Singin' the Blues or any other durn thing ya want.

[Lucky Irish Tom]

So Snidely Whiplash did play Baseball! 

[litl rooster]

So Snidely Whiplash did play Baseball! 

Heck I thought it was Geraldo Rivera

[Lucky Irish Tom]

OK, for $200 litl rooster, name the most famous pee song from the era.

I still think the answer should be "The Pee Song" by Donovan

You didn't ask the most famous song to pee during its play time.

[Leo Tanner]

The original of this Donovan track is great. Love the way the gittars work together 
     The Vanilla Fudge version however leaves much ta be desired 

When I look out my window,
Many sights to see.
And when I look in my window,
So many different people to be
That it's strange, so strange.
You've got to pick up every stitch,
You've got to pick up every stitch,
You've got to pick up every stitch,
Mm, must be the season of the witch,
Must be the season of the witch, yeah,
Must be the season of the witch.

When I look over my shoulder,
What do you think I see ?
Some other cat looking over
His shoulder at me
And he's strange, sure he's strange.
You've got to pick up every stitch,
You've got to pick up every stitch,
Beatniks are out to make it rich,
Oh no, must be the season of the witch,
Must be the season of the witch, yeah,
Must be the season of the witch.

You've got to pick up every stitch,
The rabbits running in the ditch,
Beatniks are out to make it rich,
Oh no, must be the season of the witch,
Must be the season of the witch,
Must be the season of the witch.
When I look.

When I look out my window,
What do you think I see ?
And when I look in my window,
So many different people to be
It's strange, sure it's strange.
You've got to pick up every stitch,
You've got to pick up every stitch,
The rabbits running in the ditch,
Oh no, must be the season of the witch,
Must be the season of the witch, yeah,
Must be the season of the witch.
When I look, when I look

[Delmonico]

Yes Buck that's Harry, one of the good ones, both in music and as a person, saw him twice, wither was the best concert I've been to.  Worked in a body shop when we found out he was gone.  Local Rock and Roll station would not play anything by him that morning, I cussed out the DJ and got drunk at lunch.  My radio was the only one in the shop, I unplugged it that day.

[Arcey]

Good ta see one of us didn't grow up. Arlo does classic rock on The Fox. He's older than I am.

That was Chapin with him. She 'n I made an evenin' outtah his concerts. No kids then. Nice dinner somewhere. The show. Stop for a couple drinks before we went home. He'd book Norfolk every year. Always a sellout and a short flight from New York. The city screwed him one year so he booked with ODU the next. Packed the house while Chrysler Hall sat silent. The city found the light for the followin' year. 

The boy showed up for one in a three piece suit. His main thing was hungry kids. He'd gotton off the plane from DC where he'd testified before congress on the subject 'n straight to the stage. Had the flu 'n sicker'n a dog. The show went on as scheduled.

Hell of a story teller. Findin' an equal is gonna be difficult.

[Delmonico]

There was no BS and everyone makin' money of Harry's causes like some.  I've heard about 3/4 of his concerts were for free to help his causes.  He was going to one when the semi crossed lanes and snuffed him out.  Was looking in an old photo album a while back, still have the clipping from the Lincon paper on his death.  I can't think of another musican that I would get that upset over.

[Arcey]

The city had a vendor's contract with one of council's favorite dependants. The contract contained a provision allowin' the vendor a percentage of the profits of anything sold on premises by anyone. They went after Chapin's souvenir sales. Best I recall all that was for the charities he supported 'n he was pissed.

The whole thing caused a real big stink here, The Field House was smaller 'n it sold out early. He sat on stage 'n told us his side of it. Said the city could shove Chrysler Hall up their asses.

[Delmonico]

The city had a vendor's contract with one of council's favorite dependants. The contract contained a provision allowin' the vendor a percentage of the profits of anything sold on premises by anyone. They went after Chapin's souvenir sales. Best I recall all that was for the charities he supported 'n he was pissed.

The whole thing caused a real big stink here, The Field House was smaller 'n it sold out early. He sat on stage 'n told us his side of it. Said the city could shove Chrysler Hall up their asses.

Good for him.

[Arcey]

That's what I said.

[Delmonico]

Hard to pick a favorite of his, Cats in the Cradle is the one a lot like.  Worked at a place when it creeped on the charts that the radio played it every towo hours and it burnt out on me.

Something about this one I always liked.


It was an early morning bar room,
And the place just opened up.
And the little man came in so fast and
he Started at his cups.
And the broad who served the whisky
She was a big old friendly girl.
Who tried to fight her empty nights
By smilin' at the world.

And she said "Hey Bub, It's, It's been awhile
Since you been around.
Where the hell you been hidin'?
And why you look so down?"

Well the little man just sat there
like he'd never heard a sound.

The waitress she gave out with a cough,
And acting not the least put off,
She spoke once again.

She said, "I don't want to bother you,
Consider it's understood.
I know I'm not no beauty queen,
But I sure can listen good."

And the little man took his drink in his hand
And he raised it to his lips.
He took a couple of sips.
And then he told the waitress this story.

"I am the midnight watchman down at Miller's Tool and Die.
And I watch the metal rusting, I watch the time go by.
A week ago at the diner I stopped to get a bite.
And this here lovely lady she sat two seats from my right.
And Lord, Lord, Lord she was alright.

You see, she was so damned beautiful that she could warm a winter frost.
But she looked long past lonely, and well I on to lost.
Now I'm not much of a mover, or a pick-em-up easy guy,
But I decided to glide on over, and give her one good try.
And Lord, Lord, Lord she was worth a try.

Well I was "Tongued-tied like a school boy, I stammered out some words.
It did not seem to matter much, 'cause I don't think she heard.
She just looked clear on through me to a space back in my head.
It shamed me into silence, as quietly she said,
'If you want me to come with you, then that's all right with me.
Cause I know I'm going nowhere, and anywhere's a better place to be.
Anywhere's a better place to be.'

Well I drove her to my boarding house, and I took her up to my room.
And I went to turn on the only light to brighten up the gloom.
But she said, 'Please leave the light off, oh I don't mind the dark.'
And as her clothes all tumbled 'round her, I could hear my heart.
The moonlight shone upon her as she lay back in my bed.
It was the kind of scene I only had imagined in my head.
I just could not believe it, to think that she was real.
And as I tried to tell her she said 'Shhh.. I know just how you feel.
And if you want to come here with me, then that's all right with me.
'Cause I've been oh so lonely, lovin' someone is a better way to be.
anywhere's a better place to be.'

Well The morning come so swiftly I held her in my arms.
And she slept like a baby, snug and safe from harm.
I did not want to share her or dare to break the mood,
So before she woke I went out to buy us both some food.

"I came back with my paper bag, to find that she was gone.
She'd left a six word letter saying 'It's time that I moved on.'"

You know The waitress she took her bar rag, and she wiped it across her eyes. And as she spoke her voice came out as something like a sigh.
She said "I wish that I was beautiful, or that you were halfway blind.
And I wish I weren't so goddamn fat, I wish that you were mine.
And I wish that you'd come with me, when I leave for home.
For we both know all about emptiness, and livin' all alone."

And the little man, Looked at the empty glass in his hand.
And he smiled a crooked grin, He said, "I, I guess I'm out of gin.
And I know we both have been, so lonely. And if you want me to come with you, then that's all right with me. 'Cause I know I'm goin' nowhere and anywhere's a better place to be."

[Delmonico]

One more for Harry.

Now he was a man who worked with his hands
Only in a motor he found peace
He could make an engine sing like a bird
He could find his only lind of release
When he was up to the elbows in the grease.


She dreamed of a time for painting
As she was cleaning up his stains from the rug
She'd play all day with their children
And try to meet him with a welcome and hug
As he came shuffling through the house with a shrug


I tell you dirt gets under the fingernails
And hate gets under the skin
But a dream got a way of getting down to the bone
and the heart of a body that it's in.


While he was making magic with his piston machines
She was cleaning up the mess he'd left behind.
She was trying to make it through to the end of the day
With a little empty time
And do the painting that meant peace of mind.


