Download    It’s summer, at last, and that brings the Beach Boys into your set list.  I was never a huge fan – always thought there were just too many layers of vocals and sounded more like a barbershop quartet on steroids to me.  But they are rock’n’roll icons and represent a better side of the music industry.  Long live the Beach Boys!

They formed their band in 1961 in Hawthorne, California at the beginning of the “California Sound” – music that reflected a southern California youth culture of surf, romance, and cars.  Their sound was simple and pretty straightforward at first, but then Brian Wilson started experimenting with vocal overdubs in the studio and the song “Surfin’ USA” emerged as a result of that tinkering – heavy on the vocals and harmonies while the instrumentation became secondary.   Just a few more guitar and organ tracks would have made me a happy camper, Brian.

I had fun putting this song together – especially the organ solo in the middle.  They used a Hammond B3 (cumbersome) in the studio, but went with a Farfisa when on the road (much easier to haul around).  And I had to use every choir and “ooohh” voice sound I had – just to get that “Beach Boy” effect.  Sorry about the clarinet as the lead vocal, but you’ll cut that anyway.  So, if you’re doing any beach gigs this year you might use these backups for at least one Beach Boy tune…. in between the Jimmy Buffett.

Beach jobs are my personal favorite.  I remember one summer playing so close to the surf we could feel the spray.  Then there was the salty air and the bikinis and the breeze and bikinis and the sun and … did I mention bikinis?  ‘Course, at that time my lead singer was my wife, so I had to pretend the bikinis weren’t there……. but they were.

(Pop/Rock List)

  Download Here    Ask a singer to do a Jimmy Buffett tune and nine times out of ten it will be “Margaritaville”.  Or “Volcano”.  Or, worse yet…. “Cheeseburger in Paradise”.  All great songs, to be sure…. but WAY overdone.  I’m just as guilty as anyone, having played these songs thousands of times over the years. But, for some reason, “Come Monday” always gets put on the back burner.

It’s Jimmy’s first Top 40 single, recorded in 1974 as a tribute to his wife who stayed home much of the time he was on tour.  When he sings the first line “Headed out to San Francisco – for the Labor Day weekend show” he’s talking about a specific concert in 1973 when it was especially hard to leave her.  The third line “I’ve got my Hush Puppies on” had to be changed to “I’ve got my hiking shoes on” on the single version.  Some radio stations at that time wouldn’t let a brand name be mentioned in any record.

The irony of this piece is that Monday is the day most people dread as the beginning of a work week.  But with a full time musician it’s just the opposite.  It makes me wonder why Monday is so far from Friday but Friday is so close to Monday.  That’s not fair.

(Pop/Rock List)

  Download    Sixteen-year-old Alex Chilton stepped into a Memphis recording studio for the first time on a Saturday morning in 1967.  He was handed the lyrics to a song called “The Letter” and told to “sing gruff” – hard for one so young, I’ll bet.  The only claim to fame he had so far was he and his young band winning a “Battle of the Bands” at a local YMCA.  They called themselves “The Devilles” at the time , but soon changed the name to “The Box Tops” – nobody seems to know why.

Anyway, they had a number one hit on their hands and proved to be too young and naive to handle the fame.  A series of managers and agents took advantage of their innocence and group members changed almost constantly.  They did manage to put out three albums, but none of their songs was anything like the hit they had with “The Letter””… well, maybe “Cry Like a Baby’ was a close second.  By 1972, this iconic “blue-eyed soul group” was finished.

If you do a 60’s set, “The Letter” is a great start to the set.  I noticed when I was putting this together that the last 12 bars (with no vocals) uses the same organ chords as “I’m a Believer” by The Monkees.  Well… a little plagiarism here?  Who knew?  This tune is also the shortest song (less than 2 minutes) to hit number one on the Billboard charts.  Absolutely perfect to start your 60’s set.

(Backup tracks on the Pop/Rock list)

  Right-Click to Save    “Hey nonny ding dong, alang alang alang, boom ba-doh, ba-doo ba-doodle-ay”.  Okay, the opening lyrics to this tune are just plain goofy, but they’re fun and that’s what this song is all about.  If you’re looking for a cute little ditty that’ll entertain your audience and make them tap their feet, this one never fails.  We started doing “Sh’Boom” about fifteen years ago and it made me go buy a vocal harmony processor to have even more fun with it.  Even young crowds liked it and I always got a smile from the club manager – and that’s a good thing.

“Sh’Boom” is an early doo-wop song written in 1954 by members of the R&B group The Chords.  The song was also recorded that same year by The Crew Cuts and that version became the mainstream hit.  It stayed #1 on the charts for nine weeks and has been covered by, well… almost everybody.  It is the quintessential example of what doo-wop was all about – one lead vocal and 2 or 3 backup singers doing tricky things behind the lead.  This kind of music just makes me happy – and there’s not a word about beating up women or killing cops.  In case you hadn’t noticed, I hate hip-hop… doesn’t make me the least bit happy (just an aside).

So trot this one out to your younger crowds (the older ones already know and love it).  This is a long arrangement but it’ll keep your people on the dance floor for awhile.  I used flute and trombone on the first two tracks for vocals, but mute those tracks and there’s plenty of room for two or three or four singers to doo-wop themselves all over the place.  And remember… life can be a dream – if you do it right.

(Pop/Rock list)

  Download    This is us doing that great John Sebastian tune “What a Day for a Daydream”.  Sebastian grew up listening to folk music in the Greenwich Village section of lower Manhatten and eventually  formed his group “The Lovin’ Spoonful” in 1964.  Their first gig together was so bad the manager told them to go away and practice.  Obviously they did, because the Lovin Spoonful had numerous hits through the 60’s which are still played today.  Apparently that’s true – we’re even still doing them.  “Day Dream” has always been one of my favorite songs to perform.

At the peak of their success, the producers of the television series The Monkees wanted to base their program around the Lovin’ Spoonful but dropped the band from the project due to song publishing rights.  That’s too bad since not one member of The Monkees could play a musical instrument – they were all actors!  Their whole career was a sham, but that’s Hollywood.  The “Spoonful” were the real deal, largely because of Sebastian’s songwriting ability and smooth vocals.

I based our arrangement largely on the original, but I wanted something different in the middle.  So I worked up a kind of Dixieland solo that some people might consider odd – but consider the source.  And the whistling at the end isn’t either one of us – the keyboard has a pretty good “whistle” sound.  The ending is kind of abrupt, but it can be faded out.  It’s a live recording, so I couldn’t tweak it.  Singers, if you like this sequence, feel free to download the midi backing tracks from the Pop/Rock list.  Won’t cost you a dime – I’m just that nice.