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BAD WEATHER
The weather has been in the news, more than usual of late, what with hurricanes, tornadoes and our own Lennox Head being declared a national disaster area after a mini tornado destroyed homes and caused chaos to this beautiful little coastal town. What’s a girl to do but to create a playlist around BAD WEATHER?
We opened the show with a request from Robyn: the incredibly seductive BABY ITS COLD OUTSIDE by Ray Charles and Betty Carter. The song could just as easily fitted into our Sexy Songs list for last week, but glad we held it over.
Now when it comes to songs about the weather, rain seems to be the metaphor of choice. It can describe heartache or happiness, and lots more in-between. The Ronettes daydream about the qualities that make up the perfect boyfriend on WALKING IN THE RAIN. However, the Walker Brothers – with their remake of Frankie Valli’s THE SUN AIN’T GONNA SHINE ANYMORE – see bad weather as a symbol of loneliness. Either way, two great songs. Here’s a blast from the past for all you baby boomers, the Walker Brothers on Ready, Steady, Go in 1966:
Next it was Status Quo with RAIN from their Blue for You album, released in 1976. The track was originally intended for the album On The Level, but at the time of the recording sessions Rick Parfitt had not completed the song and so it was held over to the band’s next release.
Shirley Manson only seems to be happy when she’s miserable in the Garbage song I’M ONLY HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS. Fitting then that we followed with the Prince of Darkness himself, Nick Cave. The song TUPELO, with its great sound effects and talk of black clouds, was also a perfect fit for a show on Bad Weather.
A great song that carries an emotional whallop is LOUISIANA 1927, a devastating account of the great Mississippi floods, which has become identified with the more recent Hurricane Katrina. Written, and originally recorded by Randy Newman, Aaron Neville’s version is sublime. Here he is performing at the Concert for Hurricane Relief in 2008:
We followed with the great Muddy Waters and BLOW WIND BLOW and then it was Leon Russell with a cover of the Bob Dylan classic, A HARD RAINS A GONNA FALL. This track was requested by for Judi, listening in Cairns, where they know a little bit about a rainy season. The song STORMY WEATHER is one of my favourites. Written and originally recorded in 1933, its been covered by all the greats, but I do particularly like the Etta James version that we played this week.
The inspiration for RAIN, by the Beatles – according to Neil Aspinall, the Beatles roadie, and John Lennon – was Australia’s own weather. Apparently when they arrived here to tour, the weather was so bad that Lennon was quoted as saying that: “I’ve never seen rain as hard as that.” He went on to say that RAIN was “about people moaning about the weather all the time”. Three promotional films were made for the song. These videos, along with other Beatles videos at the time, sparked George Harrison to say during the Beatles Anthology, “So I suppose, in a way, we invented MTV”.
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers track SNOW may not be about the kind of snow that makes cute little snowmen, but it is a great song in any case. Its from the Stadium Arcadium album. And while we’re talking of metaphor, Tom Waits has a lot to say about the weather on EMOTIONAL WEATHER REPORT. The track is featured on the album Nighthawks at the Diner, recorded in 1975. The title was inspired by Edward Hopper’s 1942 painting Nighthawks. Here’s Tom performing the song at the Rockpalast in Koln, West Germany in 1977:
Irma Thomas is quite rightfully called “the Soul Queen of New Orleans” and she has several songs about the weather that fitted the bill, but none better, in my opinion, than ITS RAINING SO HARD. We followed with Bill Withers and AIN’T NO SUNSHINE WHEN SHE’S GONE. Neil Young was lucky enough to get some help on harmonies from the wonderful Nicolette Larsen on FOUR STRONG WINDS. Larsen, who died in 1997, had a big hit with a cover of Young’s LOTTA LOVE in 1978.
I couldn’t do a show on Bad Weather and not include AC/DC’s THUNDERSTRUCK. Rumour is that the song was inspired by Angus Young’s hair-raising experience when a plane he was on was struck by lightning. Not sure if that’s true or not.
What I do know is that Natalie Merchant and the 10,000 Maniacs “get a shiver in their bones” just thinking about the climate conditions on LIKE THE WEATHER. We followed with Blur and THIS IS A LOW, which was inspired by, of all things, a shipping forecast.
Back to some rock with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s HAVE YOU SEEN THE RAIN and a song for Alex in Sydney, and all the other Deep Purple fans, STORMBRINGER.
When it comes to R&B, The Temptations just want the weather to match their mood on I WISH IT WOULD RAIN but Anne Peebles finds the weather brings back unwanted memories of a past love on I CAN’T STAND THE RAIN.
