I Didn't Know That Was...

"Not knowing is the most intimate." We might not be Buddhists, but we can definitely get behind this logic. Join us as we lay bare our ignorance and learn some really cool stuff along the way (to enlightenment???).

SONGS:

Flying Burrito Brothers: If You Gotta Go (1970) 

Minnie Riperton: Lovin’ You (1974)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Bob Dylan - If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got to Stay All Night) (Studio Outtake - 1965) 

Manfred Mann: If You Gotta Go, Go Now (1965)

Si tu dois partir - Fairport Convention (1969)

If You Gotta Go, Go Now. Dylan being light-hearted and spooky (Untold Dylan)

The many cover versions of If You Gotta Go + Bob’s rarest single! (Untold Dylan)

Hermit Who Lives In Literal Cave Learns About Pandemic, Gets Vaccinated 

Lovin’ You Live Performance on Burt Sugarman’s The Midnight Special Live (1975)

South Park - Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride  

Minnie Riperton: Les Fleurs

Maya Rudolph on Questlove Supreme

Minnie Riperton’s Lovin’ You Gives a Voice to the Whistle Register  

Amazing Moments in Timbre

Magic Flute, Queen of the Night Aria 

Best Singers of All Time: Which Singers Have the Best Vocal Range

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hi, I'm Christina.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

And I'm Christine. Welcome to Stereo Thematica.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Music is how we connect with the world and with each other. When I moved to Texas, Christina and I started a weekly game. One theme, two songs.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

That game grew into deeper conversations about each other and about the music that shapes us.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love or never expect. Hey Christine. Hello there. Remember last week when we were talking about toxic confidence?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

I actually think sometimes that because I have, you know, we are we have this music podcast together, people expect me to have much more musical knowledge than I actually do. Yep. Oh yeah. What do you what do you think?

SPEAKER_02 0:50

No, I I I feel the same way. And I I don't.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

I'm I'm so happy to.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

I'm I'm like, feel free to admit this. Same. 100%. Like I it's it's never been a secret for me. There was this video store or like a video rental place in Austin called iHeart Video. And they had this, because remember when people were like really big snobs about movies, maybe they still are, and I just don't hang out with them anymore. Yeah, even but they had this poster on the wall that was like, you haven't seen every movie ever. And that's how I feel about it. It's like, oh, you don't know every band ever.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

No. And I also don't know every factoid about every one of my favorite or musicians that I love either.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

No, and I I mean I know I have so many gaps, obviously. Like even just last week, Steeley Dan, I barely know like two of their songs. I thought Jackson Brown was a part of Steele.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

I'm not afraid to admit it. That's actually so funny, though. That makes me really happy. It is fun. It's funny too, because I'm sure there's a man out there who just went off the road because he heard that. They're not listening to us. That is a great point. Good point. Good point. They're listening to um Remember that one that you shared with me that's like the history of music.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

And like the the 500 songs, the Pantheon of the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Yes, that's what they're listening to. And they're they're driving, they're going. I already knew that. I already knew that. Yep, yep. Well, that's what's fun for me to admit is that I don't know everything ever. And sometimes even songs that I really love, I find things out about them. Oh yeah. Like for my song This Week, you know how I love Graham Parsons?

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Yeah, you've mentioned him.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

And I've mentioned him a few times, maybe a few hundred times. Who knows? Depends on who you're asking. But I don't even know where my love of Graham like really originated. Because I'm sure that my like my parents had the sweetheart of the rodeo record when we were growing up and everything. Which by the way, if y'all haven't checked out The Birds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, uh-huh. Top 10 albums for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Okay, I'm gonna listen to I mean, obviously, I'm curious to get your take.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Yeah, it might not be up your alley, but I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

I like the birds, haven't really listened to them since probably high school or college, but yeah, it's not very turn, turn turn.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Like it's well, I didn't really like that. I that's the thing. So maybe I will like this one. Maybe we'll see. But back when I was living in Austin, it was like in college and beyond, there was like this big cosmic American, like cosmic country kind of trend. And I'm curious, you're making a face. I'm curious if you no, I've never heard I've never heard it's cool.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

