Buzzcocks – What Do I Get

These guys blended punk and pop about as well as anyone. Once again I had a friend with their import records in the eighties. That was the only way I could hear them.

This was their first top 40 hit in the UK and it peaked at #37 way back in 1977. The B-side was a song called “Oh Shit.” I wish they would have hit in America but their name probably didn’t help them over here.

They chose the name Buzzcocks after reading the headline, “It’s the Buzz, Cock!”, in a review of the TV series Rock Follies in Time Out magazine. The “buzz” is the excitement of playing on stage; “cock” is northern English slang meaning friend. They were formed in 1976 by Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto after seeing the Sex Pistols. They were able to blend punk’s spirit and sound with pop.

They were invited by Nirvana to open select dates on the grunge outfit’s last ever European tour, in early 1994. Steve Diggle told about a  memory he has of Kurt Cobain: “Doing two grams of coke is one of my famous stories with him.” They also opened up for Pearl Jam in 2003.

They released 3 albums and broke up in 1981 after a dispute with their record company. They reunited in 1989 and released 6 more albums. Pete Shelley continued to play with the band until his death from a heart attack in 2018. The band still continues to tour.

Steve Diggle: “Of course we partied and did drugs and had good times with the girls. Who wouldn’t? Certain things about being in a band and traveling about, people invite you to parties and clubs. Initially, it wasn’t supposed to be like that. But I realized you can’t break America, America breaks you.”

 Jane Wiedlin: Our favorite band, the band that we always tried to emulate was the Buzzcocks, who had that great pop song done in a punky style.”

Billy Joe Armstrong: “Buzzcocks pretty much invented a style that would influence multiple generations of lonesome hearts and weirdos”

What Do I Get

I just want a lover like any other, what do I get?
I only want a friend who will stay to the end, what do I get?

What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?
What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?

I’m in distress, I need a caress, what do I get?
I’m not on the make, I just need a break, what do I get?

What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?
What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?

I only get sleepless nights
Alone here in my half-empty bed
For you things, seem to turn out right
I wish they’d only happen to me instead

What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?
What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?

Ah

I only get sleepless nights
Alone here in my half-empty bed
For you, things seem to turn out right
I wish they’d only happen to me instead

What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?
What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?

I just want a lover like any other, what do I get?
I only want a friend who will love to the end, what do I get?

What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?
What do I get, oh-oh, what do I get?

Well, let me tell you now
(What do I get?)
(What do I get?) No love
(What do I get?) No sleep at nights
(What do I get?) Nothing that’s nice
(What do I get?) Nothing at all, at all, at all, at all
At all, at all, at all ’cause I don’t get you

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros – Home

I posted this song when I first started when I had only a couple of readers (Hanspostcard and Run-Sew-Read) so I thought I would give it another go. When I heard this on Lightning 100 in Nashville (an alternative station) I thought it was an old song. I liked it off the bat. Alex Ebert had left his band Ima Robot and formed this odd hippie-type band with Jade Castrinos in Los Angeles, California in 2007.

Never did I think I would like a song that started off…

Alabama, Arkansas
I do love my ma and pa
Not that way that I do love you

Holy moley, me oh my
You’re the apple of my eye
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

But I did…and I couldn’t get enough of it. Their music has an old sound and is vibrant. I’m not comparing this in any way but it brought to mind Johnny and June Cash. Johnny and June didn’t sound like this but the type of song fits.

They were a band that had members that would come and go and were like a commune-type group. The song didn’t make it into the Billboard 100 although it was everywhere. “Home” was released in 2010 and it charted at #25 on the Billboard Alternative Songs in 2010 and #50 in the UK Charts in 2013. It did get a lot of play on commercials and  TV shows.

The interplay between Ebert and his then-girlfriend and bandmate Jade Castrinos is infectious. The song is a true story. Alex Ebert and Jade Castrinos were enjoying a day through Elysian Park in Los Angeles when she lost her shoes and he carried her on his back. After that, she fell out of his 2nd story window and had to go to the hospital.

The band is named after a character from a novel Ebert was writing…Edward Sharpe is an otherworldly figure who comes to Earth to offer enlightenment to the masses but finds himself getting distracted by the beautiful women.

Unfortunately Jade is not in the band now after a falling out in 2014. Their last album PersonA was released in 2016.

Home

Alabama, Arkansas
I do love my ma and pa
Not that way that I do love you

Holy moley, me oh my
You’re the apple of my eye
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Man, oh man, you’re my best friend
I scream it to the nothingness
There ain’t nothing that I need

Well, hot and heavy, pumpkin pie
Chocolate candy, Jesus Christ
Ain’t nothing please me more than you

Ah, home, let me go home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Ah, home, let me go home
Home is wherever I’m with you

La, la, la, la, take me home
Mommy, I’m coming home

I’ll follow you into the park
Through the jungle, through the dark
Girl, I never loved one like you

Moats and boats and waterfalls
Alleyways and pay phone calls
I’ve been everywhere with you

That’s true, laugh until we think we’ll die
Barefoot on a summer night
Never could be sweeter than with you

And in the streets you run a-free
Like it’s only you and me
Geez, you’re something to see

