That said, I remain insanely enamored with this failed Cream single.
Originally written and released for a tacky American-International biker flick in 1968 (and, by the way, one of the very first 45rpm records released in genuine stereo).
And which you can behear, in breathless wonder, at the link below.
IMHO, the greatest cross between The Beatles and Procol Harum ever.
In all seriousness, this stupid motherfucker is dead to me.
I mean, he won't get vaccinated, but apparently he never read the warning labels on the heroin packets.
[h/t Edward Greaney]
Well, it's Friday, and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental amanuensis Hop-Sing and I are off to...well, actually I can't tell you where we're off to because I'm in the midst of firing the disloyal little toad (hint: That Mitzi Gaynor album is missing again) and I don't want to involve lawyers.
But in any case, posting by moi will be completely not happening until Monday.
Thus, in my absence, here's a little project for us all:
Coolest or Worst Post-Elvis Song or Record Referencing The Emotion of Sadness or the Word Sadness Itself (Title or Lyric!!!)
No arbitrary rules this time -- just take your meds and promise you won't slash your wrists when all this is over.
And my totally top of my head Top Eight is:
8. The Five Emprees -- Little Miss Sad
A big hit in the Chicago area, summer of '65. My across the hall college neighbor that fall turned me on to it just this year. Thanks, Eric!
7. The Blues Project -- I Can't Keep From Cryin' Sometimes
Rocks pretty hard for a really sad song, no?
6. The Who -- So Sad About Us
The Modfathers at their most sublimely Byrdsian. It is one of the great regrets of my adult life that I never got a chance to play this one live.
5. Smashing Pumpkins -- Sad Peter Pan
Remember when anybody who wasn't actually in that band took them remotely seriously? No, me neither.
Inspirational verse:
It's the plan of most To discover that magnificent ghost When did I get perverted And my innocent eyes diverted from the view so grand Imbued with distractions I'm greedy like Senior Babbitt I'm just chasing that electric rabbit I'm a reluctant rebel I just want to be Aaron Neville
4. Bob Dylan -- I Was Young When I Left Home
It's like a distillation of all the melancholy in the world. And people said he couldn't sing...
3. The Beau Brummels -- Sad Little Girl
There is a school of thought, to which I occasionally subscribe, that BB's frontman Sal Valentino is one of the greatest rock voices ever.
2. Bruce Springsteen -- The River
As Thelma Ritter says in All About Eve -- what a story; everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end.
And the number one it's-all-so-sad song, don't give me a hard time about this or I'll harm you, quite obviously is ---
1. Hank Williams -- I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
Still the most profoundly blue piece of music ever recorded.
Awrighty, then -- what would your choices be?
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
I got nothin' today.
However, there'll be an amazing Weekend Listomania tomorrow. Trust me.
I'm surprised how devastated I am to hear about the news of his passing. I mean, I understand that Keith Richards will, thankfully, outlive the cockroaches, but Charlie's work has given me so much joy over the years that I lack the words to express my gratitude.
He and the guys performed their superb new album -- The Day The Earth Stood Still -- in pretty much its entirety, and they finished with the loudest and best version of "A Hard Day's Night" I've ever heard that wasn't at a theater showing the movie. One of the greatest rock-and-roll nights of my life. Love you, Willie.
BTW, here's the aforementioned title song from that new album.
Oh, and buy the NEW ALBUM OVER AT AMAZON HERE.
Oh hell, buy all his albums over there, because they're all fucking great.
I should add that The Day the Earth Stood Still is one of my all-time favorite movies, and rock-and-roll didn't really exist when it came out in 1951. If it had, however, Willie's song would have been perfect for the soundtrack.
Seriously, the first rock and roll record I bought with my own lunch money was their breakthrough hit "Bye Bye Love," a song whose sentiments probably would still make sense to contemporary teens.
I was ten years old when that came out, and everybody I knew -- mostly girls, but most everybody else as well -- thought Don and Phil were the coolest and sexiest guys on the planet.
That said, THIS is my all time favo)8nEngland9rite of their records. From 1965, specifically from their epochal Two Yanks In England LP -- written and backed up by The Hollies -- please enjoy "Don't Run and Hide."
Hey, what can I say? There were giants in the Earth in those days.
This is another of those period classics that I had on a 45rpm single -- in mono back when -- and finally flipped out over when I heard the genuine stereo version in the late 60s/early 70s. I should add that it is the absolute apotheosis of production on a surf record. An utter masterpiece.
Have a great weekend everybody!!!
For this remake, Wilson and producer Rivers replaced the original's rueful melancholy with something approaching desperation, with an appropriately kickass blues/soul backing track to match.
I've been trying to find out who played the slide guitar on this thing for years. Given that it was recorded in L.A., my guess is that one of the players is either Ry Cooder or Canned Heat's Alan Wilson (no relation to the singer), who were to my knowledge the only hotshit slide guys doing session work in those days. It's also conceivable that it was Jackson Browne collaborator Jesse Ed Davis (of "Doctor My Eyes" fame), who I believe may have been working in town around then, and I'm also told that the late Jerry Cole (who played rhythm on the original "Mr. Tambourine Man") played slide on sessions from time to time.
If anybody knows definitively, I'd buy them a drink.
Unless I'm very much mistaken, this was essentially a Spoonful contractual obligation single, and the only member of the original band on it is drummer/singer Joe Butler, who does stellar work. I should also add that the track is produced by Chip Douglas, who did The Monkees Headquarters album, for which he deserves respect by all who walk upright.
I should also also add that -- if memory serves -- this was one of the earliest 45 rpm discs to be issued in stereo, although I'm not completely sure about that.
I should also also also add that sometime in the 70s, the song's composer did a live version...
...whose outro sounds amazingly like the end of the original version of a certain song from the first Velvet Underground album.
