September 2021 - Page 5 of 6 - Ramblin' with Roger

Creedence Clearwater Revival is #2

Tommy Roe, Henry Mancini

An old friend, and music professional, noted that when an artist’s song stalls at #2, they take a certain amount of grief. I replied, “Unless they’re Creedence Clearwater Revival. They had 5 or 6 #2 songs but never had a #1.”

My friend laughed because she knows well it’s just the kind of arcane knowledge stuck somewhere in my brain, just waiting to bubble up.

Here are the CCR songs that went to #2 on the Billboard pop charts, and the songs that kept them from the top slot.

Proud Mary
First charted on January 25, 1969
Hit #2 on March 1, 1969
Kept out of the #1 slot: first by Everyday People – Sly and the Family Stone in their fourth and final week at the top
THEN, on March 8 and 15, CCR was still #2, kept out of the top by Dizzy – Tommy Roe for two weeks in a row

Bad Moon Rising
First charted on May 3, 1969
Hit #2 on June 28, 1969
Kept out of the #1 slot by Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet – Henry Mancini

Green River
First charted August 2, 1969
Hit #2 on September 27, 1969
Kept out of the #1 slot by Sugar Sugar – The Archies
The Archies spent 4 weeks at #1, blocking CCR in the song’s second week, and Jean – Oliver in weeks 3 and 4.

Double-sided hit

Travelin’ Band/ Who Will Stop The Rain
First charted January 31, 1970
Hit #2 on March 7, 1970, and again on March 14, 1970.
Kept out of the #1 slot by Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel in its second and third weeks at the top. In the S/G week 4 reign, it stopped The Rapper – The Jaggerz from reaching #1. In weeks 5 and 6, it even temporarily blocked Let It Be – The Beatles, before the Fab’s single finally broke through

Lookin’ Out My Back Door
First charted August 8, 1970
Hit #2 on October 3, 1970
Kept out of the #1 slot by Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Diana Ross, in her third and final week at the top.

There’s no shame in being blocked from the top slot by Paul and Artie or Diana or Sly. And The Archies were a commercial force, even if they were cartoon characters.

So THAT’S who Ed Asner was

This Has Gotta Stop

Apparently, I hadn’t raised my daughter correctly. When I told her that Ed Asner had died at the age of 91, there was no glint of recognition. She’s not familiar with WJM, the fictitious Twin Cities television station at the heart of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77).

Whereas I watched almost ALL of those MTM production shows, including the show’s spinoff, Lou Grant (1977-82).

But all was not lost. Apparently, in the online chat, folks were noting that Carl Fredericksen, Asner’s character in the Pixar animated film Up, was reunited with his beloved Ellie. My daughter has seen Up.

Then I asked her if she remembered the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode from 2013 called Monster’s Legacy. Asner played sports coach Martin Schultz. “Was it rural?” Yeah, that was the one. Spoiler: he was the bad guy.

Interesting that, prior to 1970, he often played the “heavy.” I recognized him from a LOT of shows before MTMS. He played five different characters on Route 66, three on The Untouchables, and many more. On IMDB, he had more than 400 acting credits.

He won seven Emmys, more than any other male actor. Three were for The Mary Tyler Show, two for Lou Grant, and two for single performances in the television miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) and Roots (1977). I remember that his slave ship captain’s wig in Roots seemed ill-fitting.

Ed Asner was an unabashed political progressive. He was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 1981 through 1985. Fittingly, he achieved a posthumous legal victory as a judge formally denied SAG-AFTRA Health Plan’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit.

Slowhand

My daughter wanted to know if I knew who Eric Clapton was. Well, of course. I have LOTS of his music by Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominoes, and lots of solo work. So naturally, she pointed out his new protest song “This Has Gotta Stop.”

“Last year’s ‘anti-lockdown song’ with Van Morrison, ‘Stand and Deliver,’ suggested ‘that governments scrambling to keep their populations alive are somehow stealing from them.’ The announcement of that song also led to the resurfacing of racist comments Clapton made in 1976, which he apologized for.

