News for October 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #19 – Steve Miller Band: “The Joker” b/w “Something To Believe In” – Capitol 45 RPM Single 3732 (S2/T2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #19 – Steve Miller Band: “The Joker” b/w “Something To Believe In” – Capitol 45 RPM Single 3732 (S2/T2)

“The Jukebox Series” focuses on the 80 records that inhabit my 1963 Seeburg LPC1 jukebox. I’ve had my jukebox (or as I like to call it “the prehistoric iPod”) for a little over twelve years and in that time I’d like to think that I’ve perfected the mix of 45s within.

By the time of their “The Joker” single, The Steve Miller Band were five years and seven albums into a career that spawned only four chart singles, the highest being “Living In The U.S.A.” which charted at a paltry #49 when reissued in 1972. (It only reached #94 when originally issued as a single in 1968.) Something had to change, or The Steve Miller Band would find themselves without a recording contract.

Salvation came in the form of the group’s 1973 album The Joker, where they abandoned their psychedelic blues-based ways for a more concise, radio-ready approach, resulting in the title track and today’s Song Of The Day topping the charts, with the album climbing to the #2 position on its heels.

The band consisted of Steve Miller on guitar and vocals, Gerald Johnson on bass, Dick Thompson on keyboards and John King on drums, with Lonnie Turner (bass) and “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow (pedal steel) making guest appearances on various tracks. It was Miller who gave the song its biggest hook with his screaming whistle-like guitar figure that repeats throughout the song.

Miller described his inspiration for “The Joker” to British magazine Mojo in 2012: “I got this funny, lazy, sexy little tune, but it didn’t come together until a party in Novato, north of San Francisco. I sat on the hood of a car under the stars with an acoustic guitar making up lyrics and ‘I’m a joker, I’m a smoker, ‘I’m a midnight toker’ came out. My chorus! The ‘some people call me the space cowboy’ and ‘the gangster of love’ referred to earlier songs of mine and so did ‘Maurice’ and ‘the propitious of love.’ You don’t have to use words. It was just a goof.”

The lyric “Some people call me the space cowboy” came from the 1969 song “Space Cowboy” originally on the Brave New World album, “Some call me the gangster of love” refers to the track “Gangster Of Love” on the Sailor album, and several references were derived from the song “Enter Maurice” on the group’s 1972 album Recall The Beginning…A Journey From Eden. That song contained the name Maurice, the name of the central character in “The Joker,” and the phrase “pompitous of love” got its first airing there as well.

The song’s famous use of the word “pompitous” also has interesting origins. “Pompitous” is actually a real word as defined by The Oxford English Dictionary as “to act with pomp and splendor.” However, when Miller used the word in the line “Cause I speak of the pompitous of love,” he misheard it from the 1954 Medallions’ single “The Letter,” where it appears in the following line: “Let me whisper sweet words of dismortality, and discuss the “puppetutes” of love.” Vernon Green, who wrote “The Letter,” defined his made-up word “puppetutes” as “A secret paper-doll fantasy figure who would be my everything and bear my children.” (Song Facts)

The song also borrows the line “You’re the cutest thing I ever did see / I really love your peaches wanna shake your tree / Lovey dovey, lovey dovey all the time” from The Clovers’ 1954 #2 hit “Lovey Dovey” which was written by former Atlantic label chief Ahmet Ertegun. Ertegun later successfully sued Miller for plagiarism. Miller: “To me, it was an old blues double entendre, but I had to give him credit. I don’t mind having Ahmet’s name beside mine though.” (Song Facts)

While today’s Jukebox Classic topped the US charts in 1974, it didn’t chart until 1990 in the UK when it topped their charts after it soundtracked a Levi’s Jeans TV commercial. The flip of today’s jukebox classic is “Something To Believe In” which was an album cut from The Joker.

Edited: October 31st, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #18 – Richard Harris: “MacArthur Park” b/w “Didn’t We” – Dunhill 45 RPM Single D-4134 (O2/P2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #18 – Richard Harris: “MacArthur Park” b/w “Didn’t We” – Dunhill 45 RPM Single D-4134 (O2/P2)

Along with Glen Campbell and Art Garfunkel, Richard Harris was one of a handful of great interpreters of the songs of Jim Webb. When he wasn’t acting in films like A Man Called Horse, Camelot and, of course playing the part of Albus Dumbledore in the first few Harry Potter films, he made records. While most of his records were dreadful, his first album of Jim Webb songs called A Tramp Shining was a winner, including today’s jukebox classic “MacArthur Park.”

Who knows what was really going on in songwriter Jimmy Webb’s mind when he wrote the somewhat nonsensical lyrics to this song, but one thing for sure is that it is a classic brought to the upper regions of the charts not once, but twice.

The song has its roots in a twenty minute cantata that Webb wrote that ended with “MacArthur Park.” When the cantata was offered to producer Bones Howe for The Association to record, the group declined because they didn’t want to give up that big a chunk of their album to such a long track.

The inspiration for the song came from a breakup between Jim Webb and Susan Horton who worked across the street from MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles where the two would meet for lunch. The very same relationship also spawned Webb’s song “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.”

The “cake in the rain” lyric of the song was recently explained by Colin McCourt who used to work for the publisher of the song. When Webb heard that Susan Horton was getting married in MacArthur Park, he attended the wedding but hid in a gardener’s shed so as not to be noticed by the bride. It began to pour during the ceremony and Webb saw the wedding cake through the rain running off the roof of the shed and it looked like it was melting.

The track was recorded at Armin Steiner’s Sound Recorders in Hollywood with backing from members of the Wrecking Crew including Hal Blaine on drums, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Joe Osborn on bass and Mike Deasy on guitar, along with Jim Webb on harpsichord.

During the recording, Webb kept correcting Harris who continually uses the possessive form “MacArthur’s Park” throughout the song. After a while, Webb realized it was futile and let Harris have his way, resulting in many subsequent covers of the song carrying the incorrect possessive form in the lyrics. Like The Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” the single was also one of the longer songs to hit the top-ten of the singles charts during the late 1960s, clocking in at over seven minutes. The song also won a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement for Accompanying Vocalist in 1969.

The single was released in 1968 and reached the number two slot on the charts. It was subsequently covered by artists as diverse as Donna Summer (who took it to the top of the charts in 1978 with her disco version), Frank Sinatra, Waylon Jennings, Liza Minnelli, The 5th Dimension, The Supremes, Justin Hayward (of The Moody Blues), Ferrante & Teicher, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman and “Weird Al” Yankovic, who parodied it with his version “Jurassic Park.”

The flip of the single, “Didn’t We” was the opening track to A Tramp Shining, Harris’ album of Jim Webb compositions. Reviewer Bruce Eder had the following to say about this song: “Harris treaded onto Frank Sinatra territory here, and he did it with a voice not remotely as good or well trained as his, yet he pulled it off by sheer bravado and his ability as an actor, coupled with his vocal talents.” (Allmusic) The song was covered by a whole host of pop vocalists during the sixties and seventies including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Thelma Houston, Matt Monroe and Jim Webb.

Edited: October 30th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #17 – Nancy Sinatra: “These Boots Are Made For Walking” b/w “Sugar Town” – Rhino/Collectables 45 RPM Single 033 (M2/N2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #17 – Nancy Sinatra: “These Boots Are Made For Walking” b/w “Sugar Town” – Rhino/Collectables 45 RPM Single 033 (M2/N2)

Talent doesn’t always run in the family, but back in the late 1960s a lesser talent was matched with the likes of producer, arranger and all-around Svengali Lee Hazelwood, and solid gold was minted. Case in point is today’s Jukebox classic, “These Boots Are Made For Walking” by Nancy Sinatra.

Let’s face it, Nancy Sinatra would have never received the breaks she got in the music business had it not been for her iconic father, Frank Sinatra and his record label. That’s not to say that Nancy Sinatra is untalented. She possesses a passable voice, and during the 1960s she wasn’t too hard to look at either.

Today’s Song Of The Day was written and produced by Lee Hazlewood who encouraged Sinatra to sing the song as if she were “a sixteen year old girl who fucks truck drivers.” Hazlewood had originally intended to record the song himself, but the song worked much better coming from the perspective of a woman. (Perhaps, not coming from a 16 year old girl, but certainly an empowered woman.) Sinatra: “The image created by ‘Boots’ isn’t the real me. ‘Boots’ was hard and I’m as soft as they come.” (Quote from Song Facts) That said, the song established Nancy Sinatra as a no-nonsense, take no prisoners kind of artist, and it ultimately went on to sell over six million copies worldwide.

Sinatra was no fly-by-night artist and during her career, she managed to land 10 hits on the Billboard charts including “How Does That Grab You Darlin’,” “Friday’s Child,” the Lee Hazelwood duets “Summer Wine,” “Jackson,” “Oh, Lonesome Me” and “Some Velvet Morning,” “You Only Live Twice,” and her chart topping duet with her famous father “Somethin’ Stupid.” And even though she was signed to her father’s Reprise record label, she was still in danger of being dropped from her contract.

