Papa Do Run

FINALLY, IT'S HERE!

2009-11-06T09:16:00.014-05:00

As promised, I'm at long last announcing the arrival of my new rock and roll trivia book, the one I've been working on wrapping up over the summer and fall. Whew! This volume not only covers more of the early vintage stuff from the 60s and some 50s, but goes on to include popular songs and artists from the 70s and 80s. There's more of everything! Here's the official blurb:

A fun compendium of music facts, fictions, legends, and lyrics, Peanut Butter and Mashed Potatoes: Satisfying Trivia for Rock and Pop Fressers by award-winning author, poet, and visual artist Deborah Godin proves to be another wild romp down memory lane. As a follow-up to Papa Do Run: A Baby Boomer Looks (and Laughs) at Vintage Rock & Roll, the book that launched a thousand laughs and a new breed of musicologists, this sequel reveals a number of pop culture’s best- and worst-kept secrets.

As funny as it is playful, Godin once again dissects the whole truth and stops to enjoy more than a few roadside attractions. In fact, her sidebars and tangents are what make this book enjoyable and so incredibly readable. Readers familiar with her original dissertation on the rock and roll revolution of the fifties and sixties will love this broad look back at the sixties, the whole of the seventies, and a few snippets of eighties. In five chapters with titles like, “Here, There, Everywhere: Songs about Real Places,” “What’s Your Name, Who’s Your Daddy: Songs about Real People,” and “From Califon-ya to the New York Eye-land: Searching for America’s Band,” Godin insists on having a heck of a good time along the way as she shares little-known tidbits such as the location of the real “Hotel California,” “Tobacco Road,” and “The House of the Rising Sun,” not to mention who the original Mrs. Robinson really was. Godin even provides a bird’s eye view of the goings on at the infamous Chelsea Hotel. Music and lyric lovers unite! So hang on, Sloopy, and let those good times roll, better yet, let the good times rock!

You can read excerpts with the Search Inside feature at AMAZON, and I'll be posting the book trailer here as well soon.

BREAKING NEWS

2009-04-25T13:41:00.004-04:00

I have some some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, Papa Do Run is going on sabbatical. Or a hiatus. Or something like that, and for an unspecified amount of time, but maybe into the summer. We're busy working on a lot of music and book related projects, plus some other stuff, and there just aren't enough hours in the day. So, while we're away, we hope that wherever you are, you keep on listening to those oldies but goodies. The good news is when we come back, we'll have a brand new music trivia book to tell you about. So, until we see you again, here's a little something from The Hollies - Pay You Back with Interest.

Video by YT member vinylWindsor
Photo from Shutterstock

ONE HIT WONDERLAND

2009-04-17T10:44:00.009-04:00

Some of my favorite songs from the "vintage years" (50s and 60s) are OHWs. One Hit Wonders. Why do you think that is? I don't think of myself as a person who automatically roots for the underdog. But I do believe that a lot of pretty decent talent kind of withered on the vine. Maybe it was lack of decent material to record, or lack of decent promotion promotion by the label. Or lack of funds for payola. Anyway, this little number, "He's Mine", was a fave of mine back in 1963, and it still is today. Alice Wonder Land (sometimes written as Wonderland) was born Alice Faye Henderson. There's a story out there that Alice's discovery resembles that of the Little Eva with "Loco-motion" - being a maid and/or babysitter for a songwriter, or a friend of a songwriter, or...something like that. Both stories may be all or in part apocryphal, and for our purposes here, I don't think it matters. We just want to hear a great and maybe long-forgotten oldie, right?! Little Eva didn't stay a OH Wonderwoman. We also remember her for one of the great girl group smack-down songs of the era - "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" which unfortunately, isn't on YT at all. That's a shocking omission I hope some YT channel member rectifies soon!

Anyway, I tried to come up with a photo of Alice, but between Alice Faye the actress, and the little blonde Alice of the book and the Disney movie, it wasn't happening, so I posted them instead. Also, the embedding for this video has been disabled, so I'll have to give you the YouTube link.
LINK to "He's Mine"

Alice in Wonderland photo from Wikimedia Commons
Alice Faye photo from www.classicmoviemusicals.com

NBC stands for “NOT BACKING CHARLIE”

2009-04-12T11:32:00.012-04:00

[Okay, I know this isn’t my usual topic for this blog; nothing “vintage” or "musical" about it, but I just had to get this little television rant off my chest, so please, if you'll just indulge me…]

FAREWELL TO LIFE!

No no no – I’m not going to off myself! I’m talking about the procedural cop show, Life. Last Wednesday we saw the Season 2 finale, which couldn’t have looked more like a Series finale if NBC (a pox on their house!) had put yellow crime scene tape around it. In case you aren’t familiar with it, Life is/was a smart hip funny show with a terrific cast, notably starring Damian Lewis as the wrongly accused, newly exonerated, fresh-fruit addicted Detective Charlie Crews, recently released from prison, returned to the job, and backing his badge with a Zen attitude. Then there’s Sarah Shahi as his fresh-out-of-rehab no-nonsense partner, Dani Reese. The mismatched detectives are thrown together, but soon bond into a quirky delightful team. The third main star of Life is Donal Logue, who is letter-perfect as Captain Tidwell, a transplanted NYC cop finding his feet in his new L.A. precinct—oops I mean station (a little inside joke for the fans). And Tidwell's hook-up with Reese was one of the best romantic pairings out there, IMHO. I must admit, there was no middle ground with fans of the show; they either loved or hated Tidwell/Reese (or “Tideese” to the diehards). Personally, I thought the sometimes awkward, finish-each-other-sentences chemistry between the two was sexy and appealing—but I’m what you might call a “Tidwell bunny” so maybe my opinion is biased.

Regardless of who or what anyone liked best about the show, it was the entire ensemble that endeared Life to it’s devoted fans. Evidently not enough devoted fans, you’re probably thinking. Well, NBC (I spit on the ground at the mention of that name!) really didn’t do diddlysquat to properly promote the show right from the get-go. And when they got the expected results that too little promotion brings, they started playing time-slot roulette with Life, either burying it a ratings dead zone or putting it up against giants like Lost and American Idol. The 2008 writers strike probably didn’t help, either. Anyway, although NBC (boo, hiss!) has all but officially declared the show DOA, fans are signing polls and petitions like mad, and writing snarky letters to the network. Will it be enough to bring the deeply comatose Life back to life?

If you’d like to join the throng of Life Supporters giving NBC an earful, go to this LINK and scroll down to “feedback” at the very bottom.

[And thank you,readers; I feel much better now]

A LIFETIME OF NUMBER ONE SONGS

2009-04-09T14:45:00.004-04:00

A friend recently sent me a link to finding the number one song on just about any date in history. Well, make that modern, recent history. I don't think Billboard was around when the Spanish Armada was defeated. Anyway, as into oldies as I am, I must admit I didn't know what song was topping the Hit Parade the day I was born, so of course I looked mine up right away. I'm not posting this today because it's my birthday. That won't be until next month (I'm not getting old, it's only the 2nd anniversary of my 31st birthday!), but I just couldn't wait to pass this along to you. So here you go, now you can calculate the song that was playing on all the significant events in your life.

http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_hits_(United_States)

And here's what I found listed as the song on my day/year - "Heartaches" by the Ted Weems Orchestra. (I don't know why it says 1938 on the YouTube vid) - I was born in '47.

Video by YT member 240252
Photo at http://www.dewittco.com/storefront/xcart/images/T/73652_vintage_crafts_books_patterns.jpg

AND HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT?

2009-04-05T13:28:00.006-04:00

Last night was one of those nights. You know what I'm talkin' about. From the minute you hit the pillow until the break of dawn, you're stuck on the old rotisserie. So what else can we listen to today than Mr. Bobby Lewis' 1961 hit, Tossin' and Turnin.' This is a terrific old tune, am I not right?! And at least there's one thing about have a rotten sleep one night; you're pretty much guaranteed to crash and burn the next.

Video by YT member JohnB1948Two
Photo at www.luxuryhousingtrends.com

THE DAY AFTER APRIL FOOL'S

2009-04-02T09:29:00.004-04:00

Okay, so there you are in the kitchen, or maybe the break room, pouring yourself a big cuppa joe after sorting things out, i.e. putting the sugar back in the sugar bowl and the salt back in the salt shaker. Funny how you fall for that every year. But now everything is right in your world again. And here's a couple of songs to go with. The first is "No Salt On Her Tail" by the Mamas and the Papas. That's a saying you don't hear much at all anymore: No salt on her (or his) tail. It comes from the old wives' tale that if you put salt on a bird's tail, it won't be able to fly. Yes, I can hear you going, "Duh! If you're close enough to a bird to be able to put salt on it's tail, you can grab that sucker like that (finger snap)!" I couldn't agree more, but the wisdom of all those old wives is not to be tampered with on a whim! And it makes the perfect metaphor for love, which brings us back to the M&P song, with it's lyrics:

This little bird, she can fly away;
No salt on her tail--
No cage to make her stay.

Our other selection today is the bubblegum classic "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies. Talk about a perfect April Fool's band, The Archies never actually existed. Here's from Wikipedia:

The Archies are a fictional garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show. The fictional band's music was recorded by session musicians featuring Ron Dante on vocals and released as a series of singles and albums. Their most successful song, "Sugar, Sugar", became one of the biggest hits of the bubblegum pop genre that flourished from 1968 to 1972.

So happy day after, everybody. Let's do this again next year! And no more tricks, I promise...

Videos by YT members mulluy (top) suzydastar2007
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

FIRST DAY OF APRIL

2009-04-01T12:49:00.001-04:00

Video from YT member pensaki

DOIN' THAT CRAZY HAND JIVE

2009-03-28T09:58:00.004-04:00

Being a big fan of this song (and of bilateral symmetry) I have loved this dance ever since I first learned it (which took about 10 seconds). The hand jive is one of those dances that it's really pretty close to impossible to mess up. And you can add onto it just about anything you can think of. I've seen more complicated versions of it, particularly one rather raunchy version that made the rounds of the frat parties when I was in university, which may have been a lot closer to the original rhythm and blues original than we realized at the time. If memory serves, it was called the "Dirty Thirty from Chi-town." That's really all I can tell you today. Maybe it had 30 hand jive gestures, I never counted. Maybe it originated in Chicago, I never thought to ask.

Whatever it was in the early days, for me, the hand jive was always the classic version seen here in the first video embed which I found on YouTube. As you can see from the apparent age of the girls in this vid, the hand jive that I did in the late 50s through the 60s is still being done by contemporary youth. Like they say, rock and roll is here to stay! Warning, the video is four minutes long, but after the first 10 seconds, you've seen all of the moves; the girls don't go on to free-style it, so if you're pressed for time...

In looking for a vid of the acutal song, I found this terrific vintage footage of Johnny Otis performing his huge hit, complete with some very hip dancers (reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn in "Funny Face"). As you can see, their hand jive really isn't all that much about the hands. But I like it! Good old Wikipedia has more to say on the subject:

The Hand jive is a dance particularly associated with rock and roll and rhythm and blues music of the 1950s. It involves a complicated pattern of hand moves and claps at various parts of the body, following and/or imitating the percussion instruments. It resembles a highly elaborate version of Pat-a-cake. Hand moves include thigh slapping, cross-wrist slapping, fist pounding, chest slapping and pounding, hand clapping, elbow touching and hitch hike moves.The hand jive was particularly popularized by Johnny Otis's 1958 hit "Willie and the Hand Jive". Eric Clapton did a version of the song in 1974 that reached the Top 40.[1] It is also featured prominently in the Broadway musical Grease through the song "Born to Hand Jive"; in the movie adaptation of the musical, the song is performed by Sha Na Na.

Finally, I saw this on the news lately, and thought it was the perfect way to wrap up our hand jive coverage. This one is worth watching all the way through (3 mins exactly!) because there are virtually no repeats. It's about the best hand jive you could find that's done sitting down and not to music! And after you see this, I promise you you're going to look at Wolf Blitzer in a whole new light.

Videos top to bottom by YT members icecreamlover531, twobarbreak, wgn

A POP CULTURE MOMENT - The “Sandwich Ordering Scene “

2009-03-22T15:26:00.007-04:00

No, I’m talking about Jack Nicholson in “Five Easy Pieces” but that was a very good guess. Actually, I’m referring to my local Subway shop. I like to drop in there once or twice a year, when I feel like having a half-decent lunch or dinner to go, or when I feel like messing with some heads. And I always order the same thing – a BLT on brown. Now, if you haven’t ordered from a Subway shop in a while and need a refresher, the drill goes like this:

· They ask you what you want, and you tell them the basic order.
· They slice the bread make it up as you watch. So far so good.
· They ask what else you want on it. “What else” could be anything from the tubs of add-ons they have behind the glass. Olives, onions, pickles, chilies, several kinds of cheese…I’m sure I’m leaving some out; I never really look at them because I never add-on any of them.
· You tell them what kinds of “what else” you want, and then they wrap the whole thing up for you.
· You pay, leave, eat. What could be simpler, right? Well, maybe it’s simple for everyone else, with any other kind of sandwich, but not for me. Here are two versions of a slightly different “sandwich ordering scene” starring me, and a supporting cast of various Subway “Sandwich Artists” –

SA: What can I get you?
Me: I’ll have a small BLT on brown.
SA: What else would you like on it?
Me: Nothing, just a plain BLT thanks.
SA: (starts to wrap up the bacon on the bare bread)
Me: Wait, you forgot the lettuce and tomato!
SA: You said you didn’t want anything else.
Me: Well, yes, I do want the Lettuce and Tomato.
SA: (exasperated look, muttering) That’s what I asked…

Variation on the above:

SA: Would you like anything else on it?
Me: No, just a plain BLT thanks.
SA: (sweetly) Nothing, not even lettuce and tomato?
Me: Well, yes, I want the L and the T…
SA: ?

I’m telling you, I can barely pay at the till with a straight face. Then, in the parking lot, I want to stand and shout to the sky, “Doesn’t any body know what a B(acon) L(ettuce) and T(omato) sandwich is anymore!!??” But I’m afraid there would be only an existential silence. Or maybe the clouds would part and a big booming voice would deliver another classic movie line – “What we got here is failure to communicate!” (see tags)

Here, for a refresher of another kind, is the original “sandwich ordering scene” from Nicholson’s 1970 counter-culture anti-hero classic, “Five Easy Pieces.”

Video from YT member weezyrokk
Photo from soupytrumpet.com

FEATURE SONG - MONY MONY by TOMMY JAMES and the SHONDELLS

2009-03-18T08:44:00.004-04:00

I was visiting a fellow blogger's blog the other day, and she had posted a cover of this song by Billy Idol. Being stuck in the 60s as I am, I didn't know Billy Idol had recorded this one. Mony Mony is such a classic vintage pop song, I believe it's hard to do it completely badly, but I still think Tommy James' original is the one. Some may dismiss it as bubblegum pop, and to those who do, all I can say is, "May a big stringy wad of Double Bubble dog your heels for the rest your days." Really. I mean, check out this time capsule video of Tommy and the boys. That's what we used to call a "nehru jacket" - a durable fashion statement of the late 60s and beyond, and one which they can bring back any time they want, as far as I'm concerned. So many famous people have worn them: the Beatles, Johnny Carson, the Monkees, Dr. No (they were a wardrobe staple with several Bond villains), Steven Segal, Weird Al, televangelist Benny Hinn, Sammy Davis Jr. See what I mean? And, getting back to Tommy James, don't miss the love beads, and what I'd call a kind of post-Beatle hairstyles, and of course, the psychedelic "acid-trip" background...it's all there. And I think Tommy James sings this with way more of the proper 'tude than Billy. But why take my word for it...