I like it.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

I like the name. It feels very niche, but like I think, like me, a lot of people in Austin at the time like admired Graham Parson and his contemporaries for making country music that kind of pushed the limits. Like it definitely was not a precursor to the Nashville country like Kenny Chesney or Garth Brooks, and thinking of his like sort of contemporaries, it wasn't really anything like George Jones or Buck Owen. So it really was like its own thing, which is what made it so cool. And this is why my song pick for this week pretty much sums up my lack of comprehensive musical knowledge because I love the album Burrito Deluxe by the Flying Burrito Brothers, which of course features my love Graham Parsons, my other love Chris Hillman from The Birds. I've listened to it a lot, and there's a few tracks on there that I jam pretty regularly, including If You Gotta Go. What I didn't know about the song is that it was written by who, Christine? David Bowie. No, sorry. April Fool's was three days ago. Who was it written by?

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Bob Dylan, of course. And you knew that? Oh, I knew that. Yes. Well, of course, because I I mean, the thing is, I forget, and I should have checked this out, but when you shared the song, did you sh did you actually share the Brito Brothers song? I think I did.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, I think I shared the Brito, fine Brito Brothers song, but I didn't share the original version because the version's kind of hard to come by. How did you which album or how did you encounter? Because the whole song is the whole song title for Dylan is If you gotta go, go now or else you gotta stay all night or whatever. Yes, yeah. That's it. So where did you find it?

SPEAKER_02 5:27

1991 on the bootleg tapes. Okay. I got actually the CDs. I remember when this came out and how exciting that was, and just loving this song so much. Oh, really? Yeah. And I actually didn't even know that it was covered by others, and definitely not your Flying Burrito Brothers.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

That is so funny. Because up until quite recently, I had never heard the Dylan version. Wow. And I I think this is maybe a topic for another episode, but like, do you know, like when you hear the original of a song where you've only ever heard the cover and then you hear the original and you're like, what?

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Yeah. This was kind of one of those moments for me. And it was fun for me to like do some exploration about this Dylan version because it was released in 60. Well, okay, it was written in 64, released as a single in 67, but it was basically written as a pop song. Yeah. Like, do you hear any musical influences when you listen to the Dylan version? Not offhand. It kind of sounds like the Beatles to me.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Okay. I mean, I don't think I feel like that's Dylan. I feel like the Beatles sound like Dylan.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Oh, interesting. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

So that's yeah, I'm gonna say no, it's Dylan, Dylan.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

But fair enough, interestingly, your version reminds me of another song.

unknown 7:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Can you tell me? Guess which song?

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Proud Mary. Oh, interesting. That like yeah, the really like Brianner. Yes. Bright Niner. Okay. Proud Mary, the um I cantina credence. Yeah. Oh. Oh, you can see. Wait, the Ike and Tina version? Yes. Or the C C R. No, Tina Turner Ike. Okay, interesting. I'm gonna have to go listen to them after this. That's it. The live version, yeah. Okay. But the funny thing is, Dylan, his version never charted. He released it as a single in the UK. It did not chart. The very popular version of the song was really recorded and released by Manfred Mann. Do you know that version?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I only learned it because, you know, I I was curious when you shared this, and I didn't feel much for it.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Hate it. Personally, hate it. I'm like, because uh again, this is going back to me only knowing the Flying Burrito Brothers version, which I love. And then I listened to the Dylan version, which sh surprised me, I will say. Then today I listened to the Man for a man version, hate it. Oh my god. I'm linking to all of these. Don't worry. But it's upsetting. I don't know. Um, okay, and then I'm curious if you're aware of another version of the song, and I have a little feeling that you might be. So Fairport Convention released a version of the song in French. Please help. Si tout doit partir. Yeah. Okay. Citouit partir. Yeah. I didn't even say right. No, yeah. I forgot the two. Citou doit partir. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And Fairport Convention, what are you up to? Is this like a study abroad thing? You're an English folk band.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

No, and I I only know this because also when you shared the theme, I looked it up, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

