by Robert Wilkinson
We begin our Sunday celebrating the October 15 birthday of one of the pioneering guitarists in R&B and rock and roll, Mister Mickey Baker. Though he mostly played as a top session cat, he is known for one very big hit, as is Larry Chance of the Earls. And of course, Barry Maguire is also known for one big hit, written by the legendary PF Sloan, which actually changed the Constitution of the United States!
From Wikipedia: “MacHouston Baker (October 15, 1925 – November 27, 2012), known as Mickey Baker and Mickey “Guitar” Baker was an American guitarist. He is widely held to be a critical force in the bridging of rhythm and blues and rock and roll, along with Bo Diddley, Ike Turner, and Chuck Berry.”
”He did sessions with The Drifters, Ray Charles, Ivory Joe Hunter, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Coleman Hawkins, and numerous other artists. During this time, Baker (along with either Paramour Crampton or Connie Kay on drums, Sam “The Man” Taylor on tenor, and Lloyd Trotman on bass) played on numerous hit records on the Atlantic, Savoy, and King labels.”
”Inspired by the success of Les Paul & Mary Ford, he formed the pop duo Mickey & Sylvia (with Sylvia Robinson, one of his guitar students) in the mid-1950s. Together, they had a hit single with “Love Is Strange” in 1956.”
So today we celebrate the life and brilliant guitar work of a very obscure, but also very influential early force in rock and roll in the 50s, Mister Mickey Baker! He pioneered a thousand guitar licks copied by those who came after this seminal figure in rock and roll and rhythm and blues!
We’ll begin with a tune written by Bo Diddley that Mickey and Sylvia took to the top of the charts in 1956! Live on The Steve Allen Show, “Love Is Strange”
Here’s a huge score! It’s 7 minutes of live film footage of Mickey Baker with the Coleman Hawkins Quintet performing “South of France Blues”
From 1953 with the Drifters, “Money Honey”
From 1954 with Ruth Brown, "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean"
From 1954 with Big Joe Turner knocking out “Shake Rattle and Roll”
From 1955 with Little Willie John, “Need Your Love So Bad”
From 1955 with Big Maybelle, produced by Quincy Jones 2 years before Jerry Lee’s version, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On”From 1956, Mickey Baker whipping out some great guitar licks! “Spinnin’ Rock Boogie”
From 1956, with King Curtis on sax and Sammy Price on piano, kick up your heels to “Bar-be-Que Sauce”
From 1956, some fantastic guitar work by Mickey with Sylvia! “No Good Lover”
Originally released in 1957, our next offering finds Mickey and Sylvia performing “Dearest (Um Oh Yeah),” a song made huge by Buddy Holly that’s very close in both melody and chords to "Love is Strange."! For years there was no definitive songwriting credit for this song, but I just found a credit for Bob Gibson, Bo Diddley, and Prentice Polk. Many believe Buddy wrote this tune, and I’m inclined to believe he wrote it since it conforms to his style (think “Words of Love”) but you decide!
(To note, there was a lot of “cross pollination” in early rock and roll, like “You Can’t Catch Me,” written in 1956 by Chuck Berry and “You Can’t Judge A Book By Looking at the Cover,” written by Willie Dixon when they were both at the same studio. Very similar songs, so who’s to say who came up with what?)
Anyway, for your comparison, here's the Mickey and Sylvia version of “Dearest.” Here’s Buddy’s version! “Um Oh Yeah (Dearest)”
From 1957, Mickey and Sylvia’s studio version of “There Oughta Be A Law”
From 1957 with Louis Jordan, he’s the guitar on the 1957 album Somebody Up There Digs Me
From 1958, here’s Mickey ripping himself off in a song that’s very similar to “Love Is Strange” mixed with “Dearest.” “Bewildered”
From 1959, “Whistle Stop”
Also from 1959, with Sam Price, “Sammy Sings the Blues”
From 1960, “What Will I Do”
From 1961 with Ike and Tina Turner, “It’s Going to Work out Fine”
From 1961, Mickey and Sylvia groovin’ slow and easy! “Baby You’re So Fine”
The “B” or flipside of “Baby You’re So Fine,” “Love Drops”
From 1962, his guitar was all over this classic Dion hit! “Runaround Sue”
”From the Beginning of Time” has disappeared.
Here’s something he released in France in 1965, Mickey Baker and the Midnighters – “Spacewalk”
We’ll close today’s birthday tribute with something from 1975 in France, a b/w video of Mickey getting’ down! “Blues Before Sunrise”
Last year I had a 1969 clip of Mickey giving us a huge serving of funk titled “Popcorn Lesson,” but it’s disappeared. So instead, here’s 7+ minutes of Mickey and Memphis Slim live in France in 1968 giving us “Rockin the House,” “Animal in Me,” and “I’m Lost Without You.”
For our encore, a 31 minute concert live at the Sydney Opera House! Mickey Baker Live At the Sydney Opera House
To learn more about this guitar legend, here’s a 7 minute clip of “Big Bear Records honcho Jim Simpson” telling us about Mickey. The Story of Mickey Baker
Thanks for the licks across the years, Mickey. Sorry you felt you had to leave the US, but things were pretty funky if you were multiracial in America way back when. RIP.
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A slight intermission set features a one hit wonder! I just found out that October 19 is the birthday of Larry Chance (born Larry Figueiredo, October 19, 1940) of the Earls. Larry grew up with the Philly sound, then moved to the Bronx and hit doo wop gold with this Top 25 hit! From 1962, "Remember Then"
A few more, all in the style of the day! "Never", which we'll follow with "Life Is But A Dream," and the schmaltzy "I Believe"
The late 50s and early 60s doo wop sound of the New York to Philly area was really something!
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Our next birthday boy went to the top with one gigantic hit! Barry Maguire (October 15, 1935) originally came to fame with The New Christy Minstrels, and co-wrote and sang their biggest hit, “Green Green.” After he left that group, he struck gold with the PF Sloan song “Eve of Destruction.” Since I don’t have time for a comprehensive look at Barry’s career, we’ll settle for four big ones!
Straight out of the “new folk” era, here’s a rousing live performance by Barry of the very upbeat “Green Green”
From what looks to be the same hootenanny, “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore”
From the actual Hootenanny television show in 1963, here the NCM crank it up live with “This Train”
We now go to a great 1965 performance by Barry McGuire on Hullabaloo a song that got the world thinking, a harrowing smash hit as relevant today as it was 54 years ago! The song had just streaked to #1 on the charts with a bullet. This is PF Sloan’s most famous tune, one that actually changed the Constitution of the United States! The line “old enough to kill but not for votin’” led directly to the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. Too bad the song is still too relevant to take any comfort in how far we haven't come since 1965. “Eve of Destruction”
In the spirit of the "folk era," I affirm we will live to see "war no more."
Copyright © 2023 Robert Wilkinson
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