Tag: The Music Explosion

Music Explosion – A Little Bit Of Soul

I hope you are having a great Sunday!

This is a good song for a beginner on guitar plus it’s a cool 60s pop/rock song. I bought the single when I was a kid after I heard it on AM radio. The Music Explosion was an American garage rock band from Mansfield, Ohio. It’s one of those songs that will stick in your head all day…in a good way.

Their record company Laurie didn’t like the song and was reluctant to release it. They finally did and it became a local hit in Ohio. After that, they got some promotion in California and the song took off.

Songs like this were important to rock music. One-hit wonders gave the stage to many garage bands not named Stones, Beatles, and Who. Many times they played simple melodies with a variation of Louie Louie chord pattern like this one. After they were released…many unknown artists like the future Allman Brothers, Tom Petty, and others were playing these songs in clubs, parties, and well…garages.

The Music Explosion disbanded in 1969. Their only other hit on the Hot 100 was 1967’s “Sunshine Games,” which peaked at #63 on the Billboard 100. It was written by John Carter and Ken Lewis.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada and  #2 on the  Billboard 100 in 1967. I sometimes hear this song in shows…it was featured in The Wire in the 2004 episode “Middle Ground.”

Their other hit…Sunshine Games

Little Bit Of Soul

Now when you’re feelin’ low and the fish won’t bite
You need a little bit o’ soul to put you right
You gotta make like you wanna kneel and pray
And then a little bit of soul will come your way

Now when your girl is gone and you’re broke in two
You need a little bit o’ soul to see you through
And when you raise the roof with your rock’n’roll
You’ll get a lot more kicks with a little bit o’ soul

And when your party falls ’cause ain’t nobody groovin’
A little bit o’ soul and it really starts movin’, yeah

And when you’re in a mess and you feel like cryin’
Just remember this little song of mine
And as you go through life tryin’ to reach your goal
Just remember what I said about a little bit o’soul

A little bit o’ soul, yeah (a little bit o’ soul)

Crazy Elephant – Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’

I first heard this song in the 80s on an oldie channel. The song has a drive to it that I love. After I heard it I went straight away and learned it on guitar. We played this at every gig because it’s so much fun…and yes easy. As I pasted the words…I thought…hell…we sang our own words and just sounded them out.

It was originally released in 1969 and it peaked at #12 on the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, and #12 in the UK.  It was written by Joey Levine and Ritchie Cordell. The band wasn’t really a band that toured…just a studio band. It was one of the many formed by the Kasenetz-Katz production duo.

The duo took advantage of the bubblegum phase in the late sixties. They also formed  The Ohio Express, The Music Explosion, and the 1910 Fruitgum Company. This song though…if it’s played at the right volume and intensity loses that bubblegum feel quickly.

The band needed attention so they made a rather elaborate story which said that they were a group of coal miners who came all the way from Wales. Vocalist Robert “Bobby” Spencer did the lead vocals on this song. Future 10cc member Kevin Godley later sang lead vocals on one of Crazy Elephant’s songs, There Ain’t No Umbopo.

Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’

From Atlanta, Georgia, to the Gulf Stream water
up to California end I’m gonna spend my life both night and day
I say, gimme, gimme good lovin’ every night
(Hey you know it’s alright, child)
Gimme, gimme good lovin’ make it alright
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha

To the girls in Frisco, to the girls in New York
To the girls in Texican, you gotta understand
That baby I’m your man
I say, gimme, gimme good lovin’ every night
(Yeah you know it’s alright now)
Gimme, gimme good lovin’ make it alright
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha