John Richards

Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to The Morning Show with John Richards. John had nothing cued up when the show began; it's an All-Request Show!! Thanks for being here!! -- What a great song to begin with. A little ditty about a woman, her drug habit, and her abusive boyfriend, Sergio. Why do we like "Jane Says" so much? Here's a L.A. Times tribute to the power of this song: www.latimes.com

For years, the band claimed that the song's lyrics were similar to an aural 'Rorschach test', and that people only heard in it what they wanted to hear. However, most people agreed that the lyrics alluded to heroin use. In his book "The Stranglers: Song By Song," co-writer and vocalist Hugh Cornwell said that "'Golden Brown' works on two levels. It's about heroin and also about a girl. Essentially the lyrics describe how both provided me with pleasurable times." The "girl" in question was Cornwell's Mediterranean girlfriend at the time.

Future Islands played Live on KEXP at Home almost exactly a year ago--November 11th, 2020: www.youtube.com -- Want to know more about the wonderful video that accompanies this song?: www.3rdandlamarmedia.com

Say Hi is the musical project of Seattle multi-instrumentalist Eric Elbogen.: sayhitoyourmom.com

The Independent asked Guy Garvey which were his favorite lyrics of all the ones that he had written. The Elbow frontman replied: "My favorite lyrics either describe a familiar feeling in a new way or describe a specific feeling that you've never heard described before - an emotion that's too complex to be put into words usually, ways of getting to specific feelings. In 'Station Approach,' that's a very particular civic pride, which is a very specific civic feeling. I love Manchester." -- The song is named after the road that leads up to Manchester Piccadilly Station.

The only single from Echo & The Bunnymen's 1985 compilation album -- the only song that had previously been unreleased on an album. The song was recorded specifically for the soundtrack to the 1986 John Hughes classic "Pretty in Pink." -- In the 2000 film "High Fidelity," Echo is part of some dialogue that takes place in a record store. When a customer comes in looking for "The Killing Moon" EP, he tells Jack Black's character that he owns all the other albums by the band. Black then pushes the Jesus And Mary Chain album "Psychocandy" on him, saying, "They picked up where your precious Echo left off, and you're sitting around complaining about no more Echo albums. I can't believe you don't own this f--king record."

Wanna dance? “We’re a million miles apart/In a thousand ways. Baby you can light up the dark/Like a solar-scape." We can transcend that distance. Watch Kylie Minogue and her dancers grooving to “Say Something” in front of an interstellar backdrop, with the pop singer sometimes delivering the track from atop a horse statue.: www.youtube.com

Lizzo said this song was both "a banger" as well as "a state of mind." She explained that it's "about looking in the mirror, loving what you see, and letting everyone know." She added, "At the end of the day, I want my music to make people feel good, I want it to help people love themselves." -- See the great Richard Simmons-themed video for "Juice": www.youtube.com

Foals singer Yannis Philippakis says this about their seventh and yet unnamed album: "[It's]...an explosion of energy and emotion. Come with your friends, lose your mind, f**king get down." --- "Wake Me Up" is the new single.: www.youtube.com

Does that beat sound familiar? "Fools Gold" was built around a loop from James Brown's "Funky Drummer." It was guitarist John Squire who actually discovered the track. He recalled: "We were signing copies of our single, 'She Bangs The Drums,' in a Manchester record shop called Eastern Bloc. The owner said we could pick a couple of albums as a thank you and I picked out a breakbeats album because I liked the cover and I wanted to see what it was all about. That's where I heard the 'Funky Drummer' loop that we built 'Fools Gold' around."

School of Fish was an alternative rock band which formed in 1989 and disbanded in 1994. The core members were Josh Clayton-Felt and Michael Ward. -- Josh Clayton-Felt went on to become a solo recording artist. Tragically, he died of cancer on January 19, 2000 at the age of 32. nyti.ms

This Wolf Alice song was selected as a free KEXP Song of the Day. Download it for yourself here: www.kexp.org -- You can watch Wolf Alice perform this track live in the KEXP studio here: youtu.be

Rob Dickinson gave an interview in 2006 in which he describes "crank" as being British slang for an odd or eccentric person. When he sings "call me crank," he's actually referring to how he views himself and that he's comfortable in acknowledging that he's a bit unusual. (These days, he spends his time restoring classic Porsches: c-qp.com) -- Watch Catherine Wheel perform "Crank" live on MTV's 120 Minutes in August 1993: youtu.be

Ahhh...the Friday song. (Tricked us, Henry!) On Thursday, November 18th, KEXP held a day-long celebration of Native Tongues, the highly influential hip-hop collective that consisted of Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Monie Love and Black Sheep. Re-listen to the day using our Two-Week Streaming Archive!: www.kexp.org

"Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick The one that makes me scream" she said "The one that makes me laugh" she said And threw her arms around my neck...: www.azlyrics.com -- The Cure performed this great song at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2019: www.youtube.com

This was XTC's breakthrough single. It was written by bassist Colin Moulding, who shared vocal and songwriting duties with guitarist Andy Partridge. -- Moulding: "Partly biographical, this one. My dad prompted me to write it. He wanted a university future for me and was very overpowering in trying to persuade me to get my hair cut and stay on at school. It got to the point where he almost tried to drag me down the barber's shop by my hair. I know the song tells of a slightly different situation, but it all boils down to the same thing - parental domination."

Cornershop is an East-West fusion pop-rock group. The East part comes from Tjinder Singh, who grew up in England but is of Punjabi origin. Tjinder strongly identifies with his Indian heritage; the group’s name itself derives from a play on the stereotype of the Indian/Pakistani street-corner grocery store clerk. -- "Brimful of Asha" is about India's film music industry in general, with a reference to vocalist Asha Bhosle in particular. The word "asha" also happens to mean "hope" in Hindi, something that certainly wasn't lost on Tjinder Singh when he wrote the tune - many of Asha Bhosle's movie songs were filled with messages of hope that the younger generation took to heart and dreamed of better lives.

Cynthia Rose is a real person, and that's her real name. Prince's musical cohort (and girlfriend) Susannah Melvoin went to school with her and told Prince all about her. Together, they crafted the lyrics, with Melvoin earning a songwriting credit. -- To understand just how a little girl could have starfish and coffee for breakfast (or butterscotch clouds), requires an open mind: "If you set your mind free, baby Maybe you'd understand..." Remember when Prince did this song with The Muppets? www.youtube.com

The Time was put together by Prince, and included Minneapolis musicians Morris Day, Jesse Johnson, Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis. It's unclear how much each group member contributed to "Jungle Love" and how much involvement Prince had in it, but Prince, Morris Day and Jesse Johnson are the credited writers, and Day is listed as a producer on the album "Ice Cream Castle." -- Don't miss the dancing: www.youtube.com

"How old are you? Are you old enough? Should you be in here watching that?": bit.ly -- "Along with the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays were the leaders of the late-'80s/early-'90s dance club-influenced Manchester scene, experiencing a brief moment in the spotlight before collapsing in 1992. While the Stone Roses were based in '60s pop, adding only a slight hint of dance music, Happy Mondays immersed themselves in the club and rave culture, eventually becoming the most recognizable band of that drug-fueled scene." Learn more here.:www.allmusic.com

Here's an introduction to Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale via a review of their recent live performance in a small south London venue: www.theguardian.com -- Watch the quite interesting lobster-filled video for 'Wet Dream': youtu.be

The song was inspired in part by an old black-and-white movie, which was sort of a cult classic in Kate's family, titled "Night Of The Demon." The movie was about demons who hid waiting in trees - the song's opening line (in a male voice) "It's coming! It's in the trees!" is taken directly from the movie. -- Kate Bush: "The hounds of love are an image really, someone who's afraid of being captured by love; and the imagery is love taking the form of hounds that are hunting them, so they run away because they're afraid of being caught by the hounds and ripped to shreds."

A resident of Topanga Canyon for many years, Tim Booth wrote the lyrics of "Beautiful Beaches" in response to climate change migrations and the subsequent increasingly regular Californian fires bringing devastation to his community. It was inspired by a friend who lost his 'fire proof' home and had to flee for his life to the beaches. and a recurring vision Tim had last year of earthquakes and fires in California - a vision which resulted in his family packing up and leaving the Canyon. 'That life we left behind, we're racing down to those beautiful beaches'. --- James performed "Beautiful Beaches" live on television this past summer: www.youtube.com bit.ly

Happy 30th birthday to "Achtung Baby," released on this date in 1991.!: www.clashmusic.com -- "It is literally not possible that Achtung Baby came out 30 years ago. I remember buying it on CD! Am I really that old?!?!?! Thanks for putting things in context. U2 on that tour was one of my first concerts. Thanks for letting me remember! ❤️" -Julianne --

Beloved Scott Hutchison would have celebrated his 40th birthday tomorrow. A new book, "The Work," gathering his lyrics and artwork together for the first time, was released this week. The book has been described by the surviving band members as “a tribute to Scott’s unbridled creativity”.: www.nme.com

My good friend, Rob, and an amazing 5th grade teacher and father of two is in hospital recovering from heart surgery at UW. Would love to request Get Back for him - but I know you’re swamped with requests and I feel bad for playing the hospital card. He probably isn’t listening at the moment. But he’s off the ventilator! --Chris -- The Beatles famously performed this song from the rooftop of Apple Records on January 30, 1969, footage of which serves as the climax to their Let It Be documentary film. Knowing it would get shut down pretty quickly, the group kept mum about the performance, which was designed to promote the single and provide an ending for their film. They got in three takes of "Get Back" before police pulled the plug. The plan worked: Not only did they get their film ending, but the audio (including their banter) was used on various edits of "Get Back" to give it a live feel and add some character. At the end of this album version, we hear cheering, followed by McCartney saying, "Thanks Mo" in response to Ringo's wife, Maureen, who was clapping. Lennon then says, "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we've passed the audition." This part came from the live rooftop performance.

