PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Bruce Springsteen – Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Well, tell him this is his last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance, Because a record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance… That is a liberating lyric and sold the song to me.

After appearing on the covers of Time and Newsweek in October 1975, Springsteen sometimes changed the words to “Tell your papa I ain’t no freak, ’cause I got my picture on the cover of Time and Newsweek” when he performed it live.

I’ve seen Bruce do this song live and it is special. It’s one of the best live songs I’ve ever heard along with The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again. The song is exciting as he pleads with Rosie and calls out the nicknames of their friends.

The song was his second album The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle peaked at #59 in the Billboard Album charts in 1975.

From Songfacts

This is Springsteen’s musical autobiography. After touring relentlessly around the Jersey Shore, he finally signed a record deal and got some money. Springsteen called the song, “A kiss-off to everybody who counted you out, put you down, or decided you weren’t good enough.”

Springsteen considers this the best love song he ever wrote, which he would often declare before performing it. It’s proof that a love song does not have to be slow or sappy.

This is one of Springsteen’s most popular live songs, and a dependable capper. It was the last song before the encore at most of his shows from 1973-1984; in 1999 during his E Street Band reunion tour, Springsteen played 15 sold out shows at the Continental Airlines Arena (later known as the Izod centre) and he used this song to close out the final show of the stand. This became very popular in England when British TV aired a clip of Springsteen performing this at a concert in Phoenix in 1978.

The live film clip of this is the closest thing Springsteen had to a music video until he started making them in 1984, starting with “Dancing In The Dark.”

The first time Springsteen performed this song was at a concert at Joe’s Place in Boston on January 5, 1974.

This was one of the first songs to showcase Clarence Clemons on sax. With his bright suits and imposing size, he quickly became the most popular member of the E Street Band.

The audience always went crazy when Springsteen sang: “The record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance.” He got a $25,000 advance from Columbia Records when he signed his first record deal, proving to his father and others who doubted him that he did have a real job.

Springsteen never liked his nickname “The Boss,” and sometimes sang: “You can call me Lieutenant, Rosie, but don’t ever call me Boss.”

Springsteen wrote this to be a live show-stopper. He was inspired by the soul revues in the ’60s where the artists would pour all their energy into their final song, and just when it seemed to be over, keep playing. He knew his audience would remember this when he played it.

According to Diane Lozito, who was Springsteen’s girlfriend around the time he was writing this song, he got the title from the name of her grandmother, Rose (“Rose Lozito” “Rosalita”).

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Spread out now Rosie, doctor come cut loose her mama’s reins
You know playin’ blind man’s bluff is a little baby’s game
You pick up little dynamite, I’ll pick up little gun
And together we’re gonna go out tonight and make that highway run
You don’t have to call me lieutenant, Rosie, and I don’t want to be your son
The only lover I’m ever gonna need’s your soft, sweet, little girl’s tongue
And Rosie, you’re the one

Dynamite’s in the belfry, baby, playin’ with the bats
Little gun’s downtown in front of Woolworth’s tryin’ out his attitude on all the cats
Papa’s on the corner, waitin’ for the bus
Mama, she’s home in the window, waitin’ up for us
She’ll be there in that chair when they wrestle her upstairs, ’cause you know we ain’t gonna come
I ain’t here on business, baby, I’m only here for fun
And Rosie, you’re the one

Rosalita, jump a little higher
Senorita, come sit by my fire
I just want to be your lover, ain’t no liar
Rosalita, you’re my stone desire

Jack the Rabbit and Weak Knee Willie, don’t you know they’re gonna be there
Ah Sloppy Sue and Big Bone Billy, they’ll be coming up for air
We’re gonna play some pool, skip some school
Act real cool, stay out all night, it’s gonna feel alright
So Rosie, come out tonight, little baby, come out tonight
Windows are for cheaters, chimneys for the poor
Oh, closets are for hangers, winners use the door
So use it, Rosie, that’s what it’s there for

Rosalita, jump a little higher
Senorita, come sit by my fire
I just want to be your lover, ain’t no liar
Rosalita, you’re my stone desire, alright

Now, I know your mama, she don’t like me, ’cause I play in a rock and roll band
And I know your daddy, he don’t dig me, but he never did understand
Your papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room, I’m comin’ to lend a hand
I’m comin’ to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man
Someday we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny
But now you’re sad, your mama’s mad
And your papa says he knows that I don’t have any money
Oh, your papa says he knows that I don’t have any money
Oh, so your daddy says he knows that I don’t have any money
Well, tell him this is his last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance
Because a record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance

And my tires were slashed and I almost crashed, but the Lord had mercy
And my machine, she’s a dud, out stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Well, hold on tight, stay up all night, ’cause Rosie, I’m comin’ on strong
By the time we meet the morning light, I will hold you in my arms
I know a pretty little place in Southern California, down San Diego way
There’s a little cafe, where they play guitars all night and all day
You can hear them in the back room strummin’
So hold tight, baby, ’cause don’t you know daddy’s comin’
Everybody sing

Rosalita, jump a little higher
Senorita, come sit by my fire
I just want to be your lover, ain’t no liar
Rosalita, you’re my stone desire

Hey hey hey hey
Hey hey hey hey
Hey hey hey hey
Hey hey hey hey

John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over

Yesterday I posted a Wings song so today I’ll even it up with John.

