October 19, 2019-GJ: Soundalikes Part II

  

Rockin' Remnants

Rockin' Remnants is broadcast from WVBR-FM Ithaca. Check out our webpage, like us on Facebook, and tune in to 93.5 or stream the show every Saturday night from 6-9pm! (Or download the WVBR+ app now available for iOS and Android!)

Thanks to our sponsors Island Health & Fitness and Rasa Spa for their support every week!


Date:  October 19, 2019

Host:  Gregory James
Feature:  Sound Alikes Part II


Birthday Calendar

October 13

Paul Simon   1941  (78 years old)

Robert Lamm (Chicago)     1944   (75 years old)

Sammy Hagar (Van Halen)  1947  (72 years old)

October 14

Cliff Richard  1940   (79 years old)

Justin Hayward (Moody Blues)  1946  (73 years old)

October 15

Barry McGuire    1935  (84 years old)

Richard Carpenter   1946   (73 years old)

Tito Jackson        1953      (66 years old)

Marv Johnson (Motown)     1938    Died May 16, 1993

October 16

Fred Turner (BTO)   1943     (76 years old)

Bob Weir   1947   (72 years old)

October 17

Jim Seals (Seals and Crofts)     1941      (78 years old)

Gary Puckett   1942    (77 years old)

Singing Nun (Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers)  1933
       Died March 29, 1985

October 18

Cynthia Weil   1940    (79 years old)

Laura Nyro  1947   Died April 8, 1997

Chuck Berry  1926      Died March 18, 2017

October 19

Keith Reid (Procol Harum) 1946      (73 years old)

Patrick Simmons (Doobie Brothers)  1948  (71 years old)

Playlist

·     yellow song titles are YouTube links

·     songs with * were requests

·     all chart information comes from the Billboard Top 100 (for chart dates before/during July 1958) or Billboard Hot 100 (for chart dates during/after Aug 1958) unless otherwise noted

·     a glossary of terms is below the playlist

6-7pm  

OPENING THEME:  Good Old Rock ‘n’ Roll – Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys (1969, #29, produced by Jimi Hendrix)

Spirit in the Sky Norman Greenbaum    2/70         #3 
Backing vocals by the Stovall Sisters, a gospel trio from Oakland. Greenbaum, who was inspired by Porter Waggoner singing gospel, wrote the words in 15 minutes. It is the second most requested song for memorial services, according to a funeral director who wrote to Greenbaum.



La Grange    ZZ Top   3/74               #41
The initial groove of the song is based on a traditional boogie blues rhythm used by John Lee Hooker in “Boogie Chillun.”  A lawsuit by the copyright holder of "Boogie Chillun'" resulted in a court ruling that the rhythm was in the public domain. The line "a-how-how-how-how" is quoted from John Lee Hooker's song  “Boom Boom”

Uptight  Stevie Wonder     12/65 
Peaked at #3 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts for 5 weeks. It was the first song that Wonder co-wrote (with Henry Cosby and Sylvia Moy). Wonder had not had a hit in awhile and his voice was changing. The Funk Brothers played and the Andantes were the back up vocalists.

Nowhere to Run Martha/Vandellas 2/65 #8 Pop, #5 R&B
Listen for the snow chains played by Ivy Jo Hunter used as percussion. The Funk Brothers were the band and the Vandellas at that time were Rosalind Ashford and Betty Kelley.



*Bend Me, Shape Me              American Breed
This cover version reached #5 on the Hot 100 in 1968. The single version was sped up during the mastering process, clocking in at 2:05 as opposed to the 2:25 album version.

Only You Know and I Know   Dave Mason  #42   1970
From Mason’s "Alone Together" LP, some copies of which featured a marbled vinyl disc.



Baba O’Riley      Who  DNC 10/71  
Townshend stated in an interview that the song is about "the absolute desolation of teenagers at Woodstock. Townshend thought it was ironic that some listeners took the song to be a teenage celebration: 'Teenage Wasteland, yes! We're all wasted!'" Dave Arbus plays the violin solo. BTW, Townshend had no problem with Bachman’s appropriation of the song's signature riff.

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet   Bachman Turner Overdrive       9/74  #1
Originally an album cut on their “Not Fragile” LP, it got so much airplay that Randy Bachman approved its release as a single. Originally composed as an instrumental, Bachman based it on Dave Mason’s “Only You Know and I Know” as well as Pete Townshend’s “Baba O’Riley.”



Ghostbusters     Ray Parker           6/84            #1
Huey Lewis was approached to write the Ghostbusters theme song, but declined. Ray Parker stepped up and composed a song that sounds like one Huey Lewis might have written for the movie, and in fact did write for his band. Lewis sued Parker successfully and received a settlement, which was supposed to remain confidential. When Lewis revealed the amount of the settlement in an interview, Parker sued him for breaching confidentiality.



I Want a New Drug    Huey Lewis          1/84       #6
Lewis says he wrote the song in a few minutes and that it is a song about love, not drugs.

*Old Man Down the Road          John Fogerty
This was the lead single from Fogerty’s 1984 “Centerfield” LP. It peaked at #10 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Hot Rock Tracks. Fogerty was sued by Saul Zaentz, owner of Fantasy Records, for plagiarizing “Run Through the Jungle” because the copyright of the latter song belonged to Fantasy Records. The court sided with Fogerty after he demonstrated with his guitar from the witness stand that the two songs were sufficiently different to invalidate Zaentz’s charge of plagiarism.



*Run Through the Jungle       Creedence Clearwater Revival
These two Fogerty soundalikes were suggested by fellow Rockin’ Remnants host John Rudan!

Oh Darling          Beatles  NR

From “Abbey Road” 9/69, not released as a U.S. single. This is Take 4 from the Abbey Road session and, without the backing vocals, you can hear more of Ringo’s drumming and organ playing by Billy Preston. Even though McCartney composed it, he struggled to get the “rough” sound he wanted in the high vocal range he wrote. In this version he leaves out some lyrics in the second bridge. You can hear John Lennon yell “Yeah!” at about the 0:52 mark.

Please Come Home for Christmas  Eagles       12/78  #18

This track was the first Christmas song to reach the Billboard Top 20 in 15 years.

7-8pm

Kathy’s Song      Paul Simon  

The Kathy of the title is Kathleen Chitty and she is also the person to whom Simon speaks in his song “America” when he sings “Kathy, I’m lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping.”

Love Song          Robert Lamm

Alan DeCarlo on guitar and Ross Solomon on drums.

Devil Woman             Cliff Richard 

This 1976 single peaked at #6 on the Hot 100. It was used in the film “I, Tonya.”

Voices in the Sky      Moody Blues

Released as a single first, the track was later included on the LP “In Search of the Lost Chord.” 

Child of Our Times   Barry McGuire     

A social critique like “Eve of Destruction,” this P.F. Sloan composition peaked at #72 on the Hot 100.

Goodbye to Love      Carpenters   

This power ballad, with a fuzz guitar solo by Tony Peluso, peaked at #7 on the Hot 100. A few Carpenters fans wrote hate mail to the duo accusing them of selling out by including Peluso’s scorching guitar solo.

Man of War                 The Jacksons      NR

This 1977 Gamble-Huff anti-war composition features all of the brothers rather than just Michael.

Come to Me               Marv Johnson

The 20 year-old Johnson recorded the first single ever to be released on the Tamla record label (even though it was distributed nationally by United Artists). It peaked at #6 on the R&B chart and #30 on the Hot 100.

Heaven Help the Fool             Bob Weir       NR

Dismissed by some for its slickness, the track is actually a sly critique of the L.A. lifestyle with its material excess and temptations.

Castles in the Sand  Seals and Crofts 

This track features an array of top-notch studio players and peaked at #21 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The "MOR" on the label pictured below stood for "Middle of the Road," an early industry term for Adult Contemporary.

Woman, Woman        Gary Puckett/Union Gap

The Wrecking provides the instrumentation for this debut track that reached #4 on the Hot 100 in 1968.

Dominique   Singing Nun (Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers)

During 1963-64, this track reached the top 10 in eleven countries around the world, and reached #1 in the U.S. Her later life was characterized by a crisis of faith and financial difficulty, ending tragically by suicide in 1985.

Make Your Own Kind of Music     Will-O-Bees  DNC

This was the original recording of the Cynthia Weill/Barry Mann composition later recorded by Cass Elliot. Whoever owned the copy pictured below only gave the record a grade of B+.

Time and Love          Laura Nyro  NR

From her third album “New York Tendaberry” which, according to legend, was recorded entirely during nighttime hours.

8-9pm

You Never Can Tell Chuck Berry 

This track reached #14 on the Hot 100 in August 1964. Next time you want to play music trivia: What were the items in Pierre’s “coolerator?” (TV dinners and ginger ale). How many records did they have in their collection? (700). What color and year of car did they have? (1953 Cherry Red).

