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August 1964 (side D)
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We close out August of 1964 with more from the Cashbox charts. Calling out, around the world (or at least the US and UK). Martha Reeves is Dancing in the Streets, and Roy Orbison is telling us about his pretty woman. Meanwhile, the Beatles continue steamrolling through the 1964 American charts! Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
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Transcript
The Beatles' Motivational Chant
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 know a bad night or the gig we you know 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 of most of the papa most. And I say, right. Then we'd all sort of cheer up. Now then, boys, where are we going? To the top, bro. Where's that? To the top of most of the papa most.
Introduction to Side D: August 1964
00:00:47
Speaker
Welcome to Side D, our second four-sided month here on Tabormost of the Pobermost. I'm Ed Chien.
Dean Martin's Chart-Topping Hit
00:00:54
Speaker
I'm kiddo tulle. And I'm Martin Quabel. We are into August of 1964. We start out with Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin. At number one, the week of August the 15th, go back and listen to a story about an exchange between Dean Martin and his son Dino, about how he was going to displace the Beatles and on both Cashbox and Billboard, he managed to do that. Yeah, it's a great story.
Beatlemania and the Hot 100
00:01:22
Speaker
It is.
00:01:23
Speaker
Moving all the way down to number three is a hard day's night. All the way down. That's a drill.
00:01:38
Speaker
Two whole slots and move down. That's harsh.
00:01:45
Speaker
But despite that, we are still almost in the second throes of Beatlemania for 1964. You know, we got six, seven, eight songs in the Hot 100 here, again. Wow.
Four Tops' Infectious Debut
00:01:56
Speaker
Wow. At number three is A Hard Day's Night. At number 15 is Ain't She Sweet. Yes, I ask you, wear it confidentially. Ain't she sweet?
00:02:19
Speaker
At number 17 is, And I Love Her. This is an old Beatles song called, And I Love Her. One, two, three. At number 25 is, I'll Cry Instead.
00:03:02
Speaker
and at number 48 is I should have known better
00:03:29
Speaker
So the Beatles had five of the top 50. This is now six months into Beatlemania. Wow. Wow. Amazing. At number 66, Ringo's theme, this boy, the George Martin version from UA. At number 74, a tremendous song, although as I'm sure you've seen, the final surviving member of the four tops just passed away very recently here. The song is, Baby I Need Your Loving by the Four Tops.
00:03:58
Speaker
Yes, Duke Fakir, the final ah surviving member, the original lineup just passed. This was their first single, the debut. Can you believe it? This was their debut single. This is in my top 10 songs of the four tops of all time. I know. This was their debut single, first top 10 hit. Does it get better than this? This is just a classic, classic song. You've got the team of Holland Dozier Holland, writing this incredible song. I mean, it's got it all. It's got the infectious beat, you know, love the finger snaps. It's just got you from the get-go. And it's got the four tops. I mean, those harmonies. Levi Stubbs, one of the greatest front men. He had
B.B. King's Blues Mastery
00:04:43
Speaker
that raspy voice.
00:04:45
Speaker
And it's another case of simple, catchy phrases that just stuck in the brain. Baby, I need your loving. Got to have all your loving. It's simple, but it works. Background vocals, the Andantes were on this. And of course, you have the Funk brothers. James Jamerson.
00:05:07
Speaker
on bass, Earl Van Dyke on piano, Robert White on guitar, drums by Benny Benjamin, and on the strings, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Nice. It just is a perfect record. And I just have to mention, I love Cashbox, the description, an intriguing rakachacha beat pleater that the four tops carve out with solid sales authority. Rakachacha beat.
00:05:35
Speaker
throughou it again. and I love it.
00:06:05
Speaker
The music, the lyrics, the vocals, it is a perfect song and like I said, it's in my top 10 songs by The Four Tops. I love this song and I can't believe that this is the first single that they released. It's amazing for a first single.
00:06:21
Speaker
Isn't it? ah yeah I couldn't believe it either that this was their debut. What a way to start. And there's also a heck of a Beatles and Brian Epstein connection here, which just goes to show you, you know, we talk about what kind of style did Brian have. Did he really know what he was doing?
00:06:39
Speaker
when he went and found the Beatles. This story demonstrates that Brian really did know how to present a band and how to make them known to an audience. So the single would come out. It had been a hit in the States, but they hadn't yet gone to England. So they went to Brian and Brian was the promoter who brought the four tops to the UK for the first time. Wow.
00:07:03
Speaker
Any other pro promoter would go, oh, oh, these guys have a big hit in the States. Of course we're gonna sell these big, huge venues. Brian went, no, let's select the right venue. Brian went out and chose the Savoy Theater, which was a much smaller, but more acoustically pleasing venue. So the Four Tops came out, they did their show. Afterwards, they were given a standing ovation And Brian came out and met the tops with tears in his eyes. Wow. Because he knew. I did it. This is correct. I've broken them in England.
00:07:39
Speaker
Wow. Well, they had the showmanship. That's for sure. Exactly. And so afterwards, Brian took us to a party and as we entered, he introduced us to each of the Beatles and they told us how much they loved our music. That is cool. So the late Duke Fakir describes that night as one of the most memorable and magical of my life.
00:08:00
Speaker
I got chatting to Paul McCartney and he was asking me how we did certain vocal harmonies. Also, there were lots of other musicians there, members of the Stones and Small Faces and other bands too. Everybody was smoking hash and having a high old time, which is forgiven. They done it and they knew they'd done it and Brian had done this for them. It's like, oh, we are now big stars. Not only you are we big stars, we're hanging out with the Beatles. Sure.
00:08:30
Speaker
Absolutely. Midas Man, we just got the trailer. The film is coming soon. I really hope they found a place for at least a mention, if not a representation of this in there. Because it's such a great brand story, you know? Yeah, it really is. I'd love to see this. Number 77, another Johnny Rivers doing a Chuck Berry cover. Johnny Rivers covering Maybelline.
00:08:56
Speaker
It's not terrible, but it's not all that good. His cover of Memphis is much better. Johnny Rivers has chosen to put party sounds over it. His guitar playing isn't all of that great. It's not terrible, but it's not great. His lead vocal is smooth, but it's trying to be rough rated, but it just doesn't succeed.
00:09:15
Speaker
it doesn't compare at all to the original mediocre harmonica effects in the form of horns and traffic noises that are as high up in the mix as the hand claps we know he's a good guitar player and he just doesn't really show it here no just only okay it never manages to be even a good version of the song i agree this obviously cannot compare to the original
00:10:11
Speaker
The beginning, in fact, sounds just like his cover of Memphis, Tennessee. When it started out, I thought, wait a minute.
00:10:36
Speaker
Very strange. His voice doesn't really work for this song. As you said, it's it's too smooth. The rhythm is totally wrong. It's too slow. yeah And as you said, the harmonica, it's just odd, kind of weak.
00:10:56
Speaker
The whole thing is just kind of weak for Maybelline. I mean, you're waiting for it to pick up like Chuck Berry's does. The tempo needs to pick up. It's just a lame cover. Very limp. Just no. Just no. Well, I can say I like it a little bit better than you do, but I don't like it very much.
00:11:15
Speaker
mar I like it a little better than Kit, but like Ed, not all that much. There's a makeup company called Maybelline, so stealing one of their adverts and doing a paraphrase of that, maybe he's not born with it.
00:11:31
Speaker
You win. But we're not going to trash Johnny Rivers. We're just going to track this. This song. This version. i'm been with This version. Yeah. Yeah. No, because I like this version of Memphis, Tennessee. It's like he was trying to take that and enforce it on the Maybelline. And no, you can't do that.
00:11:47
Speaker
I'm surprised the producer didn't turn to him and say, okay, that's your first run through. You're almost there, have another try at it, and then we'll go for a take after you've nailed it down. Exactly. like And believe it or not, Johnny Rivers covered. You never can tell. I don't want to hear that. Do you know what? Johnny Rivers doing mashups 40 years before anybody else was. so
00:12:17
Speaker
He invented the mashup. No, no, those guys, the chartbusters invented the mashup. Oh, yeah. okay Oh, that's so funny. Number 83, the searchers with Someday We're Gonna Love Again, which we covered on the UK side. At number 96, B.B. King with Let Me Love You, credited to B.B. King and Beharie. Well,
00:12:43
Speaker
Only one of those gentlemen actually wrote the song. Hmm, wouldn't that be BB? Saul Samuel Bahari was one of four brothers who founded the blues R and&B label Modern Records. He used the name Sam Ling as a songwriting pseudonym, although he was not a songwriter. He used this to obtain undeserved royalties from the works written by African-American musicians who recorded for the Baharis.
00:13:08
Speaker
Nobody else has ever done that, have they? Never. Nonetheless, we will mention it here and the Ling is not a songwriter at all and had no part in creating this record. This song itself, it was recorded in 1962. I don't know why it's just now coming out as a single solid blues song, guitar, piano and vocal, which is really all that's needed. It's a great performance of a great song.
00:14:07
Speaker
I love this. B.B. King, what a vocal. This is the kind of B.B. King I like. This is just traditional blues and just simple guitar, bass, piano, drums, that vocal, B.B. on guitar. and Betty here, this is a positive Betty. Yay! Yup, as she said, that's the way it's done. We were looking for one, now we got one. That's good. We got one. I forgot that there was a good one. And I agree, that is the way it's done. I love, loved his vocal on that. Just incredible. What more can you say? Great vocal, fantastic lead guitar parts by Bebe, and the solo is amazing. Wonderful backing music and a great production. And I love the arrangement as well. that It's sort of like pulled back and not too much going on.
00:14:56
Speaker
Right. Minimal arrangement. That's what you want. Let BB be himself. Let BB be. There you go. And this is another one that BB would rerecord with Eric Clapton for the writing with the King album. It's a different version of this song. I don't think I like it better, but I do like that version of the song. It's always nice to have two slightly different guitar players going at it together.
00:15:21
Speaker
There's an enjoyment there in that recording. You can hear them both enjoying each other's playing and being with each other as well in that book. Like I said, it doesn't get anywhere near as good as this, but I do like that version.
00:15:33
Speaker
At number 97, I'm happy just to dance with you by The Beatles. you. At number 98, Michael by Trini Lopez, arranged by Don Costa. This is a version of Michael Rode the Boat ashore. A good vocal, a decent acoustic guitar. The drums are trying to be pop.
00:15:59
Speaker
The backing is okay. It's it's some actually pretty decent Jordaners-esque backing. But then the girls come in and the song just kind of floats away, no pun intended. like Nicely done, Ed.
00:16:36
Speaker
Why I lose
00:16:41
Speaker
I think it was okay. Trinity's trying to bring some growl into his voice, to bring some life into the song. Yeah, the girl backing vocals get very annoying, too high, you need some lower voices to balance them out. And the drums definitely are trying to bring the pop into this, into the folk. It was okay. I didn't really find it terribly interesting, trying to bridge the folk pop here.
00:17:10
Speaker
just not really my cup of tea. I didn't know what to expect until I press play. And then as soon as it started, I thought, Oh, it's that song. It's okay. Yeah, I won't go out of my way to listen to it again. And if it came on the radio, I might turn the radio off. There's a bit of a joke. I thought, I wonder if George Harrison was inspired by the hallelujahs in the background for My Sweet Lord.
00:17:39
Speaker
oh
00:17:57
Speaker
number 100, Someone Someone by Brian Poole and the Tremolos, which we covered on the UK side. All right, we move on to the next week, the week of August the 22nd. At number one, Where Did Our Love Go? by the Supremes, another one we'll let go. It's okay, that can be at number one. Yeah, for sure. That's all right. You gotta pass.
00:18:19
Speaker
At number three still is Hard Day's Night and Hard Day's Night the film is now in theater so that may be helping to keep the song at or near the top of the charts.
00:19:02
Speaker
At number 14 is Ain't She Sweet.
00:19:26
Speaker
at number 16 is, And I Love Her.
00:19:57
Speaker
At number 22 is I'll Cry Instead.
00:20:10
Speaker
At number 58, Ringo's theme, this boy, the George Martin version. At number 72, our next supercut, Dancing in the Street by Martha Reeves and the Vandal is yet another of those songs which makes the sixties. Dancing in the Street was the work of the songwriters.
00:20:27
Speaker
Marvin Gaye, William Mickey Stevenson, and resident Motown songwriter Ivy Jo Hunter. Dave Marsh described this as, as pure a product of its day as anything Dylan or the Beatles ever imagined. Wow, this is a great record. What can you say?
00:20:54
Speaker
Letting all my things go, I can't help it
00:21:08
Speaker
This is the definition of a banger. Then called classic. Martha Reeves turns in just an almost defiant lead vocal. The vocal on this is so strong. Background vocals by, of course, the Vandellas as well as Mickey Stevenson, the Funt Brothers at their best.
00:21:27
Speaker
Robert White on guitar, as well as Eddie Willis, Joe Messina on guitar, James Jamerson on that bass, Marvin Gaye on the drums. Those horns are piercing on this. And the lyrics, first line calling out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat? They weren't just talking about dancing. This became the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. I think it also became kind of a statement about what the 60s were about. Change in pop culture, a change in music, in art, in philosophy. I mean, it goes on and on. And this song became an anthem.
00:22:06
Speaker
of the time. I mean, you know, it's interesting, Dave Marsh likening it to Dylan and the Beatles. Absolutely. We were talking about the film Hard Day's Night and how that was a lot of these same things. This is very much in the same ballpark of the scene with the Beatles and the 39-year-old older gentleman who fought the war for your sort. It's the same thing here, just condensed down to three minutes.
