This song is tight and very likable right off the bat. The band was punk but with a pop sensibility…a great combination.
The song didn’t appear on a studio album….it was the B side to Everybody’s Happy Nowadays. The single peaked at #29 in the UK in 1979. This is too good to be a B side…the song has been included on movie soundtracks and The Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series video game. It also was featured on Entourage in 2009.
The Buzzcocks formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. 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.
Why Can’t I Touch It was written by Steve Diggle, Steve Garvey, John Maher, and Pete Shelley.
Why Can’t I Touch It
Well, it seems so real I can see it And it seems so real I can feel it And it seems so real I can taste it And it seems so real I can hear it
So why can’t I touch it? So why can’t I touch it?
But then it looks so real I can see it And it feels so real I can feel it And it tastes so real I can taste it And it sounds so real I can hear it
So why can’t I touch it? So why can’t I touch it?
Then it looks so real I can feel it And it feels so real I can taste it And it tastes so real I can hear it And it sounds so real I can see it
So why can’t I touch it? So why can’t I touch it?
Now, it is so real I can see it And it is so real I can feel it And it is so real I can hear it And it is so real I can be it
The guitar intro to this song is worth the price of admission.
Some rockabilly bands, or roots rock bands, sound like they came in on a nostalgia wave from the 1950s. There is nothing wrong with that but…not the Blasters. They sounded contemporary in the 80s even in the middle of a period where production was at its height. Their music still sounds timely now…years after it was released.
Just the intro to this song sends shiver up my spine. This song was on the Hard Line album released in 1985. This album featured Stan Lynch from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on a few tracks and Blasters fan John Mellencamp wrote and co-produced a track (Colored Lights) also. Hard Line was the Blasters’ final studio album with their original lineup.
Dave Alvin wrote all the songs on the album except the Mellencamp song. He left the band in 1986 for a solo career. He has played in some other bands like X and with The Flesh Eaters. Now he occasionally will rejoin The Blasters on reunion tours with the original lineup.
The song has gained recognition for its appearances in several films and tv shows with its most famous being in the 1996 vampire movie From Dusk Till Dawn of which it is the main theme.
The song was also used in an episode of Miami Vice in 1985.
Dark Night
Hot air hangs like a dead man From a white oak tree People sitting on porches Thinking how things used to be Dark night It’s a dark night Dark night It’s a dark night
The neighborhood was changing Strangers moving in A new boy fell for a local girl When she made eyes at him
She was young and pretty No stranger to other men But windows were being locked at night Old lines were drawn again
I thought these things Didn’t matter anymore I thought all that blood Had been shed long ago Dark night It’s a dark night
He took her to the outskirts And pledged his love to her They thought it was their secret But someone knew where they were
He held her so close He asked about her dreams When a bullet from a passing car Made the young girl scream
I thought these things Didn’t happen anymore I thought all that blood Had been shed long ago
Dark night It’s a dark night Dark night It’s a dark night
Let me start this out by being completely truthful. I am not an Eagles fan whatsoever but I like biographies and I do respect the band as musicians and songwriters. This is a good book for Eagles fans and rock fans in general. It covers a lot of history of the Eagles and rock in the 60s and 70s.
Felder by far was the most versatile of the band. He was offereded a teaching job at Berklee College of Music in Boston before he even joined the Eagles.
What made me want to read this book was…the documentary on the Eagles released in 2013 (I also love rock documentaries). One of the reasons they made the documentary was because of this book! Don Henley and Glenn Frey were livid about Heaven and Hell and wanted to tell their side. The funny thing is… they ended up proving Don Felder right on most of what he wrote.
It’s a good book…I liked it because it helped document an important time in rock music…the sixties and seventies. The book is interesting for more reasons than the Eagles. Florida in the 1960s was a hotspot for future rock and roll stars. Don Felder, Tom Petty, Allman Brothers, Stephen Stills, and Lynyrd Skynyrd just to name a few were all playing clubs on both coasts of Florida.
Don Felder grew up in Gainesville Florida and worked at a music store. He gave young Tommy his first guitar lessons…that Tommy would be Tom Petty. He played in a band with Stephen Stills in high school. He then met future Eagle Bernie Leadon and they started to play in bands together. Felder was taught slide guitar by no other than Duane Allman! They played many of the clubs that the Allman Joys did.
