Singles – Page 9 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Queen – You’re My Best Friend

I like Queen every once in a while, but I have to take them in doses. Queen is over the top, and they went out of their way to do that, which is fine, but in this song, they keep it more simple. I first got into them when my friend Paul, brought the News Of The World album cover to school, as we all loved the cool robot. Before he did that, I do remember this song on the radio. Out of all of their well-known hits, this one is a little different, more pure pop-sounding.

In the hands of another band, this song could have turned into a bland pop song. The harmonies and the arrangement by Queen lifted this song up. It was written by the bass player John Deacon. All members of Queen encouraged each other to write, and each one of them wrote at least one hit. Deacon wrote this one, I Want To Break Free, and the huge Another One Bites The Dust.

It was written for his wife, Veronica, while the couple were newly married. That explains the warmth in the lyrics, which never dip into rock-star bombast. Musically, it stands out in Queen’s catalog because of that Wurlitzer electric piano. Deacon played it and made it the song’s signature sound, even though Freddie Mercury didn’t like that instrument at all. Well, Freddie was wrong here because it fit the song perfectly. You cannot get that sound from a grand piano.

The song came off the A Night at the Opera album. This is one of the two albums that Queen named after Marx Brothers movies…the other one is Day at the Races. They were watching the A Night at the Opera movie while making the album. They became friends with Groucho Marx in the mid-seventies.

It peaked at #16 on the Billboard 100, #7 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1976.

Freddie Mercury: I refused to play that damn thing, It’s tiny and horrible and I don’t like them. Why play those when you have a lovely superb piano.

You’re My Best Friend

Ooh you make me live
Whatever this world can give to me
It’s you you’re all I see
Ooh you make me live now honey
Ooh you make me live

Ooh you’re the best friend that I ever had
I’ve been with you such a long time
You’re my sunshine and I want you to know
That my feelings are true
I really love you
Oh you’re my best friend

Ooh you make me live

Ooh I’ve been wandering round
But I still come back to you
In rain or shine
You’ve stood by me girl
I’m happy at home
You’re my best friend

Ooh you make me live
Whenever this world is cruel to me
I got you to help me forgive
Ooh you make me live now honey
Ooh you make me live

You’re the first one
When things turn out bad
You know I’ll never be lonely
You’re my only one
And I love the things
I really love the things that you do
Ooh you’re my best friend

Ooh you make me live

I’m happy at home
You’re my best friend
Oh you’re my best friend
Ooh you make me live
You’re my best friend

Fabulous Poodles – Mirror Star

Hanspostcard recommended this song to me, and it stuck with me. I guess I’ll never forget the name of this band. I heard of the band before because I remember reading about them opening for The Kinks and Tom Petty. John Entwistle played on a few tracks on their first album and produced it. On this second album, Muff Winwood produced it. This song and Chicago Boxcar (Boston Back) are probably their best-known songs.

The band was influenced by The Who and The Kinks, and you can tell. After listening to them a little, they have some pub rock, the punch of it, combined with really good pop songwriting. They formed in London in 1975, with Tony de Meur (vocals/guitar), Richie Robertson (bass/vocals), Bobby Valentino (violin/vocals), and Bryan Wernham (drums). From the start, they had a knack for mixing good pop songwriting with theatrical humor, with some British music hall thrown in. This song was written by Tony De Meur and John Parsons.

Like a lot of late ’70s UK pop/rock, Mirror Star didn’t tear up the charts, but it found a loyal following, especially when the band opened for The Kinks on their U.S. tours. American audiences who were expecting another punk band got this odd pop/rock band.

They released 3 albums between 1977 and 1979. This one was on their second album, Unsuitable, released in 1978. I’ve searched, and they didn’t seem to chart in the UK, which surprised me. This song did peak at #81 on the Billboard 100 in 1979.

