Paul McCartney "Let Me Roll It"

I went out on Tuesday night to see St. Paul And The Broken Bones at Great Scott in Allston.

Paul made a joke early on, that they only had one album's worth of material, and so they were going to have to pad the set with a few covers.

I wasn't too surprised when they launched into the Sam Cooke tune "Shake," as it fit right into their wheelhouse of classic soul.  Nor was it surprising that they ended the show with a cover of "Try A Little Tenderness."

I WAS surprised, near then end of show, at a pretty interesting cover choice:

Paul McCartney & Wings "Let Me Roll It."

It seemed like an usual, but fun choice for a retro-Soul outfit.

But it was particularly surprising for me, considering that the last band I went to see live, Lake Street Dive, also covered "Let Me Roll It" during their live show.

It's a great McCartney track, but I feel like its a bit of an obscure one.

Now, if you're over 45, you are probably offended by that.

But if you are under 35, like all the band members of both bands mentioned, then you weren't born when "Band On The Run" came out.  And "Let Me Roll It" isn't like (the song) "Band On The Run" or "Jet" which still get regular radio airplay.

If you didn't have an older sibling who owned the record, or didn't grow up to be a McCartney fanatic, "Let Me Roll It" is an easy one to have missed.

But now I've heard it two shows in a row.

Could this be a trend in my life?  I hope so!

Next week, I'm going to see Rocket From The Crypt in Boston.  Is it likely that a punk-with-horns reunion show will contain a cover of "Let Me Roll It"?  Well, it's as likely as a retro-Soul band doing it, I guess.

And what about the following show I have on my calendar?  Part of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, at Berklee Performance Center on May 3rd,  "Comedians Who Have Been On The Daily Show And Also Comedians Who Have Not."

Is it too much to ask that you perform "Let Me Roll It" on that night, John Hodgman?

Hear Paul McCartney's "Let Me Roll It" on Youtube.


Hear Lake Street Dive's version on Youtube.


Hear St. Paul & The Broken Bones do it live on Youtube.

Aloe Blacc "The Man"

While we're mostly singer-songwriter, acoustic instrument and roots based, MVY does love to mix in a little bit of Soul music.  Especially if it connects back to classic mid-to-late 60s artists like Otis Redding and Sam Cooke.

What about that next generation of Soul performers like Bill Withers or the Isley Brothers?

That question was asked by my wife, who loves this new song by Aloe Blacc and thinks it recalls the groove of songs like "Be Thankful For What You Got" by William Devaughn.  To her, it sounds like something MVY should have on its playlist (the Old School AND the New School).

I can't picture it, but maybe I'm wrong.  What do you think?


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Sam Cooke "Twisting The Night Away"

Like many, many of my peers in the 80s I incessantly listened to one of those albums that seemingly everybody owned:  the soundtrack to "Animal House."

I was well into adulthood before I sorted out that I had spent most of my youth misunderstanding, and mis-singing a line from "Twisting The Night Away."

Here's a man in evenin' clothes
How he got here, I don't know
But man you oughta see him go
Twistin' the night away

He's dancin' with the chick in slacks
She's a movin' up and back
Oh, man there ain't nothin' like
Twistin' the night away

For years, I (and c'mon, admit it, you too) sang:

"He's dancin' with the chicken slacks."

Hey, I assumed that Chicken Slacks were some kind of 50s apparel that had faded out of existence.  It's no more implausible than a "Poodle Skirt."

I got a good laugh a few weeks back, when I happened to be standing in front of Alison Hammond's "Local Music Cafe" CD library, and saw this album on top of a pile:

Well, they get points for humor.

You can hear the band The Chicken Slacks below, and in this episode of The Local Music Cafe.



Hear Sam Cooke on Youtube.


Hear the Chicken Slacks on Youtube.

Van Morrison “Real Real Gone”

Hitting Random on the iTunes playlist . . .

“When you’re tired of what you got, try me.”

Much respect to the artists who acknowledge their influences, and sing about them, to insure that the audience goes hunting for the source.

I know plenty of music from the 60s and before, but only in the context of Oldies radio. So Carl Perkins and Elvis and The Beatles and The Stones and The Doors all entered my listening life at the same time. They were integrated into my consciousness on a level playing field, not as a progression of music styles through the years.

That makes context harder to ascribe to some classic artists. But that’s why I love Van Morrison’s “Real Real Gone.” Though originally recorded in 1980, it wasn’t officially release (or absorbed by me) until 1990. And at the time, I didn’t really know any of the artists Van gives a shout out to.

But it opened the door to those artists. So when I heard “In The Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett, I could see the connection “Real Real Gone” was drawing back to the 60s. When I heard Sam Cooke, I understood better the soul Van was trying to inject into his music.

When Solomon Burke came to town, I had to go see him.

And in a way probably more direct than Van intended, when I hear “Real Real Gone,” the artists whom he was invoking come alive to me in a way they would never have, just flipping past the Oldies station on the FM dial.


Clips of the artists mentioned in this post:


Hear the Solomon Burke concert I went to, in the mvyradio archives

Van is notoriously non-friendly to YouTube, so the only version of “Real Real Gone” I could find this the pictorial tribute to Colin Firth. Enjoy!


Sam Cooke


James Brown


Wilson Pickett


Solomon Burke


Gene Chandler