Music In My Shoes
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Music In My Shoes
Stand By Me, Rolling Stones "Tattoo You", Peter Gabriel "So", Plus Dead & Company Live Citifield 2021 E145
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A song can disappear for decades, then come roaring back because a movie director picked the perfect closing credits. That’s where we start, tracing how Ben E King’s “Stand By Me” went from an early-’60s hit to a late-’80s revival, and why those second lives are one of the best parts of being a music fan. We also talk about John Lennon’s take on the song and its connection to a 1987 U2 show.
We also rewind to a truly old-school mashup experiment from 1981, built on vinyl and tape, answering The Who’s “Who Are You” with rapid-fire Beatles titles long before anyone used the word “mashup.”
The second half moves through the return of live music after the pandemic, with a Dead and Company night at Citi Field that turns into a reunion with friends, strangers, and the version of yourself that only shows up at a great show. We hit a run of rock touchstones along the way, including Sam the Sham’s “Little Red Riding Hood,” and Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” Then we go deep on the Rolling Stones “Tattoo You” album, the opening riff of "Start Me Up", Sonny Rollins’ sax on “Waiting on a Friend,” Peter Gabriel’s “So” and peak MTV video creativity, and Jimmy’s spotlight on The Strokes’ “Is This It”.
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Welcome And A Rough Voice
SPEAKER_05Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music in My Shoes, Podcasting Worldwide. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 145. I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. So let me start off by saying, Jimmy, I've been a little bit under the weather, and I apologize for not being in studio with you, but I thought it was better to uh do it from the confines of my own home.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you don't sound a hundred percent, but I'm glad you're able to do the show.
SPEAKER_05So am I, so am I. Thank you. You've already made me feel a little better.
Stand By Me And A Movie Revival
SPEAKER_01Good.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So I've mentioned before, I dig when a movie comes out and it resurrects an older song and a new generation gets exposed to it. Well, 25 years after it was a hit, Benny King's song Stand By Me was used during the ending credits of the film by the same name, Stand By Me. You remember that song?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_05You remember the movie?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was a good movie.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was released on August 22nd, 1986, and it starred Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Felman, and Jerry O'Connell. And at the time, Wheaton was 14, Phoenix 16, Fellman 15, and Jerry O'Connell was 12. It's hard to think, you know, with all the things that you know all of them have done. You know, I know River, you know, died in the 90s, but to think of them as young kids, you know, when they were in the early days of their careers.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, yeah. And Jerry O'Connell was like a little pudgy kid.
SPEAKER_05He was. It was almost tough to realize that that was him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So the song Stand By Me originally peaked on Billboard at number four on June 16th, 1961. That's 65 years ago. Following a rebirth from the movie, it peaked at number nine on Billboard December 20th, 1986. When the night has come and the land is dark, and the moon is the only light that we'll see. John Lennon released a version in 1975, and I think it's one of the best covers of any song.
U2 Joins In Mid Song
SPEAKER_05Jimmy, you know when you're at a concert and you're waiting for it to begin, and there's music playing by different bands before the show starts? Yeah. Well, I think I've mentioned this before. I'm at the last U2 show of the spring tour in 1987. It was at Brendan Byrne Arena in New Jersey. And before the show, different songs are coming through the speakers, and then the John Lennon version of Stand By Me starts playing. All the lights are on, you're not thinking anything, and then U2 actually walks out on stage and starts singing along. Bono's singing along to the song. Larry Mullen Jr. has uh conga drum. There they've got their instruments and they're playing along, and then they stop the song playing over the speakers, the John Lennon version, and they just finish up the song. It was crazy. It was so cool. It was like one of the coolest ways to open up a show. You never expected it, you know.
SPEAKER_01It's a little bit like in the elevation tour when they opened the show by walking out to a recorded version of Elevation, and then they went into the song.
SPEAKER_05Yes. Yeah. Similar. This they use somebody else's song, so you never in a million years would think it was gonna happen, you know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05No, I won't be afraid. Oh, I won't be afraid. Just as long as you stand, stand by me.
A Homemade Mashup On Vinyl
SPEAKER_05Last episode, we spoke about a mashup of the police bring on the night and Stevie Nick's Edge of 17. And I kind of said that I thought it would work out pretty good. You remember we were talking about that, Jimmy? Oh, yeah. So it got me thinking about a mashup I did 45 years ago back in the summer of 1981. My friend Tim Carr had a great stereo and a great tape deck. And I came up with an idea to take the Who song, Who Are You? You remember Who Are You?
SPEAKER_01Who Who Who That's All Over Walmart commercials these days, but yeah.
