Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DCIV--The Chi-Lites: Oh Girl

 Say, we can act if we want to, if we don't nobody will, and you can act real rude and totally removed and...I'm (only eight days?) late again....

Funny enough, this is the second time I've written about this week's artists, and as with their first song, I have no recollection as to when I first heard it.  Chalk it up to the plethora of great soul songs from the seventies, a true golden age of rhythm and blues....

As noted above, I wrote about the Chi-Lites in Vol. CDCXVII and as there have been zero new information since that bio, I'll stick a pin in it and leave it at that.

"Oh Girl" was the first single from their 1972 album, the rather forlornly entitled A Lonely Man.   The single would reach #1 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would hit #5 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  Both Beyonce and Jay-Z have sampled a Chi-Lites song in their music.  Talk about some serious music royalty....

"Oh Girl" has a bit of many different musical touches and it adds up to a wondrous whole.  Opening with some lightly strummed guitar from lead vocalist Eugene Record (and what a surname that is for a musician), that leads into some of the most mournful harmonica playing (from the lone surviving member, Marshall Thompson--who nails the harmonica solo not once but twice) you'll ever hear.  By the time Record begins telling his lover how lost he'd be without her (with heartbreaking vocals to die for), the tone has been set.  There's a nice sprinkle of piano mixed in, and on the periphery almost throughout Thompson, Robert "Squirrel" Lester, and Creadel Red Jones provide some backing "oohs" that are just this side of heaven.  In the end, it's another slice of seventies soul to remind us of that decade's monumental influence on rhythm and blues--and how lucky we are that the Chi-Lites have now blessed the annals that are Friday Night Jukebox for a second time. 

Lyric Sheet:  "Oh girl/I'd be in trouble if you left me now/'Cause I don't know where to look for love/And I just don't know how..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

                                                                      

Public safety

 Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Flat out fucking psychopath

Q: Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far?" Trump: "No. I think they haven't gone far enough”

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— Republicans Against Trumpism (@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social) November 2, 2025 at 6:17 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

More Nazism from Donald Trump

Congressional candidate @katmabu.bsky.social, who was indicted today for protesting outside the Broadview ICE facility: "We've been punched, dragged, thrown, shot with pepper balls, tear gassed, rubber bullets from snipers on roofs going into local businesses windows."

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— Jordan Uhl (@jordanuhl.com) October 29, 2025 at 8:47 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Nobody voted for this fucking Nazi

 Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Anything to stay in power

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Trust nothing the Trump administration says

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. trib.al/9Sxu9IN

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— Chicago Sun-Times (@chicago.suntimes.com) October 6, 2025 at 5:58 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Pritzker stands up to TACO Trump

I will not back down. Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

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— Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov) October 8, 2025 at 9:44 AM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Making American White Again

ICE is running around Chicago harassing people for not being white. Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States and now it’s commonplace. That’s not making America great again.

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— Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov) October 2, 2025 at 7:58 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

These MAGA freaks are not our friends

Kristi Noem is mad they wouldn’t let her in to use the restroom in Illinois today.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 4:14 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Fucking pigs

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

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— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 7:36 AM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee 

Chicago defeated Capone, they can defeat Trump

The president of the United States just declared war, actual military war, not a metaphorical one, on a major American city, and one governed by his political opponents. In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.

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— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) September 6, 2025 at 11:54 AM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

330 million people are going to suffer greatly because of their cowardice

The tolerance for lies is killing our country. Trump just called Chicago “the most dangerous city in the world, by far.” But its homicide rate isn’t even in the U.S. Top 20. Will major media call out the lie – and call it “a lie” – or will they talk about his “tenuous relationship with the truth”?

— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) September 2, 2025 at 1:32 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Lost all sense of sanity

Pritzker: "When did we become a country where it's ok for the US president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything? Especially something we don't want. Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this nation that we treat this as normal?"

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 2, 2025 at 4:11 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

This is smart--continually question Trump's mental faculties

"Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You're neither wanted here, nor needed here. Your remarks about this effort over the last several weeks have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties – and are not fit for the auspicious office that you occupy." Governor JB Pritzker

— Dr. Jack Brown (@drjackbrown.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 5:21 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DI--Wilco: What Light

Back to my old ways....

Sometime during the pandemic, my youngest son and I became enamored of a small movie called Bandslam (highly recommend), that featured the story of a group of oddball kids coming together to form a band and compete in a competition (Bandslam) for a chance at a recording contract.  As the credits are running, a song comes on--amazingly enough it's this week's tune--in which the vocals (but not the song) sounded very familiar.  A little Google search and--voila--I came to find out it was a band that I like, from an album that I own, and somehow missed (or forgot about) in my musical adventures.  Whatever gets you there, one supposes....

Wilco formed in 1994, when three of the remaining members of Uncle Tupelo (featured in Jukebox XL and CDLXVIII) decided to form a new band in the wake of Jay Farrar's departure.  They moved north from my one-time home of Belleville, Illinois (Illinois side of St. Louis) to Chicago, and over the last twenty-eight years have enjoyed both commercial and critical success (as well as neither).  Led by Jeff Tweedy, Wilco has won a Grammy for best alternative album, made Woody Guthrie inspired albums with Billy Bragg (also a Jukebox alumni, Vol. VII --way back in the early days), had numerous tours, and made the rounds of the talk show circuits.  For their career, Wilco has released thirteen studio albums (with four reaching the top ten on the Billboard 200), one live album, six EPs, and twenty-eight singles (with nary a one reaching the charts). Wilco released its latest EP earlier this year.

Fun Fact:  Wilco's fourth album, Yankee Foxtrot Hotel, was not only rejected by their label, Reprise Records, but the band was fired from the label and given the rights to it for free.  It went on to become the bestselling album of Wilco's tenure and is a perfect illustration of how fucked up the music industry has been for too many years to count.

"What Light" was the first single released from their 2007 album, the rather atmospherically named Sky Blue Sky.  The song would go on to be one of their twenty-eight single releases to not hit the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would be the first of their two albums to reach #4.

"What Light" is a simple song with a simple message that says so much more than the sum of its parts.  The message:  let your light shine in whatever you do.  The simplicity of the song is in the band's elegantly quiet instrumentation, Tweedy's understated but heart-rending vocals, and the subtle sparseness of its melody.  In the end, I can't help but think that if a moment of clarity had a theme song, "What Light" is what it would be.  

Lyric Sheet:  "And if the whole world's singing your songs/And of your paintings have been hung/Just remember what was your is everyone's from now on..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXCVII--The Chi-Lites: Have You Seen Her

 Shitski, really late once again....

I have absolutely no recognition of when I began hearing this week's tune, so I'll just chalk it up to being someone who came of age musically in the seventies.  And, oh, what an era that was...and, oh, what a song our featured song this week is....

The Chi-Lites formed in Chicago (hence the "chi" in their name) in 1959, which was the same year I was born--coincidence?  Most certainly.  They started out as a six-member band, but by their heyday in the seventies they were a four-piece outfit.  The Chi-Lites have had so many iterations that I could have used this entire bio just to name half the people that at one time or another were in the band.  They have been inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the R & B Music Hall of Fame.  For their career, they released eighteen studio albums (with one top five LP), and sixty-four singles (with two top three singles).  Sadly, only one of the original Chi-Lites is still alive, but to end on a positive note, Marshall Thompson is keeping their music going some sixty-five years down the road.

Fun Fact:  I've spent years pronouncing the band's name with a hard "ch" (as in chair), only to find out as I was doing my half-assed research that the "Chi" is actually pronounced as in the word "shy."  You learn something new every day, friends.

"Have You Seen Her" was the fourth single released from their rather omnipotently (and stunningly cool, as well) entitled album (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People.  The single reached number three (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would peak at #12.

