Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXXXIII--Steve Miller Band: Take the Money and Run

 This week we're going back to the decade that many--myself included--consider the best ever for rock and roll:  the 1970's.  And now, everybody together (with eye rolls), "OK, Boomer..."

Steve Miller moved to Chicago at the ripe old age of twenty-two to follow his dream of being a blues musician.  After a year he grew unhappy with the music scene there and in 1966 moved to San Francisco where he formed the Steve Miller Blues Band.  Shortly thereafter Miller took the bold step of taking the word "Blues" out of the band's name and it became just the Steve Miller Band (it was hoped that taking the word out would broaden the band's audience--it worked quite well).  The Steve Miller Band would have its first charting album in 1969, and would continue to chart albums moderately successfully until 1973 when it had its first pop hit with the song "The Joker" and the band would have four of its next five albums hit the top three on the Billboard 200 (with nary a number one, oddly enough).  In 1978 the Steve Miller Band released its Greatest Hits and to date the compilation has sold more than 13 million copies.  For their career, the band has released 18 studio albums, six live albums, and nine compilations.  They've also released thirty singles, with three #1's and two more top ten hits.  Sadly, most of the band's original members have gone to the Great Rock and Roll Concert in the Sky, though Miller still tours with the band's current incarnation.  Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 (and managed to be perhaps the only inductee to be such an asshole as to have the band inducting him--the Black Keys--later recant their speech honoring him).

Fun Fact:  emaycee fave Boz Scaggs met Miller at the age of 12 when the pair were in prep school.  They would later attend the University of Wisconsin together, and go their separate ways for a few years before meeting up again in San Francisco.  Scaggs was the guitarist on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums before returning to his solo career.

"Take the Money and Run" was the first single released (in 1976) from Miller's appropriately titled for the seventies album, Fly Like an Eagle.  The single would reach #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the albums would peak at #3.

"Take the Money and Run" tells the tale of two young lovers who rob a rich man and are followed by a mean detective until they escape over the border--which sounds somewhat lame until you remember America's fascination with outlaws like Bonnie and Clyde or John Dillinger, folks who stole from the rich to support themselves.  The song is catchy, Miller's vocals are detached enough to keep the song from inanity, and there's some nice guitar work along the way.  While I would never say I waited with baited breath for a Steve Miller Band release, I liked a number of their songs as I went through my formative years.  But I chose this one because...in the second chorus and again right before the end after Miller sings "take the money and run" he bellows "Ooooh, Lord!" and it's one of those moments in a song that takes it from being a nice little single to one you want to hear again and again.  And it's those small (even if sometimes silly) moments that have kept me entertained listening to pop music for almost fifty years now.

Lyric Sheet:  "They got the money, hey/You know they got away/They headed down south and they're still running today/Singin' go on take the money and run/Go on take the money and run...oooh Lord..."

Enjoy:

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXCIX--Boz Scaggs: Lido Shuffle

If you're familiar with Boz Scaggs, you'll know he has a distinctive vocal style--so much so, that when I was still a young man I spent months trying to imitate it (with some, but not much, success).  A couple of weeks back when I realized a Scaggs' tune was coming soon here on FNJ, I thought, "Wouldn't it be fun to see if I can imitate Scaggs' vocals again?"...and promptly coughed up my larynx....

Boz Scaggs learned to play the guitar at the age of 12, and shortly thereafter began a friendship with Steve Miller that would result in the two of them playing music together for a number of years.  Scaggs went to college at the University of Wisconsin (where he continued to play with Miller) before bouncing around London and Sweden on his own for a couple of years before releasing his first album in 1965 (dud).  He would then relocate to my city by the Bay, where he became the lead vocalist for the Steve Miller Band's first two LP's.  Scaggs went solo again in 1968 and released his second album which contains the seminal (and long, at over twelve minutes) song, "Loan Me a Dime."  Scaggs continued to release albums steadily and then in 1976 released Silk Degrees, which would go on to sell over 5 million copies and make Scaggs an international star.  Scaggs success would continue through the early eighties before the inevitable tapering off that afflicts so many artists set in.  In all, Scaggs has released 19 studio LPs (the latest just this year), had two top ten LPs, a top ten single (the incredible "Lowdown"), won a Grammy Award, and co-owns a club in San Francisco as well as owning a vineyard.  His son, Austin, is a music critic for Rolling Stone.  Not a bad little career at all.

Fun Fact:  A classmate of Scaggs at a prep school in Texas began calling him "Bosley" which over time was shortened to "Boz" and thus created his distinctive moniker.

Fun Fact #2:  I was quite the Scaggs fan back in the day and wanted to name my oldest son "Boz" in tribute to Mr. Scaggs.  Fortunately, my first wife was the brains in the outfit and nixed that idea forthwith...

"Lido Shuffle" was released in 1977 on the aforementioned Silk Degrees LP.  It would eventually reach #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 (it would hit #2 in Australia and #5 in Canada--so many cool kids in Australia and Canada, eh...).  On a completely unrelated note, I scored a copy of Silk Degrees for a buck a few months back and spent two solid months listening to it on my drives to and from work--had forgotten what a fine piece of work it was.

I think what stands out for me about "Lido Shuffle" is how different it is from most of what Scaggs has released through the years.  He's known for smooth pop songs (with elements of jazz and R & B) and lush ballads, but this one is as close to a balls out rocker as he's done.  And he manages to do it with little or no guitar (the credits list three guitarists but I'll be damned if I can hear them).  It's driven by a rock solid bass line and some pulsating drumming.  There's a nice organ solo about midway through that features emaycee fave hand claps...and did I mention it's a song about a small time hood looking for one last big score before he calls it a career?  Throughout, Scaggs vocals (as ever) provide the juice to make it electric.  All in all, it's a rock tune from the 70's that, like so many others from that decade, stands the test of time.

Lyric Sheet:  "He'll be making like a bee line/Headin' for the borderline/Goin' for broke/Sayin' one more hit ought to do it/This joint ain't nothin' to it..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XXI--Hall and Oates: She's Gone

Because no one ever wrote a song about a lost love....

Back when I was still a young man, Hall and Oates were my introduction to what is known as blue-eyed soul and while there are artists whose work I have followed more closely through the years than Hall and Oates (Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, Boz Scaggs) there is still a soft spot in the heart for those early lessons.  They pretty much lost me after their Voices album (like they cared--they enjoyed massive popular success thereafter), but I can still put on any of their songs from 1974-1980 and be mesmerized.

Such is the case with "She's Gone," a beautiful ballad about losing the love of your life.  Originally released in 1974 on their Abandoned Luncheonette album, the song was a mediocre hit (#60 on the Billboard Hot 100--with a bullet!) until Hall and Oates had their first top ten hit with "Sara Smile" (also a wonderful song) in 1976 at which time "She's Gone" was re-released (capitalism at its finest!) and became their second top ten hit.  Little did they know that some forty years later they would be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Daryl Hall would later say that he thought "She's Gone" was the best song he and John Oates wrote, and I wouldn't disagree.  Often overlooked when it comes to rock's great vocalists, Hall's vocals (concurrent with Oates' background vocals) are really what make the song.  There is a back and forth between the two that is magical and stretches the boundaries of white boy soul (and turns me into a split personality every time I hear it as I try to sing along to both parts).  Throw in a dandy little guitar solo from Oates, a touch of saxophone, and an eerie intro and a couple of kids from Philadelphia had one hell of a song.

And who among us hasn't had a love we'd "pay the devil to replace"?

Enjoy:

Peace,

emaycee