Garcia’s guitar dances all around. He tops it off with a versatile solo.

The album is a mix of folk, country, blues, jazz, experimental, and rock. I love the roots music because it’s so clean and genuine. He made the album in 1971 with mostly himself. Bill Kreutzmann (Dead Drummer) was the only other musician credited on Garcia, which was recorded at Wally Heider’s Studio D in San Francisco in July 1971 and released in January 1972.

Garcia also did the album for a cash infusion to buy a house for himself and Carolyn Adams (Mountain Girl) and two children. This was recorded a year after Working Man’s Dead and American Beauty…considered two of the best Grateful Dead albums. Many of the songs on this album became staples for the Grateful Dead in concert.

Bill Kreutzmann was credited as co-writer on 5 of the tracks and Garcia and Hunter on 5 tracks. Robert Hunter also collaborated with Bob Dylan on songs Duquesne Whistle, Ugliest Girl In The World, and the minor hit Silvio. He also co-wrote all but one track on the Bob Dylan album Together Through Life released in 2009.

Jerry Garcia on making the album: I’m doing it to be completely self-indulgent—musically. I’m just going on a trip. I have a curiosity to see what I can do and I’ve a desire to get into 16-track and go on trips which are too weird for me to want to put anybody else I know through. And also to pay for this house!

Jerry Garcia: I’ll probably end up doing it with a lot of people. So far I’m only working with Bill Kreutzmann because I can’t play drums. But everything else I’m going to try to play myself. Just for my own edification. What I’m going to do is what I would do if I had a 16-track at home, I’m just going to goof around with it. And I don’t want anyone to think that it’s me being serious or anything like that—it’s really me goofing around. I’m not trying to have my own career or anything like that. There’s a lot of stuff that I feel like doing and the Grateful Dead, just by fact that it’s now a production for us to go out and play, we can’t get as loose as we had been able to, so I’m not able to stay as busy as I was. It’s just a way to keep my hand in so to speak, without having to turn on a whole big scene. In the world that I live in there’s the Grateful Dead which is one unit which I’m a part of and then there’s just me. And the me that’s just me, I have to keep my end up in order to be able to take care of my part of the Grateful Dead. So rather than sit home and practice—scales and stuff—which I do when I’m together enough to do it—I go out and play because playing music is more enjoyable to me than sitting home and playing scales.

Deal

Since it costs a lot to win, and even more to lose,
You and me bound to spend some time wond’rin’ what to choose.
Goes to show, you don’t ever know,
Watch each card you play and play it slow,
Wait until that deal come round,
Don’t you let that deal go down, no, no.

I been gamblin’ hereabouts for ten good solid years,
If I told you all that went down it would burn off both of your ears.
Goes to show you don’t ever know
Watch each card you play and play it slow,
Wait until that deal come round,
Don’t you let that deal go down, no, no.

Since you poured the wine for me and tightened up my shoes,
I hate to leave you sittin’ there, composin’ lonesome blues.
Goes to show you don’t ever know
Watch each card you play and play it slow,
Wait until that deal come round, don’t you let that deal go down.

Wait until that deal come round, don’t you let that deal go down,
Wait until that deal come round, don’t you let that deal go down,
Don’t you let that deal go down, don’t you let that deal go down.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – One More Time

This band was known mostly for Sweet Home Alabama, Gimme Three Steps, Simple Man, and Free Bird for the most part. It’s a shame really because they have some outstanding album cuts.

I’ve had love-hate feelings with them because people automatically think you have to like them…if you are from the south. Our band would refuse to play their music for the longest time. Now I’m embarrassed we thought that way.

After a little time, I started to realize how great of a rock band they were…southern or not. Their influences were The Stones, Yardbirds, and most of all Cream…and it showed. At the time of their crash in 1977, Street Survivors had just been released 3 days and it was moving fast up the charts. This was going to be their big breakthrough album…and it was. They were a double-threat band…they could hit with singles and make superb rock albums. If not for the crash they would have been up in the stardom league of Aerosmith at least.

