About two months ago, I reblogged Read ~ Rock ~ Review’s “Let’s Go! Benjamin Orr and The Cars” book review. That review gives a fuller, well-rounded insight into the book being published November 11, 2018, than a more recent review has. Like the reviewer I reblogged a couple of days ago, Read ~ Rock ~ Review’s reviewer was lucky enough to read an advance copy — one of the earliest, in fact. RRR’s detailed review makes clear that reviewer actually read the entire book. Go to the link highlighted above; it’s worth a re-read. (I would reblog it for your convenience, but apparently WP will only let me reblog the original article once and won’t allow me to reblog my own posting even once.)
Reblogging this without much comment may have been a knee-jerk fan-girl move on my part, but, after reflection, I have a little more to say. First, I’m impressed that this reviewer, who doesn’t seem to be a rabid rock’n’roll / Cars / Benjamin Orr fan, has given it a respectable 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Second, the review focuses on Ben’s early life as a musician, covering roughly five to six years up to 1969 when he would have been 22 and met Ric Ocasek. Granted, you don’t want a book review to tell the whole story, but this review doesn’t do justice to either Benjamin Orr or to the writer, Joe Milliken. Ending with ” They would later become The Cars and famous, The rest is in the book and history” leaves the impression that this is just another behind-the-band story. It isn’t.
Benjamin Orr passed away at 53 years old on October 3, 2000, thirty-one years after meeting Ric Ocasek. This reviewer tossed away more than half of Orr’s life, including twelve years post-Cars. During that time he evolved as a complex man and musician. Blithely ending the review with the vague “rest is history” tells me that this reviewer likely didn’t read the entire book.
This was a well-researched book about The Cars and Benjamin Orr, born Orzechowski aka “Benny 11-Letters” because so many of his friends and acquaintances had trouble pronouncing his name. He was almost universally liked as he was making his way in the music business, seemingly a genuinely nice and caring man. Ben was also quite talented when it came to singing and drumming, and learning other musical instruments from what many of his friends had to say in the book. You certainly could use a scorecard for this one to keep up with all of the band incarnations and band member rotations. I was amazed at the number of times the name of the band changed, and it didn’t always depend on whether any members were moved in or out. There were some interesting anecdotes in the book of things…
Can you believe it? I almost forgot it’s Song Lyric Sunday! This week’s theme is the flip side of last weeks’s give/giving theme: take/taking. I’ve got a perfect song for it, too. The Cars’ “Take What You Want” video from their 1979 Musikladen performance has my favorite rock ‘n’ roll visual: Benjamin Orr’s “rock god” kick. ❤ This performance also has one of Elliot Easton’s best lead guitar solos. And, Ric Ocasek’s always cryptic lyrics include another one of my favorites: “I live on emotion / And comic relief.” I could wax rhapsodic about this song but could never match my friend sweetpurplejune (also a fan of the kick). All I can say is, I hope you enjoy it at least half as much as I do!
“Take What You Want”
Take what you want
And leave what you don’t
Take what you want
And leave what you don’t
I’m painting a face
The color is dripping
Magnesium moments
In black fairy tales
I live on emotion
And comic relief
I put this one on you
Run, run, run like a thief
Am I all alone?
Am I all alone?
Salamander sunrise
Comes at 4:44
Lingerie madness
Don’t you kick down the door
Sweet Sarah’s so wild
Don’t you know why I’m losing your head
Down the dark alley
Where rumours are spread
The room is so dark
I’m catching on fire
I’m in love with your face
It’s so confused by desire
Am I all alone? Am I all alone?
I’m winding it up
Song Lyric Sunday is here again, and Helen Vahdati’s chosen theme is “give/giving.” My chosen genre is hard rock with Led Zeppelin’s 1969 song, “Whole Lotta Love.” Looking for the lyrics, I realized that lyrics sites show differing songwriting credits. One site apparently relied on an incorrect ASCAP listing that showed “Sharon” Plant instead of Robert. Although most sites correctly credit the five original band members (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Pete Moore, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant), many omit the sixth writer, non-band-member Willie Dixon.
Willie Dixon was an American musican and songwriter who wrote “You Need Love” for bluesman Muddy Waters, who released it in 1962. The lyrics included:”Baby, you know you need coolin’ / Woman, way down inside.” In 1966 the English band Small Faces released their eponymous debut album containing a song called “You Need Loving.” Despite being a thinly-veiled copy of Willie Dixon’s song, the the album credited band members Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott as the sole writers.
Are you with me so far? In 1969, Led Zeppelin released “Whole Lotta Love,”which peaked in the U.S. at number 4 on the Billboard charts. With lyrics remarkably like Dixon’s (and, of course, the Small Faces’) and with Plant’s vocals remarkably like the Small Faces’ Steve Marriott’s, the five Zeps were the only listed writers.
