The Yardbirds - You're a Better Man Than I (1965)

It would take a lot of guts for a band to make their debut release a live album, but that’s exactly what The Yardbirds did. Already on their second guitarist, the band released Five Live Yardbirds with Eric Clapton in the UK on December 4, 1964. When it failed to sell, a US release was canceled. Their next album, For Your Love (June 1965), featured both Clapton (who quit in February 1965) and his replacement Jeff Beck on different tracks. By the time of the band’s third album, Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds (November 1965), Clapton had long since been departed from the group. But because most of his work with the band had gone unreleased in the US and Having a Rave Up was going to be released in the US, the band decided to fill the back-side of their third album with select tracks from their debut album, featuring Clapton. The album became popular for its blues-rock tracks (the Eric Clapton tracks) and its dabbling in psychedelia (the Jeff Beck tracks).

The song heard below was the opening track to the band’s album Having a Rave Up with The Yardbirds. It featured Keith Relf on vocals, Jeff Back on lead guitar, Chris Dreja on rhythm guitar, Paul Samwell-Smith on bass, and Jim McCarty on drums. The song was co-written by brothers Mike Hugg (a founding member of Manfred Mann) and his brother Brian Hugg.



The Yardbirds - You're a Better Man Than I (1965)

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Lyrics:

Can you judge a man
By the way he wears his hair?
Can you read his mind
By the clothes that he wears?
Can you see a bad man
By the pattern on his tie?

Well then, mister, you're a better man than I
Yeah, mister, you're a better man than I
Oh, mister, you're a better man than I
Yeah, mister, you're a better man than I

Could you tell a wise man
By the way he speaks or spells?
Is this more important
Than the stories that he tells?
And call a man a fool
If for wealth he doesn't strive?

Well then, mister, you're a better man than I
Yeah, mister, you're a better man than I
Oh, mister, you're a better man than I
Yeah, mister, you're a better man than I

Can you condemn a man
If your faith he doesn't hold?
Say the color of his skin
Is the color of his soul?
Could you say that men
For king and country, all must die?

Well, mister, you're a better man than I
Yeah, mister, you're a better man than I
Oh, mister, you're a better man than I
Yeah, mister, you're a better man than I

The Puddin' Heads - Now You Say We're Through (1964)

At the forefront of this band was Denny Reed, the teenage performer who released innocent pop songs such as “A Teenager Feels It, Too,” “No One Cares,” and “I’m Comin’ Home” in 1960-1961. Reed was a big fan of Johnny Mathis and Bing Crosby in his youth, receiving much ridicule from his friends because of it. Although he predominately released material as a solo artist, he was briefly in the band The Puddin’ Heads.

I’m uncertain as to when this group was formed, but it was composed of members Denny Reed, John Greek, and Buddy Wayne. The song heard below, released in 1964, was the B-Side to the only single the band ever released. It was co-written by John Greek and “D. Russell,” backed with the A-Side “You Don’t Have to Be Lonely” on Catch Records, and never reached any success on the national charts. It's a polar opposite style which Reed had normally been heard singing. It's also quite unique for it's edgy sound, having been recorded in 1964.



The Puddin' Heads - Now You Say We're Through (1964)

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Lyrics:

Let me kiss you
Let me please you
You made me love you
Oh, how I miss you

And now you say we’re through
And now you say we’re through

You whisper sweet things
Life’s complete things
Now we’re parted
I’m broken-hearted

And now you say we’re through
And now you say we’re through

I never wanted you to leave me, darling
I cried a lot since you went away
I think about you every night
And I think of you every day

Let me kiss you
Let me please you
You made me love you
Oh, how I miss you

And now you say we’re through
And now you say we’re through

Orpheus - I Wanna Be Your Lover (1971)

Bruce Arnold and Jack McKennes could often be found performing at a Cape Cod, Massachusetts coffee house, known as The Village, in 1964. When they became popular enough to start playing other local venues, they decided to call themselves The Villagers, honoring where they got their start. In 1967, Eric Gulliksen joined the band as their bassist, and Harry Sandler joined as the group’s drummer. They settled on their band’s name in the summer of 1967 and quickly recorded their first demo of nine songs. After receiving nine recording offers, they ultimately decided to sign with Alan Lorber and MGM Records. Their most successful song was “Can’t Find the Time,” which peaked on many local markets. The band’s early success led to them playing on the same bill as bands such as Cream, The Who, Janis Joplin, and Led Zeppelin. What’s interesting is that the band which performed live was not the same individuals who had recorded the songs. Lorber decided that he wanted to use musicians with more musical talent in the recording studio, so some of the “actual” members of the band were not recorded. This eventually led Bruce Arnold to feel that his real bandmates were the studio musicians recording with him in the studio. Because of this, McKennes and Sandler were fired from the band in December 1969. Just two months later Gulliksen quit, pursuing other endeavors.

