Wonder Jelly from Petroleum

‘Vasoline’ is a song that was recorded by the American rock band Stone Temple Pilots on their 1994 second studio album Purple.  This album was a major commercial success going to #1, but some music critics referred to the band as grunge imitators.  Purple may not have been a grunge album, and at this time the grunge movement was already on its deathbed, however this album offered a new gateway into a corridor of rock that many adolescent music geeks didn’t yet know existed.  ‘Vasoline’ charted #48 in the UK and it reached #38 in the US.  The Stone Temple Pilots are also known by the acronym STP and they are from San Diego, California, and originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric Kretz (drums).

Spreading Vaseline on a surface where gnats are flying around can be a much more user-friendly way to catch these pests, as they will get stuck in this sticky substance.  STP lead singer Scott Weiland wrote the lyrics for ‘Vasoline’ after thinking about how flies get stuck in Vaseline, and knowing that it’s not pretty, because they’re not killed instantly, and they struggle to get out to no avail, because they have already met their doom.  Scott said that this song is about “feeling like an insect under a magnifying glass.”  The song is credited to the whole band, Dean DeLeo, Eric Kretz, Robert Emile DeLeo, and Scott Richard Weiland.

The title of this song was inspired from Weiland’s parents who were listing to the Eagles song ‘Life in the Fast Lane’, and he thought that they were singing, “Flies in the Vasoline.”  This song deals with Scott Weiland’s descent into drug addiction, which he was trying to hide it from his bandmates and his girlfriend.  He knew he was turning into a junkie, and he sings about searching and going blind, which relates to the cycle he started when he became an addict.  Weiland said the song is about him becoming a junkie, being stuck in the same situation over and over again.  The Stone Temple Pilots separated in 2003, and 48-year-old Scott Weiland died on December 3, 2015, from a toxic mix of drugs including cocaine, alcohol and the amphetamine MDA – a drug similar to ecstasy in his system.

One time a thing occurred to me
What’s real and what’s for sale
Blew a kiss and tried to take it home

It isn’t you, isn’t me
Search for things that you can’t see
Going blind out of reach
Somewhere in the vasoline

Two times and it has rendered me
Punch drunk and without bail
Think I’d be safer all alone

Flies in the vasoline we are
Sometimes it blows my mind
Keep getting stuck here all the time

It isn’t you, isn’t me
Search for things that you can’t see
Going blind out of reach
Somewhere in the vasoline

You’ll see the look
And you’ll see the lies
You’ll eat the lies
And you will

Flies in the vasoline we are
Sometimes it blows my mind
Keep getting stuck here all the time

It isn’t you, isn’t me
Search for things that you can’t see
Going blind out of reach
Somewhere in the Vasoline

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme this week is grunge music.

Seattle Sound

Grunge is a genre that arose in Seattle in the 1980s, and it is considered to be a sub-genre of alternative rock.  In the early to mid-90s, grunge took over the airwaves.  Grunge music fuses elements of hard rock, punk rock, and metal, and it has been described as the intersection between punk rock and heavy metal.  Grunge often uses electronic elements and musical distortion and the lyrics tend to be deep, heartfelt, poignant, angsty, or introspective.  The Grunge music genre was part of the wider counterculture movement that rejected traditional labels and expectations.  Famous grunge bands include Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains.  The term grunge was first used to describe the murky-guitar bands notably Nirvana and Pearl Jam.  As grunge became an international fad, and American department stores soon had sections of grunge clothing knockoffs of the flannel shirts, thermal underwear, combat boots, and stocking hats favored by Seattle bands and their fans.  Eventually, grunge faded, and this was partly because of the death of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain in 1994, who had become the genre’s spokesman.

Last week we had Appalachian Mountain Music where the theme was to find Bluegrass songs.  This week the theme is to find Grunge songs.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the Stone Temple Pilots song ‘Vasoline’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Blister in the Sun’ by Violent Femmes.  The upcoming prompts will be:
April 2, 2023 – Alternative Rock outside the mainstream
April 9, 2023 – Soul Music
April 16, 2023 – Funk
April 23, 2023 – Reggae music

