Tune Tag #30 with Paul Macko of "Deplatformable Newsletter": Johnny Winter, Joe Walsh, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Mick Ronson
He wanted a guitar-centric Tune Tag. "Hey, the Tag goes where it wants to go," we replied. Apparently, this Tune Tag wanted to go to Guitar Center and to the sold-out arena! "This one goes to 11!"๐ธ๐ต
Hey, Paul! TAG! Youโre It!
Paul Macko (
) is the creator of one of the most unique and indispensable Substack entries, Deplatformable Newsletter. As he says: โMy own personal media eฬถmฬถpฬถiฬถrฬถeฬถ. stuff. Stay ahead of the curve: Substack Hacks, Tech, Entrepreneurs, Marketing, Investing, Products, Art, New Business Ideas, Podcasts, and more. Trend setting. Not the worst way to spend a few minutes today!โOn Mondays, the Deplatformable Newsletter goes directly to your inbox, when you subscribe. On Tuesdays and Fridays, Paul sends you โOne Thingโ!
Paulโs Song #1 sent to Brad: Mick Ronson, โEmpty Bed (Io Me Ne Andrei),โ 1975
Paulโs rationale: I chose the Ronson song because it is very different than his usual โSpiders from Marsโ guitar work. He turns into a crooner like Frank Sinatra or Michael Bublรฉ.ย
Mick Ronson wrote the English lyrics while he was on tour with David Bowie in Italy. He was feeling homesick and missing his wife and children, and the song was a way for him to express his feelings of loneliness and longing. And, as Iโm writing this in early February, Valentineโs day is close.
Bradโs response: Like Johnny Cougar (later John Mellencamp), Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople, Dana Gillespie (singer of my first song sent to Paul, below), and a couple others, David Bowieโs Spiders From Mars guitarist, Ronson, was signed to Bowieโs MainMan Management, founded and fronted by his manager, Tony Defries. Play Donโt Worry was Ronnoโs second solo album on RCA Records in the mid-โ70s.
โEmpty Bed (Io Me Ne Andrei)โ was written by Italian singer/songwriter, Claudio Baglioni and Italian composer, Antonio Coggio (music). Baglioni wrote the original Italian lyrics. โIo Me Ne Andreiโ in English is โI would leave.โ
Bradโs song #1 sent to Paul: Dana Gillespie, โEmpty Bed Blues,โ 1984
Paulโs response: Iโm sure you chose โEmpty Bed Bluesโ because of the song title. The song starts with โWoke up this morning,โ as so many blues songs do.
Bradโs rationale: Yep, nothing more or other than matching different, yet similarly-titled songs. โEmpty Bed Bluesโ is the stereotypical โbawdy blues songโ (written by J.C. Johnson) perfectly executed by the legendary Bessie Smith on Columbia Records in 1928. Her recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1983. Gillespie recorded her cover the very next year.
Dana was part of the extended (and extensive) Bowie entourage in the early-โ70s. Back in โ73-era Bowieland, pix of Bowie, wife Angie, best bud, Iggy, and Dana were all over the rock press!
Paulโs song #2: Johnny Winter, โToo Much Seconal,โ 1973
Bradโs response: Hmmmโฆ..Dana and 1973 Johnny Winter, both singing โI woke up this morningโ: Knowing Ms. Gillespieโs well-chronicled โescapadesโ (through which she proudly parades in her 2020 Werenโt Born a Man tell-all), Iโm gonna guess their morning began on the same Serta Perfect Sleeper. But, I could be wrong.
This studio album (on Columbia Records), a bit of a comeback after nearly three vinyl-less years, was produced by guitarist Rick Derringer (who was in Johnnyโs brotherโs Edgar Winter Group), and featured Todd Rundgren on mellotron on one track.
, in his 1981 Christgauโs Record Guide: Rock Albums of the โ70s, said, โI like what heโs putting out on this monkey-off-my-comeback: two late-Stones covers, plenty of slide, and a good helping of nasty.โPaulโs rationale: I chose this Johnny Winter song because: 1) Your bluesy Dana Gillespie song starts with the same lyrics (โWoke up this morningโ) as does Johnny Winterโs original, โToo Much Seconal.โ These lyrics are prevalent in the blues. 2) Johnny is my favourite guitarist, and 3) Unfortunately, Johnny was a drug addict most of his playing life, and this song speaks about a person with addiction.
However, his guitar playing on his records were always played โjust like a ringinโ a bell.โ Go Go, Go Johnny Go!
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