10 SONGS: 3/8/2024

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday 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 # 1223. This show is available as a podcast

THE ELECTROMAGNATES: Airwave Hello

A power pop supergroup! The Electromagnates unite the talents of Steve Stoeckel (of the Spongetones, Pop Co-Op, and his own album The Power Of And), Peter Watts (of Spygenius), solo stalwart Chris Church (whose "I Think I Think I Like You" [from his album Radio Transient] came THISCLOSE to making our 2023 year-end countdown), and former Jeopardy! contestant Dolph Chaney (a singer and musician whose "My Good Twin" is an all-time TIRnRR Fave Rave). Together, the Electromagnates are the jangling Wilburys of a new generation, and their debut single "Airwave Hello" serves as irresistible introduction, greeting, and manifesto. It opens this week's show by divine right, and we'll hear it again this coming Sunday night.

(We figured this chance for America to meet the Electromagnates also warranted spins of some previous works by each of the individual 'Magnates. So! We programmed Steve's "Laura Lynn," Chris' "I Think I Think I Like You," Dolph's current single "Californiagain," and Spygenius' "The Marvelous, Mendacious Time Machine." CONNECTION! It's electric.)

THE RAMONES: Don't Come Close

AL GREEN: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

THE STEVE DEATON THREE: Tall Dark Stranger

There aren't a lot of instances where Beyoncé has a direct effect on a TIRnRR playlist. But her recent, unexpected country single "Texas Hold 'Em" made news when some country stations refused to play it, claiming it didn't fit the format. I tell ya, it sounds like modern country to these ears, and while that's not necessarily a compliment coming from me, I'll add that I think it's a decent single. It doesn't really fit our format either, but I won't rule out dropping a radio edit into a future show if whim dictates. Ya never know with us. We never know with us.

The "Texas Hold 'Em" situation got me thinking about the time when the Ramones released their own country single: "Don't Come Close," from their 1978 masterpiece album Road To Ruin.  Now, "Don't Come Close" is really about as country as ballet, chess, Downton Abbey, Harvey Comics cosplay, or anything else that's, y'know, NOT AT ALL country. But somehow that country description got chicken-wired to it anyway. When I interviewed Johnny Ramone in 1994, he made it clear that his rating of Road To Ruin was brought down by the presence of the two "country" songs, "Don't Come Close" and "Questioningly," tracks which he did not like at all. (The interview recently appeared again in my Ramones book.) 

A good DJ isn't dissuaded by inaccurate labels. Dig what you dig, but don't be afraid to riff off of perception. The notion of country croonin' Beyoncé led me to wanna lean into the (preposterous) notion of Ramones country, kickin' off a mini-set y'all haul of the Ramones into Al Green's triumphantly soulful reading of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and the Steve Deaton Three's ace rock 'n' roll rave-up of Buck Owens' "Tall Dark Stranger."

And, oddly enough, "Don't Come Close" actually was an itty bit more country than either of those outta-the-box covers of country classics. Country superstars the Ramones. Hee-haw, let's GO!

AUTOGRAMM: Hey Allie

Credit the Only Three Lads podcast for the target-acquired! status on this one. O3L recently welcomed the members of current Canadian combo Autogramm as guests on the podcast; the Autogrammers discussed their own work and joined in for a celebration of all-time favorite albums by Canadian artists. You can hear that episode here.

Prior to their O3L appearance, I don't believe I'd ever even heard of Autogramm. But like radio, podcasts' job is to sell records. Mission accomplished! From Autogramm's 2023 album Music That Humans Can Play, "Hey Allie" is squarely within that elusive 'n' engaging TIRnRR demographic. From podcast to airwaves, on the radio it went. Automatic. AUTOGRAMM!

WONDERBOY: Girl Songs

This...is NOT Wonderboy's Robbie Rist

I can't even tell you how much I love "Girl Songs" by Wonderboy. Recorded in the '90s, finally released just a few years back, this exuberant embrace of the transcendent act of swooning over chicks is like the TIRnRR mindset in microcosm. With its fourth appearance in four weeks, "Girl Songs" will now take next week off, as another track from its host album Hero Isle takes its place. 

