Mind Your Own Business
Can I have a taste of your ice cream?
Can I like the crumbs from your table?
Can I interfere in your crisis?
No - mind your own business.
I adore Delta 5, one of the most sadly overlooked post-punk bands from the Leeds scene in the late '70s. I so wish they'd reunite and tour. Til then, I'll be playing 'em in my head.
Artist: Delta 5
Year: 1979
Rating: Luke Hot
After the Lovin'
Oh, smooth schmaltz at its best. Did you know that Engelbert Humperdinck actually chose his name? He was born with the hum-drum Anglo name Arnold George Dorsey and decided to name himself after a German opera composer. Apparently, that's when his music really took off.
Artist: Engelbert Humperdinck
Year: 1976
Rating: Warm
Note 1: Another easy listenin' song from the Bicentennial year!Note 2: The above video provides us with an apt circumstance in which to ask the question: Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?
The Hearse Song
This was a favorite old tune we sang–and loved–for years at Camp until some prudish parents complained that it was inappropriate for children. Kids are totally fascinated with death, morbid imagery, blood and guts. Nothin' wrong with that. It's us adults who repress our natural curiosity and perpetuate the taboo by avoiding the topics of death, decay, and the putrescence of bodily functions. Those JCC parents weren't alone though. The above version of this traditional tune appeared as part of the Alvin Schwartz book series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which is one of the most frequently "challenged" books for banning in contemporary history, according to the American Library Association.
The version we sang was different, and I'm partial to it, naturally, though I do have to give props to the Schwartz interpretation for the final, disgusting lines:
Your stomach turns a slimy green
And pus pours out like whipping cream
You spread it on a slice of bread
And that's what you eat when you are dead!
Maybe our version below was a bit tamer, but fascinatingly enough, the old-fashioned game of pinochle remains consistent in most versions I've found online:
Oh don't you laugh when the hearse goes by,
Or else you'll be the next to die
They'll wrap you up in a bloody sheet
And throw you down about fifty feet
You'll be okay for about a week
But then your coffin will start to leak
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out
The ants play pinochle on your snout
The big black bug with purple eyes
Goes in your kidney and out your eyes
Your eyes decay and roll away
And that's the end of the beautiful day
Pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you
Simply because there is nothing else to do
Pray for the dead.
[That last triplet of lines are sung to the melody of the third movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2, Marche Funèbre (click on it; I'll bet it sounds familiar). We always sang it by cupping our hands over our noses and flapping the fingers against one nostril so as to create a creepy vibrating effect to the words.]
Artist: Traditional, unknown. Interpretation by Alvin Schwartz, sung by the actor George S. Irving
Year: Unknown; recording c. 1980s.
Rating: Warm
Note: Chopin's funeral march, c. 1837.
The The Empty
Ah, a nice break from the smooth rock of the '70s and '80s - I've been on quite an adult contemporary run lately.
I love the frenetic energy of Le Tigre's first album, unbelievably released in 1999 (I didn't hear it til late 2000, and it screams "Aughts!" to me). Like on many of their tracks, the noisy emotion of the song takes precedence over the lyrics, but when you hone in on the words, there's always a payoff:
I went to yr concert and I didn't feel anything
I went to yr concert and I didn't hear anything
I went to yr concert and I didn't feel anything
I went to yr concert and I didn't see anything
(Oh baby) why won't you talk to me?
(Oh baby) you just want me empty!
(Oh baby) you don't say anything!
(Oh baby) why won't you answer me?
Artist: Le Tigre
Year: 1999
Rating: Hot!
Love Me Tomorrow
One of the singles from Chicago's pop revival album Chicago 16. This track is a bit too slick for my tastes, but I very much dig the proggy synth lines that emerge around the chorus, which I do believe are a product of the prolific musicians David Paich and Steve Porcaro (both members of supergroup Toto as well). It's noteworthy that Paich co-wrote yesterday's song Lido Shuffle with Boz Scaggs, but I had no way of knowing that prior to writing this entry. Maybe I absorbed the information from looking into Lido, and my unconscious mind produced another David Paich collaboration, though I don't think it's likely. Who can say?
Artist: Chicago
Year: 1982
Rating: Lukewarm
Lido Shuffle
This entry is a good follow up to my previous, Sentimental Lady by Bob Welch. Same era, similar genre, and like that last song, it's in my mind all the time, but I've had no clue as to the lyrics, artist, or how to find it. Thank god I've got a sister who had her finger on the pulse of '70s mellow rock while it was in the making. All I had to do was whistle and hum a few bars, and say, "I think it might be about a guy named Leo, or something," and bam, she's like, "Boz Scaggs." I never even knew I had a Boz Scaggs song in me, but evidently I do, maybe even a couple, now that he's on my radar in a more conscious way. Happy birthday, Jodi! And thank you, '70s FM radio.
Artist: Boz Scaggs
Year: 1976
Rating: Luke Hot
Note: Yet another classic tune from the U.S. Bicentennial year!
Sentimental Lady
For a song I haven't heard in probably 20 years, this one is in my head a lot! The maddening thing about it is that I've never known the lyrics nor the artist, and so whenever it hits me - in the shower, while walking down the street, in the aisle at Golden Produce comparing nectarines - I just whistle the melody and remain ignorant. In my mind, I'm going "Sentimental blah-blah-blah/Blaaah, blah blah blah, blah-blah-blah..." When it wound up in my head upon waking recently, I searched diligently online for artists I thought might fit the bill, like Stephen Bishop, Dan Hill, and Dan Seals. No dice. Finally, I stumbled upon it at Last.fm after Googling sentimental '70s songs. Rejoice! Turns out, the artist is Bob Welch, an early member of Fleetwood Mac, and this song is essentially Mac with Mick Fleetwood on drums and Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham on backing vocals (Buckingham also plays guitar on the track). The song actually debuted on their 1972 album Bare Trees. So there's a little rock 'n' roll history lesson for us all. Viva the smooth pop of Bob Welch!
Artist: Bob Welch
Year: 1972/1977
Rating: Luke Hot
After the Love Has Gone
While I'm partial to more emotional or esoteric explanations for why a song comes to mind, this song is admittedly around just 'cause I was doing a 70's soft rock search the other day and it popped up in a montage video. It's a pleasant find, though I'm still searching for the mellow gold song for which I can't seem to conjure lyrics or an artist. Stay tuned...
Artist: Earth, Wind, and Fire
Year: 1979
Rating: Warm
Find Your Way Back
Not quite the calibur of shark-jump as We Built This City from an even later offshoot of Jefferson Airplane; in fact, a decent single from the Mickey Thomas era of the band, on which Grace Slick played for the first time in several years.Artist: Jefferson Starship
Year: 1981
Rating: Warm
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