Download    Maurice White named his band Earth, Wind, and Fire because those were the elements in his astrological chart.  Do you know what your elements are?  Me neither.  Name notwithstanding, this band has put out some mighty fine music over the span of several generations.

Maurice formed his first “cookin’ little band” in a Memphis high school with his childhood friend Booker T. Jones, who later formed “Booker T. and the M.G.’s” (Green Onions).  Maurice went on to play drums for the Ramsey Lewis Trio in the late 60’s, performing on nine of their albums.  He left the trio in 1969 and began writing commercials with two friends in the Chicago area.  Why anyone would ever leave Ramsey Lewis is beyond me, but Maurice had bigger things in mind.

The song I’m featuring here and begging you to put in your stage act is “That’s the Way of the World”.  Earth, Wind, and Fire were commissioned to write the theme song for a movie of the same name about the darker side of the recording industry.  The movie was a bomb and the band knew it.  Maurice elected to release this song before the movie actually premiered and that proved to be a shrewd move.  It became their breakthrough hit and the rest, as they say, is history.

Maurice White died peacefully in his sleep last Thursday morning from the effects of Parkinson’s disease.  Another great one gone, folks.  I’m afraid this is going to be a very rough year.

  Right-Click to Download    “Open up the window – let some air into this room… I think I’m almost chokin’ – from the smell of stale perfume…And that cigarette you’re smokin’ – ’bout to scare me half to death… Open up the window – let me catch my breath”.

This is just one of the strange verses from a strange song recorded by the equally strange rock group Three Dog Night (remember, those guys also sang a song about a talking bullfrog who drank some mighty fine wine).  “MaMa Told Me Not to Come” is about an apparently sheltered young man attending his first “wild party” – his mother had warned him not to go and you should always listen to your mother.  It was written by Randy Newman for Eric Burden and The Animals in 1966.  The “Animals” version is just pathetic (google the video).  Luckily,  Three Dog Night came along in 1970 and put out a cover that was both rollicking and comic.  Worth re-doing today.

The problem with producing backups for this tune is the lead line.  The only real singing is in the chorus – the verses are all pretty much spoken words.  That’s hard to duplicate on a keyboard but you’ll get the idea (backups on the Pop/Rock list).  Learn this one and bring it back as a “golden oldie” – your mama will love you for it.

  Download    File this one under “bizarre”… but fascinating.  “Bohemian Rhapsody” has no chorus, but is a “suite” of music consisting of 5 separate sections: the intro, the ballad, the opera, hard rock, and a reflective coda – all in the space of six minutes.  Written by Freddie Mercury with the band Queen, it’s a song you either love or vehemently hate.  Personally, I could go either way… but a trio of singers in Texas requested backups to it and this is the best I can do.

The intro is gorgeous – 4 part harmony like nobody’s business.  The ballad section has nice piano and tells a story of our hero killing a man and informing his mother “it doesn’t really matter” (oh…okay). The operatic passage (the Mamma Mia part) is quite thrilling and again with the wonderful harmony.  I always think of  the movie “Wayne’s World” when I hear the hard rock suddenly come out of nowhere.  Then it’s a sweet, soul-searching ending that belies the inherent violence of the song.  It’s a journey through one man’s psyche that showcases innocence, loneliness, and utter acceptance of the inevitable – death.  Pardon me if I wax philosophical but, damn… this song is dynamic!

It’s also extremely difficult to play.  The piano part was no problem, but when you try to add intricate vocal harmonies (at least what sorta-kinda sounds like vocals) and distorted guitars and kettledrums, well…. it gets challenging.  Hope Texas likes this one – I know we’ll never attempt to perform it. 

  Download    It is not my intention to turn this little blog into an obit column, but we’ve lost several giants in the music industry in a relatively short period of time.  In recent days, Natalie Cole and David Bowie have been taken from us.  Now, Glenn Frey, co-founder of The Eagles, has passed away.  If you’re under the age of 70, you grew up listening to the many hits of this band:  Best of My Love, Lyin’ Eyes, Heartache Tonight, Already Gone, Hotel California, Tequila Sunrise – just to name of few.  Glenn Frey had a hand in writing and performing all of those songs – he’ll be sorely missed.

“Take It Easy” was recorded by The Eagles in 1972 with Glenn Frey singing lead vocals.  It was their first single and was the opening track on their debut album.  Jackson Browne (another super talent) actually began writing the song but never completed it.  Our Mr. Frey finished it for him by adding more lyrics and got permission to record it with his new band.   The most memorable verse is “Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona – such a fine sight to see – It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford – slowin’ down to take a look at me”.

Because that second verse got so famous, the city of Winslow, Arizona erected a bronze statue (life-size) and mural commemorating the song.  The statue stands near a lamp post, the male figure holding an acoustic guitar.  Above his head there is a sign with the words “Standin’ on the Corner”.  The mural behind the statue is of a storefront with a window that reflects a red flatbed Ford pickup driven by a blonde-haired woman.  If you look closely at the picture above, you can see an eagle sitting on the upper left window.  Very cool.

