Tag: music

Fixing the Internet, episode 1057

In the course of my job, I’m on the Internet. A LOT. And invariably, I find items that are incorrect. Whether I bother to correct them depends on whether I think it’s substantial enough that someone else might assume it’s correct and restate it as fact.

I’ve only fixed two things on Wikipedia, as far as I can recall. One, which I did with Steve Bissette, was a major overhaul of the FantaCo post; still imperfect. The other was back in 2006 when someone indicated that the next Presidential campaign was in 2007, rather than 2008. But I do not find the need to add something insubstantial; e.g., another advertisement that made use of a cover of the Kinks’ All Day and All of the Night.

I’m listening to my favorite music podcast, Coverville. Episode #894 is an all-request show. The second song is listed as She’s All Liquored Up by Dash Rip Rock, a cover of the Mojo Nixon original [listen]; I’m not familiar with either version. But the song sounds very much like Dizzy Miss Lizzy, the old Larry Williams song covered by the Beatles [listen], which appeared on Beatles VI, the very first LP I owned, as well as the UK Help! album. Now, I’m not positive, because songs do get adapted and changed.

As it turns out Amazon lists the samples for the Tiger Town album by Dash Rip Rock, at least for tracks 5-9, one song off:
5. says True Drunk Love, IS Fallin’ Apart
6. says Shine A Light, IS True Drunk Love
7. says Dizzy Miss Lizzy, IS Shine A Light
8. says All Liquored Up, IS Dizzy Miss Lizzy
9. says Livin’ Breathin’, IS All Liquored Up

The sorta good fortune is that the error created an unintentional Beatles-related medley:
Gimme Some Truth by Sam Phillips (orig. John Lennon)
Dizzy Miss Lizzie by Dash Rip Rock (orig. Larry Williams, made famous by the Beatles)
Revolution by Grandaddy (orig. Beatles)

Host Brian Ibbott noted the error, and mentioned me, at about the 18-minute mark of the next show, Episode #895 featuring Van Morrison. He also mocked Amazon’s spelling of Martha Reeves’ name (as Reeeves) on this item, from which he culled a song for the show.

I’m trying to get Amazon to rectify these problems. Fixing the Internet: a full-time task.

It’s 9/9

EVERYTHING the Beatles put out, including music that stiffed in 1962 or 1963, charted in 1964.

Have I mentioned how much I like it when the month and the day are the same? 9/9, for instance, reads the same whether one is in the United States or the civilized world.

Here are some 99 songs:
99-Toto What the heck IS this song about? According to Wikipedia, it’s a tribute to George Lucas! I did not know that.

99 Luftballons – Nena
99 Red Ballons – Nena
Whether in German or in English, the song is about paranoia during the Cold War.

There’s an old gospel song called 99 & 1/2, sometimes written out Ninety-Nine And A Half, usual with the parenthetical (Won’t Do), about giving one’s all to God. You’ll find a LOT of versions of it on YouTube. I’m picking a version by Mavis Staples of the legendary Staples Singers, a tune that I own and love. This version has a civil rights orientation, thanks to additional lyrics by Ry Cooder & Mavis.

Also, there’s a soul classic of the same name by Wilson Pickett, with writing credits attributed to Wilson, Steve Cropper, and Eddie Floyd. It’s about wanting all of somebody’s love. The lyrics are different, but the two songs are pretty much the same.

Finally, this being the third anniversary of the Beatles’ digital releases, et al., I should put in something by that group. Revolution #9? Well, I guess not. The 18th song to chart on the US charts was one in which the Beatles were merely a backing band to a singer named Tony Sheridan. It only got to #88, but EVERYTHING the Beatles put out, including music that stiffed in 1962 or 1963, charted in 1964.
Here’s Why.

Hal David, R.I.P.

I have nothing more to say. Hal David said it all.

