Saturday, August 30, 2014

Hound Dog

Big Mama Thornton - the original



Elvis Presley - most famous cover version

The 1950's - birth of Rock and Roll

Willie and the Hand Jive



From the 1979 movie "Grease"



A video about life in a suburb in the 1950s



The 1950s economic boom



Youth of the 1950s

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Monday, August 25, 2014

California



Sittin’ in a park in Paris France readin’ the news and it sure looks bad
They won't give peace a chance, that was just a dream some of us had
Still a lot of lands to see but I wouldn't want to stay here
It's too old and cold and settled in its ways here –aw but California

California I'm coming home
I'm going to see the folks I dig
I'll even kiss a sunset pink
California coming home

I met a man they called the Grecian Owl, who did the goat dance very well
He gave me back my smile but he kept my camera to sell
Oh the rogue the red red rogue, he cooked good omelets and stews
And I might have stayed on with him there but my heart cried out for you California

Aw California I'm coming home
Oh make me feel good rock 'n' roll band
I'm your biggest fan
California I'm coming home

Oh it gets so lonely when you're walking and the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read just give you the blues, just give you the blues

So I bought me a ticket, I caught a plane to Spain,
Went to a party down a red dirt road
There were lots of pretty people there, reading Rolling Stone, reading Vogue
They said "How long can you hang around?"
I said a week maybe two just until my skin turns brown
Then I'm going home to California

California coming home
Oh will you take me as I am
Strung out on another man
California coming home

Oh it gets so lonely when you're walking and the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read - more about the war and the bloody changes
Oh will you take me as I am? Will you take me as I am? Will you?
Will you take me as I am? Take me as I am? Will you take me as I am?

California Dreamin'



All the leaves are brown
(All the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray
(And the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk
(I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day
(On a winter's day)

I'd be safe and warm
(I'd be safe and warm)
if I was in L.A.
(If I was in L.A.)
California dreamin'
(California dreamin') on such a winter's day

Stopped in to a church I passed along the way
Well I got down on my knees
(got down on my knees)
And I began to pray
(I pretend to pray)
You know the preacher likes the cold
(preacher likes the coal)
He knows I'm gonna stay
(knows I'm gonna stay)
California dreamin'
(California dreamin') on such a winter's day.

(Bridge)

All the leaves are brown
(All the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray
(And the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk
(I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day
(On a winter's day)

If I didn't tell her
(If I didn't tell her)
I could leave today
(I could leave today)
California dreamin' (California dreamin')on such a winter's day,
California dreamin' on such a winter's day,
California dreamin' on such a winter's day





Sunday, August 24, 2014

America - Neil Diamond



Far,
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star

Free,
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream

On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again,
They're coming to America

Home
Don't it seem so far away
Oh, we're traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm

Home
To a new and a shiny place
Make our bed and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm

Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Ev'ry time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America

Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America

They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
Today, Today,
Today, Today, Today

My country 'tis of thee (today)
Sweet land of liberty (today)
Of thee I sing (today)
Of thee I sing
Today, Today, Today
Today, today, today......

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

LIttle Pink Houses



There's a black man with a black cat
Livin' in a black neighborhood
He's got an interstate
Runnin' through his front yard
You know he thinks that he's got it so good
And there's a woman in the kitchen
Cleanin' up the evenin' slop
And he looks at her and says, hey darlin'
I can remember when you could stop a clock

Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh, yeah
For you and me

Well, there's a young man in a t-shirt
Listenin' to a rockin' rollin' station
He's got greasy hair, greasy smile
He says, Lord this must be my destination
'Cause they told me when I was younger
Said boy, you're gonna be president
But just like everything else
Those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went

Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh, little baby
For you and me

[Instrumental Interlude]

Well, there's people and more people
What do they know, know, know
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico
Ooh, yeah
And there's winners and there's losers
But they ain't no big deal
'Cause the simple man, baby
Pays for thrills
The bills the pills that kill

Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh
Ooooh, yeah...

Monday, August 18, 2014

I Like to be in America

This is from the musical - West Side Story



ANITA
Puerto Rico,
My heart’s devotion--
Let it sink back in the ocean.
Always the hurricanes blowing,
Always the population growing,
And the money owing.
And the sunlight streaming,
And the natives steaming.
I like the island Manhattan,
Smoke on your pipe and put that in.

GIRLS (chorus)
I like to be in America,
Okay by me in America,
Everything free in America

BERNARDO
For a small fee in America.

ANITA
Buying on credit is so nice.

BERNARDO
One look at us and they charge twice.

ROSALIA
I’ll have my own washing machine.

JUANO
What will you have, though, to keep clean?

ANITA
Skyscrapers bloom in America.

ANOTHER GIRL
Cadillacs zoom in America.

ANOTHER GIRL
Industry boom in America.

BOYS
Twelve in a room in America.

ANITA
Lots of new housing with more space.

BERNARDO
Lots of doors slamming in our face.

ANITA
I’ll get a terrace apartment.

BERNARDO
Better get rid of your accent.

ANITA AND THREE GIRLS
Life can be bright in America.

BERNARDO
If you can fight in America.

ALL GIRLS
Life is all right in America.

ALL BOYS
If you’re all white in America.

ANITA AND CONSUELO
Here you are free and you have pride.

BERNARDO
Long as you stay on your own side.

ANITA
Free to be anything you choose.

ALL BOYS
Free to wait tables and shine shoes.

BERNARDO
Everywhere grime in America,
Organized crime in America,
Terrible time in America.

ANITA
You forget I’m in America.

(An interlude of MORE DANCING)

BERNARDO
I think I go back to San Juan

ANITA
I know a boat you can get on.

BERNARDO
Everyone there will give big cheer.

ANITA
Everyone there will have moved here.

America - Simon and Garfunkel



Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together.
I've got some real estate here in my bag.

So we bought a pack of cigarettes,and Mrs. Wagner pies,
And walked off to look for America.
"Kathy", I said, as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh,
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now."

"It took me four days to hitch-hike from Saginaw.
I've come to look for America."

Laughing on the bus,
Playing games with the faces,
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy.
I said, "Be careful, his bow tie is really a camera."

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat."
"We smoked the last one an hour ago."

So I looked at the scenery,
She read her magazine;
And the moon rose over an open field.

"Kathy, I'm lost", I said,
Though I know she was sleeping.
"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why."

Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
The've all come to look for America,
All come to look for America,
All come to look for America.