David Bowie – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Fanny

I want to thank Lisa for inviting me to write for her Women Music March. She posted this on March 20, 2025. She has been doing this for years and it gets better and better. Thanks, Lisa! She has had some great artists this month.

Joe Elliott: “I had no idea who they were, but this four minutes of music, and I was hooked.”

Kathy Valentine: They made 5 records. The Go Gos get a lot of attention for what we did and we only made 3 records.

Earl Slick: It’s always the ones that start it gets f**ked

David Bowie: They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time, they were extraordinary: They wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time.

When you hear about an all-female band…the Bangles, Runaways, and Go-Go’s come to mind but this band was completely different. These women rocked…not pop-rock but some hard blues rock. They were pioneers and had a huge impact on those other female bands, and those bands all cited Fanny as an influence.

They had a blues edge about them and weren’t as commercial. They never got that one big hit single to break them to the masses. They had a few songs with a pop flavor that really should have made it, such as All Mine… that would get my vote.

Early Life and Musical Beginnings:

They were formed in the late sixties in Sacramento by two Filipina sisters (their family left the Philippines in 1961 while kids), Jean and June Millington. June Millington was the lead guitar player and her sister Jean was the bass player. They started out in high school with the name The Svelts and then Wild Honey but the band was then renamed Fanny, not with a sexual connotation but to denote a female spirit.

Career

Fanny released their self-titled debut album in 1970, making them one of the first all-female bands to be signed to a major label and record a full album with complete creative control. Their blend of rock, funk, blues, and pop set them apart. They would be the first all-female band to release an album on a major label (Reprise) and land four singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and two in the top 40.

Like any other band, they had to pay their dues. They opened up for artists such as Jethro Tull, Humble Pie, Slade, Leon Russell, Van Morrison, Chuck Berry, Deep Purple, and many more. When you are opening for artists of that caliber, you are very good. Their range was incredible. They played on Barbra Streisand’s 1971 album Barbra Joan Streisand. So they could play almost anything.

They went on to release an album every year from 1970 to 1974, making it 5 studio albums in total in the 1970s, while touring relentlessly. By their third album,m Mother’s Pride, guitarist June Millington quit after it was released because she felt restrained by the band. After some changes, with her sister Jean still playing bass, the band released their last 1970s album, Rock and Roll Survivors. The album contained their highest charting single with Butter Boy, which charted at #29.

Fanny broke up in 1975, reunited in 2018, and released an album titled Fanny Walked the Earth. I simply adore these women because they could keep up with anyone in any field. One night Deep Purple missed a gig and Fanny filled in for them for that night without complaints.

Discography: (wiki)

Studio Albums

Fanny (1970)
Charity Ball (1971) (No. 150)
Fanny Hill (1972) (No. 135)
Mothers Pride (1973)
Rock and Roll Survivors (1974)
Fanny Walked the Earth (2018, as Fanny Walked the Earth)

Live Albums

Fanny Live (1998; recorded 1972) (reissued as Fanny: Live in 1972)
Live on Beat-Club ’71-’72 (2024)

Singles

“Ladies’ Choice” / “New Day” (1970)
“Nowhere to Run” / “One Step at a Time” (1970)
“Changing Horses” / “Conversation with a Cop” (January 1971)
“Charity Ball” / “Place in the Country” (September 1971) (No. 40)
“Ain’t That Peculiar” / “Think About the Children” (March 1972) (No. 85)
“Wonderful Feeling” / “Rock Bottom Blues” (July 1972)
“Young and Dumb” / “Knock on My Door” (October 1972)
“All Mine” / “I Need You Need Me” (January 1973)
“Last Night I Had a Dream” / “Beside Myself” (April 1973)
“I’ve Had It” / “From Where I Stand” (June 1974) (No. 79)
“Butter Boy” / “Beggar Man” (January 1975) (No. 29)

In recent years, Fanny has participated in reunion events, introducing their songs to new audiences. These performances have served both as a tribute to their historical impact and as a celebration of their music. They have a documentary out…watch it! It’s called FANNY: The Right To Rock that I placed at the top.

…

Vince Taylor – Brand New Cadillac

How you find new music can sometimes be surprising. I was looking for a guy with the nickname of Prince Stash, his name is Stanislaus Klossowski de Rola. He hung out with a lot of sixties rock stars and I found out he played in Vince Taylor’s band. I started to listen to Vince Taylor and his rockabilly is really good. I knew I heard his name before and it was when I covered the Clash’s version of this song.

Vince was born in England but his family emigrated to the United States in the early 1950s, settling in New Jersey, where Taylor was exposed to the new rock and roll scene. While living here he became exposed to the greats like Presley, Little Richard, and Gene Vincent. In the late 1950s, Taylor returned to the UK, where he adopted the stage name Vince Taylor inspired by American culture. It was probably the smart thing to do at the time. The UK treated the 50s rock stars much better than America did.

Brand New Cadillac was released in 1959. It was the B side to a song called Pledging My Love. Taylor wrote the song but Tony Sheridan is credited with the cool guitar riff running through the song. The song’s riff reminds me of the original Batman riff…or really the other way around.

In the mid-sixties, he and his band The Playboys co-headlined a tour with the Rolling Stones with “Prince Stash” Stanislaus Klossowski de Rola playing percussion. Jimmy Page and others were also at one time part of the Playboys. I’ve been reading about his live performances and watching some concert footage…and he was a hell of a performer. I can see why he built a following for his live performances.

Bowie has said that Vince Taylor was a huge influence on Ziggy Stardust. He said in the early seventies his name was coming up again as in Golden Earring’s song “Just Like Vince Taylor.”

Taylor had some problems with drugs in the sixties and his career started to go downhill as he became unstable. In the 1970s, he briefly attempted comebacks in Europe, but he could not recapture his earlier success. He lived a nomadic life, working odd jobs, including as a mechanic in Switzerland.

He passed away in 1991 from cancer.

David Bowie: “I met him in Gioconda one day and the guy was right out of his tree. I mean, this guy was bonkers, absolutely the genuine article. I can’t remember if he said he was an alien or the Son of God but he might have been a bit of both. And then one time we were on Tottenham Court Road… He dragged out this world map and we were crouching on all fours outside Tottenham Court Road Tube Station and he was showing me where all the aliens had their bases throughout: under the Arctic and in this mountain… And business people stepping over our map. I think: what the hell am I doing in the middle of Russia with this bonkers American looking at the map of the world and I thought there’s something in this, I’m gonna remember this. This is just too good.”

Clips of Taylor live

Brand New Cadillac

Well my baby drove off in a brand new Cadillac
Ooh, my baby drove off in a brand new Cadillac
Well she looked at me, daddy, I ain’t never comin’ back

I said baby-baby-baby won’t you listen to me
Come on sugar, come on hear my plea
Well she looked at my Ford, we’ll never agree
Cadillac car! Oh yeah!

Well the Caddy’s rollin’ and going ’bout ninety-five
Well the Caddy’s rollin’ and going ’bout ninety-five
Well me and my Ford, we’re right by here side

I said baby-baby-baby won’t you listen to me
Come on baby, come on hear my plea
Turn that big car around, come on back to me
Hangin’ on Scotty, here we go!

Well my baby took off in a brand new Cadillac
Ooh, my baby took off in a brand new Cadillac
Well she looked at me, daddy, I ain’t never comin’ back

I ain’t never comin’ back
I ain’t never comin’ back
I ain’t never comin’ back

…

Bing Crosby & David Bowie – Peace On Earth / The Little Drummer Boy

I love unions like this…I will start to have some holiday posts mixed in on the way to Christmas as a second post like this one. In 1977 Bowie released his album Low at the beginning of the year and he toured as Iggy Pop’s keyboardist that year.

I know what I was doing on November 30, 1977. I was watching Merrie Olde Christmas special as a kid. I didn’t appreciate the weirdness of the combination of Bing Crosby and David Bowie at the time. Something that the seventies did well…was to intersect generations on variety shows. This one was a great combination.

This special had guest stars Twiggy, David Bowie, Ron Moody, Stanley Baxter, and The Trinity Boys Choir. It was the duet with Bing Crosby and David Bowie that has been remembered. I remember watching this knowing that Bing Crosby had died the month earlier. The duet was taped on September 11, 1977, and Crosby died on October 14, 1977.

David Bowie’s mother was a huge Bing Crosby fan and Bing Crosby’s children were big David Bowie fans…so the two agreed to sing together. It was questionable at first if it would work out.

Mary Crosby: “The doors opened and David walked in with his wife, They were both wearing full-length mink coats, they have matching full makeup and their hair was bright red. We were thinking, ‘Oh my god.'” Nathaniel Crosby, Bing’s son, added: “It almost didn’t happen. I think the producers told him to take the lipstick off and take the earring out. It was just incredible to see the contrast.”

Another possible hitch happened with Bowie. He didn’t like The Little Drummer Boy and refused to sing it. The writers then wrote a revised version of the song that he liked. They wrote a counterpart section for Bowie to sing. Crosby liked the challenge of his part. The rest is history and one of the most unusual pairings you will ever see…

One funny part is Bowie’s idea of “older fellas” at the time is John Lennon and Harry Nilsson.

