Tune Tuesday – Please Read The Letter

Today is the 76th birthday of a legend who quit his training as a chartered accountant immerse himself in the England Midlands blues scene. One can only imagine the classics we would have missed out on had the great Robert Plant continued to work with numbers!

Plant, of course, rose to fame as the vocalist and songwriter of the classic rock band Led Zeppelin. I had my share of Zeppelin songs I could have posted today. The Immigrant Song, Whole Lotta Love, Black Dog, Kashmir, When the Levee Breaks, All My Love, Good Times Bad Times, Rock and Roll, and Stairway to Heaven – just to name a few! However, I decided to go with a song that may be totally unknown to many readers.

After Zeppelin broke up, Plant recorded as mainly as a solo artist. In 2007, he teamed up with one of the greatest voices in country music, Alison Krauss, to record a critically acclaimed album entitled Raising Sand. The album itself stands out as an exceptional work of art. It would go on to win Album of the Year in 2008 at the Americana Music and Honors Awards and at the Grammy Awards.

Allmusic called it “one of the most effortless-sounding pairings in modern popular music,” JamBase called it “subtle, focused and full of life,” and the Village Voice in New York called it “powerfully evocative” and “utterly foreign, oddly familiar, and deeply gratifying.” Critics praised Krauss and Plant’s vocals; one critic saying that the “key to the magic is the delicious harmony vocals of the unlikely duo.”

One of my favorite cuts is Please Read The Letter. Fans of Robert Plant may know this song because it was written by Plant and Jimmy Page and recorded back in 1998 for their Walking Into Clarksdale album (They recorded it as Page and Plant). Plant said of the song in an interview that it is a song about yearning for someone, adding that the lyrics are about “unfinished business.”

I read where one critic said that the Plant/Krauss version was a HUGE step up from the original. I truly agree. There is something about the way their voices blend together on this song and on the album that is worth checking out. Give it a listen and tell me what you think…

Please Read The Letter

Caught out running with just a little too much to hide
Maybe baby, everything’s gonna turn out fine
Please read the letter, I nailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out we needed so much more

Too late, too late a fool could read the signs
Maybe baby, you’d better check between the lines
Please read the letter, I wrote it in my sleep
With help and consultation from the angels of the deep

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

Once I took beside a well of many words
My house is full of rings, and charms, and pretty birds
Please understand me, my walls came falling down
There’s nothing here that’s left for you
But check with lost and found

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote, oh

One more song just before we go
Remember baby, you gotta reap just what you sow
Please read my letter and promise me you’ll keep
The secrets and the memories we cherish in the deep
Please read the letter, I nailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out we needed so much more

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

Oh no, oh, oh no

Please read the letter
Please read the letter
Please read the letter

Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Happy Birthday, Robert Plant!

Tune Tuesday – Yakety Yak

The song for today is a familiar one, despite its age. The reason I pick this one is to remember one of the greats who passed away on this day in 1971. Perhaps you don’t know him by his real name, Curtis Montgomery, or his adopted name Curtis Ousley. If you are a music lover, I would hope that you are familiar with his stage name – King Curtis. He was one of the all time great saxophonists and had quite a career.

Curtis began playing saxophone at age twelve and liked a variety of music. He turned down college scholarships to join up with the legendary Lionel Hampton band where he wrote and arranged music. In the early 1950’s he left the band to go to New York. He became an on call session musician for labels like Atco, Prestige, and Capitol Records. He recorded with Clyde McPhatter, Bobby Darin, Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Andy Williams and was on Waylon Jennings first record. He also made his own records like “Soul Twist” (with his Noble Knights) in 1962.

In 1967, Aretha Franklin covered Otis Redding’s Respect by flipping the gender and presenting it from the female point of view. The song featured Aretha’s sisters, Erma and Carolyn on the repeated “sock it to me” line and King Curtis on the saxophone solo.

In February of 1971, John Lennon started recording tracks for his Imagine album. When Lennon, Yoko Ono and Phil Specter were mixing and finishing the album, John must have felt that he needed something more on a couple tracks. Apple’s Allen Steckler said, “John knew he wanted a sax player and it was his idea to use King Curtis. He asked me to get him. I found his agent and booked him. John played him the tracks and told him the kind of feel he wanted. He went into the studio and played his ass off. John loved it, as did Phil Spector and all of us.“

Curtis recorded his parts for the album in July of 1971. He can be heard on Lennon’s “I Don’t Want to Be a Soldier Mama” and “It’s So Hard.”

