Break My Heart

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles had their first charting hit in 1967 with ‘I Second That Emotion’ and it was later recorded by Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations, who were also on the Motown label.  Smokey Robinson went with Motown producer Al Cleveland on a Christmas shopping trip at Hudson’s, a Detroit department store.  Smokey’s wife, Claudette, had recently given birth to twins that didn’t survive the premature birth, and he was looking to get her a gift.  While at the jewelry counter, Smokey picked out some pearls and asked the salesperson what they thought about them.  Robinson turned to Al Cleveland and said, “I sure hope she likes them.”  Cleveland then added “I second that emotion.”  Both songwriters laughed at Cleveland’s malapropism, as he meant to say, “I second that motion.”  The two were immediately inspired to write a song using the incorrect phrase.

American singer Claudette Annette Rogers Robinson was a member of the vocal group The Miracles from 1957 to 1972.  Her brother Emerson “Sonny” Rogers was a founding member of the group, which before 1957 was named The Matadors.  Claudette replaced her brother in the group after he was drafted into the U.S. Army and she married Smokey Robinson in 1959.  In 1955, Smokey formed the Five Chimes doo-wop group which became the Matadors two years later.   In August 1957, Robinson and the Miracles met songwriter Berry Gordy after a failed audition for another record company.  Robinson had brought along with him a notebook that contained 100 songs he wrote while in high school which did not impress Berry Gordy.  Gordy saw some raw talent but found the songs immature and uneven and he gave Smokey the following advice saying, “Every song should have an idea, tell a story, mean something.”  Two years later, Gordy started Motown and he signed the newly christened Miracles.

Maybe you’d like to give me kisses sweet
Only for one night with no repeat
Maybe you’d go away and never call
And a taste of honey is worse than none at all
Oh little girl

Chorus
In that case I don’t want no part
Well that that would only break my heart
Well if you feel like loving me
And you got the notion
I second that emotion
Well if you feel like loving me
And you got the notion
I second that emotion

Maybe you think that love will tie you down
And you ain’t got the time to hang around
Maybe you think that love will make us fools
And so it makes you wise to break the rules
Oh little girl

[chorus]

In that case I don’t want no part
Well that that would only break my heart
Well if you feel like loving me
And you got the notion
I second that emotion
So if you feel like giving me
A lifetime of devotion
I second that emotion

Written for Thursday Inspiration #210 The Chain where the prompt is break.

Thursday Inspiration #210 The Chain

Respond to this challenge, by either using the prompt word break, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘The Chain’, or by going with another song by Fleetwood Mac, or anything else that you think fits.  ‘The Chain’ is the only song on Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 eleventh studio album Rumors that lists all five members of the group as songwriters, those being Christine McVie, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and Stephanie Nicks.  The verses are full of venom and frustration, but the chorus namedrops the chain, which signifies unity, however there was so much turmoil going on in the band at this time that they are all running in the shadows.  Darkness was all around them, but this chain was keeping the band together, despite all the tensions, the drug use and all of the media pressure.  In essence they are all connected through this chain, which brought them together and is still preventing them from fragmenting more.  The chain represents that this group was more important than its individual members.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and this song became the bond that kept this group going even though their personal relationships were falling apart at the time.  The chain linked the members together and it was named ‘The Chain’ because it came together as a bunch of pieces of different studio takes which were spliced together to form the track.  The thumping bass line was written independently by John McVie, who was originally planning to use it in a different song.  This began as a Christine McVie song called ‘Butter Cookie (Keep Me There)’.  It was very much a group effort as Nicks wrote the lyrics for the verses, while Buckingham and Christine McVie wrote the music and the chorus lyrics, and Lindsey added the guitar over the ending and they each put their own stamp on this song.  When Lindsey Buckingham left the band in 2018, Fleetwood Mac continued to perform this song in their new iteration with Neil Finn and Mike Campbell, and although the chain had been broken, they were able to fill in the missing links.

Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise
Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies

And if you don’t love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (never break the chain)

Just Hold On

Isaac Hayes and David Porter wrote the song ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ which was released as a single by the soul duo Sam & Dave in 1966.  Hayes came up with the title for this song while he was trying to get Porter to hurry out of the Stax Studios restroom and get back to songwriting.  This song appeared on their 1966 debut album that had the same name and the song charted #21 in the US.  Isaac Hayes and David Porter were one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 1960’s.  Isaac Hayes yelled at David Porter to hurry up so they could get back to work, as he was frustrated by the lack of progress that they had made that day.  Porter responded, “Hold on man, I’m coming” and that bathroom break inspired what would become a great title for a song.  The word coming was thought to denote something sexual, so many radio stations decided not to air this song, even though these lyrics are quite innocent.

This is a song of hope where emotional support is offered to a lady that is going through some tough times.  Sam and Dave both assure the woman that help is on the way and that no matter how bad she feels, they have her back and they will take care of her.  Sam Moore & Dave Prater both sang in church while growing up.  They performed separately in Southern clubs during the 1950s working the gospel music circuit and met each other in Miami’s King of Hearts Club in 1961.  Following that meeting, the two singers became a duo and they recorded unsuccessfully for several years before being signed to Atlantic Records in 1965.   The dissolution of the partnership between Stax and Atlantic virtually sealed the fate of Sam & Dave.  They no longer has access to the production team of Hayes and Porter or the house band of Booker T. & the MG’s and that was where all their hits came from.  They did have a few more hits (and, later, a revival of interest thanks to the Blues Brothers), but their glory days were over.

Don’t you ever feel sad,
Lean on me when times are bad.
When the day comes and you’re down,
In a river of trouble and about to drown

Just hold on, I’m comin’,
Hold on, I’m comin’.

I’m goin’ my way, your lover.
If you get cold I’ll be your cover.
Don’t have to worry `cause I’m here,
No need to suffer baby, I’m here.

‘Cause hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’

Reach out to me for satisfaction,
Call my name now for quick reaction.

Don’t you ever feel sad,
Lean on me when times are bad.
When the day comes and you’re down,
In a river of trouble and about to drown,

Just hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’

Just hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’

Just hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’

Written for Thursday Inspiration #209 I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You where the prompt is hold.

Thursday Inspiration #209 I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You

Respond to this challenge, by either using the prompt word hold, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You’, or by going with another song by the Bee Gees, or anything else that you think fits.  Robin and Barry Gibb wrote this very different type of love song, which was released as a single in 1968.  It became the group’s second UK #1 single, also went to #1 in Ireland and it reached #8 in the US, their first top-ten hit in the Billboard Hot 100.  In the UK, the song was released as a single only.  The song appeared on the US edition of the Bee Gees’ third album Idea.  This song tells the story of a man who is in the electric chair, awaiting his execution as he begs the prison chaplain to deliver a final message to his wife.  According to Robin Gibb, the man is in jail for the murder of his wife’s lover, but this song puzzled listeners, as it never states exactly what the message is that he wanted delivered.  This prisoner is on Death Row and he only has an hour to live.  He urgently wants the prison chaplain to pass on a final message to his wife.

The preacher asks the prisoner to take a walk with him and they discuss his miserable life.  He has an hour left to live before being executed and he is unsure if he broke his wife’s heart or not, but in case he did, he wants the preacher to tell her that he is sorry.  He doesn’t express guilt for his actions, and he actually laughs because he is glad that his life is coming to an end soon as he doesn’t think it will hurt.  He tells the preacher that the love he has for his wife is what kept him alive and since he killed her lover, it is only fair that he dies also.

One more hour and my life will be through
Hold on, hold on
I told him I’m in no hurry
But if I broke her heart
Then won’t you tell her I’m sorry
And for once in my life I’m alone

Shah-La, La-La-La-La

The music for ‘Piangi con Me’ (English translation ‘Weep with Me’) was written by Giulio Rapetti Mogol, and the Italian lyrics were by David “Shel” Shapiro who was in The Rokes (an English beat group who had relocated to Italy and this band recorded it first).  The English translation was by British songwriter Michael Julien Jacobs who is also known as Peter Warne, and he was presented with an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting.  This song was retitled ‘Let’s Live for Today’ and it reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart when it was recorded by The Grass Roots in 1967.  The version using Julien’s lyrics and title was first recorded by The Living Daylights who were a jazz trio from Seattle.  This song was voted by troops in the Vietnam war as their favorite song and is now a pop standard in the US.

