Seeing all these references to Five Guys Burgers is makin' me HUNGRY!!
How about Baba O'Riley by Pete, Keith, John, and Roger? I always thought Roger was ok on harp. He ain't Paul Butterfield, but for a rock dude, he was ok.
@Martin, you can thank ANY of us americans for giving you all this great music. You wouldn't have had any desire to even pick up a harmonica if it weren't for the music scene over here on THIS SIDE of the pond. Learn your history, Man!!
Chris
Last Edited by CWinter on Apr 08, 2013 9:48 AM
The Australians on the forum will probably be familiar with Cold Chisel's "Khe Sanh". Several of Paul Kelly's songs also have harmonica in them. "Dumb Things" is a particular favourite of mine. These are the main songs with harmonica in them I can remember hearding on mainstream commercial radio and thinking "Hey, that's an interesting sound".
As for worldwide recognition though, I have to agree with "Love Me Do" or "Blowin' in the Wind".
Not remembering any harmonica in "Fog on the Tyne".
For those who are not Brits, "Fog on the Tyne" is by Lindisfarne, an English Band that was very popular in England during the late 60's/early 70's. Their music does not sound dated at all when heard today.
I have a few of their live recordings in which their harmonica player does a tour de force solo featuring TB'ing on the right side, something not heard very often.
"Lady Eleanor" has amazing vocal harmonies. Here is a version recorded at a 1995 reunion concert...
This song was a big hit in England...
---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Mar 19, 2015 5:59 AM
You're all wrong it's the harmonica in "Moon River"
It's hard to beat something in a classic movie that's been seen millions of times and will be seen many more times when all of these other tunes are long forgotten. ----------
This thread reminds me a bit of the "What happened to harp in rock and roll?" thread in that all of the songs mentioned are decades old. I know we're talking about the best known harmonica recording ever so it makes sense that that's the case, but what if the question was "What's the best known harmonica recording of the last 5 (or 10) years?"
I'm sure there must be some, but I can't think of one off the top of my head.
I think its a bunch of songs, from The Beatles, Dylan, Stevie wonder and yes Culture Club. Ask most folk who know nothing of blues and or harmonica and ask them to mention a song with a harmonica in it and these names will come up I bet! As I live in the UK I know nothing of 'Five guys' maybe in 30-40 years time though!;-)
Sanford and Son - Never heard of it, apart from on MBH. Must have been the one US TV show that didn't get shown in the UK during my childhood.
Now, if there was harmonica in Hawaii Five-0, we'd have been all over it. Book him Danno, Murder One! (Whatever that is). Or the numbers racket. What's that? Seems everyone was at it in the States.
...we did have The Rockford Files though. Everyone in America drives a Pontiac Firebird. We had the Morris Minor.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Mar 20, 2015 7:58 AM
Goldbrick - now you're talking. Did Sanford and Son get done for the numbers racket?
EDIT - Oh, Goldbrick's post disappeared, like they do here. He said that Sandford and Son was the US version of the national treasure that was the UK's Steptoe and Son.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Mar 20, 2015 8:04 AM
Mlefree - just in case, is it my post you are referring too? I thought this was a light-hearted thread, including much loved theme tunes etc. No attacks on anyone or any cultures. US TV culture was a big part of our childhoods in the 70s and I fondly remember these shows. We just didn't understand a lot of the terminology, but repeated it in the playground anyway as kids do.
But since it's MBH, I'll remove these comments if you like.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Mar 20, 2015 9:51 AM
"I just don't understand why someone would respond to a simple, evocative post with a personal attack on the OP and an attack on an entire culture."
What the heck? ---------- "You can't just copy somebody. If you like someone's work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to."
"Something tells me Rick is an American, since these kind of pronouncements, with an ethnocentric slant, are fairly common in the US (where you have "world series" in sports with only American teams participating)...."
I fail to see how that could be interpreted as "lighthearted."
I don't think "tie a yellow ribbon"was mentioned. That darned song came on the radio every five minutes in the seventies.
I think the doobies long train runnin is a pretty recognizable song with harp .
Springsteen's thunder road.
A lot of delbert mc Clinton ,and lee Oskar stuff .
There was a disco hit which I can't remember the name of,that had really good,yet simple harp in it . I remember the disco people being surprised that I knew it,haha. ---------- www.shakeylee.com ---------- www.shakeylee.com
I've never liked the Beatles much; one of the most overrated bands ever. I admit they were influential, but I think it was more in the realm of helping young fellah realize that they COULD just throw their hats in the ring and form a band. (I've heard a lot of musicians say they were inspired to join/form a band after the influence of the Beatles). I've never really noticed them influencing music much per se.
Though I was never into ST that much, I admit that harp line always made me sit up and listen. It has a great feel to it. I remember spending some time copying it when I was not too far into playing harp because people would often say, 'Oh hey - can you do that Supertramp thing?'
---------- My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ2_8CnjaiNLcPke4gWQ65A
All Great suggestions....I love Supertramp....and "Room to Move" was the song that really introduced me to the blues and got me to explore it. I believe that many of us still love the music from our "coming of age". That does not mean we forget it and leave it behind when we hear something new. At least not for me. I still love Bob Dylan, as well as Little Walter, INXS, Duran Duran, Sonny and Brownie, The Who, The Beatles, David Bowie, and on and on and on..... ---------- ----------
As for Martin's quote, I love America, but we are kind of known for being a bit provincial, and there was a bit more context to it than that, but more importantly though, those comments are from 2013. This is one of those zombie threads that has popped back up.
When you come out guns blazing you have to make sure have the right target in sight. Your first comment made MindtheGap worried he'd said something offensive (which apparently he hadn't) and he deleted what he thought you were upset about and apologized. Then you tore into him about a quote that wasn't even his. Please apologize and lets get back to this fun zombie thread.
Has anyone mentioned the reverse echo harp part on 'When the Levee Breaks'? Okay, maybe not the most famous, but it certainly is one that grabs my ears.
It doesn't matter how the song did on the charts originally. Rick said "best known harp song of all time" which implies a song that has held up over time and is still recognizable. Peg O My Heart, Juke, and some of the others listed were big hits in their time, and still live on with us harmonica geeks, but unfortunately they are not very recognizable to the masses anymore.
For most known harp songs I would have to say: Heart of Gold - Neil Young Piano Man - Billy Joel Love Me Do - Beatles.
Low Rider is widely recognized but I doubt most people even realize a harmonica is playing that riff. It sounds like a horn. And Miss You by the Stones may be in a little bit of the same situation. Some people realize the Sugar Blue solo is harmonica, but I bet a lot don't, and just assume its guitar or keyboard.
And for what its worth, the playing on that Supertramp song is pretty decent. Not technical, but good tone and fits the song nicely.
More people know ,after three notes[sun-ny days]Sesame street theme.than any other harp in a song.And by TOOTS, Millions of kids and adults grew up on that song!!! My son and me use to ,him sing and me play on harp all the time ,a lot of Sunny days...
I am not a huge Beatles music fan but you gotta admit they changed the youth dynamic and the power of their influence is unlikely to ever be eclipsed.
Not only did they change pop music but they popularized world instruments , made recording studios take rockers seriously,popularize the " concept album and politicize rock music
Guess you had to be there and see it happening to understand
I've fought it as long as I could. I'm off to Five Guys. I'll keep an ear open for any great harp riffs on the radio. (Aside from their great burgers they tend to play a lot of great music over the speakers.)
Hi everyone, I just joined this forum and saw this terrific thread. Having grown up in Canada just across from Detroit, I have to put in my plug for 'little' Stevie Wonder when he was about 13 or 14 playing "Fingertips" at the Fox Theatre. Second on the list would be, When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin. Hope this adds some memories.
