Eric Clapton – The Core

From his 1977 album Slowhand the song never charted. Marcy Levy’s voice mixes beautifully with Clapton’s.

From songfacts.

Clapton wrote this based on a repeating guitar riff he came up with.

The original title was “The Riff,” followed by “Burning Hot Core,” and finally “The Core.”

Marcy Levy, one of Clapton’s backup singers, helped him write this. She also helped him with “Lay Down Sally.”

A rare Clapton song with horns. Mel Collins, who has also recorded with King Crimson and The Rolling Stones, played the sax. It was the first time Clapton used horns since his first solo album.

The Core

Every morning when I wake, a feeling soon begins to overtake me.
Ringing in my ears resounds through my brain; it finally surrounds me.
There is fire, there is life, there is passion, fever and fury.
There is love and there is hate, there is longing, anger and worry.

Oh, I have a flame; feel it touch my heart.
And down at my core is the hottest part.
I can burn without fuel.

If it should become too cold, I know I can endure the frostbite.
Oh, a blanket then I’ll wrap around me; I keep myself so close to my side.
No one then can cause me harm, just as the river runs into the sea.
Cause every day, your fire alarm is deafening the silence all around me.

Oh, I have a flame; feel it touch my heart.
And down at my core is the hottest part.
I can burn without fuel.

It is burning.
It is burning.

You can trust me; we can laugh. Together we can share our sorrow.
I will give you secrets too, an attitude that you may borrow.
Gypsy woman said to me, “One thing you must bear in your mind:
You are young and you are free, but damned if you’re deceased in your own lifetime.”

Oh, you have a flame; feel it in your heart.
And down at the core is the hottest part.
We can burn without fuel.

It is burning.
It is burning.

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Eric Patrick Clapton / Marcy Levy

The Bangles – If She Knew What She Wants

From their 1986 album Different Light, The song peaked at number 29 on Billboards Hot 100 chart in July of 1986.

From songfacts.

This song was written by Jules Shear and originally recorded by the American singer-songwriter on his 1985 album The Eternal Return. His version is essentially a love song, written in the third person. The Bangles rewrote the lyrics when they covered the tune the following year, changing them to the third person.

If She Knew What She Wants

If she knew what she wants
(He’d be giving it to her)
If she knew what she needs
(He could give her that too)
If she knew what she wants
(But he can’t see through her)
If she knew what she wants
He’d be giving it to her
Giving it to her

But she wants everything
(He can pretend to give her everything)
Or there’s nothing she wants
(She don’t want to sort it out)
He’s crazy for this girl
(But she don’t know what she’s looking for)
If she knew what she wants
He’d be giving it to her
Giving it to her

I’d say her values are corrupted
But she’s open to change
Then one day she’s satisfied
And the next I’ll find her crying
And it’s nothing she can explain

Some have a style
That they work hard to refine
So they walk a crooked line
But she won’t understand
Why anyone would have to try
To walk a line when they could fly

No sense thinking I could rehabilitate her
When she’s fine, fine, fine
She’s got so many ideas traveling around in her head
She doesn’t need nothing from mine

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Jules Shear

Theme From S.W.A.T.

This is my contribution to Jim Adams blog this week for Song Lyric Sunday. This weeks theme, songs from TV shows…https://jimadamsauthordotcom.wordpress.com/2019/08/03/tv-time/

The song was released in November of 1975 and reached number one on Billboards Hot 100 chart in February of 1976. The instrumental was written by Barry De Vorzon and performed by the band Rhythm Heritage.

From Wikipedia.

As the title implies, it was the opening theme music for the 1970s American television series S.W.A.T., though it is a noticeably different recording from the actual TV theme version, which was performed not by Rhythm Heritage, but by Barry De Vorzon’s own orchestra with arrangement by Dominik Hauser.

The Go-Go’s – Our Lips Are Sealed

From their 1981 album Beauty And The Beat the song reached number 20 on Billboards Hot 100 chart in 1981.

From songfacts.

