I always enjoy a good “writing prompt” and have used them on occasion to write when I struggle for an idea. With the features I have going now, I tend to overlook them. I suppose I should jot down the good ones and save them for later.
One of the bloggers I follow recently answered a prompt that was about a celebrity crush or something to that effect and wrote about Billy Ray Cyrus. I had mentioned that I had the opportunity to meet him and that I would try to find the photo of us. I didn’t have to look far, as it was in a small photo album that I would take with me when I did Career Day presentations at the local high schools.
Billy Ray shot onto the scene with his song “Achy Breaky Heart” and while it was a monster hit, there were plenty of radio people who thought he was going to be a one hit wonder artist. Many just couldn’t take him seriously after that song, which is a shame, because he really was more than that one song. Could’ve Been Me, Some Gave All, Busy Man, and Ready Set Don’t Go are just a few that prove that.
I’m sure that there are plenty of songs that, if they had gotten airplay, could have been hits. However, many radio programmers had written him off as “done.”
I don’t recall what year Billy Ray played our county fair, but it had to be around 1997-1999. I know this because in the photo I am wearing glasses. I had Lasik in late 1999 or 2000, so that helps to get an approximate date.
The meet and greet was prior to the show and I have to tell you, Billy couldn’t have been a nicer guy. He was gracious and attentive to our listeners, he signed as many things as they had brought back for him and posed for countless photos. The station staff was last to see him before he got ready to hit the stage.
I remember him signing our auction items, photos and laughing with all of us. Before I walked away, he gave me his road manager’s (or manager’s) card and number and said, “Keith, you just call if there’s ever anything I can do for you or the station.” A week or so later, a card arrived in the mail at the station that said something like, “Thanks for a great time at the fair! God Bless, Billy Ray Cyrus.”
Despite his status as a well known country singer, he was about as down to earth and humble as they come.
One of the hardest things to do it seems is to get all my kids together. There are a lot of factors involved in this – jobs, appointments, certain people, and schedules in general. However, over the weekend, all of my kids got together with me to celebrate Father’s Day.
We met at one of the local parks and we had pizza. We had planned on eating under the pavilion, but there were people there for a high school graduate’s open house. We found some bleachers by the baseball diamond and had our picnic lunch there.
The youngest kids wanted to hurry up and eat because they wanted to play on the playground. my older boys were filling me in on stuff at work, school, and other things. My younger ones were quite persuasive and got their older brothers to eat a bit faster so they could go and play.
As their father, it gave me the warmest sensation inside to watch them all play together! What a joy to see them all running around and chasing each other. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, the younger kids or the older kids. Andrew chased Dante’ up the stairs to the curly slide and on his way down, Dante’ got stuck!
Different slide, a few minutes later, Dimitri came down and conked his head on the way out.
After a lot of running around, screaming and laughing, they slowed down a bit as Ella and Andrew wanted to swing on the swings. Naturally, they wanted their big brothers to push them.
I found myself trying to take in every moment of this, but also wanted to get some pictures. Their interactions are something that is so special. Ella and Andrew love them so much, I truly wish that my older sons knew just how much.
I have two favorite pictures from the day. The first is because of the sheer delight in Andrew’s face as he chases Dante’ around the playground.
The second is a recreation of our Father’s Day picture from last year, only this time it is on the bleachers.
I’m a lucky man to be called “Dad/Daddy” by these kids. Thank you for a wonderful time together. I love you all!
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year. In 1976, America celebrated her 200th birthday, while I celebrated my 6th. Let’s go back there together …
My first song actually goes back to 1969, Waylon Jennings saw an advertisement for Tina Turner in a newspaper, It called her a “good hearted woman loving two-timing men”, a reference to Ike Turner. Waylon went to Willie Nelson who was in a middle of a poker game, about writing a song based on that phrase. Joining the game, he and Nelson expanded the lyrics as Nelson’s wife Connie Koepke wrote them down.
Waylon released it as a solo single in 1971. Later, he recorded a concert version for his Waylon- Live album. This served as a basis for the duet with Nelson. “I just took my voice off and put Willie’s on in different places,” he explained. “Willie wasn’t within 10,000 miles when I recorded it.” When it was released as a single in 1976, it became the first of three number ones on the country chart for the duo.
Good Hearted Woman
In March of 1976, the Doobie Brothers introduced the public to their new lead singer, Michael McDonald. He wrote the song that would become the title track of the album, Takin’ It To the Streets. Industry folks were impressed.
Cash Box magazine said, “both instrumentally and vocally this is the best thing the Doobie Brothers have done to date,” adding that “the melody is based around a strong chordal structure.” Record World magazine said that the song “has all the essential qualities that have contributed to making this group a dominating chart force” and that “all these ingredients are wrapped together in an appealing package.” Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci rated “Takin’ It to the Streets” as the Doobie Brothers’ 6th greatest song, praising McDonald’s “soulful rasp” on the vocal. Billboard magazine rated it as the Doobie Brothers’ 3rd best song, saying that it “hits an elemental theme and drives it home with soulful urgency.”
From songfacts.com: The chorus is almost a chant, with the group singing “takin’ it to the streets” as Michael McDonald ad-libs underneath. This gives the song a church feel, which was intentional: McDonald thought the melody evoked gospel music, and wanted it to sound like a gospel song. This meant delivering a powerful message in the lyric and having lots of people sing on the chorus as the spirit moved them.
Takin’ It To the Streets
The next song is here because it is yet another ballad from my mom’s red 8 track tape that we were forced to listen to on our way up north as kids. I remember thinking “Who the heck names their kid, “England?” England Dan is Dan Seals, who had a series of country hits after he stopped performing with John Ford Coley in 1980. His older brother Jim was the Seals of Seals & Crofts, who had the hit “Summer Breeze.”
The duo’s biggest hit reached number 2 on the charts – “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight.” Seals and Coley met in high school. This was their first single, but it almost never made the radio. Songfacts.com says, “When “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” was played to an executive at Atlantic Records, he turned it down. However Doug Morris of Big Tree Records heard the song through the wall of his over-joining office and offered the duo a contract.“
Listen carefully – One of the great misheard lyrics appears in this song: “I’m not talking about movin’ in” is often heard as “I’m not talking about the linen.”
I’d Really Love to See You Tonight
The next song on my list was written by Ann Orson and Carte Blanche. “Who?” you ask! I’m am sure that you are well aware of their real names – Elton John and Bernie Taupin! They wrote Don’t Go Breaking My Heart under those silly pseudonyms!
The song was originally supposed to be Elton and Dusty Springfield, but the offer was rejected because she was ill at the time. It was written to mimic some of the great Motown duets like those of Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell. Kiki Dee, who sings the duet with Elton, coincidentally was the first female artist from the UK to sign with Motown’s Tamla Label.
Songfacts.com shares this great story: Elton recorded his part in Toronto, then the tape was sent to London where Kiki Dee recorded her vocal. Producer Gus Dudgeon recalls, “I was with Elton in Canada and he actually sang about three quarters of the song and gave Kiki about four lines. I said, “Hang on a minute, is this supposed to be a duet or a guest appearance? Elton replied, ‘A duet.’ Then you’ve got to give her at least 50% of the song.”
After Elton recorded his part in Toronto, the tapes were sent to London and when Kiki got them she remembered, “Elton had recorded the song abroad and also did my vocals in a high-pitched voice which was quite funny, so I knew which lines to sing.”
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
The next song is one that I had heard on the radio a million times before seeing the 2000 Saturday Night Live Sketch that will forever be associated with it.
“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” was written and sung by Blue Öyster Cult’s lead guitarist, Donald Roeser, also known as Buck Dharma. It was rumored to be about suicide, but it actually deals with the inevitability of death and the belief that we should not fear it. When Dharma wrote it, he was thinking about what would happen if he died at a young age and if he would be reunited with loved ones in the afterlife.
Dharma was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, which got him thinking about his mortality and inspired the song. “I thought I was going to maybe not live that long,” he said wen interviewed by songfacts.com, “I had been diagnosed with a heart condition, and your mind starts running away with you – especially when you’re young-ish. So, that’s why I wrote the story. It’s imagining you can survive death in terms of your spirit. Your spirit will prevail.”
New life was given to the song on April 8, 2000. Saturday Night Live aired a skit with Christopher Walken that made fun of the overreaching cowbell in this song. In the sketch, the band would get upset when Will Ferrell would play the bell too loud, but Walken kept calling for “more cowbell.”
From songfacts.com: In the skit, Walken plays a super-producer named Bruce Dickinson, whom the band respects enough to put up with his cowbell antics. There really is a Bruce Dickinson , but he didn’t produce “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” – that was David Lucas, who also brought us the General Electric “we bring good things to life” and the AT&T “reach out and touch someone” jingles. Dickinson is an archivist who works on album reissues, which means gathering master tapes to ensure the best sound quality. He is credited as the reissue producer on a later version of the album, which apparently is how he was named in the sketch.
When Lucas and Dickinson both appeared on the Just My Show podcast, Lucas explained that the cowbell was his idea, as the song “needed some momentum.” He grabbed a cowbell from a nearby recording studio and “just played four on the floor… not hard to do.” He found out about the SNL skit when a friend instant messaged him as it was airing.
Fun fact: Is the cowbell in this song really that loud? It depends on how you’re listening to the song. On a home stereo system, it’s pretty unobtrusive, but radio stations compress their signals, and when cowbell gets compressed, it pops out in the mix.
Don’t Fear the Reaper
The next song was actually performed three years before it was released to radio. The Steve Miller Band joined Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and the Marshall Tucker Band at a New York show and played a “more bluesy and less funky” version of Fly Like an Eagle. The lyrics were a bit different, too. It was re-recorded for the 1976 album with the same name.
This introspective and inspirational song reminds us that time is always ticking away, so we’d better make the most of it. The message of freedom through revolution is one Steve Miller picked up when he formed his Steve Miller band in San Francisco in 1966, a time and place that centered him in the counterculture as America was ramping up the Vietnam War.
A lot of the SMB songs from this time were story songs or songs about having fun, but this one had a pretty serious message to it.
Fly Like an Eagle
With a name like Arnold George Dorsey, you’d just have to change your name to be a singer, right? Sure. Why not change it to something simple … like… Engelbert Humperdinck!? Yeah, there ya go!
Say what you will about Engelbert, but you have to give him credit, he was certainly very well liked by fans! He first was noticed by audiences with his 1967 hit, “Release Me.” He followed that with “The Last Waltz,” “There Goes My Everything,” and ” A Man Without Love.”
When Epic Records released “After the Lovin'” in 1976, it became a huge hit for him. It hit number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and went to number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It also won the “most played juke box record of the year” award. The album of the same name reached the top 20 on the US charts, was nominated for a Grammy Award, and was a Double Platinum hit for the singer. The song is one that I have played for countless brides and grooms to dance their first dance to.
Today, Engelbert is 88 years old and he is still performing! One of the bloggers I follow just saw him perform and said that he was terrific! God bless him!
After the Lovin’
The next song is one that I will always remember because the album we had was on blue vinyl! Elvis Presley’s Moody Blue was written by a guy named Mark James. Mark actually recorded the song first and also wrote Suspicious Minds for Elvis. The song was recorded in February 1976 in the Jungle Room at Graceland. “Moody Blue” was Presley’s last No. 1 hit in his lifetime, topping the Billboard Hot Country singles chart in February 1977. Elvis died six months after it hit number one.
