Time we had a little zydeco music (a fusion of Cajun and rhythm & blues) here. It's a cousin to Dr John's style of music. This is Buckwheat Zydeco from 1985, a cover of Lee Dorsey's 1961 original. Buckwheat Zydeco (aka Stanley Dural Jr) had a long career, winning five Grammy's between 1985 and 2010.
He's done pretty well for a guy with no grade point average.
Bruce McGill. Daniel Simpson Day or D-Day from Animal House, the guy with no grade point average at Faber College. Animal House in 1977 was Bruce's second credited film. Since then he's appeared in more than 70 theatrical films, 20 TV films, 4 miniseries, and over one hundred TV episodes.This sweet bastard right here. You probably don’t know his name but you do know he’s been making everything he appears in better since forever. pic.twitter.com/5eJQTrko9F
— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) June 22, 2026
He was Sheriff Dean Farley in 1992's My Cousin Vinny, Walter Hagen in 2000's The Legend of Bagger Vance, and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in 2012's Lincoln. And he's still working.
In 1985 he guest starred as retired police officer Hank Weldon in one of Miami Vice's classic episodes, "Out Where The Buses Don't Run". Weldon left the force after having a breakdown when a case he meticulously built against drug lord Tony Arcaro fell apart when Arcaro walked on a technicality. Arcaro is supposedly still around but Crockett and Tubbs have trouble finding him. This is the final scene. As usual Miami Vice has a great soundtrack, this time it's Brothers In Arms from Dire Straits.
I posted the studio version of this Dylan song a few years ago, and have a Mavis Staples cover on my playlist but just came across at Assistant Village Idiot this terrific 1980 live cut of Dylan performing the song at the Grammys. Much better than the studio cut.
You're gonna have to serve somebody
It may be the Devil, it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
Yes, indeed. Everyone, whether they think they are or not. And, as AVP points out, "it is best to at least be aware who that is rather than kidding yourself".
Hey, nineteenThat's 'Retha FranklinShe don't remember the Queen of SoulIt's hard times befallenThe soul survivorsShe thinks I'm crazyBut I'm just growin' oldHey, nineteenNo, we got nothin' in commonNo, we can't dance togetherNo, we can't talk at all
The final scene from Local Hero. I've loved this movie since seeing it with Mrs THC more than 40 years ago. The soundtrack by Mark Knopfler is an integral part in creating the unique feel of the film. During the early 80s Scottish director Bill Forsythe made a magical trio of small budget offbeat films - Gregory's Girl, Local Hero, Comfort & Joy.
Back in 2017, THC did a post on the memorable trip he took with the future Mrs THC on the Magic Bus in September 1978, traveling from Athens to Paris. The post has drawn more comments than anything else on Things Have Changed. As wild as our adventure was, many of the comments have matched or exceeded our experience for sheer weirdness. The Magic Bus remains prominent in the memories of many of its passengers forty and more years later.
Last month THC was contacted by Spiros Vasiliou, a writer for the popular Greek online newspaper, Reader.gr, who was working on an article on the Magic Bus and had come across my 2017 post, which I gave him permission to use. I learned that the Magic Bus, which began as a transport on the Hippie Trail in the early 70s, going all the way to Nepal originally, also had a place in Greek culture and memory.
You can find the lengthy article here, including photos and excerpts from my post, but you'll have to do the translating yourself!
Spiros also told me that the Magic Bus inspired a very popular rock song in the 1980s by one of the pioneering Greek new wave bands (it's got 2.4 million views on YouTube). The band was Tripes and the closest translation of the song title is Psyche Taxicab.
These are the translated lyrics:
London, Amsterdam, or BerlinYou've forgotten exactly where you want to goNo matter how much I borrow, I won't let youGo for rides on the Magic Bus anymoreTraveling soulAnd if I want to be by your side, it's hard to stayIt's time to see my own lifeOn this trip I won't wait for youI'll go shopping and one nightWhat I have inside of me for you I'll eraseThe road you've taken is a one-way streetAnd I don't see you turning back
Translation of the section on our trip:
American Mark Stoller is one of the thousands of passengers who traveled to Greece in the late 1970s on the Magic Bus. Several years ago, he decided to record that experience on his blog. What followed was something he never imagined. Dozens of responses to his text, from people who had similar experiences! “I am still amazed that my post on the Magic Bus has received more comments than anything else I have written on my blog since I started it in 2012,” he tells us. “So many years later, my wife and I still have such enjoyable memories of our month in Greece and the Magic Bus,” he adds, and kindly provides us with the itinerary of the trip, as it was distributed to passengers in the summer of 1978!
The article then goes on to include a long quote from my 2017 post.