Here is the complete show if you want to give it a try

The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)

Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Our finest gifts we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum

[Verse 2: Bowie and Crosby]
Peace on Earth can it be?
Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Years from now, perhaps we’ll see?
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day of glory
Our finest gift we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day, when men of good will
To lay before the king pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, Rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
So to honour him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Can it be
When we come

[Bridge: Bowie and Crosby in unison]
Every child must be made aware
Every child must be made to care
Care enough for his fellow man
To give all the love that he can

[Verse 4: Bowie and Crosby]
I pray my wish will come true
Little baby pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
For my child and your child too
I stood beside him there pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
He’ll see the day of glory
I played my drum for him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day when men of good will
I played my best for him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
Me and my drum
Can it be

Can it be

David Bowie – Moonage Daydream

I like all the eras of the ever-changing David Bowie but his early to mid-seventies is my favorite. Love this song with its loud intro with Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. I knew a lot of his music as a kid because my sister liked Ziggy Stardust.

It was on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars released in 1972. Read that review if you have time…the album was one of his best to me. He wrote the song after meeting Fred Burrett a fashion designer in the early 70s. The album peaked at #5 in the UK, #21 on the Billboard Album Charts, #20 in New Zealand, and #59 on the Canadian Charts.

The original version of Moonage Daydream was released in 1971 under the name Arnold Corns, a side project Bowie used to test new material. Bowie formed Arnold Corns in early 1971. The name was inspired by the Pink Floyd song Arnold Layne. He combined Fred Burrett and Arnold Corns and wrote songs for the test band.

From Wiki…Arnold Corns included: David Bowie, Freddie Burretti (he changed his name), Mick Ronson, Mark Carr-Pritchard, Trevor Bolder, and Mick Woodmansey.

This song helped inspire Jack and Meg White to form The White Stripes. Jack was playing it on guitar and Meg started to play along and they formed their band.

Moonage Daydream

I’m an alligator, I’m a mama-papa coming for you
I’m the space invader, I’ll be a rock ‘n’ rollin’ bitch for you
Keep your mouth shut, you’re squawking like a pink monkey bird
And I’m busting up my brains for the words

Keep your ‘lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah

Don’t fake it, baby, lay the real thing on me
The church of man, love, is such a holy place to be
Make me baby, make me know you really care
Make me jump into the air

Keep your ‘lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah

Freak out, far out, in out

…

Fanny – Charity Ball

Bonnie Raitt: Fanny was the first all woman rock band that could really play and get some credibility within the musician community.

When people think of female rock bands, this band doesn’t come up much but should. The usual suspects are the Go-Go’s, Bangles, and Runaways because they had more commercial success. The Runaways had more after they broke up.

Out of those three bands, The Runaways resembled more of a “rock band” but the talent level wasn’t up to these ladies. The other two had their moments but were mostly top-40 pop-rock bands…nothing wrong with that. There have been a few all-female rock bands (not enough) but this one…to me is the most talented one I’ve heard. They were not a “girl group”…they were a full-fledged rock band.

Fanny was formed in the late sixties in Sacramento by two Filipina sisters, Jean and June Millington. Fanny would be the first all-female band to release an album on a major label (their self-titled debut, on Reprise, 1970) and land four singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and two in the top 40. The band played blues, rock, and some pop.

David Bowie, who wrote the band a fan letter in the early 1970s – and two decades later in a Rolling Stone interview was still talking about how criminally overlooked they were. Bowie said: “They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time, revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done.”

They never got that one big hit single to break them to the masses. They had a few songs with a pop flavor that really should have made it such as All Mine… that would get my vote. Fanny broke up in 1975, reunited in 2018, and released an album titled Fanny Walked the Earth. I simply adore these women because they could rock.

The album Charity Ball peaked at #150 on the Billboard Album Charts. The title cut peaked at #40 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1971.

They have a documentary out called Fanny: The Right To Rock.

Joe Elliott: “I had no idea who they were, but this four minutes of music, and I was hooked.”

Kathy Valentine: They made 5 records. The Go Gos get a lot of attention for what we did and we only made 3 records.

Earl Slick: It’s always the ones that start it gets f**ked

Charity Ball

Dance, ooh, stand, oohMove to charity ballDance, ooh, stand, oohMove to charity ball

Get the musicians readyGet them good and hot, good and hot, wooStand and deliverGive ’em everything you’ve gotYou got my number

Charity ballOoh, stand, oohMove to charity ballDance, ooh, stand, oohMove to charity ball

Come on and grab a partnerWe’re gonna roll ’till the break of dawnAnd I need youI need youI need youOh, charity ball

Oh yeah, now I’m ready (I wanna be there)Yes, I’m ready (I wanna be there)Oh, I’m ready (I wanna be there)Charity ball

Oh, I’m ready (I wanna be there)(I wanna be there)(I wanna be there)

…

Velvet Underground – I’m Waiting For The Man

When I think of The Velvet Underground… the bands Big Star and The Replacements come up. Those three bands influenced a huge range of other bands but didn’t come along at the right time to make it themselves. They never had mainstream success but their music lives on with every 15-year-old guitar player that picks up one of their albums.

