The Song Still Remains The Same: the unauthorized etymology of Led Zeppelin songs. Bring It On Home

Bring It On Home - Led Zeppelin

Bring It On Home - Sonny Boy Williamson

We are back (after a long hiatus) with our fourth installment of The Song Still Remains The Same: the unauthorized etymology of Led Zeppelin songs. You know, that little thing I do where I look at a song Led Zeppelin claims to have written, and then play you the original song...that they didn't write.

We started with Dazed and Confused. 
Then we looked at Whole Lotta Love.
Then we analyzed Since I've Been Lovin' You.

Today, we look at Bring It On Home.

The last song on the October 1969 release of Led Zeppelin II is a song called Bring It On Home. As you can see from the above label scan, it is a song that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have claimed to have written. The song is a laid back blues shuffle with Robert Plant's trademark billy-goat styled vocal delivery. Plant pleads with his lover:

Bbbbaaaaabbbbbwwwaaaayyyyy. Well,  Bbbbaaaaabbbbbwwwwaaaayyyyy, I'm going to bring it on home to you. I've got my ticket, I got that load. Join up, going higher, all aboard. I'm going to take my seat, railway bag. Ooh-ch'yeah. Watch this train roll down the track. I'm going bring it on home, break it on down now to you.

Ahhh, you can hear Robert Plant's native Mississippi accent as he drawl's out his pained lyrics.

Whoa. Wait. No. That's not right. Robert Plant isn't from Mississippi, he's from the UK. And Jimmy Page wasn't an itinerant sharecropper who made his way to Chicago after World War II. How did I mess this up? Oh yeah, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant didn't write the damn blues song! They stole it.

Sonny Boy Williamson (II) recorded the Willie Dixon penned song, Bring It On Home, in January of 1963 at Chess Studios in Chicago. However, the number wasn't released on Chess Records until February of 1966, shortly after Sonny Boy Williamson's death in Helena, Arkansas in 1965.

It's undeniable that it is the same song. Lawyers for Atlantic Records agreed and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in 1972. Subsequent pressings of the record show Willie Dixon as the composer. Only one person seems to still believe it is a different song:

The thing with Bring It On Home, there's only a tiny bit taken from Sonny Boy Williamson's version and we threw that in as a tribute to him. People say, "Oh, Bring It On Home is stolen." Well, there's only a little bit in the song that relates to anything that had gone before it. Just the end.
--Jimmy Page as interviewed by Dave Schulps, Trouser Press, October, 1977. 

Well, to that, I just have to say...Huh? Just a little bit? It's the same frickin' song, Jimmy. It's not just taking the shuffle, it's not just lifting a lyric or two. It's not just that it's the same title. You even have Robert Plant even imitates Sonny Boy Williamson! It's the same thing Led Zeppelin did when Robert mimicked The Small Faces' Steve Marriott with Whole Lotta Love (aka, You Need Lovin').  You make call it an homage, Misters Plant and Page, but it's not. It's standing on the shoulders of others and pushing them down in the mud. Not OK lads.

And yes, I understand that Sonny Boy Williamson tended to steal stuff too...like another person's entire identity! But we are dealing with just one deviancy at a time here.

Listen for yourself. Let us know what you think. Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Timi Yuro - What's A Matter Baby/Thirteenth Hour

What's A Matter Baby?

Thirteenth Hour

Small package, big voice. A teenage Timi Yuro was discovered sometime in the late 1950s singing to patrons in her parent's Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. She cut a number of albums and singles over the year, but never really "made it". Was she country? Soul? Cabaret? Pop? She didn't fit neatly into any single category. And that's tough when trying to sell records.

We feature today both sides of her June 1962 single for Liberty Records, What's A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You)/Thirteenth Hour. I first came to What's A Matter Baby? via The Small Faces who covered the Yuro number as the Flip-Side of their debut single from the Summer of 1965. What's A Matter Baby has a real blue-eyed soul vibe to it and thus fit in perfectly for Steve Marriott and the Mod band. The song is an acerbic conversation with a past lover. A lover who cheated, ran around and bragged about it. Now that lover is getting a taste of their own medicine. And Timi is not crying any crocodile tears for her ex. Damn it, she's found somebody new!

