Thread: Songs People Should Hear

YouTube - SAM THE SHAM AND THE PHARAOS

from wikipedia

"Wooly Bully" is a popular song originally recorded by Tex-Mex rock 'n' roll band Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965. Based on a standard 12-bar blues progression, it was written by the band's leader, Domingo "Sam" Samudio. It was released as a single on the Memphis-based Pen label and distributed via MGM.

"Wooly Bully" was the band's first and biggest hit. It became a worldwide sensation, selling three million copies and reaching No. 2 on the American Hot 100 chart on June 5, 1965. It was the first American record to sell a million copies during the British Invasion, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. It lingered in the Hot 100 for a then-impressive 18 weeks and was named Billboard's "Number One Record of the Year" despite never reaching No. 1. It remained the only record to achieve that feat for 35 years, until Faith Hill's "Breathe" repeated it in 2000.

As the Pharaohs prepared to write their debut album, lead singer "Sam the Sham" (Domingo Samudio) wanted to write a tribute to the Hully Gully dance. His record label's legal department feared using that title due to the existence of another song with a similar title. The song was given the green light after Sam rewrote the lyrics and replaced "Hully Gully" with "Wooly Bully".

The lyrics of "Wooly Bully" were hard to understand, and some radio stations banned the song. The lyrics describe a conversation between "Hattie" and "Matty" concerning the American bison and the desirability of developing dancing skills. The warning, "Let's not be L-7's", means "Let's not be squares", from the shape formed by the fingers making an L on one hand and a 7 on the other. Sam the Sham underscores the Tex-Mex nature of the song by counting out the rhythm in Spanish, and the characteristic simple organ riffing. According to Sam: "The name of my cat was 'Wooly Bully', so I started from there. The count down part of the song was also not planned. I was just goofing around and counted off in Tex-Mex. It just blew everybody away, and actually, I wanted it taken off the record. We did three takes, all of them different, and they took the first take and released it."

The song is referenced by Joe Strummer in the live version of The Clash hit "Capital Radio". The song is also heard in a number of films: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Full Metal Jacket, Splash, Scrooged, Happy Gilmore, Monsters vs. Aliens, Religulous, Monsieur Ibrahim and The Chipmunk Adventure, in which it is performed by the Chipmunks.

I always considered this song to be the best from Enya, and also a masterpiece in itself.

YouTube - Enya - Cursum Perficio

I hope some of you will enjoy.

Life of my own ~~ 3 Doors Down is a really awesome Song!

YouTube - Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs - Sugar Shack

from wikipedia

"Sugar Shack" is a song written in 1962 by Keith McCormack and his aunt, Fay Voss. The song was recorded in 1963 by Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs at Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, New Mexico. "Sugar Shack" hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 (where it spent five weeks from October 12 to November 9, 1963) and on the Cashbox charts (where it spent three weeks from October 19 to November 2, 1963. "Sugar Shack", also has the distinction of being the last single to make it to number one on the Billboard R&B chart, because Billboard magazine published no R&B chart for fourteen months between the period of late November, 1963 to late January, 1965. On November 29, 1963 the song received RIAA certification for selling over a million copies, earning gold record status, and was the number one single of the year according to Billboard. "Sugar Shack" also hit the UK at #45 on the Record Retailer chart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nj-KarqMjI

from wikipedia

"Please Help Me, I'm Falling" is a 1960 song by Hank Locklin. The single was Hank Locklin's most successful recording becoming his second number one on the country charts. "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" spent fourteen weeks at the top spot and spent nine months on the country chart and crossed over to the Hot 100 peaking at number eight.

from answers.com

Hank Locklin's second album is made up of material cut between December of 1956 and January of 1960, when he was rapidly headed for the top of his game and fully embraced the Nashville sound, giving up the steel guitar and fiddle accompaniment in favor of the smoother sound of the piano, with some drums as well. In contrast to his first LP, Foreign Love, which was a concept album built around a specific body of songs, Please Help Me I'm Falling offers a cross section of Locklin's styles and sounds drawn from numerous sessions. The album was actually hooked around several hits: the RCA Victor version of "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On," highlighted by Millie Kirkman's soaring accompaniment, which had charted in the country Top Five in 1957; the amusing 1959 single "Foreign Car"; and the smooth, elegant title track. Interspersed among these singles are the nine other songs in a multitude of styles, including the achingly beautiful and catchy ballad "Seven Days (The Humming Song)," the lean country lament "(I'm So Tired Of) Goin' Home All by Myself," the slow, moody "Blues in Advance," the more lushly produced "Livin' Alone," with its mixed male and female chorus, and the jaunty "Why Don't You Haul off and Love Me" and "It's a Little More Like Heaven," with their crisp, stripped-down guitar-dominated textures. Even the non-hits are excellent recordings, and at least four of them could compete for places on a genuine best-of Hank Locklin.

Joe Tex - The Love You Save

YouTube - Joe Tex - The Love You Save

Originally Posted by carbon_psycho

Joe Tex - The Love You Save

YouTube - Joe Tex - The Love You Save

oh, yeah

good stuff

Sadly I can't find the youtube links for this, but if anyone does please do share so all can listen.

Earth Opera - Alfie Finney

I have always wonder who on earth is Alfie??

YouTube - Tossin'and Turnin'-Bobby Lewis-original song-1961

from wikipedia

"Tossin' and Turnin" is a song written by Ritchie Adams and Malou Rene, and originally recorded by Bobby Lewis. The record reached #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 pop on July 10, 1961, and R&B charts, and has since become a standard on oldies compilations. It was also featured in the soundtrack for the 1978 film, Animal House. It was named Billboard's #1 single for 1961, after spending seven consecutive weeks at the top.

On the original hit single version, the track begins with Bobby singing "I couldn't sleep at all last night," and it appears this way on most oldies compilations. However, on some releases the song has a prelude, where Bobby sings "Baby...Baby...you did something to me," followed by a musical cue into the first verse. Bobby usually includes this prelude when he performs the song live.

The song was covered by folk singer Steve Goodman, Kiss drummer Peter Criss (on his 1978 solo album entitled Peter Criss), and polka star Jimmy Sturr. The Ivy League's 1965 UK No. 3 hit was a different song entirely.

The song lists at #27 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.

YouTube - The Statler Brothers - Flowers On The Wall live Denmark '71

from wikipedia

"Flowers On The Wall" is a song made famous by country music group The Statler Brothers. Written and composed by the group's original tenor, Lew DeWitt, the song peaked in popularity in January 1966, spending four weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart, and reaching No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart.

In the years since its release, "Flowers on the Wall" became one of the trademark songs of the Statler Brothers' 40-year career.

The song is a wryly humorous account of a man's isolated life. Recounting his sad, daily pursuits, "Counting flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all, playing solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one, smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo," are all acts of boredom and lost purpose as well as isolation. The Chorus of the song ends with the words: "So don't tell me I've nothing to do."

The song gained exposure amongst a new generation after it was used by Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction. In that film, it was sung by Bruce Willis, who would also quote lyrics from the song in Die Hard...With A Vengeance.

The lyrics of this song were broken down and analyzed in Kurt Vonnegut's Palm Sunday.

An instrumental version of the song was used as the theme for the 1980's TVNZ programme It's A Dog's Show.

Beech-Nut Company, when marketing its packages of chewing gum, which it promoted as having eight sticks per package as against the seven with which the Wrigley Company then packed into its packages of chewing gum, but for the same price, based its jingle on the verse melody, with the lyrics: "That other gum's got seven sticks and Beech-Nut gives ya eight./Eight sticks for the price of seven--ain't that great!"