Ask Peter Buck, Paul Westerberg, Paul Stanley, and Rick Nielsen, about some of their influences. The Underground would come up and Big Star… In the 90s performers such as Kurt Cobain and Green Day were heavily influenced by The Replacements. Ok, I’ll step off of my soapbox now.

While the West Coast bands at the time had songs about free love and romanticized the psychedelic experience… The Velvet Underground was more about New York’s dirty streets and drug addictions.

It’s no big secret what this song is about. Waiting for his drug dealer to come. The song is about scoring $26 worth of heroin in Harlem. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Reed said: “Everything about that song holds true, except the price.” The place where the deal took place is a Harlem brownstone near the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street to buy drugs from a dealer.

The song was released in 1967 on The Velvet Underground & Nico album. Songs like “I’m Waiting For The Man,” “Heroin,” and “Venus In Furs” were what kept The Velvet Underground out of a record contract with Atlantic Records. Atlantic executive Ahmet Ertegun told them he would take them if they would drop those songs about drugs…they refused. They would eventually (1970) sign with Cotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records that specialized in blues and Southern soul). Until then they were signed to Verve Records…subsidiary of MGM.

Lou Reed wrote this song. John Cale who played piano and bass guitar started to push Reed into more avant grade directions. You can hear Cale’s influence on Reed by listening to the demo version. It sounds like a traditional blues song. I have it at the bottom also above the studio version. The versions are night and day.

The album peaked at #129 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #43 in the UK in 1967.

David Bowie: “I actually played ‘Waiting for the Man’ in Britain with my band before the album was even released in America. Talk about oneupsmanship. A friend of mine came over to the states to do some work with Andy Warhol at The Factory, and as he was leaving, Andy said, ‘Oh, I just made this album with some people. Maybe you can take it back to England and see if you can get any interest over there.’ And it was still the vinyl test pressing. It hadn’t got a company or anything at the time. I still have it. There’s a white label on it, and it says ‘Warhol.’ He signed it. My friend gave it to me and he said, ‘This is crap. You like weird stuff, so maybe you’ll enjoy it.’ I played it and it was like ‘Ah, this is the future of music!’ I was in awe. It was serious and dangerous and I loved it. And I literally went into a band rehearsal the next day, put the album down and said, ‘We’re going to learn this song. It is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.’ We learned ‘Waiting for the Man’ right then and there, and we were playing it on stage within a week. I told Lou that, and he loved it. I must have been the first person in the world to cover a Velvet Underground song.”

The DEMO version

I’m Waiting For the Man

I’m waiting for my man
Twenty-six dollars in my hand
Up to Lexington, 125
Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive
I’m waiting for my man

Hey, white boy, what you doin’ uptown?
Hey, white boy, you chasin’ our women around?
Oh pardon me sir, it’s the furthest from my mind
I’m just lookin’ for a dear, dear friend of mine
I’m waiting for my man

Here he comes, he’s all dressed in black
PR shoes and a big straw hat
He’s never early, he’s always late
First thing you learn is you always gotta wait
I’m waiting for my man

Up to a Brownstone, up three flights of stairs
Everybody’s pinned you, but nobody cares
He’s got the works, gives you sweet taste
Ah then you gotta split because you got no time to waste
I’m waiting for my man

Baby don’t you holler, darlin’ don’t you bawl and shout
I’m feeling good, you know I’m gonna work it on out
I’m feeling good, I’m feeling oh so fine
Until tomorrow, but that’s just some other time
I’m waiting for my man

David Bowie – The Jean Genie

I love the rawness of this song and performance. I’m convinced there is no style that Bowie could not do. Since I posted his friend Iggy Pop this morning I thought I would post this Bowie song. I love this song because of its rawness and energy…I’m not surprised that it was recorded in the 1st take.

The two main influences for this song were said to be Iggy Pop and Cyrinda Foxe. Many of the lyrics reflect Iggy Pop’s lifestyle and stage antics. Cyrinda Foxe was an actress who starred in commercials for Jean Genie jeans. Legend has it that Bowie wrote this in Foxe’s apartment to entertain her. Foxe would appear in the song’s official video alongside Bowie.

The song was on Bowie’s album Aladdin Sane which was released in 1973. The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard Album Charts, #20 on the Canadian Charts, and #1 on the UK Charts in 1973. Bowie was prolific during this period. He would release another album Pin Ups later in the year. Here is a review of the Aladdin Sane from The Press Music Reviews. Whenever I want to look up anything Bowie I go to that blog.

The Jean Genie was the first song recorded for the album. It’s believed to have emerged from a jam on board the Spiders From Mars’ Greyhound tour bus, as they traveled between Cleveland and Memphis on 23 September 1972. It originally had the working title ‘Bussin”, and originated after Mick Ronson began playing the central riff on his new Les Paul guitar.

This song was released in 1972 and peaked at #2 in the UK, #71 on the Billboard 100, and #75 in Canada.