Ah, home, let me go home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Ah, home, let me go home
Home is wherever I’m with you

La, la, la, la, take me home
Daddy, I’m coming home

Jade Alexander, do you remember that day you fell out of my window?
I sure do, you came jumping out after me
Well, you fell on the concrete, nearly broke your ass,
You were bleeding all over the place and I rushed you out to the hospital, you remember that?
Yes, I do, well, there’s something I never told you about that night
What didn’t you tell me?
While you were sitting in the backseat smoking a cigarette you thought was going to be your last,
I was falling deep, deeply in love with you, and I never told you until just now

Ah, home, let me go home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Ah, home, let me go home
Home is where I’m alone with you

Home, let me come home
Home is wherever I’m with you

Ah, home, yes I am home
Home is when I’m alone with you

Alabama, Arkansas
I do love my ma and pa
Moats and boats and waterfalls
Alleyways and pay phone calls

Ah, home, let me go home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Ah, home, let me go home
Home is where I’m alone with you

Twilight Zone – Stopover in a Quiet Town

★★★★★ April 24, 1964 Season 5 Episode 30

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is a classic episode of the Twilight Zone. The characters are both a little hungover. They can be short-tempered, quarrelsome, and blame each other for their predicament. The wife tends toward hysteria and the man is totally insensitive, but we feel for them. They wake up in a strange house and town after drinking at a party the night before. In this quiet town, the horror is real, and we can sense the panic that the characters are going through. You start caring for the characters and are invested at this point as they think they find the way out time after time.

Serling has used this idea before with the pilot Where Is Everybody? but he explores it more with this episode. Rod Serling achieves a heightened sense of claustrophobia of feeling trapped in this episode. Serling’s closing narration turns it in a warning against drunk driving. “The moral of what you’ve just seen is clear. If you drink, don’t drive. And if your wife has had a couple, she shouldn’t drive either. You might both just wake up with a whale of a headache in a deserted village in the Twilight Zone.”

Earl Hamner Jr: I got that idea walking around the backlot at MGM once, Hamner recalls. Everything was made of papier-mache and was a false front. It suddenly came to me, what if someone woke in this surrounding and there was nothing but false labels on everything, and if you dropped a lighted match on the grass it would catch fire, and if you got on a train it would come all the way around to where you started from?

IMDB Trivia: The abandoned town in which the Frazers find themselves is the same location used for The Twilight Zone: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (1960). As the actors move through the ‘town’, they traverse several of the old themed ‘street’ sets which were then standing on the old MGM backlot, including the New England street, the “St Louis” street, and the western town.

The bulletin board in front of the church says that the sermon will be given by Rev. Kogh Gleason. F. Keogh Gleason was a set decorator at M-G-M for many years, and worked on The Twilight Zone (1959).

This is the second episode that shows two people sharing the same bed together on television, something unusual at the time. The first was The Twilight Zone: Person or Persons Unknown (1962). Due to censorship regulations from the networks, TV shows at the time would portray married couples sleeping on separate beds. In both of these cases, the couples were still fully dressed and had gone to sleep while drunk, thus making it clear to the viewer they hadn’t “slept” together.

This show was written by Rod Serling and Earl Hamner Jr.

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

Bob and Millie Frazier, average young New Yorkers who attended a party in the country last night and on the way home took a detour. Most of us on waking in the morning know exactly where we are; the rooster or the alarm clock brings us out of sleep into the familiar sights, sounds, aromas of home and the comfort of a routine day ahead. Not so with our young friends. This will be a day like none they’ve ever spent – and they’ll spend it in the Twilight Zone.

Summary

After drinking too much at a party, Bob and Millie Frazier awaken in a strange bed, in a strange house in a strange town. They’re still dressed in the clothes they wore to the party but their memories are fuzzy. Bob was too drunk to drive so Millie was behind the wheel and she vaguely remembers a shadow falling over them. They soon realize that everything in the town is fake: the telephone in the house isn’t wired; the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen are only a façade; even the trees are fake. The town is deserted and Millie begins to wonder if they’re dead. They keep hearing a child laughing and begin a search. They’re not prepared for what they encounter.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

The moral of what you’ve just seen is clear. If you drink, don’t drive. And if your wife has had a couple, she shouldn’t drive either. You might both just wake up with a whale of a headache in a deserted village in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Host / Narrator – Himself
Barry Nelson … Bob Frazier
Nancy Malone … Millie Frazier
Denise Lynn … Little Alien Girl
Karen Norris … Alien Mother

 

TV Draft Recap Rounds 1 & 2

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 8 rounds will be posted here. We will have 64 different TV Shows by 8 different writers. I hope you will enjoy it! 

This is a recap of rounds one and two that were held earlier. Hope you will join us on April 11, 2022… Monday at 9am CST to kick it off. 

