Tag Archives: Songfacts

♫ Old Time Rock & Roll ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Continuing Bob Seger Week …

I’m not sure I can say this is my absolute favourite Bob Seger tune, but it’s gotta be close.  This one not only gets the toes tapping, but it gets the whole foot stomping in rhythm with the music, makes me wanna get up and dance … but, I’d probably land on my posterior with a broken hip or some such.

According to SongFacts …

This is one of the few songs Seger recorded that he didn’t write. It was written by the songwriters George Jackson and Thomas Jones – they worked for Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, where the song was recorded. Although Seger worked on the lyrics, he didn’t take any songwriting credit. This means that Seger doesn’t own the publishing rights to the song, and Jackson and Jones control when it is used in movies and commercials.

According to Seger, he was feeling generous that day, and says not seeking composer credit was “the dumbest thing I ever did.” Seger claims he changed all the original lyrics except for the “old time rock and roll” part. He made sure to take a dig at disco music, which was fading in popularity.

Seger recorded this with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a famous group of studio musicians who owned their own recording studio in Alabama. Other singers they had worked with include Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, and Rod Stewart. They gave many songs a feeling of authenticity, which was important to Seger because his previous album, Night Moves, was very successful and he didn’t want to be perceived as selling out to pop radio.

The lead guitar player on “Old Time Rock And Roll” was not a Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section player. It was Forrest McDonald, a young man just passing through who happened to stop in the studio that day. When Songfacts spoke with David Hood, he told the story: “He happened to come in the parking lot in his mother and daddy’s car with them, and Jimmy was out on the back porch. I believe his first name was Howie, but he probably goes by another name. But anyway, that’s very true. He came into the parking lot one afternoon and Jimmy was out on the back porch. And he says, ‘Well, I’m a guitar player and I’m wanting to learn how to play on recording sessions. And I think I’m good.’ He says, ‘Well, got your guitar with you?’ He says, ‘Yeah.’ Jimmy says, ‘Well, come on in.’ And they put him on the track. His mother and daddy never even got out of the car. They sat in the car in the parking lot with the air conditioning running. And they put him on the track playing guitar and it’s on the record, it stayed on there. It was a good enough part that they kept it on there.”

McDonald wasn’t credited for his part on the song, but he did get paid.

According to McDonald, he lived in Hollywood but was in Alabama to visit his father when they decided to go to Muscle Shoals. He hadn’t been on any major recordings, but he was a professional musician who played the Sunset Strip and performed with Van Halen.

McDonald went on to be a successful musician in his own right. He released dozens of blues albums, won some awards, and performed extensively in shows and festivals, mostly in the Southeastern United States. He sang backup vocals on several tracks for the soundtrack to the 2001 Sean Penn film I Am Sam.

This wasn’t one of Seger’s highest charting songs, only reaching #28 in the U.S., #31 in Canada, and didn’t chart in the UK, though it did earn Silver Certification there (I’m not sure how that works … perhaps Clive can enlighten us).

Old Time Rock & Roll

Bob Seger

Just take those old records off the shelf
I’ll sit and listen to ’em by myself
Today’s music ain’t got the same soul
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
Don’t try to take me to a disco
You’ll never even get me out on the floor
In ten minutes I’ll be late for the door
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll (oh)

Won’t go to hear ’em play a tango
I’d rather hear some blues or funky old soul
There’s only one sure way to get me to go
Start playing old time rock ‘n’ roll
Call me a relic, call me what you will
Say I’m old-fashioned, say I’m over the hill
Today’s music ain’t got the same soul
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll (oh)

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll (hey)

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: George Henry Jackson / Thomas Earl Jones III

Old Time Rock & Roll lyrics © Peermusic Publishing

♫ Night Moves ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

It’s been a few weeks since we had a week dedicated to a single artist (or group) and per a suggestion by Clive, I thought this would be a good week to start a new one … so get your headphones on, crank the volume up, and get ready for some … {drumroll} … Bob Seger!  Yep, this is officially Bob Seger Week on Filosofa’s Word … I have a few planned that I like or that Clive mentioned, but please weigh in with your favourites and I’ll try to fit them all in!  And now …

I asked Google what Seger’s most iconic song was, and it said Night Moves.  Lucky for me, it’s one that I like, so it’s the perfect choice to lead off Bob Seger Week!

