Well All Right

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3p0dqXyYn3ZpJmPiUpisCl?si=2da6aa1df0014a91 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj5u3Yf28LE This is the song I woke up with in my head this morning. Actually, it was the tail end of "Can’t Find My Way Home," which segued into "Well All Right." And as I sat up in bed, I thought how that was the sequence on the album. No one ever talks about "Had to Cry Today" anymore. No one even talks about Blind Faith. It's passed into history as an anomaly, a curio, except for "Can't Find My Way Home," party to Simon & Garfunkel's "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" as two of the most beautiful songs ever written. In the streaming era "Can't Find My Way Home" is no longer uncommon, then again, it's no longer special to me. I still like it, but my innards don't resonate like they used to when I hear it. As for "Had to Cry Today"... It's really about the guitar work that begins at 6:40, with the axes flying in the air like a halo of flies, with that "Itchykoo Park" effect to boot. This is when the track goes over the top, when it enters the stratosphere. I mean you've got Winwood and the riff, but when Clapton cuts loose...it exits the intellectual and becomes pure emotion. Now I think what kills the one and only Blind Faith album, denies it legendary status, is the fifteen plus minute "Do What You Like" on the second side. Every other track is a winner, "Do What You Like" is marginally better than "Toad." And speaking of Cream, we were stunned they broke up. Don't forget this was before the Beatles did so. Acts expired, but they didn't call it quits at their peak. We found it hard to fathom, for we were invested, we believed...in the music more than the penumbra, unlike members of the BTS Army today. The music stood alone, and the people who made it were gods. As for Winwood... This was still when Traffic was for insiders, the act didn't reach mainstream consciousness until after the band broke up and reunited, with "John Barleycorn" and "Low Spark." Now the thing about "Barleycorn" is it started out as a Winwood solo album. But even though the sound of the second Traffic album was full-bodied, we were not ready for this, the "Barleycorn" album is rich. And despite the deserved success of the title cut, the peak of that album for me was always "Empty Pages," which started with a flourish, and then broke down into a lilting ditty, in your mind you could see the spark in Winwood's step as the track played. And, of course, it was the seventies when Eric Clapton went solo. Had his peak with Duane Allman and the rest of the Dominos with "Layla," but the interesting thing about both Winwood and Clapton is they had another peak in the eighties, Winwood's career defining "Back in the High Life," Clapton...Russ Titelman worked his magic with him too. But this was '69. Back before every act felt it deserved to produce itself. Which is another way to say that the man in control of the Blind Faith project was Jimmy Miller, a footnote today, but a monster before producers became stars outright. It was Miller who was in control when the Stones executed their legendary four album run, from "Beggars Banquet" to "Exile on Main Street." The Stones went on to have success without him, but the sound changed. The latter day albums, especially the most recent, are noisier, more trebly, they don't kick you in the gut the same way. The latter-day stuff tries to overpower you into submission, whereas the Miller stuff got into your gut and stayed there. Just think of the sound of "You Can't Always Get What You Want"...you haven't heard that full-bodied richness since Miller's been gone. Ditto on the ethereal quality of "Gimmie Shelter." When you listen to the Miller albums on a full-blown stereo it's an experience, it squeezes out the rest of the life, it's life itself. And you find a similar quality on the Miller produced second Traffic album, the best one they ever made, with "Forty Thousand Headmen" and "Cryin' to be Heard," and the world-weary Dave Mason vocal on the original "Feelin' Alright?"...Joe Cocker made the song legendary, but it was this 1968 version that truly conveyed the feeling, of a man after a breakup, who wasn't feelin' so good himself. Now you definitely feel that presence, that musical totality, that richness in the first side closer of the one and only Blind Faith album, "Presence of the Lord." Miller took Clapton's pipes beyond Cream, the range and emotion were wider, you could hear a three-dimensional person in the music. As for "Well All Right," those older than me knew it was originally a Buddy Holly song. I mean at this point, I knew a bunch of Holly's hits, but what was originally titled "Well...All Right" was the b-side to the 1958 track "Heartbeat," which only made it to #82 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. And many of us baby boomers...we really started with the Beatles. We knew the earlier hits, but the Beatles had wiped the slate clean, our eyes pointed forward. But the Brits had always looked back, and played our history back to us. Which the Beatle generation ultimately got hooked on with the advent of Cream and the rest of the FM bands in the second half of the sixties. Which is all to say when I first heard "Well All Right" as done by Blind Faith, I was not comparing it to the original. Now it's all there in the original, but it's more of a blueprint than a final version for Blind Faith. Blind Faith lays down an undeniable, subtle groove that gets your head nodding, and keeps it moving. Also, there's that pregnant intro to the vocal, unlike Holly's take, this track is not a two minute romp. We know something is coming, and we know it's not going to be downbeat and downtrodden, and when Winwood starts singing, it's not. "Well all right so I've been foolish Well all right let people know" Once again, this is not the fifties, this version of the song is positively rooted in the sixties, when the music was no longer a sideshow, but the main show. There's no subtlety involved, just pure joy, you hear it in Winwood's vocal, even though the words themselves might not be that positive. But the song... Once again, Jimmy Miller creates a full-bodied sound, there's treble, but it doesn't overwhelm the middle and the bottom. Furthermore, you're not being overpowered, this track is not made to appeal to an ignorant Top 40 audience, this recording is for people in the know, those who purchased those Cream and Traffic albums, who had respect for the music. And just like in "Had to Cry Today," it's the guitar work that separates this remake from the original. Actually, it all starts at 2:50 with the keyboard, and then the guitar, and then the interplay for the rest of the number. This was the breakthrough of FM rock, the stretching out of songs. But this was neither the Dead nor the latter-day jam bands, at least on records, the instrumental section, in this case fading out at the end of the song, was not indulgent, not overblown, rather it was relatively concise, while being delectable at the same time. The Buddy Holly version of "Well...All Right" is 2:14. And the Blind Faith take contains all of that, but goes on for two plus minutes more, which makes all the difference, Blind Faith makes the song its own. And think about it... You've got Winwood on vocals (and more!), and Clapton on guitars, never mind Ginger Banker holding down the beat. This was the promise of Blind Faith. Which turned out to be a better idea on paper than in real life. It was the tour that killed the band. Because it was more of an idea than a true group. And billed as the first supergroup, Clapton grew tired of the overwhelming attention and retreated into Delaney & Bonnie and it was one and done. But that does not mean that great work was not delivered. Winwood and Clapton did push each other, the songs on the Blind Faith album are superior to so much of the stuff filling out the albums of the two thereafter. Then again, this was album rock. Traffic's only hit was in the U.K., the Dave Mason penned "Hole in My Shoe," which the rest of the band disowned. As great as "Dear Mr. Fantasy" was, only musos knew it, the live version by Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield two years later spread the word to more, when FM rock started to truly burgeon across America. Traffic had the goods, just look at the covers, especially Three Dog Night's "Heaven Is in Your Mind" and Al Kooper's "Coloured Rain," never mind Blood, Sweat & Tears' "Smiling Phases," but sans AM hits at the time...the band was not a household name. And it was the same with Cream until the summer of 1968, when "Sunshine of Your Love" crossed over, which is one of the reasons Clapton didn't want to continue, he wasn't in it for the hits. Anyway, as time marches on, fewer and fewer albums and songs are remembered. And the focus devolves into chart hits. But that's not what it was about in the late sixties and seventies. Then again, when it comes to classic rock oldies, radio does play "Can't Find Your Way Home" a bit, but the rest of the Blind Faith album may as well not even exist. As big as it was in the summer of Woodstock, when the whole nation was becoming aware of the power of rock and roll. So ask a youngster who knows the Doors and the Dead about the tracks on the Blind Faith album and they're going to be flummoxed. Blind Faith has been excised from the canon. Seen mostly as a footnote of excess. But there was a lot more than that, a lot more. Just listen to "Well All Right." -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll- Too Young to Die-SiriusXM This Week

Could this be the last time? Tune in August 7th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West. Phone #: 844-686-5863  If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Alison Ellwood-This Week's Podcast

