Category Archives: Bob Dylan
COOL YULE
‘Tis the season to be jolly, so I did my best with a very funky Christmas show this week with lots of appropriate music and giveaways for our listeners.
Bette Midler opened the show with COOL YULE and that set the mood for what followed. I never thought I would see the day that Bob Dylan recorded a Christmas album, and isn’t he collecting some flak for doing so? But I, for one, happen to love the album Christmas in the Heart and appreciate the guts it took to release it. We played a couple of songs from the album. First up it was MUST BE SANTA. Check out the clip. Gotta love a guy with a sense of humour!
Now if you’re talking cool, there is no cooler, in my opinion, than ‘Keef’ Richards. My favourite Rolling Stone gave us RUN RUDOLPH RUN and then it was Patsy Raye & The Beatniks with BEATNIK’S WISH. All Patsy wants for Christmas is a man. Tall order Pats, especially here in Byron Bay!
I’ve got a question for you. Who’s feeling a bit grumpy this Xmas? Go on hands up… Well if you’re feeling a little down in the dumps, the perfect song for you is the Staple Singers with WHO TOOK THE MERRY OUT OF XMAS? Another for you mopers is Charles Brown and PLEASE COME HOME FOR XMAS. What you all need is the optimism of Darlene Love’s ALL ALONE ON CHRISTMAS. Lifted from the soundtrack to the film Home Alone, the famous sound of the legendary E Street Band and Love’s voice make being alone at Christmas almost OK. Check out the video if you don’t believe me:
Next up in our Cool Yule show was Bob Seger and The Last Heard with SOCK IT TO ME SANTA. And then it was The Kinks with FATHER CHRISTMAS and The Ramones with MERRY CHRISTMAS (I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT TONIGHT). Whew, that was a rockin’ set of Chrissie tunes. The three tracks came from a compilation album called Christmas A Go-Go, put together by Steven Van Zandt who also goes by the name Little Steven. As well as playing in Bruce Springsteen’s band and acting in the hit series The Sopranos, he also hosts an American radio program called the Underground Garage . Check out the website where you can listen to archived programs.
Tina Sugandh is also known as TablaGirl. Originally from India, now resident in the US, I love her version of WHITE CHRISTMAS with its Bollywood undertones. We followed with an oldie but a goodie, by Little Esther Phillips and the Johnny Otis Orchestra, FAR AWAY CHRISTMAS BLUES.
I had to include the 80′s New Wave group the Waitresses in the show because they recorded a song about something I really do loath: CHRISTMAS WRAPPIING. Yeah, yeah, bah humbug.
Something most of us have to be careful about over the holiday period is drinking and driving. A great song that deals with the repercussions of doing so is The Youngsters with CHRISTMAS IN JAIL from an album entitled Doo Wop Christmas. It wasn’t as serious as it sounds, honestly. And neither was the very funny version of JINGLE BELLS from the 
Electric Prunes, another great track from Little Stevie’s Christmas A Go-G0 album.
Rufus Thomas makes this rather scary offer: I’LL BE YOUR SANTA. And then it was time for a little Latin in our Christmas show. First up, The Enchanters with MAMBO SANTA MAMBO and the wonderful Celia Cruz with some salsa, FIESTA DE NAVIDAD.
A complete change of tone followed: Clarence Carter with the brilliantly bawdy BACK DOOR SANTA. This Santa makes all the girls happy while the boys are out to play. Naughty Santa.
Roy Woods was one of the founding members of Electric Light Orchestra and left to form Wizzard. Their song I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY was a huge hit for them. Check out the video, with lead singer Mike Morley looking rather like Kris Kringle himself:
The great James Brown injected a little politics into the show with SANTA CLAUSE GO STRAIGHT TO THE GHETTO and then it was the extremely excited Jamaican DJ King Stitt with a little reggae. The song was CHRISTMAS TREE.
For all the cynics listening I had to include I DON’T BELIEVE IN CHRISTMAS from the Sonics. And I’m sure all the rodders would have appreciated SANTA DRIVES A HOT ROD from The Brian Setzer Orchestra.