Left alone, Arnold began playing in a band called Two Foot Lamb Door. Eventually, with the blessing of Alan Lorber, Arnold convinced Two Foot Lamb Door to be the new Orpheus. Songwriter Steve Martin, childhood friend Elliot Sherman, Howard Hersh, K.P. Burke, and Bernard “Pretty” Purdie all backed Arnold in this new lineup. Past member Eric Gulliksen had been invited, but his success in the nine-to-five world persuaded him not to rejoin. With its new members, Orpheus released one more album and one more single in 1971, this time on the Bell Records label. The song heard below comes from that album, which was titled Orpheus, and is colloquially known as Orpheus 4, since the band’s debuting LP used the same name. This track was written by Steve Martin, while Bruce Arnold sang the lead.



Orpheus - I Wanna Be Your Lover (1971)

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Lyrics:

Do you really have a place on the island
Where I can go?
May I come into your grace on the island
That I may know?
Whether one such as I could love anyone
More than any other

I wanna be your lover
If it’d please my lady
I wanna be your lover

I had ‘em rockin’ and rollin’ on the cellar door
Waitin’ at the window for an apple core
And they wouldn’t go away
‘til I was good and poor
See me as I am
Just a lonely man

Might we watch the sun rise on the island?
Just you and me
If I could look into your eyes and be silent
Then we could see
Whether two such as we
Could love each other

I wanna be your lover
If it’d please my lady
I wanna be your lover

I wanna be your lover
If it’d please my lady
I wanna be your lover

I wanna be your lover
I wanna be your lover…

Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship - Have You Seen the Stars Tonite? (1970)

Internal problems amongst the members of Jefferson Airplane began to boil over in 1970, starting with their drummer, Spencer Dryden, being unanimously voted out of the band. Members Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen launched a side project, Hot Tuna; Paul Kantner and the married Grace Slick began a love affair; and Marty Balin felt like a bit of an outcast because of his bandmates pairing up without him.

Since Jefferson Airplane had only released one single in 1970, Paul Kantner decided to work on a solo album with Grace Slick titled Blows Against the Empire. The entire album was conceptualized around a science-fiction theme and was released under the name “Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship.” It’s important to note that this was not the same Jefferson Starship band that would be created in 1974 by Kantner. This was, if anything, a coincidental name that would provide the inspiration for Kantner’s Jefferson Starship four years later. It’s said that the name “Starship,” was inspired by many things: the evolution of Jefferson Airplane to something more grandiose, the star-filled lineup that accompanied Kantner and Slick on the album, and the fact that the characters within the album were seeking a starship to leave the planet Earth.

Speaking of the talent involved in the creation of the album, Blows Against the Empire featured not only the talents of Paul Kantner and Grace Slick, but also fellow Jefferson Airplane members Jack Casady and Joey Covington; the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart; CSN’s David Crosby and Graham Nash; Quicksilver Messenger Service’s David Freiberg; The Electric Flag’s Harvey Brooks; and Jorma Kaukonen’s brother Peter Kaukonen.

The song heard below appeared as the eighth song on Blows Against the Empire. It was written by Paul Kantner and David Crosby. It features Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia (pedal steel guitar), Mickey Hart (percussion), and David Crosby (vocals, guitar). Although the song never charted, Blows Against the Empire itself was the first rock album to be nominated for the Hugo science fiction award. If you like this song, I highly recommend listening to the entire album.



Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship - Have You Seen the Stars Tonite? (1970)

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Lyrics:

Have you seen the stars tonight?
Would you like to go up on ‘A’ Deck and look at them with me?
Have you seen the stars tonight?
Would you like to go up for a stroll and keep me company?

Do you know?
We could go
We are free
Any place you could think of
We could be

Have you seen the stars tonight?
Have you look at all the family of stars?