I can forgive the old bigotry, though my daughter is less generous. But we share a disdain for the anti-vax stuff. One hates when your heroes turn out to be clods.

The George Rowan project

greegree

When I was in college, looking for a pseudonym, just in case, I mixed up the letters in Roger Owen Green. It came out as George R.N. Roween. George was obvious. When I was in high school, two of the guys I hung out with were named George. A young woman in our group started calling ME George, much to my irritation.

But linguistically, it sort of made sense. George and Roger both have R, O, G, and E. George Roween, though, sounded weird, so I changed it to George Rowan. There was a black syndicated columnist named Carl Rowan (1925-2000) who I used to watch on the news panel program Agronsky and Company.

Anyway, for my half birthday, plus a day, I decided to find all the words in Roger Owen Green, and define the ones I don’t know, generated by some website. The only 8-letter word is greegree, which is an African amulet

7 letters:
engorge greener regreen reneger renewer regorge regrown
wronger – One who wrongs someone. But NOT the comparative term for wrong

The six-letter words

erenow, which my spellcheck does not like. (archaic, literary) before this time; heretofore
gorger – yes, it is one who gorges. But it’s also the Romani term for non-Romani
nonego – anything not considered to be the ego or conscious self; a thing external to the mind.
nooner
orgone – a substance postulated by Wilhelm Reich, who thought it was present everywhere and needed to be incorporated in people for sexual activity and mental health

orogen – an extensive belt of rocks deformed by orogeny, associated in places with plutonic and metamorphic rocks.
regrew regrow renege renown
wonner – an inhabitant, an occupant (in British English, archaic); no wonder my spellcheck didn’t like it

The five-letter words

These will be good for playing Boggle
egger – one that collects the eggs of wild birds especially for gain.
error genre
genro – the elder statesmen of Japan who formerly advised the emperor
goner gorge green
grego – a coarse warm jacket or coat with a hood formerly worn by seamen
grown newer
ngwee – a monetary subunit of the kwacha (Zambia)

noone – Nonstandard spelling of no one. “Noone is formed in parallel to the formation of nobody, anyone, and everyone, but it is not preferred because of the doubled vowels creating a temptation to read and pronounce it as “noon” Noone reminds me of Peter Noone, the lead of Herman’s Hermits s.
owner renew reorg rewon roger
rowen – a second growth of grass or hay in one season
rower wooer wrong

The four-letter words

eger -from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English. (noun) An impetuous flood; a bore. (adjective) obsolete Sharp; bitter; acid; sour. My spellcheck hates this word.
enow – enough
ergo
erne – sea eagle
ewer – a pitcher with a wide spout; I used to know that one

gene goer
gogo – a discotheque, nightclub, etc., with go-go music and dancing. I always spelled it with a hyphen or as two words
gore
gorg – species of amphibian which were eaten alive by members of the Hutt species. They were available for seven wupiupi in the markets of Mos Espa on the planet Tatooine. (No wonder my spellcheck loathed this.) The Urban Dictionary: short for the word gorgeous

gree – mastery, superiority (Scotland); agree
grog gone goon gown gong grew grow
neer – an unpunctuated version of ne’er, for never. But it’s not in the Scrabble dictionary.
nene – the Hawaiian goose, branta sandvicensis, which was designated the state bird of Hawaii in 1957. (Which was before it was a state, but whatever…)
neon

nero – it’s black in Italian, and capitalized, it’s the fifth emperor of Rome
nogg – a shave for shaping dowels and handles.
none
nong – a foolish, incompetent person (Australian and New Zealand Informal); a Scrabble word.
noon

ogee – a molding with an S-shaped profile; a pointed arch having on each side a reversed curve near the apex
ogre
oner – something unique or extraordinary (British). Is it acceptable in Scrabble? Depends
ooer – (Britain) said to acknowledge a double entendre or something that sounds rude. NOT a Scrabble word
rone – (British English/Scottish) – a drainpipe or gutter for carrying rainwater from a roof. Most Scrabble sources say yes.

