Planes, Trains and Automobiles – Part III

This is the third and final part of this mini-series featuring songs related to planes, trains and automobiles. Parts I and II focused on planes and trains. This leaves automobiles.

In case you missed the two previous installments, the theme of the mini series was inspired by the 1987 American comedy picture Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The film is about a marketing executive (Steve Martin) and a sweet but annoying traveling sales guy (John Candy) ending up together as they are trying to get from New York home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Their plane’s diversion to Wichita due to bad weather in Chicago starts a three-day odyssey and one misadventure after the other, while the two, seemingly incompatible men use different modes of transportation to get to their destination.

Chuck Berry/Maybellene

I couldn’t think of a better way to start this final installment of the mini-series than with a car chase told by Chuck Berry in a classic rock & roll tune. Credited to him, Russ Fratto and Alan Freed, and partially adapted from a Western swing fiddle tune titled Ida Red, the song tells the tale of a guy in a V8 Ford, chasing after his unfaithful girlfriend Maybellene who is driving a Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Initially released as a single in July 1955, Maybellene became Berry’s first hit, reaching no. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythm & Blues chart and no. 5 on the mainstream Hot 100 chart. The tune is an early example of Berry’s gift to write lyrics that appealed to both young African American and young white people. Maybellene also became part of the soundtrack of the motion picture Rock, Rock, Rock! from December 1956, and was included on Berry’s third studio album Chuck Berry Is on Top. The latter might as well have been titled “The Greatest Hits of Classic Rock & Roll.”

The Beach Boys/409

The Beach Boys released various car-related tunes in the ’60s. I guess hot rods and surfing made for good friends. Here’s one of my favorites: 409. Songfacts notes 409 refers to a Chevrolet Bel Air 409 sport coupé, a 360-horsepower beast that with some tuning could be boosted to more than 400 horsepower. If you’re into cars, you can view some images here. Co-written by Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Gary Usher, the tune first appeared in June 1962 as the B-side to the band’s second single Surfin’ Safari. It was also included on two studio albums: Surfin’ Safari, The Beach Boys’ debut record from October 1962, and Little Deuce Coupe, their fourth studio release that came out in October 1963 and featured car songs. Giddy up, giddy up 409!

Wilson Pickett/Mustang Sally

The first time I heard Mustang Sally and fell in love with the tune was in the 1991 music comedy picture The Commitments, which not only is hilarious but also features outstanding Stax style soul – a film I can highly recommend. Originally, the song was written and first recorded by Mack Rice in 1965. But it wasn’t until the following year when Wilson Pickett released a cover that popularized the song, taking it to no. 6 and no. 23 on the U.S. Billboard R&B and Hot 100 charts, respectively. The tune was also included on Pickett’s 1967 studio album The Wicked Pickett.

Golden Earring/Radar Love

When it comes to ’70s car songs, the ones that always come to my mind first are Deep Purple’s Highway Star and Golden Earring’s Radar Love. I decided to go with the Dutch rock band, which included the tune on their ninth studio album Moontan from July 1973. Co-written by their guitarist and lead vocalist George Kooymans and Barry Hay, respectively, Radar Love became Golden Earring’s most successful song. It hit no. 1 in the Netherlands, reached the top 10 in the UK and various other European countries, and climbed to no. 13 in the U.S. If you’re stickler, the one thing that isn’t clear is whether the driver in the song is in a car or in a truck. For the purposes of this post, let’s assume it’s the former. And since I’m not fooling around with any single edits, here’s the 6:26-minute LP version. It’s a hell of a rock tune that deserves to be heard in its full length.

Bruce Springsteen/Ramrod

Let finish with The Boss and what I feel is more of a deep cut from The River, especially when considering this album also includes tunes like The Ties That Bind, Sherry Darling, Independence Day, Hungry Heart and, of course, the title track. This doesn’t change the fact that Ramrod is a great song. There’s a reason why it has remained a staple during Bruce Springsteen concerts. Springsteen originally wrote and recorded Ramrod for Darkness on the Edge of Town but didn’t use it until The River album, which was released in October 1980. I dig the tune’s 60s garage rock vibe. Let’s go ramroddin’!

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

My Playlist: Huey Lewis And The News

In the ’80s when I was still living in Germany, you couldn’t switch on the radio without encountering Huey Lewis And The News. By the end of that decade, I think it’s fair to say their popularity had significantly decreased. Just recently, I was reminded of the band when it was, well, back in the news, revealing a new single and their upcoming 10th studio album scheduled for next year. That announcement came after Huey Lewis revealed last April he was suffering from hearing loss as a result of Ménière’s disease. According to Wikipedia, it’s an incurable disorder of the inner ear, which leads to a variety of symptoms, including vertigo, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), hearing loss and a fullness in the ear. The condition forced Lewis to cancel all upcoming tour dates.

