Ray Charles – Mess Around

I’ll stick with the movie soundtrack theme for this next song. I have to be honest and say that, even though I think Ray Charles is great, I’d never heard this until I watched Trains, Planes and Automobiles. I’d heard him loads of times, liked his music but never felt the need to own any of it. But when I watched the movie and heard this song play I thought ” I have to have it”.. and so I searched the credits, found the title and got it. And from then on I’ve collected of a lot of his stuff, and I love it.

I have Trains, Planes and Automobiles on video, somewhere… and every now and then I watch it for a good giggle. It’s a very funny movie. The song is from the part where John Candy is driving the car while Steve Martin sleeps, it comes on the radio and he starts playing air keyboard on the dash of the car… don’t say you’ve never done it.. and uses his thumb to play air saxophone. It’s a riot. I’d never do that while driving my car.. it’s dangerous… well, maybe sometimes, but only when I’m on a quiet road because if you’ve seen the movie you’ll know the result can be quite catastrophic. The song was released in 1953 and was one of the first big hits for Ray Charles.

No dashboard on my island.., no car. But with a little imagination, and an old wooden cargo crate that got washed up on the shore, I’ll be able to play along with Ray Charles just like John Candy in the movie.., minus the cigarette. You’ll have to make do with the keyboard on your pc, or your desktop. But we can all use our thumbs for the saxophone part… just make sure you washed your hands first.

The Werewolves Of London

Warren Zevon, I love his music. He recorded some really good stuff, intelligent lyrics.. songs with a story to tell, and a little off beat. Again, this is from 1978 and was on his album called Excitable Boy, which is a good album. Waddy Wachtel was one of the co writers of this song, and it features John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, from Fleetwood Mac, on bass and drums.

The song has been covered by many artists, even the Grateful Dead, with each giving it their own feel and arrangement… but Warren Zevon’s version is definately the best. He died in 2003 unfortunately, but he was a brilliant song writer and very popular performer. I have many of his songs, love listening to them.. but this one is the one I’d choose for desert island collection because it’s sure to cheer me up everytime I hear it.

I saw the Tom Cruise movie, The Colour Of Money,… the part where he’s shooting pool in a pool hall and this song is playing in the background. I’m not a Tom Cruise fan at all, but I thought that scene in the movie was brilliant… and Werewolves Of London made it so entertaining, even though Tom Cruise dancing to it left a bit to be desired. And then of course it’s always a favourite at Halloween, no Halloween party would be complete without Werewolves Of London being played at least a couple of times throughout the evening…, it just has to be done.

No Halloween parties on my island.., no pumpkins to carve out, no witches and broomsticks. But maybe a few bats flying around at dusk, this song playing on the laptop, and me sitting on the beach on my own howling at the moon… or maybe using a stick for a pool cue and doing my own version of that cheesy Tom Cruise dance from the movie. But then again, on second thoughts I don’t think so…

One More Night – Yellow Dog

Back to the one hit wonders for the next song…, there’s no getting away from them when I look through the stuff I’ve put aside for the desert island collection and uploaded for this blog. Still, this particular one hit wonder always gets people singing along when you play.. it’s a fun song, really catchy. I wouldn’t call it rock music, although that’s the genre they’re listed under.. I just reckon it’s a great pop song…’70’s pop that is, 1978 in fact.

I know very little about Yellow Dog, but doing a bit of quick research I found out that they originated from a band called Fox… I do remember them and they had a few hits in the ’70’s.. and this song reached the top ten in the UK when it was released. I also found out that one of the members of Yellow Dog, Kenny Young.., wrote the song “Under The Boardwalk” when he was in his teens.. and that’s about it.

So I’m just going to post the song… maybe when you play it you’ll remember it.. perhaps you’ve never heard it before. One thing is, I’m sure it’ll have your feet tapping.. and your fingers, it’s a great song and I reckon it deserves to played more often. So here it is…. time for a little dance I think.

It All Gets Carried On The Relay

Is it really five days since I last posted anything?… time flies, I’ve just been too busy but I’ll make amends now.

So, the songs in this post are by The Who… it’s about time I added them to the desert island collection because when it comes to rock music they’re top of my list. They’ve been around so long.., made so many superb albums and performed some of the best concerts, ever. To choose my favourite Who records is impossible… there are simply too many. From the early sixties to the present day they’ve been belting out some of the most awesome rock music I’ve ever heard… my Who collection is massive, I’d have the lot with me on my island…, I’ve grown up listening to their music and never a week goes by when I don’t play their stuff at some point. They’ve influenced so many musicians, performed at some of the biggest concerts on the planet, stopped recording… started again, fallen out.. made friends again and, tragically, lost two of the original members along the way. The story of The Who has been an on going, real life soap opera for decades… and after all these years they’re still the best as far as I’m concerned. The best rock band in the world?… they’re pretty close, even today.

Everyone has their favourite Who songs, all the well known hits and album tracks… and I’ll add some more of mine later on. But for now I’m posting these two songs.

They’re both two of my personal favourites, not the best known.. well, maybe the first one is. It’s called Relay… 1973 I think, it was released as a single. It was going to be on the Who’s Next album but got dropped from it when the album became a single instead of a double one. But it’s a great song, plenty of power.. brilliant lyrics.., prophetic words about the internet?.. I don’t know. All I know is that I love this song.

The second one is from the album The Who By Numbers…, 1975, and the song is called Slip Kid. Again it’s The Who at their best, for me.. although many people don’t know it if you play it to them. Both songs have all the best ingredients from the band.. brilliant guitar, superb drumming, thundering bass, and awesome vocals… but you’d expect nothing less from a great band like The Who. All their stuff is on the hard drive so it would playing all the time on my island, absolutely no doubt about that. They’ve been around forever…, and long may they continue.