Mamas And The Papas: Creeque Alley

A few weeks ago my old buddy Mike Kinsley asked me to feature the Mamas and Papas’ autobiographical hit “Creeque Alley.” The song is one of those hit record anomalies that does not include the title either in the song's hook or anywhere in the lyrics. It was written by the band’s two primary members: John and Michelle Phillips. “Creeque Alley” chronicles how the band emerged out of John and Michelle’s vocal duo and the short-lived band the Mugwumps.

The Mugwumps included future Mamas and Papas members Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot, future Lovin’ Spoonful members John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky, and folksinger James Hendricks. Hendricks, Elliot, and Tim Rose had previously performed in a folk trio known as the Big Three.

When the Mugwumps split, Denny Doherty joined with John and Michelle (identified both as Michelle and Mitchie in the song) as the New Journeymen. While they were on vacation in the Virgin Islands, Doherty convinced John Phillips to allow his former singing partner Cass Elliot to join the band.

Phillips reluctantly agreed to allow Cass to join, but he was initially skeptical that Elliot’s weight would keep them from fame he desired. While they all were starving folk musicians, the lyrics persisted that “No one was getting fat except Mama Cass” – a reference to Elliot’s obesity. I always wondered what she felt about this demeaning line that she had to sing.

The title “Creeque Alley” comes from the area of the Virgin Islands where the seminal Mamas and Papas formed and performed at Hugh Duffy’s club located on Creque Alley. The band was living off of their American Express cards at the time.

Wanting to “leave their folk music behind,” there is the constant reminder in the song of the success of two former folkies who had crossed over into the pop scene. “McGuinn and McGuire just a-catchin' fire in L.A., You know where that's at” is a reference of the success of Roger McGuinn of The Byrds and former New Christy Minstrel member Barry McGuire who had a hit record with “Eve of Destruction.” Finally, their own success is mirrored in the line “And California dreamin' is becomin' a reality...”

The song is really a well written tune that chronicles the band’s prehistory and history. The lyrics are very clever in telling the story. Even though the title is never found in the song, it managed to score a top five hit for the Mamas and Papas.

Tony Rice: Song For A Winter Night

For Traditional Tuesday, Tony Rice interprets a Gordon Lightfoot original: “Song for a Winter Night.” There are only a handful of vocalists who have the tonality of pulling off a Lightfoot song. One is the late Trevor Lucas and the other is Tony Rice. Tony, who recorded an entire album of Lightfoot music, is joined live with Alison Krauss. This is a perfect tune for a cold wintery day.

Lyrics

The lamp is burnin' low upon my table top
The snow is softly falling
The air is still within the silence of my room
I hear your voice softly calling
If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter night with you

The smoke is rising in the shadows overhead
My glass is almost empty
I read again between the lines upon each page
The words of love you sent me

If I could know within my heart
That you were lonely too
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter night with you

The fire is dying now, my lamp is growing dim
The shades of night are liftin'
The morning light steals across my windowpane
Where webs of snow are driftin'

If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter night with you
And to be once again with you

Steve Vai: Celluloid Heroes

“Celluloid Heroes” is one of my all time favorite Kinks’ songs, but it never saw the chart success that it deserved. It did, however, get some album play though – and that’s how I became familiar with it. “Celluloid Heroes” appeared on the band’s 1972 “Everybody's in Show-Biz” album.

One of the better covers of the song is by guitarist extraordinaire Steve Vai. Vai uses a number of studio techniques to make his version somewhat different than the original.

The Kinks’ Original

While many covers are excellent in their own right, none can hold a candle to Ray Davies and The Kinks' original recording.

Lyrics

Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star,
And everybody's in movies, it doesn't matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Their names are written in concrete!

Don't step on Greta Garbo as you walk down the Boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile that's why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph Valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies' dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on Bela Lugosi
'Cos he's liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by Bette Davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.
If you covered him with garbage,
George Sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don't tread on dearest Marilyn
'Cos she's not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star
And everybody's in show biz, it doesn't matter who you are.

And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along Hollywood Boulevard.

I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

You can see all the stars as you walk along Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.

I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

Sheryl Crow: I Shall Believe

Here’s a Sheryl Crow live recording from 2007’s “Home for the Holidays” special that showcases her talent as a keyboardist. “I Shall Believe” originally appeared on her debut album “Tuesday Night Music Club.” It is our Spiritual Sunday selection for today.

Studio Version

Crow's studio version of the song follows a different format altogether. I don’t know about you, but I prefer her gospel piano version that we included above better than her original release of “I Shall Believe.”

Matt Brouwer’s Single Release

In 2005, Canadian Matt Brouwer released his second album “Unlearning,” which featured his second single – a cover of Sheryl Crow’s “I Shall Believe.”