Documentary filmmaker Alison Ellwood's most recent project is "Boy George & Culture Club." Prior to that she directed "History of the Eagles," "The Go-Go's," "Laurel Canyon"... https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alison-ellwood/id1316200737?i=1000780220185 https://open.spotify.com/episode/5udw7oJPYX15JVKkF44UM0?si=CzKN0xABQXCtfmcF-LX4ZQ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/alison-ellwood-340433331 https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/ad996cc3-b639-465a-a15b-ceabb09aa515/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-alison-ellwood -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

David Beard-This Week's Podcast

David Beard is the author of the revealing new book "All Summer Long: Conversations with The Beach Boys from Surfin' to SMiLE." https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/david-beard/id1316200737?i=1000779088456 https://open.spotify.com/episode/3vGMRiZV3D5aTT682GKXS5?si=xUmqwxypTXevMiBv01CMXw https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/david-beard-339912091 https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/42fe606a-3986-480f-8c35-ecfeeb3605ee/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-david-beard -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Democratic Socialism

Used to be if you wanted to know which way the wind blew, you'd listen to a record. But we haven't had that spirit here since 1969. Why? It's cracking me up watching Washington, D.C. and the Democratic establishment and long in the tooth commentators flip out about democratic socialism. It's like parents reacting to Alice Cooper in the early seventies. Instead of seeing the lyrics and stage antics as a way to spark conversation, question precepts, they took the words literally. Dead babies can take care of themselves? Why are you singing about dead babies, do you want to kill children, do you want to eviscerate the next generation? What a laugh. It's like the establishment had never encountered Dadaism, any art movement of the twentieth century, which was about questioning the past as opposed to going blindly into the future. By declaring a urinal art, Duchamp raised the question what art was. Assuming you know who Marcel Duchamp is to begin with. Now it all comes down to the baby boomers, a bulge in the population that had not existed previously. First they embraced rock and roll, anathema to the fans of the big bands and crooners who came before. And then came the folk movement. Which was all about questioning and protest. And then came the Beatles, who were so different from what existed previously that they wiped all the old acts off the charts. And then the boys from Liverpool started questioning every precept in the book, both socially and politically. And this attitude burgeoned in the seventies until disco and corporate rock caused the music business to collapse under its own weight and then along came MTV to rescue it. Now if you thought the rock stars of the sixties and seventies were rich... They couldn't hold a candle to the MTV stars, who were exposed internationally. It wasn't long before it became about the money more than the music and then... Rap and Kurt Cobain came along to recenter the world. Hip-hop questioned conventions, yes, it was N.W.A. who sang "Fu*k tha Police" and Ice-T sang about being a "Cop Killer" and then the L.A. riots of 1992 showed that everything these guys were rapping about was true. And hip-hop became the voice of a nation. Funny how you could question the validity of the police thirty five years ago and it ruffled the feathers of the establishment but when you talk about abolishing the police today, the new oldsters truly believe that that is what those saying this want! Ice-T didn't want to kill all the cops, but he did want to illuminate their bad behavior. But now the boomers are the oldsters and they've lost their sense of humor. They don't want to be eclipsed in power. Did you read "The New York Times" about the chapter that was left out of the DNC autopsy? "The chapter raised pointed questions that were notably absent from the draft that the party put out, both about President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ill-fated decision to run for re-election and the sway of an operative class that had become 'generationally wealthy off politics' while steering Democratic strategy." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/us/politics/democrats-autopsy-2024-election-dnc.html The older generation is completely out of touch with the street, what youngsters truly think, and therefore they appear like Grandpa Simpson, berating the youth and telling them to get off their lawn. Never have the young been so disillusioned since the sixties. But this disillusionment is not addressed, the focus is on some of the out there statements by the democratic socialists and it's funny to see the establishment squirm. Now Kurt Cobain was ensconced in a musical genre that the Ramones brought to the forefront in the seventies, but was never commercial, certainly not in the United States, until "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Punk was a reaction to overblown rock, and were we really supposed to believe Joey was serious when he sang about beating the brat with a baseball bat? Yes, democratic socialism is punk, a reaction. To take it all seriously is to miss the point. Then again, it used to be that music was the bleeding edge, now it is mired in commerciality. Everybody wants to become a brand. And the record companies are complicit. Democratic socialists will take a stand against Trump, but the corporations of America are afraid of taking a hit to their bottom line, they're playing it safe. So if you want to know which way the wind blows... Music is about money, pure and simple. All the talk of Taylor Swift, it's about grosses more than message. As for her influence on women, she's all about living the Cinderella fantasy, with marriage to a jock and a wedding at Madison Square Garden. She is the establishment, with her multiple private jets. She won the game of music, demonstrating how empty it is. She sang about the angst of life in country and then she went Top 40 for mass success and devolved into a cartoon, just the way the establishment likes it. Imagine if she harnessed her art and power to react... But that would threaten her bank account. In the sixties, young people rebelled against the football team, now it's about marrying the captain. Frank Zappa sang about losing status at the high school, now it's all about status, it's vapid. Then again, how would you expect the purveyors of this drivel to know any better? Swift made it as a teen. You learn about life, question authority in school, that's what an education is for, to learn how to parse the issues, analyze the facts. But today we venerate child television stars. The big issue is Ariana Grande's weight, not her viewpoint on the world. In other words, the musicians don't have the roots, the skills. As for the educated classes, they see music as déclassé, they're all about selling out to the bank or making bank in tech. Art? It's too risky. In a world of income inequality you don't want to end up poor, and the scions of prep schools and liberal arts colleges that teach critical thinking know this better than anyone. As for the great unwashed masses claiming that they're speaking truth to power and not gaining the recognition they deserve, well... In the heyday, you had to be able to sing and play and you had to write a great song. When was the last time I encountered this trifecta amongst the plethora of underdogs? I can't remember. Only a very few are skilled enough to gain attention and triumph. But somehow today everybody believes that since they have access, they should gain attention and power. And in truth, those employing the new tools in a new way are the ones who are front and center today. The innovators on TikTok, on YouTube... The most remarkable film of the summer was the product of an unknown who honed his skills online. Sure, "The Odyssey" is a visual and financial triumph, but Curry Barker's "Obsession," made for $750,000, has more cultural impact. It's not like everybody's going to go back and read Greek tragedies. "The Odyssey" is a spectacle, a $250 million spectacle, that is fun to watch but is not inspiring young people to test the limits themselves, "The Odyssey" is not that different from "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments" from prior eras. Neither of which changed the underlying culture. So in order to solve a problem, first you have to acknowledge it exists. Something establishment Democrats have continued to refuse to do. They do use modern technology, i.e. texts, to ding us for money, but if you think youngsters want to give...you haven't checked the numbers, which are anemic. Younger Democrats have detached themselves completely from the DNC, and rather than acknowledge this and adjust, the DNC keeps throwing cash at dying candidates and it would be funny if not for the fact that the future of society hangs in the balance. Assuming the system holds, which I'm not so sure will be the case. The young revolted against Modi in India last month and he blinked. Not that I'd expect the capitalist tools gracing the stages in America today to even know this. Change is like a volcano, it rumbles until it overflows. Is America ready for the volcano to erupt? One thing is for sure, this story is not being tracked by either those now in political power or the media. The media is all about the horse race, they're enraptured by access to politicians the way fans are enraptured by musical stars. It's no different. Everybody wants to know somebody famous and hope that they can garner some perks as a result. So the truth is the bleeding edge is where all the action is, in what is now called democratic socialism. And if you dive too deep into