The Dubs - Don't Ask Me to Be Lonely (1957)

In 1956, two vocal doo-wop groups from Harlem, New York merged together. Billy Carlisle and Richard Blandon came from The Five Wings (which had originally been called The 5 Stars). Jake Miller, Thomas Gardner, and Cleveland Still came from The Scale-Tones after having only recorded one record. Originally naming themselves The Marvels, the group recorded and released a failed single titled “I Won’t Have You breaking My Heart.” After renaming themselves The Dubs, they put out their first (and immediate) success, the song heard below. After its release in early 1957, Thomas Gardner was replaced by a different ex-member of The Five Wings, Tommy Grate. This new lineup had two more hits with the songs “Could This Be Magic” and “Chapel of Dreams”. The group split up in November 1958 after declining success. The group was resurrected in July 1959, and although there were no more hits, they remained together until the mid-1980s. At that time, the group splintered into two separate entities, each of which still performs to this day.

Written by Richard Blandon, this song was the group’s first taste of success. It was initially released locally on the Johnson label, but was soon picked up for national release on George Goldner’s Gone label. Although it reached number seventy-two on the Billboard Hot 100, it never charted on the R&B charts. After the song’s success, Thomas Gardner left the group and was replaced with Tommy Grate.



The Dubs - Don't Ask Me to Be Lonely (1957)

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Lyrics:

Ask me for the world
It doesn't seem much
Ask me for the moon, dear
And I'll reach out to touch
Anything for you; for you, dear, only
But please don't ask me to be lonely

Ask me for the stars, dear
And I'll do your command
Ask me for the diamonds
I'll put them on your hand
Anything for you; for you, dear, only
But please don't ask me to be lonely

I searched this world
This whole wide world
Looking for a girl such as you

I gave up my search
When I looked into
Pretty, pretty eyes of blue

Ask me for the stars, dear
And I'll do your command
Ask me for the diamonds
I'll put them on your hand
Anything for you; for you, dear, only
But please don't ask me to be lonely

Don't ask me to be lonely

The Thoughts - All Night Stand (1966)

This band began in 1966 as the backing group behind the London artist known as Tiffany. While together, Tiffany and the Thoughts released two singles for Paralphone Records, “I Know” and “Find Out What’s Happening.” In late ’66, the band broke off on their own, signing with the independent label Planet Records. They kept their name and released their first single, heard below in September 1966. Although the band was reviewed favorably by critics, their record sales were only moderate. When the band broke up soon after, it was band member Peter Beckett who would go on to the most success. After being turned down a spot in Badfinger, Beckett would find success in a later band, Player, which had the soft rock hit song “Baby Come Back” in 1977.

This song was written by Ray Davies of The Kinks, who had been asked to write a song based on All Night Stand, which was a book by Thom Keyes. The song was written by Davies when a movie was in the works to be created, based on Keyes book, about an up and coming British beat band, loosely fashioned after The Beatles. There’s a good demo of Ray Davies performing this song if you search YouTube for it. As far as this band, they recorded two versions of the song. The first version, released in the UK, was a bit slower in tempo in comparison to their second version, a faster tempo released in the US. The version heard below is the upbeat US release.



The Thoughts - All Night Stand (1966)

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Lyrics:

All night stand
Been around, seen a thousand places
All night stand
Seen a good, half a million faces

Because I live this life
And I made it for myself
If you scandalize my name
Then you scandalize yourself

Because I'm not to blame
For the things that I've been doing
You all say that I'm bad
And I'll only end in ruin

All night stand
With a different girl each night
All night stand
With two hundred miles to ride

But, I won't give it up
As long as I can make the bread
When I do, I shall stop
Close my eyes and go to bed

And forget all the schnides
Of all people on my back
Once I'm free from these chains
I ain't never looking back

All night stand
Been around, seen a thousand faces, yeah
All night stand
Seen a good, half a million places, yeah

All night stand
I can't get these people off my back
All night stand
I said, “Ten percent for this and that”

All night stand
Trippin’ club and sweatin’ hard
All night stand
Where we’re goin’ and what we got
All night stand
All night stand
All night stand
All night stand
All night stand
All night stand
All night stand
All night stand

Arlo Guthrie - Coming into Los Angeles [Live] (1969)

Arlo Davy Guthrie was born July 10, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York to iconic folk legend Woody Guthrie and professional dancer Marjorie Mazia Guthrie. From birth, Arlo was raised around his father’s folk music and friends, including Pete Seeger, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Ronnie Gilbert, and numerous others. His first public appearance as a musician was in 1961 at the age of thirteen, and his first solo album, Alice’s Restaurant, came out six years later in September 1967. After his father’s passing in October 1967, Arlo inherited one of his father’s closest friends, Pete Seeger. Arlo and Seeger performed at demonstrations together, toured together, and performed at least a dozen shows per year together over the next forty years. To put it succinctly, Arlo Guthrie is the living link between the earlier generation of folk singers from the 1930s and ‘40s (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, etc.) to the new era of folk singers from the ‘60s (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, etc.), having been born and raised into one generation and growing into adulthood in the next.

Like all of Arlo Guthrie’s popular songs, the one heard below was never a hit. His famous “Alice’s Restaurant” from 1967 was over eighteen minutes long and therefore dodged radio airplay. The song heard below also missed airtime because of it being banned by countless radio stations for its subject matter. Luckily, the song remained popular by word of mouth between Guthrie’s fans. Written by Arlo himself, the studio version of this song can be heard on Guthrie’s 1969 album Running Down the Road. The live version heard below is from Guthrie’s hour-long appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, where it opened Guthrie’s set at 11:55 p.m., technically closing out the first day of the festival.



Arlo Guthrie - Coming into Los Angeles [Live] (1969)

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Lyrics:

Coming in from London from over the Pole
Flying in a big airliner, oh
Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
Could we ever feel much finer?

Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of ki’s
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mr. Customs Man

Guy with a ticket to Mexico
No, he couldn’t look much stranger
Walkin’ in a hall with his things and all
Smiled and said he was The Lone Ranger

Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of ki’s
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mr. Customs Man

Yes, a hip woman walking on a moving floor
Tripping on the escalator
There's a man in the line and she's blowing his mind
Thinking that he's already made her

Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of ki’s
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mr. Customs Man

Coming in from London from over the Pole
Flying in a big airliner, oh
Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
Could we ever feel much finer?

Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of ki’s
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mr. Customs Man

Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale (1967)

From the ashes of The Paramounts, Gary Brooker and Robin Trower created The Pinewoods. They received an offer from Chris Blackwell’s new Island Records (later known for working with Bob Marley & The Wailers), but the group declined to sign with them. Instead, they signed with EMI, the same company The Paramounts had briefly been signed to, and changed their name to Procol Harum. Their first single, heard below, was their most successful, and was followed up by a tour in which they opened for Jimi Hendrix. Their subsequent singles sold well, but didn’t chart as high as their original. Their albums remained somewhat popular, especially 1969’s A Salty Dog, but with a vastly rotating lineup, their sound from album to album was too inconsistent for a solid fan base.

This song was written by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid, with some assistance from Matthew Fisher. Brooker, who wrote the music, was inspired to create the melody after being influenced by Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orchestral Suite N° 3 in D Major. Keith Reid, who wrote the song’s lyrics, had been inspired after overhearing a man tell a woman at a party, “You’ve turned a whiter shade of pale.” Reid took the comment and turned it into a title, and worked the rest of the lyrics in the song around that statement. After the song’s success, Reid was made a permanent member of the band, despite not playing any instruments or ever singing. He was responsible for 100% of the band’s lyrics until their break-up in 1977.

When the song’s lyrics were originally written by Keith Reid, there were four verses, each followed by the chorus. When it came time to record the song, it was reduced to two verses to be more radio-friendly. The band never recorded all four verses in the studio. Sometimes, when the band performed the song live, they would include the third verse. Even more rarely, they would include the fourth verse. If you’d like to hear the third and fourth verses performed live, check this YouTube video.

The song was released on May 12, 1967 and began its climb of the charts on May 25. Although it stalled at number five in the US, it reached number one in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, and Australia. John Lennon of The Beatles was a big fan of the song. It's rumored that he and his friends erroneously thought that the vocals (performed by Gary Brooker) were being sung by Steve Winwood of The Spencer Davis Group.



Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale (1967)

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Lyrics:

We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kind of seasick
The crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray

And so it was, that later
As The Miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, “There is no reason”
“And the truth is plain to see”
But I wandered through my playing cards
Would not let her be
One of sixteen Vestal Virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open
They might just as well have been closed

And so it was, that later
As The Miller told his tale
That her face, at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale

And so it was, that later...

