10 SONGS: 5/16/2026

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 # 1336

BANDA AL9: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

Banda AL9 are an invigmoratin' pop combo from Brazil, with a new album called Hey! Hey! We're Banda AL9 due out this summer from Wicked Cool Records. The titular Hey! Hey! calls the Monkees to mind (and we approve of that message), and it also connects with this advance non-album single, covering the Rubinoos' power pop classic "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." Hey hey you you! And what the Hey!, we're spinning this one again on our next show. Can't wait to hear the album.

GIRLSCHOOL: 20th Century Boy

I mentioned T. Rex in last week's 10 Songs, and also mentioned therein that "20th Century Boy" is my favorite T. Rex song. Knowing that this week's TIRnRR Greatest Record Ever Made! spotlight was set to shine on Headgirl (the combined forces of Girlschool and Motörhead, as discussed in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]), it seemed appropriate to serve up a first-set foreshadowing of that selection with a li'l sumpin' from Girlschool as well. Girlschool's able T. Rexstasy channeling of "20th Century Boy" just about programmed its own way into the first set. We're your boys, Girlschool!

(And recognizing Headgirl's other half, we'll get to Motörhead on our next show. In fact, we'll reprise the very first Motörhead song I ever heard.)

THE PORTUGAL JAPAN: Boy Meets Girl

Kick. Ass. 

"Boy Meets Girl" by early 21st century Japanese punk grrls the Portugal Japan has been an occasional TIRnRR playlist treat for years. From a previous 10 Songs:

"Man, this record is like sugar-frosted amphetamines. BOY MEETS GIRL! GIRL MEETS BOY! Dana had a compilation CD called Innocence Is Bliss, subtitled 'A Female Frenzy Of Sensational Sounds!' From that set, he played the Portugal Japan's 'Boy Meets Girl,' and I knew I needed my own copy, STAT...."

And while I did indeed score my very own Innocence Is Bliss (albeit in a time frame inexcusably longer than "stat"), I've never gotten around to further investigation of the Portugal Japan library. Their eponymous 2005 album appears to be the only Portugal Japan material to ever reach the marketplace, but I'm streaming it right now as I write, it's also transcendentally kickass, and I'm gonna need to own it. Radio's job is to sell records. Sometimes we sell the records to ourselves.. 

GO TIME!: Rules Don't Apply

"Rules Don't Apply?" Hey, it's the Federal government's theme song. NO! I KID! I'm a kidder. The music of Go Time! deserves better than my cheap jokes (though nothing will stop me from making cheap jokes), and as a rule, the group's new album 11 deserves to be applied to rockin' pop playlists everywhere. We'll do our part. Rules are rules, man. Rules are rules.

AMOS MILBURN: Down The Road Apiece

From 1947: Amos Milburn, and the first rock 'n' roll record. I doubt anyone could ever convince me otherwise. I made my argument on Milburn's rock 'n' roll behalf here.

THE LEGAL MATTERS: It Doesn't Matter

I'm far too lazy to do the research, but I believe TIRnRR was one of the first radio shows to program selections from the Legal Matters' ace current album Lost At Sea. "It Doesn't Matter" is my favorite track on Lost At Sea, and hearing it pop up again on my car stereo during a recent commute was more'n sufficient grounds to return it to the playlist, where it belongs. And do you know what the Legal Matters' "It Doesn't Matter" has in common with Banda AL9's cover of the Rubinoos' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend?" It will also spin again on our next show. Hey HEY! It MATTERS!

THE PRODUCERS: What's He Got

Again: HEY!

THE MONKEES: She

And once again: HEY! I say, HEY!!! The Monkees sure knew their way around a proper HEY!!!

THE SHIRTS: Tell Me Your Plans

We've been offering advance airings of tracks from Live At Paradise 1979, Think Like A Key Music's exquisite new archival release from CBGB stalwarts the Shirts. And now: THE ALBUM IS OUT! BUY IT!! It's really good. To celebrate, we return to the Live At Paradise 1979 performance of "Tell Me Your Plans," which is probably my favorite Shirts number. 

HEADGIRL: Please Don't Touch

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

How do I know it's the greatest record ever made? Because the first time I heard it, I didn't want to hear any other track, just this one, over and over, again and again. A lot of records have that immediate, welcome effect on me. An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Here's to infinite turns, always and forever.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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. You can read about our history here.