Great song but every time I hear it…it’s December 1980 again and I’m watching news stories about Lennon’s death. Double Fantasy was a strong comeback album for John…a little more Yoko than I would have liked but a good album all the same.

When it was released Ringo had said John Lennon sounds like Elvis at the beginning of this song…then he said no…he doesn’t sound like Elvis…he is Elvis. John Lennon himself said: “All through the taping of ‘Starting Over,’ I was calling what I was doing ‘Elvis Orbison.’ It’s like Dylan doing Nashville Skyline, except I don’t have any Nashville, being from Liverpool. So I go back to the records I know – Elvis and Roy Orbison and Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis.”

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the UK, #1 in Canada and #2 in New Zealand.

From Songfacts

This song embodied the sense of renewal in Lennon and Yoko’s professional and personal lives during the writing and recording of Double Fantasy. “It was kinda obvious what ‘Starting Over’ was about,” said journalist David Sheff, who did the last major interview with Lennon, to Mojo. “He’d been untrusting of Yoko, she’d been untrusting of him, all that kind of stuff. But in that one song was this incredible optimism and joy.”

This was released in the United States October 27, 1980, which was the same day Mark David Chapman bought the gun he would use to kill Lennon on December 8. “Starting Over,” which came out in the UK on October 24, was Lennon’s first release since 1975. The Double Fantasy album was issued on November 17.

Lennon wrote this while vacationing in Bermuda earlier in the year.

Despite being the first single in five years from one of the most famous musicians on the planet, this song took a while to catch on. In America, it entered the Hot 100 on November 1, 1980 at #38 and made a slow but steady climb up the chart. Here’s the progression:

Nov. 8: #32
Nov. 15: #10
Nov. 22: #9
Nov. 29: #8
Dec. 6: #6
Dec. 13: #4
Dec. 20: #3
Dec. 27: #1

When Lennon was killed, fans quickly scooped up the single along with lots of other Lennon material, but it took a few weeks for the chart to reflect these sales. When it hit #1, it stayed there for five weeks.

This was recorded at The Power Station in New York City. Musicians included Tony Levin on bass, Earl Slick on guitar, and Andy Newmark on drums.

Double Fantasy was released on David Geffen’s record label, DGC. Many labels were competing for the album, but Geffen impressed Lennon when he wrote directly to Yoko and agreed to release it without hearing it first. All of Lennon’s previous albums were released on The Beatles’ label, Apple.

John and Yoko were considering doing a tour when this was climbing the charts.

This was one of the last songs recorded for the album. Lennon was not sure he should record it, but his producer and session musicians convinced him it would be a hit. It became the first single from Double Fantasy.

The day this was released, Yoko Ono hired a skywriter to write “Happy Birthday” above New York.

The copy of Double Fantasy that Mark Chapman asked Lennon to autograph might be the most valuable record in the world. The record, which figured in the court case, not only has Lennon’s autograph but also boasts Chapman’s fingerprints on the cover. In 2003, the record was sold for £525,000 but its value has since rocketed.

(Just Like) Starting Over

Our life together
Is so precious together
We have grown, we have grown
Although our love is still special
Let’s take a chance and fly away
Somewhere alone

It’s been too long since we took the time
No-one’s to blame, I know time flies so quickly
But when I see you darling
It’s like we both are falling in love again
It’ll be just like starting over
Starting over

Everyday we used to make it love
Why can’t we be making love nice and easy
It’s time to spread our wings and fly
Don’t let another day go by my love
It’ll be just like starting over
Starting over

Why don’t we take off alone
Take a trip somewhere far, far away
We’ll be together all alone again
Like we used to in the early days
Well, well, well darling

Our life together
Is so precious together
We have grown, we have grown
Although our love still is special
Let’s take a chance and fly away somewhere

(Over and over and over)

Starting over (over and over and over)

(And over and over and over)

(Over and over and over)

(And over and over and over)

Super Friends

This was a must on Saturday morning. I wouldn’t find out till later but…Ted Knight did some of the dialogue such as “Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice…” I think the first year (16 episodes) was the best. Altogether the show was on and off during its 13-year run and they ended up with 109 episodes.

Super Friends was produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1973. The show brought all the DC superheroes together and it told their stories. The first season was comprised of only 16 episodes, which were re-run through August 1974. The show was then canceled. Presumably from less than anticipated ratings.

The success of the Wonder Woman TV show in 1975, and probably the early development interest in the Superman movie led ABC to reconsider Super Friends. The original 16 episodes were re-run beginning in early 1976, while production began on a new series. To help promote the new series, DC also began publishing a Super Friends comic. While the stories there were independent of the show, they followed much the same style of the original series.

Beginning in mid-1977, E. Nelson Bridwell, writer of the Super Friends comic, learned of some of the cast changes (notably, the replacement of Wendy and Marvin with Zan and Jayna) after working on the book for several months and wrote the change into his stories, so by the time the new season of the show began in September 1977, the comic had already made the transition to the new characters.

The comic only survived until mid-1981, while the show continued into 1982. However, the show was only re-runs for the 1982-83 season and was canceled outright in the fall of ’83. The show was brought back again in 1984 and ran until September 1986.

The below link will give much more history to the show.

http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2016/12/on-history-super-friends.html

Paul McCartney & Wings – Medicine Jar

This was the first song recorded by Paul McCartney’s group Wings to feature another member on all lead vocals. It is an anti-drug song sung by lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (ex-Thunderclap Newman). Colin Allen, who was the drummer in the band Stone The Crows with McCulloch, wrote the lyrics, and McCulloch wrote the music.