While it didn’t chart as high as his debut single “Water,” it did see some action on Billboard’s Christian Chart as well as on CCM’s charts. Brouwer follows a different style than the two previous versions preferring instead an acoustic alternative interpretation.

The Who Sell Out

The first Who album I had an opportunity to own was their third: “The Who Sell Out.” I purchased it in the cut out section at H.L. Greens in McKeesport for a reduced price. It is a quasi-concept album. While the songs do not generally follow any set lyrical content or story line, the album is set up to be like a broadcast from Radio London.

The station was a pirate 50kw AM facility operating outside of the three mile limit of the UK in the North Sea. Included in the album are real Radio London jingles and faux commercials for real and fake products that were interspersed between the songs.

I Can See for Miles

The album produced one hit single: “I Can See for Miles,” which peaked at 10 in the UK and at 9 in the US. Although it had an excellent showing within the top 10 in both countries, Pete Townshend was disappointed that it had not performed better on the charts. He considered it the quintessential Who song at that moment of their career.

Mary Ann with the Shaky Hand

In the US, the “I Can See for Miles” single was released with an alternative electric version of “Mary Ann with the Shaky Hand. The version heard here is the LP mix with acoustic instrumentation.

Armenia City in the Sky

The opening cut after Radio London’s days of the week voicers is “Armenia City in the Sky.” It is the only song on the album not written by a member of the band. John “Speedy” Keen penned “Armenia City in the Sky.” Keen was Pete Townshend’s roommate and would go onto some limited success as a member of Thunderclap Newman and as songwriter of “Something in the Air.”

The Album in its Entirety

Here’s a YouTube playlist of the album in its entirety. I apologize for the sloppy editing made by the individuals who posted these songs. It could be a little cleaner, but next to impossible without the correct software as the cuts are strung together.

Elvis Costello: Alison

I’ll have to confess that Elvis Costello’s original recording of “Alison” is the definitive version of the song and it is the most popular version in the UK and among American music junkies. Such was not the case with mainstream America in 1978, as adult contemporary radio tended to gravitate towards Linda Ronstadt’s version.

Costello’s original was released twice as a single in the US, but it failed to chart either time in 1977. The refrain from the tune became the title for his debut LP, “My Aim is True.”

Linda Ronstadt’s Version

Although this fourth single from Ronstadt’s double platinum “Living in the USA” album failed to chart in the Hot 100, it was a mid-charting AC hit where it peaked at #30. The sax solo is by David Sanborn. Mike Mainieri plays the vibes which are also featured heavily on this cut.

I have a picture disc of this single and it may be the first picture disc that I purchased. It was either this song or The Cars “Just what I Needed” a song that I first heard in Columbus, Ohio on my trips to that city several times that same year.

While many die hard rock fans and critics have panned Ronstadt’s version of this song, I think the production is excellent – but I also like the original as well.

Donnie Iris: Ah! Leah!

Yesterday, I talked about being on the air in Huntington, WV the night that John Lennon was killed. Within two months, I took a job in Beckley, WV as the evening jock for WCIR-FM. One of the songs that I heard for the first time in Beckley was Donnie Iris’ “Ah! Leah!”

During those first few months of 1981, the song was played in what was called a recurrent status. For you non-radio types, this was the song rotation for recent hits and these songs were typically played between one to three times daily.

Apparently, it received tons of airplay at CIR before I joined the staff in early 1981, but was a song that was overlooked by the stations in Huntington. Music director and later program director Ron Hill was responsible for getting this record its start in Southern West Virginia. I had totally missed this release.

By the summer of 1981, an Album Oriented Rock (AOR) station came on the air in the market - WOAY which replaced country formatted WRJL at 94.1. Charlie Jennings, WOAY's program director, made sure that Iris’ tune was played in a pretty significant rotation throughout their years in what they termed as the Adult Rock format.

I later worked at WOAY from 1983 to 1987 and helped transition the station from an AOR to a Contemporary Hit Radio station beginning in 1984. We still played “Ah! Leah!” in the new format as an oldie.

“Ah! Leah!” was also a colossal hit in my hometown of Pittsburgh. Domenic Ierace, as he was born, was something of a Greater Pittsburgh legend playing in the biggest local band during my high school years. The Jaggerz had one national hit – “The Rapper” which peaked at #2 in 1970. Donnie Iris wrote and sang lead on this hit.

Following the break-up of The Jaggerz, Iris later joined another Upper Ohio River Valley band, Wild Cherry – but it was after the band had reached the peak of their success. He contributed to their third and fourth albums, but not to any of their hit releases.

The year 1980 was primed for Donnie Iris and “Ah! Leah!” was originally released on Midwest National Records before being picked up by MCA. While its chart performance wasn’t outstanding (#29 on the singles chart and #19 on the rock charts), it is a timeless song that is still heard today. In fact, I heard it last week on an episode of Bones – thus qualifying it for inclusion as this week’s TV Thursday selection.