The Grass Roots were put together by Lou Adler and the songwriting duo of P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri who managed the group.  The Grass Roots were given help on this song from a number of studio musicians, including Sloan on lead guitar ad wrecking crew members Hal Blaine on drums, and percussion, and Bobby Ray on bass guitar.  This was their first top-10 hit and it appeared on their second studio album which had the same name as this song.  ‘Let’s Live for Today’ was sung by the band’s bassist Rob Grill and their guitarist Warren Entner also sang vocals on this.  Creed Bratton played lead guitar, and Rick Coonce played drums.  This song embodies the hippie ethos of seeking love, not money, and simply letting life unfold, as is illustrated in these lyrics, “We’ll take the most from living, have pleasure while we can.”  This song takes place in a troubled world where many people are worried, but the singer is busy loving his girl.  He conceives a simple plan where she will be his woman and he will be her man.

When I think of all the worries that people seem to find
And how they’re in a hurry to complicate their minds
By chasing after money and dreams that can’t come true
I’m glad that we are different, we’ve better things to do
When others plan their future, I’m busy loving you

One, two, three, four

Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today
Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today
And don’t worry ‘bout tomorrow, ay-ay-ay
Shah-la, la-la-la-la live for today (live for today)

We were never meant to worry the way the people do
And I don’t need to hurry as long as I’m with you
We’ll take it nice and easy, and use my simple plan
You’ll be my lovin’ woman, I’ll be your lovin’ man
We’ll take the most from living, have pleasure while we can

Two, three, four

Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today, ay-ay-ay
Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today
And don’t worry ‘bout tomorrow, ay-ay-ay
Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today (live for today)

Baby, I need to feel you inside of me
I got to feel you deep inside of me
And baby, please, come close to me
I’ve got to have you now, please, please, please, please

Gimme some lovin’, just gimme some lovin’
Gimme some lovin’, just gimme some lovin’
Baby, gimme some lovin’, just gimme some lovin’
I got to have all your love (gimme some lovin’)
Babe, I need all your love (gimme some lovin’)
And now I need all your lovin’ (la-la-la-la-la-la-la)

Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today
Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today
And don’t worry ‘bout tomorrow, ay-ay-ay
Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today (no, no, no, no)
Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today…

Written for Thursday Inspiration #208 Bitch where the prompt is today.

Thursday Inspiration #208 Bitch

Respond to this challenge, by either using the prompt word today, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘Bitch’, or by going with another song by Meredith Brooks, or anything else that you think fits.  38-year-old American singer-songwriter Meredith Brooks released ‘Bitch’ on her second studio album Blurring the Edges in 1997.  The single charted #6 in the UK and it went all the way to #2 in the US and it earned a Best Rock Song Grammy nomination.  The song explores the complexities of being a woman, and how one label cannot define her.  Brooks says the song is about “re-education and realignment,” adding, “until women integrate their shadow selves, they can’t become whole.”  It has a great opening line, “I hate the world today” and the chorus is classic, “I’m a bitch, I’m a lover, I’m a child, I’m a mother, I’m a sinner, I’m a saint, I do not feel ashamed.”  “Bitch” is one of those borderline offensive words, although the Rolling Stones had a hit with this title on their 1971 Sticky Fingers album and Elton John wrote ‘The Bitch Is Back’, but nobody had ever referred to themselves as being a bitch before.  This title created problems for some radio stations, however it made it past many skittish radio programmers that were able to deal with risqué language.  Brooks wrote this with singer-songwriter Shelly Peiken, whose career has spanned decades, and has been a prolific, behind-the-scenes force in the music business and later co-wrote Christina Aguilera’s #1 hits ‘What A Girl Wants’ and ‘Come On Over Baby’, but she had yet to write a hit.

Meredith Brooks was a member of the Oregon music scene since the mid-1970s at the age of 15 being a member of an all-female band called Sapphire.  When that band dissolved, she moved to Los Angeles, but she saw limited success.  In 1995, Brooks landed a solo contract with Capitol Records, and she had a development deal on Interscope Records which is under the umbrella of Capitol Music Group, but they kept dismissing her songs.  Shelly Peiken’s career was doing okay until the music industry switched over to digital delivery and physical albums stopped selling, so songwriters could not sustain a livelihood anymore because digital royalties didn’t pay.  This song was born because Shelly was in a funk and she was frustrated, because she had 10 years of album cuts and never had a single.  Shelly was thinking about her boyfriend who she was living with and she felt bad for him knowing that, “He loves me even when I can be such a bitch.”  Meredith and Shelly were introduced to me by Meredith’s manager and Shelly went to see her play at a club in Hollywood.  Shelly started writing the line, “I hate the world today” after having a miserable day and she thought this could work for Meredith, as she needed a song for Interscope.  Brooks was only the third woman to grace the cover of “Guitar Player” magazine, leading the charge for women who would follow in her footsteps for decades after.

I hate the world today
You’re so good to me
I know but I can’t change
Tried to tell you
But you look at me like maybe
I’m an angel underneath
Innocent and sweet

Sea of Green

‘Yellow Submarine’ is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 seventh studio album Revolver.  It was issued on a double A-side single, paired with ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and released again for their 1967 animated film Yellow Submarine.  Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote this as a children’s song, and they let drummer Ringo Starr sing lead vocals on this.  Paul got the idea for this song one night when he was lying in bed just before he fell asleep.  McCartney said this song is the story about an ancient mariner who had told the young kids where he’d lived and that he had a yellow submarine.  The yellow submarine became a place where all the kids could go to have fun.  ‘Yellow Submarine’ was given an Ivor Novello award for being the single a-side which achieved the highest certified British sales.  The sounds of bubbles, water, and other noises were recorded in the studio.  The background vocals (and some effects) were done by John, Paul, and George and they had some help on the fadeout chorus by Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall, George Martin, Alf Bicknell (their chauffeur), Geoff Emerick, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithful, Pattie Harrison and a few other staff people that were in the building at the time.  Donovan helped McCartney with uncredited lyrical contributions on this song and it is thought he came up with the line “Sky of blue, sea of green” and he likely also recorded backing vocals in the chorus.  In America. ‘Yellow Submarine’ hit #2 in September 1966, and in December, Donovan’s ‘Mellow Yellow’ reached that same chart position.  ‘Yellow Submarine’ reached #1 in the UK.

In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed on to the sun
‘Til we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

And our friends are all aboard
Many more of them live next door
And the band begins to play

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

Full steam ahead, Mister Boatswain, full steam ahead
Full steam ahead it is, Sergeant
(Cut the cable, drop the cable)
Aye-aye, sir, aye-aye
Captain, captain

As we live a life of ease (a life of ease)
Every one of us (every one of us)
Has all we need (has all we need)
Sky of blue (sky of blue)
And sea of green (sea of green)
In our yellow (in our yellow)
Submarine (submarine, aha)

We all live in a yellow submarine
A yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
A yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

Written for Thursday Inspiration #207 Puff The Magic Dragon where the prompt is sea.

Thursday Inspiration #207 Puff The Magic Dragon

Respond to this challenge, by either using the prompt word sea, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’, or by going with another song by Peter, Paul and Mary, or anything else that you think fits.  ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’ was released on Peter, Paul and Mary’s 1963 second album, Moving and the single was a big hit for them, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.  In 1959, 19-year-old Leonard Lipton, a physics major studying at Cornell University in New York and Peter Yarrow’s housemate, wrote a poem, which was inspired after he read the 1936 poem “The Tale of Custard The Dragon” by American poet Ogden Nash.  This was a ballad about a young girl, Belinda, and her four pets, one of whom is a cowardly dragon named Custard.  The idea of battling anxieties and conquering fear through courage and determination is the theme of this poem and Custard overcomes his fear of a not having a safe place to sleep to defend the inhabitants from a pirate.

Lipton was convinced that he could write a better “dragon” poem, so he began typing his new story up on Peter Yarrow’s typewriter.  Before Yarrow formed Peter, Paul and Mary with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, he already had the song and he gave his former roommate Lipton half the songwriting credit, and he still gets royalties from the song.  The original poem had another stanza that was not incorporated into the song and neither Yarrow nor Lipton remember this verse in any detail and it has since been lost.  Lipton said the poem was meant to parallel the theme of J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan”, who like Puff, never grows up, and this evokes the sadness of how children will lose their innocence and let go of their childish fancies and playthings.  This loss of innocence is symbolized by Jackie who no longer plays with Puff, and the dragon sadly slips into his cave.