Jimmy McCulloch was a guitar prodigy… He was playing in a band called The Jaygars when he was 11. He was in the band One In A Million supporting The Who when he was 14 and in the band Thunderclap Newman in 1969 when he was 16. He went on to play with John Mayall (Mayall knew how to pick guitar players) and Stone the Crows… He then went to play with Paul McCartney and Wings in 1974. He gave Paul’s songs an edge and I wish he would have stayed in Wings longer.

He left Wings to play with the reformed Small Faces in 1977. In 1979 he sadly died of heart failure due to morphine and alcohol poisoning. You have to wonder how much more Jimmy could have achieved if he would have lived.

The version I’m most familiar with is the live version from Wings Over America. The song was originally on the Venus and Mars album. Venus and Mars peaked at #1 in 1975 in the Billboard Album Charts and Wings Over America peaked at #1 in 1977.

Medicine Jar

What’s wrong with you?
I wish, I knew
You say, time will tell
I hope that’s true

There’s more to life than blues and reds
I say, I know how you feel
Now your friends are dead

Dead on your feet, you won’t get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar

Now don’t give up
Whatever you do
You say, time will tell
I hope that’s true

If you go down and lose your head
I say, I know how you feel
Now your friends are dead

Dead on your feet, you won’t get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar

I said, “Dead on your feet, you won’t get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar”

Check it

What can I do?
I can’t let go
You say, time will heal
But very slow

So don’t forget the things you said
I say, I know how you feel
Now your friends are dead

Dead on your feet, you won’t get far
If you keep on sticking your hand
In the medicine jar

Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar

Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar
Medicine jar

Classic TV Episodes: Taxi – Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey

One of the funniest scenes in any sitcom is when Reverend Jim is taking his driver’s test. Taxi is smartly written and they use the ensemble much like The Mary Tyler Moore Show did. Reverend Jim played by Christopher Lloyd is my favorite character and one of my favorite characters of all time.

“Have you ever experienced loss of consciousness, hallucinations, dizzy spells, convulsive disorders, fainting, or periods of loss of memory?” “Hasn’t Everyone?”

“Psst. What does a yellow light mean?”

“Slow Down”

“OK. Wwwwhhhaaaat dooeesss aaaa yyyeeeellllowwww lllliiiight mmmmeeeannn?” “SLOW DOWN”

TAXI – Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey

This is my favorite Taxi episode of all time. Jim is a child of the drug culture of the sixties and still feeling the effects. Taking something as simple as a drivers test and turning it into this, Characters: Alex Reiger, Elaine DeNardo, Latka Gravas, Louie De Palmer, Bobby Wheeler, Tony Banta, Reverend Jim Ignatowski, Tommy Jeffries, Jeff Bennett,

The cab drivers are hanging out at Mario’s when Christopher Lloyd as Reverend Jim Ignatowski wanders in. They recognize him but he doesn’t recognize them, even though they remind him he performed a wedding for Latka 8 months earlier. But when Latka started talking to him in his gibberish language, Jim remembered.

The cabbies want to get Jim to have a job, make something of himself, but what can he do with no skills and no education? Drive a cab. At first Louie will not hear of it, until Rev Jim slips a tranquilizer into Louie’s coffee. Louie becomes mellow, starts singing show tunes in the garage, and gladly accepts Jim.

The big hurdle, of course, was to have Jim pass the driver’s test. They go down to the DPS office with him, help him fill out forms, his name, his weight, height, and color of eyes. Finally Bobby says, “OK, Jim, now you are ready to take the test.” “What?”, says Jim, “I thought that was the test.”

He then takes the test and the below is what transpires…You can see Tony Danza and Marilu Henner trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.

The complete driving test scene

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0718525/

Kinks – Victoria

I asked my son Friday night…What are you listening to? He told me Victoria by the Kinks… so Victoria it will be.

Victoria was written for Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire), a soundtrack to a British TV play on which Ray Davies collaborated with dramatist and screenwriter Julian Mitchell. The program was canceled at the last minute when the producer was unable to secure financial backing and has never been produced. However, Davies’ music was still recorded by the Kinks and released as a concept album.

The album peaked at #105 in the Billboard 100 in 1969. The song Victoria peaked at #62 in the Billboard 100 and #33 in the UK in 1970. It was the band’s first release to reach the chart since their Top 20 hit “Sunny Afternoon” in 1966.

From Songfacts

“Victoria” is a typically satirical Ray Davies song, containing many of his themes from his late ’60s material such as English nostalgia and the little people. It finds him fusing the image of the historical 19th Century UK queen and the grim realities of her downtrodden subjects’ life during her reign with the British rule of its Empire, which had reached its peak in Queen Victoria’s reign.

Musically, “Victoria” finds Ray Davies balancing the nostalgic music hall and rock sides of his songwriting. While the track is centered on a thumping rock electric blues guitar riff, the triumphant “Land of hope and gloria” bridge enhances the remainder of the song.

Commercially, “Victoria” represented a relative return of form for The Kinks. In the US, the song was chosen as the lead single from Arthur. It peaked at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Victoria” was released as the album’s third single in the UK, and was the only one to chart, reaching #33.

A cover version by The Fall was the Manchester band’s second UK Top 40 hit in 1988 peaking at #35.

