I first heard this band through a song called Hold Me Up a while back. Cool hooks, guitar sound, and melodies. This band has the distorted and jangly sound well mixed together. This song came off of the 1994 album Teenage Symphonies to God which is probably their best-known album. I have listened to this album a bunch and the songs sound like classic songs that have been forgotten.
Vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck are the band’s two constant members. They had previously worked together in 3 other bands…Choo Choo Train, Bag-O-Shells, and The Springfields in the 1980s.
Guitarist Jeffrey Underhill played with them on their first three albums. The album was produced by Mitch Easter who would produce R.E.M among other artists. He gets such a warm sound with Velvet Crush. Matthew Sweet has also worked with this band.
Chastain, Menck, and Underhill reunited in 2019 to tour.
Time Wraps Around You
To the summer of love, from the winter of fear Seasons change us around, the reasons not clear So turn the page Their innocence can’t be saved Beginning again
Like the motions you make, the wave of your hand Like the time that it takes to know that you can Standing by To try and make you feel alright
This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you You know I’ll stay
Through the summer of love, the winter so near Seasons scatter good friends, and more every year Looking back Then you find Learning that It’s time to leave the past far behind
You know it’s alright This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you This time wraps around you And I’ll wrap around you Know I’ll stay
When I went through my Doors phase as a teen…this one was one of the songs that drew me in. I still like the band but I have sympathy for the members not named Morrison. When they played live in the later part of their career…he could be a handful.
This was the first song on The Doors debut album, and also their first single. It got some airplay on Los Angeles radio stations after their friends and fans kept requesting it. Light My Fire…did just that after this single. Break On Through peaked at #126 in the Billboard Charts, #64 in the UK, and #28 in New Zealand in 1967.
“She gets high,” was in the original chorus but their producer Paul Rothchild thought that would limit the song’s airplay potential, and convinced the group to leave it out. Instead, “high” was edited out, making it sound like, “she get uuggh,” but the “high” line can be heard in live versions and the high was restored in the 1999 remaster.
Elektra Records boss Jac Holzman commissioned a promotional film for this song…later known as a music video. Like The Beatles, The Doors were innovators in the music video medium, creating films of various kinds to their songs. Videos saved bands’ trips to TV studios to mime their latest record. MTV used them as their business plan two decades later.
Elektra Records promoted the album with a billboard on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood with a photo of the band and the headline, “The Doors Break On Through With An Electrifying Album.” It gave a lot of attention to the band at the time.
John Rechy’s 1963 book City of Night was a huge influence on Morrison in writing this song. There is a passage that Rechy wrote “place to place, week to week, night to night” and Jim turned it into Made the scene, Week to week, Day to day, Hour to hour.
Jim Morrison:“I like ideas about the breaking away or overthrowing of the established order. I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that seems to have no meaning.”
Break On Through (To The Other Side)
You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side, yeah
We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried?
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Yeah
Come on, yeah
Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby
She get
She get
She get
She get high
I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through, oww
Oh, yeah
Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
This is a band I discovered off of the compilation album Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era, 1976–1995. It was a follow-up to the Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968. That album consisted of early American psychedelic and garage rock singles.
Children of Nuggets was the second wave of garage bands that consisted of psychedelic, power pop, punk, alternative, and alt-country, and also included the Byrds-influenced Paisley Underground Scene that was going on at the time. It was a nice break from the disco and synth-driven bands that were all over the top 40 during the 80s.
The Rain Parade was part of the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the early 80s. The Paisley Underground scene contained bands such as The Bangles, Green on Red, and The Long Ryders. There was no shortage of good songs in the period. They just didn’t get the push from their record companies and they were out of step with other bands like Duran Duran.
This song peaked at #28 in the UK Indie Charts in 1985.
Their roots were in punk music but in this band…instead of the Sex Pistols and the Clash, they went for the Byrds jangly guitars. They also resemble early R.E.M. in this song.
David Roback was in this band. He is most famous for being a founding member of Mazzy Star. He was also in a band with Susanna Hoffs before she joined the Bangles.
You Are My Friend
You are my friend
So sad this had to end
Some broken things don’t mend
They lie where they fall
You say the knife
Is twisted in your back
You don’t remember that
It wasn’t in mind
But you’re my friend
And you know
Things are not the same
You can’t hide your lies
’cause this time
there’s nothing you can change
Friend
I’m sad it had to end
You can’t bring back the dead
They’ll burn you down
You’re much too smart
To waste your mind on me
And you know too late
Don’t be a fool
If you’re my friend
My friend
You are my friend
My friend
My son had never visited Graceland and his girlfriend is visiting so I thought it would be time to go. I’ve been 2 times before…once in the 80s and again in the mid-nineties. We stayed in the Exchange Building in Memphis…a building that is 112 years old. If you are looking for a place in Memphis, it’s listed under Air B&Bs…I would recommend this place…love the architecture.
