Tune Tag #143 with Brain of J-Hawk, Pt. 2: Talking Heads, The Who, Christopher Milk, Nona Hendryx, Joe Cocker, Jess Roden Band, Jellyfish, Radiohead
I found and invited the biggest Brain (living outside a human body) I could find to this Tag! Let's see what happens when my brain goes up against Brain's brain🧠!🤯
Tune Tag Welcomes Brain of J-Hawk (he/him) of Music of My Mind!
The first track of my favorite Pearl Jam album—and my favorite album opener—is “Brain of J.” I’ve been a lifelong fan, and I have a graduate degree from the University of Kansas, home of the Jayhawks.
When I’ve focused my energy on my Music of My Mind Substack, it’s been in the form of letters to our toddler son—let’s call him “Baby Jay.” I write to him about one album at a time, usually records that have shaped me, but sometimes newer albums I’ve only just discovered. In each letter, I add a bit of music history and a few little‑known facts about the artists. I’d love for you to check out these letters sometime:
Last August, Brain’n’I Tagged our first Tunes:
Last week, we met N Francis of Frank White and the Black Swans for this Tune Tag:
Next week, join us as we celebrate the new album release by David Levine (drops tomorrow👆Wednesday, May 6)!
Brain’s song #1 sent to Brad: Talking Heads, “The Great Curve,” 1980
Brain’s rationale: One of my favorite things in music is when I hear a studio-recorded version of a song and like it. Then, I hear a live version of it and my opinion goes from like to love!
There are many examples I could point to, but this is one I enjoy because of just how incredible the controlled chaos is onstage when I watched the Talking Heads’ 1980 performance in Rome of “The Great Curve.” David, Tina and Adrian Belew (who plays some incredible guitar solos) are just bouncing all over the stage:
Chris is destroying the drums, and Tina eventually gets on top of one of the speakers, stage right, killing her bass riffs. What’s great about this and many of the live performances I’ve seen is the addition of back-up singers.
In this performance, it’s Parliament-Funkadelic co-founder, Bernie Worrell (see interview below), and veteran background singer, Dolette McDonald (shown above, onstage with the Heads). All of the layers to this onion (that’s a compliment because I love onions!) complement each other so well. It’s a complex and wonderful song and my favorite of Talking Heads’ catalog.
Brad’s song #1 sent to Brain: Nona Hendryx, “Problem,” 1977
Brain’s response: In my description of why I love “The Great Curve,” I mentioned how I enjoy the fact Talking Heads had backup singers for live performances. While Dolette McDonald was there for Rome 1980, Nona has performed with Talking Heads on several other performances of “The Great Curve.”
One last thing to mention: There was a short discussion behind the curtain between Brad and me about whether it was important to note if the tagged song was studio or live [so the other person doesn’t go researching personnel on the studio take if a live version—that may not feature the same personnel—was sent]. This reference had to be the live version.😁👍
Brad’s rationale: Nona sang on The Heads’ “The Great Curve.” Just off Labelle, this was her solo debut album on Labelle’s label, Epic Records. If you decide to leave a group to go solo, it’s likely (if not contracted) that your label will want—and take—first dibs on your solo jaunt!
Brain’s song #2: The Who, “The Acid Queen,” 1969
Brad’s response: My first thought went to Tina Turner, who “was” The Acid Queen in the 1975 Ken Russell Tommy movie and soundtrack, and sang this song. But, along with Merry Clayton and Bette Midler (and Turner), Patti LaBelle has also recorded “The Acid Queen,” and of course, Nona Hendryx was in LaBelle! Nice, Brain!
Brain’s rationale: I learned that Nona was a member of Labelle, who is probably best known for “Lady Marmalade,” performed with Patti LaBelle and Sarah Dash. What I happened to stumble upon while on her Wiki page is a credit to a performance of “The Acid Queen” from The Who’s Tommy.
