Speaker 1: Hudson Riverradio dot com.
Speaker 2: I have thirty thousand dollars in credit card debt. When
they call, I tell them I can't pay.
Speaker 3: It back yet.
Speaker 4: Credit card debt.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow I may buy myself.
Speaker 2: A dining room set or this popa fet.
Speaker 5: Credit card debt, credit card debt, credit card debt.
Speaker 6: Hey, this is Jesse Carmichael from Room five.
Speaker 5: Hi, this is Phil Margo of the Tokens.
Speaker 4: Hello.
Speaker 7: It's Nicole Atkins on the Rock and Roll History Show.
Speaker 8: Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Rock and Roll History
Show on Hudson River Radio. I'm Brian Horowitz. We did
first two weeks ago, if I remember correctly, we had
a week off, so you can probably guess what's coming
tonight because we are that predictable. So before we hop
into last, allow me to introduce all the Cranwells joining
us here tonight from the Richter Observatory. He recently visited
the world smallest windmill. Not a big fan, Neil.
Speaker 5: Oh, Come on, I'm a big fan of little fans.
I have very little fans, So you know how you doing?
Speaker 8: Everybody, and from paranormally yours. Every time she goes to work,
she hides in the closet because good employees are hard
to find.
Speaker 9: I should try that.
Speaker 8: Go for it and report back please. From the silver screen,
she saw a neutron walk into a bar and ask
how much for a drink and the bartender says for you,
no charge, Mercedes.
Speaker 4: Can Well, you are on tonight right you need it?
That week off I did.
Speaker 8: Oh my god. I'll tell you all about napping after
this and how it works. Two more to go, our
officially retired teacher. He says the secret to avoid crying
while chopping an onion is to not get emotionally attached.
John Kelly is here, very good Brian, and last but
not least, the host of shaving Cream. She figured out
that a superhero with a bad sense of direction is
known as wander woman.
Speaker 1: Barbara, that's fantastic. Yeah, I love it. Thank you.
Speaker 8: Everybody's here tonight. So yeah, last week I had the
U the uh uh, what's the word? I'm looking for?
Privileged enjoyment. I got to go to Alabama. I was
down in Alabama because we have our place down there
that we're finally getting work done on.
Speaker 9: Did you have your on your knee?
Speaker 10: Uh?
Speaker 11: No?
Speaker 8: I had a guitar bass and an upright bass. Though
all together, all together, they all fail because I knew,
you know, I was expected to play them when I
got back, So you gotta kind of stay on top
of everything. But it was a lot of fun. Got
to meet more of the neighbors and all that kind
of stuff. But it was it was a long trip.
Speaker 4: But it was more fitting right and down there, aren't you?
Speaker 8: Oh I am, oh my my. I got to meet
more neighbors and they all took me to, uh, we're
right near the Mississippi border, so they took me right
over the border to the Robin Hood Brewery in Ayuka, Mississippi,
if anybody's down there, which was an absolute blast. And
as soon as word got out this guy's from New York,
they're like New York, oh my god. And they are
deathly afraid of New York City. Like New York City
people would be deathly afraid of going to Alabama, which
I find to be the most entertaining thing because people,
people are people where you go. Yeah, wow, it was
so it was a lot of fun though, And you know,
they said, hey, you want to hop in with us,
and I'm like, yeah, absolutely, I hop in. And when
they say hop in with us. It was the entire
neighborhood in one suv, all going to wow. Yeah, So
I got to know my neighbors pretty quickly. So it
was a lot of fun. But it's good to be
back and we're back on track, and we're talking last
tonight because you did first couple of weeks ago. Why
don't we just hop right in and Neil, you're going
to lead.
Speaker 5: Us off, all right? Yeah, as you said, we did
first the Alpha, so now it's time for the last
the Omega. See what I did there, And the song
I've picked is called Last Time Around by a band
called the del Vets. Now. The Delvettes were an American
garage rock band formed in Chicago in nineteen sixty three.
They attained regional success in the Midwest throughout the decade
of the sixties. They started out performing Chuck Berry covers
and surf rock standards, and they soon developed a rather
large following, apparently while performing regularly at popular teen dance
clubs in the Chicago area. That's when they actually had
clubs for teens and they actually went and danced. What
a novel concept. In nineteen sixty five, an early version
of the group worked with record producer Bill Trott and
recorded a cover version of the Righteous Brothers hit Little
Latin Loopy Lou on a small local label. The record
failed to garner any commercial success, but Trot still felt
the band had some potential, so after the obligatory initial
personnel changes, a solidified lineup emerged, consisting of Jim Lauer
on lead guitar and vocals, Bob Good on rhythm guitar,
Jack Burchell on bass, and Roger Detheridge on drums. Trot
signed the Delvettes to a record contract with Dunwich Records
in nineteen sixty six, and they recorded their best known
and most commercially successful single, the one We're about to
hear Last Time Around, and the song, in my opinion,
it's a garage rock masterpiece, with Jim Lauer's fudge fuzz
drenched guitar as the highlight. The single climbed the regional
charts and became the most requested song on several Chicago
radio stations. So why don't we take a little time
out and give a listen to Last Time Around? Right
now by the gildas well.
Speaker 6: I'm sitting down as a spinning around round. I can't
see shapeless fear. Oh my body is a rocket. Oh
it's such a fun. This is the last am around.
