I’m starting a baseball-only blog because there are some things that most of the readers here could care less about…like which baseball prospects I like the best, or how I don’t like interleague play as much as some and why I don’t think the National League should adopt the DH role.
I won’t be posting much on that one…only once in a while but anything baseball goes…past, present, and future. I’ll try to keep all the posts to the point like they are here. So if you are a baseball fan come and visit…if not I’ll talk to you here.
I rarely post covers but this is a good one. No one will ever top Bowie’s version to me but this one has a charm about it I like. Cobain did a good job on this.
David Bowie liked this cover saying, “I was simply blown away when I found that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and have always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.”
What he didn’t like were the kids that come up after his show and say, ‘It’s cool you’re doing a Nirvana song.’ And I think, ‘F**k you, you little tosser!”
Nirvana performed it on the MTV Unplugged episode a few months before Kurt died.
The song peaked at #5 in the US Alternative Top 50, #22 in Canada, and #1 in Poland in 1995.
From Songfacts
This song is about a man who no longer recognizes himself and feels awful about it. For years, Bowie struggled with his identity and expressed himself through his songs, often creating characters to perform them. On the album cover, Bowie is wearing a dress.
Some of the lyrics are based on a poem by Hugh Mearns called The Psychoed:
As I was going up the stair
I met a man who was not there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish that man would go away
Some lyrical analysis: “We passed upon the stair” is a figurative representation of a crossroads in Bowie’s life, where Ziggy Stardust catches a glimpse of his former self, (being David Bowie) which he thought had died a long time ago. Then he (the old David Bowie) says: “Oh no, not me. I never lost control.” This indicates that Bowie never really lost sight of who he was, but he Sold The World (made them believe) that he had become Ziggy, and he thought it was funny (I laughed and shook his hand). He goes on to state, “For years and years I roamed,” which could refer to touring. “Gaze a gazely stare at all the millions here” are the fans at concerts. >>
The album is one of Bowie’s least known, but over the years many fans have come to appreciate it and a lot of bands have covered songs from it.
Critics weren’t always sure what to make of it either, but John Mendelssohn had a good handle on it when he wrote of the album in Rolling Stone magazine, 1971: “Bowie’s music offers an experience that is as intriguing as it is chilling, but only to the listener sufficiently together to withstand the schizophrenia.”
The British singer Lulu (“To Sir With Love”) recorded this in 1974. Bowie produced her version and played saxophone on the track. It went to #4 in the UK. Lulu spoke to Uncut magazine June 2008 about her recording: “I first met Bowie on tour in the early ’70s when he invited me to his concert. And back at the hotel, he said to me, in very heated language, ‘I want to make an MF of a record with you. You’re a great singer.’ I didn’t think it would happen, but he followed up two days later. He was uber cool at the time and I just wanted to be led by him. I didn’t think ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ was the greatest song for my voice, but it was such a strong song in itself. In the studio, Bowie kept telling me to smoke more cigarettes, to give my voice a certain quality. We were like the odd couple. Were we ever an item? I’d rather not answer that one, thanks! For the video, people thought he came up with the androgynous look, but that was all mine. It was very Berlin cabaret. We did other songs, too, like ‘Watch That Man,’ ‘Can You Hear Me?’ and ‘Dodo.’ ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ saved me from a certain niche in my career. If we’d have carried on, it would have been very interesting.”
Nirvana recorded this for their 1993 MTV Unplugged performance. It was Chad Channing, who was Nirvana’s drummer from 1988-1990, who introduced Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic to Bowie’s music. Chad told us: “We were in Boston and stopped by this record store, and I found this copy of The Man Who Sold The World. It was a cool copy – it had the poster in it and everything. And those guys weren’t familiar with the record. And I inquired about, ‘What David Bowie do you like? Do you like David Bowie?’ And they’re like, ‘Well, the only David Bowie we’re familiar with is ‘Let’s Dance.’ I was surprised. I was like, ‘Really? Wow.’ I was like, ‘You’ve got to hear some early David Bowie, for sure.’
So when I got the opportunity, I made a tape of the record at somebody’s house, and then while we were touring around I just went ahead and popped the tape in and let it roll. After a bit, Kurt turned around and said to me, ‘Who is this?’ kind of like knowingly, just something familiar with the voice and stuff. I said, ‘Well, this is David Bowie. This is The Man Who Sold the World record.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, this is really cool.’ I said, ‘You should check out Hunky Dory and stuff.’ And so eventually, I’m sure he did. But he totally dug it.”
Months after the MTV show, Kurt Cobain was found dead. The acoustic set was released as an album in late 1994.
Bauhaus lead singer Peter Murphy called this “the first true goth record.”
Beck performed this song with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear at the annual Clive Davis Grammy pre-party on February 14, 2016 in tribute to Bowie, who passed away a month earlier. “He’s always been kind of guidepost or gravitational force for me,” Beck said of Bowie.
On March 29, 2016, Michael Stipe performed this song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, accompanied only by a piano. Two days later, Stipe sang “Ashes To Ashes” with Karen Elston at a Bowie tribute concert held at Carnegie Hall.
The video of The Man Who Sold The World has been giving me troubles…if it is not below…here is the link.
The Man Who Sold The World
We passed upon the stair We spoke of was and when Although I wasn’t there He said I was his friend Which came as a surprise I spoke into his eyes I thought you died alone A long long time ago
Oh no, not me We never lost control You’re face to face With the man who sold the world
I laughed and shook his hand And made my way back home I searched for form and land For years and years I roamed I gazed a gazeless stare We marked a million hills I must have died alone A long, long time ago
Who knows? Not me I never lost control You’re face to face With the man who sold the world
Who knows? Not me We never lost control You’re face to face With the man who sold the world
This is one of my top U2 songs… it was on the album Achtung Baby released in 1991. the song peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1992. Johnny Cash covered it on 2000’s American III: Solitary Man,..the video is at the bottom of the post.
The Edge talks about when they came up with it: Suddenly something very powerful happening in the room. Everyone recognized it was a special piece. It was like we’d caught a glimpse of what the song could be. It was a pivotal song in the recording of the album, the first breakthrough in what was an extremely difficult set of sessions.
The band wrote this song in Berlin after being there for months trying to record Achtung Baby. The Berlin Wall had just fallen, so the band was hoping to find inspiration from the struggle and change. Instead, they found themselves at odds with each other and unable to do much productive work.
Most of the song was written in about 30 minutes and it rejuvenated the band creatively. When they left Berlin, they had little to show for it except for this song, but they were able to complete the album back home in Ireland with this song as the centerpiece of the album.
Achtung Baby peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1991.
This was voted best single in the 1992 Rolling Stone reader’s poll. U2 also won for best album, band, and comeback of the year. In 2003, it was voted the best song ever by Q magazine.
From Songfacts
This song can be interpreted in many ways. Bono, who wrote the lyrics, has always been a bit vague, saying it is “about relationships.” Here are some interpretations:
1) The song could relate to the reunification of Germany, where the band recorded it.
2) It could be about the dissolution of The Edge’s marriage to Aislinn O’Sullivan. The couple was having problems in their relationship and split soon after the sessions. Bono was the best man at their wedding.
3) It could be about the band putting their differences aside and coming together to make the album.
4) Bono may have been writing about his good friend, the Irish painter Guggi, who was having girl trouble.
5) The song could represent a conversation between an AIDS victim and his father.
Proceeds from the single were donated to AIDS research, which was stated on the liner notes of the single. Also printed on the notes was this statement: “The image on the cover is a photograph by the American artist David Wojnarowicz, depicting how Indians hunted buffalo by causing them to run off cliffs. Wojnarowicz identifies himself and ourselves with the buffalo, pushed into the unknown by forces we cannot control or even understand. Wojnarowicz is an activist artist and writer whose work has created controversy recently through its uncompromising depiction of the artist’s homosexuality, his infection by the H.I.V. virus and the political crisis surrounding AIDS.”
The Edge came up with the guitar track while working on “Mysterious Ways.” Once he came up with this guitar part, they quickly started writing “One.”
Three different videos were made, each interpreting the song differently. The first, directed by Mark Pellington, shows a buffalo running in a field. The second, which was mostly seen in Europe, featured U2 in drag. The third, shown mostly in the US, is built around Bono reflecting over a cigarette.
Director and photographer Anton Corbijn was at the helm for the video that featured the band in drag. He told The Guardian September 24, 2005: “I had been working with U2 as a photographer for 10 years at this stage and we’d had our ups and downs. I’d done one video for them in 1984 for ‘Pride.’ It was a disaster and no one ever saw it. It took them eight years to give me another chance. I really wanted to put a lot of effort into it to prove myself to them as a director. I even hand-painted the cars that appear in the video myself. I themed the whole thing around the notion of ‘one’ although I don’t think that’s what Bono was actually singing about. That’s why I filmed it in Berlin because the wall had just come down. And I filmed the band performing in a circle like a single unit. I showed Bono’s dad at one end of a seesaw to suggest that on your own you are not always balanced. I liked Bono’s father very much but they had a very complex relationship.
I think it meant a lot for them to appear together. These were all my own ideas but U2 are very much a band who like to meet up and talk about things. There are always a lot of meetings with them! But they cleared all the ideas, including the one about them appearing in drag. Later though, they decided that some of the proceeds from the single would go to Aids charities. They became nervous that the drag element in the video might link Aids to the homosexual community in a negative way. So they dropped the video and got someone else to film something.
It was so painful for me at the time. They replaced it with a video of Bono in a bar surrounded by models, which I particularly didn’t like. But once the song had died in the charts a few months later they got MTV to start running my video instead. That’s why I like working with U2: they have stayed very loyal to me, which is rare in music.”
According to The Guardian, Bono’s father, Robert Hewson, appeared in the song’s video. He later complained to his son that he hadn’t been paid.
In 2005, Bono got involved in the “One” campaign, which tried to convince the US government to give an additional 1% of its budget to help poor regions in Africa. On the Vertigo tour, fans who signed up had their names displayed on video screens when U2 played this.
Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen performed this at the “MTV Rock n Roll Inaugural Ball” for Bill Clinton in 1993 with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills from R.E.M. The impromptu group became known as “Automatic Baby,” a combination of album titles Automatic For The People and Achtung Baby.
The “buffalo” video directed by Mark Pellington was comprised of projections he made for the Zoo TV tour. In a Songfacts interview with Pellington, he explained: “They had made a video for the song already – that Anton Corbijn had done – of them in drag, and they weren’t really crazy about it. So, they released mine, and it was out there for a while. It was a very ‘anti-video’: no band, a slow art piece. And they made a third version of the video with Bono singing in a bar.