It’s worth reading just for his pre-Eagle days.
When the Eagles first formed, their goal was to divide the writing and singing equally. That way, they reasoned, nobody would become a star or feel like a sideman. That had happened in their previous bands, and they didn’t create the Eagles to go through all that again. After a while that plan went out the window and the problems started.
You learn about the dynamics of the Eagles and how everything changed after Hotel California. Henley and Frey took over the band and called the shots. The problem was Felder was a full member (owner) in the band unlike Timothy B Schmit and Joe Walsh who were just paid employees then and now. When Felder would sugggest something or would want to know where the money was going…he was ignored or pushed off to Irving Azoff the manager by Henley and Frey.
He also covers the problems that Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner had with Frey and Henley….and the close friendship that he had with Joe Walsh.
This is not a gossip book. Felder doesn’t use the book just to slam Frey and Henley. Felder has faults and we see them in this book. He does seem to try to be even handed. As I’ve mentioned before…one look at the Eagles documentary and most of what he says will be verified. He covers their career…up until he was let go.
It’s an enjoyable book and I would recommend it. As I said, I’m not an Eagles fan but I enjoyed it.
Love the Chuck’s bright guitar intro! Chuck is the father of rock and roll guitar. Everything comes from him. Rockabilly, pop, rock, hard rock, and heavy metal…Chuck is at the core.
The guitar influence he has over rock music is obvious but his rock and roll poetry shouldn’t be forgotten either. While Keith Richards was listening to his guitar closely…Bob Dylan was also listening to his poetry about life.
Too Much Monkey Business was released in September 1956 as the B-side of Brown Eyed Handsome Man. I love how Chuck spits out the lyrics to this song. Bob Dylan did something simiiar on Subterranean Homesick Blues a little later in the sixties.
Berry made up a word in this song, singing, “I don’t want your botheration.” This wasn’t the first time he used his own language: In Maybellene he sings about motorvating.
Too Much Monkey Business peaked at #9 in the Hot Billboard 100, #4 in the US R&B Charts, and #36 in the UK in 1956.
It’s incredible when you look at the output of Chuck Berry in the 50s.
From Songfacts
In his comprehensive Berry-ography Long Distance Information: Chuck Berry’s Recorded Legacy, Berry fan Fred Rothwell says this is a song about “the everyday hassles of the average working stiff” and asks, “Who but Chuck Berry would consider writing about such an everyday irritant as losing change in a payphone, and who else would do it so succinctly…”
This echoes Berry’s sentiments; in his autobiography he says the song was meant to describe most of the kinds of hassles a person encounters in everyday life.
Bob Dylan is one of the many musicians to draw influence from Berry. When Berry won a PEN Award for song lyrics in 2012, Dylan sent him a note saying, “That’s what too much monkey business will get ya.”
Too Much Monkey Business
Runnin’ to-and-fro, hard workin’ at the mill Never fail in the mail, yeah, come a rotten bill Too much monkey business, too much monkey business Too much monkey business for me to be involved in
Salesman talkin’ to me, tryin’ to run me up a creek Says you can buy now, gone try, you can pay me next week, ahh Too much monkey business, too much monkey business Too much monkey business for me to be involved in
Blonde haired good looks, tryin’ to get me hooked Want me to marry, get a home, settle down, write a book Too much monkey business, too much monkey business Too much monkey business for me to be involved in
Same thing every day, gettin’ up, goin’ to school No need for me to complain, my objection’s overruled, ahh Too much monkey business, too much monkey business Too much monkey business for me to be involved in
Take home, something wrong, dime gone, will hold Order suit, hoppered up for telling me a tale, ahh Too much monkey business, too much monkey business Too much monkey business for me to be involved in
Been to yokohama, been fightin’ in the war Army bunk, army chow, army clothes, army car, aah Too much monkey business, too much monkey business Too much monkey business for me to be involved in
Workin’ in the fillin’ station, too many tasks Wipe the windows, check the tires, check the oil, dollar gas Too much monkey business, too much monkey business Don’t want your botheration, get away, leave me
Next to Auld Lang Syne this is my favorite New Years Song. A favorite of mine from a favorite band of mine. Everyone… I wish you a Happy New Year in 2022.
You didn’t have to read my blog but you did and I really appreciate it…I want to thank all of you for reading and commenting in 2021.
