Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini #211: Death Songs of the 1970s, Part 2

Episode Date: April 11, 2019

This week: The haunting of David Letterman! Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods! The brilliance of Jimmy Webb (and Gordon Lightfoot)! Arnold Stang meets Al Capone! And introducing...Gilbert O' Gottfried! Le...arn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:33 Gilbert and Frank's Colossal Obsessions! Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and this is Gilbert and Frank's Amazing Colossal Obsessions. And our sometimes guest, Raybone. He's not a guest at this point. Yeah, was beaten to death with a blunt object last night. Wait a minute. I thought the Munchausen's was going to take him down. You just never know.
Starting point is 00:02:07 Well, it's a blessing. Because what the Munchausen was doing there. What kind of blunt object was it? Was it a leftover shillelagh from St. Pat's? Shillelagh. What happened to him? Hi, Paulie. Hey, Frank.
Starting point is 00:02:22 Hey, Gilbert. Gil, I saw you last night on HQ Trivia. Oh, that's right. Want to mention that? Yeah. Did you have a good time? Yeah, with Scott. Rogowski.
Starting point is 00:02:33 Yeah, because they were doing, I should know this, Disney. Disney Villains. Villain Trivia. Of which you are one. Disney Villains. Yes. I also wanted to mention that you are one. Disney villains. Yes. I also wanted to mention that we just had Bill Marks in here. So we're all abuzz.
Starting point is 00:02:51 He was terrific. Lennon's son? No. Huh? Lennon's son? Lennon's son? Harpo's son. Oh, I got you.
Starting point is 00:02:58 You're doing a Lennon-Marks. Our energy level is through the floor here. Maybe it's best that he was beaten. We had a fun last time. We had a fun last time. We had lots of fun, boss. We did death songs of the 1970s, which was inspired by... It all traces back to Casey Kasem's Meltdown.
Starting point is 00:03:28 Oh, yes. And the song Shannon, which we talked about last week. Fucking ponderous. Fucking ponderous. Get Don on the phone. The song about the dead dog, Henry Gross's dead dog. And it just, we got to thinking, there's a lot of songs about death in the 1970s. We did Honey, Bobby Goldsboro, though that one is from the 60s.
Starting point is 00:03:46 What else did we do? Run, Joey, Run. Gilbert was introduced to Blind Man and the Bleachers, which made him very happy. Excellent. And Seasons in the Sun, Terry Jacks. Which was a favorite song of a serial killer. Very good.
Starting point is 00:04:00 There you go. Yes. We found even more death songs from the 1970s. And a couple left over from the 60s. So Frank has them queued up. Paul, you did a little research. And we'll try to stump Gilbert, but it won't be easy. So here we go.
Starting point is 00:04:16 Thank you, Frank. This sounds like the Night Chicago. Well, it is the Night Chicago. Very good. I can name that song in one drum. You did it very well. We did this at the One Hit Wonder show down at McGiffey's place. Oh, that's right.
Starting point is 00:04:31 Yeah, we were doing 1974. Which I think Frank lost all the tapes to this. I don't believe it was Frank. That was the night the podcast died. I like it. podcast time. I have fond memories of this song. I was 13 years old. Well, this was obviously St. Valentine's Day.
Starting point is 00:05:00 Well, that's what they say. Not quite. There's a lot of death in this song. There's a line, comes much later in the song, actually, but there's a line saying about a hundred cops are dead. So I thought we'd start with mass killing and work our way down. Down to a single individual. But.
Starting point is 00:05:17 If we do this right, we'll have a whole new generation of serial killers. We're hoping. We're hoping so. Gilbert, you are correct. I am incorrect. It was indeed inspired by the real-life St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Although, that involves Capone's
Starting point is 00:05:30 killing only seven of Bugs Moran's gang members and had nothing to do with the police. This is a mass shooting song. What I found is that it was a fictional shooting. It was not based on an actual shooting. Interesting. Now I'm going with my answer.