Mirror Star

He was a lonely boy, no good at sportsHe couldn’t run, his legs were shortHe walked the streets inside his headAnd spent a lot of time in bed

He practiced on his way to schoolHis friends all said, you’re off the wallHe played a tight elastic bandHis mic was just his empty hand

Mirror, mirror, mirror starHe posed in front of every carThey all called him crazy kidHe ran up to his room and hid

He greased his hair with VaselineAnd practiced looking really meanHe saw a face that’s going farHe posed right there with his guitar

Head’s in the clouds on school reportsHe’s always lost in other thoughtsMade no difference, shut them outHe’d be a star someday, no doubt

Mirror, mirror on the wallYou never treat him like a foolHere in his room, he is the kingThe wild applause is deafening

You see his face on every wallFrom Camden Town to LiverpoolHe lays a groupie when he’s downAnd rents the best hotel in town

The kids hang round to see his faceAnd wish that they were in his placeReflections paid, the mirror made‘Cause posing’s helped him make the grade

Mirror, mirror on the wallYou never treat him like a foolHere in his room, he is the kingThe wild applause is deafening

Mirror, mirror, mirror starMirror starMirror, mirror starMirror, mirror, mirror starMirror, mirror starMirror, mirror

…

Syd Barrett – Octopus

I was never a huge Pink Floyd fan, but I did start liking them more and more through the years. My favorite era was the Syd Barrett era, before they became massive. Syd Barrett was a co-founder of Pink Floyd. He is credited with coming up with the band’s name, which was inspired by blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Their debut album has really grown on me and there are some gems on there.

By the time this was recorded in late 1969, Syd was already something of a rock ‘n’ roll ghost story. The man who led Pink Floyd through UFO Club acid nights and their first album (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn) had flamed out under the weight of mental illness. Octopus was the lead single from his 1970 album The Madcap Laughs, his first solo album. Yes, it is worth checking out.

A track that sounds like it was part nursery rhyme and English psychedelia mixed together into a surreal song. In just under two years since his short-lived run as Pink Floyd’s original frontman, Barrett had all but disappeared into erratic behaviour. I’m glad EMI decided to let him try again in 1969; it wasn’t out of commercial ambition because they had to know better. I like this album though, and I would recommend it.

The sessions were chaotic. Producers came and went: Peter Jenner tried first, then Malcolm Jones. When things still weren’t gelling, Barrett’s old bandmates David Gilmour and Roger Waters were drafted in to finish the job. Between all of them, they managed to pull the album together. Uncut placed this in their 200 Greatest Albums of all time. In 2015, NME (New Musical Express) placed this album at number 7 on a list of best albums recorded at Abbey Road.

The album peaked at #40 on the UK charts in 1970.

Octopus

Trip to heave and ho
Up down, to and fro’
You have no word
Trip, trip to a dream dragon
Hide your wings in a ghost tower
Sails cackling at every plate we break

Was cracked by scattered needles
The little minute gong
Coughs and clears his throat
Madam you see before you stand
Hey ho, never be still
The old original favorite grand
Grasshoppers green Herbarian band
And the tune they play is “In Us Confide”

So trip to heave and ho
Up down, to and fro’
You have no word
Please, leave us here
Close our eyes to the octopus ride

Isn’t it good to be lost in the wood?
Isn’t it bad so quiet there, in the wood?
Meant even less to me than I thought
With a honey plough of yellow prickly seeds
Clover honey pots and mystic shining feed

The madcap laughed at the man on the border
Hey ho, huff the Talbot
The winds they blew and the leaves did wag
They’ll never put me in their bag
The raging seas will always seep
So high you go, so low you creep
The wind it blows in tropical heat
The drones they throng on mossy seats
The squeaking door will always squeak
Two up, two down we’ll never meet

Please, leave us here
Close our eyes to the octopus ride

Graham Parker – Hold Back The Night

I missed this song in Graham Parker’s discography. This is a good one and a cover of the Trammps song they released in 1975. The Trammps would later have some huge disco hits. This one was more Philly soul-sounding. Parker had already been bending R&B and soul into his own style with his first two albums, Howlin’ Wind and Heat Treatment.

It was released on the EP The Pink Parker in late ’77 (a live version was tacked onto the U.S. version of The Parkerilla in 1979). Graham’s version is raw and raucous, much more than the original. The Pink Parker peaked at #24 in the UK Charts and #58 on the Billboard 100 in 1977. He recorded this with his great backup band called The Rumour.

The Rumour would be Graham’s backing band for years. They also recorded their own albums separately and did three in all. They broke up in 1980 and then reformed and started to back Parker up again in 2011 and remain his backup band to this day.

The Pink Parker was an EP, and it basically functioned as a stealth single for Hold Back the Night. The track started getting serious airplay and attention.

