BAR NONE BAND

Bill Withers repeats the words "I know, I know" twenty-six times in his song "Ain't No Sunshine".  This was intended as a place holder until Withers wrote actual lyrics.  He never did.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" was written in answer to two Neil Young songs, "Southern Man" and "Alabama".  Both Young songs dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the American South, casting an unfavorable light on Alabama. The members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were from Florida.

"Misty" was used as the theme music for NBC-TV's Today Show throughout the 1960's before serving as the back-drop for the 1971 Clint Eastwood movie Play Misty For Me.

Future comedy star Chevy Chase was the drummer for two bands formed by Steely Dan founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, The Bad Rock Group and The Leather Canary.

In 1959, the BBC banned the The Coasters' U.S. hit, "Charlie Brown" from airplay because of its reference to "throwin' spitballs."  They eventually gave in to public demand and began playing the song.

John Fogerty originally intended "Proud Mary" to be a song about a domestic washerwoman. When he got around to putting the song to music, the first few chords he used reminded him of a paddle-wheel going around.  Proud Mary became a river boat.

"For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield got its title when Stephen Stills first played the song for the group, saying "Here's a new song I wrote, for what it's worth."

Cher was a background vocalist on the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling".

Jazz musicians of the 1930's referred to gigs as "apples."  New York City became "The Big Apple."

In the Eagles song "Hotel California", "Warm smell of colitas" is often interpreted as a flower or a sexual reference.  In fact, colitas is a Spanish word translated as "little buds" and refers to marijuana.  "They stab it with their steely knives" is a reference to Steely Dan.  The bands shared the same manager and Steely Dan referred to the Eagles in their song "Everything You Did."  The Eagles returned the favor.

While "Summertime" is generally credited to the song writing team of George and Ira Gershwin, it is more likely that it was written by DuBose Heyward, a Charleston, South Carolina insurance and real-estate salesman, who worked closely with the Gershwins on their opera Porgy and Bess.

Folkfore has it that Creedence Clearwater Revival took their name from John Fogerty's friend Norvel Creedence and Clearwater beer.  Clearwater beer was removed from the market for a time and re-introduced by another brewery.  The result: Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The lyrics "Sing with me, sing for the year" in the Aerosmith song "Dream On" is often misheard as "Sing women, sing for your heels."

"Deep Purple" was a favorite Bing Crosby song of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother.

Over 400 musicians applied for a part in The Monkees, including Stephen Stills, John Sebastian and Harry Nilsson.

Monkee Mike Nesmith’s mother, Bette Nesmith Graham invented Liquid Paper correction fluid.  She sold the rights to the Gillette Corporation in 1979 for 47.5 million dollars.

The Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield, took their stage name when an appreciative fan said about their music, "that's righteous, brothers".

The lead vocalist on "Incense and Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock was 16 year old Greg Munford, a friend of the band who was just hanging around during the recording session and decided to try his hand at singing.

The Yardbirds are noted for giving rise to three of Britain’s greatest guitarists:  Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top sport two of the longest beards in all of show business.  ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard is clean shaven.

In 1972, Led Zeppelin was forced to cancel a concert in Singapore when officials wouldn’t let them off the plane because of their long hair.

Gene Simmons of KISS has a tongue that is seven inches long….two inches longer than most men.

The Kingsmen’s “Louie, Louie” was written in 1955 by Richard Berry, who sold all rights to the song for $750.  In 1986, an artist’s rights group helped Berry collect around two million dollars in royalties.

Leo Gallagher, Jr., the comedian known simply as “Gallagher”, known for his “Sledge-o-matic” routine where he smashes a wide variety of things with a sledge hammer, is a former road manager for Seals and Crofts.

Cher’s very first recording was called “Ringo, I Love You” and was recorded under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.

Members of The Beach Boys sang background vocals for Chicago’s “Wishing You Were Here”.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel first sang together when they were in the sixth grade.

Don Mclean’s “American Pie” is the longest #1 hit in Rock history at 8 minutes and 32 seconds.

When Steve Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group in the summer of 1967, one of the rejected applicants to be auditioned was a young piano player named Reginald Dwight who later re-named himself, Elton John.

Lester William Polsfuss, known to the world as Les Paul, pioneered the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made “the sound of rock and roll” possible. He is credited with many recording innovations including overdubbing and multi-track recording. As a musician, his innovative fretting techniques, licks, and chording sequences changed the way the guitar is played. Les Paul passed away on August 13, 2009.

Toni Tennille, one half of the famous duo Captain and Tennille, is the only female credited with vocal work on Pink Floyd’s landmark album, “The Wall”. She also sang back up on several Elton John recordings including “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”.

According to Billboard, the first #1 song of the 1970’s in the U.S. was “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” by B.J. Thomas. The last #1 song of the decade was “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes.

It was falsely rumored that the James Taylor song “Fire and Rain” tells the story of the death of Taylor’s girlfriend in a plane crash. In truth, the first verse of the song is about the death of a friend, the second verse is about arriving in America and his struggle with depression, and the third verse is about his stay in a rehab center. The line “Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground” refers to the breakup of his band, The Flying Machines, as a result of his drug dependency.

The Beatles song “With A Little Help From My Friends”, was originally titled “Badfinger Boogie”. The first line went: “What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?”

The lyrics of the Guns ‘n’ Roses 1988 #1 hit “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” came from a poem Axl Rose wrote to his girlfriend, Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly of The Everly Brothers. Axl and Erin married in 1990, but divorced a month later.

The line “Get your money for nothing and your kicks for free” in the Dire Straits song “Money For Nothing” has been misheard as “Get your Mommy for nothing and your kids for free”.

Randy Bachman began writing “Takin’ Care of Business” while still a member of The Guess Who. Originally titled “White Collar Worker”, the song tells the story of a recording technician who worked on recordings for The Guess Who. The technician took the 8:15 am train to arrive at work by 9:00. “Takin’ Care of Business” was a #12 hit for Bachman-Turner Overdrive in 1973.

Ray Davies’ dirty guitar sound on the Kinks’ 1964 hit “You Really Got Me” was achieved by slashing the speaker cone on his amp with a razor blade. The vibration of the fabric produced an effect known as “fuzz”, which later became common as electronic devices were invented to distort the sound without ruining an amp.

The Chicago song “25 or 6 to 4”, released in 1970, refers to the time of day: 3:34 or 3:35 am (25 or 26 minutes to 4). Robert Lamm wrote the song after glancing at his watch sometime around 3:45 am during a long night of song-writing.

Rupert Holmes, often considered a “one hit wonder” for his 1979 song “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” won a Tony Award in 1985 for his Broadway play “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”. He created and wrote all 56 episodes of the 1996 American Movie Classics TV show Remember WENN and is the author of three mystery novels.

Due to a distribution dispute, The Troggs’ 1966 #1 single “Wild Thing” was available on two competing record labels: Atco and Fontana, making it the only single in history to simultaneously reach #1 for two companies.

“All Summer Long”, recorded by Kid Rock in 2008 is based on Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” and Lynyrd Skynryd’s “Sweet Home Alabama”. The idea to put the two songs together was suggested by noted record producer Mike E. Clark. Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist Billy Powell plays piano on the track, including a reprise of his famous piano solo at the end of “Sweet Home Alabama”. Billy passed away in early 2009.

Bruce Springsteen wrote Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s 1977 #1 hit, “Blinded By The Light”.

While performing Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops” in 1959, Ronald Isley spontaneously adlibbed “WELLLLLL….you know you make me want to SHOUT”. Rudy and O’Kelly joined in and the song “Shout” was born. The song was covered by Otis Day and The Knights in the 1978 movie Animal House starring John Belushi.