SPEAKER_05There you go. That's where things have gone.
SPEAKER_01Talk about the Who sell out.
SPEAKER_05That's true, Jimmy. So again, I came up with this idea that I would answer it with Beatles songs. So what I did is I started now. This is on vinyl. This is not any, you know, trickery or things that you're able to do with you know Tech Chronics today in 2026. This is 1981. I put the vinyl record on and I played the beginning of Who Are You? You know, where it's like the guitar in the beginning, and then right before it goes into them singing Who Are You? I replayed the beginning. So I extended it out.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05And then when it goes, Who are you? And I don't remember. I wrote down some of the responses. I can't tell you which one was first or second. I I don't remember. So it just goes, Who are you? And then it would be um Bungalow Bill, which was from the White album by the Beatles, and then it would go, Who are you? And then it would say, We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band. Oh, nice. And then it'd be Who Are You? And it'd be Rocky Raccoon, and you know, Helter Skelter, Tax Man, Lady Madonna, Sexy Sadie. I think there was one non-Beatles, but I can't remember, you know, actually what it was. And it just, you know, most of it was from the White Album because the White Album was handy, but I was able to get Tax Man from Revolver and Sergeant Peppers from Sergeant Peppers. But I thought I was the coolest thing on earth when I made that. And I would play that and people would be like, Where did where'd you get that from? Like, I made it. And it wasn't called a mashup back then. Yeah, we didn't know what to call it. No, I just said it was just some cool stuff that I did, you know.
SPEAKER_01So did you have I am the I Am the Eggman on there?
SPEAKER_05I don't think so. I don't think so. I you know, I can't I couldn't remember. It took me a while. I I thought about it a little bit after we recorded the last episode. And I was like, all right, let me think about it throughout the week so I can remember some. I don't know where the tape is. You know, I ended up losing a bunch of music in a flood several years ago. I I don't know where everything is anymore. Gotcha.
Dead And Company After Lockdown
SPEAKER_05So if we go to August 20th, 2021, five years ago, I saw a dead and company at City Field in Queens, New York. And it was my first show since October 2019 when I saw Z Z Top and Cheap Trick. The pandemic shut down the 2020 concert season, most of 2021. So this was my first show. I flew up to New York, I was excited. It was a Friday, and I just kept thinking I'm not at work and I'm in the parking lot, and I just kept tailgating away and just absolutely having a blast. It was so much fun. It was so so listen to this. I go with a friend, and we meet up with some of his friends that he went to college with. And I was like, I think, you know, I met them, you know, back in the late 80s, but uh, you know, I don't remember. Okay. Well, one of us starts telling a story about the party, this party, and then the other one starts finishing it. So we realize we were at the same party.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so it was it was kind of cool. The the guy with his name was Chain Daddy. I could not tell you what his real name is, but Chain Daddy and his wife, and we had a blast, and uh got to uh tailgate with them a few more times at City Field for Dead and Company. When I was going into the stadium, I texted a guy that I used to work with. I worked with him in the 80s, and I hadn't seen him since probably 87. Um, I guess probably since 88 or so. And I texted him, hey, I'm at the Dead and Company show. I'm sure you're here. Where are you? When I tell you, he was literally like a hundred feet in front of me, and I walked over to where he was, and we were just talking, we took pictures, and it was a blast after all that time seeing him. We still stay in contact. We actually talk more now since that show than we did for the you know 35 years before. That's great. The power of music. It is the power of music. So at the time, Ded and Company had a policy that you had to have proof of vaccination or proof of a negative COVID test within 48 hours of the show. They didn't enforce it in all cities, and this show I think was one that they didn't. I didn't think that they could enforce it in New York City, but when we walked up, you know, they never asked anybody for anything. But in the parking lot, they had places where you could go get the COVID tests, and they were all over the place. The lines were huge for people waiting because I think they thought you needed that COVID uh test to show that you had not had COVID, but they never asked for it. Not at all. That's crazy. It is crazy because some people lost some good tailgating time for that.
SPEAKER_01Yes. That's the crazy thing about it.
