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.
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...
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...
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...
The weird thing is, I don't really feel the Monday Morning Blues anymore. I enjoy the new job so much, I actually look forward to going back to work. That's not to say I wouldn't rather have the day off though...
Anyway, it occurred to me that the word Blues appears in a heck of a lot of song titles in my music collection, and only a small percentage of them are straight-forward blues records of the "Woke up this morning..." variety. It could, of course, be argued that all pop music has its roots in the blues, so they're all blues songs in their own way. Whatever. A new series beckons...
And we start with yet another Grumpy Old Man of the Americana world, with this semi-autobiographical "How I Met Your Mother" song (another woman involved, naturally). Couple of reasons I love this: firstly, the true love affair here is with his Gold Top Les Paul gee-tar; secondly, the whole Polk Salad Annie bit... although, being an English teacher, I have to take issue with Ray's use of metaphor...
So we hit it off, me and this dancer
We hit it off like a metaphor
Like a metaphor for a hydrogen bomb
We was enriched uranium, supercritical mass
We was a, a chain reaction
It was love and lust
Ah, mostly lust, but a mutual attraction
I mean, if it's like a metaphor, surely that makes it a simile, Ray?
34 is a band, straight out of Kansas City, Missouri, one of those metal bands whose singer is in desperate need of a packet of Fisherman's Friends. Hear them roar here.
The number 34 proved to be another tricky one on the countdown, but as always you did your best to furnish me with suggestions.
Lynchie kicked off this week with a good ol' boy...
And it's up against the wall, redneck mother Mother who has raised her son so well He's 34 and drinkin' in a honky tonk Just kickin' hippies' asses and raisin' hell...
Those bloody hippies, eh?
YouTube tells me that was "made famous by J.J. Walker". I suppose that depends on your definition of the word "famous".
Next to arrive last week was Douglas, still perturbed that I hadn't chosen either Bruce or Billy last week (I know, it kills me too) who decides to go a little off the beaten track this week as a result. I'll let him explain...
Monsters of Folk were a sort of one-off supergroup of Americana folk-rock greats, made up of Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and M. Ward. They take turns songwriting and taking lead vocals, and though I love the album, it is as a result a little uneven...like they haven't fully learned each other's strengths and are in a bit of a tug of war for the reins. But there are some fantastic moments in there, including this song:
Pain was hunting me down but I gave him the slip then I fell in love with identical twins They lived 34 summers between the two of them I gave one my ego, I gave one my id Yeah, I gotta get back to my pretty little twins Don't ever buy nothin' from a man named truth Don't ever buy nothin' from a man named truth I'll tell you right now that it ain't no use Don't ever buy nothin' from a man named truth.
Pretty deep that. Shame I'm so shallow. Luckily, Douglas had that covered too with his second suggestion...
...doin' 34 shows every day And every time it's the same Look at those hippos, they're wigglin' their ears Just like they've done for the last 50 years.
Next through the doors was Martin, who offered a couple more lyrical suggestions that he wisely assessed would be in my own library...
In a week of slim pickings though, it was C who provided our salvation, with a classic Lieber/Stoller composition. C originally suggested the version by The Searchers, but then wisely directed us to the original by The Clovers. I'm rather partial to the version by The Coasters too.
I took my troubles down to Madame Ruth You know that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth She's got a pad down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine Selling little bottles of Love Potion Number Nine
33 next week. Should be a little easier, given revolutions per minute. What have you got for me?
