Music Labyrinth Episode 084
Groove Is In The Heart / Deee-Lite (2004)
Hello Listener, and welcome to episode 84 of The Music Labyrinth. Now, its tempting, given this particular episode number, to draw parallels with George Orwell’s famous novel, but I though we would take a more positive message than that into this episode. In the early 1980s, the need for a new world geodetic system was generally recognized by the geodetic community. World Geodetic System 72 was considered no longer sufficient for all the applications associated with knowing our place in the World. So, along came WGS84 and - Presto! - we all knew precisely where and what our place is in the greater scheme of things. And in similar form, this program also knows exactly, in the words of Beck, where it’s at. We are four weeks beyond our last standard episode, having enjoyed a special “stand-alone” issue a couple of weeks ago. I hope you enjoyed the Queen-themed last episode. However, its time to get back to usual business, which - for any new listeners - involves carefully considering the last song we played and finding a rock-solid link from it to our next track. We began this episode with the song that ended our last: Groove Is In The Heart by Deee-Lite. That song is built largely around a sample of Herbie Handcock’s 1966 instrumental Bring Down The Birds - but is was another sample in the song that caught my eye and ear. The vocal part which sounds like this [sample played] is actually based on the singing of Eva Gabor from the theme tune for the American 1960s sitcom, Green Acres. And so, that little bit of trivia put me in mind of songs featuring samples of TV themes, which led me to Solange! Keep an ear out for the theme to Scooby Doo in the opening of this song, Thinkin’ About You.
Thinkin’ About You / Solange (feat. Murphy Lee) (2002)
On The Music Labyrinth that was Solange, featuring Murphy Lee, with Thinking About You, and we arrived there by considering songs influenced by TV themes. So, as long as this is where we are, I just couldn’t leave the TV theme thing alone …
(Meet) The Flintstones / The B-52s (1998)
This is The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to The B-52s with (Meet) The Flintstones. The B-52s had a brief cameo as themselves in the Flintstones movie (although, in the spirit of the theme their name changed to the BC-52s). Another band to pop up as a thinly disguised version of themselves occurred in the film Back To The Future III. In the movie, they featured as a country/bluegrass outfit, and performed an appropriately stripped back version of this track. This is ZZ Top with Doubleback.
Doubleback / ZZ Top (1990)
That was ZZ Top with Doubleback. At the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show in 1997, ZZ Top were joined by several other artists, including James Brown to perform a version of this track.
I Got You (I Feel Good) / James Brown (1964)
Of course, that was James Brown with his 1964 hit I Got You (I Feel Good). In addition to being the Godfather of Soul, The Hardest Working Man In Show Business and Mr Dynamite, James Brown is also the name of a song by recently adopted favourites here at The Music Labyrinth, Big Audio Dynamite. And here it is.
James Brown / Big Audio Dynamite (1989)
Welcome back to The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to James Brown - not the artist, but the song - by Big Audio Dynamite. Big Audio Dynamite included the British film director, DJ and musician, Don Letts. He is credited with the direction and production of a large number of music videos for a variety of artists, including the video for this song from 1983.
Every Day I Write The Book / Elvis Costello (1983)
That song, Every Day I Write The Book, comes from Elvis Costello’s 1983 album Punch The Clock. That album featured Paul Speare on saxophone and flute. Paul Speare had been a foundation member of Dexy’s Midnight Runners when they sounded like this.
Geno / Dexy’s Midnight Runners (1980)
That was Dexy’s Midnight Runners from 1980. That song, Geno, was called because its writers, Kevin Archer and Kevin Rowland wished to pay a tribute to the Northern Soul performer Geno Washington. Further, the song’s distinctive sax riff was inspired by the Geno Washington song (I Gotta) Hold On To My Love, which was the B-side to this single. Here is Geno Washington with Michael (The Lover).
Michael (The Lover) / Geno Washington (1966)
Here we are in The Music Labyrinth where our last track was Geno Washington with his 1966 hit Michael (The Lover). The arrival of the flower power was one of the factors which brought an end to Geno Wahsington’s music career in the late 1960s. He went on to study hypnosis and meditation. But his influence on the world of modern music had not yet run its course. In the early 1980s Geno Washington was consulted by a young singer called Ian Brown about what direction to take his career. Washington is credited with convincing Ian Brown to accept an offer made to him to join a new band called the Stone Roses, and ultimately they brought us tunes such as this.
