Harrison‘s backing musicians on the song include Eric Clapton and
the entire Delaney & Bonnie and Friends band, with whom he had toured
during the final months of the Beatles. Harrison co-produced the recording
with Phil Spector.
Immortal pop-punk icons RAMONES (1974 – 1996) released their stunning debut
single BLITZKRIEG BOP this day 50 years ago, on 6 February 1976. It featured on
their equally stunning, self-titled debut LP.
Although its composition was credited to the band as a whole, the song was written
by drummer Tommy Ramone and bassist Dee Dee Ramone. The song’s big dumb chant
line “Hey! Ho! Let’s go!” became a global rallying cry at sporting events.
Australian rock/pop heroes MEN AT WORK (1978–1986, 1996–2002, 2019–present)
scored their biggest hit with DOWN UNDER (more than 1,115 billion streams on Spotify).
It topped both the UK and the US charts this day 45 years ago, on 29 January 1981.
It was also #1 in Canada, Australia, New-Zealand and some European countries.
The lyrics depict an Australian man travelling the globe
meeting people who are interested in his home country.
They made 2 albums and released 6 singles, but only ‘Spaceman‘
was a big success, so far more than 24 million streams on Spotify.
It was on the top seat of the UK singles chart 30 years ago today,
on 27 January 1996. It also topped the charts in 23 other countries.
For this considerable accomplishment, the band will have a 12″ EP out in
April, which includes the version that Robert Smith re-recorded in 1986 for
the ‘Standing On A Beach – The Singles’ compilation album, but which has
never been released digitally.
The EP will be available on 12” vinyl, 7” vinyl, CD and on digital formats, and it will also feature remasters of the single’s B-sides: ‘Plastic Passion’, ‘Pillbox Tales’, and ‘Do The Hansa’, as well as the extended 12” mix of ‘Boys Don’t Cry’. You can order a copy here.
The late great soul giantMARVIN GAYE (1939-1984) released
his hit single WHAT’S GOING ON, the title track of his 11th LP,
on 21 Jan 1971, today 55 years ago.
It went to #2 in the US. It would sell over two million
copies. More than 353 million streams on Spotify.
The album tackles police brutality and violence, other
socially related injustices, war, and climatic conditions.
Highly relevant again today.
“Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today, yeah
“Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
Oh, what’s going on (What’s going on)
What’s going on (What’s going on)
Right on, baby
Mother, mother
Everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply ’cause our hair is long
Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Come on talk to me
So you can see
What’s going on (What’s going on)
Yeah, what’s going on (What’s going on)
Tell me what’s going on (What’s going on)
I’ll tell you, what’s going on (What’s going on)
Right on, baby, right on”
John Lennon: “‘Woman’ came about because, one sunny afternoon in Bermuda,
it suddenly hit me what women do for us. Not just what my Yoko does for me, although
I was thinking in those personal terms, but any truth is universal. What dawned on me
was everything I was taking for granted. Women really are the other half of the sky, as
I whisper at the beginning of the song. It’s a ‘we’ or it ain’t anything.”
QUEEN, one of the greatest bands ever topped the UK Charts with their blockbuster hit BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY for 9 weeks straight, starting on 9 January 1976, today 50 years ago.
The song parodies elements of opera with bombastic choruses, sarcastic recitative, and distorted Italian operatic phrases. Lyrical references include Scaramouche, the fandango, Galileo Galilei, Figaro, and Beelzebub, with cries of Bismillah.
Producer Roy Thomas Baker recalled years later: “It was totally insane, but we enjoyed every minute of it. It was basically a joke, but a successful joke. [Laughs]. We had to record it in three separate units. We did the whole beginning bit, then the whole middle bit and then the whole end.
It was complete madness. The middle part started off being just a couple of seconds, but Freddie kept coming in with more “Galileos” and we kept on adding to the opera section, and it just got bigger and bigger. We never stopped laughing. It started off as a ballad, but the end was heavy.”
THE ROLLING STONES released their hit single AS TEARS GO BY
in the US, today 60 years ago, on 18 December 1965. A year later
it came out in the UK.
The ballad was written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and their manager Andrew Oldham. It was one of their first self-written songs. It was given
to MARIANNE FAITHFULL in 1964, and went to #7 in the UK.
Faithfull:“I was never that crazy about ‘As Tears Go By’. God knows
how Mick and Keith wrote it or where it came from. In any case, it is
an absolutely astonishing thing for a boy of 20 to have written a song
about a woman looking back nostalgically on her life.”
A year later, The Stones put their version on their longplayer December’s Children (And Everybody’s) that came out early
December. It was their North American record label that decided
to release it as a single on 18 December 1965.
</