It always was interesting to me to have more than one video for a song. I don’t know why bands don’t do that more.”
Pellington later worked on the 2007 film U2 3D.
On the Popmart tour in Mexico City, while the Edge played the intro Bono said, “This one goes out to a mate of ours, a great mate, a great singer, we’re sorry, we’re sorry, for Michael Hutchence.”
On their 2001-2002 tour, a list of victims of the September 11 attacks was projected on a screen while they performed this.
In 2006, after Bank of America merged with MBNA, BoA held a corporate conference where Ethan Chandler, who managed a New York branch, performed a new version of this song celebrating the merger. Sample lyric: “And we’ve got Bank One on the run. What’s in your wallet? It’s not Capital One.” Thankfully, someone leaked the video and it ended up on YouTube, where you can see it in all its glory. Watch for the standing ovation at the end.
Mary J. Blige sang this with Bono in 2006 for a benefit for victims of hurricane Katrina. Blige then recorded it with Bono and U2 for her album Reminisce.
In a March 2007 poll carried out by The Tony Fenton Show on the Irish radio station Today FM, this was voted the Best Irish Single Ever.
Bono explained the meaning of this song to Rolling Stone in 2005: “It’s a father-and-son story. I tried to write about someone I knew who was coming out and was afraid to tell his father. It’s a religious father and son… I have a lot of gay friends, and I’ve seen them screwed up from unloving family situations, which just are completely anti-Christian. If we know anything about God, it’s that God is love. That’s part of the song. And then it’s also about people struggling to be together, and how difficult it is to stay together in this world, whether you’re in a band or a relationship.” >>
The line “One life, with each other, sisters, brothers” was voted the UK’s favorite song lyric in a 2006 poll by music channel VH1.
Anyone thinking of using this at their wedding might want to reconsider. “‘One’ is not about oneness, it’s about difference,” Bono points out in the book U2 by U2. “It is not the old hippie idea of ‘Let’s all live together.’ It is a much more punk rock concept. It’s anti-romantic: ‘We are one, but we’re not the same. We get to carry each other.’ It’s a reminder that we have no choice. I’m still disappointed when people hear the chorus line as ‘we’ve got to’ rather than ‘we get to carry each other.’ Because it is resigned, really. It’s not: ‘Come on everybody, let’s vault over the wall.’ Like it or not, the only way out of here is if I give you a leg up the wall and you pull me after you. There’s something very unromantic about that. The song is a bit twisted, which is why I could never figure out why people want it at their weddings. I have certainly met a hundred people who’ve had it at their weddings. I tell them, ‘Are you mad? It’s about splitting up!'”
The Edge offers his take: “The lyric was the first in a new, more intimate style. It’s two ideas, essentially. On one level it’s a bitter, twisted, vitriolic conversation between two people who’ve been through some nasty, heavy stuff: ‘We hurt each other, then we do it again.’ But on another level there’s the idea that ‘we get to carry each other.’ ‘Get to’ is the key. ‘Got to’ would be too obvious and platitudinous. ‘Get to’ suggests it is our privilege to carry one another. It puts everything in perspective and introduces the idea of grace. Still, I wouldn’t have played it at any wedding of mine.”
This was featured in the trailer for the 2000 Nicolas Cage movie The Family Man. It was not used in the movie itself.
One
Is it getting better Or do you feel the same? Will it make it easier on you now? You got someone to blame
You say one love, one life (One life) It’s one need in the night One love (one love), get to share it Leaves you darling, if you don’t care for it
Did I disappoint you? Or leave a bad taste in your mouth? You act like you never had love And you want me to go without
Well it’s too late, tonight To drag the past out into the light We’re one, but we’re not the same We get to carry each other Carry each other
One, one One, one One, one One, one
Have you come here for forgiveness? Have you come to raise the dead? Have you come here to play Jesus? To the lepers in your head Well, did I ask too much, more than a lot? You gave me nothing, now it’s all I got We’re one, but we’re not the same See we hurt each other, then we do it again You say love is a temple, love is a higher law Love is a temple, love is a higher law You ask me of me to enter, but then you make me crawl And I can’t keep holding on to what you got, ’cause all you got is hurt
One love One blood One life You got to do what you should One life With each other Sisters and my brothers One life But we’re not the same We get to carry each other, carry each other
On Saturday morning, September 13, 1969, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! premiered. This is probably one of the most popular cartoons ever that even spawned a few live-action movies and tons of merchandise. The show went through many stages before it was ready for the public.
In 1968 Fred Silverman envisioned the show as a cross between the popular I Love a Mystery radio serials of the 1940s and the popular early 1960s TV show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, and artist/character designer Iwao Takamoto worked on Silverman’s idea. Their original concept of the show had the title Mysteries Five, and featured five teens (Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, and Linda’s brother “W.W.”) and their dog, Too Much, who were all in a band called “The Mysteries Five” (even the dog; he played the bongos). When “The Mysteries Five” weren’t performing at gigs, they were out solving spooky mysteries involving ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural creatures. Ruby and Spears then had to decide what to make their dog. The dog was going to be a sheepdog but that would conflict with the Archies (who had a sheepdog, Hot Dog, in their band) but then settled on a Great Dane.
The executives felt that the presentation artwork was too frightening for young viewers, and, thought the show would be the same, decided to pass on it.
