Tuesday Tunes 299: Still Right

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Especially for Trump

 

I said last week that I still had loads of right songs to play you, so a second set seems like the obvious way to go, doesn’t it? And before anyone tells me that three of these should really be ‘alright,’ these are the titles the songwriters gave them, so who am I to disagree? And I wouldn’t have included them otherwise.

I’m starting today with one of the more obvious candidates, which I somehow managed to omit last week:

All Right Now was released as a single in May 1970, and was also the closing track on Free’s Fire And Water album which came out the following month. This was the band’s third album, and although they had enjoyed some chart success with the previous two this is the one which really made them big stars, getting to #2 in the UK and #17 in the US. It is a superb album and one which I still play a lot today: if blues rock is your thing I can’t recommend it highly enough. All Right Now was their first hit single: it got to #4 in the US and #2 in the UK, spending six weeks in that position stuck behind Mungo Bloody Jerry and In The Summertime. Guess which I preferred? This was the soundtrack to that summer for me: I had my motor scooter which gave me all sorts of freedom, and I spent most evenings at the local youth centre, having loads of fun. One of my best summers ever! It was a pretty good time for Free too: they got the Isle of Wight festival gig on the strength of this hit single, and it turned them into superstars.

In a rather different vein for this next one, but I’ve always loved the song:

This is a bit of a departure from my normal type of music, if there is such a thing, more pop-oriented than my usual listening, I think. You can call me an old softie if you like, but I still think it is lovely. Right Here Waiting was released as the second single from Richard Marx’s album Repeat Offender in June 1989, and was a big hit worldwide, including getting to #1 in the US and #2 in the UK. The album had come out a couple of months earlier, and was also a US #1, getting to #8 in the UK. I bought it at the time, and it was played a lot – probably more by my then-wife than me!

Now for something from that Nobel Prize winner. But not by him – a rather nice cover version:

Jack & Daisy are a British indie folk duo, based in Javea in Spain. They have been playing music together for eight years, during which time they have racked up more than a thousand performances across Europe. They have been taken under the wing of Dave Stewart, formerly of The Eurythmics, and he is now recording and releasing their music.  Their first EP, Barcelona (In The Rearview), came out in July 2025, and I’m hoping to hear more of them in the future – those harmonies are lovely. Their cover of Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right was released as a single in June 2022 but unsurprisingly didn’t make the charts. Hopefully with some promotion behind them they will enjoy  some well-deserved success.

There are loads of versions of this next one, and I’m going with one from a classic album:

Rod Stewart recorded That’s All Right for his mega breakthrough album, Every Picture Tells A Story, as the clip shows. That album really did turn him into a major star as a solo artist, though he was already well known from being a member of The Faces. It was released in May 1971 and was a massive hit: it topped the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia and did well in several other countries, and has often featured in those ‘best album of all time’ features that magazines like doing. This is the full album version which, as you will have heard, becomes a medley with Amazing Grace. That’s All Right was written in 1946 by Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, and a cover version was the first single released by Elvis Presley – a bit of useless trivia for you there.

One of my ‘usual suspects’ is closing today’s set:

The Devil’s Right Hand was a track on Steve Earle’s third album, Copperhead Road, which was released in October 1988 and reached #56 in the US, #14 in Canada and #42 in the UK. It also made #7 in the US Country Albums chart, and #30 in the Canadian Country listings. It is a fantastic album which is till my favourite of his after all these years, and regularly gets played again. If Steve’s mother really did say this it was sage advice – if only American gun culture would take note. A good blogging friend, Jill, recently posted that in 102 days of the year so far there had been 100 mass shootings. It really is the devil’s right hand, isn’t it.

That’s all for today, and as always I hope you enjoyed these tunes. I’ll be back for #300 in the series next Tuesday and hope to see you again then, as well as for the offerings I will give you in the interim. Take care 😊

 

[As usual, I’ll be sharing this at Esme’s Senior Salon Pit Stop and Cathy’s Monday’s Music Moves Me links, so do please take a look to see what you can find there – I’m off theme for Cathy, sorry, but these are what move me this week!]