Speaker 12: Oh, I'm singing of sak down.
Speaker 4: I came round but.
Speaker 5: Yet jaws.
Speaker 6: I know this is the last around.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's take me the old woman. So yop, I'm
calling as gay able to go.
Speaker 11: I'm going down at a God, I'm gonna say something now, Oh.
Speaker 6: Yeah no, well sinking down. I can't hear a sound, why.
Speaker 10: Goes? I know this is the last time round, well
stagy and song yo.
Speaker 6: Lands can't be the book down the book.
Speaker 10: I know this is the last hour around.
Speaker 12: Oh yeah, last out now, yeah, no, the last hours,
the last hour round.
Speaker 5: Now, let's say this is around nineteen sixty five sixty six.
This is when crazy the Beatles were still you know,
the lovable mop Tops. He had you know, Peter Noon
and Herman's Hermit singing all this lake pop song. This
is crazy stuff for that, for that.
Speaker 8: Way ahead of its time. There's like early heavy metal
licks in there, and this is.
Speaker 1: Totally next level.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it just went on my playlist.
Speaker 5: Well. The Delvettes released a follow up single later that year,
but it did not achieve the same success as last
time around. So in nineteen sixty seven, the group changed
its name to The Pride and Joy and they released
two more singles. The first song was a regional hit,
but the second one didn't even chart failed to chart,
so at that point, Jack Burchell left the group. The
Pride and Joy broke up in nineteen sixty eight, and
the Delvettes were left to languish in obscurity.
Speaker 11: That is.
Speaker 5: Until several of their songs were included on several garage
rock compilation albums that came out in the late nineteen nineties,
so the world finally caught up to them. Now, that
wasn't the last time we hear from Jack Burchell either,
because in nineteen eighty three he hit the charts again
with Jump in the Saddle, a band I featured here
just recently on The Rock and Roll History Show, and
their novelty song The Curly Shuffle. Quite a distance between
those two.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 5: But and finally, and sadly, lead guitarist and singer Jim
Lower reportedly ended up in a mental institution and that's
where he spent the I guess the rest of his days.
So I guess it really was the last time around.
For him, but he left us with this garage rock classic.
Speaker 1: Awesome legacy.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I love it, very cool.
Speaker 4: I don't really love pride and joy. That's not very punk. No,
you no like who picked that name.
Speaker 1: It sounds like something a new mom would pick.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I have no idea what they even sounded like,
but something tells me they thought, maybe we ought to
walk this back. Maybe you're a little bit uh too
crazy for what's going on. Not in my book, of course, yeah,
but yeah, the pride and enjoy that, you know, should
be like, you know, you sound like you know the
teacups or something like that. You know, yeah, something, you
know that something, something you can bring home and you know,
meet mom and dad, you know. Yeah, anyway, that's what
I got, right.
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, I really like that.
Speaker 2: All right, Thanks Neil John, You're up all right. I
don't know if I can top Neil's selection, but I
very rarely can. Obviously, Neil, you are the master in
this field, I should.
Speaker 5: Say, the connoisseur of the obscure.
Speaker 4: Are you're gonna say of the absurd?
Speaker 5: That kind of goes hand in hand.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So what I did tonight though, is I selected something
from James Brown and in nineteen sixty four, which was
not the end of his career. Obviously, it was more
towards the beginning or middle, you might want to say,
but it certainly wasn't the last. However, the song I
did was Maybe the Last Time by James Brown and
the Famous Flames. It's a gospel induced R and B
song talking about appreciating life, friendship and love as any
moment could be the last, and that is where this
all kind of comes together. So, Brian, why don't we
just play the song and then we'll talk a little
bit about maybe.
Speaker 5: And maybe.
Speaker 10: Maybe the last time when she gave maybe the last
time the man play, Oh why, oh, I don't know,
Maybe the last time I got a heart of stone.
Speaker 8: To believe me. I don't want to be alone?
Speaker 5: Oh why, oh? I don't know.
Speaker 13: When you're all alone, you want to cock on the telephone,
you want to get your heart alone.
Speaker 10: And just about the time to get talking about.
Speaker 13: I'm ready first single when You're blue bree.
Speaker 10: Oh oh, I don't know it.
Speaker 3: Maybe the last time, God, last time it, Maybe the
last time I got a scream, Maybe the last time,
maybe the last time?
Speaker 10: Last? Oh, oh, why, I don't know? I'm all alone.
Speaker 8: I ain't got nobody to come home.
Speaker 10: Come.
Speaker 11: I don't know.
Speaker 14: It might be the last time.
Speaker 13: Look around your man home again, check with your bad friend.
Speaker 14: You might never never, never see them again.
Speaker 6: I'm with somebody.
Speaker 10: Last time.
Speaker 6: I would like to tell you some more.
Speaker 3: S.
Speaker 11: I gotta go.
Speaker 2: Hey the last Time by James Brown and the Famous Flames.
One other notable last for this song was this was
the last time he recorded with the original Famous Flames,
And there was some comments made during the song about
on how you can really see James Brown when you
when you Isn't this right, Barbara's that's what you said.
You could really see him.
Speaker 1: You can visualize him performing when you listen to his music.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. And one of the things I always like
to say about James Brown is if I ever tried
to get some of those notes that he got, you'd
have to call an ambulance.