Victoria

Long ago life was clean
Sex was bad, called obscene
And the rich were so mean
Stately homes for the Lords
Croquet lawns, village greens
Victoria was my queen
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, ‘toria

I was born, lucky me
In a land that I love
Though I am poor, I am free
When I grow I shall fight
For this land I shall die
Let her sun never set
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, ‘toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, ‘toria

Land of hope and gloria
Land of my Victoria
Land of hope and gloria
Land of my Victoria
Victoria, ‘toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, ‘toria

Canada to India
Australia to Cornwall
Singapore to Hong Kong
From the West to the East
From to the rich to the poor
Victoria loved them all

Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, ‘toria
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria

When Giants Walked The Earth…. by Mick Wall

I read this book about Led Zeppelin over a year ago…and recently while waiting for a Beatles book to get released I went through it again. The book is much better than The Hammer Of The Gods released in the 80s. There are many things in this book that I didn’t know. Overall I liked it…but..

Mick Wall would do these interludes that are supposed to be some kind of interior monologue by the protagonists (but in second person). The book is well researched and he would be going along great and then all of a sudden he would try to get into each member’s head and have a monologue (in cockney many times) on what they were thinking at that moment…I don’t care how much you researched someone you do not know what they were thinking at that time.

He would sprinkle these monologues out so it’s not like they are the entire book but it was totally unnecessary to me…and it was annoying.

Here is a small example of a Jimmy Page interlude…and “G” is Led Zeppelin’s manager Peter Grant. Now it’s down to just the two of you, Jimmy and G. And of course, the name, for what it’s still worth: the Yardbirds. Or maybe the New Yardbirds – G’s suggestion. That way, at least, it won’t be like starting again from scratch, he says. Not entirely, anyway. And you can still get paying gigs. Keep the wolf from the door until you can come up with something better. That’s the plan anyway, this long, rainy summer of 1968…

From 1968 to 1980 Led Zeppelin were together and left a giant legacy and myth behind. The book is solid and I found out many things I didn’t already know. I am a fan of some of their music…the less indulgent side of them anyway. I’m not the person who wants to listen to a 25-minute live version of No Quarter.

The author does go in-depth about Page’s infatuation of black magic and the dark image of the band. He also goes into the songwriting and about how they got the sound they did…so he covers the personalities, the music, and events that happened.

Things were going great for them until 1975 when Robert Plant was in a car wreck with his family and from that point on everything started to go downhill. This book covers everything you would want and it covers what happened after John Bonham died. They did think about regrouping many times through the decades but it was always Robert who had doubts…and after what he went through I cannot blame him. His wife was almost killed in the car wreck and Plant’s leg was badly hurt…then when he recovered his young son (Karac) died of a stomach virus and 3 years later Bonham died.

After Zeppelin unlike Plant and Jones, Jimmy Page didn’t adjust as well to life without the band. The book was written in 2009 and he does cover the O2 Arena reunion.

If you are a Led Zeppelin fan or a fan of classic rock through the seventies…this is a good book. Out of five stars, I would give it 3.75 out of 5 for the information it gives…without the monologues, I would consider a 5.

Ride – Twisterella —-Powerpop Friday

This is a fantastic sounding song by a band named Ride.

Ride were formed in 1988 in Oxford by school friends Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, before recruiting drummer Loz Colbert at the Oxfordshire School of Art & Design and local bassist Steve Queralt.

They broke up in 1996 because of differences between Andy Bell and Mark Gardener. Gardener wanted to go forward in a more dance style of music…Bell didn’t but both wanted to go more contemporary style. Bassist Steve Queralt said: The band had two future directions open to them, and they chose the wrong option.

They reunited in 2014 and released their first album in 21 years in 2017.

Twisterella peaked at #12 in 1992 in the Billboard Alternative Charts and #36 in the UK. The song was on the Really Going Back album and it peaked at #5 in the UK in 1992.

The band had 1 top ten song, 6 top 40, and 10 top 75 songs in the UK charts.

Twisterella

Any minute you will feel the chemistry
Vibrations in the brain can’t ever be explained
Slip away and out of sight, feel the magnet of a night
The circus that you see is where you have to be

If I’ve seen it all before why’s this bus taking me back again?
If I don’t need anymore why’s this bus taking me back again?

Feel the weight letting go, feel more lightness than you’ve ever known
You can’t see when light’s so strong, you can’t see when light is gone

If I’ve seen it all before why’s this bus taking me back again?
If I don’t need anymore why’s this bus taking me back again?

“Look at Twisterella, she hasn’t got a fella”

Badfinger – Take It All —-Powerpop Friday

This song is an example that Badfinger was more than just their hits. Pete Ham’s ability to write memorable pop songs never wavered. Take It All was inspired by the band’s work on George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh project. Some of the band members were a little miffed on why Pete Ham got to play with George Harrison in the spotlight and they didn’t.

Take It All was on the album “Straight Up” This is my favorite album by them. It has Baby Blue and Day after Day but a host of other good songs. Money, Name of the Game, Suitcase, Sweet Tuesday Morning, and I’d Die Babe.

The album peaked at #31 in 1972 in the Billboard 100.

