Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXXI--Jonathan Edwards: Sunshine

 Who'd have ever thunk it--a Friday Night Jukebox on a Friday, and on time....

As I've noted a time or two, I managed a music store on the east side of St. Louis (also known as Illinois), and of all the places I've lived, it had some of the oddest fan favorites when it came to music.  Many big cities have local faves--Cleveland and the Michael Stanley Band immediately comes to mind--but most of the artists St. Louis folks liked were not locals.  Sammy Hagar, Head East, Humble Pie, and Mountain all sold a lot more records in St. Louis than across the country in our other stores.  It was probably the only place (except maybe Chicago) where music stores would get regular requests for Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah's "Lake Shore Drive."  And, though it's not our song of the week, this week's artist had quite a few requests for his song "Shanty," an ode to smoking weed released a loooonnnngggg time before it became legal.  In a nutshell, this week's artist will always be a reminder of a place I dearly loved to live--St. Louis....

His St. Louis favorite notwithstanding, Jonathan Edwards built quite a career out of one hit single.  Born in 1946 in the great state of Minnesota, Edwards began playing piano by ear when he was eight and also started singing in the church choir.  By the time he was a teen he had taught himself guitar and had begun performing on stage.  He would play in several bands for the next few years before moving to Boston and going solo in the early seventies.  Signed to Capricorn Records, he released his debut which brought him a top five hit single and paved the way for the rest of his career.  In addition to touring regularly, Edwards has done some acting, as well as writing scores for films.  Despite the fact that he never got another sniff of commercial success after his first LP, Edwards has managed to release fourteen studio albums (the latest in 2021), five live albums, and seven singles over the last fifty-four years.  He continues to tour to this day.

"Sunshine" was the first single from his debut album, the rather clerically named Jonathan Edwards.  The song would reach #4 (with a bullet) on the Billboard Hot 100 and sell over a million copies.  The album did not chart in America, but did manage to hit #40 in Australia (so many cool kids Down Under!).

Fun Fact:  "Sunshine" was not planned to be released as a single.  However, because an engineer accidentally erased the master of the single he was planning to release ("Please Find Me"), "Sunshine" was used in its stead.  Probably the most lucrative mistake a musical engineer has ever made....

Most likely because no matter how hard I try I'll never learn everything, before I did my half-assed research for this week I had no idea "Sunshine" was an anti-Vietnam War song.  Always thought it was a "My Boss Sucks" song, trying to stick it to the man.  Nevertheless, Edwards plays a bitchin' acoustic guitar (emaycee fave!), delivers an impassioned vocal, and makes the most musically of his one moment of greatness.  By the way, all of this in two minutes and nineteen seconds.  Finally, as I listened to it again and again this week, it dawned on me how fresh the song sounded--like it could have been recorded in 2025.  One supposes if you're going to have just the one hit, you might as well do it up right--and Jonathan Edwards most certainly did.

Lyric Sheet:  [Writer's Aside:  Thought these lyrics were apropos for the time we are living through right now.] "Sunshine, come on back another day/I promise you I'll be singing/This old world, she's gonna turn around/Brand new bells will be ringing..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXXXVI--The Nails: 88 Lines About 44 Women

 This week's tune takes me back to Camelot Music in the mid 1980's and one of my all-time favorite employees, Kathleen.  Can't quite remember if she had heard it on one of the St. Louis radio stations or if she'd heard it through a friend's copy, but she asked me to open the LP so we could play it in store...and sure enough it was a hell of a song.  Couldn't begin to tell you the first thing about any other tune on the album, but this week's song is one, once you've heard it, you're unlikely to forget.

The Nails got their start in Boulder, Colorado in 1976.  After spending the first couple of years learning their chops on the road, the band released its first single in 1977, its first EP in 1981, and its first album in 1984.  A second LP followed in 1986, but the band was dropped by its label shortly thereafter.  They made one more album--for which they promptly got screwed out of any royalties (they encourage fans not to buy the record as they make zero money for it)--and  would call it a career.  Over the course of their dozen or so years, the Nails released three albums, one EP, and six singles.  Near as I can tell, the late eighties were their end time, and the band does not do any golden oldies reunion tours.  

Fun Fact:  The band had a roadie named Eric Boucher...who went on to some fame as Jello Biafra of  Dead Kennedys fame.

