R.I.P. Ellie Greenwich

I have been meaning to do a post about the far-reaching effect the music of the song "Be My Baby" has had on pop music, particularly that opening drum beat. You know the one I mean - "Boom! Boom boom, cha! Boom! Boom boom, cha!"

But with the passing today of songwriter Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote not only "Be My Baby," but also, "Leader of the Pack," "Then He Kissed Me," "River Deep Mountain High," "Baby, I Love You," "Chapel Of Love," "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry," "Da Doo Ron Ron," and the holiday favorite "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home," I'm just going to let the song speak for itself and maybe get back to writing about the music when the time is right.

Today we pay homage to Greenwich who died of a heart attack in New York. She was 68. It's no surprise that she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, in 1991, not only for her immense talent as a songwriter - she had been writing songs since the age of 14, - but also for, I'm guessing, being the cause of many a persons romantic memories.

The Ronettes - Be My Baby

The Dixie Cups - Chapel of Love

The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me

Ike and Tina Turner - River Deep - Mountain High

The Ronettes - Baby, I Love You

Let Me Roll It

Here's another installment of The Beatles and their what if albums. This material is culled from the albums Band on the Run, Mind Games, Some Time In New York City, Living In the Material World, and Ringo. This is by far the best material that was written by the former Beatles (not counting material off their first solo records because that was really work done while The Beatles were still around) after the group's demise but, like the last two albums, it's difficult to see anything done post-Beatles as an actual Beatles album. For example, Band on the Run is really an album that came from its recording in Africa and the life McCartney was living at the time. As much as I'd like to believe that a talent like McCartney could create classic music like the songs that make up this album, I have to say that the title track would definitely not be around if The Beatles were still around, which unfortunately makes it unavailable for these 'what if' track listings. Not to mention Lennon's 'lost weekend.'

David L. Ulin's Third Album: Let Me Roll It

1. Band on the Run

2. Let Me Roll It

3. Woman Is The Nigger of the World

4. Bluebird

5. I'm The Greatest

6. Mind Games

7. Hi Hi Hi

8. Photograph

9. Living In The Material World

10. John Sinclair

As much as I appreciate Ulin for getting the ball rolling on these albums, I can't help but be underwhelmed by his song choices, save for the John Lennon and Ringo Starr tracks. As far as I'm concerned, this was McCartney's strongest output of solo material, and what does he do? He includes "Bluebird." You've got to be kidding me!

Here's My Version

1. Jet

2. Photograph

3. Let Me Roll It

4. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)

5. Woman Is The Nigger Of The World

6. Try Some, Buy Some

7. Helen Wheels

8. Tight A$

9. Live and Let Die

10. Bring on the Lucie (Freeda Peeple)

Punk Rock Did Not Save My Life

There's a great line in Chuck Klosterman's book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs about a guy coming up to him at a funeral and telling him that punk rock saved his life, which leads Klosterman to ask why his friend didn't just buy some Black Flag records instead of wasting time in chemo. I like Klosterman's humorous approach to that situation, but I also envy the guy that owed his life to punk. I've never been that enamored with a genre of music that I feel the need to openly say that it was my salvation.

Recently I picked up a book called A Cultural Dictionary of Punk (1974-1982) that is actually set up like a dictionary (ABC order and all that jazz) but is filled with a non-linear history of punk, which has given me a much deeper respect for punk's roots before it was branded and Hot Topic-ized;a dictionary doesn't help the cause much either, now that I think about it.

There are great entries for songs like "Dot Dash" by Wire, but there are also wonderful sections dedicated to punk writers and zines and to the politics of the era which lead to the punk scene becoming the force that it was, as well as a fascination with 50's greasers and that era of life as a blueprint for living - Think "What're you rebelling against?" "Whaddya got?" from The Wild One - and a resentment towards hippies, apparently.

The whole book is fascinating and I recommend it to anyone who has never understood punk or just needs a new emergency contact number, because apparently punk will be there for you.

(1975) Lester Bangs and Peter Laughner - Seventeen

(1977) Richard Hell and The Voidoids - Blank Generation

(1978) Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly

(1978) The Undertones - Teenage Kicks

(1978) The Clash - All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)

(1978) Wire - Dot Dash

(1979) Gang Of Four - Damaged Goods

(1980) The Jam - Going Underground

(1980) Dead Kennedys - Kill the Poor

(1981) Government Issue - Anarchy Is Dead

(1981) Ejectors - Hydro-Head

(1981) Black Flag - Six Pack

Too Many People

Part II of this what if Beatles extravaganza:

As you know from my earlier post, David L. Ulin wrote about the albums The Beatles could have made had they not split. This is the second album in that alternate universe. It's called Too Many People and is made of material from the years when Lennon released Imagine, McCartney made Ram and Wild Life, Harrison organized the first benefit concert with Concert For Bangladesh, and Ringo released "It Don't Come Easy," a song co-written by Harrison. Not bad for a bunch of Liverpool lads, eh?

When it comes to Too Many People, we reach a speedbump which is Lennon and McCartney really hated one another at this time. And not in the dumb hatred we see today in popular music feuds. These guys wrote some pretty rough songs attacking each other like "How Do You Sleep?" a song from Imagine that had Lennon singing "The only thing you done was yesterday." Ouch! This song came out of McCartney putting the line, "You took your lucky break and broke it in two," in the song "Too Many People" off of Ram, which had on its back cover a picture of two beetles copulating. So, you see, they both kind of couldn't stand each other. So, how would this album even be if we are to use the material they created at this time? Well, we're going to to give it the old college try anyway.

David Ulin's Second Album: Too Many People

1. Imagine

2. Crippled Inside

3. It Don't Come Easy

4. All Things Must Pass

5. Another Day

6. Too Many People

7. Jealous Guy

8. Gimme Some Truth

9. Awaiting On You All

10. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

11. Monkberry Moon Delight

As you can see, Ulin stays away from the jabbing songs from Lennon and McCartney, because how can you have two band members openly tearing each other apart on record and still manage to complete an album? You can't. So no "How Do You Sleep?" or "Dear Boy." Harrison's contributions are still coming from All Things Must Pass because there's enough material there for a decades worth of Beatles records. "Imagine" seems like an odd choice to include on a Beatles record. I feel that if they had still been around, Lennon would have released this under his own name anyway, with a B-Side of "Gimme Some Truth." It just seems to political, especially for a group that was weary of releasing release "Revolution" as a single.

Here's my version:

1. Art of Dying

2. Jealous Guy *

3. It Don't Come Easy

4. Crippled Inside

5. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

6. Heart of the Country

7. I Dig Love

8. Too Many People

9. Monkberry Moon Delight

10. Oh Yoko!

11. The Back Seat of My Car **

* Recycled melody from "Child of Nature," a song considered during The White Album

**Considered during the Let It Be sessions

As a special bonus here is Harrison's vocal guide of "It Don't Easy." Pretty sure Stephen Stills, Klaus Voormann, and members of Badfinger appear here.