Musical Memories: Guilty Pleasures
In 1977 I began my first year of teaching. I was told by a teacher with 30 years in the profession, that it was a good to get to know your students by doing something outside your normal teaching timetable. He suggested that I formed a after-school club. I thought that if I was going to give extra-time to the job, which was already very time-consuming, I would do it on a subject that I loved. I came up with the idea of forming a music club for 6th formers. The idea was a bit like Musical Memories. Each week, a member of the group would argue the case for an individual singer or band. I did the first session on John Mclaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Before the session I thought about the scene from Evan Hunter's novel Blackboard Jungle (1954). Hunter had taught in a tough New York school and includes an incident where the young male middle-class teacher takes his own records into the classroom in order to improve his relationship with difficult students. It ended badly with the boys destroying his record selection. My students did not do this, but I am not sure they were convinced that I had a "cool" taste in music.
The first session run by a student was on Lynyrd Skynyrd, a band that I did not know. The first track he played was Sweet Home Alabama. I thought it was a great track with one of the best opening guitar riffs of all time. I have to admit, the first time I hear a song, I tend to listen to the music rather than the words. Later I discovered that the song was a response to Neil Young's Southern Man, whose lyrics describe the racism towards blacks in the American South.
When I listened to the words of Sweet Home Alabama it did seem to support the racism of the Deep South. This was reinforced by a YouTube video of a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert at the Oakland Coliseum Stadium - July, 1977 (see below) where you can see only white faces in the crowd. I felt guilty about liking the song and was concerned that I had told the students that I did. Was I encouraging racism by saying I liked this song?
On 22nd October 1977, most of the band, including the writer of the song, Ronnie Van Zant, were killed in an air crash. A few weeks ago I watched a documentary on Lynyrd Skynyrd. It included an interview with Gary Rossington, the only original band member still alive. He argued that Sweet Home Alabama was not racist and quoted the following lyrics of the song that refer to George Wallace. "In Birmingham they love the Governor, boo, boo, boo. Now we all did what we could do" Is he right? Can I now enjoy Sweet Home Alabama and the great track, Freebird?
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sweet Home Alabama (1977)
Merle Haggard has sometimes said that this song, possibly his most famous, was a parody of his parent's view of the youth of the 1960s. He was a first generation 'Okie', a derogatory term for people from Oklahoma (and other states) who migrated to California during the Dustbowl, and I applaud his defence of this group of Americans. Country music is quite 'conservative' and he wrote the song in 1969 at the height of student protests across American campuses by groups like the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) against the Vietnam War, racial discrimination and college involvement in weapon production. I think, when he wrote the song, he believed in the sentiments expressed even if he subsequently distanced himself somewhat from them. I like Merle Haggard, one of the founders of the 'Bakersfield Sound', and I like this song even if I find the lyrics go against much of what I believed in in 1969 and I still believe today.
I have provided a link to the original version of the song and there are several live versions by Merle (and friends) on Youtube and several cover versions. This is part of the continuing campaign by Peter, Chris and me to persuade our colleagues in Musical Memories that country music is of value.
Merle Haggard, Okie From Muskogee (1969)
I've always liked this song, but never thought much about the lyrics. I used to innocently sing along to it as an 8 year old, thinking it was nice and jolly. It's actually a very dark song, written by John Lennon about his then wife Cynthia. It includes the line "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man", which he cribbed from an Elvis Presley song called Baby, Let's Play House. Lennon has admitted that he hit Cynthia in jealous rages around this time. He later added the following lyrics to McCartney's 1967 song Getting Better: "I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved". And in an interview for Playboy which was published two weeks before he was shot, he admitted "I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and hit women". Many people think Jealous Guy is one of Lennon's few love songs, but it includes the line: "I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm sorry that I made you cry". All this from the most famous advocate of Peace and Love! Ironically, Run for Your Life was recorded the same day as Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), which was about an affair that John was having at the time. He was a serial womaniser, but he expected his wife and his many girlfriends to be monogamous. To his credit, he did describe this as his "least favourite Beatles song" and, in 1973, he admitted it was the song he most regretted writing.