This song sounds like it should have been a hit but it was never pushed as a single at the time. It was the B side to Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914) which is an experimental song and was a big surprise to the band that it was picked as the first single. Both are from the great album Odessey and Oracle in 1968. There are several songs on this album that could have been in the charts but Time of the Season was the only one that made it and it was a year after the album was released.
Bruce Eder of AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five, calling it “one of the flukiest (and best) albums of the 1960s, and one of the most enduring long-players to come out of the entire British psychedelic boom”.
On recording Odessey and Oracle….Rod Argent
“We had the chance of going in and putting things down in the way we wanted people to hear them and we had a new studio, we walked in just after The Beatles had walked out [after recording Sgt. Pepper]. We were the next band in. They’d left some of their instruments behind … I used John Lennon’s Mellotron, that’s why it’s all over Odessey and Oracle. We used some of their technological advances … we were using seven tracks, and that meant we could overdub for the first time. And it meant that when I played the piano part I could then overdub a Mellotron part, and it meant we could have a fuller sound on some of the songs and it means that at the moment the tour we’re doing with Odessey and Oracle it means we’re actually reproducing every note on the original record by having extra player with us as well.”
This Will Be A Year
The warmth of your love Is like the warmth of the sun And this will be our year Took a long time to come
Don’t let go of my hand Now darkness has gone And this will be our year Took a long time to come
And I won’t forget The way you held me up when I was down And I won’t forget the way you said, “Darling I love you” You gave me faith to go on
Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun This will be our year Took a long time to come
The warmth of your smile Smile for me, little one And this will be our year Took a long time to come
You don’t have to worry All your worried days are gone This will be our year Took a long time to come
And I won’t forget The way you held me up when I was down And I won’t forget the way you said, “Darling I love you” You gave me faith to go on
Now we’re there and we’ve only just begun And this will be our year Took a long time to come
Yeah we only just begun Yeah this will be our year Took a long time to come
Well…it is “Next Year” today…I hope 2022 is a great year for all of us.
You could call this a power ballad. It sounds a little like Britpop and Dave Grohl has criticized the song…no not critize…he HATES the song but it’s one of my favorites by them.
Dave Grohl: ‘Next Year’ is a piece of shit! That song is so stupid! It’s weird.”
I like weird Dave…
The song was released in December of 2000. It was on the album There Is Nothing Left to Lose. It peaked at #14 in the US Alternative Airplay Charts, #12 in Canada, and #42 in the UK in 2000-2001.
The video is great… it remakes the Apollo 11 mission with clips around that time. It ends with the Foo Fighters in astronaut gear similiar to this Led Zeppelin photo.
From Wiki: The opening of “Next Year” was used as the theme song for the NBC television series Ed (2000–2004). The show’s creators, Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman (formerly of the Late Show with David Letterman) used the song despite knowledge of production company Viacom’s insistence that they own the rights to the show’s theme song. “Next Year” was thus ultimately replaced by Clem Snide’s “Moment in the Sun” during the second season. As a result of outcries from Burnett and Beckerman, however, Viacom relented and “Next Year” returned as the theme song in the third and fourth seasons.
Next Year
I’m in the sky tonight There I can keep by your side Watching the wide world riot And hiding out I’ll be coming home next year
Into the sun we climb Climbing our wings will burn white Everyone strapped in tight We’ll ride it out I’ll be coming home next year
Come on, get on, get on Take it till life runs out No one can find us now Living with our heads underground
Into the night we shine Lighting the way we glide by Catch me if I get too high When I come down I’ll be coming home next year
I’m in the sky tonight There I can keep by your side Watching the whole world wind Around and round I’ll be coming home next year
Come on, get on, get on Take it till I fall down No one can find us now Living with our heads underground
I’ll be coming home next year I’ll be coming home next year Everything’s all right up here And if I come down I’ll be coming home next year
Say goodbye Say goodbye Say goodbye Say goodbye
I’ll be coming home next year I’ll be coming home next year Everything’s all right up here And if I come down I’ll be coming home next year I’ll be coming home next year I’ll be coming home next year
I want to thank everyone who has read my blog this year and the last few years.
I started this blog in September of 2017 and I have learned a lot from reading your blogs and interacting with you all. It was cool to find fellow Big Star, Beatle, Who, Twilight Zone, Baseball, Jazz, Classical, Power Pop, Rock, Hard Rock, Folk, Old Country, Surf, Classic TV, Classic Movie, 1970s, fans…. and everything in between.
