Podcasts about Meatloaf

Lauri Loewenberg is a certified dream analyst who has appeared on CNN, LIVE with Kelly and Ryan, FOX Business, and more. She explains why we dream, what our dreams mean, and how we can control them. She also breaks down the crucial role nightmares play and why you shouldn't fear them!If you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving a rating and a review. It makes a huge difference in helping us spread the word about the show.Thanks for listening! To join our #POSITIVITY community or to learn more about Moshe, visit https://linktr.ee/moshepopackTopics:1:20 – Why we dream.4:30 – Your dreams get more intense throughout the night.6:30 – How dreaming helps you become a better person. 10:00 – Why lucid dreaming is so cool!12:15 – Why do we have nightmares?14:30 – What the “being chased” dream represents.17:00 – How Lauri fell in love with dream analysis.20:00 – Do THIS to remember your dreams.23:00 – Lauri once analyzed Meat Loaf's dreams.

The Migs Report. Today is National Soft Taco Bell, National Boyfriend Day and Mean Girl Appreciation Day.

In this week's episode, Patrick and his husband/producer Steven welcome guest and friend Thaddeus "Tedward" Plezia, who discusses his work as an EMT, being an actor, and performing with Patrick in a local production of the play Red. The men also take a nip at Joe Biden's dog, race with the Kaikadi, celebrate Samuel Adams and Meat Loaf, mourn the loss of actor David McCallum, review the Ten Commandments musical, look at two rulings on Texas' anti-drag law, throw the book at a Florida school superintendent, prepare for the coming zombie apocalypse on October 4, and name their favorite films with a color in the title.

