Well, this post isn’t about pop culture…but come to think of it… in time, this will be part of it. In years to come, anniversary articles of the coronavirus of 2020 will be posted. We are living in a time that will be in history books one day.
You sure learn a lot about human nature in times like this. Go into a grocery store and if someone coughs… it’s like the old EF Hutton commercials…everyone stops and looks. In the south where I live…I can see people wanting to be nice and expressive…but they stop themselves and move on. It’s like we are living in a TV Movie of the Week right now.
Who would think that going shopping would take a tactical military movement? I guess at this time we do have future pop-culture items like Lysol, wipes, and toilet paper (if you’re lucky) that will remind us of the spring of 2020…hopefully the memory will stop there.
We have learned… Don’t touch your face (that can be hard), be sure to cough in the bend of your arm… not your hand (really hard), and you need to wash your hands before you…do anything…we are learning all sorts of new things.
How long will this go on? Will we learn to appreciate things? Like going to a movie, baseball game, concert, or even a…I don’t know…a simple trip to a store without avoiding everyone.
This is allergy season for some people like me. Itchy eyes, runny nose, sore throat equals instant paranoia…hmmm is this a symptom? Is that a symptom? This makes you long for the old days… uh…about 3 weeks ago. Traveling without a worry. When this ends…what is the first thing you will do?
Right now…I’m breaking out my 1970s tv shows, movies, books, music, and…washing my hands.
I’ll leave you with the Steelers – Cowboys Superbowl from 1979… Why? Because it was one of the great Superbowls and just to see people gathered together again without that other phrase we have learned… social distancing.
It’s all about that opening guitar riff. Another one that every guitar player learns no matter if they play rock or country. I’ve never been a big fan of Black Sabbath but I do like some of the early music.
This was the title track to the second Sabbath album. The band wanted to call the album “War Pigs,” after another song on the set, but the record company made them use “Paranoid” instead because it was less offensive. The album art, however, is a literal interpretation of a “War Pig,” showing a pig with a sword and shield.
The song peaked at #61 in the Billboard 100 in 1971.
Black Sabbath waited two years before releasing another single, “Iron Man.” They did not want to become a “singles band,” with kids coming to their shows just to hear their hits. This also ensured that fans would buy the albums.
From Songfacts
As the title suggests, this song is about a man who is paranoid. The driving guitar and bass create a nervous energy to go along with Ozzy Osbourne’s desperate vocal. Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, who wrote the lyric, explained the song’s meaning to Mojo magazine June 2013: “Basically, it’s just about depression, because I didn’t really know the difference between depression and paranoia. It’s a drug thing; when you’re smoking a joint you get totally paranoid about people, you can’t relate to people. There’s that crossover between the paranoia you get when you’re smoking dope and the depression afterwards.”
Although this was the first Black Sabbath-penned single, the band’s debut single was actually a cover of Crow’s “Evil Woman Don’t Play Your Games With Me” a few months before the “Paranoid” release. “Paranoid” was much more successful. It was released six months after their self-titled first album and had a huge impact in their native UK, going to #4 and becoming one of their signature songs.
The group never charted again in the UK Top 10, but that wasn’t a problem since album and ticket sales more than made up for it. Many UK rock bands, including Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, put little emphasis on singles.
Geezer Butler (from Guitar World magazine, March 2004): “A lot of the Paranoid album was written around the time of our first album, Black Sabbath. We recorded the whole thing in about two or three days, live in the studio. The song ‘Paranoid’ was written as an afterthought. We basically needed a 3-minute filler for the album, and Tony came up with the riff. I quickly did the lyrics, and Ozzy was reading them as he was singing.” >>
The word “Paranoid” is never mentioned in the song, but there is no logical title amongst the lyrics.
“The Wizard,” a song from their first album, was used as the B-side of the single.
In the UK, this was re-released in 1980 to capitalize on the success of Black Sabbath: Live At Last, which was released earlier that year. The album was taken from a Sabbath concert in 1975 with the original band members.
Black Sabbath played this in their set at Live Aid in 1985.
Megadeth covered this on the 1994 Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity In Black. Weezer included it on their 2019 covers set The Teal Album.
A surprising number of movies have used this song. Among them:
Sid and Nancy (1986) Dazed and Confused (1993) Private Parts (1997) Any Given Sunday (1999) Almost Famous (2000) Slugs (2004) We Are Marshall (2006) Dark Shadows (2012)
This song is used in two music based video games: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 2, and Playstation 3, and also in the video game Rock Band for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. >>
In Finland, “Paranoid” has the same status as “Freebird” in the US or “Stairway to Heaven” in the UK. Regardless of the band or the type of music they play, someone will often shout “Soittakaa Paranoid!” (Play “Paranoid”).
Tony Iommi recorded Paranoid with a black eye after the band had gotten involved in a brawl with some punks. This incident is also referred to in “Fairies Wear Boots.”
In his book Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath, Iommi said he and Ozzy probably had no idea what the word “paranoid” even meant at that time. They left the lyrics to bassist Geezer Butler; they considered him the intelligent one.
Black Sabbath played (OK, lip-synched) this on Top of the Pops in 1970.
In 2002 Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Phil Collins, and Pino Palladino (of the Who) played this song in Buckingham Palace during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
Paranoid
Finished with my woman ’cause she couldn’t help me with my mind People think I’m insane because I am frowning all the time All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy Think I’ll lose my mind if I don’t find something to pacify Can you help me, occupy my brain?
Oh yeah I need someone to show me the things in life that I can’t find I can’t see the things that make true happiness, I must be blind
Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh and I will cry Happiness I cannot feel and love to me is so unreal And so as you hear these words telling you now of my state I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could but it’s too late
I think some of us will be thinking of this title soon if we haven’t already.
This was written by the husband and wife songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The Animals producer Mickie Most heard this song and had the band record it. He was looking for American material as he was trying to break the band in the States, and had a call out to the New York City songwriters in the Brill Building and 1650 Broadway looking for songs.
Eric Burdon:“I’ve always viewed myself as a punk. The Animals could have evolved that way. We had the energy and the anger, but we didn’t stick together. When the punk scene became commercial, I was all for the politics of the movement, but the music didn’t really stand up and ultimately, it was self destructive.”
The song peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1965.
From Songfacts
Mann had just signed a record deal and recorded this song himself, but his version was pulled when The Animals released the song. Mann and Weil were very productive in the mid-’60s, as they made the transition from writing fluffy pop songs like “Blame It On The Bossa Nova” to songs with more of a message, which appealed to rock bands like The Animals.
Animals lead singer Eric Burdon came in #57 in a Rolling Stone poll to find the greatest singers of all time. On this song, he delivers an anger and energy that was an influence on later punk bands.
There are two entirely different recordings of this song by The Animals. The US single version is an alternate take, shipped to MGM, The Animals’ American record label, by mistake. Nevertheless, this is a far superior version of the song. Unfortunately, it’s this version that’s played by almost all Oldies radio stations today.
Adrian Cronauer (the movie Good Morning Vietnam was based on his life) mentioned on a special Independence Day show on Sirius Satellite Radio that this was the most requested song on Armed Forces Radio when he was in Vietnam.
