PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Clash – Train In Vain

This was the first song I ever knew by the Clash when I heard it on the radio in 1980. The song is credited to Mick Jones and Joe Strummer like most Clash songs. Mick Jones takes the lead vocals in this one.

They started off as a punk band but The Clash, unlike some other Punk bands, could really play and sing well…, especially Mick Jones. He is was probably the best pure musician in the band.

The song was said to come from the train rhythm in the song combined with the theme of being lost. You also hear a reference to Tammy Wynette’s 1975 hit single Stand By Your Man. Train In Vain also contains a pointed reference to his flat being burgled in early 1979 and to his feelings of depression (“I need new clothes, I need somewhere to stay”).

The original vinyl copy of London Calling “Train Is Vain” isn’t listed on the track listing on the sleeve. The story is that the song was recorded for an NME promotional flexi-disc once the London Calling sessions were done, and the flexi-disc idea then fell through, leaving the song with no home. The band hastily tacked the song onto the end of the album just before vinyl pressing, but the sleeve had already been designed and there was no time to add it to the track listing.

The only clue of its existence is in the run-out groove on Side 4, where the name is carved into the vinyl. On all subsequent releases (including the CD copy) “Train In Vain” is included on the track listing on the sleeve.

The song was released in 1979 and reached #23 on the Billboard Charts. It is listed by Rolling Stone Magazine at 298 in the top 500 songs of all time. Train in Vain was written by Mick Jones and Joe Strummer.

Train In Vain

Say you stand by your manTell me something I don’t understandYou said you love me and that’s a factAnd then you left me, said you felt trappedWell, some things you can explain awayBut my heartache’s in me ’til this day

You didn’t stand by meNo, not at allYou didn’t stand by meNo way

All the times when we were closeI’ll remember these things the mostI see all my dreams come tumbling downI can’t be happy without you aroundSo alone I keep the wolves at bayAnd there’s only one thing that I can say

You didn’t stand by meNo, not at allYou didn’t stand by meNo way

You must explain why this must beDid you lie when you spoke to me?Did you stand by me?No, not at all

Now I got a job, but it don’t payI need new clothes, I need somewhere to stayBut without all these things I can doBut without your love, I won’t make it throughBut you don’t understand my point of viewI suppose there’s nothing I can do

You didn’t stand by meNo, not at allYou didn’t stand by meNo way

You must explain why this must beDid you lie when you spoke to me?Did you stand by me?

Did you stand by me?No, not at allDid you stand by me?No wayDid you stand by me?No, not at allDid you stand by me?No way

Bruce Springsteen – The River

My friend Dave from A Sound Day wanted some bloggers to pick a song that has lyrics that we liked or can relate to. He stated, “I just want you to pick one song that you think has fantastic lyrics, or one you like because of the lyrics, and say a bit about why you love it.”

I went through many songs to get to this one. Dylan songs mostly before I realized this one hit home. This was the title track to Bruce’s 1980 double album. I picked this song because it is so easy to relate to. I’ve known friends who have lived this song. This is not a party starter song by any stretch of the imagination. The lyrics are downright sad because they are so damn real. It contains one of my favorite Springsteen lines “And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat.”

I grew up in a small town with a population of around a thousand or so at the time. The jobs there were dead-end jobs and the pay was even worse. I saw a cycle even at an early age by seeing parents and their kids doing the same thing generation after generation. Nothing wrong with that but they hated doing what they were doing. It was enough inspiration for me to explore and find new things…and to get out. Some of my friends never made it out. They are doing now what they swore they wouldn’t do before.

I saw my sister get into the same position as the Mary character in the song. It ended many years later in a divorce but at least she is happy now so there are good endings. Her son was the best thing that happened to her. The funny thing is I ended up moving back near that town but I’m doing what I want to be doing not in a job or rut that I hate. Some of my friends are not in that position.

I came to realize…it wasn’t the location at all. It was and still is a nice small town…no that wasn’t it. It was the expectations at the time set upon every one that made it seem pre-ordained for bad choices to happen.

The wedding in the song relates to Springsteen’s sister, who got married when she was still a teenager. She knew it was about her and her husband the first time she heard it. It was also based on conversations Springsteen had with his brother-in-law. After losing his construction job, he worked hard to support his wife and young child but never complained.

The song’s lyrics are outstanding. Even the opening lines are so close to how I grew up. I did grow up in a valley. “I come from down in the valley,
Where mister when you’re young, They bring you up to do like your daddy done.” So it’s easy to relate to.

Bruce saves the best for last though. He is talking about the dreams we have when we are younger about what we are going to do in life until life wakes us up with a bang…at least that is what I interrupt.

Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true
Or is it something worse

The song didn’t chart in America or Canada but did make it to #35 in the UK. The album was #1 in the Billboard album charts, #1 in Canada, and #2 in the UK.

