Category: rock and roll

Smokey is 70!


If William “Smokey” Robinson was known just for the songs he performed, he would be a memorable artist. But the fact that he has written over 400 songs, according to ASCAP, and probably hundreds more and is a producer as well, then you have a musical force.

The first song released by his group the Miracles was Got A Job, a response song to Get a Job by by the Silhouettes, written by Smokey, Berry Gordy and Roquel Davis.

Here are just a other few songs written or co-written by Smokey. The group listed usually is NOT the only artist who’s performed the tune:

You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me- the Beatles; also performed by the Miracles
My Girl-the Temptations
My Guy -Mary Wells; anyone who could write My Girl AND My Guy is the consummate songwriter
No More Tearstained Makeup – Martha & the Vandellas; a relatively obscure song with one of my favorite lines: No sponge has the power To absorb the shower Of what pancake and powder couldn’t cover
Who’s Loving You – Jackson 5ive. From the 1st J5 album, a cover of the Miracles tune. Isn’t Michael preturnaturally experienced in love in this tune?
Ain’t That Peculiar – Marvin Gaye
Tears of a Clown -the (English) Beat. But it was from the Miracles’ version that I first heard of Pagliachi, which led me to find out that the reference was to a Leoncavallo opera.
Don’t Mess with Bill – Marvellettes
The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game-Grace Jones, covering the Marvelettes’ tune
Get Ready -Rare Earth, a song I first heard from the Temptations
No More Water In The Well – the Temptations, with a relatively rare Paul Williams lead vocal, from arguably my favorite Temps LP, With A Lot O’ Soul, 1967.
Still Water (Peace) – Four Tops
Floy Joy – the Supremes

I suppose I should do a couple more Smokey songs. I pick the oft-covered Tracks of My Tears and I Second That Emotion.

So, happy 70th birthday to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters’ Hall of Fame inductee, as well as 2006 Kennedy Center honoree, Smokey Robinson!

1993 photo of Smokey from LIFE magazine, for non-commercial use

ROG

ROG

Reeling in the Years

I know historians banter about the most significant years in a given period, as do others. I’d have to pick 1917 (Russian revolution), 1945 (end of WW II), 1968 (unrest in US, Mexico, Czechoslovakia), 1989 (fall of Berlin Wall), among others, for the 20th Century.

But did you ever rank the years in your life? 1977, when I lived in three cities in two states, was pretty awful, but 1978, when, not coincidentally, I moved to Schenectady, NY, was pretty good. I was up in the attic this week, sorting stuff, and I came across a 1998 calendar, 100 Years of American Comics from the International Cartoon Art.

My, that was a good year.

I went to the movies. A lot.
Jan 16-Jackie Brown
Jan 19-Good Will Hunting
Jan 25-Titanic
Jan 31-Fast, Cheap and Out of Control
Feb 1-Amistad
Feb 10-The Tango Lesson
Feb 14-Mrs Brown; L.A. Confidential
Feb 15-Afterglow; Ma vie en Rose
Feb 16-The Apostle
And that was just the first two months.

I took JEOPARDY! test #1 on April 29.

I went on a two-week vacation in May. I don’t know that I’ve been on a two-week vacation since. I went to the Motown museum and a Tigers game in Detroit; and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on one train trip. I visited the Capitol and other landmarks and took JEOPARDY! test #2 in Washington, DC on a second train trip. I love the train.

Saw LOTS of music in the summer. Many are local band (Burners UK, Hair of the Dog), but I also saw Maddy Prior, Cyril Neville, the Glenn Miller group, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Rickie Lee Jones. Then on August 9, I went to SPAC for the Newport Folk Festival, featuring Lyle Lovett, Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith, Bela Fleck, Bruce Cockburn, Alison Krauss, Marc Cohn, Lucinda Williams, and others; a great day.

I had two conferences in September. At the ASBDC conference in Savannah, GA, my father drove down from Charlotte, NC and hung out with me and a couple of my friends the first two days. THE best time I ever had with my father. Then the SBDC conference was in Niagara Falls; I love the falls. And I walked to NF, Ontario.

The JEOPARDY! broadcast party was November 9. Later that month, my attempts to re-woo Carol, which began in earnest in August, proved successful, and we got married the following May.

Music, movies, travel, love. Even a modicum of fame. That was a great year.

May your 2010, and mine, be as fruitful.

ROG

ROG

Rock Hall QUESTIONS

A couple weeks ago, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominated these folks to be voted on:
Madonna
Afrika Bambaataa
The Beastie Boys
Leonard Cohen
Donna Summer
The Ventures
Chic (third year)
The Dave Clark Five (third year)
John Mellencamp (second year)
The results will be announced early next January, with the awards ceremony in March.

1. Who will be selected this year? I’m guessing Madonna, Afrika and the Beastie Boys – I don’t think you can pick the Beastie Boys (or indeed most hip hop/rap artists) without picking Afrika; but as to the other two, I really don’t know. Maybe DC5 and Chic because they’re repeaters. Leonard Cohen should be in the Hall as a songwriter, not a singer.

2. Who would you like to be selected this year? For me, Madonna, Afrika, and DC5.

3. There are a number of people, some of whom are listed here (lower half of the page) who’ve been bypassed for the Hall. Who would you like to see? My picks: Peter Gabriel and/or Genesis, Graham Parker. I also would love to see some consideration to some more commercial bands such as – OK, I’ll admit it – the Doobie Brothers.

Oh, and on another topic:

4. What do you think of the FCC plan to ease limits on media owners?

ROG

ROG

Three Ramblin’ Questions: premiere

Here’s a new feature here at Ramblin’.  It’s called “Three Ramblin’ Questions.”
OK, it’s not new. I was inspired by blogger Chris “Lefty” Brown.
OK, I stole Lefty Brown’s idea.

In any case, this month marks the 50th anniversary of “Rock and/or Roll,” as a cartoon minister once put it. Rock Around the Clock reached Number 1 on the charts on July 9, 1955.
(Yeah, yeah, I know about “Rocket 88” and all that)

About halfway through the Rock and roll era, one (or two) of my favorite songs about rock and roll came out on Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps album. (And neither do I ’cause it’s too darn hot.)

So, please tell me:

1. Will rock and roll ever die, or is rock and roll here to stay?

2. Is it better to burn out, or to fade away?

3. What king or queen of music is gone but not forgotten? (Gone means left this mortal coil, not a downturn in the career.)

BONUS QUESTION: I’ll be doing this feature:

a. Every week, religiously.

b. As the muse strikes.

c. Whenever I’m pressed for time.

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