We got to Graceland on Saturday and it was crowded of course…and the price has more than doubled in the past 10 years from what I read. It’s now $77 (80 with tax) dollars per person for a house visit plus the planes and different exhibits. Compared to the 90s…it’s enough items to keep you busy at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours easy…still that is steep when you have a few people.
You get through the house in 30 minutes or so…at least we did. It’s the huge new complex they built to house most of his items that takes a lot of time.
I’m going to show as many pictures as possible but two exhibits surprised this Beatles fan. They had a section called “Icons” and the artists that were influenced by Elvis. They had many things on loan from The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. I got to see the piano that John Lennon wrote a lot of Double Fantasy on and a vest and Marshall amp from no other than Jimi Hendrix. Also a James Brown outfit, KISS items, Joe Perry, Buddy Holly, and a leather jacket from Bruce Springsteen.
You can google Graceland and get most of the pics inside the house but here are a few…I like the yellow man cave. After this, we took a walk on Beale Street which was really cool. Next time I’m allowing more time. Sun Studios and Buford Pusser’s place in McNairy country are places I wanted to see also.
You should be able to click on the pictures and see all of them one at a time if you want.
Here are some of the exhibits
Last but not least…Elvis’s outfits…it looked like a giant doll’s house.
The Bangles were The Bangs at first, and their line-up consisted of Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson, and Vicki Peterson. The group was part of the Paisley Underground movement, a musical scene based around Los Angeles in which groups mixed 1960s-inspired pop with garage rock. They produced the song themselves and Vicki Peterson wrote the song.
The Bangs released Getting Out Of Hand on their own label DownKiddie Records and distributed it locally around Los Angeles in 1981. They renamed themselves The Bangles because a band in New Jersey was already called The Bangs and threatened to sue. The B side was written by Hoffs called Call On Me.
The songs didn’t chart but they drew the attention of Miles Copeland, who signed the band to his label Faulty Products. They would then release the 1982 EP called The Bangles which contained the song The Real World.
Faulty Products issued a 12-inch “remix” single of The Real World to radio and media, but a setback came as the label folded. I.R.S. Records picked up distribution and reissued the EP. Michael Steele soon joined the band at this time.
The Bangles were a breath of fresh air in the mid-eighties. The band played sixties-inspired rock with Byrd’s chiming guitars. I’ve said it before…and I’ll say it again. The lead singer on this song, Susanna Hoffs, caught my eye right away. Yes for the normal ways but also for the fact she was playing a Rickenbacker guitar…what more could I want? Game over…life complete.
Getting Out Of Hand
A friend told me yesterday You’ve been lookin’ for me If I’ve been stayin’ out of your way I’ve done it intentionally
Saw you walking with her (walkin’ with her) Always kept that few steps behind, yeah Wonder if she knows for sure (she knows for sure) Her man’s goin’on walking the line
Then I say to myself ‘beware’ It’s getting out of hand (out of hand) It’s getting out of hand (don’t look now) If he’s lovin’ you, he’s not being true He’s got another woman, yeah
Look me right in the eye Tell me I’m the one that you love Right back into your lies Forgetting how determined I was
Then I say to myself ‘beware’ It’s getting out of hand (out of hand) It’s getting out of hand (don’t look now) If he’s lovin’ you, he’s not being true He’s got another woman, yeah
My friend Dave first posted this article I wrote here on an episode of Turntable Talk. For those who didn’t see it…here it is. Cincinnati Babyhead also reviewed this on Hanspostcard’s site.
Dave asked a question: Is there an act that actually comes out better on live releases than studio ones?
First, let me say…overall I’m more of a record guy…I usually like the studio version of songs but yes there are some bands that can come off better. I would say The Who, Allman Brothers, Cream, The Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, The Stones (1969-1972), and Bob Dylan’s “1966 tour.” However, there is one condition to this.
I think you have to take into consideration the era you are talking about with each band or artist. If we are talking about the peak years then yes. The Rolling Stones for instance…for me it would be 1969 through 1974. When they had Mick Taylor on guitar…they had a huge raw sound live they haven’t had since. With Dylan, the 66 tour for me was the top and I could listen to those versions all day. The Who it would be 1969 through 1976 when they were untouchable live. But I’m not saying I don’t like other years with these artists…but those are known as the peak years.
When the Who took Tommy on tour I think the live recordings beat the studio album by a long shot. That leads me to…my favorite live rock album of all time.
From Classic Rock website ranking Who albums: “We usually don’t include live albums in our rankings, but ‘Live at Leeds’ is no ordinary live album. Like ‘Live at the Apollo,’ ‘At Fillmore East,’ ‘At Folsom Prison’ and a handful of other classic concert records, it transcends the genre, turning a quick record-company cash turnaround into a statement of purpose.”
