Category: Song Lyric Sunday

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Song Lyric Sunday – Boyz II Men

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Boy Bands is the prompt for Song Lyric Sunday this week. I think the term “Boy Bands” came about in the 80s. Prior to that I don’t recall ever hearing it before. The obvious ones that came to mind were New Kids on the Block, NSYNC, Take That and the Backstreet Boys. I have to admit that it wasn’t my style. Then along came Boyz II Men and I could relate on so many levels. So they are my choice today and the song is “The End of then Road”. Hope you enjoy it.

The Band

1988-
Nathan Morris Vocals
Shawn StockmanVocals
Wanya Morris Vocals
Michael McCaryVocals
Marc NelsonVocals

Boyz II Men formed at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts in Philadelphia. The group was originally called Unique Attraction and would practice in the school’s bathrooms due to the excellent acoustics.

Boyz II Men were discovered backstage at a New Edition concert. The members of the group loved New Edition and performed an a cappella version of their hit “Can You Stand the Rain” for then-aspiring record producer Michael Bivins, who was a member of New Edition and later Bell Biv Devoe. Bivins was so impressed that he started the process of getting the group signed to Motown Records immediately. Bivens raps about this on Boyz II Men’s debut single “Motownphilly.”

In 1992, Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” set a record by staying at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for 13 weeks straight. The decades-old record was previously held by Elvis Presley.

In 1992, Boyz II Men scored a spot as the opening act on MC Hammer’s 2 Legit 2 Quit tour. While on the road, the group’s tour manager Khalil Roundtree was murdered in Chicago. As a result, the group’s future performances of “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” were dedicated to him.

In 1995, Boyz II Men broke their own record when “One Sweet Day,” their duet with Mariah Carey, held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for 16 weeks straight. As of 2012, “One Sweet Day” still holds the all-time record for most consecutive weeks at the top of the chart.

Boyz II Men went on tour to promote their 1997 album Evolution, but the jaunt was a disaster. The tour was plagued by disputes between the group and their record label, which in turn caused scuffles among the members of the group. To make matters worse, two of Boyz II Men’s members were suffering health problems; Michael McCary’s scoliosis had worsened, making it impossible for him to participate in the group’s dance routines, while Wanya Morris developed a polyp on one of his vocal chords. The tour was eventually postponed.

In February 2011, Boyz II Men headlined the Love Cruise, which sailed from Miami to Nassau and back. Fans were treated to concerts by Boyz II Men as well as deck parties, poker games, and photo opportunities with the group to help them celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band.
In 2012, the music industry rewarded Boyz II Men for their remarkable longevity. The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and they remain popular around the world, especially in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The group took its name from the New Edition song “Boys To Men,” found on their landmark 1988 album, Heart Break.

In 2017, they appeared in a Geico insurance ad singing about the side effects of prescription medication, with the tagline, “If you’re Boyz II Men, you make anything sound good. It’s what you do.”

Courtesy of Songfacts

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Song Lyric Sunday – Reggae Music

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Well this should be easy for Song Lyric Sunday participants because it’s Reggae Week! I was torn as to what to share today because one of my favorite songs by Bob Marley and the Wailers is ‘Redemption Song’. It was his last recording before his death in 1981. However, as it is Reggae week, I have chosen two different songs to share. I am starting with a song written by Peter Frampton. ‘Baby I love Your Way’. Frampton does a great performance of the song but I prefer the reggae version by Big Mountain. To me the wonderful lyrics sound better in this style. My second choice is Marley’s beautifully haunting Redemption Song.

Hope you enjoy both of my selections for today and my fingers are crossed that the videos are watchable on the other side of the Pond. I know there are some versions that cannot be opened there.

The Song – Baby I Love Your Way

This is a very romantic love ballad. Frampton is telling his girl that he loves everything about her and wants to be with her day and night.

This went nowhere when Frampton first released it as a single in 1975. The next year, he included it on his live album, Frampton Comes Alive, and it helped the album become a huge hit. The live version was the second single released from the album, after “Show Me The Way” and before “Do You Feel Like We Do.”

Lisa Bonet sings this in the 2000 movie High Fidelity. John Cusack’s character hates the song until he hears her sing it.

In 1988, the group Will To Power had a US #1 hit with a medley of this and “Free Bird.” That medley earned substantial royalties for Frampton.

Big Mountain hit #6 in the US with this in 1994. Their version was on the soundtrack to Reality Bites.

In The Office episode “Pam’s Replacement,” Andy, Darryl, and Kevin perform this outside the warehouse after being ousted from their own band. It was also used on the TV shows Cold Case (“Yo, Adrian” – 2005) and Friday Night Lights(“Tomorrow Blues” – 2009).

The Lyrics

Shadows grow so long before my eyes
And they're moving across the page
Suddenly the day turns into night
Far away from the city but don't hesitate
'Cause your love won't wait hey
Ooh baby I love your way every day
Want to tell you I love your way every day
Want to be with you night and day

Moon appears to shine and light the sky 
With the help of some fireflies 
I wonder how they have the power shine shine shine
I can see them under the pines
But don't hesitate 'cause your love won't wait hey
Ooh baby I love your way every day
Want to tell you I love your way every day
Want to be with you night and day uh yeah

But don't hesitate 'cause your love won't wait
I can see the sunset in your eyes
Brown and grey and blue besides
Clouds are stalking islands in the sun 
Wish I could buy one out of season
But don't hesitate 'cause your love won't wait hey
Ooh baby I love your way every day 
Want to tell you I love your way uuhh
Want to be with you night and day
Ooh baby I love your way every day
Want to tell you I love your way uuhh
Want to be with you night and day

Writer/s: Peter Kenneth Frampton 
Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Song – Redemption Song

This was Marley’s last single before his death on May 11, 1981. It sums up his life and what he stood for in his songs: freedom and redemption. Marley was a very spiritual singer who gave hope to the downtrodden in his native Jamaica, and whose message spread to the United States and around the world when he became a star.

Marley completed the Uprising album (his last) in the summer of 1980. He was suffering from the cancer that would eventually kill him at age 36, but was very productive in his later years. He refused traditional medicine because of his Rastafarian beliefs and chose to make music and perform as long as he could.

This song drew from the works of the civil-rights campaigner Marcus Garvey, who in a 1937 speech said:”We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind.”This can be heard in Marley’s lyric:

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds

Garvey’s 1923 book The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey contains this preface, which is likely where Marley got the idea for “Redemption,” which he used in the title:”Dedicated to the true and loyal members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the cause of African redemption.”

This is much more of a folk song than a reggae number. Very unusual for Marley, it is just his voice accompanied by his acoustic guitar. Marley first recorded it with his group The Wailers, but his producer Chris Blackwell suggested he try a solo acoustic version, and that’s what stuck.

Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer both covered this song.

This plays over the credits for the 2007 movie I Am Legend starring Will Smith. It was also sung by the character Sawyer in the season finale of the first season of the show Lost on ABC.

Barbadian singer Rihanna covered this for the Haiti Relief Fund after the earthquake that devastated the country. Urging fans to download the track she said: “This song for me, growing up, anytime there was a difficult situation, I always listened to this song because it was so liberating. Even now I listen to it when my back is up against the wall. I feel like the people of Haiti need to hear something inspiring.”
Rihanna performed an acoustic version live on the Oprah Winfrey Show on January 20, 2010.

French artists Octave Marsal and Theo De Gueltzl created an animated video for the song using 2,747 original drawings. Their black-and-white clip was released on February 6, 2020, on what would have been Bob Marley’s 75th birthday. “From the history of Slavery and Jamaica, Rastafarian culture, legacy of prophets (Haile Selassie the 1st, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X), as well as Bob’s personal life, we take the audience on a journey through allegories and representations,” Marsal and De Gueltzl explained of the visual.

Courtesy of Songfacts

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Song Lyric Sunday – Funk

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As we continue to explore different genres of music, we have this week arrived at Funk. In my opinion Motown, Soul and Funk are connected and if you like one, then you like them all.

According to Wiki, Funk is a music genre that originated in Black American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid-20th century. It de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a “hypnotic” and “danceable” feel.