She Wandered Through the Garden Fence 

Procol Harum

Lyricist Keith Reid says the lyrics to early Procol Harum songs were usually written before the melody.

South City MidnightLady       Doobie Brothers  NR

The eponymous lady is never identified, although her city of residence is San Jose. Jeff Baxter, who was a member of Steely Dan at the time, played pedal steel on the track. He became a Doobie in 1974.

*Who Knows Where the Time Goes    Judy Collins

This Sandy Denny composition was the B-side to Collins’ “Both Sides Now.” Collins first heard the song on Sandy Denny’s original demo recording and recorded and released it herself. It became the first popular recording of the song. A request from Betsy for David.

Every Kind ofPeople      Robert Palmer      3/78  #16

Palmer’s first hit in the U.S. this was an extended dance version with more prominence given to percussion and the smoking bass line.

Mercy Mercy Me              Marvin Gaye  7/71    #4     

This prophetic track about environmental degradation featured Gaye on piano and subliminal background vocals, Wild Bill Moore on the sax solo, the Funk Brothers on everything else and the Andantes providing additional vocals. The distinctive percussion was created by a rubber mallet striking a woodblock with extra reverb.

I Feel Fine           Beatles  12/64     #1

Among other things, this track features one of the first recorded uses of guitar feedback in pop music. The sound was created by a happy accident. McCartney’s opening bass note on the A string was reverberated by the pickup on Lennon’s semi-acoustic guitar which was leaning against McCartney’s bass amp. Producer George Martin made a wild recording of the sound and edited it onto the song’s intro.

Don’t Call Us      Sugar Loaf    12/74     #9

Recorded in Golden Colorado, it features familiar riffs from the Beatles and Steve Wonder as well as an imitation of Wolfman Jack by DJ Ken Griffin.

Watch Your Step       Bobby Parker   7/61    #51 

Parker’s riff inspired the Beatles, the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, and the Yardbirds. The percussion was inspired by Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say?”

Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow      Rivingtons     8/62          #48     

       

The Bird is the Word    3/63    #52 Pop, #27 R&B

The group was named after Rivington Street on New York’s Lower East Side. The group performed the song at a showcase for deejays in Los Angeles. The deejays loved the sound of the group, and asked for a record to promote. The Rivingtons’ manager provided deejays with "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" which spread from the Los Angeles airwaves to the rest of California and then to the entire country.

Surfin’ Bird         Trashmen     12/63     #4 

The Trashmen, a garage band from Minneapolis, lifted the song directly from the above two songs by the Rivingtons, who are listed as the writers after they threatened to sue the Trashmen.

Have I the Right   Honeycombs      9/64          #5

Recorded in a North London apartment—the same place that the Tornados recorded “Telstar.” The drummer, Honey Lantree, had a day job as a hairdresser, which inspired the name of the band.

Walk Right Back        Everly Brothers    2/61     #7

Composer Sonny Curtis sang one verse of the song (the only verse he had written) to the Everlys and they told him if he would write a second verse they would record it. He went home, wrote the verse and sent it to the Everlys, but they had already recorded the song, using the first verse twice.

Yeah Man     Sam Cooke   LP Track  NR  1/65

This track was released posthumously on Cooke’s LP “Shake.” Guitar by Bobby Womack who married Cooke’s widow Barbara Campbell after Cooke’s murder.

Sweet Soul Music   Arthur Conley  3/67  #2 Pop and R&B

Cooke's business partner sued both Otis Redding and Arthur Conley for appropriating the melody. A settlement was reached in which Cooke's name was added to the writers’ credits.

CLOSING THEME:  Sleepwalk – Santo & Johnny (1959, #1 for two weeks)

Glossary of Terms:

dnc = did not chart

nr = not released as a single at the time

AC = Billboard’s chart for “Adult Contemporary” records

BB = Billboard Magazine, which publishes the Hot 100 chart (previously known as the Top 100), along with several other charts

Bubbling Under = songs that were ranked but fell below the top 100

C&W = Billboard’s chart for “Country & Western” records

R&B = Billboard’s chart for “Rhythm & Blues” records

RRHOF = Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
RS500 = Rolling Stone Magazine’s ranked list of the top 500 singles of all-time

Host on October 26, 2019: John Rudan with a spotlight on October 26, 1975

Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to Rockin' Remnants every Saturday night from 6-9 p.m. (Eastern) on WVBR (93.5 FM in Ithaca, NY) or streaming here.


Thanks again to our sponsors Island Health & Fitness and Rasa Spa for their support every week!