I love the infectious tone of Bob Dylan’s RAINY DAY WOMEN, which is matched by the very excellent COLD COLD FEELING from T-Bone Walker. As much as I was enjoying myself, we closed the show with The Doors and RIDERS ON THE STORM. The song was inspired by the song “Ghost Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend”. It incorporates real sound effects of thunder and rain, along with Ray Manzarek’s Fender Rhodes electric piano playing, which emulates the sound of rain. Good stuff.
The topic for next week’s show is a doozy. They say success is the best revenge, but, when it comes to musos a bitchy payback song seems to fit the bill. I thing we’ll have a lot of fun with our playlist of REVENGE SONGS, so I hope you’ll join me then. And if you have any suggestions for the playlist please get in touch. It’s always great to have your input.
Here’s this week’s playlist:
Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Soulful Christmas, Ray Charles & Betty Carter
Walking In The Rain – Phil Spector Wall of Sound Vol. 1 – The Ronettes
The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore – Walker Brothers
Rain – Blue For You, Status Quo
I’m Only Happy When It Rains – Garbage, Garbage
Tupelo – The Best Of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Louisiana 1927 – Warm Your Heart, Aaron Neville
Blow Wind Blow – Baby Please Don’t Go, Muddy Waters
A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall – Remember the Titans (Movie Soundtrack), Leon Russell
Frosty – Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues – A Musical Journey, Albert Collins
Stormy Weather – At Last!, Etta James
Rain – Past Masters Volume Two, The Beatles
Snow ((Hey Oh)) – Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Emotional Weather Report – Nighthawks at the Diner, Tom Waits
It’s Raining So Hard – Irma Thomas
Ain’t no Sunshine – Bill Withers
Four Strong Winds – Comes a Time, Neil Young
Thunderstruck – The Razors Edge, ACDC
Like The Weather – MTV Unplugged, 10,000 Maniacs
This Is A Low – Parklife, Blur
Have You Ever Seen The Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Stormbringer – Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple, Deep Purple
I Wish It Would Rain – My Girl: The Very Best Of The Tempations [Disc 1], The Temptations
I Can’t Stand The Rain – I Can’t Stand The Rain, Ann Peebles
Rainy Day Women – Forrest Gump (Movie Soundtrack), Bob Dylan
Cold Cold Feeling – The Talkin Guitar (The Best Of), T-Bone Walker
Riders on the storm – The Doors (movie soundtrack), The Doors
Next week: REVENGE SONGS
Listen to Lyn McCarthy at the Theme Park on BayFM, Tuesdays 4-6pm, Sydney time
Tragically also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/maccalyn
SHELTER
This week’s theme is ostensibly about shelter which in the dictionary sense is a building. But it’s hard to express a real sense of bricks and mortar in a song. Let’s face it, do you learn anything about being in jail from Jailhouse Rock? Convincing songs about buildings, or shelters, are really songs about the people who find themselves in them, by design or not.
We started this week’s playlist with music’s most famous home away from home – Elvis Presley’s HEARTBREAK HOTEL. You’ll find it down at the end of Lonely Street. We followed with Lucinda Williams who gets a little bit of help from Elvis Costello. He’s a three-time loser and consequently she’s got a case of JAILHOUSE TEARS. The track is from the very excellent ‘Little Honey’ album.
The Rolling Stones’ GIMME SHELTER is usually associated with the Vietnam War (it was released on the 1969 album Let It Bleed). The lyrics, which speak of seeking shelter from a coming storm, painting a picture of devastation and disaster but it also talks of the power of love. We followed with a fantastic Irish singer, Mary Coughlan with a song about prostitution: THE HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE.
Aretha Franklin funks up Hal David’s lyric, “a-house-is-not-a-home” on THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT and we followed with The Temptations, who prove that even Motown wasn’t immune to the Psychadelic era with PSYCHEDELIC SHACK.
Can you believe that Bob Dylan has turned 69? Yikes. We wished him happy birthday for May 24 with SHELTER FROM THE STORM. The Housemartins’ swansong was a song called BUILD, about the widespread construction in the 1980s that spelt disaster for working-class communities.
A nice change of tone came from the gorgeous Julie London who wants you to COME ON A MY HOUSE. And she’s got candy. How good is that?
MANSION ON THE HILL is a Neil Young song from his 1990 album ‘Ragged Glory’. The clip is an absolute hoot. Enjoy.
Norwegian singer/songwriter, Ane Brun, who recently toured Europe with Peter Gabriel, sings a great song about shelter called THE TREEHOUSE SONG. The Basement Jaxx song TAKE ME BACK TO YOUR HOUSE first appeared on their 2006 album ‘Crazy Itch Radio’. The album features Swedish popster Robyn among the guest vocalists. Another interesting video too:
Irma Thomas sent us a great message about the emotional refuge that a true friend can give you during hard times in the song SHELTER IN THE RAIN. Jimi Hendrix sings about his house on the hill; He’s got a bad, bad feeling his baby don’t live there no more. But, as he so eloquently puts it, ‘That’s Ok cause I’ve still got my guitar”. The song is RED HOUSE.
Blur had a big hit with a song that tapped into a common ideal of escaping the rat race and living in a COUNTRY HOUSE.
A SUGAR SHACK refers to a small building n which maple syrup is processed. Its also the name of a song written in 1962 by Keith McCormack and his aunt Fay Voss. It was a hit for Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs but I preferred to play the Ricky Nelson version.
Two songs that link houses with fire, at least metaphorically, are Natalie Merchant’s THIS HOUSE IS ON FIRE and BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE by Talking Heads.
Arguably the most idiosyncratic song in the playlist this week would be Mmmmm… SKYSCRAPER I LOVE YOU by Underworld, otherwise known to their Mums as Karl Hyde and Rick Smith. Not quite Kraftwerk, but still lots of fun.
The Rapture put a cowbell to good use in their very catchy dance-punk number, HOUSE OF JEALOUS LOVERS:
Elvis Costello celebrated the amazing art deco Hoover factory, that welcomes drivers entering London on the Western Avenue, in HOOVER FACTORY. While David Byrne, revisiting themes from his Talking Heads days, gave us GLASS, CONCRETE & STONE. It’s about a weary worker whose residence is “a house, not a home”. There’s that Hal David lyric again.
The ultimate shelter song for Byron Bay, with our own iconic lighthouse is, of course, THE LIGHTHOUSE SONG from Josh Pyke.
We finished the show on an upbeat note with the B-52s and LOVE SHACK. The song’s inspiration was a cabin in Georgia, complete with tin roof, where the band conceived “Rock Lobster”, a single from their first album. B-52’s singer Kate Pierson lived in the cabin in the 1970s, and the cabin existed until 2004, when it burned down in a fire.
The topic for next week’s show was requested some time ago by Nicole, but I’ve been waiting until I’m in the right mood. The theme is SEXY SONGS. Now I’m not suggesting that this is a playlist to have sex to. To be honest I don’t think I want to know what other people listen to in bed! Not all the songs will even be about sex, but they will have an erotic charge to them. And, yes, I know its all incredibly subjective but, hey, every week’s show is. And I may just have a very interesting giveaway for you too. This is one that shouldn’t be missed!
Here’s this week’s complete playlist:
Heartbreak Hotel – The 50 Greatest Hits (Disc 1), Elvis Presley
Jailhouse Tears – Little Honey, Lucinda Williams (with Elvis Costello)
Gimme Shelter – Hot Rocks, 1964-1971 [Disc 2], The Rolling Stones
The House of Ill Repute – Mary Coughlan
The House That Jack Built – 20 Greatest Hits, Aretha Franklin
Psychedelic Shack – My Girl: The Very Best Of The Temptations [Disc 2], The Temptations
Shelter From The Storm – Blood On The Tracks, Bob Dylan
Build – The Beautiful South & The Housemartins, The Housemartins
Come On -A My House – Swing Me An Old Song, Julie London
Rock House – Ultra Lounge, The Ernie Freeman Combo
Mansion On The Hill – Ragged Glory, Neil Young
The Treehouse Song – Ane Brun
Take Me Back To Your House – Triple J 14, Basement Jaxx
Shelter in the Rain – After the Rain, Irma Thomas
Red House – Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues, Jimi Hendrix
Country House – Blur
Sugar Shack – Ricky Nelson
This House Is on Fire – Motherland, Natalie Merchant
Burning Down The House – Classic MTV – Class of 1983, Talking Heads
Mmm.. Skyscraper I Love You – Underworld
House of Jealous Lovers – Echoes, The Rapture
Glass, Concrete & Stone – Grown Backwards, David Byrne
Hoover Factory – Get Happy!! Elvis Costello
The Lighthouse Song – Triple J Hottest 100, Vol. 16 [Disc 2], Josh Pyke
Love Shack – B-52s
Next week: SEXY SONGS
Listen to Lyn McCarthy at the Theme Park on BayFM, Tuesdays 4-6pm, Sydney time
Tragically also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/maccalyn
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