Song Lyric Sunday: “Cowboys To Girls”

My offering for this Sunday, where the prompt for the day is “boys,” is some sweet soul from Philadelphia. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff wrote and produced it, The Intruders sang it, 1968’s “Cowboys To Girls.”

Lyrics via MetroLyrics:

(Cowboys to girls)
I remember (I remember)
When I used to play shoot ’em up
(Shoot ’em up, bang, bang, baby)
I remember
When I chased the girls and beat ’em up

But I was young and didn’t understand
But now I’m a grownup man
I know girls are made for kissing
Never knew what I was missing
Now my life is not the same
My whole world has been rearranged

I went from (Cowboys to girls)
Oh, yes, I did (Shoot ’em up, bang, bang)
(Cowboys to girls)

I remember (I remember)
When I used to see you jumping rope
(Jumpin’ rope, up and down, baby)
And I remember
When you got your first baby coach

But you were young and didn’t understand
Now you’re a woman and I’m a man
And it’s me that you’re kissing
Ain’t it fun reminiscing?
And our lives are not the same
Our whole world has been rearranged

You went from (Baby dolls to boys)
Oh, yes, you did (Jumpin’ rope, baby)
And I went from (Cowboys to girls)
Oh, yes, I did

Now it’s me that you’re kissing
Ain’t it fun reminiscing?
And our life is not the same
This whole world has been rearranged

I went from (Cowboys to girls)
Oh, yes, I did (Shoot ’em up, bang, bang)
And you went from (Baby dolls to boys)
Oh, yes, you did (Jumpin’ rope, baby)

(Cowboys to girls)
Oh, yes (Shoot ’em up)
(Baby dolls to boys)
Talkin’ ’bout, talkin’ ’bout
(Cowboys to girls)

The Intruders took this to #1 on Billboard‘s Hot Black Singles chart and it crossed over to the Hot 100, reaching #6.

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday for December 9, 2018.

BATTLE OF THE BANDS: “Hello Stranger” Results

The results of my latest battle can be summed up in six words:

Same exact battle, same exact results.

Yeah. I managed to run the exact same battle I had run back in July 2016, having lost track of my battles. And you gave me the same exact results, no one noticing that we’d done this one already. Mike Spain and I were just talking about this: he said he was having trouble keeping track of his battles and was therefore making a list, and I said I thought it was a good idea. I should have sat down right then and made a list of mine, because it would have saved me the embarrassment of having to own up to this rather major gaffe. (The only thing that keeps me from being too embarrassed about it is that no one else noticed it, either.)

I now have a list of all my Battles, icluding winners and runners-up. It’s a Google Docs sheet that I’ve embedded into the page, so I can update it in Docs and have it show up on the page automagically. Maybe I should do the same with my Two for Tuesdays as well.

In any event, congratulation to Yvonne, a pat on the back to The Capitols, and let’s just put this whole mess behind us. Next battle will be next Saturday, December 15, and I’ll be sure it doesn’t duplicate any previous battles.

Musical Stuff #socs

Remember Musical Chairs when you were a kid? The game where n kids walk around n-1 chairs while music plays, and when the music stops, everyone scrambles for a chair, and the kid who doesn’t make it drops out, taking one of the chairs with him, so there are n-1 kids and n-2 chairs, and it all starts again, until there are two kids and one chair? An example…

The late Irish comedian Dave Allen had his own version on his 1970’s TV show.

I use the expression “the musical question,” (e.g. “that’s the musical question!”) even when there’s no music involved. Here are a couple of musical questions…

There are still musicals being written for the stage, but they don’t typically make them into movies like in the middle of the last century. Remember movies like Oklahoma!, Paint Your Wagon, Holiday Inn, and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying? How about Annie Get Your Gun, Fancy Pants, Paleface, and The Music Man? There are hundreds of them, all of which started on the stage and eventually were made into movies. Going to the theater (“thee-a-tah”) was a relatively expensive proposition, and that was if you managed to live in a town that actually had one. The movies, in contrast, were relatively cheap, and movie theaters were ubiquitous (there’s a word for you), and even if you missed it the first time around, it would almost certainly come to television eventually.

What was my point? I forget…

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you each week by Linda Hill and this station. Now a word from Hickory Farms, The Super Cheese Market, with over 100 gift packs to choose from this holiday season!

The Friday 5×2: 2GB (Sydney, NSW) on December 7, 1963

We go back Down Under for station 2GB, who first took to the airwaves in August 1926 as the voice of the Theosophical Society. They were the flagship station of the Macquarie Radio Network, started in 1938. I’m not sure when their stint as a Top 40 station started or ended, but I can tell you they are now at 873 kHz and are a news-talk station, and that on this day in 1963, this was their Top 10.

  1. Kathy Kirby, “Dance On” Kathy was a British singer who bore a striking resemblance to Marilyn Monroe and was believed to be the highest-paid singer of her generation. This was her first single and it reached #11 in the UK. Her 1963 follow-up, a cover of Doris Day’s “Secret Love,” is her best-known song.
  2. Sheb Wooley, “Hootenanny Hoot” Rockabilly singer and character actor Sheb is best known for his 1958 single “Purple People Eater.” This doesn’t appear to have been released in the US and Canada, at least not as a single.
  3. The Singing Nun, “Dominique” I’ve featured this one a number of times, so you should know the story behind it. ‘Nuff said.
  4. The Delltones, “Hanging Five” The Delltones are an Australian rock ‘n’ roll band that’s been around since 1958, though I understand they’re now on hiatus. They lost their lead singer, Noel Widerberg, in a motorcycle accident in 1962, just before their single “Get A Little Dirt On Your Hands” reached the Australian charts. The flip side of this record was a cover of Jan & Dean’s “Surf City.”
  5. Johnny Devlin, “Stomp The Tumbarumba” Johnny is considered the “Australian Elvis Presley.” This is one of several records (the others were “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”) that featured The Bee Gees on background vocals. And no, I don’t know what a “tumbarumba” is; if there are any Australian readers, maybe you can provide a definition…
  6. The Crystals, “Then He Kissed Me” Written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector (who also produced the record), this reached #6 in the US and #2 in the UK.
  7. Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs, “Sugar Shack” I just did this one several weeks ago, so you remember the story of how The Fireballs were an instrumental group until Jimmy Gilmer joined them. This song eventually reached #1 in Australia.
  8. Brian Poole & The Tremeloes, “Do You Love Me?” The tremeloes were a British band that ultimately became part of the British Invasion. This reached #1 in the US and #19 in Australia, but it obviously did better in certain markets.
  9. Jimmy Little, “Royal Telephone” An Australian Aboriginal from Cummeragunja Mission, NSW, Jimmy Little reached #10 nationally in Australia with this.
  10. Gerry & The Pacemakers, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” Another band that would be instrumental (so to speak) in the British Invasion that was soon to sweep the US, Gerry Marsden and crew shared managers (Brian Epstein), producers (George Martin), origin (Liverpool), and sound (Merseybeat) with another group you might have heard of.

And that’s the Friday 5×2 for December 7, 2018.