Ruby and Spears reworked the show to make it more comedic and less frightening. They dropped the rock band element and began to focus more attention on Shaggy and Too Much. According to Ruby and Spears, Silverman was inspired by the ad-lib “doo-be-doo-be-doo” he heard at the end of Frank Sinatra’s interpretation of Bert Kaempfert’s song “Strangers in the Night” on the way out to one of their meetings, and decided to rename the dog “Scooby-Doo” and re-rechristened the show Scooby-Doo, Where are You?… The rest as they say…is history!
Matthew Sweet did a version of the theme that I really like
This is a Holly song that you don’t hear much and has been a favorite of mine. The sessions didn’t go the way that Buddy would have liked. His songs had more of a country feel than Holly would have liked.
I really like the rockabilly guitar played by Sonny Curtis. It was recorded at Bradley’s Barn in Nashville Tn in January 26, 1956.
This was Buddy Holly’s first single in April 1956, “Blue Days, Black Nights” was not a Buddy Holly composition; it was written by Ben Hall. The song was the B side to Love Me.
Due to a misspelling on Holly’s recording contract, his name was changed from Holley to Holly. This release is the first to use this spelling, He would go with that spelling the rest of his career.
Blue Days Black Nights
Blue days, black nights Blue tears keep on fallin’, for you dear Now you’re gone Blue days, black nights My heart keeps on calling for you dear And you alone
Memories of you make me sorry I gave you reason to doubt me But now you’re gone and I am left here all alone With blue memories, I think of you
Blue days, black nights I didn’t realize I would miss you The way I do And now somehow I know I will pay For the times I have made you blue
Stevens got the lyrics from a hymn book he found at a bookstore while looking for song ideas. It was a children’s hymn by Eleanor Farjeon, who also wrote a lot of children’s poetry.
Cat Stevens: “I accidentally fell upon the song when I was going through a slightly dry period and I needed another song or two for Teaser And The Firecat. I came across this hymn book, found this one song, and thought, This is good. I put the chords to it and then it started becoming associated with me.”
The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100, #9 in the UK, #3 in New Zealand and #4 in Canada. It was on the album Teaser and the Firecat which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1972.
From Songfacts
Children in England would have heard Farjeon’s hymn in primary school. Scottish children sang the old Gaelic hymn, “Child in a manger, Infant of Mary” to this tune. This hymn predated “Morning” and was written in Gaelic by Mary MacDonald before being translated into English. For Scottish children it was a Christmas hymn. >>
Rick Wakeman, who later became a member of Yes, played keyboards on this track. He claims he was never paid for his work.
This was Stevens’ first single that did better in America than in England. “Peace Train” and “Wild World” were not released in the US.
This song is set to a Scottish tune entitled “Bunessan,” a melody that was named for a small island town in Scotland. >>
Neil Diamond recorded this in 1992 for his Christmas album (yes, Diamond is Jewish). His version went to #36 in the UK.
Morning Has Broken
Morning has broken like the first morning Blackbird has spoken like the first bird Praise for the singing Praise for the morning Praise for them springing fresh from the world
Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven Like the first dewfall on the first grass Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden Sprung in completeness where his feet pass
Mine is the sunlight Mine is the morning Born of the one light Eden saw play Praise with elation, praise ev’ry morning God’s recreation of the new day
Morning has broken like the first morning Blackbird has spoken like the first bird Praise for the singing Praise for the morning Praise for them springing fresh from the world
This show was not like the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Bob Newhart, or All In The Family. Those are great shows…some of the best ever sitcoms…but they were aimed more at adults while this one I always felt was largely aimed at teenagers. The show aired from 1978 to 1982. Rock and Roll on a sitcom was not common.
WKRP in Cincinnati” was produced by MTM – the studio Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker built that produces shows such as The Bob Newhart Show, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis, The White Shadow, Rhoda, and many others.
The episode I remember the most having an effect on me was about the horrible event in 1979 when eleven people were killed at a Who concert in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Park. The show handled the tragic situation very well.
The plot…to make it short was about a Program Director (Andy Travis) who had a perfect record in turning bad radio stations around joins the staff at WKRP. The station is in the bottom of the ratings and he wants to change the format to Rock which is met with trepidation from the oddball staff.
The show would feature new rock music as well as old. Blondie gave the show one of their gold records in appreciation because the show played “Heart of Glass” and helped to make it number 1.
The extended theme song by Steve Carlisle Wkrp In Cincinnati peaked at #65 on the Billboard 100 in 1979…video at the bottom
The Cast
Bailey Quarters – Jan Smithers – A shy soft-spoken lady in charge of billing and station traffic soon worked herself up to an on-air personality and other duties. She and Jennifer on the show were a bit like Mary Ann and Ginger on Gilligans Island.
Andy Travis – Gary Sandy –Andy comes to the station as the new Program Director to turn the station around and finds the station’s employees…are like from the Island of Misfit Toys. He finds their strengths and tries to make it work. His character was based on real-life Program Director Mikel Herrington.
Dr. Johnny Fever – Howard Hesseman – Fun Fact…David Cassidy was offered this role but turned it down!
Johnny had been around for a while and was fired off a Los Angeles radio station for saying booger on air. He was probably my favorite character…next to Bailey…on the show when I first watched. Dr. Johnny Fever was based on real DJ “Skinny” Bobby Harper.
Venus Flytrap – Tim Reid – Venus was the night DJ and was one of the smoothest DJ’s ever…Venus wears 70’s type flashy clothes and in the series eventually becomes Assistant Program Director.
Herb Tarlek – Frank Bonner – Herb was a salesman and dressed very tacky and loud. He hits on Jennifer at every opportunity, despite being married… but gets turned down constantly.
Jennifer Marlowe – Loni Anderson – She was Ginger to Bailey’s Mary Ann. Mr. Carlson’s receptionist…she was the highest-paid employee at the station even though refusing to do most things that receptionists are required to do.
Arthur Carlson – Gordon Jump – The lovable but ineffective station manager who is the son of the station’s owner. He never wanted to know what was going on…, but when he tries to be hands-on…it leads to disastrous results (see Turkey’s Away episode)
Les Nessman – Richard Sanders – The incompetent News Director…Les was obsessed with the region’s hog farming industry…constantly mispronounced names… ignored obvious news stories for Hog Reports…but he would win the Silver Sow Award and The Buckeye Newshawk Award.
What a great single this was… Up On Cripple Creek with the B side of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Robbie Robertson wrote this song and it appeared on The Band’s sophomore self-titled album.
This song was their highest-charting Billboard song and it peaked at #25 in 1970.
The Band rented Sammy Davis’s house turning the pool house into a recording studio, nailing baffles all along the outside wall and getting a great sound inside. The album was recorded there except “Up On Cripple Creek”, “Jemima Surrender” and “Whispering Pines” which was recorded at the Hit Factory studio in New York City.
The unusual sound that sounds like a jaw harp was achieved by Hudson with a wah-wah pedal on his clavinet.
The song has a great Americana sound to it. Hard to believe this band was all Canadian except for the southern Levon Helm.
From Songfacts
Guitarist Robbie Robertson wrote this song, which tells a disjointed story about a mountain man and a girl named Bessie. We hear about a trip to the horse races, listening to Spike Jones, and how what really makes him happy is when she “dips her doughnut in my tea.”
Like many songs by The Band, it’s wide open for interpretation. Robertson claims he doesn’t even know what’s going on. “I don’t really write songs with anything other than just a storytelling sense,” he said when asked about the song in Goldmine (August, 1998). “You sit down and write the song, and usually when something happens, you just don’t even know where it came from, or why it came, or anything like that. That’s the best. You know, when something comes out of you that surprises you. And it was one of those. You know, I was just sitting down to see if I could think of anything, and that’s what came out. But it was a fun song to write.”
Drummer Levon Helm sang lead on this track, giving it a very folksy vibe.
The guy in this song is one of the many curious characters Robbie Robertson has conceived. “We’re not dealing with people at the top of the ladder,” he said. “We’re saying what about that house out there in the middle of that field? What does this guy think, with that one light on upstairs, and that truck parked out there? That’s who I’m curious about.”
Robertson is listed as the only songwriter on this track, which is something his bandmates disputed, as they claimed they helped write it. Songwriting credits going to Robertson was a great source of friction in The Band.
That funky sound on “Up On Cripple Creek” was created by keyboardist Garth Hudson, who played a Hohner Clavinet D6 through a Vox Wah Wah pedal.
In The Band’s 2000 Greatest Hits compilation, Levon Helm said, “It took a long time to seep into us. We cut it two or three times, but nobody really liked it. It wasn’t quite enough fun. Finally one night we just got hold of it, doubled up a couple of chorus and harmony parts, and that was it.”
There are Cripple Creeks throughout the United States and Canada, including one in an old mining town in Colorado and another near Hamilton, Ontario. The title may have come from one of these places, but the song doesn’t appear to be set in one specific Cripple Creek.
The B-side of the single was “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” which became a hit for Joan Baez in 1971.
The Band performed this on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969. It was their only appearance on the show.
The rap duo Gang Starr sampled this on their 1990 track “Beyond Comprehension.”
Up On Cripple Creek
When I get off of this mountain You know where I want to go Straight down the Mississippi River To the Gulf of Mexico
To Lake George, Louisiana Little Bessie, girl that I once knew And she told me just to come on by If there’s anything she could do
Up on Cripple Creek she sends me If I spring a leak she mends me I don’t have to speak she defends me A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one
Good luck had just stung me To the race track I did go She bet on one horse to win And I bet on another to show
Odds were in my favor I had him five to one When that nag came around the track Sure enough we had won
Up on Cripple Creek she sends me If I spring a leak she mends me I don’t have to speak she defends me A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one
I took up all of my winnings And I gave my little Bessie half And she tore it up and blew it in my face Just for a laugh
Now there’s one thing in the whole wide world I sure would like to see That’s when that little love of mine Dips her doughnut in my tea
Up on Cripple Creek she sends me If I spring a leak she mends me I don’t have to speak she defends me A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one
Now me and my mate were back at the shack We had Spike Jones on the box She said, “I can’t take the way he sings But I love to hear him talk”
Now that just gave my heart a fall To the bottom of my feet And I swore and I took another pull My Bessie can’t be beat
Up on Cripple Creek she sends me If I spring a leak she mends me I don’t have to speak she defends me A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one
As a flood out in California And up north it’s freezing cold And this living off the road Is getting pretty old
So I guess I’ll call up my big mama Tell her I’ll be rolling in But you know, deep down, I’m kinda tempted To go and see my sweet Bessie again
Up on Cripple Creek she sends me If I spring a leak she mends me I don’t have to speak she defends me A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one
The sound of this song is amazing…from the drums to the guitar. It was very different than their other singles to this point.
