A One's
Cocker Spaniels
Cannot decide which had a bigger impact on my
teenage years, dogs or Rock N' Roll! And still has!
Like everybody else born in the 40s I'm stuck in my teens. You just wait and see
what will happen at the old people's home, we'll rock the joint!
"Rhythm and Blues had a baby and somebody named it Rock N' Roll!" - A Nostalgia Trip
Brigitte
Bardot 'The more I see of men, the more I appreciate my
dogs!' (not sure it was her but could have been
...)
I was prepared to exchange a thousand Mike Landons,
Marina Vladys (even the Djungle Woman!), Lassies,
Audrey Hepburns, Mylène Demongeots, Ricky Nelsons,
Pascale Pétits,
Gina Lollobrigidas, Marion Michaels et al, for ONE single Brigitte Bardot, that I did
not already have! Not until some 45 years later did I realise she cannot have
been a
NATURAL BLONDE! A FAKE! Back then, however, to me and Christina, BB was the icon
of icons! Perhaps you have more fun if you bleach your hair.
Willa Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton 'Hound Dog'
Booker T & The MG's 'Green Onions'
James Brown 'I Got You (I Feel Good)'
Magnus Carlsson 'Sexy Naughty Bitchy Me' (wish he was a Rock N' Roller!)
Ray Charles 'I've Got A Woman' & 'What'd I Say'
Eddie Cochran 'Three Steps To Heaven'
Arthur Conley 'Sweet Soul Music'
Bobby Darin 'Splish Splash'
Neil Diamond 'Soolaimon'
Bo Diddley 'Road Runner'
Dire Straits 'Money For Nothing'
Donovan 'Colours'
Lee Dorsey 'Ya Ya' & 'Working In The Coal Mine'
The Drifters 'Under the Boardwalk'
Bob Dylan 'Rollin' and Tumblin', 'Someday baby' & 'Knockin´ On Heaven's Door'
Scott Engel (later Walker/The Walker Brothers) 'The Lady Came From Baltimore', 'Black Sheep Boy', 'Stand By Me' & 'Stay With Me Baby'
Jay Epae 'Putti Putti'
Chris Farlowe & Thunderbirds 'Out of Time'
John Fogerty/Creedence
Clearwater Revival
'Rockin' All Over The World', 'It Came Out Of The Sky' & 'Long
As I Can See The Light'
Frankie Ford
'Sea Cruise'
Aretha Franklin 'I Never Loved A Man'
Marvin Gaye/Kim Weston 'It Takes Two' & 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'
"I think I'll go back to
Sweden!"
Greta Garbo "I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference."
Bill Haley And His Comets 'Rock Around the Clock'
Tim Hardin 'If I Were A Carpenter' & 'Come And Sing A Simple Song Of Freedom'
Slim Harpo 'Baby, Scratch My Back'
Screamin' Jay Hawkins 'I Put a Spell on You'
Roy Head 'Treat Her Right'
Canned Heat 'Refried Boogie Part I and Part II'
Nisse Hellberg - Wilmer X 'Möt Mig i Din Djungel'
John Lee Hooker 'Boom Boom' & 'One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer' & 'Dimples'
Lightnin' Hopkins 'Rock Me Baby'
Howlin' Wolf 'Spoonful'
Mahalia Jackson 'Silent Night'
Wanda Jackson 'Let's Have A Party'
Mick Jagger
The Rolling Stones
'Around and Around'
I saw them at Kungliga Tennishallen, Stockholm,
was it 1965 or 1966 (?) and at a half full Vinterstadion,
Örebro
(17 km from where I was born),
Easter Monday, March 27, 1967
- a tumult concert that nobody will ever forget, who was there (!), and at
Ullevi, Gothenburg, July 31, 1998. On June 10, 2007, they will be back at Ullevi
- at the price of SEK 1140 (!!!),
get your feet back on the ground, Mr Jagger, sorry, SIR! You just can't be satisfied,
can you?
Damita Jo 'I'll Save the Last Dance for You'
Kris Kristofferson 'Me & Bobby McGee'
Brenda Lee 'Sweet Nothin's'
Jerry Lee Lewis 'Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On'
Leadbelly 'Take This Hammer'
Stick McGee "Drinkin Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" (1949 version)
Clyde McPhatter 'Lover Please'
Chris Montez 'Let's Dance'
Tommy Nilsson 'Öppna Din Dörr'
(Elvis Presley 'Burning Love')
Johnny Preston 'Running Bear'
Prince 'Purple Rain' & 'Kiss'
Otis Redding 'That's How Strong My Love Is'
Lou Reed 'Walk On The Wild Side' & 'This Magic Moment'
T Rex 'I Love To Boogie' & 'Get It On'
Little Richard 'Keep A Knockin'
Johnny Rivers 'You Can Have Her' & 'High Heel Sneakers'
Smokey Robinson 'You've Really Got A Hold On Me'
Percy Sledge 'Warm And Tender Love'
Memphis Slim 'Beer Drinking Woman'
Arthur
Smith 'Guitar Boogie' &
'Feudin’ Banjos'
'Guitar
Boogie' was my very first encounter with the Rock N' Roll beat, in
the school gym, must have been some time between 1955-1961, gee, our teacher
made us run,
playing that tune over and over again until we collapsed. And which actually
started off my 'career' as a young athlete (fav event LONG JUMP). The sound was
adopted by me through one of my mother's (still in her teens when I was born)
AND my dear dear grandfather Kasper Wilhelm Swärd's favourites,
Glenn Miller's "In
the Mood", which is still a favourite of mine. I'm telling ya, Rock
N' Roll is in the genes! Glenn Miller is the closest I ever got to jazz, I hate
jazz ...
The Tokens 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'
The Trashmen 'Surfin' Bird'
The Trogs 'Wild Thing'
Ritchie Valens 'My Head'
Gene Vincent 'Be Bop A Lula'
Muddy Waters 'Got My Mojo Working' & 'Rolling Stone' & 'Hootchie Cootchie Man'
If he had said "Jump!", I would have jumped.
Richard Widmark
"Yeah, it's a lot of work being a mean bastard."
"I wouldn’t give you the skin off a grape."
"A lover of dogs and
milk who valued his privacy and craft more than stardom."
Sonny Boy Williamson 'Help Me'
And my dear dear children certainly have kept the Rock N'
Roll flag flying and filled the house with ...Kiss,
ZZ Top,
Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana,
Rammstein,
The Prodigy,
Chemical Brothers,
Fluke (Atom
Bomb), Wu-Tang Clan and now
...
... all of a sudden Johnny Cash (how is
that?)
There's no getting away from Rock N' Roll! It's in
the genes. And I am certainly both CARRIER and AFFECTED!
The term "rhythm &
blues" was coined by Jerry Wexler the same year I was born and the vinyl 12-inch
33-1/3 rpm album
was launched even the same MONTH I was born, no wonder I caught the bug!
The year after the saxophone
became
the centerpiece sound of R&B. Those of you who were there, when Little Richard
did 'Keep A Knocking' at Christinehof Castle
on July 26, 1997, know what the saxophone means to Rock N' Roll!
Here you can listen to some of the great ones.
"It's only Rock 'n Roll but I like it!"
For further reading and research: www.allmusic.com and interview with Ramblin Jack Elliot