Tune Tag #46 with Ellen from Endwell (Rock'n'Roll With Me): Carole King, Gladys Knight, Fleetwood Mac, CSN, Meat Loaf, Three Dog Night
A classic rock showdown between Ellen from Endwell & Brad from Houston! How ever will it turn out? Will things End Well for Ellen or will Mission Control answer with "Brad, you've got a problem"?
Hey, Ellen! TAG! YOU’RE IT!
Tune Tag welcomes , creator of Rock’n’Roll With Me!
writes Rock‘n’Roll with Me, and has also written a series of fun novels about a British hard rock band doing a stadium tour of the U.S. in 1984, under the pen name of E.Z. Prine (available by clicking here). Of course, some of the characters come from Endwell.She became a rock chick when she saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 at the age of seven, and despite enjoying other music genres, remains true to that calling!
Last week, we wined, dined, and Tagged Tunes with singer/songwriter, of organizing an accident on Substack:
Next week, make reservations to join of The Wax Museum for Tune Tag!
Ellen’s song #1 sent to Brad: Carole King, “It’s Too Late,” 1971
Ellen’s rationale: A song that had a profound impact on me as a teenager was Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” from her second album, Tapestry (recorded in January 1971, and winner of the 1972 Grammy Album of the Year), and to this day I consider it a very affecting song.
Carole’s experience as a songwriter (and a consistent hit-maker) is on display here in the music, which has been described as having elements of rock, pop, jazz, folk, and soul/funk, as well as the brilliant arrangement and the actual recording process (the album was produced by Lou Adler, now 90).
Her kids (Louise would soon turn 11, Sherry was 8) were in the studio (A&M Studios’ B/Hollywood), and people commented on how she was remarkably professional and decisive, and yet made everyone feel relaxed and at home. I also love the musical flourishes when you listen closely.
The lyrics are by the late Toni Stern (who passed away in January 2024 at 79), written in a single day after the break-up of her love affair with James Taylor, according to Sheila Weller in her 2009 book, Girls Like Us.
Combined with the growing conviction in Carole’s voice over the course of the song, I think it tells a gripping story of a relationship that is no longer working. I mean, who can’t relate to regret over the ending of a relationship that seemed so promising at the beginning? But as with all great lyrics, people project their own meanings and hear different versions of the story. And by the way, that’s Telemachus, Carole’s “corpulent kitty” (in her words), on the cover of the album.
I just published my latest article about Carole King, and you can enjoy it here:
Ms. King is a FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE favorite, as well, with her appearance, along with FR&B’s exclusive contributor, singer/songwriter/actor, Stephen Michael Schwartz, at The Great Hollywood Bar-B-Q of 1975, serving as Exhibit A:
Exhibit B: Stephen co-wrote a song with Toni Stern, in the late ‘70s. In his own words, he tells us the story of how it came about, and shares an exclusive demo with us, here:
Brad’s song #1 sent to Ellen: Carole King & Louise Goffin, “Where You Lead”
Ellen’s response: I think Brad has chosen this as it’s the other song on the album Tapestry with lyrics by Toni Stern. The album timing was unfortunate for this particular song, with the rise of the feminist movement and the song being criticized as being anti-feminist. Carole left the song off her concert set-list for years, and it’s good to see that she resurrected the original as well as gave it another life as the theme song for TV’s Gilmore Girls.
I’m glad Brad chose this as it’s also a nice tribute to Toni (above). I also wanted to add, I’m not aware of a cover of Carole’s original by a male singer, but I think that that’s a huge missed opportunity. Those lyrics would be gold with a female audience!
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Video (click on this sentence): Louise Goffin talks about working with her mom on the Gilmore Girls theme.
Ellen’s song #2: Three Dog Night, “Mama Told Me Not to Come” (Live, 2008)
Brad’s response: Ellen specified this particular live performance (not the original 1970 studio hit). Could there be someone onstage who was involved with Carole’s studio work, or on one of daughter Louise’s several solo albums? I also checked the long list of recurring characters on Gilmore Girls (which I’ve never seen), and while Carole guested on some episodes as Sophie Bloom, owner of Sophie’s Music Shop, I’m not seeing any Three Dog Night players who had a connection to Gilmore Girls.
The Randy Newman original was written in 1966 for Eric Burdon’s debut post-Animals album, with Three Dog Night’s 1970 cover topping the U.S. pop charts. Three Dog Night disbanded in 1976. Here they are performing around 2008, minus original singer, Chuck Negron, now 82.
