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.
Early in 2021, 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 with the purchase of the Sam Cooke best-of CD Portrait Of A Legend. 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.
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. 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.
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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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
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.
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