Speaker 8: I got There's I have a trailer. Hitch my pickup truck. Yeah,
forget it's there, walk into it with your knee first. Okay,
not a problem, not a problem.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks to you, know, Brian, I think I'll probably
try to avoid that, but thank you.
Speaker 8: Okay, Well, you're ready.
Speaker 5: James Brown was you know, he was really a badass.
He was like, you know, if if you get a chance.
There's a film came out about a dozen years ago
or so. It's called Get On Up. It's like, you know,
a bio pic and it's I think it was. It
was great, and yeah it shows him. You know, he
wasn't a goodie two shoes, let's leave it.
Speaker 8: And he also had the ability to function as a
band leader while he was performing. He could hear all
the parts that everybody was playing. And he was known
to be very very strict, like your your suit that
you were given was your uniform and it better be impeccable.
Shoes shined all that, and if you hit a wrong note,
he would turn around every once in a while. You
can see in the video he'll hold up. He'll look
at a saxophone player, hold up two fingers. That's a
two hundred dollars fine because you've missed a note. Oh my,
and he heard it. So yeah, so you can understand
why he burned through a couple of different bands after
a while.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, like Drill Sergeant.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh yeah, but we lost the The late
great James Brown on Christmas Day or Christmas Morning in
two thousand and six. It will be twenty years this year.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: And it was allegedly I don't know if this is
true or not, so I can't vouch for it, but
he allegedly said his last words were, I'm going away tonight.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah.
Speaker 8: I think it just got buried. Like two weeks ago
after the state settlement, there was like a huge thing
with his oh yeah, everybody money grab it and stuff.
Speaker 2: I think it was manager or somebody, but I just
thought that was very poignant that maybe the last time,
it was the last time we recorded with that group
talking about finalities in life, and uh, just what an
interesting piece of music. It had that beautiful gospel soul
kind of feel to it, so it makes you want
to just kind of kick back and almost kind of
sing along, but silently to yourself, because, as I said,
there's no way I get those notes.
Speaker 8: I hope you all enjoyed it. That was a good one.
All right, We're going to take a real quick break,
and we've got a lot more coming up, so stick around.
We'll be right back. Hudson River Radio. Your dog Likes Us.
Speaker 4: This concludes the first part of this cassette. Please turn
the cassette over and begin again on side too.
Speaker 1: This is Hudson River Radio dot Com.
Speaker 8: Ay, and welcome back to our Picks of Lasts and
we're up to Barbara. So, Barbara, what do you have
for us?
Speaker 1: Okay? My song choice is called last Night and it's
by the Traveling Wilbury's. And They were a British American
supergroup formed in Los Angeles in nineteen eighty eight, consisting
of members Jefflin, Bob Dylan, George Travison, Roy Orbison, and
Tom Petty. The idea for the band originated during the
recording of Harrison's nineteen eighty seven album Cloud nine, which
I was first online in the store to buy the
day it was released, Nice, which Jefflin co produced. Harrison
pitched the idea of starting a band to Lynn and
they began discussing who else should be in the band
with them.
Speaker 8: Who do we want on our team?
Speaker 1: Harrison chose Bob Dylan, and Lynn picked Roy Orbison, who
happened to be one of his idols. Idols have idols.
Speaker 8: Yeah, they were working on an album, weren't they.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Both Harrison and Lynn had befriended Tom Petty in nineteen
eighty seven, while he and the Heartbreakers were touring in
Europe as Bob Dylan's backing group for the Temples and
Flames tour, and Lynn also collaborated with Petty on Petty's
debut album, Full Moon Fever, and also began writing songs
with Roy Orbison. Harrison had originally meant for the Wilbury's
first collaboration together to be a bonus track for his
next European single, and the result was the song Handled
with Care, which they decided was too good for such
a limited release and agreed to record a full album,
and thus the Traveling There He's Volume one was born.
Now does it take a supergroup to say, hey, our
stuff is too good for that, let's do this.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think a band just starting out would have
the clout to say something like that.
Speaker 8: Yeah, right, you have George Harrison going, oh, who should
be in my supergroup? Yeah? Who's gonna say no? Nowadays
he would have put out a tweet and oh my god, he.
Speaker 5: Was kind of he was kind of in a supergroup
before that. Yeah, I'm just saying, oh, I'm.
Speaker 1: Gonna have to google that later all right. So the
album was released October nineteen eighty eight, and the song
last Night is the fourth track from that album. So
why don't we pause here and give it a listen.
Speaker 6: She was there at the bait.
Speaker 4: She was long talk.
Speaker 5: She was the queen of them all.
Speaker 10: Last night.
Speaker 11: Thinking about last night last night, thinking about last night.
Speaker 6: She was dark and discreet, she was light on her feet.
Speaker 5: We went up to room and she lowed the boot.
Speaker 11: Last night, thinking about last night last night, thinking about
last night.
Speaker 8: Stow me alone.
Speaker 4: They danced and sang in the.
Speaker 8: Street, all of the ball, the ball with me.
Speaker 10: Last night.
Speaker 11: They give out last night, the last night they gave
out last night.
Speaker 6: About speaking the thing.
Speaker 4: Good in my brain. I looked at the right. They
were full of surprise.
Speaker 11: Last night, talking about last night last night, talking about
last night.
Speaker 6: Out nightgic.
Speaker 4: She said, your money or your.
Speaker 1: Life last night.
Speaker 11: You're talking about last night last night, talking about last night.
