Music In My Shoes
Come be entertained as the host talks about music, bands, and connected stories.
"It's a really great podcast" - Kevn Kinney of Drivin N Cryin
"I appreciate talking to you guys and the good questions" - Mitch Easter of Let's Active and R.E.M. producer
Learn Something New or
Remember Something Old!!!
Please like and follow the Music In My Shoes Facebook page.
Contact us at
musicinmyshoes@gmail.com
Music In My Shoes
1970: Velvet Underground 'Loaded' to George Harrison 'All Things Must Pass' to Derek and the Dominoes to The Partridge Family E107
Some years don’t just produce great records—they redraw the map of how we listen. We dive into 1970 as a living, breathing turning point, starting with the Velvet Underground’s Loaded to George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, with detours into Derek and the Dominoes, CCR, and the Partridge Family. Stories of edits, covers, charts, lawsuits, and misheard lyrics tie together what makes songs endure.
• Velvet Underground’s Loaded, Lou Reed's last album with the band
• Who Loves the Sun, Sweet Jane, and Rock and Roll
• Phish’s Halloween cover and the life of influence
• George Harrison’s triple-album surge and wall of sound
• My Sweet Lord, What Is Life, and a-list session players
• Derek and the Dominoes, Bell Bottom Blues, and Layla
• Jim Gordon’s studio legacy and tragic downfall
• pop joy with the Partridge Family and TV-to-radio crossover
Learn Something New or
Remember Something Old
Like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages and spread the word if you enjoy the podcast.
Contact us at musicinmyshoes@gmail.com with your own musical memories.
Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music in My Shoes. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 107. As always, I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. Jimmy, when I was a kid, there were songs that when they came on the radio, I stopped what I was doing and gave them my full attention. We've talked about this before. Back in the day, you could not, you know, readily access music the way that you can today. Right. You you relied on the radio a lot to be able to hear it, or you could buy the record, but you couldn't buy every record. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01:No, you spent some money to buy it.
SPEAKER_03:I was a kid. It was very difficult, you know. You had to lose, you know, teeth from and get money from the tooth fairy and birthday money and and and all of that to be able to buy because I was buying records young, and that's why I said the tooth fairy, because you're looking at me like No, I'm just trying to remember if I ever bought a record with Tooth Fairy money.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sure I did.
SPEAKER_03:I did, you know. So two of them, two of the songs were Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll by the Velvet Underground. Oh, really? Really? That's great. So usually on the radio, Lou Reed's live version of Sweet Jane would be played. And that's the one where it kind of has the big guitar introduction and so forth. But I really like the Velvet Underground one that came out in 1970. And, you know, it's like I said, it's you didn't have that instant gratification. And I kind of liked it. I gotta be honest with you. Like today it's just so easy to do stuff. It's easier than what it really should be. There was that liking a song or thinking you like it, and just sitting by the radio just waiting for it to be played again and saying, Oh yeah, I do like that, or uh you know what, I don't like the middle, or where today you can just boo, uh yeah, I don't like it. Let me put something else on. And and it's just it's a whole different thing. So both songs are from Velvet Underground's 1970 album Loaded, a really good album, a really influential album for just so many bands to come. And not just that album by Velvet Underground. I mean, you know, I think this was their fourth album, if I'm not mistaken.
SPEAKER_01:It was.
SPEAKER_03:And it they were just so influential to so many people. So Lou Reed wrote all the songs on the album, but he only sang lead on six out of the ten songs, and he let Doug Yule sing lead on the others. And Doug Yule was the bassist. He did the opening track called Who Loves the Sun? And I'd say it's gotta be the most pop-oriented song that I think The Velvet Underground has done. You know, they're kinda like I I consider them art rock. Maybe that's not the right term, but I kind of consider, you know, they they did stuff with Andy Warhol down at the factory. I think that they were like the house band in 66, 67, right around there. Yep. And you know, to have them come out with this song where Lou Reed wrote and said, Yeah, I'm not gonna sing it. Doug, why don't you sing it? Who loves the sun? Who cares that it makes plants grow? Who cares what it does since you broke my heart? Right. That is not a Velvet Underground song. But it is.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, they set out in Loaded, which it the idea was it's loaded with hits because the record company wanted hits. And so they made this this album that they thought, okay, surely we've got a hit in here. And it turned out they didn't, and nothing really became a a big time hit, and it ended up really being kind of the end of the band. I mean, Doug Yule stayed on, put out another album after Lou Reed left the band, but Loaded was really kind of the last real Velvet Underground album.
SPEAKER_03:You know, it is everything that a hit record, a pop hit record should be. And you're right, it it it wasn't. This song was not at all, but it is, you know, talking about love and plants and flowers, and it has those background vocals that go pop pop.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it just sounds like a 60s pop song.
SPEAKER_03:It does, it just sounds like life is good, here we go, and it didn't go anywhere. It's just crazy. So many good songs on the album, though. Yeah, sweet Jane standing on the corner, suitcase in my hand, Jack is in his corset, Jane is in her vest, and me, I'm in a rock and roll band. I would sing that over and over thinking it was me that is in the rock and roll band. I kid you not. Like that line, like I would listen to Sweet Jane, and that's the beginning of the song for those of you that don't know, and I would just be in heaven when he said that part about being in a rock and roll band. Now, I also have to tell you that when I first heard the song, when they would sing the chorus, Sweet Jane, for many years I thought it was CJ.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. Who is CJ? I didn't know it was bass player from the Ramones.
SPEAKER_03:I I know. I didn't know it was Sweet Jane. I thought it was CJ, you know? Like I just didn't know. And I should have, but I did not.
SPEAKER_01:There were and again, there was no way to look up lyrics back then. You didn't know. No.
SPEAKER_03:So back in early 1989, I went to upstate New York with some friends, and my friend Sally's parents, they had a house up there. We went up one weekend, and somehow we end up with her boyfriend at the time, this guy Dan, and he was playing Sweet Jane on an acoustic guitar and singing the verses, and Sally was singing the chorus with him. And Sally, you know, Sally, if you listen, I'm not saying anything you don't know already, but not the best singer by any means, maybe a little bit of of a like a a yell scream into the song. And I wanted to do something and I didn't know what to do, and there was a twister board. We had played Twister, and I took my hand, and on, you know, twister is like that plastic mat.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I started scratching because it's 1989, and you know, all the songs at the time coming out, pop songs, have all kinds of, you know, scratching, you know, rap songs and everything. And so I was like scratch I thought I did a pretty good job with it. I gotta be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01:Better than she did singing, I guess, is what you're trying to say.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, maybe, maybe a little bit better. But you know, it's one of those memories. I've never forgotten that. Like it still stays with me, like I said in early 1989. And to me, that's the power of music. You know, you're doing some I guess at some point we played Twister. I don't really remember that, but I remember scratching and enjoying Sweet Jane.
SPEAKER_01:Aaron Ross Powell That could be like a sequel to the twist, like twist and scratch.
SPEAKER_03:Aaron Ross Powell Maybe I'll see about writing that and doing spoken word poetry with it. So rock and roll. I related to the song so much when I first heard it, talking about rock radio. Then one fine morning, she puts on a New York station. You know, she don't believe what she heard at all. The connection with music I remember feeling as a kid has never left. That, you know, I and I guess that's why I do the podcast. I uh, you know, I have this tremendous connection with music, and I'm not saying my connection is better or bigger than anybody else's. You know, the this episode, you know, and and and podcast is talking about what my journey is. Your shoes. My shoes. And, you know, and like I remember putting on New York stations because I lived in New York and the difference and how it could take, you know, how I was feeling and just changed the mood so quickly. And and vice versa. You know, all of a sudden a song could come on that was sad, and all of a sudden you're like, oh my God, I feel worse than what I did before.
SPEAKER_01:But sometimes you just need a good cry.
SPEAKER_03:Sometimes you you do put a little Carol King on, it's too late. But you know, she started shaking to that fine, fine music, you know her life was saved by rock and roll. And I think those are just such strong words because again, I can relate to it, and I know I know a lot of people can relate to that also.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know? Side one of the record finishes up with Cool It Down and New Age. An incredible one side of any record of all time. That's one of the best sides. Again, vinyl, you had sides. You got to flip it over if you wanted to listen to it. Side two is good with Head Held High, Lonesome Cowboy Bill, I Found the Reason, Train Round the Ben, Oh Sweet Nothing. And I think one of the things about this album is that there are songs, there's all different types of songs on it, and that you can find something that you like. Again, very unvelvet underground y for them. That there was, you know, you listen to Lonesome Cowboy Bill is so different than I found a reason. You know, there's ballads, there's love songs, there's rock songs, there, you know, it's it's all over. And I love that, you know?