The Beatles, Run For Your Life (1965):
What is a guilty pleasure? Well, according to the font of all knowledge, Wikipedia, a ‘guilty pleasure’ is something, such as a piece of music, “that one enjoys despite understanding that it is not generally held in high regard”. With my particular choice in mind, I prefer the following definition of a ‘guilty pleasure’ which I found in the Urban Dictionary – “When you enjoy a type of music but you are too ashamed to admit to your friends and family that you listen to it” or “something that you like but you are embarrassed that you do”.
The ‘guilty pleasure’ pleasure I have chosen is the 1980s pop band ABC, or, more specifically, the song The Look of Love, which was released as a single in 1982 and formed one of the tracks on the band’s debut studio album ‘The Lexicon of Love’ (Neutron Records, June 1982).
Wikipedia’s definition of a ‘guilty pleasure’ (“something that one enjoys despite understanding that it is not generally held in high regard”) does not really apply to ABC as their LP, The Lexicon of Love, was a critical and commercial success and became No. 1 in the UK Album Charts, becoming the fourth biggest selling album in the UK in 1982. ‘The Lexicon of Love’ is regarded by some music critics as one of the best albums of 1982 and is often rated as one of the greatest debut albums released by an English pop band. ABC’s single ‘The Look of Love’, the track I have selected, reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. So, you see, in contradiction of the Wikipedia definition of a ’guilty pleasure’, ABC was once “generally held in high regard.” ABC – The Look of Love (Official Video) – this music video is really naff, but it amuses me.
The point is, I am embarrassed that I like ABC. If a friend, relative, or visitor browsed through my record collection, I would feel reasonably confident that even if much of the music would not be to their taste, they would not discover anything really “naff”. However, if the visitor pulled out ABC’s ‘The Lexicon of Love’ from the shelves, I think I would feel a shudder of embarrassment. The fact is, I don’t usually consume “pop music” and have no special liking for pop groups of the 1980s, so why do I find ABC’s ‘The Look of Love’ irresistible?
The pop band ABC was formed in Sheffield in 1980 and had evolved from an “electronic synth group” called Vice Versa which began performing in 1977. Vice Versa was a four-piece band which featured Mark White (born 1961, Sheffield) on keyboards & vocals and Stephen Singleton (born 1959, Sheffield) on synthesizer. Martin Fry (born 1958, Stretford, Lancashire), then an editor of a fanzine entitled ‘Modern Drugs’, first met the members of Vice Versa when he interviewed them for an article he was writing. When a leading member of Vice Versa decided to leave the band, Martin Fry was invited to join their band as a keyboard player. It was while Vice Versa was touring the Netherlands in 1979, that the band discovered that Martin Fry could sing and consequently made him the lead vocalist of the group. It was while writing new songs that could be sung by Martin Fry that Vice Versa changed its musical style and was transformed into ABC. The new group of ABC was launched in October 1980, with Martin Fry as the lead singer, Mark White on guitar and keyboards and Stephen Singleton switching from synthesizer to saxophones. By the time ABC recorded their debut album between 1981 and 1982, they had recruited the bass player Mark Lickley and drummer David Palmer.
‘The Look of Love’ by ABC (1982). Written and composed by the band ABC (Martin Fry, Mark White, Stephen Singleton, David Palmer & Mark Lickley)
Band Members
Martin Fry – lead and backing vocals
Mark White – guitars; keyboards; backing vocals
Stephen Singleton – alto and tenor saxophones
David Palmer – drums; drum machine programming; percussion
Mark Lickley – bass guitar
Additional Personnel
Anne Dudley – keyboards; orchestration and musical arrangement
J. J. Jeczalik – programming of the Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer
Luís Jardim – additional percussion
John Thirkell - trumpet, flugel horn
Gaynor Sadler – harp
Production
Trevor Horn – producer
Gary Langan – engineer
Although I am embarrassed to admit it, I think ‘The Look of Love’ by ABC is a perfect ‘pop song’. Martin Fry’s vocals are good, the record production by Trevor Horn is excellent and the string orchestra arrangement by Anne Dudley is splendidly effective.
Trevor Horn (born 1949, Durham) gained international fame in 1979 with the Buggles' hit single ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ and went on to produce records for Malcolm McLaren (e.g. ‘Buffalo Girls’ and the album ‘Duck Rock’ in 1982/1983) and Frankie Goes to Hollywood (e.g. ‘Relax’ and the album ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’ in 1983-1984).
Anne Dudley (born 1956, Beckenham, Kent) is a composer and musician who has worked in the fields of classical and pop music. She is also a film composer. Between 1983 and 1990, Dudley was one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise, along with engineer Gary Langan, producer Trevor Horn, synthesizer programmer J. J. Jeczalik and music journalist Paul Morley.
ABC, The Look of Love (1982)
I have chosen Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones as my choice this time. It is a tune that I have always loved from when I first heard it, without really knowing what it was about. I assumed drugs. However, research has led me to acknowledge that the lyric is about slaves from Africa being sold in New Orleans and raped by their white masters.
According to Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger who wrote the song was partially inspired by Claudia Lennear, one of Ike and Tina Turner's Ikettes. It has also been muted that Jagger was inspired by Marsha Hunt with whom he had a child, Karis. It is rumoured that Jagger originally penned the song as black pussy, but then changed the title to Brown Sugar.
According to the book Up and Down with the Rolling Stones by Tony Sanchez all the slavery and whipping is a double meaning for the perils of being mastered by brown heroin or brown sugar, the drug becoming brown when heated on the spoon.
The Stones recorded this in Sheffield, Alabama in 1969 and performed it for the first time at the Altamont Speedway Concert on 6 th December that year. This was where a fan was stabbed to death by a Hell's Angel security guard. It was not released until April 1971 and I have chosen a version from that year recorded at the Marquee Club.
The Rolling Stones, Brown Sugar (1971)
I'm not going to write a lot of blurb about my choice. It was a one-hit wonder and I felt very lucky to go and see them at the Brighton Centre when I lived in Lancing with three small kids. Unfortunately they didn't appear on stage till 10 pm and my babysitter had to be home by 10.30, so we left !!
It is The Jags, They were from Bournemouth, that Mecca of Rock Bands, and were active from 1978 to 1982. Their Wiki page is very short. They are probably all elderly window cleaners now.
The Jags, Back Of My Hand (1979)
Lettice Maltravers
Now here is a distant memory that I have not dredged up ever since the event. In the audience? Me and half a dozen of my friends from school, Lourdes Convent. And certainly none of us in school uniform. The date? Wednesday 13th March 1963, 6.30 show. The place? Brighton Hippodrome (long defunct now). The artist? The top solo female performer in the world! Little Miss Dynamite herself - Brenda Lee!!! Getting permission from parents to go out on a school night had taken a huge amount of nagging, sulking and slamming doors. And there we all were for a performance which had us clapping in time and screaming at the stage as was the accepted behaviour at the time. It was a somewhat underwhelming performance which none of us would ever have admitted.
I have selected this little number (In 1961 it got to #4 in Australia, #22 in U.K.) because of the intellectual value of the chorus,
A dum dum a deedely dum uh huh huh
A dum dum a deedely dum oh yeah
Dum dum a deedely dum
And the reflection of the mores of the time when the sexual revolution was no more than a wild gleam in our eyes.
A music's sweet the lights are low
Playin' a song on the radio
Your Ma's in the kitchen your Pa's next door
I wanna love you just a little bit more
Chorus
Come on baby don't you be so shy
You know that I love you let me tell you why
You got a heart I know that it's true
I couldn't love you any more than I do
Chorus
Ah I want you with me all of the time
Tell me you love me and you'll be mine
There's so many things that we could do
So say the words and make my dreams come true
Chorus twice over
Ah, youth!!!
