10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. Given my intention to usually write these on Mondays, the lists are often dominated by songs played on the previous night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1063.
SAM COOKE: That's Where It's At
When I was a 17- to-18-year-old college freshman in the fall of 1977/spring of '78, I had two overriding interests in pop music: oldies and punk. My peers were into Southern rock and The Grateful Dead, and most of the ladies preferred the a-bumpin' and a-hustlin' dance music of the day. I was and remain a square peg. Fitting in was not what I did best.
My love of oldies--The Beatles, The Monkees, The Dave Clark Five--brought me to the weekly Oldies Night at The Rathskeller. Not the famous Rat in Boston, but an on-campus bar in Brockport, NY. And one evening--either in the spring of my freshman year, or in late '78, after my sophomore year had commenced--my jones for the rockin' pop of the '60s brought me to the unlikely setting of a disco off-campus, as the mirrored ball and flashing lights of Brockport's Club 2-On-2 hosted its own oldies night.
The club's oldies night may have been a one-time event. It was sparsely attended, its weekday night fever ambiance providing an incongruous setting for the sound of 45 rpm records from the previous decade. But I settled in, ordered a drink, and listened to my music.
I saw the oldies DJ somewhere else, either before or after, maybe at the Rat, maybe in conjunction with the school's radio station WBSU. He got it in his head that my name was Kurt, and he could not be convinced otherwise. On this night, he was giving away prizes. Name the artist, claim your prize. And the record played, its distinctive oohs and ahhs registering instantly in my mind and memory banks.
That's the sound of the men workin' on the chain gang....
Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang" had been a big hit in 1960, the year I was born. But I knew it; it had a shelf life well beyond its hit reign, a song still heard as I aged from baby to toddler to pre-K and so forth, a record that could spin on jukeboxes and at parties thrown by older kids within my circle, a cherished 45 I could beg my siblings or my Aunt Anna to play for me. Sam Cooke. "Chain Gang." Of course I knew it. Everyone knows "Chain Gang!"
Or...perhaps not everyone. At Club 2-On-2 in 1978, no one else moved to the DJ's booth, none sought to name and claim. Just me. I felt almost insulted by the easiness of the question, but Mr. Golden Oldies DJ was astounded that anyone knew it. "This kid Kurt [CARL!!!! Dammit!] knows his oldies--incredible!" I accepted my prize (which was either a free Club 2-On-2 t-shirt or free club admission on a future visit), finished my drink, and got out of there. Well don't you know, that's the sound of this boy headin' to his dorm roooooom....
This was an early revelation to me of the schism between the pop world as I saw it and the pop world seen by others around me. Most subsequent examples were at least generational--the teen co-worker who'd never heard of Herman's Hermits, or the young record store clerk under my supervision who thought George Harrison was a jazz musician--but the idea that people my age didn't know Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang" was sobering for reasons I can't articulate. And it was further illustration of what I said a few paragraphs back: fitting in was not what I did best.
A little over a week ago, I sat before my TV with my lovely wife Brenda (herself once a Brockport co-ed who liked to dance to the disco beat) to watch the recent film One Night In Miami. The movie is a fictional retelling of an evening in 1964, when Cooke, Muhammed Ali (then still called Cassius Clay), Malcolm X, and Jim Brown found themselves together. It's a fascinating film. And it reminded me of my affection for the music of Sam Cooke. TV's job is to sell records: I realized the only Sam Cooke record I've ever owned was that old hand-me-down RCA-Victor Records "Chain Gang" 45, and I remedied that omission in short order. "That's Where It's At" is a Cooke song I never knew; perhaps someone can now tsk tsk at my ignorance. It's not in the movie, but it's included in the Sam Cooke best-of CD Portrait Of A Legend, and it's mine now. Call me a slow learner. Or call me one who tries to keep learning.
Just, for God's sake, don't call me Kurt.
LESLIE ODOM, JR.: Good Times
If the account above portrays my teen self as a smug know-it-all, well...yeah. I really wish I'd grown out of that at some point. But I was never the only one of my peers who understood and appreciated pop music's larger picture. One such peer was a guy named Les Odom, whom I've previously mentioned in some detail here. Brenda and I were casual friends with Les and his girlfriend Yvette, and nowadays we're fans of their son, actor and singer Leslie Odom, Jr. Leslie the Younger (best known for playing Aaron Burr in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton) plays Sam Cooke in One Night In Miami, and he's just riveting in the role. Watching him play Cooke conjured a random memory from more than forty years ago, when his dad and I had a brief discussion about Sam Cooke. It was a kick to remember that while watching the film, watching Les and Yvette's son bring this legendary singer back to life. Good times.
FIREKING: Just Like Sunday
And here's yet another example of one of the greatest records you may not have heard. Fireking is a Boston-based rockin' pop combo piloted by singer and guitarist Anthony Kaczynski, and I first heard of them around the time of their 2001 album Live A Little, Love A Little. That album included a track called "Bang! Goes The Tenderness" that accrued some significant airplay on our little mutant radio show. Paul Armstrong of The Flashcubes was in Fireking for a short bit, though I don't think he recorded much with them.
"Just Like Sunday" comes from Fireking's 2015 release Double Trouble, a two-CD set that swings for the fences and knocks those damned fences down to the ground. "Just Like Sunday" is my favorite Fireking track, and although we've played it several times, I don't think we've played it anywhere near enough times.
THE FOUR TOPS: Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)
I'm tempted to dedicate this Four Tops classic to the torture of watching the Syracuse University men's basketball team get steamrolled by Clemson this past Saturday. But I remain a fan (of both SU and The Four Tops).
HAYLEY AND THE CRUSHERS: Jacaranda
Aw man, this pumps! A couple of weeks ago, I don't think I'd even heard of Hayley and the Crushers, a California trio that describes itself as "poolside glittertrash," "one part punk-pop, one part sunny surf," and "a tsunami of bold, bad girl fun." See, I love it when the hype looks like something I would have written. Now, I wanna start a lucrative new religion based on their peppy single "Jacaranda." It also makes me want a rum and Coke, but really, what doesn't? "Jacaranda" comes from Haley and the Crushers' forthcoming Rum Bar Records release Fun Sized, and I'm eagerly awaiting the sacrament of MORE!
IN DEED: What Once Was
Uppsala, Sweden's phenomenal pop combo In Deed released two fabulous, fabulous albums over the course of this imperfect millennium's first two decades: 2001's At 4000 Meters (which is way overdue for reissue) and 2018's Everest. The visionary Big Stir Records label put out an expanded version of Everest in 2019, and that remains In Deed's sole full-length Stateside release to date. You need to hear this stuff. I need to hear this stuff; I don't even have a freakin' copy of At 4000 Meters, but I've heard it, and it kicks. Meanwhile, "What Once Was" remains one of my many favorites on Everest. Like Big Star before them, this band deserves a third. (And a fourth....)
JEREMY: So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star
Jeremy Morris loves pop music as much as anyone has ever loved pop music. His label JAM Recordings has released several treasure troves' worth of sparklin' pop over the course of decades, a cavalcade o' delight that includes the first two This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation CDs. As a performer himself, Jeremy's own recordings have crossed genres at will. His 2020 pop CD Living The Dream contains this stirring, sterling rendition of The Byrds' "So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star."
KID GULLIVER: Beauty School Dropout
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio plays the hits. And we know a hit when we hear it. Kid Gulliver's "Beauty School Dropout" is a goddamned hit, and radio shows need to play it. Hits, man. It's all about the hits.
THE MONKEES: Papa Gene's Blues
Play, Magic Fingers!
LESLIE ODOM, JR.: Chain Gang
One Night In Miami includes a scene of Odom-as-Cooke performing a captivating a cappella rendition of "Chain Gang" before a rowdy, about-to-get-ugly crowd, and slayin' while the slayin' is good. Absolutely mesmerizing, and a right worthy example of Odom's sheer magnetism and prowess. "Chain Gang." It all comes back to "Chain Gang." I betcha even ol' Kurt would approve.
And ol' Kurt didn't like anything. Smug, know-it-all bastard, that Kurt.
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl
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