It’s hard to believe that I Can See For Miles was The Who’s only top 10 hit in the Billboard 100. It peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 and #10 in the UK in 1967. The song was recorded for the band’s 1967 album, The Who Sell Out.[3] It was the only song from the album to be released as a single. The album peaked at #48 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1968.
Pete Townshend considered this some of his best songwriting, calling it “a remarkable song.” He thought it would be a huge hit and was disappointed when it wasn’t.
Pete Townshend talking about this song: “I swoon when I hear the sound,” “The words, which aging senators have called ‘drug oriented,’ are about a jealous man with exceptionally good eyesight. Honest.”
The song is ranked #40 on Dave Marsh’s The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made
From Songfacts
Pete Townshend wrote this shortly after meeting his future wife Karen. It was a reminder that even though he was on the road, he could still keep an eye on her from miles away.
The song was inspired by the jealousy and suspicion that would well up inside him when he left to tour, but the song is written in character as a vindictive type who wants to get back at a girl. It’s a little creepy:
Well, here’s a poke at you
You’re gonna choke on it too
You’re gonna lose that smile
Because all the while
I can see for miles and miles
He’s warning her that she can’t get out of his sight.
In real life, Townshend married Karen Astley in 1968. They were together until their divorce in 2009.
Townshend’s guitar was overdubbed in the studio. They rarely played this live because it was impossible to recreate the sound with one guitar.
The Who Sell Out is a concept album that makes fun of radio commercials. Fake ads were inserted between songs on the first side of the album.
The word “Miles” is said 57 times in the song.
This was covered in a lighter, easygoing, and rather corny manner by Vegas lounge lizard Frankie Randall (who sang the lyric “There’s magic in my eyes” as “There’s magic in your eyes”, thus rather confusing the song’s meaning). It is included on the Golden Throats CD.
Townshend’s played a one-note guitar solo on this song. According to an interview he conducted with his mate Richard Barnes for the book The Story of Tommy, Townshend did this because he “couldn’t be bothered.” He later admitted that he felt very intimidated at the arrival of Hendrix on the London scene during that time and that he couldn’t ever compete in the guitar solo stakes.
Paul McCartney set out to write “Helter Skelter” shortly after reading a Pete Townshend interview, which described this track as, “The most raucous rock ‘n’ roll, the dirtiest thing they’d ever done.”
This is the theme song for the TV series CSI: Cyber, which debuted in 2015. It’s the fourth in the CSI franchise, with each series using a Who song as its theme. The song has some relevance to the show content, as the detectives use technology to investigate crimes that could be many miles away.
I Can See For Miles
I know you’ve deceived me, now here’s a surprise I know that you have ’cause there’s magic in my eyes
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles Oh yeah
If you think that I don’t know about the little tricks you’ve played And never see you when deliberately you put things in my way
Well, here’s a poke at you You’re gonna choke on it too You’re gonna lose that smile Because all the while
I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles Oh yeah
You took advantage of my trust in you when I was so far away I saw you holding lots of other guys and now you’ve got the nerve to say
That you still want me Well, that’s as may be But you gotta stand trial Because all the while
I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles Oh yeah
I know you’ve deceived me, now here’s a surprise I know that you have ’cause there’s magic in my eyes
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles Oh yeah
The Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal are mine to see on clear days You thought that I would need a crystal ball to see right through the haze
Well, here’s a poke at you You’re gonna choke on it too You’re gonna lose that smile Because all the while
I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles And miles and miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles I can see for miles and miles
Bram Tchaikovsky in the mid-seventies was a member of the pub band the Motors.
Peter Bramall is better known for his stage name of Bram Tchaikovsky…it was also the name of the group he fronted in the late 70s & early 80s. Bram Tchaikovsky, the band, consisted of: Bram, the man, on guitar & vocals; along with Mike Broadbent on bass & keyboards; & Keith Boyce on drums. They signed to the new Radar label in 1978.
This song peaked at #37 in the Billboard 100 in 1979. The song was off the album Strange Man, Changed Man that peaked at #36 in the Billboard 100 in1979.
Bram Tchaikovsky – Girl Of My Dreams
Judy was an American girl She came in the morning With the U.S. mail Didn’t say nothing But she looked Pretty good to meGolden hair That shined so bright Loving eyes that Seem out of sightShe could keep the Secrets that we shared In my world of dreamsAnd a man needs something When he ain’t got Nothing to hang on to And there ain’t no telling When I’ll feel like Yelling I love youOoh, it gets lonely in the night When there ain’t no one around Ooh, she makes me feel all right Get my feet right off the groundShe’s the girl of my dreams She’s the girl of my dreamsJudy does what I ask her to She makes me happy When I feel blue She stares with The eyes of a child And gets me to my knees
Her heart, it Never beats in time Except when it’s Beating close to mine I keep her from my friends Locked away with my fantasies
And a man needs something When he ain’t got Nothing to hang on to And there ain’t no telling When I’ll feel like Yelling I love you
Ooh, it gets lonely in the night When there ain’t no one around Oooh, she makes me feel all right Get my feet right off the ground
She’s the girl of my dreams She’s the girl of my dreams She’s the girl of my dreams She’s the girl of my dreams She’s the girl of my dreams She’s the girl of my dreams…
Although this was a big hit for Blondie in 1978, it was actually first recorded by The Nerves, who released it on their one and only EP, in 1976. The song was written by the band’s guitarist Jack Lee.
