Nobody - Larry Williams & Johnny Watson with Kaleidoscope

Nobody - Larry Williams & Johnny Watson with Kaleidoscope

2:35

Two For the Price Of One, 1967

Written by Dick Cooper and Ernie Shelby

It's Larry Williams week!

Quite a departure from his early R&B work, this is a sort of country-funk song with psychedelic Middle Eastern instrument backing.  In between the crooning chorus ("They don't know that you're an angel") are ferocious, almost rapped verses that wield the hep slang of their era like a weapon: "They just don't understand our bag," "All the squares keep talkin' 'bout you, baby."  It's a terrific, unique song, criminally overlooked as ahead of its time in its blending of genres.

Dizzy, Miss Lizzy - Larry Williams

Dizzy, Miss Lizzy - Larry Williams

2:12

single, 1958

Written by Larry Williams

It's Larry Williams week!

The Beatles covered this track, but they removed the comma, which is present in the original single.  Larry gives this one a more subdued vocal than on a lot of other hits (except a couple of roaring "woo's" like the one before the guitar solo), so if you've only heard the Beatles' screaming version this can seem like a letdown.  But it's a great song on its own, minus any comparisons, and a fine companion to Little Richard's more flamboyant "Good Golly Miss Molly."

Slow Down - Larry Williams

Slow Down - Larry Williams

2:46

single, 1957

Written by Larry Williams

It's Larry Williams week!

Williams' careening piano drives this song, along with a yelping but confident vocal ("Whoo! If you want our love to last") and two saxes buzzing along.  It's a roller-coaster of a song, thundering down a track.  I feel like he escapes the looming shadow of Little Richard here, owning the boogie-woogie and turning it to something wild and almost punk.

She Said "Yeah" - Larry Williams

She Said "Yeah" - Larry Williams

1:51

single, 1958

Written by Don Christy and Roddy Jackson

It's Larry Williams week!

I know this song from McCartney's version on his excellent 1999 album Run Devil Run.  It's a declaration of intent about a pretty girl that caught the narrator's eye, as was the rock 'n' roll style of the time.  "Dum deedle dee dum dum / Little girl, where did you come from?"  Great horn sound, an up-tempo rocker very much in the style of Little Richard.  There's a reason both the Stones and the Beatles covered Williams; he knew how to infuse vinyl with the spirit of rhythm and blues.

Bad Boy - Larry Williams

Bad Boy - Larry Williams

2:17

single, 1958

Written by Larry Williams

It's Larry Williams week!

The tale of a juvenile delinquent, classic early rock 'n' roll sounding like a subdued Little Richard with spoken echoes like in "Bird Dog."  The bad behavior starts off rather tame, as befits the era, and then devolves into actual crimes.  He plays rock 'n' roll all night, he teases the girls, he has long hair, he feeds a pet canary to a cat, a puts the dog in a washing machine.  Hmm, I'm usually pretty anti-authoritarian, but maybe this particular bad boy should be sent to military school.

Bony Maronie - Larry Williams

Bony Maronie - Larry Williams
3:07
single, 1957

Written by Larry Williams

It's Larry Williams week!

As this song starts out you think it'll be a novelty number about a strange-looking girl ("I got a girl named Bony Moronie / She's as skinny as a stick of macaroni") on the lines of Fats Waller's "Your Feet's Too Big," but as it progresses, the lyrics reveal what is actually a pretty sweet love song, and not much more about her appearance is said.  "I wanna get married on a night in June / And rock 'n' roll by the light of the silvery moon."  Add a boppin' boogie sax, and what else can you ask?

Short Fat Fannie - Larry Williams

Short Fat Fannie - Larry Williams

2:26

single, 1957

Written by Larry Williams

It's Larry Williams week!

A terrific '50s rocker, a winking answer song to Little Richard and Elvis and other rockers of the era, peppered as it is with references to "tutti frutti," "rip it up," "blue suede shoes," "long tall sally," "slippin' and sliding," "heartbreak hotel," and more.  There's even a reference to Fats Domino, with "we were married up on Blueberry Hill."  So it's kind of a novelty song, but it's also a great example of '50s rock boogie.

Scorpio Rising - 10,000 Maniacs

Scorpio Rising - 10,000 Maniacs
3:14
The Wishing Chair, 1985
Written by Natalie Merchant and John Lombardo

This week is all about 1985!

This band's success is entirely, 100% due to Natalie Merchant's voice.  The jangling guitars and high, thin rhythm section are competent enough, but nothing that a thousand other alt-rock bands can do.  Merchant's voice is a powerful instrument, though, and on tracks like this — punchy and aggressive, raw-sounding, with abstruse lyrics that come in short phrases —the band really shines.  