That's funny to me. And it's a really interesting arrangement because they're like including the fiddle and the triangle and like, okay, we get it. Y'all, y'all went to the you know, Newport Folk Festival. Yeah, yeah. But you know who doesn't come up in the Wikipedia entry for this Dylan song under Notable Covers? The Flying Burrito Brothers. Yeah, that is a shame. I don't know. I mean, maybe they just didn't do very well with their version, but in my opinion, their version trumps them all. And that's just my opinion. But I do love Graham's goofiness and his flirtatiousness. He's a little bit mischievous in a way that's more believable than Dylan or Manfred Man. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

I don't want to make you do anything you never did before. Just let I'll be sleeping soon.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Okay, so while I was preparing for this episode, I found this blog, and I'm actually really curious if you have read it because it's called Untold Dylan. No, should I? I don't know. It's kind of cool, and you might you might actually go down a mega rabbit hole because this guy has two separate entries devoted to this song alone. So I was looking at his blog. He's got 4,000 blog posts. Okay. And they're all about Dylan.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Shit.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I know.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

I'm gonna start looking at it now.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Major shout out to Untold Dylan. I'm okay to these two different things.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I don't need this. I mean, I don't need another distraction.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

What fun though. Like it just makes me think like, what a fun kind of mania, right? Oh yeah. But he and I both agree that the Flying Burrito Brother version is incredible. And he also links to Mae West's version, which Oh my god. Have you heard it? No. Okay, it's pretty, it's pretty cuckoo. So I can't wait to share that one in the notes. But it is funny to me that I didn't know this was uh Dylan original, especially considering I have listened to a fair amount of Dylan, but my knowledge of him is not comprehensive by a long shot. Like I don't even, you know, when people are like, you know, blonde blonde, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, I can't, I no, I can't name a song off that album. I'm 38. It's fine. But Graham and the Burrito Bros did cover a lot of songs, so I probably should have guessed. But this version just it felt so on brand for them. Like it felt to me like it would have been easy for me to have guessed that Graham could have written it.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

I I've even shared a GP cover of a different song in our game for a different theme.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Well, that's what I was going to ask you. I feel like this is not the first burrito brothers song that you've shared either. And I mean, definitely not for our game, but I have we covered any in I you've you've talked about them before.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

I have talked about them, but it's probably just like the Laurel Canyon and stuff. And maybe remember Altamont when we talked about Altamont. Yeah, they played there, which I still would have loved to go see them play there. Sorry. But yeah, say I humbly present myself on the altar of I don't actually know that much music trivia, and I'm okay with that. Here, here. Here, here. So, Christine, what you got for me?

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Okay, shall I just get to the song? Yeah, do it. Jump in. Minnie Ripperton's 1974 hit Loving You. Making love with you is all I wanna do. Okay, really quick. I need uh disclaimer here, and I'm curious about something. I personally hate the term making love. It's it's always kind of grossed me out. Have we talked about this? Do you have opinions on that term? I'm right there with you. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

What the frick? So weird. Make love. It's just uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable. There's like something your parents would say to you that then. Yeah, to teach you about sex. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah, no. Anywho. I first remember hearing the song in 1997. Can you guess where I heard it? Was it in a commercial? No. Okay. But close. A TV show. Oh. Yes, another TV show. This is season one of South Park Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

That sounds very 1997. Oh, very much.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Yeah. Were you did you ever watch South Park?

SPEAKER_00 13:10

No, I think I've only ever seen one episode of South Park. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

I just read that they got like a$1.5 billion contract.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

