10 SONGS: 1/10/2026

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 # 1318

EYTAN MIRSKY: This Year's Gonna Be Our Year

THE FOUR TOPS: Reach Out I'll Be There

The news of the world this week does not inspire optimism. Nonetheless: We open the new year with testimonials of hope and resilience courtesy of Eytan Mirsky and the Four Tops. Both songs are given chapters in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). The book was not intended as fiction, the brutal nature of the real world notwithstanding.

You can read an earlier version of my GREM! celebration of Brother Eytan's fantastic "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" in its blog appearance right here. For now, let me add this bit from the book's chapter about the mighty Four Tops:

"...'Reach Out' is no less melodramatic than 'Standing In The Shadows Of Love' or 'It's The Same Old Song' or 'Seven Rooms Of Gloom.' But its sense of heightened emotion is put to a higher purpose: Not just lamenting lost love, but planting feet firmly, chin set, and reaching out to help a loved one make a stand when the chips are down. It's pure, it's inspirational, and it's spine-chillingly convincing and uplifting...."

We need that, especially in these times of trouble, when we feel like we can't go on. All hope isn't quite gone, not just yet. It's time to rewrite our stories. This year. Reach out. 

TAYLOR SWIFT [FEATURING SABRINA CARPENTER]: The Life Of A Showgirl [dressing room rehearsal version]

Look: I realize that I'm not in Taylor Swift's demo. But I respect her talent, I respect her accomplishment, and I very much respect her super ability to piss off a lot of people who piss me off. I've already waxed rhapsodic about Swift's sublime 2020 track "The Last Great American Dynasty," while simultaneously noting that most of her work is likely to fall outside my chosen pop parameters.

With that said, the fact that I don't listen to any contemporary hits radio format means I didn't hear the title tune from Swift's 2025 album The Life Of A Showgirl until a few weeks ago. I think the studio version of this collaboration between Swift and Sabrina Carpenter was played incidentally during the six-part Disney + docuseries Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era, but what got my attention was Swift and Carpenter's dressing room rehearsal performance of the song. That was stunning, allowing the words and melody to breathe free, unencumbered by extraneous (to me) gloss and thump. This rendition became an immediate personal pop obsession, prompting me to buy the track and put it on a radio show that's generally more known for playing the Ramones and the Flashcubes rather than Taylor Swift. See, great songs can fit in anywhere.

THE CYNZ: Love's So Lovely

The Cynz were TIRnRR's 13th most-played artist in 2025, and they placed two songs among our 50 most-played tracks. One of those tracks, "Heartbreak Time," was a single that has now been remixed as part of the brand-new Cynz album Confess, which is due out this month from the Jem Records label. As we commence a new year of countdown stats, we debut "Love's So Lovely," the latest single from Confess, and we'll be playing it again on Sunday. We confess a love of Cynz.

TREVOR BLENDOUR: She's Still My Baby

About a month ago, I got a text from beloved actor/musician/producer/debonaire man-about-town Robbie Rist:

"Sir.

Trevor Blendour (pronounced blender)

Look him up.

I think he's a great addition to TIRnRR.

Has a new album called Breaking Up With Trevor Blendour.

Find it."

We hear and we obey. Thanks for the tip, Robbie! (And, um...how did you get this number? Just askin'...)

MIKE BROWNING: It's Festival Time

Festival time? Man, it's ALWAYS a festival when Mike Browning releases a new single, and "It's Festival Time" puts that sentiment in writing. And if the snowy season in Syracuse doesn't immediately conjure images of FESTIVAL!, we can close our eyes, listen, and wave the ol' cigarette lighter high. We'll wave it again this Sunday. Don't argue with festivals.

THE TROGGS: Wild Thing

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

ELVIS PRESLEY: Hard  Headed Woman

The ONLY King we acknowledge.

SPECTRAFLAME: Love Don't Live Here No More

Another tip courtesy of the charmingly ubiquitous Robbie Rist, and this time it's a project he's involved in. "Love Don't Live Here No More" is the latest single from St. Petersburg, Florida's phenomenal pop combo Spectraflame, a fab force commanded by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Steve Burgess. Our Robbie adds drums, bass, backing vocals, and MORE GUITAR!, Lee Pons plays the keys, and the result is ready-made for rockin' pop radio. HEY! That's where WE come in! I knew we'd get to play some kinda part in this. Our part is to play it this week, and again next week. The love of pop music still lives here, and it lives here with gusto to spare.