the issues, you're missing the point. It's about attitude, frustration with the status quo, being histrionic to gain attention, no different from the rock stars of half a century ago. Whereas today's "rock stars"... They're too busy putting out multiple iterations of vinyl albums to top the charts, that's what they're focused on. In truth, it was only a brief moment when music had an insane amount of cultural capital. But those who were around back then still remember. As far as younger generations go, they want to be Mariah Carey, they want to compete on "American Idol," those are their roots, why would you expect them to be leaders, especially when they don't have the basic knowledge to do so? And then there are the promoted teen phenoms... We don't have these in politics, in tech, only in a backwater like music can we believe that a wet behind the ears kid has any wisdom to display at all. Usually, the offspring of someone wealthy to boot! With the combo of Chaotic Good and Stella Lefty if you ain't got money and connections you've got to feel pretty defeated in the music game. Better to gain attention and spread your word elsewhere, online and in politics. Isn't it funny that what the democratic socialists embody is just what the D.C. establishment abhors? Questioning authority and doing it online? Mamdani triumphed by playing by the new, internet rules. Knowing that emotional contact pays far greater dividends than throwing endless capital at TV ads. But that's how they used to do it. Young people don't vote. All the canards of the past are bedrock in D.C., nothing is questioned, change is anathema. But change has happened. And what kind of crazy f*cked up world do we live in where Zohran Mamdani is a bigger rock star than anybody making music, with more ink and more mindshare and more power... If you think it's about whether democratic socialists win in November you're missing the point. This is a cultural schism, a movement, that cannot be contained via ancient thinking. So will the system hold if youngsters continue to be denied? I doubt it. But if you want to know what is going to happen, you're better off reading the newspaper than listening to anyone in the Spotify Top 50. Hell, "The New York Times" grossed $2.82 billion last year, with a net income of $344 million. There are individual musicians who do almost as well, but what the "Times" has that they're lacking is power. The musicians are all concerned with money, but everybody knows the real wealth is in power, speaking truth, effecting change... The priorities are all screwed up. But to get your head screwed on straight you have to be educated, with the ability to parse the truth. And if you think that's prevalent in the music business... Then you've purchased too many t-shirts and perfume. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Yummy Yummy Yummy

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6WvbMOjKf5y3CAHn4ubwlp?si=2f317883fd594e8d YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VECljlG--gE This was no "Simon Says." By 1967, album rock had arisen. After all, "Sgt. Pepper" came out in the spring. But it wasn't only the Beatles, "Are You Experienced," "The Doors" and even "Disraeli Gears" were also released in 1967. Even though album rock had no radio outlet in most markets, word was being spread amongst the cognoscenti, you only had to hear these records once to get them, they were building upon the foundation of what once was, they were testing limits. So when the Ohio Express released "Yummy Yummy Yummy" in the spring of 1968, it was universally derided, as simplistic trash. But you had to hear it. Because it was featured in Top 40 playlists, and those dominated the AM radio that we were all addicted to, both in cars and on our transistors. Now when "Yummy Yummy Yummy" peaked at #5 on WABC's 5/18/68 chart, it was an outlier. You'd have to go all the way to #26 to find something equally light, a trifle, "Indian Lake," the Cowsills track. Also on the chart were "Mrs. Robinson" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "A Beautiful Morning" and "Stoned Soul Picnic" and one of my personal favorites, "Reach Out of the Darkness," which was so groovy now, that when they hit the chorus you could only smile, with exuberance. Then again, there was that bass driven groove of the intro and the endless changes, something absent from almost all hit music today. A lot of today's successes are triumphs of image over music, then again, as hip as we were back in the day, today's youngsters believe they're hipper, they don't know what they're missing out on. Now the Tommy James & the Shondells track "Mony Mony" was actually #4, one step ahead of "Yummy Yummy Yummy" on this chart, but despite some scuttlebutt on the internet, I never saw James and his crew as precursors of bubble gum rock, reading the lyrics you might think "Hanky Panky" simplistic, but the sneer with which it was delivered... And let's