re: LETTER OF THE
WEEK:
Hi,
I just discovered your site ... this is
going to be interesting for me ... lots of stuff I never knew
about.
I have been wandering the internet to try
to find and remember a song I asked my internet friends about, but no one
remembers.
Anyway, what I remember is that the song
starts with a guy who is having a dream or is stoned and having a dream and he
sees a long line of women which he describes a bit. I believe when he starts, he
calls himself some kind of long haired freak, or something to that effect.
It is kind of a funky song, a bit psychedelic. I think it has to be from before 1978, which was a really different era of music from this song.
I recall hearing the song on the radio in California a fair bit. I have gone thru all of the top 100 / 150 charts from the 1970's and I do not recognize it from any of those lists.
Does this ring a bell?
I do recall listening to this song and thinking I really wanted to get the song so I could remember it, and I never got around to it, sadly.
There was something a little different about it in terms of instrumentation and sounds, whatever the quality of the lyrics may have been.
Anyway again, thanks for your site. I am going to wander around in it and I am looking forward to that.
Leslie
It is kind of a funky song, a bit psychedelic. I think it has to be from before 1978, which was a really different era of music from this song.
I recall hearing the song on the radio in California a fair bit. I have gone thru all of the top 100 / 150 charts from the 1970's and I do not recognize it from any of those lists.
Does this ring a bell?
I do recall listening to this song and thinking I really wanted to get the song so I could remember it, and I never got around to it, sadly.
There was something a little different about it in terms of instrumentation and sounds, whatever the quality of the lyrics may have been.
Anyway again, thanks for your site. I am going to wander around in it and I am looking forward to that.
Leslie
Hi
Leslie!
Glad you're enjoying
Forgotten Hits.
Based on your spot-on
description, this song can only be "Spill The Wine" by Eric Burdon and War ...
and I'm sure you DID hear it quite a bit in California at the time ... it was a
#1 Record in 1970 and War was based based in the LA area at the time. In
hindsight, "Spill The Wine" kind of closed the "psychedelic era" of popular
music with its trance-like sound.
Eric Burdon, of
course, was the former lead singer of The Animals, who had fifteen Top 40 Hits
in the mid-to-late '60's as part of the first wave of The British Invasion. Their biggest, "The House of the Rising Sun", went all the way to #1 in 1964
... their other Top 20 Hits include "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (#15, 1965);
"We Gotta Get out Of This Place" (#13, 1965); "Don't Bring Me Down" (#11, 1966);
"Monterey" (#10, 1968) and "Sky Pilot" (#14, 1968), a track we featured earlier
this week in our Sound Advice column.
Burdon formed "The New
Animals" using California-based musicians in 1967 and performed at The Monterey
Pop Festival with this new line-up. A few years later, he discovered the band
War playing in the LA area and recruited them as his back-up band for the single
"Spill The Wine". The unique instrumentation you refer to can be attributed to
the excellent musicianship of War, a Latino-based band that melded those Latin
Sounds with classic rhythm and blues and rock to create their own hit history.
After the departure of Eric Burdon, War hit the charts with Top Ten Hit classics
like "The World Is A Ghetto" (#7, 1973); "The Cisco Kid" (#2, 1973); "Gypsy Man"
(#7, 1973); "Why Can't We Be Friends" (#5, 1975); "Low Rider" (#5, 1975) and
"Summer" (#7, 1976).
The members of War had
a major falling out a few years ago and now two different sanctions of the band
continue to perform and record. Eric Burdon's still out on the road, too ... in
fact, he just performed here in Chicago last weekend (where "Spill The Wine" is
still one of the major highlights of his act.) kk
Kent,
You are a GENIUS!!!!!!! THANK
YOU!!!!!!
Leslie
Nowhere near a
genius ... but glad we could help!!!
(kk)
re: GOOD FOLLOW-UPS:
re: GOOD FOLLOW-UPS:
>>>From what I know and
understand, in 1959 Chubby Checker had two songs out on Parkway Records called DANCING
DINOSAUR and SAMSON AND DELILAH. Years ago a friend of
mine back East sent me
DANCING DINOSAUR on CD. Years ago I saw SAMSON AND DELILAH in an auction for some
$75. The condition was Poor. I am curious (but not yellow) as to what
SAMSON
AND DELILAH sounds like. Any chance you could
post that one on your website? How about a Chubby Checker
two-fer? These two songs would be classified as forgotten forgotten 45's. (Larry
Neal)
Larry,
I don't have the Chubby Checker 45 and had never known he did any
except the cool "The Class" 45 before "The Twist". It is good to reconnect with
you after writing to you at KOMA several times when you were doing the "Wax
Museum" and the Saturday morning KOMA countdown show. MAN, it was tough getting
up at 6 AM to listen to KOMA on my day off, but I was 20 years younger then.
Haha.
Anyway, I have had a song recorded off KOMA since 1960 that I have never been able to get a 45 copy of and am wondering if you have an MP3 to share of it. The song is a pop teener by Jimmy Darrow (I think it was anyway) called "Johnny Blue". It was not a GREAT song, but I have had it SO long on tape and still one I would like to locate in good quality. Those were great days listening to KOMA as they "went border to border and Coast to coast" with their great "Yours, Truly KOMA" jingles!