Ronnie Van Zant was a fantastic songwriter and a good singer. He is a singer who knew his limits and stayed within them. He would never write any words down…he would walk around the band during rehearsal and start to make up verses while hearing riffs and he would have a finished song.

I was really surprised by this song. I always liked it but…it sounded different from the other songs and I never knew why. I assumed that this song was recorded in 1977 but I was wrong. One More Time was recorded back in 1970 – 1971 when they were making demos and just starting their recording career. That was 2 years before they released their first album.

It was written by Van Zant and guitarist Gary Rossington. They worked on this album for a long time…they re-recorded every song on Street Survivors twice except this one. They dropped some other songs they worked on and pulled out this demo from the vaults and used it. The band re-mixed it and it blended in with the other new songs but I can hear now while listening to What’s Her Name and others on the album.

Street Survivors peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts and #3 in Canada in 1977. The band has sold 28 million albums in the US since 1991 when Nielsen SoundScan started tracking sales, not including album sales for the band’s first 17 years.

His voice sounds a little different in this song because it was so early in their career and he was learning. Van Zant sings this song in a controlled cool while delivering this line.

So I’ll take the word of a liar
One more time, one more time

One More Time

How can you stand there smilin’
After all you’ve done
You know it seems to make you happy
When you’ve hurt someone
Twice before you fooled me
With your deceivin’ and lyin’
Come in and close the door
One more time, one more time

Yeah you’ve been gone so long
No one knows where
And you say that you still love me
Then show me you care
‘Cause you got what it takes sweet mama
To make a man feel fine
So I’ll take the word of a liar
One more time, one more time

Girl you’ve got me hungry
Losin’ my mind
I know I’m playin’ with fire
Get burned every time
Yes I’m a fool for you baby I can’t deny
But I got to have your sweet love
One more time, one more time

Girl you’ve got me hungry
Losin’ my mind
I know I’m playin’ with fire
I get burned every time
Yes I’m a fool for you mama I can’t deny
But I got to have your sweet love
One more time, one more time

Yes I’m her fool once more
I can read her brown eyes
But when the rooster crows tomorrow
Well its her turn to cry
I’m headed down that old road
She lost her free ride
So tonight I’ll take what I paid for
One more time, one more time
One more time

Who – Love Ain’t For Keeping

The Who’s Next album was released in 1971 and is one of the greatest classic rock albums ever released. This song is a song one clocking in at a short 2:11 and unlike most of the album…this one is softer. Pete Townshend originally wrote this for his Lifehouse project, where the character of Ray, a Scottish farmer, was intended to sing the song, which expresses the sentiment that love is meant to be shared.

The song was originally recorded several months prior to Who’s Next, as a four-minute electric version with Townshend singing lead and playing rhythm guitar, and the lead solos performed by Leslie West, the guitarist for New York power trio Mountain. The Who was recording at the Record Plant in New York, and Townshend reportedly didn’t want to spend time on overdubs, so West was called in to play on the track.

After a falling out with producer Kit Lambert, the band recorded an acoustic version that was used on the album. The Who often played the harder Rock version at their concerts. This version can be heard on their 1974 Odds & Sods album.

If two versions weren’t enough… Townshend’s original demo of the song appears on the six-disc Lifehouse Chronicles, songs from Townshend’s never fully-completed Lifehouse rock opera. This demo clocks in at 1:31, with no solo and Townshend taking advantage of the then-novel oscillator bank on his Arp synthesizer.

The album peaked at #4 in the Billboard Album Charts, #5 in Canada, and #1 in New Zealand in 1971.