This was the first hit for the Go-Go’s, who started as a punk band in the late ’70s, but became pop superstars with the release of their first album, Beauty And The Beat. Unlike most other female pop groups, the Go-Go’s wrote their own songs and were serious musicians. Despite their pure pop sound, they had a confidence and attitude that gave them lots of credibility and set them apart from other bands on the fledgling MTV network.

Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin wrote this with British musician Terry Hall, who was lead singer of The Specials. Wiedlin told Songfacts: “In 1980 we were playing at The Whisky on Sunset Strip, and The Specials were in town from England, and they came to see us, and they really liked us and asked us if we would be their opening act on their tour. I met Terry Hall, the singer of The Specials, and ended up having kind of a romance. He sent me the lyrics to ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ later in the mail, and it was kind of about our relationship, because he had a girlfriend at home and all this other stuff. So it was all very dramatic. I really liked the lyrics, so I finished the lyrics and wrote the music to it, and the rest is history. And then his band, The Fun Boy Three, ended up recording it, too – they did a really great version of it, also. It was like a lot gloomier than the Go-Go’s’ version.”

Speaking about her relationship with Terry Hall, Wiedlin adds: “Like I said, he had a girlfriend in England, and they were talking about getting married and all this stuff. So I don’t know how I got in the picture. And, you know, that’s something that I did as a teenager, maybe I was 20. That’s something I would never do now, knowingly enter into a relationship with someone who was with someone else. I mean, it was completely screwed on my part. Although I think when people do that, you really have to look at the person who’s in the relationship, and they have to take the burden of the responsibility as well. Anyways, it was one of those things with the tragic letters, ‘I just can’t do this.’ You know, ‘I’m betrothed to another.’ All that kind of stuff.”

Our Lips Are Sealed

Can you hear them?
They talk about us
Telling lies
Well, that’s no surprise

Can you see them?
See right through them
They have no shield
No secrets to reveal

It doesn’t matter what they say
In the jealous games people play
Our lips are sealed

There’s a weapon
That we must use
In our defense
Silence reveals

When you look at them
Look right through them
That’s when they’ll disappear
That’s when we’ll be feared

It doesn’t matter what they say
In the jealous games people play
Our lips are sealed

Pay no mind to what they say
It doesn’t matter anyway
Our lips are sealed

Hush, my darling
Don’t you cry
Quiet, angel
Forget their lies

Can you hear them?
They talk about us
Telling lies
Well, that’s no surprise

Can you see them?
See right through them
They have no shield
No secrets to reveal

It doesn’t matter what they say
In the jealous games people play
Our lips are sealed

Pay no mind to what they say
It doesn’t matter anyway
Our lips are sealed
Our lips are sealed
Our lips are sealed

Tony Carey – A Fine Fine Day

From his 1984 album Some Tough City, The song reached number 22 on Billboards Hot 100 chart in 1984. The song is about uncle Sonny who has just been released from prison. Tony Carey played keyboards for the rock band Rainbow for a short period of time in the late 1970s.

A Fine Fine Day

When my uncle Sonny blew back into town
Said, “I’ll just go for a ride and have a look around”
And he took off his fedora, stuck his fingers in the crown
And he pulled out twenty dollars and he laid that money down

And he called out to a taxi cab, “Take me down to central park
And keep that meter runnin’ to the twenty dollar mark”
And he kept his eyes turned forward and he sat up straight and tall
And no one even noticed him, no one cared at all

It’s a fine, fine day
For a reunion
It’s a fine, fine day
For comin’ home
You did your sittin’ you did hard time
But you ain’t gonna sit no more
They can’t keep you there no more
It’s a fine, fine day
And nothing’s gonna take you
Nothing’s gonna take you away
It’s a fine, fine day

The first time I saw Sonny I was just about this tall
And he always made my momma kinda crazy when he’d call
Him and my old man would stand and whisper in the hall
Then they’d disappear and maybe not come home at all

Then one day Sonny stopped comin’ around
Heard he’d gotten himself into a little trouble out in town
Sometime after that he finally disappeared for good
Then he pulled out ol’ Houdini like we always knew he would

