My Lucky Number: One
Happy New Year! We celebrated the first show of the year by theming the show around the number ‘One’, or ‘Firsts’. As usual, we travelled across time and genre with songs from the 50s through to the 90s, covering punk/New Wave, country, R&B, soul, pop and rock.
The show’s opener was Lena Lovich’s ‘Lucky Number’, a New Wave hit from the 70’s that she recorded on Stiff Records. Stiff was formed in 1976 by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera with a 400 pound loan from Dr. Feelgood’s Lee Brilleaux. Their first release was a demo by one of the UK’s most criminally ignored talents, Nick Lowe: ‘So It Goes/Hearts of the City’, that captured the spirit of the times perfectly. This was followed by singles and albums from the likes of Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Wreckless Eric and The Damned… and Lena. Latest news from the label is that Wreckless Eric has returned to the fold, with his wife Amy Rigby. Their new album, ‘Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby’ was released in September 08 and its getting some raves. I’ll be chasing that down for a future show, for sure.
Lena Lovich was something special. Apparently she is still performing in Europe and the UK, in her trademark plaits. That’s a performance I would love to see. Here’s a clip to keep us satisfied in the meantime.
I don’t know about you guys, but alcohol played a fairly prominent role in my New Year’s Eve celebrations. So what better way to move through the program than with some thoughts on the ‘demon drink’: ‘One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer’ by Amos Milburn and His Alladin Chickenshackers was a great beginning. Milburn was a musical pioneer, who made the transition from the swing and jump blues of the 40s to the R&B of the late 40’s and 50’s, that evolved into today’s rock music. The photo on the left shows Amos Milburn with record company executives including the Mesner brothers, Leo and Eddie, the owners of Alladin Records. Hence the name of the band ‘The Alladin Chickenshakers’. Artists who recorded for Alladin included Louis Jordan, Lester Young, Nat “King” Cole and Billie Holiday.
Regular listeners are aware that I love to include a Roy Orbison song each week, so this week’s competition asked listeners to name a song that Roy recorded that has the word ‘One’ in the title. Winner was Charlotte and she not only wins a fab DVD – Wim Wenders ‘Soul of a Man’ (part of the Scorsese Blues Collection) but she also gets the opportunity to come on the show next week and help present the show. Should be fun. And I may need some help as my birthday is next Monday (yay! made it!) and I may be feeling a little under the weather on Tuesday, when the topic will be ‘Sex, Drugs and not just Rock n Roll’.
The answer/s to the Big O question, (three possibilities that I’m aware of): either ‘The Only One’ from Mystery Girl album or ‘You’re the One’ from the King of Hearts album or there’s a song called “Pretty One” but not sure of the album but sure to be found on a compilation or two.
There were several other highlights this week: lots of great performers have January birthdays – Elvis Presley, Rod Stewart, Mary J Blige, to name just a few that I included in this week’s show. Capricorns, all of them. I am in such good company! Loved Mary J’s duet with U2 for their hit, ‘One’ and also loved Eric Clapton and Tracy Chapman, live and unplugged, singing ‘Give Me One Reason’.
Here’s the complete playlist:
Lucky Number - Lena Lovich
One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer - Amos Milburn & His Alladin Chickenshackers
One Mint Julep - The Clovers
I’m The One Who Loves You - Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions
One Fine Day - The Chiffons
The First Cut Is The Deepest - Cat Stevens
One’s On The Way - Loretta Lynn
One Piece at a Time - Johnny Cash
One Of These Nights - Eagles
Feels Like The First Time - Foreigner
One Love - Bob Marley & The Wailers
Do That To Me One More Time - Captain & Tennille
January - Pilot
Give me one reason (live unplugged) - Eric Clapton & Tracy Chapman
One - U2 & Mary J Blige
Just One More Time - Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
For The First Time - Rod Stewart
Just One Look - Mary Wells
Just One More Day - Otis Redding
Neither One Of Us - Gladys Knight & The Pips
One Night With You - Elvis Presley
One Time One Night - Los Lobos
One -Harry Nilsson
The Only One - Roy Orbison
Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got) - The Spinners
You’re The First, The Last, My Everything - Barry White
Next week: Sex, Drugs, (and not just), Rock n Roll
Tune into Theme Park on Bay FM 99.9. Tuesdays 2-4pm (Sydney time) or online at http://www.bayfm.org
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