Bill Withers: "Use Me" (1972)

Born in the town of Slab Fork, West Virginia (a chamber of commerce name if we ever heard one), Bill Withers grew up in Beckley and was the youngest of six. He joined the navy and afterward moved to L.A. to try his luck (1965).

He worked in a factory while putting out demo tapes around town. He was picked up by Sussex Records and put out his first album called "Just as I Am" in 1971 which featured Booker T.(Booker T. and the MG's) as producer and Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass as well as Stephen Stills on guitar. The song yielded the hit "Ain't No Sunshine," which went to number three on the U.S charts. This is the song that Bill sings the words "I know" 26 times. This would win him a Grammy Award.

In 1972, he would record the album "Still Bill." The single "Lean on Me" was released in July of 1972 and shot to number one. In August, "Use Me" was released and made it to number two on the charts.

"Use Me" has such a great opening hook as provided by Bassist Melvin Dunlap and keyboards by Ray Jackson. It takes you in right away. More than any song Withers did, this one seems like a narrated story, but with lots of emotion:

My friends feel it's their appointed duty
They keep trying to tell me all you want to do is use me
But my answer yeah to all that use me stuff
Is I want to spread the news that if it feels this good getting used
Oh you just keep on using me until you use me upUntil you use me up
Everyone he knows wants him out of this relationship but himself. This might remind you of our post about Kristy McColl's "They Don't Know", which has the same message.

Withers would have other hits including "Just the Two of Us" (with Grover Washington Jr.) in 1982.

How cool is "Use Me"? No fewer than thirty-one covers of the song have been released to date, including versions by Mick Jagger, Liza (I'll cover anything) Minnelli and Rockapella. We are of course including his recording along with a cover by Hootie and the Blowfish and Liza with a "Z" for comparison.

The Kinks: "Celluloid Heroes" (1972)

The Kinks, one of the most celebrated and concurrently one of the most underrated bands in history started in England in 1964 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. In their 32 years of playing and recording, they put out 24 albums of which no less than nine made the U.S. Top 40. They also had ten top selling singles in the U.S.

Experts agree that the Kinks may well have been the first "punk" (protopunk) band, and the missing link between two generations of rock and roll.

Despite their success in the U.S., they remained a very English band with a devout following. "God Save the Kinks" was a frequently heard mantra used by their fans. Many of those fans might point to their less commercial work as being their best, and the staff here at Monahan's Song wish to offer one of these for your consideration.

Released as a single, "Celluloid Heroes" never charted, but was a staple on FM radio and became a rock anthem that was always on the Kinks set list. Very similar to "Room to Move" by John Mayall as we highlighted in our last post.

"Celluloid Heroes" is one of many songs that go contrary to their commercial hits like "You Really Got Me", "Destroyer" and "All Day and All of the Night" which are fast, three chord songs that influenced The Ramones, The Clash and Oasis, among others.

But really, the Kinks were hard to nail down. "Waterloo Sunset," "Better Things" and "Come Dancing" are departures as well.

Ray Davies wrote "Celluloid Heroes" and created a masterpiece of matching lyrics and arrangement. Wikipedia's entry on the song says it best: "Davies uses the technique of personification (of the Walk's concrete stars) to create an intimate connection with the subject matter. The lyric has a warm, melancholy and nostalgic feel, and is driven by three underlying themes. First, "Celluloid Heroes" specifically cites the inhumane and exploitative manner in which the film industry can use its stars. Second, Davies suggests the escapist fantasy world of movies as an attractive respite. "I wish my life were a non-stop Hollywood movie show," he writes, "because celluloid heroes never feel any pain," and "never really die." Finally, Davies treats as metaphor the sometimes ethereal and elusive nature of Hollywood fame and success. "Everybody's a dreamer, everybody's a star" is followed by a cautionary note to the listener - those who find success must maintain their guard, because "success walks hand-in-hand with failure along the Hollywood Boulevard."

"If you covered him with garbage
George Sanders would still have style
And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney
He would still turn round and smile
But please don't tread on dearest Marilyn
'Cause she's not very tough
She should have been made of iron or steel
But she was only made of flesh and blood"

We get a feeling that Davies is saying that successful or not, famous or not, we are all the same. All that from a pretty famous artist so he show great perspective.

There are other Kink's songs that need to be included as part of the mission of Monahan's Song, but none as thoughtful or resonant as "Celluloid Heroes".

Artists who have covered this song include Joan Jett, Steve Vai, Bon Jovi, Tim Curry and Richie Blackmore...

King Harvest: "Dancing in the Moonlight" (1973)

This a  very keyboard oriented happy song from the '70's. The Wurlitzer electric piano is right up front on this one.  In fact, King Harvest had three keyboard players in the band, all of whom had been doing session work prior to forming the band.Ron Altback, Sherman Kelly and Davy ‘Doc’ Robinson(all on keyboards), plus Ed Tuleja (guitar), Tony Cahill (bass), Rod Novak (saxophone) and David Montgomery (drums).

According to the band's MySpace page, King Harvest formed in 1970 after four Cornell students met in Ithaca. They would go to Paris. and rode the circuit, even opening for B.B. King. They released "Dancing in the Moonlight" in Europe and it Flopped. They came back to New York and got a contract with a small label called Perception. The first cut released was "Dancing in the Moonlight" which some say was written by Altback and Robinson, but other sources say it was written by Sherman Kelly, the brother of a one time drummer in the band and himself a member of a previous iteration of the band. The soulful pop entry rose to to #13 in the U.S., and stayed on the charts for 20 weeks. They would never really chart again with the exception of "A Little Bit of Magic", which hit #91 the same year. To hear it, you would assume it would be a nice flip side to "Dancing in the Moonlight."They would disband mid-decade.

In 1976, the Beach Boys members Mike Love and Carl Wilson helped them get a record deal with A & M, but no hits came out of the effort.

We get it almost every night
When that moon is big and bright
It's a supernatural delight
Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight

Everybody here is out of sight
They don't bark, and they don't bite
They keep things loose, they keep 'em tight
Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight

Dancin' in the moonlight
Everybody's feelin' warm and bright
It's such a fine and natural sight
Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight

No fewer than 17 bands would cover this song. Of these, the British band Toploader covered the song and it reached #7 on the English charts in 2000. The version has the same happy, party and we're all friends feel, and again, keyboards are integral to the song. No evidence of it having been released in the U.S. We are submitting it as well for your consideration.

Liza Minelli covered the song in 1973 and it is as schmaltzy as you might expect. Good luck getting through that version!