Starting point is 00:05:45 We have conflicting histories here. I know there was issue taken because there was no east side of Chicago, which is how the song opens up. That Chicago has three commonly referred to regions, the north side, the west side, and the south side. So Chicagoans were basically up in arms
Starting point is 00:06:02 that this song, the writers would dare mention the east side of Chicago. And the songwriters defensively said, there's an east side of everywhere. You know, that's the Journey song, Don't Stop Believing, when a kid is born in South Detroit. There you go. No South Detroit. Similar. What else did you find about this one, Paulie?
Starting point is 00:06:21 It was number one for exactly one week. 1974. And it was a follow-up to another one we're going to do, I guess. Yes, by the same band, although I have a different version. I have a different version of that song. So the band is Paper Lace. Yes, Paper Lace. British band. Who could forget Paper Lace?
Starting point is 00:06:39 Ah, they were true. I have all their albums. Remember the Paper Lace Summer Variety Series? Ah, yes! I made that up. I have a box Remember the Paper Lace Summer Variety Series? Yes. I made that up. I have a box set of Paper Lace. I love their earlier work when they were still the doilies. There you go.
Starting point is 00:06:56 Paper Lace did send the song to Mayor Richard Daley, who was not impressed and greatly disliked it. He's quoted as saying, Paper Lace should go jump in the Chicago River. So this was about a fictional shootout between the Chicago police and members of the Al Capone syndicate. It places here because of the line, about 100 cops are dead. Yes.
Starting point is 00:07:17 So a lot of death in this one. Paul. Yes, sir. Paper Lace, the band in question, also recorded this next one on the list. Right. But here we're going from 100 deaths or more to just one. Well, Paper Lace has the rare distinction of being a one-hit wonder in the U.S.
Starting point is 00:07:36 and a two-hit wonder in the U.K. Uh-huh. We jumped the gun there, but I think Gilbert will guess this one. Okay. And this is not Paper Lace's version, although they did a single. Oh, Billy, don't be a hero. He's good.
Starting point is 00:07:55 Yeah, that whistle is the dead giveaway. It sounds like the Air Force Marching Band or something. It's also 74. Assumedly about the Civil War. Head upon his shoulder, his young and lovely fiancée. From where I stood I saw she was crying, and through her tears I heard her say, Billy, don't be a hero, don't be a fool with your life. Billy, don't be a hero, back and make me your wife And as he started to go And it goes downhill from there
Starting point is 00:08:53 as Billy is eventually killed in action. Do you remember, Gil? Yes. In a pitched battle after volunteering to ride out and seek enforcement. So in fact, he was a hero. Yes! This song by Paper Lace was a hit
Starting point is 00:09:10 in the UK, but not here. Why was it not a hit for Paper Lace here? I don't know, Paul. Well, would you like me to tell you? Please! Because in the US, it was aced out by the version by Bo Donaldson and the Haywards. Which is the version we just heard. So there you go. But the same songwriters of The Night Chicago Died,
Starting point is 00:09:27 Peter Callender and Mitch Murray. Same guys, both songs. Both songs released in the same year, yet two different bands. Wow. Confusing. So they are sort of forever paired. Now, I always get it confused
Starting point is 00:09:42 with the St. Valentine's Al Capone's. I guess I would have said Al Pacino. Al Pacino. Al Pacino and I think Arnold Stang. Yeah. Yeah. Was Arnold Stang involved in the St. Valentine's Day? He had the other gang.
Starting point is 00:09:57 I didn't realize. Yes. Apparently, parodied in Some Like It Hot. Yes, yes. But the St. Valentine's Day. With Nehemiah Purcell. And George Raft. apparently parodied in Some Like It Hot yes by the way but the same with Nehemiah Persoff and George Raft who is
Starting point is 00:10:08 I think Nehemiah Persoff is still alive I think he's like 102 or 101 I think he's up in the sort of
Starting point is 00:10:15 Olivia de Havilland great character rent district apparently Capone's men only killed seven of Bugs Moran's gang members as I said before
Starting point is 00:10:24 so the night Chicago died must have been a hell of a disappointment is fictional I tells ya only killed seven of Bugs Moran's gang members, as I said before. So The Night Chicago Died. It must have been a hell of a disappointment. It's fictional, I tells you. Billy, don't be a hero. Yeah, Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods. It reached number one in the singles paper laces version, as Paul pointed out. Reached number one.
Starting point is 00:10:38 Also did well in Australia, but got aced out by Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods. So a website called All Music does a thing where they say this song and this artist is like these other ones.
Starting point is 00:10:50 So their list of other ones, some of these I don't know so well, but Mungo Jerry, do you remember? Sure, in the summertime. In the summertime.
Starting point is 00:10:57 Yep, the Partridge family and somebody here named Ron Dante is listed on this. Ron Dante. That name rings a bell. Who would that be? Ron Dante. Ron Dante sang Sugar listed on this. Ron Dante? That name rings a bell.
Starting point is 00:11:06 Ron Dante. Ron Dante sang Sugar Sugar on this very song. On this very podcast with Gilbert Gottfried. The monkeys. The monkeys have also been. Various monkeys. We've had two monkeys. Despite the song's popularity, it was voted number eight, Gilbert, on Rolling Stone's magazine's reader poll of the ten worst songs of the 70s.
Starting point is 00:11:24 I wondered where you were going with that. A lot of these death songs seem to show up on worst songs. Okay, so we talked about Shannon which was a dead dog. How about a dead horse? Okay. Does this ring a bell, Gilbert? Let's not beat it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:11:39 I'm beating it now. Dara's got to know this one. Dara's going to yell the answer. Oh, oh, God. This is a song David Letterman became obsessed with. Down from Yellow Mountain. On a dark black... Grab a mic.
Starting point is 00:11:59 Tell us what it was. I don't know how... I know it! Michael Martin Murphy. Wildfire! Right, you both got it together. Wildfire! That was beautiful. don't know. I know it. Michael Martin. Wildfire. Right. You both got it together. That was beautiful.
Starting point is 00:12:08 That was romantic. She yelled Michael Murphy. He yelled wildfire. But never yell wildfire, Gilbert, in a crowded podcast studio. I have no idea what this song is about, but I put it on the list. There's some mystery. Yeah, there's been different interpretations. Michael Martin Murphy was not raised on a ranch or as a cowboy or anything,
Starting point is 00:12:32 but he did do some of that later in life, I think, recreationally. But he said wildfire led him down all sorts of paths. And it came from a dream, a dream of riding a magic horse, and even he doesn't know exactly. But it's essentially about a young woman who died searching for her escaped pony. Correct. You got that, Gilbert? Okay.
Starting point is 00:12:54 During a blizzard, which he refers to as sod-busting. No, no, he refers to, let me rephrase that. She died during a blizzard. The homesteader hopes to catch up with the ghost mounted on her pony. This is one of those... Sorry, I asked. She dies and apparently is replaced by a ghost that keeps riding the horse. That's like, thank you, Michael.
Starting point is 00:13:18 Yeah. With them to escape from farming, which he calls sod busting. And what is it? Michael... Michael Murphy. Michael... But it's a three. Michael Martin Murphy.
Starting point is 00:13:27 Michael Martin Murphy, peanuts and a prize. That's what you get from Cracker Jacks. 1975. That may be the best explanation of what this song is. That sums it up. I can't add to that except to say that in 2007, David Letterman developed a sudden fascination with the song Wildfire, discussing it and his lyrics,
Starting point is 00:13:48 particularly the line about leaving Sodbustin behind with band leader Paul Schaefer, our pal Paul, over the course of several weeks, which ultimately led to Murphy being invited on the show to perform Wildfire. So there you go. Letterman always found the song haunting and disturbingly mysterious. I think that was Gilbert's review. So I believe it's about a ghost, the ghost of this young girl.
Starting point is 00:14:13 Ghost of Christmas past. Riding this horse. But who the hell knows? 1975. It's a good song. Yeah, I think it deserves inclusion in death songs of the 70s. Now here's one that makes no bones about it because there's a suicide plan right in the first 25 seconds.
