Author: Kim Simpson

“Little Miss Sad” (1965) – The Five Empressions

“Little Miss Sad” (1965) – The Five Empressions * Written by Dick Addrisi and Don Addrisi * 45: “Little Miss Sad” / “Hey Lover” * Label: Freeport

From Benton Harbor, Michigan, this thumping, not-sad-but-happy cover of a 1964 non-charting Addrisi Brothers A-side climbed to #74 in Billboard the following year. Radio station WLS in nearby Chicago had spun the small-label track enough to blast it into the over-achievement zone. The Five Emprees (originally the Five Empressions on the single’s first pressing until Curtis Mayfield’s established trio said “ahem”) probably needed a larger label to take them to the next step, but a few more effervescent recordings like this one also wouldn’t have hurt. Later pressings of “Little Miss Sad” credited to the Five Emprees were re-recordings with added horns.

“Academy Fight Song” (1980) – Mission of Burma

“Academy Fight Song” (1980) – Mission of Burma * Written by Clint Conley * 45: “Academy Fight Song” / “Max Ernst” * Producer: Richard W. Harte * Label: Ace of Hearts

With its own title as a clincher, this opening salvo from the much-loved Boston post-punk trio might be the ultimate college rock song, thanks to its adaptability as an angry expression toward either a dean or a slum lord who acts like one. The loaded phrase “asking jerky questions” could, in fact, serve as a post-punk/college rock motto, especially when voiced by a band so noted for herky-jerky tempos. But the background vocals near the end elevate the song to its own mystical space.

“All Day and All of the Night” (1964) – The Kinks


“All Day and All of the Night” (1964) – The Kinks * Written by Ray Davies * 45: “All Day and All of the Night” / “I Gotta Move” * Produced by Shel Talmy * Label: Pye (UK)/Reprise (US)

Top Ten broken-bottle mod rock that, along with “You Really Got Me,” presents the Kinks as potentially more primal than anything the greasers (their first audience’s cultural rivals) listened to. This one did have deceptively sophisticated chord changes, though, giving many once-confident garage combos pause. By the late sixties the Kinks had matured into English gentlemen, for whom the line “the only time I feel alright is by your side” actually did seem believable. The song reappeared as a self-referential musical motif in the band’s 1981 FM rock hit “Destroyer,” which would chart higher (#3) than its source (#7).

“Shout Shout (Knock Yourself Out)” (1962) – Ernie Maresca

“Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out)” (1962) – Ernie Maresca * Written by Ernie Maresca and Thomas Bogdarny * 45: “Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out)” / “Crying Like a Baby Over You” * LP: Shout Shout! (Knock Yourself Out) * Produced by Marv Holtzman * Label: Seville

Ernie Maresca, a songwriter from the Bronx, is the man who gave Dion and the Belmonts such chutzpah credentials as “Runaround Sue,” “The Wanderer,” “Lovers Who Wander,” and “Donna the Prima Donna,” among others. They were simple songs, but they swaggered like the early ’60s New York City streets of your imagination. Maresca was no singer (side B contains the evidence), so he shouted his way to Billboard‘s #6 slot, making sure to say “play another song like ‘Runaround Sue'” in this sock-hop stomper. Do you hear the Dave Clark Five emerging from this big sound?

“Abba Zabba” (1966) – Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band


“Abba Zabba” (1966) – Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band * Written by Don Van Vliet * LP: Safe as Milk * Produced by Bob Krasnow and Richard Perry * Label: Buddah

“Abba Zabba” foretells the hypnotic, jungle-chant quality Beefheart would bring to his future catalog. But its vocal patter also brings to mind eighties celebrity reports locating Beefheart as a Jack Nicholson-style regular at Los Angeles Lakers games, where he presumably classified the rhythms of bouncing basketballs as a distinct musical genre. So the late Beefheart resembled the old one; he “jumped in a circle,” like the farmer in his “Floppy Boot Song.”

