Song of the Week: Booker T and the M.G.'s -- Hip Hug-Her

Ben Fong-Torres, is this your copy of Booker T and The MG's Hip Hug-Her/Summertime which I picked up on San Pablo Avenue in Albany, California back in the 80s? If so, I'm willing to negotiate it's safe return (sans Stax sleeve...'cause that wasn't on it when I got it). I won't even say anything about the (should be) criminal activity of writing on a record. Let alone putting your name on it -- again -- with one of those heavy duty Dymo label makers. Your sister, or some other devilish character, probably kept snatching it from your room...compelling you to go to such drastic extremes to protect your Booker T collection.

Just let me know if you want this back.

Song of the Week: "Summertime", The Chet Baker Quartet

Day six of our celebration of the song, Summertime, has us looking at Chet Baker's 1955 recording of the song. The trumpet-centric version of the song is a cool little number with an arrangement to include a nice walking bass line and a surprisingly upbeat drum beat. Enjoy on this lazy Summer Sunday. Click here to hear Chet Baker's version of Summertime.

Song of the Week: "Summertime", Big Brother & the Holding Company

Here is one of the better known versions of Summertime. It's by Big Brother & the Holding Company, which, fairly or unfairly, was seen as little more than a backing band for Janis Joplin. Recorded live at the famous Winterland Theater in San Francisco in April of 1968, the rendition showcases the famously unrestrained band in glorious restraint. The original middle eastern inflected dueling-guitar work arrangement of Peter Albin and Sam Andrew provides the central hook in the song. Janis is sublime in her tasteful performance, allowing -- too rarely for this listener -- the intrinsic beauty of her gravely voice to carry the load. Click here to here Big Brother's unique take on Summertime.

Song of the Week: "Summertime", Gene Vincent

And now for something completely different. Here is perhaps the most unique arrangement of Summertime I have ever heard. And considering the Billy Stewart scat-version posted just two days ago, that is really something. It's by rockabilly legend Gene Vincent and it was released on the album A Gene Vincent Record Date in 1958. (Me thinks Vincent did NOT choose the name on the album). I'm not even sure what genre or style this would be? It's not rockabilly is it? Rumba with Jazz influences? All I know is that it is an absolutely fab version of the song that owes parentage to know one but Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps. Guitarist Johnny Meeks -- who spent a career being referred to as the lesser guitarist in the Blue Caps (to guitar recluse Cliff Gallup) -- is absolutely brilliant here on his out-of-phase Telecaster. Meeks' guitar work is a constant shiv to the ear and it gets a well deserved lead in the middle, the highlight of which is the single note stutter stop in the middle right before he switches pickups. Listen for the second guitar on this. It's got a cool little budda-dump-bum-bum-bump-dee-dum-dum riff played throughout that is buried deep into the mix. It can be heard best in the background during the guitar lead. Rumor has it that Eddie Cochran played on some tracks of this album. Could that be him on second guitar? The piano work, which also gets a nice little lead, is spritely and tips its hat to jazz influences. The drumming propels the song along with a wicked little Caribbean backbeat. Back up vocals (done perhaps by the Jordanaires) give a creamy smooth feel to the song. And Gene Vincent himself, drenched in echo -- croons through the song with complete confidence. Bottom line -- this is not the dark brooding version done by so many others (see the Zombies' take on Summertime). I absolutely love this version of the song and am willing to bet that you will too. Click here to listen to Gene Vincent's radical take on Summertime. Until tomorrow, enjoy your Summertime.

Song of the Week: "Summertime", Wayne Hancock

It's still Summertime! Today we turn our attention to a version of the song as recorded live in 2003 at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas by Wayne "The Train" Hancock. Astute followers of On The Flip-Side will remember that Hancock got some action from us back in the nascent days of our existence with his original song, Thunderstorms and Neon Signs. Hancock's version of Summertime was recorded at the same time as Thunderstorms and appeared on the same album, but as an unlisted hidden track. It closes out the flawless live album, Swing Time, and features a vocal duet with Hancock's sister, Rebecca Snow. It's an interesting mix of vocal jazz and traditional honky tonk. The genre mixing by Hancock's band again proves the structural integrity of Gershwin's composition. From horns to pedal steel to breathy jazz vocals to hard core honky tonk vocals. It's a great mix. Click here to hear Hancock's live version of Summertime. We'll be back tomorrow with another version of Summertime. Stay tuned.

Song of the Week: "Summertime", Billy Stewart

Today's look at George Gershwin's Summertime has us digging up one of the most unique takes on the classic song. It hails from 1966 and appeared on the blues label, Chess Records. It's by scat-soul singer and all around unique showman, Billy Stewart. Two versions of this song were released. A single, which became a minor hit, and this version, the longer album version. This longer version includes more scat, more sax and more crispy good Summertime love. Click here to listen to Billy Stewart's remarkable take on Summertime. We'll see you tomorrow with another very different version of the song. Until then, cheers.

Song of the Week: "Summertime", Santo and Johnny

Listen - Santo and Johnny perform Summertime.

Today's look at Summertime has us focusing on an instrumental version of the classic as performed by Manhattan-based brothers, Santo and Johnny. The two Farina brothers are unquestionably best known for their indispensable composition, Sleep Walk, a song that can make a strong argument for being the progenitor for surf music. Following the unlikely success of Sleep Walk, Santo and Johnny released Summertime as the flip-side of their next single, the foot stomping Caravan. The Farina brothers' arrangement of Summertime is centered around the slow, jazzy chord structure of the arch-top guitar and a piercing lead performed on the lap steel guitar. A simple string arrangement briefly ads to the patina of the all-too-short song. But it is the molasses-in-winter slow leads on the lap steel that make the instrumental take on Summertime so compelling. Chiming with the reverb drenched sound first laid down in Sleep Walk, the brothers make another dreamy AM radio classic. A song that would have been the perfect sound track for a hot summer night's make out session performed in the back of dad's Oldsmobile while parked at Inspiration Point overlooking Wenatchie Lake. Click here to hear Santo and Johnny's version of Summertime. We'll check back in tomorrow for another version of Summertime. Until then, enjoy.

Song of the Week: "Summertime", The Zombies

Today we start a week long salute to one of the greatest songs ever written. The song is Summertime and was penned by George Gershwin in 1935 for the musical, Porgy and Bess. Some songs are brilliant because of the performance, but not necessarily the intrinsic nature of the composition. See MC5's Kick Out the Jams video diary entry directly preceding this post as an example. Other songs are so perfectly composed that it is nearly impossible for anyone to do a bad version of it. Summertime, I would argue, falls into this latter category. In celebration of Summertime (and Summer), we will post a new version of the song each day this week. Upbeat, sorrowful, latin, soul, jazz, rock and country. We may just explore them all.

Today we start things off with the criminally underrated British Invasion band, The Zombies. Their version is pretty straightforward. Slow and brooding, the moody nature of the song is first tipped by the bass work of Chris White who gives us the first melodic hint as to what song we are enjoying. Then the beautiful, breathy voice of Colin Blunstone comes in. Blunstone, perhaps best known for voicing the band's hit, Time of the Season, sings Summertime with a sultry heat that would fit well into any Tennessee Williams play. Rod Argent's electric piano punctuates our song and the three front men harmonize with a gentle ghostly feel to it. Click here to hear the Zombies version of Summertime.

We'll see you tomorrow with another version of the song.