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July 1965 (side C)
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Why is Dylan hanging out with Sonny and Cher while complaining to the Byrds about them? All they really wanna do (Bob) is baby be friends with you. Streisand, and Elvis EP and some grep Soul as well. Support this podcast at the $6/month level on patreon to get extra content! Also, Create your own podcast today! #madeonzencastr
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Transcript
Motivational Chant by The Beatles
00:00:00
Speaker
The Beatles had this chant, John, Paul and George and probably then Stuart and Pete, had this chant when things weren't going well, which in their world wasn't very often because mostly it was an upward trajectory, but nonetheless, sometimes you they would have a bad night or the gig didn't work properly or the amps broke or whatever. i say, where are we going, fellas? And they go, to the top, Johnny. And I say, where's that, fellas? And they say, to the top-most or the pop-most. And I say, right. And we'd all sort of...
00:00:29
Speaker
cheer up where we going johnny straight to the top boys yeah where's that the top of most of the popper
00:00:59
Speaker
Welcome to July of
Introduction to Podcast Hosts and Topic
00:01:03
Speaker
1965. The U.S. charts topper most of the popper most. I'm Chan. I'm Kid O'Toole. And I'm Martin Quivel. We've got another Billboard month this month.
00:01:13
Speaker
We start with the week of July 3rd. number one is I Can't Help Myself, Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch by The Four Tops, which we've already covered. Yep, no argument there. Nope.
00:01:25
Speaker
I'm happy with that. At number 12, You Turn Me On, the Turn On song by Ian Whitcomb in Bluesville, which we've already covered. And, well, we probably would have some complaints about that. Yes.
00:01:36
Speaker
Number 12. Yeah, I'm amazed it got up that high. Blimey, what did you do to get there, Ibo?
00:01:45
Speaker
Sorry. At number 42, I'm Ennery the 8th I Am by Herman's Hermits. Sorry to say this, guys, but I've had enough of Peter Noon at this point. The guitar bed here sounds like every film music, oh, we're going to set this in 1965, 1966, and let you know it.
00:02:05
Speaker
The song, it's undoubtedly catchy and maybe entertaining in a corny fashion, but I don't know if I like it or not. It's definitely meant as a Mrs. Brown follow-up.
00:02:16
Speaker
It's a hit, but not a high one for me. You know, you have to keep in mind that this really is a song that dates from least 1910, and it was a signature song of a big music hall star, Harry Champion.
00:02:59
Speaker
I'm not a huge fan of this song either. I mean, it gets very repetitive, but for what it is, it's fun to sing along with. And Peter Noon, Chipper Youthful Delivery, makes the song work, and the guitars, of course, update the song from its 1910 beginnings. hit, but not a major one for me, but you can't deny the catchiness and and the audience participation aspects of the song.
00:03:24
Speaker
Slightly naughty with the Willie reference in there. And it should be noted that the Harry Champion version changed that to William. Oh, wow. You had to clean it up. Exactly. Yes. Yeah.
Songs Impacting the 1965 Charts: The Four Tops and Herman's Hermits
00:03:39
Speaker
Moving on. ah yeah Jaunty take on this song that fits Pete's youthful voice. I also got that it was originally...
00:03:50
Speaker
you know, 1910. I also caught the Joe Brown and the Brothers ah issue of 1962, which I'm surprisingly more familiar with, which is, I'm guessing, how the Hermits got old bit Could Not only is that how Herman's Hermits got a hold of it, the Beatles got a hold of it.
00:04:10
Speaker
It is written amongst the songs that they played in Hamburg with George Harrison singing lead. Now we don't have a recording of it and we have no evidence beyond set lists that are out there that they actually played it, but I would guess they probably did. He's Joe's younger brother, of course. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:04:29
Speaker
Now, the thing about the Hermits version, as of this point in 1965, this was the fastest selling pop record in history.
00:04:41
Speaker
Wow. For some reason. Well, I remember seeing you sing Henry VIII on the Ed Sullivan Show. And immediately after that, Peter, it was being played on the radio constantly. And everyone was singing the song. The Ed Sullivan Show had an amazing impact on your career in America, didn't it?
00:05:02
Speaker
Well, yeah, you know, we did that. ed so When we did Henry VIII on the Ed Sullivan Show, I remember we were staying on in ah a hotel and we were standing on top of the parking lot, I think on Lexington.
00:05:12
Speaker
And a couple of the Stones were there. And Andrew Oldham, who is the Stones' genius Roy Wanda manager, and Tom Jones and his manager. And we looked over the edge on Lexington Avenue and there were literally, you know, I don't exaggerate. Now it'd be billions. But there were thousands of girls and boys in the street singing Henry VIII to the Stones and Tom Jones and Herman Soames. You know, me was the only member of Herman Soames there. But it was a big deal.
00:05:41
Speaker
Henry VIII was a big deal because it was fun. And, you know, music had... until then been about romance, broken romance, and it and it wasn't, you know, we would listen to the times they are a changing book.
00:05:55
Speaker
It was still a pop song to us. We weren't, teenagers didn't have any depth. We were paddling in the swimming pool water this deep.
00:06:06
Speaker
And And that was the joy of music then, remember? So we all agree, basically, it's a low hit for us. It has its charms, but it hasn't aged particularly well. Although it's amazing when you see Pierre Noon perform in concert to this day, the audience goes nuts when he plays this. They love singing along. I'm the Nanaree, the eighth, I am.
00:06:32
Speaker
It's also like that, you know, da, da, da, that kind of rhythm. Yep, and we all sing along in really bad British accents. Like I just did there. I know, Marv's probably like, please stop.
00:06:47
Speaker
yeah You know, to make it more authentic, Henry the Aves, they could always try and chuck green sleeves at the end. Yeah, there you go. Well, green sleeves shows us up at the end of All You Need Is Love, so you know.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah.
R&B Influence: Wilson Pickett's Cultural Significance
00:06:58
Speaker
Speaking of the Beatles, at number 47, Ticket to Ride, which we've obviously covered already. o from a ride to a ride. don't know why she's riding so high.
00:07:12
Speaker
Sure to think twice, sure to do right by me. Before she gets to saying goodbye. Sure to think twice, sure to do right by me.
00:07:26
Speaker
I think I'm gonna be sad I think it's today, yeah The girl that's driving me mad Is going away, yeah Oh, she's got a ticket to ride At number 76, the next song from Lee Dorsey, Ride Your Pony. It's an Alan Tussain's song. Lee Dorsey, of course, is the singer probably best known to us for Ya Ya.
00:07:59
Speaker
This record, it's a good little bit of R&B, but it does become tiring pretty quickly. The Western illusions wear out their welcome. very fast at the gunshots that the shoot shoot shoot are just too much as are those busy fills you know maybe bang bang shoot shoot and happiness is a warm gun i don't know hi man yeah it's a fun record it's you know a bit naughty of
00:08:47
Speaker
The backing is definitely funky. I believe
00:08:53
Speaker
that's the meters.
00:08:57
Speaker
the backing is definitely funky i believe that's the meters So you have a bunch of New Orleans royalty there. And Lee Dorsey turns in a typically spirited vocal performance. I liked the drumming on this. I thought it was pretty solid. But yeah, the shoot thing was too much. I mean, it was kind of silly. I didn't know if maybe they thought, hey, we could tie into Shotgun. Overall, the song seems to be sort of an attempt at a dance craze record, but it doesn't quite make it. But I rate a low hit for its proto-funk, and it definitely got my foot tapping in Lee Dorsey's performance. So, low hit for me.
00:09:37
Speaker
Yep, I'd say a low hit. Take the gunshots out, I'd be a lot happier with this. But yep, I really like it. I'm going to do another one of my things here and say to people, Andy Fairweather Lowe of Amen Corner fame still does a great version of this with his band when they perform live. It really knocks it out to the ballpark.
00:09:59
Speaker
And since we love our animal records, the B-side of this is another animal song with the Kitty Cat song. you At number 80, Save Your Heart For Me by Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Gary Lewis almost doing a country song.
00:10:18
Speaker
Much less successful at that. won't think it's wrong if you play along. Just don't fall for someone new.
00:10:29
Speaker
When the autumn winds begin to blow, and the summertime is long ago, you'll be in my arms again, I know so.
00:10:43
Speaker
Save your heart for me. I don't like that whistling at all. And Gary Lewis's voice is completely unsuited to this sort of arrangement. Ultimately, it just goes into sickly sweet pop.
00:10:55
Speaker
Miss. I like this a little better. At first, i didn't recognize it by the title, and then as soon as it started, I'm like, oh, I've heard this. It was a staple of oldies radio in the 80s.
00:11:15
Speaker
I kind of like the organ part, such as in the instrumental section. The vocals definitely aren't remarkable, I will give you that, but they get the job done. I kind of like it.