Speaker 6: Down back in the bar.
Speaker 5: She went a little too far.
Speaker 2: She don't be wrong.
Speaker 4: All I got is a song.
Speaker 11: Last night, taking by last night, last night, Taking by
last Night.
Speaker 1: I love the storytelling in that song. That's something where
you can go. Well, that took a turn and I
just love how you can pick out all the individual
vocals and like who is singing? Well, it's it's it's
so obvious, and it just meshes together so well. And
this band can do no wrong in my book. The
only wrong they could do is not record it anymore
because we don't have most of them I know. So
during the recording session, whenever faulty equipment was to blame
for courting errors, Harrison would say to Lynn will Bury
him in the mix, and this is how they came
up with the name Willbury.
Speaker 5: I love that.
Speaker 4: Oh wow, Yeah, it was great.
Speaker 1: It was fun writing this one up because it was
a band that I idolized and I got to find
out all the stuff about them that I didn't know already,
So this was great. So the band members also adopted
pseudonyms as half brothers from the aforementioned family of traveling musicians,
with Harrison as Nelson Willbury, Lynn as Otis, Dylan as Lucky,
Orbison as Lefty, and Petty as Charlie t Junior. Neil
Caerda comment. Maybe on any other famous bands that come
to mind who adopted pseudonyms, I.
Speaker 5: Don't really know. I'm not coming up with anything, Really,
who would who would do that? Who would who would
just come up with the last name?
Speaker 1: Oh wait, oh wait, I'm good, I'm gonna count and
at the count of one, two, three, four, you better
come up with a name.
Speaker 5: That's a good way to put it. Of course, the Ramones,
of course, they are.
Speaker 1: Totally thought of you when I was writing this part up,
totally so anyway, according to Petty, the criteria. He said
this in an interview later on, the criteria for who
could be in the band was simply someone you could
hang out with.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's fair, Yeah, why not? Right?
Speaker 1: And the least thing I wanted to say that I
totally ogled over this fact. The members also bonded over
the fact that they were all fans of the English
comedy Trupe Monty Python. Oh my gosh, and I wish
we had this on tape, and Harrison especially appreciated Orbit's
gift for reciting entire Python sketches.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Oh I could have a recite off with him. Totally
want to do that. Yeah, right, me too, right, Yeah,
I was, I was like so so happy right in
this one up, This this.
Speaker 4: One like made my week.
Speaker 8: I didn't know that about Roy Orbison. That's cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he would be the last. He would be the last. Yeah, yeah,
that's that's that's wild.
Speaker 8: Yeah yeah, he just he looks so buttoned down when
you see him, but he wasn't and he did not
take care of himself. He was one of those guys
that loved being on the road, toured incessantly, but ate
all the garbage food that comes with being on tour,
and wasn't you know, didn't take care of himself as
a heavy smoker all that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when I heard how he died and how young
he was, I was like, damn him.
Speaker 8: Yeah, about fifty three, I think if I remember somewhere
around there. Which, yeah, that's kind of scary because I'm
not that far behind.
Speaker 5: So I'm not that far ahead.
Speaker 4: But yeah, right, Brian, you're in good shape. You don't
have to worry about any of.
Speaker 11: Those I think.
Speaker 8: I'm okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Brian is the poster boy for clean living.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 8: All right, we'll go with that, and that's.
Speaker 1: All I have for y'all.
Speaker 8: All right, thank you, Barbara Mercedes, your turn.
Speaker 4: Yes, So first, here are all my disclaimers. This is
not my genre. I have no idea where I first
heard this. I'm not sure why I listened to the words,
but I did, and I do love a song with
a twist. Also, I know nothing about Carrie Underwood.
Speaker 5: Yes, wait a minute, what have you done with Mercedes?
Speaker 8: Did you?
Speaker 5: Here's the real one? Where are you hidden her?
Speaker 1: I just rem remember that when she was on American Idol,
I did not vote for her. I don't like that
type of music.
Speaker 4: So I thought I knew nothing about Carrie Underwood. But
that's not totally true, because I did also get rooked
into watching season four of American Idol, don't ask, which
she won, and that was in two thousand and five.
Simon Call said he had predicted her to not only
win the season, but outsell the record of all the
other contestants. Also, also he said she had the likability
factor but was a bit old fashion, which is why
everyone liked her. Punched him in the face. Who is
Carrie Underwood? She was born in nineteen eighty three in
a small town in Oklahoma. In high school, she was
a cheerleader, member of the honor society, as well as
playing basketball and softball. She went to college in Oklahoma
and in the summer's watress at a pizza place, worked
as a page as well as at a zoo and
a that clinic. She also competed many beauty pageants, so
basically a good all around country girl. Auditioned for American
Idol in two thousand and four, and as they say,
the rest was history. This song was released in two
thousand and eight. Written by Underwood, Hillary Lindsey, and Luke Laird,
this was Underwood's fourth consecutive number one on the Hot
Country Songs on the chart. This made her the first
solo female artist to have four chart toppers in a
row on the Country Service since Roseanne Cash. Rosanna Cash.
It's Rosanna, right, yeah, Roseanne? Yeah, Roseanne? Okay, this song
she we used to book her at the William Morris
Agency and I remembered her as Rosanna for some reason.
Speaker 8: Because the song you're getting them confused.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So the song one. Underwood her third consecutive Grammy Award
for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. It has sold one
point three million copies. That was as of twenty fifteen.