(Er...our apologies to Spectraflame for announcing the song on-air last week as "Love Don't Live Here ANY More." I'd say we learned our lesson, but we did it again on our next show. Jeez, it's a good thing we're so adorable.)

THE VOGUES: Five O'Clock World

Good enough for Drew Carey. Good enough for us.

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: 11/29/2025

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 # 1312

THE RAMONES: Punishment Fits The Crime

Each week, when getting ready to plan the show's playlist with Dana, I keep a list of potential track choices to consider. The list includes new stuff, recent faves, old faves, old tracks we've never played before, and assorted items of varying vintage and familiarity that might fit into the presumed master plan of whatever it is we do on TIRnRR. The list carries through from week to week, its contents adjusted as we go.

The Ramones' "Punishment Fits The Crime" has been on that list for many weeks. The song was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone and Plasmatics guitarist Richie Stotts, sung by Dee Dee, and included on the group's 1989 album Brain Drain (the last Ramones studio album to include Dee Dee as anything other than just songwriter). Frankly, Brain Drain is a contender for my least favorite Ramones album, but it does give us the fantastic "I Believe In Miracles," plus "Pet Sematary" and "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)," proving that even the merest Ramones album is still A RAMONES ALBUM!! Anyway, "Punishment Fits The Crime" fits in the category of "old tracks we've never played before," and that status is what placed it in my week-to-week list of playlist possibilities.

Prior to this week's programming session, I realized it had been a little while since we'd opened a show with the Ramones. I considered programming one of my many, many Ramones Picks T' Click in that leadoff spot, but opted to finally give "Punishment Fits The Crime" its long-overdue TIRnRR debut.

Throughout the process, it didn't even occur to me that the song's title could apply to...you know who. Let's hope we find a legal punishment to fit that guy in the very near future. As another punk band said: All crimes are paid.

THE LEGAL MATTERS: Everybody Knows

The minute I found out that the Legal Matters were doing a new album for Big Stir Records, I immediately petitioned the band and label for permission and access to play the then-forthcoming advance single. The album, Lost At Sea, is due in 2026, and the single "Everybody Knows" was released to radio just after this week's show was recorded. But we got it! Everybody knows we would be playing it; we knew we could not wait another week to do so. And everybody should know now: We're playing it again this Sunday. 

SHOES: Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)

We don't get many opportunities to program new music by power pop legends Shoes, and we've never before had an opportunity to play Shows covering power pop's Ur group Raspberries. Opportunity SEIZED! Shoes' rendition of the Raspberries hit "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" comes to us from the superb various-artists 'Berries salute Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, a tribute curated by our friend Ken Sharp. Want a hit record? Look no further.

(Raspberries' original version of "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" ands Shoes' own incredible 1978 single "Tomorrow Night" are among the 145 tracks--one 45 at a time!--I discuss in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1]. SPOILER ALERT: I like both of those records a lot. You can read all about them and their 143 GREM! brethren and sistren by ordering your own copy of the book. I'm Carl Cafarelli, and I approve this message.  The Greatest Record Ever Made [Volume 2] is [very] tentatively planned for 2027.)

THE BUSBOYS: The Boys Are Back In Town

When Robbie Rist saw in this week's show hype that we were playing the BusBoys, he immediately wanted to know if we were playing new music by this great group. Alas, although we did program the BusBoys' then-recent single "In My Heart" back in 2024 (and likewise with "Love On My Mind" in 2022), we weren't even aware that there was new BusBoys music available. Honestly, I'd fire the TIRnRR research department, but that department is, y'know, me, and I've got tenure.

Robbie's (presumably) figurative headslap to our collective noggin prompted a fresh search for new BusBoys tuneage, resulting in a purchase of the 2025 digital-only album In My Heart. Target acquired! The album includes both of the 2020s singles mentioned above, and we'll debut another track from In My Heart on Sunday. Thanks for the nudzh, Robbie! Meanwhile, here's another spin of the BusBoys' best-known track "The Boys Are Back In Town," as heard when the BusBoys appeared in the 1982 Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte flick 48 Hours. 'Cuz when the boys are back, there ain't no foolin' around.

THE MONKEES: Papa Gene's Blues

PLAY, magic fingers!

TAYLOR SWIFT: The Last Great American Dynasty

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

KEN SHARP: I'm A Rocker

One more from Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, "I'm A Rocker" as performed by the set's auteur Ken Sharp. I owned the original Raspberries 45 of "I'm A Rocker" when I was a teen in the '70s, and I was puzzled that it wasn't on the Raspberries' Best Featuring Eric Carmen compilation LP. Our Ken knows Raspberries' best better'n anybody, and he honors that legacy here.

