Category Archives: Irma Thomas
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
