Tag: 1

DUTC#92 October 20, 2024

Posted on by quadzillabynorth in QbyN - Deeper Under The Covers
Looking Glass
Red Hot Chili Peppers

Feature Song: “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”

If you are scratching your head and stuttering… wait, what?, you are not alone. You might also be scratching your head, as I did, trying to think of another song by this short-lived group from the 70s, and if you came up empty, join the crowd. I remember when this song first came out in 1972 and thinking to myself: “They sure don’t look the way the sound,” so I suppose it is only fitting to have a cover by a band that also doesn’t look how it is sounding when they covered this song.

Looking Glass were an American pop rock band formed in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1969 at Rutgers University. While the original members broke up after college, two of the original members, Elliot Lurie (lead guitar and vocals) and Larry Gonsky (piano and vocals) recruited two new members, Jeff Grob (drums) and Pieter Sweval (bass and vocals), to form what we know as the classic Looking Glass lineup. The group had a #1 hit single for the week of August 26, 1972, with “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl),” which was written by Lurie. They had another Top 40 hit with “Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne” (1973), and if you remember that song, my hat goes off to you! The band was active for one more year before disbanding. Lurie did resurrect the band in 2003 and, as far as I can tell, they are still active.

The lyrics introduce us to Brandy, a “barmaid,” in a busy seaport harbor town, which serves “a hundred ships a day.” Though lonely sailors flirt with her, she pines for one who has long since left her because he claimed that his love, and his lady, was the “sea.” There was an urban myth floating around after the song came out that Brandy was based on Mary Ellis (1750-1828), a spinster from New Brunswick, New Jersey, but this was refuted by Lurie himself. Lurie, however, was thrilled with the deeper meaning given to the song when its lyrics were used as a metaphor by a father explaining his life’s choices to his son in the film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which was released in 2017.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982. The band is comprised of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (bass), Chad Smith (drums), and John Frusciante (guitar). Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk, punk rock, hard rock, hip hop and psychedelic rock,. For the record, none of these are part of the original song, “Brandy.” This eclectic range has, over the years, influenced genres such as funk metal, rap metal, rap rock, and nu metal. They hold the records for most number-one singles (15), most cumulative weeks at number one (91), and most top ten songs (28). They have won three Gammy Awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2022. The first time they performed “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” was at a live concert in Hyde Park in 2004. The only YouTube video I could find of that performance is audio only, so I am including another live performance from the same year at “Live Rock Am Ring” in Germany. The reason for this is you have to see them perform this song to believe it, Flea’s bare chest matching Lurie’s exposed chest. I will leave it at that. Enjoy!

Looking Glass. “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” Live, with an amusing introduction, 1972.

Red Hot Chili Peppers. “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” cover. Live at Hyde Park 2004.

Red Hot Chili Peppers. “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” cover. Live at “Live Rock AM Ring, Nürburgring, Germany, June 5, 2004.

Los Angeles 2024

Annoying Songs & Covers #5

Posted on by quadzillabynorth in QbyN - Deeper Under The Covers
The Coasters
The Retrobates

“Yakety-Yak”

If there ever was a song that one could say was representative of a certain time or era, “Yakety-Yak” most certainly has to be considered. The song was written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for The Coasters and released on Atco Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on the R&B charts and one week as number one on the Top 100 pop list. Why this particular song would be considered R&B is beyond me, but I do not profess to have an innate understanding of how music is classified, but I will warn you that I feel a “rant” coming on this very topic. You have been warned! The song is referred to as a “playlet,” a word that Stoller used for the glimpse into teenage life that characterized the songs Leiber and Stoller wrote and produced. The lyrics describe the listing of household chores to a kid, presumably a teenager, with the teenager’s response to the list being “yakety-yak,” with the parents responding in kind, “don’t talk back,” which they felt was describing a familiar experience to a middle-class teenager of the day. Leiber has said that The Coasters portrayed “a white kid’s view of a black person’s conception of white society.” He went on to comment that the “serio-economic, street-smart ‘playlets’ etched out by the songwriters were sung by the Coasters with a sly, clowning humor, while the tenor saxophone of King Curtis on this track filled in the up-tempo doo-wop style.” The Coasters were, first and foremost, “theatrical” in style – they were not pretending to be expressing their own experience.

