Faces - Had Me A Real Good Time

Artist: Faces

Song: Had Me A Real Good Time

Album: Long Player (1971)

Artist: Faces

Song: Had Me A Real Good Time

Album: Long Player (1971)

This raucous Ronnie Wood rock tune was sung by Rod Stewart. About as close as it gets to a Rolling Stones bicycling entry.

(…) On LONG PLAYER the Faces sound more bluesy, more British (as opposed to the Irish tilt of A NOD'S AS GOOD AS A WINK...) and at times more like Rod Stewart's handpicked touring band. Ronnie Lane stands out with a couple of great tunes, a shared vocal with Rod on a great cover of McCartney's classic "Maybe I'm Amazed," and his always wonderful bass, the spine of all Faces records.

This was back in the days when Rod Stewart still had some soul and could sing English Folk, Rock, R&B and Pub tunes all on the same album without missing a step. He's in fine form here, as he was on most Faces records, all his Jeff Beck stuff and all of his own stuff right up to FOOT LOOSE & FANCY FREE. He couldn't pull off a fun-time gem like "Had Me A Real Good Time" today to save his life; it remains one of my all-time favorite Faces tunes. (…)

review

Thought i was lookin' good
So i cycled 'cross the neighbourhood
Was invited by a skinny girl
Into her high class world

Left my bicycle under the stairs
Laid my coat across the kosher chairs
Made my way across the crowded room
I had nothing to lose

My reception wasn't very keen
So turning on a friendly grin
Stood on the table with my glass of gin
And came straight to the point

(chorus)
I was glad to come
I'll be sad to go
So while i'm here
I'll have me a real good time

(repeat)

Dancing madly round the room, yeah
Singing loudly and sorta' out of tune
Was escorted by a friendly slag
'round the bedroom and back
Wandered across to the door
Missed my step and i fell on the floor.
Said one word and was asked to leave
Kinda' wish i was dead.

(chorus)

The skinny girl made it clear
That she only came here for the beer
The vicar simply reeked of gin
On my way home i happened to fall off my bicycle
(good party)
I was glad to come, but i was also glad to get home

Luka Bloom - The Acoustic Motorbike

Artist: Luka Bloom

Song: The Acoustic Motorbike

Album: The Acoustic Motorbike (1991)

The younger brother of influential Irish singer/songwriter Christy Moore, Barry Moore had tired of being in his brother's shadow when he decided to relocate to the United States in 1987. Re-christening himself Luka Bloom during the long airplane ride, he took the first steps toward establishing his own reputation. A master interpreter, Bloom has continued to balance original songs with reinventions of tunes by a diverse range of songwriters. His reworking of LL Cool J's "I Need Love" transformed the song from its hip-hop origins to a brogue-inflected folk tune. His 2000 album Keeper of the Flame featured covers of tunes by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bob Marley, Nina Simone, U2, ABBA, Radiohead, and Tim Hardin. More

Rolling Stone says: " Luka Bloom proves more successful at evoking moods than making incisive observations on his second album, The Acoustic Motorbike. ... One of Bloom's most affecting performances on Acoustic Motorbike, however, is an impassioned reading of L.L. Cool J's 'I Need Love'. The prospect of a folky Irish rocker covering a rap ballad may seem strange, but experimenting with different forms is precisely what keeps established traditions vital. That's not to imply, of course, that the folk-rock minstrel is in danger of extinction. The times may be a-changin', but as long as people play guitars, write songs and sing - and move others by doing so - this custom will evolve and endure."

music

The day began with a rainbow in the sand
As I cycled into Kerry
Cattle grazing on a steep hillside
Looked well fed, well balanced
Close to the edge

Pedal on, pedal on, pedal on for miles
Pedal on
Pedal on, pedal on, pedal on for miles
Pedal on

I take a break, I close my eyes
And I'm happy as the dolphin
In a quiet spot talking to myself
Talking about the rain
Talking about the rain
All this rain

Pedal on
Pedal on, pedal on, pedal on for miles
Pedal on

You see whenever I'm alone
I tend to brood
But when I'm out on my bike
It's a different mood
I leave my brain at home
Get up on the sattle
No hanging around
I don't diddle-daddle

I work my legs
I pump my thights
Take in the scenery passing me by
The Kerry mountains or the Wicklow hills
The antidote to my emotional ills
A motion built upon human toil
Nuclear free needs no oil
But it makes me hot, makes me hard
I never thought I could have come this far
Through miles of mountains, valleys, streams
This is the right stuff filling my dreams
So come on, get up on your bike
Ah go on, get up on your bike

Pedal on
Pedal on, pedal on, pedal on for miles
Pedal on

Finally
With my face to that bitter wind
I bombed it into Killarney
Skin raw like a sushi dinner
And an appetite
That would eat the hind leg of the lamb of God
Even though you know
I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing
Then settle down for a quiet night
Think about what I've seen and done
And wonder