As we are prone to do here, we like to flip our records over and listen to that other side -- the Flip-Side, if you will. We were more than pleasantly surprised by the country-esque Flip-Side, Thirteenth Hour. This could have been Patsy Cline's next big hit. But nope, it's just a kick ass song hidden On The Flip-Side of a kick ass single.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Screaming Lord Sutch - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

The Train is still A-Rollin', for one more day, at least. Today we bring the train into the station with a Joe Meek production. And, like our last Joe Meek production with Heinz, this number features none other than Ritchie Blackmore on guitar. Screaming Lord Sutch released his (and Joe Meek's) take on The Train Kept A-Rollin' in May of 1965 for CBS Records in his native UK. It's a unique version, and, I have to say, like Mikey from the Life Cereal commercials in the 70s, I like it, I like it, I really do. I love the way the fuzz guitar and the saxophone blend seamlessly together both in tone and attack. Screaming Lord Sutch stood firmly on the silly/gimmick side of music, but he delivers earnestly here. He did seem to have a problem translating some of the lyrics, however. How did he get from Albuquerque to "Al-Kentucky"? Did they not have an Atlas in 1965?

Interestingly, the Flip-Side of the single is Honey Hush, the same Flip-Side as Johnny Burnette's single. Gee, I wonder where Joe Meek picked this one up?

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Scotty McKay Quintet - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

Scotty McKay was a Texan who had been trying to make it in the music biz since he was 15. He was even a member of Gene Vincent's Blue Caps in the twilight of the 1950s. He released a gaggle of singles on various labels without much cohesive identity. In 1967, Scotty Mckay served as an opening act for The Yardbirds on some Texas dates. He was inspired by The Yardbirds and was befriended by Jimmy Page. The two cooked up plans to record The Train Kept A-Rollin' together, but Jimmy's train kept a-rollin' on the tour and couldn't make the session. Scotty went ahead with his recording and sent the master tape to Jimmy Page who overdubbed a guitar lead and mailed it back to Scotty. Problem was, Scotty had no record deal. So he released the number on a new label he created himself. Falcon Records. It's a faithful and nice rendition of The Yardbirds version and Jimmy Page adds some very tasty guitar work to lift the number to a higher level. Too bad the song fades out with Jimmy's lead. What's up with that?

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side! 

Song of the Week: The Yardbirds - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

You knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. So here it is. The Yardbirds started recording The Train Kept A-Rollin' on September 12, 1965 at Sun Studios with Sam Phillips at the controls. A few days later, on September 22, a more sober Keith Relf re-recorded his vocals in New York. In the US it was released on the Havin' A Rave-Up LP.

Song of the Week: Johnny Burnette Trio - The Train Kept A-Rollin'/Honey Hush

Train Kept A-Rollin'

Honey Hush

You knew it was coming. The second published version of The Train Kept A-Rollin' comes from Tennessee. The Johnny Burnette Trio recorded their massive imagining of The Train Kept A-Rollin' at Bradley's Barn Studio outside of Nashville sometime during the summer of 1956. With the very important assistance of session guitarist Grady Martin on lead, The Johnny Burnette Trio laid down arguably the most rocket fueled song of the whole decade. Heck, ever!

From the opening notes of Grady Martin's distorted descending notes to Dorsey's bass slappin', Johnny's hillbilly hollerin' and Paul Burlison's rhythm, the listener is taken on a ride upon a runaway freight train barreling down a winding mountain track at 100mph. The Trio's version, released on Coral Records in October of 1956, does away with the cool demeanor of Bradshaw's recording, rewrites a number of the lyrics, and replaces the horns with a guitar attack that was 100% original in tone and attitude. It is probably best described as sounding like a schizophrenic badger on an all-night crack bender. This radically rewritten Train had left Bradshaw's station and was now on the nascent track towards becoming something much bigger.

We're also flipping our original copy of the 57 year old single over to give you the crispy goodness of the Flip-Side, their cover of Honey Hush.  