Hold Back The Night

Hold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyHold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you baby

When you leftYou took the sunRight out of my skyYes you didWonder whyYou went awayAnd never told me why

When the sun go downThe moon is nearI’m scared to death‘Cause your face appear

Hold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyHold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you baby

LonelinessHolding meWhen I go to bed yes it isLike a characterIn a bookThat I have read

When the sun go downThe moon is nearI’m scared to death‘Cause your face appear

Hold it hold it hold it hold it

Hold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyI said hold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you baby

Hold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyHold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyHold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyHold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyHold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyHold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you babyHold back the nightTurn on the lightDon’t wanna dream about you baby

…

Billie Holiday – Moanin’ Low

I’m not a huge jazz aficionado, but sometimes it hits the spot. On Christian’s blog on Sundays, he usually features a jazz song on his Sunday Six. I often enjoy that more than the rock songs. I was looking through YouTube, and I instantly fell for this song. I picture a smoky black and white bar at 3am in the 40s or 50s, with Holiday giving her all for each song.

I’ve heard other versions of this song, and some are slick and radio-friendly. Holiday’s is not slick, it’s real and as close to authentic as you can get. What I hear in this song is a weariness in Billie’s voice that feels older than the song itself. She doesn’t belt it, and she doesn’t show off. She just leans into the melody like someone savoring the last dance of the night.

When I listen to her songs, I have a feeling like I’m eavesdropping on something intimate. Only a few singers have made me feel that way; she will always be special. In this song, she gave pain a voice, and it’s still being felt.

This song was released in 1936 and peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. One stat that I found floored me. Out of the 38 singles she released, 35 of them were in the top 20. It was written by Ralph Rainger and Howard Dietz in 1929. popularized in the revue The Little Show, where it was sung by Libby Holman. It’s been covered 66 times by artists such as Dinah Shore to Hot Sugar Band & Nicolle Rochelle in 2020.

The live version below is near the end of her tragically short life, but like always, she gives her all.

Moanin’ Low

Moanin’ low, my sweet man, I love him soThough he’s mean as can beHe’s the kind of man needs the kind of a woman like me

Gonna die if my sweet man should pass me byIf I die where’ll he beHe’s the kind of a man needs the kind of a woman like me

Don’t know any reason why he treats me so poorlyWhat have I gone and done?Makes me troubles double with his worriesWhen surely, I ain’t deserving of none

Moanin’ low, my sweet man is gonna goWhen he goes, oh LordyHe’s the kind of a man needs the kind of a woman like me

…

Ramones – Sheena Is a Punk Rocker

I so love the Ramones. They cut through the BS and got down to business. No solos, no lengthy anything…just songs that rock and leave you wanting more. This song peaked at #81 on the Billboard 100 and #22 in the UK in 1977. This was supposedly the first punk song in the Billboard 100. This was the sound of punk going pop, and not in the sellout sense. It would become one of their most popular songs.

If you were standing outside CBGB in the summer of 1977, the street noise wasn’t just the usual loud feedback anymore; it had a melody with the Ramones. They had a lot of influences, but one of them was Bubblegum rock, and it shows. Most of their songs are very catchy.

This song was Joey Ramone’s attempt to write a 1960s-style teenage rebellion song for the late 1970s crowd, and he nailed it. The name was borrowed from Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, a pulp heroine with a loincloth and a machete. But in the Ramones’ world, she trades her safari clothes for a leather jacket and heads to the rock clubs.

Tommy Ramone helped produce this track. He is credited on the album under his real name, Tommy Erdelyi. They were more popular years after they broke up than they were when they were together. It’s a shame they didn’t get as popular when they were a working band.

Joey Ramone: “‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’ first came out as a single. I played it for (Sire Records President) Seymour Stein. He flipped out and said ‘We gotta record that song now.’ It was like back in the ’50s; you’d rush into the studio because you thought you had a hit, then put it right out. To me ‘Sheena’ was the first surf/punk rock/teenage rebellion song. I combined Sheena, Queen of the Jungle with the primalness of punk rock. Then Sheena is brought into the modern day: ‘But she just couldn’t stay/she had to break away/well New York City really has it all.’ It was funny because all the girls in New York seemed to change their name to Sheena after that. Everybody was a Sheena.”

Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go
They’re ready to go now they got their surfboards
And they’re going to the discotheque Au Go Go
But she just couldn’t stay she had to break away
Well New York City really has is all oh yeah, oh yeah

Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now
Well she’s a punk punk, a punk rocker
Punk punk a punk rocker
Punk punk a punk rocker
Punk punk a punk rocker

Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now

My Favorite Ringo Starr songs

Well this finishes up my solo Beatles favorite songs. We had George, John, and Paul, and now last but not least…Mr Richard Starkey or Ringo Starr, whichever way you want to go. John Lennon was initially worried about Ringo when the Beatles broke up. He wondered how Ringo would make his way…he needed not to worry. In the early seventies, he had more hits than John or Paul did at that time. Plus, Ringo found a career in acting.

