I was an instant fan when I first heard Sheryl Crow. During the nineties, there were many pop-oriented females that I listened to (Sarah Mclaughlin is one)…and ones that I didn’t at all (her last name rhymes with “tears” “beers” “fears”) but Sheryl was different. She was more in the rock and roll genre. I saw her open up for the Rolling Stones at Vanderbilt’s Stadium and she sounded great.
I have always liked her lyrics…she has fun with them and always kept them interesting. I’ll be posting more Sheryl songs this weekend.
This song peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100, #9 in the UK, #1 in Canada, and #12 in New Zealand in 1997.
It was on her self titled second studio album.
From Songfacts
This song describes a person who seems depressed or upset no matter what happens. According to Crow, the inspiration for the song was her feelings after the massive success of her first album, as her record label and the media put pressure on her to follow it up.
This won the Grammy award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
On her VH1 Storytellers appearance in 1998, Sheryl Crow said this was initially a country song, but she turned it into a rock song so she could get more exposure.
The Australian lensman Keir McFarlane directed the video, which portrays Crow as an angry museum exhibit (10 years before the movie Night at the Museum). McFarlane also did the video for Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.”
In 2011 Crow teamed up with chef Chuck White to write a cookbook called If It Makes You Healthy.
Crow was a huge fan of Tom Petty and said that this song was in some ways inspired by the way he played.
If It Makes You Happy
I belong, a long way from here I put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes And drank ’till I was thirsty again We went searching, through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo’s rifle, Marilyn’s shampoo And Benny Goodman’s cursive pen Well, okay, I made this up I promise you I’d never give up
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
Get down, real low down You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train Well, who hasn’t been there before?
I come ’round, around the hard way Bring you comics in bed Scrape the mold off the bread And serve you french toast again Okay, I still get stoned I’m not the kind of girl you’d take home
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
We’ve been far, far away from here I put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes And everywhere in between Well, okay, we get along So what if right now, everything’s wrong?
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
In 1966, Bob Dylan did something extraordinary when he went to Nashville to record an album. He left his band behind, in order to record with session players known as the Nashville Cats. That album he made was a masterpiece, ‘Blonde on Blonde”.
John Sebastian apparently held Nashville musicians in high esteem. According to one account, the song developed after the Lovin’ Spoonful was in Nashville for a concert, and while sitting at a bar, were blown away by the guitar playing of Danny Gatton. Sebastian wrote the song and it peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.
John Sebastian on writing the song…it is a bit long but interesting:
It happened to me quite by accident. First of all I was a tremendous fan of the music coming out of Nashville and the south at that time. Sometimes it was Memphis or Muscle Shoals but I didn’t know that, I was just responding to the music. I knew that when you cut records here, you could finish an album in a day in a half! But the ‘Spoonful played in Nashville in ’65 or so. We finished our show at the Fairgrounds Auditorium–the biggest thing in town. We felt pretty good about it and went back to the Holiday Inn and to the beer bar in the basement and get some beers and this guy comes in–goes and sits in the corner. There wasn’t even a stage. He pulls out a guitar and he is absolutely stunning. He starts off with something Chet Aktins-y and then he starts to get these bends and pedal steel tones and then multiple bends and then more jazz chords. Now we’re in “hillbilly jazz.” By the time this guy finished, me and (Lovin’ Spoonfuls) Zal Yanovsky we went up to our room. In those days, the ‘Spoonful were still sharing rooms, and we sit on the edge of our beds and go ‘How could this be?’ We are playing the big joint in town and this guy is in a beer bar. He can play rings around us. How does this work? Are we just four guys with long hair? It was years before we figured out that the kid had been a young Danny Gatton making spare change. But it traumatized us for a while.
The song actually was written a couple of weeks after our Nashville encounter. I was in Long Island somewhere. I saw an album cover –years later–Zal and I were in a record store–and I go “Oh my God, this is the guy from the beer bar.” Danny Gatton fans have sent me a stack of his cds and I can’t understand how he did the first damn thing (laughs).
From Songfacts
This song is a celebration of the remarkable musicianship of Nashville, Tennessee guitar pickers who have been “Playin’ since they’s babies.” John Sebastian held for the Nashville musicians in very high esteem.
The lyrics refer to the Sun Records company. While Sun was best known for first recording Elvis Presley, it also released songs by Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison
Nashville Cats
[Chorus] Nashville cats, play clean as country water Nashville cats, play wild as mountain dew Nashville cats, been playin’ since they’s babies Nashville cats, get work before they’re two
Well, there’s thirteen hundred and fifty two Guitar pickers in Nashville And they can pick more notes than the number of ants On a Tennessee ant hill Yeah, there’s thirteen hundred and fifty two Guitar cases in Nashville And any one that unpacks ‘is guitar could play Twice as better than I will
Yeah, I was just thirteen, you might say I was a Musical proverbial knee-high When I heard a couple new-sounding tunes on the tubes And they blasted me sky-high And the record man said every one is a yellow sun Record from Nashville And up north there ain’t nobody buys them And I said, “But I Will”
And it was
[Chorus]
Well, there’s sixteen thousand eight hundred ‘n’ twenty one Mothers from Nashville All their friends play music, and they ain’t uptight If one of the kids will Because it’s custom made for any mothers son To be a guitar picker in Nashville And I sure am glad I got a chance to say a word about The music and the mothers from Nashville
This song fits in well with the harder blues that was going on at this time. It’s really heavy for a Beatles song or any song. Many guitars were layered at the end when it abruptly stops. It took me a few listens to warm up to it but when I did…I really liked it. John’s guitar echoing the vocal and Paul’s adventurous bass playing on this recording is great.
