You can't stop me from loving you, no, you can't change that (Raydio)

On a recent solo road trip to Dubai I brought along a bespoke driving songs compilation for the Woz-mobile. You know the sort of stuff - songs that can be sung LOUDLY (and really badly) as you're pootling along.

When Raydio's You Can't Change That came on I kept hitting replay. It played about five times on the approach to Dubai Mall.

Raydio housed the awesome talents of Ray Parker Jnr, before he did that Ghostbusters theme and went mega, and the other blokes were terrific as well (they must be cheesed off that these hits are attributed to either Ray Parker Jnr AND Raydio or worse just to Ray).

Here's three of the funky best from Raydio: their first hit Jack and Jill, the awesome You Can't Change That and their biggest hit of all A Woman Needs Love.







And, as a bonus for my eldest son who LOVED dancing around to this on my green 12inch vinyl in the early 80s:

You're so, so like a woman to me (The Hollies)

I’ve just finished reading The Girl In The Song. It’s a nifty little collection about 50 female muses who inspired songs. Something by The Fabs, written by George, is obviously inspired by the wonderful (tonight) Pattie Boyd – everybody knows that but some of the other entries are less well known and fascinating to read.

It seems a bit obvious when I now think about it now but I’d never realized The Hollies Carrie Anne song was about Marianne Faithful. Because Graham Nash was too shy he went with Carrie Anne.

How many songs has Marianne Faithfull inspired?

The Rolling Stones ones are fairly easy to spot: Sister Morphine was partly written by her, Wild Horses, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, I Got The Blues and then there's Lennon’s And Your Bird Can Sing, a wry addition. But there must be loads more.

Anyway - here's The Hollies (without the shy Graham Nash) doing a ripper little version of Carrie Anne.

Fate seems to give my heart a twist (Frank and George and many others)

I seem to be on a 1930s kick at the moment. Maybe it's the Jeeves and Bertie Wooster novel I'm reading and I mentioned Macca's new album in a previous post. He's trotting out his versions of songs by great American songwriters.

I recently picked up a bargain - a double CD collection in the Simply Great... budget series. This one has a collection of songs like Cheek to Cheek, Puttin' On The Ritz, Jeepers Creepers etc.

The one that I immediately knew well was Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, mainly because of the George Harrison version.

Check these out - starting with a blowing Duke Ellington version (in colour!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKb5k3g71YU

That's it, I quit, I'm moving on (Adele)

The theme for this week was going to be resignation songs. There are many songs like the Adele one in the title, about love, but not that many about resigning from a job. I guess it's not the most stimulating subject matter.


And even the most famous example I can think of is actually about someone WISHING he could say, Take This Job And Shove It (by the wonderfully named Johnny Paycheck).

So, instead I'll write about a George Harrison DVD I bought recently. No - not the Marty Scorsese documentary. That is exceptionally good but the latest I've seen is called The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992.

It's great too! Some of the songs and videos from that era are fantastic. Very unsophisticated vids by today's standards but I like their quirky feel.


The DVD contains a fun video of This Song. A song about the plagiarism trial for My Sweet Lord ('this song - there's nothing bright about it' references Bright Songs who own One Fine Day - the song George was charged with stealing). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsUkACDSIZY


And Crackerbox Palace is also great fun, set at George's Friar Park home; it's one of my favourite Hari Georgeson songs from the under-rated 33 1/3 album. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOvnG-WTDXw

Nobody ever loved me like she do me (The Beatles)

Saint Valentine's Day and that means a particular type of song doing the rounds, doesn't it?

I'm not a song writer but I imagine it must be blimmin hard to write a great song on a Valentine's day theme. Too sentimental? Not heart felt enough? Too smaltzy? Rock guitars!! Are you insane? Well clearly Marilyn Manson and Linkin Park are!!

Macca has just had a crack with a song on his latest album (Kisses on the Bottom) - mainly standards but it also contains a couple of new songs, including My Valentine. And if he can't do it - what hope is there?

To celebrate SVD here is the best love song I know. John Lennon's love song to Yoko - Don't Let Me Down.



Some of the best Valentine's songs are actually those that use aspects of the celebration to embellish a story of another hue altogether (definitely not pink fluffy hearts).

Here are two that go that root successfully.

Billy Bragg's bitchy, acerbic Valentine's Day Is Over contains his usual drop dead gorgeous wordplay (in this song drop dead gorgeous is an appropriate phrase): For the girl with the hour glass figure time runs out very fast.



Tom Waits is of a similar talent. As with Billy, I much prefer his early work (generally before Swordfishtrombones, although I do love Rain Dogs). Blue Valentines is a great song. It uses the idea of a Valentine from a stalker like ex lover to create a darker mood.

Some things are meant to be (Elvis)

I discovered a great new NZ band on my recent trip back to Nu Zild.

Like The more famous Phoenix Foundation, Family Cactus come from the capital city - Wellington. My daughter won't be surprised that such great music is coming from the windy city. Actually she introduced me to PF so it's my turn to tell her (and you) about FC.

Sunlight filters through - I feel my head is drifting (Fourmyula)

1. The Exponents – Like She Said (1994)/ Nameless Girl (1992)
2. Blerta - Dance All Around The World (1972)/ Joy Joy (1972)
3. Dragon – Young Years (1989)/ Rain (1984)
4. John Hanlon - Higher Trails (1975)/ Wind Songs (1975)
5. Crowded House - Private Universe (1994)/ Weather With You (1991)
6. Split Enz - Six Months In A Leaky Boat  (1982)/ Split Ends - One Two Nine (1973)
7. Max Merritt and The Meteors - Slippin’ Away (1976)/ Let it Slide (1976)
8. Headband - The Laws Must Change (1971)/ Good Morning Mr Rock N Roll (1971)
9. Citizen Band - My Pohutakawa (1978)/ The Ladder Song (1978)
10. Fourmyula - Nature (1969)/ Lady Scorpio (1969)

Tenth and final entry in the Wozza countdown of the 10 best Nu Zild bands and their two best songs is the song widely acclaimed to be the best NZ song OF ALL TIME.