It’s a fine, fine day
For a reunion
It’s a fine, fine day
For comin’ home
You did your sittin’ you did hard time
But you ain’t gonna sit no more
They can’t keep you there no more
It’s a fine, fine day, oh yeah
And nothing’s gonna drag you
Nothing’s gonna drag you away, oh yeah
It’s a fine, fine day, a fine day

Ooh ooh ooh, a fine, fine day, a fine day
Ooh ooh ooh, a fine, fine day, a fine day

I see you made it back alright, alright
I see you’re none the worse for wear
It’s been a long time comin’
Nothing’s gonna drag you away from here!

A fine, fine day, oh yeah
And nothing’s gonna drag you
Nothing’s gonna drag you away, oh yeah
A fine, fine day, oh yeah

A fine, fine day (Ooh ooh ooh, a fine, fine day)
And nothing’s gonna drag you (a fine day)
Nothing’s gonna drag you away, away (a fine, fine day)
A fine, fine day, a fine day
A fine, fine day

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Tony Carey

Brenda Lee – Ride, Ride, Ride

The song was released in 1967 and never charted. The song was written by country singer Lynn Anderson. That’s all the information that I could find on this song. The song really swings.

Ride, Ride, Ride

If you don’t want me, baby
If you’re not satisfied
If you don’t care
Get on your horse
And ride, ride, ride

Since you got on your high horse
Those fancy friends you’ve found
You have a hard time seeing me
You’re always looking down

If you don’t want me, baby
If you’re not satisfied
If you don’t care
Get on your horse
And ride, ride, ride

You talk about me, honey
You try to tear me down
But while you’re throwing dirt on me
You’re slowly losing ground

If you don’t want me, baby
If you’re not satisfied
If you don’t care
Get on your horse
And ride, ride, ride

I had your second fiddle
Returned to you today
‘Cause, baby, that’s one instrument
I’ve never learned to play

If you don’t want me, baby
If you’re not satisfied
If you don’t care
Get on your horse
And ride, ride, ride

Ride, ride, ride
Ride, ride, ride
Ride, ride, ride…

Source: Musixmatch

David and David – Ain’t So Easy

PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Sorry if this is showing up more than once…I’ve tried publishing it twice and cannot get it to show up in the reader.

The album Boomtown peaked at #39 in 1986 and it contained three radio hits. Welcome to the Boomtown, Swallowed by the Cracks and this song was released in 1986.

This song peaked at #51 on the Billboard 100 in 1986.

The two Davids were David Baerwald and David Ricketts. They broke up after their only studio album which really disappointed me because I was really looking forward to their next album. As I’ve said before there is hope…in 2016 it was reported that they are working on their second album…I have checked since then and have found nothing.

Ain’t So Easy

We can stay
Or we can move along
Either way don’t leave me all alone
I’m sorry about your eye

I’ll find a way to…

View original post 247 more words

Otis Redding – Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay

The song reached #1 in 1968 and stayed at that position for four weeks on Billboards Hot 100 chart. It was recorded November 22 and December 7 at Stax Studios in Memphis, TN. The backing band was Booker T. Jones and Isaac Hayes on keyboards. Steve Cropper on Guitar. Donald (Duck) Dunn on bass. Al Jackosn Jr on drums. Wayne Jackson on trumpet and trombone and Andrew Love on saxophone. Redding continued to tour after the recording sessions. On December 10, his charter plane crashed into Lake Monona, outside Madison, Wisconsin. Redding and six others were killed. After Redding’s death, Cropper mixed “Dock of the Bay” at Stax Studios. He added the sound of seagulls and waves crashing to the background, as Redding had requested, recalling the sounds he heard when he was staying on the houseboat.

From Billboard.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay was co-written by Redding and M.G.’s guitarist Steve Cropper as the soul legend was looking to expand his audience to the pop and rock worlds, a crossover he’d begun in earnest with his incendiary performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in the summer of 1967. He was inspired by The Beatles’ recently released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to add newfound detail and depth to the lyrics and production of his music, and he started writing “Dock,” appropriately enough, while on the houseboat of famed rock promoter Bill Graham.

Because of its laconic vibe, accessible melody and whistling outro — which Redding didn’t originally intend to keep — manager Phil Walden worried the song would be seen as “too pop” for his artist, who’d made his name largely on fiery, horn-led stomps and frenzied vocal performances. And “pop” the song certainly was — but it was also possibly Redding’s richest composition to date, a mix of blissful Stax stillness and profound existential anxiety that showed a complex level of contemplative soul previously unexplored on the pop charts.

Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay

Sittin’ in the mornin’ sun
I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ comes
Watchin’ the ships roll in
Then I watch ’em roll away again

I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide, roll away
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time

I left my home in Georgia
And I headed for the Frisco Bay
‘Cause I’ve got nothin’ to live for
Looks like nothin’s gonna come my way, so

I’m just come sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay, wastin’ time

Looks like nothin’s gonna change
Everything seems to stay the same
I can’t do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I’ll remain the same

I’m sittin’ here restin’ my bones
And this loneliness won’t leave me alone
This two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home
Now I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay

Watchin’ the tide roll away
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay
I’m wastin’ time

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Steve Cropper / Otis Redding

Blondie – Heart Of Glass

From their 1979 album Parallel Lines, the song reached number one on Billboards Hot 100 chart in April of 1979. The song has elements of both Rock and Disco.

From songfacts.

Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein (who were a couple) wrote the first version of this song in early 1974, shortly after they first met. They didn’t have a proper title for the song, and would refer to it as “The Disco Song.” Harry explained on the show Words and Music: “Lyrically, it was about a stalker who was pursuing me, and Chris saved me from him.”

It wasn’t until they recorded this song in 1978 that Stein came up with the title “Heart Of Glass.” He didn’t know that it was also the title of a 1976 German movie directed by Werner Herzog.

Finding words to rhyme to “glass” that fit in a song can be… a pain in the ass.

In the last chorus, following “Once I had a love and it was a gas,” Debbie Harry takes a different tack, singing “Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass.” This is a key line in the song, since the singer has now realized that this relationship is more trouble than it’s worth, and that her heart of glass might be more durable than she thought.

Unfortunately, American radio was generally ass-free at this time, so to ensure airplay stations were sent an edited version with the offending line replaced with “soon turned out I had a heart of glass.”

The video for this song showed the band performing it in an empty discotheque, and was very popular, thanks to the many close-ups of Debbie Harry. Blondie was one of the few American bands that made videos in the years before MTV. They did so because they were very popular in Australia and Europe, and by producing videos, they could be featured on shows in those continents when they couldn’t travel there.

John Lennon once wrote Ringo Starr a postcard advising him to write more songs like “Heart of Glass.” Debbie Harry told The Guardian: “It was totally wonderful knowing that.

Heart Of Glass

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing only to find
Mucho mistrust, love’s gone behind

Once I had a love and it was divine
Soon found out I was losing my mind
It seemed like the real thing but I was so blind
Mucho mistrust, love’s gone behind

In between ‘what I find is pleasing’ and ‘I’m feeling fine’
Love is so confusing
There’s no peace of mind if I fear I’m losing you
It’s just no good, you teasing like you do

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing only to find
Mucho mistrust, love’s gone behind

Lost inside adorable illusion
And I cannot hide
I’m the one you’re using
Please don’t push me aside
We coulda made it cruising, yeah

Yeah, riding high on love’s true bluish light
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass
Seemed like the real thing only to find
Mucho mistrust, love’s gone behind

Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa

The Beatles – Can’t Buy Me Love, And The 1987 Movie

This is the first time I’m doing Song Lyric Sunday for Jim’s blog… https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/127881943/posts/4774 The theme is songs in movies. 23 years after the Beatles released this hit song Touchstone decided to make a movie using the same title. The song reached number 1 on Billboards Hot 100 chart in April of 1964. It stayed in the number 1 position for four weeks. The song was also in the Beatles movie Hard Day’s Night.

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