A Time So Long Ago

Bluegrass was Jerry Garcia’s first love of music, although he shifted his musical focus to many other genres.  Garcia first picked up a banjo in 1950, and he eventually mastered this instrument.  Garcia and his close friend, mandolinist David Grisman, played bluegrass music often, and Garcia loved hanging out at Grisman’s small studio located in Forest Knolls California which is in the western half of the San Geronimo Valley in Marin County, as this place served as a hideout from the hysteria surrounding the Dead.  In fact, Garcia’s last recording session before he passed away in 1995 was at Grisman’s, covering ‘Blue Yodel #9’ for a Jimmie Rodgers tribute album that was released in 1997.  Jerry Garcia played guitar, banjo, vocals, with Marshall Leicester who was on banjo, guitar, mandolin, vocals, and Dick Arnold on fiddle, vocals in the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers from May 1962 through September 1962.  Jerry was in the Black Mountain Boys along with Robert Hunter, Eric Thompson, Geoff Levin, Sandy Rothman, and David Nelson from January 1964 – March 1964.  In 1964, before the Grateful Dead got together, Jerry Garcia caravanned across the country from California to tag along with bluegrass legend Bill Monroe.  Garcia met Monroe in Los Angeles in 1963, and he toyed with the idea of auditioning for Monroe’s band.

Jerry was in a group called Old & In the Way who some people feel may the best bluegrass band of the time and they recorded five albums, all in 1973.  Garcia played banjo, Peter Rowan was on guitar, Vassar Clements played fiddle, David Grisman was on mandolin and string Bass was played by John Kahn.  Catfish John was written by Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds and was first recorded and released by Bob McDill in 1972.  McDill said that Catfish John was a real person who was friend of his dad.  The Grateful Dead never performed this song live, but they did release a version of it on Beyond Description a 12 CD box set reissue of all the Grateful Dead studio albums released between 1973 and 1989 plus the two live releases Reckoning and Dead Set and then again on the expanded CD release Terrapin Station which is a studio outtake from the Fall of 1976.  The song tells a story about former slave, and the difficulties he encountered every day in his life as did many other Black people at the time.  A boy is warned by his mother not to go near this Catfish John, but he can’t stay away and he goes down to the river to visit him as soon as the morning rolls around.  The boy finds this Catfish John fellow to be an inspiration and a source of Delta culture.

Mama said: “Don’t go near that river
Don’t be hanging around old Catfish John”
Come the morning, I’d always be there
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.

Born a slave in the town of Vicksburg, traded for a chestnut mare
Lord, he never spoke in anger though his load was hard to bear.

Mama said: “Don’t go near that river
Don’t be hanging around old Catfish John”
Come the morning, I’d always be there
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.

Catfish John was a river hobo who lived and died by the river bed
Thinking back, I still remember I was proud to be his friend.

Mama said: “Don’t go near that river
Don’t be hanging around old Catfish John”
Come the morning, I’d always be there
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.

Let me dream in another morning, to a time so long ago
When the sweet magnolia blossomed, cotton fields as white as snow.

Mama said: “Don’t go near that river
Don’t be hanging around old Catfish John”
Come the morning, I’d always be there
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.

Come the morning, I’d always be there
Walking in his footsteps in the sweet Delta dawn.

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme this week is Bluegrass music.

Appalachian Mountain Music

Bluegrass is a style of country music that arose in Appalachia in the 1940s and it is typically played on acoustic instruments.  It draws on influences from many other types of music, including blues, jazz, country, Gospel music, and traditional music of England, Scotland, and Ireland.  As the settlers began to move out into North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia, they wrote songs about daily life in the new land.  Since most of these people lived in remote areas, many of the songs reflected life on the farm or in the hills.  This music was often referred to as country, hillbilly, or mountain music.  Bluegrass emphasizes acoustic stringed instruments like banjo and guitar.  The invention of the phonograph and the onset of radio in the early-to-mid 1900s brought this music out of the hills and into the homes of people all over the United States.  The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, but other influential bluegrass musicians include Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys.  In the 1960s, the concept of the “bluegrass festival” was first introduced, featuring bands on the same bill that had previously seemed to be in competition with each other for a relatively limited audience.  The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1972 Will the Circle Be Unbroken triple LP set introduced artists like Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Jimmy Martin, Maybelle Carter, Roy Acuff, and others to pop music fans and brought the authentic sounds of bluegrass and traditional country music to new audiences.  Bluegrass began a revival in the 1990s called Contemporary bluegrass which often emphasizes more elaborate musical pieces that draw inspiration from classical music, as well as musical improvisation and a wider variety of instruments.  Well-known musicians in the genre include Allison Krauss, Mumford and Sons, the Avett Brothers, and Old Crow Medicine Show.  In 2001, the triple-platinum soundtrack for the Coen Brothers movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, helped to attract even wider audiences to bluegrass music.

