Boogie Shoes by K.C. & The Sunshine Band

Girl, To Be With You Is My Fav'rite Thing Uh Huh And I Can't Wait Til I See You Again Yeah, Yeah

70’s Song of the week

“Boogie Shoes” by K.C. and the Sunshine Band (1975)

Some say Disco was spawned because the Nazi’s banned jazz. The next best thing was to develop clubs where they played records. The first ‘discotheques’ sprung up in WWII and continued after in clubs like the ‘Whisky a Go-Go” in Paris. The ultra chic set did not have exclusivity to this trend for long.

The seedy ‘Peppermint Club’ in New York spawned the short-lived dance craze ‘The Twist”. The culture of this was embedded in the teenagers who would drive the commercial direction of music. The Beatles would swoop in to NA in 1964 and no one cared about their ‘Twist” records anymore which had every variation you can imagine by this point.

There was something slightly Victorian about the new dance crazes though – you danced alone. There was no contact with the other person. Sock-hops and record parties in the sixties were somehow made safer to on-looking adults because of this.

Country-flavoured Rock for a Thursday...

Poco - Legend

Eagles - On the Border

Byrds - Mr. Tamborine Man

Flying Burrittos - Guilded Palace of Sin.

Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf

In touch with the ground I'm on the hunt I'm after you Smell like I sound, I'm lost in a crowd And I'm hungry like the wolf

Pick of the Week

“Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran (1982)

My sister once shared an elevator with Duran Duran - that is as close as I ever got to this ‘Second British Invasion’ band of ‘80’s fame. With their slick designer clothes, professional production videos and pretty-boy looks, they were Princess Diana’s favorite band at one point.

The first real attention they got in 1981 was with their third single, “Girls on Film”. Directing duo, Godley and Creme told the management to do something erotic that would get people’s attention and that would be played on the new big screens that were starting to appear in night clubs. The video showed girls mud wrestling, fighting a sumo wrestler, and other suggestive images. The song went to number 3 in the U.K. and the voice of Simon Le Bon was starting to be well known in the U.K. Unfortunately some of the stops on their second tour coincided with riots; tension over unemployment and racial unrest.

The core band in 1981 was Simon Le Bon (vocals), Nick Rhodes (keyboards), John Taylor (bass), Andy Taylor (guitar) and Rodger Taylor (drums). (None of the Taylors were related and there is no relation to the drummer of the band Queen.)

By May of 1982 they release their second and most well know album “Rio” with songs “Hungry Like the Wolf”, “Save a Prayer”, “My Own Way” and title track “Rio”. They toured Australia, Japan and then opened for Blondie on the American tour.

The ‘Rio’ album did not do so well in the U.S. at first. The band was labeled as being ‘new romantic’, and it just did not work. They were more than Spandau Ballet or Adam and the Ants weren’t they? The British press had already dubbed them the ‘Fab Five’ comparing them to the Beatles. What was wrong?

At wits end as to how to sell Duran Duran in the U.S. Capital records hired famed producer David Kershenbaum to remix the songs more in the style of the popular EP dance track ‘Carnival” that was gaining popularity with DJs in the U.S. That was ticket. Appearing on a U.S. dance show performing “Hungry Like a Wolf” and “Rio”, the rerelease in November of 1982 finally kick-started the U.S. market.

Sam cooke - Only sixteen

She was only sixteen, only sixteen But I loved her so But she was too young to fall in love And I was too young to know

Hip to be Square

“Only Sixteen” by Sam Cooke 1959

John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Ain’t Even Done With the Night” says, “You got your hands in my back pockets, and Sam Cooke's singin' on the radio”. There is a mystique about Sam Cooke.  He is a legend: a dream-like spirit of something past. His influence was deep and strong. His life was short and brilliant.

Known as the ‘King of Soul’ Sam Cooke had a profound influence on people like Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and Marvin Gaye and many to follow  His soaring voice and delivery – smooth as silk; vulnerable yet strangely strong and able to take you away with it.

Some Ideas for a Mellow Sunday...

Jack Johnson - On and On

Al Di Meola - Electric Rendezvous

Amy Winehouse - Lioness: Hidden Treassures

Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl

TIme is one my side, yes it is...

 Quiz Time

The theme this time, is time. It is a long one!

As you read this some time will go by. If you decide to try to solve this quiz, some more time will pass.

Hopefully it is time well spent. Enjoy!

 

If I had a box just for wishes and dreams that had never come true -
Sitting on this barstool talking like a damn fool. Got the twelve o'clock news blues and I've given up hope on the afternoon soaps and a bottle of cold brew.

It was a very good year for city girls who lived up the stair with all that perfumed hair and it came undone. It's the time of the season where love runs high. In this time give it to me easy.

Time has come today; young hearts can go their way. Can't put it off another day. I don't care what others say. Go ahead baby go ahead, go ahead and light up the town. Baby, do anything your little heart desires. Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain. You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.

It's astounding, time is fleeting; madness takes its toll. Sometimes you picture me. I'm walking too far ahead - you're calling to me I can't hear. Confusion never stops, closing walls and ticking clocks. Come back and take you home, I could not stop - that you now know.

No time for a gentle rain.  No time for my watch and chain. Seasons come and seasons go but our love will never die. Let me hold you darlin' so you won't cry. 

Let me know all the songs and srtists if you have time to figure it out...

Rikki Don't Lose that Number(1974) by Steely Dan

We hear you're leaving, that's OK I thought our little wild time had just begun I guess you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run

Songs Everybody Should Know

“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” by Steely Dan (1974)

Welcome to the funky bohemia that is Steely Dan. Building a complex musical web around lyrics that run the gamut about anything from love to bandits, to greed, lust, and glory and back again.  The jazz-infused mosaic of life is almost parody-like. A thinking man’s funk, Steely Dan delivers a diverse, rich sound while taking you to some of the weirdest places you could ever go – and yet they seem familiar in some strange way…

Way out on Muscle Shoals Beach they are listening to a little Southern Rock

Lynard Skynard - Pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd'

Allman Brothers - Brothers & Sisters

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Atlanta Rhythm Section - Champagne Jam