The National Gallery - Diana in the Autumn Wind (1968)

Chuck Mangione and Ray Karshner got together in 1967 and released one single under the name Bhagavad-Gita, named after Hindu scriptures. The single was two versions of the same song, “Long Hair Soulful,” featuring one with lyrics and one which was purely instrumental. When the single failed to chart, they gathered studio musicians together to form this band and made one full-length album. Karshner didn’t join the band as a member, but he was responsible for the producing, arranging, and co-writing all of the lyrics (with one song being entirely his). Mangione, on the other hand, joined as a member of the band, playing trumpet, piano, horn, etc., as well as co-writing nine out of the band’s ten songs with Karshner. The other members of the band, all session musicians and singers, were never listed on the group’s sole album, and are therefore anonymous to me. After the band’s album failed to make virtually any impact, the group of session musicians was dissolved. Mangione would go on to great success in the ‘70s, with his most popular song, “Feels So Good,” arriving in 1977.

The National Gallery’s only album was titled Performing Musical Interpretations of the Paintings of Paul Klee. And that’s exactly what the album was. Each track on the album was named after a painting done by the abstract artist known as Paul Klee. Klee, who was of German ancestry but born and raised in Switzerland, had been born in 1879 and passed away in 1940, long before the creation of this 1968 album. The painting, seen above, that the song below was based on was titled Diana in the Autumn Wind. The lyrics and music were interpreted from the painting by Ray Karshner and Chuck Mangione and the resulting track appeared as the second song on The National Gallery’s album. As was the case with Mangione and Karshner's previous collaboration, this song too made no impact on any charts.



The National Gallery - Diana in the Autumn Wind (1968)

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Lyrics:

The leaf that’s green in summer
Will die and fall to ground
The fresh bouquet of yesterday
Today is ugly brown

The happiness of springtime
Is sadness in the fall
The autumn haze makes yesterdays
Much harder to recall

Diana in the autumn wind
Goodbye, goodbye my lover
Diana in the autumn wind
Goodbye my springtime lover
Diana in the autumn wind
Goodbye, goodbye forever

The theater of August
Is silent in the snow
The clown that played the masquerade
Has come to close the show

Diana in the autumn wind
Goodbye, goodbye my lover
Diana in the autumn wind
Goodbye my springtime lover
Diana in the autumn wind
Goodbye, goodbye forever

Little Peggy March - I Will Follow Him (1963)

Peggy March was born March 8, 1948 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. Her birth name was Margaret Annemarie Battavio and she was first discovered at the age of thirteen while singing at her cousin’s wedding. She was introduced to the record producing cousins, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Given that the thirteen year old girl was only four feet nine inches (1.4478 meters), she was nicknamed “Little Peggy March.” In early January 1963, at the age of fourteen, March would record what would be her most famous song, which can be heard below. Although it would be her only Top Ten hit in the United States, March found continuing success in Germany, where she remained popular through the 1970s. March continues to sing to this day, having recently released a new album in 2010 titled Always and Forever.

This song was originally a French song titled “Chariot” with lyrics written by Jacques Plante and music written by Franck Pourcel and Paul Mauriat, who used the pseudonyms J.W. Stole and Del Roma, respectively). In early 1963, the song was adapted into English by Arthur Altman, using Norman Gimbel to translate the lyrics. Although Petula Clark had a number one hit with “Chariot” in France in 1962, it was Little Peggy March who took the English version to number one in the United States in April 1963. Having been fourteen years old when she recorded and released it, she had only just become fifteen by the time the song reached number one, making her the youngest female artist to this day to have a number one hit on the US charts.



Little Peggy March - I Will Follow Him (1963)

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Lyrics:

I love him
I love him
I love him
And where he goes
I'll follow
I'll follow
I'll follow

I will follow him
Follow him wherever he may go
There isn't an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep
Me away

I must follow him
(Follow him)
Ever since he touched my hand, I knew
That near him I always must be
And nothing can keep him from me
He is my destiny
(Destiny)

I love him
I love him
I love him
And where he goes
I'll follow
I'll follow
I'll follow

He'll always be
My true love
My true love
My true love
From now until
Forever
Forever
Forever

I will follow him
(Follow him)
Follow him wherever he may go
There isn't an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep
Keep me away
Away from my love

I love him
I love him
I love him
And where he goes
I'll follow
I'll follow
I'll follow

He'll always be
My true love
My true love
My true love
From now until
Forever
Forever
Forever

I will follow him
(Follow him)
Follow him wherever he may go
There isn't an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep
Keep me away
Away from my love

(And where he goes)
I'll follow
I'll follow
I'll follow
I know I’ll always
Love him
I love him
I love him
And where he goes
I'll follow
I'll follow
I'll follow
I know I’ll always
Love him
I love him…

Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime (1970)

