OLD SCHOOL #19 Fuzzy Memories

Professor Mikey's Old School

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OLD SCHOOL #19 Fuzzy Memories

Gloria Jones 1964, Shuggie Otis 1971, Fleetwood Mac 1969, Willie Mabon 1955, Wynonie Harris 1949, Joy Division 1980

Professor Mikey

Apr 22, 2022

Music finds us in all sorts of ways. Much of the time, the way we remember a song is related to how many times we heard it on the radio, on the stereo, on our Walkmans. Our boogie brains sort every thing in ways mystical and cerebral, and in a form we like to call Pavlov’s Playback, we get the reward by hearing the song exactly as we remember it with every little detail.

So entrenched is this phenomenon, when we hear the song by someone else, in a cover or perhaps original version, it’s like driving in England. Ultimately we will get where we are going, but the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

Today’s OLD SCHOOL is mostly like that, but they aren’t covers. They are either original or different versions of tunes that saw greater success with different players.

Gloria Jones created a classic decades before the Coneheads made it a signature song. One of The Brothers Johnson married a cousin of Shuggie Otis. Flipping through his bride’s vinyl, he discovered a tune destined for the pop charts seven years after teen Shuggie had originated it. Fleetwood Mac has a mind blowing version of “Black Magic Woman”—it certainly got the attention of Carlos Santana.

Willie Mabon and Wynonie Harris rocked before Rock and Roll was rolled out. And finally, Joy Division recorded a few versions of their greatest hit. I attempt to explain it in the podcast, so push PLAY.

Here is the playlist with some added features, including a beautiful but tainted video from Soft Cel.

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I think. But my memory is a bit fuzzy!