Author: Kim Simpson

“Los ejes de mi carreta” (1960) – Atahualpa Yupanqui * Written by Romildo Risso and Atahualpa Yupanqui * LP: Canto y guittara, no. 7 (Argentina) * Label: Odeon

Adopting the names of two Incan kings for himself, Atahualpa Yupanqui (Hector Roberto Chavero Aramburo) was one of Argentina’s top-tier troubadours whose somewhat complicated political history never compromised his humanistic messages. “Los ejes de mi carreta” (“The Axles of My Cart”) is a poem by Uruguayan poet Romildo Risso that Yupanqui set to music. “Because I do not grease the axles I am called a fool,” go the words, taking the point of view of a wagon-toting worker. “[But] it is far too boring to follow the track with nothing to entertain me.”

“A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed” (1949) – “Little” Jimmy Dickens * Written by Luther Patrick and Happy Wilson * 78: “A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed” / “I’m in Love Up to My Ears” * Label: Columbia

Little Jimmy Dickens’s first record was the #7 country hit “Take and Old Cold ‘Tater (And Wait),” a negative “company’s comin'” song, which is a country music rarity. Were there any others? Yes, in fact—Dickens’s  own “A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed” from that same year, about the misery of getting bumped off your own mattress for the sake of hospitality. But the melody and subject matter perhaps inspired Jim Connor to write John Denver’s “Grandma’s Feather Bed,” a very positive “company” song that has no one sleeping on the floor. Songwriting credit for “A-Sleeping” goes to Happy Wilson and Luther Patrick, a former Alabama U.S. Representative.

“Shut Down, Part II” (1964) – The Beach Boys * Written by Carl Wilson * LP: Shut Down Volume 2 * Produced by Brian Wilson * Label: Capitol

The Beach Boys circa 1963-64, with young guitar sharp David Marks on board, could showcase slick guitar instrumentals, and the title track (sorta) of the Shut Down Volume 2 album was the last of its kind in the band’s catalog. Although he was out of the band by the time of the cover shoot and although it’s not clear if he actually played on this song, Marks’s marks are all over it. The only direct similarity between “Shut Down, Part II” and “Shut Down” are the sax blasts that lead off the former but appear in the latter’s bridge.

“Maybe I’m Amazed” (1970) – Paul McCartney * Written and Produced by Paul McCartney * LP: McCartney * Label: Apple

On one hand, Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles debut album (McCartney), with its homemade aura and willfully frivolous song selection, lifted a middle finger to the Beatle machinery and the pop music biz it propelled. On the other hand, it snuggled appropriately into its inward-looking era. “Maybe I’m Amazed” is the album’s deepest reacher, taking the crooning-then-wailing approach of Abbey Road‘s “Oh Darling” and letting McCartney’s heart do the rest. It became his solo album’s anchor, paying tribute to his new wife Linda who, as we’ve learned from bios and interviews, helped him through a gloomy, transitional time after the Beatles breakup. Tucked away as an album track on side 2, “Maybe I’m Amazed” could have been a big single, but McCartney opted not to release it as such. No matter – a live version became a radio smash seven years later.

“Acostumbrado a ver T.V. los Martes 36” (1968) – Los Shakers * Written by Hugo Fattorusso and Osvaldo Fattorusso * LP: La Conferencia Secreta del Toto’s Bar * Label: Odeon Pops

Los Shakers, who sang in heavily accented English, were Uruguay’s very own mop tops, and they enjoyed a pan-South American following during the sixties. In spite of their brazenly derivative approach, the group’s knack for hooks and cheerful guilelessness – featuring the kind of vibrato-free vocals typical of children – is both endearing and addictive. Their La Conferencia Secreta del Toto’s Bar, long title and all, aims for the Sgt. Pepper album’s levels of philoso-poetry, but ends up winning listeners over with its bossanova-tinged hooks and ESL charm. “Acostumbrado a ver T.V. los Martes 36” is one of its highlights, using a “Day in the Life” news motif (the title translates to “I used to watch TV on Tuesday 36”). “Here I am in my chair,” they sing with gusto. “I try to found the channel that I used to watch, a special one that never has commercial talk.”