I know. Yeah. And then they're trolling Trump too. Which I truly appreciate. Yes. Yeah. Well, I watched it when it came out, '97, '98, maybe even up to 2000. And then, you know, life happens. So I don't remember much about the episode. I actually had to go to the South Park fandom website for a few deets. So here's the story. I do remember it though. Once I read the description, I totally like was like, oh my God, that was so ridiculous. Richard Stamos. Okay, the brother of John Stamos. Yes, he does not have that. He does not have a brother. So he's the guest singer for the South Park Cows versus Middle Park Cowboys halftime show. And a couple old characters, Jimbo and Ned, plan to make him explode when he hits the high F sharp note of the song, Love and You. And and basically it's all so they can like win a bet on the outcome of the game. And of course, he fails during the game. And then eventually at the end of the episode, he gets it and the and blows up the mascot. It's either a donkey or like a horse or something. Anywho, yeah, sad. But you know, I've I've heard the song over the years, and even probably before the South Park episode. I think what was kind of like so fun about seeing that in South Park was was that familiar? Like the that familiarity? I don't know. It it made that episode special and kind of like stuck with me through the years, at least the song in it, not so much the details. And it really is such a delightful song, despite the use of making love. But it's not even one of my favorite Ripperton songs. Do you know Les Fleurs?

SPEAKER_00 15:03

That is such an incredible song. That's one of my chills songs.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Yeah, it is a chill song. It's so magical. Yeah, it's so so super flower power. It's from the perspective of a flower. That's how I read it. That's cute. Her voice is like angelic but forceful. It's almost like overwhelmingly beautiful and sweet. And I can feel her love. I mean, just in any song of hers, like you can feel like just her tender and tenderness isn't even a word I like, but it's like there's this tenderness, and she's so calming.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

But here's what I didn't know. Minnie Ripperton was Maya Rudolph's mom.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Did you know that? I actually did know that. Okay. And the reason why I know is because do you know that photo of Minnie Ripperton in the overalls? Yes, yes. I've seen Maya Rudolph recreate that photo, and it's actually like really beautiful and sweet.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Now I got chills.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Well, guess how I learned this? Tell me. So last fall, I think it was right around the time you proposed this theme. I was listening to the Quest Love Supreme Classic podcast, and it was a re-release from 2016. Maya Rudolph was his guest, and he's all excited to talk to her because she comes from music royalty. And I'd always heard kind of that her parents were musicians, but I didn't care that much to dig deeper, which is weird because I usually do. Like it's so easy to just Google that sort of thing. So I don't know. But I think for some reason I didn't check that, or I don't know, maybe I just didn't remember. But the fact that we both graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 1995 was cool. I know. I never saw her. We never crossed paths. That you know of. Yeah, that we knew of, yeah, for sure. That I know of. Y'all could have sat next to each other in class. Crazy. She was an art history. I'm not sure if it was art, art history, but she was over at Porter. I was a literature major at Kresge. So you kind of like stick within those areas. Okay. But but yeah, and and then I also learned from the podcast that she is actually in a Prince cover band called Princess. I did know that too. Oh, you did? Oh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

I'm a pretty big Maya Rudolph man, but I not enough to like go down. I just maybe like, you know, f I keep track of her.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Okay. Yeah. So she's in this band with somebody she went to Santa Cruz with, another band banana slug. Yeah. Okay. That was our mascot, the banana slug.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

I would have loved it if you would have presented that without context, but I guess it's good to explain.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

I know.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

You know, you and me and the banana slugs.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Um, and they were also, I guess, in a band together in college and even open for no doubt at like the popular like venue, band venue called the Catalyst in the mid-90s. That's dope. So yeah, you learn a lot listening to Quest Love's conversations. They're so meandering and they cover a lot of territory. So yeah, that was kind of fun to learn all that.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Did you know that I interviewed Questlove? Yes, you've mentioned that before. Sorry. I've I literally yesterday at dinner, I was like, sometimes I forget that I interviewed Jimmy Fallon. And then I just hook'em horns, KBRX, forever, college radio.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

But were they connected? Was Questlove already at the Jimmy Fallon show? Yeah, okay. Yeah, and I think we've also talked about Jimmy Fallon. I've never watched his show. Uh-uh. No. Sorry, Jimmy.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Sorry. Thanks for the interview.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

But Questlove is great. Okay, back to the song. Loving You was written by Minnie Ripperton and her husband, Richard Rudolph, in the early 70s, with Ripperton creating the melody and Rudolph writing the lyrics. Maya's father, Rudolph, is a well-known songwriter, producer in his own right. He's worked with Stevie Wonder, Tina Marie, The Manhattan Transfer, Tribe Called Quest, Michael McDonald, Jermaine Jackson, New Edition. Whoa. The Temptations. And the coolest of all, I would argue, Shaka Khan.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Shaka Khan.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

