I've Heard That Song A Million Times...

...that can be good or bad.

A recent road trip with classic rock and oldies on the F.M. made me reflective.

I've heard the following radio songs many times and they still sound fresh and exciting:

1. The Weight - The Band
2. Good Times Bad Times - Led Zeppelin
3. Funk #49 - James Gang
4. I Am The Walrus - The Beatles
5. Street Fighting Man - The Rolling Stones
6. Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
7. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
8. Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young
9. Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival
10. 96 Tears - Question Mark and The Mysterians

I've heard the following radio songs many times and never need a repeated play:

1. Crocodile Rock - Elton John
2. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
3. Yellow Submarine - The Beatles
4. Start Me Up - The Rolling Stones
5. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
6. Sea Cruise - Frankie Ford
7. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan
8. Old Time Rock & Roll - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
9. Kokomo - The Beach Boys
10. Sherry - The Four Seasons

I had to keep these lists populated with songs the average person knows. There are a million deep cuts and more underground songs for both categories, but that's a list for a different day.

There are five songs on the latter list that make me cringe and want to smash the radio with a hammer.

U2 Has Ten Great Songs

There was a point in time when U2 was billed as the biggest band in the world.  I lived through that, so I have my opinions of the band firmly rooted in reality and historical perspective.  I'm not sure how time will treat this band's music and its legend, but you cannot deny that they crafted their own unique sound and success largely due to the guitar player's technical sound and the singer's style and appeal.  They knew their way around a melody and the power of a charismatic front man should never be underestimated in Rock and Roll.

There was a time as a teenager in the 1980s when it was edgy to like U2 (before the Unforgettable Fire???), but that didn't last for long when they became mainstream with the 1987 hit album Joshua Tree and then the frat boys were all over it right around the Achtung Baby era in the early 1990s.

More than anything, I think I just enjoyed watching K-SHE stumble over how to treat a band like this when I was rebelling against their misses of the time.

Taking all that into account, it's hard for me to like U2 after all these years.  You couldn't help but get sick of them after what seemed like a long overexposure that drug on for 10 years.  The icing on the stale cake was recently added when they forced their new album into my iTunes account against my will...not cool.  I'll never listen to that record simply on principle.  But the potential distaste doesn't end there: the questionable political alliances, the excesses to which they'd taken their live show in the Zooropa era, the 1980s drum sound on the early recordings, etc.

That said, you can't block them out if you lived through their heyday in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s.  But if like me, you bought some of their records and watched their videos and saw their rise, there are some good moments you cautiously but respectfully admire in very, very limited doses in retrospect...most of which are linked to fond personal memories.

You can't deny their musical chops and they were above average songwriters.  They made some great songs and forged their own sound and changed it enough to keep up with the changing times.  Some of their songs I NEVER want to hear again due to intense over exposure (e.g., Pride (In The Name Of Love), Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Streets Have No Name, Desire, Lemon, Even Better Than The Real Thing, etc).  These were hollowed out by too many spins in too many bad/bland settings.

But, it feels like the time is right to revisit the band's nearly 34 year history of releasing albums. I couldn't really rank their proper albums, because at this point in my life, I don't listen to them from start to finish, which says something on its own. But instead, I recently dug through their catalog to mine ten songs I still think are good and worthy of hoisting them up as an important band and not just pop schlocksters.  Some of these songs are associated with some very fond memories of a small above ground pool in a suburban neighborhood called Heritage Estates on a hot summer night when just hanging with a friend and listening to music that was more pithy than Rick Astley, Guns N Roses or Whitney Houston was the purest, most simply, happy thing that could ever happen to a teenager with no girlfriend, no particular future and no desire to be at home.

I also remember going to BAC Cinemas in Belleville, IL to see the U2 concert film "Rattle and Hum" and we were two of maybe ten people there...I was seventeen years old and thoroughly impressed.

So thanks Scotty for the memories and drawing U2 on your Converse Chuck Taylor's with Sharpie...that was hard shit at BTHSW at the time.

