Tag: The Ohio Express

Plimsouls – Lie, Beg, Borrow, and Steal

I want to thank Pam from allthingsthriller for mentioning this song in my Paisley Underground Music Scene post. I’m a fan of these guys… A Million Miles Away is the first song I posted by them in 2019. When Pam posted the link to this one I knew I had to post it. I like the groove and the power of it. Little did I know about the history of it. 

This song is from their 1983 album Everywhere at Once. It’s a cover of Beg, Borrow, and Steal by The Rare Breed, a 1966 garage rock single later released by The Ohio Express  (the Plimsouls added “Lie”). It’s so funny how music is connected through the decades. The song was written by Ronny (Mouse) Weiss. If that name is kind of familiar to you readers…he is the leader of a Texas Band that I covered a while back called Mouse And The Traps. 

Peter Case, the leader of the Plimsouls, began his musical career in the late 1970s in Los Angeles, where he formed The Nerves, a pioneering power pop/punk rock trio. The Nerves are best known for their song “Hanging on the Telephone.” It was later covered by Blondie, and it reached #5 on the UK singles chart.

After The Nerves disbanded, Case formed The Plimsouls in 1978. The band released several albums and EPs and gained a dedicated following for their live performances. 

They broke up after this album. They reunited without drummer Louie Ramírez to make an album called Kool Trash in 1995. They did get one of the best drummers in rock to replace Ramirez though. Clem Burke of Blondie played with them for a short while.

The Rare Breed’s version of the song. 

Beg, Borrow, and Steal

Well I can’t find love
How lonely life is without love
(without love)
I can’t find love
How lonely life is without love
(without none)
I’m gonna lie, beg, borrow, and steal
‘Til I do get me some

Lie, beg, borrow, and steal
It’s the only way I know
Lie, beg, borrow, and steal
If one don’t work then the other one will

I need my love
How lonely life is without love
(without love)
Well I need my love
How lonely life is without love
(without none)

I’m gonna lie, beg, borrow, and steal
Until I do get me some

….

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