Starting point is 00:14:33 So, okay, Frank. Everyone knows this. Yeah. Was that Gilbert O'Sullivan? There he is. And in a little while from now, if I'm not feeling any less so, I promise myself to change myself and visit a nearby town. And climbing to the top, I'll throw myself off in an attitude.
Starting point is 00:15:01 Make it clear to who, what everyone is like. and ask the dude make it clear to who what it's like when you're shattered you're standing in the dirt in the church when no one's there
Starting point is 00:15:12 oh that's odd that he stood him up no point in us dreaming I might as well go on till I find
Starting point is 00:15:23 alone again naturally Might as well go on. Do I? Go on. Alone again. Naturally. It seems. Not only yesterday. Wait a minute. Gilbert's not done. Some of those lyrics were right.
Starting point is 00:15:39 They were pretty good. Do you know that I found out that Gilbert O'Sullivan is coming to New York City. Darryl, you might find this interesting. He has not performed here in 30 years. And he's coming to perform at... The Suicide Convention. No. Depression Con.
Starting point is 00:15:55 At the City Winery. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I already bought my tickets. And he also, Gilbert O'Sullivan also sang, You give me the creeps when you hop up on your feet, so get down, get down, get down. That's right. He had a lot of hits.
Starting point is 00:16:10 You're a bad dog, baby, but I still want you around. Very good. Once upon a time, we drank a little wine, was as happy as can be, happy as can be. Now I'm just like a cat on a hot tin roof. Baby, what do you think you're doing to me? That's it. Very good.
Starting point is 00:16:31 I have a single. How long is this podcast? The single was on MAM Records, Gilbert. Blue label. Now I sound like Daniel Stern. He was an interesting fan. He was born Raymond Edward O'Sullivan. Like Gilbert, he was Irish and English. Uncle Ray is the giveaway.
Starting point is 00:16:48 But Raymond Edward O'Sullivan, he chose the name Gilbert. To sound a little more musical. To sound a little more musical. Gilbert O'Sullivan. He had a sense of humor. It's an honor to you. It's the only way I can see it. See?
Starting point is 00:17:00 That is. Maybe you have a shot at doing a duet with him when he comes in July. Imagine. You could do Claire. Remember Claire? Claire. See? Yeah, that is. Maybe you have a shot at doing a duet with him when he comes in July. Oh, that would be great. Imagine. You could do Claire. Remember Claire? Claire. That was his song. The moment I'm with you, I swear.
Starting point is 00:17:12 I'm sorry I brought it up. It touches me, something so rare. Close. It had to be you. Oh. Yeah. And now in an effort to babysit. Yeah, that's the one. Catches my breath, the water's left of it. And now in an infant to babysit.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Yep, that's the one. Catches my breath, the water's left of it. You could be murder at this hour of the day. But in the morning the sun will seem a lifetime away. Oh, Claire. I think this hour will seem a lifetime away. Claire. Claire was actually his manager's child, his manager's young daughter. I don't think that's the one.
Starting point is 00:17:45 I think it was a different Claire, I'm pretty sure. Well, when she says, I want to marry you, Uncle Ray, is the dead giveaway that he's using his real name. Oh, okay. Ray O'Sullivan. Yep, those were his hits. Andy Williams covered this on his 1972 album, Alone Again Naturally. Why he named his album after Gilbert
Starting point is 00:18:06 O'Sullivan's song. Shirley Bassey covered it, and Nina Simone of all people. Here's a stump Gilbert one, maybe. In total U.S. sales for 1972, Big record. It was topped by only one record. In the year
Starting point is 00:18:21 1972? In the year 1972, U.S. sales in 1972. It was the number two selling record. The first record was... Wow. I'm trying to think now of 1972. Both songs were nominated for a Grammy, a Song of the Year, and Record of the Year.
Starting point is 00:18:36 Was it The Morning After from the Poseidon Adventure? No. Give me a hint. Roberta Flack. Oh, it was the first time ever i saw your face that's a wonderful that's a big hint uh it was a big big hit went to number one gilbert you uh you astound me yes you know your suicide songs i'm gonna do a one-man show as gilbert gilbert does gilbert Gilbert O'Sullivan. Gilbert does Gilbert.
Starting point is 00:19:06 I would live. Gilbert does Gilbert every night. I should be so lucky. Darren, maybe he'd be crazy enough to come on with us in July. He's very shy. I understand he's a very withdrawn, introverted fellow. He's probably alone again, naturally. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. Hey, Ontario, got any plans?
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Starting point is 00:20:22 19 and over and physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See casino.draftkings.com for details. Please play responsibly. Navigating adulting isn't always easy. You're not just working, you're working late. And dinner dates are all, what's your five-year plan? And you're thinking, paying off the bill for this fancy pants meal probably.
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Starting point is 00:21:05 and this one has a whole lot of death in it so Frank what do you got oh what Barry Fitzgerald the wreck of the
Starting point is 00:21:17 Barry Fitzgerald the wreck Barry Fitzgerald. The legend of Zimbabwe. Oh, boy, oh, boy. No, I think it's the wreck of the author's ship. The elephant, Cheryl. It's the great Gordon Lightfoot.
Starting point is 00:21:44 It's the great Gordon Lightfoot. Remember this song? Dara loves this song. She's Melvin. Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin. As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most. With a crew and good captain well-seasoned. Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms when they left fully loaded for Cleveland
Starting point is 00:22:26 Then later that night when the ship's bell rang Could it be the north wind they'd been feeling? Anyway, it goes on and it goes on. It's a story song based on a real maritime disaster. When was the last time they had a story song? Oh, God. They don't do them anymore. I'd have to think about that.
Starting point is 00:22:49 You mean the last one, the charted? Yeah. I'd have to think about that. I think Keisha's Milkshake was the last Keisha. I don't think so. Big story song.
Starting point is 00:22:57 I don't think so. It was a tale of how the boys come to the yard. I just wanted to add on this in case anybody has any doubts about the origin of the song. Go, buddy. I'm from Michigan. I've seen to add on this in case anybody has any doubts about the origin of this song. Go, buddy. I'm from Michigan.
Starting point is 00:23:08 I've seen Gitche Gumee. I've seen Whitefish Bay. I've seen the Maritime Sailors Cathedral. It's all true. Were you a technical consultant on this song? Well, I was preparing for the podcast.
Starting point is 00:23:19 Very good. Very good. What can you tell us about the actual disaster of the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10th, 1975, that inspired this song? Well, Gordon Lightfoot read an article in Newsweek about this and decided he would... It's unlike his other songs in terms of the story songs, so it's hard to know what prompted him exactly to do it, but it's a hell of a good song. Well, it's funny, Gilbert, that you mentioned story songs, because all of these, because I was looking up death songs, I did a lot of research on this, and I found things like
Starting point is 00:23:52 Spirit in the Sky, When I Die and They Lay Me to Rest, which is a death song, but it's just about death. Yeah, yeah. It's just about welcoming death, but these, the ones I chose, are all narratives. They're all story songs. Billy Don't Be a Hero and The Night Chicago Died. They're all Wildfire, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Run Joey Run. What's his name with the cab song?
Starting point is 00:24:17 Oh, Taxi. Harry Chapin. He always did those story songs. I mean, that's interesting. All of them. There must be some more recent than that. I mean, that's interesting. All of them. There must be some more recent than that. Even Seasons in the Sun is. American Pie has some death in it.
Starting point is 00:24:32 Yeah. And it's certainly the granddaddy of the story songs. Are there any more story songs in the last decade even? We'll throw that out to our listeners. Yeah, that's a great one. Just a stumper. We'll also throw out to our listeners. Yeah, that's a great one. Just a stumper. We'll also throw out to our listeners death songs. Suggest them.
Starting point is 00:24:48 I have a backup list here, too, an honorable mention. But by all means, send us your own list. It seemed to be a thing in the 1960s and 70s, too. Yeah. That doesn't happen a lot anymore, the wreck of the Barry Fitzgerald. And then Jim Croce used to write. Jim Croce was a master of story songs. Sure.
Starting point is 00:25:06 Rapid Roy, that stock car boy. So I've got an odd fact about Gordon Lightfoot. Yes. It doesn't really have anything to do with the song. He, for three years in the 70s, he had a relationship, while he was married, he had a relationship with Kathy Evelyn Smith.
Starting point is 00:25:22 Does that ring a bell? Who was Kathy Evelyn Smith? She was one of Charlie's Angels. She admitted she injected John Belushi with heroin and cocaine. Oh! Well, that's a sad piece of trivia. I think she spent three years in prison.
Starting point is 00:25:35 You brought the show down, Paul. You brought the show to a screeching halt. I've done it before. To me, it was the best part of the show. I always loved about this song that he just gave up rhyming after a while. And he rhymes the couplet, Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya. And he rhymes that with the line, it's been good to know ya.
Starting point is 00:26:00 So at a certain point in telling the story, Creative License, there was no longer a need for him to rhyme the lyrics. They were halfway underwater by that point anyway. How many people were making light of this, but how many people perished on the Edmund Fitzgerald? Barry Fitzgerald. 29. 29 times. It's in the lyrics of the song, actually.
Starting point is 00:26:19 The bell rang 29 times. The wreck of the Sid Melton. Oh, my God. That one's for you, Gino. I just thought of a former guest who I think wrote a lot of story songs. Paul Williams. Another one. Rupert Holmes, I think.
Starting point is 00:26:32 Oh, Rupert Holmes. He even sang some of them with Gilbert. Ooh. Yeah. Jimmy Webb? Jimmy Webb. Yeah. Right?
Starting point is 00:26:39 Kind of Wichita lineman. Yeah, Wichita lineman. That was still. By the time I get to Phoenix. MacArthur Park. It's certainly MacArthur Park. When Jimmy Webb was here and he revealed that cake melting in the rain was a piece of cake. You're still not over that, are you?
Starting point is 00:26:55 Yeah, I thought. Because everyone thought this is such a deep line. They went outside for lunch and took a piece of cake with it. It started to rain. Yeah, they didn't want to eat it. They had a few bites, and it started raining. He tells people that, and they don't believe him. I miss story songs.
Starting point is 00:27:13 I miss them. If anybody can mention any story songs written or released in the last 15, 20 years. What's his name? Diner. Not the diner. Arlo Guthrie. Oh uh arlo guthrie oh yeah he specialized in those yeah sure also city of new orleans which wasn't written by him billy joel had some kind of story he sure did piano man is this story story piano man definitely and sue studio from phil collins i beg your pardon you just have to know what he's talking about. I don't know about that. I think you're stretching
Starting point is 00:27:45 the truth there. Here are some honorable mentions for the death list. Fire and Rain. Fire and Rain. James Taylor about the death of his childhood friend.
Starting point is 00:27:55 David Bowie's Space Oddity about a man stranded in space and presumed dead. Presumed dead. Yes. Rod Stewart's Killing of Georgie. That's a sad one.
Starting point is 00:28:08 Elton John's Candle in the Wind, I think got a mention last week. And Don McLean's Vincent. Two death songs about the death of famous people. And I have to mention our friend Rupert Holmes. He was just brought up. The song Timothy by the Boys, which we asked Rupert
Starting point is 00:28:23 about, which is a cannibalism song. Oh, that's right. It's certainly about death. Now, there was that song, like kind of a novelty song, that was, was it a boy, a girl named, a boy named Sue. Yeah, Shel Silverstein. Yeah. But not a death song.
Starting point is 00:28:41 Johnny Cash sang it. It wasn't a death song, but it was a story. Yeah, definitely. A boy named Sue, for sure. I just thought of a slightly a death song. Johnny Cash sang the... Yeah, it wasn't a death song, but it was a story. Story song. Yeah, definitely. Boy Named Sue, for sure. I just thought of a slightly modern story song. Pearl Jam Jeremy? That's kind of a... Yeah, that's kind of interesting.
