EPIC 1976
- I Dont Want To Go Home
- Got to Get You off My Mind
- How Come You Treat Me So Bad
- The Fever
- Broke Down Piece of Man
- Sweeter Than Honey
- Fanny Mae
- It Aint The Meat
- I Choose To Sing The Blues
- You Mean So Much To Me
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LINER NOTES
by Bruce Springsteen
There were these guys…
There was this place called the Upstage Club, open 8 P.M. to 5 A.M. on Coolman Avenue in Asbury Park.
There were a lotta musicians there ’cause the bands that came down from North Jersey and New York to play in the Top 40 clubs along the shore would usualy end up their regular gig, along with a lotta different guys from the local areas. Everybody went there ’cause it was open later than the regular clubs and because between 1 and 5 in the morning you could play pretty much whatever you wanted, and if you were good enough, you could choose the guys you wanted to play with.
The Upstage was run by this beat type guy named Tom Potter who plastered the walls with black light an pin-ups and showed ’50s smokers to the kids in between the bands…
It was a great place. He’d slip you five or ten bucks to sit in, and you could work it so youô¤ never have to go home, ’cause by the time you you got out of there it was dawn and you could just flop on the beach all day, or you could run home before it got too light, nail the blankets over the window of your room, and just sleep straight through till the night.
There were these guys…
Mad Dog Lopez, Big Danny, Fast Eddie Larachi, his brother Little John, Magaret & The Distractions (house band), Black Tiny, White Tiny, Miami Steve, and assorted E Streeters, plus the heaviest drummer of them all, in terms of both, poundage and sheer sonic impact, Biiiiig Baaaaand Bobby Williams, badass king of hearts, so tough he’d go to the limit for you every time, all night. You will never see most of these names on another record besides this one, but nonetheless, they’re names that should be spoken in reference at least once, not ’cause they were great musicians (truth is, some of them couldn’t play nothin’ at all), but because they were each in their own way living spirit of what, to me, rock’n'roll is all about. It was music as survival, and they lived it down their souls, night after night. These guys were their own heroes, and they never forgot.
Southside Johnny… One of the weirdest guys I ever saw, He used to dress like my old man. He was definitely comin’ in from the outside. First time I saw him he was playin’ bass behind one of the early legends in Asbury, a guy named Sonny Kenn. Johnny was terrible.
This was a person that could not play the bass. But he could sing and play harp and he knew a lot about the blues. Once I talked to him, I realized he wasn’t as weird as he looked… he was weirder, and his general conversation consisted of insulting everyone within 59 feet. But he was the only white kid on the Jersey shore that you could stand to hear straight R&B five sets a night.
I brought up a lot of the past in these notes, and I hope Johnny don’t mind, but I think it’s time to bring it up before it’s lost forever, because I know pretty soon it’ll all be gone. So it’s time to speak the names of the lost soldiers, ’cause the music on this album – Johnnys music – is something that grew out of those friendships and the long summer nights when there was no particular place to go and nothing to do… except play.
All night long,
Bruce Springsteen
CREDITS
We’d like to thank Ronnie, Lee, Prince Philby Paparazzi, Gary D. Fonk, Cleveland Stevie Poperino & Maureen, Kim Kavanaugh, The King, Griff, Roy’s Rack, Paul (I can’t guarantee it’ll work) Prosciutto, Tony in the Mutton Room, the entire staff at R.P.S., Peter & Greg, Larry Love, Jerry The Cat, The Duke, Chicken Cutlet Phil, Brahma, Richie’s Place, & Penny. The covers (Ray, Solomon, Buster, Junior, Sam, Dave, & The Swallows), Dick & Mae, William & Mary, Little Sister, Billy My Brother whom I never slept with, Lesliecaster, The Kahuna, The Super-Novi Section (Tony, Kevin, Al), Joey (The Big P) Parente, Betty Francis, Billy (Jambalaya) Johnson, Lovely Christine, Tony Mother, Hungry Ed Sciaky, Davy Hughie, Chas, Mook, David The Shyster, Kid (why wait for the record?) Leo, The Eagle, Paul & David, Bud Nonchalantly, Mark The Chopper, Big Bobby, T & M Potter and Upstage Club which we will never forget no matter how hard we try, Bigger Bobby Boesch & Family, Mad Dog & The Shakes, Jack, Butch & the rest of the degenerates down at the Stone Pony; …without whose help we probably would have made the record anyway.
Special thanks to the Boss & the E Streeters for their friendship and support.
Southside Johnny, Miami Steve
Band Members
Southside Johnny – Harmonica and Lead Vocals
Kenny Pentifallo – Drums and Vocals
Kevin Kavanaugh – Keyboards and Vocals
Billy Rush – Guitar
Alan Berger – Bass
Carlo Novi – Tenor sax
with
Miami Steve – Guitar and Vocals
and the Miami Horns:
Rick Gazda – Trumpet (Mute solo on “It Ain’t The Meat”)
Deacon Earl Gardner – Trumpet & witness
Bob Malach – Tenor
Louie (The Lover) Parente – Trombone
Bill Zacagni – Baritone
(Hope you find a cure for that cough, fellas)
Strings:
Charles Parker – Violin 1
Robert Zelnick – Violin 1
Naomi Anner – Violin 2
Cathy Tait – Violin 2
Nardo Poy – Viola
Ken Dreyfus – Viola
plus
Revelation – Arnold McCuller, Arthur Freeman, Philip Ballou, Benny Diggs – Background Vocals on “The Fever”
The one and only (we hope) Selmon T. Sachs – Bass Vocal on “The Fever”
Ronnie appears courtesy of Tom Cat Records
Revelation appears courtesy of R.S.O. Records
Lee is on Epic and we want to thank Marshall Sehorn & Allen Toussaint for being so great
All arrangements by Southside Johnny & Miami Steve except “You Mean So Much To Me” and “The Fever” by Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny, Miami Steve, Strings arranged by Joe Parente & Miami Steve
All additional lyrics by Southside Johnny
Produced by Miami Steve
Mothered, Mixed & Mastered at The Record Plant, N.Y.C
Engineered by (Who else?) The fanominahl Jimmy Iovine – you should have stayed there
Incredibly assisted by Fast Fingers Dave Thoener -
who came through in the stretch
Photography – Mitchel Funk
Design – Paula Scher
Stylist – Bud Copeland