It was picked up by Blondie, it reached #5 on the UK singles chart. It was Blondie’s second release from the Parallel Lines album on the Chrysalis label
When Debbie Harry rang asking Lee if she could record this song, Lee readily agreed and the rest was history. Jack Lee said the call couldn’t have come at a better time. “I remember the day vividly,” he recalled. “It was a Friday. They were going to cut off our electricity at six o’clock, the phone too.”
From Songfacts
Lee regretted his own version was never a hit, but said he always knew it was a special song: “Even people who hated me – and there were plenty – had to admit it was great.”
The song has subsequently been covered by many acts. These include UK girl band Girls Aloud and Def Leppard, who in 2006, both released covers of the song, on a limited edition bonus disc to The Sound of Girls Aloud and on Yeah! respectively.
Hanging On The Telephone Line
I’m in the phone booth, it’s the one across the hall If you don’t answer, I’ll just ring it off the wall I know he’s there, but I just had to call
Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone
I heard your mother, now she’s going out the door Did she go to work or just go to the store? All those things she said, I told you to ignore Oh, why can’t we talk again? Oh, why can’t we talk again? Oh, why can’t we talk again?
Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone
It’s good to hear your voice, you know it’s been so long If I don’t get your calls, then everything goes wrong I want to tell you something you’ve known all along
Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone
I had to interrupt and stop this conversation Your voice across the line gives me a strange sensation I’d like to talk when I can show you my affection Oh, I can’t control myself Oh, I can’t control myself Oh, I can’t control myself
Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone
Hang up and run to me Whoa, hang up and run to me Whoa, hang up and run to me Whoa, hang up and run to me Whoa oh oh oh, run to me
I Want You To Want me is when I first started to notice Cheap Trick…the version off of the Cheap TrickAt Budokon album
The song was included on their second album In Color, which was released later in 1977. This version had a medium tempo with a country feel and a honky-tonk piano throughout the song.
By 1978, the band had dropped this song from their setlist but restored it when they toured Japan that year since Japanese audiences loved the song. They played it on April 28 and 30 at their famous concerts that took place at the Budokan temple in Tokyo, which was a big deal because many Japanese citizens felt the temple was sacred and not appropriate for rock concerts. When the Beatles played at Budokan their were protests a decade before.
The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard 100 in 1979.
From Songfacts
This song has a long and intriguing history. It was written by Cheap Trick’s guitarist Rick Nielsen and recorded for their 1977 self-titled debut album, but it didn’t make the cut.
The concerts were released as the Live At Budokan album, which captured Cheap Trick’s live energy and turned their fortunes around in America, where the album was released in February 1979 and sold over 3 million copies. The extracted “I Want You To Want Me” became their first hit, charting at #7.
According to Rick Nielsen, the band considered this “sort of hokey pop” when they first recorded it, and the arrangement matched that sentiment, with finger snaps and a plaintive country feel. Robin Zander played up the schmaltz in the vocal, sounding like a woebegone cornpoke. This studio version fell flat, but when they played it as an earnest rocker, it worked.
The famous At Budokan version of this song was inspired by a French cover version (“J’attends Toutes les Nuits”) by a fairly obscure French synthpop artist named Niko Flynn, who sped up the tempo and put a beat to the song.
Many early Cheap Trick songs written by Rick Nielsen are from the perspective of characters who are a little unhinged (see: “Dream Police”), and the band played that up with their eccentric fashions and accessories. The guy in this song is a bit desperate and delusional, figuring a shoeshine and a new shirt will make the girl love him.
This is one of the few rock songs that starts with the chorus.
In 1978, this appeared as the B-side of Cheap Trick’s single “California Man.”
In 1997, the group recorded a new version of the In Color album (complete with this song), with producer Steve Albini, but it was never released.
The studio version
The live version
I Want You To Want Me
I want you to want me I need you to need me I’d love you to love me I’m beggin’ you to beg me I want you to want me I need you to need me I’d love you to love me
I’ll shine up my old brown shoes I’ll put on a brand new shirt I’ll get home early from work If you say that you love me Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I See you cryin’ (cryin, cryin’) Oh, Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I See you cryin’ (cryin, cryin’) Feelin’ all alone without a friend You know you feel like dyin’ (dyin’, dyin’) Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I See you cryin’ (cryin’, cryin’)
I want you to want me I need you to need me I’d love you to love me I’m beggin’ you to beg me
I’ll shine up my old brown shoes I’ll put on a brand new shirt I’ll get home early from work If you say that you love me Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I See you cryin’ (cryin, cryin’) Oh, Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I See you cryin’ (cryin, cryin’) Feelin’ all alone without a friend You know you feel like dyin’ (dyin’, dyin’) Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I See you cryin’ (cryin’, cryin’)
Feelin’ all alone without a friend You know you feel like dyin’ (dyin’, dyin’) Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I See you cryin’ (cryin’, cryin’) Feelin’ all alone without a friend You know you feel like dyin’ (dyin’, dyin’) Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I See you cryin’ (cryin’, cryin’)
I want you to want me I need you to need me I’d love you to love me I’m beggin’ you to beg me
This song sounds so good. The mix is great with the bass coming through. Little Sister was written by the Brill Building songwriters Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. They also wrote the 1959 hit A Teenager In Love.
The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in the UK in 1961. Elvis recorded it at the RCA Nashville, Tennessee, studio in 1961. On the recording besides Elvis, was Scotty Moore (acoustic guitar), Hank Garland (electric guitar), Bob Moore (bass), D.J. Fontana and Buddy Harmon (drums), Floyd Cramer (organ), and The Jordanaires (backing vocals).
Dwight Yokum also does a great cover of this song.
Little Sister
Little sister, don’t you Little sister, don’t you Little sister, don’t you Kiss me once or twice Then say it’s very nice And then you run Little sister, don’t you Do what your big sister done
Well, I dated your big sister And took her to a show I went for some candy Along came Jim Dandy And they snuck right out of the door
Little sister, don’t you Little sister, don’t you Little sister, don’t you Kiss me once or twice Then say it’s very nice And then you run Little sister, don’t you Do what your big sister done
Every time I see your sister Well, she’s got somebody new She’s mean and she’s evil Like that old Boll Weevil Guess I’ll try my luck with you
Little sister, don’t you Little sister, don’t you Little sister, don’t you Kiss me once or twice Then say it’s very nice And then you run Little sister, don’t you Do what your big sister done
Well, I used to pull your pigtails And pinch your turned-up nose But you been a growin’ And, baby, it’s been showin’ From your head down to your toes
Little sister, don’t you Little sister, don’t you Little sister, don’t you Kiss me once or twice Then say it’s very nice And then you run Little sister, don’t you Do what your big sister done Little sister, don’t you Do what your big sister done
This is a cover of a blues song sung by Sonny Boy Williamson. It was reworked to fit the Allman’s style. Duane Allman’s brilliant slide guitar dominates this song along with Gregg’s voice…not to mention Dickey Betts guitar work also.
Recorded during the Fillmore East shows but not released until a year later on Eat a Peach. The album was released after Duane died in a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971. The album peaked at #4 in 1972 in the Billboard Album Charts.
Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Marshall Sehorn are credited with writing the song.
From Songfacts
The Allmans recorded this at the Fillmore East in March 1971. It’s a live cut that follows three studio tracks on Eat A Peach.
The song is about a guy who is having an illicit affair with a woman whose husband has apparently come home. He’s starting to wonder if she’s worth the hassle, and one thing is for sure: he’s not going out the front door, since he doesn’t want to meet up with her man.
Duane Allman played his trademark bottleneck slide guitar on this song. It was released after his death on Eat A Peach, which was dedicated to him.
Berry Oakley comes in too early on the bass after the drum solo and messes up Duane’s slide solo. The drummers turn the beat around and cover it smoothly.
One Way Out
Ain’t but one way out baby, Lord I just can’t go out the door Ain’t but one way out baby, and Lord I just can’t go out the door ‘Cause there’s a man down there, might be your man I don’t know
Lord you got me trapped a woman, up on the second floor If I get by this time I won’t be trapped no more So raise your window baby, I can ease out soft and slow And Lord, your neighbors, no they won’t be Talking that stuff that they don’t know
Lord, I’m foolish to be here in the first place I know some man gonna walk in and take my place Ain’t no way in the world, I’m going out that front door ‘Cause there’s a man down there, might be your man I don’t know ‘Cause there’s a man down there, might be your man I don’t know ‘Cause there’s a man down there and Lord, it might just happen to be your man
Lord, it just might be your man Lord, it just a might be your man Oh baby, I just don’t know
I have heard this called a psychedelic Country song… CMT named it one of the 100 greatest Country songs of all-time. You know when the Muppets cover you…you have a hit. I remember it early on as a kid and in more modern times when Bruce Willis was mouthing the words it in Pulp Fiction.
Lew DeWitt, the original tenor for The Statler Brothers, wrote “Flowers on the Wall. He described it: “We took gospel harmonies and put them over in country music.” However, it did crossover to the pop charts.
Buoyed by interest from the country fans, folk listeners began to demand that rock stations play Flowers On The Wall. In December, the song appeared on Billboard’s Hot 100. Nine weeks later, it had peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in the Billboard Country Charts in 1966.
All together the Statler Brothers had 66 songs in the top 100, 33 in the Top Ten and 4 number 1’s in the Billboard Country Charts. Flowers On The Wall was their only top 10 Billboard 100 hit.
In 1966 it won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Performance-Group (Vocal or Instrumental.)
From Songfacts
Written by Statler Brothers singer Lew DeWitt, this song is about a guy who has been left lonely and nearly catatonic by the one he loves. He’s in a pretty bad spot, counting flowers on the wall and playing solitaire with a deck that’s missing a card.
This appears on the soundtrack to the movie Pulp Fiction. Bruce Willis is singing along to the song, which is playing on his car radio, just before he runs over Marsellus Wallace at an intersection. There’s another Bruce Willis connection to the song as well: Willis mentions spending his suspension “Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo” in Die Hard With A Vengeance.
Flowers On The Wall
I keep hearin’ you’re concerned about my happiness But all that thought you’re givin’ me is conscience I guess If I was walkin’ in your shoes, I wouldn’t worry none While you ‘n’ your friends are worried about me I’m havin’ lots of fun
Countin’ flowers on the wall That don’t bother me at all Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do
Last night I dressed in tails, pretended I was on the town As long as I can dream it’s hard to slow this swinger down So please don’t give a thought to me, I’m really doin’ fine You can always find me here, I’m havin’ quite a time
Countin’ flowers on the wall That don’t bother me at all Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do
It’s good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright Anyway my eyes are not accustomed to this light And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete So I must go back to my room and make my day complete
Countin’ flowers on the wall That don’t bother me at all Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do
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