September 23, 2008 Earworm

Sure, The Chordettes usually bring to mind "Mr. Sandman" and "Lollipop": two records that make detractors cry of tooth decay and other malt shop crimes against humanity but lately I have been fascinated by "Born To Be With You", the big hit they had in 1957, right in the middle of their more commonly known calling cards. It's the same Chordettes yet utterly different and provides a link from their days as a folk act in the Weavers mold and the barber shop harmonies that made them famous.

The first time I heard this version - on a Varese Sarabande Vintage release, "The History of Cadence Records", "negro spiritual in Vegas" came to mind and, realizing the oddity of that thought, I had to play it again. And again. It's haunting in a way that I still can't describe and I've encountered some interesting reactions to it as I share it with others. A co-worker called it "creepy" and mentioned that someone may have a stalker on their hands. The better half dismissed it as "corny" but I caught him humming the melody later in the day. Sending it along to Kmatt, she replied that it was "a perfect pop record", then came back later to say that it conjured up the sounds of "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" which completely flipped me out because around the same time that she was typing that message, I had it playing while I was showering and thought, "This would fit right in to the soundtrack of "O! Brother, Where Art Thou?". She then came back the next day with a message that she had a dream about the damn thing and finally thought of the other song of which it reminded her; Nick Drake's "All My Trials". And she's right, of course - I hear it as plain as day. Not to mention the seeds of Phil Spector's "kiss the mic" production of "To Know Him Is To Love Him" and "I Love How You Love Me" and, for reasons I can't explain, Dick and Dee Dee's "The Mountain's High". "Born To Be With You" is officially all that and probably anything else which may explain covers as diverse as Sonny James' country cover from 1968, Dave Edmonds' Spectorized version in '73, Spector's funeral in New Orleans production for Dion in '75, and a live version by Starsailor on their 2002 live dvd, "Love Is Here (Live)" which provides yet another Spector link. That's an impressive list and one of which writer Don Robertson should be proud.

So in the end, I think it's one of the most beautiful records I've ever heard and you just might, too. Give it a spin...

September 22, 2008 Earworm

From the magical thinking of "there's no place like home" file came the wish fulfillment of finally seeing the first two albums by The Nails coming to cd. This has allowed me to play "Home Of The Brave" - you thought I was going to say "88 Lines About 44 Women" weren't you - over and over. Nearly twenty five years since it was first released, I still get maximum joy from the lyric, "where the jukebox plays apocalyptic be-bop" and I still can't decide what the song is about. I'm sticking with dead soldiers until someone else comes up with an alternative.

September 19, 2008 Earworm

Tough times call for fiscal responsibility so, with some time to kill, I did some thorough album sampling at Criminal Records yesterday and fell in love with the debut album by Delta Spirit.

Lead singer Matt Vasquez has a voice that reminds me of Mike Scott and writes lines like "the sun came while you were shining" - from "Strange Vine" - which seems like the loveliest way to describe enchantment. I'll keep the grin it inspired on my face all weekend.

Enjoy yours.

September 18, 2008 Earworm

It's impossible to represent Norman Whitfield's impact with just one song suggestion. To do so would most likely lead to Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through It The Grapevine", an easy choice due to familiarity as much as to it's brilliance. But "Grapevine" has already been a topic so I offer up "The End of Our Road", Gladys Knight & The Pips' follow up to their version of "Grapevine", and The Temptations' "I Wish It Would Rain".

"The End Of Our Road" has often been accused of being little more than a retread of Gladys' version of "Grapevine" but it doesn't sound as though she feels that way - she sings as if she's on her way to catch a train that may have left five minutes ago while attempting to empty her soul of too many years of bullshit. She may have heard it through the grapevine but now that she's done tearing it, and probably everything this jerk owned, to pieces, she's got some news of her own. With each verse, her intensity increases to the point that you can feel her fighting against an anger that threatens to lift her off the floor, but only so that she can continue to poke this asshole with a talon that has had years of his coarse treatment to guarantee its accuracy. Girls may be finding their empowerment through Beyonce these days but "To da left, to da left" has nothing on "time and again I've begged ya to slow down so I'm giving you the lowdown: we've come to the end of our road".

Of course, "I Wish It Would Rain" is a completely different set of emotions. Masquerading as the tale of a victim of a broken heart, it's really a story of a man who can't face reality. So beautifully crafted to accent a theme of solitary confinement - check out the echo on David Ruffin's vocal on the mono mix, the mix that mattered - that it's not until the fade-out and "I'm a man and I've got my pride, until it rains I'm gonna stay inside" allows the truth to come out. By then, you feel so sorry for the sap that it seems cruel to make note of it. Maybe some one at Motown should have because the co-lyricist of both these records, Roger Penzabene, killed himself just a few days after "I Wish It Would Rain" was released. Unable to reconcile himself to his own wife's infidelity nor to give her the lowdown, he took the easy way out.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the work of Norman Whitfield, along with frequent collaborators Penzabene and Barrett Strong, forced Motown to grow up and away from the sweet and simple and prepared it for the complexities of the end of the sixties when "he loves me, he loves me not" ceased to be their audiences' primary concern. Without Whitfield's influence, and his work with The Temptations in particular, it's hard to imagine how Marvin would have been able to ask "What's Going On" or how Stevie would have found higher ground.

And then there's "Car Wash"...

September 17, 2008 Earworm

Congratulations, we just bought AIG! 'Not quite what I had in mind for the caravan of love but, hey, they ain't heavy, they're our broker... So much for small government and personal accountability. If we end up buying Washington Mutual today, would it be rude of me to insist on a decrease in my interest rate? And has anyone else noticed that our potential leaders are so bankrupt of new ideas and strategies that they had to borrow "Change" from each other?

As it all unravels, I'm beginning to get a better understanding of what creates nostalgia because twenty-five years ago change was just what I did between work and bar hopping or the latest Tears For Fears single playing on the Club Charles jukebox as I stumbled to the bar for another tootsie-roll*. As a small gesture to everyone who is supposed to be running the show, I'm re-gifting it and, since everything is in such a mess, I'm offering the extended mix with hope that there will be a little "Change" left over to set aside for a rainy day.

As an additional bonus, I point out that the release of "Change" followed "Mad World" and all of these singles carried a matrix that started with "IDEA". ...I'm just sayin'...


*recipe for a tootsie roll:

one part vodka
one part kahlua
two parts orange juice
shake vigorously
followed by slow weaving

September 16, 2008 Earworm

John McCain said that he believes the fundamentals of our economy are strong yesterday. He also mentioned recession.

Then he introduced a singing serpent who sounds amazingly like Siouxsie Sioux, backed by the Banshees of course, who performed "Trust In Me". During the performance he sang along, ad-libbing like a desperate Sinatra: "Silent Slumber, Yeah! Go to sleep. Shut up already."

Considering his recent record of consistency, why wouldn't we trust him.

Goodnight... hey, where'd my house go?!

September 15, 2008 Earworm

Galveston looks like a cruel game of pick up sticks, Chicago is a wading pool, Lehman Brothers file Chapter 11 and AIG teetering, and the Metrolink crash may have been caused by a text messaging engineer: It's all too much and I'm all out of snark this morning. Maybe some nutcase evangelical will make a stupid statement today...

I do have plenty of hope that all of this will bring out the best in all of us and that we remember that even when we have only a little, someone else has a little less. A lot of little can make a lot of difference once it gets rolling - we've certainly seen proof of that on downside.

As an incentive, I roll out The Housemartins' cover of "Caravan of Love"...