ROCK Sex asks "who's that writing/ John the Revelator"?
Any creative act inspires another. That's the nature of creativity and the mantra of this column. Everything anyone creates tracks back to what has been handed to us from before. Many of the songs we take for granted, such as "House of the Rising Sun", have been around since previous centuries.
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Blind Willie Johnson ignites today's baton swap with the song "John The Revelator". He recorded this country Blues take on an old Gospel song with his wife, Willie B. Harris.
[Blind Willie is also responsible for "In My time of Dying" (Dylan, Zeppelin), "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (Zeppelin), and "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" (Fairport Convention).]
BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON -"John The Revelator" (1930)
SON HOUSE did a startling a capella version that became a signature tune in his repertoire:
SON HOUSE -"John The Revelator" (1965)
The standard has since been covered by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Thee Headcoats, Beck, R.E.M., Frank Black, A. A. Bondy, Nick Cave, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Cameo, and Tom Waits.
Larkin Poe, the duo of Rebecca and Megan Lovell, proselytize the moody blues in their contemporary cover of Son House's classic.
LARKIN POE -"John The Revelator" (2018)
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"Go tell my disciples..."
Revelation is open to endless interpretation.
Meg and Jack White revealed the classic within their own Garage stomp.
THE WHITE STRIPES -"Cannon" (1999)
Gillian Welch and running partner David Rawlings did an epic, confessional sequel to it as the title piece of her classic album:
GILLIAN WELCH -"Time (The Revelator)" (2001)
Depeche Mode also made a sequel as a sociopolitical protest against perpetually myopic dictatorships.
ROCK Sex thinks "It's such a sight to see/ somebody steal the show".
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Chuck Berry kicks this relay race into gear with this homage to the original Rock'n'Roll grrrls, the teens that made it all explode, with "Sweet Little Sixteen":
CHUCK BERRY -"Sweet Little Sixteen" (1958)
The song was immediately covered by many greats like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and soon the young Beatles. But here's a live version by GENE VINCENT which nicely proves how live Rock'n'Roll was the original Punk rock:
GENE VINCENT -"Sweet Little Sixteen" (live, 1960)
Brian Wilson expanded the iconography and the sonic palette with this revamp for the Beach Boys' worldwide hit, "Surfin' USA":
THE BEACH BOYS -"Surfin' USA" (1963)
Perhaps inspired by The New York Dolls' "Jet Boy", Elton Motello did his Glam-Punk variation on Chuck's riff, "Jet Boy, Jet Girl". Its forward depiction of teen gay sexualilty was too much for radio, and it was declared "obscene" by the FCC as late as 1989:
ELTON MOTELLO -"Jet Boy, Jet Girl" (1977)
French pop star Plastic Bertrand quickly used the same backing band and arrangement of that song with less controversial lyrics to achieve far more success. He also turned the 'hoo-hoos' into falsetto 'woo hoos' that emulated Brian Wilson's early surfing hits, showing how intertwined Chuck and the Beach Boys had become.
PLASTIC BERTRAND -"Ca Plane Pour Moi" (1978)
"Jet Boy, Jet Boy" got its most high-profile infamy in a cover by the Punk band, THE DAMNED:
THE DAMNED -"Jet Boy, Jet Girl" (1982)
"All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen!"
ROCK Sex wants to stick around awhile and get its kicks!
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Elvis Presley swaggered one of the best rock anthems and dance sequences in pop history with the title theme for his film JAILHOUSE ROCK. It was written by the legendary duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and Mike can be seen tinkling the keys in the film scene:
ELVIS PRESLEY -"Jailhouse Rock" (1957)
Dean Carter is one of those criminally overlooked greats who deserved far more success than he got.
Throughout the '60s he recorded mayhem in his home studio that perfectly bridged Rockabilly into Garage rock. His frenzied take on "Jailhouse Rock" features the most manic psychedelic dobro solo of all time and a 13-year-old girl playing the clarinet like Morse code!:
DEAN CARTER -"Jailhouse Rock" (1967)
✭ Rockabilly and Garage Rock fans owe it to themselves to check out the Dean Carter retrospective CD, Call of the Wild". And also the compilation of his crazed bandmates and studio productions, "The Midnite Sound of the Milky Way".
Me'Shell Ndegeocello is a monster bassist, underrated singer, and passionate activist. She injected some serious organic Funk into the '90s with her gutsy debut hit:
ME'SHELL NDEGEOCELLO -"If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) (1994)
Her sound and politics hearkens back to the original early '70s Funk. Here's one of her inspirations, the evergreen BILL WITHERS:
BILL WITHERS -"Who Is He and What Is He To You?" (1972)
Me'shell paid tribute to this by covering it with back-up from Billy Preston and Wendy And Lisa:
ME'SHELL NDEGEOCELLO -"Who Is He and What Is He To You?" (1996)
Me'shell's take on that song clearly opened up the possibilities of the sexual playing field. Soon after, the rapper Queen Pen extended that in this clever rethink of "If That Was Your Boyfriend", with able assist from Me'shell herself, challenging phobic attitudes about love and lust:
QUEEN PEN, with ME'SHELL NDEGEOCELLO -"GIRLFRIEND" (1997)
The taunting chorus is based on the nyah-nyah singsong of children. That same rhythm was used by Sly And The Family Stone in "Everyday People":
"...and so on and so on and scooby-dooby-doo-bee!"