Take It All

In a way the sun has shone on me
Makes it easy to make it hard
Take an inch, take a yard, take it all
I don’t need it at all

Any day the sun could shine on you
Makes it silly to make it bad
Take it good, take it glad, take it all

Don’t you know there’s a stronger thing
Keeping us together
Don’t you know there’s a song to sing
Sing on, let the feeling take you high

Any day the sun will shine on you
Makes it silly to take it bad
Make it good, take it glad, take it all
I don’t need it at all, I don’t want it at all
No, no, no

The Hooters – And We Danced —-Powerpop Friday

I remember hearing this song in the mid eighties and thinking that they were different than the usual bands at the time. Many bands from that era had an inflection in their voice that was down…monotoned…The Hooters were up…actually happy sounding.

The song peaked at #26 in the Billboard 100 in 1985.

Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman are the founding members of The Hooters. They played most of the instruments on Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 debut album She’s So Unusual, and Hyman co-wrote “Time After Time.” The same year, The Hooters released their first album on an independent label and grew their following in the Philadelphia area. When Lauper’s album became a huge hit, it got the attention of Columbia Records, who signed the band.

From Songfacts

Rob Hyman told us: “Eric and I would take road trips to do writing. We would get away and especially since the band was playing so much, we would just kind of hole ourselves up. In this instance, we went into the Poconos outside the Philadelphia region and we rented a couple little cabins, brought some recording gear, set up a 4-track studio and threw around a lot of ideas. As is often the case for me, I think we did 10 or 12 tracks, and the last thing we did, probably on our last day, was write the chorus to ‘And We Danced.’ It had a slightly different feel, but materially it was there. That was the strongest bit we brought back from that writing trip. We had that flash – this is something really great, we’ll finish it another day. Had we just stayed with it that moment more, maybe we would have done it, but it ended up taking a lot more time. We threw around a lot of verses and rhythmic ideas. It was a different feel, and then it got into more of a rock and roll feel.”

The Hooters played this at Live Aid in 1985. They were the first band to perform on the Philadelphia stage, going on after an introduction ceremony that included Joan Baez singing “Amazing Grace.” Eric Bazilian told us how they got there: “That was a stroke of genius on the part of our manager, Steve Mountain. He managed to finagle that with Bill Graham and Larry Magid to get us on that stage. Our first record was just coming out, and it was the perfect time. That was our moment in destiny.”

The distinctive sound that leads off the song and plays throughout is a Melodica, a combination keyboard/harmonica instrument they played. The band called it a “Hooter,” which is where they got their name.

Regarding the images he came up with in the lyrics, Hyman told us: “The Bop Baby on a hard day’s night, the union hall – we just felt it was kind of a basic, workingman’s rock and roll record. In a sense, a bit of territory that maybe Springsteen or somebody would cover, a little of that nostalgia, a little of the no-frills kind of straight ahead lyrics. I think the ornamentation and the embellishments that the band did with the melodica and the mandolins and the sounds that we were dabbling in put a different flavor to it. But at its heart, it’s a simple rock and roll song that evokes some of those same feelings that Chuck Berry or The Beatles had. I think those images were just straight-ahead pictures for us.”

In addition to their work with The Hooters, Hyman and Bazilian have written and produced songs for many artists, including Joan Osborne, Ricky Martin, Dar Williams and Jon Bon Jovi. Bazilian wrote Osborne’s hit “One Of Us.” (Thanks to Rob and Eric for speaking with us. To learn more, check out their websites at http://www.robhyman.com and http://www.ericbazilian.com.)

And We Danced

She was a be-bop baby on a hard day’s night.
She was hangin’ on Johnny , he was holdin’ on tight
I could feel her coming from a mile away.
There was no use talking, there was nothing to say
When the band began to play and play.

And we danced like a wave on the ocean, romanced
We were liars in love and we danced
Swept away for a moment by chance
And we danced and danced danced.

I met my be-bop baby at the Union Hall
She cold dance all night and shake the paint off the walls.
But when I saw her smile across a crowded room
Well I knew we’d have to leave the party soon
As the band began to play out of tune.

And we danced like a wave on the ocean, romanced
We were liars in love and we danced
Swept away for a moment by chance
And we danced and danced danced.

The endless beat she’s walking my way
Hear the music fade when she says
Are we getting too close, do we dare to get closer
The room is spinning as she whispers my name

And we danced like wave on the ocean, romanced
We were liars in love and we danced
Swept away for a moment by chance
And we danced, danced, danced.

Alice Cooper – Welcome To My Nightmare

My last Halloween post…hope you enjoy the day and especially the night!

This song peaked at #45 in the Billboard 100 in 1975. The album of the same name peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1975. Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier) parted with The Alice Cooper Band to make this album solo.

When Alice Cooper released Welcome To My Nightmare in February 1975, he was already one of the most famous rock celebrities on the planet. Between 1971 and 1974, the Alice Cooper Band, which consisted of Cooper himself (born Vincent Furnier), guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith, had notched up an impressive run hit albums.

Alice Cooper: “People would come and see us play and just assume that as I was the lead singer then I must be Alice Cooper,” he explains today. “But originally the band was simply called the Alice Cooper Band. But because everyone thought I was Alice I decided it would be easier and better for the band to simply start calling myself Alice. Of course, later, when I would go solo for Welcome To My Nightmare, I’d really become Alice Cooper.”

From Songfacts

This was the centerpiece to Cooper’s 1975 tour, which opened with this song and set the stage for the macabre scenes that followed. Cooper approached the song as a production number, and that’s how he performed it. For the tour, the musicians were hidden in the back of the stage while Alice performed with various dancers and props. He would emerge in a haze of smoke, singing this song on a bed; the rest of the show was based on the idea that we were seeing his nightmares brought to life.

