To celebrate the birthday of a living legend, I thought I would choose a song that he’s NOT known for. Sir Paul McCartney is 82 today and while he is known for his work with the Beatles and Wings, he’s had quite a solo career, too.
It’s amazing that he is still out touring at his age, but he still looks and sounds as great as ever. Every review I have read about one of his shows says it is fantastic!
The McCartney song I picked is from an album from 1988 but the song’s roots go back to 1940 and the legendary Duke Ellington. He wrote Don’t Get Around Much Anymore in 1940. Lyrics were added to the song in 1942 by Bob Russell and it became a hit.
The song has been covered by just about everyone! Bing Crosby, The Ink Spots, Micheal Buble’, Willie Nelson, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole and so many others have offered up their personal take on the song. McCartney’s version is a rocker with some “oomph” to it.
Back in 1988 Paul released what most call “The Russian Album.”. CHOBA B CCCP was his seventh solo studio album. It was originally released in October 1988 exclusively in the Soviet Union. The album consists entirely of live-in-studio recordings of covers, mainly of rock and roll oldies.
I was working at WKSG, Kiss-FM when a bootleg of the album began to circulate. It was pretty big news to have new stuff from McCartney. We were an oldies station, so when we got our hands on Paul’s version of Kansas City from the album, we played the heck out of it.
I don’t remember if I got a copy of the bootleg or the official worldwide release in 1991 but I really loved this album. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore really stuck out to me. Paul must really like it, too, because I’ve seen him do it on talk shows like Letterman.
Give his version a listen and grab the album if you can. I think you’ll like it.
This month in 1999 that Adam Sandler’s Big Daddy opened in theaters. Recently this movie came up in a conversation my wife and I were having.
Our son Andrew will be there in October and he is at the age where he has meltdowns over things. Those things are usually related to his safety (“No, you can’t put the screwdriver in the electrical socket!” “Buddy, you can’t hit the living room window with your monster truck!”)
There is a scene in the movie where the child that Adam Sandler wants to adopt wants to hear “the kangaroo song.”. He starts crying and yelling, “Kangaroo song! Kangaroo song!” until Sandler’s character yells, “ALRIGHT!” to stop the meltdown. There are SO many times that we feel like Sandler’s character with Andrew!!
As difficult as Andrew can be, he can also be one of the sweetest kids! Which ties into the cut from the Big Daddy Soundtrack featured today: Sweet Child O Mine by Sheryl Crow.
The song, of course, was originally done by Guns N Roses. I am obviously in the minority because I absolutely love her version of the song. I think it is a great cover, but not everyone felt that way.
When it was released for the Big Daddy Soundtrack, it was also released as a bonus track on her third album The Globe Sessions. The website Ultimate Classic Rock actually features the song as part of their series of “Terrible Classic Rock Covers. Taking it a step further readers of Rolling Stone Magazine named it the fourth worst cover song of all time!
That seems a little harsh to me. I think Sheryl’s voice sounds great on her version. The song only went to number 29 on the charts in the US, but it did earn her the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 2000. So there!
If you’ve been a follower of my blog for longer than a year, you’ve probably noticed a bit more “routine” to it. In the past, I kind of wrote about whatever was on my mind and there was no real format to it. I could write about my kids one day, music the next and some silly movie the day after that. Now, I have forced myself into more of a schedule. I wanted to know your thoughts on it.
Understand that if the mood hits me and I have something I want to blog about, I will still do it, maybe even on a day I have already posted something. The “schedule” gives me a bit of more preparation and an opportunity to feature some things in a different way. By doing this, I realize that the newer features (Music of My Life, Movie Music Monday, Tune Tuesday, Turntable Talk) are music heavy. I hope that there is enough variety to those features to be enjoyable.