Were any of you born on Xmas Day? My birthday is in January and that’s bad enough, but I’ve always felt sorry for people born on Xmas Day itself. Like here’s your Christmas and your birthday present. Gee thanks. But at least you don’t get everyone’s Xmas rejects as birthday presents as I do in January. Yeah, yeah, cry me a river. For all of you born on Xmas Day, we played I WAS BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY from St. Etienne. It’s a nice piece of disco-pop, although I do worry about a band that named itself after a footie team.
The Cocktail Slippers, an all girl band from Norway, have been called “The 60′s Shangri Las meet the 70s Stooges meet the 80s Go Gos”. Loved their Christmas song, SANTA’S COMING HOME. I also don’t mind the occasional tribute band as long as they do it well. The Chesterfield Kings heavily mine The Rolling Stones for their garage sound and they do a great job with HEY SANTA CLAUSE.
Here’s the delicious Eartha Kitt, with the help of three ‘friends’ singing her hit of 1953 SANTA BABY. Hilarious.
We closed the show with the amazing Darlene Love with CHRISTMAS, (Baby, Please Come Home). The clip is from the David Letterman show of a couple of years ago. What a voice. Merry Xmas everyone!
Here’s this week’s playlist:
Also streaming on http://www.bayfm.org
TIME
The Theme Park is a two hour show. That’s 8.33% of my day! It’s 120 minutes… 7,200 seconds…. Whichever way you look at it, its a big slice of time and, every Tuesday between 2-4pm anyway, it goes very, very quickly. What am I going on about? You guessed it, the theme this week was Old Father Time.
The program was dominated with some of my favourite Blues & R&B numbers, although I made room for some Classic Rock and even a bit of Jazz, so, hopefully, everyone should have been fairly happy. And, I even got to read a bit of poetry: Charles Bukowski no less!
I opened the show with the Chambers Brothers’ hit of 1968, ‘Time Has Come Today’. Here’s a shorter version of it grabbed from the Ed Sullivan show. Cool set (and the drummer isn’t bad either!).
Did you know that a ‘jiffy’ is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second? I’ll be careful about using the term in the future, ’cause I don’t think I can actually move that fast, contrary to popular belief.
I’ve played Billy Ward and His Dominoes’ song ‘Sixty Minute Man’ before, but if this show didn’t warrant a replay, then I’m not sure which would. Billy really likes to draw attention to his skills with the ladies, that’s for sure.
Talking of ladies, Irma Thomas, Grammy Award winning soul and R&B singer, is often called the “Soul Queen of New Orleans.” A contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, she never experienced their level of commercial success but has a large cult following among soul afficionados
We played her version of ‘Time Is On My Side’ which she recorded on the Imperial label in 1964, before the Stones had a huge hit with their version. Bad timing for Irma perhaps. In 2007, she won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for After the Rain, her first Grammy in an acclaimed career spanning over 45 years. Great singer.
How cool is Dr. John? I loved playing his classic tune ‘Right Place, Wrong Time’. He’s 68 now and still going strong with his unique version of blues/boogie woogie and rock ‘n’ roll. Have a look at this clip – wouldn’t you have love to have been at that show!
We also played Grand Funk Railroad’s ‘Time Machine’ which led to a little bit of pondering on my part about the possibility of time travel. Well, according to Stephen Hawking, the absence of tourists from the future constitutes an argument against the existence of time travel. But Carl Sagan also suggested that maybe, just maybe, they are here but are disguising their existence or we just don’t recognise them as time travellers. Ooooh, spooky. I’ll never look at a back-packer the same way again.
Lots more music and a great poem was read – Charles Bukowski’s ‘throwing away the alarm clock’. It’s a bit too long to insert here, but try to find it (and all his poetry in fact). Often remembered as the ‘Poet Laureate of Skid Row’ his work is unpretentious and highly entertaining. And although all his work is, I believe, ‘poetic’ he also wrote many short stories and six novels, eventually having over 60 books in print .
And if you’re wondering whether I found a Roy Orbison song about time to play – Well, what do you reckon? Have a listen to ‘Wild Hearts Run Out Of Time’, from the Essential Roy Orbison CD. I continue to be amazed by his wonderful voice.
And now its time I went. But remember what Woody Allen had to say: ‘Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening at once.”