Round 1TV ShowWho PostedHome Site
1.Doctor WhoVichttps://cosmic-observation.com/blog-posts/
2.The Sopranos Mikehttps://musiccitymike.net
3.Bozo’s Circus Johnhttps://thesoundofonehandtyping.com 
4.Barney MillerMaxhttps://powerpop.blog
5.The WireKirkhttps://slicethelife.com/
6.Police SquadKeithhttps://nostalgicitalian.com/
7.Only Murders in the Building (OMITB)Paulahttp://paulalight.com
Round 2
1.The Odd CoupleMikehttps://musiccitymike.net
2.Cartoon TownJohnhttps://thesoundofonehandtyping.com 
3.Fawlty TowersMaxhttps://powerpop.blog
4.Rockford FilesKirkhttps://slicethelife.com/
5.Mission ImpossibleKeithhttps://nostalgicitalian.com/
6.FireflyVichttps://cosmic-observation.com/blog-posts/

Tanya Tucker – Delta Dawn

I’ve always liked this song and Tanya’s scratchy voice. Helen Reddy did a fine version of this also but I’ll take this treatment. It is the version I grew up with…I’ve always been a fan of Tanya Tucker.

When I was a senior in high school I had a job at a place called Tuckahoe Farms. It was Tanya’s farm but she had sold it by the time I worked there. They raised thoroughbred racing horses and it was huge. I was always hoping she would come back to visit but she never did.

It was written by former rockabilly star Larry Collins and country and western songwriter Alex Harvey. It was first recorded by Harvey in 1972. Tracy Nelson and Bette Midler put the song in their live repertoire before it became a country hit for 13-year-old Tanya. The melody and chorus are virtually identical to the Amazing Grace

Harvey says the tune is really about his mother, a heavy drinker who died in an apparent suicide by crashing into a tree when the songwriter was a teen. Harvey had just returned from a TV gig with his band…he had asked his mother not to go, worried she would embarrass him by drinking too much and making a spectacle. The guilt over his mother’s death stuck with him for years. A decade later, he was hanging out at Larry Collins’ house with a group of country musicians. Everyone fell asleep except for Harvey, who stayed up strumming his guitar. That’s when he saw his mother.

Alex Harvey: “I looked up and I felt as if my mother was in the room. I saw her very clearly. She was in a rocking chair and she was laughing,” he recalled. “My mother had come from the Mississippi Delta and she always lived her life as if she had a suitcase in her hand but nowhere to put it down. She was a hairdresser in Brownsville. She was very free-spirited, and folks in a small town don’t always understand people like that. She never really grew up.”

“I really believe that my mother didn’t come into the room that night to scare me, but to tell me, ‘It’s okay,’ and that she had made her choices in life and it had nothing to do with me. I always felt like that song was a gift to my mother and an apology to her. It was also a way to say ‘thank you’ to my mother for all she did.”

The song peaked at #6 on the Country Charts, #3 in Canada, and #72 on the Billboard 100 in 1972.

Helen Reddy would take the song to #1 on the Billboard 100 in 1973.

Barbra Streisand passed on the song after the backing track had been recorded by her producer without her prior knowledge.

Delta Dawn

Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

She’s forty-one and her daddy still calls her “baby”
All the folks around Brownsville say she’s crazy
‘Cause she walks dowtown with a suitcase in her hand
Looking for a mysterious dark-haired man

In her younger days they called her Delta Dawn
Prettiest woman you ever laid eyes on
Then a man of low degree stood by her side
And promised her he’d take her for his bride

Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky?

Twilight Zone – The Jeopardy Room

★★★★1/2 April 17, 1964 Season 5 Episode 29

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is another episode in which I’m in the minority. I rated this one a 4 1/2 -star episode though not many have rated it that high. This one is great. It’s not exactly Twilight Zone-ish. You won’t see science fiction in this one. It could be a separate spy show or something out of a James Bond film. Martin Landau plays Major Ivan Kuchenko and he escaped from the Soviet Union to find freedom. He plays a cat and mouse battle between him and his KGB opponent John van Dreelen who plays  Commissar Vassiloff.

You could call this one from a different era… a Cold War film but wait…the era may not be so far gone anymore. Thrilling and suspenseful and worth a watch. It’s one of the highlights of the 5 season. The battle of wills between Kuchenko and Vassiloff is very entertaining. 

IMDB Trivia: One of a handful of TZ episodes that, notably, contains no science fiction or fantasy elements. Others include The Twilight Zone: Dust (1961), The Twilight Zone: The Shelter (1961), and The Twilight Zone: The Silence (1961).

Martin Landau (Major Ivan Kuchenko) later played William Cooper-Janes in The Twilight Zone: The Beacon/One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty (1985).

This show was written by Rod Serling 

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

The cast of characters—a cat and a mouse, this is the latter. The intended victim who may or may not know that he is to die, be it by butchery or ballet. His name is Major Ivan Kuchenko. He has, if events go according to certain plans, perhaps three or four more hours of living. But an ignorance shared by both himself and his executioner, is of the fact that both of them have taken the first step into the Twilight Zone.