King George Street - Squeeze

King George Street - Squeeze

3:48

Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti, 1985

Written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook

This week is all about 1985!

A rather sad song to an incongruously upbeat tune.   A woman takes her kids and flees a drunken, abusive husband, who comes back with apologies.  The song ends there, ambiguous.  It's a decent enough song.  The production is very '80s, with electronic drums, keyboards, and tambourine.  The vocals are at times themselves a little robotic.  It could be a great song with a little more warmth in the production, possibly if it were written in a different era.

Forever Man - Eric Clapton

Forever Man - Eric Clapton

3:11

Behind the Sun, 1985

Written by Jerry Lynn Williams

This week is all about 1985!

A song born of frustration.  Clapton was separating from his wife at the time, and Warner Brothers commissioned Williams, a singer and composer, to write this song about not connecting with a loved one.  Clapton puts a lot of energy into his strong vocals, and there's a brief "Layla"-like guitar solo in the middle.  For me, though, it's too '80s slick, with too much keyboard and backing vocal.  Let Clapton be Clapton, I say!  (Musically, I mean, not when he has his shitty political opinions.)

Nowhere Fast - the Smiths

Nowhere Fast - the Smiths

2:37

Meat Is Murder, 1985

Written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr

This week is all about 1985!

What I love about Morrissey is how he leavens his whiny emo shtick with real wit and humor.  He can even be self-effacing, or at least he could back them (nowadays he seems to be a stuffy right-wing old bore).  "And if the day came / When I felt a natural emotion / I'd get such a shock / I'd probably jump in the ocean."  Rhythm section sounds like a train.  It's such a sad sound.  It's no "There Is a Light And It Never Goes Out" but it's a good one.

Rock And Roll Girls - John Fogerty

Rock And Roll Girls - John Fogerty

3:26

Centerfield, 1985

Written by John Fogerty

This week is all about 1985!

The big comeback album from Fogerty.  I don't agree with my friend David that this is on a par with CCR's absolutely unimpeachable oeuvre, but it's pretty darn good.  I've heard this song on the radio a few times, but never really listened carefully.  I like how it evokes a secret world of music and nostalgia, "like flowers in the sand, the rainbow in my mind."  Fogerty himself plays the sax solo, which is impressive.

Livin' For Your Lover - Chris Isaak

Livin' For Your Lover - Chris Isaak
2:56
Silvertone, 1985

Written by Chris Isaak

This week is all about 1985!

From Isaak's debut (with cover modeled after Elvis's 1958 single "Don't") comes this toe-tapper that to me echoes "Somebody's Cryin'" on his masterpiece Forever Blue.  Critics weren't very appreciative of Isaak's homage-slash-impersonation of Orbison and Presley back in 1985, but I like his '50s crooner wail and falsetto superimposed over a tight '80s-sound country-rock outfit (previously known as Silvertone), not shambling or rockabilly.  It's a new kind of sound, derivative though it may be.

One World - Dire Straits

One World - Dire Straits

3:40

Brothers In Arms, 1985

Written by Mark Knopfler

O listen!

A laid-black blues by the Notting Hillbilly.  Despite the album being one of the best-selling of all time, to me it's not the best Dire Straits album.  It's got a funky groove, with an odd center section where they take away the rhythm section and Knopfler croons over what sounds like harpsichord but it probably synths.  It's a decent tune, but I wouldn't put it on a best-of compilation.

Strange Overtones - David Byrne & Brian Eno

Strange Overtones - David Byrne & Brian Eno

4:16

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, 2008

Written by David Byrne, Brian Eno, and Leo Abrahams

O listen!

Backed by a mix of instruments and electronica, Byrne croons his typical quotidian yet quirky lyrics in a soft falsetto.  It begins with waking up in the morning and hearing someone in the next apartment and then gets more abstruse.  Is it about isolation?  Hard to say.  Byrne approaches most subjects like an alien dissecting a human to see how it ticks.  "I see the music in your face / That your words cannot explain."  The electronica backing makes the song cold and aloof; I read that this collaboration was done almost entirely through email, and maybe it's missing a human warmth that Byrne famously doesn't have, and which his old band provided.  It's got a nice beat and if its intent is to make us feel removed from humanity, it succeeds.   

Only Time Will Tell - Etta James

Only Time Will Tell - Etta James

3:22

single, 1966

Written by Maurice McAlister & Terry Vail

O listen!

James belts this one out with as much fervor as any sweaty soul godfather.  The narrator's man is gone, and she's not sure if he'll be back.  There are clues, but nothing definite.  Once it seems like he really isn't coming back, she tidies up.  If he is gone, will she ever get over it?  Only time will tell.  A fantastic performance from the matriarch of R&B.

