Joe: Smokey Joe's Cafe

 

purchase [ Smiley Smile  ] - I had totally forgotten they did this and I even once had a copy of the LP

Wikipedia tells us that Smokey Joe refers to a number of people & places. I note that there is an eatery using the name in Istanbul that is not included in their list of links. That makes it an international phenom.

The song itself comes from the extensive Leiber and Stoller music collection from the 1950s. That's Leiber and Stoller - of previous posts by myself, Seuras Og, Any Major Dude and others here at SMM. At least as legendary as Smokey Joe.

Leiber and Stoller shuffled bands and musicians the way you and I shuffle cards. One of the definitive versions of Smokey Joe's Cafe comes from a doo wop group known as the Coasters (so named because they moved from the West to the East Coast), but in LA, were originally named the Robins (one of a number of 50s "bird" groups).

As for Joe, the story goes that back in the days when you could find oil in downtown LA, there was a beans eatery named Smokey Joe's incongruously located in the middle of the derricks. The song is also noted to be one of the signature style that Leiber and Stoller perfected where the "hit" combined a certain humour with the music (see Yakety Yak as another example).

Check out the flippant lyrics for this Leiber piece:

I'd rather eat my chili beans

At Jack's or John's or Jim's or Jean's

Than taking my chances eating down at Smokey Joe's Café

the Robins/Coasters (YouTube videos appearing under both names appear to be identical)

Among the various extant versions of the song is one that is said to be a Buddy Holly home recording that was originally just of him and his guitar and that was later enhanced in studio after his death.

As befits an oldie but goldie, the song has been brought to the modern age by others, for example 

Loudon Wainwright III:

July: Riot in Cell Block #9

purchase [The Robins: Riot ... ]

The Robins and Elvis Presley were hot a little before my time. Now, that doesn't mean I couldn't have developed an affinity for their music. I mean, hey, you can believe that Elvis is still alive. So ... certainly, their songs have a life of their own that periodically shows sparks. The Robins? - they were a 50s band that  Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller poached to put together the Coasters, with whom they had a string of early rock hits.

Leiber/Stoller were pretty successful in the 50s and 60s both as song writers and producers. In addition to writing "Riot" and various other Coasters hits, they penned "Hound Dog" of Presley fame, "Yakety Yak", "Stand By Me", "On Broadway" and a total of about 70 hits that earned them a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the 80s.

One of the Leiber/Stoller hits that keeps coming back in various versions is about a jail riot that starts in cell block 4 and continues for almost 2 days until the authorities use gas to subdue the inmates.
It's the 48 hours from July 2,1953 to July 4, 1953.

Take a minute to consider the appeal of a song like "Riot", paying attention to the reputation that rock music had at the time: a bad influence on our youth.

The riot started down in cell block number 4
Spread like wild fire across the prison floor
Scar-face Jones said, "It's too late to quit"
Pass the dynamite 'cause the fuse is lit

Y'all gotta stop that stuff goin' on over there
If ya don't stop that riot, y'all gonna get the chairSI said, "Hey now boys, get ready to run
Here come the warden with an automatic gun"

Is this anything you want your kids listening to?

The version I first heard is the Johnny Winter one.

However, of course, the Blues Brothers. (But they've got the dates wrong!)

And Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen (with Jerry Garcia, who also covered it with his band... um... the Grateful Dead...)

And then the Beach Boys reworked it as Student Demonstration Time

On/Off: Turn It On Again

Genesis: Turn It On Again
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If you are a fan of Genesis, as I have made it abundantly clear that I am, there are a number of turning points where people jumped on and off the band’s wagon. Genesis’ rise to popularity probably began with their second album, Trespass, which introduced the band’s dense, theatrical progressive style (their debut, From Genesis to Revelation, sounds mostly like a cross between The Moody Blues and pre-disco Bee Gees). From there, the band gathered followers until 1974’s epic (and epically confusing) concept double album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Then, lead singer and focal point, Peter Gabriel climbed up Solsbury Hill and out of the band.