In 2016 I would not have believed I would be communicating with people in different states across America, New Zealand, The UK, Hong Kong, Germany, Columbia, Australia, India, France, Sweden, Spain, and more! I’m also learning more about new music, old new music, cool old and new movies, and most of all…people. I probably comment too much at times but it’s a lot of fun learning.
Now…I want to mention a few I follow and read and they come and visit me also. I was hesitant to do this because I know I will miss someone …if I did it wasn’t on purpose.
I’ve commented with you all, emailed many of you, talked to some of you over the phone, and met one of you. Thank you all once again.
I didn’t know where New Zealand was until I started to talk to Bruce and Graham …after talking them I would love to visit there.
I’ve learned about Australia and Columbia…and classical music from Matt,
I’ve even listened to Heavy Metal and Canadian bands from Deke and Dave.
I’ve read great stories and read poems for really the first time from Lisa and Bruce
Again if I missed anyone I’m sorry…I just ran through this off the top of my head.
Thanks to everyone and have a Happy New Year to you and your family from Powerpop.blog (and it’s curator…Max). We survived 2020 and 2021…lets make this one better!
This song is a great way to start a year! Anytime you can hear Otis…you are on the right path! Have a Happy New Year!
Stax’s house band, Booker T & the MGs, provides the backing. Note Booker T’s subtle but effective organ lending the song a spiritual element, while Donald “Duck” Dunn’s bass and Steve Cropper’s tasteful guitar licks ground the track’s rhythm
Stax was hoping to replicate the success of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Stax paired two of their greatest stars for the 1967 album King & Queen, which produced the hit “Tramp.” The album featured their takes on classics such as “Knock on Wood,” “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby,” “Bring It on Home to Me,” and “It Takes Two”
This song was on the King and Queen album released in 1967. This is the only album they got to make because Otis died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.
New Year’s Resolution
I hope it’s not too late Just to say that I’m sorry, honey All I want to do Is just finish what we started, baby
Let’s turn over a new leave And baby let’s make promises That we can keep And call it a New Year’s resolution, hmmm
Oh, I’m a woman And woman makes mistakes too But will you, will you forget the changes That I put you through
let’s try it again Just you and me And, baby, let’s see how happy honey, yeah That we can be And call it a New Year’s resolution, yeah, yeah, yeah
Many times we had our ups and downs And times you needed me I couldn’t be found I’m sorry And I’m sorry too I’ll never, never do it again, no, no, no So baby before we fall out Let’s fall on in, yeah, yeah Oh, and we’re gonna try harder Not to hurt each other again, oh Love me baby, huh Week after week And baby let’s make promises That we can keep And call it a New Year’s resolution, yeah, oh I know we can do it Carla I’m gonna keep my promises I’m gonna hold on that we can do it, baby Oh, it’s not too late You’re gonna love me Nobody else Oh Otis let’s finish what we started Talk no mean
When Phil and Don would sing….their two voices would become one.
The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1960. The B side was Always It’s You and it peaked at #56 in the Billboard 100. This was the first single to simultaneously top the UK and US charts. This was the first single ever released on the Warner Bros. label in the UK, where it got the catalog number WB-1.
This song was inspired by one of Don Everly’s ex-girlfriends, this song is about a guy Cathy dumps. The writer credits on this song went to both Don and Phil Everly until 1980, when a deal was made to make Don the solo composer.
This was the first Everly Brothers single for Warner Brothers. Records. They signed with the label in 1960 after a string of hits for Cadence Records, which couldn’t afford to re-sign them. They paid the Everlys a reported $1 million and expected a hit. The Everlys delivered a hit with “Cathy’s Clown… holding the top spot for five weeks.
It had a hint of the future in this song. There was only one drummer on this track, but he was augmented by a tape loop that engineer Bill Porter used to add additional beats. This being 1960, it was done on the fly, with Porter switching to the loop when he wanted it to come in.
Cathy’s Clown
Don’t want your love anymore, Don’t want your kisses that’s for sure, I die each time I hear this sound, Here he comes that’s Cathy’s clown
I gotta stand tall You know a man can’t crawl, When he knows your tellin’ lies and He hears ’em passing by, he’s Not a man at all
Don’t want your love anymore, Don’t want your kisses that’s for sure, I die each time I hear this sound, Here he comes that’s Cathy’s clown
When you see me shed a tear, And you know that it’s sincere Don’t you think it’s kinda sad that You’re treating me so bad or don’t You even care?
Don’t want your love anymore, Don’t want your kisses that’s for sure, I die each time I hear this sound, Here he comes that’s Cathy’s clown
This was one of those songs that sounded so good over AM radio…and I guess still does if you can catch it on AM. It’s a song I forget about from time to time. I was reminded when I saw Paul in 2010 and 2014. He just keeps playing songs you remember and you think…did this guy write every hit of the 20th century?
It takes me back to when my sister would skip school (she is eight years older) and take me with her…maybe that is the reason I can’t spell worth a dam. Mom never found out about those days or my sister would have been grounded forever.
It’s far from his best song but it’s a good pop hit. It was recorded for the album Venus and Mars. It was a song which McCartney had high hopes for, but early recordings did not live up to the song’s potential. The missing indgredient was Jazz musician Tom Scott’s sax solo. They ended up keeping the first take.
Listen To What The Man Said peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #6 in the UK, and #8 in New Zealand in 1975. The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and #1 in New Zealand.
Paul’s impression of Leo Nocentelli, the guitarist for The Meters…many people thought he was imitating Wolfman Jack.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon were talking seriously about getting together during the Venu and Mars sessions in New Orleans but John reunited with Yoko and didn’t come. This was after John’s “lost weekend” when he was separated from Yoko. May Pang (his girlfriend at the time) verified this.
Paul McCartney: “It was one of the songs we’d gone in with high hopes for. Whenever I would play it on the piano, people would say ‘Oh, I like that one.’ But when we did the backing track, we thought we didn’t really get it together at all.”
“Someone said [famous jazz musician] ‘Tom Scott lives near here.’ We said, yeah, give him a ring, see if he turns up, and he turned up within half an hour! There he was, with his sax, and he sat down in the studio playing through. The engineer was recording it. We kept all the notes he was playing casually. He came in and I said ‘I think that’s it.’ He said ‘Did you record that?’ I said yes, and we listened to it back. No one could believe it, so he went out and tried a few more, but they weren’t as good. He’d had all the feel on this early take, the first take.”
My stuff is never ‘a comment from within’. Basically I’m saying: ‘Listen to the basic rules, don’t goof off too much’. But if you say ‘The Man’, it can mean God, it can mean ‘Women, listen to your man’, it can mean so many things. Later I did a song with Michael Jackson called ‘The Man’ and again, it’s quite nice leaving things ambiguous: I’m sure for Michael, probably ‘The Man’ meant God.
Listen To What The Man Said
Alright, okay Very good to see you down in New Orleans, man Yeah here it is Yeah, yeah
Any time, any day You can hear the people say That love is blind Well, I don’t know but I say love is kind
Soldier boy kisses girl Leaves behind a tragic world But he won’t mind, he’s in love And he says love is fine
Oh yes, indeed we know That people will find a way to go No matter what the man said
And love is fine for all we know For all we know, our love will grow That’s what the man said
So won’t you listen to what the man said He said
Ah, take it away
Oh yes, indeed we know That people will find a way to go No matter what the man said
And love is fine for all we know For all we know, our love will grow That’s what the man said
So won’t you listen to what the man said He said
Oh yes, indeed we know That people will find a way to go No matter what the man said
And love is fine for all we know For all we know, our love will grow That’s what the man said
So won’t you listen to what the man said He said
The wonder of it all, baby The wonder of it all, baby The wonder of it all, baby, yeah yeah yeah
Fats Domino was one of the top artists of the 50s. He wasn’t wild or flashy like his peers but he was just good or better. When I think of the fifties…this is just me personally…I think of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers, Elvis, and last but not least… Fats Domino. Vastly different styles but all are great.
Domino was the youngest of eight children in a musical family, he spoke Creole French before learning English. At age 7 his brother in law taught him how to play the piano. By the time he was 10, he was already performing as a singer and pianist.
Fat’s first hit in the Billboard 100 was the great “Aint That A Shame” in 1955 written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew that peaked at #16 and his last charting song was a cover of the Beatles “Lady Madonna”(great version) that peaked at #100 in 1968. He had 45 songs in the top 100 and 4 top 10 hits…many more top 10 hits in the R&B Charts.
As soon as these artists faded at the end of the fifties and Buddy died…there were 3 or 4 weak years in the early sixties until that band from Liverpool came…gosh I can’t remember their name.
Walking To New Orleans
This time I’m walkin’ to New Orleans I’m walkin’ to New Orleans I’m going to need two pair of shoes When I get through walkin’ me blues When I get back to New Orleans
I’ve got my suitcase in my hand Now, ain’t that a shame I’m leavin’ here today Yes, I’m goin’ back home to stay Yes, I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
You used to be my honey Till you spent all my money No use for you to cry I’ll see you bye and bye ‘Cause I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
I’ve got no time for talkin’ I’ve got to keep on walkin’ New Orleans is my home That’s the reason while I’m gone Yes, I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
I’m walkin’ to New Orleans I’m walkin’ to New Orleans I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
This came off of John Lennon’s debut solo album….John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The church bell heard at the start of this track was actually faster and higher-pitched initially, and John actually slowed it down to make it sound spookier and more haunting.
What I’ve told people is if you have a party going on…don’t play this album! Don’t get me wrong…this is one of the great solo Beatle albums but it’s not a toe tapper to say the least. It’s probably my favorite Lennon album. This song is obviously about his mom Julia.
This is one of three songs which Lennon wrote for his mother, along with “Julia” and “My Mummy’s Dead”.
He lost his mother when he was 17. She was walking to catch a bus and was hit at a crosswalk and killed instantly. The driver was Eric Clague an off-duty cop… he was also a learner-driver and shouldn’t have been on the road unaccompanied, and he was suspended from the force because of it…he was never charged with being drunk, and alcohol wasn’t mentioned at the inquest.
His Aunt Mimi raised John from a youth when his mom and dad split up and his dad left never to be seen by John again until he was famous. He lost his mom when he was young and permanently at 17 when she was killed.
Lennon wrote this while he was undergoing Primal Scream therapy by psychotherapist Arthur Janov… where he was dealing with a lot of issues that were detailed in the lyrics.
The album peaked at #6 in the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, and #8 in the UK in 1970.
Lou Reed: “That was a song that had realism,” “When I first heard it, I didn’t even know it was him. I just said, ‘Who the f–k is that? I don’t believe that.’ Because the lyrics to that are real. You see, he wasn’t kidding around. He got right down to it, as down as you can get. I like that in a song.”
From Songfacts
This features Klaus Voormann on bass and Ringo Starr on drums. In addition to his work in music, Voorman is an artist, and designed the cover of The Beatles album Revolver. He also played bass with Manfred Mann.
On many of his early solo recordings such as this one, Lennon’s arrangements are more simpler and sparser than on the Beatles songs. In the January 1971 edition of Rolling Stone, he explained this was because, “I’ve always liked simple rock.” The former Beatle added: “I was influenced by acid and got psychedelic, like the whole generation, but really, I like rock and roll and I express myself best in rock. I had a few ideas to do this with ‘Mother’ and that with ‘Mother’ but when you just hear, the piano does it all for you, your mind can do the rest. I think the backings on mine are as complicated as the backings on any record you’ve ever heard, if you’ve got an ear.
Anybody knows that. Any musician will tell you, just play a note on a piano, it’s got harmonics in it. It got to that. What the hell, I didn’t need anything else.”
Producer John Leckie explained to Uncut magazine August 2010 that the screams heard on this track were actually edited into the song once the rest of the vocal had been recorded. Lennon would attempt the screaming finale every night, careful never to try it in the daytime in case it destroyed his voice. “The screams were double-tracked,” Leckie pointed out. “John didn’t like the raw sound of his own voice. He always wanted lots of stuff on it. Spector’s contribution, really, was to be generous with reverb and echo.”
Arthur Janov created primal scream therapy, which he detailed in his book The Primal Scream. Folks were always sending Lennon books, and a copy of Janov’s book found him. Lennon was intrigued because the therapy reminded him of the screaming Yoko would often do in her works, but then he looked into it as a way of helping him resolve issues from his childhood. John and Yoko invited Janov to England, where they met with him to vet his practice. They liked what they heard and decided to try some sessions when they went to Los Angeles. For Lennon, it was a breakthrough, and led to this song.
