There was also this catchy song on the radio about a bullfrog named “Jeremiah” that was into its second week at number one on the charts…

“Joy To The World” started out as a filler tune written for an animated television show called “The Happy Song”. Written by Hoyt Axton, a singer/songwriter living in San Francisco in the late 60′s, Axton was becoming known for being able to write songs filled with lyrical honesty,  matching that with an equal ability to create musical stories with the words he wrote.

Axton’s creativity was nurtured by his mother. Mae Axton would have her own success, co-writing “Heartbreak Hotel” and claiming to have been the person responsible for introducing Elvis Presley to Colonel Tom Parker.

The TV show that Hoyt was writing for never got to production. The baritone country folksinger had been opening for Three Dog Night on tour in 1969, and one night backstage, he played  the song for Three Dog Night singer Chuck Negron, who was enchanted by the happy yet simple lyrics. Axton admitted the “Jeremiah was a bull frog” lyrics were just filler for the song, never intending to actually use them.

The rest of Three Dog Night were hesitant to record something that bordered on novelty, but Negron convinced the band that the song would be a good balance to the material being considered for their next album.

“Joy to The World” appeared as a filler song itself on Three Dog Night’s album “Naturally”. It was the last song added to the album at the last-minute. No one thought of it as a potential single.

In the spring of 1971, a few months after the album had been released, a Seattle radio station began playing  Joy To The World after a disc jockey randomly played the song from the album on his show. Listeners began calling the station, wanting to hear that “Jeremiah was a bullfrog song!”

The bullfrog named Jeremiah began leapfrogging up the charts. Dunhill Records raced to release it as a single. Little did they know how massive the song would become, staying at number one for six straight weeks and eventually becoming Song Of The Year and the biggest selling record of 1971.

Hoyt Axton would become known for writing songs for dozens of other artists including Elvis, The Kingston Trio, Steppenwolf, John Denver and Ringo Starr.

“He always had some mighty fine wine”

A “bullfrog” by the way, is a nickname in New Orleans for a drunk.  

With team mascots, sports bars and festivals named after the happy little hopper, Jeremiah the bullfrog has become part of Americana.

Arm full of 45′s-check

Fog machine-check

Strobe light-check

Mirror ball? It’s a rental…they promised to be here by 5pm.

As I test out the turntables with a few selections, I look for songs that have a royal theme to them. There are a lot of them:

Duke Of Earl – Gene Chandler

Interesting hit. The song started out as a vocal method for warming up the voice of Eugene Dixon, who added lyrics to the practice. His group “The Dukays” originally recorded it, Vee Jay records bought the rights to the song, made Eugene change his name to “Gene Chandler” and released the record under his name. It hit number one in 1962.

Best line of the song?

“We’ll walk through my Duke-dom and paradise we will share.” 

I’m Henry The VIII, I Am - Herman’s Hermits

“Second verse, same as the first.”

A big hit in Britain in 1910? You bet. A favorite in British music halls, it was performed with a heavy cockney accent. “Hen-ery the VIII” was covered in 1965 by Peter Noone with the Hermits and actually became the fastest selling single in music history up to that point. A novelty song for Herman’s Hermits, it became their 9th top ten hit hitting number one during the summer of ’65.

Best line in the song?

“She wouldn’t have a Willy or a Sam (no Sam!)”

I’m A King Bee – Slim Harpo

One of the great records of the 1950′s. Originally written and recorded by one of the all time great harp players. Slim Harpo and the harmonica were synonymous. The song was one of the original selections the Rolling Stones chose to perform live when they began doing gigs. Mick Jagger admits however, their version doesn’t come close to the original from Slim. It’s been covered live by the Grateful Dead,  Led Zeppelin, The Doors and don’t forget about John Belushi’s classic SNL skit with him performing this in a yellow bumble bee outfit!

Best line in the song?

“Well, when you hear me buzzin’ baby – some stingin’ is goin’ on.”

Little Queenie – Chuck Berry

This is Chuck Berry at his original best. This was the sound that made young kids like Jimmy Page and Keith Richards want to play Rock-N-Roll on the guitar. Filled with original Chuck Berry riffs that would be copied and expanded on in countless other tunes through the decades, the Rolling Stones couldn’t resist recording this themselves. REO Speedwagon does an impressive cover of this classic rocker as well.

Best line in the song?

“Why, she’s too cute to be a minute over seventeen.”

The Royal Scam – Steely Dan

One of the darker albums by the band, the song dealt with American immigration from Puerto Rico in the 1950′s as many Puerto Ricans were moving to America in search of a better life. What they found was vast discrimination and the feeling that corporate America was forcing them into cheap labor.

Best line in the song?

“Every patron saint hung on the wall. Shared the room with twenty sinners.”