SPEAKER_05There you go, Jimmy. They opened up with Let the Good Times Roll, and they did, man. It just was a great show. The crowd went crazy during Ramble on Rose when Bob Weir sang just like New York City, and the crowd was just so loud and was so excited. Uh the close, the first set with Casey Jones, which was spectacular. John Mayer on vocals and his guitar playing were just out of this world. It was such a highlight. And then they took a break because they take a break between set one and set two.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05And it was tough because you're like so amped up, you're ready to go, and they're like, hey, uh, we're gonna take a break, and you take one too. And you're like, Well, I I don't want to. I I I'm ready, you know. So finally, they came back out. They opened up the second set with an almost 20-minute version of Eyes of the World that went right into Uncle John's band. Uh, the staple China Cat Sunflower to I Know You Rider was good. John Mayer did a great version of Althea. It was really good at a time many of us needed a really good show. And, you know, all I want to say is I think sometimes we take for granted things, and then when it's taken away, you realize how important it is and what it really does for you in your life. And, you know, shows are really important to me. I I enjoy a live show, I enjoy going with friends, I enjoy, you know, tailgating before or or whatever. And when we weren't able to do it, it was really tough, you know, like to be able to not be able to express yourself or seeing bands express themselves. And it just was a it was a tough time, I think. I really do.
SPEAKER_01And all the venues lost so much money and all the bands and artists and everything, too. So it was really rough.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it it really was rough on on a lot of people, and you know, a lot of places went out of business, and you know, it was tough. And I'm glad that, you know, I don't want to say it's back to normal, you know, five years later, but you know, it's in a much better place today than what it was five years ago.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's the new normal. It's all good.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Jimmy, you're right. It is the new normal, and I'm glad that we have some normalcy with music, and I'd like to revisit some more music in my shoes. All
Little Red Riding Hood Revisited
SPEAKER_05right. Ow, who's that I see walking in these woods? Why? It's Little Red Riding Hood. Jimmy, you could tell my voice is out because my stellar spoken word versions are even struggling to come through today.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, I mean, we we're all giving you a little bit of grace here, so uh, you'll be back.
SPEAKER_05Well, I appreciate that. I really do. So Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Little Red Riding Hood, peaked at number two on Billboard Hot 100, August 6, 1966. That's 60 years ago. I think the first time I heard this song was about 1983, and I've loved the song since. The Big Bad Wolf trying to make Little Red Riding Hood his girlfriend. Hey there, little red ridinghood. You sure are looking good. You're everything a big bad wolf could want. Ow!
SPEAKER_01Hey, that was pretty good for the the sickling.
SPEAKER_05Thank you. I appreciate that.
In The Air Tonight Debate
SPEAKER_05So Phil Collins in the air tonight reached number 19 on Billboard Hot 100, August 15th, 1981. Only number 19. It had been number two on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay back in May 30th, 1981. Jimmy, what do you think of the song?
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's a classic. Do you think so? In the air tonight? Yeah. Yeah, if for no other reason than the airdrum, you know, solo that everybody does. That's iconic.
SPEAKER_05The drum solo, it is just so funny. I can't tell you how many times I was somewhere back in the day when the song had come out or years later. And if you're talking, you could talk over the rest of the song, but when it's the drum part, like people want you to shut up because they want you to hear it. I I I never got the song. I never got why so many people just were mesmerized by the song. I still don't. I'm not saying it's not a good song, I just didn't get the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01I think it's like a guy that did him wrong when he was younger, and now he's saying, Hey, if if you needed my help, I wouldn't give it to you if you were drowning.
SPEAKER_05Well, there you go. I show that all of us are in that kind of situation at some point or another.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, I think let's just give a little public service announcement. If somebody's drowning, it doesn't matter what they did. Get them out of the water. The more you know.
SPEAKER_05I like that. I like that, Jimmy. I feel better now. Listen, before we go into my next thing, how
Tattoo You And Stones Reinvention
SPEAKER_05about this? Do do do do to do to do do do. The second week of August 1981, the WLIR Screamer of the Week was the Rolling Stone Start Me Up. By September 5th, 81, it was number one on Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay for an incredible 13 straight weeks, and it peaked at number two on Billboard Hot 100 on Halloween 1981. They recorded a version of the song in 1975 for the black and blue album sessions, and it was a reggae song then, and I've heard it, I don't really like it. They scrapped that, and then they came up with a recording in 1978 for the Some Girls album, and they didn't finally finish it until the Tattoo You album, and it was the opening track on it when it came out in August 24th, 1981. Tattoo You is the third album in the Trifecta. You know, the Rolling Stones were kind of going through a change and reinventing themselves. You had Some Girls in 1978, Emotional Rescue in 1980, and then Tattoo You was in 1981. So Hang Fire was the WLIR Screamer of the Week the fourth week of August 1981. It reached number two on Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay October 