The sweetest girl in the world
Is my blue-eyed Jane
We fell in love like turtledoves
While the moon was shining down
I asked her then, I asked her when
Wedding bells would ring
She said, “Oh, dear, it seems so queer
That this could happen here.”
New Daisy Theater
Memphis, Tennessee
5 February 1999
Well, you know I’ve always liked Mavis Staples ever since she was a little girl. She’s always been my favorite… She’s always had my favorite voice.
~Bob Dylan (to Jann Wenner, Nov 1969)
The Staple Singers – Respect Yourself (Live 1972 – Wattstax music festival):
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Wikipedia:
| Birth name | Mavis Staples |
|---|---|
| Born | July 10, 1939 |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Rhythm and blues, soul, gospel |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Years active | 1950–present |
| Labels | Epic, Stax/Volt, Curtom, Paisley Park, Alligator, Anti-, Warner Bros.,Verve |
| Associated acts | The Staple Singers, Prince |
| Website | www.mavisstaples.com |
Mavis Staples was born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois she is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family’s band.
The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck “Pops” Staples (1914–2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (1934–2013), Pervis (b. 1935), Yvonne (b. 1936), and Mavis (b. 1939). They are best known for their 1970s hits “Respect Yourself”, “I’ll Take You There”, “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)”, and “Let’s Do It Again”.
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“Why did you leave America – Van Morrison “His Band and the Street Choir is another beautiful phase in the continuing development of one of the few originals left in rock. In his own mysterious way. Van Morrison continues to shake his head, strum his guitar and to sing his songs. He knows it’s too late to stop now and he quit trying to a long, long time ago. Meanwhile, the song he is singing keeps getting better and better.” – John Landau, Rolling Stone Magazine (1971) |
Continue reading Today: Van Morrison released His Band and the Street Choir in 1970
Well kiss me baba, woo-oooooo….it feels good
Hold me baba
I want to love you like a lover should
Your fine, so kind
I got this world that your mine mine mine mine-ine
From Wikipedia:
| Released | November 11, 1957 |
|---|---|
| Recorded | October 8, 1957, Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee |
| Genre | Rock and roll, Rockabilly, Country |
| Label | Sun 281 |
| Writer(s) | Otis Blackwell (under the pseudonym Jack Hammer) |
“Great Balls of Fire” is a 1957 song recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell (under the pseudonym Jack Hammer). The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 recording was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by Rolling Stone. The song is in AABA form.
From Rollingstone.com (500 greatest songs):
With Lewis pounding the piano and leering, “Great Balls of Fire” was full of Southern Baptist hellfire turned into a near-blasphemous ode to pure lust. Lewis, a Bible-college dropout and cousin to Jimmy Swaggart, refused to sing it at first and got into a theological argument with Phillips that concluded with Lewis asking, “How can the devil save souls?” But as the session wore on and the liquor kept flowing, Lewis’ mood changed considerably — on bootleg tapes he can be heard saying, “I would like to eat a little pussy if I had some.” Goodness gracious, great balls of fire, indeed.
From allmusic.com – Cub Koda:
Written by African-American songwriter Otis Blackwell under the pseudonym of Jack Hammer, this was Jerry Lee Lewis’ third release and second consecutive hit. There are only two instruments on this recording, Lewis’ piano and J.M. Van Eaton’s drumming, with the echo from the Sun studios working as a third instrument. The song is over in a little more than a minute and a half and yet is perfectly realized with probably Jerry Lee’s best solo to recommend it and a vocal that borders on lascivious. You can do many things with “Great Balls of Fire” but most covers stick damn close to the original Jerry Lee strut and arrangement, so perfectly realized and empathetically played.
The song is best known for Jerry Lee Lewis’s original recording, which was recorded in the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on October 8, 1957, and released as a 45rpm single on Sun 281 in November 1957.
The song title is derived from a Southern expression, which some Christians consider blasphemous, that refers to the Pentecost’s defining moment when the Holy Spirit manifested itself as “cloven tongues as of fire” and the Apostles spoke in tongues.
and another (newer) version:
Other October 08:
Continue reading Today: Great Balls of Fire was recorded in 1957 56 years ago