Lee Hazlewood: “When ‘Boots’ was #1 in half the countries in the world, Nancy came over to my house, and she was crying. She said, ‘They didn’t pick up on my option at Reprise and they said I owed them $12,000.’ I said, ‘You’re kidding, we’ve got the biggest record in the world.’ I rang my lawyer in New York and I rang Nancy the next day and said, ‘How would you like $1 million? I’ve got 3 labels that are offering that for you right now and I can get something pretty good for myself as well.’ She talked to her father and he said she could write her own contract with Reprise – after all she was selling more records than him at the time.” (Quotes from 1000 UK #1 Hits via Song Facts.)

Wrecking Crew stalwarts including Al Casey, Tommy Tedesco and Billy Strange (guitar), Carole Kaye (electric bass), Hal Blaine (drums), Don Randi (keyboards), Chuck Berghofer (string bass) and Ollie Mitchell, Roy Caton and Lew McCreary (horns) were all present and accounted for on the session that gave us this number one hit in February of 1966. A video was also shot for the song to be played on “Scopitone Video Jukeboxes,” and in 1966 and 1967, Sinatra traveled to Vietnam to perform the song for the troops, who adopted it as their unofficial anthem.

So what ever became of the boots that Sinatra wears on the cover of the Boots album? The now-famous boots were made into table lamps that sit on either side of Sinatra’s couch at home.

The flip of today’s double A-sided single, “Sugar Town” climbed to the #5 position on the pop charts in December of 1966, and also reached the top slot on the Easy Listening charts in January of 1967. The song appeared on the follow-up album to Boots called Sugar, and was also performed on Sinatra’s Movin’ With Nancy TV special in 1967.

As light and innocuous as it may seem, “Sugar Town” was actually written about taking LSD, Hazelwood: “I was in a folk club in LA which had two levels. I could see these kids lining up sugar cubes and they had an eye-dropper and were putting something on them. I wasn’t a doper so I didn’t know what it was but I asked them. It was LSD and one of the kids said, ‘You know, it’s kinda Sugar Town.’ Nancy knew what the song was about because I told her, but luckily Reprise didn’t.” (Quote from Song Facts.)

Edited: October 29th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #16 – The Beatles: “Paperback Writer” b/w “Rain” – Capitol 45 RPM Single 5651 (K2/L2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #16 – The Beatles: “Paperback Writer” b/w “Rain” – Capitol 45 RPM Single 5651 (K2/L2)

We’ve hit ground zero for classic singles! It really doesn’t get any better than the coupling of “Paperback Writer” and “Rain” on a single slab of 45RPM vinyl. And, the single wasn’t even intended to be a double A-side, it just worked out that way on the strength of the material.

Both songs were cut during the sessions for Revolver in which The Beatles began to spread their creative wings and experiment in the studio. “Paperback Writer” was recorded with a boosted bass sound because Lennon wanted to emulate the bass sound on a Wilson Pickett record he liked. It was also cut much louder than other singles of its time to make its searing guitar riff stand out on the radio, and as a result, the song topped the charts in 1966.

The lyrics were in response to a comment that McCartney’s Aunt Lil made to him challenging him to write a song that wasn’t about love. Paul: “Years ago my Auntie Lil said to me, ‘Why can’t you ever write about a horse or the summit conference or something interesting?’ So I thought, All right, Auntie Lil. I’ll show you.”

The song is written in the form of a letter from an author to his publisher talking about a book he’s written based on “a man named Lear.” Lear was Edward Lear, a Victorian painter who wrote poems and prose whom John Lennon admired. Paperback books were seen to be a cut-rate second cousin to hardcover books which were looked upon as works of art, so the writer in the song is only striving to be a paperback writer. During the song, Lennon and Harrison interpolate the French nursery rhyme, “Frere Jaques” as a counter melody.

The “meat and dolls” photo that graced first pressings of the Yesterday And Today album was originally taken to promote this single in the trades, and a promotional film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg was created showing the Fabs traipsing around an English garden.

On the flip, is “Rain,” one of The Beatles’ all-time greatest tracks exemplifying the amount of experimentation the group were putting into their recordings of the time. “Rain’s” backing track was recorded faster than normal and played back at a slightly slower speed giving the record a psychedelic off-kilter feel. Conversely, Lennon’s vocals were recorded at a slightly slower speed and sped up during playback making his vocals sound slightly higher than normal.

The song also features one of the first uses of backwards vocals on a rock record. Lennon: “After we’d done the session on that particular song—it ended at about four or five in the morning—I went home with a tape to see what else you could do with it. And I was sort of very tired, you know, not knowing what I was doing, and I just happened to put it on my own tape recorder and it came out backwards. And I liked it better. So that’s how it happened.”

The backwards vocal at the end fade out is actually the songs first line: “When the rain comes they run and hide their heads.” Beatles engineer, Geoff Emerick said “From that point on, almost every overdub we did on Revolver had to be tried backwards as well as forwards.”

The song reached number 23 on the charts as a B-side, and Ringo Starr considers his drumming on the track to be his best recorded performance. The single’s picture sleeve inadvertently depicted Lennon and Harrison playing left handed because Capitol’s art department mistakenly reversed their photos.

Three videos were created to promote “Rain,” directed again by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. (Lindsay-Hogg first worked with the group on the set of Ready Steady Go several years earlier.) One was filmed at Chiswick House in London and shows The Beatles walking and singing in a garden, while the other two feature the band performing on a soundstage.

Edited: October 28th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #15 – Tommy James & The Shondells: “Hanky Panky” b/w “It’s Only Love” – Collectables Roulette Reissue 45 RPM Single COL-0261 (I2/J2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #15 – Tommy James & The Shondells: “Hanky Panky” b/w “It’s Only Love” – Collectables Roulette Reissue 45 RPM Single COL-0261 (I2/J2)

Today’s song was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich under the name The Raindrops, in twenty minutes as a quickie B-side to the 1963 single “That Boy John.” Jeff Barry: “As far as I was concerned it was a terrible song. In my mind it wasn’t written to be a song, just a B-side.”

Tommy Jackson sneaked into a club at the age of 13 and heard a local group perform “Hanky Panky,”and after seeing its effect on the crowd, decided that he also wanted to record the song. Jackson and his group The Shondells recorded the song at their local radio station in Niles, Michigan. It was then released on the tiny Snap label and got local airplay before fading into obscurity. Meanwhile, the Shondells went their separate ways after graduating from high school.

Two years later, Bob Mack, a Pittsburgh promoter started to play the single at dance parties and it began to get local radio play and gain in popularity. Demand for the record began to take off and bootleggers got into the game making up to 80,000 illicit copies of the record to meet the demand. Pittsburgh DJ “Mad Mike” Metro contacted Tommy and asked him if he would like to come perform the song for fans, however he no longer had a band. He was matched with a local band called The Raconteurs consisting of Joe Kessler (guitar), Ron Rosman (keyboards), George Magura (saxophone), Mike Vale (bass), and Vinnie Pietropaoli (drums), and they became The Shondells, and young Tommy Jackson changed his name to Tommy James.

Record companies like Atlantic, Columbia, Epic and Kama Sutra lined up to sign the group, but the small independent Roulette label ended up signing them. Roulette was owned by Morris Levy who had reported ties to the mob.

Tommy James: “One by one all the record companies started calling up and saying, ‘Look, we gotta pass.’ I said, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ ‘Sorry, we take back our offer. We can’t…’ There was about six of them in a row. And so we didn’t know what in the world was going on. And finally Jerry Wexler over at Atlantic leveled with us and said, Look, Morris Levy and Roulette called up all the other record companies and said, ‘This is my freakin’ record.’ (laughs) And scared ‘em all away – even the big corporate labels. And so that should have been the dead giveaway right there. So we were apparently gonna be on Roulette Records.”

The single hit the number one position on the charts in 1966. The flip side of this reissue single was the title track to Tommy James & The Shondells’ 1966 album It’s Only Love, written by Morris Levy, Ritchie Cordell, and Sal Trimachi. The song reached number 31 on the Billboard pop singles charts in 1966.

Tommy James and the Shondells became one of the most commercially successful singles groups of the 1960s, selling millions of record and placing bubblegum classics like “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Mony, Mony,” “Crimson And Clover,” “Sweet Cherry Wine” and “Crystal Blue Persuasion” onto the upper echelon of the charts.

However, things came to a dramatic end in March of 1970, when the group played their last concert together in Birmingham, Alabama. As James was leaving the stage, he collapsed and was initially pronounced dead after suffering a bad reaction to drugs. The band continued to tour without James for a time under the name Hog Heaven, while he retired to the country to recuperate.

While recuperating, James wrote and produced the million-selling single “Tighter, Tighter” for the group Alive And Kickin’ which reached #7 on the Billboard singles chart, and followed it with his biggest solo hit, “Draggin’ The Line.”

NOTE: Why, oh why isn’t the studio version of “Hanky Panky” available on YouTube? You can get most all of The Shondells other classic singles in all their original glory, but for “Hanky Panky” we can only get recent live versions. That said, Tommy James still has IT!! Here’s a version of “Crimson And Clover” that goes into “Hanky Panky.” Sit back and rewind to the sounds of Tommy James!

