Scenes From an Italian Restaurant (Parte Due)

Okay, for those who missed installment one -- I was having dinner at a way cool Brooklyn eatery called Brucie last week and the playlist that was on their stereo included several vintage r&b, blues, reggae and garage punk songs, including three heretofore unknown to me, that caught my ears. And, alas, nobody on the wait staff had access to the computer that was playing them, so I had to do a bit of intertube research to track down the tunes.



The first turned out to be an astounding 1965 Stones rip-off called "So What!!" by a California band called The Lyrics.

The second, however, turned out to be by a familiar auteur, but the song...well, words fail me.

Ladies and germs, from 1960, and his obviously way cool concept album....



...please enjoy man among men Bo Diddley with a jaw-droppingly astounding cover of Tennessee Ernie Ford's classic "Sixteen Tons." A version I had never even suspected existed.



Not to put too fine a point on it, but Jeebus H. Christ on a tuna melt, that's absolutely fantastic.

Still trying to unearth the third song, which was in many ways the coolest of the bunch, without success, BTW. I'll keep you posted.