Last week we had Catch a Wave where the theme was to find Surf Rock songs.  This week the theme is to find Bluegrass songs.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the Old & In the Way song ‘Catfish John’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Vasoline’ by Stone Temple Pilots.  The upcoming prompts will be:
March 26, 2023 – Grunge music
April 2, 2023 – Alternative Rock outside the mainstream
April 9, 2023 – Soul Music
April 16, 2023 – Funk

Till the Sun Goes Down

‘Shoot the Curl’ by The Honeys is a girl power trash talk song where these surfer girls challenge the boys to see who has a better surfing style.  The Honeys were the world’s first female surfing vocal combo and they got their name from a line in the Beach Boys song ‘Surfin’ Safari’, “Early in the mornin’ we’ll be startin’ out, some honeys will be comin’ along.”  Honeys is a slang term for girls or girlfriends, which was specifically used for female surfing enthusiasts.  The Honeys started out as the Rovell Sisters, an American girl group, formed in Los Angeles in 1958, initially comprised of sisters Marilyn, Diane, and Barbara Rovell.  Barbara was later replaced by their cousin, Sandra Glantz who went by the name Ginger Blake.  After 1962, the Rovell Sisters became the Honeys and the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, served as their record producer and chief songwriter.  In 1964, Brian married Marilyn and The Honeys became one of the first groups Wilson used to establish himself as a producer outside of his role as a Beach Boy.

Despite the Honeys continued lack of chart success, they remained sought-after backing vocalists on sessions for the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean.  During the mid ‘60s, the trio also recorded as Ginger & the Snaps.  The Dynette Set covered this song on their 1983 album Rockers And Recliners.  Shooting the curl refers to the act of surfing through a barrel, where you ride your surfboard inside the hollow part of a wave as the water crests above your head.  Being under the curling wave as it breaks, it is also known as being “in the barrel,” “in the tube,” or “in the tunnel.”  The curl is also referred to as the pocket of a wave and this is the section of the wall just ahead of the lip which is the tip of the wave where it is breaking.  This is usually the steepest part of the wave and the most desirable place to surf.  If you can stay in or near the pocket, you can generate maximal speed and enjoy a longer ride.

We’re gonna ride those boys right out of style
We’re gonna shoot the curl for one clear mile
The Surfers have it spreadin’ all over town
That the Honeys way of surfin’ just isn’t around
But we’ve got moves for our key friend

We’ll out surf them until the end
Were gonna shoot, shoot, shoot the curl
Were gonna shoot, shoot, shoot the curl
We’re gonna ride those boys right out of style
We’re gonna shoot the curl for one clear mile

We are not saying something, but we have to admit
That the Honeys way of surfing is as dare as it gets
He wants to know without a kid
The better way out is to surf a tube
Were gonna shoot, shoot, shoot the curl
Were gonna shoot, shoot, shoot the curl

We’re gonna show those boys whose got the style
We’re gonna shoot the curl for one clear mile
Early in the morning we’ll be ridin’ along
Heading down to paradise singing our song
Going to the beach we’ll be surfin’ bound

Surfing all day till the sun goes down
Now we’re heading home and we ask you to say
That the Honeys and the surfers are here to stay
Surfin’ is the rage for everyone
So come along and surf and you’ll have some fun
Were gonna shoot, shoot, shoot the curl
Were gonna shoot, shoot, shoot the curl

We’re gonna ride those boys right out of style
We’re gonna shoot the curl for one clear mile
We’re gonna show those boys whose got the style
We’re gonna shoot the curl for one clear mile

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme this week is surf rock.

Testing

My post didn’t show up in my Reader, so I am wondering if anyone can see it.

Catch a Wave

Catch a Wave

Surf Rock music is characterized by its surf-related lyrics, high harmony vocals, catchy and earworm-like guitar solos and riffs, along with its high reverberation levels.  It was developed in in Southern California and it became especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms.  It started out with instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-heavy electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones.  The second form is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.  Surf Rock transcended into a sense of what was cool (cars, girls and the beach) and that spilled over into culture and eventually this was picked up in film, dress, talk, lifestyle, and people.  The best surf music is high-octane rock ‘n’ roll, full of energy and invention, that includes bright, lead guitars, big stomping rhythms, and stunning harmonies.  Big surfboards, endless sun, and endless fun declined in popularity with the arrival of The Beatles, but the music still lives in the hearts of many today.  Surf rock didn’t just fall down and die, as it continues to be a prolific and appealing genre and an omnipresent musical force.  It’s a still-evolving dynamic genre, with new musicians making new sounds every day.