The song is a simple love song from John to Yoko. Totally opposite of his wordplay songs of the past, in this one he is straight forward. He got right to the point…his quote on this song was “When you’re drowning, you don’t say ‘I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,’ you just scream”
This was the first song worked on for their last recorded album Abbey Road…and the last one mixed. They started it at Trident Studios…not Abbey Road. This song shows just how good of musicians they were in 1969. This song is not an easy song and certainly took a lot of work to meld together. Different time signatures and John’s singing and playing… it syncs up well on the verses.
Billy Preston played organ on this song.
George Harrison: “This is very heavy,” “This is good because it’s really basically a bit like a blues. The riff that he sings and plays is really a very basic blues-type thing. But again, it’s very original to a John-type song. And the middle bit is great. John has an amazing thing with his timing. He always comes across with sort of different timing things.
From Songfacts
John Lennon wrote this about Yoko Ono – the couple were married in March 1969, about six months before the Abbey Road album was released. Lennon was experimenting with a heavy blues sound, so the song has few lyrics and long stretches of repeated chords. “Every time I pick up the guitar I sing about Yoko and that’s how I’m influenced,” Lennon said at the time.
Taken on its own, the lyric is very basic, repeating just a few simple lines like:
I want you so bad
It’s driving me mad
Soon after Abbey Road was released, a news magazine show called 24 Hours read the lyrics out loud, taking a derisive tone. Lennon replied: “To me that’s a damn sight better lyric than ‘Walrus’ or ‘Eleanor Rigby’ because its progression to me. And if I want to write songs with no words or one word… maybe that’s Yoko’s influence.”
The rhythm was based on Mel Torme’s song “Coming Home Baby.”
With the exception of “Revolution 9,” this was The Beatles longest song.
John Lennon sang this monofonic, as some of the troubadours sang in the Middle Ages: There is no chord behind the melody, but an instrument follows the singer’s melody. The song ends with an orchestra arrangement, which was Lennon’s idea, and is very much similar to the end of “Entry of the Gods into Valhalla” in “Das Rheingold” by Richard Wagner.
George Harrison played a Moog synthesizer on this track. It is one of the first uses of the instrument, which was custom-made for Harrison.
The guitars were overdubbed many times to get a layered sound.
This song contains an accidental background lyric. On stereo, play the song at 4:30 and listen very closely to the left speaker. In the bass break after John’s scream, you can faintly hear someone say, “What was that about!?” presumably in response to the scream.
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
I want you I want you so bad I want you I want you so bad It’s driving me mad It’s driving me mad
I want you I want you so bad, babe I want you I want you so bad It’s driving me mad It’s driving me mad
I want you I want you so bad I want you I want you so bad It’s driving me mad It’s driving me mad
I want you I want you so bad, babe I want you I want you so bad It’s driving me mad It’s driving me mad
She’s so heavy Heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy
I want you I want you so bad I want you I want you so bad It’s driving me mad It’s driving me mad
I want you I want you so bad, babe I want you You know I want you so bad It’s driving me mad It’s driving me mad
“Hey Joe” was written by a singer named Billy Roberts, who was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early ’60s. This was Billy’s most well-known song.
This is the song that started it all for Hendrix. After being discharged from the US Army in 1962, he worked as a backing musician for The Isley Brothers and Little Richard, and in 1966 performed under the name Jimmy James in the group Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. Hendrix introduced “Hey Joe” to the band and added it to their setlist. During a show at the Greenwich Village club Cafe Wha?, Chas Chandler of The Animals was in the audience, and he knew instantly that Hendrix was the man to record the song.
This is one of the few Hendrix tracks with female backing vocals. They were performed by a popular trio called the Breakaways (Jean Hawker, Margot Newman, and Vicki Brown), who were brought in by producer Chas Chandler.
The song peaked at #6 in the UK Charts in 1966.
From Songfacts
The song is structured as a conversation between two men, with “Joe” explaining to the other that he caught his woman cheating and plans to kill her. They talk again, and Joe explains that he did indeed shoot her, and is headed to Mexico.
Billy Roberts copyrighted this song in 1962, but never released it (he issued just one album, Thoughts Of California in 1975). In 1966, several artists covered the song, including a Los Angeles band called The Leaves (their lead singer was bassist Jim Pons, who joined The Turtles just before they recorded their Happy Together album), whose version was a minor hit, reaching #31 in the US. Arthur Lee’s group Love also recorded it that year, as did The Byrds, whose singer David Crosby had been performing the song since 1965. These were all uptempo renditions.
The slow version that inspired Hendrix to record this came from a folk singer named Tim Rose, who played it in a slow arrangement on his 1967 debut album and issued it as a single late in 1966. Rose was a popular singer/songwriter for a short time in the Greenwich Village scene, but quickly faded into obscurity before a small comeback in the ’90s. He died in 2002 at age 62.