Tommy became a stage musical starting on July 1, 1992, with its first show at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego (highlighted above). There have been several performers to play the role as the Acid Queen/Gypsy. The note in Wiki doesn’t provide a link, so I had to dig around a bit.
Finally, I came across a mention of one of the shows that Nona played the Acid Queen: It was in June 2008, at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood (above). I was close to tagging Tina Turner’s version from 1975 from her record, “Acid Queen,” which really slays. However, I thought since Pete Townsend wrote the song, I would give mention to him and his mates.
Brad’s song #2: Jellyfish, “The King is Half-Undressed,” 1991
Brain’s response: I’m not going to overthink this one: My song mentions a queen and this song mentions a king. Jellyfish is not a band that I had heard of until this Tune Tag. The music video is really fun. I almost feel like I’m watching a deleted scene from Alice in Wonderland. I had first looked into a connection with Roger Manning or Andy Sturmer with The Who, but came up snake-eyes with that venture.
Brad’s rationale: We’ve identified just what the Kingdom’s Court is up to this week! The Queen is apparently into illicit drugs, while Sire is readying for bed!
Brain’s song #3: Radiohead, “Nude,” 2007
Brad’s response: Now the King is….well, let’s just say he’s not put on any more clothes!
From Genius.com: “Originally written and recorded during the [1997] OK Computer era, this song was often played live and became a hardcore-fan favorite. It had the working title, ‘Failure to Receive Repayment Will Put Your House at Risk,’ although most knew it as ‘Big Ideas (Don’t Get Any)’.
“The band worked on it during the next decade, but was never satisfied with the results. Renamed as ‘Nude,’ it was finally released on In Rainbows in 2007, with a different arrangement, and in the next year it became the second single off that album.
“The song describes the consequences of a world where only one idea is shared by everyone. If one has an idea that is different from the generally accepted one and could benefit the world, one way or another, it would always be kept away from the public.”
Thom Yorke (above, for Mojo, in 2008):
Ten years ago, when we first had the song, I didn’t enjoy singing it because it was too feminine, too high. It made me feel uncomfortable. Now I enjoy it exactly for that reason – because it is a bit uncomfortable, a bit out of my range, and it’s really difficult to do. And it brings something out in me.
And, finally, this, from Songfacts and guitarist, Jonny Greenwood (above), chatting with New Musical Express December 8, 2007 about the recording of this song:
Thom will come and play a song like “Nude” to you and obviously it’s good. You want to record it. But it’s been hanging around for 10 years and you find yourself thinking, “Why haven’t we recorded a good enough version of this song?” The relief now is that it’s done and we didn’t mess it up—it’s worth it all.
Brain’s rationale: No overthinking for me here: I took “half-undressed” a step further to complete nudity. [Brad peeks in from around the corner: And, don’t think we don’t appreciate it, Brain!👀] The song title that came to mind was Radiohead’s “Nude.” I wrote a year ago that their In Rainbows album was my gateway into Radiohead, since I was too stubborn to give them an opportunity until they offered up their music for free!
The band actually wrote the song during their Summer ‘96-Spring ‘97 recording sessions for OK Computer. While the title suggests baring oneself, the title was decided on from the original chorus of the song which sang, “What do you look like, when you’re nude?” I love the song. It’s a great contrast to the way “Bodysnatchers” finishes before it on the record. Thom’s vocals are constrained, but still penetrating to the ear drums because it seems like he’s using falsetto for most of it.
Brad’s song #3: The Jess Roden Band, “You Can Leave Your Hat On,” 1976
Brain’s response: The lyrics describe the vocalist telling the subject to strip down all the way, but if they wish they can leave on their hat. To me, that seems like the subject is all but “nude.” It’s a pretty steamy song just going by the lyrics alone. The Jess Roden Band does a nice job covering this Randy Newman song.
Brad’s rationale: Randy Newman’s otherwise dour, doleful, and dirty dirge is turned into a bluesy, bawdy New Orleans bowl o’ gumbo by UK’s Jess Roden Band (Island Records worldwide, produced by Geoffrey Haslam).
