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Music Throwback Saturday: Weird Al, Part 2

The illustrious Illinois blogger SamuraiFrog decided to rank all of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s songs, 165 of them, an impressive undertaking. So, I decided to come up with a list of my 33 favorite Weird Al songs. Why 33? Because LPs play at 33 revolutions per minute. And I’m going to break them up into three posts of 11 songs each, mostly because posting 11 posts of three songs each would be weird.

Part 1 is HERE, and part 3 will show up in a little more than a month.

22. Buy Me a Condo
(Parody of Bob Marley; from “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D, 1984)
Will the Rastafarian falls into the trap of American consumerism. This is, as Mr. Frog noted, subversive.

21. Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies
(Parody of “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits; from UHF, 1989)
SamuraiFrog notes: “The theme song to The Beverly Hillbillies, adapted to the Dire Straits classic. Mark Knopfler and keyboardist Guy Fletcher actually play their parts on the track. The video is brilliant. One piece of neat trivia: Simpsons director David Silverman designed the computer-generated characters.”

The Dire Straits song was ubiquitous on MTV in its first decade. The Beverly Hillbillies was, for two seasons (1962-1964) the #1 most-watched program in the US, and individual episodes are STILL among the 60 most viewed along with Super Bowls, Roots, and final episodes of MASH, Cheers, The Fugitive, et al.

20. I Love Rocky Road; #106 in US, 1983
(Parody of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ cover of “I Love Rock and Roll” by Arrows; from “Weird Al” Yankovic, 1983)
I love the Al swagger in the video over a type of ice cream, which, now that I think of it, I’ve never tried. The Joan Jett song was all over MTV in the early ’80s, and I grew to like it quite a bit.

19. Canadian Idiot; #82 in US, 2006
(Parody of “American Idiot” by Green Day; from Straight Outta Lynwood, 2006)
I’m rather fond of “American Idiot” and the idea that would be a song about the “nicer” folks from north of the border struck a funny bone.

18. Ricky; #63 in US, 1983
(Parody of “Mickey” by Toni Basil; from “Weird Al” Yankovic, 1983)
Before I finally OD’ed on I Love Lucy reruns, I used to watch them all the time. I was impressed by the love Al obviously had watching them too. Toni Basil’s “Mickey” was just the perfect song for this.

17. Eat It; #1 in Australia, #5 in Canada, #6 in New Zealand, #12 in US, #36 in UK in 1984
(Parody of “Beat It” by Michael Jackson; from “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D, 1984)
I have some friends in the music business, and one mentioned at the time that this was a particularly stupid song; I totally disagreed. I thought it was a variation on the remarkable Michael Jackson video, and I appreciated that MJ, who was a massive star, had enough of a sense of humor to allow this, and later, Fat, the parody of Bad.

This was Al’s first Top 40 hit in the US, and would be his highest-charting single until 2006.

16. Yoda
(Parody of “Lola” by The Kinks; from Dare to Be Stupid, 1985)
The mix of familiar Kinks chords with Star Wars. Back in my FantaCo days, we used to sell some masks, including Yoda, which I might have bought if it had fit over my big head.

15. Stop Forwarding This Crap To Me
(Style parody of Jim Steinman, who wrote a lot for Meat Loaf; from Alpocalypse, 2011)
Yes, now people Facebook and tweet that crap to us, instead of email; we’ve so evolved. I love the sweet tone of the fairly angry message.

14. Tacky
(Parody of “Happy” by Pharrell Williams; from Mandatory Fun, 2014)
Yes, I eventually tired of the original, but it took an amazingly long time. And just at that point, this parody, with great guest stars shows up, including Aisha Tyler, Margaret Cho, Eric Stonestreet, Kristen Schaal, and Jack Black. I’m impressed that this was all one shot, with Al changing clothes to be in the first and last segments. And the examples of tacky – selfie at a funeral – are totally believable.

13. Living with a Hernia
(Parody of “Living in America” by James Brown; from Polka Party!, 1986)
It’s a great video and a surprisingly strong recreation of the JB style. I’m not crazy about the original song; it’s VERY ’80s, in a bad way. Getting a hernia helped this position, I suppose.

12. King of Suede; #62 in US, 1984
(a parody of “King of Pain” by the Police; from “Weird Al” Yankovic In 3-D, 1984)
A song about a proud clothier next to an arcade. Love the reference to Blue Suede Shoes. The original song is about depression and rejection, so it’s a great diversion.

November rambling #1: Rebecca Jade’s new video, and Confessions Of An Idiom

What happens if the Elephant in the Room decides to make the Skeleton in the Closet bring the truth to light?

What Evanier said about Paris. Ditto. This is the second time this year my cousin Anne, currently working there, has had to report that she is safe.

Samaritan Lives Matter.

Fall of the House of Bush.

Marilynne Robinson warns against utilitarian trends in higher education.

Middle-Aged White Americans Are Dying of Despair.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Prisoner Re-entry.

The First County Clerk in the US to Approve a Same-Sex Marriage License. In 1975.

Egypt’s women-only taxi service promises protection from male drivers.

A New Alcott Emerges From The ‘Annotated Little Women’.

Now I Know: How Matthew Broderick Helped Shape American Computer Law and The World’s Most Prolific Author.

Berowne’s participation in the French Revolution. No, not that one.

A tumor stole every memory I had. This is what happened when it all came back.

Renaissance Geek: Eddie is 51, which is divisible by three.

Simply Red: The Con-Man Behind the Rightwing’s Starbucks Cup Freak-Out.

Wondermark: Throw Back the Dead Man’s Coin.

Binghamton, Now & Then.

Stop expecting artists to work for free — or worse, for “exposure”.

God, on Lawns.

Tosy has 10 opening sentences to short stories that do not exist, yet. But one of them could.

David Kalish: My imagined contract with cockroaches.

The new music video Weather the Storm by Rebecca Jade, the eldest niece.

Allen Toussaint – seven of his greatest songs. Plus Top 10 Allen Toussaint Classic Rock Covers, and finding a big hit in Toussaint’s trash can.

K-Chuck Radio: The WABC Sonic Experience!

Dustbury’s Feel Bad songs. Plus Connie Stevens (!) sang the original of a soul classic.

The Beatles: A 5 Minute Drum Chronology – Kye Smith.

“Love and Theft” – The Veiled but Tangled Roots of Jimmie Rodgers and Tommy Johnson.

Confessions Of An Idiom. What happens if the Elephant in the Room decides to make the Skeleton in the Closet bring the truth to light?

Mad magazine: Overheard at the New Amazon Bookstore.

The Absolute Best Way to Reheat Pizza.

Mark Evanier continues to list the twenty top voice actors in American animated cartoons between 1928 and 1968, including Jackson Beck (Bluto, King Leonardo) and Dick Beals (Speedy Alka-Seltzer, Davey of Davey and Goliath) and Clarence Nash (Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie) and Bill Scott (Bullwinkle J. Moose, Mr. Peabody).

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the first-ever Disney character and a long-eared precursor to Mickey Mouse, features in this long-lost animated film. Another, obscure, Disney film, John Henry.

The finale of a recent episode of Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, a program I forget was even on the air.

GOOGLE ALERT (me)

What comics creator has most changed the way people think about comics?

Music Throwback Saturday: Crescent City Blues

Eurreal Wilford “Little Brother” Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer from Louisiana.

From his 2013 Blues Hall of Fame induction: “Montgomery first recorded in Chicago in 1930 but spent most of his early professional years in south Mississippi, where he played lumber camps, cafes and nightclubs, sometimes in a blues mode, other times leading a more jazz-oriented dance band. Among the bluesmen influenced by his music in Mississippi were Skip James, Sunnyland Slim, Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, and especially Willie Dixon.” Among his songs was an instrumental called Crescent City Blues.

Gordon Jenkins (May 12, 1910 – May 1, 1984) I associate as a producer and/or arranger for Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole. “He also began recording and performing under his own name… His ‘Seven Dreams’ released in 1953 included ‘Crescent City Blues’,” featuring singer Beverly Mahr, Jenkins’ wife, borrowed liberally from Montgomery’s version. Jenkins is now in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.

Johnny Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was inspired by a movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951), written and directed by an actor, screenwriter and director named Crane Wilbur. Cash stole even more heavily from the Jenkins version to create Folsom Prison Blues, which he wrote and first recorded in 1955.

The lyrics are nearly identical, except for the points where Cash changes the perspective of the narrator. For example, both begin “I hear the train a comin’/It’s rollin’ ’round the bend.” The Jenkins song follows that with “And I ain’t been kissed lord/Since I don’t know when,” but Cash follows it with the darker “And I ain’t seen the sunshine/Since I don’t know when.” All of the verses have this dichotomy, with an identical narrative path and stark differences in tone. Where Jenkins’ narrator says “But I’m stuck in Crescent City/Just watching life mosey by,” Cash has his protagonist sing the far darker “But I shot a man in Reno/Just to watch him die.”

Nonetheless, Jenkins was not credited on the original record from Sun Records. According to Cash’s manager Lou Robin, Cash acknowledged the debt to Jenkins’s song, but was reassured by Sun founder Sam Phillips that he had no reason to fear a plagiarism suit. Fifteen years later, Jenkins sued for royalties. In the early 1970s, after the song became popular, Cash paid Jenkins a settlement of approximately $75,000.

The original Cash studio version hit #4 on the country charts in 1956, but the live version from 1968 spent four weeks at the top of the country charts in 1968. It was also #32 on the pop charts and #39 on the adult contemporary charts. The live album from which it came, At Folsom Prison, went to #13 pop, and #1 country.

Johnny Cash received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996, and has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992), among many other honors.

LISTEN to:
Crescent City Blues – Little Brother Montgomery
Crescent City Blues – Gordon Jenkins, featuring Beverly Mahr (or Maher)
Folson Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues vs Jenkins’s Crescent City Blues

Neil Young is 70

I was unaware of the first, eponymous Neil album.

Earlier this year, some friend of mine was kvetching about something Neil Young had said or done. Given that his current album, which I haven’t heard yet, is an indictment of the Monsanto Corporation, I rather expect that this would be a highly likely prospect.

Whether he’s kvetching about the sound of MP3s or working to enshrine the right to a healthy environment in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Neil is seldom without a cause.

How did Elvis Costello become “a prototypical angry young man”? “About seeing a ferocious Neil Young performance, he writes [in his new autobiography]: “This was the lesson I took away from that day: If there is an apple cart, you must do your best to upset it.”

The second and third of Neil’s solo albums, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and After The Gold Rush, were regular visitors on my college turntables. Neil has put out about three dozen albums, and I have about half of them. This does not include his work with Buffalo Springfield or Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. And his album Decade includes some of his group efforts, to complicate this list; I opted to leave off Ohio and Helpless – but link to them here – lest I then need to consider other CSNY songs on this already long list.

To say his body of work is eclectic understates the phenomenon.

35. Piece of Crap– Sleeps with Angels (SWA), 1994. It’s about shoddy merchandising.
34. Ordinary People – Chrome Dreams II, 2007. 18 minutes. In 2012 Rolling Stone had a list of Neil Young’s Top 20 Obscure Songs, and these two songs are on the list.
33. Mystery Train – Everybody’s Rockin’, 1983. Rockabilly. I’m a sucker for his many train songs, and, to be honest, most train tunes.
32. The Losing End (When You’re On) – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (EKTIN), 1969. “Wilson, pick it!”
31. Wrecking Ball – Freedom, 1989. I actually prefer the Emmylou Harris version, but I like this too.

30. Harvest – Harvest (H), 1972. The title of his commercial zenith.
29. Transformer Man – Trans (T), 1983. I have an irrational affection for this experiment, maybe because it was an experiment to try to communicate with his son, who has cerebral palsy.
28. Words – After the Gold Rush (ATGR), 1970. Subtitled between the lines of age.
27. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere – EKTIN. I relate.
26. One of These Days – Harvest Moon (HM), 1992. What great message. “One of these days, I’m gonna sit down and write a long letter To all the good friends I’ve known…”

25. Change Your Mind – SWA. A song for Kurt Cobain.
24. Tonight’s the Night – Tonight’s the Night. A song about a roadie for CSNY who died of a heroin overdose
23. Winterlong – Decade (D). I’m particularly fond of the harmony vocal.
22. Walk On – On the Beach. “I hear some people been talkin’ me down, Bring up my name, pass it ’round…” A message that’d be perfect for the Internet age. Got to #69 on the charts.
21. From Hank to Hendrix – HM. Among other things, great harmonica.

20. Pocahontas – Rust Never Sleeps (RNS). “Aurora borealis, The icy sky at night.” Johnny Cash did a great version of this too.
19. Don’t Let It Bring You Down – ATGR. I thought I did a decent Neil imitation, and this was one of the songs easiest to replicate. Love the intro from a CSNY live album when Neil says the song starts off slow and fizzles out altogether.
18. Cowgirl in the Sand – EKTIN. Anthemic.
17. Only Love Can Break Your Heart – ATGR. A waltz. And very true. #33 on the charts.
16. Oh Lonesome Me – ATGR. This is one of the greatest covers, ever. Compare this to the jaunty Don Gibson hit from the 1950s.

15. Birds– ATGR. I find this terribly sad.
14. The Loner – Neil Young, 1968. I was unaware of the first, eponymous Neil album. But I heard a version of this song on the first Three Dog Night album. I figured it was an obscure Buffalo Springfield cut; nope.
13. Mr. Soul – T. Neil must really care about this song. He recorded it with Buffalo Springfield, and it was the beginning of their Broken Arrow.
12. Old Man – H. James Taylor played six-string banjo, and he and Linda Ronstadt contributed vocals. Got up to #31 on the charts.
11. The Needle and the Damage Done – H. About the heroin addiction of two friends, before they died. Recorded live at UCLA.

10. My My, Hey Hey (out of the Blue)/ Hey. Hey. My My (Into the Black) – RNS. The latter is proto-grunge which got to #73 on the chart.
9. Campaigner – D. Namechecks Richard Nixon.
8. After the Gold Rush – ATGR. Not only a great song, but it generated many great covers.
7. Sugar Mountain – D. Some B-side my college radio station played all the time.
6. Heart of Gold – H. This was a #1 hit, and that seemed to make Neil rather uncomfortable.

5. Long May You Run – Long May You Run (Stills-Young Band), 1976. There are several versions of this song, but this version, which I first heard on Decade, which I believe features the harmonies of the full Crosby Stills & Nash, is my favorite. It has to do with the verse citing Caroline, No.
4. Like a Hurricane – D. An electric masterpiece.
3. When You Dance, I Can Really Love – ATGR. I don’t remember if SHE thought so, but when I was in college, I always thought this was my girlfriend (the Okie) and my song. Love the fact that it starts off fairly slowly, but picks up greatly. This song soared all the way to #93 on the charts.
2. Cinnamon Girl – EKTIN. About the perfect pop song, complete with hand clapping.
1. Harvest Moon– HM. This song is personal, about love lost.

60 minutes of music that sum up the venerable, ornery Neil Young.
***
Coverville 1100: Look at my life, I’m a lot like you: A tribute to Neil Young

VIDEO REVIEW: The Wrecking Crew

Some of the extra material was clearly done after 2008

I was old enough to remember when it was “shocking” news that the singing Monkees were not really playing their instruments on those first couple albums, and in fact, weren’t even allowed to. The music was provided by a fairly regular crew of session musicians. They may have been known as The Wrecking Crew, though some dispute the label. It was said the mostly men who had played on sessions in earlier times wore suits and ties, and it was feared that these more casually dressed crew was going to wreck the industry.

In fact, in many ways, they enhanced it. Bassist Carol Kaye sees the written bass line from Sonny and Cher’s And The Beat Goes On and changed it to what we heard on the record. They WERE Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. They interpreted Brian Wilson’s thoughts, not just on Pet Sounds but on a few earlier albums.

The movie The Wrecking Crew was a labor of love for director Denny Tedesco, whose dad, Tommy, was one of the great Crew guitarists. The first day of shooting brought drummer Hal Blaine (member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), bassist Carol Kaye, saxophonist Plas Johnson and Tommy Tedesco (all of whom should be) together.

Whatever the movie’s value for 90 minutes, and it is considerable, the EXTRAS on the Wrecking Crew DVD, which run over five hours, was often more useful.

There are stories about the legendary Gold Star Studios, the Franks Sinatra and Zappa, and much more. The repeated “I saw her” at the beginning of a chorus of the Mamas and the Papas’ I Saw Her Again was a mistake. Guitarist Don Peake explains how he was saved by Ray Charles in the Deep South. Cher tells about a drunk Leon Russell at a Phil Spector session, a story Leon acknowledges.

Other interviews, some of which made it into the film, included Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers, Barry McGuire, Jackie DeShannon, the three surviving Monkees, Richard Carpenter of Carpenters, Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean, Petula Clark, plus a lot of musicians, engineers, producers and the like.

The reviews were generally favorable. One critic wondered if all the love Danny Tedesco was hearing about his late father was a result of people telling him to want they want to hear. I can’t answer that, but in the scenes with his colleagues, and by himself, Tommy Tedesco (d. 1997) was a very engaging fellow.

Another critic suggested that this was a rush job; it was anything but that, taking over a decade to finish. It was completed in 2008 but had “been screened only at film festivals, where clearance rights were not required. The film finally saw theatrical release in 2015, after musical rights were cleared.” Some of the extra material was clearly done after 2008; Bill Medley just turned 75, but was 71 at the time of his interview.

Any fan of this era – this means you, Dustbury – should watch this, including the extra material.

Here are links to just a few of the songs that featured The Wrecking Crew.

1962
The Lonely Bull – Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. Herb then went out to find guys to emulate them for the road. This is often the case.
He’s a Rebel – The Crystals. Cher was only 16 when she became a background singer for Phil Spector.

1963
Surf City Jan and Dean. Brian Wilson gave this to the duo, which irritated Murry, Brian’s dad, and the soon-to-be-fired Beach Boys manager.
Be My Baby – The Ronettes

1964
I Get Around – The Beach Boys

1965
Mr. Tambourine Man – The Byrds. Roger McGuinn got to play on the record, but the other band members were furious to be left out. When the band did record, it often took dozens of takes, whereas the Wrecking Crew only needed a handful.
This Diamond Ring – Gary Lewis and the Playboys. The vocals were also doubled by a session singer.
California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & the Papas. This was going to be a Barry McGuire song, but when he heard their background vocals, he changed his mind. Much later, he realized his voice is on the recording.
Eve of Destruction – Barry McGuire
I Got You Babe – Sonny & Cher

1966
No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In) – The T-Bones
Strangers in the Night – Frank Sinatra. Many times, the Crew took only one or two takes to satisfy the Chairman of the Board.
These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ – Nancy Sinatra. The descending line hook was created by a Wrecking Crew member.

1967
Never My Love – The Association. Another song where the band was totally displaced.
Woman, Woman – Gary Puckett and the Union Gap

1968
Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell. He was a member of the Crew before he became a successful solo artist.
Midnight Confessions – The Grass Roots
Valleri – The Monkees
Classical Gas – Mason Williams

1969
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In – The 5th Dimension. Billy Davis Jr. of the 5th Dimension lost his wallet, and that led to the “Hair” medley.
The Boxer – Simon & Garfunkel

1970
(They Long to Be) Close to You – The Carpenters. Though Karen was a fine drummer, the music came together when she came out from behind the kit.
I Think I Love You – The Partridge Family

1971
Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves – Cher
Don’t Pull Your Love – Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds

1972
Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu -Johnny Rivers
Mother and Child Reunion – Paul Simon

1973
All I Know – Art Garfunkel

1974
The Way We Were – Barbra Streisand

1975
Love Will Keep Us Together – the Captain & Tennille