Category Archives: C.W.Stoneking
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
Opening the show with Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey singing ‘Money, Money, Money’ let everyone know from the get-go what this week’s theme was. Yes, the dirty dollar, the buckaroo, moolah – whatever you want to call it – Money. Depending on your viewpoint, it either makes the world go ’round or its the root of all evil. I tried to offer up songs that would support either theory in a show jam-packed with music from all genres.
First up, Dire Straits with ‘Money For Nothing’, promising all the young dudes that all they need to do is play the guitar on the MTV to get their ‘money for nothing and their chicks for free’. Yeah sure, maybe in the good old days, Mark Knopfler! Then it was onto one of several Beatles songs of the day with ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and a great version of ‘Money’ by The Flying Lizards. Originally written and recorded by Motown musician Barrett Strong, this robotic, unapologetic version has been used in several movie soundtracks, including two of my favourites: The Big Lebowski and Empire Records.
And then it was the song that made the world, especially Australia and
Europe, wild for ABBA. ‘Money, Money, Money’ remained at the top of Australia’s charts for six weeks, and made it to the Top 3 in at least 11 other countries. The Pet Shop Boys offered up their formula for making money, ‘Opportunities’: I’ve got the brains, you’ve got the looks, Let’s make lots of money.” I’m sure plenty of hairbrained schemes were launched on that premise! Back together again, with a new hit album, its worth having a look at the video of the track that differs quite a bit from the album version. The mix on this video seems much better, to my ears anyway.
My Roy Orbison song this week was ‘Uptown’, about a bellhop who yearns for the attention of a gal way out of his league, financially. Van Morrison sang about ‘Blue Money’ and the Steve Miller Band track ‘Take the Money and Run’ kept the country rock fans happy. I love Louis Jordan and his song ‘If You’re So Smart, How Come You Ain’t Rich’ appealed to my sense of humour. Then it was onto Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin for a good dose of Blues/R&B.
New to my show was Gwen Stefani with a number that really suited the theme. ‘Rich Girl’ cheekily adapts ‘If I Were A Rich Man’ from Fiddler on the Roof to great effect. And a little bit of help from Eve on this track, didn’t hurt either. And then it was onto more Beatles with ‘Taxman’ and more Pet Shop Boys, with a great number ‘Rent’ and some Yeah, Yeah Yeahs with ‘Rich’. All leading up to the money anthem of all time: Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ from their 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon. With its money-related sound effects of cash registers, coins and the like, it is perfect. Have a look at the original video clip which is quite a powerful companion to a song which defined the notion: ‘the rich get richer and the poor get poorer’.
Our country section included Lefty Frizzell with his honky -tonk version of ‘If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time’ and The Stanley Brothers with a bit of bluegrass: ‘If I Lose’, about a gambler who can always count on his woman to help him out. Horace Andy delivered a great bit of reggae with Money, Money. According to Horace, money is the root of all evil. He may be right but then again I’m hoping that money can also do some good in this world. (Now all I have to do is convince someone to give me some!)
Janis Joplin, John Lennon and AC/DC led up to the finish line and I closed the show with Massive Attack’s remake of William DeVaughan’s song ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve Got’. And that sums up my message from this week’s show – be thankful for what you’ve got. Yes, the best things in life really are free. And radio is one of those!
Here’s the full playlist for you:
Money, Money – Liza Minnelli/Joel Grey/ Cabaret
Money for Nothing – Dire Straits
Can’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles
Money – The Flying Lizards
Money, money, money – ABBA
Opportunities (Let’s make lots of money) – Pet Shop Boys
Take the Money and Run – Steve Miller Band
Blue Money – Van Morrison
Uptown – Roy Orbison
If You So Smart, How Come You Ain’t Rich – Louis Jordan
I Got A Woman – Ray Charles
Money Won’t Change You – Aretha Frankin
Security – Otis Redding
Rich Girl – Nina Simone
Rich Girl (feat. Eve) – Gwen Stefani
Taxman – The Beatles
Rent – Pet Shop Boys
Rich – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Money – Pink Floyd
No Money – Ernie K Doe and the Blue Diamonds
If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time – Lefty Frizzell
If I Lose – The Stanley Brothers
Rich Woman – Li’l Millet & His Creoles
Rich Mans Blues – C.W. Stoneking
Money Money – Horace Andy
Buy Me A Mercedes Benz – Janis Joplin
Nobody Loves You (when you’re down and out) – John Lennon
Moneytalks – ACDC
You Never Give Me Your Money – The Beatles
Be Thankful For What You’ve Got – Massive Attack
Australia
Australia, Australia, Australia, we love you yes we do….. so sang The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band and it opened our show on the day after Australia Day with just the right amount of respectful parody. The band is based in Melbourne and is centred around singer and multi-instrumentalist Mick Conway (Captain Matchbox) and his brother Jim Conway, who is widely regarded as one of Australia’s finest exponents of the blues harmonica. Inspired by early jazz and jug band music, their songs stand out for their cheeky sense of humour. A great opener which created the perfect mood for a show which, (like Australians really), doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Yes, I too was over all the nationalistic back-slapping and excuse for a mighty piss-up but, what the hell, I’m ready to jump on the band-wagon if it means I get an excuse to play all my favourite Australian music. The show was a mix of new, old, iconic, one-hit wonders and a tear-jerker thrown in for good measure. And, don’t worry Roy Orbison fans, I even found an Orbison cover to close the show with. The far-sighted Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds delivered a great version of ‘Running Scared’.
Talking of iconic, I did play some Easybeats and, of course, AC/DC but, as I told my listeners, the first Australian rock’n’roll performer to tour the United States and make the local Top 40 charts was none other than Johhny O’Keefe. He remains Australia’s most successful chart performer, with twenty-nine Top 40 hits to his credit in Australia between 1959 and 1974. His signature tune, ‘Wild One’ was recorded by Iggy Pop as ‘Real Wild Child’ in 1986. It was also used on the soundtrack for the movie ‘Pretty Woman’ and was covered by Jerry Lee Lewis, Everlife, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Glamour Camp and many others. My favourite in his line-up is ‘She’s My Baby’. Here’s some very rare television footage of him performing “She’s My Baby” on Bandstand in 1965.
The other groundbreakers in the playlist were The Saints. Formed in Brisbane in 1974, they are considered to be one of the first and most influential punk groups. By 1975, at the same time as the Ramones, they were employing the fast tempos, raucous vocals and ‘buzzsaw’ guitar that characterised early punk rock. With their single ‘(I’m) Stranded’, in late 1976, they released a record that was way ahead of better-known punk acts like the Sex Pistols and The Clash. Bob Geldof has been quoted as saying, “Rock music in the Seventies was changed by three bands – The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Saints.”
Thanks to the lovely Linda Airey, publicist to the stars, who visited the studio while she was on holiday in Byron. She’s worked with some some fantastic talent having worked for Virgin in London and Roadshow in Australia and she now heads up her own publicity outfit out of Sydney. Not enough time to get all the dirt out of her, but she’ll be back, or so she threatens.
The two h0urs went way too quickly as usual. Here’s the playlist for you:
Australia – Captain Matchbox
Funky Tonight – John Butler Trio
Paper Aeroplane – Angus & Julia Stone
Good Things Come To Me Now – Karma County
Thunderbirds Are Coming Out – TISM
The Bold And The Beautiful – The Drugs
You Sound Like Louis Burdett – The Whitlams
I Need You Tonight – INXS
Where The Wild Roses Grow – Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue
Lighthouse – The Waifs
Banjo & Violin – The Audreys
Bad Luck Everywhere You Go – C.W. Stoneking
Treaty, Radio Mix – Yothu Yindi
Put Down That Weapon – Midnight Oil
Down River – Wllcannia Mob
Let Me Be – Xavier Rudd
Black Betty – Spiderbait
Woman – Wolfmother
Save The Day – The Living End
She’s My Baby – Johnny O’Keefe
She’s So Fine – The Easybeats
Thunderstruck – ACDC
Punks Not Dead – Darren Hanlon
(I’m) Stranded – The Saints
Pussy Town – Machine Gun Fellatio
Cocaine – The Cruel Sea
Don’t dream its over – Crowded House
Somewhere Over The Rainbow – Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
Running Scared – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Next week is the 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper’s death by plane crash, so next week’s theme is ‘They Died in a Plane Crash’. Think of a playlist with the famous three, as well as Patsy Cline, John Denver, Otis Redding, Stevie Ray Vaughan…..
Tune in to Lyn McCarthy on BayFM 99.9 Tuesdays 2-4pm Sydney time. Also streaming on http://www.bayfm.org
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
Around The World
What with the holiday season just around the corner, it was surely time to do a show that travelled around the world. As usual, never enough time to give a good theme like this its due, but we gave it a good shot. Hardly touched on Europe and never got to the UK, so I can see a show on the Brits looming on the horizon.
Started the show with a bit of bubblegum. Not my usual fare, but the song ‘Around the World’ by Aqua (remember them – “I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world…”) was just such a cute choice to open the show, I couldn’t resist.
Once again I included a song from C.W. Stoneking (Jungle Lullaby). When I first heard him sing I thought, “that’s got to be the bastard child of Tom Waits and Bessy Smith”. And I’m not the only one to have made that kind of comment (Rolling Stone for one). We had the opportunity to compare when I also played Tom’s “Telephone Call From Istanbul”. Both performers use musical personas to great advantage, but for my money Tom has got it all over C.W. (who I love btw).
Tom Waits has such a distinctive voice. It has been described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car.”
The song “Telephone Call From Istanbul” is from his album “Frank’s Wild Years”, which before it was an album, was a musical play co-written by Waits and staged as an off-Broadway musical in 1986. It was directed by the actor Gary Sinese and had a successful run at Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre.
