‘BATTLE OF THE BANDS’ #5 (Or, ‘NAT VS. VAN VS. D'MODE’)

Republican Vs. Democrat, Male Vs. Female, War Vs. Peace, Light Vs. Dark, Good Vs. Evil, Man Vs. Machine, Love Vs. Hate, Dog Vs. Cat, Sun Vs. Moon, Brain Vs. Brawn, Oscar Vs. Grammy, Angel Vs. Demon, Laurel Vs. Hardy, Beer Vs. Wine, TV Vs. Radio, Pitcher Vs. Batter, Paper Vs. Plastic, Reality Vs. Fantasy, Yeshua Vs. Beelzebub, Conservative Vs. Liberal, You Vs. Me, House Vs. Senate, Offense Vs. Defense, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Spy Vs. Spy, Fischer Vs. Spassky, W.C. Fields Vs. Sobriety, Harold Gimpy, Jr. Vs. Sheldon J. Pismire, Rock Vs. Paper Vs. Scissors, Islam Vs. Everything, Singer Vs. Singer, Band Vs. Band...

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THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  BANDS!

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Shoop-Shooby –

Shooby-duh-Dooby-Doop-Dooby-Dooby-Doo-Wah –

Buh-Doo-Wah!
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EUGENE  MARTONE  VS.  JACK  BUTLER

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Yes, it’s time once again for ‘Battle Of The Bands’ (BOTB). 

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When I was a kid, it would have been perfectly safe for me to bet my “two dollars!” earned as a paperboy on the proposition that at some point during every family road trip, my Pa would begin singing the song ‘(Get Your Kicks On) ROUTE 66’.

My Pa was a big fan of Nat “King” Cole, and one of Nat’s biggest hits was the song written by Bobby Troup which celebrated ‘America’s Main Street’ or “the mother road” as John Steinbeck referred to it in his famous book ‘The Grapes Of Wrath’.

Songwriter Bobby Troup was traveling on Route 66 in 1946 with his wife, when she inspired him to begin writing a song about the highway. A few days after arriving at the Western end of The Route in Los Angeles, Troup managed an interview with his “idol” Nat King Cole. He played some of his original music for Cole and then said he had another song that he wasn’t quite finished writing yet. Old “King” Cole asked Troup to play it, after which Cole said it was great and that he wanted “to record it right away”. And Bobby Troup was quickly ‘on the map’ with a song that has become a genuine classic about a highway that has become a genuine piece of true ‘Americana’.

In the fantastic and fascinating “coffee table book” that sits on one of my bookshelves, ‘ROUTE 66: The Mother Road’ by Michael Wallis, published in 1990 by St. Martin’s Press (you catch that, Robin?), songwriter Bobby Troup is quoted as saying: “Years after I wrote it, I’d run into Nat ‘King’ Cole and he’d tell me the same thing, that out of all his music, out of all the many tunes he recorded, the song that was more requested than any other was ‘Get Your Kicks On Route 66’. That always made me feel good.”

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WILL  ROGERS  HIGHWAY  Dedication  Plaque:  No,  That's  Not  Me;  And,  Yes,  That  Blue  Strip  Beyond  The  Fence  Is  The  Pacific  Ocean.

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http://loukenroute66trip2010.blogspot.com/

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Technically, the Santa Monica Pier is not the real end of Route 66. Route 66 ends a block away from the pier at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue. The Will Rogers Highway Dedication Plaque is across the street from here in Palisades Park - the real end of Route 66. Ah, but the pier is close enough to count!

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GODZILLA  VS.  KING  KONG

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Having grown up in Santa Monica, California, I passed that “End Of ROUTE 66 Dedication Plaque” a godzillian times while strolling through Palisades Park (where the famous Christmas Nativity Scenes used to be displayed every December until the atheists converged and rained on everyone’s parade).