The Who: Live at Leads. If you are a rock and roll fan, a rock fan, or even a heavy metal fan…everyone can find something on that album. This is guitar rock at its best. Listening to the sound of that record, it’s no telling how loud they played. They weren’t the loudest in the Guinness Book of World Records for nothing! When Pete hit a power chord you could almost feel your eardrums retract in and out like a speaker.
It’s not being loud though that makes it so great. Personally, I’ve never heard a band as tight as they were during this tour. They wanted to release a live album and soundman Bob Pridden had 38 shows taped. Pete wanted Pridden to go through all shows and tell him which one was best. Because of constant touring Pridden could never get through all of the shows. The day came and Pete asked him ok…which shows. He couldn’t give Pete an answer.
They had a show at Leeds and Hull coming up on the schedule. In a move he’d later label “one of the stupidest decisions of my life,” Townshend told Pridden to burn the tapes so that they’d never wind up in the hands of bootleggers. So, instead of more shows from that era…we have very few.
So…now the tapes were burned and the Leeds and Hull concert was coming up. They had a lot of pressure to get it right for the live album.
Pete Townshend:“I played more carefully than usual and tried to avoid the careless bum notes that often occurred because I was trying to play and jump around at the same time. The next day we played a similar set in City Hall in Hull. This was another venue with good acoustics for loud rock, but it felt less intense than the previous night.”
They played most of the Tommy album and their “oldies” on this tour, which was songs only around 5-6 years old. The original Live at Leeds didn’t have any Tommy songs on it. This album was like a marker for the pre-Tommy Who coming to an end. The deluxe re-released version had the complete show full of Tommy material
The recordings had a few clicks in the tape and Townshend tried to maneuver around them.
Townshend tried slicing out the clicks with a razor blade and quickly realized it would be impossible to get all of them. But subpar-sounding bootlegs were flooding the market at this time, so the band just added a note to the label saying the clicks were intentional! The album cover was a faded stamp reading “The Who: Live at Leeds” on brown paper, mirroring the look of illegal vinyl bootlegs of the era. Later on, Aerosmith had a similar live bootleg album cover.
What impresses me is the only overdubbing on the album was the backup vocals because they were poorly recorded. John Entwistle and Pete did the backup vocals in one take in the studio to stay true to the live album. What you hear on the album is what the good people at Leeds heard that night. No massive overdubbing to tighten anything up.
By 1970 The Who had been touring almost non-stop since 1964 and it showed on this album. After the album, the band didn’t tour as much as before. They worked in the studio on more complex albums Who’s Next and Quadrophenia. Their tours were not the marathon tours of the sixties.
This was before Won’t Get Fooled Again, Baba O’Riley, and Quadrophenia’s complex music that required backing tapes live. This album was The Who as nature intended… a very loud tight rock band and possibly the best live rock album.
BTW…Bob Pridden worked as The Who’s soundman until 2016 when he retired.
Here are three examples. Young Man Blues. Listen to Moon and Entwistle intertwine with each other. You also have Summertime Blues and A Quick One, While He’s Away.
Any song that contains train references I usually like and this one is no exception. I was surprised when I heard this song was by Cinderella. They had changed themselves into a bluesy hard rock roots band. The other song that I heard off the album at the time was Shelter…and that one I loved also.
The song peaked at #44 on the Billboard 100, #60 in Canada, #54 in the UK, and #13 on the Billboard Rock Charts in 1991.
In 1990 we were the house band at club at the time. We never played new music but I learned this one just to see the faces of the people when we played a new song. We did this one and Jealous Again by the Black Crowes.
They never really got a chance to follow this momentum up with another album. n 1991, Keifer lost his voice due to a paresis of his vocal cords. After operations, they didn’t follow up this album until 1994 (Still Climbing) and by then grunge had taken over and Cinderella was dropped from the record company after the album went nowhere.
They reformed in 1996 and would tour off and on until 2014.
Heartbreak Station
Waiting at the station
Tears filling up my eyes
Sometimes the pain you hide
Burns like a fire inside
Lookin’ out my window
Sometimes it’s hard to see
The things you want in life
Come and go so easily
She took the last train out of my heart
The last train
And now I think I’ll make a brand new start
The last train out of my heart
Watching the days go by
Thinking ’bout the plans we made
Days turn into years
Funny how they fade away
Sometimes I think of those days
Sometimes I just hide away
I’m waiting on that 9:20 train
I’m waiting on a memory
She took the last train out of my heart
The last train
And now I think I’ll make a brand new start
The last train out of my heart, yeah
My lady’s on the fly
And she’s never coming back
My love is like a steam train
Rolling down the tracks, yeah, yeah
The last train out of my heart
The last train
And now I think I’ll make a brand new start
Took the last train out of my heart, yeah
she took the last train, out of my heart
(The last train) she took the last train
And now I think I’ll make a new start
Last train out of my heart
I had view masters as a kid and loved them…tonight I was able to see some view master slides in a view master projector with a screen. I always wanted one as a kid but never could get it. I had the “click” model you held in your hand.