The Yardbirds did this hard-hitting classic, "Evil Hearted You", with its echoes of Italian Western themes in the jarring chords, anthemic chorals, and the almost flamenco blues of Jeff Beck's solo:
THE YARDBIRDS -"Evil Hearted You" (1965)
Pixies extended that cinematic connection by singing it in Spanish. Black Francis had to hustle extra hard to come up with a translation that pleased the song's original composer, Graham Gouldman (of 10CC), who spoke it fluently:
The Carter Family are universally known as 'The First Family of Country Music'. Led by guitarist Mother Maybelle, they had an incalculable impact on Country, Bluegrass, and Blues artists for decades.
In their famous standard, "Worried Man Blues" (1930) you hear these lines:
"The train arrived sixteen coaches long/
The train arrived sixteen coaches long/
The girl I love is on that train and gone."
Here's son-in-law Johnny Cash having a family rave-up on his TV show (1969-1971):
THE CARTER FAMILY -"Worried Man Blues" (live)
These lines inspired Memphis Blues artist Junior Parker and his producer, Sam Phillips, to co-write this classic:
JUNIOR PARKER -"Mystery Train" (1953)
Shortly afterward Sam Phillips asked another label mate to try his hand on the throttle. Here's Elvis Presley with one of his signature songs:
ELVIS PRESLEY -"Mystery Train" (1955)
John Fogerty used the train as a metaphor for the impact of Elvis in this tribute.
JOHN FOGERTY -"Big Train From Memphis" (1985)
Indie auteur Jim Jarmusch box-carred Memphis, its deep musical history, and the ghost of Elvis into his great film, MYSTERY TRAIN (1989). The cast included Screaming Jay Hawkins, Joe Strummer (The Clash), Rufus Thomas, Steve Buscemi, Elizabeth Bracco (The Sopranos), Nicoletta Braschi, Masatoshi Nagase, and the voice of Tom Waits. Essential viewing for Rock'n'Roll film fans:
ROCK Sex takes you to the river and washes you down.
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Al Green had previously covered the song "Driving Wheel" by that fellow Memphis great, Junior Parker. When Parker passed away, Al dedicated his original composition "Take Me To the River" to his memory:
AL GREEN -"Take Me To the River" (1974)
Bryan Ferry, of Roxy Music, often covered soul songs he loved on his solo albums. In late '77 he recorded this homage to Green:
BRYAN FERRY -"Take Me To the River" (1978)
Meanwhile, by odd coincidence, his former partner in Roxy Music, Brian Eno, was producing Talking Heads' second album as they too covered Green's song. Though their version was recorded a few months after Ferry's it reached the market before his. To this day many people believe this to be their song.
Wanna change the world? Play through a busted amp! Here's a pervasive problem that became a brilliant revolution.
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In 1951 Ike Turner and his band made what is arguably the first Rock'n'Roll song, releasing it under singer JACKIE BRENSTON's name. It is a retooling of Jimmie Liggens' "Cadillac Boogie" (1947) but rowdier and revved up. The extra edge came from a fuzzed-out amp that had been broken in transit. Voila, Rock'n'Roll!
JACKIE BRENSTON AND HIS DELTA CATS -"Rocket '88" (1951)
Paul Burlison's amp was damaged before the recording of The JOHNNY BURNETTE TRIO's studio session, and more sonic revolution ensued:
THE JOHNNY BURNETTE TRIO -"The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (1956)
Dave Davies of The Kinks took a knife to his amp to get the distorted snarl he'd discovered. But he went too far and was thrown across the room by an electric shock!
(Legal Disclaimer: ROCK Sex says, "Don't try this, kids."):
THE KINKS -"You Really Got Me" (1964)
John Lennon used a busted amp to get the raw distortion for "Revolution", even singing on his back on the studio floor shouting at the mike to get the extra edge in the vocals:
The original "Tainted Love" was a Northern Soul song performed by Gloria Jones in 1964, responding to the Motown stomp of songs like The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". Later, she became the partner and muse of T-Rex's Marc Bolan.
GLORIA JONES -"Tainted Love" (1964)
The song was remade in a pretty similar but more Disco fashion in 1975:
RUTH SWANN -"Tainted Love" (1975)
Shortly afterward Gloria Jones and Marc Bolan remade the song:
GLORIA JONES, w/ Marc Bolan -"Tainted Love" (1976)
Marc Almond of Soft Cell heard the original played in a dance club and made it into the Synthpop anthem of all time:
SOFT CELL -"Tainted Love" (1981)
The rhythm of the song (and the intro of James Brown's "I Feel Good") was refashioned into this song.
FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS -"Good Thing" (1988)
From there it has been covered/exhalted/ruined (depending on your bias) by Coil, Inspiral Carpets, My Ruin, Marilyn Manson, The Pussycat Dolls, Rihanna, Danny Noriega, and Imelda May.
"Liberation for all. Everything must be rethought." ______________
Two great things hybrid a third great thing. ROCK SEX is a metaphor for the creative connections that link our shared culture together. This Pop Culture hub explores the roots and branches of Music, Film, Art, Comics, and more. _______________
Rock'n'Soul music is a baton relayed by everyone. Learn the holistic history with the most advanced Music Playlists online!:
BLUES, MAMBO, JAZZ, ROCKABILLY, SURF, BEAT, SOUL, GARAGE, PSYCHEDELIA, FUNK, GLAM, PUNK, NEW WAVE, HIPHOP, POSTPUNK, GRUNGE, RIOT GRRRL, ELECTRO, next! _______________
This is our party and everyone is invited!
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