But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out Don't you know it's gonna be all right

Quick Hit

“Revolution” by the Beatles (1968)

 One of my favourite Beatles songs was written entirely by John Lennon, but credited as was usual practice, to both McCartney and Lennon. Recorded in the Abby Road Studios this classic song is inspired by the French government under Charles DeGaulle.  Student uprising were occurring all around the world primarily in the U.S. against the Vietnam War. When strikes in Paris resulted in riots. Lennon was directing this song at the world’s young revolutionaries – he was anti-war.

And when she said she'd be a movie queen nobody laughed A face like an angel she could be anything

Quick Hit

“Emma”, Hot Chocolate, 1974

Most people know this band for its disco hits “Everyone’s a Winner” and “You Sexy Thing”, but there was more to this British band than meets the eye.

“Emma” has always been my favourite Hot Chocolate song.  Originally I loved the first few funky bars of the song, it was infectious. When I listened a bit closer I started to understand what it was really about.

The reason this brilliant song only got modest radio play was it dealt with a taboo subject – suicide. People did not really want to hear about it. In the‘70’s it seemed to me it was very real.  I knew kids in school that committed suicide. Why did people not talk about this more? 

Pat Boone had done “Moody River” in 1961 about it but it really was not a topic covered in music. Later in the seventies ‘Queen’ did “Don’t Try Suicide”, and the ‘Police’ did “Can’t Stand Losing You”, about a teenager who commits suicide after losing his girlfriend. Neither of these versions had the same intimate treatment of the subject that “Emma” did - “Emma” was “a star in everyone’s eyes” and yet was found “still and cold upon the bed”. Very real. Very painful, yet somehow beautifully done. There was a message there too – The most beautiful people in the world do not always succeed all the time.

I'm not in love So don't forget it It's just a silly phase I'm going through And just because I call you up Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made

Hip to be Square

“I’m Not in Love”, 10cc (1975)

Not sure if you have heard of ‘Godley and Creme’. They were kind of an experimental art rock song writing team who did some great work after the breakup of 10cc. The song “Cry” is an engineered piece of genius. Well worth a listen. 

Kevin Godley and Lol  Crème were the ‘Art’, while Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart were the “Pop” in the seventies band ‘10cc’ started in the late ‘60s but thus named in 1972. 

Although everyone in the band wrote songs, it was Gouldman and Stewart numbers that gave 10cc its commercial approach. That is not to say that Godley and Crème did not have a huge impact on the experimentation and ultimate sound of 10cc, with such funky inventions as the ‘gyzmotron’, which made some seriously unique guitar sounds, such as unlimited sustain.

Get Back To Where You Once Belonged!

Quick Hit

“Get Back”, The Beatles, 1969 (Apple Building concert)

On Thursday January 30, 1969 the Beatles made their final public appearance atop the ‘Apple Records’ building in London England. This was a very historical moment for pop music. They played an ad hoc lunchtime concert conceived only days earlier, as they practiced to lay down the final studio tracks as a band forever.