I probably heard the song when it first came out, but the lyrics did not have the intended impact on me at the time, since at eight years old I was five years shy of being a teenager. I tried to think back to what would have happened to me, as a teenager, if I had ever blurted out “yakety-yak” to my parents when they were listing some chores I had to do, but I honestly don’t feel that this phrase would have been part of my lexicon back in the day. When I was eight, I probably thought the song was “cute,” but upon hearing it again when I was older, having been recently wowed by The Beatles, Stones, and others, I am pretty certain that the cute label had been replaced by something less flattering!

The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. They formed in 1955 when two of The Robins (Carl Gardner and Bobby Nunn), a Los Angeles based rhythm-and-blues group, joined Atlantic Records. They were soon joined by Billy Guy and Leon Hughes to form the original Coasters line-up. The Coasters association with Leiber and Stoller was an immediate success, as they produced a string of good-humored “storytelling” hits that, as someone was quoted as saying, “were some of the most entertaining from the original era of rock and roll.” After the success of “Yakety-Yak, the next single was “Charlie Brown,” which reached number two in the charts, and this was followed by “Along Came Jones,” “Poison Ivy,” and “Little Egypt (Ying-Yang).”

The cover by The Retrobates does not disappoint with its level of cringe worthiness. The two gentlemen who make up this group from Hove, England are part of one of England’s largest entertainment agencies, the Alive Network Entertainment Agency, who book their cadre of musicians for weddings, corporate events, and parties. The Retrobates are billed as a “professional rock ‘n roll duo specializing in “vintage” classics. I could not find their names listed anywhere, but after listening to their cover of this song, it’s probably a good thing that they remain anonymous. The good news, the song is less than two minutes long.

Enjoy!

The Coasters. “Yakety-Yak” 1958.

The Retrobates. “Yakety-Yak” cover 2023.

Los Angeles 2024

Annoying Songs and Annoying Covers: An Origin Story.

Posted on by quadzillabynorth in QbyN - Deeper Under The Covers

There are, we are almost certain, a “gazillion” reasons and/or origin stories for how blogs get started; this is ours.

At the beginning of May 2024, Randy Dafoe (RD), of “Mostly Music Covers” fame, wrote about the song “What Kind of Fool Am I,” which was written and composed by the team of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricuse. North Shubert (NS), of “Deeper Under the Covers,” responded to that post with the following: “Newley and Bricuse definitely wrote some good songs.” What follows is the rest of the conversation thread:

RD: “That they did, and I forgive them for “Candy Man.”

NS: “Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. Now it’s going to be in my head the rest of the day. Thanks!

RD: “Sorry, try and think of “Who Let the Dogs Out.”

NS: “Perhaps this needs to be a future post: “The Most Annoying Songs and Those That Brave to Cover Them!”

RD: “That’s not a bad idea North! It might take some hunting.

NS: “Perhaps we should pool our resources and co-author that post.”

RS: “I’m up for that.”

NS: “I just found a metal cover of “Disco Duck. We need to do this!”

We are aware that this a completely subjective exercise (as we all know “objectivity” is a myth), picking songs that we both find particularly annoying. We are also aware that we are opening ourselves up to receive comments like: “How can you say that this song is annoying. What is wrong with you two? My wife and I danced to this at our wedding 40 years ago. You guys suck!” The two of us would then pool our resources and come up with these two responses, before choosing one: 1: We are so sorry if we offended you in any way; Or, 2: You danced to that song at your wedding? Just how drunk were the two of you?