Here’s the complete playlist:
Time Has Come Today - Chambers Brothers
Let The Good Times Roll - Louis Jordan
Midnight Hour - Clarence Gatemouth Brown
First Time I Met The Blues - Buddy Guy
Just In Time - Dean Martin
Can I Come In For A Second - Nat King Cole/Nellie Lutcher
Sixty Minute Man - Billy Ward & His Dominoes
Turn Back The Hands Of Time - Tyrone Davis
Time Is on My Side 2:55 Irma Thomas 1964 R&B
Good Morning Good Morning - The Beatles
Right Place Wrong Time - Dr. John
Time Machine - Grand Funk Railroad
Twilight Zone theme
Twilight Time - The Platters
Only Time Will Tell - Etta James
Good Morning, Heartache - Billie Holiday
Here Comes The Night - Van Morrison
All Day And All Of The Night - The Kinks
After Midnight - Eric Clapton
Hard Times - Ray Charles
Woke Up This Morning - Ruthie Foster
Turn! Turn! Turn! - Byrds
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
Round Midnight - Amy Winehouse
Times They Are A-Changing - Bob Dylan
Comes a Time - Neil Young
Walkin’ After Midnight - Patsy Cline Patsy Cline
Wild Hearts Run Out Of Time - Roy Orbison
The Last Time - John Hiatt & The Goners
Just One More Time - Billy Gayles
Midnight Special Train - Big Joe Turner
Any Time At All - The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night
Stay Just A Little Bit Longer - Hollies
One Week - Barenaked Ladies
Music & The Movies
I’m loving all the good movies out there at the moment, so with Oscars week as my inspiration, it was surely time for a show about Music and The Movies. Yes, two hours of bliss for film and music fans. The show wasn’t just about soundtracks or great music in the movies. There are just some classic movie moments where a song totally complements or enhances the action. These were the songs that I looked for this week. Songs or pieces of music that, when you hear them, you immediately ‘feel’ the scene from the film.
Naturally, time is always an issue, so many great movie/music moments didn’t make the cut. But there will be other shows. If you want to contribute to that list, send me a note and I’ll start compiling now for a program down the line.
We opened the show with a snippet from the 1937 animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – ‘Hi Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go’. Not only was this Disney’s first feature animation, it was also the first real soundtrack album ever released. The film is a classic as were the next three numbers: Marlene Dietrich with ‘Falling in Love Again’ (from Blue Angel), Dooley Wilson with ‘As Time Goes By’ (from Casablanca) and Gene Kelly singing the title song from Singing in the Rain. By the way, ‘Singing in the Rain’, you will remember, was also used to terrifying effect in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. But in these gloomy times, I think I’d rather remember the absolute joy of Gene Kelly dancing and singing in the rain. Have a look:
The first hour was jammed packed with great moments: ‘Rock Around the Clock’ from Blackboard Jungle, ‘Mrs. Robinson’ from The Graduate, ‘Everybody’s Talkin” from Midnight Cowboy. And we had movie tickets to give away, thanks to the Dendy Cinemas here in Byron Bay.
It was also fun using some of the iconic pieces of music composed for the screen. Who can’t recognise, in a nano-second, the music from Psycho‘s shower scene? Or the opening music for Star Wars? And as our competition proved – everyone immediately knew the music from 2001 A Space Odyssey.In the second hour we played some Eric Clapton, Jimmy Cliff, Ray Charles, Creedence Clearwater Revivial and some Bob Dylan, among others. And of course I played my favourite – Roy Orbinson. Despite not particularly liking the film, it had to be ‘Pretty Woman’. Films covered included Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, American Graffiti, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid….. whew, we flew through the show.
I’m a big Martin Scorsese fan. Do you remember the scene from Mean Streets where he used the Rolling Stones song ‘Jumpin Jack Flash’? Johhny Boy, played by Robert de Niro, walks into the bar to meet Harvey Keitel’s character (looking incredibly young btw). It was shot in slow motion with the Stones song playing in the background. His character is summed up in less than 30 seconds: he is trouble with a capital T. He’s exciting and full of nervous energy – he is Jumpin Jack Flash. Wow! Scorsese is the master of film scores in my mind. I do love the way that Tarantino plays with image and sound, but for me Scorsese is king. Check it out on this You Tube grab:
Bruce Springsteen’s ’Streets of Philadelphia’ from the film Philadelphia is a great song and it was good to hear that again. And I really enjoyed including Creedence Clearwater’s ‘Green River’ from the film Indian Runner. This film might not immedately come to mind, but it is well worth finding at your local video store. It was directed by Sean Penn. As you know, he won the Best Actor Oscar for his role of Harvey Milk in the film Milk – well worth catching, too.
