Gotta do what you can

"Running on Empty" is a song written and performed by introspective American rock music singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and poster boy of the 1970s Southern California confessional singer-songwriter movement, Jackson Browne. The title track to his 1977 live album Running on Empty, the song was recorded at a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland on August 27, 1977 and was later ranked #492 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

Recorded onstage, backstage, in three different hotel rooms, and on a Continental Silver Eagle tour bus during a cross-country tour in 1977, "Running on Empty" is a paean to life on the road. It describes the rigors of a musician's day-to-day life on the road and its effect on his life as a whole, the song connects with the themes of much of the album itself and was Browne's third-biggest hit single in his career (trailing only "Doctor My Eyes" and "Somebody's Baby"), reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in spring 1978 and subsequently becoming his most-played song on classic rock radio formats.

The song famously appeared in the 1994 Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump, and particularly featured in the scene where Forrest was running across the United States. As a result, this song has become a popular addition to the iPod catalogues of many avid distance runners. Naturally.

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

BRB

No shows this week. The Quiet Set with Jon will be back at Tuck Shop next week on Wednesday, 23 April.

And you can really understand

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"Don't Let It Bring You Down" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter and the original American Idol, Neil Young, and is the seventh track on his 1970 album After the Gold Rush. The song also appears on the 1971 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album Four Way Street as well as Young's 2007 album Live at Massey Hall 1971, which was recorded in 1971.

While some have said that the song is about the cold hearted attitude of a city (New York) and the unwillingness of people to listen to someone who they see as inferior, others see it as a commentary on urban decay, the decline of a society, and of emotional isolation, with Neil seeing the end of the American empire on the horizon but urging the listener to stay hopeful regardless.

Whatever the critics say, it ultimately stands as a beautiful song where Young reminds the listener (as he does in many of his songs) of how things we which expect in life and hold true don't turn out as planned, but everything is OK and it is no reason to give up hope, etc:

Old man lying
By the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by,
Blue moon sinking
From the weight of the load
And the building scrape the sky,
Cold wind ripping
Down the allay at dawn
And the morning paper flies,
Dead man lying
By the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes.

Blind man running
Through the light
Of the night
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down
To the river of sight
And you can really understand,
Red lights flashing
Through the window
In the rain,
Can you hear the sirens moan?
White cane lying
In a gutter in the lane,
If you're walking home alone.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Not only was the song covered by Last Exit – better known as the early-70’s British jazz fusion band which gave us tantric bass-man Sting of The Police – as part of their 1974 Impulse Studio Demos, other notable recordings of the song include one by Academy Award-winning Scottish musician, vocalist, songwriter, lead singer of the musical duo Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, on her 1995 Medusa album and which also appears in the 1999 movie American Beauty, as well as a memorable performance by British soul singer Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, or, as we know him, Mr Seal Heidi Klum.

See you backstage at Tuck Shop this Wednesday at 9.00 pm as The Bandits introduce Redneck Friends, an evening of 70s folk-country-rockabilly tunes on vinyl. No show on Thursday (10 April).

People talking without speaking

“The Sound of Silence" is a song written and first recorded by 1960s American popular-folk music duo, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, or Simon & Garfunkel, as they are collectively known, on their 1966 album Sounds of Silence. Written by Simon in the aftermath of the JFK assassination, the song was primarily conceived as a way of capturing the emotional trauma felt by many Americans at the time.

The song was subsequently aptly used in The Graduate, the 1967 film directed by American multi-award-winning television, stage and film director, writer, and producer Mike Nichols, and which starred Academy Award-winning method actors Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, with both the song and film capturing the generalized historical context and prominent themes of the 1960s.

The song propelled Simon & Garfunkel to stardom and help ensure the duo's fame eventually. In 1999, BMI named "The Sound of Silence" as the 18th-most performed song of the 20th century, and was ranked in 2004 as #156 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

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See you at Tuck Shop this Wednesday from 9.00 pm for the Quiet Set with Jon. No show on Thursday 3 April 08.

Look back in Anchor

'We Are The Bandits' celebrates its 1st anniversary this month. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for you support, well wishes and donations during the past year. Here's to more of the old stuff! Please enjoy.