Genius.com: “This ‘potent mid-tempo rock tune’ and ‘witty and willfully perverse bit of erotic absurdity’ (Deming, AllMusic) is the 11th track on Newman’s 1972 album, Sail Away. Newman eventually admitted that the song was too low for him to sing [I take it he was referring to vocal pitch, and nothing referring to his lyrics!😉]:
This song, however, is more famous for its covers by Joe Cocker (featured in the 9 ½ Weeks soundtrack) and Tom Jones (featured in The Full Monty soundtrack).
No live performances of “You Can Leave Your Hat On” by The Roden Band could be found. But, we did find a video of them from the same year, performing “In A Circle” and The Temptations’ “Can’t Get Next to You” at Manticore Studios in West London on April 21, 1976 for Blue Mountain Films (for Island Records):
Brain’s song #4: Joe Cocker, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” Live, circa 1970:
Brad’s response: We’re either witness to a possible felony, or someone’s running around a tad chilly!
Brain’s rationale: “You Can Leave Your Hat On” was written and initially performed by Randy Newman. So, I went with another artist who covered this song, but decided to mention another cover done by the artist who also covered “You Can Leave Your Hat On.” Is everyone following that logic? Because I just got lost there for a minute!
I really enjoy Cocker’s version of “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,” because it kind of gets buried on The Beatles’ Abbey Road. I honestly can’t think of a time I just decided to skip right to this track when playing the record. I’m always starting from “You Never Give Me Your Money” and rolling all the way through to “The End.” Cocker does a really nice job of making the song shine on its own with his more bluesy type of rendition. It’s very much of the same ilk as his cover of “With a Little Help from My Friends.”
Brad’s song #4: Christopher Milk, “Hey Heavyweight,” 1971
Brain’s response: This took me a while: Christopher Milk was a band put together by Ralph Oswald and current FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE follower, John Mendelssohn.
John (who now writes on Substack under his John Mendelssohn/A Legend In His Own Minefield tag), happened to write for Rolling Stone in the early ‘70s, and wrote a review of Cocker’s version of “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” Mendelssohn called Cocker’s voice “that of a middle-aged Southern black man,” alluding to Ray Charles.
New Feature! “Dan’s Pace”: Quik✒Notes On Notes🎶, by Dan👇
“Bring Your Love,” the eagerly anticipated Madonna & Sabrina Carpenter collaboration was released April 30. It’s the lead single from Madonna’s upcoming album, Confessions II, and it is, predictably, sugary sweet and near pop perfection. I can tell it’s going to be in heavy rotation this summer. It’s a song that begs to be played on repeat with the car windows down:
That said, I think it’s also true that there was something vaguely underwhelming about it. Being a long-time Madonna fan is a burden I bear, and because of that, I know what she’s capable of, and if you look a little too closely at “Bring Your Love,” you can see the absolutely brilliant song that could have been. A friend said to me that it feels like a demo, albeit a very well-produced one.
One thing I do LOVE about it is that it brings back the classic Madonna bridge, something that’s been notably absent in her music for some time now. I will always give it up for a middle eight. [Click here for lyrics on Genius.com]
For those who found 2019’s Madame X a little too esoteric and out there, “Bring Your Love” is a real return to dance form for Madonna, and bringing Sabrina Carpenter along for the ride was a stroke of genius both from a musical standpoint and a marketing one. And don’t for a minute think this won’t make my 2026 best-of list in December, because it most definitely will.
GIG BUZZ!
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With all the nudity this should have been called the bare necessities! And Radiohead took their name from the talking heads, so there's another connection for you. Bravo to you both!
Fellas, this was incredible. I loved the tracks, yes, but especially how you connected them. Such a funky opener by Brain, then Brad astutely brought the ball closer to his rock territory, and you guys started communicating and exchanging some of the most creative tags we've seen here. Impressive work.