Brenda Lee, Dum, Dum (1962)
I have always liked the song Tomorrow belongs to Me. I first heard it a few weeks before I saw Cabaret so I was really surprised when I heard it sung in the context of the film. Towards the end, in a scene set in a beer garden, a boy began singing it rather well only for the camera panning down to reveal he was in the Hitler Youth with the rest of the onlookers joining in. Maybe, niavely, having read Goodbye to Berlin and seen I am a Camera I should have been prepared. Although I still like the song , the image of the young Nazi singing his heart out casts a shadow over it. Guilty, Your Honour!
The song was written for the film by two American Jewish guys (one of whom was gay) in the style of a Nazi folk/marching song. It was also used in Spittin' Image at the time of the 1986 General Election to send up Margaret Thatcher.
Mark Lambert, Tomorrow belongs to Me (1972)
My guilty secret is that I've always had a soft spot for Chas and Dave. I wont offend our middle class intellectual sensibilities by choosing Rabbit: my choice is Midnight Special from their last, acoustic, album "That's what happens".
Chas and Dave, Midnight Special (2013)
Well I admit I'm going for broke on this one. I've chosen a Country song and, although a couple of members of the group share my liking for this form of music, I recognise it's beyond the pale for others. And to make matters worse I've chosen a track that I can pretty well guarantee everyone will hate.
I first came across this song whilst watching a performance by Tina C, a comic female country singer played by the writer and performer Christopher Green. Tina C's act involves singing and chatting about life and politics in the USA and the UK. I've seen her perform in Brighton many times and it's always a highly entertaining show.
I only ever saw Tina C sing Red White and Blue once and, at the time, I believed it was a brilliant send-up she'd written herself. However, as soon as I got home, I had to find out more about the song and I discovered it's a well-known country hit. I've since played it to friends who are convinced that it must be a send-up but what I found out is that it's clearly not; it's deadly serious. Really!
The song was written and recorded in late 2001 by Toby Keith a popular American Country Music artist. It was a response to the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers and it was heavily influenced by personal tragedy, the death of Keith's father - a military veteran - who was killed in a car crash 6 months earlier. According to Keith, it is a song about his father's patriotism and faith in the USA:
"It wasn't written for everybody. And when you write something from your heart – I had a dad that was a veteran, taught me how precious our freedom is – I was so angry when we were attacked here on American soil that it leaked out of me ."(CBS interview 2003)
"[My dad] was a true patriot: He never complained about his eye, [which he lost while serving]. He never complained about the time he served or how they treated him after. He just went back to work. He was just a good, old, solid cat." (Keith's father features in the second verse of the song.)
Keith clearly gave the song a lot of thought; he says it took him all of 20 minutes to write, as you can tell from the lyrics (verse 5):
Justice will be served and the battle will rage
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage
And you'll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass, It's the American way
According to Keith: "Just a few days after the [Twin] Towers came down. I was working out in the gym, and I heard these talking heads say, "Well, I guess we could bomb them. That would be so the American way," and I was like, "What just happened to us? Are we supposed to just stand by and let this happen? Could we not be mad as hell about this?"
"I wrote ["Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue"] on the back of a Fantasy Football sheet that was laying there; I just turned it and wrote around the edges and, in about 20 minutes, wrote the lyric out and called it "The Angry American." When I turned it in, they said, "Well, it really doesn't say 'angry American' in there. Why don't you call it "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue?"" So, I did."
As might be expected the song caused quite a lot of controversy and there were strong reactions to it. Keith said that he never intended to record it. He wrote it to play live in concert on USO tours, for American Military troops. As you can see in the video, the song went down a storm with the troops.
It was so popular with the armed forces that the Commandant of the Marine Corps reputedly told Keith it was his duty as an American citizen to record the song.
"It's your job as an entertainer to lift the morale of the troops….If you want to serve, that is what you can do."
So Courtesy of the Red White And Blue (The Angry American) was recorded and eventually released in May 2002 as the lead single from the album, Unleashed and it reached number one in the country charts. It was Keith's 9 th No 1 single and one of the biggest hits of his career . It earned him a gold disc and helped his Unleashed album win the American Music Award for Favourite Country Album.
The song was apparently written strictly with reference to the war in Afghanistan, and Keith claimed to be indifferent on other conflicts, commenting " I have no stance on the Iraq war." Nevertheless it was the last song aired by the Armed Forces Radio Network in Baghdad prior to ceasing operations in Baghdad during the drawdown from Iraq.
However, not everyone in the world of country music received this song so well. The biggest controversy surrounding it arose from a public feud between Keith and the Dixie Chicks (who have recently changed their name to The Chicks) Natalie Maines , the lead singer of The Chicks, spoke out publicly against the track's lyrical content, which she saw as a stain on her country.
"I hate it," she said, "It's ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant. It targets an entire culture -- and not just the bad people who did bad things. You've got to have some tact. Anybody can write, 'We'll put a boot in your ass.' "
More fuel was added to the fire in 2003 when, days before the invasion of Iraq, Maines told a London audience that her band didn't endorse the war and were " ashamed " of President George W. Bush being from Texas (the latter comments went down particularly badly with Keith). The feud continued for a while, insults were thrown back and forth and, at the 2003 Academy of Country Music Awards, Maines went so far as to wear a T-shirt emblazoned with the letters "F.U.T.K.". (The claim that this stood for "Friends United in Truth and Kindness" did not gain a lot of credence.)
If people want to tell me how much they loathe my choice, I shan't be offended. I fully accept that I should probably deplore everything about it: the sentiments are ones I could never endorse and the lyrics are full of clichés. The video, with its images of the Statue of Liberty and the "Liberty Bell" ringing in the background is even more clichéd; but then we were asked to choose a "guilty pleasure"
I accept that it's probably incomprehensible to many people in this country that anyone could take a song like this seriously. You probably have to be driving through the American West with this playing on the car radio to fully appreciate the context - it says a lot about certain aspects of American life. It's because I find the song so outrageous and improbable – so awful in some ways – that I like it; but then I do have a strong sense of IRONY, something many Americans set little store by.
So there's plenty to be guilty about but I can't deny it's a song I take (a somewhat warped) pleasure in listening to.
Toby Keith, Courtesy of the Red White And Blue (The Angry American) (2001)
I have said before that my guilty secret Was my sentimental attachment to Welsh songs. I have already explored at that length, and that I am unlikely to top it . Dixie has now become a firm favourite - I have only to whistle the opening bars to drive my wife mad-but it has recently been round the group. Next in line might come Kyu Sakamoto's, ‘Sukiyaki' but, because of recent debates, I have settled upon : The Sun Has Got His Hat On (Ralph Butler / Noel Gay) This exists in various versions, viz. Ambrose & His Orchestra (vocal: Sam Browne) - 1932 Henry Hall & The BBC Dance Orch. (vocal: Val Rosing) - 1932 Syd Lipton & His Grosvenor House Band - 1932 Jonathan King - 1971 (Feat. in the revised version of the show "Me And My Girl" - 1985) Nick Ullett & Cast (Broadway Production) - 1986.
We probably heard it a lot as children; I'm sure it was played on the radio by ‘Uncle Mac', so it is one of our musical memories, and it would been one of the versions of 1932.
Here are Ambrose and his Orchestra, singing and playing The Sun Has Got His Hat On:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDIpkz6DOi8
A good runner up is Henry Hall's version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vr4KyyuLUc
No later version can quite replace that period atmosphere, any more than it could for ‘The Laughing Policeman' or ‘The Teddy Bears' Picnic' .Therein lies a problem. What makes this ‘edgy' is one word, which you probably spotted. Playing it innocently on local radio was enough to get someone sacked in 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_Has_Got_His_Hat_On
As the article says, its use was socially acceptable in the 1930s and , however common the ideas of an underlying racial hierarchy might have been , its use here is purely descriptive rather than pejorative. We must all decide for ourselves whether it is acceptable in context, as we have to make decisions with Conrad and Mark Twain.