Other artists to record the song include Blue Oyster Cult, Grand Funk Railroad, and Ann Wilson of Heart.
TV series to use this song include:
Supernatural (“A Little Slice of Kevin” – 2012) Heroes (“Into Asylum” – 2009) Absolutely Fabulous (“The Last Shout: Part 1” – 1996) The A-Team (“Beneath the Surface” – 1986) Miami Vice (“Glades” – 1984)
Among the movies to use it:
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) Hamburger Hill (1987)
At the 2012 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, Bruce Springsteen talked about this song when he gave the keynote speech. After reciting the lyrics, he said, “That’s every song I’ve ever written.”
Bruce was referring to his penchant for writing songs about getting away in search for something better in life.
Denmark + Winter recorded a dark electronic cover as part of their 2014 Re: Imagined album. Their version was featured on the season 5 episode of Pretty Little Liars “Taking This One to the Grave” to underscore a character’s death.
We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place
In this dirty old part of the city Where the sun refused to shine People tell me there ain’t no use in tryin’
Now my girl, you’re so young and pretty And one thing I know is true You’ll be dead before your time is due, I know
Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin’ Watched his hair been turnin’ grey He’s been workin’ and slavin’ his life away, oh yes I know it
(Yeah!) he’s been workin’ so hard (yeah!) And I’ve been workin’ too, baby (yeah!) Every night and day (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!)
We gotta get out of this place If it’s the last thing we ever do We gotta get out of this place ‘Cause girl, there’s a better life for me and you
Now my girl you’re so young and pretty And one thing I know is true, yeah You’ll be dead before your time is due, I know it
Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin’ Watched his hair been turnin’ grey, yeah He’s been workin’ and slavin’ his life away I know he’s been workin’ so hard
(Yeah!) I’ve been workin’ too, baby (yeah!) Every day baby (yeah!) Whoa! (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!)
We gotta get out of this place If it’s the last thing we ever do We gotta get out of this place Girl, there’s a better life for me and you Somewhere baby Somehow I know it, baby
We gotta get out of this place If it’s the last thing we ever do We gotta get out of this place Girl, there’s a better life for me and you Believe me baby I know it baby You know it too
I can’t help but think of that awful song by Vanilia Ice when I hear this now.
Vanilla Ice sampled this on “Ice Ice Baby,” which was a huge hit in 1990. It appears that the sample was never cleared and a settlement was reached with Queen and Bowie long after Vanilla’s song hit it big… I was very happy to see this happen.
John Deacon (Queen’s Bass Player) came up with the iconic two-note bass riff, although it came very close to vanishing. Deacon came up with the riff, then the band went for pizza before coming back to continue rehearsals. Upon returning, Deacon had completely forgotten his idea! Luckily, Taylor eventually remembered how the bassline went. The song is credited to Queen and David Bowie.
The song peaked at #29 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the UK, #3 in Canada, and #6 in NewZealand in 1982.
Brian May: “It was hard because you had four very precocious boys and David, who was precocious enough for all of us. David took over the song lyrically. Looking back, it’s a great song but it should have been mixed differently. Freddie and David had a fierce battle over that.”
\From Songfacts
A collaboration with David Bowie, this is credited to “Queen with David Bowie” because the B-side of the single is Queen’s “Soul Brother.” It was recorded at an impromptu session in Montreaux, Switzerland in the summer of 1981.
According to Queen bass player John Deacon, Freddie Mercury did most of the songwriting on this, although everyone contributed. The lyrics deal with how pressure can destroy lives, but love can be the answer. The lyrics are characteristic of Mercury’s songwriting.
May adds to this feeling of the sessions being fairly strained in a further interview for the Days of our Lives documentary, where he notes that “suddenly you’ve got this other person inputting, inputting, inputting… he (David) had a vision in his head, and it’s quite a difficult process and someone has to back off… and eventually I did back off, which is unusual for me.”
In the US, this was on Queen’s Greatest Hits album and released as a single at the same time. It was not released on a UK album until six months later, when it was included on Hot Space.
This was only the second UK #1 hit for Queen. They hit #2 with “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “We Are The Champions,” “Somebody To Love,” and “Killer Queen,” but their only previous #1 in England was “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
In the early ’80s, it was popular for two superstars to get together to release a hit single. Other notable combinations include Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder on “Ebony And Ivory,” Diana Ross and Lionel Richie on “Endless Love,” and Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton on “Islands in the Stream.” “Under Pressure” marked the first time Queen collaborated with another artist.
David Bowie performed this with Annie Lennox at the 1992 “Concert For Life” in Wembley Stadium, London. The show was a tribute to Freddie Mercury, with proceeds going to AIDS causes.
This song has been used in a number of movies, including 2002’s 40 Days And 40 Nights and 2004’s The Girl Next Door. It is also included in the hugely successful Queen tribute show We Will Rock You. >>
During the Taste Of Chaos tour, the singers from My Chemical Romance and The Used would come out and perform this song at the end of the show. >>
Joss Stone covered this for the 2005 Queen tribute album Killer Queen. >>
Reinhold Mack, who did production work on the Hot Space album, told an amusing story about the vocal recording for “Under Pressure,” where one of the two singers would record their improvised vocals with the other being locked out so they couldn’t hear what the other was doing.
Said Mack: “Freddie is doing all his bits and pieces and I see out of the corner of my eye David sticking his head in and listening. Then Fred came down and David went up, and Fred was quite impressed how David was counterpointing to what he (Freddie) had done before. Fred said ‘what do you make of this?’ and I said ‘Well, it’s kinda easy if you stand in the doorway and listen!'”
At which point Freddie apparently had some choice words for David!
According to a 2017 Mojo interview with Brian May, Freddie and David “locked horns” in the studio. Asked to elaborate, the Queen guitarist replied: “In subtle ways, like who would arrive last at the studio. So it was sort of wonderful and terrible. But in my mind I remember the wonderful now, more than the terrible.”
The two singers first met a dozen years before they recorded the song. In 1969, Freddie Mercury fitted David Bowie for a pair of boots during his day job working on a boot stall in Kensington Market.
Under Pressure
Mmm num ba de Dum bum ba be Doo buh dum ba beh beh
Pressure pushing down on me Pressing down on you, no man ask for Under pressure that burns a building down Splits a family in two Puts people on streets
Um ba ba be Um ba ba be De day da Ee day da, that’s okay
It’s the terror of knowing what the world is about Watching some good friends screaming “Let me out!” Pray tomorrow gets me higher Pressure on people, people on streets
Day day de mm hm Da da da ba ba Okay Chipping around, kick my brains around the floor These are the days it never rains but it pours Ee do ba be Ee da ba ba ba Um bo bo Be lap People on streets Ee da de da de People on streets Ee da de da de da de da
It’s the terror of knowing what the world is about Watching some good friends screaming ‘Let me out’ Pray tomorrow gets me higher, high Pressure on people, people on streets
Turned away from it all like a blind man Sat on a fence but it don’t work Keep coming up with love but it’s so slashed and torn Why, why, why? Love, love, love, love, love Insanity laughs under pressure we’re breaking
Can’t we give ourselves one more chance? Why can’t we give love that one more chance? Why can’t we give love, give love, give love, give love Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?
‘Cause love’s such an old fashioned word And love dares you to care for The people on the edge of the night And love (people on streets) dares you to change our way of Caring about ourselves This is our last dance This is our last dance This is ourselves under pressure Under pressure Pressure
Of all the U2 songs this one is probably on the top of my list. The drum pattern sounds like they are marching off to battle. It’s raw and you can hear the conviction in what Bono is singing. The Edge’s guitar is crunchy and perfect.
The drum-beat was composed by Larry Mullen Jr., which was recorded in a staircase of their Dublin recording studio because producer Steve Lillywhite was trying to get a full sound with natural reverb.
“Bloody Sunday” was a term given to an incident, which took place on 30th January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland where British Soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians who were peacefully protesting against Operation Demetrius. Thirteen were killed outright, while another man lost his life four months later due to injuries. It was reported that many of the victims who were fleeing the scene were shot at point-blank range.
The first person to have addressed these events musically was John Lennon who composed “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and released it on his third Solo album “Sometime In New York City”. His version of the song directly expresses his anger towards the massacre
The song peaked at #7 in the US Billboard Top Tracks Chart.
From Songfacts
There are two Bloody Sundays in Irish history. The first was in 1920 when British troops fired into the crowd at a football match in Dublin in retaliation for the killing of British undercover agents. The second was on January 30, 1972, when British paratroopers killed 13 Irish citizens at a civil rights protest in Derry, Northern Ireland. The song is more about the second Bloody Sunday.
The lyrics are a nonpartisan condemnation of the historic bloodshed in Ireland – politics is not something you want to discuss in Ireland. Bono’s lyrics in the song are more about interpersonal struggles than about the actual Bloody Sunday events.
Bono used to introduce this at concerts by saying: “This is not a rebel song.”
U2 has played several times at Croke Park, the site of the 1920 Bloody Sunday in Dublin. They first performed there in 1985 on the Unforgettable Fire tour.
Bono started writing this with political lyrics condemning the Irish Republican Army (the IRA), a militant group dedicated to getting British troops out of Northern Ireland. He changed them to point out the atrocities of war without taking sides.
While performing this, Bono would wave a white flag as a call for peace.
Bono was trying to contrast the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre with Easter Sunday, a peaceful day Protestants and Catholics both celebrate.
The music video for this song was taken from a live performance that’s part of their Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky concert film. The concert took place June 5, 1983 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Directed by Gavin Taylor, it captures the live energy of the band as they fight through the wind and rain to deliver a high-energy performance. At this time, U2 liked their videos shot outdoors in a natural setting.
Larry Mullen’s drums were recorded in a staircase of their Dublin recording studio. Producer Steve Lillywhite was trying to get a full sound with a natural echo.
Steve Wickham, who went on to join The Waterboys, played the electric fiddle on this track.
This took on new meaning as the conflict in Northern Ireland continued through the ’90s.
U2 recorded this in Denver for their Rattle And Hum movie on November 8, 1987. It was the same day as the Enniskillen massacre, where 13 people in Northern Ireland were killed by a bomb detonated by the Irish Republican Army (the IRA). Angered by these events, U2 gave a very emotional performance.
The version on U2’s live album Under A Blood Red Sky was recorded at a show in Sankt Goarshausen, Germany on August 20, 1983.
In 2003, The Edge inducted The Clash into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In his speech, he said, “There is no doubt in my mind that “Sunday Bloody Sunday” wouldn’t – and couldn’t – have been written if not for The Clash.”
A live version of this song plays during the end credits of the 2002 movie Bloody Sunday, which is a documentary-style drama recreating the events of January 30,1972 in Derry, Ireland. It stars James Nesbitt (you may remember him as “Pig Finn” from Waking Ned Devine) as a local Member of Parliament who is involved with the Civil Rights Movement.
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Yeah Hmm hmm
I can’t believe the news today Oh, I can’t close my eyes And make it go away How long How long must we sing this song? How long? How long
’cause tonight we can be as one Tonight
Broken bottles under children’s feet Bodies strewn across the dead end street But I won’t heed the battle call It puts my back up Puts my back up against the wall
And the battle’s just begun There’s many lost, but tell me who has won? The trench is dug within our hearts And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
Sunday, bloody Sunday Sunday, bloody Sunday
How long How long must we sing this song? How long? How long
’cause tonight we can be as one Tonight tonight
Sunday, bloody Sunday Sunday, bloody Sunday
(Yeah, let’s go)
Wipe the tears from your eyes Wipe your tears away Oh, wipe your tears away I wipe your tears away (Sunday, bloody Sunday) I wipe your blood shot eyes (Sunday, bloody Sunday)
The first time I heard this song I was actually playing it on guitar. A buddy of mine started to play it in the late eighties and I started to follow him with the chords. I asked him where he heard it and he played me the Copperhead Road album. This one became one of my favorites off of the album.
It’s a great piece of songwriting.
The Copperhead Road album peaked at #56 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1989… which is hard to believe it wasn’t higher than that. It did peak at #7 in the Country Billboard Chart in 1989.
It’s a great song that has been covered by many artists including Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and the Highwaymen.
From Songfacts
Songwriter Steve Earle is well known as a vocal opponent of capital punishment; running to 3 minutes 1 second, this classic miniature has a message for those who are likely to end up facing it; an attack on what Louis Farrakhan called “the glorification of the gun,” it makes the point that though a gun can get you into a lot of trouble, it can’t get you out of it.
In the song, the unfortunate storyteller fails to heed his mother’s warnings about carrying a pistol, and his youthful fascination ends with him shooting a man dead after being cheated at cards. When the authorities come for him, he protests they have the wrong man because “nothing touched the trigger but the Devil’s right hand”, which in the 21st Century would amount to an insanity defense, but would have probably not have swayed a jury in late 19th Century America wherein this cameo is set.
Waylon Jennings released this song before Earle did – he included it on his 1986 album Will the Wolf Survive. Jennings and Earle were good friends and kindred spirits; during one of Earle’s stints in prison, Jennings wore a bandana in his honor (Earle wears a bandana on his right wrist).
The Devil’s Right Hand
About the time that Daddy left to fight the big war I saw my first pistol in the general store In the general store, when I was thirteen I thought it was the finest thing I ever had seen
So l asked if I could have one someday when I grew up Mama dropped a dozen eggs, she really blew up She really blew up, and she didn’t understand Mama said the pistol is the devil’s right hand
The devil’s right hand, the devil’s right hand Mama says the pistol is the devil’s right hand
Me very first pistol was a cap and ball Colt Shoots as fast as lightnin’ but it loads a mite slow It loads a mite slow, and soon I found out It’ll get you into trouble but it can’t get you out
So about a year later I bought a Colt 45 Called a peacemaker but I never knew why I never knew why, I didn’t understand Mama says the pistol is the devil’s right hand
The devil’s right hand, the devil’s right hand Mama says the pistol is the devil’s right hand
Got into a card game in a company town I caught a miner cheating, I shot the dog down I shot the dog down, I watched the man fall He never touched his holster, never had a chance to draw
The trial was in the morning and they drug me out of bed Asked me how I pleaded, not guilty I said Not guilty I said, you’ve got the wrong man Nothing touched the trigger but the devil’s right hand
The devil’s right hand, the devil’s right hand Mama says the pistol is the devil’s right hand
The devil’s right hand, the devil’s right hand Mama says the pistol is the devil’s right hand
Brilliant song by Steve Earle. I became a fan of Steve Earle when I heard “I Aint Never Satisified” off of the Exit 0 album. Copperhead Road was an actual road near Mountain City, Tennessee. It has since been renamed Copperhead Hollow Road, owing to the theft of road signs bearing the song’s name.