Love Ain’t For Keeping

Layin’ on my back
In the newly mown grass
Rain is coming down
But I know the clouds will pass
You bring me tea
Say “the babe’s a-sleepin'”
Lay down beside me
Love ain’t for keeping

Black ash from the foundry
Hangs like a hood
But the air is perfumed
By the burning firewood
The seeds are bursting
The spring is a-seeping
Lay down my darling
Love ain’t for keeping
Lay down beside me
Love ain’t for keeping

Lay down beside me
Love ain’t for keeping
Lay down my darling
Love ain’t for keeping

Gene Vincent – Bluejean Bop

His sound, voice, and echo draws me in and keeps me there. The slow intro and then music kicks in. His voice goes with that slapback echo better than any other singer. His influence can be heard through the decades including Springsteen in Glory Days.

This was released in 1956 from their debut album of the same name. Like many of the songs on the record, it only came in at around two and a half minutes long… but those two and a half recordings rocked. This gem was written by Gene Vincent and Hal Levy. The song peaked at #16 in the UK in 1956.

Vincent was injured in a car accident on April 16, 1960…with Eddie Cochran in a taxi which killed Cochran. Vincent whose leg was weak due to a wound incurred in combat in Korea…was injured. He walked with a noticeable limp for the rest of his life. In 1962 he was in Hamburg and played on the same bill as the Beatles. The Beatles got close to him.

George Harrison told a story about going with a drunk Vincent to his hotel room. Vincent thought his girlfriend was cheating on him so he shoved a gun in Harrison’s hand. George was shocked and didn’t want any part of that.

The Beatles played at least 14 of Gene Vincent’s songs in their sets before they made it. A song like Somewhere Over The Rainbow that the Beatles would never think of covering until Gene Vincent covered it and gave the song his ok.

Paul McCartney: “I remember hearing Blue Jean Bop on an album that I think John had; going to a place near Penny Lane for the afternoon, having a ciggy, and just listening to records. Blue Jean Bop was always one of my favorites. The first record I ever bought was Be Bop-A-Lula. We loved Gene.”

Bluejean Bop

Bluejean baby, with your big blue eyes
Don’t want you looking at other guys
Got to make you give me, one more chance
I can’t keep still, so baby let’s dance

Well the bluejean bop is the bop for me
It’s the bop that’s done in a dungaree
You flip your hip, free your knee
Squeal on your heel baby, one to three
Well the bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, baby won’t you bop with Gene (bop Blue Caps, bop)

Well bluejean baby when I bop with you
Well my heart starts hoppin’ like a kangaroo
My feet do things they never done before
Well bluejean baby, give me more more more
Well the bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, baby won’t you bop with Gene (rock again Blue Caps, go)

Well the bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, baby won’t you bop with Gene (Blue Caps, bop with Gene now, let’s go)

Well it’s, bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Bluejean, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean, bluejean bop
Bluejean, bluejean bop
Bluejean, oh baby, won’t you bop with Gene

Grateful Dead – Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo

I can imagine listening to this song floating down the river on a warm southern day. How could anyone not like that title? I first heard this song in the 80s from a friend’s brother who was a complete Dead Head.

Hello baby, I’m gone, goodbye
Half a cup of rock and rye

While Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia were writing the song, Garcia had a problem with one particular word in this line: Cueball’s made of styrofoam
and no one’s got the time.

Robert Hunter said that Garcia argued: “This is so uncharacteristic of your work, to put something as time-dated” or whatever that word would be “as Styrofoam into it.” I’ve never sung that song without regretting I put that line in. Jerry also didn’t like songs that had political themes to them, and in retrospect, I think this was wise because a lot of the stuff with political themes from those days sounds pretty callow these days.”

The song was a popular one in concert…It was performed over 230 times live by The Grateful Dead over the years.

The song was on the Wake of the Flood album released in 1973… but not without its problems. It came three long years after the Dead’s previous studio album, American Beauty. Now, this would be normal but back in the seventies that was a lifetime.

The Dead had just left Warner Bros and were without a record deal. Then manager Ron Rakow talked to Garcia about starting the label and soon it was agreed. They made a decision to start their own record label like The Beatles and Stones did…except for one thing. They had no one to distribute them. Phil Lesh said: “We already owned our own sound system. Booking and travel were in-house. It seemed as if being our own record company would be worth a try. No one could see a downside.”