00:22:31
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Saying how this was happening across the United States, and of course, the different cities they mentioned. Those are very deliberate cities that they included. I mean, it's a call to arms, but of course, it's danceable too, and Stoll has meaning today. What a record. Quoting Dave Marsh again, in the same way that Martha's Vocal is the embodiment of what was already happening in the streets, the drums are a prophecy of the harsher reality to come.
00:23:00
Speaker
60s encapsulated. Yep. I love the fact about the crowbar for the recording. The producer saying it needed something else. So he went out to his car and got a crowbar and that's what he created the downbeat with is a crowbar hitting the floor. So briefly, the drums were not enough for Ivy Joe Hunter. So he said we need something else. And as Marv just mentioned, that something else he decided was this crowbar you got out of the trunk of his car.
00:23:27
Speaker
Wow, that's fantastic. This is a classic song and it's one of those songs that really is the sound of the 60s. And it's interesting that Martha Reeves initially found it too repetitive. Then Marvin Gaye and Stevenson and Ivy Joe Hunter added more ah musical composition and that Marvin Gaye initially recorded the song and sang it in this very croony kind of way, like singing it to a lover. But Martha Reeves really got it. She said she initially envisioned singing it like at block parties and festivals. And so she said, I want to sing it my way. And she sang it in two takes. I mean, that's amazing in two takes.
00:24:14
Speaker
She really got the meaning of it, that this was meant to be defiant. This wasn't meant to be sung in this sweet kind of way. This was a call to arms. So Ed, will this be the second Supercut in August to include Van Halen? ah Actually, Van Halen is not in this version. Oh, really? I did not put Van Halen in the Supercut. Wow. Wow. Yeah, I remember that version.
00:25:07
Speaker
There are lots of really great versions of this song. Our friend Silla did a version of it. Nice. Kitz Gal, Brenda Leed did a nice version of it. Oh cool. The Kinks did a cover of it. Wow. Tula Clark did a cover of it. There's a version which I didn't know, which I like a whole lot, which is the Everly Brothers version of it. Nice. The Mamas and the Papas did a version of it. Little Richard did a version of it. Wow. The new Christy Menstrels, well we we won't talk about that one, but it exists.
00:25:38
Speaker
yes yeah Tim Curry, Neil Diamond, The Who, Phil Collins, Irma Thomas, the California Raisins. i say anger yes And then there's the version which is the MTV generation version of this song which also ties us back to the 60s.
00:26:23
Speaker
The Mick and Bowie version. I think I heard probably the original and that one right about the same time. in the infamous video. That is the most homoerotic that Mick ever got on video, I think. That's for sure. We do get a little Beatles connection because Mick in the list of cities shouts out back in the USSR.
00:26:47
Speaker
Oh, yes. I did not put the Van Halen version in here, but if you haven't heard many of those versions, you will find them in the supercut. And if you're going to look for one, I would say look for that Everly Brothers version. That's surprising. The Little Richard version is also very good. I'm waiting for the Tim Curry version. Yes. Here is the carpenters first television performance.
00:30:10
Speaker
Let's do it everyday now
00:30:46
Speaker
We move on from there from the supercut at number 73 the Shangri-La's with remember walking in the sand It's a girl group valid type song It's good enough most interesting to us because did John borrow part of this melody for free as a bird?
00:31:20
Speaker
You know whatever happened to the life that we once knew that sounds an awful lot like part of remember here. Yeah, I saw that Possibly. It's very interesting, alternating from you know this very dramatic ballad to then hand clapping, snapping chorus. Yeah. Very unusual. The lead singer has this very emotional voice. It's one of the most unusual girl group songs that I've heard. I'm trying to decide if I like it.
00:31:51
Speaker
I'm thinking it's so unusual. I don't love it, but I do like it. It's just really different. However, this song has become very popular on TikTok. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. That part where she sings, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, no, no, no, no, has been sped up.
00:32:29
Speaker
people will play that clip over a video, I don't know if something bad happens, that sped up sound of that, no, no, no, no, no, is played over that. Oh, you Gen Z's.
00:32:44
Speaker
yeah I'm not on TikTok. I'm too old for that. But I've come across these shorts on YouTube.
The Shangri-La's TikTok Revival
00:32:52
Speaker
It's from this song. So that little bit has been played over and over again. Just shows you how things like this can turn up in the strangest places. So there you go. Yep. I think I'm along similar lines to Ed. I like it. I don't love it. And the changes are booked. I don't know what else to say about it, really.
00:33:14
Speaker
That's how I feel. It's kind of like, it's really different, which I respect. But do I like it? I just don't know. So there is an interesting story about the creation of this song. The writer was George Shadow Morton. George Morton would be the gentleman who wrote Leader of the Pack.
00:33:36
Speaker
But he created this song because he was looking to break into the music business. And so he went to the Brill Building to see an old girlfriend of his, the girlfriend's name, Ellie Greenwich. oh Okay. What happened was that Morton and Jeff Berry took an instant dislike to each other. I wonder why.
00:34:00
Speaker
Morton was asked, what do you do? And he said, I write songs. Although at that point he hadn't written one yet. Barry would ask him what kind of songs. Morton would reply, hit songs. Yeah. So Barry says, okay, come back next week and show me something. And in that week, not only did he write the song, he hired the Shanger laws and got remember recorded. So there you go. I wonder what Jeff Barry thought of this song.
00:34:31
Speaker
If nothing else, we know John Lennon heard it, whether he stole a bit or not. I still think maybe, I'm not going to say 100%. It may have been subconscious plagiarism, George Harrison style plagiarism, but it's similar enough. good day At number 76, yet I know by Steve Lawrence, ah which is a cover of a French song, et portante. Okay. Uh, go on, Steve. Sing, I know just one more time in the opening of this song.
00:35:01
Speaker
I dare you. Oh boy. By about the third repetition of it, it's like, I'm done with that.
00:35:32
Speaker
He says I know in this song more times than Michael Stipe says yeah yeah yeah yeah in Man on the Moon. But does he equal the got to got to got to got to got to set him freeze?
00:35:48
Speaker
oh This version of this song, this is is very much a Vegas lounge lizard type song. His vocals are ah slimy sounding.
00:36:04
Speaker
The backing is way way overdone with badly recorded strings. The only thing in the record that I kind of like are the drums, but those two are more than a little bit overdone. It's not quite terrible enough to be in the worst of category, but this is a bad record.
00:36:21
Speaker
Steve Lawrence, he was a great singer, but some of the stuff he recorded during this period did him no favors. And here's a great example. This is so over range. Strings are overdone. I mean, at one point it just sounded almost chaotic between the strings, the backup singers, the drums. Steve was just fighting with all of that to be heard. The lyrics were just terrible. I hated this record.
00:36:50
Speaker
Just hated it. I couldn't wait till it was over. I wanted to switch it off after about 15, 20 seconds. Yep, exactly. Unfortunately, I had to be punished listening to it to save all the listeners from having to do that.
