SOMETHING OLD
The Tammys - Egyptian Shumba
1964
The Tammys - Egyptian Shumba
1964
Could it be... proto-proto-punk?
Lightnin’ Strikes star Lou Christie and his songwriting partner Twyla Herbert were behind this Brill Building tune recorded in 1963. The three young women known as The Tammys (none named Tammy!) were sisters Cathy & Gretchen Owens and friend Linda Jones. They did backing vocals for Christie, who then helped sign them to United Artists. That wasn’t a contract that brought a ton of success, but Egyptian Shumba has become cult classic that inspired the wild, uninhibited female sound heard in some punk and riot grrrl bands for the several following decades and likely beyond.
Words that have been used to describe Egyptian Shumba in magazines and newspapers have been delirious, troglodytic, and head-splitting. Delirium is particularly fitting, since the song is about having a dream of being in Egypt. Maybe the early 60s wasn’t ready to turn the inscrutable weirdness from our dreams into music, but The Tammys were; and it left a mark. In fact, girl band Tchotchke has been covering it live lately! Go listen to these primal monkey shrieks ASAP.
SOMETHING NEW
Big Thief - Words
September 5th, 2025
Big Thief - Words
September 5th, 2025
Adrianne Lenker’s soft voice sings both “subconscious” and “self-conscious” in this song. You have to listen closely to tell which is which, but what is one without the other? Would we be self-conscious without subconscious thoughts; would subconscious thoughts serve any purpose if we were already freed from acute awareness of ourselves?
These are the kinds of questions and feelings I often feel stir inside myself when it comes to Lenker’s writing. Big Thief’s new album Double Infinity is a stunning record that Lenker described as “shouting from the mountain, these deepest things, all the way into the sky, and all the way into the core of the earth.”
Words keeps a unique and steady rhythm. There’s a gentleness yet also a sort of frenzy, including a distorted guitar solo. It boasts lyrics that bleed sincerity as much as they do doubt, and a theme about doing things only halfway. The lyrics remark on the limited ability of words, so I will stop writing now...
And tell you just to listen and try to feel alive.
SOMETHING BORROWED
The Main Ingredient - By the Time I Get to Phoenix/Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell)
1970
The Main Ingredient - By the Time I Get to Phoenix/Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell)
1970
I LOVE a good medley. And I also love almost everything that Glen Campbell ever penned, so I am forever saluting the good taste of the original lineup of The Main Ingredient for blending two of Campbell’s finest songs.
I’m saluting Don McPherson, Luther Simmons, and Tony Silvester – though, that may not quite be the lineup you’ve heard of. McPherson, the gorgeous smooth-as-butter voice you hear here, tragically passed from leukemia the following year and was replaced by Cuba Gooding Sr. (thus why we call the famous actor “junior”). The early albums with McPherson do not get enough love, including this L.T.D” one that I adore.
What’s more important in a medley than how you blend the different songs together? I mean, aren’t DJs trying to do that well enough to get the crowd to cheer at clubs every night? “Wichita Lineman,” which I believe is one of the greatest songs ever written, comes in seamlessly at 1:54 after they absolutely nail By The Time I Get to Phoenix. Oh, the SOUL. I could listen forever. Again, they then transition back into Phoenix at 2:50 without skipping a beat.
Campbell’s tame country ballads come to life with these guys’ R&B sensibilities and layered harmonies.
SOMETHING... for Hispanic Heritage Month
Santana - Samba Pa Ti
1970
Santana - Samba Pa Ti
1970
This coming Monday, September 15th is the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. Uniquely, it begins in the middle of the month to honor the many Latin American independence days that occur from mid September until mid October.
To ring in the celebration (albeit a few days early), take a listen to the transcendently beautiful Samba Pa Ti, written by Carlos Santana and performed by his namesake band from Abraxas, their second studio album.
Guitarist Santana is Mexican, percussionist José Areas is Nicaraguan, and fellow percussionist Michael Carabello is Puerto Rican. Though the band was a perfectly American mixture of cultures and musical talent coming together in 1960s California, the Latin feel coming from those three, and Santana in particular, famously reverberates through the music. Samba Pa Ti is no exception; nor is Abraxas, which contains three other songs with Spanish titles.