Episode 168 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “I Say a Little Prayer”, and the interaction of the sacred, political, and secular in Aretha Franklin's life and work. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-five-minute bonus episode available, on "Abraham, Martin, and John" by Dion. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by Aretha Franklin. Even splitting it into multiple parts would have required six or seven mixes. My main biographical source for Aretha Franklin is Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz, and this is where most of the quotes from musicians come from. Information on C.L. Franklin came from Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America by Nick Salvatore. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom is possibly less essential, but still definitely worth reading. Information about Martin Luther King came from Martin Luther King: A Religious Life by Paul Harvey. I also referred to Burt Bacharach's autobiography Anyone Who Had a Heart, Carole King's autobiography A Natural Woman, and Soul Serenade: King Curtis and his Immortal Saxophone by Timothy R. Hoover. For information about Amazing Grace I also used Aaron Cohen's 33 1/3 book on the album. The film of the concerts is also definitely worth watching. And the Aretha Now album is available in this five-album box set for a ludicrously cheap price. But it's actually worth getting this nineteen-CD set with her first sixteen Atlantic albums and a couple of bonus discs of demos and outtakes. There's barely a duff track in the whole nineteen discs. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript A quick warning before I begin. This episode contains some moderate references to domestic abuse, death by cancer, racial violence, police violence, and political assassination. Anyone who might be upset by those subjects might want to check the transcript rather than listening to the episode. Also, as with the previous episode on Aretha Franklin, this episode presents something of a problem. Like many people in this narrative, Franklin's career was affected by personal troubles, which shaped many of her decisions. But where most of the subjects of the podcast have chosen to live their lives in public and share intimate details of every aspect of their personal lives, Franklin was an extremely private person, who chose to share only carefully sanitised versions of her life, and tried as far as possible to keep things to herself. This of course presents a dilemma for anyone who wants to tell her story -- because even though the information is out there in biographies, and even though she's dead, it's not right to disrespect someone's wish for a private life. I have therefore tried, wherever possible, to stay away from talk of her personal life except where it *absolutely* affects the work, or where other people involved have publicly shared their own stories, and even there I've tried to keep it to a minimum. This will occasionally lead to me saying less about some topics than other people might, even though the information is easily findable, because I don't think we have an absolute right to invade someone else's privacy for entertainment. When we left Aretha Franklin, she had just finally broken through into the mainstream after a decade of performing, with a version of Otis Redding's song "Respect" on which she had been backed by her sisters, Erma and Carolyn. "Respect", in Franklin's interpretation, had been turned from a rather chauvinist song about a man demanding respect from his woman into an anthem of feminism, of Black power, and of a new political awakening. For white people of a certain generation, the summer of 1967 was "the summer of love". For many Black people, it was rather different. There's a quote that goes around (I've seen it credited in reliable sources to both Ebony and Jet magazine, but not ever seen an issue cited, so I can't say for sure where it came from) saying that the summer of 67 was the summer of "'retha, Rap, and revolt", referring to the trifecta of Aretha Franklin, the Black power leader Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (who was at the time known as H. Rap Brown, a name he later disclaimed) and the rioting that broke out in several major cities, particularly in Detroit: [Excerpt: John Lee Hooker, "The Motor City is Burning"] The mid sixties were, in many ways, the high point not of Black rights in the US -- for the most part there has been a lot of progress in civil rights in the intervening decades, though not without inevitable setbacks and attacks from the far right, and as movements like the Black Lives Matter movement have shown there is still a long way to go -- but of *hope* for Black rights. The moral force of the arguments made by the civil rights movement were starting to cause real change to happen for Black people in the US for the first time since the Reconstruction nearly a century before. But those changes weren't happening fast enough, and as we heard in the episode on "I Was Made to Love Her", there was not only a growing unrest among Black people, but a recognition that it was actually possible for things to change. A combination of hope and frustration can be a powerful catalyst, and whether Franklin wanted it or not, she was at the centre of things, both because of her newfound prominence as a star with a hit single that couldn't be interpreted as anything other than a political statement and because of her intimate family connections to the struggle. Even the most racist of white people these days pays lip service to the memory of Dr Martin Luther King, and when they do they quote just a handful of sentences from one speech King made in 1963, as if that sums up the full theological and political philosophy of that most complex of men. And as we discussed the last time we looked at Aretha Franklin, King gave versions of that speech, the "I Have a Dream" speech, twice. The most famous version was at the March on Washington, but the first time was a few weeks earlier, at what was at the time the largest civil rights demonstration in American history, in Detroit. Aretha's family connection to that event is made clear by the very opening of King's speech: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Original 'I Have a Dream' Speech"] So as summer 1967 got into swing, and white rock music was going to San Francisco to wear flowers in its hair, Aretha Franklin was at the centre of a very different kind of youth revolution. Franklin's second Atlantic album, Aretha Arrives, brought in some new personnel to the team that had recorded Aretha's first album for Atlantic. Along with the core Muscle Shoals players Jimmy Johnson, Spooner Oldham, Tommy Cogbill and Roger Hawkins, and a horn section led by King Curtis, Wexler and Dowd also brought in guitarist Joe South. South was a white session player from Georgia, who had had a few minor hits himself in the fifties -- he'd got his start recording a cover version of "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor", the Big Bopper's B-side to "Chantilly Lace": [Excerpt: Joe South, "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor"] He'd also written a few songs that had been recorded by people like Gene Vincent, but he'd mostly become a session player. He'd become a favourite musician of Bob Johnston's, and so he'd played guitar on Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme albums: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "I am a Rock"] and bass on Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, with Al Kooper particularly praising his playing on "Visions of Johanna": [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Visions of Johanna"] South would be the principal guitarist on this and Franklin's next album, before his own career took off in 1968 with "Games People Play": [Excerpt: Joe South, "Games People Play"] At this point, he had already written the other song he's best known for, "Hush", which later became a hit for Deep Purple: [Excerpt: Deep Purple, "Hush"] But he wasn't very well known, and was surprised to get the call for the Aretha Franklin session, especially because, as he put it "I was white and I was about to play behind the blackest genius since Ray Charles" But Jerry Wexler had told him that Franklin didn't care about the race of the musicians she played with, and South settled in as soon as Franklin smiled at him when he played a good guitar lick on her version of the blues standard "Going Down Slow": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Going Down Slow"] That was one of the few times Franklin smiled in those sessions though. Becoming an overnight success after years of trying and failing to make a name for herself had been a disorienting experience, and on top of that things weren't going well in her personal life. Her marriage to her manager Ted White was falling apart, and she was performing erratically thanks to the stress. In particular, at a gig in Georgia she had fallen off the stage and broken her arm. She soon returned to performing, but it meant she had problems with her right arm during the recording of the album, and didn't play as much piano as she would have previously -- on some of the faster songs she played only with her left hand. But the recording sessions had to go on, whether or not Aretha was physically capable of playing piano. As we discussed in the episode on Otis Redding, the owners of Atlantic Records were busily negotiating its sale to Warner Brothers in mid-1967. As Wexler said later “Everything in me said, Keep rolling, keep recording, keep the hits coming. She was red hot and I had no reason to believe that the streak wouldn't continue. I knew that it would be foolish—and even irresponsible—not to strike when the iron was hot. I also had personal motivation. A Wall Street financier had agreed to see what we could get for Atlantic Records. While Ahmet and Neshui had not agreed on a selling price, they had gone along with my plan to let the financier test our worth on the open market. I was always eager to pump out hits, but at this moment I was on overdrive. In this instance, I had a good partner in Ted White, who felt the same. He wanted as much product out there as possible." In truth, you can tell from Aretha Arrives that it's a record that was being thought of as "product" rather than one being made out of any kind of artistic impulse. It's a fine album -- in her ten-album run from I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You through Amazing Grace there's not a bad album and barely a bad track -- but there's a lack of focus. There are only two originals on the album, neither of them written by Franklin herself, and the rest is an incoherent set of songs that show the tension between Franklin and her producers at Atlantic. Several songs are the kind of standards that Franklin had recorded for her old label Columbia, things like "You Are My Sunshine", or her version of "That's Life", which had been a hit for Frank Sinatra the previous year: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "That's Life"] But mixed in with that are songs that are clearly the choice of Wexler. As we've discussed previously in episodes on Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, at this point Atlantic had the idea that it was possible for soul artists to cross over into the white market by doing cover versions of white rock hits -- and indeed they'd had some success with that tactic. So while Franklin was suggesting Sinatra covers, Atlantic's hand is visible in the choices of songs like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "96 Tears": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "96 Tears'] Of the two originals on the album, one, the hit single "Baby I Love You" was written by Ronnie Shannon, the Detroit songwriter who had previously written "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Baby I Love You"] As with the previous album, and several other songs on this one, that had backing vocals by Aretha's sisters, Erma and Carolyn. But the other original on the album, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)", didn't, even though it was written by Carolyn: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)"] To explain why, let's take a little detour and look at the co-writer of the song this episode is about, though we're not going to get to that for a little while yet. We've not talked much about Burt Bacharach in this series so far, but he's one of those figures who has come up a few times in the periphery and will come up again, so here is as good a time as any to discuss him, and bring everyone up to speed about his career up to 1967. Bacharach was one of the more privileged figures in the sixties pop music field. His father, Bert Bacharach (pronounced the same as his son, but spelled with an e rather than a u) had been a famous newspaper columnist, and his parents had bought him a Steinway grand piano to practice on -- they pushed him to learn the piano even though as a kid he wasn't interested in finger exercises and Debussy. What he was interested in, though, was jazz, and as a teenager he would often go into Manhattan and use a fake ID to see people like Dizzy Gillespie, who he idolised, and in his autobiography he talks rapturously of seeing Gillespie playing his bent trumpet -- he once saw Gillespie standing on a street corner with a pet monkey on his shoulder, and went home and tried to persuade his parents to buy him a monkey too. In particular, he talks about seeing the Count Basie band with Sonny Payne on drums as a teenager: [Excerpt: Count Basie, "Kid From Red Bank"] He saw them at Birdland, the club owned by Morris Levy where they would regularly play, and said of the performance "they were just so incredibly exciting that all of a sudden, I got into music in a way I never had before. What I heard in those clubs really turned my head around— it was like a big breath of fresh air when somebody throws open a window. That was when I knew for the first time how much I loved music and wanted to be connected to it in some way." Of course, there's a rather major problem with this story, as there is so often with narratives that musicians tell about their early career. In this case, Birdland didn't open until 1949, when Bacharach was twenty-one and stationed in Germany for his military service, while Sonny Payne didn't join Basie's band until 1954, when Bacharach had been a professional musician for many years. Also Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet bell only got bent on January 6, 1953. But presumably while Bacharach was conflating several memories, he did have some experience in some New York jazz club that led him to want to become a musician. Certainly there were enough great jazz musicians playing the clubs in those days. He went to McGill University to study music for two years, then went to study with Darius Milhaud, a hugely respected modernist composer. Milhaud was also one of the most important music teachers of the time -- among others he'd taught Stockhausen and Xenakkis, and would go on to teach Philip Glass and Steve Reich. This suited Bacharach, who by this point was a big fan of Schoenberg and Webern, and was trying to write atonal, difficult music. But Milhaud had also taught Dave Brubeck, and when Bacharach rather shamefacedly presented him with a composition which had an actual tune, he told Bacharach "Never be ashamed of writing a tune you can whistle". He dropped out of university and, like most men of his generation, had to serve in the armed forces. When he got out of the army, he continued his musical studies, still trying to learn to be an avant-garde composer, this time with Bohuslav Martinů and later with Henry Cowell, the experimental composer we've heard about quite a bit in previous episodes: [Excerpt: Henry Cowell, "Aeolian Harp and Sinister Resonance"] He was still listening to a lot of avant garde music, and would continue doing so throughout the fifties, going to see people like John Cage. But he spent much of that time working in music that was very different from the avant-garde. He got a job as the band leader for the crooner Vic Damone: [Excerpt: Vic Damone. "Ebb Tide"] He also played for the vocal group the Ames Brothers. He decided while he was working with the Ames Brothers that he could write better material than they were getting from their publishers, and that it would be better to have a job where he didn't have to travel, so he got himself a job as a staff songwriter in the Brill Building. He wrote a string of flops and nearly hits, starting with "Keep Me In Mind" for Patti Page: [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Keep Me In Mind"] From early in his career he worked with the lyricist Hal David, and the two of them together wrote two big hits, "Magic Moments" for Perry Como: [Excerpt: Perry Como, "Magic Moments"] and "The Story of My Life" for Marty Robbins: [Excerpt: "The Story of My Life"] But at that point Bacharach was still also writing with other writers, notably Hal David's brother Mack, with whom he wrote the theme tune to the film The Blob, as performed by The Five Blobs: [Excerpt: The Five Blobs, "The Blob"] But Bacharach's songwriting career wasn't taking off, and he got himself a job as musical director for Marlene Dietrich -- a job he kept even after it did start to take off.  Part of the problem was that he intuitively wrote music that didn't quite fit into standard structures -- there would be odd bars of unusual time signatures thrown in, unusual harmonies, and structural irregularities -- but then he'd take feedback from publishers and producers who would tell him the song could only be recorded if he straightened it out. He said later "The truth is that I ruined a lot of songs by not believing in myself enough to tell these guys they were wrong." He started writing songs for Scepter Records, usually with Hal David, but also with Bob Hilliard and Mack David, and started having R&B hits. One song he wrote with Mack David, "I'll Cherish You", had the lyrics rewritten by Luther Dixon to make them more harsh-sounding for a Shirelles single -- but the single was otherwise just Bacharach's demo with the vocals replaced, and you can even hear his voice briefly at the beginning: [Excerpt: The Shirelles, "Baby, It's You"] But he'd also started becoming interested in the production side of records more generally. He'd iced that some producers, when recording his songs, would change the sound for the worse -- he thought Gene McDaniels' version of "Tower of Strength", for example, was too fast. But on the other hand, other producers got a better sound than he'd heard in his head. He and Hilliard had written a song called "Please Stay", which they'd given to Leiber and Stoller to record with the Drifters, and he thought that their arrangement of the song was much better than the one he'd originally thought up: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Please Stay"] He asked Leiber and Stoller if he could attend all their New York sessions and learn about record production from them. He started doing so, and eventually they started asking him to assist them on records. He and Hilliard wrote a song called "Mexican Divorce" for the Drifters, which Leiber and Stoller were going to produce, and as he put it "they were so busy running Redbird Records that they asked me to rehearse the background singers for them in my office." [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Mexican Divorce"] The backing singers who had been brought in to augment the Drifters on that record were a group of vocalists who had started out as members of a gospel group called the Drinkard singers: [Excerpt: The Drinkard Singers, "Singing in My Soul"] The Drinkard Singers had originally been a family group, whose members included Cissy Drinkard, who joined the group aged five (and who on her marriage would become known as Cissy Houston -- her daughter Whitney would later join the family business), her aunt Lee Warrick, and Warrick's adopted daughter Judy Clay. That group were discovered by the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and spent much of the fifties performing with gospel greats including Jackson herself, Clara Ward, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. But Houston was also the musical director of a group at her church, the Gospelaires, which featured Lee Warrick's two daughters Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick (for those who don't know, the Warwick sisters' birth name was Warrick, spelled with two rs. A printing error led to it being misspelled the same way as the British city on a record label, and from that point on Dionne at least pronounced the w in her misspelled name). And slowly, the Gospelaires rather than the Drinkard Singers became the focus, with a lineup of Houston, the Warwick sisters, the Warwick sisters' cousin Doris Troy, and Clay's sister Sylvia Shemwell. The real change in the group's fortunes came when, as we talked about a while back in the episode on "The Loco-Motion", the original lineup of the Cookies largely stopped working as session singers to become Ray Charles' Raelettes. As we discussed in that episode, a new lineup of Cookies formed in 1961, but it took a while for them to get started, and in the meantime the producers who had been relying on them for backing vocals were looking elsewhere, and they looked to the Gospelaires. "Mexican Divorce" was the first record to feature the group as backing vocalists -- though reports vary as to how many of them are on the record, with some saying it's only Troy and the Warwicks, others saying Houston was there, and yet others saying it was all five of them. Some of these discrepancies were because these singers were so good that many of them left to become solo singers in fairly short order. Troy was the first to do so, with her hit "Just One Look", on which the other Gospelaires sang backing vocals: [Excerpt: Doris Troy, "Just One Look"] But the next one to go solo was Dionne Warwick, and that was because she'd started working with Bacharach and Hal David as their principal demo singer. She started singing lead on their demos, and hoping that she'd get to release them on her own. One early one was "Make it Easy On Yourself", which was recorded by Jerry Butler, formerly of the Impressions. That record was produced by Bacharach, one of the first records he produced without outside supervision: [Excerpt: Jerry Butler, "Make it Easy On Yourself"] Warwick was very jealous that a song she'd sung the demo of had become a massive hit for someone else, and blamed Bacharach and David. The way she tells the story -- Bacharach always claimed this never happened, but as we've already seen he was himself not always the most reliable of narrators of his own life -- she got so angry she complained to them, and said "Don't make me over, man!" And so Bacharach and David wrote her this: [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Don't Make Me Over"] Incidentally, in the UK, the hit version of that was a cover by the Swinging Blue Jeans: [Excerpt: The Swinging Blue Jeans, "Don't Make Me Over"] who also had a huge hit with "You're No Good": [Excerpt: The Swinging Blue Jeans, "You're No Good"] And *that* was originally recorded by *Dee Dee* Warwick: [Excerpt: Dee Dee Warwick, "You're No Good"] Dee Dee also had a successful solo career, but Dionne's was the real success, making the names of herself, and of Bacharach and David. The team had more than twenty top forty hits together, before Bacharach and David had a falling out in 1971 and stopped working together, and Warwick sued both of them for breach of contract as a result. But prior to that they had hit after hit, with classic records like "Anyone Who Had a Heart": [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Anyone Who Had a Heart"] And "Walk On By": [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Walk On By"] With Doris, Dionne, and Dee Dee all going solo, the group's membership was naturally in flux -- though the departed members would occasionally join their former bandmates for sessions, and the remaining members would sing backing vocals on their ex-members' records. By 1965 the group consisted of Cissy Houston, Sylvia Shemwell, the Warwick sisters' cousin Myrna Smith, and Estelle Brown. The group became *the* go-to singers for soul and R&B records made in New York. They were regularly hired by Leiber and Stoller to sing on their records, and they were also the particular favourites of Bert Berns. They sang backing vocals on almost every record he produced. It's them doing the gospel wails on "Cry Baby" by Garnet Mimms: [Excerpt: Garnet Mimms, "Cry Baby"] And they sang backing vocals on both versions of "If You Need Me" -- Wilson Pickett's original and Solomon Burke's more successful cover version, produced by Berns: [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "If You Need Me"] They're on such Berns records as "Show Me Your Monkey", by Kenny Hamber: [Excerpt: Kenny Hamber, "Show Me Your Monkey"] And it was a Berns production that ended up getting them to be Aretha Franklin's backing group. The group were becoming such an important part of the records that Atlantic and BANG Records, in particular, were putting out, that Jerry Wexler said "it was only a matter of common decency to put them under contract as a featured group". He signed them to Atlantic and renamed them from the Gospelaires to The Sweet Inspirations.  Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham wrote a song for the group which became their only hit under their own name: [Excerpt: The Sweet Inspirations, "Sweet Inspiration"] But to start with, they released a cover of Pops Staples' civil rights song "Why (Am I treated So Bad)": [Excerpt: The Sweet Inspirations, "Why (Am I Treated So Bad?)"] That hadn't charted, and meanwhile, they'd all kept doing session work. Cissy had joined Erma and Carolyn Franklin on the backing vocals for Aretha's "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You"] Shortly after that, the whole group recorded backing vocals for Erma's single "Piece of My Heart", co-written and produced by Berns: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] That became a top ten record on the R&B charts, but that caused problems. Aretha Franklin had a few character flaws, and one of these was an extreme level of jealousy for any other female singer who had any level of success and came up in the business after her. She could be incredibly graceful towards anyone who had been successful before her -- she once gave one of her Grammies away to Esther Phillips, who had been up for the same award and had lost to her -- but she was terribly insecure, and saw any contemporary as a threat. She'd spent her time at Columbia Records fuming (with some justification) that Barbra Streisand was being given a much bigger marketing budget than her, and she saw Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Dionne Warwick as rivals rather than friends. And that went doubly for her sisters, who she was convinced should be supporting her because of family loyalty. She had been infuriated at John Hammond when Columbia had signed Erma, thinking he'd gone behind her back to create competition for her. And now Erma was recording with Bert Berns. Bert Berns who had for years been a colleague of Jerry Wexler and the Ertegun brothers at Atlantic. Aretha was convinced that Wexler had put Berns up to signing Erma as some kind of power play. There was only one problem with this -- it simply wasn't true. As Wexler later explained “Bert and I had suffered a bad falling-out, even though I had enormous respect for him. After all, he was the guy who brought over guitarist Jimmy Page from England to play on our sessions. Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, and I had started a label together—Bang!—where Bert produced Van Morrison's first album. But Bert also had a penchant for trouble. He courted the wise guys. He wanted total control over every last aspect of our business dealings. Finally it was too much, and the Erteguns and I let him go. He sued us for breach of contract and suddenly we were enemies. I felt that he signed Erma, an excellent singer, not merely for her talent but as a way to get back at me. If I could make a hit with Aretha, he'd show me up by making an even bigger hit on Erma. Because there was always an undercurrent of rivalry between the sisters, this only added to the tension.” There were two things that resulted from this paranoia on Aretha's part. The first was that she and Wexler, who had been on first-name terms up to that point, temporarily went back to being "Mr. Wexler" and "Miss Franklin" to each other. And the second was that Aretha no longer wanted Carolyn and Erma to be her main backing vocalists, though they would continue to appear on her future records on occasion. From this point on, the Sweet Inspirations would be the main backing vocalists for Aretha in the studio throughout her golden era [xxcut line (and when the Sweet Inspirations themselves weren't on the record, often it would be former members of the group taking their place)]: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)"] The last day of sessions for Aretha Arrives was July the twenty-third, 1967. And as we heard in the episode on "I Was Made to Love Her", that was the day that the Detroit riots started. To recap briefly, that was four days of rioting started because of a history of racist policing, made worse by those same racist police overreacting to the initial protests. By the end of those four days, the National Guard, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne from Clarksville were all called in to deal with the violence, which left forty-three dead (of whom thirty-three were Black and only one was a police officer), 1,189 people were injured, and over 7,200 arrested, almost all of them Black. Those days in July would be a turning point for almost every musician based in Detroit. In particular, the police had murdered three members of the soul group the Dramatics, in a massacre of which the author John Hersey, who had been asked by President Johnson to be part of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders but had decided that would compromise his impartiality and did an independent journalistic investigation, said "The episode contained all the mythic themes of racial strife in the United States: the arm of the law taking the law into its own hands; interracial sex; the subtle poison of racist thinking by “decent” men who deny they are racists; the societal limbo into which, ever since slavery, so many young black men have been driven by our country; ambiguous justice in the courts; and the devastation in both black and white human lives that follows in the wake of violence as surely as ruinous and indiscriminate flood after torrents" But these were also the events that radicalised the MC5 -- the group had been playing a gig as Tim Buckley's support act when the rioting started, and guitarist Wayne Kramer decided afterwards to get stoned and watch the fires burning down the city through a telescope -- which police mistook for a rifle, leading to the National Guard knocking down Kramer's door. The MC5 would later cover "The Motor City is Burning", John Lee Hooker's song about the events: [Excerpt: The MC5, "The Motor City is Burning"] It would also be a turning point for Motown, too, in ways we'll talk about in a few future episodes.  And it was a political turning point too -- Michigan Governor George Romney, a liberal Republican (at a time when such people existed) had been the favourite for the Republican Presidential candidacy when he'd entered the race in December 1966, but as racial tensions ramped up in Detroit during the early months of 1967 he'd started trailing Richard Nixon, a man who was consciously stoking racists' fears. President Johnson, the incumbent Democrat, who was at that point still considering standing for re-election, made sure to make it clear to everyone during the riots that the decision to call in the National Guard had been made at the State level, by Romney, rather than at the Federal level.  That wasn't the only thing that removed the possibility of a Romney presidency, but it was a big part of the collapse of his campaign, and the, as it turned out, irrevocable turn towards right-authoritarianism that the party took with Nixon's Southern Strategy. Of course, Aretha Franklin had little way of knowing what was to come and how the riots would change the city and the country over the following decades. What she was primarily concerned about was the safety of her father, and to a lesser extent that of her sister-in-law Earline who was staying with him. Aretha, Carolyn, and Erma all tried to keep in constant touch with their father while they were out of town, and Aretha even talked about hiring private detectives to travel to Detroit, find her father, and get him out of the city to safety. But as her brother Cecil pointed out, he was probably the single most loved man among Black people in Detroit, and was unlikely to be harmed by the rioters, while he was too famous for the police to kill with impunity. Reverend Franklin had been having a stressful time anyway -- he had recently been fined for tax evasion, an action he was convinced the IRS had taken because of his friendship with Dr King and his role in the civil rights movement -- and according to Cecil "Aretha begged Daddy to move out of the city entirely. She wanted him to find another congregation in California, where he was especially popular—or at least move out to the suburbs. But he wouldn't budge. He said that, more than ever, he was needed to point out the root causes of the riots—the economic inequality, the pervasive racism in civic institutions, the woefully inadequate schools in inner-city Detroit, and the wholesale destruction of our neighborhoods by urban renewal. Some ministers fled the city, but not our father. The horror of what happened only recommitted him. He would not abandon his political agenda." To make things worse, Aretha was worried about her father in other ways -- as her marriage to Ted White was starting to disintegrate, she was looking to her father for guidance, and actually wanted him to take over her management. Eventually, Ruth Bowen, her booking agent, persuaded her brother Cecil that this was a job he could do, and that she would teach him everything he needed to know about the music business. She started training him up while Aretha was still married to White, in the expectation that that marriage couldn't last. Jerry Wexler, who only a few months earlier had been seeing Ted White as an ally in getting "product" from Franklin, had now changed his tune -- partly because the sale of Atlantic had gone through in the meantime. He later said “Sometimes she'd call me at night, and, in that barely audible little-girl voice of hers, she'd tell me that she wasn't sure she could go on. She always spoke in generalities. She never mentioned her husband, never gave me specifics of who was doing what to whom. And of course I knew better than to ask. She just said that she was tired of dealing with so much. My heart went out to her. She was a woman who suffered silently. She held so much in. I'd tell her to take as much time off as she needed. We had a lot of songs in the can that we could release without new material. ‘Oh, no, Jerry,' she'd say. ‘I can't stop recording. I've written some new songs, Carolyn's written some new songs. We gotta get in there and cut 'em.' ‘Are you sure?' I'd ask. ‘Positive,' she'd say. I'd set up the dates and typically she wouldn't show up for the first or second sessions. Carolyn or Erma would call me to say, ‘Ree's under the weather.' That was tough because we'd have asked people like Joe South and Bobby Womack to play on the sessions. Then I'd reschedule in the hopes she'd show." That third album she recorded in 1967, Lady Soul, was possibly her greatest achievement. The opening track, and second single, "Chain of Fools", released in November, was written by Don Covay -- or at least it's credited as having been written by Covay. There's a gospel record that came out around the same time on a very small label based in Houston -- "Pains of Life" by Rev. E. Fair And The Sensational Gladys Davis Trio: [Excerpt: Rev. E. Fair And The Sensational Gladys Davis Trio, "Pains of Life"] I've seen various claims online that that record came out shortly *before* "Chain of Fools", but I can't find any definitive evidence one way or the other -- it was on such a small label that release dates aren't available anywhere. Given that the B-side, which I haven't been able to track down online, is called "Wait Until the Midnight Hour", my guess is that rather than this being a case of Don Covay stealing the melody from an obscure gospel record he'd have had little chance to hear, it's the gospel record rewriting a then-current hit to be about religion, but I thought it worth mentioning. The song was actually written by Covay after Jerry Wexler asked him to come up with some songs for Otis Redding, but Wexler, after hearing it, decided it was better suited to Franklin, who gave an astonishing performance: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Chain of Fools"] Arif Mardin, the arranger of the album, said of that track “I was listed as the arranger of ‘Chain of Fools,' but I can't take credit. Aretha walked into the studio with the chart fully formed inside her head. The arrangement is based around the harmony vocals provided by Carolyn and Erma. To add heft, the Sweet Inspirations joined in. The vision of the song is entirely Aretha's.” According to Wexler, that's not *quite* true -- according to him, Joe South came up with the guitar part that makes up the intro, and he also said that when he played what he thought was the finished track to Ellie Greenwich, she came up with another vocal line for the backing vocals, which she overdubbed. But the core of the record's sound is definitely pure Aretha -- and Carolyn Franklin said that there was a reason for that. As she said later “Aretha didn't write ‘Chain,' but she might as well have. It was her story. When we were in the studio putting on the backgrounds with Ree doing lead, I knew she was singing about Ted. Listen to the lyrics talking about how for five long years she thought he was her man. Then she found out she was nothing but a link in the chain. Then she sings that her father told her to come on home. Well, he did. She sings about how her doctor said to take it easy. Well, he did too. She was drinking so much we thought she was on the verge of a breakdown. The line that slew me, though, was the one that said how one of these mornings the chain is gonna break but until then she'll take all she can take. That summed it up. Ree knew damn well that this man had been doggin' her since Jump Street. But somehow she held on and pushed it to the breaking point." [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Chain of Fools"] That made number one on the R&B charts, and number two on the hot one hundred, kept from the top by "Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)" by John Fred and his Playboy Band -- a record that very few people would say has stood the test of time as well. The other most memorable track on the album was the one chosen as the first single, released in September. As Carole King told the story, she and Gerry Goffin were feeling like their career was in a slump. While they had had a huge run of hits in the early sixties through 1965, they had only had two new hits in 1966 -- "Goin' Back" for Dusty Springfield and "Don't Bring Me Down" for the Animals, and neither of those were anything like as massive as their previous hits. And up to that point in 1967, they'd only had one -- "Pleasant Valley Sunday" for the Monkees. They had managed to place several songs on Monkees albums and the TV show as well, so they weren't going to starve, but the rise of self-contained bands that were starting to dominate the charts, and Phil Spector's temporary retirement, meant there simply wasn't the opportunity for them to place material that there had been. They were also getting sick of travelling to the West Coast all the time, because as their children were growing slightly older they didn't want to disrupt their lives in New York, and were thinking of approaching some of the New York based labels and seeing if they needed songs. They were particularly considering Atlantic, because soul was more open to outside songwriters than other genres. As it happened, though, they didn't have to approach Atlantic, because Atlantic approached them. They were walking down Broadway when a limousine pulled up, and Jerry Wexler stuck his head out of the window. He'd come up with a good title that he wanted to use for a song for Aretha, would they be interested in writing a song called "Natural Woman"? They said of course they would, and Wexler drove off. They wrote the song that night, and King recorded a demo the next morning: [Excerpt: Carole King, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (demo)"] They gave Wexler a co-writing credit because he had suggested the title.  