What is interesting is Earle tells a story of three generations, of three different eras, and shows how they intersect all in one song.
This song peaked at #10 in the Billboard Mainstream Charts, #45 in the UK, and #12 in Canada in 1988.
Earle himself called the album the world’s first blend of heavy metal and bluegrass.
When you wrote things like “Copperhead Road,” did you know you had something that would be a signature song?
Steve Earle: Yeah. I did. That song I did. “Guitar Town,” I didn’t. I just thought I was writing a song that was going to open my tour and open my record, because I’d seen Springsteen come out and open the show with “Born in the U.S.A.” on that tour. That’s really when I started writing that album, the day after I saw that tour. But it had such a utilitarian reason to exist for me that I thought that was it. So I was shocked when they made it a single and shocked when it was a hit. But “Copperhead” I knew.
From Songfacts
Copperhead Road is a real road in East Tennessee where moonshine was made and two generations later, marijuana was grown. The song tells the story of a soldier who returns home from Vietnam and starts trafficking marijuana.
Copperhead Road is a highly acclaimed album that came after an interesting year for Earle: he spent New Year’s Day of 1988 in a Dallas jail charged with assaulting a policeman, had to deal with various legal and business issues, and at one point had a message on his answering machine that said, “This is Steve. I’m probably out shooting heroin, chasing 13-year-olds and beatin’ up cops. But I’m old and I tire easily, so leave a message and I’ll get back to you.” He also married his fifth wife around the time the album was released.
Along with “Guitar Town,” this is one of Earle’s signature songs. When he wrote it, he knew it would catch on.
Copperhead Road
Well my name’s John Lee Pettimore Same as my daddy and his daddy before You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here He only came to town about twice a year He’d buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line Everybody knew that he made moonshine Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad He headed up the holler with everything he had It’s before my time but I’ve been told He never came back from Copperhead Road Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big block Dodge Bought it at an auction at the Mason’s Lodge Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside Well him and my uncle tore that engine down I still remember that rumblin’ sound Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night Heard mama cryin’, knew something wasn’t right He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load You could smell the whiskey burnin’ down Copperhead Road
I volunteered for the Army on my birthday They draft the white trash first,’round here anyway I done two tours of duty in Vietnam And I came home with a brand new plan I take the seed from Colombia and Mexico I plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road Well the D.E.A.’s got a chopper in the air I wake up screaming like I’m back over there I learned a thing or two from ol’ Charlie don’t you know You better stay away from Copperhead Road
I enjoyed this song and album when it was released. It was somewhat of a comeback for Simon. I traveled to Graceland the same year it was released for the first time. I got ignored by the guide. It was 1987 and the guide brought up the Beatles and I asked a question about it…I cannot remember the question. The second question I asked was about Bruce Springsteen…how he supposedly climbed the gate to give Elvis the song “Fire” but Elvis wasn’t at home. She finally asked..do we have any more questions…and looked at me…” about Elvis?” I shook my head no and continued…
Part of this song is an account of Paul Simon’s marriage breakup with his first wife Peggy Harper. The nine-year-old “traveling companion” he refers to is their son Harper, who three years later, at the age of 12, accompanied his father on the Graceland tour. Harper Simon, born in 1972, developed into a singer-songwriter.
The song only charted at #81 in the Billboard 100 in 1987…which is surprising to me now. It got a lot of airplay at the time.
At first, Simon considered the word “Graceland” a placeholder title until he could come up with something better – maybe something that had to do with Africa. After a while, he realized the title wasn’t going away, and he got comfortable with it.
Paul Simon: “I couldn’t replace it. I thought, Maybe I’m supposed to go to Graceland. Maybe I’m supposed to go on a trip and see what I’m writing about, and I did.”
Paul Simon: “The track has a beautiful emptiness to it. That’s what made me think of Sun Records when it was nothing but slapback echo and the song.”
From Songfacts
Graceland is the mansion in Memphis, Tennessee where Elvis Presley lived; it is where Elvis is buried, and it is now a museum and popular tourist attraction. Paul Simon started calling his song “Graceland” after he came up with the track, which reminded him of the Sun Records sound where Elvis recorded.
Simon says this song is an example of “how a collaboration works even when you’re not aware of it occurring.” He traveled to South Africa in February 1985 and recorded with a variety of local musicians. One of these sessions was with an accordion player named Forere Motloheloa, who played on the song “The Boy in the Bubble.” These sessions produced a drum sound that Simon liked, which he described in the 2012 Graceland reissue: “The drums were kind of a traveling rhythm in country music – I’m a big Sun Records fan, and early-’50s, mid-’50s Sun Records you hear that beat a lot, like a fast, Johnny Cash type of rhythm.”
Simon put together a rhythm section comprised of three African musicians: guitarist Ray Phiri, fretless bass player Baghiti Khumalo, and drummer Isaac Mtshali. Simon played the drums for Phiri, and asked him to play something over it. Phiri started to play his version of American Country on electric guitar, which were chords not frequently used in African music: minor chords. When Simon asked him why he played that, Phiri responded, “I was just imitating the way you write.”
With Phiri playing his approximation of Amercian country, and Baghiti playing a straight ahead African groove on bass, Simon felt there was a commonality in the music, and he wrote a lyric to express that.
Simon describes that trip in the song; he drove to Graceland from Louisiana on Route 61, and the lyrics were his thoughts of the countryside: “The Mississippi Delta is shining like a National guitar.” When he finally got to Graceland, he took the famous tour.
This is the title track of Simon’s most successful album, selling over 15 million copies and winning a Grammy for Album of the Year. It is an album focusing mostly on African music, but it also explores other forms of non-mainstream music, like Zydeco. Simon considers this song to be less African-sounding than most of the other African-based tracks. The single also won Simon his third Record of the Year award – he previously won for “Mrs. Robinson” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
Paul Simon’s visit to South Africa was no easy task, as many nations were boycotting the country because of their racist apartheid policy. However, the United Nations Anti-Apartheid Committee supported his efforts since he only recorded with black South African musicians and did not collaborate with the government in any way. This didn’t appease some critics, who felt that violating sanctions undermined efforts to effect change in the country, no matter his artistic intentions. Ultimately, the Graceland project helped raise awareness to the apartheid struggle and expose many South African musicians to a global audience. The sanctions were put in place mainly to prevent entertainers from performing lucrative gigs at the Sun City resort, and Simon did nothing to support the corrupt government there.
Regarding the lyrics, “There’s a girl in New York City who calls herself the human trampoline,” Simon explained to SongTalk magazine: “That line came to me when I was walking past the Museum of Natural History. For no reason, I can think of. It’s not related to anybody. Or anything. It just struck me as funny. Although that’s an image that people remember, they talk about that line. But really, what interested me was the next line, because I was using the word ‘Graceland’ but it wasn’t in the chorus. I was bringing ‘Graceland’ back into a verse. Which is one of the things I learned from African music: the recapitulation of themes can come in different places.”