There are two ways to approach this endeavor: Choosing well-known artists that have literally butchered songs that we know and love, or choosing really annoying original songs that for some reason were covered. Sometimes the covers are equally annoying if not more, with the rare occasion of the song being made somewhat less annoying. So, equipped with these parameters, we went to work and in a short time had a list of 28 possible songs, with many more to come. Below is the first contribution, and in two weeks Randy will post his. No, we are not trying to one-up each other…at least that’s what Randy said! We hope you enjoy this journey down musical mayhem, and hopefully we will achieve our goal of pissing off at least one person with each post. Hey, it is important to have goals!

A.S. #1

“Disco Duck” (1976) “is a satirical disco novelty song” which, as far as I am concerned, brings new meaning to the word “novelty.” It was written by Rick Dees (Rigdon Osmond Dees III) who was, at the time, a Memphis disc jockey, and performed by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots, in itself an interesting moniker for one’s fellow performers. The song was inspired by a 1960s novelty (there’s that word again!) dance song called “The Duck,” which was recorded by Jackie Lee (Earl Lee Nelson) in 1965. According to Dees, it took him only one day to write the song, but three months to convince anyone to perform it. When you watch the video you will be very surprised that it only took three months. The song combines orchestral disco styles with a Donald Duck-esque voice, the “story” of the song centering on a man at a dance party who is overcome by the urge to get up and “get down” in a duck-like manner. Weren’t the 70s great? The song went on to become a nationwide hit in the United States by September 1976. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 16, 1976, holding that spot for one week, and then four weeks at number two. And of course, once you have success, you try and replicate it. “Disco Duck” was followed by “Dis-Gorilla” (about a disco-loving simian 1977), “Bigfoot” (1978), “Eat My Shorts” (1984), and “Get Nekked” (1984). I’d hum a few bars of that last one, but I don’t want to scare anyone.

Just in case you’re wondering, the voice of the duck was provided by a guy that Dees met at the gym, Kenneth Pruitt. After the song became a hit, as the story goes, Pruitt sued Dees, claiming he was paid only $188 for his services, which included dressing up in a duck suit to promote the song on various TV appearances and on a walk through Times Square in New York City. In all likelihood, the suit must have been settled and Pruitt ordered to keep quiet, as he was never heard from again. I can’t help but wonder how many times his grandchildren have heard this story.

“Disco Duck” was the last “novelty” song to reach #1, as the genre was reaching its last gasp. In the early years of Rock and Roll, novelty songs were huge, with three #1s in 1960 alone: “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” “Alley Oop,” and “Mr. Custer.” Despite the efforts of Jim Stafford (“Spiders and Snakes,” “My Girl Bill,” and “Cow Patti”) and Cheech and Chong, novelty songs waned in the 70s.

After watching the video of this song for the first time, I was almost certain that I would not find a cover version…I was wrong. Thanks to a Texas-based guitarist, Josh Jenkins (#SMGOldiesButBaddies), whose YouTube channel has 52 subscribers, I present you with a metal cover of “Disco Duck.” All I will say is that it’s a toss-up as to which one is more annoying. Or, put another way, it’s satire2.

Warning: You cannot Unsee These Videos!

Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots – Disco Duck 1976.

Disco Duck – Metal Cover by Josh Jenkins 2017.

Bonus video. Come on, you knew it was coming. There is no cover of this one, phew!

Rick Dees and the same cast of Idiots. Dis-Gorilla 1977.

Los Angeles 2024

‘Breaking The Seal,’ Revisited!

Posted on by quadzillabynorth in QbyN - Daily Musings

I know what you’re thinking. . .okay, maybe I don’t. Not to worry, all will be revealed eventually, so to speak. I was reading again last night, reading stuff about foreign aid, which led me to read about the US government and the war between Israel and Hamas, which led me to read about the new House speaker, which led me to read about Trump, all of which would normally lead me to drinking heavily, and this being a very short piece. But that is not what happened. Sorry.

The first article I read leading me down the black, potholed, brick road was about how Americans don’t understand foreign aid and the responses a reporter from The Washington Post got when he was sent to a local diner in Shreveport, Louisiana to talk to local voters about the government’s sending of foreign aid money to both the Ukraine and Israel. As many of you are no doubt aware, Shreveport, Louisiana is the district of new House speaker, Mike Johnson. The article goes on to inform us that, as luck would have it, one of the locals in the diner that evening was none other than Mike Johnson’s mother, who had this to say about her son’s ascendancy to House speaker: “God did this.”

The gist of Tom Nichol’s rant (The Atlantic, October 30, 2023) is that the media shouldn’t be sending reporters to diners to ask about foreign aid. Why? Because, as Nichols frames it: “Populists who demand that we rely on guidance from The People should remember that most Americans think foreign aid should be about 10 percent of the budget—a percentage those voters think would be a reduction but would actually be a massive increase,” because as of right now foreign aid is only 1% of the total US budget. Quoting a patron of the diner from the Post piece, Nichols writes: “People really do look at the funding we’re sending to Israel and Ukraine and say, ‘I can’t afford to go to Kroger.’  “A lot of these customers know Mike Johnson and think we often get overlooked and maybe we won’t anymore.” As of today, Mitch McConnell and Johnson are set to square off on this topic, which might lead to yet another budget showdown. Welcome to American politics in the age of dis-Enlightenment!

After reading the above and the rest of the article, the urge to make a dash to the liquor cabinet was overwhelming, but I resisted. Yes I know, sainthood should be in my future. Instead, I read more. I read about Johnson, I read about the war and the impact it is having all around the world, I read about Trump and his four-ring-circus trials; because it’s Trump and three rings will just not cut it. And after each read, the urge to pour alcohol down my gullet got stronger and stronger, but I resisted. Instead, I chuckled (not an easy thing to do after reading all this crap) and thought about what would happen if I had succumbed to the alcohol urge, again, and again, which is that I would spend most of the evening going to the john to relieve myself because, as you know, once you “break the seal…”

The first time I heard this expression, I had just turned 18 and was in a tavern with a bunch of friends drinking beer. If you are confused by this, in Canada, where I was born, the drinking age is 19, unless you’re from Quebec like me and it’s 18. Thank you, Mom and Dad! Here in the US, you can vote at 18, thanks to the 26th amendment, you can buy a gun at 18 thanks to the Gun Control Act (GCA), and you can join the military and go die for your country, but you cannot drink until you’re 21 because according to the Centers for Disease, Control and Prevention (CDC), it saves lives. The irony here is absolutely dumbfounding. You can actually join the military at 17 with parental consent; so, my advice is: Be a good kid!

I can’t remember if I ever believed the whole “breaking the seal” nonsense, but over the years I sure heard it a lot, usually followed by peals of laughter as I dutifully trotted off to the john. It stands to reason that the urge to relieve yourself after drinking copious amounts of liquid is going to increase exponentially. However, drinking water and drinking alcohol are two very different things, as alcohol acts as a diuretic. To corroborate my thoughts, I looked it up this morning, and sure enough, all the sites I looked at talked about the myth of “breaking the seal,” all backed by this urologist and the next. All that is, except one. According to urologist Peter Chin, speaking to The New York Post (red flag #1), breaking the seal “is a very real thing.” All I can say about this is, think twice before getting your medical advice online.

Then it hit me. Perhaps there should be such a thing as “breaking the verbal seal.” This seal could be a mandatory implant for all politicians, religious leaders, and anyone else in a position of influence over a large swath of humanity. The seal could be programmed to work in a kind of reverse way to the mythical urological seal in that, as soon as any of the above say something stupid, racist, sexist, untruthful, deranged, or all of these, perhaps in one sentence, the seal swaddles itself around the voice box rendering that person mute for, let’s say a week for the first offense, two weeks after the second and, in keeping with “three strikes you’re out,” forever after the third time. Just think about it. Trump would have been mute a week after he was elected! Hey, everybody is entitled to one fantasy per day. I guess I just used up mine.

Los Angeles 2023