David Bowie: “Starting out as a lightweight riff thing I had written one evening in NY for Cyrinda’s enjoyment, I developed the lyric to the otherwise wordless pumper and it ultimately turned into a bit of a smorgasbord of imagined Americana … based on an Iggy-type persona. The title, of course, was a clumsy pun upon Jean Genet.”

David Bowie: “I wanted to get the same sound the Stones had on their very first album on the harmonica. I didn’t get that near to it, but it had a feel that I wanted – that ’60s thing.”

The Jean Genie

A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city
Strung out on lasers and slash-back blazers
Ate all your razors while pulling the waiters
Talking ’bout Monroe and walking on Snow White
New York’s a go-go, and everything tastes right
Poor little Greenie, ooh-ooh

Keep her comin’
The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls (Jean Genie)
Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoah

Sits like a man but he smiles like a reptile
She love him, she love him but just for a short while
She’ll scratch in the sand, won’t let go his hand
He says he’s a beautician and sells you nutrition
And keeps all your dead hair for making up underwear
Poor little Greenie, ooh-ooh

The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls (Jean Genie)
Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoah

He’s so simple-minded, he can’t drive his module
He bites on the neon and sleeps in a capsule
Loves to be loved, loves to be loved

Oh, Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls (Jean Genie)
Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoah

Go!
Go!

The Jean Genie lives on his back
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls (Jean Genie)
Jean Genie, let yourself go, whoah

Go, go go!

Max Picks …songs from 1983

After this year, my fandom with The Replacements and REM began to accelerate because of the top 40. There is still some great top 40 coming but alternative music started to make more of an impression on me.

1983

U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday – Of all the U2 songs this one is probably on the top of my list right beside Angel of Harlem. The drum pattern sounds like they are marching off to battle. It’s raw and you can hear the conviction in what Bono is singing. The Edge’s guitar is crunchy and perfect. The drum beat was composed by Larry Mullen Jr. It was recorded in a staircase of their Dublin recording studio because producer Steve Lillywhite was trying to get a full sound with natural reverb.

“Bloody Sunday” was a term given to an incident, which took place on 30th January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland where British Soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians who were peacefully protesting against Operation Demetrius. Thirteen were killed outright, while another man lost his life four months later due to injuries. It was reported that many of the victims who were fleeing the scene were shot at point-blank range.

The first person to have addressed these events musically was John Lennon who composed “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and released it on his third Solo album “Sometime In New York City”. His version of the song directly expresses his anger towards the massacre

David Bowie – Modern Love – This was my favorite song off of the Let’s Dance album released in 1983.

Stevie Ray Vaughan played guitar on this song. Bowie asked him to play on the Let’s Dance album after seeing him perform at a music festival.

David Bowie and Nile Rodgers wrote this song. Modern Love peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #2 in the UK, and #6 in New Zealand in 1983. The album was also produced by Bowie and Rodgers.

Nile Rodgers said that Bowie came into his apartment one day and showed him a photograph of Little Richard in a red suit getting into a bright red Cadillac, saying “Nile, darling, that’s what I want my album to sound like.”

How cool is that?

John Mellencamp – Pink Houses -I remember this song well but I also remember the MTV giveaway contest “Paint The Mutha Pink”. Oh yes, you could win a free house in Indiana where Mellencamp was from…a pink one of course! MTV got a good deal on the first house…20,000 dollars…there was a reason for that. It was across the street from a toxic dump. MTV then had to get another house and they finally did and gave it away. Susan Miles won the house along with a pink jeep and a garage full of Hawaiian Punch…not sure how that factored in.

According to a 1991 article in the Herald times online, it turned out that Susan Miles had only kept the house long enough to reap some tax advantages from owning a property. She never actually lived in the house. She went back to Bellevue, Washington after the contest was over.

Inspiration for this song came when Mellencamp was driving on Interstate 65 in Indianapolis. As described in the first verse, he saw a black man sitting in a lawn chair just watching the road. The image stuck with Mellencamp, who wasn’t sure if the man should be pitied because he was desolate, or admired. After all, he was happy.

MTV Contest

Big Country – Big Country – I love the drums in this song…they are so BIG…no pun intended. In America, this was their only song that hit big. Stuart Adamson was inspired to write “In A Big Country” after hearing what producer Steve Lillywhite was able to achieve on Big Country’s “Fields of Fire” single.

I thought this had bagpipes in it but it doesn’t. The guitarist, Stuart Adamson, used a technique called the “e-bow” to achieve the sound that resembles bagpipes. This technique involves using a handheld electronic device to vibrate the guitar strings, creating a sustained, bagpipe-like sound. For almost all of their music, Big Country was an all-guitar band.

Van Halen – Jump – This song was unusual for Van Halen because of the Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer. Roth didn’t want to use it because he was afraid people would look at it as selling out to get a record in the charts. ZZ Top was doing the same thing at the time.

