The Box Tops - The Letter 1967

[ApexMolester]

 

[Andy]

The Letter by the Box Tops found on the album The Letter.

The Letter" is a song written by Wayne Carson Thompson and made famous by The Box Tops and their singer, Alex Chilton, released in 1967 on the album of the same name. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the UK singles chart. The song was popular during the Vietnam War and was also included in the computer game Battlefield Vietnam. Rolling Stone ranked it #363 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

LYRICS:
Gimmie a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain't got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone, I'm a goin' home
My baby has just wrote me a letter

I don't get care how much money I gotta spend
Got to get back to my baby again
Lonely days are gone, I'm a goin' home
My baby has just wrote me a letter

Well, she wrote me a letter said she couldn't live without me no mo'
Listen Mister, can't you see I got to get back to my baby once mo'
Anyway, yeah

Give me a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain't got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone, I'm a goin' home
My baby has just wrote me a letter

Well, she wrote me a letter said she couldn't live without me no mo'
Listen Mister, can't you see I got to get back to my baby once mo'
Anyway, yeah

Give me a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain't got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone, I'm a goin' home
My baby has just wrote me a letter
My baby has just wrote me a letter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Carson

 

[BeerNBaconGirl]

 

[BeerNBaconGirl]

Irene

 

[BillST4s]

Still rocking 34 years later:

 

[BillST4s]

And the parody. "Dr. Dave" sounds like Cheech Marin of Cheech and Chong.

 

[Andy]

 

[BillST4s]

A later "Letter." I think the white guy playing the keyboard should be wearing a top hat for old times' sake. :rad

 

[aclearspot]

I was in high school when Joe Cocker was being played on LA's version of KSAN,KMET hosted by BMR-B Mitchell Reed. I was always watching shows that had music acts, one of which was 'The Della Reese Show". She had Joe Cocker and the Grease Band live in the studio, infucking credible. Later I was able to see him(and many many others)at the Newport Pop Festival held at Northridge College.I think I was a Junior in high school. Look at the Master of Space and Time Leon Russels wiki page he knew Cry me a river in and out. Look at the personnel in the band. People who went on to play with Derrek and the Dominoes, Rolling Stones, etc

• Vocals: Joe Cocker, Don Preston, Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, Donna Washburn, Claudia Lennear,Kathi McDonald, Denny Cordell, Daniel Moore, Pamela Polland, Matthew Moore, Nicole Barclay, Bobby Jones
• Guitars: Don Preston, Leon Russell
• Bass guitar: Carl Radle
• Hammond organ: Chris Stainton
• Drums, percussion: Jim Gordon, Chuck Blackwell, Jim Keltner, Sandy Konikoff
• Piano: Leon Russell, Chris Stainton
• Saxophones: Bobby Keys
• Trumpets: Jim Price
• RIP Joe Cocker and Bobby Keys 12/02/2014

 

[BillST4s]

I looked up Bobby Keys (RIP) on Wikipedia. Quoted below is an excerpt about the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. If you were around at that time (I was 20 years old and in college in 1970), you know it was so typical of the era. In the videos you can see how much (chemically enhanced?) fun the troupe was having on stage. It is hard to believe that the surviving members are now in their 60's and 70's.

The 1971 concert movie Mad Dogs & Englishmen, is the filmed record of the 48 cities American tour undertaken in 1970 by the young British blues and soul singer Joe Cocker and the largely American entourage (band, choir, friends, wives, children, groupies and a single dog named Canina) that accompanied him. The entire group numbered almost 40 people, most of whom were on stage during most of the performances, making for what seems to have been extremely cheerful and friendly chaos.

Re-reading the post above mine, the one name I recognize is Rita Coolidge. I wonder if anyone can pick out her in the Mad Dogs and Englishmen videos that have been posted up recently.

 

[BillST4s]

Caution, it could be disturbing

The chaos and joy seen in that video were so quintessential 1970. Woodstock was the previous year and fresh in everyone's memory. The military draft and Viet Nam War were still in progress, and the nation-wide protests against both culminated in the Kent State Massacre of May 4, 1970. Social and sexual revolutions regarding civil rights, "free" love, and "recreational" drug use were in progress as well.

In 1970 I was a 20 year college student who was born at the height of the Baby Boom. My fellow Boomers and I overwhelmed the colleges and universities, which were not prepared for our record numbers. We were all competing for a limited number of openings in graduate and professional programs which had not expanded their admission numbers since the 40's and 50's. That and the events I described above created a climate on campus which prior generations of college students had never experienced.

Joe, you probably did not realize it at the time, but your performance and video gave face to the late 60's-early 70's for those of us near your age. To quote A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." :thumbup

RIP :angel

 

[aclearspot]

I looked up Bobby Keys (RIP) on Wikipedia. Quoted below is an excerpt about the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. If you were around at that time (I was 20 years old and in college in 1970), you know it was so typical of the era. In the videos you can see how much (chemically enhanced?) fun the troupe was having on stage. It is hard to believe that the surviving members are now in their 60's and 70's.

The 1971 concert movie Mad Dogs & Englishmen, is the filmed record of the 48 cities American tour undertaken in 1970 by the young British blues and soul singer Joe Cocker and the largely American entourage (band, choir, friends, wives, children, groupies and a single dog named Canina) that accompanied him. The entire group numbered almost 40 people, most of whom were on stage during most of the performances, making for what seems to have been extremely cheerful and friendly chaos.

Re-reading the post above mine, the one name I recognize is Rita Coolidge. I wonder if anyone can pick out her in the Mad Dogs and Englishmen videos that have been posted up recently.

on the opening frame and @2.08
https://www.southbayriders.com/forums/threads/143617/

 

[aclearspot]

In the car tonite on xm " The Steve Earl Show"brought the fact that for 3-4 years Leon Russell WAS the center of the musical universe. Anybody and everybody sought him out for arrangements, names of musicians, piano playing

 

[Andy]

 

[Andy]

 

[Andy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Tedeschi

 

[Andy]

 

[Andy]

 

[looper]

I like how Leon Russell was just siting there playing the keyboard. Just letting Joe have his day like it was no big deal. He was another Beethoven playing the piano at 4 years old.

 

[looper]