00:11:38
Speaker
I would give it just a low hit because it's catchy. Yeah, I didn't mind his vocal to a degree. The music is backgroundy. It's okay. And to show the difference of people's opinions, Louise said that she thought it was sweet, and I thought it was maybe a two out of five lower hit. Mm-hmm. Yep.
00:11:56
Speaker
Well, Gary Lewis relying on the arrangement of the tunes he carried him is wearing a little thin, I think. Yeah. Mm-hmm. At number 81, No Pity in the Naked City by Jackie Wilson.
00:12:10
Speaker
A really good vocal which rises to great, but the tune never really takes advantage of the possibilities of that vocal. It's a fairly standard blues progression.
00:12:20
Speaker
I like the horns, but nothing in the backing really stands out. A low hit, and that's, again, only because of Jackie Wilson's vocal. I completely agree. i mean, he sang the hell out of this. And I think the middle eight really cooks when he almost sounds like he's begging. What a singer he was. But yeah, the song itself isn't that memorable.
00:12:41
Speaker
But his performance, that soulfulness, he it saves it. He co-wrote the track.
00:12:54
Speaker
no In the naked city Yeah, yeah
00:13:16
Speaker
The arrangement's a bit overdone, but not enough to ruin the song. So, agreed, based on Jackie Wilson's incredible voice, low hit. Yeah, I think the song itself is decent, the lyrics and the music. I think the production lets it down slightly with the arrangement.
00:13:33
Speaker
His vocal is superb, running the absolute range of his vocal, starting with a really low and then go into his highest level and it just runs the gamut.
00:13:43
Speaker
I was listening to it and thinking to myself, wouldn't Jackie have been great with this song particularly and some others of this sort of more yearning, soulful style if he was with ATCO, you know, Atlantic, and working with the MGs as his backing group? That's a good point. That could have helped take this song to a different level.
00:14:05
Speaker
Definitely better production. Yeah. yeah At number 82, I Can't Work No Longer by Billy Butler and the Chanters. Billy Butler, of course, was a Chicago native. Ding, ding.
00:14:17
Speaker
the record. Nice vocal, nice horns. Once again, we do get that ooh-ah from working on the chain gang being borrowed. It's a low enough hit, and I will say, after all these cashbox reviews we've read which refer to Chanters, it's nice to actually have a band called The Chanters. The Chanters were a revised version of the Enchanters, if you were wondering. Yes. Right.
00:14:47
Speaker
That is correct.
00:15:18
Speaker
Curtis Mayfield wrote it, and it has the typical chord changes that you would expect from Curtis with a little bit of gospel. I thought Billy Butler's voice wonderful on this, it's really effective. The percussion and horns are tight. I like the backing harmonies. And this was produced by Carl Davis, who also wrote the song.
00:15:42
Speaker
I liked it a bit more. I would say medium hit. I thought the production on it was nice. And as I said, Billy Butler, great vocals on this. Yep. I knew immediately, as soon as it started, that it was written by Curtis.
00:15:55
Speaker
It's the chord changes. And some bits you hear it and you think, I can hear Curtis singing that in my head. I quite like the music as well. Yeah. As you say, lower middle hit. Yeah.
00:16:05
Speaker
At number 83, All I Really Want to Do by The Birds. This is the next Bird single. Jangly guitars, beetle-like harmonies, more of what they did at this point.
00:16:17
Speaker
McGuinn and Crosby for the win. However, the birds did not want their second single to be a Dylan tune, but the label insisted. Hit. I like this version a lot. You get right away that classic 12-string jangly sound. Parts of the arrangement reminded me of Turn, Turn, Turn, particularly the chords right before the middle eight. But this is just the classic birds sound and hearing them interpret Another Bob Dylan composition, but they did it well. Those harmonies are just so beautiful. I think Roger McGuinn was trying to imitate Dylan's delivery just a little bit, but love the guitars, those tight harmonies. This is definitely a hit for me.
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, this may be as close as we would ever actually get to Dylan playing with the Beatles. Yeah. Yeah.
Folk Rock: The Byrds vs. Cher's Versions of Dylan's Song
00:17:12
Speaker
I don't want to meet kid Make you spin or do you in Or select you or accept you Or inspect you or reject you All I really wanna do Is baby be done with you The Birds doing another superb cover version of a great Bob Dylan song that is not a political song. I'll just put it out there. He doesn't write all political songs. Thank you very much.
00:17:48
Speaker
Great vocals and instrumentation. This time it is the Birds playing and not the Wrecking Crew. yeah So it's all the Birds playing on this and a fantastic production by Terry Melcher.
00:18:01
Speaker
He's such a blooming good producer. Yeah, really. That's the other thing about it. I agree. This is extremely well produced, well arranged. It's classic record. Yeah. So you talk about the arrangement. One of the really standout things is that the birds completely changed the melody to one of the verses, turning it into a Beatlesque minor key bridge. Mm-hmm.
00:18:25
Speaker
Now we're going to get to another version of this song very shortly. And Dylan did not like that very much. ah Roger McGuinn is quoted as saying, what really got me most was Dylan coming up to me and saying, Hey man they beat you. He lost faith in me. He was shattered. He felt his material had been bastardized.
00:18:47
Speaker
There we were the defenders and protectors of his music. And we let Sonny and Cher get away with that. Hmm. So we'll we'll talk about that a little bit more when we get to the Cher. It's not a Sonny and Cher record version of this song.
00:19:03
Speaker
Yes. And we do have a Cashbox review. They say, although the birds are still scoring heavily with their initial reputation establishing Mr. Tambourine Man smash, this follow-up, all I really want to do should become a like hit in short order.
00:19:21
Speaker
The rousing, rhythmic, Bob Dylan-penned Romancer Once again, it's a romancer. Not really. Is given a funky, soulful send-off by the crew.
00:19:35
Speaker
I wouldn't call it funky. No, wouldn't call it funky, but the B-side is good. I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better is a hard-driving, fast-moving, happy-go-lucky, infectious bluser. At number 84, My Man by Barbra Streisand.
00:19:49
Speaker
It's a 1920 French song popularized by Fanny Bryce in the United States. The song was a hit, and the record would eventually earn a Grammy Hall of Fame award for Fanny Bryce in 1999.
00:20:05
Speaker
Wow. The record, a great Barbra Streisand vocal. Good strings and piano. Not quite in the League of the Billie Holiday version, but a more than respectable rendition. Hit. It cost me a lot, but there's one thing that I've got.
00:20:20
Speaker
It's my man. Cold and wet, tired, you bet. But all that I soon forget with my man.
00:20:33
Speaker
He's not much for looks and no hero out of books.
00:20:43
Speaker
Two or three girls has him that he likes as well as me. But I love him.
00:20:54
Speaker
This is actually the soundtrack from Barbra Streisand's first TV special, My Name is Barbara. And I'm not crazy about the song itself, but of course, we're talking about Babs here, and she's just an incredible technical singer. Billie Holiday's version, maybe I'd give it the slight edge. It's jazzier.
00:21:16
Speaker
But some of the lyrics have not aged very well at all. It's kind of another one of these. We've talked about them so many times on our show. He treats me horribly, but I still love him. But I understand why she did the song. and It's Fanny Grice. It's part of Funny Girl. But I mainly liked it for Barbara's voice. What's odd is it's actually not part of Funny Girl, the stage show. No, it's the movie.
00:21:43
Speaker
It's the movie. So this record was first, and then it was specifically added to the movie, and it does show up on, not this version, she does another version which shows up on the soundtrack of Funny Girl. Right.
00:21:56
Speaker
Okay. Hopefully I'll listen to the right version. Big voice from Babs with a well-arranged orchestra. Yeah. And there we go And of course, Beatles Connection, Barbara and Paul McCartney just did their duet. And there's the famous story about the party where, well, John, George, and Ringo would be hanging out with Barbara Streisand in the nineteen seventy s Oh, it would be a fly on the wall.
00:22:25
Speaker
Well, especially because George ran off into the kitchen because he didn't want to be in any of the pictures. Yeah, come on Jeez. You know why he would have done that? The press would you're getting back together.
00:22:38
Speaker
At number 85, Here I Am by Dionne Warwick. A great vocal, but a fairly by-the-numbers Bacharach-David song. It's lovely, but it never soars.
00:22:51
Speaker
The piano and orchestration and light drums are all fine, enough so that it's a low hit for me. Yeah, I would give it a low hit as well.
Ballads and Performances: Streisand and Warwick
00:23:00
Speaker
There's some nice chord changes in here, you know, typical Bacharach David chord changes, almost sounding like this could have been from a Broadway show. But it also has a slight Latin rhythm to it.
00:23:12
Speaker
But I agree, this just never quite takes off. I also think they should have lowered the key a bit for Dionne Warwick because... Their time for shoe is really stretching to hit the highest part of a range. And I think if they'd lowered the key a little bit, it would have helped. But yeah, I would agree that's kind of a by the numbers, Bacharach and David's song. Definitely not tapped here.