"Girl Songs" will be back after its break. To paraphrase country singer Beyoncé: Who run the world? GIRL SONGS!

THE CYNZ: Crow Haired Boys

So looking forward to Little Miss Lost, the forthcoming new album from the Cynz. We've been playing the title track, which was the album's first teaser single, and we had "Little Miss Lost" already in place for this week's rock 'em-sock 'em playlist. The last-minute arrival of second teaser single "Crow Haired Boys" made me wanna do the prerequisite a-swappin' and a-shufflin' to accommodate this awesome addition to our personal Play-Tone galaxy o' stars. We'll hear "Crow Haired Boys" again on Sunday night, and I expect we'll be hearing the Cynz throughout 2024. 

Again and again. That's worth crowing about.

TRANSLATOR: Everywhere That I'm Not

The Greatest Record Ever Made! I did a video on behalf of this track, discussing its chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). You can read about the video here, or just go straight to the video itself here.

THE FLASHCUBES: Make Something Happen

Prophetic words? Something may be happening. We shall see.

THE RAMONES: Questioningly

One more from noted country superstars the Ramones. Take it, boys. 

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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 8/25/2022: In The SOUL PIT!

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday 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 # 1143: The 11th Annual DANA'S FUNKY SOUL PIT!

AL GREEN: I Want To Hold Your Hand

Yeah, we got the feelin' now! For this year's edition of the Soul Pit, Dana wanted to focus on soul and R & B covers of classics from the Beatles' songbook.  With that goal in mind, the obvious choice to open The 11th Annual Dana's Funky Soul Pit had to be the Reverend Al Green's cover of the Fab Four's breakthrough American hit  "I Want To Hold Your Hand." If the good Reverend's winning groove on this track isn't our single most-played Beatles cover over the course of TIRnRR's long and storied tenure, I can't imagine what else could possibly hold that distinction. An absolutely fabulous record. I think you understand.

BILLY PRESTON: Blackbird

Everyone who watched the Beatles documentary Get Back witnessed irrefutable evidence of Billy Preston as a de facto Fifth Beatle. Preston's entry into the disjointed, chaotic mess that had characterized the Get Back sessions up to that point brought sudden life and redemption to the project, energized the Beatles, and (if you will) took a sad song and made it better. Preston is also, I think, the only Apple Records recording artist to appear on this week's playlist.

And Preston appears twice. Preston's "Eight Days A Week" opens our second set, and his "Blackbird" follows Al Green's "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and Aretha Franklin's "Eleanor Rigby" to form the show's introductory triptych.

Paul McCartney has claimed that he wrote "Blackbird" as a song of solidarity for the civil rights movement. I'm not convinced that our Macca didn't maybe apply that motivation retroactively, but what do I know? The lyrics do fit Paul's stated intent. I confess I don't love the Beatles' version quite as much as I did when I got my first copy of the White Album in 1977. Preston's rendition still sounds fresh to my ears.

MARTHA REEVES AND THE VANDELLAS: Something

Much has been written about George Harrison's presumed frustration as a songwriter stuck in a group with a couple of other prolific songwriters. Perhaps the Quiet One had the last laugh, as "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun," his two contributions to the Beatles' final album Abbey Road, were the highlights on one of rockin' pops all-time greatest LPs. I mean, John Lennon and Paul McCartney also brought A-level material to Abbey Road, and Ringo Starr turned in "Octopus's Garden" (which maybe isn't quite A-level, but is way preferable to Paul's "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"), but George's songs steal the show.

(And how mixed must George's feelings have been when none other than Frank Sinatra performed "Something" in concert, but referred to it as his favorite Lennon-McCartney song? Ouch, Mr. Blue Eyes.)

"Something" does lend itself to interpretations across styles. I don't think a metal or punk version would work as anything beyond pointless parody, but the song fits Sinatra, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas make it sound like a natural-born Motown hit. Something in the way they move.

SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS: A Hard Day's Night

Much of the appeal of a show like this year's Soul Pit is the thrill of hearing familiar songs in unfamiliar and novel versions. Prior to hearing Dana's selections, I wouldn't have even imagined manic "I Put A Spell On You" auteur Screamin' Jay Hawkins attempting a Beatles cover. But he did! And it's friggin' GREAT! I don't think ol' Screamin' had any real affinity for the song, and I wouldn't be shocked to find out it wasn't his idea to record it. Nonetheless...that growl! That SCREAM! Yeah yeah YEAH!!

THE SUPREMES: A World Without Love

Never recorded by the Beatles, "A World Without Love" is a song Lennon and McCarney gave away. They just GAVE it away! And then collected royalties on Peter and Gordon's hit version. After Peter and Gordon were done with it, I guess the Supremes picked it up second-hand. One group's trash, another group's treasure. From the Supremes' British Evasion LP A Bit Of Liverpool.

EARTH, WIND & FIRE: Got To Get You Into My Life

A superb track from a shitty movie.

I'm one of the many dozens of people who saw Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in a theater at the time of its release in 1978. Ask me why, I'll say...I dunno. My tastes ran to punk, power pop, and '60s rock 'n' roll, certainly not the disco sounds of the film's stars the Bee Gees, nor really the AM/FM fare offered by its other star Peter Frampton. I was sufficiently open to Aerosmith to allow their version of "Come Together" (but agreed with a contemporary film reviewer who said a punk band like the Dead Boys would have been a more appropriate choice to play the dangerous 'n' evil rock band). Otherwise? Not even the presence of Steve Martin and Alice Cooper could redeem this cinematic disaster.

I didn't appreciate Earth, Wind and Fire's "Got To Get You Into My Life" until much, much later. At the time, I was enough of a Beatles purist to be shocked--SHOCKED!--that any act would have the gall to rearrange a Beatles song to suit their own style. Imagine!

Now? I prefer Earth, Wind and Fire's "Got To Get You Into My Life" to the Beatles' original, and I do still like the Beatles' original. The song was not my gateway into embracing EWF's music; that entry came via Brenda, a girl I met at school later that same Sgt. Pepper year of '78. 

Brenda loved Earth, Wind and Fire; over time, I gave EWF a fair listen, and eventually realized I love 'em, too. Brenda, in turn, gave the Ramones and the Kinks--and the Beatles!--a fair listen, and she became interested in them as well. New 1978 Girlfriend Brenda has been Lovely Wife Brenda since 1984. I was alone, I took a ride, I didn't know what I would find there.

Last week, Brenda and I saw Earth, Wind and Fire in concert, on a bill with Santana (another of Brenda's favorites). It was our first time seeing Santana, our second time seeing EWF. What a great, great band, both live and on record. "Got To Get You Into My Life" isn't my # 1 favorite EWF track--that would be either "Let's Groove," "Boogie Wonderland," or "September," followed by "After The Love Has Gone"--but it's one of my favorites, it's fantastic to hear in concert, and it's one of but a handful of Beatles covers I think surpasses the original. 

Thank you, Brenda, for turning me on to Earth, Wind and Fire. The music and the love continue. Got to get you into my life, into my life.

LITTLE RICHARD: Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey (Goin' Back To Birmingham)

For the final set of 2022's Soul Pit, Dana turned from soul and R & B covers of the Beatles to a few of the soul and R & B legends who inspired the young Beatles in the first place. As an unknown act playing dives (and worse), the early Beatles wanted to be a soul group. Little Richard provided one of their biggest influences, a flamboyant explosion of WOW! emanating with incendiary intent outta Macon, Georgia. 

Little Richard taught Paul McCartney how to scream. Perhaps more than any other among the many acts the Beatles wanted to copy, Little Richard gave John, Paul, and George (and, one presumes, Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best) a working model of dynamism, of rock 'n' roll assault with intent to thrill. 

The Beatles were a great cover band. A great, great cover band. Most of the covers the Beatles recorded improved on the originals. 

Not even the Beatles could improve upon Little Richard.

CHUCK BERRY: Rock And Roll Music

Just let me hear some more of that rock 'n' roll music.

