Selection A9: Steely Dan -- Hey Nineteen

Steely Dan was an American jazz rock band founded by core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Originally from New York, they didn't make it big until they moved to California. They are named after a steam powered... um... device from the William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.  They have 10 top 40 hits to their name, three of which went top ten.  This is one of them, going to #10 in 1981.

The song is about an older man hitting up a younger woman at a bar.  But she doesn't even know who Aretha Franklin is.  There are some references to some questionable things, including Cuervo Gold and the fine Columbian making for a good night.  The fine Colombian of course is cocaine.  Donald Fagen once said in an interview that his hope was that songs like this would be enjoyed by soccer moms in dentist chairs bobbing their heads unaware of the filthy lyrics.  As an eleven year old, I had no clue of the nature of the song, but I liked it a lot.  

And songs bring back memories.  This one is no exception.  A song that doesn't have a chance of making the jukebox, I Wanna Be Your Man by Roger (a guy who could make the jukebox in Scritti Politti's Boom! There She Was) brings back memories of my first car crash.  It was playing on the radio when that crash occurred.

For Hey Nineteen, It's playing basketball with my older brother, who is six and a half years older than me. The memory is from playing indoor basketball, in our basement, with a Seyfert's potato chip tin as a goal (it was a big tin) with a 10 pound weight at the bottom. Once, I was reaching into the tin to get the ball, and I tipped it too far, and the weight fell on my right pinky toe.  It hurt like hell.  My brother was telling me to play through it.  My toe wound up bleeding, and I lost the nail.  Play through it I did not.  I do believe Hey Nineteen was playing at the time, although I am not sure.  It definitely played a lot in that basement that winter while we played.  Ah, good times.

Selection B9 is Bodhisattva.  It was not on the album Gaucho.  It's named after an enlightenment being in Buddhism.  Judging it by the few seconds I have listened to it so far, it's not going to get much play.

Selection A8: The KLF w/ Tammy Wynette -- Justified & Ancient (Stand by the JAMs)

Remember back on selection A3 when I likened Chaka Khan and Green Gartside (of Scritti Politti) to a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup?  Well, this weird combination is more like a peanut butter and bologna sandwich, or pizza with pineapple.  You don't think they should work together, but for some reason, there are people who think they are delicious. I, by the way, like both.

Most of you should know Tammy Wynette, or "The First Lady Of Country" Miss Tammy Wynette as she is billed on this 45.  She was born Virginia Wynette Pugh in 1942.  She has 23 number one songs to her name, and several number one albums... on the country charts.  She is most famous for Stand By Your Man.

The KLF is an British acid house band from the late 80s, early 90s.  They had limited pop success in the US, but were huge in Britain and the dance charts.  In 1990 they had their biggest US hit, with the #5 smash, 3am Eternal.  They have been known as the Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu, and The Timelords.  To say they are a weird band is an understatement.  I'd suggest looking at their history on Wikipedia, it's fascinating, and something I can't do justice with in limited words.

In 1991, this single was released.  It was released 23 years from Wynette's #1 single Stand By Your Man (thus the sub-title, Stand by the JAMs, a play on their previous band name).  Wynette said of being paired up with the KLF, "I really don't know why they chose me. I was apprehensive at first, but I'm really excited with the way it's all turned out", Wynette said. "Mu Mu Land looks a lot more interesting than Tennessee.... But I wouldn't want to live there."  Wynette actually went on tour with the band in 1992, and at one point in Australia collapsed from exhaustion.  The song made it to #11 on the US charts.

In the song there is a reference to, "Make mine a 99!" or "Mine's a 99!"  This is in reference to the 99 flake, or Cadbury 99 ice cream.  Since the band has used an ice cream van in their concerts, this reference, along with the reference to, "rockin' to the rhythm in an ice cream van" makes sense.

Why do I like it?  I was a big fan of 3am Eternal when it came out.  When this got regular airplay, I loved it, too.  I also lived in Tennessee for two years in my early childhood, so Wynette may just be in my blood, even though I don't like much country music. 

Selection B8 is a slowed down vocal version with Black Steel on vocals.  It's a change of pace, and nothing more.

