Mixed music bag – week 31

September has flown by. This is the final week for naming a group or solo artist that starts with an S in the name.

The Saints were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1973. Founded by singer-songwriter Chris Bailey, drummer Ivor Hay, and guitarist-songwriter Ed Kuepper, they originally played fast tempos with raucous vocals and a “buzzsaw” guitar sound that helped initiate punk rock in Australia and identified them with the greater international movement.

Unable to get gigs, they converted their share house into a venue where they could play. With their debut single “(I’m) Stranded”, released in September 1976, they became the first punk band outside the US to release a record, ahead of the first UK punk releases from the Damned, the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Algy Ward joined on bass with Bailey taking on lead vocals.

They experienced UK chart success in 1977 with the song This Perfect Day”, which peaked at #34. Their second album Eternally Yours, released in 1978, saw the band pursue a bigger and more R&B driven sound, augmented by a horn section.

After their third album Prehistoric Sounds later in 1978, Kuepper clashed with Bailey over the band’s musical direction and left, subsequently forming the post-punk group Laughing Clowns. Bailey, the sole mainstay of the group, continued under the Saints moniker with a rotating lineup of musicians in the 80s and 90s. There were at least 50 former members from 1973 to 2021. Sadly, Chris Bailey died in April 2022, effectively ending the band.

Like a snake callin’ on the phone
I’ve got no time to be alone
There is someone coming at me all the time
Yeah, babe, I think I’ll lose my mind

‘Cause I’m stranded on my own
Stranded far from home, alright

I’m riding on a midnight train
But everybody just looks the same
A subway light it’s dirty reflection
I’m lost, babe, I got no direction

And I’m stranded on my own
Stranded far from home, all right

Stranded, I’m so far from home
Stranded, yeah, I’m on my own
Stranded, you gotta leave me alone
‘Cause I’m stranded on my own
Stranded far from home
Come on

Look at me, I’m looking at you
Babe, there ain’t a thing that I can do
You’re lost, your mind is stuck in a whirl
Yeah, honey, such a stupid girl

Now I’m stranded on my own
Stranded far from home, come on

Stranded, I’m so far from home
Stranded, yeah, I’m on my own
Stranded, you gotta leave me alone
‘Cause I’m stranded on my own
Stranded far from home
Alright

Livin’ in a world insane
They cut out some heart and some brain
Been filling it up with dirt
Yeah, baby, don’t know how it hurts

To be stranded on your own
Stranded far from home, alright

Stranded, I’m so far from home
Stranded, yeah, I’m on my own
Stranded, you gotta leave me alone
Come on!

Stranded, I’m so far from home
Stranded, yeah, I’m on my own
Stranded, you gotta leave me alone

‘Cause I’m stranded on my own
Stranded

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Christopher James Mannix Bailey / Edmund Kuepper

(I’m) Stranded lyrics © Mushroom Music Int. B.v., Conrad Music, Mushroom Music Pty. Ltd., Saints Music

Song Lyric Sunday – I’m feeling hungry

This week the theme of SLS is to find a song by a band that has a food related name suggested by Christine of Stine Writing and Miniatures.

Humble Pie are an English rock band formed by singer-guitarists Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott in  Essex, in 1969. Often regarded as one of the first supergroups in music, Humble Pie experienced moderate popularity and commercial success during the 1970s with songs such as “Black Coffee”, “I Don’t Need No Doctor” Hot ‘N Nasty”, and “Natural Born Bugie” among others. The original line-up featured lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott from Small Faces, singer and guitarist Peter Frampton from the Herd, former Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and a 17-year-old drummer, Jerry Shirley, from the Apostolic Intervention. Their debut album, As Safe As Yesterday Is, was released in August 1969, along with the single, “Natural Born Bugie”, which reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart; the album peaked at No. 16 in the UK album charts. As Safe as Yesterday Is was one of the first albums to be described by the term “heavy metal” in a 1970 review in Rolling Stone magazine.

