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+--- Thread: Songs People Should Hear (/showthread.php?tid=2032)
Songs People Should Hear - Music Head - 26-04-2010
![[Image: 25284639.jpg]](http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/25284639.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c-bGVt3Pp8
from wikipedia
Ronny & the Daytonas were an American surf rock group of the early 1960s, whose members included Paul Jensen (vocals, guitar), Don Henderson (bass, guitar), Lynn Williams (drums), Lee Kraft (songwriting, guitar) and John "Bucky" Wilkin (songwriting, guitar, vocals), with contributions from many more such as Ronny Clark.
The group was formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 1964 when Bill Justis (best known for his hit "Raunchy") became their manager and formed Buckhorn Music with the help of Wilkins' mother, Marijohn Wilkin, a country music writer. Their primary contribution to popular music was in injecting country-sounds into the burgeoning surf rock scene. Their 1964 debut single "G.T.O." reached #4 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.
After an album and tour in 1964, Ronny & the Daytonas had another hit in 1965 with a ballad, "Sandy", and an album that reflected a similar country-inflected surfer sound. In 1968 Ronny and the Daytonas switched to RCA Records and released a romantic ballad called "Diane, Diane" and the upbeat "All American Girl", both of which had some success on the charts. The band toured for a short time after this before disbanding.
The mid-1980s saw some interest in re-uniting various band members for a few engagements. The last known appearance of The Daytonas was a concert in upstate New York on July 4, 1995.
As of 2004[update], Buck Wilkin Music publishing was licensing Ronny and the Daytonas songs for the U.S. and Canada and occasionally publishes their music on 180 gram vinyl media in limited production runs.
Little GTO, you're really lookin' fine
Three deuces and a four-speed and a 389
Listen to her tachin' up now, listen to her why-ee-eye-ine
C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO
Wa-wa, (mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
(mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO")
Wa-wa, (mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
(mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO")
Wa-wa (mixed with "Ahhh, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
You oughta see her on a road course or a quarter mile
This little modified Pon-Pon has got plenty of style
She beats the gassers and the rail jobs, really drives 'em why-ee-eye-ild
C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO
Wa-wa, (mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
(mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO")
Wa-wa, (mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
(mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO")
Wa-wa (mixed with "Ahhh, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
Gonna save all my money (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and buy a GTO (turnin' it on,
blowin' it out)
Get a helmet and a roll bar (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and I'll be ready to go
(turnin'
it on, blowin' it out)
Take it out to Pomona (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and let 'em know (turnin' it on,
blowin' it out), yeah, yeah
That I'm the coolest thing around
Little buddy, gonna shut you down
When I turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO
Wa-wa, (mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
(mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO")
Wa-wa, (mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
(mixed with "Yeah, yeah, little GTO")
Wa-wa (mixed with "Ahhh, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa
Songs People Should Hear - Music Head - 27-04-2010
![[Image: p16452ti198.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drp100/p164/p16452ti198.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBqcd9VJkFY
from wikipedia
"Little Green Apples" is a country song written by Bobby Russell. The version by O. C. Smith, from the album Hickory Holler Revisited, peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received a gold record from the RIAA for sales of one million records. Other artists to have charting versions of this song in the United States were Roger Miller, on his album A Tender Look at Love, and Patti Page, on her album Gentle on My Mind, both in 1968; Miller's rendition also charted in the United Kingdom. "Little Green Apples" won Russell the 1969 Grammy Award for Song of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Country Song.
Born Ocie Lee Smith in Mansfield, Louisiana, Smith moved with his parents to Little Rock, Arkansas, before their divorce saw Smith and his mother move to Los Angeles, California.
After completing a psychology degree at Southern University, Smith joined the Air Force, and served throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. While in the Air Force, Smith began entering talent contests and toured with Horace Heidt. After his discharge in July 1955, Smith went into jazz music to pay the bills.
Smith gained his first break as a singer with Sy Oliver and made an appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. His success on that show led to a recording contract with Cadence Records.
Smith's debut release was a cover of the Little Richard hit "Tutti Frutti" in December 1955. The song was not a hit, but convinced MGM Records to sign Smith to a solo contract, resulting in three more releases, but still no hits.
In 1961, Smith was recruited by Count Basie to be his vocalist, a position he held until 1965. He also continued to record with different labels, but a hit remained elusive. By 1968, Smith's then label, Columbia Records, was ready to release him from his recording contract, when he entered the charts for the first time with "Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp", which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart[1] and also broke the Top 40 in the United States. In 1976 Kenny Rogers revived the hit as a country song.
Smith changed the first part of his name to O.C. and recorded the Bobby Russell written song "Little Green Apples," which went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Russell the 1969 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. It received a gold record from the R.I.A.A. for sales of one million records.[2]
He continued to record, reaching the R&B, Adult Contemporary and pop charts in his home country with the likes of "Daddy's Little Man", "Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife", "Me and You" and "Love To Burn". He also returned to the UK Singles Chart in 1977 with "Together", reaching a Top 30 position.[1]
After CBS, Smith united with Charles Wallert, who wrote and produced the title track as well as the album for "Dreams Come True" that returned Smith to the national charts. The Whatcha Gonna Do album, resulted in three nationally charted singles for a total of 40 weeks. This album contained "Brenda", "You're My First, My Last My Everything" and "Spark Of Love". Additional hits "The Best Out Of Me" and "After All Is Said And Done" established Smith as a Beach Music star. Nominated for six awards at the third Beach Music Awards, Smith captured five.
Smith became pastor and founder of The City Of Angels Church in Los Angeles, California where he practiced for 16 years. One of his last recordings, "Save The Last Dance For Me" reached the number one position on the Rhythm n' Beach Top 40 chart.
Shortly after his death, Governor Jim Hodges proclaimed June 21, 2002, 'O.C. Smith Day' in the State of South Carolina. Smith was posthumously elected to the Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame in November 2002.
oH I wake up in the mornin'
With my hair down in my eyes and she says "Hi"
And I stumble to the breakfast table
While the kids are goin' off to school goodbye
And she reaches out 'n' takes my hand
squeezes it 'n' says "How ya feelin', hon?"
And I look across at smilin' lips
That warm my heart and see my mornin' sun
And if that's not lovin' me
Then all I've got to say
God didn't make little green apples
And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime
And there's no such thing as Doctor Seuss
Disneyland, and Mother Goose, is no nursery rhyme
God didn't make little green apples
And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime
And when my self is feelin' low
I think about her face aglow to ease my mind
Sometimes I call her up at home knowin' she's busy
And ask if she could get away and meet me
And maybe grab a bite to eat
And she drops what she's doin' and she hurries down to meet me
And I'm always late
But she sits waitin' patiently and smiles when she first sees me
'cause she's made that way
If that's not lovin' me
Then all I've got to say
God didn't make little green apples
And it don't snow in Minneapolis when the winter comes
And there's no such thing as make-believe
Puppy dogs, autumn leaves 'n' BB guns
God didn't make little green apples
And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime
Songs People Should Hear - gryphon - 27-04-2010
1973 Cajan sounding Medicine Head were they favourites of legendary UK DJ John Peel......This was an interesting band .....consisting Of John Fiddler and Peter Hope Eveans had a unique way of getting into a gig to get heard................They would turn up early and brag their way in saying they were the headling band.............when they were discovered, they would ask to play on the bill alongside the band and hope that no more would be said about their peccadilloes......................In this fashion they managed to meet John Peel and get signed to his fledgling Dandelion label......................it is a touching tribute to their meaning to John, that after his death a box of twelve singles were found in his belongings that he always took with him and played where ever he went and in that number was one by Medicine Head...............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LC23ksUCVc&NR=1
Songs People Should Hear - Music Head - 28-04-2010
![[Image: 26636217.jpg]](http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/26636217.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDuF6JVVkBc
from wikipedia
"The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" is a song written by Rudy Clark. The song is a rock and roll classic as recorded by Betty Everett, who hit #1 on the Cashbox magazine R&B charts with it in 1964. Recorded by dozens of artists and groups around the world in the decades since, the song became an international smash hit when remade by Cher in 1991.
