September 2016 - Page 6 of 6 - Ramblin' with Roger

Freddie Mercury would have been 70

Various artists have sung with Queen since his death, but Freddie Mercury has never been replaced.

It’s almost certainly true that the band Queen, and its lead singer/ keyboardist/songwriter Freddie Mercury, are bigger now than they were at the time of Mercury’s death on the evening of 24 November 1991.

“In the UK, Queen has now spent more collective weeks on the UK Album Charts than any other musical act (including The Beatles), and Queen’s Greatest Hits is the highest-selling album of all time in the UK. Two of Mercury’s songs, We Are the Champions and Bohemian Rhapsody, have also each been voted as the greatest song of all time in major polls by Sony Ericsson and Guinness World Records, respectively.

There have been several stories about Donald Trump’s repeated unauthorized use of We Are The Champions. The outrage, not just from Queen’s guitarist Brian May, but from Queen’s fans, points out that Mercury was a bisexual man who died from AIDS, and that the Trump/Pence platform isn’t exactly gay-friendly.

Others note that Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, was also an immigrant, “a brown-skinned man born in Zanzibar who went to school in India, and whose family immigrated to England because of unrest in their country in 1964. He was brought up in the Zoroastrian faith. Freddie Mercury, in short, embodies just about everything Trump’s fakakta wall wants to keep out of our country.”

My own sense of Mercury’s impact has grown since his passing as well. He died the same year that a friend of mine also died of an AIDS-related illness. Reading Freddie and Me further enhanced my appreciation for the artist.

Freddie’s death triggered the remaining members of Queen to create The Mercury Phoenix Trust, funded in the beginning by the massively successful Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness.

Various artists have sung with Queen since Mercury’s death, including Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert, but Freddie Mercury has never been replaced.

Some Queen songs

– links to all

12. We Will Rock You (segued with We Are the Champions, 1978) – Anthemic. Hearing this too often at minor league baseball parks SHOULD have ruined this song for me forever, but it did not

11. Play the Game (#42 in 1980) – Spacey beginning, great guitar solo by Brian May

10. Keep Yourself Alive (1973) – Written by guitarist Brian May, it was one of the songs on their original demo for its record label. More fine guitar work.

9. You’re My Best Friend (#16 in 1976) – The Daughter was recently watching some show which was using his song in an ad. I realized its timeless quality.

8. We Are the Champions -oft-covered, usually off-key, by winning sports teams. “In 2011, a team of scientific researchers concluded that the song was the catchiest in the history of popular music.” Who am I to argue with science?

7. Somebody to Love (#13 in 1977) – I did not know that they “multi-tracked their voices to create a 100-voice gospel choir”, but surely love the effect

6. Bicycle Race (#24 in 1979) – it starts with a cappella chorus (unaccompanied by instruments). And it’s about bicycles, with a video of naked women riding that got banned in several countries.

5. Killer Queen (#12 in 1975) – their first American hit, I loved the tight harmony vocals and its theatrical style

4. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (#1 for four weeks in 1980) – a rockabilly hit that sounds like Elvis. “Mercury played rhythm guitar while performing the song live, which was the first time he played guitar in concert with Queen.”

3. Another One Bites the Dust (#1 for three weeks in 1980) – this lives on the bass line. It also was #2 in the rhythm & blues charts for three weeks. Also, check out Another One Drives a Duster.

2. Bohemian Rhapsody (#9 in 1976, #2 in #1992) – In the UK, it was #1 for NINE weeks in its original release, and five more weeks a decade and a half later. Its inclusion in the movie Wayne’s World in 1992 brought it new life. It is often covered. Here’s the Muppets and a whole bunch Mark Evanier linked to. Plus Kids react to Bohemian Rhapsody.

1. Under Pressure, with David Bowie (#29 in 1982) – this was #1 in the UK, and I thought it would have fared better in the US. In any case, my affection for Bowie, even before his sudden death, propelled this to be my favorite Queen song. And they were right to sue Vanilla Ice for copyright infringement.

My first seven jobs

No, I never worked in a coal mine.

The meme My First Seven Jobs has been showing up on social media a lot in the last couple of months. I had avoided it until I read an article about what your first seven jobs say about you, and then the exercise intrigued me. And hey, I need a Labor Day weekend post.

I am a little bit fuzzy on what constitutes a job. When your father drags you on some task, for which you are not being paid, I’m not counting that. And having looked at other people’s lists, I’m actually adding a couple that I would not otherwise have considered.

1. Newspaper delivery of the Press newspaper, Binghamton, NY. Six evenings plus Sunday morning for about two years, a job I inherited from my godparents’ grandson Walter. Used the money to join the Capitol Record Club and buy Beatles’ albums.

2. Babysitter. I did this less than a half dozen times, never for more than two kids, two boys who lived near my grandmother. I was pretty good at it, I seem to recall.

