It’s time once again for some big 1970’s boogie arena rock to start your day. Appropriately named…this rock filled up arenas around the world. The sound was fat and loud and it fit the times perfectly.
“Fool For The City” is the title track from the album of the same name released by Foghat in 1975. It was written by the band’s frontman Dave Peverett, who also wrote their hit “Slow Ride.”
Foghat was a talented band. Dave Peverett was a good singer, guitar player, and songwriter. Other Foghat alumni who made their mark elsewhere in music include replacement lead vocalist Charlie Huhn, who was also in Humble Pie and in Ted Nugent’s band before that. Also, Foghat guitarist Bryan Bassett is better known as the lead strings on “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry.
The song was more of a FM hit but it peaked at #45 in the Billboard 100 in 1976. The album peaked at #23 in the Billboard Album Charts.
I always liked this album cover
That is Foghat’s drummer Roger Earl on a soapbox fishing in a man hole cover in New York on East 11th Street.
From Songfacts
Foghat formed in London, and as this song makes clear, they’ll take city life over Green Acres country any day. While there are plenty of songs about specific cities (especially New York), this song can relate to any city. The band did a great deal of touring after they formed in 1971, so it makes sense that they would come up with a tune about their travels.
This song is a great example of the “boogie rock” genre. Boogie rock came out of blues-rock and tends to feature a repetitive, driving rhythm, and a laid-back attitude with no sign of being pretentious. In the US, think ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In the UK, the vanguards of boogie rock were Status Quo, Humble Pie, Savoy Brown, and Foghat. The Doobie Brothers might get a nod here as well; Foghat started out in the UK but transplanted to the US, and the Doobie’s “China Grove” had come out only two years before. Boogie rock and mid-1970s’ pot culture also went along extremely well together, which certainly didn’t hurt its popularity any.
Surprisingly, this song is rarely used in commercials, TV shows or movies. The only use we know of is the 2013 movie Nebraska.
Fool For The City
Going to the city, got you on my mind, Country sure is pretty, I’ll leave it all behind, This is my decision, I’m coming home to stay this time
‘Cause I’m a fool for the city, I’m a fool for the city, Fool for the city, I’m a fool for the city
Breathing all the clean air, sitting in the sun, When I get my train fare, I’ll get up and run I’m ready for the city, air pollution here I come
‘Cause I’m a fool for the city, I’m a fool for the city, I’m a fool for the city, I’m a fool for the city
I ain’t no country boy, I’m just a homesick man I’m gonna hit the grit just as fast as I can
I’ll get off on Main Street, step into the crowd, Sidewalk under my feet, yeah, traffic’s good and loud When I see my inner city child, I’ll be walkin’ on a cloud
‘Cause I’m a fool for the city, I’m a fool for the city, I’m a fool for the city, I’m a fool for the city I’m a fool, (Fool for the city) A crazy fool, (Fool for the city) I’m a fool, (Fool for the city) A fool for the city, (Fool for the city) (Fool for the city) (Fool for the city) I ain’t no country boy, woo! (Fool for the city) (Fool for the city)
After I graduated, I purchased the Byrds Greatest Hits and this one caught my attention immediately. It continued to build my love for the Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar.
Now, this is some cool hype. The release of the single was accompanied by a spoof press announcement from the Byrds’ co-manager, Eddie Tickner, stating that he had taken out a one-million-dollar insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London against his clients being kidnapped by extraterrestrial visitors.
This song was on their Fifth Dimension album. With this song, you could almost hear Sweetheart of the Rodeo coming around the corner. Mr. Spaceman was written by Roger McGuinn. This was their third album, and it was recorded shortly after Gene Clark left the band. When he left, it left a songwriting hole in the band. McGuinn and David Crosby tried to step up and fill the void, but they still had to have four cover songs on the album.
The album peaked at #24 in the Billboard Album Charts and #27 in the UK in 1966. Mr. Spaceman peaked at #36 in the Billboard 100.
Despite its country-style backing with a touch of psychedelia…it was called “space rock” in the press. Some critics have said it was one of the earliest examples of country rock.
The first video below has Gram Parsons who didn’t join the band until 2 years after this song was released. It was filmed at the Roman Colosseum while the Byrds were in town to play the first International European Pop Festival in 1968.
In that video, we see original Byrds Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman joined by new members Gram Parsons, Kevin Kelley, and Douglas Dillard.
Roger McGuinn: “I was interested in astronomy and the possibility of connecting with extraterrestrial life and I thought that it might work the other way round, if we tried to contact them. I thought that the song being played on the air might be a way of getting through to them. But even if there had been anybody up there listening, they wouldn’t have heard because I found out later that AM airwaves diffuse into space too rapidly.”
The Byrds with Gram Parsons video
Mr. Spaceman
Woke up this morning with light in my eyes And then realized it was still dark outside It was a light coming down from the sky I don’t know who or why
Must be those strangers that come every night Those saucer shaped lights put people uptight Leave blue green footprints that glow in the dark I hope they get home alright
Hey, Mr. Spaceman Won’t you please take me along I won’t do anything wrong Hey, Mr. Spaceman Won’t you please take me along for a ride
Woke up this morning, I was feeling quite weird Had flies in my beard, my toothpaste was smeared Over my window, they’d written my name Said, “So long, we’ll see you again”
Hey, Mr. Spaceman Won’t you please take me along I won’t do anything wrong Hey, Mr. Spaceman Won’t you please take me along for a ride
Hey, Mr. Spaceman Won’t you please take me along I won’t do anything wrong Hey, Mr. Spaceman Won’t you please take me along for a ride
I missed this song when it came out on Joel’s 1976 album Turnstiles but I earned about it later in 1981.
in the early eighties I joined Columbia House I ordered Billy Joel’s album Songs in the Attic. I ordered it right after I purchased his album Glass Houses at a record shop. This song really caught my attention, and I became a fan of Joel that year.
This was released in the US as the B-side to “I’ve Loved These Days” a month before it was put out as an A-side single. Neither song charted. In 1981, a live version recorded at the Milwaukee Arena was released on Joel’s Songs In The Atticalbum. It peaked at #17 in the Billboard 100 and #27 in Canada.
Joel’s influence was The Ronettes, specifically their song “Be My Baby. Joel was a big fan of ’60s girl groups and loved both Phil Spector’s production and Ronettes lead singer Ronnie Spector’s voice. Joel met Ronnie a few times over the years, but only after he wrote the song.
When he wrote this song, Joel had recently moved from Los Angeles to New York, which helped inspire it. He didn’t care for the west coast.
Ronnie Spector, who was the influence on this song, released her own version in 1977. Her version was produced by Little Steven and was backed by The E Street Band.
Ronnie Spector:“In a way it’s my life story ’cause I was married in Hollywood, I lived in Hollywood, my life fell apart in Hollywood and now I am saying goodbye to Hollywood.”
From Songfacts
This song is a look at the temporary nature of most relationships, as people are always coming in and out of our lives. It’s told through the eyes of two characters, Bobby (in the first verse) and Johnny (in the second). They do their time in Hollywood, but now find themselves moving on with their lives, a natural progression in the series of hellos and goodbyes in life.
On The Howard Stern Show, Joel explained that he wrote “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” in a high key that was challenging to sing – he had an easier time hitting those notes when he wrote the song.