Chandler convinced Hendrix to join him in London, and he became Jimi’s producer and manager. Teaming Hendrix with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, Chandler had the group – known as The Jimi Hendrix Experience – record “Hey Joe,” and released it as a single in the UK in December 1966. It climbed to #6 in February 1967, as Hendrix developed a reputation as an electrifying performer and wildly innovative guitarist.
America was a tougher nut to crack – when the song was released there in April, it went nowhere.
The song incorporates many elements of blues music, including a F-C-G-D-A chord progression and a story about infidelity and murder. This led many to believe it was a much older (possibly traditional) song, but it was an original composition.
Hendrix played this live for the first time at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. It was the first time the group performed in America.
This was released in Britain with the flip side “Stone Free,” which was the first song Hendrix wrote for The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The song was released in the UK on the Polydor label in a one-single deal. Hendrix then signed to the Track label, which was set up by Kit Lambert, producer for The Who.
Dick Rowe of Decca Records turned down Hendrix for a deal, unimpressed with both “Hey Joe” and “Stone Free.” Rowe also turned away the Beatles four years earlier.
The Hendrix version omits the first verse, where Joe buys the gun:
Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that money in your hand?
Chasin’ my woman, she run off with another man
Goin downtown, buy me a .44
In the original (and most versions pre-Hendrix), Joe also kills his wife’s lover when he catches them in bed together.
This was the last song performed at Woodstock in 1969. The festival was scheduled to end at midnight on Sunday, August 17 (the third day), but it ran long and Hendrix didn’t go on until Monday around 9 a.m. There weren’t many attendees left, but Hendrix delivered a legendary performance.
While Jimi’s version is by far the most famous, “Hey Joe” has been recorded by over 1000 artists. In America, three versions charted:
The Leaves (#31, 1966) Cher (#94, 1967) Wilson Pickett (#59, 1969)
Hendrix is the only artist to chart with the song in the UK, although a completely different song called “Hey Joe” was a #1 hit there for Frankie Laine in 1963.
Some of the notable covers include: Shadows of Knight (1966) Music Machine (1966) The Mothers Of Invention (1967) Deep Purple (1967) King Curtis (1968) Roy Buchanan (1973) Patti Smith (1974) Soft Cell (1983) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1986) The Offspring (1991) Eddie Murphy (1993 – yes, the comedian) Walter Trout (2000) Popa Chubby (2001) Robert Plant (2002) Brad Mehldau Trio (2012)
The liner notes for Are You Experienced? say this song is “A blues arrangement of an old cowboy song that’s about 100 years old.” >>
The phrase “Hey Joe” is something men in the Philippines often shout when they see an American. Ted Lerner wrote a book about his experiences there called Hey, Joe: A Slice Of The City-An American In Manilla.
In an early demo version, Hendrix is caught off guard by the sound of his voice in the headphones, and can be heard on the recording saying, “Oh, Goddamn!” Then telling Chas Chandler in the booth, “Hey, make the voice a little lower and the band a little louder.” Hendrix was always insecure about his vocal talents, but thought if Dylan could swing it, so could he.
6,346 guitarists played “Hey Joe” simultaneously in the town of Wroclaw, Poland on May 1, 2009, breaking a world record for most guitarists playing a single song.
The BBC apologized after “Hey Joe” was played following a report on the Oscar Pistorius trial, following the disabled athlete’s shooting of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (The song includes the lines: “Hey Joe, where you going with that gun in your hand? I’m going out to shoot my old lady, you know I caught her messing around with another man.”)
This was one of five bonus tracks added to the album Are You Experienced? when it was re-released in 1997. The only song on the album not written by Hendrix, it is credited to Billy Roberts.
Not much is known about the song’s writer Billy Roberts, who apparently got in a car accident in the ’90s that left him impaired. Royalties from this song go to him through the publisher Third Palm Music.
This was used in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump when Forrest starts a fight at a Black Panthers gathering, but the song wasn’t included on the official soundtrack.
Hey Joe
Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand? Hey Joe, I said where you goin’ with that gun in your hand? Alright. I’m goin down to shoot my old lady
You know I caught her messin’ ’round with another man. I’m goin’ down to shoot my old lady You know I caught her messin’ ’round with another man.
And that ain’t too cool. (Ah-backing vocal on each line) Uh, hey Joe, I heard you shot your woman down You shot her down now.
Uh, hey Joe, I heard you shot you old lady down You shot her down to the ground. Yeah! Yes, I did, I shot her
You know I caught her messin’ ’round Messin’ ’round town. Uh, yes I did, I shot her You know I caught my old lady messin’ ’round town.
And I gave her the gun and I shot her! Alright (Ah! Hey Joe) Shoot her one more time again, baby!
Yeah. (Hey Joe!) Ah, dig it!
Ah! Ah! (Joe where you gonna go?) Oh, alright. Hey Joe, said now (Hey) uh, where you gonna run to now, where you gonna run to? Yeah. (where you gonna go?) Hey Joe, I said (Hey) where you goin’ to run to now, where you, where you gonna go? (Joe!) Well, dig it! I’m goin’ way down south, way down south (Hey) way down south to Mexico way! Alright! (Joe) I’m goin’ way down south (Hey, Joe) way down where I can be free! (where you gonna…) Ain’t no one gonna find me babe! (…go?) Ain’t no hangman gonna (Hey, Joe) he ain’t gonna put a rope around me! (Joe where you gonna.) You better belive it right now! (…go?) I gotta go now! Hey, hey, hey Joe (Hey Joe) you better run on down! (where you gonna…) Goodbye everybody. Ow! (…go?) Hey, hey Joe, what’d I say (Hey… Joe) run on down. (where you gonna go?
This is one of the first movies I ever rented. It was one of the few left on a shelf at the video store…remember those? I had never heard of it but it was a good comedy.
This little movie from the early 80s gets forgotten but it a very good comedy. Ron Howard directed this movie about straight-laced morgue attendant Chuck Lumley (Henry Winkler) who gets a wonderfully crazy co-worker Bill Blazejowski (Michael Keaton in his breakout role) who talks Chuck into running a brothel out of the morgue…Chuck and Bill become unlikely pimps (or Love Brokers) after a group of call girl’s pimp gets killed by being dropped out of a window. Chuck falls for one of the prostitutes who is his neighbor named Belinda (Shelley Long).
Henry Winkler plays a character far removed from his Happy Day’s character…the cool Fonz. Henry is very good in this movie and is perfect as the straight man for Michael Keaton.
Micheal Keaton is great in this movie. His timing is perfect and foreshadows some of his comedies such as Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice.
Shelley Long had reservations about playing a call girl but decided to do it…Long, Winkler, and Keaton worked really well together. This was released a few months before she starred in Cheers.
Something to watch for…Kevin Costner makes one of his first big-screen appearance in a nonspeaking role in this movie.
Some quotes:
Chuck Lumley: As we sit here and idly chat, there are woman, female human beings, rolling around in strange beds with strange men, and we are making money from that.
Bill Blazejowski: Is this a great country, or what?
If you get a chance to watch this movie…give it a chance. It even has a 80s music montage.
This version of the Byrds gets ignored but they had some great musicians in the band. Roger Mcguinn, the great guitarist Clarence White and equally great bass player Skip Battin.
Tom Petty’s band Mudcrutch also covered this song in 2008. Mudcrutch formed in 1970 and broke up in 1975. After the initial break-up, band members Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, and Benmont Tench went on to form Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Lover of the Bayou” was originally written by Roger McGuinn and Jacques Levy. Jacques Levy was a songwriter and theater director, who collaborated with McGuinn in 1969 with an interest in making a Broadway musical. While the musical never saw production, several of the songs survived as Byrds’ songs.
Personally, I like the live version by The Byrds the best but I included The Byrds studio version, Mudcrutch, and The Byrds live version.
From Songfacts
If the lyrics sound like they’re full of Freudian symbolism (“I learned the key to the master look; I learned to float in the water clock.”), that might be because song co-writer Jacques Levy was also a clinical psychologist! Levy also directed the off-Broadway erotic (and all-nude) revue Oh! Calcutta!.
The original Byrds’ version of this song may be found on disk two of the album The Essential Byrds, released in 2003. It was originally on their untitled album, along with “Chestnut Mare”, “All the Things” and “Just a Season”, also from the would-be musical.
If a stage musical sounds unlikely, McGuinn had even bigger plans beyond that to produce a science-fiction film which would have been named Ecology 70 and would have starred ex-Byrd Gram Parsons and ex-Mamas And The Papas Michelle Phillips, as a couple of “hippies in space.” This was a more common idea in the late ’60s and early ’70s than you might think – witness the 1974 John Carpenter film Dark Star.
Lover of the Bayou
Catfish pie in gris gris bag I’m the lover of the bayou Pack your doorstep with a half wet rag I’m the lover of the bayou I was raised and swam with the crocodile Snake-eye taught me the Mojo style Sucked and weaned on chicken bile I’m the lover of the bayou
I learned the key to the master lock Learned to float in the water clock Learned to capture the lightning shock I’m the lover of the bayou And I got cat’s an’ teeth and hair for sale I’m the lover of the bayou And there are zombies on your tail I’m the lover of the bayou
I cooked a bat in a gumbo pan I drank the blood from a rusty can Turned me into the Hunger Man I’m the lover of the bayou, yeah.
Aretha equals greatness. I always think of the Blues Brothers movie this was featured in years after it was released. Franklin wrote this with Teddy White, who was her husband and manager. In the song, Aretha sings about freedom and respect for women.
The song peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100 and #26 in the UK in 1968.
When I’m asked who my favorite female singers are…Aretha always comes up. Her soul had soul. She could take a mediocre song and make it great. I’ve heard her do songs such as “You Light Up My Life” and put life and soul in them.
From Songfacts
Jerry Wexler, who worked with Franklin on many of her hit songs, produced this track at the Atlantic Records recording studios in New York. Members of the Muscle Shoals rhythm section played at the session.
This song was released on May 2, 1968, less than a month after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4. Franklin’s family was close to King, and Aretha attended his funeral. The song’s insistant refrain of “freedom” evoked one of King’s famous quotes: “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last.”
Franklin performed this in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. The Blues Brothers themselves also recorded the song, which was released as the B-side of their 1989 UK single “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love.”
This was Franklin’s sixth #1 single on the R&B chart.