From Wikipedia …

“Night Moves” has roots in Seger’s adolescence; he wrote the song in an attempt to capture the “freedom and looseness” he experienced during that period of his life. At a certain point, he began socializing with a rougher crowd, who thought he was cool because he played music. The song’s contents are largely autobiographical; for example, the group of friends would often hold parties they called “grassers”, which involved going to a farmer’s field outside Ann Arbor to dance. Through these, he met a woman—credited as Rene Andretti in the Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings—whose boyfriend was in the military and was away. “It’s about this dark haired Italian girl that I went out with when I was 19, she was one year older than me,” he later recalled. Seger promptly pursued a romance with the girl, but eventually her boyfriend returned and they married, leaving Seger broken-hearted. Seger later told journalist Timothy White that many of his early songs were written to impress the girl.

The song took Seger over six months to complete writing. He had recently purchased a house due to the success of his first live album, Live Bullet, and he and the band would write and practice in its large basement. The ending lyrics were written first. The use of descriptive imagery was inspired by Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee” (1969), a song that Seger loved and which motivated him as he was developing his writing style. The catalyst for writing “Night Moves” came after Seger saw the 1973 film American Graffiti: “I came out of the theater thinking, ‘Hey, I’ve got a story to tell, too! Nobody has ever told about how it was to grow up in my neck of the woods.'” Seger was inspired by the film’s depictions of early 1960s car culture, of which he was a part.

SongFacts also has quite a bit of background info on the song, if you’re interested.  This charted in 1976 at #4 in the U.S. and #5 in Canada, and almost 20 years later, in 1995, it finally charted in the UK, although only at #45.

Night Moves

Bob Seger

I was a little too tall, could’ve used a few pounds
Tight pants points, hardly renowned
She was a black-haired beauty with big dark eyes
And points of her own, sittin’ way up high

Way up firm and high
Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy
Out in the back seat of my ’60 Chevy
Workin’ on mysteries without any clues

Workin’ on our night moves
Tryin’ to make some front page drive-in news
Workin’ on our night moves
In the summertime
Umm, in the sweet summertime

We weren’t in love, oh no, far from it
We weren’t searchin’ for some pie in the sky summit
We were just young and restless and bored
Livin’ by the sword

And we’d steal away every chance we could
To the backroom, to the alley or the trusty woods
I used her, she used me but neither one cared
We were gettin’ our share

Workin’ on our night moves
Tryin’ to lose the awkward teenage blues
Workin’ on our night moves
Mmm, and it was summertime
Mmm, sweet, summertime, summertime

Oh, wonderin’
Felt the lightning, yeah
And I waited on the thunder
Waited on the thunder

I woke last night to the sound of thunder
How far off I sat and wondered?
Started hummin’ a song from 1962
Ain’t it funny how the night moves?

When you just don’t seem to have as much to lose
Strange how the night moves
With autumn closin’ in

Mmm, night moves, mmm
(Night moves) night moves
(Night moves) yeah
(Night moves) I remember
(Night moves) ah, I sure remember the night moves
(Night moves) ain’t it funny how you remember?
(Night moves) funny how you remember
(Night moves) I remember, I remember, I remember, I remember
(Night moves) oh, oh, oh

we were workin’, workin’ and practicin’
(Night moves) workin’ and practicin’
(Night moves) oh, on the night moves, night moves
(Night moves) oh
(Night moves) I remember, yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember
(Night moves) ooh
(Night moves) I remember, Lord I remember, Lord I remember
(Night moves) ha, ha, ooh-hoo
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah
Uh huh, uh huh
I remember, I remember

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bob Seger

Night Moves lyrics © Gear Publishing Company Inc, Gear Publishing Co. Inc.

♫ Lay Lady Lay ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

As best I can figure, I have never played this one before, but WordPress seems unfamiliar today with the concept of alphabetical lists, so I cannot be 100% certain!  I’m hoping to start a new week-long artist series tomorrow, but for today, I decided on a bit of Bob Dylan.

According to SongFacts …

In the summer of 1968, the producers of the movie Midnight Cowboy reached out to Dylan to see if he had a song they could use for the film’s soundtrack. Dylan had been playing around with “Lay Lady Lay,” a gentle love song, and thought it would make a good submission, but he didn’t get it done on time. Producer John Schlesinger settled on Harry Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin'” before he got to hear Dylan’s song.

Clinton Heylin observes in Revolution In The Air that the song doesn’t make sense for the movie, and it’s possible Dylan didn’t read the script as he developed the song.

The Everly Brothers recorded “Lay Lady Lay” in 1984 on their album EB 84. Dylan offered them the song back in the late ’60s, probably not too long after playing it for Schlesinger and Midnight Cowboy.

Out of this meeting came a longtime myth that the Everly Brothers rejected the song because they thought Dylan sang “lay lady lay, lay across my big breasts, babe,” thinking it was a lesbian love song.

Don Everly cleared that story up in 1994 when he said that the lesbian breast angle wasn’t true. The Everly Brothers just didn’t realize Dylan was offering them the song. It was an informal meeting, and they were starstruck. They had no idea Dylan was demoing the song for their use.

This was one of many Dylan songs covered by The Byrds, who also recorded “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Just Like A Woman,” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” There are two versions of the song on their 2002 Dylan cover compilation, The Byrds Play Dylan.

They Byrds version bubbled under at #132 US in 1969; other charting renditions of the song in America were by Ferrante & Teicher (#99, 1970) and the Isley Brothers (#71, 1972).

Some radio stations refused to play this song simply because of the use of the word “lay” in the title, assuming it referred to sex (i.e. “get laid”). Despite the accusation of being “sexually titled,” Dylan denied any sexual terminology.

Grammatically, the correct title for this song would be “Lie Lady Lie,” but that wouldn’t sing very well. English teachers will tell you that Dylan’s title is a command to place the lady on the bed, but Dylan isn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his strict adherence to the rules of grammar. Neither is Eric Clapton, who did something similar with “Lay Down Sally.”

People can be such nitpickers and so … shallow sometimes, can’t they?  At any rate, this song charted at #5 in the UK, #7 in the U.S., and #8 in Canada – not too shabby, eh?

Lay Lady Lay

Bob Dylan

Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed

Whatever colors you have
In your mind
I’ll show them to you
And you’ll see them shine

Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay
Stay with your man awhile

Until the break of day
Let me see you make him smile

His clothes are dirty, but his-
His hands are clean
And you’re the best thing that he’s
Ever seen

Stay, lady, stay
Stay with your man awhile

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
When he’s standing, in front of you

Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay
Stay while the night is still ahead

I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you in the night

Stay, lady, stay
Stay while the night is still ahead

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bob Dylan

Lay Lady Lay lyrics © Universal Tunes, Big Sky Music

Bob Dylan

Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed

Whatever colors you have
In your mind
I’ll show them to you
And you’ll see them shine

Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay
Stay with your man awhile

Until the break of day
Let me see you make him smile

His clothes are dirty, but his-
His hands are clean
And you’re the best thing that he’s
Ever seen

Stay, lady, stay
Stay with your man awhile

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love?
When he’s standing, in front of you

Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay
Stay while the night is still ahead

I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you in the night

Stay, lady, stay
Stay while the night is still ahead

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bob Dylan

Lay Lady Lay lyrics © Universal Tunes, Big Sky Music

♫ Tell Her About It ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Humour, music, music history

I last played this one nearly three years ago … early in 2021 … and most of you seemed to like it.  I love the song, and the video makes me giggle … yes, I said giggle!  Moi! 