King Creole – Elvis Presley

A song about a King from the King! Many considered this movie the best out of the 33 feature films that Elvis Presley made. The part was originally offered to James Dean, who died before production got underway. The film took a different direction with Elvis playing the lead, concentrating more on the music with his character, Danny Fisher. This was the last look and sound of the 50′s Elvis. Twelve days after the film was made, the King would shave off his sideburns and go into the army.

  Best line in the song?

“He holds his guitar like a tommy gun.”  

King Tut – Steve Martin

As we move from the monarchy to the Nile, Steve Martin came up with the idea of this song from all the hype the Tut Exhibition was receiving touring the US back in 1976. The song was performed by Steve backed up by the “Toot Uncommons” who were really the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Another memorable skit on SNL.

Best line in the song?

“He coulda won a grammy, buried in his jammies – King Tut” 

Uh…oh. Her Royal Majesty just requested Roger Miller’s “King Of The Road” and I don’t have it.

Off to the gallows….

Those two subjects would be politics and religion.

Because the two are so prominent in the news these days, (what days are they not?) I thought I would cover them in one quick  bloggy statement:

“Let me put my hand on the bible and swear to you that I won’t write about the upcoming election.”

‘Nuff said.

Today is Good Friday.

Today is also Earth Day.

I hope some day, Earth Day will mean as much to people as their politics or their chosen faith.

Wait, let me rephrase that:

I hope some day, Earth Day will mean more  to people than their politics or their chosen faith.

Mother Earth at the very least, deserves equal billing.

If God created Earth, then that leaves politics to create and enforce decisions to make sure it’s kept healthy and unspoiled. A little faith in the human race wouldn’t hurt either.

I’ll show you a picture now, of the moment that changed more people’s minds about the Earth and its delicate environment than any other event in history to date: 

In December of 1968, newspapers and magazines first published this remarkable picture. It was the first time anyone on the Earth had looked at a color photograph of our planet from space.

It wasn’t from a movie set, or a comic book. It was real and authentic and all together overwhelming.

Until then, people only saw the moon and stars and had never looked at an actual photograph of the world they were living on.

The picture is so quiet. So astonishing.

It began changing the way people were thinking about how we were treating this magnificent home of ours.

So people started talking about this picture, which led to meetings of people in larger groups, which began forcing governments to concentrate more on environmental issues and the responsibility we all have as residents on this planet to maintain and improve what we have been handed down through the short time people have been living on good ‘ole Mother Earth.

If you compressed the lifespan of Earth so far, into one year, human existence on the planet would only amount to 2 seconds of one day out of the 365. 

Mother Earth is everything. You and I are here for a very short time and she knows that.

That’s why she puts up with us even though, we treat her so poorly.

Happy Earth Day!

At the very least, think of her today as much as your politics and religion.

It’s a melody that seems to fit with the rebirth of spring and the feeling of comfort one gets when you have the chance to return to a favorite moment or place that was cherished a long time ago.

Welcome to the 75th playing of…The Masters.

For me, it’s the 40th anniversary of sitting in front of the television watching an invited field of eighty or so of the worlds best golfers have the chance to compete in golf’s first major title of the year.

It was the first time I can remember watching a sporting event on television. It was 1971, the year my family first bought a color television set and forked out five bucks a month to also be hooked up to something that had just been out a few years. It was called cable tv. I watched Charles Coody hold off Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller to win the 35th Masters.

That spring, I discovered the feeling of being a sports fan.

I didn’t yet understand the relation to par, and I only knew that the term birdie or eagle  was “really good,”  but I understood that the goal of the game was to hit a ball into a hole in as few shots as possible.

I began to watch with equal interest and fascination. I wanted to try to do what the golfers were doing, and I loved where they were doing it. The landscape looked so perfect…so beautiful.

There they were, golfers striding up a long expanse of perfectly mown grass, the sides roped off with thousands of people behind them eagerly watching every movement and swing of the competitors.

They appeared like royalty to me. And they were playing a game on a piece of land that I thought was only reserved for kings.

I only know of one king that has ever played there. Arnold Palmer didn’t get that title by birthright, he earned it playing at Augusta.

I think the thing that gets me about Augusta is that we get to revisit the course every year. And the tradition?

Well…

The reason why it appears so rich in history and tradition is because it is actually the youngest of golf’s four major titles. The “Open” the British Open, is the oldest of championships beginning in 1860. The US Open was first held in 1895. The PGA championship in 1916.

Then came along The Masters or “The Augusta Invitational” as it was originally called, in 1934.