See you backstage at Tuck Shop this Wednesday from 9.00 pm. The Quiet Set with Jon is on Thursday.

What it is ain't exactly clear

"For What It's Worth" is a song written by Stephen Stills, American guitarist, singer-songwriter and member of the folk rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and first recorded by Buffalo Springfield – the short-lived but influential folk rock group that served as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young and Stills – and released as a single in January 1967, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2004, this song was voted #63 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

As the song's title appears nowhere in its lyrics, most casual listeners know it better by the first line of chorus: "Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down."

While the song has come to symbolize worldwide turbulence and confrontational feelings arising from events during the 1960s, particularly the Vietnam War, Stills reportedly wrote the song in response to the escalating unrest in the Sunset Strip curfew riots, also known as the "hippie riots," which were a series of clashes that took place between police and young club-goers on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California, beginning in the mid-1960s and continuing through 1969.

"For What It's Worth" has been covered countless times, as well as sampled, referenced, and used in film and other media. One notable reference was in the1998 song "He Got Game" by Long Island, NY, hip hop music group Public Enemy which not only samples "For What It's Worth", but also features Stephen Stills re-performing the bridge especially for that track. Others contend that the most popular version was that which was performed on a 1978 episode of The Muppet Show, which re-writes the song with animals singing slightly altered anti-hunting lyrics and contains a musical interlude filled with hunters wildly shooting their guns while animals (from Emmett Otter’s Jug Band) hide and take-cover. Yeah, the symbolism is heavy, dig it.

See you backstage at Tuck Shop for the Quiet Set this Wednesday and Thursday from 9.00 pm.

Don't anyone wake me, if it's just a dream

Known for his unique guitar-on-lap playing style and blues-oriented vocals, blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock guitarist and vocalist, Jeff Healey (25 March 1966 – 2 March 2008) began as a teenage musical prodigy – though known primarily as a guitarist, Healey also played trumpet and clarinet during live performances – but later rightly rose to stardom as the leader of the Jeff Healey Band, a rock-oriented trio that gained international acclaim and platinum record sales with the 1988 album "See the Light” which included the hit single "Angel Eyes."

Refusing to be hampered by his blindness, a young Healey taught himself to play guitar by laying the instrument across his lap, and subsequently shared the stage regularly with guitar greats such as the late George Harrison and Stevie Ray Vaughan – who discovered him in the late 1980s –, as well as legendary bluesmen Mark Knopfler and B.B. King.

See you at The Quiet Set at Tuck Shop on Wednesday and Thursday from 9.00 pm.

It’s always been the same, same old story

"Father and Son" is a popular song written and originally performed by English musician, singer-songwriter, educator, philanthropist and prominent convert to Islam, Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) on his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman.

The soft, understated song with a lilting dynamicism, frames an exchange between a father not understanding a son's desire to break away and shape a new life, and the son who cannot really explain himself but knows what he must do. To aptly echo this, Stevens sings in a deeper register for the ‘father’ parts, whilst using a higher, more emotive one for the ‘son’ parts.

Although not initially released as a single, "Father and Son" received substantial airplay on progressive rock and album-oriented rock radio formats, and played a key role in establishing Stevens as a new voice worthy of attention.

In 2003, Tea for the Tillerman was ranked number 206 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and in 2007, it was also included in the list of "The Definitive 200 Albums of All Time", released by The National Association of Recording Merchandisers and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Look at us, we are old. But we are happy. See you backstage at Tuck Shop this Wednesday from 9.00 pm. The Quiet Set with Jon is on Thursday from 9.00 pm.

Come down from your fences, open the gate

"Desperado" is a song written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley and first recorded by their best-selling American group of all time, rock-country band The Eagles of Laurel Canyon, North Hollywood, CA 91605. The song first appeared on the 1973 album Desperado, and has later appeared on numerous compilation albums by the band.

On this beautiful song, lead vocalist Don Henley, accompanied by Glenn Frey on piano, begs the subject of the song, a "desperado", to return home, and tells him (probably from his/their own experience) that the things he enjoys doing will hurt him eventually.