Anyhow for better or worse, these are the ten U2 songs that hold up for me after all these years and actually still sound pretty good:

1. Running To Stand Still from Joshua Tree
2. In A Little While from All That You Can't Leave Behind
3. Red Hill Mining Town from Joshua Tree
4. Trip Through Your Wires from Joshua Tree
5. All I Want Is You from Rattle and Hum
6. Sunday Bloody Sunday from War
7. "40" from War
8. I Will Follow from Boy
9. Out Of Control from Boy
10. One from Achtung Baby

A complicated, sentimental part of life paired with an equally sappy and sentimental band to ring in the times, rarely seem/sound good in retrospect, but this song list still hits home no matter how much I think I'm over it.

Top 10 Male Falsetto

1. Prince
2. Marvin Gaye
3. Mick Jagger
4. Beck
5. Jim James
6. Britt Daniel
7. Kyle Thomas
Help me round this top ten list out...

Cover vs. Cover - "You're No Good"

Female soul singers from the 1960s are one of my touchstones for cool.  My definition of cool as it relates to music & demeanor evolves over the years, but some people have cemented themselves in my mind for cool.  Keith Richards is cool.  Aretha Franklin is cool.  Charlie Watt is cool.

This search for cool has led me down the path of trying to discover more and more 1960s/70s rock and soul that was a bit below the radar but is as cool as the Stones and Aretha and Marvin Gaye and the list goes on...

Which leads me to the song "You're No Good" penned by composer Clint Ballard, Jr., who also wrote the 1965 hit "Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders.

I came to this song via the Linda Ronstadt version released in 1974 on her 'Heart Like A Wheel' record.

It was all over the radio in the mid to late 70's and an eventual crush ensued once I saw Ronstadt on T.V as a young kid. This song is burned into my head from the formative years and I went into the 21st Century thinking Ronstadt was the sole purveyor of this nice piece of 1970s soft rock (people called it country back then).  This was arguably THE song that made Ronstadt famous.

Anyhow, after some Pandora-related happenstance, I came across the Dee Dee Warwick version (you guessed it, sister of Dionne Warwick of Solid Gold fame).  This version just goes to show what a talent Warwick was...enough foreshadowing on the winner?

Dee Dee Warwick

Through some searching, I found "You're No Good" was also recorded by Betty Everett (you know, singer of "The Shoop Shoop Song").

Betty Everett

The Brits jumped on board with the Swinging Blue Jeans version of the song. 

                                                   The Swinging Blue Jeans

I was able to find two other renditions, but will not discuss them here.  Elvis Costello recorded it too as a B-side to "Veronica", but I can't find a free version of that one online.  Van Halen also recorded it as the lead track on their 1979 album Van Halen II.  Van Halen has some good songs, but they have embarrassed me more than anything over the years, so I'm not going to discuss their version, and it doesn't really come close to the other versions.  Here's exhibit A on why they embarrass me:

enough said

Anyhow, I guess I always thought Ronstadt's version was the original and all other arrangements were covers.  Not so, but with this many versions of the song out there, it seems like an interesting song to dissect based on these drastically different versions.

Let's start with the chronology. It's probably safe to say that most people know "You're No Good" only as a Linda Ronstadt song.  But, it was first recorded by Warwick in 1962.  Then came the 1963 arrangement sung by Betty Everett. A few days later the Swinging Blue Jeans dropped their version on the wax.  Van Halen macho-ed it up in 1979 and then Elvis Costello's released his version in 1989.

I prefer the song the song from the female perspective.

Both Everett and the Swinging Blue Jeans feel like the least inspired both musically and vocals wise.  

I rank the Swinging Blue Jeans last, followed by Everett, because the horns and piano in that version are more interesting than the Merseybeat boilerplate version.

Listen to both versions here:

The Swinging Blue Jeans "You're No Good"

Betty Everett "You're No Good"

With those two out of the way, we are down to brass tacks.  Rondstadt and Warwick delivered the two best version of the song, so they must go head to head.

Ronstadt's version starts off with a weird 70's electric piano groove and an even weirder guitar parts that start in at 1:23...long solos of varying styles and sounds.  It is a great take on the song and one I still love to this day.  I love the guitar solo, but the jam is kind of weird and long and almost overshadows the lyrics and Ronstadt's voice.

Listen to her version here:

Linda Ronstadt "You're No Good"

The studio musician vibe in this version is both a strength and weakness.  A bit too polished maybe for Ronstadt's strong voice.  And there is no anger or edge in her voice that would say f-you or I don't need you, bum.  It's prettier, but still with enough gut to make it work.

And then you have the Dee Dee Warwick version...son of a...this is a top ten female soul song of all time.  Brash and full of fuck-you-thens...this woman was in charge and you my friend are no good and she'll make you feel that you missed the boat.  Regret, son.  Regret.  You pissed Dee Dee off because you're no good and she's moved on and is making raucous music with her friends.  You lose, she wins.

The outrageous "Hey Ho's" and "Ah, Ah's" that are off kilter and straight outta church are as fierce as the lead vocals.  The Latin percussion sound seems straight outta Cuba and is crazy off beat.  Wait, it gets better, the gritty guitar solo at 1:19 with the sexy ah, ah ah's...I'm done.  The guitar is mean as she is.

This is the hands down winner.  Dee Dee Warwick will always own "You're No Good", she made one of the best American soul songs ever and takes the cake.

Listen to what Dee Dee did:

The Beatles White Album...30 Songs...13 Too Many

Let's start by saying the Beatles are among, if not THE greatest rock band of all time.  I concur...but, that's my qualifier.  It almost feels dangerous to criticize the Beatles. You are at minimum treading on thin ice if you criticize the Beatles and expect to be taken seriously amongst real music lovers.  Well, I'll admit it, I love the ice.

I have a workmate who said the Beatles are the most overrated band of all time. I fought him in my youth.  I mean, it sounds like fighting words, but it is probably true if you give it some thought. No band got more attention...much deserved, some consequential, some outside of their control.  They are overrated though, they are a rock band...but they made some of the best art of the 20th Century.  It is bold to diss them or not be fully in line with conventional wisdom and opinion that they are beyond criticism. Whenever I see my workmate to this day, I respect him. And we talk on honest levels. Challenging the Beatles can change a man.

Criticizing the Beatles gets personal quick. My wife with the Beatles, me with the Stones...we've fought.  We love and overcome, but I'm conscious of my words in this post.  And she will have had proofread them prior to publishing. It's for the best.

So the Beatles made 20 proper records, per my count.  Of them, Rubber Soul and Revolver are nearly perfect top to bottom and are hands down my top two favorites.  But what is number three?  It get's hazy.

Sgt. Pepper and the White Album are inconsistent and a bit overrated in my humble opinion. Magical Mystery Tour on the other hand is underrated but short...doesn't quite feel like an LP.  Let It Be and Abbey Road rarely make it to my turntable these days.  But man, when the Beatles are on, they are on.  The most influential and inspiring band of all time.  Of all the other albums the White Album has my favorite songs...one's I would put on a mixed tape for a new comer.  But, there are also so many skip over songs are straight up bad songs tainting the overall mix.

The White Album, released on the heels of Sgt. Pepperis so hit and miss and can be frustrating to listen to as a whole. I mean what do you do after the academia and intellegencia and even the hoi polloi credit you with your best work (Sgt. Pepper).  Ego's are bursting, right? Double album time...

The Y chromosome usually dictates that when you're at the top, you must fall, right?  It's happened to many a band.

The Beatles put out Sgt. Pepper in 1967, then Magical Mystery Tour (weirder/better in 1967), and then followed up with The White Album in 1968.  Weird American times, weird British record...

The timing and importance of this record are undeniable, and this would have been at the top of my list of best Beatles records had it been pared down from 30 to 17 songs.  It would be easily my third favorite.

The Beatles were at their peak of coolness right around 1968 and as my wife claims, their sexiest.

Here's my attempt at taking this hard listen as a whole down to an essential, punch after punch of essential rock.

Let's face it, The White Album is too fucking long.

Here's my song by song case at making The White Album up there with Revolver and Rubber Soul:

1. Back in the U.S.S.R. - not just a tribute to American pop and rock music, the driving piano and guitar fills are joyous and Paul's intonation is more determined than trite.  I say keep it.