Leading up to the 2018 midterm elections in America, Levi’s used this in a commercial encouraging people to vote. The spot mostly used the “freedom” part of the song.
Think
You better think (think) Think about what you’re trying to do to me Think (think, think) Let your mind go, let yourself be free
Let’s go back, let’s go back Let’s go way on, way back when I didn’t even know you You couldn’t have been too much more than ten (just a child) I ain’t no psychiatrist, I ain’t no doctor with degrees But, it don’t take too much high IQ’s To see what you’re doing to me
You better think (think) Think about what you’re trying to do to me Yeah, think (think, think) Let your mind go, let yourself be free
There ain’t nothing you could ask I could answer you but I won’t (I won’t) But I was gonna change, but I’m not If you keep doing things I don’t
You better think (think) Think about what you’re trying to do to me Think (think) Let your mind go, let yourself be free
People walking around everyday Playing games, taking scores Trying to make other people lose their minds Ah, be careful you don’t lose yours, oh
Think (think) Think about what you’re trying to do to me, ooh Think (think) Let your mind go, let yourself be free
You need me (need me) And I need you (don’t you know) Without eachother there ain’t nothing people can do, oh
Think about it, baby (What are you trying to do me) Yeah, oh baby, think about it now, yeah (Think about, forgiveness, dream about forgiveness) To the ball, forgiveness Think about it baby To the ball, forgiveness To the ball, forgiveness
My favorite final episode of any TV series. I liked the 1980’s Newhart show but I preferred the seventies series “The Bob Newhart Show” where Bob played psychologist Bob Hartley. This was the most creative ending I have ever seen in a sitcom. I remember watching it and was caught completely off guard. Seeing Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) again in that role was great.
The story didn’t matter as much as the end. No one had a clue this was going to happen in the finale. Bob Newhart had planted a story in the press where the ending was going to be Bob talking to God…played by George Burns or George C. Scott…just to throw people off.
Some shows have let me down with their final episode…this one pays off. In 2013 it was ranked number 1 in Entertainment Weekly’s 20 Best TV Series Finales Ever
“You won’t believe the dream I just had.”
You should really wear more sweaters.
What do you mean, beautiful blonde?
Your- your brothers can speak? Why didn’t they say anything up ’till now? I guess they’ve never been this P.O.’ed before.
Newhart: The Last Newhart
The characters: Dick Loudon / Robert Hartley, Joanna Loudon, Michael Harris, Stephanie Vanderkellen, George Utley, Larry, Darryl #1, Darryl #2, Emily Hartley
A Japanese firm buys up all the land in the town where Newhart is set to build a golf course. Everyone sells out and moves away wealthy… except Dick. Dick will not sell and they build the course around his Inn. Years pass and the old town residents return for a reunion at the Inn. They all regret moving and decide they are all moving back and will live at the Inn. Things are getting very bizarre and Dick, furiously yelling at everyone at how nuts they are steps out onto the Inn’s porch where he is knocked out by a stray golf ball.
We cut to a darkened bedroom. Bob Newhart wakes up and turns on a light. Its Bob Hartley’s bedroom from The Bob Newhart Show. Bob reaches over and shakes the person sleeping next to him awake. It’s Emily, Bob’s wife from The Bob Newhart Show. Newhart, now clearly Dr. Bob Hartley, starts to tell Emily about the strange dream he has just had – where he was an Inn Keeper in Vermont. The entire run of Newhart was nothing but Bob Hartley’s dream
This is a not so subtle song to a wandering boyfriend. I like the retro video and sound.
The Like was an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California. Its final lineup consisted of Z Berg (vocals and guitar), Tennessee Thomas (drums), Laena Geronimo (bass), and Annie Monroe (organ). The band released three extended plays (EPs) and two studio albums.
This song was on their 2010 album Release Me.
Here is a partial interview of Tennessee Thomas the drummer.
First things first: Tell us what musical inspirations are behind the new album? Tennessee: “The vocals were inspired by the Girl Groups of the ’60s [buy the Rhino Girl-group box-set “Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found: One Kiss Can Lead To Another” NOW!]. The music was inspired by the great British Invasion beat-combos [Beatles, Stones, Kinks, The Who] and Motown and the Wrecking Crew. The songwriting was inspired by the Women of the Brill Building: Carole King, Ellie Greenwich, and Lesley Gore and Jackie de Shannon!
Wishing He Was Dead
If I could kick his head in, fickle little boyfriend, I’d be satisfied If I could smack some sense into his senses, I might feel alright
‘Cause I spent the weekend, waiting all alone For that rat to come back home When all the while, he was with somebody new And now that I know, his hours are few
‘Cause I just can’t forgive and forget When I’m through with him He will be wishing he was dead ‘Cause I know what he’s been up to And I know that he’s been untrue When I am through with he He will be wishing he was dead
If I could snap that neck, that broken record trainwreck I might feel okay If he could speak the truth or just say sorry That would be the day
But he made me crazy, thinking I was wrong That he wasn’t cheatin’ all along When I gave him everything that I could give Now he’s gonna wish he’d never lived
‘Cause I just can’t forgive and forget When I’m through with him He will be wishing he was dead ‘Cause I know what he’s been up to And I know that he’s been untrue When I am through with he He will be wishing he was dead
And what can I do And what can I say To make it untrue To take this pain away
‘Cause I just can’t forgive and forget When I’m through with him He will be wishing he was dead ‘Cause I know what he’s been up to And I know that he’s been untrue When I am through with he He will be wishing he was dead
This was written by Motown writers Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, who had written earlier Temptations hits “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” and “Just My Imagination.” Love the bass in this song.
