10 SONGS: 3/7/2026

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 # 1326

THE RAMONES: I WANNA BE SEDATED

Compiled from a pair of previous posts:

She was asleep, sitting up, her head resting on my shoulder. I was in love with her. And I was already in love with the music of the band whose new album was about to be played on the radio. Love and music. Reasonable goals. I just want to have something to do.

It was October of 1978. Brenda and I had just met, already exchanged I love yous, and were determined to see where that road would lead us next....

Those were the opening paragraphs of a Love At First Spin piece I had planned to write about the Ramones' fourth album Road To Ruin. I felt the story would have too much overlap with my Love At First Spin tribute to Rocket To Russia, so the Road To Ruin entry will likely remain unfinished. But the facts remain: I first heard Road To Ruin when Rochester's WCMF-FM played it in its entirety, listening as I sat in my dorm suite with my arm around this girl I'd just met and fallen for. Road to ruin? Road to something better.

"I Wanna Be Sedated" stood out immediately, helped in no small part by its superficial resemblance to Alice Cooper's "Elected," transcending that influence with its paradoxical hybrid of a wish to be numbed combined with a full-throttle approach that couldn't be taken down by a flurry of tranquilizer darts. I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain. Sounds a lot like the act of being smitten. I want it.

The Ramones--I do prefer referring to them with a definite article--never had a hit record. Their Billboard Hot 100 peak was # 66 for "Rockaway Beach" in 1977. Their highest-charting album was End Of The Century (# 44 in 1980), edging out Rocket To Russia (# 49 in '77), the only two Ramones LPs to ascend beyond the # 50 slot. They did better overseas, but as Johnny Ramone once told me, "...It was never no big deal, really, having a hit in England. All that mattered, really, was America. It's okay having a hit in England, but the main thing was you wanna make it at home."

Their legacy endured, and just about everyone now has at least some general familiarity with some of the Ramones' recorded work. Hell, you can hear the Ramones in TV commercials. "Blitzkrieg Bop" is likely the Ramones' most universally-recognized track, but "I Wanna Be Sedated" comes close. It was not released as an American single from Road To Ruin, only achieving 7" status when reissued in the late '80s in conjunction with the best-of set Ramones Mania. One imagines edge-averse 1979 radio programmers wouldn't have been quick to embrace a pop tune about sedation, just as that notoriously timid lot had been skittish about playing the Ramones up to that point. But one also wonders if such a single might have found a wider audience, if only it had been released at the time.

(The Johnny Ramone quote cited above comes from my 1994 interviews with the Ramones, contained within my 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones.)

MR. BRUCE GORDON: Every Day You Get To Choose

Our pal Mr. Bruce Gordon has been a fixture on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio pret' much from the get-go. The components of that fixture have included Bruce's fine pop work as Mr. Encrypto and Mr. Encrypto and the Ciphers, with Pop Co-Op and TIR'N'RR Allstars, and through current wonders under the Mr. Bruce Gordon dba. As I wrote upon the release of Mr. Bruce Gordon's 2023 release One Tall Order:

"Ladies and gentlemen, MR. BRUCE GORDON! You know him and love him as Mr. Encypto and as one-fourth of the irresistible Pop Co-Op. Now Bruce Gordon is ditching the 'Encrypto' moniker, retaining his alter ego's honorific, and steppin' out under his own name for the first time since the dawn of ever.

"Mr. Bruce Gordon's emergence from the power pop witness protection program results in the sublimely easy-going new album One Tall Order. One Tall Order is a sweet sway of ten engaging tracks steeped in lessons learned from a lifetime of listening: listening to the radio, AM and FM, listening to deep LP cuts, and listening between the grooves, to Motown and new wave, Steely Dan and British Invasion, folk and rock and singer-songwriter, the Church of Brian Wilson, and always to the rising voice within. 

"Fan and artist in one man, this peerless pop mister is ready to reveal his secret identity. Mr. Bruce Gordon. It's time we ALL knew that name."

Now, the unencrypted Mr. Bruce Gordon returns to reinforce the ol' fixtures with a brand-new single, "Every Day You Get To Choose." You can choose to get that here, and you can choose to tune in to hear it again on our next show. 