Moody Blue
The next song technically was a hit in 1977, but it was released in November of 1976 on the Kansas album Leftoverture. Carry on Wayward Son has since become a classic rock staple!
It was written by guitarist Kerry Livgren. According to Livgren, the song was not written to express anything specifically religious, though it certainly expresses spiritual searching and other ideas.
Livgren became an evangelical Christian in 1980, and has said that his songwriting to that point was all about “searching.” Regarding this song, he explained: “I felt a profound urge to ‘Carry On’ and continue the search. I saw myself as the ‘Wayward Son,’ alienated from the ultimate reality, and yet striving to know it or him. The positive note at the end (‘surely heaven waits for you’) seemed strange and premature, but I felt impelled to include it in the lyrics. It proved to be prophetic.”
I have always loved the cold a cappella vocals that kick off the song!
Carry On Wayward Son
As we come to my final song from 1976, I realize that this year really has a wide range of songs. In a way that really fits who I am, as I like many different genres of music. That really comes across with this list. Ok, moving on…
Bob Seger only wrote two songs while on the road – Turn the Page and Night Moves. “Night Moves” was a breakthrough hit for Seger, introducing the heartland rocker to a much wider audience. He had been Michigan famous ever since his first album in 1969, which had the solid hit “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.” That song went to #17 on the Hot 100, but over the next few years, he struggled to make a national impact. A big break came in April 1976 when his label, Capitol, seeing the success of Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive, issued a Seger live album, Live Bullet, recorded at two of his Detroit concerts in 1975. It quickly found a following and outsold every other Seger album. The song would reach number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Seger says the song is autobiographical, but he took some liberties, as their tryst was after high school. The girl he was with had a boyfriend away in the military, and when he came back, she married him, breaking Seger’s heart. Seger says the song represents the freedom and possibility of the high school years.
In an interview, Bob describes writing the song: It was inspired by the movie American Graffiti. It was all about cars and peg pants and rolled-up T-shirts with a cigarette pack up here and stiletto pointed shoes. That’s how I grew up, that was my high-school years. It was the easiest song in the world to write but the hardest song to finish. It took me six months to finish it. I had the first two verses. Then I’m listening to Born To Run and I notice in “Jungleland” Bruce had a double bridge. I never thought of two bridges in one song. So I have two bridges in “Night Moves.” People at Capitol Records told me after they heard the song “Night Moves” that I had a ‘career record”. They said: “This is a song that you’re gonna have to play for the rest of your life.”
The famous bridge in this song, where Seger strips it down and sings “I woke last night to the sound of thunder,” is something he and producer Jack Richardson came up with on the fly in the studio.
Night Moves
And that’s a wrap on 1976 for me. What were your favorites from ’76?
Disco continued to rise into the mainstream from 1974-1979. As we head into 1977 next time, I’m wondering how many disco songs may or may not be a part of my list …
Today my second oldest son, Dimitri turns 17 years old. When I saw that Tune Tuesday fell on his birthday, I wanted to feature a song that has a connection to him. The one I have selected is probably unknown to you, because it was never a radio hit (although, you can hear it on the Disney Music channel on Sirius XM now).
At first, I thought about the various songs that I used to sing to the kids at bedtime when they were babies/toddlers. Each has one specific song that was unique to them (almost all are from Dean Martin). Then I recalled a Facebook video that recently popped up in the memory feed. Dimitri is probably about 2 or 3 in the video. He is sitting in his car seat and I toss the first line of the song to him and he sings the rest of it. I love that I have this video. If I could figure out how to get it here, I would, but for now, I will let you listen to the original.
Background. Dimitri was born in 2007. That same year, a new cartoon came out on Disney Channel/Disney XD called Phineas and Ferb. It is about two boys and how they spend their summer vacation. Every day, the boys undertake the construction of a grand project, or embark on a spectacular adventure, to make the most of their time on vacation. This annoys their controlling older sister, Candace, who frequently tries to expose their schemes to her and Phineas’s mother. The series follows a standard plot system; running gags occur in every episode. They built a rollercoaster, traveled back in time, created a beach in their back yard, build a pirate ship, have a chariot race through their town, build a mini golf course, and even a haunted house.
The song I chose for today is from the episode entitled, “Flop Starz” in which Phineas and Ferb spend the day writing a “one hit wonder.” Their mom has explained that the one hit wonder should have nonsensical lyrics and a catchy melody. When it becomes a huge hit, the singer should throw a diva-type tantrum that will end their career. Then the song would be featured as elevator music. The singer does one more reunion tour and never sing again. (They have no idea that their mom actually did have a one hit wonder and that was the path of her career, as we see it in a flashback as she explains to them.)
The song that they write, and ultimately perform on stage at the auditions for The Next Super American Pop Teen Idol Star was called “Gitchee Gitchee Goo.” Are you still with me? The more I write, the more I am trying to “edit” this to a simple intro … and cannot. So I will just move on.
This song is what led the creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh to create an original song in each episode of the show. For the episode, the song only runs for about a minute, but there was an extended version that was included on the Soundtrack for the show. I am not embarrassed to say that I know all the words and will sing along to this. For a cartoon song, I will say it is better than some of the songs that were actual hits!
It is hard to believe that my son is 17 today! There have been a lot of changes in our lives since he was singing Gitchee Gitchee Goo in the backseat of my car! Any time I listen to this song, I picture him singing it. It always makes me smile.
Happy Birthday, Dimitri! Sit back and listen to Phineas and the Ferbtones! I love you, kiddo!
