FSOTD #45-A *Fergie*

Selected photographs of Stacy Ferguson, aka Fergie...

FSOTD #45/Let's Get It Started (2005)

I am a casual Black Eyed Peas fan.  I bought Elephunk a few years back (one of over 8 million copies it has sold worldwide since its release in 2003), but it's only gotten a few listens (at most) around here.  I didn't really even know that today's FSOTD "Let's Get It Started" was their song.

It all started about a week ago when a friend asked me to put together some music for a party he's having tonight.  I asked him to submit some some bands/songs so I could cook him up the kind of mix he wanted.  His selections were varied - some old, some new, some black, some white.  Among the newer and blacker was "Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas.  So I went to my copy of Elephunk, and there was the track "Let's Get Retarded".   Huh?  Upon further review, I found out that "...Retarded" was re-styled in 2005 as "...Started" for an NBA Finals commercial that ran worldwide.  Apparently, it was more than a good idea: "Let's Get It Started" peaked at #21 US Hot 100, #11 in the UK, and it went all the way to #2 in Australia.  My, how those Aussies love their hoops!

A pretty clever idea, the re-casting of a song, especially with lyrics that rhyme smoothly with the original.  It got me thinking about songs that have been done twice by the same artist.  I harken back unto the Beatles with "Revolution."  Steely Dan did "My Gold Teeth" and came back with "My Gold Teeth II" using the same lyrics but an entirely different tune.  Bob Dylan did a fast and a slow version of "Forever Young".  Which reminds me, especially since we're doing the BEP thang today, wasn't it will.i.am who did a commercial about a year back meshing with Dylan in a sort of hip-hop "Forever Young"?  Anyone remember that?  I want a copy of that recording, whoever it was.  It was cool.

But back to The Peas.   What with Fergie joining the band since Elephunk, they're just a regular ol' hip-hop super group.  But don't take my word; the proof is in the numbers.   I gleaned this from the BEP wiki article:  The Black Eyed Peas are one of only 11 acts ever to simultaneously hold the #1 and #2 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  That happened earlier this year with "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling".  I must admit, I kinda missed all that when it went down, but even a few months after the fact, it's quite the jaw-dropping feat.

FSOTD #44-A

Before the FSOTD boat sails from the waters of Van Morrison and Warren Haynes, I thought it worthwhile to post the lyrics to "Into The Mystic"...

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic

And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when that fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
Then magnificently we will float into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home
And when that fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float into the mystic
Come on girl...

 

 

thanks to lyricsfreak.com

http://firstsongoftheday.blogspot.com

FSOTD #44/Into The Mystic (1970)

Before launching into FSOTD #44, a brief comment about the last out of last night's 5th and final game of basball's NLCS: How cool is it that the final out was caught by a guy named Victorino?

Today's FOSTD is actually from yesterday, and in truth, is a holdover from the Allman Brothers concert I raved about in 43-A.   It was midway through their set, and they had just finished what was at least a 15-minute "One Way Out" complete with 6 or 7 minute drum solo.  I was actually out taking a break in the commons area during the entire song, coming back to the seats for the opening strains of Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic" as sung by Warren Haynes.  Warren, undoubtedly the new hardest working man in show business, performs this song in all his incarnations: The Allmans, The Dead, Gov't Mule and solo.    He's a big and hairy dude, gnarly-looking but oh-so-soulful, especially when all sweaty.  As I have gushed so often, I just love Warren Haynes.  I have even gone on record paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, positing that if Warren Haynes did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.  The "Into The Mystic" version I put on the FSOTD player is from Gov't Mule sometime in the last few years.

As for Van Morrison's original recording, "Into The Mystic" was released on his classic 1970 album Moondance.  The singles from Moondance were "Come Running" and "Crazy Love".  "Moondance" wasn't truly released as a single until 1977(!), but by then it was an FM staple.  "Into The Mystic" was never a single but has steadily gained a following through the years, evidenced quite clearly by its status a Warren Haynes staple.

There is, oddly, one small affliction I have with this song, and it happened at the concert.  It concerns the inclusion of the word "foghorn" in the lyrics.  Every time I hear this word sung - whether by Van or Warren - I flash to the Looney Tunes character Foghorn Leghorn, and it saps some of the otherwise ethereal quality from the lyrics, while at the same time yanking a smile from my heart.  Perhaps now you, too, will be so afflicted.  I guess it's one of those things that once you have you have it.  But then, it's not like if I hear someone sing about Yosemite I think visualize Yosemite Sam.   Perhaps I've always had a thing for farm animals.  Quien sabe?

FSOTD #43-A

Almost but not quite fully recovered from sickness; now suffering from pop culture overload....but that's not a bad thing.

So I called my friend Lance today and told him I couldn't get the Allman Brothers out of my head.  He got me my ticket, a birthday present many months back.  What I should have told him was thanks for 21 years of great friendship.  We met 21 years ago today in Houston, Texas.

Anyway, the concert last Friday night was beyond good.  Widespread Panic was intense and jamming as ever, but the Allmans were simply en fuego.  Scorching.  I think I remember an 8-song set, with a 4-song encore.  I couldn't tell you how many songs Widespread played.  I'd guess 12 or 13, for a nearly 2 hour first set of the evening.

As it turns out, that number is 14 (or maybe 13 1/2 depending on how you count the "radar" jam).  Thanks to everydaycompanion.com for the Widespread setlist... 

Radio Child, Weight Of The World > Don't Be Denied, Wondering, Greta > 
Under The Radar Jam > Three Candles > Space Wrangler, Gradle, 
From The Cradle, Second Skin* > Blackout Blues*, All Time Low, 
Makes Sense To Me

So I tried two different sites for the Allman's setlist but couldn't find 
it.  Hissss.  Here's what I remember:

Statesboro Blues, Come & Go Blues, *didn't know the 3rd song but loved it*, 

Highway 61, Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad?, One Way Out, Into The Mystic, 

Jessica   4-song Encore: Melissa (with Gregg on acoustic guitar), Midnight Rider, 

*can't remember 3rd encore song*, Whipping Post

FSOTD #43/Revival (1970)

After a longish week which included a grungy, hacking illness (but no H1N1, thanks), I am happy to be back at the keyboard for Friday's Song Of The Day.  The Allman Brothers released "Revival" as the opening song on their second album, 1970's Idlewild South.  It was written by Dickie Betts, who is no longer with the band. The reason I chose "Revival" as FSOTD: It was the show opener the last time I saw the ABB 3 years prior in Buffalo, and in mere minutes I am taking off to see the Allmans with  Widespread Panic here in Dallas.  Yowza!  Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks in one night - guitar heaven!  More later.

FSOTD #42/Doctor My Eyes (1972)

In '65, he was 17.  Today's he's 61.  Happy Birthday Jackson Browne, born 10-9-48 in Heidelberg, Germany.  Could he be a military brat?  Think back on all the protesting and all those arrests.  Oh, how the war worm turns.

Jackson Browne scored a #8 Billboard Hot 100 hit in the spring of 1972 with "Doctor My Eyes" off his self-titled debut album.  Great song then, great song still.  The wiki article describes the song as a "surprise hit".  That may be true, but whatever kind of hit it was, it launched the career of the then relatively unknown Browne.    He'd been hanging out with all the right people: The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and the various talented folks of the Elektra/Asylum gang.  He co-wrote "Take It Easy" with Glenn Frey.   The Eagles released it (with Frey handling vocals) as their first-ever single in May, 1972, just as "Doctor My Eyes" was cresting.  Browne's version of "Take It Easy" surfaced in '73 on his second album For Everyman.

It was ten more years before Jackson Browne revisited the Top 10, with 1982's "Somebody's Baby", which topped at #7.  The song "Running on Empty" had almost gotten to single digits, climbing to #11 in 1977.  Yet, while his singles might not have been chart-toppers, his albums more than took up the slack.  1982's Hold Out was a number one album.  It went 2X platinum.  "Running On Empty" - whileonly making it to #3 - went 7x platinum.  That's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road territory.

One final thing...just discovered by going to my CD collection.  The wiki article for the album Jackson Browne clearly states in its first sentence that the album is often mistakenly referred to as "Saturate Before Using".  Those words appear at the top of the cover, but apparently, they were just part of the art, not the title.  So then what about my CD? It clearly states on the side edge - the one you use to alphabetize and order - that it's Jackson Browne - Saturate Before Using.  Sigh.  It's so hard to know who or what to trust these days.