Today, we continue with the presentation of the UK top 50 singles, 50 years ago. Here we go!
No 35: 1969 was definitely the year of the movie "Easy Rider". It was a smash hit, grossing $60 million worldwide from a filming budget of no more than $400,000. More importantly, it legitimized the counterculture - and was one of the films that brought about the change from old-time Hollywood spectacles to a more mature cinema, in step with the times. The movie had a killer song soundtrack, which was also a smash hit.
The song most associated with the film is Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild, which we find at #35, already having peaked at #30 in the UK. It did much better across the ocean, peaking at #1 in Canada and at #2 in the US. AllMusic's Hal Horowitz described as "a roaring anthem of turbo-charged riff rock" and "a timeless radio classic as well as a slice of '60s revolt that at once defines Steppenwolf's sound and provided them with their shot at AM immortality." It is sometimes described as the first heavy metal song, and the second verse lyric "heavy metal thunder" marks the first use of this term in rock music.
No 34: Early In The Morning was an international hit; a top 10 or a top 20 hit in most international markets. Vanity Fare was the act responsible.
No 33: The Beatles rarely gave another artist co-credit for appearing on their songs. So, it was quite an event when Billy Preston was co-credited on their #1 smash hit, Get Back. Here are the Beatles on their surprise rooftop concert:
No 32: Cliff Richard is the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley. One of the 67 songs of his to reach the UK top 10, Big Ship was currently resting at #32:
No 31: Now, here's a remarkable song: Its lyrics were written by Paul Anka and set to the music of the French song Comme d'habitude co-composed, co-written (with Jacques Revaux) and performed in 1967 by Claude François. The song was a success for a variety of performers including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. Sinatra's version of My Way spent 75 weeks in the UK Top 40, a record which still stands. This week, 50 years ago, it was found at #31:
No 30: L'amour est bleu (English title: Love Is Blue) is a song whose music was composed by André Popp, and whose lyrics were written by Pierre Cour, in 1967. Bryan Blackburn later wrote English-language lyrics for it. First performed in French by Greek singer Vicky Leandros (appearing as Vicky) as the Luxembourgian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967, it has since been recorded by many other musicians, most notably French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat, whose familiar instrumental version (recorded in late 1967) became the only number-one hit by a French lead artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 in America. The Dells recorded a medley of Love Is Blue with I Can Sing a Rainbow. It peaked at #15 in the UK.
No 29: Introduced by its songwriter, Kenny Rankin on his 1967 debut album Mind Dusters, Peaceful was recorded by Bobbie Gentry for her 1968 album Local Gentry. A 1969 single recording by Georgie Fame reached #16 in the UK that summer. In 1972, Helen Reddy recorded the song, which peaked at #12 in the US. This is the Georgie Fame version:
Georgie Fame was one of the best male solo singers of the 60s in the UK. As a bonus, here's my favorite song of his, Yeh Yeh:
No 28: Frozen Orange Juice was the follow up to Peter Sarstedt's monster hit, Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)? It peaked at #10 in the UK.
No 27: Country music superstar Jim Reeves died when his plane crashed in 1964. Yet, he had as many hits posthumously as he did when he was alive. When Two Worlds Collide was one of his numerous posthumous hits:
No 26: We've heard Tommy Roe on the first part of this presentation. At #26, on its way down after making it all the way to the top, is his biggest hit of the late 60s, Dizzy:
No 25: Love Affair was a London-based pop and soul group. Their final UK top 10 hit was Bringing On Back The Good Times:
No 24: Oh Happy Day is a 1967 gospel music arrangement of an 18th-century hymn by clergyman Philip Doddridge. Recorded by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, it became an international hit in 1969, reaching #4 on the US Singles Chart, #1 in France, Germany, and the Netherlands and #2 in the UK, Canada, and Ireland. It has since become a gospel music standard.
No 23: Living in the Past is a song by British progressive rock group Jethro Tull. It is one of the band's best-known songs, and it is notable for being written in the unusual 5/4 time signature. The 5/4 time signature is quickly noted from the beginning rhythmic bass pattern. The song peaked at #3 in the UK.
No 22: My Cherie Amour is one of Stevie Wonder's 60s' gems. It peaked at #4 both in the US and the UK.
No 21: The Four Tops' What Is a Man failed to make a big impression in the US - it peaked at #53. It did better in the UK, peaking at #16.
No 20: Cilla Black was a good friend of the Beatles so it was no surprise that her single Conversations was produced by George Martin. The single peaked at #2 in New Zealand, at #5 in Ireland, and at #7 in the UK.
No 19: Time Is Tight is an instrumental recorded by Booker T. & The MG's for the soundtrack to the 1968 film, "Uptight", directed by Jules Dassin. It was released as a single and became one of the biggest hits of the group's career, peaking at #7 R&B and #6 Pop in the US. In the UK it peaked at #4.
No 18: Both Donovan, as well as the Jeff Beck Group, were hot commodities at the time. They teamed together to record Donovan's composition Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot). It reached #12 in the UK and #36 in the US. It was Donovan's final top 40 entry in either country.
No 17: Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' is a song written by Joey Levine and Ritchie Cordell and performed by Crazy Elephant. It reached #12 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart in 1969.
No 16: Make Me An Island, written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, was a big international hit for Irish pop singer Joe Dolan. It peaked at #3 in the UK and at #2 in South Africa, Ireland, and Belgium.
That's it, for today. Soon, we'll have the third and final part of this presentation. Until then, take care!
When I was younger, the expression "50 years ago, today" was an abstract concept that trigered my imagination. Now, the era resides in my memory palace, being a part of my childhood. Same with the music of that time. The late 60s and early 70s produced some of the best music around. And a big part of it adorned the charts. So today, we are looking back to the UK singles charts (the top 50 in particular) and discover (or remember) what was happening then.
No 50: Jackie Wilson was a tenor with a four-octave range, a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul, and was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in pop, R&B, and rock & roll history. His hit (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher was released in 1967 in the US (#6 Hot 100, #1 R&B) but it was released in the UK two years later, peaking at #11. This week it was on the way out. Rita Coolidge's cover was also a huge hit in 1977.
No 49: One of Simon & Garfunkel's best as well as one of their most popular songs was The Boxer: a song built like a short story, whose chorus audaciously consisted of a repeated "Lie La Lie". Having already peaked at #6 in the UK, it too was on the way down.
No 48: Tom Jones was, then, at the top of his game. Love Me Tonight was one of his numerous UK top 10 hits:
No 47: Fairport Convention are probably Britain's most celebrated folk-rock group. Their albums had always been successful but their success on the singles chart was limited. Their only top 20 hit was this curiously attractive version of Bob Dylan's If You Gotta Go, Go Now, in French:
No 46: Speaking of, Bob Dylan has once named Smokey Robinson among his favorite poets. This statement was spinned by a Motown publicist called Al Abrams as Dylan calling Robinson "America's greatest living poet". This was legitimately considered to be a Dylan quote until recently. I'm sure Bob enjoyed it immensly. Smokey too. The Tracks of My Tears was one of the best and biggest hits that Smokey Robinson had with the Miracles. A top 10 hit in the UK.
No 45: Before Fleetwood Mac became the supergroup we all know in the 70s, they were a British blues-rock group fronted by the amazing guitarist Peter Green. Need Your Love So Bad was first recorded by Little Willie John, as it was written by his older brother. 50 years ago, today, the Fleetwood Mac version debuted in the top 50. It would go as high as #31.
No 44: Tommy Roe's biggest hits were Sheila and Dizzy. Heather Honey was the follow-up single to Dizzy. It peaked at #24, being Roe's last hit single in the UK.
No 43: Love Man was a part of a series of posthumous releases by Atco Records after Otis Redding's mainstream reputation skyrocketed in the wake of his 1967 death. It was produced by Steve Cropper and featured Booker T. and the M.G.'s.
No 42: The Bee Gees were well on their way to becoming one of the defining superstars of the 60s and 70s. Tomorrow Tomorrow was a mid-sized hit for them, peaking at #23 in the UK.
No 41: Christine McVie was one of the key players in the 70s version of Fleetwood Mac. In 1969, she was still Christine Perfect and a member of the blues-rock group Chicken Shack. I'd Rather Go Blind, a song first recorded by Etta James in 1967, was a #14 UK hit for Chicken Shack.
No 40: One of Marvin Gaye's numerous hits in the 60s was Too Busy Thinking 'Bout My Baby. First recorded by the Temptations in 1966, the song became Gaye's second most successful song in the 60s. 50 years ago, today, it debuted on the UK charts at #40.
No 39: The Isley Brothers were a seminal R&B group: they have been cited as having enjoyed one of the "longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music". It's Your Thing was one of their biggest hits in the US (#2 Hot 100, #1 R&B). It didn't do as well in the UK, peaking at #30.
No 38: The Move were a rock group from Birmingham, England that were very influenced by the Beatles. Although bassist-vocalist Chris "Ace" Kefford was the original leader, for most of their career the Move was led by guitarist, singer, and songwriter Roy Wood. He wrote all the group's UK singles and, from 1968, also sang lead vocals on many songs, although Carl Wayne was the main lead singer up to 1970. The final line-up of 1972 was the trio of Wood, Bev Bevan and Jeff Lynne; together, they rode the group's transition into the Electric Light Orchestra. Soon after, Wood would form Wizzard. Curly was the follow-up single to the Move's only #1 hit in the UK, Blackberry Way. Curly peaked at #12 in the UK and Ireland.
No 37: Diana Ross and the Supremes had so many absolute classics in the 60s. No Matter What Sign You Are wasn't one of them - but it's enjoyable enough. It peaked at #37 in the UK, after peaking at #31 in the US.
No 36: Finally for today, here's the first hit song about nocturnal emissions. In 1968, Max Romeo wrote lyrics for the rhythm track of Derrick Morgan's Hold You Jack. Morgan, who was due to add his vocals to the track, ultimately turned it down, as did several other vocalists (including John Holt and Slim Smith), leading the producer to turn to Romeo to sing the lyrics he had written. The result was Wet Dream, produced by Harry Robinson and Junior Smith. Although the single was released in 1968, it did not start to sell until 1969. Already a hit in Jamaica, it entered the UK charts in May 1969 reaching 10 as its highest position in August 1969.
The song gained notoriety due to its lyrics of an explicit sexual nature. Despite Romeo's claims that it was about a leaky roof, it contained the lyric "give the fanny to me" and was banned from broadcast by several radio stations. It was only played twice by the BBC before being banned. When it moved into the charts, BBC radio DJs Tony Brandon, Tony Blackburn and Alan Freeman were instructed that they must only refer to the song as "a record by Max Romeo."
Despite the radio ban, the song was hugely popular in clubs, as well as with every high-school kid in the UK. It ultimately became the biggest selling single of Pama Records' catalogue, selling over 250,000 copies. Interviewed in 2007, Romeo claimed to have started the sexual revolution. Asked why he had recorded the song, he replied: "The devil made me do it."
Now, it’s time for our statistics. As far as countries are concerned, France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, and Cyprus suffered minor losses, while winners include the United States, Russia, Sweden, and India. Canada, Germany, and Australia kept their percentages stable.
Here are this week's Top 10 countries:
1. the United States
2. the United Kingdom
3. Russia
4. Germany
5. Canada
6. France
7. Australia
8. Sweden
9. Italy
10. India
Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Eswatini (Swaziland), Ethiopia, Finland, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Saint Lucia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Happy to have you all!
A song's title is its single most important identifying factor - knowing the title of the song you want to buy or stream makes its acquisition infinitely easier. Therefore, most pop songs aim for a title that would be easy to remember - it's usually either the first line of the song or part of the chorus.
Sometimes, not often, the title doesn't appear anywhere in the song. The reasons for this are various and not always discernible: Sometimes the title describes the essence or the mood of the story, other times part (but not all) of the title appears on the lyrics, and once in a while we only know why a song is thus titled is the songwriter will tell us. Today, this type of songs will form our playlist. It will not be a comprehensive list by any means - you will just get to hear many amazing songs. Here we go!
Queen's biggest hit - and one of the most popular songs of all-time kicks off today's show. The song's ubiquity, especially after the success of the film of the same name, shouldn't obscure the fact that the song left us all open-mouthed with wonder when it first appeared. I was the first to fall in love with it in my town and I made sure all my friends knew how I felt. Even today, more than 40 years later many of my old friends remind me that they came to love the song through me.
Music scholar Sheila Whiteley suggests that "the title draws strongly on contemporary rock ideology, the individualism of the bohemian artists' world, with rhapsody affirming the romantic ideals of art rock". Anyway, neither the word "Bohemian" nor the word "Rhapsody" is mentioned in the song. This is it:
If Bohemian Rhapsody was a bellwether for the 70s, then Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit was certainly a bellwether for the 90s. Kurt Cobain came up with the song's title when his friend Kathleen Hanna, at the time the lead singer of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill, wrote "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his wall. Hanna meant that Cobain smelled like the deodorant Teen Spirit, which his then-girlfriend Tobi Vail wore. Cobain said he was unaware of the deodorant until months after the single was released, and had interpreted it as a revolutionary slogan, as they had been discussing anarchism and punk rock. Here is the grunge classic:
Two of the Beatles most highly-regarded songs also belong in this category. A Day In The Life is my favorite Beatle song. While the title is not included in the lyrics, it is descriptive of them: the song is, indeed, about a day in the life:
If A Day In The Life was the highlight of the Sgt. Pepper's... album, then Tomorrow Never Knows was one of the highlights of their previous masterpiece, Revolver. The title never actually appears in the song's lyrics. Lennon later revealed that, like A Hard Day's Night, it was taken from one of Ringo Starr's malapropisms. In a television interview in early 1964, Starr had uttered the phrase "Tomorrow never knows" when laughing off an incident that took place at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, during which one of the guests had cut off a portion of his hair. Lennon said he settled on Starr's phrase "to sort of take the edge off the heavy philosophical lyrics". Here it is:
After the Beatles come the Rolling Stones. Two of their best songs' titles are only partly included in the lyrics. Gimme Shelter is the opening track to the 1969 album Let It Bleed. Greil Marcus, writing in Rolling Stone magazine at the time of its release, praised the song, stating that the band has "never done anything better".
The recording features guest vocals by Merry Clayton, recorded at a last-minute late-night recording session during the mixing phase, arranged by her friend and record producer Jack Nitzsche. After the first verse is sung by Jagger, Merry Clayton enters and they share the next three verses. A harmonica solo by Jagger and guitar solo by Richards follow. Then, with great energy, Clayton repeatedly sings "Rape, murder! It's just a shot away! It's just a shot away!", almost screaming the final stanza. She and Jagger then repeat the line "It's just a shot away" and finish with repeats of "It's just a kiss away".
Summoned – pregnant – from bed around midnight by producer Jack Nitzsche, Clayton made her recording with just a few takes then returned home to bed. It remains the most prominent contribution to a Rolling Stones track by a female vocalist. At about 2:59 into the song, Clayton's voice cracks under the strain; once during the second refrain on the word "shot", then on the word "murder" during the third refrain, after which Jagger is faintly heard exclaiming "Woo!" in response to Clayton's powerful delivery. Upon returning home, Clayton suffered a miscarriage, attributed by some sources to her exertions during the recording.
Sympathy for the Devil is credited to Jagger and Richards, though the song was largely a Jagger composition. The working title of the song was "The Devil Is My Name", having earlier been called "Fallen Angels". Jagger sings in first person narrative as the Devil, boasting his role in each of several historical violent atrocities. The singer then ironically demands our courtesy towards him, implicitly chastising the listener for our collective culpability in the listed killings and crimes. In the 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane, Jagger stated that his influence for the song came from Baudelaire and from the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita (which had just appeared in English translation in 1967). The book was given to him by Marianne Faithfull.
Now it's the Who's turn: Baba O'Riley is the opening track to Who's Next, one of their top three albums. The song's title is a combination of the names of two of Pete Townshend's philosophical and musical influences: Meher Baba and Terry Riley. This is it:
Quadrophenia is my favorite album by the Who and Helpless Dancer is among the album's five best tracks. The song's point of view is that of a working man, short-circuited by the harsh realities of life. Here it is:
Black Dog is the opening track of Led Zeppelin's legendary 4th album. It is built around a call and response dynamic between the vocalist and band, with its start and stop a cappella verses inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song Oh Well, according to biographer Dave Lewis. The title is a reference to a nameless black Labrador retriever that wandered around the Headley Grange studios during recording.