King later wrote in her autobiography "Hearing Aretha's performance of “Natural Woman” for the first time, I experienced a rare speechless moment. To this day I can't convey how I felt in mere words. Anyone who had written a song in 1967 hoping it would be performed by a singer who could take it to the highest level of excellence, emotional connection, and public exposure would surely have wanted that singer to be Aretha Franklin." She went on to say "But a recording that moves people is never just about the artist and the songwriters. It's about people like Jerry and Ahmet, who matched the songwriters with a great title and a gifted artist; Arif Mardin, whose magnificent orchestral arrangement deserves the place it will forever occupy in popular music history; Tom Dowd, whose engineering skills captured the magic of this memorable musical moment for posterity; and the musicians in the rhythm section, the orchestral players, and the vocal contributions of the background singers—among them the unforgettable “Ah-oo!” after the first line of the verse. And the promotion and marketing people helped this song reach more people than it might have without them." And that's correct -- unlike "Chain of Fools", this time Franklin did let Arif Mardin do most of the arrangement work -- though she came up with the piano part that Spooner Oldham plays on the record. Mardin said that because of the song's hymn-like feel they wanted to go for a more traditional written arrangement. He said "She loved the song to the point where she said she wanted to concentrate on the vocal and vocal alone. I had written a string chart and horn chart to augment the chorus and hired Ralph Burns to conduct. After just a couple of takes, we had it. That's when Ralph turned to me with wonder in his eyes. Ralph was one of the most celebrated arrangers of the modern era. He had done ‘Early Autumn' for Woody Herman and Stan Getz, and ‘Georgia on My Mind' for Ray Charles. He'd worked with everyone. ‘This woman comes from another planet' was all Ralph said. ‘She's just here visiting.'” [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"] By this point there was a well-functioning team making Franklin's records -- while the production credits would vary over the years, they were all essentially co-productions by the team of Franklin, Wexler, Mardin and Dowd, all collaborating and working together with a more-or-less unified purpose, and the backing was always by the same handful of session musicians and some combination of the Sweet Inspirations and Aretha's sisters. That didn't mean that occasional guests couldn't get involved -- as we discussed in the Cream episode, Eric Clapton played guitar on "Good to Me as I am to You": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Good to Me as I am to You"] Though that was one of the rare occasions on one of these records where something was overdubbed. Clapton apparently messed up the guitar part when playing behind Franklin, because he was too intimidated by playing with her, and came back the next day to redo his part without her in the studio. At this point, Aretha was at the height of her fame. Just before the final batch of album sessions began she appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and she was making regular TV appearances, like one on the Mike Douglas Show where she duetted with Frankie Valli on "That's Life": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin and Frankie Valli, "That's Life"] But also, as Wexler said “Her career was kicking into high gear. Contending and resolving both the professional and personal challenges were too much. She didn't think she could do both, and I didn't blame her. Few people could. So she let the personal slide and concentrated on the professional. " Her concert promoter Ruth Bowen said of this time "Her father and Dr. King were putting pressure on her to sing everywhere, and she felt obligated. The record company was also screaming for more product. And I had a mountain of offers on my desk that kept getting higher with every passing hour. They wanted her in Europe. They wanted her in Latin America. They wanted her in every major venue in the U.S. TV was calling. She was being asked to do guest appearances on every show from Carol Burnett to Andy Williams to the Hollywood Palace. She wanted to do them all and she wanted to do none of them. She wanted to do them all because she's an entertainer who burns with ambition. She wanted to do none of them because she was emotionally drained. She needed to go away and renew her strength. I told her that at least a dozen times. She said she would, but she didn't listen to me." The pressures from her father and Dr King are a recurring motif in interviews with people about this period. Franklin was always a very political person, and would throughout her life volunteer time and money to liberal political causes and to the Democratic Party, but this was the height of her activism -- the Civil Rights movement was trying to capitalise on the gains it had made in the previous couple of years, and celebrity fundraisers and performances at rallies were an important way to do that. And at this point there were few bigger celebrities in America than Aretha Franklin. At a concert in her home town of Detroit on February the sixteenth, 1968, the Mayor declared the day Aretha Franklin Day. At the same show, Billboard, Record World *and* Cash Box magazines all presented her with plaques for being Female Vocalist of the Year. And Dr. King travelled up to be at the show and congratulate her publicly for all her work with his organisation, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Backstage at that show, Dr. King talked to Aretha's father, Reverend Franklin, about what he believed would be the next big battle -- a strike in Memphis: [Excerpt, Martin Luther King, "Mountaintop Speech" -- "And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy—what is the other bread?—Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying, they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right."] The strike in question was the Memphis Sanitation Workers' strike which had started a few days before.  The struggle for Black labour rights was an integral part of the civil rights movement, and while it's not told that way in the sanitised version of the story that's made it into popular culture, the movement led by King was as much about economic justice as social justice -- King was a democratic socialist, and believed that economic oppression was both an effect of and cause of other forms of racial oppression, and that the rights of Black workers needed to be fought for. In 1967 he had set up a new organisation, the Poor People's Campaign, which was set to march on Washington to demand a program that included full employment, a guaranteed income -- King was strongly influenced in his later years by the ideas of Henry George, the proponent of a universal basic income based on land value tax -- the annual building of half a million affordable homes, and an end to the war in Vietnam. This was King's main focus in early 1968, and he saw the sanitation workers' strike as a major part of this campaign. Memphis was one of the most oppressive cities in the country, and its largely Black workforce of sanitation workers had been trying for most of the 1960s to unionise, and strike-breakers had been called in to stop them, and many of them had been fired by their white supervisors with no notice. They were working in unsafe conditions, for utterly inadequate wages, and the city government were ardent segregationists. After two workers had died on the first of February from using unsafe equipment, the union demanded changes -- safer working conditions, better wages, and recognition of the union. The city council refused, and almost all the sanitation workers stayed home and stopped work. After a few days, the council relented and agreed to their terms, but the Mayor, Henry Loeb, an ardent white supremacist who had stood on a platform of opposing desegregation, and who had previously been the Public Works Commissioner who had put these unsafe conditions in place, refused to listen. As far as he was concerned, he was the only one who could recognise the union, and he wouldn't. The workers continued their strike, marching holding signs that simply read "I am a Man": [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "Blowing in the Wind"] The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP had been involved in organising support for the strikes from an early stage, and King visited Memphis many times. Much of the time he spent visiting there was spent negotiating with a group of more militant activists, who called themselves The Invaders and weren't completely convinced by King's nonviolent approach -- they believed that violence and rioting got more attention than non-violent protests. King explained to them that while he had been persuaded by Gandhi's writings of the moral case for nonviolent protest, he was also persuaded that it was pragmatically necessary -- asking the young men "how many guns do we have and how many guns do they have?", and pointing out as he often did that when it comes to violence a minority can't win against an armed majority. Rev Franklin went down to Memphis on the twenty-eighth of March to speak at a rally Dr. King was holding, but as it turned out the rally was cancelled -- the pre-rally march had got out of hand, with some people smashing windows, and Memphis police had, like the police in Detroit the previous year, violently overreacted, clubbing and gassing protestors and shooting and killing one unarmed teenage boy, Larry Payne. The day after Payne's funeral, Dr King was back in Memphis, though this time Rev Franklin was not with him. On April the third, he gave a speech which became known as the "Mountaintop Speech", in which he talked about the threats that had been made to his life: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Mountaintop Speech": “And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."] The next day, Martin Luther King was shot dead. James Earl Ray, a white supremacist, pled guilty to the murder, and the evidence against him seems overwhelming from what I've read, but the King family have always claimed that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy and that Ray was not the gunman. Aretha was obviously distraught, and she attended the funeral, as did almost every other prominent Black public figure. James Baldwin wrote of the funeral: "In the pew directly before me sat Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis, Eartha Kitt—covered in black, looking like a lost, ten-year-old girl—and Sidney Poitier, in the same pew, or nearby. Marlon saw me, and nodded. The atmosphere was black, with a tension indescribable—as though something, perhaps the heavens, perhaps the earth, might crack. Everyone sat very still. The actual service sort of washed over me, in waves. It wasn't that it seemed unreal; it was the most real church service I've ever sat through in my life, or ever hope to sit through; but I have a childhood hangover thing about not weeping in public, and I was concentrating on holding myself together. I did not want to weep for Martin, tears seemed futile. But I may also have been afraid, and I could not have been the only one, that if I began to weep I would not be able to stop. There was more than enough to weep for, if one was to weep—so many of us, cut down, so soon. Medgar, Malcolm, Martin: and their widows, and their children. Reverend Ralph David Abernathy asked a certain sister to sing a song which Martin had loved—“Once more,” said Ralph David, “for Martin and for me,” and he sat down." Many articles and books on Aretha Franklin say that she sang at King's funeral. In fact she didn't, but there's a simple reason for the confusion. King's favourite song was the Thomas Dorsey gospel song "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", and indeed almost his last words were to ask a trumpet player, Ben Branch, if he would play the song at the rally he was going to be speaking at on the day of his death. At his request, Mahalia Jackson, his old friend, sang the song at his private funeral, which was not filmed, unlike the public part of the funeral that Baldwin described. Four months later, though, there was another public memorial for King, and Franklin did sing "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at that service, in front of King's weeping widow and children, and that performance *was* filmed, and gets conflated in people's memories with Jackson's unfilmed earlier performance: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord (at Martin Luther King Memorial)"] Four years later, she would sing that at Mahalia Jackson's funeral. Through all this, Franklin had been working on her next album, Aretha Now, the sessions for which started more or less as soon as the sessions for Lady Soul had finished. The album was, in fact, bookended by deaths that affected Aretha. Just as King died at the end of the sessions, the beginning came around the time of the death of Otis Redding -- the sessions were cancelled for a day while Wexler travelled to Georgia for Redding's funeral, which Franklin was too devastated to attend, and Wexler would later say that the extra emotion in her performances on the album came from her emotional pain at Redding's death. The lead single on the album, "Think", was written by Franklin and -- according to the credits anyway -- her husband Ted White, and is very much in the same style as "Respect", and became another of her most-loved hits: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Think"] But probably the song on Aretha Now that now resonates the most is one that Jerry Wexler tried to persuade her not to record, and was only released as a B-side. Indeed, "I Say a Little Prayer" was a song that had already once been a hit after being a reject.  Hal David, unlike Burt Bacharach, was a fairly political person and inspired by the protest song movement, and had been starting to incorporate his concerns about the political situation and the Vietnam War into his lyrics -- though as with many such writers, he did it in much less specific ways than a Phil Ochs or a Bob Dylan. This had started with "What the World Needs Now is Love", a song Bacharach and David had written for Jackie DeShannon in 1965: [Excerpt: Jackie DeShannon, "What the "World Needs Now is Love"] But he'd become much more overtly political for "The Windows of the World", a song they wrote for Dionne Warwick. Warwick has often said it's her favourite of her singles, but it wasn't a big hit -- Bacharach blamed himself for that, saying "Dionne recorded it as a single and I really blew it. I wrote a bad arrangement and the tempo was too fast, and I really regret making it the way I did because it's a good song." [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "The Windows of the World"] For that album, Bacharach and David had written another track, "I Say a Little Prayer", which was not as explicitly political, but was intended by David to have an implicit anti-war message, much like other songs of the period like "Last Train to Clarksville". David had sons who were the right age to be drafted, and while it's never stated, "I Say a Little Prayer" was written from the perspective of a woman whose partner is away fighting in the war, but is still in her thoughts: [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "I Say a Little Prayer"] The recording of Dionne Warwick's version was marked by stress. Bacharach had a particular way of writing music to tell the musicians the kind of feel he wanted for the part -- he'd write nonsense words above the stave, and tell the musicians to play the parts as if they were singing those words. The trumpet player hired for the session, Ernie Royal, got into a row with Bacharach about this unorthodox way of communicating musical feeling, and the track ended up taking ten takes (as opposed to the normal three for a Bacharach session), with Royal being replaced half-way through the session. Bacharach was never happy with the track even after all the work it had taken, and he fought to keep it from being released at all, saying the track was taken at too fast a tempo. It eventually came out as an album track nearly eighteen months after it was recorded -- an eternity in 1960s musical timescales -- and DJs started playing it almost as soon as it came out. Scepter records rushed out a single, over Bacharach's objections, but as he later said "One thing I love about the record business is how wrong I was. Disc jockeys all across the country started playing the track, and the song went to number four on the charts and then became the biggest hit Hal and I had ever written for Dionne." [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "I Say a Little Prayer"] Oddly, the B-side for Warwick's single, "Theme From the Valley of the Dolls" did even better, reaching number two. Almost as soon as the song was released as a single, Franklin started playing around with the song backstage, and in April 1968, right around the time of Dr. King's death, she recorded a version. Much as Burt Bacharach had been against releasing Dionne Warwick's version, Jerry Wexler was against Aretha even recording the song, saying later “I advised Aretha not to record it. I opposed it for two reasons. First, to cover a song only twelve weeks after the original reached the top of the charts was not smart business. You revisit such a hit eight months to a year later. That's standard practice. But more than that, Bacharach's melody, though lovely, was peculiarly suited to a lithe instrument like Dionne Warwick's—a light voice without the dark corners or emotional depths that define Aretha. Also, Hal David's lyric was also somewhat girlish and lacked the gravitas that Aretha required. “Aretha usually listened to me in the studio, but not this time. She had written a vocal arrangement for the Sweet Inspirations that was undoubtedly strong. Cissy Houston, Dionne's cousin, told me that Aretha was on the right track—she was seeing this song in a new way and had come up with a new groove. Cissy was on Aretha's side. Tommy Dowd and Arif were on Aretha's side. So I had no choice but to cave." It's quite possible that Wexler's objections made Franklin more, rather than less, determined to record the song. She regarded Warwick as a hated rival, as she did almost every prominent female singer of her generation and younger ones, and would undoubtedly have taken the implication that there was something that Warwick was simply better at than her to heart. [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer"] Wexler realised as soon as he heard it in the studio that Franklin's version was great, and Bacharach agreed, telling Franklin's biographer David Ritz “As much as I like the original recording by Dionne, there's no doubt that Aretha's is a better record. She imbued the song with heavy soul and took it to a far deeper place. Hers is the definitive version.” -- which is surprising because Franklin's version simplifies some of Bacharach's more unusual chord voicings, something he often found extremely upsetting. Wexler still though thought there was no way the song would be a hit, and it's understandable that he thought that way. Not only had it only just been on the charts a few months earlier, but it was the kind of song that wouldn't normally be a hit at all, and certainly not in the kind of rhythmic soul music for which Franklin was known. Almost everything she ever recorded is in simple time signatures -- 4/4, waltz time, or 6/8 -- but this is a Bacharach song so it's staggeringly metrically irregular. Normally even with semi-complex things I'm usually good at figuring out how to break it down into bars, but here I actually had to purchase a copy of the sheet music in order to be sure I was right about what's going on. I'm going to count beats along with the record here so you can see what I mean. The verse has three bars of 4/4, one bar of 2/4, and three more bars of 4/4, all repeated: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer" with me counting bars over verse] While the chorus has a bar of 4/4, a bar of 3/4 but with a chord change half way through so it sounds like it's in two if you're paying attention to the harmonic changes, two bars of 4/4, another waltz-time bar sounding like it's in two, two bars of four, another bar of three sounding in two, a bar of four, then three more bars of four but the first of those is *written* as four but played as if it's in six-eight time (but you can keep the four/four pulse going if you're counting): [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer" with me counting bars over verse] I don't expect you to have necessarily followed that in great detail, but the point should be clear -- this was not some straightforward dance song. Incidentally, that bar played as if it's six/eight was something Aretha introduced to make the song even more irregular than how Bacharach wrote it. And on top of *that* of course the lyrics mixed the secular and the sacred, something that was still taboo in popular music at that time -- this is only a couple of years after Capitol records had been genuinely unsure about putting out the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows", and Franklin's gospel-inflected vocals made the religious connection even more obvious. But Franklin was insistent that the record go out as a single, and eventually it was released as the B-side to the far less impressive "The House That Jack Built". It became a double-sided hit, with the A-side making number two on the R&B chart and number seven on the Hot One Hundred, while "I Say a Little Prayer" made number three on the R&B chart and number ten overall. In the UK, "I Say a Little Prayer" made number four and became her biggest ever solo UK hit. It's now one of her most-remembered songs, while the A-side is largely forgotten: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer"] For much of the

GDP Script/ Top Stories for Sept 27th Publish Date:  Sept 26th From the Henssler Financial Studio Welcome to the Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast Today is Wednesday, September 27th, and happy heavenly birthday to musician Meatloaf. **** **** I'm Bruce Jenkins and here are your top stories presented by Mall of Georgia Chrysler Dodge Jeep. Jackson EMC Foundation awards $37K to agencies serving Gwinnett County residents Contemporary Classics offers 'A Karaoke Riot!' as first production of the season Around the World in the DTL returns to Lawrenceville All of this and more is coming up on the Gwinnett Daily Post podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen daily and subscribe!  Break 1 : M.O.G.          Story 1: Jackson EMC Foundation awards $37K to agencies serving Gwinnett County residents   The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors has awarded a total of $196,771 in grants, with $37,500 allocated to organizations serving Gwinnett County residents. The grants include: $15,000 to Boy With a Ball in Buford for curriculum materials to support the Velocity Cross Age Mentoring program. This program pairs high school mentors with middle school students in Gwinnett County, focusing on building connectedness, self-esteem, identity, and academic skills. $15,000 to Barrow Ministry Village in Winder for its counseling program, offering affordable counseling services to needy families in Jackson EMC's service area. The program targets individuals dealing with PTSD, anxiety, and family issues. $7,500 to Bethel Haven in Watkinsville for its Mental Health Counseling Program, providing mental health services and therapeutic counseling sessions for distressed children, teens, adults, and families in Jackson EMC's service counties. These grants are made possible through the Operation Round Up program, where cooperative members round up their electric bills to support local initiatives. Since 2005, this program has contributed over $19.4 million to communities served by Jackson EMC. Eligible individuals and charitable organizations in the 10-county service area may apply for Foundation grants, and membership with Jackson EMC is not a requirement.....…..read more at gwinnettdailypost.com STORY 2: Contemporary Classics offers 'A Karaoke Riot!' as first production of the season   Contemporary Classics Theatre is set to kick off its new season with "A Karaoke Riot!"—a contemporary adaptation of Clifford Odets' 1930s play "Waiting for Lefty." Directed by Mike Weiselberg, the play offers a unique twist: audience participation. Ticket holders will be part of a special environment where they play the role of "ride share" drivers in a taxi strike, adding an immersive element to the experience. The play combines humor and satire with serious themes, highlighting the importance of fair wages and workplace respect. "A Karaoke Riot!" will be performed on October 20 and 21 at Sweetwater Bar and Grill in Duluth, Georgia.   STORY 3: Around the World in the DTL returns to Lawrenceville Lawrenceville is hosting "Around the World in the DTL," a two-day festival in partnership with the Atlanta International Night Market. The event, taking place on the Lawrenceville Lawn, celebrates the city's diverse cultures and communities. Visitors can enjoy an international bazaar with unique items and global cuisine. The festival includes entertainment such as exotic dance performances and cultural showcases. On Friday, "Los Chicos del 512: The Selena Experience – Selena Tribute" will be featured on the Lawrenceville Lawn Stage. Saturday offers a showcase of performances and culinary delights from around the world, with over 50 vendors and more. The event aims to promote cultural diversity and understanding in the community. We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.874.3200 for more info. We'll be right back   Break 2:   Slappey – Tom Wages - Obits – Cumming Fair   STORY 4: Gwinnett County champs lead way at Wingfoot XC Classic   At the Wingfoot XC Classic, Gwinnett County champions Jewel Wells and Jameson Pifer stood out. Wells finished 8th in the Varsity Championship Girls race with a time of 18:37, while Pifer secured the 12th position in the Varsity Championship Boys competition with a time of 15:35. Mill Creek's girls, including Wells, placed 13th with 318 points. Wesleyan's girls finished 12th with 307 points. Pifer, along with other top Gwinnett finishers Wood Moore and Eli Griggs, contributed to their respective teams' performances. Mill Creek's boys finished 17th overall.   STORY 5: International players boost Providence Christian football's historic start   Providence Christian's football team has seen success thanks in part to the addition of international players, including six from Canada, five from Germany, and one each from England and Denmark. These players have contributed to the team's undefeated start to the season. The influx of international talent began under previous head coach Joe Sturdivant, who has extensive experience coaching football overseas. The players seek opportunities to play college football in the U.S., and they have adjusted to the differences in climate, competition level, and speed of the game. Their presence has enriched the school's culture and provided diverse backgrounds on the team.   We'll be back in a moment   Break 3:  ESOG – Ingles 2   STORY 6: Peachtree Ridge defeats Dunwoody in softball   Peachtree Ridge dominated Dunwoody with a 10-2 victory in fastpitch softball. Kenadie Garcia excelled as the winning pitcher with an RBI double. A.J. Muhammad, Amiya Hunt, and Mariella Morales played key roles in the Lions' offense.   Mountain View had a successful day, winning two Region 8-AAAAAAA games, including a 15-0 victory over Central Gwinnett and a 6-2 win over Dacula. Riley Ashby and Rylie Smith were standouts.   Brookwood defeated Duluth 8-0 in five innings, with Lorelei Sullivan and Nya Langlais leading the way.   Archer secured an 11-3 victory over Shiloh, with Kaylee Lapides and Mia Johnson standing out.   Discovery suffered a 25-8 loss to Chestatee in volleyball.   Hebron Christian split their volleyball matches, defeating Franklin County but losing to Oconee County. Key players included Addison Griffin, Malia Silva, and Brooke Thao.   STORY 7: Ambulance involved in 'serious injury' crash at intersection of Jimmy Carter Blvd.   A serious accident occurred involving an ambulance and a passenger car at the intersection of Jimmy Carter Blvd. and Quails Lake Village Lane. The Gwinnett County Police are investigating the incident. The driver of the car is being treated at a local hospital, while no one from Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services was injured. The ambulance was responding to a medical call with lights and sirens on, traveling in the center turn lane due to heavy traffic. The car attempted a left turn in front of the ambulance, resulting in a collision on the driver's side. The investigation is ongoing, and details are preliminary.   We'll have final thoughts after this.   Break 4: Henssler 60 Thanks again for hanging out with us on today's Gwinnett Daily Post podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Marietta Daily Journal, the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties, or the Paulding County News Podcast. Read more about all our stories, and get other great content at Gwinnettdailypost.com. Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. www.wagesfuneralhome.com  www.psponline.com  www.mallofgeorgiachryslerdodgejeep.com  www.esogrepair.com  www.henssler.com  www.ingles-markets.com  www.downtownlawrencevillega.com  www.gcpsk12.org  www.cummingfair.net www.disneyonice.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Avril Lavigne, Meat Loaf and more are all candidates in the Today Game for September 27, 2023!