I was very sad to hear of Blossom Dearie’s passing a couple of weeks ago. This wonderful jazz singer was unique and I was happy to play a song that was included in the indie film Kissing Jessica Steyne: ‘I Wish You Love’ as a dedication to her.
And to close the show, a great song from Lou Reed – ‘Perfect Day’ – from the film Trainspotting. This film was Danny Boyle’s breakout hit in 1996 . So great to see the enormous Oscar success of his latest film Slumdog Millionaire. I’ll leave you with some of the lyrics from ‘Perfect Day’:
Just A Perfect Day, Feed Animals In The Zoo Then Later, A Movie, Too,
And Then Home.
Oh It’s Such A Perfect Day, I’m Glad I Spent It With You.
Oh Such A Perfect Day
Here is the playlist, with the films they featured in:
Hi Ho Its Off To Work We Go. Frank Churchill/Larry Morey - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Falling In Love Again. Marlene Dietrich - Blue Angel (1930)
As Time Goes By. Dooley Wilson - Casablanca (1942)
Singing In The Rain. Gene Kelly - Singing in the Rain (1953)
Rock Around the Clock. Bill Haley & His Comets - Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Psycho/The Murder. Composer Bernard Hermann/Los Angeles Philharmonic - Psycho (1960)
Baby Elephant Walk. Composer Henry Mancini- Hatari (1961)
Mrs Robinson. Simon & Garfunkel - The Graduate (1967)
The Blue Danube Waltz. Johann Strauss Ⅱ/The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)
Everybody’s Talkin’. Harry Nilsson - Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Raindrops Keep Falling on my head. ) B J Thomas - Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (1969)
Born to Be Wild. Steppenwolf - Easy Rider (1969)
Theme From Shaft - Issac Hayes Shaft (1971)
Jumpin’ Jack Flash. The Rolling Stones - Mean Streets (1973)
Knockin On Heaven’s Door. Bob Dylan - Pat Garret & Billy The Kid (1973)
Many Rivers to Cross. Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come (1973)
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. The Shirelles(with DJ Wolfman) - American Graffiti (1973)
Tears on my Pillow. Little Anthony and the Imperials - Grease (1978)
Blue Velvet. Bobby Vinton - Blue Velvet/(1986)
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. The Rolling Stones - Apocalypse Now (1973)
I’m Easy. Keith Carradine - Nashville (1975)
Taxi Driver clip (1976) - composer Bernard Hermann/ Robert de Niro vocals - Taxi Driver (1976)
Staying Alive. Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Star Wars Theme. Composer John Williams/London Symphony Orchestra - Star Wars (1977)
Shake A Tail Feather. Ray Charles - Blues Brothers (1980)
Be My Baby. The Ronettes - Dirty Dancing & GoodFellas (1987)
Oh, Pretty Woman. Roy Orbison - Pretty Woman (1990)
Unchained Melody. Righteous Brothers - Ghost (1990)
Sunshine Of Your Love. Eric Clapton/Cream - Goodfellas (1990)
Green River. Creedence Clearwater Revival - The Indian Runner (1991)
Streets of Philadelphia. Bruce Springsteen - Philadelphia (1993)
I Wish You Love. Blossom Dearie - Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)
Perfect Day. Lou Reed - Trainspotting (1996)
Sex, Drugs and, (not just), Rock ‘n’ Roll
This week’s theme was all about sex and drugs, but not just rock n roll. In fact it was a lot of early blues. I just love those early (30s, 40s, 50s) gutsy hot mamas, like Barrel House Annie and Julia and Her Boyfriends who shed their inhibitions and sang about their desires. I also played some C.W. Stoneking, who with his wife Kirsty Fraser, know how to evoke and extend the highly provocative ditty – listen to ‘You Took My Thing’ to find out what I mean. And, of course, there was rock ‘n’ roll with Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis as well as the great r&b/soul singers Etta James and Marvin Gaye. And that was just in the first hour!
