Godspeed John Glenn

Mercury astronaut John Glenn died this week. He was the last of the original Mercury 7 astronauts and a true American hero. I found this 45 record two years ago from the Hasbro GI Joe collection. It was a companion piece to the astronaut version of GI Joe, complete with space suit and Mercury capsule. Side two contains audio clips from John Glenn's Mercury 7 flight that orbited the earth. Listen to the recording here. Although not included on this recording, fellow astronaut and mission Capcom, Scott Carpenter issued, "Godspeed John Glenn" as a traditional voyage wish during Freedom 7's liftoff from the Cape.

Listen To What the Man Said in Frytown, Iowa

To complete the trifecta of recent Beatle-related finds in 42N country is this 1975 single, Listen To What the Man Said from Wings. Found today is this 45 rpm single with its original picture sleeve at an auction in Frytown, Iowa (latitude 41.57N, longitude 91.73W.) While the record is in great condition the sleeve is punctured through the center.

The single is from the group's 1975 album, Venus and Mars, the followup work to the landmark Band on the Run album. On July 19, 1975 Listen To What the Man Said achieved number 1 on the (US) Billboard Hot 100 chart. Also in 1975, Wings begin playing concerts in Australia in anticipation of their upcoming 1976 world tour. That year McCartney played several locations in the US marking his return to American venue concerts since performing at Candlestick Park with the Beatles a decade earlier. Watch Paul and Wings sing Listen To What the Man Said at the Seattle King Dome here.

Sometimes the search for whatever you seek (like a record or ancestral connection or a job) contains long voids. Sometimes your search brings multiple successes and in quick succession. Within the past 48 hours I have found three Beatle-related items, actually four but did not report the fourth (a Mary Wells song sheet) due to condition issues. The wonder of it all. Know that.

Another Apple Score: Badfinger - Baby Blue

Another Apple 45 find yesterday. This time it was Badfinger's Baby Blue, composed and sung by band member and lead singer Pete Ham. In its day the recording was the group's last top 20 hit and the second from last single release for the band. Badfinger was one of the Beatles hand picked groups to record on the Apple label soon after the record company was launched in 1968. Apple catalog 1844 was recorded in England, produced by Todd Rundgren and issued in the US in March 1972. This particular record did not have a sleeve and is slightly warped but plays well for a 38-year old piece of vinyl - all for 48 cents.

Today I had still another Apple find in hand -- and it was another Badfinger single of all things, No Matter What. The particular record was well worn and the label was heavily scratched so I didn't purchase it. Got to draw the line somewhere. Know that.

Paul McCartney's Silly Love Songs Celebrates 33 years

On April 1, 1976 Capitol Records released, Silly Love Songs from the LP album Wings at the Speed of Sound in the United Kingdom. The single was released in America on April 30th. The song went on to become the biggest selling record for the year according to Sales Charts and achieved the number one position twice for a total of five weeks in 1976. Silly Love Songs is Paul McCartney at his bass intro pop best and represented an old guard tip to the then current disco era. The song accompanied the band's Wings Over America Tour, which repositioned McCartney as the top act in the United States since he stopped touring with the Beatles in 1966 (August 29th at San Francisco's Candlestick Park.) The Wings tour was recorded and issued in December 1976 as a three-record LP set and later released as a movie.

All that aside, this past weekend I found the lightly played 45-single (above) at a thrift store for 38 cents. You too can find the 33-year old song on vinyl by visiting eBay where the record sells for about $6.00 - and what's wrong with that? Know that.