Lennon jokingly sent a telegram to Ringo after the success of the Ringo album and said, “Congratulations. How dare you? And please write me a hit song.”

Before I get on with the list. Ringo has had some really good songs on albums since the 1980s, but these I grew up with and are forever linked to him. Also now drummers and many other people are coming around to see just how great a drummer Ringo is.

Back Off Boogaloo – Many think a few of the verses are about Paul, and at this time, I can see that. Paul was suing the other Beatles, which turned out to be a good thing for all parties except Allen Klein. It was inspired by Marc Bolan because he frequently used the word “Boogaloo,” which stuck with Ringo.

2. Oh My My -This is an overlooked Ringo song that is really good. I had this single as a kid from a cousin. The song was on the 1973 Ringo album, which was his most successful album. Three of his former bandmates helped contribute to this album. It contained Photograph, You’re Sixteen, and this one, which were hits. Ringo and Vini Poncia wrote this one.

3. It Don’t Come Easy – A great pop single that fits Ringo’s voice perfectly. If you dig on YouTube, you can hear a version in which George Harrison sings. George Harrison is on guitar, Gary Wright on piano, Mal Evans on tambourine, and Pete Ham and Tom Evans from Badfinger on backup vocals. Klaus Voormann, a Hamburg fan, plays bass. It was credited to Ringo and George Harrison.

4. Photograph – Photograph and It Don’t Come Easy were probably the best straight-out pop singles Ringo released, and they are both excellent AM radio hits. George Harrison and Ringo wrote this one.

5. Early 1970 – Why is this song so high on my list? It’s a Ringo written song, and he has verses about each of the Beatles. Is it technically a great song? No, but it has a lot of meaning behind it, and it shows where Ringo was with the other Beatles at this time. He was really close to George, a friend to John, and with Paul, it was up in the air.

The first verse is about Paul… he talks about his farm, and his new wife Linda, and Paul was very quiet around this time and he stopped coming to Apple. He also told Ringo to get out of his house when Ringo delivered a message from the 3 Beatles for McCartney to delay releasing his debut album because of Let It Be releasing at the same time. They finally gave in to Paul. Ringo was wondering if Paul would play music with him when he came by again. And when he comes to town, I wonder if he’ll play with me.

The second verse is about John. Ringo sings about John and Yoko doing the bed in, and what I thought was “Cocaine” as a kid was really a lesser drug…”Cookies.” He also references Yoko with “With his mama by his side, she’s Japanese.” At the end of the verse…unlike Paul, he knows John will play music with him. And when he comes to town, I know he’s gonna play with me.

The third verse is about George. Ringo and George were extremely close in the Beatles and afterward. Things did pop up between them through the years but they remained friends. He describes George in the first line, Pattie Boyd Harrison in the second, and George’s famous mansion Friar Park in the 3rd. Ringo and George wrote together, and George hung out with Ringo more than the other Beatles. He’s a long-haired, cross-legged guitar picker, um-um.
With his long-legged lady in the garden picking daisies for his soup. A forty acre house he doesn’t see, ‘Cause he’s always in town playing for you with me.

6. No No Song – Ok…it’s a pure novelty song but…it’s Ringo. If John, Paul, or George had done this, it wouldn’t be in my top 100…but…again…it’s Ringo. He can get by with it. This was the last of his big hits in America. This one was by Hoyt Axton.

7. Your Sixteen – I had his single as a kid…another one off of the Ringo album. The Ringo album is almost Ringo’s Greatest Hits.

8. Only You – Ringo did a nice cover of this song.

9. I’m The Greatest – Lennon wrote this one for Ringo as well. It was on the huge Ringo album. Lennon knew he could not get by with singing this.

10. Grow Old With Me – John Lennon wrote this song for Ringo, but Ringo waited until 2019 to do it because John gave it to him right before he was murdered.

…

Ry Cooder – Jesus On The Mainline

I had another Ry Cooder song written up and scheduled to go today, but in a conversation, halffastcyclingclub played me this song while we were talking about something else. I decided to try to write this one up for Sunday. I love the spirit and soulfulness of this song. I’ll post the other Cooder song soon. Halffastcyclingclub posted this song on Ry Cooder’s 75th Birthday here.

This song was on his 1974 Paradise and Lunch album. This isn’t a solo showcase or a guitar clinic. Cooder doesn’t treat roots music like a museum exhibit; he has fun with it. You can hear the respect, but you can also hear the joy. It’s a song that, after a minute, I fell in love with.

He sent me the live version, which I would recommend. It’s an old spiritual, passed down and passed around, sung in churches and on chain gangs, more often associated with Sunday salvation. The writer of this beautiful song is unknown, but has been in the American folk and gospel circles for years. Mavis Staples also did a great version of this one. Cooder’s version is almost like a tent revival crossed with a Muscle Shoals jam session.

Cooder’s guitar is wonderful as always in this, but his voice lifts the whole thing skyward with that gospel chorus. This is the kind of song that you don’t just listen to, you get in and ride with it. The album peaked at #174 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1974.

Jesus On The Mainline

I know Jesus is on that mainlineTell Him what you wantJesus is on that mainlineTell Him what you wantJesus is on that mainlineTell Him what you wantCall Him up and tell Him what you want

Well, the line ain’t never busyTell Him what you wantWo, that line ain’t never busyTell Him what you wantWell, the line ain’t never busyTell Him what you wantKeep on calling Him upAnd tell Him what you want

Well, if you want His kingdomTell Him what you wantIf you want His kingdomTell Him what you wantIf want His kingdomTell Him what you wantCall Him up, call Him up, call Him up, call Him upYou can call Him up and tell Him what you wantWell, if you’re sick and want to get wellTell Him what you wantWell, if you’re sick and you want to get wellTell Him what you wantIf you’re sick and you want to get wellTell Him what you wantCall Him up and tell Him what you want

And if you’re feeling down and outTell Him what you wantAnd if you’re feeling down and outTell Him what you wantAnd if you’re feeling down and outTell Him what you wantCall Him up and tell Him what you want

I know Jesus is on that mainlineTell Him what you wantJesus is on that mainlineTell Him what you wantJesus is on that mainlineTell Him what you wantCall Him up, call Him up, call Him up, call Him upCall Him up and tell Him what you want

…

John Lee Hooker – I’m In The Mood

Hooker only needed a guitar and that voice to make any song interesting. If you ever needed proof that less really is more, play this song.

There’s a reason John Lee Hooker didn’t need a band on this song. He was the band. A one-man rhythm machine with a foot that kept better time than some drummers I’ve seen on stage. In a way, this song is blues stripped to its bones. No solos. No pyrotechnics. Just mood, repetition, and that unmistakable voice. He doesn’t shout to get your attention; he commands, and you come running.

The song was recorded in Detroit, Michigan, where Hooker had relocated in the late 1940s. It was released in 1951 on Modern Records. It features Hooker on guitar and vocals, accompanied by minimalistic instrumentation.

He was fresh off the success of Boogie Chillen, and while that earlier hit was electric blues, this song was something different; smokier and more intimate.

This 1951 song was his first R&B #1 since Boogie Chillen in 1948. It also peaked at #30 on the US Hot 100 that year. It was a hit in the juke joints and on jukeboxes. It made people lean in, not turn up. And it cemented Hooker’s place as something far more than a bluesman.

I’m In The Mood

I’m in the mood, babyI’m in the mood for loveI’m in the mood, babyI’m in the mood for loveI’m in the mood, in the moodBabe, I’m in the mood for love

I say, nighttime is the right time, to be with the one you loveYou know when the night come, baby got no use so far away

I’m in the moodI’m in the mood, babeI’m in the mood for loveI’m in the mood, in the mood, babyIn the mood for love

I said, yes my mama told me, “Don’t leave that girl alone”But my mama didn’t know, God know, yeah, I wouldn’t put it down

I’m the moodI’m in the mood, baby, mood for loveI’m in the mood, I’m in the moodBabe, in the mood for love

…

Pogues – Dirty Old Town

It’s always a pleasure listening to their music. I guess the Waterboys primed me for this band. This song is more bare bones, which I really like. You can smell the smoke and feel the soot in this song.

I thought for sure that Shane MacGowan wrote this one, but no, it was folk singer Ewan MacColl, the father of Kirsty MacColl. It was written back in 1949. Kirsty entered the Pogues’ orbit two years later with the timeless Fairytale of New York.

The Pogues’ version on their 1985 album Rum Sodomy & the Lash is sparse and haunting. With this song, they tapped into something universal: every working-class kid’s longing to burn the place they grew up in, even if they love it too much to leave. The song is about Salford, a city in Greater Manchester, England, but after the Pogues were done with it, it could have been about Pittsburgh or anywhere else.

Where other bands might have polished the song into oblivion, the Pogues played it rustic, and it works. This isn’t a punk song in sound, but it is in spirit. When MacGowan sings these dismal lyrics, you believe every word. The song peaked at #27 in Ireland and #62 in the UK. The album peaked at #13 in the UK, and #17 in New Zealand in 1985.

Dirty Old Town

I met my love by the gas works wallDreamed a dream by the old canalI kissed my girl by the factory wall

Dirty old townDirty old town

Clouds are drifting across the moonCats are prowling on their beatSpring’s a girl from the streets at night

Dirty old townDirty old town

I heard a siren from the docksSaw a train set the night on fireI smelled the spring on the smoky wind

Dirty old townDirty old town

I’m gonna make me a good sharp axeShining steel tempered in the fireI’ll chop you down like an old dead tree

Dirty old townDirty old town

I met my love by the gas works wallDreamed a dream by the old canalI kissed my girl by the factory wall

Dirty old townDirty old townDirty old townDirty old town

…

Mitch Ryder – B.I.G. T.I.M.E.

Ever since I heard his growling voice singing the Devil with the Blue Dress On / Good Golly Miss Molly medley, I’ve been a fan of Mitch Ryder. Even his name is cool. He has released more than 25 albums as a solo artist and with the Detroit Wheels. He was born William Sherille Levise Jr. Outside of the medley, I didn’t know much about him, so I spot listened to his songs on albums through the years. He gives a big variety to pick from and some catchy songs.

This should have been a classic rock song from the ’80s. It doesn’t get played much, but it sounds great, and it captures both the producer’s and Mitch’s sound. The producer of this song was John Mellencamp. John was influenced by Mitch, along with Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen. It was written by Keith Sykes in 1980 and has been covered by George Thorogood and the Destroyers as well. I do remember hearing this song in the early eighties, as it got some play here in Nashville.

Lyrically, the song is about making it or wanting to make it. Ryder doesn’t use a metaphor here. He spells it out, literally, because that’s what ambition sounds like when you’re clawing your way up from a bar stage to something bigger. It was on the 1983 album Never Kick a Sleeping Dog at the height of Mellencamp’s career. At times in rocking songs, and I’m going to use a phrase I read some critic use years ago, his voice sounded like sandpaper dipped in gasoline. I mean that in the best way.

He also does a cover of Prince’s When You Were Mine, and Mitch owns it. I have included the video of that one from MTV. Great song as well.

B.I.G. T.I.M.E.

Well when you hear the bell it’s nine o’clock
That’s the time when you start to rock
Gonna push the hair up outta my face
We gonna rock the rafters right offa this place

Yeah, it’s alright
You and me
Yeah, we gonna have a B.I.G.T.I.M.E

Goin’ out tonight we gonna rock, rock, rock
And we don’t care if they call the cops, ha ha
Gonna get my girl we gonna dance dance dance
And later go home and make romance

Yeah, it’s alright
You and me
Yeah, we gonna have a B.I.G.T.I.M.E

Well, my mama told me when I left home
She said “Boy you were born to roam
But you better remember just one thing, son
You gotta always try to have some fun.”
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So, it’s alright
You and me
Yeah, we gonna have a B.I.G.T.I.M.E

Hey, B.I.G.T.I.M.E
Hey, B.I.G.T.I.M.E
Hey, B.I.G.T.I.M.E

My Favorite Paul McCartney songs

The most commercially successful of the Beatles. Paul was so blessed with huge musical talent. Undoubtedly, he was the most talented musician in the Beatles. That’s not to say he hasn’t written some bad songs, but as a musician, he could have played with anyone. There is a story that Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix wanted to collaborate on a project and attempted to recruit Paul on bass.

He has had so many hits that it would be impossible to not leave one off. Paul is known for his pop hits, but when the mood struck, he could rip out rock and roll with the best of them. I always liked it when Paul would write something with loud guitars. In a stretch in the early 70s, he had quite a few of them. One of them I liked but didn’t make this list was Hi, Hi, Hi.

Junior’s Farm – This one doesn’t get played as much as some others, but it’s my favorite Paul song.

Let Me Roll It – I always thought this one could have been written and performed by John Lennon.

3. Band On The Run – One of Paul’s masterpieces. He pretty much stuck 3 short songs together on this, like he did on Abbey Road.

4. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me) – The Spanish artist Pablo Picasso died at the age of 91 on April 8, 1973. News of his passing reached Paul McCartney when he was in Jamaica.

While having dinner there with Paul McCartney, Dustin Hoffman told the story of the death of Pablo Picasso and his famous last words, “Drink to me, drink to my health. You know I can’t drink anymore.” Picasso then went to bed and died in his sleep.

Paul had a guitar with him and immediately played an impromptu chord progression while singing the quote. Thus, “Picasso’s Last Words” was born, later recorded and added to the album Band On The Run in 1973. Hoffman later said of Paul writing the song in front of him, the experience was “right under childbirth in terms of great events of my life.”

5. Sally G -I’ve always liked B-Sides… Let’s listen to some Liverpudlian Country Music. I cannot hear this song without thinking of my grandmother. Her name was Sally, and yes, her last name started with G. She lived to the ripe old age of 96.

6. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five – This song was on arguably McCartney’s best album, Band On The Run. It didn’t chart, but it was released as the B side to the song Band on the Run, and it was played quite a bit on the radio. One of my favorite McCartney album tracks.

Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five was never performed live by Wings, and only became part of McCartney’s live set in 2010.

7. Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey – I remember hearing this before I knew who Paul McCartney was…it was unbelievably catchy, but I had no clue what it was about…still don’t.

Paul combined pieces of various unfinished songs to create this… in the later years of The Beatles, he helped do this for the Abbey Road Medley. As a result, Uncle Albert – Admiral Halsey contains 12 different sections over the course of its 4:50 running time.

8. Jet – It was a terrific single…I like the B side (Let Me Roll It) more, but I love this song. Tony Visconti, who did a lot of production work for David Bowie and Thin Lizzy, did the orchestration on this song.

9. Listen to What the Man Said – It’s far from his best song, but it’s a good pop hit. It was recorded for the album Venus and Mars. It was a song that McCartney had high hopes for, but early recordings did not live up to the song’s potential. The missing ingredient was Jazz musician Tom Scott’s sax solo. They ended up keeping the first take that Tony Scott played on.

10. Maybe I’m Amazed – I’ve always liked the original version of this song the best. The studio version of this song was never released as a single (no tracks on the album were), but it is one of the most remembered songs on McCartney’s first solo album McCartney. “Maybe I’m Amazed” was written in 1969, just after The Beatles broke up, about Linda.

Creeps – Just What I Need

Four years ago, I posted a song by this band that I have loved ever since. It’s called Down At The Nightclub (I’m including it as well at the bottom). It was during the mid-1980s, and I so wish I knew about them then. This would have been what I would have listened to rather than the Top 40 in 1986. This is one band I found that I keep coming back to.

They were fueled by Vox amps and a steady diet of Nuggets and Stax singles. This Swedish band is one of those rare bands you stumble across on a late-night college radio show. It’s the kind of band that never broke into the mainstream but somehow managed to bottle a sound so cutting that it demands rediscovery every few years.

In the mid-’80s, while the rest of the world was drowning in synths and drum machines, The Creeps doubled down on garage soul. It’s a reminder that sometimes, all you really need is a fuzz pedal, an organ, and a chorus you can shout at the top of your lungs.

This song is on their debut album, Enjoy The Creeps, and it was released in 1986. Critics have said that they never managed to translate the excitement of their live show to records, but this one is an exception. They released it on a small label named Tracks on Wax, which was a Swedish Garage Rock label in the 80s.

They formed in Sweden in 1985. They were influenced heavily by the Animals and Yardbirds, Robert Jelinek (vocals, guitar), Hans Ingemansson (Hammond organ), Anders Olsson (bass), and Patrick Olson (drums). Whenever I think of music from Sweden, I think of Abba… This is not Abba by any stretch of the imagination.

After a few years, the band dropped the dirty sound of their debut album and went more for an ’80s funk dance sound.

Here is the song I posted earlier…Down in the Nightclub which is one of my favorite 1980s songs.

…

Bob Dylan – Positively 4th Street

Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, You’d know what a drag it is to see you

This song sent me down the path of being a Dylan fan. The raw, angry, emotional way Dylan spits out the lyrics sounds true. There’s no chorus. No bridge. Just verse after verse of contempt, all wrapped in a breezy organ and guitar.

The song never lets up…Bob just keeps hammering away at someone relentlessly. The song was rumored to be about people rather than one person. We will probably never know because I don’t see Dylan opening up about it. I always thought of this song as the sister song to Like a Rolling Stone. It, in fact, was the follow-up song to Like A Rolling Stone. It was a stand-alone single.

But where Like A Rolling Stone is grand and sweeping, this song is really petty in the best possible way. This is a man lashing out at a specific circle of coffeehouse artists and Greenwich Village gatekeepers, likely in the folk community that once kissed his feet but now curses his loud amplifiers.

The beauty of this song is that it’s a protest song, but a personal one. It’s about betrayal, the smiling face that masks a knife in the back. It’s a story as old as you can get, and sung by a guy who was about to leave the folk scene in the rearview mirror.

There is a kind of glee to be had in hearing Dylan go full scorched-earth. This isn’t peace-and-love Bob, or even cryptic-poet Bob. This is “I-know-you-and-I-see-right-through-you” Bob. He’s less interested in making sense than in making you squirm. It’s brutal.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #7 on the Billboard 100, and #8 in the UK in 1965.

Positively 4th Street

You’ve got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend
When I was down you just stood there grinnin’
You’ve got a lotta nerve to say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on the side that’s winnin’

You say I let you down, ya know its not like that
If you’re so hurt, why then don’t you show it?
You say you’ve lost your faith, but that’s not where its at
You have no faith to lose, and ya know it

I know the reason, that you talked behind my back
I used to be among the crowd you’re in with
Do you take me for such a fool, to think I’d make contact
With the one who tries to hide what he don’t know to begin with?

You see me on the street, you always act surprised
You say “how are you?”, “good luck”, but ya don’t mean it
When you know as well as me, you’d rather see me paralyzed
Why don’t you just come out once and scream it

No, I do not feel that good when I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief perhaps I’d rob them
And tho I know you’re dissatisfied with your position and your place
Don’t you understand, its not my problem?

I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is to see you

Jayhawks – I’m Gonna Make You Love Me

I first found out about this group in 2000 with this song. When I heard it I knew I had to find out more about this band. The Jayhawks formed in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in 1985 and played alternative country-rock. They have released 10 studio albums and are worth checking out.

The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard Triple A Chart in 2000. It was off the album Smile, and The Jayhawks took a more pop approach to this album than their earlier alt-country albums. Gary Louris… guitar player, singer, and songwriter, when this album was released: “I grew up listening to pop music, and that was my love. I loved the Beatles and I loved Big Star.”

There is a difference between this and their earlier music. They stuck on the alt-country for a long time. I would call this their “power pop move,” but there’s still that unmistakable Jayhawks DNA, those rich vocal harmonies, the bittersweet chord changes, and Louris’s yearning delivery in the vocals.

The evolution of the song was interesting… Gary Louris: “I wrote that song when my ex-girlfriend walked out the door… I had a different chorus that was a little more subtle, a little more of an artist’s song that you wouldn’t even know is a chorus maybe but it was cool.”

The record label and producer Bob Ezrin wanted a better chorus to make it more accessible. “And that became the thorn in my side, y’know, because I had written a song I liked and it seemed like that’s what it was. This was the beginning of a long process where I wrote with a lot of different people… And I saw a lot of people I respected write many different ways on the same song.”

A suggestion from songwriter Taylor Rhodes helped Louris find the hook he needed. “So that was definitely a lot of hard work on that song. Now I love it, but for awhile I just wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want to ever hear that song again.”

They recently backed Ray Davies on his albums Americana and Our Country – Americana Act II. Their 2016 album Paging Mr. Proust was produced by Peter Buck of REM.

I’m Gonna Make You Love Me

The world never ends
It’s only the beginning
And we can’t pretend
To discover it’s meaning

We talked for hours at a time
Then I came to my senses
You’re more than a friend
You’re my perfect lover

I’ll never be all you want me to
But that’s all right

I’m gonna make you love me
I’m gonna dry your tears
And we’re gonna stay together
For a million years

It’s the least I can do
Just to make you my baby
No words could describe
Oh, pinch me I’m dreaming

Your hair’s long and black
As it lays ‘cross my pillow
When I stare in your eyes
I get lost in your glory

I’ll never be all you want me to
But that’s all right

I’m gonna make you love me
I’m gonna dry your tears
And we’re gonna stay together
For a million years

When you were a little girl
Your great big world came tumbling down
So sad

Yeah, the river it bends
But it flows to the ocean
And baby here I am
I’m your sea of devotion

I’ll never be all you want me to
But that’s all right

I’m gonna make you love me
I’m gonna dry your tears
And we’re gonna stay together
For a million years