39- How Great Our Lord – Randy Newman – 1995

How Great Our Lord - Randy Newman

            This is the third song from the great concept album, “Randy Newman’s Faust”, which features James Taylor, as God, explaining how things work in heaven to an adoring heavenly choir. Premise based on the classic story of the man who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for success, update in Newman’s version to a young man who wants to be a rock star.

            James Taylor is God,  Randy Newman voices the Devil, Don Henley, the shallow Faust, Bonnie Raitt is Martha, Linda Ronstadt is Margaret, and Elton John is “Angel Rick” (don’t ask).

            In the song, God sings:

                        Sorry ladies, to make you wait

                        There’s a couple of Buddhists at the Pearly Gate,

                        Asked my permission to come on board,

                        “What’d you do, Lord?”  (sings the choir)

                        I had to have them put out with the trash.

                        Sing it!

                        “Oh Lord,

                        How Great our Lord!”

            Somewhat blasphemous, but what do you expect from Randy Newman?

            When this album came out I was working at Tingstol. They had purchased a building in Elk Grove Village, not far from where I work now, and had begun moving the business from the Northside of Chicago, Fullerton and Southport, to it.

            I remember driving with my friends (now at Tingstol as well) Oscar S. and Rich Mankiewicz (see RIP-Rich Mankiewicz -July 2012) in my 1984 Toyota Celica hatchback with 150,000+ miles on it, from the plant on Fullerton to the new plant, with my cassette copy of the album playing.

            Oscar didn’t find it as amusing as Rich did, Rich being an agnostic, at best.

            I was pretty much the first office employee to move to the new building as the equipment was set up. As the Quality Engineer, it was my job to do process capability studies on each machine as it came on line. Also, Elk Grove is about ½ the drive as compared to the drive to the Fullerton plant.

            However, the longer drive was somewhat offset by the nearby restaurants on Fullerton: Stefani’s, Hoghead McDunna’s, and an excellent Thai buffet were just a few of the great eats available.

            Also, working in the city allowed me to drive to several nearby bookstores at lunchtime, when I needed to get away for a while.

            A year or so later, the Goodman Theater in Chicago mounted a version of “Randy Newman’s Faust” that I dragged Lynn to (though Lynn does like a lot of Randy Newman’s work generally) that starred David Garrison (Steve, the first husband of Marcy, the Bundy’s neighbor on “Married…with Children”) as the Devil. The other parts were taken by local talent.

            Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt probably wanted too much, I imagine.

            Or maybe it was a lack of dancing skills since this was an all singing, all dancing version. Though the thought of James Taylor loping about the stage does sound entertaining.

38 -The Man with the Child in His Eyes – Kate Bush – 1978

38 -The Man with the Child in His Eyes – Kate Bush – 1978

The Man with the Child in His Eyes

42 -Something About You – Level 42 – 1985

Something About You

63 – Down Under – Men at Work – 1981

Down Under

66 – Major Tom(Coming Home) – Peter Schilling – 1983

Major Tom (Coming Home)

67 – Elstree – The Buggles – 1980

Elstree

74 – Mexican Radio – Wall of Voodoo – 1983

Mexican Radio

116 – Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime – The Korgis – 1980

Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime

124 – The Getaway – Chris DeBurgh – 1982

The Getaway

126 – Wouldn’t it Be Good  - Nik Kershaw – 1984

Wouldn't It Be Good

            I’m gonna group these 9 songs together because the only reason I have them on the Zune is because I saw a video on MTV back in the day when they actually played videos, and bought the album.

            The Man with the Child in His Eyes-Kate Bush- She wrote this song at 13, recorded it at 16 as a single. The video version comes from her first album released several years later. I always found her eyes arresting. The video was mesmerizing as well.

            Something About You-Level 42- Reportedly their name comes from the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I don’t know what Level has to do with it, since the answer is just 42. The song is cool, though.

            Down Under-Men at Work- Sprightly video, wacky characters, eminently sing-alongable song. Only use of projectile vomiting in a pop song (“..where the beer does flow and men chunder”), that I’m aware of. Also led to a spike in sales of Vegemite for a week or two.

            Major Tom(Coming Home)-Peter Schilling- A sequel to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, sung phonetically by the German Schilling. I seem to recall his visit o Dick Clark’s American Bandstand where he had some trouble answering Dick’s questions because he spoke little English.

            Elstree- The Buggles-Another song from the “Age of Plastic”, one of two Buggles albums that were released. I found the second album, “Adventures in Modern Recording”, at a record store in a mall at Rand and Palatine roads whose name escapes me. It was on the way to EJ Korvette’s, another long gone store that had an album department with a pretty decent Imports section. I bought the 3-sided “Monty Python’s Matching Tie and Handkerchief” album there (I’ll explain in a future post).

            Mexican Radio – Wall of Voodoo – Another great sing-alongable song. “We’re on a Mexican..whoa-oh..radio”

            Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime – The Korgis – A band named after Queen Elizabeth’s lap dog. Very pretty song, though. Almost a “Wall of Sound” production, starts slow and simple and builds in instrumentation and volume as the song progresses.

            The Getaway – Chris DeBurgh- The title track from the album that contained “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”, the video/song that got me to buy the album. I found a couple of his albums at EJ Korvette’s and one at the Randhurst shopping center. I then ordered his whole back catalog from Apple Tree Records in Elgin. It took about 3-4 weeks to get them, in those pre-Amazon days. Today, you can download it as soon as you see it online.

            I went to see Chris DeBurgh in 1983 with my friend Jim D (of the quad stereo, #10-Brandenburg Concerto) at Poplar Creek when he (Chris DeBurgh, not Jimmy)opened for Asia. A pretty good concert at both ends as I recall.

            Wouldn’t It Be Good- Nik Kershaw  – A nice little song, I always thought it had parts that sounded like Eric Clapton’s “It’s in the Way that you Use it”. Or perhaps it’s Clapton that sounds like this, since Clapton’s song came out in 1986

37 – I’ll See You in My Dreams – Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins – 1990

I'll See You in My Dreams - Mark Knopfler/Chet Atkins

            A nice instrumental played by two giants of guitar picking, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, and Chet Atkins, folk/country legend.

            I keep the song on my Zune because it reminds me of Chet Atkins’ “My Father’s Hat (I Still Can’t Say Goodbye)”, a song I can’t listen to without tears streaming down my face. My dad never wore a hat , that I can recall, at most maybe a winter cap when he worked outside as an Installer/Repairman with Illinois Bell, but it triggers a response every time since I first heard it on “Prairie Home Companion.”

            Chorus:           No matter how hard I try,

                                    No matter how many years go by,

                                    No matter how many tears I cry,

                                    I still can’t say goodbye.

            (just typing the lyrics makes me mist up, hope one of the kids doesn’t come in right now)

My Father's Hat (I Still Can't Say Goodbye)- Chet Atkins

            My dad passed away 25 years ago this September just past, at 56, and it’s something you never get over, really, I was in the room as he struggled and looked at me with eyes I’ll never forget.

            It started when his doctors changed his heart medication (8 years before he had had a valve replaced with a little poker chip. When it was quiet, you could hear it “click”) and his blood pressure dropped and he passed out at work. (By 1988 he had retired from Ma Bell after 30 years, 28 with perfect attendance. My dad was never sick. I can honestly say I can only think of once or twice in my whole life when I saw him sick, other than a cold now and then. By then he was working on the Maintenance crew for School District 300).

            Quick digression…in the early 80s my parents contemplated selling the house in Algonquin and moving to California to be near my dad’s little sister (Nancy, my godmother). He was going to transfer from Ill Bell to California Bell. To make the move, he would lose his seniority from here and have to go back to being an Installer/Repairman, though he was a PBX installation foreman by then. Also, he had to prove he could still climb a telephone pole using only spurs (strapped to the inside of his ankles) and safety belt. Leaning back with the belt wrapped around the pole, he’d hop up the pole, like a lumberjack.

            This was after the open heart surgery. At 50, he still could do it! He was a little overweight, but still, I couldn’t have done that at 50.

            They ended up not moving when they found that selling the house would only give them a down payment on a one car garage in Petaluma.

            I was working at Amax Plating, in Elgin, at the time and got the call that he was in Sherman Hospital. By the time I got there he was OK, sitting up in bed. I had to fly out of town the next day for business, but the day I got back, September 15, I got another call that he was doing worse. Evidently, the new medication had caused his blood pressure to crash and they couldn’t bring it back up.

            When I came into the room I saw him struggling for breath and as I reached to take his hand, I could see the fear in his eyes, something I had never seen before. The doctors sent me out of the room as they moved him to cardiac ICU, and 45 minutes later, they came out and said he was gone.