DIRTY LOOKS: Let Go

Staten Island's phenomenal pop combo Dirty Looks with their signature tune. From a previous 10 Songs:

Statement of intent. This Staten Island trio's eponymous debut LP was released on the Stiff America label in 1980, and "Let Go" was an immediate fave rave on 97 Power Rock, a Sunday night alternative-rock showcase aired on Buffalo's 97 Rock FM. Hmmm. A Sunday night rock 'n' roll radio show? I may have made note of that particular notion for possible future use. 

"Let Go" is a perfect post-punk radio pop song, fueled by new wave rock energy, rooted in catchy 1960s radio fare, and dead certain that the Ramones, the Who, Joe Jackson, and Paul Revere and the Raiders are Heaven-sent inspirations.

It's not easy to write a song about rock 'n' roll. It's not. Too many attempts at rock anthems feel forced, or overly earnest, pompous, clueless, heavy-handed, and...blechh. With "Let Go," Dirty Looks pull it off with style, and they make it seem like a cinch. Don't you know that rock 'n' roll is still the best drug? The drumming is hyperactive, the bass pushy (in a good way), the guitar simple and authoritative, the vocals and harmonies steadfast, reflecting the confidence of a group secure in the knowledge that it has God on its side. All you gotta do, let go, let go, let GO! GO! GO! GO! Belief is infectious. And godDAMN, this sounds so exhilarating on the radio. 

It always has.

ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS: Clowntime Is Over

Is clowntime over? All respect to Elvis Costello and the Attractions, but clowntime ain't really over until we heed the words of the Ramones:

Let the punishment fit the crime.

THE HIGH FREQUENCIES: Cleanup Time

And if there is any justice, clowntime will give way to cleanup time. "Cleanup Time" is my favorite track on the High Frequencies' super groovy new album Get High, and like our opening track by the Ramones, the title's topically apt nature didn't strike me until after the fact. Nonetheless: CLEANUP ON PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE! Mops at the ready. Let's go.

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! Taylor Swift, "The Last Great American Dynasty"

Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of 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!

TAYLOR SWIFT: The Last Great American Dynasty 

Written by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner

Produced by Aaron Dessner

From the album Folklore, Republic Records, 2020

Hipsters need not apply. 

Taylor Swift is probably the biggest single star on the planet right now, as close to a Beatles figure as our diffused pop culture can recognize at this time. As a baby boomer myself, I would have thought Swift's records unlikely to be my cuppa. 

I would have thought wrong.

I admit I was a little bit surprised when my lovely wife Brenda floated the idea of the two of us checking out Taylor Swift's concert movie. I was even more surprised by how much I flat-out enjoyed 2024's Taylor Swift: The ERAS Tour, a film that offers a marvelous, fascinating immersion into the phenomenon of a Taylor Swift live show. Good choice, Brenda!

Previously, my take on Taylor Swift was that she's a remarkable talent whose music was intended for a demographic that doesn't include me. Fair enough. It didn't stop me from respecting her, even admiring her, and recognizing that she's a star whose celebrity status was built by talent, as well as a star who uses her celebrity responsibly. These are good things. I needn't wish to sing along with "Bad Blood" to appreciate any of that.

I'm not in Taylor Swift's demo, but I've come to appreciate her more and more, and I've even discovered a few of her tracks capable of annexing some pop-starved corner of my little wheelhouse. This is particularly true of "The Last Great American Dynasty," a stunning track from Swift's 2020 album Folklore; it's even more true of the alternate version of "The Last Great American Dynasty" found on Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, which feels more intimate and artful. As I said to a friend recently: I can't see anyone who likes Rumours-era Stevie Nicks disliking "The Last Great American Dynasty." Brenda herself added that the track reminded her of some of the female-sung indie pop that is such a frequent and welcome part of my own ongoing soundtrack.

Factions build divisions. Factions are notorious dumbasses. Maybe I'm not gonna start playing "Shake It Off" (though I've just begun to realize how much that track reminds me of some of the chick-fronted new wave pop I was digging in the early '80s), but I say some of Swift's music is nonetheless perfect, even for an out-of-demo curmudgeon like me. The next great American dynasty has gotta start somewhere. Might be the greatest dynasty ever made.