The River

I come from down in the valley
Where mister when you’re young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
When she was just seventeen
We’d ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

We’d go down to the river
And into the river we’d dive
Oh down to the river we’d ride

Then I got Mary pregnant
And man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
And the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we’d dive
Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain’t been much work on account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don’t remember
Mary acts like she don’t care

But I remember us riding in my brother’s car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I’d lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she’d take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true
Or is it something worse
That sends me down to the river
Though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
My baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride

Them – Mystic Eyes

Van is the man….he made some absolutely classic songs when he started out with Them. Gloria is probably the most famous song they did but they had many more. I discovered them when I was 18 and I had to import an album from the UK to get an album. It’s not like it is now…you had to work for it. It’s pure music with a relentless backbeat.

This powerful song builds up and lead singer Van Morrison takes over. Van’s voice and the bass are hypnotic. It was the first song on the first album by Them…named Angry Young Them released in 1965. It was written by Van Morrison who would in the future use the word Mystic in a few more songs.

The song peaked at #33 on the Billboard 100 and #24 in Canada but didn’t chart in the UK. I mentioned earlier that Gloria is their most popular song but the hit version was by Shadows Of Night in 1965. It was a B side with Them to the great song Baby Please Don’t Go.

Van has said the band was improvising in the studio and the song was born.

Van Morrison said the song was inspired by his own experience walking around England’s Nottingham Park when he saw some kids playing by a graveyard. Morrison was struck by the powerful intersection between the “bright lights in the children’s eyes” and “the cloudy lights in the eyes of the dead.”

Mystic Eyes

One Sunday mornin’
A-we went walkin’
Down by, the old graveyard
The mornin’ fog
I looked into
A-yeah, those mystic eyes

Her mystic eyes
Mystic eyes
Mystic eyes
Mystic, eyes
Mystic eyes
Mystic eyes
Oh, the mystic eyes
Mystic Eyes

Urban Rescue Ranch

This is another youtube channel that I have been hooked on. Any channel with people trying to help animals I usually will watch. Unlike Chandler’s Wildlife, there are no King Cobras, Crocodilians, Black Mambas, or many other reptiles. This guy takes in any animal that loses its mother, animals given up by people, and any lost ones that come in.

His name is Ben Christie (Uncle Ben) age 24. Right now he has a Kangaroo (saved from a Texas hunting range that charges hunters to hunt in a fenced-in area…which is disgusting to me), Prairie Dogs, Capybaras, goats, ducks, rabbits, deer, turtles, dogs, Opossums, chickens, and the most interesting one is a Rhea named Kevin. Kevin was going to be euthanized by a farm because he was so aggressive…Ben took him in with his other Rhea named Karen. Rheas are not usually aggressive at all. The rest of his Rheas are great…it seems Kevin just wants to inflict pain on Ben. Fans mailed riot shields and nerf swords for him to deflect Kevin’s bites.

I didn’t know what a Rhea was until I saw this. I thought Kevin was an ostrich or an Emu. He will terrorize any non-farm animal but will generally leave his fellow farm animals alone. He even chased a coyote out of the farm.

The animals have become just as big of interest as Ben has through this channel. People tune in just to see what new animals he has and how the familiar ones are doing. He keeps humor going through the videos. He has named his animals after rappers, politicians, characters (Darth Vader), and just whatever pops into his head.

He has joke titles for each of the 12-15 minute videos. Some examples are: Why I Fed a Beaver to my Prairie Dog, How to Hatch Rhea Eggs (I’m NOT the Father!?), How to Survive a Rhea Attack (Lawsuit Pending), Kevin and I go to Therapy?? (Extremely Emotional) *we also rescue ducks*…

The story of Ben Christie is interesting… when he was in college, people would send him animals without a home and he lived in a small house off campus and he would take care of them. He was in his senior year of Baylor University and he got a job at Oracle as a sales rep. He kept on receiving animals and thought he would film what he was doing. He started with Tik Tok and finally decided he was done with Oracle because he just wasn’t happy. He didn’t know how he was going to live because he wasn’t getting many views. The day after he turned in his two week notice he had a video to go viral. He then started his youtube channel and now around 2-3 years later has over 2.1 million subscribers.

He lived in Austin Texas but found a 3-acre property in Waco Texas and moved there. The small house was an old crack house. The property had old tires, junk, syringes, and everything else but he lived in a small camper and fixed it up. He started a not-for-profit shelter for animals. He is slowly building it up and his love for animals comes through.

I first noticed him on Chandler’s Wildlife when he visited. In the first episode, I watched…the Kangaroo (when he lived in a smaller house) escaped and he took off running through the neighborhood before Ben finally caught him. I was imagining if I was his neighbor looking at my window that day. A barefoot guy with overalls and a straw hat, complete with a staff chasing a Kangaroo came by my window…I would pause to think about what I just saw.

Sometimes Ben will go to downtown Waco and grab ducks from under the bridge. I was wondering what he was doing but a lot of the ducks are not wild. They were dropped off by pet owners who couldn’t take care of them anymore. He said they would be fine until winter came. He grabs a few and takes them back to his rescue.

A coyote killed one of his chickens during a drought so he captured it and gave it water because it was dehydrated. He ended up letting it go back into the woods. He is not licensed to keep coyotes so he called the authorities and they said they would come and euthanize or he could let it go… he took care of it and let it go.

