Tag: the Animals

Song of the Day: Odetta Sings “House of the Rising Sun” Live

Odetta House of the Rising SunOdetta, who was born in Alabama on December 31, 1930, performed a range of jazz, blues, folk, and spiritual music.  She inspired many other artists, contributing to the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s.  And she also was active in the civil rights movement.

Thus, it is wonderful to see Odetta singing the timeless traditional folk song “House of the Rising Sun.”  While many know the song for the rock interpretation by the Animals, its origins go back at least to the early twentieth century with the first printed version appearing in 1925.

In this performance from 2005, Odetta reveals the tragic blues of the song.  She makes you feel it as the singer warns the listener not to “do the things that I’ve done.”  Check it out.

Odetta passed away about three years later after that performance on December 2, 2008.

What is your favorite Odetta song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The 1966 Otis Redding TV Special

    Otis Redding LIve

    On September 16, 1966, The Otis Redding Special aired in the U.K. as part of the Ready, Steady, Go! series. In a little more than a year, Otis Redding would be dead in a plane crash, but on this special he showed TV audiences why he was The King of Soul.

    The series Ready, Steady, Go! ran from 1963 to 1966 in the U.K. on Friday evenings at 6:00-7:00 p.m with the slogan, “the weekend starts here.” Keith Fordyce, Michael Aldred, and Cathy MacGowan hosted Ready, Steady, Go! at various times (alone or co-hosting). MacGowan, who became a trendsetter at the time, hosted from 1964-1966 (Fordyce left in 1965), and you may see MacGowan at the beginning of the video.

    In the Otis Redding Special episode, British singer Chris Farlowe and The Animals’ Eric Burdon also appeared on the show.

    During the broadcast, Redding performed, “Satisfaction,” “My Girl,” “Respect,” “Pain in My Heart,” I Can’t Turn You Loose,” “Shake,” and “Land of 1000 Dances.”

    Burdon and Farlowe joined Redding on the last two songs. Additionally, Burdon performed “Hold On I’m Coming,” and Farlowe performed “This Is A Man’s World.” Check out the video where both Redding and the audience appear to be having a blast.

    Redding was born on September 9, 1941. A recent birthday celebration concert featured St. Paul & The Broken Bones, a reunion of the Reddings, and Andra Day. Proceeds from the show helped the Otis Redding Foundation and the DREAM Academy.

    In other Redding news, a 6-CD set Live At The Whisky A Go Go: The Complete Recordings was released on October 21, 2016. The collection expands on the classic Redding album with all of Redding’s performances over three nights at the Sunset Strip club.

    What is your favorite performance on the Otis Redding Special? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Song of the Day: Odetta Sings “House of the Rising Sun” Live
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    Don’t Let (Badlands) Be Misunderstood

    Bruce Springsteen explained that the lick for “Badlands” was taken from “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by the Animals.

    springsteen sxsw

    During a 2012 talk at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference, Bruce Springsteen explained that he found the lick for “Badlands,” which appeared on Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978), in “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by the Animals. Then he exclaimed, “Listen up youngsters, this is how successful theft is accomplished!”

    The video of the entire speech is no longer on YouTube, but there are segments available, including the video below, which is set to start where he begins talking about the Animals.

    In the rest of the speech, Springsteen explained the role that music has played in his life, including Elvis, Roy Orbison, and the Beatles. He discussed The Animals, complete with an acoustic rendition of “We Got to Get Out of This Place,” concluding, “that’s every song I’ve every written.”

    I found the story about the “Badlands” riff interesting because I had not made the connection. But one may hear it now that he pointed it out. Here are the Animals performing “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” on The Ed Sullivan Show. The lick appears at several points, including the beginning and the end of the song.

    Here is Springsteen performing “Badlands” at the Pinkpop festival in 2009.

    Can you hear it? He did not mention the lyrics, but one might wonder whether “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” also inspired the “understood” line in the “Badlands” chorus:
    “We’ll keep pushing ’til it’s understood / And these Badlands start treating us good.”

    After the speech, Springsteen performed at SXSW and was joined onstage by Eric Burdon, the lead singer of the Animals (Chicago Tribune review here). So apparently there are no hard feelings about the larceny — or Springsteen’s comments earlier in the speech about how Burdon’s ugliness made him realize he could be a rock star too.

    What do you think? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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