Video by YT member myrainbow2
Photo at www.sillysac.com

FEATURE SONG FOR ST. PADDY'S DAY - GREEN GREEN by the NEW CHRISTY MINSTRELS

2009-03-17T09:03:00.005-04:00

When I saw this video, it really struck me how many people are in it! I must have seen the NCM perform on TV when I was a kid; maybe I even saw this very show, but I certainly didn't remember what a big group they had. Anyway, they have a great sound, and were part of the wave of folk that hit the commercial airwaves in the early 60s. As with so many groups, this one was no stranger to personnel changes. Over the years, the NCM have included the following well-known performers: Kenny Rogers, Gene Clark (The Byrds) Kim Carnes (Bette DAvis Eyes) Larry Ramos (The Association) Barry Mcguire (Eve of Destruction...you'll pick him out right away!) not to mention it's talented founder, Randy Sparks. So, here we go, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Video by YT member cskwan
T-shirt photo at Cafe Press

A NEW FIND BY SOME OLD FRIENDS

2009-03-13T10:43:00.005-04:00

This album was released last fall, but has taken all this time to glide into my orbit. But it was worth the wait. Of course, I'm speaking as a long time fan when I say that. The J. Airplane/J. Starship crew can do no serious wrong in my books, and yes, that includes the just plain Starship era, which saw some fans bail on them. I am proud to say I stuck with them, and now they are back full force, a little older, some new faces and voices, but still rockin'the house while getting back to their folks roots. Here's what Amazon.com has to say:

The legendary Jefferson Starship is at it again. Moving forward by reaching back, and in doing so, daringly casting a light for a new generation of change-makers riveted by the group's first new studio album in a decade, Jeffersons' Tree Of Liberty. The 18 song CD finds the group harnessing rare gems from the great folk tradition that inspired the rock n' roll hall of fame band more than 4 decades ago. The brainchild of singer/songwriter/band co-founder Paul Kantner (and co-produced by band manager Michael Gaiman, recurring Jefferson Airplane/ Jefferson Starship fixture and Quicksilver Messenger Service founder David Freiberg and Paul Kantner), the album mixes it up with Jefferson's trademark knack for defying fans' expectations as well as their own, introducing a soaring new female voice on many of the songs, Cathy Richardson, and tapping rock icon and original Jefferson treasure Grace Slick to appear on the album's mesmerizing `Easter Egg' bonus track.

And here's the track list, just to whet your appetite.
1. Wasn't That a Time
2. Follow the Drinking Gourd
3. Santy Anno
4. Cowboy on the Run
5. I Ain't Marchin' Anymore
6. Chimes of Freedom
7. Genesis Hall
8. Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
9. Royal Canal (The Auld Triangle)
10. Rising of the Moon
11. Frenario
12. In a Crisis
13. Maybe for You
14. Comandante Carlos Fonseca
15. Pastures of Plenty
16. Imagine Redemption
17. On the Threshold of Fire
18. Quiet Joys of Brotherhood
19. Surprise Surprise (bonus track)

If this sounds like it might be up your musical alley, I don't think you'll be disappointed. There's hints and flavors from the good old days, and a brand new political saavy for right here, right now.

Photo from Amazon.com

IS YOU IS OR IS YOU AIN’T DOO WOP? (with apologies to Louis Jordan)

2009-03-09T14:46:00.008-04:00

Experts and amateurs in the field will debate long into the night on whether or not the version of the version of "Tell Me Why" by Dion and The Belmonts is a doo wop song. The date is wrong; doo wop was over by 1961. The date is okay because doo wop got revived. It doesn’t sound like doo wop. It sounds like doo wop.

Well, I’m here to go on record (pun intended) that this one is doo woppy enough for me, in spirit anyway. I have always been a big Dion fan, both with and after The Belmonts. I love his voice, his style, his rhythm, his finger poppin’, his hats…I could go on but I’ll spare you… This one is very high on my list of eminently listenable Dion songs. But there’s also that really terrific recording of "Tell Me Why" by Norman Fox & The Rob-Roys that pre-dates Dion, in 1957. That one is so inarguably doo wop, maybe that’s why people give the Dion version a hard time. Personally, I have room for both, but you can decide for yourself, because, happily, they are both on YouTube. So let’s get down to it, shall we?

Videos by chargertom and meekfreak51 respectively
Dion photo at www.vervemusicgroup.com

Update March 10th, from a blog reader: I received an email from John in the Bronx: "Here is a little info on the song Tell Me Why. The Rob Roys song came out in 57 and the Bellmonts song in 61 is without Dion, The lead I believe Angelo D' Aleo, Dion left in 1960." So maybe I've been wrong (now how did a thing like that happen!) in thinking it was Dion all these years. Well, nothing can change my enjoyment of this song, that's for sure, but I thought in the interest of full disclosure, I'd post it for you, too. Happy listening!

STEAMY WINDOWS FEATURE: HALFWAY TO PARADISE - TONY ORLANDO

2009-03-05T09:28:00.003-05:00

It's not that I don't appreciate Tony Orlando's later musical hook-up with the Dawn girls. Those are all good songs, and the girls are terrific singers (hey, they backed up Bob Seger on "Still the Same") but I'm still partial to Tony's early hits, like "Bless You" and this one, both from 1961. Now, back in '61, I was only 14 years old, and in those days, teens were a whole lot less, um, precocious than they are today. Plus, none of us were old enough to drive (at least that's one thing kids today still do have to wait to do...) So, my point is, I'm not sure that in 1961, the whole concept behind steamy windows would have meant much to us. Kids didn't really get to spend "quality" one-on-one alone time back then. The most we could hope for was a "mixed party" in someone's basement, and when the parents went upstairs to refill the chip dip bowl, someone would quickly kill the lights for a short "makeout dance." I mean, it doesn't take much time to toss a bag of potato chips in a bowl. That was pretty much as wild as it got; Meatloaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" was an incredible 16 years into the future!

So, let's take a trip back to our youthful days, no matter what the decade, and remember dancing in that darkened basement. Or maybe you were old enough to be parked watching the submarine races. Good for you.

Video by YT member bluejeans1944

HONEY, WHILE YOU'RE OUT, PICK UP A BUCKET OF SOUL AND A SIDE OF EXCITEMENT...

2009-02-28T14:31:00.003-05:00

Jackie Wilson, aka Mr Excitement, singing "Lonely Teardrops" on Bandstand, circa 1959. The song was writen by the Dee-troit duo of Tyran Carlo (Roquel Davis) and a young, pre-Motown Berry Gordy Jr. The moves are by Jackie himself. If you want the dictionary definition of "moves" just watch the video, there's two minutes and thirty-seconds of definition. What more is there to be said...?

Video from YT member Tavikitty

OH BABY !

2009-02-24T10:53:00.011-05:00

I was just over visiting my friend Kat at her musical Keep The Coffee Coming blog. One of the songs she's recently featured is Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." Now, that's a good one, to be sure, and I stopped and had a listen at the MP3 she posted. For some inexplicable cosmic reason, a number of my favorite oldies mention the color blue. The one I wanted to hear next was this one, so after leaving Kat's place, I made a beeline to YouTube to see if they had it. And they didn't let me down!

When I was in high school, I taught myself the finger alphabet that deaf people use, just because I thought it was really cool. I can't actually sign the gestures, however. If I wanted to speak with a deaf person, I would have to laboriously (and excruciatingly slowly for them, I'm sure) spell out every word. But when I have this one on in the Tamale, and am tooling down the road, I sometimes take the wheel in one hand and spell the letters out as the boys sing them. If I ever get in an accident doing that, it's going to be a very strange explanation. No, office, I wasn't eating or drinking or texting or talking on my cell...

Here is a no doubt incomplete list of other "blue songs" I like:
Tangled Up In Blue (Dylan) Blue Bayou (Orbison/Ronstadt) Blue Moon (The Marcels) Blue Angel (Orbison) Bell Bottom Blues (Derek and the Dominoes) Devil in a Blue Dress (Mitch Ryder) Behind Blue Eyes (The Who) Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochrane) Blue Kentucky Girl (Emmylou Harris)

Video from YT member billylee1949
Photo from www.zebramatts.com

FEATURE SONG/ARTIST: YOU'RE ONLY LONELY by J.D. SOUTHER

2009-02-22T10:07:00.006-05:00

...not to be confused, of course, with Roy O's huge hit, "Only the Lonely," although it does have a kind of Orbisonian feel to it. You know, like a slow dramatic "rock ballad" with a gently swaying melody and long plaintive notes - if it was a waltz, you could waltz clear across Texas to it. Well, he may have been born in the Motor City, but he was raised in Amarillo. Later in the 60s, Souther teamed up with another Detroit boy, the future Eagles memeber, Glenn Frey and formed his first musical partnership, the very country-sounding duo called Longbranch Pennywhistle. Souther's collaborations and associations sound like a who's who of early SoCal rock and country - Jackson Browne, Richie Furay, Chris Hillman to name a few. And then there was The Eagles.

This is really the only solo hit that I recall from J.D. Souther, but he's been there writing and co-writing some of my favorite songs for a long time, going back to early Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, right on up to his work with The Eagles, co-writing well-known songs like "New Kid in Town" and "Best of My Love." All the artists mentioned here are scattered throughout my CD shelves, including this one from. And I heard that just last year, Souther released his first new work in 25 years! I just might have to check that out, but for now, let's here "You're Only Lonely" one more time...

Video from YT member soulbrofunkytom
Photo from www.last.fm

THIS ONE’S GOIN’ OUT TO DON, IN SUNNY CALIFORNIA

2009-02-17T14:18:00.007-05:00

Fellow blogger DON over in San Fran mentioned this song in a recent comment here, and so we just had to go back and hear it again. Don posts gorgeous photos of his city, so go there and check it out. Just be sure to wear a flower in your hair, 'kay.

So here we go, The Marvelettes with "Too Many Fish in the Sea." It’s the best possible advice on the subject. And while we’re listening, we can check out the great moves the girls are puttin’ down, like that little fanny-pat right at the beginning. And every girl needs a tambourine, right?!

Video by YT member live4motown
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

WHAT TIME IS IT? WHY IT'S TIME TO STRUT YO STUFF!

2009-02-15T10:42:00.007-05:00

This one is so infectious that just one listen in your youth (or at any stage in life, for that matter) can give you a serious case of rockin’ rhythm that never goes away. It can lie dormant for years in your feet and your shoulders and especially your derriere, only to burst forth gloriously the very moment you hear the opening bars of those boss horns. No matter where you are – pushing a cart in the grocery store or loading the dishwasher in the privacy of your own kitchen, this song will get you groovin’ in a heartbeat.

Eddie Floyd is one of those artists who may not be a household name, but is a giant in the music industry. He’s written for, played, sung and toured with all the soul greats, from his early days in Detroit (he was born in Memphis in 1937, but the family moved to the Motor city when he was only six weeks old) where he founded the Falcons, to his Stax days in Memphis in the 60s and 70s, and he’s still going strong today. All that wood-knocking must be good for you.

Here he is, a young, adorably cute EDDIE FLOYD - just hang in there, the dumb intro is only 28 seconds. (I have to give you the link because embedding on this vid had been disabled) Now go dust off your old moves!

ESTELLE BENNETT (July 22, 1941 – February 11, 2009)

2009-02-13T20:03:00.005-05:00

Estelle Bennett (photo R) one of the original members of that signature 60s Girl Group, The Ronettes, has passed. Along with her sister, Ronnie (Bennett) Spector, and their cousin, Nedra Talley, she gave us so much to dance and cry and sigh about. I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine where we’d be musically without them. After the break-up of the Ronettes, Estelle recorded a single on the Laurie label, called “The Year 2000/The Naked Boy.” I never heard that one, but the title sure makes me curious. I’ll bet if you have a copy of that today you really have something collectible. After that one single, Estelle quit the music business completely. She even declined to sing with her sister and cousin in 2007 when they were inducted into the rock and Roll Hall of Fame, giving only a few words of thanks instead.

The Ronettes share the top of my Girl Group pinnacle with The Shangri-Las. I know I learned more about life, love, and angst from them than from any other source. So, our condolences go out to Ronnie and Nedra and their families. And thanks to Estelle and the girls for all the good advice and handed-down girl wisdom. Here’s a sample of it:

Video by YT member whopfrog

FEATURE SONG – ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES, 1967 and 2007

2009-02-12T16:02:00.007-05:00

Who still has their original LP of The Velvet Underground & Nico with the Andy Warhol. You remember, the one you kind of kept facing backwards so your mom wouldn’t see the cover with that big ol’ banana by Andy Warhol when she put off your clean clothes on your bed? Or maybe you put it right at the front of the stack, in a prominent place along your bedroom wall so she would see it. Oh yes, I see you nodding your head, you wild thing you! Well, anyway, who is going to argue that the banana album is a true classic? One of my enduring faves on it is our feature song, “All Tomorrow’s Parties.”

Here, for a refresher, is a YouTube video of Nico with the 1967 original. You just can’t beat Nico’s Marlene Dietrich-y monochrome vocals against that relentless guitar-driven, heroin-laced dirge – hey, you gotta have some purple prose to go with this song!

Okay, fast forward to 2007, and what I consider to be one of the Great Voices of Our Times – Johnette Napolitano, formerly of Concrete Blonde. I have some old Blonde albums for the early days (that would be the early 80s-90s), and more recently, Napolitano’s first (2007) solo album, titled Scarred. It’s got a lot of terrific original songs and great covers, including, again, our feature song (with a cameo by Lou Reed himself). Too bad there isn’t a video of it on YouTube, but heck, you’re probably better than I am at tracking down songs in other places, so I’m sure you can find all or part of it somewhere. But if you haven't updated this section of your CD shelf in a while, check this album out. Meanwhile, we’ll console ourselves with another fave of mine, and one that will be instantly familiar to all of you, too, “Joey” – Napolitano’s paean to loving someone who isn’t in the program but who should be.

Video by YT member tomorrettisgay (Nico) tearecords (JN)
Photo from Wikimedia

AND THE WINNER IS...

2009-02-09T17:53:00.003-05:00

...well, we don't actually know yet. It was all done very private and hush-hush. But I'm sure there will be an announcement on everybody's news crawl, and Larry King, Oprah, Katie Couric, and heaven only knows who else will do an interview, real soon.

Anyway, the final bid (never mind what I quoted before, either I was hallucinating or there was some kind of issue with bids) is $186,853.06 after a total of 91 bids! Imagine losing by three cents. Anyway, whoever gets it now inherits a lot of sleepless nights, as this will surely renew interest (not that it ever really died out) in crank calls to that famous number.

Whatever. The rest of us average citizens will all sleep better tonight now that this phone number mania is over.

Image from Shutterstock

DEWEY MARTIN (September 30, 1940 – January 31, 2009)

2009-02-09T14:17:00.003-05:00

Drummer Dewey Martin is probably best known as a member of the short-lived but long-remembered and accoladed 60s group Buffalo Springfield, passed away last month at the age of 68. Buffalo Springfield was the only context I ever knew him in, but a check with Wikipedia and I learned that he also had stints with The Standells (of Dirty Water fame), with The Modern Folk Quartet (check out their very Beach Boys-y sounding number, “This Could Be The Night”disc 3 of the Back to Mono box set), and The Dillards (remember the band on the old Andy Griffiths show?) just to name a few of his many musical credits.

I know I often rag on covers of my favorite songs as being inherently inferior, but there’s a pair of versions of Stephen Stills’ gem, “Sit Down I think I Think I Love You” that just can’t be compared. Neither one loses, in my opinion.
Seems the vid of the Mojo Men version on YouTube that Stills refers to has been withdrawn. Darn. You may recall it, sounding kind of old-timey with the tack piano, ballaika and accordian. You can pick up a copy of their Mojo Men’s CD on Amazon for a mere $134.00 (or used, $67). Bit of a collector’s item, wouldn’t you say? Anyway, here’s a really cool b/w vid of the Buffalo Springfield singing Sit Down, with Dewey on drums.

Video by YT member woodenshipsjp
Album cover photo at www.rateyourmusic.com

JENNY WATCH UPDATE

2009-02-09T08:57:00.003-05:00

I hope you are finding this as fascinating as I am. The famous Tommy Tutone song Jenny 867-5309 has, as of the moment, an eBay high bidder listed at $ 365,400 from a total of 95 bids. Much as I like this catchy song, and much as I recognize its great importance in the rock and roll stream of existence, I have to wonder who would pay such a price? Bidding is open to only pre-authorized bidders and buyers, so probably some radio station wants it for their call-in hotline, or perhaps for rich eccentric rocker or pop star (does Jacko still have that kind of pocket change?). Anyway, in just over 6 hours we'll have the answer. Stay tuned, as they say.

Image from eBay listing

JENNY REDUX

2009-02-05T15:43:00.002-05:00

YOU PAID WHAT???!!!

SERIOUSLY, IF YOU DIDN'T COPY AND PAST THE EBAY LINK FROM THE PREVIOUS POST (TOMMY TUTONE, FEB.1st) YOU BETTER DO IT BEFORE FEB 9th WHEN THE AUCTION SHUTS DOWN. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT THE BID IS UP TO ALREADY.