The animals seem to appreciate all he does…except Kevin. You can tell if someone is genuine and Ben seems to be. I’ve read some articles about him and he has inspired a lot people to start small rescues to help out lost wildlife.

Ben has a very goofy sense of humor and his videos are edited really well so that he doesn’t lose your attention. He does this usually on an iPhone. I didn’t get him at first but I watched around 3-5 episodes and I haven’t stopped watching. The Urban Rescue Ranch

Prominent animals

Kevin

Karen

DaBaby

Poggers

Big Ounce…

Seeing this prairie dog makes me want one. When Ben pets and scratches him the prairie dog looks like he dies. So Ben has fun with this through a lot of videos.

Gort and Quandale Dingle

Queen

…and too many more to mention.

This is Ben Christie telling how he started.

…

Traffic – Feelin’ Alright?

This song was written by guitarist Dave Mason and it was on their self-titled second album released in 1968. It was released as a single but barely hit the charts, peaking at #123 on the Billboard 100. It did peak at #51 in the UK. The album peaked at #9 in the Billboard Album Charts and #15 in Canada.

It was released the following year by Joe Cocker and it took off. I do like that version but I’ve been in a Traffic mood so this feels good now…it’s a little more sparse and not as loud as Cocker’s version…but that’s not always a bad thing. I like the saxophone in this version and the groove that the band had.

Mason wrote this song while visiting the Greek island of Hydra. He had left the band before the first album was released. He met the band again in New York as they were starting this album. They all agreed to record together and he contributed this song and “You Can All Join In,” as well as “Vagabond Virgin,” which he wrote with the band’s drummer Jim Capaldi.

The original name of the song was “Not Feelin’ Too Good Myself,” which is accurate in terms of the song’s meaning. It has more of a melancholy feeling to this song. Cocker took the question mark off of the song and jacked it up to a more positive-feeling song. Sometimes this version is the perfect one to listen to.

Cocker’s version peaked at #69 in the Billboard 100 and #49 in Canada…personally I thought it did better than that.

This song has been covered over 45 different times. Some of the artists are Grand Funk Railroad, Three Dog Night, Lou Rawls, the 5th Dimension, Rare Earth, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Paul Weller, the Jackson 5, Maceo Parker, and Isaac Hayes.

Dave Mason: “It’s just a song about a girl. It’s just another relationship gone bad.”

Here is the Joe Cocker Version

Feelin’ Alright

Seems I’ve got to have a change of scene
Cause every night I have the strangest dreams
Imprisoned by the way it could have been
Left here on my own or so it seems
I’ve got to leave before I start to scream
But someone’s locked the door and took the key.

You feelin’ alright?
I’m not feelin’ too good myself
Well, you feelin’ alright?
I’m not feelin’ too good myself.

Well, say, you took me for one big ride
And even now I sit and wonder why
That when I think of you I start to cry
I just can’t waste my time, I must keep dry
Gotta stop believin’ in all you lies
Cause there’s to much to do before I die.

You feelin’ alright?
I’m not feelin’ too good myself
Well, you feelin’ alright?
I’m not feelin’ too good myself.

Don’t get too lost in all I say
Though at the time I really felt that way
But that was then, now it’s today;
I can’t get off so I’m here to stay
Till someone comes along and takes my place
With a different name and, yes a different face.

You feelin’ alright?
I’m not feelin’ too good myself
Well, you feelin’ alright?
I’m not feelin’ too good myself.

Booker T. & The MG’s – Time Is Tight

If I ever get to drive across America, Booker T and the MG’s would be on my playlist. This is road music at its finest. I listen to them and get lost in the groove. That Hammond B-3 organ played by Booker T. Jones is just incredible. I have a reputation for not liking synths very much but a Hammond B-3? Give me more and more of it.

You may recognize the intro. Band members Steve Cropper and Donald Dunn joined The Blues Brothers, who used this in the introduction to their live show. The Clash also covered the song. It appears on their 1980 singles compilation album Black Market Clash.

The song was recorded for the 1968 movie Uptight. The members included Mr. Booker T. Jones on organ, Steve Cropper on guitar, Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass guitar, and the great Al Jackson Jr. on drums. This ensemble formed the musical backbone of the Memphis, TN-based Stax Records.

The band was responsible for bringing the Memphis Sound to millions worldwide. Booker T. and the MG’s were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, and #4 in the UK in 1968. Just sit right back and enjoy the groove of this song for the rest of the day.

Time Is Tight

Nothing here to see!

Steve Earle – I Ain’t Ever Satisfied

I first found out about Steve Earle through this song. It has remained one of my favorite songs. Steve has released a lot of great songs since but it’s the honesty of this song that I like so much.

I was working at a factory and going to college and I had a radio on while driving a tow motor. After I heard it I immediately bought the album “Exit 0” and enjoyed the complete album. The lyrics ring true of the human spirit…we are never satisfied. Steve Earle was one of the highlights of the 80s for me. Down to earth music and very rootsy.