Calvin Carter, the chief A&R man for the Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records, found "It's in His Kiss" while visiting New York City in search of material for the Vee-Jay roster which included Betty Everett. After Everett had a hit with another song Calvin Carter brought back from New York City, "You're No Good", Calvin Carter suggested Everett cut "It's in His Kiss" as the follow-up single. Everett â who found the song puerile â reluctantly agreed. The accompanying vocals on Everett's recording were provided by Vee-Jay session regulars the Opals, who were four teenage girls from East Chicago, Indiana.
Dave Marsh in his book The Heart of Rock and Soul opines that Betty Everett's version, "while [credited] as a solo performance is one of the finest girl group hits, undoubtedly the best one made outside the genre's New York City/Philadelphia/Los Angeles "axis"".[1]
In fact the song was rejected on behalf of the premier girl group of the early '60s, the New York-based Shirelles[2] and was first recorded in New York City by Merry Clayton with vocal accompaniment by the Blossoms; produced by Jack Nitzsche and entitled "It's in His Kiss", Clayton's version was released in June 1963 on Capitol with no noticeable result. (In the 1987 film Maid to Order Clayton plays a 1960s R&B star reduced to working as a domestic after partying and ending up in jail, whose singing career is relaunched when she fills in for an inebriated rock star at her employers' fête, performing this as her signature song).
Another version of "It's in His Kiss" by Los Angeles-based vocalist Ramona King (produced by Joe Saraceno and Jerry Riopelle) was released on Warner Brothers in January 1964, the week prior to the release of Everett's version. Although Everett's single was more likely to receive airplay due to her being an established hitmaker (with "You're No Good"), Vee-Jay feared losing sales to the King version and opted to distinguish Everett's version by issuing it under the title "The Shoop Shoop Song" referring to the song's background vocals. "The Shoop Shoop Song" became the second biggest, though perhaps most memorable, hit of Everett's career, reaching #6 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts in April 1964. Everett's "The Shoop Shoop Song" was also a #1 R&B hit according to Cash Box.
The Everett version was initially overlooked in the UK in 1964 although Everett's minor 1965 U.S. hit "Getting Mighty Crowded" (#65) would reach #29 UK. In 1968 UK label President Records reissued both songs on one single, with "The Shoop Shoop Song" as the A-side, and this release hit the UK Top 40, peaking at #34.
Does he love me, I wanna know
How can I tell if he loves me so
(is it in his eyes) Oh no, you'll be deceived
(is it in his eyes) Oh no, he'll make believe
If you wanna know if he loves you so
It's in his kiss (that's where it is, oh yeah)
(or is it in his face) Oh no, it's just his charm
(in his one embrace) Oh no, that's just his arm
If you wanna know if he loves you so
It's in his kiss (that's where it is)
Oh oh, it's in his kiss (that's where it is)
Oh oh oh, kiss him and squeeze him tight
And find out what you wanna know
If it's love, if it really is
It's there in his kiss
(how 'bout the way he acts) Oh no, that's not the way
And you're not listenin' to all I say
If you wanna know if he loves you so
It's in his kiss (that's where it is)
Oh yeah, it's in his kiss (that's where it is)
Whoa oh oh, kiss him and squeeze him tight
And find out what you wanna know
If it's love, if it really is
It's there in his kiss
(how 'bout the way he acts) Oh no, that's not the way
And you're not listenin' to all I say
If you wanna know if he loves you so
It's in his kiss (that's where it is)
Oh yeah, it's in his kiss (that's where it is)
Oh oh, it's in his kiss (that's where it is)
Songs People Should Hear - gryphon - 29-04-2010
Obscure folk cover tucked away on the forth side of the Boxed album by Mike Oldfield .......Personally I have always loved this little track
mile:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNmsvcmk8Gc&feature=related
Songs People Should Hear - Music Head - 29-04-2010
![[Image: p16443ea3ky.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drp100/p164/p16443ea3ky.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCUcbRTB6Rs
from wikipedia
"My Boy Lollipop" is a song written in the mid-1950s and usually credited to Robert Spencer, Morris Levy and Johnny Roberts. It was originally recorded by the American singer Barbie Gaye and became a minor Rhythm & Blues hit in late 1956, spelled "My Boy Lollypop" on the original 78 record label. It is most famous, however, for the 1964 recording by Jamaican singer Millie Small which is considered the first international ska hit.
The song was discovered by Chris Blackwell, who was trying to find songs for Millie Small to record. Millie's version was recorded in a ska/bluebeat-style, and in 1964 it became her breakthrough blockbuster hit in the United Kingdom, reaching #2. It also went to #1 in Republic of Ireland and #2 in the United States (on the Smash Record label). "My Boy Lollipop" was the first record to help Blackwell's Jamaican label, Island Records, make millions. With over seven million copies sold, it remains one of the best-selling reggae/ska hits.
The record's arrangement is credited to Ernest Ranglin, who also plays guitar on the recording. A persistent rumor claims the not yet famous Rod Stewart performed the harmonica solo on the recording; Contrary to legend, the harmonica player was not Rod Stewart but Jimmy Powell of The Five Dimensions (previously a member of The Rockin' Berries). Powell personally asserts that it was he, not fellow Five Dimensions member Pete Hogman, who played this solo, contrary to many citations.
British reggae DJ David Rodigan has stated that watching Millie Small perform the song at the Ready Steady Go! TV show as a school boy initiated his life-long passion for Jamaican music.
Millie (born Millicent Small, 6 October 1946, Clarendon, Jamaica) was often known as "Little Millie Small", and in the United States as "Millie Small", and is best known as the singer of the 1964 hit, "My Boy Lollipop".
Millie is the daughter of a sugar plantation overseer. In her teens, she and Roy Panton recorded for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One record label as 'Roy and Millie.' They had a minor local hit with "We'll Meet".
In late 1963 she went to Forest Hill, London to make her fourth recording, an Ernest Ranglin rearrangement of "My Boy Lollipop", which had seen original release by Barbie Gaye in late 1956. Released in March 1964, Small's cover was a massive hit, reaching number two both in the UK Singles Chart and in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It also topped the chart in Australia. Initially it sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Including singles sales, album usage and compilation inclusions, the song has since sold more than seven million copies worldwide.
"My Boy Lollipop" was doubly significant in British pop music history. It was the first major hit for Island Records (although it was actually released via Fontana Records because Chris Blackwell, Island's owner, did not want to overextend the label's then-meagre resources; in the U.S. the record appeared on the Smash Records subsidiary of Mercury Records), and Small was the first artist to have a hit that was recorded in the bluebeat style. (She was billed as 'The Blue Beat Girl' on the single's label in the U.S.) This was a music genre that had recently emerged from Jamaica, and which, as with ska, was a direct ancestor of reggae.
Millie continued to tour and perform up to the early 1970s.
My boy Lollipop
You make my heart go giddyup
You are as sweet as candy
You're my sugar dandy
Whoa oh, my boy Lollipop
Never ever leave me
Because it would grieve me
My heart told me so
I love you, I love you, I love you so
But I don't want you to know
I need you, I need you, I need you so
And I'll never let you go
My boy Lollipop
You make my heart go giddyup
You set the world on fire
You are my one desire
Whoa, my Lollipop
I love you, I love you, I love you so
But I don't want you to know
I need you, I need you, I need you so
And I'll never let you go
My boy Lollipop
You make my heart go giddyup
You set the world on fire
You are my one desire
Whoa, my Lollipop
Whoa, my Lollipop
My boy Lollipop
My boy Lollipop
My boy Lollipop
Songs People Should Hear - Music Head - 30-04-2010
![[Image: P17378S2HLG.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drP100/P173/P17378S2HLG.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQh112HQsoE
from wikipedia
"When a Man Loves a Woman" is a song recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966 at Norala Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. It made number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts. It was listed 54th in the List of Rolling Stone magazine's 500 greatest songs of all time. The sidemen for this recording included Spooner Oldham, organ; Marlin Greene, guitar; Albert "Junior" Lowe, bass and Roger Hawkins, drums. The song is credited to Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright, who played bass and keyboards with Sledge. However, the song was in fact written by Percy Sledge himself, but he gave it to Lewis and Wright.