Eddie wanted to use it and had written the riff in 1981. Songfacts said: 1984 was David Lee Roth’s last album with Van Halen before he left the band in 1985; the video for “Jump” inflamed the tensions that led to his departure. The video was produced by Robert Lombard, who wanted to show the personal side of the band on stage. Roth, however, wanted the performance intercut with footage of him in various hedonistic pursuits, so they shot him doing things like riding a motorcycle and getting arrested while wearing nothing but a towel. Lombard edited the video and used none of the extra Roth footage, taking it to Eddie and Alex for approval. Two days later, the band’s manager fired him for bypassing Roth; Lombard says he never received the award the video won from MTV.

David Bowie & Bing Crosby – Peace On Earth / The Little Drummer Boy

Merry Christmas Everyone!

David Bowie’s mother was a huge Bing Crosby fan and Bing Crosby’s children were big David Bowie fans…so the two agreed to sing together. It was questionable at first if it would work out.

One funny part is Bowie’s idea of “older fellas” at the time is John Lennon and Harry Nilsson.

Here is the complete show if you want to give it a try

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVdfv4tWfr4

The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)

Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Our finest gifts we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum

[Verse 2: Bowie and Crosby]
Peace on Earth can it be?
Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Years from now, perhaps we’ll see?
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day of glory
Our finest gift we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day, when men of good will
To lay before the king pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, Rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
So to honour him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Can it be
When we come

[Bridge: Bowie and Crosby in unison]
Every child must be made aware
Every child must be made to care
Care enough for his fellow man
To give all the love that he can

[Verse 4: Bowie and Crosby]
I pray my wish will come true
Little baby pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
For my child and your child too
I stood beside him there pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
He’ll see the day of glory
I played my drum for him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day when men of good will
I played my best for him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
Me and my drum
Can it be

Can it be

Max Picks …songs from 1977

1977

This is the year I became aware of sports, news, and politics. This year is an eclectic bunch of songs. You have punk, reggae, pub rock, rock, and pop/rock.

I didn’t get into the Sex Pistols at the time they came out. They were not as big over here as they were in the UK. I did find them later on. I can’t say I’m a huge fan but I do recognize the importance of the Punk rock movement… and they stirred up the rock music industry when it needed stirring up.

This was originally called “No Future.” The band played it live and recorded a demo version with that title, but changed it when lead singer Johnny Rotten got the idea to mock the British monarchy.

I got into Bob Marley and the Wailers a little later but better late than never. Jammin’ is on their ninth studio album Exodus. In Jamaica, the word “jamming” refers to getting together for a celebration. Although it can also mean an impromptu musical session.

Marley wrote the song in exile in Nassau after the 1976 attempt on his life.

The song was written by David Bowie and Brian Eno and was on the Heroes album released in 1977. After burnout because of touring Bowie moved to Berlin and rented a cheap apartment above an auto-repair shop, which is where he wrote the album.

I was walking through a drug store in the late seventies as a kid and I saw this album cover…I thought what??? another person named Elvis? Who is this skinny guy? While at the drug store, the guy was playing this album and I heard Alison… That was the first thing I ever heard from Elvis. The album peaked at #32 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1978. His songs were different than a lot of the radio hits of the day…with different, I mean better.

Fleetwood Mac released Rumours and it was the album of the year. An incredible four singles were pulled off of this album plus the other songs that would become FM classics. Personally, my favorite two are Second Hand News and Never Going Back Again but I do like Go Your On Way.

Lindsey Buckingham showed that less was more in this solo…he used very few notes and used sustain.

David Bowie – Drive-In Saturday

Like Neil Young, The Beatles, and a few others…Bowie could and would change his music direction on a dime and still be commercially successful. Personally, I liked his glam period the best but I liked all of them. He would venture into soul music, experimental music, dance music, pop music, stripped-down rock with Tin Machine, and the list goes on.

Not only was he a great singer and musician but he was also a very good actor. He appeared in such movies as The Man Who Fell To Earth, Labyrinth, The Last Temptation of Christ, and more.

I love this song and Bowie’s glam rock period. It hit high in the charts in the UK but was not released as a single in America or Canada. It peaked at #3 in the UK in 1973. The song was on the album Aladdin Sane which peaked at #1 in the UK, #17 on the Billboard Album Charts and #20 in Canada. Here is a review of the album from The Press Music Reviews.

Bowie had written Mott The Hoople’s greatest hit All The Young Dudes and he wrote this for them as a follow-up. They rejected it so he took it for himself. He said it was influenced by the landscape between Seattle and Phoenix, Arizona on his 1972 tour. Just a few hours after he wrote it he performed it on that 72 tour.

In the song, he referenced some famous people like Mick Jagger, Carl Jung, and Twiggy. Twiggy would later appear on the cover of his album Pin-Ups. The song has an unusual storyline… In the future, nuclear war has caused humanity to forget how to have sex and they have to relearn seduction techniques from old films.