00:23:47
Speaker
you again
00:24:01
Speaker
you Forever Good enough for a low hit. Yep. um I like Dionne's voice a lot. Some bits of Bert's playing on the piano are nice, but I think it would have been a lot better, like you said, at a lower key.
00:24:18
Speaker
Sometimes it's better to drop it slightly to allow her to range more so that she can go... between the octaves a lot easier and show the range more rather than staying up certain group of notes for longer it allows her to breathe more and dion's voice is better in this sort of song when it's got that ability to breathe more and go through that range in a more fluid way rather than this almost forced way well you said it a lot better than i did that's exactly it lowered the key slightly it would have made a big difference
00:24:53
Speaker
And it was believed that this song would be a success because it was featured in the soundtrack of the film, not the album, What's New Pussycat?
00:25:03
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that's right. so But despite that, this would not hit the top 40. I'm not surprised. At number 86, All I Really Want to do by Cher, yes, the same song we just had the birds doing,
00:25:23
Speaker
Talk or I'll go lock you up Analyze you, categorize you Finalize or advertise you All really wanna do is Baby, be friends with you Baby, be friends with you
00:25:50
Speaker
Cher is alternately using a more masculine sounding tone, maybe somewhere between Sonny and Dylan, and then going to her own natural singing voice. It's nicely sung. It's got some good guitar, but it really doesn't hold up to either the Byrds version or the Dylan original. Still, I'll give it a low to moderate hit. I agree. Sonny Bono produced this, not surprisingly, um and his years with Phil Spector definitely show in his production here. I mean, it's got reverb, not too over the top, but the instruments, her vocals, lot of reverb there. And i agree. i just think I prefer the Byrds version and Dylan's, of course. you know I felt like we were talking about it before we started recording that Cher was sort of still trying to find her sound on this.
00:26:41
Speaker
could You could hear her trying out these different kind of vocal stylings before going into, as you said, and her natural voice. So she's still sort of finding herself here. But I guess because it's Cher, I'll give it a low hit, but I like the Byrd's version much better. Yeah.
00:27:01
Speaker
I'm still debating the whole... All of it being Cher thing. Because I came across this in an autobiography where she was talking about the song Baby Don't Go. She was panicking because she'd never sung the lead before.
00:27:13
Speaker
And she begged Sonny to join her. And and he said to her yeah, but I wrote this song for you. It's for you only, not for two voices. And she said, well, please, son, please, just for the choruses, I can't do this without you. In the autobiography, she says, in my head, Sonny had become the magic feather given to the baby elephant in Dumbo.
00:27:32
Speaker
He eventually relented and our eyes locked while we sang together. He continued to be in the vocal booth with me for the next couple of years just to give me that sense of comfort so is in the folk vocal booth with us so is it Sonny's voice or is it all share I just wonder about that Yeah. And there are other, at least slight controversies about that.
00:27:59
Speaker
couple songs back when we covered the birds version, Dylan was not happy that Cher or what he was calling Sonny and Cher got their version out first. Yeah.
00:28:10
Speaker
Yeah. And the reason why they got their version out first is also of some issue to birds and the birds management. Okay. Yeah.
00:28:23
Speaker
It is known that Sonny and Cher saw the birds in March of 1965 at a club in Los Angeles. Huh. Right.
00:28:34
Speaker
And what the birds management claims is that, oh yeah, Sonny and Cher recorded the whole show because they wanted to steal some of our songs. Oh boy. The only problem with that, the Dylan version was out and Cher's version is not the same arrangement or anywhere near the arrangement of the Byrds version. Right. We had talked about how the Byrds were not real happy about issuing a second Dylan song so quickly after Tambourine Man, but the reason their record label was so insistent was they knew the Cher version was coming out.
00:29:09
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And in fact, ultimately, it would not matter because the Byrd's version would stall at number 40 and Cher's version will hit number 15. Spoiler alert.
00:29:22
Speaker
each Interesting aside, the drumming on this is once again by the great Frank DeVito, who we've mentioned before. played for Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley and so many others. Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding. One of the guitarists on this song is actually Mike Post, who would go on to write the music for the show Hill Street Blues, The 18, Magnum P.I., L.A. Law, and so many others.
00:29:47
Speaker
ah Oh, yeah, of course. Well, that's interesting. And we will mention that those relative chart positions only hold for the states. Once again, the Brits had better taste. The Byrd's version would hit number four in the UK and Cher's version will peak at number nine.
00:30:04
Speaker
Wow. Okay. We'll get there real soon. At number 90, Justine by The Righteous Brothers. This is a tune of theirs from the film A Swingin' Summer.
00:30:16
Speaker
The Righteous Brothers do a mediocre job of imitating Little Richard and Ray Charles. Decent enough piano and guitar, vocals that don't know where they want to be. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to give you Bobby and Bill, The Righteous Brothers.
00:31:04
Speaker
It's better than Pat Boone, but it doesn't rise much above that. Okay. It's an incredibly derivative song. Give it a meh. Yeah, it's definitely derivative. It's sort of a cross between Ray Charles and Chuck Berry at times. You know, they're trying desperately to record like a teen pop rocker record, but they just sound too mature for that. Not Chuck Berry. You know, it's Lucille or, you know maybe even Long Tall Sally that they're trying to do in that first half before they go into the Ray Charles, the what did I say bit.
00:31:59
Speaker
Definitely ripping off Ray Charles. The Boogie Wiggy piano is okay, but otherwise, it's just all over the place. And I should add, this song was written by Don Sugarcane Harris, who started as a rhythm and blues duo with Dewey Terry, and they were called Don and Dewey. And... Then, after that, and after doing this kind of songwriting, he was noted later for playing jazz-blues fusion violin and worked with Johnny Otis, Frank Zappa, and John Mayle.
00:32:32
Speaker
Wow. Cool.
00:32:45
Speaker
A rock and roll song from the boys. Different. And trying to be high energy, especially with that harmonica, which I didn't really know what to think about the harmonica solo, really. it was sort of all over the place.
00:32:59
Speaker
I'll give it a low hit for all the musicians, but a high meh for the fact that the boys just don't pull it off. Yeah, high meh for me too. no At number 92, One Step at a Time by Maxine Brown. You've got an abrupt entry of that lead vocal, but it's a good performance.
00:33:28
Speaker
Step at a time, boy. You're moving fast, boy. Step at a time, boy. I'm the kind of girl who likes to take it slow and easy.
00:33:46
Speaker
Sleepy time. No matter what you do, boy, take your time.
00:33:53
Speaker
Nice and uninventive backing vocals. Well, better than the last record. Unfortunately, I don't love the rest of this track. It's not a great song and it's a so-so arrangement.
00:34:04
Speaker
Meh, maybe even a low meh. Yeah, her voice is the best part of the whole track. you know, she had such a soulful voice. But I didn't love the recording. At times, her voice was way too prominent in the mix, like it was almost too close to the mic or something. This was written by Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, believe it or not.
00:34:25
Speaker
So not so solid. Yes, right. Yeah. They will go on to write absolute classics for Motown. They're solid as a rock, but this must have been an earlier track for them, and they definitely improved greatly. I would give it a meh, and Maxine Brown deserved a better song than this. And I love Ashford and Simpson, by the way, but they obviously got much better as time went on.
00:34:51
Speaker
It's a shame because there's some lines that work and some that don't. The one that jumped out to me that I really liked was Rome wasn't built in a day. It took careful planning. There were some decent lines in there.
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah, the lyrics are good, but the song is not. Yeah. Yeah, I might give it a high, man, because her vocal is great. Yes. At number 94, Stop! Look What You're Doing by Carla Thomas. It's a fine example of deep soul. We've talked about deep soul before. I like those guitar horns and drums. And the lyrics are interesting, if a bit as expected, where she's pleading with her man to come back to her and alleviate her misery. But it's okay. I give it a low hit.
00:36:01
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. The lyrics are not that remarkable. But interestingly, it was co-written by Eddie Floyd of Knock On Wood fame yeah and Al Bell, who worked for Stax Records in 1965 and became the sole owner of the label in 72. Pretty solid songwriting team there. But the song is definitely not one of Carla Thomas' strongest, but she sings the hell out of it. And I thought there was an interesting guitar effect throughout the song. It almost sounded like it was underwater. Stop.
00:36:43
Speaker
Oh, stop. Stop it, baby. Look what you're doing.
00:36:54
Speaker
at times so that was interesting so I first I was going to say a high man but maybe I'll upgrade it to a low hit yeah yeah Marv yearnful self a vocal from Carla musical backing yeah that guitar it's almost like they sent Patrick Duffy you know the the man from Atlantis underwater to go and play the guitar for them yeah it's it's an interesting effect before he revived and woke up in the shower yeah
00:37:24
Speaker
Octopus's Garden. Yes. There you where you'd like to be? No, but the sound, that is exactly the sound they were trying to get on the guitar in Octopus's Garden. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. That's true.