So the name of the song is last name and
if you listen to the words, you'll catch the twist.
So let's hear it last night I got served a
little birds much that puzzon baby.
Speaker 7: Last time I did things I'm not proud of, and
I got a little crazy. Last time I made a
guy on the dance boot and I let him call
me baby.
Speaker 10: That time I know his last My mom ab.
Speaker 14: Shave start it all mag you.
Speaker 10: Where you're from? And then it turned in the horn
on what have I done enough? Showing him know his
last name? Whoa?
Speaker 7: He left the cup about about three o'clock in the morning,
his pen to sitting there in the pocket line with
a should.
Speaker 10: Have been a morning.
Speaker 4: I half no clue when I was getting into so
I be in on the quiver.
Speaker 9: Where is my minute? Stroll?
Speaker 10: And now time his last same? My mom w.
Speaker 12: Shade started off, heay, cuney, where you're from?
Speaker 10: And then it turned in the hon on what have.
Speaker 4: I done that?
Speaker 6: Alf shine.
Speaker 10: His last name? And here we go today woke up,
I think.
Speaker 4: About there's somewhere in Vegas.
Speaker 7: I'm not sure how I got here or how that's
ring on my left hand just appears a hot of nowhere.
Speaker 4: I gotta go a take the chips.
Speaker 14: I had the pints do and had the rough and
stay with.
Speaker 1: Heaven see her says, he m this, there's just one
little problem.
Speaker 10: I don't I know my oh my, mom my want
shade it starting out, Hey, juny where I can from?
And that a turn?
Speaker 4: And I don't know what a I got?
Speaker 10: Ma, I'm showing my mama. What am I? What have
I done? What have I done? Only? What am I going?
I don't even know where A turn in the hold?
Now where I go? I'm showing my last God, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. Sta'll pay you where you're from? Man a
turn and a hol no what I god.
Speaker 4: So the lyrics tell the story of the gala with
her friends. When she meets a guy she doesn't catch
his last name. She's had a bit to drink queer
voa to be specific, and they end up spending the
evening together gambling and stuff. When she wakes up, she
has memories of an elvis and a ring. And the
twist is when she says, and I don't even know
my last name. Oh snap, yeah, So that was the
hook for me. I just think it's clever how she
went from she didn't know his last name to I
don't even know my last name and.
Speaker 8: It's the same name.
Speaker 4: The same thing what do you mean? What do you
mean it's the same thing.
Speaker 8: Because they got Yes, they got married, and she woke
up and married this guy who's last.
Speaker 5: Night she married this guy, Yes, because it's her last name.
Speaker 8: Now you pick a song. Why am I explaining that.
Speaker 4: I understand what you're saying. Now, Yes, it is the
same thing, but.
Speaker 5: I've forgotten my name after a few queer vows. But
you know that's yeah.
Speaker 8: But if you wake up next to an Elvis, then
we have a whole different thing to talk about.
Speaker 5: Well it was it Elvis or was one of those
the Elvis chapel that you're talking.
Speaker 4: About, Elvis Impersonator Chapel?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, in Las Vegas there is a yeah yeah,
oh yeah, I've been by it. I didn't get married there,
and you know it would be fun maybe, but no,
but I do have to go look at it. Yeah,
it's there.
Speaker 4: I just I feel for her when she wakes up.
I mean, I think that must be a terrifying feeling,
like what the hell did I just do? And yes,
it's a little bit like Katy Perry's Waking Up in Vegas,
which was really listen in two thousand and nine. So
that came after this. Did you know that that song
is supposed to be about a girl and her gay
best friend? Because I never caught that.
Speaker 8: In the Katy Perrys say, I paid that close attention
and try to figure it out.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever heard it, so I don't
think i've heard it either.
Speaker 5: I've never heard that one. I've never heard the Carrie
Underwood song before either. But now I'm I can't.
Speaker 4: I can't make that claim now, sorry? Is that your
claim to fame Neil, that you'd never heard.
Speaker 5: This song because I blew it for you, well one
of them? Now, yeah, I can scratch out check that
off the list.
Speaker 1: You ruined Neil's Carrie virginity.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 4: I think I've done that a couple of times in
this show.
Speaker 8: When Herry expand horizons, it's okay. So I don't have
to like everything, but it's good to.
Speaker 4: Hear what we're here for. Yeah. So Carrie Underwood confess
to USA Today in two thousand and seven that this
is where the song came from. She says, I met
a guy at at an after party, and I asked
him his name three times, but it never stuck. He
got my number. We talked a few times, and I
didn't know what his last name was. I was way
past the point where I should have known his last name.
And if I asked him, I knew he'd be it
would offend him. I mean, we've all been there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been there.
Speaker 4: I don't know how you go from that to like
waking up in Vegas, but whatever. She also says she
has personally never drunken, drunkenly elope to Las Vegas, or
even been inebriated enough to embarrass herself.
Speaker 1: That makes that makes one of us fun.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Cannot relate to that at all. As I said, I
don't know much about her or her song, so I
didn't know that this song is sort of a prequel
to her song Before He Cheats, which apparently was a
big hit or something.
Speaker 8: Oh that was, you know that song everything. Even Neil
would know that song if he heard it.
Speaker 4: Also, I hadn't seen the video, and the story's a
little different in the video than the one in my head.