Sledge's version was also a top ten hit in the UK peaking at number four on its initial release and peaking at number two in 1987 after it was featured in a Levi's Jeans commercial. The song makes use of a commonly used descending bass line chord progression as in Bach's "Air on a G String".
Percy Sledge worked in a series of blue-collar jobs in the fields in Leighton, Alabama before taking a job as an orderly at Colbert County Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama. Through the mid 1960s, he toured the Southeast with the Esquires Combo on weekends while working at the hospital during the week. A former patient and mutual friend of Sledge and record producer Quin Ivy introduced the two. An audition followed, and Sledge was signed to a recording contract.
Sledge's soulful voice was perfect for the series of soul ballads produced by Ivy and Marlin Greene, which rock critic Dave Marsh called "emotional classics for romantics of all ages."
"When a Man Loves a Woman" was Sledge's first song recorded under the contract, and was released in 1966. The song's inspiration came when Sledge's girlfriend left him for a modeling career after he was laid off from construction job in late 1965.[2] Because bassist Cameron Lewis and organist Andrew Wright helped him with the song, he gave all the songwriting credits to them. It reached #1 in the U.S. and went on to become an international hit. The song was also the first gold record released by Atlantic Records.[4] The soul anthem became the cornerstone of Sledge's career, and was followed by "Warm and Tender Love" (Covered by UK songstress Elkie Brooks in 1981), "It Tears Me Up", "Take Time to Know Her" (his second biggest U.S. hit, reaching #11), "Love Me Tender", and "Cover Me".
Sledge charted with "I'll Be Your Everything" and "Sunshine" during the 1970s, and has become an international concert favorite throughout the world, especially in the Netherlands, Germany, and on the African continent, and South Africa in particular.
when a man loves a woman
can't keep his mind on nothing else
he'd trade the world for a good thing he's found
if she is bad he can't see it
she can do no wrong
turn his back on his best friend if he put her down
when a man loves a woman
spend his very last dime
trying to hold on to what he needs
he'd give up all his comforts
and sleep out in the rain
if she said that's way it ought to be
but the man loves the woman
i gave you everything i had
trying to hold on to your high class love
baby please dont treat me bad
when a man loves a woman
down deep in his soul
she can bring him such misery
if she plays him for a fool
he's the last one to know
loving eyes can never see
when a man loves a woman
he can do her no wrong
he could never hold another girl
yes when a man loves a woman
i know exactly how he feels
cause baby baby you're my world
when a man loves a woman
i know exactly how he feels
Songs People Should Hear - gryphon - 01-05-2010
A great take on how people life life and their attitudes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5znh58WITU8&feature=related
The wiki says
The lyrics and title are thought to be a direct reference to Dr. Eric Berne's masterpiece on transactional analysis of the same name. The book which was released in 1964, deals with the "games" human beings play in interacting with one another.
The song closely resembles an older song, the traditional Cajun "'Tit Galop Pour Mamou", which was played by the Balfa Brothers among others, and is on the Balfas' Play Traditional Cajun Music. After South's hit got around, Nathan Abshire (accordionist with the Balfas and others), recorded a version in French, with singing by Don Guillory, on his album A Cajun Legend. A new Cajun version, introduced by a partial recounting of the genealogy of the versions, is at [1] under the heading Robert Jardell.:biggrin:
Songs People Should Hear - Music Head - 01-05-2010
^^
great song................and album
Songs People Should Hear - Music Head - 01-05-2010
![[Image: P07034BC60R.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drP000/P070/P07034BC60R.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqXSBe-qMGo
from wikipedia
"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. Written and recorded in 1967 by Van Morrison and produced by Bang Records chief Bert Berns, it was first released in May 1967 on the album Blowin' Your Mind!. When released as a single, it rose to number eight on the Cashbox charts, and reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. It featured the Sweet Inspirations singing back-up vocals and is widely-considered to be Van Morrison's signature song.