SPEAKER_01:And even though they were trying to make hits, they still sounded like the Velvet Underground. They did. You know, they couldn't shake themselves. Like it still was really original and was really different than what other people were doing.
SPEAKER_03:I I agree a hundred percent. Sterling Morrison, guitarist for the band, and Mo Tucker, drummer for the band, both went to the same high school as I did. Oh. Division Avenue High School in Levitown, New York. Sterling graduated in 1960 and Mo in 1961. Moe Tucker took a leave from the band when she became pregnant and is not on the loaded album. And that's one thing that I wish that she was because she's I guess she can kind of hear it.
SPEAKER_01:You can kind of tell it's more of a normal drummer.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, it's not the Mo style of drumming. And I wish that she was. And hey, you know, she was pregnant and wanted to be away from all of that while she was. But for such a great album, it would have been great for her to be part of this. The album is ranked number 242 on the 2020 version of Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. So I've mentioned before that I think the band Fish does the best cover of Sweet Jane. I think they do an incredible job covering the whole entire album like they did on Halloween 1998. I've been listening to it since then. I remember it was broadcast on radio, and I can't say it was broadcast that Halloween, or maybe it was New Year's Eve. I don't know. But at some point, 96 Rock here in Atlanta broadcast that show, and I recorded on cassette Fish doing Loaded. Oh, cool. And I would listen to it on cassette, and it was just absolutely fantastic that they could take these songs because art rock, you know, again, loaded, they were doing a little bit more poppy, a little bit more hits, but that fish could take their jam style and make these songs work in that they played it the way the Velvet Underground played it, but then they went into these big long guitar solos or did this or that. It is absolutely fantastic. It really truly is. I've been listening to it, like I said, since 1998, you know, the fish version. I've been listening to Loaded since the 70s, if I want to talk about the Velvet Underground. But it's really cool, you know. If you haven't listened to it, I really recommend people to give it a try, at least side one of the Velvet Underground. And if you're into, you know, newer rock and and and jam bands and everything, maybe give the fish one a go at it. But I think between the two, you're gonna find something that you really like.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, a lot of really good songs in there. And as you know, I've covered Oh Sweet Nothing. Um one time. And did you know that Lou Reed left the band in August 1970? And Loaded was released in November 1970. So he was actually gone for a few months before it came out, and he wasn't happy with the mixes on the album and the that they had resequenced the songs and put them in a different order than he wanted. And he wasn't happy that he was listed third just in the list of names of band members. Maybe it was alphabetical or something. Right, right. Um, rather than it being made clear that he's the guy that wrote the majority of the songs and he was the leader of the band up until he left. And so, yeah, he had uh definite gripes with loaded after leaving the band.
SPEAKER_03:I can understand that. I definitely can. Because I think that when you are the person that the Velvet Underground is associated with, you know, I I mentioned, you know, John Cale was in it. We didn't mention him, he was originally in it, you know, before Doug Guell, and we mentioned Mo Tucker and Sterling Morrison. But I think when people think Velvet Underground, the first thing you think of is Lou Reed. And you know, he wrote the majority of the songs. He really kind of directed everything that went on with the band, so I can understand why he just was like, Well, you know what, let me go. And then in 72, I think it was that's when he had uh Transformer, the album came out. And then he had um Street Hassle. Yep. Rock and Roll Animal, the live album, which he had some of the Velvet Underground songs on, and you know, made a kind of a name for himself.
SPEAKER_01:Well, so one of the things about the Rock and Roll Animal album and Lou playing Sweet Jane live was that Lou had written that song with a bridge in it that says Heavenly Wine and Roses, and they edited that part out because according to Doug Yule, they wanted it to be a hit and they wanted it to be a simple song that didn't have a whole bunch of parts. So here's the hook, here's the song, it's you know, gets over quickly. And he says that Lou actually edited it out before he quit the band. Lou claimed that they did the edit after he left. But when Lou would play it live, he would add that part back in. And when Doug Yule's version of the band would play it live, they would keep, you know, the uh the additional bridge in there. Then when Lou started playing a little more like a rock and roll version of the song, he took it back out because it didn't sound as good in the in the more upbeat, like heavier rocking version of Sweet Jane. So he went back and forth himself.
