Tune Tag #81 with Jackie Ralston of "Music of the Day": Rush, Billy Harvey, Toto, Eric Johnson, Liaison, Hall & Oates, System of a Down, Scritti Politti
Jackie's music of this day is a Tune Tag grab-bag of the classic, the legendary, and the little-heard, all designed to help you forget the cares of the day! C'mon in, and come see what you'll hear!
“Hey, Jackie…look who’s here!”
Welcome to Tune Tag, of Music of the Day!
Music of the Day taps in to Jackie’s deep love of music, mostly featuring whatever song pesters her until she writes about it! Her parents had eclectic musical tastes, which are represented and extended at MotD. One of her favorite things to do is discover unusual instruments and music to American ears, and share them.
Jackie has worn a lot of professional hats: The one that fits best is “word wrangler.” She’s currently an editor, proofreader, and fact-checker and is looking for work that adds “writer” to that mix. Her website, WordPlay, is where she focuses on a wider array of subjects!
Last week, Tune Tag enjoyed the company of of Music’s Most Underrated:
Next week, tune in for the Tune Tag stylings of of the brand new Linda Brady’s Revival Substack!
Jackie’s song #1 sent to Brad: Billy Harvey, “Piggyback Ride,” 2004
Jackie’s rationale: I was happily surprised when Brad invited me to play Tune Tag with him, then immediately splatted into a vat of impostor syndrome. The first song sets the tone for the journey, and how could I possibly choose just one song? I also didn’t want to be predictable right out the gate, so I set two rules that constrained me:
The first song couldn’t be from anyone I’ve featured at Music of the Day, and it couldn’t feature the flute, an instrument that both Brad and I learned to play.
After a couple of hours of fretting, the radio station in my mind fed me a terrific leadoff song: It’s got a meaty bass and lo-fi vocals that I’ve yet to get enough of. And, it’s brash, yet also sweet ...a perfect confidence booster for me to lead with!
I don’t remember how I discovered Billy Harvey over 20 years ago. My memory is that his website was interactive, simulating walking to different areas/rooms where one could click on Billy to hear one of the songs on his Pie album.
My kids and I had a lot of fun with it, and ultimately I decided I needed to have the music, so I bought a digital copy of the full album. I’m so happy to have been reminded of it, and to discover that he’s still making music.
Brad’s song #1 sent to Jackie: Eric Johnson, “Paperback Writer,” 2002
Per Discogs: Souvenir is an album by Eric Johnson released in 2002. It is a collection of previously unreleased material spanning 25 years. The album was unique in that it was only available for purchase through Eric Johnson’s website. The album was released between his Venus Isle in 1996 and Bloom in 2005.
Jackie’s response: First, I appreciate the gentle nudge to explore more of Johnson's work via this delectable cover. The combination of his style and a great Beatles song is fire!🔥
Both Billy Harvey and Eric Johnson have Austin connections (as does Brad, if memory serves [Brad: Yep! Eric was born in Austin in 1954; I was born the following year in Houston, and raised there; I moved to Austin in ‘93, and have lived here since]).
Both of these songs focus on achieving dreams or goals. I can also cover two links with one song, and I knew straight away whom I’d volley back with. But I had a rule for the rest of this Tune Tag: no repeats of songs I’ve written about at MotD. Fortunately, the song that came to mind has not yet turned up at my place, so I’m coming in hot with my favorite band, Rush.
Brad’s rationale: One guy with a very similar title that’s just shy of the same number of syllables (“Paperback Ride” to “Paperback Writer”)! Of the 115 + covers of this Lennon-McCartney classic since May 1966, most are by bands or groups of some kind (as opposed to single artists)! I didn’t listen to all, but I came close….and, it wasn’t pretty.
With such an iconic and unique-sounding song, you’d better either slay this thing out the box, or simply approach it from such a different direction, there’s no way your take will come close to being compared to The Beatles’ original! As most, if not all, were, Paul’s song is as much a product of George Martin’s production genius as the great players and singers who laid it down.
As Lennon told Hit Parader in 1972, “Paperback Writer” was primarily written by McCartney: “I think I might have helped with some of the lyrics,” he continued. “Yes, I did. But it was mainly Paul’s tune.”
But, the real story that pins this Tag is one Jackie couldn’t possibly know, but it’s why my mind went immediately to this song when I saw her “Paperback Ride”!
When The Beatles’ eventual chart-topper in the UK, the U.S., Ireland, W. Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Norway was released in May ‘66, I was 11, and clearly remember sitting in the back of the family car with Mom driving.
Thankfully, she always had Houston’s Top 40 KILT-AM on, and every time the song popped up, I always thought they were singing, “Paperback rider”! I, of course, would then picture a tiny guy flying through the air on a small, softcover book! Mom read paperbacks, so I was familiar with that term and the concept. Homophones being what they are, my pre-adolescent mind simply went to “someone who rides” rather than “someone who writes”….ironic, no? (he wrote).
Regular readers will know I generally pay little to no attention to lyrics (which was certainly true at 11…I started early ignoring a song’s words….I was the king of irony…apparently!), so me picking out a reference to Lear or a novel with a thousand pages was just not gonna happen!
My Beatles adoration began more than two years before (a month before I turned 9)…y’know, when this happened, and I was on the floor a foot away from the TV:
An informative video about the Austin, Texas native, Eric Johnson, and his axes: bold as love:
Jackie’s song #2: Rush, “Mission,” 1989 (live)
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