After the band split up, original drummer Jerry Shirley obtained the rights to the name Humble Pie in 1988 and reformed the group with different musicians. This project was called New Humble Pie or Humble Pie featuring Jerry Shirley. In 2023 Shirley’s “Humble Pie Legacy” lineup of Dave Colwell (guitar), Jim Stapley (vocals, guitar, Hammond, harmonica), Ivan Bodley (bass) and Bobby Marks (drums) continued.

There she is again, steppin’ out of her limousine, well
Looking like the cover of a twenty-dollar magazine
She’s got it where you find it
If you know what I mean

She’s a natural born woman
Natural born woman
She’s a natural born woman

There she is again watch her stop the Main Street in its tracks
Looking like Creole queen, hair hangin’ down her back
I say, don’t look too long, boy
She’ll make your glasses crack

She’s a natural born woman
Natural born woman
She’s a, yeah yeah, natural born woman

Yeah yeah, get your track
Yeah, natural born woman
Yeah, yeah, natural born woman
Yeah, yeah, she’s a natural born woman

Well, I’m sweatin’ and I’m shakin’ when I’m bringin’ you the news
You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes
Why I’m standin’ here today
Preachin’ natural born woman blues

Well, she’s a natural born woman
Well, yeah, natural born woman
Well, yeah, natural born woman

Well, I’m looking out my back door, wonderin’ which place to go
Think I’ll move on down to Memphis
Pay my money to see a rock ‘n’ roll show
Find me a sweet-heart Susie, together we can lose control

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
She’s a natural born woman
Yeah, yeah, natural born woman
Yeah, natural born woman
Yeah

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Steve Marriott

Natural Born Bugie lyrics © Bucks Music Group Ltd

Mixed Music Bag – week 30

September is flying by. We’re already in the third week of finding a group or solo artist with the letter S as the starting letter.

This week I have chosen an early track from the band; Simple Minds. The third album was Empires and Dance, released in September 1980 is one of my favourites. The band’s line-up at the time was Jim Kerr (lead vocals), Charlie Burchill (guitars), Mick McNeil (keyboards), Brian McGee (drums), Derek Forbes (bass),  Many of the tracks were minimal and featured a significant use of sequencing. McNeil’s keyboards and Forbes’ bass became the main melodic elements in the band’s sound, with Burchill’s heavily processed guitar becoming more of a textural element. With this album, Kerr began to experiment with non-narrative lyrics based on observations he had made as the band travelled across Europe on tour. While a modest commercial success, Empires and Dance received enthusiastic response in the British music press and the tour as support act for Peter Gabriel gave the band the opportunity to play at bigger venues. The rest as they say, is history.

Hard to find a good live version of this track which was released as a single from the album; Empires and Dance.

Act of love is a luxury
The suit he wears belongs to me
The road is long, seven thousand miles
Soldier talk and uniform

We can live, I can live
Celebrate, celebrate
We can live, I can live
Celebrate, celebrate

She rag doll, keeps him warm
This negative shows no form
He salutes the crowd, go west, young man
Run, run, run, the hollow man

We can live, I can live
Celebrate, celebrate
We can live, I can live
Celebrate, celebrate

To a distant land, sand and sand
Touch to touch, a marble man
The house is glass, furniture’s chrome
Soldier talk and uniform

We can live, I can live
Celebrate, celebrate
We can live, I can live
Celebrate, celebrate

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Derek Forbes / Michael Joseph Macneil / Brian Mcgee / James Kerr

Celebrate lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Ltd., Bmg Rights Management (uk) Limited, Jim Kerr Management Consultancy Limited, Jim Kerr Management Consultancy Ltd

Song Lyric Sunday – An Apple a day

Well, more like an Apple a week. The theme of SLS this week is finding a song recorded on the Apple label. Thanks to Di for the prompt.

I remember going to the movies and watching the James Bond film; ‘Live And Let Die’ in 1973. I’d always thought it had the best main theme of all the Bond films. It’s also my favourite Bond movie.

When you were young and your heart was an open book
You used to say live and let live
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)
If this ever-changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry

Say live and let die
(Live and let die)
Live and let die, let him know
(Live and let die)

What does it matter to you
When you got a job to do
You got to do it well
You got to give the other fellow hell

You used to say live and let live
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)
But if this ever-changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry

Say live and let die
(Live and let die)
Live and let die, let die
(Live and let die)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul Mccartney / Linda Mccartney

Live And Let Die lyrics © Mpl Communications Ltd., Danjaq S.a., U.a. Music Ltd., Mpl Communications Inc

Mixed Music Bag week 29

Here we are in the 2nd part of the September MMB. Any group or solo singer beginning with the letter S

This week I have chosen one of the most successful English Glam-Rock bands of the 70’s, who go by the name of Sweet.

Their best-known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bassist Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott and drummer Mick Tucker. The group were originally called The Sweetshop.

The band were formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, “Funny Funny”, in 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and record producer Phil Wainman. During 1971 and 1972, their musical bubblegum style of “Funny Funny” changed to a Who-influenced hard rock style supplemented by a striking use of high-pitched backing vocals.

The band first achieved success in the UK chart, with thirteen Top 20 hits during the 1970s alone, with “Blockbuster” (1973) topping the chart, followed by three consecutive number two hits in “Hell Raiser” (1973), “The Ballroom Blitz” (1973) and “Teenage Rampage” (1974). The band turned to a more hard rock style with their mid-career singles, like 1974’s “Turn It Down”. “Fox On The Run” (1975) also reached number two on the UK chart. These results were topped in West Germany and other countries on the European mainland. They also achieved success and popularity in the US with the top ten hits “Little Willy”, “The Ballroom Blitz”, “Fox on the Run”, and “Love Is Like Oxygen”.

The Sweet had their last international success in 1978 with “Love Is Like Oxygen”. Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1981. From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020. Andy Scott is still active with his version of the band. Sweet have sold over 35 million albums worldwide.

The track on the video can be found on Sweet’s 1974 album ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’. My favourite of theirs, which includes several heavy rock tracks in a similar style.

You keep telling me
Don’t hang around
While you play around
With the clowns
That you’ve found
It ain’t right
Now and then I get tired of the sound
Of you burning me down
While you’re playing the town
Every night

I’m getting hung up
Yes I am, yes I am
And you don’t give a damn

No you don’t have to treat me like a fool
No you don’t have to be so bloody cool
No you don’t have to make up all the rules
No you don’t no, no, you don’t
No you don’t

You keep on playing out reckless games
That will give you fame
But I’ll take the blame for your name
Well you think you’ve got my life in your hands
But I’m a man, I’m a myth
And I’ve got my own plans, I’m a man
I’m goin’ down
Yes, I am, yes I am
And I don’t give a damn

No you don’t have to treat me like a fool
No you don’t have to be so bloody cool
No you don’t have to make up all the rules
No you don’t no, no, you don’t
No you don’t

No you don’t no you don’t

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Michael Donald Chapman / Nicholas Barry Chinn

Song Lyric Sunday – A song I like

The theme of SLS this week is chose any song that you like (not an easy choice I must say). Thanks once again to Jim for the prompt.

I’ve always been a fan of Black Sabbath and although Ozzy Osbourne was the main lead vocalist on their early albums (He re-joined for their final studio album ’13’ in 2013 which also features all of the original members except drummer Bill Ward). I know Ronnie James Dio did a pretty good job himself, especially on Sabbath’s ‘Mob Rules’ and ‘Heaven and Hell’ albums. Still sadly missed, he had one of the best rock voices of all time. ‘Neon Knights’ is a single released off the ‘Heaven and Hell’ album. Written by Dio and Butler.

Mixed Music Bag – Week 28

It’s September already and that means the theme is now a group or solo artist starting with the letter S (first or second name for solo artists).

Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band’s tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey (drums, backing vocals). Originally a three-piece, Rob Coombes officially joined the band in 2002.

The band signed to Parlophone Records in 1994 and produced I Should Coco (1995), the best-selling debut album for the label since the Beatles Please Please Me. Their first album’s fourth single, “Alright”, was an international hit. The band went on to release five more albums, as well as a compilation called Supergrass is 10 (2004).

In August 2009, the band signed to Cooking Vinyl label and began work on their seventh studio album, Release the Drones. The album remains unreleased and unfinished. On 12 April 2010, the band announced that they were splitting up due to musical and creative differences. The group disbanded after four farewell gigs, the final one at La Cigale, Paris, on 11 June 2010. I was saddened when they split, as Supergrass were one of my favourite bands from the Britpop era.

