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Rock and roll obits: Dick Clark and Levon Helm

Obits today for a couple of “senior” dudes who were most influential to our rock ‘n’ roll world.

Dick Clark, yeah, he counted down the fall of the big New Year’s ball on Times Square, but he also showed the world its latest bands with the tunes “you can dance to.” Plus, he was the real life Peter Pan, at least, he looked as if he never grew old.

Levon Helm, who’s he you ask? Well, ever hear about the electric Dylan? The Hawks played as the backup band during the controversial Dylan musical conversion. Later known as The Band, Helm was drummer and provided the gritty voice for the band singing stories more than songs such as “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “The Weight” (Take a load off Fannie), or “The Shape I’m In.”

Helm, the son of an Arkansas cotton farmer, was the only Yank among this otherwise Canadian group. It was an act that probably was known more widely known after their classic “The Last Waltz,” which was a 1978 “rockumentary” of The Band’s last concert.

My favorite song sung by Helm — Up On Cripple Creek — tells of a miner’s memory of girl way down South even though that remembrance is somewhat fogged by “a drunkard’s dream.”

“When I get off this mountain/You know where I want to go/Straight down the Mississippi River/To the Gulf of Mexico/To Lake Charles, Louisiana/Little Bessie, girl I once knew/She told me to come on by/If there’s anything that she could do … “

Well, never mind it’s a bit out of the way going to Lake Charles from Colorado by way of the Mississippi and Gulf. The fact that Lake Charles was just across the county-parish line from where I grew up was enough for at least me to identify.

Rest in peace Dick and Levon. Rock on.

 

 

 

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Back here discussing a few

You might have noticed I haven’t posted in a day or three. Ah, one word: “Verizon.” Long story and don’t want to talk about it right now.

I am on business in San Antonio overnight. Made the 4.5-hour drive from Beaumont on I-10. The speed limit was raised on most highways in Texas to 75 mph so more people will burn hydrocarbons. I can’t drive 55, but I can drive 75. For some reason, driving 75 feels like you are driving 82.5 mph. You know what I mean?

There are GOP primaries in Arizona and Michigan tonight. Whoopie! I will be watching NCIS x 2 and “Justified.” If you’ve not watched “Justified” on FX, you are missing a hell of a show. It is a very well-written, well-filmed and well-acted program. The first makes sense, of course, since it is based on Elmore Leonard’s novels “Riding the Rap” and “Pronto,” as well as the short story “Fire in the Hole.” That alone should make you want to watch “Justified” if you don’t already. I have already covered this subject before including the fact that the show has a cool Website with a couple of interactive games to help with that time you’ve been wanting to waste. Right?

As far as the primaries, if Mittens loses in Michigan — where his father was governor and CEO of American Motors (AMC) — then he’s stick-a-fork-in-the-toast done. Well, maybe not but it won’t make that nomination any easier to attain. George Wildken (where do they get all the weird names, Mitt’s name is Willard Mitt Romney) Romney also ran for the GOP nomination. He tried and failed back in 1968. That was when Tricky Dick Nixon was chosen for his first term.

I listened to Rush Limberjaw for about two minutes while driving today. He said there is no way that Obama will be reelected whether Romney or Santorum wins the Republican nomination. I think Rush sounds like he might be on the Oxy again.  I disagree, vigorously, with Rush’s ridiculous position just as I disagree that Rush is not a big balloon full o’ methane gas.

I’m back. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. That reminds me. I was zipping through the radio stations while driving to San Antonio and caught on a Houston urban music station a Zydeco version of “Movin On Up,” the old theme from “The Jeffersons” TV series. My friend Rene always called the show, “The Jeffersonians.” It was something to do. I am not for sure who recorded the Zydeco version.

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Sir Paul. You know, the Beatles, you twit!

From last night’s Grammys, sadly, I can believe all this Twittering.

“The End” literally was the best part of the Grammys with Paul McCartney finishing off the end of “Abbey Road” Side Two by joining a guitar solo jam with Bruce Springsteen, Joe Walsh of the Eagles, the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl.

Not Beatles related, I found out on the Grammys who Taylor Swift was and saw why she is so freaking popular. The performance of her hit composition and Grammy winner, “Mean” was pretty electrifying. The 22-year-old Pennsylvania girl has got it. And picks a banjo too.

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What were you whistling 30 years ago today? Find out.

Do you remember what you were doing on this day 10 years ago? How about 20? Howze about 50?

While you may not remember exactly what was happening on Jan. 31, 2002, or Jan. 31, 1982, chances are if you heard a song that was popular during that time it would most likely stir up your memory.

Well, with good ol’ Al Gore’s invention (made famous by Gee Dubya Bush), the Internets, one is able to travel back in time to find the top hit for this day — within reason – all the way back to the 1890s. The Billboard charts date back to the 1930s, so I don’t know how this Website that has all the top Billboard songs for a given day happens to have those top songs back to the 1890s. But this is the Internet. This particular site not only provides the opportunity to find the No. 1 song for a particular day but as well will let you hear it using clickable Rhapsody, iTunes and even some You Tube recordings.

It is quite a find actually. Supposing it’s accurate — if you want accuracy you do the cross checking — it gives everyone who uses a song to reflect upon their lives a melodic memory machine. So here are a few top songs for this day, Jan. 31:

Five years ago: “Irriplaceable,” Beyoncé, 2007

Ten years ago: “U Got It Bad,” Usher, 2002

20 years ago: “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me,” Elton John and George Michael, 1992 This is kind of a time warp since Elton first released the song solo in Summer 1974 when I was in Navy boot camp.

