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ROCKOLLECTIONS: MUSIC FOR MONEY & THE FINANCIAL CRISIS PT.7

This is the next-to-last chapter, and opens with a song I am sure at least a few people have been wondering when I was going to play!
After that, one of the numbers I thought of during the layoff- another variation on that old Barrett Strong tune.
I won’t say who does it, but I will tell you that the group’s name sounds like something I would see during my worst hangovers, lol!
This is followed by one from the most influential group of the early days of Rock & Roll in my opinion, in fact it is R & B, and BEFORE Rock & Roll.
Then I attempted to go back in time even farther, but fortunately for you, that one CD was missing in a Bing Crosby Box Set I have.
But I found an alternative for this song that is historic, and actually dates back to the Great Depression- it came out in 1931 or 1932.
Turns out I had a vague memory of it being on Spanky & Our Gang’s 1967 debut album, and I was right.
So we’ll hear that version…maybe a better choice than Bing Crosby…maybe not.
This song has some very serious lyrics, and I ask you to listen to them- they were of their time, and may well become of our time if things do not improve.
After that, a song from a guy who was called the World’s Oldest Teenager before Dick Clark, and would have been old enough to remember the Depression firsthand.
Incidentally, this song was recorded at the legendary Sun Studios, before Elvis and the other white Rockabilly artists got there.
And after that, some much needed humor to close out this episode.
One contemporary and one that goes back to 1961 and contains some brilliant satire.
And they both have to do with Money!
One last chapter forthcoming, and then I go back to being sweet, innocuous me, lol!

Mike

Tags: Barrett Strong, bing crosby, Dick Clark, Elvis Presley, Rhthym and Blues, Rock & Roll, Rockabilly, Spanky & Our Gang, Sun Studios, The Great Depression, World's Oldest Teenager

ROCKOLLECTIONS: BRENDA LEE PT.1

After my getting rejected again at the beginning of the show, lol, we’ll be taking a look at Little Miss Dynamite, Brenda Lee.
One of the very few women in early Rockabilly music, and toned down, I think, because it was a Boys Club.
If you want to hear a great current singer in that style, I suggest Rosie Flores, and particularly her album Rockabilly Filly.
At 4′ 9”, Brenda had a big voice, and I have always liked it when she would use that rough edge.
The GREATEST voice in Rock & Roll according to John Lennon!
In the 1960’s alone, she had 37 songs that charted on Billboard- surpassed only by a few, the likes of Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
An international star, she sold over 100 million records!
And New Musical Express, that old magazine over in England we heard so much about over here in the States, named her Best Female Vocalist 5 years in a row!
Brenda started early, winning a contest at 6 to appear on the radio.
Her break came after turning down $30 to perform somewhere, instead going to see Red Foley, who let her sing on his TV show that night.
The audience refused to let her leave until she sang 3 more songs.
Gotta love those success stories!
Some real good music here, with another half to follow.

Mike

Tags: Beatles, Best Female Vocalist, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Little Miss Dynamite, New Musical Express, Red Foley, Rockabilly, Rockabilly Filly, Rosie Flores