Want to see a 2016 live version of this classic song?: www.youtube.com

Andrew Eldritch wrote this song for ex-Gun Club bassist Patricia Morrison, who "always strikes me as a Lucrezia [Borgia]-type person." Morrison is playing bass on the song.

Dear John, I’m sure you have more than enough requests for the time you have left today. It’s taken me a while to feel up to writing about this. I was at the Idles show at Showbox Sodo last week. As the band walked on stage, I received a text that my dear friend Mark had passed away (he was 50) due to cardiac issues. Mark and I went to a ton of shows back in the day, including that Pearl Jam/Neil Young show at the Gorge you were carted out of. When I had a near death car crash, Mark was the first one I called to the hospital. He was generous and funny and just a really good guy who loved music. Especially live music. I was really looking forward to sharing Idles with him. As I looked around that night, all I could think was, “Mark would’ve loved this.” Just ran out of time. Call your loved ones! Anyway, could you please play Car Crash by Idles followed by Rearview Mirror by Pearl Jam? He would’ve understood. Thanks, Evan -- This song was the result of a car accident involving IDLES sing Joe Talbot. Watch the video for Car Crash here: www.youtube.com

Eddie Vedder often prepared for recording the album’s vocals by sleeping in his truck. Years later, Vedder would recall Vs. as “the [album] I enjoyed making the least,” in part because the Site, the secluded and lavishly appointed studio that Pearl Jam were working in, felt so removed from what he was trying to tap into with his lyrics. “I f**king hate it here,” he told Rolling Stone during the recording sessions. “How do you make a rock record here? Maybe the old rockers, maybe they love this. Maybe they need the comfort and the relaxation. Maybe they need it to make dinner music.” -- Here are more things you may not know about "Vs.": www.rollingstone.com

"Sounders," remember? --- Unlike many of the tracks on the album, this recording features the full line-up of the Experience with Hendrix, Noel Redding, and Mitch Mitchell. Hendrix also plays a makeshift kazoo made with a comb and tissue paper in tandem at points with his lead guitar, and backing vocals are performed by Redding along with Dave Mason.: bit.ly

This is the theme song for Kids in the Hall. -- What happened to this band?: www.forbes.com

Watch the King of Surf Rock, Dick Dale, performing the classic "Misirlou" LIVE in the KEXP studio back in 2009: www.youtube.com -- This legend died in 2019 at age 81: www.theguardian.com

Ennio Morcone, composer of this theme song, was a frequent collaborator with director Sergio Leone. Ennio Morricone's iconic theme music was designed in places to mimic the sound of a howling coyote. Originally, Morricone did not want to use the trumpet but Leone insisted. Along with the electric and acoustic guitars, and the "tarzan yell", the trumpet became the most distinctive part of the soundtrack.

Guitar, bass and drums were all played backward as part of the effects on this song that was way ahead of its time. Hendrix played the piano on this.

Lead singer Thom Yorke said about this aggressive-sounding track: "I have this thing... just before I get sick I'll have this 120 hour hyperactive mania and that song was recorded during one of those. I felt genuinely out of it when we did that. The vocal is one take and we didn't do anything to it afterwards. We tidied up my guitar because I was so out of it, my guitar playing was rubbish. My best vocals are always the ones that happen there and then."

R.I.P., Mick Rock -- Mick Rock was a British photographer. He photographed rock music acts such as Queen, David Bowie, T. Rex, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Sex Pistols, Ozzy Osbourne, The Ramones, Joan Jett, Talking Heads, Roxy Music, Thin Lizzy, Geordie, Mötley Crüe, and Blondie. Often referred to as "The Man Who Shot the Seventies", most of the memorable shots of Bowie as Ziggy Stardust were shot by Rock in his capacity as Bowie's official photographer. Among other works, Rock shot the cover to 1973’s Pin Ups, Rock directed videos for “Space Odyssey,” “Life on Mars?,” “Jean Genie” and “I’m Only Dancing.” Also shot Lou Reed’s Transformer and Coney Island Baby, Iggy and the Stooges’ Raw Power, Syd Barrett's The Madcap Laughs,,and Queen’s Queen II, which, in turn, inspired the visual for “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Born in 1948 in Hammersmith, London and during his time at Cambridge Rock picked up a friend's camera and started to take pictures of the local rock music scene, acquiring some friends and contacts along the way (including Cambridge native Syd Barrett and Mick Jagger's younger brother Chris). In 2001, when his book Psychedelic Renegades was being published, Syd Barrett autographed a series of 320 books. Rock lived in New York City on Staten Island with his wife and their daughter. Mick Rock was 72.

Go over to Sydney, Australia in 2013 to see Iggy Pop performing "Raw Power" live: www.youtube.com

Big Boi explained the song's title as being Southern slang for a "a girl that is superfine, bad, sexy, intelligent and jazzy all at the same time." -- According to producer Mr. DJ, the song's lyrics were inspired by a time when he, André 3000 and Big Boi were "reminiscing about old times." The song embellishes a night at Charles Disco, a real life club that the group used to break into during their high school days. André admitted that in reality, on the night the song revolves around, he got so drunk that he was unable to make it into Charles, and so everything that happened in the song "after that was made up."