Summary

After spending twelve years in a Soviet prison, Major Ivan Kuchenko has fled his homeland and is now in transit in a third country hoping to soon leave and seek asylum in the USA. He is not alone however as Commissar Vassiloff, his torturer during his imprisonment, has caught up with him. Vassilof could easily kill him – he has an assassin with him, Boris – but he decides to give him a chance to walk away. He’s placed a bomb in Kuchenko’s room and he gives the Major 3 hours to find and disarm it. Kuchenko proves himself to be a worthy adversary.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Major Ivan Kuchenko, on his way West. On his way to freedom: a freedom bought and paid for by a most stunning ingenuity. And exit one Commissar Vassiloff, who forgot that there are two sides to an argument – and two parties on the line. This has been the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Host / Narrator – Himself
Martin Landau … Major Ivan Kuchenko
John van Dreelen … Commissar Vassiloff
Robert Kelljan … Boris- Vassiloff’s assistant

 

Rolling Stones – Stray Cat Blues

Mick sounds sinister and ominous in this track and the guitar is absolutely filthy. I feel the need for a shower after I listen to it.  It’s raunchy and sleazy…but a great album cut.

I once had a girlfriend and being around me she started to appreciate the Beatles. I thought that was cool because I never pushed them on her…then I played her some Stones. After around a week of listening to Beggars Banquet, she told me…Max, The Beatles seemed to progress so much as they went on…The Stones…they are low rent.

She was paying attention. She didn’t mean that in a bad way but yea…that is the essence of the Stones…showing the seedier side in their songs…and believe me…this song does. As humans…The Beatles could be as nasty but they didn’t usually reflect that in a lot of music…The Stones went out of their way to do so.

Stray Cat Blues is off of my favorite album by the Rolling Stones…Beggars Banquet. Would this song fly today? NO…oh pardon me… let me reword that…HELL NO… It’s hard to believe it flew back in 1968. I could be wrong but I doubt you would hear this on very many classic radio stations today.

Keith Richards is on top of his game in this one. Mick seemed to be testing or provoking audiences with this one.

This was the first album to start the stretch of 5 albums (Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, and Goats Head Soup) that helped make the Stones what they are today. In 1967 after failing to live up to Sgt Pepper with Their Satanic Majesties Request (although I do like that album) they came back retooled with a new producer Jimmy Miller

The Stones got back doing what they do best…playing country rock blues…although with a different sound than Little Red Rooster. A weary Brian Jones was still in the band at this time and contributed to all but two songs…but it’s mostly Keith on guitar. Brian, because of the state he was in, was used more as a touch-up artist…filling in some holes with sitar, tambura, guitar,  blues harp, and mellotron. It would also be the last studio album Brian would work on.

I’ve always related Beggars Banquet to the White Album. They were both released in 1968 and both were raw and honest. No studio trickery with either…a big departure from the psychedelic era of 1967.

The album peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts, #3 in the UK, and #3 in Canada in 1969.

The lyrics were bad enough with I can see that you’re fifteen years old/
No I don’t want your I.D…. when playing it live on the 69 tour it became I can see that you’re thirteen years old/ No I don’t want your I.D. Mick seemed to be jabbing and provoking seeing how much he could get by with.

When you listen to it I would suggest the studio version. Many of the nuances are lost in this live version. I always try to pick a live version around the time they made the song but this one is not the best I heard.

Cat Scratch Blues

I hear the click-clack of your feet on the stairs
I know you’re no scare-eyed honey
There’ll be a feast if you just come upstairs
But it’s no hanging matter
It’s no capital crime

I can see that you’re fifteen years old
No I don’t want your I.D.
And I’ve seen that you’re so far from home
But it’s no hanging matter
It’s no capital crime

Oh yeah, you’re a strange stray cat
Oh yeah, don’tcha scratch like that
Oh yeah, you’re a strange stray cat
Bet your mama don’t know you scream like that
I bet your mother don’t know you can spit like that.

You look so weird and you’re so far from home
But you don’t really miss your mother
Don’t look so scared I’m no mad-brained bear
But it’s no hanging matter
It’s no capital crime
Oh, yeah
Woo!

I bet your mama don’t know that you scratch like that
I bet she don’t know you can bite like that

You say you got a friend, that she’s wilder than you
Why don’t you bring her upstairs
If she’s so wild then she can join in too
It’s no hanging matter
It’s no capital crime

Oh yeah, you’re a strange stray cat
Oh yeah, don’tcha scratch like that
Oh yeah, you’re a strange stray cat
I bet you mama don’t know you can bite like that
I’ll bet she never saw you scratch my back

A Concert of The Mind…Fantasy Park

 

Fantasy Park: 1975 – Twin Cities Music Highlights

Imagine a concert in 1975 with The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and more. Well, it happened! Sorta. Rod Serling did all of the radio promos. It would be one of his last projects…he would pass away before it aired.

It was a 48-hour-long rock concert (Fantasy Park) that was aired by nearly 200 radio stations over Labor Day weekend in 1975. The program, produced by KNUS in Dallas, featured performances by dozens of rock stars of the day and even reunited The Beatles. It was also completely imaginary, a theatre-of-the-mind for the 70s.

The “concert” consisted of live and studio recordings by the artists with live effects added to make it sound legit.

The show had college students hitchhiking all over America hoping to get to Fantasy Park. In New Orleans when the concert aired, the IRS came knocking on the doors of WNOE trying to attach the gate receipts to make sure the Feds got their cut! Callers were asking where they could get tickets to this amazing show.

