Voice recording #198, Dec. 18.
England Dan and John Ford Coley, "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight", '76. I met John Ford Coley about 10 years ago when he did a concert after a Rochester Red Wings baseball game. We talked some in the press box before his performance. Pretty cool dude. Perhaps England Dan went back to England. 3,400.
Al Green, "Here I Am", '73. Al had a pretty good run during the early '70s, but this wasn't really a big part of that run. 4,600.
Three Dog Night, "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)", 1970. 2,800.
Andy Gibb, "Shadow Dancing", some time in the mid-'70s. 4,100.
Robert John, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", '72. This is one of the later entries among the folk songs. There haven't been a whole lot since the '50s and '60s, when they were prevalent. This is a remake of a song by the Tokens in 1961. One of differences in this version's bridge sections is a tuba or some other low-register horn playing the melody. This song predates the Tokens. It's an African folk song sometimes called "Wimoweh", first recorded in 1939. It's a good song. During the late '50s, my next-door neighbor's son, Warren Elliott, did this song in clubs around Chicago after he dropped out of Northwestern, and performed it at our local Glenora Music and Arts Festival. That even was the brain child of Colonel Larry Bolvig, about whom I could write a whole book. I don't remember that the Robert John version was popular, but I'll give it 3,300.
Commodores, "Brick House" from '77. It's about as rocky as the Commodores got. I really like the lyrics with their clever plays on words. I'm pretty sure I've done this one before. I'd say it was somewhere in the 2,000 range. 1,900, and I wouldn't be averse to 1,800.
Sugar Loaf, "Don't Call Us We'll Call You", '74. I do not remember this, and I don't think I would have called them anyway. This song kept less of my interest as it went along. 4,550, and that's probably too high.
Rod Stewart, "Maggie May", '71. This really reminds me of when I returned from the Army to go to law school at Case Western Reserve. It seemed that I often heard it in the morning as I was getting ready to go to school. I'd usually get up and walk Anne and the dog down to the Shaker rapid train at Shaker Square to go to her teaching job in Cleveland. Then I'd go home, have breakfast and listen to the radio while I got ready. Then I'd walk a block or two west to catch a bus to school. We couldn't afford and didn't really need a car except occasionally to go grocery shopping, because the public transportation was so good. The song is about a bittersweet May-December romance. Typically, the December person seems to be shut out first, but in this case, it was Rod's May character being shot down by the beautiful December, Maggie May. There's a banjo at the end that's good. 1,200, possibly even higher.
Paul McCartney and Wings, "Live and Let Die", '73, I think. This is a very good James Bond theme song -- performed well, of course. 2,100.
Jigsaw, "Sky High", '75. I'm pretty sure this is a different song from the "Sky High"s performed by the Ben Folds Five and Wiz Khalifa. This one wasn't exactly cutting edge, but it's an OK tune. 4,200.
Electric Light Orchestra, "Telephone Line", '77. This group is not to be confuse with the Enoch Light Orchestra from the '40s. I think I've done this one before. I like it, ELO had some good music in the mid-to-late '70s. 3,400.
John Denver, "Rocky Mountain High", '73. I'm pretty sure I've done this one before, and put it in the mid 3,000s. I'm speculating in my mind what might have happened in John Denver's career if he had not crashed his plane. I'm thinking he would have been a latter-day Andy Williams -- no longer relevant in the later music scene, but hosting holiday specials as his niche. Let's say 3,600.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, "Blinded by the Light", '76 or '78. The lyrics are confused and confusing. The rhythm and music are good. I may have done this one before. 3,300.
Santa Esmeralda, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", '78. This song had a good remake, but this is not it. This version invokes the Lord, but even that doesn't raise it above 4,600.
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Alone Again (Naturally), '72. I've done this one. I've never seen Gilbert O'Sullivan, but I've always pictured him as a leprechaun. Wikipedia has a 1974 photo of him with that decade's signature big hair. In 1991, he won a precedent-setting case in which he sued Biz Markie for sampling "Alone Again" without his permission. I'm thinking 3,100.
Supertramp, "Give a Little Bit", not sure of the year, maybe '77. I think I've done this one. A thought: Supertramp is a lot closer to being a supergroup than Peter Frampton was to being a superduperstar or even a superstar. Just didn't some checking, and it doesn't appear that either Supertramp or Frampton are in he Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Supertramp was good, but perhaps their greatness flared out too soon to be worthy of the Hall of Fame. A note in juxtaposition: When Gilbert O'Sullivan was in college, he played drums with Supertramp's Rick Davies in a band called Rick's Blues. 2,800.
Exile, "Kiss You All Over", '78. This is in the genre of power ballad, kind of fairly heavy rock but still a ballad/love song. Kiss had some similar songs. I might have done this one before, but now I'm comparing it to "Alone Again" and "Give a Little Bit". 2,950.
Stevie Wonder, "Signed Sealed Delivered", 1970. Stevie is rightfully respected. He has been around the music business for a long time. He has been an influence on a lot of music. For someone who has been around and has such a good name, he didn't really have a whole lot of really memorable songs. This one is probably about in the middle of what he has done. 3,400.
Begin next with voice recording #200, Dec. 19.
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