A few months ago…my cousin Mark came over. He and I collect things from the 50s-70s. Mark has been collecting View-Masters and the round slides. He shopped on Market Place and found someone with a 1950s View-Master projector. The projector is very clear.
All of us (wife, son, Mark, and myself) spent over an hour watching the view-master slides on a screen that he bought from different people.
Of course, the slides are not 3-D when projected but it still was really cool. We saw Busch Gardens, Silver Dollar City, Acapulco, Sequoia, Kings National Park (I think), and some other places. It was like stepping back in time to the 60s or 70s which I guess was the idea. All the pictures came from the 50s through the 70s.
As a kid, I would spend hours clicking the round slide over and over. For some reason, I remember an outer space slide selection I had. The 3-D made it look like you could touch it. When my son was around 5 we got him one and he loved it. I would recommend picking one up if you see one somewhere…no matter how old you are…they are still fun!
The View-Master was based on the stereoscopic viewer, which dates all the way back to the 1800s.
Before I start…I’ll be off and on this weekend because I’m traveling to Memphis to see Big E’s house…Graceland… for the 3rd time.
Power pop can be traced back to George Harrison and Roger McGuinn’s 12-string Rickenbackers. This was right before the Byrds dived into country rock with Graham Parsons and made the Sweethearts of the Rodeo album.
The Notorious Byrd Brothers cover controversy. It has been said that McGuinn or the other Byrds wanted to insult the fired David Crosby by placing a horse in the stall beside them in his place. McGuinn had the best response to this… “If we had intended to do that, we would have turned the horse around.”
The album (The Notorious Byrd Brothers) marked Gene Clark’s brief return to the band. He had left The Byrds the year before and made a solo album that was critically praised but failed commercially. His supposedly fear of flying had a huge impact. After the album was released he toured with the band briefly but after an anxiety attack in Minneapolis, he quit.
David Crosby was fired by McGuinn and Hillman before the album was finished. He was upset at the rest of the band for finishing one of his songs and using it among many things. Crosby was not in favor of doing this song written by “two Brill Building writers” and they should only record their original music. They bickered back and forth and Crosby was fired. Crosby went on to fame in Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Parsons and Hillman would, later on, form the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Crosby also fought with drummer Michael Clarke and Clarke soon quit before it was finished. This left McGuinn and Hillman and that is when they got Gene Clark to take Crosby’s place which lasted only 3 weeks.
Clarence White, the future Byrd the following year, helped out on the album with pedal steel guitar. Goin’ Back was a Goffin and King song. The first version/hit was by Dusty Springfield and it peaked at #10 in the UK in 1966.
The single was released a few months before The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Goin’ Back peaked at #89 on the Billboard 100 in 1967.
Gene Clark:“The fear of flying wasn’t why I quit the group, When you’re 19, 20 years old and you start on a fantasy, then six months later you’re hanging out with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, it can cause you to become a little disturbed. The reason for the group’s breakup was much less the fear of flying than it was we were too young to handle the amount of success that was thrown at us all at once.”
David Crosby:“I started going up and hanging out with Roger and Gene, we would sing together at The Troubadour, Gene was from a family of 11 from somewhere like Mississippi, he had no clue what the rules were, so he would just do it in a way that somebody else hadn’t thought of. And Roger was so smart, who listened to and go, ‘Well, we could just do this and this to it,’ and boom, it’s a record! I almost hate giving Roger as much credit as I do, but you can’t deny it – he was a moving force behind that band, and he did create the arrangements for the songs.”
Photographer Gus Webster:I get asked about this cover shot for The Byrds all the time. This was shot a couple of years after I first worked for them. The picture was done up in [Topanga] Canyon. The group was going through changes. I got a call to shoot the album cover. They wanted to go out to the country, since their first album cover was shot in a studio.
So I found this abandoned barn with four open windows. There was a horse in the field. I put each one of the guys in the windows. And in the last window I put the horse. I was mistakenly accused of denigrating David Crosby. It wasn’t to replace Crosby, who had been fired; it wasn’t to insult anyone. It was just to balance the composition. It was just a space and a horse — and what an image.”
Goin’ Back
I think I’m goin’ back
To the things I learned so well in my youth,
I think I’m returning to
The days when I was young enough to know the truth
Now there are no games
To only pass the time
No more coloring books,
No Christmas bells to chime
But thinking young and growing older is no sin
And I can play the game of life to win
I can recall a time,
When I wasn’t afraid to reach out to a friend
And now I think I’ve got
A lot more than a skipping rope to lift
Now there’s more to do
Than watch my sailboat glide
Then everyday can be my magic carpet ride
And I can play hide and seek with my fears,
And live my life instead of counting my years
Let everyone debate the true reality,
I’d rather see the world the way it used to be
A little bit of freedom, all we’re left
So catch me if you can
I’m goin’ back
I liked this song on my first listen. Guided by Voices is an indie rock band formed in Dayton, Ohio, United States in 1983. The band’s lineup has changed several times throughout the band’s history, with its only constant member being singer/songwriter Bob Pollard. They are still together and touring… Bob Pollard is with the current lineup.
