FTV: Name That Tune, Again

The day FTV: Name That Tune came out in the Ontonagon Herald (March 13, 2024), my phone rang. On the other end of the line was one of Ontonagon’s favorite singers, Jim Brogan. He said, “You know that little quiz in the paper? I can’t believe you couldn’t identify Under the Boardwalk!” For those of you who didn’t see this particular FTV, it challenged readers to identify hit songs from a couple of lines of lyrics. The idea came from a brain teaser presented in AARP magazine and the first twenty samples came right from that source. I had admitted to recognizing all of the lyrics except Under the Boardwalk. Jim said, “As soon as I read that, I told my wife I had to call and find out how you could not have gotten that one.” “Well,” I said, “I suppose you also noticed I missed ‘Regan’ in the lyrics for We Didn’t Start the Fire (in the section that went ‘Begin, Regan, Palestine, Terror on the airlines . . .’”. “No, I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I had to call and rib you about Under the Boardwalk,” he teased.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to accompany many talented singers from Ontonagon at a host of charity events. I reminded Jim that everytime I hear Under the Boardwalk, it takes me back to the first Hootenanny Athletic Benefit show we were part of in the spring of 1976. Ontonagon’s football coach, Barry Johnson, introduced the song by lugging a double bass fiddle from stage right to the surprise of everyone already on stage. Barry wasn’t about to play it, but he made great use of it as a prop. This memory stays with me because that was the only time I can remember even playing Under The Boardwalk. I had heard it enough to play it and sing background vocals so that is how it has stuck with me for 48 years.

Mark Bobula acted as the music coordinator for the Hootenanny and he recorded the whole show on a reel to reel tape player. When we gathered at the Candlelight Inn for the after party, the tape player was set up in the corner booth and we were listening to snippets of the performances. After one number (and no, years later I can’t recall which song it was but it may have been Glen Campbell’s Country Boy), Mark looked around and said, “Who was singing the high harmony part?” When I confessed that it was me, we had a really nice conversation about our shared history of playing in bands in high school and college. Eventually, this introduction would land me in the Easy Money band where I got even more opportunities to perform with and back up a bevy of talented musicians (something Ontonagon has never had a short supply of).

Yes, Jim and I had a nice little stroll down memory lane and that conversation inspired me to go on to do this sequel. This time around, however, the format will be a little different. There isn’t a singer alive who hasn’t run into a mental block remembering the lyrics of a song. It can be a tune that they have sung dozens of times but for some reason, the mind goes blank. I sang the Rare Earth version of Get Ready for more than a year in my band Knockdown when I went through a rough patch just like this. For the life of me, I could not remember the first line. Ray, our guitar player (and a human juke box in his own right), would turn around and mouth the line to get me started. When the problem persisted, he began introducing the song as ‘Never met a girl who makes me feel like you do’. He would then turn around with a big grin on his face having cleverly reminded me where to start. It must have worked, because I began thinking of this as the title and the problem went away. I probably should have written it on our set list with that as the title.

For this version of Name That Tune, I am going to feed you a couple of lines of some familiar songs and let you supply the next line and the title. It gets a bit tricky when the opening line of a song is also part of the title, but there are a lot of other options out there to choose from. Just like we did in Part 1, the answers will follow at the end of the article, so no cheating! I also discovered some great anecdotes about some of these songs so they are included after the answer key for 1 through 20. Good luck!

1. Don’t want to be your love any more / Don’t want your kisses , that’s for sure / I die each time I hear this sound / _______

2. What you got, (Oo) Baby I got it / What you need, (Oo) Do you know I got it? / All I’m asking __________

3. Jeremiah was a bullfrog / He was a good friend of mine / I never understood a single word he said / ____________

4. I was born, in a dump / My momma died and my daddy got drunk / Left me here to, die or grow / ___________

5. When this old world starts getting me down / And people are just too much for me to face / I climb way up to the top of the stairs / _________

6. It was the third of September / That day I’ll always remember, yes I will / ________

7.  A bottle of white, a bottle of red / It all depends upon your appetite / I’ll meet you any time you want / _______

8. Well, I’m running down the road tryin’ to loosen my load / I’ve got seven women on my mind / Four that want to own me, two that wanna stone me / __________

9. Can you hear them? They talk about us / Telling Lies , well, that’s no surprise / Doesn’t matter what they say / In the jealous games people play / Hey, hey, hey / __________

10. Well my temperatures rising, and my feet on the floor / Crazy people knocking ‘cause they’re wanting some more / Let me in baby, I don’t know what you got / ________

11. I said girl, you really got me now / You got me so I don’t know what I’m doin’ / Yeah, you really got me now / _________

12. I never meant to cause you any sorrow / I never meant to cause you any pain / I only wanted, one time, to see you laughing / I only want to see you laughing / _______

13. You don’t care for me I don’t care about that / You gotta new fool, ha! I like it like that / I have only one burning desire / _________

14. Leave your cares behind, come with us and find / The pleasures of a __________

15. If I leave here tomorrow / Would you still remember me? / For I must be traveling on, now / _____________

16. There’s a port on a western bay / and it serves a hundred ships a day / Lonely sailors pass the time of day / __________

17. Lookin’ at the devil, grinnin’ at his gun / Fingers start shakin’, I begin to run / Bullets started chasin’, I begin to stop / We begin to wrestle, I was on the top / I want to ____

18. Well, I’m an axe grinder, piledriver, Mamma says that I never, never mind her / Got no brains, I’m insane, the teacher says that I’m one big pain / I’m like a laser, six-string razor / Got a mouth like an alligator / I want it louder, more power / ______

