DAVID JOHANSEN "I Can't Be Wastin' Time"

We don’t go in much for posthumous tributes, here at JOKONKY ENTERPRISES.  We prefer to send the artists we love flowers while they’re alive.  But David Johansen is an artist who deserves one.

Devo considered themselves pioneers who got scalped, and that was the case with Johansen & The New York Dolls.  They were progenitors of punk, and glam rock.  Their audacious approach, musically & visually, influenced thousands of bands who were successful worldwide--while falling short of that level of success themselves.  Joe Strummer often cited The New York Dolls as a major influence, as did many of the first wave of punks—& the hair-bands of the 80’s.

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler was closely watching Johansen when both bands were in their infancy.  Tyler lifted the androgyny, the scarves on the mic stand, and even married Johansen’s ex-wife Cyrinda Foxe.  And yet I never heard Johansen speak ill of him—which is only one of the reasons I admire him.

Johansen could do everything Tyler did—but Tyler couldn’t have pulled off a fraction of what Johansen accomplished if he'd lived four lifetimes.  And (as was said about Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers) Johansen did everything Tyler did backwards and in high heels.  

Whenever Tyler & his band presented a chance for a side-by-side comparison, they always fell short.  Compare the tracks on their blues album Honking On Bobo to David Johansen’s work with The Harry Smiths--or Aerosmith backing Jimmie Page & Robert Plant to Johansen playing with Hubert Sumlin (on today’s offering).

It might sound as if I don’t like Tyler’s music—just the opposite—but his success relies heavily on the cult of personality, whether he’s writing a book, cutting a contemporary country album at the height of the popularity of contemporary country, or criticizing other performers on a “reality” TV show.

Johansen seemed to be all about artistic expression &, rather than serving up what was popular, he challenged his audience to keep up.  He reinvented himself almost as many times as David Bowie, he acted as well as he sang, and he appeared in enough films for me to think of him as the American Tim Curry.  Along the way, David Jo co-starred in the Christmas classic SCROOGED, & acted in one of my favorite movies; LET IT RIDE holding his own with Richard Dreyfus, Terri Garr, Robbie Coltrane, Jennifer Tilly, & Mary Woronov.

In his Buster Poindexter personae, and as himself in the Scorsese-directed documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only, he showed he’s also a bon vivant and a storyteller.  “The film captured him performing at the Café Carlyle, blending his entire musical journey—from Dolls to Buster to blues—in a single night. Scorsese, known for his meticulous storytelling, saw Johansen as more than a musician; he saw him as an artist who embodied the evolution of American music.”

He also hosted a satellite radio show.  I think we love him here at Jokonky because Johansen’s “love of music wasn’t just about performance—it was about sharing, educating, and celebrating every note and lyric that ever moved him.”

The two quotes above, and some of the information in this blurb came from this wonderful blog post:

https://www.thatericalper.com/2025/03/01/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-david-johansen/

Before he passed last week, I made a donation to Johansen’s SWEET RELIEF fund to help pay for his substantial hospital bills—which are still burdening his family.  As a life-long used record buyer, it was probably the only money he ever made from me.  If you’d like to contribute: https://www.sweetrelief.org/davidjohansenfund.html

The tracks I selected from Johansen’s varied career are the ones that I felt showcased his many facets, from the “attitudinal” lead off track, to him doing an intimate version of Looking For A Kiss on NYC’s WFUV, to his theatrical reading of a Disney song from Stay Awake.  

There are a few cuts from Live It Up, that show what a raucous live performer he was. There's also the clever wordplay of Funky But Chic, and Frenchette.  It closes with a stripped-bare live version of his own Heart Of Gold recorded with just Budd Mishkin on guitar and David on harmonica.  That version and the live version of Is This What I Get For Loving You? always stir my sadness, and I suspect that they always will.

Cadillac 23 Tracks

 In the vast universe of sound, where rhythms interlace with heartbeats and lyrics dance like fireflies under the moonlight, the Cadillac stands as a shimmering emblem of aspiration, freedom, and the bittersweet tales of life. It is not just a vehicle; it is a vessel that carries dreams, a mythical chariot that traverses the highways of the soul. From the sultry echoes of rhythm and blues to the booming choruses of rock, the Cadillac glides through the corridors of music, embodying desire, rebellion, and the eternal search for meaning.

Classic ChatGPT style bollocks, but the fact remains that the Cadillac definitely has become iconic and appeared countless times in songs – varying from Blues to Rock to Hip Hop, and beyond – either literally or symbolic, take your pick!

From a massive amount of Cadillac songs I cherry-picked 23 tracks and made sure to cover a wide range of styles.

I skipped a few classics (e.g. Bo Diddley’s Cadillac) and in some cases selected a cover instead of the original track (e.g. Boz Scaggs doing Moon Martin’s Cadillac Walk, Nathalie Cole tackling Springsteen’s Pink classic)…

While searching for musical Cadillacs I encountered a few weirdo’s, e.g. Guy Drake’s Welfare song which actually is embarrassing, but I doubt many of you had heard it before...

Whereas similar styled compilations tend to focus on older songs I deliberatly added some more recent ‘Cadillacs’ for your musical education, all free of charge!

Hey hey hey -- more iple-tray itles-tay!

Thanks to the heroic efforts of Richard, Stinky, CC, rising star andreyud, and boozy Berni, there are three more entries in the Triple Song Title sweepstakes -- or maybe we should call it an endurance contest.  How many more of these can you take?  Let's find out -- together!

Today's first set could be classified as World Music, but this time from Latin America and the Afro-Caribbean diaspora.  You may know them as shithole countries, teeming with bad hombres from the wrong side of the Gulf Of America.  There's reggae, cumbia, ska, calypso, pachanga, bossa nova, merengue, mento, salsa, samba -- all those funny little songs that brown people sing while they harvest the ingredients for your taco bowl, landscape your golf course, or build your next hotel.

Next up is New Music, more specifically stuff from the past 15 years.  This one includes an ode to the unelected immigrant tech bro who is all up in our servers, PLUS the first song featured on this blog that was created by AI!  Can your ears tell which one it is?

And finally, there's Music Of The 70's.  Can it be that it was all so simple then? There was a wall across Berlin, not the Rio Grande. There was a president who sold his farm to avoid conflicts of interest.  A world of afros and apple pie, Camaro T-tops and gasoline lines.  Hey there, baby! Say, what's your sign?  You know you got to boogie, cuz your platforms are fine! (Disco will be featured in an upcoming compilation.)  This set includes another historic first: the first double triple, where both the song title and the name of the performer (C.C.C. Incorporated) are triplets!  Bravo, Richard!

From the bottom of our three-chambered hearts, the ruling troika here at Jokonky offers a heartfelt thank you, thank you, thank you to our clever comrades of the commentariat.  Будем здоровы!

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due Volume 1 - TAKE IT!

The idea for Credit Where Credit Is Due (the newest road-tested JOKONKY-FIED series) came about because of my childhood love of Ringo calling out to the other Beatles when he was featured on lead vocals.  So it’s only fair that he starts off Vol. 1 with his classic Rock On George, One Time For Me from Honey Don’t.  The song’s author, Carl Perkins, was in the studio when they recorded it, and Carl is next up handing things over to everyone’s favorite Stray Cat during a live version of Blue Suede Shoes: Here's Mr. Setzer!  Staying in the rockabilly wheelhouse for one more track Big Jim Wheeler calls out to his guitarist Billy!

Lucinda Williams gives Credit Where Credit Is Due by explaining that her friend Randy Weeks wrote Can’t Let Go during her live intro to the song.  Rosie Flores calls for her own solo with a Let Rosie Play That Guitar, and Mick Jagger tells his songwriting partner: Alright Keith, C'mon! during Little By Little.  No lesser bluesmen than Muddy Waters with Johnny Winter are up next as Muddy mutters; Play That For Me Johnny, sounding like he has a mouthful of grits.

Possibly the most famous use of band member’s names is how The Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz kicks off: Ready Steve? Andy? Which dovetails nicely into Poison’s Talk Dirty To Me & it’s C.C. Pick up that guitar, & TALK to me!  

Vince Taylor & His Playboys’ high-water mark Brand New Cadillac contains the jublilant Scotty, Here We Go!   Stevie Wonder gives The Jackson 5 their props in his excellent You Haven't Done Nothin’.  The Smothers Brothers are a shared passion of Jon & I’s, and we both laugh every time  Dickie Smothers (who mom always liked best) tells Tom Smothers to Take it! 

Ringo makes another appearance with the final track off his self-titled solo album—during which he thanks everyone involved in the making of it--except whoever made the coffee.  

Who among us wouldn’t have thought of Soul Man’s Play It, Steve! cueing guitarist Steve Cropper to take a solo.  The Blues Brothers would later do the same on their version—which Steve also played on—but on the next track Hey Bartender, Jake cries out simply ELWOOD!  Cub Koda follows suit, calling to action one of The Points; Alright Freddie, Let's Do It! 

As luck would have it, as I started to run low on ideas off the top of my head, an internet search provided a string on a forum that supplied about a hundred more examples—many that hadn’t occurred to me like Louis Armstrong’s Take It Mr. Jackson in A Monday Date.  My thanks to the jazzbo who came up with that one!

