Rock Bottom - UFO

Artist: UFO
Song: Rock Bottom
Year: 1974
Album: Phenomenon

Blues based space rock.

Lyrics:
Seventeen, and nature's queen
Oh you know what I mean
Twenty one, I know that you can
See the numbers run
Now you look so peaceful
Lyin' there asleep
With the wings of god above you
Before the spirits meet

Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom
Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom

Shadow earth is closin' in
Above the lamps in your street
Lucifer goes walkin'
Down for you to meet
Minutes pass so slowly by
The hands on your clock
Heaven's don't just open
When you can knock

Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom
Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom

Wall of darkness closin' in
Will the light reveal your soul
Just one sweet kiss
On your clay cold lips
Long, long sleep you'll never know
Where do we go, where do we go
Where do we go from here

Seventeen, and nature's queen
Oh you know what I mean
Twenty one, I know that you can
See the numbers run
Now you look so peaceful
Lyin' there asleep
With the wings of god above you
Before the spirits meet

Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom
Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom

Help Me - Joni Mitchell

Artist: Joni Mitchell
Song: Help Me
Year: 1974
Album: Court And Spark

I used this song to demonstrate the element air in a massage therapy course that I took a few years ago. Joni's breathy vocal delivery and airy composition made it the perfect choice. I managed to snag a perfect score with the presentation, even though I had a high grade fever at the time.

"Help Me" is a song that I will occasionally get stuck in my head. It will go round and round and will rarely create an exit. Sometimes it will get stuck there for days. I suppose that has a lot to do with hearing the song on radio stations and in grocery stores when I was a kid.

I can't always listen to Joni, but I think she writes fantastic music. Joni is always good to break up the monotony between other songs. I just can't listen to her for hours on end. Then I seem to hear he siren call in my sleep.

Lyrics:
Help me
I think I'm falling
In love again
When I get that crazy feeling
I know I'm in trouble again
I'm in trouble
'Cause you're a rambler and a gambler
And a sweet taIking ladies man
And you love your lovin'
But not like you love your freedom

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love too fast
It's got me hoping for the future
And worrying about the past
'Cause I've seen some hot hot blazes
Come down to smoke and ash
We love our lovin'
But not like we love our freedom

Didn't it feel good
We were sitting there talking
Or lying there not talking
Didn't it feel good
You dance with the lady
With the hole in her stocking
Didn't it feel good
Didn't it feel good

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love with you
Are you going to let me go there by myself
That's such a lonely thing to do
Both of us flirting around
Flirting and flirting
Hurting too
We love our lovin'
But not like we love our freedom

Don't Eat The Yellow Snow, Nanook Rubs It - Frank Zappa

Artist: Frank Zappa
Song: Don't Eat The Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs It
Year: 1974
Album: Apostrophe (')

One of my first exposures to Frank Zappa was this song. When I was much younger, I thought this song was hilarious. Now, that I'm older, I can appreciate the musical elements that get lost in any Frank Zappa song. It takes a lot to make the songs sound this effortless.

I first heard this, and a few other Frank Zappa songs on the Dr. Demento show. Only the cleaner songs would play on Dr. Demento, but that didn't mean that the songs were completely clean. Anything implied was a huge hit. Having grown up, in Chicago, around dogs, I could take the advice to heart.

I just find it funny that an Eskimo would use yellow snow as a weapon of choice. I would choose an icicle, but that's just me. Maybe the original idea was to blind the fur trapper with yellow snow and then get him with the icicle. Either way, it's still funny.

Whoever did this flash animation, did a wonderful job. I couldn't have thought of better images myself. Enjoy the cartoon and please, watch out where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow.

Lyrics:
Dreamed I was an Eskimo
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop-bop Ta-da-da)
Frozen wind began to blow
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop-bop Ta-da-da)
Under my boots 'n around my toe
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop-bop Ta-da-da)
Frost had bit the ground below
(Boop-boop aiee-ay-ah!)
Was a hundred degrees below zero
(Booh!)
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop-bop Ta-da-da)
And my momma cried:
Boo-a-hoo hoo-ooo
And my momma cried:
Nanook-a, no no (no no . . . )
Nanook-a, no no (no no . . . )
Don't be a naughty Eskimo-wo-oh
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop-bop Ta-da-da)
Save your money: don't go to the show
Well I turned around an' I said:
HO HO
(Booh!)
Well I turned around an' I said:
HO HO
(Booh!)
Well I turned around an' I said:
HO HO
An' the Northern Lites commenced t' glow
An' she said
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop . . . )
With a tear in her eye:
WATCH OUT WHERE THE HUSKIES GO
AN' DON'T YOU EAT THAT YELLOW SNOW
WATCH OUT WHERE THE HUSKIES GO
AN' DON'T YOU EAT THAT YELLOW SNOW

Well right about that time, people,
A fur trapper
Who was strictly from commercial
(Strictly Commershil)
Had the unmedicated audacity to jump up from behind my igyaloo
(Peek-a-Boo Woo-ooo-ooo)
And he started in to whippin' on my fav'rite baby seal
With a lead-filled snow shoe . . .
I said:
With a lead
LEAD
Filled
LEAD-FILLED
A lead-filled snow shoe
SNOW SHOE
He said Peak-a-boo
PEEK-A-BOO
With a lead
LEAD
Filled
LEAD-FILLED
With a lead-filled snow shoe
SNOW SHOE
He said Peak-a-boo.
PEEK-A-BOO
He went right up side the head of my favourite baby seal
He went WHAP!
With a lead-filled snow shoe
An' he hit him on the nose 'n he hit him on fin 'n he . . .
That got me just about as evil
As an Eskimo boy can be . . . so I bent down 'n I reached down 'n I scooped down
An' I gathered up a generous mitten full of the deadly . . .
YELLOW SNOW
The deadly Yellow Snow from right there where the huskies go
Whereupon I proceeded to take that mitten full
Of the deadly Yellow Snow Crystals
And rub it all into his beady little eyes
With a vigorous circular motion
Hitherto unknown to the people on this area,
But destined to take the place of THE MUD SHARK
In your mythology
Here it goes now . . .
THE CIRCULAR MOTION . . . (rub it) . . .
(Here Fido . . . Here Fido)
And then, in a fit of anger, I . . .
I pounced
And I pounced again
GREAT GOOGLY-MOOGLY
I jumped up 'n down the chest of the . . .
I injured the fur trapper
Well, he was very upset, as you can understand
And rightly so
Because
The deadly Yellow Snow Crystals
Had deprived him of his sight
And he stood up
And he looked around
And he said:
I CAN'T SEE
(DO . . . DO DO-DO DO DO DO . . . YEAH!)
I CAN'T SEE
(DO . . . DO DO-DO DO DO DO . . . YEAH!)
OH WOE IS ME
(DO . . . DO DO-DO DO DO DO . . . YEAH!)
I CAN'T SEE
(DO . . . DO DO-DO DO DO DO . . . WELL!)
NO NO
I CAN'T SEE
NO . . . I . . .
He took a dog-doo sno-cone
An' stuffed it in my right eye
He took a dog-doo sno-cone
An' stuffed it in my other eye
An' the huskie wee-wee,
I mean the doggie wee-wee
Has blinded me
An' I can't see
Temporarily

Sundown - Gordon Lightfoot

Artist: Gordon Lightfoot
Song: Sundown
Year: 1974
Album: Sundown

"Sundown" came out two years before I was born. It is a song that has been around me ever since I can remember. It was (and still is) one of my dad's favorite songs. He would blast this in the house and blast in in the garage and blast it in his car. When he was younger, he would blast it on the headphones to the point where everyone around him could clearly make out each word. These were the old school headphones that cupped completely over the ear and was supposed to keep the sound from leaking out. Yeah, it was that loud.

Gordon has had his fair share of misfortune in his life and I think that this song is somewhat of a precursor to all that. Ironically, this was written about the woman who caused the most pain in Gordon's life. She would also cause a great deal of pain in my life and countless others. Her name was Cathy Smith. Eight years after this song was released, she would inject John Belushi with a fatal dose of speedballs (which is a mixture of cocaine and heroin) while he was passed out.

While the song deals with Lightfoot's affair with Smith, the song takes on a more sinister tone in the wake of the Belushi death. This is still one of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot songs, but if I am in a certain mood, it can be one of the worst because of the association.

"Sundown" is a very easygoing type of song. The lyrics seem to juxtapose the vibe of the song. That unbalanced combination lends a sense of urgency and importance to the song. It plays the balance just right to succeed as a song. You can feel a hopeful pain to the song.

Lyrics:
I can see her lyin' back in her satin dress
In a room where ya do what ya don't confess
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs
She's been lookin' like a queen in a sailor's dream
And she don't always say what she really means
Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain
Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain

I can picture every move that a man could make
Getting lost in her lovin' is your first mistake
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it's a sin
When I feel like I'm winnin' when I'm losin again

I can see her lookin' fast in her faded jeans
She's a hard lovin' woman, got me feelin' mean
Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it's a sin
When I feel like I'm winnin' when I'm losin' again

Parasite - KISS

Artist: KISS
Song: Parasite
Year: 1974
Album: Hotter Than Hell

My first introduction to KISS was through MTV. I saw their videos and liked their music enough to want to pick up an album or two. My mom wasn't too keen on KISS because of the nasty rumors of the seventies. I won't rehash them here, but most of the rumors had to do with Satan.

Ironically, now my mom watches Gene Simmons' reality show. I guess it goes to show you that time really does heal everything.

The first KISS album I picked up was Hotter Than Hell. I believe that I picked it up at the local grocery store for five bucks. It was money well spent. This is still one of my favorite albums from KISS. I can listen to every song and sing along with all of them. There are no clunkers on this album, though it is a very underrated album.

KISS was still trying to break through to the mainstream at this point. I think that this album (their second) is better than their debut. It's hard to believe that they were both released in 1974. Although KISS seems to be fine with just releasing compilation albums right now, there was a time when their music was vibrant and important.

Lyrics:
She'll always be there trying to grab a hold
She thought she knew me, but she didn't know
That I was sad and wanted her to go

Parasite lady
Parasite eyes
Parasite lady
No need to cry

I didn't wanna have to get away
I told her things I didn't want to say
I need her and I hope she'll understand

Parasite lady
Parasite eyes
Parasite lady
No need to cry