Rock Group the Cranberries and my Late Friend Jim.

Recently I’ve been hearing a song by the Cranberries. “Dreams” stands out for several reasons, first I remember it only played on certain stations as like an “indie band”. And not played very often.  It wasn’t on the Top 40 stations or on Casey’s countdowns.

Second back in 1999 or 2000, my late friend, Jim Cendrowski, was telling me about this great new band he heard on a coworkers tape player /CD player.

I can’t for the life of me remember how he described the music or the band but I said sounds like the Cranberries and they weren’t new.  He couldn’t believe I was familiar with them. Their two single were in 1993 so not new by any standards. 

At his memorial I mentioned his favorite groups. Lobo, Lynyrd Skynyrd s- Free Bird from the 70’s, John Mellencamp from the 80’s and Bare Naked Ladies and the Cranberries from the 90’s. 

Third item: the Cranberries songs Dreams and Linger are played more now than in 1993 and on more station genres than ever. 

I think of James Cendrowski often when certain songs come on. Miss you  Jim, and your antics and your company chasing frogs, bugs and mantids.  I was telling the younger Metroparks naturalists how you and I were some of the early Frog Monitoring volunteers back in the 1990’s before the early onset Alzheimer’s showed up in 2002 to eventually take his life at 48. 

He passed in February 2004.

RIP Jim. I understand your buddy Larry “bird” Lutz, RIP ,has recently joined you. And the lead singer of the Cranberries ,Delores   O’Riordan, RIP, has joined you. 

Copyright 2024

Gary J. Lovell

Dreams:

Linger:

.

In Memorial of Jim Cendrowski

February 6, 2024 is the twenty year anniversary of James( Jim) Cendrowski, my long time friend. I miss you and it’s more pronounced when frog season and chirping insect season comes around. So I am posting this even if you don’t know him. Some of the photos and videos may give a glimpse of how crazy, demented and ingenious he was. RIP .

I finally found the Home movie video I put together for my long time friend Jim Cendrowski. In honor the anniversary of his passing Feb 6th, 2004, I am posting this 2 hour plus of videos.   They were taken from Bell and Howell wind up 8 mm camera, and later video camcorders from 1986 and 1987 till 2002. We met when I was in 5th grade through a classmate Dale Smith because he knew each of us liked turtles, snakes and bugs and rock music. So for 30 plus years we chased mantises, frogs, water bugs etc. Jim passed away a few years before Facebook and Youtube. He would have loved both, and I am sure would have had tons of videos on line. I wish we could find his home movies (stolen in 1983) and his videos he had taken years later. But oh well here is some of his antics on my videos and photos online now.

Copyright 2024

Gary J. Lovell

RIP Jim

Link to Flickr Photos :

https://www.flickr.com/gp/glovell2008/64R71x513S

Home Movies compilation for his memorial(may still be blocked by YouTube copyright claims): 

Check out videos of Jim on my YouTube channel:

https://youtube.com/@glovell1?si=5Thxx5nncG863au4

Strangest Love Song?

As love songs go Les Emmerson (may he rest in peace, I just found out he passed away in 2021) and the Five Man Electrical Band had a strange one. But this Canadian Band has had some real diverse subjects in their five hit singles. 

I have thought of this before but it coagulated recently when I heard their really unusual love song. 

       We all have heard the band before because of their classic, iconic, appropriate, “protest” song: “Signs”. 

A song just as  relevant in 1971, in 1990 when Tesla covered it and now:

https://youtu.be/oeT5otk2R1g?si=aZwJ0vUKmtinbiYd .

Tesla’s acoustic version:

https://youtu.be/epbOHloSpZM?si=v6g8B-eSFE2S-xaa) .

Never have I noticed so many odd subjects from one band. You are absolutely right there are songs about aliens, werewolves and signs.  The follow up to Signs was ” Absolutely Right”.  About a guy who admitted to his significant other that she was “absolutely right, you were right all along”. Certainly not something men readily admit, lol. It reached Hot 100 No. 26 in 1971.

https://youtu.be/iJUReTLNNYA?si=e8kp1EszzV4RF5Gk .

Then there’s the writer/singer as an alien in the song “I’m a Stranger Here”.  A very profound song in 1973 alluding to our care of “the little blue planet third from the sun”.  Reached No. 76 in 1973.

https://youtu.be/CeVhhHRDcQU?si=1S4gOV4PDGG2vH6D .