The show was so popular in Minnesota that they played it again in its entirety the next year…now that people knew it wasn’t real and weren’t looking for tickets. The greatest concert that never was.  Fantasy Park had their own emcee and special reporters covering the weekend event giving you the play-by-play details along with some behind-the-scenes updates.

The concert would always be halted due to rain on a Sunday morning to allow the locals to get in their regular (usually religious) programming. The whole event ended promptly at 6 pm on Sunday.

Now people look for the full 48-hour tapes of the show. They are a hot collector’s item. Rod Serling passed away on June 28, 1975.

Bands at Fantasy Park

Chicago
Elton John
Led Zeppelin
Joe Walsh
Cream
Shawn Phillips
Pink Floyd
Carly Simon
James Taylor (& Carol King)
Poco
Alvin Lee
Eagles
Linda Rondstadt
Dave Mason
Steve Miller
John Denver
Beach Boys
War
Grand Funk
Yes
Deep Purple
Rolling Stones
Cat Stevens
The Who
Rolling Stones
Moody Blues
Marshall Tucker Band
Allman Brothers Band
Seals & Crofts
America
Joni Mitchell
Doobie Brothers
Loggins and Messina
Crosby/Stills/Nash/Young
Bob Dylan
Beatles

Here is 10 minutes of it here.

…

Twilight Zone – Caesar and Me

★★★1/2 April 10, 1964 Season 5 Episode 28

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is the second Twilight Zone with a ventriloquist’s dummy that is smarter than his ventriloquist. The episode though doesn’t build the same mystery about the dummy as The Dummy does. Jackie Cooper plays Jonathan West a down-on-his-luck ventriloquist who has no friend but Caesar…the dummy. You do feel some sympathy with this character, but he is far too naive. The trouble starts when Caesar manipulates Jonathan into performing several robberies instead of finding honest work while they are waiting for their big break.

The vicious character in this story is the little girl named Susan played by Suzanne Cupito. She would later play  Katherine Wentworth in Dallas. She started out as an insufferable little  know it all but ended up as evil as the Caesar. This is the only episode of the series written by a woman. Adele T. Strassfield was the secretary of William Froug, the producer of the second half of the final season of The Twilight Zone.

It was a good episode and an improvement over the previous episode Sounds and Silences. 

IMDB Trivia: The ventriloquist’s dummy is a reuse of the one created for The Twilight Zone: The Dummy (1962). It was modeled on George Murdock, one of that episode’s guest stars.

Jackie Cooper’s name previously appeared on a poster for the film O’Shaughnessy’s Boy (1935), in which he starred, in The Twilight Zone: The Incredible World of Horace Ford (1963).

This show was written by Rod Serling and Adele T. Strassfield

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

Jonathan West, ventriloquist, a master of voice manipulation. A man, late of Ireland, with a talent for putting words into other peoples’ mouths. In this case, the other person is a dummy, aptly named Caesar, a small splinter with large ideas, a wooden tyrant with a mind and a voice of his own, who is about to talk Jonathan West – into the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Ventriloquist Jonathan West isn’t having much luck finding a job. He’s gone to several auditions but no one has taken him on. He’s falling behind in his rent and is now getting to the point where he’s running out of things to pawn. He has to put up with the taunts of young Susan, the landlady’s niece. He’s also talking to his dummy, Caesar, who has advice for him on how to get ahead. It’s not very good advice however.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

A little girl and a wooden doll. A lethal dummy in the shape of a man. But everybody knows dummies can’t talk – unless, of course, they learn their vocabulary in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Host / Narrator – Himself
Jackie Cooper … Jonathan West / voice of Caesar
Suzanne Cupito (Morgan Brittany) … Susan
Sarah Selby … Mrs. Cudahy
Stafford Repp … Pawnbroker
Don Gazzaniga … Detective
Kenneth Konopka … Mr. Miller
Sidney Marion … Watchman
Robert McCord … Man Watching Audition
Olan Soule … Mr. Smiles

Dave Clark Five – Glad All Over

I first found out about the Dave Clark Five in the early eighties. One of my friend’s dads grew up during the sixties and I found this band and Buffalo Springfield in his record collection.

The drums in this song are sharp and loud. Those two beats after “Glad All Over” hooks me every time. They had such a huge sound.

They were the first British Invasion band that had a hit in America after The Beatles. The song has a huge loud sound to it. The single charted at #6 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, and #1 in the UK in 1964. Dave Clark and Mike Smith wrote this song. Smith came across a song called “Glad All Over” by Carl Perkins and wrote a new song with the same title.

The song also knocked I Want To Hold Your Hand out of the number one position in the UK charts.

After the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan… Ed wanted the Dave Clark Five. Sullivan thought a lot of the band and had them back on the show 11 more times. Getting them on the show the first time proved a challenge. The show wasn’t broadcast in England, so Clark had never heard of it and turned down the offer. When Sullivan’s producer called back offering a substantial payment, he convinced his bandmates to make the trip.

Bruce Springsteen has mentioned that the Dave Clark Five was a big influence. The group was huge…they ended up with 24 songs in the top 100, 7 songs in the top 10, and one #1 record with “Over and Over.”

After the group broke up in 1970 Dave Clark became a media mogul and also wrote, produced, and directed.

