BUTTER BOY

Have you ever had a song that you remember that turns out to not be the song you remember?  There was a song back in 1975 by an all girl band.  All I remember is this little refrain from the song  “go baby go, get it on boy, show what ya know” plus the word “butter boy” was mentioned somewhere in the song.  Every once in awhile, over the years, that particular riff would pop into my head.  Being a very, VERY, slow learner, just last night, after hearing that song in my head radio, I says to myself, “self, you DO have the Internet.”   So I decided to research the song.  I knew one of the Quatro sisters played on the song, but after fruitlessly searching Suzi Quatro, I figured my memory was not serving me well.  Using my Sherlock Holmes logic and wits (just got done watching Elementary)  I Googled the term “butter boy”  Success!  The song is titled, naturally, Butter Boy and it is performed  by Fanny.  Off to Wikipedia.  Fanny was the first all girl group to be given a music contract by a major studio.  The song Butter Boy was the groups biggest hit, charting at #29.  The band broke up after that.  And the Quatro sister in the band was Patti Quatro, so I give myself partial credit for remembering a Quatro played in the band.  Since it was only #29 and the lyrics, by 1975 standards, were a little edgy and naughty, the song didn’t get a lot of air time on the radio.  I then proceeded to YouTube to listen to the song I hadn’t heard in full in 37 years.

The song starts out with this tinkling piano riff and a little do-wop vocals and I am thinking, “I don’t remember this song, this isn’t it!”  But then the song hit that memorable riff and I sit back and say, “Oh  yeah, that’s it.”  To me, it is still a great song, and maybe even a little ahead of its time.  In a way, it settles my mind to hear the song in full and not be wondering every time that little bit comes into my head “what is that song?”

And thanks to the magic of YouTube, I found Fanny does a great cover of Cream’s Badge.  Considering the original had two of the world’s best guitarists playing on the song, Eric Clapton and George Harrison, the girls did an outstanding job and the song holds its own against the original.

For those inclined, one can find the above songs here, (Butter Boy by Fanny),  here (Badge by Cream), and here (Badge cover by Fanny)

NAME THAT TUNE

For as long as I can remember, one particular tune would ever so often pop into my head.  It was instrumental only, and very dramatic.  I could never place the tune, but I always assumed it was from an old TV show or old movie.  A few months ago, as I was firmly ensconced in my Lazy Boy for some serious “retired gentleman” TV watching, an old show came on that I hadn’t seen since 1963.  As the opening theme came on I leaped out of my chair, pulled a hamstring, scared the cats into hiding for three days, and caused the wife dialing 911, and I screamed “THAT’S IT!  THAT’S THE SONG!”  The unknown song rolling around my head all this time was the theme song from Have Gun, Will Travel.  One of the greatest TV westerns ever.  A thinking man’s western.  When not on the road as a hired gun, Paladin lived in a San Francisco hotel.  He was a ladies man, a gambler, he loved opera and Shakespeare and was into Martial Arts before Martial Arts was cool.  A true Renaissance Man that was a fast gun.  A ” knight without armor in a savage land…”  as the closing theme song suggested.  And the opening theme song from that show had wired itself deep into my gray matter to surface at any time and cause me to rack my brain to discover the origin of the melody I was hearing.

Have Gun, Will Travel  

A FACE WITH CHARACTER

I met today with a former college of mine for lunch.  John taught and coached with me.  Some of the best times I had were those years John and I coached together.  He had never coached football before, never even played football.  He was a heck of a track athlete in the throws and threw for GCC and ASU.  His shot put record at GCC stood for at least 30 years. What John had going for him was his ability and desire to learn the game and the fact that he is a great teacher.  And what is coaching except teaching and motivation.  John took to coaching football like the very act of coaching was the culmination of the American Dream.  And he made me a much better coach.     John was not part of the “coach-ocracy” that says you have to act a certain way and say certain things.  This helped me get rid of some of the bad habits I had accumulated over the years.  John is also a great motivator and was always pulling something out of history or some motivational trick to help inspire the kids to a better performance.  I remember once he gave a speech about the Zulu warriors, who would run 5 miles just to get into a battle.  The kids caught that theme and we had a great season that year.  We both look fondly back at those years.  Great times.

I brought the camera to the pub to take some head shots of John.  I am doing these sepia pictures and wanted to shoot a face with some character.  I figured John fit that perfectly.  I am a bit jealous of John, however.  When I had my hair down past my shoulders, I always wanted to have a single braid like John does.  But I got mad and cut all my hair off before I got that done.  Maybe someday.  Enjoy my day 3 pictures.