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! Headgirl/Motörhead and Girlschool, " Please Don't Touch"

From my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

HEADGIRL/MOTÖRHEAD [and] GIRLSCHOOL: Please Don't Touch

Written by Johnny Kidd and Guy Robinson

Produced by Vic Maile

From the EP St.Valentine's Day Massacre, Bronze Records [UK], 1981

Girls can rock. Girls and boys can even rock together.

In 1980, the members of British metal acts Motörhead and Girlschool merged briefly as Headgirl, with their respective frontpersons--bassist Lemmy Kilmister and guitarist Kelly Jackson--trading lead vocals on a single called "Please Don't Touch." At the time of its release,  I knew Motörhead a little bit, and I was peripherally aware of Girlschool, an all-female group that was part of the then-hyped British New Wave of Heavy Metal, or at least a tangent to it. I guess a tangent is more accurate; their gender prevented them from being considered fairly alongside the boys in Iron Maiden and Def Leppard.

Lemmy thought that was bollocks. And, Lemmy being Lemmy, he wasn't shy about saying so. He championed the group, with specific praise of Johnson's guitar-playing, which Lemmy deemed to be at least the equal of what any stupid boy could do.

The collaboration between Girlschool and Motörhead came about when the latter's drummer Phil Taylor was sidelined by an injury in late 1980. The lads of Motörhead joined the lasses of Girlschool for an EP; the EP's B-side would offer a track apiece by each band covering the other, and the A-side would serve up the united metal forces of Headgirl. For that A-side, Lemmy suggested a cover of a song originally done by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, one of his own favorite groups from years ago.

It's important to note that essential rock 'n' roll existed before the Beatles, and has continued to exist after the Beatles. The Beatles weren't even the first incredible British rock combo. The Shadows were huge in the UK, deservedly so. Johnny Kidd and the Pirates were also superb, and they gave the world the original version of "Shakin' All Over," a song well-known via subsequent covers by the Guess Who and the Who. Kidd split from the Pirates in the mid '60s, and was killed in a car accident in 1966.

The Pirates' 1960 "Shakin' All Over" is absolutely ace. 1963's "I'll Never Get Over You" shows Kidd and the Pirates could have been part of the British Invasion. Their "Please Don't Touch" is a boppin' little number from 1959, and that was the song Lemmy wanted Headgirl to record. And with that, a few years ahead of Spinal Tap, Headgirl turned their amps to 11 to reimagine "Please Don't Touch."

Different lyrics. Different vibe. Grungier, sexier, and a fair bit noisier, chugging ahead at full metal throttle. Both Lemmy and Kelly sing and play their hearts out, and their mates from both bands keep right up with them. I really wish I'd heard this when it was new.

But again: any record you ain't heard is a new record. Doesn't matter when you get to it. I got to Headgirl's "Please Don't Touch" in May of 2021, just over forty years after its release. Hearing it for the first time, I immediately--immediately--became obsessed with it, and for an entire weekend it was the only song I listened to, over and over and over, playing on a loop on my iPod. No other song would do. There was no other song.

You could (rightly) call this a bludgeoning of the old Johnny Kidd and the Pirates ditty, but it's an affectionate roughhousing, faithful in its way to the swing and spirit of the original, heavier and more ominous, yet unerringly pop. And righteous. And LOUD! It could do with another spin right now. Please don't touch...unless you're turning it UP.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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. You can read about our history here.

10 SONGS: 1/27/2024

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 # 1217. This show is available as a podcast.

VEGAS WITH RANDOLPH: What If?

Anyone who knows me is aware that my devotion to the big beat of the rock and the roll is matched, guitar to cape, by my pervasive and prevailing interest in superhero comic books. And while I have no idea whether or not the members of Vegas With Randolph have ever even read an issue of The Brave And The Bold or Tales To Astonish, I did use an  enthusiastic comics comparison when hyping their 2017 super team-up with Lannie Flowers for our compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. That provides a coincidental bit of symmetry as we open this week's battle for truth, justice, and the Rickenbacker way with a new VWR track that shares its title with a Marvel Comics series:

What If?

That's the central question that sparks all fiction, the fantastic and the everyday alike. It's also the not-so-secret origin of many a relationship, and it serves as inspiration for many a fine pop song. Tell us about it, VWR:

What if, What if
I found you
and you wanted me
And I wanted you
And we were meant to be
What if I could lift the veil and see
Our destiny

Adventures await. It all starts with that question: What if?

"What If?" comes to us from Vegas With Randolph's forthcoming new album The Future Store. You should buy it. I did! And we will hear another of its tracks on our next show.

Will hear. There is no "if." There is just the amazing, the incredible, and the mighty. Excelsior!