This song would prove to be the impetus for Morrison's whole career as a solo artist. It was to be his first single after leaving his position as lead singer for the Belfast formed Them and would lead to his relocation to the United States and an eventual contract with Warner Bros. Records, where he would record his career-defining album, Astral Weeks.
Paul Williams included "Brown Eyed Girl" in his book Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles, writing that:
I was going to say this is a song about sex, and it is, and a song about youth and growing up, and memory, and it's also â very much and very wonderfully â a song about singing.
Morrison's original recording of "Brown Eyed Girl" remains widely familiar today, as the uncensored version is regularly played by many "oldies" and "classic rock" radio stations. It is listed as the #4 most played song by DJs in both 2006 and 2007. In 2005, Van Morrison received a Million-Air certificate by BMI as a "Top European Writer" for reaching 7 million US radio and television airplays for "Brown Eyed Girl" and again in 2007, Morrison was awarded another Million-Air certificate by BMI for 8 million air plays of "Brown Eyed Girl". The only song with more airplays by a top European writer was "Every Breath You Take" by The Police with 9 million.
It is listed by RIAA as one of The 365 Top Selling Songs of the 20th Century.
Morrison has stated that "Brown Eyed Girl" is not among his favorite songs remarking, "It's not one of my best. I mean I've got about 300 songs that I think are better".
After finishing out his contract with Decca Records and the mid-1966 break up of his band Them, Van Morrison returned to Belfast seeking a new recording company. When he received a phone call from Bert Berns, owner of Bang Records, he flew to New York City and hastily signed a contract (that biographer Clinton Heylin says probably still gives him sleepless nights.) During a two day recording session starting 28 March 1967, he recorded eight songs intended to be used as four singles. The recording session took place at A & R Studios and "Brown Eyed Girl" was captured on the 22nd take on the first day. Of the musicians Berns had assembled there were three guitarists, including Eric Gale and Al Giorgioni, bassist Russ Savakus, pianist Paul Griffin and drummer Gary Chester. It was released as a single in mid-June 1967. Originally titled "Brown-Skinned Girl", Morrison changed it to "Brown Eyed Girl" when he recorded it. Morrison remarked on the original title: "That was just a mistake. It was a kind of Jamaican song. Calypso. It just slipped my mind. I changed the title." "After we'd recorded it, I looked at the tape box and didn't even notice that I'd changed the title..I looked at the box where I'd lain it down with my guitar and it said 'Brown Eyed Girl' on the tape box. It's just one of those things that happen."
The song's nostalgic lyrics about a former love were considered too suggestive at the time to be played on many radio stations. A radio-edit of the song was released which excised the lyrics "making love in the green grass", replacing them with "laughin' and a-runnin', hey hey" from a previous verse. This edited version appears on some copies of the compilation album The Best of Van Morrison. However the remastered CD seems to have the bowdlerized lyrics in the packaging but the original "racy" lyrics on the disc.
Due to the contract he signed with Bang Records without legal advice, Morrison has never (in his own words) received any royalties for writing or recording this song. The contract made him liable for virtually all recording expenses incurred for all of his Bang Records recordings before royalties would be paid and later, after the expenses were recouped, they would become the "subject of some highly creative accounting." Morrison vented his frustration about this penurious contract in his sarcastic nonsense song "The Big Royalty Check".
Hey where did we go,
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow,
Playin' a new game,
Laughing and a running hey, hey
Skipping and a jumping
In the misty morning fog with
Our hearts a thumpin' and you
My brown eyed girl,
You my brown eyed girl.
Whatever happened
To Tuesday and so slow
Going down the old mine
With a transistor radio
Standing in the sunlight laughing,
Hiding behind a rainbow's wall,
Slipping and sliding
All along the water fall, with you
My brown eyed girl,
You my brown eyed girl.
Do you remember when we used to sing,
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
So hard to find my way,
Now that I'm all on my own.
I saw you just the other day,
My how you have grown,
Cast my memory back there, Lord
Sometime I'm overcome thinking 'bout
Making love in the green grass
Behind the stadium with you
My brown eyed girl
You my brown eyed girl
Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da.