Tag: Paul Burlison

Johnny Burnette Trio – Tear It Up

There is not a week that goes by that I don’t listen to some rockabilly. It’s not just the leads, it’s the fills as well. Rockabilly music is like this machine where parts are moving everywhere, but it always falls into place.

In this song, it’s not the opening riff that gets to me; it’s the fills that the guitar player is playing while Johnny is singing. He also slips some basslines in, all the while the bass is throwing some in as well. When you analyze this music, it can be chaotic, but when done right, it’s hard to resist. It’s like music climbing a ladder on one side and coming back down on the other at the same time.

This song was released in 1956; a very unpolished burst of energy that still sounds electric seventy years later. The Rock ’n Roll Trio, Johnny on vocals and rhythm guitar, his brother Dorsey on bass, and Paul Burlison on guitar, made a sound that helped define the very idea of rockabilly.

While it didn’t chart at the time, its influence was huge. The record’s mix of rhythm and attitude caught the attention of British musicians, guys like Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, and Paul McCartney, who all cited Burnette’s Trio as a crucial influence. The Stray Cats and Robert Gordon helped revived rockabilly in the late 1970s and early 1980s; this song was one of the first songs they covered. You might remember another song by Johnny, Train Kept a Rollin’ and it was covered by Aerosmith and The Yardbirds.

If you only like smoothly produced music, rockabilly is not for you. If you want a primal sound, welcome aboard!

Tear It Up

Come on little baby let’s tear the dancefloor up
Come on little baby let’s tear the dancefloor up
Come on little mama let me see you strut your stuff
Tear it up, tear it up
Tear it up, tear it up
Come on little baby let me see you strut your stuff

I’m leavin’ little baby, gonna be gone a long-long time
I’m leavin’ little baby, gonna be gone a long-long time
So come on little baby, show me a real good time
Tear it up, tear it up
Tear it up, tear it up
Come on little mama let’s tear the dancefloor up
(Goow!)

Well you step back baby, move my way
Step around again an’ let me hear you say
Tear it up, tear it up
Come on little baby let’s tear the dancefloor up
Tear it up, tear it up
Tear it up, tear it up
Come on little mama let’s tear the dancefloor up

Johnny Burnette Trio – Train Kept A Rollin’

Grease your hair and get the leather jacket…this will be a 1950s weekend at powerpop. I wanted to start it off with a bang. Power Pop Friday will return next week. I know some will see the post and go to the Zeppelin or Aerosmith versions automatically but this version is just as nasty in many ways.

I first heard this song by The Yardbirds and then by Aerosmith. The song was rollin’ in the 50s as well with this Johnny Burnette take of it. I’ve never heard a version that sounded bad. It’s like Johnny B Goode…a rock and roll classic.

Paul Burlison, the Trio’s lead guitarist, had dropped his amp and knocked one of its vacuum tubes loose. When he played through it, he found that his guitar made a new, menacing sound, fuzzy and distorted, and though he repaired the amp, he started deliberately loosening his tube to recreate the sound. That is where the tone started with this song. The song failed to chart.

The song was written by Tiny Bradshaw, Howard Kay, and Lois Mann, it was originally performed by Tiny Bradshaw’s Big Band in 1951. Johnny Burnette recorded a rock version in 1956, and The Yardbirds popularized the song with their rendition in 1965.

Aerosmith covered it in 1974, often playing the song as their encore in their early years. In the ’60s, Steven Tyler was on the same bill as The Yardbirds for some early shows before Zeppelin.

It was the first song Zeppelin played at their first rehearsal in Soho, their performance of it at the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969 was captured on tape and they were still playing it on their final tour.

On August 14, 1964, Burnette’s unlit fishing boat was struck by an unaware cabin cruiser in Clear Lake, California. The impact threw him off the boat, and he drowned. He had a son named Rocky Burnette who had a hit in 1980 with Tired of Toein the Line.

Watch for Bettie Page in this one!

Train Kept A Rollin’

I caught a trainI met a dameShe was a hipsterAnd a real gone dameShe was prettyFrom New York CityAnd we trucked on down that old fair laneWith a heave and a hoWell, I just couldn’t let her go

Get along, creepy little womanGet along, well, be on your wayGet along, creepy little womanGet along, well, be on your wayWith a heave and a hoWell, I just couldn’t let her go

Well, the train kept a-rollin all night longThe train kept a-rollin all night longThe train kept a-movin all night longThe train kept a-rollin all night longWith a heave and a hoWell, I just couldn’t let her go

We made a stopIn AlbuquerqueShe must’ve thoughtThat I was a real gone jerkWe got off the train at El PasoOur lovin was so good, JackI couldn’t let her goGet alongWell, I just couldn’t let her go

Get along, creepy little womanGet along, well, be on your wayGet along, creepy little womanGet along, well, be on your wayWith a heave and a hoWell, I just couldn’t let her go

The train kept a-rollin all night longThe train kept a-rollin all night longThe train kept a-rollin all night longThe train kept a-rollin all night longWith a heave and a hoWell, I just couldn’t let her go-oh-oh