Ildefonso Fraga Ozuna is better known as Sunny Ozuna of Sunny and the Sunglows fame. Their big hit was Talk to Me that made the #11 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in October, 1963. It is a cover of Little Willie John's effort of the same name from 1958.
The Sunglows became the Sunliners and came out with Just a Dream.
Baldemar Garza Huerta, also a Tejano, is better known as Freddy Fender.
Merry Christmas everybody. Pour yourself a drink, and enjoy. Me, I'm nursing a Boulevardier. It's a Negroni with cojones: swap out the gin for bourbon. One ounce bourbon, one ounce sweet vermouth, one ounce Campari, straight up or on the rocks, with a twist of orange. A serious libation. The vermouth rosso contests the harshness of the bourbon, but then the Italian joins the fight on the side of the bourbon. Or you can think of it as a Manhattan wherein the Campari substitutes for the angostura bitters. That there are people who don't like Campari shows that there is no hope for humanity.
Cheech and Chong, Santa Claus and His Old Lady
Canned Heat, Christmas Boogie
Leon Redbone and Dr. John, Frosty the Snowman
Beach Boys, Little St. Nick. A rarely heard alternate version.
Ronettes, Sleigh Ride
Elvis Presley, Blue Christmas
Jeff Dunham, Jingle Bombs by Achmed the Terrorist. TRIGGER WARNING! Not for the p.c.-whipped.
Porky Pig, Blue Christmas
Charles Brown, Please Come Home for Christmas
Wanda Jackson and the Continentals, Merry Christmas Baby
Chuck Berry, Run Rudolph Run
Eric Clapton, Cryin' Christmas Tears
Judy Collins, Silver Bells
Ry Cooder, Christmas in Southgate. Don't miss this one if you are a Los Angeleno. Great video.
Bob Dylan, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Who could possibly follow Dylan's growl except
Tom Waits, Silent Night. Give it a chance.
A surprising number of Christmas songs were written by Jews.
No day without political incorrectness! And no night either.
But I suppose I should issue a TRIGGER WARNING to the 'safe space' girly-girls and pajama boys. Do not click on any of these links! I am not responsible for your psychic meltdown.
Ray Stevens, Ahab the Arab. Here is the original from 1962. In the lyrics there are references to two hits from the same era, Chubby Checker's The Twist (1960) and Lonnie Donegan's British skiffle number Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor? On second thought, the reference is to Checker's Le't's Twist Again Like We Did Last Summer (1960).
Larry Verne, Mr. Custer (1960). "What am I doin' here?"
And now a trio of feminist anthems. Marcie Blaine, Bobby's Girl. "And if I was Bobby's girl, what a faithful, thankful girl I'd be." Carol Deene, Johnny Get Angry. Joanie Sommers did it first. "I want a cave man!" Nice kazoo work. k. d. lang's parody. Little Peggy March, I Will Follow Him. "From now until forever."
Meanwhile the guys were bragging of having a girl in every port of call. Dion, The Wanderer (1961). Ricky Nelson, Travelin' Man. (1961)
Addendum: I forgot to link to two Ray Stevens numbers that are sure to rankle the sorry sensibilities of our liberal pals: Come to the USA, God Save Arizona. If you are a liberal shithead do not click on these links! But if if you have any sense you will enjoy them.
There are so many songs under this rubric. Here are some of the less sentimental and schmaltzy.
Love, Alone Again Or. Yet another proof that in American popular music, no decade beats the '60s.
Simon and Garfunkel, The Boxer
Tom Waits, Better Off Without a Wife
Beatles, Eleanor Rigby
Harry Nilsson, One
It's not easy avoiding the sentimental. But what, exactly, is wrong with sentiment? Let's not pursue it. To hell with Adorno. It's Saturday night. Time to feel, not think.
Floyd Cramer, Last Date
Linda Ronstadt, Faithless Love. J. D. Souther wrote it.
John Fogerty, You're the Reason. A crossover hit for Bobby Edwards in 1961.
I almost forgot the great Don Gibson
Sweet Dreams. Patsy Cline's version. And while we have Patsy cued up:
Retreating from the sentimental to the surreal, another indisputable proof of the vast pop-music superiority of the '60s:
Bob Dylan, Visions of Johanna. Marianne Faithfull's effort.
Jeff Hodges of Gypsy Scholar requests some tunes featuring the name 'Bill.' Pickins are slim, so I'll broaden that out to include 'Willy,' 'Will,' 'Billy,' and William.
Marvelettes, Don't Mess with Bill
Laura Nyro, Wedding Bell Blues. "B-i-l-l, I love you so, I always will . . . ."
Crystals, Da Do Ron Ron. "I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still/Somebody told me that his name was Bill . . . ."
Lonely Heartstring Band, Ramblin', Gamblin' Willy
Dylan wrote it (or adapted it, or co-opted it, or borrowed it, or stole it).
Clancy Bros. version with intro & context by Liam Clancy. Includes Dylan's haunting "Restless Farewell" and the backstory to it as well. A must see/hear for the true folk aficionado.
Woody Guthrie, Philadelphia Lawyer. "Wild Bill was a gun-totin' cowhand . . . ."
Bonnie Owens' and Merle Haggard's version
W. V. O. Quine's famous collection of essays is named after this song. "From a logical point of view always marry a woman uglier than you." Jimmy Soul extends the thought, ripping off some of the lyrics of the calypso tune.
We are coming up on the 60th anniversary of the death of James Dean. When the young Dean crashed his low slung silver Porsche Spyder on a lonely California highway on September 30, 1955, he catapulted a couple of unknowns into the national spotlight. One of them was Ernie Tripke, one of two California Highway Patrol officers who arrived at the scene. He died in 2010 at the age of 88. But what ever happened to Donald Turnupseed, the driver who turned in front of the speeding Dean, having failed to see him coming? His story is here. In exfoliation of the theme that "speed kills" I present the following for your listening pleasure:
Jan and Dean, Deadman's Curve (1964). But it is not just boys who are drawn to speed, little old ladies have been known to put the pedal to the metal. Case in point: The Little Old Lady From Pasadena.
Johnny Bond, Hot Rod Lincoln (1960)
James Dean, Public Service Announcement
James Dean, The 'Chicken' Scene
Beach Boys, Don't Worry Baby
Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston, Rocket 88 (1951). The first R & R song? With footage of Bettie Page. 'Footage' indeed.
Billy Joel, Only the Good Die Young
Public Service Announcement.
Slow down, speed kills. You'll die soon enough. And stop tail-gating. And turn off that bloody cell phone. Or I kill you.
Like Aaachmed the Terrorist. Trigger warning! Not for liberals.
Carly Fiorina is beginning to look good to me, politically speaking. Let's see what we can scrounge up on the Carly/Carla/Carl/Karl/Karla theme.
Carly Simon, You're So Vain. Good video. This one goes out to Donald Trump. I like Trump and his cojones (metaphorically speaking), but a lack of gravitas condemns him. Reagan had the right blend of cojones and gravitas: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Ray Barretto, El Watusi (an old '60s number featured in Carlito's Way). Don't ask me what it means.
Carl Wilson, I Can Hear Music
Karla Bonoff, When you Walk in the Room. The old Jackie De Shannon tune from '64. While we have Jackie cued up: Put a Little Love in Your Heart.
Carlos Santana, Black Magic Woman
Another reason to like Fiorina:
“I graduated from Stanford with a degree in medieval history and philosophy — there is life after a medieval history and philosophy degree,” she said happily. After graduation, Fiorina said, she was “completely unemployable” so she tried out law school.
“I was an obedient, goody two-shoes middle child,” she said of that decision, explaining that her parents wanted her to go. “Hated law school. Quit law school after one semester. And now my resume reads, ‘Medieval history and philosophy. Law school dropout.” Fiorina then went to work as a secretary. Six months in, two of her male colleagues saw her potential and asked if she wanted to learn the business.
“And still, in 2014, there is no other country on the face of the earth where a young woman can start out as a secretary and become CEO of the largest technology company,” she said.
This is where the politics comes in. “I’m a conservative because I think our policies unlock potential in people and I have seen too many lives and too many livelihoods sacrificed at the altar of liberal ideology and it happens all the time,” she said. Fiorina talked about the evils of bureaucracies and the virtues of entrepreneurship, education, jobs and freedom.
It was 31 years ago today, during a training run. Running pioneer James F. Fixx, author of the wildly successful The Complete Book of Running, keeled over dead of cardiac arrest. He died with his 'boots' on, and not from running but from a bad heart. It's a good bet that his running added years to his life in addition to adding life to his years. I've just pulled my hardbound copy of The Complete Book of Running from the shelf. It's a first edition, 1977, in good condition with dust jacket. I read it when it first came out. Do I hear $1000? Just kidding, it's not for sale. This book and the books of that other pioneer, George Sheehan, certainly made a difference in my life.
The atavism and simplicity and cleansing quality of a good hard run are particularly beneficial for Luftmenschen. Paradoxically, the animality of it releases lofty thoughts.
See here for a comparison of Fixx and Sartre. And here for something on George Sheehan. Now for some 'running' tunes.
Spencer Davis Group, Keep on Running
Jackson Browne, Running on Empty
Eagles, The Long Run
Beatles, Run for Your Life
Del Shannon, Runaway. Charles Weedon Westover was born 30 December 1934 and is best known for his 1961 #1 hit, "Runaway." Suffering from depression, Shannon committed suicide on February 8, 1990, with a .22-caliber rifle at his home in Santa Clarita, California. Following his death, the Traveling Wilburys honored him by recording a version of "Runaway".
Bob Dylan, If Dogs Run Free
Chuck Berry, Run Rudolph Run
Johnny Preston, Running Bear
Dion DiMucci, Runaround Sue
Roy Orbison, Running Scared
Crystals, They Do Run Run
Bob Dylan
Today, 20 July, is not only the 31th anniversary of Jim Fixx's death, but also the 50th anniversary of the release of Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone. Wikipedia:
The song had a huge impact on Bruce Springsteen, who was 15 years old when he first heard it. Springsteen described the moment during his speech inducting Dylan into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and also assessed the long-term significance of "Like a Rolling Stone":
The first time I heard Bob Dylan, I was in the car with my mother listening to WMCA, and on came that snare shot that sounded like somebody'd kicked open the door to your mind … The way that Elvis freed your body, Dylan freed your mind, and showed us that because the music was physical did not mean it was anti-intellect. He had the vision and talent to make a pop song so that it contained the whole world. He invented a new way a pop singer could sound, broke through the limitations of what a recording could achieve, and he changed the face of rock'n'roll for ever and ever "[66][67]
Dylan's contemporaries in 1965 were both startled and challenged by the single. Paul McCartney remembered going around to John Lennon's house in Weybridge to hear the song. According to McCartney, "It seemed to go on and on forever. It was just beautiful … He showed all of us that it was possible to go a little further."[68] Frank Zappa had a more extreme reaction: "When I heard 'Like a Rolling Stone', I wanted to quit the music business, because I felt: 'If this wins and it does what it's supposed to do, I don't need to do anything else …' But it didn't do anything. It sold but nobody responded to it in the way that they should have."[68] Nearly forty years later, in 2003, Elvis Costello commented on the innovative quality of the single. "What a shocking thing to live in a world where there was Manfred Mann and the Supremes and Engelbert Humperdinck and here comes 'Like a Rolling Stone'".[69]
Your humble correspondent was lying in the sand at Huntington Beach, California, when the song came on the radio. It was like nothing else on the radio in those days of the Beatles and the Beach Boys. It 'blew my mind.' What is THAT? And WHO is that? I had been very vaguely aware of some B. Dylan as the writer of PPM's Don't Think Twice. I pronounced the name like 'Dial in.' That memorable summer of '65 I became a Dylan fanatic, researching him at the library and buying all his records. The fanaticism faded with the '60s. But while no longer a fanatic, I remain a fan, 50 years later.
This wonderfully creative but rarely played song by The Lovin' Spoonful dates from 1966. Six O'Clock is one of the songs that captures for me the 'magic' of those fabulous and far-off days. Same goes for Van Morrison and Them's Here Comes the Night (1965). It still sounds as raw and fresh as it did in '65. Tender and yearning, but with the metallic clang of the Dionysian.
Not to mention resistance and defiance.
Johnny Cash, I Won't Back Down. Tom Petty wrote it, with Jeff Lynne.
Byrds, Chimes of Freedom. One of Dylan's greatest anthems.
Byrds, I Wasn't Born to Follow
Good YouTuber comment: "I keep searching for that door back into the summer of '69, I lost it somewhere long ago."
Richie Havens, Freedom
Tim Hardin, A Simple Song of Freedom
Crystals, He's a Rebel
Rascals, People Got to be Free
Bob Dylan, I Shall be Free. This is the first time I've heard this particular delightful 1962 outtake. A real period piece in the style of Woody Guthrie with appearances by Marilyn Monroe, Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren, John F. Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean's great granddaughter, fallout shelters . . . .
