Friday random ten: The top 500, part 9

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing on with the songs in my collection from the Rolling Stone Top 500 list.

1. Walk Away Renee – Southside Johnny and The Jukes (#220, orig. The Left Bank)
2. Moondance – Van Morrison (#226)
3. Fire and Rain – James Taylor (#227)
4. Mannish Boy – Muddy Waters (#229)
5. I Got A Woman – Ray Charles (#235)
6. I Fall To Pieces – Patsy Cline (#238)
7. Rocket Man – Kate Bush (#242, orig. Elton John)
8. Love Shack – The B-52’s (#243)
9. Gimme Some Lovin’ – The MOB (#244, orig. The Spencer Davis Group)
10. Mack The Knife – Bobby Darin (#251)

Back in the day when I did karaoke (we call this day “the 90s”), I loved performing “Mack The Knife”. It’s right in my range, and you can easily get a little fancy with it. Just off the top of my head, there are at least three songs here that were prominently featured in movies. “Moondance” was in “An American Werewolf In London” (the original, along with “Blue Moon” and “Bad Moon Rising”). “Gimme Some Lovin'” is another Blues Brothers song – it’s what they began their set with at Bob’s Country Bunker:

“Mannish Boy” has been in multiple movies, including “Goodfellas” and “Risky Business”, which is what I associate it with. Skip ahead to about the 5:20 mark here to see how they used it, or just watch all 15 minutes of gooey 80s goodness:

Remember when people thought Tom Cruise was cool? Those were the days. I have two versions of “Mannish Boy” in my collection, one a more folk-y version, and one more electrified, though neither is quite the same as that one. If you want to hear it through without any annoying dialog, here you go.

Entire song list report: Started with “Soul Meets Body”, by Death Cab for Cutie. Finished with “Stinkin'”, by the Asylum Street Spankers, song #5039, for a total of 117 this week. Still in the S songs, but definitely moving along. What’s on your playlist this week?

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3 Responses to Friday random ten: The top 500, part 9

  1. Linkmeister says:
    January 14, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    Linda Ronstadt and Anne Savoy did a remake of “Walk Away Renee” back in 2007 or 2008.

  2. William Hughes says:
    January 14, 2011 at 9:09 pm

    A few notes on “Mannish Boy”

    1. It’s actually a remake of Bo Diddley’s 1955 song “I’m a Man”. If you’ve ever wanted to explain how the history of rap can be connected to the blues, this is the song to listen to. A version of Bo Diddley’s song can be heard at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm7gVvUuZkE.

    2. The best known version of Muddy Waters’ version of “Mannish Boy” is from the 1979 album “Hard Again”. It features Johnny Winter on guitar (and background yelling). The rest of the album is great to listen to as well.

    3. A funky version of the song can be heard on Jimi Hendrix’s “Blues” album. It can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZtEO4AQB_A.

  3. Pingback: Friday random ten: The top 500, part 12 – Off the Kuff

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