Certain Songs

Certain Songs #2130: The Royal Guardsmen – “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron”

June 19, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Snoopy and His Friends
Year: 1966

. . .

My three biggest pop culture jams of my 1960s childhood were the Disney Winnie-the-Pooh records, the Batman TV series and, of course, Peanuts. In the late 1960s, Peanuts was perhaps the biggest things in all of pop culture — absent the Beatles, of course, and even that was probably pretty close — and I just devoured everything I could get my hands on, things like reading and re-reading all of the trade paperbacks they would put out, or seeing A Boy Named Charlie Brown in the theater, and listening to side one of The Royal Guardsmen’s third album, entitled Snoopy and His Friends.

Certain Songs #2129: Roy Orbison – “She’s A Mystery To Me”

June 18, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Mystery Girl
Year: 1989

. . .

Man, life is cruel, ain’t it?

After hitting the very top of the charts with the utterly undeniable “Oh, Pretty Woman!” Roy Orbison would never ever break the U.S. top 20 again in his lifetime. That’s just how fast the pop world changed as the British invaded and bands became ascendent.

Certain Songs #2128: Roy Orbison – “Oh, Pretty Woman”

June 17, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Single, 1964

. . .

Inspired by an off-hand comment Roy Orbison’s co-writer, Bill Dees, made about Oribison’s wife, “Oh, Pretty Woman” is an absolute masterclass in how to pare a song down to the absolute basics. In this case, the basics are a dynamite corkscrew guitar riff, the simplest of drumbeats, and of course, Orbison’s voice, which mostly mitigates the somewhat problematic lyrics.

Certain Songs #2127: Roy Orbison – “Mean Woman Blues”

June 16, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Single, 1963

. . .

With his utterly soaring voice and flare for big arrangements, Roy Orbison was an absolutely key figure in the post-Elvis, pre-Beatles era, and also a key figure in the sub-genre of rock ‘n’ roll made by nerdy looking dudes.

And while — with the exception of the eternal marvel that is tomorrow’s song — he’s probably best known for his ballads, I prefer Orbison the rocker, and nowhere does he rock harder than on his cover of Claude Demetrius’s “Mean Woman Blues,” a bit of proto rockabilly that features a clever turnaround on the lyric.

Certain Songs #2126: Roxy Music – “Oh Yeah (Detroit, 2001)”

June 15, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Live
Year: 2001

Roxy Music broke up after Avalon, Ferry wanting to try the solo career again. While he had some success in the U.K.- – you know what happened in the U.S., of course — the other guys did other things, though drummer Paul Thompson (who had left after Manifesto) played with Concrete Blonde and when their song “Joey” made the top 20, it was the best that any Roxy-associated person (unless you count Eno’s production of U2 or, er, Coldplay) had ever done on the Billboard singles charts.

Oh, that is also if you don’t count that Eddie Jobson was in the original version of the “Owner of A Lonely Heart” video as the keyboard player for Yes, even though he never actually played a note of music with the band. Which is something I just learned doing my half-assed research for this piece.

Certain Songs #2125: Roxy Music – “Dance Away”

June 10, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Manifesto
Year: 1979

. . .

In 1975, after Siren, Roxy Music essentially broke up because Bryan Ferry wanted to concentrate on his solo career. However, because they issued the live Viva! Roxy Music in 1976 and my beloved Greatest Hits album in 1977, when they regrouped in 1979 — the solo career going nowhere (at least in the U.S.) — and put out Manifesto, most folks could be excused for not knowing that they’d been gone at all.

Certain Songs #2124: Roxy Music – “Both Ends Burning”

June 9, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Siren
Year: 1975

. . .

One of Bryan Ferry’s great lyrical talents was taking phrases that were otherwise cliches and making something original out of them: “All I Want Is You,” “The Thrill of It All” are two prime examples, as is the majestic “Both Ends Burning,” the final single from Roxy Music’s early run.

After the initial attention-grabbing sound effects, “Both Ends Burning” explodes from the speakers led by Andy MacKay’s sax and a soaring swirling Eddie Jobson synth part over a straight-up disco groove from bassist John Gustafson and drummer Paul Thompson.

Certain Songs #2123: Roxy Music – “Love is The Drug”

June 8, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Siren
Year: 1975

For their first four albums, one of the contradictions inherent in Roxy Music was the contrast between Bryan Ferry’s incredibly put together style and the crazed anarchy of many of their songs. And given that Roxy Music was Ferry’s band — especially after he canned ol’ sourpuss Brian Eno a couple of years prior — it was inevitable that they drift in his direction. And in retrospect, it’s surprising it took them this long to do it.

“This long” of course, being three years, as while Siren was their fifth album, it was still only three and a half years after Roxy Music. As a contrast when the Arcade Fire went all disco sleek on their fourth album, it was nearly a decade after their debut.

Certain Songs #2122: Roxy Music – “All I Want Is You”

June 7, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Country Life
Year: 1974

. . .

Opening with a massive Phil Manzanera guitar fanfare that sounds like an entire village’s church bells ringing out in celebration, “All I Want Is You” is Roxy Music yet again in big-ass rock mode — every one of their early singles were bangers — and in fact, could almost be dismissed as being formulaic except they were still killing it by finding new variants on that formula.

Certain Songs #2121: Roxy Music – “The Thrill of It All”

June 6, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Country Life
Year: 1974

. . .

So while “Editions of You” is always going to be my favorite Roxy Music song, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that “The Thrill of It All” is the greatest Roxy Music song, and I’m not sure it’s even particularly close. If ever a song lived up to its name, it’s this one.

After putting out three albums in about 18 months, Roxy Music took their time with the fourth, the band line-up having solidified with Eddie Jobson on synths and electric violin and John Gustafon on bass, Country Life was incredibly focused, and the ensemble playing was out of this world.