A Beatles and Peter Sellers double bill.
During a 1968 promo shoot for Apple Records, Peter Sellers visited The Beatles in the studio and some impromptu drug talk ensued. Lennon reminds Sellers of the time “when I gave you that grass in Piccadilly.” Sellers response: “it really stoned me out of my mind.”
Listen for Yoko’s remark about “shooting as exercise,” a none too subtle reference to her and John’s heroin use.
The second video is Sellers performing ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ in the style of Laurence Olivier’s Richard the Third on the Granada TV special The Music of Lennon & McCartney. Sellers goofy take on The Beatles’ tune was actually released as a single and made the pop charts.
Sellers performs ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ after the jump…
Abbey Lincoln died today at the age of 80. She mattered in the world because she was a female jazz singer who stood up and became active in the civil rights struggle in the ‘60s when she could have remained neutral and safe.
She made great art. Nat Chinen wrote an excellent obit for her in the New York Times.
Here she is with her then-new husband, the drummer Max Roach, performing “Driva’ Man” from their 1960 album We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite.
This was a dangerous mind.
Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach
Get: We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite [CD]
Ridiculously catchy late-70s disco single by future Phantom of the Opera star Sarah Brightman, then a teenager, and the Hot Gossip dance troupe from The Kenny Everett Video Show. Not exactly sure what a bunch of dancers had to do with the recording of this ditty, but I can sure see why they were in the video. From the Wikipedia entry about the song:
The song is a lightweight space disco track that cashed in on the media hype surrounding the original Star Wars film: the lyrics include the lines “And evil Darth Vader has been banished to Mars” and “Or are you like a droid, devoid of emotion”. The song also samples music from Star Wars and Thus Spoke Zarathustra (from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Many of the lyrics contain mild sexual innuendo; for example, “Take me, make me feel the force”. Other television and film science fiction references are “Flash Gordon’s left me, he’s gone to the stars”, “What my body needs is close encounter three”, and “Fighting for the Federation” and “Static on the comm - it’s Starfleet Command” (both Star Trek, or the Federation from Blake’s 7; alternatively, “the Federation” and “Starfleet Command” are evident references to Starship Troopers).
Two soul classics: Pam Grier and She’s Gone by Hall and Oates.
The first video is the full length version of She’s Gone (not the radio edit) nicely synced up with scenes from Foxy Brown. The second is an example of a great song wedded to an abysmal video. What were they thinking?
She’s Gone video gone wrong after the jump…
The brilliance of Bonzo Dog Band. Real genius never gets old. I remember as a teenybopper watching Magical Mystery Tour for the first time and thinking how dull it was until Vivian and the boys made their appearance and suddenly the movie became electric, exotic and dangerous.
Enjoy. Thank me later.
More of the Bonzos after the jump…
I am a 45 y/o karaoke singer from the Sacramento area looking for a woman to go out and sing some songs with. i would like to try working on some duets because that would be fun.
if you are a woman between the ages of 37 and 47 and are interested in calling me after viewing the video you can call me at…
I’ve got to give this dude credit for “breakin’ new ground in karaoke” and risking extreme ridicule back at the warehouse. He’s either a hopeless romantic or just plain hopeless. I admire his balls….and erect nipples.
He’s an electric cowboy and he’s damn good at what he does, workin’ that forklift all day, liftin’ piles of toilet paper, 96 cases of tea, water, eggs, chips and milk and stuff, droppin’ huge pallets all day long, and he’s lookin’ to be Marvin Gaye to your Tammi Terrell. He’s got no criminal record, none at all, you can check it out, just a DUI back when he was a kid in his 20s and he’s lookin’ for someone, some rock and roll chick, to sing with, a simple duet, some rock, maybe some alternative, blues, r&b…but no country cause he’s had bad experiences with country girls. Those country girls don’t understand his feminine side.
She Comes In Colors by Arthur Lee and Love.
Thanks, Butch!