Gabriel was, of course, replaced by Phil Collins, and while the next few albums were somewhat lighter and simpler than in the Gabriel-era, they were still recognizably prog. Many Gabriel lovers were reflexively turned off, but Collins’ greater accessibility (and even a love song) retained some fans and attracted more. But when guitarist Steve Hackett defected, and Genesis released …And Then There Were Three…, with an actual pop hit, much of the old guard jumped off.

Not me, though. I had moved to college at that point, and was working at WPRB, at a time when our staff included both lovers of prog and punk (and lovers of both), when the rock music world was really changing. And while it seemed that Genesis might have been done, instead, we got Duke, which I liked. It had long, proggy songs, but also harder rock, and maybe one of the band’s most divisive songs, “Misunderstanding,” an obvious attempt at a pop hit that sounded like nothing the band had ever done. Collins reportedly based the song on The Beach Boys' "Sail On, Sailor", Sly and the Family Stone's "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and (ugh!) Toto's "Hold the Line.” The album was the band’s first to top the UK charts, and hit 11 on the US Billboard Hot 200. I remember long discussions in the WPRB studios as to whether Duke indicated that the band was staying on course, or whether “Misunderstanding” and some of the other poppier tracks were an indication that they were off the tracks.

As it happened, “Turn It On Again,” our featured and theme-appropriate song, was probably the song that showed the direction that Genesis was heading towards. An apparently fairly straight ahead rocker about a man obsessed with television, it nevertheless had sections in odd time signatures (13/4 and 9/4). (Aside—the first song I thought about for this theme, The Tubes’ “Turn Me On,” another TV focused tune, was actually the subject of this piece I wrote back in 2014).

When the band reconvened to create their new album, they reportedly decided to focus on simpler songs, and the result was Abacab. That album’s harder edges, punchier synths, “gated” drum sound and even horns, led to commercial success, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and number 7 on the US Billboard 200, but I think that it is fair to say that fans of songs like “Supper’s Ready,” jumped off the bandwagon in droves. A popular (mostly) live double album was next, followed by a self-titled disc in 1983, that, while still retaining a few longer pieces, is probably mostly remembered for its pop hits, and the catchy, but ultimately very embarrassing song, “Illegal Alien.” The album reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 9 in the US, so clearly their fanbase was increasing, but, I suspect, even more longtime supporters were turned off.

I flipped the “off” switch on my fandom after the next disc, Invisible Touch, which had some well-crafted songs, but ultimately left me cold. Although I heard some of the songs on the next album, We Can’t Dance, on the radio, I didn’t buy it. The next album was recorded without Collins, and I think it is fair to say that most Genesis fans were put off by Calling All Stations—I know that I never turned it on.

That all being said, there have been rumors over the past few years of a Genesis reunion, now that Phil Collins has rescinded his retirement notice. If I were a betting man, and I’m not, I’d say the chances of a Collins/Rutherford/Banks reunion is high—it would incredibly lucrative to get them on stage (and probably a popular album, if they cut one). Hackett, who often tours playing old Genesis songs, has indicated a willingness to join, but I’d bet that scheduling would make that a less likely option. And I think that the chances of Gabriel signing on would be low, although the concept has been bandied about. I’d be interested in seeing them, increasingly so depending on how much of the “classic” lineup was on stage, but suspect that it would be a stadium tour, which turns me off.

SONGS FROM MY 1ST ALBUM: L.A.WOMAN

It's a tricky one this, as, of course, is honesty, weaving a devious path between credibility and risibility. Achieving both, no doubt. And the heightened self-aggrandisement of claiming that coveted hipper than thou award is no mean attraction. So I lie. There, I've said it. L.A.Woman was not my first album. That was Sgt Pepper, but my sister bought me that because she wanted it. And it wasn't my second. That was Pictures at an Exhibition (E.L.P.), and my parents, bless them, bought me that, based on my instructions. But it was my third, and the first, bought with my accumulated savings from Christmas and birthdays. So it counts, don't it? Sort of. And I am so grateful of that, because, let me set the record straight, for once and for all, it is and remains one of the finest recordings of this and last century.