10th, 81, and peaked at number 20 on Billboard Hot 100 seven months later, May 8th, 1982. And it was recorded for the Some Girls album and finished for Tattoo You. You know, marrying money is a full-time job. I don't need the aggravation. I'm a lazy slob. I hang fire. The first time I heard that, I wasn't sure what they said, and it took me a while to figure it out, listening to it over and over and over again. I absolutely love those lines. I was uh the 10th grade, I was getting ready to start 10th grade when this album came out. But you know, marrying money is a full-time job. I don't need the aggravation. I'm a lazy slob. I hang fire. I just thought that was the coolest thing in you know late summer uh and fall of 1981. Yeah, those are good lyrics. Little TA reached number five on mainstream rock airplay November 21st, 1981. It's a Keith Richards song that was intended for emotional rescue, but not done until Tattoo You. Do you see a theme here, Jimmy? Yeah. Waiting on a friend went to number eight on mainstream rock airplay on January 30th, 1982, and it peaked at number 13 on Billboard Hot 100, February 6th, 82. The song that closes out the album has its recording origins all the way back to 1972-73 for the Goat's Head Soup album sessions, and it was finished in 1981 with lyrics and the addition of jazz great Sonny Rollins on saxophone. So they had the song, but they didn't have any words or any real meaningful words, and then Mick came up with words for it and then decided, hey, let's try and get Sonny Rollins on. And he's like, Sonny probably doesn't want to do it, and he was right. Sonny Rollins did not want to do it, but as usually happens many times, Sonny Rollins' wife talked him into it, thought it would be good for him to do something with the Rolling Stones to give people an opportunity to hear him that normally wouldn't hear him. And she was right because man, can he play the saxophone?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Unfortunately, he passed away this past May at the age of 95, but he has got some great works out there if you get an opportunity to uh listen to them. So I mentioned the lyrics for the song, they weren't written until 81. Mick wrote the lyrics, and as he wrote them, he made it as I want to make a video for this new cable station MTV. So the words are all something that they could act out in the video. So if you ever watch the video, it's almost like whatever they're talking about is actually happening. That's all done on purpose because that's the way Mick wrote the song. Ah. In the video, the building that was the cover of Led Zeppelin's physical graffiti in St. Mark's Place is where you see Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Peter Tosh sitting. And Peter Tosh, he was formerly a Bob Marley and the Wailers. He was solo at the time. I think he was on Rolling Stone Records. And I think I mentioned about uh an issue that Peter Tosh had. He actually uh squatted in uh Keith Richards' home and wouldn't give his home back in Jamaica, and that's a whole nother story. But I I think I've actually mentioned that before. Black limousine with mixed harmonica is a really good song. His harmonica playing, I don't think he gets enough credit for how good of a harmonica player he is. I I think that when you listen to the the works of the Rolling Stones and every time he plays it, uh he does a pretty good job. Not just like, you know, he does okay. He I think he does a really good job, actually. Um Neighbors worried about you. There's some of the other, you know, good songs. I I think it's a great album and a good fit, you know, at the time of my life. Like I said, I was starting 10th grade. I had that cassette and I wore that tape out. I played that over and over and over. From spring 1986 to the end of winter 1987,
Peter Gabriel And Peak MTV Videos
SPEAKER_05radio was filled with Peter Gabriel songs from his sew album. Sledge Hammer, Big Time, In Your Eyes, Red Rain. Sledge Hammer was a WLIR screamer of the week the fourth week of April 1986, and it reached number one on Billboard Hot 100 July 26th, 1986. So 40 years ago, that was all over the radio right now. Video was pretty inventive for the time. You know, they had animation, they had claymation, what was it? They had stop motion. I mean, they had everything in the video, Jimmy. You know, at the time when people tried to make these cool videos, they would do it where it was just animation, or they would do it where it was just claymation, or they would do just stop motion, and they put everything into it. And I'll tell you, do you remember when they have like the two chickens? So like they're ready to go in the oven, but they're dancing it just absolutely still cracks me up. Like the way they were able to do stop motion to make these chickens dance in time, you know, they're going in an oven, they're headless, they have no feathers, but they can dance the heck off of their whatever you call what's chickens stand on? Feet. All right, feet. Okay. You could have a steam train if you just lay down your tracks. You could have an aeroplane flying if you bring your blue sky back. On the same day, Sledgehammer was number one on Billboard Hot 100, Red Rain peaked at number three on Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay. Red Rain is coming down, red rain, red rain is pouring down, pouring down all over me. I like that song. I know it's a slow song, and that wasn't something that I liked a whole lot at that time, but I really did like Red Rain. I thought it was a pretty cool song. In Your Eyes, the song from the 1989 Say Anything film soundtrack. We've mentioned it before. The famous scene of John Cusack holding the boombox over his head, playing in your eyes. The song reached number one on mainstream rock airplay, September 13th, 1986, but only up to number 26 on the Hot 100 chart on October 25th, 1986. Big time peaked at number eight on March 7th, 1987, and it had been a WLIR screamer of the week about eight months earlier, the fourth week of June 1986. Now, Jimmy, I gotta be honest with you, it's been a little tough trying to talk throughout this whole thing.