GET YOURSELF SOME GOOD OLD SCRATCHY 45-rpm SWAMP ROCK BOOGIE

2009-02-05T12:08:00.003-05:00

This one is fairly obscure, I’d be the first to admit, but man oh man, it’s one of the best rockabilly flavored rockin’ tunes ever cranked out. It was one I practiced my dance moves to, back when high school sock hops were still in my elementary school future…

DALE HAWKINS AT-A-GLANCE

· Born in Goldmine, LA in 1936 as Delmar Allen Hawkins
· cousin of that other rockabilly giant, Ronnie Hawkins
· called the architect of “swamp rock boogie”
· composed the famous “Susie Q”- best known cover to my generation is CCR
· did some producing, including 60s hit “Western Union” by The Five Americans
· 2007 Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductee

So without further ado, here it is, his hit song that I used to dance too, “La Do Da.” Hope it stays posted on YouTube for a while. You’re right, it’s not the most screamingly original title, but have a listen. It's a great song, and ya gotta love that scratchy old Mono!

Video by YT member meekfreaks51

OKAY ALL YOU 80s MUSIC FREAKS, HERE’S YOUR BIG CHANCE!

2009-02-01T19:49:00.012-05:00

PASTE THIS!

http://cgi.ebay.com/867-5309-phone-number-in-NYC-area-DJ-company-8675309_W0QQitemZ260354849950QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item260354849950&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Give us a call if you get it, mmkay?

Video from YouTube - WGN

FEATURE SONG – FREE MAN IN PARIS by JONI MITCHELL

2009-02-01T13:20:00.004-05:00

I’ve never been the world’s biggest Joni Mitchell, but this is one of a handful of her songs that I really like. Having said that, it never occurred to me until just yesterday to Google the meaning of it. By that I mean find out who the song is about. I can’t believe I haven’t done that before, especially since, in my forthcoming sequel to Papa Do Run, I devote a whole chapter to songs about “real” people. Duh-uh! Anyway, I’ve made up for lost time. I now know whom this song is about. You may have known the person behind the lyrics for donkey’s years, but I’m a bit of a late bloomer sometimes, so go easy on me SVP, as we say in Canada (short for s’il vous plait). Here, from Wikipedia:

"Free Man In Paris" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It appeared on her 1974 album Court and Spark, as well as her live album Shadows and Light. It is one of her more popular songs...(and) is about music agent/promoter David Geffen, a close friend in the early 1970s and a trip they made to Paris with Robbie and Dominique Robertson.

Now, I think that’s pretty cool. I don’t usually go in for much celebraity gossip, but I do like to know about song enigmas, etc. However, this next part of the Wiki entry leaves me stymied. Read on:

In 2007 the song was covered by Sufjan Stevens for a tribute to Joni Mitchell compilation. Similar to his cover of The Beatles "What Goes On", Stevens kept only the lyrics and let the words inspire him to write a new arrangement and melody for the song Stevens has stated that with his cover he "decided to conjure up a party song, with strings and trumpets and trombones and vibraphones marching in a parade down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, all lit up with fireworks."

I don’t get it. To be totally honest here, this just ticks me off. You take a nice song like Free Man in Paris, with not only wonderful lyrics, but a great melody, and when you decide to cover it, you change half of it??!! Why would you do that? Why?? If mean, why not just write a whole new song, your own song, about a parade in the Champs Elysees? Maybe because I’m not a musician you can say that I just don’t understand. No argument from me. In my defense, I have to say that when I like a song, I really like it and don’t like to see it messed with. Okay, I know you all are familiar with this one, but here’s a nice video of it so we can all sing along, picture David Geffen with a phone receiver on each ear, and enjoy Joni’s brilliant lyrics AND melody.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Video by YT member hanbanxxx

HOW TO COMBAT CABIN FEVER

2009-01-28T16:59:00.005-05:00

I realize that not all who read this blog live in the northern hemisphere, and thus may not feel the need to get out from under winter's fat white chilly thumb, but if you do, want you to kick up your heels a little, I have the perfect mental health solution. It was actually suggested to me by a fellow blogger at my other blog, The Cloud Messenger, but it’s the very thing to share here.

1) Turn the thermostat way up and get the place nice and toasty.
2) Dig your freakiest wild summer vacation clothes out of the bottom drawer and put them on.
3) Turn up your speakers to the max.
4) Tune in to the following YouTube video, Come Dancing, by The Kinks.
5) Dance like you did when you were a little kid.

If you don’t live in the north, and are already warm and toasty, then add and extra Step 6 – pour yourself a tall cool one.

Here’s lyrics in case you want to add some karaoke to the fun! Don’t we all have fond memories of a local Palais (or some kind of fun hangout) from our youth? Mine was only a McDonald's drive-in, but hey, don't knock it...

They put a parking lot on a piece of land
When the supermarket used to stand.
Before that they put up a bowling alley
On the site that used to be the local Palais.
That's where the big bands used to come and play.
My sister went there on a Saturday.

Come dancing,
All her boyfriends used to come and call.
Why not come dancing, it's only natural?

Another Saturday, another date.
She would be ready but she'd always make them wait.
In the hallway, in anticipation,
He didn't know the night would end up in frustration.
He'd end up blowing all his wages for the week
All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek.

Come dancing,
That's how they did it when I was just a kid,
And when they said come dancing,
My sister always did.

My sister should have come in at midnight,
And my mum would always sit up and wait.
It always ended up in a big row
When my sister used to get home late.

Out of my window I can see them in the moonlight,
Two silhouettes saying goodnight by the garden gate.

The day they knocked down the Palais
My sister stood and cried.
The day they knocked down the Palais
Part of my childhood died, just died.

Now I'm grown up and playing in a band,
And there's a car park where the Palais used to stand.
My sister's married and she lives on an estate.
Her daughters go out, now its her turn to wait.
She knows they get away with things she never could,
But if I asked her I wonder if she would...

Come dancing,
Come on sister, have yourself a ball.
Don't be afraid to come dancing,
It's only natural.

Come dancing,
Just like the Palais on a Saturday.
And all her friends will come dancing
Where the big bands used to play.

Video by YT member sundaegirl12004
Photo at www.streetswing.com

PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE

2009-01-24T16:08:00.006-05:00

I can't say that I remember exactly what I was doing back in 1983 when I learned that Beach Boy Dennis Wilson had died - not like I do with the Kennedy and King assassinations, and when John Lennon was killed - but I do remember the feeling of shock, and loss. I mean, he was only 39. I never knew much about the private lives of the Beach Boys. I didn't read the music mags or seek out any of the gossip rags. My appreciation was strictly for the music back then, but that all changed with time. A person would have to be a total hermit not to pick up BB trivia along the way, and I've researched the band for both my music trivia books. Yet somehow, I never managed to discover that Dennis had recorded a solo album, and a very well-respected one at that. It wasn't until I got my hands on the January 8, 2009 issue of Rolling Stone, wherein Dennis Wilson's 1977 release heads the list of Rolling Stone's picks for the 10 Best Reissues of the Year. I think I put the magazine down immediately and went straight to Amazon.com and ordered a copy of Pacific Ocean Blue.

The album is described in RS as Dennis' "personal masterpiece" - his own Pet Sounds. Dennis was kind of the diamond-in-the-rough, the Beach Boys' best kept secret, a rare talent, and a person most likely, by many accounts including his own, to live fast and die young. I'm just beginning to delve into the gems on this album, but I'm liking it a lot. It seems to me that Dennis Wilson was an original, with much more talent than he was possibly given credit for, and, for all the talent, he sometimes got in his own way by living on the edge, a little scattered, without the discipline to work the business. In that sense he kind of reminds me of Tim Buckley (who also died far too young) although Denny's rugged vocals are very different from Buckley's soaring tenor. The Pacific Ocean Blue reissue contains all the original tracks, plus some material from his follow-up album, the unfinished Bambu - rather like his own lost Smile, if you want to stretch out the comparisons to the breaking point. But brother Brian finally did put Smile together, while with Denny's untimely death, all we will ever have is his small output, and this wonderful reissue.

Here's a video of a cut, Thoughts of You, from YT memberIsobelRivers. I hope it doesn't get removed before you get a chance to listen to it!

Photo at www.hipersonica.com

WHAT GOES TOGETHER BETTER THAN CARS AND OLDIES? (answer: nuthin'!)

2009-01-21T15:22:00.015-05:00

My friends sent me an email recently, maybe you've seen it, if you are of a certain (i.e. old fogey-ish baby boomer) age and your firends send you stuff like this, too. Anyway, I thought it was kind of cute so I'm posting it here. Besides, it gives me an excuse to play some summer put-the-top-down music by the Beach Boys. Never a bad idea!

I came across this phrase yesterday 'FENDER SKIRTS'.

A term I haven't heard in a long time and thinking about 'fender skirts' started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice like 'curb feelers'

And 'steering knobs.' (AKA) suicide knob

Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first
Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.

Remember 'Continental kits?'
They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.

When did we quit calling them 'emergency brakes?'
At some point 'parking brake' became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with 'emergency brake.'

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the 'foot feed.'

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the 'running board' up to the house?

Here they are, the Beach Boys, singing "I Get Around" Promise me you'll turn you speakers WAY up, okay? You get extra points if you open the windows, too, even if it's freezing cold!

All photos except for the bottom one came with the email, so I don't know who to credit. The running board car is used with permission of Wendimages.
Video by YT member whitegp2008

TIME FOR THE COOL DOWN

2009-01-18T19:58:00.005-05:00

Oh I'm just so proud of you all! For the two previous posts you did a terrific job with your New Year's Resolution workouts! First you did the Hokey Pokey warm up, then on to the cardio, with the Dear Lady Twist. You are all looking fit and simply fahb-yoo-luss! Now it's time for a well earned bit of relaxation, time to cool down, kick off your leg warmers, stretch those tired muscles, and listen to the soft strains of Johnny Rivers. Maybe you could even have yourself a little libation while you're at it. Why not pop a beer, you've certainly earned it. And hey, how about a some pizza to go with? Just a medium, that can't hurt, right? And then you may as well finish off the Haagen Dazs after that. Oh, this losing weight and getting in shape is going to be fun and easy!!

Video by YT member classicpoprock
Flashdance poster from MySpace

HEY WHERE YOU GOING, WE’RE NOT DONE YET…

2009-01-15T12:40:00.005-05:00

In the previous post, we got started on our path to improvement in the New Year with the Hokey Pokey. Well, now that we’ve mastered that, I can tell you it was just the warm-up. We now move on to the cardio portion of our program. We all remember Gary U.S. Bonds for his great NOLA-based hits, “New Orleans” “Take Me Back to New Orleans.” and his smash hit “Quarter to Three.” He had another big hit with a song (that owed much of it’s success to Chubby Checker’s blockbuster dance craze) called the “Dear Lady Twist.” So come on, kiddies – get up off from your chair and let me see you workin' it. Go for the burn!!

Video by YT member JBauder1948
Photo at www.streetswing.com

THAT SOUND YOU HEAR MIGHT BE YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION HITTING THE FLOOR

2009-01-12T08:53:00.007-05:00

Here we are not even halfway through January and you say you’re already slacking off on your promise to get on the treadmill every morning before work? You tired of that hamster wheel feeling already? Well, I have just the ticket. Remember that dance we all did as kids at our little birthday parties and brownie meetings? Come on, I know you guys even did it a few times, too – the Hokey Pokey. What better way to get a little variety in your routine than to shake some body parts and jump around?! Here we have the original Hokey Pokey, recorded by Ray Anthony and his Orchestra, who also gave us that other party staple, the Bunny Hop, as well as the theme to the classic TV show, “Dragnet” (dum dum dum dum DUM!) back in the 1950s. Ray was a terrific trumpet player (and still active as of 2006) and also did some acting, notably along with his then wife, 50s sex symbol bombshell Mamie Van Doren. But today we want to enlist Ray in our effort to keep with the program. So, come on everybody – if you’re in a group, form a circle; if you’re by yourself, then be a circle of one (until you lose the weight, at least). Here we go!

Hokey Pokey sign from Mental Floss, a website, blog and magazine you really should be reading. You have to be mentally fit, too, you know...
B/W photo from another terrific trivia blog, TYWKIWDBI. Go there!
Video from YT member gramophoneshane

A POP CULTURE PERSPECTIVE ZAP

2009-01-09T09:51:00.007-05:00

I must apologize, I really meant to get this posted yesterday - the actual "day-of" but you know how it goes, some days it's like Mr. Murphy and his annoying Law just seems to follow you around all day. You feel like Wile E. Coyote. Every place you go, it's as if the Roadrunner is sneakily sticking his foot out in the aisle, metaphorically speaking. Well, enough about my troubles. I'm sure you don't want to hear about the container of ACME carpet cleaner solution on the shelf that leaked all down inside the closet and into the catbox. You definitely don't want to hear about the world's biggest lump of clumping cat litter either. So let's just get on with it.

If you watched Larry King last night, you saw the special footage of Priscilla Presley, and thus already know that yesterday, January 8th, was Elvis's birthday. This year, he would be (if you're one of those who think he's dead) a whopping 74 years old! Kind of makes you wonder what he might look like, doesn't it. Would he have aged like Brando (who got pretty expansive) or Peter O'Toole (trim to the end)? Yeah, that's where I'd put my bets, too.

Anyway, to celebrate the occasion, even though a day late, here's a nice little YouTube video (hope it doesn't get yanked like the Gene Autry in my Christmas post did!) of one of my very favorite Elvis songs, "(Let Me Be Your)Teddy Bear"

Oh, I should also mention that this year Brad Pitt will turn 46, and Leo DiCaprio will be 35. How old does that make you feel?! You can look up the exact dates if you want to. Maybe celebrate with a nice cake from the ACME Bakery.

Video by YT member nighthawk57
Photo at www.mrcheapstuff.com

TALK TO THE HAND, BUT LISTEN TO THE WALL

2009-01-07T09:39:00.006-05:00

Okay, this will be quick. Just one last post about the Wall of Sound before we move on to other things. I found this video in my travels around YouTube, and if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth the viewing just for the old photos, not to mention the music. See how many your can guess, the link will take you to the answers on the More Info drop-down.

Graffiti wall photo from WIkimedia commons
Video by YT member olmerpictureshow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2nA_9D-mMs

GOIN’ MONO-A-MONO WITH STEREO

2009-01-05T09:40:00.005-05:00

Continuing with the theme of the previous post, we’re going to look again at the Wall of Sound (WOS) phenom. As with any new musical discovery, it really started to catch on. In the same era, WOS-style numbers can be heard from the Beach Boys (God Only Knows, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Pet Sounds), some of the hits of Dusty Springfield – called the “Anglicized Wall of Sound” (You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me) and The Walker Brothers (The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More), Harry Nilsson (Everybody’s Talkin) and even some early ABBA hits, (Waterloo, Dancing Queen)! And the list doesn’t end there. It’s obvious the Baby Boomers artist and producers of the 60s weren’t the only ones who understand the grandeur, the import of this sound. Wikipedia has a whole article on the WOS, but we'll just sample the following:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's landmark 1975 Born to Run album — which includes more than thirty guitar tracks — is perhaps the most extensive and faithful updating of Spector's early-60s "Wall of Sound" production style.

The list goes on, but we’ll stop here so we can have ourselves a retro-listen to a couple of these vintage greats. Just listen to the Wall!!

The Beach Boys - God Only Knows, from the album Pet Sounds

The Walker Brothers, The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More

Photo from Wikimedia Commons
BB video by YT member Alixx2
Walker Bro video by YT member garageband66

WE GOT OUR BACKS TO MONO AND WE’RE UP AGAINST THE WALL

2009-01-03T13:35:00.003-05:00

Yesterday’s playlist for me was even more eclectic than usual. I started out with the Chambers Brothers, “Time Has Come Today” in a video I saw on somebody’s blog (and unfortunately didn’t bookmark it, and now can’t remember which of you it was, so can’t credit you, sorry!!) Anyway, from there I bounced around the later 60s, a little Iron Butterfly (In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida) a little Deep Purple (Hush) and little Scott McKenzie (If you’re goin’ to San-Fran-cisco… After that, a big leap pover to Berlioz, and then some Canadian talent – Cape Breton’s finest, Jimmy Rankin. I ended the day listening to the oldies station on my dish, and was lucky to catch a string (unintentional, I’m sure) of 60s Wall of Sound hits, produced by Phil Spector.