00:37:35
Speaker
Yeah. That's where they got it from, this song. I don't know if I'll go that far. I know, I'm just kidding. At number 95, Down in the Boondocks by Billy Joe Royal.
00:37:48
Speaker
It's a good track, good guitar, really nice percussion. I like the lead vocal, but it does seem to have some slight processing on it. love a little girl that lives up there And I guess I always will Fairly standard, wrong side of town lyrics.
00:38:06
Speaker
Objectively low hit, although think I like it more than that.
00:38:19
Speaker
fairly standard wrong side of town lyrics
Cultural Commentary on 'Down in the Boondocks'
00:38:22
Speaker
objectively a low hit although i think i like it more than that in Yeah, this is another one of those songs that I'm like, wait a minute, I think I've heard this. And of course, once it started, it. It's a well-known song. It's a well-known song. I didn't know Billy Joe Royal. I didn't remember that he did this song. but But as soon as it started, I'm like, oh, yeah, this is a classic.
00:38:42
Speaker
I agree. Love the percussion on this. Really unusual, intricate drumming. The guitar plucking, like love that. That helps underscore the lyrics. You know, it's the usual, I'm from the wrong side of town, so my girl's friends and family look down on me and yeah that kind of thing. But it's so catchy.
00:39:02
Speaker
The drums really make it for me. It's just so unusual. And then that guitar and his vocal too. It's not an outstanding vocal, but he definitely does the job here. Hit for me. I've always liked this track. Is it just me that when it started, i thought, hey, is this 24 Hours from Tulsa?
00:39:21
Speaker
Hmm. Because it starts with that dum, dum, dum, dum. It's got that rhythm to it. Lower hit because the musicians are doing really well. And I liked his voice. I didn't get the point of the key change.
00:39:34
Speaker
At that certain point later on in the song, though. eight But I enjoyed this. So, yes, over to addd So, what was reported, and you will find in a number of books referencing this song, is that Joe South and Billy Joel Royal had written it for...
00:39:55
Speaker
Gene Pitney. Yeah. There's your 24 Hours from Tulsa reference. But Billy Joel Royal says, Gene Pitney? We would have never been able to get a song to him.
00:40:06
Speaker
Our plan was for me to try and sing it like Gene Pitney. We were young. We thought, well, maybe they'll all think it's Gene Pitney. And by the time they know it's not, it'll already be a hit.
00:40:19
Speaker
There you go. we'll do. So Joe South would also go on to be a successful performer and one known by the Beatles. We've got a recording from 18th April,
00:40:36
Speaker
where Take seven of I Want You is actually John Lennon singing the Joe South composition, Games People Play. Oh, yeah. That's right.
00:40:47
Speaker
And then after that, Joe South would have a connection with Apple. Joe South is one of the artists on the Apple release soundtrack to the 1971 Italian movie Come Together.
00:41:00
Speaker
ah Joe South was managed by, guess who? Alan Klein. Oh, boy. Hey. Well, but Alan Klein has nice things to say about Joe South.
00:41:11
Speaker
He referred to him as quite possibly the most all-around complete musician of all the clients I'd ever had. Wow. That's a nice thing to say, but also put down to all the other people that he's worked with.
00:41:24
Speaker
I was just thinking that, yeah. A, it's Alan Klein. B, what does John Lennon tell us? It's like Alan Klein builds up his clients in that way. Yeah. True. True.
00:41:36
Speaker
Whether he believed it or not doesn't matter. It's like, going to tell them this. Yeah. Feed their ego. Yep. At number 97, Blue Shadows by beebe King.
00:41:48
Speaker
Stinging guitar. It's some great B.B. singing. Nice piano. The horns fill the empty space as well, but they're definitely lo-fi. Still a hit. Since my baby went away.
00:42:21
Speaker
Love this. I mean, I just like, are you serious? This is classic down-home blues. ah B.B. King's vocals are just perfection. And obviously his guitar solos also. um I like the addition of the piano, um you know, just to give a little bit of a counterpoint. It doesn't get much better than this. This is classic, you know, classic blues at its finest. Big hit for me.
00:42:47
Speaker
Yep. BB's voice and his guitar licks and solo kick nicely. Good horns and a nice yearning accompaniment from the drums, piano, rhythm, guitar, and bass.
00:42:58
Speaker
Really tasty guitar solo. um In 1971, there is a great version of this on his album BB in London, which features him backed by Klaus Vorman on bass and Jim Keltner on drums.
00:43:14
Speaker
Wow! Have to go search that out. Tangential Beatles connection there, because they both played with ex-Beatles. At number 98, Follow Me by The Drifters.
00:43:29
Speaker
Good vocal and good backing, although the rest of The Drifters are not really given anything too substantial to do. The horns are slightly intrusive. I do like the drums.
00:43:40
Speaker
It's not much of a song, but they do put some effort into it. I'll give him my high meh for that. Yeah, I would say Jaime as well. I thought the horns were too, you know, up front in the mix. And I didn't care for the doo-doo-doo-doo backing vocals. I thought that was a little, I don't know.
00:43:58
Speaker
i mean, this is the drifters we're talking about. You know, they're they're better than that. um Johnny Moore, who is singing lead at this point, turns in a smooth lead vocal. But otherwise, the song itself is kind of unremarkable. It just kind of goes all over the place tempo-wise. You know, maybe High Mad because, ah you know, as you said, it's the Drifters, but definitely not among their best.
00:44:23
Speaker
Yep. Good lead vocal. ah Backing vocals that are good in bits and not in other bits. it's Some of the bits where they're actually singing, singing are good, but when they're doing those vocalisms, the do-do-do's and all that, it's irritating.
00:44:40
Speaker
Yes. The drums are like, but irritatingly, the rest of the instruments needed to emphasize all of the pushes that the drums were doing in there because they were losing what could have been a better better arrangement for the song. So I'll give it between a high ma and a low hit for the lead vocal, the drums, and yeah, high, actually.
00:45:08
Speaker
Yeah, we're all between the five and six out of ten range, it sounds like. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We close out this week at number 100 with love me now by Brooke Benton, a song written by Brooke Benton and Ed Townsend.
Gospel Influence: Brooke Benton and Marvin Gaye
00:45:23
Speaker
Uh, the lead vocal is pure honey, just a touch of gospel. I do wish those horns were more distinct. The strings are just unnecessary. Medium hit. Yeah. I do love the gospel tinge piano on this. Uh, you know, that's a nice touch. Horns are kind of buried. Um,
00:45:42
Speaker
But the lead vocal, I mean, this is Brooke Benton we're talking about, of course, so they are smooth as butter. I mean, that that voice. And boy, he could get really low in his range, too. um And the backing singers have a gospel kind of flair. And so I feel like these vocals, as well as the piano, turned what could have been a fairly average soul ballad into something, you know, really that I enjoyed listening to. I i think it's a hit.
00:46:12
Speaker
Yep. a Nice yearning vocal from Brooke showing his versatility. ah The backing music has some elements of greatness with some bits k not coming out so much.
00:46:23
Speaker
ah Yeah, the strings are there sort of as wallpaper, maybe. um Yeah, I enjoyed it. And it's funny, straight after listening to the Drifters, I heard this and I thought, you know, the Drifters should have been doing something like this to move with the Times.
00:46:40
Speaker
Yeah, good point. All right, we are moving on to the week of July the 10th. We've got some amazing songs coming up. The rest of July is banger after banger.
00:46:53
Speaker
That's right. but We move on to the second week of July, the week of July the 10th, 1965. At number one is I Can't Get No Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, which we've covered.
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah, all right. Yeah, I'm okay with this. Yeah, me too. Satisfied. At number 66, Pretty Little Baby by Marvin Gaye.
00:47:16
Speaker
a Nice cascading piano intro, which goes into Marvin's vocal, which is smooth as silk.
00:47:25
Speaker
And I said, baby, hey, pretty little baby, don't leave me.
00:47:43
Speaker
Darling, you give me joy. Am I your toy? Wrecked and broken. I always share your every care. Wrecked and broken. All through the years, we have no fear.
00:47:56
Speaker
Now I'm crying. The Christmas Bells may be just a bit too much. It's a good song, a good performance, a great lead vocal, but the oddness of the tune and the production is less than stellar.
00:48:09
Speaker
Leave it as just a low to middling hit for me. I completely agree. i didn't love the tinkling piano runs. That got a little old for me. bit overranged, at times almost overpowering Marvin Gaye, who, as you said, turns in the typical smooth Marvin Gaye vocals. I mean, he sounds great. Some interesting chord changes, but overall, it just didn't do a lot for me. I thought it went on too long, didn't hold my attention as a typical Marvin Gaye song would. It's interesting the way it came about.