Long before all of that, Curtis decided to move towards playing rhythm and blues in part because it was a more lucrative career choice, but he also loved the music. It was in 1958 that he became widely known for his unique saxophone work when he played on The Coasters hit “Yakety Yak.” The sound that Curtis unleashed earned him some fame and influenced the sound of R&B the saxophone. He developed a strong relationship with The Coasters, becoming their go to sax man and contributing to arrangements as well on a string of hits that included “Charlie Brown,” “Along Came Jones,” “Shoppin’ For Clothes,” and more.

Saxophonist Boots Randolph was so influenced by the “Yakety Yak” solo that he altered the melody a bit and made it his own song called “Yakety Sax” (which played prominently on the Benny Hill Show). That song only further exposed the King Curtis sound.

On the night of August 12, 1971, Curtis was attempting to access the fuse box to his house (his central air conditioning system was tripping the breaker) when he confronted Juan Montanez, who was loitering on Curtis’s front steps with an unidentified female. A fight ensued and Montanez stabbed him. Curtis was found on the steps outside his apartment and was taken to New York’s Roosevelt Hospital where he died early on the morning of August 13, 1971. He was 37 years old.

So today, on the 53rd anniversary of his passing, check out the great King Curtis with the Coasters on the classic, “Yakety Yak.”

Tune Tuesday – My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms

The fantastic actor Robert Mitchum was born today in 1917. Mitchum appeared in over 110 movie and television roles over the course of his career. The American Film Institute places him at #23 on their list of 50 Greatest American Screen Legends of All Time. He was in so many great films like the noir classic Out of the Past (1947), the noir thriller Night of the Hunter (1955), the psychological thriller Cape Fear (1962), the western 5 Card Stud (1968), the World War II film Midway (1976), and the holiday favorite Scrooged (1988) just to name a few.

So why am I writing about Robert Mitchum in a blog about music? One of the lesser-known aspects of Mitchum’s career was his foray into music as a singer. Critic Greg Adams writes, “Unlike most celebrity vocalists, Robert Mitchum actually had musical talent.” Even Frank Sinatra had nice things to say about him. Frank said, “For anyone who’s not a professional musician, he knows more about music, from Bach to Brubeck, than any man I’ve ever known.”

Many films will overdub an actor with a professional singer’s voice when the character has to sing. Mitchum’s voice was often used instead of that of a professional singer when his character sang in his films. He can be heard singing in Night of the Hunter, One Minute to Zero, The Sundowners, and he sang the theme to the film Young Billy Young.

Robert Mitchum recorded two albums. The first was recorded after he heard some calypso music while filming in the Caribbean. In 1957, he released “Calypso – Is Like So,” on which he emulated the calypso sound and style, even adopting the style’s unique pronunciations and slang. Personally, I didn’t care for this album. He has such a cool voice and by singing this way, it just sounded like a joke to me.

In 1958, he starred in the movie Thunder Road and sang the title song, “The Ballad of Thunder Road.” It was included on the rerelease of Calypso – Is Like So as a bonus song. The song never cracked the Top 40, but it did get to #62 on the charts. Although Mitchum continued to use his singing voice in his film work, he waited until 1967 to record his follow-up record, That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings.

The album featured songs that had a country feel to them. His first single from the album, “Little Ole Wine Drinker Me” (which has a minor hit for Dean Martin) was a top-10 hit on country radio, reaching number 9 there, and crossed over into mainstream radio, where it peaked at number 96.

When I worked at Honey Radio in Detroit, my partner Rob would bring in songs sung by various celebrities. He’d play a clip of a song sung by William Shatner, Sebastian Cabot, Telly Savalas, and folks like that and have listeners call and guess who it was. One day he brought in Robert Mitchum’s version of My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms. At the time, I had no idea that he’d ever cut an album! Once I listened to it, I loved it. I couldn’t believe it was him!

The song was first recorded by a group called the Virginians in 1922. There have been many cover versions of the song since then. Bing Crosby, Barbara Streisand, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Guy Lombardo, Kay Starr and (I think) Jeff Healy have all recorded the song. It is interesting to hear the various takes on the song to be sure.

As far as Mitchum’s version, it’s just …fun. It’s got simple instrumentation and some harmonious background singers and when it all comes together with Bob’s voice it just makes me smile. I remember the first time I heard the background singers sing “Doodly-op” before Mitchum comes in with his vocal. I lost it. I thought it was kinda corny, but as the song went on, I liked it more and more.

I would certainly not classify Mr. Mitchum as a great singer, but he does alright on this one. Happy Birthday, Robert!!

My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms

I love your lovin’ arms,
They hold a world of charms,
A place to nestle when I am lonely.
A cozy Morris chair,
Oh, what a happy pair!
One caress,
Happiness
Seems to bless my little honey.

I love you more each day,
When years have passed away,
You’ll find my love belongs to you only,
‘Cause when the world seems wrong,
Then I know that I belong
Right in my honey’s lovin’ arms.

I love your lovin’ arms,
They seem to hold a world of charms,
A place to nestle when I am lonely.
A cozy Morris chair,
Oh, what a happy pair!
One caress,
Happiness
Seems to bless my little honey.

I love you more each day,
When years have passed away,
You’ll find my love belongs to you only,
‘Cause when the world seems wrong,
Then I know that I belong
Right in my honey’s lovin’ arms.

Oh, when the world seems wrong,
Then I know that I belong
Right in my honey’s lovin’ arms.

Tune Tuesday – Lord, Mr. Ford

Today is the 161st birthday of Henry Ford. He was the founder of Ford Motor Company who developed the assembly-line process for mass production.

In 1891, he became an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit. He he received a promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and money to devote attention to his experiments on engines that would run on gasoline. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of a self-propelled vehicle, which he named the Ford Quadricycle. He first test-drove it on June 4. After various test drives, Be began to brainstorm ways to improve the Quadricycle.

Also in 1896, Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives that would change his life and eventually lead to a lifelong friendship. At the meeting he was introduced to Thomas Edison, who approved of Ford’s automobile experimentation. Encouraged by Edison, Ford designed and built a second vehicle, completing it in 1898.

He founded the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899. Sadly, the automobiles produced were of a lower quality and higher price than Ford wanted. Ultimately, the company was not successful and was dissolved in January 1901. He never stopped trying and on June 16, 1903 (thanks to some new investors) The Ford Motor Company was born. The Model T debuted 5 years later in 1908.

So just how does Henry Ford fit into Tune Tuesday? Well, the great Jerry Reed had a number one country hit with his ditty, Lord, Mr. Ford in 1973. The lyrics bemoan the fact that a seemingly simple invention to assist mankind has instead brought nothing but grief, become increasingly more complex and added to the increasing fast-paced demands of society. Can you imagine what could be said about the cars we drive today??

Happy Birthday, Henry Ford!

Lord, Mr. Ford

Well, if you’re one of the millions who own one of them gas-drinking, piston-clinking, air-polluting, smoke-belching, four-wheeled buggies from Detroit City, then pay attention. I’m about to sing your song son.

Well, I’m not a man appointed judge
To bear ill-will and hold a grudge
But I think it’s time I said me a few choice words
All about that demon automobile
A metal box with the polyglass wheel
The end result to a dream of Henry Ford
Well I’ve got a car that’s mine alone
That me and the finance company own
A ready-made pile of manufactured grief
And if I ain’t out of gas in the pouring rain
I’m a-changin’ a flat in a hurricane
I once spent three days lost on a cloverleaf
Well it ain’t just the smoke and the traffic jam
That makes me the bitter fool I am
But this four-wheel buggy is
A-dollaring me to death
For gas and oils and fluids and grease
And wires and tires and anti freeze
And them accessories
Well honey, that’s something else
Well you can get a stereo tape and a color TV
Get a back-seat bar and reclining seats
And just pay once a month, like you do your rent
Well I figured it up and over a period of time
This four thousand dollar car of mine
Costs fourteen thousand dollars
And ninety-nine cents, well now

Lord Mr. Ford, I just wish that you could see
What your simple horseless carriage has become
Well it seems your contribution to man
To say the least, got a little out of hand
Well Lord Mr. Ford what have you done

Now the average American father and mother
Own one whole car and half another
And I bet that half a car is a
Trick to buy, don’t you
But the thing that amazes me, I guess
Is the way we measure a man’s success
By the kind of automobile he can afford to buy
Well now, red light, green light, traffic cop
Right turn, no turn, must turn, stop
Get out the credit card honey, we’re out of gas
Well now, all the cars placed end to end
Would reach to the moon and back again
And there’d probably be some
Fool pull out to pass
Well now, how I yearn for the good old days
Without that carbon monoxide haze
A-hanging over the roar of the interstate
Well if the Lord that made the moon and stars
Would have meant for me and you to have cars
He’d have seen that we was all born
With a parking space

Come away with me Lucille
In my smoking, choking automobile

Tune Tuesday – Criminal

Admittedly, this is an odd pick for me. It is one of those songs that got my attention because of the instrumentation of the song and the unique voice of the singer. It was a song that would play on the radio on one of the stations I would listen to while driving and delivering for the EDS mailroom in between radio gigs. The intro had such an interesting sound to it.

I knew nothing of the artist, never saw the video, and only learned more about the song and the complex life of Fiona Apple recently. She has used real life and events from her life to express some very deep songs. To say that she has experienced a lot of hurt in her life is an understatement. She used music and writing to get through some tough stuff.

It was on this day in 1996 that 18 year old Fiona Apple released her debut album, Tidal. She got her record deal before she ever played live. A musical prodigy, she was writing songs by the time she was 11. Her high-school years were rough: she lived with her mom in New York City (her parents, never married, split when she was 4), and she felt like an outcast.

Music was her retreat – her way of expressing her internal struggles and making sense of the world. When she realized she would have to choose a profession at some point, she made a demo tape with three of the songs she wrote. Her friend gave it to a music publicist she was babysitting for, and Apple landed her deal. Less than a year later, Tidal was released with one song from the demo, “Never Is A Promise,” on the track list.

Fiona typically works by writing songs that are extensions of her journals, baring her soul for all to hear in a process that can be years in the making. “Criminal” is an outlier: she claims she wrote the song in just 45 minutes to prove she could, and to give her record label (Work, a division of Sony) the hit song they were after.

She sprung into action after one of her friends was giving her grief about how she wasn’t writing more songs. “The next time you see me, I’m gonna have a new song,” she told her. “I can force myself to do the work, but only if someone is right up behind me,” she explained.

With the weight of Sony Music behind her, the highly introverted Apple set out to promote the album with a series of showcases, interviews and performances. It quickly became clear that she will speak unflinchingly about the heartbreaks and horrors that inspired many of the songs on the album. One story she tells over and over is the one about being raped outside her apartment when she was 12 which became the subject of her song, “Sullen Girl.”

In the summer of 1997, she joined the Lilith Fair and in September, she made her mark at the MTV Video Music Awards. In her acceptance speech for Best New Artist (for her song, “Sleep to Dream”), she told the audience, “This world is bulls–t, and you shouldn’t model your life about what you think that we think is cool.” That moment went viral and the record company took advantage of it. Sony responded by releasing “Criminal” as a single, taking advantage of the wave of publicity. The song debuted at #28 on October 4, and peaked at #21 on November 29. The Tidal album went on to sell over 3 million copies.

Fiona has said that the song is about “feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality” and therefore making her a “criminal.” Depression and self-loathing were a common theme in Fiona’s songwriting at the time. She told Interview magazine: “It’s psychologically and chemically impossible for me to be happy.”

The video was quite controversial and all of the attention that it got (positive and negative) pushed the song onto the pop chart, giving Fiona the only Hot 100 hit of her career. Tidal took off, but the downforce of all the media attention and public appearances finally wore her down, and in March 1998, she canceled her tour.

Apple performed this “Criminal” at the Grammy Awards in 1998, where she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the song. She was nominated for Best New Artist, but lost to her Lilith Fair tour mate Paula Cole.

Source: songfacts.com

Tune Tuesday – Surfin’ Safari

It was on this day in 1962 that Capitol Records signed one of the biggest acts of the 1960’s! The Beach Boys had been turned down by the Dot and Liberty labels, however, Capitol executive Nick Venet was sold on the group after hearing about eight bars of their song “Surfin’ Safari.”

According to Brian Wilson, the song was inspired by Chuck Berry. He referred to the song as “a silly song with a simple-but-cool C-F-G chord pattern that I came up with one day while trying to play the piano the way Chuck Berry played his guitar.”

The song was released with “409” as the B-side. Originally, Capitol Records wanted “409” to be the A-side, because it was about a car. There is a story about it actually being released as an A-side, DJ’s in Arizona started playing the B-side (Surfin’ Safari) and it becoming the hit. However, no one has ever been able to produce a copy of “409” as the A-side, so take that story with a grain of salt. In the end, it didn’t matter, because the record was considered a two-sided hit. Surfin’ Safari went to number 14 on the chart, while the flipside (“409”) charted at 76.

Many of the early Beach Boys songs were about surfing, which was their niche. Believe it or not, their first record label named the band and they were almost called The Surfers! Another little known fact: only their drummer, Dennis Wilson, was a surfer. Obviously, the guys could fake it for photos and seemed to know what they were singing about in their songs.

Surfin’ Safari

Let’s go surfin’ now
Everybody’s learnin’ how
Come on and safari with me
(Come on and safari with)

Early in the mornin’ we’ll be startin’ out
Some honeys will be comin’ along
We’re loadin’ up our Woody with our boards inside
And headin’ out singin’ our song

Come on, baby, wait and see (surfin’, surfin’ safari)
Yes, I’m gonna take you surfin’ with me (surfin’, surfin’ safari)
Come along, baby, wait and see (surfin’, surfin’ safari)
Yes, I’m gonna take you surfin’ with me (surfin’, surfin’ safari)

Let’s go surfin’ now
Everybody’s learnin’ how
Come on and safari with me
(Come on and safari with)

At Huntington and Malibu, they’re shootin’ the pier
At Rincon, they’re walkin’ the nose
We’re goin’ on safari to the islands this year
So if you’re comin’, get ready to go

Let’s go surfin’ now
Everybody’s learnin’ how
Come on and safari with me
(Come on and safari with)

They’re anglin’ in Laguna in Cerro Azul
They’re kickin’ out in Doheny too
I tell you surfing’s mighty wild, it’s gettin’ bigger every day
From Hawaii to the shores of Peru

Let’s go surfin’ now
Everybody’s learnin’ how
Come on and safari with me
(Come on and safari with me)

Surfin’ safari (yeah, me)
Surfin’ safari (with me)
Surfin’ safari (yeah, me)
Surfin’ safari (with me)
Surfin’ safari (yeah, me)
Surfin’ safari (with me)
Surfin’ safari (yeah, me)

Tune Tuesday – Blue Sky

Wishing a very happy 43rd birthday to a talented artist who hails from Waterloo, Iowa – Emily West. When I worked in radio, we got to meet a lot of new artists when they did radio tours across the country. I had the pleasure of meeting Emily back in 2008 when she was signed to Capitol Records. I remember her really being something special.

We had her come in and play for our staff in the conference room at the radio station. She was very personable and had a contagious laugh. It was a joy to get to know her before she began to sing for us. I remember her doing 4 or 5 songs for us and two of them really struck a chord with me.

The first was her debut single “Rocks in Your Shoes.” It was a song that I could totally relate to. Life can be very difficult, and sometimes you gotta walk through life with the rocks in your shoes. It was just her and a guitar player in the conference room. When she began to sing, I fell in love with her voice. It was powerful and pure. The song was uptempo and I thought it should have been a hit (it reached number 39 on the charts).

The second song was called Blue Sky. It was a gut wrenching song of heartache that she sang with such emotion that it nearly brought me to tears. And that was just with her and her guitar player! The fully produced version was hauntingly beautiful. It was remixed as a duet with her labelmate, Keith Urban and released in 2010. Roughstock gave the song 4½ stars out of 5, stating that “‘Blue Sky’ is already a contender for one of 2010’s best singles.” Sadly (and to me, unbelievably), it only reached number 38 on the charts.

When we had to pick a new act to perform at a local women’s expo, we all unanimously picked Emily as our top pick. She made that big of an impact on us and we all loved her! When we found out she was available, it made us even more excited. Naturally, she was just wonderful and many listeners told us how much they enjoyed her.

Perhaps you have seen her on television? She also won $25,000 on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader in 2009. Emily appeared in a 2010, episode of Celebrity Apprentice as the “music make-over” target for the women’s team led by Cyndi Lauper. Lauper won the challenge and as a result West donated 100% of the first month of iTunes sales of her song “Blue Sky” to the Stonewall Community Foundation, Lauper’s charity. Then, in 2012, she did a guest appearance on the crime drama Body of Proof. But it was in 2014 that TV viewers came to know her and love her when competed on America’s Got Talent during their 9th season.

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I was that she was only the runner up that year. She was amazing in every performance she did. Her talent was on display for all of America to see and she knocked it out of the park every time! Her version of Sia’s Chandelier was talked about for weeks after it aired. It was stellar. I am sure that I wasn’t the only one who thought that there was no way that she should have lost to a magician!

Here is Emily West with Keith Urban singing harmonies on Blue Sky.

Wow. Just Wow!

Just because, here is her debut single, Rocks in Your Shoes

Happy Birthday, Emily West!!! I’m proud to be a “Westie!”

Tune Tuesday Bonus Song

I was reminded by my friend Eddie Deezen that the Beatles song “Her Majesty” was recorded on this day- July 2, 1969.

Eddie posted:

“Her Majesty” was written by Paul McCartney. It was sung entirely by Paul, with no other Beatles featured. This makes Paul the only Beatle to record two songs completely alone, the other being his classic song “Yesterday” in 1965.

“Her Majesty” is also the shortest song ever released by The Beatles. It clocks in at just 23 seconds. It took Paul just three takes to record it.

As “Her Majesty” is the final song on the album “Abbey Road”, it is, technically, the last song on the last Beatles album.

All three takes

Tune Tuesday – A Birthday Song (Sort of)

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

Tune Tuesday – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

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.

Happy birthday, Sir Paul McCartney!!