Energetic Behavior in a Confined Setting

Song 483: This week the playlist applauds Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I knew very little about Elvis until I got to college in the fall of 1969, whereupon my musical horizons greatly expanded due to a new wider circle of friends with extensive LP collections and varying tastes. The early 1970s also brought along a 1950s RnR revival of sorts on the Chicago-area radio, plus, a subscription to Rolling Stone filled in a lot of the history for me of those RnR pioneers, so I got to hear and read about a bunch of the performers who had laid the groundwork for the next generation of music that had rocked my world during my HS era. It didn't take long, in that context, to appreciate Mr. Presley's role in rocking the 1950s, and at a certain point I acquired a greatest hits collection of his, which of course included this chart topper, and that 33 got plenty of spins on my turntable. I would say that EP's suggestion from six decades ago still sounds good: Let's rock, everybody, let's rock! Regardless of how many times I've heard it, it still makes me wanna stick around a while and get my kicks.

An Ongoing Search in Vain

Song 482: This week the playlist recognizes I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2, with lyrics by Bono and music by U2, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I had become a U2 fan not long after Under a Blood Red Sky appeared, and I had gotten to see them when they played a show in the SF area in 1987, so when Rattle and Hum arrived in the fall of 1988, not long after I moved to Brooklyn, I soon got my own copy, and it became a regular spinner on my turntable, with this cut being one of the more memorable tunes. At the time, I too could have said that I have run, I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls, I have run through the fields, and I have climbed a high mountain, though I wouldn't necessarily have claimed I went up the highest mountain. Back then, I also hadn't found what I was looking for, and though I wouldn't make that complaint these days, I still like hearing Bono do it. Personally, I don't recall ever having held the hand of the devil, but I can understand that if someone did so, it was warm in the night when it happened. While I don't believe in the kingdom come when all the colors will bleed into one, and I would hesitate to say that I have spoke with the tongue of angels, I do feel certain that I have kissed honey lips and felt the healing in her fingertips, and anyone who has can be thankful for that.

Referring to a Particular Female Character

Song 481: This week the playlist recognizes She by The Monkees, written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Growing up in a fundamentalist home, I wasn't allowed to own any LPs of the devil's music, but I had plenty of friends who did have collections, and thanks to them, I got to hear More of the Monkees quite a lot, to the point that I knew every cut on the record well enough to sing along with them all, and to sing them to myself when I was alone, nowhere close to a turntable. This opening track, which is the third MotM to appear on this list (Steppin' Stone is Song 400 and Your Auntie Grizelda is Song 448), became a quick favorite, and I remember singing it to myself a number of times while doing my afternoon job delivering newspapers to my neighbors down the road. The lyrics sounded to me at the time like an apt description of the dynamic between myself and one of my newspaper delivery customer's daughters - I concluded that she liked me hangin' 'round because she needed someone to walk on so her feet didn't touch the ground. Having that kind of connections with a certain recording, it truly surprised me to read that at some point Monkee Michael Nesmith called MotM “probably the worst album in the history of the world” because I really liked it the first time through, and I still do.

Filthy Bargains Available

Song 480: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC, written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title.  AC/DC got a lot of attention with Highway to Hell (Song 425), and rightly so, I thought. Sadly, not long after that tune hit the airwaves, the band's lead singer Bon Scott died at the young age of 33, and a little while after that unfortunate occurrence, the radio gave us another good reason to miss him when stations began airing this cut. As the singer here, his lyrical sketches had outlined an entertaining caricature of a despicable criminal who offers deadly services at a bargain price, letting the listener know where they could find concrete shoes, cyanide, TNT as well as neck ties, contracts, high voltage and other nefarious prizes. Perhaps, if he had lived longer, Bon might have gotten the chance to introduce us to other humorous cartoon characters, but while he didn't have that opportunity, we can still appreciate him musically painting a picture for us of your back door man.