Lead vocalist Mike Smith wrote this song. He was looking through the Carl Perkins catalog and found a song named Glad All Over…he took the title.

Mike Smith: “We had lost out on ‘Do You Love Me’ to Brian Poole and so Dave (Clark) thought we should do an original. He asked me to come up with something and I looked through my record collection for a suitable title.”

Dave Clark: “I knew that we needed a song with the thumps in. we had been playing dance halls and we were getting a great audience response to the stomping things we were doing.”

“I went to Alexander Palace once, and saw a big band called The Eric Delaney Band. On the front of the stage, he had these timpanis. He came off the drums at the back and played these timpanis, and it was quite amazing. It was showmanship. That’s always stuck in my mind. It wasn’t very clever l, what he was doing, but it was dynamite, the crowd loved it. That was a big influence.”

Glad All Over

You say that you love me (say you love me)
All of the time (all of the time)
You say that you need me (say you need me)
You’ll always be mine (always be mine)

I’m feelin’ glad all over
Yes I’m-a glad all over
Baby I’m glad all over
So glad you’re mine

I’ll make you happy (make you happy)
You’ll never be blue (never be blue)
You’ll have no sorrow (have no sorrow)
Cause I’ll always be true (always be true)

And I’m feelin’ glad all over
Yes I’m-a glad all over
Baby I’m-a glad all over
So glad you’re mine

Other girls may try to take me away (take me away)
But you know, it’s by your side I will stay
I’ll stay

Our love will last now (our love will last)
Till the end of time (end of time)
Because this love now (because this love)
Is gonna be yours and mine (yours and mine)

And I’m feelin’ glad all over
Yes I’m-a glad all over
Baby I’m glad all over
So glad you’re mine

Other girls may try to take me away (take me away)
But you know, it’s by your side I will stay
I’ll stay

All of our lives now (all of our lives)
Till the end of time (end of time)
Because this love now (because this love)
Is only yours and mine (yours and mine)

And I’m feelin’ glad all over
Yes I’m-a glad all over
Baby I’m-a glad all over
So glad you’re mine

I’m so glad you’re mine now
I’m so, I’m so glad you’re mine
I’m-a so glad you’re mine now
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa

Paul McCartney – 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. I have posted about the A-side of this single Juniors Farm but never about this B-side that I like. I heard this song when I was 7 because my sister had this single and it’s been in my head ever since.

When I saw him in 2010 and 2014 I thought both times…hmmm he is in Nashville so Sally G surely will be played. Nope… Paul didn’t utter Sally’s name.

The song actually got played on the country stations in Nashville which looking back I can’t believe happened at that time. Nashville wasn’t exactly in love with rock performers.

Sally G was written and recorded in Nashville. In 1974 Paul McCartney came to Nashville. They rented a 133-acre farm just outside of Lebanon TN from songwriter Curly Putman (“Green, Green Grass of Home”) for $2,000 a week. They had requested a farm within 50 miles of Nashville that had horses and swimming facilities.

The band stayed at the farm for 6 weeks while the Putman family vacationed in Hawaii. When Putman and his wife returned to their farm, McCartney saw them walking up the driveway. McCartney and the band greeted them by playing “Green, Green Grass of Home.”

I have a cousin that lives in Lebanon around 5 miles from where he stayed…not a great picture but here it is today.

IMG_2102.PNG

Lloyd Green, Bob Willis, and Johnny Gimble Willis contributed steel guitar, dobro, and fiddle respectively while adding legitimacy to McCartney’s country venture.

Paul playing guitar on “Junior’s Farm” in 1974

OFFTOPIC: Unseen picture of Paul McCartney in Nashville, 1974. | Paul mccartney and wings, The beatles, Beatles photos

Sally G. and it peaked at #17 in the Billboard 100,  #51 on the country charts, #11 in the Canadian Country charts, and #61 in Canada.  Paul composed the song after visiting the nightlife in Printer’s Alley.

As his time in Tennessee came to a close, McCartney told a group of local reporters that he hoped to mount a U.S. tour the following year and that if it happened, Music City would definitely be on the itinerary.

McCartney didn’t come back until 36 years later in 2010 and I finally got to see him. Paul…you lied but all was forgiven when he took the stage.

I hardly ever point out a bridge in a song but in this one…it’s kept me listening for decades. It’s not the lyrics but the melody, backups, and harmonizing on the final “move along.”

Me and Sally took up,
things began to look up,
Me and her were going strong.

Then she started lyin’,
I could see our love was dyin’.
I heard a voice say,
“Move along, move along”.

Paul McCartney: “Buddy Killen [studio owner and music publisher] took us out to Printer’s Alley, a little club district,” “I didn’t see anyone named ‘Sally G’ in Printer’s Alley, nor did I see anyone who ran her eyes over me when she was singing ‘A Troubled Mind.’ That was my imagination, adding to the reality of it.”

Musician gets to stay on the farm for 3 weeks. 

Home movies of Wings in the studio in Nashville 1974

Sally G

Somewhere to the south of New York City
Lies the friendly state of Tennessee,
Down in Nashville town I met a pretty
Who made a pretty big fool out of me.

And they call her Sally,
Sally G, why d’you wanna do the things you do to me?
You’re my Sally, Sally G
took the part that was the heart of me, Sally G.

The night life took me down to Printers Alley,
where Sally sang a song behind a bar.
I ran my eyes across her as she sang a tangled mime,
I used to love to hear her sweet guitar.

And they call her Sally,
Sally G, why d’you wanna do the things you do to me?
You’re my Sally, Sally G
took the part that was the heart of me, Sally G.

Me and Sally took up,
things began to look up,
Me and her were going strong.

Then she started lyin’,
I could see our love was dyin’.
I heard a voice say,
“Move along, move along”.

Well now. I’m on my own again,
I wonder if she ever really understood.
I never thought to ask her what the letter “G” stood for,
But I know for sure it wasn’t good.

And they call her Sally,
Sally G, why d’you wanna do the things you do to me?
You’re my Sally, Sally G
took the part that was the heart of me, Sally G.

Sally G.

Small Faces – Lazy Sunday

The Small Faces were indeed small… all of them were between 5’4″ and 5’6.” They would later grow when the taller Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined and they became the Faces.

Lazy Sunday came off the classic album  Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. The Small Faces didn’t intend to release this song. Steve Marriott was against his manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s decision to release this as a single and that was one reason why he left the group shortly afterward to be replaced by Stewart. The band didn’t take the song seriously and made it into a joke. Steve sang some of the voices with a cockney accent.

They were touring Germany and they picked up a music paper and saw it was not only released but a hit. Steve wanted a tougher image for the band, and this was more of a novelty pop song.

This song is not a good example, but Steve Marriott may have had the best voice of all his peers. Robert Plant and Paul Rodgers have cited Marriott as an influence. Personally, I would take him over those two and that is saying a lot.

The Small Faces also recorded this critically acclaimed concept psychedelic album in 1968 with their new record company Immediate Records. They never followed it up and only performed it once live in its entirety on a television show called Colour Me Pop. It spent 6 weeks at number one on the UK Album Charts.

Lazy Sunday peaked at #2 in the UK, #42 in Canada, and #114 in the Billboard 100.

This song was written by Steve Marriott. Marriott and Ronnie Lane did most of the writing. Their songs were clever and catchy. This band should have been bigger than they were… With the right record label, manager and push, they might have broken through.

Kenney Jones: “Steve had been a child actor, he was the first Artful Dodger in Lionel Bart’s Oliver in the West End. He brought back that theatricality to this.”

Ian McLagan: “When Steve came in with this it was slower. We started taking the piss out of it while he was out of the room. The ‘Root-ti-doo-ti-di-day’ thing stop and he laughed when he came back in and heard us. So we cut it like that. It was a piss take!”

Lazy Sunday

A-wouldn’t it be nice to get on with me neighbours?
But they make it very clear, yhey’ve got no room for ravers
They stop me from groovin’, they bang on me wall
They doing me crust in, it’s no good at all, ah
Lazy Sunday afternoon
I’ve got no mind to worry
I close my eyes and drift away-a
Here we all are sittin’ in a rainbow
Gor blimey, hello Mrs. Jones, how’s old Bert’s lumbago? (he mustn’t grumble)
(Tweedle-dee) I’ll sing you a song with no words and no tune (twiddly-dee)
To sing in the khazi while you suss out the moon, oh yeah
Lazy Sunday afternoon, I’ve got no mind to worry
Close my eyes and drift away-a

Root-de-doo-de-doo, a-root-de-doot-de-doy-di
A-root-de-doot-de-dum, a-ree-de-dee-de-doo-dee (doo-doo, doo-doo)
There’s no one to hear me, there’s nothing to say
And no one can stop me from feeling this way, yeah
Lazy Sunday afternoon
I’ve got no mind to worry
Close my eyes and drift away
Lazy Sunday afternoon
I’ve got no mind to worry
Close my eyes and drift a-
Close my mind and drift away, close my eyes and drift away

Twilight Zone – Sounds and Silences

★★  April 3, 1964 Season 5 Episode 27

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

EXACTLY on April 3, 1964…58 years ago today, this episode was aired for the first time. I wish it would have been a better episode that lined up with the current date. This is a light episode, not one of the great ones. The main character (Roswell G. Flemington) is not likable but played well by John McGiver. He is a very loud man because his mom made him be quiet all of his childhood.

You feel for his long-suffering wife played by Penny Singleton. All that said, the film has some funny moments at the expense of Roswell, particularly his employees talking among themselves about him when he isn’t around. He expects the world to put up with his very loud ways. The episode is harmless enough, but it doesn’t get off the ground. It can be taxing to get through.

On May 1961, a script was submitted to Serling entitled The Sound of Silence, concerning a man who could not hear the sounds around him. Serling rejected it, then forgot all about it. Two years later, he wrote Sounds and Silences. As soon as it aired, the writer of the original script filed suit. Because of the similarities in title and plot, the writer was paid $3500 and the matter was settled. Unfortunately, because the suit was in litigation when Twilight Zone was put into syndication, Sounds and Silences was not included. The episode was aired only once and then put away in the CBS vaults.
.

