Category: Music Blog

Music Blog

MONDAY HARRISONG

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬
In the recording studio

This week I’m doing something I never do: I’m not going to write any stories (unless a word or photo prompt seduces me, which is always a possibility). I needed a little break and thought I’d concentrate on my other great love: music.

November 29 is the 22nd anniversary of the death of George Harrison so this week is all about George and the songs he wrote while with the Beatles.

Let’s get the ball rolling with this little gem. Here’s some background info:

Between August 19 and 24, 1963, the Beatles were playing some concerts in Bournemouth, on the southern coast of England, along with Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and Tommy Quickly. Feeling sick and with orders from his doctor to rest, George had nothing to do in his room at the Palace Court Hotel. Bored, he began writing a song, recording himself on a portable tape recorder. The result was “Don’t Bother Me”, George’s first song to appear on a Beatles’ album.

From the band’s second album, “With The Beatles”, this is “Don’t Bother Me”. There’s not a single thing wrong with a George Harrisong!

Lyrics

Since she’s been gone I want no one to talk to me
It’s not the same, but I’m to blame, it’s plain to see
So go away and leave me alone
Don’t bother me

I can’t believe that she would leave me on my own
It’s just not right when every night I’m all alone
I’ve got no time for you right now
Don’t bother me

I know I’ll never be the same
If I don’t get her back again
Because I know she’ll always be
The only girl for me

But ’til she’s here, please, don’t come near, just stay away
I’ll let you know when she’s come home until that day
Don’t come around, leave me alone
Don’t bother me

I’ve got no time for you right now
Don’t bother me

I know I’ll never be the same
If I don’t get her back again
Because I know she’ll always be
The only girl for me

But ’til she’s here, please, don’t come near, just stay away
I’ll let you know when she’s come home until that day
Don’t come around, leave me alone
Don’t bother me
Don’t bother me
Don’t bother me
Don’t bother me
Don’t bother me

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: George Harrison
Don’t Bother Me lyrics © Jaep Music Ltd. – Dick James Music Ltd.

“Don’t Bother Me”
Song by the Beatles
from the album With The Beatles
Released22 November 1963
Recorded12 September 1963
StudioEMI, London
GenreRock and Roll beat
Length2:29
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)George Harrison
Producer(s)George Martin

NAR © 2023

Music Blog

BEFORE HIS COUNTRY DIES

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬
Ravi Shankar/George Harrison

This week the theme at Song Lyric Sunday is to find a song by an artist or group that won a Grammy.

Where do I begin? Where my heart takes me!

If you know me, chances are very good you know I’m a Beatles lover from Day 1. If you know me really well, there’s no question which of the Fab Four is closest to my heart.

Perhaps it’s because we’re both Pisces. Maybe it’s because I always root for the underdog. Maybe it’s because he was an immensely humble man never allowing money or success to be the end all in his life. He was accepting, gracious, genuine …. a man of great faith who possessed an enormous talent.

He was, of course, George Harrison.

George has an amazing catalog of songs; in my mind one of the best things he ever did was the “Concert for Bangla Desh” which won a Grammy in 1973 for Album of the Year. I will not bore you with statistics; here’s a link to Wiki where you can find out everything you ever wanted to know:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Concert_for_Bangladesh_(album)

Today we’re just going to sit back and enjoy the legendary eponymous song from that phenomenal concert. Here is “Bangla Desh”:

Please follow me this week as I feature a different George song every day as a tribute to and in memory of the great George Harrison.

On Wednesday, November 29, we will mark the 22nd anniversary of his passing. That was a day that truly broke my heart. Thank the gods his music will never die.

As I like to say, “There’s not a single thing wrong with a George Harrisong!”

Thanks, Jim, for another great prompt!