I had this conversation back in the 1980s with this comic book writer, and he was lightly complaining about how the artist always seemed to get the credit for a magazine’s success. That may or may not have been a valid complaint, given the Marvel style of putting the product together.

My own complaint is that in a songwriting duo with defined roles, it seems that the person writing the music seems to get more attention than the guy who writes the words. Perhaps lyricists are less outgoing. That certainly appears to be the case with lyricist Hal David, who died recently, in a relationship with long-time partner Burt Bacharach. Check out this article for a history of their team.

The duo was recently awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

I have nothing more to say. Hal David said it all, with his lyrics. Links to all songs.
(I made a point of NOT picking only Dionne Warwick songs, which would have been easy to do.)

Gene Pitney – Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa
Cilla Black – Anyone who had a heart
Dusty Springfield – Wishin and Hopin
Jackie DeShannon – What the World Needs Now
Billy J Kramer – Trains And Boats And Planes
Dionne Warwick – Message To Michael
Dionne Warwick – The Windows of the World
Aretha Franklin – I Say a Little Prayer
Herb Alpert – This Guy’s in Love with You
Isaac Hayes – Walk on By short (4:30) version; the longer version here
B.J. Thomas – Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
The 5th Dimension – One Less Bell to Answer
Carpenters – Close to You
Naked Eyes- Always Something There To Remind Me
James Taylor – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Luther Vandross – A House Is Not A Home (live)

What the heck is a Mungo Jerry?

“Ray Dorset is…Mungo Jerry…is Ray Dorset”

According to Wikipedia, the group name Mungo Jerry “was inspired by the poem Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer, from T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” If you go to the Mungo Jerry website, you’ll read that “Ray Dorset is…Mungo Jerry…is Ray Dorset,” the fellow on the left in the photo. And looking at the list of all of the former members of the British group of the 1970s, that would be about correct.

The big hit was In the Summertime, which debuted on the charts on July 11, 1970, and went to #3. Here’s one video and here’s another.

Isaac Hayes would have been 70

Isaac Hayes was undoubtedly best known for composing and performing music for the soundtrack of the film Shaft


Isaac Hayes was one of those behind-the-scenes guys at the Memphis-based Stax Records in the 1960s. He co-wrote songs with David Porter for Sam (Moore) and Dave (Prater), Carla Thomas, and others. He was a producer and session musician.

Some of their songs for Sam & Dave (LISTEN!):
You Don’t Know Like I Know
Soul Man
When Something Is Wrong with My Baby
Hold On I’m Comin

Hayes himself became a recording star, with his second album, almost out of commercial necessity.  The label was reeling from the death of its big star, Otis Redding, in a plane crash in December 1967. Stax had leased some of its songs to Atlantic Records, for wider distribution, but somehow lost all of its back catalog to Atlantic in early 1968. Some labels might have decided to pick a small number of albums to release and promote; instead, Stax wanted a couple of dozen albums, in a throw-them-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks methodology.

From the Wikipedia:
[Hot Buttered Soul] is noted for Hayes’ image (shaved head, gold jewelry, sunglasses, etc.) and his distinct sound (extended orchestral songs relying heavily on organs, horns, and guitars, deep bass vocals, etc.)… Hayes re-interprets Walk On By (listen)… into a twelve-minute exploration. By the Time I Get to Phoenix (listen) starts with an eight-minute long monologue before breaking into song, and the lone original number, the funky Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic (listen) runs nearly ten minutes…

But he was undoubtedly best known for composing and performing music for the soundtrack of the film Shaft. “The title theme (listen), with its wah-wah guitar and multi-layered symphonic arrangement, would become a worldwide hit single, and spent two weeks at number one in the Billboard Hot 100 in November” 1971.

Here’s my Stax post from five years ago.

Unfortunately, the singer “was found unconscious and unresponsive in his home located just east of Memphis on August 10, 2008, ten days before his 66th birthday,” and died of an apparent recurrence of a stroke.

I remember Ike.

Ramblin' with Roger
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