If this band is anything…it’s prolific. They have had 35 studio albums, 12 Compilation albums, 19 EPs, 39 singles, 2 live albums, and 2 books! On top of that they have appeared on several soundtracks including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Crime and Punishment, Scrubs, and many more. They also counted Rik Ocasek as one of their producers.
Their first EP came out in 1986 and their first LP came out in 1987. They have released 14 albums since 2016.
Glad Girls was released in 2001 on the Isolation Drills album. The album peaked at #6 on the Heat Seekers Charts, #8 in the Indie charts, and #168 on the Billboard Album charts. Here is an interesting fact… “Glad Girls” was nominated for the High Times“Pot Song of the Year” award.
Metacritic gives the album a score of 83 out of 100. Sonicnet:Ditching lo-fi aesthetics for a more radio-ready sound in the spirit of, say, the Raspberries or Badfinger, Pollard has wisely chosen not bury his songs in oblique lyrical references and muddy tape hiss.
Glad Girls
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
Glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
There will be no coronation
There will be no flowers flowing
In the light that passes though me now
In the light that passes though me
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
There will be no graduation
There will be no trumpets blowing
In the light that passes through me now
In the light that passes through me
With the sinking of the sun
I’ve come to greet you
Clean your hands and go to sleep
Confess the dreams
Of good and bad men all around
Some are lost and some have found
The light that passes though me now
Yeah, the light that passes though me
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
Hey, glad girls
Only want to get you high
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
And they’re alright
Was Robert Johnson the most influential guitarist in the history of blues and rock? That very possibly could be true. It wasn’t until the 80s that I started to read and hear more about him. Reading interviews with Clapton, Jimmy Page, and others…they all owed a huge debt to Johnson.
My introduction to Robert Johnson came from Eric Clapton while playing with Cream. Johnson was a great blues guitarist that supposedly sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to be able to play the blues. Some of the songs he wrote played into this myth. He only cut 29 songs that he recorded in a two-year period between 1936 and 1937.
Movies such as the 1980s film Crossroads brought Johnson many more fans. Many people have searched for Johnson after listening to artists that were influenced by him. His voice will haunt you after you listen to his recordings. His songs are pure and timeless.
With this song…I heard it before I heard Robert Johnson’s version… I knew the Blues Brothers version of it the best. Robert Johnson is listed as the writer but the origins are before that. Scrapper Blackwell’s “Kokomo Blues” and Kokomo Arnold’s “Old Original Kokomo Blues,” both similar to Johnson’s original right down to their “baby don’t you want to go” choruses, were recorded years before Johnson first entered a studio but Johnson owns it.
Now when it’s played in movies or sold on CDs… Stephen LaVere’s family gets half the royalties and Johnson’s the other half. LaVere entered the picture in 1973, persuading Johnson’s elderly half-sister Carrie Thompson to sign a contract ceding him 50 percent of the profits from Johnson’s music. He went out and marketed Johnson’s music and it paid off in millions for both parties.
Sweet Home Chicago
Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?
Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?
Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now one and one is two
Two and two is four
I’m heavy loaded, baby
I’m booked, I gotta go
Crying baby
Honey, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
And two and two is four
Four and two is six
You gonna keep monkeyin’ ’round here friend, boy
You’re gonna get you business all in a trick
Crying baby
Honey, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home, Chicago
Now six and two is eight
Eight and two is ten
Friend-boy she trick you one time
She sure gonna do it again
But don’t cry, hey hey!
Baby, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
I’m going to California
From there to Des Moines Iowa
Somebody will tell me that you
Need my help someday
Crying, baby
Baby, don’t you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
I was at Jeff’s site EclecticMusicLover and I heard a song by the band “Death Cab For Cutie” that I liked. I like a few songs by them. That band was named after this song and when I hear their name this is what I think of. This is very different kind of band than what I usually post about. It’s a bit of surreal humor from 1967 from this band that was quite different than anyone else. I’ve always said that Devo was unlike anyone else…and this band I would include also.
The band was the guest of the Beatles on the Magical Mystery Tour movie. There is something about this song…that sticks with me. It might be the intro that pulls me in and won’t let me go…even when I want it to. It is a parody of a 50s teenage tragedy song which I will get to. There was a relationship with Monty Python with a few members like Neil Innes…and you can tell.
The Bonzos were asked personally by Paul McCartney to be in the film as they were gaining popularity in Britain at the time. The song was written by the group’s singer Vivian Stanshall, the initial inspiration for this song was the title of an old American pulp fiction crime magazine he once came across. Stanshall wanted to sing it as a teenage tragedy song of the 50s such as Teen Angel.
It was not a hit in the UK but they did have a top 10 hit with I’m The Urban Spaceman (produced by McCartney) which peaked at #5 in 1968. Death Cab For Cutie was on their album called Gorilla.