Love Spreads / The Stone Roses (1994)
From 1994 that was The Stone Roses with Love Spreads. Ian Brown of The Stone Roses has had a controversial career. Amongst his infamy, he was cast for a cameo scene in Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban. Brown can be seen in the film in a pub called The Leaky Cauldron, stirring his drink by magic and reading Steven Hawking’s A Brief History Of Time. Another musician to make a slightly baffling cameo in film occurred in the 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, when the hardware store worker Bob Summerfield was portrayed by Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and you can hear some of his work as a full-time virtuoso of the bass guitar here.
Behind The Sun / Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1987)
That was the REd Hot Cilli Peppers with Behind The Sun. The Chilli Peppers’ bass player (and part-time film actor), Flea, is also a member of the supergroup Atoms For Peace. Here they are with Default.
Default / Atoms For Peace (2013)
This is The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to Atoms For Peace with Default. Atoms For Peace is something of a contemporary super-group, featuring Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Thom Yorke from Radiohead, super-producer Nigel Goodrich, highly credentialed session drummer Joey Waronker who has worked with Beck and REM, and percussionist Mauro Refosco who, in 2018 contributed to the David Byrne album American Utopia and who plays on this track from that album.
Everybody’s Coming To My House / David Byrne (2018)
From the 2018 album American Utopia, that was David Byrne with Everybody’s Coming To My House. American Utopia is also a highly successful live show, and percussionist Mauro Refosco has been a touring member of David Byrne’s American Utopia during its season on Broadway. That show was also captured in Spike Lee’s wonderful concert movie of the same name. If you are partial to the music of David Byrne and you have not seen the film, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I could watch it all day long. One of the tracks performed in the concert is a version of this next one, which comes from a 2008 project by the artist usually known as Fat Boy Slim. On this occasion he is calling the project the Brighton Port Authority, and the album produced is called I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat. This track from that project features the Fatboy, David Byrne, and Dizzee Rascal - and the song is a big favourite here at The Music Labyrinth. This is Toe Jam.
Toe Jam / Brighton Port Authority (2008)
That was the Brighton Port Authority with Toe Jam. Another contributor to the Brighton Port Authority album I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat, is the British singer-songwriter Jamie T. Here he is from his 2016 album Trick, with Power Over Men.
Power Over Men / Jamie T (2016)
On The Music Labyrinth we just heard Power Over Men by Jamie T. In 2010, Jamie T released a single called Emily’s Heart. The B-side of that single was a cover of this song.
Atlantic City / Bruce Springsteen (1982)
From his magnificent 1982 album Nebraska, that was - of course - The Boss with Atlantic City. That song was also covered by The Hold Steady for a 2009 fundraising album for the War Child charity. The album was called Heroes, and it also contained this next track. Band and song should become self-evident, so I will wait until after the track to confirm your suspicions.
Running To Stand Still / Elbow (2009)
That was Elbow, with their cover of the U2 song Running To Stand Still. Running To Stand Still was included on U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree, which in 2014, was selected for preservation in the US National Recording Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress. That album represents, I think, U2 at the top of their game, and one of my favourite tracks from it is this one.
Bullet The Blue Sky / U2 (1987)
This is The Music Labyrinth which still echoes with the strains of Bullet The Blue Sky by U2. Bono has said that the person he had in mind while writing the lyrics, particularly the spoken word passage of that song, was then US President Ronald Reagan, whose administration backed the military regimes in Central and South America that Bono encountered on an earlier trip. Ronald Reagan inspired a number of musicians and songwriters to mention him in their art. Although the former president is not referenced by name in this next track, John Mellencamp stated in a Washington Post interview in December 2004 that this song is intended as a scathing indictment on Ronald Reagan. Listen for the last line which says, “Thank God he went back to California.” This is Country Gentleman.
Country Gentleman / John Cougar Mellencamp (1989)
Country Gentleman comes from John Cougar Mellencamp’s 1989 album Big Daddy. And the phrase Big Daddy only reminded me that I have completely failed - so far - to include in this show a track from one of the Big 3 Favourites here at The Music Labyrinth. Well, consider that situation remedied. The phrase Big Daddy pops up in this song about a radio broadcaster who wonders if anyone is listening - a situation that I have some affinity with! Here is Steve Earle.
Satellite Radio / Steve Earle (2004)
With his song about broadcasting radio into the ether, that was Steve Earle with Satellite Radio. Another artist who also addressed the world of radio is Regina Spektor who, in 2006, gave us this song. This is On The Radio.
On The Radio / Regina Spektor (2006)
This is The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to Regina Spektor wth her 2006 song On The Radio. YOu may have noticed that the song referenced November Rain by Guns ‘N Roses, which would have provided us with an obvious link onwards - EXCEPT - its long been a conviction of mine that the guitar solo in that song is just off-key and therefore just awful to the ears. Sorry to verge from news to opinion but, well, there it is. So instead, lets go off in another direction. A couple of years before On The Radio, Regina Spektor teamed up with The Strokes as they were recording their 2003 album Room On Fire. The collaboration between Regina Spektor and The Strokes did not make the album, but it did appear as the B-side to a single from the album. This is The Strokes and Regina Spektor with Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men.
Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men / The Strokes and Regina Spektor (2004)
I mentioned that the last track, Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men, was a B-side to a single by The Strokes. Lets hear the A-side. This is Reptilia.
Reptilia / The Strokes (2003)
Reptilia by The Strokes appears on the soundtrack of the 2007 video game Rock Band. So too does our next song - a dead-set crowd favourite - which will end tonight’s episode of The Music Labyrinth. Thanks very much for your company tonight. I hope you have enjoyed the musical waypoints we have encountered along the way. Please come back and join us in 2 weeks when we will start the show with this next track and boldly continue onwards through The Music Labyrinth. To get us there, also appearing in the 2007 video game Rock Band, here are The Killers with When We Were Young. Thanks for listening.
When You Were Young / The Killers (2006)
Hello Listener, and welcome to episode 84 of The Music Labyrinth. Now, its tempting, given this particular episode number, to draw parallels with George Orwell’s famous novel, but I though we would take a more positive message than that into this episode. In the early 1980s, the need for a new world geodetic system was generally recognized by the geodetic community. World Geodetic System 72 was considered no longer sufficient for all the applications associated with knowing our place in the World. So, along came WGS84 and - Presto! - we all knew precisely where and what our place is in the greater scheme of things. And in similar form, this program also knows exactly, in the words of Beck, where it’s at. We are four weeks beyond our last standard episode, having enjoyed a special “stand-alone” issue a couple of weeks ago. I hope you enjoyed the Queen-themed last episode. However, its time to get back to usual business, which - for any new listeners - involves carefully considering the last song we played and finding a rock-solid link from it to our next track. We began this episode with the song that ended our last: Groove Is In The Heart by Deee-Lite. That song is built largely around a sample of Herbie Handcock’s 1966 instrumental Bring Down The Birds - but is was another sample in the song that caught my eye and ear. The vocal part which sounds like this [sample played] is actually based on the singing of Eva Gabor from the theme tune for the American 1960s sitcom, Green Acres. And so, that little bit of trivia put me in mind of songs featuring samples of TV themes, which led me to Solange! Keep an ear out for the theme to Scooby Doo in the opening of this song, Thinkin’ About You.
Thinkin’ About You / Solange (feat. Murphy Lee) (2002)
On The Music Labyrinth that was Solange, featuring Murphy Lee, with Thinking About You, and we arrived there by considering songs influenced by TV themes. So, as long as this is where we are, I just couldn’t leave the TV theme thing alone …
(Meet) The Flintstones / The B-52s (1998)
This is The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to The B-52s with (Meet) The Flintstones. The B-52s had a brief cameo as themselves in the Flintstones movie (although, in the spirit of the theme their name changed to the BC-52s). Another band to pop up as a thinly disguised version of themselves occurred in the film Back To The Future III. In the movie, they featured as a country/bluegrass outfit, and performed an appropriately stripped back version of this track. This is ZZ Top with Doubleback.
Doubleback / ZZ Top (1990)
That was ZZ Top with Doubleback. At the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show in 1997, ZZ Top were joined by several other artists, including James Brown to perform a version of this track.
I Got You (I Feel Good) / James Brown (1964)
Of course, that was James Brown with his 1964 hit I Got You (I Feel Good). In addition to being the Godfather of Soul, The Hardest Working Man In Show Business and Mr Dynamite, James Brown is also the name of a song by recently adopted favourites here at The Music Labyrinth, Big Audio Dynamite. And here it is.
James Brown / Big Audio Dynamite (1989)
Welcome back to The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to James Brown - not the artist, but the song - by Big Audio Dynamite. Big Audio Dynamite included the British film director, DJ and musician, Don Letts. He is credited with the direction and production of a large number of music videos for a variety of artists, including the video for this song from 1983.
Every Day I Write The Book / Elvis Costello (1983)
That song, Every Day I Write The Book, comes from Elvis Costello’s 1983 album Punch The Clock. That album featured Paul Speare on saxophone and flute. Paul Speare had been a foundation member of Dexy’s Midnight Runners when they sounded like this.
Geno / Dexy’s Midnight Runners (1980)
That was Dexy’s Midnight Runners from 1980. That song, Geno, was called because its writers, Kevin Archer and Kevin Rowland wished to pay a tribute to the Northern Soul performer Geno Washington. Further, the song’s distinctive sax riff was inspired by the Geno Washington song (I Gotta) Hold On To My Love, which was the B-side to this single. Here is Geno Washington with Michael (The Lover).
Michael (The Lover) / Geno Washington (1966)
Here we are in The Music Labyrinth where our last track was Geno Washington with his 1966 hit Michael (The Lover). The arrival of the flower power was one of the factors which brought an end to Geno Wahsington’s music career in the late 1960s. He went on to study hypnosis and meditation. But his influence on the world of modern music had not yet run its course. In the early 1980s Geno Washington was consulted by a young singer called Ian Brown about what direction to take his career. Washington is credited with convincing Ian Brown to accept an offer made to him to join a new band called the Stone Roses, and ultimately they brought us tunes such as this.
Love Spreads / The Stone Roses (1994)
From 1994 that was The Stone Roses with Love Spreads. Ian Brown of The Stone Roses has had a controversial career. Amongst his infamy, he was cast for a cameo scene in Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban. Brown can be seen in the film in a pub called The Leaky Cauldron, stirring his drink by magic and reading Steven Hawking’s A Brief History Of Time. Another musician to make a slightly baffling cameo in film occurred in the 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, when the hardware store worker Bob Summerfield was portrayed by Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and you can hear some of his work as a full-time virtuoso of the bass guitar here.
Behind The Sun / Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1987)
That was the REd Hot Cilli Peppers with Behind The Sun. The Chilli Peppers’ bass player (and part-time film actor), Flea, is also a member of the supergroup Atoms For Peace. Here they are with Default.
Default / Atoms For Peace (2013)
This is The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to Atoms For Peace with Default. Atoms For Peace is something of a contemporary super-group, featuring Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Thom Yorke from Radiohead, super-producer Nigel Goodrich, highly credentialed session drummer Joey Waronker who has worked with Beck and REM, and percussionist Mauro Refosco who, in 2018 contributed to the David Byrne album American Utopia and who plays on this track from that album.
Everybody’s Coming To My House / David Byrne (2018)
From the 2018 album American Utopia, that was David Byrne with Everybody’s Coming To My House. American Utopia is also a highly successful live show, and percussionist Mauro Refosco has been a touring member of David Byrne’s American Utopia during its season on Broadway. That show was also captured in Spike Lee’s wonderful concert movie of the same name. If you are partial to the music of David Byrne and you have not seen the film, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I could watch it all day long. One of the tracks performed in the concert is a version of this next one, which comes from a 2008 project by the artist usually known as Fat Boy Slim. On this occasion he is calling the project the Brighton Port Authority, and the album produced is called I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat. This track from that project features the Fatboy, David Byrne, and Dizzee Rascal - and the song is a big favourite here at The Music Labyrinth. This is Toe Jam.
Toe Jam / Brighton Port Authority (2008)
That was the Brighton Port Authority with Toe Jam. Another contributor to the Brighton Port Authority album I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat, is the British singer-songwriter Jamie T. Here he is from his 2016 album Trick, with Power Over Men.
Power Over Men / Jamie T (2016)
On The Music Labyrinth we just heard Power Over Men by Jamie T. In 2010, Jamie T released a single called Emily’s Heart. The B-side of that single was a cover of this song.
Atlantic City / Bruce Springsteen (1982)
From his magnificent 1982 album Nebraska, that was - of course - The Boss with Atlantic City. That song was also covered by The Hold Steady for a 2009 fundraising album for the War Child charity. The album was called Heroes, and it also contained this next track. Band and song should become self-evident, so I will wait until after the track to confirm your suspicions.
Running To Stand Still / Elbow (2009)
That was Elbow, with their cover of the U2 song Running To Stand Still. Running To Stand Still was included on U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree, which in 2014, was selected for preservation in the US National Recording Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress. That album represents, I think, U2 at the top of their game, and one of my favourite tracks from it is this one.
Bullet The Blue Sky / U2 (1987)
This is The Music Labyrinth which still echoes with the strains of Bullet The Blue Sky by U2. Bono has said that the person he had in mind while writing the lyrics, particularly the spoken word passage of that song, was then US President Ronald Reagan, whose administration backed the military regimes in Central and South America that Bono encountered on an earlier trip. Ronald Reagan inspired a number of musicians and songwriters to mention him in their art. Although the former president is not referenced by name in this next track, John Mellencamp stated in a Washington Post interview in December 2004 that this song is intended as a scathing indictment on Ronald Reagan. Listen for the last line which says, “Thank God he went back to California.” This is Country Gentleman.
Country Gentleman / John Cougar Mellencamp (1989)
Country Gentleman comes from John Cougar Mellencamp’s 1989 album Big Daddy. And the phrase Big Daddy only reminded me that I have completely failed - so far - to include in this show a track from one of the Big 3 Favourites here at The Music Labyrinth. Well, consider that situation remedied. The phrase Big Daddy pops up in this song about a radio broadcaster who wonders if anyone is listening - a situation that I have some affinity with! Here is Steve Earle.
Satellite Radio / Steve Earle (2004)
With his song about broadcasting radio into the ether, that was Steve Earle with Satellite Radio. Another artist who also addressed the world of radio is Regina Spektor who, in 2006, gave us this song. This is On The Radio.
On The Radio / Regina Spektor (2006)
This is The Music Labyrinth where we last listened to Regina Spektor wth her 2006 song On The Radio. YOu may have noticed that the song referenced November Rain by Guns ‘N Roses, which would have provided us with an obvious link onwards - EXCEPT - its long been a conviction of mine that the guitar solo in that song is just off-key and therefore just awful to the ears. Sorry to verge from news to opinion but, well, there it is. So instead, lets go off in another direction. A couple of years before On The Radio, Regina Spektor teamed up with The Strokes as they were recording their 2003 album Room On Fire. The collaboration between Regina Spektor and The Strokes did not make the album, but it did appear as the B-side to a single from the album. This is The Strokes and Regina Spektor with Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men.
Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men / The Strokes and Regina Spektor (2004)
I mentioned that the last track, Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men, was a B-side to a single by The Strokes. Lets hear the A-side. This is Reptilia.
Reptilia / The Strokes (2003)
Reptilia by The Strokes appears on the soundtrack of the 2007 video game Rock Band. So too does our next song - a dead-set crowd favourite - which will end tonight’s episode of The Music Labyrinth. Thanks very much for your company tonight. I hope you have enjoyed the musical waypoints we have encountered along the way. Please come back and join us in 2 weeks when we will start the show with this next track and boldly continue onwards through The Music Labyrinth. To get us there, also appearing in the 2007 video game Rock Band, here are The Killers with When We Were Young. Thanks for listening.
When You Were Young / The Killers (2006)