Now 77 years later, (the tournament was suspended from 1943-45 during WWII) it appears to have more tradition than the other three because it continues to be the closest resemblance of what professional golf used to be like, in appearance, and in formality. It is tradition and etiquette that was invented for the sole purpose of being preserved, magnified and accentuated more than any other sporting event. And that includes the Olympics, friends.

How do they do it?

Since the Masters is the only major golf tournament played at the same course every year, the Augusta National Golf Club grants the television rights to CBS at a relatively low-cost compared to the other three majors. In return, the club continues to have control over how the tournament is run, and how it is presented on TV.

“Augusta National along with CBS and it’s sponsors, is pleased once again to bring you The Masters, providing live coverage for 56 minutes out of every hour. We hope this presentation, with limited interruptions, will add to your enjoyment of The Masters.” 

Here are some things that you may not know about The Masters:

• It invented the over/under system in relation to par, something we take for granted when counting up our score today.
• It was the first golf tournament to have “gallery ropes” that line the fairway to separate the players and the patrons.
• There is still no advertising on the golf course. you won’t see placards pasted around the tee boxes, and you won’t find any big white corporate tents selling merchandise or accepting ticket stubs to get you into the beer garden.
• Parking is ten bucks. Pimento cheese sandwiches are just $1.50
• The Augusta National Golf Club has never sold french fries. Club and tournament co-founder Clifford Roberts hated them. His decision is still enforced.
• There hasn’t been a ticket available for the Masters since 1972. People that have Masters tickets have first right to purchase them again for the next year. The tickets have become so sacred, people now leave legal instructions in their will so that they will be kept “in the family.”
• If you win The Masters tournament, you are invited to come back and play it again every year for the rest of your life. No other golf tournament allows this gracious invite.

Now, forty years later, I still get excited when the snow begins to melt and the date begins to creep into April. It’s that same feeling I get when I’ve booked a Saturday tee time a week in advance and I methodically go over the course I’m playing in my head, what ball I’m going to use, what shirt I’m going  to wear, should I take the driver out on that tight par 4?

And it’s only Monday.

Enjoy the Masters. We’ll see you out on the course.

Next to the Panama Canal, Winnipeg’s creation of the Red River Floodway was the biggest earth moving project the world had ever known. It was a design so big and so complex, it has been listed as one of the 16 greatest engineering achievements that shaped the world since biblical times.

                                         The Winnipeg Floodway Gates in 1968

After six years and 2.75 billion cubic feet of earth being moved, “Duff’s Ditch” was ready to channel the high spring run-off of the Red River.

And like the slow rise of the Red, a song that had been released at the beginning of the year had slowly been rising and building momentum.

The song sounded a bit sad and lonely. But it also sounded lazy and carefree. It was a song that people were whistling, one of those tunes that you could hear just once, and remember the melody like you’ve heard it a thousand times.

And most of us have.

Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay was  released exactly one month after a plane crash in Madison, Wisconsin took the life of the 26 yer old singer, who grew up in Georgia, but wrote his most famous song sitting on a rented houseboat in a marina located in Sausalito, a oceanside community located near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

           The view Otis Redding saw of San Francisco Bay while writing “Sittin’ On” (The Dock Of The Bay)

He had recorded the song just three days before his death, with the song not quite finished. The whistling you hear Otis performing at the end of the record was improvised, as he and co-writer/producer Steve Cropper had not decided on what lyrics to use for the final verse. 

That’s the way you hear the song today.

On March 16th 1968, (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay reached the top of the charts and stayed there for a month. It was the first time in Billboard history that a number one song was attained posthumously by an artist.

It was Redding’s first number one record. And his last.

A hundred years from now, Winnipeg will still be talking about flooding in the spring, and hoping the floodway can handle the run-off.

A hundred years from now they’ll still be whistlin’ that tune.

The date: October 15th 1971. Madison Square Garden, New York City.

The Event: the 7th Annual Rock-N-Roll Revival Show.

It was a concert that featured a collection of artists who were unearthed on stage and on vinyl in the 1950′s. They were the musical roots that allowed Rock-N-Roll to grow.

There was Chuck Berry on stage, doing his famous duckwalk while reeling off  hits like Maybelline, Sweet Little Sixteen and Johnny B Goode. Fats Domino, pounding out Blueberry Hill and Ain’t That A Shame on his piano. Bill Haley, singing the first rock anthem “Rock Around The Clock”- his hair still slicked back with that familiar kiss curl hanging down on his forehead.

The audience was gushing in memories and loving every back beat coming from the stage. After yet another brief intermission to rearrange the stage for the next act, the nights MC, legendary promoter Richard Nadar introduced the next act.

“Ladies and Gentleman would you please give a warm welcome for Rick Nelson!”

Out on stage walked Rick waving to the crowd as he plugged in and set himself up to sing.