00:37:04
Speaker
Exactly. We're here for you guys. If you want to listen to this song, go and listen to the original. ah The original is much better recorded. It's got a better lead vocal and it's actually listenable. It's kind of contrary and really just about everything that's good in the original version by Charles Asnivore. Yeah. It is available on YouTube is lost in the ah Lawrence version. Yes. I need to listen to that.
00:37:34
Speaker
Ett portant, bande original du film cheche lido. Okay, all right. We gotta have me speaking in a language that I have no idea what I'm saying. At number 83, I'm on the outside looking in by Lil Anthony and the Imperials. We love Lil Anthony and the Imperials. Shimmy, shimmy, Coco Bop. That is a song. This one is also really, really very good. A nice smooth vocal, a fairly minimal instrumental track.
00:38:03
Speaker
light drums, guitar, and piano. I like the backing from the Imperials, the woohoos, and the ahas, and the To My Surprise. It's just about right, but it actually could have even used a little bit more of them ah in the
00:38:48
Speaker
I love this group. They had just such a sophistication. Little Anthony is one of the best vocalists in the 60s. He just had such great phrasing, beautiful range, and they had such wonderful songs. I mean, we'll be talking about more of them as as time goes on.
00:39:10
Speaker
It's interesting this song was sort of a comeback for them because as you mentioned add shimmy shimmy coca bop i mean that was an early song of theirs they had a string of them and then their label thought it would be a great idea if little anthony went solo and that turned out to be a not so good idea. Well done.
00:39:29
Speaker
Exactly. And so Lil' Anthony came back to the group and this was their first single after he rejoined. And so this was their comeback song and it's a great song. As I said, this is such a mature, sophisticated arrangement. I agree and I think I could use even a little more of them, but still.
00:39:50
Speaker
Flawless lead vocal from Anthony. It's just a beautiful song written by Teddy Rendazzo and Bobby Weinstein. And it's beautiful. John Costa co-produced this with Teddy Rendazzo. What can you say? It's classical, Anthony.
00:40:07
Speaker
I hadn't realized that i it until I started listening to it. And then when I started, I thought, oh, yeah, I've heard this before. Yeah, of course I have. Yeah, it's got a great sound to it. I don't know if it's just me, but I was listening to it and I thought I could see it being inspirational to a group like The Stylistics for the way that the arrangement is done. That is very funny that you say that because they are often cited as an inspiration for the Philadelphia soul sound.
00:40:34
Speaker
Right. Loved it. Loved it. Great song. So there's a great story regarding the comeback. They had been separated as a group for a while, but Murray the K, our friend Murray the K, got them back together for a show at the Paramount, despite the fact that they did not have a record out at the time.
00:40:56
Speaker
So when that happened, they got this song. They weren't sure whether they were going to release it or not. Do we want to record this? Can we record this? So during the rehearsals for the show at the Paramount, they played it for Murray and Jay and the Americans who were also on the bill.
00:41:14
Speaker
other friends of ours. And so they performed the song, not only Murray, but Jay and the Americans convinced them that that would be a hit, which then apparently gave them the confidence to go out and cut it and result in this record. Good call. Little Anthony, no Imperials behind him, but Little Anthony appeared on Bandstand performing this song. You need to check it out. Boys and girls close dancing in 1964. Fun stuff. Ooh, risque. Ever so slightly and then they get closer in several places and you might have guessed they would. Interesting. At number 85, there's nothing I can say by Rick Nelson, just barely good enough to be middling. Fairly standard Rick Nelson stuff. Almost, but not quite country. The backing vocals are way too high up in the mix and the drums and guitar are
00:42:08
Speaker
too low, not a hit, and just barely middling to me. Yeah, I didn't care much for this. Rick Nelson sings, it's fine. Although I thought he sounded a little bit like he was straining in some parts. I don't know if this needed to be in maybe a little lower key, but otherwise very unmemorable lyrics. And yet this was co-written by lyricist Al Stillman, who wrote the lyrics for Home for the Holidays.
00:42:34
Speaker
which is, of course, a classic. And I believe, which we've talked about before, two very memorable songs. This certainly wasn't memorable. You know, it just was an OK song. Now one of Rick's finest performances, for sure. I'm so in love with you.
00:43:27
Speaker
next song please that sums it up another next song please at number 87 Dion's cover of Johnny be good slow as opposed to Johnny it's not good what was he thinking
00:44:20
Speaker
You got some very average sounding harmonica stabs, very average sounding guitar, just barely decent solo and Dion's blues lead vocal is just all wrong for this song. It was such a weird remake. It's sort of country or skiffles. You know, this is a straightforward rock song. Now, it's okay if you say, hey, I don't want to just copy somebody when you're covering a song. I want to inject my own style into it. That's fine. But to try a different genre that just doesn't make any sense, don't do that.
00:45:00
Speaker
This is Dion trying too hard to be different. His blues voice is wrong. The tempo is wrong. He should have just done a straightforward rock cover. That would have been fine. And play the guitar like a ring in a bell, and then there's no guitar there.
00:45:30
Speaker
Meh. At number 91, A Better Song, a summer song by Chad and Jeremy. Although, as we mentioned, Ringo reviewed this on Jukebox Jury and he voted it a miss. Jeremy Clyde remembers that Ringo said, this will be big in America, but it's too sweet for England. And he was right, as it was our biggest record in America and went gold. I suppose it was an an early example of what they now call adult contemporary music in America.
00:46:01
Speaker
I actually don't think it's quite that laid back. Stewart recalled on his website, we never thought a summer song could possibly be a single. It was just a pretty romantic song or so we thought. You never can tell, can you? We were just a couple of folkies really, even though I played in rock bands to pay the rent. And the concept of doing the odd ballad now and then was validated by Paul McCartney singing till there was you. All in all, it made for quite a grab bag of styles, two characters in search of a musical identity.
00:47:08
Speaker
Yes, it is very much M.O.R., but I like it. The guitars are good and the harmonies of Chad and Jeremy are good as well. It's not my favorite song. I have to be in the mood to listen to it, but I give it a thumbs up. I give it a hit. I'm sorry. I think Ringo was off base here. I think this is a beautiful song. When I hear it, I do think of it as like a summer song. It's light. It's just lovely.
00:47:31
Speaker
And it also, in a good way, it really sounds like the 60s to me. There's just something about it, that folky kind of quality to it that's just evocative of it. Love the harmonies, that close singing the two of them do. The strings aren't overdone.
00:47:49
Speaker
We've talked about that so many times. In this case, they're well done. The acoustic guitar, the horns, just a little touch, the horns. It has this melancholy quality to it that the summer will end and so will the romance, that the summer is fleeting. I've always liked this song. I think it's beautiful. It's a hit for me.
00:48:12
Speaker
We're going to go to another clip of mine and Ed's discussion with the producer, Shell Tellmeir, because I think this is one of those perfect examples of what I was saying with Shell, where he has this ability to know exactly what sort of production to give to songs, to put those songs over in the right way. And here is a perfect example of that, where everything is absolutely in the right place without getting in the way of each other.