I agree with Billboard who said it's a cleverly penn
lyric that hilariously celebrates drunken debauchery, as well as summing
it up as a performance that combines soulful vocals, edgy intensity,
and sassy attitude into a delicious cocktail. Love that review.
What I learned from the video is that the guy
that she's talking to and with that night is hitting
on and ogling every other woman in sight the whole evening.
So for me, it went from like a cute little
drunken story of two people getting drunk together and end
up married to whatever this was, I don't know. I
wrote I roll emoji because I couldn't think of it.
So thanks to this show. I like the song a
little bit less, but I'm just going to keep my
own version in my head of what happened.
Speaker 8: All right.
Speaker 5: I like her.
Speaker 8: She performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
induction ceremony that we got to go to in twenty three.
She did They were inducting George Michael, and she did
one more try that hit. She did a good job.
I thought it was good.
Speaker 4: You don't have to defend her to me. I think
she's got an incredible voice. I just don't know anything
about her.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I couldn't tell you that I learned today about her.
All I know is, you know, kind of the hits
all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know anything.
Speaker 4: Either, but I just I just love the twist. I
think it's very funny.
Speaker 8: Yeah, that was a good one.
Speaker 4: But now I'm mad at the creepy guy.
Speaker 8: He wasn't creepy, but there was nothing.
Speaker 4: He was totally creepy. He was hitting on every other
woman in the room while he was like, and why
did he drag her out to get married if he
knew he was going to be a jerk and cheatah
her In the next song.
Speaker 8: The next song that comes later, you can be mad later, Okay, Okay,
we'll come back to that one songs about anger or something.
Then you can bring that up. Okay, we'll refer back
to this. Got it all right? Sounds good? One more
quick break and we have two more picks to go,
so stick around Hutson River.
Speaker 10: Radio dot com.
Speaker 6: Hudson Riverradio dot com.
Speaker 8: And at last we are up to Gale.
Speaker 9: And that's the name of the song I chose because
it's been in my head for the last three weeks
and I couldn't forget about it. So I barely know
where to start. Regarding the artist whose version of it
I chose, Eta James Gosh.
Speaker 4: So good, so good.
Speaker 9: There is a ton of information about her. She was
actually born james Etta Hawkins, and she was born January
twenty fifth, nineteen thirty eight, and she passed away at
seventy three on January twentieth, twenty twelve. She was an
American singer and songwriter. She started her career in nineteen
fifty four. She frequently performed in Nashville's R and B clubs,
collectively known in the nineteen forties, fifties, and sixties as
the Chutlin Circuit. She dealt with a number of personal problems,
including heroin addiction, physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a
musical comeback in the late nineteen eighties with the album
Seven Year Itch came out in nineteen eighty eight. She
won so many awards. She won three Grammy Awards for
her albums two thousand and five, two thousand and four,
nineteen ninety five, Gosh, the Blues Music Awards. She was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
nineteen ninety three, the Grammy Hall of Fame in nineteen
ninety nine, and the Blues Hall of Fame in two
thousand and one. She also received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Award in two thousand and three. Rolling Stone magazine ranks
her number twenty two on the two thousand and eight
list of the one hundred Greatest Singers of All Time.
She was also ranked number sixty two in its list
of the one hundred Greatest Artists of all time. Billboard
Magazine's twenty fifteen lists of the thirty five greatest R
and B Artists of all time also included Eta James.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named her one
of the greatest voices of her century and forever the
matriarch of blues Now.
Speaker 4: The song I chose is at Last, which is just.
Speaker 9: Such a beautiful, bluesy, wonderful song. You could kind of
just fall into it. It's oughugh, It's one of those
things that I say, you can eat it with a spoon.
Speaker 8: So it's the opposite of Carrie Underwood.
Speaker 9: Yes, okay, sorry, sorry Mercedes, but yeah now. The song itself,
at Last, was written by Mac Gordon and Harry Warren
for the musical film Sun Valley Serenade in nineteen forty one.
Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded the tune several times
with a nineteen forty two version reaching number two on
the US Billboard Pop Music chart. In nineteen sixty, Eda
James recorded an arrangement by Riley Hampton that improvised on
Warren's original melody at A. James's written edition was the
title track on her debut album, also called at Last,
in nineteen sixty and was eventually inducted into the Grammy
Hall of Fame in nineteen ninety nine. Most recently, Selene
Dion and Beyonce have also have chart success is with
the song.
Speaker 8: Yeah, didn't Etiquette really upset about that?
Speaker 11: Yeah?
Speaker 9: I think I think I read that she did because
she felt it.
Speaker 8: It's her song and it was. Yeah, I just remember
something about Beyonce. I don't remember Seline Dion, thank god,
I've never heard that version. Yeah, no, absolutely, but yeah,
I remember her being quite upset about Beyonce doing it
for something and rightfully so I would agree.
Speaker 9: Yeah, well, let's have a listen and I'll mention any
normal things about the.
Speaker 8: Artist, and the song.
Speaker 14: Has come along.
Speaker 6: My lonely days.
Speaker 8: Are over.
Speaker 10: L likeness like a song. Yeah, at Last, the Stones above.
Speaker 14: The Blue, My heart was wrapped up in Clover the
night I looked at you.
Speaker 6: I found from the dreams that I could speak to,
a dream that I can call my own.
Speaker 10: I found a dream.
Speaker 14: To press my check too, A thrill live you smile,
you smile.
Speaker 10: Oh, they.
Speaker 6: The spells cats.
Speaker 10: And here we are in heaven for your mine. At least.
Speaker 9: To me, it doesn't get much better than that.
Speaker 1: That's a masterpiece.
Speaker 9: Oh that was beautiful, absolutely delicious, beautifully sung, just the
right amount of losiness in it.
Speaker 8: And just oh but does she know his last name?
Speaker 9: Well, she didn't say so she might or might not. Fair,
I mean, hopefully she does, but I guess she's not
telling anybody. Oh, oh, gosh. At Last became Da James's
signature song and was the third in a string of
successful songs from her RGO Record's debut album in April
nineteen sixty one. It became her second number two R
and B hit single and crossed over to pop radio,
reaching number forty seven on the Billboard Hot one hundred.
Despite its modest pop chart standing, this song is well
known and is still played regularly on oldies radio stations
and has become a music standard. Her recording also reached
number thirty in cash Box magazine and the song obviously
is often used for weddings and wedding receptions. And this
version was inducted to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry,
and in twenty twenty one it ranked at number one
hundred and fifteen on Rolling Stones Top one hundred Greatest
Songs of All Time. And I definitely think it's one
of the greatest songs of all time. And you know me,
Usually I'm listening to male singers with deep voices and
heavy drum beats and all that kind of thing, but
this one just grabs me every time.
Speaker 4: My favorite EDITJM song is I'd Rather Go Blind? Have
you ever heard that?
Speaker 9: I've heard of it, but I need to listen to it.
Speaker 4: It's so good, it's so good.
Speaker 8: Nice all right. Yeah, I played that one a million
times at learnings in the previous life, so yeah, I'm
quite familiar with that one.
Speaker 9: So all right, I would like to like practice that
well enough to do like an open mic or something.
Speaker 8: We got the crambone band right here, We got the
guitarist here. He was supposed to be practicing right after
the show. Are you no, she's shaking her head now,
all right, we'll have to get someone else to fill in.
But yeah, we can make it happen. It's all good.
We'll put it on the list, all right, one more
to go, here we go. So our story now starts
with a guy named Benjamin Earl Nelson born in North
Carolina in nineteen thirty eight. His family moved to Harlem,
New York when he was nine, and in nineteen fifty eight,
when he was around twenty, he was invited to join
a duop group known as the Five Crowns after he
was overheard singing to himself while working at his father's luncheonette.
The manager of a group known as the Drifters saw
the Five Crowns perform at the legendary Apollo Theater. This
manager then fired the original members of the Drifters and
replace them with the Five Crowns, who then became the Drifters.
You can probably say, wow, yeah, that's how good they
You can keep track of that.
Speaker 1: Wow, what are the odds of that happened?
Speaker 5: Uh huh.
Speaker 8: So in nineteen sixty Benjamin Nelson left the Drifters for
a solo career. He took on the name Ben e King,
and his first single was the wildly successful Spanish Harlem,
which I think everybody who's listening to the show probably
knows that song. It was his next single that would
make him an absolute legend. Stand By Me is one
of the few songs to chart twice, once when it
was released in nineteen sixty one and then again in
nineteen eighty six when it was used in the.
Speaker 4: Movie stand By Me, stan By Me, Thank You.
Speaker 8: Ben Benny King died in twenty fifteen at age seventy six,
but rewind the clock a little bit. In nineteen sixty,
just before King left the Drifters, they had a number
one hit with the song Save the Last Dance for Me.
It was produced by Jerry Leeber and Mike Stoller, who
also wrote hound Dog, which we talked about before Big
Mom Thornton then later Elvis. At the time they had
a young unknown apprentice named Phil Spector who was learning
the ropes and learning how to handle firearms unsafely.
Speaker 9: Remember totally read my mind just now, Brian.
Speaker 8: Yep, that's a whole other thing we could talk about
another time. The song itself was written by a blue
singer songwriter named Jerry Felder, who went by the stage
name Doc Pomis because he thought Doc Pomis carried more
credibility than Jerry Felder for some reason. Okay, he partnered
up with a younger songwriter named Mort Schuman, who went
by the stage name Mort Schuman because apparently he didn't
care and just kept his name. They were both from Brooklyn,
New York. Now to the casual listener, the song Save
the Last Dance for Me is about a guy who
was happy to watch his girlfriend or wife or whatever.
We don't know mingle socialize have a good time, presumably
at a party, as long as she obviously dances the
last dance with him before they go home for the evening.
We are not casual listeners here at the Rock and
Roll History Show because otherwise we would not have a
show to do, so the real story behind the song
is a little more bittersweet. The writer Doc Pomis slash
Jerry Felder, doc Felder, Pomis, whatever you want to call him,
was stricken by polio when he was younger, and he
walked with the help of crutches. Later on he was
wheelchair bound. Unfortunately, polio, if you're not familiar, because none
of us have, it, is a virus also called poliomyelitis.
It's highly infectious. It attacks the nervous system and can
render someone paralyzed within hours of catching it. There is
no cure, but there is a highly effective vaccine, and
polio is one of those diseases that's on the verge
of being eradicated, not quite there. Only the second disease
in human history to be eradicated smallpox me in the
first back in nineteen eighty. As of now, the FDA,
some individual has asked the FDA to revoke approval for
the polio vaccine, which to me is just pure idiocy.
