It's Five O'Clock - Aphrodite's Child

It's Five O'Clock is the title track on a 1969 album by the Greek band Aphrodite's Child that was also issued as a single. It subsequently appeared on a 1987 album by the lead singer Demis Roussos and in German and French by an Italian singer Milva in 1981. Vangelis wrote the music and Richard Harvey the lyrics. The striking thing about the song for me is that it is able to conjure up exactly what it claims to - "It's five o'clock And I walk through the empty streets Thoughts fill my head ... It's five o'clock And I walk through the empty streets The night is my friend." This is a quality it shares with Good morning, Good morning by the Beatles - "Heading for home you start to roam then you're in town Everybody knows there's nothing doing Everything is closed it's like a ruin ... And you're on your own you're in the street ... Then you decide to take a walk by the old school." It's Five O'Clock is a simple presentation of the pessimistic and nostalgic feeling that comes over all of us from time to time and that unchecked can lead to emptiness and suicidal thoughts. Thankfully, if treacherously, this song ends positively with the words - "The night is my friend And in him I find sympathy He gives me day, gives me hope and a little dream too." The Hammond organ is both evocative and very much of its time. Three and a half minutes of genius.

Pied Piper - Bob and Marcia/Crispian St Peters

Bob and Marcia were a Jamaican vocal duo, Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths. They had a hit with Nina Simone's Young, Gifted and Black in 1970 and followed it up the next year with Pied Piper. In both cases there are original Jamaican versions and then popular versions with added orchestration. Pied Piper was actually written by the duo The changin' times ie Steve Duboff and Artie Kornfeld. They had reached the lower end of the charts with it in 1965. British pop singer Crispian St Peters (Robin Peter Smith) had then recorded it and scored a major hit in the summer of 1966. It had also been recorded by Cher and then Rita Marley.

The song's title is, of course, from the German folklore fairy tale that was written up in poetic form by Robert Browning in the nineteenth century. Hence the flutes and whistles on the versions under review here. In the original story the town of Hamelin is over-run by rats but the city officials hire a rat-catcher to rid the place of vermin. He wears a costume that looks somewhat like a court jester and plays a magic flute, which leads all the rats away. The town then refuses to pay him, so in anger he does the same thing with the flute, this time leading away the children.

The lyrical problem here is that the Pied Piper character is trying to persuade a reluctant and nervous character that all will be well if they will follow him. And yet if they know anything about the Pied Piper story, they will continue to be cynical. The tune is so joyful, however, especially in the reggae-fied Bob and Marcia version, it is hard not to be convinced that this man is worth following.

Rhythm of the rain - The Cascades

Rain songs are a sort of subgenre in pop music all on their own. This one typically begins and ends with the sound of rain and thunder. It also tells the familiar tale of a man whose lover has left him. The rain falling reminds him 'what a fool' he has been. He rhetorically asks the rain for answers, but ultimately wishes it would 'go away' and let him cry alone. The song is employing then what Ruskin called the pathetic fallacy - a literary term for the attribution of human emotion and conduct to inanimate things found in nature. The rain is simply falling but it seems as though it is falling in sympathy. It also tries some onomatopoeia near the end (pitter patter, pitter patter) and so is a relatively sophisticated piece for a throwaway pop song.

It was first released in late 1962 but I was only aware of it in more recent years thanks to radio play. In fact, in 1999 BMI listed the song as the ninth most performed song on radio/TV in the 20th century. It had featured in the Pete Townshend film Quadrophenia in 1979.

Part of the charm of the song is its use of an unusual chiming instrument, the celesta, and the way the lyrics are clearly enunciated by the vocal group. I especially like the pronunciation of start in the line looking for a brand new start. 

Once again we are faced with a description of teenage angst that is probably describing mere obsession rather than anything deeper. One can imagine this young man's friends calling in an hour or two and he quite happily joining them for a few hoops of basketball and feeling the better for it. It is the beautiful tune and the vocal skills that keep us coming back for more.

Run run run - Jo Jo Gunne/Jeans on - David Dundas

Listening to the radio recently, I heard these two seventies hits (1972 and 1976). They came together in my mind as I like both pieces but have never bought either and have rarely heard them on radio. Both are more or less one hit wonders.

American rock band Jo Jo Gunne was formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Jay Ferguson (keyboards, vocals, guitar) and Mark Andes (bass guitar, vocals) after they had left the band Spirit. The name is from "Joe Joe Gunne" a Chuck Berry single from November 1958.

Ferguson and Andes, with Mark's brother Matt (guitar, vocals) and William "Curly" Smith (drums, vocals, harp), were signed to Asylum Records. Written by Ferguson "Run Run Run" reached Number 6 in the UK and was from Jo Jo Gunne's first self-titled album. More albums and various personnel changes followed. The song has completely inconsequential lyrics, a very poppy tune, nice use of the slide guitar and features competent guitar band musicianship.