Cream, I Feel Free
Del Shannon (Charles Weedon Westover), December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990, known prmarily for his Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit, Runaway, 1961. "Suffering from depression, Shannon committed suicide on February 8, 1990, with a .22-caliber rifle at his home in Santa Clarita, California, while on a prescription dose of the anti-depressant drug Prozac. Following his death, The Traveling Wilburys honored him by recording a version of "Runaway"." (Wikipedia)
Dalida, O Sole Mio. I think I'm in love. "Dalida (17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), birth name Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, was a singer and actress who performed and recorded in more than 10 languages including: French, Arabic, Italian, Greek, German, English, Japanese, Hebrew, Dutch and Spanish." [. . .]On Saturday, 2 May 1987, Dalida committed suicide by overdosing on barbiturates.[7][8] She left behind a note which read, "La vie m'est insupportable… Pardonnez-moi." ("Life has become unbearable for me… Forgive me.")" (Wikipedia)
The Singing Nun, Dominique, 1963. "Jeanine Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985) was a Belgian singer-songwriter and initially a member of the Dominican Order in Belgium (as Sister Luc Gabrielle). She acquired world fame in 1963 as Sœur Sourire (Sister Smile) when she scored a hit with the her French-language song "Dominique". She is sometimes credited as "The Singing Nun". [. . .]
Citing their financial difficulties in a note, she and her companion of ten years[8][9][10], Annie Pécher, both committed suicide by an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol on 29 March 1985.[11][12] In their suicide note, Decker and Pécher stated they had not given up their faith and wished to be buried together after a church funeral.[7] They were buried together in Cheremont Cemetery in Wavre, Walloon Brabant, the town where they died.[13] The inscription on their tombstone reads "I saw her soul fly across the clouds", a line from Deckers' song "Sister Smile is dead". (Wikipedia)
Phil Ochs, Small Circle of Friends. There but for Fortune. "Philip David Ochs (/ˈoʊks/; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer) and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and distinctive voice. He wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and released eight albums in his lifetime." [. . .] "On April 9, 1976, Ochs hanged himself.[110]" (Wikipedia)
My favorite suicide song is Shiver Me Timbers by Tom Waits. James Taylor offers a beautiful interpretation. Is it really about suicide at sea? The reference to Martin Eden suggests to me that it is. But you might reasonably disagree.
These tunes go out to Sally S. and Jean H.
Bobby Lewis, Tossin' and Turnin (1961).
Santo and Johnny, Sleepwalk (1959). Joe Satriani's cover blows the original and every other cover clean out of the water. Masterful guitar work. But wait a minute! What about old man Les Paul's version?
Bobby Edwards, You're the Reason I Don't Sleep at Night. A country crossover hit from 1961.
Johnny Tillotson, Send Me the Pillow that You Dream On, 1957.
Leadbelly, Where Did You Sleep Last Night (1944).
Here's hoping your Dream Lover doesn't leave you with Tears on Your Pillow.
The Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy opened yesterday and I saw it. I grew up in Southern California in the '60s with all those songs, and so I had to see it. I'm glad I did. Trailer here. But not for the music of which there is little, but for the biography and backstory. The two heroes of the story are Brian Wilson and the woman who saved him, Melinda Ledbetter. The two villains are the abusive father, Murry Wilson, and the crazy shrink, Dr. Landy. It is probably true, though, that were it not for the hard-charging Murry there would have been no Beach Boys. He pushed them and negotiated their contract with Capitol Records.
Then I Kissed Her. The BBs' answer to The Crystals, Then He Kissed Me. Doesn't come close, but in general Brian Wilson and Phil Spector are in the same league.
Surf's Up (Punch Bros. cover.)
Albert King, Born Under a Bad Sign
Albert King, Crosscut Saw
B. B. King, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
B. B. King and Eric Clapton, Riding With the King
Playlist
1. "Riding with the King"
2. "Ten Long Years"
3. "Key to the Highway"
4. "Marry You"
5. "Three O'Clock Blues"
6. "Help the Poor"
7. "I Wanna Be"
8. "Worried Life Blues"
9. "Days of Old"
10. "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer"
11. "Hold On, I'm Comin'"
12. "Come Rain or Come Shine"
Clapton's tribute on King's passing. New York Times obituary.
All of us blues guitar players of a certain age copied those signature licks. So long, B. B. King.
