Tune Tag #24 with Andrew Smith ("Goatfury"), Pt. 2: The Specials, Harry Styles, Neurosis, Guns n' Roses, Rolling Stones
🎃Played near Halloween '23, Andrew and I plunder the vaults for Stones n' Roses, ska-tellites The Specials, and Harry's Style, as we try to make sense of our Neurosis.
“Give it your best shot, Goatfury! Tag, You’re It!”
Andrew Smith is a senior-dog whisperer, a writer, a 4th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a business owner, and a lifetime learner. He enjoys sharing his view of the world with you, mainly because he thinks he has things to say (and he does!), and because he feels a burning passion to create!
His infinitely fascinating Substack entry, Goatfury Writes, can be accessed and subscribed to by clicking here, and his first Tune Tag can be enjoyed by going here:
Andrew’s Song #1 to Brad: Neurosis, “Blisters,” 1990
Andrew’s rationale: Have you ever put a song on and had it instantly change your mood? This is one of those rare songs for me. The mood is pretty dark! If I’m already feeling a little gloomy, I’ll go deeper into this emotion. Many folks would say that's unhealthy, but I think that’s just a surface level, knee-jerk response, and I think the science has my back on this one.
Feeling a negative emotion for a little while is one thing music is really good at, and Neurosis does despair as well as just about anyone. Why would anyone want to feel despair for an extended period of time? Because, not feeling that genuine emotion - burying the feeling- is much more unhealthy than just letting the emotion run its course.
Also, and maybe more to the point, this reminds me personally of a place and time in my life that I can revisit any time I need to. It was a time of deep uncertainty in my life, and while it seemed really bad at the time, when I look back today it was an important phase I needed to go through.
Brad’s Song #1 to Andrew: Snips, “Tight Shoes,” 1981
Andrew’s response: “Tight Shoes” by Snips has to be all about how tight shoes give you blisters! Right, Brad? Right? Every time I think I understand how Brad’s Tune Tag brain works, he throws a little extra curve in there, so there’s probably more...but, I don’t know what it might be.
This song is pretty fun, though, and I kind of like it in the background while I’m writing this. I will note one additional similarity: both songs are very bass-heavy.
Brad’s rationale: I took Andrew’s “Blisters” song, and found a song that caused blisters! Hey, this ain’t rocket science (I’m hoping)! Apparently, Snips is a single guy, who’d like us to know his real name is Steve Parsons, he’s currently 72, and he’s from Yorkshire, puddin’.
Andrew’s Song #2: Specials, “Ghost Town,” 2008
Brad’s response:
Andrew’s rationale: There’s that organ music again from “Tight Shoes,” but there’s more of the UK crossover between the underground scene and the mainstream. This is a perfect such-crossover song, and I’ve always been interested in the earlier versions of ska and punk fusion, and the early days of Ska. This isn’t that early, but it’s really fun... and topical for Halloween!
Brad’s Song #2: Harry Styles, “Two Ghosts,” 2017
Andrew’s response: Once again, it seems far too facile to assume that Brad is thinking about the simplistic ghost connection.
That being said, I respect the deep Halloween theme here, although I’ll need to break from it for my next song.
Brad’s rationale: Apparently, there are “two ghosts”👻👻in “Ghost Town”!
From Spinditty.com: “Awkwardness takes over when you spend time with someone you've grown apart from, as the guy in this 2017 folk rock song depicts. A special relationship can grows flat and lose its spark.
“As Harry Styles laments in this song, ‘We’re just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me.’ When there’s increasing distance between you, conversation doesn’t flow easily like it used to. Even if you share the same stories or words, the feeling just isn’t there.”
Andrew’s Song #3: Guns N’ Roses: “Used to Love Her,” 1988
Brad’s response: Thankfully, this song is nowhere close to being autobiographical! Apparently, the notion that it’s about a former girlfriend of lead singer, Axl Rose, is apocryphal. The song was written as a joke, at least according to the Guns N’ Roses’ guitarist, Izzy Stradlin, as he proudly revealed: “I was sitting around listening to the radio and some guy was whining about a broad who was treating him bad. I wanted to take the radio and smash it against the wall. Such self-pity! What a wimp! So, we rewrote the same song we heard with a better ending.”
Rose, joining Stradlin in sounding like a couple of dishin’ biddies at afternoon tea, would later tell Art Tavana in his Goodbye Guns N’ Roses that the song that inspired Stradlin was from the band, Great White.
Andrew’s rationale: I picked up on the theme from the lyrics of “Two Ghosts.” It’s clear that the singer has moved on in Ghosts; here, Axl Rose makes it utterly plain and clear: Not only did he used to love her, but he also had to kill her!