Say Goodbye To Hollywood
Bobby’s driving through the city tonight Through the lights In a hot new rent-a-car He joins the lover in his heavy machine It’s a scene down on Sunset Boulevard
[Chorus: ] Say goodbye to Hollywood Say goodbye my baby Say goodbye to Hollywood Say goodbye my baby
Johnny’s taking care of things for awhile And his style is so right for Troubador’s They got him sitting with his back to the door Now he won’t be my fast gun anymore
[Chorus: ]
Moving on is a chance that you take every time you try to stay together Say a word out of line and you find that the friends you had are gone Forever…forever So many faces in and out of my life Some will last, some will just be now and then Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes I’m afraid it’s time for goodbye again
I grew up with this song played on the radio quite frequently. I grew up in the south…and radio stations claimed Michigan-born Bob Seger as their own. The Eagles and Bob Seger were adopted by southern states radio and spoke of in the same breath as Lynyrd Skynyrd and other southern acts.
This song was on the Against the Wind album that came out in 1980. This song was written 7 years before its inclusion on that album. It was originally intended for Beautiful Loser album but was left off that album because it had a different sound and didn’t quite mesh with those songs.
Seger eventually stated that it is about a lake in Michigan called Silver Lake. He said that it was written about Silver Lake in Dexter, about being in the Pinckney-Hell-Dexter area.
He didn’t use the Silver Bullet Band for this one. He recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, where the studio owners, Barry Beckett (keyboards), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass), and Jimmy Johnson (guitar), backed him up. Seger recorded some of his most memorable songs there, including his Old Time Rock and Roll. Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Timothy B. Schmit later added backups to Fire Lake. Seger returned the favor by coming up with the chorus to Heartache Tonight.
Fire Lake peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada in 1980.
Bob Seger helped keep Muscle Shoals in business during this time.
David Hood (part-owner of Muscle Shoals and bass player):“Everything we recorded with Bob Seger, we get a production royalty on. And as it turns out, we recorded ‘Fire Lake,’ and ‘Old Time Rock and Roll,’ and ‘Mainstreet,’ just a whole bunch of things with them. And so that became a very lucrative thing. We don’t even have a real contract on that, but he’s always paid us for the records that we played on, we were co-producers on, as well. And that’s what I think about Bob Seger. He’s a very honest man. He and Punch Andrews are honest people who stick to their word. That’s rare in the music business.”
Fire Lake
Who’s gonna ride that chrome three wheeler Who’s gonna make that first mistake Who wants to wear those gypsy leathers All the way to Fire Lake
Who wants to break the news about uncle Joe You remember uncle Joe He was the one afraid to cut the cake Who wants to tell poor aunt Sarah Joe’s run off to Fire Lake Joe’s run off to Fire Lake
Who wants to brave those bronze beauties Lying in the sun With their long soft hair falling Flying as they run Oh they smile so shy And they flirt so well And they lay you down so fast Till you look straight up and say Oh Lord Am I really here at last
Who wants to play those eights and aces Who wants a raise Who needs a stake Who wants to take that long shot gamble And head out to Fire Lake Head out Who wants to go to Fire Lake And head out Who wants to go to Fire Lake And head out (who wants to go to Fire Lake) Head out, head out (who wants to go to Fire Lake) Out to Fire lake Who’s gonna do it (who wants to go to Fire Lake) Who’s gonna wanna do it (who wants to go to Fire Lake) Who wants to do it, who wants to do it, yeah (who wants to go to Fire Lake)
TEQUILA! Oh I remember a few nights…or don’t remember….nevermind.
This was a B side…a great B side. Train To Nowhere was the A side to this single. Disc jockeys flipped the single and played “Tequila” instead, and in 1958, it peaked at #1 in the Billboard Charts and #5 in the UK in 1958. The song was one of the biggest hits of the ’50s.
Leo Kulka, who was the second engineer, said this song was an afterthought after the band recorded “Train to Nowhere.” Some of the musicians had already left the studio when it was brought up that nothing had been recorded for the B-side. The remaining musicians were rounded up and the song was written on the spot. The “Tequila” part of the song was simply an attempt to cover up the holes in the song. After all, it was just the B-side.
Like most bands with a surprise hit…they released more Tequila related songs, including “Too Much Tequila” and “Tequila Twist.” Didn’t have the same impact.
Danny Flores, who was the saxophone player in The Champs, wrote this song… it’s credited to his pen name, Chuck Rio.
From Songfacts
Tequila is an alcoholic beverage named after a town in Mexico. It is a key ingredient in Margaritas and is often done as a shot by licking salt, taking the drink, then sucking a lemon wedge. Many bars turn this song into a production, often offering shots of tequila directly from the bottle.
The Champs were a Los Angeles group that named themselves after Gene Autry’s horse, Champion. The “Train to Nowhere”/”Tequila” single was their first release. They had a few more modest instrumental hits, including the follow-up, “El Rancho Rock,” which reached #30 in the US, but never came close to the success of “Tequila.” Later members of the group included Glen Campbell, Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts (Seals & Crofts of ’70s fame.
After The Champs, the Eagles were the next group to chart with a “Tequila” song, reaching #64 with “Tequila Sunrise” in 1973. The beverage fell out of favor musically in the ’80s, but was revived in the ’90s by Terrorvision (“Tequila”) and Sammy Hagar (“Mas Tequila”). It later became a hot topic in country songs, with tracks like “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” and “You and Tequila.”
As the song started climbing the chart, a sax player named Eddie Platt released a competing version that reached #20. Other cover versions of the song to chart are by:
Bill Black’s Combo – #91 in 1964 Hot Butter – #105 in 73 A.L.T. & The Lost Civilization – #48 in 1992
This was featured in the 1985 movie Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. It was used in a scene where Pee Wee Herman wins over the crowd in a biker bar by doing a dance to the song. The movie was the first feature film directed by Tim Burton, and Danny Elfman wrote the score.
This won for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance at the first ever Grammy Awards in 1959.
When I was a kid some relative gave me The Turtles Elenore single and I became a fan. This song was their biggest hit and it is a great song.
The band was formed by Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan. They were saxophone players who did whatever was trendy in order to make a living as musicians. They were also in the choir together in high school.
They played surf-rock mostly at the time. They also played backup for The Coasters, Sonny And Cher and The Righteous Brothers when they came through. After a while, Howard and Mark gave up the sax and became singers. They signed a deal with White Whale Records as The Crosswind Singers. When British groups took over America, they tried to pass themselves off as British singers and renamed themselves The Turtles.
Like The Byrds, The Turtles recorded a Bob Dylan song for their first single It Ain’t Me Babe and it was a hit. They recorded some more songs that that were top 40 hits but this one did the trick. They decided to record Happy Together after many other artists passed on it. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, and #4 in the UK in 1967.
After Happy Together hit they flew to England and met The Beatles, Brian Jones, Graham Nash, Donovan, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. The Beatles played them the unreleased Sgt Pepper’s album. Howard Kaylan would later write the 2003 Comedy movie “My Dinner With Jimi” with events surrounding and leading up to this trip.
Kaylan and Volman sang backing vocals on several recordings by T. Rex, including their worldwide 1971 hit “Get it On (Bang A Gong). Later they did the backup vocals on Bruce Springsteen’s Hungry Heart.