Edited: October 26th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #14 – Marty Robbins: “El Paso” b/w “A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation)” – Columbia 45 RPM Single 4-33013 (G2/H2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #14 – Marty Robbins: “El Paso” b/w “A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation)” – Columbia 45 RPM Single 4-33013 (G2/H2)

It wasn’t too long ago that I posted a brief piece on Marty Robbins’ recording of “El Paso” in conjunction with the last episode of Breaking Bad. It was great to see the song gain all kinds of new popularity on the heels of its use in the show. Today’s double A-sided Jukebox classic duplicates some of what I posted before, plus adds information about the equally big song on the flip of this single, “A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation).”

Marty Robbins was a singer/songwriter who had dabbled in Rockabilly, Pop and Country recordings. Back in 1959, America was having a love affair with the Wild West with shows like Gunsmoke and The Riflemen lighting up millions of TV screens. It was against this backdrop that Robbins released the album Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs featuring today’s self-penned jukebox classic “El Paso.” It was by far one of the most compelling story songs of its time, buoyed by the great guitar work of Grady Martin with background vocals by The Glaser Brothers.

The record was easily twice as long as any other record to hit the radio airwaves, yet it managed to top both the Pop and Country charts. Later on, it was widely covered by rock groups like X, Meat Puppets and the Grateful Dead, who made it a staple of their concert sets from the early 1970s on.

The flip of today’s double A-sided single is “A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation),” another Marty Robbins smash that reached number one on the country charts, yet only number two on the pop charts in 1958. The song was written by Robbins after seeing a group of high school students all dressed up for their prom dates. The track was produced by Ray Conniff , the purveyor of dozens of easy listening vocal albums from the ‘50s and ‘60s, who was charged with making sure the record would cross over to the pop charts. (Mission accomplished!) In 1973, Jimmy Buffett paid homage to Robbins and this song by titling one of his albums A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Crustacean).

Robbins, a race car enthusiast, went on to place 47 records in the Top Ten of the Country charts and to record several more Gunfighter Ballad albums before his death in 1982 at the age of 57.

Edited: October 24th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #13 – Stevie Wonder: “Superstition” b/w “Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)” – Motown 45 RPM Single Y559F (E2/F2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #13 – Stevie Wonder: “Superstition” b/w “Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)” – Motown 45 RPM Single Y559F (E2/F2)

The A-Side of today’s double A-sided jukebox single was the lead single from Stevie Wonder’s landmark album Talking Book. Jeff Beck guested on the album playing guitar on the song “Looking For Another Pure Love.” While in the studio, Beck came up with the drum pattern that kicks “Superstition” into motion. From there, Wonder added the funky clavinet riff that runs through the song and a classic was born. After Wonder wrote the song, he offered it to Beck to record.

In the meantime, Motown chief Berry Gordy heard Wonder’s version and immediately knew it was a surefire smash and pressured Wonder to release it as a single before Beck could commit his version to tape. “Superstition” went on to become Wonder’s second chart-topping hit, his first since “Fingertips” hit the top of the charts in 1963. Jeff Beck was given the song “Because We’ve Ended As Lovers” as a consolation prize which he recorded for his 1975 album Blow By Blow. Beck later recorded Wonder’s “Superstition” with his group Beck, Bogart & Appice.

When Wonder turned 21, he renegotiated his contract with Motown Records giving him total control over his music with increased royalties and publishing. The first fruit of his negotiation was the album Music Of My Mind that included “Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You),” the flip side of today’s double-A sided jukebox classic.

The song was one of the first tracks that Wonder worked on with Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff who invented the TONTO (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) synthesizer and recorded under the name Tonto’s Expanding Head Band. Margouleff: “Stevie showed up [at our studio] with the TONTO LP under his arm. He said, ‘I don’t believe this was all done on one instrument. Show me the instrument.’ He was always talking about seeing. So we dragged his hands all over the instrument, and he thought he’d never be able to play it. But we told him we’d get it together for him.” The duo would go on to help shape the recording of Wonder’s Talking Book, Innervisions and Fullfillingness’ First Finale albums.

Wonder is heard playing all of the instruments on the record including the TONTO, except for the electric guitar which was played by Buzz Feiten and the trumpet and saxophone played respectively by Steve Madaio and Trevor Laurence.

The song clocked in at over eight minutes in its original guise on the Music Of My Mind album and was about former Motown secretary and Wonder’s first wife Syreeta Wright. The lyric “trying to boss the bull around” is about Syreeta trying to exert some control on Wonder who is a Taurus.

The first part of the song talks about “Mary’s” desire to leave her current life behind to chase the goal of stardom. The song’s second “Where Were You When I Needed You” part finds the song’s narrator wondering when she will be coming back and why it is taking so long. Musically, the second part of the song was a re-working of Wonder’s 1971 single “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer” from his Where I’m Coming From album. The song was released as a single and climbed to the #33 slot on the pop charts. Indeed, Wonder’s marriage to Syreeta broke up soon after he completed work on Music Of My Mind.”

Both songs on today’s Jukebox classic double A-sided single were originally issued as separate singles, each with a different B-side. The original B-side to “Superstition” was “You’ve Got It Bad Girl” and the original “Superwoman” B-side was “I Love Every Little Thing About You.”

The clip of “Superstition” accompanying this piece is an alternate live in-studio performance of the track with a full backing band.

Edited: October 23rd, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #12 – The Johnny Otis Show: “Willie And The Hand Jive” b/w “Willie Did The Cha Cha” – Capitol Starline 45 RPM Single X-6040 (C2/D2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #12 – The Johnny Otis Show: “Willie And The Hand Jive” b/w “Willie Did The Cha Cha” – Capitol Starline 45 RPM Single X-6040 (C2/D2)

Johnny Otis was known as the original “King Of Rock & Roll” long before Elvis Presley donned the title. He was an influential performer, disc jockey, record producer, TV show host and talent scout who discovered such artists as Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John, Hank Ballard, Big Mama Thornton and Little Esther.

Otis scored 15 Top 10 R&B hits between 1950 and 1952, including his #1 cover of the jazz standard “Harlem Nocturne.” He was a keen talent scout who opened up his own club in L.A., the Barrelhouse, and discovered many R&B and jazz greats.

He discovered Etta James when she was only 13 years old and produced and co-wrote her first hit single “Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry).” He also discovered Big Mama Thornton singing while cleaning hotel rooms. He co-wrote, produced and played on her seminal recording of “Hound Dog” in 1953, several years before Elvis Presley brought the song to the charts; however Otis’ songwriting credit was removed from Elvis’ recording by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. He also wrote “Every Beat of My Heart” which was a hit for both The Royals in 1952 and Gladys Knight & The Pips in 1961, and played on and produced Johnny Ace’s number one hit “Pledging My Love” and The Fiestas’ classic hit “So Fine.”

Today’s Song Of The Day was a 1958 release that climbed all the way to #9 on the Pop charts and #1 R&B featuring an infectious Bo Diddley beat with terrific guitar work by Jimmy Nolen. The song is about a dance featuring hand movements called “The Hand Jive.”

The dance came from England where teenagers were not permitted to stand and dance at concert venues. Instead they created a hand movement dance that could be done from their seats. When the record came out, Capitol Records included a diagram to show fans how to do the dance. It’s also been said that the “Hand Jive” was also slang for masturbation.

Eric Clapton had a #26 chart hit with the song in 1974 from his 461 Ocean Boulevard album. It was also covered by Johnny Rivers in 1973, The Strangeloves on their 1965 album I Want Candy, Cliff Richard in 1960, The Grateful Dead (in 1980s concerts), New Riders Of The Purple Sage, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Levon Helm and George Thorogood, who also had a minor chart hit with the song in 1985.

The flip is one in a long line of “Willie” follow ups; this one was to capitalize on the cha cha dance craze of the 1950s. During the 1960s, Otis ran for the California State Assembly and lost. He then became chief of staff for Democratic Congressman Mervyn M. Dymally. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1994 and was also the father of soul star Shuggie Otis. Johnny Otis died of natural causes on January 17, 2012.

Edited: October 22nd, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #11 – Cream: “Sunshine Of Your Love” b/w “SWLABR” – Atco 45 RPM Single 45-6544 (1967) (A2/B2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #11 – Cream: “Sunshine Of Your Love” b/w “SWLABR” – Atco 45 RPM Single 45-6544 (1967) (A2/B2)

Today’s Jukebox classic was the biggest hit single by classic rock supergroup Cream. While some were spray painting the buildings of England with proclamations that Eric Clapton was God, the real star of Cream was bassist Jack Bruce. Not only was Bruce the songwriter behind some of the group’s biggest hits, but it was his voice that defined the group’s sound. Ginger Baker, of course, laid down the backbeat that drove the machine to greatness, and as for Clapton, he’s been literally coasting on the stellar guitar work he laid down with this group for over 40 years ago.