The person the audience saw onstage, was not the person they associated with the name. It wasn’t Ricky from the 50′s, the teenage pop idol who literally grew up in front of Americans on television as little Ricky Nelson on the hugely popular Ozzie & Harriet show, it was just Rick now, and the more mature Nelson didn’t resemble what the crowd remembered from the fabulous fifties: his hair was grown out shoulder length, he wore a purple velvet sequined shirt with bell-bottomed pants and was barely recognizable to most simply because he had not been in the spotlight since his last hit in 1963.

Rick took to the stage and began playing his set with a few of his 50′s hits, then began performing his new material with his Stone Canyon Band. The songs had a smooth country rock feel to them. The Stone Canyon Band once feature a young 25-year-old bassist named Randy Meisner, who would later join Poco, then help form the first lineup of a new band called The Eagles.

The crowd didn’t get it.

A loud rumble of booing began to sweep over the Garden. Rick Nelson was experiencing something he had never felt before: An unappreciative audience.

It affected Rick deeply. So much in fact that he went home after the show and began writing about the experience:

I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name
No one recognized me, I didn’t look the same

But it’s all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

It was a special song for Rick. Up until that time, Nelson rarely wrote his own hits and a year later Garden Party would sit for three months on the charts and introduce the 50′s star to a new audience.

“Anything more on the Coyotes situation?”

“Should we keep the name Winnipeg Jets?”

“What should the colors of the uniform be?”

“We should invite Bobby Hull to drop the puck opening night.”

“Any more seats going in at MTS Centre?”

With momentum building here for an NHL club to return, the most since the team left for Phoenix in 1996, I thought it would be interesting to take a musical step back  to the year the Winnipeg Jets stepped on the ice for the first time as a team.

On October 15th, 1972 local Winnipeg entrepeneur, and now chief owner of the Winnipeg Jets,  Benjamin (Bennie) Hatskin was high aloft in the owners box at Winnipeg arena receiving more handshakes and hugs and leaning out of the box looking down at the sold out crowd focusing on center ice as the puck was about to be dropped on the first home game in Winnipeg Jets history.

It had been a whirlwind year for Hatskin. The 55-year-old from the North End had kept his promise to the city by delivering a professional hockey club. All through the year, Hatskin had been in the news updating Jets fans on the ventures the club would be involved in, future radio and television deals, and of course, the signings of the players including the “Golden Jet” Bobby Hull.

Ben Hatskin was the most colorful and popular person in Winnipeg.

It’s only fitting then, that the number one song on the charts that October night in Winnipeg back in 1972 was “Ben” by Michael Jackson.

Originally offered to Donny Osmond, it was Michael’s first hit as a solo performer reaching number one the week the Winnipeg Jets took the ice for the first time as a professional team.

And then here comes Bennie & The Jets…

The Winnipeg Jets were in a playoff battle when Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets” hit number one in April of 1974. It seemed the song title was made for the marriage of Ben Hatskin and the Winnipeg Jet hockey club. I remember Ken “the Friar” Nicholson singing this on the radio every time he was talking Jet hockey with Bennie Hatskin.

Although Bennie and the Jets sounded like it was recorded live in concert, it wasn’t. The record was made to sound live using recordings of the crowd at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver during an Elton John concert the previous year mixed in with a studio version Elton had recorded.

Paul McCartney and Wings – Jet

 ”Jet” was a single off the lp Band On The Run that would become one of the biggest selling albums of 1974 only being outdone by Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” which contained the hit ”Bennie and the Jets”. (see how this is all tying together nicely?)

The song’s inspiration actually came from McCartney’s dog, a black Labrador Retriever pup by the name of Jet. It was popular here in the city to add an S to the name every time the song shouted out “Jet”!!

Of course, all of this is sheer coincidence when it comes right down to it. But isn’t it wonderful how things sometimes magically work their own way? 

Whatever the hockey team is called when the NHL returns to Winnipeg, I hope that same magic will be stirred again in the hopes of keeping the popularity of the club at a peak, so that the sadness of the day when the Jets went away never has to be repeated.

It was added as an afterthought to Grand Funk’s album “Shinin’ On”. Producer Todd Rundgren always liked the sound and feel of the Beach Boys “Barbara Ann” with it’s loose atmosphere, sounding like the record had been recorded in someone’s livingroom during a house party. Todd convinced the band to take this hand-clapping approach at the beginning of the record, then drop into the more heavier Grand Funk style.

It became the biggest selling Grand Funk single reaching #1 during the spring of ’74. An all time classic, written by Carol King and her husband Gerry Goffin and orginally recorded by their live-in nanny, Eva Boyd. It was King that suggested her stage name “Little Eva”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxyU4W8iyeI&playnext=1&list=PL09C56DD58CDB2F16