Let's now listen to songs by two seminal rock bands of the 60s. The Band were four Canadian guys and one from Arkansas, US. The members of the band first came together as one by one joined Ronnie Hawkins' backing band, the Hawks. In 1965, Bob Dylan hired them for his 1965 and 1966 tours. Following the 1966 tour, the group moved with help from Bob Dylan and his manager, Albert Grossman, to Saugerties, New York, where they made the informal 1967 recordings that became The Basement Tapes, the basis for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink. Because they were always "the band" to various frontmen and the locals in Woodstock, Helm said the name "the Band" worked well when the group came into its own. The Weight was released as a single as well as appearing on the Music from Big Pink album. The inspiration for and influences affecting the composition of The Weight came from the music of the American South, the life experiences of band members, and movies of filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and Luis Buñuel.
The song has been described as "a masterpiece of Biblical allusions, enigmatic lines, and iconic characters" and has enduring popularity as an essential part of the American songbook. Listen:
Venus In Furs is a song by the Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and originally released on the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Inspired by the book of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the song includes sexual themes of sadomasochism, bondage, and submission.
In his essay "Venus in Furs by the Velvet Underground", Erich Kuersten writes: "There is no intro or buildup to the song; the track starts as if you opened a door to a decadent Marrakesh S&M/opium den, a blast of air-conditioned Middle Eastern menace with a plodding beat that’s the missing link between Bolero and Led Zeppelin’s version of When the Levee Breaks."
The Velvet Underground was one of the major influences for David Bowie - and this is apparent on The Width Of A Circle as well. The song's title is a quibble on an obscene joke that circulated in England at the time. (To "widen the circle of your friends" is understood here to mean having anal sex with them.)
It's one of my favorite Bowie songs and it's about Bowie's spiritual explorations. The last verse can be interpreted as the joy and agony that come with the first gay experience. Bowie himself said: “I went to the depths of myself in that. I tried to analogize the period of my life from when I left school to that time – to the making of that LP. Just for my own benefit, not really for any listener’s benefit. I very much doubt whether anyone could decipher that song correctly on my level. But a lot of people have deciphered it on their own levels. That’s fine – that’s what a song does.”
Another Bowie song that belongs to this list was his first ever hit single, Space Oddity. Inspired by Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the song is about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut, and was released during a period of great interest in space flight. The United States' Apollo 11 mission would launch five days later and would become the first manned moon landing another five days after that. It's one of the songs that define Bowie's oeuvre:
I couldn't not include Bob Dylan in this list, could I? Here are a couple of great songs that fit this list's criteria: Subterranean Homesick Blues is an amalgam of Jack Kerouac, the Woody Guthrie–Pete Seeger song Taking It Easy ("Mom was in the kitchen preparing to eat / Sis was in the pantry looking for some yeast") and the rock'n'roll poetry of Chuck Berry's Too Much Monkey Business.
Subterranean Homesick Blues has had a wide influence, resulting in iconic references by artists and non-artists alike. (Most infamously, its lyric "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" was the inspiration for the name of the American radical left group the Weathermen, a breakaway from the Students for a Democratic Society.) In a 2007 study of legal opinions and briefs that found Dylan was quoted by judges and lawyers more than any other songwriter, "you don't need a weatherman..." was distinguished as the line most often cited.
The second Dylan masterpiece on this list is Positively 4th Street. As per the list's criteria, the song's title does not appear anywhere in the lyrics - and there has been much debate over the years as to the significance or which individual the song concerns. New York City's 4th Street is at the heart of the Manhattan residential district Greenwich Village, where Dylan once lived. This area was central to the burgeoning folk music scene of the early 1960s, which centered around Dylan and many other influential singer-songwriters. For example, Gerde's Folk City was originally located at 11 West 4th Street. However, the song also may concern Dylan's stay at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where 4th Street S.E. is one of the two main roads crossing through the part of campus known as Dinkytown, where Dylan lived and performed.
The song is generally assumed to ridicule Greenwich Village residents who criticized Dylan for his departure from traditional folk styles towards the electric guitar and rock music. Many of the Greenwich Village folk crowd, who had been good friends of Dylan's, took offense and assumed that the song carried personal references. Noted Village figure Izzy Young, who ran the Folklore Center, had this to say of the accusation:
"At least five hundred came into my place [the Folklore Center] ... and asked if it was about me. I don't know if it was, but it was unfair. I'm in the Village twenty-five years now. I was one of the representatives of the Village, there is such a thing as the Village. Dave Van Ronk was still in the Village. Dylan comes in and takes from us, uses my resources, then he leaves and he gets bitter. He writes a bitter song. He was the one who left."