I tell you dirt gets under the fingernails
And hate gets under the skin
But a dream got a way of getting down to the bone
and the heart of a body that it's in.


Well one day she didn't bother 'bout making his bed.
She hurried all the children out the door.
And she let the bills and the marketing go.
And she went and almost bought out an art supply store.


It just so happened that day he got to thinking.
Of the grease that always covered up his skin.
So he left the garage a little early
He got a shave and a manicure and trim
Came out clean as a plaster maniquin.


He came home in a hurry
But he almost didn't recognize the place.
It looked like it'd been hit by a hurricane.
There was canvas filling every open space.
And she had paint all over her face.


I tell you dirt gets under the fingernails
And hate gets under the skin
But a dream got a way of getting down to the bone
and the heart of a body that it's in.


They both stood stunned into silence
Then their laughter exploded like a shout
And he went out to make some magic in the kitchen
The clean man learning what cooking was about.
And the dirty girl painting her messy heart out.


I tell you dirt gets under the fingernails
And hate gets under the skin
But a dream got a way of getting down to the bone
and the heart of a body that it's in.

[Leo Tanner]

More than happy ta give im a nod 
     I picked this one cause it seemed right fer here...

The kid heard the word up in Brooklyn.
It was his second year of medical school.
He went and stashed some jeans into his guitar case,
His father said, "You're a fool".
But the boy jumped on board a Greyhound bus,
It took him two days to get to Mobile,
And though it took two weeks to track the old man down,
He never doubted that the rumor was real.

But there the old man stood by the store front,
With his white cane hanging from his belt.
And he was bending the steel of his guitar strings
So it seemed like the metal had to melt.
He was the last of the street corner singers
Paying his final years of dues
The voice in his throat was like a bullfrog croak
Yes it's he who invented the blues.

"To play the blues, boy, you got to live 'em
Got your dues, boy, you know you got to give 'em
Got to start sweet like a slow blues rhythm
Like a heartbeat you'll always be with 'em
When you're married to the blues, boy,
Your guitar is your wife.
It's like that fine old woman
Who you're faithful to for life."

Well the kid walked up as the blind man finished
And was bent to put his guitar away.
The old man heard him and said, "Who are you?"
"I'm the kid you're gonna teach to play."
The old man laughed but the kid kept talking 'bout
How he'd help him get around
That's when the old man said,
"I don't need no fool to get me where in the hell I'm bound"

The kid nods his head with a great big grin and says,
"When do we begin?"
That's when the old man said,
"If You're staying with me
This is how it's got to be..."

"To play the blues, boy, you got to live 'em
Got your dues, boy, you know you got to give 'em
Got to start sweet like a slow blues rhythm
Like a heartbeat you'll always be with 'em
When you're married to the blues, boy,
Your guitar is your wife.
It's like that fine old woman
Who you're faithful to for life."

"You know I ain't no guru,
I'm just a blind black preacher man.
My guitar is my gospel, boy,
And I preach with my picking hand
And I preach with my picking hand
I ain't gonna be your wet nurse,
Or black father to an albino son."
"That's O.K.," the kid up and say,
"I just wanna pick like a son of a gun!"
"Whoa, boy, that ain't no damn typewriter you're playing, now.
You've got to caress it like a woman, slow and easy"
"Like this, old man?"

"No! A fool plays the blues like Machine Gun Kelly,
Five hundred notes to the bar,
And if you're going to stick with me
You've got to learn what the blues really are
You learn to pick with me and you can stick with me
But it's time to blow this town.
We gots a gig to preach in a gaming house
We're Alabama bound"

So the kid took the hand of the old blues man
To lead him all around the south
Now it's the old man's turn to make the white boy learn
"You don't play guitar with your mouth"

To play the blues, boy, you got to live 'em
Got your dues, boy, you know you got to give 'em.
Got to start sweet like a slow blues rhythm
Like a heartbeat you'll always be with 'em.
When you're married to the blues, boy,
Your guitar is your wife.
It's like that fine old woman
Who you're faithful to for life.

All right, son, let's hear some guitar.
I want you to play it funky like your uncle's carbuncle.
That's right, son, play it sassy like your sweet mama's pajamas.
That sounds pretty good for a New York boy!
Oh, son that sounds so sweet.

