Way Back Wednesday - Dance The Night Away

Like most music fans, I was saddened to learn about the recent death of Eddie Van Halen. I've said it before, cancer is a fucking thief. If you grew up in the late 70's / early 80's like I did, you could not help hearing Van Halen songs everywhere... on the radio, on television, at the mall, blasting from open car windows, literally anywhere you'd go, you would hear the super distinctive guitar of Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth's crazy screams. 

Honestly, in the mid-80's, my favourite Van Halen song was Aztec Camera's cover of "Jump" (I still think it's the best version of the song) but prior to that, while I was still in elementary school, I loved today's song. For Way Back Wednesday, I'm going to share "Dance The Night Away." I've listened to it quite a few times over the past couple of weeks and it never gets old for me. Released in 1979 on Van Halen II, it was the bands first top 15 song. If you like Dave's scream and Eddie's playing, you're gonna love this. 

Stay safe kids xo

Have you seen her

So fine and pretty

Fooled me with her style and ease

And I feel her from across the room

Yes, it's love in the third degree

Because It's Tuesday - week of January 21

Happy Tuesday day.

Have you dug out? Are you thawed out?

January huh? January in Ontario exists to help us remember to not complain too much about the humidity in Ontario in August.

Booze Cruisers, 1985

Speaking of August, or summertime rather, the first time I heard the cover I'm sharing with you today was on a "booze cruise" of the 1000 Islands. It was a summer evening, sometime in the mid-1980's and it was a private party for the staff of the grocery store I worked at while I was in high school.  Hearing the song was memorable for a couple of reasons, the first was because I instantly knew that I loved it (to me it was a million times better than the original) and the second was, moments after hearing it, one of the guys I worked with managed to turn the boat around, quickly, in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. We all stumbled about and the "captain" (who had been chatting up one of the cashiers) ran up the stairs to get us back on track. The whole thing was memorable.

The photo above is from that very same cruise. From left to right, Pete, the guy who turned the boat around, the "captain" who sorted us out, me and Beaver. Hard to believe that was almost 35 years ago now. Yikes.

Gah.

The song I'm sharing today is by Aztec Camera, it's their cover of Van Halen's "Jump." Originally released as a b-side to the single "all I need is everything" I think that Jump received more attention than the a-side did. Hope you enjoy this extremely low-key version of the Van Halen classic.

I get up, and nothin' gets me down
You got it tough, I've seen the toughest around
And I know, baby, just how you feel
You got to roll with the punches and get to what's real

Way Back Wednesday - Panama

Over the holidays, we spent a large chunk of an evening waiting for some travelers to return home by bus. Either the bus was late or we had read the schedule incorrectly, either way, we were stuck in a dark, empty, cold parking lot, trying to keep the dog amused while we waited...and waited...and waited.

For our amusement, I started playing songs on my phone, primarily songs from our childhood / teen years. It was pretty goofy and a lot of fun taking this musical stroll down memory lane.  The last song we heard before the bus from Vancouver arrived was the Van Halen classic, "Panama."  From their 1984 album, entitled 1984, "Panama" (or Pamana as I just mis-typed it) was a pretty bit hit and I remember that the video was in heavy rotation on the music video shows of the era.

Re-watching the video now is amusing. I really see where Kody Brown (of Sister Wives) gets his hair inspiration.  Sadly, I guess he doesn't realize that Dave got away with that hair over 35 years ago, it doesn't really cut it now.  Anyway, for your listening enjoyment, I'm sharing Van Halen's "Panama" with you.

Happy Hump day kittens xo

She's blinding, I'm flying

Right behind the rear-view mirror now

Got the feeling, power steering

Pistons popping, ain't no stopping now