Tag Archives: music

Daily Countdown: Weird Al Songs #97

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#97

(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long

Title: “(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long”

Written: Rudy Clark/Al Yankovic

Genre: Pop

Parody: “Got My Mind Set On You” by George Harrison (Originally recorded by James Ray in 1962)

Album: Even Worse

Released: 1988

The first parody in the Top 100 is a parody of George Harrison’s big hit in 1987, Got My Mind Set on You. I am a big Beatles fan so the song by Harrison was a personal favorite and Al’s version was very funny.

Lyrics

This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long

Couldn’t think of any lyrics
No I never wrote the lyrics
So I’ll just sing any old lyrics
That come to mind, child

You really need words
Whole lotta rhyming words
You gotta rhyme so many words, mm-mm
To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it
To do it, to do it right, child

This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long

I know that you’re probably sore
‘Cause I didn’t write any more
I just didn’t get to complete it
So that’s why I gotta repeat it

This song is just six words long (six words long)
This song is just six words long (six words long)

Oh I make a lotta money
They pay me a ton of money
They’re payin’ me plenty of money
To sing this song, child

I gotta fill time
Three minutes worth of time
Oh, how will I fill so much time, mm-mm
I’ll throw in a solo, a solo, a solo
A solo, a solo here

This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long

This song’s got nothin’ to say
But I’m recording it anyway
I know if I put my mind to it
I know I could find a good rhyme here

Oh, you gotta have-a music
You need really catchy music
This song has got plenty of music
But just six words, child

And so I’ll sing’ em over
And over and over and over
And over and over and over, mm-mm
And over and over and over
And over and over and over again

Six words long, six words long
Six words long, six words long
Six words long, six words long

This song is just six words long
It’s just six words long

Source: LyricFind

Daily Countdown: Weird Al Songs #99

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#99

The Hot Rocks Polka

Title: The Hot Rocks Polka

Album: UHF

Written: Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/Al Yankovic

Release: 1989

Genre: Polka medley

Featured songs: It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It),” “Brown Sugar,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Under My Thumb,” “Ruby Tuesday,” “Miss You,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Get off of My Cloud,” “Shattered,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”.

The first of multiple polka medleys to appear in the Top 100, this song included songs only from the catalogue of the Rolling Stones. Usually Weird Al polkas include songs from a variety of artists, but this one breaks that trait.

Lyrics

If I could stick my hand in my heart
Spill it all over the stage
Would it satisfy you, would it slide on by you
Would you think the boy is strange?
Ain’t it stra-a-ange?

If I could win, if I could sing
A love song so divine
Would it be enough for your cheating heart
If I broke down and cried?
If I cri-i-ied?

I said, ah, no, it’s only rock ‘n’ roll, but I like it
Ah, no, it’s only rock ‘n’ roll, but I like it, like it, yes, I do
I really, really, really, really do-do-do-do-do, hey

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in a market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he’s doing all right
Heard him with the women just around midnight
(Brown sugar)
How come you taste so good?
(Brown sugar)
Just like a young girl should

I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was a footloose man
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, you might find
You get what you need

You need honky tonk women
Give me, give me, give me the honky tonk blues

Under my thumb, the girl who once had me down
Under my thumb, the girl who once pushed me around
It’s down to me, yes, it is
The way she talks when she’s spoken to
Down to me, the change has come, she’s under my thumb

So goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still, I’m gonna miss you

Hoo-oo hoo-oo hoo-oo, hoo-oo hoo-oo hoo-oo, hoo-oo hoo-oo
Hoo-oo hoo-oo hoo-oo, hoo-oo hoo-oo hoo-oo, hoo-oo hoo-oo

Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste
I’ve been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man’s soul and faith
Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name
‘Cause what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game

I said hey (hey), you (you), get off of my cloud
Hey (hey), you (you), get off of my cloud
Hey (hey), you (you), get off of my cloud
Don’t hang around, ’cause two’s a crowd