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...no, 11 SONGS!: 5/31/2025

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 expands to 11 songs, and draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1287

THE SPONGETONES: Lulu's In Love

From Sir, with love. New music from North Carolina's phenomenal pop combo the Spongetones is always a welcome (if rare) cause for a round of Oh YEAH!s, so we're dead chuffed to begin this week's proceedings with the group's brand-new single "Lulu's In Love." 

Not counting their collaboration with the Flashcubes on the latter's WAY fab 2016 remake of the Spongetones' "Have You Ever Been Torn Apart," this new single is the Spongetones' first group appearance on the Big Stir Records label. "Lulu's In Love" also serves as the recorded debut of the group's new drummer Eric Willhelm, joining bassist Steve Stoeckel and guitarists Jamie Hoover and Pat Walters as they devise the next step in the Spongetones' master pop plan. "Lulu's In Love" is the first of three new 'Tones studio singles, and Big Stir will be collecting all three singles later this year in a special package with some live music recorded at the Spongetones' 40th Anniversary gig. The Spongetones' legacy of beat music survives and thrives. No wonder Lulu loves them so.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Hurry Up Sundown

TAYLOR SWIFT: The Last Great American Dynasty [Long Pond Studio Session]

Here's to a pair of American folk heroes, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift. Their celebrity gives them a forum if they choose to use it, and I'm delighted that they've both opted to speak out against homegrown tyranny. Even at their dizzying level of fame and acclaim, they are not necessarily insulated from the threat of pushback, and I respect them all the more for doing the right thing anyway. Born in the USA? It's a love story, so baby just say YES.

From the 2014 EP American Beauty, "Hurry Up Sundown" is one of my favorite Boss tunes. I've never been a Springsteen fan on the level of so many of my peers, but nor would I or could I ever deny the man's passion and accomplishment. He's recorded a number of things I like, a handful of works I love, and one song--"Girls In Their Summer Clothes"--that I just adore. My book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) includes a chapter on "Girls In Their Summer Clothes," and that articulates my feelings about Springsteen better than anything else I could ever attempt in that regard.

I'm not in Taylor Swift's demo, but I've come to appreciate her more and more, and I've even discovered a few of her tracks capable of annexing some pop-starved corner of my little wheelhouse. This is particularly true of "The Last Great American Dynasty," a stunning track from Swift's 2020 album Folklore; it's even more true of the alternate version of "The Last Great American Dynasty" found on Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, which feels more intimate and artful. As I said to a friend recently: I can't see anyone who likes Rumours-era Stevie Nicks disliking "The Last Great American Dynasty."

And I'm glad we have both Bruce and Taylor on our side.

THE BONGOS: The Beat Hotel

THE CYNZ: Heartbreak Time

THE GRIP WEEDS: Gene Clark (Broken Wing)

Tonight in Asbury Park, the Bongos--one of my many favorite bands of the 1980s--will be marking the release of their fabulous archival in-concert album The Shroud Of Touring: Live In 1985 with a reunion gig. TIRnRR Fave Raves the Cynz and the Grip Weeds are also on the bill with their Jem Records labelmates the Bongos, and I really, really wanted to be in attendance. Alas, I wasn't able to execute the logistics of making the trip, so I have to sit this one out. It's going to be an incredible show, and I'm bummed that I have to miss it. But we spin a track apiece from each of the three groups as a virtual long-distance cigarette lighter held high above our heads.

We've been programming the recent singles by the Cynz ("Heartbreak Time") and the Grip Weeds ("Gene Clark [Broken Wing]") anyway, and we've been on a weekly Bongos kick as well, starting with studio tracks then moving to live cuts from The Shroud Of Touring as soon as they were cleared for airplay. Other than a spin of the live "In The Congo"--probably my single favorite Bongos song--we've been sticking with Bongos numbers (with wings!) that have never made it to any previous TIRnRR playlist in either a live or a studio incarnation.

That continues with this week's airing of "The Beat Hotel" from The Shroud Of Touring. The studio version was the title track from an album the Bongos released when I was working at a record store in the '80s. I gave it a lot of in-store play, and I can't believe I never got around to playing it on the radio before including its live performance in this week's show.

We'll have another track from The Shroud Of Touring on our next show, a song we have played in its original studio version, but which wasn't originally credited as an official Bongos track. And we toast all of our friends in Asbury Park tonight. Wish we were there.

KISS: Calling Dr. Love

The Greatest Record Ever Made!

THE FLASHCUBES: Reminisce

Ahead of the September release of Make Something Happen! A Tribute To A DIY Power Pop Band Called THE FLASHCUBES, our friends at Big Stir Records have announced a June 27 date for the various-artists tribute album's first digital single: "Reminisce" by the Flashcubes with Mike Gent.

Our regular listeners already know the song quite well. We've been playing "Reminisce" for months, each spin somehow even more enthusiastic than the last. After a few years celebrating the Flashcubes' prowess in covering other artists, it was imperative to remind all 'n' sundry of the magnificence to be found in the band's own songwriting catalog. Hence a tribute album, gathering a bunch of accomplished rockin' pop performers to offer their own interpretations of some Cubic classics. 

I felt it was important--very important--that this tribute album should also include at least one newly-recorded original track by the Flashcubes themselves. Independent of what passes for my thought process, the 'Cubes were already working on three new tracks--"Reminisce" by Paul Armstrong, "If These Hands" by Arty Lenin, and "The Sweet Spot" by Gary Frenay (with the late B. D. Love)--so this was a match made in Bomp! magazine.

In addition to being the first single, "Reminisce" will open the album, kicking off this magic immersion in the Flashcubes' songbook, culminating in the Spongetones' album-closing cover of Arty Lenin's "Nothing Really Matters When You're Young." Make Something Happen! is a fantastic record, and I'm looking forward to the day you can hear it in its entirety. For now, we start with the single. June 27th will be your first opportunity to make something happen.

(An advance look at my liner notes for Make Something Happen! will be distributed privately to my $3-a-month paid Patreon supporters tomorrow, along with a mostly-unredacted look at the album's line-up. Wanna see it? Fund me, baby!)

THE RAMONES: Rockaway Beach

HEY!WE'RETHERAMONESANDTHISONE'SCALLED"ROCKAWAYBEACH!"

Outside of the Beatles, no band has ever meant more to me than the American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time, the Ramones. The Flashcubes are the only other band in my all-time pop Trinity. The Ramones were the subject of my first book, and the creators of the record that changed my life. It's Alive is my favorite live album.

This week's spin of "Rockaway Beach" comes from NYC 1978, a 2003 King Biscuit Flower Hour CD that preserves a January 7th, 1978 Ramones performance at the Palladium. That date was eight days after the London New Year's Eve performance captured on It's Alive, ten days before my 18th birthday (which was the day I bought the "Rockaway Beach" 45), and about a week shy of three months before the March 31st, 1978 Ramones/Flashcubes/Runaways Syracuse gig that was my first Ramones show.

There is no substitute for live Ramones. There's also no substitute for studio Ramones, but let's talk in-concert brudders for a sec. Both It's Alive and NYC 1978 offer essential shots of Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Tommy in their natural element.

It's not hard, not far to reach. Everything is as it was then...except you are there. Take it, Dee Dee!

BEATLES: No Reply

Speaking of the Beatles: 

If I were you I'd realize that I

Love you more than any other guy

And I'd forgive the lies that I

Heard before when you gave me no reply

Pop music's best bridge ever. Narrowly edging out the Beatles' "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party," which narrowly edges out Badfinger's Beatles-inspired "Baby Blue." Toppermost of the poppermost, lads.

DAVIE ALLAN AND THE ARROWS: Blues' Theme

Our old theme song! Before the late-evening dawn (What...?!) of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio at the very end of 1998, the first Dana and Carl radio shows were the short-lived 1992 series We're Your Friends For Now. The trek from We're Your Friends For Now through the first two decades of TIRnRR is chronicled in my mini-memoir Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio).

On We're Your Friends For Now, our opening and closing theme song was usually Davie Allan and the Arrows' chopperrific classic "Blues' Theme." It's a track from the soundtrack of The Wild Angels, a 1966 biker flick starring Peter Fonda (as Blues) and Nancy Sinatra (as Blues' go'geous girlfriend Mike).

I saw The Wild Angels on a mid-'70s matinee double bill with The Born Losers, the 1967 film that introduced Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to "Blues' Theme," and I don't recall what sequence of circumstance led me back to the song in the '80s. It became one of my top tunes, so I was more than all-in when Dana started playing it at the Hola! and Sayonara! spots in each week's exciting episode of We're Your Friends For Now.

And it still sounds great--and chopperrific!--ridin' into the sunset of this week's eleven-song 10 Songs. Hey, Blues! Tell Mike we said hi.

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.

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. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.