The Evolution of Man

1954 – Hoochie Koochie Man: Muddy Waters, from the album Chess

1965 – Mr Tambourine Man: Bob Dylan, from the album Bringing It All Back Home

1970 – Southern Man: Neil Young, from the album After the Gold Rush

1971 – I’m a Man: Chicago, from the album Questions 67 and 68

1972 – The Guitar Man: Bread, from the album Guitar Man,

1972 – Old Man: Neil Young, from the album Harvest

1972 – Pusherman: Curtis Mayfield, from the album Superfly

1973 – Ramblin’ Man: The Allman Brothers Band, from the album Brothers and Sisters

1973 – Piano Man: Billy Joel, from the album Piano Man

1990 – Preacher Man: Bananarama, from the album Pop Life

1997 – Man! I Feel Like a Woman!: Shania Twain, from the album Come on Over

It’s so easy to get carried away. We’ll show you how.

See us backstage at Tuck Shop this Friday from

8.30 pm and celebrate XXXmas with our friends from DIVVVE and Soulfood.

And if you’re wondering what this song is leading to

"Make It With You" is a song written by David Gates and originally recorded by Bread, the 1970s Soft Rock band from Los Angeles, California, that Gates was a member of. The song first appeared on Bread's 1970 album "On the Waters", and would become the group's first top ten and only #1 single on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, spending the week of August 22, 1970 at the top spot. The single also reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart, and was certified gold by the RIAA for sales of over one million copies. Among the many varied musicians who first recorded cover versions of the song were American singer, songwriter, pianist and "The Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin, 1970s Funk and Disco old boys Earth, Wind & Fire, and the popular 1960s British singer Dusty Springfield.

Gates eventually became well-known as an industrious songwriter, producer, arranger, music copyist and studio musician, and many of his other hit songs were later also recorded by artistes including British new romantic singer-songwriter and club DJ, Boy George, who took Bread's chart single "Everything I Own," to #1 on the UK charts in 1987 (a feat which Bread themselves failed to achieve in the 70s). You know what they said about a rolling stone gathers no…

See you backstage at Tuck Shop on Wednesday from 9.00 pm.

School's out

Jon: Hey bro, how do you say “Bandit” in Chinese ah?

Don: 王八蛋?

- May 2007, Suntec City, Singapore


Welcome back, Don.

See you backstage at Tuck Shop this Wednesday from 8.30 pm.

As each moment has unfurled

"Doctor My Eyes" is a 1972 song written and performed by Jackson Browne and included on his debut album Jackson Browne. Featuring a combination of an upbeat piano riff — accidentally found courtesy of an instrument with a broken action that Browne was writing songs on — together with Browne's trademark big poetic vision, it was a surprise hit, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in spring 1972. "Doctor My Eyes" became a concert mainstay for Browne, and was included on both his later compilation albums. However, Browne would incidentally not see the Top 10 again until 1982's soundtrack hit "Somebody's Baby", another favourite of The Bandits.

Other musicians who have covered the song include The Jackson 5, who recorded "Doctor My Eyes" on their 1972 Lookin' Through the Windows album, and also released the song as a single in Europe, where it became a Top 10 hit for them.

In 2004, twenty two years after Browne’s version was first released, Wilson Phillips, the American singing group consisting of Carnie and Wendy Wilson and Chynna Phillips – Carnie and Wendy are the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, while Chynna's parents are fellow Laurel Canyon residents John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas – recorded a cover of Doctor My Eyes on their comeback album, California, which subsequently reached #35 in the US charts. Oh, to be back in the Canyon.

See you backstage at Tuck Shop on Wednesday, from 8.30 pm, for the last instalment of the month long Quiet Set.

*Ps. The full band returns next Wednesday, 5 Dec.

Say that you'll be true

"Susie Q" is a song originally written and performed by Louisiana-born pioneer American Rock singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist and the architect of the swamp rock boogie, Dale Hawkins, and reached #27 in the US Pop charts in 1957.

Although the Rolling Stones covered it on their albums, 12 X 5, released in 1964 in the US, and The Rolling Stones No. 2, released in 1965 in the U.K, the most immensely well-known version of the song is by Creedence Clearwater Revival on their 1968 debut album. This song was one of their first big hits, and was the band's only Top 40 hit that was not written by John Fogerty. The riff that John plays during the second solo is from Howlin' Wolf's 1956 blues classic "Smokestack Lightning".

Dale’s cousin was fellow rockabilly pioneer Ronnie Hawkins (also known as "Rompin' Ronnie" Hawkins or "The Hawk"), the equally legendary rock and roll musician who was a key player in the 1960s rock scene in Toronto, Canada, together with his back-up band “The Hawks”, which was later to become the band simply known as, The Band. Beautiful.

See you backstage tomorrow night at Tuck Shop from 8.30 pm.

Mellow down in to my soul

"Crazy Love" is a timeless ballad written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1970 album, Moondance. Released as a single in May 1970 with "Come Running" as the A side, the cover of the single shows Morrison with his then-wife, Janet "Planet" Rigsbee. The photograph was taken by Elliot Landy, the official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock festival. Ooh.

Van Morrison and Bob Dylan performed a duet of "Crazy Love" on the BBC film, One Irish Rover in 1991, with Morrison on guitar and Dylan on the harmonica. Ooh.

Much later on, Ray Charles introduced Van Morrison by starting the first verse before Van's appearance when he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2003; Morrison and Charles then finished with a duet of "Crazy Love". Ooh.

"Crazy Love" was listed as No. 198 on the All Time 885 Greatest Songs compiled in 2004 by WXPN from listener's votes, and has been covered by numerous recording artistes to date, including Scottish rock singer Rod Stewart, English reggae singer and songwriter Maxi Priest as well as Bryan Ferry, singer, musician, songwriter and occasional actor famed for his suave visual and vocal style who came to public prominence in the 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with English art rock group, Roxy Music. Oh.

See you backstage this Wednesday at Tuck Shop from 8.30 pm till late.

Remembering our elders

We only learn from the best... Sonny Boy Williamson II (harmonica, vocals), Houston Stackhouse (guitar, vocals) and Peck Curtis (drummer, soon-to-be-heard-vocals). Every Wed/Thur at you know where.

Don't forget what your good book said

"Southern Man" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist, film director and the original American Idol, Neil Young, from his album After the Gold Rush which was released in 1970.

The lyrics of "Southern Man" are very blunt, describing the racism towards blacks in the American South as perceived from the viewpoint of a Northerner. In the song, Young tells the story of a Southern man (symbolically USA’s entire South) and how he mistreated his slaves (African Americans). Young pleadingly asks when will the South "pay them back" for years of abuse and racism.

Where the initial inspiration for the song came from is very much debated, but is commonly believed to have stemmed from an incident in a roadhouse in Alabama which Young visited in 1969. As he was having a drink, two local men came up to him, took him outside, and beat him up because he had long hair.

It is a popular belief that the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote their song "Sweet Home Alabama" as an attack on Neil Young for the opinions expressed in "Southern Man". In actuality, Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote their song as a response, showing the good things about the South. Young was even friends with the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, saying that he is a fan of both "Sweet Home Alabama" and Ronnie Van Zant, the lead vocalist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. "They play like they mean it," Young said in 1976, "I'm proud to have my name in a song like theirs". Young has also been known to play "Sweet Home Alabama" in concert occasionally. To demonstrate this camaraderie, Van Zant frequently wore a Neil Young Tonight's the Night t-shirt while performing "Sweet Home Alabama". Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot can often be seen reciprocating by wearing a Jack Daniels styled Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt.

In fact, Lynyrd Skynyrd tried to arrange to have Neil Young come onstage during a performance of "Sweet Home Alabama", where he would have sung "a southern man don't need me around anyhow", but the performers were never able to arrange this performance due to busy touring schedules. We know the feeling. Douglas, if you’re reading this, we’re still waiting.

See you backstage at Tuck Shop tomorrow from 8.00 pm*.

*Earlier start; Deepavali-countdown after. No show on Thursday, 8 Nov.

You can rely on the old man’s money

"Rich Girl" is a song by popular music duo Hall & Oates, made up of Daryl Hall and John Oates, who specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles which they dubbed "Rock and Soul”, and whom achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. On March 26th, 1977, Rich Girl became their first (of six) number one singles on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. The single originally appeared on the 1976 album Bigger Than Both of Us.

The song's lyrics are about a spoiled woman who can rely on her parents' money to do whatever she wants. The song was rumoured to be about the then-scandalous newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. In fact, the title character in the song is based on a spoiled heir to a fast-food chain who was an ex-boyfriend of Daryl Hall's girlfriend, Sara Allen. "But you can't write, 'You're a rich boy' in a song, so I changed it to a girl," Hall told Rolling Stone.

Rich Girl was also covered by Nina Simone on her 1978 LP Baltimore. Naturally.

See you backstage this Wednesday at Tuck Shop from 8.30 pm.

Happy 40th Birthday, Keith!

For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow...

Have a great one, Keith old boy!