As a singer, you should have some “Eagles” in your repertoire and this song is a good place to start (download my backup track on the Pop/Rock list).  Easy to sing, a good solid rock beat, and now you have a story to tell as you introduce this great tune.

Watch Glenn and the boys do this song on the link below:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=take+it+easy+video&view=detail&mid=FDA4AB9CE2107322B79AFDA4AB9CE2107322B79A&FORM=VIRE9

  Download    Your dance floor is packed and the final chord of “Old Time Rock’n’Roll” still hangs in the air. The crowd is cheering and clapping – wanting more. It’s that pivotal moment in the third set that every band waits for – when you’ve got the crowd in the palm of your hand. It’s time for…. the Conga line!

“Conga” is the signature song of The Miami Sound Machine with Gloria Estefan taking the lead.  It’s a great combination of fast, clever lyrics and a very busy Latin rhythm section – lots of congas, of course.  Our arrangement gives you plenty of time to talk to the crowd (“Everybody join the conga line!”) with elongated drum solos at the beginning.  You’ll get the first three brass section chords to establish the key, the singer does one chorus line to introduce the song (I’m using flute as the lead vocal), a piano interlude, then use the eight-bar drum solo to get the crowd up and forming a line.  From there, your singer can easily follow the movement of the song and come in at the right time with verses and chorus.  Easy arrangement and guaranteed to create beautiful chaos on the dance floor.

Nobody can resist a conga line as it wildly slides by your table – you just have to jump in.  This song is happy and fun and the beat is infectious.  If you’re new to the business and haven’t tried a conga in your lineup, this one’s for you.  I always want to join in myself, but that’s kinda tricky from behind the piano.

  Download    At the tender age of 19, I played an 8-month stint at a lounge in downtown Mobile called “Admiral’s Corner”. I know, I was too young…  but those were different times.  I left there to do an elongated gig with the Air Force, spending a great deal of time at the piano providing dinner music in the Officer’s Club.  It wasn’t until years later that I found out that the long-haired dude who replaced me at that Mobile club was none other than Jimmy Buffett.  Jimmy hadn’t even written “Margaritaville” yet – that’s how long ago it was.

Van Morrison originally recorded “Brown-Eyed Girl” in 1967 (I can’t believe it’s that old).  He’s never received a dime of royalties for this tune (no lawyer when he signed the contract), and he intended the song to be titled “Brown-Skinned Girl” (something about a Jamaican girlfriend).  His original is a combination of jazz and soul and a bit harsh for my taste.  Whenever I performed it, I tried to smooth it out a little bit.  But then the master of “smooth”  (Jimmy)  covered the song on his album Boats, Beaches, Bars, and Ballads (now there’s a combination of beautiful things) and the song changed forever.

Jimmy’s take on “Brown-Eyed Girl” is how we do it today.  Every now and then we’ll trot out the Van Morrison style, but rarely.  We took a three year job at a local beach bar with an audience full of “parrot heads”, so nearly everything had to be done “Jimmy’s way”.  We just got used to it.  Down here, the man is king… as well he should be.

If you’re performing this classic (as I’m sure you are), download this sequence off the Pop/Rock list and try it Jimmy’s way… he won’t mind.

      Carole King – it just doesn’t get any better than this.  Songwriter, performer, arranger, Grammy winner – what more could you want?  “It’s Too Late” is a song from her 1971 album Tapestry.  The lyrics describe a love relationship ending without assigning blame.  That, in itself, is quite remarkable.  We’ve all had affairs that ended without any reason – just didn’t work out.  But not many songs are written with that idea in mind.  Ya gotta blame somebody for the breakup – even if it’s yourself (the ol’ “it’s not you, it’s me” syndrome).

Now I’m gonna bring in a name you probably don’t know – Ms. Toni Stern.  Today she’s a successful poet and writer, but back in the 70’s, she wrote the lyrics to many of Carole King’s songs.  “It’s Too Late” was written about the breakup between Toni and James Taylor.  Carole King was playing piano in Taylor’s band at the time, but they weren’t an item… yet.  Toni wrote the lyrics in a single day and Carole put them to music.  That’s Carole on the left and Toni on the right in the above photos.  They look remarkably alike, don’t you think?

The song was written in the key of D minor.  The sadness of the song is emphasized by the minor key, according to Wikipedia.  Personally, I always enjoy playing in minors – brings drama to the music – and we all need a little drama in our lives (some more than others).  But the lyrics are eternally sad and bittersweet:  “Now you look so unhappy and I feel like a fool”.  Powerful stuff, there.

I was talking to a young singer the other day who had never heard of Carole King,  let alone this song.  Even though the song is from 1971, when she heard it, she loved it!  This backup sequence will help her reintroduce this song to the “millennials”.  I’ll guarantee ya, nobody will be singing “Nuthin but a ‘G’ Thang” 45 years from now.  Sickening.