Any meaning in the song is up to the listener, as Alice explained, “I project images to the audience and they make up their own story to fit it. I have no message at all. I never did.”

In 1975, Cooper turned the stage show built around this song into a concert movie called Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare, and a TV movie called The Nightmare. The famous horror movie actor Vincent Price played “The Spirit of the Nightmare,” narrating the show. The movie was a precursor to long-form music videos, as it was a theatrical production set to music. The most famous long-form video arrived in 1984 with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” also featuring narration from Vincent Price.

Welcome To My Nightmare

Welcome to my nightmare
I think you’re gonna like it
I think you’re gonna feel like you belong
A nocturnal vacation
Unnecessary sedation
You want to feel at home ’cause you belong

Welcome to my nightmare
Welcome to my breakdown
I hope I didn’t scare you
That’s just the way we are when we come down
We sweat and laugh and scream here
‘Cause life is just a dream here
You know inside you feel right at home here

Welcome to my breakdown
Whoa
You’re welcome to my nightmare
Yeah

Welcome to my nightmare
I think you’re gonna like it
I think you’re gonna feel that you belong
We sweat laugh and scream here
‘Cause life is just a dream here
You know inside you feel right at home here
Welcome to my nightmare
Welcome to my breakdown
Yeah

Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers – Monster Mash

Happy Halloween Everyone…

This song was banned by the BBC from their airwaves in 1962 for “being too morbid.”…Really BBC?

Elvis Presley had no sense of humor about this song…he was not a fan and called it the dumbest record he ever heard… this coming from the man who sang Clambake…but I still love Elvis.

The song charted more than once…It peaked at #1 in 1962 in the Billboard 100 and #3 in the UK. It peaked at #91 in 1970 in the Billboard 100. It also charted at #10 in the Billboard 100 in 1973…and again in the UK in 2007 at #60.

Pickett and Lenny Capizzi wrote this song in about two hours. They recorded a demo to tape and brought it to Gary Paxton, lead singer of The Hollywood Argyles (“Alley Oop”). They recorded the song with Paxton and studio musicians Leon Russell, Johnny McCrae and Rickie Page, who were credited as “The Cryptkickers.” Paxton, who is credited as the song’s producer, also added the sound effects.

Paxton put the song out on his Garpax label and distributed it to radio stations around Southern California. The response was overwhelming, as the stations saw their phone banks lighting up with requests for the song. A deal was struck with London Records, who distributed the song worldwide.

From Songfacts

Pickett was a nightclub entertainer who performed with a group called The Cordials. He wrote “Monster Mash” with his friend Lenny Capizzi. They were both big horror movie fans, and Pickett would do an impression of the actor Boris Karloff (known for playing the monster in many Frankenstein movies) during the speaking part of “Little Darlin'” that went over well in his act. As Capizzi played the piano, he and Pickett put together this song with his Karloff impression in mind. They came up with the plot about Frankenstein’s monster starting a dance craze.

The lyrics are based on the story of Frankenstein, which started as a 1818 novel by Mary Shelley and evolved into various film adaptations. In the story, Dr. Frankenstein creates a creature who comes to life, but what he created is a monster. The book is sober tale of regret and unexpected consequences, but the story is often played for comedy. In this song, the monster throws a big dance party, which is enthusiastically attended by many other creatures of lore (Dracula, Wolfman).

Pickett is imitating Boris Karloff, but is narrating the story as Dr. Frankenstein, not the monster that Karloff famously portrayed.

This is a dance song based on the “Mashed Potato” dance craze, which is where The “Mash” in the title comes in.

The original title was “Monster Twist” in an attempt to jump on the Twist craze, but that fad was fading so they tried calling it “Monster Mashed Potato,” then settled on “Monster Mash.”

This being 1962, many of the sound effects had to be created in the studio. The sound effects on the song were done as follows:

The coffin being opened was made by pulling a rusty nail out of a lump of wood with the claw of a hammer.

The bubbling sounds came from blowing through a straw in a glass of water.

The sound of the chains was made by dropping chains onto plywood planks on the record studio floor.

This is arguably the most successful novelty song of all time. Bobby Pickett accomplished the rare feat of reaching the top 100 music chart three times with the same song. On October 20, 1962, the original release hit #1 in the US. The song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 on August 29, 1970 peaking at #91, and then again on May 5, 1972 when it went all the way to #10. The song has sold over four million copies and continues to be a Halloween favorite.

The song made little impact in the UK until it was re-released there in 1973 and reached #3 on the Singles chart. By this time Boris Pickett was a 32-year-old part time New York cab driver.

Pickett quickly followed up this song with “Monsters’ Holiday,” where the monsters throw a mischievous Christmas party. The song, which was written by Paul Harrison of “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” fame, did well, reaching #30 and giving Pickett back-to-back holiday hits in 1962. The following year, he reached #88 with “Graduation Day,” his first entry that wasn’t a novelty song. “The Monster Swim” reached #135 in 1964, which was his last chart appearance until the “Monster Mash” re-issues.

This has been used in several TV shows, including Cheers, The Simpsons and Happy Days. It’s also been used in the movies Halloween III and Sweetheart’s Dance. In 1995, Monster Mash: The Movie was released, starring Pickett as Dr. Frankenstein.