Let me take you back. I was 14 in 1971. That's a good age to be becoming obsessed by music and it was a good year to be becoming obsessed by music. Now, better people than I have already laid down the challenge that this was the year of the lodestone, most notably, David Hepworth, UK eminence grise of music journalism, sometime presenter of The (Old Grey) Whistle Test, the "serious" grown up big brother of Top of the Pops, clips from each show which litter my previous posts. He was also responsible, in one form or another, for the magazines, amongst others, Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and The Word, often alongside laconic sidekick, Mark Ellen. This is what he says about that year, even going so far as to write a book about it. But I knew none of that then, I was just eagerly lapping up all the sounds exposed to my wide ears. Most afternoons were spent visiting my friendly and local record shop, Complete Audio Systems, of Eastbourne, Sussex, known to one and all as Cas(s)music. With an astonishing indulgence, they happily allowed a stream of spotty schoolboys to put on headphones and nod away for hours listening to side 1 of this, side 2 of that, even if purchases were, well, infrequent. The owner clearly seemed to have a U.S. west coast bent, presumably explaining my enduring love for the obscure and arcane offerings from late 60s and early 70s California: It's a Beautiful Day, Stoneground, Tonto's Expanding Headband, all equally devoured, alongside more familiar fare, Zappa, the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane. Christ, I must have been an insufferable and precocious brat, but happy and fond-remembered days. The Doors, of course, I knew from their big hit single some 4 years previous, but was certainly unprepared for the splendour of the set piece magnum opus that saw my headphones ripped off, replaced by those of my chum Nigel. The storm became ridden and  I was instantly smitten.

 The cover, reproduced at the top, above, had something to do with it, originally having the picture of the band printed onto the yellow inner sleeve, visible through a perspex window, rather than later versions where it was printed as one, all on card. Gone was movie star looks love god Morrison, now a bearded grizzly bear stared balefully out. (I should add I had a thing about beards in those days ahead of being able to grow anything myself. For me the Beach Boys became hip the minute I saw the cover of Live In Concert, ahead even of hearing the songs.......Even Mike Love. Hell, especially Mike Love!) As was my wont, I duly went back and read the inkies of the day, Melody Maker and N.M.E. (New Musical Express) to discover the backstory of booze and bedevilment. I never got round to hearing any more of the record before I was back at the shop, paying my near £2 (about $2.50 today) for my own pristine copy.

Unusually I never quite took to the title track. I found it too long, too loud and too, um, obvious. Yes, I have warmed more to it in the intervening years, but my tastes were more to the mellower aspects, Riders and my lasting favourite, Hyacinth House, below. (AKA, probably, the "cocktail music" epithet made by fast exiting erstwhile producer, Paul Rothschild) I was so convinced as to the perfection of this song that I insisted on playing it to my mother, whose tastes were more of the Jim Reeves persuasion. I forget her opinion, but I felt it helped explain that awful question so beloved of parents, so what sort of music is it that you like? I never felt comfortable saying "rock", as that would have meant "and roll" to my disapproving mother.

But there was also my introduction, more than likely, to any concept of the blues, as a genre and as a genre with a history. Their cover of the John Lee Hooker staple, Crawling King Snake, certainly had an effect on me, the line about getting down on your hands and knees (baby) in particular playing strange tricks on my pubescent mind. Spider on the wall? Wooooo, way too much for my limited understanding to contain and possibly having laundry outcomes. (TMI...)

Luckily I could fall back on the mysticism of Morrisons poetry, and, at 14, yes, it was poetry and, yes, it was mystic. Bob Dylan may just have now been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature, but I know who I would have awarded it to in 1971. And, however corny, today, 45 years on, indeed do I still feel and share the "immaculate" we is, even if I were never stoned.

I could play more, point you to more, but time and space have their purpose. I know the Doors have swung in and out of favour, aided and abetted by innumerable books and films, a mythology as much as anything. The naysayers can go take one, I won't and don't listen. How many records from 45 years ago do you still play? How many records of 45 years ago still gain plaudits? It's true, often only of this generations and of any generations awkward teens, but that is truth enough for me.