30 years ago: “Centerfold,” J. Geils Band, 1982. I remember a very cute friend from college asking me what would I do if I one day saw her on a centerfold. I said: “Uh, look?”

40 years ago: “American Pie,” Don McLean, 1972. Jeez, 40 years ago! Man, that really makes me feel old! Makes me feel like driving my Chevy in a levee, even if it’s dry.

50 years ago: “Peppermint Twist,” 1962, Joey Dee and the Starliters.

56 years ago: “Memories Are Made Of This,” Dean Martin 1956. I don’t think I heard this one until now, but then again I was only three months old when this was No. 1.

It is an interesting listing, this walk way down Memory Lane, plus an opportunity to listen to most of the songs. I don’t know what kind of “phile” you call a music lover but that’d be me. Of course, there are many who are much more into music than I am but between a fanatic and a hater on a scale of 1 and 10 with 1 being a fanatic, I would probably be a 2.75.

Interesting factoid: The No. 1 hit on this day in 1957 — I was 15 months old then — was “Singing The Blues” by Guy Mitchell. I don’t know Guy Mitchell. I also don’t know what I was doing that day either. I was probably throwing icky things. But I know and am a big fan of Marty Robbins (“El Paso,” “Devil Woman,” “Big Iron”) and I always thought he first recorded this song Guy Mitchell took to No. 1 on Jan. 31, 1957. The song did go to No. 1 on the country charts in 1956-57 with Robbins’ version which, along with the three aforementioned songs, are among my favorite Marty Robbins tunes. Guy Mitchell’s version is a bit more pop and has whistling in it. Whistling is good for some things, such as Old Spice commercials, but not for great songs such as “I never felt more like singing the blues/I never thought that I’d ever lose/Your love, dear/Why did you do me this way …”

Take a trip back to memory lane and you can even whistle if you’d like.

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The right side of Texas in song

The title of The Atlantic’s Top 10 piece “The Geography of the Year in Music” sounded like a good idea at the time. I envisioned, perhaps, a top 10 of cities mentioned in popular music for the year or something of the sort. Instead, it was kind of, how can I say this, boring as hell. Essentially, the piece uses information which a doctoral student in urban planning gathered through a database of hit songs or hit-making acts per city. The result was how many singles were produced per 100,000 for a specific city. Just trying to explain it here has already taken more out of me than was intended.

Look, I know the writer wants to write a piece and the doctoral student in urban planning wants to play with data. I am sure a large number of people will read the article because The Atlantic is bordering on the kitten’s PJs as far as I am concerned. I just found the article left me feeling as if I was in the Recovery Room after major surgery.

But I feel as if I too can write an article that combines what are, to me, the interesting topics of geography and music. Furthermore, I believe that I can bore the hell out of you as well if you are so disposed. Otherwise you might find some redeeming quality or, God forbid, learn something in my little Internet list, which examines:

The Top 5 East Texas Towns in Song

There is no hocus-pocus-focus with statistics here. Believe me, I work with stats part-time and sometimes even that is too much. These towns are picked as favorites of mine and mine alone because of the song, the town or the combination thereof. Purists might argue the tie for No. 5 are not really East Texas and perhaps they aren’t in soul. I say: “Get a map.”

1. “Rock and Roll Doctor” — Sung by the late, great Lowell George with Little Feat. “It’s just a country town but patients come/from Mobile to Moline from all around/Nacogdoches to New Orleans/in beat-up old cars or in limousines/To meet the doctor of soul, he’s got everything.”

2. “She’s Crazy For Leaving” — The No. 1 country single for Houston native and great songwriter Rodney Crowell. Crowell attended my alma mater, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. “So I punched out my truck on a telephone pole/No she never looked back she just said “go driver go.” Well I know I could a caught her/But I ran out of luck/She was long gone to Lufkin by the time they cut me out of my truck.”

3. “Stars on the Water” — Another, older Rodney Crowell tune. “Beaumont to Biloxi/Sea breeze at your door/Gypsy rains, dang hurricanes/White silver sandy shore/Blue Light lounge is shinin’/Way out on the view.”

4. “Teneha, Timpson, Bobo and Blair” — A real oldie by East Texas singing cowboy Tex Ritter. The song refers to communities in Shelby County, to which I know I have been to the first two. Perhaps it was an Army cadence call and for sure something called out in a crap game, Tex explains all in his song.

5. (Tie) “Galveston” — The 1960s hit penned by Jimmy Webb and sung by Glen Campbell. I had long heard it was a protest song about the Vietnam War, but knowing the lyrics, I didn’t see it. Webb later said he had imagined the line “I clean my gun and dream of Galveston” as during the Spanish-American War back in the island city’s heyday.

5. (Tie) “Midnight Special” — A traditional folk song made famous by blues legend Huddie Ledbetter a.k.a. Leadbelly. My favorite version is, of course, by Creedence Clearwater Revival on their “Willie and the Poor Boys” LP recorded in 1969. “If you’re ever in Houston/Boy you better do right/You better not gamble/And you better not fight/Cause the sheriff will grab you/And the boys will bring you down/The next thing you know boy, you’ll be prison bound.” I don’t know if those are the exact words. It’s one of those songs meant to be sung in the way you feel. ‘Cept you best sing Houston. Leadbelly’s words likely doesn’t portray the image that the Houston visitors bureau would like you to visualize. Still, Huddie Ledbetter’s words about Houston law enforcement remains fairly accurate.