Per SongFacts …

In his biography The Life and Times of an Angry Young Man, Billy Joel talks about when he first started dating Christie Brinkley. He says that she was the first person he could ever just talk to, and they would spent hours just talking – this was the basis for “Tell Her About It.” It’s simply about an a-ha moment for Joel when he realized that you could actually have a soul mate. Joel and Brinkley met in 1982, married in 1985 and divorced in 1994.

Billy Joel both wrote and performed this one.  The video is a spoof of the Ed Sullivan Show, and shows Joel singing the song as if he were on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963. The cover shot for the UK release of the song was taken from the video, as seen below. An Ed Sullivan imitator (Will Jordan) introduces Joel (as “B.J. and the Affordables”) after Topo Gigio, the talking mouse, finishes his skit. During the song there are different scenes of teenagers watching Joel on TV at home, crowding around appliance store windows watching him, dancing to his song. There is even a brief scene of a Soviet cosmonaut in space listening to the song, with the lyrics displayed at the bottom in the Russian language and in Cyrillic script. At the end of the song, comedian Rodney Dangerfield is there preparing to go on stage under the false impression that he is next, thanks Joel for warming up the crowd. “Patriska the Dancing Bear” is instead called to the stage, much to Dangerfield’s disbelief.

This one reached #1 in the U.S., #4 in the UK, and #5 in Canada.

Tell Her About It
Billy Joel

Listen boy
I don’t want to see you let a good thing
Slip away

You know I don’t like watching
Anybody make the same mistakes
I made

She’s a real nice girl
And she’s always there for you
But a nice girl wouldn’t tell you what you should do

Listen boy
I’m sure that you think you got it all
Under control

You don’t want somebody telling you
The way to stay in someone’s soul

You’re a big boy now
You’ll never let her go
But that’s just the kind of thing
She ought to know

Tell her about it
Tell her everything you feel
Give her every reason to accept
That you’re for real

Tell her about it
Tell her all your crazy dreams
Let her know you need her
Let her know how much she means

Listen boy
It’s not automatically a certain guarantee
To insure yourself
You’ve got to provide communication constantly

When you love someone
You’re always insecure
And there’s only one good way
To reassure

Tell her about it
Let her know how much you care
When she can’t be with you
Tell her you wish you were there

Tell her about it
Every day before you leave
Pay her some attention
Give her something to believe

‘Cause now and then
She’ll get to worrying
Just because you haven’t spoken
For so long
Though you may not have done anything
Will that be a consolation when she’s gone

Listen boy
It’s good information from a man
Who’s made mistakes

Just a word or two that she gets from you
Could be the difference that it makes

She’s a trusting soul
She’s put her trust in you
But a girl like that won’t tell you
What you should do

Tell her about it
Tell her everything you feel
Give her every reason
To accept that you’re for real

Tell her about it
Tell her all your crazy dreams
Let her know you need her
Let her know how much she means

Tell her about it
Tell her how you feel right now
Tell her about it
The girl don’t want to wait too long
You got to tell her about it
Tell her now and you won’t go wrong
You got to tell her about it
Before it gets too late
You got to tell her about it
You know the girl don’t want
To wait, you got to
Tell her about it

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Billy Joel
Tell Her About It lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Two Hearts ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Well, folks, Christmas is now officially OVER … and while I had a great holiday with family & friends, I am now exhausted and glad to say it’s over for another year … just need to get the tree down and put the house back to its normal state of chaos!  Last night I was over at Clive’s place for his final Advent Countdown post and listened to Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid and seeing Phil Collins put me in the mood for some Phil Collins!  Now, I’ve played enough Phil Collins that I figured I could get by with a redux, but nope … of the ones I love most (and there are over a dozen), I have played all of them within the last year!  Well, with 365 days in a year, and I do a music post on all but a very few of those, I guess it stands to reason, eh?  Anyway, so I went in search of one I love but haven’t played here and … I found one!!!

I learned quite a bit about this song today … like that it was written by none other than Lamont Dozier of the famed Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team.  And that it was written for a movie I’ve never heard of, Buster, which was a ‘bust’ at the box office, but something good came of it – this song!  In the movie, Collins played a former train robber, Buster Edwards, which helps explain some portions of this music video you are about to see.

According to SongFacts …

In a Songfacts interview with Lamont Dozier, he talked about the feeling behind this song: “‘Two Hearts’ is about these lovers, this train robber and his love for this girl. It just spoke of two people in love and they didn’t want to break up. It was like two hearts but one heart. They were in love so tight that their romance, their feeling for each other, was like one person. So it was two hearts being of one mind because of their love. The love story they had was so deep.”

In the movie credits, this feel-good song is listed as “Two Hearts (One Mind).” It is about a couple who are connected though time and space even when they’re not together. Their two hearts share a brain.

This won a Grammy in 1989 for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television. Remarkably, this was the first Grammy win for any member of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team.

Phil Collins first met Lamont Dozier when they were introduced at one of Collins’ concerts. They stayed in touch, and when Collins was working on Eric Clapton’s 1986 August album, he called Dozier to see if he had any songs for Clapton to record. Clapton ended up doing two Dozier compositions: “Run” and “Hung Up on Your Love.” About a year later, Collins was working on the movie Buster, which is set in the ’60s. He wanted songs that had the feel of the era, so he thought of Dozier – a good man to call for a ’60s-sounding hit. Dozier listened to some of his old songs to get the feel, and came up with the music for “Two Hearts,” which Collins loved.

Collins and Dozier wrote other songs that also made the soundtrack: “Big Noise” (performed by Collins) and “Loco In Acapulco” (performed by the Four Tops).

This song charted at #1 in a number of countries including Canada and the U.S., and at #6 in the UK.

Two Hearts

Phil Collins

Well, there was no reason to believe she’d always be there
But if you don’t put faith in what you believe in
It’s getting you nowhere

‘Cause it hurts, you never let go
Don’t look down, just look up
‘Cause she’s always there behind you, just to remind you

Two hearts believing in just one mind
You know we’re two hearts believing in just one mind

Well, there’s no easy way to, to understand it
There’s so much of my life in her
And it’s like I’m blinded

And it teaches you to never let go
There’s so much love you’ll never know
She can reach you no matter how far, or wherever you are

Two hearts believing in just one mind
Beating together ’til the end of time
You know we’re two hearts believing in just one mind
Together forever till the end of time, oh

She knows (she knows)
There’ll always be a special place in my heart for her
She knows, she knows, she knows
Yeah, she knows (she knows)
No matter how far apart we are
She knows I’m always right there beside her with

Two hearts believing in just one mind
Beating together until the end of time
You know we’re two hearts believing in just one mind (believing in just one mind)
Together forever ’til the end of time
You know we’re two hearts believing in just one mind (believing in just one mind)

Just one mind, just one mind
‘Til the end of time (’til the end of time)
Two hearts, two hearts believing in just (just one mind)
Beating together ’til the end of time…

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Lamont Herbert Dozier / Phillip David Charles Collins

Two Hearts lyrics © Songs Of Universal Inc.

♫ If I Fell ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history, Political commentary

Alas!  A Beatles song I haven’t played here before!  Will miracles never cease?  This one didn’t seem to have charted well except in Norway and the Netherlands, though it did chart at #53 in the U.S.  Still, I remember it well, and hopefully others will, too!

According to SongFacts …

John Lennon wrote this song, which may have been influenced by the ambivalence he felt during his first marriage. Lennon called this song “my first attempt at a ballad… it’s semi autobiographical, but not consciously.”

Lennon and McCartney sang together into the same microphone when recording this song. John sang the lead on the intro, then Paul sang in a higher lead while John sang harmony.

The structure of the song is rather intriguing. It opens with an intro that contains no musical elements found in the rest of the song, and the body of this song has no real verse/chorus structure, just two verses that each turn halfway through on an unexpected chord.

The song is very expressive, with large intervals between the notes in a quasi-modal way. Typical of Lennon are the emphasis on three recurrent long notes (“…give my heart…”). It has similarities with John Dunstable’s motet “Quam pulchra es” from the fifteenth century. The introduction is also unusual, with four modulations – even tighter than most music from late romantic music.

At the end of the second time that they sing, “Would be sad if our new love was in vain,” McCartney’s voice cracks on “vain,” but on newer releases of the song this mistake is covered over.

If I Fell

The Beatles

If I fell in love with you
Would you promise to be true
And help me
Understand
‘Cause I’ve been in love before
And I found that love was more
Than just
Holding hands

If I give my heart
To you
I must be sure
From the very start
That you
Would love me more than her

If I trust in you
Oh please
Don’t run and hide
If I love you too
Oh please
Don’t hurt my pride like her

‘Cause I couldn’t stand the pain
And I
Would be sad
If our new love was in vain

So I hope you see
That I
Would love to love you
And that she
Will cry
When she learns we are two

‘Cause I couldn’t stand the pain
And I
Would be sad
If our new love was in vain

So I hope you see
That I
Would love to love you
And that she will cry
When she learns we are two

If I fell in love with you…

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul Mccartney / John Lennon

If I Fell lyrics © Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Mpl Communications Inc

♫ Do You Remember? ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I could have sworn I had played this one before, but I searched and double-searched my archives and cannot find it.  Well, let me just correct that oversight right now!  Phil Collins is one of my ‘go-to’ guys and while this isn’t in my top 5 list of his songs, I do like it … and I’ve already played all my top 5 P.C. songs this year!

According to Songfacts …

This is a single from Phil Collins’ fourth solo album, …But Seriously. The song was only a minor hit in Europe, but peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the UK a live version was released as a single.

The song’s original title was “Lionel.”

The song features backing vocals from American singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop, whose biggest solo hit was “On and On.” Bishop also wrote the US #1 “Separate Lives,” which Collins recorded as a duet with Marilyn Martin.

Collins recalled to The Mail on Sunday March 28, 2010: “When I wrote this, people were starting to tire of drum machines, but sometimes they create a hypnotic effect. Real drummers get bored and start getting fancy… and I should know!”

Collins told The Mail on Sunday about the song’s lyrical content: “It’s about how you might meet an old flame in the street and start to reminisce, realising that the reasons for breaking up were maybe not what you remembered. We paint ourselves into corners, and pride doesn’t allow us to see things any other way.”

Do You Remember

Phil Collins

We never talked about it
But I hear the blame was mine
And I’d call you up to say I’m sorry
But I wouldn’t wanna waste your time

‘Cause I love you, but I can’t take any more
There’s a look I can’t describe in your eyes
If we could try, like we tried before
Would you keep on tellin’ me those lies? (Tellin’ me lies)

Do you remember?
(Do you remember?)
Ooh, do you remember?
(Do you remember?)

There seemed no way to make up
‘Cause it seemed your mind was set
Ooh, and the way you looked, it told me
It’s a look I know I’ll never forget

You could’ve come over to my side
You could’ve let me know
You could’ve tried to see the distance between us
But it seemed too far for you to go (so far to go)

Do you remember?
(Do you remember?)
Ooh, do you remember?
(Do you remember?)

Through all of my life
In spite of all the pain
You know, people are funny sometimes
They just can’t wait to get hurt again

Tell me, do you remember?
(Do you remember?)

There are things we won’t recall
And feelings we’ll never find
It’s taken so long to see it
‘Cause we never seemed to have the time

There was always something more important to do
More important to say
But, “I love you” wasn’t one of those things
And now it’s too late (now it’s too late) (now it’s too late)

Do you remember? (Do you remember? Now it’s over)
(Do you remember? Ooh, it’s over)
Ooh, do you remember? (Do you remember? Now it’s over)
(Do you remember? Ooh, it’s over) ooh, yeah
Tell me, do you remember? (Do you remember? Now it’s over)
Ooh, do you remember? (Do you remember? Ooh, it’s over)
Tell me now, tell me now (Do you remember? Now it’s over)
Tell me now, tell me now (Do you remember? Ooh, it’s over)
Do you remember? (Do you remember? Now it’s over)
(Do you remember? Ooh, it’s over)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Phillip David Charles Collins

Do You Remember? lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC

♫ The Only Living Boy In New York ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Now I’ve played the most well-known of Simon & Garfunkel’s repertoire, so for tonight, Day #6 of S&G Week, I’m playing one that may be somewhat less well-known, but that is definitely worthy of a spotlight here and it has some really interesting background!  This one was recommended to me by our friend Clive, and he even provided the best video for me!  Thank you, Clive!!!

According to Songfacts …

Paul Simon wrote this song about his partner Art Garfunkel going to Mexico to act in a movie called Catch-22, which was directed by Mike Nichols, who gave Simon & Garfunkel a big boost when he featured their songs in his 1967 film The Graduate. Simon was also going to be in the film, but Nichols cut his part, which separated the duo. Garfunkel spent months working on the film while Simon returned to New York, where he toiled away on the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. He expresses his frustration in this song: “Here I am, the only living boy in New York.”

Simon sent letters to keep in touch with Garfunkel and update him on the album’s progress. Up to that point, the pair had always partnered musically and shared a bond, which was now breaking. Simon & Garfunkel split up after the album was released; Paul recorded as a solo artist, and Art pursued his acting career.

Regarding the lyrics, “Tom get your plane right on time. I know that your eager to fly now,” before the folk duo became famous, they were known as Tom and Jerry. Tom was Art’s stage name, so this line symbolizes their increasing need for musical and personal freedom.

In a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine, Simon said: “I liked the ‘aaahhhs,’ the voices singing ‘aaah.’ That was the best I think that we ever did it. It was quite a lot of voices we put on, maybe twelve or fifteen voices. We sang it in the echo-chamber.”

This song was addressed during a screening of the Simon & Garfunkel documentary Songs of America. At the screening, Garfunkel said, “I had Paul sort of waiting: ‘All right, I can take this for three months. I’ll write the songs, but what’s the fourth month? And why is Artie in Rome a fifth month? What’s Mike [Nichols] doing to Simon & Garfunkel?’ And so there’s Paul in the third month, still with a lot of heart, writing about, ‘I’m the only living boy in [New York]. You used to be the other one.”

The song charted only in Indonesia at #4, though it did receive Silver Certification in the U.K.

The Only Boy Living In New York

Simon & Garfunkel

Tom, get your plane right on time
I know your part’ll go fine
Fly down to Mexico
Doh-n-doh-de-doh-n-doh
And here I am
The only living boy in New York

I get the news I need on the weather report
Oh, I can gather all the news I need on the weather report
Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile
De-doh-n-doh-de-doh
And here I am
The only living boy in New York

Half of the time we’re gone
But we don’t know where
And we don’t know where

Half of the time we’re gone
But we don’t know where
And we don’t know where

Tom, get your plane right on time
I know that you’ve been eager to fly now
Hey, let your honesty shine, shine, shine now
Doh-n-doh-de-doh-n-doh
Like it shines on me (Here I am)
The only living boy in New York
The only living boy in New York

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul Simon

The Only Living Boy in New York lyrics © Sony/atv Songs Llc

♫ Moondance ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Day #3 of Van Morrison week!  I must say that I knew little to nothing about Van Morrison when I first started this project, and don’t know a heck of a lot more about him now than I did before!  But, I’ve been listening to more of his music … some I like, and some I turn off after the first minute or so.  I was already familiar with tonight’s tune and have always liked it whenever I heard it.  One thing puzzles me about Van Morrison’s work … many of his songs seem quite popular, yet they never charted particularly high, if at all.  One of life’s great mysteries, I suppose.

According to SongFacts …

Van Morrison comes up with songs many different ways, sometimes a lyric or title idea sparks a song, and other times it’s a melody. “Moondance” started as a jazz saxophone instrumental, and Van played that original sax solo he wrote for the song. He told Rolling Stone magazine: “I used to play this sax number over and over, anytime I picked up my horn.”