If we try to assess the overall impact of individual rock 'n' roll performers, two names stand high above all others: Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. No one else comes close to the importance of Elvis and Chuck; the Beatles were immensely important, but there wouldn't have been a Beatles if both the brown-eyed handsome man and the King hadn't made rock 'n' roll rock in the first place. Rock 'n' roll predates the debuts of Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. Without Chuck and Elvis, we're not still talkin' about rock 'n' roll all these decades on.

John Lennon named Elvis as his own prime inspiration. But Chuck Berry's influence is easier to hear within the Beatles' work, not just in the Berry covers the Fabs did, but in wordplay, in groove, and in playin' guitars just like a-ringin' a bell. And in "Back In The USSR." King Elvis I made the Beatles want to become the Beatles. Chuck Berry showed 'em how it's done.

The Beatles introduced me to Chuck Berry, just like they introduced me to Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Larry Williams, and more. I didn't hear any version of "Roll Over Beethoven" until much later; The Beatles' Second Album wasn't one of the LPs I heard in my formative years, but Beatles '65 was, and its scorchin' rendition of "Rock And Roll Music" remains my # 1 Chuck Berry cover. It's the only Chuck Berry cover I prefer to the original.

THE MARVELETTES: Please Mr. Postman

The Beatles also loved the girl group sound. They covered the Shirelles, the Cookies, and the Donays, and the above-cited record The Beatles' Second Album (or With The Beatles in the UK) gave us their version of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman." 

The Beatles own the song. Own it. But the Marvelettes did record something else that is The Greatest Record Ever Made!

ARTHUR ALEXANDER: A Shot Of Rhythm & Blues

Yep. The Beatles wanted to be a soul group. Specifically, Paul McCartney said that the Beatles wanted to be like Arthur Alexander. The late, great Arthur Alexander didn't enjoy much chart success--only 1962's "You Better Move On" breached Billboard's Top 20, and only "Anna (Go To Him)" was a real success on the soul chart (# 10, also in '62)--but he had fans. 

Fans like the Beatles. Fans like the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, and many more. Though not a musician himself, Alexander wrote a number of his songs, and he could likewise make a song written by someone else into something uniquely Arthur Alexander. He was an incredible talent, and it's unfortunate that most who do know his works know them via better-known covers by those Beatles, Stones, Dylan, and others.

But without those covers, maybe we wouldn't know Alexander at all. Alexander's versions are nearly always the superior; about the only exception I can think of is Elvis Presley's "Burning Love," which Alexander didn't write but did record first. Alexander's disciples spread his Gospel as best they could. "Anna" was the only Alexander cover the Beatles released in a finished studio recording, but "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues" and "Soldier Of Love" were staples of their early, pre-fame live shows, and their renditions survive in tapes of BBC radio performances.

The Beatles wanted to be like Arthur Alexander. That was a pretty high goal, and it was a goal they could not achieve. But they did pretty well for themselves, didn't they? And that means we all owe Arthur Alexander a huge debt of gratitude. 

We can start to repay that by playing his records. If you don't know Arthur Alexander, man, it is waaay past time you fixed that. Get a shot of rhythm and blues, and just a little rock 'n' roll on the side. Just for good measure. It was good enough for the Beatles. 

So here's the thing that you should do...

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 4/21/2022

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday 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 # 1125.

THE SAINTS: (I'm) Stranded

Australian punk. When we heard that singer Chris Bailey had passed, it felt imperative to open this week's show with his old group the Saints, rampaging their way through their signature tune, "(I'm) Stranded." "(I'm) Stranded" is an enduring classic of '70s punk, a solid rush of obstreperous immediacy, a rock 'n' roll love letter to alienation. 

As the song played Sunday night, our friend Joel Tinnel said that he first heard the song well after the fact, courtesy of Rhino Records' punk compilation series DIY in the early '90s. Both Dana and I recall it from the '70s, Dana from airplay on Syracuse's WAER-FM, me from...I have no idea. But I knew it, and loved it. I eventually picked up used copies of the Saints' first two American LPs, (I'm) Stranded and Eternally Yours. 