Other possible targets of the song's derision are: Irwin Silber, editor of Sing Out! magazine and a critic of Dylan's move away from traditional folk styles; Tom Paxton, who had criticized the emerging folk rock scene of the period in a Sing Out! magazine article titled "Folk Rot" (although Dylan wrote and recorded Positively 4th Street months before the "Folk Rot" article was published in January 1966); It was also claimed that Phil Ochs may be a possible target in Michael Schumacher's book There but for Fortune: The Life Of Phil Ochs, after Dylan got angry at Ochs for his criticism of the song Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?, which supposedly prompted Dylan to throw Ochs out of his limousine (though Dylan wrote and recorded Positively 4th Street months before this incident occurred in September 1965); Dylan's ex-girlfriend Suze Rotolo; and Richard Fariña (as reported by a counterculture insider in the 1960s, but like the other speculations, unverified). Another possibility is that Positively 4th Street (along with Like a Rolling Stone) was directed at Edie Sedgwick and her association with Andy Warhol, though this seems very unlikely as Dylan recorded this song before his involvement with Sedgwick had turned sour. With many candidates, it is likely that no single individual is targeted in the song, and Dylan instead combined qualities of many people who irritated him into a single target of derision.
One of Dylan's favorite singer is Gordon Lightfoot. Canadian Railroad Trilogy was commissioned from Lightfoot by the CBC for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967, to start Canada's Centennial year. It took him three days to write and describes the building of the trans-Canada Canadian Pacific Railway in the early 1880s. It's a lovely song:
We now go to Scotland to listen to a song from Donovan. Epistle To Dippy (featuring future Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page on electric guitar) was written in the form of an open letter to an old school friend. The song had a strong pacifist message in addition to its florid psychedelic imagery. The real "Dippy" was, at the time, serving in the British Army in Malaysia. According to Brian Hogg, who wrote the liner notes for the Donovan boxed set, Troubadour, Dippy heard the song, contacted Donovan and left the army as a result.
Our dear Elton John also features in this list with a couple of great songs. Elton's Song is a mournful ballad in form, its lyrics dealing frankly with a gay teenage boy's crush on another boy. Themes of heartbreak and shame permeate. The music is comparatively stark, yet it subtly employs John's classical training (as well as a classical mood) in its occasional use of conflicting parallel major and minor keys. This plus the syncopation in the chorus helps to convey the wounded mood of the song. The spare arrangement consists entirely of John's piano and voice and "string" synthesizers programmed and played by James Newton Howard.
The other song by Elton is The Last Song, which marked the first of John's American singles to benefit his AIDS foundation. Taupin faxed the lyrics to him in Paris, shortly after Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury died the previous year. "I was crying all the time as I wrote the music", John told The Advocate, "and it was very hard for me to sing it". The song tells of an estranged father coming to terms with the sexuality of his gay son, who is dying of an AIDS-related illness. Originally titled "Song for 1992", it was renamed to avoid dating it.
A music video directed by Gus Van Sant was made for the song, but he was not the first director considered. David Hockney and Madonna declined the offer.
The Partisan (originally known as La Complainte du Partisan) is a song about the French Resistance in World War II. The song was written in 1943 in London by Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie (lyrics) and Anna Marly (music). It has been adapted in English with lyrics by Hy Zaret and covered by diverse artists. Leonard Cohen's version is the most spine-chilling of them all:
Now, let's visit my favorite duo, Simon & Garfunkel. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her was written by Paul Simon in a single night and was sung by Art Garfunkel. The lyrics concern finding a lover, although Simon once characterized the subject matter as being about a "belief," rather than about a specific individual.
When, as a pre-teen, I purchased Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, Bookends was one of my least favorite songs. It was too simple, no catchy chorus or dramatic vocals. Now, it's one of my favorites. Its simplicity is amazing and the lyrics touch my soul. The Bookends Theme (as it's also called) opens and closes side one of the album of the same name and is played on the acoustic guitar, with no additional instruments.