Ellen’s rationale: My immediate reaction to Brad’s choice of the Gilmore Girls theme song was that we need to give the boys some equal time with an overly involved Mama! My choice is a song that has never failed to bring a grin to my face, “Mama Told Me Not to Come.”
One of my first concerts was Three Dog Night back in (I think) 1974. I’ve always loved that they had three amazing lead vocalists, and “Eli’s Coming” (written by Laura Nyro) is one of my favorite songs of all time.
What’s great about this video is that the song is even funnier with original members Cory Wells (who died in 2015 at 74) and Danny Hutton (now 81) singing it as much older guys, and made even funnier still with the straight-laced Tennessee Symphony Orchestra backing them up!
I love the parent-child co-dependency theme in the lyrics, with the guy refusing to party and have fun even as his girlfriend is already passed out on the floor – and he’s demanding that the windows be opened to get some air in the room while remembering his mom saying “listen to me, baby” and warning him not to come!
You can just imagine him going home and saying, “I should have listened to you, Mama,” and her replying, “Your mama knows best, baby boy.” It’s hysterical, which is what you kind of expect from songwriter, Randy Newman, who also wrote “Short People” (which, as a vertically-challenged person, I also found very funny)!
Brad’s song #2: Gladys Knight, “Sail Away”/”Freedom For the Stallion,” 1978
Ellen’s response: This is such a clever choice by Brad, which took some digging before I realized that “Sail Away” is a Randy Newman song and Three Dog Night did a cover of Allen Toussaint’s “Freedom for the Stallion,” so it’s the perfect combination. The title is also appropriately humorous in suggesting that the boy in my selection needs freedom from his mama to become a stallion!
I’d never heard this before and what a gorgeous cover of these two slavery songs by Gladys Knight. I like that she brings together Newman’s argument by the slaver that he’s offering Africans the promised land and the American dream (“happy as a monkey in a monkey tree”), with Toussaint’s horrid reality of what being enslaved actually means for them. It’s the double violation of lying to them followed by stealing their freedom. Sadly, it’s still entirely relevant given the international slave trade today. But, Gladys is always a great listen, no matter the subject matter.
Brad’s rationale: Medley of songs from Gladys’s first solo album (1978): “Sail Away” by Randy Newman, and “Freedom for the Stallion” by Allen Toussaint, produced by Gary Klein.
Ellen’s song #3: Crosby, Stills & Nash, “Southern Cross,” 1982
Brad’s response: “Sail Away” connection with the sailing mentioned in “Southern Cross” (written by Stephen Stills, Rick Curtis, and his brother, Michael Curtis). The song topped out at #18 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1982.
Ellen’s rationale: Whereas Gladys sang about ships being used for evil, I wanted to come back with a song where a ship or boat was used for the opposite, for a positive and emancipating purpose: Stephen Stills took a song by Rick and Michael Curtis called “Seven League Boots” and rewrote the lyrics, transforming it into the Crosby, Stills and Nash song, “Southern Cross.” As he shared in the liner notes, it’s all about “using the power of the universe to heal your wounds.”
Although he was referencing a long boat trip he took to recover from a difficult divorce, I think it could be about recovery from something as heinous as slavery, or really from any traumatic situation, with its uplifting lyrics about leaving civilization behind, following the heavenly constellations, and moving toward the Southern Cross and the “promise of a coming day.”
I have a very personal connection to this song as I was constantly listening to the Daylight Again album on cassette in the two years following its 1982 release: I was actually living on an island in the North Pacific (as a Peace Corps volunteer) where I felt trapped in a bewildering culture and a challenging personal situation, and this song gave me comfort and encouragement that I would prevail through that experience and a new day would come.
Listening to those reassuring lyrics and the beautiful melody also made living on a lush Pacific island surrounded by ocean somehow seem a more glamorous and worthwhile endeavor, even if the daily reality could at times be completely the opposite.
Brad’s song #3: Fleetwood Mac, “Blue Letter,” 1975
Ellen’s response: Another very clever choice by Brad, as this was also written by Richard and Michael Curtis. Whereas one of their demo songs went to Crosby, Stills and Nash, the other went to Fleetwood Mac for inclusion in their absolutely amazing self-titled 1975 album.
I think there are some other connections as well, with both songs being about the never-unpopular topic of women problems and both referencing “silver” – “tied with a silver chain” in the CSN song, and “silver words she told” in “Blue Letter.”
What’s fun about this choice is that in the CSN song, they are singing about sailing in paradise (away from “the woman”), whereas in this song the guy’s lover wants to be on the road to paradise, but all that’s on his mind is whether he can score another night with her – which leads to my next choice!
Ellen’s song #4: Meatloaf, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” 1977
Brad’s response: Not detecting an immediate connection from the Fleetwood Mac song and this Meat Loaf smash produced by Todd Rundgren a couple years later.
Ellen’s rationale: Here we go, back to the humorous side of things, as Meat Loaf tries to score and finds himself with major woman problems. Meat Loaf is one of my favorite artists because of his theatre experience (Hair, Rocky Horror Picture Show) and his comedy timing from being a player on the National Lampoon Road Tour.
Also on that tour were writer Jim Steinman and singer Ellen Foley, who collaborated with him on this song. Karla DeVito, also in Hair and trained in improv comedy at the famed Second City (with Bill Murray!), appears in the video lip-synching to Ellen’s vocals, and also toured with Meat Loaf and Steinman for the Bat Out of Hell tour.
![Circa 1981, Steinman, left, stands with backup singers Karla DeVito and Rory Dodd, who intoned “turn around, bright eyes.” Circa 1981, Steinman, left, stands with backup singers Karla DeVito and Rory Dodd, who intoned “turn around, bright eyes.”](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F641d8d70-f7f3-4659-a59e-151e611bca0f_1024x682.jpeg)
To me it’s their theatre training and Steinman’s four-part musical “story” that makes the video brilliant, and reminds us of how the ‘70s were such an amazing time in terms of remarkably creative rock music!
I love the backstory on this album: Meat Loaf and Steinman had trouble getting a record deal, and the wonderful Todd Rundgren agreed to produce them. Yeah, Todd!
The last thing I’ll say is, I’m noticing that the search for paradise or a promised land seems to be a running theme in all of the songs in this Tune Tag in one way or another, as well as being unhappy with, and even running away from, something that isn’t working. I don’t know that Meat Loaf has the right solution here and might want to consult with Carole and Stephen, who came out of divorce with their incredible tunes above!
Brad’s song #4: Rory Dodd, “All By Yourself,” 1976 (from Rockabye Hamlet)
![Rory Dodd of Simcoe was inducted into the Forest City London Music Hall of Fame on June 26. A native of Port Dover, Ontario Dodd was a back-up vocalist on Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell album, and did work for Billy Joel, Lou Reed, Barbara Streisand and many others. Rory Dodd of Simcoe was inducted into the Forest City London Music Hall of Fame on June 26. A native of Port Dover, Ontario Dodd was a back-up vocalist on Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell album, and did work for Billy Joel, Lou Reed, Barbara Streisand and many others.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F94edf87f-bb63-4760-91a5-462c95e6b00e_288x216.jpeg)
Ellen’s response: Yet another clever choice by Brad, with Rory having done backing vocals on “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and Bat Out of Hell. I didn’t know Rory, but what a great voice! No wonder he did a lot of collaboration with Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman as well as having some top hits of his own.
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Brad’s rationale: Canadian native, Rory Dodd, wrote and sang this song from the ‘76 soundtrack to Rockabye Hamlet (on Rising Records; jacket pictured below), and he’s credited with “additional background vocals” on “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”
He is probably best known, though, for singing the duet voice (for the “Turn around, bright eyes” lyrics) on Bonnie Tyler’s cover of Steinman’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
Over the years, Dodd has mainly served as a commercial jingle singer. He’s been heard on such notable jingles as “Be All You Can Be” for the U.S. Army, “We Deliver For You” for the United States Postal Service, along with tunes for Coca-Cola and several beer brands!
Ellen, you were more than a formidable competitor/partner to Brad in this supremely entertaining Tune Tag! I might have gained more insight from your musical knowledge than Mr. Kyle this go around! It seems you found connections from his picks that even he was unaware of! That’s a win-win-win! The third is for us, the reader.
Welcome to the TT Team, Ellen!
That was fun and full of amazing musical factoids and history. Whew, Gladys Knight really throws me into an emotional state. Even my husband was verklempt listening next to me. Carry on, y’all!