I saw a latter-day line-up of the Saints at a club show in the late '80s. Original guitarist Ed Kuepper was long, long gone, but Bailey was still up front, wailin' like a Saint oughtta. The group was promoting its then-recent album All Fool's Day, which had caught the attention of MTV's Sunday night alt-showcase 120 Minutes. 120 Minutes favored the track "Just Like Fire Would," but I'd fallen hard for its album-track brother "Big Hits (On The Underground)." 

The live show was great, though I admit I was disappointed that neither "Big Hits (On The Underground)" nor "(I'm) Stranded" made an appearance in the set list, in spite of (or because of?) me leading the crowd in chanting, STRANDED! STRANDED! STRANDED! STRANDED! at encore time. Ah, well. Stranded, on my own. A classic still, and we mourn the passing of the Saint who sang it.

BLONDIE: In The Flesh

The same embrace of circa '77 punk that led me to the Saints also led me to Blondie. "X-Offender" was my first, following indoctrination and seduction via the pages of Phonograph Record Magazine and my subsequent program of carpet-bombing requests for it at Brockport's WBSU-AM in the fall of my freshman year at college. I was 17, and I couldn't resist Debbie Harry. I'm not deaf, dumb, and blind.

"X-Offender" was the lead track on Blondie's eponymous debut album. It's possible that "You Look Good In Blue," another track from the same album, was my second exposure to Blondie's music; I know I heard the song in the on-campus bar the Rathskeller the following semester. But I think I bought the "Rip Her To Shreds" 12" single before that, specifically to own a copy of "X-Offender." If so, the single's two other tracks--"Rip Her To Shreds" and "In The Flesh"--were the next steps in my assimilation into Blondie's world.

DATURA4: Open The Line

This little mutant radio show has a long and proud history of playing music by Australian pop god Dom Mariani. Dom's work solo and with the Stems, DM3, the Someloves, and Dom Mariani and the Majestic Kelp has revved up many a previous playlist, and DM3's righteously rousing "1 x 2 x Devastated" was included on our very first compilation, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 1. Yeah, count Dana and Carl firmly in the pro-Mariani faction.

But we've never played anything by Dom's current combo Datura4. It wasn't a slight; we just didn't get to it. We remedy that right now with this spin of "Open The Line," a triumphantly blood-pumpin' victory cry from Datura4's forthcoming album Neanderthal Jam. What took us so long?

THE MONKEES: Tapioca Tundra

I have no contemporaneous memory of Michael Nesmith's song "Tapioca Tundra." It was the B-side of the Monkees' "Valleri" single in 1968, and an album track on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees that same year. I didn't hear it on the TV show, didn't hear it on the radio, and it wasn't among the meager Monkees artifacts in our family record library. 

So I didn't know the song at all, not until I expanded our Monkees library with the acquisition of both The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees and 1967's Headquarters album on a visit to the flea market in the mid '70s. I was already a fan of the Monkees. I was about to become a much, much bigger fan. Nesmith said it himself, looking out over a sea of fans from the stage at a Monkees concert, and knowing that this made-for-TV combo was larger than its origin, larger even than the Monkees themselves. He wrote "Tapioca Tundra" about that realization: It cannot be a part of me 'cause now it's part of you. We thank you. Michael.

THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING SHOES: Tomorrow Night

My favorite track of 2022 so far? It's a contender. C'mon, it would take an act of Congress to prevent this Big Stir single combining the irresistible pop forces of the Flashcubes and Shoes covering the latter's power pop touchstone "Tomorrow Night" from garnering airplay on TIRnRR. 

And that ain't all. The Flashcubes' artist page at the Big Stir Records website reveals that the 'Cubes will continue their current program of remaking pop gems of the past--"Tomorrow Night," Pezband's "Baby It's Cold Outside," the Dwight Twilley Band's "Alone In My Room"--with more dips into the ol' pop-with-power songbook. Next up: a collaboration with the Spongetones! Oh, I am so diggin' all of this...!