THE JACK RUBIES: Heaven Shook Me

THE CYRKLE: Red Rubber Ball [21st century version]

This week's second set opens with two in a row from our friends at Big Stir Records. And while many think of Big Stir as a power pop (or at least power pop adjacent) label, this pairing illustrates that Big Stir is so much more than just one thing. 

The Jack Rubies are a British group that plied their surly craft in the '80s. Usually described as postpunk, the Jack Rubies are back with a new Big Stir album called Clocks Are Out Of Time, a brooding concoction that's as far removed from jangle as Mickey Spillane is from Mickey Mouse. Both great. Both great in different ways.

The Jack Rubies' "Heaven Shook Me" leads into the Cyrkle. Obviously. In the '60s, the Cyrkle annexed the charts with the sunshine pop of their big hits "Turn Down Day" and, of course, "Red Rubber Ball," the latter written by Paul Simon. The Cyrkle's present-day incarnation has signed with Big Stir, and in 2023 they released a single of the autobiographical "We Thought We Could Fly" coupled with a 21st-century remake of "Red Rubber Ball." We played "We Thought We Could Fly" upon its release, and the morning sun's "Red Rubber Ball [21st century version]" shines on this week's playlist. We hear the group is working on a new album for Big Stir. And we think's it's gonna be all right. Full Cyrkle.

BO DIDDLEY: Pills

It seems likely that a lot of folks in the TIRnRR demographic were introduced to Bo Diddley's classic 1961 song "Pills" via the cover version found on the New York Dolls' 1973 eponymous debut album.

Me? I never even knew the song existed before hearing former Dolls lead singer David Johansen warble it live at my first David Jo show in the summer of 1979. Even then, I thought the song was called "Rock 'n' Roll Nurse." I barely knew any Dolls or Johansen material before that show, just "Personality Crisis" and "Who Are The Mystery Girls," maybe "Babylon," and possibly David Jo's solo "Funky But Chic." After that night, I made a point of catching up as fast as I could.

I got to Bo Diddley's own "Pills" in 1990, with the acquisition of the two-CD Diddley compilation The Chess Box. A few years later, I got to see Diddley himself as part of an oldies package tour. I don't think he performed "Pills" in that live set at the New York State Fair, nor did Johansen sing it again in any of the shows of his I caught after my first one in '79. Guess he really didn't dig that jive the nurse was giving him.

We played Bo Diddley's "Pills" this week, and we played his late '60s bubblegum single "Bo Diddley 1969" last week. We'll serve up a third Bo Diddley classic on this coming Sunday night's program. Which one? Well, I tell ya: It ain't no town, and it ain't no city.

MARYKATE O'NEIL: I'm Ready For My Luck To Turn Around

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

FAIRPORT CONVENTION: Time Will Show The Wiser

On our radio show, Dana's been the one playing Fairport Convention, and I'm the one cheering every time he does. But I first heard Fairport Convention's cover of the Merry-Go-Round's delicate pop treasure "Time Will Show The Wiser" when my boss Lewis mentioned it. Lew loves Fairport Convention, and he saw them in concert some time in the way back when. As much I love the original, I now regard the Fairport Convention cover as definitive. Thanks for the tip, Lew! And thanks to Dana for programming it. Wise move.

HEADGIRL: Please Don't Touch

Girls can rock. Girls and boys can even rock together.

In 1980, the members of British metal acts Motörhead and Girlschool merged briefly as Headgirl, with their respective frontpersons--bassist Lemmy Kilmister and guitarist Kelly Jackson--trading lead vocals on a single called "Please Don't Touch." At the time of its release,  I knew Motörhead a little bit, and I was peripherally aware of Girlschool, an all-female group that was part of the then-hyped British New Wave of Heavy Metal, or at least a tangent to it. I guess a tangent is more accurate; their gender prevented them from being considered fairly alongside the boys in Iron Maiden and Def Leppard.

I didn't hear Headgirl's fantastic bludgeoning of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Please Don't Touch" until 2021, but it made up for lost time by immediately becoming a part of my permanent Hot 100. It has a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), and it's always ready to pop into the TIRnRR playlist at any time.

(The playlist is the only instance where I'm only going to spin the song once, and move on. Otherwise? It is not uncommon for repeat plays of "Please Don't Touch" to occupy the entirety of the iPod soundtrack for my evening commute. Don'tcha touch me baby 'cuz I'm shakin' so much.) 

