Category: Music

Tina Turner: Simply the Best

Tina Turner The Best

Tina Turner was born as Anna Mae Bullock in in Haywood County, Tennessee on November 26, 1939. She has had an incredible music career, including her work with Ike Turner and Phil Spector in the 1960s as well as her great solo work in the 1980s, including the album Private Dancer (1984).

1980s Music

In 1989, Turner released the album Foreign Affair, which did not do as well as Private Dancer, which had hits like “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” But Foreign Affair was a solid album and did include a song that became one of her signature hits, “The Best.” That song was written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight and had previously been recorded by Bonnie Tyler.

Turner also did some great duets beyond her work with Ike, including a hit recording of “It’s Only Love” with Bryan Adams. Below she performs “Tonight” with David Bowie in 1985. The song was written by Bowie and Iggy Pop. This live version appeared on the live album Tina Live in Europe (1988).

On the Big Screen

Turner also appeared on the big screen, such as acting in the 1985 movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. She also appeared as the Acid Queen in The Who’s Tommy (1975).

In addition to acting on the big screen, she has been portrayed in a movie. Her abusive relationship with Ike Turner was portrayed in What’s Love Got to Do with It in 1993.

Retirement

Turner followed those movies with some more music releases and performances. But she announced her semi-retirement in 2000 and formally retired from the stage in 2009.

Today, Turner lives in Switzerland with her husband, and she became a Swiss citizen in 2013. Unfortunately, we do not get to hear from her much nowadays. She of course deserves her privacy and happiness after the life she gave to us through her music.

But she did return to the stage in 2015 around her birthday to perform “The Best,” and she showed us that at 76 years of age she still was the best.

Absence as Solo Artist from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

There is one thing that Turner deserves from us. While she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the duo of Ike and Tina Turner, she has not yet been inducted as an individual artist, even though she has been eligible since 1998. She more than deserves it based on the quality of her solo work (not even addressing the way women have been treated in rock).  So, hopefully the Hall will correct the injustice while she can still attend the induction. UPDATE:  In 2021, Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.

And that brings me to my favorite Turner solo track, “Better Be Good To Me,” which is from Private Dancer and one of the best songs of the 1980s.



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

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    A Famous Encounter and “Like a Rolling Pin”

    Bob Dylan walked in on the Replacements doing a parody of his song “Like a Rolling Stone.”

    highway 61 revisited dylan amazon A “Talk of the Town” segment in The New Yorker featured a short profile of record producer Scott Litt, who had produced records by the likes of Nirvana and R.E.M. In the article, Litt told an interesting story about the first time he met Bob Dylan.

    More than a few decades ago, Litt was producing a Replacements album, working in the studio with the band. Dylan was working on his own record nearby, so he stopped by to check out the Replacements.

    When Dylan walked in the studio wearing a hoodie, it just happened to be the same time that the Replacements’ leader Paul Westerberg was singing a parody of Dylan’s hit song “Like a Rolling Stone” called “Like a Rolling Pin.”

    Westerberg did not notice Dylan standing there, and Litt failed to alert the singer, who continued with the parody. Finally, when Westerberg finished, Dylan asked, “You guys rehearse much?” Then he left.

    The lyrics to “Like a Rolling Pin” are nothing special, using phrases from Dylan’s original mixed with some small changes. I believe the song did not end up on the album at the time, appearing later with B-sides and unreleased tracks on All For Nothing/Nothing For All (1997). But the Replacements can sing the phone book and make it sound like a great song. So when they start off with a great Dylan song, one cannot complain.

    More than twenty years later, Litt finally got to work with the singer of “Like a Rolling Stone” when he was the engineer for Dylan’s 2012 album Tempest. While working with Dylan on Tempest, Litt did not mention their previous studio encounter. [Nick Paumgarten, Hello, Bobby, The New Yorker, 1 Oct. 2012: 22-23.]

    What is your favorite Bob Dylan cover? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    That Walking Dead Torture Song: “Easy Street”

    Collapsable Hearts Club In the third episode of season seven of The Walking Dead, “The Cell,” the producers gifted us with an earworm of a song, “Easy Street.”  In the episode, Negan’s The Saviours are holding Daryl Dixon as prisoner.  As Dwight (Austin Amelio) works to break Daryl, he plays the song repeatedly as part of a torture tactic.

