"Green Onions" is a hit soul instrumental recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. The tune is a 12-bar blues with a rippling Hammond organ line. Originally issued on the Volt 102 subsidiary of Stax Records in May 1962 as the B-side to "Behave Yourself", it was quickly reissued as the A-side of Stax 127; it also appeared on the album Green Onions.[1] The guitar used by guitarist Steve Cropper on "Green Onions", as was all of The M.G.'s instrumentals, was a Fender Telecaster.[3] According to guitarist Steve Cropper, the name is not a marijuana reference, rather it is named after the Green Badger's[clarification needed] cat, Green Onions, whose way of walking inspired the riff.[4] Although, according to Songfacts.com, the song was named by Booker T. Jones stating that when asked by Jim Stewart what he'd name the song, Booker T. Jones replied "Green Onions." "Why 'Green Onions'?" Jim asked. Booker T: "Because that is the nastiest thing I can think of and it's something you throw away."[5] The song is in chromatic-minor with an open fifth as tonic chord.[6]
In southern culture, the phrase "back-door man" refers to a man having an affair with a married woman, using the back door as an exit before the husband comes home.[1] "When everybody trying to sleep, I'm somewhere making my midnight creep / Every morning the rooster crow, something tell me I got to go / I am a back door man," Wolf sings. The promiscuous "back-door man" is a standard theme found in many blues, including those by Charley Patton, Lightnin' Hopkins, Blind Willie McTell and Sara Martin: "every sensible woman got a back-door man," Martin wrote in "Strange Loving Blues" (1925).[2]Robert Plant references the Dixon song in Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" (1969): "Shake for me girl, I want to be your back-door man."[3][dead link] The phrase "back-door man" dates from the 1920s, but the term became a double entendre in the 1960s, also meaning "man who practices anal intercourse."[4]
The Doors recorded a rock version of the "Back Door Man" for their eponymous debut album. The "door" of the song, like the name of the band, suggests a Blakean symbol of perception, with an awareness of the 1960s Queer-culture double entendre, giving the expression an additional layer of meaning.[8] The Doors' drummer John Densmore described the song as "deeply sexual and got everyone moving."[9] The song also appears on The Doors' live album Absolutely Live (1970).
"Too Much Heaven"
A song by the Bee Gees, which was the band's contribution to the "Music for UNICEF" fund. They performed it at the Music for UNICEF Concert on 9 January 1979. The song later found its way to the group's thirteenth original album, Spirits Having Flown. In the United States and Canada, it became the latest in a long line of chart-toppers, and rose to the top three in the United Kingdom, as well.
Imbued with their falsetto style, it is also notable for being one of two songs on the album featuring the Chicago horn section (James Pankow, Walt Parazaider and Lee Loughnane)--the other track with the Chicago members being "Search, Find".
"You Rock My World"
A song by Michael Jackson from his tenth and final studio album Invincible (2001).
It was released as the lead single from the album in August 2001 by Epic Records. The lyrics pertain to being in love and trying to gain a woman's affection. Produced by Jackson and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and written by Jackson, Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels and Nora Payne, the song is musically a discopop song with influences from Jackson's songs from his previous studio albums with Quincy Jones.
The song received mixed reviews from music critics, with reviewers commenting that Jackson could have made a better effort for it and that it was not his best material, while other reviewers generally praised the song's composition and Jackson's vocal performance. "You Rock My World" was commercially successful worldwide and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Jackson's first top ten single in the United States in over six years, and his last in the country for the remainder of his career. "You Rock My World" topped the French music chart for three consecutive weeks. It also reached the top ten in Australia, Austrian, Canada, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Swedish, Swiss and the United Kingdom music charts.
As part of promotion for the song, a music video was released. The video, which is fourteen minutes long, was directed by Paul Hunter and features Chris Tucker. In the video, Jackson and Tucker portray men who are trying to gain a woman's affection. The video has been compared to Jackson's previous videos, "Smooth Criminal" and "The Way You Make Me Feel", and has received mixed reviews. The song was performed only twice by Jackson; at Madison Square Garden in New York City at two concerts in September 2001 to celebrate Jackson's career as a solo artist. Footage of the performance was shown in the two-hour CBS television special, Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special. The track was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 44th Grammy Awards.
"Sign o' the Times" (also stylized as "Sign “☮” the Times")
The lead single off Prince's 1987 album of the same name. The song is a holdover from both the Dream Factory and Crystal Ball projects, promoted to the title track of the 1987 release. Prince performs the entire track except for some backing vocals by then-girlfriend Susannah Melvoin. "Sign o' the Times" was written on a Sunday, when Prince usually wrote his most introspective songs. The song proved popular upon release, topping the R&B chart, and reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100.[1]Rolling Stone ranked "Sign o' the Times" #299 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Marla Glen (born January 3, 1960 in Chicago) is an American jazz and (rhythm and) blues singer.
Glen grew up on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Dell Glen (American-Jamaican) and Cortez Glen (Mexican-American). Glen's father was a blues guitarist, her grandmother a gospel singer, and her mother was friends with the legendary blues guitarist BB King. Her mother Dell graduated from the University of Chicago and went on to become a successful banker who worked for Merrill Lynch. Glen's father, an American patriot who joined the military at a young age, became an engineer based in Frankfurt, Germany. Like many other children in Chicago's historic Bronzeville neighborhood (also known as the Black Metropolis) who received gifts and inspiration from folks like Muddy Waters and BB King, Marla was given a toy harmonica as a child, and her musical talent became immediately apparent. Glen was only 11 years old when she wrote her first song "Repertoire", a title that has won 3 gold records and one platinum, and appears on Glen's 1996 release, "Love and Respect". Since 1998 she lives in Heilbronn in Germany. On July 2, 2004 she entered a civil union with Sabrina Conley at the local Rathaus.[1] In the meantime, they got divorced.[2]
The Hand jive is a dance particularly associated with rock and roll and rhythm and blues music of the 1950s. It involves a complicated pattern of hand moves and claps at various parts of the body, following and/or imitating the percussion instruments. It resembles a highly elaborate version of Pat-a-cake. Hand moves include thigh slapping, cross-wrist slapping, fist pounding, hand clapping, and hitch hike moves.
In 1957 when film-maker Ken Russell was a freelance photographer, he recorded the teenagers of Soho, London hand-jiving in the basement of The Cat's Whisker coffee bar, where the hand-jive was invented. According to an article in the Daily Mirror,[1] "it's so crowded the girls hand-jive to the band as there's no room for dancing." Russell told interviewer Leo Benedictus of The Guardian[2] that "the place was crowded with young kids... the atmosphere was very jolly. Wholesome... everyone jiving with their hands because there was precious little room to do it with their feet... a bizarre sight. The craze fascinated me. It seemed like a strange novelty; I used to join in."
The hand-jive was particularly popularized by Johnny Otis's 1958 hit "Willie and the Hand Jive". Miles Davis has a track named "Hand Jive" on his album "Nefertiti" from 1967. Eric Clapton did a version of the Johnny Otis song in 1974 that reached the Top 40.[3] The hand jive is also featured prominently in the Broadway musical Grease through the song "Born to Hand Jive"; in the movie adaptation of the musical, the song is performed by Sha Na Na. On a DVD audio commentary for the movie, choreographerPatricia Birch mentions that the dance also went by the much more risque name "hand job", but the title was changed as Grease was aimed at a family audience. The long-running Walt Disney World show Festival of the Lion King uses this during the song "Hakuna Matata," and the performers and audience do it while singing the song. The audience is taught the hand jive some time before the show begins.
Additionally, "Willie and the Hand Jive" was played on several occasions by the Grateful Dead and also by the New Riders of the Purple Sage with Jerry Garcia, Sony, 1972[4]
This song exhibited the Bo Diddley beat, a rhythm that originated in Latin music and brought into mainstream American music by Bo Diddley. It has since influenced generations of musicians. George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers recorded a version of the song and a music video.[5] Laurin Rinder & W. Michael Lewis made a disco version of "Willie and the Hand Jive" for their 1979 album Warriors.[6]
The term is also used by some jugglers in reference to certain hand motions in the Mills Messjuggling pattern.
In recent years, the dance has been utilized for accompaniment with the Gorilla Zoe track "Hood Nigga." The song was also a considerable hit in Britain for Cliff Richard and the Drifters (later Shadows)
Otis was the child of Greekimmigrants Alexander J. Veliotes, a Mare Islandlongshoreman and grocery store owner, and his wife, the former Irene Kiskakes, a painter.[1][4]
He was the older brother of Nicholas A. Veliotes, former U.S. Ambassador to Jordan (1978–1981) and to Egypt (1984–1986).
Otis was well-known for his choice to live his professional and personal life as a member of the African-American community.[5][6][7] He has written, "As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black."[8]
He was the father of musician Shuggie Otis.
"How Deep Is Your Love"
A pop song recorded by the Bee Gees in 1977 and released as a single in September. Originally intended for Yvonne Elliman, it was ultimately used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever. It was a number three hit in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 24 December 1977 (becoming the first of six consecutive US number-one hits) and stayed in the Top 10 for a then-record 17 weeks. The single spent six weeks atop the US adult contemporary chart. It is listed at # 20 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.[1] Alongside "Stayin' Alive", it is one of the group's two tracks on the list. The song was covered by Take That for their 1996 Greatest Hits album, reaching number-one on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.