The indie rockers Death Cab for Cutie named their band after this song. Lead singer Ben Gibbard says that if he knew his band would still be popular 15 years after they formed, he would’ve picked “something more obvious” for a band name. Ben Gibbard: “I would absolutely go back and give it [the band] a more obvious name, thank God for Wikipedia. At least now, people don’t have to ask me where the f**king name came from every interview. I’m glad we have the name now, but in the early days it was tough.”
The Bonzo Doo-Dah band was formed in the early 60s by British Art Students combining elements of music hall, trad jazz, and psychedelia with surreal humor and avant-garde art. They came up with their name from the cartoon dog created in the 20s by artist George Studdy…Bonzo The Dog.
The phrase “Death Cab for Cutie” can be traced to a book by British Academic Richard Hoggart. In 1957, Hoggart published a book called The Uses of Literacy which discussed British popular culture and cultural studies.
I was around 13 when I saw Magical Mystery Tour. Citizen Kane, it’s NOT but to see videos of I Am The Walrus and Fool On The Hill was worth it. When this band came on to sing Death Cab For Cutie…they were accompanied by stripper Jan Carson doing her act while the Bonzos were performing…I forgot a lot of things about the movie…but not that.
This is the Magical Mystery Tour version that I saw….the censored version
This is an outtake ***NON censored*** version… you see a bit more of Jan Carson in this one. So a warning…yes there is nudity.
The song starts around the 1-minute mark on this one.
Death Cab For Cutie
That night Cutie called a cab -Baby don’t do it She left her East Side drum so drab -Baby don’t do it She went out on the town Knowing it would make her lover frown -Death cab for Cutie -Death cab for Cutie Someone’s going to make you pay your fare
The cab was racing through the night -Baby don’t do it His eyes in the mirror, keeping Cutie in sight -Baby don’t do it When he saw Cutie it gave him a thrill Don’t you know Baby, curves can kill -Death cab for Cutie -Death cab for Cutie Someone’s going to make you pay your fare
Cutie, don’t you play with fate Don’t leave your lover alone If you go out on this date His heart will turn to stone
Bad girl Cutie, what have you done -Baby don’t do it Slipping sliding down Highway 31 -Baby don’t do it The traffic lights changed from green to red They tried to stop but they both wound up dead -Death cab for Cutie -Death cab for Cutie Someone’s going to make you pay your fare Someone’s going to make you pay your fare Someone’s going to make you pay your fare Someone’s going to make you pay your fare
James Brown was the man. Not many go on a stage and leave everything on it like he did. He drove his band hard, really hard to follow him. I so wish I could have seen this man live in concert. Every song he did sound as if it were a sermon coming from a pulpit.
That’s not to say that trouble didn’t find Brown or that Brown didn’t find trouble every so often. In 1963 in Macon, Georgia, James Brown attempted to shoot his musical rival Joe Tex. It seemed Tex had done a parody of Brown on stage, and James didn’t like it. The incident caused people to get shot and stabbed. Brown got his agent and a few thousand dollars to make the situation disappear. When the shootout was over, each one of the injured was given one hundred dollars apiece not to carry it no further and not to talk to the press. Brown was never charged for the incident.
James Brown first recorded this song in June of 1964 in Chicago under the title “It’s a Man’s World”. But it was Brown’s second version of the song, retitled in 1966 that became a hit, with the final title echoing the Oscar-winning It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. The music was written by James Brown and most of the lyrics by Betty Jean Newsome.
The lyrics to the song emerged from a road trip tour James Brown was on with his backup singer, Betty Jean Newsome. She has said they were on a 20-hour drive from Harlem, through South Carolina, and further west into the Deep South.
In 1963 Brown co-wrote “I Cried” with Famous Flames bandmate Bobby Byrd The song was recorded by 18-year-old Tammy Montgomery, who had been a backup singer with the James Brown Revue in live concerts. Later on, she would become Tammi Terrell. He used the same chord progression for It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World.
The song peaked at #1 on The Billboard R&B Charts, #8 on the Billboard 100, #25 in Canada, and #13 in the UK in 1966.
It’s A Man’s, Man’s, Man’s, World
This is a man’s world, this is a man’s world
But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl
You see, man made the cars to take us over the road
Man made the train to carry the heavy load
Man made electric light to take us out of the dark
Man made the boat for the water, like Noah made the ark
This is a man’s, man’s, man’s world
But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl
Man thinks about our little bitty baby girls and our baby boys
Man made them happy, ’cause man made them toys
And after man make everything, everything he can
You know that man makes money, to buy from other man
This is a man’s world
But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing, not one little thing, without a woman or a girl
He’s lost in the wilderness
He’s lost in bitterness, he’s lost lost
I grew up with the Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive on AM radio. I always thought these two songs flowed together well.