They became known as Flo (Phlorescent Leech) and Eddie. Kaylan and Volman joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention as Flo and Eddie because of contractual restrictions of their record company.
Volman and Kaylan were very smart. When White Whale’s master recordings were sold at auction in 1974, the duo won the Turtles’ masters, making them the owners of their own recorded work. They also hosted some radio shows in the 70s and 80s and recorded soundtrack music for children’s shows like the Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.
If you are in any way interested in watching band documentaries… watch The Turtles doc! It is hilarious. I will include the full doc above the song.
Here is the documentary…watch it if you have time. What they did to their last manager (who was also their first) is classic!
Happy Together
Imagine me and you, I do I think about you day and night, it’s only right To think about the girl you love and hold her tight So happy together
If I should call you up, invest a dime And you say you belong to me and ease my mind Imagine how the world could be, so very fine So happy together
I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but you For all my life When you’re with me, baby the skies’ll be blue For all my life
Me and you and you and me No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be The only one for me is you, and you for me So happy together
I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but you For all my life When you’re with me, baby the skies’ll be blue For all my life
Me and you and you and me No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be The only one for me is you, and you for me So happy together
Me and you and you and me No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be The only one for me is you, and you for me So happy together
So happy together How is the weather So happy together We’re happy together So happy together Happy together So happy together So happy together (ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba)
Jerry Lee Lewis put the Rock in Rock and Roll. When I see those old clips of Elvis, he is tame compared to Jerry Lee Lewis. He was nicknamed the Killer for good reason. On a side note…if you want to hear one of the best live albums ever…give Jerry Lee Lewis, ‘Live at the Star Club, Hamburg’ (1964) a try.
By 1957 Lewis was on fire…he was set with three previous top ten hits Whole Lotta Shakin, Breathless, and Great Balls of Fire. He released High School Confidential in 1957. It was riding up the charts when news of Lewis’ marriage to his 13-year-old second cousin broke out. Upon hearing this, Sun Records canceled distribution of the record to DJs and it stalled on the charts. Not a good career move Jerry…but he was just warming up.
This was the title track to a movie in which Lewis appeared. There was a sequel to the movie called College Confidential, but Lewis didn’t appear in that one. The song peaked at #21 in the Billboard Charts and #12 in the UK. Lewis wrote this song and it probably would have made it in the top ten until it was pulled.
He released a few more songs but they didn’t go anywhere until he reinvented himself into a country artist. In 1967 He had a #2 Billboard Country hit and also the #1 Canada country song in What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me). After that, he continued to chart country hits well into the 1980s.
I love reading descriptions of Lewis’s personality. I see menacing, seductive, dangerous, aggressive, and most of all…dangerous.
As far as musically…he is a great piano player that influenced many and was a super performer…one if not the best of his generation.
High School Confindential
Well open up, honey It’s your lover boy me that’s a knockin’ Why don’t you listen to me, sugar All the cats are at the High School rockin’
Honey, get your boppin’ shoes Before the juke box blows a fuse Hey everbody hoppin’, everybody boppin’ Boppin’ at the High School Hop Boppin’ at the High School Hop Shakin’ at the High School Hop
Hoppin’ at the High School Hop Rockin’ at the High School Hop Everybody’s hoppin’, everybody’s boppin’ Boppin’ at the High School Hop
Come on little baby, let’s rock a little bit tonight Woo, I got get with you, sugar, let’s shake things up tonight Well the heart beatin’ rhythm And my feet are moving smooth and light
Boppin’ at the High School Hop Boppin’ at the High School Hop Shakin’ at the High School Hop Movin’ at the High School Hop Everybody’s hoppin’, everybody’s rocking Boppin’ at the High School Hop
Well, let me tell you something baby I’m gonna give you some good news Lookee here, sweet mama, let’s burn off both our shoes My hearts beatin’ rhythm and my soul is singin’ the blues
Boppin’ at the High School Hop Boppin’ at the High School Hop Jumpin’ at the High School Hop Rollin’ at the High School Hop Everybody’s hoppin’, everybody’s boppin’ Boppin’ at the High School Hop
Boppin’ at the High School Hop Boppin’ at the High School Hop Shaking’ at the High School Hop Movin’ at the High School Hop Everybody’s boppin’, everybody’s hoppin’ Boppin’ at the High School Hop
I’m always looking for more rockabilly artists that I haven’t heard. This one came from Phil from…Notes from the Cactus Patch.
I started to listen to his music and it was good…vocals, guitar, everything. The rhythm to this song is worth a listen.
Ronnie appeared on American Bandstand twice and later in the 1990s… twice on the Conan O’Brien show. He had regional success but even after Bandstand in 1960 could not break nationally.
He was from Dallas Texas and was nicknamed “The Blonde Bomber.” His father Pinkie showed him how to play the mandolin, drums, and bass guitar. Dawson attended Southwestern Bible Institute in Waxahachie but was expelled. After that, he appeared regularly on the Big D Jamboree Radio Show in Dallas in 1958 as Ronnie Dee and the D Men. Dawson was known to be highly energetic on stage. Many thought he got it from Elvis but he said no, he learned it from the dynamic Pentecostal revivals he attended.
The Jack Rhodes song “Action Packed” was Dawson’s first release in 1958 on the Backbeat label. After that came the 1959 Rockin’ Bones and this time it was on the Rockin’ Records label. It was issued under Ronnie’s own name with “The Blond Bomber” added. Though Ronnie toured nationally with Gene Vincent and appeared on TV, his records gained no more than regional airplay.
He also played off and on with The Light Crust Doughboys who are a Western Swing Band and Ronnie became a good country artist. You talk about longevity? The Light Crust Doughboys have been playing since 1931…they just celebrated their 90th anniversary as different versions have played through the years.
He made several singles in the early sixties with Dick Clark’s Swan Records. He also did some session work. He played on Paul & Paula’s “Hey Paula. After Elvis died rockabilly started to make a comeback. The Cramps covered Rockin’ Bones.
In the 1980s Ronnie was just beginning. A fifties revival was happening in the UK and he became popular there. This led Dawson to tour Britain for the first time in 1986. He was blown away by the audience’s reception. Dawson sounded purer than most of his peers from the 1950s and he put on a more energetic show.
He recorded new material for No Hit Records, the label of British rockabilly fan Barry Koumis, which was leased in the USA to Crystal Clear Records. No Hit Records also reissued his recordings from the 1950s and early 1960s on a 16-track LP called “Rockin’ Bones” and an extended 2-CD version of which was released by Crystal Clear in 1996.
Ronnie Dawson:“At that point in my life, I was so ready to get out of Dallas. I was really ready to go, and I just blew up when I got over there. … I couldn’t believe it. All these people started embracing me. I was in heaven. I didn’t want to go home.”
He was inducted into Rockabilly Hall of Fame, 1998.
Ronnie was still performing until the early 2000s when health problems started. He passed away in Dallas on September 30, 2003, at the age of 64.
Rockin’ Bones
Roll on, rock on, raw bones
Well, there’s still a lot of rhythm in these
Rockin’ bones
I wanna leave a happy memory when I go
I wanna leave something to let the whole world know
That the rock in roll daddy has a done passed on
But my bones will keep a-rockin’ long after I’ve gone
Roll on, rock on, raw bones
Well, there’s still a lot of rhythm in these
Rockin’ bones
Well, when I die don’t you bury me at all
Just nail my bones up on the wall
Beneath these bones let these words be seen
This is the b***** gears of a boppin’ machine
Roll on, rock on, raw bones
Well, there’s still a lot of rhythm in these
Rockin’ bones
I ain’t a worried about tomorrow, just a-thinkin’ ’bout tonight
My bones are gettin’ restless, gonna do it up right
A few more times around the hardwood floor
Before we turn off the lights and close the door
Roll on, rock on, raw bones
Well, there’s still a lot of rhythm in these
Rockin’ bones
When I first started to listen to Cream, what stood out was not Clapton’s guitar or Baker’s drumming…no it was Jack Bruce’s bass. There are three bass players I listened to while starting out playing. John Entwistle, Jack Bruce, and Paul McCartney. Those three covered the chaotic, the sliding, and melodic. Jack Bruce had all of these traits.
Cream recorded this and released it on their 1968 album Wheels Of Fire. It was written by Booker T Jones and William Bell for Albert King. King released it on his first Stax album Born Under A Bad Sign in 1967. Clapton stuck close to King’s guitar style on this song.
The Wheels of Fire album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #3 in the UK in 1968.
Cream played this when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 12, 1993, in tribute to Albert King, who died the previous year. It was one of two times the band has played together since they broke up in 1968. The first time was at Clapton’s wedding in 1979…three Beatles also played together at his wedding.
Booker T Jones:“My recollection is that we wrote it in my den, late the night before the session. We had been trying to come up with something for Albert. He was coming to town and it was the last opportunity we had to write a song. But you know, now that I think of it, the fact that the song was in D flat, there is definitely an Indiana influence because, you know, a blues song in d flat? I tell you, I learned the value of flat keys and sharp keys and how to use them for emotional value so I could have more range and capacity for touching the human heart. I think that was one of the reasons that song became as huge as it did. Because it was in D flat.”
King’s song is also included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”
From Songfacts
When Albert King signed with Stax Records in Memphis, Booker T. Jones, who was a member of the Stax house band Booker T. & The MGs, was assigned his producer. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Jones explained: “At that time, my writing partner was William Bell. He came over to my house the night before the session. William wrote the words and I wrote the music in my den that night. That was one of my greatest moments in the studio as far as being thrilled with a piece of music. The feeling of it, it’s the real blues done by the real people. It was Albert King from East St. Louis, the left-handed guitar player who was just one of a kind and so electric and so intense and so serious about his music. He just lost himself in the music. He’s such a one of a kind character. I was there in the middle of it and it was exhilarating.”
The “bad sign” is an astrology reference: if you’re “born under a bad sign,” it means the stars are aligned against you from birth. It was the song’s co-writer William Bell who came up with the title – he wanted to do a blues song about astrology.
Born Under A Bad Sign was Albert King’s first album released by Stax. It became King’s signature song, with the classic lyrics, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.”
The song harkens back to blues of the ’30s and ’40s which had similar lyrical content.
King was an American blues musician. Known for his size (6′ 4″, 250 pounds) and custom-made, left-handed Gibson guitar, he died in 1992.
Their guitarist, Eric Clapton, idolized American blues artists and often performed their songs. It marked a change of guitar style for Clapton, who adopted a harder, attacking style on this song in place of the sweeter, sustaining notes he called “woman tone,” which were more apparent on Cream’s first two albums.
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band played this at Woodstock in 1969. They went on Monday morning, two sets ahead of Jimi Hendrix.
Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Miles, recorded an instrumental cover in 1969 as a tribute to King.
This song’s lyricist William Bell performed it at the Grammy Awards in 2017 with Gary Clark Jr. “When you spend your life making music, you were born under a good sign, Bell said when they finished the song.” Bell won the award for Best Americana Album.
Janis Joplin’s guitarist Sam Andrew borrowed the riff for Big Brother & The Holding Company’s song “I Need A Man To Love.”
Christian posted this video in the comments…I thought I would add it…
Born Under A Bad Sign
Born under a bad sign Been down since I begin to crawl If it wasn’t for bad luck You know I wouldn’t have no luck at all
Hard luck and trouble is my only friend I’ve been on my own ever since I was ten Born under a bad sign Been down since I begin to crawl If it wasn’t for bad luck You know I wouldn’t have no luck at all
I can’t read, haven’t learned how to write My whole life has been one big fight Born under a bad sign I been down since I begin to crawl If it wasn’t for bad luck I say I wouldn’t have no luck at all
I ain’t no lyin’
You know if it wasn’t for bad luck I wouldn’t have no kinda luck If it wasn’t for real bad luck I wouldn’t have no luck at all
You know, wine and women is all I crave A big-legged woman is gonna carry me to my grave Born under a bad sign I been down since I begin to crawl If it wasn’t for bad luck I tell I wouldn’t have no luck at all
Yeah, my bad luck boy Been havin’ bad luck all of my days, yes
I went through a Ricky Nelson phase when I graduated in 1985. I purchased a greatest hits package and was learning more songs by him. I wanted to go see him perform that year and I kept waiting for him to appear somewhere because I heard he was touring. This was before the internet and you had to look at the newspapers for any announcements and listen to the radio. Musicians would play at places and you would never know sometimes.
I never got a chance to see him because on December 31, 1985 his chartered jet crashed killing him and six other passengers.
Ricky was a rockabilly guy and a good one. He gets lost in the shuffle because he was a huge teenage actor at the time on his family’s show…The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
This was part of a super single. In America, this was released on the B side of Travelin’ Man, which peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100. At the time, most artists put hastily produced or unwanted songs on the flip sides of singles, but Nelson took his B-sides seriously, figuring the singles would sell better if he did. The Beatles would do that later.
This song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #1 in New Zealand, and #2 in the UK despite being on the B side in 1961.
The song was written by Gene Pitney and Cayet Mangiaracina. Cavet was given credit later because his music pubishing company sued for plagrism because of the similiar titled Merry, Merry Lou.
From Songfacts
One of Ricky Nelson’s most popular songs, in “Hello Mary Lou” he gets a case of love at first sight, as she steals his heart at first glance. It’s a very simple tune but quite memorable, with 14 mentions of the melodious Mary Lou packed into a 2:17 running time. The song begins and ends with the chorus, with another between the two verses.
There are two credited writers of this song: Gene Pitney and Cayet Mangiaracina.
Pitney is a rock legend whose biggest hits as an artist – “Only Love Can Break A Heart” and “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance” were written by the Burt Bacharach-Hal David team. Pitney also wrote some hits for other artists, including “He’s A Rebel” for The Crystals and “Rubber Ball” for Bobby Vee. He wrote and recorded “Hello Mary Lou,” but he had another single out so his record company didn’t release it. Meanwhile, his publisher shopped the song around to various artists, including Ricky Nelson, whose version became a huge hit.
In 1957, a New Orleans group called The Sparks released a song called “Mary, Mary Lou,” which goes:
Mary, Mary Lou
Why must you do
The things that you always do
In this song, Mary Lou runs off to marry another man, leaving our hero heartbroken.