I started paying attention to Huey Lewis And The News when they released their third studio album Sports in September 1983. The record, which yieled four top 10 hits in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100, catapulted the band to international stardom. I got the album on vinyl at the time and really dug it. I like the group to this day and saw them first in the ’80s in Germany and a second time in July 2011 at a local theatre in New Brunswick, N.J. The second show was in the wake of their last studio from 2010,  Soulsville, a nice tribute to artists and music of Stax Records. The band still sounded great. I thought it would be fun putting together a playlist featuring some their songs.

I’d like to kick things off with Do You Believe In Love, the first top 10 hit for Huey Lewis And The News on the Billboard Hot 100. Written by Robert John “Mutt” Lange, it appeared on their sophomore album Picture This from January 1982.

On to the aforementioned hugely successful Sports. How successful? How about seven times Platinum! Records selling like this simply no longer exist these days. Here is the great opener The Heart of Rock & Roll. Co-written by Huey Lewis and the band’s co-founding member, guitarist and saxophone player Johnny Colla, the uptempo pop rocker showcases Colla’s nice sax chops.

Next up is The Power Of Love, which gave the band their first no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Co-written by Lewis, Colla and lead guitarist Chris Hayes, it’s probably their best known song, largely because it was featured in the 1985 blockbuster motion picture Back To The Future staring Michael J. Fox. Here’s a clip with footage from the film, one of the most memorable of that decade, in my opinion.

In August 1986, Huey Lews And The News released their fourth studio album Fore! Not only did the album top the Billboard 200, but it also gave the band two additional no. 1 hits: Jacob’s Ladder and tune I’d like to feature here: Stuck With You, a co-write by Lewis and Hayes. In addition to Lewis’ lead vocals, the song nicely illustrates the News’ great harmony singing.

The band’s next album Small World from 1988 featured a full-blown horn section, giving it a nice soulful vibe. But while the record climbed into the top 20 on the Billboard 200, it wasn’t as successful as Fore! and Sports. Here’s Perfect World, a tune written by Alex Call, guitarist, vocalist and founding member of a country rock band called Clover, in which Lewis had played with Call from 1972 until 1979, prior to forming Huey Lewis And The News.

In 1993, the band recorded a beautiful a cappella cover of the Curtis Mayfield tune It’s All Right for a tribute album titled People Get Ready: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield. It’s another impressive illustration of the News’ vocal harmony abilities. Mayfield wrote the song in 1963 and recorded it with his band The Impressions for their eponymous debut record that came out in August that year. Feel free to snip along!

For the next tune, I’d like to jump to the News’ most recent album, the aformentioned Soulsville that was released in October 2010. Here’s the band’s great take of Respect Yourself. It features gospel singer Dorothy Combs Morrison who is sharing vocals with Lewis. Co-written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice, the song was first recorded by The Staple Singers for their 1972 album Be Altitude: Respect Yourself.

The last track I’d like to highlight is the band’s new single Her Love Is Killing Me, a nice rocker with a bluesy touch, featuring a great sounding Lewis on vocals and harmonica, the band’s first new tune in more than a decade. According to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle, the song was recorded and produced by the News at their own studio in San Rafael, Calif. In addition to Lewis, the band still includes three co-founding members: Colla, Bill Gibson (drums) and Sean Hopper (keyboards). The title and exact timing for the new album have not been announced yet.

Will fans be able to see Huey Lewis And The News on the road again? While Lewis, who is 69 years old, obviously was able to record the song and sounds well, the prospects for doing concerts look less certain. “My hearing fluctuates episodically from bad to almost deaf,” Lewis told the Chronicle. “When it’s simply ‘bad,’ with the use of my earpieces, I can hear speech. I’m hoping fluctuating is a good sign and I can improve enough to hear music and sing.” He also said, “I haven’t sung with the band in a year and 10 months.”

Sources: Wikipedia, San Francisco Chronicle, YouTube

Clips & Pix: The Commitments/Mustang Sally

Friday night, I watched The Commitments in a charming little theater close to Princeton, N.J.,  where they featured the Irish musical comedy in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. It must have been the third or fourth time I saw the picture about a lad putting together a soul band of working class youngsters on the northside of Dublin. Apart from being pretty hilarious, the movie features great Stax-like soul music. One of my favorites is Mustang Sally.

While the tune is most closely associated with Wilson Pickett, who released it in 1966 and scored a hit, it was actually first recorded the previous year by Stax fellow artist Bonny “Mack” Rice, who also penned the song. Apart from Mustang Sally, Rice is best known for co-writing Respect Yourself with Luther Ingram. I like both the original and Pickett’s cover of Mustang Sally but have to say the added pep in the version by The Commitments kicks it up a notch for me.

Andrew Strong, who plays the band’s obnoxious lead vocalist Deco Cuffe, just has a fantastic raspy soulful voice. According to Wikipedia, all other band members acting in the movie were actually performing as well and selected because of their musical talents. The only exception was saxophonist Joey ‘The Lips’ Fagan (gotta love that name) played by Johnny Murphy.

At the end of the day, whoever was playing what you hear in the picture or on the soundtrack did a phenomenal job. Apparently, there is a still-active touring version of the band called Stars From The Commitments featuring various members from the movie’s cast.

Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube