One link to rule them all (this leads you to all our podcast pages)!
ParcoSam here. I’ll be honest with you, kids: I had a hard time editing this episode. In fact, there is a whole other version you’ll never hear. It included sound samples of pretty much every song or artist discussed on the podcast. It included a British Invasion aural collage. I was pretty proud of that edit, and I even uploaded it two days ahead of schedule.
And then I thought I should just take one more peek at all the copyright discussion on the interwebs and try to nail down just what was a ‘safe’ duration to include for each song. Fair Use is such a foggy statute. I encountered an avalanche of naysaying. What had felt well within the bounds of Fair Use suddenly struck me as way too much exposure to take down notices, strikes with hosting companies, and potential lawsuit worry.
I know, who cares about an obscure infant podcast like this one, right? Yet…
I chickened out. So the current episode you hear has been cleansed of all the copyright-restricted tunes. There is music, but in the form of royalty-free, Creative Commons approximations of the real thing. I chose music sometimes because it reflected the artist under discussion, but sometimes I had to settle for a mood or conveying a bit of the conversation.
So here in these Show Notes we will link you to all the goodies on YouTube, so you can hear for yourself–maybe for the first time–or revisit old favorites along with us.
Music is life…
What is Vinyl and Why Do We Love it So Much? – ParcoSam
One of the most astonishing realizations for me when researching this subject was that I hadn’t ever considered before that some profit-motivated company created this format that has been so crucial to forming us. Vinyl was just there–like oak trees or scabby knees or the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights–I never bothered to question it.
Columbia Records developed this more pliable 12-inch 33 1/3 rpm alternative to the old brittle shellac-compound 78s that were designed to play on Victrolas. RCA Records developed the vinyl 7-inch 45 rpm single. I never guessed they were plotting to compete with one another, I thought the formats came from “inventors” somehow. Along with the radio, those licorice pizzas were simply the way that music arrived.
Arguably the best part of bringing home a new album was that anticipation just before you actually removed the cellophane (and some people don’t ever remove the cellophane). It was all still ahead of you, the delicious discovery of something new or finally having the music all to yourself. It was an intimate occasion, right down to the fluttering stomach and breathless expectation.
And then the immersion.
Some artists went above and beyond, delivering gatefold albums that could engulf you with artwork and lyrics sprawled across 48 splendid inches inside and out. Some provided slender books nestled in with the vinyl. But even the most basic lyric-lined inner sleeve was an invaluable gift; a message right from your music hero to you. An invitation into his or her imagination and a peek behind the scenes.
Practicing Kissing – ParcoAnn
It is indeed true that when I was a wee one, I had a huge crush on Mac Davis and I practiced the art of kissing with this album. But not the front of the album… as you see here.
Behold, gaze upon the beauty that is Mac Davis. I was combing through pictures on the internet webs, he really was a cutie.
The Music in My House – ParcoAnn
Okay, on the podcast I misspoke about the Mills Brothers, it wasn’t ‘Paper Moon’ it was ‘Paper Doll.’ Finding this on YouTube, I am immediately whisked back. I can feel the un-raked brown with harvest gold flecks shag carpet beneath my bare feet.
I grew up in a household that proudly turned off the Ed Sullivan Show when the Beatles first appeared in America. I wasn’t born yet, but I do remember my family giving me that fact when I discovered the Beatles on my own. My house was filled with Swing, Big Band, and Country. Lots and LOTS of Country. My brother was fanatical about George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Glenn Campbell. And he seemed to always get to play his records on our family stereo while I had to always wait my turn, which seemed to take forever.
Being Kid #5 Has Its Perks – ParcoSam
On my maternal side, I’m the youngest kid of the entire generation. When I was little, my siblings were six to nearly 11 years older than me (they still are, but I later discovered younger siblings on my paternal side, it’s a long story). So those teenagers and adolescents brought lots of very good, very current music into our house!
The Jackson 5’s ABC album goes back pretty much as far as my memory goes. I have some other eclectic memories: ‘Tiny Bubbles’ by Don Ho (my sister studied hula dancing), Bill Cosby’s I Started Out As a Child (heartbreaking now, but the comedy holds up), and ‘American Pie’ by Don McLean come to mind.
And then there were my Mom’s records, which lived with me way longer, as my siblings grew up and out of the house, leaving me with: Nancy Sinatra’s Boots, The Ventures’ Guitar Freakout, Greatest Hits collections from Dolly Parton, Tom Jones, Charley Pride, Lynn Anderson, Mario Lanza and so many more. Her singles included ‘Me and Mrs. Jones’ by Billy Paul, ‘If a Man Answers’ by Bobby Darin, ‘She’s Got You’ by Patsy Cline. Not a bad education.
Then the heavens parted, and there was Rubber Soul–discovered one scorching L.A. Saturday whilst keeping cool in the family room at my cousins’ house.
First Albums – Both
Happy Days & Elton John’s Greatest Hits – ParcoAnn
Bobby Sherman, Getting Together – ParcoSam
I can NOT believe that this Bobby Sherman TV Special is available on YouTube! Hosanna! A couple of the songs in this special were on my album, but it doesn’t really matter, because what you get to see here is everything Bobby Sherman. His super cuteness, yes. But also…
His evident terror of being hoisted atop the giant B O B B Y letters and made to dance around on them. He can hardly get himself to move.
His sad attempt at Davy Jones’ patented serpentine dance. Even his two-tone gold satin jumpsuit with four feet of fringe doesn’t save it.
His exchanges with the audience children and the one little girl who IS NOT LETTING GO. Ever. Notice the cameras cut away before they somehow pry her off.
RIP TAYLOR (!!) sprinkling his confetti and madness as the only comic relief in sight. Pretty boys like Bobby rarely have a great sense of humor.
The long, pointy collars. 6 inches, at least. And the capes. Capes, I say!
But really, what gets me the most is when I consider that Bobby Sherman was nearly 30 years old when this was made, yet the producers never shrink away from emphasizing his appeal to little girls.
Man, we lived in a creepy ass world!
Mac Davis, Stop and Smell the Roses – ParcoAnn
Columbia HOUSE Record Club – ParcoSam
Frampton Comes Alive – ParcoSam
I actually ended up with TWO copies of Frampton Comes Alive when I never wanted even one. One was from the Columbia House Record Club and one was a gift.
So the answer to the chicken-and-egg quandary that so puzzled me when I was 10, was simply that the songs had been released on an earlier studio album, that’s why the live audience goes wild. The songs just didn’t become big radio hits until the legendary live album was released.
Cheap Trick pulling a cheap trick at Live from Budakon, ParcoAnn’s epic fail with misinformation
ParcoAnn here. I misspoke again, for some reason I thought Cheap Trick got in trouble for adding audience tracks on Live at Budakon. I guess I was wrong, and I don’t know why that story has stuck in my head for decades. I have no idea where I learned that nugget of misinformation. But here’s my favorite track from the album. I <3 Bun E Carlos and boy was Tom Peterson a cutie (I tend to prefer brunettes).
One-Hit Wonders from the 70s – Both
Wildfire, Michael Murphy. ParcoAnn here. I once had a xylophone and would use the mallet as a microphone. Carried that dang mallet everywhere, and I would sing this song while sitting in the very back of my mom’s wood paneled station wagon which had a rear window that could be rolled down. I’d belt this out with tears streaming down my face every.single.time.
Undercover Angel, Alan O’day
I said WHAT? She said woo hoo hoo weee… It’s kind of creepy thinking of me as a 10 year old singing this song into the mirror.
Pop Music, M
I absolutely wore out this 45!
Billy Don’t Be a Hero
The Night Chicago Died
Billy Don’t Be A Hero and The Night Chicago Died – ParcoSam
The songwriting team of Peter Callander and Mitch Murray composed the two story-songs above. And I loved them as a child. And I definitely didn’t have any idea of what the songs were actually about.
I also want to note here that although UK-based Paper Lace did record both of these songs, Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods charted with ‘Billy Don’t Be a Hero’ in the US. So I never knew the Paper Lace version until now.
I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor written by two men, Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris – ParcoAnn
The song is a female-empowerment anthem, and is about moving on after a bad relationship.
It has since taken on other meanings for people who have overcome any difficult situation, but Dino Fekaris revealed it was about getting fired from Motown Records, where he was a staff writer.
He told Songfacts: “They let me go after almost seven years. I was an unemployed songwriter contemplating my fate. I turned the TV on, and there it was: a song I had written for a movie theme titled ‘Generation’ was playing right then (the song was performed by Rare Earth).
“I took that as an omen that things were going to work out for me. I remember jumping up and down on the bed saying, ‘I’m going to make it. I’m going to be a songwriter. I will survive!'”
Now let’s dance or roller skate.
British Invasion – Both
The Who glasses. ParcoAnn does not have access to the picture of her “Who” glasses. But here’s a picture of what those glasses sort of looked like.
David Bowie – Both
ParcoAnn was fearful of David Bowie and Alice Cooper back in 1973. The Bowie pic is the exact poster my cousin had and the Cooper pic is sort of what I remember. Frankly, Alice Cooper scared me more. (Note from ParcoSam: Well, that just makes good sense!)