After the song’s initial success, speculation arose as early as a 1964 in an article in Newsweek, that the song contained veiled references to smoking marijuana.  The word “paper” in the name of Puff’s human friend (Jackie Paper) was said to be a reference to rolling papers, and “Puff” was alleged to be taking a hit on a joint.  The authors have repeatedly rejected this interpretation and have strongly and consistently denied that they intended any references to drug use.  This song was not supposed to have any deep meaning other than the being about the loss of innocence in children.  Yarrow has since changed the line, “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys” to be “A dragon lives forever, but not so girls and boys”, to make it more inclusive.

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
And brought him strings, and sealing wax, and other fancy stuff

That Woman Did Not Even Say Goodbye

‘My Baby Left Me’ is a rhythm and blues song written by blues singer Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup and first recorded in 1950.  It contains some lyrics that were in his song ‘That’s All Right’ which he recorded in 1946 and was later reissued with the new title ‘That’s All Right, Mama’ in 1949.  Elvis covered both of these Arthur Crudup songs and his rockabilly version of ‘My Baby Left Me’ reached #31 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1956, being the B side to ‘I Want You, I Need You, I Love You’.  The drummer D. J. Fontana was recruited to accompany Elvis Presley along with lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black in a band they called the Blue Moon Boys.  This song starts with an opening drumbeat, that is followed by a cascading bass line and then Scotty’s classic guitar licks which allows Elvis to rock out and create an infectious tune.

This song is about a guy who is whining over a woman that left him and his big concern seems to be that she never said goodbye.  Creedence Clearwater Revival covered this on their 1970 album Cosmo’s Factory, Buffy Sainte-Marie recorded this on her 1972 album Moonshot, and John Lennon also recorded this song during the Rock ‘n’ Roll sessions in 1973, but it was first released posthumously on his compilation album Menlove Ave. in 1986.  Slade recorded this in 1977 and their version merged the two Crudup songs ‘My Baby Left Me’ with ‘That’s All Right’ together.  Others to record this are Wanda Jackson, Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings, Alvin Lee and a lot more.  Jerry Garcia played a verse of this song with the Grateful Dead at the Berkeley Community Theatre on 18 April 1986, before switching to ‘That’s All Right Mama’.

My baby left me, never said a word
Nothing I done, it’s only something she heard
But she done left, yes she left me
My baby left me, never said a word

I stood and [whined] and waited, wring my hand and cry
My baby left me, she never said goodbye
You know she left me, yes she left me
My baby left me, never said a word

Well she went away and left me, that’s all right with you
That’s all right baby, any way you do
You know she left me, yes she left me
My baby left me crying, never said a word

All I could do was stand and moan, wring my hands and cry
You know that woman did not even say goodbye
You know she left me, yes she left me
My baby left me crying, never said goodbye

My baby left me, my baby left me
My baby left me, never even said goodbye

Written for Thursday Inspiration #206 I’m Every Woman where the prompt is woman.

Thursday Inspiration #206 I’m Every Woman

Respond to this challenge, by either using the prompt word woman, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘I’m Every Woman’, or by going with another song by Chaka Khan, or anything else that you think fits.  ‘I’m Every Woman’ was released in 1978 as the debut single off her first solo album, Chaka. After being the lead singer of Chicago-bred funk band, Rufus.  This song topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and it reached #21 on the Hot 100.  It was written by Ashford & Simpson, the hit songwriting duo of husband-and-wife Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson at their home in Connecticut.  Simpson was playing on the piano when Ashford came up with the title to this song.  Valerie encouraged Nickolas to dig into his feminine side because he had a knack for lyrics.  All men have some feminine traits, but most men normally hide this side of their personality, however it doesn’t make them any less of a man if they decide that they want to embrace these feelings.

This song signifies women’s empowerment, that they are capable of solving any problem, because they are able to manifest their feelings and use them to their fullest potential, and they will get it done with no holding back.  When women unite together, they all become every woman because this power is in all of them.   Chaka did a great job with this song because she is a dynamo, an unstoppable, very sexy person and this became her breakout song as a solo artist.  Whitney Houston recorded ‘I’m Every Woman’ for The Bodyguard soundtrack and released it as a single in 1993.  Houston turned it into an international hit, reaching #1 on multiple charts in the U.S., including the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.

Anything you want done baby
I do it naturally

I’m every woman
It’s all in me