You ever get on the telephone, listen to ads, or generally engage with sales people, and get the feeling that they have music going through their head, and that music is some variation of “Money (That’s What I Want)”? Seems like a large proportion of the world’s population is has this theme song going.
It ended up streaming into my head this morning after reading the news (I read the news today, oh, boy). After a little thought, I went with the Beatle’s version because I’m most familiar with it.
Look back on a little Beatlemania in this clip, or, if you’re too young to know what I’m talking about, view it for the first time.
I heard “I’m A Man” by the Spencer Davis Group, but the Chicago cover (when the band’s name was still Chicago Transit Authority) is my preferred version. I have a fond memory of being sixteen. I was at a friend’s place with several others. We had the lights low, and were smoking some grass, drinking beer, and listening to “I’m A Man” cranked up. That opening bass begins, and then drums rise and other instruments join and build tension.
We attended a show called “Million Dollar Quartet” at the Oregon Cabaret Theater last night. Great show, very lively. I was familiar with the music played but it was all from before my time. Still, it put me in a rock and roll frame of mind while I was walking to my writing today. Lots of songs streamed in, but the one that grabbed me was David Bowie’s “Suffragette City”.
I enjoy how the song cranks up with raucous overtones right from the start. It seems like both a conversation between the singer and others about a woman he’d met but also an internal conversation about a person reflecting on who he is, his sexuality, and where he’s going and doing. There’s a sense of a decision being made at a fork in the road. Most of all, though, it’s a rocking song and easy to sing. Love that hook, “Ahhh, wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.”
A car passed by as I walked in the wind, drizzle, and sun yesterday. One of the car’s windows were down, and the Bee Gees streamed out:
“You don’t know what it’s like.”
Naturally, my mind completed the song and then put it on a loop and added it to the day’s shuffle. I haven’t heard “To Love Somebody” in a long time. I think the last time was in a movie. It was released in the late sixties, before the Bee Gees became embedded with disco. I liked a lot of Bee Gees music back then. They had some tight harmonies.
So, from my ear worm to yours. Please, enjoy this on your Thursday. Cheers
I learned this song from the AM radio when I was very young. I began thinking about “The Name Game” this morning, but remembering “The Clapping Song,” I switched to it. I loved its rhythms and clapping when I was a child. Come on, they’re fun lyrics and easy to learn:
Three, six, nine, the goose drank wine,
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked,
They all went to heaven in a little row-boat
Clap-Pat
Clap-Pat
Clap-Pat
Clap-Slap
Clap-Pat: Clap your hand, pat it on your partner’s hand (right hand)
Clap-Pat: Clap your hand, cross it with your left arm, pat your partner’s left palm
Clap-Pat: Clap your hand, pat your partner’s right palm with your right palm again
Clap-Slap: Clap your hands, slap your thighs, and sing a little song; go:
My mother told me
If I was good-ee
That she would buy me
A rubber dolly
My aunty told her
I kissed a soldier
Now she won’t buy me
A rubber dolly
I didn’t know that Shirley Ellis sang it. Honestly, when I learned this song, it all came from that magical place called the radio. It wasn’t for a few years that I realized that those voices and music represented individual people. Yeah, I was a little slow. After hearing the song when I was older, I wondered about the age of a person who was being promised a rubber dolly but wasn’t being given one because she kissed a soldier.
When I heard “Share the Land” by the Guess Who, I knew that wasn’t Randy Bachman on the guitar. The style sounded different. Nothing against Bachman, who did some excellent playing with the Guess Who (like “American Woman”) and with BTO, but I really liked the guitar’s fast, fluid movements and high notes on “Share the Land.”
Because of that one song, I became a Kurt Winter fan. He died of kidney disease when he was fifty-one, but he left some wonderful performances to remember him. I like how Burton Cumming’s honky-tonk style piano in this song underscores Winter’s guitar work.
This song, “Ramblin’ Man”, was recorded a year after Duane Allman died. I was a big Allman Brothers Band fan when he died after a massive motorcycle accident. “Live at the Fillmore East,” released on July of 1971, was one of my recurring go-to albums. A month after “Ramblin’ Man” was recorded, Berry Oakley, Duane’s friend and the group’s bassist, died in a motorcycle accident a few blocks from where Duane had his accident.
Dicky Betts sang “Ramblin’ Man,” which explained a lot for me. When I first heard it, I thought, boy, Gregg’s vocals sound a lot different on this. That song, though, captured the uplifting, rambunctious, rambling spirit I often felt while I was traveling. The pace feels faster with the song’s guitar solos, and the notes make me feel like I’m soaring on a wind.
It’s a memorable song, and has been used in many movies and venues. Here they are, the Allman Brothers Band with “Ramblin’ Man” from 1973, my junior year in high school.
Soft rock isn’t my bag. I always enjoy that expression, ‘my bag’. When I was a child and heard it, I asked, “What’s that mean?” When adults explained it, I asked, “But why a bag?” Because we carry baggage, they explained. Took me a while to understand until a sixth grade English teacher clarified the whole metaphor.
Today’s soft rock is by Orleans. “Dance with Me” features a melodica solo. When I first heard the song, I thought, “Is that Stevie Wonder?” It’s one of those riddles that stayed with me through the years until I finally hunted down an answer. No, it’s not Stevie Wonder, it’s Larry Hoppen, Orleans’ lead vocalist, who committed suicide half a decade ago. He was sixty-one. I don’t know why he committed suicide. It seemed to be depression.
Of other Orleans’ hits, I much prefer “Still the One” (which Larry also sang) but this is the song that was streaming through me. Sometimes, I just take what I’m given.
This song, “Song Sung Blue” by Neil Diamond, slipped into my mindstream this morning. Don’t know why. Not really the rock that I generally listen to, the words and melody are easy to learn. It’s a casual choice for a casual day.
I awoke streaming an old song, which led to another and another. My brain was like a golden oldies station, if you can respect that golden and oldie are subjective terms. How you relate to them depends upon where you reside on the age spectrum.
After posting this partial list, I can see how my mind pivoted through common words, themes, and times. I finally settled on this song because its signal strength had more bars. Here is “Life Is A Rock” by Reunion from 1974. It’s a novelty song, but it’s fun to listen to the lyric’s references. Enjoy.