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ROUTE 66, the road, is as “American” as Mother, Apple Pie, Lady Liberty, and WalMart. (Uhm... scratch that last one, eh?) And ROUTE 66, the song, has become one of the most covered tunes of all time.

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Wikipedia on the road:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66

Wikipedia on the song:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_66_%28song%29

If you ever plan to motor West
Travel my way, take the highway that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66

It winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than two-thousand miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66.

Now you go through Saint Louie
Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty
You'll see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona; don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino

Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that Cal-i-fornia trip
Get your kicks on Route 66 
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Here’s an interesting little ROUTE 66 trivia question I invented: Q: Can you tell me why Bobby Troup wrote “DON’T FORGET Winona”? A: Because the song mentions cities / towns going from East to West. Winona is East of Flagstaff, so Troup was backtracking to name Winona, which he had already passed when he mentioned Flagstaff.

In my lifetime (thus far), I have been in 10 of the 12 cities / towns mentioned in the song ‘ROUTE 66’. (I’ve never seen Joplin, MO. nor Gallup, N.M. – I did, however, fall in love once, in 45 minutes, with a waitress in a Santa Fe café.)

I’m an old, cranky dude now, but back in 1986 when I was young and (sorta) semi-cool, I went on a big road trip with my buddy Pooh, which we named ‘The Show No Emotion In A Big Way Tour’ (think about that oxymoron). There are still some bits and pieces of the old ROUTE 66 that exist in this country, despite 66 having been bypassed by later superhighway constructions.

On ‘The Show No Emotion In A Big Way Tour’ of ’86, Pooh and I deliberately took a little extra time to drive a ribbon of the original Route 66 highway that exists just North of I-40 in Airheadzona between Kingman and Seligman (get out yer road atlas – we were traveling West to East). This was years before I made the bad decision to move to Airheadzona, and Pooh made the good decision to stay employed at U.C.L.A. We stopped long enough on Route 66 (once, near the town of Hackberry) to take a few pictures, and below are two of them:

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My  Buddy,  MUDDY,  In  The  Middle  Of  ROUTE  66,  Airheadzona,  1986.

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Semi-Cool  Dudes:  Stephen  T.  McCarthy  And  Muddy  Thumbin'  A  Ride  On  Old  ROUTE 66,  Airheadzona,  1986.

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In 1972, the Eagles name-checked a Route 66 town that Bobby Troup had neglected in ’46, when they sang in their first Top 40 hit ‘Take It Easy’: “Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see; it’s a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford, slowin’ down to take a look at me”.

And, yep, I’ve stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, too – although no girl ever slowed down to take a look at me. [“Pray for Winslow!”]

Alright, let’s get to the songs! This time my BOTB contest is a ménage à trois (thanks for the “trinspiration”, Sheboyganbrother Six!). I may not use more than two versions of a song ever again in future BOTB blog bits, but this one was just too hard to resist because all three versions are so completely, astoundingly different from the others!

Vote for the version you like best...

First up is the original 1946 Jazz trio recording by NAT “KING” COLE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCeGi6a-eK4

Below is the 1965 nearly proto-Punk “Garage” band version by Ireland’s THEM featuring Van Morrison on lead vocals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5OnXil3GLY

And 3 of 3 (which adds up to 6) in our ROUTE 66 ‘Battle Of The Bands’ competiton is the synth-driven version by DEPECHE MODE from 1987:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zoLxLx5IUg

Please decide which of the above 3 versions you like best BEFORE you click on the link below. After all, "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?!"

Thanks to Sheboyganboy Six, I am able to share with you what I consider to be one of the best music videos ever shot. I’m not necessarily saying that the Depeche Mode version of ‘Route 66’ is my favorite of the 3 (maybe yes, maybe no – you’ll learn my choice on Oct. 7^TH), but I do think this video, with all the vintage Route 66 signs and locations, is totally A-list! (However, that final shot is definitely NOT the spot where Route 66 ended in Santa Monica, California.)