Rakow talked for a while about distributing records by ice cream trucks. Yes…fans would place their order through the local ice cream truck vendor and you would pick up your album with… a snowcone I guess. The voice of reason soon prevailed and they eventually got United Artists to distribute their records.

Wake of the Flood was their first studio album released on their new Grateful Dead Records. They did release two singles before that. They had problems after the release. They took a call from one distributor… the copies he’d received of Wake of the Flood sounded so bad, he said, that kids were bringing them back to the stores. The Dead office thought it was a hustle…retailers wanting records sent to them for free until he asked yet another grousing store owner to send him a copy of the supposedly flawed record. What arrived in the mail at the Dead office was a truly fake Wake of the Flood… a cover that amounted to a mimeographed photo of the artwork and an LP with music that sounded as if it had been copied from a cassette, complete with hissing noises. They’d been bootlegged.

One source says the label was told in advance by shadowy figures in Brooklyn that any release on Grateful Dead Records would be bootlegged and that they would have no choice but to go along with it. Soon after that batch, the bootlegs stopped and it was over as quick as it started. The band lost up to 90,000 because of the bootlegs.

Soon after the album’s release, Warner Bros released a greatest hits album called Skeletons in the Closet. Wake of the Flood peaked at #18 in the Billboard Album Charts and #30 in Canada in 1973.

Garcia talked about the line: I lost my boots in transit babe
A pile of smoking leather

“I was in an automobile accident in 1960 with four other guys… 90-plus miles an hour on a back road. We hit these dividers and went flying, I guess. All I know is that I was sitting in the car and there was this… disturbance… and the next thing, I was in a field, far enough away from the car that I couldn’t see it.

“The car was crumpled like a cigarette pack… and inside it were my shoes. I’d been thrown completely out of my shoes and through the windshield. One guy did die in the group. It was like losing the golden boy, the one who had the most to offer. For me it was crushing, but I had the feeling that my life had been spared to do something, to either go whole hog or not at all…That was when my life began. Before that I had been living at less than capacity. That event was the slingshot for the rest of my life. It was my second chance, and I got serious.”

Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo

On the day that I was born
Daddy sat down and cried
I had the mark just as plain as day
which could not be denied
They say that Cain caught Abel
rolling loaded dice,
ace of spades behind his ear
and him not thinking twice

Half-step
Mississippi Uptown Toodleloo
Hello baby, I’m gone, goodbye
Half a cup of rock and rye
Farewell to you old southern sky
I’m on my way – on my way

If all you got to live for
is what you left behind
get yourself a powder charge
and seal that silver mine
I lost my boots in transit babe
A pile of smoking leather
Nailed a retread to my feet
and prayed for better weather

Half-step
Mississippi Uptown Toodleloo
Hello, baby, I’m gone, good-bye
Half a cup of rock and rye
Farewell to you old southern sky
I’m on my way – on my way

They say that when your ship comes in
the first man takes the sails
The second takes the afterdeck
The third the planks and rails
What’s the point to callin shots?
This cue ain’t straight in line
Cueball’s made of styrofoam
and no one’s got the time

Half-step
Mississippi Uptown Toodleloo
Hello baby, I’m gone, goodbye
Half a cup of rock and rye
Farewell to you old southern sky
I’m on my way – on my way

Across the Rio Grand-eo
Across the lazy river
Across the Rio Grand-eo
Across the lazy river

Matthew Sweet – Evangeline ….Power Pop Friday

When I heard the song”Girlfriend” for the first time on the radio I liked it right away. Matthew Sweet is a great contemporary power pop artist that doesn’t get played enough.

The album peaked at #100 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1991. The album was ranked number 61 on Paste magazine’s list of “The 90 Best Albums of the 1990s.”