00:48:42
Speaker
Clarence Paul, writer, producer for Motown and the Funk Brothers ah vibes player Dave Hamilton put together this backing track jam that was supposed to be for Stevie Wonder.
00:48:54
Speaker
And it was going to be called Purple Snowflakes. But Marvin decided he liked the backing track for himself. and wrote a new set of lyrics. So that's how it came about. <unk> Yeah, our friends on Motown Junkies rated a 9 out of 10. I don't think I'd go quite that high. No way.
00:49:12
Speaker
Laid back, Marvin's voice is understated that gives it a yearning feeling, but... It doesn't really sound like Motown. It's not got that 100%, you know, pure Motown cool there. it It almost sounds like some Backstreet Recording Studio demo in comparison to a usual Motown. A little bit better than a demo, I think. And that may just be because of Marvin's vocal performance. Yeah, but I see what you're saying. It doesn't sound like a typical Motown track.
00:49:45
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's time for Cashbox to hire some new writers because some of these are starting to sound awfully samey. What they say is Marvin Gaye is an obvious cinch to duplicate his I'll Be Doggone top tenor, T-E-N apostrophe E-R.
00:50:01
Speaker
with this power-packed Tamala Nui named Pretty Little Baby. The tune is a lyrical, chorus-backed, funky romancer, soulfully rendered by the songster.
00:50:12
Speaker
Immediate heavy sales indicated here. You know, you take out any three words out of that review, and they could come from some other review we've read. Yeah. I love it. It's a Nui. You know what they've done there, don't you?
00:50:25
Speaker
They've got a table and they've got all these bits of paper with words, a bit like the Brian Eno school of writing lyrics where you'll just have, and David Bowie, where you'll just have different words just put on the table in different orders and you've got to write the review according to the order that those words are in.
00:50:43
Speaker
The refrigerator magnet game. Yes. Yeah, right. Yeah. At number 69, To Know You Is To Love You by Peter and Gordon, which we covered on the UK side.
00:50:54
Speaker
At number 82, You Better Come Home by Petula Clark. The opening horns are fine. It's a good vocal. It gets a little bit too intense. Just a touch of Gene Pitney there for me. Slightly overdone strings.
00:51:08
Speaker
The backing singers really don't work. Baby, come back to me. Baby, come back to me. Love me like you did before.
00:51:19
Speaker
You'd better come home and see the damage you've done.
00:51:35
Speaker
And I won't share my love with anyone new. No, no. The love
00:51:48
Speaker
The transition seems be borrowed from the Righteous Brothers. Hi, man. I would say Haimeh as well. I thought the very beginning sounded a little like Bacharach David kind of ripoff of the guitar, that kind of scratchy riff sounding a bit like Walk On By. Petula sings this very well.
00:52:07
Speaker
She navigates some weird chord changes, which is, again, kind of typical of Bacharach David. But yeah, just not crazy about the song. It doesn't really go anywhere lyrically.
00:52:17
Speaker
Baby, come back to me, come home pretty standard stuff. Except, it's interesting at one point, you know, Petula's sounding really angry. Look at the damage you've done. You'd better come home and see the damage you've done.
00:52:34
Speaker
You'd better come home because you've had all your fun. And I won't share my love with anyone. I like that.
00:52:45
Speaker
But...
00:52:49
Speaker
like that but Other than that, it's just not that special a song, but she performs it well. So yeah, hi, Matt. As soon as it started, I could tell that it was a Tony Hatch production and arrangement. It's got that downtown feel to it again. It's not bad, but I actually think that the B-side is much more interesting The B-side that's called Heart was a co-write between Clark herself with Hatch and the French songwriter Georges Abbeur.
00:53:18
Speaker
It's got movement, contrast between different sections, and the guitar on it is fantastic by Jimmy Page. o And the Cashbox review tells us the songstress, who is currently coming off her I Know A Place smash-a-roo,
00:53:34
Speaker
should make it three in a row with this ultra-commercial new release called You'd Better Come Home. The side is a rhythmic, blues-tinged, chorus-backed ballad about a gal who pleads for her guy to return to her.
00:53:48
Speaker
gal. At number 83, we had just a boatload of songs. We had we counted up 10 songs, which by themselves basically defined the 60s. And that's despite the fact that most of the month have no Beatles songs in the U.S. charts.
00:54:04
Speaker
night At number 83 in the Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett. This tune was written by Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper at the Lorraine Motel, the very place where MLK Jr. would be shot.
00:54:19
Speaker
The record, horns, vocals. Pure intensity. The rhythm comes from the beat behind the dance, the jerk. And ultimately, you know, I think this may well be the best use of that beat.
00:54:31
Speaker
Jerry Wexler suggested the delayed backbeat. All the elements work together. The four piece horns perfectly accentuating Cropper, Dunn, the piano. And never hiding Wilson Pickett's perfect southern soul wail.
00:54:46
Speaker
Banger. Big, big hit. That's what I was going to say. This is very definition banger.
00:55:33
Speaker
Everything works here. Al Jackson's drums, which have that really interesting sound to them, little bit muted. Donald Duck Dunn's bass, Steve Cropper's guitars you mentioned, and those horns.
00:55:46
Speaker
Those horns. Just incredible the way they punctuate various parts of the song. I mean, it's just a classic Staxx. You know, that Southern soul. And then, of course, there's Wilson Pickett, you know, one of the all-time great soul R&B vocalists. His voice is a mixture of saint and sinner because he's got that gospel sound almost like he's preaching. But, of course, in the middle that night hour, it's not about going to church. So...
00:56:21
Speaker
One of my all-time favorites. High, high hit. A perfect song, great lyrics and vocal. The vocal is one of the greatest vocals of all time, in my opinion, on this.
00:56:32
Speaker
Nice horns. I love the piano by Joe Hall. What I like about the piano is that it's not trying to... get in the way or anything it's there in the background just providing that bed for everything else to play around because everything else is doing this really funky stuff around it it's just so cool cropper was saying that when he wrote this well when he first came up with the idea He'd been told by Jerry Wexler that Wilson Pickett was coming in basically for his first session for Atlantic for Stax. Believe it or not, Steve Croppett, he was still working in a record shop as a record seller. Wow. and he And he got hold of a couple of records that Wilson had sung on beforehand. And he said that he noticed that on a few of the songs towards the end, Pickett would ad-lib the phrase in the midnight hour based around, you know, usually a gospel song or something you know i found God in the midnight hour or something like those sort of lines and then that sort of like stuck stuck in his in his mind was oh that's ah that's a really good thing and he started coming up with the idea and then finished it with Pickett and the phrase that that's featured in most obvious would be the song I found a
Songwriting Stories with Steve Cropper
00:57:43
Speaker
love by the Falcons from 1962 and Pickett was actually the lead singer of the vocal group the Falcons as well
00:57:50
Speaker
Yeah, I love the slightly but ever so subtle naughty lyrics here. yeah That's when my love comes tumbling down. Yeah. We know what you're talking about there. ah You know what? I thought they were just getting together to pray. And and then of course. Getting into the pews.
00:58:09
Speaker
And then, of course, you know what? I'm going to hold you in my arms, just you and I. Yeah, all right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay. This song would place at number 134 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the...
00:58:30
Speaker
National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. In 1995, this record was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
00:58:44
Speaker
That's a no-brainer. Yep. Hi, welcome to the Ronnie Wood Show. This is Ronnie. And joining me today is my special guest, Steve Cropper, who co-wrote some of the greatest records of all time, including Sitting on the Dock of the Bay and Knock on Wood.
00:59:00
Speaker
Well, it's great to have you on the show, my pleasure, my pleasure. You're going to tell us a little story about Wilson Pickett's Midnight Hour. Yeah, actually actually there's two songs, and ah and when when young writers or whatever say, how do you come up with those songs?
00:59:15
Speaker
And sometimes you have a story, and sometimes you can't come up with a story, and you say, well, all I did was follow the dots. And they go, what do you mean by that? And I said, well, the dots on the guitar. So I just, for the intro, I took the dots and I went...
00:59:37
Speaker
I'm going to wait till the midnight hour. And there you go. History make it. There you go. And then a few months later, Eddie Floyd and I were writing a song called Knock on Wood. He wanted to write a song about superstition, about rabbit's feet and throwing the salt over your shoulder and breaking champagne glasses in the fireplace and all that. Yeah. And I said, you know what people do a lot? They knock on wood for good luck.
00:59:58
Speaker
So he liked that and we wrote it. you know And he said, what are we going to do for an intro? And I went, I couldn't come up with an intro. Did you follow And i said, you know what? I followed the dots before. what if What if I did it backwards? So I did. So what did do?