Laughter, joy and loneliness and sex and sex and sex and sex
Look at me
I’m in tatters
(Shadoobie, shattered)
I’m shattered
(Shadoobie, shattered)

This doesn’t happen to me every day, whoa, my
(Let’s spend the night together)
No excuses offered anyway, oh, my
(Let’s spend the night together)
I’ll satisfy your every need
(Every need)
And now I know you’ll satisfy me
My-my-my-my, my-my-my
Let’s spend the night together
Now I need you more than ever
Let’s spend the night together
Now
(My-my-my-my, my-my-my)

I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get no girly action
‘Cause I’ve tried (and I’ve tried) and I’ve tried (and I’ve tried)
And I’ve tried (and I’ve tried) and I’ve tried (and I’ve tried)
I can’t get no
I can’t get no
I can’t get no
Satisfaction, satisfaction, satisfaction
Hey

Source: Musixmatch

Daily Countdown: Weird Al Songs #100

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#100

“That Boy Could Dance”

Title: “That Boy Could Dance”

Album: Weird Al Yankovic In 3D

Written: Al Yankovic

Release Date: 1984

Genre: Pop Rock or Power Pop

Style Parody: This is debated by the fans. Some believed that this was a pastiche of the Doobie Brothers while others do not agree.

A fun and energetic song that was an early original for Weird Al. It was not listed on some versions of the In 3D album because of space.

Lyrics

We all used to call him Jimmy the geek
He was a dumb looking, scrawny little four-eyed freak
He never used to hang around with the guys
He’d just sit in the corner
Attracting the flies

He wasn’t much to look at
He never was very bright
But at least there was one thing that he could do alright

That boy could dance
That boy could dance, yeah

He was kind of a jerk
He was kind of a bore
But the women would scream when he walked in the door
There’s one thing I can tell you for sure
That boy could dance

Pickin’ teams, he would always be last
He couldn’t run very far
He couldn’t think very fast
If he was on your side, you’d always lose
That guy had a problem
Even tying his shoes

He never passed his drivers test
He was always afraid of cars
And he had a complexion
That resembled the surface of Mars

But that boy could dance
That boy could dance, yeah

Well, his hair was a mess
And his clothes didn’t fit
He smelled pretty bad
And he drooled just a bit
But you gotta admit
Boy, that boy could dance

Now that boy is much older
He got his own dance studio
He got a teeny bopper fan club
Yeah, he got his own TV show

Now he owns half of Montanna
They all call him “Diamond Jim”
And you know I’d do anything if I could be just like him

‘Cause that boy could dance
That boy could dance
That boy could dance
(Now that boy could dance)
That boy could dance, dance
(Now that boy could dance)

That boy could dance
(Now that boy could dance)
That boy could dance, yeah
(Now that boy could dance)
I said that boy could dance
(Now that boy could dance)

That boy could dance, yeah
(Now that boy could dance)
That boy could dance

Source: Musixmatch

Paradise S2 E5

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Spoilers

“The Mailman”

Episode five is a very strong episode that kind of reminded me of the season one episode from The Last of Us where we met Bill, A Long, Long Time. It felt outside of the story that was being told around them for much of the episode.

This is the background of the story of where Teri has been and how she survived the three years outside of the bunker.

Turned out there was a mailman named Gary and a friend of his named Enos he met playing games online. The two of them were bouncing around conspiracy theories and how they would survive a zombie apocalypse, when things seemingly became real for them.

Gary discovered that there was a fallout shelter in the basement of the post office that he worked in that was hidden and was not used. No one even knew it was there.

Gary and Enos were collecting a small group of people to join them in the shelter and Teri wound up among that by happenstance.

There was also a young boy named Bean, who had an abusive homelife, that Gary would see on his mail route. Gary brought the boy with him into the shelter. It was Bean that helped bring Teri into the group as they bonded very quickly.

Gary was the man Xavier had at gunpoint at the end of the last episode. He had told Xander that he had known his wife and that she was taken.