‘Blazing Saddles' would not be ‘Blazing Saddles' without frequent use of the word ; its use is clearly meant to be ironic but people are often not very receptive to irony and I doubt if the film could be made today. In the same vein, Monty Python has a Mrs Niggerbaiter explode, and quite right too. There is a point being made perhaps about small minded , apoplectic people who are always on the verge of exploding with anger. So what the feck is one to do with this song? Here is a transcription of Ambrose's version with the offending term disguised, yet not disguised, by asterisks. ( There is a version of Ambrose's recording on YouTube with the word artificially silenced). As recorded by BERT AMBROSE with SAM BROWNE: The sun has got his hat on, hip-hip-hip-hooray The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today Now we'll all be happy, hip-hip-hip-hooray The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today He's been tannin' n*****s out in Timbuktu Now he's coming back to do the same to you So jump into your sunbath, hip-hip-hip-hooray The sun has got his hat on and h's coming out today All the little birds are singin' All the little gnats are stingin' All the little bees in twos and threes Buzzing in the sun all day (Orchestral Interlude) (The sun has got his hat on, hip-hip-hip-hooray) All the boys excited, All the little girls delighted What a lot of fun for everyone Sitting in the sun all day (Transcribed by Bill Huntley - November 2004) ********************* The recording by HENRY HALL with VAL ROSING adds: All the little birds are singing Canterbury bells are ringing Pussy on the tiles is wreathed in smiles Sitting in the sun all day (Hip-Hip-Hooray!) Somehow it is not reassuring to have anything touched by Jonathan King. Here apparently is his version of the words , in 1971, which uses a substitute which itself is now frowned upon. I haven't listened to that version but what has happened to the reference to excited little boys? :
The sun has got his hat on Hip-hip-hip hooray
The sun has got his hat on
And he's coming out to day
Now we'll all be happy
Hip-hip-hip hooray
The sun has got his hat on
And he's coming out to day
He's been tanning Negroes Out in Timbuktu
Now he's coming back To do the same to you
So jump into your sun-bath
Hip-hip-hip hooray
The sun has got his hat on
And he's coming out to day
All the little birds are singing
All the little gnats are stinging
All the little bees in twos and threes…
Here it is as performed in the 1985 London Revival of "Me And My Girl": (The sun has got his hat on, hip-hip-hip-hooray) (The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today) (Now we'll all be happy, hip-hip-hip-hooray) (The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today) He's been roasting peanuts out in Timbuctoo Now he's coming back to do the same for you So jump into your sunbath, hip-hip-hip-hooray! The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today Joy bells are ringing, the songbirds are singing And everyone's happy and gay Dull days are over, we'll soon be in clover So pack all your troubles away The sun has got his hat on, hip-hip-hip-hooray! The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today (Now we'll all be happy, hip-hip-hip-hooray!) (The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today) All the little boys excited, all the little girls delighted What a lot of fun for everyone, sitting in the sun all day (The sun has got his hat on, hip-hip-hip-hooray) (The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today) (Orchestral Interlude / Dance Routine) (One-two, a-one-two-three-four) (So jump into your sunbath, hip-hip-hip-hooray!) (The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today) (Transcribed by Mel Priddle - July 2012) It would not have surprised to find that, in the interval since 1985, these references to children had also been condemned as condescending , or even sinister.
Ambrose and his Orchestra, The Sun Has Got His Hat On
During the lockdown a friend recommended to me the TV programme The Repair Shop. This I found to be an excellent production full of drama and human interest, and I've now watched all the back issues on iPlayer. I've chosen this rather nerdy indulgence as my Guilty Pleasure, and so here is the theme tune.
Ian Livingstone, BBC The Repair Shop Theme
I love The Stranglers and they do now admit the drug connection. One of many songs including "Lucy in the sky...." that have been listened too in innocence or otherwise.
The Stranglers, Golden Brown (1981)