01:00:19
Speaker
ah There you go. Just follow the dots. Okay, let's follow the dots down the end of the midnight hour road then. Here we go. right Get off that couch. And we are doing a supercut of this track. Some of the other versions you are going to hear. The Young Rascals.
01:00:36
Speaker
The Righteous Brothers. Sorry, Johnny Rivers. The Commitments, which, while I knew the Wilson Pickett version, that was really the one that stuck in my head from a fairly young age when this film first came out.
01:00:51
Speaker
no Is that one of the ones that Andrea Corr from The Corr sings on? Yes. Do know? Yes. yeah At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Wilson Pickett did it with Bruce. We're going to include some of that because, well, Bruce is on just about every supercut we have. That's right.
01:01:06
Speaker
Mitch Ryder in the Detroit Wheels. Roxy Music. Wow. Tina Turner. Ooh. B.B. King. B.B. King. Wow, that's going to be good. Yep.
01:01:18
Speaker
Tom Jones with the Blues Brothers Band. Interesting. And Seal. Oh, wow. Wow. Tom Jones with the Blues Brothers Band. Technically, that's Tom Jones with the people who are playing on this version.
01:01:32
Speaker
Exactly. Oh, yeah, that's right. Thank you. Brew. The ball.
01:01:42
Speaker
Now, I want you, Bruce, I'm glad you invited me up because ah you know I wanted to sing with you a long time ago. I wanted to kick you in the ass, you know. But you know you're the boss, so we're going to keep it light, you know. going to keep it light. Let's give it a shot. Well, let's give it a shot, huh?
01:01:58
Speaker
All right. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much
01:02:04
Speaker
much. Yeah. Hey, come on. We will have a sore time here this evening, children.
01:02:14
Speaker
I'm gonna wait till the midnight hour till my love comes tumbling down. I'm gonna wait till the midnight hour till there's nobody that's around.
01:02:31
Speaker
I'm gonna shit you, girl, and hold you.
01:02:53
Speaker
Wait till the stars come out And see the twinkle in your eyes Gonna wait till the midnight hour Till there is no one but you and I You're the only girl I know I really love you so in midnight
01:03:32
Speaker
the stars come out And I see the twinkle in your eye
01:03:56
Speaker
That's when my love begins to shine. You're the only girl You really love me so. I know it's got to be in the midnight hour.
01:04:08
Speaker
Hey, hey, in the midnight hour. Oh, Lord, in the midnight hour. Hey, hey, don't you know the night time is the right time, baby?
01:04:21
Speaker
Play it for me.
01:04:46
Speaker
Listen. I'm gonna wait till midnight. That's when my love begins to shine.
01:04:56
Speaker
Just you and I.
01:05:12
Speaker
I do the things I wanna do in the midnight, oh yeah Coming everything in the midnight I wanna squeeze Yes you and me!
01:05:41
Speaker
Just you and I, just you and I You make me feel so good now, you make me feel so good In the midnight hour, you make me knock on wood Now I'm a motherfucker on wood, yes in the midnight hour
01:06:09
Speaker
All right!
01:06:42
Speaker
At number 85, because we have to mention every song that has the word candy in it, Candy by the Astors. A decent, if not great, soul record. The Astors can sing, but nothing stands out on this record except for the backing. A great performance by the sax house band,
01:07:01
Speaker
But that's only enough to raise it to a high meh or a low hit. This group came out of Memphis. They met in high school and formed a group and got pretty well known performing on Beale Street and area venues. And...
01:07:17
Speaker
They were mentored by somebody we have seen a number of times on this show, Rufus Thomas. They worked some shows with him and they said he really taught them about showmanship. Definitely, I think this song was influenced by Curtis Mayfield and the impressions and their vocals. There's nice harmonies, a spirited lead, but the drums border on being kind of overdone.
01:08:08
Speaker
The horns are a little bit too buried in the mix in some parts, in the instrumental section particularly. I like the guitar solo in the second instrumental section.
01:08:41
Speaker
It's a pleasant listen. and I agree it's not outstanding. Decent soul record. So yeah, I'd give it a low hit. Yeah, it's sort of the Kirkland brand version of Curtis Mayfield. Right. Yeah, it's okay. It's just that there's something lacking in it, other than the fact that, I've got to say, I do think that Steve k Cropper's guitar in this has got some bite in it. That's a really good tone in it. It's very rock and roll.
01:09:03
Speaker
Yes, indeed. Yeah. Other than that, low hit maybe. So you may like it just slightly more than we do. This record was written by the folks you would expect, Steve Cropper and, tell us more, Isaac Hayes.
01:09:19
Speaker
So we've seen that combination. The B-side was written by one Larry Lee, a songwriter who wrote a number songs for the Astor's. Larry Lee spent time with Jimi Hendrix before this record. He appeared with Jimi at Woodstock. and would go on to be in Al Green's touring band.
01:09:37
Speaker
At number 86, Say You're My Girl by Roy Orbison, which we covered this month in the UK. At number 88, yet another one of those
Cultural Impact of 'I Got You Babe'
01:09:48
Speaker
songs which define the 60s, I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher.
01:09:54
Speaker
This is Sonny and Cher's breakthrough. gotta say, looking back at a couple of those videos, boy, i did Sonny look goofy in that fur vest and that haircut.
01:10:06
Speaker
Sonny produced this record, borrowing but managing to keep a cap on top of the wall of sound. It's a waltz. Interesting instrumentation, and Cher could indeed wail even at this early stage.
01:10:20
Speaker
Sonny was and remained less of a performer and singer, but the combination with that set of instruments. There's an oboe there. I'll bet George Martin noticed that. You can hear that. All in all, it's a good but not great pop song. But it's a great record. And you add in the fact that this is the introduction of Cher. Yes, we had another Cher record, but you know what I mean. Yeah. yeah An important and big hit. Sonny Bono definitely learned under the tutelage of Phil Spector. And you can hear some reverb, but it's not overdone.
01:10:56
Speaker
yeah You know, it's just a little bit, which I appreciate. Apparently... Sonny Bono wrote the lyrics and composed the music of the song for, of course, himself and Cher late at night in their basement. And when Cher was woken up to sing the lyrics, she hated the song, not thinking it would be a hit, and immediately went back to bed afterwards. Well, of course, she was wrong. It was a big hit. And what i think is interesting about it, too, is how it's a love song, and in some ways a typical duet, but the lyrics are definitely speaking to the young generation, the emerging, quote, hippie generation. Yeah. You know, with Cher singing the line, they say your hair's too long. And virtually starting every line with they say. This is this couple against the world, against the straights, the stuck up people. So it's really, for that time, a modern kind of love song.
01:11:55
Speaker
But it's very catchy, obviously. And as you mentioned, that unusual oboe driven hook. It's a great pop song memorable obviously a hit yeah a lot of people claim that sonny was just ripping off dylan's it ain't me babe there's certainly a touch of that in there but i don't think that i mean i if anything else this is almost an answer record because you had dylan with that sneer and and all those anti-love lyrics in it ain't me babe and it's like sonny came up well no love is the answer yeah so exactly
01:12:29
Speaker
But Cher says in memoirs that it's an answer song to that song, It Ain't Me. Okay, so there you go. So there you go. She also pointed out that that wasn't the only time he woke her up.
01:12:40
Speaker
So he woke her up initially and and made her sing it, and she wasn't very happy about being woken up. um I mean, who would at 2 o'clock in the morning, which it was apparently. And then she says, oh, I need a song that pushes me more, because all he had was this one section with the lyrics written that continued throughout, and she said, I want something that changes, that's change and movement in the song.
01:13:02
Speaker
And then she went back to bed and then he woke her up another hour and a half, two hours later and said, I've got it and made us sing it, including the bit that wasn't in earlier, which was the, I've got you to hold my hand. I've got you to understand. And I've got that, that bit wasn't in there originally.
01:13:18
Speaker
And he wrote that because she said, it needs a bridge in there. Otherwise I'm not interested. She still thought it was a rubbish song, but, She was wrong. It sold. Well, and that was smart because that bridge does really help move the song along. you know Bring it to a different emotional level. So she was right.
01:13:36
Speaker
Yep, she was. It may be that the label wasn't so sure about it. That's why they released a Cher song with Cher singing like Sonny and an actual Sonny and Cher song.
01:13:47
Speaker
Well, one of these will hit. I like this story from her book based around this. I think you'll enjoy this. Within weeks, we recorded I Got You Babe at Gold Star, and Amit stopped by to take a listen.
01:14:00
Speaker
You know, Armatere to gun the guy in charge of Atlantic Records. My mum knew Amit from years before and had been telling him every time that she saw him, I have a daughter who sings.
01:14:12
Speaker
And each time Amit would dismiss her, saying, yes, Georgia, yes, okay, whatever, like that. Then as I was recording in the studio, my mother walked in and Amit looked at her and asked her, excuse me, what are you doing in here, Georgia? And she said, I've been telling you for ages.