THE FLASHCUBES: Gudbuy T' Jane

A few paragraphs north of here, we talked about how Big Stir Records is so much more than just a power pop label. But now, let's speak of one of the label's power pop superstars, the Flashcubes. But first: These words about rock 'n' roll radio.

My love of rock 'n' roll radio was forged by my absolute fascination with AM Top 40, beginning when I was a kid in the '60s, manifesting in earnest when I was in middle school and high school in the '70s. My migration to FM by the time I graduated from high school in 1977 didn't change the fact of the matter: Radio was everything. 

In those days, Top 40 stations in one city weren't necessarily playing all of the same potential hit records as Top 40 stations in other cities. Regional hits. Years later, I was surprised to learn that, say, "Tonight" by the Raspberries and "Blockbuster" by Sweet weren't radio smashes all across the USA. But here in Syracuse, they were. And so was "Gudbuy T' Jane" by UK stompers Slade.

My God, I loved this record. Still do. Slade were huge in their native land, but the colonies didn't catch on until the '80s, first via the numbskull proxy of covers by Quiet Riot and then by the much-belated appearance of Slade themselves on the American pop radar (and on MTV) with "My Oh My" and "Run Runaway."

The members of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses the Flashcubes knew (and know) better. I'm sure they heard "Gudbuy T'Jane" on Syracuse's WOLF-AM circa '72, and I know at the very least that 'Cubes guitarist Paul Armstrong is a Slade fan of long standing. So "Gudbuy T' Jane" was a natural choice for the Flashcubes to remake on their superlative 2023 all-covers album Pop Masters. Latter-day New York Dolls guitarist Steve Conte brings additional oomph here, and the Flashcubes provide plenty of oomph of their own. It's what they do!

"Gudbuy T' Jane." Made for the airwaves, then and now. Get with it, America. Jane is all right, all right, all right, all right.

THE WEEKLINGS: Falling Down A Flight Of Stairs

When the Weeklings release new music, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio has a tendency to wanna play it. We have to fill three hours of radio each week, and we very much prefer to fill that spot with irresistible music. Hey! The Weeklings create irresistible music! Let's play THAT!

We debuted "None Of Your Business," an advance track from the Weeklings' new album Raspberry Park,  on last week's show. Dana's been champin' at the bit to play a different track from Raspberry Park, the beguiling "Falling Down A Flight Of Stairs," but we hadda wait until the album's actual release to follow through.

Now: The album's out! And "Falling Down The Stairs" is on the air in Syracuse. Fall in. It's the Weeklings! On the radio, where they belong.

CHUBBY CHECKER: Slow Twistin'

The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame is a nice place to visit. But in terms of its relevance to the story (and history) of rock 'n' roll, people keep telling me it's unmimportant, that I should ignore it, that its continuous chuckleheaded snubs of worthy acts are best shrugged off with extreme disdain. These folks are right.

And they're also wrong.

Yes, the Hall is irrelevant, bloated, a joke, a blight, and it probably has bad breath. None of that contradicts my conviction that, in all caps and in bold, ROCK 'N' ROLL SHOULD HONOR ITS OWN. That glorified Hard Rock Cafe on the banks of Lake Erie, flawed though it is, remains the best, highest-profile means to do that. They keep messing it up. I'm gonna keep on calling for them to get it right.

Induct the Monkees. Induct Paul Revere and the Raiders. Induct the New York Dolls, Harry Nilsson, and Warren Zevon, each of whom has at least been nominated. And, for God's sake, induct Chubby Checker.

Come on, baby. Let's do this.

Speaking of acts looooong overdue for induction into The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, our next edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio will program a few tracks by the Shangri-Las, in memory of the late, great Mary Weiss. 

REMEMBER!

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: 8/18/2023

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 # 1194. This show is available as a podcast.

THE FLASHCUBES: Do Anything You Wanna Do

I've been itching to do another all-covers TIRnRR for a while. They're fun to put together, they present a deep range of programming choices (as evidenced here), and the result is always cooler'n cool. 

The August 11th release date for both the Flashcubes' incomparable new covers album Pop Masters and the new various-artists Kinks tribute album Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies presented a no-time-like-NOW! opportunity for an all-covers rockin' pop radio show. 

Pop Masters is magnificent, an utterly ace new album from my long-time Cubic Fave Raves. The album's current single is a cover of the Motors' "Forget About You," and that was a carved-in-stone prerequisite for this week's all-covers playlist. We would not forget about that.