Phil has fallen on hard times of late, but back in the 60s he was the Boy Genius of the music industry. His signature sound was really something to behold – still is. The Wall of Sound (WOS) was a little something he whipped up using huge conglomeration of multiple musicians, unorthodox combinations of instruments, a whole swack of tracks and an echo machine. The resultant music hit you like a wall…well, of sound. And while he denounced stereo in favor of mono, after he got through with it, it sounded like a tsunami of sound that enveloped the listening in pop splendor that stereo just can’t touch. The studio musicians became famously known as The Wrecking Crew. Here, from Wikipedia:

In the 1960s, Spector usually worked at the Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles because of its exceptional echo chambers, essential to the Wall of Sound technique. Microphones in the recording studio captured the sound, which was then transmitted to an echo chamber—a basement room outfitted with speakers and microphones. The signal from the studio would be played through the speakers and would reverberate around the room, being picked up by the microphones. The echo-laden sound was then channeled back to the control room, where it was transferred to tape. The natural reverberation and echo from the hard walls of the room gave his productions their distinctive quality and resulted in a rich and complex sound when played on AM radio, with an impressive depth rarely heard in mono recordings.

WOS number came in two basic speeds: slow and mellow and here-we-go. Here’s one of each. I purposely picked selections from YouTube that don’t have live footage or other distracting videos. Not this time. So turn up your speakers, and listen to that fullness of sound, that great big wall of it, and remind yourself how lucky you are that you born at the right time...

Ike and Tina Turner “River Deep, Mountain High”

The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”

Videos by YT memeber tinturnerfan84, vwestlife
Album cover at http://rateyourmusic.com

STARTING OFF THE NEW YEAR RIGHT!

2009-01-01T09:20:00.003-05:00

Greetings music lovers! Here’s hoping you had terrific holidays, and aren’t nursing too big of a hangover this morning. Today is a day of reflection, of resolution, of charting a course for the new year ahead, and of course, a day for Neil Sedaka.

I know that Neil’s 1960 hit, Calendar Girl is a well-worn favorite on all the oldies stations, and so everybody knows the words. We can have a little New Years karaoke while playing this delightfully dated video from YouTube. Neil will sing for us and maybe play a couple of notes on the piano (but I think it’s mostly there as a prop to give the girls a place to dance) and Neil will kind of shakes it up a little, too. Don’t laugh, that was pretty cool stuff back then, I can vouch for that. I really wish I knew the exact when and where of this video. I’m guessing that it could actually be 1960, and maybe even prior to the bombshell release of Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” because there is not a hint of a twist in any of the girls’ dance moves.

As for the girls, well, you will see that some of the costumes try to match up with the lyrics. Miss February is in a bunny suit with big ears, and Miss July has a weird firecracker headdress that looks borrowed from Mardi Gras. Why the choreographer didn’t follow through and put Miss March in a wedding dress (I’m gonna march you down the aisle) or Miss November in a nice little shortie (adult stores probably have them!) pilgrim dress is a mystery. And Miss August, who is supposed to be at the beach looks, well, I won’t spoil it for you, but I don’t think even Cher wouldn’t wear it!

So, here you go. I’m off to enter all the important dates for this new year in my brand new 2009 daytimer – birthdays, oil changes, the premier of LOST…

Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Video by YT member tuggle

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR

2008-12-21T04:02:00.007-05:00

Here’s wishing all of you out there in the Blogiverse the happiest of holidays. I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who stop by to have a read and a listen – you’re the best! I mean that sincerely. So don’t take it personally when I tell you that I’m taking a bit of a vacation from now until New Years. Will I be lounging on some beach? Schussing down a slope? No, and no. I’m planning on spending most of it finishing off the sequel to my first book of music trivia (the book for which this blog is named). I have one more chapter and some proofing left to do, and I just need to buckle down. So until we meet again on January the first, 2009, I’ll leave you with a couple of vintage tidbits.

For Christmas, here is the Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry, with one of my very favorite Christmas songs, “Thirty Two Feet and Eight Little Tails of White.” (date unknown but probably the somewhere in the 50s)

And for New Years, here a clip from Dick Clark’s “New Years Rock’ Eve.” It’s the earliest one I found on YouTube, dating back to 1985. As Dick says, it was already the 13th annual NYRE, which puts the starting date back to (where’s my abacus) 1972! Too bad we don’t have a clip of that one, but you’ll still get a hoot out of all the “big stars” that were part of the entertainment lineup. Ah, where are they now…

Photos from Shutterstock
Videos from 1)mummysrus 2) PHILLYmediaWATCH

WE NEED A LITTLE MITZI

2008-12-20T11:02:00.005-05:00

Ah, the sixties. Nothing like it for sheer style and entertainment. If you don't believe me, just feast your eyes on this little production - a mini-skirted Mitzi Gaynor with a delightful foot-stompin' finger-poppin' version of "We Need a Little Christmas" (from the Broadway show, Mame). Is this not retro-tastic! I'm a big Mitzi Gaynor fan, starting with her film role in South Pacific. Apparently she will be touring a show in 2009 in North America, so we're in for a treat.

This clip is from Mitzi's 1967 TV special, The Mitzi Gaynor Christmas Show.

Video by YT member MissMitziGaynor
Photo of my tree!

MORE TOP 10 - THE SUBJECT IS RAIN

2008-12-17T10:54:00.010-05:00

I was visiting someone's blog this morning, totally unconnected to oldies or music in general, but the blogger did ask visitors to leave the title of their favorite rain song in their comment. That got me thinking about what my favorite rain song might be. I like rain, and I like rain songs. So, here, in no particular order, is my list of top vintage rain songs, plus a video of Ronettes photos accompanying their 1964 hit, "Walking in the Rain." See how many of these songs jog your memory. What favorites would you add that I don't have?

1) Walking in the Rain - The Ronettes
2) Raindrops - Dee Clark
3) Rain on the Roof - The Lovin' Spoonful
4) Riders on the Storm - The Doors
5) Rhapsody in the Rain - Lou Christie
6) Rhythm of the Rain - The Cascades
7) Cryin' in the Rain - The Everly Brothers
8) I Wish It Would Rain - The Temptations
9) Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) - Melanie
10) Who'll Stop The Rain - CCR

Okay, here the girls...

Video by YT member JKRXBACK
Photo - my back yard, aka Lake Erie

FEATURE SONG THAT’S NEVER GOING TO GO AWAY: HOOKED ON A FEELING

2008-12-14T10:19:00.003-05:00

Now, please don’t get upset with me if you really love this song. I don’t mind if myself. Honest. But if we can’t make fun of the things we love and/or don’t mind once in a while, then what’s the point of even getting out of bed in the morning, right? So, while we’re in the make-fun mode, let’s be brutally honest. Hasn’t this song always reminded you of some of life’s more distressing moments? Moments like: 1) your 10-year high school reunion, which actually took place in the same smelly old scuff-marked gym (who's bright idea was that?) and for which someone hired your best buddy’s "cover band" who (you finally admit it) sucked back in the day, and have only played together twice since graduation 2) all the really ugly bridesmaid dresses you ever danced in at weddings with really bad cover bands 3) taking that sweet, special someone to “Reservoir Dogs” without knowing anything about it first 4) dateless nights spent with a bag of microwave popcorn watching episodes of Ally McBeal with that creepy dancing baby 4) Listerine commercial flashbacks 5) David Hasselhoff flashbacks.

Enough of that.

I guess you could say that this song is deeply embedded in popular culture. It was initially recorded in 1969 by B.J. Thomas (accompanied by that funky electric sitar) but it’s the cover by the group Blue Swede (from Sweden, surprise!) with that opening chorus of (spellings vary) “ooga chukka, ooga chukka” that cemented this song’s (along with our own) fate. Below are two videos of "Hooked on a Feeling" for your nostalgic listening pleasure/pain. One is a kind of trippy visual tour of a jukebox that Quentin Tarantino would no doubt appreciate. The second, which is mercifully very short, is of the dancing baby. Where will this song turn up next?

Videos by YT members pigmygoatzdotcom (jukebox) and bwair (baby)
Photo at www.maurine.com//baby.htm (in case you are a total retro addict and just have to have this as your screensaver)

STUCK INSIDE THE RECESSION WITH THE BAILOUT BLUES AGAIN (with apologies to Bob Dylan)

2008-12-11T12:37:00.005-05:00

It looks like Dee-troit, the Motor City, my beloved home town, is one baby step closer to getting some cash. So, I figured, whatever your politics may be, what better segway is there for listening to one of the truly great car songs of the vintage era - "Little Duece Coupe" by The Beach Boys. And, if you'll permit me to brag just a teensy-weensy little bit, I can sing along with this song without missing a word, I am so completely down with the lyrics. If you happened to have read the book for which this blog is named (hey, a little self-promotion never hurt anybody) then you may recall the section on car songs, and "hot rod porn" in particular. The Beach Boys were responsible for a good deal of it, but not all. But... "porn" you say? Oh yeah. Some of those cars songs from the '60s had really technical automobile parts lyrics - songs that lovingly mentioning all the tricked-out features of the singer's car, designed to make teen guys' hearts beat fast just hearing those sexy words. You still think I'm exaggerating? Check out these lines from "409"...

To get the traction I'm ridin' the clutch
My pressure plate's burnin' my machine's too much

He's hot with ram induction but it's understood
I got a fuel injected engine sittin' under my hood

Oh baby! Okay, let's cool off and take a trip back to yesteryear, and listen to "Little Deuce Coupe." As you know, I often look for vintage performances when searching YouTube, but this one caught my eye. It's "Little Deuce Coupe" set to scenes from the modern classic movie (and another big fave of mine) Men In Black.

Video by YT member DoctorDeath88
Photo is of my baby, nicknamed The O.C. (for Orange Crush). It's a '65.

DENNIS YOST

2008-12-09T20:11:00.004-05:00

Dennis Yost, the gentle-voiced lead singer of the Classics IV (and a Detroit native) has died at the age of 65. The Classics IV had a number of 1960s hits, famously including "Spooky," "Stormy" and the sweetly sad "Traces." Who didn't recall a face or two listening to that one? Thanks for the music, Dennis.

Video by YT member ardenHK

“THE D” - STILL ROCKIN' THE GARAGE

2008-12-08T23:46:00.009-05:00

Recently, I was watching an episode of the new show, Crash (spin-off of sorts of the movie by the same name. Not the one by Cronenberg. I mean the Crash that got best picture in ’05. At the end they played a song that had me jotting down lyrics as quickly as possible so I might have a chance of finding out what it was. After a short search, I lucked out and arrived on the musical doorstep of a Detroit group called The Go. Who knew? Well, since they already have a good rep across the States, and have at least three albums out, the answer to that question is, "Not me!"

Part of the reason for this lapse is that these days I’ve pretty much given up on contemporary pop music. If I’m not listening to my vintage oldies, I’m sticking pretty close to the alt folk and/or alt country scene – Neko Case, Cat Power, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, the Be Good Tanyas – and pop like Coldplay and Five for Fighting. No pop princesses, no Fitty, no Diddy. I don’t look down on those who like it; it’s just not for me. So imagine my surprise when I heard The Go. I felt like everything was going to be all right again.

The Go have been compared to many 60s and 70s classic bands. I hear hints from the Stones, Hendrix, some early 60s rock and even early Beatles. Oh, and throw in a little T-Rex while we’re at it. The list goes on; everybody hears something of his or her personal favorites, too. But The Go’s music can’t be dismissed as simply derivative. Their not just retreads of the golden oldies. This stuff manages to kick out the jams 21st Century style while still sounding like an album you could have, would have, bought and worn out on your record player decades ago. The song that I heard on Crash is called “So Long Johnny” from the album Howl On The Haunted Beat You Ride. Hmmm, I wish they would’ve consulted me before they went with that title… Oh well, anyway, a video of the song “So Long Johnny” is on YouTube twice, but they are both such shakey recordings, musically and visually, I don’t feel right about posting them here as an example for you, my valued readers. Obviously you can check it out for yourselves if so inclined. I will put in a URL to Amazon.com so you can hear clips of each song on the album.

Photo of Detroit skyline from Wikimedia commons

BUILDING YOUR MUSICAL VOCABULARY BY CHOOSING THE REET WORD

2008-12-05T12:42:00.005-05:00

The other day when I was listening to the oldies station on my dish, they played Jackie Wilson’s hit, “Reet Petite.” Great song! It reminded me of when I was researching one of the chapters in my soon-to-be-published (fall of ’09) second book of music trivia, and was looking up the term “reet.” Reet, it turns out, is just a slangy jazz-era way of saying “right.” So, when Jackie sings, “She’s all right” and “reet petite” he’s really saying pretty much the same thing. But the ladies aren’t the only gender that employs the word reet. Reet is also applied to the special pleats in men’s zoot suit pants in the same jazz era. Ah, those were the days. Of course, in African-American culture, zoot suits and reet pleats are making a comeback, if they ever really went that far away. So look for males to be once again bedecked in the glory that is, to quote the lyrics from the musical Hair (see video below) the birthright of their sex. In other species males have the grandest plumage, the manes, the antlers etc. It’s only we humans where the males stick to those gray 6-piece suits all the time. But I digress. I think we should not only bring back the fashion of the era, but the slang as well.

So, I want to start hearing some reets out there. You can rhyme it up the way Jackie does. Like, “That is one reet sweet new pair of hip-waders you got there Bob” “Thanks, Phil. My Gladys got ‘em for me; I tell you that woman is reet petite and out of seet”

Okay, just don’t get too carried away.

Here he is, Mr. Entertainment, Jackie Wilson.

And here also, for your interest, is "My Conviction” from the 1960s musical Hair.

Photo from http://images.buycostumes.com
Jackie Wilson video by YT member oldies55
Hair video by YT member ObsessiveBeatles

ODETTA 1930-2008

2008-12-03T13:32:00.004-05:00

Another great voice of our times, often referred to as the "Voice of the Civil Rights Movement" is stilled with the passing of the legendary Odetta. Older baby boomers will remember her for her stirring folk songs that influenced all the early balladeers like Dylan and Baez, and for giving voice to black American folk, blues, and spirituals. In her later career, she broadened her repertoire to include jazz stylings, and some acting.

Photo from WIkimedia Commons
Video by YT member shariksharik

CINCINNATI IN THE NEWS

2008-12-02T11:08:00.003-05:00

In my travels around the www I recently discovered a tiny little news item; it would have been easy to miss, but... Cincinnati station WBQC-TV (Channel 38) has officially changed it’s call letters to WKRP, to celebrate going digital. As someone who never missed an episode of the original show, I think that’s very newsworthy. Unfortunately for the newly-renamed station, reruns of the original show (which ran from 1978-1982 plus a brief rehash from 1991-93) are only available for cable, so that means the WKRP-TV in Cincinnati won’t actually be showing episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati on TV. Plus, it is apparently a very low-power station, so I doubt it would make it all the way across the lake to me anyway. That’s doubly too bad.

I remember the original WKRP fondly, with its list of supremely wacky characters. And you won’t be surprised to learn that my favorite was Dr. Johnny Fever, the brunt-out acid-flashbacking disco-hating ‘60s DJ, who addressed his listeners as “my fellow babies” – played to perfection by Howard Hesseman. And I loved that we’d hear snippets of my favorite oldies during the show. Now that I think of it, I have a couple of channels on my dish that recycle old shows (Beaver, Andy Griffith, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley) so I’m going to have to look for WKRP. Meanwhile, the opening credits ought to take you back...

Video by YT member vhsrobot
Photo at http://blueopossum.homestead.com

EVERYTHING COMES IN THREES

2008-11-29T11:40:00.003-05:00

That’s what the say, anyway. And since this is the third Beatles-related news item in a row (interrupted only by Thanksgiving) who are we to argue. This one has to do with the famous Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby. As you can imagine, right from the get-go everyone yes and no. Here’s the skinny:

LONDON (Reuters) – A 97-year-old document that contains clues to the identity of Eleanor Rigby, the subject of one of the Beatles' best-loved songs, sold for 115,000 pounds ($177,000) at auction on Thursday.The total fell well short of high estimates of around 500,000 pounds for the piece of Beatles memorabilia.

The money will go to the seller Annie Mawson and her charity the Sunbeams Music Trust (www.sunbeamsmusic.org), which uses music to help people with special needs.
The manuscript is a salary register from Liverpool City Hospital and features the name and signature of E. Rigby, a scullery maid who has signed for her monthly wage. Her annual earnings were 14 pounds.According to Mawson, the document was sent to her in 1990 by former Beatle Paul McCartney when she wrote to him on behalf of her charity.

"I wrote ... to Paul and asked him for half a million pounds. But by the end of the letter I just said 'Look, I know you're a very caring person and I feel it's a privilege to share my story with you'," she told Reuters before the sale.
"Nine months later, in June 1990, this amazing envelope arrived in the post. It was nine months after I'd written to him, which was part of the mystery because you always think it ended up in the waste paper basket."

She said the envelope containing the document dated 1911 featured an official Paul McCartney tour stamp. The singer was on a world tour around that time.
Mawson did not immediately realize the importance of the register until she read the list of names and spotted E. Rigby.The document offers one of the clearest clues yet as to the identity of Eleanor Rigby, the woman in the song of the same name who dies alone with no one to mourn her. According to music Web sites, previously McCartney has said the heroine of the poignant song was fictional.

The grave of an Eleanor Rigby was also discovered in the churchyard of St. Peter's in Woolton, Liverpool, close to where McCartney met John Lennon in 1957.
"I wonder just how much Paul McCartney meant to unmask when he passed it on," said Ted Owen, managing director of the Fame Bureau which sold the manuscript in London.

So it looks like another case of unconscious influence. Fellow Beatle George
Harrison also wrote a song under such an influence (My Sweet Lord) but his unconsciousness was deemed plagiarism, and he had to ante up a boatload of money. Anyway, the overlooked person is all of this is Eleanor herself. I wonder what she wold make of all this world-wide fame!

Photo at www.ken-jennings.com (Yes,the brainiac Jeopardy champ)
Video by YT member jromey5

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY AMERICAN FRIENDS, AND TO ALL MY CANADIAN FRIENDS, HAPPY THURSDAY!

2008-11-26T14:16:00.003-05:00

Here we have something that is all the rage this Thanksgiving. Why have plain old turkey when you can have…turducken! (although if you’re just hearing about it now, it’s probably too late for this year). Anyhoo, I first heard about this a while ago, but thought it was a joke. Then I saw it on CNN and thus realized that it had to be a complete absolute and utter reality. And so it is. What is turducken? Vegetarians, read no further. Turducken is a TURkey that has been stuffed with a DUCK, which in turn has been stuffed with a chickEN. Get it? (of course there are three kinds of regular stuffing as well as the meat). That’s a turducken. Oh, and then you deep-fry the whole thing. Well, whatever you call it, it sounds like a mountain of work, because obviously (at least I hope it’s obvious) you have to remove a lot of bones before you stuff anything anywhere. Then, as I channel surfed away from CNN, I saw a commercial for a restaurant that offered a “Surf and Turf” special. Of course, Surf and Turf means Lobster (surf) and steak (turf). Hmmm. I think I see an opportunity to put together an even more obscene amount of fat and protein! Wrap the whole thing in a side of beef and clip it together with lobster claws, with a bucket of drawn butter on the side. Let’s call it SU for surf, TU for turkey, RF for turf, and of course UCKEN for the duck and chicken. What? Why are you snickering like that? You don’t think it sounds good?

There are quite a few videos on YouTube offering instructions on making a Turducken, including the one from CNN featuring Chef Paul. But I like this one, for reasons which you will probably be able to guess.

HAVE A HAPPY, WHICHEVER SIDE OF THE BORDER YOU'RE ON!

Video from YT member MrJeremiahWeed
Photo of Turducken (aka “a heart attack on a plate”) from Wikimedia Commons

BEATLES IN THE NEWS YET AGAIN

2008-11-25T08:51:00.005-05:00

Just in time for the 40th anniversary of the release of the White Album (but probably a coincidence) the Vatican has released a statement praising the Beatles music, and chalking up Lennon’s 1966 comment about Jesus as the bragging of a young man wrestling with unexpected success. And to the Vatican we say, Dudes, what took ya so long?!

If you are a baby boomer like me, or a student of musical history, then you will most likely be familiar with the big kafuffle involving John Lennon’s remark about the Beatles and Jesus. The controversy was huge. It was the Dixie Chicks/George Bush go-round of its day. Here’s the backstory. In an interview reported in 1966, Lennon was asked about Beatlemania, and he quipped that they were “more popular than Jesus now.” I remember hearing it at the time and thinking it merely meant that you could probably walk up to a group of tribal people living in one of the few remaining isolated areas of the planet and ask who Jesus was and get a blank stare, but mention the Beatles and they would break into broad grins and start chanting, “Yeah-yeah-yeah!” Okay maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration.

After Lennon’s remark – which, in a situation eerily similar to the Dixie Chicks, was made in London but didn’t gain traction until is was reported stateside – the Bible Belt and conservative groups went nuts, just like they did with the Chicks, and burned loads of Beatles albums. Beatles music was banned on some radio stations, and concerts were cancelled. Even the KKK got into the act, burning the Beatles in effigy and nailing their albums to burning cross. At first, the Beatles’ reaction was to wryly observe that they had to purchase the albums first in order to burn them, but eventually, as things kept on getting worse, Lennon issued an apology, which the Vatican accepted at the time. Actually, Lennon was often misquoted as having said the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus” but personally, I don’t think the results would have been much different either way.

Anyway, in their recent statement, the Vatican also said that Beatles music is much better than the “standardized, stereotypical” music of today. Well, gotta say Amen to that!

Here's a Beatle selection that kind of fits the occasion, "I Should Have Known Better"

Video by YT member Beetulz
Photo at www.planetware.com

NOTHING IS CERTAIN BUT DEATH AND TAXES…OH AND MAYBE DIVORCE

2008-11-22T13:27:00.007-05:00

They say timing is everything, and who are we to argue. I mean, they were right when they said, “Let the buyer beware” “Don’t wash your dirty linen in public” and of course, “You win some, you lose some.” On that note, I recently read that former Beatle Paul McCartney wants to release an obscure 1967 Beatles tape, a rather lengthy 14-minute song titled “Carnival of Light.” From the description (distorted guitar and organ, someone gargling, Paul and John shouting things like “Barcelona!” and asking, “Are you all right?” and other general random mayhem from the other group members) it sounds like a real post-Sgt. Pepper Dali-esque free-for-all. It’s been referred to as avant-garde, but isn’t that really just another way of saying post-Sgt. Pepper Dali- etcetc?

If one is a real solid Beatles aficionado, then this is probably a must-hear, and probably a must-have. I don’t quite fall into that category, but I might be inclined to listen to it on YouTube first, and then decide if I can’t live without it. What amuses me most is that McCartney is quoted as saying that, “…the time has come for it (Carnival of Light) to have its moment.” Well, that may be. But for me it’s kind of like a respected Hollywood actor doing a part in some goofy lightweight comedy that goes from theaters to DVD so fast the breeze lifts your hair. When those movies come out, I usually think: Oh man, So-and-so must want to put an addition on his swimming pool real bad. So here, we have Sir Paul, master tape of the original song in tow. It’s not a done deal yet; he needs to get permission from Ringo, Yoko, and Olivia Harrison first. So why would Paul need to earn himself some extra mo… Ooooh yeah (lightbulb clicking on). Like that old saying goes, “True love never runs smooth.”

Anyway, here’s one of my very favorite fun Beatles songs, while we’re waiting for Carnival of Light.

Video by YT member irenelemejo
Marketplace photo from Wikimedia Commons

SO THAT'S WHY DON HENLEY ALWAYS LOOKED SO CRANKY

2008-11-20T09:07:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine in Toronto just sent me a clipping from the Globe and Mail. It was an account of the troubled times, make that the very troubled times, of the Eagles. Now that I think of it, I vaguely remember hearing something along those lines, maybe it was back when they had the Hell Freezes Over tour (as in, This band is never getting back together unless…). But I have to admit, much as I enjoy their music, I just never got into the band’s trivia and personal details. I couldn’t point to their group photos and name you all the members. Don Henley is really the most recognizable to me. That may be heresy to some staunch Eagles fans, but what can I tell you. We all have our faves; I could put names to a good-sized lineup of doo-wop personnel.

Anyway, it seems the boys in the band were just too many large and robust egos under one roof. Or on one tour bus. Apparently they disagreed and fought over a lot of different things which all ultimately came down to money. Surprise! And now, Don Felder (is he the one with the really long hair?) has written a book titled Heaven and Hell: My Life with The Eagles (1974-2001). I suppose now that he’s had his say, other books by other Eagles will follow. So, if you’re a diehard fan, start hinting for Christmas.

For our musical interlude, here is one of my very favorite Eagles tunes – Seven Bridges Road. It’s a really great country-esque song that I first heard it done by Rita Coolidge. The Eagles do it a cappella, and the audience is loving it. So give us a little smile, Don.

Photo from www.frontrowking.com
Video by YT member DrMabuse06

DOUBLE FEATURE – DADDY COOL AND EDD BRYNES

2008-11-17T17:51:00.002-05:00

The term “Daddy” and its variants, “Daddy-O” (or Daddio) and “Dad” have been through some time and changes. It goes back at least to the 1940s when NOLA disc jockey Vernon Winslow used it as part of his on-air moniker. I remember it mostly from the 1950s and the hepcat-beatnik era. In 1957, the doo-wop group The Rays released what would become their big hit, “Silhouettes” with “Daddy Cool” on the flip side. Flip side. There’s a term that the iPod generation won’t understand. It means the song on the other side of a record, sometimes called the B-side. Records are flat discs that look something like CDs but are way cooler. Then, if you’re of a certain age, like me, you probably remember the TV show 77Sunset Strip (1958-64) and Kookie, the Edd Byrnes character Kookie was the valet-parking-detective-wannabe-hair-combing-heartthrob of the show. Kookie called everybody Dad, the same way kids today call everybody Dude. I think Dude is fine, but I’m secretly hoping Daddio will make a comeback. In fact, I think I’ll start using it on my male friends and see what happens. I invite any of you out there in the Blogiverse to do the same. Daddio hasn’t really gone away; it’s just waiting there for someone to re-cooligize it. We can do it!

Here are the two YouTube videos for our double bill of hits. I think they’re both real gone, daddio. (Now doesn't that sound great?!)

Daddy Cool video by YT member ladyrockndoowop
Kookie, Kookie video by YT member GjuroKaiser
Photo at www.tvparty .com

ONE OF MY FAVE GROUPS and A NICE SWEATER SET, TOO

2008-11-14T11:57:00.004-05:00

If you like snappy 60s R&B, then you know The Orlons. While I’m sure there are plenty of other groups named after cloth, The Orlons are probably the best remembered. They started out in the late 50s as a five-member girl group, Audrey and the Teenettes. After losing a couple of the girls down to a trio, they added a guy (and what a guy, what a voice!) and became The Orlons. They took their name from a popular 60s manmade fabric as a kind of spoof on a rival school group, The Cashmeres. Well, if we’re talking fabrics, cashmere has the rep for being real pricey and aristocratic compared to lowly synthetic Orlon, but since we’re talking about music…the Orlons win hands down. I’m not saying the Cashmeres didn’t have a sound, but …how many hits by The Cashmeres do you remember? As for durable Orlons, there’s “South Street” “The Wah-Watusi” “Don’t Hang Up” “Cross Fire” and my particular fave, “Not Me.” Not bad for a group named after a synthetic fiber. You know what they say: Better living through chemistry.

The Orlons: Rosetta Hightower, Shirley Brickley, Marlena, Stephen Caldwell.
"Don't Hang Up" - a song about a phone call between a teen girl and boy. The girl innocently goes out with some friends, winds up at a dance (not her idea) and decides, as long as she's there, to "be a sport" and have a dance. Wouldn't you know it - her boyfriend walks into the dance and catches her! But wait a sec, who was that chick he had clinging to his arm?!! Too bad we didn't get to hear the rest of the conversation. Is it too late for an 'answer song'?

Video by YT member hwaj5300
Photo at www.fasttrackproducts.com

A LITTLE BIT O' (NORTHERN) SOUL

2008-11-12T08:17:00.005-05:00

I came across this video on YouTube a while back, and thought it was some of the coolest dancing I'd ever seen: I had discovered Northern Soul dancing. Apparently, Northern Soul dance moves can sometimes be quite similar to break dancing, but these look more like 60s moves, which is where Northern Soul got its start. It's too bad the video is so fuzzy. I wouldn't normally choose a video this poor to use in a post, but like I said, it's just so cool. And it looks pretty aerobic, too. Makes me wonder if any of those young people could be smokers and still dance like that! Northern Soul looks like a good workout. I'd give it a try myself, but I don't think I have the brain-foot coordination for it; it looks too much like that old 60s dance craze, the Mashed Potatoes, and I never could master that one. I've seen the instructional videos, watched plenty of people do it, and...nothing. To save myself some face, I can assure you that I am pretty good at just about every other 60s dance craze dance, but somehow the Mashed Potatoes still eludes me.

NORTHERN SOUL DANCING

MASHED POTATO TIME, by Dee Dee sharp

Mashed Potato video by YT member soulrocket
N. Soul video by YT member keepingthefaith72

AN IRRPLACEABLE LOSS FOR THE WORLD

2008-11-10T12:48:00.008-05:00

Miriam Makeba, Mama Afrika, Dies at 76 After Concert (Update2) By Nicky Smith

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Miriam Makeba, the South African recording artist known as ``Mama Afrika'' who was exiled from her own country during apartheid, died of a heart attack last night after giving a concert in Italy. She was 76.

The Grammy-winning Makeba ``collapsed as she was leaving the stage,'' South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in an e-mailed statement today. Makeba, who brought the music of her continent to a global audience in the 1960s, had been performing at the Vastel Volturno in the province of Caserta, 35 kilometers (22 miles) northwest of the city of Naples.

``One of the greatest songstresses of our time, Miriam Makeba, has ceased to sing,'' Dlamini Zuma said. ``South Africa's goodwill ambassador died performing what she did best -- an ability to communicate a positive message through the art of singing.''

For complete article click HERE
Photo from zar.2.za/makeba/htm
Video by YT member jameycruz

CALLING ALL MUSIC AND/OR MOVIE TRIVIA GEEKS

2008-11-08T10:54:00.007-05:00

Okay, this is where we separate the sheep from the goats, the men/women from the boys/girls, the mere trivia freaks from the truly gifted trivia geeks. Whoever and wherever you are, I need your help. I am trying to think of some trivia connected to a particular piece of music from the 60s, and can’t come up with the answer. It hasn’t quite kept me up at night, but that might not be far off. I can get really obsessive about these things (oh really?). And I’ve come across this quest up there in the dusty recesses of my musical memory, off and on, for a long time. Here’s what I can tell you:

The song is called either “La Montana (If She Should Come To You)” or maybe it’s “If She Should Come To You (La Montana).” I tried Googling it, but almost everything I got is either beyond my meager capabilities in Spanish, or Hannah-related.

Several musicians have recorded it, with lyrics (including Anthony Newley) and as an instrumental (Roger Williams, for one). It’s the instrumental version I’m interested in. I am convinced it was used in a movie, perhaps as the movie’s main theme. I’m going crazy; I’m wracking my brain. I thought the movie might have been The Sundowners, but once I listened to that theme again, I remembered it, and it isn’t the one.

So my question to all you music trivia freaks and geeks out there, what movie is this from? Or, if not a movie, where do I know it from? Maybe it was just one of the many instrumental hits in the 60s and not from a movie? Help! If anyone can tell me, please send me a website or any kind of documentation, and put an end to my many years of wondering and searching. I will be forever in your trivial debt. So much so that I would be pleased to reward you by sending one of your kids to college. Kidding! How about I send you a copy of my music trivia book, "Papa Do Run" instead?

FEATURE ARTIST/SONG – SONNY JAMES, “YOUNG LOVE”

2008-11-06T10:42:00.003-05:00

About four posts ago (Nov 1st) I mentioned a few country crossovers in the vintage years. One glaring omission (mea culpa!) was Sonny James. How I could forget this is beyond me. Chalk it up to Boomer Brain or something, because I totally dig this song! Anyway, Sonny had a huge hit back in 1957 with “Young Love” He didn’t write it, however. It was penned in 1956 by Ric Cartey and Carol Joyner. I discovered in my research that Cartey actually recorded it first, but it didn’t really gain attention until Sonny recorded it on January 5, 1957. Then it became the first country song to ascend both the country and pop charts. He wasn’t the only one to have a big hit with this. The same song was a simultaneous (January 19, 1957) hit for teen movie heartthrob Tab Hunter – and actually charted higher than Sonny’s version. That’s how it was done back then. A song was often recorded by more than one artist at the same time, and they let them battle it out on the airwaves. I don’t mind Tab’s version, I guess. It’s hard to totally mess up such a great love song like this one, but it is kind of white bread. Not as white bread as Pat Boone’s covers of Little Richard tunes, mind you, but close. Sonny James, on the other hand, really puts his heart and soul into it. Sonny has had a long and full career, with plenty of well-deserved recognition. He continued to record until his retirement in 1983, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006. He never had another pop crossover hit like “Young Love” but that one gets played regularly on the oldie stations. And you can’t keep a good song down. It’s also been covered by The Crew-Cuts (also 1957), The Rolling Stones, Ray Stevens and Donny Osmond, and others. Here’s some great b/w footage of Sonny in country attire, sing about that young love. Sigh.