This was a new sound for The Temptations. It was psychedelic soul-funk similar to Sly & the Family Stone, rather than the earlier smooth Soul they were known for. The song peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100 in 1969.
The Temptations all together had 4 number 1 hits, 15 Top Ten hits, and 53 songs in the Billboard 100.
This was the first Motown song to win a Grammy. It won for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance By A Duo Or Group, Vocal Or Instrumental in 1968.
From Songfacts
This was the first Temptations song recorded with new lead singer Dennis Edwards. David Ruffin, their original leader, was fired after he missed a gig. Ruffin became very difficult to work with when Motown refused to bill the group as “David Ruffin and The Temptations,” as they had done with “Diana Ross and The Supremes.”
The lyrics could be interpreted to be about drugs, which would go against The Temptations clean-cut image. They knew Whitfield and Strong didn’t do drugs, however, so they didn’t have a problem with the lyrics.
This was the first Motown song to use a wah-wah pedal. A white guitarist named Dennis Coffey brought it to a Motown workshop and played it for Whitfield while he was arranging this song. Whitfield loved the way it worked and had Coffey join the Motown house band when they recorded the track.
Whitfield used Coffey on many more sessions, including the seminal track “War.” Coffey, who had a hit on his own with “Scorpio,” considers his work on “Cloud Nine” some of his best. “It’s kicking major ass,” he told Songfacts. “That groove was so funky it’s amazing.”
Whitfield and Strong wrote this shortly after the songwriting team of Holland/Dozier/Holland left Motown. Holland/Dozier/Holland wrote many of the hits for the label, so it was a big boost for Motown when Whitfield and Strong stepped up and wrote another hit.
The week after this was released, Motown head Berry Gordy released Marvin Gaye’s version of “Heard It Through The Grapevine,” which until then he refused to release because he did not think it was a hit.
Cloud Nine
Oh ho, ho ho ho, ooh, hoo Childhood part of my life, it wasn’t very pretty You see, I was born and raised in the slums of the city It was a one room shack that slept ten other children besides me We hardly had enough food or room to sleep It was hard times Needed something to ease my troubled mind Listen, my father didn’t know the meaning of work He disrespected mama, and treated us like dirt I left home, seekin’ a job that I never did find Depressed and downhearted I took to cloud nine I’m doin’ fine, up here on cloud nine Listen one more time I’m doin’ fine, up here on cloud nine Folks down there tell me They say, give yourself a chance son, don’t let life pass you by But the world of reality is a rat race where only the strongest survive It’s a dog eat dog world, and that ain’t no lie Listen, it ain’t even safe no more to walk the streets at night I’m doin’ fine, on cloud nine Let me tell you about cloud nine
Cloud nine, you can be what you wanna be (Cloud nine) you ain’t got no responsibility And ev’ry man, ev’ry man is free (Cloud nine) and you’re a million miles from reality I wanna say I love the life I live And I’m gonna live the life I love up here on cloud nine I, I, I, I, I, I I’m riding high On cloud nine, you’re as free as a bird in flight (Cloud nine) there’s no diff’rence between day and night (Cloud nine) it’s a world of love and harmony (Cloud nine) you’re a million miles from reality
Cloud nine, you can be what you wanna be Cloud nine you ain’t got no responsibility Cloud nine, and ev’ry man in this world is free (Cloud nine) and you’re a million miles from reality (Cloud nine) you can be what you wanna be
I had a business trip this past week driving a car for at least 10 hours to and from Atlanta and finished up this audiobook about the legendary manager Peter Grant. I have read one book about Grant by Chris Welch but I like this one better. Both of Grant’s kids were interviewed by author Mark Blake and they gave a perspective and info that has never been shared.
Grant had been a van driver, bouncer, stagehand, wrestler, and Don Arden’s assistant. He was 6’3″ and at one time over 300lbs… He road managed the tough and a little crazy Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, and The Animals before he took over the Yardbirds which then turned into Led Zeppelin.
Grant changed the music business across the board. The promoters would enjoy a 60/40 split and better until Grant. He changed it all to 90/10 split with the artists actually getting the windfall instead of the promoters. His saying was 10 percent of Zeppelin was better than nothing. Now it is an industry-standard. The one other manager that I have read about is Brian Epstein who managed the Beatles. Grant and Epstein were complete opposites except for one thing. There was nothing they would not do for their respective bands. They were both loyal and trustworthy with the band’s finances unlike other band’s managers at the time. That is where the comparison ends.
Grant indeed was loyal to a fault…but he did business by suggestion and intimidation. Pouring water in bootleggers tape recorders, smashing film cameras by fans at concerts, and threating anyone that got in Zeppelin’s way or anyone who might be getting something they shouldn’t. He added to their already dark reputation. He started a Zeppelin label in the mid-seventies called Swan Song and signed Bad Company. He became their co-manager and traveled with them when Zeppelin wasn’t touring. He was even asked by Queen in 1975 if he could manage them…he turned them down because he didn’t have the time.
After Bonham died it became close to impossible to get him on the phone. His drug intake, already heavy, escalated during the early eighties. He did eventually get clean, lose weight, and turn into a living legend and he tried to be an English gentleman.
The book moves at a good pace and it goes over the hype and myths that Grant and Page built for Zeppelin.
If you are a Zeppelin fan or a fan of rock in the seventies it’s a good read. Although Grant could be tough, intimidating, and frankly scary at times…he did have a soft side for his family and of course…Led Zeppelin. I would give it 4.5 stars.
I did learn a new name for a certain drug… “Peruvian Marching Powder”
This song released in 1994 was on the album Teenage Symphonies to God. It has everything you would want out of a power pop song. They got the name of the album from something Brian Wilson said… “I’m writing a teenage symphony to God,”
The Velvet Crush formed in Rhode Island in 1989, although vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck first met and began performing together in Champaign, Illinois. There Menck founded his own small label, Picture Book, on which he and Chastain recorded solo material as well as singles under various group names like the Springfields, Choo Choo Train, the Paint Set, and Bag-O-Shells.
The band broke up in 1996 but re-formed in 1998 and has continued to record, releasing their most recent album in 2004. Vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck are the band’s core members and they share singing and songwriting duties. Their debut album In the Presence of Greatness was produced by Matthew Sweet,
Hold Me Up
Dead on the phone One is too alone Suffer as the days Linger on and on Miles and miles away Hold me up when I’m gone Hold me up when I’m gone
Time down the road Nothing much to show Suffer as the days Linger on and on Miles and miles away You hold me up when I’m gone Hold me up when I’m gone
Touching down and out of sight And being found to be alright
Life on the phone Wasted space at home Suffer as the days Linger on and on Miles and miles away You hold me up when I’m gone Hold me up when I’m gone You hold me up when I’m gone
This song peaked at #29 in 1967 in the Billboard 100. This is the first hit song to use a variation of the term “rock star” in the title. Rock had been around since about 1955, but the term “rock star” didn’t get talked about until the ’70s, when it became a way to describe the most glamorous and intriguing artists.
The song was written by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. It was written asa tongue-in-cheek look on fame and the pop music industry.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers often covered this song. Petty was a huge fan of The Byrds, and also loved a good cautionary rock star tale.
From Songfacts
Many interpreted it as a swipe at the success of manufactured rock bands like The Monkees, but Roger McGuinn has confirmed that he and Chris Hillman were not writing about The Monkees, but instead the whole music business.
Even after the term became ubiquitous, it was rarely used in song titles; the Dutch pop group Champagne hit #83 with “Rock And Roll Star” in 1977, but it wasn’t until 2007, when the rock era had long since ended, that songs with that title in the term began to proliferate. That year brought us:
“Party Like A Rock Star” – Shop Boyz (#2) “Rockstar” – Nickelback (#6) “Do It Just Like A Rockstar” – Freak Nasty (#45) “Rock Star” – Hannah Montana (#81)
It was mostly hip-hop acts that used the term from then on, notably Rihanna with “Rockstar 101” and Post Malone with “Rockstar.”
The recording was dubbed with the sound of screaming girls, taped at a Byrds show in Bournemouth, England during the band’s 1965 UK tour.
South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela contributed the clarion trumpet solo.
So You Want To Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star
So you want to be a rock and roll star? Then listen now to what I say Just get an electric guitar Then take some time
And learn how to play And with your hair swung right And your pants too tight It’s gonna be all right
Then it’s time to go downtown Where the agent man won’t let you down Sell your soul to the company Who are waiting there to sell plastic ware
And in a week or two If you make the charts The girls’ll tear you apart The price you paid for your riches and fame
Was it all a strange game? You’re a little insane The money, the fame, and the public acclaim Don’t forget who you are
You’re a rock and roll star La, la, la, la, la, la, la
This song and Hey Hey What Can I Do are my top two favorite Zeppelin songs.
Jimmy Page wrote this and first recorded it when he was still with The Yardbirds. I’ve read where Yardbirds singer Keith Relf wrote some of the lyrics originally and was given some of the credit but the record company turned it down for release. Later on, Jimmy would use it on the 3rd Zeppelin album with his lyrics.
This was the last Zeppelin song Page wrote without any input from Robert Plant. It’s also the only track on Led Zeppelin III for which Plant didn’t write the lyrics.
At the time the album got mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. Many fans wanted the same heavy albums as the first two. This album had a mix and they perfected it on their next album.
This was used at the end of the 2000 movie Almost Famous in a scene where a bus drives away…I thought the song was brilliant in that scene in the movie.
From Songfacts
Robert Plant would sometimes introduce this at concerts by saying: “This song is for our families and friends and people we’ve been close to. It’s a song of love at its most innocent stages.”
Jimmy Page played a pedal steel guitar on this track. He told Guitar Player magazine in 1977: “On the first LP there’s a pedal steel. I had never played steel before, but I just picked it up. There’s a lot of things I do first time around that I haven’t done before. In fact, I hadn’t touched a pedal steel from the first album to the third. It’s a bit of a pinch really from the things that Chuck Berry did. Nevertheless, it fits. I use pedal steel in ‘Your Time Is Gonna Come.’ It sounds like a slide or something. It’s more out of tune on the first album because I hadn’t got a kit to put it together.”