Explaining the World Music component of this song in the album reissue, Simon explained: “The part of me that had ‘Graceland’ in my head I think was subconsciously reacting to what I first heard in the drums, which was some kind of Sun Records/country/blues amalgam. What Ray was doing was mixing up his aural recollections of what American country was and what kind of chord changes I played. So the whole song really is one sound evoking a response, and that eventually became a lyric that instead of being about a South African subject or a political subject, it became a traveling song. That’s really the secret of World Music is that people are able to listen to each other, made associations, and play their own music that sounds like it fits into another culture.”
Several months after the initial recording sessions, Nigerian pedal steel guitarist Demola Adepoju was added to the track. This added a sound familiar to both American and African music, as the pedal steel guitar is a popular instrument in West Africa.
This song has stood the test of time, but when it was released as a single, it only charted at #82 in the US and didn’t crack the charts in the UK. It didn’t fit neatly into any radio formats like “You Can Call Me Al,” so it lacked hit potential. It did find an audience as part of the album, which went to #1 in the UK and stayed on the charts for nearly two years. In America, the album peaked at #3 but stayed on the chart for 97 weeks.
Don and Phil Everly of the Everly Brother sang backup on this track. Paul Simon and his musical partner Art Garfunkel idolized the Everlys and recorded their song “Bye Bye Love” for their Bridge Over Troubled Water album. Simon said he heard “Graceland” as “a perfect Everly Brothers song.”
In a 1993 interview on Larry King Live, Simon said this was his favorite song.
The B-side of the single was “Hearts And Bones,” which can be found on the album of the same name, released three years prior to Graceland.
Simon’s second wife, Carrie Fisher, was the topic of some of the songs on his 1983 Hearts and Bones album, including the title track. They got married that year, divorced a year later, but kept an on-and-off relationship throughout the ’80s. Fisher told Rolling Stone, “‘Graceland’ has part of us in it.”
Graceland
The Mississippi Delta was shining like a National guitar I am following the river Down the highway Through the cradle of the civil war
I’m going to Graceland, Graceland Memphis, Tennessee I’m going to Graceland Poor boys and pilgrims with families And we are going to Graceland
My traveling companion is nine years old He is the child of my first marriage But I’ve reason to believe We both will be received In Graceland
She comes back to tell me she’s gone As if I didn’t know that As if I didn’t know my own bed As if I’d never noticed The way she brushed her hair from her forehead And she said, “losing love Is like a window in your heart Everybody sees you’re blown apart Everybody sees the wind blow”
I’m going to Graceland Memphis, Tennessee I’m going to Graceland Poor boys and pilgrims with families And we are going to Graceland
And my traveling companions Are ghosts and empty sockets I’m looking at ghosts and empties But I’ve reason to believe We all will be received In Graceland
There is a girl in New York City Who calls herself the human trampoline And sometimes when I’m falling, flying Or tumbling in turmoil I say “Whoa, so this is what she means” She means we’re bouncing into Graceland And I see losing love Is like a window in your heart Well, everybody sees you’re blown apart Everybody sees the wind blow
Ooh, ooh, ooh In Graceland, in Graceland I’m going to Graceland For reasons I cannot explain There’s some part of me wants to see Graceland And I may be obliged to defend Every love, every ending Or maybe there’s no obligations now Maybe I’ve a reason to believe We all will be received In Graceland
Whoa, oh, oh In Graceland, in Graceland, in Graceland I’m going to Graceland
Jim Croce was the first time I ever heard about a star dying. I heard it on the radio when I was 7. My sister had his greatest hits and I played it non-stop. This one is easy for kids to remember. This song has been played to death and I wasn’t going to post it…but after listening to it I have to admit I was enjoying the song again.
Jim Croce and guitarist Maury Muehleisen died in a plane crash on September 20, 1973. The song peaked at #1 in July of 1973 and was still on the charts when the accident happened.
Jim Croce: This is a song about a guy I was in the army with… It was at Fort Dix, in New Jersey, that I met this guy. He was not made to climb the tree of knowledge, as they say, but he was strong, so nobody’d ever told him what to do, and after about a week down there he said “Later for this” and decided to go home. So he went AWOL—which means to take your own vacation—and he did. But he made the mistake of coming back at the end of the month to get his paycheck. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen handcuffs put on anybody, but it was SNAP and that was the end of it for a good friend of mine, who I wrote this tune about, named Leroy Brown.
“Yeah, I spent about a year and a half driving those $29 cars, so I drove around a lot looking for a universal joint for a ’57 Chevy panel truck or a transmission for a ’51 Dodge. I got to know many junkyards well, and they all have those dogs in them. They all have either an axle tied around their necks or an old lawnmower to keep ’em at least slowed down a bit, so you have a decent chance of getting away from them.”
From Songfacts
Set in the hardscrabble section of Chicago, this song tells the story of Leroy Brown, the “baddest man in the whole damn town.” He’s big and dangerous, loved by the ladies and feared by the men. But one day he picks a battle he can’t win, making a move on the wife of a guy who leaves him looking like a jigsaw puzzle with a some missing pieces.
The story is based on truth, but embellished. Jim’s wife, Ingrid Croce, told Songfacts the story.
Jim Croce joined the US National Guard in 1966, hoping it would keep him from getting sent to Vietnam. He married Ingrid that year, and hoped to continue his education and launch his music career. Unfortunately, Jim was sent for training less then two weeks after their wedding. As Ingrid explained, Jim had no interest in being a soldier and had the distinction of having to repeat basic training. But he did meet a guy who inspired one of his most famous songs.
When Jim Croce would introduce this song, he said there were two people he encountered in the military who inspired this song: a sergeant at Fort Jackson and a private at Fort Dix. The actual Leroy was the sergeant, but it was the private who went AWOL and returned for his paycheck.
Croce had his breakthrough in 1972 with the album You Don’t Mess Around with Jim, which had hit singles in the title track and “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels).” “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” appeared on his next album, Life And Times, and gave him his first #1 hit, topping the Hot 100 on July 21, 1973. On September 30, Croce died in a plane crash at age 30. After his death, “Time In A Bottle,” a track from You Don’t Mess Around with Jim, was released as a single and also went to #1.
The piano riff at the beginning was based on Bobby Darin’s “Queen of the Hop.”
Ingrid runs Croce’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar in San Diego, where she keeps Jim’s legacy alive and hears from many patrons who were touched by Jim’s songs. Says Ingrid: “I have a lot of staff members that come up to me and say, ‘You know what, there’s a guy named Leroy Brown, he kind of looks like the part, and he’s sitting at our bar right now.’ I say, ‘Well, I’ll be glad to come over and say hi.’ There’s so many Leroy Browns who have come up to me and said, ‘I’m sure I’m the one he was talking about.'”
Croce was a peaceful guy, but two of his biggest hits end in violence. In his first single, “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” the title character gets it even worse than Leroy, getting “cut in in about a 100 places and shot in a couple more.”
This is sung by a parrot in the 1997 movie Home Alone 3; Shelly Smith covered it for that film’s soundtrack.