The night after I got Exit O I learned this song and our band played it. I went to my first Bob Dylan concert on August 20, 1989, and Steve Earle opened up for him. That was one of the best pairings I’ve seen. He played this song and the night was complete…Copperhead Road was pretty good also! I’ve seen Dylan 8 times but this was probably the worse. He played for maybe 40 minutes and left the stage. I remember someone behind me screaming…”I know you are an old son of a b****” but come on… Bob was 48 that year.

Steve is such an underrated American songwriter. The year before this song he released his breakout album Guitar Town. He was straddling the line between country and rock at this period. It’s hard to classify Earle and no need to…he writes great songs that many can relate to.

The song peaked at #26 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts in 1987. The album Exit 0 peaked at #15 on the Billboard Album Country Charts and #36 in Canada.

Just a cool note… Waylon Jennings makes a cameo appearance at the end of the video.

I Ain’t Ever Satisfied

I was born by the railroad tracksWell the train whistle wailed and I wailed right backWell papa left mama when I was quite youngHe said now “One of these days you’re gonna follow me son”

Woh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohI ain’t ever satisfiedWoh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohI ain’t ever satisfied

Now I had me a woman she was my worldBut I ran off with my back street girlNow my back street woman could not be trueShe left me standin’ on the boulevard thinkin’ ’bout you

I’ve got an empty feeling deep insideI’m going over to the other sideLast night I dreamed I made it to the promise landI was standin’ at the gate and I had the key in my handSaint Peter said “Come on in boy, you’re finally home”I said “No thanks Pete, I’ll just be moving along”

Woh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohI ain’t ever satisfiedWoh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohI ain’t ever satisfied

Led Zeppelin – Dazed And Confused

The writing credit on this song is Jimmy Page but is based on an acoustic song with the same title that Jimmy Page heard folk singer Jake Holmes perform. When Page was a member of The Yardbirds, they played on the same bill with Holmes at the Village Theatre in New York City. Holmes’ version is about an acid trip, but contains many of the same elements that made their way into the Led Zeppelin version: walking bass line, paranoid lyrics and an overall spooky sound.

Led Zeppelin’s version was not credited to Jake Holmes, as Page felt that he changed enough of the melody and added enough new lyrics to escape a plagiarism lawsuit. Well that didn’t work, many years later Jake Holmes sued Zeppelin in 2010 for the song. The suit was “dismissed with prejudice” on January 17, 2012, after an undisclosed settlement between Page and Holmes was reached out of court in the fall of 2011. After that the song was credited “By Page – Inspired by Jake Holmes.”

Jake Holmes was never successful commercially as a singer/songwriter…but you know his work. He wrote many famous jingles, including “Be a All That You Can Be” for the US Army and “Be A Pepper” for Dr. Pepper. He also wrote songs for Frank Sinatra and The Four Seasons.

The Yardbirds played the song in concert, but never recorded a studio version, although they did play it for a BBC taping in March 1968. This was one of the first songs Led Zeppelin recorded. It was released as a single in the US in January 1969, two weeks before the album was issued.

At live shows, Page played this using a violin bow on his guitar. He claimed that he got the idea from a session violinist he worked with who suggested it. Eddie Phillips of the UK band The Creation guitarist pioneered the use of the violin bow on guitar strings, predating Page doing it in The Yardbirds by two years.

The song didn’t chart but the self titled album peaked at #10 on the Billboard Album Charts, #11 in Canada and #6 in the UK in 1969.

Jake Holmes – “We were on the bill with The Yardbirds. We performed it there and blew the place apart with that song, and that’s when Jimmy Page saw it. From what I gather from The Yardbirds, Page sent somebody out to get my album. He did a great job, but he certainly ripped me off.”

Dazed And Confused

Been dazed and confused for so long, it’s not true
Wanted a woman, never bargained for you
Lots of people talk and few of them know
Soul of a woman was created below, yeah

You hurt and abuse, tellin’ all of your lies
Run ’round, sweet baby, Lord, how they hypnotize
Sweet little baby, I don’t know where you’ve been
Gonna love you, baby, here I come again

Every day I work so hard, bringin’ home my hard-earned pay
Try to love you, baby, but you push me away
Don’t know where you’re goin’, only know just where you’ve been
Sweet little baby, I want you again

Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ahh, ah
Ahh, ah, ah, ah, ah
Ahh, ah

Oh yeah, alright, alright
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah

I don’t like when you’re mystifyin’ me
Oh, don’t leave me so confused, now
Whoa, baby

Been dazed and confused for so long, it’s not true
Wanted a woman, never bargained for you
Take it easy, baby, let them say what they will
Tongue wag so much when I sent you the bill
Oh yeah, alright

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, ah, ah, ah, ah

…

Lovin’ Spoonful – Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?

I grew up with a Lovin’ Spoonful Greatest Hits album. Like The Rascals (or Young Rascals) they were primarily a singles band more known for their hits than their albums.

This song was written by John Sebastian. He said he was influenced by a pair of sisters he met at a summer camp where he was a counselor. Neither sister was interested in Sebastian, even though he taught himself the autoharp in an attempt to impress them.