Minute With Jimmy On The Strokes
SPEAKER_05I had lost my voice, sore throat, all kinds of issues and everything. So right now, I can say nothing more than tick, tick, tick. It's Minute with Jimmy.
SPEAKER_04It'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_01This is another to be continued that we started earlier this year with the strokes. You remember they recorded an EP with Gordon Raphael in New York City in his apartment. And next thing you know, all these record companies are, oh, they're the hot new thing. We got to sign them. So they sign a big record deal. They replaced uh him with Gil Norton, who had produced some Pixies albums. They fly them over to England, they're recording over there. And they actually asked uh Gordon Raphael, hey, do you think we should tell him we want to use you instead? And he's like, No, I have a basement studio in my apartment. Now go over and use the big studio in England with the big producer. So he gets this panicked phone call like a month later. They're like, We don't know how to get our sound. And he's like, What do you mean, our sound? They were like, The sound from the recordings that we made with you. And so he's like, It's just the way my studio sounds and the way we did it here. And they're like, We want to come back and do the album with you. So they come back to record with Gordon Raphael and they make the album This Is It, which came out 2001, July 30th in Australia, and then they release it in August in Japan because they were touring the world and releasing it as they went. And then September is coming up, 2001, and they have it scheduled for release on September 11th, 2001, in the United States. So 9-11 happens, and there's a bit of a uh difficult thing on the album that didn't seem like a big deal at the time until 9-11 happened, which they had a song called New York City Cops. They ain't so smart. And you know, it's just kind of a dig at your hometown police officers. But when you're talking post-9-11, it looked like you were really not being nice to first responders. So they pulled that song off the CD, but it was still on the vinyl version. The CD didn't come out for a couple of weeks. This album is like it was my favorite album of 2001 for sure, but they're like my my favorite band of the 2000s, I think. And it it was just there was nothing at all like this when it came out. It starts out with uh Is This It? Really kind of a slow song, and you really get a a hint of the two different guitar styles in the band. You know, you've got this kind of chimey thing that uh Albert Hammond Jr. does, and uh then Nick Valency is always doing a completely different guitar part, and they work really well together. The Modern Age, which was of course from their EP earlier in the year. Soma, great song. Barely Legal, one of my favorite songs. Someday, that was a single that they released, uh, really great tune, Alone Together, and then last night. Last night was the big hit for them off this album. And uh you still kind of hear that song more to this day. Hard to explain. I love that song when it started, trying your luck and take it or leave it. I mean, they 11 songs, and every single one of them is great. So um happy 25th anniversary to the strokes and their first album, This Is It. I think that they will be on the ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame soon.
SPEAKER_05Do you really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because it's been 25 years and uh they they've earned it, I think. I mean, how many bands have there been since 2001 that people say, yeah, they kind of have like a strokey sound? And no, well, nobody sounded like that in 2001. They created that sound, and so I they they deserve it for sure, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_05I remember when last night came out and on the radio, different DJs would say, I think this band is going to be huge. And it was interesting because you don't hear a lot of DJs kind of put themselves out there to say, Hey, I think this is gonna take off. I I think you know this band is it, you know? Right.
SPEAKER_01That's back when they still had DJs that still like had a had power to play the songs they wanted.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yes, back in the day. Back in the day. But I think, you know, I think that's I think it's kind of cool to look back at a band, you know. We know what we know when something comes out, and we know how popular something is, and then to look back on any band or any artist and see, you know, what contributions they've made, and here you have them as a a band that you believe will be in the rock and roll hall of fame one day.
SPEAKER_01I do, and I I'll tell you, my 2001 stroke stories are not over. I've got it to be continued again. Just wait.
SPEAKER_05Oh, I like that. Hey, listen, Jimmy, I definitely appreciate you extending that to uh help alleve me having to talk that much, and that was a great minutes plus with Jimmy.
Wrap Up And How To Reach Us
SPEAKER_04My name was Jimmy.
SPEAKER_05Well, unfortunately, that's it for this episode of Music in My Shoes, and I'm glad that we had the opportunity to still get together. Hopefully, I'm feeling much better next week and we can uh listen to better spoken word that uh even I can make myself proud of. So I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios, located right here in Atlanta, Georgia, and Victorill for our podcast music. You can reach us at musicandmyshoes at gmail.com. Please like and follow the Music in My Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages. This is Jim Boj, 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.