Brian-Lamont-Eddie, 1965-1966

more Holland-Dozier-Holland

Brian, Lamont, and EddieWhen Holland–Dozier–Holland was a songwriting and production team for Motown in the 1960s, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland were the composers and producers for each song, and Eddie Holland wrote the lyrics and arranged the vocals.

Here are more songs by Brian-Lamont-Eddie that I own, excluding most of the big hits of the Supremes, who will be covered separately. H-D-H wrote 10 of the Supremes’ 12 US No. 1 singles.

Nowhere To Run – Martha and the Vandellas, #8 pop, #5 RB in 1965
Whisper You Love Me Boy – The Supremes, B-side of Back In My Arms Again, 1965
I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) – The Four Tops, #1 pop, and RB in 1965
It’s The Same Old Song – The Supremes, album cut in 1967 (Orig.  The Four Tops, #5, pop, #2 RB in 1965)
Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) – The Doobie Brothers, #11 pop in 1975 (Orig. Kim Weston, #50 pop, #4 RB in 1965
Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) – Martha and the Vandellas, #70 pop, #22 RB in 1965

1966

Put Yourself In My Place – The Supremes, album cut in 1966 (Orig. The Elgins – #92 pop in 1966)
Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over) – The Four Tops, #18 pop, #5 RB
This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak for You) – The Supremes, album cut in 1966 ( Orig. The Isley Brothers, #12 pop, #6 RB in 1966. Written by H-D-H and Sylvia Moy
(I’m a) Road Runner – Jr. Walker and the All-Stars, #20 pop, #4 RB in 1966
Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart – The Supremes, #9 pop, #7 RB in 1966

I Guess I’ll Always Love You – The Supremes, album cut in 1967 (Orig. The Isley Brothers, #61 pop, #31 RB in 1966)
You Can’t Hurry Love – Phil Collins, #10 pop in 1982 (Orig. The Supremes, #1 pop and RB in 1966)
Little Darling (I Need You) – The Doobie Brothers, #48 in 1977 (Orig. Marvin Gaye, #47 pop, #10 RB in 1966
Reach Out I’ll Be There – The Four Tops, #1 pop, and RB in 1966
Love’s Gone Bad – Chris Clark, #41 pop in 1966. Looking for the video, I found a version by Michael Jackson, released in 1984 but clearly recorded earlier

I’m Ready For Love – Martha and the Vandellas, #9 pop, #2 RB
You Keep Me Hangin’ On – Vanilla Fudge, #67 pop in 1967, #6 pop in 1968; album version; (Orig. The Supremes, #1 pop and RB in 1966)
(Come ‘Round Here) I’m The One You Need– The Jackson Five, album cut in 1970 (Orig. The Miracles, #17 pop, #4 RB in 1966
Standing In The Shadow Of Love – The Four Tops, #6 pop, #2 RB in 1966

September rambling: perfect Yiddish word

Rebecca Jade interview, Middle Earth debate

Rebecca Jade.Dallas
Rebecca Jade.Dallas

An Ode to Oy — the Perfect Yiddish Word

And speaking of which: Rings of Power Cast Slams Racist Threats Against Performers: “Middle-Earth Is Not All White.” This hurts my head. Someone wrote, and I’ve misplaced the attribution, I’m afraid: “When did we stop being able to just sit down and enjoy something that’s been created? Just take all shows and movies as fan fiction of any book that they take it from and enjoy the creators’ stories.”

Sah Quah: More than twenty years after the American Civil War, an enslaved Alaskan walked into a Sitka courtroom and sued for his freedom

The Church Left on the Curb:  A chance trash-day encounter reveals a 170-year institutional history

Bernard Shaw, CNN’s First Chief News Anchor, Dies at 82

Anne Garrels, the longtime foreign correspondent for NPR, dies at 71

Culcha

In Memorium Video from this year’s Emmys and going about a decade back

Jazz Pianist & NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis Dies at His Chicago Home, September 12, at the age of 87

“Weird Al” Yankovic on the Long, Hard Road to Bring His Mock Biopic to the Big Screen

Ken Levine ends his blog, but his podcast will continue

At 100, Norman Lear Looks Back (And Ahead)

Whiz! Bang! Boom! Energetic Ads Hold Viewers’ Attention

Real Money, Fake Musicians: Inside a Million-Dollar Instagram Verification Scheme

Quentin Tarantino, Miramax Settle ‘Pulp Fiction’ NFT Legal Battle

Flin Flon: One Book’s Unlikely Survival

Has a computer ever passed the Turing test?

The Twisted Life of Clippy, Microsoft’s annoying paperclip. Its developers never imagined the virtual assistant would become a cultural icon.

Some good advice from John Green

Of Elbows and Tables

Best State Capitals to Live In – 2022 Edition. Albany, NY, is #9.

The Small Town In New York With More Historic Buildings Than Any Other

Can Something Be “Very Unique”? Modifying Absolute Adjectives

Now I Know: What About Bob (dot com)? and The Wisdom of Crowds of Sports Fans? and  The Almost-War Over a Bear’s Missing Privates

Polly ticks

President and Mrs. Obama Become a Part of White House History with Reveal of Official Portraits, and Barack Obama just won the Emmy

How deranged anti-Obama conspiracy theories led America to Donald Trump

Fascist is a description, not an insult, and  “Semi-Fascism”: The Shoe Fits

Judge Cannon’s Incredibly Flawed Trump Special Master Ruling

The faulty premise of the ‘2,000 mules’ trailer about voting by mail in the 2020 election

How Many Of ‘Her Emails’ Were Classified? Actually, Zero

Thomas, Barrett will further delegitimize SCOTUS when they fail to recuse on key cases

The Battle for Voters’ Imaginations over Abortion. Pete Buttigieg was correct.

When We Rose to Fight COVID, We Were Deliberately Turned Against Each Other

The Return of the Bitter Politics of Envy

UN Report Highlights Ongoing Racism in the US

Nebraska HS newspaper and journalism program shut down over student-written commentary on LGBTQ+ issues. The shutdown of the prize-winning student newspaper after 54 years occurred because an edition in June contained student-written commentary on LGBTQ+ issues, the origins of Pride Month, and the history of homophobia, material members of the local school board considered inappropriate.

Demographics

U.S. life expectancy drops sharply, the second consecutive decline

Most and Least Ethnically Diverse Cities in the U.S.

Demographic divide – the key differences in media and entertainment that continue to evolve between younger and older Americans.

New Data Reveal Inequality in Retirement Account Ownership

When and How Often People Marry Changes by Birth Cohort

MUSIC

Behind the Beats article about Rebecca Jade by the Smooth Jazz Network!

The In Crowd – the Ramsey Lewis Trio

The Comedians – Dmitry Kabalevsky. The second section, The Galop, is EXTREMELY familiar to me.

Wade In The Water – Ramsey Lewis

Jonchaies by Iannis Xenakis

Coverville 1412: The Clash Cover Story III and 1413: The Squeeze Cover Story III

Conductor Seiji Ozawa leads the Vienna Philharmonic in Strauss’s overture to Die Fledermaus

Hang On Sloopy – Ramsey Lewis Trio. I still have the Hang On Ramsey album on vinyl

If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot 

The Most Awarded Songs #3

I know all of the lyrics to the song Tequila

Mary Wells.My GuyFrom Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles book, The Most Awarded Songs #3. This covers a range of categories: ASCAP, BMI, RIAA, Rolling Stone magazine, plus Grammys and Oscars, and more.

130. Strangers In The Night – Frank Sinatra. This was from the movie A Man Could Get Killed, starring James Garner, which I’ll admit I am unfamiliar with. But for Frank Sinatra, it was a #1 song in the midst of the rock and roll era, 1966, his first #1 in more than a decade. Yet Frank HATED the song and thought it was terrible. Especially the “doo-be-doo-be-doo” part, which later inspired CBS TV exec Fred Silverman to rename a cartoon character Scooby-Doo. Oh, and there is a complicated copyright issue.

129. Where Did Our Love Go – The Supremes. In 1964, this was the first of five consecutive #1 songs, for the former “No-Hit Supremes.” Like many of their hits, it was written by Holland-Dozier-Holland.

128. My Guy – Mary Wells. I was always impressed by the fact that My Guy and My Girl were both written and produced by Smokey Robinson. Both went to #1.

127. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2. Isn’t that true of many of us? From Joshua Tree, still my favorite U2 album, pretty much from the jump. I do find the Rattle and Hum version, with the gospel choir, intriguing, though.

126. The Way They Were – Barbra Streisand. I understood the relationship between the two main characters in the 1973 film of the same name, which I saw. Part of the film, starring Streisand and Robert Redford, was filmed at Union College in Schenectady. The idea of people who love each other but are ill-suited is quite relatable to me. The song, by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Marvin Hamlisch, expresses that melancholy.

Postage due

125. The Letter – The Box Tops. The Joe Cocker version is fine, but this one is both short and insistent. I feel as though I should have gotten into other Alex Chilton music, such as Big Star.

124. Tequila – The Champs. This was supposed to be the B-side to Train To Nowhere, but a DJ flipped the record. The song became so much a part of pop culture.

123. All Along The Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix. This is ALWAYS on lists of the greatest cover songs. Bob Dylan recorded the song dor his John Wesley Harding Harding album, but in his live shows, his version is more like the Hendrix iteration.

122. Coal Miner’s Daughter – Loretta Lynn. An epic recounting of her growing up in poor, rural Kentucky. But it could have been much longer, as she was asked to drop five or six verses. I always meant to see the movie with Sissy Spacek.

121. Purple Haze – The Jimi Hendrix Experience. This likewise is ALWAYS on the list of popular mondegreens. “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy,” which I NEVER heard until others suggested it.

How do I consume my music?

If it’s May, it must be Winwood and Wonder

As is often the case, this post, How do I consume my music?, was inspired by old buddy Greg Burgas’ post. Before I get to the crux of the matter, let me address some of his introductory comments.

He writes: “I still buy physical compact discs because, like comics, I like the physical objects, but I’m certainly not averse to getting something only digitally.” This is true of me as well. I know I HAVE various recordings that are digital only, but I have not organized them in any systematic way.

“I don’t listen to Spotify or any other music service, and I rarely listen to the radio.” Ditto. The radio in the car is controlled by my wife and, to some degree, my daughter.

“I don’t tend to find a lot of new music, which is fine with me. A lot of the bands I like are still releasing albums, and I’m good.” This is largely true. I’m more likely to buy the new Bonnie Raitt or Elvis Costello – I bought them both in 2022, though Elvis now has ANOTHER album.

Most of the artists who put out their first albums in the 21st century, I learned about them from watching Saturday Sessions on CBS’ morning show. Regina Spektor and especially Jason Isbell are the examples that immediately come to mind.

The crux of the matter

“My point with my friend was: If you liked something for years, why don’t you listen to it anymore?” Well, I think it’s just how different minds work. I remember a trip to Cooperstown back in the 1990s, and we had Talking Heads’ Speaking in Tongues on probably the cassette player. And when Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place) came up, they did not remember it, even though they owned the album! They fell in love with it anew.

“I have a CD player in the car.” The new car does not, to the disappointment of both my wife and me.

“So my Question is: How do you consume your music? Do you listen to music?”

I consume my music almost constantly, roughly seven CDs per day. I had a portable CD player at work, and now at home. And I play them more or less systematically, based on the artist’s birthday. I play musicals in June and movie soundtracks in February. At some point – ooh, in 2007! – I wrote about that.

If I have no CD player, I’ve been known to go to my Amazon list, which is comprised not only of albums I’ve bought there but random freebies I don’t recognize.

“What do you do in the car if you don’t listen to music? Audiobooks? (Gasp) Silence? Let me know!!!!!” My wife will listen to National Public Radio. But if the daughter is listening – she often has her own devices – we’ll listen to the pop radio stations. And my wife has listened to books on tape.

1982 #1: fodder for Weird Al

three movie songs

As I looked at the 1982 #1 hits on the Billboard singles chart, two things occurred to me. One was that I’m positive I own at least 14 of these 15 songs, usually on greatest hits albums or compilations, even though there are a few I don’t particularly like. I’m not sure of the Vangelis track. The other is that a few of them were parodied by Weird Al Yankovic.

I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, 7 weeks at #1, platinum record. A song originally performed by a group called the Arrows. Weird Al parody: I Love Rocky Road
Ebony and Ivory – Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder, 7 weeks at #1, gold record

Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor, 6 weeks at #1, double platinum record. The theme to the movie Rocky III, which like its predecessors, I did see. Weird Al parody: Theme From Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser)
Centerfold – The J. Geils Band, 6 weeks at #1, gold record

Maneater – Daryl Hall and John Oates, 4 weeks at #1, gold record. Weird Al parody: Spameater, which was not commercially released.
Jack and Diane – John Cougar, 4 weeks at #1, gold record. Weird Al parody, sort of: Buckingham Blues.

Don’t You Want Me – The Human League, 3 weeks at #1, gold record
Up Where We Belong – Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, 3 weeks at #1, platinum record. Used in the movie An Officer and A Gentleman, which I saw at the time. Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Raincoat is a great album of Leonard Cohen covers.

Abracadabra – the Steve Miller Band, 2 weeks at #1, gold record. Album cut.
Hard To Say I’m Sorry – Chicago, 2 weeks at #1, gold record
Truly – Lionel Richie, 2 weeks at #1, gold record

A single week at #1

I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) – Daryl Hall and John Oates, gold record; Album cut 
Mickey – Toni Basil, platinum record. Weird Al parody: Ricky, based on I Love Lucy
Who Can It Be Now – Men At Work
Chariots Of Fire: Titles  – Vangelis. The only instrumental on the list. I saw the movie with my girlfriend and her son right after it won the Oscar, and we were disappointed. “That was Best Picture?” I probably should watch it again. 

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial