Ignored Obscured Restored
Today’s SotW is the next installment of the Evolution Series. Let’s start with the most popular version of the garage classic, “A Little Bit O Soul” by the Music Explosion.
The Music Explosion was a band out of Mansfield, Ohio. In 1967 they left Ohio for New York to work with the Kasenetz-Katz production team that became the leading purveyors of “bubblegum music” with groups like The Ohio Express (“Yummy, Yummy”), 1910 Fruitgum Company (“Simon Says”, “1-2-3 Red Light”, “Indian Giver”) and Crazy Elephant (“Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’”).
The Music Explosion’s recording of “A Little Bit O Soul” reached #2 in 1967. I loved it as an 11-year-old and still love it now.
But most have never heard the original by The Little Darlings, from Coventry England.
It was written for them by Ken Lewis and John Carter in 1965. These British songwriters also penned Herman’s Hermits’ “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (another favorite of mine), and they sang back up on The Who’s “I Can’t Explain” as The Ivy League!
The Little Darlings’ version of “Little Bit O Soul” is rougher and dirtier than the Music Explosions’. It is the type of “nugget” that would later influence the early punk rockers.
So it’s no surprise that The Ramones latched onto it and laid down their own version on 1983’s Subterranean Jungle.
Now when your girl is gone and you’re broke in two
You need a little bit o’ soul to see you through
And when you raise the roof with your rock ‘n’ roll
You’ll get a lot more kicks with a little bit o’ soul
Ain’t that the truth!
Enjoy… until next week.
Ignored Obscured Restored
When Fiona Apple sings “I’ve been a bad, bad girl,” I believe her. The opening line from her 1997 hit, “Criminal”, is chilling. Then she goes on…
I’ve been careless with a delicate man
And it’s a sad, sad world
When a girl will break a boy
Just because she can
That’s downright scary!!! As is the chorus:
What I need is a good defense
Cause I’m feelin’ like a criminal
And I need to be redeemed
To the one I’ve sinned against
Because he’s all I ever knew of love
The song’s wicked sexy lyrics have a wicked sexy musical vibe to go with it. (The controversial, official video is pretty sexy too.) The opening bass groove sounds like a carnival version of Albert King’s blues classic “Born Under a Bad Sign.”
The jazzy romp builds to a lyrical climax, then continues for almost 2 more minutes with an Egyptian motif on organ and some dissonant chords banged out on the piano. A very cool way to bring it all back down.
“Criminal” won a Grammy in 1998 for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Last year Apple announced she would donate the royalties she earns from “Criminal” to While They Wait, a social service agency that helps immigrants and refugees applying for asylum or other legal relief.
Enjoy… until next week.
Ignored Obscured Restored
Today’s SotW was drafted last night after I learned that Neil Peart, of Rush, died earlier this week, on January 7th. Now I have to confess, Rush is NOT one of my favorite bands. But I respect what they contributed to the history of progressive rock music and I especially respect Peart’s mastery of the drums and his knack for writing intellectual lyrics.
Today’s SotW is “Bastille Day,” Peart’s tribute to the event that kicked off the French Revolution.
Some of the song’s lyrics are as relevant today as they were when Peart wrote them in 1975.
There’s no bread, let them eat cake
There’s no end to what they’ll take
Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
Wash the salt into the earth
Lessons taught but never learned.
All around us anger burns.
Guide the future by the past.
Long ago the mold was cast.
Peart was known for using an elaborate drum kit. And he used it to its fullest extent.
He died of glioblastoma (brain cancer) at the age of 67, in California.
So, here’s to Neil Peart – drummer, lyricist, novelist and father. May he rest in peace.
Enjoy… until next week.