In 1983, The Bee Gees were sued by a Chicago songwriter, Ronald Selle, who claimed that the Gibb brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, The Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later.[2][3]
The song was ranked #366 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
"Rockin' Robin" is a song written by Leon René under the pseudonym Jimmie Thomas and recorded by Bobby Day in 1958. It was Day's only hit single, becoming a number-two hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The 45 single release by Bobby Day showed "Rock-in Robin".
Michael Jackson recorded and released a cover version of "Rockin' Robin" in 1972, which was taken from his first solo album titled Got to Be There. It was the biggest hit from the album, peaking at number two on the Hot 100 and R&B charts.
"Kiss" is a 1986 single by Prince and The Revolution, from the album Parade. "Kiss" started as a short acoustic demo, about a minute in length, with one verse and the chorus. Prince gave the song to the funk band Mazarati for their debut album. Mazarati and producer David Z. drastically reworked the song, giving it its stripped-down minimalist sound. When Mazarati delivered the song to Prince, he was amazed at their work and decided to take back the song for himself. He replaced their lead vocal, added the guitar break in the chorus and edited the song to its present form. Mazarati were credited for their backing vocals, which Prince left intact.
Prince added the song at the last minute to Parade. Despite Warner Bros. not wanting to release it as a single, "Kiss" became Prince's third number-one U.S. hit following 1984's highly successful "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy". It was also a big hit across the Atlantic, reaching #6 on the UK Singles Chart. The song won Prince another Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, and was nominated for Best R&B Song.[2] The song has become a staple at Prince's concerts and is usually sung partially by the audience.
The musicians that recorded "kiss" with Prince raised complaints to the American Federation of Musicians about the period of silence that followed the jangly guitar bridge that is nestled between the lyrics "I just want your extra time" and "Kiss". As is standard industry practice, they were getting paid per second of audio created, and hence were not entitled for anything of that 500 milliseconds of their contribution.
The 12" single of the song is an extension of the album track. The extended section is based on the funky guitar line and contains much fuller instrumentation than the main track, including bass guitar, organ and horns. New lyrics are present from Prince, along with Jill Jones, that end with a humorous dialogue between a wife and her husband watching Prince on television. The B-side of "Kiss" was "♥ or $" ("Love or Money"), sung in a processed, higher-pitched vocal, which Prince would later use for his Camille material. The song relates to the theme in Under the Cherry Moon, and a bit of the song was heard in the film, as was a bit of the extended version of "Kiss". The extended "Kiss" was included on 2006's Ultimate; "♥ or $" was recently re-released as a digital B-side on iTunes.
New Musical Express ranked the song #4 in their list of The 150 Greatest Singles of All Time. "Kiss" was also included in Rolling Stones "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" at #461. [3]
Sir Thomas John Woodward,[1][2]OBE[3] (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer, particularly noted for his powerful voice.[4] Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel[5] – and sold over 100 million records.[6]
Early life
Tom Jones was born at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Treforest, Pontypridd in South Wales.[7] His parents were Thomas Woodward (died 5 October 1981), a coal miner, and Freda Jones (died 7 February 2003).[8] His family was mainly of English descent, with both of his paternal grandparents being born in England and his maternal grandmother born in Wales to English parents. Most of his ancestral roots appear to lie in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset.[9]
Jones began singing at an early age: he would regularly sing at family gatherings, weddings, and in his school choir. Jones is dyslexic and he did not like school or sports; however, he was able to gain confidence through his singing talent.[10] At age 12, Jones was struck down by tuberculosis. Many years later he said, "I spent two years in bed recovering. It was the worst time of my life." During convalescence, he could do little else but listen to music and draw.[11]
In March 1957, Jones married his high school girlfriend, Melinda Trenchard. The couple had a son named Mark, who was born the month following their wedding. To support his young family, Jones took a job working in a glove factory and was later employed in construction.[12]
Jones' bluesy singing style developed out of the sound of American soul music. His early influences included blues and R & B greats like Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson, and Brook Benton. Jerry Lee Lewis’s music also influenced him from a rock and roll perspective.[13
Rise to fame
Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group, in 1963. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales.
In 1964, Jones recorded several solo tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and The Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but their partnership was short-lived.
The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones' manager, and took the young singer to London. He contrived the stage name, "Tom Jones," which not only linked the singer to the image of the title character in Tony Richardson's hit film, but also emphasised Jones' Welsh nationality.
Many record companies found Jones' stage presence, act, and vocal delivery too raucous and raunchy. Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever," was released in late 1964. It didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual" became an international hit. The BBC initially refused to play it, but the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. The heavily orchestrated pop arrangement perfectly meshed with Jones' swinging, sexy image, and in early 1965, "It's Not Unusual" reached number one in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States.
In 1966, Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into a more respectable and mature crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience, such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the Top 40 again in the USA. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a consistent string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic
From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music", comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe
"Stand By Me" was co-written by former Drifters' member Ben E. King and songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller whose credits also include Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock for Elvis Presley.