A similarly obsessive friend suggested Canned Heat’s Fried Hockey Boogie on which he introduces the whole band who--then each take a solo—which was also done by gnarly guitarist Rick Derringer who invites you to Meet The McCoys!

There are two more volumes already in the can, so watch this space for another installment.

The Auerbach Connection Revisited

Since the first Connection was very positively received it only made sense to come up with another one.

Several commenters wrote it was quite an 'ear-opener' for them as they had no idea that Dan was involved with so many other artists and groups...

Again we have Dan in his role as producer, guest player, main vocalist, and this time too as a member of The Black Keys!

Normally we at JOKONKY don't include full albums, but I decided to make an exception for the Keys' free 4-track live EP that was included with MOJO Magazine in 2007 as it might have escaped the notice of several regulars here.

Besides those we have several live recordings from various artists, sourced from YouTube, but of quite decent quality, imho.

Anyway, stop reading and start listening!

The New York Dolls, Simon & Garfunkel, and die Kreuzen walk into a bar...

 

Taking a brief respite from the triple song titles, here are a few collections of cover songs.

The first is a set of Simon & Garfunkel covers.  Some are respectful, others irreverent.  The well-known remakes by The Lemonheads and The Bangles are not included.  "Scarborough Fair" is included (despite the fact that Simon took credit for a song that he neither wrote nor arranged).  You get a funky "Scarborough Fair" by The Coolies (the Atlanta band that made an album of S&G covers, each in a different musical style).  

Speaking of irreverence, the image of Paul and Artie is borrowed from the artist Mark Reynolds.  

Next up is a collection of New York Dolls covers.  It includes all of the original compositions from the debut album and Too Much Too Soon, plus a couple of songs from the Red Patent Leather era.  The Sweet Relief organization is currently raising funds for David Johansen's care.  You can donate here.

In his book Mutations, Sam McPheeters calls the 1984 debut album by die Kreuzen "a wormhole into an obscene universe."  It's hard to explain the impact of this record on hardcore punk.  Maximum Rock & Roll was reduced to repeating the words "This is fucking great" over and over as their review of the record.  Having remade hardcore, die Kreuzen left it behind and did their own damn thing for three albums. Some say they anticipated grunge.  20 years after the wormhole was opened, a tribute album called Lean Into It was released.  Another 20 years have passed.  Here it is... again...  this time with 8 more songs.

IN THE MIX Vol. 3 - Famous Friends Helping Their Famous Friends.

IN THE MIX is the series that dares to mix MUSIC and TRIVIA.  Our JOKONKY lawyers require me to say that this has been done by a professional driver on a professional course.  In fact, all the installments in this series are ROAD-TESTED and JOKONKY APPROVED (the true test of the worth of a CD-length compilation being to take it on a long drive).

VOLUME 3 starts with Victoria Legrand, the singer of Beach House, helping out Grizzly Bear.  Other lovely ladies who lend a hand include Vanessa Charlton adding some oomph to Counting Crow’s version of Big Yellow Taxi, and Chrissie Hynde contributing lung-power to U2's Pride (In The Name Of Love).

Some contributions are hardly a secret like Sandy Denny singing on Led Zeppelin’s Battle of Evermore.   Others are less well-known like Huey Lewis supplying backing vocals on Nick Lowe’s  Born Fighter.  Jonder suggested the inclusion of Squeeze’s Tempted which has the song’s producer; Elvis Costello doing the same.  Elvis gets an assist from Caron Wheeler & Claudia Fontaine (aka Afrodiziak) on Everyday I Write The Book.  Fontaine has toured with Pink Floyd, Chaka Khan, Eurythmics, & U2 to name a few, so she’ll be popping up again!  

My favorites are the songs where you can’t believe you didn’t recognize a famous friend’s voice after you learn of their involvement.  Linda Ronstadt pulls that trick off twice on this collection—once backing Neil Young on his only #1 hit; Heart Of Gold, and again teaming up with Jennifer Warnes on the chorus of Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy.  The great Lou Rawls pulls it off as well, backing Sam Cooke on Bring It On Home To Me.  Honorable mention goes to Eddie Money on Kenny Loggins’ I’m All Right.

Instrumental support is also offered by Rick Wakeman on Morning Has Broken, Dave Navarro on Are You Happy Now?, and Jerry Garcia on Teach Your Children.  Bob Dylan plays harmonica on Carolyn Hester's Swing & Turn Jubilee (one of his first forays into the studio).  Bob & his friend Alan Ginsberg help out vocally on Leonard Cohen’s cautionary tale; Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On.

Trippy hippie numbers are a great way to get your famous friends on your tracks—like on The Rolling Stones’ In Another Land--a rare track where Bill Wyman takes the lead--that boasts contributions by Steve Marriott & Ronnie Lane.  Billboard called it; "A weirdy that can't miss".