00:48:41
Speaker
And what needs to be out from is out front in the way of their two vocals, which are incredible. Everything has its right place and it's a perfect production. He did a fantastic job with this because nothing is overdone. The strings, the guitar, the horns, off nothing overpowers the vocals. Nothing is fighting with each other here. Well done. When I heard the song, I loved it. I thought this is this is like a no brainer.
00:49:06
Speaker
I can definitely make this into a hit, which fortunately I was able to. Chad and Jeremy were an incredible harmony duo. Oh yeah, they were terrific together. Yes, excellent. and And again, fun to record because they were good and would spend the time getting what we were rehearsing correctly done so that's um you know that came out sounding like a hit record.
00:49:33
Speaker
So we'll let Chad Stewart have the final word here. He explained the song's appeal in the New Jersey Home News. What I blundered into is one of those archetypical summer songs where you don't have the girl and no, no, no, and then you have the rain. It had a lesson of angst in the final analysis. It's a perfect summer romance song where you have to go home for the summer and the girl with whom you've had a steamy romance has to go to Pittsburgh or wherever. Apologies to our friends in Pittsburgh.
00:50:04
Speaker
What do they do? It's a lovely place. At number 99, a cover of the James Bond theme by Billy Strange. Billy Strange had teamed up with Mac Davis to write some songs for Elvis, including a little less conversation and a song called Memories, but no, not that Memories, not the one from Cats. Strange also composed the musical soundtrack for Live a Little, Love a Little, and the Trouble with Girls.
00:50:34
Speaker
And then he also wrote Limbo Rock for the Champs and Chubby Checker. This version of the James Bond theme, it's okay. I don't love it. It is not anywhere near a patch on the original. The guitar is okay. That's all I kind of have to say. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of how I felt.
00:51:22
Speaker
my reaction was just kind of like, yep, that sure sounded like the James Bond theme. I have played every kind of music in the world, you know.
00:51:48
Speaker
Did all the surf records, played with big orchestras. They needed somebody in a small group that knew what the hell they were doing in the studio, you know, and that was me.
00:52:10
Speaker
Oh, yeah, Lord, yeah. I did a lot of things for Spectre.
00:52:16
Speaker
Bobby Socks and the Blue James. I played fuzz tone guitar by pulling two 6L6 tubes out of my amp with that one. I remember that very well. Spectre was looking for a new sound. Boy, it fuzzed up.
00:52:54
Speaker
and he loved it. ah Billy Strange played guitar for the themes for shows that we know very well. The Munsters, the Batman, and Have Gun Will Travel.
00:53:20
Speaker
ah monsters That guitar playing is so distinctive. That's Billy Strange. Billy Strange was the guitar player on Sloop John B. yeah And he's also one of the guitar players on Pet Sounds. Yep, he was part of the Wrecking Crew.
00:53:42
Speaker
We were doing a Nat King Cole session at Capitol with Nelson Riddle and they had this song and it just was not working at all. I mean this large orchestra with a big violin section and a horn section and the choir and all of that mess. It was just not working, period. And Nat said, let's just throw this damn thing out.
00:54:12
Speaker
And I said, can I get, take a crack at something here, give you, just give you an idea. And that said, sure. And I said, give me about 15 minutes with the band, just the rhythm section. And he said, okay. So they took a break and we put together this little country five thing. And I played but da to do do you on guitar.
00:54:41
Speaker
He came back in and we recorded Ramblin' Rose, which was one of his biggest hits.
00:55:00
Speaker
billy strange really turns me on he can
00:55:18
Speaker
You did all those and then you put this out? Yep, that's right. ah I mean... It's more of a speechless song! I am. I listened to this and I thought it's a version of the Bond theme. He does a decent job of trying to do a version of it, but if I'm being honest, as soon as this finished, I actually had to stop doing my normal listening and go back to the original so that I could get the wonderful Vic Flick guitar back in my head.
00:55:46
Speaker
And the one thing we didn't mention, which is probably the thing that he's most known for, he did the arrangements for These Boots Are Made For Walking by Nancy Sinatra.
00:56:05
Speaker
lighting bas chuck berghoer played that That was just an idea that struck me, and I said, well, we go from here down to here, down to here, down to here, you know. And Chuck said, I've never done that in my life. And I said, I know, but we're going to try it. And it were it was the keynote of the record, actually.
00:56:32
Speaker
That's better. We move on. At number 100, we don't have three songs tied at number 100. Just one, Sincerely by the Four Seasons, released July the 29th, 1964. VJ Strikes Again, very definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's better than there are other Four Seasons of VJ leftovers, but that's not saying too much. A good enough vocal, and they don't really add anything to an old song.
00:57:16
Speaker
sincerely
00:57:25
Speaker
I will say, boy, Frankie can hit those high notes, candy. His vocal range is so impressive. But I would definitely recommend listening to the Moonglow's original version. Umpteen people have recorded this. The McGuire sisters.
00:57:41
Speaker
Had a huge hit with this, also in 54, went to number one. But as I said, the Moongolos were the original. They did not have as big a hit, but it was number one on the R&B charts in Billboard. But the McGuire sisters had the biggest hit, and this one, as I said, decent cover, but I will give it to Frankie. Wow, those high notes he could hit. That's impressive.
00:58:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's not bad in the sense that it's a heck of a lot better than another four season song we've got coming up. Yes. Agreed. One of the co-writers of this song was Alan Freed, the famous DJ. And to give Kit her Chicago reference, it's Alan Freed who got the moon glows, a deal with chess records in Chicago. And that was how this song originally got recorded. Wow. There you go.
00:58:33
Speaker
car good so Of the cover versions, Pat Boone did it okay. It's much more syrupy than the Moonglows version, but it's still probably a better record than the Four Seasons version. In 1960, Bobby V covered this song. It's okay to listen to it, but boy is Bobby V trying to rather classlessly cash in on his Buddy Holly connection. Bobby V was one of the artists who took over for Buddy after the plane crash.
00:59:09
Speaker
So not quite as much as Sheila, but he's very much doing the ah the hiccups in there. it's like No, don't don't do that, please. No, don't don't do that. Yes. We move on to the final week of August here on the cash box charts.
00:59:29
Speaker
August the 29th at number one is still where did our love go at number four is hard days night
01:00:03
Speaker
at number 14 is and i love her
01:00:48
Speaker
at number 16 is Ain't She Sweet.
01:01:18
Speaker
I hope you like that trip. At number 26 is I'll Cry Instead. You got four Beatles songs again hanging out in the top 30. I got a trip on my shoulder that's bigger than my feet I can't talk to people that I meet
01:01:44
Speaker
say At number 57, George Martin's cover of ah Ringo's theme, This Boy. At number 58, the song Marv was just referring to, save it for me by the four seasons. Now I will disagree. I kind of like this tune. I will even say that it's mid-level to a lower level good from the four seasons.
01:02:07
Speaker
The orchestra is well recorded, maybe a bit over the top, dominated by the lead vocal, which is fine, but it could have used more of the others from the backing. The drums are really a good galloping pace and the UFO organ break is not great.
01:02:52
Speaker
I bet Kit loves that organ. Love it. Yeah, that Telstar instrumental break. I did not love that. Really, sorry Ken Michaels, dates the track. Frankie Valli, once again, vocals are great. I mean, what a range he has.
01:03:14
Speaker
Vacking vocals are sharp. I like the drums on it. Makes it a little bit catchier. And the arrangement's decent other than that awful instrumental break. It's an okay song. It's definitely not the worst four-season song I've heard. But yeah, I just thought it was, you know, the average yeah four seasons for me.
01:03:34
Speaker
I thought the same, average. It is memorable though. We do still hear this song. I'm sure this was one that Dick Beyondy played all the time. Oh yes, yes. I didn't recognize it immediately from the title, but then when I heard it, I'm like, oh yes, I've heard this before. Lower middle tier four seasons. That roller rink organ, as soon as that happened, I thought, yay, Kit's gonna love this. You know how much I love, except for Hammond B3.
01:04:01
Speaker
yeah More tremendous reviews from the media. Billboard described the song as a medium tempo ballad, featuring ethereal organ support, and called it a smasharoo.
01:04:14
Speaker
have Well, Cashbox commented on the wild Telstar instrumentation and referred to it as quite a sound. It's a sound.
01:04:25
Speaker
At number 62, our next supercut, Oh Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison. You know we couldn't get away with not having a supercut of Oh Pretty Woman. This is the quintessential Roy Orbison song, the vocal, the guitar, and we think we know that the Beatles were around as it was being written.
01:04:44
Speaker
So they say, bring in your comments and then we'll have a couple of these different stories here in a minute. What can you say? This is a rock slash pop record done right. Everything is in place here. I love the drums. They are recorded perfectly. And the rhythm, I mean, it's like you could almost picture you know a woman in high heels walking down the street. That guitar riff that anchors the song. You can't get it out of your head. And, of course, Roy Orbison's vocal performance. It just doesn't get any better than that. The growls, the purring. He just sells all of the lyrics. He sings them like he means them. He is just selling the sexiness here.
01:05:57
Speaker
You just picture him coming onto to this woman. It's just great. I love this song. It hasn't dated at all. It sounds just as good today, well recorded too. I mean, it just sounds as good today as it did in 64.
01:06:15
Speaker
yeah Great melody, superb but production and instrumentation. Something that people might be surprised by. I like the piano on this when it's in there. That works really nicely. There's four guitarists on this, you know. You've got Orbison, you've got to Billy Sanford, Jerry Kennedy and Wayne Moss. Sanford would later go on to be a main session player for Elvis Presley and Don Williams.
01:06:39
Speaker
other musicians, you've got the great Floyd Kramer on piano, Boots Randolph and Charlie McCoy on saxophones, and the wonderful buddy Harmon on drums. The co-writer of the song, Bill D's, he's doing superb harmony vocals along with Roy, so it sounds almost like double tracked. It's actually Roy and Billy singing alongside each other in those bits.
01:07:01
Speaker
Oh, wow. Yeah, it does sound double tracked. And then since Kit likes to mention stories, I'll bring in one. There was a friend of mine and well actually John Stones as well, a band named Toy Stops, who I have mentioned countless times over on When They Was Fab.
01:07:20
Speaker
They played at the K. Lo L. K. Lo L. Was our rock station in the eighties beauty pageant and so before the end of the show the song they were to given to play was oh pretty woman and something went wrong and they just told them to keep going and they ended up playing like a thirty seven minute version of oh pretty woman going back and forth between the Roy original and the Van Halen cover.
01:07:44
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Almost an Isaac Hayes take on it then. They wanted to stop and then it's like, we're not ready yet. Keep going. its like Oh, pretty woman. Pretty woman. They just kept going. But anyway, just in case there's any people out there that don't know about it, and I'll be surprised at this, you have to go online and look look at the version of this that he did on the 1988 HBO special, A Black and White Night. That is a superb performance of this and he's got like Bruce Springsteen on there, Elvis Costello, K.D. Lang's backing vocals, all sorts of great people on there and an amazing version of it.
01:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, ah agreed. Yeah, that's as close as we get to an Unplugged. It's just so sad that Roy never actually lived to the Unplugged era. You know, he would have been so great at that. Nope. He would. So, okay, the two versions of the origin of this song now, as we've heard the Beatles tell many times, they said that Roy was riding it on the bus when they were together.
01:08:50
Speaker
A quote from Paul McCartney. On another tour bus with Roy Orbison, we saw Roy sitting in the back of the bus, writing, Oh, pretty woman. It was lovely. We could trade off with each other. This was our real start on She Loves You. And of course, many people say that Roy put the yeah, yeah, yeah in there because of She Loves You.
01:09:13
Speaker
However, there is a different version of this story from Bill D's. Okay. So what Bill D says is that Orbison's first wife, Claudette, the inspiration for Claudette for sure, the three of them were out to dinner or something and Claudette came and asked her some money so she could go shopping. So Roy gave her some money and then walked off with her.
01:09:34
Speaker
15 to 20 feet yeah and the two of them were all holding hands and all kissy kissy. Then he came back to the table and Deez was standing up there. Somehow he had obtained a guitar and he's saying, pretty woman don't need no money. Then he's saying pretty woman walking down the street. Deez continues, after that we both chipped in and within an hour and a half before she got back to the house, we had it written. Wow. Cool. Maybe both of them are correct, but I think he certainly had to have written some of it on the bus there with the Beatles.
01:10:04
Speaker
probably. Maybe he was cleaning it up and honing the song on the bus. But they, as mentioned, there is indeed a supercut coming. Some of the covers in this supercut, our old buddy Johnny Rivers is back with a cover of Oh, Pretty Woman. Uh-oh.
01:10:20
Speaker
Del Shannon did one. Al Green did one. Oh, that'll be interesting. The Van Halen one, which I promised was going to be in there. It is indeed in there. Cool. Ricky Van Shelton, Rockefeller, Ray Conniff.
01:10:39
Speaker
ah The chipmunks I had to not much but there are some chipmunks in there. Awesome. Bruce Springsteen and John Fogerty. Oh Chris Isaac and PJ Proby. Cool In 1988 I was lucky enough to play behind One of my great heroes ro Roy Orbison. Not only was Roy one of rocks great crooners, but He reinvented the way a pop song could be structured. You were no longer tied down to verse, chorus, verse, chorus. His greatest music were all these mini areas featuring one of the most beautiful voices that rock ever produced. So tonight ah I've talked John into doing something I wouldn't try by myself. We're going to we're goingnna take a ballpark swing at Pretty Woman, one of Roy's brightest and most hopeful songs.