THE CORNER LAUGHERS: Dusking

"Dusking" is the latest advance tease from the Corner Laughers' forthcoming new album Concerns Of Wasp And Willow, and it serves as yet another inviting point of entry into the group's luscious blend of folk-pop, accomplished with sheer heartwinning beauty. Calling this music "gorgeous" sells it short. As dusk heralds darkness, we'll light a fire and gather together.

SPECTRAFLAME: I Always Wanted You To Stay

Man, we can't keep up with these prolific pop guys. By the time we were able to debut the splendor of Spectraflame's recent single "I Always Wanted You To Stay" on this week's show, the lads had already released another new track, "The Pawn And The Prize." WE CAN'T KEEP UP...!! 

But what the hell--it's worth the effort. We'll give "I Always Wanted You To Stay" another playlist berth on our next show, and we'll attempt to catch up with "The Pawn And The Prize"...eventually. Spectraflame will probably have released a triple-LP live album and a boxed set by then. 

AIMEE MANN: Driving With One Hand On The Wheel

One of the greatest rewards of doing this radio show has been the opportunity to discover so much great new music, and so much great new-to-me music. A lot of those fresh revelations are courtesy of Dana, including his spin this week of Aimee Mann's 1995 non-album single "Driving With One Hand On The Wheel." Supernifty! The road of discovery motors on.

THE CYNZ: You Wreck Me

The Cynz get a significant amount of airplay on this little mutant radio show, mostly because both Dana and I recognize the empirical truth that every rock 'n' roll radio show that claims to be a rock 'n' roll radio show oughta be slotting a significant amount of airplay to the Cynz. I mean, come on, people! Duh!

Lately, TIRnRR has been pummeling the atmosphere with tracks from the current Cynz album Confess, including this resolutely ace cover of Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me." Wreckin' the airwaves for the greater good! It's what a rock 'n' roll radio show should do. We'll return to another track from Confess on our next show. 

DAVID RUFFIN: I Want You Back

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

When working on a new recording, there are times when an artist is absolutely confident the great track at hand will become a surefire hit. Book it. Top of the pops, # 1 with a bullet. In the '80s, the members of a fantastic pop band called the dB's were certain, certain that they'd created an irresistible worldwide smash with their recording of a terrific song called "Love Is For Lovers." The song didn't even chart. But it felt like a hit, and it still feels like it should have been a hit. 

One wonders if David Ruffin had that feeling when he was recording "I Want You Back," that surefire faith that he would hit the toppermost of the poppermost with this new hit. If he did, he could not have been more wrong.

In this situation, some hubris would have seemed justified, really. Ruffin had been a proven and experienced hitmaker with the Temptations. If Motown was the sound of young America in the '60s, the Temptations were arguably the sound of Motown. Their hits were many, their popularity vast, and "My Girl" in particular is immortal, and perhaps the definitive Motown single...

...Ruffin had been the lead voice on "My Girl," as well as on the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," "(I Know) I'm Losing You," and "I Wish It Would Rain," among others. But by 1968, being one of the Temptations had ceased to bring Ruffin sunshine on a cloudy day. With that, he was no longer a Temptation.

Solo success ultimately proved fleeting for Ruffin. 1969's "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)" was a Top 10 hit on both the pop and R & B charts, and "I've Lost Everything I've Ever Loved" and "I'm So Glad I Fell For You" were Top 20 soul hits ignored by the pop Top 40. As the success of the Temptations continued into the early '70s, the group's former lead singer could have used a sweeter song than the birds in the trees. For Ruffin, the hits had stopped.

Could Ruffin's version of "I Want You Back" have been the hit it deserved to be, the hit Ruffin's recording career kinda needed it to be? Alas, not in the real world. Some believe that Ruffin recorded "I Want You Back" roughly contemporary to when the Jackson Five cut the version that would become their smash debut Motown single. It was, after all, standard operating procedure for acts within Berry Gordy's empire to record competing versions of the same song, with a designated Chosen One then anointed as hit-worthy. But the J5's "I Want You Back" ascended the charts in 1969; Ruffin's version was likely recorded in 1970, part of the sessions for a proposed 1971 album shelved by Motown. 

Nonetheless: It should have been released. And it should have been a hit....

THE RUNAWAYS: School Days

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

SAM COOKE: (What A) Wonderful World

"Wonderful world?" With all due respect to the legendary Sam Cooke, I'd like to get a second opinion regarding his diagnosis of this world's attributes. At its core, Cooke was right: There is great wonder to be found within the heart of this frantic planet. Alas, we are led by far too many who don't know much about history. 

Nor anything else.

THE BEATLES: Carry That Weight/The End

The love you take is equal to the love you make? That sounds like a lot of weight to carry, lads. Here's hoping Abbey Road leads to a freeway.

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: 8/4/2023

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 # 1192. This show is available as a podcast.

THE CYNZ: I Need You

Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies is that mighty label's latest gathering of its acts to salute one of rockin' pop's greatest songwriters. It follows in the steady footsteps of Jem's previous salutes to John Lennon, Brian Wilson, and Pete Townshend, and it's fully as ACE!! as its predecessors. Given this little mutant radio show's repeated reference to the Kinks as our house band, it's a safe bet Jem's Ray Davies tribute will be scoring some significant Dana & Carl airplay.

The album made its TIRnRR debut last week, with Johnathan Pushkar's version of "I Gotta Move." We played the Pushkar track again this week, and we opened the show with this cover of the Kinks' primal prime cut "I Need You," courtesy of the Cynz.

The Kinks' "I Need You" isn't as well known as its proto-punk brethren "You Really Got Me" and "All Day And All Of The Night," but it is indeed in that same proud-to-be-loud sense of willful abandon. The Cynz nail it, and we're playing it again on our next show.

We need to.

THE FLASHCUBES: Forget About You

Speaking of covers of "I Need You:" Way before I heard the Kinks' original recording of the song, I was introduced to "I Need You" via an incendiary live cover performed in the '70s by Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes. The Flashcubes' pummeling live shows and own original songs are what made me a 'Cubes fan in the first place, but they have also always been adept at pulling off irresistible covers, bending them to their Cubic will and makin' 'em their own.

The Flashcubes' new covers album Pop Masters has had us drumming upon all surfaces. Whatta record! Pop Masters doesn't include any of the cover choices familiar from the group's decades of live shows--no Kinks, no Beatles, no Big Star, certainly no Sex Pistols, and the 'Cubes already covered Eddie and the Hot Rods' "Do Anything You Wanna Do" on their 2003 album Brilliant. Instead, the album digs deeper into a pure pop fan's dream list of Why-weren't these-HITS?! nuggets. 

On Pop Masters, the Flashcubes cover the worthy likes of the Spongetones, Shoes, Pezband, Cyrus Erie, Slade, the Dwight Twilley Band, Chris Stamey, Sparks, the Posies, the Paley Brothers, and Pilot, frequently in collaboration with some of the artists connected with the original version. Everything shines as brightly as a Flashcube oughtta.

And dig this: I'm as big a Flashcubes fan as this world has ever seen. With the exception of that above-cited 2003 recording of "Do Anything You Wanna Do," their Pop Masters take on the Motors' "Forget About You" may be the greatest cover the Flashcubes have ever done.

Pop Masters is out August 11th, and available for preorder right-the-hell NOW. Album of the year. I know it's barely August, sure, but I also know me. Masters at work here. Album of the year. 

KID GULLIVER: All Because Of You

A new single from Kid Gulliver? Of course we're playing it. Duh. And we'll play it again on our next show.

DOLPH CHANEY: Mr. Eli

A new single from Dolph Chaney? Of course we're playing it. Duh. And we'll play it again on our next show. Dolph, meet Kid Gulliver. Kid Gulliver, Dolph. Help yourself to some snacks.

But be ready to start singin' when we need you.

SAM COOKE: Chain Gang

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE PRETENDERS: Back On The Chain Gang

It was just like starting over.