Time of your life, hey kid? Indelible mood music from Tangerine Dream. Hearing it, images from 1983 flood back into my mind. Not just of the movie.
Brian Johnson (AC/DC) and Mark Knopfler are both from the North of England, Newcastle to be specific. Brian has done a series of interviews for his show and this is an excerpt from his interview with Knopfler, done at the site of the former Spanish City amusement park, the setting for Knopfler's great tune Tunnel of Love, which he says he wrote in response to Springsteen's songs centered on American landmarks. A fun interview which towards the end even has a Spinal Tap moment as the two try to sing a song they heard as kids 60 years ago.
And this is Tunnel Of Love
It was twenty years ago today that Warren Zevon died at the age of 56. Thought it was appropriate to listen to a few of my favorites. We'll skip the great ones from his breakthrough album Excitable Boy; Werewolves of London, Lawyers, Guns and Money and Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner.
My favorite, and an outstanding example of Warren's underrated talents as a musical composer, is Desperadoes Under The Eaves
I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian HotelI was staring in my empty coffee cupI was thinking that the gypsy wasn't lyin'All the salty margaritas in Los AngelesI'm gonna drink 'em upAnd if California slides into the oceanLike the mystics and statistics say it willI predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill
The phone don't ringAnd the sun refused to shineNever thought I'd have to pay so dearlyFor what was already mineFor such a long, long time
Bill Lee. About one of my favorite ballplayer characters.
You're sposed to sit on you ass and nod at stupid thingsMan that's hard to doBut if you don't they'll screw youAnd if you do they'll screw you tooAnd I'm standing in the middle of the diamond all aloneI always play to win when it comes to skin and bone
I Was In the House When The House Burned Down
Boom Boom Mancini. Its chorus is "Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon" but the song is really about the brutality of boxing. Ray "Boom-Boom" Mancini was the lightweight champion in 1982 when he fought Duk Koo Kim of South Korea (which is referenced in the lyric). Mancini won by TKO in 14 rounds but many thought the fight should have been stopped earlier because of the beating Kim was absorbing. Kim collapsed after the fight ended, dying four days later. Mancini attended the funeral in South Korea and went into a severe depression. Kim's mother committed suicide three months later and the bout's referee killed himself five months after that. Mancini returned to the ring, beating challenger Bobby Chacon in 1984. The relentless beat of the song echoes that of the ring.
You know, the Sheriff's got his problems tooHe will surely take them out on youIn walked the village idiot and his face was all aglowHe's been up all night listening to Mohammed's Radio
My Shit's Fucked Up. Recorded for the album Life'll Kill You, shortly before his cancer diagnosis. Somehow he knew, and you laugh despite yourself because it is all so true.
Keep Me In Your Heart. From his final album, recorded when he knew the end was near. Beautiful sentiment.
All the Federales sayThey could have had him any dayThey only let him slip awayOut of kindness, I suppose
Today marks 38 years since the release of Dire Straits fifth studio album Brothers In Arms, which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The big hit from the album was the gimmicky Money For Nothing with its groundbreaking video shown endlessly on MTV, but for me the highlight was the song Brothers In Arms, which I've posted on before but will continue to do so as I find it so beautiful and remains one of my favorite songs. This version is from a 1996 live performance by Mark Knopfler. The song's lyrics (here artfully mumbled in Knopfler's rough voice) and his evocative, big fat note guitar playing make quite a combination.
I was putting together a playlist of 1980s Pop. Not a big fan of post-Peter Gabriel Genesis and a lot of Phil Collins stuff leaves me cold, but I did add one Genesis single (Turn It On Again) and two Collins songs - Against All Odds and, of course, this, which is the most 80s of all 80s songs - if you have any question about that I have three words for you; "Crockett and Tubbs".(1)
Of course, this brought back memories of how Collins and Genesis were all over the music world and their domination of MTV back in that decade, so I decided to double check to make sure my memory was correct. It was. Here is the decade for Collins, Genesis, and Mike Rutherford's solo project, Mike and The Mechanics, as well as a nod to Peter Gabriel, the band's former front man.
Collins and Genesis released eight albums in the decade and in the US the worst performing reached #11 on the charts, while two hit #1. They had 17 top 10 singles with 8 reaching #1, while Mike & The Mechanics added three top 10s, including a #1. Based upon this exhaustive analysis it appears that both Peak Phil and The Genesis Maximum occurred between the fall of 1984 and spring 1987.
Here's the breakdown with US release date and the chart position in parens:
Pentangle was a folk/jazz/oddball English group in the late 60s and early 70s. I like this jazzy tune; think it's in 5/4 and 7/4 time, though not certain. The rhythmic feel reminds me of Golden Brown from The Stranglers (1982).
What's a sweetheart like you
Doing in a dump like this?