Anyway, I have had a song recorded off KOMA since 1960 that I have never been able to get a 45 copy of and am wondering if you have an MP3 to share of it. The song is a pop teener by Jimmy Darrow (I think it was anyway) called "Johnny Blue". It was not a GREAT song, but I have had it SO long on tape and still one I would like to locate in good quality. Those were great days listening to KOMA as they "went border to border and Coast to coast" with their great "Yours, Truly KOMA" jingles!
Clark Besch
Goldmine's 45 RPM Price Guide shows "Samson and Delilah"
and "Dancing Dinosaur" as coming out AFTER Chubby first hit the charts with "The
Class". ("The Class" was Parkway single 804 ... "Samson And Delilah" and
"Dancing Dinosaur" were released as Parkway 808 and 810 respectively.) If these
records got any airplay at all, it was most likely in the Philadelphia area.
One single later, Checker was the #1 Artist in the country ... Parkway 811 was
"The Twist", the ONLY record ever to hit the #1 spot by the same artist during
the rock and roll era. (In fact, we honored this achievement back on January
7th, the anniversary of this one-of-a-kind achievement!) Happy to put
the word out on "Johnny Blue" ... betcha somebody on the list has got a copy of
this one. (Quite a few Johnny Darrow tunes listed on YouTube ... but
unfortunately not the one you're looking for.)
Click here: johnny darrow - YouTube
Click here: johnny darrow - YouTube
kk
>>>In
1964, Sunny Gale recorded an album for the now defunct Canadian American label,
#1015, titled "Goldies By The Girls". Gemm doesn't have it ... and neither does
E Bay. Maybe a reader can find it for me. I want the record, not the music
alone. Thanks.
(Arnold
Kirkbride)
Kent,
I'm on the hunt for Sunny Gale for Arnold!! Nice to see someone who wants the LP (album) rather than just a (mp3) song(s)!
Arnold, it "looks" like it was up on eBay in the past! Will help try to track it down for you!
Will try to make your day a bit more Sunny :)
Best,
Jersey John
I'm on the hunt for Sunny Gale for Arnold!! Nice to see someone who wants the LP (album) rather than just a (mp3) song(s)!
Arnold, it "looks" like it was up on eBay in the past! Will help try to track it down for you!
Will try to make your day a bit more Sunny :)
Best,
Jersey John
People ... people helping people ... are the
luckiest people ... in the world ... Thanks, John! Maybe we're on to something
here! (kk)
re: KENNY THE K's SWAP AND
SHOP:
I have a couple of things I'd like to
try and sell, music related. One is a HUGE green flag with the WHO's logo -
have no idea where my friend got it or why. It's in great condition. The other
things I have to look at. Could you help me out, maybe? I'd appreciate it -
have a great day!
Ed
Pond
I'm not sure that I really want to go down
this road ... I can barely keep up with things now!!! (And I, too, have a
gazillion things I need to sell ... now more than ever, as a means of
survival!) I think we may just run a once-a-month-column posting "Looking
For"'s and "Have Available"'s and let it go at that. Then you guys can all work
it out from YOUR end out there. (Maybe we'll just provide the "posting board" ... and leave it up to you guys to do all of the follow-up. Of
course it would be ESPECIALLY nice if everyone would then remit a 10%
commission!) kk
Regarding lost hits, I would love
to find a copy of "The Montreal Express", a song that grew out of or into a
commercial by the Boston Gas Company in the fifties to promote their gas heat.
It was similar to Orange Blossom Special. Anyone?
Thanks for all the
postings,
Charlie
Sweet Dreams
Sweet Dreams
Charlie Fraser
We've looked for this one before. (Actually, I
thought we'd finally found a copy but evidently not.) No harm in putting it out
to the list again ... we've got a lot more readers now and maybe somebody can
lay their hands on a copy. Good luck! (kk)
I know this is a little old ... (I
saw it posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2010!) ... but are you still looking
for the record "Cry" by Ruth Casey?
chasm
One of our readers was ... so I'm happy to post
this in the hopes that they'll see it, drop us a line and then we can have them
contact you. (Charlie Miller ... are you still looking for a copy???) Let us
know. Thanks! (kk)
I was looking thru my [what I
consider] my not too old 78s and googled Cadillac and Ruth Casey to see if there
was any value - either money or historical. Although I have a couple hundred
electric 78s [not many, I know], I collect very old acoustic labels, many over
100 years old. Incidentally in my newer 78s I found a copy of Robert Johnson's
''Crossroad Blues - Ramblin' On My Mind' '- vocalion - 03519 -- John Tefteller
is auctioning a copy for a minimum bid of Five Grand! I got it at a flea market
for 2 bucks. Later on in one of your blogs someone did come up with info on
Ruth Casey and 'Cry' ... I discovered that after I sent you the first
email.
Keep in touch --
chasm
Still happy to post this in the event that
somebody is still looking for a copy (and you're interested in SELLING a copy!)
We'll see if anything comes back. (I have to imagine there is an audience out
there for your Robert Johnson 78 ... don't know if it'll be to the tune of anything near $5000
... but an audience nonetheless!)
kk