SPEAKER_03:And it's funny because I think that's the one part of the song that sounds 100% old school Velvet Underground, is when they do that part.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know, even Lou's voice as he's singing, I think it kind of imitates his singing abilities and style that he had. And it's funny taking it out, putting it in. But I could see with the rock and roll version not really fitting as much as it did with the way that it came out on the album.
SPEAKER_05:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03:You know what? You just might be saved by rock and roll. Roughly around the time the Velvet Underground were recording loaded in New York City, George Harrison and a bunch of musicians were recording his epic album, All Things Must Pass, in London. The Beatles' final album, Let It Be, was released in May 1970. George had a backlog of songs that didn't make Beatle albums, and he kind of was at a peak time in his creativity. And released on November 27, 1970, All Things Must Pass was a triple album, which was unheard of. He was the first artist, single artist, to release a triple album. Wow. Yeah. I mean, it's incredible. And the thing is, it had so many good songs on it. There's not like a lot of filler. I mean, it's a really good album to listen to.
SPEAKER_01:So no one had ever released a triple album?
SPEAKER_03:No one had released a triple album. A single person. There had been triple albums for a festival or a concert, but not a single person. It made it to number one on Billboard 200 album chart on January 2nd, 1971, and stayed there for seven weeks. Some of my favorite songs from it are I'd have you anytime, a song written with Bob Dylan. Eric Clapton plays lead guitar, Klaus Vorman, who designed the Beatles Revolver album cover, played bass. He also produced a song we mentioned last episode, trios, da-da-da. And he also did the bass line to Carly Simon You're So Vain. When you listen to that, that opening. All right, I'm like terrible at him, but you know what I'm trying to do. I'm not a musician, I'm a podcaster.
SPEAKER_01:I know. I'm trying to remember the bass intro to You're So Vain.
SPEAKER_03:If you l it's the beginning of the song.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:If you listen to it, you will know right away. Alan White on drums before he started his almost 50-year run as the drummer for Yes in 1972. I mean, that's a cast of characters right there. My Sweet Lord, released as a single November 23rd, 1970, reached number one on Billboard Hot 100, December 26, 1970. Another song when I was a kid that I couldn't wait for it to be played on the radio. And it sounded like a bunch of acoustic guitars in the beginning because there really was. George Harrison, Eric Clapton, two guys from the band Badfinger, and Peter Frampton all played acoustic guitar. And then when they overdubbed, George Harrison and Peter Frampton then dubbed in even more acoustic guitars. So when you listen to it, it sounds like it's a plethora. And it's just a super cool sound. It is. Adding Phil Spector as the producer, you know, help him with the production of it, that also gave it that, you know, Phil Spector sound.
SPEAKER_01:Wall of sound.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and it definitely sounded like a wall of acoustic guitars. So Gary Brooker played piano, and you may remember him as the singer of Prokel Harem's 1967 hit, A Whiter Shade of Pale, Bobby Whitlock on Harmonium, Klaus Vorman on bass, Ringo Star of the Beatles on drums, Alan White on tambourine. Songs mostly played around the Christmas holidays lately, but uh, you know, one time back in the 70s, it was just a regular song that they would play. Wa, which is actually the first song that they recorded when they were doing this album, and it kind of talks a little bit about how he was tired of Paul McCartney talking about him and his guitar playing and everything. And I, you know, wah wah. It's true. Isn't it a pity? What is life? I love this song. Reach number 10 on Billboard, March 1971. What I feel, I can't say, but my love is there for you any time of day. It has George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Whitlock, the whole Bad Finger band, Carl Radel on bass, Jim Gordon on drums, Jim Price on trumpet, and Bobby Keys on saxophone, who both played with the Rolling Stones for a number of years. Okay. Tell me what is my life without your love, and tell me who am I without you by my side. Other songs I enjoy, Beware of Darkness, Dave Mason of Traffic, along with Clapton, uh joined George on guitar, Gary Wright, later of Dreamweaver fame, played the organ, A Waiting on You All, All Things Must Pass, another song that was rejected by the Beatles, and they were you can actually see it if you watch the Get Back documentary. They bring it up and try and play it a few times, and it just doesn't go far.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I didn't notice that.
SPEAKER_03:Sunrise doesn't last all morning. A cloud burst doesn't last all day. Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning. It's not always gonna be this gray. A great song, it really is. Paul McCartney actually played this in 2002. They did a concert for George a year after he passed away. Paul McCartney did it, and I just found it very ironic that Paul did not want this song, you know, as part of the get back sessions and kind of dismissed it. And here he's playing it, you know, for George and did an excellent job with it. Um I think Eric Clapton played guitar on it as well. I dig love Art of Dying. It's a really great triple album. Most songs were written between 68 and 70. Uh Isn't It a Pity is from 1966. And some of the songs that uh George and Bob Dylan rode in Woodstock, New York, when uh Bob Dylan was recovering from his motorcycle accident and wasn't going out and doing stuff. And you know, George was hanging out with Bob Dylan and hanging out with the band called the band, and you know, just learning some different stuff. And, you know, George really was the Beatle who achieved huge success, you know, first, you know, if you look at as an ex-beatle, because Paul McCartney's first album really didn't do much at all. John Lennon's was so so, but you know, it just was amazing to release this triple album of all this work that you've had and to have all these different musicians who are are, you know, really looked at as great, you know, great musicians, and then want to work with you, and then you go and you release it, and it just does fantastic. All things must pass. None of life's strings can last. So I must be on my way and face another day. I mentioned Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radel, and Jim Gordon played on a bunch of the All Things Must Pass songs, along with a ton of other people. They had previously played together as members of Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and had appeared on Eric Clapton's first solo record. And in my opinion, that first solo record by Eric Clapton is a really good record. And I know it gets, you know, not very good press, but I think that it's a really good one. They formed Derek and the Dominoes during the recording of All Things Must Pass. They toured in the UK in 1970 in the summer of 70, and then they started to record the Derek and the Dominoes in August of 1970 in Miami. And when they did that, Dwayne Allman came into the picture because the Allman Brothers band was recording in the same Miami studio, and the same producer was doing Derek and the Dominoes and the Allman Brothers band. Eric Clapton and the guys went to see the Allman Brothers live. After the show, Dwayne's like, hey, can I come to the studio and check you out? And you know, basically from that point, you know, Eric has him come in, not just checking him out, but playing songs, because Eric just loved the way that he could play. And, you know, Eric Clapton liked the name Derek and the Dominoes because it took pressure off of him by not calling it Eric Clapton and whatever, you know. It was a band that he could do where they were kind of under the radar. It was good, but it was also a curse to have that anonymity because people know who Eric Clapton was. People didn't know who Derek and the Dominoes were, you know. And they were charging, I think they were doing shows, they were charging like a pound. And I'm not sure what kind of currency in American dollars that is, but they were charging cheap amounts for people to just come see them, not knowing who they were. On its 2020 version of Rolling Stone, the 500 greatest albums, it is ranked 226. So it's relatively close to where the Velvet Underground loaded album is. But I have to be honest with you, there are only two songs on the album that knock my socks off. I don't think the album is as great as many critics think. Now, the critics didn't even like the album when it came out. It just had to go through time where all of a sudden people started to say this is an epic album. Like I said before, I think the first Eric Clapton solo record with a lot of these same people on it is a much better record as a whole. It didn't have, you know, some of the two big songs that I'm about to talk about, but as a whole, I think it's a much better album. And they both came out in 1970. So the first song that I think is a fantastic song is Bellbottom Blues. I've mentioned before that George Harrison of the Beatles was married to Patty Boyd. George and Eric Clapton were really good friends. Eric falls in love with Patty, and one of the many songs he wrote was Bell Bottom Blues. She had asked him to pick up a pair of bell bottom blue jeans in America for her, and he used that to write a whole entire song. It's all wrong, but it's all right. The way that you treat me, baby, once I was strong, but I lost the fight, you won't find a better loser. Singing from the heart, you can feel throughout the song this guy is in love with someone. And you're not sure who it is until we learn later in life that it's Patty Boyd. Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you? Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back? I'd gladly do it because it was released as a single in January 1971, and then again in 1972. The other big song, Derek and the Dominoes, Layla. The album is called Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, and Layla, you know, is kind of the nickname for Patty Boyd. Oh. Okay. I tried to give you consolation when your old man had let you down. Like a fool, I fell in love with you, turned my whole world upside down. Originally the song was released as a two-minute 43-second single, and it didn't really do that well. The album version was over seven minutes. They cut out the parts that I love about the song. The piano outro with Eric Clapton and Dwayne Allman playing the guitar and just, you know, just it's epic. And I think I really like that song because to me it was one of those rock and roll songs that I heard that it just wasn't rock and roll. You hear that piano, that's a whole different thing. And then they take the guitars and they make it work with it, and it's just unbelievable. And I think if I only heard, and I listened to last night just the single version, the two minute, 43 second version, and it doesn't do anything for me. It's just like a regular song, nothing spectacular.
SPEAKER_01:That's what Lou Reed thought that they did to Sweet Jane.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. It all ties back in, right? All ties back in. So it wasn't until a compilation album came out, the history of Eric Clapton, and it was released in 72, that Layla started to get its just due, and radio was playing it in its entirety. You know, rock radio, FM radio was now becoming more and more of a thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, A-O-R, they called it. Album-oriented rock.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. Layla, you've got me on my knees. Layla, I'm begging, darling, please. Layla, darling, won't you ease my worried mind? So Layla was written by Eric Clapton and Domino's drummer Jim Gordon. Jim Gordon played the piano parts. So not only was he a drummer, he was a piano player. But it seems he got it from his ex-girlfriend, Rita Coolidge, who sang background vocals on Eric Clapton's first album.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And she was writing a song called Time, and that was the piano, that was the melody of the song. And Jim was learning how to play it and could play it. And Eric Clapton's like, oh hey, that sounds great. I want to put that on my album, not knowing that it was Rita's song. And Rita actually, her sister released a version of Time with Booker T. You know, Booker T and the MGs. And the MGs. And when you listen to it, came out, I think, in 1973, if I'm not mistaken. You listen to it, it is that piano throughout the entire song, and just different words, different, you know, whole different meaning to the song, though, you know, not related whatsoever. And it's unfortunately a forgettable song. Oh. But if you take that piano part, the same thing. Because it's almost note for note, and you put it in a song like Layla, and then you have Eric Lampton and Dwayne Allman doing their thing over it, it's memorable, and it's one of the greatest songs of all time.
SPEAKER_01:Well, she made some money off it.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I don't think that she's credited as um one of the writers. She needs to be. Yeah, really should be, but she's not. Unfortunately. That's crazy. It is. So Jim Gordon, who played the drums, uh he played drums on way too many songs that we could even talk about. But I'll talk about a few. Crosby Still's Nash on Marrakesh Express. I love that song. Gordon Lightfoot's Sundown, Jim Gordon was the drummer. And he's also part of the incredible bongo band who did Apache. And I think everybody knows this song, but they don't know that they know it. And this song is in the top five of all-time sampled songs. So if you look at sampled songs, no matter what list you're looking at, this song is in the top five. Sugarhill Gang, LL Cool J, CNC Music Factory, Rage Against the Machine have all used it. So he plays the drums throughout the song, but there's kind of like a drum solo with the bongos, you know, like in the middle of it. And that drum is just the basis of so many rap songs. But just because you're a good drummer does not mean your life is all glitz and glory. In 1983, Jim Gordon attacked his mother with a hammer and then stabbed her to death. He said a voice told him to do it. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, he died in prison in 2023. The Partridge family, I think I love you, peaked at number one on November 21st, 1970 on Billboard Hot 100. I've always liked this song. I still do. I was sleeping and right in the middle of a good dream. Like all at once, I wake up from something that keeps knocking at my brain. I was never embarrassed to say that I like the song. I was never embarrassed to say that I like the Partridge family. I just think it's super cool. I think I love you, so what am I so afraid of? I'm afraid that I'm not sure of a love there is no cure for. I was all in. I knew they weren't playing, I knew they weren't doing stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you were the right age for it.
SPEAKER_03:I was the right age. Shirley Jones, um, she actually could sing, and she was actually famous before the show. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:David Cassidy could sing.
SPEAKER_03:Right. David Cassidy. Um Shirley Jones played Shirley Partridge, David Cassidy played Keith, Susan Day played Lori. She was in that TV show, that lawyer show. What was it? LA Law. LA Law.
SPEAKER_01:Danny Bonaducci played Danny Partridge.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. And uh he was on the radio for many years.
SPEAKER_01:And who played Reuben Kincaid? I can't remember that actor's name off the top of my head.
SPEAKER_03:Dave Madden? Yes! Dave Madden. Yes. Wow. Um yeah, that I I don't know how I could remember that. I loved Ruben. I thought he did a great job in the show putting up with all of them.
SPEAKER_01:It was all just about Ruben being the straight man, you know, trying to deal with these crazy rock and roll personalities in their in their painted van that they drove around in, their school bus.
SPEAKER_03:Trevor Burrus, Jr. Yeah, I think that was perfect. Like that drew me in also. Like the visuals. And if you think about it, if you go on right now and if you were to put in the Partridge family, probably they're gonna show either the bus or they're gonna show you the little birds. The birds, you know, or not the bus either, but a background that's kind of painted like the bus.
SPEAKER_01:Like that is just kind of psychedelic.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you know. Um and then there was Chris and Tracy, and I can't remember what their real names were. They were like the youngest. I think Chris played the dr pretended to play the drums. Yeah, it's very obvious that Chris was not really playing the drums. Tracy tambourine or keyboards or something.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no. Lori was keyboards. Oh right, right. Tracy was tambourine.
SPEAKER_03:It's tambourine, okay. It premiered the TV show September 25th, 1970, and it ended on March 23rd, 1974. It's hard to believe 55 years ago that they hit the airwaves on TV with a TV show, and then not too long after, they have a number one song. But don't forget the theme song, Hello World, hear the song that we're singing, come on, get happy. A whole lot of lovin' is what we'll be bringing will make you happy. I love that, Jimmy. You know what else I love? The fact that it's tick, tick, tick, minute with Jimmy.
SPEAKER_02:It's time for a minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy. It's time for a minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy.
SPEAKER_01:So Jim told me he was gonna be talking about 1970 in this episode, and it would be a good idea if I did an album from 1970 for my Minute with Jimmy. So, what album did I pick? The Velvet Underground Loaded. So that's why I know so much about the Velvet Underground Loaded in this episode, is because I was gonna talk about it. But now instead, I'm gonna talk about the Credence Clearwater Revival album, Cosmo's Factory. Now, this album came out in 1970. It had some big credence hits on it, like uh Who'll Stop the Rain, Up Around the Bend, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Run Through the Jungle, and Looking Out My Back Door. But my favorite song is Travelin' Band. And I didn't know this until right now that Travelin' Band was designed to be, you know, a throwback, like a lot of their songs, to the music that they loved from the 1950s. And it was specifically kind of the Little Richard sound. You know, he's just singing at the top of his lungs. Well, it turns out Little Richard's record company that owned the copyright to Goodgolly Miss Molly said, We think that song's an infringement, and they had to settle out of court for an undisclosed amount of money because they agreed, yeah, I guess it is a little bit close to good golly, Miss Molly.
SPEAKER_03:I did not know that, Jimmy, but as you're talking and I'm listening, uh, it all makes sense. It does sound, you know, the way he does some of the screams and hoots and the hollers and everything. Without a doubt, I get it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you never know. I mean, a a jury would have to decide, but I guess they decided it was better to just give a little money to them and and settle it out of court.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know what? To make it all full circle, George Harrison was sued, I think, in 1976 or so, for the song My Sweet Lord.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And they said it was sounding like He's So Fine by the Chafaur. Oh, that's right, yeah. And he actually lost. But what it did for him is that there were people that released songs after that sounded like George Harrison songs and took stuff from George Harrison, including Madonna. She took uh uh Living in the Material World. He had a song and an album called that, and she had that song, Material World. They worked together on some films. I don't know if that was before or after. I I honestly don't know. But he made it that he was not going to go after people for doing it because it was really a bad taste in his mouth. And I'll be honest with you, to this day, I still don't hear why George Harrison lost the case of He's So Fine by the Chiffans, comparing it to My Sweet Lord. You can let us know what you think by reaching out to us at musicinmyshoes at gmail.com. Please like and follow the Music in My Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages. That's it for episode 107 of Music in My Shoes. I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios, located right here in Atlanta, Georgia, and Vic Grill for the podcast music. This is Jim Boge, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing.