JUNIPER: Turn To You

Hear on TIRnRR, we love the Go-Go's. So we were right stoked to hear of a new Go-Go's tribute album, If You've Gotta Go-Go, Go-Go Now, and it was inevitable we'd start programming stuff from that album as soon as it became available. But where to start? The tribute includes so many Go-Go's songs covered by so many TIRnRR Fave Raves, from Holly and the Italians to Hayley and the Crushers. I guess we coulda gone eenie-meenie...or we could just go-go ahead and play Juniper's "Turn To You." The latter seemed the wiser option. And we'll hear another track from this Go-Go's tribute on next week's show.

JIM BASNIGHT: Hello Mary Jane

Reliable rockin' pop performer Jim Basnight has been making his back catalog available digitally, in many cases for the first time ever. Our Jim's digital offerings via the visionary folks at Powerpopaholic Productions include a fresh remaster of his 1992 release Pop Top, and Jim shared a couple of its cuts with us for potential TIRnRR airplay. SOLD!! "Hello Mary Jane" finds its way to this week's playlist; we'll hear another selection from Pop Top next week.

AL GREEN: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

We play the hits. And we play requests. The above-acclaimed Jim Basnight also sent us a bunch of suggestions for records he's like to hear on this here Best Three Hours Of Radio On The Whole Friggin' Planet. They were good suggestions--the lad has taste--so we picked five of them to follow Jim's "Hello Mary Jane" in an incomparable six-song set. Ya can't go wrong with T. Rex ("Telegram Sam"), the Ramones ("I Don't Want You"), and Roxy Music ("Pyjamarama"), and they combine with tunes from Al Green and the Walker Brothers to conjure radio like it oughtta be conjured. I was particularly taken with Green's rendition of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," and following that with the Walker Brothers' "After The Lights Go Out"--a B-side that's even better than their well-loved A-sides--is the stuff of radio legend. Later in the show, we circled back to a couple more of Jim's requests--"I'll Be You" by the Replacements and "The Word" by the Beatles--further demonstrating that Mr. Basnight knows his pop music. Jim, you've come to the right radio show.

THE WONDERS: That Thing You Do!

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

SONNY AND CHER: The Beat Goes On

Yes. Yes it does. Join us!

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 10/9/2020

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 # 1045.

THE BEATLES: Revolution

John Lennon would have been 80 years old today.

How can one pay proper tribute to an artist who has meant so very much to so very many of us? Our friend and fellow SPARK! radio programmer Rich Firestone devoted this week's edition of his fab show Radio Deer Camp to a celebration of John Lennon's 80th birthday. Rich did an incredible job, and there was no need for us to add to what he did. Rich passed the audition.

But we couldn't let the milestone pass without doing something. As pop fans, as rock 'n' roll fans, as fans of the joy of radio and all that it can be, Dana and I owe everything to The Beatles. There are, of course, many other essential influences, from both before and after John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr took that all-important left turn at Greenland. But none of it happens for us, not with any sort of similar intensity, without the moptopped music of The Beatles first prompting us to chant in enthusiastic accord, Yeah Yeah YEAH!

Sass, pizazz, and razzmatazz. Hooks and Harmony. A sense of deeper meaning, whether it's lodged in a simple love song about wanting to hold her hand, in a plea to help us if you can we're filling down, or in some tantalizing glimpse across the universe. I read the news today, oh boy. The connection may be illusory, but...no, it's not. It's one-sided--the artist creates, we absorb--yet no less palpable and vital than the sensory experience of everything around us: the sights, the sounds, the seasons, the warmth, the cold, the rain, the sun, the affection for people and things that went before. Nothing is real. That's real, too. 

Imagine. What can be imagined can be experienced. That's why we have art. That's why we have dreams. That's why the dream isn't over.

I was born in 1960. I'm old enough to remember Beatlemania, even though I was only four years old in '64. For those of us who still can recall the contemporaneous spark of The Beatles, the British Invasion, the American reaction, the impact on everything going forward (including punk in the '70s), an impact extending well beyond music, there is only one word that adequately describes the legacy of The Beatles:

Revolution. 

And you can count me in.

