Trump's redistricting power grab just took a major hit.
Indiana lawmakers blocked his push to rig congressional maps—another reminder that he can't bully his way into stealing elections. Public pressure matters.
In real danger of having not one, not two, but three late Friday Night Jukebox posts. Jeez-louise...
For those familiar (all three of you), every year during my birthday week (first week of June--sixty-six years young if anybody cares) I feature one of my favorite albums of all-time. This year it's John Mellencamp and his seminal, career changing LP, Scarecrow. This week's post (technically the post from two weeks ago--but I quibble) will be the fourth time I've featured Mellencamp (first, second, and third), and as these albums posts can get quite long and I've written a bio paragraph before, I'll dispense with any career intro. The album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned three singles which hit the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.
Just a quick note about Scarecrow: it's impossible to overstate its importance to me and how stunned I was to find Mellencamp in such musical sociopolitical company as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Petty. It turned me into a lifetime Mellencamp fan (I was warming to his music, but not yet a full-fledged fan when this album was released), and while it may seem as if the album came out of left field, if you listen to Mellencamp's prior output, virtually all of it was leading to this album. It really isn't much of a stretch to say that from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties Mellencamp was the premier male vocalist when it came to delineating American values, and all that it did and didn't stand for. It is an incredible portrait of America, a sociopolitical masterpiece, a much needed clapback at the Reagan, devolution, and as catchy of a serious album as you're likely to ever hear.
And away we go...
Rain on the Scarecrow--From the exploding drums to the ominous guitar, Mellencamp announces with authority that this isn't going to be just another pop album. A scathing indictment of Ronald Reagan and the damage his economic policies did to American farms--and every other American, too. One of the best songs Mellencamp has ever written--and with anger and angst, one of his best vocals. One of the best opening songs on any album ever as well. Favorite Line: "He said John it's just my job and I hope you understand/Hey calling it your job ol' hoss sure don't make it right..."
Grandma's Theme--A nice piece of Americana, a traditional song sung by Mellencamp's Grandma. Another proclamation that this isn't just another pop record. The lyrics to the entire song (it's called "The Baggage Coach Ahead") are included at the link, and it tells another sad American tale. Favorite Line: "All the passengers had gone to bed/Except a young man with a baby in his arms/Who sat there with a bowed-down head..."
Small Town--While a few big city folks took exception to this song (listen to the lyrics, folks!), I've always thought it was just a song about home and the creature comforts therein. One of the things Mellencamp has always done well is write a top forty song, and he nailed this one. Catchy, joyous, rollicking--could have been released in any decade of the rock and roll era and been a hit. Favorite Line--"Got nothing against a big town/Still hayseed enough to say/'Look who's in the big town...'
Minutes to Memories--This one is just a stunning song, a piece about advice, aging, and making the most of what life has to offer. Chances are good you're not going to be one of the world's winners, but you can still have a good life just being the best you can be. Thoughtful, and delivered with a steady vocal, and a lovely melody. I'll sound like a broken record, but another of the best he's ever written. Favorite Line: "My family and friends are the best thing I've known/Through the eye of the needle I'll carry them home..."
Lonely Ol' Night--A friend in need is a friend indeed--or so the saying goes. All about being lonely and having someone--anyone--to share that loneliness with. A nice single (it went top ten) that tells us there's a big difference between the romance of loneliness and the romance of love. Almost an antithesis to "Jack and Diane." Favorite Line--"Nobody told us it was gonna work out this way/No, no, no, no, no/I guess they knew we'd work it out in our own way..."
The Face of the Nation--A stripped down and bare song (a mix of jazz and blues) that decries the coldness the nation was adopting in the face of the Me Decade and Reagan's dagger to the heart of middle America. Short and bittersweet--another sign this isn't just another pop record. Favorite Line: "Some got it worse than me/Some got it worse than you/You see the people starvin' underneath the tree/And you wonder what happened to the golden rule..."
Justice and Independence '85--A parable of sorts about what America had become under Reagan's leadership. Yes, indeed, there was plenty to cry about, and Mellencamp lets his symbol flag fly pointing out the damage Reagan had done. But he leaves us with a little hope at the end--just by singing this song.... Favorite Line: "Roll a rock across the Country/Everybody come along/When you're feelin' down yeah yeah/Just sing this song yeah yeah..."
Between a Laugh and a Tear--Just another brilliant effort--musically, lyrically, and vocally. Featuring emaycee fave Rickie Lee Jones on backing vocals, this one is an ode to the travails of youth with a promise that the future is unwritten. Most of us live our lives between a laugh and a tear, and the best advice is to keep on keeping on. Favorite Line: "Just try to live each and every precious moment/Don't be discouraged by the future forget the past/That's old advice but it'll be good to you..."
Rumbleseat--Sometimes when an album has so many great songs, you forget about one of the really good ones--and that would be this song. As I listened while doing my half-assed research, I remembered how good this song was--story of a guy who thinks he's a loser and wakes up one day to say "Fuck that!" and start making his life better. Another excellent pop tune, with a real fifties vibe. (For those wondering, description of a rumbleseat here.) Favorite Line: "Still got some dreams left/Tomorrow is a new day/Gonna make these dreams come true..."
You've Got to Stand for Somethin'--This one's got a real bluesy seventies feel to it and gives a short history and pop culture lesson on its way to telling us that all isn't what it seems. Stand for something or they'll take you for a ride--good advice even forty years later. Favorite Line: "We've got to start respectin' this world/Or it's gonna turn around and bite off our face..."
R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60's Rock)--And a balls out rocker to end it--Mellencamp had some trepidation about ending such a serious album with a fun ode to sixties rock, but in the end figured it was a high energy song and went with it. It worked--it was the highest charting single from the album, and for the millionth time in this post, shows what a great pop hit writer Mellencamp is. It shows the love of not just the players but also the fans. Favorite Line: "Some are black and some are white/Ain't too proud to sleep on the floor tonight/With the blind faith of Jesus you know that they just might..."
The Kind of Fella I Am [Bonus Track]--This one was a bonus track on the cassette and CD...and wouldn't you know it, I bought the LP. No matter--I got it as the B-side to "Lonely Ol' Night." Lyrics here.
Forgot how truly great this album was--and is just as relevant in the age of (fucking idiot) Trump as it was in the age of (fucking idiot) Reagan. A stellar effort.
Indiana has filed a bill to end ALL recognition of transgender people. It is one of several states to do so, perfectly mirroring Russia's 2020 law and Hungary's 2023.
I will also note, it updates the definition for gay marriage as well, in preparation for overturning Obergefell. pic.twitter.com/jMdGX5d2uh
My introduction to this week's tune wasn't this version--it was the Ramones cover version (though truth be told, our featured song is actually a cover version, too). After years of hearing the Ramones cover, I finally got around to listening to the original and found it to be...amazing. While the Ramones rendition has its charms (three chord thrashing guitar, furious drumming, Joey's fevered vocals), the 1964 version is a nice slice of sixties pop pie....
The Rivieras (they eventually named themselves after the General Motors luxury car the Buick Riviera) formed while its original members were still in high school in 1962, in that hot bed of rock and roll, South Bend, Indiana. They recorded a single, managed to get it distributed, and had a hit. Before they could even record their first LP, two of its original members joined the Marines. The band would change members frequently (the draft and parental desires for them to attend college), before disbanding in 1966. In their short career, they released two studio albums, and eleven singles. Some band members would reunite under the name Wildcat from 2000-2010 but the band is now officially defunct.
"California Sun" was originally released as a single only in 1964, but after its success was the lead cut on their debut album, Let's Have a Party. The single would peak at #5 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and I was unable to discern if the album ever charted.
Fun Fact: Some people consider "California Sun" to be the last American rock and roll hit before the British Invasion. When it peaked at number five, the #1 song on the charts was a little ditty you might have heard of: "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles....
As you listen to "California Sun," keep in mind that the young men recording it were still in fucking high school! It's not like George Martin was in the studio to produce it for them--they did it themselves. Just a killer rat-a-tat guitar, pulsating drums, a rambunctious organ (and its mid-song solo), and devil-may-care vocals that capture all the hope and joy that is our west coast. All I know is the more I hear it, the more I'm all in for heading out to that warm California sun. An absolute triumph of youth.
Lyric Sheet: "And they walk, and I'll walk/They twist and I'll twist/They shimmy and I'll shimmy/They fly and I'll fly/Well, they're out there a-havin' fun/In that warm California sun..."