So for Song Lyric Sunday this week have chosen a song that I have enjoyed for many years called ‘Rock Steady by The Whispers. It checks all the boxes for Funk so I hope you enjoy it too.

The Song

Written in 1987, this is the Whispers’ biggest hit, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s about a guy who falls into a complicated relationship with a girl he thinks he loves. He is trying to figure out if she loves him in return, though it should be obvious that she does.

This was written and produced by the team of L.A. Reid and Babyface. It was one of the first songs the pair worked on for another artist – they were members of the group The Deele at the time. In 1989, they formed LaFace Records and became music moguls as well as hit producers. TLC, OutKast and Pink were all signed to LaFace.

Courtesy of Songfacts

The Lyrics

I looked at you 
You stole my heart 
You were all that I anticipated 
I wanted you
Every part 
But I knew that love would be complicated 

I began to touch
But you wouldn't let it 
It never seemed to be the right time 
I started to give up
Down to the limit 
And then you changed your mind, oh

And we begin to rock steady 
Steady rockin' all night long 
And we begin to rock steady 
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn 

Rock steady 
Steady rockin' all night long 
Rock steady 
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn 

You looked at me to my surprise 
You were through anticipating 
I should have known
It was in your eyes 
That you were gettin' tired of waiting 

You wanted me so much
But I didn't get it 
How could a fellow be so blind? 
I started to give up
But love wouldn't let it 
Then you walked into my life 

And we begin to rock steady 
Steady rockin' all night long 
And we begin to rock steady 
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn 

Rock steady 
Steady rockin' all night long (all night long)
Rock steady 
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn 
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn 

Rock
Steady, baby
Rock steady, baby
Ooh rock, rock
Steady, baby
Rock steady, baby

Rock
Ooh, rock, rock

You wanted me so much
But I didn't get it 
How could a fellow be so blind? 
I started to give up
But love wouldn't let it 
Then you walked into my life, ohh

And we begin to rock steady 
Steady rockin' all night long 
And we begin to rock steady 
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn 

Rock steady 
Steady rockin' all night long (all night long)
Rock steady 
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn 

Everybody, rock (steady rock) steady (s-s-s-steady rock)
Steady rockin' all night long
(Everybody's steady rockin')
Rock steady 
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn
Rockin' 'til the break of dawn 

(Everybody's steady rockin')
Writer/s: Antonio M. Reid, Boaz Watson, Kenneth Edmonds 
Publisher: Bluewater Music Corp., BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., O/B/O CAPASSO, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
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Song Lyric Sunday – Soul Music

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I was happy to see Soul Music for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt. Soul Music and Motown are what I grew up with and I knew immediately I wanted to pick two songs. Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett and Shotgun by Junior Walker and the All Stars. Both are great songs and feature a lot of brass which was in keeping with the sound at that time. Both are simple songs in that one is about a crazy girl and her car and the other is about a dance, but the music and sound are what makes them.

Mustang Sally

This song is about a girl who lives a wild life in her brand new Mustang car. The singer bought her the car, which transformed her into “Mustang Sally,” and now she’s running around town, paying little attention to her sugar daddy. Pickett warns her that she needs to slow it down with one of the great threats in Soul music history: “Guess I have to put your flat feet on the ground!”

