Al Green - I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Al Green seems more likely to guide your hand downwards to his denim bulge than to just hold it. That said, that’s handholding of a sort I suppose.
Al Green has always been kind of a one-trick pony in my opinion, whether covering the Beatles, the Doors, or Hank Williams (!), he just Al Greens the shit out of it. And this isn’t a bad thing. Personally I find all that early Beatles stuff a bit too saccharine for my palate, and addin’ a dash of cocoa only improves this song. I’m not trying to incite a race riot here, so let me clarify those comments: Al Green’s cover of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” is superior to the original in every imaginable way because he’s not a whitey.
Perhaps a little known fact is that the lead-in to the chorus is actually ‘I can’t hide’ and not ‘I get high’. But not when Al Green sings it, pal.
Al Green delivers the fabled ‘Triple Shocker’.
207 plays
Claudine Longet - Jealous Guy / Don’t Let Me Down
Now, I’ve romanced one or two firecrackers in my time, but none of them hold a candle (yet) to Claudine Longet. French chanteuse, actress, and high-profile socialite, Longet charted many a Beatles cover, starred in the 60’s classic The Party, hobnobbed with Bobby Kennedy, and married Andy Williams, who she met by the side of the road after having car trouble. I saw a movie that started that way incidentally. It was a shocking, bare-all documentary about love called Runaway Tush 4.
This cover of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy becomes eerily ironic when you factor in that on March 21st, 1976, in Aspen, her boyfriend, skier Vladimir ‘Spider’ Sabich was fatally shot in his chalet. Being named ‘Spider’ is generally a good clue that you’re going to meet a bad end, but that’s neither here nor there. Longet’s story was that Spider was showing her the gun when it went off, which would make a lot more sense were he not half naked in the bathroom, having just returned from a ski. Beyond the fact that the physics of the gunshot didn’t make sense, Longet was found to have cocaine in her system, suspect entries in her diary, and a song in her heart ample motive for the murder. In the end, it appeared that her relationship with Sabich was dissolving, and this final argument was likely fueled by his plans to leave her. I hate it when chicks wave a gun in my face just because things aren’t working out. You know I love you baby, but there’s a whole world out there.
Due to a few key police mistakes, she ultimately got off with 30 days in jail. She then married her defense attorney, never performed again, and to this day still lives in Aspen, the scene of the crime as it were. The moral of the story? Don’t cross French chicks / bitches be crazy.
Claudine Longet - French; pensive; slightly smug.
262 plays
Jackie Lomax - Sour Milk Sea
One out of one anonymous commentors agree that surely it must be about time for a shout-out to Nicky Hopkins, and I must admit that I’m gleeful to comply to the request put forth in this pointed missive.
This will likely not be the last appearance of Nicky Hopkins on DD:LD, and for all we know may not be the first - his jangly 88-middle-fingers piano stylings were in absurdly high demand in 1960’s and Nicky played on countless seminal recordings during this period. Unfortunately for Nicky, what could have been a fruitful career of touring and panty moistening was hamstrung by his poor health - Nicky suffered from Crohn’s Disease, a pretty nasty affliction which; well - probably best to leave this to the professionals. Quoth perennial brain extension Wikipedia:
Crohn’s disease (also known as granulomatous colitis and regional enteritis) is an inflammatory disease of the intestines that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from anus to mouth, causing a wide variety of symptoms. It primarily causes abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody), vomiting, or weight loss,[1][2][3] but may also cause complications outside of the gastrointestinal tract such as skin rashes, arthritis and inflammation of the eye.[1]
Yikes. Anyhow, this relegated Nicky to the life of a studio musician, but he sure made his dent in more than the porcelain. Nicky played on many a track, including The Beatles’ ‘Revolution’, which cemented a relationship that allowed the song you hopefully just hit play on to feature his delightful ivory tickling.
