In Which Doctor Casino Listens to Classic Rock Classics for the First Time

Priest: better singles.
Maiden: better live act. Like, amazing live act.

You've Got Another Thing Comin': Is it really not "Think"? Oh well. I like "Breakin' the Law" but don't really know anything else and for some reason have always gotten them mixed up with Motorhead, another harder rock band where I only know the one most famous song about being a badass.

But we're off to a good start here, chugga-chugga. The lead coming in sounds a lot more processed and studio-y than I'd have expected. Vocals are good and energetic Kinda at the party-rock borderline here, though the kinda unclear vocals work against that pleasantly. "Caving like a Buddha's cakes, we're do or die." Actually it's distracting me trying to work out a damn thing he's saying so I should save that for my second listen. I wonder if they realized they fucked up the idiom in the title and tried to add some filter to mush it out so you couldn't tell, and in the process kinda screwed everything else up. Makes me really appreciate producers (Mutt Lange) that can get a bunch of reverby dudes shouting on top of each other and have it sound crystal-clear and punchy as shit. Judas Priest sound like they're playing inside a dumpster, or like they dragged their smoke machines and colored lights into the basement of a spaceship on a period sci-fi movie set.

I dunno, this is like, okay. I wish it weren't quite so arena-ready. It's one of those rock songs where the verses, musically, mark time and give the vocalist space for his hopefully really cool lyrics, and then the chorus is just kinda repeating the title phrase and hoping the riff is strong enough to stand in for a hook.

Second listen, just trying with the lyrics now. I'm really struggling here - I should say that I do kinda have an earache today so there could be some kinda problem on my end, or maybe it's Youtube or something. But I really am having trouble working out anything this guy is saying! I don't normally do this thing for risk of seeming like I'm trying to be wacky or whatever, but this is seriously the best I can do after several listens, though I think I did successfully correct a few of my worst guesses, like "You think I'm in the pool? Yo man, you got another thing comin'!"

Born to life, I'm gonna live it up / I'm takin' flight, I said I, I never get it up
Stay tall, I'm'a gonna caterwaul / I'm on the top as long as the music's loud
Bet you think I sit around, answering the fire / You're thinking like a fool cause it's casin', gooey guy
I'm the bees of fortune, we're easy to be had / You think I let it go, you're mad, you got another thing comin'
You got another thing comin'
You got another thing comin'
Lettuce ride, here is Will, the Talking Heads / well listen miss, tonight there will be some action spent
They're live! Harder, Conan Moe Jackson / I got an Ace card, comin' down the ruuuuts
Think you'll feel, sit around, with a shovel in your brain / Got some gyno pool, well you better think again
I'm the haze of fortune, waiting to be had / You think I let it go, you mad, you got another thing comin'
You got another thing comin'
You got another thing comin'
Endless birth calamity, we've had our share of faro / Answer now, it's gonna give in, aim for a new tomorrow!!!
(break)
Ohhhhh so hot, no time to take a rest, yeah! / Aaaaadd up, uh profane, second best
Real slow, gut in sun security / Hey I'm a big smash, I'm goin' for infinity, yeah
If you think I'm sit around, ass now rope in the fire / You're thinking like a fool cause it's a case of do or die
I'm the ace of fortune, waiting to be had / You think I let it go you're mad, you got another thing comin'
You got another thing comin'
You got another thing comin'
You got another thing.... COMIN' OH YOWH!
You got another thing comin', hey yeah iff....
Come and help me, ho yyeah, oh yeah, it's'a tall down.... (Hold me down)

I have to say that repeat listening to try and work out the words didn't really give me any greater enjoyment of the song. It just kinda stomps along with this kinda metallic weird sound to it. The main riff is fine as an engine but it's missing a personality - real contrast with "Breakin' the Law," my one point of reference, or our last song here in fact. Thumbs sideways, tilting down - if it was just in the background somewhere I don't think I'd notice it enough to be annoyed by it, but how it got into the running as a classic rock classic, I can't fathom.

I wonder if they realized they fucked up the idiom in the title

? what are you talking about

Oh duh - gotta be "Let us ride - here's where the talking ends."

The expression is "you've got another think coming," as in "If you think x..."

Ha, there was a whole thread about that back in the day: Taking Sides: Another Think Coming v Another Thing Coming

I think I'm with you btw.

This song is a little boring but some 70s Judas Priest is great. Some really good stuff on Sad Wings of Destiny and Sin After Sin.

I am squarely in the "another think coming" / "couldn't care less" camp.

B-b-but you cared enough to post about it on ilx!:P

Real lyrics:

One life I'm gonna live it up
I'm takin' flight said I'll never get enough.
Stand tall I'm young and kinda proud
I'm on top as long as the music's loud.
If you think I'll sit around as the world goes by
You're thinkin' like a fool 'cause it's a case of do or die.
Out there is a fortune waitin' to be had
If you think I'll let it go you're mad
You've got another thing comin'.

That's right here's where the talkin' ends
Well listen this night there'll be some action spent.
Drive hard I'm callin' all the shots
I got an ace card comin' down on the rocks.

If you think I'll sit around while you chip away my brain
Listen I ain't foolin' and you'd better think again.
Out there is a fortune waitin' to be had
If you think I'll let it go you're mad
You've got another thing comin'.

In this world we're livin' in we have our share of sorrow
Answer now is don't give in aim for a new tomorrow.

Oh so hot no time to take a rest yeah
Act tough ain't room for second best.
Real strong got me some security
Hey I'm a big smash I'm goin' for infinity yeah.

Ahhhhhh, "Out there is a fortune!" Never would have gotten that.

In my defense, a lot of what he says, whether I made it out or not, doesn't really make any sense, so it's not like there are logical anchors on which to base an interpretation. Does "action" really get "spent?" How does a card "come down on the rocks"? If the fortune is "out there," how is his "letting it go" even an option yet? I like that it's not just a bunch of hoary tough guy cliches, but it feels like Google Translate working over a Russian band that's trying to invent some new hoary tough guy cliches.

I think the "let it go" refers to the opportunity to get said fortune.

Ha, yeah, the first verse seems straightforward enough, then it sort of veers off. The bit about the fortune makes sense to me, though: it's sitting out there waiting to be had. He's going to get it, not going to let it go to someone else.

xpost

Yeah, okay, I'll give you that, it's the anticipated fortune that he won't let go.

Xpost I meant I insist on "couldn't care less" over the increasingly dominant "could care less"

Ah.

i think the lyric is fairly straightforward, in its own clunky way. but this, from dr. c, is a way better lyric than the actual one:

Lettuce ride, here is Will, the Talking Heads / well listen miss, tonight there will be some action spent

also, i love how the actual lyric goes totally fleetwood mac on the bridge:

In this world we're livin' in we have our share of sorrow
Answer now is don't give in aim for a new tomorrow.

Always liked Priest. Rob Halford a metal guy us short-hairs could identify with.

There were manys yuks had by DJs intro'ing this song in the weeks after Rob Halford came out of the closet.

Priest def coasting in "don't derail the gravy train" mode here but f it it's still Priest

this one is a cover of a cover of a cover, and is by the far most popular version. shoutouts to tiny bradshaw, johnny burnette and the rock and roll trio and the yardbirds.

SONG #32: AEROSMITH "TRAIN KEPT A-ROLLIN'"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EvGn22Mplg

I think the idiom is actually "Train Crept A-Rollins"

Rob Halford's lyrics are weirdly ESL for a sharp guy from England. I've interviewed him a couple of times, and he's a fantastic person to talk to, because unlike many rock singers, when you ask him a question, he pauses, thinks about it, then answers in paragraphs. So how his lyrics get so garbled and nonsensical is beyond me. I guess it's just about compressing ideas into a rhyme scheme. I don't know, I've never tried to write a song.

I'm not a Priest fan, but I recently watched Dream Deceivers, and found him to be exactly how you described him, thoughtful and articulate. I wasn't surprised by that, but it was cool to see because you know that thoughtfulness completely fucked with the prosecution's heads. I'm sure they thought, "ha ha, we'll get these troglodyte metal guys on the stand and they'll just come off like monosyllabic dumbfucks," and Halford ruined it for them.

I think the idiom is actually "Train Crept A-Rollins"

― Now you're messing with a (President Keyes), Friday, September 26, 2014 8:15 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, you got another train rollin'

I grew up in Aerosmith country and never heard this song on the radio.

I don't think I have either.

Rob Halford is awesome.

Just thought that was worth reiterating

re:Priest lyrics

Ohhhhh so hot, no time to take a rest, yeah!

I always parsed this as "no time to eat a Triscuit!"

Train Kept A-Rollin': Classic-era Aerosmith covering Johnny Burnette Trio (know them, don't know the song) should be a recipe for success - let's see! Good start. Warmin' up to shred here. Oooh yeah. Verse is cool, nice and mean. I don't know the other versions but I know Johnny Burnette and I totally hear that in this riff, though they've tied it down to their greasy dark smoky rock machine. This is the kind of mid-tempo groovery that I want from my hard-rock bands. The ting-ting-ting-ting-ting-ting-ting-ting percussion is a little annoying but basically these guys know how to hold the pace... it doesn't feel like a trudge, and whatever flourishes the lead guitar and Tyler's keening weave in are welcome varieties and entertainments.

Woah, so it's live now? Huh. Switchin' it up, where's this gonna go? Hopefully not a cover of "Stay." Oooh, they just kinda made it rougher and louder and live-r. I dunno if this helps anything though - why not just pick the one that they liked better? It still sounds good though. Bah-dah-dun! Bah-dah-dun! Dare you to go one more measure. Ooooh and it took off again. These are pretty sweet solos and stuff. I'm pretty short of things to say honestly - I'm enjoying it, not paying close enough attention to the lyrics to really engage the story or anything (it's a cover anyway), kinda just taking it as a performance. It's cool but I'd rather have just the studio one I think, hits harder and I love when bands have like a 2:30 throwaway song tossed in the middle of the album.

Hrm, seems I repeated myself in there. Appropriate!

Best "Trains":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXeXmFolI2I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg3rO-w6gbo

Wow, the Zeppelin one really thunders forward, don't it? I kinda miss the clarity of the riff itself although you can't fault them for just rockin' sturmundrang. I like the funky stuff John Paul Jones is bringing in, as on their very last records, yeah? Aw man, was just about to ask how this could be nine minutes, even if they pulled the Aerosmith trick - but of course it's just another song entirely. As established upthread, I totally love "Nobody's Fault But Mine," never really checked them out live before. Sounds pretty good but not really better than the record (even if maybe it POUNDS harder).

Yardbirds... haha i love how everybody's standing stock still. A toe-tapper though. This is funny, what is this from?

Antonioni's Blow-Up.

Some of the only existent Page/Beck Yardbirds footage.

The story I heard is that Antonioni went to the Who first, who turned him down. Then he asked the Velvets (!), but they couldn't get over to the UK. So he settled on the Yardbirds.

Wow, the Zeppelin one really thunders forward, don't it?

I know, right? This was during Zep's "Punk?! Hey, we used to do that!" phase.

never really checked them out live before.

I always thought they were insanely inconsistent live. You could assemble a motherfucker of a live album from their best moments, but I have yet to hear one full concert that doesn't have a built-in nap time.

i've never seen "blow-up." what an awesome scene.

The story I heard is that Antonioni went to the Who first, who turned him down. Then he asked the Velvets (!), but they couldn't get over to the UK. So he settled on the Yardbirds.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, September 26, 2014 6:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And right before the Yardbirds, they cast Tomorrow (w/Keith West & Steve Howe), who got as far as some rehearsals and demoing two original songs for the film before being dismissed. The guitar that Jeff Beck smashes in the film is a actually a prop copy of the guitar Howe was playing at the time. The two Tomorrow songs were added as bonus tracks to the cd reissue of the soundtrack.

"Am I Glad To See You" (written in the style of "We've Got To Get Out of This Place" for the club scene): http://youtu.be/x3sjeMvcu94

"Blow-Up" (rejected title theme): http://youtu.be/d9ivkRcjzNo

Supposedly Jimmy Page overdubbed the lead on this version (the explanation being he befriended Scotty McKay when the latter opened for the Yardbirds when they came through Texas, and McKay later sent the tape to England to cash in a favor)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoEs-9NtpU8

Wait w this you've gotta nother THINK com

Coming, stupid phone, are you guys joking I've never heard that

"Think coming" sounds like someone's cutesy riff on "another thing coming"

It's a cutesy expression from the get-go, though - embracing "think" is just embracing the cock-eyed old-timey parents' logic wherein "think" becomes a noun (indeed, a thing) and the proposal is to replace your think with another one. "Thing" is either vague, or straight up menacing - the "thing" coming can only be the switch or the belt.

yeah, I always assume the "thing" you have coming is a metal hammer to the face

in the Priest song that is

re:Priest lyrics

Ohhhhh so hot, no time to take a rest, yeah!

I always parsed this as "no time to eat a Triscuit!"

― Darin, Friday, September 26, 2014 2:24 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No Time to Eat a Triscuit would be a good rock and roll biography title, maybe not of this band though.

Related: "No Time To Eat A Biscuit" sounds like a Kinks title from the RCA years.

mmmm, biscuits.