"88 Lines About 44 Women" was originally released in 1981, on their only EP, Hotel for Women.  The song, however, would not be released as a single until its appearance on their first album, Mood Swing.  The only version of the song to chart was a dance mix (highly not recommended).  The band has said in later years that the only money they made from the song was from commercials and lawsuits.

"88 Lines About 44 Women" is exactly what the title says it is:  a song about forty-four women that's eighty-eight lines long (each woman gets a tidbit of herself that lasts two lines--writer Marc Campbell says some of the women are real, some fictional).  The first several stanzas are followed by a buzzing hum which is quite catchy considering how short it is, and the instrumentation involves a non-stop drum (the more I listen to it, the more I realize the drumming is what makes the song such a gem) and a synthesizer, though I could swear I hear a saxophone or trumpet in the background (and possibly both).  "88 Lines About 44 Women" could easily have devolved into a novelty song (and some might say it is one), but the deadpan delivery of the lyrics, the power and rhythm of the drumming, and the vignettes about each woman (I find them to be clever but respectful) makes for a hell of a song and another fine quirky addition to the annals of Friday Night Jukebox.

Lyric Sheet:  "Cathy was a Jesus-freak/She likes that kind of misery..."

Enjoy:

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

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLXXIV--Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Goode

My introduction to this week's tune was from my father, who was quite the dancer, and who, it dawned on me this week, probably liked Chuck Berry as much as he did because virtually every song Berry performed was just so goddamned danceable...

Chuck Berry is another in a long line of artists featured here on Friday Night Jukebox whose career accomplishments are just a bit long for a one paragraph summary...but what the fuck, chutzpah is my middle name (no, it's not).  Often called the "Father of Rock and Roll," Berry's career began in 1953 in my old hometown of St. Louis, MO and lasted up until his death in 2017 (he actually released his final album the year he died, at the age of 90).  Berry's influence was immeasurable--he set standards for guitar playing, showmanship, and songwriting that are emulated to this day.  His musical output was prolific--for his career he released twenty studio albums, thirteen live albums, eight EPs, and 36 compilations.  He also released 53 singles, seven of which hit the top ten, including one number one.
Berry was among the first inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has just about every accolade a music performer could earn.  Unfortunately, Berry also had a bit of a dark side, spending time in reformatory school when he was younger (for armed robbery), and twice spending time in prison for income tax evasion and improper relations with women who weren't of age (somehow, though, he did manage to stay married to his wife for 69 years).  Despite his failings, if it hadn't been for Elvis Presley, Berry quite likely would have been the King.

"Johnny B. Goode" was released as a single in 1958, and would reach #8 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  It was #7 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Singles of All-Time" and has also been chosen by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Grammy Awards in tributes to the greatest songs of all time.

Fun Fact:  In 1977 NASA launched two space probes called Voyager in search of extraterrestrial life (both of which will be cruising through space long after we're gone).  Both crafts contained a golden record which consisted of the sights and sounds of our planet--including "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry.

And the odds of me having something novel to say about one of the greatest singles in the history of rock and roll?  Zero.  Suffice it to say, excellent guitar, excellent songwriting, excellent storytelling, and chock full of joy.  Oh--and you can dance to it.

Lyric Sheet: "His mother told him, "Someday you will be a man/And you will be the leader of a big ol' band/Many people comin' from miles around/To hear you play your music when the sun go down/Maybe someday your name'll be in lights/Sayin' 'Johnny B. Goode tonight!'"

Enjoy:

Christian charity

Since five predominately black churches have been set on fire in north St. Louis in the past month, I was just wondering when Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, et al were going to begin the rallies decrying the war on Christianity and threat to religious liberty occurring in St. Louis right now.

Oh, did I say predominately black churches?

Never mind.

Peace,
emaycee

Sometimes nothing is one cool hand

Fast Food Workers in Detroit today became the fourth group in a major American city (New York, Chicago, and St. Louis were one, two, and three) to strike for a living wage.

I have a friend who has been in retail nearly as long as I have (30 years) and she says that anytime a business she has worked for puts out a charity jar, she could always count on the poor to find a few cents to help out, and the rich to turn their noses in the air.

Leave it to those who have the least and the most to lose to lead the way in fighting for a better economic life for all of us.  Submission to the powers that be can be a pretty bitter taste, especially when you make your living making food for people, and that livelihood is so poor that you can't afford to eat without food stamps.

$15,400 a year (full-time--and good luck with that--at minimum wage) is a slap in the face to hard working people and it seems the time has come for them to slap back.

Good for them.

Peace,
emaycee