Other movies to use the song include Sneakers (1992) and Easy Street (1987). TV series to use it include Psych (“Dis-Lodged” – 2008) and The Wonder Years (“Scenes from a Wedding” – 1992).
This wasn’t the first hit from the ’70s to feature a “Leroy.” In Todd Rundgren’s song “We Gotta Get You A Woman,” the lovelorn character is named Leroy. In real life, he was Paul, but Rundgren couldn’t find a good rhyme for that name.
The song gets a mention in the 1999 episode of Friends, “The One With All the Resolutions,” when Joey walks out Phoebe’s guitar lesson and she yells at him, “Don’t come crying to me when everyone is sick and tired of hearing you play ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.'” Rachel then walks in singing the song.
In 2008, producer Warren Zide (American Pie) bought the movie rights to this song, but nothing became of it. Ingrid Croce said: “We’ve always wanted to do a movie with one of Jim’s character songs – we just want him and his memory and his music to live on. Most importantly, it sounds as if it’s going to be a lot of fun. And Jim liked to have fun.”
Bad Bad Leroy Brown
Well the South side of Chicago Is the baddest part of town And if you go down there You better just beware Of a man named Leroy Brown
Now Leroy more than trouble You see he stand ’bout six foot four All the downtown ladies call him “Treetop Lover” All the men just call him “Sir”
And it’s bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
Now Leroy he a gambler And he like his fancy clothes And he like to wave his diamond rings In front of everybody’s nose He got a custom Continental He got an Eldorado too He got a thirty two gun in his pocket for fun He got a razor in his shoe
And it’s bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
Now Friday ’bout a week ago Leroy shootin’ dice And at the edge of the bar Sat a girl named Doris And oo that girl looked nice Well he cast his eyes upon her And the trouble soon began And Leroy Brown learned a lesson ‘Bout messin’ with the wife of a jealous man
And it’s bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
Well the two men took to fighting And when they pulled them off the floor Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle With a couple of pieces gone
And it’s bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
And it’s bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
This was written by the multitalented Shel Silverstein, who later wrote several hits for Dr. Hook, including “Sylvia’s Mother” and “Cover Of The Rolling Stone.” He got the idea for the song from his friend Jean Shepherd – a guy who had to deal with a girl’s name.
Shel Silverstein sang his song ‘Boy Named Sue,’ and Johnny’s wife June Carter thought it was a great song for Johnny Cash to perform. And not too long after that they were headed off to San Quentin to record a record Live At San Quentin and June said, ‘Why don’t you bring that Shel song with you.”And so they brought the lyrics. And when he was on stage he performed that song for the first time ever, he performed it live in front of that captive audience, in every sense of the word.
When Johnny performed this song at San Quentin he read the lyrics from a sheet of paper on the stage.
The song peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in the Billboard Country Charts. The album Johnny Cash At San Quentin peaked at #1 in 1969.
Johnny Cash performed this song in the East Room of the White House on April 17, 1970, when he and his wife were invited by President Richard Milhous Nixon. Nixon’s staff had requested the song along with Okie From Muskogee and the song “Welfare Cadillac,” but Cash refused to perform those songs, saying he didn’t have arrangements ready.
Thanks to Victoria at The Hinoeuma for suggesting this Johnny Cash song.
From Songfacts
This is about a boy who grows up angry at his father not only for leaving his family, but for naming him Sue. When the boy grows up, he sees his father in a bar and gets in a fight with him. After his father explains that he named him Sue to make sure he was tough, the son understands.
Cash recorded this live at San Quentin Prison in February 1969. Shel Silverstein’s nephew Mitch Myers told us the story: “In those days in Nashville, and for all the people that would visit, the most fun that anyone really could have would be to go over to someone’s house and play music. And they would do what one would call a ‘Guitar Pull,’ where you grabbed a guitar and you played one of your new songs, then someone else next to you would grab it and do the same, and there were people like Johnny Cash or Joni Mitchell, people of that caliber in the room.
It wasn’t touched up, it wasn’t produced or simulated. They just did it, and it stuck. And it rang. I would say that it would qualify in the realm of novelty, a novelty song. Shel had a knack for the humorous and the kind of subversive lyrics. But they also were so catchy that people could not resist them.”
Shel Silverstein went on to write another song titled “The Father of the Boy Named Sue.” It’s the same story, but from the father’s point of view.
In the 2019 animated film Missing Link, the main character, a male Sasquatch voiced by Zach Galifianakis, is named Susan.
A Boy Named Sue
I want you to uh, I want to a, If you don’t mind Carl, I’d like you to stay out and help us on some songs I’d love to One of the greatest guitar players as well as song writers and singers in Memphis Appreciate a little help on guitar, alright. Thank you Carl
Well,my daddy left home when I was three And he didn’t leave much to ma and me Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze Now, I don’t blame him cause he run and hid But the meanest thing that he ever did Was before he left, he went and named me Sue
Well, he must o’ thought that is quite a joke And it got a lot of laughs from a’ lots of folk It seems I had to fight my whole life through Some gal would giggle and I’d get red And some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his head, I tell ya, life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue
Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean My fist got hard and my wits got keen I’d roam from town to town to hide my shame But I made a vow to the moon and stars That I’d search the honky-tonks and bars And kill that man who gave me that awful name
Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July And I just hit town and my throat was dry I thought I’d stop and have myself a brew At an old saloon on a street of mud There at a table, dealing stud Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me Sue
Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad From a worn-out picture that my mother’d had And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye He was big and bent and gray and old And I looked at him and my blood ran cold And I said, “My name is Sue, how do you do Now you’re gonna die”
(yeah, that’s what I told him)
Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes And he went down, but to my surprise He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear But I busted a chair right across his teeth And we crashed through the wall and into the street Kicking and a’ gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer
I tell ya, I’ve fought tougher men But I really can’t remember when He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss He went for his gun and I pulled mine first He stood there lookin’ at me and I saw him smile
And he said, “Son, this world is rough And if a man’s gonna make it, he’s gotta be tough And I knew I wouldn’t be there to help ya along So I give ya that name and I said goodbye I knew you’d have to get tough or die And it’s the name that helped to make you strong”
He said, “Now you just fought one hell of a fight And I know you hate me, and you got the right To kill me now, and I wouldn’t blame you if you do But ya ought to thank me, before I die For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye ‘Cause I’m the son-of-a-bitch that named you Sue”
Well what could I do? What could I do? I got all choked up and I threw down my gun And I called him my Pa, and he called me his son And I came away with a different point of view And I think about him, now and then Every time I try and every time I win And if I ever have a son, I think I’m gonna name him.. Bill or George! Any-damn-thing but Sue!
I’ve always liked this Zevon song. It caught my attention right away in the first verse. Grandpa pissed his pants again He don’t give a damn Brother Billy has both guns drawn He ain’t been right since Vietnam“Sweet Home Alabama”Play that dead band’s song Turn those speakers up full blast Play it all night longYes, it’s crude and this is just the start but the words fit together really well. You then get a reference to the ill-fated southern rock band Lynyrd Skynryd.Plus…good luck finding another song with a reference to brucellosis in it! Not that you asked but here is the definition.Brucellosis – Brucellosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria. People can get the disease when they are in contact with infected animals or animal products contaminated with the bacteria. Animals that are most commonly infected include sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, and dogs, among others.