Jonnie W. is a Nashville-based "clean" comedian. We hear a little of his schtick in this week's comedy showcase. With fall's official arrival, we share the tasty tips on how to make classic pumpkin bread. CSS Alabama captain Raphael Semmes (1809-1877) was born on this day, as well as rocker Meat Loaf (1947-2022). Also, the latest on the potential U.S. government shutdown.

Liberty DeVittoWe are very pleased to announce the signing of a hugely influential figure on the drumming scene, Liberty DeVitto!Born and raised in New York City, USA… Liberty's drumming journey began at the tender age of 14, when he was first inspired to play after watching the now world famous Ed Sullivan performance by the Beatles back  in 1964… He never looked back since then, eventually working his way up the ranks to that coveted hot seat with Billy Joel, forming a fruitful musical bond that would span decades and bring along many hit albums along the way.Liberty is In addition to his work with Joel, DeVitto has also been an active session musician working with other big acts such as Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey, Carly Simon, Phoebe Snow, Karen Carpenter, Stevie Nicks, Rick Wakeman, Bob James, Meat Loaf and many, many more.Liberty is currently playing with a multitude of artists both live and in the studio, with The Lords of 52nd St and Slim Kings among others.https://www.libertydrums.com/pages/artist-liberty-devittohttps://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057593854157https://www.instagram.com/liberty_devitto/