They were, indeed, one of the early “supergroups” with very high pedigree. Clapton had played with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds and had backed blues greats like Sonny Boy Williamson and Champion Jack Dupree. Baker played with Jazz artist Acker Bilk (of “Stranger On The Shore” fame), Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated and the Graham Bond Organisation. Bruce had played with Baker in Korner’s Blues Incorporated and The Graham Bond Organisation, with Clapton in The Bluesbreakers and Powerhouse (that also included singer Paul Jones and Steve Winwood), and briefly with Manfred Mann. And for once, this supergroup was much better than the sum of its parts, especially since Bruce and Baker didn’t get along at all.

That said, Cream never made a solid studio album, and even so, the band’s studio recordings are far more preferable than their live workouts that featured endless jamming extended to maddening proportions. Even though albums like Disraeli Gears, Fresh Cream and the half studio-half live Wheels Of Fire are considered classics today, they really are patchy affairs, each featuring a clutch of classic singles surrounded by throwaways.

Today’s Song Of The Day was the first single release from Cream’s 1967 album Disraeli Gears. “Sunshine Of Your Love” was written by Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton with lyrics by beat poet Pete Brown who also wrote the lyrics to the Cream hits “I Feel Free” and “White Room.” The classic bass line riff that runs through the entire song came to Jack Bruce after he and Clapton attended a Jimi Hendrix concert. The song was regularly covered in concert by Jimi Hendrix, who probably didn’t even know he inspired its creation.

The record almost didn’t get a single release because label chief Ahmet Ertegun thought that it was “psychedelic hogwash.” It was only after Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. and the MGs) championed the song that Ertegun green-lighted a single release. When the single was first released before Disraeli Gears came out, it only climbed to the #36 position on the pop charts. The single was re-released in 1968 after the album came out and ultimately rose to the #5 position on the pop charts becoming Cream’s biggest hit single. Over the years, the songs has been covered by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and The 5^th Dimension, to Santana and Frank Zappa.

The single’s B-side is another rip-roaring rocker written by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown called “SWLABR.” Common knowledge dictates that “SWLABR” was an acronym for “She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow,” however in recent interviews both Bruce and Brown have said that the acronym actually stands for “She Was Like A Bearded Rainbow.”

The song was inspired by a type of flower that Jack Bruce ordered from the florist for his girlfriend. When the delivery man arrived, Bruce and Brown asked the florist about some of the flowers that came in the bouquet and were told that the flower in question was a type of iris called a Bearded Rainbow, hence the song title. Nevertheless, it was the late 1960s, and today the title is still pretty much meaningless.

Edited: October 21st, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #10 – Jack Jones: “Wives And Lovers” b/w “Toys In The Attic” – Kapp 45 RPM Single K-551 (1963) (S1/T1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #10 – Jack Jones: “Wives And Lovers” b/w “Toys In The Attic” – Kapp 45 RPM Single K-551 (1963) (S1/T1)

I know I’ve featured this 1963 classic before, but it’s one of my very favorite Burt Bacharach-Hal David compositions. I just love the nonchalance of Hal David’s lyrics – “Hey! Little Girl Comb your hair, fix your makeup. Soon he will open the door. Don’t think because there’s a ring on your finger. You needn’t try anymore.” It is so innocent and yet so chauvinistic in a “ring-a-ding-ding” early sixties kind of way at the same time.

Add to it the 1950s bobby sox/teen idol production sheen of the recording and Bacharach’s light-as-air musical accompaniment and you’ve got all of the makings of a classic pop record right up there with the likes of Johnny Mathis’ “Chances Are,” Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet” and Steve Lawrence’s “Go Away Little Girl.”

While it is widely assumed that “Wives And Lovers” was written as the title song to the 1963 film of the same name, it never actually appeared in the film. Hal David: “We were asked to write what would be called an “exploitation song.” It wasn’t going in the film, but it was meant to come out and every time it got played the name of the film would be performed. It was a song made to promote the film, but it was never in the film. It was never meant to be in the film. Exploitation songs were very common in those days.”

Jack Jones won his second Grammy award for “Wives” in the category of Best Pop Male Performance with this song in 1964. He also won one in 1962 in the same category for his hit “Lollipops and Roses.” Along with the equally talented pop vocalist, Robert Goulet, he was also known for his recording of “The Impossible Dream” from the musical Man Of LaMancha. Jones also scored chart hits with “The Love Boat” from the TV show of the same name and “Lady.”

The flip of today’s Jukebox Classic was written by George Duning as the title song from the 1963 film Toys In The Attic, starring Dean Martin and Geraldine Page. (Not to be confused with the Aerosmith song of the same name.) As of two years ago, Jones was still performing and releasing new music.

Edited: October 20th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #9 – The Pointer Sisters: “Yes We Can Can” b/w “Jada” – Blue Thumb 45 RPM Single BTA-229 (1973) (Q1/R1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #9 – The Pointer Sisters: “Yes We Can Can” b/w “Jada” – Blue Thumb 45 RPM Single BTA-229 (1973) (Q1/R1)

This Allen Toussaint-penned gem comes from the Pointer’s debut album from 1973. It’s infectious…it’s funky…it’s contagious…it’s been often sampled, but never improved upon!

The Pointer Sisters were indeed real sisters. They began as a duo performing under the moniker “Pointers, A Pair” in 1969 featuring sisters June and Bonnie. Anita joined in 1970 and they became in-demand background vocalists, singing for the likes of Grace Slick, Sylvester, Boz Scaggs and Elvin Bishop. While backing Bishop in 1971, they were signed by Atlantic Records where they released several singles that went nowhere. Sister Ruth joined in 1972 when they signed with Blue Thumb Records.

On Blue Thumb, their goal was to meld their jazz and vocalese style of singing with the sounds of be-bop and funk in order to create something new and unique. They topped this all off by dressing in 1940s clothing making them stand out amongst the funky threaded artists of the early 1970s. One of the first songs they recorded for the album was Allen Toussaint’s “Yes We Can Can” which came to them via producer David Rubinson.

The song established the sisters as a recording act reaching #11 on the pop charts and #12 on R&B. Backing the Pointers on the album were Willie Fulton on guitar, Dexter Plates on bass and Gaylord Birch on drums. The album also included the top forty hit “Wang Dang Doodle,” plus the Wilton Felder composed “That’s How I Feel” and the flip of today’s single “Jada,” which was named after Anita Pointer’s daughter.

While the group found early success in the 1970s, their career really took off in the 1980s with a string of smash hits including their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire,” “He’s So Shy,” “Slow Hand,” “Automatic,” “Jump (For My Love),” “I’m So Excited,” and “Neutron Dance.”

Today’s Song Of The Day was written by Allen Toussaint and originally recorded in 1970 by Lee Dorsey under the title “Yes We Can.” Toussaint is one of New Orleans’ favorite sons, responsible for penning a jukebox full of classics that have spun gold for those who have recorded them. Songs like “Mother-In-Law” (Ernie K-Doe), “Working In The Coal Mine” (Lee Dorsey, Devo), “Fortune Teller” (Benny Spellman, Rolling Stones, The Who), “Southern Nights” (Glen Campbell), “Java” (Al Hirt), “Whipped Cream” (Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass), “Sneaking Sally Through The Alley” (Robert Palmer), “What Do You Want The Girl To Do” (Boz Scaggs) and today’s Song Of The Day have poured out of his pen and up the charts, and these are just the tip of his ice berg of hits.

Toussaint has also contributed his arrangement and production talents to a stellar list of albums including Paul McCartney & Wings’ Venus And Mars and its single “Listen To What The Man Said,” Labelle’s Nightbirds and its single “Lady Marmalade,” The Band albums Rock Of Ages, Cahoots and The Last Waltz, and Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees. Post Katrina, he recorded an essential album with Elvis Costello called The River In Reverse, a traditional New Orleans jazz album called The Bright Mississippi and an exceptional new live album released several weeks ago.

Edited: October 18th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #8 – Luther Ingram: “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right)” b/w Hot Butter: “Popcorn” – Collectables Records Double A-Sided 45 RPM Single COL-3170 (O1/P1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #8 – Luther Ingram: “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right)” b/w Hot Butter: “Popcorn” – Collectables Records Double A-Sided 45 RPM Single COL-3170 (O1/P1)

Today’s classic comes from a double A-sided reissue single on the Collectables record label released specifically for jukeboxes featuring two big hits by two different artists. Most of the records in the juke are original pressings, however this was the only copy of Ingram’s soul classic I could find at the time I was looking, plus having two hit singles by two different artists on one record is indeed a bonus.

The A-Side of today’s double-sided single is Luther Ingram’s infidelity ballad “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right),” which is one of the greatest soul singles of all time! The song was written by STAX songwriters Homer Banks, Carl Hampton and Raymond Jackson. Banks also wrote the Sam And Dave classic “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down,” and billed as “We Three” with Raymond Jackson and Bettye Crutcher, wrote Johnnie Taylor’s “Who’s Making Love” and The Staple Singers’ “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me).”

“If Loving You Is Wrong” was originally recorded in 1970 by The Emotions with an up-tempo arrangement that didn’t serve the song well. As a result, the record was left on the shelves of STAX records unreleased. Luther Ingram moved to Memphis after several failed attempts at a recording career in New York City and signed a recording contract with the KoKo label which was distributed by STAX Records. With the label, he found success scoring the top-ten R&B hit “Ain’t That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)” in 1970.

