fbpx

177: Influential Women, Pt.2–Rosanna Arquette

In case you haven’t heard, we’re on a little bit of a journey, meeting various women who have had an influence on multiple pop songs. In today’s episode we’ll be visiting Rosanna Arquette.

The interesting thing here is that whether or not the songs in this episode are about Rosanna has been an on-again, off-again mystery. For a while they’re not, then they are again, and maybe, maybe not. Personally I think the evidence is there, although I can accept the explanation that there are other models for one song and there’s a deliberate ambiguity in the other, because of the nature of the music that was influencing the singer.

At any rate, there’s a terrific storm going on tonight and I’ve already lost power briefly one time; let me get this out before there’s another outage.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:22 — 9.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

Click here for a transcript of this episode. 

Click here to become a Patron of the show. Paid members get a newsletter 48 times per year and ad-free episodes. Free members get the newsletter on a delayed basis.

 

176: Influential Women, Pt1–Renee Fladen-Kamm

For the next several episodes, we’re going to take a look at the women who inspired some of the Rock Era’s most iconic songs.

There will be six episodes in this series; five of them will concentrate on a specific woman, each of whom inspired multiple songs. The sixth episode will look at several women who each inspired a single song. A couple of the women I’ve chosen will be fairly obvious but I’m hoping a couple will come as a surprise to you.

And this episode, I hope, is one of the surprises. We’ll be taking a look at Renee Fladen-Kamm, who was just Renee Fladen back in the day. This young woman inspired three songs, all with a similar theme to them. Two of the songs became big hits for the artist, and the third…not so much. But there’s a pretty good cover that I mention during the episode.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:46 — 8.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Click here to become a Patron of the show. Patrons receive a weekly newsletter about 48 times a year (I dunno, I don’t count, but I don’t take a lot of weeks off), plus bragging rights and an advance release of the episode, so you get it ad-free. How’s that for a deal!

175: In the Still of the Night

After this many episodes, it gives me a moment of “Huh, isn’t that interesting” when I start writing the post for an episode and discover that I haven’t covered a song from that particular year before. In this case, that year would be 1956.

In retrospect, that shouldn’t be a surprise, given that we’re reaching waaay back into the early days of the Pop music era. But it’s still a fun little statistic, regardless.

“In the Still of the Night” was originally “In the Still of the Nite,” partly because they didn’t want this song to be confused with a 1936 song written by Cole Porter and recorded several times over the years. The other reason is that it was a little bit of a trend to spell “Nite” like that. (See also The Dells’ “Oh What a Nite”.) Later on the spelling changed to the more conventional style, and you’d often see “(I’ll Remember)” tacked on. Why it’s “I’ll remember” and not “I remember”, I have no idea.

This wasn’t relevant to the broader story, but in 1986 Ronnie Milsap recorded a song called “Lost in the Fifties Tonight”, where he recounts some fond memories from listening to this song. As part of the chorus he actually sings a few bars of this song.  That song went to #1 on the Billboard Country Chart and earned Milsap a Grammy for Best Country Male Performance.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:45 — 11.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

And finally, I didn’t promise this during the episode, but here’s the song from the Trivia Question (go listen to the episode first!):

This link doesn’t have any actual video to it, but do a search and you’ll catch a lot of fun videos associated with the song. You won’t even mind hearing it repeatedly because it’s a genuine banger.

Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Click here to become a Patron of the show. Patrons get a newsletter about 48 times a year (I never counted, but I don’t skip weeks often) and now they get advance access to ad-free episodes.

174: Don’t Fear the Reaper

This is an episode I wrote in the Southern Studio, so I may  have been in a better mood than usual to write it than I ordinarily am, given  the subject matter.

When Blue Öyster Cult first got together, they were a college band from Stony Brook, New York. That’s not far from where I grew up. Oddly, none of the band’s original members are from Long Island. Two of them grew up in New  York City, one in upstate NY and the last was born in Alabama but moved to the Island as a child. Go figure.

They took on the name Soft White Underbelly first and used that from 1967-1969. Then they caught a bad review for a show and decided to change their name. After a few permutations they landed on Blue Öyster Cult, which they didn’t really like. But the fact is, they didn’t care enough at that point to come up with anything else.

I touched on this briefly in the episode itself, but it’s pretty clear that the band members were still pretty fond of “Soft White Underbelly”. Oftentimes when they played smaller clubs around the NY Metro area, that’s the name they’d use in those clubs. So when fans of BOC saw an ad in the local newspapers touting that band in the 1970s and 80s, they knew they were actually in for a Blue Öyster Cult show.

“Don’t Fear the Reaper” is notable for several different reasons. It was a new recording studio and they experimented with their sound in different ways. That would include having Buck Dharma sing the lead. (Dharma is the lead singer on “Godzilla” and “Burnin’ For You”, so they may have hit on something there.) You’ll hear about some of the bells and whistles they use.

And yes, you’ll hear a little bit about Saturday Night Live and how they feel about it.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()

Subscribe: RSS | More

Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Click here to become a Patron of the show. Patrons get a newsletter about 48 times a year (I never counted, but I don’t skip weeks often) and now they get advance access to ad-free episodes.

173: Wichita Lineman

By 1968, Glen Campbell had moved from session musician to a star in his own right. His single “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” written by Jimmy Webb, was a huge hit for him. So when Campbell decided he needed another song, he turned back to Webb and asked him for another song.

For whatever reason, he asked Webb to make it a song about a specific location. Webb, at that time, was in the business of writing as many songs as possible about his ex, a woman named Susan Horton. (Coincidentally, Jim Holvay was also spending a lot of time writing songs about a woman named Susan, go figure.) Susan Horton was at the heart of “Phoenix” and “MacArthur Park, which had just been released when Campbell came calling again. So he cranked out yet another song ostensibly about Susan. That song was “Wichita Lineman.”

