Put on your dancing hat and grab on to your socks if you’re lucky enough to own a pair, because it’s time for another edition of the MBIP Sunday Record Party!
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“You Showed Me” by The Turtles (From the album, “The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands”)
“You Showed Me” was the last big hit that The Turtles had and it was a cover of a song written by Jim (later Roger) McGuinn and Gene Clark before they formed their legendary band, The Byrds. It was written when the two were performing as a folk duo in 1964 and shortly after it was written, David Crosby joined and they became a trio called, The Jet Set. They recorded some demos including, “You Showed Me,” that eventually ended up on an album of pre-Byrds material called, “Preflyte,” which was released in the summer of 1969, a few months after The Turtles had their last hit single with this song.”
The Turtles were a really successful band in the ‘60’s, but as this video shows, they never made any money due to bad management.
“You Showed Me” by The Byrds (From the album, “Preflyte”)
And speaking of “Preflyte,” here’s that version from the pre-Byrds album of demos.
“Happy Trails” by Van Halen (From the album, “Diver Down”)
Most people know this song as the theme song from the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans program of the same name. Van Halen did a version of it for their “Diver Down” album that came out in 1982. Here’s David Lee Roth talking about the song:
"Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck, Sylvie! You wouldn't believe the number of TV commercials and radio jingles this band can sing in four-part harmony. I was nannied and weaned by TV—that's the babysitter around here when you're growing up, to sit in front of the tube. You turn into a vidiot. I remember all the commercials. We've been singing 'Happy Trails' for general airport use for years. And we wanted to do something wonderful and different for you."
After the album came out, Van Halen used to use this song as the closing encore number for their concert shows.
“Shake” by Otis Redding (From the album, “Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul”)
This song is from Otis Redding’s third album that came out in 1965 called “Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul.” It’s largely been hailed as his greatest album and I agree. In addition to cover songs, like this one written by Sam Cooke, the album features three songs written by Otis Redding, including “Respect,” which Aretha Franklin covered in 1967 and became a huge hit and one of her signature songs to this day. Amazingly, most of the album was recorded in a 24 hour session with Booker T. & The M.G.’s as the backing band.
Sadly, Otis Redding’s biggest hit, "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released after the singer died in a plane crash in 1967.
“Randy Scouse Git” by The Monkees (From the album, “Headquarters”)
The Monkees recorded the album, “Headquarters” as a response to people complaining that they didn’t play their own instruments on their songs. Even though this was standard practice back in the ‘60’s—for example, only Roger McGuinn of The Byrds played guitar on their biggest hit, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” the rest of the players on that track were all session musicians—The Monkees wanted to make an album that only they played on. And that’s exactly what “Headquarters” is, The Monkees played every note on that album except for the occasional bass played by producer, Chip Douglas.
Mickey Dolenz wrote this song and it’s about when The Monkees toured England and met The Beatles. The following line in the song, "The four kings of EMI" refer to the Fabulous Four. Here’s who played what on this song:
Mickey Dolenz: lead vocals, drums and timpani, Davy Jones: backing vocals, Mike Nesmith: guitar, Peter Tork: piano and organ, and producer, Chip Douglas: bass guitar.
Mickey Dolenz heard the phrase, “randy scouse git,” on the British TV show, “Till Death Do Us Part,” and used it for the title of the song, even though the phrase doesn’t appear anywhere in the song itself. “Till Death Do Us Part,” was eventually adapted for American TV and became the show known as, “All in the Family.”
“Oh Candy” by Cheap Trick (From the album, “Cheap Trick”)
Cheap Trick’s first album came out in February of 1977, ten years after the magical summer of love and the songs are light-years away from the attitudes of the culture just a decade before. The material on their first album (mainly written by guitarist, Rick Nielsen) delved into some pretty dark avenues including, pedophilia (“Daddy Should Have Stayed In High School”), serial killer, Richard Speck (“The Ballad of T.V. Violence") and the song, “Oh Candy,” which is about suicide.
Marshall Mintz was a friend of the band and a photographer who the band referred to as “Candy,” due to his initials being, M and M, just like the candy. After battling depression, he ended up hanging himself. You can read more about the song here.
Related Posts: MBIP Sunday Record Party: April 27th, 2014 Edition, April 13th, 2014 Edition and April 6th, 2014 Edition!
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