He was a huge fan of R.E.M in high school and began a pen-pal correspondence with Michael Stipe that brought him to Athens, GA. He ended up meeting Stipe’s sister Lisa through that relationship. Both Sweet and Lisa were students at the University of Georgia and he formed his first band with her. Sweet and Lisa eventually married after he was divorced from his first wife.

Sweet is also known for his Under the Covers series, done in collaboration with Susanna Hoffs, lead singer of Bangles. The series features the pair covering classic songs. The first Under the Covers focuses on music from the ’60s, while the second draws from the ’70s. They also made a third entry which was comprised of ’80s music.

Evangeline is not your average boy-girl song. It’s about a girl, but not a real one. The song is set in the realm of the comic book series Evangeline, which was published from 1987 to 1989. The comic is set in the 23rd century after humans colonized space. The character Evangeline is a weapon-wielding nun out to avenge those who have been victims of religious persecution on behalf of the Vatican.

Evangeline

She’s on another planet
She’s in my dream
She’s some kind of angel
If you know what I mean
Try her on
She fits like a glove
Too bad she only thinks about
The lord above

Evangeline Evangeline
I think I love you
But Evangeline Evangeline
I want you

Now if I called you up
Do you think you
Could deliver my soul?
Won’t you take a drink
Little darlin’
The cup is full

And every night I bow to pray
But I’ll feel a whole lot better
Once you’re coming my way

Evangeline Evangeline
I think I love you
But Evangeline Evangeline
I want you

So come on down

So tell me how you want it
Come on, tell me how you want it
Just tell me how you want it

Just tell me how you want it
We won’t be seen
You can tell your father
It was all a dream
[try her on she fits like a glove]
Too bad the only man you trust
Is god above

Evangeline Evangeline
I think I love you
But Evangeline Evangeline
I want you

Now Evangeline Evangeline
I think I love you
But Evangeline Evangeline
I want you

She’s some kind of angel
If you know what I mean
Evangeline

Monkees – Valleri

I remember this one off of their show. I like the vocals in the chorus with this one.

Valleri has an interesting history. This song was brought aboard at the very beginning of the Monkees…but it ended up being their last top ten hit. It was recorded with studio musicians at first and placed in a show but…not on an album because it was being saved for the second one. By the time the thought of using it came around…the Monkees had a new contract and per the contract… they had to play on and produce their album so this version of Valleri couldn’t be used.

When it was played in the show… the public wanted a record of it but now the Monkees would have to record it themselves because of the uprising they did to demand to play on their own records.

A couple of disc jockeys recorded the song off of the show and began to play it. They were playing this taped TV version on their radio shows, something that would happen many years later with the Friends theme. Listeners to the stations airing the rough mix of “Valleri” started writing the Monkees’ distributor Colgems Records, asking where they could buy a copy of the record that they had just heard.

Valleri was re-recorded and produced by the Monkees and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart the songwriters. It was released as a single in March 1968, 13 months after it was first performed on the TV show. Soon after the release, the Monkee’s TV show was canceled and they released their movie and LP Head. Peter Tork left the group in December 1968.

Valleri peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #4 in New Zealand, and #12 in the UK in 1968. The album The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts and #6 in Canada.

Valleri

Valleri I love my Valleri
There’s a girl I know who makes me feel so good
And I wouldn’t live without her, even if I could
They call her Valleri
I love my Valleri

Oh yeah, come on

She’s the same little girl who used to hang around my door
But she sure looks different than the way she looked before
I call her Valleri
I love my Valleri

Valleri I love my Valleri
I love my Valleri
I need ya, Valleri

….

Rolling Stones – As Tears Go By

The Stones were covering old blues songs at the start of their career. They needed a hit and one day they ran into two songwriters in 1963. Right in front of the Stones…John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote a song that was in the Stone’s style. It was called “I Wanna Be Your Man” and became The Stones’ first UK top twenty record. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were amazed at this display of songwriting prowess, which stuck with them.

