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Sweet Little Lisa
Way back in May 2015, the MLT supported guitar legend Albert Lee at the City Variety Hall in Leeds. Yes folk, Elvis isn’t dead. He lives on through the MLT. Just how good is this?
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19 Replies
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Albert Lee – “Sweet Little Lisa“ Published on 19 May 2008, exactly 12 years ago.
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Howard, some great guitar work in Albert Lee’s “Sweet Little Lisa”, and a catchy tune too with the Chuck Berry inspired lead in. I like it.
The Elvis “That’s All Right Mama” attests to Lisa’s incredibly versatile lead vocals to sound so good and do an Elvis song justice, maybe even better than Elvis himself! 🙂 From Elvis, to Janis Joplin, to Beatles “She’s Leaving Home”, Lisa’s vocal depth and versatility is remarkable.
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I can’t remember exactly, but it would have been around 1979, I saw a UK band called Rockpile, consisting of the musicians Dave Edmunds, vocals, piano and guitar, Nick Lowe, vocals and bass, Bill Bremmer, guitar and backing vocals and Terry Williams, drums. It was at a venue called ‘Cloudland Ballroom’ in Brisbane, an historic building with a National Trust Listing. Despite this, and even without a permit, it was demolished in 1982 (in the middle of the night), to make way for apartment buildings. An appalling act as this was the best venue of its type in the country and the best in the Southern Hemisphere when it was completed in 1940.
The following is from Dave Edmunds’ 1979 album, “Repeat When Necessary”.
Dave Edmunds – “Sweet Little Lisa (feat. Albert Lee)
See if you can spot the extras in the video: Graham Parker, Phil Lynott and Huey Lewis.
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Gotta Luv that rendition of That’s Alright Mama, although I think it was written by someone else and recorded prior to Elvis doing so, if my memory serves me correct in reading that somewheres as I was trying to recall one time what exactly was the proper song title as I’ve heard it as both: ” Its Alright Now Mama” or ” Its Alright”… or by something else…always loved it as a kid in the 70s, the track was constantly repeated to be played by me on my late Mom’s 8 track tape, and off one of Elvis albums in her record collection of sorts of sorts, that she owned, which my second oldest bro took to add to his own collection after she got sick, we got rid of 8 Track player stereo, and 8 track tapes long before…but that Elvis 8 track was a constant with me…and Mom and her friend, who was also our neighbour across the road at time, they both cried and celebrated liquid cheers wise of Elvis’ memories on the day he died …
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Hi Jacki. The song was written by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and originally recorded by him in Chicago on September 6, 1946, as “That’s All Right”. Some of the lyrics are traditional blues verses first recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in 1926. Crudup’s recording was released as a single in 1947 on RCA Victor, but was less successful than some of his previous recordings. At the same session, he recorded a virtually identical tune with different lyrics, “I Don’t Know It”, which was also released as a single (RCA Victor 20-2307). In early March 1949, the song was rereleased under the title “That’s All Right, Mama” (RCA Victor 50-0000), which was issued as RCA’s first rhythm and blues record on their new 45 rpm single format, on bright orange vinyl.
Elvis Presley’s version was recorded in July 1954. After Elvis started playing around in Sam Phillips studio and played the song faster than the original. Its catalogue number was Sun 209. The label reads “That’s All Right” (omitting “Mama” from the original title), and names the performers as Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill.
Paul McCartney with Scotty Moore.
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Thankyou Howard for filling me on thrpe background info, as I knew I wasn’t hallucinating and had indeed read/seen about this somewheres, you’ve provided the missing links and now it all comes together, btw, Vince Gill does a nice rendition of this song.?
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In that Dave Edmunds video, not familiar with the other 2 individuals, but noticed a very young Huey Lewis there. I preferred the Albert Lee arrangement version of Sweet Little Lisa.
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I preferred the Albert Lee arrangement version of Sweet Little Lisa too Jung. However, I can understand your not being aware of Graham Parker, being more into harmony boy bands, I don’t imagine punk/new wave would be your cup of tea.
“The Mona Lisa’s Sister is a 1988 album by Graham Parker. It was Parker’s first album for RCA following an acrimonious split with Atlantic and the first he produced himself (with Brinsley Schwarz). The “stripped-down” sound of the album garnered critical acclaim and presaged a back-to-basics trend in rock music in the 1990s.
Parker and the Rumour gained a following in Australia thanks to the support of community radio (4ZZZ, 3RRR), Sydney independent rock station Double Jay (2JJ) and the ABC’s weekly pop TV show Countdown, which gave the group nationwide exposure. They made their first tour there in 1978, where they spotted rising Australian band The Sports, who subsequently supported Parker and the Rumour on their early 1979 UK tour. The group made a second Australian tour in late 1979, when Parker appeared on Countdown as a guest presenter.”
Yes, Graham Parker had a significant following in Australia, but who wears sunglasses at night? Well we may have to ask Corey Hart that question!
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Lol at Howard…In fact to answer your Corey Hart sunglasses at night quip, why yes, yes he did in concert last June when he was on tour with my fave Canadian band buddies Glass Tiger and did that song. That was the first time I had ever seen our Candian icon Corey play live…I’ve always liked his stuff but never went to any of his concerts…,until he did the gig in Ottawa last year in June, great show….one of his daughters, Dante Hart is a singer-songwriter herself.????
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As for Phil Lynott –
“Philip Parris Lynott (/ˈlaɪnət/, LY-nət; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish singer, musician, and songwriter. His most commercially successful group was Thin Lizzy, of which he was a founding member, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist and bassist. He was known for his imaginative lyrical contributions including working class tales and numerous characters drawn from personal influences and Celtic culture.”
Thin Lizzy – “The Boys Are Back in Town”, Sydney Opera House 1978 (with Gary Moore)
Once when questioned how he could be black and Irish at the same time, he replied, “you’ve heard of Guinness, right?”
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Yeah, not much punk or new age, though I do remember liking some of Billy Idols stuff in he 80s. I favoured the hard rockers like AC/DC, Def Leppard, and Van Halen in those days. Got into a little ZZ Top too.
Since we are doing Cory Hart and some 80s videos:
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Not New AgeJung, but New Wave. The following is a synopsis from Wikipedia:
”By the end of 1977, “new wave” had replaced “punk” as the definition for new underground music in the U.K
new wave artists were anti-corporate and experimental (e.g. Ramones and Talking Heads). At first, most U.S. writers used the term “new wave” exclusively in reference to British punk acts.
In the U.S., many of the first New Wave groups were the not-so-punk acts associated with CBGB (e.g. Talking Heads, Mink DeVille and Blondie), as well as the proto-punk scene in Ohio, which included Devo, the electric eels, Rocket from the Tombs and Pere Ubu. Some important bands, such as Suicide and the Modern Lovers, debuted even earlier.
New wave is much more closely tied to punk, and came and went more quickly in the United Kingdom (and in the rest of Western Europe) than in the United States. At the time punk began, it was a major phenomenon in the United Kingdom and a minor one in the United States. Thus when new wave acts started getting noticed in America, punk meant little to the mainstream audience and it was common for rock clubs and discos to play British dance mixes and videos between live sets by American guitar acts.
Post-punk music developments in the UK became mainstream and were considered unique cultural events. By the early 1980s, British journalists largely had abandoned the term “new wave” in favor of subgenre terms such as “synthpop”. By 1983, the term of choice for the U.S. music industry had become “new music”, while to the majority of American fans it was still a “new wave” reacting to album-based rock
The British pub rock scene of the mid-1970s was the source of new wave acts such as Ian Dury, Nick Lowe, Eddie and the Hot Rods and Dr. Feelgood. Singer-songwriters who were “angry” and “intelligent” and who “approached pop music with the sardonic attitude and tense, aggressive energy of punk” such as Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Graham Parker were also part of the new wave music scene. These artists were often referred to as “angry young men” for their aggressive style.
New wave died out after the mid-1980s, knocked out by guitar-driven rock reacting against new wave.”
A favourite album of mine from the New Wave era was “Ocean Rain” by Echo & The Bunnymen. This is the top ten UK hit from the album.
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Was never big on New Wave or punk or heavy rock much…lol….as in Metallica, etc, The Cure, Sid n Nancy…etc…just not my thing back then, whatever my older brothers and parents and relatives listened to, that’s what influenced me, and then once into mybteen yrs in the 80s….well, it was Duran2, Glass Tiger, still what my family enjoyed music wise as well….fast fed to today, MLT / GT/ Amy Winehouse, Old school country , etc…..still not much into the newer stuff out there, or metal , heavy rock, etc.,….I know, I have eclectic music tastes…if I like/love something, I’m loyal to it….??☮
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I too never explored all those types of music that were floating around in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I actually didn’t listen to much music at all then. Very few songs on the radio appealed to me, and I wasn’t asking friends for suggestions, and there was no other way to sample anything for free. If you had pressed me, I probably would have said that I liked doo-wop and Barry Manilow.
With regard to punk, I just observed those spiky Mohawks that Jung alluded to and said to myself, “If the type of mind that thinks that’s a good look also thinks that punk is good music, then I guess there’s not much point in checking it out.” The videos that Howard posted have been my first exposure to it, and I have to say that it’s not at all the vile concoction that I had imagined.
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