This song was written by Bonny Rice, also known as Sir Mack Rice. Bonny started singing with a vocal group called the Five Scalders in 1955 and joined The Falcons in 1957. Eddie Floyd was also in The Falcons, and Mack later wrote songs for him when he went solo. In 1960, Wilson Pickett joined The Falcons and sang lead on their 1962 hit “I Found A Love,” and left the group for a solo career later that year.In 1963, The Falcons broke up, and in 1965, Rice wrote a song called “Mustang Mama” after visiting his friend, the actress/singer Della Reese, in New York City. Reese told him that she was thinking about buying her drummer Calvin Shields a new Lincoln for his birthday, which Rice, being from Detroit, thought was a great idea. When he mentioned this to Shields, the drummer replied, “I don’t want a Lincoln, I want a Mustang.”As Rice explained on the 2007 Rhythm & Blues Cruise, he had never heard of a Mustang before, but Shields filled him in. They went for a drive and saw a billboard for a Mustang – Rice couldn’t believe Shields wanted such a small car instead of a big ol’ Lincoln. When he returned to Detroit, Rice started writing the song as “Mustang Mama,” with the chorus “ride, Sally, ride.” His publisher knew Aretha Franklin well, and brought Rice by her house, and he sang some of the song for her. Aretha suggested he change the title to “Mustang Sally” to better suit the chorus.In May of 1965 Bonny Rice released his original version of this song as Sir Mack Rice, and it hit the R&B charts, peaking at #15. Wilson Pickett came across the song when Rice was booked to play at The Apollo theater, and the headliner Clyde McPhatter didn’t show. Rice called his old bandmate Pickett, who performed in McPhatter’s place. When Pickett heard Rice perform “Mustang Sally,” he decided to record it himself. His version hit the R&B and Pop charts a year and a half after Rice originally recorded the song.Mack Rice later sang with Ollie and the Nightingales, joining them in 1970. He was also a staff songwriter for Stax Records, and wrote the hits “Respect Yourself” for the Staple Singers and “Cheaper To Keep Her” for Johnny Taylor.

Courtesy of Songfacts

LYRICS

Mustang Sally, huh, ha
Guess you better slow your mustang down, oh Lord
What I said now
Mustang Sally now baby, oh Lord
Guess you better slow your mustang down, huh, oh yeah
You been running all over town now
Oh, guess I have to put your flat feet on the ground, huh
What I said now

Listen
All you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Huh
All you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Huh
All you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Ha
All you want to do is ride around Sally, oh Lord (ride, Sally, ride) 
Well isn't it

One of these early mornings, hey
Woah, gonna be wiping your weeping eyes, huh
What I said now, lookit here

I bought you a brand new mustang 
A nineteen sixty five, huh
Now you come around signifying a woman
You don't want to let me ride
Mustang Sally now baby, oh lord
Guess you better slow that mustang down, huh, oh Lord
Lookit
You been running all over town 
Oh, I got to put your flat feet on the ground, huh
What I say now
Let me say it one more time, y'all

Now, all you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Huh
All you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Oh Lord

Writer/s: Mack Rice 
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Shotgun

The “Shotgun” is a dance. There were many dance crazes in the ’60s, and two of them are mentioned in the lyrics: The Jerk (“Do The Jerk, baby”) and The Twine (“It’s Twine Time”). The Shotgun dance is more freeform, but you should sometimes stagger about like you’ve been shot.
“Shotgun” was the first hit for Junior Walker & The All Stars, who were signed to the Motown label Soul. Walker, whose real name was Autry DeWalt, was a saxophone player who made his vocal debut on this song. Walker recorded the vocals because the singer who was assigned to the session didn’t show up. He didn’t expect his tracks to make the cut, but the Motown producers liked the sound and left them in.
Junior Walker wrote this song. He got the idea after watching some kids in a club doing a dance he’d never seen before.
As explained in The Motown Story: Volume 1, the sound at the beginning that simulates a shotgun was created by kicking an amplifier. >>
Motown president Berry Gordy produced this track himself. When he heard the rough version, he took a personal interest in the track because he knew it could be a hit – if he could clean it up. Walker’s band wasn’t used to studio work and weren’t nearly as polished as Motown’s in-house all-stars, the Funk Brothers. So Gordy had the Motown musicians record parts and either replaced or augmented what was on the original.
“Shotgun” was a #1 R&B hit and rose to #4 on the Hot 100. The group had several more hit songs, including “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)” (also #1 R&B) and a cover of the Supremes song “Come See About Me.” Walker played sax on Foreigner’s “Urgent” before his death in 1995.
Vanilla Fudge covered this song, taking it to #68 in 1969.

Courtesy of Songfacts

LYRICS

I said shotgun shoot 'em 'fore he run now do the jerk baby do the jerk now.
(Hey).
Put on your red dress and then you go down yonder.
I said buy yourself a shotgun now, were gonna break it down baby now.
We're gonna load it up baby now 'a then you shoot 'em 'fore he run now.