Cayet Mangiaracina, who was a member of The Sparks, wrote it in 1954 and the band started playing it at their gigs. Mangiaracina, who said there was no Mary Lou and that the lyric just sounded good, left the band in 1956, but the following year they won a “battle of the bands” competition that earned them a deal with Decca Records to record the song and release it as a single. The Sparks version went nowhere, but Bill Haley and Sam Cooke both covered it, Haley in 1957 and Cooke the following year.
After “Hello Mary Lou” became a hit, Cayet Mangiaracina’s publisher, Champion Music, took legal action and got a share of the song, with Mangiaracina listed as a co-writer along with Pitney. Mangiaracina became priest and claimed to give royalties from the song to the Southern Dominican Province, where he served.
Pitney, who died in 2006, never spoke of Mangiaracina or the lawsuit.
This was a huge hit in Australia, where it went to #1. In the UK, it was also very popular, reaching #2.
Nelson’s father Ozzie, a popular bandleader and star (along with Ricky and the rest of his family) of the TV series The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, played tenor guitar on this song. The solo is by Nelson’s guitarist James Burton, who later joined up with Elvis Presley.
Gene Pitney claimed to be baffled by this song’s success. “I’ve spent a lifetime trying to analyze why it was as big as it was,” he said.
Several acts have done popular covers of this song, including Brownsville Station, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Creedence Clearwater Revival. When Ricky Nelson entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, he was inducted by John Fogerty.
Nelson’s voice sounds very full and ambient thanks to overdubs in the studio. Producer Jimmie Haskell joked that he used “15 layers of overdubbing.”
Queen played this on their 1986 tour, their last with Freddie Mercury. It was part of a tribute to American rock from the ’50s that also included “Tutti Frutti.”
Hello Mary Lou
“Hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart Sweet Mary Lou I’m so in love with you
I knew Mary Lou We’d never part So hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart”
You passed me by one sunny day Flashed those big brown eyes my way And ooh I wanted you forever more Now I’m not one that gets around I swear my feet stuck to the ground And though I never did meet you before
I said “hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart Sweet Mary Lou I’m so in love with you
I knew Mary Lou We’d never part So hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart”
I saw your lips I heard your voice Believe me I just had no choice Wild horses couldn’t make me stay away I thought about a moonlit night Arms around you, good an’ tight All I had to see for me to say
I said “hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart Sweet Mary Lou I’m so in love with you
I knew Mary Lou We’d never part So “hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart Yes, hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart Well, hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart”
I had this one in my scheduled folder and heard the news this morning.
I grew up listening to AM radio with my sister and you couldn’t help but hear this song. When I found out he passed away at 74 years old I was saddened because he seemed like such a good guy.
He was a staple of late 1970’s radio. I was not the biggest fan but the guy was different and multitalented. I still watch the The Rocky Horror Picture Show once in a while and he is great in that.
He was born Marvin Lee Aday . There are many stories on how he got his nickname. His football coach, his dad, and one story I found…which I don’t believe goes like this. When he was a child, Aday was messing around with some friends, and he bragged that his head was so thick and strong that a Volkswagen could run over it and he’d be fine. Another kid said no way, that his head would “turn into meatloaf.” Supposedly Aday put his head on the ground and was run over but a volkswagon…and nothing happened.
Meatloaf 2016: “I was born bright red, so the doctor suggested that they should keep me in the hospital for a few days. My dad actually spoke like this…” “’So, uh, I want you to name my son there ― because he looks like nine-and-a-half pounds of ground chuck ― I want you to put a name tag on the front of that plastic crib and it say ‘Meat’ on it.’”
Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad is a good pop song and I still listen to it. Jim Steinman wrote this song after his friend, the actress Mimi Kennedy, suggested that he write a ballad along the lines of the Elvis Presley song “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.” She was implying she was implying he write something simple but Steinman, as his other songs show, didn’t work that way. This is one of the most straightforward Steinman songs that I know about.
Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad was off of the Bat Out OF Hell album and it was huge. The album peaked at #14 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in New Zealand, and #9 in the UK in 1977.
The song peaked at #11 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #9 in New Zealand, and #32 in the UK.
Todd Rundgren produced the album. On this song, he used the other three members of his band Utopia: Kasim Sulton on bass, Willie Wilcox on drums, and Roger Powell on synthesizer. Rundgren played guitar and also sang backup on this song.
I found a story a few years ago about where he was when JFK was assisinated. He was at Parkland Hospital when JFK arrived. I have the video down below of him telling the story…listen if you have time…it’s very interesting.
From Songfacts
“Two out of three ain’t bad” is a trite cliché often used for comic effect. (“How was your date?” “He was tall, handsome, and incredibly boring.” “Well, two out of three ain’t bad.)
Jim Steinman, who was Meat Loaf’s songwriter, turned the saying into a song about the elusive nature of love. The song begins with Meat Loaf getting kicked to the curb by his girl, presumably because he won’t tell her he loves her. He makes the case that even though he will never love her, he’s good enough, since after all he does want her and need her, and happy endings are only for fairy tales.
We then learn that his commitment issues step from a previous relationship – one with the only woman he will ever love. She once left him with the same explanation: I want you, I need you, but I’ll never love you.
In America, this was the second single released from the Bat Out Of Hell album. The first single, “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth,” didn’t chart, but by the time “Two Out of Three” was issued in March 1978, the album was picking up steam and the song rose up the charts, peaking at #11 on July 8.
The single was edited down to 3:58 from the 5:23 album version.
This song got a big boost when Meat Loaf performed it on Saturday Night Live on March 25, 1978.
Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad
Baby we can talk all night But that ain’t getting us nowhere I told you everything I possibly can There’s nothing left inside of here
And maybe you can cry all night But that’ll never change the way that I feel The snow is really piling up outside I wish you wouldn’t make me leave here
I poured it on and I poured it out I tried to show you just how much I care I’m tired of words and I’m too hoarse to shout But you’ve been cold to me so long I’m crying icicles instead of tears
And all I can do is keep on telling you I want you I need you But there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you Now don’t be sad ‘Cause two out of three ain’t bad Now don’t be sad ‘Cause two out of three ain’t bad
You’ll never find your gold on a sandy beach You’ll never drill for oil on a city street I know you’re looking for a ruby In a mountain of rocks But there ain’t no Coupe de Ville hiding At the bottom of a Cracker Jack box
I can’t lie I can’t tell you that I’m something I’m not No matter how I try I’ll never be able to give you something Something that I just haven’t got
There’s only one girl that I have ever loved And that was so many years ago And though I know I’ll never get her out of my heart She never loved me back, ooh I know I remember how she left me on a stormy night She kissed me and got out of our bed And though I pleaded and I begged her Not to walk out that door She packed her bags and turned right away
And she kept on telling me She kept on telling me She kept on telling me I want you I need you But there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you Now don’t be sad ‘Cause two out of three ain’t bad I want you I need you But there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you Now don’t be sad ‘Cause two out of three ain’t bad Don’t be sad ‘Cause two out of three ain’t bad
Baby we can talk all night But that ain’t getting us nowhere
Love or hate this band…the one thing you have to give them is orginality. I can’t listen to them for hours but a song every now and then is great.
Kate Pierson has sai, the actual Love Shack is where she lived in the ’70s… a five-room cabin with a tin roof in Athens, Georgia. The band would sometimes work up songs there, including “Rock Lobster.” It really was set way back in the middle of a field (off of Jefferson River Road), with no plumbing or running water. The shack was later renovated, but in 2004 it burned down.