The Pretenders emerged in England in 1978, led by Chrissie Hynde, an American playing guitar and singing lead. Hynde, guitarist James Honeywell-Scott, bassist Pete Farndon, and drummer Martin Chambers turned out to be great Pretenders, debuting on record with a 1979 single covering the Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing." More records followed: singles, two albums (1980's Pretenders and 1981's Pretenders II), with the 1981 EP Extended Play in between albums. 

And then half the band died.

I wanted to include a chapter about the Pretenders' 1982 single "Back On The Chain Gang" in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). The three paragraphs you see above are as far as I've gotten in writing that chapter. I will circle back to finish it eventually; believe me, if Volume 1 ever wills itself into print, I will wanna follow up with Volume 2. The Pretenders would be part of that theoretical second book.

I'm in the process of what I consider to be a final edit of the first GREM! book: 145 records, just under 114,000 words. Its path to publication hasn't been paved yet, but I remain hopeful that one book (like, say, for example, my recently-published Ramones book) can lead to another.

Either way: back on the chain gang.

CAROLYN FRANKLIN: Chain Reaction

"Chain Gang." "Back On The Chain Gang." To complete the chain, we could have gone with Aretha Franklin, Fleetwood Mac, or the Flashcubes' late-'70s 'Cuse contemporaries the Ohms, or I guess we coulda gone with Bruce Springsteen's "The Ties That Bind." We opted for Aretha's li'l sister Carolyn Franklin. Action into reaction. The circle is unbroken.

THE KINKS: She's Got Everything [backing track take 2]

From the five-disc boxed set The Anthology 1964-1971, this backing-track-only cut of the Kinks' all-time bopper "She's Got Everything" has (perhaps incongruously) become my go-to version. It's kinda like how I've come to prefer an acoustic remix of the Monkees' "Sunny Girlfriend" to the better-known (and fabulous) version heard on the Monkees' 1967 Headquarters album. 

I'm not trying to be different for the mere sake of being different; something about these two specific Kinks and Monkees alternate realities just grabs me. The acoustic remix of "Sunny Girlfriend" is one of my 25 favorite Monkees tracks; if I ever get around to compiling an all-time Kinks Top 25, this backing track of "She's Got Everything" has a fair shot at making that list. In particular, Mick Avory's drumming just snaps in this version. It's got everything. 

Except vocals. You go into battle with the Kinks you have, not the Kinks you wish you had. In any incarnation: God save the Kinks.

AMY RIGBY: Tom Petty Karaoke

From This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 5. Amy Rigby won't back down, even when nothing feels right. We dedicate this to Amy herself, with all the hugs in the world.

NEW MATH: Die Trying

I have been waiting years and years for someone to wise up and release a CD compilation of Rochester, NY's phenomenal pop combo New Math. At long last, the wise guys at Propeller Sound Recordings have come through with Die Trying & Other Hot Sounds (1979-1983), an eleven-track collection that adds up to what I've been waiting for.

I've written previously of how I first encountered the music of New Math. And yes, of course the Flashcubes were involved in that discovery:

"Sometimes the giddy euphoria of pop music makes us fall in instant thrall to a new (or new-to-us) record upon first spin. Sometimes...it doesn't work out that way. I was underwhelmed by my initial exposures to the music of the Pretenders, Patti Smith, even Stevie Wonder. My reactions to all of these changed for the better upon further review. 

"The 'Die Trying' single wasn't quite my introduction to the sound of New Math. New Math was from Rochester, NY, friends of my hometown Syracuse Fave Raves the Flashcubes. I saw New Math on a bill with the 'Cubes in the summer of 1978, upstairs at hoppin' Syracuse nightspot The Firebarn. New Math was just terrific, energetic and invigorating. I was sure I was gonna be a New Math fan forevermore.

"So, of course, I snapped up New Math's 1979 debut single 'Die Trying' as soon as I saw it. By now, I'm sure context has already clued you into the fact that I didn't like the record. At all.

"Why not? Damned if I could tell you. I adore it now, and I have no remaining recollection of why it disappointed me so much in the moment. The record didn't change. My perception of it did...."