01:14:27
Speaker
I told you my daughter can sing.
01:14:33
Speaker
Cashbox says, Sunny and Cher can finally break through into the winner's circle with his interesting Bob Dylan-ish original called I Got You Babe. So they saw it even then. The side's a twangy, medium-paced, soulful, romantic bluser about a made-for-each-other twosome.
01:14:53
Speaker
It's Gonna Rain is a rhythmic, muddy ode. Little pun there. with ear-arresting, pulsating beat. Now, even to the 21st century, there are questions about this song. This was listed at number 444 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. So there's another one in the charts at the same time.
01:15:18
Speaker
yeah But a mere seven years later The readers of Rolling Stone Would rank I Got You Babe As the eighth worst song of the 60s Oh, that's not fair Wow And then six years after that I Got You Babe was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame o The other thing about this tune, which certainly Kit and I will remember, is the reunion of Sonny and Cher on Late Night with David Letterman in 1987. That was a big deal. Oh, huge deal. They hadn't performed together in years, and that was not planned. and David had to talk them into it.
01:15:58
Speaker
Well, sort of. They had rehearsed with the band, although I don't think they'd rehearsed together with the band. No. Now, I mentioned it to Sonny, and is there any chance in hell that you two would sing for us tonight together? Now, wait minute, hold it.
01:16:11
Speaker
Is this going happen? Is this not going to happen? Well, maybe. Now, wait a minute. Hold it. Because none of this has been discussed prior to the show. It's sort of last-minute thing. It's entirely up to you. Oh, you are full of... Ow!
01:16:31
Speaker
Somebody told me, watch out for him because they're planning to try and get you guys to sing. And I said, if he says, I'm going to say, take down your pants and show us you know what. I can't believe the way you talk. Why? You haven't rehearsed taking down your pants? We haven't rehearsed singing either. Well, that's mean there's no, Paul knows all of the music. This is one of Paul's all-time favorite songs. This is a dirty show. I'm leaving.
01:16:53
Speaker
You know the song, don't you, Paul? You know you guys are ready to go. you know what? You know what? Did not even want to sing live? I didn't want to sing live But you sounded great. right. But I have a sore throat. Well, that's all right. It's going to be, and when we have it, it's on cue cards. It's ready to Are you kidding me? Wait a minute. And you weren't prepared for it, Dave? We were.
01:17:12
Speaker
We were. we We knew you weren't. Come on. This will be great. I might do a couple of bars. Can we do a commercial? And then maybe, let's see.
01:17:26
Speaker
Okay, now what do you think? You want to try a little of this now? you Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You have a kind of a sore throat. Yes. But you sounded great. Yeah, but I was so nervous. We're all a little nervous, but this would be a wonderful way. I wasn't nervous to be on the show with you. was nervous because I thought going to it.
01:17:43
Speaker
Oh, well. Thanks, Paul. Now, it's right there. You can give it a shot. Go right over there. Come on. You'll love it. Sunny and...
01:18:00
Speaker
Do I start? You start. They say we're young and we don't know. won't find out till we grow.
01:18:12
Speaker
I don't know if all that's true. Cause you got me and baby, I got you.
01:18:21
Speaker
Baby.
01:18:24
Speaker
I got you, baby.
01:18:32
Speaker
We'll pay the rent before it's out. Our money has all been spent. I guess that's so we don't have pot.
01:18:44
Speaker
But at least I'm sure of all the things we got. This is weird. Babe.
01:19:26
Speaker
So let them say your hair's too long I don't care if you are any wrong Oh, they'll put your little hand in mine
01:19:49
Speaker
I got you to hold me tight I got you walk with me I got you and I won't let go
01:20:33
Speaker
I got you, baby.
01:20:57
Speaker
God, you.
01:21:25
Speaker
That would spark over a decade of, gee, you know, Sonny and Cher did it. Why don't Paul George and Ringo do the same thing on Letterman? At number 90, theme from Harlow, Lonely Girl by Bobby Vinton. Yes, Bobby Vinton's doing another lonely song. He wants to take it back.
01:21:44
Speaker
He's the loneliest man ever. Please no more. yeah Money was lonely. yeah Terrible song. Bobby's vocal is not bad, but the cry is just nails on a chalkboard. Terrible backing.
01:22:01
Speaker
The percussionist people rubbing their hands together, and I'm not joking. That is literally what's going on.
01:22:31
Speaker
of love Torrid or tender Once dreamed We'd share moments of splendor
01:22:47
Speaker
The lyrics read like a listing from ninety s Cinemax After Dark. Torrid or tender. And they managed to find a way to rhyme tender and splendor.
01:22:59
Speaker
Big miss. I did not care for this either. Sounds like this could have been released in the I mean, he sings it okay. It's the crooning style that he used, but backing singers are so overdone. And the unnecessarily dramatic string-filled arrangement, just again, unnecessary. They're trying to make this emotional and to... since the loneliness of the song and that i mean it just doesn't work and yes those cringy cliche written lyrics lonely girl in silk and satin love has never known you lonely girl all dressed in sadness love will never own you again silk or satin it's cinemax after dark exactly i'm just buts it's just one of those material yeah that's right i mean it's just one of those lines that made me just pause and say what yeah
01:23:55
Speaker
Yeah, Miss for May as well. He's starting in his own clothing business because he's got the velvet, he's got the silk, he's got the satin. Next he's going to have the cotton, the polyester, the nylon. i mean He's going to go all over the place. Although I don't want to hear him talking about nylons.
01:24:10
Speaker
No. don't He can keep that to himself. He can, please. A song to fall asleep to, Blue Shelvet.
01:24:18
Speaker
and So this song was the theme to the 1965 American biographical drama film Harlow, as you might have guessed from the title. A biopic about the life of film star Gene Harlow. The film starred Carol Baker in the title role and Raph Valone, Red Buttons, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Mike Connors, Martin Balsam, and Leslie Nielsen in supporting roles. Don't call him Shirley. What a cast!
01:24:49
Speaker
At number 97, Moon Over Naples by Bert Kempfer and his orchestra. This took me about three listens to actually start to get this record. It's a classy instrumental. The first half of the record, I'm still lukewarm on, but by the middle, when it gets to the horns...
01:25:09
Speaker
the tempo starts to move up a little bit and the general feel of the whole record improves greatly. It's a nice tune, but still maybe high meh.
01:25:20
Speaker
Wow, you liked it better than I did. You didn't listen to it three times. It grows on you.
01:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, I just felt like this was Muzak. Nice for background and elevators, but not much else. There's a vocal version of this that became the song Spanish Eyes.
01:26:17
Speaker
Of course. And we will get a version of it in a couple months here. That's right, which is a hit for Al Martino, also recorded by Engelborg Humperdinck. Maybe the vocal version would appeal to me a little bit more, but other than that, this just sounded like a 50s throwback. Low math, I'm being generous.
01:26:34
Speaker
All right. yeah I've done one of my things again. The bar is open at the lounge. There's a lizard waiting to sing. And here we have the house band warming up. Pizza and a house wine, anyone?
01:26:48
Speaker
Meh. Yes. I will agree. It's more of the faux Italian stuff, which we've been complaining about for months now. Yeah. Yeah. And here's one which doesn't get a whole lot better.
01:27:00
Speaker
at number 98, Tickle Me by Elvis Presley with the Jordanaires. This was an EP, which they made sure to let you know, we're selling at the single price. And somebody listen to all five songs.
01:27:13
Speaker
ge Well, we're only going to talk about two of them, but the five songs on side one is a song from March the 19th 1962 entitled I Feel That I've Known You Forever, which was co-written by Doc Pomas at number two, Slowly But Surely, recorded on May 1963, which was from the Fun in Acapulco which was from the fun and acapulco album we flipped the EP over.
01:27:43
Speaker
The first track on site too is Knight Rider without the K again, co-written by Doc Pomas. This is actually a Doc Pomas and Mort Schumann. So the big team wrote this song recorded October 15th, 1961. Second,
01:28:01
Speaker
second is Put the Blame on Me, recorded March the 12th, 1961. And then the final song on this EP was a Lieberstoller song going all the way back to April 3rd, 1960, called Dirty, Dirty Feeling. Dirty, dirty.
01:28:19
Speaker
Get some soap. and Wow. Check out the lyrics. This may win for the misogynist record of the month. Listen to these lyrics. I hear you're pretty good at running, but pretty soon you'll slip and fall. That's when I'll drag you home with me, girl. I'm going to chain you to the wall.
01:28:39
Speaker
Wall, wall, wall. Isn't that awful? It makes Black Snake Moan look like ah something kind of innocent. Exactly. Exactly. I need to shower after that.
01:28:51
Speaker
Yes, I agree. Fortunately, it's only a minute, 35 seconds. Shot you guys. I don't know which songs I'm supposed to be talking about. Well, well let's let's talk about the two Doc Pomma songs. Those are the ones which are at least somewhat notable. I feel that I've known you forever. A good lead vocal. It's slightly country, mediocre backing, and like all these tracks on this EP, it ends abruptly.
01:29:16
Speaker
It very much sounds and feels like 1962, but I'm still going to give it a very low hit.
01:29:37
Speaker
It was okay for a little bit. you know A little reminiscent of like Love Me Tender or Can't Help Falling in Love, that kind of ballad. As you said, a little country change, and then those syrupy background singers.
01:29:49
Speaker
That just ruined it for me. I'd have to give it up. Maybe a high meh. I thought Elvis's vocal on this got better towards the end. Unusually for the Jordaniers, I thought their backing swamped what was going on around it.
01:30:03
Speaker
It's not supposed to be a Jordaniers song. It's an Elvis Presley song with his musicians. So don't crowd him. Be the backing like you're supposed to. It's the good Elvis vocal, which makes me rated as high as I do. Yeah.
01:30:16
Speaker
Because of Elvis's vocal, I'd give it a low hit. Otherwise, it would be a meh. Mar's about the same place I am. Yeah. And Kit's slightly lower. will less. From the B-side, the other Doc Pommas. Doc Pommas and Mort Schumann, Knight Rider without the K. It's just Knight, N-I-G-H-T.
01:30:34
Speaker
You may think that it's the breeze Whistling through the lonely trees But it's only...
01:30:42
Speaker
As the day comes to that. Night rider. Night rider. He came riding into town as the sun was going down.
01:30:58
Speaker
Saw my baby and he smiled her heart.
01:31:02
Speaker
Good guitar, good but not great Elvis vocal. However, the sax and piano might as well have been AI generated by the Knight Industries 2000, otherwise known as Kit, but not Kid O'Toole. No, not that Kit.
01:31:17
Speaker
ah This is the beginning of Elvis's post-army slide, and bits and pieces of this tune would actually be recycled through Elvis's film music. Meh, maybe high meh. This, to me, was the best of the bunch, and that's not saying a lot.
01:31:34
Speaker
The yackety sax is back in this. I like the fingerpicking, fingerpicking. The piano's kind of oddly recorded, almost sounded like a ringing phone at times. I was playing this, my mother was in the room, and she kept saying, is that the phone? And I'm like, what? It's really funny. I like Elvis's vocals on this.
01:31:54
Speaker
He sounds more engaged than some of the other tracks on here. So maybe high meh, low head if I'm generous. It's a better vocal on I Feel That i've Known You Forever. well I like this one better. It's upbeat.
Elvis's Evolution and Critique
01:32:07
Speaker
It's spoiled by the production and the arrangement. If you lost all these other layers, and if this was done with the core, like his original hits back in the 50s, before you joined the army and all this, If it was done with that sort of feel to it, with just those few people, Elvis and Scotty on guitar, say, and then Bill on the bass, and then the bit of drums, maybe, that would push the song a lot more to me. I think the actual production on the song has spoiled what might have been actually quite a decent rocker.
01:32:37
Speaker
I agree with that. The Cashbox review tells us that although Elvis is currently going great guns with three different sides, crying in the chapel, easy question, easy question. He wasn't going great guns with easy question. oh And it feels so right. This EP featuring the songster reading five selections from his new flick, Tickle Me, should create plenty of interest.
01:33:02
Speaker
Watch it closely. All right. Just to add, Put the Blame on Me, which is another one of the songs, Louise thinks it sounds sultry and clubby. And me personally, I was thinking of Jim Carrey singing it on stage in The Mask.
01:33:16
Speaker
I put the blame, I put the blame on me. I put the blame on me.
Roger Miller's Dark Turn and Its Influence
01:33:41
Speaker
At number 99, one which kind of became a WTF, although it's really not that far off for typical country lyrics, One Die and a Berrien by Roger Miller.
01:33:52
Speaker
Starts off with a decent enough guitar strum, then it goes into a talky intro, into a song about how he can't live without his woman and she's been cheating on him and, well, all I can do is go and off myself. I
01:34:33
Speaker
I wanna be free
01:34:39
Speaker
The lyrics reminded me a little bit of the lyrical version of Suicide is Painless, the MASH theme if you haven't heard it. And the rest is just, you know, my woman done treat me wrong. Fairly standard and chord changes. It's performed well enough to be a meh, though.
01:34:55
Speaker
Roger Miller, what happened? King of the Road. He also sang pretty harmless songs of about drinking. And then this. It gets dark fast. It takes him forever to get to the chorus. you know, he talks through a lot of it. Talking about throwing himself in the ocean to free himself from the pain he feels after his girl left him and all. Wow. Really, this is Roger Miller. The love that once was warm and then turned to hate made my life a prison from which there's only one escape.
01:35:29
Speaker
Also, that doesn't rhyme. This was a miss. I was kind of creeped out. Oh, a sad, depressive country song. Who would have thought it? I want to be free from this before I purposely get thrown off my horse and lose my 10-gallon hat in the process.
01:35:49
Speaker
Go back to the drinking songs, Roger. Those are better. Yep. Somebody get the defibrillator. This song's dead. Yes. It's like Ringo likes to say, he likes to play country records backwards because the the dog comes back, he gets his truck back, and he gets his woman back.
01:36:08
Speaker
That's brilliant. That's good. Now, the interesting thing about this record is Boyce and Hart would be listening. Boy, did Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart like to adapt things that they heard on records and radio, didn't they?
01:36:26
Speaker
It's sampling, Ed. Sampling. Okay. So, inspiration. Inspiration. Yeah. but Bobby Hart has this story about ah Tommy Boyce just obsessively playing the end of this record. And of course, the end of this record is the lines, I want to be free.
01:36:46
Speaker
Guess what? On the Monkees' first album, there is a song called I Want to Be Free. You listen to it, while it's certainly not exactly the same, there are some similarities in the chord changes there. Mm-hmm, a little bit.
01:37:03
Speaker
I want to be free.
01:37:19
Speaker
I wanna be free. As much as Paperback Rider and Last Train to Clarksville. Yeah. Right. So... It's just weird that I want to be free is kind of this light Davy Jones song tune ah with vaguely orchestral backing. And then there's this Roger Miller song. Yep.
Critique of Chad and Jeremy's Cover Song
01:37:40
Speaker
All right. We're goingnna close out this episode with a song we're very familiar with. yeah Number 100, the Chad and Jeremy cover of from a window. Of course we had the Billy Jay version back in, what was it? That was early 63, right? I think so.
01:37:58
Speaker
ye So here's Chad and Jeremy doing that Lennon-McCartney song. But the arrangement here is more Burt Bacharach than Beatles, except for that guitar. That's a really nice guitar in the middle there.
01:38:10
Speaker
The harmonies are good, and I still like this song enough, but I don't really love this version. Low hit, and that's for the song. Oh, I would be true And I spend my life with you So meet me tonight Just where the light shines from the window And as take your hand Say that you'll be my tonight
01:38:57
Speaker
I didn't like this version. I like Billy J. Kramer's version better. Shout out to our friend Billy J. I didn't like the heavier drums on this and guitar. I thought there was too much reverb on Chad and Jeremy's vocals as well. The horns, they just don't work.
01:39:12
Speaker
Yeah, their singing is okay, but again, it's just drowning in this reverb. I think the Billy J. Kramer version captures, you know, the kind of light pop melody of the track better. So I would say maybe High Meh,
01:39:27
Speaker
low hit if i'm being generous yeah chad and jeremy's take on this paul mccartney written song is okay obviously i think that billy j kramer the dakota's version is great that's the best one but it's decent enough to make it a low hit maybe a high mare but yeah low hit possibly all right so that is the end of Side C. We will be back real soon with Side D. More Rolling Stone 500 greatest songs of all time, including one which was marked as the number one greatest rock song of all time for quite a while in Rolling Stone's poll over several different decades. Talk to you soon.
01:40:13
Speaker
See you then. take care, everybody.
Origin of 'Toppermost of the Poppermost' Slogan
01:40:46
Speaker
There was a piece in the NME, a news piece that said the top rank records, remember when top rank had a record label? and They introduced an LP series next week that will be called Toppermost and is coinciding with their current advertising slogan, Toppermost of the Poppermost.
01:41:03
Speaker
I thought, they got it from somewhere. They saw that, they must have seen that in either the NME or Record Mirror or Disc. Record and Show Mirror as it was then.
01:41:14
Speaker
And they've taken it from there. They've obviously thought how stupid that is. How stupid is is one of those phrases that someone, an older person who doesn't understand teenagers comes up with a slogan that they think is going to be the hip slogan of the month.
01:41:29
Speaker
Toppermost of the poppermost.