Before he played the new song he told the audience this: This is the bit where all the people with the tape recorders have to leave, because I’m gonna do a new number and you mustn’t record it…. I’ll tell you where we wrote this. We wrote this from Phoenix down to Seattle—no, see, it’s the other way around, isn’t it—from Seattle down to Phoenix, and it was about the future, and it’s about a future where people have forgotten how to make love, so they go back onto video-films that they have kept from this century. This is after a catastrophe of some kind, and some people are living on the streets and some people are living in domes, and they borrow from one another and try to learn how to pick up the pieces. And it’s called “Drive-In Saturday.”

Drive-In Saturday

(Uh uh ah) Let me put my arms around your head
(Dom do ah) Gee, it’s hot, let’s go to bed
Don’t forget to turn on the light
Don’t laugh babe, it’ll be alright
(Dom do ah) Pour me out another phone
(Dom do ah) I’ll ring and see if your friends are home
Perhaps the strange ones in the dome
Can lend us a book we can read up alone

And try to get it on like once before
When people stared in Jagger’s eyes and scored
Like the video films we saw

His name was always buddy (got got do ah aah aah)
And he’d shrug and ask to stay
She’d sigh like twig the wonder kid (got got do ah)
And turn her face away

She’s uncertain if she likes him (got got do ah aah aah)
But she knows she really loves him
It’s a crash course for the ravers (got got do ah)
It’s a drive-in Saturday

Jung the foreman prayed at work (dom do ah)
Neither hands nor limbs would burst
It’s hard enough to keep formation with this fall out saturation

(Bah dom bah) cursing at the astronette
(Dom do ah) who stands in steel by his cabinet
He’s crashing out with Sylvian
The bureau supply for aging men
With snorting head he gazes to the shore
Once had raised a sea that raged no more
Like the video films we saw

His name was always buddy (got got do ah aah aah)
And he’d shrug and ask to stay
She’d sigh like twig the wonder kid (got got do ah)
And turn her face away

She’s uncertain if she likes him (got got do ah aah aah)
But she knows she really loves him
It’s a crash course for the ravers (got got do ah)
It’s a drive-in Saturday

His name was always buddy (got got do ah aah aah)
And he’d shrug and ask to stay
She’d sigh like twig the wonder kid (got got do ah)
And turn her face away

She’s uncertain if she likes him (got got do ah aah aah)
But she knows she really loves him
It’s a crash course for the ravers (got got do ah)
It’s a drive-in Saturday, yeah, yeah

(Drive-in Saturday)
(It’s a drive-in Saturday)
(It’s a drive-in Saturday)
(It’s a drive-in Saturday)
It’s a, it’s a, it’s a drive in Saturday (It’s a drive-in Saturday)
It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir,
Yes sir
(It’s a drive-in Saturday) dom do do do, dom do do do
(It’s a drive-in Saturday) dom do do da, dom do do da
(It’s a drive-in Saturday) yes sir
(It’s a drive-in Saturday)

Favorite Rock Lyrics 3

I again took all of your suggestions and now we have a post that we made together. Thank you for all of the suggestions. I usually don’t repeat artists on one post but we had 3 Neil Young requests…I used two and the other one will be on the next.

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose, And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free… Janis Joplin/Kris Kristofferson

Met myself a coming county welfare line, I was feeling strung out, Hung out on the line…Creedence Clearwater Revival

He’d end up blowing all his wages for the week / All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek…Kinks

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see…The Beatles

As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes. And say, Do you want to make a deal?…Bob Dylan

Set my compass north, I got winter in my blood… The Band

And the sign said, The words of the prophets, are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls… Simon and Garfunkel

They say that Cain caught Abel rolling loaded dice,
ace of spades behind his ear and him not thinking twice…Grateful Dead

When I said that I was lying, I might have been lying…Elvis Costello

Though nothing will keep us together/We can be heroes/Just for one day…David Bowie

It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out of here to win…Bruce Springsteen

The motor cooled down, the heat went down, and that’s when I heard that highway sound…Chuck Berry

We were the first band to vomit at the bar, and find the distance to the stage too far…The Who

Shule, shule, shule-a-roo, Shule-a-rak-shak, shule-a-ba-ba-cooWhen I saw my Sally Babby Beal, Come bibble in the boo shy Lorey… Peter, Paul, and Mary

But then one night at the lobby of the Commodore Hotel, I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well, And as he handed me a drink he began to hum a song, And all the boys there, at the bar, began to sing along…Little Feat

But me I’m not stopping there got my own row left to hoe; just another line in the field of time… Neil Young

You are like a hurricane there’s calm in your eye and I’m getting’ blown away…Neil Young

When I was young the radio played just for me, it saved me… Roddy Frame

…

Bing Crosby & David Bowie – Peace On Earth / The Little Drummer Boy

David Bowie’s mother was a huge Bing Crosby fan and Bing Crosby’s children were big David Bowie fans…so the two agreed to sing together. It was questionable at first if it would work out.