01:14:18
Speaker
let's win,
01:14:29
Speaker
ah number 78 Rhythm by Major Lance. It's a good record. and It's ah another one which sounds a little bit too much like Curtis Mayfield because well it was written by Curtis Mayfield. It's a great mix and a great vocal. Good backing. They're just enough from the drumstrings and horns. Maybe I like it more than I thought I did but it's not a great record but it's a good one.
01:14:54
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of how I felt. ah Overall, I liked it. Curtis Mayfield's Dead Giveaway, you know, those chord changes. They're just classic. The horns are a little overdone, but overall, I liked the track. I can see why it was released in July, because it's just sort of a perfect summer song. It's upbeat.
01:15:15
Speaker
perfect for dancing. It's got a little Latin feel, which of course was right on trend at this time. Soulful vocal from Major Lance. You could play this at your cookout. I mean, I could absolutely picture slapping this record on and dancing to it. I like it. I think it's a fun soulful song.
01:15:56
Speaker
I bet that guy's got sore hands after playing the bongos like that all the way through. Yeah, that's true. Good point. Yeah, as soon as it started, I thought this has got to be another song written by Curtis. Like he said, the chords and the arm and his on there. His voice is great. And I can understand why they've given it to him and why they didn't keep it for the impressions because it suits him more than it would as an impression song, in my opinion.
01:16:22
Speaker
I agree. It was a great vocalist. Yeah, I thought it was okay. Yeah, it's fine. Now, I don't know if we've mentioned this or not, but it turns out that Major Lance's daughter Keisha Lance Bottoms is an American attorney and politician and was the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia from 2018 to 2022. Pretty impressive. Yeah, pretty cool. Cool.
01:16:46
Speaker
All right. Uh, we've had the feature songs that make Kit mad and this song makes Kit mad. It makes all of us mad. Yep. Get ready. Cause I'm going to go off on this tune. At number 89, Bobby Goldsboro with get ready for it. Are we ready for the title of this song? Yeah, we're ready. Me Japanese boy. I love you.
01:17:15
Speaker
written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and Burt Bacharach was largely responsible for this tune. Oh boy, you know, we've had a lot of songs which are questionably politically correct. It's not an issue of wokeness that say, don't do it, don't do it. This is definitely one of them.
01:18:19
Speaker
I'm reminded of early on in Mad Men when Don Draper's advertising agency did a questionable Asian practical joke as part of one of their commercials. This is worse than that. Oh, yikes. Cultural appropriation, racial stereotypes, and worst of all, maybe it's not a good record. It features what is colloquially known as the Oriental Riff.
01:18:55
Speaker
We all know it.
01:19:06
Speaker
Which is also known as the East Asian Riff, or well, we won't mention the third name it goes by, but it's the Seaman Lick. It's a trope which represents the East or Southeast Asia.
Cultural Appropriation in Music
01:19:20
Speaker
And it's usually accompanied by a gong at the end.
01:19:24
Speaker
This song not only uses it, they use it in a more offensive fashion than either Hong Kong Fui or the Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan cartoons from Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, which is saying something.
01:19:39
Speaker
yeah And one other song which I came across while looking into some of this, George Formby did a song called Chinese Laundry Blues decades earlier, which George and John surely would have known, but even that is less offensive than what is presented here. Why, why, why Burt Bacharach? Yeah. did Bad Burt.
01:20:07
Speaker
When I heard this, I sent a message to Marvin Edd and just said, WTF. I mean, to say this would never fly today, nor should it, is putting it mildly. In addition to the Oriental riff, as it's called, the lyrics are just so offensive. You can just tell by the title, trying to, quote, imitate the accent. It's just awful. I can't fathom what they were thinking. you know, you could say, well, it was the time another. I can't even see that argument. Why would anybody think this was OK? This has a bad taste going through it with no sign of honey. Very good.
01:20:50
Speaker
That's a Bobby Goldsbrew joke there of a slightly better song. But yes. Just awful. but Some of those lyrics, they carved their names on a cherry tree just like they've done in Japan since time began.
01:21:06
Speaker
oh That doesn't even work.
01:21:10
Speaker
In a blue and white kimono, she became his happy bride from that day until this very moment. She'd been standing by his side. Hal David. are you oh It was like they just looked in an encyclopedia or something. I've actually got a book behind me that's a dictionary of rhyme, okay, where you can find words to rhyme with other words. It's like they've pulled that out and looked for the first one. Oh, what can I rhyme with this? Oh, I'll rhyme that with it. It's terrible.
01:21:39
Speaker
Yeah. This is the first song I think we can safely say makes all three of us mad. I will take for obvious reasons the most mad away from Kit for this song. Understood. Yeah. Absolutely. Just awful. And it's this week's Mr. Mad.
01:21:55
Speaker
Yep. Right.
01:22:02
Speaker
ah right Followed by another while not nearly as offensive. It might be offensive to my ears. At number 94, Last Kiss by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. ah The natural evolution of the hot rods and motorcycle tunes. If it weren't for the lyrics, it would be a decent ah enough late 50s girls in cars style pop song. But well, the girl dies and he shares a last kiss with her. Not good lyrics.
01:23:06
Speaker
This was actually one of the last of what were called teenage tragedy songs, a very odd, in my opinion, trend that was a style of ballad in popular music that peaked in the late 50s and early 60s. They were also known as tearjerkers, death disks, or, and I've heard this term, splatter platters, believe it or not. Some of the other songs were Teen Angel by Mark Denning, Tell Laura I Love Her by Ray Peterson, Dead Man's Curve by Jan and Dean, and which we've talked about, and Leader of the Pack by the Shangri-Waz. These were all similar songs that involved
01:23:51
Speaker
the main character, a woman or a man dying tragically at the end of the song in some terrible accident. And this was one of the final songs of this genre, if you want to call it that, that was a hit. And so this is teen tragedy song and this was a big hit of the time. And I remember hearing this and yes, Dick Biondi played this a lot.
01:24:16
Speaker
And this genre is not my cup of tea and I would love someone to explain to me why this genre was so popular. There were a lot of songs with this theme and of course this song went on to have yet another life in 1999 when Pearl Jam covered it and had a hit.
01:24:37
Speaker
with it and it was even more dramatic than this version so just kind of interesting that this was a whole genre of pop song. It's a song that to my mind is far in the background and needs to stay there.
01:24:54
Speaker
This was at least nominally based on a true story. On December 22, 1962, five teenagers were riding in a 1954 Chevy on Highway 341 in rural Barnesville, Georgia. The driver was JL Hancock, a 16-year-old who was dating Jeanette Clark, also 16.
01:25:13
Speaker
and riding in the front seat next to him. Besider was Wayne Cooper. Two other passengers, Jewel Emerson and Ed Shockley, were in the back seat. It was foggy, and by the time Hancock saw a flatbed truck stalled on the highway, it was too late. He crashed into it, going under the truck and killing everyone in the front seat. The two passengers in the back survived with serious injuries.