Nowadays, I regard "Die Trying" as an all-time favorite. It's but one of many great tracks on this new Die Trying compilation, a CD I ordered as soon as I saw it listed at Kool Kat Musik. And now it's MINE!! Hot sounds, cool liner notes by Joe Messaro, and an essential addition to my music archives. As I wrote in another previous post:

"I'm not sure how many times I got to see New Math play; it was at least three times (Firebarn, on campus at Brockport, at Scorgie's in Rochester), probably not more, and certainly not enough. In that short span from '78 into the early '80s, New Math evolved from an energetic punk-fueled pop group into something moodier and broodier. I loved 'em throughout, from the sheer punch of their first single "Die Trying' through the faux ska 'Older Women' and into the surly new-wave psych of 'They Walk Among You.' I believe I still have my New Math Adds Up button. I would buy a New Math CD anthology right now."

The new CD doesn't include the later moodier and broodier stuff like "They Walk Among You," but I ain't complainin'. Two tracks from the Die Trying collection--"Take To The Night" and (of course) "Die Trying"--grace this week's playlist. We'll hear a third New Math track on our next program. A little faux ska would sound pretty good on the radio, wouldn't 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

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Chain Gang

Drawn from a pair of previous posts, this was prepped as a potential chapter for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but is not a part of that book's current blueprint.

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!

SAM COOKE: Chain Gang

Written by Sam Cooke and Charles Cook Jr.

Produced by Hugo and Luigi [Luigi Creatore and Hugo Peretti]

Single, RCA Records, 1960

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.

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.

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

MY WEEKLY VIDEO BLOG: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! # 28: Sam Cooke, "Chain Gang"

An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. I like that idea so much I'm writing a book about it. And I'm promoting that book with a weekly video series, discussing each of the book's chosen tracks one by one.

Inspired by actor Leslie Odom, Jr.'s Oscar-nominated performance as Sam Cooke in One Night In Miami..., this week's GREM! video spotlight falls upon Cooke's classic record "Chain Gang." Listen to the song again here, and then witness me raving about it here:

If you dig whatever the hell it is I'm doing in these weekly videos, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. NEXT WEEK: we'll be back with more from The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THIS WEEK'S VIDEO: Sam Cooke, "Chain Gang"

GREM! # 27: The Wonders, "That Thing You Do!"

GREM! # 26: Johnny Nash, "I Can See Clearly Now"

GREM! # 25: Aretha Franklin, "Respect"

GREM! # 24: Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here"

GREM! # 23: The Carpenters, "Only Yesterday" and Material Issue, "Kim The Waitress"

GREM! # 22: The Beatles,"Yesterday"

GREM! # 21: The Bay City Rollers, "Rock And Roll Love Letter"

GREM! # 20: Buddy Holly, "Peggy Sue"/"Everyday"

GREM! # 19: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"

GREM! # 18: Melanie with the Edwin Hawking Singers, "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)"

GREM! # 17: The Romantics, "What I Like About You"

GREM! # 16: The Hollies, "I Can't Let Go"

GREM! # 15: Wilson Pickett, "In The Midnight Hour"

GREM! # 14: Crazy Elephant, "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'"

GREM! # 13: Neil Diamond, "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"

GREM! # 12: Little Richard, "The Girl Can't Help It"

GREM! # 11: Eytan Mirsky, "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year"

GREM! # 10: The Monkees, "Riu Chiu"

GREM! # 9: Patti Smith, "Gloria"

GREM! # 8: Big Mama Thornton, "Hound Dog"

GREM! # 7: Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel"

GREM! # 6: The Sex Pistols,"God Save The Queen"

GREM! # 5: Dusty Springfield,"I Only Want To Be With You"

GREM! # 4: Chuck Berry, "Promised Land"

GREM! # 3: Baron Daemon and the Vampires, "The TransylvaniaTwist"

GREM! # 2: Badfinger, "Baby Blue"

GREM! # 1: The Ramones, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?

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You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

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

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.

10 SONGS: 4/20/2021

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 # 1073.