NAR © 2023

Outstanding Music Achievement

Lyrics

My friend came to me, with sadness in his eyes
He told me that he wanted help
Before his country dies
Although I couldn’t feel the pain, I knew I had to try
Now I’m asking all of you
To help us save some lives
Bangla Desh, Bangla Desh
Where so many people are dying fast
And it sure looks like a mess
I’ve never seen such distress
Now won’t you lend your hand and understand
Relieve the people of Bangla Desh
Bangla Desh, Bangla Desh
Such a great disaster – I don’t understand
But it sure looks like a mess
I’ve never known such distress
Now please don’t turn away, I want to hear you say
Relieve the people of Bangla Desh
Relieve Bangla Desh
Bangla Desh, Bangla Desh
Now it may seem so far from where we all are
It’s something we can’t neglect
It’s something I can’t neglect
Now won’t you give some bread to get the starving fed
We’ve got to relieve Bangla Desh
Relieve the people of Bangla Desh
We’ve got to relieve Bangla Desh
Relieve the people of Bangla Desh

Words and music by George Harrison

“BanglaDesh”
Single by George Harrison
B-side“Deep Blue“
Released28 July 1971
RecordedJuly 1971
Record Plant West, Los Angeles
GenreRock, gospel
Length3:57
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)George Harrison
Producer(s)George Harrison, Phil Spector
George Harrison singles chronology
“What Is Life“
(1971) “BanglaDesh“
(1971) “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)“
(1973)

The Concert for Bangladesh
Live album by George Harrison & Friends
Released20 December 1971
Recorded1 August 1971
VenueMadison Square Garden, New York
GenreRock[1]Hindustani classicalfolkgospel
Length99:32
LabelApple
ProducerGeorge HarrisonPhil Spector
George Harrison chronology
All Things Must Pass
(1970)The Concert for Bangladesh
(1971)Living in the Material World
(1973)
Music Blog

UNPLUGGED IN L.A.

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Jim over at Song Lyric Sunday is asking us to get unplugged today by writing about an acoustic rock song.

Of course, my immediate reaction was to go right to the source, the premier #1 acoustic song, the most covered song in the history of songs …. “Yesterday” by the Beatles …. but I changed my mind. Too predictable; anyone who knows me would expect me to go there. So I went with another member of British royalty and selected one of the greatest acoustic songs I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing live.

Led Zeppelin could do it all, including ballads, and the finest has to be “Going to California” from their unchallenged masterpiece, 1971’s Led Zeppelin IV.

This folk-leaning rock song features only Robert Plant on vocals, acoustic guitar by Jimmy Page and the mesmerizing ring of the mandolin by the group’s bassist and multi-instrumental wizard, John Paul Jones.

The track came about after Jimmy Page and some crew members experienced a small earthquake while in Los Angeles. Folk legend Joni Mitchell supplied the “aha moment” for this song by inspiring the line: “She plays guitar and cries and sings”. When playing it live, Robert Plant would sometimes sing ‘Joni’ after this portion of lyrics. Well, he did the night I heard it.

Thanks to Jim for this fantastic prompt today.

NAR © 2023

Going Unplugged

This is Led Zeppelin and “Going To California”

Lyrics

Spent my days with a woman unkind
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine
Made up my mind to make a new start
Going to California with an aching in my heart
Someone told me there’s a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair

Took my chances on a big jet plane
Never let ’em tell ya that they’re all the same
Oh, the sea was red and the sky was grey
I wonder how tomorrow could ever follow today
The mountains and the canyons start to tremble and shake
The children of the sun begin to awake (watch out)

It seems that the wrath of the gods got a punch on the nose
And it’s startin’ to flow, I think I might be sinkin’
Throw me a line, if I reach it in time
I’ll meet you up there where the path runs straight and high

To find a queen without a king
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings, la-la-la
Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin’ to find a woman who’s never, never, never been born
Standin’ on a hill in the mountain of dreams
Tellin’ myself it’s not as hard, hard, hard as it seems

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Jimmy Page / Robert Anthony Plant
Going to California lyrics © Succubus Music Ltd., Sons Of Einion Publishing, Flames Of Albion Music, Inc.

“Going to California”
Song by Led Zeppelin
from the album Led Zeppelin IV
Released8 November 1971
Recorded1971
StudioHeadley Grange, Hampshire, England
GenreFolk Art rock
Length3:32
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Producer(s)Jimmy Page
Music Blog

ABOUT THAT BRIDGE

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Continue reading “ABOUT THAT BRIDGE” →

Music Blog

UNDERRATED? GO FISH!

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

 Jim at Song Lyric Sunday has presented us with this challenge:
“Find a song that you feel is an underrated deep album cut.”
OK, friends. Here we go! 

“Nantucket Sleighride” is the second studio album by the American hard rock band Mountain, released in January 1971.

The title track “Nantucket Sleighride” (To Owen Coffin) and album title is a reference to the experience of being towed along in a boat by a harpooned whale.

Poor Owen, to whom the song is dedicated, was a young seaman on the Nantucket whaler Essex, which was rammed and sunk by a sperm whale in 1820. In the aftermath of the wreck, Coffin was shot and eaten by his shipmates. The story of the Essex was recorded by its First Mate Owen Chase, one of eight survivors, in his 1821 “Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex”.

On the list of 100 Most Underrated Rock Songs, “Nantucket Sleighride” stands in the whopping #10 slot. What?? Are you kidding me? The 10th most underrated rock song of all time. What are these list-compilers smoking?

I don’t have the answer to that and I can’t even hazard a guess. “Nantucket Sleighride” is one of Mountain’s  (and Leslie West’s) greatest achievements. It is a stone classic of 1970s heavy metal and a guitarist’s dream. This title track from the album is easily Mountain’s greatest individual song. The band took its inspiration from Cream and turned it into some of the finest guitar driven hard rock ever put on record. If anyone doesn’t agree that Leslie West is a great guitarist and this song is epic, then I suggest they just listen.

#10 FFS!

NAR © 2023

This is Mountain and “Nantucket Sleighride” (To Owen Coffin)

Lyrics
Goodbye, little Robin-Marie
Don’t try following me
Don’t cry, little Robin-Marie
‘Cause you know I’m coming home soon

My ships’ leaving on a three-year tour
The next tide will take us from shore
Windlaced, gather in sail and spray
On a search for the mighty sperm whale

Fly your willow branches
Wrap your body round my soul
Lay down your reeds and drums on my soft sheets
There are years behind us reaching
To the place where hearts are beating
And I know you’re the last true love I’ll ever meet

Starbuck’s sharpening his harpoon
The black man’s playing his tune
An old salt’s sleeping his watch away
He’ll be drunk again before noon

Three years sailing on bended knee
We found no whales in the sea
Don’t cry, little Robin-Marie
‘Cause we’ll be in sight of land soon

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Felix Pappalardi / Gail Collins
Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

  • Leslie West – guitar, vocals
  • Felix Pappalardi – bass, vocals, production
  • Steve Knight – keyboards
  • Corky Laing – drums, percussion
Nantucket Sleighride
Studio Album by  Mountain
ReleasedJanuary 1971
Recordedlate 1970
StudioThe Record Plant, New York City, NY
GenreHard rock
Length35:12
LabelWindfall (US)
Island (UK)
ProducerFelix Pappalardi
Mountain chronology
Climbing! (1970)
Nantucket Sleighride (1971)
Flowers of Evil (1971)
Music Blog

DESTINATION UNKNOWN

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Our friend Jim Adams over at “Song Lyric Sunday” has given us a new challenge. This week the theme is to find a song by an artist or group that has a color in their name.

My choice is a song I found visually interesting and musically appealing right off the bat. It’s unusual (in a good way) and bold and still delivers a great song with an intriguing spy story video attached.

My song of choice today is “Twilight Zone” by Golden Earring.

The Dutch band Golden Earring had a hit in 1982 with their song “Twilight Zone”. It was written by the band’s guitarist George Kooymans who drew inspiration from the book, “The Bourne Identity”. The song spent 27 weeks on the US Pop charts and was the group’s sole Top 10 Pop single on the US Billboard Hot 100. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top Album Tracks chart, the band’s only No. 1 hit single in the US. Lead vocals are divided between Kooymans and Golden Earring frontman, Barry Hay

The music video was one of the first to feature a cinematic storyline and dance choreography and was a hit on the fledgling MTV network. Golden Earring followed their success on MTV with an extensive tour of the US, Canada and Europe. MTV commissioned the band to shoot a movie of the final “homecoming” concert of the tour in the Netherlands. The concert was released in 1984 as “Live from The Twilight Zone” along with an album of the concert titled “Something Heavy Going Down: Live From the Twilight Zone”. It aired on MTV and was published as a video on VHS, Beta and Laserdisc.

Golden Earring’s ”Cut” album cover image of the Jack of diamonds playing card being shredded by a bullet is used in the video and represents the life of a rogue secret agent.

Thanks for another great challenge today, Jim! Always fun!

NAR © 2023

Power of Color

Now here’s the video of Golden Earring’s “Twilight Zone”.

LYRICS

Somewhere in a lonely hotel room there’s a guy
Starting to realize that eternal fate has turned its back on him
It’s two A.M.

It’s two A.M. (It’s two A.M.)
Fear is gone (fear is gone)
I’m sitting here waiting
The Gun still warm (the gun still warm)
Maybe my connection is tired of taking chances

Yeah, there’s a storm on the loose
Sirens in my head
Wrapped up in silence, all circuits are dead
Cannot decode, my whole life spins into a frenzy

Help, I’m steppin’ into the twilight zone
Place is a madhouse, feels like being cold
My beacon’s been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go now that I’ve gone too far? (Oh oh oh)

Help, I’m steppin’ into the twilight zone
Place is a madhouse, feels like being alone
My beacon’s been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go now that I’ve gone too far?

So you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
So you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone

I’m fallin’ down a spiral, destination unknown
Double crossed messenger, all alone
Can’t get no connection, can’t get through
Where are you?

Well the night weighs heavy on his guilty mind
This far from the borderline
When the hitman comes
He knows damn well he has been cheated

And he says
Help, I’m steppin’ into the twilight zone
Place is a madhouse, feels like being cold
My beacon’s been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go now that I’ve gone too far? (Oh oh oh)

Help, I’m steppin’ into the twilight zone
Place is a madhouse, feels like being alone
My beacon’s been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go now that I’ve gone too far?

So you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
So you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone

Help, I’m steppin’ into the twilight zone
Place is a madhouse, feels like being cold
My beacon’s been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go now that I’ve gone too far? (Oh oh oh)

Help, I’m steppin’ into the twilight zone
Place is a madhouse, feels like being alone
My beacon’s been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go now that I’ve gone too far?

So you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
So you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
So you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
So you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone
When the bullet hits the bone

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: George Kooymans
Twilight Zone lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Twilight Zone”
Single by Golden Earring
from the album Cut
B-side“King Dark”
Released23 August 1982 (NL) 
Recorded1982
GenreRock, new wave
Length7:58 (album version)
4:47 (single version)
Label21/Polygram
Songwriter(s)George Kooymans
Producer(s)Schell Schellekens
Music Blog

PHILADELPHIA SOUL

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Glyn from Mixed Music Bag is asking us to feature musical groups starting with the letter “O” for the month of October; today I’m showcasing a very well-known group and one of their most popular songs.

The O’Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio formed in 1958. They made their first chart appearance with the minor hit “Lonely Drifter” in 1963 but reached their greatest level of success in 1972 once they were signed to the Philadelphia International label by producers and songwriters Gamble & Huff.  The O’Jays emerged at the forefront of Philadelphia soul with “Back Stabbers” (1972) and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 the following year with “Love Train“. Several other US R&B hits followed; the O’Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

“Love Train” by the O’Jays was written by the team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. This hit single skyrocketed to No. 1 in the US and No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. It was the O’Jays’ first and only number one record on the US pop chart. “Love Train” has been considered one of the first songs of disco music. 

On January 27, 1973,“Love Train” entered the Hot 100’s top 40, the same day that the Paris Peace Accords were signed. The song’s lyrics of unity mention a number of countries, including England, Russia, China, Egypt and Israel, as well as the continent of Africa. Record World said of the single release that the “tune chugs right along with a Gamble and a Huff” and could become the biggest hit from the “Back Stabbers” album …. which it did. “Love Train” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006. 

I think you will agree this song’s message of peace and unity throughout the world is one that is needed even more today than ever before.

NAR © 2023

Mixed Music Bag – week 34

Performing on the TV show “Soul Train”, here are the O’Jays doing their classic hit song, “Love Train”:

Lyrics

People all over the world (everybody)
Join hands (join)
Start a love train, love train
People all over the world (all the world, now)
Join hands (love ride)
Start a love train (love ride), love train

The next stop that we make will be England
Tell all the folks in Russia, and China, too
Don’t you know that it’s time to get on board
And let this train keep on riding, riding on through
Well, well

People all over the world (you don’t need no money)
Join hands (come on)
Start a love train, love train (don’t need no ticket, come on)
People all over the world (join in, ride this train)
Join in (ride this train, y’all)
Start a love train (come on, train), love train

All of you brothers over in Africa
Tell all the folks in Egypt, and Israel, too
Please don’t miss this train at the station
‘Cause if you miss it, I feel sorry, sorry for you
Well

People all over the world (sisters and brothers)
Join hands (join, come on)
Start a love train (ride this train, y’all), love train (come on)
People all over the world (don’t need no tickets)
Join hands (come on, ride)
Start a love train, love train
Ride, let it ride
Let it ride
Let it ride
People, ain’t no war

People all over the world (on this train)
Join in (ride the train)
Start a love train, love train (ride the train, y’all)
People all over the world (come on)
Join hands (you can ride or stand, yeah)
Start a love train, love train (makin’ love)
People all over the world (’round the world, y’all)
Join hands (come on)
Start a love train, love train
People all over the world
Join hands
Start a love train, love train
People all over the world
Join hands
Start a love train, love train
People all over the world
Join hands
Start a love train

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Kenneth Gamble / Leon Huff
Love Train lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

“Love Train”
Side A of the US single
Single by the O’Jays
from the album Back Stabbers
B-side“Who Am I”
ReleasedDecember 20, 1972[1]
RecordedSummer 1971 to 1972
GenreProto-disco, R&B, Philly soul, bubblegum pop
Length6:15 (extended version); 2:59 (album version)
LabelPhiladelphia International
Songwriter(s)Kenneth Gamble,  Leon Huff
Producer(s)Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff
The O’Jays singles chronology
“992 Arguments”
(1972) “Love Train“
(1972) “Time to Get Down”
(1973)
Music video
“Love Train” (Official “Love Train” Video on YouTube
Music Blog

DOING IT CHICAGO STYLE

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

For Jim’s Song Lyric Sunday, I’m celebrating the phenomenal voice and life of the legendary Etta James, whose heartfelt tunes and soulful pipes captured an enduring spot in American music history.

James was born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, CA. She grew from a gospel prodigy into a versatile singer of jazz, R&B, soul, blues and rock ‘n’ roll. 

James’ greatest success came after she signed with Chicago-based Chess Records in 1960. During her time with the company, which inspired the movie “Cadillac Records”, she produced pivotal works including “A Sunday Kind of Love,” “Trust in Me,” “At Last,” and “I’d Rather Go Blind” which I am showcasing today. These great songs are all part of her hits album, “The Chess Box” as well as highlighted in “The Essential Etta James”. 

“I’d Rather Go Blind”  written by Ellington Jordan and co-credited to Billy Foster and Etta James, is one of those blues songs you hear once and never forget. It was first recorded and released in 1967 by Etta James and has subsequently become regarded as a soul and blues classic.

“I’d Rather Go Blind” was written while Ellington Jordan, AKA “Fugi”, was in prison. Fugi poured his grief from being incarcerated into the song and in 2006 told an interviewer “I got tired of losing and being down. I was in prison and didn’t know when I was going to get out. I sat in a piano room and began to write”. For Etta James, the song was about being blind in her “love life” and her “personal ways”, she wrote in her autobiography “A Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story”.

Over the years, “I’d Rather Go Blind” has been covered by Rod Stewart, Christine McVie and Beyonce, among others. In her autobiography, Etta James wrote “Funny, but that’s a tune that’s deepened along with my life, its meaning growing more mysterious. Me and the song have grown old together.”

For many listeners, the two and half minutes of “I’d Rather Go Blind” convey so much of the emotion James must have been feeling. When Leonard Chess of Chess Records heard the song for the first time, he had to leave the room, crying.

This is the one and only Etta James and “I’d Rather Go Blind”.

NAR © 2023

Doing it Chicago Style

Lyrics

Something told me it was over
When I saw you and her talkin’
Something deep down in my soul said, ‘Cry, girl’
When I saw you and that girl walkin’ around

Whoo, I would rather, I would rather go blind, boy
Then to see you walk away from me, child, no

Whoo, so you see, I love you so much
That I don’t wanna watch you leave me, baby
Most of all, I just don’t, I just don’t wanna be free, no

Whoo, whoo, I was just, I was just, I was just
Sittin here thinkin’, of your kiss and your warm embrace, yeah
When the reflection in the glass that I held to my lips now, baby
Revealed the tears that was on my face, yeah

Whoo and baby, baby, I’d rather, I’d rather be blind, boy
Then to see you walk away, see you walk away from me, yeah
Whoo, baby, baby, baby, I’d rather be blind…

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ellington Jordan / Billy Foster
I’d Rather Go Blind lyrics © Arc Music, Arc Music Corp, Urban Ideas Publishing

“I’d Rather Go Blind”
Single by Etta James
from the album Tell Mama
A-side“Tell Mama”
B-side“I’d Rather Go Blind”
Released1967
Recorded1967, FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama 
GenreSoul Blues Deep Soul
Length     2:32
Label     Cadet 5578
Songwriters      Etta James, Ellington Jordan, Billy Foster
Producer(s)      Rick Hall
Music Blog

BLUE EYED PHILLY SOUL

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Okay, we’re gonna turn the heat up just a bit here and really get in the groove with a little Philadelphia (Blue Eyed) Soul, as prompted this morning by Jim at Song Lyric Sunday.

When this song first came out in September of 1972, I was a newlywed of exactly three months with nothing but loving on my mind. I thought this was possibly the sexiest, most titillating and steamy song I’d ever heard.

It’s the story of an affair between a married man and his equally married lover. In the song, the two meet in secret “every day at the same café” at 6:30 where they hold hands and talk. The two are in a quandary: “We’ve got a thing going on. We both know that it’s wrong but it’s much too strong to let it go now.”

I’m presenting a cover version of this song by my favorite duo of all time – Hall and Oates, the most successful pair in music history (yes, even more successful than Simon & Garfunkel).

Why a cover and not the original when the original is an excellent recording? Two words: Daryl Hall. Fifty-plus years after seeing him on MTV, I still “have a thing going on” for Daryl Hall so please allow me this one indulgence.

Here now are Hall and Oates doing a live performance of “Me and Mrs. Jones”.

“Me and Mrs. Jones” was a #1 single originally performed by Billy Paul, recorded and released in 1972 on CBS Records’ Philadelphia International imprint. The single, included on the album 360 Degrees of Billy Paul, was written by Cary ‘Hippy’ Gilbert, Kenny Gamble, and Leon Huff, and arranged by Bobby Martin.

Lyrics
Me and Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin’ on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong
To let it go now

We meet every day at the same café
Six-thirty and no one knows she’ll be there
Holding hands, making all kinds of plans
While the jukebox plays our favorite songs

Me and Mrs., Mrs. Jones
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin’ on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong
To let it go now

We gotta be extra careful
That we don’t build our hopes up too high
‘Cause she’s got her own obligations
And so, and so do I

Me and Mrs., Mrs. Jones
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin’ on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong
To let it go now

Well, it’s time for us to be leaving
It hurts so much, it hurts so much inside
Now she’ll go her way and I’ll go mine
Tomorrow we’ll meet
The same place, the same time

Me and Mrs., Mrs. Jones
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin’ on (thing)
We gotta be extra careful (goin’ on)
We can’t afford to build our hopes up too high
I wanna meet (thing) and talk with you
At the same place (goin’ on), the same café, the same time
And we gonna hold hands like we used to
We gonna talk it over, talk it over
(Thing) we know, they know (goin’ on), and you know
And I know that it was wrong
But our thing is strong, we gotta let ’em know now
That we got a thing going on, a thing going on

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Cary Grant Gilbert / Kenneth Gamble / Leon Huff
Me and Mrs Jones lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

And now for the original by Billy Paul:

This will always be one of the smoothest, coolest and sexiest songs ever recorded.

Thanks, Jim, for a fun Philadelphia Soul prompt!

Philadelphia Soul
Music Blog

SIGN OF THE GYPSY QUEEN

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Today Jim at Song Lyric Sunday is asking us to think about a musical group with a type of food in its name and write about one of their songs. I have chosen the Canadian hard rock group April Wine and their song Sign of the Gypsy Queen.

♛

“Sign of the Gypsy Queen” was written and originally recorded by Lorence Hud. The song became a hit in Canada when released as a single in 1973. Hud’s version appeared on his eponymous debut album. The song reached the top 5 on the West Coast, #3 on CJRW-FM in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and peaked at #16 nationally on the RPM 100 chart.

April Wine had more success with its 1981 hard rock version of the song. It was the second single from their album, The Nature of the Beast. The song reached #40 on the Canadian Hot 100, and #57 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100, and #19 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

This version has become popular on album-oriented rock radio stations, getting frequent airplay in the United States and Canada; a music video aired on MTV’s first day of broadcast. It remains one of the group’s signature songs and a live concert staple.

“Sign of the Gypsy Queen” gained a brief resurgence in popularity when it was featured in an episode of the American television series Breaking Bad in 2013. The episode, “Granite State”, received critical acclaim, and is one of the most popular episodes in the series history.

Sign of the Gypsy Queen – by April Wine

Lyrics

Lightning smokes on the hillrise
Brought the man with the warning light
Shouting loud you had better fly
While the darkness can help you hide
Trouble’s comin’ without control
No one’s stayin’ that’s got a hope
Hurricane at the very least
In the words of the gypsy queen

Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go

Get my saddle and tie it on
Western wind who is fast and strong
Jump on back, he’s good and long
We’ll resist till we reach the dawn
Running seems like the best offense
Staying just don’t make any sense
No one could ever stop it now
Show the cards of the gypsy town

Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go

Shadows movin’ without a sound
From the hold of the sleepless town
Evil seems to be everywhere
Heed the spirit that brought despair
Trouble’s comin’ without control
No one’s stayin’ that’s got a hope
Hurricane at the very least
In the words of the gypsy queen

Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go
Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go
Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Lorence Hud

Sign of the Gypsy Queen lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

“Sign of the Gypsy Queen”
Single by April Wine
from the album The Nature of the Beast
B-side“Crash and Burn”
Released1981
StudioLe Manoir
GenreHard rock progressive rock
Length4:18
LabelAquarius Capitol
Songwriter(s)Lorence Hud
Producer(s)Myles Goodwyn Mike “Clay” Stone
April Wine singles chronology
“Just Between You and Me“
(1980) “Sign of the Gypsy Queen“
(1981) “Enough Is Enough”
(1981)
Audio
“Sign of the Gypsy Queen” on YouTube
Sustenance

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