not forget that "Hanky Panky" and "I Think We're Alone Now" were hits in 1966, when the world of music was truly just spreading its wings. And you knew "I Think We're Alone Now" was hip because it was covered by the Rubinoos. And, of course, Billy Idol covered "Mony Mony," but no credible rocker ever covered "Simon Says." A simplistic song about a child's game. Inferior to Red Rover if you ask me, but the song "Simon Says" was exploitive, you could see men coming up with a marketing hook on their way to success. And there was the cheesy intro and not a whole hell of a lot of melody. But "Yummy Yummy Yummy"? That was an original! They had to start from scratch on that one, there was no playground game with that moniker. Now if you check the Wikipedia page for "Yummy Yummy Yummy" you'll find its intro cited as inspiration for the Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R." and the Cars' "Just What I Needed." And to tell you the truth, when I first read this I scratched my head, but listening I found out it was true, they were identical! Then again, Wikipedia is a compilation of hoi polloi beliefs, there's no professional arbiter. However, both Paul McCartney and Ric Ocasek had to hear "Yummy Yummy Yummy," it was ubiquitous, and even if they didn't consciously lift the intro...remember George Harrision's "My Sweet Lord" and "He's So Fine"? But another interesting point that research will reveal is that "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was co-written by Joey Levine, its singer, and Arthur Resnick, neither household names. But Resnick had roots, he co-wrote "Under the Boardwalk" and "Good Lovin'," and if that latter track was good enough for the Grateful Dead, never mind the Young Rascals, why do we put down "Yummy Yummy Yummy"? In truth, it's the main concept, of having sweet love in your tummy, as if the track was directed to four year olds in nursery school, and Levine's nasal delivery didn't help. But Levine's delivery changes twenty two seconds in, he drops the act, loses his self-consciousness and just vocalizes, consumed by the sweet change in the music. And then we're back to the chunky guitar intro, which if it was good enough for the Beatles and the Cars... Then again, we've got the stupidity of the verse once again, the "yummy yummy yummy," words that didn't grace the lyrics of the aforementioned album rock acts. And then at 1:20 we've got the "ba-da's," hearkening back to what came before, "Yummy Yummy Yummy" sits at the crossroads of what once was and what will be. But then comes the secret sauce, at 1:28 the whole track modulates up, drawing the listener closer, elating their ears, doubling-down, a musical trick, but one that so often delivers. And this time the words are just a tad more sophisticated, resonating with both children and adults...er, teens... "Love, you're such a sweet thing, good enough to eat thing And sweet thing, that ain't no lie" Leave out the "yummys" and you've got lyrics not that different from the rest of the hit parade. Then: "Ooh love, I won't let you go" But then the song does, let you go that is. And you've got no other option than to pick up the needle and drop it in the opening groove once again. Assuming you owned it. Which I did. And at this point, I never bought singles, I was an albums only guy, but I knew there would never be a credible Ohio Express LP and I needed to hear this record now, ad infinitum. And I got sh*t for it. My parents laughed, older kids were snide, but I kept on playing 'Yummy Yummy Yummy." And by the turn of the decade, the slate was wiped clean of this kind of stuff. FM dominated and what was left on AM radio was oftentimes lowest common denominator, which "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was not. So if we pull the lens back, we've got a delectable intro, melody, changes, the complete package, the only potential negatives being the title and the nasal attitude expressed in the verses. Which is counteracted by the exuberance of what comes after. All in 2:20. Clear and concise. Album rock broke this mold, with extended solos and outros, and the progenitors were breaking new ground, but ever since "Toad," every self-respecting band featured a drum solo, to this day. Most of these players are not Ginger Baker, and once bitten, twice shy. Radiohead did name your own price with "In Rainbows," but it could never be done again. Yet today, if you're a rocker, longer is still better, why is that? As for so-called hits, oftentimes there's no melody at all, just one chord. As far as beat-driven stuff... It's melody that endures, if for no other reason than you can sing along! So sixty years later, when I mention "Yummy Yummy Yummy" everybody knows it. Both oldsters and those who grew up on Radio Disney. And then there are the endless covers and movie and TV syncs... Why has "Yummy Yummy Yummy" lasted if it's just tripe? It's not. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25