Outside of music, there are my posts about books or photos. With the books I read, if I find one that I really enjoyed or think my blogger friends might enjoy, I will post a review or recommendation. I have had a few books that weren’t worth talking about. The audio feature in my car has really helped me to enjoy more reading. I get some good feedback from the Friday Photo Flashback. It is fun for me to look back at those old pictures and hope to find some fun ones in the weeks ahead.
Naturally, if I have some news to share, an opinion about something, a problem I am sorting through, or just need to write to clear my head, I will continue to do that. I like knowing what I am going to write about and the schedule has allowed me to plan something without spending a lot of time trying to find something. It also helps me to write daily.
So by saying all of that, I turn to you, my follower. Are there things you like/dislike? Is there something you’d like to see more/less of? I’d love to figure out a way to incorporate some blog cross promotions like I have done in the past. Guest bloggers or interviews with another blogger, etc… What do you think?
I ask because I figure you are the one who comes to this site and reads what I write. I want to continue to present things that you find interesting and at the same time write about things that are important to me (as well as document things for my family and kids to enjoy in the future). Please feel free to let me know your thoughts either in the comments or by email: nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com
I do appreciate you following this site and thank you for doing so.
I had a day off this week and had a chance to see my daughter play T-ball. Before the game, we had to take a drive down to get my son’s leg braces looked at. The whole family was in the car and Ella asked my wife to play “I am a C” song. I had no idea what that was. She proceeded to pull up a YouTube video of a Christian song for kids. Ella knew all the words.
Sam was surprised I had never heard this one before. I’d been in Vacation Bible School and certainly had sung many of the familiar Christian kid songs, but never this one. It warmed my heart a bunch to hear her singing along.
She did pretty good at T-ball, too, this week! I snapped this one and love it.
She’s all SASS!
Meanwhile, my son Andrew is learning all about house repairs with my father in law. My brother in law bought a house recently and they are working on all kinds of repairs and updates. Andrew is in heaven because “Pa” is letting him help!
He’s right at home with tools! I will have a helper for life!
This was one of those weird finds on the hard drive. All I remember about this photo is that it was taken at a time where my dad and mom were really into photography. They had bought some high tech camera and were taking pictures of just about everything. I remember they told us we were going to the “Flower Show” which was happening somewhere in Detroit. My brother and I did not want to go!
I want to say right here that this picture kind of freaks me out. Why? Because I really don’t think that this looks like me or my brother! I’m not sure if it is because we both are in need of a haircut or what! It’s odd to look at myself in it.
I do remember that jacket I am wearing, However, I don’t ever recall having a Jim Morrison shirt (at least I think that is Jim Morrison). Another reason why this doesn’t look like me – I don’t ever remember parting my hair in the middle! What exactly is that?!
My brother obviously looks thrilled in the photo, too! I don’t recall that jacket at all. How old are we in this picture? I just don’t know! If I had to guess, I’d say this might be 6th or 7th grade for me, but I’m really clueless.
And now for the elephant in the room – From what I remember, my mother or father (whoever had the camera) thought their two boys would look good standing with Miss Piggy in the middle of them. Urgh. Maybe I should have picked another photo…..
Growing up, one of the things that is forever etched in my mind was waking up on Sunday mornings and Abbott and Costello movies would be playing on Channel 7 (WXYZ/Detroit). It was on those Sunday mornings that I was introduced to classic films like Buck Privates, Who Done It?, Africa Screams, The Naughty Nineties, and Hold That Ghost. Of course I loved all the Abbott and Costello “meet” pictures, too (Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and more)!
It wasn’t long after I first discovered them that I found one of the other stations played the Abbott and Costello cartoons after school. Even as a child, I could tell that Bud Abbott’s voice was his, and that someone else was voicing Lou Costello. I had no idea at the time that this cartoon was made in the late 60’s and that Lou had passed away in 1959.
In fact, I learned this week that there were a whole lot of things I didn’t know about him! I just finished a truly wonderful book about him, written by his youngest daughter, Chris Costello. A few years back, we became Facebook friends and she had posted that the audio version of her book was now available. I searched for it and got it to listen to on my drive to and from work.