This week’s playlist covered a lot of ground and moved between pop, r&b, jazz, calypso, rock and punk. The Ryan Adams song “New York, New York” is particularly interesting because the music video was shot on September 7, 2001, the week before the September 11, 2001 attacks. The twin towers of the World Trade Centre feature prominently in the background while Adams is in the foreground singing “I’ll Always Love You New York”. It’s not surprising that the clip received a large amount of air time on MTV in the days following the attacks. I’ve included the clip here and then the complete playlist follows.
Around The World – Aqua
Going Loco Down In Acapulco – The Four Tops
Down In Mexico – The Coasters
Tijuana Taxi – Herb Albert
The Boy From Ipanema – Julie London
Jamaica Hurricane – Lord Beginner
Back in the USA – Chuck Berry
Georgia On My Mind – James Brown
Traveling Man – Ricky Nelson
Kansas City – Fats Domino
Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa – Gene Pitney
I Drove All Night – Roy Orbison
If You’re Going to San Francisco – The Byrds
New York, New York – Ryan Adams
Hawaii Aloha – The Strokes
Hawaiian War Chant (Ta-Hu-Wa-Hu-Wai) – Ella Fitzgerald
Hong Kong – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
China Girl – David Bowie
Made In Japan – Buck Owens
Congo Blues – Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
Moby Dick (movie sound bite)
Jungle Lullaby – C.W. Stoneking
Mozambique – Bob Dylan
Under African Skies – Miriam Makeba & Paul Simon
Rock the Casbah – The Clash
Telephone Call from Istanbul – Tom Waits
Never Been To Spain – Three Dog Night
When In Rome – Blossom Dearie
Oh, and I nearly forgot: A recipe for the party season: “Tijuana Taxi Cocktail”
Scale the ingredients to servings.
2 oz Gold tequila
2 oz Blue Curacao liqueur
1 oz tropical-fruit schnapps
lemon-lime soda
Pour tequila, curacao, and schnapps over ice into large highball glass. Fill with lemon-lime soda and garnish with orange slice and a cherry. Enjoy!
Next week: Xmas week (can’t believe it!). The theme will be ‘Eatin’ and Drinkin’.
Lyn McCarthy presents ‘Theme Park’ on BayFM 99.9 between 2-4pm, Eastern Standard Time, Tuesdays and the show streams via http://www.bayfm.org
Summer
Summer time an’ the livin’ is easy, Fish are jumpin’ an’ the cotton is high. Oh, yo’ daddy’s rich, and yo’ ma’ is good-lookin’, So hush, little baby, don’ yo’ cry.
Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward
Oh yeah, Summer is here and where else would you want to be except for beautiful Byron Bay! The weather is amazing right now, averaging about 27 degrees. Lots of holiday-makers in the area and school leavers letting their hair down. Theming the show around Summer was almost too obvious. That’s me on the uke and Mardi, one of our beautiful volunteers getting in the mood, prior to the show.
I was planning on a very lighthearted, pop-dominated program this week but received the sad news on Saturday that one of our Jazz presenters, and long-time BayFM supporters, had died last Friday evening. Peter Katims (fondly known as PK) had been fighting cancer for a number of years and, despite his illness, worked at the station as both a presenter and as part of the management committee right up until his passing. He will be missed. My programming slot, 2-4 Tuesdays, was the original time that he presented his program, ‘All That Jazz’, so I really wanted to honour him during the show. You will find a number of fine jazz tunes, and a couple of my own favourite non-jazz tunes, in the playlist that were dedicated to him. Although I only knew PK for a short time, I know that he would have hated a lot of fuss and ‘BS’ and would have expected us to get on with the job. So I hope that my Summer show also celebrates what he loved: good music and good community radio.
So, without further ado, here’s the playlist. An * denotes that the song was dedicated to PK:
Summertime – Billy Stewart
*Blue Skies – Ella Fitzgerald
*Too Darn Hot – Ann Miller
*Watermelon Man – Julie London
Groovin’ – The Young Rascals
Feels Like Summer – Al Green
Summerfling – k.d. lang
Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
Wipeout – Surfaris
Surf City – Jan and Dean
All summer long – The Beach Boys
California Sun – Joe Jones
Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran
Under the Boardwalk – The Drifters
My Girl – Temptations
Summer in the City – The Lovin Spoonful
Summer Breeze – Seals & Crofts
In The Summertime – Mungo Jerry
Ice Cream Man – Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers
Too hot – Prince Buster
*When Sunny Gets Blue – Anita O’Day
Jambalaya (On The Bayou) – Hank Williams
Blue Bayou – Roy Orbison
The Boys of Summer – Don Henley
Hawaii Five-O Theme – The Ventures
Surfin’ Safari – The Beach Boys
Good Day Sunshine – The Beatles
*I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash
*Sunny – Bobby Hebb
Finally, here’s some vision of Ella Fitzgerald. Bye PK.
Next week I’m thinking I might do ‘Around the World’. Let me know if you have any suggestions of songs that mention a particular part of the world, or travelling in general.
Theme Park airs on BayFM 99.9 Tuesdays 2-4pm Eastern Standard Time. Streaming on http://www.bayfm.org