There's a reason for this
Now is the time
To speak of the problem troubling my mind
Sick of the traffic choking our towns
Freaking me out, bringing me down
Knock down houses, build more lanes
Once was a problem, now it's insane
My solution it's one that I like
It's Muddy
The Acoustic Motorbike
So come on, get up on your bike
Ah go on, get up on your bike

Pedal on
Pedal on, pedal on, pedal on for miles
Pedal on

Ah go on
Ah go on
Get up on your bike
Get up on your bike

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Faces - Had Me a Real Good Time

Artist: Faces

Song: Had Me a Real Good Time

Album: Long Player (1971)

 

This is the album where the Faces came into their own as a band. After the breakup of the Small Faces and the recording of the Faces' debut "First Step" in 1970, Rons Lane and Wood, Kenny Jones, Ian McLagan and frontman Rod Stewart emerged with the first of the two best albums of their all too short career--the other being the equally excellent "A Nod Is as Good as a Wink..."

(…)This was back in the days when Rod Stewart still had some soul and could sing English Folk, Rock, R&B and Pub tunes all on the same album without missing a step. He's in fine form here, as he was on most Faces records, all his Jeff Beck stuff and all of his own stuff right up to FOOT LOOSE & FANCY FREE. He couldn't pull off a fun-time gem like "Had Me A Real Good Time" today to save his life; it remains one of my all-time favorite Faces tunes.

 

review

 

music

 

Thought I was lookin' good
So I cycled 'cross the neighbourhood
Was invited by a skinny girl 
Into her high class world
Left my bicycle under the stairs
Laid my coat across the kosher chairs
Made my way across the crowded room
I had nothing to lose
My reception wasn't very keen
So turning on a friendly grin
Stood on the table with my glass of gin
And came straight to the point
(Chorus)
I was glad to come
I'll be sad to go
So while I'm here
I'll have me a real good time
(Repeat)
Dancing madly round the room, yeah
Singing loudly and sorta' out of tune
Was escorted by a friendly slag
'Round the bedroom and back
Wandered across to the door
Missed my step and I fell on the floor.
Said one word and was asked to leave
Kinda' wish I was dead.
(Chorus)
The skinny girl made it clear
That she only came here for the beer
The vicar simply reeked of gin
On my way home I happened to fall off my bicycle
(Good party)
I was glad to come, but I was also glad to get home

The Smiths - Back To The Old House

Artist: The Smiths

Song: Back To The Old House

Album: Hatful of Hollow (1984), Louder Than Bombs (1987)

 

The Smiths released their second album, Hatful Of Hollow, in November of 1984. The album is basically a compilation, consisting of two BBC sessions (John Peel, 9/21/83 and 4/7/83), as well as singles released from the previous album and unreleased tracks. The album is worth it simply because of guitarist Johnny Marr's stunning guitar work alone.

Back To The Old House is an acoustic piece with melancholy guitars and vocals; it was published in 1984: is the B-Side of "What Difference Does It Make". You will find this song better than the original album version due to Marr's guitar and Morrissey's lyrics.

Slight, sober and simple yet highly evocative lyrics for this song. Going back with his thoughts and feelings, the protagonist (almost certainly Morrissey himself) struggles to resist the nostalgic temptation to revisit one's past locale, a house where he once lived and fell in love for the first time.

 

review

The Smiths tend to be thought of as a band one grows out of--music you listened to as a depressed adolescent and then abandoned when you overcame it all. Such a notion denies them their place in the rock pantheon, not only as an inspiration to countless indie-rock outfits but also as the band that challenged the received wisdom of rock & roll machismo. Fronted by the fey, sexually ambiguous Steven Patrick Morrissey, who married painfully honest lyrics--almost embarrassing in their self-effacement--with arch humor and a melancholic delivery, the British band was quite an anomaly to an America still emerging from the bloated-rock tyranny of the likes of Journey and REO Speedwagon. Hatful of Hollow, released as an import in 1984 and domestically in 1993, is a collection of singles, many recorded live for various radio shows. More-muscular versions of most of the tracks here can be found on the collection Louder Than Bombs, but Hatful has a vitality to it that the studio-bound, somewhat antiseptic Bombs lacks. Check out Johnny Marr's delicate acoustic guitar on the aching "Back to the Old House" or the band's looser workouts of such now-classics as "This Charming Man" and "Still Ill." (...) Steve Landau

music

I would rather not go
Back to the old house
I would rather not go
Back to the old house
There's too many
Bad memories
Too many memories
There ...
There ...
There ...

When you cycled by
Here began all my dreams
The saddest thing I've ever seen
And you never knew
How much I really liked you
Because I never even told you
Oh, and I meant to

Are you still there ?
Or ... have you moved away ?
Or have you moved away ?
Oh ...

I would love to go
Back to the old house
But I never will
I never will ...
I never will ...
I never will ...