Video by YT member DKenUCLA
Photo from www.top40db.net

THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE

2008-11-05T08:53:00.003-05:00

video by YT member drakep

MY HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED

2008-11-04T09:12:00.006-05:00

Last night I was watching that special by the crew at SNL, pulling together all their wonderful spoofs on the current election, and moments from elections past. It occurred to me that so much has changed over the years since I was old enough, it not to vote, at least to be paying attention to politics. The first US presidential election that made any impact on me was the 1960 one between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. I remember we had a "mock debate" at my grade school (and it got pretty heated, as I recall, at least for a bunch of 13-year-olds). And on the radio, we had a cute little novelty song, called "Report to the Nation." This was a spoof interview with candidate named (I think it was) Finnerty as John F. Kennedy, by newscasters Nutley and Winkly (aka Huntley and Brinkley). The interviewers asked questions and the candidate's answers were all spliced bits of lyrics from well-known songs of the day. It was a laff-riot...back then anyway. Then we advanced to the silly and sophisticated era of SNL, and their hilarious election spoofs, in the heyday of Chevy Chase et al, with folks gathered around the TV. And now we have YouTube, and a media culture that's completely portable. Everybody is getting into the act, and items can be around the world in literally minutes. I looked in vain to find Nutley and Winkly on YouTube, so I can't post it for you here. Oh well, some of the references would be pretty obscure to the younger set. Even some of the early SNL material would be pretty out-of-date by now. So today, the big Election Day, I'll just post one of my favorites. It's made the rounds, and been on a few blogs, but it's just too good to miss, so if you haven't seen it before, you'll be glad you did. Even if you're of a different political persuasion, you have to admit, in your heart of hearts, this is funny. Plus, there's some real genuine talent here!

Video by YT member pfte1
Photo at www.davidsarnoff.org.com

GREAT LINES OF ROCK AND ROLL – Vol. 1

2008-11-03T14:16:00.005-05:00

“I got the boogie-woogie like a knife in the back”

We’re introducing a new feature here at Papa Do Run, called Great Lines of Rock and Roll. Every so often, on a completely irregular and wholly unpredictable basis, we’ll be posting a line from a popular vintage song, and we can all appreciate its verbal dexterity, marvel at its ability to describe exactly how-it-is, and generally be amazed at how lucky we are to have been born in a time of such life-enhancing wisdom, not to mention coolness.

Today’s feature is from this irrepressibly rockin’ song. You might want to test yourself first and see if you can remember the title - no one is going to ask how you did. Honest.

Video by YT member DKenUCLA
It's true, there are better versions of this song on YouTube, but this one is such a fifties artifact, even with that annoying counter, I just had to go with it.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

WHAT A HOOT!

2008-11-01T09:30:00.018-04:00

What’s rock and roll without a little bit of country? Just think about how many of the early singing sensations and teen heartthrobs were country crossovers: the Every Brothers, Brenda Lee, Jim Reeves, Jimmie Rodgers, Bobbie Gentry, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, on and on. And happily, the tradition is still alive and well. Mellow-voiced singer Darius Rucker, better known as Hootie of Hootie and the Blowfish, has achieved a real milestone in his career recently when he became only the third African-American to have a number 1 hit on country radio (USA Today’s country singles airplay chart). With his song, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.” Darius joins some big names. Charley Pride, probably best known for “Kiss An Angel Good Morning” had several dozen number 1 hits from the late 60s until 1983. The second black singer to top the country chart was Ray Charles (along with Willie Nelson) in 1985, with “Seven Spanish Angels.” But don’t worry, all you H&TBF fans; Hootie says he will still record and perform with the Blowfish band when the time and material are right. But for now, he’s gone country. And we’re glad he did. Here’s some great old footage of Charlie, Ray and The Hootster. What? You mean it’s not hip to use “ster” any more? Oh, I’m glad you told me.

Here's three videos of the for your viewing and listening pleasure. The one of Ray and Willie is especially neat, with the two of them goofing around at the piano. Man, there just isn't anyone quite like Ray Charles!

CHARLEY PRIDE - KISS AN ANGEL GOOD MORNING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9Fy6SQosQs

RAY and WILLIE - SEVEN SPANISH ANGELS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63A__INJecI

DARIUS RUCKER - DON'T THINK I DON'T THINK ABOUT IT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ9MHFr89NM

Blowfish photo from Wikimedia Commons

HAVE A SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN

2008-10-30T08:57:00.003-04:00

Halloween Night To Do List: Candy in the big bowl by the door - check. Porchlight on - check. Spooky music in the background - wait...what to play!?! Well, here's a fun Halloween compilation I found on YouTube, to give you some ideas, and get everybody get in the spirit (pun intended) of things. What do you bet there's going to be a lot of little Palins and Obamas out there this year?

DISCLAIMER: This video is labeled Top 10 Halloween songs, but does not necessarily represent the picks of Papa Do Run.

Video by YT member yankee0412
Candy corn photo from Wikimedia Commons

MY FAVORITE ROY ORBISON SONG

2008-10-28T11:03:00.011-04:00

It's hard to comprehend that it's been almost twenty years since we lost Roy - he passed away on December 6, 1988. The other day I heard "Blue Bayou" on the oldies station, and that got me thinking about all the other great songs he did that don't get played often enough. "Pretty Woman" gets played all the time, but great as that one is, I'm always glad to hear stations break out of their familiar programming ruts and play more variety. In the same spirit, I decided it was high time we listened to some here at Papa Do Run. The info on the video doesn't say so, but this footage is from the HBO concert, as described in Wikipedia:

In September of 1987, Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, a black-and-white HBO television special was recorded at the Coconut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Orbison was accompanied by a who's-who supporting cast organized by musical director T-Bone Burnett. All were fans and all were volunteers who lobbied to participate. On piano was Glen Hardin, who played for Buddy Holly as well as Elvis Presley for several years. Lead guitarist James Burton had also played with Presley and Ricky Nelson. Male background vocals, with some also playing the guitar or piano, came from Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and Steven Soles. A "million-dollar" trio of Jennifer Warnes, k.d. Lang and Bonnie Raitt provided female background vocals. He was also joined by keyboardist Michael Utley, a long time member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. All members of this first-class group of supporting artists displayed great respect and admiration for Roy. This TV special performance brought Orbison to the attention of a younger generation.

So without further ado, here's the great Roy-O and "Blue Angel"

Video from YT member youralone
Photo at www.meanspeed.com

FEATURE ARTIST – DOUG AND THE SLUGS

2008-10-27T06:45:00.005-04:00

This is one of those posts where we take a really big leap out of the vintage years, all the way into the 80s –oh my! But there’s a subtle connection, if you’ll humor me a little. Let me set it up for you. Back in the 1980s, I was working in the fine arts biz in Alberta, Canada. The oil boom was well underway, corporations were moving their head offices from Toronto (aka Hog Town) to the Calgary (aka Cow Town). It seemed like every third person you met was from Houston, and money was practically falling out of the sky. And with that much money, things that would not have mattered as much under different economic conditions became all the rage. The downtown bristled with building cranes, and all those big shiny new office towers had lots of bare walls. A corporate art collection became a must-have. In the uptown area of the city, it seemed like there was an art gallery on every corner. It also seemed like every company that had more than six employees had it’s own official art collection. Oil companies and legal offices led the charge, but even the hospitals were getting into the act. And of course, all the private citizens had collections, too. That was the community I worked in, and it was quite an experience. There was so much money to be had, that there was only a modest competition between galleries. Usually everyone knocked off work around the same time and headed down the street to the local cantina for happy hour. That's when I got my introduction to the music of Doug and the Slugs, a Canadian band out of Vancouver. One of the fellows from a friendly rival gallery, who knew of my taste for the oldies, said, “You should check out this group, I think you’d like them – it’s kind of 50s/80s music.

That was a good way to describe it, although I just looked them up in Wikipedia, and they are now being labeled as “alternative pop.” Well, that fits, too. Doug and the Slugs were a pretty zany bunch, musically, but were also very musically solid. They has a good run for close to ten 10 years, after which lead singer Doug Bennett continued to tour with a revolving set of musicians until his untimely death in 2004. I had the good fortune to hear them live once, and it was something to behold!

I hope you are ready to have some fun. If this sounds familiar to you, then you get points for being a real TV trivia fanatic. This song, “Too Bad,” from D&TS first album, Cognac and Bologna, was the theme song on The Norm Show (1999-2001) starring comedian Norm MacDonald (also of SNL anchor desk fame). Okay, let’s dance!

Video from YT member mojofilter02
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

LET’S HERE IT FOR DIGITAL SOUND - (BOO! HISS!)

2008-10-24T10:38:00.004-04:00

Last night I was channel surfing among several of the music stations on my dish, trying to avoid all the election coverage, while waiting for the SNL Thursday spoof of the election coverage. Like many people at this late stage of the game (and I do mean game) I’d much rather watch a spoof than the real thing. I’m a real political junkie, but the US election crossed over into the rather-have-a-root-canal category for me some time ago. As someone who has lived and voted in both the US and Canada, I can tell you, Canada is waaaay easier. For example, how many of you even knew Canada just had an election – hands? I thought so. Once it was announced that an election was coming, the whole thing took a mere 37 days and cost just over 300 mil. I kid you not. Anyway, I’m digressing again. What I really want to tell you about is that, as I surfed, I happened to catch the old ABBA song, “Chiquitita.” Well, have to stop for that one. And wonder of wonders, as I listened to the old familiar lyrics…I suddenly heard…something different! Yes, it’s true. Thanks to the wonders of crisp new digital sound, I discovered another bit of misheard lyrics I’d been living with in my head since…hold on a sec, let me go look it up…1979!
There’s that one part where they sing:

“Chiquitita you and I know / How the heartaches come and they go /________________”

Okay, here’s where my revelation comes. The actual words that go in the space above are “and the scars they’re leaving.” Maybe you always knew that. Maybe you had the album with lyrics. Maybe you have a better ear. But to me, that missing phrase was always “on the Champs-Elysees.” I mean, why not? After all, ABBA was a European group, with all the continental stuff that implies. They could have been to the Champs-Elysees many times, for all we know. And, don’t forget, we’re talking Paris here. Not only that, we’re talking about of the most famous romantic spots in town. Trysting in the cafes, meeting clandestinely in the cinema. I’m sure people get their hearts broken there all the time. Plus, the instrumentation has a kind of a turn-of-the-century Folies Bergere feel to it, even if the title is Spanish. Hey, Spain is in Europe too! Come on, you know it makes a certain sense. No? Well, it doesn’t matter; it’s all behind me now.

And now that I know what the real lyrics are, I suppose I should be happy, but somehow I’m not. Sometimes what you incorrectly imagine can be preferable to what is actual. It’s always going to look like a Toulouse-Lautrec painting in my head. So, have a listen and see what you think of my musical misadventure, and try to be kind...

Video by YT member kamy876
Photo from answers.com/cancan

WATCH OUT FOR THE WET PAINT!

2008-10-22T08:28:00.006-04:00

Another famous song about the color black – this time it’s “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones. This particular one was a hit in 1966, right at the beginning of the “Pallenberg years” when the Stones wrote many of their most memorable (to me anyway) songs. Anita Pallenberg, for those who may have missed it (easy to do) was a sort of combination muse and figurehead of the Stones for a while. She had two documented relationships with Stones members, and at least one rumored/unattested hook up with another. Some people think Paint It Black was inspired by Pallenberg, and others say it was Marianne Faithfull. Well, I don’t really want to get into a dissertation on the Rolling Stones love lives here, it would take up way too much time and space, and you can easily find all the info you might want at Wikipedia, so I’ll just sum it up and say that I don’t think the timeline works for either of those ladies.

Basically, this song seems to be about a guy who has lost his girlfriend –lost as in dead – and features all kinds of bleak imagery, including a funeral procession. For this reason, Paint It Black has been used to set a certain dark mood in many pop culture sectors, most especially movie soundtracks and TV episodes: Full Metal Jacket, Tour of Duty, For Love of the Game, Nip/Tuck, Stir of Echoes, The Sopranos. And, just as you might expect, a lot of people see a lot of different themes in it: depression, war, drugs, nihilism, even race relations (hey, I didn’t say they made any sense). Speaking of sense, or make that nonsense, I very briefly tried to find out if Weird AL had done a parody of Paint It Black, with no luck. My attention span just wasn’t up for anything in depth, so maybe someone out there knows and will tell us. Anyway, if he didn’t write one, he should. Paint It Black is just about sitting up on its hind legs begging for Al to pat it on the head.

For those who like their music trivia really small, there’s the matter of the comma in the title. You can see it on several album releases as “Paint It, Black” but Keith Richards has stated that the comma was a later addition by the record label, and not intended to be in the original title. That’s why I don’t use it here. Beside, I don’t like it myself, either. It sounds a little stuffy, like the way James Bond might request something painted. “My name is Bond, James Bond, and I wanted it painted, black. Painted, not papered.” I could probably think up a few more bad Bond puns, but you’ll be relieved to know that I’m not going to try. So let’s have a listen, and let the pounding drums and winding sitar take us back.

This video provides lyrics, including some inaccuracies, typos, and grammar glitches, but it has decent audio.

Photo from www.curust.ie
Video by YT member emilyrose6894

BLACK IS THE NEW (and old) BLACK

2008-10-20T10:32:00.004-04:00

The other day I was listening to the oldies station on my satellite dish, and they played “Black is Black” by Los Bravos. What a great song that is, and sounds surprisingly contemporary for something that was a hit all the way back in 1966. Anyway, as I was contemplating this song, I realized that I know nothing about Los Bravos, but if you had asked me, I probably would have said they were an American band, from maybe the West coast. Also, I was pretty sure that Black is Black was a one-hit-wonder (OHW) and that was about it. So I Googled Los Bravos, and then I Wiki’ed them. And what a surprise!

It turns out that I was right about the OHW thing, but beyond that, I could not have been more wrong. The group Los Bravos is what the Wiki writer calls a Spanish beat group. They are all Spaniards, from Spain except for their Gene Pitney dead ringer sound alike lead singer, who is a German, from Germany. As Jack Benny used to say, “Well!” While they charted a couple more modest hits in the UK, Black is Black was their only charting US Billboard hit (all the way to #4 in the Top Hot 100).

So, here is the group singing their famous song, and a little Gene Pitney tune for comparison. I just love Gene’s voice, and all of his songs, but I picked this one, Mecca, because the similarities are easy to hear. It occurs to me, though, how times have changed. I wonder if anyone these days would see releasing a song about Mecca as a risk, given the way things are. A question without an answer, for sure.

Los Bravos video by YT member lauuu
Gene Pitney video by YT member Brent441
Photo from www.sassyscrubs.com (really!)

A SAD DAY IN THE MUSIC WORLD and here at PAPA DO RUN

2008-10-17T15:03:00.007-04:00

LEVI STUBBS

June 6, 1936 - October 17, 2998

The Motown legend and lead singer of The Four Tops (photo front) died peacefully in his sleep today, at his home in Detroit. His soulful voice warmed Tops hits like "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" "Reach Out, I'll Be There" and my personal favorite, the 1964 hit "Baby I Need Your Loving." Back then I was a junior in high school, looking forward to my senior year and then to graduating. Now, so many years later, it's hard any time we lose one of the classic greats, but this one really knocked be back when I read about it. It's not only the loss of a talented musician, but I think it puts all us baby boomers in touch with our own mortality. Our class is beginning to graduate in a different sense of the term. Well, that's the way it always goes. And now it's time to say good-bye to Levi, with thanks for all the music.

Video by YT member HauntedStudios
Photo from blackamericans.com

WHEW, THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE!

2008-10-17T13:03:00.007-04:00

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big Bee Gees fan. I like the early ballads just fine, but am not too keen on their disco era stuff. It's fine with me if you like it; it's all about personal taste, right? Anyway, under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't be selecting this song to feature, but after last night, when the Red Sox fought back from the brink of the abyss, I just have to do something in recognition of their accomplishment. Now, you may also recall me saying I am a big Tigers fan. Well, that's true, but my close second team to cheer for is the Sox. Of course, this time with the Tigers out of it, I hope the Sox go all the way. I'll even be optimistic and start thinking about a song for that possibility. For now, the Sox are Stayin' Alive...

Before I close, I just have to give a shoutout to fellow music blogger Kat, over at Keep The Coffee Coming, who is a mondo Sox fan, and who is probably still recovering from last night. Sorry this video is filmed in New York, Kat!

Video by YT member Ichnos71x
Photo from www.kmmm.net

FEATURE SONG: ABIGAIL BEECHER by FREDDY (BOOM BOOM) CANNON

2008-10-15T12:47:00.004-04:00

My fellow baby boomers, is it just me, or was this song a harbinger of things to come, and we didn’t even know it? I mean, think about how frequently these days we hear of female teachers who massively overstep their professional bounds and have ‘affairs’ (that’s putting it politely!) with their young male students. How could such a thing come to pass? Well, it just so happens that I have my own (totally tongue-in-cheek, naturally) theory.

Think about the photos you’ve seen of some of these offending teachers. I can think of at least three who all looked to be in their mid-to-late twenties, all had long sleek hair, all looked appealing in a reality TV cookie-cutter blonde sort of way. Just the very thing an adolescent boy in the throes of a hormonal high tide would find distracting at the very least. Now think about the teachers you remember from your own high school days. Uh-huh. Even the younger female teachers looked middle-aged back then. It was the hair and glasses and styles. You could probably give those 1950s and 60s teachers a 21st Century makeover, and they might even look…dare I say it…hot? Well, maybe so, but that’s not my main point. What I'm saying is, here we have a song about a younger teacher in the 1960s, who roars into the faculty parking lot in a Jag, wears a sloppy sweater (what??) and a pony tail (seriously??) to teach in, and who makes the local policeman blanch. She can teach the required subject all right, but she throws in a couple of popular teen dance crazes, too. That’s not any teacher I ever saw. Furthermore, it seems that between classes, Ms Beecher is out in the halls playing guitar in sunglasses instead of monitoring student activity. And she showed up at a PTA meeting with a red surfboard! Well, no wonder the kids all dug her, but you have to think that it’s just a matter of time before she…oh let’s not even contemplate going there. It’s obvious that no one put a stop to this kind of thing, and now we are reaping the results today. For the most part, I like to stick up for vintage oldies. I don’t think of rock and roll as a social or moral evil. But there’s always that one exception

Video by YT member JBauder1948
Photo from http://ocw.mit.edu

TIME TO GET YOUR BOOGIE ON!

2008-10-14T10:00:00.005-04:00

Okay,this one is going out to all the Canadians who ate too much Thanksgiving turkey and other goodies over the weekend. Time to get up and start working it off - and what better way to do that than to dance to some Fats Domino - in this case I've selected something I think is very appropriate, "The Fat Man." Come on now, let's go shake the floor!

Just a bit of extra info here - this is one of Fats' earliest hits, dating back to 1949. Ho-lee! I was only two years old then! Of course you're never too young or too old to boogie woogie.

Video from YT member checkingmail
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

HAPPY CANADIAN THANKSGIVING, EH!

2008-10-13T16:56:00.007-04:00

I'm happy to announce that my computer is once again up and running, and for that I am truly THANKFUL!! Not only that, it's Canuck Turkey Day, so a lot of people north of the 49th (or the 42nd I my neck of the woods) are being thankful. So, before you tuck into that big meal and eat your faces off, don't forget to say grace. Here's a little something from those Masters of Soul, Sam and Dave, to get you in the mood.
Don't forget to turn up your speakers...

Photo from Wikimedia Comons
Video from YT member jameycruz

UPDATE....

2008-10-10T12:02:00.002-04:00

Dear Fellow Bloggers and Readers - I am having a veritable tsunami of computer troubles, but never fear, I will be back as soon as humanly...ah, make that technologically, possible.

CONNIE FRANCIS: WARDROBE FUNCTION

2008-10-07T07:01:00.003-04:00

I’m in the mood for a little Connie Francis this morning, so I found this terrific video on YouTube. Not only is it a great montage of still and footage of Connie singing, but also it’s a real trip down memory lane ending up in my old clothes closet. Granted, Connie is a little older than me, but styles didn’t change all that radically until the late 60s, so I remember pretty much all of this, except maybe the ‘cocktail’ dress she’s wearing in her performance. Ladies, here’s a quick checklist of 1959 fashion; see how many you remember wearing, just like Connie:

1) shirt-waist dresses
2) Capri pants
3) crinolines and petticoats
4) pumps
5) pointy bras
6) sweater clips (you can’t actually see them, but you know she’s got them, at 1:05 )
7) halter-top sundresses
8) checkered gingham
9) pearl choker
10) bouffant (aka bubble) hairdos
11) spaghetti straps
12) chiffon dresses

The photo at 1:01 is about as close to a “wardrobe malfunction” as anyone ever got in those days; it was probably pretty daring back then. And don’t miss the guy with the flat-top at 0:58

Video by YT member JBauder1948
Photo is of a picture sleeve from my 45-rpm collection

GEORGE (WYDELL) JONES – R.I.P.

2008-10-05T17:59:00.002-04:00

Sadly, we have lost another member of the doo-wop extended family with the passing of George (Wydell) Jones this Saturday, at age 71. You may not know the name, but you surely will remember the song he famously penned, a snappy tribute to one to those saddle-shoe boppers, a little gal by the name of Rama Lama Ding Dong. Jones not only wrote the song, he sang it as part of the doo-wop group, The Edsels. Rama Lama's song was recorded in 1958, but didn't come into its own until a few years later when a New York DJ started playing it. Then it reached #21 on the Billboard chart in 1961, the year I graduated from elementary school and was gearing up for the big leap to high school. I loved Rama Lama Ding Dong back then, and have been dancing, listening and singing along for over 40 years, and counting. So thanks, George, we won't forget you!

Video from YT member AK47bandit

HAPPY DISCOVERY: ANOTHER ARTHUR ALEXANDER CD!

2008-10-03T10:48:00.007-04:00

This has been one of those mornings: a cup of coffee, a few white caps on the lake, and some quiet time before I start my day. What goes better with that than a little Arthur Alexander? So I went over to YouTube to browse around and see what was new. I’ve been waiting for someone to put up a video on Arthur’s hit song, “Where Have You Been” so we can enjoy it here. I got excited to see that one was finally there, but alas, it’s only a homemade cover. It may be a nice cover – I didn’t really listen to more than the opening bars, because today I wanted the real thing. While looking at what else was there, I found something unexpected: Arthur’s cover of the Neil Diamond song, Solitary Man. And it’s wonderful. If you don’t know Arthur’s voice, you’re in for a real treat.

Well, of course right away I wanted to know more about this song, especially where I could get my hands on it. Apparently, while I wasn’t looking, the CD (which I have) titled Arthur Alexander – Lonely Just Like Me, with a 12-song tracklist, has been reissued with 21 tracks, including some interviews (it's called Lonely Just Like Me - The Final Chapter, if you go looking for it) I wasted no time ordering it from Amazon already, and will be counting the days and hours til it gets here. Arthur Alexander never had the career and recognition he should have. Today he is best remembered for writing songs covered by the Beatles, The Stones, Dusty Springfield, and other 60s giants. He was a prolific singer/songwriter, and that’s what makes his cover of Solitary Man such a find. I also really like Neil Diamond; I’ve always liked his upbeat treatment of Solitary Man. But Arthur put the hurt into it as only he can.

Here's the Amazon notes:
Amazon.com
Admired as a songwriter but overlooked as soul singer, Alabama-born Arthur Alexander was in the early stages of a career revival in 1993 (the year he released Lonely Just Like Me on Nonesuch Records) when he died unexpectedly, aged 53, shortly after a performance. Believed to be the only songwriter whose songs have been covered by the Rolling Stones ("You Better Move On"), the Beatles ("Anna"), Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley, Alexander abandoned music at age 40 after he grew disillusioned with the music industry after publishing deals yielded little return for him. He worked in Cleveland at a center for disadvantaged kids and drove a bus, which explains the disc's cover art. Musician/producer Ben Vaughn coaxed Alexander to record again and served as producer for Lonely Just Like Me, a warm, understated collection of storytelling tunes, mostly hard-luck tales of upright men struggling to find a niche in an unfair word. This disc includes the entire '93 Nonesuch recording plus an enlightening interview/live performance (tracks 13-20) originally broadcast on NPR's Fresh Air. Here, Alexander's genuineness and sincerity are memorably chronicled, and for Alexander devotees its inclusion makes this recording an especially inviting package. Alexander's voice did not have the broadest range, he rarely used backup vocalists, and he kept his instrumentation (often accented with a subtle country lilt) quite simple. His most endearing quality as a vocalist was the earnestness, clarity, and dignity of his singing, which deepened the poignancy of his songs' prevailing theme of heartbreak. Also included are five lo-fi hotel-room demos, a live version of "Anna," and liner notes from Vaughn. --Terry Wood

Video from YT member boogie2w
Photo from www.rhapsody.com

FUN WITH MUSIC

2008-09-29T14:16:00.005-04:00

Over at one of my fave music blogs, Keep The Coffee Coming, we recently had a mystery artist to identify. It really had me goin’ for a while, and I have to admit I was stumped right up til the final ‘reveal.’ I highly recommend you head over there and have a listen to the Sunday, September 28 post titled “Blue Shadows on the Trail” aka “I Never See Maggie Alone” and see if you can guess who it is. And if you don’t want a spoiler, don’t look at the comments first!

All this guessing got me thinking about some of the more or less obscure oldies we don’t hear often enough. One of my favorites is a sweet little Brill Building number by Greenwich/Barry) and recorded by the girl group called The Butterflys. Happily there is a video of it on YouTube, so you can hear it again. The only thing better would be if it had footage of the gals performing it, but we can’t be too picky. So here it is – have a listen to the lyrics and remember your own early dating days.

Photo from www.fiftiesweb.com
Video by YT member VinylRecords60

THE FAB ONE

2008-09-26T15:15:00.006-04:00

As you’ve no doubt seen and heard on the news, Israel has lifted its long-standing ban on the Beatles, and allowed former member Paul McCartney to play in concert there. Politically speaking (and we know we can never get fully away from that, anywhere!) I think Sir Paul did his level best to play it down the middle, bringing his music to both sides as a “message of peace,” and if you want all the 411 on that, you can easily find it online, so I won’t cover it here. Besides, what I think is most interesting is seeing news footage of all the grizzled old Boomer-age folks over there, all excited about seeing and hearing McCartney perform. I think it’s really a shame that those fans never had the chance to see all four of the mop-tops play together. But, I’m sure they are delighted to have Paul there, and no one is going to complain. The event is already being labeled the “Israeli Woodstock”

Here's a little clip of the concert. Even if it's long overdue, isn't it great to see everyone having such a good time?! That's the power of music, folks.

Video from YT member bartcase
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

WE ALL SCREAM ( like a baby) FOR ICE CREAM

2008-09-24T14:11:00.006-04:00

In these uncertain times, we must be thankful for any displays of common sense and good judgment when we come across them. With that in mind, I want to applaud the Ben and Jerry ice cream company for declining to act on the request of animal rights group, PETA, who has called for B&J to exchange their usual cow milk for human breast milk in their recipes. Now, let me be the first to say that I don’t think there is anything wrong with HBM per se. In fact, I was told by my mother (who should know) that a very long time ago, when I was a newborn baby, it was my sole nourishment. I’m sure a lot of people could say the same. However, now that we are big, I think we would all agree that we don’t want HBM in our ice cream. I will say this about the PETA proposal, though. If Ben and Jerry had decided to add human breast milk to their ice cream, it would make for some hilarious (and doubtless rather rude) new flavor names. I’m sure you will have no trouble thinking up some real zingers for yourself, so I won’t offer any of mine here. Besides, this is G-rated blog.

You may be wondering how I am going to tie all this in with oldies. Well, B&J’s number one top ice cream seller (and my personal fave) is Cherry Garcia, named after the inimitable Jerry Garcia, of the Grateful Dead. Okay, so it’s 1987, and not the true vintage years (not by my definition, anyway) but it’s still over 20 years ago. Doesn’t that make all you Gen-Xers feel old? Well, none of us are babies anymore. So let's listen to "A Touch of Grey."

Photo of Denman Island ice cream store from Wikimedia Commons
Video by YT member NewOldVinyl

IN SEARCH OF AN ANIMATED MOUSE TRAP…

2008-09-21T14:10:00.004-04:00

Okay, let me start by saying that it had never been my intention that this blog should be anything more than a celebration of vintage music and memories, and therefore should not take a strong political or any other kind of stand. In addition, before anyone thinks that I’m singling out Islam here, let me add that, IMHO, there isn’t a fundamentalist division of any belief system on the planet that is known for its self-deprecating humor or its ability to take a joke. Having said both those things, I find I simply cannot resist the urge to fudge on my own “house rules” just a bit today, in light of the recently issued fatwa against Mickey Mouse. Yes, as you may have already heard, a Saudi sheik has denounced the Mickey as a “soldier of Satan” and an “impure corrupter,” and called for his death. As I understand it, part of that has to do with the cultural view Islamists have of mice in general, which is pretty much that they are the lowest life form on earth. I know they (mice) are pests, but still, I personally don’t object to them in principle. Of course other people are welcome to their own views, but I have to wonder about a death threat being issued to a cute little mouse that…let me see, how shall I best put this…. DOESN’T REALLY EXIST!!! Personally, if you’re going to pick on some poor animated critter as a bad influence, I’d go for Donald Duck. At least Mickey wears some pants.

Anyway, for all the baby boomers out there, here is a short (and therefore only minimally corrupting) video for the Mickey Mouse club, so we can remember the good old days.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Video by YT member kaijueguy

FEATURE SONG – Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) by The Impalas, 1959

2008-09-17T12:55:00.004-04:00

I’m what you’d call a playoffs sports fan. I don’t really watch all my fave teams during the regular season, but if any of them advance, well, I’m right there cheering. I root for the following: Hockey – Red Wings, Pro football – Calgary Stampeders, College football – U of Michigan. That’s it; I don’t follow basketball or anything else. As you can imagine, I was pretty happy with last years Stanley Cup results, and the Wolverines, well, they need to pick it up a bit, but it’s still early. Most recently, I’ve been keeping an eye on the Tigers, a team capable of great things but who have admittedly had kind of a roller coaster season. I think it will pretty much take a miracle now, but what the heck, let’s give ‘em a boost, some musical encouragement anyway. Maybe they'll "run all the way home" a few more times before they're done for the season. And who better than these guys…and this is the perfect song. Speaking of perfect, I saw them perform this live on TV, wearing baseball uniforms. I can’t remember if they had a team logo on the uniforms, can’t even remember what show they were on, maybe Bandstand, or possibly Ed Sullivan. Unfortunately, that particular video isn’t currently on YouTube, so if anyone has any of the particulars, I would dearly love to know.

P.S. I’m taking my tower into the shop for some work, so if you don’t hear from me for a few days, fear not, I will return!

Video by YT member
Photo at www.hellowdetroit.com

BACK IN THE SUMMER OF _____(insert year or sexual activity of choice)

2008-09-15T14:28:00.013-04:00

My fellow blogger, Kat, over at Culture Clips for Gen-Xers did a post yesterday (Sunday, Sept 14) about a fave movie of hers from 1969 – The James Bond flick, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. I responded with a couple of movie titles I recall from the same year, in different genres. Everybody has their own preferences, but what Kat’s post really made me think of is the Bryan Adams song, “Summer of 69.” Only whenever I listen to it, I’m mentally thinking “the summer of 65” since that was my senior year in High School, and really was one of the best times I ever had.

Since I like the song so much, I thought I’d feature it here at Papa Do Run. Why not – I mean, even if it was released in 1984, it’s about the joys of the vintage year 1969, right? Wrong. Well, sort of wrong. Let me be the first to admit that ever since I first heard this hard-rockin’ little tune, I have not doubted for a moment that it was about looking back to the good old days (and any numerical reference to anything else was purely coincidental). Never mind the fact that Bryan Adams was born in 1959, and thus would have been only 10 years old – if we are to think of this song as in any sense autobiographical, that is. Next, I decided to check out good old Wikipedia and see what they had to say. To my surprise, I discovered that this song that I have loved for over 20 years is not actually about the year 69. No, my friends, it’s actually about…ahem…that numerical coincidence after all…you know, the other definition. At least that's what Bryan Adams says he meant by it. Hoo-kay. But, my friends, Bryan Adams isn’t the sole writer of this song. It’s a collaboration between him and a fellow named Jim Vallance, and Jim says as far as he’s concerned, it’s just about the year. Well, I guess ultimately the meaning is up to the individual. For me, it’s still about ’65 anyway, and I don’t think that’s a nickname for anything racy.

Vid by YT member dito1981
Photo from Shutterstock

A SUMMER PLACE – THEN and NOW

2008-09-12T11:14:00.007-04:00

Summer is pretty much obeying the calendar around here. Maybe it’s not all that chilly, but the leaves are certainly falling – mostly from lack of rain! Tonight it’s Dinner and a Movie with some friends. It kind of got me thinking about movies, and summer, and that made me think of one of my favorites oldies, (Theme from) A Summer Place. The theme song was a huge slow dance hit for Percy Faith and his Orchestra back in 1959, when I was only 12.The movie starred the adorable Sandra Dee and the equally adorable (for different reasons) Troy Donahue, in one of those early generation gap movies. There’s a wealth of clips from A Summer Place on YouTube. You could practically watch the entire flick if so inclined, but I’ve selected a couple here that I think make a good sampling, for your viewing pleasure.

This first is one a montage of scenes, the longest one featuring Molly and Johnny (Sandra and Troy) discussing their rather Romeo and Juliet love life (their parents are trying to tear them apart!). You can hear the famous theme in the background at the very beginning.

I had to include the second clip because it’s just so bizarro, IMHO. This must have been pretty suggestive stuff at the time. Molly and Dad are reclining closely together, in bed, both in their jammies, having some serious face time about how frigid and sexually repressed Mom is, and how sexually free Molly thinks things should be, and the intimate details of…oh heck just go watch the clip.

All I can say is, this is definitely not the 1959 I think most of us baby boomers remember! Nor is it likely to be anything resembling "the talk" any of us got. Of course, back then I was just starting to get interested in the dance moves I saw on Bandstand, yet was still capable of dressing up Revlon dolls (early precursor of Barbie) with my girlfriends. And going to see our favorite teen idols at the movies. Well, that's enough summer and youthful reminiscing for now. I think we're having pizza tonight, and watching "Happy Feet" (animated penguins, and we all know how sexy they are...) See how things change when you grow up.

Videos from YT members WarnerBrosOnline (top) and littlerings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001-2008 - WE REMEMBER

2008-09-11T13:33:00.003-04:00

Lyrics

MY FALL RITUAL

2008-09-09T11:04:00.021-04:00

Today is so nice, perfect combination of sun, low humidity and cool temp. It’s been so dry here that many of the leaves are curling and dropping before they have a chance to turn color, but I don’t care. It’s time for my annual fall ritual, now that the hot sticky days of summer behind us. So I fired up the O.C. – that would be my bright Poppy Red ’65 Mustang, fondly nicknamed Orange Crush – and went out for a spin with, like Chuck Berry, I had no particular place to go, and to heck with wasting a little gas; I didn’t drive it much this summer. Why not? Because with no A/C and those black vinyl seats, it’s just too too too hot. But now, everything's perfect, so I took my fall songs and headed out. They aren’t all true vintage tunes, but all sound great with the windows rolled down. Just plug the MP3 player to the radio, and roar off. So here it is, my fall 2008 playlist:

The Boys of Summer - Don Henley (play, repeat at least 3 times)
See You in September – The Happenings
Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand) – The Shangri-Las
Farmer’s Daughter – The Beach Boys
In the Parkin’ Lot – The Beach Boys
Little Lonely Summer Girl – David Box
Comin’ Home – Delaney and Bonnie

Gas photo at www.jalopnik.com

A VERY SENTIMENTAL REVIEW OF THE NEW BRIAN WILSON ALBUM

2008-09-06T12:05:00.008-04:00

As some of you already know, I am a dyed-in-the-wool Beach Boys fan, and that extends to Brian Wilson in his post-BB solo career. When I heard he had a new album, called Lucky Old Sun, coming out, I made a beeline to Amazon to pre-order. Then Brian was on Leno Wednesday night to promote it, and what I heard just made me even more eager to hear the whole thing. Well, today my CD arrived, and I popped it into the Tamale (red Grand Caravan) and headed off to do some errands. When I pulled back into the garage, the last song, “Southern California,” was about halfway through. Normally I would have turned off the engine and gone in the house without thinking. But I couldn’t interrupt it; I just sat there in the darkened garage, listening until it finished. And, my friends, there was even the hint of a tear in my eye.

I have to tell you, as much as I enjoy rock and roll in all its various vintage forms – rockabilly, folksy, surfer, girl groups etcetc – nothing over the years has effected me quite the way this album did today. I have clapped and whooped, laughed and shouted, but I’ve never had a reaction like this. Why? Well, I had to do some thinking about that. A recent review in the San Francisco Chronicle called Brian’s new album a “love letter to Los Angeles” – they took the words right from under my fingertips! I’d only add “…and all of Southern California.” But that’s not exactly the reason I was so affected. This album is like an autobiography of Brian’s long and varied musical career, and his equally varied life, with songs and spoken narratives inter-mingled (and don’t nobody go wrinkling none of their respective noses – I’m telling you, it works!) But that’s still not the reason. No, what got me is that the this album has the feel of a man, an artist – one of the most influential and lauded of his era – coming at last to a high place that affords him a view, a look back form a perspective that youth doesn’t offer. Do I think it sounded like a swan song? No, I wouldn’t say that. It sounded like the thing I suspect most people do when they get past a certain age (Brian is 65). This album feels to me like a summation, a stock-taking, a pause, and a moment of gratitude. It’s all in there, a musical scrapbook for the ear, but it’s not a simple rehash of his old styles and material. It’s fresh and vigorous and very much in the present, for all its nostalgic touches.

Brian Wilson is a few years older than me; I’m from the mid-West Rust Belt. We grew up in very different lives together, but we’ve been with each other every step of the way. Mind you, I’m not the kind of fan who joins clubs, memorizes birthdays and other personal trivia; I only know what most everyone else interested in the music gets by osmosis just from watching TV and reading the paper. I’ve never been to California, never even got to a Beach Boys concert. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel a relationship. This is my music, and Brian Wilson is my main music man. We’ve both taken stock, and now we’re growing old together. And I feel very lucky to have this beautiful album beside me.

If you’re a baby boomer music fan, a Beach Boys fan, or a Brian Wilson fan, I think you will appreciate this album, too. Here’s a link case you want to check it out further.

Album cover from Amazon.com

WHY? WELL, BECAUSE THEY’RE YOUNG

2008-09-03T23:28:00.003-04:00

Here’s a trailer from one of the best/worst 60s teen dramas ever, featuring a whole swack of youthful stars who went rather quickly from “rising” to…you know, I’m not even sure some of them ever made it to “where are they now.” Not only that, it’s the acting debut (notice how the trailer calls it a “challenge”!) of Dick Clark. This was pretty steamy stuff back in the day (yes, I’m tired of that phrase, too). The reason I’m putting it up here is because it’s such a time capsule. I totally love this song, but not the James Darren version. No, for me it’s gotta be the Duane Eddy instrumental. Oh, don’t get me wrong, James Darren is a read “doll” but I don’t think I’ll draw too much fire if I say his rendition is kind of wishy-washy. Jimmy may be a sweet thang, but for this song, we want the twang thang.

Because They're Young Trailer

Duane Eddy and His Twangy Guitar

Trailer video by YT member OurManinHavana
Duane Eddy Video by YT member MorriconeRocks
Shoes from Wikimedia

MORE DOO WOP, MORE FALSETTO, MORE ROCKIN' SAX...

2008-09-02T12:02:00.003-04:00

Okay, so maybe by 1962 poodle skirts and saddle shoes were pretty much a thing of the past, but that didn't mean we were through dancing! This will get you up "off your chair, dear lady"* (and gentleman too)

Video by YT member loucacciot

* from lyrics to Gary U.S. Bond's "Dear Lady Twist' Oh heck, this is such a great vid, let's do this one, too!

Video by YT member JBauder1948

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

2008-09-01T12:59:00.003-04:00

Here's classic footage of Joan Baez, singing at Woodstock.... Have a great day!

Video by YT member MyMindIsShot

PAPA DO RUN REDUX

2008-08-30T07:36:00.031-04:00

This post is in response to a question on the previous post from my friend and fellow blogger, Kat. She asked about the origin of the name of this blog – Papa Do Run. Well, Kat, both the blog title and the title of my book of rock and roll oldies trivia are taken from lyrics (and titles) that can be found in several oldies from what I call the vintage era. I have live links to YouTube for the songs on the book’s website, but sometimes they have to be removed, and when you click on them, the live links are "deceased.” So I'll take this opportunity to post fresh lively links here and hopefully they will stick around for a while, so we all can have a listen to these classic oldies. And if anybody ever comes across any other songs with Papa Do Run (or any variant spellings) in the title or lyrics, please contact me, I’d love to hear about it!

Here’s the three main songs:

New Girl in School– Jan& Dean, 1964
Teenage Love - Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, 1957
I Met Him on a Sunday – The Shirelles, 1958/66

Pappa Do Run – The Levettes, date unknown. This song isn’t on YouTube yet. I doubt it ever will; it’s some prit-tee obscure doo wop.

CHUMMING FOR RAIN

2008-08-29T08:44:00.008-04:00

We sure haven’t had much rain here this summer in Soup City. Soup City? That would be Leamington, Ontario, officially called the Tomato Capital of Canada, also referred to by some as Tomato Town. But if you have a working nose and you are anywhere downwind of our gi-nourmous Heinz plant these days, I think you’ll prefer the name I made up for it – Soup City. In fact, I think someone ought to re-write the lyrics to the Jan and Dean classic, "Surf City" and make in into an anthem for Leamington. Well, let’s leave that for another day. Meanwhile, it looks like it could rain today, so I decided to find a good oldie about rain that we can all listen to and maybe it will attract the rain. Plus we could all chant. You know, kind of the opposite of what they all did in the Woodstock documentary, "No rain! No rain!" How about "Rain now! Rain now!"

For our purposes today, there are many songs to choose from. I picked this because it is not only a fave of mine, but the video on YouTube is so charming, it’s a must see. There they are, the boys in the band in living color, with Zal mugging and goofing around at the keyboard, and John Sebastian playing the harp and singing. How he manages to do both at the same time I don’t know; it looks like it should be too hard. But we’ve already seen him rockin’ out with an autoharp, so it should come as no surprise that he can harp it up as well. Anyway, here’s our best hope for some rain today. Hope we get more than a Spoonful (sorry). Enjoy!

Okay, let's go: Rain now Rain now Rain now Rain.....

P.S. The video with Sebastian playing the autoharp is in my January 19/08 post. I'm pretty sure there is a way to give you a live link to it here, but...I haven't figured it out yet. You know me, slow on the uptake on computer stuff. But you can search at the top for "John Sebastian" and that'll bring it up.

Video from YT member Sixtiesalltheway
Rain photo from Wikimedia Commons

LET’S HAVE A FEW LAUGHS, IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING

2008-08-26T08:33:00.007-04:00

I didn’t really plan on watching very much of the Olys last week; I’m really more of a winter sport person, but you kind of can’t help it. I admit it was fun to see the opening fanfare, the highs and lows of all the athletes, the old records broken and reset etc. But now the party is over and it’s back to our workaday lives again. Plus, the summer is almost over; back to school is right around the corner, and everybody in the U.S. has to get back to the interminable election coverage. I’ll bet you wish you had a parliamentary system like the Brits and Canucks do. Up here in Canada the whole thing overwith in weeks, not years, it costs a LOT less, and if it doesn’t work out, it’s easier to give ‘im the boot. Well, don’t let the turkeys get ya down. Here’s a little number by the legendary Nola music man, Huey “Piano” Smith to lift your spirits. Come on, let me hear you go “gooba gooba gooba gooba!”

Laughing horse from charlie'swarehouse.wikidot.com
Video from YT member Oldies55

FALSETTO THEN AND NOW

2008-08-24T23:25:00.002-04:00

Ah, real he-men with high voices. A.k.a. falsetto. I don’t know what it is about males signing in this register that has such universal appeal, such endless fascination. The same isn’t always true of men with high speaking voices, but when they sing, the girls go crazy. I like it so much (warning, shameless plug coming up) I’ve included a section about falsetto singers in my forthcoming (2009) rock ‘n’ roll trivia book, “Peanut Butter and Mashed Potatoes” (the sequel to “Papa Do Run”). These guys have lasting appeal too, given that our two feature songs could barely be more separated on the popular music timeline. I’m happy to have both on my shelf. I realize I’ve had earlier posts that linked to “He’s In town” by the British Invasion group The Rockin’ Berries, but it’s just sooooo good, we can always listen again, right? And Coldplay is an instant modern classic. So, here they are; two of my favorite falsetto voices/songs. Ya just gotta love it! And go ahead and squeal, ladies. No one can hear you on the web.

The Rockin' Berries - He's In Town

Thanks to YT member Gatorrock786

Coldplay - Yellow

Thanks to YT member Jehann1999

ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE DAYS

2008-08-22T14:32:00.003-04:00

I had one not long ago. It was like I was being shadowed by Mr. Murphy, starting from the moment my toast landed peanut butter side down on the floor. It reminded me of my favorite Life Motto: If it’s funny later, it’s funny now. That one has saved me from getting too wound up over life’s more trying moments many times. Things that drive you crazy now make the funniest stories to entertain your friends with later on. It also reminded me of a somewhat obscure vintage oldie, “That’s Life”— which is itself lifted from the old word game we used to reel off as kids. I tried to remember how the whole thing went, but it’s obviously been pushed to the back of my memory file. Anyone out there is welcome to have a shot at it. Meanwhile, here’s Gabriel and the Angels singing “That’s Life.”

Photo from Mental Floss. If you don't know about Mental Floss, please, do yourself a big favor and check it out, subscribe to email or the mag. I get no kickback from saying this, it's just way funny!!! You'll thank me, I know you will...
Video from YT member barrygioportmorien1

FEATURE SONG: THAT OLD TIME ROCK AND ROLL

2008-08-20T12:23:00.005-04:00

This song is one of the enduring greats. If you didn’t know the Bob Seger 1978 original, you probably know it from the 1983 movie Risky Business, with Tom Cruise dancing around in his tighty-whiteys. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for appreciating the male physique, but (pun unavoidable) I’m just not much of a Tom Cruise fan, in any state of dress or undress. Maybe if they'd made that movie starring -- oh never mind, and I do apologize if all this is TMI (too much information). Let’s get back on track.

Apparently our feature song has also been recycled into the old TV show ALF, and also as a cat food commercial, but I can’t personally vouch for either of these. I haven’t seen Risky Business either, but you can’t live on this planet and not have seen the Cruise scene several dozen times without even trying. Anyway, I love Seger, and I love this song. It really speaks for all time about the sad deterioration of great music (whatever it was you grew up with and dig) into really bad music (whatever is the current rage, and is what you hate). But back in 1977, when it was written, writers George Jackson and Thomas Earl Jones III were most likely talking about the really good stuff from the late 50s and possibly early 60s. Beyond that it’s kind of hard to say, because I haven’t been able to find a copy of the original lyrics. According to some sources, Seger changed just a few of the words. According to Seger, he did a real overhaul on all the verses. (He also neglected to add his name to the writing credits, and therefore has no control over how the song is used, hence the cat food ad. I’m not going to argue for or against either claim; I’m just here to agree with the general sentiment. But it’s obvious to me that Seger is lamenting what I would call The Good Stuff.

So let’s hear it again, Bob Seger doing “That Old Time Rock and Roll”

Oh all right ladies (elaborate sigh)…if you’re really going to pout about it, here’s the Tom Cruise version, too. I really thought we were a teensy bit more evolved than that…(smiley)

Videos from YT members OldRockSongs (first) and tettwick (second)

PASSING OF ANOTHER LEGEND

2008-08-18T13:55:00.002-04:00

With regret I have to report on another passing, this time it’s an original member of Detroit’s own Spinners – Pervis Jackson. While the Spinners have been around since the 50s, and had their biggest success with a string of soulful hits in the 70s, my favorite song splits the difference, the 1966 heartbreaker, “Truly Yours.” The lead singer for this one was, I believe, Bobbie Smith, and Pervis Jackson sang bass. Mr. Jackson died in Detroit at the age of 70. Here’s thanking him for the music!

Vid from YT member pieroangelo1