The reprise contains vocal accompaniment from the duo. "The text refers to the passage of time, and to memories of a loved one, and thus fittingly concludes the series of intervening songs, which address interpersonal relationships at times of life that progress from song to song," wrote James Bennighof, author of The Words and Music of Paul Simon. The piece closes the entire suite with the "resigned admonition" to "Preserve your memories / They're all that's left you."
New York Mining Disaster 1941 was the Bee Gees' first international hit. Barry and Robin Gibb wrote the song while sitting on a darkened staircase at Polydor Records following a power cut. The echo of the passing lift inspired them to imagine that they were trapped in a mine. The song recounts the story of a miner trapped in a cave-in. He is sharing a photo of his wife with a colleague ("Mr. Jones") while they hopelessly wait to be rescued. According to the liner notes for their box-set Tales from the Brothers Gibb (1990), this song was inspired by the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster in Wales. According to Robin, there actually had also been a mining disaster in New York in 1939, but not in 1941. Here it is:
We move in time to the 90s and Radiohead's Paranoid Android. The darkly humorous lyrics were written by singer Thom Yorke following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar. The song is over six minutes long and contains four sections. Paranoid Android takes its name from Marvin the Paranoid Android of Douglas Adams series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Re-Make/Re-Model is a song written by Bryan Ferry that appears as the opening track on Roxy Music's eponymous debut album. The lyrics describe a man that likes the look of a woman but is afraid to approach her. Ferry explained in an interview that Eno and MacKay's backing vocal chorus of "CPL 593H" was the number plate of the car in which the woman is riding. On his way to the recording studio, Ferry had seen a beautiful woman riding a car with this number plate, and decided to use it in a song.
Ballad of Mott the Hoople appears on Mott the Hoople's best album, Mott. It's the best lament for rock ever, a song that conveys just how heartbreaking rock & roll is for the average band.
Here's another Mott the Hoople song, the amazingly titled Death May Be Your Santa Claus. It's a phenomenally pile-driving number that just seems inevitable.
Moving forward to the 80s, we visit the group which defined the indie sound, The Smiths. As the group's guitarist and composer, Johnny Marr, said in 2007, How Soon Is Now? is "possibly [the Smiths'] most enduring record. It's most people's favorite, I think."
The subject of the song concerns an individual who cannot find a way to overcome his crippling shyness and find a partner. Morrissey laid down his vocals, culling lyrics from various works in progress in his notebook. The song is found on many "greatest songs of all-time" lists. Here it is:
We remain at the 80s to listen to The Cure and their beautiful Lovesong. The song saw considerable success in the United States, where it was a number two hit. The lyrics are simple, with each verse having the same structure ("Whenever I'm alone with you/you make me feel like I am ... again"). Speaking of its simplicity and unusually upbeat nature compared to the other tracks on Disintegration, Smith stated, "It's an open show of emotion. It's not trying to be clever. It's taken me ten years to reach the point where I feel comfortable singing a very straightforward love song."
Finally for today, a song by the politically charged rock band (leaning towards anarchy), Chumbawamba, which surprisingly became a huge international hit in 1997. Tubthumping is the perfect song to get drunk on (obviously part of its appeal.) Vocalist Dunstan Bruce retrospectively observed that, before the group wrote it, they "were in a mess: we had become directionless and disparate". He credited Tubthumping with changing that, telling the Guardian that "It’s not our most political or best song, but it brought us back together. The song is about us – as a class and as a band. The beauty of it was we had no idea how big it would be."
A Leeds pub called the Fforde Grene served as the group's inspiration for writing the song; guitarist Boff Whaley told the Guardian that it was written about "the resilience of ordinary people". This is it:
Now, it’s time for our statistics. The number of visits was more or less the same as the previous fortnight. The latest story did OK, while the top stories were George Maharis, Luther Vandross, Freddie Jackson, Dave Clark, and Joe Jackson.
As far as countries are concerned, France, Greece, Russia, and Cyprus suffered minor losses, while winners include the United States, Hong Kong, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. The United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy kept their percentages stable.
Here are this week's Top 10 countries:
1. the United States
2. the United Kingdom
3. Canada
4. Russia
5. Germany
6. Hong Kong
7. South Africa
8. France
9. Australia
10. Italy
Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zambia. Happy to have you all!