JIM BASNIGHT AND THE MOBERLYS: Tonight

Our little mutant radio show has been programming music from Jim Basnight's various noms du bop for a couple of decades. But I was a latecomer to all things Basnight. Jim's old Seattle-area punk-pop combo The Moberlys woulda been a natural-born contemporary Perfect Fit Fave Rave for me in the late '70s and early '80s. Alas, I don't think I heard them until the '90s...at which point they automatically became a natural-born retroactive Perfect Fit Fave Rave for me. Great records don't care what year it is.

"Tonight" may have been the first Basnight/Moberlys track I ever heard. Good introduction! I think it was on a pop compilation VHS tape that Jeremy Morris sent my way, but however I got there, hell yeah, MOBERLYMANIA!! "Tonight" subsequently found a home on the 2000 Jim Basnight and the Moberlys set Seattle - New York - Los Angeles, and that essential collection is now available as a Bandcamp download. Go! Get it! You need this tonight.

LARRY COLLINS: See The Hills

Yet another illustration of the happenstance that feeds TIRnRR playlists. A listener recommended we play some material by '50s rockabilly guitar teen wunderkind Larry Collins; we've played his "Whistle Bait" in the past, and of course we've played the stalwart "Hoy Hoy," recorded in 1958 by The Collins Kids (Larry and his older sister Lorrie Collins). Time for more!

A search for deeper Larry Collins cuts led to a stumble across "See The Hills," a track from a collection called Sharon Sheeley: Songwriter. Sheeley wrote or co-wrote a number of tunes you may know, including Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" and her boyfriend Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else." "See The Hills" is country pop, and presumably just a demo recording. I don't know if anyone else ever recorded this, but The Beau Brummels should have. It's worthy of wider exposure, and it's certainly worth a spin on the radio. Thanks again, happenstance.

SAM COOKE: (Ain't That) Good News

Actor Leslie Odom, Jr.'s Oscar-nominated portrayal of Sam Cooke in the film One Night In Miami... has prompted us to play a lot more Sam Cooke on TIRnRR this year. We are willing thralls to the stimuli of pop culture. While Cooke classics like "Chain Gang" and "Another Saturday Night" are recognized pop-soul juggernauts, "(Ain't That) Good News" isn't quite as well-known. I mean, it was a hit (# 11 in Billboard in 1964, achieving a higher chart position than Cooke's iconic "A Change Is Gonna Come"), but it's usually not one of the first five or six songs to come to the mind of most folks when discussing Sam Cooke's c.v. I remember it from a TV ad for some mail-order Sam Cooke best-of LP decades ago, and its easygoing sway and casual confidence retain Cooke's swagger and cool groove, now and forever. Good news.

THE FORTY NINETEENS: It's The Worst Thing I Could Do

We've been corresponding with The Forty Nineteens' singin' drummer Nick Zeigler for ages already, so it was always a no-brainer we'd play new Forty Nineteens music as it became available. The group's new album New Roaring Twenties adds an extra irresistible with the inclusion of "It's The Worst Thing I Could Do," a song previously done by Zeigler and The Forty Nineteens' front number John Pozza with their old gang The Leonards. The song's been an ongoing obsession for me since its appearance on a fab 1992 various-artists set called Hit By A Succession Of Bricks. The Forty Nineteens slow down The Leonards' original breakneck approach, but retain the inherent bludgeoning charm of a great song built to survive and thrive in varying arrangements and environments. It's the BEST thing we could do!

THE KENNEDYS: Half Of Us

Several years back, The Kennedys coined the phrase "coffeehouse pop" to describe their music, a catchphrase built upon the understanding that their music is just, well, their music. It's an apt description, but if you don't know The Kennedys--and my God, how could you possibly not know The Kennedys?!--it may not convey the sheer depth of Pete and Maura's POV. You'll get some of it quickly: they met as members of Nanci Griffith's band; their first date was a visit to Buddy Holly's grave in Lubbock, Texas; their sound incorporates folk and Americana, a singer-songwriter vibe, a pervasive love of all that music can be. Awrighty. The idea of coffeehouse pop can probably convey all of that.