Randy Bachman wrote No Sugar Tonight. When he presented the song to the band he was told the song was too short. To solve the problem they pieced the Burton Cummings song New Mother Nature together with this one on the album American Woman.
This is the last hit song that Randy Bachman played on with The Guess Who. He would leave soon after because of his Mormon beliefs didn’t go with the Guess Who’s touring rock lifestyle. They wouldn’t play together again until 13 years later in 1983.
The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #13 on the Billboard 100, and #19 in the UK in 1970.
Before I knew about the Who or Guess Who…when I heard the name I thought they were the same band. Their name came about when their label Quality Records released their first hit single (“Shakin’ All Over”) credited only to “Guess Who?” in an attempt to build a mystique around the band. They wanted the public to believe that this was a possible British band. The real name of the band was “Chad Allan & The Expressions,” but radio station DJs continued to refer to them as “The Guess Who.” when playing subsequent singles.
The Guess Who tried to get The Who to change their name.
Randy Bachman:“When I was in the Guess Who, we found out about this English band called the Who and were determined to force them to change their name, so, we were in London, and the Who were playing at the Marquee club. Down we went to confront them. They were being filmed for German TV at that show, so we had to wait around for about four hours. Eventually, we get to meet them and say: ‘Look, we were here before you. So, change your name, it’s confusing people, Pete Townshend looked at us and replied: ‘There’s the Yardbirds and the Byrds. Nobody’s confused by that. So bugger off.'”
The two bands became friends after that according to Bachman. . “And that phrase ‘bugger off’ was our in-joke, We’d check into a hotel and find out the Who were there, so we’d call up one of the guys at 3AM and when they answered we would say: ‘Bugger off!’ then hang up. They’d do the same to us.”
John Presho…security for Randy Bachman: “Randy told me that the inspiration for writing ‘No Sugar Tonight’ came to him from an experience he had walking in downtown Berkeley, California. Randy was walking and talking with a bandmate when he looked up and saw four big biker guys walking on the same sidewalk approaching them. Randy made up his mind to cross the street rather than confront the bikers, then he heard the skidding of car tires. Just as Randy was stepping off the sidewalk the car came to a skidding stop and a biker lady got out of the car, walked over to one of the bikers and engaged in a heated conversation with him. When the argument ended the biker lady walked back to the car, opened the door, turned around, then shouted to the biker, ‘One more thing honey, you’re not getting any sugar tonight’ indicating he was not going to get any sex that night from her. The car took off, Randy crossed the street went back to his hotel and started writing the song based on that experience.”
No Sugar Tonight / New Mother Nature
Lonely feeling
Deep inside
Find a corner
Where I can hide
Silent footsteps
Crowding me
Sudden darkness
But I can see
No sugar tonight in my coffee
No sugar tonight in my tea
No sugar to stand beside me
No sugar to run with me
Jocko says “Yes” and I believe him
When we talk about the things I say
She hasn’t got the faith or the guts to leave him
When they’re standing in each other’s way
You’re tripping back now to places you’ve been to
You wonder what you’re gonna find
You know you’ve been wrong but it won’t be long
Before you leave ’em all far behind
‘Cause it’s the new mother nature taking over
It’s the new splendid lady come to call
It’s the new mother nature taking over
She’s gettin’ us all
She’s gettin’ us all
Jocko said “No” when I came back last time
It’s looking like I lost a friend
No use callin’ ’cause the sky is fallin’
And I’m getting pretty near the end
A smoke-filled room in a corner basement
The situation must be right
A bag of goodies and a bottle of wine
We’re gonna get it on right tonight
‘Cause it’s the new mother nature taking over
It’s the new splendid lady come to call
It’s the new mother nature taking over
She’s gettin’ us all
She’s gettin’ us all
(Lonely feeling) Jocko says “Yes” and I believe him
(Deep inside) When we talk about the things I say
(Find a corner) She hasn’t got the faith or the guts to leave him
(Where I can hide) When they’re standing in each other’s way
(Silent footsteps) You’re tripping back now to places you’ve been to
(Crowding me) You wonder what you’re gonna find
(Sudden darkness) You know you’ve been wrong and it won’t be long
(But I can see) Before you leave ’em all far behind
‘Cause it’s the new mother nature taking over
It’s the new splendid lady come to call
It’s the new mother nature taking over
She’s gettin’ us all
She’s gettin’ us all
This is my 5th-year anniversary on WP. Thank you all for still reading and commenting.
This was part of Dave’s at A Sound Day “Turntable Talk” series…hope you like it. It’s also a more in-depth re-working of my first post on September 18, 2017. I never dreamed I would be accepted in such a large community of like-minded people. It’s not easy to meet Big Star fans in real life…here in this community, they come to you. My mission was…if I could get one person to at least give Badfinger, Big Star, or the Raspberries a listen…my job was done…but it’s been so much more than that because I’ve learned more than I’ve given. Yes, I love the Beatles but they don’t need my cheerleading.