I said shotgun shoot 'em 'fore he run now do the jerk baby do the jerk now.
(Hey).

I said shotgun shoot 'em 'fore he run now do the jerk baby do the jerk now.
(Hey).
I said Put on your high-heeled shoes.
I said we're goin' down here and I listen to 'em play the blues.
We're gonna dig potatoes, we're gonna pick tomatoes.
I said shotgun shoot 'em 'fore he run now do the jerk baby do the jerk now.
(Hey).
Writer/s: AUTRY DEWALT
Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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Song Lyric Sunday – Alternative Rock – Red Hot Chili Peppers

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Alternative Rock is this week’s genre for Song Lyric Sunday, hosted by our good friend, Jim Adams. I found it to be a refreshing change at the time with bands like The Cure, Peal Jam, REM, Green Day and my favorite, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I would say that RHCP are an alternative rock band although others might argue they are funk with some punk. So for my choice I have gone with a mellow alternative rock song by the Peppers called ‘Under The Bridge’. This was a little out of the mainstream for them and I’m sure you all know it as it turned out to be their biggest hit. Have a great Song Lyric Sunday!

The Song

Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis wrote “Under The Bridge” about his days as a heroin addict and the loneliness that went with it. The bridge mentioned in the song is a place where he sometimes went to buy drugs and get high.

After four albums of unorthodox hardcore funk, Red Hot Chili Peppers landed a huge hit with the ballad “Under The Bridge,” which was not at all typical of their sound. The song went all the way to #2 on the Hot 100 (behind “Jump” by Kris Kross) and got on playlists with the likes of Celine Dion and Michael Bolton. It remains their biggest hit.

The song was particularly challenging for Kiedis to sing during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour, but the Chili Peppers became comfortable with the sound and followed it up with more slower singles like “Soul to Squeeze” and “Breaking the Girl.” It didn’t feel like a sell-out because these songs were all very heartfelt, just a lot more vulnerable than their previous work.

This song was originally just a poem that Anthony Kiedis wrote. He didn’t write it for the Chili Peppers – it was a very personal poem that he thought he might use somewhere else. Their producer Rick Rubin found it in one of his notebooks and told Anthony that it could be a great song. At first, he didn’t want to sing it or share it with anyone, but he eventually came around.

Rubin recalled to Newsweek in a 2013 interview: “My thinking was that the Chili Peppers were not limited to being a funk band with rapping. And I remember Anthony was embarrassed to show the song to the other guys in the band. But he sang it to John [Frusciante, guitarist] and John came up with his part. Then he played it for Flea [bassist] and Flea came up with his part. And it ended up being a really good song—even though they didn’t realize how good it was until people starting responding to it.”

The band got a headlining slot on the 1992 Lollapalooza Tour when this song became a hit. The gig greatly expanded their fan base and showcased their skills as a very energetic live band, but beneath the surface, all was not well. The band was burned out and feuding; John Frusciante quit in the middle of the tour, and their bass player Flea crashed hard when they finally got off the road in October 1992. They took some time to recuperate (Flea kicked his drug habit) and returned in 1995 with the album One Hot Minute.

The “City of Angels” Anthony Kiedis sings about here is Los Angeles, where he lived since he was 12 years old. Much of the song deals with his relationship with the city. “It really repulses me these days,” he told Goldmine in 1996. “Just sucking in that toxic cloud of hellish smog every day that I live… not a pleasant thought. But I do have a strong family tie to that city that I’ll probably never be able to sever.”