The band drew inspiration from the club in the movie The Color Purple, and also from a real club outside of Athens, Georgia, called the Hawaiian Ha-Le, where they would hang out.
The line, “The love shack is a little old place where we can get together” originally showed up just once in the song, but producer Don Was convinced the band to repeat that line and it became the hook. Kate Pierson credits Don Was with turning this song into a hit.
It was on the 1989 album Cosmic Thing. The album was a huge hit…because of this song and Roam.
The album peaked at #4 in the Billboard Album Charts, #8 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #8 in the UK.
The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #2 in the UK.
This was a global hit, but not in Japan, where a band with the name of an American bomber would not a good fit to say the least. The band was named after a hairstyle Pierson and Wilson wore, but there was no way to get that message across.
Cindy Wilson:“When you’re jamming, everybody is conjuring up their own images. Sometimes we’re all singing at the same time and later you go back and you hear what you’re doing. I personally was thinking about this bar that was out in the country [the Hawaiian Ha-Le]. It was a really cool place – a run-down love shack kind of thing, but it was a disco. It was a really interesting place.”
Love Shack
If you see a faded sign at the side of the road that says Fifteen miles to the, love shack, love shack yeah I’m headin’ down the Atlanta highway Lookin’ for the love getaway Headed for the love getaway, love getaway I got me a car, it’s as big as a whale And we’re headin’ on down to the love shack I got me a Chrysler, it seats about twenty So hurry up and bring your jukebox money
The love shack is a little old place where We can get together Love shack baby A love shack baby Love shack, baby love shack Love shack, baby love shack Love shack, baby love shack Love shack, baby love shack
Sign says, woo, stay away fools ‘Cause love rules at the love shack Well it’s set way back in the middle of a field Just a funky old shack and I gotta get back Glitter on the mattress Glitter on the highway Glitter on the front porch Glitter on the hallway
The love shack is a little old place where We can get together Love shack, baby Love shack, baby Love shack, that’s where it’s at Love shack, that’s where it’s at
Huggin’ and a-kissin’, dancin’ and a-lovin’ Wearin’ next to nothing ’cause it’s hot as an oven The whole shack shimmies Yeah the whole shack shimmies The whole shack shimmies when everybody’s movin’ around And around and around and around Everybody’s movin’, everybody’s groovin’ baby Folks linin’ up outside just to get down Everybody’s movin’, everybody’s groovin’ baby Funky little shack Funky little shack
Hop in my Chrysler, it’s as big as a whale And it’s about to set sail I got me a car, it seats about twenty, so come on And bring your jukebox money
The love shack is a little old place where We can get together Love shack baby A love shack baby Love shack, baby love shack Love shack, baby love shack Love shack, baby love shack (oh baby that’s where it’s at) Love shack, baby love shack (baby that’s where it’s at)
Bang bang bang on the door baby! Knock a little louder baby! Bang bang bang on the door baby! I can’t hear you Bang bang bang on the door baby! Knock a little louder sugar! Bang bang bang on the door baby! I can’t hear you
Bang bang bang on the door baby, knock a little louder Bang bang on the door baby, bang bang! On the door baby, bang bang! On the door, bang bang! On the door baby, bang bang!
You’re what? Tin roof Rusted!
Love shack, baby love shack! Love shack, baby love shack! Love shack, baby love shack! Love shack, baby love shack!
Well it’s one for the money, two for the show Three to get ready, now go cat go
This song could be the definition of rock and roll. One of the many great Sun records that were released. Carl Perkins is a guitar hero to me with his rockabilly style that he never lost. I see why George Harrison and a generation was such a fan of the man. This song is up there with Johnny B Good as a Rock and Roll standard.
This song was written by Carl and it soon became a rock and roll anthem. This is another song that by law…you have to know if you are in a rock band. It’s probably better known by a singer from Memphis…named Elvis. I always favored this version…it has Carl playing guitar and that is all I need.
Carl recorded this in Memphis in 1955 for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. As he was driving to make his first national appearance to promote it on the Perry Como Show, he got into an accident that seriously injured him and killed his brother. He later said he was 85 miles away from being the first rockabilly on national television.
Perkins never fully recovered, either emotionally or career-wise. With Perkins unable to touring and promote it, Elvis’ cover version became a massive hit. Presley’s copy was done at RCA studios in Nashville. Perkins did have some hits after this but nothing like Blue Suede Shoes. Interestingly enough…Elvis’s version only made it to #20 in the pop charts.
This single was released in 1956. The B side was Honey Don’t. The single peaked at #2 in the US Charts and #1 in the Country charts.
I always wondered about blue suede shoes and what was so special about them. Blue suede shoes were a luxury item in the South…you would only wear them on a special night out. . You had to be careful with them though, since suede isn’t easy to clean.
Perkins never owned a pair, but Johnny Cash told him a story about someone who did. Cash told Perkins a story from his days serving in the Air Force in Germany. Cash’s sergeant…C.V. White. He would wear his military best when he was allowed off base, and at one point said to Cash, “don’t step on my blue suede shoes.” The shoes were really just Air Force-issued black, but white would say, Tonight they’re blue suede!
The story Perkins told is that later on, he was playing at a high school sorority dance when he came across a guy who wasn’t paying much attention to his date, but kept telling everyone not to stop on his “suedes,” meaning his blues suede shoes. At 3 a.m. that night, Perkins woke up and wrote the lyrics based on what happened that night and the story he heard from Cash. He couldn’t find any paper, so he wrote it on a potato sack.
Perkins based the beginning of this song on a nursery rhyme One For The Money: “One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go.”
Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records, came up with the idea of changing the line “Go, man, go” to “Go, cat, go.” He thought the change would make it seem like less of a country song and more of a rocker…it worked!
From Songfacts
Sam Phillips discovered Elvis Presley but sold his contract to RCA for $35,000. The money helped Phillips finance this and other records by artists like Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison, but Elvis became The King. Elvis recorded this later in 1956. His version hit US #20 and UK #9.
This was the only Top 40 hit for Perkins on the pop charts, but his influence reaches much further. He was extremely influential to other artists, including Elvis, The Beatles, and Johnny Cash. Perkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
The lyrics describe some of the things that Perkins would prefer over getting his shoes scuffed, and the list includes some derelict behavior: stepping on his face, stealing his car, burning down his house and drinking his liquor. Some in the Sinatra-loving older generation were horrified, and used the song to back their case that rock ‘n’ roll was the Devil’s music.
This was the first song to hit the US Pop, Country, and R&B charts at the same time. Released on January 1, 1956, the song made a slow climb up the charts, appearing on all three in May, which is when it reached its peak of #2 on the Pop charts.
In Perkins’ original version of this song, there are two deliberate beats after each of the first two lines: “One for the money… bomp, bomp; two for the show… bomp, bomp.” The Elvis version eliminates the pause between the lines and speeds it up considerably.
Dave Edmunds, who later toured with Perkins, tells a story about recording the song with the rock legend for a segment to air on The South Bank Show, a UK program. According to Edmunds, Perkins played the intro without the beats between lines, insisting that when he recorded it, that was a mistake. Edmunds began pleading with him to do it as he did on that record, but then realized the absurdity of explaining to Carl Perkins how to play “Blue Suede Shoes.”