IMDB Trivia: Shortly after the airing, a writer came up with a lawsuit claiming his script and title was used. It was settled with him receiving $3500 but litigation prevented it from being included in syndication for a time.

The first “sound effect” record played by John McGiver is actually a 78RPM disc on the Deltone label called “You Won’t Believe Your Eyes” sung by Ina Massine. Ina Massine isn’t a real singer; it was Kathryn Grayson’s character name in the 1951 film “Grounds for Marriage.” This Rodgers and Hart song (real title, “Wait Till You See Him”) was recorded for the movie but not used. This record must have been a leftover prop.

Mrs. Flemington is portrayed by Penny Singleton, who is perhaps best known for portraying Blondie Bumstead from the “Blondie!'” movies of the 1930s and 1940s, that were based on the comic strip created by Chic Young. Penny also provided the voice of Jane Jetson on “The Jetsons” (1962).

This show was written by Rod Serling 

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

This is Roswell G. Flemington, two hundred and twenty pounds of gristle, lung tissue and sound decibels. He is, as you have perceived, a noisy man, one of a breed who substitutes volume for substance, sound for significance, and shouting to cover up the readily apparent phenomenon that he is nothing more than an overweight and aging perennial Sea Scout whose noise-making is in inverse ratio to his competence and to his character. But soon our would-be admiral of the fleet will embark on another voyage. This one is an unchartered and twisting stream that heads for a distant port called the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Rosswell G. Flemington owns a model ship company and loves everything nautical. That’s not his problem, however: he likes everything to be loud. He speaks at the top of his lungs, bellowing commands to his staff. He plays his phonograph records – his favorites include the sound of jets flying off the deck of the USS Hornet – as loud as possible, something that leads his wife to leave him. He’s not prepared for what happens to him in the Twilight Zone however

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

When last heard from, Mr. Roswell G. Flemington was in a sanitarium pleading with the medical staff to make some noise. They, of course, believe the case to be a rather tragic aberration – a man’s mind becoming unhinged. And for this they’ll give him pills, therapy, and rest. Little do they realize that all Mr. Flemington is suffering from is a case of poetic justice. Tonight’s tale of sounds and silences from the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Host / Narrator – Himself
John McGiver … Roswell G. Flemington
Penny Singleton … Mrs. Lydia Flemington
Billy Benedict … Conklin
Francis De Sales … Doctor
Michael Fox … Psychiatrist

 

Beatles – I’ve Got A Feeling

I’m glad the Let It Be album is getting a new life because of the Get back film.   It’s not Revolver by any means but it was never meant to be. Let It Be started off as an album that would feature minimum overdubs and get back to playing as a band. I’ve Got A Feeling is a mix of two unfinished songs, Paul McCartney’s “I’ve Got a Feeling” and John Lennon’s “Everybody Had a Hard Year.”

John Lennon did have a hard year. He got divorced, battled heroin addiction, police drug raid, Yoko had suffered a miscarriage and he was convicted of drug possession.

John had worked on this song earlier. After meeting with Paul at his St. John’s Wood home in London sometime in December of 1968 to merge both of their songs into one, John met with the others at Twickenham Studios on January 2nd, 1969, with an arrangement that was already formulated, right down to the synchronized vocals of both composers in the final verse. All that was left was to finalize the arrangement with George and Ringo and to rehearse it repeatedly before it was ready to record.

The Beatles recorded this live on the Apple rooftop, which was used in their movie, Let It Be. John Lennon’s guitar sounds downright nasty and George’s compliments that sound with clean licks off of his Fender.

The Let It Be album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, Canada, and The UK in 1970.

The version of I’ve Got a Feeling which was released on Let It Be was recorded during the rooftop concert. The studio take was released on the 1996 Anthology 3. Let It Be… Naked, which was a remix album that came out in 2003, patched two different rooftop concert takes.

I would have loved to hear Elvis do a cover of this song…but I can’t imagine him singing the “wet dream” part but it would have been interesting.

Pearl Jam also did a version of this song.

I’ve Got A Feeling

I’ve got a feeling, a feeling deep inside
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
I’ve got a feeling, a feeling I can’t hide
Oh no, oh no, oh no.
Yeah, I’ve got a feeling.

Oh please believe me, I’d hate to miss the train
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
And if you leave me I won’t be late again
Oh no, oh no, oh no.
Yeah, I’ve got a feeling, yeah.

All these years I’ve been wandering around,
Wondering how come nobody told me
All that I was looking for was somebody
Who looked like you.

I’ve got a feeling, that keeps me on my toes
Oh yeah, oh yeah.

I’ve got a feeling, I think that everybody knows
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I’ve got a feeling, yeah.
Yeah

Ev’rybody had a hard year
Ev’rybody had a good time
Ev’rybody had a wet dream,
Ev’rybody saw the sunshine
Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Ev’rybody had a good year,
Ev’rybody let their hair down,
Ev’rybody pulled their socks up,
Ev’rybody put their foot down.
Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Yeah I’ve got a feeling
A feeling deep inside
Oh yeah, oh yeah.

I’ve got a feeling, a feeling I can’t hide
Oh no
Oh no no no

Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I’ve got a feeling
I’ve got a feeling

…