2. Dear Prudence - John's voice is a goddamn gift, a blessing, my favorite singer at times, and this is THAT voice that gets me, an amazing bass line and drums crisp and impeccably recorded.  Weird "look around, round, round" backing vocals around 1:48 are haunting and weird...the guitar fills in the verse at 2:13 are a perfect blast of Beatles greatness.  The ending is uproarious and fades to the acoustic part...brilliant.  Essential Beatles song, it stays.

3. Glass Onion - percussion, John's voice, weird vocals harkening to their other songs...the Walrus is Paul part...this is a solid track, it stays.

4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - the bass line, the crisp drums, the backing vocal work by John can't overcome the schlock harbinger of Silly Love Songs-esque McCartney on the horizon. I can't take this song seriously. I'm not into silly songs...but my kids love em, proving the Beatles are for everyone, just not something that aged well.  The baby boomer over-nostalgia link to this song as a Gen X'er sours me as well.  It's off.

5. Honey Pie - no

6. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - I'm on the fence, John was at the top of his game with songwriting and vocals, but this is boring and not up to the level of Dear Prudence and others on this album. Not enough of a standout track and the Yoko parts can be grating. If this is to be in my top three Beatles albums, this one has to get cut. Sorry.

7. My Guitar Gently Weeps - here's where I'm going to lose some people.  I love George songs, but this one is a telling of things to come like Eric Clapton guitar epics a la Layla that are so overbloated and arrogant and exemplary of the bad-1970's.  George's buttery voice and guitar work together well, but just the title alone is too much...the lyrics don't hold up to the other songs on this record.  The ending is Jam-band-y and Skynnerd-y, it's gotta go.  I see people cringing and hating on me...but, sometimes tough love is a bitch.  I just don't like this song.

8. Happiness is a Warm Gun - that screeching guitar, the stoned drum fills, the lyrics are biting and the solo at 0:45 is one of the most essential of the whole band's cannon.  Haunting and essential. "When I hold you in my arms and I feel my finger on your trigger..."

9. Martha My Dear - the Kinks version of British life resonates so much stronger than the Paul version...this is a great Wings song and middle of the road Beatles song. This one gets cut.

10. I'm So Tired - brilliant in every single goddamn note. Driving chug...leading up to "I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind".  Everything I like about rock is represented in this song.

11. Blackbird - the sensitive guy will play this song at guitar center...the campfire has heard this one, but this always felt like a raucous, borderline in-shambles, crazy rock record and this one is a fast forward moment.  Great song, just not here, not now.

12. Piggies - Sorry George, this isn't personal.  The social commentary is bold and perfectly biting...this plays in my head often when I'm paying parking tickets and red light camera bills.  The strings are cool...maybe a bit too.  It's off.

13. Rocky Raccoon - I have a specific bad high school memory that frames my experience with this one.  There was a fundraiser where you could donate a dollar and place a vote for a song of your choosing that they would play in the school cafeteria for a week at lunch. Some smart ass rich kids got $20's from mom and dad and stacked the votebox and I had to listen to this castrated song when me and my small group wanted to bring some heat to the snack bar.  Lame-o song.  If I'd gotten my way, digging pennies out of couch cusions, Belleville Township High School West would have been treated to no less than 20 minutes and 34 seconds of Rush's 2112 for one week proper...mullets a-sway.  It's off,

14. Don't Pass Me By - my favorite Ringo song, it stays. And, that pipe-y sound is a piano recorded through a Leslie 147 speaker.

15. Why Don't We Do It In The Road - Paul has his Helter Skelter voice on, and that can be a good thing.  It's great on that song, not on this song...let's cut it.

16. I Will - Wings on the horizon, it takes more than this to be on a Beatles top five record.  This one has to go...even though it is soft and warm and melodically perfect.  Doesn't feel like a rock song...quiet songs can be rock songs...see next one.

17. Julia - This is how a quiet rock song can be perfect. John's multi-tracked vocals are hypnotic...sings like a lullaby to little ones.  Donovan, one of my favorite British musicians that didn't get enough respect from Bob Dylan, showed Lennon how to pick in this style.  Keeper.

18. Birthday - this seems like a Paul vs. John record in many ways...the push and pull between Paul's pop and John's creative side...but this mess of a song rocks like a Midwestern American Rock or Soul song.  It's so overplayed it's hard to listen to it without thinking of T.V. commercials...but it rocks.  It stays.

19. Yer Blues - John's voice is desperate.  The Beatles "If I ain't dead already, girl you know the reason why." "I feel so suicidal, even hate my rock-n-roll."  Sheesh, this is so American blues inspired, yet filtered through the most creative musicians of their time.  Guitar solos and effects and fun...great drum fills.  Ringo was so great.  A must keep.

20. Mother Nature's Son - Again, just like Rocky Raccoon and Martha My Dear.  Same song style. Great Wings songs. The melodies and vocals are top shelf, just not greatest Beatles record material.  After much deliberation and some good ole back and forth with my better half, this one stays by a nose representing this side of Paul.

21. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey - The greatest Beatles rock song, hands down...I'll take all arguments to the contrary. The percussion, vocals, guitars, pace are definitive of what defines "rock" to me.  This is the most outrageous, mess of barely off the tracks rock...from note one on.  SUCH A JOY!!!!!!!!  My record is all scratched up due to late nite/early morning fumbled drops of needle.  A drunken, unabashed blast of fun and mess. Tick tick, tick tick snare.  Top 10 song of all time.

22. Sexy Sadie - calico cats were named after this song (I miss that crabby fat cat), the wah-wah backing parts, the falsetto.  It's a keeper slow number...the world needs a break after hearing the previous track, you can't stay that high for long.  This is the perfect comedown from My Monkey. John's voice is what defines this record.

23. Helter Skelter - reading the book of the same name about Charles Manson and all that California weirdness as a little kid in the 1970's helped frame the creepiness and early thoughts of how rock lyrics can move people...this is a tough, awesome rock song.  Turn the Targa cassette player up to 11 and blow some Auto Zone speakers out in the $800 car...a rocker.

24. Long, Long, Long - This is my favorite George song of all time.  When people talk about psychedelia in the 60's, this is what I consider an example of the good that came outta that. Less self-indulgent and boorish than all the druggy hippie crap, this is sweet, giving, melodic, droning and stunningly beautiful...the drum fills are epic! That weird organ from Paul.  This song makes me get sentimental every damn time, in an embarrassing way, glad it's not played on Muzak at Schnucks.  There'd be a pathetic weepy dude in aisle 12...this is what rock music is and always can be.  Goddamn.

25. Revolution-rock speed or what, the song sounds stoned.  Unbelievable, not even Nike commercials could take this down. Keep for sure.

26. Honey Pie- unacceptable.  If your Anglo-Jones is this pulsing, go listen to the Kinks who killed these guys with Britishness. Schmaltz. The Village Green Preservation Society is better in everyway.  No.

27. Savoy Truffle-Sweet Jesus, George, best munchie song in history.  Organs? Brass? Hell yes, sweet groove and vocals, guitar squeaks and squeels...sweetness.  Among the best rock songs ever.

28. Cry Baby Cry-how do you come down after that slap and binge of Savoy Truffle?  Well, I guess this.  Messy break. Beatles brillance?  This is one I use in my argument.  Sexy, weird, crispy rhythm, women love this song.  I do too and everyone is right.

29. #9- not my speed, but people much smarter than me like this and see it as a must.  Fast forward, or raise the needle, this thing is over.

30. Good Night- well I guess there's a thud on the ending, then.  Is this what happens when everyone leaves and George Martin and Paul McCartney plot the future and realize how great they are?  What's next?  Let It Be I guess.

Okay, I've just trimmed this down to my 3rd favorite Beatles record...I'm not so arrogant as to rearrange the order ;)

1. Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
4. Happiness is a Warm Gun
5. I'm So Tired
6. Don't Pass Me By
7. Julia
8. Birthday
9. Yer Blues
10. Mother Nature's Son
11. Everybody's Got Somthing to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
12. Sexy Sadie
13. Helter Skelter
14. Long, Long, Long
15. Revolution
16. Savoy Truffle
17. Cry Baby Cry

The White Album is now the third best from top to bottom.  But the Stones were better...(running from wife).