In later appearances, Perkins did play the song in line with his original recording, often with Edmunds by his side. One of his last appearances was with Edmunds performing the song on The Jay Leno Show in 1997 (Perkins died the next year).
The B-side of the single was “Honey Don’t,” which was covered by The Beatles.
This song was a family affair: Perkins’ brother Jay played rhythm guitar on the track, and his other brother Clayton played bass (W.S. “Fluke” Holland was Perkins’ drummer). Jay died from a brain tumor in 1957, and Clayton took his own life in 1974.
The charting versions of this song in America were by:
Carl Perkins – #2, 1956 Elvis Presley – #20, 1956 Boyd Bennett – #63, 1956 Johnny Rivers – #38, 1973
Pat Boone, Conway Twitty, The Dave Clark Five and Merle Haggard are among the many to record it. A version by Buddy Holly surfaced in 1964 on an album of outtakes called Showcase.
The “better not step on my shoes” trope found its way back to the zeitgeist when Spike Lee included a scene in his 1989 movie Do The Right Thing where a character gets very upset when someone steps on his Air Jordan sneakers.
Perkins, backed by Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom of The Stray Cats, recorded a new version of this song in 1985 for the soundtrack of the movie Porky’s Revenge! The soundtrack was produced by Dave Edmunds, who also got Willie Nelson, Jeff Beck and George Harrison to record songs for it, leading to a gaping disparity in quality between the film and the soundtrack.
Later in the year, Edmunds spearheaded the “Carl Perkins and Friends” concert special, recorded October 21 in London and aired January 1, 1986 on Cinemax. Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Rosanne Cash were among the “friends.”
The Count performed this song on an episode of Sesame Street. It became a counting exercise (one, two, Blue Suede Shoes).
Blue Suede Shoes
Well it’s one for the money, two for the show Three to get ready, now go cat go But don’t you, step on my blue suede shoes You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes
But you can knock me down, step in my face Slander my name all over the place And do anything that you want to do But uh uh honey lay off of my shoes And don’t you step on my blue suede shoes You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes
Oh let’s go cat!
But you can burn my house, steal my car Drink my liquor from an old fruit jar Do anything that you want to do But uh uh honey lay off of them shoes And don’t you, step on my blue suede shoes You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes
Rock!
Well it’s one for the money, two for the show Three to get ready, now go cat go But don’t you, step on my blue suede shoes You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes
Well it’s blue, blue, blue suede shoes Blue, blue, blue suede shoes yeah Blue, blue, blue suede shoes baby Blue, blue, blue suede shoes You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes
When I heard this song in the 90s…I knew then it was one of those songs that would become an instant classic.
Most of this song was written by R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry. It is an anti-suicide song. Berry wanted to reach out to people who felt they had no hope. He quit the band in 1997 shortly before recording their album Up after an aneurysm. After that album, the band almost broke up, but decided to continue as a trio.
While he wrote this, he did not actually play on it. They used a Univox drum machine. R.E.M. bass player Mike Mills claims he bought Univox drum machine for $20, but it was perfect for the song’s metronome-ish feel.
It was on the album Automatic For The People, considered by some as the best album they ever released. The album peaked at #2 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in the UK, #4 in Canada, and #1 in New Zealand.
The album title was inspired by Weaver D’s soul food diner in Athens, Georgia. They had a sign that said “Delicious Fine Foods – Automatic For The People.”
The song peaked at #29 in the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, #7 in the UK, and #12 in New Zealand in 1993. I’m shocked now that it wasn’t in the top 10 in Billboard.
The string arrangement was done by no other than Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.
Michael Stipe:“It saved a few. People have told me. And I love hearing that. That’s for me, that’s my Oscar, that’s my gold on a shelf right there… that something we did impacted someone’s life in such a profound way. That’s a beautiful thing.”
Mike Mills:Mike (Stipe) and I cut it live with this dumb drum machine which is just as wooden as you can get. We wanted to get this flow around that: human and non-human at the same time.”
Peter Buck: The reason the lyrics are so atypically straightforward is because it was aimed at teenagers.
From Songfacts
On many R.E.M. songs, Michael Stipe purposefully sings indecipherably. He sang very clearly on this one though, because he didn’t want his message getting lost. “I don’t remember singing it,” he noted in Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011, “but I still kind of can’t believe my voice is on this recording. It’s very pure. This song instantly belonged to everyone except us, and that honestly means the world to me.”
The Nevada legislature commended R.E.M. for “encouraging the prevention of teen suicides,” noting this song as an example (Nevada has a high rate of teen suicide).
The music video was directed by Jake Scott, son of movie director Ridley Scott, famous for movies like Blade Runner (1982) and Gladiator (2000). Filmed on Interstate 10 in San Antonio, Texas, the clip is set during a traffic jam where people’s thoughts are revealed through subtitles.
The video won four MTV Video Music Awards: Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. When it won for Best Direction, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, who were nominated for “Sabotage,” got to the podium before Michael Stipe. Dressed in character as his Swiss alter ego Nathanial Hornblower, he went on a rant, calling it a “farce” before being ushered off.
Disrupting an award for such a somber song is in poor taste, but it was hard to take this awards show seriously. Hosted by Roseanne Barr, it is best remembered for a cringe-worthy kiss between newlyweds Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. MTV didn’t harbor any resentment: they gave the Beastie Boys the Video Vanguard award in 1998.
This was used on an episode of The Simpsons when Marge is walking in a thunderstorm and thinks she has no friends.
In February 2010 a charity cover was recorded by a collection of artists, Helping Haiti, to raise money for the victims of the earthquake that devastated the country. It sold over 200,000 copies in its first two days making it one of the quickest selling singles of the 21st century in the United Kingdom. Joseph Kahn directed a music video for the cover that features cameos from the performers and footage from the earthquake’s aftermath. Kahn is known for directing clips for the likes of Eminem, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.
This topped a poll compiled by PRS For Music, which collects and pays royalties to musicians in the UK, of the songs most likely to make a grown man cry. Second in the list came Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven” followed by Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” PRS chairman Ellis Rich said: “From this chart, it is clear that a well-written tear-jerker is one that people can relate to and empathise with. It is this lyrical connection that can reach deep down emotionally and move even the strongest of men.”
In a rare authorized comedic use of this song, Mayim Bialik’s character on The Big Bang Theory plays this on the harp when she is upset over being left behind by her two girlfriends, who are shopping for bridesmaids dresses. Her “boyfriend,” played by Jim Parsons, comes by to cheer her up, resulting in an awkward cuddle scene.
Peter Buck likens the vibe of this song to Otis Redding’s “Pain in My Heart.” He wrote in the liner notes for Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011: “I’m not sure if Michael would have copped that reference, but to a lot of our fans it was a Staxxy-type thing.”
This was used in the 1992 film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starring Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry and Rutger Hauer. Speaking of the subsequent TV series, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Peter Buck said: “I’ve never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the idea that high school is a portal to hell seems pretty realistic to me.”
Pink and Kelly Clarkson sang this to open the 2017 American Music Awards. They were introduced by Jamie Foxx, who said the purpose was to “pay respect to all those affected by the events of the past year,” meaning the hurricanes, shootings and hate rallies that took place.