While at STAX, Ingram discovered The Emotions’ version of “If Loving You Is Wrong” and rearranged and recorded the song as a mournful ballad. His version topped the R&B charts and rose to the number 3 position on the pop charts in 1972, selling over four million copies.

The song has been covered by a plethora of artists including Isaac Hayes, Rod Stewart, Percy Sledge, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Ramsey Lewis and Cassandra Wilson. Millie Jackson’s 1974 chart version of the song was expanded into an eleven minute suite complete with a spoken “rap” which was nominated for two Grammy Awards. Barbara Mandrell also scored a country hit with her rendition of the song in 1978.

If all Ingram did in music was to give us this signature recording, his stature would be sealed as an R& B great, however Ingram was also the co-writer(with Mark Rice) of The Staple Singers’ empowerment anthem “Respect Yourself.”

The flip of this double A-sided single is “Popcorn” by Hot Butter. “Popcorn” was a bubbly electronic confection composed by German musician Gershon Kingsley who was known for his work composing classical and Broadway music, and writing TV commercial jingles. Kingsley recorded the influential electronic album The In Sound from Way Out! with Jean-Jaques Perrey for Vanguard Records in 1966. The album promoted the use of synthesizers in pop music years before German recording artists Can and Kraftwerk.

Kingsley first recorded “Popcorn” for his 1969 album Music To Moog By, and then recorded the song again in 1971 with his First Moog Quartet. Stan Free was a member of The First Moog Quartet and re-recorded the song in 1972 under the name Hot Butter.

Hot Butter’s record came out during the moog craze of the early 1970s that saw classical records by the likes of Walter/Wendy Carlos (Switched On Bach) and Isao Tomita (Snowflakes Are Dancing) cross over to the pop charts and sell millions of copies. Hot Butter’s recording was one of the first all-electronic records to chart on the Billboard Hot Singles Chart, peaking at #9 pop and #4 on the adult contemporary charts.

The song was not named for popcorn that you eat; rather it was an amalgam of “pop” for pop music and “corn” for the kitsch and novelty of the recording. It has been covered by the likes of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Jean Michel Jarre, Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops, James Last, Norrie Paramour, Ronnie Aldrich and The Muppets.

Kingsley also wrote the music used by Disney theme parks for its Main Street Electrical Parade and the theme from the TV game show The Joker’s Wild.

Edited: October 16th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #7 – Paul & Linda McCartney – “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” b/w “Too Many People” – Apple Records 45 1837 1971 (M1/N1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #7 – Paul & Linda McCartney – “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” b/w “Too Many People” – Apple Records 45 1837 1971 (M1/N1)

Lyrics were never his strong suit…and the lyrics from “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” are at best incoherent. However, you’d be hard pressed to argue with the musical prowess of Paul McCartney especially on today’s Song Of The Day.

Today’s single was culled from Paul McCartney’s second solo album Ram, the only album in his vast catalog credited to Paul & Linda McCartney. The album was recorded in New York City with backing musicians David Spinozza on guitar, Hugh McCracken (who replaced Spinozza for the second half of the sessions) on guitar and future Wings member Denny Seiwell on drums.

The construction of “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” picks up where the second side of The Beatles’ Abbey Road left off. Here we have McCartney dabbling in multi part suites of music, and the song is an amalgam of its many unfinished parts. McCartney wouldn’t perfect this way of song construction until “Band On The Run” two years later.

The song was inspired by Paul’s real Uncle Albert Kendall who married his Aunt Millie. Uncle Albert would habitually get drunk and then read passages from the Bible out loud. The admiral of the song was inspired by American Naval Admiral William “Bull” Halsey,” however Paul’s use of Admiral Halsey’s name was chosen because of the way it sounded and had nothing to do with who Halsey was or what he did.

The single was McCartney’s first chart topper away from The Beatles and it won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists in 1971. It was never released as a single in the UK, where they got “The Back Seat Of My Car” instead as the first single. The song’s flugelhorn part was played by Jazz be-bop trumpet player Marvin Stamm who never met McCartney in person, as his parts were recorded in London and overdubbed onto the master in New York. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra was also brought in for the arrangement.

The flip of the single is “Too Many People” which is also the opening track on Ram. After the acrimonious split of The Beatles, Lennon and McCartney cryptically addressed each other in lines from their songs. Several lines from “Too Many People” were seen as snipes at John Lennon, like the line “Too many people preaching practices.” Paul: “[John had] been doing a lot of preaching, and it got up my nose a little bit.” The line “You took your lucky break and broke it in too” was also seen as addressing McCartney’s former writing partner with the lucky break referring to being a member of The Beatles and his breaking it in two about their breakup.

Lennon retorted on his next album Imagine with the scathing “How Do You Sleep.” The album also included a postcard photo in early pressings depicting a smiling Lennon holding a pig’s ears in the same pose as McCartney holding the ram’s horns on the cover of Ram.

The sessions for Ram also produced McCartney’s first solo single “Another Day,” as well as early versions of “Big Barn Bed,” “Little Lamb Dragonfly” and “Get On The Right Thing” which turned up on McCartney’s 1973 album Red Rose Speedway. McCartney released an all-instrumental version of the Ram album in 1977 under the pseudonym of Percy “Thrills” Thrillington.

Ram was roundly panned by the critics when it was released in 1971; however it has grown in stature over the years. I’ve always loved the album and it is still one of my all-time favorite records after all these years. As far as “musical comfort food” goes, this one has been a staple in my diet since it came out – very tasty, always reliable with plenty of room for multiple helpings.

Edited: October 15th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #6 – Rufus – “Tell Me Something Good” b/w “Smokin’ Room” – ABC Records 45 ABC-11427 1974 (K1/L1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #6 – Rufus – “Tell Me Something Good” b/w “Smokin’ Room” – ABC Records 45 ABC-11427 1974 (K1/L1)

In taking stock of the records that inhabit my jukebox for The Jukebox Series, I’ve come to learn something about myself that I’d like to share. I find it somewhat amusing that there are no records newer than the 1970s included, and with the exception of a few 1950s nuggets, nothing earlier than the 1960s. This leads me to believe that I either find myself in a state of musical developmental retardation, or that every record I’ve chosen for the jukebox is geared to make me feel nostalgic for the years when I was in middle and high school.

This really shouldn’t be such a surprise because when you think about it, the music that we consider OUR music typically harks back to those golden teenage days when we were in public school. It doesn’t matter that those years for some (me included) were the most dreadful years of my life. We still look back on them with rose colored glasses verifying the idea that nostalgia truly is the past with the pain removed, and the musical comfort food that inhabits my jukebox really points this out.

Today’s Song Of The Day was Chaka Khan’s breakout hit as a member of Rufus. Rufus evolved out of the ashes of Chicago group, The American Breed who scored a hit with “Bend Me Shape Me” in the late 1960s. After the American Breed disbanded several members formed a band called Smoke who added vocalist Paulette Williams to the lineup. That group later became Ask Rufus named after a column in the magazine Popular Mechanics. After several more lineup shifts, Ron Stockert was added to the group as vocalist and artistic director and Williams left, recommending her friend Chaka Khan as her replacement.

During the early days of Rufus (shortened from Ask Rufus), Khan was considered one of two co-lead vocalists sharing vocals duties with Ron Stockert. However, when the songs featuring Khan’s lead vocals began to get attention, she became the focal point of the group leading to Stockert’s departure during the recording of their 1974 album Rags To Rufus.

At this point, the group consisted of Chaka Khan on lead and background vocals, Dennis Belfield on bass and background vocals, André Fischer on drums and percussion, Kevin Murphy on organ and clavinette, Al Ciner on guitar, Ron Stockert on vocals and keyboards, Tony Maiden (uncredited) on guitar and talk box and Nate Morgan (uncredited) on keyboards.

The Rags To Rufus album was the group’s last album credited to Rufus, after this they would be forever known as Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. The album also included the huge hit “You Got The Love” (#10 pop/#1 R&B) written by Ray Parker Jr. and Khan, and on the strength of its two singles, the album sold well over one million copies earning a platinum certification.

Today’s Song Of The Day was written by Stevie Wonder and climbed to the #3 position on the pop and R&B charts in 1974. Wonder is said to have recorded a version of the song, but it remains unreleased. “Tell Me Something Good” was one of several songs that Wonder wrote and gave away to female vocalists around this time. Two others notable examples are Aretha Franklin’s “Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)” (#1 R&B/#3 Pop) and the title track to Minnie Riperton’s chart-topping album Perfect Angel.

Wonder liked the way Chaka Khan sang his song “Maybe Your Baby” on Rufus’ self-titled debut album and decided to give the group another one of his songs to record. As Khan tells it, “Tell Me Something Good” was not the first song that Wonder brought to the band. Wonder came by the studio and played a song called “Come And Get This Stuff,” but Kahn told Wonder that she didn’t like the song. After learning Khan’s astrological sign, Wonder then gave Rufus “Tell Me Something Good” to record and also helped in the studio with the arrangement, going as far as to coach Khan in the way he wanted her to sing it. The single would go on to with the 1975 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. (Note: Wonder’s “Come And Get This Stuff” would later turn up on his ex-wife’s album Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta.)

