A One's
Cocker Spaniels
Rock N' Roll! had an even bigger impact on my
teenage years than dogs. 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.
Eric Bibb
THE Blues lives in Stockholm!
My son Carl and I visited Fasching on March 13, 2010.
This is what we heard!
It rolled all right. And a voice to die for. Bibb is my man!
"Keep it simple, forget all that fancy stuff".
True blues aficionados take to the highway just about
anywhere to catch a performance by Bibb. And so Tomas and I did.
Here's Tell Riley, with Bibb & Astner for you,
at Village (Västerås) on April 21, 2010. Enjoy! That music really knocks me out!
Willa Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton 'Hound Dog'
Booker T & The MG's 'Green Onions'
James Brown 'I Got You (I Feel Good)'
Magnus Carlsson (a potential Rock N' Roller!) 'Sexy Naughty Bitchy Me' 'Ring Ring' (singsong)
Ray Charles 'I've Got A Woman' & 'What'd I Say'
Eddie Cochran 'Three Steps To Heaven'
Arthur Conley 'Sweet Soul Music'
Dire Straits 'Money For Nothing'
Willie Dixon 'My Babe' (by Little Walter)
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'
Can't find Dylan's great version so here is one with my
old favourites Canned Heat.
cf R L Burnside
'Rollin' and Tumblin'
Scott Engel
(later Walker/The
Walker Brothers) 'The Lady Came From Baltimore', 'Black Sheep Boy', 'Stand
By Me' & 'Stay With Me Baby'
Can't find 'Black Sheep Boy' with Scott Engel so
here is a version with
Tim Hardin.
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'
Mickey Hawks & the Night Raiders
'Bip Bop Boom'
Used to listen to a radio program on Swedish radio
with Svante Grundberg in the 80s, called Bip Bop Boom and Hawks's tune was the
jingle of the program.
Canned Heat 'Refried Boogie Part I and Part II' (not original version)
Nisse Hellberg - Wilmer X 'Möt Mig i Din Djungel'
John Lee Hooker 'Boom Boom' & 'One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer' & 'Dimples'
Lightnin' Hopkins 'Baby Please Don't Go'
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?
Waylon Jennings (can't find Johnny River's version) 'You Can Have Her'
Damita Jo 'I'll Save the Last Dance for You'
Kris Kristofferson 'Me & Bobby McGee'
Jerry Lee Lewis
'Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On'
Larz Kristerz
'Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On'
(dance band, ok, but good musicians and they just LOVE
what they're doing and they ROCK and they certainly ROLL!)
Stefan Nykvist (2009)
(of Larz Kristerz)
'Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On'
(listen to that guitarist!)
'Run Run Rudolph'
This guy is going to make a name of himself!
Haven't heard rock like this since Shakin' Stevens! This is rock'n'roll revived
in 2009!
Stick McGee "Drinkin Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" (1949 version)
Clyde McPhatter 'Lover Please'
Tommy Nilsson 'Öppna Din Dörr'
Prince 'Purple Rain' & 'Kiss'
Chris Rea 'Let's Dance'
Lou Reed 'Walk On The Wild Side' & 'This Magic Moment'
T Rex 'I Love To Boogie' & 'Bang a Gong (Get It On)'
Little Richard 'Keep A Knockin'
Johnny Rivers 'You Can Have Her' & 'High Heel Sneakers' (here with The Rolling Stones, sorry, can't find it with Rivers)
Smokey Robinson 'You've Really Got A Hold On Me'
Scotts
Fröken Fräken
(dance band rock, not bad at all, as long as it
rolls!)
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 Trogs 'Wild Thing'
Gene Vincent 'Be Bop A Lula'
This is the closest I could get to the fast true
rock'n'roll version of 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'
Great O V Wright 'That's How Strong My Love Is'
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