The song did very well peaking at #2 on the Billboard 100, #6 in Canada, and #5 in New Zealand in 1966. A good song by the Lovin’ Spoonful who had a string of hits in the sixties. They had a short window…1966-1969 but they had 14 songs in the Billboard 100. 1 number one and 7 top ten hits.

Their songs are grounded in folk, jug music, and blues. I don’t know if it is possible to be in a bad mood while listening to them. They are now staples on oldies radio stations.

Zal Yanovsky left in 1967 after being dissatisfied with John’s more personal songwriting and a pot conviction. John Sebastion left the group on 1968 and with him gone the hits dried up.

A fun band to listen to. You won’t hear rock operas or rocking solos but you will hear a band that sounds like they are having a good time.

They reunited once in 1979 and for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2000.

As the ’60s drew to a close, The Lovin’ Spoonful disbanded and Sebastian started working on a variety of projects. He wrote music for the Care Bear series, published children’s books, made harmonica instruction videos, and, wrote the theme song to the TV show Welcome Back, Kotter, which was a #1 hit.

Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?

Did you ever have to make up your mind?
And pick up on one and leave the other behind?
It’s not often easy and not often kind
Did you ever have to make up your mind?

Did you ever have to finally decide?
And say yes, to one and let the other one ride?
There’s so many changes and tears you must hide
Did you ever have to finally decide?

Sometimes there’s one with big blue eyes, cute as a bunny
With hair down to here, and plenty of money
And just when you think she’s that one in the world
Your heart gets stolen by some mousy little girl

And then you know you’d better make up your mind
And pick up on one and leave the other behind
It’s not often easy and not often kind
Did you ever have to make up your mind?

Sometimes you really dig a girl the moment you kiss her
And then you get distracted by her older sister
When in walks her father and takes you in line
And says, “Better go on home, son, and make up your mind”

Then you bet you’d better finally decide
And say yes to one and let the other one ride
There’s so many changes and tears you must hide
Did you ever have to finally decide?

Beatles – All My Loving

This is the first song America heard on February 9, 1964, on the Ed Sullivan Show.

I love this song for one big reason. John Lennon plays a hell of a rhythm in the background. He makes it sound so deceptively easy but it’s not. I need to start focusing on some of their earlier music instead of just their late sixties tracks. I have some readers that just like their early stuff and others who like just the mid or later. I love both because it’s the same band… early, middle, or late… both have great melodies but just different tones of instruments.

What is great about the early part is their harmonies. When I played in a band we didn’t do many Beatles songs although they were being requested. If we did we did a later song like Get Back without those harmonies. It takes a band with 2 or better yet 3 singers who can do those harmonies. Not easy to do when you are teen playing instruments at the same time. We stuck with Rolling Stones and CCR songs without the complicated harmonies. Now we couldn’t do I Am The Walrus either because of the craziness of the instruments.

This song was on the first Beatles album I listened to…the American version of With The Beatles named Meet The Beatles with their faces in shadow. We had a clubhouse and my older cousin bought the album and I was hooked…for life. It’s hard not to get hooked by the songs.

On February 9th, 1964, an estimated 73 million viewers watched this much-hyped young Liverpool band perform five songs ‘live’ from CBS-TV Studio 50 in New York City. Capital Records kept rejecting Beatles songs until I Want To Hold Your Hand. A few radio stations started to play the song and soon Capitol realized that they could not reject them anymore. They didn’t like British records and only would release novelty British songs in America. When they started to get behind Meet The Beatles the dam burst.

They chose All My Loving to start the set and made an immediate good first impression and kept that huge television audience tuned in for the whole show. What separated the Beatles from other bands? The thousands of hours they already had under their belt from rocking in Hamburg, The Cavern, and all around Europe. At one point they very well could have had more hours on stage than any other rock band. Another thing was the quantity and more important the quality of the songwriting of the band that would continue to their end.

It’s a Lennon-McCartney song but mostly McCartney. The song peaked at #1 in Canada and New Zealand. It surprisingly only peaked at #45 on the Billboard 100 in 1964.

Paul McCartney: “I don’t know that I was thinking specifically of Jane Asher when I wrote this, though we were courting. It’s probably more of a reflection on what our lives were like then – leaving behind family and friends to go on tour and experience all these new adventures.”

All My Loving

Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you
Tomorrow I’ll miss you
Remember I’ll always be true
And then while I’m away
I’ll write home every day
And I’ll send all my lovin’ to you

I’ll pretend that I’m kissing
The lips I am missing
And hope that my dreams will come true
And then while I’m away
I’ll write home every day
And I’ll send all my lovin’ to you

All my lovin’, I will send to you
All my lovin’, darlin’, I’ll be true

Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you
Tomorrow I’ll miss you
Remember I’ll always be true
And then while I’m away
I’ll write home every day
And I’ll send all my loving to you

All my lovin’, I will send to you
All my lovin’, darlin’, I’ll be true
All my lovin’, all my lovin’
Ooh ooh, all my lovin’, I will send to you

Leonard Nimoy – The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

We all need a laugh sometimes. This is one of the most bizarre songs + videos I’ve ever seen.