While this is one of the Eagles' signature songs, it was never released as a single. Nevertheless, "Desperado" was voted #494 in the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and has since been recorded and performed by a variety of musicians including popular vocalist, entertainer and multiple Grammy Award-winner, The Eagles’ former employer, Linda Ronstadt, on her 1973 album Don't Cry Now, vocal and instrumental brother-sister duo The Carpenters on their 1975 album Horizon, as well as American pop country music singer-songwriter and American Idol #4, Carrie Underwood, at the 2007 Grammy Awards.

We ain’t gettin’ any younger. See you backstage at Tuck Shop this Wednesday from 9.00 pm. The Quiet Set with Jon is on Thursday from 9.00 pm.

Singin' and jinglin' a jangle

"Muskrat Love" is a 1972 song by Texan singer/songwriter and Americana and Texas country cult legend, Willis Alan Ramsey. It originally appeared on his album Willis Alan Ramsey under the title "Muskrat Candlelight." It was covered by English-American folk rock band America in 1973 and then by fellow 70s pop music recording artistes Captain & Tennille in 1976 where it reached #4 in the charts.

Contrary to common wisdom, muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are only called "rats" in a general sense because that they are medium-sized rodents with an adaptable lifestyle and an omnivorous diet (as do rats). They are not, however, so-called "true rats", that is members of the genus Rattus.

In any case, the 1976 recording by "Captain" Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille notably features sound effects created with a synthesizer to evoke the imagined sound of muskrats courting. The versatile synthesizer: so much like a piano, yet not quite.

See you backstage at Tuck Shop this Wednesday from 9.00 pm. *UPDATE: The Quiet Set with Jon is on this week, Thursday (21 Feb) from 9.00 pm.

And I'm getting old

"Heart of Gold" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter and the original American Idol, Neil Young, on his bestselling 1972 album Harvest, and is the only number one hit single in his long, astounding musical career.

The song is one of a series of soft, acoustic pieces – including the retrospective "Old Man" – which were written partly as a result of a back injury . Unable to stand for long periods of time, he could not play his electric guitar and so returned to his acoustic guitar, which he could play sitting or lying down, or both.

Notably, it features the back-up vocals of singer-songwriter and guitarist James Taylor and popular vocalist, entertainer and multiple Grammy Award-winner, Linda Ronstadt, former employer of the best-selling American group of all time, The Eagles of Laurel Canyon, North Hollywood, CA 91605.

As it happens, the song was taped during the initial sessions for Harvest in early 1971 at Quadrafonic Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, while Ronstadt and Taylor were in town for an appearance on Johnny Cash's television program. Originally, this song was meant to segue with the song "A Man Needs a Maid", and was therefore played on piano. However, Young, with considerable foresight, soon abandoned this approach during his 1971 tour and began to play it on guitar as it is now known.

The song has been by an interesting variety of recording artistes including the beloved and notorious Country music icon Willie Nelson, legendary Country singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, 1970s bubble-gum pop and disco group Boney M as well as 1980s Swedish pop-rock-music double act Roxette. Look sharp. Cross the ocean with us backstage at Tuck Shop on Wednesday from 9.00 pm. The Quiet (Valentine’s) Set with Jon on Thursday from 8.30 pm.

Happy New Year

No show this Wednesday (6 Feb) at Tuck Shop as The Bandits will be on reunion dinner duty.

We will return next week with The Hold Up on 13 Feb (Wed) and a Quiet Valentine's with Jon on 14 Feb (Thur).

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

She's so...

"Somebody's Baby" is a 1982 song written and performed by introspective American rock music singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and poster boy of the 1970s Southern California confessional singer-songwriter movement, Jackson Browne. It was Browne's last Top Ten song, and his highest-charting as well, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1982. Strangely, “Somebody's Baby" was not released on any of Browne's albums proper, but on the soundtrack to the 1982 American coming-of-age teen-comedy film Fast Times at Ridgemont High – adapted from a book written by Cameron Crowe – and featured the song at several key moments, mostly concerning Jennifer Jason Leigh character's romantic misadventures.

The film follows a school year in the lives of a group of college freshmen who believe themselves wise in the ways of romance and counsel their younger counterparts, and includes early appearances by several actors who would later become stars, including Sean Penn, Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nicolas Cage, Anthony Edwards, Forest Whitaker, and Judge Reinhold.

Notably, Cage, Penn, and Whitaker would each win an Academy Award for Best Actor later on in their careers – Cage in 1996 for Leaving Last Vegas, Penn in 2003 for Mystic River and Whitaker in 2006 for The Last King of Scotland – and Crowe himself would soon become a celebrated Hollywood director and screenwriter, eventually winning the 2000 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his movie Almost Famous, which was based on his experiences touring with rock bands The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, and Lynyrd Skynyrd in the 1970s. They kept their fingers crossed a long time.

Join us as we celebrate the 30th birthday of the free-wheelin’ decade, at Tuck Shop on Wednesday from 8.30 pm. The Quiet Set with Jon on Thursday from 8.30 pm.

There's room enough for two

"Up on the Roof" is a song written by lyricist Gerry Goffin and his first wife, singer, songwriter, and pianist, Carole King. First recorded in 1962 by American doo wop/R&B vocal group The Drifters, the song became a big hit, reaching number 5 on the US pop singles chart and number 4 on the US R&B singles chart.

The 1980 Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll described "Up on the Roof" as "in every way a remarkable pop song for 1962," and in particular said of the above lyric, "From the internal rhyme of 'stairs' and 'cares' to the image of ascending from the street to the stars by way on an apartment staircase, it's first-rate, sophisticated writing."

Fittingly, the song was listed in 2004 as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Of the many versions of the song, the best known is, without doubt, the 1979 recording by James Taylor on his album, Flag, which was released as a single before charting modestly into the Top 30 of the US pop singles chart in 1979. Rearranged around Taylor's trademark acoustic guitar playing and vocal accents and interjections, it became a concert staple of his, often with a star-lit urban dreamscape presented behind the stage halfway through the number as his band played unison ascending notes to echo the song's theme.

When this old world starts a getting me down,
and people are just too much for me to face.
I'll climb way up to the top of the stairs
and all my cares just drift right into space.
On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
and there the world below don't bother me.

So when I come home feeling tired and beat,
I'll go up where the air is fresh and sweet.
I'll get far away from the hustling crowd
and all the rat race noise down in the street.
On the roof, that's the only place I know.
Where you just have to wish to make it so, let's go up on the roof.

And at night the stars, they put on a show for free.
And, darling, you can share it all with me.
That right smack dab in the middle of town, I found a paradise that's trouble-proof.
And if this old world starts a getting you down, there's room enough for two up on the roof.

Race you there. Tuck Shop on Wednesday from 8.30 pm.

Now here you go again

"Dreams" is a song written by American singer and songwriter Stevie Nicks, for the influential and commercially successful rock band Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album, Rumours, which is 13^th on the list of best-selling albums of all time. The song was the only US number one hit for the group, and remains one of their best known songs. In the lyrics, a woman warns a man that he can be driven mad by loneliness in the wake of a broken love affair.

In 1997, Irish Celtic folk pop rock sister-brother group The Corrs covered the song on their album Talk on Corners, and in 2005, Nicks contributed new vocals to a remake of the song by the ever-imaginative American DJ and house music producers Deep Dish. The money was too good.

See you backstage at Tuck Shop tomorrow from 8.30 pm. It’ll be a Quiet one.

Yellow moon on the rise

"Helpless" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter and the original American Idol, Neil Young, and most famously recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their 1970 album Déjà Vu.

The song was simple, at its core effectively the repetition of one melody over a descending D-A-G chord progression, with Young in the foreground singing the verses and the chorus, Crosby, Stills and Nash providing the "helpless" refrain, and instrumentation coming in the form of acoustic guitar, pedal steel guitar (played by American musician and songwriter best known for being the lead guitarist and vocalist of the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia), and piano.

It later became one of the most revered songs from the Déjà Vu album, and has remained a live favourite of Young's for over thirty years. Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer and songwriter K D Lang recorded a version with a lush string section for her 2004 album Hymns of the 49th Parallel. Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional actor Nick Cave also recorded a slightly nasal rendition of this song for the 1989 Neil Young tribute Album, "The Bridge". Hmm.

See you backstage this Wednesday at Tuck Shop from 8.30 pm for a Quiet start to the new year.