19. When the sun shines on the mountain / And the night is on the run / It’s a new day, it’s a new way / ______________

20. Don’t you feel it growing, day by day / People getting ready for the news / Some are happy, some are sad / ________

Key for 1 – 20 – 1. HERE HE COMES, THERE’S CATHY’S CLOWN – Cathy’s Clown – Everly Brothers (1960) 2. IS FOR A LITTLE RESPECT WHEN YOU GET HOME – Respect – Aretha Franklin (1967)* 3. BUT I HELPED HIM A-DRINK HIS WINE, AND HE ALWAYS HAD SOME MIGHTY FINE WINE, SINGING’ – Joy to the World – Three Dog Night (1971) 4. IN THE MIDDLE OF TOBACCO ROAD – Tobacco Road – Nashville Teens (1964) – Rare Earth (1969)** 5. AND ALL MY CARES JUST DRIFT RIGHT INTO SPACE -Up On the Roof – The Drifters (1962) 6. ‘CAUSE THAT’S THE DAY MY DADDY DIED – Papa Was a Rolling Stone – The Temptations (1972) 7. IN OUR ITALIAN RESTAURANT – Scenes from an Italian Restaurant – Bill Joel (1977)***8. AND ONE SAYS SHE’S A FRIEND OF MINE – Take it Easy – The Eagles (1972) 9. OUR LIPS ARE SEALED – Our Lips Are Sealed – The Go-Gos (1981) 10. BUT YOU BETTER TAKE IT EASY, THIS PLACE IS HOT – Gimme Some Lovin’ – Spencer Davis Group (1966) 11. YOU GOT ME SO I CAN’T SLEEP AT NIGHT – You Really Got Me – The Kinks (1964) – Van Halen (1978) 12. IN THE PURPLE RAIN – Purple Rain – Prince (1984) 13. LET ME STAND NEXT TO YOUR FIRE – Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967 ) **** 14. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE MIND – The Amboy Dukes (1968)***** 15. ‘CAUSE THERE’S TOO MANY PLACES I’VE GOT TO SEE – Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973) 16. AND TALK ABOUT THEIR HOMES – Looking Glass (1972) 17. THANK YOU FALETTINME BE MICE ELF AGIN – Sly and the Family Stone (1970)******18. I’M GONNA ROCK IT TILL IT STRIKES THE HOUR – Metal Health – Quiet Riot (1983)*******19. AND I FLY UP TO THE SUN – George Baker Selection (1975)********20. OH, WE GOT TO LET THE MUSIC PLAY – Doobie Brothers (1972) *********

Additional notes about some of the songs – 2*’Respect’ was written and first released by Otis Redding in 1965 but when Aretha rearranged it a bit, ‘Respect’ became a big hit, the most recognized version, and her signature song. 4 **I worked with a girl from Nashville one summer and she claimed that real teens from Nashville hated this song because it made everyone think they were hicks. The song was originally written and recorded by John D. Loudermilk in 1959 and is one of the most widely covered songs around. Interestingly, the band The Nashville Teens hailed from Surrey, England and not from Nashville. During our discussion, it became apparent she was confusing ‘Tobacco Road’ with The Lovin’ Spoonful’s 1966 pop hit ‘Nashville Cats’ and if one listens to it, her complaint makes more sense. 7***Billy Joel got the opening line straight from a server asking him ‘Bottle of red, bottle of white, perhaps a bottle of rose instead’ while dining at an actual Italian restaurant. 13 **** Fire was inspired by a visit to Experience bassist Noel Redding’s home when Jimi was first forming the band in England. On a cold, wet night,

Redding brought him over to his mother’s house where she had a crackling fire going in the sitting room fireplace. This was new to Jimi and in his shy, polite manner, he asked Mrs. Redding, “Can I stand next to your fire?” 14***** The notoriously outrageous Ted Nugent wrote the music for this song. As wild as he could be, the anti-drug, anti-drinking Nugent claims to this day that he did not realize that the lyrics second guitarist Steve Farmer penned where in reference to a drug trip. 17****** I have always liked the song and the title – I never did put much thought into what it meant, but I found a reference that said, “The title is an intentional mondegreen or sensational spelling for ‘thank you for letting me be myself again. The third verse contains specific references to the groups previous successful songs including ‘Dance To The Music’, ‘Everyday People’, ‘You Can Make it if you Try’, and ‘Sing a Simple Song’.” 18******* This is from the post Randy Rhoads version of Quiet Riot and they became the first metal band to have an album (Metal Health) hit top the charts. 19********I had heard this song sung by another one of Ontonagon’s favorite singers, Dave Kalivoda, but I had never heard the original. I ended up singing it in the Easy Money Band, but it felt a little funny because it was one of Dave’s signature songs. Yes, I covered Dave’s cover. It turns out the George Baker Selection was a pop-rock band from Assendelft, Netherlands and ‘Una Paloma Blanca’ became one of the most played songs in history. 20*********Mr. Brogan better not get this one wrong. Back in our days performing at the Hootenanny fundraisers, we compared notes and found that we both really liked this song! After his phone call about ‘Under the Boardwalk’, I also had to include The Drifters ‘Up On The Roof’.

Rarely do I like to dip into the same well of inspiration more than twice but there have been occasions where a topic has stretch to three parts. I will give the Name That Tune title a rest but be assured, there are many, many more songs out there that can be used to tweak your brain!

Top Piece Video – Strange title or not, it is still an infectious funk tune!