A big thanks to everyone who pledged during Yo La Tengo's live covers-for-pledges 'thon tradition last nite, and to NJ's finest for kickin' out the jams, and to our hosts, engineers, phone room volunteers, videographers, and everyone who helped make this annual WFMU Marathon tradition possible! Listeners were playing Name That Tune on twitter using the #wfmuthon hashtag, and below here's a full setlist compiled by listener Ken Katkin (Trash Flow Radio) -- thanks for sharing Ken!
The 2011 Fundraising Marathon runs through March 13th and we still have a week's worth of prizes, premiums, and special events, so stay tuned!
Yo La Tengo - WFMU All Request Marathon
March 4, 2011
Beatles - Here Comes The Sun (George Harrison) (dedicated to people in Wisconsin)
Al Green - Love & Happiness (inaudible vocals by Georgia)
Friend and Lover - Reach Out In The Darkness
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers - A Plea For Tenderness (my request)
Ten Years After - I'm Going Home
The Band - The Weight
Alex Chilton - Hey, Little Child
Yo La Tengo - Decora
Patti Smith/Bruce Springsteen - Because The Night
MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero/Like A Rolling Stone (medley)
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers - Astral Plane
The Twinkeyz - Aliens In Our Midst
The Clean - Drawing to a Whole
Hot Chocolate - Brother Louie
Velvet Underground - I'm Sticking With You
Bee Gees - To Love Somebody
Unholy Modal Rounders (Michael Hurley) - The Slurf Song
Rolling Stones - The Spider and the Fly
Rolling Stones - Monkey Man
The Fall - Totally Wired
The Crew Cuts - Sh-Boom (Life Could Be A Dream)
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You (Gaylord Fields on vocals)
Lou Reed - Vicious
Steve Miller Band - Rock'n Me
Beatles - We Can Work It Out
Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl
MSFB (William DeVaughn) / Arthur Lee & Love - Be Thankful For What You Got
Cheap Trick - He's A Whore
Jim Croce - Bad Bad Leroy Brown
Dictators - Stay With Me
The Who - Happy Jack
The Association - Never My Love
Harry Nilsson - Everybody's Talking At Me (Midnight Cowboy)
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers - Government Center
Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows (medley)
Vibrolux?
Lou Christie - Lightning Strikes
Neil Young - Cowgirl In The Sand
Roberta Flack (Charles Fox & Norman Gimbel) - Killing Me Softly With His Song
Neil Young - Powderfinger
Rolling Stones - She's A Rainbow
????
Foreigner - Feels Like the First Time
Hall & Oates - Rich Girl
Yo La Tengo - Magnet
Heart - Magic Man
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love
Television - Venus de Milo
Fugs (Tuli Kupferberg) - Nothing (WFMU Version)
Velvet Underground - The Gift
Kinks - When I Turn Off The Living Room Light
Highlights IMHO: Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You (Gaylord Fields on vocals), Cheap Trick - He's A Whore, The Twinkeyz - Aliens In Our Midst, Patti Smith/Bruce Springsteen - Because The Night, The Fall - Totally Wired, Patti Smith/Bruce Springsteen - Because The Night.
Posted by: Ken Katkin | March 05, 2011 at 12:57 AM
Any chance you could post one or two of the tracks for those of us who didn't hear about the coolness till after the fact? I live in Austria, its not like I'm a subterranean from Hackensack!
Posted by: Johannes Sowa | March 05, 2011 at 02:14 PM
I thought the highlights were "Never My Love" and "To Love Somebody," but then again I'm a sucker for that soft rock. Also "Reach Out in the Darkness" was pretty cool.
Those in the studio may have appreciated "I Put a Spell on You" but out here in streamland Gaylord was pushing the levels into the stratosphere! You know, radio djs use that close-mike technique, even when they probably shouldn't.
I think there's was a little "Mr. Tambourine Man" in the middle of the Dylan medley.
JJ
Posted by: JJ Gildersneeze | March 05, 2011 at 02:35 PM
FYI...Brother Louie, the #1 hit version in the US, was by 'Stories' not 'Hot Chocolate'. HC had the hit in the UK, but I doubt very much that Ira and gang were channeling that version.
Posted by: calzone! | March 05, 2011 at 04:59 PM
"Everybody's Talkin'" is originally by Fred Neil. My favorites were so much of all of it!