Dixon did not sue the Small Faces for their duplicate of “You Need Love,” and the Small Faces did not sue Led Zeppelin (a wise move IMHO). Dixon, however, did sue Zeppelin, reaching a settlement in 1985 that included giving him writing credit on all subsequent releases.
For your listening pleasure, I’m giving (see what I did?) you videos of all three songs, together with the lyrics for “Whole Lotta Love.” Links to lyrics for the other two are up in the second paragraph. But, really, don’t you think it’d be more fun to compare their vids with the Zep lyrics?
“Whole Lotta Love“
You need coolin’, baby, I’m not foolin’,
I’m gonna send you back to schoolin’,
Way down inside, honey, you need it,
I’m gonna give you my love,
I’m gonna give you my love.
Wanna whole lotta love [4x]
You’ve been learnin’, baby, I’ve been yearnin’,
All them good times, baby, baby, I’ve been learnin’,
Way, way down inside, honey, you need it,
I’m gonna give you my love
I’m gonna give you my love.
Wanna whole lotta love [4x]
You’ve been coolin’, baby, I’ve been droolin’,
All the good times baby I’ve been misusin’,
Way, way down inside, I’m gonna give you my love,
I’m gonna give you every inch of my love,
Gonna give you my love.
Wanna whole lotta love [4x]
Yeah! All right! Let’s go!
Way down inside… woman… you need… love.
Shake for me, girl.
I wanna be your backdoor man.
Keep it coolin’, baby. [4x]
Helen’s Song Lyric Sunday theme this week — lost— gives me the opportunity to introduce you to one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Charlie Farren.
Counting bands such as Aerosmith and Boston among his contemporaries, Charlie is one of the talented musicians whose skills matured in the incubator of Boston’s fabled 70s music scene. He’s a local boy from Malden, MA, who had had a couple of regionally successful bands of his own when Aerosmith’s Joe Perry recruited him in 1980 to be lead singer in his side gig, The Joe Perry Project. Together they wrote four songs for the Project’s second album, “I’ve Got the Rock ‘N’ Rolls Again,” which also included two pre-Project Farren songs. In 1986 Charlie teamed up with drummer John Muzzy, and Project bassist David Hull (who changed his name to Heit) to form FARRENHEIT, releasing their eponymous album in 1987. Written by Farren and Heit, “Lost in Loveland” is one of the album’s three singles that, together with MTV exposure, signaled the debut of an exciting new rock act.
Two years later, after nearly 20 years as a full-time musician, Charlie impressively took a detour. With the birth of his first daughter, he chose to put music on the back burner while raising his family. For the next 20-some-odd years, his career path was in information technology. He continued to write, record, and publish CDs in his home studio, playing occasional gigs in the Boston/New England area. He returned to music full-time upon retiring from HP several years ago. Charlie’s music these days tends more toward jazzy bluesy solos than arena rock, so I’ve also included a snippet from 2014 more reflective of Charlie’s current style.
(I was unable to find lyrics on the internet, so I’ve transcribed them as best as I could from the video published on Charlie Farren’s channel. It’s not quite the same as in the 1987 recording, but if Charlie published it, I guess he approves.)
Lost in Loveland
I’ve been runnin’
Round in circles
Just waitin’ at the station
Oh yeah
All around me
Lovers laughin
I think they reached their destination
C’mon now
I don’t want to go there
If you’re not there with me (I don’t want to go there, no)
I don’t want to be there
If you’re not waitin for me (I don’t want to be there, baby)
I don’t want to stay there
If you’re not there, baby
Baby I’m stranded
Empty-handed
Just get our love in motion, honey
Oh no
Not til I find you
Til I’ve got you by the hand
And you come with me to loveland
I don’t want to go there
If you’re not there with me (I don’t want to go there, no)
I don’t want to be there
If you’re not waitin for me
I don’t want to stay there
If you’re not there, baby,
Well baby
I wonder, I wonder
(Lost in loveland)
Oh baby I’m lost in loveland
Lost in loveland
I’m lookin
Oh baby I’m lost in loveland
I been lookin for your love, baby
I lookin for you
I can’t seem to find you, no
Where are you, baby
Until I find you
Until we’re together
I’ll keep on lookin
Til I find you
I don’t want to go there
If you’re not there with me (I don’t want to go there, no)
I don’t want to be there
If you’re not waitin for me
I don’t want to stay there
If you’re not there, baby
I’m lost in loveland, honey
I’m lookin
Oh baby, I’m lost in loveland
I been lookin for you
Lost in loveland
J.E.M. Wildfire 