I have had this book for sometime in printed form. It was on my “To Read” shelf for way too long. With all that I had going on in life, I found it difficult to actually sit and read for very long. So it sat on the shelf. When I recently discovered some of the audiobook platforms, I began to go back and search for audio versions of books on that shelf. When Chris said it was available, I was ecstatic.
Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
This intimate portrait of Lou Costello (1906-1959) offers a rare look at one of the most talented comedians of all time. Starting in the 1930s, Costello attained enormous fame touring the burlesque circuits with straight man Bud Abbott (1895-1974). Their live skits (including “Who’s on First?”), radio programs, and films made comic history. Behind the scenes, however, Costello faced numerous a bout with rheumatic fever that left him bedridden for months, the drowning death of his young son, and constant haggles with Universal Studios over its reluctance to adequately finance productions of Abbott and Costello films. Lou’s on First goes beyond Costello’s clownish persona to explore his Pagliacci, the private demons behind the happy public face, the heartbreaking moments in an otherwise storybook marriage, the business ventures soured by unscrupulous managers, and the true nature of the breakup of his twenty-one-year partnership with Bud Abbott.
I heard one comedian say, “The comedy community has a lot of trauma and pain.” A look at comedians throughout history will certainly show this to be true. Lou Costello had his share of tragedy and health problems.
Chris Costello was around 10 or 11 years old when her father died. She shares her memories of her dad, as well as stories and memories from those who knew him. As I listened to Chris share these stories, I learned about her father’s kindness to just about everyone he met that was in need. I learned that he truly did pay for Dean Martin’s nose job (and was sad to hear that he never really came around after that). I learned about the gambling that went on while making movies with Bud Abbott. I learned on the tragic death of his son and what that event did to Lou and his family. It was such an enlightening book.
I never really knew what brought the duo to their ultimate split. It was interesting to be able to know what was going on during the filming of certain movies as Bud and Lou’s partnership got close to an end. They were certainly professionals, because I would have never known that they were on the outs while some of those films were being made. They never looked like they were at odds with each other.
There are pros and cons to audiobooks. The pros of this one was that there are occasional audio clips from Bud and Lou and even audio from home movies. I don’t care how many times I hear Who’s on First – it will NEVER NOT be funny! It is a masterpiece!
This book made me laugh and made me cry. It is the perfect love letter to a comedic legend from his daughter. The “bad boy” from Paterson, NJ touched many lives, and his memory lives on there with a beautiful statue and memorial park.
Thank you, Chris Costello, for sharing these stories about your dad with me and the world.
I highly recommend this book to fans of Abbott and Costello! 5 stars!
For those who want to listen to the audio book, you can find it on all the major audio book platforms. You can also order through Chris the limited-edition 10-CD Collection with 8-pg “Costello Family Photo Album” which she will gladly autograph. You won’t find this set on Amazon or elsewhere as she self-funded this collection. For more info or to order email: accollectibles@aol.com
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 four in ’74, so let’s venture back there and give a listen….
Bob Marley wrote I Shot the Sheriff and recorded it in 1973. Eric Clapton covered in for his 461 Ocean Boulevard album. Billboard magazine called his version a “catchy goof of a winner.” Clapton softens up the reggae a bit and it went straight to the top spot on the Hot 100 Chart.
I Shot the Sheriff
June of 1974 was a hot month for music releases as the next five songs all hit the radio in that month. First, we have a soul hit from the Three Degrees – When Will I See You Again.
Before I go on, let me explain why it is on my list. I was dating my prom date, Karen, and we often spent evenings driving around and listening to the radio. There was a “love song” show called Pillow Talk that aired at night. It always seemed to play on that show and throughout the day on the Adult Contemporary stations.
I think we both thought the name of the song was “Precious Moments” for some reason. All I can recall is that we both laughed at the “Hoo” and “Hah” at the beginning. I don’t know about her, but every time I hear it, I think of her and us laughing at that song.