The two bands stayed friends after that often coordinating releases so as not to release in the same week. Mick and Keith realized that if they were going to have staying power…they must start writing. Their manager Andrew Oldham locked them in a kitchen and told them they were not getting out until they wrote a song…obviously, it worked.

This was one of the first songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The Stones manager gave it to a singer he also managed named Marianne Faithfull, who released it in 1964. It was going to be the B-side of her first single, but the record company decided to make it the A-side and it became her first hit. The Stones recorded it a year later. In 1966 Faithfull became Jagger’s girlfriend and that would last 3-4 years.

The original title was As Time Goes By but they changed it so it wouldn’t be confused with a song with the same title in Casablanca. The song peaked at #1 in Canada and #6 on the Billboard 100 in 1966. Marianne’s version peaked at #22 in Canada and #9 on the Billboard 100, and #9 in the UK in 1964.

This was released as a single in the US and Canada because ballads were popular there at the time. The release in England was delayed 6 months because they did not want to compete with Yesterday by The Beatles. When they finally did release it there, it was as the B-side of 19th Nervous Breakdown.

Marianne would record this three times. The original version in 1964, for 1987’s Strange Weather, and again on 2018’s Negative Capability.

Keith Richards: “suddenly, ‘Oh, we’re songwriters,’ with the most totally anti-Stones sort of song you could think of at the time, while we’re trying to make a good version of (Muddy Waters’) ‘Still A Fool.’ When you start writing, it doesn’t matter where the first one comes from. You’ve got to start somewhere, right? So Andrew locked Mick and myself into a kitchen in this horrible little apartment we had. He said, ‘You ain’t comin’ out,’ and there was no way out. We were in the kitchen with some food and a couple of guitars, but we couldn’t get to the john, so we had to come out with a song. In his own little way, that’s where Andrew made his great contribution to the Stones. That was such a flatulent idea, a fart of an idea, that suddenly you’re gonna lock two guys in a room, and they’re going to become songwriters. Forget about it. And it worked. In that little kitchen Mick and I got hung up about writing songs, and it still took us another six months before we had another hit with Gene Pitney, ‘That Girl Belongs To Yesterday.’ We were writing these terrible Pop songs that were becoming Top-10 hits. I thought, ‘What are we doing here playing the f–king blues, and writing these horrible Pop songs and getting very successful?’ They had nothing to do with us, except we wrote ’em. And it took us a while to come up with ‘The Last Time.’ That was the first one we came up with where Mick and I said, ‘This is one we can lay on the guys.’ At the time we were already borrowing songs from the Beatles – ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ – because we were really hard up for singles. So they gave us a hand. In retrospect, during the ’60s the Stones and the Beatles were almost the same band, because we were the only ones in that position.”

Mick Jagger: “I wrote the lyrics, and Keith wrote the melody. It’s a very melancholy song for a 21-year-old to write: The evening of the day, watching children play – it’s very dumb and naive, but it’s got a very sad sort of thing about it, almost like an older person might write. You know, it’s like a metaphor for being old: You’re watching children playing and realizing you’re not a child. It’s a relatively mature song considering the rest of the output at the time. And we didn’t think of doing it, because the Rolling Stones were a butch Blues group. But Marianne Faithfull’s version was already a big, proven hit song… It was one of the first things I ever wrote.”

Marianne Faithfull: “a marketable portrait of me… a commercial fantasy that pushes the right buttons.”

As Tears Go By

It is the evening of the day
I sit and watch the children play
Smiling faces I can see
But not for me
I sit and watch
As tears go by

My riches can’t buy everything
I want to hear the children sing
All I hear is the sound
Of rain falling on the ground
I sit and watch
As tears go by

It is the evening of the day
I sit and watch the children play
Doing things I used to do
They think are new
I sit and watch
As tears go by

Beatles – You Can’t Do That

I love B-sides and this is a good one. I liked You Can’t Do That much better than the A-side Can’t Buy Me Love.