“I Feel Fine (US version)” (1964) – The Beatles

“I Feel Fine (US version)” (1964) – The Beatles * Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney * 45: “I Feel Fine” / “She’s a Woman” * US LP: Beatles ’65 * Produced by George Martin * Label: Capitol

Ecstatic Beatlemania-era single that contains crucial reverb in the American Capitol Records versions, making it sound like it’s playing at a sock hop in a high school gym. Americans who listened to the British mixes on the first Beatles CDs were understandably disappointed when it sounded as though it were playing in a padded cell. The track appeared on the Beatles ’65 album, which also included reverb-blessed versions of “She’s a Woman” and “I’ll Be Back.” (Beatles VI had another: “Yes It Is.”) Also notable in “I Feel Fine” are its pioneering usage of feedback and an opening riff inspired by Bobby Parker’s 1961 single “Watch Your Step.” But the riff became its own template. All songs in the future with a mixolydian scale dancing over a I7 chord  would be heard as petitions for “Beatle-esque” jocundity (The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville,” The Bangles’ “Hero Takes a Fall,” the theme from Friends, etc.).

 

 

“Što te nema” (1981) – Jadranka Stojaković

 


“Što te nema” (1981) – Jadranka Stojaković * Traditional song adapted by Jadranka Stojaković and Aleksa Šantić * LP: Svitanje * Produced by Dado Streiblewierer (Rajko Dujmić) * Label: Diskoton

This signature recording by the late singer Jadranka Stojaković demostrates the durability of traditional song in her native Bosnia. Although its melody, known as “Haganin Sevdah,” is likely centuries old, a popular recording of it by singer Himzo Polovina appeared in 1964 with lyrics by Aleksa Šantić. Although both recordings by Polovina and Šantić preserve the emotional, protracted nature of the sevdalinka form, Stojaković’s musical adaptation is the one with pop accessibility. Her recording’s title, remaining true to Santić’s lyrics, translates to “why are you not here?” Stojaković was a beloved figure throughout all of the Yugoslav Republics and performed with that guileless voice of hers (reminiscent of Sandy Denny) during the ceremonies for the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984. In 1988 she would emigrate to Japan. [RIP 5/3/2016]

“Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)” (1973) – Blue Ash


“Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)” (1973) – Blue Ash * Written by Bill Bartolin and Frank Secich * 45: “Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her)” / “Dusty Old Fairgrounds” * LP: No More No Less * Produced by Tom Grazier * Label: Mercury

By the late seventies, Cincinnati’s Blue Ash were already a cult presence in the still-germinating power pop canon of the seventies. The Records’ 1979 cover version of “Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her),” though, which appeared on the bonus EP included with their Shades in Bed debut LP (released in the US as The Records) helped nudge them into the “fixture” category. Blue Ash’s best-remembered moment continues to be “Abracadabra,” which nonetheless has a two-songs-in-one quality. The “Abracadabra” part at 1:40 was likely an unfinished snippet the group didn’t know what to do with, so they stuck it on to a bridge-less “Have You Seen Her” with Scotch tape, like magic.

“Shout” (1970)—Arik Einstein and Shalom Chanoch


“Shout” (1970)—Arik Einstein and Shalom Chanoch * Written by Shalom Chanoch * LP: Shablool * Produced by Tzvi Shissel * Label: Phonodor

Israeli go-go music with mischief afoot. You need to listen to this while looking at the album cover, which shows Arik whispering something to Shalom. After the two minute mark you’ll start discerning some of the words: “I like to play in the barnyard/She took me down to the water/That’s where I met her daughter/Hiding behind a treeeee… She remembers who is he/He is me/We are three.”

“Across 110th Street” (1973) – Bobby Womack


“Across 110th Street” (1973) – Bobby Womack * Written by Bobby Womack and J.J. Johnson * 45: “Across 110th Street” / “Hang On In There” * LP: Across 110th Street * Label: United Artists Records

Although the ultra-violent blaxploitation film that Womack’s theme song appeared in was better regarded than most others in that genre, the track is best approached independent of any film association (especially its pastiche usage in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown). It’s cinematic enough as it is, with the opening organ flickering like city lights and Womack’s first-person lyrics, which he sings with equal parts world-weariness and self-assurance.