3. Singer, with my father and sister Leslie, off and on for four years. We didn’t make a lot of money, as we did a lot of gigs for free.

4. Page at the Binghamton Public Library, for seven months when I was sixteen, a job I inherited from my parents’ godson, Walter. Same Walter. Helped people with the microfilm machine and retrieved back issue magazines. When it wasn’t busy, read Billboard and Psychology Today.

5. Assembly line worker at IBM Endicott. I graduated from high school in January, then worked there from March until early September. I remember the boss wanted me to stay, but I was heading to college.

6. The box factory, which I did for two weeks, longer than either of my two predecessors.

7. Janitor at some department store in New Paltz. Being a janitor was also my eighth job, in Binghamton City Hall.

No, my first seven jobs did not include working in a coal mine. Nor did Lee Dorsey‘s. Or any of the members of Devo.

Americans Don’t Miss Manufacturing — They Miss Unions

Appeals Court Affirms that a Union’s Use of Inflatable Rat Is Protected Free Speech

Music throwback Saturday: Those Were The Days

Back in 2010, the year it came out, I purchased Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records. The CD was “the first commercially issued multi-artist compilation in the label’s history.” It didn’t cost the nearly $40 it’s now going for presently on Amazon, though you can get the MP3 for $9.50.

It’s a fun 21-track compilation of singles from 1968 to 1972, though not truly the “best of Apple.” For one thing, there are no Beatles songs, nor any of their solo material. Still, the Fab Four are well represented, often as songwriters and/or producers.

Those Were The Days / Mary Hopkin (1968, produced by Paul), or HERE. The debut 45 by Mary Hopkin was a huge hit, UK No. 1 for six weeks, #2 for 3 weeks in the US. I remember I purchased this 45 because, subsequently, I realized that I had THREE songs called Those Were the Days in my record collection, by Hopkin, Cream (the B-side of White Room), and the theme to the television show All in the Family.

Carolina In My Mind / James Taylor (1968, Paul on bass; George on backing vocals), from this eponymous debut album, a US single which hit #115 in 1969, then #67 in its 1970 re-release. This sounds quite different to me than his re-recording for Warner Brothers, which I have on his first greatest hits album.

Maybe Tomorrow / The Iveys (1968)
Brought to Apple by then-Beatles roadie Mal Evans. #67 in the US, but a hit in Holland; the band soon changed its name to Badfinger.

Thingumybob / The Black Dyke Mills Band (1968, credited to Lennon/McCartney, written and produced by Paul)
Paul’s theme tune for a 1968 British TV comedy-drama series.

King Of Fuh / Brute Force (1969)
This single by New York songwriter was championed by John and George, but “the Fuh king” was therefore banned back in 1969, as one would expect.

Sour Milk Sea / Jackie Lomax (1968, written and produced by George; Paul and Ringo provide rhythm )
Eric Clapton plays lead guitar. I have the LP with this song.

Goodbye / Mary Hopkin (1969, credited to Lennon/McCartney, written and produced by Paul)
Paul on thigh-slapping percussion. On some CD, I have Paul’s demo

That’s The Way God Planned It / Billy Preston (1969, produced by George, also guitar)
Reaching No. 11 in the UK, but only #62 in the US. Keith Richards on bass, Ginger Baker on drums, and Eric Clapton on lead guitar. I remember first hearing the album – this is the title song – in the room of my friend Steve in Poughkeepsie in 1971. I went home and bought it on vinyl, where it got well worn. When I purchased The Best of Apple, I also bought the That’s The Way God Planned It CD.

New Day / Jackie Lomax (1969)
An original non-album Lomax single co-produced with Mal Evans.

Golden Slumbers-Carry That Weight / Trash (1969, written by Lennon-McCartney)
Two songs from The Beatles’ Abbey Road, recorded by this Scottish group

Give Peace A Chance / Hot Chocolate Band (1969, written by John; originally credited to Lennon/McCartney, but since changed)
This completely re-worded British reggae version of John Lennon’s peace anthem

More in the near future.

Billy Preston would have been 70

I continue to nag that Billy Preston should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,

When I was in college at SUNY New Paltz, WAY back in the spring of 1972 (I think), I saw Billy Preston in concert, probably the second live concert of a “name” artist that I ever saw, after Seals & Crofts. He must have played in the Elting Gym. I took pictures, but from where I was seated, in the rafters, all I got was shadows and the backs of people’s heads.

You SHOULD know Billy Preston, keyboard player extraordinaire.

Wrote about him five years ago. Not much has changed since then, since he died about three months shy of his 60th birthday, on 06/06/06 from “complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications,” probably from drug use.