“Tell Me Something Good” also features an early example of the use of a talk box during the chorus. The talk box was played through a guitar by Tony Maiden and was also made famous by Joe Walsh on his track “Rocky Mountain Way” and by Peter Frampton on “Show Me The Way” and “Do You Feel Like I Do.” The sultry B-side of “Tell Me Something Good” was “Smokin’ Room,” an album cut also culled from Rags To Rufus.

Edited: October 14th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #5 – Ben E. King – “Spanish Harlem” b/w “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” – Atlantic Oldies 45 OS-13068 (I1/J1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #5 – Ben E. King – “Spanish Harlem” b/w “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” – Atlantic Oldies 45 OS-13068 (I1/J1)

Today’s Song Of The Day exposes me for who I really am…a sucker for a great pop song. Give me a lush hummable melody and a simple lyric that I can relate to, add to it some strings for sweetening, and I’m a happy boy. So it should come as no surprise that the music that emanated from The Brill Building in New York City (1619 Broadway on 49th Street) from the late 1950s through the mid-sixties is right up my alley.

I think that growing up in proximity to New York City gave me an added appreciation of the music that came from that building’s hallowed halls, as the rhythm of the streets, the vibe and sounds of the city are inherent in every recording, and “Spanish Harlem” is certainly no different.

Today’s jukebox classic is from a double A-sided single I purchased cheaply on line when I first got the juke. It is one of the original records that I put in there, and it is also one that I can’t see myself ever taking out. I just never tire of Ben E. King’s classic “Spanish Harlem.”

The Spanish Harlem section of New York City was a crime-ridden Latino neighborhood, and the 1960 hit was written by Jerry Lieber and Phil Spector and released on the burgeoning Atco record label. Lieber’s partner Mike Stoller, did the arrangement on the track and came up with the song’s signature intro fill that runs throughout the song; however he does not receive a composer credit. Mike Stoller: “I presumed my contribution was seminal to the composition, but I also knew that Phil didn’t want to share credit with anyone but Jerry, so I kept quiet.”

The song was King’s first hit after leaving The Drifters, climbing to the #15 position on the R&B charts and #10 Pop, and it also served as the title track of his debut solo album. Singing background vocals was a then-unknown Dionne Warwick (as a member of The Gospelaires). The day the track was cut was indeed very productive, as King also recorded his follow-up single “Stand By Me” during the same session.

Aretha Franklin covered the song in 1971 and scored an even bigger hit with it climbing to the #1 position on the R&B charts and #2 on the Pop charts. Dr. John is also heard playing piano on her version. The song was also covered by the likes of Larua Nyro (on her essential 1971 album Gonna Take A Miracle), Jay And The Americans, The Mamas & The Papas, Leon Russell, Chet Atkins, Neil Diamond, Tom Jones, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass and even Led Zeppelin, who used to incorporate the song’s melody into live performances of “Dazed And Confused.”

The flip of this double A-sided 45 is King’s 1962 version of “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” which was written by Atlantic Records head honcho Ahmet Ertegun and Betty Nelson (although my 45RPM copy is credited only to “Nugetre” which is Ertegun backwards). King’s version of the song climbed to the #2 position on the R&B charts and up to #11 on the Pop side. The song was also covered again by Aretha Franklin on her 1970 album Spirit In The Dark. Her version peaked at #1 on the R&B charts and went to #11 Pop.

Edited: October 11th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #3 – Isaac Hayes – “Theme From Shaft” b/w “Café Regio” – Enterprise 45 ENA-9038 (E1/F1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #3 – Isaac Hayes – “Theme From Shaft” b/w “Café Regio” – Enterprise 45 ENA-9038 (E1/F1)

Call him “Shaft”…call him “Black Moses”…call him “Chef”…but one thing is for sure, he was responsible for some of the funkiest and smoothest hot-buttered soul ever committed to wax. Today’s Song Of The Day inhabits the E1/F1 position in my jukebox and it is Isaac Hayes’ first chart-topper from 1971. “Theme From Shaft” also won the Academy Award for best film score that year, making Hayes the first African American to win an Oscar in the composer category.

Hayes initially agreed to write the score for the Shaft film only if he was given the chance to try out for the lead role. And while he did have a bit part in the film as a bartender, he was never afforded the opportunity to audition for the lead. Fortunately he decided to fulfill the agreement anyway. When film director Gordon Parks approached Hayes about writing the score, he described the character of Shaft as a “black private dick who’s a sex machine to all the chicks” and Hayes picked the description up verbatim for the song.

“Theme From Shaft” was initially not intended to be released as a single, however once the soundtrack was released, the song received extensive club play where it gained popularity. Two months after the album’s release, the single came out and went on to be a great influence on 1970s disco. The song could have been credited to “Isaac Hayes & Dawn” as the background vocalist who says “Shut Your Mouth” was Telma Hopkins, who along with Joyce Vincent Wilson (the other background vocalist,) were both members of Tony Orlando’s backing group Dawn. The band backing Hayes on the track was The Bar-Kays.

In the days before sampling, the high-hat cymbal on the intro was picked up from an Otis Redding single that Hayes arranged: “Otis Redding’s ‘Try A Little Tenderness,’ I had a hand in arranging that. At the end, Al Jackson was doing some stuff on a hi-hat, and I thought if I sustained that kind of thing on a hi-hat, it would give a relentless, dramatic effect, and it worked.” The wah-wah guitar part played by Charlie Pitts was originally intended for an unfinished song hanging around the STAX vaults.

Hayes started out playing sax for The Mar-Keys before becoming the keyboard player for the STAX Records house band writing classic songs with his partner David Porter like “Soul Man,” “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby,” “Hold On, I’m Comin’” and “B-A-B-Y.” He also wrote the not-so-classic “Chocolate Salty Balls” for South Park where he provided the voice for the Chef character before falling out with Trey Parker and Matt Stone over the content of an episode that poked fun at Scientology.

Hayes’ brand of symphonic soul was perfect for love making, and numerous children were no doubt conceived to the strains of his extended recordings of “Walk On By,” “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Never Can Say Goodbye,” from classic albums like Black Moses and Hot Buttered Soul.

The flip of the single is the breezy instrumental “Café Regio” which featured musical backing by members of STAX groups, The Bar-Kays and The Movement.

Edited: October 9th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #2 – Brian Wilson “Caroline No” b/w “Summer Means New Love” – Capitol 45 5610 (C1/D1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #2 – Brian Wilson “Caroline No” b/w “Summer Means New Love” – Capitol 45 5610 (C1/D1)

Today’s record inhabits position C1/D1 in the juke and it’s the only single attributed to Brian Wilson during his reign within the Beach Boys. The single was the first release from the group’s masterpiece Pet Sounds, although it was released in advance of the album. It really was a Brian Wilson solo record, as none of the Beach Boys appear on it. Rather, the musicians were members of the famous Wrecking Crew, a West Coast studio collective that played on hundreds of hit records during the 1960s featuring Hal Blaine on drums, Frank Capp on vibraphone, Carol Kaye on electric bass, Glen Campbell on guitar, Barney Kessel on guitar, Lyle Ritz on ukulele, Al De Lory on harpsichord, Bill Green on flute, Jim Horn on flute, Plas Johnson on flute, Jay Migliori on flute and Steve Douglas on tenor sax.

The song was written by Wilson and Tony Asher and while it only reached #32 on the charts, the meager chart position shouldn’t fool you into thinking that this is a minor recording. It is a major artistic achievement in every way possible! The original title for the song was “Caroline I Know,” however Brian misheard the title as “Caroline No” and both he and Asher decided that the title was more in keeping with the ennui of the song’s lyrics.

Many people believe the song is about Brian’s wife of the time, Marilyn Rovell, however the song was a composite of an ex-girlfriend of Asher’s who cut her hair and moved to New York, and Carol Mountain, an unrequited high school crush of Brian’s.

The drum heard at the beginning of the song was actually a large upside down empty water bottle that was lying around the studio. On the Pet Sounds album, the track ends with the sounds of trains which were pulled from the studio’s sound effects library meshed with the barking of Wilson’s dogs Banana and Louie. The sounds do not appear during the fade on the single release. It is also alleged that Murray Wilson (Brian’s father) took the master tape of the song before it was submitted to Capitol and sped it up in an effort to make Brian sound younger on the record. Nevertheless, to this day the sped up version is the one that is used on the album.

The single’s flip is a gorgeous instrumental that originally appeared on the Beach Boys’ 1965 album Summer Days (And Summer Nights). It is another Brian Wilson solo recording with none of the Beach Boys present in the studio. The song features many of the same Wrecking Crew members listed above. In a little under two minutes, Wilson conjures the feeling of that first blush of romance and hope, without ever uttering a single word.