One funny part is Bowie’s idea of “older fellas” at the time is John Lennon and Harry Nilsson.

Here is the complete show if you want to give it a try

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXLjV8j-0Nc

The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)

Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Our finest gifts we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum

[Bridge: Bowie and Crosby in unison]
Every child must be made aware
Every child must be made to care
Care enough for his fellow man
To give all the love that he can

Can it be

Bing Crosby & David Bowie – Peace On Earth / The Little Drummer Boy

I know what I was doing on November 30, 1977. I was watching Merrie Olde Christmas special as a kid. I didn’t appreciate the weirdness of the combination of Bing Crosby and David Bowie at the time. Something that the seventies did well and sometimes bad…was to intersect generations on variety shows. This one was a good combination.

David Bowie’s mother was a huge Bing Crosby fan and Bing Crosby’s children were big David Bowie fans…so the two agreed to sing together. It was questionable at first if it would work out.

Mary Crosby: “The doors opened and David walked in with his wife,” she recalled. “They were both wearing full-length mink coats, they have matching full makeup and their hair was bright red. We were thinking, ‘Oh my god.'” Nathaniel Crosby, Bing’s son, added: “It almost didn’t happen. I think the producers told him to take the lipstick off and take the earring out. It was just incredible to see the contrast.”

One funny part is Bowie’s idea of “older fellas” at the time is John Lennon and Harry Nilsson.

The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)

Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Our finest gifts we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum

[Bridge: Bowie and Crosby in unison]
Every child must be made aware
Every child must be made to care
Care enough for his fellow man
To give all the love that he can

Can it be

Fanny – Special Care

I posted a different song from this band a while ago. I’ve been listening to them recently and they were a special (see David Bowie quote below) band. The musicianship of Fanny was outstanding.

Their name was Wild Honey but…according to Wiki… The band was then renamed Fanny, not with a sexual connotation but to denote a female spirit

These women rocked…not pop rock but blues rock. They were pioneers before the Runaways, Bangles and the Go Go’s…and those bands all cited Fanny as an influence. Fanny was different than those bands… They had a blues edge about them.

Fanny was formed in the late sixties in Sacramento by two Filipina sisters, Jean and June Millington. June Millington was the lead guitar player and her sister Jean was the bass player. June could play circles around many rock guitarists. Fanny would be the first all-female band to release an album on a major label (their self-titled debut, on Reprise, 1970) and land four singles in the Billboard Hot 100 and two in the top 40. The band played blues, rock, and some pop.

Fanny toured worldwide, opening for Slade, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, and Humble Pie. They were praised by David Bowie, John Lennon, George Harrison, Lowell George, Sly Stone, and Bonnie Raitt but yet vanished without much fan fair. They were touring and releasing records between 1970 – 1975.

This song was on their Charity Ball album. The album peaked at #140 in the Billboard Album Charts. The title song charted at #40.

The worked with producers such as Vini Poncia, Geoff Emerick, and Richard Perry. They also worked with

June was described by Guitar Player as the hottest female guitar player in the music industry in the 70s. She made a career as a producer for artists including Holly Near, Cris Williamson and Bitch and Animal. June also operates a music camp for young girls. Jean has done studio work for many artists, including Keith Moon, David Bowie, and Roderick Taylor. Jean also married Bowie’s guitarist Earl Slick and is presently an herbalist. The Millingtons continued to record together after Fanny as well, most recently on the 2011 album Play Like a Girl on June’s label Fabulous Records.

They also worked with Barbra Streisand. Jean commented that they heard horror stories about her from other musicians but she treated the band with nothing but respect.

These ladies need to be heard and remembered.

David Bowie:

“They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time,” “They were extraordinary: They wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time.”

This is a trailer for documentary about Fanny…it’s short and interesting.

Special Care

You there in the corner
Staring at me
Do you think I’m blowing my cool
Playing the fool?

You there in the window
Staring at me
Do you think I’m trouble?
Would you like to shoot me down?
(Shoot me down, down, down, down)

Now, now, now, special care
(Special care)
Has been taken
To make you aware
(Special Care)
You’re forsaken
If you don’t care
(Special Care)

They’re gonna come burn your house down
(Burn it down, down, down, down)

Woaaaaa. Wooooaaaaaa
(Guitar Magic)
Ooaaaa
(Special Care)
Oo-hoo-hoo
(has been taken to make you aware)
Oo-hooooo
(You’re forsaken. If you don’t care)

Ohh-huh, they’re gonna come and burn it down
Down, oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh, do it, do it, do it

(Special Care)
(Special Care)
(Special Care)
(Special Care)
(Special Care)