Starting point is 00:28:52 I don't know anything recorded after 1990. I can't help you. Kid in school who blows up in the classroom one day. Yeah, okay. 1990. That was before it was cool. What year is that? That had to be...
Starting point is 00:29:03 2000s? 90s. Sometime in the 90s. A long time ago. Here's some mentions from the 60s, Gilbert. You wanted to bring up Ode to Billy Joel by Bobby. I almost said Ode to Billy Joel. Ode to Billy Joel by Bobby Gentry.
Starting point is 00:29:15 In the Ghetto. Elvis' song written by Mac Davis ends with the death of a young boy, which is very sad. Who is that written by? Mac Davis. Mac Davis. Mac Davis. One from Tom Jones. Do you know The Green Green Grass of Home?
Starting point is 00:29:29 Uh-huh. Which is a song about a guy on death row. Heartbreaking. It was a country hit that Tom Jones covered. And the Bee Gees I've Just Gotta Get a Message to You
Starting point is 00:29:38 also a death row song. Oh. Very sad. Bee Gees like to do sad songs before they discover disco. Right. I started a joke. This one and New York Mining
Starting point is 00:29:48 Disaster are pretty depressing songs. New York Mining Disaster. There you go. Right now there's a neurologist in Ohio with a boner. I thought we'd go out on this one because it's appropriate.
Starting point is 00:30:03 This was written, this is 70s songs, 1973, written by Alan O'Day, who wrote one of my favorite 70s pop songs, Undercover Angel. Oh, okay. Remember that one? And Johnny Stevenson. And this basically was sort of a death anthem. Let me see if you know this one, Gilbert.
Starting point is 00:30:32 Love that big band sound. Oh, yeah. That baritone saxophone. Ah, love it. Know this skill? Oh, there must have been one hell of a band. The Righteous Brothers. And here they go through tributes to artists.
Starting point is 00:31:00 Okay, that's right. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin. You know this one, Heather? She's shaking her head. Nope. Jim Morrison. Yeah. Hey, have we mentioned, this is too obvious already Abraham Martin
Starting point is 00:31:46 and John oh there we go that would have counted that would have been a major death song 60s
Starting point is 00:31:53 60s I was doing 70s yeah okay honorable mention honorable mention tell us something
Starting point is 00:32:01 about rock and roll heaven the righteous brothers were not the first to record it the first band to record it was Climax. Yes.
Starting point is 00:32:07 And that record went nowhere, but what record from Climax did do well? my prom theme, Precious and Few. Precious, your prom theme, Precious and Few.
Starting point is 00:32:15 You bet. Yeah. No, and I was not in my prom in 1972, the year it came out. It was a holdover. Not quite that old.
Starting point is 00:32:23 It's a 74. And there's a Bee Gees song. It has nothing to do with death, but it seems like one of those more obscure ones. Everything's happening at the turn of the century. There you go. Why would you bring up a song that was on point?
Starting point is 00:32:38 Ah, yes. Or on story. Go back to the wreck of the Barry Fitzgerald. I'm waiting for him to say, can we call Bill Marks back? I got another question. He might. He might. There were many versions of this song over the years.
Starting point is 00:32:53 It was updated. Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Keith Moon were added to it. Then Roy Orbison, Jackie Wilson, Ricky Nelson, and so on and so forth. And the wreck of the Nat Pendleton. That was a sad event. The the net Pendleton. That was a sad event. The USS net Pendleton. All right, Gottfried. Okay.
Starting point is 00:33:12 I got nothing else for you. This has been Gilbert and Frank's amazing colossal obsessions, and we mourn the dead, who was beaten to death earlier this morning with a blunt object well you know there's only one good thing now I'll be able to see Julie Andrews in the hereafter
Starting point is 00:33:29 oh yes there'll be a beautiful 1970s style song written in his honor about the death the death of Raybone
Starting point is 00:33:39 we have Vicky Carr working on it. Colossal Obsessions.

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