#bobby day

Vote for the "name" song you prefer!

Propaganda for "Rockin' Robin": none Defeated Opponents: "Mary Mack" - Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy

A wordy little raven at the bird’s first dance Taught him how to do the bop, and it was grand. They started going steady and bless my soul - He out-bopped the buzzard and the oriole.

Brownsville Station: No B.S. (1970)

On their first long-player, No B.S., released in 1970 through indie label Palladium Records (but distributed by major Warner Bros.), Brownsville Station were little more than ‘50s rock & roll revivalists -- their sole ambition seemingly to re-arrange and re-record rock’s formative canon for a new generation of fans.

Or maybe simply for their own enjoyment?

In any case, the group was launched in 1969, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Michael Lutz (lead vocals, guitar), Michael ‘Cub’ Koda (lead guitar, vocals), Tony Driggins (bass, vocals) and T.J. Cronley (drums); their name an obvious tip-of-the-hat to in-state rivals Grand Funk Railroad.

But whereas Grand Funk were busy traversing popular music’s late ‘60s mutation from psychedelia to hard rock and metal, Brownsville were simply having a good time: quickly building a local following with their high-energy, party-like shows and all-too-familiar, vintage sounds.

Indeed, No B.S. finds the quartet on a mission to catalog every possible ‘50s stereotype (*), via Lutz and Koda originals such as “Blue Eyed Girl” (the innocent teen lament), “Do the Bosco” (Saturday night at the drive-in), and “Cadillac Express” (surf rock-injected driving music).

Why, the standout “Guitar Train” goes one better by literally blending Little Richard’s “Good Golly Miss Molly” (he’s even mentioned in the lyrics, along with “Maybellene”) with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Travellin’ Band”!

In fact, such is the band’s commitment to guiltlessly reworking the classics that by the time they indulge in actual covers of Gene Vincent’s “Be-Bop Confidential,” Bobby Day’s “Rockin’ Robin,” Bo Diddley’s “Roadrunner,” and Gene Pitney’s “Hello, Mary Lou,” one can hardly tell the difference.

If anything, the quartet’s down-to-earth, no-fuss approach is what ties it all together, and a closing, “Whole Lotta Love”-like hard rock version of Link Wray’s “Rumble” (listen for Koda, exhorting his band mates to “play it right”) takes that intensity to another level.

Along with “City Life” -- a bluesy rocker with girl backup singers -- and the album’s self-effacing comic book cover art, everything here made it obvious, that Brownsville Station was a band that would never take itself too seriously ... but their loyal fans would.

That being said, No B.S. clearly didn’t sell enough copies to meet Warner’s expectations, because the group would spend much of ‘71 without a label, before signing on with the illustrious (not!) Big Tree Records for the next few years and their career defining albums.

* Possibly inspired, in part, by the MC5’s Back in the U.S.A.?

all this to get to this gem-

My dad: One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready now go go go rockin robin!!

Me: is that..?

My mom: I think you're maybe combining two songs

My dad:

-early rock n roll

ain’t that a shame-fats domino

blue suede shoes-carl perkins

great balls of fire-jerry lee lewis

hound dog-elvis presley

i’ve got a woman-ray charles

jailhouse rock-elvis presley

let’s twist again-chubby checker

no particular place to go-chuck berry

rockin’ robin-bobby day

roll over beethoven-chuck berry

school day-chuck berry

splish splash-bobby darin

summertime blues-eddie cochran

twenty flight rock-eddie cochran

(we’re gonna) rock around the clock-bill haley & his comets

whole lot of shakin’ going on-jerry lee lewis