Gitchee Gitchee Goo
Ladies and gentlemen, the Ferbettes I’m Phineas and this is Ferb And we’re gonna sing a song
Bow chika, bow, bow That’s what my baby says Mow, mow, mow and my heart starts pumpin’ Chicka chicka choo wap Never gonna stop Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you
My baby’s got her own way of talking Whenever she says something sweet And she knows it’s my world she’s a-rockin’ Though my vocabulary’s incomplete And though it may sound confusing Sometimes I wish she’d give it to me straight But I never feel like I’m losing (losing) When I take the time to translate Here’s what I’m talking ’bout
Bow chicka bow wow, that’s what my baby says! Mow, mow, mow and my heart starts pumpin’ Chicka chicka choo wap Never gonna stop Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you
Well I don’t know what to do (I don’t know what to do) But I think I’m getting through (I think I’m getting through) ‘Cause when I say I love you (when I say I love you) She says “I gitchee gitchee goo you too” Gitchee gitchee goo you too Gitchee gitchee goo you too Gitchee gitchee goo you too Don’t need a dictionary!
Bow chicka, bow, wow, that’s what my baby says! Mow mow mow and my heart starts pumpin’ Chicka chicka choo wap Never gonna stop Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you
I said bow, chicka, bow-wow That’s what my baby says Mow, mow, mow And my heart starts pumpin’ Chicka, chicka, choo wap Never gonna stop Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you Baby, baby, baby (baby, baby, baby, baby) Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you
On this day in 1981, the 12th James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, had its premier in London. It once again starred Roger Moore as Agent 007.
The theme song for the film was written by Bill Conti, who will be forever remembered for writing the theme to the Rocky Movies. When he wrote it he had originally thought about Dusty Springfield of Donna Summer to sing it. He felt that they fit into the “style” of the Bond films. The studio suggested Sheena Easton, who had just had a huge hit with “Morning Train.” Bill listened to her album and was not impressed, so he met with her. After that meeting, he decided to work with her on the song.
Believe it or not, the band Blondie was originally approached to write a title song for the film. The producers of the film rejected their song in favor of Conti’s song. (Blondie’s recording of a completely different song, also called “For Your Eyes Only”, appeared on their 1982 album The Hunter). Conti’s lyricist, Mick Leeson, had originally used the line “for your eyes only” as the final line of the song. That didn’t match up with the film’s title reveal in the opening credits, so the two rewrote the song with the phrase as the first line of the song.
Sheena Easton is the only artist (to date) to be seen singing the theme song to a Bond movie during its opening title. Her seductive appearance in these clips was, according to the star, Roger Moore, “sexier than any of the Bond girls.” Sheena, however, says that the filming process was very unglamorous. Anyone who has seen the credits, would argue that she looks amazing in the film.
The song was released as a single in June 1981, just a couple weeks prior to the movie’s release and it became a world wide hit for Easton. She was only 22 years old when she released “For Your Eyes Only,” making her the youngest person ever to perform a Bond song. She held that record until 2020 when 18-year-old Billie Eilish recorded the theme tune for No Time to Die.
Here are those opening credits …
For Your Eyes Only
For your eyes only, can see me through the night For your eyes only, I never need to hide You can see so much in me So much in me that’s new I never felt, until I looked at you
[Chorus] For your eyes only, only for you You see what no one else can see Now I’m breaking free For your eyes only, only for you The love I know you need in me The fantasy you freed in me Only for you, only for you
For your eyes only, the nights are never cold You really know me, that’s all I need to know Maybe I’m an open book Because I know you’re mine But you won’t need to read between the lines
[Chorus] For your eyes only, only for you You see what no one else can see Now I’m breaking free For your eyes only, only for you The passions that collide in me The wild abandoned side of me Only for you, for your eyes only
I just finished another good book that had been on my “To Read” list. My wife read it before I did and based on her reaction, I chose to read it next. The cover itself was intriguing and I added it to my list before I even read what it was about.
This is the first book I have read by Jeneva Rose, but I liked it enough to want to read more. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
From New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage and You Shouldn’t Have Come Here comes a chilling family thriller about the (sometimes literal) skeletons in the closet.
After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.
While going through their parent’s belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.
Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.
I like reading books my wife has already read because then I can bug her about them. I must have asked her about 30 questions about this one. “Is so and so involved?” “What’s the deal with the video tape?” “How does so and so fit into this?” She always has the same answer – “If I tell you that, it will ruin the ending!”
I had my hunches throughout the book, and there were were plenty of people who seemed shady to me. There were some unexpected surprises in it as well. Over all, I really enjoyed this book and if you love a good mystery, you might, too!
Here is the June edition of Dave Ruch’s Turntable Talk (the 27th installment for those keeping count)! Every month Dave, who hosts his blog A Sound Day, offers up a topic for our group of music loving bloggers for us to write about. This time around, he calls it “Art Rock” with the following instructions about the visuals of music:
This time around, either pick an album cover (liner notes or inserts too if you choose) that you think were outstanding, or else write about whether the packaging – the pictures, album covers and so on were important to you and whether you find that lacking in this day and age. Or if you ever bought an album just from the cover…
Things were obviously different when I was was growing up. I loved going into the record store down the road and flipping through albums. I can’t tell you how many covers caught my eye and made me look at the content. Album cover art was such an important part of purchasing music and the introduction to new artists.
Album cover art is a serious thing, obviously, as a quick search led me to to three books that I really need to check out (1000 Record Covers by Michael Ochs, The Greatests Album Covers of All Time by Grant Scott, Barry Miles and Johnny Morgan, and finally, The Art of the Album Cover by Richard Evans.)
On the cover of Evans’ book, there are a few of the great covers I considered for this piece. There are so many iconic covers that I could choose. I am one of the last writers for this month’s topic, so I would imagine that classics like Whipped Cream by Herb Alpert, Never Mind by Nirvana, or The Beatles Abbey Road (or their many others) have been chosen and already featured.