01:25:35
Speaker
Yikes. Oh damn. Another tragedy at number 96. I guess I'm crazy by Jim Rees. Jim Rees died on July 31st, 1964. Not that it reflects in this song. It's good. It's more smooth country from Jim Rees.
01:26:18
Speaker
Is that Chet Atkins playing that guitar? It is. Sounded like him. And he produced this. The song was written by Worley Fairburn and was first recorded and released by Tommy Collins in 1955. I mean, Jim Reeves wasn't nearly as big a star in the States, but his passing surely had something to do with the song rising the charts.
01:26:39
Speaker
A typical Nashville sound, of course, since Chet Ekins produced it. This song, he really explores the lower range here. And I'm not insane about the song. It's not one of his more memorable tracks, but I really liked his exploring that lower range in this song. And it's kind of just sort of a typical Nashville sound track. but And it's, of course, sad that at this time he had passed and in the plane crash.
01:27:09
Speaker
But as I said, I like his vocal style here, but other than that, I didn't find it a particularly interesting song. Nice baritone, beautiful lead guitar by Chet Atkins with some nice backing vocals and a decent arrangement. I thought it was okay.
01:27:24
Speaker
Plaza I think we're all in agreement. It's a good enough song It probably wouldn't have done as much as it did in the states if it weren't for the tragedy. Yeah at number 98 I don't care by buck Owens a rockin country song a 20 lead vocal The 12 string acoustic is really nice. I like the bass. It's not the best of these buck Owens songs The lyrics are a little bit weird
01:28:12
Speaker
I don't care if the tops don't spin, I don't care if the gins won't gin. But good enough, I prefer the 2009 John Fogarty cover of it, actually. Same. It rose to number one on the country charts, but did not become a crossover. I think I like this a little better than you guys. I really liked it. I've really become more of a Buck Owens fan since we started this show. Love the twang.
01:28:40
Speaker
in his voice here, and the twang in the guitar too. The humor and the lyrics. And you can really hear in songs like this, the Bakersfield sound, which of course Buck Owens was a pioneer of, and how it was rebelling against the Nashville sound. The Nashville sound was about smooth pop. This is not. This is like, we're not toning down the twang. We have the twang up front.
01:29:06
Speaker
ah And this was all about twang. I like this. I thought this was fun. Really, I thought it was funny. The gins don't gin. And I enjoyed it. I thought this was a great track.
01:29:17
Speaker
I think you've misunderstood, Kit, because I was just saying that I preferred the Fogarty cover version. No, I hear it. It's not as good as the other Buck Owens songs, I think. like like doesn' Like you said, it's completely different to the Nashville sound that's really produced and got that sweetness to it, that smoothness to it. Whereas the sound that Owens has got, it's almost like the sound of a band having fun and it's got almost party atmosphere to it.
01:29:43
Speaker
Yeah, well, that was this thing, of like kind of a honky talk feel. So every time I hear it, I'm like, I've got to pick up a Buck Owens hit CD. Got to do it. and When I hear songs like this by Owens, because I mean, it's only through this that I've listened to so much Book Owens. yeah I'll listen to them and I'll think, this is where Jimmy Buffett gets his ideas from in later years. It's got that sort of feel to it to me. And yes, nice vocals. Book has done better songs, but this is decent enough. Closing out the week and closing out this episode of Toppermost at number 99, she wants to swim by Chubby Checker.
01:30:56
Speaker
It's meant to be a dance song. The hand claps at the beginning are kind of interesting, although they're clearly stolen from the girl groups. Decent enough lead, decent enough drums, but in general the backing just isn't good. Kit, organ, go for it.
01:31:30
Speaker
That is no Hammond B3. That is definitely not a soulful organ. Not great. Very generic dance record. He's obviously trying now to get away from the folk stuff and back to his bread and butter dance records. This is no twist either. You know, he's trying to work in every dance craze possible. The Swim, the Cha-Cha, the Monkey, I don't know what else he named Jack here. The Holy Gully.
01:31:58
Speaker
The holy golly, that's right, exactly. But it was like he was just trying to do a by the numbers dance song and I just didn't care for it. It's just blah. Please tell me that we're going to get something incredible from Chubby Checkers soon because I'm getting tired of this business of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
01:32:19
Speaker
He's desperately trying to say, hey, I'm more than the twist. And he's like, hey, I can do folk. I can do these other things. Not working. no As we go toward the end of the song, the sha-la-la's are just terrible. Oh, annoying. It keeps going. It keeps going. It builds up. And then for no apparent reason, it fades out. Yeah, very abruptly. You're just like, wait, what happened? Wait, it's over?
01:32:43
Speaker
Thankfully, I mean it's not like we need more of it, but it's still like oh I'm not super upset that it's over, but it's just really abrupt all right So we got a review in this cash box of the next beetle single which is coming out to matchbox backed with slowdown capital 52 55 what they tell us is The Beatles are at it again. The fabulous Smashmaker serve up two more rockers that should take the wax smartt wa smart by storm. One house a contagious steady beat pounder labeled matchbox while the other is a sizzling high speed affair tag slowdown that puts heavy emphasis on the instrumentation. Both cuts are from the boys upcoming something new LP. Wow. So everybody head down to the wax smart. The wax smart. Pick up your latest bass roll from Capitol Records.
01:33:33
Speaker
I need to open a record shop now and just call it Waxmart. There you go. Just so you will note when exactly these songs came out. The Ain't She Sweet single was released on July the 6th. The Hard Day's Night single was released on July the 13th. We had two singles on the week of July the 20th. I'll Cry Instead and And I Love Her. And then on August the 24th, we had Matchbox and Slow Down. Both of which were pulled from the UK Long Tall Sally EP. So you guys had had these songs for
01:34:07
Speaker
Uh, over a month because the Long Tall Sally EP came out on the 19th of June, 1964. That's two months. And for that matter, Long Tall Sally and I call your name. We're on second album and they were available in the States months before you would receive them on the Long Tall Sally EP. So, you know. Okay. Turnabout is fair play. Yeah. All right. So that is our look at August of 1964.
01:34:35
Speaker
Don't forget if you go to patreon dot.com forward slash toppermost then you will find some more gems from us on there that you won't get on the normal feed as well. That is right. And we are looking to extend that out even further as time passes. We are very happy to have had a chance to speak for over an hour with Shell and then also for roughly the same amount of time with Jim Birkenstadt. Some people have expressed to us in the Facebook group that they really particularly enjoyed that interview with Jim. yeah Oh, we had it such a great time with that. So yes, the the full interview is he is even more fun. So check that out. All right. We will be back with September real soon now. See you then. Take care.
01:35:39
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 it's coinciding with their current advertising slogan Toppermost of the Poppermost. Yes, I thought They got it from somewhere. They saw that. They must have seen that in either the NMA or record mirror or disc, record and show mirror as it was then. And they've taken it from there. They've obviously thought how stupid that is. How stupid is, it's 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. Top of most of the poppermost,