Another Ramblin’ Tunes episode to indulge you with the popular music legacy of the Silent Generation, the boomers, the Gen X, Millennials and Zoomers. Tracks that guide you through historic events and remind us about the threats and concerns of our generations.
| Title | Artist | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Smoking My Ganja | Capital Letters | ‘Capital Letters’ was formed in 1972 in Wolverhampton, England and members of the seventies British roots reggae scene. ‘Smoking My Ganja’ was released in 1978. |
| Over My Shoulder | Mike + the Mechanics | Mike Rutherford (former Genesis) and ‘Golden Voice’ Paul Carrack wrote “Over my Shoulder” in 1995 for their band Mike and the Mechanics. |
| Harvest For The World | The Christians | The Christians released a 1988 the hit cover of the “Harvest for the World” a 1976 single released by American musical group The Isley Brothers. |
| We are the World | USA for Africa | “We are the World” is written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones as a benefit single for victims of famine in Africa. It raised over $60 Million, which was distributed to Ethiopia, Sudan, and other impoverished countries. The single was modelled on Band Aid, the British group Bob Geldof put together the year before to record “Do They Know It’s Christmas?.” This was recorded at A&M Studios in Los Angeles on January 28, 1985, the night of the American Music Awards and included, in order, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Billy Joel, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Michael Jackson (again), Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, and Kim Carnes. Bob Dylan and Ray Charles were also featured on the song as well as Harry Belafonte, who had the original idea for the project, joining Bette Midler, Smokey Robinson, The Pointer Sisters, LaToya Jackson, Bob Geldof, Sheila E., and Waylon Jennings as backing singers. |
| The Message | Grandmaster Flash | In 1982, “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five told with hip-hop’s rhythmic and vocal force, the truth about modern inner-city life in America. |
| Breakout | Swing Out Sister | “Breakout” by the British band “Swing Out Sister” was released in 1986. Swing Out Sister was formed in 1985 in Manchester, England by keyboardist Andy Connell and drummer Martin Jackson joined by singer Corinne Drewery, who was previously a fashion designer. The official music video was inspired by Corinne Drewery’s previous career. It features her as a fashion designer, designing and making her own dress, then modeling it. |
| Follow Me | Amanda Lear | “Follow Me” is a song by French singer, actress and former model, Amanda Lear released in 1978. According her official website, Amanda Tap(p) was born in Vietnam in 1950 from an English marine officer and an Asian mother. In 1965 she married Scottish Paul Morgan Lear, from whom she kept the surname. Ariola had launched a controversial publicity campaign presenting Amanda as an enigma: Was she born in Transylvania ? Was she a boy ? She finally posed in the nude in Playboy, Lui magazine and Penthouse to answer the question: was she a boy? |
| I’ve Seen That Face Before [Libertango] | Grace Jones | “I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)” is a single by Jamaican born singer Grace Jones, released in 1981. The song is a reworking of Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango”. Lyrically, it describes the darker side of Parisian nightlife. Grace Beverly Jones OJ (born 19 May 1948) is an American model, singer and actress, known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. |
| Lola | The Kinks | ‘Lola’ written by Ray Davies of The Kinks, is based on a story about their manager. It is about a guy who meets a girl (Lola) in a club who takes him home and rocks his world. The twist comes when we find out that Lola is a man. |
| Brass In Pocket | The Pretenders | “Brass in Pocket” was The Pretenders’ first and biggest hit and the first flowering of ‘girl power’. Hynde got the idea for the song’s title when, during an after-show dinner, she overheard someone enquiring if anyone had, “Picked up dry cleaning? Any brass in pocket?” |
| One Way Or Another | Blondie | Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry wrote this song about a stalker, inspired by real events is. Blondie was one of the first ‘punk’ (female empowerment was punk) bands to have Pop success. |
| Message In A Bottle | The Police | “Message In A Bottle” written by “The Police” frontman Sting in 1979. The lyrics can be seen as a metaphor for being lonely and realizing there are lots of people just like you. |
| The Passenger | Iggy Pop | Iggy Pop wrote the lyrics for “The Passenger” and guitarist Ricky Gardiner composed the riff. This “simple celebration of life” was recorded in 1977 during his ‘exile’ in West-Berlin and while sharing an apartment with David Bowie and friends. |
| 99 Luftballons | Nena | 99 balloons from German band Nena released in 1983 – is a song inspired by a Rolling Stones concert in West Berlin, so prior to the fall of the wall during the time of the Cold War. The story goes, letting 99 red balloons go in the air for fun. These balloons show up on the radar as unidentified objects (UFO’s) and both sides scramble planes and go to full alert to counteract a perceived nuclear attack, when in fact it is the most childlike of things, a bunch of balloons. A reference to the paranoia/hysteria surrounding a nuclear of war. At a 1982 Rolling Stones concert in Berlin, Nena’s guitarist Carlo Karges watched a mass of balloons released. The balloons came together into various odd shapes, some of the seeming to form spacecrafts. Karges wondered aloud later what the reaction to seeing the balloons floating over the wall would be. Would the communists think they were under attack and unleash war? |
| Start Me Up | The Rolling Stones | The 1981 single “Start Me Up” was the last great Jagger–Richard song by the Rolling Stones. Bill Gates hired the song for the launch video of Microsoft Windows 95, its 32bit operating system for PCs. |
| Crazy | Seal | Seal wrote the lyrics to “Crazy,” and Guy Sigsworth, who co-produced the song with Trevor Horn, arranged the music. This song was inspired by the crazy events of 1989-1990, in particular the fall of the Berlin Wall. The lyrics, “And through a fractal on a breaking wall, I see you my friend, and touch your face again” appear to be a reference to the Berlin Wall coming down. |
| The Times They Are A-changin’ | Bryan Ferry | Bryan Ferry released in 2007 the album “Dylanesque” with his ode to Bob Dylan including this call to action, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” an anthem for frustrated youth. It summed up the anti-establishment feelings of people who would later be known as hippies. Many of the lyrics are based on the Civil Rights movement in the US. |
| In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus) | Zager & Evans | “In The Year 2525” is a one-hit wonder song by the American, Nebraska band “Zager & Evans” from 1969. You may find on YouTube a matching vintage film footage from Fritz Lang’s movie “Metropolis” (https://youtu.be/zKQfxi8V5FA) |
| When I’m Sixty-Four | The Beatles | Sir Paul McCartney wrote “When I’m Sixty-Four” when he was fourteen (in 1956). How little did he know how his life would be reaching that age … The song was released on the 1967 Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. |
| River Deep, Mountain High | Ike & Tina Turner | “River Deep – Mountain High” is a song by Ike & Tina Turner released as the title track to their 1966 studio album on Philles Records. Produced by Phil Spector and written by Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. In Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 500 Songs, Tina Turner is quoted as saying of the recording of this, “I must have sung that 500,000 times. I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing.” R.I.P. Anna Mae Bullock. |
| Proud Mary | Creedence Clearwater Revival | “Proud Mary” is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival written by John Fogerty. Fogerty stated that the song about a washerwoman named Mary, was the result of high spirits on gaining his discharge from the Army Reserve. Ike & Tina Turner released in 1971 most likely the best cover ever made of CCR’s hit ‘Proud Mary’. |
| Wannabe | Spice Girls | One of the most recognisable pop song of the last 60 years and a symbol of female empowerment. “Wannabe” is the debut single from the ‘Spice Girls’. This 1996 hit is their most emblematic song of the British group’s Girl Power philosophy. |
| Holiday | Madonna | “Holiday” was Madonna’s first hit released in 1983. The was written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens and first offered to Mary Wilson of The Supremes who turned it down. Madonna is credited for playing “cowbelle” on this track. |
| Love Generation | Bob Sinclar | “Love Generation”, featuring Jamaican singer Gary “Nesta” Pine, is credited to Bob Sinclar, and was released in September 2005. |
Sources
The information sources of the song facts include, but are not limited to, Wikipedia, songfacts.com, discogs.com, secondhandsongs.com, YouTube and artists’ related websites.