Edited: October 8th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #1 – Dale Hawkins: “Susie Q” b/w “Don’t Treat Me This Way” – Checker 45 #863 – 1957 (A1/B1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #1 – Dale Hawkins: “Susie Q” b/w “Don’t Treat Me This Way” – Checker 45 #863 – 1957 (A1/B1)

Today marks the beginning of a new semi-regular series for Song Of the Day by Eric Berman. “The Jukebox Series” will focus on the 80 records that inhabit my 1963 Seeburg LPC1 jukebox. I’ve had the jukebox (or as I like to call it “the prehistoric iPod”) for a little over twelve years and in that time I’ve perfected the mix of 45s within.

Today, I will begin with “A-1” on the jukebox and systematically proceed through all of the records that are in there with a focus on why the tune is worthy of inclusion and how I got it.

I always thought that I’d have the Buck Owens single “A-1 On The Jukebox” in the “A1” position within my jukebox, but I don’t have a copy of the single, and as a rule don’t choose songs based on the novelty value of a visual pun that most people won’t see, so “A-1” in my juke box is Dale Hawkins’ swamp rock classic “Susie Q.”

I purchased and original Checker 45rpm pressing of the record at a garage sale several years ago for 10 cents and it was money very well spent. Sonically, it sounds killer pouring out of the vintage juke speakers.

Dale Hawkins wrote the song, although when it was released it was also credited to Stan Lewis who owned the record label and Eleanor Broadwater who was the wife of Nashville DJ Gene Nobles. Such was the way the music biz worked back in the 1950s, royalties had to be spread around if you wanted your record released and played on the radio.

Once the track was recorded, the master was licensed to Checker Records who released the single in 1957 where it climbed to #7 on the R&B charts and #27 on the pop charts. The guitarist on the track was a young 15 year old future Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Famer James Burton, who went on to play with the likes of Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, John Denver, Glen Campbell, Gram Parsons, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison, Joni Mitchell, Vince Gill and countless others.

Over the years, the song has seen notable covers by The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival (who issued it at their debut single), Jose Feliciano, Suzie Quatro (a real Suzie Q), Lonnie Mack, The Crew-Cuts, Gene Vincent, Johnny Rivers, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Everly Brothers, Linda McCartney (as Suzy and the Red Stripes), Bobby McFerrin and Flash Cadillac. None of the covers can even approach the greatness of the original, which is why it is included in my jukebox.

The flip is a sturdy rockabilly rave up which doesn’t get as much play time as it should; however when it does come up, it always sounds great.

Edited: October 7th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/7/13 – “Fox On The Run” by Sweet

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Fox On The Run” by Sweet

Boy, I hated this song when it was a huge hit back in 1975. It stood for everything I disliked about commercial rock ‘n’ roll. The band was totally lightweight and poppy, and their brand of glam rock had no teeth like that of David Bowie, Lou Reed and Mott The Hoople.

But a funny thing happened on the way to reaching the tender age of 52, I became nostalgic for the band and the song.

I’ve written about nostalgia before and I’ve come to the conclusion that the songs we feel most nostalgic for today, are the songs that were most reviled by the critics when they were new, and equally loved by the everyday radio listening fan. Many of them also had some kind of novelty value as well.

They were all played to death on radio to the point where even fans of the songs never wanted to hear them again, and many of them were co-opted by Madison Avenue for use in TV commercials in subsequent years after their run on the charts.

These are the songs we loved to hate when they were new, and today we kind of hate to love them. But we do love them. They make us feel good and warmly nostalgic when we hear them. Instead of hastily reaching for the dial to turn them off like we did when they were new, now we turn them up.

Such is the case for me when it comes to Sweet’s single “Fox On The Run” and the Desolation Boulevard album from whence it came. The band consisted of Brian Connolly on vocals, Steve Priest on bass, Andy Scott on guitars and Mick Tucker on drums, and most of the album’s tracks were written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn.

The roots of Sweet go back to the late 1960s when Connolly and Tucker were introduced to two aspiring songwriters Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn by their former producer Phil Wainman. The group recruited Steve Priest whom they had already worked with on bass and Andy Scott on guitar. Together, the band began recording records in the mold of bubblegum groups of the late 1960s who were at the height of their popularity.

On a side note, Chinn and Chapman went on to write and/or produce hit records for the Chrysalis Record label including “Hot Child In The City” for Nick Gilder, the Bondie albums Parallel Lines, Eat To The Beat, Autoamerican and The Hunter in which Chapman wrote many of their hits, Get The Knack by The Knack including the hit “My Sharona,” Tina Turner’s “The Best” and “Better Be Good To Me,” Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” and production on albums by Divinyls, Rod Stewart, Lita Ford and many others.

After signing a record deal with RCA in the UK and Bell in the U.S., they began recording albums leading to thirteen top twenty UK hits including “Little Willie,” “Block Buster,” Funny Funny,” “Co-Co,” “Poppa Joe” and “Wig-Wam Bam.” The only single that made any impact on U.S. shores was “Little Willie” which climbed to #3 on the Billboard charts in 1973.

Today’s Song Of The Day was released as a single in 1974 in Europe, and then remixed and re-released the following year in the U.S. It was subsequently covered by the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Girlschool, Ace Frehley (of Kiss) and the Scorpions who recorded it in German. The Desolation Boulevard album also included the big hit “Ballroom Blitz” (another single I hated back then…and pretty much still hate now) and glam-tastic album tracks like “The Six Teens,” “Sweet F.A.” and “AC DC.”

It’s hard for me to imagine why I totally ignored records by Sweet, Kiss and Bad Company back in the day because they sound so good to me now. The only excuse I could come up with is that they just didn’t seem to be as “weighty” as records like Lou Reed’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal, David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, John Lennon’s Walls And Bridges and Mott The Hoople’s Mott, to name but a few.

Edited: October 6th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/6/13 – “Rhapsody In Blue” by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Rhapsody In Blue” by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

Paul Whiteman was one of the biggest selling artists of the 1920s, and led one of the best-loved sweet bands of all time. Sweet bands were society or café orchestras. They played music for listening and as a background for dining and conversing, as opposed to swing bands whose music was the main attraction and played specifically for dancing.

Many jazz fans frowned down on Whiteman’s sweet approach to music because he believed that Jazz music could and should be notated, rather than improvised. To that end, Whiteman wrote more than 3000 arrangements for his orchestra. Whiteman also liked to write for larger orchestras in a time when most dance bands consisted of 8-10 players.

However, no matter what the music snobs thought, he still sold more records than virtually anyone else during his time, and is well respected for his contributions to music today.

Some of his biggest records include the number one hits “Whispering,” “The Japanese Sandman,” “Wang Wang Blues,” “My Mammy,” “Hot Lips,” “Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers,” “Cherie,” “Say It With Music,” “Play That Song Of India Again,” “Do It Again,” “Three O’ Clock In The Morning” and “Linger Awhile,” and there were lots more from where these came from. However, Whiteman is probably best remembered for the commissioning and debut of today’s Song Of The Day, George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue.”

“Rhapsody In Blue” premiered on February 12, 1924 in New York at a show billed as An Experiment In Modern Music featuring George Gershwin on piano. The performance took place with John Phillip Sousa and Sergei Rachmaninoff present in the audience.

Whiteman recorded the piece twice. The original was recorded in 1924 acoustically with Gershwin playing the piano parts and released on Columbia Records. He recorded the piece a second time in 1927 electrically. That recording, released on the RCA Victor record label, was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1974. For today’s Song Of The Day, I’ve chosen the original recording with Gershwin on piano. There is also some great footage of Whiteman and the Orchestra performing this piece from the 1930 film King Of Jazz. Whiteman’s orchestral approach to Jazz on “Rhapsody” was a big influence on Miles Davis and Gil Evans and their seminal recordings Birth Of The Cool, Porgy And Bess and Sketches Of Spain.

Some of the greatest jazz men of their day either got their start or moved through Whiteman’s orchestra including Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Jack Teagarden, Bunny Berigan and Fletcher Henderson. Paul Robeson and Billie Holiday both sang their way through his ranks, and Whiteman also billed a singing trio with the band called The Rhythm Boys whose members included a young Bing Crosby. Whiteman also provided music for six Broadway shows and was responsible for producing more than 600 recordings.

One of the finest compilations of Whiteman’s music was released by Collector’s Choice Music back in 1998, and is still readily available today.

Edited: October 6th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/5/13 – “Seven Come Eleven” by Charlie Christian w/ The Benny Goodman Sextet

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Seven Come Eleven” by Charlie Christian w/ The Benny Goodman Sextet

The world of music is scattered with “what ifs,” such as “What if Waylon Jennings didn’t give his seat up to Buddy Holly on the ill-fated flight that took his life?,” or “What if John Lennon hadn’t been murdered…would there have been a Beatles reunion?”

One of the more intriguing what-ifs in my book is “What if a 25 year old guitar wiz by the name of Charlie Christian had lived a full life?” What kind of music can we have expected to come from him?

Well based on the two years of recordings he left behind with Benny Goodman, they would have been stunning to say the least. Case in point is this 1939 sextet recording with Benny Goodman on clarinet, Lionel Hampton on vibes, Fletcher Henderson on piano, Artie Bernstein on bass and Nick Fatool on drums. Listen to how tight the lead trio of clarinet, vibes and guitar are as they fly together in unison into the musical stratosphere.