Now, Webb wasn’t as obvious about Susan as Holvay was, but in all of these songs you can hear some sense of loss and longing, so it’s pretty clear that he had it bad for her. And between Webb’s nearly-finished work and the production values that Campbell and producer/arranger Al De Lory, before long they had a genuine masterpiece on their hands. And honest to god, why haven’t I covered this song back when the show was still in single digits?

What else haven’t I covered that really needs some attention? Drop me an email  at howgoodpodcast@gmail.com!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:58 — 13.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

Click here for a transcript of this episode. 

Click here to become a Patron of the show. Patrons get a newsletter about 48 times a year, plus a few other goodies from time to time.

172: A World War Two Christmas

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

Today we’re looking at three Christmas songs that are born from the anxieties of World War Two. Two of the songs aren’t direct references to the war itself, but it clearly informed the subject. Themes of separation and loneliness emerge, and a sense of nostalgia is present throughout.

Interestingly, one of the songs was so dark that the lyricist was asked to change the words…twice. For the other two songs, there’s a verse that usually goes unsung, though once in awhile we get to hear it. And one song was popular enough with the public that it still holds the Guinness record for most copies of a song sold—and it’s not even the original recording!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:11 — 18.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

And, as promised: here are the original lyrics to “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
It may be your last.
Next year we may all be living in the past.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Pop that champagne cork.
Next year we may all be living in New York.
No good times like the olden days.
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who were dear to us.
Will be near to us no more.
But at least we all will be together.
If the Lord allows.
From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

Happy holidays to ye!

Click here to become a Patron of the show. Patrons get a newsletter nearly every Saturday night/Sunday morning, about 48 times a year.

Sorry, no transcript this time.

171: Save the Last Dance For Me

…before we were so rudely interrupted…

This is a song that I’m long-overdue in covering, if only because of the backstory it has. It’s simultaneously heart-warming and heart-breaking. It’s a love letter from lyricist Doc Pomus to his wife. That’s not unusual, of course. Many songwriters compose songs dedicated to a loved one. But this one has an extra special twist to it. I shan’t spoil it here, though: you’ll have to actually listen to the show.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:56 — 14.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

So in this episode we’ll learn about the genius of Doc Pomus, the genius of Dick Clark, and a little bit about children’s television.

Click here to support the show as a Patron. Patrons receive a weekly newsletter about 48 times a year.

170: I Fought the Law

How many times now have I gone into the backstory with a song and learned that the person who wrote it says something akin to, “Yeah, I knocked that one off in about fifteen minutes.”

Oftentimes they also think that the song isn’t going to amount to very much, which I find kind of funny. But it also supports a working theory I have that it’s not always the song itself, but the way it’s presented. The Crickets (sans Buddy Holly) and a few others approached it one way, but Bobby Fuller and The Clash looked at it differently, and it paid off for them.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:30 — 12.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Click here to support the show as a Patron. 

Video Newsletter

Hi, Cousins!

For those of you not in the know, this show has a Patreon page, which can be found here.

Patrons of the show get a weekly newsletter about 48 times a year, typically on Sunday. And once in awhile I’ll throw a special episode their way, which eventually becomes available to you as well, several months later.

In addition, I will occasionally do the newsletter in video form, but frankly it’s rather time-consuming, largely because I usually want it to look a certain way so I get weird about making things just so. So that only happens every few months.

In recent months, I’ve been writing entries about a new cereal developed by Snoop Dogg. It was originally called Snoop Loopz, and it promised “more marshmallows.” More marshmallows than what, I’m not sure. But I looked in several stores and couldn’t find the stuff.

This went on for months, me looking for Snoop Loopz and being unable to find it. Even in stores that carried other foods by Broadus Foods (that’s his company name), it was no dice.

According to the website, Broadus partnered with Post Consumer Brands (the folks behind Grape-Nuts and Honey Bunches of Oats, etc.) to produce the cereals. They moved away from the Snoop Loopz name—probably to avoid trademark issues—and are all sold under the Snoop Cereal umbrella, with each cereal having its own Snoop-like name.

Finally, I got a note from Cousin Mike about his discovery that the cereal had changed names, and could be found on Amazon. I’m all in, I say, and ordered one box each of the three varieties.

And to thank the Patrons for their patience and support, my wife and I sampled the three cereals and recorded the experience just for their benefit. Just for the giggles I did a regular video newsletter and tagged in the taste test as well.

So if you’re as curious about Snoop Cereal as I was, and you’re looking to support the show, hop on over to Patreon and drop a fiver.

169: Tiny Dancer

I don’t often play favorites on this show; in fact there have been a couple of songs I genuinely disliked, but I covered them anyway because the story behind them was kind of interesting. And I think you’d be hard-pressed to identify those songs, because I do try to be even-handed.

However.

I am going to take the time to gush about “Tiny Dancer” just a little bit, because it’s one of my favorite songs by Elton John, and it may even be somewhere in my all-time Top Ten, if I took the time to compose such a list. Actually, I’ve already taken that time, and here’s the episode.

Before you listen, however, I will note that my wife doesn’t really like this song, and I can’t convince her to sing along with me on the chorus. Ever. Spoilsport.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:20 — 16.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

And, as promised, here’s the “Tiny Dancer” clip from the 2000 film Almost Famous:

Kate Hudson shoulda been a bigger star.

Click here for a transcript of this episode. 

Click here to become a Patron of the show.