Celebrity Jukebox #122: Ian, Melanie, Toby, Carl, Wayne... and Adele

The Grim Reaper's been busy again, and while there weren't any songs on the jukebox for Ian Lavender... what better way to remember him than this?

Ernie gave a fine tribute to the late Melanie Safka, and I'm not sure there's much I can add, though I was interested to read her comments in defence of her most famous (and in certain quarters, controversial) song...

I wrote in about fifteen minutes one night. I thought it was cute; a kind of old thirties tune. I guess a key and a lock have always been Freudian symbols, and pretty obvious ones at that. There was no deep serious expression behind the song, but people read things into it. They made up incredible stories as to what the lyrics said and what the song meant. In some places, it was even banned from the radio. My idea about songs is that once you write them, you have very little say in their life afterward. It's a lot like having a baby. You conceive a song, deliver it, and then give it as good a start as you can. After that, it's on its own. People will take it any way they want to take it.

Melanie - Brand New Key

One of the greatest crimes ever committed in pop was when some fool let The Wurzels have the rights to that.

I was never a huge fan of country star Toby Keith. He was a bit too New-Nashville for me, shiny and macho, pick-up trucks, Jesus, the Star Spangled Banner etc. etc. For me, he didn't have the everyman wit of Brad Paisley, the outlaw spirit of Eric Church or even the songwriting chops of early Blake Shelton. 

All that said, I was shocked to hear of his death from cancer at just 62. That's no age. 

Here's a song of Toby's that I did like. It's a good one to remember him by...

Carl Weathers will best be remembered as Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies, though he also appeared in Predator, Arrested Development and The Mandalorian. Plus, for video shop kids of the 80s, he was Action Jackson. As a singer, he only ever released one record, this smooth soul number from 1981...

Carl Weathers - You Ought to Be with Me

...but he also gets referenced in any number of rap songs, as you'd expect. And by one of those bands Ben keeps recommending I lend my ears to...

The Wonder Years - New Years With Carl Weathers

They even named themselves after the Fred Savage sitcom. What's not to love?

Swiss Adam wrote a superb piece of the late Wayne Kramer, guitarist with the MC5. Again, there's little I can add to that, but I will say that when Ben alerted me to Wayne's passing, my reply was four words long...

The MC5 - Kick Out The Jams

Of course, the MC5 often get name-dropped in other people's songs, for obvious reasons...

Me and Iggy were giggin' with Ziggy and kickin' with the MC5

Alice Cooper - Detroit City

Some of us are born to run, out on highway 61

The Clash, Ramones and MC5

Nobody gets out of here alive

Ray Wylie Hubbard - Live And Die Rock And Roll

Little Johnny digs the MC5

Cypress Hill, Jurassic Five

Saw the Pugs at Larchmont Hall

This is America, I want it all

Alejandro Escovedo - Sonica USA 

An extroverted kinda girl

Did tour the world with MC5

Placebo - Scared Of Girls

Hey, hey

I gotta hear you say

You want it just like before

I put the music of the MC5 on

While I'm knockin' on your door

Wendy & Lisa - Salt & Cherries (MC5)

She lives in a flat halfway up in the sky

Goes out with her boy into the MC5's

Wears a different t-shirt every night

With 'Access all areas' pinned on tight

Helen Love - Girl About Town

Helen Love mentions the MC5 more than she mentions Joey Ramone (and that's a lot!). Most notably here...

Best of all though, they land a mention in my favourite song of the 21st Century...

And nobody ever comes alive

And the journalists clamour round glamour like flies

And boys who should know better grin and get high

With fat men who once met the MC5

The Indelicates - We Hate The Kids

But what of Wayne himself?

Well, you could try this...

Super Furry Animals & Goldie Lookin' Chain - Motherfokker

As far as I'm concerned though, you won't find a better tribute than this...

We've got Kramer coming over

To produce us

So that we can show off to our specialist friends

Go down to the Falcon in Camden and say

"I'll have a pint for myself and a pint for the ex-MC5″

Finally, my thoughts go out to Bruce, who lost his mum, Adele Springsteen, earlier this week. She was 98 and had been battling Alzheimer's for a long time... but what a legacy.

Here's the story of how she bought Bruce his first guitar...