Dave offered up suggestions of how we might want to approach the topic and his last one got me thinking. He stated “if you ever bought an album just from the cover.” I was buying albums long before 1983, but never because of the cover. I had either heard a song on the radio and wanted the album or they didn’t have the 45, so I just bought the album. There was one album that did catch my eye and played a hand in my purchasing the album.
I firmly believe that Linda Ronstadt was one of the most beautiful voices in music. She was known primarily for pop/rock music and considered by many to be the leading female vocalist of rock. Her music was good enough to buy an album, but at the same time, her album covers were flat out sexy!
For example, Living in the USA has her in a hallway wearing roller skates and short shorts. Silk Purse has her on the ground in jean shorts sitting next to pigs with a cute smirk on her face. Simple Dreams shows her sitting in front of a vanity in a silk robe looking off to the side. Hasten Down the Wind has her standing on the beach staring off on a chilly evening. She was simply stunning even on the most simple covers.
I remember walking into my local record store and stopping at the display that featured that weeks new album releases. One of them grabbed my attention right away because there was a beautiful woman dressed in a 1940’s period gown lying atop of a purple sea of silk. Her eyes bore into me with a sultry and seductive look. Her shoe being kicked off only boosted the sexiness of it to me.
“What in the world?” I remember thinking. It was then that I noticed that the album was with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. This just didn’t make sense to me. I flipped the album over and looked at the track list. These were songs from the Great American Songbook! I purchased the album without hearing anything from it! I could only imagine her amazing voice singing these songs! I had to have it.
Looking back now, I have to think that this album was a pretty big deal. It wasn’t a big deal because it was a Linda Ronstadt album. What made this album a big deal was that it was one of the first times that a genuine rock and roll star tackled the “Great American Songbook.” In one review on the album I read:
By the early 80s, the usual crooners, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra etc., weren’t the biggest things with the youngsters. Yes, they were indeed respected and probably loved even, especially Frank, but they weren’t really selling many units to younger baby boomers. So when What’s New was released it really opened the eyes to a generation that wasn’t all that familiar with the works of George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin (except during the Holidays) but this album changed that. Yes, they were known to a point, but not like they should have been.
The album was almost never recorded. According to Wiki: Both her record company and manager, Peter Asher (of Peter and Gordon), were very reluctant to produce this album with Ronstadt, but eventually her determination won them over and the albums exposed a whole new generation to the sounds of the pre-swing and swing eras. Linda later remarked that she did her part in rescuing these songs which she called “little jewels of artistic expression” from “spending the rest of their lives riding up and down on the elevators.”
Nelson Riddle’s arrangements are simply beautiful and blend together with Linda’s vocals with perfection. Her voice is smooth and powerful at the same time. I can still remember dropping the needle on the vinyl with my headphones on. The opening strings of “What’s New” leading to her opening lyric gave me goosebumps. It still does. This amazing album blew me away as a 13 year old kid, and today each listen gets better and better.
The album was released in September of 1983 and stayed on the main Billboard Album chart for 81 weeks! I could have easily been a number one album, but it peaked at number 3, and stayed there for 5 weeks. The albums that prevented it from hitting number 1? Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female).
The success of the album led to two more collaborations with Nelson Riddle. Lush Life was released in 1984 and For Sentimental Reasons was released in 1986. The later two didn’t do as well as the first album, which is a shame, because they were just as good (or better) than the first one. In 1986, there was a 2-CD collection which contained all the songs from the three albums entitled ‘Round Midnight. It remains one of my favorite collections.
Linda Ronstadt took a bold leap by recording an album of standards. The success of this album, in my opinion, paved the way for other singers to do the same. Gloria Estefan, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Art Garfunkel, Michael Bolton, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Cyndi Lauper, and Sheena Easton have all recorded some pretty amazing covers from the Great American Songbook. Pick up a Michael Buble’ album and you will find that it is probably 70% standards and 30% originals. Those songs will live on forever because they are just that good!
When I sit with the Linda Ronstadt/Nelson Riddle albums and close my eyes, I picture Linda as one of the many female singers of the 1940’s. Maybe it is a concert performance, or maybe it is a song stuck in the middle of an old radio show. Maybe it is a feature on Armed Forces Radio boosting the morale of the soldiers fighting in the war. Whatever it happens to be, it is magical!
I feel sorry for kids today who purchase music online or in a budget rack at Walmart. They will never know the excitement of an album cover that is so good you instinctively buy it and hurry home to give it a listen. I am glad to have had that experience many times!
Thanks to Dave at A Sound Day for another great topic. Thanks to the other bloggers who I am sure posted some fantastic pieces, too. Thanks to you for reading! I look forward to next month’s topic, Dave. Thanks again for allowing me to take part!
I posted this week about our little getaway to my father-in-law’s cabin. As I mentioned, there were many things about that trip that reminded me of our trips to Caseville when I was a kid. Coincidentally, I stumbled on a picture I had not seen in some time from one of those trips. As a matter of fact, it may be from one of the last ones we took up there.
In 1981, my grandfather passed away after having a heart attack while he was on a business trip. I don’t recall how long we kept the place after he passed, but it had to be a few years later. He really loved that place and so did our family. I know it never felt the same for me after he had passed away, so I can only imagine what it felt like for my mom, my aunts, and my grandmother.
If I had to guess, my dad is probably the one who took this picture, of course, it could be my Aunt Jodi, I’m not sure. The Ford Aerostar on the left was my folks. When I moved away, my dad let me take it because it was more reliable than my crappy van. The van on the right has to be my Aunt Linda’s, I vaguely remember them having a van. Directly in front of the van is our trailer.
I was just having a conversation with a coworker about our place in Caseville and I had mentioned that there was very little grass when we were there. There was plenty of sand, however. When Sam and I went up a few years ago, I was surprised that all the places had lush green lawns! You can see the patchy grass and sand in this picture.
Speaking of sand, behind us is the red shed that always seemed to have 10 bee hives in it. We’d always dodge the bees when we went in to get out the minibike we’d ride around the neighborhood in. All the roads were dirt at the time and at the end of our street was a wooded area with trees and trails – with sand. I remember how I’d always seem to get stuck in the sand back there when I rode it.
When I look at this photo I remember fondly some very special people. The lady on the left lived across the street from our place. They lived there all year. Her husband used to stock the lake behind our place and we loved fishing back there.
Next to her is my mom. This is the way I like to remember her, when she was healthy and cancer free. She looks so good here. I chuckle at the fact that she is wearing a hat, and wish I knew what it said.
Next to my mom, in front, is my cousin Melissa and behind her is my cousin Arin. I always loved when everyone got together at the trailer. We used to pull out all of the toys and stuff that my Aunt Jodi had up there and trash her room. She had this thing called Fashion Plates where you put the plates together and shaded a piece of paper over them and I seem to remember my cousins always playing with that.
It has been too long since I’ve seen my cousins. Melissa lives out of the country and Arin is about an hour or so South of me, so it is difficult for us to get together. I really miss being with them.
Next to my cousins is my grandmother, my mom’s mom. I have great memories of going to the Belle Isle Aquarium and Greenfield Village with her. I was a teenager when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I didn’t want to see her sick, so I avoided going to a lot of family functions. It remains one of my biggest regrets. I miss her so much.
Behind my grandma is my brother, who has written a few guest blogs for me, and was the fourth and final member of the “Let’s Break Aunt Jodi’s Stuff Club!” He suffered through the 2 hour drive to Caseville with me as we listened to ballad after ballad (and mom’s singing) on the infamous red 8 track tape. We have so many great memories together there.
Next to grandma and in front of my brother and me, is my Aunt Linda (Arin and Melissa’s mom). Before she moved out of state, she and my uncle would host a summer family party. I loved those parties so much. It was always great to see those relatives from my mom’s side of the family who we didn’t get to see too often. My uncle would put on his captain hat and take folks for a spin around the lake on his boat. The older folks would be drinking home made Italian wine and playing bocce ball.
My aunt has been a wonderful support for me. We’ve talked bible and prayed together. She offered advice through my divorce and attended my college graduation. She continues to be someone who I can talk to about anything and she will be completely honest with me. I am so blessed to still have her in my life.
The first thing I notice about me is my huge hair, cheesy mustache and big glasses. Ah, the 80’s!
In front of my grandma is my Aunt’s dog. It was such a sweet dog. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I thought they called it Cocoa. Over by the van is my grandma’s dog, Mindy. Mindy was around for as long as I can remember. After seeing the way our dog ran around at my father-in-law’s this past weekend, it is amazing to see these two dogs just laying around! LOL
This photo instantly brings back memories of our summer Caseville trips for me. It stirs up sadness as I think of my mom and grandma. It brings smiles as I remember how lucky I was to have shared some wonderful times with my cousins and family. I am so glad someone decided to take this photo.
I had a few days off over this past weekend and I got some much needed family time. The time started on a sad note, as Thursday morning, my wife’s family gathered at the National Cemetery where there was a small service for her grandma. They chose her grandfather’s birthday to go and have her ashes placed inside the wall with him. After the service, her dad said a prayer and everyone left.
Her grandparents are buried at the same cemetery as my mother, and my daughter asked to go see grandma. Last time we were there, she placed a heart shaped rock on the headstone. It was not there this time and she said, “Grandma must have liked it so much that she took it.” Who am I to argue with my daughter?
Friday afternoon, we loaded up the car, the kids, and the dog and made the two hour drive to my father-in-law’s place up north. I had been there once with him, but it was only a few hours. This time, we were all going to spend a couple days there. We were all looking forward to it.
The Michigan scenery on the drive up was so nice. I love those farm houses on the side of the road, the horses and cows in the fields, and the beauty of tall green trees. I love when you have to go from 55 mph down to 30 mph because you are driving through a small town. It takes me back to those drives up to Caseville with my parents when I was a kid.
We arrived at the cabin around 7pm on Friday night and we just relaxed for a while. It is just the way a cabin should be, cozy and peaceful.
We were all up early Saturday and the view from out the front window was exactly what I needed to see as I stood with a cup of hot coffee.
My mother-in-law made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. They were delicious! After breakfast, my father-in-law and I went to work. He has about 18 acres of property. He doesn’t mow it all, but there is quite a bit to mow. I hopped on the zero turn and he grabbed the weed whacker and we went to work on the yard.
I never saw the family leave while we were out, but after we finished I went inside to get some water and my phone rang. It was my wife. She said, “I need you and dad to bring the truck up to the merchandise outlet to get something.” I said ok and told my father-in-law. His response was, “What did they buy that won’t fit in your car?!” Well, I found out soon enough – and my son couldn’t be happier.
He got a Mustang long before I ever did! These things are like $200-$250 online and she got it (brand new) for $30! Yeah, what a deal!! There was a sale going on and there was also a 50% off sticker on it, so by the time the thing was rung up – $30! He was so mad that it had to charge before he could drive it. (The thing has a working radio in it!!!) Ella wanted to ride, too, so we went to the barn and got them one of the cars that were there.
We had hot dogs for lunch and then the fun began. My father-in-law brought out the four wheeler! To say that the kids were excited was an understatement.
I had never rode on one, so my father-in-law gave me a quick lesson in where the gas and brakes were, he placed Andrew in front of me and I was off on the trails and into the property with him.
Naturally, I went a lot slower than I would have liked, because I didn’t want him to fall off. He was so content to just sit there and ride. I’d ask if he was ok and he’d say he was and ask for more.