“There’s a Story in Your Voice” (2004) – Elvis Costello and the Imposters (with Lucinda Williams) * Written and produced by Elvis Costello * LP: The Delivery Man * Label: Lost Highway

Take a whole sack of one liners, equal parts chord changes, douse it in prepared angst, put a hat on it, and you’ve got yourself an Elvis Costello song circa 2004. The hookiest track on The Delivery Man is called “There’s a Story in Your Voice” and it’s also the most annoying, vying for a “love to hate” reaction in the listener. It’s that aforementioned prepared angst that’s the “story” in the voices of both Costello and guest Lucinda Williams, causing Williams to oversnarl. When cats do this outside your window, you throw things at them.

“After Midnight” (1986) – Fastway * Written by Eddie Clarke, Dave King, Shane Carroll, Alan Connor, and Paul Reid * 45: “After Midnight” / “Don’t Stop the Fight” * LP: Trick or Treat (soundtrack) * Produced by Eddie Clarke and Will Reid Dick

This hair metal ear candy supports the notion that a listener’s taste for the genre connects to positive childhood associations with Halloween. Former Motörhead guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke grabs from a bowlful of AC/DC chords for this leadoff single from the soundtrack for Trick or Treat, a film that offers no crucial cultural literacy rewards for those who haven’t seen it. It does contain a few ingredients worth mentioning, though: a cameo by Ozzy Osbourne as an anti-metal evangelist; another cameo by Gene Simmons as a DJ; and a backwards-record plot gimmick. In an era when parents feared metal’s corrosive powers, the movie depicted a resurrected metal musician with murder on its undead brain. Director Charles Martin Smith had played Toad on American Graffiti, from which he lifted that movie’s DJ-as-enabler idea.

“(The Best Part of) Breaking Up” (1973) – The Seashells * Written by Phil Spector, Pete Andreoli, and Vince Poncia * 45: “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up” / “Play That Song” * Produced by Johnny Arthey and Phillip Swern * Label: Columbia

Johnny Arthey and Phillip Swern orchestrated and produced key late-sixties reggae singles by Desmond Dekker, The Pioneers, Bob and Marcia, and others. This 1973 single shares no musical similarities with any of those. It’s a version of a 1964 Ronettes hit that sounds, rather incredibly, like a lost vintage Abba track. The Seashells were a Liverpool girl group that included Vicki Brown and Mary Partington (who were sisters), along with Laura Lee. Brown, who is now deceased, was the wife of UK musican Joe Brown and the mother of vocalist Sam Brown, who had a US charting hit called “Stop” in 1989.

“Abbandonato (Los ejes de mi carreta)” (2012) – Vinicio Capossela * Written by Atahualpa Yupanqui and Romildo Risso * Adapted by Vincio Capossela * LP: Rebetiko Gymnastas * Produced by Vinicio Capossela * Label: La Cupa

Argentinian troubadour Atahualpa Yupanqui turned a Uruguayan poem called “The Axles of My Cart” into a famous song in which various levels of meaning complemented each other, e.g., a worker’s loneliness, resilience, and/or refusal to keep quiet. The song has since come to life in numerous milonga and tango versions, suggesting additional meanings. A recent Italian interpretation by Vinicio Capossela, which uses Greek instrumentation offers this one: the resolve to dance coyly. The song’s video depicts Capossela and his band performing in a gym while dancers rehearse.

“Abacab” (1981) – Genesis * Written and produced by Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins and Tony Banks * 45: “Abacab” / “Another Record” * LP: Abacab * Label: Charisma (UK)/Atlantic (US)

The generation of males who flashback to junior high at the sound of this song’s opening pulse could fill many stadiums. For them, the entire Abacab album represents the last of the tolerable Phil Collins recordings. Its sci-fi synth-blasts, sexually-frustrated lyrics, and prog-tech vibe played well with them as teens, but Collins’s output as an aggressively marketed adult contemporary radio mascot subsequently bypassed the entire male 12-25 demographic.