Literally spent an hour this week trying to remember which movie I had seen that led me to add this week's tune to the pantheon of tunes that make up Friday Night Jukebox. It's Wikipedia entry lists American Graffitiand Three Men and a Babyas movies where it was featured (if you've seen the latter you probably won't forget its placement), but I haven't seen either in years. Eventually I gave up--my guess is a week from now it will pop into my mind. No matter, if nothing else it gave me an intro for this week's post....
The Spaniels formed in Gary, Indiana in 1952 at their high school in Gary, Indiana. They are considered the first successful doo-wop group to come out of the Midwest. As was the custom in their day, they were mostly a singles band that toured constantly on what was once known as the Chitlin Circuit. Unfortunately, their label, Vee-Jay, went bankrupt in 1966 and the band stopped performing. They reunited in 1969, had another hit, before parting again in 1970. The Spaniels had two competing incarnations for many years on the oldies circuit. Sadly, all of the original members have passed away.
Fun Fact: The Spaniels are considered pioneers in pop music by some because they were the first group to spotlight their frontman with his own microphone while the remaining members shared a second one.
"Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite" was released as a single in 1954. As it was in the day when albums were an afterthought, there was no album release, though it would be released on a number of hits packages and oldies collections through the years. The song hit #5 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard R & B Chart. A version by the much whiter McGuire Sisters hit # 8 on Billboard's then version of its current Hot 100.
It's a testament to the talents of the five men who made up the Spaniels how in just two short years since their beginning they made a record as wondrous as "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite." The harmonies are as good as any I've ever heard, and the segues into the solo verses are as smooth as silk. The bass singer's intro (and add ons ) to the chorus, as well as the sweet but soft laments of an electric guitar are fine moments, as well. And when you add in lyrics about not wanting to say good night to your lovely lady...well, it's a doo wop dream.
Lyric Sheet: "I hate to leave you I really must say/Oh, good night sweetheart, good night..."
“The Satanic Temple is challenging Indiana’s near-total abortion ban with a lawsuit that takes aim at Senate Enrolled Act 1 and claims the ban infringes on their followers’ religious rights and violates the U.S. Constitution.”https://t.co/2X5MaQs2RW
The term, “Good Samaritan” came from a Bible passage of a man from Samaria who stopped on the side of the road to help a man who was injured and ignored.
I cannot believe we live in a world where the term can equally apply to someone *killing* someone… my God. https://t.co/0a3sgzejzD
Only brain dead Republican gun fetishists would consider the Greenwood Park Mall shooting, where 1 random person kills 3 people before being shot by another random person a "win" for the 2nd amendment 🤡🤡
— Chuck Todd's shamble bangs (@Drea_got_rage) July 18, 2022
I was the ONLY reporter in the courtroom this morning as the man accused of raping a 10-year-old girl, impregnating her, leading to an abortion in Indiana, was arraigned.
REPORTER: "You would be okay with the Supreme Court leaving the issue of interracial marriage to the states?"
SEN. MIKE BRAUN (R-IN): "Yes. If you are not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you are not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too." pic.twitter.com/jiVTMOpC01
Outside of "Rock Around the Clock" and "Johnny B. Goode," I would be hard pressed to name a tune that had a greater influence on the history of rock and roll than this week's featured song. Hell, the Wikipedia entry for the song is longer than their write-up for the band...and I'm relatively sure that's an FNJ first.
The Kingsmen formed in 1959 (the year I was born--coincidence? I think not...) in Portland, Oregon and made their mark as a garage band in the Pacific Northwest. In 1962 the band heard a version of a song by Richard Berry called "Louie Louie" by Rockin' Robin Roberts while in a club and noticed the crowd's reaction was to dance their asses off. They learned the tune and later recorded it in the studio in April of 1963 (the band split the $50 fee--nice investment there, fellas!), and the rest, as they say, is history. Lead singer Jack Ely left the band before they even released their first album (his only vocal and instrumentation with the group was "Louie Louie"), but the Kingsmen have been together now (in about a billion different incarnations) for sixty years now. They have released twelve albums (the last in 1994), five of which hit the Billboard 200, 19 singles, 7 of which hit the Billboard Hot 100, and have released a whopping 20 compilations, which doesn't even include various artist collections. Amazing what a seminal single can do for your career options....