One of my favourites from the show was Tina Turner singing Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love”. Here’s a clip lifted from her ‘Simply the Best’ VCR for you to enjoy. Little wonder that I followed this with Tom Jones singing ‘Sexbomb’.
In the second hour I played a piece of Janis Joplin that clearly showed the influence of the great Bessie Smith. “Mary Jane” is a live performance, recorded in 1965 with the Dick Oxtot Jazz Band. If you want to track it down, look for the 1975 compilation album Janis or the 2007 compilation The Very Best of Janis Joplin. Did you know that Joplin so idolised Bessie Smith that she remedied the scandal of her unmarked grave by organising the appropriate carved inscription: “The greatest blues singer in the world will never stop singing”?
Another discovery for me, thanks to the Bob Dylan Theme Time compilation, is Mary Gauthier. Her song, “I Drink” cuts straight to the bone. What a potent and powerful song, both in its lyrics and its delivery. Apparently Gauthier is a recovered alcoholic who grew up in an abusive and alcoholic household. As Bob Dylan so eloquently puts it, “the song plays like a bittersweet farewell to a dangerous lover.”
Long before she carved out her hugely successful pop career with sensual versions of great love songs, the gorgeous voice of Dinah Washington was used to belt out some very suggestive blues numbers. I included the blatantly lascivious ‘Big Slidin’ Thing’ in this week’s show. It finds Washington pining for her absent man who’s apparently proficient with his extraordinary instrument – a trombone people, a trombone! Such a tragedy that Washington would die at 39, after an accidental overdose of prescription diet pills mixed with alcohol.
My Roy Orbison song this week was ‘Mean Woman Blues’, initially recorded by Elvis as part of the soundtrack for his 1957 motion picture, Loving You. Roy recorded it with ‘Blue Bayou’ in 1963, as a 45rpm single and it went to #5 on the Billboard Hot 1oo music charts. I love the line: ‘Well I ain’t braggin’, it’s understood. Everything I do, well I sure do good’. Oh yeah.
Finished the show with Verve’s ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ which, although most listeners might assume is an anti-drugs song, is, in fact, about the father of one of the band members. He was being treated for cancer, the drugs stopped working and he died. Aaargh.
Sorry to end on a bit of a downer. So, let’s get cheerful next week. I overlooked the fact that January 12th (my birthday as well!) was the birthday of Motown. So next week its all things soulful on Theme Park. Hope to have you all listening in. Streaming details at end of this week’s playlist which follows.
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Ian Dury
Minnie The Moocher - Cab Calloway
Dynamite – Cheech and Chong (Comedy clip)
The Old Dope Peddler - Tom Lehrer
Monkey On My Back - Ross Hannaford Trio
Gotta Gimme Whatcha Got - Julia Lee & Her Boy Friends
If it don’t fit - Barrell House Annie
You Took My Thing - C.W. Stoneking
The Girl Can’t Help It - Little Richard
Great Balls Of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
You Can Leave Your Hat On - Joe Cocker
Addicted To Love (with Brian Adams Live) - Tina Turner
Sexbomb - Tom Jones
I Just Want To Make Love To You - Etta James
Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Drug Lists (Movie Clip)
Rehab - Amy Winehouse
Cocaine Habit - Captain Matchbox
Mary Jane - Janis Joplin
I Drink - Mary Gauthier
Rocket - Connie Lee
Big Long Slidin’ Thing - Dinah Washington
Afternoon Delight - Starlight Vocal Band
Itchycoo Park - Small Faces
Mean Woman Blues - Roy Orbison
Burning Love - Elvis Presley
Take a Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - The Beatles
Mother’s Little Helper - The Rolling Stones
Cold Turkey - John Lennon
The Drugs Dont Work - The Verve
Next week: The History of Motown!
Listen to Lyn McCarthy at ‘Theme Park’ on Bay FM 99.9, Tuesdays 2-4pm, Sydney time. Also streaming on http://www.bayfm.org