Songwriting legend Desmond Child, President Biden celebrating LL J Cool J Cool L, Taylor at the Chiefs game, media rope-a-doping again, and what it takes to clear out a group text -- all on today's show!

ABOUT DESMOND CHILD AND LIVIN' ON A PRAYER: BIG SONGS, BiG LIFEDesmond Child is the iconic Grammy® Award winning and Emmy nominated songwriter / producer who has contributed to some of the biggest global hits that helped ignite the success of music icons KISS, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Ricky Martin, Katy Perry, and countless others. Desmond is gearing up for the release of his first-ever memoir, “LIVIN' ON A PRAYER: BIG SONGS BIG LIFE” (out Sept. 19) – his personal story of anguish and struggle that reveals how he climbed his way to the top and beyond amid extraordinary circumstances. Sharing his very intimate and unbelievable journey that shaped him into an artist of international renown, the book features a foreword by Paul Stanley, in collaboration with legendary music biographer David Ritz.Having co-written over 80 Top 40 hits and selling over 500 million records worldwide, Desmond's contributions to the music industry have earned him induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame, and multiple prestigious awards. For over half a century, Desmond has collaborated with the world's most celebrated artists creating timeless classics, such as Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" and "You Give Love A Bad Name," as well as Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" and "The Cup Of Life," amongst his vast catalog. But in "LIVIN' ON A PRAYER: BIG SONGS BIG LIFE," Desmond himself takes center stage to share his transformational story of a misfit outsider to cultural pacesetter.In the upcoming title, Desmond recounts his unconventional upbringing as his colorful family fled revolutionary Cuba for Florida in the 1960s and fell into poverty. He details his shocking discovery at age 18 that the man he called "dad" was not his biological father after all, and he courageously bares his soul about navigating the trials of being a Latino gay man in the macho world of Rock 'n' Roll. His is a story of willing himself to succeed and overcoming impossible odds to establish himself as one of the most influential composers and lyricists of all time.In an interview, Desmond can discuss the following:The triumphs, challenges, and lessons he's learned throughout his career * Inspiring others to embrace their own creative pursuits, overcome obstacles, and live their dreams to the fullestRevealing untold stories about the making of the hit songs that have become the soundtrack of our lives.Recounting the magic and inspiration behind each composition, while shedding light on what it's like to collaborate with music legends.Lessons from a maestro with invaluable resources for aspiring artists and industry professionals alike to understand songwriting, production, and the music industryDESMOND CHILD BIOGrammy-winning and Emmy-nominated songwriter Desmond Child is one of music's most prolific and accomplished hitmakers. He's a film, television, theater and music producer, recording artist, performer, and author. His credits appear on more than eighty Billboard Top 40 singles spanning six decades, including "Livin' On A Prayer," "You Give Love A Bad Name," "I Was Made For Lovin' You," "Dude Looks Like A Lady," "How Can We Be Lovers If We Can't Be Friends," "I Hate Myself For Loving You," "Livin' La Vida Loca," "The Cup Of Life," "Waking Up In Vegas," "Kings & Queens" and many more.From Aerosmith to Zedd, his genre-defying collaborations also include KISS, Bon Jovi, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Ricky Martin, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, Michael Bolton, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, Cyndi Lauper, Christina Aguilera, Ava Max, Mickey Mouse and Kermit the Frog, selling over 500 million records worldwide with downloads, YouTube views and streaming plays in the billions.Desmond Child was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008 and serves on its Board of Directors as well as the Board of ASCAP. In 2018 he received ASCAP's prestigious Founders Award celebrating 40 years as a proud member of ASCAP. In 2012 he also co-founded the Latin Songwriters Hall Of Fame where he serves as Chairman Emeritus. In 2022, he was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall Of Fame and "Livin' La Vida Loca" was inducted into the National Archives of the Library of Congress for its cultural significance to America. In 2023, "Livin' On A Prayer" was certified to have reached 1 billion streams on Spotify.Personal HistoryBA in Music Education from New York University 1976AA of Art from Miami Dade Community College 1974Graduated Miami Beach High School 1972Born John Charles Barrett October 28th, 1953Artist HistoryThe single, "Love on a Rooftop" charts Top 40 1990Released, "Discipline" through Elektra Records 19901st Top 40 hit, "Our Love Is Insane" Spring of 1979Musical guest on Saturday Night Live (original cast) Xmas show of 1979First U.S. Tour including legendary performances at The Bottom Line in NYC and The Whisky a Go Go in LA 1979Released first self-titled album, "Desmond Child & Rouge" 1979First signed to Capitol Records with group Desmond Child & Rouge 1978Billboard #1 Hits4th Billboard #1 "Livin' La Vida Loca" 19993rd Billboard #1 "Bad Medicine" Bon Jovi 19882nd Billboard #1 "Livin' On A Prayer" Bon Jovi 19871st Billboard #1 "You Give Love A Bad Name" Bon Jovi 19861st International #1 "I Was Made For Lovin' You" KISS 1979Honors & AwardsASCAP Founders Award 2018Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee 2008Miami Beach High Wall of Fame (alongside Barbara Walters, Mickey Rourke, Andy Garcia)TAXI Lifetime Achievement Award 2004Emmy Award nomination for "Everyone Matters" The Muppets 2003Latin Grammy Award - Rock Album of the Year Alejandra Guzman 2001NARAS Florida Chapter Heroes Award 2000Grammy Nomination - Best Pop Album, Ricky Martin 2000Grammy Nomination - Record of the Year, "Livin' La Vida Loca" 2000Grammy Nomination - Song of the Year, "Livin' La Vida Loca" 2000Honored with Key Of The City of Miami Beach 1999El Premio Award - Song Of The Year "Livin' La Vida Loca" 1999Official World Cup Song - "La Copa De La Vida", "The Cup Of Life" 1998El Premio Award - Song Of The Year, "La Copa De La Vida", "The Cup Of Life" 1998Songs Recorded By:Aerosmith, Christina Aguilera, Clay Aiken, Animotion, Baha Men, Jimmy Barnes, Robin Beck, Beggars & Thieves, Stephanie Bentley, Petra Berger, Bif Naked, Blackhawk, Michael Bolton, Bon Jovi, Bonfire, Boyzone, Flavio Cesar, Bill Champlin, Chayanne, Judy Cheeks, Cher, Chicago, Kelly Clarkson, Clarence Clemons, Alice Cooper, Carlos Cuevos, Paul Dean, Diana DeGarmo, Desmond Child & Rouge, Dudes of Wrath, Dream Theater, Hilary Duff, Evil Stig, FM, Ellen Foley, Ace Frehley, The Gufs, Haddaway, Hall & Oates, Hanson, Chesney Hawkes, Ty Herndon, INXS, Joan Jett, Cletus T. Judd, KISS, Patti La Belle, Nikki Leonti, La Ley, Dan Lucas, Cyndi Lauper, Mitch Malloy, Amanda Marshall, Ricky Martin, Jesse McCartney, Stephanie McIntosh, Meat Loaf, Megadeth, Mika, Millie, Billie Myers, Alannah Myles, Vince Neil, Ru Paul, Chynna Phillips, Phoenix Down, Iggy Pop, Jason Raize, The Rasmus, RATT, LeAnn Rimes, Kane Roberts, Rosco, Roxette, Jennifer Rush, Richie Sambora, Saraya, Scorpions, Shakira, Sia, Sisqo, Southgang, Billy Squier, Paul Stanley, Barbra Streisand, Swirl 360, 3rd Faze, Bonnie Tyler, Kris Tyler, Carrie Underwood, Steve Vai, Maria Vidal, Anna Vissi, John Waite, Tim Weisberg, Robbie Williams, Peter Wolf and Trisha YearwoodLivin' On A Prayer: Big Songs Big Life available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Livin-Prayer-Big-Songs-Life-ebook/dp/B0BZT9MK68?ref_=ast_author_mpb

Episode 70 The Rutledges ponder licensed drinking, review a product they hope no one uses, and wonder what exactly Meat Loaf won't do for love

** RECIPE BELOW** Welcome back to my kitchen! Today we are making PUMPKIN MEATLOAF y'all. Don't knock it til you try it! Pumpkin works great great with savory dishes and meatloaf is literally the easiest thing to make *if you're not vegan lol. RIP to my vegan days when I literally ate 10 bananas/day. Not kidding.  We also discuss:   -The Roman Empire -My new hamstring injury lol -Something I learned about myself during the wedding planning process -Why it's hard for me to get excited about big life chapters -Thoughts on getting pregnant, having kids and letting go of control -Ingredient substitutions  -How to make food taste so good your guests will sh*t themselves of happiness AND MORE!!  Thanks for listening, ILYSM!! :)  Big THANK YOU to Kath Younger (@katheats) for the recipe!   https://www.katheats.com/pumpkin-meatloaf-with-pumpkin-bbq-sauce  Ingredients For the meatloaf 4 pounds of ground beef 4 ounces bread crumbs from about 3 slices of bread 1 cup canned pumpkin 2 eggs 1 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp chili powder 1 clove garlic 1/2 tsp smoked paprika optional For the BBQ sauce 2 cups ketchup 1 cup canned pumpkin 2.5 tbsp water 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1.5 tbsp brown sugar 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp smoked paprika optional Instructions For the meatloaf Preheat oven to 400* Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl (give yourself lots of room!) and mash, squeeze, and knead around until mixed thoroughly. Spray your loaf pan and form the loaf inside. Bake for about 70 minutes, or until inner temperature reaches 160* For the sauce Combine ingredients in a saucepan and heat on medium until sauce is warm and thick. Serve sauce over sliced meatloaf APPLE PODCASTS » https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jacqueline-monroe-show/id1530705758?uo=4  SPOTIFY » https://open.spotify.com/show/4ijzUBunTIHgVmahB0ISEN  GOOGLE PODCASTS» https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8zNGYwMzZjYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==  BREAKER » https://www.breaker.audio/the-jacqueline-monroe-show 

Better late than never! The Boyz get caught up and its a fun, silly, long, episode. Its about meatloaf! Listen! Like, subscribe, follow @gabbingwithbabish on instagram and electronically mail us @ gabbingwithbabish@gmail.com!