Just to name a few, Shaka Khan.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

It's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

It's hard not to sing Shaka. It's hard not to. But the melody of Loving You was partly inspired by Ripperton and Rudolph's attempt to entertain Maya, who at the time was only two. Oh yeah. And at the end of the song, you can hear Ripperton sweetly singing, Maya, Maya, Maya. It's funny because it's like this lullaby, but then they're talking about making love. Making love. And it's where maybe no, I guess. Anyway, so this the song was recorded for Ripperton's second studio album, Perfect Angel. And as you mentioned, this is the one with the iconic cover in her overalls with a melting ice cream cone in her hand. And Stevie Wonder actually co-produced the album and played electric piano under the pseudonym El Toro Negro.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

I know. That is something contractual. Yeah. But musically, the song is pretty simple, but it's really famous for Ripperton's jaw-dropping vocal range. She hits that high F-sharp note, which is also known as the whistle register. Let's hear that.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Are you familiar with the whistle register? I don't think I've ever heard that, but now I'm wondering because I feel like Ariana Grande is one of those people. Yep, she's one of them.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Yeah, I mean, I just learned the term in prepping for the episode. It's the highest register of the human voice, and it's got a specific physiological production that's different from other registers, I guess. The timbre of the notes produced are similar to that of a whistle, thus the name.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

And you don't hear it in pop music very often, except for, of course, Ariana Grande, Mariah Carey, and Christina Aguilera. The whistle is also featured in opera, a particularly beautiful Aria, Queen of the Night, from the Magic Flute. I really love that. And we'll share. And if anyone else is curious to learn more about vocal registers and what octave range popular singers have, we also will share the article where I got some of this information in the show notes. Loving you became Riperton's biggest hit, even though Le Fleur is so much better. Yeah. But it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in April of 75, and it remained on the chart, though not at number one for 18 weeks. Sadly, Ripperton died just a few years later in 1979 at 31 from breast. Cancer. Maya was only six, but the legacy of her mom is like so much a part of her. And it's really it is it's so cool to hear Maya Rudolph talk about her parents and her upbringing, and like, well, what an upbringing. So anyone interested, I mean, there's clips all over, but the the Quest Love interview is particularly interesting. And obviously, she's got such a love for Prince. So, any of you Prince fans out there, you want to check that out.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

I want to listen to that episode. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Yeah, it's a good one. We'll share.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Fun. The more you know.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

I know.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

And don't know. And don't know. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay not to know. We can always keep learning.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Yes, that's the idea. And speaking of ideas, I think it's the time to get serious, Christina.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Absolutely, yes. I'm literally standing on the soapbox right now. Okay. In response to recent events, Stereothematica is issuing a statement on the 24-7 news cycle.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Whatever happened to being okay with not knowing, these days, the minute something newsworthy happens, there are 200 media outlets splashing breaking news across our phones, TV screens, and desktop monitors.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Remember when you could avoid bad news for hours, sometimes days on end because you weren't inundated with headlines about the latest shit show? And now you can't even enjoy a news-free airplane ride because there's a free Wi-Fi and sometimes even live TV on the screen on the back of the seat in front of you. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

You could go off the grid and escape reality for a brief time. It'll still be waiting for you when you log back on. Even that Serbian hermit found out about the COVID pandemic somehow.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

And bless his heart for getting vaccinated. Folks, we don't need to have unfettered access to the news at all times. It's breaking our brains. Let's do us all a favor and log off from time to time.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

You can still listen to podcasts in airplane mode, by the way. Thanks for your support.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

And now, Christine, what's the hint for our next episode? We're gonna get showy. Woo! Thanks for listening to Stereothematica. If you like what you're hearing, please consider a review, a rating, or share this episode with a friend.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

And follow us on Instagram where you can share your favorite songs that you didn't know something about. We've also got our ever growing playlist on Spotify.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Link in the show notes. And visit Stereothematica.com for more fun.