In 1974, their last run up the Top 100, at No. 64, their spooky song called “Werewolf”. 

You have to listen to that one:

https://youtu.be/XHTc5n8aY-g?si=HNrgtIJxEDKwNwYE .

Now to the song “Money Back Guarantee”. A subject you would expect when buying something or a service, not a as rock love song.

 I like the music and I sang the chorus for decades. After two verses about “10 day trials” and money back guarantees on a car and a guy “peddlin’a a gadget”, he sings “it’s hard to believe this is my love song, only hope it didn’t take too long”.

So check out the creative mind of Les Emmerson in these songs. Enjoy.

Money Back Guarantee:

Money Back Guarantee reached No.  72 in 1972. 

All Billboard Chart data from Joel Whitburn’s book Top Pop Charts. Copyright 2009

Copyright 2023

Gary Lovell

They Don’t Write ’em Like That Anymore –(with apologies to Greg Kihn) Memorable And Classic Rock Lyrics

 They Don’t Write ’em Like That Anymore  (from The Breakup Song- Greg Kihn Band 1981)

             Memorable And Classic Rock Lyrics 

Inspired by the Jim Croce song “You don’t Mess Around With Jim” . After all these years I finally understood what he sang–” don’t tug on Superman’s Cape, Don’t spit into the wind, and don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger.”

So I checked out some others mostly by memory, so might not be exact. Enjoy. See if you agree.

1. Some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground – Deep Purple             Smoke on the Water 1973

2.Pick up the babies , grab the old ladies and everyone goes- Neil Diamond         Brother Loves  Travelin’ Salvation Show  1969

3. Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good friend of mine… -Three Dog Night     Joy to the World. 1971

4. Got seven woman on my mind ,  four that want to stone me,  2 that want to own me ,   one  says she’s a friend of mine.- The  Eagles   Take It Easy   1972

5. Hey Won’t you  Play  Another somebody  done somebody  Wrong Song  – B.J. Thomas      title   1975

6. Who  owns this car, with the peace sign, mag wheels and four on the Floor ? –  Charlie Daniels    Uneasy Rider 1973

7. What’s wrong with your eyes? I said I don’t know I was just chewin’ on a weed… – Jim Stafford    Wildwood  Weed 1974

8. I’m gonna hear some funky dixieland… The Doobie Brothers- Black Water 1974

9. Hey Mon , follow your daughter home- The Guess Who       Follow Your Daughter Home 1973

10. We’ll be on the front smiling man awww beautiful – Dr Hook and the Medicine Show      Cover of the Rolling Stone 1973

11. I’m a joker , I’m a smoker,  I’m a midnight toker… The Steve Miller Band   The Joker   1973

12. I am a walrus… – The Beatles   1967

13. You ain’t seen nothing yet- Bachman-Turner Overdrive    title 1974

14. I Ain’t even got a garage you can call home and ask my wife- Charlie Daniels    Uneasy Rider  1973

15. Taking care of business.. every day– BTO  title  1974

16. ….. there’s a Bad moon on the rise ( there’s a bathroom on the right)? – Creedence Clearwater   Revival     Bad Moon Rising  1969

17. Whiskey for my men, beer for my Horses- Toby Keith and Willie Nelson     Beer for My Horses 2003

18. That ain’t working , that’s the way you do it, money for nothing and your chicks for free- Dire Straits               Money for Nothing  1985

19. 25 or 6 to 4- Chicago   title 1970

20. 867-5309 -Tommy Tutone   title 1982

21. I dig snow and the rain and the bright sunshine – Tommy James    Dragging the Line  1971

22. Inna Godda da vida- Iron Buttterfly    title 1969

23. Knee deep in the hoopla- Starship    We Built This City 1985

24. I’ve got my head, my bed and my red guitar- Tommy James    Gotta Get Back to You  1970

25. Dude looks like a Lady – Aerosmith   title  1987

26. Long cool woman in a black dress….  – The Hollies    title 1972

27. Got my big ten inch record – Aerosmith   1975

28. Kicking and a gouging in the mud, the blood and the beer- Johnny Cash      Boy Named Sue  1969

29. I gotta go to the can man …- Cheech and Chong        Sister Mary Elephant 1972

30. I’ve got friends in low places-   Garth Brooks 1990

31. Teach your children  well,   their fathers hell.. – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young    Teach Your Children 1970

32. Keep on using me till you use me up.. – Bill Withers  Use Me 1972

33. 10 -4 backdoor, put the metal to the metal, whatcha waiting for… –  Cledus Maggard and the Citizen’s Band  -the White Knight 1976

34. All over the road .. technicolor man. – Loudon Wainwright  III     Dead Skunk 1973

35. Life is what happens to you  while you’re busy making  other plans – John Lennon  Beautiful Boy 1980

36. I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then  – Bob Seger      Against the Wind  1980

37. …….”don’t go where the huskies go & don’t you eat that yellow snow.  Frank Zappa  (contr by Richard Hunt)

38. I don’t have digital, I don’t have diddly squat.    –Sheryl Crow Soak Up the Sun 2002

39. The ocean is like a desert with it’s life underground.  etc…. Horse with No Name -America 1972

40. He Ain’t Heavy , He’s My Brother – The Hollies -title 1970

41. A smile is just a frown turned upside down.  The Undisputed Truth,     Smiling Faces-   1971

42. Evil grows in cracks and holes and lives in peoples minds -The Poppy Family           Evil Grows – 1971

43. Cats in the cradle and the silver Spoon ..   – Harry Chapin   1974  Cats in the cradle

44. My get up and go must’ve got up and went. – Aerosmith   Sweet Emotion -1975

45. you can spend all you time makin’ money. You can all your love making time ????         -The Eagles  Take it to the Limit – 1975-76

46. So oftentimes it happens  that we lives our  life in chains and we never even know we have the key. – The Eagles     Already Gone 1974

47. Chewing on a piece of grass, walking down the road…   – America    Ventura Highway  1972

48. Spill the wine , dig that girl….    Spill the Wine – Eric Bourdon and WAR 1970

49. Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we’re finally on our own…. four dead in Ohio.   Ohio – Crosby Stills, Nash and Young 1970

50. You can’t please everyone so ya got to please yourself- Rick Nelson 1972

51. That you Don’t Know what  you got til it’s gone, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot . They took all the trees and put in a tree museum and they charged the people a dollar an a half just to see ’em.        Big YellowTaxi– Neighborhood and Joni Mitchel 1970, Amy Grant 1995, and Counting Crows and Venessa Carlton 2003

52. Stop and smell the roses along the way.  Mac Davis 1974

53. We all live in  a Yellow Submarine.  Beatles  1967

54. Fifty Ways to Leave your Lover- Paul simon 1976

55. Fifty Ways to Say Goodbye -Train 2012

56. You Can’t always get What you Want- Rolling Stones 1971

57. Don’t tug on supeman’s cape, don’t spit into the wind, don’t take the mask off the old lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Jim. You        Don’t  Mess Around with Jim    Jim Croce 1972 

58. They Don’t Write ’em Like That Anymore — title Greg Kihn Band 1981

 To new to be Classic but is weird

I’ll catch a Grenade for you – Bruno Mars 2013

 *******    All or nearly all lyrics in these songs *******************

1. American Pie- Don McLean 1972

2. Stairway to Heaven – Led Zepplin 1973

3. Freebird- Lynyrd Skynyrd

4. Gimme Three Steps- Lynyrd Skynyrd

5. Money – Pink Floyd 1973

6. Woodstock- CSN&Y , Joni Mitchell 1970 Joni Mitchell writer

7. Horse with No Name – America 1972

8. Undun- The Guess Who 1969

9. No Sugar Tonight /New Mother Nature-  The Guess Who 1970

10. Hand Me Down World-The Guess Who 1970

11. Share the Land- The Guess Who

12. Band on the Run- Paul Mcartney and Wings 1974

13. Turn the Page – Bob Seger 1975

14. Beautiful Boy- John Lennon 1980

15. Against the Wind – Bob Seger 1980

16. Blinded by the Light- Bruce Springsteen and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band 1975 and 1976

17. First Cut is The Deepest-Cat Stevens, Keith Hampshire, Rod Steward or Sheryl Crow

18. Will it Go Round in Circles?-  Billy Preston most of song/ 1973

19. And When I Die – Blood,Sweat and Tears 1969

20. Flowers on the Wall- Statler Brothers 1965  (maybe not Rock but top 40)

21. The Curlie Shuffle- Jump in the Saddle 1984      

Copyright 2014

Gary Lovell