Ray Dorset, an early rock and roll enthusiast, met Colin Earl when they had been in the band the Good Earth together. When their band failed to make any sales for their Saga label, the two got together with Mike Cole, and Paul King to form this British band. Their band name was inspired by Mungojerrie, a character in a poem featured in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. The original lineup of the band was responsible for their biggest hit, heard below. They followed up their big hit with an album; but, after its release, the group slowly began to splinter. Original members left one after the other, eventually leaving Ray Dorset as the sole original member. By 1972, Dorset practically was Mungo Jerry himself. Despite all of the people who parted from the band (over thirty-five of them), they have never officially broken up. Dorset and whomever he has recruited have continued to release music since their formation in 1970, with their most recent album having hit the shelves in 2012.

Written by Ray Dorset, the song heard below was easily the band’s biggest success. When it was released in the UK in the beginning of summer 1970, it only took two weeks for the song to climb to number one. It remained in the charts for the entire summer, and was also a Top Ten hit in the United States. The song was supposedly written by Dorset in less than ten minutes, during a break he was taking while working his day job. Today, the song is considered to be one of the highest selling songs of all time, with over thirty million copies sold to date.



Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime (1970)

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Lyrics:

In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather's fine
You got women- you got women on your mind

Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy's rich, take her out for a meal
If her daddy's poor, just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton and twenty-five

When the sun goes down
You can make it- make it good in a lay-by

We're no threat, people
We're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody, but we do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishing or go swimming in the sea

We're always happy
Life's for living, yeah, that's our philosophy

Sing along with us
Yeah, we're happy

Yeah
Alright, alright, alright

Alright

When the winter's here, yeah, it's party time
Bring your bottle, wear your bright clothes
It'll soon be summertime
And we'll sing again
We'll go driving or maybe we'll settle down

If she's rich, if she's nice
Bring your friends and we'll all go into town

In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather's fine
You got women- you got women on your mind

Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy's rich, take her out for a meal
If her daddy's poor, just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton and twenty-five

When the sun goes down
You can make it- make it good in a lay-by

We're no threat, people
We're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody, but we do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishing or go swimming in the sea

We're always happy
Life's for living, yeah, that's our philosophy

Sing along with us
Yeah, we're happy

Longbranch Pennywhistle - Run Boy Run (1969)

Glenn Frey was born November 6, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. He first had a taste of being a professional musician when he performed background vocals and played an acoustic guitar for Bob Seger’s 1968 Ramblin’ Gamblin’ album. When Frey’s girlfriend, an aspiring singer, wanted to move to Los Angeles, California, Frey went along with her. While there, he met the Texas-born John David Souther and formed this duo in 1969. Calling themselves Longbranch Pennywhistle, the duo often played gigs at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. They were eventually discovered by Amos Records and had enough material to create one, self-titled album. By 1971, Amos Records had gone out of business and the duo decided to dissolve their act. Frey soon continued his career by co-creating the Eagles with Don Henley, whom he had met at the Troubadour the year before. Souther, although would often write and co-write songs for the Eagles, primarily focused on his solo career. He also famously dated Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks.

This song was the second track to the band’s 1969 album, Longbranch Pennywhistle. Although most of the album’s tracks had been penned by Souther, this particular song was written by Frey. The album featured a large number of famous session musicians of the time, including Ry Cooder, Larry Knechtel, James Burton, Jim Gordon, and others. With Glenn Frey’s voice and the country rock melody, you can definitely hear the future sound of the Eagles in this album and song.



Longbranch Pennywhistle - Run Boy Run (1969)

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Lyrics:

Well, it won’t be long until mornin’
And I know I won’t be hard to find
Bloodhound leadin’ all the state police
I gotta make it to the Georgia line

I met a girl in Montgomery
She told me she was twenty-three
(They always do)
Turned out she was in high school
Now her daddy wants to walk me to the hangin’ tree

Run, boy, run
You gotta move
Run, boy, run
You gotta move

Well, an easy goin’ rock ‘n’ roll refugee
Booked trouble on a southbound train
The law books say that I'm a guilty man
And I wouldn’t get time to explain

Dead run, ain’t no stoppin’
‘til I make the borderline
Two more miles on a bottom land run
‘til I find a sanctuary in the Georgia pine

Hey, run, boy, run
You gotta move
Run, boy, run
You gotta move

Hey, run, boy, run
You gotta move
Run, boy, run
You gotta move

On the six oh five
Come on, oh yeah
Oh, oh yeah
Oh, get down

Okay