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"Hey Bullfrog." That was the original working title of the piano-driven Beatles song that ended up being called "Hey Bulldog" when Paul, for some unknown reason, began barking during the recording. This video shows one of the last times the fab four came together in the studio and really rocked as a unit.
As I slowly wind down from the excitement of seeing the legendary Glen Campbell perform his fabulous hits last night at the Byham Theater in Pittsburgh, I think back to those days when his "Goodtime Hour" was the hot show on prime time TV, and the time he made a surprise visit to a tiny village named Glen Campbell, not far from my hometown. Hey, when you're growing up in a rural county on the fringe of the Boondocks, the visit of a big celebrity creates quite a stir.
Thirty-one years ago this week, Blondie's "Rapture" became the first rap song to hit the number one spot on the Billboard chart, introducing a whole new audience of white Americans to a provocative musical genre emerging from black artists like Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow and the Sugarhill Gang. A blonde on blonde chick rapping about a man from Mars who eats up cars, bars and guitars? Yes, brave, sexy Debbie Harry and her band of New York / New Wave punk-hipsters put their own spin on a distinctly urban black musical style - and it worked!
In February 1972, Paul McCartney released a single that finally put him in the same league of controversy that his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon had long inhabited. That was the month Paul released his single, "Give Ireland Back to the Irish." It was his response to Bloody Sunday, a horrific event in which British soldiers shot and killed 26 unarmed civil-rights protesters and bystanders who were taking part in a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march on January 30, 1972. Most people aren't aware that John had also recorded two songs in response to Britain's brutal treatment of Ireland: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "The Luck of the Irish," both featured on his June 1972 LP "Sometime in New York City."
With the sad passing of the ever-youthful Davy Jones last week, I beg the question: who was your favorite Monkee? For me it was pixie-faced Micky Dolenz, who turns 67 today. Why Micky? Well, like Ringo, the "real" drummer on which his TV character was modeled, he just charmed the heck out of me with his goofiness.