There has never been a decade like the 1970's for what was once called soul music--just off the top of my head (in addition to this week's band), I can think of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, the Spinners, the O'Jays, War, and Stevie Wonder (and I'm certainly missing countless more), all of whom created a legacy that will last generations.  "Have You Seen Her" is an incredible addition to that legacy--from its spoken opening (Eugene Record's intro is truly an Oscar worthy performance) to the band's heavenly harmonies to Record's falsetto solo mixed in the chorus.  It's also an excellent addition to the pantheon of songs dealing with a broken heart, though with the added bonus of being from a viewpoint of a guy who thought he "had her in the palm of [his] hand."  One of the surest ways I know to how much I love a song is how much I smile while I'm playing it during my weekly half-assed research and this week my smile was absolutely plastered to my face.  A joy, a triumph--one of those songs that make all the time you devoted in your life to music well worth it.

Lyric Sheet:  "Well, I know I can't hide from a memory/Though day after day I've tried/I keep sayin' she'll be back/But today again I lied..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

It's always about Donald, and Donald only

He has a hotel in Chicago. If he stays there, he can personally profit from the USSS having to stay there.

If he stayed in Milwaukee, some random hotelier not named Trump would get that money, and who wants that. https://t.co/SSBJ7ltJQs

— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) June 18, 2024

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

CNN has become an utter clown show

THIS is CNN... https://t.co/ihi9p2HmCt

— digby (@digby56) April 25, 2023

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDVIII--John Prine: Souvenirs

 Like so many things in life, the beauty of this week's featured tune came to me much later in life than it should have.  I first heard it in the early nineties, but it wasn't until the middle of the last decade while on one of my periodic John Prine listening fests, on a cold winter's night driving home from my job at the thrift shop, that I listened to the lyrics in its first stanza with my much older ears while sitting in another of too many traffic jams, and thought, "Holy shit--there's a lot more to this song than I've noticed before...."  I played it several more times while I sat stuck in a sea of cars, and the song has become a favorite of mine, and, even better, a never-ending source of wonder ever since that fateful night.....

I wrote about Prine's song "Christmas in Prison" in a December 2015 post, and I wrote about his song "Sam Stone" in a December of 2016 Friday Night Jukebox.  Unlike last week's post about the Faces, John Prine's bio has had some significant (and not all good) changes since then.  On the good end, Prine had his two highest charting LPs, 2016's For Better or Worse which hit #30, and The Tree of Forgiveness, released in 2018, which gave Prine his lone top ten hit, landing at #5.  He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.  On the sad end, after years of poor health (including beating cancer) Prine contracted the COVID-19 virus and never recovered, passing away in April of 2020.  

"Souvenirs" was featured on Prine's second album, the 1972 release Diamonds in the Rough.  It was never released as a single (though it should have been) and the album would peak at #148 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  Prine first began performing regularly at a club in Chicago called Fifth Peg.  He didn't want people hearing the same songs every Thursday when he performed so he tried to add a new song each week.  Prine said he wrote "Souvenirs" in a '65 Malibu while en route to one of his Thursday night performances--which for me makes the song just that much more amazing.

From the acoustic guitar interplay between Prine and frequent collaborator Steve Goodman at the beginning, "Souvenirs" sets forth a folk and bluegrass-tinged tale of the fleeting nature of loss.  Prine's lyrics (maybe the best of his career and that's saying something) subtly paint a picture that effortlessly moves from the lost joys of childhood to the heartbreak of lost love.  Prine's vocals are heartfelt without being maudlin, and the harmonies he and Goodman share in the chorus are superb.  I'm not one to ascribe literary qualities to a song, but "Souvenirs" is much like a well written short story--it's three and a half minutes of us watching a man look into the mirror that reflects his life...and his sorrow for how quickly so much of it has disappeared without his even knowing.  

Lyric Sheet:  "All the snow has turned to water/Christmas days have come and gone/Broken toys and faded colors/Are all that's left to linger on..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Traitor

Peace,

emaycee