Warren Zevon explained that the song was written “really fast” while on marijuana on the synthesizer ostinato. The song is also considered a satire/homage to the dead band’s song (Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama”). Warren had read a novel around the time the song was written by Newton Thornburg titled Black Angus and got the idea for the line “the cattle all have brucellosis” from it. The song was a common live favorite of Warren’s and made it many setlists subsequent to its release. It is probably the only popular song ever written which contains a reference to brucellosis.
I’ve always liked it because it’s on the strange side and one that only Zevon could have written. The song was on the album Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. The album peaked at #20 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1980.
Play It All Night Long
Grandpa pissed his pants again He don’t give a damn Brother Billy has both guns drawn He ain’t been right since Vietnam
“Sweet home Alabama” Play that dead band’s song Turn those speakers up full blast Play it all night long
Daddy’s doing Sister Sally Grandma’s dying of cancer now The cattle all have brucellosis We’ll get through somehow
“Sweet Home Alabama” Play that dead band’s song Turn those speakers up full blast Play it all night long
I’m going down to the Dew Drop Inn See if I can drink enough There ain’t much to country living Sweat, piss, jizz and blood
“Sweet Home Alabama” Play that dead band’s song Turn those speakers up full blast Play it all night long
I remember the first time I heard this song. On Radio? On Record? Nope… Alice Cooper performed the song on The Muppet Show in his 1978 season three appearance, doing it as a duet with Beakie, a bird-ish Muppet who was actually the embodiment of Miss Piggy after she was transformed by Cooper.
This was the lead single off the 1977 album Lace and Whiskey, which was the shock-rock legend’s third album as a solo artist following the breakup of the original Alice Cooper band in 1974. Cooper decided to change up his sound a bit on this collection and soften his image.
This song was un-Cooper like although a couple of years before he did release a softer ballad Only Women Bleed.
The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 in 1977.
Alice Cooper on his ballads: “I did those songs totally out of spite,” “I kept reading so many interviews and articles that I said I was never considered musical. Best rock show they ever saw, but musically lacking. ‘They aren’t as good as ELP.’ Of course not,” he laughed, “we didn’t want to be.”
Alice and Beakie
From Songfacts
A very romantic soft rock song by the Grandfather of Goth. It is every man’s love song to his significant other – celebrating the everyday pleasures of two people sharing their lives together.
This love ballad was a significant departure from Cooper’s usual dark-themed rockers. It was the last in a trilogy of ballads Cooper recorded, following “Only Women Bleed” and “I Never Cry” He has described this genre as “heavy metal housewife rock.”
This song was written by Cooper and the renowned rock guitarist and songwriter Dick Wagner. During his long and distinguished musical career, Wagner has played lead guitar and written songs for many big-name bands and artists. In addition to Cooper, some of the other notable musical acts he has worked with include KISS, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Tori Amos, Frank Sinatra, Meat Loaf, Etta James, Ringo Starr, Guns N’ Roses, Rod Stewart, Air Supply and Tina Turner. Wagner contributed to several Alice Cooper albums, both as a guitarist and songwriter; he and Cooper usually collaborated on ballads. In addition to “You and Me,” other rock ballads Wagner co-wrote include “I Never Cry” and “Only Women Bleed.”
He considered it a concept album based on a 1940s-era detective he called “Inspector Maurice Escargot.” For his 1977 tour, Cooper divided his show into three sets: Oldies, Hell, and Lace And Whiskey. This third part he performed in his Escargot character.
Lace and Whiskey was produced by Bob Ezrin, who co-wrote most of the album’s tracks with Cooper and Dick Wagner. He also played keyboards on the album. Ezrin is a well-known figure in the music industry, particularly in the rock world. He was one of the most commercially successful producers in the 1970s and has done production work for a slew of top artists and bands, including KISS, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Rod Stewart, Jane’s Addiction, Hanoi Rocks, Deftones, Berlin, Nine Inch Nails and Peter Gabriel. Ezrin produced eleven albums for Cooper, including the hugely successful LPs Billion Dollar Babies and School’s Out.
This song climbed to #9 on the US Billboard Hot 100, marking his last Top-10 on the chart until “Poison” in 1989. The song also hit #23 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and # 3 on the singles chart in Australia.
You and Me
When I get home from work, I want to wrap myself around you. I want to take you and squeeze you Till the passion starts to rise.
I want to take you to heaven. That would make my day complete.
[Chorus] But you and me ain’t no movie stars. What we are is what we are. We share a bed, Some lovin’, And TV, yeah. And that’s enough for a workin’ man. What I am is what I am. And I tell you, babe, Well that’s enough for me.
Sometimes when you’re asleep And I’m just starin’ at the ceiling, I want to reach out and touch you, But you just go on dreamin’.
If I could take you to heaven, That would make my day complete.
[Chorus]
You and me ain’t no super stars. What we are is what we are. We share a bed, Some popcorn, And TV, yeah. And that’s enough for a workin’ man. What I am is what I am. And I tell you, babe, You’re just enough for me.
When I get home from work, I want to wrap myself around you. I like to hold you squeeze you Till the passion starts to rise.
I want to take you to heaven. That would make my day complete.
Bob Dylan released his first album in 1962. He was primarily known as a folk artist. Dylan would play with his acoustic guitar and harmonica.
On Saturday, July 24, 1965, Bob Dylan played the Newport Folk Festival and he played an acoustic set that all of his fans wanted. He received great applause… After that, he walked back on stage with a rock band and plugged in his 1964 Fender Stratocaster and all hell broke loose. His folk fans did NOT want him playing an electric guitar with a rock band. He did receive some cheers but they were mixed with a lot of boos. Dylan’s appearance is one of the most iconic performances of rock and roll.
Even after the boos, he was determined to continue down his electric path. It has been known as the time when “Dylan went electric.”
He toured in 1965 and 1966 with “The Hawks” as a backing band. The Hawks changed their name after the 66 tour and became The Band. During those tours, the boos continued throughout but Dylan pressed on. On the British leg of the tour the boos intensified and in one concert a fan of the old Dylan yelled out “Judas!”
Now back to the electric guitar that Bob played at Newport.
Dawn Peterson thought she owned the guitar, her father was a pilot who flew music acts in the 1960s. He said Dylan left this guitar on his plane. Dawn didn’t believe it until she saw a documentary picturing Bob Dylan on that Newport stage playing a guitar that looked just like her dad’s.
Bob Dylan thought he still had this Stratocaster…but in 2012 on the PBS series History Detectives… The experts matched the wood grain on the guitar owned by Dawn from the pictures of the historical event in 1965. The guitar was a match and it was no doubt that Dawn’s guitar was the one. Also in the guitar case were some of Dylan’s lyrics that he was working on in 65.
Lawyers got involved but it was soon settled that Dawn could sell the guitar.
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay purchased Dylan’s Newport guitar in 2013 for $965,000 in an auction, making it the most expensive guitar to ever hit the auction block.
Within the case itself was another hidden gem: early-draft lyrics to three Dylan tunes (“Absolutely Sweet Marie,” “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and two others). Those pieces were estimated between $3,000 and $30,000 by the auction house.