Why does this song fade to silence a few seconds in? Jimmy Page explained when previewing the song for Melody Maker in 1970: “That’s commonly known as a false start. It was a tempo guide, and it seemed like a good idea to leave it in – at the time. I was trying to keep the tempo down a bit. I’m not so sure now it was a good idea. Everybody asks what the hell is going on.”
Led Zeppelin played this during acoustic sets on their early tours.
This was the second Zeppelin song named after a fruit. “The Lemon Song” was the first.
According to Jimmy Page, this song was dedicated to Jackie DeShannon, who was his girlfriend when he wrote the song. DeShannon, a member of the Songwriting Hall of Fame, had hits as a singer with “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.”
This was recorded on April 4, 1968 at one of the last studio sessions for The Yardbirds, under the title “Knowing That I’m Losing You.” This first version performed by The Yardbirds, featured music almost identical to “Tangerine” by Led Zeppelin, but with different lyrics (vocals by Keith Relf), and was never officially released. It was supposed to be included on the Cumular Limit compilation (which was released in 2000), together with other materials from the same sessions, but interestingly enough, Page vetoed the release of the song. Since then, the version from The Yardbirds has leaked onto the internet, and Page has been accused of ripping off a Yardbirds composition, simply changing the majority of the lyrics (probably initially written by Keith Relf) in order to avoid any problem with the other members of his previous group. This would explain his veto against the release of the original song. It is not easy to ascertain the above, as the remaining members of The Yardbirds haven’t spoken about the subject so far.
Tangerine
Measuring a summer’s day, I only finds it slips away to grey The hours, they bring me pain
Tangerine, Tangerine, living reflection from a dream I was her love, she was my queen, and now a thousand years between
Thinking how it used to be Does she still remember times like these? To think of us again? And I do
Tangerine, Tangerine, living reflection from a dream I was her love, she was my queen, and now a thousand years between
I bought Teaser and the Firecat because I enjoyed Steven’s album Tea For The Tillerman so much. I wasn’t disappointed…this was the first song I connected with on the album.
The song peaked at #30 in the Billboard 100 in 1971. The album peaked at #2 the same year.
Cat Stevens on the song: ” “I was on a holiday in Spain. I was a kid from the West End (of London) – bright lights, et cetera. I never got to see the moon on its own in the dark, there were always streetlamps. So there I was on the edge of the water on a beautiful night with the moon glowing, and suddenly I looked down and saw my shadow. I thought that was so cool, I’d never seen it before.”
He wrote part of the story of an animated short film that featured this very song. It was shown at the Fantastic Animation Festival in 1977. It begins with a still of the two characters from the “Teaser and the Firecat” album cover who then come to life.
From Songfacts
Stevens wrote this about finding hope in any situation. Be present and joyful. See life as it is, right now, and don’t compare it to others’ lives, or other times in your life. Every moment in life is rich and unique; whether we are aware of it or not, we are always leaping and hopping on a moonshadow – the inescapable present moment. If we are wrapped up in our whirlpools of worry and concern about what could be, or what has been, we are missing the richness of life as it is.
In the bridge of the song, Stevens seems to be speaking of faith, indicating clearly that, although he is experiencing this ecstasy in the present, despite all the losses and suffering of existence, it is the light that has found him, and not the other way around. He is surrendering to a power greater than himself – the “faithful light.”
Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, considers this his favorite of his old songs. It’s one of the songs that convinced him to release a Greatest Hits record of his work as Cat Stevens. He felt its uplifting message could help people.
Director John Landis wanted to use this song in his 1981 horror comedy An American Werewolf in London. The film featured a number of songs with “moon” in the title (“Moon Dance”, “Blue Moon”, etc.) but Stevens, who had recently converted to Islam, refused permission because he did not like the subject matter of the film.
Stevens has in recent years called this song the “Optimist’s anthem.”
This song was used for a “Teaser And The Firecat” animation. The cover of the album came to life as the boy and cat ride on the moon while this song plays. It can be found on the Cat Stevens – Majikat (Earth Tour 1976) DVD.
Artists to record this song include LaBelle, Roger Whittaker and Mandy Moore.
Moonshadow
Oh, I’m bein’ followed by a moonshadow, moon shadow, moonshadow Leapin and hoppin’ on a moonshadow, moonshadow, moonshadow
And if I ever lose my hands, lose my plough, lose my land Oh if I ever lose my hands, Oh if I won’t have to work no more
And if I ever lose my eyes, if my colours all run dry Yes if I ever lose my eyes, Oh if I won’t have to cry no more
Oh, I’m bein’ followed by a moonshadow, moon shadow, moonshadow Leapin and hoppin’ on a moonshadow, moonshadow, moonshadow
And if I ever lose my legs, I won’t moan, and I won’t beg Yes if I ever lose my legs, Oh if I won’t have to walk no more
And if I ever lose my mouth, all my teeth, north and south Yes if I ever lose my mouth, Oh if I won’t have to talk
Did it take long to find me? I asked the faithful light Did it take long to find me? And are you gonna stay the night
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