"Louie Louie" was released as a single in 1963, and the band would capitalize on its success by adding it to their debut album, The Kingsmen in Person,that same year. The single would go on to reach #2 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and would go on to be inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame's Hall of Fame Singles, the Grammy Hall of Fame, and be a song of the century/all-time on numerous poll lists including NPR, Rolling Stone, and NME.
Fun Fact: While the exact number is unknown, it is estimated that there are over 1500 cover versions of "Louie Louie." Now that's influence.
Yeah, I'm going to write a paean to "Louie Louie"--much better writers than I have devoted entire books to it, let alone a paragraph. So much of the song's early appeal was the rumors that the song was obscene (many radio stations refused to play the song, it was banned in Indiana by its governor, and the FBI spent 31 months investigating it for obscenity only to conclude its lyrics were unintelligible), and Jack Ely's vocals sound slurred (in truth, Ely was a) wearing braces, and b) while recording was placed in the middle of his band mates and had to stand on his tiptoes and scream into the mike to be heard above the instruments). In reality, discovered many years later than it should have been, the song is quite tame--a sailor is telling a bartender that he's more than ready to get back to sea so he can get home to his lady love. It's doubtful in the internet age that a song today could ever have the mystique that "Louie Louie" did (we could google it and have the lyrics in a matter of seconds), but a testament to its utter greatness is that even though we now know the truth, the song remains an anthem in a league of its very own.
Fun Fact #2: The song does have an obscenity in it--if you listen carefully around the 0:55 mark, the drummer screams "Fuck!" because he dropped a drumstick as they were recording.
Lyric Sheet: "A fine little girl, she waits for me/Me catch a ship across the sea/Me sail that ship all alone/Me never thinks how I'll make it home..." (Come on, admit it: you had absolutely no idea that was the lyrics to the first verse...)
I noted a couple of posts back in Friday Night Jukebox that I spent my formative years (ages 14-21) in the small (but completely uninteresting) town of Kokomo, IN. Our newspaper there, The Kokomo Tribune, reflected the town itself and what many of its residents would consider an ideal America--Mom, baseball, apple pie, and hot dogs (not a caricature). Somehow when I started college at the regional Indiana University campus there in Kokomo, I came across the New York City weekly The Village Voice.
The big city newspaper in Kokomo was The Indianapolis Star, a conservative beacon in Indiana. Television consisted of five channels--the big three (only ABC, NBC, and CBS existed back then), one local channel that showed nothing but reruns, and if the weather was just right (no clouds) you could sort of get the PBS station on the TV. Radio was top forty out of the big city there in Chicago, and again, if the weather was just right, you could get one of them rock and roll FM stations out of Indianapolis. There was no internet.
You can imagine what it was like, then, when I started subscribing to The Village Voice, an alternative weekly before there were alternative weeklies. It introduced me to the punk movement and Neil Young (after a hella review of his Rust Never Sleeps LP) and the work of music critic Robert Christgau (whom I continue to have a love/hate relationship with to this day). It taught me that not all people who were gay were in the closet. That there were Americans who were a lot more liberal than that commie Jimmy Carter. That there were a lot of people angry just like me at the state of America. And that there was a lot more to America (both good and bad) than I had been taught in my high school history classes.
So it was with some sadness that I read this past week that The Village Voice is ceasing publication, though I'd quit subscribing sometime after my daughter was born (not a justifiable expense for a young family) roughly thirty-five years ago. Not surprised--printed newspapers have pretty much become a quaint nod to our past, which I suppose is what this whole post is.
Give 'em credit, though--in a world that is still screaming for the coolness quotient, they scored a perfect ten on their final cover (Dylan saluting, as seen at the top of this post).
If you gotta go, as the saying goes, at least leave a beautiful corpse.
As I was putting together my list of songs for this year, I noticed that, in the three plus (!) years I'd been writing a weekly post about music, there were a shitload of artists whose work I had spent countless hours listening to that had yet to have a mention here on FNJ. Tom Petty got a holler a few weeks back, and in the coming weeks I'll be featuring songs by Van Morrison, the Band, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Johnny Cash, and a host of others. This week it's John Mellencamp, who was the final piece of my Holy Trinity of working class rockers--along with the aforementioned Petty and Bruce Springsteen.