The guitar was on display from November 2018 through November 2019 at the American Writers Museum in Chicago as part of Bob Dylan: Electric – an interactive exhibit curated by music journalist Alan Light chronicling Dylan’s impact on American writing and pop culture following the Newport performance.
This song is why I first bought this album. I heard it and it’s country/blues/rock style stayed with me. The song sounds low down, dirty, and sleazy…that only the Stones can deliver.
Keith Richards’ fingers began to bleed as he played acoustic guitar for hours while Mick Jagger worked with an engineer on the drum track. The title came from Keith’s desire to record his track. At least that’s the story the Mick and Keith tells. The phrase “Let It Bleed” is an intravenous drug user slang for successfully finding a vein. The syringe plunger is pulled back and if blood appears, it is called letting it bleed.
This was recorded around the same time as The Beatles Let It Be, but the similar titles were just a supposed coincidence.
The Stones recorded this after the death of Brian Jones but before Mick Taylor joined the band as his replacement. As a result, Keith Richards played both acoustic and slide electric guitar, and Bill Wyman played bass and autoharp.
The song wasn’t a single but the album (also named Let It Bleed) peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1969.
From Songfacts
This was the first Stones song to also be the album title.
Ian Stewart, often considered “The sixth Stone,” played the piano. This was his only appearance on Let It Bleed.
There are many references to sex and drugs in the lyrics to this track – an example of the Stones writing about what they knew.
Autoharp is a string instrument with a series of chord bars attached to dampers which, when pressed, mute all but the desired chord. An autoharp is not really a harp – it’s a zither.
The English TV cook and author Delia Smith baked the cake on the album sleeve before she became famous. She got the gig through being a friend of the photographer, Don McAllester. In 1971, two years after the release of Let It Bleed, Delia Smith’s first cookery book, How To Cheat at Cooking, was launched and by the end of the decade she’d become the UK’s best known TV cook.
Let It Bleed
Well, we all need someone we can lean on And if you want it, you can lean on me Yeah, we all need someone we can lean on And if you want it, you can lean on me
She said, my breasts, they will always be open Baby, you can rest your weary head right on me And there will always be a space in my parking lot When you need a little coke and sympathy
Yeah we all need someone we can dream on And if you want it baby, you can dream on me Yeah, we all need someone we can cream on Yeah and if you want to, you can cream on me
I was dreaming of a steel guitar engagement When you drunk my health in scented jasmine tea But you knifed me in my dirty filthy basement With that jaded, faded, junky nurse oh what pleasant company, ha
Though, we all need someone we can feel on Yeah and if you want it, you can feel on me, hey Take my arm, take my leg Oh baby don’t you take my head Hoo
Yeah, we all need someone we can bleed on Yeah but if you want it, well you can bleed on me Yeah, we all need someone we can bleed on Yeah yeah and if you want it baby why don’t ya You can bleed on me All over, hoo
Ah, get it on rider, hoo Get it on rider Get it on rider You can bleed all over me, yeah Get it on rider, hoo Get it on rider, yeah You can cream all over, you can come all over me, ah Get it on rider ey Let it out rider Let it out rider You can come all over me
Ah Freak out! Dance music is usually not my thing but Nile Rodgers guitar groove on this song is fantastic. It’s also a great memory of 5th grade for me.
Rodgers and Edwards wrote this after they were denied admission to a nightclub, even though their song “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” often played inside.
It was New Year’s Eve, 1977, and they were invited to Studio 54, a very popular club in New York City where many celebrities and trendsetters were known to hang out. A singer named Grace Jones wanted Nile Rodgers (guitarist) and Bernard Edwards (Bass Player) to do some production work for her and asked them to come down to the club as her guest.
When they got there, they were not on the list, and couldn’t convince the doorman that they were the group Chic. All dressed up and nowhere to go on New Year’s Eve, they left and started writing this song as a reply to the doorman. They called it “F–k Off,” but when they decided to record it, Edwards wasn’t comfortable with the cursing, so they tried it as “Freak Off.” That title sounded lame, but when they made the opening lines “aaaahh Freak Out!” instead of “aaaahh F–k Off!”, they came up with a better title: “La Freak.”
The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 in 1978. This was #1 in the US for six weeks. After a while, they stopped distributing it as a single to encourage people to buy the album.
From Songfacts
Chic was a group led by bass player Bernard Edwards and guitarist Nile Rodgers. Both were very successful writers and producers, combining to work on hits for Sister Sledge and Diana Ross. Edwards went on to produce for The Power Station, Joe Cocker, and Robert Palmer, while Rodgers has worked with Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and Madonna. Edwards died of pneumonia in 1996.
They ended up not working for Grace Jones, although Rodgers produced her comeback album in 1986.
Studio 54 is mentioned in the last verse: “Come on down to 54.” A year after Rodgers and Edwards couldn’t get into the club, this was included on an album of dance songs called A Night At Studio 54. They had no trouble getting in at this point.
“C’est Chic” (which was not just the name of the album but also part of the lyrics to the song) is French for “It is Chic.”
This is the best selling single of all time for Atlantic Records with 13 million sales, including 2 million in the USA.
This was the first single to be displaced from the US # 1 twice, each time regaining the top position. It first hit the top spot in December 1978, then dropped to #2 for a week to make way for “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” After reassuming the #1 position for a second week, it then dropped to #2 again for two more weeks, this time to make way for the Bee Gees’ hit “Too Much Heaven.” In January 1979, “Le Freak” then moved back into the #1 spot for a third time, holding down the top spot for four more weeks.
This song returned, remixed, to the UK Top 20 in 1987 as “Jack le Freak.”
Nile Rodgers told Billboard that the song “was our homage to a Chubby Checker song called the ‘Peppermint Twist.'”
Nile Rogers told the Big Issue that he knew “Le Freak” was going to be a monster record even though the record company hated the song. He recalled:
“By the time the song ended, after about seven and a half minutes, we’d cleared the conference room. We were just sitting there by ourselves – myself, Bernard Edwards and our attorney. Everybody else was outside trying to figure out how to tell us how much the song sucked, and wondering did we have anything else on the album that was better.”
Le Freak
Ah Freak out! Le Freak, see’est Chic Freak out! Ah Freak out! Le Freak, see’est Chic Freak out! Ah Freak out! Le Freak, see’est Chic Freak out! Ah Freak out! Le Freak, see’est Chic Freak out!
Have you heard about the new dance craze? Listen to us, I’m sure you’ll be amazed Big fun to be had by everyone It’s up to you, It surely can be done Young and old are doing it, I’m told Just one try, and you too will be sold It’s called Le Freak! They’re doing it night and day Allow us, we’ll show you the way
[Chorus]
All that pressure got you down Has your head spinning all around Feel the rhythm, check the ride Come on along and have a real good time Like the days of stopping at the Savoy Now we freak, oh what a joy Just come on down, two fifty four Find a spot out on the floor
[Chorus]
Now Freak! I said Freak! Now Freak!
All that pressure got you down Has your head spinning all around Feel the rhythm, check the ride Come on along and have a real good time Like the days of stopping at the Savoy Now we freak, oh what a joy Just come on down, two fifty four Find a spot out on the floor
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