It was on this day in 1956 that “The Girl Can’t Help It” starring Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell and Edmund O’Brien opened in theaters.
The movie was originally conceived as a way to build Mansfield’s celebrity, but it took on a life of its own and became a rallying point for young people, helping propel rock and roll into its unofficial “first Golden Age.” The unintended result has been called the “most potent” celebration of rock music ever captured on film. No doubt the cameos by Fats Domino, The Platters, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Julie London and Ray Anthony helped with that.
The film was based on “Do Re Mi”, a short story by Garson Kanin. After seeing the adapted screenplay, Kanin did not approve of the new take on his story and requested his name be removed from the credits. Subsequently, director Frank Tashlin came up with the new title, The Girl Can’t Help It.
FUN FACT: The film the heavily inspired young, pre-Beatle John Lennon to be a rocker. The impact was so significant that, 12 years later, the Beatles took a break from recording “Birthday” to watch the film premiere on British television (Lennon had seen it in theaters).
The Girl Can’t Help It is the title song to the film, and was written by Bobby Troup. Little Richard recorded it and it was released in 1956. Fats Domino was originally supposed to record the song for the film, but the sessions fell through. The song has been covered by The Everly Brothers, The Animals, Led Zeppelin, and many others.
In the US, the song peaked at No. 49 on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart and No. 7 on the R&B Best Sellers Chart.
Songfacts.com sums up the song in this way:
“The Girl Can’t Help It” is about a young woman so attractive that she unwittingly captures the attention of every guy she passes. In addition to her siren-like sex appeal, there’s a distinctly incendiary element to her superpowers. She turns bread to toast with a wink of an eye and makes “beefsteak become well done” with a smile. She can’t be held responsible for the potentially dangerous effects of her fiery presence. The poor girl just can’t help it.
If you have read my blogs in the past, you know that it consists of a mixture of pop culture things (like movie, TV and music thoughts) and personal things (radio stories, school memories, and things from my childhood). As I thought about today’s blog topic, I realized that without this man in my life – this blog would probably not exist! I guess I didn’t really realize it until now. As I scrolled back over the blogs of the past, I see just how much influence he has had in almost ALL of them! I am talking, of course, about my dad. Today – is his 79th birthday. So here are some birthday thoughts for dad.
In the past I wrote a blog about his musical influence. My musical taste is very broad, because I was introduced to so many different genres by him. He introduced me to rock and roll with the music of Little Richard, Bobby Darin, Roy Orbison and Elvis. He introduced me to the “Great American Songbook” with music from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Bing Crosby. He introduced me to Jazz with Louis Prima, and Ella Fitzgerald. He played me music from Johnny Paycheck, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard to introduce me to country music. The list goes on and on … but what about other influences?
Movies
I could spend an entire week writing about the various movies he introduced to me! As far as the classic films, most of those were introduced to me because he saw that they were playing on the Monday Night Movie on regular TV or something. You have to remember VCR’s and DVD players were not a staple in the home yet. You also have to remember that I grew up at the time where “pay TV” was just being incarnated. One of the first pay services was “ON TV”. It came on channel 20 at like 8 or 9 at night. They put an antenna on your roof and it unscrambled the signal so you could watch movies. I remember one time I wanted to record Smokey & the Bandit – but as I said, VCR’s were not for home use yet. The last showing of it on ON TV was at 1am one Friday night. My dad actually stayed up with a cassette recorder in front of the TV and recorded the audio for me. What makes this even better is there were scenes that were so funny to him, you could hear him laughing in the background as the movie played.
With Cable TV came The Movie Channel and HBO. As more and more channels became available, American Movie Classics, Turner Classic Movies, and others were the way to watch them. So he’d tell me “You gotta watch AMC at 3 today – they’re playing ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’!” Growing up, I remember hearing my dad talking with my grandparents, my Uncle Tom, or his friends about actors and actresses and the movies they were in. “Great Movie!” or “What a great flick!” I’d hear him say. Well, if he thought it was great – I wanted to see it! Movies I remember watching – only because I had heard him talk about them included The Godfather, White Heat, Little Caesar, Key Largo, Patton, Midway, The Maltese Falcon, and Night of the Hunter. Many of these were films that I’d walk in to the living room and dad would be watching and he’d tell me about them and catch me up so I could watch it with him. I was introduced to Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Mitchum, Burt Reynolds, and SO many actors just be casually walking into a room where he was watching TV!
The Godfather Part 1 & 2 and Patton are probably some of my favorite films. I remember watching Godfather the first time trying to keep all the names straight. Don Barzinni, Don Stracci, Luca Brazi, Sonny, Fredo, and Tom Hagen were all characters that I had to remember (amongst many more). Dad was there to explain so many things to me as I watched this film the first few times through. I have found myself doing the same thing when I sit and watch it with someone who has never seen it. (On a side note, for one class I had to read books and write book reports for it. I remember dad wrote a book report for me on The Godfather! He got an A!)
TV
Look through my DVD collection and amongst the movies are entire series of classic TV shows. This, again, is a direct result from my dad’s influence. I remember watching re-runs of The Honeymooners on channel 50. I remember when dad told me that Ralph Kramden and Sheriff Buford T. Justice from Smokey and the Bandit were the same person! I don’t know if I would have known that as a 7 year old! I remember staying home sick and watching re-runs of the Dick Van Dyke Show on channel 9 out of Canada. I knew about Carl Reiner because he was one of many cameos in the movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (which should have been mentioned in the movie section of this blog). The other stars of “Mad World” were also known to me because of my dad: I knew Mickey Rooney from a flick called Quicksand he rented. I knew Milton Berle from The Dean Martin Roasts and other TV appearances. I knew Jonathan Winters from a classic Twilight Zone episode (Loved watching TZ with him). Among the other “classic” TV shows he introduced me to: The Untouchables, F-Troop, The Munsters, Car 54, Where Are You?, McHale’s Navy, Perry Mason, Combat, Star Trek, Hogan’s Heroes, Mission: Impossible, and Get Smart.
With the availability of video rentals, I remember dad bringing home TV shows that were not shown on TV anymore or shown late at night. You couldn’t really watch The Little Rascals, Laurel and Hardy, or The Three Stooges on TV unless you stayed up late for comedy classics – which usually was on at 11pm or midnight. With the VCR, though, we could go to the store and rent them! I had listened to Jack Benny and Amos and Andy on cassette tapes of old radio shows (again, thanks to dad), but now I was able to see these TV shows – and they were amazing! I used to love watching these shows with him. One thing I always love seeing is my dad laughing and these shows (and a couple I will mention in a minute) always made him laugh – I mean big belly laughs!
I guess you could say that I grew up at a time where some of the “current” shows are now considered classics. Those shows, my brother and I watched on a weekly basis and watched in re-runs. These shows included The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, The Dukes of Hazzard, Emergency!, Welcome Back, Kotter, All In the Family, The Jeffersons, The Carol Burnett Show, Barney Miller, Fantasy Island, and Charlie’s Angels. Some of those dad introduced me to, while others he really couldn’t stand.
Sanford and Soupy
The one show that I will forever associate with my dad is Sanford and Son. These shows, no matter how many times we see them remain funny. I can be on the phone with my dad and say, “So last night I watched “the piano movers” and we will both start laughing! Years later, we can quote this show to each other and still crack each other up. Why do we and can we bond over this show? Perhaps it’s the fact that the show is about a father and son and their relationship. I remember how I thought it was odd that Lamont always called Fred, “Pop”. I never used to call my dad that, although somewhere over the years, dad has become “Pop” to me. I call him that all the time now. As a matter of fact, he still often calls me “Lamont”! It is not used flippantly, I use it as a genuine term of endearment! He’s my Pop – and I use it with much love and affection!
Another show that dad introduced me to was The New Soupy Sales Show. He grew up watching Soupy at lunch time. My grandmother often told stories of how Soupy would say “Tomorrow, we’re having bologna sandwiches for lunch” and if dad didn’t have them, he was pissed! Soupy’s new show on channel 20 was pretty much just like the old show. It was full of puns, bad jokes, clips of old movies, funny horoscopes on the radio, the Words of Wisdom, and his friends White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie and Hippy. It may have been on right after school and before dad came home from work, because I don’t recall him watching it too much with me, however, when it became available on video – we talked about it just like we talk about Sanford and Son.
Traits of a Good Dad
When I became a father, I remember reading something about what makes a good dad. Let me say here that none of us is perfect. My dad was not perfect and neither am I. My point is that when you look at these things, we can assess things we are doing well, things we can improve, and things that we will start doing. As I think back on those things – I can see where I strive to achieve those things and, at the same time, can see a lot of those things in my own father.
For example, a father must be a good disciplinarian. All dad’s love their children, but you know and I know that you can’t let them get away with everything. Dad was this way. The old story about mom saying “Wait till your father get’s home” and the child being scared to death? Yep! That was me! You didn’t want to make dad mad! I would say I made him mad more than a few times.
One time in particular I remember telling him I was spending the night at a friends house. I was out with my girlfriend at the time. We were still in high school, and it was a weekend. We had no money, so we weren’t going to a hotel or anything like that. We just planned on staying out all night. I don’t remember how he found out, but I remember getting a page (remember pagers?!) from the friend who I said I was staying with and he asked why my dad thought I was there! I think my girlfriend’s mom had called my house or something. At any rate – I was in BIG trouble! Dad’s punishment was a fair one (even though I didn’t think so at the time). He proved a point and I NEVER did that again. He let me know that he was in charge. Another time, I got in trouble at school for something. We had a meeting with the teacher and he said what he would go on to tell every teacher afterward in parent teacher conferences, “If he gets out of line again, you have my permission to smack his ass!” (Yes, this was back before a teacher giving the kid a paddle was considered wrong).
A good dad allows his kids to make mistakes. Dad watched me make a TON of them, but he knew that if I was going to learn, I needed to make those mistakes. He’d never let me make a mistake that was life threatening or would put me in danger, but he’d let me make mistakes that he knew, when all was said and done – I’d mature and learn from it. While there were things he questioned, he never really interfered. I learned a lot from that – even though there were times I wish he HAD said something!
A good dad has an open mind. Times change. The way that things were done when he was growing up, well, they may be handled differently now (the paddling in school is a good example). He respected that and embraced it to a degree. As someone who loved all kinds of music, I will never forget the time he called me into the living room to play me this “cool song” he heard and liked. It was “Groove is in the Heart” by Deee-lite. The song was not like anything he’s ever played for me, but he liked it and played it at DJ jobs! He embraces change!
A good dad teaches his kids to appreciate things. Those things can be anything. My dad certainly taught me how to appreciate family and friends. He taught me how to appreciate good music, movies and TV. He taught me how to appreciate what you have and the importance of living within your means.
A good dad accepts that his kids aren’t exactly like him. This may or may not have been a lesson he learned from my grandpa. My dad had always been very accepting of my brother and I. While we all have a lot of similarities, we are all SO very different. He respects that our religious and political views may not be the same as his.
A good dad spends quality time with his children. This is one of those things that is difficult to do in today’s society. We spend so much time working and trying to get things done, that we often spend the hours we are not at work doing these things. As a divorced father with limited time with my boys, I really try hard to make the time we spend quality time, even if it is just a car ride. Some of my favorite memories with my dad are just him and I throwing the ball around in the front yard. That meant more to me than he will ever know!
A good dad leads by example. Dad was never really the “Do as I say, not as I do” kind of guy. He was a hard worker and knew the importance of providing for our family. I never once thought of growing up and not having a job. Dad wasn’t always perfect in this area, but because of that, I was also able to take some of the things that I didn’t like him doing (like smoking) and not doing them.
A good dad is supportive and loyal. I am sure that in my 30 year radio career, my dad probably thought “he needs to get out of that business and find something more stable”. If he thought it – he never once told me that! He was nothing but supportive! If I ever came to him with something that he questioned, he might ask a question or two regarding the opposite viewpoint, but that was it. He might ask “are you sure you want to do this” or “have you thought about what might happen if…”, and then he let me decide. Whatever the decision, he supported it. I have a great respect for that.
A good dad is someone who challenges his kids. I’m sure that there were many ways that dad challenged me. I know there were times I wanted to quit something and he gave me the pep talk to keep going. I cannot recall specific incidents, but I know they were there.
A good dad is a teacher. While dad taught me how to throw a “submarine” ball and how to swing a golf club, he also taught me some valuable lessons. One of the things I have hoped to do is to write down some of those lessons and pass them down to my own children. To illustrate my point: there is a cartoon I saw once of two guys standing in front of three piles of stuff in a garage. The one guy asked what they were. The second guy says, “This stuff is the stuff my dad gave me.” He points to the first pile and says “This is the stuff I want to keep.” He points to the second pile and says, “This is the stuff my dad gave me that I want to share with my kids.” He points to the third pile and says, “This is my stuff that I don’t need and will throw away.” That’s the way it is – as a father, you take things that you learned from your dad and keep the stuff you want to share, throw out what you don’t, and then add stuff of your own.
A good dad protects and provides for his family. When times were tough and money was tight, my dad would DJ or play in the wedding band to bring in extra money. I remember as a young boy my dad going back to college to get a degree so he could move up in his place of employment. It took me over 20 years, but I also decided to go back to school to better provide for my family. I know that my dad would do anything for us, and I would do the same for my family.
Finally, a good dad shows unconditional love. I read where this is the greatest quality of a good father. Even though his child may let him down, upset him, make him mad, disrespect him, and disappoint him … the love remains constant. Not to get theological, but it is one of the great principles spoken of about God in the Bible. It says that no matter how much a child of God angers Him, ignores Him, or disappoints Him – His love is never ending and ever present. THAT is the kind of love a father has for his children.
I am lucky that I have never had to question whether or not my dad loves me. He has done so much for me during my lifetime and continues to do so. I can only hope that he knows how much he is appreciated. I can only hope he knows how thankful I am that he was chosen to be my father. I can only hope that he knows of the impact that he has made on me. I hope that he will never have to question how much I love him.
Thanks, Pop, for being such an amazing man! Thanks for being a wonderful example to me. Thanks for everything you have done to support, encourage, accept, and love my family. Today, I wish you a very happy birthday and wish you many more in the future! I love you, Pop.
It was on this day in 1881 that Billy the Kid was shot dead by police.
His story is one of fascination and uncertainty. Eyewitness history says that prior to his death “Billy worked as a ranch hand for John Tunstall. Tunstall befriended the Kid acting in many ways as a surrogate father. Tunstall’s ambush and murder in 1878 by a sheriff’s posse set the Kid off on a path of revenge. His first victims were the sheriff and his deputy, killed from ambush on the streets of Lincoln. On the run for two years, the Kid was eventually captured, tried, convicted and returned to Lincoln to hang for the murders.
On the evening of April 28, 1881 as he was climbing the steps returning him to his cell, the Kid made a mad dash, grabbed a six-shooter and shot his guard. Hearing the shots, a second guard ran from across the street only to be gunned down by the Kid standing on the balcony above him. Mounting a horse, he galloped out of town and into history.”
After his escape he was pursued by sheriff, Pat Garrett. “I knew the desperate character of the man,” Garrett later wrote. “That he was daring and unscrupulous, and that he would sacrifice the lives of a hundred men who stood between him and liberty, when the gallows stared him in the face, with as little compunction as he would kill a coyote.”
That July, Garrett and his deputies followed the outlaw’s trail to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and to a ranch owned by Peter Maxwell. On that fateful night, Garrett snuck into Maxwell’s home and found the rancher in bed. There, in the dark, the sheriff suddenly heard someone else approaching. He hardly had time to react when a shadowy figure appeared in the doorway and demanded in Spanish to know who else was there.
“That’s him,” Maxwell whispered to Garrett, so the sheriff raised his gun.
Billy the Kid died that night at the age of 21, shot near the heart as he lurched into Maxwell’s bedroom. But despite several people coming forward in the subsequent days to identify his body, it didn’t take long for rumors to circulate that Billy the Kid had actually escaped death — again.
Emilio Estevez starred as Billy the Kid in the 1988 film, Young Guns and the 1990 sequel. A third installment is currently in the works with Estevez returning again as the Kid.
For the sequel, Emilio Estevez asked Jon Bon Jovi for permission to use the song “Wanted: Dead or Alive” in the movie. Bon Jovi didn’t feel the song’s lyrics were appropriate; however, he was inspired by the project and resolved to write a new song for the film that would be more in keeping with the period and setting. He quickly wrote the song “Blaze of Glory”, and performed it on acoustic guitar in the Utah desert for Estevez and screenwriter John Fusco. John loved it and put it in the movie.
Fun Fact: Bon Jovi wrote the song on a napkin in a diner on the set of Young Guns II. Emilio Estevez has it framed on a wall at his home.
Bon Jovi ended up recording a whole album of songs inspired by Young Guns II, which was released a week after the film and also called Blaze of Glory. It was his first solo album, and it sold over 2 million copies. To play on the album, Jon recruited some big names, including Elton John, Little Richard and Jeff Beck, who played slide guitar on this track.
Sources: Songfacts, All That’s Interesting, Eyewitness History.
This is sort of a continuation of the Music of My Life feature. It focused on music from 1970-2025. It featured tunes that have special meaning to me, brought back a certain memory or a tune that I just really like. I found that with the first three decades, there were songs that I didn’t feature. So I sat down with my original lists and selected some songs that “bubbled under,” so to speak.
I figured a good way to present them was to focus on a decade. 10 years = 1 song per year = 10 songs. Last week I featured the 80’s. This week 10 more 80’s tunes before we move on to the 90’s. So, let’s check out a few “Decade Extras.”
1980
While I was never a truck driver, we certainly listened to Eddie Rabbitt’s Drivin’ My Life Away a lot while driving my my folks. I’m sure it was one of the songs my dad had recorded on 8-track to listen to on our drives up north.
This song was the first song that really made Eddie a crossover artist. The song went to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. I Love A Rainy Night followed and hit #1 on the Hot 100, Country and Adult Contemporary Charts. Step By Step and You and I followed in 1981 and 1982 as crossover hits.
It is one of many Eddie Rabbitt songs I love.
Driving My Life Away
1981
Originally done by Tommy James and the Shondells, Mony Mony was covered by Billy Idol. Billy first released his version as a single in 1981, his first as a solo artist after leaving the band Generation X. His live version of the song went to #1 in 1987.
It was a big song at weddings and schools dances. However, it quickly made many school’s “Do Not Play” list. Why? It became popular for kids to shout “hey, hey, what, get laid, get f–ked” during the instrumental break in the chorus. I found this out the hard way at a school prom. I had a lot of requests for the song and when I played it the kids went crazy. When they shouted out the vulgar chant, it only took seconds for a teacher to come up and tell me to turn it off. Apparently, the chant is still shouted at Billy’s concerts.
Weird Al Yankovic did a parody of Billy’s version called “Alimony” on his Even Worse album in 1988.
Mony Mony
1982
It took two releases for the next song to get noticed. I can still remember going to the record store and buying Built For Speed by the Stray Cats. Rock This Town was such a cool thing to hear on the radio for me. My dad played a lot of Rockabilly stuff for me growing up, so I had to go get this album.
When Stray Cat Strut was first released in August of 1982, it didn’t even crack the Hot 100. I think it stopped at #109. Then Rock This Town was released and the band got noticed. The record company decided to re-release Stray Cat Strut and this time it debuted at #43 and went all the way to #3.
Michigan Trivia: Detroiters may remember that WRIF’s (101 FM) JJ and the Morning Crew a parody of this called “Fat Cat Strut.”
Stray Cat Strut
1983
The Eurythmics are Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart who actually dated for a while. Lennox said in an interview that they wrote this song after the two had a huge fight. Dave came up with a beat, Annie improvised the synthesizer riff, and suddenly they realized they had a potential hit.
In an interview with songfacts.com, Stewart said “We thought we’d made something really special but we had no idea, really, the impact it would have. Neither did the record label, which didn’t even think it was a single.”
Three other songs from the album were released as singles in the UK before their label, RCA, finally issued “Sweet Dreams.” When they did, it took off, climbing to #2.
Songfacts says about the video:
The video presented Lennox with close-cropped orange hair and a tailored black suit, making it the first popular video presenting an androgynous female. The cow in the video was Dave Stewart’s idea – he was a big fan of surreal artists Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. Said Stewart: “A few people were saying, ‘Dave, why the cow? Annie is so good looking.’ Those people should go buy a copy of Purple Cow by Seth Dogin, about how to make your business remarkable. It was written 20 years after I had the purple cow in our video – which certainly did the trick and made my whole life remarkable.”
The cow, while very eye-catching, posed a logistical problem because most studios can’t accommodate them. Eurythmics found a basement studio in London with an elevator big enough to transport the animal. Lennox recalls the shoot with the bovine walking around as being one of the more surreal experiences of her life.
This song used to drive my former sister-in-law crazy. I’m not sure why, but whenever I DJ’s a family party or an event that she was at, I always played this song.
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This
1984
The next song got it’s title from a 1979 movie. Time After Time is the name of a 1979 science fiction movie starring Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells, whose time machine is stolen by Jack The Ripper, who uses it to travel from 1893 to 1979. Wells follows him into the future and goes on a quest to stop him from killing.
Cyndi Lauper wrote the song with Rob Hyman of The Hooters. Hyman told Songfacts: “When she saw Time After Time, something clicked. She said, ‘I think I have a title.'”
Once the title was in place, they set about writing the song. Hyman explained: “I was sitting at the piano and just started banging out what would eventually be the chorus, hook, and the way we sing it. It almost had like a reggae feel, it was a little bouncier and a little more upbeat. We started getting off on that chorus, then the verse melodies started to appear.
It’s a deceptively simple song. The verses are just a little repeating three-note motif – almost like a nursery rhyme, a very simple song. Then we started to realize we were on to something. The mood of the lyrics came from both of us. I think Cyndi came in and really started the lyric flow, then all of the sudden we realized it wasn’t such a bouncy song, but it was a little more bittersweet and a little deeper in its feeling and a little more poignant, so the music started to change. We wrote a little bridge section and I think the last thing we really wrote was the chorus. We had ‘Time After Time,’ we just had to get the words that would surround it.”
This song surprised me. Compared to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and She Bop, this song was kind of deep. This one and True Colors really made me appreciate her talent.
Time After Time
1985
My Detroit Tigers are doing very well so far this season. I hope they keep it up! From 1985, here is a song that I have written about in the past Centerfield.
Centerfield
1986
My dad always played me classics from Elvis, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and Little Richard. I remember my dad coming home and saying, “Keith, you gotta hear this Little Richard song.” It was a song that was featured in the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills with Richard Dreyfus.
Honestly, it sounded like something he could have done in the 50’s. Great Gosh A’Mighty must have been the cleaned up version for the film, because Little Richard also recorded a Great God Almighty version, too.
The song is always one I play on repeat on the iPod.
Great Gosh A’Mighty
1987
Randy Travis was one of the coolest country stars I’ve had the chance to meet. He was so down to earth and friendly. We talked about music, family and faith. It was like talking to an old friend.
I feel Forever and Ever, Amen is right up in the Top 10 best country songs of all time. It was written by two of the best songwriters in Nashville – Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. The two had already wrote Randy’s hit “On the Other Hand,” and I love the story of how this one came to be.
Overstreet told Songfacts:
“I had played about 36 holes of golf that day, and Don says, ‘I’ve got this idea we have to write.’ His new fiancée’s little boy was learning the Lord’s Prayer, and he was going around saying ‘forever and ever amen’ after everything. He would say, ‘Mommy, I love you. Forever and ever, amen.’ So Don said, ‘We’ve got to write this.’ I said, ‘How about tomorrow?’ He says, ‘No, now.'”
They got together on Overstreet’s front porch that night and composed the song by candlelight. Confident it was a hit, they recorded a demo the next day and sent it to Travis, who made it the lead single to his second album, Always & Forever. It was indeed a hit, spending three weeks at the top of the Country chart, longer than any other song in 1987.
Forever and Ever, Amen
1988
Another cover song on the list – this time, a cover of Elvis Presley. I remember hearing Cheap Trick’s version of Don’t Be Cruel and loving it! I remember really digging the spots in the song where that running bass line can be heard. The key change was something that stood out for me.
I hate to diss on the King, but I almost love the Cheap Trick version a bit more. There is so much going on that really takes the song to another level – that drum beat, the fake cold ending, the guitar solo and so much more. I played the heck out of this 45
Don’t Be Cruel
1989
The final pick comes from the movie UHF from Weird Al Yankovic. In a recent Turntable Talk feature, I talked about the David Lee Roth video for Just a Gigolo. At the end of it, I wondered if Dave borrowed from the music video for UHF’s title song.
While the video for the song is hilarious and brilliant, the song itself is one of my favorites from Al. It is not a parody, rather an original. It is a song that sounds like something you would hear on the radio in ’89. It has an alternative rock feel to it.
It’s an underrated and often forgotten Al song
UHF
What a way to wrap up the 80’s! I hope you heard some tunes you liked, too. Next week we’ll move on to the 1990’s and see what songs bubbled under my original list. See you then!
Back in the early 2000’s I was the Afternoon Drive guy on B-95. My shift was from 2pm to 7pm. I got to “kickoff” the weekend every Friday at 5pm. They were calling the 5pm hour “The Drive at Five.” It was far from an original name.
When the clock hit 5PM, I had a factory whistle that I would play followed by the voice guy saying, “Welcome to the weekend!” This was immediately followed by 4 or 5 weekend oriented country songs. Since it is now officially the weekend here in Michigan, I thought I’d showcase some of those songs.
I’d usually start with one of these two classics –
Finally Friday – George Jones
Take This Job and Shove It
Then I would rotate from the following:
Working for the Weekend – Ken Mellons
Redneck Rhythm and Blues – Brooks and Dunn
It’s Five O’clock Somewhere – Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett
Come Friday – Aaron Tippin
Wrong Five O’clock – Eric Heatherly
Yee Haw – Jake Owen
That got me thinking about other formats. What might I play if I was working at an oldies station? Maybe:
Rip It Up – Little Richard
Friday on my Mind – The Easybeats
Five O’clock World – The Vogues
If I was at a classic rock station? Maybe:
Saturday Night – Bay City Rollers
Working For The Weekend – Loverboy
Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting – Elton John
What song is YOUR weekend song? Drop it in the comments!
It was 39 years ago today that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its inaugural class. When you look at the 10 inductees, you cannot help but be impressed. These artists are legends who were a part of the birth of Rock and Roll. The performers category is meant for recording artists and bands that have “influence and significance to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.” Each of them did just that!
To honor this class of Rock and Roll pioneers, I thought I would feature a favorite song from each of them. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments.
Chuck Berry– No Particular Place To Go
The “Granddaddy of Rock and Roll”
James Brown – Please, Please, Please
“The Godfather of Soul”
Ray Charles – Hallelujah, I Love Her So
“The Genius”
Sam Cooke – Twisting The Night Away
“The King of Soul”
Fats Domino – I’m Walkin’
“The Father of Rock and Roll”
The Everly Brothers – Bye Bye Love
Buddy Holly – Rave On
Jerry Lee Lewis – Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
“The Killer”
Little Richard – Rip It Up
“The Architect of Rock and Roll” (Also “The Bronze Liberace”)
Elvis Presley – Blue Suede Shoes
“The King of Rock and Roll”
I wish I could find out who the artist is on this amazing caricature! I love this and would love to get a print of it.
The amount of music that these ten performers put out in their lifetime is overwhelming! It is fitting that they make up the first class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.
My wife and I took a trip to Cleveland for our anniversary one year. We visited the Hall of Fame and I was in awe walking amongst the pieces of history. If you have never been there, I highly recommend a visit!
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.
1991 saw big changes for me. In April, a former coworker called to ask if I wanted a full time radio job at his station. It was a small market on the west side of the state (In Ludington). My girlfriend at the time and I had just had a big argument and I figured “Why not?!”
I was all by myself, in a place where I really only knew one person, at a job that decided to pay less than what I was told when I moved. It was lonely and I struggled a lot. The day I turned 21, I went to the store to buy beer and they never even carded me!
That summer would be one of my favorite summers. Michigan’s West side is just beautiful. I had never seen sunsets like those before! They were breathtaking.
Musically, there were some powerful tunes released in 1991. Some of them wouldn’t play into the events of my life for a few years, but when they did …
The first pick from ’91 is a song that I have found people either love or hate. I’m not sure why. Personally, I love the guitar sound and the harmonies in it, and I love the lyrics.
More Than Words is a song that was written by Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme. Nuno says, “The word ‘love’ itself gets really diluted, so we just wanted to say, ‘It’s not really about saying it,’ because everybody gets really worked up when somebody says that to each other. They say, ‘I love you,’ and everybody goes, ‘Oh my God! It must be serious. It must be heavy.’ It’s like, ‘Eh… it’s easy to say that.’ It’s really about showing it constantly and continuously in a relationship. We knew that was the message.”
The song was a huge hit for them. People who rushed out to buy their albums were quite surprised when they heard that the band primarily played Rock music. The band has called the song “both a blessing and a curse.”
More Than Words
R.E.M. had released the very thought provoking Losing My Religion from their Out of Time album as their first single. Their follow up was a song that could not be more different! That song was Shiny Happy People.
Michael Stipe calls this “A really fruity, kind of bubblegum song.” In an interview with The Quietus, he said that he was a bit embarrassed when it became a big hit, but it’s an important song because it shows a different side of him. Said Stipe:
“Many people’s idea of R.E.M, and me in particular, is very serious, with me being a very serious kind of poet. But I’m also actually quite funny – hey, my bandmates think so, my family thinks so, my boyfriend thinks so, so I must be – but that doesn’t always come through in the music! People have this idea of who I am probably because when I talk on camera, I’m working so hard to articulate my thoughts that I come across as very intense.”
Kate Pierson from the B-52s sang backup. She was in demand for her distinctive vocals after the B-52s achieved mainstream success with Love Shack.
In 1999, R.E.M. performed this on Sesame Street as “Furry Happy Monsters.” Kate Pierson’s part was performed by a Muppet that looked like her, voiced by Stephanie D’Abruzzo, a Muppeteer who was also a huge fan of the band.
Guitarist Peter Buck has two daughters who were big fans of the show. “You just looked around,” he recalled to Mojo in 2016, “going, Man this is a weird way to make a living.”
I had heard the song on the radio but it wasn’t until I was sitting at home watching Sesame Street with my oldest that I gained an appreciation for it.
Shiny Happy People
My next one had been on my iPod for years before the lyrics really hit me. My ex and I were at a point where all we did was argue. It was a very unhappy situation.
It was after an argument that I was in the car and heard Mariah Carey’s “I Don’t Wanna Cry.” Those lyrics were something I could have wrote;
Once again we sit in silence After all is said and done Only emptiness inside us Baby look what we’ve become We can make a million promises But we still won’t change It isn’t right to stay together When we only bring each other pain
It stung, but it was true. The end was upon us.
This was Mariah’s fourth consecutive #1 hit on the Hot 100, making her the first solo artist and female artist in Billboard history to have their first four singles top the chart.
I love her vocal and the guitar work in this one
I Don’t Want to Cry
Long before I stood next to a very drunk Hank Williams Jr at a urinal in Nashville, he had put out an album in ’91 entitled Pure Hank.
One of the singles that was released was If It Will It Will. It’s very easy for us to get caught up in worry, but worry isn’t good for us. Hank’s simple advice is something we should all remember,
“If it will, it will. If it won’t, it won’t.”
The weirdest thing about this song is the video. Right at the beginning, Little Richard shows up. To me, he’s out of place and isn’t utilized very well. Even when he does sing along, you can barely hear him. The song, however, is a favorite. It starts off with a bluesy vocal/introduction and then kicks.
If It Will, It Will
As I compile these lists for each year, I always seem to stumble on one that could be used for another feature. The next song would certainly work for my Movie Music Monday feature. It was a big hit from the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves soundtrack.
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You was written to order for the movie. It was initially written by American film composer Michael Kamen. The middle eight, break, outro and arrangement added by Bryan Adams and producer Mutt Lange. Adams used a line in the movie, “I do it for you…” as the basis for the song, and they had it written in about an hour.
The song didn’t meet with Hollywood approval. The film company wanted the song to have an instrumentation that was in line with the film’s era. Can you imagine the song featuring lutes, mandolins, and the like? The film company eventually relented, but still buried the song midway through the credits. They were obviously unaware of the huge hit they had on their hands.
The reason it made my list is because of an ex-girlfriend. It is not because it was “our song” or anything like that. She asked me if I knew the song. Naturally, I did. It was a big bridal dance song. She told me to listen to it again, but to listen to it as if God was speaking the words (making changes to tense and such).
You can’t tell me it’s (your) not worth dying for You know it’s true Everything I do (did) I do (did) it for you
I had never thought of it that way before. I always remember that conversation when I hear the song.
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You
I love Bonnie Raitt. I love listening to her sing and watching her play. She is blues. She is country. She is pop. She is folk. She is something!
She was no stranger to the music scene. Her first album came out in 1971! She also did some session work. She’s collaborated with artists like John Prine, Jackson Brown, The Pointer Sisters, Warren Zevon and Leon Russell. She finally had some success in 1989 with her award winning album Nick of Time.
The first time I heard Something To Talk About on the radio, it stuck out to me. It was so different. As a blues fan, I could hear that blues influence and I feel in love with the song. The song would go on to be her biggest chart hit in the United States, rising to #5.
She was never a singles act, but after her four Grammy wins for the album Nick Of Time, her songs started getting radio play. With radio play, they began showing up on the chart. “Something to Talk About” was the lead single to her next album, Luck of the Draw. Because of her prior success, the song was highly anticipated and radio jumped on it. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Bonnie beat out Oleta Adams, Mariah Carey, Amy Grant and Whitney Houston.
Sadly, it is also a karaoke favorite that is destroyed by many a “wanna be” singer in pubs everywhere! I’ll take the original, thank you.
Something To Talk About
The next song is on the list not because of the content, but the title. “Things That Make You Go Hmmm” became a sort of catch phrase. Arsenio Hall used it on his show all the time. I still hear people using it today!
C+C Music Factory was a dance floor staple when I was DJing. “Gonna Make You Sweat” is still one that I hear when I go to weddings. “Things That Make You Go Hmmm” was a huge dance song when it came out. It had a cool dance beat and some catchy lyrics.
Songfacts says this:
In the early ’90s, before gangsta rap took hold, rap songs were often lighthearted and clever, telling self-deprecating stories over dance grooves. Examples of this would be “Bust a Move” and “Funky Cold Medina.”
I think that is why that early 90s rap is still popular today. They really were very clever. They were also light on profanity. It isn’t odd to see “MF” and other profane words right in the titles as time goes on. That always made me laugh because how can anyone like a song where 75% of the lyrics are bleeped out? I guess that’s one of those … Things That Make You Go Hmmm….
Things That Make You Go Hmmm
The next song was one that was never released as a single. I became familiar with it after my grandfather passed away in 1994. I was extremely close to my grandpa and was heart broken when he passed. I received Reba McEntire’s For My Broken Heart album from my dear friend Allyson.
We both have birthdays in May and when life wasn’t so complicated, we’d meet for coffee or lunch to celebrate. She gave me this CD as a gift. She mentioned that she knew I was still grieving the death of my grandpa. She told me she thought of me when she heard the song, If I Had Only Known.
Quick background on the album. Reba recorded this album after losing many members of her touring band in an airplane crash. In her liner notes she says the album is “a form of healing for all our broken hearts.”
When I listened to this song for the first time, I thought about my grandpa (as Allyson had suggested). It moved me to tears. A decade later, I would hear it and think of my mom, too.
The lesson of the song? If we were aware that we were experiencing the “last” of something, we’d live life a bit differently.
If I Had Only Known
I always love to hear stories about how a song almost didn’t happen. That was the case for I Can’t Dance by Genesis. It came from a mix of a Jam session and writing session.
The lyrics are made up of bits that Phil Collins improvised in the studio. When they started working on it, they decided to just write spontaneously to keep from over-thinking it. Mike Rutherford first created the main riff of the song he called “Heavy A Flat.” Which led Phil to suddenly improvise the basic concept for “I Can’t Dance”. The riff was actually inspired by a Levi Strauss & Co. television commercial.
Originally, the band did not think of it as anything more than a joke recording that would be discarded quickly. They felt this way because the song was too simple, too bluesy, and unlike Genesis’ style. Tony Banks said, “It was one of those bits you thought was going to go nowhere. It sounded fun but wasn’t really special.”
When Banks decided to add keyboard sound effects to complement Rutherford’s playing, “I Can’t Dance” took on an entirely different feeling. The band came to appreciate the sly humor inherent in the song and chose to not only record it properly, but to put it on the album as a single.
The video created a lasting image thanks to the “silly walk” the three band members did. This walk was something Phil Collins did from time to time. He got the idea for it when he attended drama school and noticed that the worst dancers would always lead with the hand and foot on the same side. The dance has become sort of iconic.
I think that I relate to this song in that I can’t really dance. I sway when slow dancing. Fast dancing? HA! Forget it. I can’t. When I try, I look like Elaine from Seinfeld.
I Can’t Dance
When I was DJing at the local VFW, line dancing was a pretty big thing. There were all kinds of country line dances. At one point I had to make a list so I knew what dances people were doing to certain songs.
“Can you play Moo Moo Land?”
That was what someone came up and asked me one day. Moo Moo Land? What in the world was that!? Naturally, my dad knew it because there was a dance they did to it. It was called “Justified and Ancient” by the KLF and featured Tammy Wynette! What a weird pairing!
But it gets weirder! According to Songfacts:
The title “Justified & Ancient” refers to the KLF’s pseudonym and earlier incarnation, “The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu” (The JAMs). The JAMs took their name from Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson’s sci-fi tinged, conspiracy theory-laden Illuminatus! Book series in which The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu are a fictional subversive cult who have been around since pre-history. The song lyrics describe the Justified Ancients making their way to Mu Mu Land in an ice cream van.
Huh?!
Even Tammy was unsure about it. She originally thought the song was called “Justified and ANXIOUS.” She said, “As it was, I didn’t understand what some of the words meant. I know about ice cream vans, but I’d never heard of a 99 before,” she added. “Bill explained it to me and now it makes perfectly good sense. I’m still not sure about Justified and Ancient though.” (A 99 is an ice cream with a flake in it).
Really, it is a great dance record. It’s neat to hear Tammy Wynette on it and it really revitalized her career.
Justified and Ancient
Last week I threw in that crazy Bingo Boys song at the end of my list. This week, I have to throw in another totally ridiculous song at you. Again, it is one that my best friend Jeff and I laughed about – a lot.
The group 2nu (pronounced “two – new”) was a pop group out of Seattle, Washington. When they first hit the scene, they has yet to come up with a name. A radio DJ said that the band was still too new to have a name, and they decided that worked. They have only released three albums, the first in 1991. What makes them unique (if that is the right word) is that their songs consist of sound effects, rhythmic beats, and a spoken word lyric. Their first single was “This is Ponderous.”
The song is more bizarre than ponderous. My buddy and I used to laugh at the “language the narrator doesn’t understand.”
Feel free to file this in the “What the heck was that?” folder…
This Is Ponderous
And with that silliness, we wrap up 1991. I mentioned that I can’t dance this week. Next week, as we dive into 1992, it contains the only fast song that I will dance to. It is an interesting list. It includes three cover songs, one parody song, three movie songs, a song about a royal feud, a song for the hard workers, and a song for the poor. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Did I forget one one your favorites from 1991? Drop it in the comments. I’d love to see if it was one that was on my radar.
I truly hope you are enjoying this series. Thanks for reading!
As I celebrate birthday 54, I am borrowing (ok, stealing) an idea from another blogger. I have altered the idea a bit, and may decide to change it up after a few posts …
I am calling the feature “The Music of My Life.” I plan on starting with the year I was born and picking 10 favorites from that year. I will move on through the years one by one. I doubt I will go too deep in the more modern years, so I’m not sure how long this will go on.
Right now, I am hoping to do this once a week. That’s a bit adventurous of me, but I am really hoping to be able to work ahead on these.
So what sources am I using to choose my songs? First, I am looking at the Billboard Year-End Top 100. This can be a problem as some of the songs from the list may have been released the year before. Next, I am looking a lists from various sources with all the songs released as singles for each year. Finally, my buddy Max (who may or may not be the blogger I stole this idea from), gave me a cool website to check out. It is acclaimedmusic.net
With that being said, let’s take a look at some of my favorites from the year I was born…
1970
I may as well start with the song that was number one on my birthday – American Woman by The Guess Who. It was released in January of 1970 and was the third biggest song of the year. A cool thing about this song – the whole thing was improvised on stage during a concert after Randy Bachman was tuning his guitar after breaking a string!
American Woman – The Guess Who
Next, a group that never had a number one song. That has always baffled me. CCR had a few hits in 1970. Travelin’ Band was released in January of 1970 and has a very 1950’s sort of sound to it. John Fogerty has been said to have channeled a bit of Little Richard in the vocal delivery of this song. Coincidentally, CCR was sued by the publishing company that had the rights to Little Richard’s “Good Golly Miss Molly,” because they sounded so much alike. The case was settled out of court.
Travelin’ Band – CCR
I always loved the sound of Dave Edmunds I Hear You Knocking. In 1970, he was getting ready to cut a version of Wilbert Harrison’s Let’s Work Together, when he heard that the group Canned Heat had just cut it. As he was driving in his car, a radio station played the Smiley Lewis’ 1955 version of I Hear You Knocking. He realized just how similar it was to Let’s Work Together and knew he wouldn’t have to change much and recorded it. He played all the instruments on the song (except maybe the bass guitar).
I Hear You Knockin’ – Dave Edmunds
Another group I have always liked is Badfinger. The song was recorded in May of 1970 and released in October. The band loved this song, but some of the folks at Apple records had no interest in releasing it. In August, the American director at Apple in New York heard the tape and liked it. The song was remixed and released as a single. It was a Top 10 single.
No Matter What – Badfinger
Released in January of 1970, Norman Greenbaum had a Top 5 Hit with Spirit in the Sky. Jesus is mentioned many times throughout the song, so I remember being surprised to read that Norman was Jewish! In a 2006 interview, he said that he was inspired to write the song after watching country singer Porter Wagoner singing a gospel song on TV. He said that he thought, “I can do that,” and wrote “my own gospel song.”
As far as the unique sound of the opening guitar lick? Normal used a Fender Telecaster with a fuzz-tone circuit built into the body to generate the song’s characteristic guitar sound. Because of the song’s length and religious tone of the lyrics, the record company was initially reluctant to issue the song. They came to their senses and finally released as a single after two other singles from the album had poor sales. The rest … is history.
Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum
Edwin Starr is one of my favorite Motown singers. In 1970, he released a song co-written by another Motown artist, Barrett Strong. The song is basically a protest song as the Vietnam War was still going on. The song was recorded originally with the Temptations singing it, however, the label decided to withhold the Temptations’ version from single release so as not to alienate that group’s more conservative fans, and had Edwin Starr record and release it.
War – Edwin Starr
By the time I was born, the Beatles were getting ready to call it quits. However, in March of 1970, they released Let It Be. At the time, the song became the highest debut ever on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It entered the chart at number 6 and went straight to the top. This was the final single released before Paul announced he was leaving the band.
Let It Be – The Beatles
One of the great song intros in classic rock belongs to All Right Now by Free. The song was recorded in January of 1970 and released on my birthday in the UK (May 15). Drummer Simon Kirke said: “‘All Right Now’ was created after a bad gig in Durham. We finished our show and walked off the stage to the sound of our own footsteps. The applause had died before I had even left the drum riser. It was obvious that we needed a rocker to close our shows. All of a sudden the inspiration struck (Bass Player Andy) Fraser and he started bopping around singing ‘All Right Now’. He sat down and wrote it right there in the dressing room. It couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes.” It’s a great jam!
All Right Now – Free
This song fits exactly what many blogger friends and I do often – Turn Back the Hands of Time through music, movies, and nostalgia. One of R&B’s greatest was released in February of 1970 by Tyrone Davis. The song was Davis’ second big hit. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Chart and went to number three on the Pop Singles Chart.
I’ve always loved the way the intro starts with drum and bass, then adds guitar and keyboard (xylophone?) and finally the strings before Tyrone’s smooth vocal. And who doesn’t sing along with the background singers when they come in? I know I do.
Turn Back the Hands of Time – Tyrone Davis
Finally, we grab a cut from Van Morrison’s 1970 album, Moondance. Into the Mystic is just such a cool song. I guess this would fall into the category of “Yacht Rock” today. It has a spiritual feel to it. One article compared it to Yesterday by the Beatles describing it as “another song where the music and the words seem to have been born together, at the same time, to make one perfectly formed, complete artistic element.”
Van said the use of homophones really lent the song to have alternate meanings. He states: “Originally I wrote it as ‘Into the Misty’. But later I thought that it had something of an ethereal feeling to it so I called it ‘Into the Mystic’. That song is kind of funny because when it came time to send the lyrics in WB Music, I couldn’t figure out what to send them. Because really the song has two sets of lyrics. For example, there’s ‘I was born before the wind’ and ‘I was borne before the wind’, and also ‘Also younger than the sun, Ere the bonny boat was one’ and ‘All so younger than the son, Ere the bonny boat was won’ … I guess the song is just about being part of the universe.”
Into the Mystic – Van Morrison
I hope you enjoyed giving these songs a listen. Picking just 10 was harder than I thought. What about your favorites from 1970??
Richard Steven Valenzuela would have been 83 years old today, had he not become part of the story entitled, “The Day the Music Died.” We, of course, know him by his stage name – Richie Valens.
UNSPECIFIED – JANUARY 01: Photo of Ritchie Valens (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
In May of 1958, Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records was told about a high school singer who students called “The Little Richard of San Fernando.” This peaked his interest and he went to see him perform. Keane invited Richard to his home to audition for him. After that first audition, Keane signed him to Del-Fi on May 14, 1958. At this point, the musician took the name “Ritchie” because, as Keane said, “There were a bunch of ‘Richards’ around at that time, and I wanted it to be different.” Similarly, he recommended shortening his surname to “Valens” from Valenzuela to widen his appeal beyond any obvious ethnic group.
The first song that Ritchie recorded at a session shortly after being signed was Come On, Let’s Go. Our song for today. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Ritchie’s story was told in the 1987 biographical film, La Bamba, which starred Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens. Marshall Crenshaw played Buddy Holly, Stephen Lee was the Big Bopper, and Brian Setzer makes a cameo as Eddie Cochran. Some of Ritchie Valens’ family even had roles in the film.
The film was well received and Roger Ebert said that he liked the film and the screenplay and writing: “This is a good small movie, sweet and sentimental, about a kid who never really got a chance to show his stuff. The best things in it are the most unexpected things: the portraits of everyday life, of a loving mother, of a brother who loves and resents him, of a kid growing up and tasting fame and leaving everyone standing around at his funeral shocked that his life ended just as it seemed to be beginning.”
The soundtrack consists of many Ritchie covers done by Los Lobos as well as well as Howard Huntsberry (who played Jackie Wilson in the film), Bo Diddly and Brian Setzer. A second soundtrack was released 1988 with more music from the movie.
Los Lobos did a fantastic job capturing Ritchie Valens’ essence and his songs are fairly true to the originals. While La Bamba will forever be the song Richie is remembered for, Come On, Let’s Go was always my favorite. So for Movie Music Monday, let’s here Los Lobos’ version.
Valens’ story (like that of Buddy Holly and other singers who died young) leaves us wondering “What if ….?” His was a talent taken much too soon.
Today is World Pianist Day, so I thought I’d share a guilty pleasure piano song with you.
The Piano has been an instrument that has provided music and melodies for centuries. It has figured prominently in all genres of music and some very talented people have been known for the instrument.
Frederic Chopin, Ludwig Von Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Liszt are all well known classical pianists.
Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Nat King Cole, and Count Basie are all well known jazz pianists.
Fats Domino, Little Richard, Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, and Freddie Mercury were all well known pop/rock pianists.
PDQ Bach, Tom Lehrer, and Victor Borge were all known for incorporating the piano into their comedy.
Otis Spann, Billy Preston, Charles Brown, Dr. John, and Ray Charles all offered up some great blues piano tunes.
Then, of course, there was Liberace … who played everything.
When I was young, I learned how to play the Hammond Organ. I wish I had learned how to play piano, though. Over the years, I have come to appreciate how talented piano players are. I can’t imagine playing one riff with one hand and a melody on the other.
The guilty pleasure song I wanted to share today features the piano and is played by a guy who I have written about before. TV and movie star Hugh Laurie had an album out a few years back called “Let Them Talk.” On this album, he plays the song Swanee River. The song was written by the great Stephen Foster back in 1851!
Hugh’s version is an amazing boogie woogie romp that you cannot help but tap your toes to. It is one of those “pick me up” songs. I find myself listening to it when I am feeling down. So for World Pianist Day, I apologize to the legendary pianists I mentioned early on, and offer up – Mr. Hugh Laurie.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 