You mean you don't already own this? Buy!
O, and that book by David Hepworth? There too.

FARMING: Farmer's Daughters......

Quick submission loosely lauding the legend of farmer's daughters, usually involving buxom beauties, forever enticing the sort of man, well, any man really, of which their father, inevitably a brick shithouse of humanity, would disapprove, and the shenanigans thus ensuing. Here's 3 of my favourites:

"Anyone's Daughter," which also includes another staple of songsmithery, the judge's daughter, is from Deep Purple's 1971 LP, Fireball, and it really caught my teenage ears as it was so unlike anything else in their oeuvre, thus, as ever the awkward, I had to profess it  to be my favourite. (I was never really, or for long, a fan of the hard rock school of the Deeps, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep and all that malarkey.) Listening again, as the decades disappear, it isn't even much good. Hey ho.........

Onto something perhaps a bit more authentic, "Wolverton Mountain," this being the version by Doug Sahm, from his evocatively titled Texas Rock for Country Rollers, in 1976, cementing my peculiarity amongst my peers. Actually written much much earlier and covered first by a number of different acts, it was seemingly based on a real character. Nowhere does it actually say the daddy was a farmer, but I somehow have always assumed he was at least a farmsteader. And I'm writing this piece.

Finally, here is a more innocent offering, the Beach Boys with their, at least accurately, entitled, "Farmer's Daughter." Little happens, beyond yearning, and it is short. Great vocal, though, reminding you of quite why Brian Wilson was (and is) so revered. Such a pity his voice is so shot now. But, as an excuse to shoehorn in yet another vid, until today, I had no idea that this song by Fleetwood Mac was one and the same

Purchase the Purple
Dig Sir Doug
Buy the Boys
Mine the Mac

Acoustic Versions: Mountain of Love

The Beach Boys: Mountain of Love

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Twenty-two years before Jethro Tull performed "Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of A New Day)" unplugged on MTV, The Beach Boys recorded an obscure set of mostly acoustic covers for their third album of 1965, Party! The cover claims the album was "recorded 'live' at a Beach Boys' Party!" and we hear a lot of giggling women, handclaps and background chatter. Sounds like a fun spontaneous hootenanny! Only we've learned since then that Party! was actually recorded in a studio and the background noises were added later. Today Party! is mostly a curiosity, featuring three Beatle covers, Dylan's "the Times They Are a-Changin'," and the Top 5 international hit "Barbara Ann". One of the highlights--and by that I mean one of the performances you'd want to hear more than once-- is this cover of the Johnny Rivers Top 10 hit "Mountain of Love".

Guest post from 1001 Songs

Dylan Covers: The Times They Are a-Changin'

The Beach Boys: The Times They Are a-Changin'
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This protest song has been covered by a ton of artists including Simon and Garfunkel, Nina Simone, and Joan Baez, but I personally think the Beach Boys version has an interesting resonance. This cut is off the Beach Boys Party album, a contractual obligation but still a gem that musn't be overlooked. The change I think of when Al Jardine sings this song is not political, but cultural. Although they would release the best album of all time following Party, the Beach Boys would sadly become irrelevant and out of style. In this track, you can hear the naiveté and irreverence in the face of "important" music that would help the Boys become cultural dinosaurs.

'The Beach Boys,' under Mike Love and known as "America's Band," probably wouldn't have brought this cover out when they performed at the Republican National Convention.

School Days: Rah Rah Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah

The Beach Boys: Be True To Your School (Live)

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The Beach Boys: Be True To Your School

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When some loud braggart tries to put me down, and says his school is "great," I tell him right away: "Now what's the matter buddy, ain't you heard of my school? It's number one in the state."

The Beach Boys are so talented they can make a dorky song like this sound wonderful. Gotta love the Beach Boys!

(Note: The college fight song featured in the guitar solo is "On Wisconsin," about a second-rate University affiliated with the Big Ten Conference...)

Cars: Beach Boys

I break down the Murry Wilson-managed Beach Boys into three periods: Surf, Hot Rod and Brian Wilson's bedroom-written songs, his agoraphobic output.