What’s even more fascinating is that this recording was made during a time of uncertainty for Goodman. He had disbanded his orchestra due to medical issues a few months before. After enduring back surgery for acute sciatica (which was far more debilitating then than it is now), Goodman faced the task of putting a new band together after being out of circulation for months.

One of the first things he did was to put this sextet together with Charlie Christian, a new guitarist from Oklahoma he’d found through John Hammond. At the time, the electric guitar was not a common instrument in a big band, let alone in a sextet. Goodman took the opportunity to try something different and it paid off in spades.

Unfortunately, we’ll never really know the answer to this “what if” scenario, but at least we have the amazing recordings we do by Charlie Christian to marvel and ponder.

Note: While the YouTube video is labeled “Roast Turkey Stomp,” it is actually a 1939 live recording of “Seven Come Eleven” by Charlie Christian with The Benny Goodman Sextet.

Edited: October 4th, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10-4-13 – “Soul Makossa” by Manu Dibango

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Soul Makossa” by Manu Dibango

Hailing from Cameroon, Africa, Manu Dibango established himself as an in-demand saxophone player working with acts as diverse as Fela Kuti, Don Cherry, The Fania All-Stars and Sly and Robbie.

“Soul Makossa,” Dibango’s signature disco smash, was originally released as the flip side to the 1972 single “Mouvement Ewondo” on the French independent Fiesta record label. The song probably would have sunk without a trace if it had not been for Manhattan socialite David Mancuso.

Mancuso was known for throwing exclusive invitation-only loft parties in New York City that served as a precursor to the city’s thriving Disco scene of the 1970s. Mancuso found a copy of the record and gave it a spin at one of his parties where it was heard by DJ Frankie Crocker, who in turn played it on WBLS, New York City’s highest rated urban radio station.

The song became very popular, but the single was so rare that nine cover versions sprung up to fill the demand for the record, before Atlantic Records could rush-release Dibango’s original recording in 1973. As a result of the cover versions, Dibango’s recording only climbed up to #35 on the Billboard singles chart; however the chart position didn’t realistically reflect the enormous popularity of the single.

Later, the song’s “ma-ma so, ma-ma-sa, mako-mako-sa” refrain was featured prominently in Michael Jackson’s single “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” the lead track from his Thriller album which went on to be the biggest selling album of all time. It was used without Dibango’s permission and he later settled handsomely with Jackson for use of the lyric.

Dibango released an updated version of the track in 1994, and then again in 2011 under the title “Soul Makossa 2.0.”

Edited: October 3rd, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/3/13 – “Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)” by Devo w/Neil Young

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)” by Devo w/Neil Young

Q: Where do the worlds of The Kingston Trio, Devo and Neil Young all collide?

A: In the film Human Highway, of course!

Human Highway was a dreadful film released by Bernard Shakey (aka Neil Young) in 1982. The move was filmed between 1978 and 1981 and it starred Neil Young, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, Russ Tamblyn and Devo. It was briefly shown in movie theaters upon its release and was never to be seen again until its home video release in 1995 on VHS. It is currently out of print.

While the movie is quirky and mostly incoherent, it is also very funny and somewhat entertaining in places. Devo were cast as Nuclear “Garbagepersons,” but getting into the convoluted plot that deals with a nuclear power plant and the last day on earth would be as convoluted as watching the film again.

Devo can be seen performing the Kingston Trio classic “Worried Man Blues” on the back of a truck and “Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)” with Mark Mothersbaugh in his “Booji Boy” guise on the vocals and Neil Young on guitar. In fact, it was in this performance that Mothersbaugh first uttered the words “rust never sleeps” that gave Young the title to his next record.

Edited: October 2nd, 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/2/13 – “Draggin’ The Line” by Tommy James

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Draggin’ The Line” by Tommy James

Tommy James and the Shondells were one of the most commercially successful singles groups of the 1960s, selling millions of record and placing bubblegum classics like “Hanky Panky,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Mony, Mony,” “Crimson And Clover,” “Sweet Cherry Wine” and “Crystal Blue Persuasion” onto the upper echelon of the charts.

However, things came to a dramatic end in March of 1970, when Tommy James and the Shondells played their last concert together in Birmingham, Alabama. As James was leaving the stage, he collapsed and was initially pronounced dead after suffering a bad reaction to drugs. The band continued to tour without James for a time under the name Hog Heaven, while he retired to the country to recuperate.

While recuperating, James wrote and produced the million-selling single “Tighter, Tighter” for the group Alive And Kickin’ which reached #7 on the Billboard singles chart. James had originally intended on giving the group “Crystal Blue Persuasion” to record, but decided to keep it for his own group. As a result, he wrote “Tighter, Tighter” (with Bob King) for them instead.

Today’s Song Of The Day was originally released on James’ second solo album, the quasi-religious Christian Of The World. As is often the case, “Draggin’ The Line” wasn’t even considered to be released as the single, and was ultimately relegated to the B-side of the “Church Street Soul Revival” single. After DJs began playing the song, James went back into the studio to remix the record and add the horn charts. The song became James’ biggest solo hit reaching #4 on the Billboard singles chart in 1971. Playing on the single was James on guitar, Bob King (who co-wrote the track) on bass and Russ Leslie from the group Neon on drums.

The song’s title was seen at the time to be a veiled reference to snorting amphetamines, especially since James was no stranger to drug use. As far as drug references go, “Draggin’ The Line” could certainly be seen as the follow-up to “Crystal Blue Persuasion.” However, according to James “’Draggin’ the Line’ just meant working every day. Nothing really very mysterious about it.” The title of the song came from the bass line: “It’s almost like the bass guitar was speaking. And it just seemed to say ‘draggin’ the line’ to me. It’s weird. But we had the track before we had the song, and it was like the bass was speaking.” (Hmmm…wonder what he was on…)

The song also gave birth to the slang term for ecology minded people, “tree huggers” from the line “Loving a free and feeling spirit, hugging a tree when you get near it…” The song was also later covered by REM and featured in the Austin Powers movie The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Edited: October 1st, 2013

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News for October 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #19 – Steve Miller Band: “The Joker” b/w “Something To Believe In” – Capitol 45 RPM Single 3732 (S2/T2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #18 – Richard Harris: “MacArthur Park” b/w “Didn’t We” – Dunhill 45 RPM Single D-4134 (O2/P2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #17 – Nancy Sinatra: “These Boots Are Made For Walking” b/w “Sugar Town” – Rhino/Collectables 45 RPM Single 033 (M2/N2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #16 – The Beatles: “Paperback Writer” b/w “Rain” – Capitol 45 RPM Single 5651 (K2/L2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #15 – Tommy James & The Shondells: “Hanky Panky” b/w “It’s Only Love” – Collectables Roulette Reissue 45 RPM Single COL-0261 (I2/J2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #14 – Marty Robbins: “El Paso” b/w “A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation)” – Columbia 45 RPM Single 4-33013 (G2/H2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #13 – Stevie Wonder: “Superstition” b/w “Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)” – Motown 45 RPM Single Y559F (E2/F2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #12 – The Johnny Otis Show: “Willie And The Hand Jive” b/w “Willie Did The Cha Cha” – Capitol Starline 45 RPM Single X-6040 (C2/D2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #11 – Cream: “Sunshine Of Your Love” b/w “SWLABR” – Atco 45 RPM Single 45-6544 (1967) (A2/B2)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #10 – Jack Jones: “Wives And Lovers” b/w “Toys In The Attic” – Kapp 45 RPM Single K-551 (1963) (S1/T1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #9 – The Pointer Sisters: “Yes We Can Can” b/w “Jada” – Blue Thumb 45 RPM Single BTA-229 (1973) (Q1/R1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #8 – Luther Ingram: “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right)” b/w Hot Butter: “Popcorn” – Collectables Records Double A-Sided 45 RPM Single COL-3170 (O1/P1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #7 – Paul & Linda McCartney – “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” b/w “Too Many People” – Apple Records 45 1837 1971 (M1/N1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #6 – Rufus – “Tell Me Something Good” b/w “Smokin’ Room” – ABC Records 45 ABC-11427 1974 (K1/L1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #5 – Ben E. King – “Spanish Harlem” b/w “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” – Atlantic Oldies 45 OS-13068 (I1/J1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #3 – Isaac Hayes – “Theme From Shaft” b/w “Café Regio” – Enterprise 45 ENA-9038 (E1/F1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #2 – Brian Wilson “Caroline No” b/w “Summer Means New Love” – Capitol 45 5610 (C1/D1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #1 – Dale Hawkins: “Susie Q” b/w “Don’t Treat Me This Way” – Checker 45 #863 – 1957 (A1/B1)

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/7/13 – “Fox On The Run” by Sweet

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/6/13 – “Rhapsody In Blue” by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/5/13 – “Seven Come Eleven” by Charlie Christian w/ The Benny Goodman Sextet

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10-4-13 – “Soul Makossa” by Manu Dibango

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/3/13 – “Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)” by Devo w/Neil Young

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – 10/2/13 – “Draggin’ The Line” by Tommy James

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