She's trying to make a devil out of me

"Black Magic Woman" is a song written by British blues-rock guitarist and founding member of the band Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green, and first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1968 and subsequently on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums English Rose (US) and The Pious Bird Of Good Omen (UK). It became a classic hit by Grammy Award-winning Mexican-born American Latin rock musician and guitarist Carlos Santana in 1970, reaching #4 in the U.S. charts, after appearing on their Abraxas album, and has since become more closely associated with Santana than Fleetwood Mac.

Although not nearly as popular as Santana's arrangement two years later, "Black Magic Woman" nevertheless became a fairly popular blues-rock hit for Fleetwood Mac, peaking at #37 in the UK Singles Chart.

Santana’s version of the song, whose full title is "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen," was adapted from Gabor Szabo's 1967 "Gypsy Queen," a mix of jazz, Hungarian folk and Latin rhythms, and Fleetwood Mac's own "Black Magic Woman," and recorded in 1970. The song became one of Carlos Santana's staples and arguably his most popular song, along with "Oye Como Va." Abraxas reached #1 on the charts and hit quadruple platinum in 1986, partially thanks to "Black Magic Woman."

A highly regarded figure in the British blues movement, Peter Green inspired B. B. King to say, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." Green's playing was marked with a distinctive keen vibrato and economy of style, as well as a unique out of phase sound from his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard.

He gives us the cold sweats too. Brrr…

See you backstage at Tuck Shop this Wednesday, from 8.30 pm, and Saturday, Halloween party, from 10.00 pm.

Somewhere deep inside

"Better Be Home Soon" is a 1988 song by Australian rock group Crowded House. Written by the band’s New Zealander musician and singer-songwriter Neil Finn, the song was released as a single in July 1988 by Capitol Records. The song appeared on the album Temple of Low Men, which was also released in July 1988.

"Better Be Home Soon" was performed by Crowded House in their 1996 charity performance Farewell to the World. As a song commonly performed by the band, this was to be expected, however the end of this version featured a country or polka style double-time feeling at the end, possibly in joking retort to some criticisms of the song when initially released that it was a bit "country-ish".

What’s wrong with “country-ish” anyway?

Tell us tomorrow night at Tuck Shop, from 8.30 pm.

Something from our annals

(From left) The Don, Double D(ragon) Deyna, ‘Little’ Jon

Here’s an old photo we found in the back of Deyna’s couch during his recent house-moving. My, what a difference a year makes. Where has the time gone…

Give ‘em old memories a good stir this Wednesday at Tuck Shop, from 8.30 pm.

No kid, man

Keith is back!

Urban update

Keith crashed his new harley. Nicole's fine.

Don't you?

"You're So Vain" is a song written and performed in 1972 by Academy Award, Golden Globe and two-time Grammy Award winning 1970s American songwriter and singer Carly Simon.

The song is a sarcastic profile of a self-absorbed lover, and was a number-one hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in early 1973, and also spending two weeks at the top of the Adult Contemporary chart, her first #1 song on either chart. It also spawned what many fans consider to be the biggest musical mystery of the era, there still being much debate over who exactly the song is about. Popular guesses on the subject include Mick Jagger (who sang uncredited backing vocals on the song), Cat Stevens, Warren Beatty, Kris Kristofferson (with whom Carly had s brief relationship), unfaithful fiancé William Donaldson, and Simon's ex-husband, James Taylor, and, and, and...

Back to our regular no-holds-barred programming this Wednesday at Tuck Shop, from 8.30 pm.

It’s good to be home.

Crazy 'bout Elvis

"Free Fallin" is the opening track from Tom Petty's 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever. The song was written by Petty and his writing partner for the album, Jeff Lynne. The song was released as a single, and was a top 10 U.S. hit in January, 1990.

Considered to be one of the more introspective songs in Petty's body of work, "Free Fallin'" uses a simple acoustic riff coupled with offbeat lyrics. The song has an easy, mid-tempo acoustic rock structure, and features Petty's signature vocal style, and has become one of his most popular solo songs to date.

Original Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose once asked Tom how he came up with the line about vampires to which Tom replied, "When I'm driving, sometimes I see these shadowy-looking people just off the sidewalks, around the post office. I always thought of them as vampires for some reason."

The song has been covered and sampled by many other mainstream artists in concert, including De La Soul, the Grammy-award winning hip hop group from Long Island, New York, who sampled the track for "Fallin" in 1994. A song by American R&B-pop singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and model Mya, also called "Free Fallin'", contains an altered version of the original chorus: "She's been free...free fallin'". It is sung basically the same way as in the original song. With reckless abandon.

See you backstage this Wednesday at Tuck Shop, from 8.30 pm, and Friday at the Prince of Wales pub, from 9.30 pm.