Another comedic use was on The Office in the season 2 episode “The Fire,” where Dwight retreats to his car and blasts the song after Michael takes Ryan’s side in a business discussion.
Everybody Hurts
When your day is long And the night The night is yours alone When you’re sure you’ve had enough Of this life Well hang on Don’t let yourself go ‘Cause everybody cries And everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong Now it’s time to sing along When your day is night alone (hold on) (Hold on) if you feel like letting go (hold on) If you think you’ve had too much Of this life Well, hang on
‘Cause everybody hurts Take comfort in your friends Everybody hurts Don’t throw your hand Oh, no Don’t throw your hand If you feel like you’re alone No, no, no, you’re not alone
If you’re on your own In this life The days and nights are long When you think you’ve had too much Of this life To hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes Everybody cries And everybody hurts sometimes And everybody hurts sometimes So, hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on
One of the first songs that caught my attention by Bob Dylan. I’ve seen the man live 8 times and this one…he would always play, at least in the first 5 concerts. After that I only heard it once again.
I don’t post many Dylan songs…not because I’m not a huge fan…like I said I’ve seen the man 8 times. If I get a chance, I’ll see him 8 more times. When you post a Dylan song you almost feel the urge to do an interpretation of the song…I have no interest in doing that.
Some think he was inspired by The Bentley Brothers’ “Penny’s Farm,” a 1920s song about a rural landlord. In “Maggie’s Farm,” Dylan included descriptions of Maggie, her brother, her father, and her mother in successive verses.
The song was famous for the reaction it got at the Newport Jazz Festival when Dylan “went electric” to his die-hard folk fans. This appearance by Dylan is portrayed as one of the most important and controversial events in the history of American rock and roll. When the band came out to play his new songs from Bringing It Back Home album…much of the crowd were not amused. They wanted Bob to only play the acoustic and sing protest songs…but Bob had already started opening the folk-rock door earlier with bands such as The Byrds covering his songs.
Some say that most of the booing was not because of the songs but with different things like the short set, the volume level (you couldn’t hear Dylan sing), and other things.
Bob didn’t really care…or he didn’t show it much. He was going to do what he wanted to do. He continued with a different backing band later…and that band heard boo’s around the world…the backing band turned out to be The Band…then known as The Hawks.
Al Kooper organist: The reason they booed is because he only played for 15 minutes and everybody else played for 45 minutes to an hour, and he was the headliner of the festival. […] The fact that he was playing electric…I don’t know. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (who had played earlier) had played electric and the crowd didn’t seem too incensed.
Maggies Farm peaked at #22 in the UK in 1965.
From Songfacts
Dylan recorded this at one of his first rock sessions on January 15, 1965. He was backed by two electric guitarists, piano, bass, and drums.
Dylan’s famous (some say infamous) set at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965 marks the split of Bob Dylan with the folk movement when he decided to play a set with a backing band of electric instruments. The set included three songs: “Maggie’s Farm,” “Like A Rolling Stone,” and “Phantom Engineer.”
The audience at the festival was clearly angry with Dylan and they expressed their anger with a growing chorus of boos during the 16-minute set.
The band for this set was hastily thrown together. This would indicate that doing an “electric” set wasn’t necessarily part of Dylan’s plans for this festival.
Several members of this band played with the Paul Butterfiled Blues Band, who played for about 45 minutes just before Dylan took the stage. Guitarist Michael Bloomfield, bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay all played with Dylan that evening. Al Kooper, who didn’t play with the Butterfield band but played the instantly recognizable organ line on “Like A rolling Stone” in the studio recording, rounded out the band. Legend has it that Dylan rehearsed all night with this band the day before the performance, but even with that preparation, the performances were weak. That too could have accounted for the boos.
Al Kooper said later in an interview that he thought the booing was caused by a bad sound system, but recordings don’t bear that out.
But the day before during a blues workshop, Alan Lomax, one of the organizers of the festival, was very condescending in introducing the Butterfield Blues Band. Lomax was a blues purist and felt that white boys had no business playing the blues. That led to a physical fight between Lomax and Albert Grossman who managed both Dylan and the Butterfield Blues Band.
Also, in introducing the evening show, Pete Seeger (another organizer of the festival, and another folk music purist,) played the audience a recording of a newborn baby, and said that the final night’s program was a message from everyone to this baby that the world it was being born into was full of hate, hunger, bombs, and injustice, but that the people – the folk – would overcome, and make it a better world.
Overwrought displays like this also may have set Dylan’s teeth on edge. If he was on the fence about doing an electric set, these two events might have convinced him just to get under the skin of these two pompous organizers.
Or maybe the audience was angry with the short set of only three songs. A rain delay pushed some of the afternoon bands into the evening show. So people had been sitting and waiting for Dylan for a while. Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul and Mary, and another of the Festival’s organizers) persuaded Dylan to return to the stage to sing a few more songs. Dylan borrowed an acoustic guitar (allegedly from Johnny Cash) and opened with “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” while he appeared to be regaining his wits after being blindsided by the boos from the audience.
The acoustic set seemed to placate everyone. Dylan then started to strum the chords to “Tambourine Man” but realized he didn’t have a harmonica. He asked for anyone with an E harmonic to throw it up to him. There followed a barrage of incoming harmonicas hitting the stage. Dylan picked one up, thanked the crowd and played on. (This can be seen on the Songfacts.com video of the song.)
The two recordings of Maggie’s Farm presented here – the acoustic studio version, and the video from the Newport Folk Festival – are good examples of how Dylan’s music changed. In 1963, when Dylan released his first successful recordings, he was hailed as one of the most powerful musical voices in America. By 1965, with the growing influence of the Beatles, and the continued musical conservatism of the folk movement as personified by Pete Seeger, the relationship between the folk movement and Dylan became increasingly strained. The final separation came with “Maggie’s Farm” at the Newport Folk Festival of 1965. (Thanks, David Sherman, who teaches the History of Rock and Roll at Excelsior College.) >>
Making his fifth appearance performing on the Grammys, Dylan played this at the 2011 ceremonies backed by The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons.
Festival! was a 1967 documentary film about Dylan’s three mid-’60s appearances at the Newport Folk Festival, including his controversial electric set from 1965. Uncut magazine asked the movie’s director, Murray Lerner, what he could hear on stage, after Dylan came on and played “Maggie’s Farm.”
“I heard a combination of boos and applause,” he replied. “And some catcalls. And then when he came back and did the acoustic songs, they got with it again. He was nervous when he came back, there’s no question about it. That was sweat you can see rolling down his face. And on ‘Mr. Tambourine Man,’ asking for a harmonica from the crowd – the fact that he forgot his harmonica.”
Maggie’s Farm
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more Well, I wake in the morning Fold my hands and pray for rain I got a head full of ideas That are drivin’ me insane It’s a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more Well, he hands you a nickel He hands you a dime He asks you with a grin If you’re havin’ a good time Then he fines you every time you slam the door I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more Well, he puts his cigar Out in your face just for kicks His bedroom window It is made out of bricks The National Guard stands around his door Ah, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more Well, she talks to all the servants About man and God and law Everybody says She’s the brains behind Pa She’s sixty eight, but she says she’s fifty four I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more Well, I try my best To be just like I am But everybody wants you To be just like them They sing while you slave and I just get bored I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
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