We'll Never Find...Another Voice like Lou's

Lou Rawls died today at the age of 72 (read more here).

I always loved "You'll Never Find (Another Love Like Mine)" and one of my favorite 45s as a kid was 1977's "Lady Love."

And now for some total self-promotion

Pete's Warning

The Who's Pete Townshend, 60, is setting the record straight--and issuing a warning to music fans.

Townshend's hearing loss is well documented. He has a constant, agonizing ringing in his ears and has since the 1970s. But he maintains that hearing loss was due to the use of headphones in the studio, not his wild windmill playing. And he's warning music lovers that they should be cautious when using headphones, especially as portable player use is at an all-time high and rising.

"I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal proponents deaf," Townshend wrote on his website. "My intuition tells me there is terrible trouble ahead."

(Shumakes Note: SIXTY? He's only 60? And while we're on the subject, Tom Jones is only 65? Did these men start recording when they were 8?)

A Bee Gee Walks the Line

Barry Gibb, the oldest Bee in the Bee Gees, has bought the house that Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash lived in for 35 years.

The home outside Nashville was purchased by Gibb and his wife for $2.5 million. They say they plan to honor Cash's memory with the house. "We plan to use the home to write songs because of the musical inspiration," Gibb said.

Perhaps by osmosis Gibb's falsetto will also lower down to Cash's priceless bass.

Movin' On Up

Is there a single better TV theme song than that of "The Jeffersons?" I honestly don't think so. Proof of this came just after the stroke of midnight New Year's Eve when suddenly the strains of "Movin' On Up" began at the party I was attending. I immediately ceased the conversation I was having and joined the group of dancers--which grew exponentially in that one minute, 10 seconds of pure soulful joy.

"Nothing brings people together like the theme from The Jeffersons," I said. And it's true. (Read a very detailed essay juxtaposing the lyrics of The Jeffersons with those of the Good Times theme here).

As much as we all love "Movin' On Up," this song is a case where it seems almost everyone has, at one time or another, misheard at least some of the lyrics... Proof positive is on the very funny website amiright.com, which specializes in misheard lyrics. My favorites from "The Jeffersons":

Misheard Lyrics:
Long sweet lips, chewin' me baby
Original Lyrics:
As long as we live it's you and me baby

Misheard Lyrics:
We're Movin' on up, Judy's High. She's finally got a piece of my mind
Original Lyrics:
We're movin' on up, to the East Side. We've finally got a piece of the pie

Misheard Lyrics:
We're movin' on up, to this high.
Original Lyrics:
We're movin' on up, to the East Side.

Misheard Lyrics:
It took a whole lot of too-rye-ay Just to get up that hill.
Original Lyrics:
It took a whole lot of tryin' Just to get up that hill.

Misheard Lyrics:
Now we're up in the big league...Gettin' our turnips up.
Original Lyrics:
Now we're up in the big league...Gettin' our turn at bat.

I love the "too-rye-ay" reference (perhaps a Dexy's Midnight Runners fan came up with this one). And of course, "Gettin' our turnips up" is hilarious.

Happy New Year, Sir Tom

It was a happy new year indeed for Welsh singer Tom Jones, who was knighted in the UK's annual New Year's Honours this week.

The 65-year old entertainer is best known for hits "It's Not Unusual," "What's New Pussycat" and "Delilah." He's not so well-regarded for his 1989 cover of Prince's "Kiss," which re-introduced Generation X to his tight leather pants and over-the-top vocal stylings.