However, this all seems like BS. The end of the episode threw a real twist as we see a scene where Gary and Enos went to see the people in the train and discovered that they were people looking to help others and were on the way to Colorado. Gary shot Enos to keep the story away from Teri (though it looked like Bean saw that happen) and Gary has been lying to Xavier this whole time.

I was feeling something was off with Gary for awhile during the episode. I thought maybe Gary was the one to destroy the radio, but Enos did admit to doing that.

There are some real questions about what Gary did and why he did it. I am sure that it will make more sense once we hear the full story, but, for now, Xavier is planning on attacking this group of people on the train to find Teri. It could be that she is not even there.

Sha Na Na S4 E1, E2, E3

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We kicked off the final season of Sha Na Na with the first three episodes and a surprise. Dirty Dan was gone. He was no longer on the show, off the theme at the beginning and out of the “Goodnight Sweetheart” line at the end. I took a deep dive trying to discover the reason why he left the group and I did not find much of anything outside of wanting to pursue other opportunities. It did leave a gap in these episodes because the lack of guitar limited the type of songs they were singing.

Fourth season guests included Stephanie Mills from The Wiz, impressionist Fred Travalena, and, my personal favorite, The Unknown Comic (aka Murray Langston) who I saw regularly on the Gong Show, which was another show of the time that I enjoyed. Just a few years ago, I dressed up as the Unknown Comic for Halloween which was a ton of fun.

The group redid a song called “Remember Then” on stage as an opener. They had done this on the rooftop set a few seasons before (may have even been season one). It is a great song and was well worth the redo.

In episode two, they did a whole comedy bit called Mastergrease Theater, without the musical song between the jokes. They had three of the boys dressed up like detectives (Jocko was Columbia- a parody of Columbo, Bowzer was dressed like Sherlock Holmes and Santini was dressed like Sam Spade/noir detective). They were there to investigate the murder of Lennie, who was supposed to be a rich, high class businessman. It was a weird bit, but I liked that it was different than what they had ever done before.

Chico and Donny continued the trend of blending voices extremely well as Chico sang “Teenage Idol” with Donny providing the backing vocals. Chico and Donny had a couple of songs in these episodes and both seemed a touch soft. I thought they were living singing these and both were quite tender. Screamin’ Scott had a song like that too called “Things We Used to Do.”

The group was using more props in the opening songs during these episodes too, including long white beards for “Rip Van Winkel” and a giant broken heart for “Remember Then”

Sha Na Na S3 E17, E18, E19, E20, E21, E22, E23, E24

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I finished watching season three of Sha Na Na over the last couple of days from episode 17 to episode 24. There were some interesting things that went through these episodes.

After the first three or four episodes, I noticed that Dirty Dan and Screamin’ Scott had been doing a bunch of the songs, more than they usually would do. Then, I wondered why we were not getting the amount of Denny songs. As soon as I thought that, Denny did a bunch of songs over the next several episodes. I have to admire how well the group did of giving everybody the spotlight without shorting anybody. Chico was probably the least used singer in the group of episodes I saw, but he was there with Rubber Ball, where he was back on roller skates.

The final two episodes were very different than any other ones prior. They both carried a storyline throughout the entire show. In episode 23, Jocko fell for an uppity British woman named April (played by Lorrie Gia, who was announced with the opening credits). April wanted Jocko to change for her and he went on an episode-long journey to try and de-grease himself. Troy Donohue guest starred and tried to help in a My Fair Lady type story.

Meanwhile, in episode 24, Bowzer was hired away from Sha Na Na by Charo to play the piano for her Charo’s Cuchi Cuchi Club. The whole episode focused on Bowzer’s work for Charo and his eventual return to Sha Na Na.

I am curious to see if these storyline-based episodes will continue into Sha Na Na’s final season.

It was also interesting that Jay Johnson from Soap appeared on the show with his ventriloquist dummy, Squeaky… whose name was Bob on the show. Did that mean that Squeaky was the real name and Bob was the character he played? That seems weird.

Other guests in this run included The Kingston Trio, James Darren, Steve Allen, The Crystals and the 5th Dimension.

These episodes featured some of the comedy bits that stood out in my memory, such as 16 Tons, Romeo & Juliet, Book of Love and one that I did not remember, but it had the cast dressed up as bunnies doing At the Hop.

Screamin’ Scott was always my favorite Sha Na Na member and I remembered clearly him doing “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” So to see it again in episode 18 was a treat.

Lennie and Bowzer did a version of “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” and their voices mixed so well together. I think Lennie could sing with anyone.

It was sad that episode 17, specifically, was such poor video quality. I know that the person who put these episodes up on YouTube did the best they could to make it as watchable as possible, but it was an old VCR recording from 40 plus years ago. Clearly, the rights to the songs make it nearly impossible to put these out on anything more up to date, despite the fact that I do believe that there would be an audience for them.

I have just one more season of Sha Na Na to go.

The Pitt S2 E6

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Spoilers

“12:00 PM”

I have been dreading this episode since the beginning of the season. All the hints and foreshadowing was there, but I tried my best to ignore them.

Then, last week, the show ended with Louie nonresponsive and Robby and Langdon trying to revive him.

Of course, that is where the show picked up this week and we watched as this secondary character died of a pulmonary hemorrhage due t liver failure. Louie had been a drinker, we knew. We just never knew what had led to the drinking.

During the debrief and the chance to say goodbye, Robby told the whole group assembled that Louie had been married and that his wife and unborn child had died in a car wreck and that Louie had never been the same after.

Ernest Harden Jr. played the role of Louie and you can tell how great of an actor he was when he was a side character that only had a bit of screen time and yet his character’s death impacted me dramatically.

This episode featured the nurses of the Pitt more than we had gotten prior, which was a long overdue look. There were other arcs to the episode, my absolutely most hated one was the hot dog competitor. I hate vomit scenes and this had two of them. I really hated that and I am glad he seemed to be a one and done arc.

However, the episode belonged to Louie and the grief that the staff showed. It was poignant when we discovered that the ER was Louie’s emergency contact.

Then, there was Ogilvie, whom I have not liked much this new season, but now I hate him for his callousness tied to Louie’s death. The way he broke the news to Whitaker so carelessly and his comment about “an alcohol abuser” was heartless. I am cheering for this guy to flame out in the program.

Emotional episode and we are still only six episodes in.

Sha Na Na S3 E9, E10, E11, E12, E13

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I watched another block of episodes from the variety show featuring the group Sha Na Na. I remember as a young kid watching Sha Na Na, I was always mad when the guest stars or other actors made fun of Sha Na Na and/or treated them like they were no talented. It is funny because I can remember liking Sha Na Na was something that I did not like people to know about me. I wonder if the constant jokes against them affected how I saw them.

Fact is that Sha Na Na is filled with amazing musicians and some of the best voices you’ll hear. It has been fun catching up on this show, even with the limits of YouTube involved.

These shows continues the trend of Sha Na Na having country musicians on as they had Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, Freddy Fender and Barbara Mandrel as guests. They also had Henny Youngman, who actually performed like a stand up comic would. That was definitely the right choice instead of trying to have him make smart remarks like they did with Milton Berle.

It was weird because once again they had a repeat song on one of the episodes. In episode 10, they ended the show with the Unchained Melody version that Sha Na Na performed. I know I had seen that one in a previous episode. However, it is one of the best performances the group did on this show, so it was good to see it again.

This block of episodes also seemed to feature Lennie singing quite a bit. Lennie had one of the best voices on the show, right up there with Johnny and Donny. Of course, Lennie was the sax master, but he could hit some solid high notes vocally too.

Lennie dressed up as Paul McCartney in episode 10 as well, along with Jocko as Ringo, Santini as George and Chico as John. It was an attempt to attract the Gatlin Brothers to their show, which begs the question, are the Gatlin Brothers huge Beatles fans and wouldn’t a Beatles reunion attract even bigger celebrities?

Episode 11 featured one of my favorite performances, “Hit the Road, Jack” performed by Jocko. I love this version of the song and the background dancers are great. I have to say, I always enjoy watching poor Donny try to keep up with the others.

When I saw Screamin’ Scott playing the stand up bass, I went to Google to see what instruments he could actually play. I have wondered whether when covering for Jocko, Scott or one of the guitarists, could they actually play that instrument or are they just pretending. Google told me that Scott could play the piano, the guitar, the banjo and the harmonica. My guess is that he could do the bass as well. He is clearly very skilled in the musical aspects.

Jerry Fox showed up a couple of times again (which is a character played by Donny sometimes during the comedy skits). He’s announced as from Cleveland, and I wonder what the origin is behind this alter ego. I have seen Donny play him probably around 6-8 times so far (including twice in this block of episodes).

Sha Na Na S3 E5, E6, E7, E8

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This was an interesting stretch of episodes with Sha Na Na. They had four guest stars that did not fit into the typical type of performers that were on the show prior. Charlie Pride is a country singer, Disco Queen Gloria Gaynor, Isaac Hayes and Lola Falana both do not sing typical Sha Na Na music. It is an expansion that could open up more doors for other musicians.

The diner made a surprise return in episode eight. It was part of a running joke, which was also one of the first times this was done on Sha Na Na. Lennie wanted to play Annie because of the pretty dress, but the people in charge of Annie said Lennie was too fat to play the role. So Lennie went on a diet during the episode and they returned to the joke several times.

There were a couple of good comedy bits during these episodes. I especially enjoyed the “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay” bit where Sha Na Na dressed up like old folks. They were very funny with their outfits. The other one I liked the best was “Black Leather Denim Trousers” where they were on the street set.

We also had a comedy bit where Pamela Myers joined in to sing “How Much is that Doggie in the Window” with Sha Na Na dressed in dog outfits. It was nice to have her female voice once again in the show.

In episode 5, we got the performance by Screamin’ Scott of the song he wrote for the movie Grease, Sandy. Simon wrote the song with Louis St. Louis. The Lady in the Window said that Scott wrote the words, so perhaps he was the lyricists of the song. The song was written for the movie and was performed by John Travolta. Scott did a nice job performing it.

There were also a few songs that I did not know, specifically the ones at the beginning and end of the show. There was a cool one done by Lennie in the fifth episode and one by Jocko in episode 8.

The cuts on YouTube are still irritating, but haven’t been as bad as a few other times.

Sha Na Na S3 E1, E2, E3, E4

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I arrived at the third season of Sha Na Na with the first four episodes on YouTube and it kicked off with an odd thing. Episode one started with the group singing “Summertime” and then they had a backstage version of Up on the Roof, and I swear I had seen both of these performances on previous episodes. I did not want to take the time to go back and see if I could find them, but it was so odd that I wondered if they had to plug in some older versions of these songs for some reason. Jocko did not have his mustache, which is a key clue.

There was another song that I think they had done: Three Cool Cats. It featured one of the actresses who was the waitress at the diner, who we did not see in any other season three episode.

The season added a new set. One set was Greasers’ Hall, which apparently replaced the diner set. We also got much more Soupy Sales than in previous seasons. The new season episodes kicked off with a comedy bit before the introduction and episode one and two had a bit called “The Sha Na Na Joke Hall of Fame” which seemed like it was going to be a regular bit, only to not have it in episode 3 or 4.

Connie Stevens and Danny and the Juniors did a typical routine, with Stevens singing “Tan Shoes and Pink Shoelaces” and Danny and the Juniors doing “At the Hop.” The other two guests were Conway Twitty and Ben E. King, who both did medleys of their songs. I liked that and hope more musical guests will follow suit.

Sha Na Na did the theme song for Grease as one of their opening songs on the stage and poor Donny was so lost on the choreography of the dance routine. I felt so bad for him. He was giving it his all, but he was just behind the others so much. Donny is not the best of the backup dancers and this was pretty complicated. He kept just trying to do the grease your hair move.

Of course, Sha Na Na appeared in the movie Grease, playing the band at the dance where John Travolta and Olivia Newton John would win.

Maybe that was why they sold Donny to science in a future episode.

Man, they sure stick Lennie into a lot of dresses.

Lookin ahead, there are a lot of country musicians coming up. I wonder if they had burned through guests from the 1950s and had to move into different genres.

Sha Na Na S2 E22, E23, E24

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With these three episodes, season two of Sha Na Na ended. I will say that season two was considerably better than season one. The first two-thirds of season one was so cringeworthy with the comedy and the laugh tracks that it really took away from the music. However, near the end of season one, they clearly started to find their path and season two saw them hit their stride.

They had another tribute medley, this time for Paul Anka, who was also their guest star. They have done tributes for Elvis, Buddy Holly in the past and I am not sure why they did not do this more often. This was great and took the place of the comedy bit for the episode. Paul Anka sang a song then that I had never heard before.

This Paul Anka episode has to be considered one of the best episodes so far in the rewatch. It was up their with the Billy Crystal episode.

Speaking of Elvis, Sha Na Na has been doing more music from the King recently. Elvis was very much absent from season one, which makes me wonder if there were rights issues when they first started.

Joe Namath came in and sang with the group… well, singing is a bit of a stretch. He said “Get a Job” in the song Get a Job while the rest of them did the background vocals and all the main lyrics. Joe looked like he was having fun though, which makes it fun for the audience.

I had never heard of Lloyd Price, guest star #3, but he did a Stagger Lee and Personality mash-up, which I have heard.

Sha Na Na has always done a great job of pairing up their singers into voices that complement each other well. In episode 23, Donny and Lennie sang What’s Your Name, and they sounded fantastic together. Lennie and Bowzer did a song similar to Mr. Bassman, but different.

Sha Na Na S2 E14, E15, E16, E17, E18, E20, E21

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I came back for Sha Na Na on YouTube and we got some issues with the recordings. Now, the recordings were loaded up from old VHS tapes, so the quality has always been iffy, but this was the first time when whole songs were cut out, specifically in episode 15. In the comments, the channel’s owner, pattyoc01, stated that it was because of YouTube needing to cut some out for copyright reasons.

Another issue came in this group of episodes with number 19. On the playlist, #19 is listed as starring Jimmie Rodgers. However, on the YouTube list, it was just a repeat of S2 E18 with the Ronnettes. Not sure what happened with that.

Another funny thing was at the end of episode 18, there was a brand new “Goodnight Sweetheart” closing. You can tell because the camera was closer to each member and Jocko had his mustache shaved off as he has had for most of the two seasons of the show. However, oddly enough, episodes 20-21 both had the old closing version, making me wonder if this playlist was in actual release order.

Interesting guest stars on these episodes. Dick Clark appeared as the only non-singing guest, but he certainly has big ties to music. They played some Rate the Music, like they did on American Bandstand in the old days. This was a fun use of Dick Clark. There was an appearance by Jan and Dean, who performed on the actual stage. They had a performance by someone named Johnny Tillotson, who I had never heard of before. He did Poetry in Motion, which I knew well, but I always thought it was by Buddy Holly, or someone like that. Del Shannon was on and he sang Runaway, of course. Trini Lopez sang La Bamba as The Angels did My Boyfriend’s Back.

There was a fun duet between Johnny and Pamela Myers, who plays Ginger. She sings every once in awhile and their version of Hey Paula was well done.

I really enjoyed the comedy bit with Bowzer playing “Sven Bowzer” in an opera with Dirty Dan as the reporter. I actually laughed several times during this section.

There are some of my favorite Sha Na Na songs on these episodes. Johnny singing Roy Orbison’s Cryin’, Tell Laura I Love Her ( also by Johnny), Screamin’ Scott leading the Sha Na Na sing along with the song Don’t You Just Know It, So In Love, and Peggy Sue.

Speaking of Peggy Sue, they did an homage to Buddy Holly on episode 18 with them doing four separate songs. They did this instead of the comedy bit and I think they should have done something like this more often. I know they had done an Elvis one previously.

Three more episodes in season two to go. Even with the quality and the copyright issues, I am pleased that I am able to revisit these shows.

Sha Na Na S2 E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10

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I took a deep dive into season to of the Sha Na Na show and watched seven episodes. I watched this many cause I wanted to get to episode 10, where the run of musical guests came to an end. However, this was how you take a non-musical guest and use him effectively. Of course, it was Billy Crystal.

It was interesting when Johnny introduced Billy Crystal, telling a story about Billy working with Sha Na Na in the past, before Billy hit it big with Soap. He must have been a warm-up act for the group. Awesome that he was willing to come back to the group after he had become a star. It was shocking to see what a resemblance Billy Crystal had to Johnny. They could have easily been brothers.

Billy did an act on the stage and participated in the comedy song skit by doing his impression of Howard Cosell.

Earlier that episode, Sha Na Na did a musical tribute to Little Richard, which was very cool too. This might have been the best episode of the series so far.

Not that the other ones were bad. Actually, I have found season two to be very solid. The group has really spread out the songs among each other, even though there were several songs that I did not recognize.

The show has done an effective way of bringing on their guest stars in this stretch of episodes. With Brenda Lee, she came into the diner, looking for a hiding place because she didn’t want to sing. She wanted to hide in the powder room or behind the counter, but the waitress said they would find her in both places. She then mentioned how the Shirells hid behind the counter but was caught (in a previous episode). I appreciate the continuity.

Then, in episode 5, Sha Na Na did their opening number on the stage, Santini took the microphone, and introduced the Coasters, who came up and sang “Charlie Brown.” I thought that was a cool way to introduce the guest star in a way they had never done before.

Chubby Checker came back to the show to perform again. I wonder if he had filmed this at the same time when he was on the show before in season one. He became the first headliner to return as guest star, though Milton Berle was on the show twice too.

Donny really showed off his voice in this group of shows. He had a beautiful rendition of Mr. Blue, another ballad in Oh, Donna, sang with Johnny on Let the Good Times Roll, and a street set version of Singing the Blues.

Jocko also had a bunch of songs in this stretch, including Do You Love Me, Tossin’ and Turnin’, and, a personal favorite, Ya Ya. Jocko wound up in several background dance moments when one of the other background dancers had to sing.

Speaking of that, I have a question that I wonder any time I see Jocko up front and Dirty Dan on the drums. I know a lot of the times, they sing live but to a backing track and they do not do the instruments or background vocals live. I just wonder, does Dirty Dan know how to play the drums or is it just for show? It does the same thing when Screamin’ Scott is somewhere else. In these episodes, I saw Johnny and Lenny on the piano. Are they just sitting there?

Screamin’ Scott is another interesting one because he covers guitar at times when Dirty Dan is on drums and he has been shown to play the banjo. I do believe he knows how to play the banjo because during the comedy skit based on the song “Battle of New Orleans,” which Scott sang and played banjo. However, in between the song, where they did some comedy, Scott played a bit to help someone do a song. It sure sounded as if he really did play that banjo in that moment.

We rarely see Donny on any instruments (although I saw him on a guitar once) and Denny never plays anything either. I wonder if that is because they can’t play these instruments and when someone steps in for an instrument, they know how to play it, even with the backing track. It is an interesting thought and it makes me think about it any time someone is not in their spot.

They also made the first reference to Sha Na Na’s appearance in Grease. They also played “Those Magic Changes” which was one of their big songs from the film. I wonder what the timeline of that movie compared to the show was.

Sha Na Na S2 E1, E2, E3

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I wondered what differences there might be to the show now that we have reached season two. There are a couple small things, but most of the show was fairly consistent with season one.

The changes included after the opening number on the stage, a member of Sha Na Na would come up to the microphone and do three or four jokes. These three episodes saw Jocko, Bowser and Chico take the mike. Most of the jokes turned out to be self-derogatory and not that funny.

The other thing I noticed was the show started putting the name of certain members on the screen with a jokey comment beneath their name such as “Jocko: Has a season ticket to the Ballet.” These were cute and could pop up at any time.

Otherwise, they had the same structure. It felt like Avery Schreiber was gone as the cabbie since they did not have him bringing the guest stars in like last season. Interestingly enough, two of the three episodes had Johnny pretend to do an imitation of the celebs, The Shirells and Little Anthony.

Episode two had Screamin’ Scott singing When the Saints Go Marching In during the comedy routine song. They actually had him sing the entire song before they paused for the joke. There were some other “heaven/angel” songs to go with the Saints one.

Episode three had Soupy Sales show up as a cop and a stage director. He was the “director” of the stage show, which was the comedy bit in episode three where Sha Na Na all dressed up as women to sing “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” It was slightly disturbing.

They had some of my favorite songs from Sha Na Na on these three episodes including “Baby, That is Rock ‘N Roll,” “Pretty Little Angel Eyes,” and “Teenager in Love.” In that last one, one of my favorite parts of that song is when Chico almost cracks himself up when he says “ax” instead of “ask” during the song. You can hear him giggle slightly.

They continue to get the musical acts, which really helps the show. These musical acts are acts from the 50/60s era that were probably happy to get a call to be on Sha Na Na. Bobby Rydell couldn’t have been too busy in the late 70s/early 80s.

Sha Na Na S1 E22, E23, E24

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I finished up Sha Na Na’s first season on YouTube this morning with three pretty good episodes. I do believe that some of the errors that the show did in the first half of their first season were addressed midway through and it did seem better.

Episode 22 kicked off with Blue Moon, which was strange because I am almost certain that that song has already been done on the show. I don’t think that it was just the pilot episode either. I didn’t go back through my reviews to see, but it felt very familiar. The last song of the season was sung by Dirty Dan, and it was Dream Lover, which, again, I thought I had already heard this season. I’m not sure it was a good sign if they were repeating songs just during their first season.

They continued with the musical acts as guest stars instead of comedians or actors. Dion, Marth Reeves and the Vandellas and Bobby Vee all were able to perform and added so much to each episode. The poor comedy was kept to a minimum and the show became more of a musical variety show.

Martha Reeves stuck around after her song and did some jokes with Bowzer and Lennie, both of which were funny. You can do that if it is written well.

Sha Na Na does a fantastic job of finding the right voices to blend together. They had the song Charlie Brown sung by Screamin’ Scott and Jocko, and they sounded great together. Then, they had their best singers< Johnny, Bowzer, Donny, Santini and Denny doing Remember Then, which is sensational.

In episode 23, they did one of the comedy bits where they all dress up and they called it Swine Lake. At first, I thought to myself, “What am I watching?” but as it went on, I started picturing it as an act on the Muppet Show. Had this been the pigs from the Muppets doing this “ballet” I wouldn’t have blinked at it. So, by making Sha Na Na human Muppets, I found much more enjoyment in the skit than I would have before.

Avery Schreiber, who has been a cabbie all season long, came into the diner and did a skit/song where he danced like a robot. It was a bizarre moment. It was another that kind of grew on me and I liked the effort of him doing something different than just drive his cab onto the set and bring the guest star. Apparently, the song was called Mechanical Man and it was a song Avery Schreiber wrote the song as a way to express his unhappiness over how he was being seen as an actor.

Dirty Dan had several songs in this block of three including Dream Lover, Da Do Run Run, and part of the Mexican skit in episode 22.

The comedy bit song in the 24th episode was Ahab the Arab, which was a song b Ray Stevens. I was surprised, since I thought this was too recent for Sha Na Na to do it. However, I did a quick Google search and it said that the song was released in 1962, meaning it fell right into Sha Na Na’s wheelhouse.

This brings to a close season one of the variety show. I am curious to see if there are any changes from season one to two or if the changes they made in the middle of season one will just continue.