A psychologist tells us what a "Logic trap" is in a relationship, we answer questions from an article of 100 questions for couples including "a dream you had that actually came true," and "if you could host a dinner with 5 influential people or famous people, who would it be?" and we cover things that people cook that you feel don't need skill to taste good. Our graphics designer: https://allthingsledawn.com #DownInTheDMPod #DITDM #DannyAndMichele It's a jammed packed show and we would love for you to join us on our journey back to podcasting! Be ready for more incredible love content every Monday E-mail us for anything and everything: downinthedmpod@gmail.com Use the hashtags to send us content Unpopular Opinions: #DITDMOpinion Creepy DMs: #DITDMCreepy Tiktok Tare downs: #DITDMTaredown Book reviews: #DITDMReview

#46: Today is a shorty episode brought to you by my weekly unhinged newsletter, Earn After Reading. In this listen, I share how I've recently been cooking (wild, I know) and how this newfound responsibility is teaching me the lessons I (knew) I needed to hear. These 16 minutes will give you a relatable laugh and remind you that you're in the driver's seat of your life. Join 1k others in my weekly unhinged newsletter where I get honest about entrepreneurship.Learn more about the Ironically Serious podcast at www.ironicallyserious.comSubmit a guest or topic for the podcast here.Follow the podcast on Instagram @ironicallyseriouspodStay connected with Taylor @taytorres @chanelandleeSubmit your SOS to be featured on an episode here.Leave Taylor a voicemail here.

Not only is he an accomplished Letterer, but Rob Jones is also a writer and Rob stayed up way too late to chat with me about the current Kickstarter campaign for Thunder Child #2 which is on KS until October 3rd. Rob introduces me to the Jeff Wayne musical version of War of the Worlds and after listening, as someone that's a fan of musicals and the combined talents of Meatloaf and Jim Steinman, I was shocked I hadn't heard of this before. Rob and I have a fantastic conversation about how he got into comics and why he wanted to write (with Matthew Hardy) a comic about the HMS Thunder Child, wonderfully illustrated by Kevin Castaniero, colored by Simon Gough, and edited by Fred McNamara.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we sample and review the WhistlePig 10 Year Single Barrel Rye while discussing the Drep and Stone intro, PUTTING YOUR PHONE DOWN WHILE DRIVING!!!!, the bloopy doops, Kyle's My Cousin Vinny T-Shirt obsession, bottles on loan, WhistlePig experiences, dark pump, Meatloaf, living with cars, traveling by car, the love hate relationship, first cars, learner's permits, tanks and boats, cars we've had, running out of gas, Jeremy Clarkson's dulcet tones, and dream cars.  Support Us On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DrepandStone We'd love to hear from you! https://linktr.ee/DrepandStone Don't forget to subscribe! Music by @joakimkarudmusic Episode #206 

Bruce Kulick is a celebrated guitarist who played and toured with KISS for 12 years and has also performed with Meatloaf and Michael Bolton and he's currently performing with Grand Funk Railroad - An American Band. We discuss his career with these famous artists and he talks about Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Michael Bolton.My featured song is “Cakewalk For Debra”. Spotify link---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's new Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with Bruce:https://www.brucekulick.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialbrucekulickTwitter: https://twitter.com/brucekulickInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bruce.kulick/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kulicknet Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comPGS Store - www.thePGSstore.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com

The boys head back to Chicago for some time-bending madness with this week's episode on The Lake House, starring Keanu Reeves! Start scribbling and put your heart in a mailbox, because the jokes are heating up. Goofs include: The Plot Dog, more house renovation revelations, a new way to cook your meat, a three-record day, and Sam draws kind of a lot.

This man has played with the best of the best! Voted Number 1 session drummer in the world by Modern Drummer Magazine 5 times and 3 times by Drum Magazine - not to mention appearing on Rolling Stone Magazines list of the 100 Greatest drummers of all time! He's played and recorded with McCartney & Ringo, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Tony Iommi, Meat Loaf, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, Dave Grohl, The Smashing Pumpkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Seger, Bob Dylan, Sting... and many many more - too many to mention! Kenny Aronoff has been at the top of the business for for over 40 years and shares some wonderful stories from his extensive career with Paul in this in depth interview. Hear about his friendship with Rush's Neil Peart, the intense working environment - fight or fight - which led to the worldwide number 1 hit "Jack & Diane", how he became one of the leading session drummers in the world, his time with Fogerty, Smashing Pumpkins and Tony Iommi and the special special night honouring the Beatles famous first US TV appearance where he got to hang out and work with Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. It's all in this action packed episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the hardships the critics faced last week with Meatloaf, they are getting a psychedelic break this week. To breathe some fresh musical air for all those involved Michelle chose Disraeli Gears by Cream. This episode features a rou-rou-rousing round of Guess That Melody.

Cubs lose to Tigers, try and eat the Meatloaf today. All August long, we are giving away our subscription only daily show Cubs Pod for Free! Early and ad free access when you support the Son Ranto Show by becoming a Super Ranter for only 1 dollar at http://www.patreon.com/sonranto FREE TRIALS AVAILABLE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WEDNESDAY HR 2 RRR Trivia - UpRoxx poll, what is the number one soundtrack of all time? Best Movie Soundtracks To early in the years for the sad commercials.

Links: WATCH this episode on YouTube! Bleav in Astros Links at LinkTree GeoffBlum.com Bleacher Blums Jeff Balke's Houston Press Author Page Jeff Balke on Houston Matters Follow us on X and Instagram and our personal Twitter and Insta accounts: @jeffbalke and @blummer27 - see you next week!

ITL Hour 1: John Lopez & Adam Spolane recap the Astros win against the Red Sox. Colts give RB Jonathan Taylor permission to seek a trade, and what's been encouraging coming out of Texans camp.

Bob and Louise are cooking up some Meatloaf (the musician, not the food) with the help of Regular-Sized Rudy as we continue to make our way through the eighth season of "Bob's Burgers" with the end credits sequence to: Season 8, Episode 18: "As I Walk Through the Alley of the Shadow of Ramps" ----Check Out The Bob's Credits Merch Shop Right Here!----Follow And Support Us On:PatreonTikTokInstagram YouTubeThreads--Also, if you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you can. And more importantly, spread the word. The more action the show gets, the better. We want to continue to make these episodes, and building an audience is the best way to make sure we'll be able to. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your word is “trivia” on a brand new episode of Go F-A-C-T Yourself!In this episode…Sarah Rodenbaugh is a writer, actor and producer, whose new film, Hangman, is playing in festivals around the country. She steps in as guest co-host for this episode.Guests:Lisa Lampanelli is a retired comedian. Her 30-year career involved selling out Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall, numerous specials and so much more. She tells us about some of her biggest TV experiences, including “The Celebrity Apprentice” and the US version of “Taskmaster.” And she explains how adjusting from such a busy career to retirement required a lot of trial and error. Will Leitch is a writer. He balances a career in sportswriting with publishing popular novels. His most recent work, The Time Has Come, is set in his home town of Athens, Georgia – a town that he's gotten a lot of comments about since the 2020 election. He'll tell us about how his book got an unexpected boost from the greatest horror writer of all time.Areas of Expertise:Lisa: Punctuation, spelling, and 1980s new-wave musicWill: Roger Ebert's movie reviews, the fighters in the game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, and songs from Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell Album. What's the Difference: Jury BoxWhat's the difference between a summons and a subpoena?What's the difference between a box and a carton?Experts:Dev Shah: Winner of the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee.Ellen Foley: Actor and singer, known for being the featured female vocalist on Meat Loaf's “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”Hosts:J. Keith van StraatenSarah RodenbaughCredits:Theme Song by Jonathan Green.Maximum Fun's Senior Producer is Laura Swisher.Associate Producer and Editor is Julian Burrell.Seeing our next live-audience show in Los Angeles by YOU!

This week is a crash course in Jim Steinman for Sam and Michelle. Dale is back and along with him he brought the album Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf and former podcast guest Gus. Only one of those things he brought is interesting to the critics but you'll have to listen to figure that one out. This episode features a round of You Got One Second Bitch.

With technical difficulties preempting Here We Go, The Steelers Show, join SCN for another Retro Show Replay. It's time again to climb into the black-and-gold Delorean to revisit a Steelers' game from yesteryear. Let's venture back to a time when the world was witnessing a partial solar eclipse, I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) by Meatloaf was besting the Top 40 charts and The Three Musketeers sat atop the box office. Meanwhile, the 7-1 Buffalo Bills and the 5-3 Steelers were set to face off on Monday night Football at Three Rivers Stadium. The Bills had beaten the Steelers five-straight times and seven games out of eight. Would the Steelers get back on track? Relive that awesome classic on the Steelers Retro Show. Welcome to November 15, 1993. Join SCN's Tony Defeo and Bryan Anthony Davis as they go back in time and relive this memorable matchup. Sign up with MyBookie using our link to receive your welcome bonus → https://mybookie.website/SteelersCurtain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Noory and paranormal investigator Steve Gonsalves discuss some of his most meaningful paranormal experiences, his favorite haunted places across America, and stories of chasing ghosts with the late rock star Meatloaf.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Season 2 Episode 61, Crawly and Dustin recap the Cubs series that saw Javier Assad have a fantastic performance and Jameson Taillon struggled, Crawly interviews 670 the Score host Gabriel Ramirez about the controversies surrounding the White Sox, and we look at the Cubs playoff chances with six weeks to go in the season. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Kyle's birthday, and no one is less excited than him! But he does have some counting of flowers on the wall to get to ....Come join us on Facebook in Awesome Today fam!Flowers on the Wall by the Statler Brothers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throwback Trivia, Robert Doesn't Want Emily to Scuba, Emily's Meat Loaf

Throwback Trivia, Robert Doesn't Want Emily to Scuba, Emily's Meat Loaf

Charlie is joined by producer, Mike III, to relive some of the funniest moments from TOFOP so far this year. This is a high-octane journey through the past six months of this podcast, with stopovers at anecdotes like; reused condoms, cheating ghosts, and the genius of Buckethead. Also, we finally answer some of the biggest questions the duo has wrestled with, including; is it OK to give alcohol to toddlers?, is 'Halloween' a Halloween movie?, and what's the one thing Meatloaf refuses to do for love? Patreon, merch, and more from the TOFOP universe: https://linktr.ee/TOFOP See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.