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Oxford born David Dundas is a genuine Lord, the son of Lawrence Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland. Educated at Harrow and the Central School of Speech and Drama, twice married, he has three grown up children.
The single Jeans On was from his 1977 self-titled debut album. It reached No. 3 in the UK. It was No. 1 in the German Singles Charts and remained 19 weeks in the Top Ten. It originally appeared as a TV advertising jingle for Brutus Jeans. The popularity of the commercial eventually led to the recording of Jeans On as a full-length song, with some lyrical changes. Dundas also recorded a French language version entitled Blue Jeans. He performed the song live on Top of the Pops in 1977. Other singles followed but none was as successful as the first.
The opening piano riff was looped and sampled for British electronic musician Fatboy Slim's 1998 track "Sho Nuff" which was also used in an advertisement in 2006 for the SEAT Ibiza car. As a result, Dundas is credited as a co-writer on the track.
The song is covered by Keith Urban on the 2002 album Golden Road.
The song, written by Dundas, with assistance from the prolific Roger Greenaway, is again wonderful pop, well executed, this time electric piano driven rather than guitar led. The lyrics are slightly less inconsequential but appear to be thought up on the spot. They include these words "You and me, we'll go motorbike riding in the sun and the wind and the rain, I got money in my pocket, got a tiger in my tank And I'm king of the road again."

"Put a tiger in your tank" was a slogan created in 1959 by Emery Smith, a young Chicago copywriter who had been briefed to produce a newspaper ad to boost sales of Esso Extra. The tiger wasn't his invention. It first appeared as a mascot for Esso in Norway early in the 20th century. It was at the end of the Second World War - and the resumption of petrol advertising - that the tiger made its US debut.  King of the road was a single by country singer Roger Miller that came out in 1965.

Glory glory - The Byrds

Also known as When I Lay My Burden Down, Since I Laid My Burden Down, Glory, Glory, Hallelujah and other titles, this American spiritual goes back at least to 1928 and has been recorded by many artists down the years in a variety of genres, including folk, country, blues, rock and gospel. It is a very simple song lyrically and musically and appears to reflect the joy of a Christian who knows that by trusting in Jesus Christ he has laid his burden down. In 1971, The Byrds included it as the opening track on their tenth studio album Byrdmaniax. It was suggested by drummer Gene Parsons who knew it from the repertoire of The Art Reynolds Singers, as was the case with the earlier Jesus Is Just Alright (on Ballad of Easy Rider). Art Reynolds is often credited as the composer of the song but it appears to be older than his heyday in the sixties. The Byrds version features a striking piano part and strong gospel backing vocals but was felt to lack the immediacy of the previous Jesus track. Producer Terry Melcher said in a 1977 interview: "We were aiming to cut another Jesus Is Just Alright but we didn't make it. Larry Knechtel [Session musician, part of the wrecking crew] played piano on this cut but it was too fast. The whole thing was a mess." This is a little harsh.

Over my head (Cable car) - The Fray

Over My Head (Cable Car) originally just Cable Car was a very successful hit single and album track for Denver band The Fray in 2005, 2006. Originally recorded as a demo early in the band's life, that version had a lot of local radio airplay. The Fray song sounds at first like a traditional break up song but is apparently about lead singer and pianist Slade's relationship with younger brother Caleb (nicknamed "Cable Car"). Isaac wrote the song because the two were allegedly not speaking. "It is about a fight I got in with my brother, Caleb" Slade said. "After he graduated high school, we drifted apart and really hadn't spoken in a long time. One day we both realised that we needed to fight it out. We'd been friends for 20 years. That's a long time when you're only 23 years old. We fought it out, and he's one of my best friends today." Behind this slightly bland explanation lies the fact that Caleb was bassist with the Fray but was sacked in 2002. Now the she (She's on your mind) is presumably the boys' mother, which transforms the song. Being in over my head is not entirely clear but it may be that we are seeing it through Caleb's eyes not Isaac's. Either way, the opening verse begins to make sense (I never knew that everything was falling through That everyone I knew was waiting on a cue, etc, etc). Presumably eight seconds left in overtime is a picture drawn from basketball describing the need to act. It's late in the game but Let's rearrange. If this was a stranger, disengagement would be easy but this is a brother. As you lose the argument in a cable car Hanging above as the canyon comes between is both evocative and a clever reference to the nickname. The alternative is to drift apart which cannot be good. The line I'm losing you and it's effortless is powerful. How easy relationships are lost and Without a sound we lose sight of the ground In the throw around. He Never thought that his brother wanted to bring it down but he is determined not to let it go down till we torch it ourselves. The Chainsmokers' Closer was adjudged in 2016 to be derivative so Isaac Slade and Joe King of The Fray's names received co-credits.

There she goes - The La's

I must have first heard this song in 1990 when the single charted and was often on the radio. I either bought the single myself or received it as a Christmas gift. There was apparently a prior version, produced by Bob Andrews, released in 1988 and 1989 but it is Steve Lillywhite's remix for the debut album that is best known. It was the biggest success Liverpool band The La's ever enjoyed. The song's structure is simple, having only a chorus repeated four times and a bridge. It has been placed in what some call the Jangle Pop genre, one often associated with the 12 string Rickenbacker guitar, and pioneered by The Beatles and The Byrds especially Mr Tambourine Man. This is a fine example of the genre. The song is often said to refer to heroin ("There she goes again ... racing through my brain ... pulsing through my vein ... no one else can heal my pain") which is unlikely. It is associated in my mind with Mrs Thatcher whose reign as prime minister came to an end just after the song charted. I probably got the idea in my head from hearing it used for the opening montage of the first episode of Channel 4's drama series This Is England '90 which also featured Mrs Thatcher's resignation speech. It is actually about the usual staple, love for (or should we say infatuation with?) a girl. The song has featured on the soundtrack of The Parent Trap; Fever Pitch; Girl, Interrupted; Cold Case, and So I Married an Axe Murderer. It has been covered by Sixpence none the richer, The Boo Radleys and Robbie Williams, among others.