Last week we had The Earliest Style of Rock and Roll where the theme was to find Rockabilly music.  This week the theme is to find Surf Rock songs.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about The Honeys song ‘Shoot the Curl’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Catfish John’ done by Old & In the Way.  The upcoming prompts will be:
March 19, 2023 – Bluegrass
March 26, 2023 – Grunge music
April 2, 2023 – Alternative Rock outside the mainstream
April 9, 2023 – Soul Music

Like a Kangaroo

‘Blue Jean Bop’ was written by Gene Vincent and Hal Levy in 1956 for Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps debut studio album Bluejean Bop!.  Gene Vincent never became a star, but he was critically acclaimed and he was called the original “bad boy” of rock and roll.  Gene was always wearing a leather jacket, his greasy hair fell into his face, he often used profanity and he was drunk most of the time.  Gene played guitar, and sang vocals on this song.  The Blue Caps were a band who just want to rock and each member was given a nickname to make them intriguing.  They consisted of “Galloping” Cliff Gallup on lead guitar, “Wee” Willie Williams on rhythm guitar, “Jumpin’” Jack Neal playing upright bass and “Be-Bop” Dickie Harrell on drums.  Cliff Gallup and drummer Dickie Harrell played with the western swing and cowboy act known as the Phelps Brothers before becoming part of the Blue Caps.

In the mid-50’s a dance called “The Bop” was catching on across high school dances, at soda shops and record hops.  The Bop was a popular form of Swing dancing during the 1950’s as well as done as a solo dance, especially when the melody divorced itself from traditional dance rhythms.  It was derived from the jitterbug, or swing, Lindy, East Coast Swing, the rock’n’roll, boogie-woogie or Bop.  The word Bop was new then, so almost everything was called the Bop, but it was a later variant of a family of low swiveling Charleston-like steps danced in place, including partners moving around each other, but it was usually done with almost no touching and much, much faster and sometimes without a partner.  The term, Bop, was also used as slang for a type of careless movement, such as “Bop on over.”  This type of carefree fast dancing included jumps, hops, stomping, and even flying feet, all done at considerable speed.  The Bop has remained popular in certain dance circles over the years due to its nostalgic charm.

Eugene Vincent Craddock was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1935.  At the age of 17, he joined the Navy.  Gene Vincent had a reputation as a troublemaker that dated from his stint in the Navy.  In 1955, he suffered a motorcycle accident that destroyed his left leg, leaving him with a severely damaged left leg and a lifetime of constant pain.  The stiff leg never hindered him, as it actually gave Vincent a unique stage presence, where he pivoted on the leg as he seduced the audience into a frenzy.  He could overhaul old standards with hoots, hollers, hiccups, and moans.  There was a raw sexuality to his singing, he reeked of sex and violence to the point of utter chaos, and his shows always were filled with sexual innuendo and utter longing as the band added grit and gusto to the performances.  The key player in the Blue Caps was Cliff Gallup.  There was virtually no tradition to the electric guitar then, and players like Scotty Moore and Gallup kept inventing as they went along, borrowing from Les Paul, Chet Atkins and Chicago blues, and adding noise and swagger to the mix.  Gallup made this look simple, but to this day there a few performers with the dexterity to recreate his descending and ascending notes.  He never suspected he was laying the groundwork for future players.  Cliff Gallup played a 1953 Fender Telecaster, and is considered one of the best guitarists of all time.  He was a member of the influential rock band, The Ventures.  Vincent died at the age of 36 in 1971 from complications of a bleeding ulcer.  In 1997, Vincent was the first person inducted into the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame and he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Bluejean baby, with your big blue eyes
Don’t want you looking at other guys
Got to make you give me, one more chance
I can’t keep still, so baby let’s dance

Well the bluejean bop is the bop for me
It’s the bop that’s done in a dungaree
You flip your hip, free your knee
Squeal on your heel baby, one to three
Well the bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, baby won’t you bop with Gene (bop Blue Caps, bop)

Well bluejean baby when I bop with you
Well my heart starts hoppin’ like a kangaroo
My feet do things they never done before
Well bluejean baby, give me more more more
Well the bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, baby won’t you bop with Gene (rock again Blue Caps, go)

Well the bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean bop, baby won’t you bop with Gene (Blue Caps, bop with Gene now, let’s go)

Well it’s, bluejean bop, bluejean bop
Bluejean, bluejean bop
Oh baby, bluejean, bluejean bop
Bluejean, bluejean bop
Bluejean, oh baby, won’t you bop with Gene

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme is Rockabilly music.

