LobsterLvr

By chance this live cover showed up today in my YouTube feed. It's pretty darn good! Definitely gets my vote for one of the better live, bar band covers of GATW:

It's not how many candles you have on your cake, it's how many people you've touched in your life. And you, sir, have touched us all. Have a fun one, Eric! Dave

From what I know about Arizona: sunny and hot.

Ugh. Bad use of a good song. And totally agree...terrible tagline. (said the guy who's written more than his fair share of terrible taglines!)

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes - It Hurts Too Much

I smiled along with every painful moment. It kinda reminds me of when I see someone jogging funny. I want to laugh...but then I realize, at least he/she is out there running!! dave

Nah....that's not even close to a Raspberries song. I see that you asked for a "rocker", so yes, conceptually, it nailed it. But I can't imagine any of them writing "unleash my rage", "raising hell, etc. It's more of a cliche 'anthem rock' lyric. So in this case the win goes to: 'Bryson/Carmen/Smalley'. Not ChatGPT. Dave

Do they actually make any coin off it? The whole musician 'rights' thing is murky. Eric sold his rights to the songs (as a songwriter)...but do he and the boys still make anything from playing the insturments and singing on GATW or any of their other songs if they appear in TV, movies, etc?

Loved every minute of this! What a nice guy, and a joy to listen to. Dave

Rhonda B, my radio career was short-lived. For the most part I worked as a salesman (selling radio time for local stations). I totally sucked at that! But I was pretty good at writing catchy radio commercials, which is how I transitioned to being an advertising copywriter. If you've seen MadMen, you've seen how copywriters and art directors (like Bernie) work together to come up with crazy, motivating advertising ideas. That's what I've been doing for over 40 years now. Even though Bernie and I both worked in NYC at some pretty cool ad shops, he and I never worked together, but something tells me we would've been a great team...and a Raspberries/Carmen song would have definitely been featured in one of our spots.

Rhonda B, my radio career was short-lived. For the most part I worked as a salesman (selling radio time for local stations). I totally sucked at that! But I was pretty good at writing catchy radio commercials, which is how I transitioned to being an advertising copywriter. If you've seen MadMen, you've seen how copywriters and art directors (like Bernie) work together to come up with crazy, motivating advertising ideas. That's what I've been doing for over 40 years now. Even though Bernie and I both worked in NYC at some pretty cool ad shops, he and I never worked together, but something tells me we would've been a great team...and a Raspberries/Carmen song would have definitely been featured in one of our spots.

This particular version of ABM was the highlight of my weekends back in 1978. Back then I was the Saturday and Sunday, midnight to 6am announcer at Syracuse's beautiful music station. The station was completely automated. My job was to change the reel-to-reel tapes and to say stuff like "On FM 93, WNTQ, we just heard Ray Conniff and the Orchestra with "Somewhere My Love". It was boring as sh*t, until, one day, a new tape came in with ABM on it! That night (and every time ABM showed up in rotation) I proudly worked Eric's name into my follow-ups. Something like; "On FM 93, WNTQ, we just heard singer, songwriter Eric Carmen's All By Myself beautifully performed by James Last and His Orchestra....it's 14 below zero here in Syracuse...yadda, yadda, yadda..." Dave

Great topic! First let me say, I love them both, but when asked to choose, I'm going with ICR. For me, it comes down to the lyrics. I've always loved ICR's lines "...the love long locked inside of me has finally been set free." and "I need you to be the other half of me." On the other hand most of the lyrics in Run Away try too hard to be thoughtful and deep, and then are totally un-done by what I think are Eric's worst cringe-worthy words ever " Got to run away, till I prove that I'm a man....to be the best I know I can." So in the battle of the opus's, my vote goes to ICR! Dave

Glad to see they attributed the song to Eric, and not Celine.

A different approach.... Days and Nights Set Desperate Fools/Sunrise Medley (love that idea!) Someday Tonight Me, Myself and I Set I Wanna Be With You Fooling Myself All By Myself The She Set My Girl She Did It Cindy In The Wind Hey Deannie Body Parts Set Change of Heart I Wanna Hear it From Your Lips Hungry Eyes Hands On You If You Change Your Mind (segways into next song) The “I Can’t Take It Anymore” Set Runaway I Don’t Know What I Want It Hurts Too Much The Love & Sexy Set All For Love Let’s Pretend Go All The Way

Janis Ian's "At Seventeen" is sure to make my bridge jumper top 10 playlist. It actually hit #3 on the Billboard Charts. Dave

Ha! I love this version! Totally listenable...in an 80's kinda way. I closed my eyes for most of the video, and just listened. It gets my vote!

I'm a big fan of REWOUND RADIO. Knowing our love of powerpop and top 40 music of the 60's and 70's I think you will, too.. This week the station is counting down EVERY song voted for to compile their annual Top 77 songs of all time survey. Yes....over the next week they will play EVERY song voted for. Right now (3:15 Eastern on 12/26), they are counting down the Top 77. They just played GATW. It came in at #38....about the same spot as last year. Between now and Jan 2 they'll be playing the widest variety of oldies...some you haven't heard in years. It's a blast to listen to...and it's commercial free! IWBWY, Let's Pretend will definitely get played (cuz I voted for 'em!!), along your favorite forgotten oldies as well. Tune in and enjoy! Happy holidays! Dave. http://rewoundradio.com/

Little did I know he'd still be selling out venues 17 years later! Well done Sir Reginald....but I'm still not a fan of "Bennie and the Jets".

I'm raising my hand! Happy to cover this year's cost.

I like his take on it!

Nice, but the photo at the :40 mark is gonna give me nightmares!

15 days of WINNING!!! (zero days of knowing how to Photoshop).

Another Connecticut EC/Berries fan checkin' in! Can't let the day go by without saying "Happy Birthday, Eric!"

It's too bad Eric didn't write it. So how does that work? Frankie Previte gets his rightful share....but how are singers like Eric compensated? (BTW...fun fact...Frankie Previte's father sang at my first wedding in 1979. He was in the choir at my ex's church in Highland Park, NJ. He had a great voice. We hired him to sing "And I Love You So." )