When I came back, Ella was raring to go. I really thought that she would be the one who was too scared to ride on it, but I was wrong. She hopped up and off we went. As we drove down the trail to the open area on the property she yelled, “Whoo-hoo! This is amazing!!” This filled my heart more than I can explain. Once we got to where the trail opened into the large open area, I drove her around and made little jumps on hills and such. She kept yelling, “Faster, daddy! Faster!!” She was a true daredevil.
As we were out in the field, we heard another four wheeler. Papa had pulled out the other one and had Andrew in front of him. Then it became a game. The two of us “chasing” each other, “racing” each other, and laughing the entire time! “Daddy, they are chasing us! Don’t let them catch us!” What a hoot!!
Daisy, our dog, was chasing us as we rode around, too. It was so hot and I can’t believe that she kept running after us. As soon as we’d pull away from the house, she’d be right on our tail. Running and chasing and occasionally barking at us. It was ridiculous.
As it got closer to dinner, Sam and I ordered pizzas from a place in town. It was expensive, but worth every cent. It was so cheesy and you could tell it was hand tossed and made fresh. They had these bread sticks, which were more like rolls, that had garlic and cheese on them. Oh, man! They were sinfully good.
It was a day full of fun. So much fun that we called it a night early. The kids were out like a light almost immediately. There was a huge car show in town that night, but there was absolutely no energy to go see it.
We woke up Sunday, Father’s Day, and coffee was already made. My mother-in-law made up some eggs and sausage. I was drinking my coffee on the porch and could smell the sausage from outside. This took me back to those days at my grandma’s place in Caseville. We’d be outside and we could smell the bacon or sausage from outside.
After breakfast, my father-in-law and I went out and finished up the weed whacking we didn’t get to on Saturday. After that we had to take apart some bunk beds that he was bringing home when we left. He had a rototiller that I needed to borrow and we loaded that up on the trailer, too.
While we were doing that, my wife was packing up and loading the car. My mother-in-law wasn’t going to let us leave hungry, so she made up some turkey burgers and we all had another meal together. When they were in town the day before, they had picked up a chocolate cake for the “dads” for Father’s Day. Before we could even slice it, Ella was eating sprinkles off the top of it!
We had promised the kids another ride on the four wheelers before we left, and they couldn’t wait! Each kid got a few turns riding with me and Papa. Before I put it away, I just had to go and take it for a spin by myself – so I could see just how fast it would go. Man, this one I was on really clipped! I can see how easy it would be to get hurt on one of them. It was extra fun for me to just let loose and be a kid again for a few minutes.
Just before we left, it began to sprinkle. There was a storm on the way and we wanted to head out before it hit. The kids kept asking all the way home when we would be heading up to the cabin again. After the fun we had there, I would imagine the answer is “Soon. Very soon.”
Next trip, however, I will be sure to wear sunscreen!
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year. I turned five in ’75, so let’s give a listen together…
Why not start off with a song that soared to number one? Shining Star was released by Earth, Wind and Fire in January of 1975. Maurice White was taking a late night walk while recording the album That’s the Way of the World and was inspired by the stars in the sky. He took the idea back to other members of the band and wrote the song.
The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008 and still sounds great today! One music critic called the song, “sweaty funk” … So let’s get funky!
Shining Star
Honestly, I wasn’t really into KISS when I was five. I suppose I was in my teens when I came to appreciate some of their songs. We played one or two at the first oldies station I worked at and I heard them a lot when me and my buddies would go play pool together. One that always played was Rock and Roll All Night.
Originally released on their Dresses to Kill album, the studio version only went to number 69 on the singles chart. Later, the live version would go all the way to number 12. I would guess that it has become their “theme” song. It has been the song that the group has used as a closing concert tune in almost every show since 1976.
The song was written by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons in Los Angeles, but on January 26, 1976, Stanley told an audience at Cobo Hall in Detroit that the song was written in and for Detroit! I like that, so I’ll go with it…
Rock and Roll All Night
(Studio version)
(Live version)
Speaking of Detroit, the next song comes from hometown hero Bob Seger. Bob released his Beautiful Loser album in ’75 and Katmandu was a cut from it. Katmandu wasn’t a huge hit, but it has always been one of my favorite Seger tunes. It was later featured on his Live Bullet album.
Seger says that the song was written at a time in his life where he wasn’t sure if he was going to make it. He said, “It’s an exasperated song. It’s like: ‘I’m never gonna make it, I’m just gonna go to Katmandu.'”
He says that Glenn Frey and Don Henley pulled him aside and “told me that the Beautiful Loser album was the first little step in the right direction for me. Then the next step after that was Live Bullet, which was a huge step. And the next step was Night Moves, which was an even huger step. By 1980 both records were at six million, and they kept selling continuously. Beautiful Loser was a transitional album, and in the song “Katmandu” I still had some of that defeatist mentality and you can hear it in there.”
Katmandu
The next song was released one day before my fifth birthday. Low Rider appeared on War’s Why Can’t We Be Friends album.
From song facts.com:
The group’s sax player, Charles Miller, came up with the idea for the song. Harold Brown told Songfacts: “What happened on ‘Low Rider’ was in the studio, we were jamming, and I was supposed to have been on the downbeat. But all of the sudden I was on the upbeat. And I said, ‘Oh, boy. I got the beat turned around.’ I didn’t panic. I said, ‘Wait a minute. Stay there. Don’t change it. Stay.’ Because as long as you keep doing it over and over and over, it won’t be a mistake.
We were just messing around, you know. Then the next thing I know, Charles started just singing, ‘Low ri-der drives a little slower. The low…’ he was just pumping it. And then the next thing I know Lee’s over there putting that harmonica on, because Lee is a melody man all the time. And then – boom.
If you’d hear the original version of it, all with that jam, that would be worth a million right there. When we finished it, all of us looked at it, ‘That’s a hit.’ We didn’t know that it was going to be an icon.
Low Rider
In June of ’75, Bad Company released a classic. Did you know that Feel Like Makin’ Love is actually a combination of two separate songs?
Several years after Paul Rodgers wrote the song, he played it to Bad Company guitarist Mick Ralphs, who came up with some big chords for the chorus. Ralphs recalled:
“I came up with the riff, and I suggested we put the two together to create a song. I think that’s the feel of the song, the verses are very appealing to the ladies, probably more than the men; and then the riff comes in which is all bloody macho. It’s a big chorus and it worked out really well.”
It reached number 10 on the Hot 100 Chart.
Feel Like Makin’ Love
Despite being a song of their second album, Orleans scored their first Top 40 hit with “Dance With Me.” The song was released in July of ’75. It was written by group member John Hall and his then wife Johanna. John told Songfacts.com:
“I started playing it on acoustic guitar and developed it, just jamming by myself in the living room. The whole song – the verses, the bridge, the ending – was all complete coming out of my acoustic guitar. Johanna yelled from the other room, ‘That sounds like ‘Dance With Me.” And I went, ‘Can’t we come up with something a little bit more unusual than that?” And she said, “I don’t know, it really sounds like ‘Dance With Me.”
She couldn’t get past that and I couldn’t get past that any further, so I played the instrumental version for Larry Hoppen and he said, ‘Boy, you really need to finish that, that sounds like a hit song.’
So coming back from a show in Ithaca, New York, on the western part of the state, through the Woodstock area again, Johanna and I were riding in the car, and suddenly she says, ‘Pick the beat up and kick your feet up.’ She starts scribbling on another one of those envelopes, and by the time we got home, we had kicked the ideas back and forth and finished the lyric.
I love the guitar work and harmonies in it.
Dance With Me
I was probably about 4 years away from my introduction to Willie Nelson in 1975. When I was finally introduced to him, it was thanks to my dad and my grandfather. They had a cassette of Willie’s Stardust album and they played the heck out of it. It drove us kids crazy! After my grandfather passed away in 1981, I began to listen to more and more from Willie and came to really love his music.
Willie is a fantastic song writer, having written hits like “Crazy,” “Hello Walls,” and so many others, but he did NOT write Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. It was written by Fred Rose in the late 1940’s. It was recorded by Roy Acuff, Hank Williams Sr., Ferlin Husky, Bill Anderson and Conway Twitty all before Willie recorded it in 1975 for his Red-Headed Stranger album.
In October 1975, the song became Willie’s first Number 1 hit as a singer, and at year’s end, was the third-biggest song of 1975 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It got Top 40 airplay, too, reaching number 21 on the Hot 100 Chart. At the 18th Annual Grammy Awards, the song won Willie a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.
Fun (but sad) Fact: Elvis Presley recorded a version of the song in the Jungle Room at Graceland in 1976. The song would be the last one he played before he died. In the early morning of August 16, 1977, he played it on his piano in Graceland. Later that day, he died.
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
Earlier I mentioned playing pool with some my friends in my teens and many of the songs I mention will be ones that played on the jukebox while we were there. One of those songs was Tush by ZZ Top. Before the song’s release in 1975, they were well known in Texas, but Tush became their first nationwide hit.
According to Dusty Hill, the song was written in under ten minutes during a soundcheck in Alabama. Billy Gibbons said “We were in Florence, Alabama, playing in a rodeo arena with a dirt floor. We decided to play a bit in the afternoon. I hit that opening lick, and Dave Blayney, our lighting director, gave us the hand [twirls a finger in the air]: ‘Keep it going.’ I leaned over to Dusty and said, ‘Call it ‘Tush.’
So what does it mean? In a 1985 interview with Spin magazine, bass player Dusty Hill explained: “Tush, where I grew up, had two meanings. It meant what it means in New York. Tush is also like plush, very lavish, very luxurious. So it depended on how you used it. If somebody said, “That’s a tush car,’ you knew they weren’t talking about the rear and of the car. That’s like saying, ‘That’s a cherry short.’ But tush as in ‘That’s a nice tush on that girl,’ that’s definitely the same as the Yiddish word. I don’t know how we got it in Dallas. All it could have took was one guy moving down from New York.”
Tush
The next song is one that comes from my family’s infamous red 8 track tape. It was one of the first things I blogged about when I started this site. You can read that blog here:
Songfacts.com says: In the DVD Hell Freezes Over, the Eagles discussed this song’s origins. When they were a struggling band in Los Angeles, they saw a lot of beautiful women around Hollywood who were married to wealthy, successful men, and wondered if they were unhappy. One night they were drinking in a bar (their favorite watering hole: Dan Tana’s) when they spotted this stunning young woman; two steps behind her was a much older, fat, rich guy. As they were half laughing at them, Glenn Frey commented, “Look at her, she can’t even hide those lyin eyes!”
Realizing they had a song title, the band members began grabbing for cocktail napkins to write down lyrics to go with that great observation.
The song reached number 2 on the Hot 100 Chart.
Lyin’ Eyes
In 1975, Capitol Records couldn’t seem to make up their mind about which song to release first from Linda Ronstadt’s Heart Like a Wheel album. It was a toss up between You’re No Good and When Will I Be Loved and the prior won out. Linda’s Everly Brothers cover would be the second single, released in March of ’75.
Both the Everly’s and Linda had top ten hits with the song, but Linda’s went to number 2 while the Everly Bros peaked at number 8. Linda’s version also went to number 1 on the country chart. Singing with Linda on this single are Kenny Edwards (from her band the Stone Poneys) and Andrew Gold (Who later had success with Thank You For Being a Friend). I absolutely love the harmonies on this one.
And there are my picks for 1975! What did I miss?
Next week, I’m sure there will be a shiny disco ball hanging over the dance floor as we head to 1976! See you then.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 