Professor Mikey’s OLD SCHOOL

By: Professor Mikey
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  • Summary

  • The past is a blast on Old School, the educational underground pirate radio podcast. DJ Professor Mikey curates vintage vinyl, recalls dope details and fills the air with audio archives from a half-century plus treasure pleasure of singles, albums, reel to reels, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and audio memorabilia.

    professormikey.substack.com
    Mike Flanagan
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Episodes
  • OS#77 Complete Unknown Dylan Covers

    OS#77 Complete Unknown Dylan Covers
    Jan 9 2025

    Any time a new music biography hits the silver screen, there is lots to take into consideration. Does it seem real? Does the actor playing the rock star at least have a little resemblance? Is the subject doing the singing or did they dub the voice?

    That’s the way they did it back in the day, until they discovered Gary Busey could sound a little bit like Buddy Holly. So when Timothee Chalamet arrived fresh from Arrakis with plenty of dust in his craw, his Bob Dylan voice was fairly uncanny.

    Over 60 some years, there have been many Dylan covers. Few try to sound like the 2016 Nobel Laureate in Literature. After all the point of a good cover is to play homage to the author, but to also find something in the song that can become one’s own.

    How the artists we are about to listen to accomplished all that is strictly your call. Odds are there are some total obscurities on this list, as well as some memory joggers and forgotten favorites. The first Dylan song I ever heard was a cover and that’s what we are starting with. It is historic and cool, and quite different from the original. A wise and perfect song from a complete unknown had found its way to the biggest folk stars on the hootenanny planet. You might say it was a simple twist of fate..

    Oh, the foes will rise

    With the sleep still in their eyes

    And they'll jerk from their beds and think they're dreamin'

    But they'll pinch themselves and squeal

    And they'll know that it's for real

    The hour that the ship comes in

    Blowin in the Wind - Peter Paul and Mary

    All I Really Want to Do - Cher

    It Ain’t Me Babe - Johnny Cash & June Carter

    The Times They Are A Changing - The Byrds

    Masters of War - The Staple Singers

    A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall - Leon Russell

    With God On Our Side - The Neville Brothers

    All Along the Watchtower - Dave Mason

    From a Buick 6 - Gary U S Bonds

    Positively 4th Street - Johnny Rivers

    Like a Rolling Stone - Sebastian Cabot

    The Ballad of Hollis Brown - Nina Simone

    Simple Twist of Fate - Bryan Ferry

    One Too Many Mornings - The Highwaymen

    Hearing a bunch of Dylan covers is a trip to an alternate universe. Just like a guided tour to the lives and times that have been lived while this hard rain has been falling. For the more than half century that Bob Dylan has been offering up takes on life lessons and the magic of time and how it messes with the soul, we’ve all been getting fooled. Bob Dylan loves music and art, but so much of his time has been spent playing on stage, speaking only through his songs, it’s pretty certain that he prefers being the riddle master of his own war, working out puzzles that turn into wisdom and cosmic hints that turn into songs. And when someone else tries to sing them, we get a whole other angle from a plethora of artists who want to give these puzzles a shot. Three for a quarter. The circus is always in town.

    I hope you enjoyed this episode of Old School, provoked and inspired by the new movie and titled Complete Unknown Dylan Covers. I had to toss more tunes than i got to play, but I’ll keep the close by and do a Volume II and some point in the near future.

    Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL

    I’m Professor Mikey. I write, research, remember, and produce every episode, and deal with all the different podcast companies so that you can hear this on Substack, Spotify, YouTube, Apple, and many other originators of 21st century radio. Anything you can do to help, be it a like, a subscription, a comment, or a share, would be much obliged.

    We just heard Bryan Ferry with a Simple Twist of Fate. Coming up, we watch the sun going down with a small group of friends who got together in the late 80s and called themselves The Highwaymen. Between them (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson., they’d seen one too many mornings.

    Colorized DON’T LOOK BACK



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Professor Mikey's New Year's Revolution

    Professor Mikey's New Year's Revolution
    Dec 31 2024

    Welcome to a Retro New Year’s celebration from the before times! Professor Mikey, a firm believer in the healing and hopeful aspects of music, takes off on another holiday musical expedition, this time to discover the heart of everybody's favorite midnight party.

    What is a Lang Syne? And how Auld is it? What do Bing Crosby, Spike Jones, and Blind Lemon Jefferson have in common? Do New Year's Resolutions really work? Is the best New Year's duet of all time sung by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas? And what's Carl Sagan doing in here? Don’t say he is back to tell us not to look up!

    These and other timely questions are answered in this full hour celebration of New Year's music. Plug in and buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy year. Get ready for Blues classics like Smokey Hogg's "New Year's Eve Blues" from 1948, a New Year's Eve 1970 appearance by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, an absolute wacko resolution romp with the City Slickers and many, many more. The genres melt into each other, the human condition gets a good going over, and we all resolve to be better next year!

    Happy New Year, push play, and be sure to click and download New Year’s Revolution to your podcast player!

    You know somebody who would get a kick out of a real rocking New Year’s Eve. So click share and wish them an HNY!

    Playlist

    What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? King Curtis

    Happy New Year Spike Jones and His City Slickers

    Let's Start the New Year Right Bing Crosby

    Happy New Year Blues Blind Lemon Jefferson

    Auld Lang Syne John Fahey

    Auld Lang Syne Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin

    Auld Lang Syne The Beach Boys

    Auld Lang Syne The Cucumbers

    New Year's Resolution Otis Redding/Carla Thomas

    What a Year for a New Year Dan Wilson

    A Glorious Dawn Carl Sagan

    Happy New Year Lightnin' Hopkins

    New Year's Eve Blues Smokey Hogg

    New Year's Resolution Blues Roy Milton Solid Senders

    New Year's Resolutions Scary Gary Alan

    What Are You Doing New Year's Eve Nancy Wilson

    The Closing of the Year The Musical Cast of Toys feat. Wendy & Lisa

    Auld Lang Syne Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians

    Lots of great Old School sessions coming up in 2025. Don’t miss an issue, or a podcast, or a drag race in the DeLorean. Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL loves the past but beams to you from the future. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe
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    57 mins
  • Reds, Greens, Blues Christmas Part 2

    Reds, Greens, Blues Christmas Part 2
    Dec 16 2024
    Welcome to the second half of the Reds, Blues, Greens Christmas. If you haven’t heard Part 1 yet, no worries. It’s around, you can hear it some other time, or some other Christmas. The themes are universal. Money is tight, everybody is having fun but you, and romance is something you see on the Hallmark Channel. The Blues is here, and regardless of when it was recorded, it speaks to you.So let’s party! Like it’s 1949!Samuel Lightnin’ Hopkins believed his greatest gift did not come at Christmas, but at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas when he was 8 years old. That would be around 1920. The gift? An appearance by the legend Blind Lemon Jefferson. After that, Lightnin believed “the blues was in him.” Here he is at 40, recorded in 1953 in Houston Texas.Double entendres show up in the blues more often than bottleneck slide guitars. I’m not about to point any of them out, but I can tell you this is Victoria Spivey and her Chicago Four with a scratch classic from Depression Christmas 1936. Victoria stands her ground on I Ain’t Gonna Let You See My Santa Claus.LOWELL FULSON was west coast all the way. He confuses those who dig for his fabulous blues recordings because he sometimes recorded as Lowell Fulsom with an m to avoid contract problems. Born in Atoka Oklahoma he migrated with his family to California in the 40s. He had lots of hits and played the blues far into the 90s. So instead of moaning at midnight, this holiday tune is just a simple wish. Its 1967, the year of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. But Lowell Fulson just wants to spend Christmas with you.Bobby Nunn found success in the world of Doo Wop, where he starred with the Robins and the Coasters. As a solo act he could rock the blues. If there were a video for this one, Bobby would be lit in dark dark blue while the rest of the world is going about decking the halls and fa la laing. But not poor poor Bobby. December 25th is just another long lonely day. He is in Hollywood in 1953 but it isn’t enough for Bobby Nunn, who can barely hear the Christmas Bells.Charles Brown also spent his winters in sunny LA. He developed his sound in the blues club circuit, which took the lead from the crooning velvet of Nat King Cole. Brown first recorded his Christmas classic in 1947 in a trio known as Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers. He was so smooth, and a major influence on the likes of Johnny Ace, Ivory Joe Hunter, and Ray Charles. Here we catch up with him when he’s home for the holidays in 1954 and the song is becoming a standard. Why not, it’s all about diamond rings, paradise, and good music on the radio. Who could ask for more? Charles Brown and Merry Christmas Baby.Most of Jimmy McCracklin’s holidays were spent in the city by the bay, San Francisco. Jimmy wrote almost a thousand songs in his time, recorded 30 albums, and four of them went cold. So naturally, his jump blues take on the holiday was the other side of lonely, the side where you party all night long.The party mood continues with Jimmy Butler whose stocking was packed with double meanings. No explanation needed. From 1954 it is Trim Your Tree.From 1950 Jimmy Liggins and His Drops of Joy get in the mood with one condition. Forget the food, the jewelry, the cars. This is not the time of year to be flying solo. How about a little mistletoe? I Want My Baby for Chrisltmas.Jimmy Witherspoon was born in Arkansas and got ou his break during World War II, singing with Teddy Weatherford’s band on Armed Forces Radio broadcasting from Calcutta India. He logged several successful European tours, and got famous for his style of blues shouting. Here we drop in on a rough Christmas. Jimmy checks his balance--15 cents--and tries to pawn his radiol. And! Jimmy rhymes the song title “How I Hate to See Christmas come around” with “brings me down.” Christmas blues with Jimmy Witherspoon!Christmas 1950, blues great Floyd Dixon has those Empty Stocking Blues. And he’s not talking about them being filled with candy and fruit. This is more about two empty stockings that used to walk around the Christmas Tree. Remember Bobby Nunn? Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers back up Floyd who wants these stockings filled.We close with a duet that could be called Baby It’s Cold Inside. There was no snow on the ground in LA in 1950 when the Nic Nacs with vocalist Mickey Champion recorded Gonna Have a Merry Christmas. The memory of last year was fresh and raw, but there was a chance of getting in a great holiday before 1951. But first we have to leave the mistletoe on the tree deal with what happened last year.This was a tough Christmas, but if the Blues comes down your chimney, music can always help. Hope youve enjoyed the Reds, Greens and Blues for Christmas, and that Santa brings your baby back to you. Have mercy, and a fabulous holiday.PLAYLIST* Lightnin' Hopkins. "Merry Christmas (1953)" The Stash Christmas Album. Stash Records, 1985. 02:46* Victoria Spivey. "I Ain't Gonna Let You See My ...
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    30 mins

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