You Must Be Out Of Your Mind - the Magnetic Fields

You Must Be Out Of Your Mind - the Magnetic Fields

3:12

Realism, 2010

Written by Stephin Merritt

O listen!

The first track from the Fields' synth-free, largely acoustic "folk album" showcases the typical arch, dry, mordant wit Merritt employs so well.  His lyrical ancestor Cole Porter and epigram professor Oscar Wilde would be proud.  This song is a kiss-off.  "You can't go 'round just saying stuff / Because it's pretty / And I no longer drink enough / To think you're witty."  That's cold, Stephin!  As with a lot of his songs, he really hammers the chorus home, but his verses are so sly that I can forgive the repetition.

Dreamin' On Overdrive - Erin Cassels-Brown

Dreamin' On Overdrive - Erin Cassels-Brown

3:52

Dreamin' On Overdrive, 2019

Written by Erin Cassels-Brown, presumably

O listen!

A singer-songwriter out of Vermont, entirely unknown to me.  He's got Springsteen vibes, and not just with the car-related imagery.  It's the passion in his voice, and the epic feel of the song.  The song starts out with a bang, drawing you in with Cassels-Brown's urgent, nasal vocals.  I dig it, but the song goes on a little long for my tastes, repeating the title or variations of it over an extended fade-out jam.  End it at 3:15 and you'd have a near-perfect rocker.

Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano - Jerry Lee Lewis

Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano - Jerry Lee Lewis

3:21

Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano... (Think About It Darlin'), 1972

Written by Ray Griff

O listen!

This song seems to be a winking double entendre.  The narrator wonders who'll play songs for his lady after he dies, but it's possible he's also asking who's going to tickle his lady's ivories after he's gone, if you know what I mean.  "When everything is a-hushed and still / Who's gonna touch these keys with feeling / Really get to you."  Lewis doesn't seem to be taking it too seriously, throwing in a few spoken callbacks to the lyrics and burying it in a wave of ragtime, Dixieland jazz, and Vaudeville sounds.

Omaha - Waylon Jennings

Omaha - Waylon Jennings

2:38

Honky Tonk Heroes, 1973

Written by Billy Joe Shaver & Hillman Hall

O listen!

A sister song to Bobby Bare's "Detroit City," ten years on.  Guy thought he outgrew his little town, so moves to California.  Gonna be big!  Gonna be a star!  Or maybe not.  Maybe in trouble with the law.  No easy road to riches.  He misses Omaha.  "I'm leaving even if I have to crawl."  The song goes down easy, that polished '70s country sound and a universal feeling.

Move Over - Janis Joplin

Move Over - Janis Joplin

3:43

Pearl, 1971

Written by Janis Joplin

These songs have Vs!

A terrific bluesy rocker, with Joplin's scratchy vocals belting out the lines.  The band is chugging along making sure you know it's there, with the bass and organ up top, but they don't detract or distract from Joplin's powerhouse voice. Janis wants the guy to make up his mind.  Stop playing around, be her man, or let her go.  She whoops, her voice soars and commands.  No subdued pleading here.

As I Love My Own - Aaron Freeman

As I Love My Own - Aaron Freeman

3:11

Marvelous Clouds, 2012

Written by Rod McKuen

These songs have Vs!

Is this the album that helped hasten the breakup of Ween?  No, probably not.  Why a collection of Rod McKuen songs?  Why not, I guess.  To my amazement, the poet and songwriter released several dozen albums.  And Frank Sinatra commissioned a whole album from him!  But I digress.  This song has very little of the Ween "brown," those distorted tones, homages-cum-parodies, and put-on voices that turn off some listeners and endear the band to their fans.  The arrangement is more or less straight '60s adult pop, and Freeman's voice twinkles along, playing the schmaltz ("Your body, moving down to mine / Is like the coupling of the pale November clouds") straight.  In a way, playing this stuff straight, for Freeman, is itself a transgression of form.  Maybe that's why I like it.

Love's Not Enough - the Mysterines

Love's Not Enough - the Mysterines

3:48

Love's Not Enough, 2020

Written by the Mysterines, I guess

These songs have Vs!

Another band totally new to me.  British alternative foursome plays grandiose, grunge-influenced rock.  But Pearl Jam, not Nirvana.  This song is no growled exercise in introspection, but a booming anthem to losing love despite it all. Singer Lia Metcalfe belts out stirring, brooding vocals in a lower register over big crunchy riffs.  The narrator bemoans an imploding relationship.  "Please take it back to where we began."  But we can't.

Spy Vs. Spy - The Spinto Band

Spy Vs. Spy - The Spinto Band

3:20

Nice and Nicely Done, 2005

These songs have Vs!