The Lyrics

Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, the city of angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry
I drive on her streets 'cause she's my companion
I walk through her hills 'cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy
Well, I never worry, now that is a lie

I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
Yeah, yeah, yeah

It's hard to believe that there's nobody out there
It's hard to believe that I'm all alone
At least I have her love, the city, she loves me
Lonely as I am, together we cry

I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, no, no-no, yeah, yeah
Love me, I say, yeah yeah
One time

(Under the bridge downtown)
Is where I drew some blood
(Under the bridge downtown)
I could not get enough
(Under the bridge downtown)
Forgot about my love
(Under the bridge downtown)
I gave my life away
Yeah, yeah
Oh, no, no-no-no, yeah, yeah
Oh, no, I said, oh, yeah, yeah
Where I stay
Writer/s: Anthony Kiedis, Chad Gaylord Smith, John Anthony Frusciante, Michael Peter Balzary 
Publisher: MoeBeToBlame, Warner Chappell Music, Inc., WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
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Song Lyric Sunday – Bluegrass – Annabel Lee

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I was excited to see this week’s music genre for Song Lyric Sunday. Jim Adams, our host, has asked for Bluegrass. I have chosen the song, Annabel Lee, by an artist I have come to really like. Sarah Jarosz, an American folk and bluegrass singer. She was inspired by the poem called ‘Annabel Lee’ by American author, Edgar Allen Poe. It was his last complete poem. Like many of Poe’s poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are envious. He retains his love for her after her death. There has been debate over who, if anyone, was the inspiration for “Annabel Lee”. Though many women have been suggested, Poe’s wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe is one of the more credible candidates. Written in 1849, it was not published until shortly after Poe’s death that same year. Like all good mysteries there are local legends. Jarosz’s lyrics are very similar to the poem.

The Song

The song is from, ‘Follow Me Down’, the second studio album by American folk and bluegrass singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz, released on May 17, 2011 on Sugar Hill Records. It was recorded and mixed at Minutia Studios and mastered at The Mastering Lab in Nashville, by Gary Paczosa with additional engineering by Brandon Bell. In 2012, the song “Come Around” was nominated for Song of the Year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards.

Annabel Lee is the singer’s interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s last published poem about young, doomed lovers in a kingdom by the sea.

Some say that Poe, who served a brief stint at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, was inspired by a Lowcountry tale. Legend has it that a young soldier fell in love with a girl named Annabel Lee. For several months they were inseparable, despite her father’s disapproval, but when the man was shipped out of Charleston, Annabel died of Yellow Fever. He returned to say his goodbyes, but the girl’s father wouldn’t allow him into the funeral. Some say Annabel’s ghost still haunts the Unitarian Cemetery, where she was buried.

Granted, there’s no real proof that Poe had ever heard the legend, and some argue the poem was based on his relationship with his own wife. It went on to inspire Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, which was originally going to be titled The Kingdom by the Sea.

Wherever the chain of inspiration came from, Jarosz performed her fresh interpretation of the haunting poem just a few blocks away from from the cemetery where Annabel’s ghost is said to reside in Charleston, SC.

The Lyrics

Many a year ago
In a kingdom by the sea
There lived a maiden you may know
By the name of Annabelle Lee
No other thought did trouble her mind
But to love and be loved by me

We were children both
In this kingdom by the sea
But we loved with a love that was more than love
I and my Annabelle Lee
With a love that the winged angels high
Coveted her and me

This was the reason long ago
In this kingdom by the sea
A wind blew from a stormy cloud
That took my Annabelle Lee
Then her wicked brothers came
To steal her away from me

They shut her up in a tomb below
This kingdom by the sea
But no maiden's grave could sever my soul
From the love she bore for me
For the moon don't beam without a dream
Of my darling Annabelle Lee

For many years I've wandered
Through this kingdom by the sea
I've laid myself beside the bones
Of my beautiful Annabelle Lee
I'll make my bed near the rising tide
In her tomb by the sounding sea

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Cameron Scoggins / Sarah Jarosz
Annabelle Lee lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
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Song Lyric Sunday – Surfin’ USA

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I finally get to choose a Beach Boys song for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday. Our host, Jim Adams, has given us Surfer Rock as a theme. I picked Surfin’ USA as my main choice and threw in Fun, Fun, Fun as I liked it too. I actually prefer some of their slow stuff like God Only Knows and, of course, Good Vibrations but the genre is Surfer Rock so I thought it best to stick with the upbeat music. I’m looking forward to hearing some songs today that I might not have heard before. It’s always fun to see what the others choose.

Have a great Sunday!