The Earliest Style of Rock and Roll

Rockabilly music is a seminal, first-generation rock-and-roll style distinguished by extreme rhythmic drive and a full-tilt approach to both singing and instrumental soloing.  Rockabilly came about when poor white kids in the southern states of the US grew up listening to hillbilly, gospel and blues, and mixed these musical influences and developed this hard-driving fusion of country and rhythm and blues.  In Memphis, Tennessee, radio engineer turned record producer Sam Phillips began recording Black musicians in 1950.  Record reviewers coined the term rockabilly, which literally meant rock and roll played by hillbillies in order to describe the intense, rhythm-driven musical style introduced by Elvis Presley on his first recordings.  In July 1954, in his first session for Sam Phillips’s Sun label of Memphis, Tennessee, Presley recorded ‘That’s All Right’ which would lay the foundation for rockabilly.  This song was written by Mississippi bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup and recorded in 1946.  At the recording session, while Elvis was singing and strumming an acoustic guitar, with Scotty Moore on electric guitar, and Bill Black on upright bass, they reached a momentary musical impasse, so they took a break.  Their conservation got around to the blues, when Elvis asked if they knew this song and history was made.  Other musicians that recorded rockabilly music were Buddy Holly, Marty Robbins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison, Wanda Jackson, Brenda Lee, Ricky Nelson, and Johnny Cash.

Last week we had Bayou Sound where the theme was to find Swamp rock songs.  This week the theme is to find Rockabilly music.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the Gene Vincent song ‘Blue Jean Bop’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Shoot the Curl’ by The Honeys.  The upcoming prompts will be:
March 12, 2023 – Surf Rock
March 19, 2023 – Bluegrass
March 26, 2023 – Grunge music
April 2, 2023 – Alternative Rock outside the mainstream

Woman Knew All of the Moves

Tony Joe White recorded ‘Undercover Agent’ on his fourteenth studio album Closer to the Truth which was released on 1991.  Tony Joe is one of the most iconic figures in swamp rock and he took the blues from the swamps of Louisiana and combined it with modern rock.  White signed his first recording deal in 1967, but his work is often better known from the covers of his material rather than for his own original recordings.  In 1969, Elvis covered the Tony Joe White song ‘Polk Salad Annie’ and that went to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.  That same year Dusty Springfield covered his song ‘Willie and Laura Mae Jones’.  In 1970, R&B vocalist Brook Benton covered White’s ‘Rainy Night in Georgia’ and this reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.  White was inactive through much of the ‘80s, but he worked with Tina Turner on her 1989 Foreign Affair album, writing four songs and playing guitar and harmonica.  Tony Joe was introduced to Tina by Mark Knopfler, who had worked with Tina on several songs in the 1980’s.  He passed on a demo tape containing some of Tony Joe’s songs and she immediately fell in love with ‘Undercover Agent’, a song White wrote together with his wife Leann.

White released his fifteenth studio album Bad Mouthin’ in 2018 and he died from a sudden heart attack a few months after the record came out.  His final album Smoke from the Chimney was posthumously in 2021.  He never changed his music to suit the fashions of the time and stayed true to his Swamp Rock sound all the way through his career.  ‘Undercover Agent’ is about a man that is seduced by the ultimate femme fatale.  It makes me think of a James Bond movie that is being filmed in the Louisiana Bayou.  When Tina sings it, she becomes the seductress.

She was my lover.
She was working undercover
Oh the woman knew all of the moves
She really had me rompin’
We were barefoot stompin’
She just kept igniting my fuse

I was blinded by the blackness
Of her long silk stockings
She was rocking with an optical illusion
This ain’t how I’d thought it’d be
She just kept on keeping me
In a total state of confusion

She took me for a ride
Rattled me down to my shoes
And I found out
She was an undercover agent for the blues

She never really needed love
Omnidirectional
I was just an innocent bystander
She kept on getting kinkier
I sank hook, line, and sinker
Just, just, just too hot to handle

She took me by storm
It must of been a season for the fools
She’s so bad
An undercover agent for the blues

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme this week is Swamp Rock.