This added some much-needed inspiration for me after a pretty brutal break-up. Recovery came a little bit faster because of this song (credited to the band as songwriter). I remember my radio-alarm clock waking me up with this song, and how much better I felt that morning than I had for the last month or two. Music can have power over emotions!
Brad’s Song #3: Rolling Stones, “It’s All Over Now,” 1964
Andrew’s response: Clearly, we have settled on a theme: finality! I positively love the mono version of this song. It’s wonderfully stripped down to just what you need to hear, and I admire that. It would be pretty easy for me to change gears and focus on a song connected by way of sound, but I’m not going to do that.
Brad’s rationale: Regardless of the manufactured (and no less pointless) felony in Guns N’ Roses’ “Used to Love Her” (yeah, then what?), soul legend Bobby Womack co-wrote, with sister-in-law, Shirley Womack, “It’s All Over Now,” and somehow managed to sidestep glorifying a felony in so doing (take a lesson, Iz ‘n’ Axl!).
This is what Mick and the boys heard on the radio in 1964 that motivated them into a studio to produce what ended up being their first #1 UK hit that same year…The Valentinos, featuring Bobby Womack, his brothers Cecil, Curtis and Harry, and father, Friendly, with the great Sam Cooke producing:
The Stones flew into New York City June 1, 1964, for their first North American Tour. After hearing The Valentinos’ “It’s All Over Now” (aka The Womack Brothers) on Murray the K’s 1010-WINS radio show in the car driving in, the band recorded their version nine days later at Chess Studios in Chicago (Andrew Loog Oldham producing).
Years later, Bobby Womack said in an interview (according to David Roberts in his 2006 British Hit Singles and Albums) that he had told Sam Cooke he did not want the Rolling Stones to record their version of the song, and that he had told Mick Jagger to get his own song(!) Cooke convinced him to let The Stones record the song. Six months later, after receiving the royalty check for the song, Womack told Cooke that Mick Jagger could have any song he wanted.
A close second to this Stones cover was my considered inclusion of The Faces’ “Ooh La La,” from their 1973 album of the same name. Whether thematically similar (or not), or just the fact that it featured Ron Wood on lead vocals (instead of usual Faces frontman, Rod Stewart), it came easily to mind when thinking of The Stones’ cover.
Wood joined The Stones the following year, as it happens, on a song he co-wrote with bassist, Ronnie Lane. I guess I found the lyrics similarly positioned (minus fatalities): “Poor old granddad, he spoke of women’s ways,” as the chorus laments, “I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger” (then maybe “I” wouldn’t have gotten into that Great White/GN’R folderol):
Andrew’s Song #4: Alice In Chains, “Over Now,” 1995 (Columbia Records, worldwide)
Andrew’s rationale: My thematic connection is once again pretty obvious (sorry, Brad!) Brad: No need for apologies, Andrew; it’s called “we’re on a roll”!
Back to Andrew: I love Alice in Chains, and consider 1992’s Dirt to be one of my all-time favorite rock records, regardless of subgenre. This song is from the self-titled (“Three Legged Dog”) release, a bit later in ‘95, and was written and sung by guitarist and co-lead vocalist, Jerry Cantrell.
Lead singer, Layne Staley, was plagued by demons during the production of this album, and he died from a heroin overdose a few years later, in 2002. Tragic loss like this often results in some great contributions to music, and while this isn’t my favorite Alice in Chains work, it does showcase some of the band’s more subtle songwriting talents, layering of vocals, and smart guitar riffs.
Brad: Speaking of Jerry Cantrell, and before GN’R gets too far in the rear-view, Cantrell attended a Guns N’ Roses concert at the Seattle Center in 1988, and…well, let’s hear him tell the story of meeting Axl:
Brad’s Song #4: Beach Boys, “It’s Over Now” (from Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys), 1993
Andrew’s response: Well, this was fun! We kept this theme going for a long time. Brad warned me this was a deep cut, and he wasn't joking. It was hard to find the song anywhere besides Spotify, although I did stumble onto some of their early unreleased demos during my search for the full song. Spotify played a preview of this song for me.
I can’t speculate too much beyond the obvious with this one, meaning-wise, so I’m going to leave it at that.
Brad: I guess that means it’s over now! Take us out, Brian!
Loved this dramatic/fatalistic vibe. I didn’t know Sam Cooke (one of my favourite singers of all time) had done for production work for the Stones! Amazing discovery (for me, at least!).
Cooke owned his own label, SAR, for which he produced many soul and gospel recordings for artists he hoped to break. Bobby Womack and his family were particular favorites.