Another band new to me.  A six-piece from Delaware with two male lead singers playing quirky indie pop.  I hear some British Invasion and some '90s indie influences.  Nice harmonies soar over the insistent, jittery synths and guitars.  The lyrics are quirky too; a love song, but coming at you from an oblique angle.  "And I can't sleep without no one else / but you so don't let me leave me / when I say our love is true / and even if we got no money / we've got love and love is plenty."  Well!  That clears things right up!

Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Antony and the Johnsons

Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Antony and the Johnsons

4:14

single, 2019

Written by Bob Dylan

These songs have Vs!

Antony is one of the great upper-register voices.  Not quite male and not quite female, but ethereal.  His take on the song is a slow dirge, and it is very haunting and beautiful, but I don't think he adds much to the crowded field of Dylan covers.  He does a terrific job, but he doesn't make the song into something else.  I do like how he uses the "wipe the blood from my face" lyric from the Before the Flood version.

Advice For Young Mothers To Be - the Veils

Advice For Young Mothers To Be - the Veils

3:25

Nux Vomica, 2006

Written by Finn Andrews

These songs have Vs!

Another band entirely new to me.  This song has Gothic rock vibes.  The singer has a honeyed voice, reminiscent (albeit a faint shade of) Hamish Hawk's, with a delivery copped from Nick Cave.  It seems to be about a single mother deciding to keep her baby, admonished by her friends and the community ("The vicar said it's wrong but hey what does he know / He said it's wrong but that the Lord forgave me") but proud and dismissive of their opinions ("No man alive has earned the right to save me").  Bold, literate lyrics and great music. 

We Don't Believe What's On TV - Twenty One Pilots

We Don't Believe What's On TV - Twenty One Pilots

2:57

Blurryface, 2015

Written by Tyler Joseph

These songs have Vs!

I don't know anything at all about this band.  I learned that they are a duo, and they are known for playing a sort of emo-electronic-indie rock blend.  This song was on the Power Rangers soundtrack, but I don't know anything about that, either.  I like the horns and the bass.  Tyler Joseph has one of those emo voices that yelps out the lyrics but has a high-register catch that makes him sound sort of self-effacing at the same time.  I like how he says, "All right, second verse!" after the "yeah! yeah! yeah!" chorus.  This is a frenetic love song.  He wants to grow old, now that he's met her.  He seems to like her hair an awful lot.

Fantastic Voyage - David Bowie

Fantastic Voyage - David Bowie

2:55

Lodger, 1979

Written by David Bowie and Brian Eno

Listen for the silent E!

An almost serene, crooning ballad, art-rock style, from the master.  The lyrics are oblique.  It seems to be about a nuclear war, but it could apply to a love turned bad?  The narrator fears we'll never get old, presumably because we've been blown to bits.  "Remember it's true, dignity is valuable / But our lives are valuable too... I'm still getting educated but I've got to write it down."  Are we recording it so we don't have to relive history's past mistakes?  It may be too late.  What a beguiling, disarming song.  Its softness belies its true nature.  An overlooked gem.

Where Is the Machine - Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage

Where Is the Machine - Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage

2:34

Bad Wiring, 2019

Written by Jeffrey Lewis

Listen for the silent E!

This guy is a recent discovery for me and I love him.  His bleak, cracking, whiny voice is a great match for the multisyllabic, erudite waterfall of lyrics that flow from his pen.  Often he's introspective, pondering our place in the geopolitical arena or the universe.  This song asks why, if we have so much great technology, we can't use a machine to tamp down our feelings.  Lewis is one of the very few songwriters who will send you to Google: "We got blueprints for rockets that defeat gravitation / With combustion hydraulics and discrete calculation / Of where the Kármán line snaps and the sound wave convulses."  The Kármán line is the boundary pointe between atmosphere and space.  Bonus points for "discrete."

Crazy In Love - Eminem

Crazy In Love - Eminem

4:02

Encore, 2004

Written by Marshall Mathers, Luis Resto, Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, & Roger Fisher

Listen for the silent E!

Over the hook from "Crazy On You," Em rap/sings about the woman he can't get enough of, when he hasn'y had enough of her.  It's a love-hate relationship, and it could be about drugs, or fame, or anything else that someone is attracted to but would like to be able to walk away from.  This isn't the best track on the album, and the album isn't one of Eminem's best.  One of the cleverest rappers in the game and with one of the quickest tongues, his lyrics don't exactly shine here ("The only way that I am able to stay so stable / Is you're the legs to my table").  Nor is his rightfully lauded wordplay at work ("They say that every man grows up to marry his own mother / Which would explain why you're such a motherfuckin' bitch").   Eminem can be insulting and hilarious, but this song doesn't hit the mark.  Sprinkling metaphors that are either flat and tired or bizarre ("you're the ink to my paper," "the reason for my existence"), he sounds kind of tired.