Big Harry Wah Wah

I don’t know why, but I woke up with the George Harrison song “Wah Wah” in my head today. Appropriately, the song features the Wah or Wah Wah guitar pedal on it, but it’s really only one aspect of the song. The first time I heard this was watching The Concert for Bangladesh film. The actual concert was in 1971 and the film was released in ’72.

Harrison wrote the song during the Let It Be/Get Back sessions when The Beatles band was crumbling. I’ve read a few different things about the song’s inspiration…Yoko Ono screaming while no one but Harrison objected…Harrison’s feelings of suffocation and disrespect from Lennon and McCartney…or his throbbing headache as a result of all of those things. (“You’ve given me a Wah Wah.”)

The first time I heard this song, I loved the rocking feel to it and the guitar riff. Harrison’s pal Eric Clapton also played on the track. The song has a certain funk to it.

The other elements of the song are pretty fantastic, too: the vocals, horns, slide guitar solo.

“Wah Wah” was originally released on Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” TRIPLE album. Boy, I guess he did amass a few songs while Lennon and McCartney were passing on them.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Fab Thanksgiving Smithereens

It’s hard to believe Halloween has already come and gone, which puts Thanksgiving as the next major holiday on the horizon. Last year I did my Turducken Tribute to the multi-bird meal that is sweeping the nation. Someone should write a dance song about it. This year, the Fab Four song “Thank You Girl” seems appropriate.

How would you describe this song? I would say it’s fairly simple, but it seems to work. It’s a two minute tune. There’s no guitar solo in it. Rather, the drums are emphasized during the song intro and are repeated during the bridge. There’s also the smallest dash of harmonica as well. It’s basically a three chord song with two additional minor chords during that bridge. I hear The Everly Brothers’ influence in the harmony Paul McCartney sings above John Lennon.

“Thank You Girl” was originally released as a B-side. It was also covered by The Smithereens on their appropriately titled “B-Sides The Beatles“ album.

Give The Smithereens credit for this album. Lead singer Pat DiNizio also released an album of Buddy Holly covers as well. Hopefully, you have lots of movies, music, turkey, etc. to be thankful for this year.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

The Power of Electric Helter Skelter

When I was a teenager in the 1980s, I watched a documentary called “The Compleat Beatles” on USA Network. The network ran the film, I recorded it onto a VHS tape, and I watched it ….repeatedly. I guess that was the beginning of my own personal B. I. P. (Beatles Immersion Phase.) It was the best music I’d ever heard and the most fun I’d ever encountered. It was like a whole new world. During said phase, I bought all kinds of Beatles stuff, but, more importantly, I listened to as much of their music as I could find. One Christmas, I got both Sgt. Pepper and The White Album on vinyl. That was a good year.

While listening to The White Album, the song that really blew me away was “Helter Skelter.” It opened with a hard driving, frantic sounding electric guitar followed by Paul McCartney’s equally powerful vocal.

If I had to pick one word to describe what grabbed me about this song, it was the overall “feel.” It was FAST, driving, raucous.

I’ve read many stories about how musicians get inspired by this or that….The Doors’ Robby Krieger saw Chuck Berry in concert and he went out and bought a red guitar as a result. Motorhead’s Lemmy said when he heard rock and roll everything went from black and white to technicolor. For me, when I heard the song “Helter Skelter”, I knew I had to get an electric guitar — no two ways about it.

I’m sure “Helter Skelter” has inspired many musicians because it’s been covered a fair amount…I found over 80 versions of it. In college I got into a memorable argument with two guys about the Motley Crue vs. Beatles version. My argument was, “Who wrote it?” Besides, The Beatles version has much better vocals, better production, and simply outrocks the Crue. Speaking of the original Beatles version, there are a lot of interesting elements to the song: the backing vocals, the descending guitar riffs, about a million overdubs, and of course Ringo shouting, “I’ve got blisters on my fingers!”

There’s been plenty written about the inspiration of the song…an amusement park ride/slide and McCartney reading a comment from Pete Townshend about The Who recording some really loud and racuous tune. If he wanted to one up Townshend, I think there’s no question he did. I, for one, am forever grateful.

Till next time keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Pandora’s Broken Box

First of all, I’m a music lover. I listen to it, I collect, and I even play it sometimes. About ten years ago, a younger, hipper co-worker of mine suggested I try the music streaming internet radio entity called “Pandora.” I’d heard of it, but never checked it out. His description of Pandora was you tell it what you like to listen to and then it makes recommendations based on your taste preferences. Here’s the short version of what I experienced:

Me: I like The Beatles.

Pandora: You like The Beatles, you must like Herman’s Hermits.

Me: Not really. Let’s try again….I like The Rolling Stones.

Pandora: You like The Rolling Stones, you must like Herman’s Hermits.

Me: (OK, like I said, I don’t LIKE Herman’s Hermits…this is getting annoying)…I like The Who.

Pandora: You like The Who, you must like Herman’s Hermits.

Me: I DON’T LIKE Herman’s Hermits! Is this thing stuck on British Invasion bands or what? I was going to mention The Animals and The Kinks, but I’ll try a band outside of that category.

Me: I like Social Distortion.

Pandora: You like Social Distortion, you must like Herman’s Hermits

Me: How the hell can you compare The Who and Social Distortion to Herman’s Hermits?! Are you on crack or something? The Who’s sound is loud and angry. Social Distortion’s sound is DARK, LOUD, AND ANGRY. Nihilistic. Do you think either one of those bands would record some bubble gum song like “I’m Into Something Good”? Does the album “Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell” sound like something Herman’s Hermits would record? No, it doesn’t!! I don’t remember hearing “Lonely weekends, lonely nights – the judge he gave me 99 To Life” on a Herman’s Hermits’ 45 RPM. Furthermore, what do Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits) and Mike Ness (Social Distortion) have in common? Nothing — you’d better shut up before I kick you in the recommendation box, Pandora!

Whew….OK….so that was my experience with Pandora.

It’s my understanding it works off an “algorithm”. Maybe that’s my problem — my mathematical education stopped with a “D” in Algebra II. Or maybe people just like to throw around the four-syllable word “al-go-ri-thm” in tea time conversation while they raise their pinkies. My REAL problem with Pandora is you and me (i.e. the listeners) never get to pick one single song you want to hear. The idea behind it is, in theory, a good one, but it didn’t work for me.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I put Pandora in the same category as those retail store “discount cards”. Do you think they really WANT to give you a discount? Of course they don’t. They want to track your buying habits and set prices accordingly. Pandora, ultimately, wants to “recommend” artists you haven’t heard so you’ll BUY THEIR MUSIC.

Are there die-hard music fans like me who feel the same way? If it’s just me, I can live with that. For me, I WILL NOT let some computer algorithm thing tell me or even SUGGEST to me what I like. I will take the juke box over Pandora any day.

The only way to settle my long-standing dispute with Pandora is for Social Distortion to record a punk rock version of “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter.”

Till next time, keep thinking for yourself and keep your Mojo on the Horizon!