The Song

The lyrics are basically a guide to good surf locations, but the “Surfin’ U.S.A.” music was based on Chuck Berry’s 1958 hit “Sweet Little Sixteen.” The Beach Boys did it as a tribute to Berry, but didn’t get his permission first – maybe because Berry was in jail for transporting a minor across state lines. When Berry threatened to sue, The Beach Boys agreed to give him most of the royalties and list him as the song’s composer. The song also helped build Berry’s legend while he served his time.

David Marks, who was a guitarist in The Beach Boys from 1961-1963, explains on the DVD Brian Wilson Songwriter 1962 – 1969, that he and Carl Wilson would play guitars every day after school, and one day Carl brought home the album Chuck Berry Is On Top. They loved the album and introduced Berry’s sound to Brian Wilson, who loved the rhythm parts and put together “Surfin’ U.S.A.” based on that sound. Brian changed the lyrics and added a hook, but it is basically a rewrite of Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.”

Many of the early Beach Boys’ songs were about surfing. Dennis Wilson was the only Beach Boy who actually surfed, but surfing was a very popular at the time, especially with teenagers who bought records. For The Beach Boys, the surfing subculture gave them an opportunity to write songs about adventure and fun while exploring vocal harmonies and new production techniques. And while the majority of Americans didn’t surf, the songs represented California, which was considered new and modern and a great place to be. Surfing, and California by extension, became more about a state of mind.

This is a very early Beach Boys song, following up their first hit “Surfin’ Safari.” Brian Wilson was gaining confidence as a producer, and this song marks the emergence of what would become the Beach Boys signature sound over the next few years. Wilson got the most of 1963 studio technology, and managed to create a sound with bright guitars and sophisticated background vocals – something he accomplished with double-tracking. Brian also used his falsetto vocals in the chorus to offset Mike Love’s lead.

Carl Wilson came up with the guitar intro, which is reminiscent of Duane Eddy’s “Moving and Grooving.” Wilson explained: “On ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.,’ Brian wanted an opening lick and I just did this Duane Eddy riff. I was worried that it had been on another record, but what the hell. That was the first time we were aware we could make a really powerful record. For the first time, we thought the group sounded good enough to be played with anything on the radio.”

Leif Garrett, who was not a surfer, but a skateboarder, recorded this in 1977 and took it to #20 in the US. Garrett was a teen idol who acted in some popular movies in the ’60s and ’70s, including Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, but got hooked on drugs and fought a heroin addiction. In 2006, after one of his arrests for heroin possession, Garrett’s mother told the New York Daily News that rock stars like The Rolling Stones were a bad influence on him and led him to drugs.

Guitarist David Marks played guitar on the Beach Boys first five albums. He recalled to I Like Music laying down this track: “The energy on the Surfin’ USA session was very upbeat and happy. That’s where that chemistry thing kicks in again… there was a certain energy on that track that was a one-of-a-kind happening. It wasn’t perfect in a technical sense, but the vibe was something special that had a lasting effect.” This was re-released in the US in 1974. It went to #36.


Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Green River – Swamp Rock

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I was so happy that Jim Adams picked Swamp Rock for the week’s Song Lyric Sunday. It gives me a chance to share a song by probably my most favorite band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and you can’t get a swampier song than Green River. Although CCR’s music gives the impression they are from the Bayou, they are actually from California and just happen to have that great sound. Hope you enjoy it. The Woodstock video is exceptional. Fogarty doesn’t miss a beat.

The Song

This song was written by group leader John Fogerty, who explained in his Storytellers special: “Green River is really about this place where I used to go as a kid on Putah Creek, near Winters, California. I went there with my family every year until I was ten. Lot of happy memories there. I learned how to swim there. There was a rope hanging from the tree. Certainly dragonflies, bullfrogs. There was a little cabin we would stay in owned by a descendant of Buffalo Bill Cody. That’s the reference in the song to Cody Jr. [“Up at Cody’s camp I spent my days…”]

The actual specific reference, Green River, I got from a soda pop-syrup label. You used to be able to go into a soda fountain, and they had these bottles of flavored syrup. My flavor was called Green River. It was green, lime flavored, and they would empty some out over some ice and pour some of that soda water on it, and you had yourself a Green River.”