“It’s just a matter of breaking the wall that’s there in yourself and come out and let it all hang out to the point that you start crying,” Yoko said in describing the therapy (Uncut, 1998). She added: “He was going back to the days of when he wanted to scream, ‘Mother.’ He was able to go back to that childhood, that memory.”
This is the theme song to the FX TV series Better Things, which stars Pamela Adlon as a single mom to three girls. To get the song, she wrote a letter to Yoko Ono and lobbied FX to budget for it.
David Bowie covered this in 1998 for a Lennon tribute collection that never came to fruition. His take was done in collaboration with longtime producer Tony Visconti. It remained unreleased until January 8, 2021, when it was made available for the first time to mark what would have been Bowie’s 74th birthday.
Mother
Mother, you had me But I never had you I, I wanted you You didn’t want me So, I I just got to tell you Goodbye Goodbye
Father, you left me But I never left you I needed you You didn’t need me So, I I just got to tell you, mm Goodbye Goodbye
Children, don’t do What I have done I couldn’t walk And I tried to run So, I I just got to tell you Goodbye Goodbye
Mama don’t go Daddy come home Mama don’t go Daddy come home Mama don’t go Daddy come home Mama don’t go Daddy come home
Mama don’t go Daddy come home Mama don’t go Daddy come home Mama don’t go Daddy come home Mama don’t go Daddy come home
Mama don’t go Daddy come home Mama don’t go Daddy come home
Usually I favor the original version of songs. I would say 9 out of 10 times I do but the Stones covered Just My Imagination and I must admit I like the Stones version a little more than the Temptations….and I LOVE the Temptations. I’m in the minority in this one I’m sure.
This was a song our band covered and covered. I probably have played it more than Mick ever did. That may be the reason I like this one more.
The Stones covered this in 1978 for their album Some Girls. It wasn’t the first time they covered a Temptations song…. in 1974 they covered “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” and had a hit peaking at #17 in the Billboard 100. That song was a little stronger than this one but I like how they roughed this one up.
Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote this song and it was released in 1971 by the Temptations. You really can’t compare the two versions…they are apples and oranges. The Temptation version peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #8 in the UK, and #72 in Canada…#72 Canada?
This was not released as a single in the US.
For The US Office fans….This was used in the season 4 finale, “Goodbye, Toby.” Darryl sings it at Toby’s goodbye party when Jim almost proposes to Pam.
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
I look out my window, watch her as she passes by And I say to myself I’m such a lucky guy To have a girl like her is a dream come true And of all the girls in New York she loves me true
I’ll tell ya, it was just my imagination, once again Running away with me It was just my imagination Running away with me
Well soon we’ll be married and raise a family Two boys for you, what about two girls for me I say I am just a fellow with a one track mind Whatever it is I want to baby, I seek and I shall find
I’ll tell ya, it was just my imagination, once again Running away with me It was just my imagination Running away with me
Every night I hope and pray Dear Lord, hear my plea Don’t ever let another take her love from me Or I will surely die
Her love is ecstasy When her arms enfold me I hear her tender rhapsody But in reality, she doesn’t even know me
It was just my imagination Running away with me It was just my imagination Running away with me
I’ll tell ya, it was just my imagination, once again Running away with me It was just my imagination Running away with me Running away with me
It was just my imagination, once again Running away with me I can tell ya it was just my imagination Running away with me, running away with me Running away, running away, running away, running away with me Running away, running away, running away, running away with me Running away, running away…
I hope everyone had a great Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing day. My first non-holiday post since last week…we will start off with the smooth ool soul sound of the Chi-Lites.
This song is a perfect soul/pop song. I need to dive into the Chi-Lites catalog more because the two I know from them the most are this one and Have You Seen Her?
I never knew how to prounce their name until I found this bit of info…you pronounce it Shy-Lites“… This song could be the definition of 1970s soul music. I never knew for sure if it was “shy” Chi like Chicago.
Oh Girl was written and sung by group leader Eugene Record. The other three Chi-Lites contributed harmonies. Eugene wasn’t enamored of the song after he wrote it but it soon would prove to be his most successful. Eugene, Robert “Squirrel” Lester, and Clarence Johnson formed the doo wop group the Chanteurs in the late ’50s.