Still, I wanted to open the show with one of the Flashcubes' older covers: "Do Anything You Wanna Do." The 'Cubes did the song for their 2003 album Brilliant, and theirs is the definitive version. Yeah, even though Eddie and the Hot Rods' superswell original rendition earns a chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). The Flashcubes' cover is even greater.

(What? Ya can't qualify an absolute? Nothing can be greater than greatest? Sorry: Objection overruled. It's what I wanna do.)

HEADGIRL: Please Don't Touch

God, this is such an irresistible steamroll through a Johnny Kidd and the Pirates tune most Americans never knew about in the first place. Hell, most of us didn't know about Headgirl, the one-time-only 1981 team-up of piledrivin' British metal groups Motörhead and Girlschool. I did hear (and dig) the Pirates' original many years ago, but I encountered the Headgirl headbang for the first time in 2021. For several days after that initial exposure, it was the ONLY track I played, over and over. I could stand to hear it again right about now. It's such an incredible, storm-the-barricades assault, yet still as pop as anything. It's as great as, like, the Ramones, and c'mon--there ain't anything as great as the Ramones! Impossible but true. I wish I knew this record decades ago.

BEN VAUGHN: My Reservation Has Been Confirmed

Ben Vaughn is a colleague, at least technically. We've never met, though I did interview him (via telephone) for Goldmine magazine in the '90s. More to the point is the fact that his weekly radio show The Many Moods Of Ben Vaughn is carried in Syracuse by our own SPARK! WSPJ. Yes! The same mutant radio outfit that brings you This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio With Dana & Carl also serves up your recommended weekly allotment of Ben Vaughn's wireless audio mood menu. So: colleagues! Sort of.

Anyway, like the new 'Cubes album and Jem's Ray Davies tribute, the release of Ben's new covers EP Interpretations coincided with the planning for TIRnRR's covers show. Can't exclude a colleague! We opted to spin Ben's interpretation of Herman's Hermits' "My Reservation Has Been Confirmed;" independently, SPARK!'s own Rich Firestone also opted to program the track in Sunday's edition of Rich's show Radio Deer Camp. All good. We have no reservations about the appeal of a heapin' helping of Vaughn-accomplished Hermitage. Here's to our colleagues!

THE SUPREMES WITH THE FOUR TOPS: Love The One You're With

Continuing my current obsession with '70s works by the Supremes, our covers show turns to an agreeable take on Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With." This li'l gem comes from the 1973's Dynamite, which was the third (and last) album by the combined forces of the Supremes and the Four Tops. Magnificent, and I very much prefer this to Stills' original. 

THE MIDNIGHT CALLERS: Come Dancing

From Jem Records Celebrate Ray Davies, the Midnight Callers take on one of the Kinks' two all-time biggest U.S. hits. The original Kinks version's # 6 berth on the Hot 100 matched the pop sales position of 1965's "Tired Of Waiting For You," but I think "Come Dancing" enjoyed slightly more chart dominance than its '65 predecessor. I've never disliked "Come Dancing," but it's certainly not my favorite Kinks song. Most casual fans would be amazed to learn that it outperformed "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night," and "Lola"--the Kinks' only other U.S. Top 10 hits--but I guess that's what the Electoral College picked, or something.

The Midnight Callers do an excellent job of boppin' this one up. It's not a radical remake, but it does up the oomph factor enough for us to dig it anew. Don't be afraid--come dancing! It's only natural. And yet another track from Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies will make its TIRnRR debut on our next show.

TIRnRR ALLSTARS: Waterloo Sunset

Well. We certainly couldn't attempt an all-covers TIRnRR without playing this, could we? Once again, we thank our friends for their support. Ray Davies was wrong. We do need our friends. And with them, we are in paradise.

AL HIRT: Green Hornet Theme

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Listen, The Snow Is Falling

Librarians With Hickeys cover Yoko Ono. Because what's an all-covers playlist without an earnest attempt at Yokomania?

THE RUBINOOS: I Think We're Alone Now

The Rubinoos' splendid cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells classic "I Think We're Alone Now" just missed the Top 40 in 1977, standing alone at a peak position of # 45. It is somehow the only one of the Rubinoos' many, many superlative records to ever breach the Billboard Hot 100. The fact that the Rubinoos didn't have the long string of monumental chart hits their work merits is nothing short of a crime against music. At the very least, the Rubinoos' original song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" shoulda been huge. Huge.

I know I'm not alone in thinking that.

THE FLASHCUBES: Forget About You

Album of the year. Maybe single of the year, too. You should maybe oughta buy it.

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.

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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl