Music Labyrinth Episode 016
The Last Resort / The Eagles
Hail Listener, well met! And I do mean that with all sincerity because you have found your way to episode 16 of The Music Labyrinth and I am particularly pleased that you have done so. I just hope, if you stay with us for the next hour, that you are almost as pleased as me that you found your way here. Just before we wander off into the Labyrinth again, can I take a moment to thank you for the indulgence you allowed me last week in diverting to another part of the Labyrinth for a stand-alone episode. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to erect a little milestone alongside my personal highway, and I am pleased and grateful to have been able to share it. We commenced this episode with the mighty The Last Resort, the closing track from the Eagles’ epic 1976 album, Hotel California. The songwriting credits for that song are shared by Don Henley and Glenn Frey, but Frey has acknowledged publicly that the theme of the song and its lyrical content were driven by Henley. Don Henley is one of the handful of drummers who have made it to the pinnacle of popular music with recognition as a songwriter, singer and performer in their own right. I’m sure you can name others, in fact I think I can hear you shouting about Phil Collins, Dave Grohl, Buddy Rich, and Ginger Baker, but I suggest I can trump you all with Levon Helm. Here he is, at his best, with The Band from 1969.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down / The Band
You are back with The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band. I was making the point that the drummer for The Band, Levon Helm, is one of the truly great musicians, singers, songwriters and performers who’s primary instrument was the drums. My high opinion of Levon Helm is alleged to have been shared by Bernie Taupin, the great lyricist. Taupin is said to have been so inspired by Levon Helm that this song was named after him.
Levon / Elton John
From the 1971 album Madman Across The Water, that was Elton John with Levon. Associating that song with Levon Helm made me consider other performing artists who have bobbed up in song titles. Here is an obvious one, courtesy of Van Morrison.
Jackie Wilson Said / Van Morrison
On The Music Labyrinth that was Van Morrison with Jackie Wilson Said. And we all know that what Jackie Wilson said was this.
Reet Petite / Jackie Wilson
You are back with The Music Labyrinth and the last track we listened to was Jackie Wilson’s 1957 hit Reet Petite. Jackie Wilson had commenced his career as a member of the group Billy Ward and His Dominoes, but Wilson’s renown reached such great heights that he found his way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Grammys Hall of Fame in his own right. Also, in 2016, a street in Detroit was renamed Jackie Wilson Lane in honour of him. Several other popular artists have had public streets named after them. Listeners familiar with the central business district of the City of Melbourne may have wandered past a lane named for this particular band.
Whole Lotta Rosie / ACDC
That, of course, was the unmistakable sound of ACDC, with their 1977 hit Whole Lotta Rosie. I selected that particular song by ACDC because I have recently been living in a place where a strong urban myth persists about the subject of the song. Like most myths of that sort, very few people can know how much truth is contained in a good yarn however, the importance of truth and veracity in stories of that type is - well - subject to a variety of opinion. What we DO know about that song is that it was produced by Harry Vanda and George Young, whom we have previously encountered in The Music Labyrinth (you may remember the extraordinarily thin premise I presented to get from Vanda and Young to Sultans of Swing in an earlier episode), This time, I am on much firmer territory. In 1974 Vanda and Young also wrote and produced an eleven minute, three movement song for Stevie Wright - Evie, Parts 1,2 & 3. We’re going to skip over the Stevie Wright version and forward to 2005, and a cover version produced by something of an Australian supergroup who called themselves the Wrights. Here they are with Evie, Part 3: I’m Losing You.
Evie, Pt 3; I’m Losing You / The Wrights (N.B. the Spotify playlist linked above contains the original version of this song by Stevie Wright, because Spotify did not appear to contain the version played on the show)
That was The Wrights, featuring Nic Cester of Jet, Phil Jamieson of Grinspoon, Kram of Spiderbait, Chris Cheney of The Living End, Davey Lane of You Am I, Pat Bourke of Dallas Crane and Bernard Fanning of Powderfinger, who’s vocals can be heard on this next song.
Waiting For The Sun / Powderfinger
Welcome back to The Music Labyrinth where we just heard Powderfinger from their 2000 album Odyssey No.5 and the song Waiting For The Sun. A completely different song with an identical title opens the 1992 album Hollywood Town Hall by The Jayhawks. It goes like this.
Waiting For The Sun / The Jayhawks
The Jayhawks are an alt-county band who hail from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St Paul. The Twin Cities is/are renowned for its/their own particular style of 70s and 80s funk, the Minneapolis Sound, largely pioneered by the success of Prince, who hailed from the cities. Considered to be one of the great examples of the Minneapolis Sound, was the phenomenally successful 1989 album Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson. From that album, this is Black Cat.
Black Cat / Janet Jackson
Earlier in this episode of The Music Labyrinth we relied on the mechanism of an identical song title to take us from one track to the next, and I see no reason at all why I should not attempt to get away with it twice. Probably my favourite album of 2020 also features a song called Black Cat. That album is the eponymous first release by the Texan band, Black Pumas. As good as their own Black Cat is, we’re going to close this episode of The Music Labyrinth with what I consider to be the stand-out track from that album. As always, thanks for listening. Here is Black Pumas with Fire.
Fire / Black Pumas
Hail Listener, well met! And I do mean that with all sincerity because you have found your way to episode 16 of The Music Labyrinth and I am particularly pleased that you have done so. I just hope, if you stay with us for the next hour, that you are almost as pleased as me that you found your way here. Just before we wander off into the Labyrinth again, can I take a moment to thank you for the indulgence you allowed me last week in diverting to another part of the Labyrinth for a stand-alone episode. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to erect a little milestone alongside my personal highway, and I am pleased and grateful to have been able to share it. We commenced this episode with the mighty The Last Resort, the closing track from the Eagles’ epic 1976 album, Hotel California. The songwriting credits for that song are shared by Don Henley and Glenn Frey, but Frey has acknowledged publicly that the theme of the song and its lyrical content were driven by Henley. Don Henley is one of the handful of drummers who have made it to the pinnacle of popular music with recognition as a songwriter, singer and performer in their own right. I’m sure you can name others, in fact I think I can hear you shouting about Phil Collins, Dave Grohl, Buddy Rich, and Ginger Baker, but I suggest I can trump you all with Levon Helm. Here he is, at his best, with The Band from 1969.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down / The Band
You are back with The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band. I was making the point that the drummer for The Band, Levon Helm, is one of the truly great musicians, singers, songwriters and performers who’s primary instrument was the drums. My high opinion of Levon Helm is alleged to have been shared by Bernie Taupin, the great lyricist. Taupin is said to have been so inspired by Levon Helm that this song was named after him.
Levon / Elton John
From the 1971 album Madman Across The Water, that was Elton John with Levon. Associating that song with Levon Helm made me consider other performing artists who have bobbed up in song titles. Here is an obvious one, courtesy of Van Morrison.
Jackie Wilson Said / Van Morrison
On The Music Labyrinth that was Van Morrison with Jackie Wilson Said. And we all know that what Jackie Wilson said was this.
Reet Petite / Jackie Wilson
You are back with The Music Labyrinth and the last track we listened to was Jackie Wilson’s 1957 hit Reet Petite. Jackie Wilson had commenced his career as a member of the group Billy Ward and His Dominoes, but Wilson’s renown reached such great heights that he found his way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Grammys Hall of Fame in his own right. Also, in 2016, a street in Detroit was renamed Jackie Wilson Lane in honour of him. Several other popular artists have had public streets named after them. Listeners familiar with the central business district of the City of Melbourne may have wandered past a lane named for this particular band.
Whole Lotta Rosie / ACDC
That, of course, was the unmistakable sound of ACDC, with their 1977 hit Whole Lotta Rosie. I selected that particular song by ACDC because I have recently been living in a place where a strong urban myth persists about the subject of the song. Like most myths of that sort, very few people can know how much truth is contained in a good yarn however, the importance of truth and veracity in stories of that type is - well - subject to a variety of opinion. What we DO know about that song is that it was produced by Harry Vanda and George Young, whom we have previously encountered in The Music Labyrinth (you may remember the extraordinarily thin premise I presented to get from Vanda and Young to Sultans of Swing in an earlier episode), This time, I am on much firmer territory. In 1974 Vanda and Young also wrote and produced an eleven minute, three movement song for Stevie Wright - Evie, Parts 1,2 & 3. We’re going to skip over the Stevie Wright version and forward to 2005, and a cover version produced by something of an Australian supergroup who called themselves the Wrights. Here they are with Evie, Part 3: I’m Losing You.
Evie, Pt 3; I’m Losing You / The Wrights (N.B. the Spotify playlist linked above contains the original version of this song by Stevie Wright, because Spotify did not appear to contain the version played on the show)
That was The Wrights, featuring Nic Cester of Jet, Phil Jamieson of Grinspoon, Kram of Spiderbait, Chris Cheney of The Living End, Davey Lane of You Am I, Pat Bourke of Dallas Crane and Bernard Fanning of Powderfinger, who’s vocals can be heard on this next song.
Waiting For The Sun / Powderfinger
Welcome back to The Music Labyrinth where we just heard Powderfinger from their 2000 album Odyssey No.5 and the song Waiting For The Sun. A completely different song with an identical title opens the 1992 album Hollywood Town Hall by The Jayhawks. It goes like this.
Waiting For The Sun / The Jayhawks
The Jayhawks are an alt-county band who hail from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St Paul. The Twin Cities is/are renowned for its/their own particular style of 70s and 80s funk, the Minneapolis Sound, largely pioneered by the success of Prince, who hailed from the cities. Considered to be one of the great examples of the Minneapolis Sound, was the phenomenally successful 1989 album Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson. From that album, this is Black Cat.
Black Cat / Janet Jackson
Earlier in this episode of The Music Labyrinth we relied on the mechanism of an identical song title to take us from one track to the next, and I see no reason at all why I should not attempt to get away with it twice. Probably my favourite album of 2020 also features a song called Black Cat. That album is the eponymous first release by the Texan band, Black Pumas. As good as their own Black Cat is, we’re going to close this episode of The Music Labyrinth with what I consider to be the stand-out track from that album. As always, thanks for listening. Here is Black Pumas with Fire.
Fire / Black Pumas