Month: March 2019

Song Lyric Sunday — “Havin’ a Party” with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes

Jim Adams has chosen another great theme for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday: Record/Juke Box/DJ/Radio. As soon as I saw this theme, I started singing my choice for this theme: “Havin’ A Party.” Written and recorded by Sam Cooke in 1962, the song charted at number 4 on the Billboard R&B chart and at 17 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The song has been covered by many groups including, The Pointer Sisters, The Supremes, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Springsteen fiddled a bit with the lyrics circa 1974 (Springsteen included it in a setlist in 1974), but I’m posting Cooke’s original lyrics.  You can read the Springsteen lyrics here.

My favorite version is Springsteen lyrics exuberantly sung by Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes. Although Southside’s first studio recording of the song is on his 1981 album, “Reach Up and Touch the Sky,” it has been a staple in his live setlist since at least 1978, as evidenced by the below video. Their August 31, 1978, concert at The Agora in Cleveland, Ohio, was delayed about three hours. Their lead guitarist at the time, Steven Van Zandt, was doing double-duty performing first with Springsteen and the E Street Band at another Ohio location, then hustling to Cleveland to play with the Jukes. Both Springsteen and Van Zandt joined with Johnny and the Jukes for “Havin’ a Party.” The video opens with a few bars of Curtis Mayfield’s “It’s All Right” and rolls into the party. (Sam Cooke’s original recording is here.)

 

Having a Party (Sam Cooke original lyrics)

We’re havin’ a party
Dancin’ to the music
Played by the DJ
On the radio
The Coke’s out in the icebox
Popcorn’s on the table
Me and my baby
We’re out here on the floor

So Mr, Mr. DJ
Keep those records playin’
‘Cause I’m a-havin’ such a good time
Dancin’ with my baby

Everybody’s swingin’
Sally’s doin’ the twist now
If you take requests I’ve
Got a few for you
Play that song called soul twist
Play that one called I know
Don’t forget the mashed potatoes
No other songs will do

Let me tell you Mr, Mr. DJ
Keep those records playin’
‘Cause I’m a-havin’ such a good time
Dancin’ with my baby

We’re havin’ a party, yeah
Everybody’s swingin’, oh yeah
Dancin’ to the music, yeah
On the radio

Oh, we’re havin’ a party
Everybody’s swingin’
Dancin’ to the music, yeah
On the radio

One more time
We’re havin’ a party, yeah
And everybody’s swingin’
Oh we’re dancin’ to the music, yeah
On the radioWriter/s: SAM COOKE
Publisher: Abkco Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

 

 

 

 

Song Lyric Sunday — “2:19”

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, I decided not to start with a Google search for Minutes/Hours/Days/Weeks/Months and, instead, dug into my iTunes. I was beginning to despair when I reached the Ws, but there it was: “2:19” by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan.

Listening to Tom Waits, his voice sounding “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car,” is an acquired taste. That’s my cover story to avoid admitting that I’ve yet to listen to even one entire CD of the three that comprise “Orphans” despite having owned it since 2012. Man oh man oh man oh man, what I’ve missed! “2:19” is a bluesy, jazzy, rockin’ gem that makes you feel like you’re sitting in a destitute smoky dive sometime in the 1930s. The song is the third cut on the first “Orphans” CD, “Brawlers;” the other 15 are equally compelling. Who knows if I’ll be able to get past “Brawlers” to listen to the second, “Bawlers,” and the third, “Bastards.”

 

 

2:19

I lost everything I had
in the ’29 flood
the barn was buried
beneath a mile of mud
now I’ve got nothing
but the whistle and the steam
my baby leaving town on the 2:19now there’s a fellow that’s preaching
about hell and damnation
bouncing off the walls
in the grand central station
I treated her bad
I treated her mean
my baby leaving town on the 2:19I said hey hey
I don’t know what to do
hey hey
I will remember you
hey hey
I don’t know what to do
my baby leaving town on the 2:19

now I’ve always been puzzled
by the yin and the yang
it’ll come out in the wash
but it always leaves a stain
sturm and drang
the luster and the sheen
my baby leaving town on the 2:19

lost the baby with the water
and the preacher stole the bride
sent her out for a bottle
but when she came back inside
she didn’t have my whiskey
she didn’t have my gin
with a hat full of feathers
and a wicked grin

I said hey hey
I don’t know what to do
hey hey
I will remember you
hey hey
I don’t know what to do
my baby leaving town on the 2:19

on the train you get smaller
as you get farther away
the roar covers everything
you wanted to say
was that a raindrop in
the corner of your eye
were you drying your nails
or waving goodbye

I said hey hey
I don’t know what to do
hey hey
I will remember you
hey hey
I don’t know what to do
my baby leaving town on the 2:19

Song Lyric Sunday — To Sir With Love

Jim Adams picked a versatile topic for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday.  School/Books/Learning presents so many possible songs! I’m going with one that left me as awash in emotion today as it did over fifty years ago: “To Sir With Love.” The 1967 movie, based on the autobiographical novel by E. R. Braithwaite, tells the story of the impact a British Guiana immigrant has as a teacher in a tough London neighborhood school wrestling with social and racial issues. The film starred Sidney Poitier and introduced teenage Scottish singer Lulu, who sang the title song, making her an international star.

Lyricist Don Black, in response to the movie producer’s unusual request, wrote the lyrics before a composer was chosen. Coincidentally,  Lulu’s manager was dating composer Mark London, who wrote the music within 30 minutes of receiving the lyrics. The title song was released as a single in 1967 and shot to the top of the charts.

To my knowledge, the three-verse song has never been recorded in its entirety. The first two verses were overdubbed on the movie’s opening credits and on the museum field trip scene. The third verse, sung by Lulu’s character, featured in the movie’s climactic school dance scene in which the students thanked Poitier’s character. The popular single was released with only the first and third verses. The sheet music is available with lyrics to all verses, but presented in the “logical” order of verse 1, 3, 2.  Luckily, YouTube has one video with the three verses presented in the order they appeared in the movie. Here it is:

 

“To Sir With Love”

Those schoolgirl days
Of telling tales, and biting nails, are gone
But in my mind,
I know they will still live on and on
But how do you thank someone
Who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn’t easy, but I’ll try
If you wanted the sky,
I would write across the sky in letters,
That would soar a thousand feet high:
“To Sir, With Love”

Those awkward years
Have hurried by. Why did they fly away?
Why is it, Sir,
Children grow up to be people one day?
What takes the place of climbing trees,
And dirty knees in the world outside?
What is there for you I can buy?
If you wanted the world,
I’d surround it with walls. I’d scrawl
In letters ten feet tall:
“To Sir, With Love”

The time has come
For closing books; and long last looks must end
And as I leave,
I know that I am leaving my best friend
A friend who taught me right from wrong,
And weak from strong — that’s a lot to learn
What — what can I give you in return?
If you wanted the moon,
I would try to make a start… But I
Would rather you let me give my heart
To Sir, With Love