There’s an interesting story behind this song to boot - penned by George Harrison, ‘Sour Milk Sea’ was ostenibly an outtake from the White Album sessions, and ended up being released as a vehicle for singer Jackie Lomax on the Beatles’ own Apple label. Even more interesting is that 75% of The Beatles play on this very song - Paul on Bass, George (and some dude named Eric Clapton) on guitar and Ringo on lead ugly. Just kiddin. Drums. Hell of a gem that really never got the recognition it deserved - not unlike one Nicky Hopkins. As the first verse of ‘Sour Milk Sea’ puts it, neither Nicky Hopkins nor Jackie Lomax ‘[got] the breaks like some of us do’ - but they sure put together a pretty pleasant eargasm for your soundholes on this number.
Nicky Hopkins, brought to you courtesy of Jock McNevis.
345 plays
The Action - Brain
As musicians, The Action were overlooked as seriously criminal badasses, but it took a strong hand and a sympathetic ear to see past their roughscrabble past and hear the song they were meant to sing. They met as teenagers at a juvenile detention center, where under the leadership of their counselor, they gained self-esteem and how to put aside their differences by playing football toget..shit. That’s the plot to 2006’s “Grid Iron Gang”. In truth their story isn’t so different though, by which I mean they were brought together by The Rock.
The Action are reportedly one of Phil Collins’ favorite bands (look it up, dick - it’s true), and how you feel about that obviously depends entirely on how you feel about Phil Collins (alternate porn name: Phil N. Colons). For interfunsies, I figured we could make this like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel! If you air drum in cableknit sweaters and/or own a VHS copy of the feature film ‘Buster’, press Alt-F4 now. If you’re still here, do nothing. To do nothing, do nothing.
‘Brain’, recorded somewhere between 1967 and 1968, was unreleased until 2002 - despite being plucked from (and deposited right back into, really) obscurity by none less than famed 5th Beatle Mixmaster Mike George Martin, demos for The Action’s only album were rejected by EMI (maybe because Phil Collins liked them?), and that basically was the end of The Action. What really grabs me about this album (“Rolled Gold”) and this song in particular is that it lacks the sneering moroseness a lot of the music of their peers had at the time - there’s an earnest, soulful quality to the music and it’s nice and dirty. But, listen without prejudice, dear reader. Choose Your Own Adventure. If you don’t want to hear The Action’s ‘Brain’, simply pour a glass of cold water into the little vents on your computer. They’re water holes and the internet is thirsty! Otherwise, do nothing.
172 plays
Frédéric Chopin - Op. 28, Prelude No. 4
Back in the day the second best Beatle, John Lennon, came up with his idea for “Because” (Abbey Road, 1969) when he overheard his number one girl/band-breaker-upper Yoko Ono playing Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano. Lennon asked Yoko to play the chord sequence back to him, only this time in reverse, and then wrote “Because” based on that ‘new’ melody. Borrowing ideas or melodies from past songs is certainly nothing new, just ask Coldplay, but not all artists are quite as clever as Lennon was. A couple months back we posted “Jane B.” by Deadly Death pinup girl Jane Birkin, from her 1969 album Jane Birkin Serge Gainsboug. Allmusic.com credits “Jane B.” to Gainsbourg, which is interesting as its melody is lifted entirely from one of Chopin’s more famous preludes, Prelude No. 4, “Suffocation”. However, according to the Deadly Death legal department, this is all legit. Copyright laws are different in many countries, most, if not all, classical music is public domain, and shit gets real confusing when it’s 200 years old and the composer has been dead for 100 plus years… Publishing royalties need not be paid out, but I would hope the artist gives props. Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is if you ever wanted to record and release your skat version of “Flight Of The Bumblebee”, now’s the time yo.
Fun Fact: Prelude No. 4 “Suffocation” is one of the most famous pieces Chopin wrote, and was played at his funeral in 1849.