Come Back Later And Click Me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVE2oDSAOPo

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RIDDLER  VS.  BATMAN

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I welcome EVERYONE to vote for your favorite of these songs in the comment section below. And feel free to tell us WHY you chose one song over the other. (NOTE: Comment Moderation is activated. All submitted comments that do not transgress "Ye Olde Comment Policy" will be posted as soon as possible. Thanks for taking the time to comment.)

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After voting here, I suggest - actually I insist - you pop over to FAE’s ‘Far Away Series’ and Arlee Bird’s ‘Tossing It Out’ blogs to see which songs they have chosen and vote there also. (If their BOTB blog bits aren’t posted yet, pour yourself two shots of ‘Grand Marnier’ over ice – do it twice – and then return to ‘Far Away Series’ and ‘Tossing It Out’ to vice your voice ...vote your vice ...voice your vote.)

Voice Your Vote @ ‘FAR AWAY SERIES’ by clicking HERE.

Voice Your Vote @ ‘TOSSING IT OUT’ by clicking HERE.

Find The True Meaning Of Christmas: Win Money!-Money!-Money! Spectacular, Super-Colossal Neighborhood Christmas Lights And Display Contest!

Find  The  True  Purpose  For  Voting  On  ‘Battle  Of  The  Bands’  Installments:  Win  Compact  Discs!-Compact Discs!-Compact Discs!  Spectacular,  Super-Colossal  Blogosphere  ‘Battle  Of  The  Bands’  Voting  Contest!

Here’s The Deal: By voting on the ‘Battle Of The Bands’ blog bits here and at the ‘FAR AWAY SERIES’ and ‘TOSSING IT OUT’ blogs, you can win the compact disc of your choice. Every 4 months, FarAwayEyes, Arlee Bird and I will add up how many times you voted on our blogs, and the person who has participated most often (i.e., submitted the most eligible votes) will get to select one compact disc that contains any one of the songs that were included in any of our ‘Battle Of The Bands’ installments (“Super-Colossal” expensive boxed-sets, imports, and ‘out-of-print’ compact discs not included). In the event of a tie, the names will be put in a Stetson and the name drawn from the cowboy hat will win the CD.

Rules For Voting: FAE, Arlee Bird and I post new ‘Battle Of The Bands’ blog bits on the 1st and 15th of each month. We also post our own personal votes for the respective blog bits on the 7th and 21st of each month (i.e., six days later). For your vote to be counted, it must be submitted in our comment sections BEFORE we post our own votes (BEFORE we make our own votes known on the 7th and the 21st).

Every 4 months there will be a new compact disc winner. In other words, ‘Battle Of The Bands’ #1 was posted on August 1, 2013, so at the end of November, one of you lucky voters is going to win a CD that includes one of the songs we’ve featured in our ‘Battle Of The Bands’ installments (you get to choose, and it doesn’t matter if the song won or lost its battle – if you like it, it’s YOURS!)

Alright, now... VOTE ON and ROCK ON! (while we 

‘Count On...’)

~ Stephen T. McCarthy

POSTSCRIPT: If you are a blogger participating in the BOTB posts but are not involved in the vote-counting for the compact disc prize, please be sure to mention your BOTB blog bit in my Comment Section, so that others (including li’l ol’ me) will know to visit your blog and cast a vote.

Links To Previous 'BOTB' Installments:

‘BATTLE OF THE BANDS’ NUMBER 1 (Or, ‘BEBEL VS. BEBEL’)

‘BATTLE OF THE BANDS’ NUMBER 2 (Or, ‘FLEETWOOD MAC VS. THE ROCKETS’)

‘BATTLE OF THE BANDS’ #3 (Or, ‘THE BEATLES VS. BRIAN AUGER AND TRINITY’)

‘BATTLE OF THE BANDS’ #4 (Or, ‘BROADWAY HAIR VS. HOLLYWOOD HAIR’)

YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement. 

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