That Rolling Stone quote is about all you’re going to get from Van regarding the song. He is notoriously fickle when it comes to speaking about his music, as he feels that the songs should speak for themselves. The liner notes to the Moondance album were written by his girlfriend Janet Planet (seriously???), and instead of a traditional explanation of the recording process or a list of thank-you’s, these notes are a fable, telling the story of an artist in ancient times who has a great gift but keeps it to himself. When his wife gets sick, he cures her using his gift of song. She then asks, “But who will ease your pain, who will save you?”

The flute is a big part of this song. It was played by Collin Tilton, who replaced John Payne on the instrument for the Moondance album.

Pianist and organist Jeff Labes recalled the recording of the track to Uncut: “I remember ‘Moondance’ itself was a big question mark. It was jazzy, and didn’t seem to belong to the pack. The first time we recorded it, it came out really well, but Van thought there must be a catch. So we did it about a dozen times, and ended up going back to the first one, He liked to sing live along with the track, because Sinatra did that. He loved having a first-take vocal. He was looking for the magic.”

As I said, his music doesn’t seem to have been chart toppers, and this is no exception.  It reached #92 in the U.S. and as far as I can tell did not chart anywhere else.

Moondance

Van Morrison

 Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
‘Neath the cover of October skies

And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
You know I’m tryin’ to please to the calling
Of your heartstrings that play soft and low

You know the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush
You know the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush

Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?
Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love?

Well, I wanna make love to you tonight
I can’t wait ’til the mornin’ has come
You know, I know now the time is just right
And straight into my arms you will run

And when you come, my heart will be waiting
To make sure that you’re never alone
There and then all my dreams will come true, dear
There and then I will make you my own

And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside
And I know how much you want me, that you can’t hide

Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?
Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love?

Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
‘Neath the cover of October skies

And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
You know I’m trying to please to the calling
Of your heartstrings that play soft and low

You know the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush
You know the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush

Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?
Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love?

One more moondance with you
In the moonlight
On a magic night
La, la, la, la, la, in the moonlight
On a magic night
Can’t I just have one more, more dance with you, my love?

Source: Musixmatch

♫ How Long ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Tonight’s song is another of those that I think someone mentioned to me last week while I was playing ‘America Week’, but I cannot remember who mentioned it, or if it just randomly popped into my head, as songs sometimes do.

The lyrics, “how long has this been going on” certainly sound like a lover or a spouse having caught their mate in an illicit relationship, doesn’t it?  But nope, according to SongFacts …

Ace bass player Terry Comer was working with other bands – he played briefly with The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver – and he didn’t tell his bandmates, who felt cheated when they found out.

Ace lead singer Paul Carrack wrote the song; when he appeared on the BBC Breakfast news programme on June 29, 2009 he was asked about the inspiration. Rather than being about a two-timing lover it was, he said, about another band who were “trying to nick our bass player.”

Who knew?

Paul Carrack was the lead singer of Ace. He went on to sing for Squeeze and Mike And The Mechanics and had a solo hit with “Don’t Shed a Tear.”

This was Ace’s only hit. They broke up in 1977.

This song charted at #3 in both Canada and the U.S., and #20 in the UK.

How Long

Ace

How long has this been going on?
How long has this been going on?

Well, if friends with their fancy persuasion
Don’t admit that it’s part of a scheme
But I can’t help but have my suspicions
‘Cause I ain’t quite as dumb as I seem

And you said you was never intending
To break up our scene this way
But there ain’t any use in pretending
It could happen to us any day

How long has this been going on?
How long has this been going on?

Ooh, your friends with their fancy persuasion
Don’t admit that it’s part of a scheme
But I can’t help but have my suspicions
‘Cause I ain’t quite as dumb as I seem

Oh, you said you was never intending
To break up our scene this way
But there ain’t any use in pretending
It could happen to us any day

And how long has this been going on?
How long has this been going on?
(How long?)
How long has this been going on?
(How long has this?)
How long has this been going on?
(How long?)
How long has this been going on?

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul Melvyn Carrack

How Long lyrics © Minder Music Ltd., Mca Music Publishing, A.d.o. Universal S