Author: Kim Simpson

“Borracho de Amor” (1962) – José Manuel Calderón

“Borracho de Amor” (1962) – José Manuel Calderón * Written by José Manuel Calderón * LP: Este es Jose Manuel Calderon * Label: Zuni

The guitar-oriented “bachata” sound, an offshoot of the bolero and son genres, rose up in the Dominican Republic with José Manuel Calderón’s popular 1962 “Borracho de Amor” (“love drunk”) single. Sadly for him, the music couldn’t shake a decades-long Dominican perception of it being the soundtrack of crime, which eventually drove a disheartened Calderón off to more supportive communities in New York City, where he still makes music. To appreciate “Borracho de Amor” fully, don’t go previewing and skipping around. Just let it play so you can experience the full effect of the pause at 1:17, after which Calderón’s vocals, suddenly intoxicated with reverb, sound like voices in your head.

“Dear Prudence” (1968) – The Beatles

“Dear Prudence” (1968) – The Beatles * Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney * LP: The Beatles * Produced by George Martin * Label: Apple

This eminently coverable John Lennon song (never released as a single) from the White Album featured a descending chord pattern and children’s rhyme melodies that flitted about like Maypole ribbons. Written during the Beatles’ celebrity-studded summer audience with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, it drew inspiration from Mia Farrow’s sister Prudence, a fellow student who preferred to meditate in private. On the Kinfauns Demo version of the song, you can hear Lennon wondering aloud if the Maharishi had driven her “berserk” or “insane.” She has since written an autobiography.

“African and White” (1981) – China Crisis


“African and White” (1981) – China Crisis * Written by Gary Daly, Eddie Lundon, and Dave Reilly * 45: “African and White” / “Be Suspicious” * LP: Difficult Shapes and Passive Rhythms * Produced by Jeremy Lewis * Label: Inevitable/Virgin

“African and White” was the minimalist debut single from Liverpool’s China Crisis, a group led by Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon, whose flair for electropop enchantment had few rivals during the early ’80s. Although their lyrics tended not to communicate clearly, “African and White” actually had the building blocks for a social protest message about Israel’s support of South Africa’s Apartheid. Most of the low-quality lyric repository sites have this one wrong, missing the “Israel” in the chorus. Reached #45 on the UK singles chart.

“Little Miss Sad” (1965) – The Five Empressions

“Little Miss Sad” (1965) – The Five Empressions * Written by Dick Addrisi and Don Addrisi * 45: “Little Miss Sad” / “Hey Lover” * Label: Freeport

From Benton Harbor, Michigan, this thumping, not-sad-but-happy cover of a 1964 non-charting Addrisi Brothers A-side climbed to #74 in Billboard the following year. Radio station WLS in nearby Chicago had spun the small-label track enough to blast it into the over-achievement zone. The Five Emprees (originally the Five Empressions on the single’s first pressing until Curtis Mayfield’s established trio said “ahem”) probably needed a larger label to take them to the next step, but a few more effervescent recordings like this one also wouldn’t have hurt. Later pressings of “Little Miss Sad” credited to the Five Emprees were re-recordings with added horns.

“Academy Fight Song” (1980) – Mission of Burma

“Academy Fight Song” (1980) – Mission of Burma * Written by Clint Conley * 45: “Academy Fight Song” / “Max Ernst” * Producer: Richard W. Harte * Label: Ace of Hearts

With its own title as a clincher, this opening salvo from the much-loved Boston post-punk trio might be the ultimate college rock song, thanks to its adaptability as an angry expression toward either a dean or a slum lord who acts like one. The loaded phrase “asking jerky questions” could, in fact, serve as a post-punk/college rock motto, especially when voiced by a band so noted for herky-jerky tempos. But the background vocals near the end elevate the song to its own mystical space.