Asks Chrissie Hynde in her warm and enveloping voice. Recorded in 2020. Composed by Bob Dylan and recorded on his 1983 album Infidels.
A rousing, rowdy holiday song from The Pogues and Kristy MacColl, released in 1987. The lyrics are a lot of fun, with the singers slagging each other, and the chorus can't be beat:
The boys of the NYPD choirWere singing Galway BayAnd the bells were ringing outFor Christmas day
Another Dylan cover for you, this time from Bettye Lavette in 2018, with a song from Dylan's 1985 album Empire Burlesque. Very different from the original and Lavette has tweaked the lyrics a bit. Great style.
Well, I thought that the rain would cool things downBut it looks like it don'tI'd like to get you to change your mindBut it looks like you won't.From now on I'll be busyAin't going nowhere fastI'm just glad it's overAnd I'm seeing the real you at last.
There is no political solutionTo our troubled evolution
From Ghost In The Machine, the 1981 album from The Police. The suitable atmospherics for the song provided by Sting's bass and synthesizer (for which both Sting and guitarist Andy Summers are credited), along with Stewart Copeland's distinctive drumming.
You've left my ring by the soap,
Now is that love?
You cleaned me out you could say broke,
Now is that love?
The better better better it gets
The more these girls forget
That that is love.
After Men At Work, for a brief period in 1983 the biggest band in the world, broke up a couple of years later, Colin Hay, lead singer and composer or co-composer of their material, hit a pretty rough patch. He relocated to Los Angeles, his solo records flopped, and he spent most of the 1990s playing to tiny audiences in whatever venue would have him. In the early 2000s he began a career revival due to his steady commitment to playing on the road, being featured in the series Scrubs, and having one of his songs on the platinum soundtrack for the movie Garden State, written and directed by Zach Braff, who'd gotten to know Colin via Scrubs.
Where his Men At Work songs were often jokey and light, Hay's solo work is more personal. He is also quite a storyteller in his solo shows.
Let's start with a couple of tunes Colin reworks from his Men At Work days; my favorite, Overkill, and, of course, Down Under. On Overkill, stick around to watch the audience.
Overkill is about the thoughts that keep you awake in the middle of the night. Happens to me. Those thoughts have always been worse than the actual problems faced when awake, because then I can do something about the problem other than worry. It's what Colin is referring to when he sings, "Ghosts appear and fade away".
Here are a couple of his solo tunes, Waiting For My Real Life To Begin and I Just Don't Think I'll Get Over You. On the latter, you can listen to a few minutes of Hay's funny stories.
Does anyone know what time it is?
The Mamas & The Papas with a song featured on the soundtrack of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, though Tarantino's vision of the young girls coming to the canyon is a lot scarier than that of the M&Ps.
11 O'Clock Tick Tock. Sonic treats from The Edge.
Does anyone know what year it is?
From Harry Nilsson's first album. The only person to work with all four Beatles on their solo projects.
Do you remember when 1999 seemed so far in the future? It's longer from 1999 to now than from when the song came out to 1999.
Who ya gonna call?
For Mr Wilson Pickett please call 634-5789; for Jenny 867-5309.
THE COUNTDOWN
Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders go the extra 2000 miles.
Like to dance? Mr Pickett is here once again to help - he knows a thousand.
A little frenzy from the Hundred Mile High City. From the movie Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
If 99 and a half just won't do, and you got to have a 100, once again please consult the Wicked Pickett.
You try crying precisely 96 tears.
From the rock n roll years of REM.
Strange things going on out on Highway 61.
The number for Toots & The Maytals is 54-46.
The first 48 Funks weren't good enough. But wait till you hear #49!
Variations on the theme of 45 from Elvis Costello.
34 Ghosts IV from Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The source of the irresistible riff in Old Town Road by Lil Nas X.
The problems of 20th Century Man may have carried over to this century.
Too many dismal, dull affairs caused the 19th Nervous Breakdown.
I was 18 once. So was Alice Cooper.
Where'd the klezmer band come from?
I'm doing fine on Cloud 9. You?
"Power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged"
I thought there were only seven days in a week.
The title is 7 And 7 Is but they never tell you what it adds up to.
From the fantasy years of Genesis.
If 6 was 9, I'm gonna live my life, the way I want to.
Take a few minutes to be cool with Dave Brubeck.
Shane Victorino's walk-up music in 2013.
Two heads can be good together. And Jefferson Airplane should know.
And two hearts can beat as one.
Aimee Mann tells us one is the loneliest number.
Sinatra agrees. Particularly at a quarter to three.
But U2 is not completely sold on the concept.
3/5 of a mile in 10 seconds is 216 miles an hour.
And now we get into negative numbers. Appropriately so.
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All songs from my music library.
