5 Above picks five great things within a specific category. Look out below--these are five that rise above.
First off: I'M FINE! Honest. This isn't even my Sick Day. On this week's new episode of the Only Three Lads podcast, a scheduled guest had to concede Under-The-Weather status and cancel her O3L appearance at the last minute. This prompted the show's hosts Uncle Gregg and Brett Vargo to scrap their intended topic and pivot to an alternative: Top five tracks to listen to when you're sick.
Me? I suffer from chronic copycat syndrome. Ain't no cure. So I'm stealing this idea.
The first track to occur to me in this category was "You Sound Like You're Sick" by the Ramones. Upon further review, though, this didn't fit my idea of the concept: Songs you play to cheer yourself up when crusty 'n' contagious cooties bring ya down. We'll allow "You Sound Like You're Sick" the consolation chicken soup of airplay this coming Sunday night on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio With Dana and Carl. For today's list, we're channeling the Partridge Family: Get HAPPY!
For today's 5 Above, we're sticking to the classic alternative era, which O3L defines as the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. But we'll step out of that era for a couple of...
...HONORABLE MENTIONS!
FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS: Do The Freddie
The transcendence and triumph of the unapologetically goofy. Freddie and the Dreamers' 1965 novelty number "Do The Freddie" never fails to make me smile. My long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is based on the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record, as long as they take turns. "Do The Freddie" gets a turn. This should get lots of turns. It's the thing to do! Kids will envy you! Nothing can exorcise the yuckies quite like the Freddie can.
EYTAN MIRKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year
If Eytan Mirsky's 2012 track "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" had been released in the O3L era, it woulda been a contender for # 1 on my list, and settled for a close # 2. What a great, GREAT song, absolutely one of my all-time favorites. It's snippy and stubborn, but simultaneously aspirational and full of...hopeless hope. Things probably aren't going to get better. But we're barrelin' ahead anyway. THIS year!
It just occurred to me that "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" came out the same year I lost my dad. What a weird dovetail, but I guess it's also appropriate. There will never be a shortage of heartaches at hand. We will never run out of reasons why we should just give up. For today--maybe even for this year--we will hold those reasons at bay.
And yeah, of course "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" has a chapter in my GREM! book. Duh.
TOP FIVE SICK DAY SONGS IN THE O3L ERA
5. BIG STAR: The Ballad Of El Goodo
Big Star was an after-the-fact discovery for me, initially introduced by the proxy of the Flashcubes' live cover of "September Gurls" in 1978, with exposure to the original records to follow in later years. "September Gurls" was the first track I ever referred to as The Greatest Record Ever Made (though Badfinger's "Baby Blue" was the first GREM! piece I wrote). And my "September Gurls" chapter also mentions the resilience and determination of Big Star's "The Ballad Of El Goodo:"
"A teenaged hitmaker with the Box Tops, a cult-pop legend with Big Star, and a fiercely (and frustratingly) independent solo artist, Alex Chilton was dismissive of his own legacy. But he was a brilliant songwriter, responsible in whole or in part for a handful of what I believe to be among the most affecting, beautiful pop songs ever done. With his Big Star partner Chris Bell, Chilton co-wrote 'The Ballad Of El Goodo,' the single most transcendent expression of triumphant hope that I am ever likely to hear...."
4. THE KINKS: Better Things
At my dad's funeral in 2012, my eulogy concluded with the lyrics from "Days" by the Kinks. It's such a moving, evocative, appreciative song, and I think you can understand why I don't often listen to it anymore.
Within the O3L era, "Better Things" (from the Kinks' 1981 album Give The People What They Want) is less stiffer-upper-lip and more Partridgesque c-mon-get-happy. And it will serve. I hope tomorrow we all find better things.
(The Kinks are represented in GREM! by a celebration of "Waterloo Sunset," with "You Really Got Me" held in reserve for an even-more-theoretical Greatest Record Ever Made! Volume 2).
3. MELANIE WITH THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)
I'm not sure to what extent (if any) the recent passing of Melanie Safka elevated this lovely track on my list for today, but I tell ya, I have always, always adored "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)." Yes, it gets a GREM! chapter. We can stay dry against the rain.
2. KISS: Shout It Out Loud
Awright, if we're gonna wedge a KISS track into our Sick Day 5 Above, it probably oughta be "Calling Dr. Love." The first step of the cure is...KISS!!
But I'm going with "Shout It Out Loud," as infectious a party tune as anything ever. Perhaps you don't wanna deal with "infectious" when you're sickly. Screw that. Rock 'n' roll is good for what ails ya. Don't let them tell you that there's too much noise. Dr. Love prescribes a SHOUT!
Oh! Almost forgot: The Greatest Record Ever Made! KISS: Shout It Out Loud
1. THE RAMONES: Blitzkrieg Bop
The soundtracks of our everyday days and nights are vast and varied, with individual components set in their places by a divine artistic director that knows what He, She, or They are doing. When a mishap with my car forced me to postpone a long-planned and much-needed road trip originally set for the next morning, I blasted the entirety of Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols to channel my anger and frustration. Decades ago, when a college girl I fancied went out with another guy, I sat on the floor of my dorm room, swilling beer and listening to Paul McCartney warble that he believed in yesterday.
There are songs for all occasions. The right tune can comfort, console, lift, motivate. It can offer catharsis or escape, band aid or blunt instrument, challenge or confirmation. A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together.
Also dancing. Evidence suggests the right song can inspire dancing.
The music of the Ramones has been a vital part of my existence ever since a November afternoon in 1978, when "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" became the record that changed my life. "Sheena" gets a chapter in GREM!, as does "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" "I Don't Want To Grow Up" wound up in my other book, published last year. If there's ever a GREM! Volume 2, it will include "Blitzkrieg Bop."
"Blitzkrieg Bop" is the definitive Ramones song. Hey-ho, let's go! It's a compact realization of the group's essence, the purity of their transcendent rockin' pop righteousness, the sheer inevitability of Ramonesified oomph. Take it! It's good, AND it's good for you!
It's certainly been good for me. We're all revved up and ready to go.
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar.
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, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
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