Boris Karloff loved this song. He performed it on a special Halloween edition of the variety show Shindig! on October 30, 1965.

Artists who have covered this song include The Beach Boys (on their first live album – Beach Boys Concert, released in 1964), Misfits, Mannheim Steamroller and Sha-Na-Na. >>

Pickett was diagnosed with leukemia in 2000 and died in 2007. In his autobiography Monster Mash: Half Dead In Hollywood, he wrote: “Gone is that conditioned, morbid fear of physical death. I feel that psychological death is much more grueling and painful. Besides, to quote the great Bela Lugosi as Dracula, ‘To be dead… to be really dead… that must be glorious!’ Poor guy. A vampire’s half-life must really suck.”

Around Halloween in 2004, Pickett re-recorded the song as “Monster Slash.” The new version was a protest against President George W. Bush and his support for logging, mining and other environmental policies Pickett felt were harmful. Sample lyric: “The guests included big timber, big oil, mining magnates and their sons.”

Darlene Love, who sang the holiday favorite “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” claims that she was one of the backing singers on this track, which is plausible as she was one of the most popular session singers at the time. Love occasionally performed the song at Bette Midler’s Halloween shows.

The third release for this song in 1973 was a #1 hit in Australia, spending over 20 weeks on the Top 40 charts.

When a novelty song becomes a surprise hit, a hastily produced album typically follows (see: “Pac-Man Fever”). In this case, the album was called The Original Monster Mash and included songs like “Blood Bank Blues,” “Graveyard Shift,” “Transylvania Twist,” “Me And My Mummy” and “Irresistible Igor.”

Pickett extended the “Monster” brand throughout his career. In 1970, he released “Monster Man Jam,” 1973 saw “Monster Concert,” and in 1984 he released the inevitable “Monster Rap.”

Also an actor, Pickett made appearances on T.J. Hooker, Bonanza and The Beverly Hillbillies, and played Dr. Frankenstein in the 1995 film Monster Mash: The Movie, which also starred Candace Cameron and Jimmie Walker.

“Monster Mash” was the nickname of the professional basketball player Jamal Mashburn.

Monster Mash

I was working in the lab, late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab, began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

He did the mash, he did the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
He did the mash, it caught on in a flash
He did the mash, he did the monster mash

From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes

They did the mash, they did the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
They did the mash, it caught on in a flash
They did the mash, they did the monster mash

The zombies were having fun, the party had just begun
The guests included Wolfman, Dracula, and his son

The scene was rockin’, all were digging the sounds
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, ‘The Crypt-Kicker Five’

They played the mash, they played the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
They played the mash, it caught on in a flash
They played the mash, they played the monster mash

Out from his coffin’, Drac’s voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
He opened the lid and shook his fist and said
“Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?

It’s now the mash, it’s now the monster mash
The monster mash, it was graveyard smash
It’s now the mash, it caught on in a flash
It’s now the mash, it’s now the monster mash

Now everything’s cool, Drac’s a part of the band
And my Monster Mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you

Then you can mash, then you can monster mash
The monster mash and do my graveyard smash
Then you can mash, you’ll catch on in a flash
Then you can mash, then you can monster mash

Mash good!
Easy, Igor, you impetuous young boy
Mash good! Grrr!

Tales from the Crypt 1972

My favorite anthology horror film of the seventies. Five different stories…this one is worth hunting down to watch.

PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Horror + Joan Collins… It works well in this.

This is a very good Anthology horror movie. If you like seeing bad people getting their due…this is for you.

I watched this movie as a seven-year-old on television. This movie set me straight for a while…no misbehaving after watching this. It’s got a feel of the Twilight Zone set in the early 1970s with vivid green nature surrounding that only 1970’s England on film can give you.

5 strangers travel through caves and wonder how and why they all got there as they meet a Crypt Keeper. One by one each has a story that is shown.

It still works now. The stories are well written and my favorite is “Blind Alleys” about someone who could care less about the welfare of other people. Actor Patrick Magee is great in this one. He also appeared in A Clockwork Orange as the…

View original post 961 more words

Blue Öyster Cult – Don’t Fear The Reaper

More Cowbell?

Although this song has been played to death on the radio…I still will not turn the dial if I hear it come on.

Blue Öyster Cult’s first hit, this song was written by lead guitarist Donald Roeser, also known as Buck Dharma. He contributed his vocals to this track and also wrote their other Top 40 hit, “Burnin’ For You.” This song peaked at #12 in the Billboard 100 and #16 in the UK in 1976.

The album Don’t Fear The Reaper was on was Agents of Fortune. It peaked at #29 in the Billboard 100 in 1976.

The album features vocals and songwriting from Patti Smith. She was keyboardist Allen Lanier’s girlfriend at the time and had also contributed to one of BOC’s previous albums, Secret Treaties.

The song is played quite a bit on the radio but it is Halloween week so it fits.

From Songfacts

This was rumored to be about suicide, but it actually deals with the inevitability of death and the belief that we should not fear it. When Dharma wrote it, he was thinking about what would happen if he died at a young age and if he would be reunited with loved ones in the afterlife. Dharma explained in a 1995 interview with College Music Journal: “I felt that I had just achieved some kind of resonance with the psychology of people when I came up with that, I was actually kind of appalled when I first realized that some people were seeing it as an advertisement for suicide or something that was not my intention at all. It is, like, not to be afraid of it (as opposed to actively bring it about). It’s basically a love song where the love transcends the actual physical existence of the partners.”

Blue Öyster Cult was considered a “cult” band, somewhere in the realm of heavy metal with complex and often baffling lyrics dealing with the supernatural. Those inside the cult took the time to understand that like Black Sabbath, BOC combined outstanding musicianship with fantasy lyrics, and they weren’t for everyone. “Don’t Fear The Reaper” exposed them to a wider audience, which was good for business but bad for art. Buck Dharma said in a 1980 interview with NME: “Ever since ‘The Reaper’ was a hit we’ve been under pressure to duplicate that success; the body of our work failed. Even on (1977 album) Spectres everyone tried to write a hit single and that’s a bad mistake. The Cult is never destined to be successful at a format. To be a singles band you have to win the casual buyer.”

Some of the lyrics were inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet. In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo swallows poison when he believes Juliet is dead. Juliet responds by taking her own life. This led many people to believe the song was about suicide, but Dharma was using Romeo and Juliet as an example of a couple who had faith that they would be together after their death.

For the lyrics that begin, “40,000 men and women,” Dharma was guessing at the number of people who died every day.

An April 8, 2000 Saturday Night Live skit with Christopher Walken made fun of the extremely loud cowbell in this song. In the skit, the band would get upset when Will Ferrell would play the bell too loud, but Walken kept calling for “More Cowbell.” In the skit, Walken plays a super-producer named Bruce Dickinson, who the band respects enough to put up with his cowbell antics. There really is a Bruce Dickinson (besides the Iron Maiden lead singer), but he didn’t produce “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” – that was David Lucas, who also brought us the General Electric “we bring good things to life” and the AT&T “reach out and touch someone” jingles. Dickinson is an archivist who works on album reissues, which means gathering master tapes to ensure the best sound quality. He is credited as the reissue producer on a later version of the album, which apparently is how he was named in the sketch.

Lucas and Dickinson both appeared on the Just My Show podcast, and Lucas explained that the cowbell was his idea, as the song “needed some momentum.” He grabbed a cowbell from a nearby recording studio and “just played four on the floor… not hard to do.” He found out about the SNL skit when a friend instant messaged him as it was airing.

Dickinson says he’s always felt a little funny about getting the producer role in the famous skit, but it has made life more interesting. Said Dickinson, “I work with Iggy Pop on a lot of stuff and a lot of times when he calls and I pick up the phone, he goes ‘More cowbell!'”

Blue Öyster Cult released their last album in 2001, but continued touring with core members Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom. When we spoke with Bloom in 2016, he said he still enjoyed performing this song, but he’s a little more ambivalent about the “More Cowbell” skit. “I saw it live on my TV in my house, and did not know it was going to be on, so I was more shocked than amused when it was on,” he said. “I certainly see the humor after it was on. It certainly has legs – it has become part of Americana at this point. Somebody brings it up to me on a regular basis.”

This has been used in several horror movies, including Halloween, The Frighteners and Scream (the version used in Scream is an acoustic cover by Gus Black). It was also used in a very non-horror capacity in the party scene of the Disney movie Miracle, which is about the US Hockey team beating the USSR at the 1980 Olympic Games.

This wasn’t released as a single in the UK until 1978, where it became their only hit in England.

Stephen King quoted the lyrics to this song in his novel The Stand, in which 99.9% of the US population is killed by a manmade disease called “Superflu.” It is also used in King’s miniseries of the same name during a montage showing the corpses of those who had been killed by the disease. King often quotes songs in the beginning of his books.

Don’t Fear The Reaper

All our times have come
Here but now they’re gone
Seasons don’t fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain, we can be like they are

Come on baby, don’t fear the reaper
Baby take my hand, don’t fear the reaper
We’ll be able to fly, don’t fear the reaper
Baby I’m your man

La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la

Valentine is done
Here but now they’re gone
Romeo and Juliet
Are together in eternity, Romeo and Juliet
40,000 men and women everyday, like Romeo and Juliet
40,000 men and women everyday, Redefine happiness
Another 40,000 coming everyday, We can be like they are

Come on baby, don’t fear the reaper
Baby take my hand, don’t fear the reaper
We’ll be able to fly, don’t fear the reaper
Baby I’m your man

La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la

Love of two is one
Here but now they’re gone
Came the last night of sadness
And it was clear she couldn’t go on

Then the door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don’t be afraid

Come on baby, and she had no fear
And she ran to him, then they started to fly
They looked backward and said goodby, she had become like they are
She had taken his hand, she had become like they are
Come on baby, don’t fear the reaper

Trilogy of Terror 1975

Since it’s almost Halloween thought I would reblog this seventies classic. The doll freaked me out when I was a kid…

PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

This TV movie scared a lot of kids in the 1970’s…including me… It is an anthology horror movie but the last story is the one that is remembered. For years I tried to find this movie and when I finally did I wasn’t disappointed. I knew going in that there was no CGI and it was a TV movie so I wasn’t disappointed seeing it at an older age. I assume this movie help inspire the Chucky movies of the late 1980’s. The story was written by Richard Matheson.

Karen Black plays Amelia who lives in an apartment. She comes home with this voodoo warrior looking doll. The doll is said to hold a killing spirit inside and there is a gold chain around it to supposedly hold the spirit in.

Amelia calls her mom and is fighting with her and finally lets her go…she notices that the chain is off…

View original post 114 more words