44 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 299: Still Right”

  2. I knew the first three, but not the second two. Well, three outta five ain’t too bad. My favourite by far of the five is Richard Marx’ “Right Here Waiting” … I could listen to that song day in and day out and never tire of it! Thank you, Clive, for a fun music post … and for the mention/link to my blog!

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  4. I love your themed posts because I enjoy guessing what you might go with. Thumbs up for the first three. I recall that you like Rod Stewart much more than I do. Of course, that cuts both ways as I’ve learned that I’m a much bigger fan of Dan Fogelberg than you. That’s to be expected with music, just as it is with food. My favorite this week was the lovely cover, my first time hearing this version. A bit behind this week, Clive, as I’m fighting an illness. Take care, my friend.

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    • I’m pleased you enjoy these posts, Pete, and I’m glad you liked those choices. I’ve been following Jack & Daisy for a couple of years now but I think this is the first time I’ve played them. I love their gentle harmonies.

      Sorry to hear that you aren’t well, and I hope you get over it soon 🤞

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  5. I remember the Presley song being played a lot when I was a child, and I bought the Free single when I was 18, the day it was released. As for Rod, I didn’t care for him much after he went solo. Richard Marx? Enough said…😊

    Best wishes, Pete.

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    • I don’t remember Presley’s version at all! I liked the Free song so much that I bought the album and played it to bits: the album version is longer. Rod’s early solo albums were all good for me, but he lost it when he went disco. Kenny Everett’s parody of him was perfect. Richard Marx was an outlier for me too 🤣

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  6. Clive, I will place my comment here as Obbverse highlighted the same two songs I wanted to. I love to hear Jack and Daisy’s harmonies. It is great to see younger people covering Dylan’s songs. Steve Earle is fun to listen to. Of course, “All right now” is a classic which will make any driver turn up the volume. Keith

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  8. Jack and Daisy dragged me in, very nice unforced harmonies; a fine cover of a sweet sounding song that has a bit of a bite to the lyrics. ‘Devil’s Right Hand’ is another fine find, thanks for that Clive. (100 mass shootings in 102 days? Wow, ‘Merica is two off an (im)perfect record.)

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    • They’re really nice, aren’t they. Lovely harmonies, from eight years of singing together.

      Copperhead Road is a great album, this is just one of many fine tracks on it. If only the Americans could see themselves as the rest of the world does – those stats are crazy.

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  10. I remember All Right Now was out of the 70s but didn’t know it was at the beginning of the decade. I was thinking more like the mid-70s. I guess I was just hearing it still on the airwave. The mid 70s I was in my early teens. I was only 9 in 1970. Five years can make a big difference when you that young. 🙂 This one and Right Here Waiting are my favorites in today’s line up. Right Here Waiting released after I became a full time Mommy. I would’ve sworn it came out in the early 80s. Time plays tricks on your mind that’s for sure, but then there are a lot of thing Mommy Brain misplaced in my memory bank. 🙂 All good music. I’m glad you decided to join the 4M party. Have a boogietastic week, Clive!

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    • I’m a little bit older – turned 17 in September 1970 – so I have great memories of those days, as I mentioned in the post. Although Right Here Waiting is a bit more pop-py than my usual stuff I have always loved it.

      I’m often surprised at the tricks my memory plays on me – join the club!

      You have a great week too 😊

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    • I thought these would be familiar songs, albeit with a twist on one of them. I can see the Steve Earle one working well with line dancing, and many of his others would do the job too.

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  15. Another great collection of songs indeed…I will add the McCartney song “Get On The Right Thing”, partly because it’s a nice mid-tempo rocker, and second because during one of the choruses you can hear Paul say clearly “my string just broke!” I love that they left that in!

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  16. A great collection. I love the Richard Marx song. Apparently, he wrote the song when he was married to Cynthia Rhodes. Since they were both in the entertainment industry, they were often apart. I enjoyed the version of Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right by Jack and Daisy.

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