We close out our trio of stolen melodies with the most famous case of them all. Upon its release in 1971, The Chiffons sued George Harrison for similarities between My Sweet Lord and their hit, He's So Fine. A lengthy legal battle ensued and a US Federal Court decision stated that he had "unintentionally Copied" the song. He was ordered to surrender the lion's share of the royalties. The Chiffons later recorded My Sweet Lord to capitalize on the controversy, and George Harrison wrote and recorded a song about the suit called This Song.

MY SWEET LORD

Suzanne Brings Hope

R.E.M did the same thing with Hope from the 1998 album UP, their first without drummer Bill Berry. In contrast to Wayne Coyne, they actually gave Leonard Cohen a writing credit on the song, which borrows heavily from Suzanne. Its almost more audacious to give a writing credit to a living legend who didn't work on the song than it is to just let the influence speak for itself. Maybe they asked Lenny first?

In any case, don't let anyone tell you that this album is REM's experimental eletronica masterpiece ala Kid A.
Bollocks! Its just plain weak, though I do dig this track .

DOWNLOAD HOPE

Son of Father & Son

The song Father and Son by Cat Stevens was a staple at camp, a song we would sing many times every Summer around the campfire. I was surprised and amused many years later when I first heard Fight Test, The first song on the Flaming Lips 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Lips frontman Wayne Coyne had rolled both the melody and the structure of F&S into an updated, sci-fi take on the song. Having read that the album was about losing his father to cancer, I liked the reference to Father and Son.
I did find it strange, though, that there was no nod of recognition to Stevens in the liner notes. Apparently, Yusef Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)felt the same way, as according to the the wiki, he is receiving royalties after a relatively uncontentious settlement.

DOWNLOAD FATHER & SON

DOWNLOAD FIGHT TEST

He Said captain, I Said Wot!

A bit of playful fluff today from Captain Sensible, a founding member of seminal brit punk rockers The Damned, who went on to redefine himself as an alt pop icon in the early 80's.

DOWNLOAD WOT BY CAPTAIN SENSIBLE

Happy Memorial Day! FI will be on Hiatus until Tuesday, May 27

The King of Singing Drummers

While we're talking about drummers and folks named Levon, we might as well go ahead and crown The Band's Levon Helm the King of Singing Drummers. Who else are you going to pick, Don Henley? Phil Collins? The dude from Night Ranger who sings Sister Christian?



The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Who is Alvin Tostig?

You'd have to ask Bernie Taupin, who writes 100% of Elton John's Lyrics

I asked the interweb though, and consensus is that Alvin Tostig is Levon's father

and who is Levon?

# 1 on my list of songs I love that make no sense. Its from the 1971 album Madman Across the Water. Its been one of my favorite songs since I was a little kid, and though I love to imagine Little Jesus on the porch blowing up balloons and watching them fly I have no idea what this song is about and really don't care. The best I can guess is that its a multi-generational parable about breaking away from the expectations of your parents, with some messianic/end of the world stuff thrown in for good measure. Whatever the meaning,the song works on every level!

LEVON




PS. Nigel Olsson, with Elton since the early seventies, is one of my all time favorite drummers... because he understands the power of space and laying in just behind the beat. Check out his sweet, sweet drum kit in this clip.

David Berthy Guest Posts Today

Howard Tate’s falsetto is one of my favorite sounds in soul music. The best thing about it is, despite its power, Mr. Tate never overuses it. He saves it in reserve, and then, just when you think one of his tracks can’t get any better, he unleashes it with a kind of precisely controlled fury. Before you know what happened, the sound is gone and you’re wondering what you just heard and when you can hear it again. The more you listen, the more his songs are defined by these perfect moments. He’s just a great singer. I picked this song because it has a nice reggae mix. You hear a lot of reggae artists doing soul songs (The studio one soul record is a nice one, especially for summer) but you don’t hear soul artists doing a lot of reggae treatments, so this has a unique sound, I think.

Hold me Tight by Howard Tate

Along with Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, and Ian Dury, an artist named Wreckless Eric was on the Stiff Records Roster. I've heard his name before, but never his music. Then I was listening to Bob Dylan's radio show (the theme being around the world)and heard this song, which I proceeded to play over and over. It was WE's debut single and biggest hit, Whole Wide World. Enjoy Bob's intro!

DOWNLOAD WHOLE WIDE WORLD

I heard this late-era Pavement nugget in a bar the other night and was reminded of how much I love this band. From their last studio album, Terror Twilight, its Major Leagues.


DOWNLOAD MAJOR LEAGUES

While Christmas shopping with his songwriting partner Al Cleveland in 1966, Smokey heard his collegue mispronounce the phrase, "I second that motion"as "I second that emotion". The result was this velvet smooth number 1 hit. I can't stop listening to it.

DOWNLOAD I SECOND THAT EMOTION

Want to hear June Carter Cash whooping and hollering like a banshee? I thought so...

In 1973 Johnny and JCC put out Johnny Cash and His Woman, an album of duets. Though this single didn't perform well on the charts (#69), I'm totally charmed by it.

DOWNLOAD ALLEGHENY

The opening track from Psychedelic Rock pioneer Love's seminal 1967 album Forever Changes. I first heard this song when Jen brought in Calexico's version for Hayward to play. I dig the original version with the strings and trumpet solo...it all sounds like something off the Hair Soundtrack... if it had been a spaghetti western.


DOWNLOAD ALONE AGAIN OR

Who raps about republicrats, aids quilts, karma puke, Margaret Sanger, the Euphrates, & eskimos all in the first 58 seconds of a song? Why its snarky whiteboy rapper MC Paul Barman of course!

DOWNLOAD BLEEDING BRAIN GROWS

The kids down at the Fuller Park Music Program have chosen this R&B Jam for their next project

DOWNLOAD UMBRELLA

Producer Willie Mitchell and the Hi-Rythym section were responsible for that velvet smooth 70's Memphis soul sound that Al Green brought to the masses. Hi-Records had other artists too, of course, including Syl Johnson, and St. Louisan Ann Peebles, who recorded the original version of I Can't Stand The Rain in 1974, later covered by everyone from Eruption to Missy Elliot.

DOWNLOAD I CAN"T STAND THE RAIN

Hit me with your Rhythm Stick was a number one hit in the UK for Ian Dury and the Blockheads in 1978. Stricken with polio as a child, Dury came to prominence on the 5 Live Stiffs tour with his Stiff Records mates Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and others. His Excellent 1977 album New Boots and Panties was released the year before, and is well worth seeking out.

DOWNLOAD HIT ME WITH YOUR RHYTHM STICK

Friday Music

Fans of Thin Lizzy Rejoice! Heres a barn burner to get your weekend started from Ted Leo and The Pharmacists. Dig the way the drums and bass kick in during the fourth verse.


Download Timorous Me

The Lemonheads were the Foo Fighters of the Indie Rock era. They released their Iconic Indie-Light LP Its a Shame About Ray back in 1992. We'll, its been 15 + years and ripe for re-issue, so the goood folks at Rhino Records have got it covered. To celebrate the occasion, The Lemonheads are out on tour, and swinging through Chicago to play the Abbey tonight. (SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT!) A terrific local singer-songwriter, David Singer, will be opening the show at 9:00 with his band (named for one night only The Mrs. Robinsons).

If you do come, dear listeners, you will have the distinguished pleasure of witnessing yours truly turn into 39 year old pumpkin at midnight!

Here's the album's title track.

DOWNLOAD ITS A SHAME ABOUT RAY