John Lennon never liked his voice. He always wanted George Martin to add echo or anything else to cover it up. I never understood that…for me John was one of the best rock and roll singers out there. His thin nasal voice cut through the music and cuts into you.

I first heard this song on a 1976 compilation album Rock and Roll Music. That was my second ever Beatles album. Capital put together one of the worse covers ever for that album.

The cover made the Beatles look like they were from the 50s. A very few of the songs on the album were covers of 50s songs. Ringo Starr said: “It made us look cheap and we never were cheap. All that Coca-Cola and cars with big fins was the Fifties!” John Lennon told Capitol that the cover looked like a Monkees reject. He offered to design the cover but was declined. That doesn’t mean the album didn’t contain great music…a double album full of some great songs.

You Can’t Do That helped popularized the two-measure guitar riff…. a guitar riff that opens a song and continues through it. It laid the foundation for modern rock… with artists such as The Stones to Nirvana. The Beatles would use this frequently in songs such as I Feel Fine, Ticket To Ride, Day Tripper, If I Needed Someone, Paperback Writer and I Want To Tell You. The Stones made a career of it.

The song originally appeared on the UK soundtrack of A Hard Days Night. They recorded this in nine takes on George Harrison’s 21st birthday (February 25, 1964). The song was the B side to Can’t Buy Me Love but managed to peak at #48 in the Billboard 100 and #33 in Canada in 1964. Harry Nilsson covered it in 1967 and that version peaked at #10 in Canada.

This was the first Beatles song on which George Harrison played a 12-string guitar… John played the lead. Lennon said that Wilson Pickett was an influence on this song.

You Can’t Do That

I got something to say that might ’cause you pain
If I catch you talking to that boy again
I’m gonna let you down
And leave you flat
Because I told you before, oh
You can’t do that

Well, it’s the second time I’ve caught you talking to him
Do I have to tell you one more time, I think it’s a sin
I think I’ll let you down (let you down)
And leave you flat
(Gonna let you down and leave you flat)
Because I’ve told you before, oh
You can’t do that

Everybody’s green
‘Cause I’m the one, who won your love
But if they’d seen
You’re talking that way they’d laugh in my face

So please listen to me, if you wanna stay mine
I can’t help my feelings, I’ll go out of my mind
I’m gonna let you down (let you down)
And leave you flat
(Gonna let you down and leave you flat)
Because I’ve told you before, oh, you can’t do that

You can’t do that
You can’t do that
You can’t do that
You can’t do that
You can’t do that

Everybody’s green
‘Cause I’m the one who won your love
But if they’d seen
You’re talking that way they’d laugh in my face

Sweet – Fox On The Run

The Sweet had the ability to sound like a different band on many of their hit singles. Little Willy, Ballroom Blitz, Love Is Like Oxygen, Blockbuster!, and Fox On The Run. My first introduction to this band was a bubblegum single that my sister bought called Little Willy.

There were two different versions of this song. The first one appeared on the European version of the 1974 RCA album Desolation Boulevard album.

The band was stuck with a perception of them being puppets of their songwriters Mike Chapman and Nicky Chin and producer Phil Wainman. They had to battle to play on their own singles at times. Mike Chapman and Nicky Chin also were their managers. The Sweet were sometimes allowed to write their B sides but that was about it. After Desolation Boulevard was released, the band parted ways with Chapman and Chinn and produced their own material.

Their first effort was a reworking of “Fox On The Run,” which was originally produced by Chapman and Chinn but written by the band. The Sweet proved quite capable on their own, and the new version of Fox on the Run with a bright chorus became a global hit.

The re-worked Fox on the Run appeared on the American version of Desolation Boulevard. Capital Records released this version in America, Canada, and Japan. The album also contained Ballroom Blitz and peaked at #25 in the Billboard Album Charts and #5 in Canada.

The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1975. It was released in the US as the follow-up to their single Ballroom Blitz.

The song has been covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Girlschool, and the Scorpions to name a few. Fox on the Run was also featured in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.

The original version with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chin

The hit version

“Fox On The Run”

I don’t wanna know your name
‘Cause you don’t look the same
The way you did before
O.K. you think you got a pretty face
But the rest of you is out of place
You looked alright beforeFox on the run
You scream and everybody comes a running
Take a run and hide yourself away
Foxy is on the run
F-foxy
Fox on the run and hide away

You, you talk about just every band
But the names you drop are second hand (second hand)
I’ve heard it all before
I don’t wanna know your name
‘Cause you don’t look the same
The way you did before

Fox on the run
You scream and everybody comes a running
Take a run and hide yourself away
Foxy on the run
F-foxy
Fox on the run and hide away

F-foxy
Fox on the run
You scream and everybody comes a running
Take a run and hide yourself away
Foxy on the run
F-foxy
Fox on the run and hide away
Fox on the run
Fox on the run
Fox on the run
Fox on the run
Fox on the run

Cat Stevens – Father And Son

A truly beautiful song by Cat Stevens. It was used as the B-side of Stevens’ hit Moonshadow in some locations.

His dad owned a restaurant in London and Cat (known to his dad as Steve Georgiou) worked there as a waiter right up until he signed a record deal at age 17. Stavros was hoping his son would join the family business.

Steven’s storyline for the song as he was writing it from the perspective of a father and son in a Russian family during the Russian Revolution (1917-1923). The son wants to join the revolution but his father wants him to stay home and work on the farm. Stevens, a huge fan of show tunes, wrote it in 1969 for a musical he was working on called Revolussia, which was set during the Russian Revolution. The song ended up on the Tea For The Tillerman album.

This is the song that got Stevens signed to Island Records. His first two albums were issued on Deram, a division of Decca. Stevens met with Island boss Chris Blackwell to talk about the musical he wrote this song for, but when Blackwell heard the song, he set his sights on getting Stevens on his label as an artist. Stevens’ first Island release was Mona Bone Jakon earlier in 1970; it was not just a new label for Stevens, but a new producer as well, with former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith taking the helm from Mike Hurst (ex-Springfields), who helped Stevens get his deal with Decca.

I’m really tired of superhero movies but I’m glad many songs of this era were included in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2…including this one. It exposes a new generation to these songs.

The song peaked at #52 in the UK in 1970.

Cat Stevens on his dad: “He was running a restaurant and I was a pop star, so I wasn’t following the path that he laid out. But we certainly didn’t have any antagonism between us. I loved him and he loved me.”

Cat Stevens: “I was in a Turkish restaurant one day and it came on the radio, one of my children said, ‘Dad, isn’t that your song?’ I said, ‘Why, yes it is!’ It turned out to be Boyzone. It’s a nice version and I’m grateful it was a clean-cut group who did it. I went to meet them at Top Of The Pops and we had a nice time. They’re a good bunch of lads.”

Cat Stevens: “The song is a testament to the differences we represent to each other, especially in age and traditions. Traditions have a big impact on our lives, and sometimes you’ve got to walk away.”

Father and Son

It’s not time to make a change
Just relax, take it easy
You’re still young, that’s your fault
There’s so much you have to know
Find a girl, settle down
If you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy

I was once like you are now
And I know that it’s not easy
To be calm when you’ve found
Something going on
But take your time, think a lot
Think of everything you’ve got
For you will still be here tomorrow
But your dreams may not

How can I try to explain?
When I do he turns away again
It’s always been the same, same old story
From the moment I could talk
I was ordered to listen
Now there’s a way
And I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go

It’s not time to make a change
Just relax, take it slowly
You’re still young, that’s your fault
There’s so much you have to go through
Find a girl, settle down
If you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy

All the times that I’ve cried
Keeping all the things I knew inside
It’s hard, but it’s harder to ignore it
If they were right I’d agree
But it’s them they know, not me
Now there’s a way
And I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go