Whereas Springsteen was the Power and the Glory, and Petty was the Reverend of Laid Back
Wisdom, Mellencamp has been the Minister of Pissed Off--though he had a a much better knack than either of them for writing hit singles. Originally Johnny Cougar, then John Cougar, then onto John Cougar Mellencamp, before finally being allowed to use his given name, Mellencamp started out with a few catchy singles about life in the Midwest, before graduating to writing songs that went much deeper into our nation's psyche. His Scarecrow LP is probably one of the ten best ever made, and he followed it up with years of releases full of smart songs about our world. For his troubles Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and will be inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame this year. Mellencamp was one of the original founders of Farm Aid, which has raised over $50 million to help keep family farms afloat and has been a frequent critic of our enemies on the right, including their pseudo-God, Ronald Reagan. Not bad for a kid from Seymour, Indiana.
Released in 1989 on his Big DaddyLP, "Mansions in Heaven" was never released as a single, so again this week there will be no shout outs to Billboard's charts. It is, however, a chance to do something that I originally wanted to do a lot more of with Friday Night Jukebox, which is to feature hidden gems from artists that get lost amongst the glittery hits. And this one certainly got lost--in the Wikipedia entry on Big Daddy, it's the only song that didn't get a recap, and on this week's YouTube video, it's the first one I ever recall having zero comments.
When I was still a young man at thirty years of age, I thought "Mansions in Heaven" was a song about the hope for better days. Now that I'm an old man of almost sixty years; after listening to it numerous times in preparation for this post, I'm convinced the song is about a man at peace with his small lot in life. Whether or not that's art imitating my stages of life, "Mansions in Heaven" is sparse in its instrumentation, featuring only a lightly strummed acoustic guitar before the band kicks in on the chorus. Mellencamp delivers a fine performance, at times almost speak singing (or is it sing speaking?) the protagonists wizened story. But the creme de la creme, that tiny small moment that makes the song so much more than just more filler for the hits, is the "oh-oh"s that are seamlessly inserted in the middle of the two lines of the chorus, both of which lead you to believe that the angels really are descending to take him to his mansions in heaven. All in all, "Mansions in Heaven" is a subtle Mellencamp masterpiece that showcases the human touch of one of pop music's best songwriters.
Lyric Sheet: "Withstood the heartache/Kept on believing/It ain't winning or losing/Just the singing of the song..."
The Good--President Obama. While he's had a few missteps over the last nearly seven years, he hasn't had any this week. First, for not knuckling under pressure to send ground troops into Syria, and reminding America that republicans are the only ones who think sending our soldiers into that quagmire is a good idea, and second, for bitch slapping republicans over their decidedly un-American calls to allow only Syrian Christians into America. What wouldn't Jesus do, right?
The Bad--Virtually all republican Governors (unconstitutionally) rejecting the Syrian refugees. Led by Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who this week told two relief agencies to send back two families that had already been approved to relocate in Indianapolis (and then got shown the real meaning of Christian charity by Democratic Gov. Malloy of Connecticut who welcomed one of the families to his state), republicans embarrassed themselves with their bigotry, intolerance, and ignorance. Some surprise there...
The Ugly--The complete and utter lack of courage demonstrated by the republican party in the face of the terrorist attack in Paris. Republicans are absolutely wetting their pants over allowing a few thousand refugees into America, and yet France, who lost 150 of its people in a terrorist attack just a week ago, is agreeing to take in more than 30,000 Syrian refugees. What we Democrats have known for quite some time is coming to fore: the party that's "tough on defense" really isn't so tough after all. Fucking wimps, the lot of them.
Thanks to a GoFundMe fundraising effort for the pizzeria in Indiana that said it wouldn't cater to a gay wedding and subsequently had to close its doors, over $800,000 has been raised for the family that owns the restaurant. In response to the tidy sum of money, one of the owners said, "God has blessed us for standing up for what we believe, and not denying him."
Isn't it entirely possible that the large amount of money raised is Satan's way of celebratin' their hatin'?
Seems just as plausible to me--after all, Christ didn't say "Love your neighbor as yourself--unless, of course, he's gay."
The average American gets paid just enough so he doesn't quit his job, and works just hard enough so he doesn't get fired.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Source unknown
Uncle emaycee Wants You For the Coming Class War! Enlist today....
Capitalism: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can exploit his labor, become filthy rich, and keep the poor bastard living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life.
