Great Mike! Our family's been singing "16 Tons" around the campfire ever since I was a little kid. Hilarious about how the lyrics of songs arrive in their final form, now with "Badge" it makes me wonder where this one came from: "Then I told you 'bout our kid, now he's married to Mabel"
Thanks, Mike!! See my reply to Brad below for the full comment I found on the Genius Lyrics website, but this part probably sums it up:
“ The lyrics themselves are not intended to make sense; many of them were taken from drunken conversations Harrison had with Ringo Starr.”
The guitar and bass lines are spectacular as one would expect from Clapton (and maybe an uncredited George Harrison) and Jack Bruce.
I can just imagine what it was like in those days with Clapton and Harrison trying to write lyrics and Ringo and who knows who else wandering through and making suggestions and probably the whole lot drunk most of the time. Pretty funny stuff.
Like a Cowboy Cookie (I had a couple today!)....filled with all kinds of good stuff! Congrats to writers for uptick on streaming royalties (but, I'm not surprised how, out of a bigger corporate pie, the slice isn't near big as it could/should be)! Cue Homer: "Mmmmm, pie......!"
Dug the "Badge" info and vid. Did you know all-girl rockers, Fanny, covered it in 1970? One of the first all-girl bands (who played their own instruments) to record for a major label (Reprise/Warner Bros., and mid-'70s moved to Casablanca Records). In fact, as a 15-yr-old in '70, Fanny's cover was the first time I heard "Badge," not quite being into the "hippie" bands like Cream at the time (and getting free Warners promo albums every week from radio sales guy, Dad, including Fanny's debut with "Badge" certainly helping sway my allegiance)!
Ironically, when I got into FM rock radio, mid-'70s, Fanny's album was never in the control room, so the Cream "Badge" was all I ever played, on-air, anyway! I think you'll dig the Fanny version. It's on YT, and on one of them, guitarist June Millington has a comment from a year ago about sister, Jean (bassist) having suffered a stroke. Not sure if she's better.
“The lyrics themselves are not intended to make sense; many of them were taken from drunken conversations Harrison had with Ringo Starr.
Although it was officially a Cream song, the songwriting credits list both Eric Clapton and George Harrison. Due to contractual reasons however, George Harrison is credited under the pseudonym L'Angelo Misterioso, and it is believed that Harrison played on the track as in return for Clapton playing on The Beatles' track “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.”
Thanks, Brad! I think just about anyone would agree with the first sentence of this quote from Genius Lyrics, but guitarists that cared about the lyrics would be few. The guitar and bass tracks are so exceptionally good they could have used lyrics from the back of a cereal box (and perhaps did) and it would still be extraordinary. I did see the Fanny’s cover credit on GL, and listened to it. Interesting.
I think there are a lot of stories from the drug'n'drinkin' '60s/early '70s that reflect how certain song lyrics came about! As for Mister Misterioso (and another Beatle with an alias), I'm sure you've heard the story about how The Ramones got their name.....Paul used to sign into hotels in the Beatles' touring days, as "Paul Ramone."
Similarly, the power poppin' late '70s Shoes (from Zion, IL), on Elektra, got their name from Paul in a mid-'60s interview, where Paul answered a reporter's question on how they landed on their name. Paul (Insert Liverpudlian accent here): "Well, it's just a word, in'it? We could've just as well been called The Shoes"!! Happy to hear you weren't afraid to touch Fanny!😲Cheers, bruh!
Great Mike! Our family's been singing "16 Tons" around the campfire ever since I was a little kid. Hilarious about how the lyrics of songs arrive in their final form, now with "Badge" it makes me wonder where this one came from: "Then I told you 'bout our kid, now he's married to Mabel"
Thanks, Mike!! See my reply to Brad below for the full comment I found on the Genius Lyrics website, but this part probably sums it up:
“ The lyrics themselves are not intended to make sense; many of them were taken from drunken conversations Harrison had with Ringo Starr.”
The guitar and bass lines are spectacular as one would expect from Clapton (and maybe an uncredited George Harrison) and Jack Bruce.
I can just imagine what it was like in those days with Clapton and Harrison trying to write lyrics and Ringo and who knows who else wandering through and making suggestions and probably the whole lot drunk most of the time. Pretty funny stuff.
Like a Cowboy Cookie (I had a couple today!)....filled with all kinds of good stuff! Congrats to writers for uptick on streaming royalties (but, I'm not surprised how, out of a bigger corporate pie, the slice isn't near big as it could/should be)! Cue Homer: "Mmmmm, pie......!"
Dug the "Badge" info and vid. Did you know all-girl rockers, Fanny, covered it in 1970? One of the first all-girl bands (who played their own instruments) to record for a major label (Reprise/Warner Bros., and mid-'70s moved to Casablanca Records). In fact, as a 15-yr-old in '70, Fanny's cover was the first time I heard "Badge," not quite being into the "hippie" bands like Cream at the time (and getting free Warners promo albums every week from radio sales guy, Dad, including Fanny's debut with "Badge" certainly helping sway my allegiance)!
Ironically, when I got into FM rock radio, mid-'70s, Fanny's album was never in the control room, so the Cream "Badge" was all I ever played, on-air, anyway! I think you'll dig the Fanny version. It's on YT, and on one of them, guitarist June Millington has a comment from a year ago about sister, Jean (bassist) having suffered a stroke. Not sure if she's better.
Anyway, well done, Michael!
More (from the Genius Lyrics app):
“The lyrics themselves are not intended to make sense; many of them were taken from drunken conversations Harrison had with Ringo Starr.
Although it was officially a Cream song, the songwriting credits list both Eric Clapton and George Harrison. Due to contractual reasons however, George Harrison is credited under the pseudonym L'Angelo Misterioso, and it is believed that Harrison played on the track as in return for Clapton playing on The Beatles' track “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.”
Thanks, Brad! I think just about anyone would agree with the first sentence of this quote from Genius Lyrics, but guitarists that cared about the lyrics would be few. The guitar and bass tracks are so exceptionally good they could have used lyrics from the back of a cereal box (and perhaps did) and it would still be extraordinary. I did see the Fanny’s cover credit on GL, and listened to it. Interesting.
I think there are a lot of stories from the drug'n'drinkin' '60s/early '70s that reflect how certain song lyrics came about! As for Mister Misterioso (and another Beatle with an alias), I'm sure you've heard the story about how The Ramones got their name.....Paul used to sign into hotels in the Beatles' touring days, as "Paul Ramone."
Similarly, the power poppin' late '70s Shoes (from Zion, IL), on Elektra, got their name from Paul in a mid-'60s interview, where Paul answered a reporter's question on how they landed on their name. Paul (Insert Liverpudlian accent here): "Well, it's just a word, in'it? We could've just as well been called The Shoes"!! Happy to hear you weren't afraid to touch Fanny!😲Cheers, bruh!