Posted by: starmaiden | March 05, 2011 at 07:51 PM
@JJ Gildersneeze:
I just want to point out that the song i did wasn't exactly by Whisperin' Jay Hawkins.
But, to clarify, i had to use my own DJ mic, which is a lot hotter than the mics used by the band (and if you knew how tight and crowded the setup was in that tiny studio, you'd understand why i had to do that instead of using a band vocal mic). Second, i was a good 12 inches away from the mic, which, and this is important, i was screaming into. Third, this mic was not connected to the mixer, so we were locked in at that volume. So if you were looking for balance on a song that i literally didn't know i was singing on that the band had just figured out an arrangement for, then i'm afraid you may not be taking this event in the spirit in which it was presented.
Posted by: Gaylord Fields | March 05, 2011 at 10:43 PM
After posting this setlist, I received a few more corrections and clarifications from Ira Kaplan himself. Here's what Ira had to say:
Re the Dylan medley that kicked off Set Two: "I wouldn't call this a medley, per se. It was a request for Love Minus Zero/No Limit, but I didn't know the words, so I sang other Dylan. If it's a medley, you have to include Mr. Tambourine Man, which made an appearance as well."
Re Sh-Boom Sh-Boom: "I think The Chords is the original. It's certainly the version I know."
Re the song I couldn't identify in the closing medley (very embarrasingly for me): YLT's "Blue Line Swinger."
Re the song in the closing medley that I misidentified as YLT's "Magnet": "That would be Walter Egan's 'Magnet and Steel.' "
And at the very end of the closing medley: "and finally a 'That's Our Hitler,' to acknowledge the request for Love Power [from "The Producers"] that we didn't play (a request that specifically asked that we remember to say 'That's Our Hitler')."
Also, it seems to me that the corrections received in the comments above all are correct as well. Thanks everyone for reading and commenting!
Posted by: Ken Katkin | March 06, 2011 at 02:04 AM
@starmaiden - everybody's talkin was based on the hit version, which is NOT the Fred Neil version but indeed Nilsson
Posted by: Joe Buck | March 06, 2011 at 01:15 PM
Gaylord:
You have my humblest apologies if my comment hurt your feelings. I am a big fan. When you release Gaylord Fields does the Best of Whisperin' Jay Hawkins, you can bet I'll be camped out in front of the record store.
Your mike, as well as your performance, was indeed hot.
Remember that 'Little Rascals' --and I'm sure you do --where the gang invades a radio station? Performing as The International Silver Strings Submarine Band? And every time they kick over a mike stand, the engineer's hat flies off?
That was me Friday night during your number.
I respect the technological triumph that this event represents and you have my sincerest thanks.
-JJ
Posted by: JJ Gildersneeze | March 06, 2011 at 04:58 PM
Not hurt feelings per say just the fact that you have no idea what goes into a production like the Yo La Tengo night. And the sound engineers do a tremendous job under trying circumstances. So your comment may have hurt THEIR feelings and Gaylord is pointing out that his mic is on a separate board, which is why there was such a disparity - they had no control over it. I guess with the world at your fingertips via the internet, it all seems so easy. Well, it's not.
Posted by: A (non-FMU) Soundman | March 06, 2011 at 08:47 PM
JJ,
My feelings weren't hurt at all. I was just explaining why seat-of-the pants radio is what it is, for better or for worse.
And i can never have a beef with anyone who evokes Mike Fright — one of the greatest "Little Rascals" shorts ever — in comparison with WFMU. We're all the Man on the Flying Trapeze during these broadcasts.
Cheers, and thanks for your support and love of WFMU, warts and all.
Caterwaulin' Gaylord Fields
Posted by: Gaylord Fields | March 07, 2011 at 12:25 AM
I guess this show won't be archived, huh? Too bad! I was only able to tune in in time for applause to the last song . . .
Posted by: Jonathan Skinner | March 07, 2011 at 03:23 PM
Hi Jonathan, we don't archive YLT's annual request-for-pledge shows, at their request.
There is this compilation of YLT's WFMU Marathon highlights though, 'Yo La Tengo Is Murdering The Classics:
http://www.yolatengo.com/forsale/?wpsc-product=yo-la-tengo-is-murdering-the-classics-cd
thanks everyone for helping us piece together what happened!
Posted by: Jason | March 07, 2011 at 03:28 PM