“All Day and All of the Night” (1964) – The Kinks


“All Day and All of the Night” (1964) – The Kinks * Written by Ray Davies * 45: “All Day and All of the Night” / “I Gotta Move” * Produced by Shel Talmy * Label: Pye (UK)/Reprise (US)

Top Ten broken-bottle mod rock that, along with “You Really Got Me,” presents the Kinks as potentially more primal than anything the greasers (their first audience’s cultural rivals) listened to. This one did have deceptively sophisticated chord changes, though, giving many once-confident garage combos pause. By the late sixties the Kinks had matured into English gentlemen, for whom the line “the only time I feel alright is by your side” actually did seem believable. The song reappeared as a self-referential musical motif in the band’s 1981 FM rock hit “Destroyer,” which would chart higher (#3) than its source (#7).

“Shout Shout (Knock Yourself Out)” (1962) – Ernie Maresca

“Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out)” (1962) – Ernie Maresca * Written by Ernie Maresca and Thomas Bogdarny * 45: “Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out)” / “Crying Like a Baby Over You” * LP: Shout Shout! (Knock Yourself Out) * Produced by Marv Holtzman * Label: Seville

Ernie Maresca, a songwriter from the Bronx, is the man who gave Dion and the Belmonts such chutzpah credentials as “Runaround Sue,” “The Wanderer,” “Lovers Who Wander,” and “Donna the Prima Donna,” among others. They were simple songs, but they swaggered like the early ’60s New York City streets of your imagination. Maresca was no singer (side B contains the evidence), so he shouted his way to Billboard‘s #6 slot, making sure to say “play another song like ‘Runaround Sue'” in this sock-hop stomper. Do you hear the Dave Clark Five emerging from this big sound?

“Abba Zabba” (1966) – Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band


“Abba Zabba” (1966) – Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band * Written by Don Van Vliet * LP: Safe as Milk * Produced by Bob Krasnow and Richard Perry * Label: Buddah

“Abba Zabba” foretells the hypnotic, jungle-chant quality Beefheart would bring to his future catalog. But its vocal patter also brings to mind eighties celebrity reports locating Beefheart as a Jack Nicholson-style regular at Los Angeles Lakers games, where he presumably classified the rhythms of bouncing basketballs as a distinct musical genre. So the late Beefheart resembled the old one; he “jumped in a circle,” like the farmer in his “Floppy Boot Song.”

“I Feel Fine (US version)” (1964) – The Beatles

“I Feel Fine (US version)” (1964) – The Beatles * Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney * 45: “I Feel Fine” / “She’s a Woman” * US LP: Beatles ’65 * Produced by George Martin * Label: Capitol

Ecstatic Beatlemania-era single that contains crucial reverb in the American Capitol Records versions, making it sound like it’s playing at a sock hop in a high school gym. Americans who listened to the British mixes on the first Beatles CDs were understandably disappointed when it sounded as though it were playing in a padded cell. The track appeared on the Beatles ’65 album, which also included reverb-blessed versions of “She’s a Woman” and “I’ll Be Back.” (Beatles VI had another: “Yes It Is.”) Also notable in “I Feel Fine” are its pioneering usage of feedback and an opening riff inspired by Bobby Parker’s 1961 single “Watch Your Step.” But the riff became its own template. All songs in the future with a mixolydian scale dancing over a I7 chord  would be heard as petitions for “Beatle-esque” jocundity (The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville,” The Bangles’ “Hero Takes a Fall,” the theme from Friends, etc.).

 

 

“Što te nema” (1981) – Jadranka Stojaković

 


“Što te nema” (1981) – Jadranka Stojaković * Traditional song adapted by Jadranka Stojaković and Aleksa Šantić * LP: Svitanje * Produced by Dado Streiblewierer (Rajko Dujmić) * Label: Diskoton

This signature recording by the late singer Jadranka Stojaković demostrates the durability of traditional song in her native Bosnia. Although its melody, known as “Haganin Sevdah,” is likely centuries old, a popular recording of it by singer Himzo Polovina appeared in 1964 with lyrics by Aleksa Šantić. Although both recordings by Polovina and Šantić preserve the emotional, protracted nature of the sevdalinka form, Stojaković’s musical adaptation is the one with pop accessibility. Her recording’s title, remaining true to Santić’s lyrics, translates to “why are you not here?” Stojaković was a beloved figure throughout all of the Yugoslav Republics and performed with that guileless voice of hers (reminiscent of Sandy Denny) during the ceremonies for the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984. In 1988 she would emigrate to Japan. [RIP 5/3/2016]