Rhinofy-Heart Like A Wheel-The Originals
YOU’RE NO GOOD
The original version of this smash track for Linda Ronstadt in 1974/5 was done by Dee Dee Warwick but the one that had impact, albeit more on the R&B chart, was done by Betty Everett. Sure, it’s the same song, but credit the nearly-forgotten Andrew Gold for arranging Ronstadt’s version into a hit. Andrew’s touch is especially present in the instrumental coda.
IT DOESN’T MATTER ANYMORE
The famous iteration was a posthumous hit for Buddy Holly in 1959, but did you know it was written by Paul Anka? I’m including his version from his 1974 album “Anka.” His version swings, is R&B in a way that Holly and Ronstadt’s takes are absolutely not.
FAITHLESS LOVE
I’m not sure where J.D. and Linda were in their love relationship at this point, the follow-up to “Heart Like A Wheel,” “Prisoner In Disguise,” also evidenced J.D.’s compositions, but this is my favorite of their “collaborations,” i.e. Linda’s cover of J.D.’s songs.
But… Most people have never heard J.D.’s version on his exquisite 1976 solo album, “Black Rose.”
Produced by Peter Asher, utilizing so many of the Ronstadt players, “Black Rose”‘s take of “Faithless Love” is so intimate and so heartbreaking, it’s like J.D.’s singing it to you in front of the fireplace of his Silver Lake apartment, evidencing all the disappointment of a failed relationship. Whew!
Proving once again you don’t have to over-emote to get your message across. J.D. Souther will never be a mentor on “The Voice,” but he could add more than any of the fame-whores telling their charges to sell it by shouting it. Ugh.
This is magical.
Meanwhile, Glen Campbell cut a cover in ’84 and does an admirable job. You just can’t kill a great song.
THE DARK END OF THE STREET
This Dan Penn/Chips Moman song was originally done by James Carr, it was a hit on the black chart, but only entered the bottom quadrant of the pop chart. Check this original, it’s haunting, barely dated, it will reach you.
Subsequent to this, there were covers by the Flying Burrito Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton and Ry Cooder before Ronstadt put it over the top. Meanwhile, it’s been continued to be covered since, a great song is a great song.
HEART LIKE A WHEEL
I bought the McGarrigles’ debut LP just to hear this. And it delivered. It’s personal and understated in a way the Ronstadt take is not. Sounds like it was cut in a cabin in the Great White North by a field recorder, not for a hit, but as an artifact. Different words are emphasized, you’ll be unnerved, almost creeped-out, this is what music is all about, capturing all this honesty on wax.
WHEN WILL I BE LOVED
You had to be old enough… So many boomers came to music with the Beatles, they missed this 1960 Everly Brothers classic, written by Phil.
One of my great treats was seeing the Everlys open for Simon & Garfunkel at Staples Center back in 2003. You can’t see ’em anymore.
This will remind you of a bygone era, it will make you want to go back, believing you missed something. A true classic.
WILLIN’
Lowell George’s most famous composition, my favorite iteration, the one I heard first, was done by Seatrain, on their 1970 Capitol debut, it was the opening cut, it was entitled “I’m Willing,” and this was long before anyone knew of Lowell, never mind Little Feat.
It’s not on Spotify, so I point you to YouTube to hear a song that’s the same, but with a different arrangement, one that hooked me after purchasing the album having heard a cover band do “Song Of Job” at the Roundhouse in Manchester, Vermont.
Of course, there are two versions of “Willin'” by Little Feat, cut on their almost unknown eponymous debut and then its follow-up, which ultimately got a bit of traction, “Sailin’ Shoes.” I prefer the second, purists like the first. But since we’re getting this deep, I’m also including the live take from “Waiting For Columbus,” when the general public, at least those paying attention, began to realize Little Feat was one of the greasiest, most soulful bands on the planet.
Probably the most famous trucker song ever written, and even if you’ve never been behind the wheel of a big rig, you know it or should. Come on…
I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonopah
These places actually exist. Get in your car, fire up the tunes and go on an adventure through the southwest, it’ll pay more dividends than surfing the web.
I CAN’T HELP IT (IF I’M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU)
Originally cut by Hank Williams, its writer, in 1951, there are almost too many covers of this composition to count. Proving if you nail it, everybody wants a piece of it. Truth…they’re never making enough of it, it penetrates.
KEEP ME FROM BLOWING AWAY
Written by Paul Craft, who’s most famous for writing Mark Chesnutt and Ray Stevens songs, the original version of this song was done by the Seldom Scene, a bluegrass band most have never heard of, in 1973. It too is not on Spotify, you can listen to it on YouTube here:
YOU CAN CLOSE YOUR EYES
Some songs should never be covered, they should be played live, as a tribute, but to record them is…sacrilegious.
That’s how I feel about Linda Ronstadt’s cover of “You Can Close Your Eyes.” And unlike some other songs on “Heart Like A Wheel,” “You Can Close Your Eyes” was not obscure, it was on the follow-up to James Taylor’s huge smash “Sweet Baby James,” “Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon.”
“Mud Slide” was a bit of a disappointment. Sure, it had the monstrous cover of Carole King’s “You’ve Got A Friend,” but it just didn’t hang together like “Sweet Baby James,” it overreached. Then again, by today’s mediocre standards, it’s a complete triumph.
The three best tracks on “Mud Slide Slim” are “Machine Gun Kelly,” “Riding On A Railroad” and “You Can Close Your Eyes.” When I bought the CD, I programmed these three on endless repeat, I can never burn out on them.
I’d heard James play “Riding On A Railroad” previously, it’s the picking and plaintive vocal that put it over. Forget that James has sunk into croonerdom these days, “Riding On A Railroad” is so good you just sit there mesmerized, blown away.
“Machine Gun Kelly” follows “You Can Close Your Eyes” on the LP. Like “Riding On A Railroad,” it’s all about the picking…and the groove. Sure, it’s a novelty topic. But it penetrates.
And that brings us to “You Can Close Your Eyes”…
Well the sun is surely sinking down
But the moon is slowly rising
Ain’t that life, endless repetition. You struggle to make it your own, knowing that as the repetition continues your time in the hourglass is draining.
So this old world must still be spinnin” ’round
And I still love you
It’s all about other people. Your records won’t keep you warm at night, never mind your mobile phone. Fame and fortune pale in comparison to relationships, do your best to sustain them.
It won’t be long before another day
We gonna have a good time
Lose your optimism and you lose your life.
And no one’s gonna take that time away
You can stay as long as you like
That’s right, no one can deny your existence and experience. It’s all yours, and as genuine as anybody else’s. Eat up life. Don’t let others inhibit you, tell you you don’t belong.
We all belong.
So you can close your eyes, it’s all right.
We’ll still be here tomorrow. You can drop the needle on these songs. You can pursue your dreams. But while you’re at it, stop and smell the roses. Oh, that’s a cliche, but the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
Wait…that’s another song!