ween – (archaic) to hold as an opinion
weer – comparative of wee; 2 syllables
were wore worn wren

The three-letter words

egg ego
eng – the symbol, ŋ, that, in the International Phonetic Alphabet and in the pronunciation alphabets of some dictionaries, represents the voiced velar nasal consonant indicated in English spelling by (ng), as in the pronunciations of cling [kling] and clink [klingk].
eon ere
erg -the centimeter-gram-second unit of work or energy, equal to the work done by a force of one dyne when its point of application moves through a distance of one centimeter in the direction of the force; 10−7 joule. I actually DID remember this word from HS physics but I couldn’t remember the definition.
ern – alternative spelling of erne (see above)
err ewe gee gen geo goo

gor – interjection British Dialect. (used as a mild oath.) (used as an exclamation of surprise or disbelief.) Think OMG. Scrabbleworthy.
nee new nog non nor now oer one
ono – adj. Hawaii. Delicious; tasty.
ore owe own
ree – (agriculture, Scottish archaic) a walled enclosure for sheep, cattle, and pigs. OK for Scrabble
reg

reo – a language in New Zealand?
roe
roo – a kangaroo
row wee
wen – an abnormal growth or a cyst protruding from a surface especially of the skin
woe won woo

And finally

ee – an eye. Valid Scrabble word
en er ew go ne no
oe – a whirlwind near the Faeroe Islands
oo (obsolete) The Greek letter omega; any of four Hawaiian birds of the genus Moho, formerly classed with the honeyeaters and now believed to be extinct.
or ow re we
wo – A falconer‘ s call to a hawk; A call to cause a horse to slow down or stop; whoa; Archaic Variant of woe.

Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) is 70

“The farms of Ohio had been replaced by shopping malls”

One of my all-time favorite debut albums is Pretenders, released in 1980. It was by a group I thought was British. In fact, the lead singer. and primary songwriter was Chrissie Hynde, originally from Akron, Ohio.

She bounced around in the London and Paris music scenes for half a decade before the Pretenders were formed in 1978 with Pete Farndon (bass). James Honeyman-Scott (guitar, vocals, keyboards), and Martin Chambers (drums, vocals, percussion).

The second album, the less-than-inspired titled Pretenders II (1981) was solid. But then, Farndon was fired from the band in June 1982 and died less than a year later. “On 16 June 1982, Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure as a result of cocaine intolerance.”

After that, there was an ever-changing lineup, with Chrissie the only constant. When the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, only the original quartet was selected.

The band now has 11 albums, but I’ve heard only the first four. Still, Chrissie has remained a busy working musician with collaborations with Emmylou Harris, Ringo Starr, and Brazilian musician Moreno Veloso, among many others.

Songs

The chart refers to the Billboard pop charts. Songs leading to my favorite.

Brass in Pocket, #14 in 1980 – I enjoy this, at least in part, because she initially didn’t like her performance. “When we recorded the song I wasn’t very happy with it and told my producer that he could release it over my dead body… Now I like that song because it’s one of those songs that served me well.”
Jealous Dogs – featuring barking, always appreciated
I’ve Got You, Babe, #28 in 1985 – this cover of the Sonny and Cher classic is actually a Chrissie song with UB40, though it appears on the Pretenders: The Singles
Pack It Up – something about “your insipid record collection” always cracked me up
Back On The Chain Gang, #5 in 1983 – essentially Hynde, Chambers, and a pickup band of lead guitarist Billy Bremner of Rockpile, guitarist Robbie McIntosh, and bassist Tony Butler. It was used in the movie The King of Comedy, starring Robert DeNiro and Jerry Lewis. Love the clanging metal sound.

I Go To Sleep – written by Ray Davies, as was Stop Your Sobbing. Sleep was recorded by the Applejacks and Marion, but not officially by The Kinks. Davies is the father of Hynde’s daughter Eva.
Don’t Get Me Wrong, #10 in 1986 – I like the “jangly” guitar sound
Cuban Slide – part of the Extended Play EP between the first two albums
Mystery Achievement – last song of the first album
God Only Knows – the 2014 BBC all-star version of the Beach Boys classic features Chrissie
Middle of the Road, #19 in 1984 – she had said that the song refers to Tao Te Ching, which she interprets as “the middle way”
Precious – the first song on the first album. Howard the Duck is namechecked, the revered 1970s comic book, not the reviled 1980s movie
My City Was Gone, B-side of Chain Gang – “I went back to Ohio.” Great social commentary with a killer bass line.

Ultimate Classic Rock’s Pretenders list

Peculiar year for American workers

The appropriately named Johnny Paycheck

It’s been a fascinating year for American workers. Job opportunities are coming back after being devastated by the pandemic. Yet it is clear that organizational leaders who expect the workplace to get back to “normal” are surprised.

Employees are quitting in masses. “Nearly 3.6 million Americans resigned in May [2021] alone. But it’s not an issue that’s specific to a certain industry, role, or even salary — it’s a workplace issue.

“A new Gallup analysis finds that 48% of America’s working population is actively job searching or watching for opportunities. Businesses are facing a staggeringly high quit rate… and a record-high number of unfilled positions. And Gallup discovered that workers in all job categories, from customer-facing service roles to highly professional positions, are actively or passively job hunting at roughly the same rate.”

Take this job and shove it

From The Atlantic: “Why the sudden burst of quitting? One general theory is that we’re living through a fundamental shift in the relationship between employees and bosses that could have profound implications for the future of work. Up and down the income ladder, workers have new reasons to tell their boss to shove it.

“Lower-wage workers who benefited from enhanced unemployment benefits throughout the pandemic may have returned to the job and realized they’re not being paid enough.” The poor pay has been true for decades, BTW.

“Now they’re putting their foot down, forcing restaurants and clothing stores to fork over a higher wage to keep people on staff.” This means that some workers are getting close to, or exceeding, the $15 per hour wage so many have demanded for several years.

“Meanwhile, white-collar workers say they feel overworked or generally burned out after a grueling pandemic year, and they’re marching to the corner office with new demands… Gallup finds that it takes more than a 20% pay raise to lure most employees away from a manager who engages them, and next to nothing to poach most disengaged workers.”

Daily stress

There is a global workplace survey commissioned by Gallup. In the United States and Canada, workers there “reported the highest rate of daily stress in the world during 2020.” Working women, younger workers were more stressed than their counterparts. “Only about one in three U.S. employees and one in five Canadian employees are engaged at work. Burnout prevention requires both high engagement and high employee wellbeing.”

It’s not just MORE money workers desire. Americans Are Willing to Take Pay Cuts to Never Go Into the Office Again. “A new survey shows 65% of workers who said their jobs could be done entirely remotely were willing to take a 5% reduction to stay at home.” But NOT a 20% reduction.

It could be worse

From Newsweek: In June, “The Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit that claimed the Minneapolis-based Cargill and the American arm of Switzerland-based Nestle ‘aided and abetted’ slavery by knowingly buying cocoa beans from farms that used child labor.

“Six African men brought the lawsuit, claiming that they were trafficked from Mali as children and forced to work long hours, then locked up at night, at cocoa farms in Ivory Coast, the world’s leading producer of cocoa. The group sought a class-action lawsuit on behalf of themselves, as well as who they say are thousands of other former child slaves.

“But justices ruled 8-1 that an appeals court improperly let the lawsuit against the food companies go forward in the U.S. as the respondents’ injuries ‘occurred entirely overseas’, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a majority opinion for the court.

A 2020 report funded by the U.S. Department of Labor found that the cocoa industry in West Africa was exploiting 1.6 million child laborers and that the use of child labor has risen despite industry promises to reduce it.

True? Fiction?

The American Dream. The Forgotten Employee.