And I wasn't gonna mention this. I'm mentioning it now.
In one of the previous lifetimes, I picked up a
master's degree in public health, so when I'm saying this,
I have a little bit of background to say it.
So the two biggest things, two biggest improvements in public
health plumbing and vaccines.
Speaker 4: So take from that what you will, and take your vaccine,
take your vaccines.
Speaker 9: Really, I just I like indoor plumbing very much.
Speaker 8: Right. The third best thing ever is the whirlpool of
jet tub when you have a night off, but that's
again another discussion for another show.
Speaker 4: You know, if you have one if you have one.
Speaker 8: I don't have one, but sounds awesome, doesn't it. Yeah,
all right, back to the song. So now, Doc Pomis's wife,
Willie Burke, was a Broadway dancer and actress, so the
song is actually his first person perspective of watching his
dancer wife having fun dancing doing what she did, but
not being able to join in himself because he was
stuck in a wheelchair. But he knows no matter what,
that at the end of the night, she will be
going home with him and live happily ever after. Together.
Doc Pomis and mort Schumann had a very long list
of hits that they wrote together. They wrote A Teenager
in Love, They wrote This Magic Moment, you know, Jay
Black and the Americans. They wrote Viva Las Vegas, made
popular by Elvis, So they did quite well for themselves
as songwriters. They worked out of the historic Brill Building
in New York City, which is still there but is
now retail space and office space, and they call it
creative spaces, like they lease out to artists and all
that kind of thing. But it's not the music building
that it was before.
Speaker 4: But let's give a little real building, doesn't it.
Speaker 8: I think somebody bought the sign too. They kept it
and they they're using it for something else. It might
be on display in a gallery somewhere. I don't think
it's on the building anymore. I think that was actually
auctioned off when the building was sold, So that's something
to look into. I'm not really sure so, but the
building itself is still there. The insides are completely I
think it's a CVS and a bank at the ground level,
which is not nearly as exciting as a smash it
by the drifters, which we are going to listen to. Now,
you saved the last dance for me.
Speaker 7: You can dance heavy, dance with the gals and give
you the I let them hold you tight.
Speaker 4: You can smile if you smile for the man who
held your.
Speaker 1: Hand for pil.
Speaker 8: But don't forget who so d say the last dance.
Speaker 5: Apparently, allegedly, my father had polio when he was like
very young. Yeah, well he survived and uh well his
one leg was shorter than the other. That was no
wheelchair or anything like that. But and there's a long
story that goes with that, and I'll tell you some
other time.
Speaker 8: But yeah, it wasn't failed, you know, unless your breathing
muscles were paralyzed.
Speaker 5: Let me cut to the it got him, he didn't.
He was drafted obviously into World War two, but it
kept him out of the Battle of the Bulge. And
it's kind of a comical story. But yeah, that would
have been I might not have been here. I might
have you know that, get there, But thanks to polio
you got me.
Speaker 8: Thanks, thanks, I know. Yes, it's Kennon the whole iron
lung thing. That's why we have Helena Hospital.
Speaker 4: It says, it's stop the building last for me.
Speaker 5: Hey, fiddles, whole bunch of them.
Speaker 4: Don't they sound good?
Speaker 6: What do you calls?
Speaker 4: Take your sticks your last?
Speaker 3: See the last dance for me?
Speaker 1: Say the last?
Speaker 8: So yeah, Benny King did all right for himself for
a while after that. I can see why that's one
of those groove songs. I don't know, I don't know
anybody who doesn't like that song.
Speaker 4: How can you not like that song? You know?
Speaker 9: Right?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: An incredible song?
Speaker 8: Yeah all right, so uh that's it for that was
the last last that we're gonna last tonight.
Speaker 4: I think all the songs tonight were incredible. They were
maybe maybe mine.
Speaker 1: I like him, know she's an awesome vocalist.
Speaker 4: She is an awesome bookus of music.
Speaker 1: That's right, neither, but she's an awesome vocalist.
Speaker 8: She falls into that new country overproduced songs are written
by committee style, which doesn't take away from her vocal ability.
I think it says more about the business.
Speaker 5: You still have to be able to sing it. Yeah,
you still have to live right, So and she can.
Speaker 4: She's you know, she's legit a strong vocalist.
Speaker 8: YEP, I get it, all right.
Speaker 5: So we saved the best for last, is what we're saying.
Did we think we did?
Speaker 8: I don't know. I think they were all good.
Speaker 5: That's what I'm saying. We all saved. Never mind, I
got you.
Speaker 8: But the problem is which is the last? Last? Got it?
Speaker 4: Got it? But we're all the last collectively are the
last song?
Speaker 5: We are, right?
Speaker 8: And this conversation is telling me it's time to pull
the plug.
Speaker 4: Whatever that?
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, context clues, we'll go with that. So all right.
As always, excellent selections, and thank you Crambones for all
the hard work you guys put in every week, almost
every week except for the occasional week that we're not here,
And thank you all for joining us. Here for the
rock and Roll History Show. Don't forget to subscribe in
your favorite podcast app and check out all the other
shows we do at Hudson River Radio. There is something
for everybody. We'll be back next week with another band,
new episode. Until then, have a great weekend and peace
out everybody.
Speaker 13: I'm due to other.
Speaker 9: Name, come a rock cop bottom it trum.
Speaker 6: Okay, Bye bye.
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