Full disclosure, we swiped this picture from the good folk at Roll Call Blog. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Tiny Bradshaw - The Train Kept A-Rollin'

The Train Kept A-Rollin'!!!!!!!! Sure, you've heard the song before. Probably from The Yardbirds. Maybe Aerosmith. But here is the original recording. 

The Train Kept A-Rollin' was recorded in 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio by it's composer, Tiny Bradshaw. Bradshaw led a jump blues/swing band that recorded for King Records and had a number of regional hits, but his recording of The Train Kept A-Rollin' is his most enduring legacy. Not necessarily for his recording of it alone, but for what the song would become in the hands of others.

Tiny Bradshaw's pre-Rock n' Roll original is a rollicking up-tempo swing number that features solid saxophone playing, subtle jazz guitar, driving drums and a great vocal performance filling out a largely traditional I-IV-V jump blues arrangement. In the original version, the sexual innuendos are far more evident than any other version. Perhaps Tiny wasn't so tiny after all. D'oh!

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps - Be-Bop-A-Lula/Woman Love

Be-Bop-A-Lula

Woman Love

These early Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps singles are just amazing. Gene Vincent was a crazed rockabilly rebel before there were ever crazed rockabilly rebels. Gene Vincent grew up in Norfolk Virginia and served in the US Navy until 1955 when a motorcycle accident crushed his leg and left him unfit for service. He turned to his old love, music, and started performing around the tidewaters of Virginia where a local DJ, Sheriff Tex Davis, took note. Davis took over management and assembled a new, better band, for Vincent. One of those musicians was an older gentleman by the name of Cliff Gallup. His guitar work on these early Blue Caps singles (he was only in the band for the first 18 months) lift these songs from great to spectacular. 

We listen today to both sides of Gene Vincent's first single, released in May of 1956 for Capitol Records. It's the well known Gene Vincent penned tune, Be-Bop-A-Lula with the less well known Flip-Side, Woman Love.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: Chuck Berry - Thirty Days

There are two kinds of people in this world. Cool people and those who don't understand what Chuck Berry means to the world of music.

In the damn near 6 years we've been running this website (yep, 6 frickin' years of flippy goodness), we've NEVER featured Chuck Berry. To be honest he is so damn good, so damn big, so damn fundamental to the very foundation of rock-n-roll, that we've been intimidated to feature him. The songs, the guitar work and the amazing lyrics that typify America more than perhaps ANY other American songwriter. Wow, where to start? What song? What to say to honor him? We're tired of being scared of coming up short. Thus we are going to let Chuck Berry do all the talking. 

Here is Chuck Berry with his second single, recorded at The Chess Records studios in 1955. We present to you Thirty Days. What a guitar tone!

Vinyl Frontier

Song of the Week: The Trolls - Every Day and Every Night/Are You The One?

 

Here we have Chicago natives, The Trolls with their debut release from October, 1966. The A-side, Every Day and Every Night is a nice raver about unattractive groupies that just won't let the band have a nice quiet night. It's full of surprises: nice guitar work by Richard Gallagher, a key change and even tempo changes. The song was written by singer, organist, Richard Clark and bassist Max Jordan. The Flip-Side, Are You The One?, is pure Mersey. Nice harmonies. 

I bought this at a record store in California one zillion years ago. Didn't pay too much attention to the writing on the sleeve and disc until more recently when I realized the record was autographed by the whole band. Whoa. Like, cool, man. I particularly like the signature of drummer Ken Cortese with his "Out of Site - Just For Spite - Ken" tagline. 

Video Diary: Armi and Danny - I Want To Love You Tender

Video Diary: The Byrds - You Ain't Going Nowhere

Tower Records Spotlight: Max Frost and the Troopers - Shape Of Things To Come

Our last Tower Records post is from May, 1968 and is from a fake band. That's right, Max Frost and the Troopers was/were actually a character(s) from a movie called Wild In The Streets. Max Frost was the protagonist and he sings his revolutionary song, Shape Of Things To Come, in defiance of the police state he fights against. Written by the tin-pan alley team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill (you've lost that lovin' feelin', kicks, on broadway, We Gotta Get Outta This Place....)

Tower Records Spotlight: Them - I Happen To Love You

Yeah baby, it's Them on Tower Records! Except it's not really "Them". At least not the Them that you know and love. It's a version of Them...post Van Morrison. Van Morrison wasn't very central to the band anyway.

So...here is the post-Van "Them" doing a Goffin-King song, I Happen To Love You. Also recorded by The Electric Prunes about the same time. Interestingly, this promo copy has I Happen To Love You on both sides. But when the song was officially released, it was relegated to a Flip-Side. From December, 1967.

Tower Records Spotlight: Beat Merchants - So Fine

Dropping three bonus posts for our Tower Records Spotlight. First one is from the UK band, The Beat Merchants doing So Fine. As with the Just Four Men post from a few days back, this one only appeared as the Flip-Side to a Freddie and The Dreamers single in April 1965. The Beat Merchants only other single, Pretty Face, was covered by San Diego's The Crawdaddy's.

Tower Records Spotlight: Jake Holmes - Dazed and Confused

It exists! No, despite what he says, Jimmy Page did NOT write Dazed and Confused. Not one single part of it. He got the writing credit, he got the royalties, But Jake Holmes wrote the song and released it on Tower Records well before Zeppelin stole it. I already wrote about this extensively here in one of my Led Zeppelin song etymology posts, so I'm going to regurgitate a little of that. An update to my earlier post, Jake Holmes has filed a lawsuit against Page and his publishing company. That case, I believe, is being dealt with now. 

###

On August 25, 1967, The Yardbirds (of which Page was now a member) performed at the Village Theater in New York. A little known folkie named Jake Holmes was touring in support of his 2 month old album, The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes on Tower Records, and was the first act on that bill. The Yardbirds' drummer, Jim McCarty was the only member of the Yardbirds to catch the act that night. According to McCarty he purchased Holmes's new record the next morning at the House of Oldies Record Store in Greenwich Village and suggested to his bandmates that they cover Dazed and Confused (1967 ASCAP copyright, 340119544). The Yardbirds collectively did a slight arrangement change for the song -- adding a middle bridge and Keith Relf rewriting some of the lyrics -- and the song became a staple of the Yardbirds' set in their waning days. They performed it on their never released Yardbirds Live at the Anderson Theatre album, on the BBC and on a French TV show called La Bouton Rouge.

According to Jake Holmes, he had no idea that the Yardbirds had been covering his song and learned about the Led Zeppelin version only when it appeared on wax with the writing credit going singularly to Jimmy Page (ASCAP copyright, 1968 340128276). Holmes: "Yes, yes, and that was the infamous moment of my life when Dazed and Confused fell into the loving hands of Jimmy Page." (source: Greg Russo. Yardbirds: The Ultimate Rave-up). Jimmy Page was pressed on this matter sometime in the '70s and then claimed that he never knew of Holmes's version and that the deceased Yardbirds singer Keith Relf had claimed to have written the song and gave Page permission to claim it as his own. McCarty: "He's [Page] a fibber. We'll have to bust him on that one." (ibid)

Rumors have swirled for years that Jake Holmes was quietly compensated many years later by Page's Swan Song Publishing as they fended off legal action. Neither Holmes nor Page have, to my knowledge, spoken publicly about the matter since. Rumors have also swirled for years that Jimmy Page and Atlantic Records purchased the rights to The Yardbirds Live At Anderson Theatre album and had it withdrawn from publishing, ostensibly to suppress the earlier version of Dazed and Confused which credits Holmes and thus would prove Page's knowledge of the song's origination.

Things haven't been all bad for Jake Holmes. He went on to be one of the most successful advertising jingle writers in America, penning such tunes such as Be a Pepper, Alka Seltzer's Plop, Plop Fizz, Fizz and the Army’s Be All You Can Be.

Tower Records Spotlight: Heinz - Movin' In and I'm Not A Bad Guy

Movin' In

I'm Not A Bad Guy

The list of artists so famous, so head and shoulders above other artists that they require only one name is impressive. There is Sting. Cher. Madonna. And, of course, there is the biggest of them all...Heinz.

The professional music story of Heinz, born Heinz Burt in Germany, is inextricably intertwined with producer Joe Meek. Heinz played bass for the Joe Meek produced instrumental band, The Tornados, who struck gold in 1962 with the Meek composition, Telstar. By all accounts, Joe Meek was deeply infatuated with Heinz and decided to craft Heinz into a solo star replete with peroxide blonde pompadour, leather vests and, to paraphrase The Ruttles' Leggy Mountbatten, with some very tight trousers. 

Despite some rough starts, the boys actually scored a hit in 1963 with their second single, Just Like Eddie, a tribute to Eddie Cochran. The records kept coming but the hits kept getting harder to find. Movin' In/I'm Not A Bad Guy (misprinted on the US Tower release as I'm Not A Bad Boy) was to be the last record for Heinz. Released in the Summer of '66 in both the UK and the US, the swan song of the creative duo was also their best. Not a bad way to go out. Heinz and Joe Meek would have a falling out and within a year Joe Meek would use a gun owned by Heinz to kill himself and his landlord. 

Movin' In is a piece of musical brilliance. Beautifully produced by Meek, the number is driven by the chicken clucking guitar work of guitarist Barry Tomlinson. The chicken's head finally explodes into a guitar feeding frenzy at 1:15 that will make anybody stop and take notice. Tomlinson doesn't take his foot off of the chicken's throat for the remainder of the song as the song culminates with one last crow of his fuzzed out guitar.

The Flip-Side is no slouch either. I'm Not A Bad Guy was written by Jerry Allison of The Crickets who released the number on Liberty in 1962. The Heinz cover removes The Crickets' Everly-like harmonies and goes straight for the darkness. According to music writer Mike Stax, the guy who turned me on to Heinz, the impressive guitar work on I'm Not A Bad Guy features none other than Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple fame. Blackmore goes toe to toe with Tomlinson on the lightning fast solo and the frequent fills. Now, here on one page you can play both songs and have a guitar-off to the death. Tomlinson v. Blackmore. No flipping of the record required.

Thanks to Mike Stax of Ugly Things for identifying these guitarists for me and for turning me on to Joe Meek and Heinz in the first place. I still have that cassette after 27 years! Cheers mate. I owe you a Grolsch. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Tower Records Spotlight: The Moonrakers - You'll Come Back

Back with more from the vaunted Tower Records label. Today we look into a song that is one of the first 60s garage songs that really caught my attention. I first heard it when it was released on the kick-ass Pebbles Voume 10. It's You'll Come Back by Denver, Colorado's, The Moonrakers. Or, as they appear on the records, The Moon Rakers. (Tower has a history of misprints on their records). The Moonrakers, by all historical accounts, were THEE band in Colorado in the latter half of the 60s and were big enough to play Lakeside Amusement Park, Red Rocks, Tulagi's in Boulder and other such storied venues.

The band was comprised of Bob MacVittie, Veeder Van Dorn on the Ric 12-string, Joel Brandes, Bob Webber on lead guitar and Denny Flannigan on keyboards. The Moonrakers had four releases on the Tower Records label of which You'll Come Back is the Flip-Side to their first single, released August 1965. I'll also go on record as saying it is their best. Very Zombie-esque (I know, it's not a word, but...)

The Moonrakers had three legitimate singers in Webber, Van Dorn and Flannigan, each of whom carried lead singer responsibilities on their releases. Denny Flannigan composed this number and provides us with the excellent mousy vocals lead.

Ultimately Bob MacVittie and Bob Webber would splinter off from the band and form Sugarloaf and strike gold with Green Eyed Lady.

Tower Records Spotlight: Davie Allan and the Arrows - Devil's Angels and Cody's Theme

Devil's Angels

Cody's Theme

-- Vox Fuzz Tone Bender? Check.

-- Wild Audio of a Chopper revving engine? Check

-- Not so subtle tip of the leather vest to Joe Meek production/composition style? Check.

-- Evil song title? Check

-- Heaping dose of Bad Assitude? Check and double check. 

Yep, we've got ourselves a bitchin'-ass single from one of those biker exploitation films of the late 1960s. Tower Records became the outlet for Mike Curb (who would go on to be the Republican Lieutenant Governor of California) and his down and dirty biker movie soundtracks. Nobody could do it better than Moto-Psycho guitarist, Davie Allan and his much imitated, never duplicated, Arrows. Most people know Davie Allan and the Arrows for their semi-hit, Blues Theme. But recent scientific testing at the National Center for Moto-Psycho Instrumental Laboratories (NCMPIL) has shown that Devil's Angels is actually a better song. Can't argue with science kids. The Devil's Angels/Cody's Theme single was Davie Allan's 7th for Tower Records and followed Blues Theme for a release date of June 1967. We've thrown in the cycle-delic Flip-Side, Cody's Theme for good karma.

Tower Records Spotlight: The Toggery Five - I'm Gonna Jump/Bye Bye Bird

I'm Gonna Jump

Bye Bye Bird

[See comments section below for insightful comments from the song's author and singer, Frank Renshaw]

Another great double sided gem on this post. Today's Song(s) of the week are given to us from the Toggery Five, a Manchester based band named after a mod clothing shop which employed one Graham Nash of Hollies fame. He went on to do other stuff, but I'm not too sure what.

The Toggery Five were led by guitarist and vocalist, Frank Renshaw who was joined by Keith Meredith, Ken Mills, and Graham Smith. A wee-lad named Paul Young (he of the 80s blue eyed soul hits) rounded out the quintet. Today's songs are from their debut single recorded on Frank Renshaw's birthday and released in the Summer March of '65 in the United States. The songs are a Frank Renshaw original, I'm Gonna Jump, about a lovelorn and love scorned lad contemplating taking a leap off a Manchester bridge into the chilly River Irwell. The Flip-Side (we like flip-sides) was a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's Bye Bye Bird. A song also covered nicely by the Moody Blues at about the same time. The double sided gem was released in the Summer of '65 on Parlophone and even saw a US release on the legendary Tower Records. [Note that Renshaw's name is misspelled on the US release.] The US pressing has become quite a coveted single, and for good reason. Both songs are wickedly good. I'm Gonna Jump being the superior and, quite frankly, one of the best of the garage singles to come out that year. Despite having the very talented Paul Young in the band, Renshaw takes the lead on both of these numbers as Young had just joined the band a few weeks or months prior to the recording session. For more about the band, check out Frank Renshaw's webpage for The Toggery Five. Until next time, we'll see you on the flip-side.

Tower Records Spotlight: Just Four Men - There's Not One Thing

This band has some serious identity issues. Just Four Men hailed from Liverpool and performed and recorded under the names: The Silhouettes, Dee Fenton and the Silhouettes, Four Just Men, Just Four Men (pre-dating the men's hair coloring product by a cozy 40 years), and, eventually, Wimple Winch (best know for their freak beat nugget, Save My Soul). They never did find a good name, in my opinion.

The band released two singles in their native UK before turning to the eventual Wimple Winch moniker. Surprisingly, they somehow managed just 1.5 records here in the states. The first single was released as Four Just Men. They got both sides of that record on Tower. Then their second single, There's Not One Thing, which we have here, only got half a release back in October of 1965. Let me explain...or try. The other side of this record, the A-Side if you will, was a Freddie and the Dreamers number. Tower Records somehow decided to release two Freddie singles with Flip-Sides by different bands. This is one of them. So, yeah, Just Four Men only got the Flip-Side of a Freddie crap ass single. Ok, on to the song...

I'm not going to try to convince you There's Not One Thing is a great song. It's not. It's got a nice flow to it, nice harmonies and a cool and surprising bridge. So, it's quite okay or slightly better. I saw that writer Richie Unterberger called them "slightly above average". I'll buy that. But, what is great about this is the very nice jazzy guitar work of John Kelman. Of particular note is his stand-out guitar break at the 1:56 minute mark. I also like his chord work at the fade-out. Kelman co-authored the song with singer Dimitrius Christopholos.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side.