Do I have any readers that are Star Trek fans of the original series? The reason I ask is that within a couple of weeks, I’ll be going over every episode like I did with the Twilight Zone. I hope you will enjoy it. There are not many shows you can do that with on a blog but I think Star Trek will work as well as the Twilight Zone.

I just couldn’t resist posting this. One youtube commenter said: I attended a Trek convention with a friend in the 80s. He had a copy of Nimoy’s LP and wanted it autographed. He presented it to Nimoy during the signing event. Nimoy shook his head and said, “God, I thought we burned all of these”, then grudgingly signed it. He lightened up on that stance as the years went by and would sing parts of it at conventions.

It is amusing to see him smile in the video as that rarely happened in Star Trek. I have a question for my readers if you made it this far. At first in the video, it looks like he is wearing the Spock ears but in the middle… it doesn’t look like he is…is he? It’s not the clearest video but worth watching.

The song was written by Charles Randolph Grean. He was best known as the arranger for the Nat King Cole recording of The Christmas Song. In 1950, he wrote “The Thing,” a popular novelty song that reached number one on the charts in a version sung by Phil Harris.

Nimoy has quite the discography. He released 5 albums between 1967 and 1970 plus a compilation in 1993 named Highly Illogical. This song was on the 1968 album Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy.

The song got noticed more after the movie series than it had been during its initial release. It was also on a 1996 15-minute documentary titled Funk Me Up Scotty. The film had been made for BBC’s Star Trek Night. The song gets circulated now pretty regularly.

When asked where the master tapes were in 2003…Leonard Nimoy: “I’m not looking for a wave of Leonard Nimoy Hobbit songs all over the world. I don’t think it’s gonna happen”

Here is Funk Me Up Scotty

(Everyone sing along)

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

In the middle of the earth in the land of the Shire
Lives a brave little hobbit whom we all admire.
With his long wooden pipe,
Fuzzy, woolly toes,
He lives in a hobbit-hole and everybody knows him

Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins
He’s only three feet tall
Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins
The bravest little hobbit of them all

Now hobbits are a peace-lovin’ folks you know
They don’t like to hurry and they take things slow
They don’t like to travel away from home
They just want to eat and be left alone
But one day Bilbo was asked to go
On a big adventure to the caves below,
To help some dwarves get back their gold
That was stolen by a dragon in the days of old.

Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins
He’s only three feet tall
Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins
The bravest little hobbit of them all

Well he fought with the goblins!
He battled a troll!!
He riddled with Gollum!!!
A magic ring he stole!!!!
He was chased by wolves!!
Lost in the forest!!!
Escaped in a barrel from the elf-king’s halls!!!

Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins
The bravest little hobbit of them all

Now he’s back in his hole in the land of the Shire,
That brave little hobbit whom we all admire,
Just a-sittin’ on a treasure of silver and gold
A-puffin’ on his pipe in his hobbit-hole.

Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins
He’s only three feet tall
Bilbo! Bilbo! Bilbo Baggins
The bravest little hobbit of them all

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Suzie Q

This song has one of the most recognizable guitar licks in rock history.

A bar band needing another song to get through the night? This is the one that the guitar player would noodle around and get it and the band could kick in without rehearsing. I saw the clock turn to 3am playing this song many times… if you could see the clock through the smoke. The guitar riff on the original version was created by the then-15-year-old James Burton.

The song took Dale Hawkins and his band three months to perfect the song on the stages throughout the south. He was the original singer of the song and it came out in 1957. The song was credited to Dale Hawkins, Robert Chaisson, Stan Lewis, and Eleanor Broadwater. The song peaked at #24 on the Billboard 100 and #7 on the R&B Charts.

This song is the only top 40 song for CCR not written by John Fogerty. This song started it all for Creedence. After this, they were one of the most successful bands in the world. The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard 100 and #10 in Canada. Fogerty wanted to make their identity with this song.

CCR’s version became popular on the West Coast before it was available on vinyl. The band brought a cassette tape of the song to a San Francisco DJ, who played it in appreciation for the group’s earlier support of a DJ strike. Fantasy records then had to get the single out. The song was on their debut album called Creedence Clearwater Revival released in 1968. It peaked at #52 on the Billboard Album Charts.

The Rolling Stones also covered it on their 1964 12 x 5 album.

John Fogerty: “I knew I needed to work on arranging the song so that the band would sound like Creedence Clearwater Revival, would sound professional, mysterious and also have their own definition. The song I chose was ‘Susie Q.’ I decided not to write the song myself. I decided to pick something that existed because it’d just be easier. I’d be less self-conscious about doing things.”

John Fogerty on hearing it for the first time: “I went crazy and immediately began banging on the dashboard.”

When asked what the rhymes are in the latter part of the song, bass player Stu Cook said, “They were just simple rhymes. John hated it when songwriters used simple rhymes just to make things rhyme, so this was a statement against that. It was sort of anti-Dylan.”

Suzie Q

Oh Susie Q, oh Susie Q
Oh Susie Q baby I love you, Susie Q
I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
Susie Q

Well, say that you’ll be true
Well, say that you’ll be true
Well, say that you’ll be true and never leave me blue, Susie Q

Well, say that you’ll be mine
Well, say that you’ll be mine
Well, say that you’ll be mine, baby all the time, Susie Q

Uh uh
Uh uh
Uh uh
Uh uh

Oh Susie Q, oh Susie Q
Oh Susie Q, baby I love you, Susie Q

I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
I like the way you walk I like the way you talk, Susie Q

Oh Susie Q, oh Susie Q
Oh Susie Q, baby I love you, Susie Q

…

Ranking Beatle Albums

For anyone who has talked to me in person or through the blog…the number one choice is NOT going to be a surprise. The rest of the bunch might be a little but not number 1. It’s also an almost impossible task for me to do this. The Stones albums were easier for me to rank because of the wide selection.

I’ve seen Hanspostcard to this before but I’ve never tried it. Since it would be convoluted to include the American versions…I’m sticking with the UK versions only…except with Magical Mystery Tour. Magical Mystery Tour was released as two eps in the UK but an album in the US…now the album is considered the standard.

I was struck again by how far they came. Please Please Me and four years later I Am The Walrus. Who makes that big of a jump?

As with my Stones list a while back… I will do this on personal preference. When people mention the best Beatle album…many say Revolver or Sgt Pepper. Artistically I always thought Revolver is at the top but not personally.

The only easy selection for me was the bottom two but that doesn’t mean I don’t love them both. Many bands would make a career out of the bottom two. The hardest part was comparing the early albums with the others. That is not all…how do you compare Strawberry Fields with I Want To Hold Your Hand to Something off of Abbey Road?

I have some readers who are pro-early Beatles and some who are pro-middle to late. I’ll take them all. They were innovative to start off with…not just middle to late. I know that many will disagree and I hope you do… that’s the fun of these lists! If I made this tomorrow…only the top pick and the last two would be the same. I have over 40 revisions of this post…yea it was hard.

Yellow Submarine

13. Yellow Submarine (Soundtrack) – This was the dumping ground of the not wanted songs for a while. The Beatles would keep sending songs to this album but just because it was last doesn’t mean it wasn’t any good. The album also had songs from other albums on this one.

Favorite Song – Hey Bulldog

Beatles for Sale

12. Beatles For Sale – The cover tells the story. Beatlemania had worn them down physically and emotionally. Six out of the fourteen songs on the album are cover versions. They were good cover versions but were running low on gas at this point.

Favorite Song – No Reply

Let It Be

11. Let It Be – My love for this album has grown but I’ve always liked it. Lately, it has drawn new fans into the Beatles because of the Get Back film. Why oh why did Phil Spector leave off Don’t Let Me Down? This is another album that I hated to rank as low as I did.

Favorite Song – Two Of Us

Please Please Me

10. Please Please Me – I love this debut album. They recorded most of it in one day… on February 11, 1963. Recording this in one day shows you how well they knew their material. It takes people days just to start on an album…much less get it done. It really hurts to rank this as low as it is.

Favorite Song – Please Please Me

Magical Mystery Tour

9. Magical Mystery Tour – I remember buying this album as a kid I liked it better than Sgt Pepper at the time. Many of the songs had already appeared on singles like Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Hello Goodbye, I Am The Walrus.

Favorite Song – Strawberry Fields Forever

With The Beatles

8. With The Beatles – This album was close to its American counterpart (Meet The Beatles) without I Want To Hold Your Hand. It had many more covers. I think Meet The Beatles could be a little better because it was totally made up of Lennon-McCartney songs with Harrison’s first original song…Don’t Bother Me.

Favorite Song – It Won’t Be Long (one of my favorite Beatles songs of all time)

Help!

7. Help! – For me this album gets underrated and this is where you can start hearing the change between Beatlemania and more mature Beatle music. It opens the door for Rubber Soul and then Revolver.

Favorite Song – The Night Before

Abbey Road

6. Abbey Road – This album has been said to sound more modern than the other Beatles albums. The reason is they recorded on a 16-track recorder just installed at the time in Abbey Road. It was the last album they all worked on together.

Favorite Song – The “mini pop opera” on side B

Sgt Pepper

5. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The most famous album of the Beatles and quite possibly of all time. As John Lennon said it wasn’t really a concept album after the first two tracks and the refrain…it worked because they said it worked. If The Beatles would have included Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane…this could be my number 1.

Favorite Song: perhaps my favorite of all time… A Day In The Life

Rubber Soul

4. Rubber Soul – This was known as their pivotal album. I think Help! was the album that you started to know the change between the early Beatles and mid-Beatles but this one was full-blown. It shows their folk and drug influence with their great melodies.

Favorite Song – In My Life

A Hard Day's Night

3. A Hard Day’s Night (Soundtrack) – I think this is the best album they released during the Beatlemania days and on some days it could be listed even higher. Songs such as the title track, Tell Me Why, I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, Anytime At All, and many more.