CHUCK BERRY: You Can't Catch Me

John Lennon said that when he first heard Elvis Presley, that was it. I'd say Chuck Berry was of comparable importance, and everything we just said above about the pervasive impact of The Beatles also applies to the seismic effect of both King Elvis I and the duck-walkin' brown-eyed handsome man who played his guitar just like a-ringin' a bell. In a 1970s Rolling Stone interview, Lennon said he'd love to produce an Elvis Presley rock 'n' roll album, but that he'd probably be too nervous to actually do it. A nervous Beatle? Yep. John Lennon was a fan, just like we are fans.

So Lennon never worked with Elvis, but he did appear once with Chuck Berry, the student from Liverpool joining the master from St. Louis on The Mike Douglas Show for a rousing rendition of "Johnny B. Goode." They also met (figuratively speaking) in court. Lennon had told an interviewer that a line in The Beatles' "Come Together"--Here come ol' flattop, he come groovin' up slowly--had been lifted from Berry's "You Can't Catch Me." It was one line, more of a tribute than it was anything resembling plagiarism, but nonetheless: Gentlemen, start your lawyers!

The instigator of this particular round of sue-me-sue-you blues was one Morris Levy, a music hustler alleged to have ties to organized crime ("alleged" in the same sense that Jimmy Durante was alleged to have a nose). It's a tangled chronicle, a story filled with greed, ambition, corruption, and an absolutely bitchin' soundtrack. I'd tell you more, but I'm afraid Levy himself would rise from his grave and have my legs broken.

Allegedly.

THE DIRTY MAC: Yer Blues

For many years, the officially unseen 1968 TV special The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus was solely the province of collectors and bootleggers. An odd circus-set concert presentation starring the Stones with support from Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, and Marianne Faithfull, the show is dated but interesting, and it's often been said that the Stones nixed its originally-planned broadcast because an energetic on-screen performance by The Who made the Stones seem lackluster by comparison. (If the story's not true, it should be; this isn't The Rolling Stones' finest moment [though it ain't bad, either], but The Who freakin' smoke.)

The other highlight of The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus is the sole appearance of The Dirty Mac, a one-off supergroup formed by John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell. It was The Traveling Wilburys of the '60s, except heavier and with a more limited output. The Dirty Mac did but two numbers: a blues jam backing Yoko Ono and violinist Ivry Gitlis, and a triumphantly bludgeoning rendition of the White Album track "Yer Blues." 

THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES: Thanks John

"Thanks John" by The Flamin' Groovies is trite and obvious, an attempt to pay tribute to John Lennon by stringing together a bunch of Beatles song titles and pretending the collective result can be called lyrics. I love it. Recorded in the '80s and released as a flexi-disc included with Bucketfull Of Brains magazine's 1987 special edition Bucketfull Of Groovies, the track later saw CD release on the Groovies' 1992 album Rock Juice.

The track's saving grace is its sincerity. The Groovies' Cyril Jordan is as big a Beatles fan as you'll ever encounter; there's no evidence of even a trace of cynicism finding its odious way into the making of "Thanks John." Thanks, Cyril.

AL GREEN: I Want To Hold Your Hand

The Beatles wanted to be a soul act. As they became successful, incorporating lessons learned from Arthur Alexander, The Isley Brothers, and Motown, it was inevitable that soul acts would want to return the favor. While I dig Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" and Otis Redding's "Day Tripper," Al Green's "I Want To Hold Your Hand" towers above as one of the best Beatles covers ever made...maybe the best. 

It's all the more impressive because its goal is unattainable: trying to better The Beatles at "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Can't be done. The original is too entrenched and untouchable, especially to the ears of Americans for whom it was our chance to meet The Beatles. And indeed, even the Reverend Al Green can't overcome that. 

So he doesn't try. He does his own version, with a shrug and a smile, a sway and swagger that could only come from the South, a casual confidence that could only be justified in the grace of a unique gift bestowed from above. Shut up, Al Green! That order is given to Green at the beginning of this record. He says All right...and then he testifies. And I think we understand.

THE HUDSON BROTHERS: So You Are A Star

I was 14 when The Hudson Brothers' TV variety show aired in the summer of '74. I was already a fan of the silly schtick on display each week in The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, and the Hudsons' show served up more of the same (with, as I recall, much of the same supporting cast), so yeah, I was there. I would been even more there if the lovely Teri Garr had been among the Sonny and Cher regulars moonlighting with the Hudsons, but alas...no lass.

"So You Are A Star" was one of my many favorite AM radio hits in this era. At 14, I don't think I could have articulated the way in which the track effortlessly and subtly evokes John Lennon. Something about the vocal, something about the overall feel, something in the way it moves--wait, wrong Beatle!--succeeds in conjuring an irresistibly Lennonesque vibe. Now that I'm 60, I doubt I could sit through a viewing of The Hudson Brothers Show or its Saturday-morning follow-up The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, just as I can't watch The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour--even with the added attraction of Teri Garr! But the music? Man, I could listen to this stuff any time, at any age. Timeless.

THE KENNEDYS: And Your Bird Can Sing

By all accounts, John Lennon wrote "And Your Bird Can Sing" as a throwaway. Man, I wish my throwaways were a quarter as great as The Beatles' throwaways. The world-renowned coffee house pop duo The Kennedys allowed us to use their sprightly cover of the song on our first This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation CD in 2004. Thanks again for that, Pete and Maura!

LIQUOR GIANTS: Beatles Please Come Back

Like any pop mania, Beatlemania inspired a wealth of attempted tie-ins, novelties, and cash grabs, and some of them transcend the money-grubbing intent of their origins to achieve something special. I'm fond of The Beattle-Ettes' "Only Seventeen" and The Bootles' "I'll Let You Hold My Hand," a pair of 1964 female-sung answer songs (to "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand," respectively). Gigi Parker and the Lonelies' "Beatles, Please Come Back" offers a yearning plea for our lads to forsake the Mersey and Her Majesty and return to the colonies and the American girls who love them, yeah yeah yeah. 

Liquor Giants released a version of the song on their 1998 all-covers album Something Special For The Kids. They also achieved something special. The whole album's pretty cool, and it's available to purchase as a digital album from our good friends at Futureman Records.

PAUL McCARTNEY: Here Today

From a previous post about my 25 favorite post-Beatles Paul McCartney tracks:

"I know how John Lennon's murder affected me. I can't even imagine how it affected Paul McCartney. John and Paul were brothers, their long-time relationship characterized by bickering and worse, but held together by a unique bond beyond even what they shared with George and Ringo. When John was killed, reporters stuck microphones in Paul's face and asked how he felt; overwhelmed, Paul said, "It's a drag!" He was pilloried for his apparent lack of emotion. The soulless pundits had no goddamned clue. "Here Today," an album track on Tug Of War, expresses the wistful regret and feeling of loss when a loved one is taken too soon."

They were brothers. Bandmates. Partners. Rivals. With two of their other friends, they were an exclusive gang of four that no outsider could ever truly understand in the way that Fab Four understood. And I suspect that not even George Harrison and Ringo Starr themselves could really know the specific interpersonal dynamic of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

In the '70s, when they were publicly fighting in the press and sniping at each other in song lyrics, Paul still turned up at Lennon's digs, guitar in hand, Quarrymen forever. When John was asked about the apparent anti-Macca vitriol of his song "How Do You Sleep?," he scoffed and replied that if he couldn't say such things about his best friend, who else could he say them about? 

John and Paul would have worked together again. I have no doubt about that. They may or may not have ever re-Beatled, but I'm sure their paths would have eventually crossed in some public manner. Old friends. Brothers, whose shared bond changed the world for the better.

JOHN LENNON: Watching The Wheels

John and Paul didn't get that chance. A nobody with a gun took it away from them, took away Yoko's husband, Sean and Julian's Dad, George and Ringo's friend, Paul's brother. Our icon. All of it ripped asunder by a killer who wanted to be famous. Fuck him. I will never even say his name.

But today is not the day to curse the darkness. Today, we light a birthday candle in joyful remembrance. 80 birthday candles. We recall the gift of John Lennon, of The Beatles, of music, of family, of love. We're just sitting here watching the wheels go 'round and 'round. Like Cyril Jordan said: Thanks, John. Rock on.

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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.

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