The lead singer on the song, Sheila Ferguson, hated it the first time she heard the demo. She said she’d never sing it because she felt it was insulting to be given a song that “took no talent to sing.” Her thoughts obviously changed after the song’s success, and the group had a #2 hit!
When Will I See You Again
Canadian singer Andy Kim hadn’t had a hit record since 1971 and has lost his record deal in 1973. He never gave up and created his own label (Ice Records) and used his own money to record Rock Me Gently.
The song was released in June and hit #1 in September of 1974. The B-side was an instrumental version of the song and some stations played that, too. Rock Me Gently was the last Top Ten hit for him.
Rock Me Gently
Long before I was a radio DJ, I was introduced to Wolfman Jack by the Guess Who. The Guess Who’s Burton Cummings explained that the song began as a jam and was originally called “Clap For Napoleon.” As they were appearing on NBC’s Midnight Special a few times in 1973 (they hosted the show in ’74), they changed the lyric as a tribute to the show’s host, the late Wolfman Jack. The Wolfman can be heard throughout the song.
In his autobiography Have Mercy!: Confessions of the Original Rock ‘n Roll Animal, Wolfman Jack singles out Burton Cummings for adding his name to the song and taking him on tour to promote it. According to the Toronto Sun, the Wolfman quit his job at WNBC (where he enjoyed “$350,000 – plus a secretary, a chauffeured limousine, a bodyguard, and a well-ventilated private room at Rockefeller Center for the smoking of dope in”) to go on tour with The Guess Who.
Clap For The Wolfman
You would think that if someone wrote a song called Sweet Home Alabama, they’d be from there, right? Nope. None of the writers hailed from that state. Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington were from Florida and Ed King was from California.
Lynyrd Skynyrd enjoyed a top 10 Hit with the song that will forever be recognized by that wonderful guitar intro. Gary Rossington explained the writing process: “I had this little riff. It’s the little picking part and I kept playing it over and over when we were waiting on everyone to arrive for rehearsal. Ronnie and I were sitting there, and he kept saying, ‘play that again’. Then Ronnie wrote the lyrics and Ed and I wrote the music.”
Sweet Home Alabama
You can blame my mother for the next entry on the list. She loved listening to “easy listening” stuff and this was one that she always sang along with (when she remembered the words).
Annie’s Song was written by John Denver for his wife, Annie. She explained, “It was written after John and I had gone through a pretty intense time together and things were pretty good for us. He left to go skiing and he got on the Ajax chair on Aspen mountain and the song just came to him. He skied down and came home and wrote it down… “
The song was on his album Back Home Again and was his second number-one song in the US, occupying that spot for two weeks in July 1974.
Annie’s Song
Everlasting Love was originally a hit in 1967 by Robert Knight and there are plenty of cover versions. My favorite version has to be by Carl Carlton.
Carl himself chose to record the song as he liked David Ruffin’s version from 1969. It was originally released as a B-side in 1973, but it was remixed with a disco beat and released as a single in 1974. It was a disco staple at discotheques all across the country.
Everlasting Love
In 1964, Chuck Berry wrote Promised Land basing it on the melody for Wabash Cannonball. He wrote the song while he was in prison. He borrowed an atlas from the prison library and he plotted out all the stops from Norfolk to California.
In 1974, it was Elvis who recorded a version of this great story song that is faster and makes even the hardships experienced by the “poor boy” sound fun. It became the title track for Elvis’ 1975 album.
Promised Land
I certainly cannot imagine the next song as a country song, but believe it or not, that was the intention. In 1953 Peter Radcliffe wrote You’re the First, My Last, My In-Between but it was never recorded. That is until Barry White rewrote the lyrics in 1974 and recorded it with a disco beat as You’re the First, My Last, My Everything.
Most of the lyrical changes came to Barry during a rough recording session when it didn’t seem like the song was going to pan out. “I went into the studio and made up my own melody all the way through. Half of the words in it I changed right in front of the microphone.” When Peter Radcliffe heard the final result, he cried. The song went to #2 on the charts.
I always loved how Barry always seemed to have some sort of seductive talk before he sang. One morning we discussed this on our radio show. My partner dismissed it by saying, “Hey, there ain’t nothing better than two minutes and forty two seconds of Barry White saying cool things!”
You’re the First, My Last, My Everything
My final song from 1974 comes from Michigan’s own Grand Funk Railroad. This would be a bigger hit in 1975 because it wasn’t released until December of 1974. It actually went on to become the sixth biggest hit of 1975.
Some Kind of Wonderful was originally recorded by the Soul Brother Six in 1967, but it barely cracked the Top 100, only reaching 91. Grand Funk recorded it for their album All the Girls in the World, Beware! It would reach #3 on the charts.
Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer explained, “We used to listen to a station called WAMM, which was a black station in Flint (Michigan). We all grew up on R&B, gospel and soul music, and they used to play the Soul Brothers Six version of that song all the time on WAMM radio in the ’60s. When we were traveling around the country, I used to start singing that song in the back of the car a cappella, and everybody would just kind of jump in and sing along with me – ‘I don’t need a whole lots of money, I don’t need a big fine car.’ We’d kind of shear off on the choruses and stuff, and our manager said, ‘That’s a great song, why don’t you record it,’ so we recorded the song and it became a huge hit.”
I love stories like that!
Some Kind of Wonderful
That wraps it up for 1974. Did I miss one of your favorites? Tell me about it in the comments.
Our song today goes all the way back to 1851! The minstrel song was written by the great Stephen Foster and was originally titled “Old Folks at Home.”
Swanee River has been the state song of Florida since 1935. Because some of the original lyrics had references to slavery (which was still legal in some states at the time), the lyrics were revised.
The song has been recorded more times than I could count (Randy over at Mostly Music Covers may actually know how many versions…) and appeared in many movies and television shows. One of my favorite appearances came in 1956 on The Honeymooners.
In the episode, “The $99,000 Answer,” Ed Norton has a strange habit that before he can play any song he always plays a few notes of “Old Folks at Home”/”Swanee River” to warm up. This happens many times and drives Ralph crazy! The first question for Ralph in the game show is “Who is the composer of Swanee River?” The first few notes, the same ones that Ed had played earlier, are played so that Ralph knows the song. With only a few seconds left, Ralph, recognizing the song, but panicking since he didn’t care much about it, says “Ed Norton?”
In honor of his 65th birthday, today’s song is Hugh Laurie’s recording of Swanee River. I once featured his song Let Them Talk on this blog and his version can be found on the same album.
I remember really being blown away by how talented a musician he is. His cover of Swanee River is a fun boogie boogie romp that never ceases to make me smile! He truly jams on this.
Happy birthday, Hugh!
As a bonus – here is Hugh performing it live for a special about the album:
Friday (6/7) marked the 107th birthday of Dean Martin, my favorite singer. He is known for his many hit records, his hit TV show, his celebrity roasts, his live performances, and his films. For many of his movies, the title song for the film was sung by Dean. Examples of this are Rio Bravo, Five Card Stud, and the featured song today – Who’s Got the Action?
The movie opened on Christmas Day in theaters. It is a comedy based on the novel Four Horse Players Are Missing by Alexander Rose about a man with a gambling problem.
I remember really liking this movie when I saw it the first time. I remember laughing a lot at some of the lines and the interactions between Dean and Eddie Albert. Lana Turner is great in this movie and as the story rolls on, the silliness of it is like something out of an episode of I Love Lucy.
Walter Matthau plays a mobster in it and watching him play a very stereotypical Italian mobster is comical to me. He was great.
As far as the title song, I don’t know much about it. It is perfect for the movie, though, as the lyrics compare women to racehorses. Dean’s character loves playing the horses and the race/horse references are plenty.