John Fogerty has said that Green River is his favorite Creedence Clearwater Revival album, in part because it sounds like the ’50s albums by the likes of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash that came out of Sun Records in Memphis.

Asked about his song writing by Mojo magazine, John Fogerty replied: “More common is me fooling around on the guitar coming up with a riff or a lick or even just a tone which sparks some kind of creativity. Your mind gets a vibe, like the lick for ‘Green River’ – that’s what it sounded like, a green river, ha ha. And that was a title I had carried around since I was about eight years old.”

Courtesy of Songfacts

The Lyrics

Well, take me back down where cool water flows, y'all
Oh, let me remember things I love
Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite
Walkin' along the river road at night
Barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight

I can hear the bullfrog callin' me, oh
Wonder if my rope's still hangin' to the tree
Love to kick my feet way down the shallow water
Shoo fly, dragon fly, get back to your mother
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River
Well

Up at Cody's camp I spent my days, Lord
With flat car riders and cross-tie walkers
Old Cody Junior took me over
Said, "You're gonna find the world is smoldering
And if you get lost, come on home to Green River"
Well
Come on home

Writer/s: John Cameron Fogerty 
Publisher: CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Bubblegum Pop

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This week’s music prompt for Song Lyric Sunday is Bubblegum Pop which is very similar to last week’s Sunshine Pop. Both genres go back to the late 60s so I have come up with Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes by Edison Lighthouse. An English pop band, formed in London in 1969. The band was best known for this 1970 hit recorded in late 1969. It’s definitely Bubblegum!

The Song

The British producers Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason wrote this song with Sylvan Mason, who was Barry’s wife at the time. (Sylvan is often uncredited, but her divorce agreement provides hard evidence that she co-wrote this song and the Tom Jones hit “Delilah.”) The song is about a free spirit named Rosemary who leaves the singer besotted.

Many have claimed to be the actual Rosemary the song is about, but Sylvan Mason says that like Delilah, no such person exists. She told Songfacts: “Tony [Macaulay] came over with a melody and rough idea for a song, which title originally was ‘It’s My Heart You’ll Be Breaking Apart,’ but he said he wanted to put a girl’s name in the title because that’s what sold records in those days. The girl’s name Rosemary fitted with the title so we started the song from scratch merely using the name Rosemary”

Macaulay and Barry Mason recorded the song using session musicians. When it became a hit, they put together a band from members of the group Greefield Hammer in order to perform it live. McCaulay eventually put together another group using the Edison Lighthouse name.

A session singer named Tony Burrows sang lead. He was the voice of several studio groups, including White Plains, The Pipkins, and Brotherhood Of Man, First Class (“Beach Baby”) and the Flowerpot Men (“Let’s Go To San Francisco”). He famously appeared on one UK TV show three times in one night when three different groups (all fronted by him) were due to perform their current chart hits. He said, “I just kept changing hats.”

Why is the love growing? That’s a play on the name Rosemary, which is an herb.

Courtesy of Songfacts

The Lyrics

She ain't got no money
Her clothes are kinda funny
Her hair is kinda wild and free
Oh, but Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

She talks kinda lazy
And people say she she's crazy
And her life's a mystery
Oh, but Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

There's something about her hand holding mine
It's a feeling that's fine
And I just gotta say
She's really got a magical spell
And it's working so well
That I can't get away

I'm a lucky fella
And I've just got to tell her
That I love her endlessly
Because Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

There's something about her hand holding mine
It's a feeling that's fine
And I just gotta say
She's really got a magical spell
And it's working so well
That I can't get away

I'm a lucky fella
And I've just got to tell her
That I love her endlessly
Because Love grows where my Rosemary goes
And nobody knows like me

Fadeout:
It keeps growing every place she's been
And nobody knows like me

If you've met her, you'll never forget her
And nobody knows like me

La la la- believe it when you've seen it
Nobody knows like me

Writer/s: Roger Frederick Cook, Roger John Reginald Greenaway 
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
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