Selection A7: Duran Duran -- Union of the Snake

This song was released almost 30 years ago, in October 1983.  Man does that make me feel old.  I remember buying this single on Christmas Eve of that year, on the way up to my Aunt and Uncle who lived near Notre Dame.  We went there every Christmas Eve to see the rest of my mom's family.  I used their record player to play that single for the first time.  It was the first song from the album, and would make it to #3 early the next year.  A later single, The Reflex (a possible jukebox song), would be Duran Duran's first #1 single.  The album Seven and the Ragged Tiger made it to #8, and would be the last with the full lineup until the 2004 release Astronaut.

I was listening to Radio2 from the Netherlands today, and the album this song comes from was their classic album of the week.  So they were playing all the tracks and not just the hits, one an hour.  Being one of the first albums I ever bought, and one of my favorites, it definitely brings me back.

And Union of the Snake is my favorite from the album.  I'm a sucker for good synth-pop, and this one delivers in spades.  But what really does it for me is that guitar.  It's sort of a disco guitar, playing in the background, helping keep the beat with the drums (a ripoff of David Bowie's Let's Dance).  It's a little funky.  Not nine cans of shaving powder funky, but maybe three or four.

The lyrics, like all Duran Duran songs, were pretty oblique.  Simon LeBon has said the "borderline" is between conscious and unconscious.  But in later interviews, he said it's just all about sex.  Which is fine.  In my early teen innocence (yeah, right) it didn't really mean that, even at a time when everything else did.  With the video getting heavy play, it was about a snake union.  Now, I just wonder what their dues were.

Selection B7 is Secret Oktober, a song recorded and mixed just hours before the album was sent to press, in an all night session.  And it shows.  Not a song that will get any jukebox play.

Selection A6: Paper Lace -- The Night Chicago Died

I bought my first 45 in 1983.  Actually, I bought two, Eurythmics Here Comes the Rain Again, and Billy Joel's Tell Her About It, but it had a scratch, so it was returned.  I hate the whole An Innocent Man Album to this day.  My point here, is that when you see an older song like this one, I probably came upon it in my adulthood.  And yes, I didn't start listening to this song until after 2000.

This is an odd rock song.  It has a driving beat, it has synthesizers, and the transitions and structure of the song is truly unique.  It's very listenable to me, which is why it gets 5 star status in my library, which means it can be played 1-2 times a month.  Four star songs get played 4-5 times a year, and three star songs 1-2 times a year.  

The story in the song?  It's fake.  Being from Nottingham, England, the fellas from Paper Lace had never been to Chicago.  If they had, they wouldn't have claimed the story was from the "Old East Side", since the East side of Chicago is basically Lake Michigan.  There is an East Side neighborhood, but it is 13 miles south of downtown, and far from where Capone did business on the North Side.  Also, police stood aside and let the gangs fight it out, so the fact that "100 cops were dead" never happened, either.  But Al Capone was real, so for many, this is real, and I'm okay with that.

Selection B6 is Can You Get It When You Want It... I'm listening to it for the first time.  It's not bad.  My kids are dancing, so it can't be bad.  But it probably won't get many plays.  Here, check it out for yourself:

Can You Get It When You Want It

Selection A5: Phil Collins -- Don't Lose My Number

I would just like to say right up front... I loves me some Phil Collins.  Also Collins lead Genesis.  My first pick from this album, No Jacket Required, is an odd one.  It's not my favorite song, from Phil, or from the album.  But my reason for picking it requires you to have owned this 45.

It was rare when I flipped a 45 over and found a song I actually liked.  Some had remixes of the A side, and they were hit or miss.  My favorite remix was of Robbie Nevil's Wot's it to Ya (I know, I owned the album, I wasted $1.45... until the B-side, that is).  And sometimes you find a B-side that is worthy of more than one listen... they may even make it onto your latest mix tape.  We Said Hello Goodbye is one of those songs.

There's something about a well written piano pop song.  Just ask Billy Joel.  This song, while slow, is just fantastic.  The chord progressions are tight.  The lyrics are meaningful.  When the drums hit, it just knocks you off your socks.  For that and that alone, unless the A-side is complete crap, this 45 deserves to be in the jukebox.

And Don't Lose My Number, while probably not jukebox material on it's own (Sussudio should make it, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves) is definitely not crap.  It's got that signature Phil Collins on drums sound.  But not much else.  It made it to #4 on the charts here in America, and the album made it to #1 for several weeks.

Below is the official video.  It's got 2 minutes of "acting" and all through the song there are background noises that are annoying when you just want to hear the song, thus the video I chose above.  But I am including this here because it's a part of the history of the 45.