It was a great creative time for the band - highly honed Pop songs with strong melodies and sharp harmonies, backed by some of Los Angeles' best session musicians. Here's a collection of Beach Boy car songs from the Hot Rod section of their career - enjoy!

Beach Boys: 409

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This is about the Chevrolet 409, a 409 cubic inch W-series V8 engine popular with hot rodders of the day - it was dubbed Turbo-Fire, could generate up to 360 horsepower going zero to 60 miles per hour in 4 seconds. One of the lyricists, Gary Usher, at the time was coveting the 409 (pictured above). The engine noises at the beginning of the tune were from Usher's Chevrolet 348, the W-series predecessor to the 409.


Beach Boys: Little Deuce Coupe

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A deuce is a Ford car produced in 1932, the 2 in 1932 is the deuce. Most of them had big V8 engines and were perfect for drag racing - the one The Beach Boys sing about is the Ford Model B. The Model Bs were easily modified, the song mentions the flat head mill and lake pipes.


Beach Boys: Shut Down

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Like Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down is another Brian Wilson and Roger Christian composition. Mike Love's name was added as a result of a lawsuit filed by him against Wilson in the 1990s.

This one's about a drag race between a 413 cubic-inch Super-Stock 1962 Dodge Dart and a fuel injected 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. My money's on the Stingray.


Beach Boys: Fun, Fun, Fun

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Fun, Fun, Fun, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, was about Shirley England, the daughter of the owner of radio station KNAK in Salt Lake City, Utah. She borrowed her father's Ford Thunderbird to go study at the library but ended up at a hamburger stand instead. When her daddy found out, he took the T-bird away.

The Wilsons' father, Murry, claimed the song was immoral and tried to prevent the group from recording it - later, it became a top-five hit. In short time, Murry had The Beach Boys taken away and was fired as their manager.


Souped Up Bonus:

Beach Boys: I Get Around

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Songwriting: God Only Knows

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The Beach Boys: God Only Knows (Instrumental Backing)

I realize not everybody is a musician and some of this may be Greek, but I've always wanted to point out some of these technical musical delights and this is the theme. I'll make it short. The bass line to the verse of God Only Knows, the greatest song in the world, dances around the changes, carving its own path rather than follow the root notes. When you listen to the verse, try to hear how the bass and chords move up and down independently, creating tension and climbing up to that glorious chorus. In a documentary, I think it was Terry Melcher who said the verse 'built a stairway to God'... something like that. Sorry, I should do my research.

Nobody used changes like this in pop music until Brian. The Beatles quickly followed suit. Lyrics are important but you won't hear them on this post. Just listen to those changes. And even better, the production. I love everything on Pet Sounds: the delayed wood block, the slappy bass... an orchestra of perfect sounds. (For those playing along at home, I'd recommend a piano before a guitar on this one.)

God Only Knows
music: Brian Wilson | lyrics: Tony Asher
(Bass notes denoted in bold.)

D.............Bm6
A.............B....
I may not always love you

F#m...F#m7.............B
F#......E...................A
But long as there are stars above you

E............Cdim
B............C.....
You never need to doubt it

E......................A#m7-5
B......................A#.........
I'll make you so sure about it

A...............E.....................F#m7..............E.....
A...............G#...................F#...................G#
God only knows what I'd be without you

Boats: Sloop John B

Beach Boys: Sloop John B (vocals only)

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Here's a great song about a boat. Contrary to rumors that Brian Wilson was forced to include it on Pet Sounds, the liner notes suggest he was fully behind its inclusion.

I'm glad because I like it.

If anybody has more to add, please do so in the comments. Thank you.

***Update!***

Courtesy of Divinyl, our newest SMM contributor, here is the original version that inspired the Beach Boys:

The Kingston Trio: Sloop John B [purchase].

And check the comments for a cover version by Barry “Eve Of Destruction” McGuire!

Little Black Book: Wendy

The Beach Boys: Wendy

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Wendy, I thought we had our love down pat. Guess I was wrong...