Gaz Coombes has released four solo albums to date and the other members have all been involved with other band projects.

We are young, we run green
Keep our teeth nice and clean
See our friends, see the sights
Feel alright

We wake up, we go out
Smoke a f*g, put it out
See our friends, see the sights
Feel alright

Are we like you?
I can’t be sure
Of the scene, as she turns
We are strange, in our worlds

But we are young, we get by
Can’t go mad, ain’t got time
Sleep around if we like
But we’re alright

Got some cash, bought some wheels
Took it out ‘cross the fields
Lost control, hit a wall
But we’re alright

Are we like you?
I can’t be sure
Of the scene, as she turns
We are strange, in our worlds

But we are young, we run green
Keep our teeth nice and clean
See our friends, see the sights
Feel alright

Are we like you?
I can’t be sure
Of the scene, as she turns
We are strange, in our worlds

But we are young, we run green
Keep our teeth nice and clean
See our friends, see the sights
Feel alright

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Daniel Goffey / David N Yazbek / Gareth Coombes / Michael Quinn

Alright lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

More puppy pics

Here’s two better photo’s of my dog; ‘Chase’. He’s growing fast but I sometimes which he’d learn a little faster. I’m not used to having a puppy, as most of the other dogs I’ve had were rescue dogs that were already 2/3 years old.

Chase in my back garden

Song Lyric Sunday – The Bakersfield Sound

In the 1950’s and 60’s Bakersfield became an unlikely birthplace for a new sound – The Bakersfield Sound.Universally recognized as ‘The Country Music Capital of the West Coast’ and ‘Nashville West’, Bakersfield is the birthplace for what would become known worldwide as the Bakersfield Sound.

The sub genre of country music – described as a mix of twangy guitars, drums, fiddle, and steel guitar – was a defiant reaction to the string orchestras and the polished sound of albums being recorded in Nashville during the 1950’s and 60’s. Many musicians and entertainers were involved in making the Bakersfield Sound a global phenomenon, however none were more well-known than Country Music Hall of Fame® members Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Both artists cut their teeth at the bars and honkytonks around Bakersfield before gaining international prominence.

Perhaps the most popular artist aside from Owens to be influenced by the Bakersfield Sound is Dwight Yoakam. In 1988 Owens and Yoakam collaborated on “The Streets of Bakersfield,” a duet which became Yoakam’s first number one singles hit. Yoakam’s album, Dwight Sings Buck, is a tribute honoring the legacy of Owens and his lasting impact on country music.

copyright: Visit Bakersfield, California

“Guitars, Cadillacs” is an early Dwight Yoakam single from the album of the same name.

Girl you taught me how to hurt real bad and cry myself to sleep
You showed me how this town can shatter dreams
Another lesson about a naive fool that came to Babylon
And found out that the pie don’t taste so sweet

Now it’s guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music
Lonely, lonely streets that I call home
Yeah my guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music
Is the only thing that keeps me hanging on

There ain’t no glamour in this tinseled land of lost and wasted lives
And painful scars are all that’s left of me
Oh but thank you girl for teaching me brand new ways to be cruel
If I can find my mind now, I guess I’ll just leave

And it’s guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music
Lonely, lonely streets that I call home
Yeah my guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music
Is the only thing that keeps me hanging on

Oh it’s guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music
Lonely, lonely streets that I call home
Yeah my guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music
Is the only thing that keeps me hanging on

It’s the only thing that keeps me hanging on
It’s the only thing that keeps me hanging on

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Dwight David Yoakam

Guitars, Cadillacs lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC

This is my puppy; ‘Chase’

‘Chase’ (named after a Paw Patrol character) is settling in at my home. He’s a cockapoo crossed with a chihuahua and a pomeranian! He thinks everything is a toy at the moment but he’s only 9 weeks old, so he’ll learn eventually, as with the little accidents around the house. Several pictures that I took were blurry, as he doesn’t stay still very long! These were the best two. I will post more asap.