Monthly Archives: June 2021

Song of the Week – Lonesome Train, The Pirates

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Ignored            Obscured             Restored

In 1960, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates scored a #1 hit on the UK singles chart with their original version of “Shakin’ All Over.”  It’s an exceptional tune that you probably know from one of the many covers.  Perhaps The Guess Who’s version from 1965 that reached #1 in Canada, or The Who’s track from Live at Leeds (1970).

Kidd died in 1966, but his band lived on with many personnel changes.  But only one was given Kidd’s blessing to use the Pirates name and rcord under it.  That group consisted of guitarist Mick Green, vocalist and bass player Johnny Spence and drummer Frank Farley.  (This was not the band that recorded “Shakin’ All Over.”)

This final collection of bandmates were a powerful trio of rock and roll musicians.  Energy oozes from them like hot lava from a volcano.  After a 10 year hiatus, the band reformed in 1976 at the behest of fan and Dr. Feelgood guitarist, Wilco Johnson.

The released an album in 1977 called Out of Their Skulls.  It was half live from a concert at Nashville Lives in  London, and half in the studio.  I favor the live side because it captures their energy, and the audience reaction, so well.  Today’s SotW is ”Lonesome Train” from the live side.

“Lonesome Train” was originally recorded in 1956 by rockabilly band Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n Roll Trio – they of “Train Kept A’Rollin’” fame.  This version by The Pirates snarls with attitude and chugs along at a ferocious pace thet befits the song title.  Green’s guitar work is fantastic.  He’s credited for his ability to play rhythm and lead simultaneously.

Green’s reputation as a musician led to gigs with Bryan Ferry, Paul MCartney, Robert Plant, and Van Morrison.  Green died in 2010.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Laisse Tomber Les Filles & Les Sucettes, France Gall

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Ignored            Obscured             Restored

In the mid-’60s there was a genre of European (mostly French, mostly women) pop music called yé-yé (pronounced yey-yey) that derived from British rock songs like the Beatles “She Loves You” (Yeah Yeah Yeah).

One of the top yé-yé singers was France Gall, who had her first brush with stardom as a sixteen-year-old girl.  She exuded a “girl-next-door” virtue that complimented her pop hits like Laisse Tomber Les Filles (Let the Girls Fall).

The intro sounds like it could be an outtake of “The Munsters’ Theme.”  Quentin Tarantino, a master at digging up obscure songs to use on his soundtracks, used an English version of the song (“Chick Habit”) by April March in his film Death Proof (2007).  Tastemaker Jack White has recently reissued Gall’s first three albums on vinyl, on his Third Man imprint.

Later, Gall was still working with Serge Gainsbourg when he wrote her hit “Les Sucettes” (“Lollipops”).

This song took advantage of Gall’s innocent, yet implied sexuality.  Gainsbourg once called her The French Lolita.  Turns out, the song was a metaphor for… well, I don’t have to spell it out (whether she knew it or not).  Wikipedia explains further:

The very noun for lollypop in French, “sucette”, is the substantivised verb “sucer”, sucking – so that the title and the refrain (“Annie aime les sucettes”, Annie loves lollypops) are far more evocative in French than in the English translation. A possible translation to preserve the innuendo would be “Annie loves suckers”. The song also features a direct double entendre, stating that Annie has lollipops “pour quelques pennies” (for a few pennies), which can also be heard as “pour quelques pénis” (for a few penises).

And if that’s not enough to convince you, check out the 1966 video that accompanied the song’s release.  It’s about as subtle as a train going through a tunnel!

Many other yé-yé singers are worth checking out on the six-volume Ultra Chicks series – if you can find them.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – The Wizard, Uriah Heep

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Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Uriah Heep, named after a character in Dickens’ David Copperfield, released over 20 studio albums.  Only a few rose in the charts in the US.  The highest chart position and reached in the Billboard 200 was the #23 attained by their 1972 album, Demons and Wizards.

The lead track on that album is “The Wizard” which was also released as a single.

“The Wizard” starts with an acoustic guitar intro then builds into a power ballad.  David Byron’s lead vocal is in a style similar to Styx’s Dennis DeYoung.  The lyrics are typical of ‘70s enchanted, mystical, progressive rock songs like “Stairway to Heaven.”

He was the wizard of a thousand kings
And I chanced to meet him one night wandering
He told me tales and he drank my wine
Me and my magic mankind of feeling fine

The Lord of the Rings or the Carlos Castaneda books come to mind.

The music and lyrics of Demons and Wizards were complemented by the album cover artwork by Roger Dean, most famous for his covers for Yes albums like Fragile and Tales from Topographic Oceans.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Closer to Fine, Indigo Girls

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Ignored           Obscured            Restored

This being graduation season caused me to think about songs that refer to education.  I thought of these lines from “It’s Too Late” by Jim Carroll:

But it ain’t no contribution
To rely on an institution
To validate your chosen art
And to sanction your boredom
And let you play out your part

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not against obtaining a formal education.  But I’m also in favor of seeking truth, challenging the status quo, and critical thinking.  That led me to today’s SotW – “Closer to Fine” by Indigo Girls.

It is a perfectly crafted song.  It has a nice melody, a solid chorus, beautifully constructed harmony vocals, and excellent lyrics that are about searching for answers to philosophical questions and not accepting the ones that come from a single, “all-knowing” source.  (“There’s more than one answer to these questions, pointing me in a crooked line.”)

My favorite lyrics are where writer Emily Saliers takes a swipe her college education:

And I went to see a doctor of philosophy

With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee

He never did marry or see a B-grade movie

He graded my performance, he said he could see through me

I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind

Got my paper and I was free

The eponymously titled album that contained “Closer to Fine” won the 1989 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Recording.  That year Indigo Girls were also nominated for Best New Artist but lost to – Milli Vanilli.  That’s a lesson for why we need to practice critical thinking!

Congratulations, graduates!  Now go get ‘em!

Enjoy… until next week.