129 plays
The Incredible Bongo Band - Apache
The odds are good that you’ve heard ‘Apache’, and the odds are certain that you’ve heard the break in the song sampled in one of the hundreds of songs that have lifted it over the years - it’s among one of the most sampled passages in music, ever - perhaps only eclipsed by The Winstons’ ‘Amen, Brother’. What is less advertised is the story of the man who drummed on said break, one Jim Gordon, who is rumoured to be the wealthiest man behind bars in the US for a non-drug related offense. I have no idea how that could be independently verified, but while we’re making unsubstantiated and outlandish claims, you might be interested to know that I’ve also been voted the 8th most influential figure in online music journalism and have been the recipient of the prestigious Latin Hipthrusters Quarterly ‘El Humpo Magnifico’ bronze groin award no less than four times.
Gordon was a session musician, primarily a drummer, through the 1960’s and 1970’s, and this guy had his hands in everything. The list of seminal recordings he contributed to is immense - George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass’, a little album by the name of Pet Sounds, Mason Williams’ ‘Classical Gas’, and that’s just a light sampling of his work. He even wrote the (seemingly endless) piano outro to ‘Layla’, which to many evokes images of Ray Liotta in a 70’s suit, and to others is like being hit in the head with a hammer. More on that later.
Besides being insanely talented, Jim had really curly hair and was an undiagnosed schizophrenic whose condition worsened to the point that he was convinced he was hearing his mother’s voice in his head, which I can only imagine would be maddening and not nearly as pleasant as hearing your mother’s voice whispering in my ear which I often wake up to when I crash at your place. Doctors did not properly diagnose his condition, and the delusions continued unabated while he worked feverishly as a highly sought-after drummer, and unfortunately culminated in his murdering of his mother with a hammer in 1983, a crime for which he remains imprisoned, despite his now diagnosed schizophrenia.
You will have likely noticed in our writing up of musicians it seems that a lot of them are on-the-brink socio/psychopaths either getting high or trying to murder each other and as much as I hate to further this stereotype, based on my personal experience it’s for the most part true. So, in summary, the word on musicians - drummers in particular - is that you don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps. Vacant, wide-eyed grin!
160 plays
Emitt Rhodes - Somebody Made For Me
‘Somebody Made For Me’ is one of those songs about the charming idea that there exists, oddly quite often within a 100km radius of your hometown, a person constructed solely for the purpose of being your form-fitted soul mate forever and ever and ever, and the two of you will ride a tandem bicycle to a meadow and have a picnic and then go back and fuck your brains out in a 3-million-dollar Manhattan loft, which is an idea I happen to subscribe to as it of course is the reality of my everyday life. A smaller, more bitter and less handsome man than myself might suggest that this idea of someone being made for you is true in the same sense that the sticker McDonald’s affixes to your Egg McMuffin saying “Made Fresh For You!” is true, in that yes - it was made, and yes, now you are holding it, but it was made from ingredients that are available in bulk and is truly designed for mass consumption, and the mildly nauseating satiety both this idea and Egg McMuffins provide will make you comfortable and ultimately fat. Yes, I just wrote a paragraph-long sentence comparing the romantic notion of love to an Egg McMuffin. The line-up for my boudoir forms on the left, style code in effect.
At any rate, American one-man band Emitt Rhodes, along with the vast majority of pop songwriters, do not share the Love N’ McMuffin theory, and much ink has been spilled and tape rolled on the subject of soul mates. This song, luckily, delivers its message in a format that sounds awesome. The first thing that will likely grab you about Emitt Rhodes is that he unabashedly channels Paul McCartney in both vocal stylings and bass ploddery, so in many ways the songs you’ll find on his eponymous 1970 debut are like a lost Beatles album. One thing quite notable about Emitt however is that he recorded all of the tracks, this one included, in the comfort of a modest 4-track home studio. Only after Emitt secured a record deal were they slightly punched up to add mostly vocal overdubs. An interesting factoid on this record is that at the time of its release, musician’s union rules stated that records released on a major label had to be recorded in what the union considered a ‘proper’ studio - likely an attempt to secure work for studio engineers and pump jobs and work back into the industry - so all references to the fact that this was home recorded had to be kept hidden from view.