Well, there is one thing I learned in the last lustrum. From the Wikipedia:

Although the details did not become fully known to the general public until after his death, Preston struggled throughout his life to cope with his sexual orientation, and the lasting effects of the traumatic sexual abuse he suffered as a boy. Although his homosexuality became known to friends and associates in the music world… Preston did not publicly come out as gay until just before he died. This was reportedly partly due to the fact that Preston felt that his sexual orientation conflicted with his deeply held religious beliefs and his lifelong association with the church, so he remained “in the closet” until shortly before his death. Keith Richards’ autobiography, Life, mentions Billy Preston’s struggles with his sexuality.

As someone who grew up in the black church, I can imagine the internal struggle.

I continue to nag that he should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, under the Award for Musical Excellence category, which used to be the sidemen category.

Last time, I concentrated on songs Billy Preston played on other people’s records. This time, my favorite Billy Preston tracks, with links to all, and notation of chart action.

7. Nothing from Nothing from The Kids & Me – #1 US, #8 US R&B
6. I Wrote a Simple Song from I Wrote A Simple Song (IWASS) – #77 US
5. It Doesn’t Matter from That’s They Way God Planned It (TTWGPI)
4. Outa-Space (IWASS) – #2 US, #1 US R&B, #44 UK
3. That’s the Way God Planned It (Parts 1 & 2) (TTWGPI) – #62 US, #11 UK
2, Will It Go Round in Circles from Music Is My Life – #1 US, #10 US R&B
1. Do What You Want (TWGPI) – I LOVE how slowly it starts, and how fast it’s going at the end

And I SO like this:
11-year-old Billy Preston; Nat “King” Cole

Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees turns 70

“At one point in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100.”

It must be strange being the oldest brother of a musical powerhouse family and be the only one of the men still alive. So is the case with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees.

Barry, his older sister Lesley (later Evans, b. 12 January 1945), his twin brothers Maurice and Robin (b. 22 December 1949) and baby brother Andrew (b. 5 March 1958) were born in the UK. Their father, Hugh Gibb was a drummer and bandleader who married Barbara (Pass); the parents were English.

In the late 1950s, the three older boys formed a band, the Rattlesnakes, just before the family emigrated to Australia, where the boys continued to perform, as Barry was writing songs.

The act continued to develop until they finally had a big hit with their 12th single, Spicks and Specks. They returned to the UK in January 1967, where producer Robert Stigwood began successfully promoting them to a worldwide audience. They had a string of hits.

Success and immaturity broke up the group for a time, but they had another brief spurt of success with Lonely Days.

By 1975, the trio started developing a new sound. With their participation on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, they began to reach their highest commercial impact. “In 1977, they became the first and only songwriters to place five songs in the Top Ten at the same time.”

They wrote not only their own music but songs of many others, including massive hits for little brother Andy. “At one point in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs [had] 12 [songs] making the Top 40… At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs.”

The Bee Gees worked through the 1980s, together and apart, with some hits. Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw: “Even long after the Bee Gees’ success on the pop charts, they were still writing songs for other people, huge hit songs. Their talent went far beyond their moment of normal pop success.”

But they were devastated by the death of little brother Andy (10 March 1988). The band continued working into the 1990s, despite Barry’s severe arthritis, and they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Maurice died suddenly, from an abdominal blockage, on 12 January 2003. Barry and Robin played sporadically together, until Robin died of pneumonia, triggered from liver cancer, on 20 May 2012, leaving Barry Gibb to keep the Bee Gees flame alive.

And sad news: Barbara Gibb, his mom, died in August 2016.

My 10 favorite Bee Gees songs (maybe)

12. Spicks and Specks (#5 in Australia in 1966) – this shows up on their first Greatest Hits LP, but NOT the CD version. The song was used as the title of an Australian TV show last decade
11. Words (#15 US in 1968)- writer likes words
10. You Should Be Dancing (#1 US in 1976)- yes, I had this lime green leisure suit…
9. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (#1 US for four weeks in 1971) – how indeed?
8. I Can’t See Nobody (B-side of Mining Disaster, #128 in US) – nice harmonies, bad grammar and all
7. New York Mining Disaster 1941 (#14 US in 1967 – the first international hit, and I’m fond of the story-song

6. I’ve Got To Get A Message To You (#8 US in 1968) terribly overdramatic, in a good way
5. To Love Somebody (#17 in 1967) – and the source material for some tremendous covers
4. World (UK, but not US, single, 1967) – I love how it’s soft, then becomes really raucous
3. Stayin’ Alive (#1 US for four weeks)- I went to the Tulip Festival this year, in Washington Park, Albany, and the woman at one of the booths asked what song one should be doing CPR to, and, of course, I knew. But obviously, I had failed The Daughter, who had never heard of the song.
2. Lonely Days (#3 US in 1971) – I always liked this because it keeps changing tempo; very Beatlesque. And there was this rumor that John Lennon sang on it, which proved to be untrue
1. Jive Talkin’ (#1 US for two weeks in 1975) – I LOVE the bass line of this song and the fact that it was the song that signaled the group’s resurgence

And for good measure:
If I Can’t Have You by Yvonne Elliman, #1 in 1978