            I was better prepared 8 years before with the valve replacement surgery (it happened just after I had seen “All That Jazz”, which includes a graphic scene of them cracking open Roy Scheider’s chest and cranking it open). When he came out of surgery, he was gray, due to them cooling him down to slow the heartbeat, I think.

            What saddens me the most is Lynn never got to meet him (I only called her because she sent me a note of condolence. I had put off contacting her after our mutual friends, Ron and Desiree, had given me her name and phone number weeks before), and my kids will never know him other than through my stories. No video and very few pictures (my folks were not real big on photo documentation).

            It’s the same reason I’ve never been able to watch “Field of Dreams” since it came out in 1989. In a movie theater you can cry without being noticed, but watching at home with the lights on is not doable (unless you’re alone). It’s a great movie, but my dad was my little league manager for the 4-5 years I played organized ball and he showed me everything and he put up with a lot from me.

            I was an especially poor loser, and hated being taken out of games. I remember one game I broke my bat (it was a Sears wooden bat I’d had for years) and I started crying like the spoiled little brat I was. I’m sure I got my share of spankings over the years and deserved every one, but that day he just told me to buck up (or words to that effect) and deal with it. I’m sure it’s hard with your kid being on your team. I was not a great player (or even especially good), but I was always chosen for the All-Star team (probably knowing the sh-- fit I’d throw if I hadn’t been chosen).

            Trivia question: My first baseball glove was a Sears, Ernie Broglio model. What was Ernie Broglio’s claim to fame (infamy for Cubs fans)? No fair using Wikipedia.

            Answer when clamored for by popular demand (or if one person asks, I’d love to get some feedback).

36 – Power Failure – Leo Kottke – 1975

Power Failure - Leo Kottke (Live)

            This is off Leo Kottke’s “Chewing Pine” album and has a good vocal. Back in the 70’s, Leo toured with Procol Harum and I guess he liked their version, but I’ve never heard it.

            This album came out just as I was preparing to leave Accutronics for Blackburn College. It brings to mind the trip I made 2-3 times a week from Algonquin to Elgin Community College. Back in 1975 Randall Road, the route I took, avoided towns between Algonquin and Elgin. It was a two lane farm road that had 4 stop signs and a rough train crossing in Elgin.

            Today, it’s a four lane superhighway that has 6 lanes in spots, and I don’t know how many stop lights between Algonquin and Elgin. I used to be able to make the 13 mile run in about 20-25 minutes. If you go down Randall Road today it’s probably 30-35 minutes at best. (I just Google mapped it and they say it’s 27 minutes, if you don’t go down Randall Road.

            My car then was my second 1968 Mustang which replaced my beloved 1967 Austin-Healy Sprite, the first car bought with my money ($350). People today don’t believe I ever fit in that car, until I remind them I weighed almost 100 pounds less than I do today, though I was still 6’4” and still growing. It was a great little car that got good mileage, perfect for back and forth to school, though ungodly cold in winter. It barely had a heater and, being a convertible, had loose fitting window coverage. I would duct tape the passenger side to cut down on the cold coming in.

            It also had no radio, so, after buying a Radio Shack power converter, which converted power from positive ground to negative ground (or vice versa, I can’t remember), I installed a small Pioneer cassette player.

            This was in the pre-1973 “gas crisis” days, when I could fill the tank with a $2 roll of nickels (6 gallons @ 37 cents/gal). It was the last car I ever had that I could actually do maintenance on, other than oil change. I replaced the exhaust system myself, buying the parts from Warshawsky in Chicago.

            I ran into the back end of a Ford LTD in 1975 and did no damage to his car, my front end was mooshed, It was then I found out that the insurance I was paying to my dad was only for liability, not Collision, so when they wanted $600 to fix it, I moved on to the 1968 Mustang which I kept for several years, going so far as to put money into it, to the tune of $800 or so, to have my buddy Mike C (of the .45 under the seat, see #6- “1979”and “Disarm”) now working on his own, running a body shop, put in new floorboards and replace the wheel wells, which were rusted through.

            I could see the road go by through my feet, like Fred Flintstone, so they welded new metal floorboards and they took wheel wells from an AMC Pacer and welded them into the Mustang. It was then painted Illinois Bell green (a dark green that all the trucks were painted in the 60’s and 70’s).

            It got me another four years out of it until I traded it in in 1979 on the only car I’ve ever bought new, a 1979 Mustang. Bought it for $6500 cash, and sold it for $2500 cash 5 years later.