It's a song that has always been part of my consciousness. Prior to 1969 I was aware of music sure (Beatles on Ed Sullivan; Radio Hauraki; my parents' jazz collection) but I was not aware of any indigenous NZ music. I loved Dinah Lee’s song Do The Blue Beat in 1964 but I had no idea she was a kiwi.

The Fourmyula changed all that with a song so good it has eclipsed everything else they did. Even knowledgeable music lovers would be hard pressed to name another of their songs. It’s not so much that they were one hit wonders – more that the song has since taken on a load of additional cultural baggage that has given it a life of its own.

This ends my run down on some of  my favourite kiwi music moments. There is nothing that compares to the music of your youth and I was fortunate to grow up in NZ. My ears slowly become accepting of the local music – for my money – a lot of it was far superior to much of the pop pap I was hearing on the radio.

Some other great bands could have made this list as they were also a huge part of this fabric:

• Hello Sailor
• Th’ Dudes
• The Datsuns
• Herbs
• Muttonbirds
• Zed
• Swingers
• Supergroove
• Phoenix Foundation

New NZ bands keep coming and keep adding to a rich history. Next post – a recent discovery of just such a group – Family Cactus.

Hey Lord, would ya look out for her tonight and make sure that she's gonna be alright until she's home in here with me (Billy Joel)

1. The Exponents – Like She Said (1994)/ Nameless Girl (1992)
2. Blerta - Dance All Around The World (1972)/ Joy Joy (1972)
3. Dragon – Young Years (1989)/ Rain (1984)
4. John Hanlon - Higher Trails (1975)/ Wind Songs (1975)
5. Crowded House - Private Universe (1994)/ Weather With You (1991)
6. Split Enz - Six Months In A Leaky Boat  (1982)/ Split Ends - One Two Nine (1973)
7. Max Merritt and The Meteors - Slippin’ Away (1976)/ Let it Slide (1976)
8. Headband - The Laws Must Change (1971)/ Good Morning Mr Rock N Roll (1971)
9. Citizen Band - My Pohutakawa (1978)/ The Ladder Song (1978)

Ninth in the Wozza countdown of the 10 best Nu Zild bands and their two best songs is the Chunn brothers'supergroup from the seventies called Citizen Band (a sponsorship deal with Citizen watches was a cunning plan).

Super because Geoff and Mike were from the Enz; Clark and Eccles were from Space Waltz.

I can't remember if I formed an attachment to CB via collecting discs on the Mandrill Records label or after hearing the I Feel Good single which has Good Morning Citizen AND My Pohutakawa on the B side. Or maybe it was the Citizen Band live at Westlake Girls' cassette that Greg or Kevy gave me (not sure who it was - both had an attachment to CB; Greg might remember - he's younger than me and has a much sharper memory. I believe he even belonged to the CB fan club but that could be just idle speculation).

However way it happened - it happened and we all fell for the Brent Eccles Muldoon impressions, the twangy guitar of Greg Clark, the gifted Geoff Chunn songs and the humour from Mike Chunn.

All came together on their first album in particular and on this early single mentioned above (the redone LP version of My Pohutakawa does not improve on the single version in my humble opinion).

The band flamed out after two studio albums and a dull live album. If they'd asked I would have supplied the Live At Westlake Girls' tape - now that one had the goods!

[Sorry - nothing on youtube for either of these two songs.]

Long as I have you by my side there's a roof above and good walls all around (Billy Joel)

1. The Exponents – Like She Said (1994)/ Nameless Girl (1992)
2. Blerta - Dance All Around The World (1972)/ Joy Joy (1972)
3. Dragon – Young Years (1989)/ Rain (1984)
4. John Hanlon - Higher Trails (1975)/ Wind Songs (1975)
5. Crowded House - Private Universe (1994)/ Weather With You (1991)
6. Split Enz - Six Months In A Leaky Boat  (1982)/ Split Ends - One Two Nine (1973)
7. Max Merritt and The Meteors - Slippin’ Away (1976)/ Let it Slide (1976)
8. Headband - The Laws Must Change (1971)/ Good Morning Mr Rock N Roll (1971)

At number eight in the Wozza countdown of the 10 best Nu Zild bands and their two best songs is the mighty Headband (grooving).

I have Led Zeppelin to thank for introducing me to Headband. When they toured NZ in 1972 Robert Plant and Jimmy Page raved about a local band whose album they loved - Happen Out by Headband.

By 1972 I was a huge Led Zep fan so if they said it was a great album, then I had to have it. At the time I was only vaguely aware of a NZ rock music scene. I'd watched C'Mon and Happen Inn - two local TV shows - but they were largely made up of locals rehashing the hits of the day or singers with strange voices like Mr. Lee Grant or Bunny Walters. Not my cup of tea.

So Happen Out was a major wake up call for me. And the biggest wake up call of all was the lengthy wig out that was Headband's version of the John Mayall song, The Laws Must Change.

The sound is amazing. It still feels like the band have just walked into your living room, picked up their instruments and gone to work. Jimmy Hill, on drums, is in particularly awesome form and Billy Kristian's guitar work is great throughout. Then factor in the grizzled veteran Tommy Adderley on harp and vocals and you have the recipe for greatness.

Good Morning Mr Rock'n'Roll is a great call to arms (similar to Zep's Rock'n'Roll, also from 1971).

I know it's a cliche but they don't make bands like Headband any more, more's the pity.