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.

Just about a year ago

“Lodi" is the title of a track from Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1969 album Green River. Although songwriter John Fogerty wrote the song about being trapped in Lodi, California, about 75 miles from his hometown of El Cerrito, Contra Costa County, California, he has admitted in interviews that he had never actually been there, and picked its name for the song's title based on a small town in Ohio that he had visited in his youth. In fact, an early demo of the song recorded by Fogerty reveals the original lyric, "Just about a year ago/I set out on the road/Seeking my fame and fortune/driving through Ohio."

“Lodi” is also the alter ego of Brad(ley) Cain, an American professional wrestler, who competed for World Championship Wrestling from 1997 to 2000. Cain's in-ring debut was on WCW Monday Nitro on December 8, 1997, against a certain Chris Benoit, to whom he eventually lost. Yes.

Roll in with us backstage this Wednesday, at Tuck Shop, from 8.30 pm.

Meet you in the middle

“Sister Golden Hair" is a popular song first recorded by the British-schooled band America for their fifth album Hearts in 1975. It was their second single to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, remaining in the top position for just one week.

The song is about a man trying to get up the courage to take his girlfriend to the altar to marry, however he is plagued by self-doubts. He pleads for her understanding and re-affirms his love and affection for her, but he says he is not yet ready for the altar. She is only identified as "Sister Golden Hair". He asks her to meet him half-way, which is taken to be a proposal that they live together.

As the second number one single from the group America, this song cemented their popularity and the song continues to turn up on oldies program, and is a popular request. It has timely appeal signifying a rite of passage for young men who find themselves committing to a woman.

There were no reports of this song being banned or formally objected to, which happened to the first song from the first album, "A Horse with No Name.", which was really about drugs (we are told "horse" is a common slang term for heroin, amongst other things), and not about a holiday in the desert looking at plants and birds and rocks and sand and hills and rings. Obviously.

See you backstage tonight at Tuck Shop, from 8.30 pm.