Favorite Song – I’ll Cry Instead

Revolver

2. Revolver – I think Revolver is the Beatle’s best album artistically. It’s not the most popular with the masses but it’s a masterpiece of an album. I’m biased but this one or Pet Sounds? I would take Revolver any day of the week…and I love Pet Sounds! It’s as close to a perfect album as you can get.

Favorite Song – Tomorrow Never Knows

The White Album

The Beatles (White Album) – This not only is my favorite Beatles album…but my favorite album of all time. It gives such a wide palette of music… there is something that everyone would like on here somewhere. Unlike Abbey Road or Sgt Pepper…it’s not slick…it’s them playing in a room. I like the well-known songs and I love the album tracks even more. Actually, all are album tracks technically because there were no singles (except for an overseas single) from this album. Songs included Back in the USSR, Helter Skelter, Dear Prudence, Sexy Sadie, Cry Baby Cry, Revolution 1, and so many more.

Favorite Song: Sexy Sadie

Izzy Stradlin And The Ju Ju Hounds – Shuffle It All

I loved this song when it was released. I saw the video before I heard it on the radio. I knew two of the members straight off the bat. Izzy Stradlin was a founding member of Guns N Roses. The other guy I knew was Rick Richards of Georgia Satellites on lead guitar. To round out the band, Jimmy Ashhurst of Broken Homes on bass, and Charlie Quintana on drums.

To my surprise…on the organ was former Faces/Small Faces member Ian McLagan. Ron Wood also played on the album. Another surprise was super session man Nicky Hopkins. Izzy had some big guns playing with him.

Stradlin quit Guns ‘N Roses in 1991 during their hottest period. He moved back to his Indiana town Lafayette and put this band together and wrote the material. The song has a very Stonesy Keith Richards feel to it.

I was surprised, to be honest…I’ve never been a fan of lead singer Axl Rose. I liked Stradlin’s voice much more. I’ve always been a fan of voices that are a little out of the norm. This album was released within a few months of the Black Crowes The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion so the airwaves were full of rootsy blues rock and roll.

The album was self-titled Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds released in 1992…wow has it been that long? The album peaked at #102 on the Billboard Album Charts. They did a huge tour into September of 1993.

Izzy has made 10 solo albums and also two more EP’s with the JuJu Hounds. He refused to rejoin Guns N’Roses in 2016 because they refused to cut the money evenly. He also played with former bandmate Slash in Velvet Revolver.

On quitting Guns N’ Roses he said some of it was due to Axl Rose’s chronic lateness and him being a diva. He was then offered a contract. “This is right before I left – demoting me to some lower position. They were gonna cut my percentage of royalties down. I was like, ‘Fuck you! I’ve been there from Day One. Why should I do that? Fuck you, I’ll go play the Whisky.’ That’s what happened. It was utterly insane.”

Shuffle It All

Boredom saturation
It’s a never ending clue
Isn’t just to fill the time
When there’s nothing else to do

She drove on out of New York
She had enough insane
And drivin’ just though Texas two days
She ended up in L.A.

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Shuffle it all
Pack up your life again

A pile of records spread out
The covers still look good
Picture here a Peter Tosh’s
startin’ down and a smokin’ wood

My dog dreaming is running
I see him twitch a paw
My woman playing Dr. Mario
On the TV all night long

Just another cigarette
Staring at the moon, yeah
Then I’m headin’ off to bed
Sleepin’ without you, yeah

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Pack up your bags again

It’s a long and winding road
Sure enjoy the view, yeah
If you want to see it
Just slow down
You’re so welcome to come along

Lookin’ for a tune to play
I’m gonna see it again
When the day is over
Try to write you ’bout the rain

Feel the motors winding on
There ain’t no news
If you see those old friends out there
Tell them that I send my love

Wake up, time to leave again
Try to find my shoes
Put the luggage in the van
Roll up your Doctor Dolittle

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Shuffle it all
Pack up your things again
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Pack up your life again

Keep on shufflin’

Orange Humble Band – Down In Your Dreams…. Power Pop Friday

Bruce from Vinyl Connection referred me to this song after The Stems post I did last week. I liked it the minute I heard it. This song was off of an EP called Down in Your Dreams released in 1998.

This band at one time or another included Darryl Mather, Mitch Easter, Ken Stringfellow, Jody Stephens, Bill Smith, Jon Auer, Dave Smith, and Rick Steff.

You may recognize some of those names. Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer were in the Posies and the later Big Star with Alex Chilton, Mitch Easter was the producer of R.E.M. and a member of Let’s Active. Darryl Mather was in the Australian band Lime Spiders.

Mather along with his bassist friend Bill Gibson formed this band in 1994 in Australia. The band released 3 albums… Assorted Creams (1997), Humblin’ (Across America) (2001) and Depressing Beauty (2015). They had one EP and that would be this one and two singles named Apple Green Slice Cut and Any Way You Want It.

I’ve dived into their catalog and song after song shows different styles and really likable music. I would strongly suggest you checking this band out. Plus…what a cool name!

Down In Your Dreams

Sorry…I could NOT find the lyrics.

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