In 1964…they changed their name to Marshall & the Chi-Lites, adding the “C” as tribute to their hometown Chicago. By the end of the year, Johnson had left the group and the remaining quartet shortened their name to the Chi-Lites. Over the next four years, the group continued to perform and release independent singles, with Record slowly emerging as the group’s lead singer, songwriter, and producer.
The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the R&B Charts, #9 in Canada, and #3 in the UK in 1972.
Members have come and gone in the band. Eugene Record passed away in 2005. The band is still out there performing with Marshall Thompson as the lone original member.
I remember in the 1980s that Paul Young did a really good version of this song. Others to cover this song was Leo Sayer and Smokey Robinson.
Eugene Record:“I gave Carl Davis 7 songs on a tape and he called me to say there’s a #1 tune on there. I named them all before ‘Oh Girl’ and I thought he was kidding.”
Oh Girl
Oh, girl I’d be in trouble if you left me now ‘Cause I don’t know where to look for love I just don’t know how
Oh, girl How I depend on you To give me love when I need it Right on time you would always be
All my friends call me a fool They say, “Let the woman take care of you” So I try to be hip and think like the crowd But even the crowd can’t help me now, oh…oh…oh…oh…oh…oh…
Oh, girl Tell me what am I gonna do I know I’ve got a guilty face Girl, I feel so out of place, oh, yeah…yeah…
Don’t know where to go, who to see, yeah
Oh, girl I guess I better go I can save myself a lot of useless tears Girl, I’ve gotta get away from here
Oh, girl Pain will double if you leave me now ‘Cause I don’t know where to look for love And I don’t, I don’t know how
Oh, yeah Mmm…hmm…
Oh, girl Why do I love you so, yeah Mmm… Better be on my way, I can’t stay
This song is not only my favorite Christmas Carol… I think it’s up there with the best songs ever written. I hope everyone has a great Christmas/Holiday.
There are over 26,000 different versions of “Silent Night” on Spotify, meaning you could listen to a different rendition of the carol every night for 72 years.
Halfway through December 1818, the church organ in St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, 11 miles north of Salzburg in what is now Austria, broke (a popular version of the story claims that mice had eaten out the bellows). The curate, 26-year-old Josef Mohr, realized it couldn’t be repaired in time to provide music on Christmas Eve. He told his troubles to his friend, a headmaster and amateur composer named Franz Gruber, while giving him as a present a poem he had written two years earlier. Gruber was so taken by the rhythm of the poem that he set it to music, and on Christmas Eve there was music after all. Mohr played his guitar while the pair sang the song. It was the first public performance of “Stille Nacht” or as we know it “Silent Night.”
It is believed that Silent Night has been translated into over 300 languages around the world, and it is one of the most popular carols of all time.
From Songfacts
Bing Crosby’s version became his best-seller of the 1930s.
Music licensing company PPL announced in December 2010 that this carol tops the list of Britain’s “most recorded Christmas song of all time.” Said Mike Dalby, Lead Reporting Analyst at PPL: “Silent Night is a beautiful carol which encapsulates the feeling of Christmas entirely. Everyone from punk band The Dickies right through to Sinead O’Connor has recorded it, which exemplifies just how much it resonates with all different types of artists.”
According to PPL, Sinead O’Connor’s 1991 recording was the most popular version of the carol in Britain.
When the organ builder finally did show up to repair the St. Nicholas organ, he was given a copy of the “Silent Night” composition and brought it home. From there, traveling folk singers got a hold of it and began incorporating the carol into their repertoire. It didn’t make its way to America until 1839.
As the song gained traction throughout Europe, Franz Gruber composed several different orchestral arrangements. He donated all profits from the carol to local charities for children and the elderly, and eventually died penniless.
According to Steve Sullivan’s Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Crosby, a devout Catholic, refused to record the religious song, arguing it would be “like cashing in on the church or the Bible.” Crosby met with Father Richard Ranaghan, a priest trying to raise money for overseas missions, and decided to donate the royalties to the cause. But Ranaghan died in a car accident later that year, so the money went to several charities throughout the US and abroad.
This song lends itself to interpretation because the first four bars are all on the same chord. Jim Brickman explains: “There’s room to treat it dynamically in a different way: in the tempo, in the sounds and silences, in the time signature.”
Silent Night
Silent night, holy night.
All is calm, all is bright.
‘Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night.
All is calm, all is bright.
‘Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
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