    “Easy Street” is  performed by The Collapsable Hearts Club, and it was written by Jim Bianco.  Bianco explained to The Independent that he was happy to hear his song used on the show, even if it were being used to torture someone.  “I think the show used it brilliantly,” he explained, “Framing such an upbeat song as a torture advice is a work of genius by the music supervisor.”

    We’re on easy street,
    And it feels so sweet;
    ‘Cause the world is ’bout a treat,
    When you’re on easy street.

    Bianco wrote the song while driving in his car and thinking about those “rare moments” when you are “holding the winning card.” Below is a video of 10 hours of the song.

    There is not much about The Collapsable Hearts Club on the Internet, but the lead singer is Petra Haden, who has done a substantial amount of other musical work.  Bianco is also part of the group, singing backup.  And Brad Gordon plays the horns.

    Currently, Daryl, played by Norman Reedus, is no longer the only person with the song stuck in his head. After the episode, “Easy Street” appeared on the UK Singles Chart, and it also has climbed to #1 on the US Spotify viral charts.

    What do you think of “Easy Street”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Bruce Springsteen released “Long Walk Home” in 2007 on his Magic album.  He wrote the song to reflect how he felt during the years of the George W. Bush presidency.

    Last night I stood at your doorstep,
    Trying to figure out what went wrong.

    “Long Walk Home” is about a guy coming back to his hometown and not recognizing anything.  As Springsteen explained about the singer’s character in The New York Times,  “The things that he thought he knew, the people who he thought he knew, whose ideals he had something in common with, are like strangers.”

    Long Walk Home

    In town I pass Sal’s grocery,
    Barber shop on South Street;
    I looked in their faces,
    They’re all rank strangers to me.

    The reference to “rank strangers” in Springsteen’s “A Long Walk Home” was inspired by the song “Rank Strangers to Me,” sometimes called “The Rank Stranger” or just “Rank Stranger.” Albert E. Brumley wrote “Rank Strangers to Me,” which was made famous by The Stanley Brothers.

    “Rank Strangers to Me” is also about a man returning to the town of his youth.  As in Springsteen’s song, the singer discovers he does not recognize anything.

    The meaning of “Rank Stranger” is open to interpretation. There is no resolution or explanation about why the singer does not recognize the people in his town. Has he died? Has everyone else died? It is a mystery that makes the song haunt you long after you have heard it.

    Similarly, in Springsteen’s song, the unrecognizable world feels alien to the singer. The meaning would be mysterious too, except that Springsteen has provided context for “The Long Walk Home.” He explained about the alienation during the Bush administration, “I think that’s what’s happened in this country.”

    It’s gonna be a long walk home;
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    Gonna be a long walk home,
    A long walk home.

    While some celebrated the election results this week, many felt they were seeing their country in a way they could not recognize. Maybe Springsteen had a feeling about what was going to happen when he chose to play “Long Walk Home” outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall during a rally for Hillary Clinton the night before the election.

    Either way, the song captures the disappointment that one side often feels after an election. But that is the nature of democracy. At one time or another, we all have to take a long walk to get back home.

    Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo by Chimesfreedom.

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    Happy Birthday Susan Tedeschi!

    angel from montgomery

    Singer and guitarist Susan Tedeschi was born in Boston on November 9, 1970.  Tedeschi has made some great music as a solo artist as well as with her current work with the Tedeschi Trucks Band along with her husband Derek Trucks. We wish her a happy birthday.

    In celebration of Tedeschi’s birthday, check out this performance of “Angel from Montgomery” from October 5, 2016.  In this performance, Luther Dickinson joined in on guitar with the Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

    If that performance leads you to wanting more from the Tedeschi Trucks Band, check out this NPR Tiny Desk Concert from March 2016. Songs in the video are: “Just As Strange,” “Don’t Know What It Is,” and “Anyhow.”

    What is your favorite Susan Tedeschi recording or performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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