[Arcey]

Taxi 'n WOLD. Didn't like Sniper at all.

Three in the mornin'. Rainin' out. Ridin' in circles 'round Ghent. No one on the streets. Only a fistful of businesses to watch. Deader'n a door nail. Against the rules, had a transistor radio in my brief case. Put the ear plug in.

Taxi would come on 'n I'd ride past the radio station 'n hit the red lights. The DJs werked inna glassed in studio they called the carousel. I'd met 'em all. They knew it was me sayin' thanks.

[Arcey]

Just for you, Leo...

Mister Tanner was a cleaner from a town in the Midwest.
And of all the cleaning shops around he'd made his the best.
But he also was a baritone who sang while hanging clothes.
He practiced scales while pressing tails and sang at local shows.
His friends and neighbors praised the voice that poured out from his throat.
They said that he should use his gift instead of cleaning coats.

But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

His friends kept working on him to try music out full time.
A big debut and rave reviews, a great career to climb.
Finally they got to him, he would take the fling.
A concert agent in New York agreed to have him sing.
And there were plane tickets, phone calls, money spent to rent the hall.
It took most of his savings but he gladly used them all.

But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

The evening came, he took the stage, his face set in a smile.
And in the half filled hall the critics sat watching on the aisle.
But the concert was a blur to him, spatters of applause.
He did not know how well he sang, he only heard the flaws.
But the critics were concise, it only took four lines.
But no one could accuse them of being over kind.

(spoken) Mr. Martin Tanner, Baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his
Town Hall debut last night. He came well prepared, but unfortunately
his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards.
His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it
consistently interesting.
(sung) Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.

He came home to Dayton and was questioned by his friends.
Then he smiled and just said nothing and he never sang again,
excepting very late at night when the shop was dark and closed.
He sang softly to himself as he sorted through the clothes.
Music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

[Leo Tanner]

    
Thanks Arcey, that was cool.


Leo

[Curley Cole]

I ain't been by for a couple o days so gotta catch up.....(humour me please...heheh)

My wife went to high school with Rollie Fingers (Upland CA class of 1964) Went to her reunion, Rollie showed up in a bright RED sports coat, after he hugged her and put her down, and I was introduced, I said now?? she said ok, so I drug out a bb card for him to autoygraph, and of course I brung one WITHOUT mustache...he laffed, and then a half dozen guys brung out cards..

My brother and I were both big Stevie Ray fans, we live in SoCal, he worked in Hollywood, and would call up KROQ every day and request SRV, and they wouldn't play him. The day he died, they played him non stop, p/o'd my brother so bad, he unplugged the radio (Del, that made me think of my brother...)

Anybody remember a guy in the '60's named Dave Ray....he had an album that on side one was only one song..."Electric Blend" lasted about 17 minutes, side 2 only had 2 songs, which I can't remember right now...I heard he died in the mid 80's of a herion o/d...

And finallly I was/am a big fan of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I met them at a concert in Glendale CA in 1966. Had a sticker they gave me in my car window. Met a lady in Monrovia, that was Les Thompsons Aunt, but the thing that I didn't know, or totally forgot, was that On their first or second album, one of their band mates was.......Jackson Browne...

thanks for indulging my ramblings tonite...ON the way to work today it was Rory Buchanon playing his version of ..."Green Onions"

Curley
Quiz question: does anyone remember the song/album "the Eggplant that ate Chicago".....for 5 points can you name the band? and for 10 points, who was the lead singer (actually he was the band, sorta like John Forgaty on the Blue Ridge Rangers..)

clock is tickin'............

[litl rooster]

Dr West's Medicene show   Norman Greenbaum

[Leo Tanner]

Norman also did Spirit in the Sky.

     "When I die an they lay me ta rest
     Gonna go to the place that's the best"


Leo

[Curley Cole]

Man that was too easy, I gotta work harder now....But, actually it was "Dr Wests Medicine Show and Junk Band..Still how many folks know that song, let alone who done it...what a group!!!<g>

curley