The song swings! The opening brass syncopation grabbed me the first time I heard it. Today, I will share two versions of the song. The original and the reimagined version that appeared on a Dean album of duets entitled Forever Cool. The latter is done with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. The chart is basically the same, but “beefed up” and some harmonies added. I love that cut.
Give it a listen and tell me what you think…
With Big Bad Voodoo Daddy:
Who’s Got The Action?
Gal is like a racehorse, I play her to win But if I should lose her, another may come in Love can be like heaven, love can be a joke But it’s worth a gamble so, hey, I go for broke
Who’s got the action? Who’ll take a chance on love? Who’s got a kiss for me? Give me one and you’ll get back three
Who’s got the action? Just say it on the line I’ll bet you ten to one You’ll be mine
Now once I had a Philly, I ain’t seen her since Some can’t go the distance, they’re only good in sprints Sweethearts stay together, when it’s fair and warm But comes stormy weather, they don’t run to form
Who’s got the action? Who’ll take a chance on love? Who’s got a kiss for me? Give me one and you’ll get back three
Who’s got the action? Just say it on the line I’ll bet you ten to one You’ll be mine
They put on a long shot, I play either way All I need is a winner and this could be the day When I win my parlay, I’ll be set for life I’ll take all that money and go find me a wife
Who’s got the action? Who’ll take a chance on love? Who’s got a kiss for me? Give me one and you’ll get back three
Who’s got the action? Just say it on the line I’ll bet you ten to one, I’ll bet you ten to one I’ll bet you ten to one, you’ll be mine
Many members of our family joined us at the Detroit Zoo yesterday to Walk for Miracles. It was an early day, but the weather was perfect! Registration for the event started at 7:30am. It was about an hour drive down, so we had to wake the kids early to get on the road. They both fell back to sleep on the way down.
When we arrived we met Sam’s mom and dad, Sam’s sister and her family, her sister’s friend and her kids, and Sam’s brother and his girlfriend. My dad and Rose arrived shortly after that.
Upon arriving we walked by a pretty impressive set up by Amazon. Every single child who walked in got to pick a toy from the table. There was everything from puzzles and games to stuffed animals and Legos there.
The theme of the walk is heroes/superheroes. When we got inside the zoo, we were handed our Walk for Miracles medallion and we got to choose a cape. Edna from The Incredibles may say, “No capes!” But they were a sign of unity among everyone walking for someone special yesterday.
As we walked through the zoo, there were various Cosplayers dressed as superheroes and more along the path. The kids (all 9 of them) were thrilled to meet Batman, Superman , Wonder Woman, Deadpool, various Star Wars characters, the Ghostbusters and plenty of Disney princesses.
Ella was just a bit star struck by Cinderella, who just happened to have the Fairy Godmother with her.
Everyone got to see their favorite animals, too! Andrew got to see the lions, Ella saw her zebras, my nephew was happy to see the polar bear, and I saw the sea otters. Well, I guess not everyone saw their favorite…the penguin house wasn’t open yet, so Sam didn’t get to see them.
Maybe it was because it was early in the day, but there was a lot of activity among the animals yesterday. The kangaroos were hopping, the brown bears were out walking around, the gorillas and monkeys were putting on quite an amusing show and the tigers were up close where everyone could see them. I always feel like if we go on a summer day, the animals are in their caves or just laying around sleeping.
As the morning progressed, it got a bit hotter. It was about 55-60 when we left the house and the weather app said that the temperature would be around 65 by the time we’d be done. I decided to wear jeans instead of shorts and Sam wore a sweatshirt. We were both toasty. Luckily for her, she was able to change into the T-shirt we got from the walk.
Even though we were all walking together, we had some who walked ahead and some who lagged a bit behind. Bathroom pit stops also played into where people were. I tried to float among everyone who was there and talk to everyone and thank them for being there.
By the time we reached the end, I think we were all exhausted. All in all, it was just wonderful to share the day with family. We will most certainly be doing the walk again next year!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 