But does it hint at Maura's roots in the early '80s Syracuse punk scene? Does it suggest the sheer virtuosity of Pete as an incomparable player of anything that has strings to pluck, pick, or strum? Do you hear Gershwin? Howzabout The Hollies? And are you ready for a coffeehouse pop song inspired by The Ramones?

"Half Of Us" is that song, an absolutely lovely li'l bopper from The Kennedys' 2002 album Get It Right. Maura once said they wrote it under the influence of Forest Hills' phenomenal pop combo, and who are we to argue? If "Half Of Us" doesn't sound immediately like music to huff Carbona by, the 1-2-3-4! pop instinct is nonetheless there, distinct and undeniable. And it's coffeehouse pop. Joey Ramone would have loved it.

(And if you really don't know The Kennedys, you can remedy that woeful situation by checking out Pete and Maura's weekly YouTube shows, which stream every Sunday afternoon at 2:00 Eastern. Coffeehouse pop never tasted sweeter than this.)

NIGHTSPELL: Sea Of Thieves

A beguilingly sing-songy intro leads into a kaleidoscopic goosing of the flesh, all courtesy of Boston's Nightspell and their new Red On Red Records single "Sea Of Thieves." The brittle claustrophobia of the lyrics may seem to contrast with the confident bounce of the tune, but that dichotomy creates the precise cathartic jolt that's central to the song. Take anything you want/Take anything but me. The result is one of the most pleasant-sounding expressions of that familiar sentiment, Hit the road, Jack! 

(But yeah, pleasant or not: take a hike, ya worthless crumb.)

POP CO-OP: You Don't Love Me Any More

I say again: if Chad and Jeremy had recorded Pop Co-Op's "You Don't Love Me Anymore," it would have been the very best thing Chad and Jeremy ever did. And I love Chad and Jeremy. Pop Co-Op's own stirring version is available as a CD or as a digital download on our 2017 compilation album This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4.

THE RAMONES: Swallow My Pride

Power pop from The Ramones. Specifically, it's power pop from The Ramones' second album, 1977's Leave Home. There are knowledgeable pop pundits (some of whom are my pals) who don't regard any of The Ramones' records as fitting within the critical parameters of power pop. I disagree. "Swallow My Pride" is a prime example of why I disagree. It's not da Brudders' only power-pop masterwork--that list also includes "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker," "Oh Oh I Love Her So," "Rockaway Beach," "Babysitter," and more--but it serves as an opening argument. Power pop from The Ramones. Proud power pop from The Ramones. But isn't it always that way?

KEVIN ROBERTSON: Love's Blue Yonder

Man, this is pure sunshine. "Love's Blue Yonder" is a single off the forthcoming debut solo album from Kevin Robertson of The Vapour Trails. If the single's any indication of how great the album's gonna be, we hereby advise you to make some space on your CD shelf and plan your budget accordingly.

THE ROLLING STONES: She's A Rainbow

Standing in the shadows of Sgt. Pepper, or a bold Stonesy step the pop world wasn't ready to take in 1967? It's been many, many years since I've listened to The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request, and I owe myself a refresher course in its virtues, vices, lanterns, and gompers. My first copy of the record came a little more than a decade after the fact, a used reissue pressing sans 3D cover graphics, but still dripping with the black-light atmosphere of its psychedelic reputation. It was...fine. Good. It was no Aftermath, certainly no Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass), but really, what was? I kinda liked the hippie vibe of the LP's opening track "Sing This All Together." My proto-punk teen self took to the riff-driven "Citadel," and I paid occasional tribute to the bass player with spins of Bill Wyman's "In Another Land." The rest of the record rarely registered on my Satanic Majesties' request line in 1978.

That said, Side Two did contain a couple of tracks I knew from my battered 'n' cherished copy of Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2): "2000 Light Years From Home" and "She's A Rainbow." When Dana included the latter among his selections for this week's radio show, we opted for the slightly longer Their Satanic Majesties Request album version--with its unique dialogue intro--rather than the single. Satanic? Majestic! Ooh-la-la-ooh-la-la-lala....

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

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

Follow me on Twitter @CafarelliCarl