I usually write shorter posts than this…but it was a lot to say on this subject.
So why are The Beatles still popular with older and younger generations? Their influence seems never-ending. It’s as though they have never left. There are other bands that left a legacy but nothing like the footprint of the Beatles.
The Beatles shaped culture instead of following it. Society changed after that appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. They cast such a large net in music compared to everyone else. They influenced everything from rock, folk-rock, power pop, psychedelia, progressive rock, and heavy metal. They practically invented the thought or image of a rock band. They moved passed that and have become a huge part of the culture they helped create.
The Beatle’s breakup was announced in 1970. Many rumors flew that they might regroup through the years but that ended on December 8, 1980, in New York with the assassination of John Lennon.
Through the seventies, the Beatles were still quite popular with the Red and Blue greatest-hits albums released in the early seventies. The greatest hits album Rock and Roll Music (terrible silver cover) was released in 1976. Capitol released Got To Get You In My Life as a single off of the album and it peaked at #1 in Canada and #7 in the Billboard 100 in 1976. This was 10 years after it was released as an album track on Revolver.
I bought my first Beatle album (Hey Jude Again) in 1975 when I was 8 and then bought the Rock and Roll Music album. So, I was a 2nd generation Beatles fan and there were many of us. The solo Beatles dominated the charts to the mid-seventies. After 1975 they had hits but not as many as before. Beatles’ popularity waned in the mid to late 70s when the “newer/ younger” generations considered the Beatles as belonging to their parents. Many youngsters believed Led Zeppelin, Queen, and all newer bands would replace the Beatles in scope and success.
Everything changed when Lennon was murdered. A newer generation heard the music. Their popularity would go up and down but with the first Beatle CDs released in 1987…again another generation heard the Beatles. Sgt Pepper was re-released 20 years after the original and it went to number one.
What really cemented them in the public’s mind happened on November 20, 1995. The Beatles Anthology CDs were released, and the documentary was viewed during prime time on ABC. Since then, they have never left. On November 13, 2000, they released the compilation album “1” which was the best-selling album of the decade worldwide. The Beatles were also the largest selling band between 2000-2010. In 2009 The Beatles Rock Band game came out and…yet another generation found their music. One was my son who was born in 2000.
Between 2010-2020 they remixed and reissued many of their classic albums with 50th-anniversary editions. The Get Back film by Peter Jackson is the latest project that has thrust them in the spotlight again…but really, they have never left.
The bottom line for their staying power is their music. The songwriting was outstanding. Even the early music was something new. They used minor chords, and different rhythms, along with harmonizing over the top. I’m not going to go into musical theory, but they never repeated themselves. Every album stands on its own. John Lennon’s rhythm guitar was quirky and inventive, George Harrison brought in a Chet Atkins style along with jazz chords, Paul brought bass playing to a new level, and Ringo was a left-hander that played right-handed with an open high hat. The main thing was the songwriting, quality, and quantity that is rarely if ever seen.
Bob Dylan: “Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid.”
They rarely included their singles on albums. Most bands used singles to sell albums, but The Beatles treated both formats as different entities. Songs that weren’t released as singles include Norwegian Wood, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, With A Little Help From My Friends, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, All My Loving, A Day In The Life, Back In The USSR, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Helter Skelter, Michele, The Night Before, and one of the most popular Beatles song Here Comes The Sun, and many more. Any other band would have released these songs as singles but with the Beatles…they were just album cuts. That is how deep their songwriting was at the time, and from 1966 onward George was contributing to the quality as well. George developed into a great songwriter in the impossible situation of being with two of the best in history.
They had more variety than many others. They were rockers in Hamburg and The Cavern. They were pop stars in the Beatlemania years. They were rock-folk-pop in the middle period of Rubber Soul and Revolver. They were Psychedelic rockers during the Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour era. Then they went back to their roots and were rockers again with the White Album and Let It Be. Abbey Road saw them perfecting their craft in all genres. They knew when to make an exit…while still on top.
They broke up because they outgrew each other and were together constantly, much like brothers. John, Paul, and George grew up together in Liverpool and they knew Ringo well early on. They were never made to stay together like the Stones. The Stones developed a business/brand attitude, but the Beatles were more of a family and things were more personal.
They were not this clean polite band that Brian Epstein and the press created. In fact, the Stones and Beatles’ images should have been reversed… but to make it…they had to clean up to get through the international door. After they did, the door was open for all others. They did however speak of whatever was on their mind. They said things stars just didn’t say, even in the early days. There was something honest about them that is still there to this day.
They were symmetrical… John brought in Paul, Paul brought in George, and George brought in Ringo.
Their story adds depth to their legacy. The odds of them finding Brian Epstein, George Martin, Stuart Sutcliffe, and everyone on the way was nearly zero. If one key person would have would have gone the other way…the story would not be the same or might not have happened.
In a hundred years…the question will still be asked… why are the Beatles still relevant?
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