This album was Number 1 for one week only.

This Huey Lewis and the News album contained the song, Hip to be Square. Here are the lyrics:

I used to be a renegade, I used to fool around
But I couldn’t take the punishment, and had to settle down
Now I’m playing it real straight, and yes I cut my hair
You might think I’m crazy, but I don’t even care
Because I can tell what’s going on
It’s hip to be square

I like my bands in business suits, I watch them on TV
I’m working out ‘most everyday and watching what I eat
They tell me that it’s good for me, but I don’t even care
I know that it’s crazy
I know that it’s nowhere
But there is no denying that
It’s hip to be square

It’s not too hard to figure out, you see it everyday
And those that were the farthest out have gone the other way
You see them on the freeway, It don’t look like a lot of fun
But don’t you try to fight it; “An idea who’s time has come.”

Don’t tell me that I’m crazy
Don’t tell me I’m nowhere
Take it from me
It’s hip to be square

A clip of his most famous tune, Johnny B. Goode from 1958 made it into outer space on the Voyager I spacecraft to represent rock music.

I couldn’t find many Chuck Berry singing calls, just Johnny B. Goode. But that’s certainly quintessential rock and roll.

Relevant Records

• Johnny B. Goode (Red Boot 1340)

There are a lot of singing call versions of Alan Jackson songs. Here are a few that I recognize:

• She’s Got The Rhythm (And I Got The Blues)
• Love’s Got A Hold On You
• Www.memory
• Little Bitty
• I Only Want You For Christmas
• Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)
• Meat And Potato Man

Relevant Records

• Love’s Got a Hold on You (JoPat/ESP 235)
• Only Want You for Christmas (Rockin’ M 119)
• She Got the Rhythm I Got the Blues (ESP 182)
• Little Bitty (Chicago Country 49)

Certainly worth a mention if you happen to be calling a dance today.

Might be useful for some PR; if November 29 falls on a weekend day, you could organize a new dancer dance and see if you could get people to come out and try square dancing on Square Dance Day. A press release to the local media, some public service announcements if you’re a non-profit organization…it might work.

Good day to work with sausages and eggs (see Burleson’s).

“Official” site: To share any or all of our frustrations, all citizens of the world will go outdoors at twelve hundred hours Greenwich time and scream for thirty seconds.

Do Beatles’ songs, or “Imagine” on Aussie Tempos. Supreme Audio has a list of currently available Beatles songs, although I don’t know why “Tennessee Waltz” is on there.

Relevant Records

• Imagine (Aussie Tempos 1006)
• Act Naturally (GMP 901)
• IÕll Follow the Sun (Shakedown 246)
• Eight Days a Week (Ranch House 508)
• Help (Chaparral 809)
• Beatle Mania (Chicago Country 53)
• Life Goes On That Way (Ob-la-di) (Blue Star 2397)

This musical was written by George M. Cohan and contains “Give My Regards to Broadway”.

There are MacGregor and Blue Star versions of “Give My Regards to Broadway,” and the Blue Star version is available as an MP3 file.

Relevant Records

• Give My Regards to Broadway (MacGregor 2420)

Supposedly, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern and started the fire. The fire spread, covering about four square miles and killing about 300 people. The city of Chicago was virtually leveled.

I immediately thought of the song “Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight”. It turns out that this song wasn’t originally about Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. However, the parody verses have stuck, and the cow version is listed in many children’s song books:

Late last night
When we were all in bed,
Mrs. O’Leary
Left a lantern in the shed.
The cow kicked it over,
Then winked her eye and said
“There’ll be a hot time
In the old town tonight!”

Relevant Records

• Hot Time in the Old Town (Silver Sounds 150)

Maybe “road” songs: On the Road Again, Country Roads